Your ShelfYour Projects

Review and Herald, Vol. 83, No. 43.

Our Publishing Work

Review and Herald

Oct 25, 1906

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Oct 25, 1906

Our Publishing Work

By Editor

The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it. Psalm 68:11.

Information Concerning Text-Books

For the benefit of those desiring to have the very latest information as to date of publication of the church-school readers and other books, we present the following:—

Church-School Readers

The readers known as the “Christian Educator Reading Series” were adopted by the General Conference at its educational convention held in College View, Neb., June 29 to July 10, 1906, and recommended for use in all our church and primary schools. The first edition of this series of readers has for some months been exhausted. A new edition is now in preparation. It is to be known as the “True Education Reader Series.” The series consists of the following books:—
  • Book One for grade one.
  • Book Two for grade two.
  • Book Three for grade three.
  • Book Four for grade four.
  • Book Five for grade five.
  • Book Six for grade six.
  • Book Seven for grades above six.
Books One, Two, Three, Five, and Seven will be ready for delivery about Jan. 1, 1907. On account of the misfortune that has befallen the Pacific Press, the necessity of having type made to order, and other unexpected delays, this is somewhat later than at first expected, but we trust that most of our schools will be able to tide over the short period between now and then with books already on hand.
Books Four and Six will not be ready until next fall. In the meantime most teachers will find that Book Three can be used to advantage for the present year in grades three and four, while Book Five can be used in grades five and six.
All the books are well illustrated, many of the master-pieces of art having been secured for this purpose. Every teacher knows the value of illustration in the work of education.
Special attention has been given to the correlated work in language, composition, and spelling. The lessons in these subjects, as well as the reading-matter itself, have been carefully graded. It is almost universally conceded by educators that language and spelling are greatly neglected in most schools. Experience has shown that this natural method of presenting these subjects not only saves the time of both teacher and pupil, but insures more thorough work, and consequently better results. Prices will be given later.

Bible Nature Studies

A few hundred signatures of these books were saved, and are now being bound. Price, $1, post-paid.

Church-School Manual

This book was burned. It is expected that a new edition will be prepared the first of the new year.

Essentials of Our Language

The entire stock of this book was burned, but the plates were saved. A new edition will probably be issued about the first of the year. Price, 75 cents.

Guide to Correct Language

This book has just been revised, and a new edition printed. Price, 50 cents.

Bell's Language Series

These books are kept in stock constantly. Prices as follows, including post charges:— No. 1, $.65; No. 2, $.65; No. 3, $.80; No. 4, $1.25; No. 5, $1.75.

Bible Nature Study Note-Books

The new enlarged edition of these books is now being printed, and will be ready about November 1. It is in three numbers, bound in note-book form. Number One is for fourth grade, Number Two for fifth grade, and Number Three for sixth grade. Prices will be announced soon.

Choice Tracts Topically Arranged

Immortality Question

Thoughts for the Candid — B. S. L. 47 — $.40
Is Man Immortal? — A. G. L. 86 — .80

Second Coming of Christ

Without Excuse — B. S. L. 46 — .40
We Would See Jesus — B. S. L. 173 — .80
Waymarks to the Holy City — B. S. L. 189 — .80
Signs of the End — B. S. L. 194 — .80
Coming of the Lord — A. G. L. 40 — .40
Heralds of His Coming — A. G. L. 85 — .80

The Sabbath Question

The Seal of God and the Mark of the Beast — B. S. L. 130 — 1.60
Why Not Found Out Before? — B. S. L. 52 — .40
New Testament Sabbath — B. S. L. 137 — .80
Who Changed the Sabbath? — B. S. L. 187 — .80
From Sabbath to Sunday — B. S. L. 95 — .40
Elihu on the Sabbath — B. S. L. 192 — .80
Identical Seventh Day — B. S. L. 114 — .80
Day of the Sabbath — A. G. L. 50 — .80
The Seventh or One-Seventh — A. G. L. 39 — .40
Which Day Do You Keep, and Why — A. G. L. 75 — .40
Is Sunday the Sabbath? — A. G. L. 76 — .80
Sunday in a Nutshell — A. G. L. 88 — .80
Jewish — B. S. L. 69 — .40
The True Seventh-day — A. G. L. 78 — 1.20

Temperance

The Name — A. G. L. 72 — .80
Demons' Council — A. G. L. 80 — .40
It Does Not Pay — A. G. L. 82 — .80

Spiritualism

Spiritualism: Its Source and Character — B. S. L. 112 — .80
Try the Spirits — A. G. L. 48 — .40

Millennium

Temporal Millennium — B. S. L. 121 — 1.20

The Law

The Perpetuity of the Law — B. S. L. 178 — .80
Under the Law; or Under Grace — B. S. L. 163 — .80
Ceremonial and Moral Law Distinguished — B. S. L. 195 — .80
Relation of the Law and Gospel — B. S. L. 166 — 1.20

Prayer

Prayer, by A. T. Pierson — A. G. L. 52 — .80

Gospel Stories

Back to the Old Paths — A. G. L. 44 — .80
How Esther Read Her Bible — A. G. L. 7 — .40

Bible Study

Benefits of Bible Study — A. G. L. 10 — .40
Topical Bible Studies — B. S. L. 185 — 1.20

Miscellaneous

Way to Christ — B. S. L. 105 — .80
Jesus Died for You — A. G. L. 63 — .40
Great Popular Evils — A. G. L. 89 — .80

Tracts Recently Published

Without Excuse — B. S. L. 46 — .40
From Sabbath to Sunday — B. S. L. 95 — .40
We Would See Jesus — B. S. L. 173 — .80
Waymarks to the Holy City — B. S. L. 169 — .80
Signs of the End — B. S. L. 194 — .80
The Seventh or One-Seventh — A. G. L. 39 — .40
Coming of Our Lord — A. G. L. 40 — .40
Day of the Sabbath — A. G. L. 50 — .80
Back to the Old Paths — A. G. L. 44 — .80
Prayer — A. G. L. 52 — .80
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.

Hard Problems

By Editor

Editorial

We can not prevent the devil from coming to us with his temptations, but we can make him as uncomfortable as possible by giving him no place. “Neither give place to the devil.” We can do more than this. We can resist his advances. “Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist steadfast in the faith.” Such resistance will result in driving the devil from us. “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Satan can not gain the victory over those who will follow the instructions of God’s Word. Christ has conquered Satan, and he shares this victory with every believer in him. To his followers he says, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” The motto of every Christian may be, “Conquering and to conquer.”
The world has gone money-mad. Health, honor, home, happiness, heaven—all are staked in the game for riches. “They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.” Eternal riches seem to be held lightly in comparison with the wealth of this world. And yet houses and lands, gold and silver, stocks and bonds, and all temporal possessions, will soon be consumed in the great conflagration. “The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” Those who believe the message concerning the coming of the Lord and the end of the world will not barter their souls for the baubles with which the devil cheats the unwary. Heed the counsel of the True Witness: “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear.” It is better to be “rich in faith” than to secure from Satan a deed to the whole world, for his title is defective. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness.”

Hard Problems

Sin and Satan have introduced many hard problems into this world—problems which only the wisdom of God is able to solve. Will the heathen be saved? Will children who have not come to the years of understanding when cut off by death, be saved? Will idiots and insane people be held responsible for their actions? Will one who has inherited an almost irresistible appetite for liquor be judged by the same standard as those who loathe the taste of it? Will all have a fair chance in view of the fact that so few will actually be saved? Such questions might be multiplied indefinitely, but to what profit? We are not called upon to deal with these problems. Human wisdom can not solve them. The only result of attempting to deal with them will be to involve us in perplexity, and to unfit us for the real duties devolving upon us. We know that God has not abdicated his throne in favor of the devil. We know that the justice of God is infinite. We know that the Judge of all the earth will do right, and that “he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.” We may therefore safely leave all the perplexing problems which the author of evil may press upon us to the wisdom of God, while we give our whole attention to the faithful discharge of the duties actually resting upon us. We are responsible for the way in which we treat the light which comes to us. We are under obligation, so far as in us lies, to impart that light to others. When we walk in the light as he is in the light, and when we let our light so shine that others may see our good works and glorify God, our responsibility ceases, and we must leave the results in the hands of God. Of one thing we may be sure: all the problems connected with the introduction of sin into this world will be solved without compromising the character of the eternal God, and in the unending ages his wisdom and his justice will be apparent to all. “And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God: for true and righteous are his judgments.”

Disaster Upon Disaster

THIS is a year of disasters. Even those who do not look at current events in the light of prophecy, if they are not blinded by false theories, are forced to take notice of this fact. As an illustration of this statement we quote an editorial from the New York Sun, which appeared in that journal recently under the title “The Act of God.” It is a candid view of the year’s record. The Sun said:—
In the days when to go to sea was a fearsome thing, marine documents, ships’ papers, and the like, bore a somewhat reverential cast. “And so may the good ship end a successful voyage” was the way in which the charter papers were drafted. “The act of God or the King’s enemies” was an invariable exception solemnly stated in policies of marine insurance. In the same sense of recognition of the greater force, that against which man can oppose no resistance, that against which his foresight can adopt no precaution, this has been in a marked degree a year of “the act of God.” In fire and in dust the works of man have gone down to ruin in such a list as few years have shown.
The record opens with Vesuvius. From the impulse of hidden forces the very shape of the mountain has undergone a change. Fire and slag have written on its flanks the lesson of its might.
In the heart of the South Sea the new cone of Mauga Afi is filling up the valleys of Savaii, destroying plantations, and driving the population to seek refuge on other islands, there to begin life anew. News comes but slowly and at long intervals from that distant spot, but within the last few days it has been reported that the activity of the volcano is greatly increased, and calamity is feared.
The havoc of San Francisco is fresh in mind. The earth slid nine inches. The movement was enough to shake into dust the city of the Golden Gate. The same operation of the unforeseeable forces of nature has rattled to pieces Valparaiso, a city which was a wealthy center of the world’s commerce when the ports of North America were little more than havens for the buccaneer.
From widely scattered observatories comes in these last few days the announcement that somewhere as yet unknown, but probably in the southern hemisphere, there has been a crash of earth as great as those which destroyed San Francisco and Valparaiso. It will be long before the site of this latest disturbance is known; it may be that it was entirely submarine, and may therefore never be identified. Again, it may be that the sea has found access to the central fires of the new volcano in Savaii, and that the roof of the island has been blown off in the crash, for a neighboring island stands as a lasting memorial that such was the fate of an ancient volcano in those seas.
These calamities have been monumental. Each would be sufficient to mark an epoch in the annals of disaster; a single year includes them all. Not one could be foreseen by a moment. No measures could be devised to secure protection or means of escape. One recurs to the old phrase and finds nothing that may better describe it than as a year in which the acts of God have been made manifest.
This record of monumental calamities compels men to stop and think, and they can but recognize the fact that the judgments of God are in the land. For several years we have been instructed through the spirit of prophecy that the time was near at hand when there would be a change in God’s method of dealing with the rejecters of his mercy, and we have been exhorted to prepare for this change. The observers of current events are impressed by the succession of calamities, and describe the present year as one “in which the acts of God have been made manifest.”
In connection with the summary of disasters which we have quoted, it therefore seems fitting to call attention to two paragraphs in the article by Sister White which appeared in last week’s REVIEW. They run as follows:—
Ought men to be surprised over a sudden and unexpected change in the dealings of the Supreme Ruler with the inhabitants of a fallen world? Ought they to be surprised when punishment follows transgression and increasing crime? Ought they to be surprised that God should bring destruction and death upon those whose ill-gotten gains have been obtained through deception and fraud? Notwithstanding the fact that increasing light regarding God’s requirements has been shining on their pathway, many have refused to recognize Jehovah’s supreme rulership, and have chosen to remain under the black banner of the originator of all rebellion against the government of heaven.
The forbearance of God has been very great,—so great that when we consider the continuous insult to his holy commandments, we marvel. The Omnipotent One has been exerting a restraining power over his own attributes. But he will certainly arise to punish the wicked, who so boldly defy the just claims of the decalogue.
There is danger that we ourselves may fail to appreciate the meaning of “the acts of God” which are now commanding the attention of others. God is speaking to his people as well as to the world. He is calling upon them to be laborers together with him in proclaiming the message of warning to all the nations, that the way of escape may be pointed out. O that all would heed the call and unite in hastening the work!

God’s Peace Program

By C. M. S.

From remotest times men have been seeking to make a ladder of their own by which to reach the skies and regain paradise. That was their central purpose in their Babel tower (Bab-il), which they termed the gate of God. Even Cain thought his own provision for a typical offering as good as the way that God had specified. The result was that Cain was sent out from his place, a wanderer in the world, and the Babel builders were scattered like chaff at the breath of the Lord.
These were plants which God had not planted, so their planters could not expect them to abide. “Every plant which my Heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up,” says our Saviour; and these were uprooted. Every idolatrous worship is such a plant. Every plan of man to “bring about God’s will” in human ways is that kind of plant.
God’s ways are the ways of peace and righteousness. Peace does not reign now, and righteousness is far from universal.
Recognizing these facts, men have sought to bring about righteousness by law, and to usher in universal peace by confederating nations together under promise to keep the peace. They would make peace prevalent by the power of their own wills. But the promoters of such a plan have forgotten the one great essential of true peace.
Peace is the promised portion of every child of God. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.” John 14:27. Jesus had peace, even when his enemies were conspiring against his life. The secret of that peace lay in his attitude toward the law of God. Here it is as specified by Inspiration:—
“Lo, I am come; In the roll of the book it is written of me: I delight to do thy will, O my God; Yea, thy law is within my heart.” Ps. 40: 7.
Let us place alongside of this another scripture:—
“Great peace have they that love thy law; And they have no occasion of stum- bling.” Ps. 119: 165.
Jesus’ attitude toward that law was the attitude of delight in the performance of all its requirements. It was with him as expressed by the psalmist:—
“O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.” Ps. 119: 97.
That brought the great peace which he had, and it is that great peace which he designs each of his followers should enjoy. He had “no occasion of stumbling,” because—
“Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, And a light unto my path.” Ps. 119: 105.
It is impossible for men to bring themselves into harmony with that which they dislike and oppose. They can not shape their characters after a pattern which they consider abolished; and so it is impossible that men should have peace who are out of harmony with God’s law, or do not believe in its existence. The wicked man can not have peace because he is a transgressor of God’s law. “There is no peace, saith Jehovah, to the wicked.” Isa. 48:22. The man who believes in the abolition of the law of God can not have true peace. He does not love that law, and it can not be said of him that he has “no occasion of stumbling;” for he has extinguished the lamp which would have lighted his pathway and revealed every obstruction.
At the time when “sudden destruction” is about to burst upon the world, the people of the world will be crying, “Peace, peace,” and making plans to insure universal peace; but the Word says there will be no peace for them in that time. The reason is that they have slighted the peace plans of God, and substituted peace plans of their own, which ignore the law of God in its application to the individual soul. They have no surer way of achieving peace than the Babel builders had of recovering paradise by building a tower to the skies. There is no enduring peace outside of God; and all plans that ignore him and his law,—all human plans,—are outside of him. Man can not force his way into the garden of peace any more than he can fling his form into the skies and abide. Peace of man’s making is a delusive hope. Nations will confederate for peace; but the day is not far distant when, with all who trust in such hopes, they will be broken in pieces as a potter’s vessel.
The prerequisite of peace enduring and life everlasting is the imputed righteousness of Christ, and that will be imputed only to those who have allowed his mind to become their mind, spirituality to take the place of carnality, self-sacrifice to take the place of self-service, and all the body’s actions and the soul’s desires to be molded, by his power, in conformity with his holy law.That brings a peace which the world does not understand, and by a process which it does not desire and will not adopt. Let us not forget the one great requisite of true peace: “Great peace have they that love thy law.”
C. M. S.

Preparation for a Quick Work

By C. M. S.

It is indeed remarkable how doors are opening in different parts of the world for the distribution of the Word of God. The Aglipay movement which has been going on in the Philippines is one of the movements tending to that end. While it is not a movement toward Protestantism directly, it is taking out from under the direct control of Rome about two million natives; and a new impetus, due to this movement, has been given to Bible distribution. That movement encourages the reading of the Scriptures. When candidates were being received into the Catholic Church each was presented with a candle, for which article each candidate paid.
The Aglipay bishop, instead of presenting a candle, hands each candidate a copy of the Gospels, which is paid for by the candidate. Upon one tour by one of these bishops fourteen thousand of the Gospels were sold.
In the province of Nueva Viscaya all the priests revolted from Rome and went over to the Independent Catholic Church, carrying with them the church property. In this province four thousand copies of the Scriptures were disposed of to the people. In the Island of Panay the bishop is co-operating with a colporteur for the distribution of fifty thousand copies of the Gospels. In Mindanao a similar movement is in progress, and there is said to be a marked desire for the Scriptures.
Another movement along the same line is the awakening of China. Recent steps that she has taken will have far-reaching effects. Recent decrees have been issued strengthening former decrees against foot binding; but China herself has needed to have her feet unbound, and this is being brought about. The study of the English language is now required in her higher schools, and in one whole province of some sixty million inhabitants it has been ordered that the New Testament be one of the books to be studied in the schools.
Surely there is a significance in these things. The English language is the most widely spoken of any language in the world. The third angel's message has more laborers in the English language than in any other. This wide distribution of the Bible and the rapid extension of the English language are some of the many indications that God is preparing for the close of his work.
C. M. S.

A Manifest Providence

By W. A. S.

Perhaps others are passing on an incident which Elder C. H. Edwards, of New York City, related at the recent publishers’ convention in Washington. At any rate, it ought to be set down for all, as it is a manifest providence, with a special lesson for us just now.
An Italian brother, working in New York, has been doing what he could with our Italian literature among the many thousands of that tongue in the great city. Somehow the literature came to the attention of a great evangelical distributing agency, whose board has put our Italian “Glorious Appearing,” “Steps to Christ,” and one or two other works, upon their regular list of publications, for all their agents to handle. This means that a hundred or more agents, working constantly among foreign-speaking peoples over the United States, will be put in the way of selling our Italian literature.
It shows that Providence has ways we little think of, by which to circulate our literature among foreign-speaking peoples. It must surely stir our hearts with a desire to take up the work more earnestly for these large populations. Just before us is the Sabbath collection of November 3, for the International Publishing Association, of College View, which stands for this very work. Let us help it in a determined way, for it must be a beacon light to people of other tongues. W. A. S.

“The Harvest is Ripe”

By William A. Spicer

When the fruit is ripe, it is easily picked. The Spirit of God is ripening the fruitage of the kingdom in the world-wide field. Fresh testimony is borne to this by reports just in from many parts. People are waiting to be spoken to about this message.
Brother Hankins writes from Amoy, China: “We hope that good news of ripe harvest-fields in China will cause conferences in the States to send laborers to our help.”
Our Fiji brethren sent copies of their paper to a leper station on the island of Benga, and received word back from the lepers through the teacher in charge: “They are very glad because the true light has come to them.”
Elder Brown writes from old Mexico, where once it was so hard to circulate literature: “Brother Colunga has made a new record which it will be hard to beat, for during the last week of September he secured one hundred yearly subscriptions to our paper, and sold over three hundred tracts.”
“Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields,”—at home or abroad,—“for they are white already to harvest.”
W. A. S.

A Young People's Day

By G. B. Thompson

THE Sabbath-School and Young People's Department of the General Conference has laid plans for a young people's day in all our churches on Sabbath, Jan. 26, 1907. This matter has been considered by a number of those who are connected with the work of our young people, and all are very favorable to the plan. It has also been approved by the General Conference Committee.
A program is being prepared, and writers are being arranged for, to secure articles for this day. The Youth's Instructor will contain the program, the readings, and such other matter as will be necessary. It is expected that every church and company of Sabbath-keepers will take part in this program, and devote the services on this Sabbath to the work of our young people.
We make the announcement early that all may begin making preparations for it. Further announcements will be made later. It is hoped that this day will do much to advance the work of our young people. It will, if all take hold of it enthusiastically. The strength of our young people's work is in united action rather than in each following plans of his own. As far as consistent, we believe that all should make the program suggested the leading feature of the day. We do not believe that it will in any way hinder any local interest. As a result of the work of this day many of the young people should give themselves for service, not only in the home land, but in the “regions beyond,” as well.
In order to direct their minds to something definite, it has been thought best to take up a collection on this day for some missionary enterprise. This will emphasize in the minds of all the importance of the field and the message. The Mission Board has suggested that the collection be taken for the Levant Mission field. This field includes the territory washed by the eastern waters of the Mediterranean Sea, such as Palestine and Turkey, and also Egypt. What could be more interesting than to give a donation to help send the news of the return of Jesus to the very country in which he lived when on earth, and where wicked hands hung him on the cross! Plans have recently been laid by the Mission Board for aggressive work in this field, and funds are needed. Let all begin now to plan to make this day a success, by helping our young people. Let all remember the date, Jan. 26, 1907.
G. B. THOMPSON, Chairman Sabbath-school Department.

The Dead Know Not Anything

THE tenacity with which some will hold to the creed of the church regardless of the plain teaching of the Scriptures, and the ease with which they will discredit any portion of the Bible which does not harmonize with the creed, are both illustrated by a question and the answer to it which have been forwarded to us by one of our readers. A correspondent asked the editor of a religious paper this question:—
—Ministers tell us that the dead will know much that the living do not know; but is not that a direct contradiction of the Bible, which says, “The dead know not anything”?"
In his reply the editor says that much which the writer of the book of Ecclesiastes says “is not to be read as literal truth,” and concludes with this statement: “If you believe in a future life at all, you must conclude that those who have passed into it know many things that are hidden from the living.” In their anxiety to maintain the creed, religious teachers do not hesitate to undermine the confidence of the people in the plain statements of the Bible, apparently overlooking the fact that in so doing they are destroying the very foundations of Christianity, while they will appeal to human speculations as authority for claims which contradict the Scriptures. What does any one know about the condition of man in death and the future life except what is revealed in the Bible? Of what value are philosophy and speculation in settling such questions as these? Pagan dogmas and spiritualistic theories ought to be discarded once and forever in favor of the revelation from heaven concerning the things of the kingdom of God.

The Methodist Against Reform

A METHODIST paper has a grievance against those who “go about peddling old wives’ fables, adventism, or Saturday-Sundayism, or baptism, or tithe-giving, or missions, or ‘divine healing,’ or conditional immortality, or some such fad.” Of such persons it says: “They distribute tracts, sell books, and take subscriptions for certain periodicals. Usually the tracts they distribute advocate, with a great array of Scripture passages, some strange error of doctrine. The books they sell are expansive efforts to exploit the peculiar doctrines of the sect they represent. The error is not always easily detected. . . . Better stick to the old tried truths, to the well-established doctrines, to the recognized Christian bodies.”
While it is true that there are many who advocate mere fads and fancies in the name of religion, yet if the advice given by this Methodist paper had been followed, there would never have been any progress made in the development of the truth, and reform from established error could never have been accomplished. The scribes and Pharisees agreed with this Methodist editor and clung to “the well-established doctrines.” In contrast with their course was the attitude of the Bereans to whom Paul preached, for “they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so.” If the principle advocated by this Methodist editor had prevailed, there would have been no reformation in the sixteenth century. The adherents of the papacy ridiculed the Reformers, and urged all to stand by “the well-established doctrines.” If the people of the eighteenth century had followed the advice of this Methodist editor, the Wesleys and Whitefield would not have been given even a hearing, and Methodism would never have gained a foothold, and there would have been no Methodist editor. It is wiser to urge the people to study the Scriptures in order that they may know the truth, and thus recognize error, than to advise them to stick to their church and its doctrines. The truth is the only efficient weapon with which to meet error. A doctrine not established upon the Scriptures is not worth holding. “To the law and to the testimony.”

Note and Comment

THE pastor of a Universalist church in Allegheny, Pa., recently astonished his hearers by commending the confessional as an aid to Christian living. He said:—
Nothing will so aid the individual in attempting to live Christianity as the fixed determination and habit of confessing sin. . . . In the Roman Catholic Church confession is made a strict religious duty. . . . In the Roman Catholic Church the communicant is expected to make admission or acknowledgment to the priest—to own a fault or a crime, to make known one's wrong-doing. I am persuaded that if this practise was taught and observed in our Protestant churches, there would be less immorality among the ministers and church-members.
Auricular confession was unknown in the early church, and was not established as an essential part of church discipline until the fourth Lateran Council, A. D. 1215. It came in through the development of the great apostasy, in which man was put in the place of God, and the requirements of man were substituted for the requirements of God as the means of salvation. Christ and the apostles taught no such thing as confession to a man, and no such practise was established in the churches which they founded. It is a part of that system by which ecclesiastics obtain and maintain power over the laity. Protestantism was a protest against this power of man over man, and taught that forgiveness of sins came through faith in Christ without the intervention of pope or priest. The history of those Catholic countries where the confessional has been established for centuries is a sufficient answer to the claim that the confessional is a check upon immorality. But the suggestion of this professed Protestant minister is an indication of the present tendency toward Rome. True Protestants will repudiate any such suggestion.
Continue reading: The Oneness of the Old and New Dispensations