Review and Herald, Vol. 87, No. 6. (2/10/1910)

Review and Herald

Feb 10, 1910

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 10, 1910

Lost Chords

By Mary Wells

In Gaza’s tower, with brazen fetters bound, The sightless captive treads his weary round, The mock of those who in an earlier hour Were wont to tremble at his mighty power. That power, alas, is gone! His soul, dismayed, In anguish mourns Jehovah’s gift betrayed.

The psalmist strikes his harp. A minor strain Answers his touch, then dies away in pain. In accents pleading doth he still implore, “Salvation’s joy, O Lord, to me restore!” No more he knows that kinship with his Lord, No more resounds the rapture of that chord.

By alien fire now lingers fearfully He who has sworn eternal loyalty To that loved Master whom he now denies. That Master turns and looks. O loving eyes! But with that look remorse which ne’er will cease Fills Peter’s soul; he weeps for his lost peace.

Lost power, lost joy, lost peace, some vanished strain Each human soul strives ever to regain. The chord is gone, but with the anguished strife The awed soul learns the mystery of life. In this world lost; but list that grand “Amen” By the white throne. ’Tis the lost chord again!

— Mary Wells, in Sunday School Times.

THE WORK — AND — THE WORKERS

A TRAVELING salesman sends in a list of thirteen Protestant Magazine subscriptions, and writes as follows: “After receiving the Protestant Magazine you sent me, I felt impressed to take a copy with me on the road and introduce it among the people in the stores, to whom I sell goods; so I did, and the enclosed list is the result of my short effort.”

If all our members possessed the zeal and earnestness of the sister we quote below, our periodical workers would be greatly increased, and we believe the members themselves would be materially benefited: “Enclosed please find post-office money-order to pay for the 25 copies of Life and Health you sent me. I want 25 copies of the next number. I received the sample number you sent me, and thank you for it. I wish I could handle more each month, but I have my hands so full of home cares that I feel I can not do more now. I take my two children, one four years of age, and the other fifteen months, with me. Some people look as if they could not understand why I do it, but our dear Lord knows, and I believe he is pleased to have me do what little I can.”

WRITES one of our workers: “I can assure you I do fully realize that your magazine supplies a long-felt need and has forcibly taken hold of the minds of the solid business men who do their own thinking. I have sent it out in various States where I have business friends, and 39 subscribed for one year. A friend at Rochester, N. Y., sold ten copies to one woman for her individual use. One copy I sold to a business man, a class-leader in the M. E. Church. The next time I saw him, he said it was amazing the amount of information the Protestant Magazine contained. A member of his church afterward told me the class-leader gave them one of the most pointed talks at their prayer-meeting that she ever heard. He told them they were all asleep, but would get a ‘jar some day that would make them sit up and think.’”

MRS. L. M. RUSSELL, who is 76 years of age, and who has been a regular worker with Life and Health during the years 1907 and 1908, has recently partially recovered from a severe attack of the la grippe, following a severe attack of pleuratic neuralgia, yet she orders a supply of Life and Health with which to continue the work which she very much enjoys, and which she says needs to be done. In connection with her order she writes: “My health did not improve very much during the past summer, but I am now much better than I was in the spring, and as I want very much to have a part in the work with the special REVIEW, I will have to work in Warren, a few miles from home. I think I can also sell some copies of Life and Health and Liberty, and so have sent in an order to our tract society for the same.” With that kind of spirit in any work none need fear of its success. There are a large number just like this faithful sister engaged in the periodical work.

It pays to send the Protestant Magazine to others. Here is one of the many proofs we might give: “Dear Sir: Some friend has been sending me the magazine. I am interested in it to the extent that I would like to know that it was in every house in the land. Enclosed you will find seventy-five cents to pay for the three enclosed subscriptions for one year. Send me such matter as will assist in getting subscribers for the magazine. I will do all I can to assist you in the good work you have undertaken.”

THOSE who have been connected with the message for years fully appreciate the value of the REVIEW. No greater temporal misfortune could come to them than to be deprived of its faithful visits and constant messages of the progress of the Lord’s work, and the inspiration, courage, and faith it always brings. The following attests to this statement: “Enclosed find post-office money-order for $2 to apply on my REVIEW, which I love dearly. I can not think of keeping house without it, having read it since 1859. I pray that God will bless you abundantly in your good work. I also wish to thank you for making the REVIEW better and better as we draw nearer to the close of this world’s history.”

OUR periodical workers are rapidly learning how to turn their hands to anything that comes along, especially in the way of periodical distribution. The following from Sister J. L. Pettis illustrates the point: “I received your letter stating that you had filled my order for 100 copies of the Instructor, but when I went to St. Peters, where I expected to sell them, I opened them, and behold, they were the special REVIEW! To say I was disappointed puts it mildly. However, as I could not get away, I concluded that the Lord wanted me to distribute the REVIEW in St. Peters, which I did in a day and a half. I have $6.40 in donations, and three papers left. When I dispose of these, I will send the money to our conference secretary. I had an experience I would not have had if the mistake had not been made, and I am thankful for it.”

What's in a Name?

SOMETIMES it may not be unreasonable to scorn the mere name of anything with the question, “What’s in a name?” But when it comes to considering the name of a paper or a book, the answer to the question must always be, “Very much indeed.” The Protestant Magazine, for instance, possesses a very strong selling feature in its name. As a practical illustration of the value of the name of the Protestant Magazine, we quote from one of our very active and successful periodical workers, Henry S. Hall, as follows:—

“Those of our circle who have had experience in canvassing, find that the very name sells the papers to Protestants, without a word of explanation, while it causes most of non-Protestants to reject it all the more quickly. Thus, in both instances results are obtained quickly. Our company has a few members who are neither in the truth nor experienced in canvassing, but they have no difficulty in selling one dollar’s worth of the Protestant Magazine in two or three hours.”

“Early Writings”

This is one of the most interesting and important of the books written by Mrs. E. G. White. It not only contains the early history of this message and valuable instruction regarding the fundamental truths which we hold, but in its prophetic portions it carries the reader clear through the trials and difficulties and perplexities of this earthly experience, over into the new earth. It should be carefully read and reread many times by every Seventh-day Adventist. It is furnished in four styles of binding, as follows: cloth, 75 cents; red flexible leather, $1.25; full morocco, gilt edges, $1.50; paper covers, 35 cents.

“His Glorious Appearing”

By Editor

DURING the last few days we have received several letters from individuals asking for an explanation of our belief in the soon personal coming of Christ to this earth. The many events of a more or less startling nature that are almost continually taking place throughout the world, are leading people to inquire what these things mean. Many are coming to believe that they mean the speedy culmination of things earthly and the ushering in of the great day of the Lord. Now is a good time to place in their hands that excellent little volume, “His Glorious Appearing,” which is an explanation of the Saviour’s prophecies recorded in Matthew 24 and Luke 21. Those who are unable to devote any considerable amount of time to doing missionary work, can do excellent service by purchasing several copies of this little book and loaning them to their neighbors. Price, in board covers, 25 cents; cloth covers, 50 cents.

Bible Lessons for the Church-School

By Editor

We are glad to announce that McKibbin’s Bible lessons for the church-school, No. 3, is now ready for circulation. It is a much larger book than either Nos. 1 or 2. It contains 461 pages. Price, $1.20.

A Few of Our Books Cheap

By Editor

IN taking our inventory we find a number of copies of some of our standard books of editions prior to the last one. The principal difference between these and the last edition is simply in the matter of illustrations. They can be used in missionary work with your friends and neighbors to just as good advantage as the latest edition with new illustrations. While they last, we will furnish them at the following reduced price, post-paid: “Patriarchs and Prophets,” cloth; regular price, $3; special price, $1.40. “Heralds of the Morning,” cloth; regular price, $1.75; special price, 90 cents; full morocco, regular price, $4; special price, $1.60. “Daniel and the Revelation,” full morocco, regular price, $5; special price, $2.

We also have a few more copies of the library binding of “Home and Health” which were damaged by the leakage of a steam-pipe so that the cover is soiled, otherwise just as good as any; regular price, $4; reduced price, $1.75. Order of Review and Herald Publishing Association, Takoma Park, D. C.

A Work of Faith

A Work of Faith.— With no money in sight to pay the printer, having spent all his means in sounding the message in the 1844 movement, Captain Bates felt the burden upon him to print the truth. “I am going to write a book,” he declared to his wife; “I am going to circulate it, and spread the Sabbath truth before the world.” And as he went forward in faith, money came in providentially from various persons to pay the printer. It was a forty-eight-page tract, small type, packed full of the evidence that the Sabbath has never been changed. Near the close he summed up the evidence and his own position thus:—

There is but one Christian Sabbath named or established in the Bible, and that individual, whoever he is, that undertakes to abolish or change it is the real Sabbath-breaker. Remember that the keeping of the commandments is the only safe guide through the gates into the city.

My friends and neighbors, and especially my family, know that I have for more than twenty years strictly endeavored to keep the first day of the week for the Sabbath, and I can say that I did it in all good conscience before God, on the ocean, and in foreign countries as well as my own, until about sixteen months since I read an article published in the Hope of Israel, by a worthy brother, T. M. Preble, of Nashua, which, when I read and compared with the Bible, convinced me that there never had been any change; therefore the seventh day was the Sabbath, and God required me as well as him to keep it holy.

Many things now troubled my mind as to how I could make this great change,—family, friends, and brethren, and,—but this one passage of Scripture was, and always will be, as a clear sunbeam: “What is that to thee? follow thou me.” In a few days my mind was made up to begin to keep the fourth commandment, and I bless God for the clear light he has shed upon my mind in answer to prayer and a thorough examination of the Scriptures on this great subject. Contrary views did, after a little, shake my position some, but I feel now that there is no argument nor sophistry that can becloud my mind again this side of the gates of the holy city.

“This Is the Way”

By W. A. S.

RECALLING missionary experiences in the West Indian field some years ago, Elder E. W. Webster gives us the following story of the providential manner in which one seeker after truth was led into the right way:—

An intelligent native woman in — was going to the shops to buy some provisions for Sunday.

On the street she saw two women, well dressed, Bibles in hand, as if on their way to meeting.

“This is not Sunday,” she said to herself; “this is surely Saturday. What are those women going to church to-day for?”

She purchased her provisions and went home, still thinking about what she had seen.

That week she dreamed that she must get ready and go with the women the next Saturday.

When the day came round, she got ready, and went out on the street, and waited for the women to make their appearance; but she failed to find them. She could only wait, for she did not know who the women were, or where they were going on the day she had seen them.

The next week she dreamed that she must get ready the next Saturday, and the Lord would show her where to go. She started out, when the day came, walking about a mile across the city, and direct to our mission.

I was just well started with the sermon when I saw a stranger, a well-dressed native woman, come up into the hall and take a seat well toward the front. She gave good attention to the discourse.

After meeting I spoke to her, when she told me the story I have related, and added: “When I reached the bottom of the stairs here, the Lord said to me, ‘This is the place.’ I inquired of no one. I believe you have the truth.”

She began at once to keep the Sabbath, and after a little further study was baptized, and united with the church. She has been faithful under trial, and has worked hard to get the truth before others.

There is no suggestion of the fanciful about such an experience. But in a very direct and manifestly providential way the Lord led a willing heart to the place where his Word was being preached. In this case was fulfilled the promise: “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it.” Isa. 30:21.

W. A. S.

Forbid Them Not

By F. M. W.

IN the Lord's providence there is going to the world a great movement denominated the third angel's message. It is calling out from all nations and kindreds, from all churches and communions, a people who will be prepared to meet the Lord when he comes. This movement is the greatest movement in the world to-day. As such, it will eventually embrace every true movement for good, and every one that loves the good.

This movement is broad enough and comprehensive enough to give full exercise to the talents of every man and woman who recognizes its claims; and the undivided support of all these it should receive. At the same time there are many men and women in every land who have not a knowledge of this movement, but who to the extent of the light they possess are endeavoring to promote the cause of truth and righteousness to the best of their ability. This fact

should be borne in mind by the advocates of this message.

While we may confidently believe that God is leading us; while we may rejoice in a knowledge of the truth for these last days which he has given us, at the same time, it is not for us to discount the worthy efforts of men and women who may not be associated with us, but who are doing a truly good work for God. If we ignore this fact, it will only lead to denominational egotism and self-righteousness on our part. Our attitude toward these men and women should not be one of antagonism. It should be one rather of kindly Christian courtesy.

Why should we antagonize one who is doing the best he knows, but yet who may not possess the fulness of light which we ourselves have? Rather we should pray God to bless his efforts, and lead him into greater fulness of light. This was the attitude which Paul sustained toward Apollos when he found him preaching the baptism of John.

There is danger always in the carrying of a great message of reform, that its adherents will feel that their work primarily is to tear down error, instead of to build up truth. There is danger that they will put a greater emphasis upon the negative side of the message they bear than upon its positive features. This should not be so in our work.

The great threefold message which we are giving to the world possesses three prominent characteristics: (1) It calls upon mankind to fear God and give glory to him and worship the Creator of the heavens and earth, in view of the solemn fact that the hour of his judgment is come. (2) In consequence of the rejection of this truth by the professed church it proclaims, not exultingly, but in sadness and sorrow, the fact of Babylon's fall. (3) As Babylon continues in her downward course, forsaking the truth and establishing a system of state religion, the message warns against the worship of this false system, symbolized by the beast and his image. As the result of the giving of this message, there is developed a people which keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus.

In the threefold proclamation, the positive truth is to be carried in the forefront, and the primary way in which the warning is to be sounded against apostasy is by the proclamation of the plain, positive, upbuilding truth of God. In other words, it is not the work of the advocates of this message to fight Catholics, to fight politico-religious reformers, or to hold up to ridicule the false doctrines of their brethren of other churches. The work of this movement is to proclaim the positive upbuilding, saving truth of God, to bring men and women to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In so far as it is necessary in doing this work to expose the sophistries of Satan, and the delusion of false teaching, in order that men and women may be freed from the thralldom of sin, such work is a part of the legitimate message, but in doing that, great care should be used to strike against the error rather than the man or woman holding the error. While we seek to decry the error which we see around us, let us be careful not to place ourselves in an attitude where we will decry every effort that is made outside of our own numbers, and impute wrong motives to others who may be laboring as earnestly and zealously for the cause of truth, as they understand it, as we ourselves.

The great Master Worker teaches us these principles. “And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbade him, because he followeth not with us. And Jesus said unto them, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us.”

With a solemn sense of our great responsibility, and of the importance of the message committed to us, we are to move among men. Love for souls should actuate every relationship. No spirit of egotism or self-righteousness should fill our hearts, but a humble dependence upon God, fearful lest we shall fail to exemplify the sweetness and the Christian charity of the holy truth we profess. Maintaining the integrity of our own work, and with no lowering of its standard or compromising of its character, we should stand ready to see the good in our fellows of whatever name or affiliation, and recognize the Christian spirit which prompts their labor. This will form a bond of union and an effective relationship which will make far more potent our endeavors to help them than will an attitude of hostility toward them or unkind judgment on our part.

F. M. W.

Our First Tract

By Editor

Editorial

Our First Tract. — The beginning of our publications was a tract on the Sabbath. In his “Great Second Advent Movement,” Elder J. N. Loughborough has told us how Capt. Joseph Bates, of Fairhaven, Mass., was led to study the Sabbath truth in 1845, and published the first tract upon it in 1846. There is a copy of this tract in the General Conference library, “The Seventh-day Sabbath, a Perpetual Sign, from the beginning, to the entering into the gates of the holy city, according to the commandment.” Its imprint is, “New Bedford, press of Benjamin Lindsey.”

A Wide Field

A Wide Field. — Elder Bates lived to see the publishing work well started, and thousands of Sabbath-keeping believers joining in the movement. Truly, in the case of this first tract, the little one has become a thousand. In the same small way the publishing work has since been started in many languages. And with hundreds of languages still silent in the third angel's message, there is need of the constant co-operation of all believers in putting out the publications. So far as other tongues than the European are concerned, we have only begun the work. Our missionaries will see to it if we can but supply the means.

“The Crusade Invisible”

By C. M. S.

In the former article under this title the fact was made apparent that a concerted movement is now on in the higher institutions of learning, both in men’s colleges, women’s colleges, and coeducational institutions, to discredit the Bible as a revelation from God to man, to discredit Moses and Jesus, and, in fact, to eliminate the God of the Bible himself from the conception of the students. The Old Testament and the New Testament are attacked seriatim both for what they record and for what they reveal.

To ease the transition, from the religion of heaven to the philosophy of human invention that is to take the place of vital religion in the lives of these young people, “the students are admonished to surrender their idea, gained at uninformed family altars, that Christianity is the only religion worth considering.”

To these trainers of the newer generation all religions, practically, are equally good or equally bad. The effect of such teaching upon missionary endeavor is at once apparent. But we are not left to infer what attitude these educators sustain toward missionary work; for, says Mr. Bolce: “The coeducational classes of Michigan are taught that fatuity can go no farther than to attempt to make a Hindu turn his back upon his own ancient culture to accept Christianity.” If that were true of the Hindu, it would be likewise true of the Shintu, the Confucian, the Mohammedan, and of the believer in every other religion. From such a standpoint, every religion of the world is the effort of divinity to express himself to humanity, and no matter how discordant, all are equally speaking the precepts and purposes of whoever or whatever is animating and actuating the universe.

This gives us, instead of one authoritative voice from the Almighty, a multitude of voices, discordant and mutually contradictory. This nation-wide education puts evolution in the place of creation and makes the Creator the creature of circumstance. It puts philosophy in the place of religion, and cuts humanity adrift from the one anchor of hope. Where stands the infallible Word of God, a rock of defense, a strong tower of trust, it would put the vacillating, inconstant, undependable and unsatisfying imaginings of the human mind, still tremulous and uncertain as the ocean ooze from which it is supposed to have evolved. What a transmigration of trust is this!

Where such instructors permit the idea of a great “first cause” to be retained, and call that God, they boldly affirm that this being is revealing himself to man to-day through them even as he did through the prophets of old, and that “the sense of the divine presence is taking on new form in accordance with more careful psychology and a greater precision of thought.” The education that they are giving thus becomes in their estimation a new revelation of God, a new gospel, sweeping aside everything to which Christendom has held through the centuries as a basis for belief and hope and comfort.

Assuming thus to speak for that power which actuates creation, it is not to be wondered at that they should ultimately assume relationship with him. So it is taught that “the superman, or uebermensch, is God, just as much as any Deity in the sky.” Now “the superman” is only man, the higher man, the man developed out of the class of the ordinary into the class of the extraordinary

through some self-invented exploitation of his own faculties. It is a self-elevation, partaking of nothing so much as of that spirit which actuated Lucifer when he declared to himself, “I will be like the Most High,” and to Adam and Eve, “Ye shall be as gods.” But this is the deity of the new collegiate religion. Having lost the God of the Bible,—or having turned their back upon him,—they create this new deity. Says the editor of the Cosmopolitan, in his introduction to Mr. Bolce’s article, “They champion the doctrine that the human race is divine.” Says Mr. Bolce: “With the belief that the race of man is divine and destined to exert increasing sway over the visible and invisible world in which we dwell, college-bred girls by the thousands are beginning to devote themselves, thus spiritually awakened, to the leading of mankind to peace and power along new lines.”

But if the race be divine, the need of a Saviour no longer exists. The Son of God did not become man in order to save divine beings. So he is necessarily eliminated from this new gospel. Said one college professor to an inquiring student: “Make your soul worth saving, and it will be saved.” It is a gospel of self-salvation, a gospel of works, without the necessity or possibility of an atonement. The individual is to make his own soul worthy of salvation. He thus becomes his own savior. These students are taught that it is absurd for humanity to stake its hope of salvation on much of what the Christian world has regarded as inspired writing. So there is introduced the new salvation, the salvation of each individual by his own efforts. Says Mr. Bolce: “Thousands of contemporary women students are fashioning their lives in accordance with the conviction that right thinking will save humanity.”

What is the result, to the individual, of such an education and the acceptance of such propositions? One of the young women frankly admits that “the day’s result is absolute confusion or a settled agnosticism.” One of the instructors asserts that their work is “a hopeless pursuit of ultimate reality,” and that “our quest is an endless one. We never reach a satisfying conclusion of thought; no results withstand the blasting force of our own criticisms.” Thus does this educational campaign destroy faith and hope, and put in their place doubt and despair. And upwards of three hundred thousand young men and women thus educated, with faith in God and his Word destroyed, are going out from those institutions of learning every year to perpetuate in the homes they shall establish and the schools they conduct, the same dogmas of disbelief in God and his Word and purpose.

What relation have these facts to the work of the third angel’s message? This development is the master effort of the deceiver of souls to frustrate, to the greatest possible extent, the results of the proclamation of the message we are commissioned to give. That message is based upon the Word of God. But we are confronting a new generation that has been educated specifically to a positive disbelief in that Word. This undermining of the confidence of the people in the Bible is designed to take the edge off all Bible truth, but particularly to take the very heart out of the great threefold message of Revelation 14. They believe in no judgment to come, no Creator of the heavens and the earth. The commandments are to them but a human compilation of precepts, and they have no faith in Jesus. Said Jesus to his disciples: “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” This question is a prophecy in itself. It looked forward to this identical time. It had in view the conditions we face to-day. The answer that must be given is: There will be but little faith. The campaign of doubt, directed by the higher institutions of learning and ably seconded by many of the most eloquent preachers of the day, is fast turning into a world-encircling desert the fields where must be accomplished the last work of the third angel’s message. That campaign is well termed “The Crusade Invisible.” It is one of the chief factors in preparing the world for the harvest of the great day. One of the most striking features of the present situation is that such a message as that committed to this people should be due just at this time, and that its proclamation should be actually going on just now. The truth and the enemy of the truth are meeting in the final struggle.

C. M. S.

Seeking to Find an Accusation

By W. W. P.

One of the latest efforts to spread confusion among the ranks of Seventh-day Adventists has found expression in a leaflet entitled “The Ten Commandments for Sunday Observance.” In this production an attempt is made to show that some recent utterances through the spirit of prophecy on the subject of religious liberty are misleading and in plain contradiction of earlier utterances through the same agency.

One of the Scripture texts prefixed to this leaflet seems strikingly appropriate to its spirit and purpose, and it is entirely fitting to quote it here:—

“And the scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the Sabbath day; that they might find an accusation against him.”

The enemies of Christ followed him, and watched his teaching closely, not for the purpose of being benefited by his ministry, but with the hope that they might be able to lay hold upon some statement and make it the basis of an accusation against him whose downfall they were plotting. With this object in view, their minds were closed against any light which would discover to them their own wrong course, but they were quick to observe any word or action which seemed to them out of harmony with their interpretation of the Scriptures, or their own traditions.

As the scribes and Pharisees had publicly committed themselves in opposition to the mission and work of Christ, they unavoidably judged his work from that standpoint, and being out of harmony with his spirit, it was easy enough for them to discover in the words and works of Christ what was to them a square contradiction of the teachings of Moses and the prophets as interpreted by themselves.

In the particular case to which reference is made in this quotation, the question of Sabbath observance was the issue, and the charge brought against Jesus was that he broke the Sabbath commandment. As a matter of fact he was seeking to relieve the Sabbath commandment of the burden of tradition imposed upon it by the scribes and Pharisees, and they now became his accusers, charging him with a violation of the fourth commandment, when he was simply indicating the true character of genuine Sabbath observance, and was showing that the interpretation placed upon the commandment by the self-sufficient and self-exalting leaders of the people was both illegitimate and burdensome. Jesus did not hesitate to teach this lesson, although he was evidently certain that his enemies would take advantage of what he said and did, and make it the basis of an accusation against him.

This experience seems very much to the point in dealing with this latest leaflet, although the writer of it probably did not have any such application of it in mind. The question at issue again is that of Sabbath observance. The writer of this leaflet long ago contended that the proper attitude toward the fourth commandment made it obligatory upon every one to show an utter disregard of all laws forbidding ordinary work on Sunday, and as a result of this teaching a goodly number of persons were imprisoned in the South, and it seemed evident that a crisis was to be precipitated at once—a crisis which would, humanly speaking, render it impossible for Seventh-day Adventists to carry on the work of preaching the truth in that section of the country. This was about fifteen years ago. At that time the matter was brought to the attention of Mrs. E. G. White, who was then laboring in Australia, and she immediately

gave instruction to the same general effect as is now found in Volume IX of the “Testimonies for the Church,” to which such strong exception is taken in this leaflet. At that time, however, the writer of this leaflet was in harmony with his fellow workers in this message, and accepted the counsel given; and as a result, the crisis was averted for a time, and the work of giving the message has since gone forward rapidly in the South.

Now the circumstances are somewhat changed. He who then accepted and acted upon this counsel is now in an attitude of opposition, and has publicly committed himself to the position that the writings of Mrs. E. G. White are not reliable. He, therefore, like the scribes and Pharisees, is now watching to see if he can find an accusation, and as they found what they sought for, so does he, and the explanation for such finding is the same in both cases.

We regret very much the necessity of making these statements, but it seems necessary to do so in order that our people may understand the true situation, and may be able to deal intelligently with the case in hand.

By selecting suitable phrases and sentences from the article in Volume IX of the “Testimonies” relating to Sunday labor, by taking them out of their connection and combining them in a way suited to the purpose, and by employing the logic of phrase and word rather than of thought and meaning, the writer is able to make appear plausible the conclusion which he was determined to establish from the start. This method of discrediting utterances which one does not accept is by no means new. It has been employed for many years by atheists and infidels in attacking the Scriptures, but it has long since ceased to carry conviction to the minds of those who think that it is better to read what an author says upon any given subject and to weigh his utterances as a whole, rather than to read piecemeal quotations made by an unfriendly critic who has already committed himself to the purpose of discrediting the work of the author with whom he deals.

The extent to which the writer of this leaflet carries himself by his own logic, and the extent to which he attempts to carry others, is shown by the following quotation:—

No living soul can find in the Bible, nor can he teach from the Bible alone what that “Testimony” says as to Sunday and Sunday observance. Indeed, have not the Seventh-day Adventists themselves for many years been offering, and publishing the offers of others, of large rewards to anybody who will produce from the Bible “just one text” that commands or teaches Sunday observance? “Just one text:” far, far less than is plainly given in that “Testimony,” in behalf of Sunday observance. If less than half of what is said in that “Testimony” in behalf of Sunday observance was said in the Bible, the Seventh-day Adventist opposition to Sunday observance would have been effectually estopped before ever it began.

It might be a sufficient reply to such a conclusion as this, based upon a perverted interpretation developed by formal logic, to say that “no living soul can find in the Bible, nor can he teach from the Bible alone,” what this leaflet teaches, unless possibly it might be deduced from some of the assertions of the scribes and Pharisees. It would, perhaps, however, be more to the point to say that when the instruction found in this Testimony is taken as a whole and is given a fair interpretation, it will be found in perfect harmony with the instruction given by Christ to his disciples, and with the principles which he himself followed. To his disciples he said: “When they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another.” Until his work was accomplished, and the time for the crisis had fully come, he avoided any acts that would bring him into direct conflict with the authorities, or that would give his enemies a ground of accusation against him, that he was a lawbreaker, and was inciting disloyalty among the people. He did all this, however, without sacrificing any principle of right, and without neutralizing the effect of his own teaching. He knew how to be as wise as a serpent and as harmless as a dove, and he inculcated the same principle to be followed by his disciples.

If the writer of this leaflet had been so disposed, he could have selected from the same Testimony such expressions concerning the true Sabbath, and such statements concerning the refusal to observe Sunday as a Sabbath, as would have made it possible to prepare a leaflet with the title, “The Ten Commandments Against Sunday Observance,” and such a leaflet would have been in harmony with the general tenor of the Testimonies. Just as we find in the Bible clear testimony in favor of the observance of the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath, although Sunday-keepers claim to draw from the same source proof-texts for the observance of Sunday. In both cases it is simply a matter of selecting and interpreting what can be made to appear to establish a conclusion previously adopted.

To those who have never seen this leaflet, we simply say that they have not missed that which would be helpful to them in any way. To those who have seen the leaflet, we suggest that they read the instruction published in the Testimony, weigh it as a whole, and decide whether it has been fairly handled in this publication.

While it was assumed some time ago that the whole Seventh-day Adventist denomination had repudiated the position and work for which it was brought into existence, and that there was only one Elijah now left to vindicate the truth, yet this movement still goes forward, witnessing for the truth, unaffected by the efforts of its former friends to overthrow and to destroy it. What it is, and what it is doing, best justify this third angel’s message. It refuses to be discredited by the art of the logician. W. W. P.

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