Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Jun 2, 1904
Scripture References
A two-cent tract, which is in reality “truth in a nut-shell.” Its 32 pages treat Bible subjects in a brief and concise manner. It states plainly the position taken, quoting extensively from the Scripture for proof. The following subjects receive full attention: The Scriptures, The Prophecies, Second Advent, Resurrection, Inheritance of the Saints, Millennium, Law of God, The Sabbath, First Day of the Week, Immortality, Spiritualism, Nature of Man, Destiny of the Wicked, Soul and Spirit, Hell, Two Covenants, etc.
Special price, 100 copies, postpaid, $1.30.
Introduction Slips
Work With the Family Bible Teacher
Made Still Easier
A FEW days ago one of our ministers, who is using the Family Bible Teacher quite extensively, wrote the following letter to the Southern Publishing Association, the publishers of these studies:—
“I am enclosing you a little circular [printed] which I prepared this week to be given out with the first lesson of the course for our use here. It saves doing much talking at the door in introducing the work; besides, it relieves the people from the impression that perhaps after a time a bill may be presented for payment, and at the same time it reminds all that they will be permitted to donate to the work if they choose to do so. I feel confident that good results will follow. . . .”
“We are busy opening up our work here, and are having some encouraging experiences.”
This is the circular,—
The Family Bible Teacher
This is the name of an important course of Bible readings embracing twenty-eight printed lessons for home study. Beginning with the foundation principles of Christianity, the lessons gradually advance in a systematic way until many of the most interesting and important Bible doctrines are covered.
A feature of special interest in the course is the study of the prophecies which relate to the second coming of Christ, eleven lessons being devoted to this inspiring and soul-thrilling subject.
The lessons are short and to the point, and afford a rare opportunity for busy people to avail themselves of the benefits to be derived from a systematic study of God’s Word.
That rich and poor might share alike in the benefits of this most excellent course of Bible study, the lessons will be given to each family free of charge.
Those who wish to help bear the expense of this work are invited to contribute to its support from time to time as they may feel impressed; all such offerings, be they ever so small, are most thankfully received.
The usual method is to study ONE LESSON EACH WEEK until the course is completed. To obtain the most permanent good, each text should be looked up and carefully studied from the Bible. Those who desire further information on any Bible subject, are invited to be perfectly free to ask questions. Should any desire full sets of the lessons to give to their friends, the same may be obtained from the distributor upon request.
Believing that this little announcement would be helpful to new workers especially, some are now being printed, and will be furnished at small cost to those who desire them. By using these introduction slips those who have had no experience whatever in missionary work can do effectual service in carrying the truth to others.
Wherever a tent is to be pitched during the summer, much better results can be expected if such efforts are preceded by the free distribution of the Family Bible Teacher. When people become interested in the message from reading, there is always greater interest in hearing the living preacher, and they are better enabled to understand the truths that may be presented from the pulpit. In circulating the Family Bible Teacher all may have a part.
Lessons may be ordered through your State tract Society. The price of the complete set, postpaid, is only 10 cents, with discount when ordered in quantities. When ordering, ask for circular, “Family Bible Teacher and Suggestions for Its Use,” which also tells how the work may be made self-supporting.
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Give to Your Friends
One of the following list of publications; and by themselves, in peace and quiet, they can study “what saith the Scripture” on the various points of present truth.
With many persons in presenting a subject it is necessary to give full Bible quotations after each question, with historical facts, etc., relating thereto; with others something not so exhaustive will suffice; while with still others a tract, simply referring the reader to different scriptures covering the points mentioned, is sufficient. Any of the publications given below, handed to honest souls, will direct them to the light, where verbal argument might harden the heart to opposition.
Bible Readings for the Home Circle
Contains more than 150 Bible readings by more than a score of Bible students, and answers nearly three thousand questions on religious subjects, practical, historical, and prophetical, quoting directly from the Scriptures, from history, and the writing of eminent commentators of modern times. Bound as follows:—
Cloth, plain, $1.00
Cloth, marbled edges, 2.00
Cloth, gilt edges, 2.50
Library, marbled edges, 3.00
Half Morocco, marbled edges, 3.50
Full Morocco, gilt edges, 4.25
Helps to Bible Study
Lately revised and illustrated, making an attractive volume. Contains about forty Bible readings for individual and family use, covering the most important subjects pertaining to the spiritual welfare and salvation of mankind.
Bound in cloth cover, 50 cents
Bound in paper cover, 25 cents
The Bible Text Book; A Pocket Edition
A practical compendium of studies on Bible subjects, by Prof. O. A. Johnson, being the gist of a course in Bible study at one of our Western colleges. Also contains charts, general index to Bible subjects, table of contents, etc.—everything to make it a handy and convenient volume to carry at all times for Bible reference. Bound in two styles.
Cloth, 30 cents
Leather, 50 cents
Our Paradise Home
In its new presentation cover is one of the prettiest small books published, and would be readily accepted by any friend as a desirable present. Neither is the cover alone the attraction, for the contents tell of the beautiful things God has prepared for those who choose to love him, and of what he has sacrificed in their behalf, and what will be their eternal reward. Price, 75 cents, post-paid. Also in board covers, 25 cents; cloth, 50 cents.
New Testaments for Sabbath-School Scholars
By Editor
We have just received a stock of New Testaments in leatherette binding of various colors, which make acceptable presents to S. S. scholars, each book being of a different color. Children appreciate these.
Price, 30 cents each, or $3.50 per dozen, postpaid.
New Thin Edition of Steps to Christ
“So pretty and neat, and convenient to carry, is the new red Russia leather edition of “Steps to Christ,” says one, “that I feel like reading it again.” This you can not appreciate until you see the book; and like the “old, old story” its words of counsel and encouragement are always a source of comfort to saint and sinner.
You will want it. Price, 60 cents, postpaid.
The Year Book Will Tell
AFTER asking your friends, or spending time in hunting up your old correspondence, if you fail to find an important item with reference to denominational proceedings, consult the Year Book; it will tell. It will furnish the lost address. It will tell you where our sanitariums and treatment rooms are, with the officers in charge; also where to find a vegetarian restaurant. It will inform you with reference to proceedings of State, Union, and General Conferences, as well as refresh your memory as to what has been done in your own conference. It contains valuable information with reference to the population of conferences, number of churches, etc. In fact, the Year Book is indispensable. Order to-day. You need it.
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.
Editorial
By L. A. S.
Behold He Cometh
“The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly.” “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.” “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” “Yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” “Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”
“Behold I come! the Saviour cries,
On wings of love I fly;
So come, dear Lord, my soul replies,
And bring salvation nigh.”
A Certain Sound
“If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?” 1 Cor. 14: 8. We are at the very climax of the great battle between the powers of good and of evil, the climax of the great controversy between Christ and Satan, when the devil has come forth with great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time. How essential, therefore, that just at this time every soul should be fully prepared for the conflict. Yet never was there a time when in the camp of the professed followers of Christ the trumpet was given such an uncertain sound. Never was the air so full of contradictory theories, of criticisms of God’s Word, of doubts, of speculations, of voices crying “Lo, here!” and “Lo, there!” of the utterances of false christs and false prophets, all calculated to bewilder and deceive souls whose destinies are about to be decided. Men are speculating as to what the mission of the Christian church is, or whether it has any mission at all, or will much longer be needed in the world. Now let every one who knows the truth for this time give the trumpet a clear, certain sound. “Lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” We have a clear, definite message, with God’s plain Word as its authority. The only reason people can not see it is that they have been made drunken with the wine of spiritual Babylon—the errors which have come from the substitution of human traditions and the commandments of men for the truths of inspiration. The warning is now to be given, the call to the marriage supper is to be sounded, in a voice that will rise above the confused din and medley of the earthly babel. The third angel cries “with a loud voice,” and is joined by another angel who cries “mightily with a strong voice.” Strength, clearness, authority, must now mark the presentation of God’s saving truth.
L. A. S.
The Bible and the Higher Critics
By L. A. S.
RECENTLY there was held in New York City the first convention of the American Bible League, the object of which is “to organize the friends of the Bible to promote a more reverential and constructive study of the sacred volume, and to maintain the historic faith of the church in its divine inspiration and supreme authority as the Word of God.”
The league aims chiefly to oppose the work of the “higher critics.” The president of the league, Rev. William Phillips Hall, in an address stated it was the purpose of the convention to set forth and prove “that the Bible is now being subjected to a scholastic assault of unparalleled danger; that the practical consequences of this assault are in evidence in the demoralization of conduct and education, and in evil influences on the ministry and missions; that the assault is based upon groundless claims of a false scholarship, and that the methods proposed by the league will fully meet the imperative needs of the situation, and lead to a recovery of faith in the Bible as the word of God, and to the enthronement of our Lord Jesus Christ in the hearts of men.”
A further statement of the purpose for which the league was formed was given by another speaker, Rev. D. S. Gregory. It owed its existence, he said, to the present death struggle between faith and disbelief centering in the Bible, and involving the question of Bible or no Bible. The new view treated the Bible as a piece of literature, and put evolution in the place of creation.
Among other speakers at the convention was President Patton, of Princeton University, who took strong ground against the doctrines of the higher critics, who had, he declared, entirely sacrificed the old Christianity. “To them,” he said, “there was no primeval innocence, no fall, no redemption, no incarnation. They hold these things not to be doctrines, but pretty teachings, making up what is really nothing more than a metaphysic philosophy.”
As an illustration of the methods of reasoning employed by the higher critics, another speaker, Rev. Dr. Schmauk, gave the following:—
I desire to prove to you that New York as a city never existed. On the three hundred million square feet within her boundaries the countless millions of people in the past never have lived. I desire to prove also that New York never existed, because geology shows she was thrice submerged, and her people possessed no aquatic ability; therefore she never existed. She never existed because she never had any gardens. Fourthly, from the records I find that in New York there was a political power named Tammany.
In other records I find accounts of another power—Reform. Therefore, the records are wrong. New York never existed. She was a figment of the imagination.
Now that is internal reasoning—as you can imagine a sage three thousand years hence reasoning. This evidence that Manhattan Island never had existence4is of the same sort and type that some men are using to prove that Moses, Abraham, and the twelve sons of Jacob never existed.
The Sun says editorially that the Bible League “will render a good service if it forces an open division between believers in the Bible as the word of God and critics of the Bible as a compilation of documents of no higher than merely human authority. Then there will remain to it the task of meeting the evidence on which the critics rely in support of a position which practically destroys the supernatural basis of all religion.”
The Independent, which stands by the higher critics, does not approve of the league or its methods of work. In its view the league “does not represent a healthy or courageous attitude toward the Bible.” “Why,” it inquires, “should any lover of truth be afraid of investigation, no matter how radical? Whoever knew truth worsted in a fair encounter? If these men do not think the conclusions reached by nine tenths of our Biblical scholars and ninety-nine hundredths of our scientific men are true, let them meet the enemy in the fair field of discussion; one David . . . could overthrow the whole army if armed with the sling of good argument and genuine scholarship.”
The fault with the higher critics, and with the view that the higher criticism ought to be met with “good argument and genuine scholarship,” is that Christianity does not rest upon the basis of human wisdom or scholarship. All the argument in the world, scientific or historical or otherwise, over the points raised by these critics, would lead to nothing, because men can not be led to the truth of God in that way. The Lord never commissioned his servants to argue people into the truth. He has not made the knowledge of him dependent on the ability of the human mind to grasp the subtleties of logic and follow out the thread of a fine argument. The apostle Paul, who was a learned man and could speak from the standpoint of such, discovered and declared the truth that God had “made foolish the wisdom of this world,” and that “the world by wisdom knew not God,” but by that which was to the world foolishness—“the foolishness of preaching”—God saved them who believed. The Jews, he said, “require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom.” The Greeks were great reasoners; they relied on “good argument and genuine scholarship;” but it never led them to Christ. “But we preach Christ crucified,” wrote the apostle, “unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” I Cor. I: 21-24.
Those who were called, however they may have thought and reasoned before, when they received Christ by faith, found themselves possessed of the wisdom of God and the power of God, and that was to them, and to honest hearts about them, the all-convincing evidence of the truth of what the apostle had preached. Jesus Christ came into the world not to argue with men, but to manifest the power of godliness. “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” His life was a demonstration of the truth of his words. And his life, in his followers,—the mystery and miracle of God dwelling in human flesh, conquering the carnal propensities, turning the individual from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God, revealing a life which no temptations, no trials, no darkness, no difficulties, could conquer; a life of unselfish love and service for all mankind,—that life has been from his time down to the present, the light of men, the invincible argument for the truth of the old Christianity. It is the life of faith that tells the story. The higher critics will never overthrow the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. They will never be able to account for the lives which have pushed Christianity into the farthest and darkest corners of the earth, and have wrought the miracle of modern missions. They are the fruit of the old Christianity, and they testify of the character of the tree. And by the same test—the character of its fruit—the higher criticism is found wanting.
A Christianity which these human critics could find no fault with—one which they could examine, comprehend, and approve by their own reason—would represent human wisdom and nothing more. The god of such a Christianity would be divested of all supernatural power, and would be altogether such an one as themselves. Without supernatural power there would be no saving power, and thus in such a Christianity there would be no salvation. The old Christianity reveals “Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God,” which saves lost souls. L. A. S.
Can We Understand Prophecy?
By L. A. S.
The leading Methodist organ in this country, the New York Christian Advocate, says it is impossible to know anything about the time of Christ’s promised return to this earth. After speaking of some “latter-day prophets” who have attracted more or less attention within recent years by their claims and predictions based professedly on the inspired writings, among these being at the present time the pastor of the First Baptist Church of New York City, Rev. J. M. Haldeman, the Advocate says:—
After watching the rise and fall of prophets of the Haldeman type, and a careful study of the Scriptures, of two propositions we feel certain:—
First, that no man can prove by any alleged correspondence between contemporary events and what is written in the Bible, whether Christ is personally to come within one thousand or ten thousand years of the present date.
A great deal is included in this statement; more we think than the Advocate would care to maintain. It casts a serious reflection upon the wisdom and veracity of the Author of inspired prophecy.
The Bible, it is to be noted, is full of prophecies concerning Christ’s second coming. The very first prophecy that we have record of after the fall and expulsion from Eden, was a prophecy of the second advent, made by “Enoch, the seventh from Adam.” Jude 14, 15. The very last prophecy of the inspired Word is, “Surely I come quickly;” and between these two are other prophecies almost innumerable of this transcendent event, testifying to the great importance; God has attached to a knowledge of it on the part of his church. Are we then to conclude that notwithstanding all these we can not really know anything definitely about it?
For example, our Lord himself, in answer to the question of his disciples concerning the signs of his coming, mentioned a number of prominent signs, and said: “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; when his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that He is near, even at the doors.” See Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21. It is absolutely certain from these texts that the Saviour designed his church should know the time when his coming was nigh at hand. He left also the solemn admonition: “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.” “Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the Master of the house cometh, . . . lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.” The evil servant who should begin to say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming, and should grow careless and worldly, would be taken by surprise by the coming of the day of the Lord, and would have his portion with the hypocrites and unbelievers. All this is most positive evidence that the Christian church is to know when the day of the Lord is near, and its members are responsible for the attitude they assume toward that event, whether of watching for it, or of treating it as an event still far away in the indefinite future.
“Ye, brethren,” wrote Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians, “are not in darkness, that that day should overtake5you as a thief.” Those addressed in this statement were not the Thessalonian believers, for Paul in his second letter told them explicitly that the day of Christ was not then at hand, and would not come until after the “falling away,” which was to reveal the “man of sin.” But Paul does plainly say that the Christian church will not be in the dark about the time of the Lord’s coming when it is at hand. To be in darkness, and be overtaken by that day as by a thief, is plainly set forth as a condition displeasing to God, and that will shut away salvation from the soul.
“Unto them that look for Him” (Christ), wrote Paul to the Hebrews, “shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” The true people of God will at the time of Christ’s return be looking for him.
And could any one acquainted with the character of God and the history of his dealings with mankind and his purpose for his people, possibly suppose that he would have his church in ignorance of the time of such an event as the return of their Redeemer to the earth in the glory of his second advent, to reward his saints and execute judgment upon the nations? Would God have his people come up to the time of this most stupendous of all events since time began,—an event of such transcendent interest and consequence to them and to all the world,—entirely ignorant that such an event was to occur? Can any one suppose that the Saviour, when he comes to his redeemed ones in his beauty and glory, would not be pleased to have them expecting him and waiting for his appearing?
And can we consistently suppose that with the Word of God filled so full of prophecies concerning the second advent, and of warnings against being overtaken unexpectedly by the day of the Lord, now, nearly two thousand years after the latest of these prophecies was written, nothing can be known as to whether that event will take place ten years hence or ten thousand years hence? If such a supposition be true, then God is inconsistent, and his word is a failure. What are the prophecies of Christ’s advent for, if not to be understood?
The history of the church from the first advent down to the present is marked out in Bible prophecy, and by those prophecies we may know our location upon the stream of time and our proximity to the end. That is what prophecy is for. The signs leading up to the time of the second advent—such as the darkening of the sun and moon, the falling of the stars, “distress of nations, with perplexity,” the heaping together of earthly treasure by the rich, described by James, the running to and fro and the increase of knowledge, foretold by Daniel, the decrease of the Ottoman power described in Daniel 11, and others that might be mentioned, have been fulfilled, and can be pointed to as plain evidences that the day of the Lord is very much less than a thousand years distant, if the Word of God means anything at all. If these prophecies have not been fulfilled by events of recent history, then the fulfilment of prophecy can never be known and understood by human minds, and the prophetic portions of God’s Word may be cast aside by the church as of no practical importance, and we may conclude that God either put them there by mistake or to amuse himself and mystify human minds. But let no man charge the Omniscient with folly.
There is one prophecy in particular to which we would cite the Advocate as bearing directly on the question whether present-day events correspond with what is written in the Bible concerning Christ’s return. It is a prophecy uttered by Christ himself. “This gospel of the kingdom,” he said, “shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” Does the Advocate see no signs to-day of the spread of the gospel to all districts of the earth? Does it see nothing of significance in the wonderful multiplication of Bibles and their publication in almost every known tongue and distribution in every land by the British and Foreign and American Bible Societies and other missionary agencies? Does it not see just at this time Tibet, the last stronghold of heathenism, about to be entered by the Christian missionary bearing the glad tidings of the kingdom of Christ? Does it not see Roman Catholic strongholds in South America, the Philippines, and in other places, shaking off Rome’s yoke and opening the door to the gospel? And has the Advocate taken note that a people proclaiming the messages of the three angels of Revelation 14,—the hour of God’s judgment, the fall of spiritual Babylon, and the warning against the image and mark of the “beast” power, preparatory to the visitation upon men of the seven last plagues, are going to every people and nation on the earth, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom? When this proclamation shall have been completed, then the words of the prophecy will be fulfilled, and then, as surely as God and the Bible are true, the end shall come.
There have been and are many false christs, but there is nevertheless a true Christ. There are many fanciful and false prophecies, but there are also true prophecies. Many false religions may claim the Bible as their authority, but the Word of God is true, and is given us to be understood. The counterfeit should not lead us to discard the genuine. Christ is coming again; the day of his return is at hand. And blessed are they who discern the signs of the times and are waiting and watching for his coming.
L. A. S.
Held Open for Us
By W. A. S.
As the angels hold the winds of universal strife, they are holding open the doors for us to enter every nation and tribe with this message. We must not forget it for a moment. The angels are holding back the crisis that the final reformation may accomplish its work. God has commissioned us to carry this sealing message of Sabbath reform. As angels that excel in strength exert their might to hold the doors open, their eyes are upon us. They look to see us enter in.
Every hour’s delay means untold addition to the woes of this suffering world. The only hope of the world is the coming of Christ to end it all. In order that not one honest soul should be left unwarned, God commissions those who know this truth to go out quickly and tell it to every kindred and tongue.
Lately we have seen how easily an untoward incident could set all China and all Asia ablaze; and that might easily mean the whole world. But thus far influences from above have led the nations to join in restricting the area of strife. We pray for a little more time in which to get workers into Asia, where half the world lies in darkness. Thus far we have supplied that vast continent with workers at the rate of one minister to one hundred million souls—as though we had one minister to look after all the United States, with Mexico and Canada included. Yet what meaning can there be in our prayers to God to hold the winds a little longer unless there is in our hearts a determination that by his grace we will enter the open doors?
The angels talked with Lot about the need of haste. They warned him of the judgment just overhanging. But so slow he was to realize the crisis that had come, that they had to take him by the arm and hasten him out to save his life. Now the great world-crisis is at hand, and Heaven urges us to go out quickly with the warning message. Surely we must pray the Lord to restore unto us the years that the locust hath eaten. We might years ago have had at least a few workers in the great fields, learning the languages, and by this time prepared to lead our forces in. But we waited.
Now God in mercy gives evidence of his willingness to restore lost years. He is bringing to the truth some who have the languages in the great fields. He is blessing our workers sent out so tardily, in their efforts to sound abroad the truth. We can pray in all faith that the winds may still be held. But never a prayer must ascend in this matter that does not mean a faithful, unwearying effort to enter the open doors without delay.
W. A. S.
Sunday Baseball and Religious Liberty
RECENTLY an effort has been made by the New York Sabbath Committee, an association of clergymen, to prohibit Sunday baseball playing in Brooklyn. Several players were arrested, and the case was brought before Justice Gaynor, of the higher court of Brooklyn, who dismissed it on the ground that such games, when played at a distance from residences or churches, did not constitute a disturbance of the repose or religious liberty of the community, as had been alleged in the complaint under which the proceedings were taken.
Justice Gaynor gave a decision covering the case, in which he set forth the fact that the American government is a government of laws, and not of men, and severely arraigned the police for having repeatedly set themselves above the law. It was decided sixteen years ago in New York, he said, that Sunday baseball playing is not a crime in itself, and becomes such only when it interrupts the repose and religious liberty of the community, and this decision is binding to-day. It is necessary to show that such an interruption has been occasioned; but the facts in connection with this case showed that no one complained of any disturbance, while the throng which assembled to witness the game testified clearly as to the sentiment of the community on the question. If the game was a disturbance to them, then evidently they desired to be disturbed. In conclusion Justice Gaynor said:—
It is practically the unanimous sentiment of the religious and God-fearing people of the community that it is far better for our growing boys and young men who have to work indoors all the week for a living to go into the fields on Sunday after attending church, and participate in or witness good, elevating, healthy physical exercise, than to be driven instead to go to dance gardens, drinking places, pool-rooms, and worse places; and there is no one trying to stir up some obscure or obsolete statute against that opinion except those who rule the police.
At the instigation of the Sabbath Committee the case will be carried to the appellate court, where the committee hope to have Justice Gaynor’s decision overruled. According to the New York Times, “Mr. Clarke was influenced to take this course, according to his own statement, by the visit of several ministers to his office yesterday morning, who asked him to proceed with the case. They argued that the playing of baseball on Sunday took young men away from places of worship.”
This statement expresses the real opposition of the clergymen to Sunday ball playing and the real reason of their support of Sunday laws. They see in Sunday games and Sunday work something which will interfere with the religious observance of the day. They would have a civil law to prevent young people from being lured away from church services on Sunday. Why not also a law which would operate to entice young people to the church? or even compel them to go to church? If the principle is just in the first case, it is just in the last, for it is the same principle throughout. But this principle was repudiated when the American government adopted the Protestant principle of the separation of church and state.
Protestants and Sabbath Observance
the PROTESTANT pastors admit that Protestants do not keep the Sabbath. This charge against Protestants was recently made by Rev. C. F. J. Wrigley, of Brooklyn, in an essay read before the alumni of the General Theological Seminary. He is quoted as saying:—
“How can we say that one law is to be kept and not another? Nevertheless, men are not willing to put the law of the Sabbath in the same category as the laws against murder and theft.”
In the next sentence he stated, though unconsciously, an important truth. “It is a question,” he said, “whether the Church of Rome, in giving an emphasis to the early Sunday mass, and allowing the rest of the day to be used for recreation and amusement, is not responsible for the present laxity of Sunday observance. Some of our own churches follow similar teachings, and share the responsibility.”
The complicity of Rome in the evil of present-day Sabbath desecration is a fact worthy of much more attention than most Protestants have heretofore given it. The example of Rome in the disregard of the Sabbath has been followed by Protestants, or, rather, the leading Protestant bodies have not yet separated from Rome in this important particular, and if they would but realize it, have nothing but the authority and example of Rome to base their Sunday observance on. The papacy has substituted Sunday for the Sabbath as the mark of its spiritual power and authority, and Protestants, in following the papacy, have cut loose from the authority of God and Scripture, and have no good foundation on which to stand in the matter of Sabbath observance. Of this grave error the present condition of things is a direct and natural result. The remedy lies in a return to the Word of God as the sole rule of Christian practise.
Note and Comment
At the eighth annual banquet of the Alumni Association of Gonzaga (Catholic) College, held recently in Washington, the Hon. Bourke Cockran, the prominent politician, voiced Catholic sentiment and expectations thus:—
There was a time when a Catholic was considered as an enemy of the flag, but now the people realize that a Catholic can be a loyal citizen. In the Catholic faith alone remains the safety of the republic; and when the great body of the people will have learned this, the country will become Catholic, and remain Catholic until the end of time.
L. A. S
By L. A. S.
In a recent issue of the New York Sun, the fundamental doctrines of Christian Science are stated as follows by Mr. Richard P. Verrall, who, being a member of the “Christian Science Publication Committee,” may be presumed to speak with authority:—
In the Scriptural account of creation we read: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” And after a detailed account of all the objects of creation in their chronological order, we are told in the last verse of the same chapter: “And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the hosts of them.”
Upon this foundation, Mrs. Eddy builds her superstructure, and teaches that all evil, and its manifestations, are untrue. Christian Science healing is demonstrated by a denial of the evidences of disease, followed by an emphatic affirmation of man’s perfection as the image and likeness of God.
The above comparisons are intended to bring out the fact that Christian Science, instead of regarding man as an object of psychological evolution, is striving to reveal him as God created him in the beginning. This, Mrs. Eddy teaches, can only be done by gaining a victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil, in the manner outlined by Jesus in his sermon on the mount.
The five physical senses are shown to be the avenues of temptation by which mortals are drawn aside from the paths of virtue, and thereby imprisoned in the dungeon of sickness and sin. Our hope of salvation is further shown to be in the restoration of our spiritual birthright, by means of which we can prove our power to become the sons of God. It will thus be seen that Christian Science, instead of attempting to spiritualize the physical universe, is aiming to reveal the kingdom of God and the brotherhood of man.
The entire absence in this of anything to suggest man’s utter dependence upon Jesus for salvation, and of anything that exalts Jesus as the Saviour of sinners, stamps it plainly as being inspired by the spirit of antichrist. It is one of the world’s many schemes for doing away with faith in the atoning work of Christ, and making fallen man his own savior.
As is pointed out by another writer in the same issue of the Sun, “Christian Science and the New Thought tend to give people hearts of flint,” since “they do not believe in being ill, hence have no sympathy for the sick.” This again stamps these systems as being foreign to the spirit of Him who “is touched with the feeling of our infirmities,” who sought out the sick and suffering that he might manifest his sympathy with them and relieve their sorrows.
L. A. S
The Road Leads Home
O PILGRIM, as you journey, do you ever gladly say,
In spite of heavy burdens and the roughness of the way,
That it does not surely matter,— all the strange and bitter stress,
Heat and cold, and toil and sorrow,— ’twill be healed with blessedness,
For the road leads home?
Home! the safe and blissful shelter where is glad and full content,
And companionship of kindred; and the treasures early rent
From your holding shall be given back more precious than before.
O, you will not mind the journey with such blessedness in store,
When the road leads home!
O, you will not mind the roughness nor the steepness of the way,
Nor the chill, unrested morning, nor the dreariness of the day;
And you will not take a turning to the left nor to the right,
But go straight ahead, nor tremble at the coming of the night,
For the road leads home.
And often for your comfort you will read the guide and chart,
It has wisdom for the mind and sweet solace for the heart;
It will serve you as a mentor, it will guide you sure and straight
All the time that you will journey, be the ending soon or late—
And the road leads home.