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Review and Herald, Vol. 85, No. 19.

Life

Review and Herald

May 7, 1908

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 7, 1908

Life

By W. R. PATTERSON

W. R. PATTERSON
A little joy, a little pain, A smile, a tear, and a sigh; A little hoping, all in vain For something our lots deny; A little trip through shade and sun, With anon a drift of snow; A little rest when the work is done, And the western sun sinks low.
“A little sin,—a little stain,”— A blending of sorrow and joy; A little effort some goal to gain, Or to mend a broken toy; A little grief that gnaws the life, As blight on a tender flower; A little faith, and the bitter strife Is calmed the selfsame hour.
Alvarado, Texas

Second issue for 1908

By Editor

Liberty, Vol. III, No. 2

Second issue for 1908

The Best Yet Published

The second number of Liberty comes out with some rare illustrations and with masterly contents. It deals forcibly with all the principal phases of religious legislation in discussing the following topics:—

Summary of Contents

“Our Position Reaffirmed.”—As to the state; as to religion; as to theology; as to religious legislation.
“Drink and Crime.”—Drink the cause of nine tenths of the crime committed; the producing element in criminal making.
“Sin and Crime.”—A clear distinction drawn between sin and crime.
“Religion and Liberty.”—They are inseparable; religion being voluntary, can not be forced; liberty permitting unrestricted belief or unbelief.
“Passing Strange.”—Ten strange inconsistencies prominent in the demand for religious legislation.
“The Evil Results of Religious Legislation.”—Portraying the Spanish Inquisition, and showing that it was the logical outgrowth of a union of church and state.
“The Real Object.”—Sunday laws a protection of a religious institution, rather than mere police regulations.
“William Lloyd Garrison’s Protest.”—Sunday laws condemned, and a strong defense of the principles of true religious liberty made.
“A Legal Rest Day.”—One day in seven, without specifying which day it shall be, is as far as the government may go.
“Judge Cooley on Religious Legislation.”—Showing that there can be no religious liberty where one sect is favored by the state, and given advantages by law over other sects.
“Restoring Trust in God.”—By restoring the motto, “In God We Trust,” on the coins of the United States, and at the same time creating a strong navy and maintaining a large army.
“Sunday Persecution.”—Enforcing religious observance of a particular day, with a penalty.
“Is America Christian or Non-Christian?”—As a nation it can be neither, but must protect all citizens in the profession of any faith, or of no faith.
“A Protest Against Religious Legislation.”—A strong, logical argument made before a United States Senate Committee, April 15, 1908. Presented under the following divisions: Reasons for Protesting; The Real Nature of the Bills Pending; Religious in Their Character; An Infringement upon Religious Liberty; Peaceable Assemblies Already Protected by Law; Early Sunday Laws; The Constitution Forbids Such Laws; What Is Involved; The True Principles Violated; An Inconsistent Argument; The True Principles; Seven Logical Conclusions.
“A Memorial Against Sunday Legislation.”—Presented in the United States Senate, March 3, 1908, and printed in the “Congressional Record” of the same date,—a convincing portrayal of the history of Sunday agitation from 1810 to 1830, and a clear statement of the religious elements and principles contained in the Sunday bills pending before Congress. Presented in behalf of the Seventh-day Baptists of the United States.
“State-Paid Religious Teachers.”—Exposing the wrong of enforced religious teaching by unconverted public school-teachers.
“Some Notable Waymarks in Parliamentary History.”—Showing that a confused conception of the relation of church and state has ever been the cause of sad history and bitter persecution.
“A Vigorous Protest.”—A portion of the able paper of Judge Holbrook, presented before the District Commissioners protesting against the Sunday bills pending in Congress.
“Macaulay on Puritan Parliament.”—Enlarging upon the fallacies of governmental righteousness; the attempt to create virtue by law promotes hypocrisy and vice.
In addition to the foregoing topics, the second number of Liberty contains other valuable matter from good writers.

Illustrations

While it is not profusely illustrated, it has two full-page assembled photos,—one containing recent photographs of all the members of the Senate, and the other the pictures of the diplomatic corps of Washington, D. C. These two illustrations are very rare, and will be of value in the sale of this issue. Many will buy the journal to secure them.
On the inside of the first cover, there is a full-page illustration of a political guillotine, being operated by the “Sunday Rest League” for the beheading of all law-makers who refuse to give the league the legislation it demands. This illustration impressively teaches at a glance more than can be expressed in words.
Besides these are given throughout the journal photographs of a number of prominent men, such as William Lloyd Garrison; Justice John M. Harlan, of the Supreme Court of the United States; and Rev. A. H. Lewis, of the Seventh-day Baptists.

Prices

Annual subscription price, 25 cents; ten or more copies one year, one order, to one address, 15 cents a copy; 40 per cent discount allowed on ten or more new annual subscriptions when cash accompanies the order. Single copy, 10 cents. In bulk, 2 to 25 copies, one order, to one address, 5 cents a copy; 25 to 500 copies, 4 cents; 500 to 1,000 copies, 3½ cents; 1,000 or more, 3 cents.
LIBERTY, Takoma Park, Washington, D. C.

Editorial

By Editor

Anticipating Death

THE unalterable Word of God has declared that “it is appointed unto men once to die.” What God appoints, man can not change; die we must. But there is hope in this word “once,” for the Scriptures present one essential part of Christian experience as death. And if we are truly dead with Christ, we are delivered from the “fear of death,” for no one fears what has already taken place; and of believers in Christ it is said “ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” So however boldly physical death may stare us in the face, we know that the hard experience of yielding our ways, our wills, our pleasures, plans, purposes,—in fact, submission to the last degree,—is already in the past; and we can assure ourselves with the thought that “though our outward man perish,” yet it is but for a short, dreamless sleep, and when Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory. “For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him.”
How unwise the course of so many who put off the day, refusing to die to sin and self! After a few years of painful and disappointing pursuit of their own plans, they must yield to the inevitable. Should any be so deceived as to think that life hereafter will be granted them because they had no choice as to whether or not they should either enter or leave this earthly experience, the resurrection day will impress upon their minds these words,—so often turned aside when they might have served as a warning,—“The soul that sinneth it shall die.” The time will then have come when, in God’s eternal purpose, death shall be no more; and those whose names do not appear in the Book of Life, having demonstrated by their actions that they have never voluntarily gone through the death pangs of self-surrender, will perish utterly when death itself shall be cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death. How and when shall we die? in Christ to-day, or in the lake of fire at the last day?

The Message of Preparation

The subject of the Sabbath-school lesson for May 16 is “The Work of John the Baptist,” and this opens up a large field for study. We can only present a few of the thoughts which are naturally connected with this topic.
The work of John the Baptist was specifically predicted in the prophecies, and was definitely based upon the prophecies. Jesus said of John: “This is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.” John himself declared: “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet.” A messenger was foretold in the prophecies, and at the right time the messenger appeared. The prophecies set forth a work to be done in preparation for the coming of “the messenger of the covenant,” and “when the fulness of time came,” the work was accomplished. Students of the prophetic word who were willing to accept light from heaven, even though it should be contrary to their theories already adopted, had a most satisfactory basis for testing the genuine character of the work of John the Baptist.
The message of John was needed first in order to show the need of a divine Saviour, and second to bear witness to the fact that Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Messiah, the Saviour of the world. These were the two distinctive features of John’s work.
Under the teaching of a degenerate priesthood the people had lost their sense of their need of a Saviour who should save them from their sins, and had come to depend upon their strict compliance with forms and ceremonies as the essential requisite for acceptance with God. “The Jews lost the spiritual life from their ceremonies, and clung to the dead forms. They trusted to the sacrifices and ordinances themselves, instead of resting upon him to whom they pointed. In order to supply the place of that which they had lost, the priests and rabbis multiplied requirements of their own; and the more rigid they grew, the less of the love of God was manifested. They measured their holiness by the multitude of their ceremonies, while their hearts were filled with pride and hypocrisy. With all their minute and burdensome injunctions, it was an impossibility to keep the law. Those who desired to serve God, and who tried to observe the rabbinical precepts, toiled under a heavy burden. They could find no rest from the accusings of a troubled conscience.”
To those who were groping in moral darkness, vainly seeking for deliverance from the power of sin by their own efforts to fulfil man’s perversion of God’s requirements, “John was to go forth as Jehovah’s messenger, to bring to men the light of God. He must give a new direction to their thoughts. He must impress them with the holiness of God’s requirements, and their need of his perfect righteousness. . . . He saw his people deceived, self-satisfied, and asleep in their sins. He longed to arouse them to a holier life. The message that God had given him to bear was designed to startle them from their lethargy, and cause them to tremble because of their great wickedness. Before the seed of the gospel could find lodgment, the soil of the heart must be broken up. Before they would seek healing from Jesus, they must be awakened to their danger from the wounds of sin.”
The parallel between the actual condition of things in the time of John the Baptist, just before the manifestation of the Messiah, and in our time, just before “the manifestation of his coming,” is both clear and instructive. The decline of true religion as an experience of the life, the acceptance of tradition and human interpretation and political philosophy, the substitution of the works of self-righteousness for the works of faith, the inculcation of the doctrine of the salvation of the nation rather than of individuals, and of help for the nation through the gateway of politics, plans for bettering the condition of men in this world rather than for preparing them for the crisis just at hand,—in all these respects the two periods correspond very closely. And the remedy isthe same in both cases. There must be a message proclaiming the sacrifice and the righteousness of Christ, the necessity of faith in a personal Saviour in order to overcome sin, and that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
The first step in preparing the way for receiving the help provided in the gift of the Son of God is to show the utter helplessness of man when left to himself, and thus to destroy all confidence in the flesh. “Education, culture, the exercise of the will, human effort, all have their proper sphere, but here they are powerless. They may produce an outward correctness of behavior, but they can not change the heart; they can not purify the springs of life. There must be a power working from within, a new life from above, before men can be changed from sin to holiness. That power is Christ. His grace alone can quicken the lifeless faculties of the soul, and attract it to God, to holiness.” The message of John the Baptist was designed to bring this truth home to the hearts of the people.
At least a week of centuries before the first advent of our Lord there was announced through the prophet Isaiah that principle which both justifies the need of a Saviour, and, when acknowledged, leads to the personal acceptance of “the power of God unto salvation” as the only hope of deliverance. The statement is brief and simple: “All flesh is grass.” In interpreting this fundamental truth to the people of his time, John said: “Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” The blessing of Abraham—the forgiveness of sin through God’s gift of righteousness—is bestowed upon those who exercise the faith of Abraham rather than upon those who are the descendants of Abraham according to the flesh. “All flesh is grass,” even the flesh of Abraham, even the flesh of every individual, even “my” flesh; for “I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.” “We are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.”
Self-righteousness, in all its many and varied manifestations, is estimated at its true worth in the sweeping declaration, to which there is no exception, “All flesh is grass.” With this belongs the equally clear and emphatic statement of Jesus: “Without me ye can do nothing.” Salvation from sin is not accomplished through the evolution of the divinity within; a righteous character is not the result of environment and development; “there is none righteous, no, not one; . . . they have all turned aside, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not so much as one.” We are all sinners. We can not save ourselves. There is no other name under heaven, except the name of Jesus, wherein we can be saved. “By grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”
Such was the message which John the Baptist gave in order to prepare a people to recognize and to receive the Messiah when he should be manifested. Such is the message which should be proclaimed in this generation to prepare a people for the second advent of our Lord. This is the message of the nothingness of man, and his entire dependence upon Christ and his righteousness.

Modern Gnosticism

Some of the plainest teachings of the Scriptures were, in the early history of the church, spiritualized by religious teachers who knew more about heathen philosophy than about the simple gospel of Christ. This laid the foundation for the appearance later of the sect designated as Gnostics, whose influence was powerful in the perversion of the truth.
The same tendency to set aside historical facts, and to substitute a spiritual interpretation for the literal, is now shown among the advocates of the “New Theology.” Thus in a recent number of the Independent (New York), an editorial protests against that view of the resurrection which makes it “to many merely an event of the last day, a far-off, distant happening, truly marvelous, miraculous, and strange,” and says:—
In the New Testament, there is a more spiritual conception of the resurrection than that which the vision of Ezekiel so graphically embodies. Paul speaks of the resurrection in the past tense, and refers it to the experience of believers.
We are compelled to refer either to ignorance of the Scriptures, or to a deliberate purpose to pervert the record, such a half-truth as this statement concerning the teaching of the apostle Paul about the resurrection. Compare this with his own words:—
Shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenæus and Philetus; who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.
These words from Paul's second letter to Timothy, one of the latest writings of the New Testament, absolutely contradict the Independent's interpretation of Paul's teaching concerning the resurrection. The truth is that the apostle Paul set forth a spiritual resurrection as the experience of every one in union with Christ, and as sharers with him in his resurrection, but he also insisted in the plainest language upon the resurrection of the dead at the last day in these words:—
For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. . . . Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
The only possible way in which the advocates of the “New Theology” can sustain their gnostic philosophy is by either repudiating or absolutely misinterpreting the plainest teaching of the Scriptures concerning the plan of salvation as centering in the incarnation, the death, the resurrection, the priesthood, and the second advent, of Christ.

The General Conference Committee Council

By W. A. Spicer

Third Report

In addition to brethren listed as present in former reports Elders B. F. Kneeland, of New Jersey, and W. H. Heckman, of Pennsylvania, joined the council for a time.

Seventh Day, April 21

At the morning session a communication was read, presenting counsel from Sister White regarding various phases of the work. South African affairs were taken up, and calls for laborers referred to committees. Our missionaries in unhealthful regions were advised not to open new stations before the money is supplied with which to erect a good house for the proper care of the health of the workers. A letter from Elder J. M. Freeman, of the Orange River Colony, brought to the attention of the council the sad condition of native converts who are coming into the truth in that region, and who are liable to suffer great hardship in some cases. The suggestion was made of a missionary station, with land attached, to meet the situation. The matter was referred to the South African Union Committee for consideration.
The afternoon session opened with consideration of the relationship of the General Conference toward institutions needing financial help. The recommendations advised:—
1. That each institution and corporation finance itself, meeting promptly all its liabilities. 2. That we do not encourage our people to undertake new enterprises, involving the outlay of large sums of money, without the advice of the union conference committee having oversight of the territory in which such institution shall be located. 3. That we advise the various boards of our various sanitariums to judiciouslyadvertise, endeavoring to secure a full patronage for the institutions. 4. That the policy of the General Conference toward all denominational institutions be to foster and encourage; but that we insist upon local management and financiering. 5. That we encourage our people to patronize our denominational institutions, to render every possible assistance by loaning them money, and thus by their loyal support helping to put them on a paying basis.
The council urged union and local conferences to endeavor to place the paper for the blind, The Christian Record, published at College View, Neb., in the hands of the blind people. Individuals were urged to pay for a year’s subscription at two dollars. The work was inaugurated by taking up subscriptions in the council, and resolutions suggested ways by which support may be given to this paper, which every year brings a goodly number of blind people into the truth.
Invitations to workers to enter different fields were made in the session, but only the following can be reported until the individuals concerned have been corresponded with: Elder J. G. Kroeker, of Nebraska, was invited to go to Brazil, and Dr. R. Russell, just finishing a medical course in Washington, D. C., was invited to go to Korea, to engage in evangelistic medical missionary work.
The North American Foreign Department occupied the evening hour. Elder G. F. Haffner stated that there were thirty ordained and twenty-one licensed ministers in the German work in this country. There are now in other lands about twenty German ministers sent out from this country. The average tithe paid by the German churches is $16.65 for each member. There is a hearty interest in every missionary movement, and a reviving among the German believers.
Elder O. E. Reinke spoke specially of the great masses of German population in the East, where the least has been done. Special effort began in New York City seven years ago. Now Greater New York has three German churches, and two churches have been organized in Jersey City. In New York a church building has been erected, costing over seven thousand dollars. The great need was illustrated by statistical tables, showing over six millions of Germans in the States east of the Mississippi, while our German church-membership is but five hundred forty-one in this territory, and for all these millions there are but ten German ministers, with fifteen Bible workers.
Brother A. Boettcher, formerly of Finland, now secretary in the New York Office (Review and Herald, 32 Union Square, East), presented to the delegates statistical tables, showing the distribution of twenty-six nationalities in the different States, grouped by union conferences. The council earnestly approved of the department’s request that local conferences, churches and individuals get into communication with the New York foreign office, so that literature may be supplied to bring the message before these millions of other nationalities, whom Providence has directed to our doors.
Elder L. H. Christian spoke of the Danish-Norwegian work, including also the Swedish department, inasmuch as Elder S. Mortenson could not attend the council. He sketched the interesting story of the development of the work among the Scandinavians, and pointed out needs. Very many among the millions of Scandinavians in this country can be reached only in the mother tongues. There are sixty-one Scandinavian workers here, as compared with thirty-six in Europe. The believers in America desire to help the European work by sending some strong young Scandinavian laborers to grow up in the service in the home country. The speaker emphasized the importance of having conference officers encourage young Scandinavian laborers to hold to the work in these languages, rather than to draw them toward the English work. One crying need is money and men from the West for the great Scandinavian fields in the Eastern States.
Elder C. H. Edwards, of New York City, stated that two years ago their first Italian brother began work in that city. The first year developed little; the people seemed beyond reach. Then came a change, the Lord showered blessings upon the effort, and now there are two Italian churches. Quickly also a Bohemian church has been developed. This shows that the time has come to give the message to the foreign-speaking peoples in our midst.

Eighth Day, April 22

The following recommendations on topics considered the previous evening were adopted:—
Whereas, There is a large German and Scandinavian population in several conferences, especially in the East, among whom we have as yet only made a beginning in our work; and,— Whereas, There is a large German and Scandinavian constituency in the Central and Western States; and,— Whereas, Our German and Scandinavian brethren in the East are poor, and the mission work very expensive, while our brethren in the West are generally in better circumstances, and the mission work, being in the country, is not so expensive; therefore, we recommend:— 1. That as soon as consistent, more suitable laborers in these languages, from the Central and Western conferences, be sent to the East, with their wages paid. 2. That we approve of the present plan of having mission funds with which to begin and carry on the work among these nationalities in the large cities, especially in the East. 3. That such funds be raised through the foreign papers, and by such other arrangements as the local and union conferences may approve.
It is further recommended,—
1. That the Danish-Norwegian literature committee that is elected at the annual meeting of the International Publishing Association, in addition to its other work serve as an advisory committee to the superintendent of the Danish-Norwegian work in America, and that he counsel with these brethren in regard to questions concerning the Danish-Norwegian work in this country. 2. That those in charge of the Danish-Norwegian work organize a mission band among the Danish-Norwegian students, isolated Sabbath-keepers, and so far as feasible among all the Danish-Norwegian brethren, the purpose of this mission band being to further the tract and missionary work for the Danes and Norwegians in America.
West Indian affairs were presented by Elder U. Bender, and it was voted to release Elder O. E. Davis from British Guiana, medical advice being against his continuing there on account of his health. Jamaica was authorized to call for six hundred dollars through the REVIEW, in order to complete the Kingston church building, which has been under way since the earthquake.
The delegation to the next General Conference was considered. Some union conferences receiving appropriations, asked counsel as to the matter. It was the decision of the counsel that after a four-year term, the near-by unions should plan for a full representation; and as to other lands, it was agreed that the representation from unions and unorganized mission fields should be more liberal than formerly. The selection of delegates from abroad rests almost entirely with the local committees; but of those subject to call by the General Conference Committee the following were asked to attend: Guy Dail, assistant secretary for Europe; Elder J. A. Morrow, of Bermuda; Elder C. D. M. Williams, of the Hawaiian Islands.
The evening hour was devoted to a review of the situation in Australasia and the island fields. Elder O. A. Olsen stated that their union is now operating in fields having a population of forty-eight millions, and that New Guinea is soon to be added, Brother S. W. Carr and wife, of Fiji, expecting to enter that field in June. The Sabbath-keepers in the union number four thousand one hundred fifty. The tithes and offerings last year were about forty-three hundred dollars more than the previous year. Book sales were eighty thousand dollars. There is growth in every department. A school has been opened in New Zealand, with fifty students, and another in West Australia. The conferences haveloyally furnished men and means for the island fields. The outlook among the islands is encouraging, and the work in Fiji shows especially good progress. Training-school work has been a great factor there from the first, joined with the scattering of publications in the Fiji tongue.
Elder George Teasdale, of Java, spoke of the work in the vast cosmopolitan city of Singapore, with its printing-office and school and church work. He also described the situation in Java, where the work has but begun. Additional workers are called for here.

Ninth Day, April 23

The council recommended two brethren to the general oversight of the German canvassing work in this country, Brother E. Max Trummer to the West, and H. Tonjes to the Greater New York and New Jersey conferences.
Recommendations were also made as to providing special help in the Young People’s work in the Western conferences having many German believers.
In order to focus attention upon the importance of supplying the many millions of foreign-speaking peoples, outside the German and Scandinavian nationalities, with publications, action was taken calling attention to the fact that the Review and Herald branch office in New York is prepared to supply printed matter in many tongues, and the General Conference has appointed a secretary there to give attention to its distribution. The following recommendations were made:— 1. That conferences and churches in whose borders there are large numbers of these foreigners, be asked to buy and distribute a liberal supply of this literature. 2. That a fund to be known as “The Foreign Literature Fund,” be secured, for the free distribution of literature among these people, said fund to be started by an appropriation from the General Conference. 3. That our large Young People’s Societies connected with our training-schools be encouraged to assist in distributing this literature, the details of this plan of work to be formulated by the Missionary Volunteer Department and Brother Adolph Boettcher (secretary in the New York office).
The time of the next General Conference was thoroughly discussed, and the date was set for May 13 to June 6, 1909. It was voted to urge our training-school managers so to adjust their school calendars next year that the schools will close by the date of the opening of the General Conference.
Considerable time was devoted to discussion of the methods of raising foreign mission funds, so as to secure an average throughout the churches of ten cents a week per member. It was recognized that large churches as well as small must be systematically brought in, if the average is to be reached. All the union conferences have adopted the plan of working for a definite average, and it is recognized that a tremendous onward impetus will be given to the work if all resolutely set themselves to reach the mark. Last year all the gifts to missions in America were $149,260. The average aimed at would have brought in $343,200. All agree that the average is not too high, and that it ought to be attained, that it must be attained.
The oversight of the missions in East Africa was considered. The German Union is operating in German East Africa, the British Union in British East Africa, the Scandinavian Union in the region of Abyssinia. It was evident that the economical and wise direction of the work called for some plan of general supervision. It was voted that the East African territory, from the southern border of German East Africa, north-eastward to the southern boundary of the Egyptian field, should constitute the East African mission field; that a superintendent for this general territory be selected by the General Conference Committee quorum in Europe; that the territory be directed as a whole, and that if the unions in Europe which are supplying funds and workers for the opening of the fields are not able to raise sufficient funds as the work develops, help shall be given by General Conference appropriations.
Elder L. R. Conradi was requested to visit the East African mission field this year, and it was voted also that if possible he should extend his time in Africa in order to visit the South African field and missions as well.
It was voted to request Miss Adelaide Khurie, a Syrian nurse, now in America, to return to Beirut, Syria; and that Miss Kalva, a Greek nurse, of Constantinople, be requested to engage in the work in Smyrna.
It was voted to authorize the advisory committees in mission fields to grant annually licenses to native and locally selected workers in their employ, the ordination of laborers and the granting of credentials to be by General Conference action only.
The following action was taken:—
Voted, That we recommend that the Scandinavian brethren in America be encouraged to unite with the Scandinavian Union in selecting and supporting missionaries for the Abyssinian mission, all money from America to be raised and sent, not as a special fund, but through the regular channels.
The evening hour was devoted to a report of the Young People’s Missionary Volunteer Department, by Prof. M. E. Kern. It was voted to approve of the plans presented for local organizations, as printed in the Missionary Volunteer Leaflet, No. 4. It was also recommended that union and local conferences adopt the plans worked out at the Young People’s convention last year in Ohio.
The council voted to continue a day or two beyond the time at first set, owing to the pressure of business. We know our readers would gladly have the report of the closing days of the council without delay, but it seems necessary to devote one or two more articles to it, if we are to give even a brief review of the committee’s work.
W. A. SPICER, Secretary.

The Sabbath-School Donations

By G. B. Thompson

THE report from our Sabbath-schools for the year 1907 has been completed, and shows a very encouraging increase in the donations given to foreign missions. The total contributions reported for the year amounted to $86,454.47. Of this the sum of $71,753.01 was given to missions, an increase of $13,839.30 over that of the past year. The schools of the United States and Canada gave to missions $51,393.30. This lacked but $606.70 of being a thousand dollars a week.
The donations from our Sabbath-schools have become a strong factor in financing our mission work in all parts of the field. Most of our schools are using much less of their donations than formerly for local expenses, and in some conferences the entire donations are given to missions. We believe that considerable improvement can still be made in this matter. A conference secretary in the United States writes as follows: “One of our larger schools, having donations amounting to $21.65 during the quarter, contributed just five cents to missions.” We are glad, however, that this is but an isolated case. If all our donations had been given to missions, there would have been an increase in the offerings for the work abroad of nearly fifteen thousand dollars.
The Sabbath-school contributions are a part of the ten-cent-a-week plan, and an increase in the offerings means additional help in raising the amount of ten cents a week per member for missions. With the excellent organization in our Sabbath-schools, we believe that over a hundred thousand dollars should be given to missions this year. Shall we not all work to reach this goal?
G. B. THOMPSON.

The Cause Advances Despite Opposition

WERE it not that God is in this work to bring it to a speedy completion, it would be difficult to understand how it could advance as it does in some fields in spite of such opposition as it meets. Notwithstanding oppressive laws against it, the espionage of its enemies, and the imprisonment of its advocates, the cause of present truth is making its way in the darkest and most illiberal countries of the world.

“Disquieting Enough”

An editorial article in the May number of the Homiletic Review considers the progress of “social unrest” during recent months, and says:—
Bomb outrages have increased. Large districts of Kentucky have been terrorized by an oath-bound organization numbering thousands of men, whose head, says the governor of the State, “has the power of life and death over the members,” who freely employ the bullet and the torch to gain their ends. On April 4 the president of the American Federation of Labor informed a congressional committee that either Congress must enact the demands of the Federation into law, or “there will spring up secret organizations bound by oath to the service of the cause of labor, and to the fight we have already waged.” All this is disquieting enough; and besides we have, in consequence of a financial panic, a huge army of the unemployed, many of them bitter and desperate. The social atmosphere is evidently full of electricity. The public peace is in a condition of unstable equilibrium, which, like dynamite, a sudden shock may upset destructively.
This is a conservative statement concerning the actual situation, and these facts prove, as this magazine admits, that “the situation has not been improved.” And yet there are preachers and periodicals asserting that this is simply the evolution of a better state of things, that the public conscience is being awakened, that a higher standard of righteousness is being erected, etc., etc. It is difficult to see how the facts warrant any such conclusions. On the other hand the evidences are multiplying to prove that we are in the “perilous times” foretold in the Scriptures. The signs of the times are being written in plain characters.

Hindering the Gospel

At a meeting of the Methodist Laymen's Missionary Movement at Chattanooga, Tenn., on April 21, Mr. James Bryce, British Ambassador to the United States, speaking of the results of coercive and oppressive religion among the natives of America, said:—
Is it any wonder that the behavior of men who are nominally Christians—Christians in profession if not practise—has checked the spread of Christianity? The missionary comes preaching a gospel of justice and love and peace. But when the natives see how men behave who profess the religion which the missionary preaches, the preachings lose their value.
These are true words. The gospel of Christ has thus been wounded in the house of its professed friends in every country in the world, and this has been specially and emphatically so where that religion has been a state religion, compelling its way among the natives by lash and bayonet, as it did in America. The arm of the state behind the missionary has robbed his preaching of its true soul-winning power, and produced hypocrites where genuine Christians might have been.

Capturing the Press

In a recent number of the Freeman's Journal, one of the leading Roman Catholic papers of this country, there appeared a signed article relating to the use which might be made of the daily press in behalf of Roman Catholic interests. The following paragraph is taken from this article:—
Instead of devoting all our energies to building up a Catholic press, often against heavy odds and a serious handicap, why not devote a very little of our surplus energy to capturing or converting the secular press, at least to the extent of infusing into it more of Catholic truth? There never was a time when conditions were more favorable for this great work than to-day. In the first place the ever-increasing prestige and influence of the Catholic Church in this country, together with the many great problems looming up on the horizon, that can be solved only by the application of Christian principles; and in the second place, the fact that the great dailies are not only already thoroughly organized and magnificently equipped, but constitute for millions of readers the chief if not the only source of information, — surely make the prize well worth the effort.
It is an open secret that the influence of the Roman Catholic Church over the press of the country is already very great; and if the plan outlined by this writer is carried into execution, we may expect to see the affairs of the Roman Catholic Church made a still more prominent feature of the daily record of public events.
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