THERE appeared in the New York Independent, of August 2, an article entitled “The High School in Tyler,” in which a woman who writes from experience brings to light conditions in high school life which are conducive neither to education, Christian kindliness, manhood and womanhood, nor ordinary good morals. One would expect that the editor of a professedly Christian magazine, because of his larger view, would take at least as serious notice of the conditions depicted as did the contributor, possessing a narrower field of vision. The reverse seems to have been the case, however; and the editor, though admitting the degenerating conditions, seeks, in a serio-comic fashion, to “laugh out of court” the serious impressions awakened by a reading of the article.
It is one of the tendencies of the times to make light of the deteriorating influences that are so busy to-day recruiting victims among old and young, and the counselors and guardians too frequently have left their post of duty to mingle with the fun-loving throng.
Concerning one of the foibles which the contributor mentioned, the wearing of diamonds by high school students, the editor makes the following sensible comment:—
Of course it is absurd in a high-school girl to wear diamonds. But, then, it is absurd in anybody to wear diamonds. Last year we, the people of these United States, spent thirty-five million dollars for diamonds. This sum of money, which would have raised a hundred thousand families from poverty to comfort, might just as well have been thrown into the sea. . . . Those who contributed their millions last year to the estate of the late Mr. Beit [the British diamond king] did so purely for the purpose of showing to the world that they could afford to give Mr. Beit money without receiving any value in return. It was the custom in their set thus lavishly to bestow alms on the richest man in England, and they had to do it.
Indeed it would have been far better to have thrown the thirty-five million, or twice that amount, into the sea than that it should be used to pander to human pride and serve as a snare to the souls of men, women, and children. It would be better for the people of this country, too, if those occupying positions of great influence would recognize a serious situation when they see it, and would give to the people that counsel which would prove a savor of life unto life.
Out of the Cities
By turning them into ashes God made the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah “an example unto those that should live ungodly.” In these last days the wickedness of the great cities is becoming like that of the ancient “cities of the plain,” and like them they are preparing for utter overthrow. This is emphasized in the following paragraph from a religious paper:—
The recent White murder in New York, and the talk and investigation that have followed it, have revealed a condition of moral perversity and vileness in so-called high life, the sight of which has made the world stand aghast. But evidently the state of affairs made bare by this incident is not peculiar to New York City, or even to the New World. A Jesuit preacher of London, England, has been preaching a series of sermons on the sins of the smart set, and one of the leading papers of the great metropolis has been compelled to admit that the terrible indictment of the vices of high society is based on well-known facts.
There is abundant reason for the message, “Out of the cities.”
Centralization and Religious Persecution
IN a recent address Justice Brewer of the United States Supreme Court dwelt upon the present tendency to centralize the power of the government in the hands of a few men in Washington. Commenting upon this address, the Washington Post said:—
Let us be frank about it: the day the people of the North responded to Abraham Lincoln’s call for troops to coerce sovereign States, the republic died, and the nation was born. Now the nation is dead, and the empire is born. Justice Brewer is very eloquent, but the warning comes too late; the regret is vain.
There is plenty of food for serious thought in this brief paragraph. It is plain, even to those who do not view current history in the light of prophecy, that a new order of things has set in. An apostate church will soon unite with a state which has repudiated its original principles of government of the people, by the people, and for the people, and persecution for conscience’ sake will be the inevitable result of such a combination of power. There will never be so favorable a time as the present for giving to the world the message against the beast and his image.
England and the Opium Traffic
In England for many years a persistent agitation has been carried on against the forcing of the opium traffic upon China, in fact, ever since England went to war with China to compel her to permit the opium trade to go on. England has derived a revenue of fifteen million dollars from this business. Mr. John Morley has officially announced in Parliament that should China still desire to prohibit the importation of that demoralizing drug, England will not oppose her. China accepted war once to keep opium out of her domain, and was unable; but so many millions of her population have now become slaves to the drug, it is a question whether China will be able, or will even think it wise to attempt to put a stop to the business. It is held that one third of China’s inhabitants are suffering from the effects of the use of opium. If China should now be able, in spite of the terrible hold which opium has obtained upon her people, to bring the traffic to an end, she would put to shame all the governments of Christendom, whose people are being slain by the liquor traffic under government license.
Praise to God
By N. W. Vincent
N. W. VINCENT
O THOU God of love, our Father!
O blest Son of the Most High!
Great and countless are thy mercies,
Thy dear name we glorify!
Boundless might and perfect wisdom
Through thy wondrous doings shine;
Now we praise thee for thy goodness
And thy majesty divine.
Reign forever, gracious Father,
Reign, O high, exalted Son!
Heirs of heaven, we'll sing Thy praises,
Who have heard the great “Well done.”
Thou didst bear our ill deservings
In earth’s gloom and grief and shame.
Hail, O Christ, our life, our beauty,
Ever glorious be thy name!
Caney, Kan.
Correct Views Concerning the Testimonies
By Ellen G. White
A Reply to an Inquirer
SANITARIUM, CAL., June 14, 1906.
DEAR BROTHER: Your letter came to me while in southern California. For some weeks the consideration of matters connected with the development of our sanitarium work there, and the writing out of the views given me regarding the earthquake and its lessons, have taken my time and strength.
But now I must respond to the letters received from you and others. In your letter, you speak of your early training to have implicit faith in the Testimonies, and say, “I was led to conclude and most firmly believe that every word that you ever spoke in public or private, that every letter you wrote under any and all circumstances, was as inspired as the ten commandments.”
My brother, you have studied my writings diligently, and you have never found that I have made any such claims. Neither will you find that the pioneers in our cause have made such claims.
In my preface to “Great Controversy,” pages c and d, you have no doubt read my statement regarding the ten commandments and the Bible, which should have helped you to a correct understanding of the matter under consideration. Here is the statement:—
“The Bible points to God as its Author; yet it was written by human hands; and in the varied style of its different books it presents the characteristics of the several writers. The truths revealed are all ‘given by inspiration of God’ (2 Tim. 3:16); yet they are expressed in the words of men. The Infinite One by his Holy Spirit had shed light into the minds and hearts of his servants. He has given dreams and visions, symbols and figures; and those to whom the truth was thus revealed, have themselves embodied the thought in human language.”
“The ten commandments were spoken by God himself, and were written by his own hand. They are of divine, and not of human, composition. But the Bible, with its God-given truths expressed in the language of men, represents a union of the divine and the human. Such a union existed in the nature of Christ, who was the Son of God and the Son of man. Thus it is true of the Bible, as it was of Christ, that ‘the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.’ John 1:14.”
“Written in different ages, by men who differed widely in rank and occupation and in mental and spiritual endowments, the books of the Bible present a wide contrast in style, as well as a diversity in the nature of the subjects unfolded. Different forms of expression are employed by different writers; often the same truth is more strikingly presented by one than by another. And as several writers present a subject under varied aspects and relations, there may appear, to the superficial, careless, or prejudiced reader, to be discrepancy or contradiction, where the thoughtful, reverent student, with clearer insight, discerns the underlying harmony.”
“As presented through different individuals, the truth is brought out in its varied aspects. One writer is more strongly impressed with one phase of a subject; he grasps those points that harmonize with his experience or with his power of perception and appreciation; another seizes upon a different phase and each, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, presents what is most forcibly impressed upon his own mind; a different aspect of the truth in each, but a perfect harmony through all. And the truths thus revealed unite to form a perfect whole, adapted to meet the wants of men in all the circumstances and experiences of life.”
“God has been pleased to communicate his truth to the world by human agencies, and he himself, by his Holy Spirit, qualified men and enabled them to do this work. He guided the mind in the selection of what to speak and what to write. The treasure was entrusted to earthen vessels, yet it is, none the less, from heaven. The testimony is conveyed through the imperfect expression of human language; yet it is the testimony of God; and the obedient, believing child of God beholds in it the glory of a divine power, full of grace and truth.”
In perfect harmony with this, are my statements found in the article, “The Testimonies Slighted,” written June 20, 1882, and published in “Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. V, No. 31, pages 62-84. From this I quote for your consideration, several paragraphs:—
“Many are looking with self-complacency upon the long years during which they have advocated the truth. They now feel that they are entitled to a reward for their past trials and obedience. But this genuine experience in the things of God in the past, makes them more guilty before him for not preserving their integrity and going forward to perfection. The faithfulness for the past year will never atone for the neglect of the present year. A man’s truthfulness yesterday will not atone for his falsehood to-day.”
“Many excuse their disregard of the Testimonies by saying, ‘Sister White is influenced by her husband; the Testimonies are molded by his spirit and judgment.’ Others are seeking to gain something from me which they could construe to justify their course, or to give them influence. It was then I decided that nothing more should go from my pen until the converting power of God was seen in the church. But the Lord placed the burden upon my soul. I labored for you earnestly. How much this cost both my husband and myself, eternity will tell. Have I not a knowledge of the state of the church, when the Lord has presented their case before me again and again for years? Repeated warnings has been given, yet there has been no decided change. . . .”
“Yet now when I send you a testimony of warning and reproof, many of you declare it to be merely the opinion of Sister White. You have thereby insulted the Spirit of God. You know how the Lord has manifested himself through the spirit of prophecy. Past, present, and future have passed before me. I have been shown faces that I had never seen, and years afterward I knew them when I saw them. I have been aroused from my sleep with a vivid sense of subjects previously presented to my mind; and I have written at midnight letters that have gone across the continent, and, arriving at a crisis, have saved great disaster to the cause of God. This has been my work for many years. A power has impelled me to reprove and rebuke wrongs that I had not thought of. Is this work of the last thirty-six years from above, or from beneath? . . .”
“When I went to Colorado, I was so burdened for you, that, in my weakness, I wrote many pages to be read at your camp-meeting. Weak and trembling, I arose at three o’clock in the morning, to write to you. God was speaking through clay. You might say that this communication was only a letter. Yes, it was a letter, but prompted by the Spirit of God, to bring before your minds things that had been shown me. In these letters which I write, in the testimonies I bear, I am presenting to you that which the Lord has presented to me. I do not write one article in the paper, expressing merely my own ideas. They are what God has opened before me in vision—the precious rays of light shining from the throne. . . .”
“What voice will you acknowledge as the voice of God? What power has the Lord in reserve to correct your errors, and show you your course as it is? What power to work in the church? If you refuse to believe until every shadow of uncertainty and every possibility of doubt is removed, you will never believe. The doubt that demands perfect knowledge, will never yield to faith. Faith rests upon evidence, not demonstration.9
The Lord requires us to obey the voice of duty, when there are other voices all around us urging us to pursue an opposite course. It requires earnest attention from us to distinguish the voice which speaks for God. We must resist and conquer inclination, and obey the voice of conscience, without parleying or compromise, lest its promptings cease, and will and impulse control. The word of the Lord comes to us all who have not resisted his Spirit by determining not to hear and obey. This voice is heard in warnings, in counsels, in reproof. It is the Lord’s message of light to his people. If we wait for louder calls, or better opportunities, the light may be withdrawn, and we left in darkness. . . .
“It pains me to say, my brethren, that your sinful neglect to walk in the light, has enshrouded you in darkness. You may now be honest in not recognizing and obeying the light; the doubts you have entertained, your neglect to heed the requirements of God, have blinded your perceptions so that darkness is now to you light, and light is darkness. God has bidden you to go forward to perfection. Christianity is a religion of progress. Light from God is full and ample, waiting our demand upon it. Whatever blessings the Lord may give, he has an infinite supply beyond, an inexhaustible store from which we may draw. Skepticism may treat the sacred claims of the gospel with jests, scoffing, and denial. The spirit of worldliness may contaminate the many and control the few; the cause of God may hold its ground only by great exertion and continual sacrifice, yet it will triumph finally.”
“The word is, Go forward; discharge your individual duty, and leave all consequences in the hands of God. If we move forward where Jesus leads the way, we shall see his triumph, we shall share his joy. We must share the conflicts, if we wear the crown of victory. Like Jesus, we must be made perfect through suffering. Had Christ’s life been one of ease, then might we safely yield to sloth. Since his life was marked with continual self-denial, suffering, and self-sacrifice, we will make no complaint if we are partakers with him. We can walk safely in the darkest path, if we have the Light of the world for our guide. . . .
“When the Lord last presented your case before me, and made known to me that you had not regarded the light which had been given you, I was bidden to speak to you plainly in his name, for his anger was kindled against you. These words were spoken to me, ‘Your work is appointed you of God. Many will not hear you, for they refuse to hear the Great Teacher; many will not be corrected, for their ways are right in their own eyes. Yet bear to them the reproofs and warnings I shall give you, whether they will hear, or forbear.’ . . .”
“Our people are making very dangerous mistakes. We can not praise and flatter any man without doing him a great wrong; those who do this will meet with serious disappointment. They trust too fully to finite man, and not enough to God who never errs. The eager desire to urge men into public notice is an evidence of backsliding from God, and friendship with the world. It is the spirit which characterizes the present day. It shows that men have not the mind of Jesus; spiritual blindness and poverty of soul have come upon them. Often persons of inferior minds look away from Jesus to a merely human standard, by which they are not made conscious of their own littleness, and hence have an undue estimate of their own capabilities and endowments. There is among us as a people an idolatry of human instrumentalities, and mere human talent, and these even of a superficial character. We must die to self, and cherish humble, childlike faith. God’s people have departed from their simplicity. They have not made God their strength, and are weak and faint, spiritually. . . .
“I have been shown that unbelief in the Testimonies has been steadily increasing as the people backslide from God. It is all through our ranks, all over the field. But few know what our churches are to experience. I saw that at present we are under divine forbearance; but no one can say how long this will continue. No one knows how great the mercy that has been exercised toward us. But few are heartily devoted to God. There are only a few who, like the stars in a tempestuous night, shine here and there among the clouds. . . .”
“Many have exalted science, and lost sight of the God of science. This was not the case with the church in the purest times.”
“God will work a work in our day that but few anticipate. He will raise up and exalt among us those who are taught rather by the unction of his Spirit, than by the outward training of scientific institutions. These facilities are not to be despised or condemned; they are ordained of God, but they can furnish only the exterior qualifications. God will manifest that he is not dependent on learned, self-important mortals.”
In connection with these quotations, study again the article “The Nature and Influence of the Testimonies,” in Vol. V, No. 33, pages 654-691.
MRS. E. G. WHITE.
(To be concluded)
GEO. O. STATES
By GEO. O. STATES
Lessons From Past Experiences —No. 4
GEO. O. STATES
Soon after the Messenger Party went down, my people moved away from Sylvan, and for some years lived where there were none of our people. My father, having become disgusted with the Messenger Party, did not make any profession for years, but mother always took the REVIEW and remained faithful to the truth amid all these trying circumstances, and taught the truth to us children. There were a few times when work was quite pressing that father had my brother and me help, but generally he did not interfere with our keeping the Sabbath.
In 1860 we moved near Battle Creek, where we lived a number of years. Grandpa Harmon (Sister White’s father) lived in Battle Creek, and used to visit us, sometimes staying a few days. Although he was quite an old man, yet he seemed to enjoy getting out in the field with us boys and helping hoe and rake. Although I was quite young, yet his earnest talks about the first angel’s message and the power attending it are still fresh in my memory.
At night he used to take charge, at mother’s request, of the family worship. I shall always remember as we sat around the family circle his interesting talks explaining the truth, especially to father, and of the mighty power accompanying his daughter’s visions. We used to enjoy his visits very much, and his talks had much to do in establishing father on points of truth that had been troubling him, especially in regard to the Testimonies, and he soon took his stand again for the whole truth, and was baptized by Elder Loughborough, uniting with the Battle Creek church.
Brethren and sisters, there is one thing I am positive of, and that is, in those early days we believed, appreciated, and studied this important gift as we have not in later years. Many in our ranks are regretting that, as their children become of age, they are leaving the message. There is certainly a reason, and I believe it is right on this point; we have not appreciated and studied the truth as we did back in the memory of us who have grown gray in this truth. As the work has grown, and has necessarily been divided into more departments, is it not possible that we as ministers and leading brethren have studied plans for carrying on the different phases of work until we have neglected more important matters? All the way along the Lord has been sending us counsel on this point. Years ago we were told that, as ministers and those in responsible positions, “many are satisfied with business activity in the cause of God, while their hearts are destitute of love and compassion one for another. They know nothing of the tender sympathy that dwelt in the bosom of Jesus; and unless their characters are transformed, unless the heart is made tender, and they become partakers of the divine nature, they will make grave blunders, and fail to become inhabitants of heaven.”
I am so glad that our ministers are now having more to say about the Testimonies. I can hear a sound of going in the tops of the mulberry trees, and I do believe God is stirring up our people in these matters, and I know parents are becoming more faithful in instructing their children. In the early days of this message parents taught this truth to their children in the house, walking by the way, before retiring, and when rising, and so must we teach it at this critical time. The most important thing in this world to-day is the third angel’s message, and as we return to the old paths, leading10others in the good way, we shall see our children becoming more and more interested in the message.
Cedaredge, Colo.
The Catholic Sunday
By John S. Wightman
JOHN S. WIGHTMAN
“The Catholic Sunday” is the significant heading to an interesting article that appeared in a recent edition of The Catholic Union and Times, Buffalo, N. Y., in which the Union essays to correct “the usually accurate” Daily Commercial and a trenchant editorial on sundry changes in Canada’s “admirable” Lord’s Day bill, and particularly the statement: “These met the objections raised by all members from Quebec, where horse-racing after mass, with a nominal admission fee, is a popular Sunday amusement.” According to the Union it is nothing short of scandalous to thus mix the “sublime sacrifice of the mass” with the “most disgraceful desecration of the Sabbath;” and after ironical reference to horse-racers as being very poor representatives of the Catholic Church if they are Catholics at all, the editor pertinently states:—
“What are the facts? When we want expert medical advice, we do not repair to the den of a corrupt quack. If we want to know Catholic truth, we may not expect to get it in the betting-ring. The correct way to discover this truth is by inquiring of representative Catholics.”
The Union then goes on to say that Archbishop Bruchesi, of Canada, is a representative Catholic, and as to the stand taken by him upon the Lord’s Day bill and the attitude of the church upon the compulsory observance of the first day of the week, refers to Rev. Robert Johnson, pastor of the American Presbyterian Church, Montreal, who said:—
“Archbishop Bruchesi represents the real spirit of French Canada, and he is the strongest force to-day for moral reform in the city of Montreal, and certainly one of the strongest in the whole Dominion. His sympathy with the provisions of the bill and the thoughtful French element for which he stands is well known.”
Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the premier of Canada, is a Catholic, and of him and his concern in the Lord’s Day bill the same Mr. Johnson says:—
“I know very well that Sir Wilfrid Laurier has sacrificed the friendship of some of his life-long admirers, because of his stand on the bill. Yet I believe that his position will be strengthened, not only in the other provinces, but in Quebec as well. It is well understood that the passage of the bill could never have been secured had it not been for his broad-minded and generous support of it.”
Commenting upon numerous quotations given as candid expressions in regard to the much discussed measure, and on the greater question of which it is an outcome, the Union says:—
“This everlasting contention that Catholics believe ‘a few minutes at mass’ on Sunday is sufficient for the soul’s salvation is intensely wearisome. It exposes ignorance as well. From time immemorial the church has scrupulously guarded the sanctity of the Sabbath. One needs but to read the edicts of the various councils and the writings of the fathers to discover this. The Council of Compiègne, as far back as 833, decreed: ‘We declare that all Sundays be celebrated with the most religious veneration from the foregoing evening to the evening of the day, and that all servile work be laid aside.’ By the Councils of Meaux in 845 and Tours in 1673, hunting on Sunday was strictly forbidden. Saint Charles Borromeo condemned all shows, concerts, and dances on the Lord’s day. It was said in the early days that those who employ Sunday in ‘sensual diversions, sports, or conversation, or in surfeiting, sotting, or wanton sonnets, make it a sabbath of Satan, the devil’s holiday.’ Theodosius the Elder, in 306, forbade even pagans to be gratified on the Lord’s day with any ‘gymnastic exercise of gladiators in the theaters, any public sports, any stage play, any horse-race, or hunting or fighting of wild beasts.’ Saint Gregory the Great gave out this emphatic edict: ‘We are bound to refrain from all work on the Lord’s day, and to give ourselves up entirely to holy prayer, that if we have sinned by negligence in any part of the six days, this may be expiated on the day of our Lord’s resurrection.’
“And so it goes from the beginning down to our day. Only a short time ago Bishop Colton said on this subject of Sabbath observance, in his column in this paper:—
“‘The church, mindful of her divine commission, constantly tells her children, ‘Remember, keep holy the Sabbath day.’ Her ministers in every land proclaim this admonition, and the faithful ones give heed to the call and attend to the honoring of God.
“‘Let us always remember the sacredness of the day, its importance in the eyes of God, its necessity and utility for man.’”
The Sacred Heart Review, another Catholic journal, in commenting upon an editorial that recently appeared in the London Saturday Review, apropos of the question of Sunday observance and the oft-repeated “covert pharisaism about Protestant championship of the Sunday,” congratulates the Review on an extensive and manly rebuke thus given to “Protestant pharisaism,” and takes occasion to remark:—
“It may not, however, be known to our London contemporary, or to Protestants generally, but it is nevertheless true, that the present laxity in Sunday observance is largely due to the spirit of unrest and rebellion introduced into Christendom by Protestantism.”
The Montreal True Witness is a Catholic journal, and its editor a vigorous champion of Sabbath observance. He thus fairly epitomizes his views upon the Lord’s Day bill:—
“We yearn for the day when the Sunday observance bill will be brought into force, thereby compelling the man who refuses to keep the third commandment by principle to do so by legislation.”
The reader will bear in mind that “the third commandment” thus referred to is that of “the ten commandments” of the Douay version of the Bible, reading as follows: “Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.”
Taking these recent editorials altogether, and considering the respective sources, two things become painfully apparent,—that Protestantism is responsible for this “unrest and rebellion” introduced “into Christendom,” by which laxity in the keeping of the third commandment for the observance of Sunday obtains; and that Sunday-keeping according to real Catholic notions and under Catholic guidance may, both civilly and religiously, become severely strict enough11to suit the tastes of the most ardent National Reformer or “pharisaical” Sunday sabbath agitator.
And it may be found, in the end that it is far from the matter of attending mass only “upon the Sunday.” A “puritanical sabbath” even may not be so far in the future as it is in the past! And it may, by a turn of fortune favorable to ecclesiasticism, rapidly become a matter of reality instead of a matter simply of history. In this connection it may be well to remember the words of M. Long’s letter published in the Catholic Press, of Australia, August 25, 1900:—
“If any Sabbatarian wants to know the proper method of spending the Sunday, the Catholic Church is the natural source to apply to for information. Under her direction the Sunday supplanted the Jewish sabbath, and she is therefore best suited to settle any dispute as to its claims. . . . She forbids all servile work, and requires the day to be devoted to public prayer and worship and hearing the word of God.”
Pope Leo XIII, in his now famous encyclical to the world on church unity, said:—
“The fathers of the church are unanimous in considering as outside the Catholic communion any one who in the least degree deviates from even one point of the doctrine proposed by the authoritative magisterium of the church.”
We may feel well assured that, inasmuch as “the unrest and rebellion” in our world has, according to Catholic doctrine, resulted from the introduction of Protestantism, and as “unrest and rebellion” is, in the Catholic mind, synonymous with “Protestantism,” we shall find the observance of “the third commandment”—the Catholic Sunday—when directed by a world-church controlling the civil powers entirely strict enough to suit the mind of the most exacting, “pharisaical” Protestant sabbath reformer living, and its observance, in the last analysis, to mean more than the most ardent colaborer and co-operator with Rome could at this time well comprehend.
When Rome declares that “the Sunday” should “be devoted to public prayer and worship,” and forbids all servile work on that day, she means “public prayer and worship” that is in every sense of the word Catholic public prayer and Catholic public worship, and no other; and when she “forbids all servile work” on that day, she means anything and everything of a secular nature that would “in the least degree deviate from even one point of the doctrine proposed by the authoritative magisterium of the church.”
Anent the whole question, it may be well to review the Sabbath question, which can not be otherwise than related to the matter of its compulsory legal observance, and it makes no difference whether it be the right or the wrong day of the week that is under consideration and the object of proposed legal enactments. At the creation of the world the Sabbath was made; the seventh day and not the first was appointed, sanctified, and set apart for a holy use and purpose. To all generations it was to be a day of rest and remembrance of the works of the Creator. There has been no repeal of the law requiring the seventh day to be observed, no change whatever in the divine institution.
For the first day of the week—the Sunday sabbath—there is no authority, divine or apostolic. It is the Roman Catholic Church, and she alone, that presents to the world the first-day “sabbath.” Sunday was anciently a pagan day, associated with sun-worship and dedicated to the sun-god, until the Catholic Church “changed the [Sabbath] day from Saturday to Sunday,” and thus clothed the day that had been “the wild solar holiday of pagan times” with a religious garb. This was at as late a time as A. D. 325; and the church frankly admits not only the making of the change, but that for the work, “there is no Scriptural authority.” “Sunday,” as a Christian institution, “is purely a creation of the Roman Catholic Church,” and as such, should neither demand nor expect recognition upon the part of genuine Protestants. Sadly enough, Protestants are being “gulled” into receiving the Catholic command, “Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day,” and unwittingly, as well, lending a powerful influence for securing the aid of secular powers in the interest of an institution and a day altogether pagan and papal, and wholly unchristian, and without warrant of divine precept or Scriptural injunction.
The Sabbath of the fourth commandment, the commandment for Protestants to obey, demands the observance of the seventh day, and not the first; and that command remains the same in this twentieth century as it was in the first—as it was in the days of Adam! It was Christ who declared to the Jewish Pharisees, “In vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” And it is as vain to-day to “teach” and to receive the “commandments of men” as it was then.
It was Neander who well said: “The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was always only a human ordinance, and it was far from the intention of the apostles . . . and from the early apostolic church, to transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday.” “Always only a human ordinance”! Then why render obedience to an institution that is only human and in no sense divine, or of divine origin? The Catholic Union and Times certainly used an appropriate heading for its article on Canada’s Lord’s Day bill and compulsory Sabbath observance, “The Catholic Sunday.” Such it is, in fact, nor can it ever be anything else. Can Protestants afford to give it any further weight or influence or help either in Canada, in the United States, or anywhere else? Is it not time, rather, to protest?
Bath, N. Y.
MRS. W. H. WAKEHAM
By Mrs. W. H. Wakeham
Eventide
MRS. W. H. WAKEHAM
FATHER, the day grows weary, and
I fain would rest. Prepare my couch
With thine loving hand, as thy
Blest promise reads, and I will lay
Me down in trustful confidence
Of sweet repose.
How desert seems
The place! And this, my pillow, were
A stone beneath my aching head,
But thy dear hand is there. And in
The strong embrace of thy right arm
My troubled heart is gently wooed
To slumber calm, refreshing.
Father,
Didst thou provide this canopy
Of love above my burning brow?
And these refreshing showers, so cool,
And softly poured in mercy on
My trembling soul, speak healing all
divine.
O, in the shadow of
This mighty Rock, and thou, my tried
And trusted Keeper near, in vain
The hosts of evil may encamp
Without in vales below. For thou
Dost compass all my lying down
With anthems of deliverance.
And should I wake at midnight's hour
So lone, my song shall be of thee:
For thou art with me still, and naught
In heaven or earth, or in the depths
Below, can separate me, Lord,
From thy great heart of love.
Father,
Thou art my all in all. Thou dost
Supply from thine abundance each
And every need in sickness or
In health, in poverty or store.
And when at last this night of earth
Shall vanish in the glories of
Eternal day, I shall awake
In thine own likeness, Lord, and then
I shall be satisfied forevermore.
Cairo, Egypt, Dec. 31, 1905.
Anger's Sting
No word spoken in anger against a person is ever justified. It matters not how wrong, or unjust, or cutting, or ill-mannered, or wilfully untruthful that person may be; to give vent to one's anger in return only lowers one to the level of the other, accomplishes no good, and leaves one with a rankling sense of defeat. Most of us have put this to the test,—and then have wished we had not. The times of stress upon which all look back with most lasting satisfaction are those times when they have kept their self-control, not when they have lost it. The reason why an outburst of anger leaves such a sting with the one who gives way to it is because it is a defeat self-inflicted.—Sunday School Times.
Blessings Unrecognized
An unanswered prayer is no proof of an unhearing God. There may be reasons in the great purposes of our Heavenly Father why a petition may fail of a direct answer. The creature may err, not understanding the will of God; but the Creator can not err. As many a child of God has looked back over his life, he has seen where the goodness and benign wisdom of God has been manifested in withholding the things asked for. But if the direct answer to the petition has been withheld, we believe that in some way there will come a blessing because of it, and that no earnest, faithful prayer is ever lost to the suppliant. It may not be my way, it may not be thy way, but yet in his own way the answer will come. It may be years in coming; it may come in some wholly unexpected way, through some channel we never dreamed of, and which at the time of the prayer we knew nothing of; but it will come to us with blessing. Indeed, we in our obtuseness may be living in the very atmosphere of answered prayer and not be aware of it. If the answer does not come in the way we look for it, let us look around and see if the flower that we longed for is not blooming elsewhere, or if our life at some angle does not touch God more intimately than ever before. We may look for the answer in a tally-ho, but it may come in the form of some poor beggar on the street. — United Presbyterian.
Our God Is Able to Deliver Us
God hath a thousand keys to open a thousand doors for the deliverance of his own when it has come to the greatest extremity. Let us be faithful and care for our own part, which is to do and suffer for him, and lay God's part on himself, and leave it there; duties are ours, events are the Lord's. When our faith goeth to meddle with events, and to hold a court (if I may so speak) upon God's providence, and beginneth to say, “How wilt thou do this or that?” we lose ground, we have nothing to do there; it is our part to let the Almighty exercise his own office and steer his own helm.—Samuel Rutherford.