Review and Herald, Vol. 84, No. 31. (8/1/1907)

Review and Herald

Aug 1, 1907

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 1, 1907

The Official Organ of the Religious Liberty Bureau

By Editor

Liberty

The Official Organ of the Religious Liberty Bureau

This is a new 32-page quarterly magazine of religious freedom, devoted to the promulgation of the fundamental principles of the rights of the people.

The July Number

The July number of Liberty is a young people’s issue, designated as a Christian Endeavor number, prepared especially to bring before the young people the principles involved in religious legislation, and to emphasize the importance and sacredness of religious liberty in the promotion of the affairs of the state and in the accomplishment of the work of the church.

It gives a survey of the present progress of the popular movement to form a union of government and religion in Argentina, Germany, England, Canada, and the United States.

It clearly sets forth its position on civil and religious liberty, based upon the command of Christ, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.”

It commends all legitimate “Christian endeavor,” but condemns the doing of unchristian things in the name of “Christian Endeavor.”

It magnifies true Christian citizenship, but exposes the work and purposes of the movement operating under that name for the regeneration of society through the civil law.

It honors our flag, but it reveals the inconsistency of an outward reverence of the emblem itself, while violating the very principles for which it stands.

It republishes that portion of Patrick Henry’s inspiring and immortal speech at the time of signing the Declaration of Independence, and gives the thrilling story of his defense of three Baptist ministers who had been arrested for preaching “the gospel of the Son of God” in old Episcopal Virginia of 1768. The principles set forth in these words of one of the founders of our country will be profitable for the reflection of the youth to-day.

It defines patriotism as not being merely in love with one’s physical country, but deep devotion to the principles for which it stands.

It gives a brief, yet concise history of religious liberty through the Christian era, tracing the marked changes from the time of Julius Cæsar down to the founding of the government of the United States.

It locates the first Sunday law, and settles its unfortunate parentage among the pagans and idolaters, who made and enforced it in the interests of a union of heathenism and Christianity, and draws a logical conclusion.

It reveals the spirit of some of the influential advocates of enforced Sabbath observance in the proposition for boycotting those who refuse to close their places of business on Sunday.

It explodes the foundation claim of the leaders of Sunday enforcement, “that it is in the interest of the preservation of society, the state, and the nation,” by citing history which has been acted on a world-theater and demonstrates the fallacy of the claim in actual practise. It quotes some of the teachings of National Reformers, and interprets them in plain English.

It reveals Christ as a Sabbath-keeper, and proves from the testimonies of eminent men and the Bible that Sunday was not the day he kept, and draws the Scriptural conclusion that his followers will be like him—Sabbath-keepers.

It contrasts the spirit of the gospel with the present proposed method to force obedience to man’s conceptions of religious duties.

It compares the kingdom of Christ with the kingdoms of earth, and draws convincing conclusions that it is impossible to make Christ this world’s king.

It traces the old superstition of “the divine right of kings,” revived in the form of the divine right of majorities in legislative assemblies at the present time.

It maintains that all religious laws enacted by any state are the product of a false conception of the purpose of government and the mission of the church.

It records a long list of statements from eminent men, bearing directly upon the great principles of religious liberty.

Besides all this, and more, it sets forth the principles of Christian temperance as a proper and legitimate moral reform.

The contents of the July number merit a wide circulation. We now have five hundred agents selling Liberty, but we need five hundred more to join these in selling this special Christian Endeavor number in all parts of the United States. The best class of people appreciate Liberty. They recognize the value of the principles it is defending, and readily give the magazine their approval. Our workers are saying, “We never saw papers sell so easy.”

Liberty.—Annual subscription price, 25 cents; 40 per cent discount when ten or more subscriptions are sent in at one time, accompanied by the cash; one to ten copies, any one number, 5 cents a copy; ten to twenty-five copies, 3 cents a copy; twenty-five or more copies to one address, 2½ cents a copy.

Life and Health or Liberty may be ordered through any State tract society, publishing house, or from the Review and Herald Publishing Assn., Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C.

Publishers' Page

By Editor

Conducted by the Department of Circulation of the Review and Herald Publishing Association

Life and Health

A LIVE health journal, devoted to the promotion of hygienic principles governing human life and health, and to the teaching of their application in the cure and prevention of disease, impressing in simple language the plain truth, serving the people, and appealing to the good judgment of all.

The August Number

We advise our readers to examine the August number of Life and Health. When they do so, we will not need to add our testimony in its behalf, for all will recognize its value, and their obligation to place it in the possession of as many as possible. It contains much of the entering-wedge element of our message, and will serve in the work of saving souls through its teaching the principles of a department of our work that is as important to the great advent movement as the right arm is to the body. Among many of the good things it contains is an article on Antidotes for All Ill-Feeling, Typhoid Fever and Its Treatment. Christ the Source of All Healing, Fruits and Their Preservation. Milk as a Food, Vegetables and Typhoid Fever, Benefits of Good Air, A Meat Diet as Compared with Vegetarianism, Studies on Digestion, etc.

Order 100 copies and sell them, and thereby add your mite of pleasant, reasonable service in helping advance a cause that is worthy of our best endeavors.

The September Number—A Special Temperance Issue

The September number of Life and Health will be devoted entirely to temperance. We promise an exceptionally good number, and our workers will find that this temperance number will be much appreciated by the best classes of people in every locality. The temperance number of the Instructor was a decided success, and our REVIEW readers will find the September number of Life and Health to be fully as good for general distribution. Plan now to use large quantities. Liberal rates will be given to those who desire to sell this number. It will be a good selling number. Write for particulars.

Life and Health.—Annual subscription price, 50 cents; 40 per cent discount to agents when three or more subscriptions are sent in at one time accompanied by cash; one to five copies, in one order, 5 cents a copy; five to twenty-five copies, 3 cents a copy; twenty-five or more copies, to one address, 2½ cents a copy.

A Coming Saviour

By Editor

Editorial

A Coming Saviour

We may now think of our Saviour as making preparation to come for his people. Soon he will realize the fulfilment of that desire which he expressed just before his ascension: “Father, I desire that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me.” All the signs of the times indicate that the Saviour is soon coming. Are we ready to hail his coming with joy?

Jonah as a Sign

THERE is a clear distinction to be made between the time of an event and the time when that same event is seen as a sign. This is made plain by what Jesus said concerning Jonah. When the Pharisees said to him, “We would see a sign from thee,” he answered: “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh a sign, and there shall no sign be given to it; but the sign of the prophet Jonas: for as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” The people in the time of Nineveh knew of Jonah’s experience as a fact, and the knowledge of it had been transmitted through many generations, but by none of them was it seen as a sign until it was so interpreted to the Pharisees by Jesus. Thus it is with the signs for this generation. The sun was darkened, and the moon refused to give her light, in 1780, several decades before the beginning of the period designated as the last generation, but these events were seen as signs by this generation when they were so interpreted in this advent message. Before they were interpreted in the light of our Lord’s prophecy, they were well-known occurrences, but not signs. If this is borne in mind, it may help some to a better understanding as to the time when “this generation” began.

The Stumbling-Stone

MORE than seven centuries before the manifestation of Christ in the flesh, the Spirit of Christ declared through the prophet Isaiah, “Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel.” After Christ had been manifested in the flesh and had been put to death and had been raised from the dead, the apostle Paul wrote thus of his preaching: “We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block.” It is thus made clear that Christ crucified is the stone of stumbling mentioned by the prophet Isaiah. But in what way and in what sense did Christ crucified become a stumbling-stone to the Jews? And is it possible for him to be such to any who are not of the house of Israel according to the flesh?

Let us read another scripture: “What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling-stone: as it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumbling-stone and rock of offense: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” Rom. 9: 30 to 10: 4. Here that stumbling-stone is again mentioned, and it appears that to seek after righteousness by the works of the law rather than by faith is to stumble at that stumbling-stone. And in further explanation of the experience of the Jews, it is stated that in their ignorance of God’s righteousness and their effort to establish their own righteousness they did not submit themselves to the righteousness of God; and the real relation between such an experience and the declaration of the prophet concerning the stumbling-stone is then set forth in the words which follow: “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”

Let us look into the matter further: the gospel is “the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth,” and the reason for this is in the fact that in it “is the righteousness of God revealed.” But the gospel is “the gospel of God . . . concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh.” These passages of Scripture taken together show that the righteousness of God was revealed by the revelation of his Son in the flesh. And so the prophet Jeremiah said: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, . . . and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The Lord Our Righteousness.” It was a necessary part of this revelation of righteousness for our salvation that the Son of God should be crucified and raised from the dead, as is stated in these words: “Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification.” “He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” That this revelation of Christ in the flesh is the only way in which righteousness could be revealed in our sinful flesh is thus declared: “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

Now that we have read these scriptures, we are prepared to draw some conclusions: Christ is God’s righteousness manifested in the flesh; this righteousness is manifested in us through our faith in Christ; Christ in the flesh, who was crucified for our sins, is the stumbling-stone which was laid in Zion, concerning which it was said, “Whosoever

believeth on him shall not be ashamed;” because the righteousness of the law could not be fulfilled in us through the works of the law which man had lost the power to obey, God sent his own Son in sinful flesh to be “the power of God” for righteousness to every one who believeth on him, “that we might be made the righteousness of God in him,” and “that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us;” to believe on Christ crucified as “the Lord our righteousness,” and to submit to him as our Lord and our God, is to submit to the righteousness of God, and this we are compelled to do by our own helpless condition, when we make the right use of the law, “for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” But this is just what Israel failed to do. They did not see that Christ crucified was “the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth,” and therefore instead of submitting themselves to the righteousness of God in him, as the law was urging them to do by putting them under condemnation, they perverted the use of the law and attempted to get righteousness through it apart from Christ, when it could only make known sin, and thus emphasize the need of Christ. This was “a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge,” and simply showed that “they stumbled at that stumbling-stone,” not perceiving that the Christ whom they had rejected and crucified was the end of the law for which they were so zealous, and that righteousness could come only through faith in him. Thus did the Jews show that they were ignorant of God’s righteousness, and thus did they go about to establish their own righteousness.

But there is another way in which Christ and his work are just as completely misinterpreted, and ignorance of God’s righteousness is just as clearly shown. Those who wrest from its connection and its plain meaning in its connection the statement that “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness,” and pervert it into the teaching that the law was abolished by Christ, may have “a zeal for God,” but it certainly is “not according to knowledge.” So long as the gospel is proclaimed, the law has a twofold use: it gives knowledge of sin, and thus shows the need of a Saviour, and it also witnesses to the genuineness of the righteousness which is attained by faith in that Saviour. Rom. 3: 20, 21. The righteousness of God is manifested without the law; but when it has thus been manifested, it is obedience to the law. This is the obedience of faith, and the scripture is fulfilled which says, “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”

There was rebellion in heaven because Lucifer was not willing to submit himself to the righteousness of God in obedience to the divine law. By his deceptive arts he induced our first parents to follow in the same path of disobedience, and thus involved the whole world in sin. “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” It is thus a perversion of the whole gospel to affirm that Christ abolished the law, for he “gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” His mission was to save his people from their sins, and “sin is the transgression of the law.” Therefore the purpose in the gift of Christ was that he might make an end of sin by bringing believers into harmony with the law of God, rather than to make an end of the law. Those who assert to the contrary are as ignorant of God’s righteousness as were the Jews, and having set aside God’s standard of righteousness, they can easily be led to accept a merely human standard, and so to follow tradition and the authority of the church rather than the plain instruction of God’s Word. The result will be a failure to attain to the righteousness of God.

So it appears that there are two ways in which men may stumble at that stumbling-stone: one by failing to see that Christ is “the end of the law for righteousness,” and by attempting the impossible task of making one’s self righteous by the works of the law, and the other by declaring that Christ abolished the law, and by thus setting aside the true standard of righteousness and making Christ an excuse for sin instead of the Saviour from sin. Through the light of this third angel’s message we ought to be saved from both of these errors and attain unto “the righteousness which is of faith.”

A Remarkable Situation

By William Ambrose Spicer

THE Church of England Missionary Society is a powerful agency. It has an income of over a million and a half dollars a year, and aims to keep a hundred thousand dollars as a working reserve. In its latest annual report, we read:—

The actual number of missionaries added to the roll in the year has been fifty-eight, but the deaths and retirements nearly balance this number.

Counting the wives of missionaries, that society doubtless sent out just under a hundred workers last year.

Last year we ourselves sent out seventy-six workers. When the missionary income of our own little society is contrasted with that of the great English society, it is apparent that the lines of our work are extending out of all proportion to our numbers and our means.

It is truly remarkable how, year after year, the workers keep going out to preach this message, and somehow, with resources developing in the fields and a steady growth in giving and praying for missions on the part of believers at home, the advance is sustained. It is nothing less than the hand of the Lord displayed in mighty power.

Those seventy-six workers sent out last year constitute, however, a solemn call to us to increase the missionary gifts this year. We ought to pray definitely and unitedly for this increase, from whatever sources the Lord may have in reserve among his stewards.

It is not only a remarkable, but a grave situation that we face. There is a pressure in the fields driving the work forward. Our missionaries know not what to do save to pray God to send help to cope with the situation. Here one pleads to be allowed to plant the standard in a new region; there a field with a developing work calls for a helper to come in and share crushing burdens. Just as I write, the plea comes from Peru:—

I do not know how to plan to extend the work as we should. We can only follow the injunction of the Saviour to pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into his harvest. We are in the harvest-time, and I can not doubt but that the one who put into our lips this wonderful petition, will see that it is answered.

W. A. S.

A Mighty Movement—A Strong Purpose

By C. M. S.

From the fourteenth to the seventeenth of July there was held in the city of Indianapolis, Ind., the sixth annual convention of the American Federation of Catholic Societies. It was an enthusiastic gathering, a convocation of men with a set purpose. Throughout the entire convention there was manifest a spirit of zealous devotion to a central idea; and that central idea was federation for power to achieve a definite purpose.

It is the design of the leaders to bring every Catholic organization or society in the United States into the organization. The movement was started six years ago by the Knights of St. John, a Catholic secret society. Last year the Federation reported a membership of 1,500,000. This year they claim to have nearly reached the two million mark. Not all the Catholic societies have joined the Federation; but they confidently expect soon to enrol the entire membership of all the Catholic societies in the United States.

The Federation has organizations in forty-three States and Territories, besides Porto Rico, the Hawaiian Islands, and the Philippine Islands. Eighteen prominent Catholic colleges and institutions are affiliated with the Federation, and fourteen national organizations have now been enrolled.

It is not their purpose, however, to

limit the field of their operations to this country. Already the work of the federation propaganda has begun in the Old World, in such countries as England, Spain, and India, and the work is expected to be taken up without delay in all countries.

One of the most striking features of this convention was the pronouncement of the pope's blessing upon the Federation and its purposes. So important and so necessary to his purposes does the pope consider this vigorous, growing Catholic force, that he sent a special delegate to Indianapolis to pronounce his blessing in person at the first meeting of the Federation, Sunday morning, July 14. To make the occasion more impressive, pontifical high mass was celebrated at the same hour. The papal delegate, personal representative of the pope, was met at the railway station by a large concourse of priests and lay delegates who vied with each other in doing him reverence. This was a striking feature of each occasion when he made his appearance.

A great mass-meeting was held on Sunday evening in Tomlinson Hall, which seemed to be crowded to its capacity. Three thousand was the estimated attendance on this occasion. The appearance of Archbishop Chatard in red hat and robes of lustrous red silk, followed by Monsignor Diomede Falconio, the papal delegate, in gray robes and red hat, leading a procession of “holy fathers, bishops, and archbishops,” was the signal for a storm of applause, the people rising to their feet and demonstrating in every possible way their reverence for the personal representative of the pope.

The meeting was conducted by Archbishop Chatard, who made a short address upon the object of the organization and its importance in furthering Catholic aims. He stated that the underlying idea of federation was to bring the various Catholic forces of this country and of the world into unity for action of a more general nature than any of the various organizations could accomplish by themselves. He declared one of the most important undertakings of the Catholic Church at the present time to be the cementing of Catholic bodies into one organization to carry out the purposes of the church. He wanted Catholic bodies to become more conscious of their strength, and to use that strength not merely as American citizens, but as Catholic citizens.

The writer could but wonder what the archbishop could mean by Catholic citizenship in contradistinction to American citizenship. His words were not used thoughtlessly, but were indicative of a purpose on the part of that organization to bring this nation into harmony with the purposes of the Catholic Church; and the American Federation of Catholic Societies is the hammer that is to forge the nation into the desired shape.

CLAYPOOL HOTEL, INDIANAPOLIS, IND. Headquarters of the American Federation of Catholic Societies’ Convention.

The delegates to the convention were warmly welcomed to the city by Mayor Bookwalter, who though declaring himself a non-believer in Catholicism, highly lauded the purposes of the church and the names of the first Catholic missionaries to this country, and complimented the church on what it was seeking to do “to upbuild this nation.”

The president of the Federation, Edward Feeney, replied to the mayor’s address of welcome, and proceeded to set forth the aims of the organization. Early in his address he said:—

I say to our separated brethren [Protestant denominations], join hands with us in preserving Christianity in these United States. Statistics show that half the population in this country never enter the door of a Christian church. Something must be radically wrong. Infidelity grows; discontent in the great centers of population is swelling. The men who founded this nation were Christians. The men whose blood mingled with the turf on a hundred battlefields since 1776 to preserve this republic were Christians. We propose that their sacrifice shall not have been in vain.

Mr. Feeney was right about there being something radically wrong. There has been something radically wrong ever since sin entered this world. But that wrong can not be righted by combinations of men whose purpose is to coerce other men into harmony with their belief and practise. That wrong can not right the other wrong. But it is in that wrong course that they are now calling Protestantism to join them. Many do not attend church. They must be induced or compelled to do so, or our patriot fathers will have shed their blood in vain. With such arguments they will win the favor and the co-operation of those who do not understand the principles of the government, nor what its founders were fighting for.

Will nominal Protestantism join them? It was only last year that nominal Protestants were inviting Catholics to join them in a similar work. With each party inviting the other to join, the union is bound to take place. One of the “reforms” for which nominal Protestantism is working is the enactment and enforcement of Sunday laws. One of the chief purposes of the American Federation of Catholic Societies is the enactment and enforcement of Sunday laws. Why should they not join? and what is to hinder them?

Next week we will give our readers an idea of what this Federation is doing, and how it is doing it. C. M. S.

A Significant Movement

By Arthur G. Daniells

THOSE who are watching the movements of the Catholic Church in the United States must be profoundly impressed with the remarkable foresight by which its leaders are directing their great activities. One of the many efforts they are making to secure a controlling influence over affairs in this country is that of missionary endeavor among what they call non-Catholics. This phase of their work is more clearly set forth in

the following statement than in any other that has come under my notice.

This statement was given to the public during the late convention of the American Federation of Catholic Societies held in Indianapolis, Ind. It appeared in the Indianapolis News of July 17, 1907, and reads as follows:—

One of the leaders in the work of the Catholic Church in this country in attendance at the annual convention of the American Federation of Catholic Societies is the Rev. Alexander P. Doyle, rector of the Apostolic Mission House, at Washington. He accompanied Monsignor Falconio to the city, and is looked upon rather as representing his ideas in the convention.

The Mission House, with which Father Doyle is connected, is rapidly growing in importance and broadening its work. In a little leaflet which Father Doyle is giving out the work is explained in part thus:—

“The Apostolic Mission House is situated in the city of Washington on the grounds of the Catholic University. Its definite purpose is to train secular priests to be diocesan missionaries, particularly to non-Catholics.

They Are Picked Priests

“These picked priests are sent by their respective bishops to the Apostolic Mission House, where, through a year or, better, two years, they are thoroughly trained for their special work. During this time they live in a missionary atmosphere with companions who are consecrated to the same work. They sit down to write out an entire course of sermons on topics that are the great subjects of preaching and are best calculated to awaken consciences.

“They assemble the best arguments to explain and defend the teaching of the church. They go over the whole field of controversial literature, so that they may be apt in answering questions that come to them in the question box. They learn the best methods of giving to missions that have the sanction of the great missionaries and saints of the church.

“The scope of the non-Catholic mission movement includes as one of its practical purposes the placing in every diocese of a band of good preachers made up of the priests, who are immediately subject to the bishops, and whose primary occupation will be to go into the cities, towns, and country places, wherever they may gather an audience, and while explaining the teachings of the Catholic Church, at the same time arouse sinners to repentance and call them back to the ways of righteousness. The priests who are selected for this work are chosen men who have displayed special talent.

“A priest who has been trained in this way becomes a most efficient defender of the church against her enemies, and at the same time he is ready to stand before any audience of the learned or the simple, and dissipate the prejudices that so many have against the church.

Preach to Non-Catholics

“They moreover address themselves to non-Catholics. It is known to every one that the ordinary non-Catholic knows as little about the real teachings of the church of God as he does of the number of birds in the air, or of fishes in the sea.

“The Apostolic Mission House is at present engaged in training these missionaries. It is to the Catholic Church what West Point is to the army, or what Annapolis is to the navy.

“The Mission House has been built by the donations of good Catholics in all parts of the country. From the very beginning, it has had the warmest approbation from Rome, and from the bishops of the country. Not only have they commended the work, but they have been most generous in giving the assistance necessary to carry out its purposes.

“To carry on this great work means the outlay of a great deal of money. To place this work on a secure financial basis makes necessary an endowment fund of at least two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

“The directors of the Catholic Missionary Union are the archbishops of New York and Philadelphia, the bishop of Providence, R. I.; the president of St. Mary's seminary, Baltimore; Father Taylor, of New York; Fathers Elliott and Doyle, Paulists. The latter, Father Doyle, is treasurer and secretary of the corporation, and also the rector of the Apostolic Mission House.

“Besides the work of training the missionaries in the Mission House, we follow our graduates into their chosen field of work, in the necessitous parts of the country, and we support them while they are giving missions. The proposition that is made to the bishops of the more necessitous dioceses of the country is: If you will send your young priest to the Mission House, we will give him five hundred dollars a year, from the time he leaves you; and we will support him, while he is at work giving missions, after he leaves us.”

This outline reveals the great care with which they select and train the young men who are to be sent forth to work in behalf of non-Catholics. The plan is certainly wise. It is exactly what God's true people ought to do to reach all the people of the world with the gospel message. It is to prepare young men and women to do efficient work in all lands that we are now preparing to conduct a Foreign Mission Seminary at Washington. If the Catholics find it necessary to make such thorough preparation to reach the Protestants of America, how much more do we need a thorough and special preparation to reach all classes in all parts of the world.

A. G. DANIELLS.

Note and Comment

A MOVEMENT has gained some headway on both shores of the United States that is attracting considerable attention just now. It is the so-called “gift of tongues,” and in its demonstration certain individuals profess to be controlled by a power which speaks through them in some language which they had not before known. This “gift” is thought by those who possess it to be an indication of God’s special blessing. But this movement, like everything else with which we come in contact, must be judged by its fruits. So far as we have means of knowing, no fruits have yet appeared. Those having the “gift” spend long hours in meeting, speaking the tongues given to them, which no one else understands, if they do themselves, which is doubtful. The good which has come from it has not yet appeared, and the time wasted in listening to jumbles of sound might more profitably have been spent in works of charity and mercy. Paul says, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.” Again he says, “Greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.” We have learned of no instance where these persons who are now claiming to have the gift of tongues have interpreted what they have been saying. Paul plainly indicates that such a course is not edifying to the church, and he further says, “Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret.” This part of the gift is not considered of any consequence at the present time by those who are claiming the gift. But God does not do useless things. He does not turn our speech into a babel of sound, producing no fruit in the salvation of others. When the Lord gives the gift of tongues, it is that some one may understand and his heart be touched who does not understand the natural language of the speaker. Thus it was upon the day of Pentecost, when Jews from foreign countries at Jerusalem heard the gospel in their own tongue. All did not understand all the languages spoken. Therefore the Jerusalem Jews accused the apostles of being drunken, but the devout foreigners, out of that confusion of sounds, were learning the gospel of Jesus Christ as the Spirit gave utterance to the speakers. More than that, the spectacle is anything but edifying where these of our day are praying and wrestling for the “gift.” Let none be in any wise deceived or troubled over the unseemly demonstrations. The fruit of the movement classifies it where it belongs. We would not say that God would never clothe his missionaries with the power to speak other languages which they had not learned; but when he gives that gift, it will be for some purpose, and the fruit of it will give unmistakable evidence that it is of God.

Archbishop Quigley on Catholic Education

Archbishop Quigley says: “Catholic education is necessary for the preservation of the church and the nation itself. Our school system must be Catholic. It is the only Christian education in the world, and it is the Catholic system of education that is going to save the world. We must not allow interference by legislation.”

The Training-School in the West Indies

By J. S. Washburn

THERE are about 3,300 Sabbath-keepers in the West Indian Union Conference. They are scattered through the islands of the Caribbean Sea and those adjacent to British Guiana and Central America. There has never yet been a school established for all this large membership. The public schools in those sections are conducted either by the Church of England or by the Catholic Church, so that our youth are compelled to attend schools conducted by other denominations. Surely, if such conditions prevailed in the United States, we should feel the great importance of our own schools more than ever before.

Elder George F. Enoch has been able to raise something toward this school, and yet not sufficient for its needs. Sixty-five acres on the island of Jamaica have been purchased, about twenty miles from Kingston. The soil is fertile, the land has a good elevation, and it is believed that much help in a financial way can be obtained by carefully tilling the soil. No buildings have been erected on the school site as yet.

The $4,000 appropriated for this school and the publishing house in Port of Spain, Trinidad, is certainly a missionary offering, and it is a small amount in comparison with the necessities of the work in this needy field. We believe our people will be gladly liberal.

The publishing house in Port of Spain is a small cement building about sixteen by forty-five feet and twelve feet high. It is ventilated on only one side. The roof is partly of galvanized iron, and is subject to the scorching rays of the tropical sun. This place is only ten degrees north of the equator. The city is surrounded by mountains, so there is but little breeze, and the employees in this office are exposed to the intense heat.

By means of this donation from the $150,000 fund, the brethren will be able to buy a lot on one side of this building, and thus open up the printing-office for ventilation. Surely our brethren and sisters will not consider this extravagant.

J. S. WASHBURN.

Continue reading: One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollar Fund