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Review and Herald, Vol. 87, No. 28.

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Earlier text: A Birthday Party

Editorial

By Editor

The psalmist said, by inspiration, “O how love I thy law!” and Jesus said, “I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart.”
“Perpetuity of the Law.” — Under this title, Elder J. N. Andrews wrote in the first volume of the REVIEW (January, 1851), replying as follows to the no-law theories of the day:—
Matt. 5:17-19: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law. . . . Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law till all be fulfilled.” Rom. 3:31: “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law.” Rom. 7:7: “I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” We here inquire how an abolished law could convict a man of transgression? And, further, how the apostle could hold such a struggle with the law as he describes in Romans 7, when that law had ceased to exist? Further, how can the royal law convince men of sins as transgressors, after God has abolished it? See James 2:8-11. A law embodying the moral perfections of the infinite Jehovah, must from its nature be unchangeable and immutable like its author.
The sum of our opponents’ position may be fairly reduced to this proposition: The Jews were the only people amenable to the law of God. Hence we say that our opponents show them to be the only transgressors. For it is clear that those only who have the law can be capable of transgressing it. To carry this point further, we say that not only does this view make the Jews the only sinners, but it would show them to be the only persons redeemed by Christ. For he died to redeem them that were under the law. Gal. 4:5; 3:13. But the question, Who has abolished the law? becomes deeply interesting. . . . There can be but one being in the universe who can be supposed to possess this power; we mean the great “Lawgiver.” James 4. And it would be well for our opponents to show how the Most High can take back a law which is perfect, spiritual, holy, just, and good. How can he abolish a law which says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”? How can he take back the statute which forbids the worship of idols? How can he say to man, I repeal the law which forbids you to take my name in vain? How give men the license to profane the day which he has sanctified as a memorial of himself? Or, which is the substance of the whole matter, How can he abolish the great commandment which says, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind”? For on this great commandment hang those precepts which contain our duty to God.
STRANGE, is it not, that in all our history we have had to meet the no-law arguments from professing Christian teachers? It shows that the spirit of “that lawless one” is spreading through Christendom as it is seen that loyalty to the law of God means the observance of the Sabbath of the Lord our God.

Divine Geography

By William Ambrose Spicer

In the early centuries, students of geography concluded, from Eze. 5:5, that Jerusalem was at the center of the world: “Thus saith the Lord God: This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.”
And Jerusalem was at the center of the ancient world. It was on the highway of the nations, at the cross-roads between the ancient east and west. The Lord set his people in Palestine, in the midst of the nations, as a city set on a hill, to give light to all.
All the time he loved all the world, and desired the Jewish people to make his name known to all. But they sadly failed; and the kingdom of God was taken from them. The “good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people,” was committed to the gospel church of the believers, Jew and Gentile, and the commission was given to go with the tidings to all nations.
When the prophecy deals with the gathering call in the last days, it views the world with the eyes of the modern geographer. No longer is Jerusalem the center, with all the nations gathered round her; but the whole world, from pole to pole, is the scene of the closing call to every nation, and tongue, and people:—
“Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth.” Isa. 43:5, 6.
The word is fulfilling; and it is a remarkable thing that we are seeing in all the four quarters of the earth. Just now I am writing from Copenhagen, where our latest and largest Scandinavian union meeting is closing. For a month I have been in meetings with our brethren in these north countries, in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark. I can testify that the Lord is saying to the north, “Give up;” and from out of the north the remnant children of the kingdom are responding to the gathering call.
As I write, I see a congregation of about five hundred believers gathered in Sabbath-school. Nowhere in the world may one look into four hundred faces on which is any more plainly written the “blessed hope” of the advent people. In America we are accustomed to have the English meetings in the big tent, and the Scandinavian meetings in the smaller tent. I have been glad to spend my first month in lands where the Scandinavian meeting has the big tent, so to speak.
Again I repeat, my ignorance of these languages is no barrier to understanding the spirit that fills the hearts of the brethren and sisters in these lands of the north. The merchant may not read the inscriptions on the coins; but to his ear the Scandinavian crown, the German mark, and the English shilling, all sound with the same silvery ring of genuineness. So it is with the tokens of the heavenly merchandise. The same true ring of the advent hope is heard wherever this third angel’s message gathers out a people.
Our brethren in this union rejoice at a new vigor and growth apparent in their work during the last few years. The difficulties that came financially upon the field in former days brought depression and delay. Strength that might otherwise have been given to aggressive work was called to wrestle with financial and institutional problems. But in this north country the long, dark winters are followed by bright and long summer days, when vegetation suddenly springs forth with a motion seemingly almost visible to the eye, as if to make up for lost time, and ripen the harvest quickly, before the season passes.
It is summer-time in our work in the Scandinavian union. A glorious harvest is preparing. There is upspringing growth that encourages the hearts of the brethren; and it is a glad sign to us in all lands. Only two years ago, I think, this union was receiving appropriations from our General Conference. All that is past now; and this union is sending an ever-increasing flow of means outward to the mission fields. And their training work is well established. I note great improvements at Skodsborg in the last five years, where the sanitarium work and school work are going forward together. This union as a unit is lined up with the stronger unions in all the world to hasten this message on to every tongue and people.
In these union organizations, growing into strength in all parts of the world, the providence of God is organizing agencies by which a quick work is to be done in evangelizing the unworked fields.
But we must pray for these brethren of ours in Scandinavia. They have a great field of their own to work. Here are hundreds of fine cities and townswhere the message has never been preached. The faithful canvassers have sown the seed nearly everywhere, but the evangelistic laborers have been few. Wherever towns have been worked, results have come. There are strong resources to be developed in Scandinavia. Wherever one travels, he sees evidence of modest prosperity, and very little evidence of extreme poverty. In fact, one may see far more appearance of the latter in any of our American cities.
As I close the first round of the Scandinavian union meetings that it has been my privilege to make, I thank God for the blessedness of the association with these faithful workers and earnest, warm-hearted believers. The family of the advent people is a good one to belong to.
W. A. S.
Copenhagen.

What Are Essentials?

By F. M. W.

WE are perfectly willing to admit that Christians may employ widely varying methods in the expression of their service to God. The Scriptures of truth do not prescribe the precise ways and forms in which our service shall be rendered. This is left largely to individual judgment. On the other hand, the Bible very clearly indicates the will of God with respect to what should and should not be done as relates to man's general conduct. The law of the ten commandments is set forth as the standard of right. By it every character is to be judged at the last day. It therefore makes a great difference as to whether one observes this law. It is not for man in his finite judgment to count any part of it among the non-essentials; and we regret that the Christian Herald, which says so many good things, is led to do this in its issue of June 15. Replying to a correspondent who raises a question as to the reason for so many different denominations and beliefs, it says:—
God looks at the heart and the purpose, rather than at the act itself. There always have been and always will be differences in methods among God's people; but these matter little, so long as they are sound and united on the essentials. There may be a thousand different ways of serving him, yet all acceptable. Thus all may differ as to holy days, forms of ordinances, etc.; but these are not the essentials. He has ordained infinite variety in all nature and in humanity also. There can be no uniformity save in essentials, and in the holding of vital truths. “A thousand roads,” says the proverb, “lead up the sides of the holy hill, but they all meet at the top.” So we may worship God and serve him in manifold ways; but if the service be sincere and the heart right, one form is as acceptable as another. We are not bound by laws and observances, but all can be one in Christ, in faith, in love (which is the fulfilling of the law), and in the liberty of the gospel. God has but one plan of salvation, and there is but one road by which that salvation may be obtained. Christ says: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Christ was our perfect example; we are to follow in his steps. The prophet says of him, in his relation to the law of God: “He will magnify the law, and make it honorable.” He himself says: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil;” and the apostle adds: “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.” To this we may add the words of John: “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.”
We may differ as Christians on methods, but let us not make the sad mistake of differing on principles, of setting aside the great cardinal truths of the Scriptures because they do not serve our pleasure or meet our convenience. If one requirement of God's law is non-essential, then all requirements are non-essentials. We are not competent to determine our relationship to God: this has been determined by the Lord himself. It is for us to conform our ways to the requirements of his Word.
F. M. W.

The Storm and the Shelter

By C. M. S.

THIS old earth has seen much of sorrow and suffering. Its hills and valleys have often been trampled by the feet of angry hosts and reddened with the blood of those whom they hunted with vengeance in their hearts.
It has been nation against nation, tribe against tribe, family against family, man against man. And in it all and through it all the cruel hand of sin was working out the purpose of Satan in perverting the blessings of the Most High. He had perverted love till it turned to hate; and his devotees were dispensing ruin and death in the place of the service of love and the benefactions of benevolence. In such the heart had become the citadel of hate when it should have been the stronghold of love; and with that perverted, every imagination of the heart became “only evil continually.”
The farthest extreme from the purpose of God is met on the battle-field. The purpose of God toward his creatures and in his creatures toward each other is helpfulness and not strife, loving interest and not murder. Yet, in spite of the enlightenment of modern times, in spite of the proclamation of the gospel, the wholesale murder of war is being planned for on a scale which the ancients never dreamed of.
The world was full of the perversion of God’s intention anciently; it is full of the same perversion at the present time. He who has not in view another’s good is out of harmony with the purpose of the One who made him; and in the strife for preferment, wealth, and aggrandizement, the present day is probably ahead of any age in the history of the world. The whole world is arming itself now to make its last and greatest demand for self, and to be in a condition to enforce that demand. The rumors of war and the expectations of war are ever present on every hand; and soon will come the day when this greatest perversion of the purpose of God will make itself manifest in all the horrors of its glory as the world has never seen it before. The time seems ripe for the exhibition, and the hearts of men are filled with dread as they realize the meaning of the terrible omens.
Some are crying peace and safety when they should be warning men of the true condition of things. They are making men believe that peace is at hand when the heralds of war are already calling to the fray, or aiming their modern catapults at the citadel itself. Thus does the false teacher disarm the victims at the time of greatest danger. He who expects no foe is doubly disarmed; and the one who has been taught to expect peace and safety and a long reign of quietness and temporal blessing, when the day of destruction is hastening to his very gate, will find that swift judgment has come upon him and his shelter is unprepared. The Lord says that sudden destruction shall come upon them, and “they shall not escape.” 1 Thess. 5: 3. That cry of peace and safety was never heard so loudly and persistently and convincingly as it is heard now, at the very time when the nations are angry, and are sparring for an opening, each maneuvering for an opportunity to strike when the other is at a disadvantage. The fact that that cry is heard now is one of the most unmistakable signs of the times. When the angels that are now holding the winds of strife shall cease longer to restrain the angry nations, the day toward which the nations look with dread will dawn upon the world, and the sad course which began in disobedience and sin will find the goal toward which it has sped these thousands of years—ruin and death.
We see what has come upon the world in the past; we see the end toward which it points; we see the dogs of war now straining at the leash that holds them; we see the fearful carnage that is coming, and coming soon; we see the approach of the great day of God which that day of trouble will usher in; and yet, in spite of all this, we say that there is coming a time of peace and safety.
The end of this history of sin is notthe end of God’s purpose concerning man and the earth on which he placed him. Though God has waited long for Satan to demonstrate to the universe the falsity of his charges against God and the wickedness of his purpose throughout, the fruit of Satan’s evil purpose will not go on forever, and the end of the reign of sin is not the end for those who have sworn fealty to the God of heaven and stood faithful to their vows. God has something better for them; and wars and rumors of wars will trouble them no more when God has made an end of sin.
The Lord has told us of that permanent habitation, that quiet, peaceful habitation, in which he will place that tabernacle which shall not be taken down; and of that place he says: “But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby.” Isa. 33:20, 21. The galley with oars and the gallant ships were ships of war. How much sad history hangs to the wrecked and sunken war galleys with the bodies and souls of men chained to their oarlocks, slaves for life in the terrible business of war and oppression. The rivers as well as the seas have been plowed by these engines of destruction, and human life has been counted as nothing when it stood in the way of the plans of ambitious men, or when it could be forced to contribute to the carrying out of those plans. There will be no place for them in the reconstruction of the war-racked dominion of man. No slave will be there to cringe under the blows of a cruel master or to spend his life in the service of another’s choosing. “The former things are passed away,” and it can be truly said then of the nations, “Neither shall they learn war any more;” for then there will be but one nation, and Jesus Christ will be King over all. The words of the prophet are: “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain.”
That time is not yet. The declaration that the nations of this present world shall not learn war any more is not the declaration of God, though it is found in the Bible. It is put there by the Lord as the declaration of men. He tells us what men will be saying, quotes their words, and then tells us what his remnant people will be doing at that time. See Micah 4:1-7.
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Gal. 6:7. This is as true of nations as of men. They have sowed hatred and war; they will reap hatred and war. That will be their harvest, and it will be the end of the world. As God’s Word is true, the nations of this world will come to their end in war. “Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come.” Joel 3:9-12. That is to be the slogan that will gather the clans of earth to the last mighty fray. They are arming and drilling now, and the gathering is not long to wait.
How good to know that we can look beyond this sad prospect; that we have the promise of a quiet, peaceful dwelling, from which all selfishness and sin, all misery and hunger, all strife, contention, and war, will be forever banished and come into our thoughts no more! This will be only after God has renovated this sin-cursed earth, and allowed sin to burn itself out in the fires that were kindled by itself. Toward that consummation we are hastening now; the shelter is provided. Let us haste to enter in. C. M. S.

The Sifting Time

By F. M. W.

To Peter there came a time of sifting. This evidently was in the great trial of his faith which came in connection with the crucifixion of the Lord, and the bitter disappointment of the disciples’ hopes. “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.”
The Lord will permit this same sifting experience to enter the life of every one of his children. “For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.”
This sifting process will not necessarily be brought about by the same circumstances and conditions in the life of every individual. Each will be tested and tried by himself. The test may come through sorrow, loss of property, criticism, sickness, the mistakes seen in the lives of others, the wrong-doing of others,—manifold are the means Satan employs to bring pressure upon a child of God to draw him away from his allegiance to right. And we have reached a time in the history of this work when the test is coming to every soul in tenfold power. Who has not felt in his own experience during the last few months this sifting process going on? Who has not sensed the conflict being waged over his soul between the forces of good and evil?
Intensity has taken possession of the world. It is filling the minds of men. They are continually being brought face to face in their experience with questions by which they are determining their choice for eternity. Character is forming more rapidly than ever before in the world’s history, and it is only those who have committed the keeping of their souls unto God who will be able to stand the pressure of these times, and come out of the conflict unscathed by the darts of the enemy. We are not sufficient to meet the mighty host arrayed against us; we can not successfully compete in our own strength with the principalities and powers seeking our downfall; our only hope is in Him who has promised to be our deliverer and our rock of defense. He stands keeping watch over his own. His eyes are upon the great battle-field. He notes the struggles of every faithful follower of his, and he will not permit crushing defeat to come to his weakest child, who reaches out his hand for succor and deliverance. He assured Peter that his prayers would follow him in the conflict before him. Likewise may we have in our conflicts to-day the strength of his prayers for us; for he says: “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.” So let us be brave in the conflict. If we are tempted to surrender, if we sometimes feel that the pressure is greater than we can bear, if in our loneliness and heartache we feel that no one cares for our soul, let us remember that Jesus cares. He is the Burden-bearer. He is the Friend that sticketh closer than a brother. He longs to share with us our labors, to bear with us our burdens, to comfort us in all our sorrows.
Poor, struggling soul, buffeted and storm-tossed, reach out your hand for divine aid. Do not repine at God’s providence. He is seeking by the sifting process in your life to separate the chaff from the wheat. He is seeking by the fires of his burning to purge out the dross and leave the gold. Only be patient, only trust him, only yield yourself as clay fully into the hands of the great Molder. Say with his servant, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him,” and God will bring to perfection the work which he has begun in your life, and you will come forth from the trial purified, and reflecting the image of his divine character. F. M. W.

The Sanitarium Relief Campaign

By A. G. Daniells

EVERY one who is interested in the welfare and progress of the third angel's message should be deeply concerned in the success of the movement now being launched in behalf of our sanitarium work. It is of more than ordinary interest to us, and calls for the loyal support of every one, whether leader or lay member.
This relief campaign was planned anddeveloped as the result of the most careful deliberation. At the council of the General Conference Committee held at College View last October, there were present a large number of representative men from all parts of this country. One of the principal topics considered at that council was the question of making provision for aiding our sanitariums, which are burdened with indebtedness to an extent that hinders their work. The result of this council was the development of a plan for the relief of our sanitariums by the sale of “Ministry of Healing” and Life and Health.
The sanitariums represent an important part of our institutional equipment. They belong to the denomination, and the work they are doing is a part of our work. Their interests are ours; their progress means the progress of a branch of this cause; and when they suffer, the whole body suffers.
During the past few years, our medical missionary interests have passed through many trying experiences. We have great reason to thank God that our sanitariums have come through the ordeal as well as they have. And now the time has fully come for us to give this work substantial help. Various causes, which have been published from time to time in the REVIEW, have contributed to our sanitarium liabilities, until these institutions require our assistance and earnest co-operation. Their struggle with a trying situation is such as to impede seriously their progress and to hinder their development. They could accomplish much more in the work for which they are established, were they not laboring under their present load of debt.
The plan adopted for helping these institutions is a simple one, and should not be difficult to carry out. Yet when the work is done, and the fruit of our efforts has all been gathered in, the total should amount to nearly half a million dollars. What a relief, and what a blessing, this would be to our sanitariums! This is the largest enterprise of the kind we have ever undertaken; yet if the plan is carried out, the work can be accomplished without robbing any other branch of the work, and without overtaxing our strength. A little individual effort on the part of all, and the work will be accomplished.
By the sale of two copies of “Ministry of Healing” and five copies of Life and Health, by each member for each of the next three years, we can render this great help. At the same time we will be doing most excellent missionary work by placing these publications in the hands of our friends and neighbors. The blessed experience that we shall ourselves enjoy in this good work will far more than repay for the little time and effort put forth. While the accomplishing of this work should not be a difficult task, from the individual viewpoint, yet it is a work of great proportions as a whole, and should not be left to itself. It will require energetic co-operation on the part of all.
The General Conference Committee has done its utmost to launch this enterprise successfully. Many hours have been spent in counsel. Plans have been laid for producing the publications at the lowest possible cost, and for handling them without profit. A secretary has been employed to connect with the Medical Department, who will devote his entire time to this work. The columns of the REVIEW AND HERALD have been thrown open for the presentation of our plans and reports. Union conferences have taken on the responsibility, and are organizing the work in all their local conferences. Now is the time for every one to take hold loyally and do his duty. Every union conference, State conference, and church should feel that this is an individual and sacred responsibility. Leaders in each of these organizations should ascertain what share of the responsibility properly rests upon them, and should lay broad, workable plans for accomplishing their part. Every leader should become acquainted with the features of the plan, and should give it due attention in his section of the field. Church elders should take upon themselves the responsibility of seeing that the flocks over which they are appointed are instructed in the work.
If all the leaders take their proper place, and if the people stand loyally by their leaders, we may be able to rejoice in the words of the scripture:— “For that the leaders took the lead in Israel, For that the people offered themselves willingly, Bless ye Jehovah.”
A. G. DANIELLS.

Atlantic Union Conference

Statement of the $300,000 Fund,

June 30, 1910

Atlantic Union Conference

Central New England ........................ $ 794.54 Northern New England ....................... 368.51 Southern New England ....................... 162.34 New York ................................... 140.35 Greater New York ........................... 924.58 Western New York ........................... 413.76 Maine ....................................... 31.60 Total ..................................... 2835.68

Canadian Union Conference

Maritime ................................... 51.18 Ontario .................................... 46.30 Quebec ..................................... 29.50 Total ..................................... 126.98

Central Union Conference

Colorado .................................... 7.65 Western Colorado ........................... 252.41 Kansas ..................................... 662.14 North Missouri ............................. 389.87 Southern Missouri ........................... 64.57 Nebraska ................................... 542.01 Wyoming .................................... 512.15 Total .................................... 2430.80

Columbia Union Conference

Chesapeake ................................ 21.40 Eastern Pennsylvania ....................... 35.98 West Pennsylvania .......................... 82.83 Ohio ....................................... 26.62 New Jersey ................................. 64.60 Virginia .................................... 2.50 District of Columbia ...................... 207.70 Total ..................................... 441.63

Lake Union Conference

East Michigan ............................ 1243.21 North Michigan ............................. 63.34 West Michigan ............................. 851.82 Indiana .................................. 1200.43 Northern Illinois ........................ 206.77 Southern Illinois ........................ 173.69 Total .................................... 3739.26

Northern Union Conference

Iowa ...................................... 184.07 Minnesota ................................ 2660.10 North Dakota .............................. 1789.18 South Dakota ............................... 28.00 Total .................................... 4661.35

North Pacific Union Conference

Montana .................................. 207.55 South Idaho ............................... 508.00 Upper Columbia ............................ 427.30 Western Oregon .............................. 87.01 Western Washington ........................ 311.46 Alaska ....................................... 2.15 Total .................................... 1543.47

Pacific Union Conference

Arizona .................................... 18.60 California ................................ 816.11 Southern California ........................ 156.46 Total ..................................... 991.17

Southeastern Union Conference

Cumberland ................................. 570.00 Florida .................................. 1191.23 Georgia ................................... 148.00 North Carolina ............................. 88.06 South Carolina ............................. 33.75 Total .................................... 2031.04

Southern Union Conference

Alabama .................................... 22.00 Kentucky ................................... 32.50 Mississippi ................................. 4.00 Tennessee River .............................. 5.00 Total ...................................... 63.50

Southwestern Union Conference

Arkansas .................................... 6.90 Oklahoma .................................. 366.64 Texas ...................................... 32.00 Total ..................................... 405.54

West Canadian Union Conference

Alberta .................................... 41.40 Manitoba ................................... 20.00 Saskatchewan ............................... 65.50 Total ..................................... 126.90

Miscellaneous

England ................................... 490.00 New Zealand ............................... 102.27 India ...................................... 29.72 West Indian Union ........................... 1.00 Miscellaneous sources ....................... 5.00 Total ..................................... 627.99 Grand total ............................. $20025.31

The $300,000 Fund

By W. T. KNOX

THE report of the $300,000 Fund that appears in this issue of the REVIEW will be of interest to many, as it shows that the stream of money which is to enable us to supply our missionaries in foreign lands with comfortable homes has begun to flow into the treasury in a promising manner. A number of the conferences sent in quite encouraging amounts during the month of June. It is hoped that their example will be followed by all, and that this summer will see a large portion of the $300,000 Fund supplied, as it is desired to distribute this fall a considerable amount to the various fields that are to be benefited.
While in attendance at one of our recent camp-meetings, the writer had an opportunity of witnessing the favor with which our people look upon this movement. As the needs of the work were presented, and the imperative demand for homes for the workers was held before the brethren, they all seemed possessed with a great desire to see the needed homes erected. With the exercise of but a little imagination, one could, in the enthusiasm of the meeting, almost see the bungalows in India, China, and other lands arising as the brethren heartily responded to the appeal for help. With not more than two hundred fifty persons in attendance, almost $2,000 was raised.
Good reports continue to be received from many conferences of the success of the movement, and the hearts of our brethren in foreign fields are being cheered by these, as they see the promise of an early fulfilment of their long-deferred hopes.
W. T. KNOX, Treasurer.

The Cost of a Battle-Ship

BUT few realize the enormous amount of money consumed yearly in providing the sinews of war, even in times of peace. The cost of one battle-ship alone is enormous, and would, if devoted to useful improvements or to education, accomplish a vast amount of good. The Presbyterian Banner makes this interesting comparison of the cost of the “Florida,” recently launched, and what the money would do in the State of that name if devoted to wise purposes:—
The “Florida” cost $6,000,000 to build, besides the great expense of maintaining it during the few years before it will go to the scrap-heap. It gives one a sense of the expense and loss of such a ship when we consider what this sum of money would do for Florida. It would build a system of good roads through the State, which would add greatly to its comfort-and-wealth-producing power. It would drain many of its swamps, and enlarge its productive area. It would drain and equip a high school in every county, and found and endow as many colleges as the State needs. It would furnish the State with as many hospitals and libraries as it could use. Florida takes pride in this enormous floating steel fortress, that can belch forth enough shot to destroy a thousand men; but it would be immensely better off if it had the six millions sunk in this engine of death invested in the means of life.

Basis of Church Unity

REFERRING to the wide discussion which is being given to the question of church unity by many of the religious journals, the Lutheran Witness of June 9 very pertinently remarks:—
Unity in doctrine is the basis which Scripture has laid down for us, and until men can attain to such unity, they will not and should not unite. To go at the matter as if the Christian church were nothing but a trust, looking only to a more economical administering of its affairs from the money point of view, is useless and worse than useless. We must get our arguments from Scripture.
There is but one true basis of unity recognized in the Scriptures of truth, and that is the unity which there is in the Lord Jesus Christ. He prays his Father that his followers “may all be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.” The prophet aptly inquires: “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” Can the professed disciples of Christ be one with the Master, and one with each other, unless they are agreed? To agree with him, they must hold the same truth that he held, and follow the same principles that he followed. Says the apostle John, “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” This, as the Witness justly remarks, is the only true basis of union for the followers of the Master. When we seek for any other, we seek it upon a wrong basis, and are following the methods of the world instead of the plan of the Head of the church.

Note and Comment

By C. E. H.

Support of Church-Schools

THE Board of Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, at their meeting in Chicago, Ill., May 9, 1910, adopted the following regarding Christian education:—
It is our opinion that our church has now no more imperative and important duty than the generous care of our Christian colleges, in the giving of funds for current expenses and for permanent endowments. We can not possibly hope to raise up an adequate force of lay and ministerial leaders for our work unless these colleges are supported with enthusiasm and liberality. Within the next decade our people should pour millions of dollars into the treasuries of our higher institutions of learning. These institutions should remain absolutely loyal to the church which has given them founding and maintenance; while the church, on its part, should recognize the increasing obligation to support them so that they may do honest work educationally, and may maintain the broadest and deepest spiritual life. We call upon our district superintendents, our pastors, and members everywhere to take an eager part in every campaign to aid our splendid colleges, in the sure conviction that without these training-places our church and the kingdom of God would suffer irreparable loss.
The Methodist Church is one of the oldest religious denominations of the United States. It has many institutions of learning. But it realizes that the need of loyal instructors is more imperative and important now than ever before. This plea by the Methodist bishops seems to imply that because of other interests the church is failing properly to nourish its educational offspring. Events of the past few years show good reasons for a call to more strict surveillance of training-schools for the youth. The last days are to develop a class of persons who will be unholy, truce-breakers, traitors, heady, and high-minded. 2 Tim. 3:2-4. Educational centers produce a large number of this class. All this emphasizes the need of Seventh-day Adventists giving loyal support to the schools which they have established. In these schools, and in the work they may do in training the youth to carry this message to earth's remotest bounds, lies the hope of our work for the future.
C. E. H.
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