Earlier text: Our First Visit to PersiaUrumiah, Persia
By H. Dirksen
ON the ninth of June it had been just one year since Brother F. F. Oster and the writer arrived in Urumiah. A large part of this time has been spent in acquiring the native language. Because this language is spoken only in the Caucasus, Russia, and in Azerbaijan, the most northern province of Persia, it is called the Caucasian, or Azerbaijan Turkish. It has a resemblance both to the Osmanli Turkish and to the Persian language; all three are continually enriched by words from the difficult and, for the Moslem, holy Arabic. With little trouble the reader can find the province of Azerbaijan, Persia, on any good map of Persia. Between the not very distant Turkish boundary in the west and Lake Urumiah in the east, lie the city and the plain of Urumiah. In this place the Mohammedans use, as indicated above, the Azerbaijan Turkish for speaking purposes, but the Persian for writing. The Christian race of Chaldeans, or Nestorians, have their own language, the Chaldean, or modern Syriac as it is also called, inasmuch as it differs much from the Chaldean which Daniel used.17 We are thankful to the Lord for the privileges he has given us here as reapers in the white harvest-fields. We have been enabled to hold a goodly number of Bible readings with the people in the Azerbaijan Turkish language. We received special encouragement through the visit of Brethren L. R. Conradi and Guy Dail, June 18-21. Profitable hours were spent in counseling together and in visiting. In a conversation between Brother Conradi and some who are unfavorable to our laboring here, it was interesting to note how impressed they were as they listened to the narration of the progress of the message amid great difficulties, and of the spirit of sacrifice shown by a small people who have faith in Christ. Almost speechless, they left our room. One could not help thinking of the words concerning Jehoshaphat's reign and time: "And the fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands." During the visit of these brethren, it was decided among other things that Brother Oster complete the acquirement of the Azerbaijan Turkish, and continue the study of the Persian, which we had taken up in Baku; whereas I shall immediately begin the study of the Chaldean. This last was considered advisable because from all indications it is probable that a constituency, as a basis for the work in Persia, will sooner be formed among the Chaldeans than among the Moslems. We look forward with renewed courage to the future, and believe decidedly that God will, after the sowing time, grant the harvest. Pray for us.
H. DIRKSEN. Holiday Canvassing
By I. A. Ford
SOME of our workers in days past have had the idea that holidays were not favorable times for selling our literature. They have thought that the people were too much absorbed in pleasure to give attention to such serious subjects as our books contain. The following extract from a letter received from Brother B. P. Foote, who has been canvassing in Michigan during the summer, is to the point in demonstrating that our literature can be sold quite as successfully on holidays as on other days. He says:— "I have been canvassing this summer, and have had excellent success, for which I am very thankful. The fourth of July was my best day. I secured orders that day amounting to fifty-four dollars, and that, too, in the country. Everything went along so perfectly that it really seemed as if the Lord had planned out the whole day for me." If any of our canvassers who read these lines have the idea that they would be wasting their time if they should canvass on holidays, I trust they will profit by Brother Foote's experience. Mississippi Camp-Meeting
By James A. Morrow
THE Mississippi conference and camp-meeting, held at Jackson, July 25 to August 4, was attended by about one hundred of our own people. Many of these are separated from others of the same faith; and this meeting was a great blessing to them. One sister said it had been six years since she had attended an Adventist meeting. The attendance from the city was good. The city papers gave considerable space to reports of the meeting. The workers from outside the conference were Elders N. Z. Town, S. E. Wight, W. W. Eastman, E. L. Maxwell, R. W. Parmele, Prof. C. L. Stone, and Brother C. D. Wolf. A spirit of liberality was shown by the raising of $314 in cash and pledges for missions. The sum of $114 was given for the relief of the Nashville Sanitarium. This, with what had been previously pledged to this enterprise, raised the full amount from Mississippi to something over $600. One day of this meeting was devoted to the interest of the book work. The report of the field agent showed that the total sale of literature during the year had amounted to $9,532. This had been accomplished by the blessing of God amid floods, strikes, and destruction of crops by insects. There were present at the meeting two who had accepted the message during the year as the result of personal work done by the colporteurs. During the meeting, six persons, all adults, were buried with Christ in baptism in the Pearl River. Two of this number had previously been baptized. Every department of the work gave evidence of a steady growth. Twenty are keeping the Sabbath in Jackson who have begun its observance during the year. Elder W. S. Lowry, who has faithfully served the conference as president for five years, requested that he be released. Elder A. J. Clark, of New Hampshire, was elected president of the conference for the ensuing year. Parizetta Smith was elected secretary and treasurer of the conference and tract society. The brethren and sisters returned to their homes with renewed courage in the Lord and in the message for this time. From Jamaica to Bonacca
By U. Bender
THE last of May I left Jamaica for Central America, via Colon, Panama. The first stage of the journey requires two days. Arriving in Colon on Sunday morning, I had the privilege of speaking that evening in the new chapel, which had been dedicated not many weeks before. This chapel is well suited to the work in Colon. It was erected to replace the one destroyed by fire in March, 1911. It is not so large as the former building, but is all that is needed now that the Watchman Press is located in Jamaica. On the second floor are three suites of rooms, and below are the chapel, the office of the West Caribbean Conference, and one living-room. Four days from Colon brought me to Port Barrios, Guatemala. The next day I got a boat for Cortes, Honduras. Leaving there the day following, I came to La Ceiba by sailboat. At this place I found the brethren and sisters busy preparing to attend the camp-meeting which was to be held June 20-30 on Bonacca, one of the Bay Islands. We sailed the next day, and after stopping here and there along the way, reached Bonacca Monday afternoon. It was indeed a pleasure to meet with the people who had assembled on the camp-ground. Beginning Thursday night, we followed a good program for the next ten days. The Lord blessed in the meeting. The brethren and sisters were faithful in attending the services. The Sabbath-school numbered more than one hundred eighty. The donations for the two Sabbaths amounted to $60.80. The other meetings held on the Sabbath revived and strengthened the people for future service. Three days were given to convention work. The papers on different phases of the work were good. The night services were attended by many of the people living on the cays. This is the largest gathering our people have had in Central America. Some attended for the first time. They expressed their determination to attend the next camp-meeting. While at this good meeting, where we enjoyed so much of the blessing of the Lord, we could hardly realize that in Canada and the United States alone eleven other camp-meetings were being held at the same time. So great has this work grown that hardly a day passes but somewhere in the world is a gathering of people to seek God's blessing, and to plan for the furtherance of this message. We are always sorry when a good meeting comes to an end. But we could do the world no good were we to remain together continually; so we must go back to our homes to put into practise the things we have learned. May the Lord help us in this, that we may be true to our profession. On the last Sunday afternoon Elder N. V. Willess baptized fourteen candidates. This makes twenty-five who have been baptized during the year. This conference has done well during the past year in tithes and offerings. A little has been done in selling our books. The report of the Sabbath-school secretary showed growth in that branch of work. We were glad to have with us Dr. and Mrs. A. J. Heatherington, who rendered much help in labor with the young people and children, and also in the business of the conference. Another year, with the annual gathering, has passed, and we look forward with longing hearts to the next, knowing that each one as it passes brings us nearer the coming of our King. U. BENDER. The South Carolina Camp-Meeting
By C. B. Stephenson
THE South Carolina camp-meeting and conference was held, according to appointment, in Columbia, the capital of the State, August 1-10. The camp was located in a beautiful oak grove near the car line, which made it accessible to the city. The attendance from the outside was very good, and a number have already decided to keep all the commandments of God. Elder W. H. Branson and Brother A. H. Evers will follow up the interest.18 Perfect harmony and good will prevailed throughout the session. The reports showed an encouraging growth during the year. More than one hundred new Sabbath-keepers were added to the conference. The total sale of books and literature amounted to a little over $7,000, which is twice as much as was sold the year before. The financial report indicated a small increase in tithe and offerings. All the laborers had some fruit for their work. The Lord began his special work upon hearts early in the services. The first Sabbath meeting was a great refreshing to all. Elder C. B. Haynes spoke on the promises to the overcomer. The Lord worked in a marked way for the children and youth. I understand that not one left the meeting unconverted. The best wine seemed to come at the last Sabbath service when Elder Branson spoke on the close of probation and the importance of being right with God now. Almost every one came forward and reconsecrated himself to the service of the Master. Sins were confessed and put away. Sunday morning eleven were baptized. One of the most interesting conference meetings I ever attended was held Friday morning, when the resolution upon missions came up for discussion. Though the conference has a small membership, and very little of this world's goods, over $1,000 was pledged to missions, and $200 to home interests. This is the largest donation to the work ever made in this conference. The laborers from outside the conference were Elders J. N. Anderson, Carlyle B. Haynes, V. O. Cole, Prof. H. M. Hiatt, Dr. L. L. Andrews, and the writer. Elder Branson was chosen president; R. M. Carter, A. H. Evers, G. E. Case, and G. F. Turner were associated with him on the committee. Miss Eliza Warner was continued as the secretary and treasurer and Sabbath-school secretary; and Prof. H. M. Hiatt, educational secretary. The outlook for a prosperous year is very bright in this conference. While the believers are few, they are devoted to the work of spreading the last message of love. C. B. STEPHENSON. Young People in Convention
By Mrs. H. P. Branch
ON Sabbath, July 27, the young people of the First African Seventh-day Adventist Church of Philadelphia, Pa., met in convention. Morning and afternoon sessions were held. Helpful papers and talks, select readings, and appropriate music were the order of the day. A paper on "The History of the Missionary Volunteer Work" showed how from a small beginning it has grown to encircle the globe, and has inspired us to press on, each doing his part to make it a continuously growing work. Another speaker showed the importance of the young people's work in enlisting and training the youth for service. A paper entitled "Who Will Go For Us?" emphasized the need of each one being ready to respond to the Macedonian call with the words, "Here am I; send me." The thought that God must have volunteers for his service, and a plea for all to give themselves to this closing work even as Christ gave himself for us, was the theme of another number on the program. The importance of the Morning Watch Calendar and of the Reading Courses was also considered. During the afternoon session we considered how we might take the good things we had learned home with us, and make them a part of our own experience. We all determined to be more faithful in the Master's service. A collection of $6.48 was taken for the Midsummer Offering. Our reports show a steady growth in the amount of missionary effort put forth. Pray for the work among the colored people of Philadelphia. MRS. H. P. BRANCH. Northern Illinois Camp-Meeting
THE time assigned for our camp-meeting in Northern Illinois was August 19-26. We have eight tent companies in the field, six of which are in Chicago. On account of the late spring, the brethren were unable to close the series of meetings on the above date. In council, all the workers voted to drop the camp-meeting, as it would come in the most critical part of their meetings. This has proved to be true, for at this writing, August 13, we should have to be taking our tents down to be shipped to the camp-ground to get them in readiness by the nineteenth. To-day we have heard from one company that last Sabbath thirteen decided to keep the commandments of God, so all can see that it would have been a great catastrophe to the work in this conference if we had stopped our tent-meetings and begun the camp-meeting. All our laborers are united with these tent companies, and all our money is being put into these efforts, and great hopes center in these companies. For this reason we believe that all our brethren will appreciate the situation, and will agree with the committee and the conference workers that it was the proper step to take. We also consulted with Elders O. A. Olsen and Allen Moon with reference to it, and they concurred in dropping the meeting. We are now planning to have a conference meeting the last of October or the first of November in one of our churches. Rooms will be secured for all who desire. A restaurant will be operated near the church. Particulars will be given later. In behalf of Northern Illinois Conference Committee,
G. E. LANGDON, Chairman;
H. E. MOON, Secretary. The Georgia Camp-Meeting
By J. N. Anderson
THE annual conference and camp-meeting of the Georgia Conference was held in the outskirts of the city of Barnesville, Ga., July 25 to Aug. 4, 1912. It is interesting to know that twenty-two years ago the first annual conference of our people in this State was held in this same place. This camp then consisted of five family tents, and a mere handful of believers. The camp this year consisted of thirty-seven family tents, and about one hundred fifty earnest, enthusiastic campers, representing a constituency of over four hundred believers. The meeting was well manned by Elder L. T. Crisler, the president, and his corps of workers, and ably seconded by the counsels and efforts of the union conference president, Elder C. B. Stephenson, and the other union men, together with Elder C. B. Haynes and the writer. A good interest on the part of the people of the city had already been aroused by a series of meetings beginning some time before the camp-meeting opened. The interest was maintained throughout, and a corps of workers remains to carry on the work. The record of the past year was very encouraging. No less than one hundred seventy-five new Sabbath-keepers have been won for the truth. The majority of these are in Atlanta and Savannah, where work has been directed by Elders C. B. Haynes, and J. W. Manns (colored). One hundred twenty-one of these new converts have united with the church. On the last day of the camp-meeting fifteen additional persons were baptized, and several others returned to their homes to be baptized. In this day of large giving to missions, the people of Georgia made an enviable record last year. August 1 the Fifteen-cent-a-week Fund stood $400 to their credit. Not satisfied with this, the best part of one forenoon was set apart for the consideration of, and giving to, foreign missions. A deep interest was manifested, and the result was that the sum of $1,500.16 was given in cash and pledges to the forwarding of our worldwide missionary enterprise, thus raising Georgia $1,900 above the high-water mark,—fifteen cents a week per member. They all gave out of the wealth of their faith and devotion. It was a noble illustration of genuine consecration to a worthy cause. The sum of $45 was pledged to the College of Medical Evangelists at Loma Linda, Cal.; $64 to the Southern Training School at Graysville, Tenn.; and $407 to the tent and camp-meeting fund. With the exception of the secretary and treasurer of the conference and one member of the executive committee, all the former officers of the conference were reelected. A spirit of devotion and courage prevailed throughout the camp. All the different departments of work were well represented, and plans for the earnest and wise prosecution of the work during the coming year were carefully laid. Harvey Station, New Brunswick
By J. A. Strickland
READERS of the REVIEW will be pleased to learn that at Harvey Station, New Brunswick, where our work encountered such bitter hatred and persecution, and where two of our brethren were recently prosecuted for Sunday labor, truth has triumphed, and the cause of Christ has come off conqueror. Thirteen precious souls were recently buried with their Lord in baptism, and seven others are waiting to follow their example. These persons all heard the message for the first time at Harvey, and have taken their stand for the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus in spite of a storm of opposition. A tent effort is now in progress at Lake George, a few miles from Harvey, and we are hopeful of seeing fruit there. We are planning to have a baptism and to organize a church Sabbath, August 24. To God be all the praise. THREE persons have accepted the truth recently at Carbondale, Colo., and three at Cedaredge. TWENTY persons recently took a decided stand for the truth at Louisville, Ky., and eight have been baptized at Hartford. TWO young men were baptized at Rydal, Kans., July 21, and the following week three persons received baptism at Wellington. ELDERS W. D. MacLay and G. L. West report five new Sabbath-keepers at Butler, Pa., as the result of work done there this summer. SEVERAL weeks ago seventeen persons were added to the church at Dallas, Tex., and Elder R. L. Benton reports the baptism of one young man at Farmington. ELDER C. B. STEPHENSON, president of the Southeastern Union Conference, reports the addition of one hundred seventy-five new Sabbath-keepers to the churches in Georgia during the past year. ELDERS W. J. Stone and C. E. Garnsey have organized a church with a membership of twelve at Guinea Mills, Va. Thirty-five new members have been added to the First Church in Richmond by baptism, and four others are now awaiting baptism. SEVERAL weeks ago a church of eleven members was organized at Riceville, Iowa, and three persons baptized in Council Bluffs. Additions are constantly being made to the church at Des Moines. Nine persons were recently baptized by Elder W. D. Parkhurst. ELDER CARL LEER writes of the work in North Dakota: "Since May 26 we have baptized one hundred fifteen persons. These, with fifteen that have been taken in on profession of faith, make a total of one hundred thirty who have been added to our German churches during the last three months." Christian Education
By H. R. Salisbury
Conducted by the Department of Education of the General Conference
H. R. SALISBURY . . . . . Secretary 'By Their Fruit Ye Shall Know Them'
IN a recent sermon preached in Denver, Colo., Dean Hart (Episcopal) took for his subject, 'The Failure of the Public-School System.' We quote as fully as space will permit. His text was, 'Beware of false prophets. . . . Ye shall know them by their fruits.' 'This is remarkable as being the only criterion the Lord ever gave of the genuineness of his messengers; we know the true from the false by the results which follow the taking of the advice given by the preachers. 'It has always been the belief of the preachers of 'the gospel of humanity,' that with the enlightenment of knowledge all those deeds which seek to hide themselves from the light—all forms of sin—would vanish. We had only to educate, and then righteousness would be the complexion of our civilization. The preachers of this gospel of education were false prophets, and we know it by the fruits. . . . 'The crime which stalks almost unblushingly through the land, the want of responsibility which defames our social honor, the appalling frequency of divorce, the utter lack of self-control, the abundant use of illicit means to gain political positions, are all traceable to its one great and crying defect—inefficiency. The girls leave the school inefficient for the home, and the boys inefficient for work; and do you wonder that the honest, upright, persevering, and capable dealing with the common duties of daily life is shirked because the character has not been molded and furnished to honestly and seriously and efficiently do the work that the day requires? and as life must be lived, shifty and dishonest ways are taken, and modes of dealing are current which our grandfathers would have stigmatized as dishonest trickery or actual thievery. 'Everybody knows that the public-school system is keyed to reaching graduation from the high school, and a further goal beyond that, the college or university. The whole stimulant of the course is to make the grade. . . . That the boys and girls who are graduated from the high schools are not fitted for the practical work of life, is significantly proved by the existence of business colleges. At this moment, in Chicago there are more young people between fourteen and eighteen years of age in such colleges than in all the expensive high schools of that city. 'But this is by no means the most serious page of the indictment. Beyond the high school looms the State university, supported by taxes, and other similar collegiate institutions. Ten years ago fourteen out of every one hundred high-school graduates went on to the university; last year the number had dwindled to five out of every one hundred; and for this reason: the university equips its graduates for the professions, and turns out doctors and lawyers and newspaper men and women by the score, and the damage done to the community by the lowering of the standards of honorable and conscientious professional behavior and conduct is deplorable. 'I learn that there are 750 lawyers in this city, and a leading firm assures me that all the legal business of the city could be done easily by 300 lawyers. The other 450 are struggling to exist, and are intent on 'making business,' so that the legal procedure in our courts is wonderful to behold, and lamentable. Justice is so delayed that she faints by the way. Red-handed murderers remain unhanged, and are finally let loose. Libelers of the most shameful and wicked character can not be tried; and all this is mainly due to the pack of hungry lawyers let loose upon the community by this public-school system, who are, in a sense, compelled to make a living. 'It is even more deplorable with the doctors. I am told there are over 700 medical men in this city, when 200 would be amply sufficient; and what is the result? A year or two ago the president of the State Medical Association published his address, and was good enough to send me a copy. In it he stated that, to the shame of the profession, such abhorrent practises occur as are called fee operations, where bell-boys even are subsidized to steer sufferers, who inquire for a doctor, to one of these degenerates, who hurries the unfortunate to the operating table for the sake of charging a fee. Could anything be more base and inhuman? 'Numbers of immature high-school pupils who can not observe accurately, much less write accurately, are employed at cheap rates upon newspapers. They cause to be printed sheets of untruths. Unfortunately, the whole public, similarly uneducated, is unable to weigh the probabilities of truth, and is even inclined to credit what appears in print, so that the public mind is so fed with unwholesome pabulum that it becomes vitiated and quite incapable of recognizing or digesting truth. And as shocking and tainted happenings are thrust obtrusively upon the public gaze, and compel notice, they almost wholly attract the attention of these reporters, who, regardless of all privacy or decency of feeling, like ghouls, fatten upon the garbage of the community, and supply at the beginning of every day pages of suggestions of evil, until the whole body politic has become so infected that it scarcely knows right from wrong. . . .' 'Mons. de Fallon, a French minister of education, supplied the best definition of education I know of. He said: 'The purpose of education is to aspire to train a child to the yoke of discipline and obedience, to create in him a principle of energy which shall enable him to resist his passions, accept of his own free will the law of labor and duty, and contract habits of order and regularity. To do this, unless the force is derived from religion, is to attempt an impossible task.' 'America has attempted it without religion; the Bible, our one and only source of true religion, our one and only fount of 'religious incentive,' has been a closed book for two generations of children. A child is quick to perceive, and it readily and naturally concludes that, in the opinion of all the people it looked up to and respected for six days in the week, the Bible is of no importance; the fitful hour of the Sunday-school with an untrained teacher, with no force of discipline, and no compulsion to learn, could not and has not reinstated the great Book and its message to the position of preeminence which naturally belongs to it; and the men and women now forming the population have been brought up under this non-religious régime; and what is the result? . . .' 'Crime has steadily increased during the last fifty years, the moral stamina of the nation has deplorably declined. Inefficiency, lack of self-control, irresponsibility, grasping selfishness, love of amusement, are the characteristics of our generation; and their natural consequences are in evidence all around us. Fifty years ago there was one criminal to every 3,442 of the population; to-day, in our State, by careful estimate, there is one to every 250. There are as many murders in Denver, with a population of 200,000, as there are in London, with its 6,000,000. Suicides are so common that the coroner has almost ceased to note them. I counted in his books the year before last, seventy-seven; last year there were only seven registered. Every day the awful fact is casually mentioned that some boy or girl, because thwarted in some trivial desire, or rebuked for some wrong-doing, commits suicide, who by our forefathers would have been denied Christian burial, and interred at four cross-roads, with a stake driven through the breast, an outcast and an abhorrence for men to trample upon. . . .' 'It is folly to appeal to patriotism; we have nothing of it but a sentiment. There is only one hope for us,—that the Saviour King will come and govern us in righteousness; and every earnest lover of God who sees and laments these things, prays, and prays again, 'Come, come, Lord Jesus,' and urges his neighbors to prepare to meet Christ, and sets them the example by living a religious, upright life, in patient expectancy waiting for the coming of the Lord Judge, with 'a conscience void of offense.'' This week alone, four such articles have come to my desk, showing the concern with which the serious are viewing the present state of the world. The remedy suggested in some cases is to place the Bible in the public schools. But let it be remembered that in most of the universities and colleges where the Bible is taught, its inspiration is denied, and its value destroyed by the very teachers themselves, in their mad folly to keep pace with the pernicious school of higher criticism. Let our schools, where the Bible is a part of every day's instruction, and where faith in its inspiration is guarded by the teacher, who knows its power to save from sin, put forth renewed efforts to do thorough work. As men and women read the signs of the times, and see the results of an education without religious instruction by Christian teachers, they will turn more and more to our schools, as a city of refuge for their children. As teachers, we must prepare to give them what they want,—what they have a right to expect,—a course of study founded upon the Word of God, with thoroughness in every lesson, and Christian deportment in every act.
H. R. S. "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet." State and Church
By Editor
Reports, Notes, and Comments Pertaining to the Current History of Religious Freedom, and the Campaign "to Make America Catholic." Conducted by the Religious Liberty Association. W. W. PRESCOTT - - - - - - SECRETARY A Memorial to the Arizona Legislature
[Presented at its recent session, at which a Sunday bill was rejected.] Whereas, God, in his infinite wisdom, created man a free moral agent, not subject to the dictation of his fellow men in matters of conscience, nor to undue restraint in his civil practices; and— Whereas, The history of the world abounds in examples of coercion, whereby the moral scruples and the civil rights of worthy men have been ignored, their inalienable prerogatives trampled in the dust, and their lives and property sacrificed in a futile attempt to control their religious convictions; and— Whereas, These multiplied failures to dominate the minds and hearts of men, and to regulate their religious worship by force, do not deter mankind from renewed appeals to the civil power for administrative orders and legislative enactments, that would curtail the liberties of their fellows, and constrain their judgment in the realms of conscience; and— Whereas, These encroachments upon the individual rights of citizens almost invariably have begun in the exaltation of the first day of the week as a day of compulsory rest, notwithstanding the conviction of many that the day of God is not subject to human amendment, and notwithstanding the undeniable right of the individual citizen, so far as the state is concerned, to choose for himself which day he will observe as a day of rest, or whether he will rest at all; now, therefore, be it— Resolved, That we, the people of Arizona, in mass-meeting assembled, do hereby express our unalterable conviction that civil and religious liberty, the treasured heritage of our fathers, ought to be maintained throughout the republic. We deplore the effort to curtail the free exercise of religious conviction by civil process, and the attempt to force upon others the conclusions of any man, or any set of men, as to which day is the Sabbath, or to regulate by civil law any religious custom or ceremonial. Resolved, That the state, in the proper exercise of the functions of government, has no right to discriminate in favor of or against any citizen or citizens, on account of his or their religious opinions or ceremonials. We therefore demand the freedom vouchsafed by the Creator, and safeguarded by the existing Constitution of the United States, and by the constitution of the State of Arizona, to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience, without interference by self-constituted censors, or arbitrary dictation by the civil power. We distinctly ask that the State legislature refrain from the passage of any law whose adoption would make it unlawful to transact any business on Sunday not prohibited on other days of the week; we ask that no special privileges or exemptions be granted to any class of citizens not accorded to or required of all other citizens of the State; and we ask that the representatives of our commonwealth, now in session at Phoenix, whose motives we respect, and whose high moral regard for the welfare of the entire community has been faithfully exemplified, lay wide and firmly in every act the foundations of civil and religious liberty. Resolved, That these resolutions be engrossed, and that copies of the same be presented to the State senate and to the house of representatives of the State of Arizona, as an enduring memorial of the sentiments of the community, without regard to creed, dogma, or superstition. At the session of the Southern New England Conference, held at Westerly, R. I., June 6-16, the following resolution, relating to the present religio-political situation, was adopted:— "Whereas, We are ambassadors to all men, and,— "Whereas, We believe the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and those of the federated Protestant churches of America and allied interdenominational organizations, concerning the relation of religion to the state, are subversive of the fundamental principles of the gospel; therefore,— "Resolved, (a) That it is both our urgent duty and Christian privilege to present in such contrast the teachings of the gospel with those of other churches and organizations, that the danger may be apparent, and all men have the opportunity of turning to God with all their hearts. "(b) That we request our laborers to carefully note current events involving these principles, and so be prepared to make use of the printed page, the public press, the public rostrum, and such other agencies as opportunity may afford or occasion may demand. "(c) In order that these laborers may receive assistance, and effectual cooperation be secured, That the conference religious liberty secretary devote whatever time may be necessary, directly to studying, coordinating, and leading out in this work in the Southern New England Conference. "(d) That we advise the liberal use of the magazines Protestant and Liberty, by both our magazine workers and church-members. "(e) That we concur with the recommendation of the recent General Conference Council relative to placing 'American State Papers' in public libraries and the hands of State officials, legislators, attorneys, and public men. "(f) That the religious liberty secretary be kept intelligently informed regarding all matters of interest to his department, permitting of his giving attention to same, we approve of an arrangement whereby each portion of our territory be assigned to some individual who will be responsible to watch the public press, and report all items of importance involving the principles of religious liberty." An Optimistic View
By Editor
Generally speaking, the most intelligent leaders of the Jews in this country are heartily in favor of the separation of church and state, and labor earnestly to maintain this doctrine. We have heretofore printed notes from the Chicago Israelite dealing with this subject, and we here present another:— "The separation of state and church is bound to become as general a part of the constitution of every civilized state as are parliamentary form of government, freedom of the press, and freedom of21worship. If indications do not deceive, we shall soon have this separation in Germany. To begin with, the growing power of the Social Democrats is bound to become a means to that end. The liberals, even of the moderate type, will adopt that part of the program of the socialists, just as compulsory accident insurance was adopted by such antisocialists as Bismarck. In addition, we have the liberal wing of the Protestant church, which has been aroused of late by some startling heresy trials. It is true enough that orthodoxy was perfectly right in those cases. If a man like the famous Jatho of Cologne preached a doctrine which might be termed theism or pantheism, but surely can not claim the title of evangelical Christianity, the Oberkirchenrath was in the right when it dismissed him from the ministry of the Evangelical Church. It is, however, well known that a great many pastors, if not in sympathy with such a radical, at least are in absolute opposition to the recognized creed of the church, which by the terms of their ordination vows they are pledged to teach. In such attitude they are encouraged by the vast majority of the professors in the Protestant divinity department of the German universities. It is more than likely that strict sectarians like the Lutherans, who in the forties emigrated to Wisconsin because they would not be members of the state church, as it was constituted by Frederick William III, will join hands with the liberals. It is to be hoped, but unfortunately not to be expected, that the Jews will appreciate the situation sufficiently to join in this movement. They would have ample reason for doing so, because in Prussia, the largest state of the federation, they are practically ignored; but even there, and still more in the smaller states of the federation, they are battling for the crumbs of bounties and recognition that fall from the government table." Governor Wilson and Roman Catholics
The attitude of a presidential candidate toward the Roman Catholic Church has become a matter of importance. So clearly is this recognized that the managers of Governor Wilson's campaign will operate a press bureau through which answers will be sent out to the charges brought against him. To all those who inquire if the candidate has discriminated against the Catholics, a list of the governor's State appointees is mailed, showing the number of Catholics he has appointed to office. The same list is sent to those who ask if the governor is prejudiced against non-Catholics. This plan will be continued after the bureau now in preparation is established. Another charge against the governor that has had wide-spread circulation is that he has in New Jersey abolished civil marriage for the benefit of the clergy. This is based on his approval last year of a bill taking the right to perform marriage ceremonies out of the hands of justices of the peace. This will also be combated by the bureau.