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Review and Herald, Vol. 83, No. 29.

Precious Promises

Review and Herald

Jul 19, 1906

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 19, 1906

Precious Promises

By G. T. Wilson

“I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Heb. 13:5.
“I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go.
“I will guide thee with Mine eye.” Ps. 32:8.
“I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and—
“I will bring you to Zion.” Jer. 3:14.
“I will give you pastors according to Mine heart.” Verse 15.
“I will heal your backslidings.” Verse 22.
“I will love them freely: for Mine anger is turned away from him.” Hosea 14:4.
“I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily.” Verse 5.
“I will be thy king.” Hosea 13:10.
“I will ransom them from the power of the grave.” Verse 14.
“I will both search My sheep, and seek them out.” Eze. 34:11.
“I will bring them out from the people.” Verse 13.
“I will feed them in a good pasture.” Verse 14.
“I will make with them a covenant of peace.” Verse 25.
“I will make them . . . a blessing.” Verse 26.
“I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and—
“I will give you an heart of flesh.” Eze. 36:26.
“I will also save you from all your uncleannesses.” Verse 29.
“I will put My Spirit within you.” Verse 27.
“I will forgive their iniquity, and—
“I will remember their sin no more.” Jer. 31:34.
“I will be with thee.” Isa. 43:2; read the whole verse.
“I will strengthen thee; yea,—
“I will help thee; yea, [ten “I will’s” in this chapter],—
“I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness.” Isa. 41:10.
“I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not;
“I will lead them in paths that they have not known:
“I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight.” Isa. 42:16.
“I will not blot out his name [the overcomer’s] out of the book of life.”
“I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels.”
“I will write upon him the name [character] of My God.” Rev. 3:5, 12.
“I will give thee [the overcomer] a crown of life.” Rev. 2:10.
“I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” John 14:18.
“I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter.” Verse 16.
“I will come again, and receive you unto Myself.” John 14:3.
“I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them.” 2 Sam. 7:10.
“I will give you rest.” Matt. 11:28. “His rest shall be glorious.” Isa. 11:10.
“I will put My laws in their mind.” Heb. 8:10.
“I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes.” Mal. 3:11.
“I will open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing.” Verse 10.
“I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Eze. 37:27.
“I will give unto him that is athirst . . . of the water of life freely.” Rev. 21:6.
— Compiled by G. T. Wilson.

Our Publishing Work

By Editor

The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it. Psalm 68:11.
THE new edition of “Early Writings” is bound so as to conform to the size and style of the “Testimonies for the Church.” Its contents are of such nature that it is, in fact, a part of the Testimony series. No one can really grasp the full importance of the present work of the message without the help “Early Writings” affords. Bound in plain cloth, 75 cents; in flexible leather, $1.25.
THE students who entered the canvassing work from the sanitarium training-school in the Cumberland Conference are enjoying many blessings, and a good degree of success has attended them in their work. J. L. Maroon, the Cumberland Conference agent, writes favorably of the prospects for the book work in that conference. He assures us that his conference possesses some excellent unworked territory.
EVERY member of every Seventh-day Adventist family should study the Sabbath-school lessons for the present quarter. Having the teachings of these lessons applied in the daily lives of the members of our families would prove to be one of the greatest blessings that could come to the denomination at the present time. These lessons are printed in pamphlet form under the title of “Sabbath-school Lesson Quarterly.” Price, 5 cents a copy.
How you can interest the children will be found in “Lessons for Children’s Meetings,” No. 4, which has just been published by the Review and Herald for the Sabbath-school Department. It is an illustrated pamphlet of sixty-two pages, containing outline of lessons, together with suggestions, blackboard drawings, and word-picture studies adapted to the needs of primary workers in children’s meetings. It will also be a great help to mothers who desire to give their little ones lessons at home. It is, in fact, worth much more than its price, 10 cents.
WE have a letter, containing one dollar for Life and Health, sent to Mrs. M. C. Wilcox, Mountain View, Cal., by a traveling man who picked up part of a torn copy of Life and Health which contained Mrs. Wilcox’s name and address. This man was so impressed with the value of the paper containing such matter as he found in the torn copy that he at once wrote to Mrs. Wilcox, and requested her to send him the paper for a year, or for as long as one dollar would pay. There are thousands of others who would be as anxious for Life and Health as this person if they only knew of it. The public mind is being turned to the principles of health. The recent exposures of the methods employed in the large packing-houses has caused the people to think upon the unhealthfulness of a meat diet, and they are turning their attention to health reform principles. This is one of the most favorable times to introduce our health literature. The July number of Life and Health is meeting with good success. We need a large force of boys and girls, as well as men and women, to introduce the journal into the homes of the people. Good commissions are given on annual subscriptions and on copies to sell.
WE are glad to know there are so many boys and girls who are not afraid of hard work, and who desire to do something to help others. We are receiving prompt responses to our recent request for the names and addresses of all such boys and girls, and yet there is room for more. Let the names come in.
ARE you interested in the health of babies? If so, read in Life and Health the series of articles by Dr. F. M. Rossiter, on “The Baby: Its Dangers, Diseases, and Care.” Mrs. A. C. Bainbridge is also furnishing a series of articles on “Divine Healing.” Send five cents for a sample copy, or fifty cents for a yearly subscription.
OCCASIONALLY our agents receive calls for family Bibles, and have asked us for prices. We wish to announce that we have prepared a Family Bible Prospectus, which shows the full-size type, page, illustrations, cover designs, price, etc. To any agent desiring one of these prospectuses, we will send the same free on application. It is not every day that an order is received for a Bible, but such orders are profitable, and all agents should be prepared to receive them. With these Family Bible Prospectuses, taken together with our circulars for our large-type, medium-size books, agents will be able to meet almost any demand for Bibles.
Liberty, No. 2, is now ready. It is a very attractive number, both in appearance and in contents. The front cover page has a picture of the Canadian House of Parliament, while the back cover has a cut of the American Liberty Bell. It is illustrated throughout in keeping with the reading-matter, which we believe will convince all reasonable people that Sunday laws are not essential to good government. This number deals largely with the question of Sunday laws and general religious legislation. It will be valuable in proportion to its circulation. If it is given a large circulation, its influence will be a forceful factor against the present strong tide favoring religious legislation and the enforcing of Sunday laws. If the REVIEW readers do their duty to their fellow men at this critical time, 200,000 copies of the second number of Liberty will be circulated in a short time. Prices are as follows: Single copy per annum, including extras, 25 cents; single copy of any regular issue, 5 cents; single copy of an extra, according to size; five or more copies per annum to different addresses, one order, 15 cents a copy; ten or more copies per annum to one address, one order, 15 cents a copy; twenty-five or more copies of any one issue, to one address, 2½ cents a copy.
Orders for any publication mentioned on this page may be sent to any conference tract society or to Review and Herald Publishing Association, Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C., or Battle Creek, Mich.
Also Pacific Press Publishing Company, Mountain View, Cal.; Portland, Ore.; Kansas City, Mo.; Southern Publishing Association, Nashville, Tenn., and Fort Worth, Tex.

The Schools and the Mission Fields

By Editor

The educational convention which has just been held at College View, Neb., was a meeting of much interest and profit. The representatives of the educational interests in all parts of this country who gathered there gave thoughtful and earnest consideration to the solution of the practical problems which they face in their work, and the interchange of views and experiences was exceedingly helpful. The discussions concerning courses of study, text-books, and educational principles and methods were enlightening and stimulating, and the recommendations adopted as expressing the consensus of view of those present will be a helpful guide to many teachers in their future work. Viewed from this standpoint alone, the convention accomplished excellent results. The technical work of the schoolroom will be better done because of this meeting. Improved plans and methods will be adopted, and a higher standard will be maintained in all grades of work from the church-school to the training-school in consequence of the emphasis laid upon the necessity of constant advancement in all right lines, and of faithful application as the only road to intellectual development. Study, and not sentiment, was one of the watchwords of the convention.
There was another feature of this meeting, however, to which we desire to direct special attention. It was a missionary educational convention. The program was well balanced, and all phases of the work received due consideration, but the deepest interest and the warmest enthusiasm were aroused in the study of the relation between the schools and the movement to give the advent message to all the world in this generation. The opening address sounded the key-note by emphasizing the right relation between the educational institutions and this great second advent movement, and by declaring that the inspiration needed to arouse us to a sense of our present responsibilities and to impart the zeal befitting our time and our work would be found in the spirit of this closing message. The convention responded heartily to these thoughts, and showed itself ready to be led further in the same direction. The themes of the Sabbath services were of a nature to direct the eyes of all to the waiting fields, and to impress upon the hearts of those who train the youth their solemn responsibility to make the schools the recruiting stations for the companies at the front. The Holy Spirit witnessed to the effort to arouse an intelligent missionary zeal, and impressions were made which will not soon be effaced.
The proposal was made, growing directly out of these addresses, that an hour should be devoted to a mutual conference over the relation between the schools and the mission fields. At this conference attention was called to what is known as the Student Volunteer Movement, an organized effort to secure missionaries for foreign fields among the students of the colleges and universities of the world, whose motto is, “The Evangelization of the World in this Generation,” and which has resulted in sending thousands of well-trained workers to dark and needy fields. The similarity between this motto and our own, “The Advent Message to All the World in this Generation,” was noted, and it was suggested that there ought to be a movement in our own ranks whose purpose it should be to hasten the accomplishment of our work by making our schools missionary institutions and by opening the doors of missionary opportunity to thousands of the students. As these subjects were discussed with increasing earnestness, it became more and more evident to all that this was to be indeed a missionary educational convention, and that the Lord was calling upon the educators to enlarge their vision and to make their horizon include the fields waiting for the third angel’s message. There was a hearty response to this call, and the missionary tide ran higher and higher. At this conference a large representative committee was appointed, of which Elder A. G. Daniells was chairman, with instructions to prepare in suitable form such an expression of the attitude of theconvention toward the missionary problem as would serve as a working program for the future.
The committee performed its duty with painstaking earnestness, and presented its report on the morning of the middle day of the convention. This report we give herewith in full:—
We, a representative body of Seventh-day Adventist teachers and educators, assembled in convention at College View, Neb., June 29 to July 10, 1906, fully and firmly believe that the Holy Scriptures plainly teach:—
1. That it is God’s purpose to finish in this generation his work in behalf of mankind.
2. That this will be done by the proclamation to all the world of the gospel as set forth in the great threefold message of Rev. 14:6-14.
3. That the proclamation of this message to the world will be made by the church, the Lord’s people who are called out and developed by the message itself.
We also believe in the following instruction from the spirit of prophecy:—
1. That it is the purpose of God that through the excellence of the work done in our educational institutions the attention of the people shall be called to the last great effort to save the perishing.
2. That the primary object of our training-schools is to afford young men an opportunity to study for the ministry, and to prepare young persons of both sexes to become workers in the various branches of the cause.
From the experience through which God has led us, we have found:—
1. That in doing this work, the church must make use of varied lines of service, such as preaching, Bible work, writing, translating, teaching, medical work, colportage, Christian business management, etc.
2. That this work for the Master may be efficiently and acceptably performed, men and women should receive a definite, thorough education.
To-day we face a great missionary problem. Notwithstanding all that has been done to finish this work, there are still vast fields unentered, millions of men and women unwarned, and many pressing Macedonian calls unanswered.
In view of this situation, we feel deeply impressed that the time has fully come when we should put forth the highest efforts of which we are capable to place in the field the number of qualified workers required to finish the Lord’s work according to his purpose.
To this end we recommend that immediate, earnest, and continuous efforts be made—
1. To create a more intelligent and profound conviction regarding the field to be occupied and the service to be rendered.
2. To unite conference and school into closer and more sympathetic touch for intelligent, harmonious co-operation.
3. To press the demands of the fields more heavily upon the schools for the supply called for.
4. To inaugurate and carry forward a steady, well-grounded, persuasive movement, the great aim of which shall be to provide qualified workers for the work to be done.
That the above lines of work may become effective, we urge the Department of Education to take immediate steps to secure the sure and speedy realization of these ends—
(a) By promoting a general, thorough, and continuous study of the subject of home and foreign missions.
(b) By aiding all our schools to arrange a definite course of study of missions.
(c) By encouraging school boards to provide suitable literature on missions for use in their schools.
(d) By encouraging teachers to give the subject of missions more careful study, and to speak on the subject more frequently to the people.
(e) By providing suitable articles regarding missions for all our papers.
(f) By enlisting the co-operation of all the children, youth, and young people in the financial support of some teacher or classmate who leaves them from time to time for mission fields.
(g) By stimulating home missionary work on the part of those who can not go to regions beyond.
(h) By making our motto, “The Advent Message to All the World in this Generation,” a guiding, determining factor in the life plans, and in the use of the time, money, and opportunities of our young people.
(i) By leading all who can not go, to reckon themselves members of recruiting bands in behalf of their comrades at the front.
In view of the importance of our educational work as related to the entire work of God, of the large place it has come to hold in that work, and of its great possibilities as a factor in preparing and supplying trained workers for the mission fields of the world,—
We earnestly request that arrangements be made for either the chairman or the secretary of the Department of Education to devote his entire time to the general work of the department.
A. G. DANIELLS, C. C. LEWIS, W. E. HOWELL, H. R. SALISBURY, M. E. CADY, M. E. KERN, J. E. TENNEY, J. W. LAWHEAD, A. G. HAUGHEY, Committee.
The reading of this report was followed by a most interesting and most profitable discussion. The presence of the Holy Spirit was recognized by all, and it was plain that the Lord was setting his seal of approval to the proposed movement. Some were almost overcome by their emotions as they spoke of their past experiences and their hopes and purposes for the future. Although the regular program called for the consideration of other subjects during the morning hour, yet there was no desire nor effort to check the flow of missionary feeling, and this meeting continued until the noon hour. As a practical feature of the occasion, the chairman, Prof. Frederick Griggs, asked all who were willing to go themselves to any field to which the Lord might call them to rise, and it was an inspiring sight to see nearly the whole assembly of ministers and teachers on their feet in response to this invitation. The report was unanimously adopted by a rising vote of the convention, and while all were thus standing as an expression of their approval of a more aggressive missionary campaign, Elder E. W. Farnsworth offered an earnest prayer of consecration, to which the whole congregation said, Amen.
It is difficult to transfer to paper the spirit of a meeting, and we wish that all our readers could have been present to share in the inspiration of this gathering. We feel sure that we voice the feeling of many in attendance when we say that in our judgment it marks the beginning of a most important movement which will contribute greatly to the speedy finishing of our work for the world. The time has come for this message to move forward with an increasing power. Volunteers should now press into the ranks, that the working force may be greatly strengthened. There will be places for all, young and old. The Holy Spirit will be given for service, the way of the Lord will be speedily prepared, and the consummation of all our hopes will be realized. In this final movement our youth and children are to bear an important part. This fact should now be recognized, and the educational work should be shaped accordingly. Those teachers will accomplish the most for the Great Teacher and his cause in the earth who direct their energies in harmony with the evident providence of God at this time. This will meet any legitimate demand for the training of missionaries both for home and for foreign fields.
The following instruction, given through the spirit of prophecy, seems appropriate to this subject:—
With such preparation as they can gain, thousands upon thousands of the youth and those older in years should be giving themselves to this work. Already many hearts are responding to the call of the Master Worker, and their numbers will increase. Let every Christian educator give such workers sympathy and co-operation. Let him encourage and assist the youth under his care in gaining a preparation to join the ranks. . . .
With such an army of workers as our youth, rightly trained, might furnish, how soon the message of a crucified, risen, and soon-coming Saviour might be carried to the whole world! How soon might the end come,—the end of suffering and sorrow and sin!
We believe that the missionary movement inaugurated at the educational convention of 1906 will, in the providence of God, hasten the glorious result. We believe that as a result of this movement many serious, earnest young people will be found in our schools. Let parents and ministers unite with the teachers in bringing this movement to a successful issue.

Surrendering and Claiming

By Editor

Editorial

Surrendering and Claiming

THE first step in a successful Christian experience is to surrender all to God. “Yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” The next step is to claim all from God through faith in his promises. “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” “All things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.” He who has not surrendered fully to God has never realized his own weakness and nothingness. He who has not claimed all from God has never realized God’s power and greatness. “Education, culture, the exercise of the will, human effort, all have their proper sphere, but here are powerless. They may produce an outward correctness of behavior, but they can not change the heart; they can not purify the springs of life. There must be a power working from within, a new life from above, before men can be changed from sin to holiness. That power is Christ. His grace alone can quicken the lifeless faculties of the soul, and attract it to God, to holiness . . . . In vain are men’s dreams of progress, in vain all efforts for the uplifting of humanity, if they neglect the one source of hope and help for the fallen race.” “It is the will of God to cleanse us from sin, to make us his children, and to enable us to live a holy life. So we may ask for these blessings, and believe that we receive them, and thank God that we have received them.” We are servants, and yet we are kings. We have nothing, and yet we possess all things. By surrendering all and claiming all, we are possessors of all things and heirs of all things. “He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.”

A Catholic Goddess

By W. A. S.

Just across the bay of Rio, as I sit on the ship's deck, I can see a shining statue on the hills of Nictheroy. It was plainly visible by day, a giant figure of a woman, with the moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars upon her head. Now, by night, the electric light is turned on, and the figure shines as though “clothed with the sun.”
The idea, of course, is the Catholic interpretation of the symbol of Rev. 12:1. With churches and shrines in honor of “Our Lady,” the virgin Mary, all abounding, doubtless this statue stands for her, in the minds of the people. She is as truly worshiped as a goddess in these Catholic lands as is the goddess Kali in Hindu India. The church has crowned every available eminence in these cities with churches and shrines, where Mary is apparently the most highly honored object of devotion.
It is amid actual idolatry of the most materialistic kind that our laborers in South America have to raise the voice of warning. Here the teaching of the Roman Church regarding the worship of Mary finds full expression. The blasphemous nature of that teaching is shown by this one quotation from St. Bernardine, of Siena:—
Therefore setting each individual thing one against another, namely, what things God hath done for man, and what things the Blessed Virgin has done for God, you will see that Mary has done more for God than God has for man; so that thus, on account of the Blessed Virgin (whom, nevertheless, he himself made), God is, in a certain manner, under greater obligations to us than we are to him.
To these poor people who are still groping in medieval darkness, worshiping the creature instead of the Creator, is now coming the cry of the threefold message, “Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” Right here in Nictheroy our work has a foothold. W. A. S.
Rio de Janeiro.

The Babel Builders

By C. M. S.

When man has kept close to God, he has maintained no exalted opinion of himself; but as man has turned his back upon God, self has loomed in mightier and still mightier proportions, and the true greatness of God, the true purpose of God, and his sense of his great need of God, have shrunk in equal ratio.
The race had hardly scattered from the stranded ark till they were planning the erection of a tower and a city which would make them a name and preserve them from dispersion—a tower which should bridge the gulf between earth and heaven, and be to them their own gateway back into the paradise which had been lost.
God understood the purpose, confounded the common language, and did for them the very thing they aimed to make impossible. He dispersed them with the confused language of their kindred ringing in their ears; and to every country whither they went with the memory of God leaking out of their minds, they carried the heart-purpose of the Babel builders, a purpose to work out a salvation of their own.
So in the heathen countries of the world to-day we find the religion of self-exaltation and self-salvation “bred in the bone” of the people. Every heathen religion turns upon that pivot. It is but a continuation of the efforts of those who builded Babel, and went out unreconciled to the purpose of God in their dispersion.
The evangelization of those heathen countries has stirred up a spirit there of counterworking the nations which sent out the missionaries. A stream of pagan philosophy began years ago to flow back into the evangelizing countries. That flow has increased to a flood at the present time, and every “Christian country” has been deluged with it. Heathenism has tempered its teachings so that they can lie closely alongside the most precious truth and seem to be its parent or its offspring; but once accepted and followed, it bears away ever so slightly at first from the true line until the entrancing philosophies have educated the perceptive faculties to a distaste for the real and the true. The mind is confused; the soul ensnared.
In every such system of heathen philosophical religion there is found in some form the tenet of man's affinity with the divine. This doctrine has been so greedily accepted by some in our own country that they have virtually outheathened the heathen. Such have even gone so far as to declare that “man is the highest expression of God;” whereas the heathen have only dared to hope for assimilation into the divine Being when death has separated them from their clay. That is Nirvana, the snuffing out of their separate existence. In direct line with this teaching a society has been organized in this country for the “exaltation and worship of man.” Books are being written by writers of note whose teachings have the same general trend. Glittering phrases and most striking utterances are used to captivate the mind. One such writer declares: “Man will yet fling himself into the heavens and abide.”
That was what the Babel builders sought to do in ancient times; that is what they are still purposing to do in our day. It is coming in through heathenism direct; it is coming in through “Christianized evolution;” through Christian Science, through spiritualism and theosophy; and from these cisterns it is filtering into every denomination in the land without an exception.
Beware of the teacher who exalts the human; who teaches that the grass, the trees, the flowers, and all created things have God within them, transforming them into temples indeed. He who seeks to put God himself into everything that God has caused to live, is giving the heathen the very excuse he is looking for to bow down and worship every created thing. The heathen bows down to his sacred tree, for he believes God to be in it. For the same reason he worships the sacred bull, the alligator, and the beetle. The teaching of God in man and in all nature goes hand-in-hand with the teaching of the exaltation of man; and every such teaching is but rebuilding Babel. Such teachers, reasoning from such an hypothesis, invariably come to the place where they turn the back upon the whole work of Christ for man, and set forth man as able to do for himself what Jesus Christ only can do.
Paul in his prayer for the Ephesians, prays “that ye may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith,” etc. Eph. 3:16, 17. The mystery of the gospel is declared to be “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Col. 1:27. “Let this mind be in you,” says the apostle, “which was also in Christ Jesus.” That does not make gods of us, it does not exalt man; it dethrones satan and self, enthrones Christ, and makes us his obedient children. Then we can “do all things,” but we do them only “through Christ which strengtheneth” us. We become, then, joint heirs with Jesus to the Eden which is above. We have, through him, the power and right to enter the paradise our parents lost; but we do not do it over any Babel of our own building. Having come into that relation, Christ is ours, and we are his. “He that hath the Son hath the life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not the life.” 1 John 5:12.
God smote the Babel of the ancients and scattered the builders. When he has smitten this modern Babel tower, the long-pending judgments will fall upon the world. Build no such towers, and beware of the teachings that lift up man and belittle the mission of our Redeemer. C. M. S.

Abide in the Vine

“As the branch can not bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for apart from me ye can do nothing.” John 15: 4, 5.

Exposing Its Weakness

By L. A. S.

A CAMPAIGN for better Sunday observance was recently begun in Ossining, N. Y., by a religious federation of the churches and other religious organizations of that place. The Sunday following the inauguration of the campaign all the clergymen of the place preached on the subject in their churches, and reports of the sermons were published in the Ossining Daily Citizen. As always happens when such efforts are made, the inherent weakness of the Sunday cause was clearly exposed.
A great many assertions were made in behalf of Sunday as being the Lord’s day and binding upon Christian people, etc., but there was an entire absence of accompanying Scripture proof. A cause which rests only on the assertions of men is too weak to serve as the foundation of Christian faith. The Christian may be sure that true Sabbath observance rests on a solid foundation of Scripture.
The assertions of the speakers, as quoted in the Citizen, revealed a lack of familiarity on their part with plain Scripture teaching. Thus, the pastor of the First Presbyterian church is quoted as saying:—
The fourth commandment is important as far as it goes, and lays the foundation for the spiritual worship. So when the Lord’s day comes on in the fulness of time with the direct appeal to the higher worship of man, and looks to the resurrection, a man may keep the fourth commandment and yet be an utter stranger to the spirit of the Lord’s day.
The psalmist said: “The law of the Lord is perfect,” and “thy commandment is exceeding broad.” Ps. 19:7; 119:96. The fourth commandment leaves nothing incomplete in the matter of Sabbath observance. He who keeps it will observe the “Sabbath of the Lord”—the Lord’s day — both in the letter and in the spirit.
Another speaker said:—
The Jewish sabbath commemorates the creation. The first day of the week, Sunday, commemorates the resurrection. The first was the commencement of the race, the second the religious life of the race.
This is equivalent to saying there was no religious life in the race prior to the resurrection of Christ, and that God created Adam with no religious life. Only in behalf of a bad cause would one be driven to make such statements. The same speaker said further:—
The fourth commandment does not make any suggestion about religious worship, nor prior to the captivity did the Jews even have any religious worship.
Evidently he had never read Lev. 23:3: “Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.” (Italics ours.)
Another speaker, the pastor of the M. E. church, is reported as follows on the subject of opposition to Sunday as the Christian sabbath:—
Mr. Finch said that one of the most potent and powerful influences working against the Christian Sunday was the efforts of the Sabbatarian Legalists or Seventh-day people. It might seem strange that he should make such an assertion, as these people were so few; but the fact that they were so earnest in their efforts and really believed down deep in their hearts that they were absolutely right, even to the extent that they would welcome burning at the stake as a proof of their loyalty, made them a power.
The second powerful influence working against the observance of the Christian Sunday is the prevailing spirit of irreverence. Thousands of people looked upon Sunday as a day to be spent in pleasure and dissipation. These people spent the Sunday in all sorts of pleasurable occupations instead of making it a day of rest and recuperation. It was mostly a careless disregard for the Lord’s day.
Mr. Finch overlooks a very important fact. All the earnestness of these few seventh-day people in a bad cause would accomplish little. It is not their earnestness that produces the results, but the fact that they are on the side of Scripture truth. It is God’s truth that is so powerful. The power of the Almighty is in his Word. The few seventh-day people are a power because they go to the people armed with that Word, the “sword of the spirit.”
And further: the “prevailing spirit” of disregard for Sunday is very largely due, beyond doubt, to the absence of Scripture proof in its support. Clergymen may convince themselves and some few others that Sunday observance rests upon a Scripture basis, but the mass of the people, who have heard the subject discussed and have weighed the evidence for both the first and the seventh day, know that the Sunday cause is fatally weak in Scripture argument. They know that the Bible does not support Sunday observance. Those who are determined to revive Sunday observance must reckon with this fact. The cause of the strength of the few seventh-day observers is that God’s Word is with them; and the weakness of the Sunday cause is due to the lack of that Word in its support. They can not hope to change or to prevail against the Word of God.
L. A. S.

God’s Law Written in the Heart

“THIS is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” Heb. 10: 16, 17.

Catholicism and the Kongo Free State

The Kongo Free State has found in the Catholic Church a staunch defender of its course whenever accusations have been made of its cruelties in the Kongo country. The accusers have been belittled as disappointed Protestant missionaries, and their accusations declared to be unreliable and false; and there is no doubt that the position of the Catholic Church in this matter is responsible for the disinclination of the various governments to push the demand for Kongo reforms. The reason for this attitude of Catholicism is easily understood by reading the following article, which appeared in the Catholic Mirror of July 7:—
The Holy See and the Kongo Free State have entered into an agreement for the furtherance of missionary work in Africa.
In accordance with this convention the Kongo government grants each Catholic mission from two hundred and fifty to five hundred acres of land in fee simple, and provides also, in certain cases, a stipend for the missionary in charge. The church on its part, agrees to establish new schools for the natives, especially agricultural and manual training-schools.
The preamble of the convention sets forth that:—
“The Holy Apostolic See, being desirous of encouraging the systematic diffusion of Catholicism in the Kongo, and the government of the Kongo Free State, appreciating the important part taken by the Catholic missionaries in the work of civilizing Central Africa, have made an agreement between themselves and with the representatives of the Catholic missions in the Kongo for the purpose of still further assuring the realization of their respective intentions.”
With such a hold upon the state, receiving such favors from the state, and with such an ambition as she has, it should be no cause for wonder that such a state finds such a warm defender in such a church.

Note and Comment

A RECENT Paris dispatch states that the private convocation of Catholic bishops held “to advise the pope in regard to accepting the new laws for the separation of church and state,” has decided to advise the pontiff to submit to the French government in the matter; though there are still “advocates of resistance” who “will still seek to persuade the pope to adopt a recalcitrant attitude.” If the Catholic Church is such a conserver of peace as its spokesmen loudly proclaim it to be, why is it necessary to have a vote of a council of bishops to decide whether or not the church in France shall submit to the laws of the government? “Actions speak louder than words.”
Continue reading: MRS. E. G. WHITE