p. 2 | Review and Herald, Vol. 85, No. 15. (4/9/1908)

Review and Herald

Apr 9, 1908

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 9, 1908

Life and Health

APRIL

“Life and Health”

A Friend-Making Missionary and a Full-Message “Entering-Wedge”

A SPECIAL MOTHERS’ NUMBER

Some of the Topics Treated in this Issue

Dr. Lauretta Kress begins her series of treatments for the most common diseases, with important detailed instructions to young mothers in the proper care of the new-born babe.

Mrs. E. G. White presents “The Mother’s Sacred Charge” in properly caring for the children entrusted to her.

Mrs. Fitch enlarges upon “The Mother’s Privilege” in training children for useful lives.

Mrs. Wilcox offers suggestions to mothers upon providing proper entertainment for the young.

Dr. Heald presents some vital questions for parents to answer, among which are some that pertain to the common practises of parents, practises that are regarded as harmless, but which are shown to materially injure the children.

“A Mother” takes up “The Punishment of Children,” under the headings of “Foundation Principles,” “Rebuke not Hastily,” “Angry Punishment not Discipline.”

Nannie Bauchamp Jones treats the subject of “Woman’s Place in the Home” in a comparison of the homes of two couples who started out in life equally and under similar circumstances.

Judge Ben. B. Lindsey sets forth the value of teaching the child to properly respect honorable labor.

Dr. Kress interprets the meaning of “Temperance” in its broad sense, including not only abstinence from alcoholic beverages, but complete self-control over the carnal desires, appetite, and impulses. He quotes from Sir James Ferguson, Dr. James Wood, Dr. Bock, the “British Medical Journal,” Dr. James Fraser, and others on the injurious effects of cocoa, tea, and coffee.

Dr. Knopf, a tuberculosis expert, continues his valuable series on the life-giving properties of fresh air, giving detailed instructions for the attaching of a window-tent in any home for the use of those strongly predisposed to tuberculosis, or who may have a desire to sleep in the open air for its general benefits.

The editor calls attention to the dangers of medical legislation in creating laws that will give a complete monopoly to the profession in the performing of any act in relieving human suffering.

The Current Comment Department is filled with excellent matter upon the following topics: The Saloon on the Defensive; The Young Child and the School; Artificial Childlessness and Race Suicide; The Young Men of the Twentieth Century; Total Abstinence in a Great Chicago Store; Abolish the Slums; The Rat and the Plague; Exterminate the Rat; The Physician as an Educator.

The News Notes are from the best authorities, upon Free Tuberculosis Dispensaries; Plagues in Australia; Anti-Rat Society in England; The Plague Situation in San Francisco; Physicians Discuss the Causation of Typhoid; Many Ill from Cheese Poisoning; Sanitary Conference; Milk in Unsanitary Stores; Alcoholic Prescriptions Barred; Railroad Company Enforcing Decree against Drink; Killed by a Heavily Charged Idea; Dr. Wiley on Poisons; Effect of Mind on Body; Health Restored by Singing; Cocain Bill Passed.

The entire number is replete with the most practical and timely instruction.

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The Blessing of Righteousness by Faith

THE faith of Abraham brings the blessing of Abraham. This is the blessing of being reckoned righteous apart from works—the forgiveness of sin. “Even as David also pronounceth blessing upon the man, unto whom God reckoneth righteousness apart from works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin.” The mission of Christ is to bestow this blessing: “Ye are the sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his Servant, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.” This is the blessing of righteousness by faith.

Faith and Righteousness

The Sabbath-school lesson for April 18 deals with one phase of Abraham’s experience, and it therefore seems to be a fitting time to consider the subject of faith and righteousness.

Let us first read some passages of Scripture which speak explicitly of Abraham’s faith and righteousness: “And he [Jehovah] brought him [Abraham] forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and number the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in Jehovah; and he reckoned it to him for righteousness.” Gen. 15: 5, 6. “For what saith the Scripture? And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness.” “Looking unto the promise of God, he wavered not through unbelief, but waxed strong through faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was able also to perform. Wherefore also it was reckoned unto him for righteousness.” Rom. 4: 3-5; 20-22. “By faith Abraham, being tried, offered up Isaac: yea, he that had gladly received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; even he to whom it is said, In Isaac shall thy seed be called: accounting that God is able to raise up, even from the dead; from whence he did also in a figure receive him back.” Heb. 11: 17-19.

Much instruction concerning the vital principle of righteousness by faith is crowded into these verses, and it will be profitable to give them a careful examination. When the promise was made through Christ to Abraham that his seed should be like the stars in number, he himself knew that this promise could be fulfilled only by the special power of God—a power which could bring forth life from the dead. “Wherefore also there sprang of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of heaven in multitude, and as the sand, which is by the seashore, innumerable.” This thread runs through all the verses. Abraham “in hope believed against hope, to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, So shall thy seed be.” Abraham had the fullest confidence that what God had promised he was able to perform, and that he would perform it. Not only so, but he yielded himself in the line of God’s promise, submitting himself to the will of God, that the revelation of the promise might be made in him by the power of God. The power was wholly of God, but it wrought in and through Abraham.

The test of Abraham’s faith showed that he believed in God as one who could renew life even to the dead. His faith in the promise of God was such that he was sure of its fulfilment even though he should, in harmony with God’s command, offer up Isaac, the very one through whom the promise was to be fulfilled. So far as his own faith was concerned, Abraham did receive Isaac back from the dead. This is the faith which is reckoned for righteousness.

We are now prepared to see the connection between the experience of being made righteous by believing and the experience of the new birth, or the new creation. The statement of Jesus to Nicodemus, “Except one be born anew, he can not see the kingdom of God,” simply emphasizes, from another standpoint, that righteousness by faith is the only way of salvation. As to spiritual things, we were dead—dead through trespasses and sins—“but God, being rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace have ye been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus: in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus: for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves,

it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them.” The faith which believes that what God has promised in his everlasting covenant—those better promises—he is able to perform and will perform, unites us with the power which raises from the dead, and with him who was raised from the dead, and makes us alive with him, thus bringing about the new birth, or the new creation. And it is in this way that we are made “the righteousness of God in him,” the law of righteousness being written in the heart and becoming “the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” But this is all of faith.

We are brought to the same conclusion by comparing two other statements of the Scriptures. “We through the Spirit by faith wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith working through love.” “For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” A living faith is so inseparable in its working from a new creation that either implies the other, and they may be used interchangeably; but the new creation, or the new birth, means the new man “that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth,”—“that is being renewed unto knowledge after the image of him that created him.” And so we see again that the faith which is reckoned for righteousness is the faith which lays hold upon Christ our life as the Lord our righteousness. This means the new birth, the new creation, the life of righteousness.

To justify the ungodly requires the working of the same creative power as is displayed in raising the dead—it is in fact making alive those who are dead in trespasses and sins. The faith by which we are made righteous is therefore the faith which believes in the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of the dead through him. Therefore it is written concerning Abraham’s experience: “Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was reckoned unto him; but for our sake also, unto whom it shall be reckoned, who believe on him that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification.” Our being made righteous depends upon the resurrection of Christ, and the faith which justifies is the faith which lays hold of the risen Saviour.

There is a wide difference between the faith which justifies and the sentimental belief in Christ which makes him the excuse for continuing in sin. Abraham believed God, and his faith was reckoned for righteousness, but “when he was called, obeyed to go out unto a place which he was to receive for an inheritance.” To him faith in God meant obedience to God—an obedience which retained for him the wonderful blessings of those promises and prophecies which were the preaching of the gospel of righteousness by faith. “If ye are Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise.” “If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.” “Do we then make the law of none effect through faith? God forbid: nay, we establish the law.” The faith which justifies is the faith which works.

Editorial

By Editor

CONDUCT in harmony with the will of God as expressed in his law is the outward expression of genuine faith in the Word of God. That faith which finds expression in wordy discussions only, is an affair of the head and not of the heart. The religion of verbosity is a monstrosity.

What It Means to Believe on Christ

To believe on Christ means to let him be unto us personally just what and all that he promises to be unto those who accept him as their Saviour. The door of the heart is thus opened for the indwelling presence of Christ by his Spirit, and he becomes the Lord and Ruler of the life—the very life of our life. To believe on Christ is to permit him to be our sacrifice, our substitute, our surety, our priest, and our king. To believe on Christ is to accept both his present and his future work for us, and to co-operate with him in that work. To believe on Christ in this generation is to look for him as the soon-coming King who will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of whose kingdom there shall be no end. He who believes on Christ becomes a member of the household of God and an heir of the kingdom.

_Contrasts and Counterfeits_

By C. M. S.

_— No. 5_

It was God’s design that man should find in the Creator alone an object of worship. Satan, at the very outset of man’s career in the earth, set himself against the design of the Almighty. That was Satan’s purpose when he said to the woman in Eden: “Ye shall not surely die: . . . ye shall be as God;” and the carrying out of that purpose, as well as the others mentioned in these articles, was a direct onslaught upon the law of God, which said, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”

The question, “Whom ought man to worship?” has therefore been a matter of dispute during all the history of the race. The question, “Who only shall receive worship?” is as old as the rebellion in heaven. It did not come into either heaven or earth until the justice and sovereignty of God were challenged by the father of sin. It is as great an issue now as it ever was; indeed it is reaching its culmination in this very age, as we shall see.

The man Adam met the question, and fell before it. Disobedience was the proof of his disloyalty; disobedience showed his willingness to worship another out of harmony with the One he should have served; obedience is the highest form of worship. As all the offspring of Adam fell in his fall, so there came One who was to meet the same test, and who, if he met it successfully, would open a way whereby all men might rise and stand again in his triumphant stand. He came; he met the test in the personal presence of the fallen rebel, and triumphed gloriously over the common enemy of God and man. In the example of his own life Jesus Christ answered truly and fully that question for all time.

So now, when voices are calling to us from every side, when scores of standards are being raised, and plans are carefully laid to turn the worship of man away from the only object of righteous worship, we ought to know what is the true standard and the true voice. Otherwise we shall be deceived as our first parents were deceived, and ruined eternally. As God is not a God of discord, there can be but one true standard, one true voice. All others, all that are not in perfect harmony with this standard, this voice, are false—either counterfeits of the genuine, or open or secret enemies of the true. He who worships anything but God has listened to one of these voices of deception, and has placed himself under one of those false standards. It makes no difference what that other object of worship may be; to worship it is to range one’s self on the side of the enemy of God. The worship of self is such a worship, and he who performs it is on the side of Satan and against God, for he has broken God’s law, which it is Satan’s great aim to have every man do. When Satan said, “Ye shall be as God,” the seeds of temptation to self-worship were sown in the human heart.

For ages the worship of self was chiefly manifest in obeying the demands of human desire rather than the commands of God; but in this present age regular cults for the worship of the human in actuality have been established. It is in fact a religion that is very much in evidence at the present time. It manifests itself where the Spirit of God has not come into the heart to soften and subdue the elements within us that would war against God. We may be made to think we are doing God service while we are burning incense to this idol.

The worship of self, in the aspect characteristic of it to-day, is more than the mere serving and pleasing of self known as selfishness. It has come to be a specific act of worship performed as self-worship. In its dogmas the object of worship set before the individual is “the Divinity within himself,” the “Good within him,” “the God within man.” The expounders of this new religion teach that all men have God within themselves. That makes the human being divine in the mind of the believer in that doctrine. It contradicts the teaching of the prophet of God, that “there is none that doeth good, no, not one,” and the personal declaration of Jesus, that “none is good save One, even God.” Mark 10:18. In spite of this declaration of him who is God and the embodiment of life, light, love, goodness, and truth, that new religion teaches that “it is fitting for us to unloose our shoes and bare our heads before the majesty of ourselves.” The seeker after light and life is taught to sit down at some definite time each day,

and slowly, carefully, and distinctly repeat to himself such sentences as these and many others of similar import:—

I am One with Infinite Life. I am Health, for the indwelling Life is Health Itself. I am Strength, for the Eternal Good [by which they mean God] within me is Strength Itself. I am Harmony, for the Divine Mind is Harmony Itself. I am Love, for the Infinite is Love Itself. I am Truth, for the Truth is Law of Being.

And so it goes on, attributing to the finite all the attributes of the Infinite. Whatever God is, that they claim to be. Whatever he has, that they claim to possess. If they are a part of God, of course it follows that what he is they must be; and they claim that they are, because they have him within themselves. The ascription of all these divine attributes to self makes self a god. The repetition of these claims at recurring, appointed periods is an act of homage, worship; and the deeds which go with it testify to the reality of that worship. With such the “I” is all, and the “I” is god, and is the only thing worshiped.

This is the kernel of the philosophic religions which are claiming much attention in the world to-day. Their adherents are multiplying rapidly. In every such cult we see the subtle working of him who disputed with God for the throne of heaven, and sought to induce even the Son of God himself to commit an act of worship contrary to the law of God. That counterfeit worship is the invention of Lucifer, designed to oppose the government of God and ruin the souls of men. “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” That principle is the standard which should be lifted up now by every lover of the Lord Jesus. Allow the enemy to gain no foothold in the citadel of the soul by making you believe you possess the attributes of divinity. He conquers only to destroy.

C. M. S.

A Rebuke to Liberalism

AMONG the few men in orthodox religious circles who stand for primitive Christianity in opposition both to the “New Theology” and to the spirit of compromise with liberalism, is Dr. Arthur T. Pierson, the editor-in-chief of The Missionary Review of the World. While Dr. Pierson writes in a careful way, yet he deals plainly with the present tendencies in the religious world, and is a positive advocate of the old-fashioned religion. In the April number of the Missionary Review there appears an article from his pen entitled, “What Are the Limits of Christian Toleration?” the opening sentence of which is this: “One of the conspicuous signs of the times is the new attitude of tolerance toward those who differ, especially in matters pertaining to religion.” Later on he says: “A religious ‘Tribunal of The Hague’ seems already in sight, where all conflict and controversies are to be settled by compromise; and whether this is on the whole to be welcomed as an unmixed good, is what, perhaps, it becomes us to consider.”

From Dr. Pierson’s discussion of this subject we make some extracts:—

For the first three centuries the world and the church were arrayed against each other with mutual hostility. It was believed that they were so essentially at war that their opposing principles and tendencies were irreconcilable: those who belonged to Christ expected to be hated of all men for his name’s sake. Under Constantine the world and the church were wedded in a state church, with the emperor at its head. The via crucis [way of the cross] became the via lucis [way of light], self-denial was displaced by self-indulgence; the confession of Christ became the signal, not for the cross, but for the crown, and many thought the millennium had dawned. The church won the world, and disarmed opposition; but, meanwhile, the world captured the church, and leavened it with secularism. The world became more churchly, but the church vastly more worldly. . . .

The bearing of this matter upon mission work, and in fact upon the whole conflict of Christianity with heathenism and skepticism, is of immense importance. Some of us can not avoid a profound misgiving that there is a peril in union that may be worse than in separation, and that some peace may be bought at the price of purity—a daubing of a falling wall with untempered mortar, a yielding of what is vital, a sacrifice of truth.

Dr. Pierson then refers to “two marked manifestations of this tendency toward toleration”—a willingness to compromise with heathenism by extolling “the qualities of Oriental consciousness,” and “their potential value for the higher interpretation of the Christian religion;” and “the elimination of dogma from Christianity, and the substitution of unselfish ministry to all who have need, in its place.” Of this latter movement he says:—

The “League” which is to take the place of the worn-out and virtually defunct church, is not to be called a church, nor to have creeds, forms, or subscriptions. Its law is to be freedom; its condition, service. It is to unite all who love humanity in the common service of humanity. It is to be a society of equals. It will worship Christ, but neither as God nor man; rather as a living presence in all men, making all men divine.

This last paragraph would serve fairly well as a characterization of the apostasy with which we have been compelled to deal in our own ranks during recent years.

The closing paragraphs of this article deal with the principles involved in the substitution of human philosophy for the old gospel, and suggests the effective remedy for the present condition of things in the religious world:—

To count it a matter of indifference what one believes, provided he is sincere, is to make it no longer worth while either to search after truth or to obey it when found. Right and truth, and wrong and error, are eternally allied, and no human policy can reverse these relations. It can never be a matter of no moment what a man holds to be true. We are to “hold fast the form of sound words, . . . in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.” Such lectures as we have instanced, addressed to the heathen, make inconsistent a gospel message that makes salvation to depend on the acceptance of Jesus Christ. Such a “League of Service,” however noble as a philanthropic measure, can never take the place of the church which its Founder declared built upon the confession of himself as Christ the Son of the living God. While the New Testament remains our guide, our love for all men must not blind us to their doctrinal errors, nor to the danger they involve. Salvation prepares for service. Men need first of all to be saved from both their errors of unbelief and their iniquities of life; then, built upon Christ as the Saviour, the Son of God, the Lord of life, faith in him makes ready for a service in his name that is not the product of a capricious impulse or a transient sentiment, but a principle of life as unchanging as God himself.

If, as Mr. Dawson contends, the church has failed, possibly the remedy lies not in substituting for it a League of Service, but in a return toward the primitive beliefs and practises that made the apostolic church the greatest league of service the world has ever seen. If the idols could be put away—the idolatry of music, architecture, oratory, and estheticism generally; if money and culture and rank could be less the standards which attract homage and foster caste; if selfishness, with its love of ease and its love of novelty, could be displaced by a Christlike self-denial and devotion to eternal truth; if prayer were more cherished as the great motive power in holiness and service; if, in a word, the Spirit of the living, loving God could have in his own house more liberty to work unhindered, so that he could do his mighty works—it is quite possible that the lost dynamic of the pulpit might be restored, and the lost hold of the church on the common people be regained. While we are looking about for a substitute for God’s imperial institution, it may be well to inquire whether, by proper repentance and retracement of steps, we might not find in the way of new conformity to his pattern also new endowment with his power.

These are weighty words which we do well to ponder seriously. While on the one hand they justify the church in separating from its membership those who have departed from the truth, even though they may be engaged in a worthy philanthropic enterprise, yet they also faithfully point out the things which

hinder the efficient work of the church. A zeal for orthodoxy can not be substituted for the power of the Holy Spirit, and we greatly need a more marked manifestation of apostolic success in winning souls for the truth. When we “present as earnest supplications from broken, contrite, believing hearts as did the apostles, then the same proportion of success will attend” our labors. While conserving apostolic truth, we should reveal apostolic experience in our work.

Zinzendorf's Confession After a Storm at Sea

By W. A. S.

IN the year 1743, Zinzendorf, the missionary, was returning to Europe from a visit to America. He sailed with a Captain Garrison, of an English ship. Some time later, possibly after Zinzendorf's death, Captain Garrison wrote the Moravian Bishop Spangenberg concerning an experience that he had with the missionary leader while on the voyage.

They were nearing the Scilly Islands, off the southwest coast of England, when a storm made the boat unmanageable. They were being gradually driven toward the rocks. The crew were thoroughly alarmed. The captain prayed, as he felt human power was of no avail. Zinzendorf was also praying. And now he told the captain that in two hours the storm would cease. The captain said he paid no particular attention to the saying, as he thought it beyond human foresight to make such a prediction. He wrote:—

When the two hours were up, he persuaded me to go on deck and watch the weather. I had not been there many minutes when the wind turned southwest, and the danger was past. I had scarcely thought of what he said until that moment, and then it struck me powerfully. I went down into the cabin and told him the storm was over, and we had nothing more to fear. He then asked us to join him in giving thanks to God for our deliverance, and we did so.

I had a great desire to know how it was that the count could prophesy in this way, and I asked him. “I will tell you frankly,” he replied, “for I hope that you will not abuse what I say. For the last twenty years I have lived in close communion with my Saviour. Now, when I find myself in dangerous or unusual circumstances, the first thing I do is to consider very carefully whether it is through any fault of my own. If I discover anything that I am not satisfied with, I immediately throw myself at his feet, and beg his forgiveness. Then my Saviour pardons me, and he generally informs me at once how the matter will end. If, however, he is not pleased to reveal this to me, I wait quietly, in the belief that it is best for me not to know. On this occasion he communicated to me the fact that the storm would last for two hours.”—Bovet's “Banished Count,” page 228.

The fact that Zinzendorf should keep this relationship with the Lord as something too close and sacred to be held forth in any manner of spiritual exaltation, argues well for the genuineness of the experience. He was a man called of God in childhood to be one of the pioneers to prepare the way for the closing work. As a little boy he made his written covenant with the Lord, ‘Be thou mine, dear Saviour, and I will be thine.’ In a time when rationalism was the religion of Europe, he joined the few who sought to promote genuine piety of life, and faith in the living word of God. He led the work of Moravian missions, which was the forerunner of the great missionary revival of these last days. And as he saw the obligations of God's Sabbath, he kept it and urged its claims.

W. A. S.

The North Pacific Union Conference

By A. G. Daniells

THIS conference once formed a part of the Pacific Union. It was organized nearly two years ago. Its territory embraces Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska. In this territory there are seven organized conferences and one mission field.

The first biennial session of this conference was held in College Place, Jan. 29 to Feb. 9, 1908, with a full delegation, I believe, from all parts of the conference. The delegates, with the brethren and sisters of College Place and the students of the college, gave the session a large attendance. All the meetings were held in the college chapel. Prof. M. E. Cady arranged the program of the school so that the affairs of both the conference and the school moved along without any apparent friction, and certainly with great satisfaction and pleasure to the delegates. Of course the meeting disturbed the regular routine of the school, and made extra work for the students, but I believe that the help a large number of the students received from the chapel talks, the daily meetings of the conference, the evening sermons, and the association with the delegates, far more than compensated for the loss of some other things.

This was one of the best conferences I have attended. The delegates were courageous and cordial, and they had most encouraging reports to present regarding the progress of the work in all parts of the field. I was especially pleased with the careful, painstaking labor the presidents of conferences had evidently given to the preparation of their reports. By the use of maps and comparative statistical tables exhibited on large sheets of paper, it was easy for the delegation to get a clear idea of the territory, the growth, and the exact standing of each conference. These reports showed steady and encouraging advancement in every phase of the work.

The membership of the union is 5,690, an increase of 711 since the organization, less than two years ago. The tithes for the period amounted to $157,458.38. I think each local conference showed a distinct gain in both membership and funds.

During the year 1907 an earnest effort was made to free Walla Walla College from its debt of $25,000. The president of the union conference, Elder W. B. White, and his committee have worked very hard to accomplish this, and they have met with a most loyal and hearty co-operation on the part of the brethren and sisters throughout the union. At the time of the conference nearly the whole amount had been pledged for this purpose, and $16,467.30 had been paid. The unpaid pledges are good, so that it is a matter of only a short time when Walla Walla College will be entirely free from debt. The brethren are so sure of this that they ventured to sing the jubilee song, the words and music of which were written by Elder F. M. Burg for the occasion.

Walla Walla College is a fine educational institution—a blessing to our people and a credit to our cause. The land which it has under cultivation is good, the buildings are well cared for, and everything gives evidence of thrift. The attendance at the present time is the largest in the history of the institution. The spiritual atmosphere and the dominant influence of the school were easily discovered by the delegates. The large band of missionary volunteers for home and foreign fields showed clearly what this institution is working for.

One encouraging, uplifting feature of this conference session was the deep interest manifested in the work in foreign fields. Nearly every day of the session an address was given on foreign missions. When all the local conferences had reported their financial standing, Elder White called all the members of the union and local committees together to consider what should be done with their surplus tithe. First of all, he took a decided position himself with reference to the union. He demonstrated that it was not necessary nor consistent for our home conferences, with their stable membership, sure and regular income, and many facilities, to carry a large surplus of funds while so many earnest, pressing calls for help are coming to us from mission fields. In harmony with his frank, vigorous statement in behalf of a liberal policy, Brother White recommended that four thousand dollars of the six thousand dollars surplus of the union be appropriated to missions. This was voted promptly and unanimously by the committee.

Having set this example, the president of the union asked the officers of local conferences what they proposed to do with their surplus funds. They asked for time to confer together. The next day Elder G. E. Langdon, president of the Upper Columbia Conference, reported that his conference had voted its surplus of four thousand dollars to missions. Elder Burg’s committee reported that Western Washington would give two thousand dollars then, and that any remainder that might be on hand at the time of their conference would probably be given by the brethren. Elder F. S. Bunch reported that his committee had decided to appropriate one thousand dollars then, and the remainder at the time of their coming conference. This made a profound impression upon the delegation. Many were in tears when these brethren finished making their reports. The very atmosphere seemed charged with earnest zeal for the finishing of this work. I wished, while sitting in that meeting, that every one of our hard-pressed missionaries in foreign lands could have been present to hear what was said and to feel the thrill of hope and courage that came to us all.

With the good spirit of unity, courage, and liberality that prevails in the North Pacific Union Conference, we are surely justified in looking for prosperity in that part of the great harvest-field. And for this let us all pray.

A. G. DANIELLS.

Note and Comment

Restoring Trust in God

WHEN the bill to restore the motto “In God We Trust” to the coins of the United States was under consideration in the House of Representatives, the Hon. Ollie M. James, of Kentucky, spoke in part as follows:—

The country is to be congratulated that our trust is again to be restored in God. The President of the United States made a great mistake in the judgment of the Christian people of this republic when, by order, he directed that the motto “In God We Trust” should be removed from our coins. This country is not only a Christian nation, but we are engaged in sending to foreign countries and to distant people our missionaries to preach the religion of Jesus Christ, and we want our money so that when this gold that you say is so good goes across the ocean and is held in the hands of those who do not know of the existence of the Saviour of the world, we can say: “Here is the dollar of the greatest nation on earth, one that does not put its trust in floating navies or in marching armies, but places its trust in God. [Loud applause].”

And so the House of Representatives, with only five dissenting members, voted to restore our trust in God. Thus, if this bill becomes a law, while the people are groaning under the weight of the burden imposed in increasing the army and navy, the coins will proclaim to the untutored heathen that the trust of this great nation is reposed in God. What a farce it would all be, if it did not involve principles of such importance! But this is the inevitable hypocrisy of a national religion.

National Reform Doctrine

In a sermon on “God on Our Currency and Christ in Our Schools,” by William Carter, D. D., pastor of the Madison Avenue Reformed church, New York City, printed in The Christian Statesman, we find these statements:—

The whole thing, indeed, resolves itself down to this. Is this nation to be a Christian nation, or is it not? Is it to be run in the interest of the Christian American or the unchristian foreigner? Do our public schools belong to us, or to the Mohammedans, the heathen, and the Jews? Now, let me say in all fairness, I have a great deal of respect for some of these people. I like the philosophical acumen of the Hindu; the devotion to his religion of the Mohammedan; the shrewdness and intelligence of the Jew,—and I number many of the latter among my friends,—but I say: America for the Americans! Christianity for the Christians! The public school for our children and the children’s Christ! And I say in all fairness, If anybody does not like us and our religion, then let him, in all good conscience, go somewhere else!

Some one might be led to inquire who these people are who thus claim to own this country, and who thus assume to banish those who do not agree with them in religious belief. But passing this by, we confess that we have not often seen a more brutally frank statement of the real essence of the National Reform doctrine than is here found. We should feel sorry, however, if any one should mistake this for the Christianity of the Bible. The pagan emperor Claudius acted upon this National Reform principle when he commanded all Jews to depart from Rome (Acts 18: 2), and now this preacher, who is professedly a representative of the meek and lowly Jesus, would make a similar decree against those in this country whom he designates as “the heathen.” But in doing this does he not abandon the truly Christian ground? Would Dr. Carter recommend the heathen of China and India to adopt his plan of action? and if they did so, what would become of the Christian missionaries? Strange indeed that such intolerance is advocated under the pretense of Christianity!

Modern Adventism

It seems rather strange to read in an article contributed to the World's Crisis that “the distinctive and fundamental principle of modern Adventism is not the personal return of Christ, per se, although that holds its relative and important position. The one distinctive and vital message of modern Adventists is in respect to man’s essential nature.” It looks as if “modern Adventism” had departed from the original standards. With what propriety can a body of people retain the name “Adventists” after they have discarded the doctrine of the second advent as their distinctive message?

“Religion by Motto”

This is the interpretation which The Independent (New York) gives to the movement to restore the motto to the coins. It says:—

Almost unanimously the House of Representatives has voted that the motto “In God We Trust” must go back on the gold coins, and the Senate can hardly fail to concur, and we do not believe the President will veto the act. So our nation will be religious again. Even those representatives who never think of God except when they swear, voted for pious gold. Those who trust in gold and not in God voted the lie on the coin.

This comment well illustrates the incongruity, not to say the absurdity, of religious legislation by irreligious men. But this action will doubtless be cited as one more conclusive proof that this is a Christian nation!

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