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Review and Herald, Vol. 83, No. 46.

Our Publishing Work

Review and Herald

Nov 15, 1906

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 15, 1906

Our Publishing Work

By Editor

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

To the Readers of the Review

Dear Friends:
The year 1906 is fast passing, but it has recorded many developments in our work, especially here in Washington. Where was recently wooded land, now stand our new office buildings, and those who have passed by at night have seen in the place of darkness, light shining from many windows, indicating that work is going on night and day. We are glad this has been so. We appreciate the great demand for our publications, and our great regret is that we have not been able to supply these demands without delay.
The holiday season, the best of the year for the sale of our publications, is now just before us, and we must plan for it at once. At this time of the year the people will buy books for their children and friends. What a grand opportunity, which comes but once a year, to place in their hands publications containing present truth! We might cite many instances to show that success has crowned the efforts of our workers during October, but space forbids; yet, taken collectively, we have sold from this office alone during October 10,130 subscription books, 64,123 tracts and pamphlets, and 1,186 trade books, with a total retail value of $15,286.94.
Our periodicals have also been generously patronized during the past year; but now is the time of the year when many subscriptions expire, and people are making up their periodical orders for the coming year. Such papers as “Life and Health,” “Liberty,” “The Watchman,” and “The Signs of the Times” can be successfully placed in many homes just now if attention is called to them. The good old “Review” ought to be in many more homes, and all “Review” readers should provide themselves with good clubs of the denominational missionary papers, “The Signs of the Times,” “The Watchman,” “Life and Health,” and “Liberty.” These papers can be sold by a little effort for five cents a copy. The commission on them will return a fair remuneration for the time spent. The average profits on “Life and Health” and “Liberty” during the past year were 25 cents an hour. The results for good in the circulation of these important journals represent an incalculable value. It would require the entire space of this issue of the “Review” to record even the results reported, and all know that only a few are ever reported. We trust the Lord will inspire his people with a zeal in keeping with the importance of this line of work, and that through their efforts the present winter months may be the most prosperous of the year.
We expect November and December to far exceed the previous months of the present year, and we appeal to our “Review” readers to make arrangements at once to join in the distribution of our publications. While some can engage in this work wholly for the good to be realized, others must keep in mind the supplying of the necessities of life. To both classes, this season of the year affords exceptional spiritual and temporal remuneration.
Write to your nearest publishing house or State tract society, or to us, suggesting your preference for any particular line of work, and your communication will receive prompt attention.
Trusting the remaining weeks of the year 1906 may be a climax to the good work which has been accomplished in the sale of our publications during the preceding months, and that a great army of workers will respond to this call, we are,
Yours for the advancement of the message,
Review and Herald Publishing Association, Takoma Park, Washington, D. C.

Reform Measures

By Editor

Editorial

THAT there is an intensity from beneath which is taking fast hold upon Satan’s agencies is becoming more and more apparent. Human passions are wrought up to a terrible pitch. Human ambition vaunts itself to the very skies. The lust for riches and power consumes the nobler desires of the soul. A merely human philosophy has in it no power to hold men against this dreadful pressure, and they are going down into the pit, many taking their own lives, and many others being the victims of those whose deadly passions they have aroused. Revolutions in political life, in industrial life, and in religious life are breaking out on every hand. So great is the strain of the strenuous pace which is being followed, and so weakened are many by the degeneracy of the age, that reason is dethroned, and many and populous are the insane asylums which dot the country. Who can anticipate the end of these things except those who read them in the light of revelation?

Reform Measures

THE attempt to stay the rising tide of evil and to bring in the kingdom of God by reform measures of human devising is utterly hopeless. Men can not be made better by law, not even the divine law. Measures for social and political reform do not change the heart. Satan is not cast out by the votes of legislative bodies. “The government under which Jesus lived was corrupt and oppressive; on every hand were crying abuses,— extortion, intolerance, and grinding cruelty. Yet the Saviour attempted no civil reforms. He attacked no national abuses, nor condemned the national enemies. He did not interfere with the authority or administration of those in power. He who was our example kept aloof from earthly governments, not because he was indifferent to the woes of men, but because the remedy did not lie in merely human and external measures. To be efficient the cure must reach men individually, and must regenerate the heart. Not by the decisions of courts or councils or legislative assemblies, not by the patronage of worldly great men, is the kingdom of Christ established, but by the implanting of Christ’s nature in humanity through the work of the Holy Spirit. ‘As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.’ Here is the only power that can work the uplifting of mankind.” The church is the only reform association which has a divine commission, and the Word of God is the agency which should be used in accomplishing genuine reforms. “Preach the Word.”

Translations and Paraphrases

A TRANSLATION of the Scriptures is the expression of the thought of the original language of each writer with as much exactness as possible. A paraphrase is the setting forth in other and more ample terms the general meaning of the original as interpreted by another. A translation permits the author to express his own thoughts. A paraphrase allows some latitude of interpretation, and may involve the possibility of perverting the meaning of the author. As Christians we ought to be living epistles read and known of all men; but are we translations or paraphrases? Do we express with exactness in our lives the thought of the divine Author of the Holy Scriptures? or have we given our own interpretation of his thought, and have we thus perverted his meaning? A professed translation which is, after all, a mere paraphrase, is an imposition. It is apt to mislead honest readers. Will those who know Christianity by our translation of the Bible, have right conceptions of the love of God and the transforming power of his grace? Are we translating the Scriptures, or are we paraphrasing them? “Ye are my witnesses.”

The Unchanged and Unchangeable Sabbath

The wide-spread proclamation of the plain teaching of the Scriptures concerning the true Sabbath of the Lord is arousing opposition. All the old arguments against the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath, which have been answered so many times, are being revived, and other recently invented ones are being pressed into service. Some who profess to believe in Christ as their divine Lord and Saviour join the Pharisees of old in declaring that he was a Sabbath-breaker. Some think to set aside the Sabbath by stigmatizing it as Jewish, forgetting that “salvation is of the Jews.” Others assert that the law was abolished by Christ, who afterward reenacted all the commandments except the fourth, and as proof they pervert the teaching of the apostle Paul into the statement that “Christ is the end of the law,” overlooking the inconsistency in claiming that the law was brought to an end while admitting that nine tenths of it survived. Still others say that there was no Sabbath before Sinai and no Sabbath since the cross. All these positions are unscriptural, and dishonor Christ the Lord of the Sabbath and the Redeemer of lost sinners, but they often confuse the minds of those who either do not know the Scriptures or are seeking for excuses to evade the claims of the true Sabbath. As a help in keeping this whole question clear in the minds of our readers, we quote the following paragraphs from the chapter on the Sabbath in “The Desire of Ages:” —
The Sabbath was embodied in the law given from Sinai; but it was not then first made known as a day of rest. The people of Israel had a knowledge of it before they came to Sinai. On the way thither the Sabbath was kept. When some profaned it, the Lord reproved them, saying, “How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?”
The Sabbath was not for Israel merely, but for the world. It had been made known to man in Eden, and, like the other precepts of the decalogue, it is of imperishable obligation. Of that law of which the fourth commandment forms a part, Christ declares, “Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law.” So long as the heavens and the earth endure, the Sabbath will continue as asign of the Creator’s power. And when Eden shall bloom on earth again, God’s holy rest day will be honored by all beneath the sun. “From one Sabbath to another” the inhabitants of the glorified new earth shall go up “to worship before me, saith the Lord.” . . .
As the Jews departed from God, and failed to make the righteousness of Christ their own by faith, the Sabbath lost its significance to them. Satan was seeking to exalt himself and to draw men away from Christ, and he worked to pervert the Sabbath, because it is the sign of the power of Christ. The Jewish leaders accomplished the will of Satan by surrounding God’s rest day with burdensome requirements. In the days of Christ the Sabbath had become so perverted that its observance reflected the character of selfish and arbitrary men, rather than the character of the loving Heavenly Father. The rabbis virtually represented God as giving laws which it was impossible for men to obey. They led the people to look upon God as a tyrant, and to think that the observance of the Sabbath, as he required it, made men hard-hearted and cruel. . . .
Christ would teach his disciples and his enemies, that the service of God is first of all. The object of God’s work in this world is the redemption of man; therefore that which is necessary to be done on the Sabbath in the accomplishment of this work, is in accord with the Sabbath law. Jesus then crowned his argument by declaring himself the ‘Lord of the Sabbath,’—One above all question and above all law. This infinite Judge acquits the disciples of blame, appealing to the very statutes they are accused of violating.
Jesus did not let the matter pass with administering a rebuke to his enemies. He declared that in their blindness they had mistaken the object of the Sabbath. He said, ‘If ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.’ Their many heartless rites could not supply the lack of that truthful integrity and tender love which will ever characterize the true worshiper of God.
Again Christ reiterated the truth that the sacrifices were in themselves of no value. They were a means, and not an end. Their object was to direct men to the Saviour, and thus to bring them into harmony with God. It is the service of love that God values. When this is lacking, the mere round of ceremony is an offense to him. So with the Sabbath. It was designed to bring men into communion with God; but when the mind was absorbed with wearisome rites, the object of the Sabbath was thwarted. Its mere outward observance was a mockery. . . .
Those who hold that Christ abolished the law, teach that he broke the Sabbath, and justified his disciples in doing the same. Thus they are really taking the same ground as did the caviling Jews. In this they contradict the testimony of Christ himself, who declared, ‘I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.’ Neither the Saviour nor his followers broke the law of the Sabbath. Christ was a living representative of the law. No violation of its holy precepts was found in his life. Looking upon a nation of witnesses who were seeking occasion to condemn him, he could say unchallenged, ‘Which of you convicteth me of sin?’
The Saviour had not come to set aside what patriarchs and prophets had spoken; for he himself had spoken through these representative men. All the truths of God’s Word came from him. But these priceless gems had been placed in false settings. Their precious light had been made to minister to error. God desired them to be removed from their settings of error and replaced in the framework of truth. This work only a divine hand could accomplish. By its connection with error, the truth had been serving the cause of the enemy of God and man. Christ had come to place it where it would glorify God, and work the salvation of humanity. . . .
To all who receive the Sabbath as a sign of Christ’s creative and redeeming power, it will be a delight. Seeing Christ in it, they delight themselves in him. The Sabbath points them to the works of creation as an evidence of his mighty power in redemption. While it calls to mind the lost peace of Eden, it tells of peace restored through the Saviour. And every object in nature repeats his invitation, ‘Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’

The Christian’s Opportunity

By C. M. S.

Every follower of Christ who gives heed to the gospel commission verifies the fulfilment of that wonderful prophecy found in Isa. 32:21: “A man shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” “Go ye into all the world,” said Jesus, “and preach the gospel to every creature.” That brings to the soul, parched and thirsty and ready to perish, the water of life from the springs of life. His desert then becomes a fruitful field; and that water of life becomes in him, in turn, “a well of water springing up unto everlasting life.”
Souls are perishing to-day for the want of that water. In every avenue of life are men and women before whom the future is dark and cheerless, to whom that future seems to hold out no gladdening promise. Heart strings are snapping continually under the tense strain of the heavy weights of trouble and disappointment. There is no help for them save in the gospel of Jesus Christ; and this gospel must be made known to them by men and women who have themselves experienced what that gospel is, and what it can do.
If you have become a follower of Christ in very deed, and have heeded his last command to those who are his, then such soul-thirsty and sin-plagued ones are looking to you, and have a right to look to you, to become to them the blessed instrument of the healing, soul-satisfying Christ. If through you there is brought to them that which satisfies the soul, that which binds up the wounds and bruises of sin, then you become to them as a river of water in a dry place. Your obedience to the cause of Christ, and your fulfilment of his will through that obedience, make you a blessing and your work a blessing-laden work. As you bring to them the knowledge of that safe, and only safe, hiding-place from the winds of doubt that parch and wither and blight, you become to them the minister of that blessing, the instrument through which that shelter is secured to them.
The tempest of persecution or bitter trial is pelting its pitiless hail upon the heads of many even to-day. Our God is a covert even from that tempest. He deadens the sting of that trial, and mollifies the wounds it makes, with the oil of his grace. You are not to be that covert; but the blessing of its reception may come through you—will come through you if you have heeded the command given by our Saviour to those who would be his. It is a blessed privilege that is thus brought to every child of God, to bring thirsty and dying souls to the water of life, and to point those bruised and bleeding from the lash of sin, or torn and trampled by the persecutions of the world—to point such ones to him who can heal and comfort and restore.
This land is a weary land; the world is overrun with sin. While wealth revels in its luxury, thousands of weary toilers are wearing out and burning out their lives in the steaming treadmills of our great cities, or eking out a scanty livelihood on depleted or barren land. The terrifying dread of seeing their families unfed and scantily clothed dogs their footsteps at every turn. Truly the people of this world are living in a weary land. They can draw no help from the burdens they bear, nor from those who pile the burdens upon them. They can find no rest in any human scheme or device—no shelter from the merciless rays of adversity that wither and sere and scorch. But you, as Christ’s representative, may bring to them the blessed gospel of the sheltering “shadow of a great rock” in this their “weary land.” There is rest, there is shade, there is comfort and peace. It is your mission to bring to them the blessed realization of that shelter and rest and comfort. There is sweeter rest in the lowly mushik’s home, with Christ, than in the czar’s palace, written around with the red appeal of his people’s blood; more peace of soul in the house of penury, with Christ, than in the palace of luxury builded in the sweat and heartache of unjust recompense for toil. “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” makes you a bearer of all manner of blessings, a steward dispensing all manner of good. Your storehouse is unlimitedand your beneficiaries are about you on every hand.
But you are not limited to the poor and oppressed. In the homes of the wealthy there is many a hungry soul, yea, even in the palaces of princes Christ’s workers have found them. They know not where to turn for relief or rest; they are craving something which neither wealth nor position can give. It is your privilege to bring that to them, and to receive from them the thanks of gladdened hearts. While they praise God for the gift, they will thank you for bringing it to them. What a glorious work it is! How it lines, with the enthralling bright rays of hope and peace and joy, the dark clouds of this world’s misery! You are not that hiding-place; you are not that covert; you are not that river of water; you are not the cooling shadow; but loving obedience to the command of Christ will enable you to bring all these blessings with you to the souls in need. And in all the history of this world this is its most needy hour.
C. M. S.

Two Great Movements

By W. A. S.

THE exodus movement was organized of God. It came in fulfilment of the promise and prophecy uttered four hundred years before to Abraham.
“When the time of the promise drew nigh,” a divine providence began to shape events for the movement. Then the nations beheld a people called out from the world, led of God by his chosen prophet through many years of wanderings, and brought into the promised land at last. The exodus movement was a fulfilment of prophecy, and a sign to all peoples that God was carrying out his purposes in spite of the world’s apostasy.
The story of the exodus movement was recorded as a lesson for all time after, but especially for “our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”
In this day another great movement is on in the development of God’s plan. Again the time of the prophecy and promise is come, and here is the great advent movement fulfilling the prophetic word. The Lord has called out a people from the world, and is leading them to the eternal land of promise. It is an organized movement. The Lord has spoken through all its history by the voice of the spirit of prophecy. In this also the exodus movement was an “ensample,” for of that former time we read: “By a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved.” Hosea 12:13.
As there was murmuring and apostasy in the exodus movement, so there has been in the advent movement. But God has never turned from his purpose. As surely as he led the organized exodus movement out of Egypt and into the land of Canaan at last, just so surely, according to the sure word of prophecy, he has called out the Advent people from the world, to lead that same organized advent movement into the eternal Canaan.
The only hope of any man in Israel in the days of the exodus was to hold to the exodus movement. Not even a Caleb or a Joshua could go in alone, or separate from the movement, without losing his inheritance.
The only hope of any instructed Seventh-day Adventist to-day is in holding to the advent movement. John in the Revelation saw the very movement called out by the threefold message of Revelation 14, sweeping victoriously into the kingdom after the trials and tribulations of the wilderness wanderings had been overcome.
The Lord is leading the remnant church into the land of promise. Every form of rebellion and apostasy that the subtle philosophy of Satan can devise will spring up to sift the ranks. But the advent movement, as organized under the Lord’s own leadership, is to keep straight on to the finished work and the city of God. W. A. S.

Timely Aid for Our Mission Fields

By Arthur G. Daniells

ANY one who will carefully weigh all the facts in the case must be deeply impressed and greatly encouraged regarding the interest that is being manifested by our people in the development of missionary enterprises in foreign lands.
This message, which started in such apparent weakness a few years ago, in the New England States of North America, is now being proclaimed the world over. This cause is firmly and permanently established in nearly all lands. Our missionaries are located and busy at work in every continent, every island group, and almost every government on the face of the earth. The unentered territory could be entered in a short time were we to make a special effort to do so. But we are not endeavoring to rush into countries merely for the sake of being able to boast of being there. We are going to all nations, kindreds, tongues, and peoples, because we have a message for them. And we are endeavoring to go to them as the providence of God opens the way. This onward march can not stop until the earth is lightened with the glory of God as revealed in his message for the world at this time.
In harmony with this divine purpose, the interest of God's people in the evangelization of the world increases and broadens as the work itself extends. Every new mission established creates greater interest in all our missions. Every missionary who goes abroad arouses desires and convictions in the hearts of others to go. Every donation and appropriation given to missions leads to other and larger gifts. One year ago, at its biennial session, the Atlantic Union Conference voted to give its surplus tithe amounting to two thousand dollars, to the General Conference for foreign missions.
This thoughtful and liberal step has been followed by other union and local conferences until like appropriations have been made, amounting almost to fifty thousand dollars. The REVIEW of July 5 contained a list of these appropriations up to that date. The amount that had been appropriated at that time was $26,515.47. For the information of our brethren, we will here reprint that list with the gifts that have since been made:—
Atlantic Union Conference.. $2,000.00 Iowa Conference .......... 6,000.00 Maine Conference ....... 300.00 West Michigan Conference 4,150.00 Northern Union Conference 2,000.00 Central Union Conference .. 2,000.00 Pacific Union Conference .. 2,000.00 California-Nevada Conference .................... 1,000.00 Lake Union Conference ... 3,767.11 Southern California Conference .................... 5,398.36 Upper Columbia Conference 3,000.00 Western Washington Conference ................. 1,200.00 Minnesota Conference ... 500.00 South Dakota Conference .. 500.00 Western Oregon Conference 1,000.00 Nebraska Conference ..... 7,095.00 Kansas Conference ...... 1,000.00 Oklahoma Conference ..... 2,540.00 Missouri Conference ..... 1,000.00 Colorado Conference ..... 1,000.00 Total .................. $47,450.47
This list may not be complete, but it gives the facts as far as we have obtained them. It should be stated that this does not include the many thousands of dollars of tithe which the conferences are giving to support laborers that have gone from them to take up work in the mission fields.
By appropriating a portion of their surplus tithe to our general treasury these conferences have put their shoulders under the great load that has rested upon the General Conference for several years, and have made the burden much lighter during the past year. This has been the most pleasant and encouraging year for the General Conference officers, from the financial standpoint, that we have experienced for years. This splendid assistance has helped to greatly strengthen the forces in the mission fields. We thank our Heavenly Father for these blessings, and for the spirit of liberality thus manifest among his people.
A. G. DANIELLS.

Europe’s Unrest and Revolutionary Crisis

During a recent sitting of the House of Lords, the upper branch of the English Parliament, Lord Avebury described the present condition of Europe in these words:—
The unrest in Europe, the spread of socialism, and the ominous rise of anarchism are warnings to the governments and the ruling classes that the condition of the working classes in Europe is becoming intolerable, and that if a revolution is to be avoided, some steps must be taken to increase wages, reduce the hours of labor, and lower the prices of the necessaries of life. Europe is a great military camp. We have no peace, only an armistice, with unlimited expenditures. The result is that instead of accumulating capital for our children, we are piling up for them debt and overwhelming responsibilities.
In its comment upon this remarkable statement the Wall Street Journal of New York City said:—
These words were spoken, not by a labor agitator or a socialist, but by an aristocrat and a member of the most conservative body in all Europe. That gives them all the more significance. They contain more valuable political economy than is to be found in most of the books. They sound a note of warning.
Observing men in America as well as in Europe are forced to the conclusion that the present tendency is toward a revolutionary crisis in which socialism will be arrayed against the moneyed interests. The only permanent remedy for this situation is found in the gospel message for this generation.

DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY CHURCH

THE course pursued by Roman Catholics in countries where they are in the majority proves conclusively that it is a settled principle of papal policy that the church should control the votes of its adherents. A recent illustration of this interference in politics is furnished by the action of the Archbishop of Manila, who issued the following letter to his ecclesiastical subjects in the Philippines:—

DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY CHURCH

Concerning the election of the officers of the country

TO THE VOTERS: “Catholics must not vote for men to fill responsible positions except those who are true and loyal Catholics. It is not possible and unreasonable to expect that irreligious men (non-Catholic) will put down existing evils.”—Leo XIII.
“The voter will sin if he does not fulfil his duty at election time. He must choose Christian men who are faithful to the church, and who fear God, men who will not bring discredit upon it, and not cause it to take a backward step by working against truth and righteousness, but who will rather advance the interest of the government.”—Archbishop of Colon.
The ones who have in keeping your body and soul ask that you do not only vote for men who are wise, but for men who are good Catholics, who will promote the welfare of the people according to the commandment of God given to Moses when he said: “Choose you from the multitude men who fear God and hate iniquity and make them rulers over you.” Exodus 18.
And because many of you do not know for whom you should vote, you must confer with your father confessor and other good men of the holy church who have clean conscience toward God. If you vote for a man who will not advance the interests of the people, you will commit a mortal sin.
Never vote for any other than a true Catholic. If you vote for any other than a true and loyal Catholic, you will be overwhelmed by the many sins that will be thrust upon you, besides you will be responsible for all he does.
Therefore we desire that you take these two words of instruction: First, It is the duty of all Catholics to vote when they get a chance; second, The voter has a binding and heavy duty to induce only Catholics to vote, and to vote only for Catholics.
BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE ARCHBISHOP OF MANILA.
In this country, where they are in the minority, Roman Catholics advocate the sound principle that a man qualified for a public office should not be debarred on account of his religious belief, but in the Philippines, where they are in the majority, “Catholics must not vote for men to fill responsible positions except those who are true and loyal Catholics.” This illustrates the difference between real principle and mere policy, between Christianity and politics.

Grand Rapids Sunday Closing Campaign

By Editor

The city of Grand Rapids, Mich., has been greatly stirred by a campaign in behalf of closing all places of amusement on Sunday. The provision of the proposed ordinance is as follows:—
That no theater, theatrical performance, show, play, exhibition, vaudeville entertainment, drama or dramatical entertainment, circus or public entertainment, diversion or amusement, shall be run, conducted, carried on or operated within the city of Grand Rapids on the first day of the week, commonly called the sabbath; and the proprietor, lessee, or manager thereof, their agents or employees, are hereby prohibited from conducting or carrying on any of said shows, plays, exhibitions, or entertainments.
A fine or imprisonment or both may be imposed upon any offender. Our brethren at Grand Rapids ordered a supply of suitable literature for this occasion, and public meetings have been held. We hope to give a good report of this campaign in our next issue.

A New Word in the Lexicon of “Liberty”

Under the title “A New Word in the Lexicon of ‘Liberty,’” The Christian Advocate has this paragraph:—
So the land of the free holds “vassals,” like any feudal lord. A recent decision by Judge Hough in the United States District Court contained the remark that the Congress of the United States has so far “consistently kept Porto Rico in a state of vassalage. It is neither a territory in esse nor a state in posse.”
The Roman republic held many of its possession “in a state of vassalage,” and the American republic is following her example in this respect as well as in some others. The union of church and state in the Roman empire in the fourth century contributed to the downfall of the empire in the fifth century. If a union of church and state is formed in this country in the effort to uphold the spurious Sunday sabbath, the history of the fourth and fifth centuries will be repeated.

Modern Christianity Versus First-Century Christianity

THAT the Christianity of to-day is not the Christianity of the first century is plain to every candid observer. As a representative expression of this conviction we quote the following statement from a letter to a leading New York paper:—
As a careful student of the development of all religions I am amazed at the departure of modern Christianity from those simple standards formulated by its divine Founder.
A new system has appropriated the names and forms of Christianity. It is the form of godliness without the power, the body without the spirit. There is the same demand for a reformation now as in the sixteenth century.

Note and Comment

By Editor

ONE of the latest claims in behalf of the Sunday sabbath is that Seventh-day Adventists are in error in maintaining that the decalogue is the moral law, the proof for this charge being that the Sabbath commandment is ceremonial. What interesting discoveries in theology have been made in the effort to make of none effect the plain teaching of the Scriptures concerning the seventh-day Sabbath! Such an assertion shows to what desperate straits the defenders of the false sabbath have been reduced. But we are glad to say that there are some who will not sacrifice truth and consistency to the claims of the overzealous defenders of a creed which lacks Scriptural support. Thus R. C. Allen, writing in The Bible Record, says:—
The law constitutes the decalogue, or ten words, which is preserved for the use of the whole race in the Hebrew Bible. The decalogue is then known as the moral law or law that is naturally right according to the principles of correct conduct among moral beings.
It is absurd for any one to assert that the decalogue is not the moral law, and only the extreme need of an argument would ever suggest such an idea to a student of the Scriptures.

Voices from the Conferences

IN the Watchman, Elder Geo. I. Butler speaks thus of his impression of the council meetings at which the plans were laid for the special fund:—
The Spirit of the Lord was present. I have never before attended a meeting in Washington when I thought the good Spirit was so manifestly and impressively present. Union and harmony prevailed. The hearts of all were encouraged by the evident tokens of God's blessing upon his cause in all parts of the world. The progress of the work in foreign lands is indeed most remarkable. The truth is spreading to every land and every clime. . . . Of course, one of the great questions that was carefully considered and finally adopted was the proposed raising of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars as rapidly as possible, to advance the work. Of this sum, fifty thousand dollars is to come to the South, where it is greatly needed. The remainder is to be raised for the field everywhere.
Writing in the Northern Illinois Recorder in reference to the raising of the $150,000 fund, Elder William Covert says:—
All can see that it will require large offerings on the part of our people to meet the demand that is now being made upon us, but when we consider that it only helps ripen the work and prepare the way for the coming of the Lord, we know that it will be cheerfully done. It would be a sorry time for us if the Lord should cease to call for funds to advance the interests of this great work. Any offering that any have to make toward this fund, or toward any division of it, may be sent directed to this office, and it will be credited to it. I bespeak for our people a hearty co-operation in this excellent work.
From an article by Mrs. R. W. McMahan in the Indiana Reporter concerning this fund we take the following paragraph:—
As the Lord leads out in the establishing of missionary enterprises in new fields, he sends the calls for means with which to carry forward the work. As the work nears completion, we may expect the calls to become more frequent. Now comes the call for $150,000, to be quickly raised, in order that the progress of the work be not retarded.
Continue reading: The Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollar Fund