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Review and Herald, Vol. 85, No. 6.

God Gives the Victory

Review and Herald

Feb 6, 1908

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 6, 1908

God Gives the Victory

By R. W. Barbour

Lord, I thank Thee who hast wounded, for the mercy that abounded, For the multitudinous mercy flowing forward like a sea; For the deeps that rolling o’er me arched into an arm that bore me; For the thunder-step of time that woke Thy peace, eternity,
And I thank Thee that the thunder never woke one word of wonder, Only hushed the murmurous thought and drove rebellion far away, That the wrath revealed outside me showed a rest where I might hide me Till the inward clouds rejoined the outer darkness black as they,
Therefore Thee I praise forever, merciful Taker, mighty Giver, Taking but to give, and giving none but Thou to take away; And if darker clouds encrust me, though Thou slay me, I will trust Thee, For Thy hurt is simple healing, and Thy darkness simple day,
—R. W. Barbour.

Publishers’ Page

By Editor

Conducted by the Department of Circulation of the Review and Herald Publishing Association

Liberty

The First Number for 1908 Now Ready

This number of Liberty has a very attractive and appropriate new cover design, a full-page illustration of the House of Congress, and one of the President’s Cabinet, with other appropriate illustrations throughout the number. It contains “A Memorial to Congress,” and the Religious Liberty Bureau’s “Protest” against the Sunday-law movement in Washington. The following summary of contents of the entire number will give some conception of its real merits throughout:—
“Survey of the Field”—Respecting the demand for religious legislation—the outline of the different special phases recently developed, which reveal the general tendency of the times.
“Church and State”—Our ground of opposition to their union based upon a high regard for each, and a desire to promote the prosperity of both.
“A Sunday-Law Campaign”—The Protestant and Catholic clerical effort to induce Congress to pass a Sunday law for the District of Columbia, with the Religious Liberty Bureau’s twenty-two-point protest.
“Caesar’s Superscription”—The question of reinstating the motto, “In God We Trust,” upon coins of the United States, discussed in Congress.
“A State Religion Advocated”—The National Reform view of a state religion interpreted in fourteen logical conclusions.
“Baptists and Federation”—The Canadian Baptists decline to identify themselves with creeds which have any tendency to establish a human standard over conscience.
“Pius X on Church and State”—Upholding their union, with the church as the superior, and condemning the principles of their separation.
“Sunday Closing of Saloons”—An effort not primarily in the interests of temperance, but to exalt Sunday as a religious institution.
“A Striking Likeness”—Between present proposed enforcement of religious practises and the enforcement of similar practises in the Dark Ages.
“A Court Decision on Sunday Laws”—The decision of Judge Wallace (Kansas City, Mo.) in favor of Sunday laws analyzed and set in contrast with the principles upon which the United States government was established.
“The Divine Sabbath Law”—The fourth commandment of the decalogue—its Author—not repealed—of universal and perpetual obligation—designates the seventh day—candid admission of the law’s divine origin and perpetual obligation—it stands without the prop of civil law.
“The Theocratical Theory of Government”—The papal theory Protestantized to foster Protestant teachings.
“A Memorial”—Presented by the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventists to the Sixtieth Congress, embodying a concise statement of the faith and the teachings of the memorialists, historical records of the disastrous results of the union of the church and state, and the present organized effort to secure from Congress such legislation as will commit the national government to a violation of its principles of religious liberty, and to the enforcement of a religious institution.
“The Oklahoma Constitution”—Providing for “perfect toleration”—the difference between religious toleration and religious liberty clearly defined.
“Sunday, Religious or Civil?”—If religious, the state can not enforce its observance—if civil, it stands upon an equality with other civil holidays,—not compulsory.
“The Sword of Islam”—The sword of submission in enforcing Mohammedanism—an evidence of human invention and the absence of the Spirit and power of God.
“Sunday-Law Agitation”—An evidence of a popular demand for a legal Sabbath in preference to a Scriptural Sabbath.
“Proposed Sunday Laws”—The character of the Sunday laws now before Congress exposed, and the principles of religious liberty to be sacrificed in their passage, cited.
“The Genealogy of Sunday Laws”—Their origin and succession in adoption.
“The Persecuted and the Persecutors”—In the history of the world, the persecuted have generally been in the right.
“Christian Liberty”—“The true doctrine is not our right to think for ourselves, but the right of the other man to think for himself.”
“Nullifying Exemption Clauses”—Exemption clauses in Sunday laws, through manipulation, often fail to exempt.
“The American Constitution”—The most remarkable document in existence,—the supreme law of the land, representing the gathered warnings of liberty from all ages, its every word distilled from the blood of martyred millions,—is not to be condemned by religious zealots, nor amended in harmony with inquisitorial principles.
“Temperance Reform”—Approved; “Liquor Traffic,” condemned; “Claims of Anti-Prohibitionists,” examined; “Taking a Drop,” is the first step down the dropping side of life; “Some Lessons in Figures,” showing how much money is spent for liquor; “Alcohol,” the great destroyer; “Temperance Brieflets,” “News Notes,” etc.
Single copy, 10 cents; 2 to 25 copies, 5 cents a copy; 25 to 500 copies, 4 cents; special rates on orders of 500 or more copies. The regular subscription price is 25 cents a year; 10 or more copies, one year, one address, one order, 15 cents a copy. Foreign subscriptions, including Canada, 35 cents a year.

Prohibition and Sunday Laws

A NEW 16-page tract recently prepared to commend and to assist the temperance campaign, and to protest against the Sunday-law movement in Washington, D. C., rearranged for general circulation.
This tract is now appropriate for any locality where these issues are agitated. It will give strong support to temperance reform, set in sharp contrast with the moral and civil right to legislate upon a purely religious question, and present a vigorous twenty-two-point protest against Sunday laws. It will be supplied at the usual rate of sixteen pages for one cent, with the accustomed discount to tract societies.

The Millennial Dawn

By Editor

WE call the attention of the REVIEW family to the tract treating the subject of the Millennial Dawn under the title of “A False Hope of a Second Probation,” No. 48 of the Words of Truth Series. This is a 32-page tract, clearly exposing many of the errors presented in the literature of the Millennial Dawn people. The errors contained in this literature are set in a convincing contrast with the teachings of the Bible, and the foundation doctrine of this sect is shown to be unscriptural, and merely a fable of the last days. Price, 2 cents, post-paid.

Orders for Publications

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Also Pacific Press Publishing Association, Mountain View, Cal.; Portland, Ore.; Kansas City, Mo.; Southern Publishing Association, Nashville, Tenn., and Fort Worth, Tex.

Holland Publications

THE New York Branch of the Review and Herald Publishing Association recently imported two Holland books, “Coming King” and “His Glorious Appearing.” Heretofore these books have not been obtainable in the United States. “Coming King” will be furnished in the cloth binding at $1 a copy. “His Glorious Appearing,” board, 25 cents.

Other Foreign Books and Tracts

In addition to the above-mentioned books, the New York Branch carries a good supply of the following books and tracts in the Holland language:—

Books

BIBLE READINGS: marbled, $2.25; gilt, $2.50; library, $3.25; morocco, $4.25. DANIEL AND THE REVELATION: library, $3.50; morocco, $4.50. STEPS TO CHRIST: $.50.

Tracts

End of the Wicked ............ $.02½ God’s Memorial ............... .01 Immortality of the Soul ...... .02 Is Man Immortal? ............. .00½ Law and Gospel ............... .01 Millennium ................... .02½ Sabbath Made for Man ......... .01 Sabbath of the Bible ......... .01½ Sanctuary .................... .01 Second Advent ................ .02½ Seven Reasons ................ .01 Sleep of the Dead ............ .00½ Spiritualism ................. .02½ What Has the Gospel Abrogated? .00½ Who Changed the Sabbath? ..... .01½ Our Answer ................... .01 Present Truth ................ .02½
Order any of the above foreign books and tracts from the Review and Herald Publishing Association, 32 Union Square, E., New York City, N. Y.

The Nearness of Christ’s Coming

THERE is great danger lest we should lose the vivid sense of the nearness of the coming of our Lord. In the whirl of business and gaiety, in the rush for position and power, in the craze for wealth, there is a certain fascination which may gradually deaden our zeal and quiet our longing for the triumph of the rightful King when he comes in his glory. For our own souls’ sake and to strengthen our own faith we need frequently to review the evidences found in the Scriptures and in current history to show that “he is near, even at the doors.” While some are saying, “My Lord delayeth his coming,” and others are flatly denying the doctrine altogether, we should be growing stronger in the faith, and more earnest in the proclamation of this truth. Whether men believe it or not, whether they mock at it or not, the day of his appearing is hastening on, and to many it will come as a thief in the night. For us who have heard this message there will be no excuse if it comes on us unawares. We need now a personal experience which will give us confidence in the final day.

The Manner and Object of Jesus’ Second Coming

THE teaching of the Scriptures on this subject is very clear. We are not left to doubt or to conjecture concerning this great doctrine, but need simply to read the plain revelation made in the Word of God.
Inasmuch as “there shall arise false christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect,” it is necessary that there should be given such distinctive particulars of the manner of Jesus’ coming as shall guard us against deception and enable us to recognize with certainty the approach of the Lord of glory. And these particulars are not lacking. We will therefore note some of them:—
1. Jesus will come back from heaven “in like manner” as he went to heaven after his resurrection. This assurance was given to the astonished disciples, who witnessed his departure. “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” Acts 1:11. As “a cloud received him out of their sight,” so “he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him.”
2. Jesus will come with such a display of glory as shall command the attention of the whole world. His own words are: “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Matt. 24:27. This effectually forbids the idea that he comes to each individual at death, or that he will make his appearance unheralded “in the desert,” or “in the secret chambers.” All the tribes of the earth “shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”
3. Jesus will come from heaven attended by “all the holy angels,” and heralded by the voice which wakes the sleeping saints. This is made known in these words: “The Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him” (Matt. 25:31); “the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.” 2 Thess. 4:16. That method of interpretation which spiritualizes such literal language as this, perverts all religion into mysticism, and changes the truth of God into a lie. Just as certainly as Jesus himself was here upon the earth, a real being, and was crucified, and was raised from the dead, and ascended into heaven, so certain is it that “this same Jesus” will return to this earth, and his coming will be attended by such circumstances as will declare him to be the only begotten Son of God.
4. Jesus will come from heaven as the destroyer of those who have rejected him as their Saviour. This terrible truth is just as clearly revealed as that he will come as the deliverer of those who have accepted him. “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints.” 2 Thess. 1:7-10. No created being can counterfeit such a retinue of attendants or such a display of overwhelming radiance as is here called “flaming fire.” This is the fulfilment of the psalmist’s words: “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.”
Those who keep these scriptures in mind have secure protection against all false teaching concerning the manner of Jesus’ coming, and need not be swept away by the delusion, even if Satan himself, who can transform himself into an angel of light, should attempt to counterfeit the coming of our Lord.
The coming of Jesus is the crowning act in the whole work of the gospel. He came the first time to give himself a sacrifice that he might redeem both the earth and its inhabitants from the curse which resulted from sin. He returned to heaven to plead that sacrifice in behalf of sinners, and to make ready a place for his people, and his people for that place. He will come again to reap the fruit of his sacrifice and his ministry,and this coming will be the culmination of the eternal purpose of God which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. We may designate the object of his coming more particularly under the following divisions:—
1. Jesus will come to raise the dead, both the just and the unjust. Thus we read: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming” (1 Cor. 15:22, 23); “but the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” Rev. 20:5. The righteous dead are raised in immediate connection with the second advent, and the wicked at the close of the millennium, which is with the Lord as only one day later.
2. Jesus will come to translate to heaven the righteous whom he raises from the dead, and the living who are waiting for him. After describing the descent from heaven and the resurrection of “the dead in Christ,” the apostle Paul says: “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Thess. 4:17. The prayer of Jesus, “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am,” will then be fully answered.
3. Jesus will come to bestow immortality upon all believers. “Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” 1 Cor. 15:51-53. It is an astonishing perversion of the truth which makes inherent in man that which the Scriptures teach is given at the coming of him who “hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”
4. Jesus will come to take his people to himself, and thus to re-unite with the family of heaven those who have been separated from the immediate presence of God on account of sin. To his disciples, he said: “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” We do not go to be with Jesus at death, but we wait for him to take us to himself at his coming. This has been the hope and comfort of true believers during their earthly pilgrimage, to whom the coming of Jesus has been their highest expectation and joy.
This brief consideration of the manner and object of Jesus’ second coming emphasizes the importance of this central truth of the gospel. The consummation of all our hopes centers in the coming of Jesus. Resurrection, translation, immortality, being with Jesus—all these depend upon the coming of Jesus. Truly it is “that blessed hope,” and the time of his coming is “the crowning day.” And even now his coming is near. “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”

Editorial

By Editor

NEVER in the history of the world could the appeal to the fulfilment of prophecy be made with such force as at the present time. All the principal lines of prophecy can now be compared with history, and the verdict is, “fulfilled.” We are living in the generation when the last prophetic utterance will be wrought into history, and prophecies shall cease. This advent movement, in which so much emphasis is placed upon the prophecies of the Bible, is in itself a fulfilment of prophecy and an evidence of the nearness of the advent. With greater confidence than ever we may now say, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”

The Anti-Sunday-Law Convention of 1848

By W. A. S.

In addition to the resolutions and speech of William Lloyd Garrison against Sunday laws, in 1848, which were reprinted in last week’s issue, some further facts concerning that Boston convention may be of interest.
To us it is very significant that in 1844, just as this advent movement was rising, the Sunday-law forces were springing into action. In the life of Garrison, by his son, it is stated:—
As far back as the summer of 1844, remarking the roving commission of the Rev. Justin Edwards, D. D., of Andover, for a year past, to enforce Sabbatarianism, he proposed a New England convention to discuss the Sabbath.
More than a score of names were attached to the call, among them Theodore Parker, Samuel May, Jr., Lucretia Mott, Parker Pillsbury, and others who were working for liberty and human rights. It was no doubt a motley company, theologically, but all were united in protesting against coercion of conscience.
In writing to Elizabeth Pease, of England, one of the veterans in Britain’s work for reform and liberty, Wendell Phillips said of Garrison’s convention call: “His new Sabbath Call is finely drawn up, I think. I did not sign it, though agreeing with its principles. These theological reforms have but a secondary interest for me.”
Some, however, understood well the far-reaching effect of all religious legislation. The call for the convention stated:—
The right of every man to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience is inherent, unalienable, self-evident. Yet it is notorious that in all the States, except Louisiana, there are laws enforcing the religious observance of the first day of the week as the Sabbath, and punishing as criminals such as attempt to pursue their usual avocations on that day. . . . There is, therefore, no liberty of conscience allowed the people of this country, under the laws thereof, in regard to the observance of a Sabbath day.
In addition to these startling facts, within the last five years a religious combination has been formed in this land, styling itself, “The American and Foreign Sabbath Union,” whose specific object is to impose the Sabbatical yoke yet more heavily on the necks of the American people. In a recent appeal made for pecuniary assistance by the executive committee of that union, it is stated that “the secretary (Rev. Dr. Edwards) has visited twenty of the United States, and traveled more than thirty thousand miles, addressing public bodies of all descriptions, and presenting reasons why, as a nation, we should keep the Sabbath—all secular business, traveling, and amusement be confined to six days in the week—and all people assemble on the Sabbath, and worship God.” . . .
That this combination is animated by the spirit of religious bigotry and ecclesiastical tyranny—the spirit which banished the Baptists from Massachusetts, and subjected the Quakers to imprisonment and death, in the early settlement of this country—admits of little doubt. . . .
We claim for ourselves and for all mankind, the right to worship God according to the dictates of our own consciences. This right, inherent and unalienable, is cloven down in the United States, and we call upon all who desire to preserve civil and religious liberty to rally for its rescue.
The convention met in the Melodeon (a hall where Theodore Parker’s congregation worshiped), March 23 and 24. Mingled with the protests against religious legislation was much no-Sabbath talk. Samuel May, Jr., of Boston, had this to say of the use made of the fourth commandment by the advocates of Sunday laws:—
I contend that it is little better than a fraud to give the name of Sabbath, in any case, to the first day of the week. “The seventh day,” said the Jewish law, the only law which ever established a Sabbath, “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” What right has any man or body of men, to alter this, and say, “The first day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God”? The Seventh-day Baptists are the only consistent Sabbatarians among the Christian sects of this country. Looking into the Scriptures, both of the Old and New Testaments, they find no other day prescribed as a Sabbath, but the seventh, and to that they adhere, and are consistent in doing so. All others who profess to hold sacred the authority of the Scriptures, are inconsistent with themselves, and undermine their own position, by maintaining that the first day of the week is the Sabbath.
Clearest of all on the principles of religious liberty were Garrison, of Boston, and C. C. Burleigh, of Philadelphia, the latter a lawyer who had thrown himself into the anti-slavery agitation. On the plea of majority rule in matters of conscience, Mr. Burleigh said:—
The majority must rule! Shall the majority rule in matters of conscience? Can you count consciences? Can you count moral principles? Can you count the impulses of the heart, the faculties of the soul, the multitudinous cords that bind the individual to the universal heart? If you can, you may count majorities in cases of conscience. . . . Can you speak of ballots and ballot-boxes, of the ayes and noes of the legislative hall, against this right of individual conscience?It stands too high for legislative power to reach up to it.
On the religious tax assessment in the Sunday law the same speaker said:—
But we are told, “O, you are only required to abstain from work on the first day of the week; you may worship when you please! We do not infringe on your right of conscience; you may worship just as you will, on the seventh day, the fifth day, or the fourth day; but on the first day we require you not to work. You need not come to our meeting-house, to engage in our worship; you may worship at your own time, and place, and we do not impose any penalty at all upon you for that.” Indeed! Suppose that I entertain opinions differing from yours; and now I say to you, that if you will not conform to my notions, if you will not come when I think you ought, and listen to the sermon and the prayer, then I shall require of you to pay the penalty of the wages of ten days every year. That is the fine that I impose upon you, and you protest that it is wicked and unconstitutional, and that it is contrary to the rights of conscience. And so you turn round, and make me pay the wages of fifty-two days’ labor in every year, and call it perfectly right. The Jew, who is compelled to lie by on the first day of the week, is losing one-sixth part of the entire working period of his existence. So, too, with the Seventh-day Baptist; he loses one-sixth part of his whole working time. You demand, not a tithe, but a sixth part of his substance,—for what is his substance but the result of his labor? To demand that one-sixth part of his time shall be sacrificed, is the same as to say one-sixth part of his earnings, his income, of his property, of his means of subsistence and usefulness, shall be sacrificed;—a pretty heavy tax, I think, upon difference of religious opinion.
The report of the meeting was put out in a little pamphlet, “Proceedings of the Anti-Sabbath Convention.” The editors included in it the comments of the religious press on the convention, showing how intemperately it was denounced as an infidel and fanatical gathering. The religious views of the men who stood for the principles of liberty in those days were of every variety, but they sounded a true note for liberty and freedom of conscience. Abraham Lincoln paid tribute to “the logic and moral power of Garrison” as one of the greatest factors in the history of those times.
W. A. S.

How Far Can I Go?

By C. M. S.

Many who have started in the service of Christ have been tempted from time to time to ape the world and its ways, and have turned to their spiritual advisers with the question, “How far can I go in this direction and be clear of sin?” They ask, “Is it wrong for Christians to attend theaters?” “Is it wrong for Christians to dance?” “Is it wrong for Christians to play cards?” “Is it wrong for Christians to wear jewels and expensive finery?” Such an one may even flatter himself that he is manifesting a commendable characteristic in refraining from indulgence in these practises until satisfied as to the rightfulness or wrongfulness of such indulgence. It is rather an indication of a desire to please the carnal nature if it can possibly be done without the danger of losing the soul. Such questions reveal that the heart has not yet yielded fully to God, but is clinging with tender embrace to the pleasures of this life. The heart that is surcharged with an intense desire to advance the cause of Christ is not anxious to know how far it can go in following the ways of the world. It is not the Christian idea to get all the pleasure we can out of this world, just so we do not seriously endanger our prospect of getting safely into the next world. A better question is, How far can I keep from those things that I may be the better able to serve my Master?
We might better paraphrase these questions, and ask, “Is it right for Christians to spend hours of precious time in ministering to their own gratification?” “Is it right for Christians to participate in a practise that has always had an immoral influence, and has been the direct door through which thousands have gone to ruin?” “Is it right for Christians to encourage by their patronage a game that has wrecked homes, deprived the needy of their living, driven thousands to despondency and suicide, and seared the consciences of millions till they see no wrong in taking the property of another by the mere turn of a card?” “Is it right for us as Christians, looking for our Lord’s return, to dress in such a way as to cause others to expend on their own outward adornment means that could be so much more wisely used?”
Participation in such things has a deadening, demoralizing effect upon the soul and conscience both of those who do it and of those who are tempted and attracted by it. We can not be Christ’s followers while we encourage any demoralizing work. We can not take Christ with us when we abandon the occupation he has set for us, and go out into the playground of Satan to find pleasure in the follies that are binding and destroying his victims. The thing which we patronize is the thing to which we lend our influence. If we lend our influence to these things that are used by Satan to ruin souls, we are responsible with him in their ruin. Can God hold us guiltless in this when we should have been seeking to save these souls? In law the person who aids or encourages a criminal in the accomplishment of his crime is held guilty with him—particeps criminis.
The true Christian is more concerned about how his course is advancing the cause of God than how much he can indulge in worldly pleasure without actual sin. Somewhere there is a “dead-line.” Each little indulgence leads on to another not so very different, until we are standing with both feet on the vantage-ground of the enemy himself. Our very approach to that line may encourage another who was already debating the performance of an act that would take him across onto the enemy’s ground.
It is better to seek from God a knowledge of his will and ways; seek his leading; study his Word till we know, from imbibing its principles, what the right is, and what his will is concerning us. Then we shall be able not only to keep entirely away from the “dead-line,” but to do active, aggressive work in the ripe harvest-fields of the Lord. Make no compromise with evil; turn not to the right hand or the left from the straight path of God. Set the face like a flint Zionward, and “let thine eyelids look straight before thee.” “Remove thy foot from evil.” In such an attitude God will lead us, and we shall avoid even the appearance of evil which might lead another to commit sin. Let us seek ever those things that are above. In the beauty of holiness let us serve our Leader, that we may stand on the day of final awards clad in the garments of his righteousness, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. There will be beauties that never fade and pleasures that bring no sorrow in their train.
C. M. S.

Note and Comment

Persecution in the Philippines

FROM time to time the world catches glimpses of the difficulties attending Protestant missionary work in the Philippines. The officials and priests of the church which has borne sway in the islands so long have never taken kindly to the advent of Protestant missionaries; but the spirit which these persons have manifested has given unmistakable evidence of the need of the true gospel in those islands. A cablegram from Manila to the Chicago Record-Herald of January 3, says:—
A number of native Protestants under Ricardo Alonzo, who had been ordained a Presbyterian preacher, were dedicating a new chapel, when they were attacked by a mob estimated to number three hundred and headed by Father Perez, brandishing a big pistol, and shouting, “Kill the Protestants!” The mob, armed with bolos, knives, and clubs, demolished the chapel, killed one man, and seriously injured eleven others. Father Perez and five of his followers, including three Santander councilmen, have been lodged in jail on the charge of manslaughter. Appeals are reaching the governor-general from both sides.
The Protestants demand protection for their constitutional religious rights, andclaim that numerous attempts have been made to assassinate Alonzo and other native Protestants, while even the American missionaries, they add, are subjected to abuse.
This is not unlike the spirit which is found in all countries where the Roman Church has had a dominating influence over the people. It was so in Mexico when the first missionaries went there from the United States. Churches were attacked by armed bands, and missionaries and converts killed or injured. In fact, that spirit is not essentially different from the spirit manifested in Spain and Portugal, where Protestant chapels are not allowed to be located on the principal streets, or to display any sign to indicate their character. It need hardly be said that such demonstrations partake in no degree of the essential spirit of Christianity, but ally themselves with the spirit and the demonstrations that make the work of the apostles difficult and dangerous.

Industrial Education and Evolution

By Editor

In an editorial in The Independent of January 23 occurs this paragraph:—
During 1907 industrial education received a mighty propulsion. Massachusetts passed a statute of a broader and more thorough sort, creating a State system that touches every primary and secondary school, as well as all higher institutions. The very conservative University Convocation of New York opened its classical doors sufficiently wide to invite radical leaders of industrialism to discuss the problems involved in the changes now going on. Our colleges have yielded ground somewhat charingly, but they have found the number of scientific pupils steadily increasing. The Southern States have yielded with less grace, but more rapidly. The doctrine of evolution, and the sciences which are now permeated with this view of nature, can be taught in any university of the South almost as readily as in Harvard. Trade schools, which were opened with some doubt in our larger cities, have been overflowing with pupils. The graded town schools are slowly facing the farm, instead of the college. Mere education, or mere erudition, without application of what is learned, is losing favor. During 1907 the ruling discussion in all our educational conventions was how to work the industrial elements into our common schools. These schools have been so overloaded with mind-culture that the education of the senses finds no room. We have still to find out whether a supplementary set of schools must be established.
This shows how generally educators are arousing to the importance of industrial education, and should cause gratitude for the instruction so long since given this people in reference to this matter. It should also stimulate every educator to plan “how to work the industrial elements into our common schools.”
But while we rejoice at these evident tokens of progress in “education of the senses,” we may well be on our guard against thinking that soon there will be no necessity for our maintaining a separate system of schools; for it is not only true that “the doctrine of evolution, and the sciences which are now permeated with this new view of nature,” can be taught in Southern universities, but they are really being taught in all grades of schools from the kindergarten to the college.

The Ruler and the Realm

THERE is a large, influential, and growing portion of the people of this country who are anxious to have God recognized as the sovereign ruler of this particular nation, in spite of the fact, so patent to any observer, that the conditions obtaining in this particular realm are not such as would bring honor to any ruler. Upon the ruler of a realm is always laid the blame for the conditions existing in that realm. When conditions are good, they praise their ruler; when they are bad, and the people are dissatisfied, they lay plans to assassinate the ruler. The United Presbyterian quotes the following from one whom it designates as a “keen-sighted writer of our day,” that is interesting in this connection:—
From combinations of wealth that have lessened the cost of production we have gone swiftly to combinations for plunder, that represent stock watered indefinitely and foisted on the public by greedy and unscrupulous stock jugglers. From labor unions also, that once offered insurance, unity of purpose, co-operation, we have passed to some unions that represent brutality, the hatred and murder of non-union men.
Of this writer’s setting forth of conditions in this country the Presbyterian says:—
This is an indictment only too absolute in its truth, and seems to mar the beauty of our landscape.
But in immediate connection it also says this:—
For the sake of the immigrant who yearly comes to us from continental countries, we must emphasize that the most high God is “the supreme Ruler and the Sovereign Arbiter of the country’s destinies.”
When the European immigrant looks over the record of this country’s crimes for a year, and in the great cities sees before his eyes, day in and day out, the flagrant demonstrations of the rule of graft, greed, and lust, it will not increase his love or reverence for God if some one succeeds in making him believe that God is the direct ruler in this realm, and for the conditions that obtain here. The grafter, the brothel keeper, the thief, and the murderer would all be glad indeed if they could make judge and jury believe that God was responsible for all the wickedness of the world, and for their wickedness in particular. There is a ruler who is responsible for all the wicked conditions that exist in this world. Christ called him the “prince of this world;” but he is not God nor Christ, neither is he one of the present heavenly host. He is the tare-strewer, the mischief-maker, the hate-brewer, the “murderer from the beginning,” the despiser of truth and righteousness. Out of this kingdom of darkness, over which Satan presides, God is gathering out the few who are willing that he should rule in their hearts. God’s kingdom in this world now is in the hearts of his saints. When the great day of his ultimate triumph over sin has come, this earth, the age-long scene of Satan’s operations and rule, will be given over to the “saints of the Most High,” who will possess it for an eternal inheritance. God, and the One whose sacrifice won back the lost estate and the forfeited life of the race to whom it was given, will be the only rulers in that realm. They will be the responsible rulers, responsible for the conditions existing there; but when we charge them with it now, we are doing them no honor, and are giving to wicked men an occasion to blaspheme.

Standing by the Encyclical

FROM some of the comments in the press of the world, some might conclude that there is a great deal of opposition among Catholics against the pope’s encyclical on Modernism. A great deal has been made of the opposition of “Father Tyrrell,” of England, and of some others; but he who concludes that there is present danger of a revolution in the Catholic Church over this matter is certain to find that he has made a wrong conclusion. As one Catholic journal has said: “Rome has spoken—the matter is closed.” It is interesting in this connection to read a portion of a letter prepared by the German bishops at a recent conference at Cologne, and addressed to the pope in answer to the encyclical. The letter concludes as follows:—
Praise be God. Everlasting thanks to Thee who has spoken with as much authority as courage. Thou seest us ready with sincerity to execute Thy admonition, and to co-operate with all our forces, zeal, and application of our mind, to uproot and destroy the weeds of error which the enemy has sown in the fields of our Lord.
Note the capitalization of the personal pronouns, an indication that they are speaking to one whom they regard as “Lord God the Pope.” The conference declared its belief that the encyclical was a timely and judicious utterance, made inevitable by the many errors that had crept into the church. There will be some like “Father Tyrrell” who will not yield, but the great bulk of the Catholicbody, clergy and laity, look upon that pronouncement as the very voice of God itself, which can not be questioned without mortal sin.
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