YOU say, "Can't we improve the dwellings of the poor?"
Yes; God help us to do it. But one of the best ways to do it is to improve the man that lives in that dwelling. I remember some years ago conducting a mission, and one of the office-bearers of the church where I was, said to me:
"Mr. Morgan, I want you to come and see some people. A girl was married out of our Sunday-school three years ago, to a man who is a slave to drink and impurity and gambling. I would like you to come along and see her."
I went—it was in '85—on a cold February day, to see that girl. O, I can not picture the home to you! It was one of those awful houses in the midlands of England, reached by passing thru an entry between other houses into a back court. When I got to the entry with my friend, some children who were hovering and shivering there, hearing our steps approaching, rushed away. We followed them and went into the house. I see that room now. There was a broken table standing there, a chair with the back broken off standing by it, no fire in the grate; upon the mantelpiece a cup and saucer, broken; and not another article of11furniture that my eye rested on in that room. And there stood a woman in unwomanly rags, with the mark of a brutal fist upon her face, and three ill-clad children clinging to her gown. She said:
"Excuse the children running from you, but they thought that it was father."
O, the tragedy of it!
When I got to the rostrum that night to preach, my friend came to me and said, "He is here."
I said, "Who is here?"
"That woman's husband; he is sitting right in front of you."
Now, I don't often preach at one man, but I did that night. I put aside what I was going to talk about, and read the story of the prodigal, and I asked God to help me talk about it, and for about a solid hour I preached at that man. Do you think I hammered at him and scolded him?—Not I. I told him God loved him there and then; and when we got to our after-meeting, I asked, "What man is coming home tonight?" And he was the very first to rise. He came forward, and as I went down from the rostrum and gave that meeting into some one else's hands, and got my arm around him and prayed and wept with him, he entered into the kingdom of God.
My friend said to me, one day about twelve months later, "I want you to go and see some people."
I said, "Who?"
He said, "Do you remember going to see a woman last year whose husband was converted? I want you to come and see those people."
I went. We hadn't gone far—it was February of the next year—before I said to him, "Friend, where are you taking me?"
"O, we are going to see those people."
"But," I said, "we are not going the same way."
"No," he said, "they have moved."
Moved! Why did they move?—Why, the man was converted, and he soon changed his dwelling-place. The man was converted and he remade his environment; and he had gone, not into a palace, but into a cottage in the main street.
If I could paint pictures, I would paint those two. I can see that home now. It was on Sunday after the afternoon service, and he sat by the fire with his three little ones, who had run away from him a year ago. One was on his knees, another on his shoulder, and another stood by him; and I never heard a sweeter solo in my life than the solo the kettle sang on the hob that day. The woman that last year was dressed in unwomanly rags, was clothed, and the sunlight of love was on her face.
That is how you must deal with the problem of environment. Begin at its middle. Touch the man who makes the beastly environment, and remake him, and he will soon move out of the tenement house and out of the slums. He will soon find his way on to higher levels. That is the way to gather men and women. Unless you are with Jesus Christ, you can try education and culture, but they come short of life, and without life there is no remaking of men.—G. Campbell Morgan.
TO MY GUEST:
By Ruth Sterry
LAY down thy burden with thy robe, O friend,
And slip into thy bed as in the arms
Of Him who sendeth both the pain and cheer;
Draw up thy covers as thou drawest o'er
Thy sins the loving mercy of the Lord,
And lay thee down to rest and sweet content.
When thou awakest then I pray thee wash
Thy heart of sin and clothe thy soul in peace,
In charity, in purity of mind—
To hide thy grief behind a smiling face
And journey forth a blessing to the world!
Ruth Sterry.
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The Eternal Stars
“The eternal stars shine out as soon as it is dark enough.”
Winter in California
By Editor
at the
California Sanitariums
Where the charm of country life at a high-class health resort, with your comfort and perfect rest, is the aim of the management. Medical attention if desired. Rates, $15.00 per week, and upward.
ST. HELENA SANITARIUM (Napa County) Reached by Southern Pacific Railroad from San Francisco or Oakland. Write for free booklet 16. Address, St. Helena Sanitarium, Sanitarium, Cal.
ST. HELENA SANITARIUM (Napa County)
Reached by Southern Pacific Railroad from San Francisco or Oakland. Write for free booklet 16. Address, St. Helena Sanitarium, Sanitarium, Cal.
GLENDALE SANITARIUM (Los Angeles) Take electric car at Pacific Electric Building, Los Angeles. Write for free booklet "A." Address, Glendale Sanitarium, Glendale, Cal. PARADISE VALLEY SANITARIUM. (San Diego) Reached by Santa Fe to San Diego or National City. Write for free booklet 23. Address, Paradise Valley Sanitarium, National City, Cal.
LOMA LINDA SANITARIUM (Redlands)
On main line Southern Pacific Railroad, near Redlands. Write for free booklet "A." Address, Loma Linda Sanitarium, Loma Linda, Redlands, Cal.
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Take electric car at Pacific Electric Building, Los Angeles. Write for free booklet "A." Address, Glendale Sanitarium, Glendale, Cal.
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Reached by Santa Fe to San Diego or National City. Write for free booklet 23. Address, Paradise Valley Sanitarium, National City, Cal.
Where the same methods are used as at the Boulder, Colo., Portland, Ore., Melrose, Mass., Battle Creek, Mich., and nearly a score of other successful sanitariums. Christian physicians and employees attend to the needs of each guest.
Open Every Day in the Year
WHERE JESUS IS.
By Frances E. Bolton
"He will gather the sorrowful for the solemn assembly."
ARE you looking for the Saviour?
You'll not find Him with the gay,
With the crowds whose proud behavior
Drives the humble soul away.
You will find Him stooping o'er you,
If you feel you're robbed and lone,
With His oil of love to pour you,
And to take you for His own.
He is where men always found Him,
In the past Judean day,
With the helpless all around Him,
Pressing close about His way.
He is with the sick and weary,
He is with the lost and lone;
You will find Him with the dreary,
Gathering them to be His own.
You will find Him with the outcast,
With the one men shun and scorn;
You will find Him with the doubt-fast,
Sinking in despair forlorn.
Not with haughty throngs that shun thee
As a thing of ill unknown,
He is whispering, "Return ye;
I am here to claim My own."
Should you seek Him in the city,
You will find Him in the mart,
Hovering with tender pity
O'er the bleeding, broken heart.
You will find Him in Samaria,
With the woman all alone,
Healing her of sin's malaria,
Gathering up His loved, His own.
You will find Him at the dinner
Of the haughty Pharisee,
For the sake of one poor sinner
Who is weeping at His knee.
You will find Him with the shame-faced,
Whom the sinning crowd would stone,
Till they see each guilty name traced,
And He stands to win His own.
He is with the tender mothers,
Whom the twelve had sent apart,
With His little children lovers,
Gathered close to His great heart.
He is with the stricken mourners,
Weeping as they move the stone,
He is in deserted corners
Gathering His loved, His own.
He is with the heathen nations,
Toiling as you preach of Him;
He is in the mission stations,
Where men look with eyes grown dim;
He is in all need and sorrow,
In all weariness and loss;
Yesterday, to-day, to-morrow,
You will find Him at the cross.
He is in the heights of heaven,
As a lamb that has been slain;
Hands and feet and side are riven,
Bleeding still for all our pain.
O, if you would surely seek Him,
Go and share men's pain and loss;
You will find Him with the weak one,
Love-bound still upon our cross.
FRANCES E. BOLTON.
CHINA
CHINESE EDUCATION.
By John Nevins Anderson
(Concluded from last week.)
The Preparatory Course.
THE Chinese boy has, upon entering school, for his first book, the Trimetrical Classic (compiled A.D. 1050), written in rhyme in lines of three words each, in all, 1,068 words. It is indeed the first book, but far from what would pass for a primer among foreigners. It begins with the nature of man, and the importance of proper methods in education. The opening sentence contains a disputed doctrine in the heathen world, and it is profound enough to severely tax the mental powers of a Shakespearean student:
"Men at their birth, are by nature radically good;
Tho alike in this, in practise they widely diverge.
"As gems unwrought serve no useful end;
So men untaught will never know what right conduct is."
Following this introduction, several instances of youthful learning and precosity are cited, tending to show the value and necessity of education. Again the subject changes, and the primer class is taught categories of numerical series; such as the three powers, heaven, earth, and man; the five cardinal virtues; the six kinds of grain, etc. Next is a bit of Chinese history in the tersest form possible; and the book ends with some very interesting and helpful examples of olden-time youths in pursuit of knowledge. In one instance a youth is said to have tied his book to the horns of his ox as he pulled the plow; another studied his book at night by the light of a glowworm.
Chinese Doctor, Taken in Dr. Miller's Yard, Honan.
Next the boy is introduced to a little book entitled, "A Century of Surnames," being a list of family or clan names commonly in use. Its value lies in the fact of imparting a knowledge of Chinese characters in so far as they are used to designate persons.
The third in the list of books studied by the little Chinese schoolboy, is the "Millenary Classic," made up, as its name implies, of just one thousand characters, no two of which are alike either in form or meaning. It is said to have been written at the instance of the emperor, about A.D. 550. As to its subject matter it is very similar to the first book. It begins by giving a bit of Chinese history, and then it discourses about the power and capacities of man, his social duties and mode of conduct, the virtue of the ancient monarchs, agriculture, and private and literary life.
Book number four, "Odes for the Children," also in rhyme, deals with much the same topics. It gives unstinted praise to literary attainments. Allusions to the changes of the seasons and to the beauties of nature occur.
Next in the course is a small book entitled, "The Canons of Filial Piety." It is regarded as one of the best books in the language, and its influence has been very great and enduring. As the name implies, its purpose is to inculcate filial piety.
The sixth and last of this series of preparatory books is the "Juvenile Instructor." In point of subject matter it is very similar to the five preceding books. Its place and standing among the Chinese is quite clearly indicated by the words of one of its fifty commentators, "We confide in the 'Juvenile Instructor' as we do in the gods, and we revere it as we do our parents." It teaches the duties to rulers, kindred, and fellow man; and also the duties we owe to ourselves in the matter of study, demeanor, food, and dress. It concludes with a collection of sayings, or maxims, of wise men which are in turn illustrated by examples of good and virtuous men.
The influence these six school books have exerted on this race is almost inconceivable. No doubt they contain the very kernel of all Chinese literature; and since the vast majority of Chinese men do not for various reasons pursue their studies beyond these preparatory works, it follows as a matter of course that the entire race is leavened and molded by the spirit and matter of these books.
Higher Education.
This is Chinese elementary education; higher education is the same in spirit, and deals with the same subject matter, tho of course in a deeper and more searching way. Here we have the "Four Books," and the "Five Classics," nine works altogether. They were either written or edited by Confucius or his disciples before the time of Christ. It is not overstating the case to say that these books constitute the sacred writings of the Chinese race.
The aim and end of all Chinese education is the Mandrinate (political preferment) or trade. Education in China never leads to the liberal professions, as in foreign lands, for the simple reason that there are none such here.
Chinese education has made this race a peace-loving people. Until within the last few years, China has never failed to assign to war and all its attendant evils a subordinate place.
Like all mere human educational systems, this one of China's has many serious defects, chief of which is the failure to see13God as the source of all wisdom, the spring of true intellectual and spiritual life; and in this it is only natural and inevitable that she should fail to measure the worth and the possibilities of the human soul. Here Christian education begins and ends; and on this very point China, beyond a peradventure, justly urges in this hour greater claims upon us than any other people in the world.
J. N. ANDERSON.
CHINA'S PITIFUL CONDITION.
By Editor
IN a private letter written sometime ago, before the articles on China were received, Sister Anderson expressed her thoughts regarding China. We believe that we ought to pass them on to our readers:
View Looking Across Pearl River, in Front of Our Mission Quarters, Canton, China.
"There is so much in the every-day life of this people that is so pitiful, and most of their troubles come thru their superstitions. For instance, tonight, going to call on my sister at the girl's school, I met a poor woman with baby in arms. She asked me to look at the little sufferer, and begged me to do something for it, saying that were it a girl she would give it away; she would not care for it; but this is a boy. It seems the child had been taken with some small ailments, including cough, when about six weeks old. She applied remedies, and finally burned it with a hot iron in some six places in a double row over the crown and down to the neck in the back of the head. The wounds became infected, and great sores have eaten the flesh off the lower skull and deep holes into the neck at the base of the skull. All this was done to drive away tormenting spirits, and now she walks and mourns night and day the suffering her own hand impelled by superstitions has inflicted."
"Such things are common occurrences. These people live in a little dark house that has not a bit of ventilation except a sliding door in the roof and the common street door, and the poor mother carries the little one into the street in front of her door, where she sits or walks all day with her little sufferer among a throng of gossiping women from adjoining houses in addition to the regular stream of pedestrians."
"When I think of the comparatively comfortable homes and pleasant surroundings made possible by Gospel influences, in which even the so-called poor people in America live, I wish it were possible to pass before them in panorama for one short hour the awful condition of this one city. I am sure one-half hour lived among the women would teach them more than all the books that have been written."
OUR WORK AND WORKERS.
By Editor
A CHURCH of ten members has been organized at Mabelvale, Ark.
A NEW church building was dedicated at Powell, Ohio, March 24.
THE colored people have recently completed a neat house of worship at Waco, Texas.
THE College View Young People's Society is supporting two missionaries in Nyassaland, Africa, this year.
Six persons were baptized at the Humboldt Park church, Sabbath, February 16, Elder H. Hansen officiating.
THREE adults were added to the church at Twenty-third St., Indianapolis, Ind., Sabbath, March 9.
As the result of the labors of Brother and Sister John S. Wightman, in Watertown, N. Y., ten have accepted present truth.
BROTHER and Sister James Irving report that four have accepted the truth at Carson City, Mich., with several more much interested.
FOUR were baptized by Brother E. B. Hopkins at Sherry, Texas, largely the fruit of Bible-readings given by Miss Bertie Stagner.
BROTHER O. M. KITTLE reports three additions to the ranks at Sergeant, Iowa, and a company of ten ready for organization at Newell.
THE young people of the Lake Union Conference have undertaken an effort in behalf of the many thousands of Finns who have settled in northern Michigan.
THE MISSIONARY NEWS LETTER, N. J., contains this note: "Three precious souls were buried with their Lord in baptism in the Baptist Church on Sabbath afternoon, March 16." This was at Paterson, N. J.
BROTHER R. E. BURKE, reporting from Humboldt, Iowa, says: "Three more precious souls have accepted the message and are rejoicing with us. From thirty to thirty-five attend our Sabbath services in the G. A. R. Hall."
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By Editor
If you haven't already done so, why don't you drop us a postal asking us to send you a copy of our monthly paper, "The Bank of Mountain View Journal." It is very interesting. It is full of good ideas, and it is free to you for the asking. If you live in the East, send for a copy and see how we do it in California. We still hold ourselves ready to furnish you with information about Mountain View. Write us.
Address
Bank of Mountain View
Mountain View, Santa Clara County, California
DR. DELITZSCH ON MODERN THEOLOGY.
OF Dr. Adolf Franz Delitzsch, one of the most learned of Biblical scholars during the nineteenth century, it is said that despite the rapid advances made by the higher critics during the later years of his life, he ever remained a firm believer in the miraculous power of grace on the human heart, thru faith in a risen Saviour.
"The nearer I come to the end of my earthly career," declared Dr. Delitzsch in an address late in 1888—less than two years before his death—"the more I feel impelled to concentrate my strength and time on practical aims; and even in purely scientific labors, it is a practical purpose which is my inspiration." The eminent theologian was permitted to have a part in a grand revival of Christian faith and life; but he also lived to behold "the structure of half a century torn down, and to see what stood firm and seemed to be permanent, undermined and overthrown." While acknowledging a certain changeableness in "the credo of the church," yet he declared that "it is also unchangeable, for there is an indestructible truth which by means of the various changes of human knowledge constantly becomes purer and more mighty."
Dr. Delitzsch called special attention to the radical contrast between nature and grace, just as there is between the world and God. Christ's work aims at the healing of our nature; it is a supernatural work of grace. Without distinguishing between nature and grace, the Christian life becomes impossible. "It is, however," he declared, "a fundamental characteristic of modern theology that it attempts to minimize the contrast so as to make the difference disappear. Even if it does not admit this, it is nevertheless true; it alters the essence of grace and reduces everything to nature. This is the deep gulf which separates the old and the modern theology, and makes the passage from the one to the other impossible."
The learned doctor affirmed that the life of the Christian is dualistic, in which there are the two elements of nature and grace, of the flesh and of the Spirit, as described by Paul in the seventh and the eighth of Romans. "Grace works upon the natural man and produces in him a new and supernatural life, which is as essentially distinct from the old life as the world of glory is distinct from this present world of fleeting phenomena."
The Supernatural Element.
To the day of his death, Delitzsch put special emphasis on the supernatural element in the Christian life, regarding it as the most characteristic mark of the old as distinct from the new theology. Grace is divine, and it performs a divine work in man; the kingdom of God within a man is not a natural but a divine power. Thru regeneration we are made recipients of this supernatural influence. "Whoever in the midst of his alienation from God and degradation in sin experiences this spiritual change, knows that he owes it to the supernatural aid of the saving hand of God; he realizes that he is transplanted into another world, compared with which his former existence was like the groping of a blind man, or the lethargy of one more dead than alive. This work of regeneration, accomplished within the divine order of grace by means of repentance and faith, together with the grace which performs this work and continues it,—all this fails to receive proper recognition in modern theology."
Modern theology also fails to appreciate the radical character of sin, and the atoning character of Christ's sufferings and death. It also fails to recognize the direct personal communion of the believer with the Father and with Christ.
Modern Theology Denies Miracles.
Failing to distinguish properly between nature and grace, the modern theology denies the reality of miracles. "For grace is the ground, the aim, and the sphere of miracles. The supernatural influences of God on man, which create in him a new spiritual life, emanate from the divine purpose of redemption; and the supernatural influences of God upon this world serve to make effectual this redemptive purpose." Modern theology, however, does not recognize the interruption of the natural course of events by means of divine action. That there is divine influence on this world, and that therefore prayer is heard and answered, is a deep conviction of humanity. "And the consensus gentium contains more reason than the doctrines of individual thinkers, even if they be as eminent as Schleiermacher and Ritschl. On paper one can oppose the testimony of the human soul; but it is not possible to suppress it permanently within ourselves."
"The whole work of grace in the individual and in human history is supernatural and therefore miraculous, because in the midst of the present world, lying under the curse of sin and death, it attempts to establish a world of righteousness and of glory."
At the close of his address, Delitzsch declared that in early life he passed thru deep conflicts and attained a spiritual victory; as a consequence, he had never been tempted to overestimate science. His spiritual life had always continued to strike its roots in the miraculous soil of that first love. The reality of miracles was confirmed to him by the miracles of grace. "Even if I can not but oppose many of the traditional views respecting Biblical questions, my standpoint, nevertheless, remains on this side of the gulf, on the side of the theology of the cross, of grace, of miracles. . . . To this banner we will cling, beloved brethren, and wrapping ourselves in it we will die. God grant this. Amen."
FANATICAL VIOLATION OF PERSONAL RIGHTS BY LEGISLATION.
By Charles W. Smiley
WHEN God endowed every man with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, He forbade all men, all churches, all governments, to seek to abridge my perfect liberty to benefit or to injure my life in any and every way conceivable. The only interference that kings or policemen may use is the minimum necessary to keep me from restricting other people in their perfect liberty. Even a human parent lets its child do itself a harm, first having uttered a kindly warning. Only by the experience of the consequences of folly are we surely made wise.
God has not provided as above recklessly, but by His providence can and does shield me from many "evils" that shortsighted and too self-opinionated men seek to legislate out of existence. The better my relations with God, the less can I be harmed by men and the less do I need legal or police protection. Only the decay of real religious experience prompts men to enact so-called sumptuary laws, such as those relating to Sabbath, to liquor, to chastity, to insanity, and to all immorality.
Men restrained by such violence as law and court offer are still just as godless at heart, and will always find other ways to exercise their ends. Faster than government can legislate against the trusts, cunning lawyers find new ways of attaining the evil ends. An awful insanity has seized upon churchmen's minds tempting them to withdraw trust from God's providence and to replace it with trust in the providence of immoral policemen and sheriffs. Preachers can be seen lobbying beside thieves, grafters, and godless politicians. They seek public sentiment which shall also trust in laws man-made to the exclusion of trust in different but God-made laws.
An external respect for Easter, or for Friday, or for Sunday is only an offense against God, for only the heart's respect goes at all with Him.
A Berkeley editor, called Christian, says: "The law protects the weak and dependent man against the greed and avarice of the employer. This Sunday-rest law is in the interest of the laboring man." Now, whoever knows the most elementary principles of divine government knows that is not so. All the protection any weak and dependent person needs from the greed and avarice of others comes alone in God's providence guiding the every footstep and every motive of those who put an undivided trust in God alone. I can illustrate this over all the pages of that editor's paper if he dare let me do so. To invite any weak and dependent man to look for one instant to a man-made law is to invite him toward godlessness. Only when that man or that editor is out of harmony with holy truth will he feel the least need of aid from any policeman or politician. If they study the working of laws already in force they can see how everywhere laws fail of enforcement against the cunning and get enforced unjustly quite often. Christianity has learned to trust to money, money, money, and thinks that God's truth can advance in men's hearts only when money-paid hirelings talk their opinions to men. Seeing that unlimited money does not make men truly good, preachers now turn political schemers, hoping by adding violence to money that things may go more as they conceive that things ought to go. They have lost the knowledge of how John Wesley, without any money from his preaching, without church property, obliged to preach in fields under rain-clouds and hot suns, without thinking once in all his life of eighty-eight years about procuring legislation as an aid, yet saved more sinners than all the preachers, all the church money, and all the politics of California are doing, year for year.
I was born, named, reared, educated and taught as a Methodist. The editor mentioned edits a Methodist paper. I take to heart his utterance on Feb. 14, 1907, which was:15"No normal man outside of the Advent fold could be induced to believe that a Sunday law which prevents employers from working their employees seven days in a week does in any way interfere with the personal rights of any one."
I once held a Methodist local-preacher's license, and could get it renewed now if I desired. So I must be "normal" even in that editor's eyes unless all who differ with him are abnormal, and he hardly pretends that. Not only do I consider such a law an interference with personal rights, but I can get a hundred graduates of Methodist colleges, who surely must be normal, to agree to the same proposition. Our Berkeley editor not merely fails to enlighten his mind by God's grace as to the iniquity of such legislation, but he makes the above reckless assertion little suspecting how easily and how completely his miscalculation of the normal mind can be exposed. Furthermore, if he will candidly discuss the matter with me, for, you know, I am not one of those benighted Adventists whose "responsibility is limited." I believe I can show him that HIS, not THEIR, "contention is so utterly absurd, so morally blind, so intellectually dreary," that he will be glad to abandon it, and substitute a faith in God alone, which will not shrink the pressed by every foe; that will not murmur nor complain, but, in the hour of grief over men's sins, will lean alone on God, and eschew politics.
CHAS. W. SMILEY, A. M.
Berkeley, Cal., March 9, 1907.
