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Review and Herald, Vol. 83, No. 50.

The Answering Voice

Review and Herald

Dec 13, 1906

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 13, 1906

The Answering Voice

All was darkness and silence, and the Soul spoke to God out of the depths of its despair, and as of old, while it was yet speaking, God answered, and Assurance walked with Doubt, and Comfort followed after Pain.
“O my God, be not far from me. Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation.”
“The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.”
“I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.”
“When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee.”
“The light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me.”
“The Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.”
“Hold thou me up.”
“I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.”
“But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well-nigh slipped.”
“He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.”
“My sorrow is continually before me.”
“Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.”
“As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you.”
“I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.”
“God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”—From “The Valley of Troubling.”

Publishers' Page

Conducted by the Department of Circulation of the Review and Herald Publishing Association

Bibles for Christmas Presents

The Review and Herald Publishing Association, of Washington, D. C., has secured a line of Bibles printed in the Old Country that equals any other Bible published. They contain all the latest, up-to-date features of any Bible manufactured, and have a clear, large, bold-faced type, Arabic figures for chapter headings, the popular center-column references, with or without thumb indexes; 6¼ in. long by 4¾ in. wide, ⅞ in. thick, except the cheapest book, which is 1¼ in. thick. The general demand is for a large type in a small Bible, and this line is the nearest approach to such a book we know of. Note the following styles and prices: No. 2990, Alsatian morocco, divinity circuit, round corners, red-under-gold edges, silk head band and marker, linen lined, plain book paper, $2.50. No. 2990x, same as above, with the exception of being made with thin India paper, which makes it only ⅛ of an inch thick, $3.50. No. 2992x, Egyptian morocco, same style as above, grained leather, silk sewed, $4. No. 2996x, Alaska seal, same style as above, calf lined to edge, silk sewed, $5.50. If concordance is desired, 50 cents extra; if thumb index, 50 cents extra. Order by the number of the Bible.
It pays to buy more than one Bible. If persons can club together and send us an order for three Bibles to one address, a liberal discount will be made.

Good Christmas Books for Children

The New Testament Primer

A new, profusely illustrated primer for children, containing four departments,—a Scriptural alphabet in colors; a nature display of trees, flowers, insects, birds, and animals, with a slate exercise in writing, drawing, and stick-laying at the bottom of each page; a plain, simple, and interesting story of the life of Christ; a thrilling history of some of the principal apostles, closing with the story of John on the Isle of Patmos. The book is in every way adapted to children, and will be appreciated by them. In strong board covers, 25 cents; durable cloth, 50 cents.

Our Little Folks' Bible Nature

An illustrated kindergarten book containing some graded lessons on Bible nature, beginning with the creation of light, and continuing with the subjects of creation in the order of the Scriptures. The author regards the order in which the Scriptural subjects are introduced to the young mind as of divine origin, and the closer it is followed, the better it will be for the children. The book is of the sentence-method order, carefully graded. Each subject is thoroughly illustrated with drawings made especially for the book. In durable board, 25 cents; cloth, 40 cents.

My Garden Neighbors

A book of special interest, treating upon certain birds, animals, and other creatures which, at one time or another, made their abode in the author's garden. The reading of this book will lead the young to a more careful study of their animal friends, and to give greater consideration to their comfort and happiness, and the lessons taught will be of practical benefit in many respects. In cloth binding, $1.

Making Home Happy

This work contains a bright, wholesome story with a moral, treating upon subjects that reveal how a home may be made happy through loving unselfishness, which is shown to be the secret of a happy home and happy lives. Practical lessons are taught, which are well calculated to make every home more homelike and desirable. It is a book which both children and parents will be benefited by reading. Neatly and tastefully bound, illustrated with drawings made especially for the book. Paper covers, 25 cents; cloth bindings, 50 cents.

Choice Danish-Norwegian Tracts Topically Arranged

Second Coming of Christ

EACH PER 100 Earthquake, Illustrated (San Francisco) ............ $.20 .... His Glorious Appearing, Illustrated ................. .15 .... Marshaling of Nations, Illustrated .................. .10 .... Alarm of War ........................................ .04 $3.20 Daniel VII .......................................... .04 3.20 Great Threefold Message ............................. .02 1.60 Heavenly Meeting .................................... .00½ .40

Immortality Question

Life and Immortality ................................ .10 .... Bible Questions and Answers Concerning Man ........... .02 1.60 Is Man Immortal? .................................... .01 .80 Day After Death ..................................... .01 .80

Spiritualism

Gospel Remedy ....................................... .02 1.60 Spiritualism ........................................ .02 1.60

The Law

Bible or Tradition .................................. .15 .... Law and Gospel ...................................... .02 1.60 Two Laws ............................................ .02 1.60

The Sabbath

Hill's Bible Class .................................. .15 .... Christ and the Sabbath .............................. .05 4.00 How Was the Sabbath Changed? ......................... .01 .80 New Testament Sabbath ............................... .02 1.60 Rome's Challenge .................................... .04 3.20

Millennium

Saint's Inheritance ................................ .10 .... Millennium .......................................... .02 ....

Temperance

Cause and Cure of Intemperance ...................... .01 .80 Effects of Tea and Coffee ........................... .01 .80 The Name ............................................ .01 .80 Wine and the Bible .................................. .02 1.60

Gospel Stories

How Esther Read Her Bible ........................... .01 .80

Bible Study

Bible Lessons ....................................... .25 .... Bible Sanctification ................................ .10 .... Family Bible Teacher (28 Lessons) ................... .20 .... Scriptural References ............................... .02 1.60

Religious Liberty

Civil Government and Religion ....................... .15 .... Genius of the Papacy ................................ .02 1.60 Sunday Laws ......................................... .00½ .40

Miscellaneous

Christ and the Pharisees ............................ .04 3.20 Present Truth ....................................... .04 3.20 Sufferings of Christ ................................ .04 3.20 Two Covenants ....................................... .02 1.60 Twofold Apostasy .................................... .04 3.20 Order of your tract society, or of the International Publishing Association.

Choice German Tracts Topically Arranged

Second Coming of Christ

EACH PER 100 His Glorious Appearing (Illustrated, 96 pp) ......... .15 .... Last-Day Tokens, 130 pp ............................. .15 .... Earthquake, Illustrated (San Francisco) ... (3 for 45c) .20 .... Alarm of War ........................................ .04 $3.20 Can We Know? ........................................ .01 .80 First Angel's Message ............................... .04 3.20 Is the End Near? .................................... .03 2.40 Prophetic Word and Last Warning Message .............. .06 4.80 Second Angel's Message .............................. .03 2.40 What Do These Things Mean? .......................... .02 1.60

Immortality Question

Rich Man and Lazarus ................................ .10 .... Departing and Being with Christ ..................... .02 1.60 Thief on the Cross .................................. .05 4.00

Spiritualism

Spiritualism ........................................ .02 1.60

The Law

Law and Gospel ...................................... .02 1.60 Three-Law Chart ..................................... .01 .80

The Sabbath

Hill's Bible Class .................................. .15 .... Candid Admissions ................................... .05 .40 Father O'Keef on Sunday ............................. .02 1.60 Jewish .............................................. .01 .80 Sabbath of the Lord ................................ .02 1.60 Why Not Found Out Before? ........................... .01 .80

Millennium

The Millennium ...................................... .02 1.60

Bible Study

Family Bible Teacher (28 Lessons) ................... .20 .... Scripture References ............................... .04 3.20

Gospel Stories

How Esther Read Her Bible ........................... .01 .80

Religious Liberty

Civil Government and Religion ....................... .15 .... Pope and the Roman Church ........................... .05 .... What Is God's and What Is Cæsar's? .................. .02 1.60

Liberty

The third number of Liberty has been issued with a view of revealing the meaning of religious legislation. Any one reading this number of Liberty will discern the erroneous principles associated with all religious enactments. A large edition has been printed. Special rates will be given to agents. Regular subscription price is 25 cents a year.
Order of your tract society or of the International Publishing Association.
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.

The World and the Message

(Concluded)
There is another thought which I wish to emphasize, and that is, this message as the light of the world. You remember those words in the first chapter of John: “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” This message which will have an influence to stay this tide, is truly proclaimed only when it is life in the individual.
Now this idea that we can preach the message, and yet not be inspired by it, and not be in harmony with it, is all wrong. There is no power in the mere logic and the mere reasoning of this message. It requires something more than that. When you come to it, the thing itself is very, very simple. To give the message is more than simply to speak words to people out of a book. It is not demonstrating that certain things are taught in the Bible. It requires more than that to bring people out of the world and convert them to this truth, and make them willing to yield themselves in obedience to God, in the face of all the increasing opposition. It is when this truth is a living power that it takes hold of hearts, and changes them. The message that we are to proclaim in order that it shall be the light of the world, must be a message of life, it must live in us.
Of course we face this: we feel that our circle of influence is circumscribed. What can we do to stem the tide of evil anywhere? Of this you may be assured, that we are not responsible for stemming any tide of evil outside the circle of influence in which God puts us. But in the circle of influence that we have, we are just as responsible to exert an influence as are those in a wider sphere of influence for exerting an influence in that wider sphere. If every one in the place where he is put, is the living message; there will be a power and a leaven in the earth. You can see how this leaven is spreading when you compare the centers of work and influence for this message with the situation within our recollection. Only thirty-two years ago our first missionary went abroad to other lands, but our work has advanced so that now this message has to be reckoned with in its way in almost every country in the world. And it never withdraws. It moves out, it gets a foothold, and it builds up. In many countries, even the dark countries, the so-called heathen countries, we have more or less work going forward, and this message is known. The missionaries are learning of the message, and they feel it has to be reckoned with, because almost everywhere they turn, they find this truth being proclaimed.
Now the one thing that we must expect in this movement is that there shall be a new inspiration, a new awakening. As there is an awakening on the part of the world, so there must be a corresponding quickening, a corresponding revelation of increased power that shall meet these things.
That calls for such a living, vital message that it will adapt itself at once to every one of these new developments. There is light in God's Word and in this message as to the meaning of these movements in the earth. They can be explained only in the light of the fact that this is the last generation, this is the closing of this long controversy, and that there is an inspiration revealing itself in the final effort to prevent the gospel of Christ from reaching the people, from bringing to them the news of the present situation, and salvation from it.
We need not think that these influences will not come to us. We perhaps feel that there is no danger that we shall ever feel the effects of the wave of free-loveism that is sweeping over the world. But we need not flatter ourselves that these things will not come to us. They may come to us in a different way from what they have to some others; but every influence that the enemy can bring against God's truth and work will come to us. It is only by being rooted and grounded in the truth that we shall stand against these influences, and be the channel through which a power can be exerted that will draw toward this truth.
There can not be two or three messages of truth working in opposition to each other. God does not have several movements in the earth, each one condemning the other. His message of truth must be an exclusive message. It can not be this sort of broad, general message that will take in every phase ofopposition to it, and mold and adapt them, and let each have its place. There is only one divine plan, one Saviour, one way of salvation, only one special message to the world for this time, and that is God's message. And he has called out a people to be used of him, to be his representatives in the earth, to give that message, to stand for that message in the earth. That is according to the divine plan. To be able to do that, we must be in touch with heavenly agencies: we must be permeated by the message itself, so that the message lives in us, rules our lives, transforms us, and makes us in ourselves the living representatives of the message that we talk about and the truth that we present. That can not come simply by knowing what may be called the leading doctrines. Of course we must know them; but all these doctrines have just one aim, and that is, that when these principles are actually received in the life, and become a part of the life, the individual as a whole shall represent Christ in the earth. To do that in the earth now, we must be Sabbath-keepers; we must be believers in the soon coming of Christ; we must hold those fundamental truths that are the very pillars of this message. The very spirit of this message should mold and transform our lives. It is absolutely useless for us to preach the doctrine of unselfishness, and yet manifest selfishness in every detail of our own lives. It is absolutely useless for us to advocate self-sacrifice, and yet in the actual daily experiences that come to us, be unwilling to sacrifice anything, but demand everything. There is a constant danger in the actual experiences of life, in our relation with one another, in our relation to God's work, in our relation to the people, that, while professedly we represent the purest type of Christianity, yet in our actual daily relation with one another, in our actual daily relation with the world, we represent exactly the spirit of the world. It is the spirit of the world to be grasping, to get the very last thing that may possibly be claimed, and to hold more if possible. When we do such things, we give people just ground for classing us with the people of the world. Are we not under obligations in our ordinary dealing with people, in some way to make it clear to the world that there are some things of greater value than the question of a privilege here or a right there, or something that belongs to us? Is there not a trait of character, a revealing of principle, that is of more value than the question of obtaining or owning material things? That is the practical meaning of this message, the practical revealing of it.
The key-note of this message is, The return of Christ to this earth will not be long delayed. The value of things temporal is often computed by the length of time they can be retained. We are now drawing near the time of the jubilee, when the coming of the Lord and the new order of things will be ushered in. Should not the coming of the Lord have its influence in our views of these things? and should there not be the solemn testimony borne by us, that there is a message which has an influence upon our lives, that in some way makes us different? The only way we can accomplish that will be by being in touch with heaven and heavenly influences. We may be the visible representatives of this truth, the power of the Spirit working this truth in us, and revealing in our lives its power to stem the tide of evil now in the world.

Prophecy and Fulfilment

WHAT John saw in vision on the Isle of Patmos we see now as a part of current history. The movement of which he gave the outlines in the fourteenth chapter of Revelation is a living and growing thing with us. We can show from the Scriptures that there should be a warning message given to this generation, and then we can show from the reports of our workers that such a message is really being given. This message now lives in the hearts of believers in almost every country on the globe. And there are many still living who can remember when this message first began to be proclaimed. We can certainly say, “What hath God wrought!” When we think of these things, we find a solid foundation upon which to rest our confidence that this work will be finished in this generation. Let every one be of good courage. What God has promised he is abundantly able to perform, and he will perform it.

Salvation Is a Gift

By Editor

Editorial

SALVATION is a gift, and must be received as a gift. “Not of works, lest any man should boast.” The mere effort to change this gift into a purchase for which a price is to be paid defeats the divine plan, and makes the gift of no effect. Works of any kind, even a man's best efforts to obey the commandments of God when put forth in his own strength, do not entitle one to salvation.
“Not what these hands have done Can save this guilty soul; Not what this toiling flesh has borne Can make my spirit whole. “Thy work alone, O Christ, Can ease this weight of sin; Thy blood alone, O Lamb of God, Can give me peace within.”

Not Running the Government

By C. M. S.

The editor of the Christian Statesman, in the November issue of that journal, propounds to the writer a question which we take pleasure in answering. In referring to our position in the article to which he was replying, he says:—
The editor’s difficulty is that he conceives of the Sabbath or the weekly day of rest as an institution of the church, whereas, in our mind, it is an institution designed for man in all his relations. “The Sabbath was made for man.” It belongs to the state and to the family as well as to the church. And we close these comments by submitting a question to our brother. No government can exist for seven days without coming face to face with the day of rest. What would he have our government do—move on ceaselessly in all its departments, or suspend its work one day in seven? What of our nearly three thousand courts and all our higher courts, and all our legislatures, and all government offices with thousands of employees? Shall they have a weekly rest or not? And if they rest, then on what day? The day which the overwhelming majority of the American people believe in as the Lord’s day, or some other day? We do not believe he would ask that all our judges, lawmakers, and other officials, and all government employees should be compelled to labor continuously, and in violation of their conscientious convictions, nor would he ask that in this country while the beliefs of the people remain as they are, Saturday should be appointed as the day for the cessation of labor and business. But if the courts are to suspend their sessions and government offices are to close, it must be by authority of law. And employees in a factory have the same right as have government clerks. That is the purpose of our Sabbath laws—to secure to the whole people the God-given boon of one day’s rest in every seven days from the grinding necessity of toil, and to throw on the side of this reasonable and beneficent institution the example of the nation through its government. But that is not to enthrone the laws and usages of the church in the laws of the nation. It is the state reaching its own decision, in its own sphere, on a matter on which a decision one way or the other can not possibly be avoided. What ought our government to do—have a rest day, or have none?
If the editor will give us his answer to the question we have asked, we will faithfully report it to our readers.
We have no purpose to be critical, or censorious in this matter, nor to give anything but a Christian reply to the fair question raised by the editor of the Statesman. Neither are we willing to allow the seeming dilemma set forth in the questions to cloud the issue. To say, “We are not running the government,” would answer the question, though it might seem a curt way of doing it. If the editor of the Statesman would take that position, however, and hold to it, he would find his dilemma dissipated like the dew before the sun. And, really, what right has any Christian to take any other position? The great commission given us by Him from whom Christianity takes its name contains no authority for any preacher of the gospel to take any other position. It does not contain even a codicil bequeathing to any Christian the authority to supervise the affairs of nations or enter the arena of political strife. To teach and to preach, to make disciples and to baptize and to heal—these constitute the business of the followers of Jesus Christ, by his own specification and by his own limitation.
We are instructed to pray for rulers and those in authority; but we are nowhere instructed to make rulers or unmake them, nor to take part in political wire-pulling, threatening some politicians and wheedling others. All that is outside the field of legitimate Christian endeavor, and has been placed there by the Master himself.
To answer more specifically the questions raised we would say:—
We do not “conceive of the Sabbath as an institution of the church,” but as an institution established by Jehovah himself, binding upon all men everywhere, specifically established upon a definite day,—the seventh day of the week,—and from which he has released us in not so much as a jot or tittle. See our Lord’s own declaration upon this matter in Matt. 5:17, 18. Neither do we need any law of human origin to make the Sabbath more binding. To declare that we do, is to declare that Jehovah’s law is too weak to accomplish his purpose, and must have human support. Uzzah thought that the ark of God (containing that very Sabbath law) needed his support. In the punishment which fell upon him for his presumption God has taught the whole human family that his law does not need a human prop.
The editor of the Statesman asks, “What would he have our government do [about the day of rest]?” It is for the government, not us, to arrange that matter. Our Master has given us no commission along the line of supervising the functions of governments.
Again he asks: “What of our nearly three thousand county courts, and all our legislatures, and all government offices, with thousands of employees? Shall they have a weekly rest or not? . . . But if the courts are to suspend their sessions and government offices are to close, it must be by authority of law.”
According to this, then, all our courts of law, government offices, and legislatures are in session seven days in the week. If not that, then they are illegally idle one day in seven; for the national Sunday law for which the National Reformers pray has not yet been enacted. Surely, the Christian Statesman does not mean to teach that the courts and legislatures and all government offices are running seven days of the week; but that is what the above quotation says. In California, which has no Sunday law, the legislature is closed on Sunday, and the courts of the State suspend business on that day.
Would we compel “our judges, lawmakers, and all government employees to labor continuously, and in violation of their conscientious convictions?”—Certainly not. Neither would we compel them to rest when they did not care to. We are not supervising the government, nor would we wish to interfere with the natural rights of men. There is no power in the United States that can compel any man to violate his conscientious convictions by working seven days in the week. Our government can not compel any man to work seven days in the week. An employer frequently says, “You must work every day, or you can’t. work for me.” The Christian replies, “I rest on the Sabbath.” He “loses his job,” but he maintains his Christian manhood, and he is not compelled to violate his conscientious convictions. If he cares more for “holding his job” than he does for obeying the command of his God, he simply exposes to the view of the world the fact that his Christianity was unworthy the name.
Would we have Saturday “appointed as the day for the cessation of labor and business”? That is not for us to elect. The Creator himself has established that matter. It is for us to obey rather than to “appoint.” “Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work.” We would ask Brother Stevenson if this is not a sufficiently specific appointment of the day in question. We would also ask by what authority Brother Stevenson would substitute another appointment designed to override and crush out this very specific appointment of Jehovah. We say the day is sufficiently “appointed” already; but God has given us no authority to compel any man to observe it.
Every man must choose for himself whether he will keep sabbath or not. It will not be a sufficient excuse for any man in the day of judgment that his employer compelled him to work on the Sabbath. It is not true that liberty of rest demands a law of rest. He who will not keep sabbath unless a law compels him to, does no honor to Jehovah in complying with such a law; and he who, through fear of human law, rests on a day God did not appoint as sabbath, and works upon a day God did appoint, stands charged with the sin of disobedience at the bar of God.
In answer to our question, “Is it right for Christians to bring about a condition of things which must make criminals of other Christians for exercising the rights common to men?” the editor of the Christian Statesman replied, “No, emphatically no, it is not.” That is absolutely true; but now in view of that fact, here arises another dilemma: Canada has recently passed a rigid Sunday law which makes every Seventh-day Baptist and Seventh-day Adventist a lawbreaker—a criminal—for exercising the right to six days of work after one day of rest and worship. The ministers of the gospel who pushed that bill through Parliament, congratulated themselves on having accomplished it without an exemption clause for those Christians who keep the seventh day as the Sabbath. A Methodist convention sent a strongly worded protest to the legislators against an exemption clause. Now, Brother Stevenson, did those Canadian Christians do right in doing what they did? If they did, you must revise your answer to our question as quoted above. Are you willing to see done in the United States what they have done in Canada?
Again: The State of South Carolina is now holding a threat of indictment, imprisonment, and fine over the heads of every Christian minister and layman in that State who keeps the “Sabbath day according to the commandment,” and labors the other six days—a right common to men. Now, Brother Stevenson, is South Carolina right in this? and do you favor the same condition of things in all the other States and Territories? Christians are being made criminals there through the influence of other Christians who secured the adoption of such a law. Is it right?
We have the records of the trials, convictions, and imprisonments of twenty-one such Christians in Arkansas, eight in Tennessee, eleven in Maryland, and four in Georgia (not all there have been by any means). They were God-fearing, peaceable Christian men, even their enemies bearing them witness. Now, if “our sabbath laws do not do that,” then whose sabbath laws are doing it? And are our National Reform friends opposed to these laws that are doing it? C. M. S.

A Parent’s Gift

By W. A. S.

A little time ago a young sister, after several years of special training, was called to go to a distant land to engage in the Lord’s work. In her parting letter to the Mission Board she wrote:—
Sometimes I feel a little faint-hearted at the thought of leaving all my friends and those who are dear; but my dear mother says she wants me to go. The way in which she has given me to the Lord to work in his cause does me so much good that it really gives me courage. I am going to do the Lord’s bidding as best I can. I realize as never before how much I need his care. It will truly be a comfort to me to remember that every day at the noon hour we are brought before the throne of grace in the prayer season in the office where this great work is being directed.
Many a parent will know how much it meant to this mother to speak the word of courage that caused separation from a loved one. But only so can the work be done; and the triumph of the cause of Christ is the chiefest thing to be desired on earth. Separation and service now means reunion and eternal reward in a little while. W. A. S.

For Next Year’s Advance

By W. A. S.

Over fifty missionaries have gone out into other lands during the past year.
In years past the week-of-prayer offering to missions has supplied about a third of the resources for the mission-field appropriations. With the effort we are all making to respond to the special call for the $150,000 fund, we shall have to keep in mind the ordinary work in the great mission fields, and seek earnestly for ways to make a strong annual offering this year as well as in past years.
Never were the fields in better shape to make use of funds for definite advance into new territory. It has been a year of organizing the work in the mission fields. It has been above all years a time of breaking forth into new regions beyond. The missions will watch with prayerful interest the reports from this year’s annual offering.
Fifty thousand annual offering envelopes have been sent out by the Mission Board. What goes into those envelopes will mean much to missions the coming year. Each envelope bears the Scripture text, “Bring presents unto Him that ought to be feared.” The gifts in the envelopes are for the great King. Let us make sure that the gifts we bring represent genuine love and sacrifice, according to “the measure of the gift of Christ.” Then be the individual offering large or small, according to what a man hath and the love with which it is given,it will be accepted by the Lord. There is nothing hard about giving for God’s cause, when that cause represents every interest of our souls.
Remember, the last year’s workers have been sent into the mission fields at a rate averaging more than one a week for the entire year. Let us stand by them with every resource God enables us to command.
W. A. S.

Objections to the Theory of Evolution

Now and then we find an emphatic protest against the theory of evolution in general, and Darwin’s doctrine of the origin of species in particular. A recent letter to the New York Sun is a case in point. The writer said:—
Scholars and scientists of ability at least equal to that of your correspondent, Mr. Dobson, totally disagree with him and his master, Darwin, in some of their conclusions. For instance, the great Italian writer, Fogazzaro, says: “We must admit that science does not possess a single reliable direct proof of the origin of man from an inferior species.” Virchow at a late scientific congress in Moscow said that the theory of the origin of man from an inferior species “had been beaten on its whole line of battle.” Of Darwin’s theory Moleschott said: “Men were more generous to Darwin than the facts.” So think also the distinguished scientists Tuccimei, Grassi, and others quoted by Boni (“Si Può essere Evoluzionista.” Siena, 1900). Yet Mr. Dobson, somewhat in the tone and manner of a general council of the church or of a pope defining ex cathedra, promulgates this dogma “that it may be then stated as axiomatic that all phenomena, inorganic and organic, are but the finite representations of the infinite and eternal substance, meaning thereby both force and matter which are indivisible.”
But where did the substance come from? Did it make itself? If not, who made it? From what did it evolve? Where is the cause of its evolution, inside or outside? Where did the first atom or cell come from? How do you know that the cause of evolution, if there has been evolution, is solely in the being that is evolved? If Mr. Dobson is unwilling to accept the Christian dogma of creation, and wishes to substitute for it a plausible hypothesis, why not accept the poetic theory of Dante that life and the germs of life came down from the stars? (Paradiso, Canto II.) The poet, unlike some of the scientists, does not try to prove his theory by bad logic. His theory, unlike Mr. Dobson’s, can never be refuted, for science can never know the nature and conditions of all the stars.
Now, which is harder to believe, the first article of the Christian Creed, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth,” or the evolution theory, as expounded by Mr. Dobson or by Mr. Haeckel, whose “riddle” has been riddled to pieces by recent German scientists? Man is conscious that he is a person; and hence the personality of a Supreme Being appeals to his good sense. Man knows that he could not and did not make himself; and hence the idea of a Creator appeals to his good sense, as the idea of a watchmaker appeals to it when he looks at his watch.
The unproved hypotheses of scientists constitute a very poor basis for rejecting the plain statements of the Holy Scriptures. The facts concerning creation are stated in simple language in the Bible, and form the foundation for the gospel of re-creation, but what has not been revealed can never be discovered by scientific research. “Just how God accomplished the work of creation he has never revealed to men; human science can not search out the secrets of the Most High. His creative power is as incomprehensible as his existence.” It is safer to accept the Word of God than to place confidence in the theory of evolution.

The General Conference Administration Building

By Arthur G. Daniells

THIS week's REVIEW, page 8, gives a picture of the General Conference administration building at Washington. The building is located in the northern part of the District of Columbia, about fifty feet from the Maryland line. It stands in the center of a block one hundred and fifty feet square.
The building was planned and erected by the officers of the General Conference for the purpose of carrying on the administrative affairs of our denomination at its headquarters. It is forty-four by fifty-eight feet, with a full basement and three stories. The Treasury Department occupies the rooms on the left of the main hall on the first floor. The Home and Foreign Missions Department and the stenographers' room are located on the right side of the hall on the same floor. The offices of the president, vice-president, and Sabbath-school Department are located on the right side of the hall on the second floor. On the left of the hall on the second floor are the office of the statistical secretary, the library, the vault, and the stenographers' room. The offices of the Religious Liberty, Educational, Medical, and Publishing Departments are located on the third floor. On this floor is also the assembly room, in which the General Conference Committee holds its councils, and in which meetings for prayer and devotion are held each day by all who work in the building.
The building contains two good, strong vaults, in which are deposited the valuable documents, records, and files kept at our headquarters. The building is planned for good light, good ventilation, and the rapid and efficient dispatch of the great volume of work that comes to our headquarters from all parts of the world.
This building, which is plain but substantial, cost approximately thirteen thousand six hundred dollars. It was paid for by contributions from nearly all the countries of the world in which our work is being carried forward. Those who occupy it are profoundly grateful to our dear people for providing such a good, creditable building for the headquarters of this great cause.
A. G. DANIELLS.

Note and Comment

The rapid increase in the size of the navies of some of the so-called Christian nations has suggested that they have amended the original proclamation of the gospel of peace so that it now reads, “Peace on earth—but war on the water!” This is a new interpretation of the union of church and state.
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