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Review and Herald, Vol. 81, No. 20.

Publishers’ Page

Review and Herald

May 19, 1904

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · May 19, 1904

Publishers’ Page

Conducted by the Department of Circulation of the Review and Herald Publishing Company

“A Preparatory Course”

THIS world, with its trials and temptations, with its joys and sorrows, is a school of experience, in which the actions of daily life are recorded for merit or demerit. “Education,” by Mrs. E. G. White, is a beautiful and instructive book dedicated to all in this preparatory school, to aid them in securing development and joy in service here, and a fitness for the higher course in the school of the hereafter. It is a book for the times, and is suitable for parents, teachers, and students. Price, $1.25, postpaid. Write for discount to resident canvassers.

Testimonies for the Church, Volume VIII

THIS volume of the Testimonies is now ready. It contains 350 pages, and is bound in two styles,—cloth and limp Russia leather. The prices are 75 cents and $1.25.
Inasmuch as the preface of this volume clearly reveals its importance and its contents, we quote it as follows:—
“In the preparation of another volume of ‘Testimonies for the Church,’ an effort has been made to select those things, both new and old, that would help our brethren and sisters to see where we stand in the closing conflict between the powers of light and the powers of darkness; and to comprehend the riches of the grace of God, freely provided, that we may be more than conquerors through Christ Jesus.
“The calamities that have recently befallen our largest institutions, and the efforts of some of our brethren to arouse from their drowsiness and self-serving, and to go forth into the unworked portions of the Lord’s great harvest-field, have been but imperfectly understood. In order to understand clearly our work as the people of God and the conflict in which we are engaged, we need, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to study diligently the prophecies, the experiences of the church in all ages, and the counsels given to the church in our own day.
“But few are familiar with the testimonies,—the instructions, the warnings, and the great encouragements,—given during the last fifteen years to the leading men in our conferences and institutions. For this reason it is now necessary to publish many of these testimonies, for the benefit of all the church, and especially for the guidance of our younger ministers, physicians, conference officers, and managers of institutions. These young men must come forward in large numbers to bear the burdens of the work; they will be called to pass over the same ground, and to meet the same problems and difficulties, as did those to whom the messages of instruction were first given; therefore the counsels addressed to the pioneers in the work are now published for the guidance and encouragement of these younger co-laborers.
“From a large number of manuscripts, those portions have been selected that are of general interest and importance. The readers of this book are asked to study its contents in the spirit of Christian love and fellowship, bearing in mind that we can understand aright the messages given for our guidance and edification only as we study them in the light of the love of Christ our Lord.
“With the hope that the instruction herein given may help many to understand more clearly the responsibilities and duties of the church, this book is sent forth upon its mission.”

A New Vegetarian Cook Book

WE know of no one who is better fitted to offer to the public a practical, every-day hygienic cook book than one who has engaged in the particular vocation of cookery.
Mr. E. G. Fulton, who for years has conducted a successful hygienic restaurant in San Francisco, gives to the public the full benefit of his years of experience in hygienic cookery in a volume entitled “The Vegetarian Cook Book.”
Before entering into the details of numerous recipes for all kinds of palatable, hygienic dishes, the author presents a few pages on “Good Cooking,” giving some simple, common-sense rules with reference to boiling, steaming, stewing, baking, braizing, broiling, etc., and the benefit to be derived therefrom when science and reason are combined. This alone is worth the price of the volume.
Contains over 225 pages of choice recipes, besides many helpful hints, etc.
Bound in cloth; price, postpaid, 75 cents.

New Book Now Ready—How A Little Girl Went to Africa

As Told by Herself

IN this day of “making of many books,” parents are puzzled to know what is good literature to place before their children.
“How a Little Girl Went to Africa” is written by a little Seventh-day Adventist girl—Miss Leona M. Bicknell—who went to Africa with her parents. The volume is written in her own language, and describes in a child’s way the wonders she saw on land and sea. It gives an interesting description of leaving home, boarding, a big steamer in New York, a trip across the great ocean, landing in England, sights seen in London; another ocean voyage and arrival in Africa; strange peoples, flowers, and fruits, up to Zululand, ostrich farms and diamond mines; among the Boers, etc.
This little girl evidently had a kodak with her; for she has brought back many original pictures of scenes which she saw along the way—to[o] many to enumerate in this space. These are reproduced in the book, and aid in making it a very pretty, interesting, and instructive volume.
Bound in red cloth, printed with decorations of tropical foliage. Price, postpaid, $1.

Now Owned by the Denomination

By Editor

The readers of the REVIEW will be interested to learn that the Family Bible Teacher, formerly published at Cincinnati, Ohio, has been sold to the Southern Publishing Association, so that now this publication is owned by the denomination.
For the benefit of any who may not have seen a set of the Family Bible Teacher, we will say that it is a course of printed Bible studies embracing twenty-eight lessons, each lesson being on a separate sheet of four pages. The purpose of the author was to produce a course of lessons which would take the place as nearly as possible of the living teacher. They cover the subjects usually presented in a series of lectures, or a course of oral Bible readings, and are designed particularly for house-to-house work. The price of the entire course is only ten cents, postpaid, with discount in quantities.
From the vast amount of good which these lessons are accomplishing it is evident that they are a most effectual means of giving the truth to the masses. Bible workers are finding them of inestimable help, enabling them to reach, and that effectively, hundreds of people whom they otherwise could not reach. This course of studies affords each one, no matter how weak or inexperienced, an opportunity to do real, successful work in the advancement of the message.

Order of State Tract Societies

Order of State Tract Societies; Review and Herald, Battle Creek, Mich.; Review and Herald, Washington, D. C.; Pacific Press, Oakland, Cal.; Kansas City, Mo.; Southern Publishing Assn., Nashville, Tenn.

Testimonials for Testimonies, Volume VIII

“I greet with pleasure the copy of “Testimonies,” Vol. VIII, for its intrinsic spiritual value, and its material make-up, which is certainly just to my liking.
A. E. PLACE, Pres. Cent. N. E. Conf.
Please accept my sincere thanks for Volume VIII. I have already classified some of the important truths found therein. Our students have bought sixty copies of the “Story of Daniel,” and we are studying it in class, and will undoubtedly take up Volume VIII in the same way when we finish “Daniel.”
Your brother, DAVID PAULSON.
Your letter of the 14th inst. in regard to “Testimonies,” Vol. VIII, is at hand, and you will please accept our thanks for the same. We will give notice of it in our State paper. We trust that it may be a great help to our people, especially at this time.
Wishing you abundant success in your work, we remain, Yours for the Master, N. P. NEILSEN.
I have been reading the volume you sent. It will be a great pleasure to me to write something in behalf of it for the Watchman.
Most sincerely yours, GEO. I. BUTLER, Pres. Southern Union Conference.

Editorial

By Editor

A Call to Repentance

To the church of the last generation, the church which will welcome her blessed Lord at his coming, the counsel of “the Faithful and True Witness” is, “I counsel thee to buy of me gold refined by fire, that thou mayest become rich; and white garments, that thou mayest clothe thyself, and that the shame of thy nakedness be not made manifest; and eyesalve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I reprove and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.” This is the last and the most urgent call to repentance. Of those who heed this call and obey this counsel it will be said, “Here is the steadfastness of the saints, they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” The shortness of the time before it will be too late to repent emphasizes the danger, always great enough, of putting off a genuine and heartfelt repentance for sin and the acceptance of the forgiveness now so freely offered. The fact that we are now so near to the time when the angel of mercy will take her flight, never to return, gives double weight to these solemn words: “Beware of procrastination. Do not put off the work of forsaking your sins, and seeking purity of heart through Jesus. . . . There is a terrible danger—a danger not sufficiently understood—in delaying to yield to the pleading voice of God’s Holy Spirit, in choosing to live in sin; for such this delay really is. . . . Even one wrong trait of character, one sinful desire, persistently cherished, will eventually neutralize all the power of the gospel. . . . In all the Bible there is not a more fearful warning against trifling with evil than the words of the wise man, that the sinner ‘shall be holden with the cords of his sins.’ To every half-hearted, professed believer, who is really no believer at all, these words of warning are now spoken, “Be zealous therefore, and repent.” “Repent ye therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord; and that he may send the Christ who hath been appointed for you, even Jesus.” A repentant church will hasten the coming of Jesus.

Doubt — Defeat — Despair

THERE are only three steps between a good Christian experience and a hopeless condition of the soul. The first is doubt, the second is defeat, the third is despair. The first step, unless it is retraced, involves the last step. Giant Despair still dwells in Doubting Castle. We may frequently recall with profit the inscription which Christian and Hopeful engraved upon the pillar which they set up at the point where they departed from the narrow path: “Over this stile is the way to Doubting Castle, which is kept by Giant Despair, who despiseth the King of the celestial country, and seeks to destroy his holy pilgrims.” Their experience in Doubting Castle cost the poor pilgrims much suffering, until Christian in despair said: “For my part I know not whether is best, to live thus, or to die out of hand. ‘My soul chooseth strangling rather than life,’ and the grave is more easy for me than this dungeon.” It was only when Christian remembered that he had a key called Promise, which, he was persuaded, would open any lock in Doubting Castle, that they regained their liberty. Doubting Thomas escaped from becoming Despairing Thomas only because he was led to say, “My Lord and my God.” Doubting Peter was saved from drowning simply because “Jesus stretched forth his hand, and took hold of him.” We must avoid the first step toward despair by maintaining a steadfast faith in Jesus. “Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with steadfastness the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith.” “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” “Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Remember Past Mercies

WHEN trials are sore, and difficulties are on every side, we are sometimes tempted to think that God has forgotten to be gracious. We overlook the fact that the mercy of the Lord endureth forever, and that he can not deny himself. When the accuser of our God suggests these wicked doubts to us, it will renew our faith and confidence if we call to mind past experiences where the Lord has shown his marvelous loving-kindness to us. We can all go back in the pathway of life to a place where we, like Samuel of old, have set up a stone, “and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath Jehovah helped us.” With the psalmist we can say: “I will make mention of the deeds of Jehovah; for I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also upon all thy work, and muse on thy doings.” With the recollection of past mercies comes the assurance that the Lord does not change, and that he has the same thoughts of mercy toward us in the present trial as when there was the most marked evidence of his gracious dealing with us. The clouds do not blot out the sun, and trials do not cast down God from his throne of grace.
“Each day reveals his constant love, With ‘mercies new’ from heav’n above; Through ages past his Word has stood; O, taste and see that he is good! His mercy flows, an endless stream, To all eternity the same.”
Then, “Bless Jehovah, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” “Let us look to the monumental pillars, reminders of what the Lord has done to comfort us and to save us from the hand of the destroyer. Let us keep fresh in our memory all the tender mercies that God has shown us,—the tears he has wiped away, the pains he has soothed, the anxieties removed, the fears dispelled, the wants supplied, the blessings bestowed, thus strengthening ourselves for all that is before us through the remainderof our pilgrimage.” Remember the “exceeding great and precious promises.”
“When thy soul is dark and clouded, Filled with doubt, and grief, and care, Through the mists by which ’tis shrouded, I will make the light appear, And the banner Of my love I will uprear.”

Paul at Athens and Paul at Corinth

WHILE the apostle Paul waited a few days at Athens for some of his brethren to join him, “his spirit was provoked within him as he beheld the city full of idols.” His surroundings and experience have been clearly set forth in the following language:—
The city of Athens was the metropolis of heathendom. Paul did not here meet with an ignorant, credulous populace, as at Lystra; but he encountered a people famous for their intelligence and education. Statues of their gods and the deified heroes of history and poetry met the eye in every direction; while magnificent architecture and paintings also represented the national glory and the popular worship of heathen deities. . . .
Paul was not deceived by the grandeur and beauty of that which his eyes rested upon, nor by the material wisdom and philosophy which encountered him in this great center of learning. He perceived that human art had done its best to deify vice and make falsehood attractive by glorifying the memory of those whose whole lives had been devoted to leading men to deny God.
The apostle Paul at once began his work of seeking to reach this people with the message which had been entrusted to him to give to them. “So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the market-place every day with them that met him.” This led to the invitation to address the people on Mars Hill, where “the most solemn court of justice had long been held to determine upon criminal cases, and to decide difficult religious questions.” In his discourse upon this memorable occasion the great apostle spoke “with earnest and fervid eloquence,” and “in the most impressive manner.” He “ably exposed the fallacies of the religion of the Athenians. The wisest of his hearers were astonished as they listened to his reasoning. His words could not be controverted. . . . The people were carried away with admiration of Paul’s eloquence.”
The fruit of this effort was not large, although “certain men clave unto him, and believed: among whom also was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.” We do not read, however, of the establishment of a church in this city.
After this experience Paul “departed from Athens, and came to Corinth,” “Athens was the acknowledged center of art and learning; Corinth, the seat of government and trade. . . . The city was almost wholly given up to idolatry. Venus was the favorite goddess; and a great number of dissolute women were employed in connection with the worship of this reigning deity, for the purpose of attracting the devotees of popular vice. The Corinthians had become conspicuous, even among the heathen, for their gross immorality.”
The apostle himself describes the method which he followed in his effort to turn these people to the true and the living God. “And I, brethren, when I came unto you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”
This change in his way of dealing with the people was adopted after considering the result of his work at Athens. “While in the latter place, he had adapted his style to the character of his audience; and much of his time had been devoted to the discussion of natural religion, matching logic with logic, and science with science. But when he reviewed the time and labor which he had there devoted to the exposition of Christianity, and realized that his style of teaching had not been productive of much fruit, he decided upon a different plan of labor in the future. He determined to avoid elaborate arguments and discussions of theories as much as possible, and to urge upon sinners the doctrine of salvation through Christ. . . . The apostle did not labor to charm the ear with oratory, nor to engage the mind with philosophic discussions, which would leave the heart untouched. He preached the cross of Christ, not with labored eloquence of speech, but with the grace and power of God; and his words moved the people.” A strong church was established at Corinth, for “many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.”
There is a lesson of importance in this experience of the apostle Paul. Large natural gifts and the training of the schools are greatly to be desired, and the logic of natural religion can not be successfully disputed, but it is not enough to instruct or to convince the intellect. There must be genuine repentance for sin and a yielding of the heart to the Lord. There must be genuine sorrow for sin and a turning from it. When Christ is lifted up, and the power of his cross works upon the heart and conscience, a transforming influence takes hold upon the whole being, and there is a new creation.
There is need to-day of the faithful preaching of Christ and his cross. The eloquence of the orator, the logic of the powerful reasoner, and the philosophy of the scientist do not change the natural heart, nor provide a barrier against sin. The new birth is more than an acknowledgment that there is a creative power and an infinite Intelligence revealed in the things that are made. “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness.” The sinfulness of sin and the saving grace of Christ need to be enforced by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus are souls won for the kingdom.

Organizing to Advance Spiritualism

By L. A. S.

In a new book by Dr. I. K. Funk, the well-known New York publisher and temperance lecturer, relating to “psychic phenomena” which have come under his observation, the author describes an interview which he had face to face with the “disembodied spirit” of Henry Ward Beecher, which appeared in visible form and spoke in an audible voice. Some circumstances which led up to this interview were related in the New York dailies at the time of their occurrence, about one year ago, but the account of this interview and the conversation connected with it have never been given before. The facts previously related are that Dr. Funk had in his possession an ancient coin of considerable value, known as the “Widow’s Mite,” which had belonged to Mr. Beecher. Dr. Funk had borrowed this coin from a friend of Mr. Beecher to use in making an engraving for the Standard Dictionary, and supposed it had been returned; but at a spiritualistic séance to which he had gone by invitation, he was told by one of the mediums that the coin was still in his possession, and that Mr. Beecher wished it returned, information being further given that the coin was in a drawer of Dr. Funk’s safe, under a pile of papers. Search was made, and the coin was found in the place described by the medium, though no one associated with Dr. Funk had any knowledge of its whereabouts. It was clearly a case of correct information coming from a supernatural source.
Shortly afterward occurred the face-to-face interview between Dr. Funk and the alleged spirit of Mr. Beecher. In his book Dr. Funk gives this account of it:—
In a circle in New York, shortly after “The Widow’s Mite” incident, I was called up to the cabinet, it having been announced that Mr. Beecher was present and wished to speak to me.
Sure enough, when the curtains were parted, there was the Beecher face, wonderfully lifelike.
“Doctor,” said a deep, husky voice—all the spirit voices at this particular circle are peculiarly husky, except those of the three controls—“I am glad to talk to you in this way. I and others here wish you to organize on your side, and we shall organize on our side, for an effort to bring about conditions that will make it easy for us to come in a visible form and talk to you face to face. If we shall be able to do this, it will greatly tend to bring to an end all thought of materialism on earth, and will lift the world to a much higher plane of thought and action. Do not put this by lightly; it means much to the world.
“Do you see my face clearly?” He drew the curtains back, and the face was turned full toward the dim light. “It is with great difficulty that we come back into visible form. You have no adequate thought of the nature, the largeness, and the complexity of the difficulties that must be surmounted by the spiritual world in order to return in this way, but we can surmount these fully, so our scientific leaders assure us. We have surmounted them in part; your side can largely help by supplying the proper thought and heart conditions. Do not smile when we speak of magnetism and vibrations and waves. There is such a thing as mind or soul ether. To this ether your thought and feeling and will and ours are disturbing and controlling forces—very real. You must study on your side these psychic forces and their laws.
“I can not hold longer the force by which I have come—watch me closely.”
The image, or whatever it was, slowly sank to the floor and then disappeared. Before it sank, a hand was placed upon my shoulder. The hand was substantial—very human. What was it?
Dr. Funk sent a statement of the “Widow’s Mite” incident to noted psychologists in all parts of the civilized world, requesting their opinion regarding its significance, a list of these authorities, with answers received, being given in the appendix of his book. The nearest approach to uniformity in these replies is that four or five agree in an endeavor to account for the facts on the theory of “subconscious faculties,”—a theory which is itself quite as much in need of explanation as that which it seeks to explain. The utter helplessness of human science in the face of the phenomena of modern Spiritualism is a striking fact. There is no safeguard to be had from it against the grossest error. God’s Word alone is the safeguard. “His truth shall be thy shield and buckler.”
The import of the statements made to Dr. Funk by this spirit intelligence is to be viewed in the light of Scripture prophecies concerning the development of Spiritualism in these last days. If it is true that an organized movement is about to be started under which a new impetus is to be given to communication between the living and the alleged spirits of the dead, and the public convinced of the reality of spiritualist manifestations, then indeed it is true that what was told to Dr. Funk at this spirit interview “means much to the world.”
L. A. S.

Transfer of the Pacific Health Journal

By Editor

At the recent session of the Pacific Union Conference the following action was taken:—
Whereas, There is need of a low-priced, popular health journal, on which all our people can unite in giving a large circulation; and,—
Whereas, It should bear such a general name, and be published in such a place, as will make it a representative of the whole field; therefore,—
We recommend, (a) That our brethren at Washington, D. C., be invited to publish such a journal, and that we pledge it our hearty support; and (b) that the Pacific Health Journal be offered to the Review and Herald of Washington, D. C., and that they be invited to change its name and make-up as they may deem necessary to accomplish the purpose mentioned above.
In harmony with these recommendations arrangements have been perfected for the transfer of the Pacific Health Journal by the California Medical Association, the present publishers, to the Review and Herald Publishing Association of this city, and the magazine will be published here, beginning with the July number.
The June number of the Journal will contain the following announcement:—
In view of the transfer of the Pacific Health Journal by the present publishers to the Review and Herald Publishing Association of Washington, D. C., it seems proper that at least a brief statement should appear in this issue concerning the plans for the future of the magazine.
It is the purpose of the new publishers to make the magazine a worthy exponent of the true principles of health and temperance reform in their broadest application to the physical and spiritual welfare of the people. We intend to make the instruction simple and practical, dealing with those questions which enter so largely into the common experiences of the home life, seeking to stimulate the desire for the better way of living, and to impart as much help as possible in the application of right principles.
As the home of the magazine will now be removed from the Pacific coast, and as it is the intention of the publishers to give it a general circulation, it has seemed advisable to change the name, adopting one which would be more in harmony with the changed circumstances.
The magazine will hereafter contain thirty-two pages, besides the advertising pages, and cover. It will be divided into appropriate departments and suitably illustrated. The price will remain as heretofore, five cents a copy or fifty cents a year.
We are confident that all the past friends of the magazine will be pleased to know that Dr. G. H. Heald will be retained on the editorial staff.
All the present subscribers to the Pacific Health Journal will receive the magazine under its new name for the full term of their paid subscriptions.
We invite the co-operation of all who are interested in the advancement of the principles for which this magazine stands, and pledge our earnest effort to make it worthy of their continued support.
REVIEW AND HERALD PUB. ASSN.
222 N. Capitol St., Washington, D. C.

Note and Comment

How swiftly things are moving in this day of the Lord's preparation, and the world is being hurried on to the final consummation for which creation longs, we may be helped to realize by such statements as these from a recent editorial in the New York Times:—
One modern iron and steel plant at Hamilton, Ontario, bases a claim to distinction on the fact that it bought and reworked the iron of the steamship “Great Eastern,” which in its day was the largest ship in the world; the material of the original Niagara Suspension Bridge, which for many years was the only span crossing the Niagara River; the iron of the Victoria Tubular Bridge, at Montreal, which in its day was one of the wonders of the world, and that ofthe once famous and record-breaking Atlantic liner “City of Rome.” This old material was worked over into bar iron, and was largely consumed in the construction of agricultural implements.
Verily, the fashion of this world passeth away. For many of us these great achievements of engineering skill are remembered as contemporaneous events, which seemed to mark the limitations of human effort in their several directions. As compared with the commonplaces of to-day, they are scarcely of historical interest.

The True Basis of Unity

UNITY is a most desirable thing, and is the mark of genuine Christianity. Real unity, however, is more than the outward appearance of agreement, and it is not attained by compromising principles. To yield the truth in order to maintain the appearance of unity is to sacrifice both the truth and unity. The safe and lasting platform for Christian unity is the platform of the truth as it is in Jesus.
These principles are clearly stated in the following extract from “Gospel Workers,” page 391:—
Jesus prayed for his disciples, “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.” Just before, he said, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” And he had given them the promise, “When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth.” Through the Holy Spirit, Christ will open more clearly to those who will believe on him that which he has inspired holy men to write concerning the truth. And it is thus that the unity for which Christ prayed is to be effected. We are to receive sanctification through obedience to the word and the Spirit of truth. We can not surrender the truth in order to accomplish this union; for the very means by which it is gained is sanctification through the truth. Human wisdom would change all this, thinking this basis of union too narrow. Men would effect a union through conformity to popular opinions, through a compromise with the world. But truth is God’s basis for the unity of his people.
Those who depart from the truth are responsible for any lack of unity which may result therefrom, and the only way to secure unity again is to renounce error and accept the truth. These principles are just as valuable for practise among Seventh-day Adventists as for preaching to other people.

Japan’s Victory Over Russia

THE spectacle of an army of Asiatics, equipped with the military product of the most advanced civilization, attacking and utterly routing an army of Caucasians representing one of the world's foremost military powers, overmatching them not only in fighting ability but in strategy as well, is a strange one, without a parallel in modern history. It is a spectacle that jars upon the nerves of Europe. It casts a distinct shadow over the cherished program for the partitioning of China; that may prove a much less agreeable task than was anticipated. In all probability China will be ready to throw herself into the arms of Japan for protection against the Western powers, and under Japanese leadership a formidable military power may be developed within that hitherto defenseless empire. There is reason to believe that the Chinese, if well armed and well led, would become formidable fighters.
Not alone in China, however, but throughout all Asia, the dissipating of the idea of Western invincibility, which will naturally follow from the news of Japan's success against Russia, is calculated to have an effect that will cause much trouble in the future relations of Asiatic powers with the powers of Europe.
There are plain reasons for Russia's loss of prestige. The elements of national weakness in the Russian empire are having their legitimate effect. Russia is an intemperate nation; she is now learning that vodka and victories do not go together. The Japanese, on the other hand, are temperate. The Russians are ignorant; the Japanese are intelligent. The Russians are ruled by an autocracy, and are under a despotism which crushes out the elements of manhood, fills the country with nihilists, and inspires hatred of the government rather than love. The Japanese, on the other hand, are almost to a man animated by a strong devotion to their sovereign, the mikado, and their patriotism is not chilled by an autocracy. In the light of these facts, the result of the war thus far is not very different from what might have been expected.

Institute for Hypnotism Study

SOME person of wealth has offered a sum of money for the purpose of endowing a clinic for the treatment of disease by hypnotism. Professor Hyslop, of Columbia University, gave this information recently to a New York Sun reporter, and said that he favored such an endowment for several reasons. In surgical work its use would, he said, be preferable to the use of drugs, experiments having shown that under hypnotic suggestion there was less loss of blood under the surgeon’s knife, besides which the danger from the use of drugs was eliminated. But it is not merely to provide for the use of hypnotism that this institute is planned, he said, but to study its nature and that of all kindred phenomena. “There are,” he said, “collateral branches of the subject that are of intense interest, and of which there has been a lack of specialized study. The whole subject of abnormal mental phenomena would fall within the scope of the institute planned. There is the matter of apparitions of the dead, hallucinations, and loss of personal identity. This matter of forgetfulness of identity is very common. . . . This whole subject of hypnotism, with its kindred abnormal mental conditions, is one that should be specially studied, and, unfortunately, is not so studied. It is to develop that study that we are hoping to found the institute for which we already have a nucleus in the way of a fund conditionally pledged.”
The investigation and use of this new and unknown force which has the effect of paralyzing certain functions of the mind, putting one mind wholly under the control of another mind, may promise much good, but it is to be remembered that the human race has been cursed by some things that promised to confer great benefit on it. Whisky, for example, was at one time hailed as almost a panacea for the ills of the flesh, but it has proved to be one of the chief causes of human ills. There is great gain, the Bible assures us, in subjecting our human minds to the mind of God, the Great Physician, “who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;” but there is great peril in such domination of mind over mind as hypnotism presents.

Ignorance of the Bible

NEVER were Bibles so numerous in the world as they are to-day, yet in spite of this fact there is evidently an increasing ignorance of the sacred writings on the part of those who have the readiest access to them. Those who are devoting their time to the acquisition of knowledge—the students in the higher schools and universities—often give evidence that the Bible is to them almost an unknown book. On this point a Washington paper recently published the following:—
President Remsen, of Johns Hopkins University, made an experiment the other day. He asked a large class of students the origin of the phrase about the leopard’s spots. Only one student knew precisely where it originated, and he was studying for the ministry. The others ascribed it to various sources. Some thought it was a popular proverb, and one was sure it came out of Kipling.
Thus while there is to-day the greatest opportunity for light that has ever been, because of the unprecedented multiplication and distribution of Bibles, it is true, as the prophecy foretold, that darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the people.
Continue reading: L. A. S