Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 12, 1899
WHITE AS SNOW.
Isa. 1:18: “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
“We have some difficulty,” said a chemist, who was explaining the process of paper-making, “with the iron dyes, but the most troublesome of all are the turkey-red rags. You see I have dipped this rag into my solution; its red is paler, but it is still strong. If I steep it long enough to efface the color entirely, the fiber will be destroyed; it will be useless for our manufacture. How, then, are we to dispose of our red rags?—We make them into red blotting paper. Perhaps you have wondered why your writing pad is red. Now you know the reason.”
But what man can not do, the grace of God through “the precious blood of Christ” can do—change the scarlet and crimson to snow white. The Spirit of God likens sin to the very color which modern science, with all its appliances, finds to be indestructible. But God takes out its stain and renews the fibers.
Note
NOTE.— We wish those who ask questions to take particular notice: (1) Only such questions will be answered here as we deem to be of general interest and information. (2) We can not undertake to explain from four to a dozen scriptures, as in one sentence we are often requested to do. (3) Do not ask to “explain” a certain text or passage. State clearly the point in question. (4) Give full name and address, not for publication unless desired, but as evidence of good faith, and to give us the privilege of replying by letter if it deemed best. (5) Unsigned communications of any kind find the quickest way to the waste-basket. (6) It is always well to inclose stamp. (7) “Foolish and unlearned questions avoid,” also those that minister to mere curiosity. (8) Search the Scriptures yourselves.
TRUE REPENTANCE.
Matt. 3:8: “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance [“answerable to amendment of life,” margin].”
2 Cor. 7:10, 11: “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of; but the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.”
A gentleman once asked a Sunday-school what was meant by the word “repentance.” A little boy raised his hand.
“Well, what is it, my lad?”
“Being sorry for your sins,” was the answer. A little girl on the back seat raised her hand.
“Well, my little girl, what do you think?” asked the gentleman.
“I think,” said the child, “it’s being sorry enough to quit.”
That is just where so many people fail. They are sorry enough at the time, but, as one man said: “I kept chopping off one sin at a time for three weeks, until I made up my mind that if I was ever to be a true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, I must let Him wash me inside and out; when I made this decision the Lord made a thorough job of it, and it has never had to be done over.”
NOTHING TOO HARD FOR THE LORD.
Jer. 32:27: “Behold, I am Jehovah, the God of all flesh; Is there anything too hard for Me?” (See also verse 17.)
As I was about to enter the Five Points Mission in New York, a few years ago, I saw a man staggering toward me. His face was a diagram of sin; deceit was in his eye, dissipation in his cheek; his lips were distorted with blasphemy, his clothing a mosaic of patchwork. If misery were to sit for a picture, if sin and crime and shame were subjects for an artist’s pencil, he was a fitting subject. The thought came like an inspiration: Can that sin-polluted body become a temple fit for the Lord? Nothing is too hard for Him! With the thought came prayer; with the prayer came action. The man yielded to the Holy Spirit’s call, and to-day, with shining face, clear eye, and lips filled with praises, he stands clothed, and in his right mind, a power in the slums of the city, making a place for Jesus on earth.
SEED AND HARVEST.
Gal. 6:7: "Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."
Not very long ago, says the Temperance Standard, a British paper, a methodical man died in Berlin, at the age of seventy-three. When a young fellow, he commenced keeping a record, which he continued for some fifty years. The record is a good commentary on the life of one who sows to the flesh. His book shows that in fifty-two years this man had smoked 638,715 cigars, of which he had received 43,692 as presents, while for the remaining 595,023 he had paid about £2,086. In twenty-five years, according to his bookkeeping, he had drank 28,780 glasses of beer, and 36,086 glasses of spirits, for all of which he spent £1,070. The diary closes with these words: "I have tried all things, I have seen many, I have accomplished nothing." Surely it is not a harvest which one could envy.
FORGIVES LIKE A FATHER.
Ps. 103:13: “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him.”
A minister had a deacon who was continually lamenting about his great sins. One day the minister said:—
“Deacon, you remember your son stoutly rebelled against your authority some time ago, but afterward felt sorry and repented of his sin, and humbly asked your forgiveness. Did you forgive him?”
“Of course I did.”
“What did you forgive him for?”
“Because I could not help it, when I saw how sorry he was.”
“And does he still ask forgiveness?”
“No! no! Nothing is said about it. It is all settled forever.”
“Now do you believe that you can be better to your son than God is to you? He forgives like a father.”
NO FEAR IN CHRIST.
Ps. 118:6: "The Lord is on my side; I will not fear; what can man do unto me?"
Rom. 8:38, 39: "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
A Christian was brought before the emperor. The potentate thought to frighten him into obedience to him, and said, "I'll banish you." "No, you can't," said the Christian; "for you can't banish me from Christ."
"Then I'll take your life," cried the irate monarch.
"You can't," was the reply; "for in Christ I live and have my being."
"Then I'll confiscate your wealth."
"You can't," was still the response; "for in Christ I have all riches."
"At least," the tyrant said, "I shall cause you to lose all your friends, and you will virtually be an outcast."
"But you can not," the Christian exultantly replied; "for I have a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother." Is it not sweet when to our own souls, as He was to this servant, Christ is "all and in all"?
THE DEPTHS OF THE WORD OF GOD.
Rom. 11:33: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!”
“I am glad there is a depth in the Bible I know nothing about,” says Mr. Moody, “that there is a height there I can not climb to if I should live to be as old as Methuselah; I venture to say that if I should live for ages on earth I should only have touched its surface. I pity the man who knows all the Bible, for it is a pretty good sign that he doesn’t know himself.”
“A man came to me with what he thought was a very difficult passage, and he said:—
“‘Mr. Moody, how do you explain it?’”
“‘I said, “I don’t explain it.”’”
“‘But how do you interpret it?’”
“‘I don’t interpret it.’”
“‘Well, how do you understand it?’”
“‘I don’t understand it.’”
“‘But what do you do with it?’”
“‘I don’t do anything with it.’”
“‘You don’t believe it?’”
“‘Yes, I believe it. There are lots of things that I believe that I do not understand. In John 3:12 Christ says to Nicodemus, “If you do not understand earthly things, how can you understand heavenly things?” About my own body I do not understand. I don’t understand nature; it is filled with wonderful things I don’t comprehend. Then why should I expect to know everything spiritual?’”
IN THE WORLD, BUT NOT OF IT.
John 17:14: “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”
A true Christian living in the world, is like a ship sailing on the ocean. It is not the ship being in the water which will sink it, but the water getting into the ship. So, in like manner, the Christian is not ruined by being in the world, which he must needs be while he remains in the body, but by the world's being in him.
Trouble and Tribulation
943. (M. L. S.) Trouble and Tribulation.—The “trouble” of Daniel 12:1 is upon the wicked, those who have rejected God. It will be the greatest, for it will be the final judgment, beginning with the seven last plagues. Revelation 7:14 and 6:9. The “tribulation” of Matt. 24:21, and the “affliction” of Mark 13:19, are upon the people of God, as will be seen by the context. This began in the early days of Christianity and lasted all through the 1260 days of papal persecution.
Washington’s Vision
944. “Washington’s vision” is an uncertain quantity. He may have had some such vision, but the only account seems to have come down to us through Wesley Bradshaw, who obtained it from Anthony Sherman, an old man, ninety-one years of age, and very feeble. He told it to Mr. Bradshaw in 1865. He stated that no one save himself knew of the incident. How much it has been colored we know not. We have a “more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed.”
Resurrection of the Wicked
By J. W. A.
945. (J. W. A.) Resurrection of the Wicked.— “There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.” Their bodies will be the same as in this life—mortal, and they will be judged for the deeds done in the body.
Soul and Spirit
By J. F. R.
946. (J. F. R.) Soul and Spirit.—In 1 Thess. 5:23 the soul is used to denote, what it generally does, the life of man, common to all living creatures; the spirit is the higher spiritual life direct from the Spirit of God.
Origin of Matter
By J. J. M.
947. (J. J. M.) Origin of Matter.—The origin of matter is God. "He spake and it was." Why "puzzle" over it? In the words of the ancient Idumean emir, "Who by searching can find out God?" He created all things. We can not understand it; but we may know it by faith in His Word. We can know it no other way. Knowing this, we know that He can recreate us.
The Kingdom of God
By James White
948. (J. W.) The Kingdom of God.—The kingdom of Dan. 2:44 is not yet set up in the earth. When it is, there will be no other kingdoms; for His dominion shall be “from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.” The only kingdom God has on earth is in the hearts of His people; but His kingdom on earth is yet a consummation for which to pray. “Thy kingdom come.” It comes not until Christ comes. Matt. 25:31, 34.
The Seventh Commandment
949. (Reader.) The Seventh Commandment.—Whether you should take the Seventh Commandment for a text, with its various references, we do not know. The Lord says, “Search the Word.” Are you His messenger? Then He has for you a message. Give that. If the Lord wants a man to preach on that subject, He will give him a pure, chaste message, clothed in words not offensive to refined tastes. Be sure that you have the Lord’s message.
950. (M. F.) Gal. 3:19.—The law of Gal. 3:19 is the moral law of the Ten Commandments. The purpose of the law to the sinner is to point out sin; and God added, or spoke, the law—made it plain, that sin might be seen to be sinful. See the parallel text in Rom. 3:20: “Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound.” The only law that points out sin is God’s moral law (Rom. 7:7)—the law that shuts us up to only one way of escape, namely, Jesus Christ (Rom. 7:25; Gal. 3:21–24).
THE SEPARATION OF RELIGION AND THE STATE.
By Alonzo T. Jones
The First Great Commandment.
THE separation of religion and the State is one of the most important questions that any people can ever be called upon to consider, as the union of religion and the State has caused more misery than any other thing in history.
The separation of religion and the State is one of the two greatest and most important questions that stand before the people of “the United States of America and Asia” to-day. It is true that not everybody thinks so; nevertheless it is so, not only upon general principles, but also because of the daily aspiration and positive practise of the great mass of professed Christians of all sorts throughout the whole country. Yet the complete separation of religion and the State is Christian. It is not a mere sentiment or side issue of Christianity; it is one of the fundamental principles and chief characteristics of Christianity.
The Bible, not merely the New Testament, but the whole book, is the Book of Christianity. The New Testament is not a revelation new and distinct from the Old; it is the culmination of the revelation begun in the Old Testament.
The Old Testament and the New are one book—one consistent, harmonious revelation of God through Jesus Christ; because Jesus Christ is the revelation of God before the world was made, when the world was made, and through all the history of the world from beginning to end.
The first chapter of Genesis is Christian as certainly as is the first chapter of John. The book of Genesis is Christian as really as is the book of Revelation or any other book in the Bible. We repeat, therefore, that the whole Bible is the Book of Christianity, the Book of the Christian religion, the revelation of God through Jesus Christ.
And the separation of religion and the State is one of the great thoughts of this great Book. It is one of the leading principles of that Book which for man is the source of all sound principle.
Many people think that the two or three expressions of Christ as recorded in the New Testament are all that the Bible contains on the subject of the separation of Church and State; and many others are disposed even to argue against these passages, and to modify them by other passages from the Old Testament. But separation of religion and the State is one of the original thoughts of the Bible, and reaches from the beginning to the end of the Book; and neither the Book nor this subject can be fairly understood in reference to this matter till this is clearly defined in the mind. We purpose to give a series of studies of the Bible on this subject from beginning to end.
Being one of the great thoughts of the Bible, one of the great thoughts of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ, this subject is of vital importance to men everywhere in their relations to God, and not merely in their relations to the State. It is a principle that is involved in the daily experience of the Christian in his relation to God, and not merely an abstract question that man can stand, as it were, apart from and view simply as a speculative question of the relations between religion and the State.
The ways of God are right. His Word is the only certain light, the only sure truth. The principles which He has announced are the only safe principles for the guidance of men. We hope, and shall seriously endeavor, to make each study so plain that every reader can easily see and readily grasp the truth of it. We shall begin at the beginning.
“The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first commandment.
“And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”
“On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
These two commandments exist in the very nature, and circumstances of existence, of any two intelligent creatures in the universe. They existed thus in the existence of the first two intelligent creatures that ever had a place in the universe.
When the first intelligence was created and there was no creature but himself, as he owed to his Creator his existence, as he owed to God all that he was or could be, heart, soul, might, mind and strength; it devolved upon him to render to God the tribute of all this, and to love God with all his heart, and all his soul, and all his mind, and all his strength. And this is the first of all the commandments. It is first in the very nature and existence of the first, and of every other intelligent creature.
But the second of these would have no place if there were but one intelligent creature in the universe; for then he would have no neighbor. But when the second one was created, the first of all the commandments was first with him equally with the other one; and now the second great commandment exists in the very nature and existence of these two intelligent creatures, as certainly as the first great commandment existed in the nature and existence of the first one.
Each of the two created intelligences owes to the Lord all that he is or has, and all that he could ever rightly have. Neither of them has anything that is self-derived. Each owes all to God. There is between them no ground of preference. And this because of the honor which each owes to God; because to each, God is all in all. Therefore the second great commandment exists as certainly as the first; and it exists in the nature and circumstance of the very existence of intelligent creatures. Consequently, “There is none other commandment greater than these.”
These two commandments, then, exist in the nature of cherubim, seraphim, angels and men. As soon as the man was created, the first of all the commandments was there, even though there had been no other creature in the universe. And as soon as the woman was created, these two great commandments were there. And there was none other commandment greater than these.
Now, if these two great commandments had been observed by man on the earth, that is, had man never sinned, there always would have been perfect and supreme religion; and there never could have been a State. God would always have been by every one recognized as the only Ruler, His law as the only law, His authority as the only authority. There would have been government, but only the government of God. There would have been society, but only the society of saints. But there would have been, and could have been, no State.
Therefore it is certain that the observance of these two first of all the commandments, at any time and everywhere, means the absolute separation of religion and the State, in all who observe them. And thus the principle of separation of religion and the State inheres in the very existence of intelligent creatures.
But man did sin. And having sinned, having departed from God, mankind did not love God with all the heart nor their neighbor as themselves. Christianity was introduced to bring man back to the position, and the original relations, which he lost. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” And Christ hath suffered for us, “the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.”
It being, then, the one great purpose of Christianity to restore man to his original condition and relation to God, its purpose is to restore him to the condition in which he can love God with all the heart, with all the soul, with all the mind, and with all the strength; and his neighbor as himself. It is to restore him to obedience to these two first of all the commandments. It is to restore him to perfect and supreme religion.
We have seen that such a condition maintained from the beginning would have been the absolute separation of religion and State; because, then, there never could have been any State. And now as the one great purpose of Christianity is to restore man completely to that condition, it follows with perfect conclusiveness that Christianity in its very essence, from the beginning to the end, and everywhere, demands the absolute separation of religion and the State in all who profess it.
And it must not be forgotten that the complete separation of religion and the State in those who profess religion, can be maintained only by these persons themselves being separated from the State. For it is so plain as to be indisputable that if the professor of religion is himself a part of the State, then in him there is at once a union of religion and the State.
A. T. JONES.
MODERN EDUCATION.
By E. A. SUTHERLAND
We now approach a period of most intense interest in the history of education. Wycliffe is often referred to as the “morning star of the Reformation.” One hundred and fifty years before the great sunrise appeared that herald of the morning, and as surely as the morning star, in the still darkness, tells of the coming day, so surely did Wycliffe and the principles advocated by him foretell an intellectual revolution. The Reformation of the sixteenth century awoke the slumbering faculties of man, and reanimated that educational system of heavenly birth which through the long night of papal darkness had slumbered, awaiting the resurrection morn. The rays of light shining through the Reformers accomplished God’s purpose. The voice was heard. The “come forth” met with a response, and tho, like Lazarus of old, they came forth from the tomb wrapped in grave clothes, yet to man was given the opportunity to release and send forth to the world these reborn ideas. The world itself responded as the wave of light swept over it.
Oxford and Cambridge, the two great universities of England, while as schools taking no part in the Reformation principles, yet harbored within their walls men, who, either from their surrounding atmosphere, or in spite of it, became heralds of advanced thought. Likewise France and Germany at the same time gave birth to minds which stand in the forefront as educators. Never since has the world been without some strict adherents to true principles of education. So closely in point of time are these men connected with the era that witnessed the development of our own government that we cannot do otherwise than notice the important part played by education in its development.
The sturdy Puritans of Miles Standish type were descendants of the Lollards or followers of Wycliffe. Forced from England because of their religious convictions and the pressure brought to bear in the opposite direction by the monarch, they emigrated to Holland. To them a religious training was the uppermost thought. Bunyan, in his world-famed “Pilgrim’s Progress,” but reflected the religious cast of the Puritan mind. Protestantism engendered a love for freedom of thought which made universal education necessary. Holland afforded poor facilities for Christian training of English youth, and it was with this desire in mind, as well as a determination to establish for themselves a government where they were at liberty to worship as they pleased, that the Mayflower bore its burden of human souls to the bleak New England shores, and made men stout-hearted enough to endure its hardships for the sake of Christianity and Christian education.
True, religious liberty to many a hardy Puritan meant a Puritan theocracy, and freedom of conscience meant to believe with the Congregational Church; and in this narrow view lay the danger. That system which should have been entirely free from any taint or bias, almost without exception failed to be realized. Had the educational system remained pure enough to reflect the heaven above it, there would have been established on the virgin soil of America an institution which would have henceforth swayed governments. With a fountain head in the snows of Lebanon, let the course lie whithersoever it might, there would have been a neverfailing source of strength and life. It would have been for this nation as when Christ walked amid the filth of earth, but partook not of His surroundings. One hand was on the throne of God—a current of life swept through His being which cast disease from the leprous man and sin from the hardened heart. I repeat, that if the true, unadulterated system of teaching could have taken root in America, it would have sent forth a stream of life so strong that corrupt governments, vile society, the poverty and degradation of city slums, the vice and turmoil upon which heaven is now obliged to gaze, would have been impossibilities. Strong, perhaps, is the statement, but based as it is on the Word of God and backed by the principles which uphold His throne, we cannot draw any other conclusion.
That a start was made in this direction is evidenced by the early history of Harvard and Yale. Of Harvard it is said: “It must be remembered that for sixty years the institution was little more than a training-school for ministers, managed as a theological seminary, having religion of a more or less defined type as its basis and chief object.” However, Professor Emerson writes: “It is one of the most remarkable things in the history of Harvard, that, in all the constitutions of the college, there is nothing illiberal or sectarian; nothing to check the freest pursuit of truth in theological opinions, and in everything else.” “The Bible was systematically studied for the entire three years (of a course), Ezra, Daniel, and the New Testament being specified.” This but shows the tenor of thought—the basic principle with men who favored education in general, not alone college courses.
The results of this trend of thought met with an embodiment in the men who formed the convention which gave birth to our national Constitution, the first and greatest Protestant republican government the sun had shone upon. Should you suggest that of the fifty-five who composed this assembly but twenty-nine were college men, the principle is nevertheless true, and that it may be seen we need but catch a glimpse of some things which at this period were going on in educational circles in Europe.
We are fully aware of the fact that the early Reformers found their strength in the Scriptures, and that their translation and subsequent use for educational purposes was the impelling power in the growth of education. Rollin, the well-known writer of ancient history, was also an educator, and his “Treatise on Studies” clearly shows the tenor of thought among those who fully grasped the situation. We let him speak:—
What is a Christian teacher, charged with the education of the young?—He is a man in whose hands Jesus Christ has placed a certain number of children whom He has redeemed by His blood, in whom He lives as His temple, whom He regards as His members, as His brothers, as His co-heirs, of whom He wishes to make kings and priests who will reign and serve God with Him and by Him through all eternity. And for what purpose has He confided children to him? Is it just to make poets, orators, philosophers, and scholars of them? Who would dare say or even think that? It is for the purpose of preserving in them the precious and inestimable gift of innocence which He has impressed upon their souls by baptism—for the purpose of making true Christians of them. This is the end of education and all the rest holds the place of means.
When a teacher has asked and received of Jesus Christ, for the management of others and his own salvation, the spirit of wisdom and knowledge, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of learning and piety, and above all, the spirit of fear of the Lord, there is nothing further to be said to him; the spirit is an internal teacher that dictates and instructs in everything, and that will on every occasion show him his duties and give him wisdom to perform them. A great indication that one has received it is when he feels an ardent zeal for the salvation of children; when he is touched by their dangers; when he is sensible to their faults; when he experiences something of the tenderness and solicitude that Paul felt for the Galatians.
I cannot forbear also quoting briefly from the work of another European educator, which clearly shows the atmosphere pervading some parts of this educational world in the early days of our history. August Hermann Francke was made professor of Greek and Oriental languages in the University of Halle in 1691. Speaking of a previous experience he says: “This reflection made me desire that God would make me worthy to do something for the improvement of schools and education.” What he did we learn from Painter, “History of Education,” pp. 241, 242:—
In Halle he accomplished a great work, which stands in educational history almost without a parallel. The beginning was very humble. The poor were accustomed to assembly on Thursday before the parsonage to receive alms. The thought occurred to Francke that the opportunity might be improved for religious instruction. He invited the crowd of young and old into his house, and along with bread he administered spiritual food. He learned the condition of the poorer classes, and his heart was touched by their ignorance and need. He deprived himself of comforts to administer to their necessities. He solicited aid from his friends, and hung up a poor-box to receive contributions. One day he found in it the sum of seven florins, the gift of a benevolent woman. With the joy of faith he exclaimed: “That is a splendid capital, with which I must accomplish something useful; I will begin a school for the poor!” Books were immediately bought, and a needy student of the university engaged to teach the children two hours each day. The undertaking prospered; the parsonage soon became too small; more commodious quarters had to be engaged. With increasing wants came enlarged contributions, and Francke continued to develop his work till it at length assumed immense proportions.
Some principles of which the world has today to a great degree lost sight were strongly advocated in those days when our public school system was in its formative stage. Francke further states:—
Youth needs pleasure and recreation. This it finds partly in physical exercise, partly in pleasant and at the same time useful employments, especially in mechanical employments; partly in the examination of new and interesting objects of nature and art. In all instruction we must keep the pupil’s station and future calling in mind, but to all classes alike is piety necessary. Hence it must remain in all schools the chief matter, the principal lesson in the instruction of those who are destined to unprofessional employments and trades. The most important thing after religion is an acquaintance with the indispensable arts of reading, writing, and reckoning; but the elements of other branches of knowledge should not be neglected, especially the elements of natural science, geography, history, and government, which, however, are to be brought forward incidentally and later.
However, this does not prove the universality of these noble ideas. Europe had traveled often in circles. She was again making the round. And while the shock of the sixteenth-century Reformation for a time threw her out of the accustomed path, the circle, tho a little larger in circumference perhaps, had the same center, and had always to resist that strong centripetal force which tended ever to narrow and weaken. Paganism, rechristened Papacy, still held her5hand upon the mainspring of European civilization, and gradually the tide turned in her favor.
Free America began sending her sons of liberty to the Old World to complete their education. In those institutions into which, at most, only the faint rays of progress had shone, they sat at the feet of learned doctors, imbibed their philosophy, took their degrees, and returned to America, to relegate first to a secondary position, then to the shelf, those simpler forms of education which had at first made our noblest sons of liberty. The die was cast. The germ once planted grew. No wonder that to-day as a nation we have lost the enviable position formerly held among nations; no wonder we see everywhere the vain attempt to restore the lost life.
Israel was once in the same position. Perhaps it had gone a little farther, for she was not able to cope with surrounding nations. The Leader of Israel pointed out the remedy. The adoption of a correct system of instruction again placed the nation in the lead. If our educational institutions are to blame for national decay, is it not time to turn from our course, and demand a reform? How could it be done? Return to Bible principles, were it possible as a nation to do so, and we would take the position once held in the world by Jerusalem; nay more, we could then with truth preach the millennium as vainly heralded from popular pulpits, for ours would be an eternal government, and the King of kings would here sit upon the throne of David. E. A. SUTHERLAND.