Earlier text: A Vision of the EveningEvidences of Divine Grace
By S. N. Haskell
"We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)" 2 Cor. 6: 1, 2. In the first eight verses that follow this passage, are mentioned thirty or more characteristics of the true minister of God. Those who are ministers indeed, have first received of the grace of God. And, in fact, all, whether they minister or not, receive of the grace of God. Some receive it in vain; others use it in ministering to their fellow men; but every one who lives receives of this grace. In fact, the very world in which we are living, is surrounded, as it were, with an atmosphere of grace; and those who breathe it in its fulness will find their spiritual life renewed. Grace, you will doubtless say, is unmerited favor. Yet there is something more than simply this meaning, I believe, in the word. In Esther 2: 17 we read: "The king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight; . . . so that he set the royal crown upon her head." While the terms "grace" and "favor" are often used interchangeably, yet there is a distinction between the two. You may have favor, and yet not have grace. Grace is more than simply favor. Favor may mean no more than leniency, but grace means the imparting or giving of an undeserved gift or gifts. When we speak of the grace of patience, or of humility, we mean that these qualities have been imparted to us by the divine Being. Grace is not obtained by works; it is the gift of God. It is something that he brought to mankind after the fall, when all connection between man and heaven had been severed. Christ brought to those who had transgressed and had forfeited all right to life eternal, the assurance that he would deliver them from the power of the destroyer. "I will put enmity between thee and the woman," were his words to Satan, "and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt678bruise his heel." Gen. 3: 15. This hope that was held out to man after the fall, was nothing less than unmerited favor. According to Eph. 2: 5-10, grace is the gift of God; it is something that Christ has made as free as the air we breathe—to every man, woman, and child who lays hold on it by faith. There is no condition other than that we shall take it as it is proffered to us. Even the heathen may unconsciously partake of the provisions made for salvation through grace. We need not be surprised if we find, upon reaching heaven at last, that some who had never heard the name of Christ in this world, have nevertheless been saved. And why?—Because, the grace of Christ operated on their hearts, and they responded to its transforming influence, and yielded to a power higher than themselves, that purified and ennobled. Many incidents might be narrated of natives in strange lands who have shown kindness to missionaries, seemingly for no reason other than that the grace of God had in some way touched the savage heart, and had awakened desires that were in harmony with the mind of Christ. They received not this grace of God in vain. I cannot explain grace. I can only read what the Lord says about it. You will find that by means of grace you will be enabled to grow and become strong in all things spiritual. It changes the heart; it subdues and elevates. And, O most glorious thought! throughout the eternal ages we shall know, if we are finally saved, that we have been saved by grace, by unmerited favor from our Lord Jesus Christ. Titus 2: 11-13: "The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." This grace, my brethren, is what makes us God's children, yes, Seventh-day Adventists, today. And this grace, as we have seen, comes not by works, but through faith in him who bestows it so freely. 2 Peter 3: 18: "Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." According to this passage, grace is something that is to develop in our lives, and make us strong. How important, then, that we learn what grace is, and make sure that we are laying hold of the advantages it affords us! 2 Cor. 8: 9: "Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich." The spirit that leads one to deny himself to benefit another—that is grace. There are some who pledged liberally of their means to various missionary enterprises connected with God's cause, not knowing where the money is to come from with which to meet the pledge. My brethren, it is grace that actuates a man to sacrifice personally in behalf of the cause of God. A scriptural illustration of the outworking of grace in the human heart is found in 2 Cor. 8: 2: "In a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality." The more the affliction, the greater the joy. In 1 Peter 2: 19, 20, we are assured that if we suffer for things we have not done, it is thankworthy. O, my brethren, when we suffer in silence when wronged or maligned, that is grace! And let me add this thought: When I work with Christ, I will work as he worked, and do as he did. I will yield myself and my personal interests for the sake of doing some one else good. There are many of us who think we have much grace. But when we are called upon to suffer, to endure, bearing all things patiently, quietly, we find it hard to submit. There are many who are inclined to shrink from such trials; but the grace of Christ that saves the soul is the grace that will stop, and meekly bear. O, how glad I am that it is my privilege to be a Christian! I am glad it is my privilege to yield for Christ's sake, to suffer for his sake. Talk about defending ourselves! We ought to be ashamed of such a thought. When the heart is filled with the love of God, when we are willing to do anything, to yield or to possess, in order that others may be benefited, we shall find that such a spirit is born of saving grace. Let me quote from 2 Corinthians 5, beginning with verse 17: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ." What is an ambassador? — He represents the country, and not only the country, but the government, and what he says is the word of the government. "As though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." When I first went to Africa, we did not have people all over the world, and so in every country where I went, I usually saw the American consul. I did not know what might happen to me, so I would give him my address at home in America, that he might notify my friends if anything should happen to me. In South Africa the American consul-general—I did not think anything about his being the American consul-general—and I became quite friendly. He knew I was going to India, and he said, "Before you go to India, come to me, and I will give you a little writing." I did not think I needed it at all. I had papers from America giving a description of me as an American citizen, and I had papers from Switzerland, and two or three other places, and so I did not feel the need of this at all; but he was very earnest about it. To accommodate him, not because I thought I needed this paper, I went to him. He gave me only about half a dozen lines, but there was a signature on the paper, and that signature was Hollis, American Consul-General. I took the paper. When I reached Calcutta, I went to see the American consul there. He came in and spoke to me, and asked if there was anything he could do for me. He said, "Today is mail day, and I am very busy and cannot spend much time, but if there is anything I can do for you, state it. I did not know what to say, so I pulled out this document and handed it to him. He took a chair and said, "Sit down." So I sat down, but began to apologize for taking his time when he was so busy. "O," he said, "I am not in a hurry at all!" What made that change?—It was the American consul-general, and I learned afterward that I might have asked him for anything that I wanted. I might have asked him for fare to come to America, and he would have given it, at the expense of Uncle Sam. Now we have heaven's Consul-General to indorse this kind of living. He says, He that will take you will take me, and he that takes me takes God, and when you have God and Christ, you have every angel in glory. The Benefits of Prohibition
It is urged constantly by those opposed to the prohibition of the liquor traffic that the benefits to be derived from prohibition are purely theoretical; that prohibition does not improve social, economic, and business conditions. The testimony of the attorney-general of Kansas, of the practical results following thirty years of prohibition in that State, disproves these claims. He states that in the Sunflower State drinking has been reduced two thousand per cent; that illiteracy has decreased from forty-nine per cent to less than two per cent, and that the two per cent is found almost entirely among the foreign element; of the one hundred five counties in the State, eighty-seven have no insane as public charges, fifty-four no feeble-minded, and ninety-six no inebriates. Thirty-eight poor-farms in the State have no inmates. Only one pauper is to be found for every three thousand of the population. In July, 1911, fifty-three county jails were empty, and in sixty-five counties of the State there were no prisoners serving time sentences. For ten years in some counties there has not been a jury called to try a criminal charge, and in one county no grand jury has been convened for twenty-five years. These statistics certainly show most excellent and practical results attending the enforcement of prohibitory law. Kansas has set an example that her sister States can follow with profit and advantage. The Comfort of the Gospel
THE gospel is Heaven's message of glad news. Its purpose is to reconcile man to his gracious Creator and Redeemer. To the rebel against the government of Heaven it offers free pardon on condition that he lay down his arms and submit to the righteous government of God; to the sick and suffering it promises surcease of pain and sorrow, to the discouraged and heart-broken a renewal of hope, to those whose ideals have been shattered new objects of ambition. The Saviour declares through his prophet:— "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified." Isa. 61: 1-3. What a revelation the acceptance of this blessed gospel has proved to thousands of souls! What a revolution it has wrought in human lives! What new hopes it has inspired in anguish-filled and grief-stricken hearts! It will do all this for those who do not yet know its power. Dear reader, have you found in the gospel a solace and comfort? Have you found the Lord Jesus Christ a precious portion to your soul? Have you so entered into companionship with him that you have heard his words of pity and tenderness and comfort, that you have felt the support of his strong arm, the throb of his loving heart? O, there is a beauty, a preciousness, a joy in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ for every one who will accept it in childlike simplicity. To experience the gracious provision of a loving father, the watch-care of an elder brother, the loving companionship of a trusted friend, a refuge in times of danger and distress, an assurance and strength which nerve the arm for all life's conflicts,—this is the knowledge of God vouchsafed in his gospel to his children. Without this knowledge the gospel of Christ becomes a mere theory—a lip service—and Christian service a mere form. But with this experience the life knows stronger, deeper impulses than those of sentiment or emotion; it is moved by a higher enthusiasm than that of sordid ambition. The new life in the soul—the Christ-life formed within—creates new viewpoints, gives to the mind new estimates, and affords endurance through the knowledge and power of him who, though invisible to the natural eye, is seen through the eye of faith, and who is grasped and laid hold of by the hand of faith. In this Christian experience, this sweetness of communion, there is power in the time of trial. Others may deny God, but we have tasted and seen that the Lord is indeed precious. We have proved the depth of his love, the strength of his friendship. We know in whom we have believed, and this knowledge holds us and keeps us in the hour of temptation. Let us realize that this definite, living experience in the Lord Jesus Christ may be ours. Education at Too High a Price
By Charles M. Stone
WHILE it is in the order of the Lord that children should be educated in those things which are essential to comfort and happiness and usefulness in this life, it never was designed that their education should become a matter of parental pride. As soon as it becomes such, the real purpose is lost, and a door is opened to the introduction of many evils. Systems of education have been built up, which have been made, through parental pride, the instruments of torture and death to the children that have been forced into and through the system. There are continually coming to our attention illustrations of the pitiless struggle between children who are constitutionally or mentally weak and the present educational system. Children have been required within a certain definite time to master a given amount of learning. They have done so; and when the examinations were past, they have dropped into a mental lassitude due to brain-fag, from which they have never recovered. The thought of taking up a book for study is as rasping on their nerves as the scraping of a fire-shovel on a stove bottom is to a nervous wreck. There have been a strain and a lesion of brain tissue which have never mended. One has said that "the world is going university mad;" and with the hundreds of victims that are every year offered on the altar of parental pride in the shrine of enforced education, it certainly looks as if the speaker had grounds for his declaration. An education is a blessing if the principles learned are in harmony with the principles of divine truth. The educated mind, with the same degree of spirituality, will accomplish more for God than the mind that is not educated. But the physical and spiritual welfare of the child should be a matter of far greater consideration than the acquirement of a certain amount of book-learning in a specified length of time. The pitiful little wrecks that have been laid away this year as the result of educational strain should forever settle in the parent's mind what his duty is in this matter. The ambitious parent who drives his child through a certain course of study at the expense of health and life or of future usefulness, is guilty before God. The fact that a certain course is marked out and that the majority, perhaps, accomplish it without apparent injury to themselves, is no excuse for any parent's allowing his child to wreck its life or usefulness in the attempt to master the task. Thousands are doing it because they do not want it to appear that their child is not so "smart" as their neighbor's. Many who have done so are now wondering why their children are not able to accomplish anything above the most ordinary in life. We have heard the remark, "John and Mary have had the very best education the schools could give them; but the Smith children who have no better education are all doing well, and mine are doing nothing. I don't understand it." Brain-fag, mental lassitude, mental debility, are written all over the lives of such children; and they are not to blame for it, either. Their brains have become like the stomach that has been gorged and its muscles stretched beyond power to return to their proper shape and functions, or like the steam-boiler that has been weakened by excessive pressure until only a small head of steam can be carried. Life is more important than the deepest philosophy the child can be forced to learn; health is more precious than the solutions of the problems of Euclid or the declensions and conjugations of Greek and Latin. The full, symmetrical, perfect development of an entire human life is of infinitely greater importance than all the philosophies and mythologies and aphorisms of the ancients, or the heaped-up and pressed-down wisdom8of modern economics, psychology, and commercialism. Let the child and the man be educated; but never permit that education to become the shroud or the grave that shall hide away the little lives entrusted to your keeping. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;" and they in whose hearts the fear of the Lord reigns will not yield to the temptation to sacrifice their little ones on the altar of pride. C. M. S. The Peace Movement
By Frederick M. Wilcox
THERE has been much agitation during the last decade in the interest of the so-called peace movement, an effort to bring about universal disarmament of the nations and to induce them to submit questions of international misunderstanding to arbitration. This movement has many earnest advocates. Many men, actuated by the highest motives have devoted to its propagation their lives and fortunes. We believe that the highest motives have possessed them in their advocacy of these measures, and we would indeed that the measures which they propose might be universally adopted, and that the nations of men might settle their differences through kindly counsel and arbitration rather than through resort to war and bloodshed. And yet so far as the practical workings of the movement are concerned, and the present hope of its ultimate success, the situation is far from flattering, notwithstanding the spirit of optimism that possesses some of its advocates. Of the strength of the peace movement Rev. Benjamin F. Trueblood, LL. D., of Washington, D. C., in the Homiletic Review for May, 1913, speaks at some length. He says:— The old forces of barbarism and savagery which have worked immense mischief in the past, and may do so again, are gradually being suppressed by the forces of modern Christian civilization which have made such great strides in national affairs, and are beginning to produce encouraging results in the international sphere. All militarism is doomed to die. The hand of God and of good men is against it. The movement of our time is steadily away from the employment of brute force and toward the substitution in its place of reason and law in the international field. How soon the movement for world peace is to be consummated no one can accurately foretell. Such optimism is born of a forlorn hope, which can recognize in the movement of our times an influence away from the employment of brute force and toward the substitution of reason and law. When we look at the arming of the nations, which is going on today as never before in their history; the continual preparations for offensive and defensive warfare; the equipment of navies; the manufacture and invention of destructive, death-dealing agencies,—the trend truly if not toward the employment of brute force of the past, is toward the employment of more scientific and at the same time more destructive agencies of warfare than this world has ever before witnessed. A disarmament of earth's nations will never be consummated in this world. The prophecy of the Scripture is against it (see Joel 3:9-16); the logic of facts is opposed to it. To believe it we must set at naught the word of God, and deny the evidences of our own senses. Universal peace will be consummated only at the second coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; it will be consummated when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord, when sin and sinners are destroyed, when righteousness covers this earth as the waters cover the sea. To this time of peace we can look forward with optimistic faith, with a faith not founded upon platitudes or that is the fruit of a delusive hope, but a faith founded upon the infallible Word of God. F. M. W. Note on Trine Immersion
By William A. Spicer
It is perhaps a fact not often recalled in these Western lands, that trine immersion, three baptisms, is the form of immersion followed by the great majority who accept immersion as baptism. It is the practise of the millions of the Greek Catholic and Armenian Catholic Churches. Roman Catholic authorities say that it was the Roman Catholic practise through the earlier centuries, before sprinkling was generally adopted in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It evidently supplanted the simple apostolic practise in the early period of the growth of Catholic ceremonialism. The number three, from the names of the Trinity, became a mystic sign or charm, and was wrought into ceremonial forms. Certain it is that no trace of trine immersion is found in the Bible. It is three baptisms, three immersions, while the Scriptures invariably describe only one. The record says that Jesus "was baptized of John in Jordan." If he had been baptized three times of John, the record must surely have so stated. To baptize means simply to immerse, to plunge; and if three times plunging or trine immersing were the form, it could be expressed truthfully only by saying that Jesus was baptized three times of John in Jordan. The apostle Paul says that in baptism "we have been planted together in the likeness of his death." Rom. 6:5. The burial in the watery grave is "in the likeness" of Christ's burial in the tomb, even as the lifting up of the candidate is in the likeness of the resurrection from the grave. But Christ was buried but once. It destroys the likeness, divinely intended, to immerse the candidate three times in the watery grave, with three resurrections. "Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more." Rom. 6:9. It was once for all that he went into the tomb for us, and rose again. That is the great fact, in the likeness of which the ordinance of baptism was instituted in the Christian church. It is sometimes urged that three baptisms are to be inferred from the great commission instructing the disciples to "teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Matt. 28:19. But it is one name into which the believer is to be baptized. There is no suggestion of three baptisms; and three burials in the water, let it be emphasized, must inevitably destroy the likeness of Christ's burial, and so mar the meaning and symbolism of the divine ordinance. Trine immersion is the popular Eastern Catholic form, but it has no foundation in the Word of God. W. A. S. Home Missionary Work
By Arthur G. Daniells
AMONG the very important and far-reaching recommendations adopted by the delegates at the General Conference just closed are the following:— Whereas, The life of the church depends largely upon the missionary activities of its members; and,— Whereas, Such activity can be greatly stimulated and aided by live and well-instructed church tract society officers; therefore,— 1. Resolved, That advanced steps be taken by officers of each conference and mission field in the thorough training of librarians and missionary leaders for their duties, by— a. Personal and private instruction in the home and local churches. b. Gathering these officers together from a group of churches and conducting institutes with them. c. Bringing them together at general meetings for instruction and counsel. 2. We recommend, That home missionary secretaries, for both the General Conference and the North American Division Conference, be appointed for the promotion of the church missionary work. The duty of the secretaries shall be to cooperate with our conferences and missions, each in his own field, in building up the church tract and missionary work by— a. Developing such practical plans and simple instruction as will unite all our churches in a general missionary movement. b. The publication, through the medium of church and conference papers and personal and circular letters, of such missionary reports and experiences as will lead our people everywhere to appreciate their opportunities, and stir themselves to greater activity.9The object of these recommendations is to set on foot an active, earnest, effective home missionary movement. The leaders in the General Conference and in the union and local conferences have long felt the great need of personal efforts by our people in soul-winning service. Most earnest counsel has come to us through the spirit of prophecy regarding this important work. We have been told of the great blessing that would come to us personally, to the cause, and to the people for whom we labor, when we put forth the efforts we should for the salvation of souls. We have been warned, too, of the unspeakable loss that would result from failure to do this work. Somehow a deep conviction seems to have come to our leaders everywhere that we must now inaugurate a great home missionary campaign and thus hasten the finishing of the work committed to us. Who can tell how quickly the warning message can be given to the world by a hundred thousand earnest, zealous believers? Every one should read again and with great care the chapter on "The Home Missionary Work" in "Testimonies for the Church," Volume VI. In harmony with the counsel of the spirit of prophecy and the General Conference recommendation given above, the General Conference Committee has begun its part of this work. Sister Edith M. Graham has been appointed secretary of the Home Missionary branch of the Publishing Department. In 1894 Sister Graham joined the staff of workers in the Australian Conference. For nineteen years she has remained with the Australasian staff, rendering most efficient and greatly appreciated service. In later years the burden of her heart has been to organize and stimulate our churches for successful missionary work. So she now takes up this important feature of the work with Elder N. Z. Town, the secretary of the Publishing Department. We feel sure she will have the hearty cooperation of our leaders and people in all parts of the world. When we realize that it is an unfinished work that now delays the coming of our blessed Master, and so prolongs the reign of sin and suffering, surely we must all take hold of this home missionary movement. "Were every one of you a living missionary, the message for this time would speedily be proclaimed in all countries, to every people and nation and tongue. This is the work that must be done before Christ shall come in power and great glory."—"Testimonies for the Church," Vol. VI, page 438. A. G. DANIELLS, President General Conference. Shall It Be Thirty Thousand Dollars?
By I. H. Evans
THE Midsummer Offering is at hand. Sabbath, July 26, brings to us the time when the people of God are to make a special donation for the advancement of the Lord's work. One likes to think of making an offering to the Lord. There is something in such a thought so different from making a present to our earthly friends. When we make a present to our friends, we often fear that the present may not be acceptable, or that it is not suitable for the occasion, or that it is not sufficiently nice and costly to please. These feelings haunt us, and oftentimes embarrass us. But when we give to the Lord, we are always sure he will accept the heart-offering, be it more or less. With the Lord the amount is of far less value than the love that prompts the gift. With God it is not how much that is of value; but, Is it from the heart, and is the gift sanctified by love and sacrifice? God has many times exhorted his children on this question of giving, and does not leave us in doubt concerning our duty. "According as a man hath," "As God hath prospered him," "For God loveth a cheerful giver," are the maxims for giving that make both the gift and the giver acceptable to God. God would ever have his people remember his greatness, his glory, his power. God is never a beggar, is never one who cannot get on without his children's offerings; but he puts it in our hearts to give, not because of his necessity, but for our sakes. Of God's own ability to supply his needs he says: "For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills;" "If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof;" "The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts;" "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." Yet this gracious God reckons to our credit what we give to him, though all is his own before we give it. Though he has power to take from us what he has given to us, yet when we give to God he gives us credit and recognition for our gifts. We take of that which he has given to us so freely, and give to his service, thus securing from God credit for all we have done in his name. Not only does God give us credit for what we give to him and to his work, but he promises to give to us more than we give to him. We read from these words of Christ: "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again." Thus we see that when one gives to God, he does not even beggar himself; he does not lose what he gives; but it is multiplied unto him in more abundance. There remains much to be done in bringing the fifteen cents a week for the first six months of the current year to the full average quota on the membership basis. It will take more than $80,000 to make up the shortage that has not been raised on the Fifteen-cent-a-week Fund during the first half of 1913. Why not every believer examine his account with God, and see if he has given to God not only his full tithe, but the offerings that will please the Lord? The number of new workers voted to foreign fields during the recent session of the General Conference demands a full fifteen cents a week from our constituency. There is no investment in banks, stocks, or bonds that will pay so large eternal dividends as the investment we make in the souls of men. Other things may bring a good percentage for a time, but the investment for eternity far outstrips all other investments ever made by man. We are now living in the time when we are to behold the finishing of God's work. There is no release from service for those who expect to enter the kingdom. A withdrawal now from service means a separation from God. We are in the very midst of the great conflict with the evil one, whose opposition to God and his work is bitter, determined; and the struggle is final. It is now the death-grip between righteousness, truth, and heaven on the one side, and evil, falsehood, and the powers of darkness on the other. In this struggle there is no compromise, nor is there any way of not entering the struggle. We are either on the one side or on the other; we must be either for God and his cause, or for the enemy and against the cause of God. Neutral ground, there can be none.10 If man should forbear now to support the work of God, if there should be a withholding of means, or if some should lose courage and give up the battle, God must supply himself with other agencies with which he can finish his work. Our salvation depends not alone on our theoretical faith in Christ and in the Word of God, but in our relation to the finishing of this great work. It is truly most encouraging how our people have rallied to the support of the cause of God. The last year was the best in our denominational history. The money rolled into the treasury beyond expectation, and when the end of the year was reached, there were but few thousand dollars short of the full fifteen cents a week per capita. This year we not only desire to make up the full amount of fifteen cents a week, but for the last half of 1913 we hope to swell the amount to at least twenty cents a week per capita. This means a close, hard struggle; it means the falling into line of every man, woman, and child who believes this message, and a constant, persevering, weekly donation for the support of God's work. Truly every believer must desire to participate in the finishing of the Lord's work. It is the last chance in all eternity of ever showing our love to God, and our zeal for the honor and glory of his name, when that love, honor, and glory can do good to those whom God desires to save. Some of us are unable to go to foreign lands, others are needed in the home land, and some must remain in the shop and in the field earning money and providing sinews of war. This Midsummer Offering is a time when we should make large donations to promote the work of God. The demands for an advance move are definite, and need no argument. The Macedonian cry is sharp and clear, coming from every land on earth. So the donation to the work of God should be large and liberal this year. We must not forget to whom we give. It is not to man; it is not to a committee; it is not to some finite, human being; but to the great, eternal God, who so loved us that he sacrificed all to enrich us. Do not forget the time of the offering, Sabbath, July 26. Plan on it definitely, and let us make this offering the most liberal Midsummer Offering yet collected by our people. I. H. EVANS,
President North American Division Conference. Note and Comment
By Editor
A CONTRIBUTOR to the Lutheran Observer, in its issue of April 18, remarks: "There is a species of morality now quite popular. It places the blame for immoral acts not on immoral character, but on immoral environment. The grafting policeman takes bribes because his salary is too small; the poor girl sells herself because she has not a living wage; and so on through all the sins of the decalogue. . . . This kind of immorality," the writer observes, "seems to have taken strong hold of many of our recent so-called scientific investigators, who perhaps do not realize that in fact it is only another form of that religion of humanity handed down to us from the French philosopher Comte and his school." The writer concludes: "Pleasant environment, good clothes, and plenty of food do not make men good." The gospel of Jesus Christ seeks to save man where he is, nor does it stop to create environment before giving to him this salvation. "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." That man in the darkness of heathen superstition, the one sunken in the lowest depths of moral degradation, has but to reach out after God and the hand of an infinite Saviour will be reached down to save. "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." God can accomplish all things for the men and women who will place their wills on the side of his will, who will respond to his call, and yield themselves to the leadership of his divine spirit. Jesus Christ lived for thirty years in Nazareth, a place noted for its wickedness, a city with such a reputation that Nathanael questioned if any good thing could come out of it. That same divine power which enabled him in that unfavorable environment to live for God will enable men and women today, whatever may be their environment or social position or inheritance, to form characters of purity and holiness. It is incumbent upon the believer that he turn away from the environment of sin in which his life has been cast, that he forsake the boon companions that have dragged him downward; but the church of God today mistakes its divine mission when it feels that the highest exercise of the gospel is a social service, the creation of conditions which will draw men back from the paths of sin. The tendency of much of the social service work being carried on by many churches today is to lead them to place their dependence upon these means and agencies, rather than upon the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the accomplishment of the salvation of those for whom they labor. ILLUSTRATIONS of the good that might be accomplished by the wise expenditure of the millions of dollars expended annually for war preparations are given in the Lutheran Witness of June 5, 1913:— A first-class battle-ship costs as much as all the hundred buildings of Harvard University. Europe pays annually in time of peace for keeping up her armies and navies more than one billion dollars. This is a pile of dollar bills fifty-two miles high. It represents a thousand million days' labor at a dollar a day. A modern battle-ship costs $12,000,000. It lasts for twenty years at most, and during that time its up-keep costs $16,000,000, or $28,000,000 in all. For the cost of a single battle-ship fifty manual-training schools could be built and fitted out, and 75,000 boys and girls could learn trades every year. Out of every dollar of our national expenditures, seventy cents goes to pay for past wars and provide for future ones. The world's armies and navies require 5,560,000 men. Think how much better off the world would be if these millions were engaged in the productive arts of peace! The cost of one battle-ship would buy 250,000 acres from which forests have been cut, and plant them with trees for the needs of future generations. Every time a fourteen-inch gun is fired the cost is $800. That would give a boy or a girl two years at many colleges. The United States army has 90,000 men, and its navy 50,000 men, or 140,000 in all, who must be fed and clothed, paid and cared for, year after year. And this is as nothing compared with other nations. The German army, for example, contains 600,000 men. Dropping the Name Protestant
THAT true Protestantism is disintegrating, and that many of those now called by that name have lost its true spirit, is recognized alike by Catholics and Protestants. Of this the New York Weekly Witness of June 4 says:— And it is quite true that there is an endless variety of teaching among people who claim to be Protestants and are recognized as such. In fact, the word Protestant has no definite meaning now. As a rule, all persons who claim to be Christians and who do not belong to the Roman Church or the Greek Church are classed as Protestants, although they may be as widely separated from one another as the poles, both in belief and in practise. It is high time, in fact, that the name Protestant should be dropped; for the word means one who protests against the errors of Romanism, if it means anything at all, and the great majority of those who are called Protestants now know little, and care less, about the errors of Romanism.