Your ShelfYour Projects

Review and Herald, Vol. 85, No. 27.

IF YOU NEED A BIBLE

Review and Herald

Jul 2, 1908

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Jul 2, 1908

IF YOU NEED A BIBLE

We Have the One That is Sure to Suit Both Your Taste and Your Idea as to Price

THREE POINTS OF SUPERIORITY

LARGE, BOLD TYPE CONVENIENT SIZE The nice large, clear type used in the “R. & H.” Bibles appeals to nearly every one. It is boldface minion, the kind that does not strain your eyes in reading. Despite the clear print, it has been possible to get this Bible into the small compass of 4¾ x 6¾ x 1 inches. Even with the concordance the book is only 1⅛ inches thick, and weighs but one pound.
DURABLE BINDING Many people hesitate when it comes to the binding. They wish a serviceable cover, but do not feel like paying a high price for it. To meet this demand we have had our “R. & H.” Bibles put up in serviceable and yet attractive leather. By comparing the prices with others, you will see that they are very reasonable. That these covers wear well is proved by the large number of satisfied customers who re-order.
THE LINING Have you ever been annoyed by the lining of your Bible coming loose from the cover after it had been used a little while? This is always likely to occur where the lining does not extend to the edge of the cover. All “R. & H.” Bibles are lined to the edge; thus we secure a serviceable book, whether linen lined or leather lined.

STYLES AND PRICES

With References and Maps
No. 2990X Alsatian morocco, divinity circuit, round corners, red under gold edges, silk head-band and marker, printed on India paper, linen lined to edge........................................ $3.50
No. 2992X Egyptian morocco, divinity circuit, round corners, red under gold edges, silk head-band and marker, grained leather lined to edge, silk sewed, printed on India paper ........................................ $4.00
No. 2996X Alaska Seal, divinity circuit, round corners, red under gold edges, silk head-band and marker, calf lined to edge, silk sewed, printed on India paper ........................................ $5.50
With Concordance
No. 2990XC Same description as 2990X........................................ $4.00
No. 2992XC Same description as 2992X........................................ 4.50
No. 2996XC Same description as 2996X........................................ 6.00
Thumb Index, 50 cents extra.

REVIEW AND HERALD PUBLISHING ASSN.

New York City   TAKOMA PARK, WASHINGTON, D. C.   Battle Creek, Mich.

The Bible Our Only Guide

THERE is only one place to which we can go for a satisfactory solution of the problem which faces us. The mystery of our being—whence we came, and whither we are bound—the life beyond the grave—the possibilities of the human soul—light upon these subjects can come to us only through the Holy Scriptures. The uncertainty of human philosophy makes it unsafe as a guide to those seeking a knowledge of eternal things. We must have an authoritative revelation concerning the things which are unseen, or we are left to wander in the mazes of doubt and questioning. To destroy confidence in the reliability of the Bible is to send us adrift without chart or compass. To reject the revelation made in the Bible is to refuse the light which shines in a dark place. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable.”

The Seventh-Day Adventists and the Protection of Sunday

By Editor

DURING the agitation for a Sunday law for the District of Columbia, the Christian Advocate of New York printed a letter from its Washington correspondent, in which it was stated that the Seventh-day Adventists were opposing the effort to secure a District Sunday law because they believed that the seventh day of the week was the Sabbath. As this did not give the correct reason why Seventh-day Adventists oppose Sunday legislation, the president of the General Conference, Elder A. G. Daniells, addressed a letter to the Editor of the Advocate, in which he correctly defined the attitude of this people on this question. In its issue for June 18, the Advocate referred to this matter in an editorial with the title at the head of this article, and printed the following extract from Elder Daniell’s letter:—
Seventh-day Adventists do not oppose the enactment of Sunday law because they believe the only Bible Sabbath to be the seventh day. It is against the evil principle of religious legislation that we protest. The principle of the total separation of church and state would be equally violated in enacting a law compelling the observance of the seventh day. For this reason we would promptly and vigorously oppose any bill favoring the seventh day. The question of the day does not figure in the question whatever. We believe that a civil law would be detrimental to the sanctity and observance of the seventh day. It is the same concerning the first day of the week.
At the close of its editorial comment upon this letter, the Advocate said:—
We have sometimes sympathized with the Seventh-day Baptists because their day had no protection, while those who believe in Sunday have such protection. But having discovered by the statement of the president of the Seventh-day Adventists that they do not believe in any kind of protection, our heart-strings will no longer vibrate in sympathy with them upon this point.
The advocates of Sunday laws seem to find it difficult to comprehend clearly the fundamental principles governing the relation between the state and the church, and the application of these principles in actual experience. Because the Seventh-day Adventists do not ask for any further protection on the seventh day of the week than on any other day, the Advocate declares that “they do not believe in any kind of protection.” Our position is this: we believe that any body of people, religious, political, or otherwise, have a right to assemble peaceably on any day of the week, and that it is the duty of civil government to protect them from disturbance, but we do not deem it within the province of civil government to distinguish between days by granting more protection upon one day than upon another.
It is not true that the Seventh-day Adventists “do not believe in any kind of protection,” but it is true that they believe in protecting citizens in the enjoyment of their rights rather than in protecting a particular day of the week. Does the Advocate see the difference between its statement of the belief of Seventh-day Adventists, and our statement of their belief? Will it put the matter before its readers in the proper light? We shall wait to see.
In another paragraph, with a closing sentence somewhat ambiguous in its reference, the Advocate pays its respects to the conscientious convictions of the Seventh-day Adventists in these words:—
Meanwhile we rejoice to see their devotion to their conscientious views and principles. In matters of this kind, we would rather be wrong and unpopular, conscientiously, than to be right merely for popularity’s sake. We bow to every one who stands up for what he believes to be right, unless he attacks the rights or, unjustly, the characters and reputations of his fellow-citizens. Any person of the latter class deserves contempt, and if he becomes too unbearable, he should feel the full force of the law.
We are not certain that we fully understand the application of the last sentence in this connection, unless it be that a too persistent opposition to Sunday laws might be interpreted as an attack upon the rights of citizens. Once it is conceded that the state has the right to legislate with reference to religious matters, and it is an easy step to the ground that the state should punish those who insist on declaring that the civil power has nothing to do with matters of faith, and that every one should be free to follow the convictions of his own conscience in religious questions. Many a page of history is filled with the bloody record of the persecution of those who have advocated the same principles that are now advocated by the Seventh-day Adventists. Will that history be repeated?

Editorial

By Editor

In fulfilment of the divine program, as outlined in the prophecies, this second advent movement is to reach every nation under heaven. It may seem to those who are occupied with one little corner, that the work is nearly done because the territory within the limits of their circumscribed vision has been well gone over; but they should heed the Saviour’s injunction, “Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields.” Just as certainly as we are fulfilling the prophecy of Rev. 14:6-12 in giving this message, just so certainly must this message be proclaimed in every land. Those who exercise the most intelligent faith in the near coming of the Lord are those who are most in earnest in sending this message to all parts of the world.

“In the End of Sabbaths”

ONCE more a defender of the Sunday sabbath comes forward with light on the meaning of Matt. 28: 1. A writer in the Baptist Standard states his case as follows:—
A correct translation of sabbatoon, both in the singular and plural, would throw a flood of light on this subject. Take Matt. 28: 1, “Now in the end [or near the end] of sabbaths, at the dawning toward the first [foremost or chiefest] day of sabbaths, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to the sepulcher.”
Conceding the translation as above, what follows? What, for example, does Matt. 28: 1 signify? The answer seems to be: that the Jewish sabbaths, including their weekly Sabbath, the week of sabbaths, the fast-day sabbaths, and their annual sabbaths, all came to their legitimate end, at the beginning of the first day, or Christian, sabbath.
There are two difficulties with this exposition. The first is that it is not warranted by the Greek text, and the second is that it is not in harmony with fact. In support of the first proposition, it is only necessary to state that the Greek word, opse, which is rendered in our Authorized Version, “In the end,” is an adverb which might properly be rendered “late” or “in the latter part of,” referring wholly to time. There is not in this word the least suggestion of “end” in the sense of “termination.” To render opse sabbatoon (translated in our Authorized Version, “In the end of the Sabbath”) by, “In the end of sabbaths,” with the purpose of conveying the idea that all existing sabbaths came to an end at that time, shows either absolute ignorance of the Greek language or an unscrupulous purpose to mislead the reader. One guilty of either is wholly unworthy of confidence as a translator and expounder of the original text.
Furthermore, the Greek word mian (rendered “first” in our Authorized Version) does not mean first in rank, but simply the first one in a series. To suggest the word “foremost,” or the word “chiefest,” as the proper translation, and then to claim as a result of this rendering, that Sunday is “the principal sabbath, or ‘the queen of Sabbaths’” is a perversion of the text. The ordinary rendering of this passage, as found in the Authorized and Revised Versions, is correct; and there is in this verse absolutely not any evidence whatever of the abolition of the seventh-day Sabbath and the substitution of another sabbath in its place.
The typical sabbaths, having fulfilled their purpose, ceased at the time of the first advent, when all the ceremonies of the Levitical law passed away. But Christ came to fulfil, rather than to destroy, the moral law; and the Sabbath which was established before sin came into the world, and which was therefore not instituted as a part of the remedial system, will remain even after the work of the gospel has been completed. Testimony is borne to this through the prophet Isaiah in these words: “And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.”
The writer of the article from which these quotations have been taken, further says:—
The above translation leaves the Seventh-day Adventists with nothing but an obsolete type of the true Sabbath, and without the slightest support from the New Testament Scriptures.
If those who desire to see the sabbath of tradition supplant the Sabbath of the Lord could only make a Bible to suit themselves, or could make our present Bible read as they wish, they could easily shut out from the New Testament all testimony in favor of the seventh-day Sabbath; but such attempts to manufacture evidence in behalf of the Sunday sabbath, as the one which we have reviewed in this article, only show the weakness of the case and excite the pity (not to use a stronger word) of intelligent readers of the Scriptures. If we were unable to present in behalf of the seventh-day Sabbath any better arguments than those adduced by the writer of the article in question, we should certainly give up any further effort to convert people to the observance of the true Sabbath of the Lord. It is a satisfaction to know, however, that the original Sabbath rests upon a sure foundation. “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.”

The Rise and Fall of Religious Liberty in America

By C. M. S.

Conscience Outlawed in Massachusetts

WHILE the purpose of the founders of the first American colonies was the securing for themselves freedom to worship God, the records of the times prove it to have been equally the purpose of the majority of them to obliterate in those same colonies all religious exercises and all religious belief not in harmony with their belief and rituals.
The Reformation in Europe had taken the people one long step out of the darkness of the Dark Ages, but failure to follow out the principles of Christ in the matter of soul-freedom had in great measure hindered the real work of reform. The conscience had merely changed masters. The Reformation had found men’s souls enthralled, and at the last had perpetuated the thralldom by establishing religion by law, and making non-conformity with the establishment a crime to be punished with the greatest rigor.
The hand of God seems to have hidden America from the knowledge of the Old World until the time was ripe for a new order of things,—a new step in the process of reformation; and if this be true, it is also true that Satan was not idle when the time came for America’s career to open. He would perpetuate in America that subtle process which had so materially interfered with the true progress of the Reformation, arrested its development, and robbed it of its crown of glory.
We have learned in our previous studies how every American colony save one established in some measure a union of religion and the state; and how, as a natural consequence, all save that one hounded and harried men and women for their faith. Was the New World to perpetuate the terrible tragedies of the Old, and so blight the purpose of God in bringing men to her shores? It was made evident from the beginning of the colonial governments, that a notable struggle was to take place in this land over the question of what power should dominate men’s consciences. Those early settlers had been educated in two very different schools. One class had been taught that “civil government is designed to support the external worship of God, to preserve the pure doctrine of religion, and defend the constitution of the church;” that persons maintaining or publishing erroneous opinions contrary to the creed of the established church “may be lawfully called to account and proceeded against by the censures of the church and the power of the civil magistrate;” that “the magistrate hath authority, and it is his duty to take order, that unity and peace be preserved in the church, that the truth of God be kept pure and entire, that all blasphemies and heresies be suppressed, all corruptions and abuses in worship and discipline prevented or reformed, and all the ordinances of God duly settled, administered, and observed.”—“Westminster Confession.”
The other class, far less numerous, had been taught that “the magistrate, by virtue of his office, is not to meddle with religion or matters of conscience, nor to compel men to this or that form of religion or doctrine; but to leave the Christian religion free to every man’s conscience, and to handle only civil transgressions, injuries, and wrongs of man against man, in murder, adultery, theft, etc., for Christ only is the king and law-giver.”—“Confession of the General Baptist Church,” Art. 84.
With views thus diametrically opposed, it is not to be wondered at that the turmoil of the Old World over matters of conscience was continued for a time in the New. John Robinson, the “canonized pastor of the Pilgrims,” defended the use of magisterial power “to punish religiousactions, he [the magistrate] being the preserver of both tables [of the law of God], and so to punish all breaches of both, . . . and by some penalty to provoke his subjects universally unto hearing for their instruction and conversion, yea, to inflict the same upon them, if after due teaching they offer not themselves unto the church.” Says Henry M. King: “Bishop and king they had left behind, but the ghosts of both were with them still, in the union of church and state, and in the use of violent repressive measures to preserve uniformity of religious belief. The Bible was in their right hand, and the sword in their left hand.” From the use made of these two swords, it would have been truer to fact to state that the Bible was in their left hand, and the sword in their right.
Concerning the position taken by the leaders in the colonial establishments, Sanford H. Cobb, in “The Rise of Religious Liberty in America,” says: “It is true that the Pilgrim Fathers, landing on the ‘stern and rock-bound’ coast of New England, sought and obtained ‘freedom to worship God.’ But the usual understanding of Mrs. Hemans’s lines, that they desired to establish anything like a general religious liberty, is very far from the truth. Their conscious desire was freedom for themselves, never dreaming of extending an equal freedom to such as differed from them in religious opinion.”
A law of Massachusetts, passed in 1644, corroborates the foregoing statement, and this is only one of many similar laws. After inveighing strongly against the Anabaptists, this law says: “It is ordered and agreed that if any person or persons within this jurisdiction shall either openly condemn or oppose the baptizing of infants, or go about secretly to induce others from the approbation or use thereof, or shall purposely depart the congregation at the administration of the ordinance, or shall deny the ordinance of magistracy or their lawful right or authority to make war or punish the outward breaches of the first table, and shall appear to the court wilfully and obstinately to continue therein after due time and means of conviction, every such person or persons shall be sentenced to banishment.” This law was not permitted to become a dead letter. It was passed in order to enable those who passed it to carry out a set purpose, and they went about it with vigor. “The question of religious toleration,” says Charles Francis Adams (“Massachusetts: Its Historians and Its History”) “was, so far as Massachusetts could decide it, decided in 1637 in the negative.” John Cotton, than whom no one was better able to proclaim the sentiment of the times, declared that “toleration made the world antichristian;” that “it was not lawful to persecute any, till after admonition once or twice.” And then, with that peculiarly sophistical reasoning characteristic of those wedded to the church-and-state idea, he goes on to justify persecution for conscience’ sake in these words: “If such a man, after such admonition, shall still persist in the error of his way, and be punished, he is not persecuted for cause of conscience, but for sinning against his own conscience.” Thus did John Cotton and his contemporaries ride over the rights of men, make themselves lords and judges over the consciences of others, and attempt to establish in America a duplicate of the inquisitions of the state churches of the Old World. Arguments equally unreasonable and misleading are used in our day in the attempt to justify laws for the “special protection” of a day of worship.
In his discussion with Roger Williams, John Cotton frankly declared that “persecution is not wrong in itself; it is wicked for falsehood to persecute truth, but it is the sacred duty of truth to persecute falsehood.” It can not be questioned that the colony carried faithfully into practise what it believed to be its duty in this regard.
In 1631 Roger Williams landed in Boston. He had left England because of Archbishop Laud’s animosity toward him and the views he held. He was not long in New England before he began to proclaim the doctrine of soul-freedom, and the unrighteousness of the magistrate’s interference in the realm of conscience. He proclaimed it openly, fearlessly, and in spite of the admonitions of friends and the warnings and threats of enemies. Realizing finally his imminent danger, Williams went to Plymouth, where the more tolerant Pilgrims received him, and to them he ministered for two years. His return to a pastorate at Salem was soon followed (October, 1635) by his trial and banishment.
One year previous to Williams’ banishment Mrs. Anne Hutchinson landed at Boston, and soon found herself in the toils of the law for holding independent meetings, and for criticizing some of the clergy. Mrs. Hutchinson was banished from the colony, as was also her brother-in-law, whose offense lay in preaching a sermon defending her views. Banishment was the portion of many another who dared to assert his right to believe and to teach.
In those days there was no sin so heinous in the eyes of the established church as the sin of being a Quaker. Ship captains were forbidden to bring Quakers into the country, under penalty of a fine of one hundred pounds, with imprisonment until paid. A number of them were beaten on the bare back with cruel whips through three towns; some (and these included women) were taken long distances into the wilderness, and left without food or shelter; others were imprisoned for as long as six days without food, their meetings were forbidden under pain of heavy penalties, and those who informed upon them were given one third the amount of the fine. Four were hanged, and a fifth was sentenced to death; but the latter’s fearless stand for his rights as a British subject averted the execution of the sentence. But the cruel persecution did not cease with that. There has, perhaps, been no more shocking illustration of the cruelty of the church-and-state régime than the sale, as slaves, of two Quaker children who had been deprived of their parents by the execution of the laws against Quakers. Into such terrible iniquity have professed men of God been led when they have abandoned the example and teaching of their Master, and made religion a matter of civil legislation, regulated under corporeal pains and penalties. The Puritan establishment had outlawed conscience, and in so doing it wrote a record from whose rehearsal later generations recoil in shame and pity. The suffering of the persecuted was a bitter cup, but their cruel tormentors and executioners will never cease to be reprobated so long as history is read. And yet their deeds were but the logical outgrowth of that iniquitous wedlock—a union of religion and the state.
C. M. S.

In the Upper Columbia

By W. A. S.

ABOUT 1831 four Indians of the Upper Columbia valleys made a long journey to St. Louis, to learn if it were true, as they had heard, that the white men had a better religion than the Indians. It was this visit of genuine inquiry after a better way that led to the sending of missionaries into the Oregon country. And the missionaries were among the pioneers of the new Northwest.
Riding from Seattle to Portland, I had as fellow passenger an old lady, hale and hearty, who came to these parts with the associates of Whitman, the missionary who led the advance into the upper Oregon country. She told of the rapid changes that had come,—instead of scattered Indian villages, now populous cities; and where once she made the slow journey into Washington by ox-team, fording rivers with the water-tight wagon-box as a boat, now railway systems have opened the entire country.
Our own work has made rapid growth, and it is the day of large camp-meetings in the Northwest. The Upper Columbia meeting was at Spokane, and the Lord blessed the believers. The campers raised about thirteen hundred dollars tofinish their share of the Walla Walla College debt, and without a doubt that institution will very soon hold its jubilee meeting. The school is a strong missionary factor, and many of its students will doubtless soon be out in mission fields.
The brethren of the Upper Columbia believe in the missionary advance. They approved of the gift of four thousand dollars from the tithe to mission fields, and added to it something over thirteen hundred dollars in cash and pledges. In this conference there have been no intermediate schools to pass the young people from the church-school to the college. At the camp-meeting it was voted to start three intermediate schools, to be financed locally. This means some stalwart lifting in the three sections represented. This is a land of long distances, and it was felt that the needs could best be supplied by three small intermediate school plants.
All these steps mean the rapid development of workers. Our young people are pushing into the book and periodical and evangelistic work, and with eyes upon the fields are aiming at a quick preparation for service. The reinforcements are on the way to relieve many an outpost in the mission fields.
In the meantime I am sure we shall hear from this prosperous and fertile Northwest in the way of strong support for missions. For what other purpose than to advance his blessed cause does the Lord place those who know this truth in possession of fertile acres? The only use we have for any resource; of strength, or time, or means, is to devote it to the finishing of the work of God that at last is to win the triumph in our day.
The Advent people are surely coming into line for the closing work. Everywhere there is a reviving and re-awakening to the issues of the hour. The day of the Lord’s power has come, and he is making his people willing.
W. A. S.

An Encouraging Outlook

By I. H. Evans

EVERY successful enterprise must be carefully managed. Nothing good or worthy of success succeeds without effort. Fortunes are not gathered by waste and inattention. Only sin and evil grow of themselves. All that is “worth while” in life is developed by sacrifice and toil and self-denial.
This is especially true of Christianity. Its history is a story of tears and suffering and sacrifice and death beyond comparison. The chronicles of time suggest no parallel in human history to the long-continued, almost universal struggles of Christianity in its growth and progress.
What has been true of Christianity as a religion entering the fields of paganism, and winning them to Christ, is true in part of the third angel’s message. As a specific truth for this time and generation, it could not be expected that the world would open its arms, and bid this message welcome. The import of the message is a warning against the beast, its image, and the reception of its mark. This warning carries with it a terrible denunciation of God’s wrath. Rev. 14: 6-12.
Yet, notwithstanding its warnings against cardinal sins; notwithstanding its reform on the Sabbath question, health, and temperance, and the announcement of the judgment hour, still, by the blessing of God, this message is onward, and is winning souls to Christ wherever it is preached.
Wherever it plants its standard, there it abides. The persecutions of men have never driven its advocates from a single battle-field. Its adherents have lingered for years in prison cells; fines and whippings have been imposed upon those who received its teachings; individuals and families have been socially ostracized by hundreds; and yet, notwithstanding all this, it triumphs still.
During the six months of 1908, just passed, more than fifty workers, including their families, have been sent to distant fields. This army of recruits has gone to China, Korea, Japan, India, Africa, South America, the West Indies, Mexico, and the islands of the sea. In addition to this, several tent-companies have gone to the South to strengthen the hands of the workers there. In a letter received from a conference president, he says his conference has received “about four thousand dollars in money besides the tents.”
The fifty workers sent abroad will make a demand on the treasury of the General Conference for about twenty-five thousand dollars. This is in addition to sustaining the workers already in the fields. Nothing can be more encouraging than this. We all want the message to go. Its onward march is the inspiration of our lives. Its maintenance is a part of the daily care of God’s people. For its support they plan and work as for their daily bread.
The elder of one of our little churches in Tennessee writes: “We are a poor, weak company. Everybody is poor here. Oftentimes we do not get so much money as one dollar in all our company for many weeks. But do not think we forget God’s cause. We will do what we can. God shall have his own, and we will help on the ten-cent-a-week plan to the limit of our ability. We never forget our missionaries at the throne of grace.”
Another elder from a Middle Western State writes: “There are but thirteen of us here, and I am the only man. This little flock joins the army of doers for God’s cause. We shall endeavor to make our offerings exceed the ten cents a week. Count us among those who will help to close this work in this generation.”
An elder in the West writes: “This cause is onward. Nothing so cheers our hearts as to see men in responsible places set the pace. Last Sabbath our church voted to adopt at once the ten-cent-a-week plan. Brother, be of good courage; God is leading in this work. We all pray for the frontiersmen, and for the brethren in responsible places.”
From our missionaries on the firing-line come the same strong, steady words of confidence and good cheer. Here is a sample of many others. One dear brother had just died with yellow fever, and the bubonic plague had also broken out, but read these words:—
Brother —— loved his work. His whole heart was wrapped up in the duties he had to perform in connection with this cause, and he performed them faithfully and well. It is a severe blow to our work in this part of the field and a cause of the most intense sorrow to us all. How many tears we have shed over him, and how much we have felt his loss, our tongues will never be able to express. He had made many friends, and was bearing his burdens as one willing to give all for the Master. This in itself would have been sufficient to cause us to regard him highly, outside of his high qualities as a man.
Our hearts go out in sympathy to his bereaved mother and father in the home land, as they do to his loved ones here. It is indeed sad to lose so early in life such a bright young man. We all hope and pray that the Lord, who has comforted and kept the wife of our brother in these hours of sorrow, may ever keep her near to himself.
Yet, brethren, we believe that these sacrifices are not without their reward. Much is not given, but that much is gained. We know that if the Lord calls for our lives in connection with this work, and we are faithful unto death, the crown of life is sure. O, that we may all be faithful! God’s rich blessing will be given to all who make a covenant with him by sacrifice. Sister —— told me a day or two ago, as I talked matters over with her, that they thought of this side of the question in coming, that it might mean the loss of life to them, but that they wanted to be where the Lord desired them to be, to be doing his work. They came with their minds resting on the promises, and there is no doubt in my mind that even in death those promises will be fulfilled. God knows the future better than we. We can all rest our cases in his loving care, and be sure that here in this country, as well as at home, in life or in death, we are safe in his keeping.
One thing has troubled us all,—we have wondered if this sad event will deter others from giving their lives for the work in this part of the vineyard. Brethren, it ought not. All of us are in the same danger as was Brother ——, but God forbid that we should desert our post when there is a duty that calls.And if the call should come to some others to share the sentry on a dangerous part of the picket-line, will any refuse? It is a time in the history of this message when we should all forget ourselves, our fears and the dangers that confront us, and, trusting God, take the place where duty calls us, even to the filling of the ranks where the conflict wages hottest.
Since Brother —— died, the plague has broken out in our island. How far it will go, what the final results will be, is a question beyond our knowledge. So you see that the perils are all about us. None need fear for us, however. We are in God’s hands, and he will keep us if he sees best. But whatever his will is, we pray that it may be also ours.
We buried Brother —— near the other brethren in the cemetery. Later we will have the grave covered with a concrete slab, like the others, and a tablet placed upon them. I will try to send a photo of them when completed. His is the fourth grave in this cemetery of workers who have given their lives for the work here. They are indeed ties that bind us to the land,—sacred spots watched over by the messengers of the God of heaven, who will one day call the sleepers forth to everlasting life.
With such brave, God-fearing men at the front, and with such consecrated support at home, shall we not be of good courage? Surely the outlook is most encouraging, and we can truly sing,— One little hour! and then the glorious crowning, The golden harp-strings, and the victor’s palm; One little hour! and then the hallelujah, Eternity’s long, deep thanksgiving psalm.
I. H. EVANS.

Note and Comment

Progress in Russia

It is encouraging to note any changes for the better in a country which has suffered so much and paid such a price for freedom as Russia. Only a short time ago all public religious services except those of the state church were rigidly proscribed, but now freedom is granted to all denominations to prosecute the work of teaching the gospel. An article in one of the current magazines dealing with this question, states the case thus:—
Religious liberty in the Russian empire has dawned, even though the manifesto of the emperor has not been formulated into law and local officials are still in doubt as to the extent of freedom. . . . Opportunities are multiplying for bringing to the attention of the subjects of Russia the truths of evangelical Christianity. . . . The evangelical Christians in Russia, of all denominations and of no denomination, are attempting to organize for more united and aggressive work. . . . The Russian Evangelical Alliance, with a charter for carrying on every form of evangelistic, charitable, publication, and educational work, was recently reorganized at St. Petersburg, with provisions for opening branches in other parts of the empire.
This is one more indication that the time has fully come for the proclamation of “the everlasting gospel,” the final message of warning, in all the earth. This message has already gained standing ground in Russia, with twenty-five hundred converts. The blessing of God upon this number of living witnesses filled with zeal for the spread of the truth, and having now the privilege of working unhindered, may accomplish marvelous things in a short time.

The World's Need of Rome

THE Roman Church is ever desirous of causing the world to see its need of her, that thus she may become its leader. She has long held millions in bondage through her pretended control over purgatory and heaven, her pretended authority to grant eternal life or to consign to eternal torment. With such a hold upon the members of her church, her priests have been able to check mobs—when it was to the interest of the church to have them checked. This exhibition of her power is to-day causing professed Protestants to look to her as a protector against the growing threat and menace of an organization that shows a disposition to disregard law and order. Concerning this The Outlook says:—
America stands in peculiar need of that contribution which the Roman Catholic Church is peculiarly fitted to furnish. For the chief peril to America is from disorganizing forces and a lawless spirit; not from excessive organization. One of the lessons Americans need to learn is reverence for constituted authority and willing obedience to law. This lesson the Roman Catholic Church is peculiarly fitted to teach. And within the reach of its influence are those who most need to be taught. That church is a vast spiritual police force, a protection of society from the reckless apostles of self-will. But it is far more. Wherever it goes it teaches submission to control; and that is the first step toward that habit of self-control in the individual which is an indispensable condition of self-government in the community. Standing as it does on the authority of the individual conscience and the direct relation of every man with God, which is the essence of Protestantism, The Outlook congratulates America upon the evidences of spiritual prosperity in the Roman Catholic Church in this country, and it gratefully appreciates the service which that church is rendering to the community by inculcating the spirit of reverence for law and lawful authority which is the foundation of civil and religious liberty.
Since when did Rome pose as a champion of religious liberty, or profess to be able to establish a foundation upon which the structure of religious liberty could be erected? Against that she has waged uncompromising warfare from the days of Constantius, burned Bibles and those who read them, and inveighed against religious liberty with all the power of anathema and major excommunication. Rome is able to lead—but whither?—Only to her own fold. She inculcates respect for law—but whose?—Her own, and none other; and that, too, when it is in direct opposition to the law of God. Surely, it is not such an exemplar of reverence for law that America needs. And the evidence of spiritual prosperity in the Roman Catholic Church in America is likewise an evidence to the decay of true Protestantism. Such expressions as the above from The Outlook are further evidence to the same effect, and indicate the approach of that time when Rome will, for a time, be leader of the world again, and all the world will wonder after her.

Political Prayers

We expected it. Here it is from one of the leading Catholic papers published in Chicago:—
Bishop Muldoon, of this city, made the opening prayer at the great Republican convention this week.
It seems a pity to think it, but it is difficult to escape the conviction that earthly as well as heavenly benefits were expected from this prayer of a Roman Catholic bishop.

Upholding National Christianity

IN the face of an alarming increase of crime, and a startling decrease of interest in religion, the cry is still raised that this is a Christian nation. One religious paper says:—
This is a Christian nation, and every attempt to teach the contrary should be rebuked.
The apostle Paul asked, “Am I become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” Should those persons be rebuked who state the facts, and draw the legitimate conclusions? People are not made Christians by judicial dictum.
Continue reading: The Spiritualistic Tendency