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Review and Herald, Vol. 80, No. 19.

The Place of the Bible in Education

Review and Herald

May 12, 1903

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 12, 1903

The Place of the Bible in Education

By Alonzo T. Jones

BY A. T. JONES
248 pages, in paper and cloth bindings, 25 and 75 cents, postpaid.
One of the new books just out. An excellent volume to study in connection with “Education.” Its chapter divisions are as follows: — Christian Education; The World's Education; The Essentials of Knowledge; The Secret of the Great Apostasy; The Greek or “Scientific Method” Today; The Separation of Christianity and the State; The Bible's Right to Supreme Place in Christian Education; The Education of Daniel; What Was Taught in the Schools of the Prophets; The Study of Wisdom; The Study of Knowledge; The Study of Science; The Study of Mental Science; The Study of Moral Science; The Study of Physical Science; The Study of Physical Science — Anatomy; The Study of Physical Science — Healing; The Study of Physical Science — Physical Culture; Literature, History, Law, Logic; The Failures of Popular Education.
Order of the State Tract Societies, or of the Review and Herald Publishing Company, Battle Creek, Mich.

Prophetic Charts

We have a series of prophetic charts, seven in number, each of which is finely lithographed on muslin. These charts are large—31 x 44 inches. And instead of crowding everything into one chart, each line of prophecy is illustrated on a separate sheet. This serves to keep the mind of the listener upon the subject under consideration. The lecturer will find the charts well adapted for large audiences. The Bible worker, also, can use them to good advantage.
Number one, of the series, shows Nebuchadnezzar's image, standing three feet high, appropriate colors distinguishing the four nations.
Number two presents the four beasts of Daniel 7.
The ram, and the he-goat with the notable horn between his eyes, dwell together peaceably on the third chart.
The central part of the next sheet is occupied by the sanctuary, showing the position and the proportionate size of the two apartments; and the table of shewbread, the golden candlestick, the altar of incense, and the ark, overshadowed by the cherubim, all stand in their respective places. Above and below the sanctuary are diagrams explaining the different sections of the twenty-three hundred days.
The space of another chart is divided between the seven-headed, ten-horned dragon of Revelation 12, and the leopard beast and the two-horned beast of Revelation 13.
Number six: The three angels of Revelation 14, flying one after the other, in the midst of heaven, shed their light over city and country, land and sea, dispelling the gross darkness which covers the earth.
A ten-commandment chart, the regular retail price of which is $1, completes the set.
Sold only in unbroken sets.
But few of our workers are familiar with the merits of these charts. We quote from a letter just received from one who has secured a set of these charts:—
“The charts received. I am very much pleased with them. I feel sure that if our laborers generally were acquainted with this series, they would prefer them to any other charts on the prophecies.”
The special price of the set, postpaid, is $2.50. The regular price is $4.
Order of the Review and Herald Publishing Company, Battle Creek, Mich.

The Life and Epistles of St. Paul

BY CONYBEARE AND HOWSON
Bound in cloth, 12mo, $1, postpaid
Our “Sketches of the Life of Paul,” being out of print, we offer the “Life and Epistles of Saint Paul,” by Conybeare and Howson, as a substitute. This book will prove to be of great value in the study of the present Sabbath-school lessons.

Education

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE
321 pages, beautifully bound in three-color cover design; price, $1.25.
Education in its entirety, covering all phases. Especially prepared for parents, teachers, and students. Excellent for all classes. The great principles of Christian education are clearly set forth, and invaluable counsel for the education of the youth is placed within the reach of all.
In answer to the question, “What is education?” and in defining its source, we quote a few sentences from the first chapter of the book:
“Our ideas of education take too narrow and too low a range. There is need of a broader scope, a higher aim. True education means more than the perusal of a certain course of study. It means more than a preparation for the life that now is. It has to do with the whole being, and the whole period of existence possible to man. It is the harmonious development of the physical, the mental, and the spiritual powers. It prepares the student for the joy of service in this world, and for the higher joy of wider service in the world to come.
“The Source of such an education is brought to view in these words of Holy Writ, pointing to the Infinite One: In him, ‘are hid all the treasures of wisdom.’ ‘He hath counsel and understanding.’”
Order of the State Tract Societies, or of the Review and Herald Publishing Company, Battle Creek, Mich.

Personal Questions and Answers Concerning the Sabbath

By S. M. I. Henry

BY MRS. S. M. I. HENRY
We have just issued a new edition of this excellent tract. A large number have been sold, yet the demand is increasing.
When Mrs. Henry began to keep the Sabbath, she was National Evangelist for the W. C. T. U. Her correspondence with the leaders of that great organization on the Sabbath question led to the production of “Personal Questions and Answers,” which is a series of questions selected from her private letters, with the answers which were returned, with but few changes. These questions being so often repeated, and as they are clearly answered in an easy, personal manner, by one especially gifted in language and possessing thorough knowledge of the question, this tract meets a want long felt by the rank and file of our people in their missionary work.
This tract is published as Number Seven of The Words of Truth Series. It contains 56 pages; price, 3½ cents a copy.
Order of the State Tract Societies, or of the Review and Herald Publishing Company, Battle Creek, Mich.

The History of the Reformation

BY J. H. MERLE D’AUBIGNE
The recognized standard and most popular history of the great Reformation of the sixteenth century. In five volumes, bound in cloth, put up in cases. Publishers’ price, $3.50; our special price, $2.75.
Order of the Review and Herald Publishing Company, Battle Creek, Mich.

Special Sale of Bibles

By Editor

We have a few copies of the American Standard Edition of the Revised Bible, printed in long primer quarto, a very large, plain print, especially desirable for impaired vision, or for reading by gaslight. Size, 8¾ by 6¾ inches; bound in cloth board, red edges. As long as they last, we will sell them for $1.25, postpaid.

The Nelson Bible

We have a few of three very popular styles of the “Nelson Bold Type Series,” which we offer at special reduced prices. This series is printed on fine India paper, with maps and index; only ⅜ of an inch thick, and about six by four inches in size, a very popular size for ladies and young people.
Number 3258X, French morocco, divinity circuit, linen lined, silk sewed, round corners, red under gold edges; regular price, $2.50; reduced to $1.75, postpaid.
Number 3108X, Egyptian seal, divinity circuit, linen lined, round corners, red under gold edges; regular price, $2; reduced to $1.35, postpaid.
Number 3265X, levant, divinity circuit, calf lined to edge, silk sewed, round corners, red under gilt edges; regular price, $4.50; reduced to $3.25, postpaid.
Send all orders for the above styles of Bibles directly to the Review and Herald Publishing Company, Battle Creek, Mich.

At the Camp-Meetings

By Editor

Editorial

At the Camp-Meetings

OUR people will soon begin to gather for these annual convocations. There will be a large expenditure of time and means in order to attend these meetings, and they ought to be seasons of great blessing. Would it not be well for both ministry and people to bear in mind the one great object to be attained in the camp-meetings? The gospel message for this generation is to be so proclaimed that many who have never heard this truth shall be brought to a saving knowledge of it, and the spiritual life of our own people is to be renewed. “Business matters should be attended to by those specially appointed for this work. And as far as possible they should be brought before the people at some other time than the camp-meeting. Instruction in canvassing, in Sabbath-school work, and in the details of tract and missionary work, should be given in the home churches, or in meetings specially appointed. The same principle applies to cooking-schools. While these are all right in their place, they should not occupy the time of our camp-meetings.” The program of these gatherings ought not to be so full of a variety of meetings that the people have no time to pray and to meditate. This is necessary in order to assimilate the spiritual food which is imparted to them. We urge our ministers and conference officers, as well as our people generally, to read again the instruction upon the conduct of camp-meetings which will be found in “Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. VI, pages 31-86, and we hope that the counsel there found will be heeded both in preparing for these meetings and in carrying them forward. We need to wait before the Lord with confession and repentance, seeking a deeper spiritual experience than we have ever known before. “Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach.” Let all unite in an earnest and heartfelt consecration to God and his service, and let the arm of faith reach up for all needed blessing. Thus will the camp-meetings prove to be a means of great good to all who come within the sphere of their influence.

Daily Decisions

EACH day the conflict between right and wrong is going on in our experience, and each day we are making decisions for or against Christ. And each decision which we make, even though it may be in regard to some apparently small matter, has its influence in shaping our characters and molding our destiny. These decisions come in the daily program of our lives. The father in his business or in the daily round of toil upon the farm or in the shop, the mother in what may sometimes seem to be the humdrum of household cares, the children in their work or in school or at their play,—all are in constant contact with influences which would lead them from the path of rectitude unless they are resisted. The enticing invitation to evil meets us on every hand, and calls for the daily decision. In these closing days of the great controversy, when there is such an intensity in all the affairs of life, these constant decisions have a very strong influence upon the final decision which will soon be made. We are rapidly approaching the day of destiny. Soon the sum total of all our decisions will be made up, and the result will be beyond our power to change. It is never safe to parley with evil, but the effect of a single wrong step now seems to be greater than ever before. In this hour of God’s judgment there is a weighty significance attached to the choices and decisions of the daily life. Let us therefore “live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world; looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” Let decisions be made each day which shall bind us more closely to God.

Heavenly Communion

HEAVEN and earth have been united in the gift of Jesus to be the Saviour of the world. Sin separated the children upon earth from the Father in heaven, but divine love spanned the gulf, and “now in Christ Jesus ye that once were far off are made nigh in the blood of Christ.” The recognition of this fact is the foundation of that experience of personal relationship with God, which is the essential thing in the Christian life. It is not enough to know Christianity as a system. There must be a personal fellowship with him whose character finds its expression in Christianity. “This is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ.” Through the ministry of angels and the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are brought into communion with heaven, and “our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” It is in this heavenly communion, this personal fellowship with divine Being, that the strength and the joy of our Christian experience are found. Thus it is our privilege to kneel daily in the audience chamber of the Eternal, to tell a mighty Helper of the inmost needs of the soul and the longings of a heart quickened by divine grace, and to do this with the confidence that “Jehovah is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of them that fear him; he also will hear their cry, and will save them.” What a wonderful privilege! What a gracious assurance! It is passing strange that we avail ourselves to such a limited degree of these blood-purchased opportunities, and that we allow ourselves to be so fully occupied with trivial matters, and our hearts to be “overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life.” It is the determined purpose of the adversary of our souls to divert our minds from this heavenly communion, that he may the more easily lead us into sin, and thus separate us eternally from the fountain of life and love. Do not regard lightly the privilege of fellowship with the unseen Father. He invites us to a confidential relationship. “I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony.” Accept the invitation, and commune with him.

The Watchman and the Message

“So thou, son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.”
There are two distinct duties of the watchman: first, and as the chiefest thing, he is to hear the word of God. He can not be a faithful watchman upon the walls of Zion unless, by God’s grace, he himself is where he can hear the word of God as God’s word. Second, having heard the word, he is to give the people warning from God, and that makes one a faithful watchman upon the walls of Zion.
John the Baptist had exactly this experience; for it is said that the word of God came to John the Baptist in the wilderness, and it was because the word of God through the prophet Isaiah came unto John the Baptist in the wilderness as God’s message to him personally that he was able to go forth from the wilderness and to speak to men the word of God as the message of God directed to them; and it was because John the Baptist simply stood between God and the people, and was in his own person, in his own flesh, the translation of the word of God to the people, that John the Baptist himself was lifted up to be what he was in the world.
The watchman who is to be a faithful watchman is to be where God can speak to him the word that he would have spoken at any special time. There are many words of God, and all God’s words can not be spoken at the same time; but at every step of the way in the development of God’s work, in the building up of his work in the earth, God’s watchman is to know the word for the time. He can know this only as he himself is in such touch with God that day by day and hour by hour God can speak to him as his servant, and thus can directly make him the mouthpiece to speak to the world the word that should be spoken at that time.

A Definite Message

In our day there is a distinct word of God to be spoken to the world, a definite statement of the truth of God. I desire to call attention just briefly to one or two special phases of this truth, or to the standpoint from which we are to view this work, and do this work. I will therefore emphasize the contrast between what I may for convenience speak of as the doctrinal message and the historical message.
The doctrinal message is that setting of the gospel which is especially emphasized in Rev. 14:6-12. We are not to think that all the truths that are to be spoken in this generation are specifically mentioned in these few verses in that chapter; that chapter is a kind of syllabus of the whole truth, and the truths that are there emphasized do themselves involve every phase of truth and every specific statement of truth that will prepare a people to meet our Lord when he comes.
Now note: There is what might be spoken of as the doctrinal message. What is the historical message?—We are a part of it. We ourselves constitute a part of the historical message. In 1833 William Miller was set apart by the Baptists to go forth and preach the truth that burned in his heart, the truth of the near coming of Christ; since that time there has been raised up a people in whose hearts and lives this message has become an experience. And that people growing and extending to all lands, with a message that was enlarging in their own minds and experiences, constitute what we might call the historical message. And you can not possibly separate between these two phases or these two views of this message. What that message means in Revelation 14 ought—mark the word—to be seen distinctly in the lives of the people constituting the body of believers in that message; and the people who have been raised up under this message ought, in their own lives and experiences, to be to the world the interpretation of that message.

The Living Message

That is, to-day, just as before, when one man was spoken of as a type of a people, there should be a whole people constituting one body, speaking the same thing, who should be in such touch with God, the source of truth, that, standing between him and the world, they can unitedly, with a loud voice, speak the message that God would have spoken to the world, both in the words which they utter, and in their experience before the world; so that when this people proclaim in words that the coming of the Lord is near, their lives of devotion and sacrifice, their separation from the world, should be the emphasis to the message that the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
When this people say to the world that health reform is an essential part of this message, that a people who are being prepared for translation need just such a truth; that the word of God should be for their bodies as well as for their souls, they themselves in their home practice, in their daily experience, should be the emphasis to that preaching.
When they set forth any truth, whatsoever it be; when they set forth to the world that the spirit of prophecy is in the church, that it belongs with this church, they themselves, in their own attitude toward that truth, should emphasize to the world the value of that truth.
And speaking of that, I would like to emphasize one thought. It seems to me that it must be evident to us all,—certainly evident to those who have long been connected with this work,—that the spirit of prophecy can not possibly be separated from this message. Then, inasmuch as this historical message among the people has inseparably connected with it, even as the nerves are throughout the bodily frame, that work of the spirit of prophecy, every time anything connected with this message is emphasized to enforce to our own minds or to the world that this people are the people doing this work, and that this message is the message of Revelation 14, whether we mention the spirit of prophecy or not, we are emphasizing the truthfulness of that as a part of this work.

Two Great Truths

Now what I wish to call attention to in this message, this doctrinal message and this historical message, I will emphasize under two specific heads: first, as relates to what we might term outward events, the near second coming of Christ, the personal, visible, literal second coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven, to gather his people, is the keynote of this message. This coming is an event for which we look, toward which we are moving, and for which we are seeking to be prepared.
Secondly, in its relation to the preparation for that event, the truths which center in what we speak of as the sanctuary question are the central truths of this message.
Now mark the two things: first, the outward event to which we look, toward which we are moving, an event set forth and emphasized in the prophecies, an event marked by the signs, an event which is to mark the end,—that event is the second literal, visible, personal coming of our Lord and Saviour in the clouds of heaven, to gather his people home. But the center of the work of preparation, the work which will make a people ready for that event, is that which we speak of as the sanctuary question, the center of a whole group of truths relating to our personal attitude toward God, our personal experience in the forgiveness of sin, in the cleansing from sin, in the acceptance of the righteousness of Christ as our personal experience. There may be found the central theme of this message.
I do not expect to dwell upon these things, but I want to say this, that when in the minds of those who compose what I have spoken of as the historical message, the truth of the near coming of our Lord, ceases to be a living thing, a vivid thing, a thrilling thing; when that ceases to have an influence, a power to shape and to mold the thoughts, the lives, the plans, the purposes, and the work of this people, this message has turned backward.
And in the very same way, when this system of truth, which centers in whatwe so familiarly speak of as the sanctuary question, has lost its hold upon our minds and hearts, has lost its place in our teaching, has lost its power in our personal experience to cleanse from sin, and to keep from sin, when that great truth of a high priest in heaven, One who has become our sacrifice, our substitute, and our surety, has dropped out of our reckoning, then this message as the message that God would have given to the world in this generation has lost its power.
I would never for a moment call upon this people to go back one year, or ten years, or forty years, merely to find what people believed at a certain time, and have that our belief; but I would call this people to the same prayerful study of God’s Word as the pioneers in this message gave to it. I would call them to the same simplicity of faith as those men had in what they found in the Word. I would call them to the same personal devotion and consecration and sacrifice to the truth that they found, as those men showed.
And I want to tell you that when this people as a people take that position, not going backward simply to find what men believed at a certain time, but adopting the same platform which gave to them sacred truth, we may expect to find the same truth greatly enlarged, greatly glorified, greatly expanded, for our own experience. And the people of God to-day, as compared with the very same people of thirty and forty and fifty and sixty and seventy years ago, ought to be standing on great vantage ground with reference to God’s message to the world. But what is the situation? Then there was an authority in the truth that those men taught, not because they knew all the truth, but because they sincerely believed, and were, in their own experiences, the message of truth they knew.
It was not a doubtful or an uncertain or a wavering note that the leaders of this message struck in those days. They did not have a tremolo stop in their organ. They held a strong, steady, straightforward note in their work.

Warning and Exhortation

Now the warning that I wish to emphasize is this, let every soul know that he knows his ground where he stands. Unless a man deliberately closes his eyes, unless a man deliberately draws something over his face that hides the whole situation from him, he must perceive that this historical message needs to be strengthened; he must perceive that what we have spoken of as this historical message has had an uncertain movement in it, has had a wavering note, has had a tendency, to say it in the mildest form, to swerve from the definite work that God has committed to this people.
And the exhortation which I would give is, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve.” “If the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.”
And that brings to our minds distinctly the fact that the message of John the Baptist was the Elijah message, to be given in the spirit and power of Elijah; and the crisis of all Elijah’s experience, when he saw God’s people being led astray from the truth, was that day when he uttered that very message, that day when God witnessed in answer to his prayer, and the people said, “The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is the God.” I would like to hear from every one who believes in this message as distinct a note of response to God’s leading and working, who could say openly and devoutly, The Lord is God, and this is God’s message.
It is time that God’s watchmen should hear the word of God, and should speak his word to the people for this time; and it is certainly time that those whose hearts respond to the message that God is sending at this time, and who in themselves constitute the historical message to the world, should stand out clear and distinct from the world, and openly declare themselves to be standing for the message of God for this time. “Come out from among them, and be ye separate.” This is a separation, not bodily simply, if at all, but separation of character, separation of purpose and thought and habit.
If there is now a historical message from God to this world in the person of believers scattered over the face of the earth, how can there be a distinct, definite message declared to the world unless the people who themselves constitute that message stand out clear in their belief, united in their work, and declaring definitely to the world God’s message in their own experience?
To my mind the very circumstances of the hour call upon this people all over the world, call upon you and me to-day, in our relation to God’s work and God’s truth, to take that stand, not in a spirit of antagonism, but for the safety of our own souls, and the safety of other perishing souls whom we can not reach by a wavering, uncertain message; we can not seize them and draw them out of the current, unless our own feet are planted solidly upon the eternal Rock.
For our own souls’ sake, then, in this hour of peril, for the sake of souls that are going down in this hour of peril, for the sake of those right about us who are standing in slippery places, I call, in the name of the Lord, upon every believer in this truth to stand forth with such an experience with God, with such an experience in the message for this hour, with such knowledge, and such ability to set it forth in his own life as shall be a warning to every one in peril. It is time to recognize our responsibility in this matter.

The Time of Deliverance

It is certainly time that the hour of deliverance should be manifested,—deliverance for every personal believer in this truth,—deliverance for this whole people,—deliverance from everything that would bind us down in sin, in hesitancy, in uncertainty,—a deliverance that shall set us forward, free from the things that have bound us, free from the things that have veiled our eyes, free from the things that have kept the light out of our lives,—that the message may be spoken to the world,—not merely a message delivered as a sermon from the desk, but a message emphasized by the lives of sixty thousand believers in this country,—a message which speaks in no uncertain tones,—a message which must have a hearing,—The coming of the Lord draweth nigh; prepare to meet thy God. And we must give the message in its fullness; for those who live through the time of trouble and do not see death, must necessarily have a physical experience such as no people have had in recent years.
And there is, therefore, most emphatically a place for that work which shall prepare a people physically for the experiences through which they are to pass. And I wish to bid Godspeed to every one who is devoting his life to that work, for that purpose. And so we have a complete message, which will take hold of people, body, soul, and spirit, and transform them physically, and spiritually, and make new men and women in Christ Jesus; yea, that shall do such a work in this generation that a whole people, who have been waiting, and watching, and looking for his return, shall be prepared, that there may come to them that great consummation of all the ages, when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality.
The power for that experience is in the message that God has given to us. Let us individually know the transforming power of this message, and then let us be to the world a historical truth in its power, that shall win souls for Jesus Christ and his kingdom.

The Partition of China

By L. A. S.

THE question whether the hour has arrived for the partitioning of China is considered in a recent issue of The Independent, which makes some statements on the subject that are worthy of note. The manifest determination of Russia to occupy Manchuria may be, The Independent believes, because “Russia wants to settle this Chinese question that she may be free to turn her attention and direct her power to European Turkey.”
While the purpose of Russia in Manchuria is clear, it is not so clear what the protesting powers can do about it. Theycould meet and halt Russia by force at sea, but on the plains of northern China the contest would have to be fought, and there Russia has all the advantage. “Along the line of the Russian railroad and on the line of the interior river banks,” says The Independent, “Russia can easily remain supreme.” “The only power that could resist, if organized, is China herself, and she can do nothing for years to come.” Concerning the inability of China to help herself, and the likelihood of the other powers to follow Russia’s suit when they see that the empire can not be preserved intact, the same journal adds:—
Perhaps never; for now what is there to hinder the partition of China? If the Russians take Manchuria, with Mongolia sure to follow, can it be imagined that the French will not take the southern provinces, where trouble is now brewing in which the French authorities in Tonquin are taking special interest? The prospect is most serious. And then what will Great Britain do on the Yangtse River? She will hardly be able to keep her hands off her special sphere of influence; Germany will want to increase her holding, and the ancient Chinese empire will be a thing of the past.
Can it be prevented? It is not easy to see how, if Russia does not now back down. Give China twenty years more, under the military instruction of her best friend, Japan, and she might be able to withstand Russia and all the rest of her despoilers; but that time is not likely to be allowed.
For us the question is how far we can oppose the new demands of Russia . . . . Moral pressure is all we are likely to use. We are not likely to go to war to protect our rights in Manchuria, simply because it will not pay. In such a difference between men, where one party has failed to keep a promise and injures another, they would go to law before a court. But here is no court, except that of The Hague; and with such a tremendous interest at stake, it is hardly to be supposed that a paper court would be listened to. Should Great Britain and Japan go to war, our sympathies would be with them, and one can imagine that we might be drawn in against our will. But can we believe that the great Gog and Magog war of the prophetic cranks, or the final conflict between the Cossack and the Anglo-Saxon, which we have been told would involve all the great nations of the earth and end the era of war in one great collapse of navies and armies and national debts, is now close upon us? The sky is darkening, but it is the part of the United States, for the present, to protest and appeal and hope that better counsels may prevail.
Yes; the sky is darkening, and in the portentous shaping of events for coming strife, thoughts of “the great Gog and Magog war” of Bible prophecy come involuntarily to the minds of even the most skeptical. A tremendous conflict is indeed “close upon us;” and all who will may discern the fact not darkly, through the mists of human speculations, but clearly, in the light of the sure word of prophecy which points out our present position in its relation to things past, and things to come.
L. A. S.

A Library of Testimony

By L. A. S.

SOME interesting facts are mentioned in the Literary Digest of May 2 on the subject of Babylonian explorations and excavations versus the higher criticism, represented respectively by Prof. Herman Hilprecht, of the University of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Friedrich Delitzsch, who professes to have discovered that the Hebrew prophets drew their inspiration from ancient Babylon. Professor Hilprecht is the author of a recent volume entitled “Explorations in Bible Lands in the Nineteenth Century,” and is described as a man of “simple-hearted, reverent faith.” Under his directions there has been conducted a systematic exploration of the ruins of Nippur, said to be the “Calneh” of Gen. 10:10. A vast library, of which only a small part has yet been unearthed, is among the discoveries made. From this library have been taken “over twenty thousand cuneiform tablets and fragments” believed to belong to a time prior to Abraham, making it the oldest library in the world. Among the varieties of writings found are several hundred contract tablets and temple lists written at the time of Assyrian, Chaldean, and Persian rulers, fragments of Neo-Babylonian hymns and letters, a number of business documents, and a large number of “literary fragments.”
“This discovery,” says the Digest, “has an important bearing upon some of the critical disputes as to the authorship of the books of the Pentateuch.” The higher critics have found from their examinations of these books “evidence” that they could not have been written by Moses or in the time of Moses, because, they said, no such degree of culture as these books revealed existed in Moses’ time. But in this library, which is older than the time of Moses, Professor Hilprecht has unearthed “multiplication tables, grammars, scientific treatises, and volumes on astronomical subjects,” and tablets showing that free-hand drawing, clay-modeling, and sculpture were taught in the schools.
At a lecture given in Leipsic, before a vast audience, Professor Hilprecht made this reference to the views put forth by the leading apostle of the higher criticism, Dr. Delitzsch:—
As the attempt has recently been made to trace the pure monotheism of Israel to Babylonian sources, I am bound to declare this an absolute impossibility, on the basis of my fourteen years’ researches in Babylonian cuneiform inscriptions. The faith of God’s chosen people is, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord.” And the faith could never proceed from the Babylonian mountain of gods, that charnel-house full of corruption and dead men’s bones.
Thus while the higher criticism is putting forth its teaching calculated to destroy faith in the reliability of the Scriptures, new evidences of the truthfulness of the Bible narratives are being brought to light, providentially it may well be, from the indisputable records left by those contemporary with the Bible writers. Surely those who turn away from all the evidence in support of the truthfulness of the written Word, will be without excuse. L. A. S.

Important Resolutions

By I. H. Evans

ANOTHER General Conference has come and gone. These semiannual gatherings mean much to God's cause. At these meetings plans are laid for advance moves in giving the gospel to all nations. The opening providences of God are studied; and men and means are required to fill these openings.
The spirit of missionary consecration has come upon many of God's people, till in some conferences every laborer, from the president down, has placed himself subject to the call of God for foreign fields.
During the last two years the work in Europe has been greatly strengthened. Nearly twoscore workers have gone to engage in the various departments of the work in that continent.
The work in China has been opened, and the first Chinese Seventh-day Adventist church has just been organized in the province of Honan.
Japan, India, Egypt, South Africa, Nyassaland, and the Gold Coast have all been helped, and had re-enforcements sent to them.
Thus we might take the American continent: Mexico, Central America, South America, and several islands of the Caribbean have had additional workers sent to them during the last two years.
All this means a large outlay of money, and a continual draft upon the treasury. Never were funds for carrying on the Lord's work more needed than now. The General Conference and the General Conference Committee have made appropriations to mission fields for the coming year of about two hundred thousand dollars. This must all be raised. The General Conference Committee, in considering this question, adopted the following:—
“Whereas, Large sums of money will be required to carry on our evangelical work the coming year, and,—
“Whereas, The General Conference must secure this money from month to month, or the laborers will suffer, therefore,—
“We recommend,—
“1. That every Seventh-day Adventist be urged to take up systematically the ten-cent-a-week plan, and faithfully see that each church pays an average of ten cents a week per capita.
“2. That each conference be requested to pay the entire second conference tithe into the treasury of the General Conference for mission work.
“3. That special donations for mission work be taken up at all large gatherings of our people.
“4. That all donations of tithes and offerings to the mission work be sent to the respective union conference treasurers monthly.”
From the preceding it is patent to all that large sums of money must be raised the coming season.
The ten-cent-a-week plan is a simple method of doing a great work. If each church would adopt this plan of giving, we could raise this needed two hundred thousand dollars this year, and have our conference second tithe, and annual offerings, and larger donations to enlarge the plans already in operation. Ten cents a week for soul-saving is not a large investment, and yet it aggregates large results. We ought to plan for mission work: we ought to plan that we may have money to give. Plant a field for the kingdom of God, and consecrate all its returns for missionary work. Set apart a portion of your time, and give your earnings to the cause of soul-saving.
We believe that every Seventh-day Adventist should take hold of these matters and help to advance the kingdom of our Lord.
It will require untiring effort, and often self-denial, to have an offering for the Lord each week; yet we must not forget the great work resting upon us; and if each will do his part, there will be no lack.
We ask if each church will not take up this matter of weekly giving, if it has not already adopted the same. Shall we not make 1903 the banner year in missionary giving? We believe that every loyal heart will respond, “Amen! I will do my part.”
I. H. EVANS, Treasurer of the General Conference.
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