Review and Herald, Vol. 82, No. 19. (5/11/1905)

Review and Herald

May 11, 1905

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · May 11, 1905

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A Missionary Conference

If this is truly a spiritual conference, it will just as surely be a missionary conference. The Lord is waiting to reveal his power, and to cut his work short in righteousness. This Spirit will be given for service, and not for mere emotional enjoyment. Our time and our situation call upon us to send the messengers with the last warning to every part of the world to prepare the way of the Lord, and we have both money and messengers in our ranks, but the fires need to be kindled anew upon the altars of sacrifice. While we look upon the fields as they are brought before us by those who have labored and prayed in them, and while we seek a refreshing from on high, we ought to be stirred by a mighty inspiration to say to all the world in this generation, “The great day of the Lord is near,” “Prepare to meet thy God.” O for more of that old-time zeal and consecration when men walked with God, and counted not their lives as dear unto themselves, so that they might finish their course with joy! The opportunity is offered to us to be the chosen instruments for a great work. Shall we avail ourselves of our privilege? Shall this be a missionary conference? Let all the people say, “Amen.”

The School Question in England

By Editor

DURING the recent discussion of the principles involved in the movement to secure the introduction of religious instruction into the public schools of the District of Columbia reference has frequently been made to the present situation in England, and to the troubles which have attended the administration of the Education acts of 1902 and 1903. The reply has uniformly been that the two cases were not parallel, and that the non-conformists of England did not complain of religious instruction in the schools, and that they did not oppose the present Education act because they regarded it as bringing about a union of church and state; but that the whole difficulty grew out of the fact that the control of religious instruction was placed in the hands of the established church.

A recent number of the Literary Digest contained an article which reviewed the situation in England, and gave liberal extracts from a contribution on this subject to The North American Review from the pen of Dr. John Clifford, the London Baptist leader. Dr. Clifford sets forth the facts, and gives an interpretation of them, which shows clearly what the real issue is, and for what principle the passive resisters are standing. He says:—

At the beginning of the twentieth century Englishmen of high character and indisputable loyalty are being sent to prison for exactly the same reasons as those which were urged for committing John Bunyan to jail; for exposing Richard Baxter to the brow-beating of Judge Jeffreys and a sentence of eighteen months' incarceration; and for sending George Fox to the noisome dungeons of Carlisle and Derby, Lancaster and London.

According to the statement made by Dr. Clifford it appears that during the last year and a half nearly a hundred English freemen have been sentenced to different periods of imprisonment. One feeble old man, who had been a minister of the gospel for nearly forty years, refused to pay the tax for the maintenance of sectarian schools, and was imprisoned, “weighed and stripped, put on prison fare, and sent to a plank bed.” One preacher has been sent to jail twice. Since June, 1903, there have been about sixteen hundred cases of the public sale of the furniture, pictures, and books of those who refused to submit, and no less than forty thousand summonses have been sent forth by overseers to compel recalcitrant rate-payers to appear before the magistrates and “show cause” why they will not pay.

In giving the reasons for the present wide-spread dissatisfaction with the educational system and the refusal to pay the taxes levied for its support, Dr. Clifford states that by the act of 1870 the “national system of education was made absolutely secular,” and the principle was established that “the citizens, as

citizens, were not to pay for sectarian teaching.” The change made by the Education acts of 1902 and 1903 are thus described by Dr. Clifford:—

Those acts destroyed the school board system of 1870, and opened the doors for the control of the clerics in what had been thoroughly democratic institutions; they continue and aggravate the wrongs inflicted on the teaching profession (and on the nation) by subjecting its members to ecclesiastical tests, and inflicting an injustice on citizens by making entrance into a department of the civil service impossible except by the avowal of particular theological opinions; thus sixteen thousand head-masterships are closed against all but Anglicans. They place the sectarian schools of Anglicans and Catholics directly on the rates [that is to say, these schools are supported by general taxation]. Every citizen is forced to contribute to their up-keep. The payment of teachers, of “nuns” and “Christian Brothers,” and Anglican teachers, is derived from the rates and taxes, just as the payment of the police or of the officials of the borough councils. Furniture, books, machinery, prayer-books, crucifixes, images, light, heat, are all paid from the rates. Some of the books our money provides charge free churchmen with being “schismatics,” “heretics,” and the teachers are trained to represent to the children of free churchmen that the churches of their fathers are not “churches of Christ at all;” and that their existence is opposed to the teaching of the Scripture and to the good of the country.

In summing up the situation, Dr. Clifford says:—

We seek the total separation of churches, as churches, and clerics, as clerics, from all state education, elementary, secondary, and university. The functions of the church and state must be kept apart, in control, in cost, and in every way. Let the churches do their own work at their own cost, and as they will; and the citizens do theirs in their way and at their cost, and without the interference of the churches. That is the one and only way to educational efficiency, social harmony, and national progress.

Although the local circumstances are somewhat different, it is perfectly evident that the general issue is the same in England as has been before us in Washington—the question of the union of church and state. The non-conformists of England object to being compelled to pay for the propagation of religious views which they do not hold, and which represent them as “heretics,” and their religion as opposed to “the good of the country.” They declare that “the functions of the church and state must be kept apart,” and recommend that “the churches do their own work at their own cost.”

This is exactly the ground which has been taken by those who have protested against the introduction of religious instruction into the public schools of the District of Columbia, and the sectarian animosities and the religious persecution now in evidence in England are plainly suggestive of what we may expect in this country, if, at the demand of the church, the attempt is made to introduce religious teaching into the public schools. We agree with Dr. Clifford that the total separation of church and state in the management of the schools “is the one and only way to educational efficiency, social harmony, and national progress.”

Editorial

By Editor

A Spiritual Conference

THIS conference should be begun, continued, and ended with a deep sense of our need of the divine presence, and with earnest supplications that the Head of the church will order all things according to his own mind. “The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah,” should manifestly rest in every place of meeting, and the unseen Guest should be recognized in every gathering. Our message is the Lord’s message, our work is the Lord’s work, and our conference should be, in a special sense, the Lord’s conference, in which his leadership and complete control shall be accepted in a practical manner. On such a plan as this the conference will be lifted above the plane of a common convention, and will be a place of heavenly light and power. It will then be indeed a spiritual conference.

Our Watchword

By Editor

It seems to be a fitting time to emphasize anew our watchword, “The Advent Message to All the World in This Generation.” We are in the last of the last days. The duration of the third angel’s message is limited to one generation, and that is now largely in the past, but it is nevertheless true that this message must be proclaimed “unto every nation and tribe and tongue and people.” The time in which to complete this work is now very short, and the logic of the situation demands a most vigorous mission policy. A revival of the original advent spirit, and a practical consideration of the great extent of unworked territory “in the regions beyond,” will certainly lead to the adoption of such measures as will take more money and more laborers from America in order to carry the message more rapidly to other lands. We shall be glad to share in the renewed hope and courage which this conference may awaken in the hearts of advent believers by sounding forth with a hearty voice the appropriate watchword, “The Advent Message to All the World in This Generation.”

By Sacrifice

By L. A. S.

THERE is no easy way in which to advance the work for the salvation of souls. The progress of this work must be marked by continual sacrifice.

There was no easy way for God, omnipotent though he is, to provide for the restoration of lost humanity. He was obliged to sacrifice his only begotten Son, and he did this not without a struggle. He was called upon to endure suffering. Heaven was called upon to surrender its best Gift.

There was no easy way for Christ to carry forward the plan of salvation on the earth. No great wave of success carried him forward on its crest to the goal of his endeavors. No kings espoused his cause; no rich men poured a flood of gold into his treasury. Instead, his course was one of patient toil, of sorrow and disappointment, of enduring the contradiction of sinners against himself. The work of salvation was carried steadily forward, but it found no place of smooth, easy sailing. It moved forward step by step, unattended by anything which relieved its Author from the necessity of continual sacrifice.

As it was with the Master, so has it been with his servants. The cause of true Christianity has never become popular in the world. Its adherents have never been in the majority, have never held the reins of earthly power, or had the wealth of the world at their command. The treasury of the Lord has never been relieved of the necessity of receiving the widow’s mites. His cause has never reached a stage where any of its adherents would have no more necessity of sacrificing for its advancement.

It is nothing strange that to-day, when a great advance move is being made by the establishment of a new and more prominent headquarters for this work, this step should demand a sacrifice on the part of those giving to the world this final gospel message. It is nothing strange that no rich man has come forward with the gift of a million dollars to carry it easily over the financial obstacles. It is the worldly project that receives such gifts. No one need expect that the cause of Christ will suddenly fall heir to a worldly fortune. Its dependence is the tithes and offerings, not of a few, but of all its adherents, even to the humblest, and will be until the time is reached when it has no more use for means, and the wealth of earth’s rich men shall have turned to dross.

There is a necessity for continual sacrifice, and it is proper that it should be so. God could provide gold in any quantity, if that were all that is needed in his work; but the means to carry forward his work must come by the humble gifts of his people, not for the sake of the money itself, but of the sacrifice made in its giving, which is the measure of his people’s consecration. There is sufficient means in the cause to-day. There is abundance of means, but there is not sufficient consecration.

It would be a sad day for the cause of Christ if its adherents were now to be relieved from the necessity of sacrificing for its advancement; and it will be a sad day for those who have not done this when “our God shall come,” and from his seat upon the cloud shall call, “Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”

L. A. S.

_Songs in Season_

By W. A. S.

How an appropriate stanza of a good old hymn lifts in the prayer and social meeting. I am reminded of it by notes on an old envelope of a social meeting held one Sabbath afternoon at the foot of the Santa Cruz Mountains in the island of Jamaica. Our Jamaica brethren sing. They know our hymn-book better than we in America, I believe. Their devotional meetings are enlivened and deepened with hymns just to the point. Praise must be the keynote of the live prayer and social meeting. We praise too little. And when hearts make melody together praising God in testimony, it is good to hear the song of praise touching the very chord of the testimony before it ceases to vibrate. More attention may well be given to encouraging those who have the gift of song to freely use it for God’s glory in the prayer and social service.

We were gathered in a two-days’ general meeting at Santa Cruz. Brethren and sisters came riding and walking in from mountains and valleys. Many walked eight, ten, or twenty miles, and they came to receive a blessing. One rather frail young lady who had walked eighteen miles bore witness: “The Lord has given me strength physically and spiritually.”

One said, “I know that this is a saving message, because it saves me.” Then the hymn rang joyously out,—

“Saved to the uttermost, I am the Lord’s; Jesus, my Saviour, salvation affords.”

A brother said, “This is the very day that I used to come into this district and

drink and swear. I thank God to-day for a part in his work.” And all joined in singing praises for the changed life,—

“My Jesus, I love thee, I know thou art mine, For thee all the follies of sin I resign; My gracious Redeemer, my Saviour art thou; If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.”

Many were the thanks for the truth that had halted steps on the downward way. “God called me out of darkness into his wonderful light, and I shall never cease to thank him,” was the next note of praise sounded, and they sang,—

“The Light of the world is Jesus!”

“I have spots and wrinkles still, but I am trusting the blood of Jesus to make me whole,” said one. Then,—

“The cleansing stream I see, I see, I plunge, and O, it cleanseth me! O praise the Lord! it cleanseth me, It cleanseth me, yes, cleanseth me.”

Here, with faltering lips and swelling heart, one soul made her surrender to the truth: “I here give my life and strength, my all, to God, and ask God to take me and use me to his glory.” From all hearts burst forth the words,—

“Just as I am, thou wilt receive, Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve; Because thy promise I believe, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.”

One said, “Five years ago this truth found me, and I have never regretted that I cast in my pilgrimage with the people of God.” Some tuneful heart was ready with the hymn,—

“We’re bound for the land of the pure and the holy,”—

and how the invitation of the chorus rang out from that little meeting-house,—

“O say, will you go to the Eden above?”

That was a good meeting, and throughout the songs came instantly and naturally to lift all hearts to purer heights of love and praise. “Thirty miles’ journey is nothing to the blessings I have received at this meeting,” was one brother’s testimony. Another brother had walked sixty miles, from Falmouth, on the north coast. These brethren of Jamaica have their trials, within and without, common to us all. They bear something of scoff and scorn for the truth. But though the way may be rough, they know how to smooth it with song; and it is a blessed gift, well used. May the devotional services among us grow brighter and brighter with songs from the heart the nearer we get to the home land.

W. A. S.

Is It Anarchy to Refuse Sunday Laws?

Is it anarchy to refuse obedience and support to Sunday laws? By the following line of reasoning a bishop of the Methodist Church, Rev. J. N. Fitzgerald, attempts to show that it is:—

What is an anarchist? It is a man who defies and overrides the law. He says: “This law is not a good one, and consequently it ought not to be obeyed, and I will violate it. It is true it forbids my shooting down the president, but what care I for that? Shoot him down I will.” And the voice of the nation goes up like the voice of one man in denunciation of that man’s act.

Now why do we not follow the principle out to its logical conclusion? Why are we not consistent in our denunciation? Why is not the nation consistent? And why are not the authorities of the land consistent in this matter of anarchy? Go into any large city—go there next Sunday; ask what the law is with reference to the traffic in intoxicating drinks, and you will learn that one item of the law is that the saloon shall be closed on the Sabbath. There it is, just as positive and just as plain as it can be. Will the saloons be closed? Were they closed last Sunday? Will the law be executed next Sunday? Was it executed last Sunday? Is there not a large class of people who say, “We defy the law, and we override it; we care nothing for it; and though it forbids us to carry on this traffic on the Lord’s day, we will carry it on, nevertheless”? This is anarchy.

Now if anarchy can do that, why can’t it do the other? And, tell me, my friends, where are you going to draw the line?

This is suggestive of the line of reasoning that will be used in classing people as anarchists for their religious belief. Quiet, sober, law-abiding people will be classed with those who defy and override law, because of their opposition on conscientious grounds to the legal Sunday. The trouble with the bishop’s reasoning is that it puts the “Lord’s day” in the civil statutes, where no religious institution belongs, brings civil law into the realm of conscience, where it does not belong, and fails to recognize the saloon as a natural outlaw, which it is, and therefore as not entitled to the protection of law on any day of the week.

Read and Practice

By Peter Heylyn

READ thou, but first thyself prepare To read with zeal and mark with care; And when thou read'st what here is writ, Let thy best practise second it; So twice each precept writ shall be, First in the Book, and next in thee. — Peter Heylyn.

Note and Comment

“NEVER in the history of the pulpit,” says the Atlanta Daily Journal. “Has there been a greater call for a preacher with a message. He that can satisfy human heart hunger with spiritual bread, and spiritual thirst with the water of life, need not hesitate nor fear to preach. The crowds will flock to him.”

More and more is it becoming true as time goes on that the only spiritual bread and water for a perishing world is the message which brings to view them that “keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” More and more is the chaff of fables and speculation being fed to the people by their religious teachers; but he who preaches the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus is most emphatically a preacher with a message. Never went a greater or more definite message to the world since time began. Upon those who know this truth rests the responsibility of standing between a lost world and its doom. “Arise, shine; for thy light is come.”

The Plight of Child Laborers

ACCORDING to the Chicago Record-Herald, there are in this country, as shown by census returns, no less than 1,750,000 juvenile toilers, all compelled to work for a living. They form a part of the ten million people in the United States who, in spite of “national prosperity,” are in almost hopeless poverty. The Herald says:—

They form more than six per cent of the total number of workers in this country, the boys outnumbering the girls three to one. When it is remembered that children are largely employed in the more menial forms of unskilled labor, it will be seen that they are much more apt to be exposed to unsanitary and unhealthful conditions than are the adults. They are also less able to enforce demands for more favorable conditions in the few instances where they are intelligent enough to see the necessity for them. They constitute a helpless and pitiful army of toilers, poorly paid, robbed of childhood, and stunted in physical, mental, and moral development—a reproach to our civilization.

Religious Liberty and Free Schools

The religious schools controversy exists to-day, with some variation of form, in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain. The situation in Great Britain gives the advantage to the established church, and to this there has been “passive resistance” on the part of non-conformists. Referring to the agitation for greater religious freedom in that country, the St. Paul Pioneer Press says:—

There is really no hope for genuine and permanent religious liberty in England so long as the alliance is maintained between church and state—between anglicanism and authority. There is an absolute incompatibility between soul-freedom and the recognition by a nation, through its government, of one form of religious faith as entitled to greater consideration than another. The true route to a free-school system, such as England needs, is through a divorce of government and episcopacy. That would not only carry with it the abolition of sectarian control over the schools, but would place the disestablished church in England on the same high level of independence and usefulness that is occupied by the Protestant Episcopal Church in America. The American churches of the Anglican order are better supported, more progressive, are doing, numbers considered, a greater amount of Christian work than the government-endowed, government-ridden churches of England.

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