Review and Herald, Vol. 84, No. 49. (12/5/1907)

Review and Herald

Dec 5, 1907

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Dec 5, 1907

“The Youth’s Instructor”

By Editor

ENLARGED and IMPROVED

SPECIAL ISSUE NOW READY

Beginning with January, 1908, the “Instructor” enters upon its fifty-sixth year. In order to increase its usefulness, to make more room for its various departments, to permit the introduction of some new features, and to give it a more popular size, the “Instructor” will be made a sixteen-page weekly. The size of the page will be reduced to eight and one-half by twelve and one-half inches. An engraved first-page cover design will give it a more attractive appearance, and the extra number of pages will increase the contents more than one-fourth. These improvements, and the extra cost of producing the paper, make necessary a slight change in price, the new rate being $1.00 a year. We believe all will admit that the price will still be low, and we are sure that our subscribers will feel more than repaid for the extra cost by the improvements and additional reading which the “Instructor” will contain.

OLD SUBSCRIBERS

Any subscriber now on our list may renew for one year, previous to Jan. 1, 1908, at the present price, 75 cents a year.

CLUB RATES FOR 1908

Yearly clubs of five or more copies to one name and address will be supplied at 65 cents each.

SPECIAL OFFER

For four annual subscriptions, one of which may be the sender’s, we will mail free a copy of that beautiful book, “My Garden Neighbors.” It is an illustrated volume of 256 pages, and contains true and really thrilling stories of many interesting experiences the author had with various birds and animals in the vicinity of his home. It also shows how to learn the names of the more common American birds, and how to study their habits, etc. Every boy and girl will prize such a book, and it will teach them to be kind to birds and animals. The regular price is $1.00. Or, we will send “My Garden Neighbors” and the “Instructor” one year to any new subscriber for $1.50. In either case the book and paper may be sent to different persons if desired.

Our Truth Number—Now Ready

This Important Special Number of the “Youth’s Instructor” bears date of

DECEMBER 3, 1907

It has a beautiful cover design in color, and is nicely illustrated. It presents, in appropriate and impressive simplicity, the principal features of the third angel’s message through specially adapted articles on the following subjects:—

GENERAL ARTICLES

“A SHADOW ON THE HOME OF GOD”—Our prodigal world casting an inky shadow upon the home of God, disgracing the human family, and piercing the heart of God.

“WHO IS THE RADICAL?”—The man who pulls things up by the roots and examines them, shakes off the dirt, and looks at them as they actually are.

“HOW SATAN CAME TO EARTH”—“I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God; . . . I will cast thee to the ground.” Eze. 28:16-19.

“THEODORE ROOSEVELT’S MAXIMS”—Good for every young person.

“BIBLE THOUGHT SEEDS”—Five texts on many important and vital topics.

“WAYMARKS TO THE HOLY CITY”—Lines of prophecy explained.

“FORGOTTEN TRUTHS”—The present condition of the churches.

“THE SANCTUARY AND ITS SERVICE”—Meaning of the offerings. Virtue in every service.

THE SABBATH

“WHO CHANGED THE SABBATH?”—Answered modestly, yet positively.

“THE SEVENTH, OR ONE SEVENTH?”—The seventh, not a seventh, day is required.

“PROTESTANT TESTIMONIES ON THE CHANGE”—Startling testimonies against the First-day sabbath given by divines and commentators.

“SEVEN REASONS FOR SUNDAY-KEEPING”—The seven texts usually quoted to justify Sunday-keeping explained.

NATURE OF MAN

“A PERTINENT QUESTION”—Is man immortal?

“THE DEAD ARE DEAD”—Their thoughts have perished, they have no part in the affairs of men.

“LUTHER BELIEVED IT”—The dead count neither days nor years,—all souls sleep until the resurrection day.

SECOND ADVENT OF CHRIST

“A ROCK OF TRUTH”—The coming of Christ is a great oncoming fact, that neither time, men, nor circumstances can stay.

“HIS GLORIOUS APPEARING”—Prophetic signs explained.

“THE JEWELED CITY”—Gates of pearl and walls of precious stones.

TEMPERANCE THEMES

“THE CIGARETTE EVIL”—A bright youth landed in an insane asylum through the effects of cigarettes.

“POISON IN THE BLOOD”—A warning to boys against the deadly cigarettes.

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY THEMES

“RIGHT AND WRONG”—A poem with a message.

“A RUSSIAN BOY’S SPEECH”—Send your petitions to the throne of God, and not to Congress.

“PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY”—Shall we keep them alive, or shall we let them die?

“A FAIR FIELD AND NO FAVOR”—Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s testimony against religious legislation.

PRICES

The prices are: 5 cents a copy; 2 to 25 copies to one address, 2½ cents each; 25 or more copies, 2 cents each.

Order through any State Tract Society or Publishing House, or direct from

THE YOUTH’S INSTRUCTOR

Takoma Park Station Washington, D. C.

Editorial

By Editor

The gift of the Spirit of God is equivalent to the gift of the love of God, because “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” Those who pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit should remember that they are also praying for the love of God in their hearts, and should submit themselves to the working of the life of love. Those who claim that they have received in a special degree the gift of the Holy Spirit ought to reveal in their daily lives the love of God to the same unusual degree as the witness to the truthfulness of their claim. And further, “This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments;” therefore the gift of the Spirit should be revealed in keeping God’s commandments; and those who profess to keep the commandments of God should remember that it is only through the gift of the Spirit and the shedding abroad of love in the heart that it is possible to keep the commandments. The threefold message for this generation is the message of righteousness by faith—a righteousness which is revealed in keeping the commandments of God through the gift of the Holy Spirit, who sheds abroad the love of God in the heart.

By Revelation

OUR knowledge of God comes through revelation, and this revelation is made through the Son. “All things have been delivered unto me of my Father: and no one knoweth the Son, save the Father; neither doth any know the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal him.” There is only one way to seek after God, and that is through his Son. There is only one way to obtain heavenly truth, and that is through the Son. Those who claim to be seekers after truth, but who discard the revelation made through the Son, will never attain to the knowledge of the truth. They refuse the only channel through which the truth can be imparted to them. It does not flatter the pride of conceit to acknowledge our entire dependence upon a source of wisdom outside of ourselves, but it is a sign of true greatness of character. John the Baptist, of whom Jesus said, “Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater,” declared, “A man can receive nothing except it have been given him from heaven.” The apostle Paul, although educated at the feet of Gamaliel, wrote of “the dispensation of that grace of God which was given me to you-ward; how that by revelation was made known unto me the mystery,” and for the believers he prayed “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.” In receiving this knowledge we may employ all the strength of our intellect, putting every power to its utmost stretch, and we shall be constantly surprised at the variety and the fulness of the revelation. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!”

Rejecting Revelation

By Research

REJECTING the revelation which God has made of himself through his Son, made known in his Word, the wise men of this generation have set themselves up as seekers after God, trying to discover by research that which can be received only through revelation. To the old question, “Canst thou by searching find out God?” they are trying to give the affirmative answer, forgetting that the finite can not discover the infinite; and the result is that the god which they find is altogether such a one as themselves—a finite god, the deduction of a false science. This scientific god is not a person, in any proper sense of the term, but is designated as “an intelligent, creative, working Force,” co-existent with matter and discovered in the laboratory, a god limited by law and a synonym for “nature.” With such a conception of God as this there is no place in scientific religion for sin or its forgiveness, no place for a Son equal with the Father, no place for a vicarious sacrifice and an atoning work, and no place for such a sudden change in the order of things as would be involved in the personal coming of Christ—a change which would be entirely contrary to the observed order of things upon which the theory of evolution is based. In scientific religion “all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation,”—a fact which suggests that the modern religionist may after all be a last-day scoffer under another name. The religion of research demands no personal faith in Christ, but only an acknowledgment of “an intelligent, creative, working Force,” and such a submission to the working of this Force as is closely akin to fatalism. Such a religion is just as distinct from Christianity as are any of the grosser forms of heathenism. The true gospel comes “through revelation of Jesus Christ.”

The Old-New Gospel

The Son of Man

In the previous articles upon this general subject we have found that the gospel is “the gospel of God . . . concerning his Son;” that the Son is, by virtue of his eternal sonship, the Head of the original creation in whom all things were created, and the Head of the new creation in whom we are created unto good works; and that redemption is simply the realization, in spite of the entrance of sin, of the eternal purpose of God in Christ Jesus his Son that the earth should be peopled by beings made in the image of God—those who should reveal his righteousness by lives in harmony with his perfect will. This leads us to the consideration of that great central truth of Christianity—the union of divinity and humanity in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Son of man.

In view of the recent trend of religious thought and discussion upon this subject, we need first of all to emphasize the Scriptural doctrine that Christ the Son is God. There are those who concede that Christ is divine, giving their own loose definition to that term, granting him simply a larger measure of divinity than they claim for every man, but denying that he is God. We affirm both the divinity and the deity of Christ. We rest our belief upon such plain statements in the Scriptures as these: “In the beginning was the Word, and the

Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1. Compare Rev. 19:11-13. “Of the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.” Heb. 1:8. (The fact that the definite article is used in the original with the word for “God” adds much force to this passage.) “Who are Israelites; . . . whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever.” Rom. 9:4, 5. With those who accept the Bible as authority this testimony is sufficient. The Father is God, and the Son is God. The deity of the Son is plainly asserted in the Scriptures, and it is an essential truth in the gospel of our salvation. We do not become gods by believing on him, but we “may become partakers of the divine nature.”

A great mystery is revealed in the Scriptures. It is variously called “the mystery of the kingdom of God” (Mark 4:11), “the mystery of Christ” (Eph. 3:4), “the mystery of the gospel” (Eph. 6:19), and “the mystery of God.” Rev. 10:7. All these expressions deal with the one vital truth, the mystery of the union of the divine and the human in him who is both the Son of God and the Son of man. This mystery constitutes the essential difference between a false religion which is a mere system of morality, such as Confucianism, and the gospel of Christ, which is “the power of God unto salvation.” A form of godliness without the power which is the experience of “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” is simply heathenism in another form. Therefore it is that the gospel is “the gospel of God . . . concerning his Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead; even Jesus Christ our Lord.” Rom. 1:1-4. To deny the deity of Christ the Son of God is to nullify the difference between Christianity and a merely human philosophy, and to reduce the gospel of divine power to a series of powerless precepts. This is without doubt the explanation of the culmination of the philosophy of evolution as applied to the Bible in the denial of the virgin birth of Christ. It is a direct blow aimed at the most vital truth of our religion, a rejection of “the mystery of the gospel.”

We have a plain and simple explanation of “the mystery of godliness” in this scripture: “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness; he who was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, received up in glory.” 1 Tim. 3:16. This is the fundamental doctrine of God manifest in the flesh which is taught in many other places.

Let us read some of them: “And she [Mary] shall bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus; for it is he that shall save his people from their sins. Now all this is come to pass, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel; which is, being interpreted, God with us.” Matt. 1:21-23. “And the angel answered and said unto her [Mary], The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: wherefore also the holy thing which is begotten shall be called the Son of God.” Luke 1:35. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth.” John 1:1-14. “Since then the children are sharers in flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same; . . . for verily not to angels doth he give help, but he giveth help to the seed of Abraham. Wherefore it behooved him in all things to be made like unto his brethren.” Heb. 2:14-17. “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” Rom. 8:3. “Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.” Phil. 2:5-8. Thus was fulfilled the original gospel prophecy which declared that it would be the seed of the woman who should bruise the head of the serpent. “By his humanity Christ touched humanity; by his divinity he lays hold upon the throne of God. As the Son of man he gave us an example of obedience; as the Son of God he gives us power to obey. . . . ‘God with us’ is the surety of our deliverance from sin, the assurance of our power to obey the law of heaven. . . . It was Satan’s purpose to bring about an eternal separation between God and man; but in Christ we become more closely united to God than if we had never fallen. In taking our nature the Saviour has bound himself to humanity by a tie that is never to be broken. Through eternal ages he is linked with us. . . . God has adopted human nature in the person of his Son, and has carried the same into the highest heaven. It is the ‘Son of man’ who

shares the throne of the universe. . . . In Christ the family of earth and the family of heaven are bound together. Christ glorified is our brother. Heaven is enshrined in humanity, and humanity is enfolded in the bosom of Infinite Love.”—“Desire of Ages,” Trade Edition, pages 25-27.

The earthly name of the Son of God was “Jesus,” which signifies Jehovah as salvation, or revealed for salvation, and which tells of the purpose of the manifestation of God in the flesh. “He shall save his people from their sins.” The official name of the Son of God was “Christ,” which means the same as the Hebrew word “Messiah,” and which designates him as the Anointed of God. The prophetic name of the Son of God was “the Son of man,” a name familiar to the people of God from its use in the prophecy of Daniel, who declared that “there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom.” It was through his incarnation by which the Son of God became the Son of man, that the Son of man, God manifest in the flesh, was enabled to deliver humanity from the bondage of sin and win back the dominion for man. This was the foundation upon which the true church is built, and the assurance of its everlasting continuance.

Note this in the following quotation: “Now when Jesus came into the parts of Cæsarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Who do men say that the Son of man is? And they said, Some say John the Baptist; some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But who say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah [son of Jonah]: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter [Greek, Petros], and upon this rock [Greek, petra] I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Matt. 16:13-18. The fact that the Son of man was also the Son of God enabled him to conquer death and the grave (Hades); and eternal life for the individual, and the eternal continuance of the church, rest upon, and are the consequence of, this same mysterious union of the divine and the human.

When he became flesh, “Christ brought human nature into a personal relation with his own divinity. Thus he has given a center for the faith of the universe to fasten upon.” To believe on Christ means more than to acknowledge the historic Christ. It means to accept him as the Son of God and the Son of man, the “one mediator also between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus.” It means such a vital union

with him that we become temples of the living God through the indwelling Spirit, “sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus,” so that because he lives, and as long as he lives, clothed with humanity, we shall live also. “As many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name.”

The teaching of the scriptures considered in this article, and many others of similar import, ought to emphasize in our minds the necessity of contending earnestly for “the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” That philosophy which presents to us “the immanent God,” shutting out Christ the Son of God and the Son of man from his place as the mediator, or which denies the deity of Christ, and makes him a man, who is not God, is simply a variation of the mystery of iniquity, which puts forward as God a man in whom there is no union of divinity and humanity, but who is “the man of sin,” the semi-incarnation of Satan. Beware of all such false teaching, under whatever form or from whatever source it may come. It is not the true gospel.

Soon the Son of man will come in his glory. The message which prepares the way for his coming must proclaim the truth concerning him. This is the old-new gospel, the everlasting gospel.

“He Is Able”

By W. A. S.

“He is able,” said the apostle Paul in his declaration of confidence in the One in whom he had believed. It is not a question of our ability, but of his ability. In this matter of carrying the witness to all the world and seeing the end of the work, the real question is not, Are we able to finish the work? but, Is he able? The answer comes in the Lord’s own question, “Is there anything too hard for me?” and in the assurance of Inspiration, “He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness; because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.”

The Lord appeals to the fact that he is able to send breath to every creature, as evidence of his power to send the light of life to all nations. Thus we read: “Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein: I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles.” Isa. 42: 5, 6.

Reports from every land show that the Spirit of God is working among people, preparing the way before the human messengers. There were three canvassers at the South Carolina meeting last summer who told of meeting people who had been forewarned by dream of the coming of the canvasser with literature. Similar experiences have been reported in other parts of this country and abroad. There is a God in heaven able to speak to hearts that are open toward the light. He can call men out from darkness in these days, even as he called Abraham from among the idolaters of ancient Chaldea.

A remarkable experience was that of a negro of Surinam, Dutch Guiana, whose story was told by Prof. Henry Dosker in the Missionary Review of the World ten or twelve years ago.

Some sixty years ago the bush natives of Surinam were fetish worshipers, given to witchcraft and sorcery, which was called winti, or demoniacal possession. Professor Dosker says:—

John King, however, seems, from his early boyhood, to have been a white raven among his relatives and daily associates. In vain, efforts were made to bring him under the influence of the winti. He was persecuted and tortured; for three months at a time he was manacled hand and foot, and rubbed with sharp, aromatic herbs—all to no purpose. At last the Gran-winti declared that he had no power over King, because his heart belonged to the God of heaven.

His life became changed, and he was instructed, he says, by dreams and visions, in which Christ was revealed to him, and he was told to go to the missionaries who would teach him to read God’s Book.

There seems no reason to doubt the veracity of this strange story. It seems to have been an actual experience in King’s life, and it certainly was the beginning of a new existence. Staehelin and the other Moravian missionaries who knew the character and piety of King, never doubted the story.

This trance was followed by others of a similar nature, and King steadfastly refused to further join in any idolatrous practises. His tribesmen, however, wanted to compel him to bow to an idol, but King said that the Lord spoke to him, “If thou kneelest to the idol, thou shalt die. But I will save thee from their hands. Fear not, I am with thee.” The turbulent, frantic heathen closed about King, and a martyr’s death seemed to confront him, when suddenly he knelt down and prayed aloud: “My Saviour, if I do this in my own strength, then may my words have no effect at all; but if thou hast elected me to bring them to thee, help me, then, O Lord, to convert them to thee, and cause them to see that thou hast sent me.”

When King arose after this prayer, his tormentors were stealthily leaving the place, and unhindered, he returned to his own house. With great zeal he now began the work to which he felt himself called. He went to Paramaribo, and visited the Moravian missionaries, who taught him to read and write, and instructed him in the truth of God. He advanced rapidly, while the mysterious visions and dreams continued. The missionaries warned him not to trust in them nor to be puffed up on their account, and King accepted their admonitions with the utmost humility.

This man continued for years in his work. Of his end, I have never been able to learn. But many an incident in the Bible story and in modern times affords suggestion of the divine possibilities in spreading the light of truth in ways out of the ordinary.

Of the closing days of his work, the Lord says that he will “bring the blind by a way that they knew not.” We shall see his arm revealed in saving power. His Spirit is to be poured out upon all flesh so that hearts that are true will be led to seek the Lord, while those that refuse his salvation will have to fight against influences that would draw them toward the light.

Tremendous as the work before us is, with the Lord all “the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance.” “He is able.” But the children of God will be associated with him in the great work. This means that not a soul can hold back from service with the thought that now the Lord will see that the work is done. He is to do the work through his people, the power of the Holy Spirit equipping them for service, and making the way plain before them. This means that now every resource of time, of strength, of means, must be devoted to God’s cause. There is no other way of showing faith in the message that we bear in such a time as this, when within a few short years the Lord is to finish his work.

W. A. S.

The Atlantic Union Conference

By Arthur Grosvenor Daniells

The fourth session of the Atlantic Union Conference has just closed its meeting, which was held at Philadelphia. The attendance was the largest since the union was organized, in 1901. An excellent spirit prevailed, so that all pertaining to the conference passed off pleasantly and harmoniously.

At the General Conference Council held in Switzerland last spring the following recommendation was passed:—

That the Atlantic Union Conference be requested to so reorganize as to form two union conferences, as follows: (a) the Atlantic Union Conference, to be composed of the conferences in the States of New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine; (b) the Columbia Union Conference, to be composed of the conferences in the States of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia.

That the Lake Union Conference be requested to release the Ohio Conference, to become a part of the Columbia Union.

In view of this recommendation, arrangements were made during the summer for this reorganization to take place at the Atlantic Union Conference, which

has just been held. The Lake Union Conference released Ohio, and the Ohio brethren and sisters voted to unite with the new union conference to be formed. In harmony with this action, the Ohio Conference sent a full delegation to the Philadelphia meeting.

When the recommendation of the General Conference Committee and the various details pertaining to the standing of the two conferences were placed before the delegation, the vote to reorganize in harmony with the suggestion of the General Conference Committee, was unanimous. The statistical records of the two conferences showed that their standing would be about as follows:—

After the division, the Atlantic Union Conference would have seven States with seven conferences, and a population of fourteen million. In this conference there are 176 churches, 5,255 Sabbath-keepers, 150 laborers, and an annual tithe of $63,000. The new union conference would be composed of seven States, having seven organized conferences and a population of seventeen million. In this conference there are 204 churches, 6,104 Sabbath-keepers, and 220 laborers, with a tithe of $71,000. Thus the population, constituency, and financial standing of the two conferences are nearly the same. Each union has good educational and sanitarium enterprises.

As soon as the vote was taken to reorganize, all delegates of the conferences composing each union met in separate companies to appoint their standing committees, and to deal with other important matters pertaining to the interests of their own union conferences. During the session these conferences held joint meetings from day to day, receiving reports from the committees which affected both unions alike. All the proceedings of these meetings were carried on in the most brotherly and harmonious spirit. Those conducting the business sessions were blessed with wisdom and judgment in disposing of the various questions that came before the delegates, without unnecessary delay, so that a large amount of important business was transacted to allow an hour to be taken each day for Bible study, but it was decided that the Bible study was needed, and would be held even if some of the business had to be left unattended to. Our experience showed that really no time was lost in conference session by taking time to study the Word of God. A number of the evening services were devoted to reports from the mission fields, given by our General Conference men who have recently visited those fields. These were intensely interesting to our people.

All things considered, this was one of the most interesting and cheerful union conference sessions it has been my privilege to attend for a long time. We believe that the dividing of the territory as outlined above will result in greatly advancing the interests of the cause in this part of the field. The new union will be able to give more attention and more effective help to weak States south of Pennsylvania than they have ever received in the past. Since locating the headquarters of the General Conference in the District of Columbia, we have felt the need of strengthening the work in the Chesapeake and Virginia Conferences. The territory of the Atlantic Union Conference was so large, and the interests of some of the large conferences were so great, that particular attention could not be given to the weaker parts of the field. The main object of the reorganization is to bestow special help on these weaker conferences. This was the representation made to the Ohio brethren, and they cheerfully united with the Columbia Union, with the view of rendering help to these more needy parts of the field.

A full report of the organization will be published as soon as the conference officers have had time to prepare the minutes of the meetings. I am sure our people will be glad to learn of this advanced step, and that all will remember the officers of this new conference at the throne of grace. A. G. DANIELLS.

Note and Comment

Japan and the Future

THAT Japan is methodically planning to be a very important factor in the future history of this world is evident to many observers. British residents in the far East have been noticing this for some time, and have been free to express their irritation over the growing pretensions of Japan to a leading part in the destinies of Asiatic peoples. Count Okuma’s recent speech has given fresh cause for irritation. He declared that Japan “would sorely disappoint the people of India, as well as ignore the opportunities given it by Heaven, if it failed to afford protection to the millions of India now oppressed by Europe.” As England is Japan’s ally, and as England is the country to which the count refers as the oppressor of India, it can readily be seen that there are indications of trouble in that quarter, especially coming at a time when England is considerably anxious over the matter of keeping down a threatened revolt of the Indian peoples. Concerning this situation the Times, an English paper of North China, says:—

This declaration reveals the cloven hoof and the attitude of a precocious and ill-mannered baby among the civilized nations toward a country the support of which gave her her present position in the world. We hope that the revelations made by Count Okuma will open the eyes of King Edward and his countrymen, as the eyes of Britons here were opened long ago.

It has been repeatedly asserted that Japan planned to be the England of the far East. If Count Okuma’s attitude is the attitude of his government, it is plain that Japan’s plans are much larger even than that. With Korea hers, and China under her tutelage, she will turn her attention to Indo-China and India.

Drinking among Women

A CHICAGO minister made the declaration that drinking was on the increase among women. His statement being questioned, he made an investigation, in which he visited the leading restaurants and saw hundreds of well-dressed ladies, two thirds of whom were drinking liquors. He chose the fashionable restaurants, because it was of the fashionable women he was speaking. The German government has been investigating the same matter in its relation to the conditions of health among its people, and the following is what a Berlin medical journal reports it has found:—

The decline of the ability of women to nurse their infants, the increase of dental caries, of nervousness in children; of mental diseases, of youthful criminals; of children who are backward in study and difficult to control, the great number of epileptics and idiots, and lastly, the increasing craze for the pursuit of pleasure.

The chief cause of this degeneracy is given as alcoholic drinking among women, especially among mothers. Professor Gerwin, in the Medizinisch Klinck, writing of the results of these investigations, shows the direct connection between the diseased cells of the bodies of drinkers and the degeneracy of their offspring. Says the Western Recorder of the methods pursued in the study of this question:—

The scientists had eggs hatched out in air containing alcoholic vapor. The result invariably was that the chickens were weak and had epileptic fits.

They found on examining the children who were stupid at learning that they had alcoholic mothers.

One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollar Fund

By Walter Harper

For Special Work at Home and Abroad

One Way to Finish the Work

I WILL state that by the grace of God, I have paid my individual quota of the $150,000 fund over and over, directly and indirectly, and recently sent it in again, and now I will suggest a plan by which, if accepted by our dear brethren and sisters all over our land, we can swing this fund around to a finish easily by Jan. 1, 1908, and we shall be greatly blessed in the doing of it. We shall be only too glad we did this thing. It is this: Let each one give one day's work, or wages, between now and December 25, to this fund. (There is no limit, each can give not only one day's work or its proceeds, but several days if God so leads his mind.) I will give the net results of one day's canvassing, some day between now and December 10, to this fund. I hope it will be a large one—one of the largest day's work I ever did. The “surprise party” plan on the $100,000 fund began in California. It was, under God, a grand success. It was contagious. May this be, too. May it start not only in California, but all through the broad harvest-field, and the shout of victory be heard that the work is finished. It can be done so easily, too! Let us lend a willing hand and push it to A FINISH NOW.

WALTER HARPER.

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