Review and Herald, Vol. 91, No. 39. (9/17/1914)

Review and Herald

Sep 17, 1914

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 17, 1914

What the President of the Republic of Cuba Thinks of “Liberty”

By Editor

REPUBLICA DE CUBA PRESIDENCIA

Havana, Cuba, September 3rd, 1914.

Dear Sir:-

I am in receipt of your esteemed favor of the 24th ultimo, and in compliance with your request to express my views on civil and religious freedom, I wish to state the following:

Religious liberty is the true basis of civil and political liberty and the best guarantee of peace and prosperity of the nations. Where conscience is not free; where mankind cannot freely worship the Supreme Creator in accordance with the credence they profess, it is impossible to enjoy personal freedom, nor freedom of the home nor of patrimony. The Liberty Magazine, devoted to the defense of these essential principles of civilization has my most heartfelt sympathies.

With the assurance of my most distinguished consideration, I remain, dear Sir, Yours very truly, President of the Republic of Cuba.

Mr. C. S. Longacre, Editor The Liberty Magazine, Washington, D. C.

What the President of the Republic of Cuba Thinks of “Liberty”

These words of President Menocal ring true. Other presidents and people of influence should have the privilege of reading Liberty and studying the noble religious liberty principles it advocates. “I will also give thee for a light . . . that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. . . . Kings shall see and arise.” Isa. 49: 6, 7. Let the light shine into the hearts of kings, queens, princes, presidents, chancellors, ambassadors, legislators, governors, generals, admirals, mayors, councilmen, educators, authors, teachers, clergymen, financiers, physicians, attorneys, sheriffs, wardens, editors, captains of industry, and all other molders of public opinion. Become a teacher of the teachers of the people. Let Liberty be your silent textbook. For $2.00 we will send this quarterly magazine to ten of these molders of public opinion for one year. Or $1.00 will pay for five yearly subscriptions. Send the names if you have them; if not, ask us to supply them. There is no better number to start these subscriptions with than the “Lincoln,” “Armageddon,” and “Church and State” number, just off the press. Send $2.00 for 50 or $1.00 for 20 copies of this truly great number. Address your tract society. Do it now. This “Lincoln” number is going fast.

THE WORK AND THE WORKERS

The supply of the “Mayflower” and “Statue of Liberty” issues of Liberty is exhausted. All subscriptions must now be started with the “Lincoln” number.

A superb three-color harvest scene appears on the October Life and Health cover. One can almost hear the rustle of the cornstalks as they are being loaded.

President Menocal was one of Cuba’s “leading men” to whom two sample copies of Liberty were sent through the courtesy of the executive committee of our Cuban Mission. See note on page 2 of REVIEW for August 20.

George Bancroft, the standard historian of America, says that “Lincoln took to heart the eternal truths of liberty, obeyed them as the commands of Providence, and accepted the human race as the judge of his fidelity.” See “Lincoln on Liberty” in the current number of Liberty, now ready.

Ask for the October or “School,” “Child Welfare,” “Anti-War,” “Medical Missionary,” “Healthful Cookery,” and “Questions and Answers” number of Life and Health. Filled with instructive cartoons and illustrations. To sell it, just name over these six special features. Send $2.00 for 50 or $1.00 for 20 copies today.

A prominent business man on Broadway, New York City, writes: “Inclosed herewith find my check to your order for the sum of $6.00, for which please enter 10 yearly subscriptions to your Protestant Magazine. Kindly let us know what number you start these subscriptions with.” We can no longer begin subscriptions with the August number, the supply being entirely exhausted.

“I am a locomotive engineer,” writes a man from Garretson, S. Dak., “and a reader of your Protestant Magazine. I like its style. Find $3.00 inclosed for the following five yearly subscriptions. These names belong to railroad men who have been interested by a sample magazine given them. Others, I believe, would subscribe if I could get time to see them.” This same amount also pays for ten half-year subscriptions.

John Hay, Lincoln’s private secretary, and, later, America’s great Secretary of State, estimates thus the depth of Lincoln’s character: “As, in spite of some rudeness, republicanism is the sole hope of a sick world, so Lincoln, with all his foibles, is the greatest character since Christ.” Don’t fail to read the “Lincoln,” “Armageddon,” and “Church and State” number of Liberty, just off the press. Sample copy, 10 cents. One year, 35 cents.

Rev. Herman Hallerberg, pastor of St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, Arlington, Nebr., writes: “Inclosed please find draft for $10.80, subscribed by the following eighteen pastors, who herewith order your Protestant Magazine through me. Will send in a number of renewals later on. With best wishes for the cause.” We are very grateful for the practical interest taken by so many stanch Protestant pastors in extending the influence of this fearless yet dignified magazine. To 10 addresses for six months, only $3.00.

Stephen A. Douglas, Lincoln’s political enemy and rival, said: “Lincoln is the honestest man I ever knew.” Read what the “great commoner” said about civil and religious liberty. See current “Liberty.”

The 20th Century Quarterly for September, 1914, the official organ of the International Reform Bureau, gives as one of its “seven great undertakings” a “movement to introduce ‘American Sabbath’ and other American institutions to Spanish America and the Philippines, following up Panama Canal opening.” A study of Liberty each quarter will help you to analyze and counteract these church-and-state-union movements. 35 cents a year.

Some of the articles and other features that appear in the “Lincoln,” “Armageddon,” and “Church and State” number of Liberty: “Lincoln on Liberty,” “Is This Armageddon?” “Story of the Star-Spangled Banner Anthem,” “President Nicholas Murray Butler on Dangers Threatening American Liberties,” “The American Constitution,” “The Practical Working of State Religion,” “Prohibition and Personal Liberty,” “California Struggle for Liberty Against Religious Zealots,” “Sunday-Law Agitation in California,” “Photo Reproduction of Letter From President of Cuba Approving of Liberty,” etc. Sells everywhere.

Faultless Before His Presence

By WORTHIE HARRIS HOLDEN

WORTHIE HARRIS HOLDEN

FAULTLESS before His presence, I, For grievous sin condemned to die, In garments pure and white arrayed, Nor by His Majesty dismayed, Who all my ransom paid.

Faultless before his throne! O, now No tainted thought should mark my brow, No treasured sin defile his name Of priceless purity I claim, Nor act defraud his fame!

'Tis for my joy; his standard high I ne'er could reach, howe'er I try; So round my will he hastes to wreathe His grace divine, and in me breathe A purpose to believe.

Faultless through Jesus' power and might, Spotless since he will purge me white, Cleansed in his healing found each day, Armed by his Word for every fray, To conquer all the way.

Portland, Oregon.

Unity of the Bible

By L. L. CAVINESS

L. L. CAVINESS

ONE of the remarkable characteristics of the collection of books comprised in our Bible is its unity. This does not always appear to the superficial reader.

“At first sight, and judged by an ordinary literary estimate, the Bible presents an appearance of being merely a large collection of heterogeneous writings. Historical records, ranging over many centuries, biographies, dialogues, anecdotes, catalogues of moral maxims, and accounts of social experiences, poetry, the most touchingly plaintive and the most buoyantly triumphant, predictions, exhortations, warnings, varying in style, in authorship, in date, in dialect, are thrown, as it seems, somewhat arbitrarily into a single volume. No stronger tie is supposed to have bound together materials so various and so ill-assorted than the interested or the too credulous industry of some clerical caste in a distant antiquity, or at best than such uniformity in the general type of thought and feeling as may naturally be expected to characterize the literature of a nation or of a race. But beneath the differences of style, of language, and of method, which are undeniably prominent in the sacred books, and which appear so entirely to absorb the attention of a merely literary observer, a deeper insight will discover in Scripture such a manifest unity of drift and purpose, both moral and intellectual, as to imply the continuous action of a single mind. To this unity Scripture itself bears witness.”—H. P. Liddon, “The Divinity of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,” London, Longmans, Green & Co., 1894, page 45.

When we consider the purpose of these writings, we find the cause of their unity:—

“It is primarily the record of God’s manifestation of himself in history as winning and ruling men. Its unity is to be found in the unity of God’s purpose. Or it may be said that its unity is to be found in its center, Jesus Christ. In him the Bible finds its unity. It is either the record of his life, the transcript of his revelation and its interpretation, or it is the promise and preparation of his life, illustrating how greatly men needed this revelation, and tracing the steps by which at last the crowning manifestation became possible. Each part of Scripture receives its place and function by its relation to Jesus Christ.”—Marcus Dods, “The Bible, Its Origin and Nature,” Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1905, page 27.

This underlying unity is one of the greatest proofs of the divine origin of the Bible. H. L. Hastings, the anti-infidel writer, has well expressed it:—

“Here is a book coming from all quarters, written by men of all classes, scattered through a period of fifteen hundred years; and yet this book is fitted together as a wondrous and harmonious whole. How was it done? ‘Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.’ One mind inspires the whole book, one voice speaks in it all, and it is the voice of God speaking with resurrection power.”—“Will the Old Book Stand?” page 20.

Let us study the divine Word more, that we may see the unity of God’s voice, which has been speaking to man throughout the past ages, and that we may also know his purposes and plans for the future.

Takoma Park, D. C.

God’s Time for Doing Things

By A. T. Robinson

A. T. ROBINSON

In the year 1844 the twenty-three hundred years of Daniel’s prophecy ended. That was God’s appointed time for the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary, or “the hour of his judgment.”

In 1844 the first angel’s message, based upon the darkening of the sun and moon and the falling of the stars,—signs given by our Saviour of the end of the world,—had been proclaimed. At that time the eyes of the generation then living upon the earth were directed toward those events as signs of the end. Our Saviour said, “Verily, I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” Matt. 24: 34.

In 1844 the last of the series of the seven-trumpet angels sounded. The solemn announcement comes down to us through the seer of Patmos that “in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God [the gospel] should be finished.” The sounding of each one of these seven-trumpet angels was the divine signal for the beginning of a series of events to occur in human history covering successive periods of time. The sounding of the seventh angel, in 1844, was the signal of a series of events beginning with the finishing of the gospel, and embracing the second coming of Christ, the first resurrection; the one thousand years’ reign of the saints in heaven, the descent of the holy city, the second resurrection, the destruction of the wicked, the purifying of the earth, and its becoming the eternal home of the redeemed.

God’s Work Always Done on Time

To Abraham, the promised father of the Israelitish nation, it was revealed that his seed would be sojourners and bondmen in the land of Egypt four hundred and thirty years, after which they were to return with great substance. When God’s clock of time had ticked off four centuries, through the birth and life experiences of Moses we discern clearly the shaping of human events preparatory to the fulfillment of the promised return. Notwithstanding all the

power and might of Pharaoh’s proud empire that battled against the fulfillment of that promised return, we have the inspired record that the exodus of the Israelitish millions from Egypt took place on schedule time. “Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.” Ex. 12: 40, 41.

Later in the history of that people, through the mouth of Jeremiah, the Lord declared that they would serve the king of Babylon seventy years, and that “after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.” Jer. 29: 10. Six hundred and six years before the birth of Christ, Nebuchadnezzar took Israel to Babylon, and God’s clock of time began ticking off the minutes, hours, days, months, years. And when the seventy years had been “accomplished,” like a great impassable mountain between God’s promise and its fulfillment, there had just come to the throne of the world’s empire a mighty heathen king, whose every interest was served by holding the Israelites in continued servitude. He had come to the throne the very year that the seventy years expired, so he must either be used as the instrument for the accomplishment of the promised return from the Babylonian captivity, or be removed out of the way.

But we have another inspired and inspiring record showing that the way was open exactly on time so that every Jew in Cyrus’s empire might hasten his steps toward his home city. “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, we and put it also in writing.” Ezra 1: 1. That wonderful decree, made by a heathen king against his own interests, provided that if a Jew anywhere in all his realm was too poor to return to Jerusalem, the governor of the province in which he lived should put his hand into the king’s treasury, and supply him with a beast to ride upon, money for the journey, and also money with which to make offerings to his God when he reached his home city.

Let us refresh our minds with that beautiful incident in the life of Christ when he sent two of his disciples out into the country to bring a colt, upon which he rode in kingly pomp into Jerusalem, amid shouts and hosannas, and with the way strewn with palm branches and the garments of the people. Christ said in response to the desire of the Pharisees that he rebuke his disciples and the children on account of the noise they were making, “I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.” Luke 19: 40. Why would the stones cry out in such haste? O, centuries before that day, the Lord, by the mouth of his prophet, had uttered these words, which for five hundred years had been awaiting the time of fulfillment: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.” Zech. 9: 9. If human lips had refused to shout at that time, God would have quickly given voice to inanimate nature.

When the time fixed in the councils of heaven for the accomplishment of God’s work upon the earth arrives, the agencies for its accomplishment are on hand, and all the powers of earth and hell combined cannot hinder that work.

God’s Work Always Begins Small

When the time drew near for the exodus movement, God chose as the human agent in its accomplishment a helpless infant, born under sentence of death, and through eighty years of miraculous deliverance and training, fitted him to be the leader in that great movement. The greatest of all religious movements in the annals of human history, that movement which has shaped the affairs and the destiny of nations and of the world, an event of such importance that we date from it every event in human history, before or since, began with the birth of a helpless infant. That infant, born in a stable and cradled in a manger, was so despised and hated of men that a few years later he was crucified between two thieves.

As surely as God’s appointed time for the exodus movement came at the “end of the four hundred and thirty years,” and the time for the return from the Babylonian captivity came at the close of the seventy years, so surely at the close of the twenty-three hundred years, in 1844, God’s set time had come for the cleansing of the sanctuary, the beginning of the judgment, and the beginning of a movement designated by inspiration as the finishing of the gospel.

True to the prophetic foreview, in 1844 we behold the beginning of a movement, small and insignificant at first, but destined to increase in strength and power until the eternal destiny of the whole world hangs upon its acceptance or rejection.

As the storm-tossed mariner nearing the close of a voyage makes soundings and takes his reckonings, so let us ascertain our whereabouts in this closing movement. Seventy years ago, Oct. 22, 1844, the twenty-three hundred years ended, the hour of God’s judgment came, the seventh trumpet sounded, the time for the finishing of the gospel came, and the message began to sound. That message has encircled the globe, and is rapidly finding its way to the dark corners of the earth.

Is it not about time to look for a mighty movement among this people to prepare to leave this old earth and go to meet our Lord in the air? We believe it is.

Boulder, Colo.

J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH

By John Norton Loughborough

The Second Advent Movement — No. 10

J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH

“I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.” Rev. 10:10. This figure illustrates the result to those receiving the time message of that chapter. The message proclaimed from the once sealed but now open book, was the close of prophetic time. They enjoyed the sweetness of the message until the time was up. Then, as represented in Whiting’s translation, “When I had eaten it, in my second stomach it was picra.” Picra is a preparation of alcohol, gum myrrh, and aloes.

This well illustrates the condition of those earnest believers who, on the twenty-third of October, found themselves not only still on earth, sadly disappointed, but subject to the taunting and ridicule of their opponents. Brother Whipple, of Vermont, a brother-in-law of Geo. I. Butler, told me of his experience on that morning. He and his family had earnestly believed the Lord would come on the tenth day, and had provided no food for another day. They had a little money left, but to go to the town and buy food was a trying thing to do, as he must go to those to whom he had bidden adieu for this world the day before. As he neared the provision store, he saw a young man of his acquaintance spring out from behind the building and stare at him, and then dodge back again. This he did three times. Finally, standing in front of Brother Whipple, he said: “Whipple, is that you? I thought you went up yesterday.” Brother Whipple said: “The Lord gave me an immediate answer. I said to the young man in a solemn manner, ‘John, if I had gone up yesterday, where do you suppose you would have gone?’” The young man never troubled him again.

The world around supposed, no doubt, as the masses did after Christ’s crucifixion, that the believers would now renounce their faith, and join in scoffing at their supposed folly. They very soon learned, to their astonishment, that the love of the Lord’s appearing was not easily eradicated from the affections of those who had truly consecrated themselves to God. As to the situation, we read, in the words of one who passed through the disappointment: “The peculiar, trying position of those who on the eleventh day of the seventh month found themselves in this world of trial and temptation, finds a fitting illustration in the case of Mary as she ‘stood without the sepulcher weeping,’ and when accosted by the angels with the question, ‘Woman, why weepest thou?’ said to them, ‘Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.’”

As the believers again diligently searched the Scriptures, they saw more fully why those waiting for the second advent were compared by Paul to the disappointed disciples of Christ. Each had been sadly disappointed in their expectations, and “made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions.” Heb. 10: 33–39. This the Adventists keenly felt when, if not said to their faces, they would hear from behind, “There he goes, one of the regular every-day go-upers.” It needed patience; but there was the consolation, “Ye have done the will of God.” Like Jeremiah, they could say, “Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart. . . . I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor

rejoiced: I sat alone because of thy hand.” Jer. 15: 16, 17. To them came the word of the Lord by the prophet Habakkuk, “At the end it shall speak, and not lie.” Hab. 2: 3. As they were at the end of the predicted time, the question was, “How does the vision speak?” Turning again to the discourse of Christ, they read, “They that were ready went in with him to the marriage.” This could not be his coming to this earth, for “afterward” came the other virgins knocking, and he tells them to “watch,” because they do not know the hour of his appearing.

Now came the question, “What and when is the marriage?” Turning to Luke, they read: “Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.” Luke 12: 35, 36. They said: “This shows that the wedding is just previous to Christ’s coming. So the coming of the Bridegroom to the wedding takes place before his coming to the earth.”

In Revelation they found that the New Jerusalem was “the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” Rev. 21: 9. As shown to the prophet Daniel, there was to be a time when “one like the Son of man” was to come to the “Ancient of days,” the Father, to receive his kingdom. Dan. 7: 13, 14. They said: “In ancient times, when a province was conquered and the ruler came to his capital city to take possession, they had a marriage ceremony, uniting him to his capital and his kingdom. So Christ will be married to his kingdom.” On the matter of the Lord’s marrying the land, see Isa. 62: 4. They read also in Heb. 10: 19, 20, “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest.” So, by faith, we enter in with him to the marriage. Of this we read in “Great Controversy,” edition of 1911, page 427, “These saw the truth concerning the sanctuary in heaven and the Saviour’s change of ministration, and by faith they followed him in his work in the sanctuary above.”

That they had moved in the order of the Lord in giving the messages is further confirmed by the Testimony: “The first and second angels’ messages . . . were given at the right time, and accomplished the work which God designed to accomplish by them.”—Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. IV, page 254.

1. It was God’s purpose that the world should be notified that the coming of Christ was “at the door.”

2. It was his purpose that a people should be brought together untrammeled by church creeds, who could proclaim to the whole world his truth for these last days. So it was with the apostles. They could not give the gospel to all the world, bound by Jewish hatred of Gentiles. The situation was well expressed by Paul and Silas at Athens. They said to the Jews: “It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” Acts 13: 46. So the call to the marriage supper was first made “to them that were bidden.” Luke 14: 17. When they, the Sardis church, let go of what they had “received and heard,” the Lord brought out the Philadelphia church, that his message might advance to its completion. Rev. 3: 1–11. Lodi, Cal.

A. E. PLACE

By A. E. Place

“Judge Not” — No. 8

A. E. PLACE

Each denomination believes that its way is the right way, if not the only way. Every church member who truly believes in religion and is consistent believes that his own religion is the right one. Otherwise, to be consistent, he must seek for another. It is this consistency which leads individuals to change from one denomination to another. The people known as Seventh-day Adventists would doubtless seek for some other way if they should lose faith in their present position.

It must be right for denominations or individuals to preach or teach what they believe to be the truth, but every denomination should remember that right there its rights cease, and each church member should also bear this in mind. If we pass this point, we begin to judge and condemn, and that moment we begin to lose the power of God; and he who loses the power from above will soon seek for earthly power, which ever tends toward tribunals and the Inquisition.

I look back once more, with sadness, upon a portion of my ministerial career when I waxed earnest and loud, as I judged (perhaps I should say misjudged) Catholics, National Reformers, and, in fact, all denominations that did not have the truth as I had it. More than once have I said, and with spirit, too: “They know better. Truth is not what they want. They want the right of way for their denominational car;” and to prove it I would show how they had warned all Seventh-day Adventists to “get off the track.” I have lived to see, and I believe know, that this spirit but widens the breach and deepens the chasm between us and those to whom Jesus sends us with his message. It also brings weakness, leanness, and barrenness of soul. It separates us from God.

Our present need is not theory. We have that in abundance, and it is beautiful. But we do need in greater abundance the spirit of our message. We greatly need a Spirit-filled church. We need a Spirit-filled ministry. Paul expresses it in the words, “Christ in you, the hope of glory,”—Christ in us more abundantly, raising up the fallen, opening blind eyes, looking for and binding up broken hearts, and with tenderness preaching “the acceptable year of the Lord.”

We need more ministers who are, in word and deportment, guides, not guideboards, — men who “abstain from all appearance of evil;” men who are not desirous of position or official power or of an opportunity to “take charge of the work;” but men who, forgetting themselves, yearn for souls for whom Christ gave his life.

I repeat, We may persuade men to accept a theory, but it takes the Spirit and power of Jesus Christ to bring men from darkness into light. One sanctified life is more powerful than volumes of theory or argument. An “ounce” of divine persuasion is worth more than a “pound” of judgment. Let us then with kindness and with love, freely and earnestly beseech men to be reconciled to God, and then leave the judging to God, whether they respond or not.

Jesus washed the feet of Judas, and passed him the sop at supper, yet all the time Jesus knew that Judas was a thief and would betray him. Jesus pitied the poor man, and wished to do everything in his power for him.

Jesus does not tell me your faults, neither does he tell you mine. Why are we so ready to tell the faults of others? Jesus is sending his Spirit to convince us of our sins, that we may allow him to take them all away before any one else finds them out. He will hide them behind his back, cast them “into the depths of the sea.” O, how good God is! “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.”

“Blest Jesus, come and rule my heart, And make me wholly thine, That I may nevermore depart, Nor grieve thy love divine.”

San Jose, Cal.

The New Relationship

By G. S. HONEYWELL

G. S. HONEYWELL

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.” Rom. 8: 1.

CHRIST hath sought me, Christ hath loved me, He is now my joy and pride; For I know, when storms assail me I can in his bosom hide, There to calmly, sweetly rest, Sheltered safely on his breast.

Here his friendship I will cherish, Dearer than all else to me; For I know no soul can perish Anchored in the crystal sea, Now to enter into rest, Born to favor as thy quest.

Pearly are the gates that enter To the treasures of his love, Typified by those which center Round our palace home above, Where the good and true may rest In the haven of the blest.

Teach me how to bear my sorrows, Teach me how to live and die; Teach me how to pity others Whose fair cheeks are seldom dry; O, teach me how, that I may rest With perfect faith upon thy breast!

Punta Gorda, Fla.

The Halfway Christian

An old colored woman was describing a young member of her church, as having “jes’ ’nough ’ligion to make her miser’ble — too much to be happy at dances, an’ too little to be happy in pra’r meetin’.” Alas! the type is common — a troubled spirit that halts halfway, afraid to go back and unwilling to go forward. There is no peace in the borderland. The halfway Christian is a torment to himself and no benefit to others.— Christian Endeavor World.

EDITORIAL

By Editor

The Great War

THE situation in Europe, already serious, is daily growing more ominous and portentous. Never in the history of the world has there been such an apparent disregard of the value of human life, and such appalling losses on the field of battle. Men are used as machines, and thousands are indifferently sacrificed provided some advantage may be obtained. Wanton cruelty is charged upon some of the contestants. As one reads of the wholesale and bloody destruction of thousands, of the burning and pillaging of cities, and of the maiming of their inhabitants, he is led almost to doubt that we live in the twentieth century, with its much-vaunted civilization and refinement. One imagines rather that he is set back two thousand years, and that the wars of the ancient barbarians are again being enacted. It is being demonstrated that human nature is the same in every age, and that man when left to himself or controlled by human passions and prejudices surrenders to the same spirit of revenge and mad excess.

Says the Washington Herald of September 3:—

Is There No Power to Stop It?

There can be no victory in the battles being fought in France and Germany but Death's. Armies may advance and retreat, capitals and even thrones may fall, but the Black Warrior stands triumphant alone. Civilization, what is left of it, well may pause today, its racial sympathies and prejudices paralyzed, as it contemplates the sickening, revolting, savage drama in mad enactment upon a blood-soaked stage. Such frightful blotting out of life and tearing of human flesh has never been witnessed under heaven. Millions of men are doing the work at the bidding of kings and emperors, who have quarreled, strewing God's earth with dead by the tens of thousands. The human mind fails utterly to measure the slaughter; a Niagara of blood is deluging Europe, blood of Belgian, Russian, Austrian, Frenchman, Englishman, German — human creatures, all. America, which was asking, Has Germany won? has France won? cares little today whether Paris falls or Berlin falls. It stands aghast, horrified at a world scourge no other generation has known.

Is there no power in all the universe to stop it? Is it too stupendous a task for the United States and South America, Holland, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, all the nations not at war, to undertake? Must all Europe be widowed and orphaned?

Where it will all end only the great Ruler of the universe understands. It is for us, in trusting faith, to possess our souls in quietness, and to prepare in our own individual experiences for the events that are coming upon the earth. Earnestly, day by day, we should watch unto prayer, remembering particularly our brethren in bonds, praying God to work for their deliverance and beseeching him to stay the tide of war and hold in check the elements of strife.

Not content with enjoying in our own hearts the peace of Christ, we should put forth earnest labor for those who know him not. God calls men today to the salvation which is in Christ Jesus. That call is felt in the silent movings of the Spirit of God upon every heart; it is sounded in the preaching of the gospel; it is emphasized by flood and fire and famine, by earthquake and war and pestilence. God's judgments proclaim the message of Christ's coming. God is seeking to awaken the world. He is making, as it were, a last supreme effort of his grace to bring men to a knowledge of himself. Let us cooperate with him and with the heavenly agencies in this work of warning, of invitation, of salvation.

Continue reading: Is This Armageddon?