Review and Herald, Vol. 87, No. 10. (3/10/1910)

Review and Herald

Mar 10, 1910

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 10, 1910

Life Mosaic

By Frances Ridley Havergal

Master, to do great work for Thee, my hand Is far too weak! Thou givest what may suit— Some little chips to cut with care minute, Or tint, or grave, or polish. Others stand Before their quarried marble fair and grand, And make a life-work of the great design Which Thou hast traced; or, many-skilled, combine To build vast temples, gloriously planned. Yet take the tiny stones which I have wrought, Just one by one, as they were given by Thee, Not knowing what came next in Thy wise thought; Set each stone by Thy master hand of grace, Form the mosaic as Thou wilt for me, And in Thy temple pavement give it place. — Frances Ridley Havergal.

The Temperance Instructor®

By Editor

The best Temperance number of the YOUTH'S INSTRUCTOR ever published will be ready March 22. It will contain 32 pages of valuable information and stirring temperance stories. It is replete with good pictures. An unusual opportunity for periodical workers.

A Few of Its Features

Space permits us to mention only a few features that this issue will contain:—

Mr. Wanamaker's Veto.—Written for this issue by John Wanamaker, America's most successful merchant. Mr. Wanamaker has always maintained a firm, inflexible stand against the use of liquor or tobacco in any form. The article deals with the evils of these two great agents of iniquity.

Temperance Posters.—By Miss Marie C. Brehm, Lecturer on Scientific Temperance for the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. Miss Brehm discusses in a practical way the use of modern methods in advertising temperance numbers.

The Demands of the Times.—By Miss Matilda Erickson, Secretary of the Missionary Volunteer Department. This deals in a telling way with the needs of the world to-day, forcibly showing how many of these needs could be readily supplied if the enormous wastes which the liquor traffic entails were once checked.

The Departments

Under the Search-Light.—This department contains a number of pithy articles dealing with the conditions as they exist to-day throughout this and other countries.

Amid the Shadows.—Giving graphic, pointed pictures of the darker and more pathetic side of intemperance.

Gold or Manhood.—The articles in this department deal with the question of revenue, and the financial side of the temperance question.

The Bar or the Boy.—Here the temperance question and its relationship to the training of the youth in this country are discussed in several forcible articles.

The Cure—Prohibition.—The wonderful movement which has swept over the country the last few years is described and discussed in a most interesting way.

Liquor's Ally—Tobacco.—This department is given to the discussion of the fearful consequences of the tobacco habit.

Pledge Signing.—A department treating upon one of the most effectual aids to prohibition.

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Facsimile of cover design, which is produced in two colors

No more attractive number of the YOUTH'S INSTRUCTOR was ever issued than this Special Temperance Number for 1910. No better time for presenting the temperance issue of any periodical to the American public ever existed than the present, for the country has been swept by the prohibition movement almost from one end to the other.

Important to Agents

Send a postal-card to the Circulation Manager, Review and Herald Publishing Association, Takoma Park, D. C., with your name and address, and you will be sent an advance copy of the special Temperance number of the Youth's Instructor just as soon as it is off the press, so that you may have it to study and become familiar with its contents. Send a card at once: the first copies are ready now.

REVIEW AND HERALD PUBLISHING ASSN.

TAKOMA PARK — — WASHINGTON, D. C.

The Basis of Our Confidence

By C. M. S.

WHEN Paul entered Athens in the interests of the Redeemer’s kingdom, he found the educated Athenians spending their time in either telling or hearing some new thing. The simple message of truth which he bore to them was to them as the babblings of a child, and they asked one another, “What will this babbler say?”

Just so is it now. The scientist and the great educators have evolved new things, into the telling and hearing of which they are throwing their whole lives, and the message of the everlasting gospel founded in the Word of God is to them like the prattlings of childhood. They have found something which to them seems better and greater. From the God of the Bible they have turned away, and in their own language have “brought the Infinite from distant skies to serve humanity.” Following their teachings, the children of this generation are “to lead the race away from cowering beliefs into the larger life of service.”

Says Inspiration, “Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” But this generation is trying to do that very thing. They are laying what they consider a foundation much better “than that which is laid;” but the fires of God will prove it of what sort it is. Doubt and agnosticism have made a god of their own and fallen down before it; and because they have not liked to retain the God of the

Bible in their mind, or credit the Bible with speaking the things of truth, God has “given them over” to this “strong delusion.”

Shall these things shake the true child of faith?—Nay, verily. We can say with Job: “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and at last he will stand up upon the earth.” Job 19:25. We can say with Paul: “Howbeit the firm foundation of God standeth, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his.” 2 Tim. 2:19. It is worth all that a man is or can hope to be to have that undying confidence in the Word of God. Friends fail us; our fondest hopes wither like thirsty leaves in the searing winds of summer; our powers decay; the great men of earth go wrong; while all the handiwork of man is crumbling before our eyes. Nevertheless, God is; and because he is, his Word is true, his power supreme, and his purpose concerning us as sure as that he himself is.

The lives of the great men of old have gone out like a whisper in the night; but the Word of our God abideth forever. We have before us constant reminders of the weakness of men; but, if we will but see them, there are all about us just as constant reminders of the greatness and power and endurance of our Father in heaven. He who made the heavens and peopled the worlds with the creatures of his love and care tells us in his own blessed Book that “from everlasting to everlasting” he is God. He tells us that though “all flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field” that perisheth, yet the word that has gone out of his lips “shall stand forever.” He declares also concerning himself, “I am the Lord, I change not.” “The things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Notwithstanding the fact that every earthly building is undergoing a process of decay and disintegration, he tells us that there is “a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens;” that the kingdom which he has promised to the ransomed of earth is “an everlasting kingdom.”

On those assurances the soul can rest. Back of them all is the power of the eternal God. They are more stable than the pyramids, more stable than the hills. To them the soul can anchor and not be disappointed. The greatest scientist of this world, the greatest educator this enlightened generation has yet produced, can never build such a foundation as that. The best that men have to offer is but theory, a mechanical invention, having in it none of the divine purpose and infinite love; whereas all that God has done for us, and all that he has laid before us of his purpose, is woven in the loom of infinite love. Earthly love may fade and die out, but God assures us that he has loved us “with an everlasting love,” and while assuring us of that, he is seeking to bind us to himself with his everlasting cable of loving-kindness. If we are discouraged and cast down, then may we know that “underneath are the everlasting arms.” When trouble comes in like a flood, till the very earth seems to tremble beneath our feet, then it is for us to know that “the foundation of God standeth sure.” As he knoweth the stars and “calleth them all by name,” so he knows his children, calls them all by name, knows their frame, and remembers that they are but dust. At the same time “the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which can not be uttered.”

So there is indeed an eternal Rock to which the most storm-tossed can anchor: there is an eternal habitation for the most footsore pilgrim; in the midst of change and destruction there is One who is “the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.” The pyramid may become the plaything of the summer breeze, but “the foundation of God standeth sure.” The record of human selfishness will fade from the memory of the redeemed, but the story of Calvary and the triumphs of the cross will be sung by the redeemed as long as God shall live. The plans of men to inaugurate a religion of their own and invent a deity of their own will seem worse than childish fancies when the Lord of hosts shall descend to drop the curtain over the tragedy of sin, and to take out of a faithless world a loyal remnant for the glory of his name. Toward that time we look with the eye of faith undimmed, knowing that “he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” C. M. S.

Beginning of a Movement

By Editor

Editorial

Beginning of a Movement.—That was a wonderful experience by which the Lord brought out the advent people and established them upon the firm platform of the third angel's message. They had had a part in the first and second messages, and in the times preceding the autumn of 1844. They had seen the power of God revealed in the preaching of these messages, and in the sounding of the “midnight cry,” “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.”

Light From the Sanctuary

Light From the Sanctuary.—They had passed through the time of bitter disappointment, which, true to the prophetic outline, was to come in as part of the experience in the development of the final advent message. Then there came to the little flock the clear light on the sanctuary in heaven. They saw that Daniel’s prophecy, “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed,” meant not the coming of Christ to earth in 1844, but the beginning of his work in the most holy above, the hour of the investigative judgment. They saw clearly that while this judgment work was going on in heaven, from 1844 to the close of probation, the third angel’s message was to be carried to all the world, with its warning against the Papacy and its image and mark, calling all to the platform of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Thus early did they obtain a clear view of this great movement as it exists to-day.

A Definite Experience.

That passing from one ground of experience to another in the three messages was just as distinct an experience to the believers as the passing of the children of Israel out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and on by Sinai toward the land of promise. The Lord again, in the advent movement, was leading out a people. From just before 1844, when again “the time of the promise drew nigh,” the Lord set his hand finally to deliver his children from the Egypt of sin, to put his law in their hearts, and to lead them toward the eternal Canaan. No wonder the word came by the spirit of prophecy that not a pin or a block of the three messages should be moved. It was an experience in the fulfilment of prophecy, something actually done, the right thing at the right time. History was there made that can never be unmade.

Songs of Rejoicing.

And how it cheered the hearts of the believers in the “blessed hope” as the clear light of the third angel’s message broke upon them, as they waited in uncertainty and trial following 1844. Here are a few words from letters dated in 1851:— Hiram Bingham: “Daily have I received light upon the different points connected with the closing message. The heavenly sanctuary, O how beautiful!” (Morristown, Vt.). H. Flower: “Never did the light of truth shine so brilliantly into my heart as at present. It is but a few weeks since we received the light on the Sabbath, and now we can look back upon our experience, and to the seventh-month movement, and truly say that God was in it” (Ashfield, Mass.). Joshua Philbrick: “While my brethren were led to give up the ‘midnight cry’ in the past, . . . I felt within my soul that God would yet vindicate his holy truth, and justify the past movement. He has done it. Praise God, . . . for the third angel’s message clears up the whole matter” (Sutton, Vt.). Sarah Griggs: “O, what a halo of glory shines round these precious truths! Praise the Lord for the sounding of the third angel’s message” (Avoca, N. Y.). D. Daniels: “O, this seems like heaven! . . . I received the paper Thursday after dark, but did not read much until this morning. I can almost say, as Philip said to Nathanael, ‘We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write.’ I must believe that this message is from God” (Chicopee Falls, Mass.). Marshall Truesdell: “All difficulty has vanished respecting the requirements of the fourth commandment, . . . O ye messengers of Jesus that are proclaiming the solemn message of the third angel, be not discouraged, the Lord is on your side” (Catlin, N. Y.).

The Same to All Peoples

The Same to All Peoples.—So in its rise the shining light of the message gladdened many hearts in New England and New York, and began to spread westward. The volumes of the REVIEW have kept the record in part through all the years without a break; until now we are week by week printing words of thankfulness for the message, and news of its progress sent us from across every sea. The Lord began the work, has carried it forward in the path marked out, and he also will finish it and cut it short in righteousness. In the words of a hymn that was sung in the 1844 movement, we can say with full assurance and joy of faith,— “Jesus my all to heaven is gone, He whom I fix my faith upon. Jesus says he will be with us to the end; For he has been with us—still is with us, And he’s promised to be with us to the end.”

Filling an Institution

By William A. Spicer

HERE is an Iowa experience that we pass on to our people, for there is a good lesson in it. That conference recently transferred its sanitarium headquarters to a country location, and erected a new institution. The problem then was to fill it. All the believers were urged to engage in a publicity campaign. In the last Iowa Workers’ Bulletin, Elder M. N. Campbell, the president, says:—

These are busy days at the sanitarium. The efforts of our people are already bearing fruit, and patients are coming from all quarters who have had their attention drawn to the institution by Adventist neighbors. This week a supply of the new announcements is being mailed to all our churches, so each of the members can have a few for handing out to sick friends or acquaintances, or for mailing. Quite a number have sent in lists of sick persons to whom letters will be addressed, calling their attention to the facilities afforded at the sanitarium for helping them. A general effort on the part of all our people will fill the building to its utmost capacity.

This is the kind of publicity work that all can engage in; and without a doubt such efforts in the territory of all our institutions would greatly increase their influence for good and bring blessing and prosperity to them. In early days, when our health work was beginning, I notice by an old REVIEW that all our laborers were notified that every minister and worker was expected to act as a special agent for the health journal and the sanitarium. And that early publicity work, face to face with people who needed physical help, established the patronage of the one sanitarium that we had. Now each one of our many institutions should have a special agent in every believer, who shall watch for opportunities to turn the attention of the sick toward the institutions where they may find help. W. A. S.

The Test of Faith

By F. M. W.

The test of faith in God and his truth is found in obedience. The highest test of faith is not found in obedience to those principles of truth which do not particularly condemn our course, or cut across our desires. It is comparatively easy to harmonize with instruction which, while it may strike against the doings of another, does not particularly condemn our conduct. It is quite another thing, however, when obedience on our part costs the sacrifice of our plans and purposes. For faith does not always adapt itself to the logic of human reasoning. This is when we really demonstrate the genuineness of our confidence.

It is upon these points that many will fall in the times before us. Hence, the question is practically pertinent. Do we believe the instruction of the Lord, not as applied to our brother, or some situation with which we are not connected, but as applied to ourselves and our ways, even when the instruction stands diametrically opposed to our own natural feelings and preconceived opinions?

It is comparatively easy to believe the instruction which has come to this people through the spirit of prophecy when no personal interests are involved; but the vital question is, Do we believe that instruction when it does involve unfavorably our own cherished ideas? Shall I use this instruction to point out another’s faults, but ignore it when it points out mine? Shall I stand as a professed believer in spiritual gifts as manifested in the church, when I find messages of encouragement and counsel to assist me in hours of darkness, and shall I ignore the messages from the same quarter which come to me by way of reproof and correction? The inclination of the human heart is to do this.

Surely, such a faith as this is far from consistent. And when I pursue this course, I am guilty of the same thing with which I am naturally inclined to charge my fellows, of making the acceptance of this gift in the church a matter of mere caprice and human judgment. If I feel that my brother, who is in darkness and can not see whither his steps are tending, should, when his errors are pointed out, subordinate his own views to the instruction given, I should be sufficiently self-distrustful, and conscious of my own weaknesses, to consider that I face the same danger in my own experience.

Let each for himself study to apply to his own life the principles of truth. There is too much of a tendency to study the Bible and the Testimonies to determine our brother’s duty instead of our own. When we do this, there is danger always that we will read into such instruction our own conception of what our brother should do. Thus we place upon the instruction our own selfish interpretation, and say, “The Lord saith,” when the Lord has not said. Let us make no test for others to which we ourselves are unwilling to submit. We may be brought over the same ground of test in our experience which we have prescribed for our fellows. We should judge ourselves more severely, and our brother more leniently. Let us walk humbly before God, seeking his leadings, and carefully living as his counsel shall direct. “To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.”

F. M. W.

In Business for the Lord

By W. A. S.

In a recent letter from Brother G. Dail, of Europe, he tells of the experience of a brother whom he met at the East Prussian annual conference, held in Insterburg. Brother Dail says:—

I was greatly rejoiced to look into the happy, radiant face of the brother who has made up his mind to devote all his net gains to the advancement of the cause of God. He is a large farmer, and owns many horses and cattle. He employs several workmen to keep things in order.

Formerly, so I am told, he was rather of a disposition to gather and hold all he could to himself. He married a woman who also had considerable means. But on their conversion to the truth, they at once began to demonstrate that the spirit of the message had won their hearts away from all covetousness.

Already he has put thousands into the cause in Germany, and now runs his farm for the advancement of the third angel’s message. You would enjoy meeting the brother, as he is so earnest, so simple in all things, and so joyful in the Lord.

Ought not that to be the aim of every Seventh-day Adventist—to run his business for the Lord? It is a blessed thing to give all to God, so that everything—aside from the necessaries of life, which our Heavenly Father dedicates to his children—shall be counting for the hastening on of this work. The cause of Christ calls for the undivided energies of every soul of us. W. A. S.

Emphasizing the Old Religion

SPEAKING of the inroads of infidelity and of the efforts made by advocates of the “New Religion” to undermine the old-time Bible faith, the Bible Standard (Baptist) of Feb. 24, 1910, gives expression to the following excellent thoughts:—

You discard some of the teachings of the Bible, and you spoil the entire Book. It has been conclusively proved that when man deviates from a few of the cardinal doctrines of the Scriptures, he eventually departs from the whole of them. Witness the Papacy. It grew out of a mistaken idea. There was at first a departure from a few things, and only

a few. But by a little at a time it developed into that awful fallacy of a hierarchy which has spread its baneful influence through the centuries and around the world!

We are exhorted to contend for the faith as it was delivered in its original simplicity and purity. Our enemies at the present day, no less than in former times, are very strong. We contend against mighty influences. There are those to-day, as in olden times, who would take away our faith. Some seek to discard the miracles of the Bible. Others would throw out the Pentateuch. Others still would take away the epistles and cut our Book of faith into small fragments, and then take the inspiration out of what is left.

We do not need a “new religion,” but we do need a new emphasis on the old religion once for all delivered unto the saints. We need to contend with superhuman strength against the errors which have stealthily crept in, and which would despoil the immaculate truths which have so sublimely blessed twenty centuries of the world’s polluted history. Here is our struggle. Ours is a supreme contest. Let us contend for the divinely inbreathed Word of God as it was delivered unto us. The Bible is not part God’s Word and part man’s word. It is every bit God’s Word. Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Christ was God in the flesh. He was Deity incarnate. He was not a mere manifestation of God. He was God. He was every bit God clothed in human flesh and subjected to human limitations. . . . He dwelt among us full of grace and truth. Let us earnestly contend for this cardinal fact. The Bible is indited by the Holy Spirit. It is faultless, superhuman, and divine. It is God’s Testament and man’s only guide to the truth as it is in Jesus.

When we come to consider the numerous forces of atheism which are allied against God and his work, we can understand the meaning of the Saviour’s question: “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” Faith will exist, but not in the hearts of the great multitude. It will be confined to the small majority who in the midst of the dangers on every side have made God their trust, and his Word their guide; but the end of all the conflict will show that faith in God and his truth was not misplaced.

Health Reform

By F. M. W.

To the question of healthful living considerable space has been devoted in the last four numbers of the REVIEW. We are sure that all our readers have greatly enjoyed the presentation of this subject as given by Mrs. E. G. White in her addresses at the last General Conference. By these addresses to this representative assembly, and by their wide publication in the Bulletin and in the REVIEW, our people everywhere are again brought face to face with these principles.

Their presentation has been reasonable and consistent, such as should commend their acceptance to every thinking mind. For long years this church has been given great light with reference to matters of diet and kindred health subjects. While some have rejoiced in this light and sought to apply it in their personal experience, on the part of others there has been a sad neglect of the instruction given. God is now calling the attention of his people again to this important question. Will they recognize the value of health principles, and seek to profit by the knowledge received?

Ministers and teachers should sense the responsibility which rests upon them as leaders, to take their stand regarding this great truth, the same as every other Bible doctrine. They should place before those who look to them for counsel a proper example in the application of health principles. A great responsibility also rests upon fathers and mothers to see that before their children is placed not only a right example in these matters, but that such habits and tastes are formed and cultivated as will be in harmony with the instruction which has been received. Let there be in every home and in every church an earnest, consistent agitation of this subject, and above all, let each seek to apply the principles to himself primarily, and accord to his brother the same privilege. Health principles, or the Testimonies which advocate them, should not be used as clubs for those who may differ from us regarding this subject, or, for that matter, any other question of gospel truth. Let each seek to know the right application of truth for himself, and this, above everything else, will put him in a position to aid his fellow men. We need to carry a wise and consistent burden of soul for others. We may aid our brethren in exemplifying rather than talking reform principles. F. M. W.

Note and Comment

By Editor

“Nobody Knows”

As indicative of the sad condition of doubt or agnosticism that is being fostered by the “liberal” attitude of a large portion of the professed “body of Christ,” we quote the following from a journal which has the word “Christian” as a part of its name. The journal in question is dated Feb. 10, 1910. Says the editor:—

Nobody knows, or is likely in time to discover, the origin of life upon this earth, or the precise way in which the world we inhabit rolled into the planetary system and became a visible member of the sidereal universe. Concerning the end of things and the way in which human life will cease upon the earth and the earth itself yield up its separate existence to feed the life of some other sun or star, we are quite as much in the dark in spite of all the learned expositions of geologists and astronomers. We know that the earth has had an almost endless past, and that its future is equal to any eternity which the human imagination can compass.

Now, we do not believe that we need to be so much in the dark as this “Christian” journal professes to be. The Word of God, in quite explicit language, tells a great deal about how “the world we inhabit rolled into the planetary system,” and how life originated upon this earth. It tells also, and in very explicit language, what the end thereof will be. Inspiration does not put the creation of this world in the “almost endless past,” nor does it promise that this earth in its present state will have a future “equal to any eternity which the human imagination can compass.” It does state, however, that there will be those who will be teaching practically what the writer of the above extract is teaching. See 2 Peter 3:3, 4. “This is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light.” John 3:19. The writer whom we quoted above has no right to say, “Nobody knows.” He who believes God’s Word does know. God has given the light; if we choose to reject it, the blame rests upon us alone.

Poor Comfort

By C. M. S.

A SUBSCRIBER to the New York Weekly Witness has written a letter to that journal, taking exception to an article which recently appeared in the REVIEW AND HERALD, entitled “Blasting at the Gospel.” He feels that we have misrepresented the situation in stating that a great portion of the modern church has grasped with avidity the two great temptations, Evolution and the Higher Criticism. After stating the substance of our article outlining present conditions in the modern church, the correspondent appeals to the editor as follows in opposition to the statements contained in our article: —

Now, while this [what we had stated concerning Dr. Lyman Abbott’s teaching] may be Dr. Abbott’s view, is it fair to say that a great portion of the churches are doing so? Are there other churches in the city of New York with these same views that Dr. Lyman Abbott has? Wouldn’t it be more Christian for the Adventists to let the churches alone, and preach the only true gospel for the uplifting of humanity than to criticize churches that they have no use for?

The editors of the REVIEW have no desire to criticize churches; and we speak of these faith-destroying teachings with the sole purpose of showing the fulfilment of our Lord’s words concerning these very times. It is not a sign of Christianity in a man that he, seeing another in danger, leaves him where he is; or, having a message to give, refrains from giving it lest his message might startle some one out of his comfortable fancied security. Not to criticize churches, but to warn and save souls, is our business. The correspondent gets little comfort from the editor of his paper. As to our statement concerning the modern church largely accepting Evolution and the Higher Criticism, the editor of the Weekly Witness says: —

There is some ground for believing that to be true. But the Bible teaches Evolution, and therefore a man may not be any less of a Christian for believing in it.

So the correspondent finds in his own church paper the same process working that has come to full fruitage in the teachings of Dr. Abbott concerning creation and the Word of God. The editor of the Weekly Witness is simply saying: It is so, but it won’t hurt us; it is here, but we need not fear it. He takes the position of the Evolutionist in its modified form; but that much admitted, consistency compels the second step also. In addition to that, the editor takes the first step in the course of the Higher Critic when he says, in the same article: “There is a very visible human element in the authorship of the Bible.” The Bible is either God’s book, or it is not. If man is part author, it is not God’s book. Admit the copartnership in authorship, and then it is for man to determine how much is human and how much divine. That is what the Higher Critics are doing to-day, and they started with that same hypothesis concerning the “human element” in the authorship of the Bible.

But we are not glorying that these things are so. It would give us a great deal more satisfaction to feel that all men — especially all professed Christians — believed God’s account of creation and believed God’s Book. They do not, and the popular drift is not that way. The words of Jesus himself are being fulfilled in these very conditions, and these conditions are a certain indication that the time is drawing near “when the Son of man cometh;” for he said, “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” There is no comfort for such earnest inquirers as the correspondent above referred to in telling them Evolution is true, and the Bible is part human and therefore fallible. The only true comfort in such a time as this is in knowing what these things mean, and in being assured of acceptance with God. C. M. S.

“Protecting Our People”

UNDER this head the Lutheran Witness of Feb. 3, 1910, deplores the fact that Lutheran pastors have not been faithful in instructing their members, not only in the positive doctrines of the Bible, but also in warning them against such errors as are taught by the Campbellites, the Russellites, the Methodists, the Adventists, etc. It says some are drawn off by the Campbellites on the doctrine of baptism, some by the Adventists over the question of the Sabbath, and others by the Methodists over the preaching of sanctification or the second blessing. Regarding Seventh-day Adventists, it says:—

The Seventh-day Adventists are very busy spreading their literature among the mixed denominations on the Dakota prairies. Lutherans who have been confirmed, and who have lived most of their lifetime among Lutherans, buy their books, read them, and “see nothing wrong in them.” Soon our people discover their church is wrong on the Sabbath question, and after a little while they are “thankful that the Lord opened their eyes.” Too often we learn that these Lutherans never heard of “Seventh-day people” before they met them out on the prairies, and were “taken in.”

It is certainly the privilege of the Lutheran Witness to warn its readers against the doctrines held by Seventh-day Adventists, and we appreciate the considerate spirit in which this is done, but surely Lutherans, of all others, should not charge other churches with proselyting when some members of its own church unite with other religious bodies. The Lutheran Church was actually founded on an apostasy from the Roman fold, and the founder of the church spent his whole life in endeavoring to convert his brethren of the Catholic faith from the errors of their ways.

If later in its history there shall come additional light, its merit should be determined in the same way as Luther determined the merit of truth; viz., by appealing to the Holy Scriptures. And as Luther welcomed the light which shone from the pages of this Sacred Book in his day, so those who profess to be his followers should welcome every advanced ray of light which shall shine from that source at the present time.

Continue reading: Mingling Error With Truth