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Review and Herald, Vol. 83, No. 26.

A Friend at Court

Review and Herald

Jun 28, 1906

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 28, 1906

A Friend at Court

By Thomas Guthrie

¶ We should seek a friend in Jesus Christ—the best, the truest, kindest, surest Friend man ever had. Ever-living, ever-loving, and everlasting, there is no father like our Father who is in heaven; and as there is no fatherhood like God's, there is no friendship like Christ's—to be once named with His, who, dying for us, the just for the unjust, laid down His life, not for friends, but for enemies. Other friends change; not He. Of them we may, and often do, expect too much; nor will friendship be long maintained between us, unless we lay our account with sooner or later discovering, and bearing with, their faults. But Jesus is faultless, altogether lovely—a Friend on whose favor we can not reckon, and from whose kindness we can not expect, too much. With a wider and far deeper meaning than the world attaches to the expression, in Him we have “a friend at court,” whose intercessions for us are addressed to a gracious ear and a loving heart. In the presence of His Father, and amid the glories of the upper sanctuary, at the eternal source of all love, and blessing, and power, where pardons are granted to save, and grace is bestowed to sanctify, and angels wait to welcome, and mansions stand ready to receive us, He pleads our cause at God's right hand, omnipotent to save.—Thomas Guthrie.
“Jesus knows all about our troubles; He will guide till the day is done; There's not a friend like the lowly Jesus; No, not one; no, not one.”

Our Publishing Work

By Editor

The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it. Psalm 68:11.
THE fourth edition of Liberty has just been printed, and all orders we have been holding for a short time while our printing plant was being moved, will be promptly filled.
Two lady school-teachers have ordered 2,000 copies of the July number of Life and Health to sell. On this order they will make $50 profit, and if they do as well as one of our fifteen-year-old girls, they will make this profit in twenty days, working only about four or five hours a day. Boys and girls can and do sell Life and Health with remarkable success. We want 100 new agents on the July and August numbers—“the hot weather issues.”
THE innate desire of the young mind is for something new,—perhaps in adventure, or by a study of the sciences, either by a personal experience or from the reading of the various authors. Too often this desire is satisfied by the perusal of a low class of literature, the effects of which may last throughout a lifetime. As a book of travel or adventure, we recommend for boys and girls the book “How a Little Girl Went to Africa.” It is a book of travel, written in simple language by a child, yet of sufficient interest to hold the attention of the adult. The excitement incident to the preparation for, and taking of, an ocean voyage, will arouse an interest in the young mind. The descriptions and illustrations of native life in distant lands enlist and hold the attention of both old and young. The price of the book is $1, post-paid. If, by its perusal, the young mind is filled with a missionary spirit, to aid in the spread of the gospel in foreign lands, whether by personal effort abroad or by work at home, the price of the book will have been well invested.
GET the July number of Life and Health and read the article by Dr. Rossiter on “The Feeding of Infants,” and you will appreciate the importance of getting this number of the journal into the homes of babies, where there is much need of the information contained in this article. The entire contents of this issue are especially good for the hot season, and the general public needs it, and will procure it wherever the journal is properly presented. Note the following subjects treated in this number: Children and Their Care, The Feeding of Infants, Divine Healing, Acute Articular Rheumatism, Organized Poison, The Way of the Transgressor, A City without Crime, An Object-Lesson, The Fly and the Tubercle Bacillus, Mosquitoes and Flies, Hot Weather Care of Infants and Young Children, What’s in a Name? Nurse Inspection of New York City Schools, How the Chinaman Takes His Rice, Arrival in India, The Sanitarium in South Africa, Mission Notes, A Few Hints, Bread without Yeast, Mothers and Mothers, Our Bodies, Unofficial Reports, Do You Eat Meat? The President’s Message, Report of the Reynolds Commission, What of It? Sugar Lore, etc. The annual subscription price of Life and Health is only 50 cents. Five cents for single copy; 25 or more copies to one address, 2½ cents a copy. Send for circular, and special rates to agents.

SOUVENIR EDITION

“Signs of the Times”

Containing Twenty-four Pages with Cover and Insert
IN view of the great demand for the first and second editions of the Special Earthquake Signs, six hundred and fifty thousand of which have been printed and sold, the publishers have decided to issue a third or Souvenir Edition, containing 24 pages with cover and insert, giving a complete story of this terrible calamity by eyewitnesses, illustrated by accurate engravings.
This is to be an entirely new edition containing new illustrations, new articles, new make-up, etc., and taken as a whole will be much more interesting, striking, and attractive than either the first or the second edition.
The following are some of the good things this Souvenir Edition will contain:—
1. Between thirty and forty of the finest views obtainable of the earthquake, fire, and ruins.
2. Seismographic records taken in Oakland and Napa, Cal., Albany, N. Y., and the Imperial Observatory, Austria. These records show that the whole world was shaken by this great earthquake. No other paper shows these illustrations grouped as we have them.
3. A fine relief map of San Francisco in colors, showing the fire-swept district.
4. A map of California showing the part especially affected by the earthquake.
5. A comparative diagram of the great fires of Chicago, Boston, Baltimore, and San Francisco.
6. Two beautiful and striking views of the burning of San Francisco, printed in colors. One of these is a panoramic scene, 6 x 18 inches, showing the whole city with about one half of it in flames. The privilege of using this copyrighted illustration in the Souvenir Edition was purchased at considerable expense, and is well worth the price of the paper.
7. A panoramic view, 6 x 18 inches, showing the ruins of San Francisco after the earthquake and fire. Views similar to this have been sold for twenty-five and fifty cents each.
8. And beside all this, and much more of like nature, this number will tell the meaning of these things in the light of prophecy, and point the reader to the only sure and abiding refuge. Other papers have told the story fairly well, but The Signs of the Times is the only paper that attempts to show the meaning of these things in the light of “the more sure word of prophecy,” and to point the reader to something more substantial and enduring.
The expense of getting out this twenty-four-page number with colored engravings is much more than the regular issues, and it is worth much more.
The retail price will be 10 cents a copy.
In lots less than 1,000, 6 cents a copy.
1,000 copies, or more, 5 cents a copy.
This Souvenir Edition will take the place of the regular issue of June 27, but will be printed, ready to fill orders, by June 18.
Order from your Tract Society or direct from the publishers.

Heavenly Things

By Editor

Editorial

“Now we pray to God that ye do no evil; not that we may appear approved, but that ye may do that which is honorable, though we be as reprobate. For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.”

Heavenly Things

IN the hurry and stress of this modern life we need to call to mind the words of exhortation: “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” The whole trend of the present day is toward the material things of this world, and heavenly things are largely left out of the reckoning. Men sacrifice happiness and honor in the mad rush for wealth, but neglect to secure the true riches. “A heavenly race demands our zeal.”

Hungry and Thirsty

THERE are precious promises for those who hunger and thirst after God. “He satisfieth the longing soul, and the hungry soul he filleth with good.” “Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, . . . who giveth food to the hungry.” “I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and streams upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.” “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.” “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” The constantly recurring need of the body for food and drink is the daily reminder of our need of spiritual blessings, and the same God feeds both the body and the soul. “Eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.”

The Mask of Apostasy

In the early days of every apostasy an effort is made to disguise the real nature of the movement. Until it is driven out into the open and thoroughly exposed, it will conceal itself behind familiar words and expressions, and will wear the appearance of the genuine, even though it is compelled to put on a mask in order to maintain the deception.
So it has been in that apostasy to liberalism which is designated by the phrase, the New Theology. Instead of admitting that it is in reality a repudiation of the old faith, it emphatically maintains that it itself is the original faith. Of course it will grant that there has been a modification of the old-time belief in some particulars, a giving up of some positions formerly defended, but it will assert with the utmost positiveness that it has discarded nothing essential to the truth of the gospel. Even though orthodox preachers and writers point out that the new positions involve such conclusions as really do seriously undermine or utterly overthrow some of the fundamental tenets of the faith, yet their advocates will calmly assert that so far as they can see, the vital things in Christianity are not affected by their change of view, and they will persist in wearing the mask of orthodoxy.
When an honest attempt is made to defend some of the essential truths of Christianity, and to prevent them from being perverted into denials of history and experience, those who are the cause of all the trouble are grieved that there should be a disposition to turn aside from the work of teaching the way of life to spend time in controversy over non-essentials, and innocently propose that all should cease from such a warfare, and that each one should devote himself to presenting the gospel of salvation as he understands it. This has all the appearance of being done in the interests of peace, and seems to force the defenders of truth into the attitude of agitators and controversialists, while the real iconoclasts put on the garments of light, and seem to be full of sweetness and gentleness. Of course this abhorrence of controversy, and this plea for an opportunity to teach the truth in peace, are for the purpose of securing the undisturbed privilege of sowing broadcast the seeds of doubt and skepticism. It is really a request that the citadel of the faith shall be surrendered without any effort to defend it. And the curious part of the experience is that the odium of being disturbers of the peace is cast upon those who are unwilling to betray the trust committed to them, and are therefore compelled to resist the attacks made upon the true faith.
The counterpart of this whole experience is being revealed in our own work. There is a movement at Battle Creek which the spirit of prophecy has designated as an apostasy. What is involved in the doctrinal teaching which has been presented there may be seen from the following extract:—
Few can discern the result of entertaining the sophistries advocated by some at this time. But the Lord has lifted the curtain, and has shown me the result that would follow. The spiritualistic theories regarding the personality of God, followed to their logical conclusion, sweep away the whole Christian economy. They estimate as nothing the light that Christ came from heaven to give to John to give to his people. They teach that the scenes just before us are not of sufficient importance to be given special attention. They make of no effect the truth of heavenly origin, and rob the people of God of their past experience, giving them instead a false science. . . .
What influence is it that would lead men at this stage of our history to work in an underhand, powerful way to tear down the foundation of our faith,—the foundation that was laid at the beginning of our work by prayerful study of the Word and by revelation?
The latest development in this apostasy is an open attack upon the administration of the General Conference, and a repeated effort to show the unreliability of the Testimonies by citing alleged facts to prove that a portion which has been sent out as Testimony was not true, and therefore could not be Testimony at all. By a perversion of some facts, by the suppression of other facts,and by that method of reasoning which has heretofore been successfully employed in a good cause, a plausible case is made out, just as infidels are able by the same method to impeach the reliability of the Bible, and the conclusion is reached that “it is not sound for men to hold themselves, or for others to hold them, under obligation to confess anything or change their course, by a Testimony which they do not understand, and when they can not see that they are wrong.”
If this view of the Testimonies is sound, then it is only necessary for one to say, when a Testimony of reproof is sent to him, that he does not understand it, or that he does not see that he is in the wrong, and he is at once absolved from any obligation to change his course of conduct. It requires only a superficial analysis of this teaching to reveal that it puts every man above the Testimonies and makes him a judge of the Testimonies, and really makes the Testimonies altogether unnecessary; for what a man can understand he does not require their light upon, and when he himself knows that he is in the wrong, he does not require them to point it out. This makes every man sustain the same relation to the Testimonies as the Higher Criticism makes every man sustain to the Bible. He becomes a judge rather than a doer. It makes every man in himself the ultimate source of authority. It involves the acceptance of a fundamental principle of the New Theology. It involves the rejection of a fundamental principle of the third angel’s message.
One of the exponents and defenders of this view of the Testimonies declares that he has not attacked the Testimonies nor set aside the Testimonies, and argues thus:—
To yield some particular ground concerning the Testimonies, is not by any means to yield the whole ground of the Testimonies. In other words, with me to yield that some things sent out as Testimony should be found not to be Testimony—this does not sweep away everything that purports to be Testimony, nor does it take away all basis of the Testimonies.
When the “particular ground concerning the Testimonies” which is yielded is that they are reliable, or that one is under obligation to heed any reproof administered through them when he can not see that he is in the wrong, it seems clear to us that such an attitude toward the Testimonies vitiates their authority as a whole. They then become to each individual just what he judges them to be—true or false, reliable or unreliable. And those which he decides to be reliable then become simply corroborative evidence of his own discernment and good judgment. But this places every man above the Testimonies, rather than in subjection to them.
Has the advocate of this view of the Testimonies forgotten his own experience which he has related in public so many times? Does he not remember the time when he went into the dark and lost his spiritual power because he refused to accept a Testimony which he could, to his own satisfaction, prove to be untrue? And does he not also remember that when he decided to believe the Testimony and to acknowledge that it was true before he could see it, his perception was quickened, and he at once saw clearly what he could not see before? Is not this “some experience” which is worth recalling at this time? We appeal from the man in a mist and a fog to the man in the clear light.
It is further apparent that this attitude toward the Testimonies is just the same as the attitude of the Higher Critics toward the Bible. They demonstrate through the testimony of human science and the results of literary criticism that portions of the Bible are untrue, that the writers were often controlled by the spirit and prejudices of the times in which they wrote, and therefore conclude that it is the duty of each investigator to decide for himself what is inspired and what is not inspired. After having taken this destructive course they affirm that they have not attacked the Bible, and that they have not vitiated the real authority of the Scriptures. According to their view they have only separated between the true and the untrue, between the reliable and the unreliable, just as some are now doing with the Testimonies. Are we ready to accept the principle of the Higher Criticism in our attitude toward the Testimonies?
After having made upon the denominational organization and upon the Testimonies a repeated attack, the most subtle and the most severe of any made in the history of this denomination, one of the leaders in this apostasy now makes an appeal to the people on the ground that he is still preaching the third angel’s message just the same as ever, and practically charges the representative workers in the denomination with not teaching that message, and then deprecates the payment of tithe to those who are seeking to defend the present plan of organization and the Testimonies against his attacks. We do not wish to impugn the motives of any man, or to charge that this course is taken with the conscious purpose of deceiving the people, but it is plain to us that this apostasy is putting on its mask to conceal its real nature. How can one really preach this message, and yet oppose the movement created by it and destroy confidence in the reliability of the Testimonies? The history of this advent movement will show that this is not the first attempt to teach certain truths which are found in this message while at the same time rejecting that which can not be separated from the actual development of this message—the reliability of the spirit of prophecy. We do not place the Testimonies above the Bible; but we do affirm that it is impossible to be loyal to the third angel’s message as a movement in the earth, and at the same time to impugn the reliability of the Testimonies. God is not the author of confusion, and he has not given the spirit of discernment to a faction at Battle Creek to correct the denomination and to direct this movement contrary to the explicit statements of the Testimonies.
The real explanation of this attitude toward the Testimonies is that there are certain Testimonies relating to the situation at Battle Creek which some have refused to believe and to follow, although others can see that they are true; and to break the force of these Testimonies an effort is made to impugn the reliability of all such communications. We are glad to learn that our people discern the true situation, and are not being confused by these efforts to justify rebellion. “If men continue to work out their ambitious designs, the Lord will manifest his counterworking efficiency. He will not much longer leave even the appearance that he, the God of heaven, is continuing to serve with those upon whose minds the enemy of all righteousness is working.”
The course of events will witness to the reliability of the Testimonies.

No Place of Safety

By L. A. S.

FROM the magnitude of the disaster which it occasioned, the impression has no doubt been left in many minds that the California earthquake of April last was the most severe that ever occurred in this country. Such an impression would be quite erroneous. Mr. Charles F. Lummis, editor of a Western magazine, calls attention to the fact that a seismic convulsion of much greater severity occurred here in the early part of the last century, but failed to occasion a memorable disaster because the region affected had at the time but few inhabitants. He says:—
As to earthquakes, North America has never known but one of “the first magnitude” in the terminology of science. This occurred Dec. 16, 1811, in the central Mississippi basin,—about the geographic center of this continent. It lasted fifty-four days. No loss of life was recorded, as the region was thinly settled. Had the same convulsion occurred in New York, probably not a soul would have escaped. Square miles of the earth’s surface dropped from thirty to fifty feet. This was the only earthquake in North America comparable with the historic ones which have madethe temblor a name of terror. Every other earthquake within our national boundaries, including the recent one in San Francisco, has been of not higher than the third magnitude. The Charleston, S. C., quake (Aug. 31, 1886) was of the same third class.
The central Mississippi valley is not in any “earthquake belt,” no noted previous or subsequent disturbance of the kind being on record. Yet the one convulsion which did occur there was of the first magnitude. The next quake of the first magnitude may occur in a region supposedly free from liability to such visitations. Men can at most but scratch the surface of the earth in their efforts to investigate subterranean affairs. Of conditions and forces concealed beneath that surface they have no real knowledge at all. Nor can it be said that one part of the country is particularly liable to disaster above others. What with storm and flood, earthquake, fire, and pestilence, there is no place where life and property have an assurance of safety. The only safety is in the protection of the Almighty. L. A. S.

Brazil’s Second Conference

By William A. Spicer

At every step in the reorganization of the South American territory we have all been impressed anew by the benefits of localizing responsibility in the carrying forward of the work. It does the people good to see clearly exactly the one territory over which they are responsible for spreading the light of this message.
After the organization of the Rio Grande Conference, Elders Westphal, Spies, Ehlers, and myself came on to Santa Catharina, the State next northward. Our meeting here was held in the Gaspar Valley, near Brusque, where there is a strong little church of German believers. About one hundred were in attendance. Those from other parts came in by horse or mule, some coming from far-distant points. The next State northward, Parana, was represented, and the new conference of Santa Catharina and Parana was organized with the hearts of the believers thoroughly committed to their new responsibilities. It was good to see these brethren at work in committees, getting an understanding of the meaning of conference organization, and getting intelligently under the burden of conference support.
This conference takes up its work squarely on the basis of self-support. They have but one ordained minister, Elder Ehlers, the president, who is assisted by three young men in the field. The conference is financially able to add to its staff of laborers, and will do so as promising workers are available. Here again the necessity of having laborers who understand the Portuguese language was emphasized, and the young German people were urged to apply themselves with all diligence to acquiring that tongue. Our work in Brazil must turn to the Portuguese.
It was at Gaspar that the first mission training-school was established in Brazil, the Brusque school as it was called in our reports. Now only a church-school is conducted here. But there is an excellent building for a training-school, put up by the devotion of the local believers, assisted largely by Brother J. Hettrick, a brother from the States, who has labored in Brazil on a self-supporting basis for nearly twelve years. Some day, as this conference develops strength, this school ought to be operated again for simple intermediate work in the training of teachers and laborers.
At our Gaspar conference meeting we met several church-school teachers. More has been done in this line here than in any other part of South America, I think. These young ladies are no doubt very deficient in education, for the educational standards are very low; but they have stood for the one chance the children have had to learn to read and write and to receive the rudiments of a Christian education, and these teachers, who may perhaps go barefooted in their ordinary work, have been a power for good in the churches and homes where they have worked. It did one good to see them and to note their interest in the work. The message is stimulating those who have received it, and our people are reaching a higher standard of educational interest than one sees in the people who have not the inspiration of the one message for this time.
Life is a struggle in these parts. The land is poor, and both men and women work in the fields to get the family living. But most of our people seem modestly prosperous, having not much money, but having sufficient to eat, and being comfortably housed for this climate. A good old sister, who was asked how her family was getting on, showed us her storeroom with the ears of unhusked corn corded up in piles across one side of the room, while on the floor were stores of beans and pumpkins. Here was food for the winter. Doubtless in the rough hillside garden was plenty of that staff of life in Brazil, the aipim, a shrub with a large starchy root which takes the place of our potato very satisfactorily.
This new conference has between four and five hundred believers, mostly living in country districts. The shepherding of this flock means most of the year in the saddle to the laborers. The greater number of our people here are Germans, but in Parana the truth has been spreading in Portuguese communities in a way that shows that there will be fruit among the Brazilian people as we go to work for them.
This conference meeting ended with all hearts full of courage and confidence. The people sent greetings to the churches in North America and grateful thanks for the help the believers there have sent for the work in Brazil. They now pledge themselves to push forward the work in the same spirit.
W. A. S.
Itajahy; Santa Catharina.

“The Cure of Graft”

By L. A. S.

IN a recent issue of The Independent Mr. W. H. Ghent, an author of several works on sociological problems, discusses the question of “the cure of graft.” “The ramifications of graft,” he states, “extend throughout all business,” and quotes this paragraph from Lester F. Ward’s “Pure Sociology:”—
Deception may almost be called the foundation of business. . . . There is a sort of code that fixes the limit beyond which this form of deception must not be carried. . . . But within those limits every one expects every other to suggest the false and suppress the true.
After a description of the extent of graft practised in the manufacture and sale of foods, and in some other lines of commerce, Mr. Ghent states in a single paragraph the only “cure” which he has to offer for the evil, his remedy being of a distinctly socialistic nature. He says:—
The incentive of graft is thus the individualist, competitive mode of production and distribution. . . . By no appeal to the conscience of the individual can grafting be eliminated. It can be eliminated only by a revolutionary change in the mode by which we make and distribute goods. The particular and competing interests of mankind must be merged in a common interest, and society, in its organized form, must take over to itself the production of commodities, making them not for sale, but for use, and distributing them to the users without individual profit.
There is another cure for graft in which we have more confidence than in this one, though it does not undertake to eliminate the evil from the business world, but only from certain individuals. That cure is God’s cure for the carnal heart. Socialism proposes to cure the evils that afflict society by reforming methods; Christianity reforms men. Socialism would set up a system under which the imps of lying and greed would be bound or would sit quiescent in the hearts of men, finding their occupation gone. Christianity recognizes that no such system is possible of realization, but that the only way for men to do good, to deal justly and love mercy, is to become good themselves by having the evil that is in the heart cast out. “Outof the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh,” and an evil heart will show itself in the life, in the dealings of man with man, in spite of any possible system of regulating the production and distribution of articles of commerce. No legislation or system of government can control the devil.
The world’s one hope to-day, as ever, is Christianity. L. A. S.

Concerning Our Situation

By Arthur G. Daniells

OWING to a very heavy pressure of work at this time, I must take advantage of the columns of the REVIEW to say a few words to my correspondents. Since sending out our reply to the leaflet circulated by Elder A. T. Jones, entitled “Some History, Some Experience, and Some Facts,” we have received a large number of letters from union and local conference officers, ministers, editors, heads of institutions, and also from our brethren and sisters in different parts of the land, expressing their views regarding both of these leaflets. We very greatly appreciate these letters, in all but one of which the writers express the fullest confidence in the Testimonies given this people by the Lord through Sister White, and also assure us of their loyalty to the General Conference organization. Between thirty-five and forty conference presidents have notified us that their conferences will assist in meeting the expense of sending out our reply. Some of the conferences have passed resolutions defining their views regarding this controversy, and a number have voted large sums from their tithes to assist the General Conference in prosecuting the great missionary work it has undertaken.
Words can not express the gratitude of our hearts for this spontaneous, hearty, and unanimous expression that has come to us from the men bearing the chief responsibilities of this cause in all its departments in all parts of the world. Some have feared that this controversy would divide the denomination, and a few have repeatedly claimed that this had already been done. This is a great mistake. The denomination is not divided. A few, and we deeply regret it, are disaffected, but almost the entire body is intelligently and heartily united on this issue. Our people refuse to cross the line some have crossed, and to travel the road some are traveling. Now that they have learned from the leaflet sent out from Battle Creek just where the leaders there stand, they see the cause of the controversy that has been going on for some time, as they have never seen it before, and they have promptly taken their stand. It is plain to all of us that there will now be a closer, more careful study of the Testimonies than there has been for many years.
Brethren and sisters, “the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”
A. G. DANIELLS.

Revising the Methodist Creed

M. E. Church South, this was the leading topic under discussion. A resolution was passed, stating, “that the college of Bishops be requested to appoint a commission of five members, . . . which shall invite other branches of Methodism to unite with us in the preparation of such a statement of our faith, and such an expression of our doctrinal system, as is called for in our day.”
Concerning the propriety of such treatment of the creed, the dean of the theological school of Vanderbilt University said: “Let no one think for a moment that this is an effort to repudiate in the slightest degree the faith of our common Methodism, which has been a unit from the beginning. It is a call for a new statement, a new expression of old doctrine, not for a repudiation in any sense of that doctrine that has characterized our church from the very beginning. . . . We would not alter in any degree these twenty-five Articles. We would leave them just as they are and just where they are, to serve the intellectual and spiritual needs of any who may continue to get help and inspiration from them. Nevertheless, I for one believe that they have served their purpose by the will of God, and are now entitled to honorable superannuation.”
Considering the essential difference between that which is superannuated and that which is new and up to date, the problem of providing a new creed in the place of one that is outgrown, without repudiating “in the slightest degree” what the old creed affirms to be true, may prove to be a difficult one. Christian truth never becomes superannuated; how then can a correct statement of that truth ever get out of date? Such questions, however, apparently did not trouble the conference.
Various references were made by different speakers to the fact that “the technical standards of doctrine in our church are the fifty-two sermons of John Wesley and his expository notes on the New Testament.” This fact may explain why it is that the creed needs changing. Not even so able a servant of God as John Wesley could provide a basis for a creed that would be unchangeable. There is one unchangeable basis of the Christian belief, and that is the words of Jesus Christ, “the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.”
Light from the words of Christ spoken by his apostles and prophets, show us that the trouble with the Christian church at this time is not that the creed has become superannuated and needs to be so revised as to be “up to date,” but that the old doctrines are being given up for new ideas that are neither Christian nor true. “Ask ye for the old paths” is good counsel to the church to-day. What is needed now is to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”

Note and Comment

The matter of discrediting some of the writings as being unreliable, while professing to have confidence in other writings from the same source as being authoritative, is handled in a simple but convincing manner by a member of the legal profession who was one of a committee seeking a pastor for their church, and to whom a candidate suspected of sympathy with the higher criticism had been recommended. We quote as follows:—
Allow me to dispose of this whole question by a simple illustration. I am an attorney. In the argument of their cases attorneys refer to and rely upon text-books and adjudicated cases as an authority upon which they ask the courts to decide cases. What success could an attorney expect if he should, in citing an authority, say: “If your Honor please, I refer you to the second chapter of the first volume of Kent’s Commentaries (or any other authority relied on), where the law is laid down as I contend it is; but I am free to say I consider that other chapters or parts of this authority on which I rely, are spurious, interpolated, or are contrary to reason, and so much so that I would not ask you to accept their teaching.”
When any minister assails the Bible and denies its authority, because its teachings as to a particular subject do not commend themselves to his reason or judgment, he discredits the Book, and invites his hearers to reject any other part, or the whole of it, when it does not meet their views. In the case supposed as to an attorney, I do not hesitate to say that any intelligent court would regard the attorney as either insane or unfaithful to his client, intending to betray him under the guise of serving him.
The sound principle here laid down applies with equal force in the treatment of the Testimonies. No man can assail some of the Testimonies and prove them to be unreliable without discrediting the Testimonies as a whole, and without inviting others to reject such Testimonies as do not harmonize with their views of things. We are opposed to the principle of the higher criticism, whether advocated within or without the denomination.

Revising the Methodist Creed

SOME years ago the Presbyterian Church revised its creed, to bring it up to date, and now the Methodist Church is being agitated by the same idea. At the recent general conference of

What of the Day?

WHAT of the day, do you ask? Then assuredly know That the day which began weary ages ago Speeds on to an issue sublime; And the King whose glad coming draws hourly near, Will, haply, when least you expect him, appear, And the blessed long-prayed-for Sabbatical year Usher in, in the fulness of time.
Will you hasten the day? Will you labor and pray? Will you thrust in the sickle and reap while you may The plenteous harvests that lie Waiting still for your hand In every land And rip'ning ’neath every sky?
Will you gather the stones for this temple divine? And the gems in the crown of his glory to shine Brighter far than the sun? And then, when he comes, bowing low at his feet With rapture unspeakable, hear him repeat, “ Well done, thou good servant, well done.”
— Selected.

The Inquisition of Mexico

By GEO. M. BROWN

GEO. M. BROWN
The publishing house of Ch. Bouret, of Paris and Mexico, has recently brought out an interesting book under the above title. It consists of official records of the tribunal of the Inquisition as it existed in Mexico.
Among other heretics condemned by the “Holy Office” were some denominated New Christians, descendants of the Jews, who kept the Sabbath. They are also charged with observing the dead law of Moses, and with refusing to eat pork or lard. In the records whichI have read, all these New Christians were from Portugal.
At first thought it might appear that these persons were Jews, as they are said to have been descendants of the Jews, and to have kept the law of Moses; but this could hardly have been true, as they are distinguished from the Jews condemned at the same time, by the designation of New Christians. In the sentence against a Lutheran who was condemned for heresy at that time it is charged that he, too, kept the law of Moses. From this it appears that this expression does not mean that they kept the ceremonial law, but rather that they observed some of the commandments which were not observed by the Catholic Church; evidently it was used to heap opprobrium upon the heretics.
I would like to hear from any one who has read of this class of New Christians, who were Sabbath-keepers, either in history or in the records which are accessible in the libraries of Europe.
Avenida 20, Num. 1426, Tacubaya, D. F., Mexico.
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