Review and Herald, Vol. 85, No. 22. (5/28/1908)

Review and Herald

May 28, 1908

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 28, 1908

A Prayer

By Henry Van Dyke

THESE are the gifts I ask of Thee, Spirit serene: Strength for the daily task, Courage to face the road, Good cheer to help me bear the traveler’s load; And for the hours of rest that come between, An inward joy in all things heard and seen.

These are the sins I fain Would have Thee take away: Malice and cold disdain, Hot anger, sullen hate, Scorn of the lowly, envy of the great, And discontent that casts a shadow gray On all the brightness of the common day.

— Henry Van Dyke.

Life and Health

Beginning the Heated Season Numbers

THE JUNE NUMBER OF LIFE AND HEALTH

Deals largely with topics that affect the health of the public during the summer months. The following is a partial summary of its contents:—

“Sun, Air, and Water,” by S. Adolphus Knopf, M. D., dwelling especially on the uses of water,—water as a remedy for chronic constipation,—utility of water taken internally and externally,—methods and benefits of bathing,—public baths,—swimming as a compulsory accomplishment.

“Tea, Coffee, and Cocoa,”—beverages universally used for their stimulating effects. They are not nutritious, only stimulants,—their use detrimental,—the cause of the craving for stimulants made apparent.

“Typhoid Fever,”—some new discoveries of a very practical nature regarding this contagious disease.

“Sickness and the Gospel,”—Christ, the Great Physician, “quickens the mortal body,”—the Creator of all the functions of the body can and will heal them through his divinely-appointed agencies of healing,—the power of God through faith.

“Lessons from Nature,”—by Mrs. E. G. White. Nature,—man’s great object-lesson,—its benefits in the restoring of health and the revival of the spirituality of the human race.

“The Summer Vacation,”—a talk to boys and girls about the way vacation may be profitably spent,—recreation, picnic menus, and how to serve them.

“The Social Side of Camp Life,”—a high ideal of camp life,—plain living and high thinking, the better fitting for noble service,—care-free, but not careless.

“Why Take a Vacation?”—Varying conditions and circumstances associated with toil and recreation.

“Holidays for Health,”—where best to spend them.

“Causes of Misdemeanor in Children,”—Ignorance,—forgetfulness,—laziness,—carelessness,—impoliteness,—curiosity, etc.,—suggestions for correction.

“Prevalent Summer Diseases,”—their causes, and suggestions for their prevention.

“Current Mention,”—on The Stomach not a Refrigerator, The Composition of Some of the Summer Drink Flavorings, The Feeding of Infants, Causes of Typhoid Fever.

“The Medical Missionary at Work,”—reports of medical missionaries in preventing disease in different foreign countries, manner of treatment, etc.

“Questions and Answers” on Goiter, Meat Substitutes, Shortness of Breath Following la Grippe, Bright’s Disease, Saccharin, Pimples, Blackheads, etc.

“Dangers From Ice,”—ordinary natural ice safer than artificial ice.

“The Conservation of Infant Life,”—a study of the causes of the increase of infant mortality so prevalent in our large cities during the hot season.

“News Notes” from good authorities on a large variety of health topics.

PRICES

Single copy, 10 cents; 2 to 25 copies, 5 cents a copy; 25 to 500 copies, 4 cents a copy. Special rates on orders of 500 or more copies. The regular subscription price is 75 cents. Ten or more copies one year, to one address, one order, 45 cents a copy. Foreign subscriptions, including Canada, $1 a year.

Send for Sample Copies and Special Rates to Agents

ADDRESS LIFE AND HEALTH, Takoma Park, D. C.

Editorial

By Editor

To seek for place or position either within the church or without the church is a violation of the spirit of the gospel. That humility which leads one to esteem others better than himself is the essential element of Christian experience, the evidence of genuine conversion. To his disciples “who had disputed one with another on the way, who was the greatest,” Jesus said: “If any man would be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all.” The demand for position in the church is the clearest evidence of unfitness for position. “Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled; and whosoever shall humble himself shall be exalted.” “Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who . . . emptied himself, taking the form of a servant.” In the spirit of meekness is found the expression of the experience of righteousness by faith.

THERE is a wide difference between religion and theology. Religion is a divine science—the science of salvation—but theology is a human science. True religion is primarily a matter of the heart, while theology may be largely a matter of the head. Theology is the classified knowledge pertaining to the revelation which God has made of himself and of the plan of salvation, but religion is the experience of that revelation as a life. Theology is found in books, but religion is found in bodies. Theology may be useful, but religion is absolutely essential to entrance into the kingdom of God. “Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom of God.” Comparatively few can grasp the definitions, the distinctions, and the discussions of modern theology; but religion is within the reach of all. “He that will, let him take the water of life freely.” It is a sad mistake to attempt to substitute theology for religion.

The Last Reform Movement

THREE of the present series of Sabbath-school lessons are devoted to a study of “The Second Advent Movement,” and the subject of the lesson for June 6 is “The Last Gospel Message.”

A review of the history of the gospel revelation shows that there has oftentimes been the expectation of the speedy fulfilment of the promises of God, and that the faith of believers has frequently been severely tried by repeated delays in the accomplishment of the announced purpose. The promise of a Redeemer to come in the flesh was so vivid to our first parents in the declaration that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head, that when Cain was born they regarded him as the promised One, and expressed that idea in the name which they gave to him. The hope that the great Deliverer might appear as one of her own family was cherished by many a mother in Israel, and the passing of one generation after another did not extinguish this hope.

To Abraham, who looked for the speedy increase of his literal seed and for the immediate possession of the promised land, it was revealed that there would be a delay of at least four centuries during which his seed would be “sojourners in a land that is not theirs,” and that he himself would “be buried in a good old age.” Thus Abraham was taught to look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the creation of the new earth as the time for the fulfilment of the promise concerning his seed. Therefore “by faith he became a sojourner in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for the city which hath the foundations, whose builder and maker is God. . . . These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” They rested in hope during the long delay while the purposes of God were being accomplished.

When David desired to build a house for Jehovah, this message was sent to him through the prophet Nathan: “When thy days are fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, that shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son: if he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men; but my loving-kindness shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thy house and thy kingdom shall be made sure forever before thee: thy throne shall be established forever.” David, and those who followed after him, recognized this as a prophecy and a promise of the coming Messiah, the son of David, concerning whom the angel afterward said to Mary: “The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” Wearied with waiting for the fulfilment of this promise, and taunted by many with its failure, the psalmist uttered this plaintive inquiry and reminder:—

“Lord, where are thy former loving-kindnesses, Which thou swarest unto David in thy faithfulness? Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants; How I do bare in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty peoples, Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O Jehovah, Wherwith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed.”

The coming of the Anointed had been so long delayed that some reproachfully declared that the promise had failed, and that he never would come. And yet the delay continued.

In due course of time the prophetic periods were announced, and a time limit was set before which the Messiah would not appear. First came the general predictions of the Babylonish disaster, and later the duration of the captivity was declared through the prophet Jeremiah to be seventy years. During the captivity Daniel was given a foreview of the successive world-kingdoms

which would appear previous to the setting up of the everlasting kingdom of God, and in later revelations it was made known to him that “from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the anointed one [Messiah], the prince,” would be sixty-nine weeks of years, or 483 years; that the enemy of God's people, symbolized by the little horn upon the nondescript beast, would have power over saints, times, and laws for a period of twelve hundred sixty years; and that the treading underfoot of the sanctuary and the host would continue until twenty-three centuries had been measured off, when a work designated as the cleansing of the sanctuary would take place. Thus a definite limit was announced to the delay in the fulfilment of the promise concerning the manifestation of the Deliverer in the flesh, and an equally definite limit was placed upon the period during which the people of God would be held in spiritual captivity, and the true service of God in “the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man,” would be despised and perverted. This deferred the final deliverance into the distant future, and interposed a long delay before the glorious hope of a complete triumph over the enemies of God and his church could be realized.

All these time prophecies have been fulfilled. The Messiah appeared “when the fulness of the time came;” the little horn arose and did his work of persecuting the saints and perverting the truth during the allotted time; and the sanctuary and the host were trodden under foot, and the ministry of Christ, the great High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary, was set aside in favor of a service invented by man, until the time announced to Daniel the prophet arrived. In the meantime through the prophet John the limit of all delay had been announced in these words: “The angel that I saw standing upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his right hand to heaven, and sware by him that liveth forever and ever, who created the heaven and the things that are therein, and the earth and the things that are therein, and the sea and the things that are therein, that there shall be delay no longer: but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then is finished the mystery of God, according to the good tidings which he declared to his servants the prophets.” There could be no further delay. A mighty angel had announced in the most emphatic manner possible that in the time of the seventh angel all the things promised through the prophets would find their accomplishment, and the hope of the ages would be consummated.

The chronology of the line of prophecy in which the trumpet symbols are employed, indicates that the sixth trumpet closed in 1840, and that the seventh would come “quickly” after that. From the prophecies of Daniel, compared with other portions of the Scriptures, we learn that the long period of twenty-three hundred years came to a close in 1844. Thus the twenty-three hundred years included the whole time of delay, and at its close the seventh angel would sound, and the gospel work would be speedily finished. In other words, at the close of the twenty-three hundred years would be inaugurated a movement in preaching the gospel which would be the last effort for reform in the world, and which would prepare a people for the final consummation. There would be delay no longer.

The long delay in bringing to a close the mystery of God has not changed the character of the work to be done in order to prepare a people for the setting up of the everlasting kingdom of God; and the threefold message of Rev. 14:6-12, which is the last proclamation of saving truth before the Lord of glory appears in the clouds of heaven, is “the everlasting gospel,”—the same gospel of righteousness by faith which has been the comfort and the hope of God's people in all ages. In this last effort to establish the truth in the hearts of the people, all the doctrines of the complete gospel must be presented in the setting appropriate to the nearness of the advent of Christ. Truths which have been set aside must be restored, and truths which have been perverted must be again taught in their purity, and all must be taught as the development and application to the life of the one vital principle—righteousness by faith.

The great second advent movement arose at the right time to take its place chronologically as the successor of all past reform movements at the close of the long delay—a delay as viewed from the human standpoint, the explanation of which is found in the fact that the Lord “is long-suffering to you-ward, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” It is of the utmost importance that this great second advent movement should vindicate its claim to be the last reform movement by teaching with clearness and power the same vital gospel which has been the theme in all the past movements for the salvation of the people—a righteousness by faith which is revealed in obedience to the commandments of God. This is the third angel's message.

The Rise and Fall of Religious Liberty in America

By C. M. S.

The Origin of the Doctrine

The doctrine of religious liberty—the freedom of mind and soul from the jurisdiction of the state—is considered by very many as of purely American origin, a plant indigenous to this country. To such the proof of its exotic origin may be unwelcome; but an exotic it surely is. Palestine was its home, and Jesus Christ the one who prepared the soil and planted the tree.

“If any man believe not,” said Jesus, “I judge him not.” That declaration of our Lord was the direct antithesis of the teachings and the practices of his times in the nations of the world. In his day to teach any religion or worship any god not recognized by Rome was an offense punishable by banishment or by death, according to the social standing of the one so doing. Men must believe as the state directed and worship as the state commanded, or suffer the severest penalties. Not to believe as the state directed, not to worship as the state commanded, would cause one to be judged and condemned and punished.

Against that condition of intolerance in that world empire, in all nations yet to be, in the hearts of unconverted men, and in the hearts of professed but intolerant Christians, Jesus Christ sets up

the gospel of soul liberty—unwelcome in his day, and throughout a large portion of Christendom unwelcome in our day.

Because of a religious belief and teaching and practice different from that of Judaism, a cross was planted on Calvary, and the Lord of glory, the true author of religious liberty, was crucified thereon. For the same reason Stephen was judged worthy of death, and Saul, consenting unto his death, held the clothes of those that stoned him. For the same reason Paul (Saul) himself was stoned at Lystra and dragged out of the city by the multitude who supposed they had thus answered his arguments and closed his mouth forever. For the same reason each of the apostles met cruel death in various parts of the world where they sought to teach the principles of the kingdom of righteousness.

In such inhospitable soil that wonderful plant first found lodgment, watered first by the blood of Him who set it there, and then by the blood and tears of his faithful followers through succeeding centuries. That plant must have rooted deeper than human hearts and its branches must have towered higher than human arms could reach, else it must have been swept from the earth by the storms and the fires of persecution that have raged for eighteen hundred years. The sharpest cruelties of a Nero or a Decius could not entirely uproot it. Its indestructibility under such treatment proves its origin divine.

It is one of the anomalies of history that after the fierce struggle of the early Christians during three hundred years, the half-converted pagan Emperor Constantine gave voice to principles in close harmony with the principles of true soul-liberty. In the year 303 Diocletian determined to uproot Christianity, and enacted laws to that end. “By these enactments all Christian assemblies were prohibited; all churches were to be demolished; all copies of the Scriptures to be burned; all Christians who held rank or office to be degraded; all of whatever rank to lose citizenship, and be liable like slaves to the torture; Christian slaves were to be incapable of receiving freedom; all bishops and clergy were to be thrown into prison and there compelled to sacrifice; and all Christians everywhere ordered publicly to worship the gods, under the usual penalty of torture and death.”—Innes, “Church and State,” page 19.

For eight years that régime continued. Then came the edict of toleration by Galerius. The following year, 312, Constantine came to the throne, and one year later, in conference with Licinius, emperor of the East, issued the famous edict of Milan. By that edict there was granted to all men the utmost freedom of worship. In that edict are two points worthy of note: first, it disestablished the heathen religion, and second, it did not establish any other religion. It was a direct step from soul-thraldom to soul-liberty without stopping at the half-way house of “toleration.”

But Constantine seems to have been unable to realize or carry out in their fulness the principles of his own edict; for only eight years later, in the year 321, we find him enacting a religious law, the forerunner of all Sunday laws from his time till now. Nevertheless, after Constantine had conquered Licinius and had made himself the head of the entire Roman world, we find him issuing his famous “Proclamation to the Peoples of the East,” emphasizing and enlarging upon the principles contained in the edict of Milan. That the reader may see how closely this proclamation harmonizes with the true principles of religious liberty as taught by their divine Author, we quote a portion of that document:—

I hasten, O God, to put my shoulder to the work of restoring thy most holy house, which profane and impious princes have marred by their violence. But I desire that my people should live at peace and in concord, and that for the common good of the world and the advantage of mankind. Let the followers of error enjoy the same peace and security with those who believe: this very restoration of common privileges will be powerful to lead men towards the road of truth. Let no one molest his neighbor. What the soul of each man counsels him, that let him do. Only let men of sound judgment be assured that those alone will live a life of holiness and purity whom thou callest to find rest in thy holy laws. But for the others, who keep apart from us, let them, if they please, retain the temples of falsehood. We have the resplendent house of thy truth given us as our inheritance. But this we pray for them also, that they may come to share the gladness of a common belief. . . . Let all men henceforth enjoy the privilege placed within our reach, i. e., the blessing of peace; and let us keep our consciences far from what might hinder it. Whatever truth a man has received and been persuaded of, let him not smite his neighbor with it. Rather, whatever he has himself seen and understood, let him help his neighbor with it, if that is possible; if it is not, let him desist from the attempt. For it is one thing to voluntarily undertake to wrestle for immortality; it is another to constrain others to it by fear.”—Innes, “Church and State,” page 30.

Concerning this “Proclamation” Sanford H. Cobb says, in his “Rise of Religious Liberty in America:”—

The terms of this proclamation leave nothing to be desired, and the reader of it is impressed alike by its breadth and the deep spiritual insight it declares. That the privilege of freedom would “lead men toward the road of truth;” that “to constrain by fear” is no proper means of conversion; and that conscience demands for all men what it demands for itself; are truths which speak to us out of the turmoil of the fourth century with startling accents, soon condemned to silence until fourteen hundred years should give them voice again.

Constantine, in this particular, was far ahead of his time. In 337 he died, leaving his throne to his sons, who soon began to use the same instruments of oppression against heathenism that Nero and Decius had employed against Christianity. First came this decree: “Let superstition cease; let the madness of sacrifices be abolished.” In 353 Constantius ordered that the heathen temples be closed. He decreed that “all abstain from sacrifices: if any be found doing otherwise, let him be slain with the sword.”

This was the beginning of that reaction against paganism which resulted in the establishment of the Christian religion as the religion of the empire, and made possible that terrible caricature of Christianity which enthralled the minds and consciences of men for more than twelve centuries. But the principles of religious liberty, though “condemned to silence until fourteen hundred years should give them voice again,” did not remain in the condition to which they were condemned during all that age of intellectual and spiritual darkness. They came to flower and fruition again in various portions of Europe, breaking up through the crust of ecclesiastical oppression, now here and now there, in spite of the bitterest persecution from Catholic and Protestant alike. That phase of the growth of religious liberty will be considered next week.

C. M. S.

Words from China

By W. A. S.

At the recent general meeting of our Chinese missionaries in Shanghai, the following action was taken:—

Whereas, The time has fully come for the advent message to be proclaimed in all the world to warn the nations, and to prepare the church for the revelation of Christ; and,— Whereas, The great lands of spiritual darkness, so miraculously opened to the gospel in this generation, are urgently calling for a host of trained, experienced, God-sent missionaries as bearers of this message; therefore,— Resolved, That we express to the General Conference our high appreciation of the Foreign Mission Seminary idea, and that we pledge to it our hearty support and co-operation.

Ever since the plan of this school was announced from Gland, a year ago, missionaries in the field have often expressed their appreciation of the idea. It supplies a needed link between our training-schools and the missions, and also between the conferences and the fields abroad. A steady line of missionaries must be kept moving toward the outposts. The ideal order of march is from the training-school into the local conferences for testing and field training, and then, with service in mission fields in mind, a sharp course of preparation in the Foreign Mission Seminary for the definite work, and on to the fields where the millions wait. W. A. S.

Heaven and Earth Shall Pass Away

“VERILY I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”

The Awakening of Asia

THIS is a peculiar time. Not only are the minds of the peoples of the West agitated by new and unusual problems in almost every sphere of intellectual activity, but the peoples of the East, some of whom were looked upon as being in the last stages of stagnation, are being stirred by new aspirations and are becoming the cause of serious fears in the minds of their political guardians. This is again revealed in a recent London dispatch:—

The unrest of Asia is arousing the gravest apprehension in the minds of all responsible statesmen of Europe. No day passes without bringing renewed evidence of it among all the older races, from the Bosphorus to Peking. It is a most alarming problem which faces the British government in its own dominions, but it is by no means confined to India. The Spectator succinctly summarizes the situation in an ominous article, in which it says:—

“The Western peoples will soon be compelled to revise their ideas of the Eastern world. For centuries past they have thought of Asia as a continent

whose inhabitants are lost in apathetic quietude. Now, however, one rarely sees a telegram from any country in Asia which does not record a disturbance, sometimes of the most dangerous kind.

“The rise of Japan, which within the last century was supposed to be voluntarily isolated from mankind, has shattered the old conception of Asia, and has restarted the idea of the yellow peril, which was thought to have been extinguished with the extinction of the Tartar ascendancy in Russia. There is supposed to be a revolution pending in Far Cathay, which Pushkin once described as lying in its dotage.

The dispatches every day record some new symptom of the unrest which is prevailing in India affecting not her soldiery, as in the mutiny, but the whole population in their uncountable millions. In Indo-China the French officials are haunted by the possibility of a vast popular insurrection. Afghanistan's warlike clans are evidently pondering upon the possibility of a new descent into the southern peninsula, and may yet compel their nominal sovereign either to let them loose or to take their lead in a war to which the discontented in India are said, on good authority, to be perpetually inciting him.

The fact is often disputed, but there undoubtedly is a comity of Asia which is at least as operative as the comity of Europe, or it is possible that there is an emotion akin to the one which produced the crusades and that, though not so directly connected with any religious impulse, still is fatal to quiescence, and is sweeping through Asia from Nagasaki to the Bosphorus, stirring up races which for ages have slept the sleep of content, but are now determined to advance upon some path, mental or physical, which they think open.

The Eastern question is not yet settled, and the far East will doubtless contribute to its solution. Amid all this unrest among the nations both civilized and uncivilized, the King of heaven is working out his own purposes and shaping things for the approaching consummation. The only permanent peace is found in harmony with his will.

Systematic Giving

By I. H. Evans

By systematic giving, we mean giving according to some definite plan. Any plan continually adhered to becomes systematic. A brother who gave twenty-five cents a week regularly to the Sabbath-school was following the plan of systematic giving. Had he not regularly and continuously given the twenty-five cents, it could not be said that he gave systematically. Tithing is a systematic means of supporting God's work. The whole Jewish economy service was a systematic method of giving and worshiping.

When the Lord brought Israel from Egypt, he gave them laws governing their methods of worship, laws which embraced most definite instructions concerning the offerings of the sanctuary and the weekly Sabbath service. The Sabbath service, however, was not simply a continuation of the weekly service. There was more service rendered by the priests on the Sabbath day than on any other day of the week.

As far as men can understand, the whole creation of God is organized according to certain systematic laws. The sun rises and sets every day according to fixed rules. The seasons return with unvaried regularity. All that we know of God and heaven and eternity speaks of order and design. So absolutely certain are the laws of God according to which nature operates that it is possible for men to determine definitely the position of the heavenly bodies for many years in the future. If heaven is so organized that everything is by order and plan, why should not the work and worship and the lives of God's people be the same?

Already God's people are systematic in paying their tithes to the Lord. Week by week the believers in the message are bringing their tithes into the treasury, or if they are not doing it, they certainly should do it. If we have not taken up this blessed privilege, we ought to undertake it at once. In the first place, it is much easier to pay our tithes systematically, to place it in the envelope just as soon as it comes into our hands, and to hand it over to the treasurer, than it is to use the tithes in our own work, and then at the end of the quarter or year have to pay a large sum because of the money which we have used.

To pay a tithe is not making an offering to the Lord. It is our duty to pay a full, honest, tithe into the treasury of God's church, and nothing short of this is acceptable to the Lord. The tithe is holy unto the Lord. God has forbidden men to use it or to touch it, and has commanded that his children bring their tithe into the storehouse for the support of his worship and work.

But, should not our offerings be as systematic as our tithe? We believe that they should. The charge against Israel was, Ye have robbed me in tithes and offerings. They had robbed God not simply in tithes, but in offerings as well. We believe the ten-cent-a-week plan, which has already been adopted by the union conferences throughout the United States, helps to meet the ideal of a Sabbath offering. It is systematic and regular, and helps every one to study and devise plans that he may obtain means for the support of the Lord's work. I like to think of a mission offering in the same envelope with our weekly tithes, all being passed in to the church for the advancement of the third angel's message. Heaven and angels must look with great satisfaction upon this systematic giving for the advancement of the Lord's work. If there are those in the church who have not taken up this offering of ten cents a week, we hope that they will at once undertake to carry out this part of the Lord's work. It is absolutely necessary for the support of the work in foreign fields that our people everywhere take up this systematic giving, or the General Conference will not be able to supply means with which to keep our workers in the field. I. H. EVANS.

Jesus and Socialism

SOME professed teachers of the gospel of Christ are now declaring that John the Baptist and Jesus were socialists, and that if they were among men to-day they would be champions of socialistic doctrines. A writer in the Interior states his reasons for thinking that Jesus was not a socialist:—

His principal teaching business was to spread a doctrine of life that made a man’s economic condition a secondary matter.

Here Jesus differs from socialism the whole length of the diameter. The thorough-going socialist thinks poverty the worst thing that can happen to a man. His great plea is to abolish poverty. Jesus didn’t think being poor mattered much—not at all if the man was the right sort. He was poor himself, and didn’t care in the least.

Modern social philosophers say it is the poor who don’t have a fair chance at fine character, but Jesus thought differently—he considered the rich the most handicapped.

When with his marvelous inlook into the heart the Master understood that the rich young ruler thought so much about his wealth that he couldn’t think much about his neighbors, the prescription for cure was instantaneous and unsparing: “Sell that thou hast, and give to the

poor.” Jesus didn’t speak so out of hate for the property, but out of yearning for the man. If he could in this way give the youth a big heart full of spontaneous impulse to help people, he knew it would be worth the price.

But where he didn’t find worldly possessions hindering the growth of a man’s noble character, he simply ignored them. Giving half delivered Zaccheus from the bondage of avarice, and Jesus asked no more.

According to Christ’s gospel a change of heart was of more importance than a change in outward conditions, and the spiritual life was to receive first attention, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, . . . and all these things shall be added unto you.” Any scheme of living which reverses this order can not rightly claim Jesus as one of its advocates.

Note and Comment

Preparing to Shoot

The claim that the most effective way to insure peace is to prepare for war is made the basis for a constant increase of both land and naval forces. The practical and inevitable result of such a method of preserving the peace is thus set forth in one of our exchanges:—

The President and other naval enthusiasts advocate a gigantic navy on the ground that it promotes peace. The theory is antagonistic to all that religion teaches, or that history proves. The very spirit that leads us to rely upon a big navy will lead us to use it. Some regard the parade of our ships around the world as an exhibition of our strength. It is to be hoped that this is not the real reason for the trip that they are taking. If this was the reason, why should not other nations parade their ships, and how long would these parades continue before they would result in a conflict? Men who load themselves down with weapons, and go out to exhibit their preparedness for any encounter, are very apt to find an excuse for shooting.

What to Do With the Anarchist

THIS is a question which is beginning to give much concern to American statesmen, as well as to the statesmen on the other side of the Atlantic. Repression has accomplished little in the Old World in staying the progress of anarchistic ideas, and was not contemplated here until the advocates of anarchy began to remove their supposed enemies by assassination. Measures have already been taken to keep known anarchists from coming into the country; but the country has a large supply already. The matter has become serious enough to command the attention of the President, and inspire the recommendation of national legislation to abate the evil. An anarchistic paper of the more rabid kind has been suppressed in New Jersey, and in Philadelphia the authorities have forbidden the holding of anarchistic meetings. Concerning the latter actions the New Bedford Evening Standard says, editorially:—

Undoubtedly this rule is promulgated with a sincere desire to prevent the spreading of the dangerous doctrine; and yet there is not much reason to hope that this attempted suppression will at all accomplish the result which is desired. What will happen will be that, deprived of the opportunity to speak in public, the anarchists of Philadelphia will hold their meetings in private, and will be all the more bitter on account of the attempted repression. Much as we may dislike to hear violent anarchistic talk, it is safer to have that talk right in the open where everybody can hear it than to drive it into the caves and dens of a great city. The authorities of Philadelphia have given the anarchists a grievance, of which the most will be made. That is what the order really amounts to.

The question of what to do with the anarchist is one that never will be settled satisfactorily. The development of that doctrine is one of the elements that will help in bringing about the conditions spoken of in Luke 21 and Matthew 24 —“distress of nations” and “men’s hearts fainting for fear, and for expectation of the things which are coming on the world.” Nothing but the gospel of Christ can ever suppress anarchy in the human heart.

Continue reading: Circumscribing the Gospel