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Review and Herald, Vol. 83, No. 36.

Christian, Onward!

Review and Herald

Sep 6, 1906

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 6, 1906

Christian, Onward!

By Walton C. John

W. C. J.
WALTON C. JOHN.
Christian, onward! Christ is coming, Wake the hour of jubilee; Nations waiting for the message— Onward, Christian, victory! Hell’s proud cohorts almost vanquished, Vanquished for eternity.
Hear the cry of distant nations, Hear the call to you and me: Come and lift the fallen sinner, Help from Satan’s wrath to flee. Christian, onward! Christ is coming, Wake the hour of jubilee.
Then with strength and courage ever, Gird the gospel armor on; Faithfully we’ll press the battle Till the victory is won. Christian, onward! Christ is coming, Wake the hour of jubilee.
Onward, onward, ever onward, Be our watchword in the fray, Bear the banner bravely forward, Let there be no more delay. Christian, onward! Christ is coming, Wake the hour of jubilee.

Our Publishing Work

By Editor

The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it. Psalm 68:11.
See last paragraph on this page for instructions where to order.
“ALL who have read ‘Christ Our Saviour’ like it, and regard it as a precious household jewel. I would not be without a copy of it in my home. L. L. Holmes.”
THE total amount of book sales in western Washington for June and July was $2,166.50. Of this amount, those working for scholarships sold $1,265.30. Those working on regular commission sold $901.20. The average value of orders of the scholarship agents was $1.07 an hour, while the average of the regular agents was 99 cents an hour.
WE have a few damaged copies of the “Analysis of Sacred Chronology,” by S. Bliss, revised with notes, together with “The Peopling of the Earth,”—historical notes on the tenth chapter of Genesis,—by Alonzo T. Jones. This book contains 299 pages; bound in cloth, library, and leather. We have damaged copies in all bindings. As long as they last, we will furnish them for 50 cents a copy, post-paid.
HAVE you examined “Lessons for Children’s Meetings, No. 4”? It contains outlines of lessons, together with suggestions, blackboard drawings, and word-picture studies adapted to the needs of primary workers in children’s meetings. It is an illustrated pamphlet of 62 pages, and can not fail to be very helpful to mothers who desire to give their children lessons at home. It will also be found to be a very practical work for those conducting children’s meetings. The price is only 10 cents a copy, post-paid.
THE problem of getting an education is now practically settled for all active, energetic young people who would make use of an education after it was acquired. The solution of this heretofore perplexing problem is found in the scholarship plan now offered by our schools. In almost every church there are young people who ought to be in our training-schools, but are debarred because they have no means to meet the necessary expenses. This is a matter of vast importance, not only to the young people, but to the progress of this great message. The young people are needed to help to finish this work. The following plan is enabling some of our young people to avail themselves of the privileges and blessings of an education. There is an arrangement between our schools and the different conferences in their respective districts whereby students may earn a scholarship for one year by selling a certain number of our subscription books at the retail price, and turning the whole amount into the tract society treasury. The rate of the scholarship is so low, and the terms with the tract society so easy, that any ambitious youth can earn it in a few months. Any one who desires to investigate this plan should write to the tract society secretary of his conference.
LAST week we sent 1,000 copies of Liberty to Clearfield, Pa. Since then we have received the following order from the same place: “Please send me at once 2,500 copies of Liberty, No. 2, and be ready to send me more at any time. “R. H. Wiper.”
A FEW days ago, we sent 100 copies of Liberty to Charles C. Cross, Huntsville, Ala. Later we received the following order: “The 100 copies of Liberty received yesterday are all sold to-day but four copies. Please find postal order for $2.50, for which send me 100 copies more. Hurry the order through. Charles C. Cross.”
THE book sales in New York for July, 1905, amounted to $802.58. For the same month in 1906, the amount of sales was $1,162.10, an increase of $359.52. It is always encouraging to note even a small monthly increase in our book sales. It is an evidence of increasing interest in the Master’s work in a conference, for the book sales are generally a good index of all other lines of work.
LISTEN to what one says who has read the REVIEW for nearly fifty years: “I have not lost interest in the good old REVIEW. For twenty-five years we lived apart from any of our people, and the REVIEW was the only one of like precious faith that we could see for years at a time. I used to save the REVIEW for Sabbath before taking it out of the wrapper, but now I can not wait for the Sabbath to come before opening it. We now have church privileges, and we appreciate them very much, but sometimes some of the brethren and sisters get the blues. We can always depend upon a good feast when we get our REVIEW. You can count on me as a life subscriber.”
A MERE boy in western Washington worked thirty-four hours one week with “Heralds of the Morning,” and took forty-one orders, representing a value of $79.75. In reporting his work, he said, “The Lord has greatly blessed my efforts here. I am thankful for the scholarship plan. There is a twofold blessing in it. I know I can get more orders that way. Why, I shall be sorry when the season closes. I would rather be a canvasser in Clark County than work in the largest sawmill. Ps. 84: 10.” The western Washington students who have been selling books for scholarships averaged $1.07 an hour during the months of June and July. What other business would yield them a remuneration equal to this?
Orders for any publication mentioned on this page may be sent to any conference tract society or to Review and Herald Publishing Association, Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C., or Battle Creek, Mich. Also Pacific Press Publishing Company, Mountain View, Cal.; Portland, Ore.; Kansas City, Mo.; Southern Publishing Association, Nashville, Tenn., and Fort Worth, Tex.

Faithfulness and Consecration to God

Every one rescued from the dominion of sin will be an everlasting trophy of the saving power of the cross of Christ. Nearest the throne in the eternal kingdom will be found those who, through the grace of Christ, have been emancipated from the degrading slavery imposed upon them by Satan, and have walked in the liberty of those who keep the commandments of God. Those who are instrumental in bringing about such triumphs will share in the joy of their Lord.
“O brother, be faithful! Eternity’s years Shall tell for thy faithfulness now, When bright smiles of gladness shall scatter thy tears, And a coronet gleam on thy brow.”
We need to meditate much upon the simple truths of the gospel, and to appropriate to ourselves the gifts of God’s love and grace. The fruit of such communion will be revealed in a godly life and in the ability to win souls for Christ. It is our privilege to know the reality of the spiritual experience—a life in harmony with the divine plan. “Consecrate yourself to God in the morning; make this your very first work. Let your prayer be, ‘Take me, O Lord, as wholly thine. I lay all my plans at thy feet. Use me to-day in thy service. Abide with me, and let all my work be wrought in thee.’ This is a daily matter. Each morning consecrate yourself to God for that day. Surrender all your plans to him, to be carried out or given up as his providence shall indicate. Thus day by day you may be giving your life into the hands of God, and thus your life will be molded more and more after the life of Christ.” “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.”

Figures Which Tell Something

By Editor

The annual report of the Statistical Secretary, Brother H. E. Rogers, is given in this issue of the REVIEW. It represents much patient effort to secure that a complete and accurate statement of the affairs of the denomination so far as they can be presented in this form. The information here given is official, and can be relied upon as accurate.
Our readers will naturally look for the reports from their respective conferences, but we suggest that they should make comparisons between the different fields, and that they should especially note the important summary which will be found on page 9. Some of the items in this summary are of great interest, and tell a story of growth which is most encouraging. Consider them:—
Total tithes in 1905 ........ $858,014.91 Total tithes in 1904 ........ 691,819.33 Increase for 1905 ........... 166,195.58 Offerings for missions in 1905 ........ 169,335.11 Offerings for missions in 1904 ........ 144,712.20 Increase for 1905 ........... 24,622.91 Total tithes and offerings contributed for mission fields in 1905 ........ 267,032.00 Total of similar funds in 1904 ........ 227,743.31 Increase for 1905 ........... 39,288.69 Total amount raised in the denomination in 1905 for evangelistic work ........ 1,180,917.64 Total amount of similar funds for 1904 ........ 856,714.28 Increase for 1905 ........... 324,203.36
Those who are interested in comparisons by percentages may note that the gain in tithes for 1905 was 24.02 per cent, the gain in offerings for missions was 17.01 per cent, and the gain in the total amount raised throughout the denomination for evangelistic work was 37.84 per cent.
It thus appears that there was furnished in 1905 by the believers in this message considerably over a million dollars to be used for the furtherance of this advent movement. The average is $13.25 for each Sabbath-keeper in this denomination. This is in addition to any sums donated specifically for building institutions or for institutional work.
We have no disposition to boast over this showing. We know that money is not the most essential thing in gospel work. We also know that the amount of money expended does not necessarily indicate the degree of success which has attended the work of the denomination; but it is according to the divine order that the Lord’s cause should be supported by tithes and offerings, and faithfulness in paying tithes and in making offerings is an essential part of Christian experience.
Every Seventh-day Adventist ought to be well informed concerning the progress of our work. The information furnished in this statistical report will answer almost any question concerning the advancement of this message in all lands. This report ought to be preserved and studied.

A Remarkable Change

By William A. Spicer

TWENTY years ago the vast territory of the German Union Conference was practically a region beyond to us. Here at Friedensau I see now a thousand believers gathered in general meeting. They come from different parts of Prussia, from the Rhineland, from Bavaria, Saxony, and other German States, from Austria, Hungary, Holland, Rumania, and from North Russia and central and south Russia.
They represent a body of believers growing at the rate of over a thousand a year, swelling the cry of the message in many languages and tongues. Two years ago I saw them, and my heart was stirred. To-day I can see that they have grown much in this message in the two years. They are genuine old-fashioned Seventh-day Adventists; clear-eyed to see the way before us, and determinedand courageous to press forward to the finishing of the work.
Would that all the believers in America whose gifts and prayers helped to start the work in Europe could see this army of fellow believers. But the meeting will come, around the throne of God, a little from now. The way in which the message is going to-day can mean nothing else than that God has set his hand to finish the work. The believers here see it. And they are making a businesslike and faithful effort to put away all sin and to get ready for the final work of witnessing.
Last year 1,167 were baptized in this Union. But in the six months of this year 954 have been baptized. It is the same story of ever-increasing blessings in the work. The tithe of the Union last year was $56,200. But for the first six months of this year the tithe is $41,000. There are now 7,604 members in this Union.
Stirring stories indeed do we hear, of meetings in secret, of baptisms by night, or under cover, of faithfulness of believers amid persecution, of the saving power of God revealed on the right hand and on the left.
It stirs one's heart to hear of believers or churches in such places as Augsburg, Eisenach, Worms, Erfurt, and other names familiar in the Reformation story. The last message of reform is rising and spreading in the land of the Reformation.
A few years ago, how few cities in Europe did we know of in which our work was moving forward. The Union committee has just made out its list of general meetings for the coming winter. Here is the list. Notice how these general meetings are spread through central Europe: Budapest, Görlitz, Harburg, Bonn, Ulm (on the Danube), Erfurt, Elbing, Stettin, Berlin; and Riga, Bender, and Sartof, Russia. Other Russian meetings will be decided later, according to the conditions prevailing in that troubled land.
And these are not small general meetings, but are used to proclaim the truth to the public. In the last general meeting at Breslau, for instance, one of the best halls was engaged, and six hundred persons heard the message from night to night.
Again and again these believers have asked that their greetings be sent to the brethren in America. This is a grand work. The truth is gathering out the Lord's family on earth, and soon will come the glad reunion of the whole family of God, both which are in heaven and in earth.
The body of workers is now a large one, one hundred and sixty-two, and it is growing. Two brethren were ordained, one to labor in Rumania, the other to labor among the Lettonians of Baltic Russia.
The Friedensau school, out of debt, proclaimed its jubilee, and it is evident that it is doing a grand work in preparing young people for service.
Thank God for his good hand over the work in the German Union territory. Laborers and people respond to the call of God to stand now in line, for the finishing of the work. W. A. S.
Friedensau.

At the National Reform Convention

By C. M. S.

The address given at the recent National Reform Convention at Winona Lake, Ind., by Rev. John A. Henderson on the subject of Militarism had, perhaps, as much involved in it as any address of the session.
He referred to the international conference at Rio de Janeiro, the meeting of the Interparliamentary Union at London, and the coming peace congress at The Hague, as omens of a great federation of the nations under one executive, and showed how, as the various provisions for maintaining the world's peace proved inadequate, such an international federation was the only solution of the world's peace problem. He showed how all lines of endeavor for the world's peace were converging at The Hague, because of the fact that the nations could not disarm under the present condition of things. They could not trust one another; should they disarm at once, it would unsettle present economic conditions, because of the millions now engaged in the work of supplying the equipments of war. The cry of peace seemed to be a despairing cry when we consider the conflicting elements.
Arbitration would not be the ideal solution, because arbitration was always litigious; each nation would seek to make the most of its case; but in confederation of the nations lay the world's hope of peace. So he said:—
Our theory, as a National Reform Association, is the federation and co-operation of the nations to do away with the military institution. That is the great and the only hope. This would involve a world's congress for peace, laws that are international, a world's judiciary to determine what the international law means, and a world's executive to enforce international law, also an international police system.
The speaker cited, as steps toward that end, the present alliances between certain nations, and continued:—
All the great powers of earth shall join hands, under international law, with an international executive, judiciary, and legislative department. We believe that instead of the litigious arbitration, our hope should be fixed upon a universal federation, the federation of the world.
The readers of the Review can readily see the intimate connection between such a movement and the condition portrayed in Revelation 13, where all the world is arrayed under “one executive,” and that executive enforcing upon the people the forms of worship which he shall prescribe. That such a condition will be brought about is as certain as that the Bible is true, and there is no present reason to doubt that it will be brought about in some such way as that outlined by Dr. Henderson. There are many lines of evidence that are converging in that direction, and the rapid unfolding of these movements is an evidence to us of the hastening of the finishing work.
These earnest, zealous, enthusiastic men are certainly saying “A confederacy,” a confederacy of “the nations that are far off,” as the prophecy (Isa. 8:12) indicates they would do; and while they are doing their utmost to bring it about, they are but a small part of the influences and powers that are working to that end.
Rev. T. P. Stevenson followed Dr. Henderson in an address upon the idea of universal peace, basing his remarks upon Isa. 2:2-4, and predicting that the time would come when the conditions there outlined would obtain throughout the world. After the address, his attention was called to the fact that he had been basing a sermon upon the words of “many people” rather than the words of God; and Joel 3:9-17 was suggested as a good text to study in that connection. He promised to study the matter from that standpoint.
One of the points most strongly emphasized at this convention was the matter of moral, or religious, education in the public schools. A very strong address was given by Dr. Henderson upon this topic. He said some very good things in regard to the worth of education, the value of good morals in the young; but he placed upon the state the responsibility for the education of its growing citizens in the principles of Christian morality. The children must be educated in those essentials; but the state could never turn over to any other institution the education of the young. Therefore, she must teach religion (for that is the moving purpose of the whole plan). The home was insufficient for the task, and the Sunday-schools and churches could not be relied upon to do it, because their teaching force was a volunteer force, and you can not compel attendance at Sunday-schools and churches.
The heart of the whole thing was laid bare in that statement. They want moral and religious instruction made compulsory, and the only way it can be brought about is to have that instruction givenin an institution where attendance is made compulsory. They want religion in all the people; and as God's ordained methods are not bringing that about sufficiently fast to meet their mind, they want to make the nation religious by law.
The argument against the ability of the Sunday-school and church to give the necessary moral and religious instruction, would be just as strong against leaving to the volunteer missionaries the work of evangelizing the world. He said:—
You can not compel attendance at the Sunday-school—you can at the public school. At the Sunday-school you have to take the kind of teachers that will volunteer, while the state gets the best there is.
How would that work in religious matters generally? Jesus took those who volunteered for his work, and he has been calling for volunteers ever since. The world is being evangelized to-day by volunteers. Shall we call them out of the field, and fill their places with state-paid men and women? Did Jesus make a mistake in making his service a service of choice, and raining the pentecostal blessing only upon those who volunteered for his service? If the National Reform idea is right, Jesus was wrong, and the whole plan of gospel promulgation needs revision. I would rather listen one hour to a consecrated Christian Sabbath-school teacher who was teaching from choice than to sit a whole week under the instruction of one who was teaching the same thing by state appointment and for state pay.
That the National Reform Association aims at more than mere moral instruction in the public schools is shown by the following statement by Dr. Henderson:—
It is necessary to have a single standard of morals. We have such a standard—the Bible. The state should therefore establish and maintain instruction in the Bible in all the institutions of public education. (Applause.) The Bible does not belong to the church any more than it does to the nation.
If that be true, the government has as much right to teach religion from the Bible as the church has; and it has as much right to teach religion from the Bible as it has to teach anything else from the Bible. That the National Reformers at heart believe this is shown by Dr. Henderson's emphatic declaration that “what is needed in this country is the schools of God.”
Of course there is no question about the need; but when it comes to the question of supplying that need by the machinery of the state established through the prevalent methods of politics, he who would honor Christ and true religion must demur. C. M. S.

The October Collection

By I. H. EVANS

IN harmony with the recommendation of the last General Conference, the donation to be taken in all our churches the first Sabbath in October is for the benefit of the colored work in the South.
Last year the donation to this fund reached nearly thirteen thousand dollars. This is the largest ingathering of funds for our work for the colored people that has ever been received in any year. The distribution of this fund among the various conferences of the South has imparted a new impetus to the work among the colored people of that field.
The work in behalf of this people will always appeal to the liberalities of those who love the third angel’s message. Their needs will never be fully supplied. One who studies this interesting race as seen in the North alone, will never be able fully to appreciate the great contrast between the colored people in the North and the colored people as seen in the South.
In this great southland are living millions of these people. This is their home, the land of the nativity of the great majority of them. In this very generation they were liberated from bondage. Without land or money or education, they were thrown upon their own resources under conditions the like of which history offers no parallel. No Sabbath church bell invited them to worship; the door of no schoolroom welcomed their little ones to seek an education. No home of their own threw open its portals, inviting them to rest and comfort. For generations they had been benighted heathen or a race of slaves. Their liberty did not give them knowledge, or land, or home. They started as an orphan child starts, having only physical strength to toil and suffer as their capital.
This people needs our sympathy and help. To but few other people can the truths of the third angel’s message bring a greater blessing than to the colored man in this country. It teaches him to labor and to economize. To understand it, he must read his Bible daily, and learn to commune with his God. It teaches him the laws of health, and insists that he practise temperance in all things. It puts an inspiration into his life which makes a new world for him.
Besides, the colored race is a religious people. Their hearts are easily touched with sacred things. The word of God makes strong impressions on their hearts. There will doubtless be many of this people who will shine as bright stars in the kingdom of our God, as the result of their acceptance of the third angel’s message.
We hope our churches will plan for a liberal offering on this occasion. The Sabbath on which the donation is to be made will be our regular quarterly meeting occasion, October 6. All donations should pass through the usual channels.
I. H. EVANS.

Note and Comment

The President’s message to the pope, in which reference was made to the probability of there being Catholic presidents in this country, is thus commented on by the New Voice:—
There is no good reason why a Catholic, as well as a Presbyterian or Methodist,should not be chosen for president—but one. So long as the pope claims that his church is paramount to our constitutional lawmaking power in temporal things, and his people accept the doctrine, no Catholic ought to be, or will be, elected to that office.
The reason given why there should not be a Catholic president here is clear enough; but the declaration that there never will be one is far from convincing.

Like Autumn Leaves

By W. A. S.

THE literature of the message is to fall like autumn leaves, as the final warning is carried to the world.
One is reminded of this as he reads of thirty-five or forty tons of paper being used in one issue of one of our papers in the United States.
In the over-sea fields, also, the volume of literature is pouring forth in an ever-widening and deepening stream of blessing.
It is cheering to drop into our European publishing centers on any working day, and to see and hear the whirring presses producing the silent messengers of the Lord's soon coming.
In London I saw the printed sheets dropping from the delivery frames of the various presses like leaves dropping from the trees in autumn. The London periodicals alone have a circulation of about one hundred and twenty-five thousand copies a month.
The same encouraging scene is presented in the Hamburg House. Their periodicals in various languages have a circulation of over one hundred thousand monthly.
In all Europe our periodicals are falling from the presses at the rate of over a quarter of a million monthly. And besides this, we thank God for the shower of tracts and large literature falling like autumn leaves among these millions of Europeans.
It is a polyglot staff that one greets in the overcrowded composing-room of the Hamburg House, and they are turning out a truly polyglot (many-tongued) product. This office prints in German, Hollandish (Dutch), Russian, Slavonian, and Slavakish (of the Balkan States), Esthonian and Lettish (Baltic Russia), Polish, Hungarian, Servian, and Rumanian.
The Spirit of God is working among the millions of Europe. He is doing a wonderful work before our eyes, and that by simple means and agencies. A glorious harvest is being reaped from the sowing of past years.
W. A. S.

Macaulay’s Prophecy of Social Unrest

NEARLY half a century ago Lord Macaulay, England’s great historian, uttered a prophecy concerning the danger to liberty which would result from social unrest in America. In view of the rapid growth of socialism and the recent announcement that organized labor would hereafter be an active factor in American politics, it seems to be a fitting time to quote Macaulay’s forecast of a situation which may possibly be realized in the near future. He said:—
The day will come when in the State of New York a multitude of people, none of whom have had more than half a breakfast, or expect to have more than half a dinner, will choose a legislature. Is it possible to doubt what sort of legislature will be chosen? On one side is a statesman preaching patience, respect for vested rights, strict observance of public faith. On the other is a demagogue ranting about the tyranny of capitalists and usurers, and asking why anybody should be permitted to drink champagne, and to ride in a carriage when thousands of honest folk are in want of necessaries. Which of the two candidates is likely to be preferred by a working man who hears his children cry for more bread? . . . Either some Cæsar or Napoleon will seize the reins of government with a strong hand, or your republic will be as fearfully plundered and laid waste by the barbarians in the twentieth century as the Roman empire was in the fifth; with this difference, that the Huns and Vandals, who ravaged the Roman empire, came from without, and that your Huns and Vandals will have been engendered within your own country and by your own institutions.
The disregard of law and the betrayal of trust on the part of the wealthy capitalists have done more to hasten this time and this experience than all the extravagant utterances of socialistic orators. They have unchained a tiger which neither they nor any one else will be able to control, and the innocent will suffer with the guilty. The only safe place in which to lay up treasure is in heaven.

A Scientist Against Darwinian Evolution

WHILE some doctors of divinity are placing evolutionary and geological science above the Bible, and repudiating the Genesis record of creation entirely for the theory that starts creation with a protoplasmic cell, bringing it up through the ameba and monkey to man, it is indeed refreshing to hear a real scientist who is not afraid of “losing caste” speak out against the whole Darwinian theory, as does Mr. Etheridge of the Natural History Department of the London Museum. Prof. Geo. E. Post, of the Beirut Medical College, was recently in London, and called at the museum to have Mr. Etheridge name some geological specimens which he had found. Professor Post was anxious to know what a real working scientist thought of Darwinian evolution. So, after being shown the wonders of the establishment, he asked Mr. Etheridge if he did not think all this was the working out of mind and Providence. The following is Mr. Etheridge’s reply:—
In all this great museum there is not a particle of evidence of transmutation of species. Nine tenths of the talk of evolutionists is sheer nonsense, not founded on observation, and wholly unsupported by fact. Men adopt a theory and then strain their facts to support it. I read in all their books, but they make no impression on my belief in the stability of species. Moreover, the talk of the great antiquity of man is of the same value. There is no such thing as a fossil man. Men are ready to regard you as a fool if you do not go with them in all their vagaries. But this museum is full of proofs of the utter falsity of their views.
These are the words of one who has had as great an opportunity as any living man—far greater than Mr. Darwin—to study into these things; and all the evidence he has seen has been that which tended to disprove the fundamental claims of the evolutionist. Surely the testimony of such a man is worthy of highest consideration in a question of this character. The bulwark of Bible truth stands as strong to-day as it ever did.
Continue reading: Catholicism and the Weakness of Protestantism