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Review and Herald, Vol. 80, No. 12.

Publishers’ Page

Review and Herald

Mar 24, 1903

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 24, 1903

Publishers’ Page

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

Special Sale of Foreign Books

DURING the remainder of March and through the entire month of April, providing our stock holds out, we will offer for sale at a greatly reduced price slightly damaged foreign books.
All the works we offer at reduced prices are as good as new. Scarcely any one would notice the slight imperfections.

Bible Readings

German, Danish, Swedish, French, and Holland
Cloth, marble, reduced from $2 to $1.
Cloth, gilt, reduced from $2.50 to $1.25.
Library, marble, reduced from $3 to $1.50.
Half morocco, gilt, reduced from $3.50 to $1.75.
Full morocco, gilt, reduced from $4.25 to $2.15.

Great Controversy

German and French
Cloth, marble, reduced from $2.25 to $1.15.
Cloth, gilt, reduced from $2.75 to $1.40.
Library, marble, reduced from $3 to $1.50.
Half morocco, gilt, reduced from $3.50 to $1.75.
Full morocco, gilt, reduced from $4.50 to $2.25.
Danish
Cloth, marble, reduced from $2.25 to $1.15.
Cloth, gilt, reduced from $2.75 to $1.40.
Half morocco, gilt, reduced from $3.50 to $1.75.
Full morocco, gilt, reduced from $4.50 to $2.25.
Swedish
Cloth, gilt, reduced from $2.75 to $1.40.
Library, marble, reduced from $3 to $1.50.
Half morocco, gilt, reduced from $3.50 to $1.75.
Full morocco, gilt, reduced from $4.50 to $2.25.

Patriarchs and Prophets

German, Danish, and Swedish
Cloth, marble, reduced from $2.25 to $1.15.
Cloth, gilt, reduced from $2.75 to $1.40.
Library, marble, reduced from $3 to $1.50.
Half morocco, gilt, reduced from $3.50 to $1.75.
Full morocco, gilt, reduced from $4.50 to $2.25.
Holland
Cloth, marble, reduced from $2.25 to $1.15.
Cloth, gilt, reduced from $2.75 to $1.40.
Library, marble, reduced from $3 to $1.50.
Full morocco, gilt, reduced from $4.50 to $2.25.

Marvel of Nations

Our Country, Its Past, Present, and Future, and What the Scriptures Say of It
Published in German, Danish, and Swedish, neatly and substantially bound in cloth, plain and gilt edges. The cloth binding, plain edge, is reduced from $1.25 to 65 cents, and the gilt is reduced from $1.50 to 75 cents.

From Eden to Eden

German and French
Printed on heavy calendered paper, from new electrotype plates made especially for this book, and contains 264 pages. It is illustrated with numerous full-page engravings, and furnished in two very attractive styles of cloth binding, at the following reduced prices:—
Cloth, marble, reduced from $1 to 50 cents.
Cloth, gilt, reduced from $1.50 to 75 cents.

Life of Christ

German and French
This book has 576 pages, and is beautifully and substantially bound in the following styles:—
Cloth, marble, reduced from $2 to 80 cents.
Cloth, gilt, reduced from $2.50 to 90 cents.
Library, marble, reduced from $3 to $1.
Half morocco marble, reduced from $3.50 to $1.20.
Full morocco, gilt, reduced from $4.25 to $1.50.

Christ Our Saviour

German, Danish, Swedish, Holland, and Spanish
Beautifully bound in cloth and board covers. The cloth binding is reduced from 75 cents to 35 cents, and the board, with the cloth back, is reduced from 50 cents to 25 cents.

Daniel and the Revelation

Contains 757 large pages, exclusive of its numerous full-page illustrations, and is beautifully and substantially bound.
German
Cloth, sprinkled edges, reduced from $2.50 to $1.25.
Library, marble, reduced from $3 to $1.50.
Danish
Cloth, marble, reduced from $2.50 to $1.25.
Half morocco, gilt, reduced from $3.75 to $1.90.
Full morocco, gilt, reduced from $4.50 to $2.25.
Swedish
Cloth, marble, reduced from $2.50 to $1.25.
Library, marble, reduced from $3 to $1.50.
Half morocco, gilt, reduced from $3.75 to $1.90.
Full morocco, gilt, reduced from $4.50 to $2.25.
Holland
Cloth, marble, reduced from $1.50 to 75 cents.

Mount of Blessing

German
The sermon on the mount. A companion volume to “Steps to Christ.” Beautifully bound, profusely illustrated, reduced from 75 cents to 35 cents.

Steps to Christ

German, Danish, Swedish, Holland, Spanish, and Portuguese
Cloth, plain, reduced from 60 cents to 30 cents.
French, Bohemian, Italian, Welsh, Rumanian, Polish, Finnish, and Hungarian
Cloth, plain, reduced from 75 cents to 40 cents.

Early Writings

German
This work is neatly bound in cloth, plain edges, and the price is reduced from 75 cents to 40 cents.

Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene

German
A rare and valuable book. Long out of print in the English. Cloth binding, reduced from 40 cents to 25 cents, postpaid.

English Damaged Books

We still have some damaged books in the English language. As long as they last, we will mail them for the prices quoted.

Now Ready

Sabbath-School Quarterly for Second Quarter, 1903
These lessons will be upon First and Second Thessalonians, and the following are the subjects of the lessons in the order they are published in the Quarterly, for the senior classes:—
The Founding of the Church; Preacher and People; The Manner of the Preacher; The Reception of His Message; Comforted in Their Faithfulness; Walking with God; The Coming of Christ; The Children of Light; Practical Instructions for the Children of Light; A Message of Comfort; The Lawless One; Chosen of God; Important Instruction.
Order from the State Tract Societies, or of any of the publishing houses.

Special Sale of Bibles

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 gas-light. 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 ⅝ 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.

Editorial

By Editor

By Life or By Death

THE most signal victories of faith have often been at the times of apparently overwhelming defeat. Judging the outcome from the ordinary standpoint, it would certainly seem as though the life of John the Baptist was a failure. For a time his mission seemed successful, but soon his popularity began to wane, and he met an ignominious death within prison walls. But heaven’s estimate of this prophet of the wilderness is thus expressed by Jesus: “Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist.” The death of John the Baptist was the crowning victory of a victorious life. In the eternal years he will wear a victor’s crown. Unbelief might ask, “Why did not Jesus save his forerunner?” Ah, that was just what he did. The grace which enabled John the Baptist to die for his Master was saving grace. He was among those who “were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God,” and he will live and reign with Christ. The lips of the dead martyr spoke more eloquently than those of the living preacher. The career of John the Baptist ended in victory. We must recognize the same principles to-day. It is not always the long years of effort which will accomplish the most for the kingdom of Christ. There are many who are ready to live for Christ, but perhaps the number is smaller who are ready to die for Christ. The service of faith reaches its perfection when we can say with the apostle Paul, “In nothing shall I be put to shame, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether by life, or by death.” In the shadow of the cross Jesus said, “Father, glorify thy name.” Let this be our prayer, whether it means by life or by death.

The Ever-Open Door

ONE of the largest charities in the world is Dr. Barnardo’s Home for Destitute Children in London. The institution is never closed night or day. Every day in the year and every hour in the day the door is open, and there is some one ready to receive those waifs whose only recommendation is that they are destitute and needy of help. The sign at the headquarters and at every branch of this home for the friendless is “The Ever-Open Door.” What an object lesson of the gospel is this! The door of mercy is ever open. Our need is our all-sufficient plea. We are sure of a welcome from the sinner’s Friend; for he has said, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” And “he is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” O that every sin-burdened and weary soul would enter the ever-open door!
“There is a gate that stands ajar,     And through its portals gleaming, A radiance from the cross afar,     The Saviour’s love revealing. “That gate ajar stands free for all     Who seek through it salvation; The rich and poor, the great and small,     Of every tribe and nation. “O depth of mercy! can it be     That gate was left ajar for me? For me, for me?     Was left ajar for me?”

The Old Paths

THE old paths are “the paths of righteousness.” They are “the right ways of the Lord.” They are paths of pleasantness and peace. The Lord invites us to these paths, and tells us what the result will be: “Thus saith Jehovah, Stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way; and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.” Jesus extended the same invitation when he said, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” The old paths and the rest of soul are found in coming unto him who is the way. In this time of “new light,” and “new thought,” and “new experience” there has been a great departure from “the old paths.” There is now a “new theology” which calls for a new definition of God, a new view of inspiration, and a new adjustment of ideas all around. The old experiences of the men of faith are discredited. The old-time manifestations of God’s power in conversion are not believed for, and are not wanted. The old-time testimony of men walking with God is consequently lacking. Is it not time for a call to return to the old paths? Is there not a demand for such a revelation of the way of the Lord as shall offer hope and comfort to weary, storm-tossed souls? What is the meaning of this advent movement if it is not to be “a restorer of paths to dwell in”? The message, “Fear God, and give him glory,” when presented in fulness and power, will prepare the way and bring back the old experiences to those who are waiting for the coming of the Lord. These old paths are ever new, and these old experiences are ever new, and they are both eternally new as we serve in the newness of the Spirit, and in the freshness of the endless life, but we never substitute human inventions for the eternal truth. We have new views of the old truth, and new experiences in the old paths, but we do not find it necessary to discard the old truth and to depart from the old paths of righteousness. Let us stand in the old paths.

The Threefold Message of Rev. 14: 6-12

“The Hour of His Judgment”

FOR many centuries the world has looked forward to a coming judgment. Thus the psalmist, after testifying that “Jehovah hath made known his salvation,” and that “all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God,” says: “Let the hills sing for joy together before Jehovah; for he cometh to judge the earth: he will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.” Many of the messages given through the prophet Isaiah are based upon the idea of a court and a judicial trial. After stating in the first part of the first chapter the backsliddencondition of Israel, the prophet speaks these words from the Lord: “Come now, and let us reason together, said Jehovah,” or, “Come now, let us plead together.” And again the prophet says, “Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the peoples be assembled: who among them can declare this, and show us former things? Let them bring them witnesses, that they may be justified; or let them hear, and say, It is truth. Ye are my witnesses, said Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he.” These are judgment scenes.
The prophet Daniel saw in vision when “one that was ancient of days did sit,” and “the judgment was set, and the books were opened.”
In his teaching Jesus often spoke of “the day of judgment.” He presented it as the time when just awards would be given, as men would be judged in righteousness, and not according to appearances.
When addressing his pagan audience on Mars Hill, the apostle Paul declared, “The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked; but now he commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent: inasmuch as he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness in the man whom he hath ordained.” And the same apostle, in speaking before Felix, talked of “the judgment to come,” and wrote in the epistle to the Hebrews: “It is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment.”
The revelator thus describes the judgment scenes as presented to him: “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne; and books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.”
The appointed day of the settling of all human accounts was to be proclaimed to the world. A most solemn announcement was to be made that the Judge is at the door, and that the close of human probation was at hand. This would emphasize the call to repentance and the need of a preparation to stand in the final hour. And so the message must be given, “Fear God, and give him glory; for the hour of his judgment is come.” The end of the long prophetic period of twenty-three hundred days (years) in 1844 marked the beginning of the judgment hour, and it was also the time of the beginning of the sounding of the seventh trumpet, concerning which we are told, “In the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then is finished the mystery of God, according to the good tidings which he declared to his servants the prophets.”
Thus the announcement of the arrival of the hour of God’s judgment is an integral part of the closing work of the gospel—a part of the message which is to be given in the last generation to prepare the way of the Lord. And this is the message which we are charged with giving. We are to make it clear by the words of the prophets that the time which they foretold has arrived; that even now the work of the judgment is in progress; and that soon the last case will be passed upon, and the decree will go forth, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.”
A more solemn time was never known in the world’s history, and yet it is just the time when the people of God are to lift up their heads, knowing that their redemption draweth nigh. The judgment-hour message will bring the close of the judgment hour, and usher in the glories of the eternal kingdom. Let the giving of this message be hastened, that we may speedily enter into the joy of our Lord.

Removing the Foundation

In his first letter to the church at Thessalonica the apostle Paul said to the believers, “For this cause we also thank God without ceasing, that, when ye received from us the word of the message, even the word of God, ye accepted it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God.” This is a sufficient cause for thankfulness in behalf of any church. Prosperity is assured to every individual and to the church as a whole, when the word of God is thus accepted. This is the foundation of all genuine Christian experience.
A growing weakness which must end in a complete departure from the true faith is the inevitable consequence of treating the word of God as though it were the word of men. So it was in the great falling away which plunged the church and the world into the Dark Ages. There arose men “speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them,” the human interpretation of the Word of God took the place of the Word itself, and thus the living power of the Word was made of none effect. Darkness settled down upon the world because the Word of God, which is a lamp to the feet and a light to the path, was practically taken away from the people.
In the Reformation of the sixteenth century, and as the strength of that movement, an effort was made to restore the Word of God to its rightful place as the voice of God to each individual. Its teaching on any subject was presented as final and authoritative. Thus the historian D’Aubigné says: “The sole and infallible authority of the Word of God was the primary and fundamental principle of the Reformation. Every reform in detail that was afterward carried out in the doctrine, morals, or government of the church, and in its worship, was but a consequence of this first principle. In these days we can scarcely imagine the sensation produced by this elementary and simple but long-neglected truth.” The same historian says again: “The Reformers and the apostles set up the Word of God as the only light, as they exalt the sacrifice of Christ as the only righteousness. By mingling any authority of man with this absolute authority of God, or any human righteousness with this perfect righteousness of Christ, we vitiate both the foundations of Christianity.” And in “the famous Protest that henceforward gave the name of Protestant to the renovated church,” we find the following statements: “Now, seeing that . . . there is no sure doctrine but such as is conformable to the Word of God; that the Lord forbids the teaching of any other doctrine; that each text of the Holy Scriptures ought to be explained by other and clearer texts; that this holy book is in all things necessary for the Christian, easy of understanding, and calculated to scatter the darkness; we are resolved, with the grace of God, to maintain the pure and exclusive preaching of his only Word, such as is contained in the Biblical books of the Old and New Testaments, without adding anything thereto that may be contrary to it. This Word is the only truth; it is the sure rule of all doctrine and of all life, and can never fail or deceive us. He who builds on this foundation shall stand against all the powers of hell, whilst all the human vanities that are set up against it shall fall before the face of God!” This was the platform of the Reformers. This is the foundation upon which Protestantism was built. This is the foundation of a genuine Christianity.
But a great departure is being made from the principles laid down by the Reformers. The very foundation of Christianity is being removed. The Protestantism of to-day is not the Protestantism of the sixteenth century. That which is known as the “Higher Criticism,” or the “New Theology,” or the “New Experience” is in reality another falling away from the Christianity of the early church. This evil principle has been at work for a long time, underminingconfidence in the inspiration and authority of the Scriptures, but now it comes out openly in its warfare against the position that the Bible is the Word of God. In support of these strong statements we present some quotations from two journals which may be regarded as leading exponents of this modern infidelity. In The Outlook (New York) of February 14 appeared an editorial under the heading “The New Religious Experience,” from which we take the following extract: “The new religious experience looks for its final authority to the Voice within. The secret of whatever authority it recognizes in either church or Bible is the response which the soul makes to the word which they utter. . . . The New Experience is more slow to recognize that the authority of the Bible is of the same description as that of the church, but it is gradually and half-unconsciously coming to this faith. A text of Scripture is no longer conclusive as to doctrine; a precept of Scripture is no longer conclusive as a command. The Bible is less and less looked upon as itself the word of God—a title never in the Bible applied to the Bible; it is looked upon as able to evoke the word of God in the soul of man.” In its issue of February 28, after quoting a statement from the Sun (New York), that “a very great change, a tremendous religious revolution, is involved in this new view and new method of criticism of the Bible so generally accepted on the authority of science and scholarship, and even of teachers of religion and theology themselves,” The Outlook says: “It is clearly worse than futile for clergymen to insist that there is no such revolution; clearly it is their duty to prepare their congregations to meet it, by showing them that the religious life is not identified with or dependent upon the old unscientific view of the Scripture as an infallible rule of faith and practice, and as constituting, not merely a supreme minister to faith, but the foundation on which faith must rest.”
In The Independent of February 12 there was published an editorial under the heading “The Recession of Inspiration,” from which we take the following: “The church has by this time learned that the Bible is not the one final source of authority in religion. We have learned that we may and must judge the Bible. First we must judge whether it is an inspired authority, and then we must judge of the nature of its inspiration as a whole, and of the value of its several parts. This implies that there is something above the Bible by which it must be tested, and that something is another form of the voice of God. It is the reason and the conscience, our intellectual and our moral sense, enhanced and clarified as far as possible, which are the likeness and the utterance of God in us.” Twenty-five years ago the religious sense of Protestantism in this country would have been greatly shocked by such utterances as these, but the undermining process has been carried on so gradually that the people have hardly realized that the foundation of Protestantism was being removed. And even now there seems to be such a fascination in the idea of a scientific view of religion, and of “the scientific relation of man to God,” that men are abandoning their faith in the Word of God, and resting their confidence in science falsely so called.
It is time for a new protest. It is time to remember the instruction and the charge given through the apostle Paul: “Every scripture is inspired of God, and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness. . . . I charge thee in the sight of God, and of Christ Jesus, . . . preach the word.” It is time to raise the cry throughout the whole world, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. . . . Come forth, my people, out of her, that ye have no fellowship with her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” It is time to give the threefold message in the power of the Spirit.

Increasing Power of the Papacy

By L. A. S.

While the meaning of the increasing power and prestige of the papacy is clear only to those who know from inspired prophecy that we are living in the closing days of time, the fact that this is true of the papacy is apparent to many who are candid enough to admit the truth. We have but to quote the testimony of these from time to time to present abundant evidence that the signs of the last days, as regards this world-deluding power, are being fulfilled. Here, for example, is a noteworthy utterance on the subject by the Northwestern Christian Advocate (Methodist) of February 18. Under the heading, “Papal Power in England,” the Advocate says:—
In an editorial in the issue of January 21 we quoted from Dr. Kolde, of Erlangen, an eminent church historian, his statement that few people, and only those who study modern facts in the light of church history, have any appreciation of the phenomenal advance made by the Catholic Church during the last decades, especially as a power in the political world and in the conquests of new spheres of thought and life. It is by no means a pleasant thing for the Protestants to contemplate, but it is an undeniable fact that not since the days of Innocent III has the papal system unfolded such splendor and power as in the present time. Not the Catholic princes, but rather the Protestant rulers are the ones who are trying to surpass each other in honoring the shrewd sage now occupying the throne in the Vatican, although it is this same sage who has repeatedly called the Reformation a “pest.”
In confirmation of these statements of Dr. Kolde, we quote the following editorial from the English Churchman and St. James Chronicle, which shows the growth of papal power in England: “The occult influence of the papacy, exercised on all our institutions in both church and state, is becoming increasingly and ominously potent. An iron hand, gloved in velvet, has been laid upon every department of the British government, and the will of him who, from his Vatican throne, claims emperors and kings, with their subjects, for his vassals, is mysteriously dominating the policy of our statesmen, and using them for the furtherance of far-reaching evil purposes. . . .”
“Roman Catholic influence, it has already been pointed out, has of late been significantly traceable in appointments made in connection with the foreign office. A papal spell appears to bind the chief authorities of the department, and so successfully has the Vatican intrigue been prosecuted, that not a few of the king’s ambassadors to foreign courts are papists, whose supreme allegiance is claimed by a foreign priest and potentate. King Edward’s representatives at the courts of Constantinople, The Hague, Vienna, Lisbon, and Morocco are Roman Catholics. The latest similar appointment made is that of Sir Francis Bertie to the court of the king of Italy.”
Mr. Arnold White, says this authority, stated, in an article recently contributed to an English journal, that “the influence of the Duke of Norfolk, the head of the English Roman Catholics, has now become supreme in the foreign office, and is exercised in favor of Catholics rather than Englishmen.”
“This condition of affairs,” says the English Churchman, “is very serious, when it is remembered that the Duke of Norfolk not long since presented an address to the pope in which he avowed his desire for the restoration of Leo’s temporal power—an open insult to the lawful king of Italy, an ally of the king of England. It certainly is highly unsatisfactory that the selection of an ambassador to the court of Rome should have fallen on a Roman Catholic, who, presumably, is a persona grata with the duke. The able article to which we have referred closes with the sentence: ‘The appointment of Sir Francis Bertie is the last proof of the Duke of Norfolk’s control of foreign office appointments.’ When we take into account the exceptional confidences affecting international politics involved in the position and duties of a British ambassador, it is an appalling contemplation that the accredited representative of the court of St. James at the Quirinal should be exposed to the least animadversion.”
The Advocate adds that “while the power of the papacy is steadily declining in Roman Catholic countries, it is using every available means to secure power in the three great Protestant nations—the United States, England, and Germanyto force the government to permit the return of the Jesuits; and the accession of the Philippines, with its seven or eight millions of nominal Roman Catholics added to the population of the United States, is furnishing the papacy an opportunity for strengthening its power in this country, of which it is taking advantage. The significance of the recent movement on the part of the Vatican is not appreciated by American statesmen, but they will awake to the fact before long. Already there is a general and increasing demand for the support of the Roman Catholic parochial schools in this country from public taxes, and the Vatican authorities have practically declared that they must control the public schools of the Philippines. For American statesmen to ignore these facts is to shut their eyes to some of the most serious problems with which this nation must deal. What may be in store for the American people, if they are not watchful, is evidenced by the recent enactment of the new education law in England, which puts the education of a large portion of the children of the nonconformist churches in the keeping of the priests of the Roman Catholic and Established churches, many of whom will do their utmost to destroy the faith of nonconformist children in the church and teaching of their fathers.”
L. A. S.

The Industrial Crisis

By L. A. S.

THE prediction that a crisis is at hand in the great struggle between the forces of organized labor and those of organized capital in this country, need no longer be regarded as the utterance of an alarmist; for its truth is now clearly seen and admitted by those engaged in this struggle, and who are therefore in a position to know the doctrines and purposes upon which it is based. Here are the statements made on the subject by a representative of the socialist movement, which aims to transfer the struggle to the domain of politics, and promises relief by the setting up of a socialist government. In the Chicago Record-Herald of March 15, Mr. A. M. Simons, editor of the International Socialist Review, says:—
It is getting to be a commonplace to declare that social conditions are approaching a crisis. Even the most conservative are forced to recognize the fact that present society is in a state of most unstable equilibrium. The tremendous struggle between organized laborers and organized capitalists is approaching a climax. Millions of organized workers are standing in opposition to a compact organization of a few individuals controlling billions of capital.
The socialists, if this writer correctly represents them, believe that the capitalists have control of the machinery of the government, and make use of it to enforce their terms upon the army of men whose industrial activities they direct; and hence the remedy must lie, they think, in a movement which will wrest the government from the control of the capitalists, and place it in the hands of the wage-earners. Both sides, he says, are preparing for the final struggle, and “the lines are now drawn so close that no favors are granted on either side.” As evidence of this, he cites “the recent rejection by Congress of the eight-hour bill, on which the American Federation of Labor had concentrated its efforts, and the defeat or disfigurement of all legislation asked for by the workers in the last Congress.”
Arrayed against the socialist movement, he sees the federal “injunction,” the “military, police, and deputies,” the recently formed “National Economic League,” and the “Manufacturers’ Association,” and “the strength of the Roman Catholic Church.” These “all indicate the intrenchment of the capitalists for a last desperate battle.”
The coming struggle is also foreshadowed, he says, by the fact that the country is now on the crest of a wave of commercial prosperity, which is sure to be followed by the trough of depression. Such a period has always, he says, been productive of “tremendous conflicts between capitalists and laborers.” The present conditions may at any time give rise to an acute stage of the conflict, which will be attended by the gravest results. “If, as is constantly threatened, there should be a great strike on the transportation system of this country, especially if it included the street railway system of Chicago, or the union stock-yards, so as to give an extremely acute local center of disturbance, it requires no alarmist to foresee the certainty of much bloodshed.”
Mr. Simons sees but one way of avoiding “a bloody internal conflict which might even verge on revolution,” this one way being socialism. But this remedy, when tried, will be found to be wanting, for the reason that it makes no provision for eliminating that evil thing which is the root from which all strife and oppression spring,—that is, selfishness. There is only one plan in the world which does make provision of this kind, and that is Christianity. And therefore Christianity, and not socialism, is the one means by which relief is to be obtained from the ills of which the socialist complains. All those who are trusting in anything else will be drawn into the impending conflict, which no human power can now avert. But these signs of the times are pointed out in order that men may be warned of the evil to come, and persuaded to turn to a higher power than that of earth for safety. If men will pause and listen, they will hear a message from above which is being sounded unto the uttermost parts of the earth,—a message of the salvation of God, proclaiming the power of God unto salvation from sin now, and from the whole curse speedily by the coming in glory of Him who has purchased the earth, whose kingdom is to overthrow all other kingdoms, and whose government will be perfect and eternal.
L. A. S.

Prophecy Fulfilling

By William Ambrose Spicer

DAY by day events are shaping for the world-crisis before us. Groupings and alliances of the nations, which in themselves might concern us slightly, become of thrilling interest as we see prophecy fulfilling.
In the thirty-eighth of Ezekiel the prophet describes the gathering of the peoples “out of the north parts” to the battle of the last great day, under the leadership of the “prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal,” the Russian power. In this prophecy Persia is definitely associated with these peoples of the north quarters. For years British and Russian diplomacy have keenly contested the ground for the predominating influence in Persia. Gradually Russia has seemed to make headway, until, within recent times, Muscovite influence has apparently won the day.
Last week the London cables brought word that, in order to save British trade in southern Persia, the government had been compelled to “come to terms” with its great northern rival, and Lord Cranborne has been treating with the Russian minister to hold the open door for trade in the Persian Gulf. It is reported that certain concessions on the Bosporus have been given Russia in consideration. However that may be, Persia, as the prophet said so long ago, has fallen to the northern power in the lining up of the nations for Armageddon.
In the same prophecy, Ethiopia, the modern Abyssinia, is also associated with Russia. There is no geographical relationship between Ethiopia and Russia to suggest any such combination. But over twenty-five centuries ago the prophet of God declared that Persia and Ethiopia would stand with the people of the north parts. During several years past we have seen relations between Russia and Abyssinia being fostered, first by a drawing together of the Greek Church and the ancient Abyssinian Church, and more recently by political missions from Russia to the court of Menelik. Russian military instructors are teaching the Abyssinians the art of war. Ethiopia is now counted as the one place on the African continent where Russia has direct influence. Thus, whatever shifts and changes there may be, we may see the sure word of prophecy fulfilling before our eyes.
On the side of the world, all things are about ready for the last great struggle. The final preparations are being feverishlyhurried on day and night. It is we who are behind with the message God has given us. Swiftly now, through these very nations gathering for the battle of the day of the Lord, we must press on with the message of peace and the warning cry of the judgment hour. W. A. S.
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