Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Apr 26, 1906
The Bible
“This Book contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, and the destiny of the righteous and the wicked. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable. Read it to be wise, believe it to be right, and practise it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you. It is the traveler’s map, the pilgrim’s staff, the pilot’s compass, the soldier’s sword, and the Christian’s charter. Here paradise is restored, heaven opened, and the gates of hell are disclosed. Christ is its grand subject, our good its design, and the glory of God its end. It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet. Read it slowly, frequently, prayerfully. It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory, and a river of pleasure. It is given you in life, will be open at the Judgment, and be remembered forever. It invokes the highest responsibility, rewards the greatest labor, and condemns all who trifle with its holy contents.”
“Most wondrous book! bright candle of the Lord,Marked with the seal of high divinityFrom first to very last.This lamp from off the everlasting throneMercy took down, and through the night of timeHas shed its fulsome light on man,Beseeching him, with tears and earnest sighs,To read, believe, and live.”
Our Publishing Work
By Editor
The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it. Psalm 68:11.
See last paragraph on this page for instructions where to order.
WE frequently receive inquiries for publications in the Japanese language, and we will announce the following: “Steps to Christ,” “His Glorious Appearing,” “Marshaling of the Nations,” “New Testament Sabbath,” “Second Coming of Christ,” “True God and His Sabbath,” “Way of Salvation.”
IN California, a worker in thirty-six hours—one week’s work—took seventy-two orders for “Heralds of the Morning.” Value, $108.50. The week before, in addition to his canvassing, he delivered eighty “Heralds of the Morning” in nine hours’ time. This means a book delivered for every 6¾ minutes.
“HISTORY OF THE SABBATH,” by Elder J. N. Andrews, has been out of print for a time. We have recently bound some of the three-volume pamphlet edition in full cloth, one volume. The margins have been trimmed down a little, making the book a little narrower and shorter, but the contents are the same as in the former subscription edition. These are bound in dark-brown cloth, title stamped in black on the back only. This edition will be sold on the trade-book basis. Price, $1.
THE new magazine, Liberty, has met with universal approval by our people in all parts of this country. They have sent in liberal orders, and as an evidence of the way the magazine is accepted by the people at large, we quote the following from a letter just received from one of our school-teachers: “The 100 copies of the magazine, Liberty, have arrived, and the school has had, and is still continuing to have, splendid success in selling them.” Now is the time to place this magazine in the possession of the people. It contains the principles much needed for this special time. Let others follow the example of the school referred to above. Send us orders for Liberty, and place it in the homes of the people.
AFTER years of careful observation, Horace Mann declared that the “school-teachers of America were a disgrace to the nation.” He was asked for a remedy, and replied, “Make good teachers; train them in normal schools;” and he immediately started one himself. There is universal recognition of the need of trained workers in the Sabbath-school. To meet the demand the editors of the Sabbath School Worker have secured a carefully prepared series of “Normal Lessons for Sabbath-school Workers,” which furnishes a most excellent outline for the study of right principles and methods in Sabbath-school work. This series will begin in the June number of the Worker. All schools that have not yet sent in an order for the journal should do so at once, that they may have the benefit of the complete series. Single subscriptions, 35 cents. In clubs of two or more to one address, 25 cents a year.
THE power of our literature is daily illustrated by letters coming to our publishing houses announcing the reception of the message through reading some of our books. These silent messengers are accomplishing a wonderful work wherever they are placed. All interested persons ought to be doing all in their power to extend the circulation of our books and periodicals.
“HIS GLORIOUS APPEARING” is a small book in paper and cloth covers, containing a verse-by-verse study of Christ’s prophecies recorded in Matthew 24. It brings a thrilling message to the world of Christ’s second coming. The signs of the times foretelling this great event are clearly yet simply explained. Three hundred and eighty-five thousand of this excellent little book have been sold. This is a good testimonial in its behalf. Published in German, Danish, Swedish, and Italian; in plain cloth covers, 40 cents.
“Do not wait to feel that you are made whole, but say, ‘I believe it; it is so, not because I feel it, but because God has promised.’” The above quotation was read by an unconverted person as he sat beside another individual in a street-car, who was reading from a pocket edition of “Steps to Christ.” It so impressed him that he asked where he could get a copy of the book. There are thousands of people on street-cars every day who would catch gems of truth from our publications if our REVIEW readers would display them more. This edition of “Steps to Christ” is neatly bound in limp leather, of convenient size to carry in the pocket. It is an excellent book for every man to carry in his pocket to read in spare moments. Price, 60 cents.
THE May number of Life and Health is just out. The three general articles in this number are alone worth the price of the journal for one year: “Divine Healing,” teaching conformity to the physical and moral laws in restoring and maintaining health and happiness; “Experience Not Always Reliable,” illustrating in story form erroneous conceptions and practises of self-made invalids; “The Woes of the Sensitive,” prescribing the remedy of applied common sense in the prevention and cure of all sensitiveness, and revealing the way for all sensitive persons to have peace in the place of pangs and constant irritation. The contents of the entire number are very practical, and will not only be beneficial to the general public, but will be appreciated by them. The journal is self-supporting in that it gives the worker a good commission for his services. A number of agents have sold more than 1,000 copies each of the March and April numbers. Send for samples with Suggestive Canvasses and Suggestions on Methods of Work.
Orders for any publication mentioned on this page may be sent to any conference tract society or to Review and Herald Publishing Association, Washington, D. C., or Battle Creek, Mich.
Also Pacific Press Publishing Company, Mountain View, Cal.; Portland, Ore.; Kansas City, Mo.; Southern Publishing Association, Nashville, Tenn., and Fort Worth, Tex.
The Voice of Disaster
By Editor
Editorial
Many have been the warnings that have been given to this people concerning the destruction which is to be visited upon the great cities of this land, and urgent have been the exhortations not to build up great institutions in these crowded centers of population. On account of this instruction we have been establishing plants in the country in recent years. Sanitariums, schools, and publishing houses have been located in retired places amid rural surroundings. We have recognized the message to get out of the cities as a heaven-sent warning of coming troubles, designed to make it possible for us to continue our work of warning the people even after destruction was visited upon the populous cities. The recent overthrow of San Francisco emphasizes the timeliness and the value of this instruction. While some are seeking to prove that the spirit of prophecy is unreliable, the logic of events is demonstrating its truthfulness in a most striking manner, and even those who are denying its accuracy are fulfilling its predictions to the letter. Those who have clear discernment can see many marked indications that the end of all things is at hand, and their confidence in this great second advent movement will be steadily increased. Now is the time to be gaining that experience which will prepare us to stand through the trying scenes upon which we are even now entering. All that the Lord has said will surely come to pass, but we may find a refuge in him from the approaching storm.
The Voice of Disaster
We are appalled at the greatness of the disaster which has befallen the people of California. By the great earthquake and the subsequent conflagration hundreds of lives were lost, and many millions of dollars' worth of property destroyed in a few short hours. One day changed a great and prosperous city into a heap of ruins with many morgues crowded with the dead and the dying. It is impossible to express in words the terror of the panic and the horror of the experiences of such a dread calamity. When the very foundations of the earth are convulsed, and huge structures of stone and brick are tossed about like a child's plaything, all sense of security vanishes, and fear runs riot in the hearts of men. Even the scoffers may lose their boasted confidence and grow serious under such circumstances, and surely believers will inquire for the meaning of these things. What is the message of this terrible disaster? Has it a voice which speaks to us? We need not seek long for a reply if we are willing to accept the instruction which the Maker and Ruler of heaven and earth has already imparted to us through his servants who have been commissioned to speak for him. Hear it: “The earth quaketh before them; the heavens tremble; the sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. And Jehovah uttereth his voice before his army; for his camp is very great; for he is strong that executeth his word; for the day of Jehovah is great and very terrible; and who can abide it? Yet even now, saith Jehovah, turn ye unto me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto Jehovah your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.” “In accidents and calamities by sea and by land, in great conflagrations, in fierce tornadoes, and terrific hailstorms, in tempests, floods, cyclones, tidal waves, and earthquakes, in every place and in a thousand forms, Satan is exercising his power. . . . These visitations are to become more and more frequent and disastrous. Destruction will be upon both man and beast.” The voice of disaster declares that the great day of the Lord is near. O that all would heed the warning!
The Destruction Predicted
By Editor
Those who have read and believed the statements which have been made through the spirit of prophecy during recent years concerning the calamities which were to come upon the large cities have been in a measure prepared for such a catastrophe as has befallen some of the cities of California, and which has found its climax in the utter overthrow of San Francisco. We are inexpressibly shocked by this disaster. Our sympathies are stirred for the homeless and suffering thousands, and for the many who have lost all their earthly possessions, and it would be nothing short of satanic to indulge in the least degree of satisfaction because of the testimony which this terrible devastation bears to the reliability of the spirit of prophecy. Nevertheless, just as certain as this third angel's message is true, just as certain as the Lord has spoken through his servant in giving warning and counsel concerning this advent movement, just so certain is it that this is but the beginning of the things which will soon come upon the world. It is our duty to point this out, and to give the warning with increased earnestness.
It seems fitting, therefore, to call attention to some of the predictions made only a short time ago which foretold the destruction of some of the great cities, even where every effort had been made to build structures which were regarded as absolutely fire-proof. On June 19, 1902, the following instruction was given by the mouth of Sister E. G. White:—
We are on the verge of the eternal world. Some may say, “How do you know this, Sister White?” I know it by the judgments of God that are in the land. These judgments are given to bring men and women to their senses. God has a purpose in everything that he permits to take place in our world, and he desires us to be so spiritually minded that we shall perceive his workings in the unusual happenings that are now of almost daily occurrence. Already his judgments have begun to fall upon the inhabitants of the land. He can touch the largest so-called fire-proof buildings, and in two or three hours they are as nothingness—burned to the ground.
We have before us a great work,—the closing work of giving the last warning message to a sinful world. But what have we done in the world? Look, I beg of you, at the many, many places that have never been entered. Behold the Southern field with its millions4of souls. Who is interested in their salvation? Look at the large buildings that have been piled up in a few places. Witness the showing in Battle Creek and in a few other centers of our work. Consider the amount of time, the effort, the means, that have been expended in making a great showing in a few places. Look at our brethren and sisters treading over and over the same ground, while around them is a neglected world, lying in wickedness and corruption,—a world as yet unwarned! To me this is an awful picture. What appalling indifference we manifest to the needs of a perishing world!
We should not fail to note that the lesson to be conveyed to us by the warning of these coming calamities is the responsibility resting upon those who know these things to use their means and their capabilities to the best possible advantage in giving this message in all parts of this world doomed to destruction. There is only one way of escape. God has a message of deliverance from these calamities, and of preparation for the coming of the Son of man. He has entrusted that message to this people. Woe to this people if they do not give it to the world.
At another time when plans were under consideration for the erection of a large building in Chicago to be used in the medical work, Sister White sent a Testimony of warning, and counseled that the proposed work should not be undertaken. The following paragraph is taken from that Testimony:—
At the time that I saw this representation, scenes that would soon take place in Chicago, and other large cities also, passed before me. As wickedness increased, and the protecting power of God was withdrawn, there were destructive winds and tempests; buildings were destroyed by fire and shaken down by earthquakes. I saw the expensive building above referred to, fall, with many others.
A further and more particular description of the downfall of cities is given in a communication dated Feb. 15, 1904. We quote the following:—
When I was last in New York, I was in the night season called upon to behold buildings rising story after story toward heaven. These buildings were warranted to be fire-proof, and they were erected to glorify the owners. Higher and still higher these buildings rose, and in them the most costly material was used. Those to whom these buildings belonged were not asking themselves, “How can we best glorify God, that we may enjoy him forever?” God was not in their thoughts.
I thought: O that those who are thus investing their means could see that this display does not give them one iota of advantage with God! They are piling up magnificent buildings, but how foolish in the sight of the Ruler of the universe is their planning and devising. They are not studying with all the powers of heart and mind what they may do to glorify God, that they may enjoy him forever. They have lost sight of this, the first duty of man. As these lofty buildings went up, the owners rejoiced with ambitious pride that they had money to use in glorifying self and in provoking the envy of their neighbors.
Much of the money that they thus invested had been obtained through exaction, through grinding the faces of the poor. In the books of heaven an account of every business transaction is kept. There every unjust deal, every fraudulent act, is recorded. The time is coming when in their fraud and insolence men will reach a point that the Lord will not permit them to pass, and they will learn that there is a limit to the forbearance of Jehovah.
The scene that next passed before me was an alarm of fire. Men looked at lofty and supposedly fire-proof buildings, and said, “They are perfectly safe.” But these buildings were consumed as if made of pitch. The fire-engines could do nothing to stay the destruction. The firemen were unable to operate the engines.
I am instructed that when the Lord’s time comes, should no change have taken place in the hearts of proud, ambitious human beings, men will find that the hand that has been strong to save will be strong to destroy. No earthly power can stay the hand of God. No material can be used in the erection of buildings that will preserve them from destruction when God’s appointed time comes to send retribution on men for their insolence and their disregard of his law.
When read in the light of the terrible catastrophe of last week, this seems more like a description than a prediction. Note the statements: “The fire-engines could do nothing to stay the destruction. The firemen were unable to operate the engines.” This was the precise reason why the fiery avalanche swept over San Francisco. The fire departments of that city and of the neighboring cities were utterly helpless, and could not use their engines because the water system was wrecked by the earthquake. Lofty buildings which were regarded as fire-proof offered no effective resistance to the onward march of the fire monster. The old wooden structures and the modern piles of stone, brick, and steel were all destroyed together. The besom of destruction swept the city.
Will this dread visitation, perhaps the most shocking in the history of America, arouse us to greater zeal in proclaiming God’s message of warning and salvation to the inhabitants of the world? “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.” “Destruction upon destruction is cried.” “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.” Let the fires of our zeal be kindled by the fires of destruction, that the way of deliverance may be pointed out to all who will give heed to the warning message.
Prepared for the Closing Work
By William Ambrose Spicer
The government Bureau of Statistics has just published a map of the world, showing the routes of railway and steamship communication over all the earth. It bears witness to the fact that suddenly this development has come, mostly within this generation. The Washington Times refers as follows to the showing of the new map:—
Within the lifetime of men and women now living, the world had not a single mile of railway, or a single steamship crossing the ocean. To-day the world has on land five hundred and fifty thousand miles of railway, and on the ocean six million net tons of sail carrying power, and eighteen million net tons of steam carrying power.
The development of railways has been, up to the present time, chiefly centered in the temperate zone, particularly Europe, and the United States, Mexico, and Canada in America, though Japan, in the Orient, and India, in the tropics, are now fairly well supplied with facilities for land transportation. The great trans-Siberian railway is the sole transcontinental line between Europe and the far East, while Australia’s railways are confined chiefly to a line skirting the southern and eastern coasts, and a half dozen short lines tapping the interior.
In Africa the British colonies at the south are fairly well equipped with railways, while the proposed Cape-to-Cairo transcontinental line is making substantial progress from Cairo, its terminus on the north, and Cape Town, its southern terminus, considerably more than one half of the road being now completed and in operation. South America is still without any great railway system, her facilities being confined chiefly to eastern Brazil, northern Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
The youth and middle-aged of to-day can scarcely appreciate the suddenness with which these developments have come about. Here is a quotation from Woodbridge’s Universal Geography, published in Boston in 1833, which emphasizes the changes since that date:—
New England and the greater part of the Middle States are intersected in every direction by roads, which are usually well constructed and in good repair.
The great increase of facilities for transportation, and the opening up of all lands, has clearly come in these days as the preparation of Providence for a quick work in publishing the tidings of the coming King. Dr. Edward Lawrence, in a strong paragraph on “Providence in Missions,” says:—
There was one other force which was needed to fully equip the church for its universal activity, and to draw the nations of the world together into a net, as the peoples of old had been drawn into the Greco-Roman empire. That was the power of steam, which was to5bind the lands together with bands of steel, turn the oceans into a Mediterranean, make the locomotive an emissary of God’s kingdom, and the steamer a moving-star to herald the day. That invention was not ready to begin its task of annihilating space until the dawn of the nineteenth century. But it was ready in time, for not until then was the purified church itself roused to a fidelity grand enough to undertake the work for which God had been preparing this equipment. It was in 1807, while the young men at Williamstown were praying and studying about missions, that Robert Fulton was making the first trip of the “Clermont,” from New York to Albany.
The way has been prepared by which the message of God’s judgment hour shall yet be proclaimed in the ears of all peoples at the same time. It is not to be as in former times, when reforms spread slowly from land to land. All together the nations and tribes of earth are to be called to the bar of truth. “The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” W. A. S.
The Sabbath and the Calendar
By L. A. S.
Can the Sabbath be kept on a round world? This question is often raised, and answered in the negative, by opposers of the seventh-day Sabbath, and some good people are troubled by the seeming difficulty which is presented. It is worth noting, at the outset, that this argument against Sabbath-keeping was never brought forward before men heard the reform message which calls attention to the claims of the seventh day. It is an argument used only by those who adhere to Sunday in opposition to the Sabbath of the fourth commandment.
The question whether the Sabbath can be kept on a round world or not is one that God himself has answered. He has answered it by commanding men to observe the Sabbath—to “remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” Does not the Creator, who made the world, know that it is round? and does he not know the difficulties, if there are any, in the way of keeping the Sabbath on such a world? Whoever has confidence in the wisdom and goodness of the Creator can certainly entertain no doubts about the feasibility of doing what he has commanded to be done.
But an answer may likewise be obtained from human experience. Did any person ever find any trouble in keeping the seventh day because of the shape of the earth? Many individuals have found it inconvenient to keep the Sabbath for various reasons connected with worldly interests, but we never heard of any person who found more than a theoretical difficulty in observing the Sabbath because of the spherical shape of the earth.
All over the habitable globe there is a succession of day and night, and the seventh day comes and goes, and nobody has any difficulty in knowing what day of the week it is, or when it begins and ends, nor is there any confusion in business calculations because the day goes around a round world. Why, then, should there be any trouble about observing it? If no trouble arises from this in business, why should there be any in religion? All people on the earth, it is true, can not observe the Sabbath at the same period of time, that is, simultaneously, but men are not required to observe such a period of time; they are required to observe the day, and to keep the Sabbath when it comes to them.
There is a day line running north and south through the Pacific Ocean, upon crossing which men change their reckoning of the days. Is this any reason why people in America, or in Europe, or in Africa, or any other place, should not keep the Sabbath? — Not unless it can be shown that the existence of the day line makes it impossible for men to determine the identity of the days of the week. But as a matter of fact there is no difficulty anywhere on this point. All over the world, there is no trouble in knowing the correct day of the week.
Many excuses are raised by people for not doing what God commands, which will not prove valid in the Judgment. Excuses based upon theoretical difficulties will not hold good for a failure to do that which is practically possible. If we are where we can obey God's command, our duty is to obey it, irrespective of what might be possible in other places or under other conditions. The objection that Sabbath-keeping is impossible because the world is round is a theoretical objection wholly; it never arises in practical experience. The service of God—obedience to his commands—is a practical thing, and it is enough for the Christian to find that such service is practically possible under the conditions in which he lives. L. A. S.
The General Conference Committee Council
By Arthur G. Daniells
WE have just closed a very pleasant, profitable, and encouraging council of the General Conference Committee. Owing to the pressure of work in all parts of the field, and the arrangement to hold a full meeting of the committee in the spring of 1907, it was hoped that it would not be necessary to call a meeting this spring. But during the winter so many important questions came from all parts of the great field in which we are operating for the officers of the General Conference Committee to deal with, it was deemed necessary to call a meeting of the members residing in North America.
About thirty persons attended this meeting. These consisted of the officers of the General Conference, seven union conference presidents, three vice-presidents, the chairman and secretary of the Sabbath-school Department, chairman of the Educational Department, chairman and secretary of the Medical Department, Brethren Haffner, Reinke, and Mortensen of the Foreign Department, G. M. Brown, superintendent of the Mexican Mission field, and Elder A. O. Tait, representing the Pacific Press, and the officers of the publishing committee; Elders C. H. Edwards and Morris Lukens, who were called in to aid in the auditing work, attended a portion of the council. We were pleased to invite Elder J. H. Morrison, who was in Takoma Park, to be free to attend our meetings.
The council did not attempt to deal with the details of administration. Only the large, weighty matters were taken up. These related to every department of our work in both home and foreign fields. The following were some of them: Time and place of the full meeting of the committee which is to be held in 1907; the subject of the next week-of-prayer readings, and the selection of the writers; supplying help for the summer camp-meetings; the next fall and winter missionary campaign; the educational convention for 1906; the fall campaign for the special number of The Signs of the Times; organizing and developing the Medical Department of our cause; development of the Foreign Department work; strengthening the work in all Canada, especially the western part; providing General Conference laborers to attend union conference sessions in Europe, Africa, and Australasia; holding general council meetings in India, China, and Japan during the winter of 1906-07; raising funds for the rapid extension of our work in all lands, and selecting efficient young men to fill a number of pressing calls in mission fields.
We arranged to hold three sittings each day—from 9 to 12 A. M., and from 2 to 4 and from 5 to 7 P. M. The early morning and evening hours were given to the committees to prepare reports on questions assigned them. The council was appointed to hold one week, but it continued ten days. One afternoon was taken by the brethren to visit the Supreme Court then in session, and the Senate and House of Representatives. During the entire council the members gave close, earnest, serious attention to the weighty matters before them.
Some of the questions were very perplexing and far-reaching in character.6But they were dealt with in a patient, harmonious, courageous manner, that solved many of the difficulties and brought relief and courage to the officers of the General Conference. The most important decisions will be written up for the REVIEW from week to week.
It was a pleasure to have with us at this meeting, Elder Geo. I. Butler, who has had a long, varied, and valuable experience in this cause. Brother Butler is enjoying the best of health, and is hopeful regarding the final triumph of this message. His firm, sturdy, courageous counsel from the beginning till the close of the meeting was greatly appreciated.
To our brethren and sisters it may be said that the outlook before us never appeared brighter than it does this day. Let us all thank God and take courage.
A. G. DANIELLS.
Russia Facing Civil War
RUSSIA is facing civil war. A St. Petersburg dispatch says:—
The resentment against the terrible repressive measures of the government is arousing the people, especially the workmen in the cities, to fury. This is playing into the hands of the revolutionists, who are planning a political strike and a general uprising. They believe that the right moment will come in mid-April, and both sides are preparing for the fray. If it comes, it is likely to be that, bloodier and more terrible than anything previously witnessed in this country.
The central bureau of the Pan-Russian railroad employees has issued a circular instructing the members to prepare for a struggle, and to wait the decision of the railroad congress which is to be held next month. The St. Petersburg authorities are dispatching troops and sending out supplies of ammunition to many places, and in that city and Moscow Cossack troops patrol the streets day and night. A reactionary cabal is busy at the czar’s court. The dove of peace is yet a long ways off from Russia.
The Lesson of the Earthquake
By L. A. S.
THESE are days when the world has nearly forgotten God. They have forgotten him in the idea, which is ever struggling to be uppermost in men's minds, that their sufficiency is of themselves, and that by their own wisdom and power they live and move and achieve success in the pursuits of life. But there are times when men have a rude awakening from this comfortable delusion, and are forced to lay their glory in the dust before a power compared with which their own is but a bubble, and remember the forgotten lessons of their childhood, about a God whose throne is in the heavens, and in whose hand is the breath of all living creatures.
God has not forgotten those who have forgotten him. He is endeavoring to bring the world to its senses, and to teach men the lesson upon which their eternal welfare depends. Heroic measures are needed to awaken this proud, self-sufficient generation to a sense of their own nothingness and their need of a personal God who has power unto salvation. It is a personal God upon whom men call in the hour of trouble. When men are in the midst of earthquake and fire, they do not fall on their knees and cry to a “cosmic force.”
The tendency of men to glory in their own achievements has frequently to be repressed by events which lay all man's glory in the dust. Not much occasion have men to boast of their mastery over the forces of nature. Not much occasion is there for thinking that any human power can ever for a single moment successfully grapple with the titanic forces which nature has in reserve, hidden out of the reach of man, or that any human wisdom can ever foresee the moment at which these forces may become suddenly active. Man is forced to admit that, after all, he is but a pygmy in the grasp of other and higher powers which inhabit this world of which he has been accustomed to consider himself the master.
All human calculations are upset by such events as that which has brought such sudden and terrible ruin to San Francisco and the surrounding territory. Earthquake, volcano, fire, cyclone, and flood, all bring agencies of destruction before which man is helpless, and has but the one recourse of flight to save his life. But often the destruction comes with such swiftness that there is no escape.
These destructive agencies are becoming alarmingly active, and the fact should cause sober reflections in the minds of thinking people. The Word of God will throw light on the situation to those who seek light from that source. It is the hour of God's judgment. The divine judgments are in the land, and the work of judgment must become more and more marked until the climax of God's controversy with sin in the earth is reached, and the day comes of the visible appearing of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven with his angels, to reap the harvest of the earth.
L. A. S.
Note and Comment
SPEAKING of Sabbath observance, the Ram's Horn says:—
The Sabbath is meant to promote man's physical, mental, and moral welfare. This involves two things, rest for the body and worship as the solace of the spirit. We are to rest, but not from all activity, for absolute inaction is not rest. On the other hand, the rule, “Thou shalt worship,” must not be so enforced as to involve the sacrifice of rest to the animal nature. All legislation therefore enforcing its observance should guarantee to all the blessings it confers, should forbid any man to rob himself or — still more — others of these benefits.
If legislation could secure to the people the blessings of Sabbath observance, it would be justifiable. But what alone it can secure is simply that “absolute inaction” which “is not rest.” The Sabbath is not a blessing to men apart from religion.
Authority for Sunday Observance
In a letter to the New York Sun “Father Tiernan,” of Camden, N. Y., raises the question of the proper authority for the observance of the first day of the week, in this manner:—
I have just read the report of the innovation requested by the Rev. Dr. Warren H. Wilson, of the Arlington Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn, that the two hundred women of his congregation remove their hats during the service. I would ask the Rev. Dr. Wilson and the thirty women who refused to remove their hats whether the Quakers, the Jews, or the Bible, in its New Testament reference to the verses of 1 Corinthians, have for Christendom made this law, which has been observed in church for nearly nineteen hundred years? May it not be that neither the Bible nor the private judgment of men on the Bible has made this dogmatic custom as well as the observance of the first day of the week instead of the Sabbath?
Cruelties in the Congo Free State
It has been announced that Governor Curtis Guild, Jr., of Massachusetts, vice-president of the Congo Reform Association, has made an appeal to the United States government to intervene in the affairs of the Congo Free State to secure protection to the natives against the cruelties practised upon them under the rulership of King Leopold of Belgium. Speaking on this subject recently, the Rev. Herbert S. Johnson, a Baptist pastor of Boston, who has spent three months in that part of Africa for the special purpose of securing information, said:—
I got my information from the report of King Leopold's own commission of inquiry and from Protestant and Catholic missionaries. The report states that in six months six thousand right hands were cut off from subjects whom King Leopold compelled to work for him without remuneration. . . . When a slave falls short in his day's work, he is stripped and held face downward, while the chicotte [a sharp whip] is applied. Ninety lashes is the usual punishment. In many instances death results before the full punishment is meted out.
All this array of evidence stands over against Cardinal Gibbons's attempted vindication of the conduct of King Leopold as being that of a Christian ruler. King Leopold is a faithful Catholic.