Review and Herald, Vol. 85, No. 35. (8/27/1908)

Review and Herald

Aug 27, 1908

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 27, 1908

Hindered

By Anna M. King

“The ships were broken, that they were not able to go to Tarshish.” 2 Chron. 20: 37.

Not sail to Tarshish? What is this you say? My plans are laid, and I must sail to-day. Great wealth is waiting me across the sea That shall enrich mankind, and I shall be God’s almoner of wealth he holds in store, Until my ship has reached the farther shore. This message—it must be some idle tale. The ship a wreck, and broken by the gale? No gale could wreck a ship so staunch and strong; Storm-tossed it may be, but ’twill not be long; The storm will pass, the wind will die away, To Tarshish I must go, must sail to-day.

To-day, I said; there came another day. Upon the shore I stood, and, far away, Saw other ships ride proudly out to sea; But driftwood only floated in to me. Along the shore, when shadows fall, I light My driftwood fire, and keep it burning bright. If, some day, I should know its little light Had saved some ship from foundering in the night, I shall be glad I did not sail away To Tarshish, as I planned, that other day.

—Anna M. King, in the Sunday School Times.

The New Edition

CHRIST IN SONG

Is Now Ready

As this paper goes to press, we finish sending out the advance orders which were on hand for the new “Christ in Song.” The book is meeting the hearty approval of every one who examines it. The first edition is nearly all sold, and another edition is being printed.

We have purchased the plates and rights for the book in the Seventh-day Adventist denomination; no private individual has any interest in, or receives any profits from, our sales of the book. It is —

The Largest and Best Song-Book Published

Indeed a strong statement, but we believe it to be correct; and we further believe that in view of the present agreements between music writers and publishers, it is not possible for another book to be printed which would contain the musical productions of so large a corps of popular music writers as is found in “Christ in Song.”

All the favorite old songs have been retained in the new edition, and a large number of splendid, soul-stirring new songs have been added. There are such a large number of new compositions that if these had been published as a separate book, it would have sold readily at twenty-five cents a copy.

Old and New Editions Can Be Used Together

There will be no difficulty in using the new edition with the old books, for although the song numbers have been changed, the new edition gives in small figures the old number of each song. For instance, “Wonderful Love,” is No. 245 in the new edition, while in the old edition it is No. 196; therefore both numbers are shown, but not in such a way as to be confusing.

Two Books in One

If only minor revisions or changes had been made, we would not feel justified in asking our people everywhere to buy this new edition; but since we are now practically giving two books in one in this very large and superior collection of music, we feel that no one will regret the purchase of this book, even though he already has a copy of the old edition.

Notwithstanding the large expense in securing the use of these new songs, and notwithstanding the increased size of the book, there has been only a slight increase in price.

PRICES

It was thought when we first announced the new edition that it would contain 544 pages; but we afterward found that it would be necessary to add 32 pages more, in order to include all the old favorites and the new ones as well. So the new book contains 576 pages — nearly 1,000 hymns. The prices are as follows: — Flexible ................$ .45 Cloth .................... .60 Half morocco ............ 1.00

REVIEW AND HERALD PUBLISHING ASSN. New York City Washington, D. C. Battle Creek, Mich.

PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING COMPANY SOUTHERN PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION Portland, Ore. Kansas City, Mo. Fort Worth, Texas Hickory, N. C. Regina, Sask. Mountain View, Cal. Nashville, Tenn.

The Power of Influence

THAT intangible thing which we call influence is a mighty factor in life. We surround ourselves with a certain atmosphere, which has its effect upon all with whom we come in contact. An unsympathetic heart, a frigid manner, a cynical look will repel; or they will beget similar characteristics in others. A heart overflowing with tenderness, a winning smile, a joyous countenance, will create an atmosphere of good-will and contentment, which will soften many of the asperities of life. While those who are partakers of the divine nature can not impart this nature to others, and each one must buy the oil of grace for himself, yet many a fainting heart can be helped to the source of supply by the right influence, or hindered from the effort by untoward surroundings. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

Sabbath and Sunday

IT is now easier than ever before to see that the final issue will be over the question of the Sabbath. In one way and another the attention of the public has been constantly called to this subject, aside from the direct teaching of the third angel's message. As an example of this we note that a correspondent of the Sunday School Times writes to the editor as follows:—

Now really, did God give us the Sabbath? I have been under the impression that the Sabbath was one of the institutions peculiar to the Jewish dispensation, and that it, together with the “law of Moses,” was taken out of the way and nailed to the cross. Paul says the Sabbath was a shadow of things to come.

Why do men call the “first day of the week” the Sabbath? In the Bible the seventh day was the Sabbath. The first day of the week (Sunday) is never called a Sabbath in the Bible. Is it not a fact that the Sabbath was given to the Jews, not to the Gentiles and that if it is still in force, the penalty for breaking it is still in force? Would not a law without a penalty be a farce? If the Sabbath is still in force, with the penalty, who is to be the executioner?—seeing that the one who breaks it must be stoned to death.

In his reply the editor states some facts which many observers of the first day of the week fail to recognize. He says:—

The Bible record would seem to show that the Sabbath as a permanent institution for the world was ordained a good while before Israel . . . came into existence, and that it was observed and honored by Jesus Christ and by those whom Christ taught, after the Hebrew dispensation had come to an end. The Old and New Testaments leave no doubt on this point. . . . Christ never did away with the ten commandments, each one of which formulates a principle as eternal as God himself.

It would hardly seem possible that one who expresses himself in this way could justify Sunday-keeping, but this he does by adopting that modern perversion of the commandments which teaches that “which particular seventh day seems to have been a detail of comparative unimportance.” And yet the particular day seems to have been important enough in the olden time so that a series of miracles covering a period of forty years testify to it, and in later times Jesus taught his disciples to pray that their flight from Jerusalem should not be on that day. But it is practically impossible for one who accepts the Bible as it reads to be consistent in his advocacy of Sunday observance.

The Rise and Fall of Religious Liberty in America

By C. M. S.

Virginia’s Struggle for Soul Freedom Begins

THERE were three parties who carried on the struggle for religious liberty in Virginia. They were, first, the Quakers—who suffered, unresisting; second, the Baptists—who suffered, and protested vigorously against the suffering and the principles which involved it; and third, the Presbyterians—who suffered less than the others, because of a private arrangement with the governor. Another reason for this was the fact that Presbyterianism had never yet taken its stand against the doctrine of a union of church and state, and the Presbyterian Church of Scotland was a state church. The Virginia Presbyterianism made no striking protests against the injustice of religious persecution until three years before the Revolution.

The Episcopal Church, or Church of England, was the established church of Virginia, and there was little choice between its treatment of dissenters and the treatment which they received in Massachusetts. It was the purpose of the leaders in that church-state to exclude all dissenters from the colony unless they were willing to conform to the state religion. The revolution in England, in 1688, brought about the passage of the Act of Toleration, but Virginia did not propose that the provisions of that Act should apply within its jurisdiction. The general court of Virginia, in 1689, construed that act to suit their own purposes, withholding its benefits from all dissenters until force of circumstances compelled them to yield to the growing demand for liberty of conscience.

Settlements of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians were established in the western portion of Virginia as early as 1738. The desire of the Virginia government to have settlements of the whites between

the eastern settlements and the Indians, made it possible for these Presbyterians through the synod of Philadelphia to obtain from Governor Gooch of Virginia an agreement by whose terms they were to benefit under the Act of Toleration. The governor was willing to permit them, in those remote counties, to enjoy freedom of worship because he knew that in case of an Indian outbreak the Presbyterians would form a first wall of defense for the colony, and bear the brunt of the suffering.

The Baptists settled in the southeast parts of the State as early as 1714; but they enjoyed no such immunity as did the Presbyterians, for the government could not use them as a buffer between itself and danger. Neither could the Quakers be so used. Both were unwelcome; both were imprisoned; both were sent out of the State on account of their religion and that alone. The Quakers’ nonresistance, and the established church’s bitter persecution of them, gave the people an object-lesson in the cruelties and injustices of a state religion. They saw its true character in its treatment of that people. And while the sufferings of the Baptists furnished the same object-lesson of the cruelty of such a régime, the Baptists also continually set before the people the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ upon the question of soul liberty. To these two denominations must be given the chief credit for paving the way for, and winning, the glorious victory which was gained in Virginia over the foes of a free conscience. Those two denominations entered the New World with a clean record upon that matter, their history never having been stained with the blood of mankind on account of differences of religious belief and practise.

The example which the Quakers set in mutely suffering had its effect in convincing many of the unrighteousness of persecution for conscience’ sake, and to others the arguments of the Baptists went home with strong conviction. This leaven began to work as soon as these people began to be oppressed, otherwise it would seem that religious liberty in Virginia had been completely forestalled; for it was enacted as early as 1643 that “all ministers should be conformable to the orders and constitution of the Church of England, and that no others be permitted to teach or preach, publicly or privately.” It was also expressly provided that the governor and council should take care that all nonconformists departed from the colony “with all conveniency.”

Under such regulations it would seem impossible for any sect to gain a foothold in Virginia. Not allowed to teach or preach publicly, not allowed to remain in the colony—certainly every avenue for bringing in the doctrine of religious liberty in that State was closed. The only method to pursue was that which was pursued,—for the proscribed sects to go in in spite of the unrighteous law, and show its iniquity in the work which it would do upon them. When the fires of persecution became too fierce, they withdrew, but only to return to the contest with renewed vigor. In 1642 three Congregational ministers from Massachusetts attempted to brave the law; but, like the Presbyterians, they were not standing on the broad platform of absolute religious liberty for all (their church being the state church of Massachusetts), and their attempt to propagate their faith, in opposition to the rigid law of the Virginia church-state, ended quickly in failure, and in their return to Massachusetts. The following year Governor Berkeley’s attempt to convert all in the colony to the doctrines of the established church by means of whippings and brandings with hot irons, resulted in the withdrawal of the Baptists and Quakers to North Carolina. But other Baptists came, and other Quakers came; and the struggle went on.

Ten years after the passage of the Act of Toleration, the first license was granted to a Presbyterian minister, Francis Makemie, to preach in Virginia. Mr. Makemie seems to have understood the law, and the necessary requirements under it, and pressed the issue upon the Virginia government. This license, or certificate, was the first certificate of qualification for a dissenting minister granted in Virginia, and bears date of Oct. 15, 1699. Mr. Makemie made application for, and was granted, the right to preach in two houses owned by himself, one at Pocomoke and the other at Ononcock.

At this time the law required the registration of all places where dissenters worshiped, and the government did its best to keep down the number. In order to receive a certificate of qualification from the government, the applicant must subscribe to the thirty-nine articles of the Church of England, with the exception of the thirty-fourth, thirty-fifth, and thirty-sixth, and that clause of the twentieth which gave to the established church authority to decide for others religious controversies, and to dictate rites and ceremonies. The applicant and the members of his church must also pay a pro rata portion of the expenses of supporting the ministers of the established church. This the Presbyterians and a branch of the Baptists did; but the “Separate Baptists,” whose influence was strongest against the continuance of the church-and-state system, refused to enter into any such agreement. Another prerequisite to receiving the certificate of qualification was an agreement “never by word or deed to seek to injure the said [established] church.”

Having signed such an agreement, the signer was, of course, estopped from saying anything whatever against the belief or practise of that church. It is to the honor of the “Separate Baptists” that they refused to make any such agreement, and chose rather to suffer the consequences of their refusal rather than to throw away their right to follow the example of their Saviour in such matters. Many of the Baptists who were arrested during those times in Virginia were arrested for “speaking against the canons of the Church of England,” or for “reviling the bishops and clergy.” The Baptists held that it was their right to speak against any doctrines which they believed to be wrong, and to rebuke iniquity in high places as well as in low. That they had good occasion for rebuking the clergy of the established church of Virginia is shown by the records of the time. Dr. Hawks, in his “History of the Protestant Episcopal Church of Virginia,” page 35, speaks thus of the clergy of the established church:—

They could babble in a pulpit, roar in a tavern, exact from their parishioners, and rather by their dissoluteness destroy than feed the flock.

Bishop Meade, in “Old Parishes and Families of Virginia,” says of this class:—

Many of them had been addicted to the race-field, the card-table, the theater—nay, more, to drunken revel.

The bishop of London himself said in reference to the recruits for the ministry of the Virginia colony:—

Of those who are sent from hence, a great part are the Scotch or Irish, who can get no employment at home, and enter into the service more out of necessity than choice. Some others are willing to go abroad to retrieve either lost fortune or lost character.

How like is this to the lament of a South American Catholic bishop (published some months ago in these columns) regarding the loose morals of his priests. If there were no other proof that the union of church and state is contrary to the design of the Author of the gospel, the character of a large portion of the priests of such an establishment would be proof enough. The Virginia Assembly itself was compelled to take cognizance of these conditions in the year 1776, when the following law was passed:—

Be it further enacted by this General Assembly, and by the authority thereof, that such ministers as shall become notoriously scandalous, by drunkenness, swearing, fornication, or other heinous and crying sins, and shall thereof be lawfully convicted, shall, for every such their heinous crime and wickedness,” etc.—Hening’s Statutes, Vol. II, page 384.

In contradistinction to these stood the Baptist, Quaker, and Presbyterian ministers, exemplary in their lives, and thus winning the confidence of the people; and inasmuch as the Baptists were outspoken against the conditions and against the principles which made the conditions possible, they began to increase rapidly in spite of every method of oppression devised against them. One writer says of them:—

While yielding a ready obedience to the civil authorities in all civil affairs, in matters of religion they recognized no Lord but Christ. They were truly apostolic in refusing to obey man rather than God.

Dr. Semple, in his “History of Virginia Baptists,” makes reference to the conditions prevailing at the time in the following words:—

The great success and rapid increase of the Baptists in Virginia must be ascribed primarily to the power of God working with them. Yet it can not be denied but that there were subordinate and co-operating causes; one of which, and the main one, was the loose and immoral deportment of the established clergy, by which the people were left almost destitute of even the shadow of true religion. ’Tis true they had some outward forms of worship, but the essential principles of Christianity were not only not understood among them, but by many never heard of. Some of the cardinal precepts of morality were disregarded, and actions plainly forbidden by the New Testament were often proclaimed by the clergy as harmless and innocent, or, at worst, foibles of but little account. . . . It was not uncommon for the rectors of parishes to be men of the lowest morals. The Baptist preachers were, in almost every respect, the reverse of the established clergy.

These conditions were bound to have their effect upon those who were truly thoughtful and truly religious; and as the Baptists especially increased, the promulgation of their views regarding church and state relations also increased and the influence of the establishment began to decline. Thus the very conditions which the established church was responsible for helped to accomplish its ruin. Then, too, in the year 1773 came a crushing blow to the established clergy. They entered into a contest with the people over their salaries, and lost. Patrick Henry figured prominently in that contest, making a powerful speech (his maiden speech) in opposition to their claims. From this time on their power began to wane. Concerning this victory Chas. F. James, in “Struggle for Religious Liberty in Virginia,” says:—

The Lord was marshaling his hosts for the liberation of this fair land from the dominion and curse of a priestly hierarchy, and the souls of men from bondage to human law and custom.

The next article will treat of the petitions and memorials of the Baptists and Presbyterians for their religious rights in Virginia, and the manner in which these petitions and memorials were received by the lawmakers.

C. M. S.

Editorial

By Editor

PRAYERS and tears are all in vain in the warfare with Sin unless there is a determined purpose to refrain from doing evil. God will not prevent any person from carrying out his choice to commit sin, and the devil can not prevent any person from refraining from sin, if he really decides to turn from his evil ways. The will must be on the right side.

Fruits of Conversion and Consecration

THE fruits of genuine conversion and consecration will be seen in the life. When the heart is transformed by the renewing grace of God, there will be such evidences of the change as will be plainly discernible to all observers. When the springs of life are purified, the stream which flows therefrom will not be defiled. When the law of God is written in the heart, the actions will reveal the law as conduct. “The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.”

For the Work in the South

By I. H. Evans

THERE is one great undertaking that must lie very near the hearts of God's children, and that is giving the gospel to the colored people who are within the borders of the United States. There are approximately eleven millions of these precious souls, scattered in nearly all the States of the Union, with something over eight millions south of the Mason and Dixon line.

These people came to us by no volition of their own. It was no choice of theirs that many generations ago their ancestors were torn from their native country, Africa, chained in fetters, and brought in bondage to a strange land. Under the most unfavorable conditions they have multiplied until they have become a numerous people.

God has told us again and again that we should give the third angel's message to this people; that we should establish churches, schools, and sanitariums in various places where they can come for education and instruction in the laws of health and hygiene. Something has already been done; a start has been made; yet we have done but little compared to the magnitude of the task that lies before us.

It has been our custom for several years to take up a donation the first Sabbath in October for the prosecution of the work of the third angel's message among the colored people, and the money raised is sent to various union conferences for use in the local State conferences in giving the truth to this people. There are special reasons why the donation for 1908 should be larger than usual. The Oakwood School, located near Huntsville, Ala., is the training-school for workers for this people. For several years the Southern Union Conference has been carrying the deficit of this school, until now it is several thousand dollars in debt to the union conference. Increased facilities are needed for this institution. The school is not self-supporting, and probably it will be difficult to make it so. Many of the students who come to this school need financial aid. They also need clothing, books, etc.

Our people are also trying to open a sanitarium near Nashville, Tenn., where colored people can receive treatment and help. Another institution should be opened up in the Southeastern Union Conference in the vicinity of Atlanta, Ga. Probably another will have to be opened up in the Southwestern Union Conference in some central location. Other schools must be started. Ministers should be sent out to preach the gospel to this people. Only recently an earnest appeal came in from Mississippi, saying that they had two tent companies working for the colored people, but that they had no funds with which to finance this work beyond the month of August. They called for special help that these men may not be recalled from preaching the gospel.

The donation received in October is divided on a per-cent basis among the Southern, Southeastern, and Southwestern union conferences, and the State of Virginia. We trust there will be a more liberal donation this year in behalf of this great and needy work than ever before. There will be articles from time

to time in the REVIEW calling attention to this work, and we hope that our people generally will respond with a liberal contribution for our colored brethren.

I. H. EVANS.

Spreading From Many Centers

By W. A. S.

Not many years ago America was the only field able to send out supplies of men and means for work beyond its borders. The vast populations to be worked in the Protestant countries of Europe and in colonial lands consumed in each of these fields all the local resources.

But in recent years a great change has come. Other union conferences abroad have joined our American conferences in sending laborers and money into unentered fields. Every added season witnesses a most encouraging display of this new development in our work.

Here, for instance, is a brief note sent by Brother Guy Dail from the union meeting held last month in Germany:—

The most missionary conference, in many ways, that we have had in the German Union is just closed. Brother De Grup was recommended to answer the call from the East Indies for a Holland worker. Brethren Koelling, Poenig, and Drangmeister, chosen to go to German East Africa, were present. Two were selected for Syria, Sister Brefin, a nurse, and an additional male laborer, Brother Schultz, I believe. It was decided to open a new territory, Croatia, in Austria, a country with millions of people among whom no work has been done. Elder Schillinger goes there. Brother Janert, just ordained, goes to Rumania. Several of the students, also, enter these foreign lands.

Is it not cheering to see such a list of laborers sent out from a European union at one session? These European and colonial unions are now growing into strength, and supply centers for the yet unentered fields. It means the coming of strong reserve forces to join the efforts of the believers in America.

No longer is the vine of this message spreading forth only from America, where it was first rooted. It is rooted firmly in the soil of many lands, and is growing and spreading in every direction. That is the cheering spectacle presented to-day in the vineyard of the Lord of hosts. W. A. S.

The Collection for the Colored People

By G. I. Butler

WE rejoice greatly in the evidences of the great increase in missionary zeal among our people generally. It is a grand and blessed thought to us old laborers who have been acquainted with the days of small things, to be able now to realize how rapidly this message is going to the ends of the world.

But while we rejoice greatly in this general prosperity, it would not be wise for us to forget this important branch of the work at home. We have in the United States to-day some nine or ten millions of the colored race. The great body of them are within the bounds of the three Southern Union Conferences. There are special difficulties to be met in the South in proclaiming the truth even to the whites. The extent of the country is large, the population is scattered, educational privileges are not so plentiful, and greater poverty exists. Earnest efforts have been made of late years to make this work self-supporting, and most encouraging results have been seen; and the ratio of growth among the whites has been equal in many instances to those of the richer and more populous States in the North. In the judgment of the writer it will be impossible for the Southern field to do all that should be done for both races. This fact has been recognized by our General Conference Committee, after the fullest consideration. Hence a general collection for the work for the colored people is appointed for the first Sabbath in October, each year. If there is one cause in the South more than another for which Sister White has earnestly appealed, it is for the colored people. Scores, if not hundreds of appeals, most earnest and touching, have been made in behalf of this unfortunate race, that they may have an opportunity to receive the truth.

The writer is most thankful for the establishment of the Huntsville School, and the progress which has attended it of late, and its growing usefulness. The attendance has been of a good class of young men and women, who desire to make the best of their opportunities to become helpful in spreading abroad the light of truth among their people. This institution must have financial assistance in order to keep it up to the high standard of usefulness so much needed. Here are precious opportunities for improvement. A nurses' department is now in operation, where young people can learn to be acceptable nurses, and thus enter upon lives of usefulness, and support themselves at the same time.

The Southern Missionary Society is doing a noble work, and has been for years in the past. It has been helping to support schools among the colored people, to pay teachers, to build church buildings, and provide suitable reading-matter, and enlarge the work generally. Eternity alone can tell the amount of good already done in this way. In most all cases where these small schools have been established, here and there a church has been brought out, and a church-school building erected.

It is with great regret that we have learned that during the last two years the contributions to this noble cause have been growing less. When the collection was first taken, it was a large one. It ran up to nearly ten thousand dollars the first year. Latterly it has been far less. I appeal to our conscientious brethren and sisters throughout this country to reconsider this matter. These nine or ten millions of unfortunate people who have passed through so much need our help. Ask God to help you to open your hearts to do much for this collection Sabbath, October 3, and make a very liberal offering. G. I. BUTLER.

Note and Comment

Peace and War

In the interim between peace congresses the so-called Christian powers are pushing forward with greater vigor than ever in building and equipping large navies, and in developing the most successful plans for carrying on war. Now and then the situation is correctly diagnosed, as was done by Premier Asquith, of England, in a late speech, when he said: “It almost seems that the only specific against war on which the Christian nations of the world are agreed, is the incessant multiplication of instruments of destruction.” Thus do theory and practise contradict each other.

A Reform Demanded

THE struggle for a separation between church and state in France exhibits many interesting phases. It is reported that,—the people compare the papacy with the simple gospel as preached by reformers. Socialists denounce Rome but exalt Christ’s teachings; many wish to remain Catholics, but demand that the confessional, purgatory, indulgences, neglect of the Bible, and the worship of Mary, saints, and images and relics, be abolished.

It would certainly be a blessing to the people if these pagan practices could be discontinued; but when this is done, the power of the papacy will be a thing of the past.

An Old Doctrine Refurbished

THE teachings of the “New Theology” are, after all, simply a cultured and refined form of the old pagan doctrine of self-exaltation, the real heart of all heathenism. Expressed in that modern literary style which savors strongly of the mystical, this teaching appears in the following statement:—

Spiritual well-being, spiritual life, all that is meant by “salvation,” depends not so much on verbal and mental assent to certain formulas, as on inward spiritual awakening, growth in spiritual life, and a gradual raising of the interior consciousness until it reaches and becomes one with the divine consciousness; that thus through “the new birth from above,” the spiritual man comes into being, and this spiritual man is of his own nature, or rather through his sharing in the divine nature, immortal, a habitant of eternity.

This is salvation by the development of the divine nature within, and is also a direct assertion of natural immortality. This is a claim that the divine nature was bestowed in the original creation, and not imparted in the re-creation. Such is the present perversion of the gospel of Christ.

Without the Power Thereof

Some careful observers of the present conditions in the religious world are finding cause for apprehension concerning the future of Christianity. One of the current magazines analyzes the situation in the following way:—

Whatever may be the truth as to the technical and numerical decline in Christian denominational strength, there are good reasons for believing that Christianity, as a whole, is passing through a period of depression in this country. . . . Clergymen of many denominations seem to feel that church methods now employed are futile and ineffective, and that new methods must be adopted if the power of Christianity is to prevail. . . . To a greater and greater extent, the church is engaging in social work. Young ministers are studying the social problem as never before. . . . The gospel is preached as a message of physical health, redeeming the body as well as the soul of man. We hear in our day of the rise of a unique phenomenon—the “church clinic”—with its “cures” of all the ailments to which flesh is heir.

The difficulty is not that the gospel has lost its power, but that the churches have lost the gospel. It is more than likely that “church methods now employed are futile and ineffective,” but there is little hope of changing the situation for the better by turning to “social work,” or by attempting to substitute ministry to the physical man for ministry to the spiritual man. We do not read of any “period of depression” when the apostles were preaching the simple gospel of salvation through faith in the atoning work of Christ. A return to the preaching of the apostolic gospel would bring a return of apostolic power.

Waiting

By J. S. JOHNSON

J. S. JOHNSON

Give me patience, Lord, to wait As I journey here below; Thou art waiting at the gate Where eternal blessings flow.

Cheer my pathway with thy love; Draw me to thy precious feet; Let thy mercy from above Fill my days with fragrance sweet.

Let thy blessings ever beam On this lowly heart of mine; Lead me to the healing stream, Perfect, plenteous, divine.

Be my refuge, Lord, I plead; Give me perfect love for thee. With thy love my spirit feed, Make me what I ought to be.

Let me wait until thy call, With thy music fill my heart; Hold my hand, I can not fall; O, how good and pure thou art!

Spartanburg, S. C.

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