THE last days are characterized as having a class of religionists who are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. See 2 Tim. 3: 1-5. Note the eighteen different sins there mentioned as characterizing this class. And yet it is said of them that they have a "form of godliness." As a fulfilment of this, we note the following from a despatch dated St. Louis, June 3:
Methodist ministers were severely arraigned for lacking grit and nerve to apply discipline as to worldly amusements, and were charged with having permitted a Salome dance to be put on at a recent entertainment at Soldan high school. The one who made the charge was Wm. O. Andrews, a layman, president of the Andrews Agency and of the William O. Andrews Grain Company. Some one corrected the "Salome" to "Ruth St. Dennis;" and Mr. Andrews replied: "Anyhow, the dance was so bad that the modest girls had to hang their heads in shame while it was going on. This is just to show you the limit to which we have fallen. And yet you permit this to go on in our public schools."
Mr. Andrews denounced the "folk" dance taught in the schools, and said: "All this business is taught our children whether we want it or not. One of the deaconesses told me they were even teaching these 'folk' dances at the Methodist training school, and I understand they are being taught at one of the Christian associations here. They call it physical culture, but all the steps are there. I could go any night and throw a rock into a vaudeville house and hit the scalps of not less than half a dozen Methodist stewards, and I know that if you want to speak to a certain pastor here after eight o'clock you will have to ring him up at the moving-picture show. Methodists used to stand pat against these things. Is it possible, gentlemen, that so many of your people disregard the rules, that you are afraid to make public utterance against them?"
At the same meeting a minister, Rev. A. H. Gadby, declared that the "amusement dope is just as great a narcotic as morphin, and such things as these ought to arouse the devotion and earnestness of every true child of God." In almost the words of another, the Christian in these days should draw zeal from others' apathy, courage from others' coldness, and loyalty from others' treason.
— ** —
Charity Forsooth
By Editor
Charity Forsooth.—Here is a sample of several utterances of Edwin A. Brown, a sociologist of Denver, quoted in Mature Medicine of April:
"The churches do nothing for the penniless man. The saloons feed him and give him shelter from the pitiless winter storms."
To which we only need to remark that in nine cases out of ten the penniless man is a product of the saloons, and in sheltering him—oftener he is kicked out—the saloon is but returning a small part of what drink has taken from him. The whisky organization ought to pension the wrecks they have made. Charities of various sorts would have no reason to exist were it not for the saloon.
What Will Be the Outcome?
By C. L. Taylor
Reforming the State
FOR many years the "Signs of the Times" has continued to point out the fact that the great Protestant churches of America have been inclined to side-step from the narrow way and work of purely spiritual life and Gospel preaching and teaching, to engage in the questionable callings of reforming society and saving the State. The dangers of this course, together with the final results, have also been clearly indicated.
Certainly no one will now question that this inclination on the part of Protestants has at last crystallized into open, actual fact, and that Protestantism, so called, is now a real element of American political life.
Yes, the church of Christ has stepped down into the common arena of every-day affairs, and is now grappling with the great questions which agitate the secular world. It would seem that she has done so not only because she herself has had the unnatural longing, but because society has challenged her to broaden the sphere of her activities. Accused of cold formality, of unfeeling aristocracy, of lifeless theory, she has found it impossible to resist the temptation to popularize herself. In answer to the question, "Can any religion really live that does not apply itself frankly to every side of human life — business, industry, banking, tenement houses, land owning, in short the WHOLE of life?" she has resolved to make her personality felt at whatever cost, and demands of her ministers that they make the pulpit a power in politics, — local, State, national, world-wide.
THE CONFLICT OF THE AGES
A Radical Departure
Upon this new field, upon this "new evangelism," as it is termed, the church has entered. She has accepted as axiomatic the theory advanced by one of our leading writers, that "the churches have concerned themselves too exclusively with personal salvation — the saving of individuals; they have lacked social vision." She has adopted, once more, the old page-papal teaching that "there are two great entities in human life — the human soul and the human race — and religion is to save both. The soul is to seek righteousness and eternal life; the race is to seek righteousness and the kingdom of God." She now holds that "the work of social reconstruction . . . is the fundamental purpose of Christianity." With the greatest of enthusiasm she seeks to attain the object that "the American church will be the great religious body animating the American democracy."
On a large scale this "new evangelism" has just recently been undertaken. The visible net results to date are summed up by Ray Stannard Baker as consisting of "parish houses and gymnasiums, bowling-alleys and club rooms, carpenter shops, shooting-galleries, and dance halls. . . . Never before in history, perhaps, was there such a variety of church-saving experiments going forward." One church, the Christ Presbyterian, of New York, conducts kindergartens, clubs, and classes, giving instruction in "carpentry, sewing, cooking, typewriting, and basketry. To provide for the amusement which human nature will have (in the saloon, if not in the church)," this same church provides "billiard-tables, a bowling-alley, a shooting-gallery, a gymnasium and baths, and a room for games," and "other entertainments, including social dances."
In the Field of Politics
This illustrates that the church means to put into practise her new-found faith. She is really putting forth herculean efforts to save society, to reform that imaginary entity known as "the human race." She is in the political domain, and has already won for herself the admiration and respect of the very large class of politicians whose greatest ambition is to stand well in the eyes of the multitude, and who need only the quiet threat of the lobbyist to bring them to terms.
What It Means
And now the question found at the head of this article: What will be the outcome? What does this mean to the church, and what does it mean to the nation?
It must not be forgotten that the distinctive field of operation now chosen by the Protestant bodies of America is pre-eminently the peculiar property of the Church of Rome. For many centuries she has owned and occupied the ground, and has been acknowledged by nearly all nations of earth as the originator and consistent supporter of the doctrine that the church, by divine right and call, must interest herself in all matters, both divine and human. It is well known that the Roman Church was once a temporal as well as a spiritual power, and that ever since the days of Victor Emmanuel, who wrested from her the last of her Italian possessions, she has ardently longed and labored for the restoration of her lost world dominion.
Now, when the American Protestant churches accept the dogma that they, either singly or collectively, are to step into the realm of secular affairs, and seek to reform and control society, and aim at making the American church "the great religious body animating the American democracy," they are simply approximating the Roman Catholic principles, and rob themselves of all power of defense against the workings of that church.
Roman Catholic Success
Roman Catholic principles mean Roman Catholic success, even tho they be carried out by Protestants. Every day that Protestantism takes its stand on the Roman platform, it must cherish the spirit, give the message, and do the work favorable to the Roman cause; and Rome knows it, and rejoices in it.
The fact that the attitude and general spirit of the Protestant bodies of America are peculiarly in harmony with the Roman Catholic position, gives to that church a boldness which she has never before shown. She sees that Protestantism has lost its real life and power to protest, and that, in fact, it is working along her own lines. She therefore does not hesitate to announce openly and strongly that the United States is now a Roman Catholic country. In other words, she sees that Protestants, generally speaking, are intrinsically Roman Catholic in belief and practise, and she may thus safely count them as of her fold.
Powerless to Oppose
Of course, Protestants still pride themselves on being opposed to Roman Catholicism. One writer has said (in "Watson's Magazine"), "Why not let Italy remain Roman Catholic, and Cuba remain Roman Catholic, and South America remain Roman Catholic, until we have called home all our workers, concentrated all of our energies, and put Roman Catholicism to rout in our native land?" But how shall Protestants do this when equipped only with Rome's weapons? So long as they believe in and practise the doctrine of the church in politics; so long as they make the preaching of the Gospel subservient to the work of reforming11society; so long as they cherish the false teachings of Rome concerning the Sunday sabbath; so long as they seek to interfere in purely worldly and secular affairs; so long as they continue to surrender the very positions for which the Reformers fought and died, and in defense of which they gained the NAME 'Protestant;'—so long as Protestants shall thus continue to invalidate their own claims, they have no right even to profess to oppose Roman Catholicism.
A Mistress of Diplomacy
As a system of clever, consummate diplomacy, the Roman hierarchy has no superior. For ages she has played the game of politics, and into this American contest she is introducing her most subtle powers. So-called Protestants may attempt to play an opposing part, but they will find themselves outwitted and outplayed at every point. Rome knows this so well that even now she is complacently and composedly waiting until these simpler minds have turned everything into her hands.
To illustrate, take one part of the present Protestant political program. The federated churches of America have announced their intention of securing a national law compelling all our citizens to observe the Sunday as a religious rest day. They have been and are now literally besieging our national legislature to bring this about. But in doing so, they are only doing what the Church of Rome really inspires. Sunday is the great papal holiday and false sabbath. She herself once exalted it into law in the old world, and persecuted and put to death those who denied her claims. She believes in religion by law. And what must be her rejoicing to see professed Protestants acting the Roman Catholic part and carrying through the two-fold part of exalting Sunday and enforcing religion by law! Why should she not claim all as hers, and consider our country "the favorite daughter of the church"? No wonder Cardinal Vannutelli believes that "Catholicism has here made more wonderful strides than anywhere else in the world."
What the outcome of this great apostasy of Protestants will be is easily seen. God's Word has said that "all the world wondered after the beast"—that system of Church and State found in the Papacy. The United States is heading the procession back toward the Dark Ages, and so great is its influence that nothing shall be able to stop the movement. As a matter of fact, there is so little REAL Protestantism now left that it is a question whether the procession may not already have reached the Vatican.
Here and there are to be found those who protest truly against the whole iniquitous business of Romanizing our Protestant church work. However, they are so largely in the minority that their voices are unheeded, and their messages serve only to hasten on the multitude to accomplish the final nullification of the principles for which the Protestant religion has stood.
Roman Catholic principles will one day fully and finally control the politics, the religion, the people of America, and all because Protestantism gave these into her hand. The die has been cast.
Where will you stand in that day?
C. L. TAYLOR.
Texas Fly-Killing Contest
Flies are so bad in Texas that the people have had a fly-killing contest. The prize of $10.00 was won by one boy who killed 484,320. During the contest 1,250,000 pests were destroyed.
Deaths from the Great Heat Wave
According to the "Washington Post" of July 6, more than 500 lives are to be charged to the great heat wave of July 1 to 5, 1911, and the number of prostrations it is impossible to compute.
The Magazine Trust
By Editor
It is now declared that many of the magazines that have been so hot against the trusts and have posed as reformers, dedicating their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to incessant war against all trusts, are themselves members of a trust, and conducting their business under transgression of the Sherman anti-trust law. The Government has brought suit against what is alleged to be an unlawful combination and conspiracy to restrain interstate trade and foreign commerce in magazines and other periodicals. The defendants are the Periodical Clearing House, Doubleday, Page & Co., Crowell Publishing Co., S. S. McClure Co., Current Literature Co., Phillips Publishing Co., Harper Brothers, Leslie Judge Co., Review of Reviews Co., International Magazine Co., New Publication Co., Butterick Publishing Co., Standard Fashion Co., New Idea Publishing Co., Ridgway Co., American Home Magazine Co., Short Stories Co. Ltd. The petition declares that the clearing-house destroys competition with the clubbing business by coercing all the principal subscription agencies in the country into making contracts with it, and to enforce this a system of fines was worked, and recalcitrant agents have been in peril of losing all the business of the associated magazines. But the president of the magazine clearing-house, it is only fair to say, declares that it is merely an association of periodical publishers formed "for the purpose of maintaining fair and equitable conditions among the subscription agencies, never having sought to increase prices, but has pursued the directly opposite policy to avoid reductions from the regular subscription to the point of demoralization." He declares that they have done everything that law-abiding citizens could do, first to find out what the law was, and secondly to follow it carefully. By some it is thought that the Government has been stirred up to prosecute these magazines because of their war against the Government position on the postal rates.
Religious Persecution in Russia
Intolerance in Russia seems to be growing. It was thought that there would be freedom under the new régime, but it seems that it has been nearly withdrawn. Our own people have suffered much the last year or so, and the Baptists are also persecuted. In a recent meeting held in New York, experience was given by a number of Russians of what they had themselves suffered. One man who accepted the Baptist faith when he was thirty-eight years old, having considered Baptists "crazy" previous to that, told how he was banished to Transcaucasia, his property all confiscated, his family broken up and the members scattered hundreds of miles apart. He was loaded with heavy chains and told that he would be set free and all his rights restored if he would renounce the Baptists' religion. That failing, he was subjected to harsher treatment, scourged and beaten until his body was a mass of welts, and while half dead offered freedom. Every morning for nine long years he was brought to the chief of police. He finally was released on condition that he leave the country.
Another man told of the Siberian chain-gangs in which he was placed, and thirty-one different prisons in which he served, simply because he was a Baptist; and others suffered about the same degree. And yet Russia is called a Christian country, and there are people in this land who wish to make America a Church-and-State country — religion by law. If we want to know how it works out, let us look to Russia. It would seem as tho every Baptist in America would repudiate that for which their church federation is working.
Colored Japanese Tea
The American prohibition of the importation of colored Japanese tea is a severe blow to Japan. The Japanese color the tea-leaves in order to make them uniform, but it is really considered an unhygienic practise. A Japanese paper declares that it must be abandoned or the tea market in America is ruined. Prussian blue is used for the coloring. Of course it is not wholesome, nor is the tea itself. It would be better if each individual who is a tea-drinker would prohibit himself from using tea, of any kind. It certainly is not needed; at the very best it is an expensive luxury, and in fact a health and nerve destroyer.
The Sane Fourth
By Editor
There is very much in the papers over "the sane Fourth." Accidents this year are very much less than in years past. The cities throughout the country are more and more coming to restrict the use of explosives and bring the sports and celebrations within the danger line. It has resulted in many less accidents and fires. In fact, the fire is about three fifths of what it was last year. There were 24 killed and 881 injured this year, as against 28 killed and 1,785 injured last year, and 44 killed and 2,361 injured in 1909. The year previous to that 56 were killed. Of the 24 killed this year 12 were due to fireworks, 7 to firearms, 2 to gunpowder, and 3 to toy pistols. The last ought to be utterly abolished.
Prosperity and the Labor Question
The fiscal year just closed has been a prosperous one to the country as a whole. There is a thirty-three million dollar surplus in the national treasury, one billion eight hundred million dollars cash in the treasury vaults. There were two billion fifty-seven million dollars in exports, and large crops. Credit is good, as shown by the sale of fifty million dollars' worth of three per cent Panama Canal bonds. The New York Times declares that "in bulk never was there such ample provision for filling stomachs and freight-cars. There will be all that either men or animals can eat, and at prices enabling them to eat it." But that will depend on how many of the great institutions employing labor are running.
Forest Fires in Canada
There are fearful forest fires raging in Canada. It is said that hundreds have been lost in the blazing forests of Ontario, Canada. Already two hundred men were trapped in one mine. It is possible that some of them are alive, but it is thought that they are suffocated. Fifteen were driven into a lake and drowned. Three towns were completely destroyed. Fifty, it is said, are known to have lost their lives in the forest fire.
National Education Association Meeting
At the National Education Association held in San Francisco the insurgents carried things by storm. The new president-elect is Prof. Carroll G. Pearse, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; the treasurer, Katherine Deveraux Blake, of New York. Mrs. Ella Flagg-Young was elected first vice-president, and there are eleven other vice-presidents. Moral teaching in the public school was endorsed.
Photographing Halley’s Comet
It is a record photograph when such a traveler as Halley's comet can be caught 500,000,000 miles away. But that is what Astronomer Curtis of the Lick Observatory did with the Crossley reflector in the last days of May. He repeatedly found it where it was predicted it would be.
New Steel Merger
By Editor
It is said that there is a new steel merger under way now, a two million dollar combination uniting the Seattle Steel Co. and the San Francisco and Portland mills and the Doak Sheet and Steel Co. This, we suppose, will become a fraction of the great international steel trust.
Aviation Speed Record
The most rapid traveling machine invented by man is said to be the flying-machine. Vedrine, the French aviator, recently flew at a rate of 155 miles an hour, or over 2½ miles a minute. Of course the motor can not account for this wholly, because he was in a storm wind.
Five Hundred Million Dollar Auto Merger
Among other combinations is noted a five hundred million dollar auto merger; at least, it is rumored that several big automobile manufacturers and the largest tire combination will soon be controlled by a holding company, capitalized at the amount above named.
New York Cholera Scare
New York has a cholera scare. Patrick Cushing, a resident of America, and a former watchman at the Hoffman Island Quarantine Station, died July 15 of Asiatic cholera. Vigorous measures are being taken to stamp out all possible sources of affection.
Cyclone Damage in California
California has had a touch of the cyclone. El Centro, a little town away down on the southern border line of California, in Imperial County, was on July 15 damaged to the extent of $30,000, two persons being killed.
Letters to a Daughter
By By a Mother
By a Mother
“Mental Food”—Concentration—The One Important Book
MY DEAR DAUGHTER,—
Yours of last Sabbath is just at hand. This certainly calls for prompt response. Your father and I are more than pleased at the evidence of your development as shown by your letters. Your Sabbath letters are especially comforting to us. That you may keep so near the Father that He can fully lead you to your own, is our prayer.
It is with gratitude and just pride that we note the clarifying and enlarging of your ideals. Make them just as beautiful and noble as you are capable of making them, and they will grow more beautiful and more noble with your growth.
“Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands, but like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you reach your destiny.”
The one ever-present condition of growth is nourishment. As with the body, so with the mind and heart. Food, and proper food, is imperative. As the body requires the different elements of food to give it well-rounded development, so the mind must have its food in proper variety and well selected. You are taught in a most scientific and practical manner the laws upon which depends the development of a strong and normal physique. No less immutable are the laws which govern the intellectual and spiritual development. As living souls made in the image of God, we are endowed with intelligence, reason, and will-power. With these gifts comes the responsibility for their right use. There is one condition which it seems to me is of prime importance to all mental development, and that is the power of concentration. You, my dear, I think, are in particular need of this most essential faculty. Without it nothing permanent, nothing really worth while, can be accomplished.
I trust you will not fail to make conscious effort to command this power. You can do it by forcing yourself to think of one thing for a short time. You will be surprised to find what a difficult task this is. Let the thing chosen be some small daily task, like the lacing of your shoes, or the combing of your hair. Put your mind upon it and resolutely hold it there. Let this exercise be oft repeated. Your ability to concentrate will be improved rapidly, and the strength gained utilizing thus those small tasks will count for your good mightily in larger things. Some one has said, “Mind wandering is soul suicide.” Knowing this, do not be guilty of this sin.
To break this habit, mother knows all too well, is a herculean task. I thank God, my darling, that you know a Source of infinite power. You have a personal acquaintance with One who has said, “My grace is sufficient for you.” Through Him we may do all things. Hence if you find it hard, take courage, and work on. The next all-important consideration is the character of the material out of which we must make our mental growth. I can not too strongly urge the greatest care in its selection.
First, I would emphasize the importance of a daily supply of food from the Word of Life,—that Word which was made flesh and dwelt among us, of the which if we shall eat we shall never hunger for the low, the sordid, the base. In it is not only the highest knowledge, but life and wisdom. In it are embodied all the uplifting things that ever have been or will be written, in whatsoever pleasing form they may appear. Take it first-hand, darling, regularly, daily. And your friends, if you yourself do not recognize it, will be astonished at your improvement. There is nourishment there that can not be had from any other source. It is passing strange that we who aspire to the larger life should ever neglect it.
Next in order of importance is reading along the lines of your chosen work. Just at present the requirements of your course demand it. But let this goal ever shine before you. You will be among the very first in your profession. In the light of what I have written, there is no limit to the possibilities of your development. The most you can know, the best you can do for the welfare of the suffering of earth, is not too much to require of yourself. To stand in this relation to your profession, untiring diligence in pursuit of knowledge is demanded. Your present course of study, exacting as it may be, is only preliminary; your education must continue through the years.
I have just renewed your subscription for the magazine which will prove of help to you in your chosen work. I trust you have taken time to look over every issue of the last year.
But I would not have you make the mistake of confining your reading to strictly professional lines, even now; for by so doing you will become warped in your habit of thought, and so defeat your own purpose. “Variety is the spice of life.” It is more. It is absolutely necessary to well-rounded development.
One must keep in touch with the fast moving world around us. This can be done with comparatively little reading if one knows how. I am glad the information has been provided for you in the requirements of your course. The daily newspaper is said to be the greatest educator of the day, yet the most it contains is worthless. Your superintendent sets the estimate about right when he requires fifteen minutes’ daily reading. The abstract you must make of your newspaper reading is a good test for your powers of concentration.
Later, when you have more time, a good, honest magazine should enter into your regular reading.
Fourthly, we must learn to see, to utilize the world of books about us. You can not give out continually, as you will be called upon to do, as indeed every one living is called upon to do if one take his place in the world—I say you can not give out words of comfort and wisdom, and thoughts that build, unless you yourself are receiving all the time. One of the most helpful preachers I have ever listened to, one who spoke before the same congregation for many years, ever giving them something new and helpful from the pulpit as well as in his daily walks among them, made it a rule of his life to read one new book every week. The nurse as well as the preacher has need of a broad education. Select your reading carefully. Seek to become acquainted with your authors. Remember that men do not gather figs of thistles or grapes of thorns. A stream can not rise higher than its source. There is a great deal of literature afloat in the world that is worse than useless. It is a veritable poison. You will find, later on, that much of the sickness from which people suffer—I dare almost say the larger part—is due to wrong thinking. And those who are physically ill are far outnumbered by those who are mentally and spiritually ill. It is conservative to say that a large proportion of this suffering, this unhappiness, this slaying of home and loved ones, this loss to the world financial and spiritual, this great groaning burden of creation, which you, my dear, have dedicated your life to help lift, is the result of wrong thinking. And this is in a very large measure due to the taking in of a poisonous mental food. Therefore, daughter, seek to choose wisely, for your own sake and for the sake of those to whom your life will be devoted. Of course it is desirable that you be conversant with the mountain peaks of history, past and current,—the lives and deeds of the world’s best workers,—and the works of our best authors. But I have found much concentrated mental food obtainable in some of the many booklets written in a pleasing and impressive style, containing the essence of a great vital truth.
Do you remember in my library, my shelf of “Spiritual Uplifts”? I am sending you one to-day. It is “Blessed Be Drudgery.” It will help you to see in the daily round of your allotted task God’s work for you. And this, by the way, is, I think, a pretty good test of the value of any book. The author of the booklet, like13many others writing in this age of spiritual awakening, has touched life at the cross-roads, and has learned that the knockings he heard in his own are but echoes of those in his brother's breast.
There is one thing in the choice of books about which I must warn you. Much of the literature written in the past five years, so fascinating because containing so much of truth, beautifully expressed, is nevertheless dangerous. It is dangerous because of the subtle reasoning which makes gods of men, outside of the thought of the gift of sonship through Christ. This false philosophy has swept thousands from their moorings into—what shall I say? We know there is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved. The truth taught in these books is borrowed from the Author of the universe, and applied truth always gives power. O, my child, let me entreat you to study to know God and His Word. Measure all else by His standard. "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." Know this,—the promise of wisdom to each individual who seeks it: The beginning of wisdom is the fear—love—of God.
Drive a few stakes fast and hard; namely, God the Creator, the Re-creator, the Father of love, in which all His works are wrought; Christ, the only-begotten Son, who was given for our salvation; newness of life, eternal life, through His life, death, and resurrection, the life beginning now and here. These vital principles, forever settled in your heart and understanding, will keep you from the deceptions of Satan, with which if it were possible he would deceive the very elect.
My letter is already too long. May the living truth ever be your guide.
Your loving Mother.
Which Are You?
By Ella Wheeler Wilcox
The two kinds of people on earth, I mean,
Are the people who lift and the people who
lean.
Wherever you go you will find the world's
masses
Are always divided in just these two
classes.
And oddly enough, you will find, too, I ween,
There is only one lifter to twenty who lean.
In which class are you? Are you easing the
load
Of overtaxed lifters who toil down the road?
Or are you a leaner, who lets others bear
Your portion of labor and worry and care?
— Ella Wheeler Wilcox.
The Mission Hymnal
"The Mission Hymnal," words and music edition. Full red cloth, stamped in ink. Single copies 35 cents; $25.00 per 100. Bigelow & Main Co., 156 5th Ave., New York.
This book was adopted by the general convention of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, last October, and is the result of three years' work on the part of a commission appointed for that purpose. This is the first time that a book of Gospel hymns similar to those used by Moody and Sankey has received the official sanction of the Methodist Church. There are 183 carefully selected hymns in the book, really a selection of those that have been quite fully tried and are found to be popular and telling. One wishing more information concerning the reduction in prices can address Allen Sankey, president, care above address.
Pamphlets for Review
By Editor
There lie upon our table quite a number of pamphlets that have been sent us for review, but for which we have not space, some of which are worthy of note: "Moderate Drinking; Its Dangers and Possibilities." An address delivered before the World's Temperance Centennial Congress held at Saratoga Springs, New York, June 18, 1908, by Louis D. Mason, M.D., of Brooklyn, New York, vice-president of the American Society for the Study of Inebriety and Drug Neurosis. Published by the Smith-Linsley Co., Publishers, Hartford, Connecticut. It is full of instruction and suggestion to those who think that moderate drinking is permissible. We wish that all our moderate drinkers would read the address.
"Approximate Chronology of the Passover and the Crucifixion." By H. H. Perry, 67 19th St., San Diego, California. Price 25 cents. The purpose of which is to place in condensed form a few facts from Scripture, history, and astronomy that will enable the reader to understand the exact time of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, giving the year, the month, the day of the month, the time of the moon, the day of the week, and the day of the Jewish month — Abib or Nisan.
One pamphlet bears the title of "A Reparation; Universal Gravitation a Universal Fake; the Earth an Outstretched Plane; Sun, Moon, and Stars Small Bodies Near the Earth; Astronomical, Scientific, and Biblical Evidence." By C. S. De Ford, Fairfield, Washington, U. S. A. And we rather think that this is met by another one with this title: "The Earth a Globe; Bible, Geographical, and Astronomical Facts. An Exposition of the Falsehoods, Fallacies, Facts, and Fancies of Parallax . . . and Others Who Have Been Bible Believers for Years, about the Shape of the Earth." By David Nield, 148 Crawford St., Wellington, New Zealand.
"Concerning Card-Playing." By John Franklin Cowan, D.D., published from "The Christian Endeavor World." P. Anstadt & Sons, New York and Philadelphia. The gist of the little pamphlet, the price of which is 10 cents, is to the effect that card-playing is dangerous, and even tho not dangerous is not worth the time given to it.
"Our Economic and Social Relations; What They Are and What They Might Be." By John F. Reihl, Seattle, Washington. A little pamphlet against the competitive method, and for government oversight of all industries.
"Doctrinal Unity and Organic Union of the Lord's People." By R. K. Maiden, editor of "The Word and Way." Price 10 cents. Published by The Western Baptist Publishing Assn., Kansas City. It is a plea for Scriptural union on a Biblical basis, which we wish the14author would carry out to the full. He names as the inspired creed Eph. 4:4-6, one of those wonderfully comprehensive Scripture texts with which the Bible abounds. There is another more definite and more comprehensive in Rev. 14:12. The author regrets the papal imports which have crept in, such as sprinkling and pouring for baptism, and infant baptism. It seems to us that he ought to have classed with them the Sunday, and come back straight and square upon God's Word and the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we would join with him heart and hand, and instead of a text becoming the foundation, that the Holy Bible itself be an inspired standard for God's people. In that only, it seems to us, is there truly hope.
The Bible
By Enoch Fitch Burr
EIGHTEEN centuries have passed since the Bible was finished. They have been centuries of great changes. In their course the world has been wrought over into newness at almost every point. But to-day the text of the Scriptures has copyings almost innumerable, and after having been tossed about through ages of ignorance and tumult, is found by exhaustive criticism to be unaltered in every important particular,—there being not a single doctrine, nor duty, nor fact of any grade, that is brought into question by variations of readings — a fact that stands alone in the history of such ancient literature. — E. F. Burr.
Persistence
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men of talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan, "Press on!" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.—Anonymous.
