THE following extract from the letter of a correspondent of the Christian Advocate in Japan will be of interest to those interested in the evangelization of the Japanese people. The correspondent tells of his visit to a temple of Buddha—and to a Japanese Christian church:—
In the great Temple of the Thousand Gods I went with a missionary to the rear of the room, behind the scenes, as it were. Here were a number of gods under repair, and strewn about were legs, arms, and heads of dismembered divinities. At the Temple of the Great Buddha, which has twice been destroyed by fire, and which was at one time the pride of the city, there is a bust of Buddha. The face is probably twenty feet long. We went behind the scenes again, and, behold, it was but a huge mask. While the old men and women worshiped in front, this scaffold-brained god stared into vacancy. But could those painted eyes have looked into the future they would have seen their doom.
The patient seed sowing of the past generation of missionaries is already bearing fruit. At Sendai I attended morning service at a Japanese church. During the long sermon I could understand but one word—the name of our Lord—which recurred frequently. Much of the time I was watching a weaver next door ply his trade. But not so with the audience. They were intently listening throughout. And strange as it may seem; two-thirds of the audience were men, chiefly young men. I was afterward repeatedly told that this predominance of young men in the churches holds throughout the empire.
The missionaries who have brought this about are not numerous, but they have been patient, self-denying, and full of faith. A city which has, counting men and women, including wives, a missionary force of one for twenty thousand of the people, is fortunate indeed.
Reformation Celebration in Monaco
The first celebration of the festival of the Reformation (November 1) in the little principality of Monaco is said to have been an occasion of great excitement. The daily papers of Nice as well as Monaco were greatly occupied by it. The little Protestant church, lately built, was crowded with an audience composed of French, Swiss, Germans, and Waldensians, all of whom united in singing Luther's great choral, "A mighty fortress is our God." The celebration brought to light the fact, hitherto unknown, that there is one Protestant family in Monaco. It contains nine persons, who have connected themselves with the Protestant church, which was founded with only the traveling public in view.
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THE SABBATH SCHOOL
INTERNATIONAL SERIES
LESSON X.—THE EASTERN QUESTION (CONTINUED).
(Study for Sabbath, March 5.)
QUESTIONS.
1. Dan. 11:23. After a league made by the Jews with Rome, how are the growth and work of that power referred to in this verse? Note 1.
2. Verse 24. How was Rome to enter upon the fattest places of the province? What was she to do, unlike her predecessors? Note 2. From whence, and for how long a time, was Rome to forecast devices?
3. Verse 29. What is meant by the expression, "at the time appointed"? Note 3. To what period in Roman history has the prophecy brought us?—To the rise of the Papacy, which henceforth stands for Rome.
4. Verse 31. What was to stand on the part of the Papacy? What were they to do to the "sanctuary of strength"? What was to be taken away? What was to be established in its place? Note 4.
5. Study verses 32-35. What was the Papacy to do to those who wickedly departed from the covenant? Who were to perform marvelous acts of self-sacrifice and heroism in behalf of the true faith? Who were to hold up the torch of truth during the long, dark night of papal rule? By what means were the saints to fall "many days"—1260 years—from A. D. 538 to 1798? While the people of God were thus going down beneath the hand of persecution, what were they to receive? Note 5. How long were some of the saints of God to be permitted to fall by persecution?
6. Verse 36. What atheistical power is introduced in this verse? Note 6.
7. Verse 37. What God was not to be regarded by this power about the year 1798?
8. Verse 38. What strange god was to be honored in place of the true God? Note 7.
9. Verse 39. For what purpose was the land to be divided? Note 8.
NOTES.
1. In the year 161 B. C., the Jews were being continually attacked by the Syrians, with whose forces they were unable to cope. Being informed that the Romans were always ready to support weak nations against the oppression of kings whose power gave them umbrage, it was thought necessary to make an alliance with that people. Ambassadors sent to Rome for this purpose were well received by the senate, and a decree was passed, by which the Jews were declared friends and allies of the Romans, and a defensive league was made with them.
At this time the Romans, who were still a small people, were rapidly coming to the front, working deceitfully, or with cunning, as the word implies, and by rapid strides they arose to the height of their power. Thus Rome became strong with a small people.
2. Verse 24.—"He [Rome] shall enter peacefully even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers [receive large acquisitions of territory through peaceful means, by legacy of other kings]; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches; yea, and he shall forecast his devices against [from] the strongholds [from the fortress of the seven-hilled city], even for a time."
"Even for a time." This, doubtless, is a prophetic time, which should be computed as follows: a time, 1 year, or 360 days; each day for a year gives 360 years, during which, according to this prediction, the empire was to be governed from the city of Rome. The next verse introduces the battle of Actium, which was fought between Egypt and Rome in the year B. C. 31. Exactly 360 years from that date Constantine moved the seat of the Roman Empire to Constantinople, A. D. 330.
3. Verse 29.—"At the time appointed [A. D. 330, see last clause of verse 24] he [Rome] shall return, and come toward the south; but it shall not be as the former, or as the latter." The triumphs of former days were not repeated. The removal of the seat of government from Rome to Constantinople, under Constantine the Great, in A. D. 330, is recognized as the signal of the downfall of the Roman Empire.
4. Verse 31.—"And forces shall stand on his part, and they shall profane the sanctuary, even the fortress, and shall take away the continual ["burnt-offering" supplied], and they shall set up the abomination that maketh desolate."—American Revision. The Papacy was fully established in the year 538, the beginning of the 1260 years of papal supremacy.
5. Verse 34.—"Now when they [the people of God] shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help [fulfilled by the influence of the great Reformation]."
6. Verse 36.—Evidently a new power is here introduced, and it must be an atheistical power, in the fullest sense of that term, inasmuch as it was to regard neither the God of heaven nor any God; and this development is to be met, about the year 1798, which period is referred to as the time of the end.
"France is the only nation in the world concerning which the authentic record survives that as a nation she lifted her hand in open rebellion against the Author of the universe. France stands apart in the world's history as the single State, which, by the decree of her legislative assembly, pronounced that there was no God, and of which the entire population of the capital, and a vast majority elsewhere, women as well as men, danced and sang with joy in accepting the announcement."—Quotation from Blackwood's Magazine.
"The world for the first time heard an assembly of men, born and educated in civilization, and assuming the right to govern one of the finest of the European nations, uplift their united voice to deny the most solemn truth which man's soul receives, and renounce unanimously the belief and worship of Deity."—Scott's Napoleon.
"At this juncture all religious worship was prohibited, except that of liberty and the country. The gold and silver plate of the churches was seized upon and desecrated. The churches were closed. The bells were broken and cast into cannon. The Bible was publicly burned. The sacramental vessels were paraded through the streets on an ass, in token of contempt. The weekly rest was abolished, and death was declared, in conspicuous letters posted over their burial places, to be an eternal sleep."—U. Smith, in "Thoughts on Daniel."
7. "One of the ceremonies of this insane time stands unrivaled for absurdity combined with impiety. The doors of the convention were thrown open to a band of musicians, preceded by whom the members of the municipal body entered in solemn procession, singing a hymn in praise of liberty, and escorting, as the object of their future worship, a veiled female, whom they termed the Goddess of Reason. . . . To this person, as the fittest representative of that reason whom they worshiped, THE NATIONAL CONVENTION OF FRANCE RENDERED PUBLIC HOMAGE."—Scott's Napoleon.
8. Prior to the French Revolution, the landed property of France was owned by a few landlords in immense estates, the laws being such that these estates could not be divided or sold. During that frightful period of revolution, when no law was recognized, these estates were confiscated, divided up, and sold for the benefit of the public exchequer.
"The confiscation of two-thirds of the landed property of the kingdom, which arose from the decrees of the convention against the emigrants, clergy, and persons convicted of the Revolutionary Tribunal, . . . placed funds worth above £700,000,000 sterling at the disposal of the government."—Alison, vol. IV., p. 151.
(35) "And on that day, when even was come, He saith unto them, Let us go over unto the other side. (36) And leaving the multitude, they take Him with them, even as He was, in the boat. And other boats were with Him. (37) And there ariseth a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the boat, insomuch that the boat was now filling. (38) And He Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion: and they awake Him, and say unto Him, Teacher, carest Thou not that we perish? (39) And He awoke, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. (40) And He said unto them, Why are ye fearful? have ye not yet faith? (41) And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?"
Golden Text.—"He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still." Ps. 107:29.
SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.
(1) With what time of the day does this lesson begin? What did Jesus say to His disciples? What had He been doing that day? Verse 35. Note 1. (2) What then did the disciples do? Who else accompanied them? Verse 36. (3) What occurred to mar the pleasure of the voyage? Verse 37. (4) What was Jesus doing when the storm arose? What did the disciples do and say to Him? Verse 38. Note 2. (5) How did Jesus respond to this faithless insinuation? What was the result of His command? Verse 39. Note 3. (6) What did Jesus then say to His disciples? Verse 40. Note 4. (7) How were the disciples affected by this wonderful manifestation of power through the calm words of Jesus? What did they say to one another? Verse 41. Note 5.
NOTES.
1. "On that day."—It was in the evening of a busy day of teaching the people by parables and familiar illustrations. The crowd had become so great, and had pressed upon Him so hard, that He stepped into a boat, which was pushed out from the shore, and there He sat and taught the multitude. Verse 2 of the lesson chapter says, "He taught them many things in parables."
2. A faithless, even bitter insinuation is expressed in the despairing question, "Teacher, carest Thou not that we perish?" The "prince of the power of the air" (Eph. 2:2) had stirred up this storm in hope of being able to destroy the Saviour of men; and he had impressed the weak minds of the disciples with the idea that they had fallen into a position where Jesus was powerless to help them, or was so overcome with drowsiness that He was careless of their welfare.
3. "The faith of Jesus."—When Jesus was awakened to meet the storm, He was in perfect peace. There was no trace of fear in word or look, for no fear was in His heart. But He rested not in the possession of almighty power. It was not as the "Master of earth and sea and sky" that He reposed in quiet. That power He had laid down, and He says, "I can of Mine own self do nothing." John 5:30. He trusted in the Father's might. It was in faith—faith in God's love and care—that Jesus rested, and the power of that Word which stilled the storm was the power of God. As Jesus rested by faith in the Father's care, so we are to rest in the care of our Saviour. If the disciples had trusted in Him, they would have been kept in peace. Their fear in the time of danger revealed their unbelief. In their efforts to save themselves, they forgot Jesus; and it was only when, in despair of self-dependence, they turned to Him, that He could give them help.—The Desire of Ages, pp. 335, 336.
4. Personal application.—How often the disciples' experience is ours! When the tempests of temptation gather, and the fierce lightnings flash, and the waves sweep over us, we battle with the storm alone, forgetting that there is One who can help us. We trust to our own strength till our hope is lost, and we are ready to perish. Then we remember Jesus, and if we call upon Him to save us, we shall not cry in vain. Tho He sorrowfully reproves our unbelief and self-confidence, He never fails to give us the help we need. Whether on the land or on the sea, if we have the Saviour in our hearts, there is no need of fear. Living faith in the Redeemer will smooth the sea of life, and will deliver us from danger in the way that He knows to be best.—Id., p. 336.
5. Another lesson.—There is another spiritual lesson in this miracle of the stilling of the tempest. Every man's experience testifies to the truth of the words of Scripture: "The wicked are like the troubled sea; for it cannot rest. . . . There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." Isa. 57:20, 21. Sin has destroyed our peace. While self is unsubdued, we can find no rest. The masterful passions of the heart no human power can control. We are as helpless here as were the disciples to quiet the raging storm. But He who spoke peace to the billows of Galilee, has spoken the word of peace for every soul. However fierce the tempest, those who turn to Jesus with the cry, "Lord, save us," will find deliverance. His grace, that reconciles the soul to God, quiets the strife of human passion, and in His love the heart is at rest. "He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they are quiet; so He bringeth them unto their desired haven." Ps. 107:29, 30. "Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Rom. 5:1. "The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever." Isa. 32:17.—Id., pp. 336, 337.
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Several thousand copies of the Labor and Capital number of the SIGNS are as yet unsold, and we have decided to close them out for half price—one and one-half cents each in lots of twenty-five or more. The great problem on which it treats is just as perplexing, and its solution as here given is just as much needed as when the paper was first issued.
The following letter from S. C. Cochran, McMinnville, Oregon, is a sample of many others we have received, showing the earnest way this number has been taken up in all parts of the country:—
I have been out with the special number of the SIGNS. Sold fifty in a short time. Sold one in nearly every house for a while. I ordered fifty more and they are all gone. I also obtained orders for eleven "Object Lessons," besides giving away a great many pages of our tracts and other periodicals.
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Testimony, Volume Eight.....
The following is the opinion of one person who has had the opportunity of looking over the advanced pages of this forthcoming book:—
I have just had the opportunity of examining some of the advance proofs of "Testimony" Volume Eight, and have been particularly impressed with the timeliness and importance of Section 5, in which the following chapters appear under the general heading of "The Essential Knowledge":—
God in Nature.
A Personal God.
A False and a True Knowledge of God.
Danger in Speculative Knowledge.
The False and True in Education.
Importance of Seeking True Knowledge.
The Knowledge Received Through God's Word.
Our Great Need.
If one "Testimony" can be more important than another, it seems to me that Volume Eight must be that one.
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The Tobacco Curse.....
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"Evils of Tobacco-Using," by Mrs. E. G. White.
"Physiological Effects of Tobacco," by Dr. Leadsworth.
Important testimonies of prominent educators regarding harmfulness of tobacco.
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WHAT OUR
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HAS TO SAY
WHAT OUR Book and Periodical Department HAS TO SAY
Divorce in Massachusetts.
The Springfield Republican is authority for the statement that the divorce evil has grown steadily in the Old Bay State since 1871-2. In that year there was one divorce to 48 marriages. The next ten years the ratio fluctuated between the extremes of 1 to 41 and 1 to 21. The average for the next ten years was 1 to 30. In 1894 it was 1 to less than 20, and averaged about that to 1900. Since that the ratio has increased, till it is now about 1 to 17. In thirty years it has increased from 1 divorce to 48 marriages to 1 divorce to 17 marriages. And divorce laws in Massachusetts are among the strictest. These facts present a striking evidence of the down grade of society.
THE FIRST PRECEPT OF THE DECALOGUE.
In quoting from any part of the Scriptures to prove a fact, it is proper to omit if the words omitted are not relevant to that fact, and the scripture is not perverted. For instance, we may make the statement that Jesus taught there is but one God; and we may prove this by quoting a part of a reply of Jesus in Mark 12:29, "The Lord our God, the Lord is one." We have in nowise garbled or perverted the text. But to say that Jesus understood Ex. 20:2 as the first word of the Ten Words, and then quote the following to prove it, is a perversion of the truth:—
"When He was asked, 'Which is the first commandment of all,' He replied, 'The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.'"
Now to quote that in proof of the above claim may be a matter of misunderstanding; but to quote Jesus' statement only in part is a perverting of the Word. In the first place, Jesus never referred, nor did His questioner, to the Ten Commandments, save in summary; but to the great principles on which rests the whole government of God among men. And when He was asked the question by the scribe, He did not refer to Ex. 20:2 at all, but to Deut. 6:4, 5. Neither did He quote as the first commandment the words quoted above, Deut. 6:5, as shown elsewhere. When the scribe asked Jesus, "What commandment is first of all?" Jesus replied: "The first is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength." Now the first part of Jesus' words tells us who the Lord is, and shows that His identity should be connected with the commandment; but the actual commandment is the positive injunction to love, as shown (a) by its parallelism with the second great commandment, and (b) by the parallel passage in Matt. 22:36, 37, in which Jesus declares this injunction to love "is the great and first commandment." Verse 38.
As to the Decalogue, the second verse of Exodus 20 belongs to each and every word of the law. The First Commandment was connected with it, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." The word "gods" is applied to lesser rulers, to angels, to God's children, those whose direction it might be our duty to heed, but never in preference to God. See Ps. 8:5; Heb. 2:7; 1 Sam. 2:25; Ex. 21:6; 22:8, 9; Ps. 82:1, 6; John 10:34, 35.
The first command is based on a different principle than the second. Every copy of God's law should include Ex. 20:2, but let the natural division of His precepts stand as marked specifically by enjoined duty, and let His covenant name and redeeming assurance apply to the whole law.
Take heed how ye quote.
CONTAINED IN THIS NUMBER.
By Editor
Poetry.
Restitution, L. D. SANTEE . . . . . . . . . 2
The Dear Little Wife at Home . . . . . . . . 10
Go, LAURA C. HUTCHINS . . . . . . . . 12
General.
"Babylon Is Fallen" . . . . . . . . 1
The Day of Special Blessing, S. H. CARNAHAN . . . . . 2
The Narrow Way, MRS. E. G. WHITE . . . . . . 2
The Builders, RODERICK S. OWEN . . . . . . 3
The Decline of Self-Government in Rome, A. T. JONES . . . 4
Editorial.—The Glad Tidings—Life and Law—A Significant Promise—Not the Law, but Men's Hearts, to Be Changed—"Agitators" versus "Smooth Things" . . . . 6, 7
Question Corner—Nos. 1477-1481 . . . . . . . 7
Outlook.—The Society-saving Delusion—The Vice of Gambling—Evolution and the Ministry—A Boy Lost—One in Purpose—The War in the Orient . . . . . . 8, 9
The Home.—Love in the Home, MRS. L. D. AVERY-STUTTLE
—The Curse of the Wine "Industry"—The Work of the Supreme Court Justice . . . . . . . . 10
Missions.—Christianity in the West Indies, F. J. RICHARDSON—Seed Sowing in Japan—Another Step Forward . . . 12, 13
International Sabbath-school Lesson, The Eastern Question (Continued) . . . . . . . . . 14
International Sunday-school Lesson, Jesus Calms the Storm . . . . . . . . 14
Publishers . . . . . . . . 15
Love in the Home
By Editor
“Love in the Home.”—Mrs. Stuttle’s Home articles begin in this issue. Do not fail to read them.
The Builders
By Editor
"The Builders," an allegory on churches and creeds, begins in this issue, illustrated. You will be interested in following the various plans and learning the results.
Is It Right?
The one great question with the Christian as to the character of the work he undertakes should be, "Is it right?" not, "Will it pay?" Let those who serve the world, the flesh, the devil, ask such questions; the Christian can not afford to do it. Such questions can only be secondary with him to the transcendentally greater one, "Is it right?" Right may not seem to pay now, but it will in the end; and it pays now in character building, and it pays eternally. "The true gain is the long gain."
Don't Try
By Editor
Don't Try.—A correspondent sends us two tracts containing sermons of the noted Unitarian preacher, M. J. Savage, with the remark: "I do not understand him. What do you think?" We do not take time to think anything about it. Mr. Savage does not believe the Bible. Why should we seek to understand his uncertainties? He probably would admit that he does not understand himself. He says some good things, and some not so good. Therefore we reply to our correspondent, Do not try to understand him; it is not worth while.
When It Will Be.—Marden says:—
Sometime we shall all learn better than to harbor, even for an instant, any suicidal thought or emotion. We shall no more dream of entertaining thoughts of fear, envy, or jealousy, or worrying, fretful, or anxious thoughts, than we would of entertaining thieves or murderers in our homes. The time will come when intelligent people will no more indulge in fits of anger, will no more indulge in uncharitable thoughts, feelings of hatred or ill-will, or gloomy, depressing, downward-tending thoughts, than they would take poison into the system.
But such a time will never come as a mere matter of knowledge and intelligence. The world has never lived up to its knowledge. Not until the new age shall begin, with the nation composed of those born from above, will that happy day be reached of which Mr. Marden speaks. As long as humanity remains unregenerate, out of Christ Jesus, it is as impossible not to entertain thoughts of fear, envy, jealousy, etc., as it is for cockle seed not to bring forth cockle. All such thoughts are but fruits of the natural man. It is not knowledge that is needed so much as the power of the Gospel of Christ. That will come now to you if you believe.
