Your ShelfYour Projects

Review and Herald, Vol. 86, No. 50.

The Counsel of God

Review and Herald

Dec 16, 1909

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 16, 1909

The Counsel of God

My son, if thou wilt receive My words, And lay up My commandments with thee; So as to incline thine ear unto wisdom, And apply thy heart to understanding; Yea, if thou cry after discernment, And lift up thy voice for understanding; If thou seek her as silver, And search for her as for hid treasures: Then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah, And find the knowledge of God. For Jehovah giveth wisdom; Out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding: He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to them that walk in integrity; That He may guard the paths of justice, And preserve the way of His saints. Prov. 2: 1-8.

The Bible Text-Book

The little “Bible Text-Book,” by Elder O. A. Johnson, ought to be in the hands of every Seventh-day Adventist worker. It is bristling with facts and figures, and contains, in concise form, just the thing you want to know. Its chapters are short and pithy, seldom exceeding three pages, and are full of Bible texts. The booklet contains only two hundred five pages, and can be easily carried in the pocket. A double index makes it exceptionally easy to refer to the different points just when they are needed, and the various charts which the book contains are of unusual value. Young Bible students always appreciate this book, as it is something that they can carry about with them and refer to at odd moments, thus continuing their study through the day. Price, in leather, 50 cents; cloth, 30 cents.

For Music Lovers

IF you want to win the heart of your music-loving friend by a holiday gift which will be appreciated every day for years, send for a copy of “Christ in Song.” In the better bindings—the dark morocco with gilt edges, or the levant flexible, leather lined, with gilt edges—this makes an exceptionally appropriate gift book. In these bindings, moreover, the book stays open on the piano or organ much more readily than in the canvas binding.
One of the best and largest music publishers in the United States has said of this book, “It has the best collection of gospel songs ever gathered together in one binding.” We know that wherever it has been adopted, it is used to the exclusion of many other books which have previously been considered “best.” One thousand hymns and gospel songs are contained in the book, and in its enlargement recently nearly fifteen hundred dollars was expended for permission to use new songs. The prices are as follows:— Full red, art canvas, stiff covers…$ .60 Half morocco, sewed ............ 1.00 Dark morocco, gilt edges ........ 2.50 Levant flexible, leather lined, gilt edges ............................. 3.00

The Gift Appropriate

By Editor

If we were asked to select from a large list of books which we have published, the one book most appropriate for a gift to any person, at any time and under any condition, our choice would undoubtedly fall upon “Christ’s Object Lessons.” There are a number of reasons for this. In the first place, a gift ought always to express the finest sentiments and highest ideals of the giver. What could be more appropriate for a lover of Christ’s gospel to give to any one than this beautiful book, dwelling upon the wonderful words of life spoken by the Saviour when upon earth. For a birthday remembrance, a wedding present, a farewell token, or a holiday gift, nothing better could be chosen.
“Christ’s Object Lessons” deals with the thirty-two parables spoken by the Saviour. The book is written by Mrs. E. G. White, and is one of the most beautiful works from her pen. Special care has been taken in the binding and illustrating of this volume, and it is to-day one of the most handsome specimens of the printing art. We take the same pride in filling orders for this book that you will take in giving it to a friend, knowing that it is bound to be appreciated not only as a gift, but as a helpful counselor as well. Price in cloth, embossed in red and gold with beautiful symbolic cover design, is $1.25. Orders for the holiday season ought to be sent us at once.

Bible Readings

“BIBLE READINGS” is one of the oldest books of this denomination, and one of the best. It contains vital truths so lucidly presented that the youngest student of the Bible can readily understand them. Every one ought to have this book, and to take a special interest in seeing it placed in every home. Six hundred pages, including fifty-seven full-page illustrations. The prices are, cloth, $3; library, $4; full morocco, $5.

What to Do for a Cold

By Editor

Is there anything more exasperating than a hard cold? Yet how few people there are who will go through the year or a single season without taking one.
Dr. Heald, editor of Life and Health, tells all about “Colds, Their Cause, Prevention, and Cure,” in a book published under that title. It will take only an hour or two to read it clear through, yet it contains all the vital facts, and will arm any intelligent person against the danger of contracting colds. This book, bound in white leatherette, costs only 25 cents. Write to us, or ask your tract society about it.

The Help Our Papers Bring

THE help the REVIEW brings to many who are constantly writing us of its benefits may be, and ought to be, shared by all believers. Here is a sample of many letters coming to us expressing appreciation of this help: “I do so love to read the REVIEW. Every week it contains reproofs, admonitions, encouragements, etc. Surely the Lord is making of this denomination a great people. I read the wonderful things in the REVIEW each week, and wonder if there is anything more that can be written that I have not read or seen before, when lo, the next week the REVIEW comes with a still greater feast of good things. God bless the REVIEW, and give it a constant message with a spirit of power imparted to its readers to enable them to do the work.”
AN old subscriber to the Instructor writes: “The reason why I did not renew my personal subscription for the Instructor, I got up a club of five, with myself, so had to join the other subscribers. They really did not want the paper at first, but I coaxed them to try it for six months anyway, so when the time expired, they were ready to renew for the year. I wanted my friends to have the paper, and now they are more than pleased with it. When we have read the Instructor, we send it on to others. I can not do without this little paper. It is the best I ever read. I am sorry I did not begin to take it sooner.”
ELDER C. McREYNOLDS says: “Christian Education fills a long-felt need in every way, and will be appreciated by all who are interested in the work of giving to our children and youth an education in the third angel’s message. It certainly has a field peculiar to itself. It will win its way rapidly, and will do its strong part in saving souls. To this end we promise you our hearty co-operation.”
A MINISTER from Middleboro, Mass., sent the following word relative to the Instructor: “I shall be greatly obliged if you will send to me as samples, two or three copies of the Temperance number of the Youth’s Instructor, as I consider it one of the best temperance publications I have seen up to date.”

THE WORK — AND — THE WORKERS

ONE of our religious liberty secretaries writes: “We are just renewing our subscription for Liberty, to the attorneys in our conference and also to the State legislators.” He says he would be glad to see it go to the ministers as well, and states that steps may yet be taken to this end.
ELDER S. W. NELLIS says: “I am very much pleased with the magazine, Christian Education, and I am sending in my subscription. I will encourage our workers to secure subscriptions from our people as they go among the churches and isolated members. I believe it is a timely magazine, and should be in every home.”
NUMBER 3 of the Protestant Magazine, recently issued carries to every one who purchases and reads it the conviction that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, and also that Christ is soon coming. These two fundamentals of present truth are ably presented in this magazine as the only logical belief of consistent Bible Protestants.
OUR book men appreciate the value of the REVIEW. This is the way they write about it: “We do not wish to be without a single number of our club of the REVIEW for our canvassers. These workers certainly appreciate its visits each week while they are out in the field. It contains too much about the progress of the message in the world to be without it.”
THE following encouraging statement from one of our Instructor workers has just reached us: “I began to give my canvass to a lady at her home one morning for the Temperance number of the Youth’s Instructor. She interrupted me by saying: ‘Yes, I have heard all about the paper, and I am glad to know you are doing this work. The W. C. T. U. met here yesterday afternoon, and your name and your work were mentioned, and we all patted you on the back.’ I met this morning an intelligent and cultured gentleman, who remarked: ‘That is the best paper that has ever been circulated in this town.’” We still have more of this number of the Instructor. It is just as good to-day as when first printed. Price, $3.75 a hundred copies.

A String of Providences

By W. A. S.

Walking Over a Game Trap

Dr. W. H. Leslie, of the Baptist mission, at Cuillo, in the regions of the upper Kongo, near the Kwango River, tells of occasions when the food supply was exhausted, and again and again game appeared so timely and unexpectedly that the native men said, “The Lord not only gave us meat, but delivered it at our door.” Dr. Leslie wrote in the Baptist Missionary Magazine (February, 1909):—
In many ways has the Lord manifested his care for us. Once while seeking a short-cut through a bit of jungle, I passed over a hidden game pit four or five feet wide and twelve feet deep, set with sharp pointed stakes at the bottom. The dead leaves covering it were rotted and packed together by months of rain, so that it was impossible to distinguish it from the surrounding ground. Only when I returned, and the long staff I carried pierced the covering, and I stopped with one foot on the edge, did I know of its existence. How it was passed in the going is still a mystery, as it occupied almost all the narrow opening.

Jehovah-Jireh, “The Lord Will Provide”

In a sermon or paper prepared by John Flavel, a minister of Dartmouth, England, and published in 1820, are mentioned the following special providences illustrative of his text, “And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen” (Gen. 22:14):—
How remarkable was the relief of Rochelle [the Huguenot city of France, besieged by Catholic forces] by a shoal of fish that came into the harbor when they were ready to perish with hunger, such as they never observed either before or after that time.
Dr. Tate and his wife, in the Irish rebellion, flying through the woods with a sucking child, which was just ready to expire, the mother going to rest it upon a rock, puts her hand upon a bottle of warm milk, by which it was preserved.
The Protestants besieged in Beziers delivered by a drunken drummer, who, going to quarters at midnight, rang the alarm-bell of the town just when the enemy’s troops were making an attack.
A spider, by weaving her web over the mouth of an oven, shall hide a servant of Christ (Du Moulin) from his enemies, who took refuge there in that bloody Parisian massacre.—Flavel’s “Works,” Vol. IV.

Reported by Luther

Luther gives the following account of facts that fell under his own observation:—
When I lived at Turica, in Franconia, a child that could hardly speak or walk was got into a wood near the house. An unexpected snow covering and altering the surface of the ground, the child could not find the way back again to the house. The snow continued to fall in great abundance; he remained there, covered over with it, two days and three nights. During that time an unknown man brought him meat and drink; but at the beginning of the third day, he led the child near his father’s house, and there left him. I was present when he came in, and I protest he told all that had happened to him as clearly and in as good terms as I could have done myself; notwithstanding, from that time for three whole years he was not capable of putting any words together that any one could easily understand. I am therefore persuaded that the man that preserved him was a good angel.

Fainting in the Forest

It was among many perils that the early Moravian missionaries pushed their way in among the Indians of the Six Nations in the early colonial times. In his “Life of Zeisberger,” De Schweinitz says that Bishop Spangenberg, Zeisberger, and two Christian Indians were returning from a visit to Onondaga, the head town of the Six Nations Confederacy. Their food had given out, and a famine through all the country had depopulated it. At last they reached the Susquehanna, and sank down on itsbanks exhausted. The historian says:—
Faint and silent, the bishop and his young companions waited to see what God would do; while Shikelliny and his son, with the stoicism of their race, resigned themselves to their fate. Presently an aged Indian emerged from the forest, sat down among them, opened his pouch, and gave them a smoked turkey. They could not but recognize in this meeting a direct interposition of their Heavenly Father.
The same God that preserved Elijah in the wilds by the brook Cherith, where “the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening,” and whose angel again provided for him, in the wilderness of Beersheba, “a cake baken on the coals,” has all along been actually doing things for his children. And to the loyal, trusting soul in the last days his promise is given: “He shall dwell on high: his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.” Isa. 33: 16, 17.
W. A. S.

A Clear Call to Reformation

By Editor

Editorial

_A Clear Call to Reformation._— The first numbers of our first paper, the Present Truth, in the summer of 1849, were filled with the clear call to Sabbath reform. It was the next step for the believers in the second advent,—among whom most of the paper’s first readers were found,—and with no uncertain tone the little paper called men to follow Christ in the obedience of faith. The time of reformation had come that was to bring out the people of the prophecy, keeping “the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”
_At the Bar of God._— The first number of the paper dealt with the institution of the Sabbath at creation, the perpetuity of God’s law, and the distinction between the law of God, the ten commandments, and the ceremonial precepts. Summing up the array of Bible evidence presented, the editor, James White, wrote:—
The ten commandments are the foundation of the whole Bible. They are God’s moral, royal law, given to man to live by, and by it he will be judged. In our courts of justice, men are tried by the same laws that are given them to live by. Then we can not avoid the conclusion that we are to meet the ten commandments in the day of Judgment, at the bar of God. “So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.” James 2:12. This law is called the royal law, for it came forth from the King Eternal. James has quoted two of the commandments from the decalogue in verse 11, which shows that the royal law of liberty by which man is to be judged, is the ten commandments. Reader, how will you feel before the great white throne, when judged by the law of God, if you break the fourth commandment—the Sabbath law?
_The Judgment and the Sabbath._— How divinely appropriate that the judgment-hour message should have immediately associated with it the call to Sabbath reform. With the judgment at hand, the time had come to lift up anew the standard of judgment, the law of God, the fourth precept of which still declares, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” As our first publications sounded the solemn cry so long foretold by prophets, loyal hearts began to respond. Now many in lands and tongues scarcely known in that earlier time are thanking God for the “blessed hope” and the blessed Sabbath day. Let the world still scoff as it may, no one, when Jesus comes, will be ashamed to be found among those who are keeping the day that Jesus kept and blessed.
“I love to meet among them now, Before thy righteous throne to bow, Though weakest of them all; Nor can I bear the piercing thought, To have my worthless name left out, When thou for them shalt call.”

A New Vision Needed

By William W. Prescott

From the very beginning of the great controversy between Christ and Satan, the question at issue has been whether Christ should be given the place which belongs to him by virtue of his relation to God, or whether some other being should be put in his place. In these closing days of this controversy, this issue stands out very clearly.
According to the modern view of Christ he was not one with the Father previous to his manifestation in the flesh; he was not miraculously born; he performed no actual miracles; he did not rise from the dead; he did not ascend into heaven; and he will not come to earth the second time. In view of these monstrous claims—claims which would take from us an all-sufficient Saviour, and leave us only a good example—it is important that we should have a clear understanding of the being and life of Christ, so far as they have been revealed to us, in order that we may have solid foundation for an intelligent faith in one who is able to save us from sin. This has been well stated in these words:—
We need a new vision of the Saviour to convince us that Jesus is lifted above space and time, that his existence antedated creation, that he conducted the march of Hebrew history, that he was born of a virgin, suffered on the cross, rose from the dead, and now lives forevermore, the Lord of the universe, the only God with whom we have to do, our Saviour, and our judge hereafter. Without a revival of this faith, our churches will become secularized, mission enterprises will die out, and the candlestick will be removed out of its place, as it was in the seven churches of Asia, and as it has been with the apostate churches of New England.
Perhaps there is no setting of Scripture truth which will contribute more to this result than the revelation of the gospel through the sanctuary and its services. Here we are brought face to face with the atoning work of Christ in such a way as to emphasize the reality and the enormity of sin, the efficacy of the offering of the sacrifice for sin, the personality of the Saviour from sin, and the sufficiency of the mediation of Christ in behalf of sin. We are thus led to adopt in our own experience the inspiring teaching:—
“Now in the things which we are saying the chief point is this: We have such a high priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.” Heb. 8: 1, 2.
In the truth of the gospel as taught in this threefold message, we shall find the antidote for every error, the correction of every perversion of the gospel, and such positive teaching as is required in this generation to save the people from being deceived by human philosophy and an atheistical science. But all this does not lie upon the surface. In order to develop these revelations of truth in such a way as to meet the demands of the hour, it requires earnest study and that personal consecration which changes mere theoretical exposition into living experience. This is what is required of the teachers of this message at the present time.
W. W. P.

A Teacher of Immorality

By C. M. S.

Bad as are many of the plays given every day in the week in the cities of the world, judged by the moral standards of the gospel and by the results of the plays in ruining the morals of young and old together, we yet hear clergymen defending the theater as a necessary and praiseworthy institution. Not long ago a noted play was advertised to be given in a certain theater in Washington city. The President of the United States occupied a box in the theater, and the house was crowded. But at the close of the first act the President arose and left the theater as a personal protest against the salaciously immoral character of the performance. Recently, also, the owner of a theater building in the city of New York, after attending a play given by a theater company in his theater, wrote the manager of the play as follows:—
I desire to give you notice that I consider the performance now being given at the Hackett Theater a nuisance, being maintained on my property in violation of the law. I want it stopped at once, or I will take steps to have it abated. I regret to be forced to do it, but decency demands it.
The new York Tribune, in commenting on this notification of the theater owner to the manager of that particular play, declared that the limit of such indecent spectacles had been reached; and the Northwestern Christian Advocate adds this comment:—
When a secular paper of the standing of the Tribune makes a protest of this kind, it is surely time for Christian people to awake to the fact that never in the history of the country were we in such danger of an inundation of immorality as now. It would seem as if the professionals of both sexes of the various red-light districts of the cities had organized to capture the stage and then society. If one may judge by the press reports, a goodly portion of the stage is now given over to plays which require not actors and actresses to present them but only people who have lost, if they ever possessed, any sense of shame. When it is stated that such erotic presentations are listened to by crowds of young boys and girls with almost breathless interest, one can but wonder if there is no limit to what the country will tolerate.
As an educator the theater is no doubt a very successful institution. It teaches by object-lessons, and that is an up-to-date method. But the more successful it is, the more dangerous it is. The success of any teaching is measured by the power of the teaching to influence and mold those taught. The theater does that. But the immoral nature of the bulk of its teaching is insuring the lowering of the moral tone of the community and the moral standards of the people. As a teacher the theater is a success; but the present low standard of public morals proves that such an educator is not needed. It does not elevate character. It does pander to the immoral tastes of the people, and prepares a soil for the growth of many immoral practises. It is a menace to the good, a cultivator of the bad, and, all in all, an educator the world were much better off without.
C. M. S.

The Protestant Platform

By W. W. P.

It is one thing to accept and repeat as a formula the familiar words, “The Bible, the Bible only, is the religion of Protestants,” but it is another thing to apply this principle in practise. It is natural to us to appeal to some kind of visible authority to interpret the Scriptures to us, and without realizing it we may be led step by step to substitute something else for the Bible, and to rest our message upon some other foundation than the Word of God, or at least upon the Word of God and something else.
Every teacher of the truth for this time should so study the Scriptures that for every doctrine presented to the people he will have Biblical proof, and every interpretation which he makes should commend itself to his hearers as being based upon an enlightened understanding of the Word of God itself.
When we seek to win to this movement those who acknowledge the authority of the Scriptures, it is incumbent upon us to present to them clear Scriptural reasons for all that we ask them to accept. In our study of the Word of God we may receive suggestions from many sources, but the material for our teaching should be drawn directly from God's Book.
W. W. P.

A New Religion

By C. M. S.

PROF. CHARLES W. ELIOT'S assertion of the necessity of a new religion has come late. There is already being preached in all parts of the land a new religion. It has come to be a kind of common ground for the principal Protestant denominations. It makes little or nothing of Christ in his true mission as man's Redeemer, but seeks through the influence and power of his name to exploit a sort of religio-centric socialism. It designates as a one-day religion the faith and practise of evangelical Christianity, and sets itself forth as a seven-day religion. It consists in a kind of moral gloss thrown over secular activities. Speaking of Dr. Lyman Abbott's advocacy of this new religion, the Washington Post of December 12 says:—
It may be that the world is rushing faster, that a deal of wickedness is abroad, and that truth and beauty are not always triumphant. Where religion flourishes at all, however, it is being directed into the channels of every-day life, and is not confined to the churches. Some of the remarks of the Rev. Dr. Lyman Abbott at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia might before last May have fallen upon the ears of the most puritanical of his listeners with an air of irreverence. After declaring that what was written in the four Gospels was “colored by His reporters,” and must not be followed literally, the editor said:—
“The Gospels do not contain a record that Christ ever declined a social invitation. He did not condemn the desire for pleasure, and he did not renounce the world. . . . Christ did not think that good dress, good food, and good pleasure were wicked. And yet no one ever accused Jesus Christ of being an epicure. His teaching was that the things are right which are a contribution tocharacter, and the things are wrong which do not contribute to character. . . . I think Jesus Christ would be one of the men who think it right to be rich. He never condemned thrift or industry or the accumulation of wealth or property. What he did condemn was making the accumulation of property an end in life. . . . To bring about the kingdom of heaven on earth was his fundamental teaching. Every railroad man who helps to bind the country together with iron bands, every manufacturer who makes shoes and clothing and distributes them far and wide for mankind, every cook in the kitchen who makes the body better minister to the spirit, is doing the work of Christ.”
This is the religion of to-day. It is being preached by all creeds. It is the religion of service, and it is for all men. It may at first seem irreverent to place Christ in the midst of our hurrying, bustling cities, and picture him dealing with modern conditions. But it is only by this method that his teachings will become effective to-day. The religion that sent a man to church one day a week, and gave his soul a holiday for the remaining six days, has passed. This is the age of a seven-days' religion.
These two quotations lay bare the kernel of the new religion, which in a sense is not new, but very old, being a religion of works, and as old as the day when Cain made his self-selected offering to his Creator. It seeks to put the real religion of the Bible out of mind and heart, and thrust into its place a deification of good works. In accomplishing its purpose the Higher Criticism has been its strongest and most subtle helpmeet. That is shown in Dr. Abbott's declaration that the Gospels were “colored” by our Saviour's “reporters,” and must not be followed literally. If followed literally, of course, no such “religion” could be manufactured out of them. Christ taught good works, but he taught more than that—“without me ye can do nothing.” He had a message of brotherhood, but he had more than that—“except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish;” “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.” The Higher Criticism and the new religions that grow out of it know nothing of these great facts, save as propositions fatal to their philosophy, which must be denied in toto. Our Lord's attitude toward the pleasures of this world is sufficiently illustrated in the parable of the sower. Luke 8:14. The pleasures of this world choke the word and hinder the bearing of fruit in our lives. This contradiction of the teaching of the “new religion” by the words of our Saviour himself is but an illustration of the complete contradiction, by his entire life and mission, of the whole fundamental hypothesis of the “new religion.”
“He did not renounce the world,” says Dr. Abbott. But Jesus himself says: “The world hated them [the disciples], because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” Again, in the same prayer, he says, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” John 17:14, 16.
The “new religion” stops with the making of moral characters, and knows nothing of the power of Christ in the human heart to make the perfecting and possession of a moral character possible. The “new religion” makes man his own savior. Christ says: “Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life,” teaching in that one declaration that outside of him there is no life beyond the tomb.
Similarly does this “new religion” misinterpret the teachings of Jesus concerning riches. Said he to his disciples: “It is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” Matt. 19:23, 24.
The building of railroads, the making of shoes, the cooking of food, are all proper occupations, and honorable when honestly done; but he who makes a religion out of them is self-deceived and steering his bark toward ruin; while he who makes them equal to the mission of the self-humbling Son of God to this world has never learned what Christ's mission was or what the world needed. The subtle skepticism of unconverted theologians alone could weave such a fabric and call it Christian.
It is true, as the Post says, that this has become the religion of the day; but it only emphasizes the crying need of the louder and speedier proclamation of the everlasting gospel. In proportion as such a “new religion” prevails in the world, true faith disappears, and the time of the culmination of the gospel work draws near. C. M. S.

Is It True?

By I. H. Evans

Recently a brother who claims to have “new light” declared that he thought Seventh-day Adventists were growing cold in spiritual things, and some were losing their zeal in the cause of God; and gave as his reason for this opinion the fact that about all the truth set before the people nowadays is the old hackneyed doctrines preached for years, but which now fail to interest or benefit the people. The people, he said, demand something new; and when something new is preached, they become interested, and receive help.
Does this condition really obtain among us as a people? Is it true that Seventh-day Adventists are becoming listless to the truths we hold? Do our churches tire of hearing the pillars of our faith expounded, while their ears itch for some new exposition of the Word? Has the Athenian spirit so possessed our hearts that our chief desire is for something new and novel? Is it true that we no longer are charmed by the story of Calvary? Do the life and ministry of Christ fall as an idle tale upon the ears of the church? Do the life-giving truths of the atonement and the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary cloy the spiritual appetite till the listener turns away unfilled and unsatisfied? Does the good news of the “second advent” cease to thrill the hearts of God’s people as they hear of the “signs that mark his coming near”? Is there truly no longer any hope and inspiration for the remnant people in the triumphant doctrine of the resurrection from the dead, and the promise of eternal life and immortality at Jesus’ coming? Is it an unchallenged fact that the promised “inheritance of the saints and the glory of the world to come,” if preached, must fall upon unwelcome ears in all our churches, because the people are hungering for some “new theology”? Can it be truly said that our pulpits no longer welcome a sermon on the “law of God”? and shall we no more hear the “binding claims of the fourth commandment”?
Seventh-day Adventists have never believed that they had all the light God had for them. Again and again they have insisted that the path of the just “shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” They expect light from God’s Word; they expect clearer interpretations of obscure texts, and additional light on unfulfilled prophecy. But Seventh-day Adventists are not palled with the doctrines which have made the remnant church a peculiar people.
Are the plain and natural teachings of the Scriptures powerless to stimulate our hearts into loving service for our fellow men? Is it only the new and novel and fanciful that has the power to excite our people to faith and activity in the work of God?
If this be so, what means the persevering activity of our churches in missionary work? What lesson are we to learn from the rapidly increasing annual tithe paid by this people for the advancement of the Lord’s work? If the doctrines of the church are threadbare and spiritless, how are we to interpret the almost unparalleled activity of the denomination in contributing means for the support of foreign missions? Does the giving of hard-earned money for mission work betoken paralysis and stagnation? Does the selling of denominational literature filled with the very doctrines of the church afford evidence that the church is weary of the old lines of faith, and is hungering for “something new”?
Let us look at some figures as published by the statistical secretary of the denomination, and see what they teach. Figures are facts. They have lessons we will do well to study. Here is a report by years for the last seven years:—
Can it be truly said of a people that annually have made the steady growth that Seventh-day Adventists have made for the last seven years, “They are tired of their faith and demand something new”? With an increase in membership of over twenty-four per cent, with an increase in tithe of over seventy-one per cent, with an increase in offerings to foreign missions of more than two hundred thirteen per cent, and with an increase in the sale of denominational literature of more than one hundred ninety-nine per cent, while in all other lines of denominational work we have kept pace with the items shown above, does it appear that the denomination is wearied with its work, or pines for some new doctrine to stimulate it into activity?
Why are the denominational schools overcrowded with students, why are there more than ten thousand Seventh-day Adventist children in their own denominational schools where the doctrines of the church are taught every school-day to every child, if it be true that the people are weary of the old paths, and are hungering for something new? Does it appear that the people that do such things are tired of their faith?—Surely not.
What the people are doing, and what they are planning to do, in extending their denominational work is evidence of their faith. It is not “New Theology” nor fanciful interpretations of Scripture the people are hungering for, but their hearts’ desire is for the pentecostal blessing, and their daily prayer is, “Come, Lord Jesus, and come quickly.”
I. H. EVANS.

Question of Responsibility

THE other day a saloon-keeper sold liquor to a customer until the latter became violently intoxicated and assaulted the man who supplied the drink. Thereupon the poor irresponsible was haled to court and fined. Does that seem like punishing the party really responsible?

Prevailing Distress

In all the great centers of population the pressure of want increases. Workers among the submerged declare it. It is so in all countries. A newspaper says:—
The local government board of London has recently announced that pauperism is an evil which has assumed threatening proportions. “One in every thirty-seven persons in England and Wales is a pauper.” Sixteen million pounds is expended annually by the poor-law authorities, and the distribution of money by the local authorities has risen to £60,000,000; in London alone £10,000,000 is expended every year on charity.

A Remarkable Legacy

ONE sign of the remarkable increase of riches in this age is the gift of the late Mr. Kennedy, of New York, of thirty millions, left by legacy to religious and philanthropic societies. Yet, as the newspapers remarked, he was scarcely known outside a limited circle, and had acquired his fortune of sixty millions himself.

“With Perplexity”

RARELY have our American papers been so full of news of strikes and lockouts as now. And abroad the same spirit of unrest and strife prevails. A Harper’s Weekly correspondent says of Europe:—
Europe is at peace because each European country is too much engrossed with its internal anxieties to be capable of external initiative.
All this means yet a little time of liberty in which to proclaim the gospel of peace.

“Legion”

THAT surely is the proper name of the many-sided cult of Spiritualism. Here, it may appear with its protest against all religion, there, with its assent to religion. In his London magazine, Mr. W. T. Stead, the famous journalist who is now professing to interview the spirits of the dead—and who recently published an interview by seance with Gladstone—describes his method of opening the seance with singing and devotions, and closing with the doxology. The delusion is preparing to sweep the world into the snare—all save those whose refuge is in the living Word.

In a Century

The Missionary Review has this to say of the last wonderful century:—
Think over the mighty changes that have been brought about within the last hundred years. China was one dense mass of heathenism. Africa only a geographical name. India, Tartary, and the isles of the sea were in darkness that might be felt, yet the church was sleeping as undisturbedly as though she had nothing to do with the other side of the globe, or even with those who were in darkness nearer home. How different it is to-day! There is hardly a land on all the circle of the globe that has not been entered by the heralds of the cross. Even in Central Africa, where, fifty years ago, the name of Christ had not been heard, they are now singing praises to him beside the quiet waters of Victoria Nyanza, and along the banks of the mighty Kongo.
It is the making up of the highway for the coming of the King in power and glory.
Continue reading: A Visit to Melrose and Buffalo