Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Oct 1, 1903
Publishers' Page
By S. H. Lane
Conducted by the Department of Circulation of the Review and Herald Publishing Company
Our Paradise Home
BY S. H. LANE
The twelve thousand copies of this book sold within six weeks from the time it was first announced, proves that it is filling a long-felt want. Many tract society secretaries have said, “It is something we have long felt the need of. It is simple, concise, inexpensive, and to the point. Our canvassers will use it as a help, and all our people will sell it.”
Beginning with the permitting of sin and the fall of Satan, it traces in a plain, interesting manner the gospel facts concerning the purchased kingdom, the three worlds, redemption of the world promised, the two kingdoms, the two Jerusalems, the three heavens, the events introducing the restitution, the earnest of the Holy Spirit, the future kingdom, the rest that remaineth, the events of the millennium, the judgment, the two resurrections, the description of the kingdom of glory, and the New Jerusalem.
These topics cover many cardinal principles of the message for this time, and they are made so plain and impressive that he who reads can not fail to comprehend them. Besides the important matter the work contains, the book is pleasing in appearance, and “sells at sight.”
It contains 128 large pages, nicely illustrated with new designs made especially for it.
Bound in boards, with cover design in colors, 25 cents; bound in fine cloth, 50 cents.
Fourth Quarter Sabbath-School Lessons
THE Sabbath-school lessons for the fourth quarter, October, November, and December, 1903, are a series of thirteen lessons upon the subject of God's Kingdom in This World, treated under the following divisions:—
Adam as Sub-Ruler in God's Kingdom; Noah as Sub-Ruler in God's Kingdom; The Call of Abraham; Israel's Mission as a Nation; The Seventy Years' Captivity in Babylon; The Restoration of Israel to Their Own Land; God's Promises and Israel's Failure; Israel's Rejection as a Nation; The Establishment of David's Throne and Kingdom; A Great Threefold Message;—The Second Angel's Message—The Fall of Babylon; The Third Angel's Message—The Closing Conflict; Gathering out of His Kingdom All Things That Offend.
These lessons are now ready. Price, 5 cents a copy.
The Great Empires of Prophecy
From Babylon to the Fall of Rome
“THE Great Empires of Prophecy” embraces the history that was foretold in the prophecies of the great empires in the book of Daniel,—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Grecia, Rome, and the ten divisions of the Roman empire.
More than eighty of the standard historians and authorities on the history of the respective empires of the prophecy, speak in the book in their own language; so that it is fairly a cyclopedia of history in fulfilment of the prophecies of the book of Daniel.
Every student of the book of Daniel and every student of history needs this book. It contains 712 large pages, besides 22 full-page maps, made especially for the book by the author, and printed in from three to thirteen colors.
The book is issued in one style of binding, cloth, $2.
His Glorious Appearing
THIS message-bearing little book is a verse-by-verse study of Matthew 24, and a strong, yet simple and convincing exposition of the second coming of Christ. It contains the message due the world at this time, and the thousands of copies that have been sold, and the great present demand for it, speak favorably of its merits and importance.
The new full-page illustrations of the town of St. Pierre before and after the eruption of Mont Pelée, and the assassination of President McKinley, bring the book up to date, and impress the fact that these calamities are signs of the second advent specified in Matthew 24.
Bound in boards, with cover design in colors, 25 cents; bound in fine English cloth, embossed covers, 40 cents.
Easy Steps in the Bible Story
This is the only book we have for children that gives the story of the Bible in the order of inspiration. The stories of the Bible from creation to Sinai are given in the same order of the Bible, but told in a simple, interesting way, which impresses the children. As the child grows up and reads the same scriptures in the Bible, the order is not disturbed, and the facts are not confused. The Biblical association of facts and subjects is of more importance than many appreciate. This is one of the features of Bell’s Series of Sabbath-school Lessons that have rendered it so successful for the past twenty years.
“Easy Steps in the Bible Story” is a book on the right line, and one that lays a good foundation for a thorough, connected knowledge of the Scriptures. It is the best Bible book for children — a child’s Bible in simple form. The children themselves like it. This is its best recommendation. It ought to be in every home where there are children.
Prices, 25 and 50 cents.
Order of your State Tract Society, or of the Review and Herald Publishing Company.
The Empires of the Bible
From the Flood to the Babylonian Captivity
RECENT research in Babylon and Egypt has brought to light many valuable historical records that were inscribed in stone by the very men living in those ancient times. In the “Empires of the Bible” these records and the Bible history of the same time are woven together in one connected story. Another important feature of the book is the tracing, in a series of twenty-one maps, of the course of those empires. The design of the book is unique, and every student either of the Bible or of history will find it invaluable. Cloth, $1.50.
Ecclesiastical Empire
A VOLUME containing the account of all the principal events that have affected the civil governments and tended to the establishment of ecclesiastical authority from the time of the fall of Rome to the publishing of this book, in 1901. It contains a good history of the Reformation, a compendium of the principles of true Christianity, the reason for our national apostasy, and a full treatise upon the union of church and state.
This book contains 874 pages; substantially bound in cloth. Price, $2.50.
Dr. Kellogg's “Plain Facts” for the Old and the Young
THE book which Elder A. T. Jones says “will do only good, and in many ways;” which Elder Luther Warren says “every Seventh-day Adventist should have;” which Dr. Mary Wood-Allen says is “scientific;” which Hon. John G. Woolley says is “urgently needed.”
It deals plainly, yet in a clean, chaste manner, with the greatest sin of the age, foretold by Christ, when he spoke of “the days of Noah” and “the days of Lot” as typical of the last days. Purity is the center of present truth; virtue is the first stone in character building, the first fruit of true religion, though it be found in a “health book,” not commonly called religious.
“Plain Facts” has been enlarged to about 800 pages, including the 350 illustrations, the 33-inch anatomical chart of the “Body Temple,” in three sections, nine colors. The book will be sold by subscription at the following prices:—
Cloth, $3.75; library, $4.50; half morocco, gilt titles, $4.75; elegant full red waterproof keratol, gilt edges, $5.25; full morocco, gilt edges, $5.75.
With either of the two best styles, a large luxotype picture will be mailed free, entitled “Loyal Helpmates.”
Picture alone, 50 cents.
A Series of Physiologies
By John Harvey Kellogg
BY J. H. KELLOGG, M. D.
IN two books. These two books constitute an entirely new and thoroughly graded series for the study of physiology and hygiene in schools. The aim of the author in their preparation has been to present in a concise and comprehensive form only such facts as are of practical value, and to arrange these facts in a form suitable for class instruction and recitation. They will also be found very valuable for home study, as they treat the subject in a practical manner.
BOOK ONE
Cloth, 174 pages; illustrated. Price, 40 cents.
BOOK TWO
Cloth, 291 pages; illustrated. Price, 80 cents.
Order of State Tract Societies
Order of State Tract Societies; Review and Herald, Battle Creek, Mich.; Review and Herald, Washington, D. C.; Pacific Press, Oakland, Cal.; Kansas City, Mo.; Southern Publishing Assn., Nashville, Tenn.
Heirs of God
“As many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, . . . who were born . . . of God.” “The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God; and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.” One who is born of God becomes a child of God, an heir of God. This does not mean that when God is dead, the child will come into possession of some material things which are now the exclusive property of his Father; but it does mean that as long as God lives, the child of God, the heir of God, shares with him in the present possession of what he is. The child is not simply heir to some property, but he is heir of God, the inheritor of God's character by virtue of the new birth, the partaker of the divine nature. It is true that as the consequence of this he will inherit all things, but the inheritance of character is prior to, and a condition of, the inheritance of all things. How wonderful is the gift of God to us!
The Greatest Work
THE proclamation of the third angel’s message is the greatest work in the earth. It is greatest in importance. The destiny of the world hangs upon it. No other message can save the people from the deceptions of this time, and prepare them to stand in the soon-coming day of God. It is greatest in extent. It takes in the whole world. It is to go “unto every nation and tribe and tongue and people.” It is greatest in its results. This message is to prepare the way for the return of our Lord to this earth, and for that wonderful series of events which will result in placing upon the throne of the universe, as Lord over all, our elder Brother, who will thus exalt humanity to the highest place of privilege. In comparison with such a work as this all worldly plans and achievements sink into insignificance. What a privilege it is to be called to this greatest work! It will be our eternal loss if we are persuaded to devote our energies and our means to some enterprise which begins and ends with this world. We are called to be laborers together with God. We are offered the privilege of taking a part in that work in which all heaven is interested, the work of winning subjects for the heavenly kingdom through the ministry of the cross of Christ the Saviour. We are urged to unite with the unseen agencies in carrying the message of forgiveness and healing to sinning and suffering humanity. To every one is given a place, to every one a work. What can be said to arouse professed believers in this message to their privilege and duty? We fear that some have disregarded the calls so long that they have almost lost the power to respond. But some will respond. We shall now see a most wonderful movement in behalf of this message. The power of God will be manifested with those who give themselves to this greatest work, and the glory of the Lord will be revealed. Consecrated champions of the truth of God are now needed to take the field to speak with authority. We are to be delivered from those things which have held back this message for so many years, and we shall see new meaning in the promise, “There shall be delay no longer.” It is now the duty of those who have confidence in this message as the greatest work in the earth to stand firmly and openly against the things which hinder it, and to make its speedy triumph the first aim of their lives. Developments both within and without the denomination are putting us to the test. Can we discern the true message? Do we have an unshaken confidence in it? Is it to us the greatest work in the earth? We are daily answering these questions.
The True Standard
WE are now to obey the word of the Lord which says, “Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people.” There are many bewildered seekers after light and truth who will gather to the true standard when it is uplifted. And the true standard will bear the inscription, “The commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” In this time when the law of the Lord is being despised and trodden upon, even by those who stand before the people as ambassadors for the King of heaven, the righteous and holy character of this same law should be clearly set forth, and its claims should be brought home to the consciences of men. When this is done in the love and fear of God, we shall find, as the psalmist writes, that “the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.” The conviction of truth will come upon the hearts and4minds of many who have been troubled over the evident departure from the former standards of Christianity, and there will be a rallying to the true standard of truth and righteousness. This will be the closing work in preparing the way for the coming of him whose right it is to reign. It is no time now to let the standard trail in the dust. “Lift up a standard for the people.” It is no time now to hide the distinctive features of our message. These are the very truths which the world needs in this generation. We shall gain nothing but defeat by any compromise or any alliance with those who do not respect the claims of Jehovah’s law. We must proclaim the law of the Lord as the only true standard of righteousness, and faith in Christ as the only means through which we can establish the law. “Lift up a standard for the people.”
Editorial
By Editor
He Is Near
WHEN speaking to his disciples of his return to this earth, the Saviour mentioned certain signs which would mark the time when “he is near, even at the doors.” These signs are now in the past. The many specifications which determine this to be the last generation have been, or are being, fulfilled, and it is certain that we are now in the very last of the last days. How solemn and how comforting is the thought! The Lord’s word is pledged that he will bring the great controversy to an end in this generation. The heart-sickening record of sin of every kind will not continue much longer. The time is just at hand when there will be a change in God’s dealing with the inhabitants of this world. Sin has become so defiant, and the disregard for God’s law has become so pronounced, that the character of God will be compromised unless he shall soon arise to vindicate his authority. All these things indicate that the coming of the Saviour is near. “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.”
The Spirit of Worldly Confederacies
By L. A. S.
A story told by a woman in New York City, who after her husband had been on a strike for a month found herself obliged to apply to the city's authorities for relief, reveals the crushing tyranny which may be and is exercised by the labor unions not only over those outside of their ranks, but over their own members. The woman's husband, Mahr, by name, was an electrical worker. He was ordered out on a strike, and his money was soon exhausted. Then, being unable to pay his dues, he was discharged from the union of which he was a member; after which, not being a union man, he was unable to get any work. Mrs. Mahr and her four young children were evicted from their apartments, and after wandering about all day in the rain, were obliged to seek shelter in a police station. The children were turned over to the care of the Gerry society. This unfortunate man first lost his work by order of the union, and then as a direct result of obeying the union's order, he was placed by the union where he could not get any work. Yet he was supposed to belong to the union for his personal benefit.
Another similar incident in the same city shows another phase of union tyranny. A man named Gowan, a member of the teamsters' union, was arrested for stealing door knobs. In court he told the magistrate that he stole the knobs to keep his family from starving. He was out on a strike with other union teamsters because they had been refused a holiday on Labor day. “I can't get any work now,” he said, “and the union has ordered me to stay out. When I went home last night, I found my children crying for food, and my wife so weak she could hardly walk.” In order to save them from starving, I went out and sold the door knobs, hoping to save them.” An officer was sent out to investigate the man's story, and found it to be strictly true. It was also learned that at the time Gowan was called out on strike, there was due him $4.12, and that of this amount four dollars was deducted by the union for a cap, belt, and cane which Gowan was to wear in the Labor-day parade, leaving him twelve cents with which to buy food for his family, this being all the money that he had. When the magistrate learned this, he discharged the prisoner with an admonition.
Was there any mistake made in the language of the spirit of prophecy which recently said to us: “The trades unions and confederacies of the world are a snare. Keep out of them and away from them, brethren. Have nothing to do with them”? Such incidents reveal the spirit by which these confederacies are controlled, and show how foreign it is to the spirit of Christianity. Those who trust in them will find that vain is the promised help of man. “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.” It is time now to learn to trust wholly in the Lord.
L. A. S.
The Eastern Question
By William Ambrose Spicer
The events day by day in the East show how, on the side of the nations, everything is ready for the final conflict. The Eastern question means far more to us than simply a watching to see the Turk driven from Europe, preparatory to the final fall of the Ottoman empire.
We have a part to act all our own in the Eastern question. We are a part of it, and not spectators merely. When it has seemed from time to time that nothing could restrain the elements of strife from breaking out in universal war, a divine hand has restrained. Why? — That the final message of the gospel might be carried through the unentered lands. God has committed to us a message to be borne through all these lands before the storm shall break. Every fresh development in the East is a signal to us to be up and doing.
We who know all about the political aspects of the Eastern question, and the relation it bears to the end of all things, know nothing at all of value if it does not stir us into earnest and definite missionary activity at home and abroad just now.
Glad responses have come to the call from Egypt for help to place zenana workers in the homes of the women in that land. This is a splendid development in our part of the Eastern question. God's truth is marching on in these lands which constitute the storm-center in the coming struggle of the nations. The Mission Board is endeavoring to supply a leader for the little flock in Turkey, left long without a shepherd. Effort is to be made to do definite work for the region of the Trans-Caucasus, a portion of the ancient Armenia, and from that point the standard of truth may be carried into Persia, where never yet have we set foot.
The agents of Satan, the evil spirits that are stirring up the nations for war, and gathering all the world to Armageddon, are doing their work in those regions. Persia is taking the place assigned it in prophecy in the lining up of the nations for the final conflict. God's agencies must no longer delay. Exiled believers from Russia have already prepared the way in the far Caucasus. God beckons us on into the near East. Our brethren in Europe call earnestly for some definite action in placing at least one or two standard bearers in these regions, so soon to be desolated.
The Mission Board is endeavoring to send Dr. Pampaian to this region of the Caucasus in October. He knows the languages, and has been working hard to complete his medical preparation in New York, and to do missionary work among his own Armenian people in that city. God has given him fruit of his labors here, and we know the same blessing will follow him in the distant field. His brother, a nurse, is to accompany him, and thus we shall take yet another step in our part in the Eastern question. Wherever the spirit of strife is stirring men's hearts, we are to press in with the gospel of peace, the simple, straightforward third angel's message, which is now due in every land. We must pray, and give, and go as never before. This is the lesson of the Eastern question for us Seventh-day Adventists. There is now a mission treasury practically empty, and a cry from the world that God loves, which he says will not long remain unanswered. It is our present and eternal salvation that we are deciding now in our attitude toward our part in the Eastern question. As we hear the calls, let us throw into this work every energy of our being and every resource at our command. Pray that special help may now come in for our missionary campaign. W. A. S.
The Foundation of Law
By L. A. S.
THE foundation of all right law is the law of God. This law covers every relation of man to his fellow man, and its requirements represent the strictest justice. It is the product of omniscient intelligence, and is therefore beyond the possibility of error. It embodies the deepest wisdom, and presents an inexhaustible field for human study. The commandments of God are “exceeding broad.”5
The law of God is the way of God, the way of righteousness. Righteousness is always law; to do right is always binding upon every creature. Hence law, in its true sense, can not originate in any human authority, for men can not make right and wrong. At the most, human enactments can but define the law of right which already exists, applying it to the particular case or subject concerned. Human statutes can only aim at justice, and the history of mankind shows how prone are such statutes to miss the mark.
The study of the law of God, the perfect model, is in the highest degree proper for those who would legislate in the affairs of men. The better that perfect law is understood by those having to do with human laws, the better prepared will they be to discern between right and wrong, and to maintain justice in the human relationships which they are called upon to define. The more they know of the law of God, the better will they be able to embody the spirit of that law in the legislation to which they give birth. The law of God breathes forth love,—love to the Creator and love to the beings created. It is this spirit which enables a man to recognize the great truth that “all men are created equal, and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,” which it is the true purpose of human governments to maintain.
The law of God, the law of right, should be adhered to in all human enactments. Any statute which sets up a different standard of right is null and void, since no legislation can ever turn wrong into right, or release any person from the perpetual obligation to do right. Not merely “What is the law?” but “What is right?” is the underlying question to be settled by every person in the determination of duty. It is God, the supreme One, whose kingdom is over all, who holds every person to the obligation to do right.
The law of God and the laws of men must not be confounded. They are on altogether different planes, even as God and man are on different planes of being. “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;” it is also “a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” It deals with the hidden motives which only God can see, as well as with the outward acts cognizable by the laws of men. For the maintenance of that law God has his own divine agencies, as superior to the agencies of this world as heaven is superior to the earth. No body of men has the authority or the power to enact or enforce the law of God. The attempt to do this is a mistake which a knowledge of that law will enable men to avoid. The bloodiest persecutions which have stained the pages of history have sprung from the use of human conceptions and agencies to enforce the divine law. These persecutors had a blind zeal for God, but not a knowledge of his law. They attempted to do through human legislation far more than any human government has the authority or right to do, and as a result they utterly failed to do that which it is the business of human governments to do,—to establish justice, and maintain the rights which no human power is authorized to invade. The more men become familiar with the law of God, the more perfect will be their conceptions of right and justice, and the more will their zeal for God be according to knowledge. L. A. S.
The Government Versus the Labor Unions
By L. A. S.
A MOMENTOUS question is up for settlement in this nation,—a question never dreamed of by the men who thought to establish here a lasting government of the people by the people for the people. It is this, Is the federal government supreme in the nation, or are the labor unions supreme? The labor unions are attempting to dictate terms to the government. It remains to be seen whether the government will yield to their dictation.
Some time ago a foreman in the government printing plant was dismissed from the government employ at the dictation of the labor union to which he had formerly belonged. This union had found him guilty of “flagrant non-unionism,” and he had been expelled from that organization accordingly. In the government printing office expulsion from the union had hitherto been equivalent to dismissal from the government employ, and the foreman’s dismissal naturally followed. But he appealed his case to President Roosevelt, and by order of the latter he was reinstated. The president declared that the laws of the labor unions must yield precedence to the laws of the United States government, whereupon the Washington Central Labor Bureau, with the indorsement and approval of the American Federation of Labor, sent circulars to more than five hundred Central Labor Unions throughout the United States, making a statement the pith of which is the following:—
Whereas, The president of the United States has seen fit to reinstate W. A. Miller, who is an expelled member of a trades organization, notwithstanding the overwhelming evidence of his moral turpitude, and has also committed himself to the policy of the open shop, as shown by his letters,—
Resolved, That the order of the president can not be regarded in any but an unfriendly light.
This statement is somewhat misleading, since the history of the case shows that the alleged moral turpitude was a secondary and later consideration on the part of the union, action having been taken in the first place on the ground that Mr. Miller had been guilty of “flagrant non-unionism.” That was the issue upon which he was reinstated by the president. The question is that of the “open shop.” The president says that all shops shall be open; the labor unions say that there shall be no shops for the non-unionist.
In the award rendered by the coal commission appointed by the president to settle the great coal strike of last year, it is declared that “no person shall be refused employment or in any way discriminated against on account of membership or non-membership in any labor organization.” Of this the president has declared his “hearty approval.” Upon this issue the battle for supremacy is to be waged. The Washington Central Labor Union has appealed to the labor unions throughout the States, which claim a membership of about two and a half millions of working men. These bodies will all stand together on the issue to which appeal to them has been made. They will exercise their united power to uphold the strictly union policy by which they seek to obtain exclusive control of the industries of the country; for by this policy they stand or fall. The “open shop” is the greatest obstacle in their way. Hence their determination to force the government to indorse exclusive unionism. It is in the political arena that the battle will be fought. The labor-union vote will be cast for a candidate who will have pledged himself to stand against the “open shop.” To all human appearance this will be a feature of the coming political campaign.
And thus it is that to-day in this government of the United States the amazing question is raised whether the government is indeed the government, or whether there is something superior to the government, in the form of a union of labor organizations, which, while promising liberty and prosperity to the people, endeavors to force every working man to come to its terms, and to this end ruthlessly invades every right which this republic was created to uphold. It is a dragon voice which is heard speaking in the nation to-day, and this voice will sound more and more loudly as the great conflict between good and evil in the world draws to its final climax.
L. A. S.
Gasoline Intoxication
A NEW form, of intoxication, which is practised by boys, has come to light in Philadelphia. It is produced by the inhalation of gasoline fumes. The boys are of the poorer class, and obtain the gasoline in various ways, sometimes from tank cars or from lamp posts. The physical effects of the indulgence are very serious, and sometimes even fatal.
L. A. S
By L. A. S.
Writing from Rome, Italy, the Rev. William Burt, D. D., says, with reference to the demise of the late pope, that “no one here can understand the telegrams of Emperor William and President Roosevelt. They have outdone all the rulers of Roman Catholic nations, so that the cardinals are now quite discontented because of the very indifferent telegrams received from Catholic powers.” “All liberal-minded and patriotic Italians” are astonished, he says, at the “adulation and praise that has come in the form of condolence from Protestant countries.” Mr. Burt also quotes these words spoken to him by “a distinguished Jew, a statesman of renown in Europe:” “It seems to me that Protestantism is going into bankruptcy. It is reduced to mere sentimentalism which erects a monument to Luther one day, and sends gifts and telegrams of congratulation or condolence to the papacy the next.” The fact to which these and similar words testify, that Protestantism is going into bankruptcy, shows the necessity at this time of the third angel’s message, with its warning against the worship of the “beast” and his “image.” It is in this message that the voice of true Protestantism speaks to-day.
A Protestant Episcopal pope is called for by a leading Episcopal organ in this country, the New York Churchman. “A chief executive is as necessary for the church,” says the Churchman, “as for the nation.” “The past few weeks,” it says further, “have shown how wide the interest is in the Roman effort to unify the voice of Christendom by giving it expression in a personal head. Christendom should be unified, and it could have a head, not only without damage to itself, but to its incalculable help, provided that head should be a constitutional and representative one. As a national church we have no such representative, though the history of Christianity justifies it, and the experience of every organization demonstrates its necessity.” “The history of the papacy,” it says, “furnishes the most masterful testimony in history to the power of organization.” “Some additional and more effective form of organization . . . with an executive head for the national church, has become a necessity.”
With this sentiment the Living Church, another prominent Episcopal organ, expresses “cordial agreement,” saying: “We even go so far as to believe that the progress of the church will remain almost at a standstill until such an organization shall be effected.”
Unquestionably there is a demand for a pope in other church bodies than the Roman Catholic. Indeed, such a demand is felt in every church body except that of which Jesus Christ is truly the head. Having him for its head, the Christian church feels no need of any other or earthly head. It feels no lack of power, because unto its Head is given “all power . . . in heaven and in earth,” and this power is exercised by the Head through the church. But where Christ is the head of the church in theory only, it must needs be that the need of greater power will be felt; and conversely, where such need is felt, there is evidence that the union of the church with its divine Head has been broken off. A pope in the church is what the king is in the state, but the church of Christ is not organized like a political organization, but has a system altogether different, even as the wisdom of God is a different wisdom from the wisdom of man. The power of the Christian church is not that of organization alone, but the power of God himself unto salvation. The one and only thing necessary to secure just the power that the church needs, and all the power that it needs, is connection with the divine Source of power; and without this connection, the best organization and head that can be provided by the exercise of any possible human wisdom will amount to nothing. It will be popery, and nothing more.
L. A. S
SPEAKER AT FREE METHODIST CONFERENCE SAYS TEACHERS ARE POISONING THE MINDS OF THE YOUNG
THAT other people are seeing the truth which became plain to Adventists years ago regarding the atheistic character of the influence and teaching of the popular schools and colleges of this day, is evident from many statements which appear from time to time in the public press. The truth is becoming so plain that many others besides Adventists are taking alarm, and counseling the withdrawal of the young from such schools. The following statements made on the occasion of a Free Methodist conference held in Chicago recently, afford an instance of the expression of this growing conviction. We quote from the Chicago Inter Ocean's report of the conference proceedings:—
“Our Universities Breed Atheism,”Says Preacher
SPEAKER AT FREE METHODIST CONFERENCE SAYS TEACHERS ARE POISONING THE MINDS OF THE YOUNG
The modern university is poisoning the minds of the young men of the present generation. Skepticism and atheism are being instilled in their minds through the teachings of our professors, and the situation is one that is most alarming to the church people of to-day. With this comment followed by a criticism of two professors in Garrett Biblical Institute, the Rev. L. B. Webb, of the Evansville Theological Seminary, Evansville, Wis., ended an address yesterday before the Free Methodist conference held at the Free Methodist church, Lexington and Leavitt Streets. “In the universities of the present time,” he said, “there are too many professors . . . whose teachings are instilling in the minds of our young people such ideas of skepticism and atheism that the situation is becoming alarming. It is impossible to expect any young man preparing for the ministry to attend the large universities, and not have his mind filled with the poisonous teachings. The influence that these professors possess we can not deny, and we must act if we hope to eliminate or counteract it. We should counteract it by taking a greater interest in our schools and their teachings.”
The following was published about the same time by the Chicago American:—
Dr. T——, professor of theology in the Garrett Biblical Institute, is accused of being a teacher of the doctrines of Tom Paine in the latest issue of the Methodist Outlook, a magazine published by R. C. Powers. Dr. M——, who occupies a similar position in the Boston University school of theology, is attacked also.
A severe condemnation of the teachings of the Evanston and Boston theologians serves as a prelude to an exhortation that Methodist parents withdraw their children from the institutions named.
“Don’t send your children to schools where such teachers are allowed to remain on the faculty,” says the writer.
The article from which these extracts are taken concludes with the statement that “but recently a prominent officer in the W. C. T. U. on the Pacific Coast took President Benjamin Ide Wheeler, of the State university at Berkeley, Cal., to task in the public press for his public example of drinking and smoking before the eight hundred and more students under his charge. Surely there is a pressing need for Christian schools where sound doctrines are taught, and where godly and wholesome examples are set before the students.”
Note and Comment
DR. J. M. BUCKLEY, editor of the leading Methodist organ in the United States, foresees that we have arrived at a great national crisis. He says:—
It does not require a prophet or the son of a prophet to tell us that within three years this country will pass through a terrible crisis if there is not an immediate change in the relations of capital and labor. It seems as if both had thrown Christian conduct and common sense to the winds. Things have been going from bad to worse, and labor unions have now assumed so arrogant an attitude that a great crash is almost inevitable. You have only to read the history of Rome, changing names and dates, to see what this country is coming to.
The last sentence of this quotation will have a familiar sound to many who read these lines, and they will remember that this truth was discerned and pointed out by Seventh-day Adventists years ago. In the knowledge of all that is essential to Christian living here and preparation for the hereafter, the third angel’s message places its adherents years in advance of the rest of the world.
No Bounds in Love
THERE are no bounds in love — its yearnings fond
Can traverse alien shores and wastes of foam;
Forgetting blame and loss, it goes beyond
All space and time to woo the wanderer home.
So strong, so world-wide, is dear human love;
But what must be the quests by angels trod,
And what the yearning impulses that move
By day and night the Father-heart of God?
— Selected.