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Review and Herald, Vol. 90, No. 50.

THE WORK AND THE WORKERS

Review and Herald

Dec 11, 1913

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 11, 1913

THE WORK AND THE WORKERS

Every girl will be anxious to read the timely article (illustrated) telling all about “Camp-Fire Girls,” in the January Life and Health. Read their rules of life.
The December number of Life and Health went “like hot cakes.” Entire edition exhausted by December 1. January number full of the best things. Order early.
“What I Know About Reducing the Cost of Living.” Are you interested? See symposium of seven practical articles in the January Life and Health, just off the press. Well worth $1.00, the price of a year’s subscription.
Evangelist E. L. Cardey reports another sale of over 300 copies of the Protestant Magazine at the close of his recent lecture in Schenectady, N. Y., under the auspices of the Guardians of Liberty. A number of subscriptions were also taken. Remember, ten six-month subscriptions, to ten different addresses, cost only $3.00, or 30 cents each.
Three mail-sacks loaded with letters protesting against President Wilson’s proposed attendance at the Pan-American Thanksgiving mass are said to have been received at the White House office the day before Thanksgiving. For the full account of this persistent effort of Rome to bring the highest officials of our republic to the feet of the Catholic hierarchy, see the January Protestant Magazine.
In spite of some ten thousand protests from Protestants throughout the United States, President Wilson, his Cabinet, and other prominent officials attended the fifth Pan-American Thanksgiving mass in St. Patrick’s Church, Washington, D. C., Thursday, November 27. If you wish to know more about the details of this much-to-be-regretted affair, read the January number of the Protestant Magazine. It will contain photographs of St. Patrick’s Church, President Wilson, Cardinal Gibbons, Secretary Bryan, and Monsignor Russell, who figured prominently in the mass. Send in your $1.00 for a year’s subscription. While they last, the October, November, and December, 1913, numbers will be thrown in with every $1.00 subscription for 1914.
A prominent business man of Jacksonville, Fla., writes thus in renewing his yearly subscription for the Protestant Magazine: “I want to express my keen regret that I haven’t the money to send you that you might mail to every clergyman in the Protestant Episcopal Church, and especially to the ritualistic end of it, a copy of your December number, in which you have featured ‘the mass,’ and shown its absolute inconsistency with Scripture, logic, and ordinary common sense; for without question there is a steady growth of ritualism and ‘mass’ services in the denomination of which I am a member. May the Lord bless you in your work of exposing the fallacies, but more especially the political tactics, of the Church of Rome. Fraternally yours.”
Remember that up to midnight, Feb. 2, 1914, you may subscribe for the REVIEW, Life and Health, Liberty Magazine, and Protestant Magazine, for one year, at the special rate of only $3.70. Regular price of this club of four, $4.35.
A few days ago a prominent city official from Baltimore made the trip to Washington and back in order to secure ammunition to oppose Romanism. It did not take him long to find the office of the Protestant Magazine. Have you sent in your list of ten six-month subscriptions for $3.00?
“Diet in Lung Trouble,” “Appendicitis,” “Mushrooms,” “Mad Dogs,” “Two-Meal System,” and “Mosquito Prevention” are a few of the interesting questions discussed in the Questions and Answers department of the January Life and Health. Send 10 cents in stamps for one copy, or $1.00 for 20.
Sunday, November 16, President Wilson courteously accepted, and slipped into his overcoat pocket, two copies of the Protestant Magazine, as he was leaving a well-known office-building in the city of Washington. They were the October and December numbers, otherwise known as the “Make America Catholic” and “Idolatry of the Mass” numbers.
The Columbia Religious Liberty Association held a convention in Baltimore, Md., the first week in December, to counter the work of the national Lord’s Day Alliance in its attempt to enforce Sunday legislation. During the first two days of our convention, 450 copies of the “America” number of Liberty were purchased by members of the Baltimore church for campaign work.
Rev. —, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Kansas, writes to Life and Health as follows: “I am writing you for information relative to taking up the agency for your magazine. Would like to know your terms to agents, and also whether your representatives act as agents for more than the one magazine. I desire to be a traveling representative. Enclosed herewith find letter of reference; I trust the same will be satisfactory. Thanking you in advance for a reply, I am.”
Brother F. E. Painter, general missionary agent for the Northern Union Conference, writes: “We expect to give the magazines a prominent place in our institutes. Have suggested to our field agents that they arrange for a number of short institutes of two or three days in their largest churches, for the purpose of giving instruction on how to sell the magazines and the home workers’ books. Brother Shrewsbury, the Minnesota field agent, and I have just closed a series of these institutes and another series is arranged for in South Dakota. I am to leave soon to go there to assist in conducting them. In two weeks we shall begin the organization of our ‘canvassers’ bands’ in the schools, and we expect to prepare a number of the young ladies to sell magazines. In our spring institutes we shall give instruction as to selling magazines. I think it is a good idea to have our book canvassers who can do so, spend their Saturday evenings and Sundays in the sale of magazines. Of course, this can be done only when they are working in town or near enough to town to get on easily. Minnesota and Iowa will be our best conferences for the magazines.”
From far-off Algeria, Brother R. T. E. Colthurst applies for agency for the Protestant Magazine. He writes: “I could use back numbers of the Protestant, Liberty, and Life and Health to give away or to sell in my mission work on incoming tourist steamers, in hotels, etc.”
“I am in love with the Protestant and Liberty magazines,” writes a business man in Erie, Pa. “So please find enclosed $1.35 in payment of one year’s subscription to both. I also imagine I should delight to note the contents of ‘The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan’ [advertised on Protestant cover], as spiritual things must be spiritually discerned. But I cannot spare the money just now. America for Americans, first, last, and all the time.”
Why not save $2.10 by taking advantage of the special offer now being made on a club subscription for the following seven Review and Herald periodicals and magazines? Here is the list: REVIEW, Life and Health, Liberty Magazine, Protestant Magazine, Youth’s Instructor, Christian Education, and Sabbath School Worker. Regular price of these seven, $7.10. Club price, when ordered all at one time, only $5.00. Order through your tract society.
A “Picture Section” will hereafter appear in every issue of the Protestant Magazine; also a “Scrap-Book” page containing “useful material for writers and speakers—reliable quotations with definite references.” The editor says to tear this page out and paste it in your scrap-book. We doubt, however, whether many subscribers will consent to mutilate their copies even to that extent. This is one of the very few magazines that should be filed away intact, each number being an up-to-date scrap-book in itself.
Do you protest against Rome? If so, you should know why. Real Protestants must know more about the principles of Romanism than Catholics themselves. The Protestant Magazine will help you to “give a reason” for the Protestant faith that is within you. In its fearless yet dignified campaign against Roman Catholicism and weak-kneed “Protestantism,” it uses and places at your command the invincible weapons of Reason, History, and Revelation. Read it carefully, and pass it on to others. Send us $2.00 for two yearly subscriptions, and we will send the magazine to your address for one year free of charge. Or, for $3.00, we will send it to ten different addresses for six months.
The governor of your State, his cabinet, your supreme court judges, sheriffs, attorneys, and public-school boards and teachers should be readers of both Liberty and Protestant. Five or more copies of any single issue of either of these magazines will be mailed by the publishers to addresses you may furnish, at only 5 cents each. Or, ten yearly subscriptions for Liberty will cost you only $2.00, or ten six-month subscriptions for the Protestant, only $3.00. We have an up-to-date list of the names of all the attorneys in the United States and Canada, so you need simply to tell us the number of attorneys you would like to send the magazines to, and what section of the country you wish to evangelize in this way.

The Week of Prayer

R. A. UNDERWOOD
DECEMBER 13-20 has been set apart by the General Conference for special meeting and earnest prayer by all our people. This occasion will be observed by many believers throughout the world. God has styled himself “Thou that hearest prayer,” and he will not turn away from the cries of his people.
The youth and children should not be neglected, and the infirm and strong alike need the blessed influence that will come to all who earnestly seek the Lord. To those who have a purpose and an earnest desire to put away all sin and selfishness from their hearts, the Lord has given the promise, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew [“change,” margin] their strength; . . . they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Blessed assurance, that we may exchange our human weakness for divine power!
“Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” This power was to enable the disciples to be witnesses of Christ to the “uttermost part of the earth.” Acts 1:4-8. This promise is for us, and this same power which enabled the disciples to see three thousand souls converted in a day, will be realized before we shall see the end. O, why should there be delay in receiving this grace of spiritual blessings? Christ says, “Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you;” “believe . . . receive.” What hinders this power from coming upon God’s dear people? What hinders our faith? These are questions we should carefully consider.
“How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only?” John 5:44. “He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory; but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.” John 7:18. These scriptures suggest that God cannot clothe his people with the armor of light and power while selfishness and self-exaltation are sought in any way by them. The salvation of souls, the exaltation of truth, and the honor of Christ must be the burning desire of the heart. Any consecration that we may profess that does not lead us to labor for the salvation of others is not genuine consecration to God. We need not wait even until the week of prayer is over before we place ourselves in the path of duty as servants to be used by God.
“Who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord?” 1 Chron. 29:5. “They helped every one his neighbor; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage.” Isa. 41:6.

Biography of the Sabbath

C. E. HOLMES
At creation: “God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” Gen. 2:3.
At Sinai: “Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Ex. 20:9.
With Christ: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” Matt. 5:17.
After the resurrection: “I [Paul, about 58 A. D.] certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man . . . but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Gal. 1:11, 12. “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.” Rom. 3:31.
At the destruction of Jerusalem (70 A. D.): “But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day.” Matt. 24:20.
With the last church on earth: “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Rev. 12:17.
At the gates of the New Jerusalem: “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” Rev. 22:14.
In the new earth: “And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.” Isa. 66:23.
Takoma Park, D. C.

Nineveh, That Great City

(Concluded)
MRS. E. G. WHITE
Once more the servant of God was entrusted with the commission to warn Nineveh. “The word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.” This time he did not stop to question or doubt, but obeyed unhesitatingly. He “arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord.” Jonah 3: 1-3.
As he entered the great city, he began at once to “cry against” it as he had been bidden. Lifting up his voice in warning, he declared, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” From street to street he went, all the while sounding this terrible note of warning.
God’s message was not given in vain. The warning rang through the streets of the godless city, and was passed from lip to lip, until all the inhabitants had heard the startling pronouncement. The Spirit of God pressed the message home to the heart, and caused multitudes to tremble because of their sins, and to repent in great humiliation.
“The people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything: let them not feed, nor drink water: but let man and beast be covered withsackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?” Jonah 3: 5-9.
As kings and nobles, with the common people, the high and the low, “repented at the preaching of Jonas” (Matt. 12: 41), and united in crying to the God of heaven, his mercy was granted them. He “saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.” Their doom was averted, the God of Israel was exalted and honored throughout the heathen world, and his law was revered.
In this crisis, Jonah should have been the first to rejoice because of God’s amazing grace; but, instead, he allowed his mind to dwell upon the possibility of his being regarded as a false prophet. Jealous of his reputation among men, he lost sight of the infinitely greater value of the souls in that wretched city. The compassion shown by God toward the repentant Ninevites “displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.” “Was not this my saying,” he inquired of the Lord, “when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.” Jonah 4: 1, 2.
When Jonah learned of God’s purpose to spare the city that had corrupted its ways before him, he should have cooperated heartily in this merciful design. But he yielded to his inclination to question and doubt, and, as the result, was once more overwhelmed with discouragement, and lost sight of the interests of others in his concern over himself. He felt as if he would rather die than live to see the wicked city spared; and in his dissatisfaction he exclaimed, “Now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.”
“Then said the Lord, Doest thou well to be angry? So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. And the Lord God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.”
Then the Lord gave Jonah an object-lesson. He “prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death. Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not labored, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night; and should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?” Jonah 4: 3-11.
Though confused, humiliated, and unable to understand God’s purpose in sparing Nineveh, Jonah nevertheless had fulfilled the commission given him to warn that great city. The event predicted did not come to pass, yet the message of warning was none the less from God. And it accomplished the purpose God designed it should. The glory of his grace was revealed among the heathen, and when those who had long been sitting “in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron,” “cried unto the Lord in their trouble, . . . he saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder.” “He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.” Ps. 107: 10, 13, 14, 20.
The Saviour, while on earth, recognized the preaching of Jonah as a sign to the Ninevites, as Christ’s preaching was a sign to the Jews. “The men of Nineveh,” he declared, “shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.” Matt. 12: 41.

E. K. SLADE

Gospel Finance—No. 19

Wills

E. K. SLADE

As we better understand the purpose of God and the principle involved in our stewardship, we shall more fully comprehend how important it is to make proper provision for our property to be wisely disposed of in case of death. Many thousands of dollars which might have been used to forward the message have gone to those not friendly to the cause, through the neglect of duty in this matter. It is the purpose of the enemy to divert from the Lord’s work every dollar that he can, and he is ever alert to gain control of property which by our wise and faithful management may be saved for financing the work.
In “Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. I, page 199, are found these remarkable words: “I was shown the awful fact that Satan and his angels have had more to do with the management of the property of God’s professed people than the Lord has. Stewards of the last days are unwise. They suffer Satan to control their business matters, and get into his ranks what belongs to and should be in the cause of God.”
On this point, though not speaking specifically of wills, is the following statement:— “God is displeased with the slack, loose manner in which many of his professed people conduct their worldly business. . . . Some leave their worldly business in perfect confusion. Satan has his eye on it all, and he strikes at a favorable opportunity, and by his management takes much means out of the ranks of Sabbath-keepers. . . . Those who should be wise heirs of salvation almost willingly let their Lord’s money slip out of their hands into the enemy’s ranks. . . . Satan and his angels exult over their success in this matter.”—Id., pages 199, 200.
It may be that less importance is attached to making wills at this late hour than in the earlier days of the message, for we have without question reached a time when opportunities for placing our property where it can help in the work, exist in a way in which they are certain not to exist in the near future. There are many, though, who should give careful heed at this time to words of counsel given regarding this matter.
“Many are not exercised upon the subject of making their wills while they are in apparent health. But this precaution should be taken by our brethren. . . . They should arrange their property in such a manner that they may leave it at any time.”—Id., Vol. IV, page 482.
“Many manifest a needless delicacy on this point. They feel that they are stepping upon forbidden ground when they introduce the subject of property to the aged or to invalids, in order to learn what disposition they design to make of it. But this duty is just as sacred as the duty to preach the word to save souls.”—Id., page 479. “There are aged ones among us who are nearing the close of their probation; but for the want of wide-awake men to secure to the cause of God the means in their possession, it passes into the hands of those who are serving Satan.”—Id., page 478.
Wills should be made with great care, and those who desire to make their wills would do well to counsel with their conference officers.
A will should not take the place of giving during the lifetime. There is much property among us that should be placed upon the altar. “Soon it will be too late to do anything. Soon our opportunities to work will have passed forever. . . . Only a little while longer shall we be permitted to labor, and then in heaven it will be said, ‘It is done.’” This should be a selling time to many who are adding to their possessions.
“But this death-bed charity is not what Christ requires of his followers; it cannot excuse the selfishness of the living. Those who hold fast their property to the last moment, surrender it to death rather than to the cause. . . . Dying charity is a poor substitute for living benevolence.” “I saw that many withhold from the cause while they live, quieting their consciences that they will be charitable at death. They hardly dare exercise faith and trust in God to give anything while living.”—Id., Vol. V, pages 154, 155.
To the writer these words are most

Dwellers in the Holy Hill

WHAT qualities of character must be possessed by those who will associate with Christ and the holy angels throughout eternity? This is the question raised by David as recorded in the fifteenth psalm: “Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?” To these questions the prophet of the Lord gives definite answers. Note carefully the particular specifications which he makes:—
1. He that walks uprightly.
2. He that works righteousness.
3. He that speaks the truth in his heart.
4. He that backbites not with his tongue.
5. He that does no evil to his neighbor.
6. He that takes not up a reproach against his neighbor.
7. He in whose eyes sin appears abhorrent.
8. He who honors them that fear the Lord.
9. He who swears to his own hurt and does not go back upon his word.
10. He that puts not out his money to usury, taking no unjust advantage of his brethren in business deals.
11. He that takes no reward against the innocent.
Here are eleven plainly and definitely stated requirements which those “who shall dwell in thy holy hill” must meet in their lives. Wherein today do we come short? If in any particular we fail in meeting this divine standard, let us flee to Christ for help and the power which he alone can give through his grace to enable us to take on these virtues in our lives. “He that doeth these things shall never be moved.”

God and His Remnants

God is not dependent upon multitudes for carrying on his work, nor for its successful completion. Armed with his strength, one can chase a thousand and two put ten thousand to flight. If multitudes were essential to his success, he would take the frightened and fleeing ten thousand and pass by the insignificant two who were the cause of their flight. But no; the loyal and courageous two, fearing nothing but God, and anxious for naught but his approval, are of greater consequence than all the hosts of error and disloyalty.
Isaiah was seeking to impress this fact upon Israel of old when he wrote: “A remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. For though thy people, Israel, be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them shall return: a destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness. For a full end, and that determined, will the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, make in the midst of all the earth.” Isa. 10: 21-23. Inspiration interprets this in Rom. 9: 27: “If the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that shall be saved.”
There can be no doubt as to what is meant by the above quotation. The remnant there mentioned is the last company gathered out of the nations of the world. That destruction which is determined is the destruction of the hosts of iniquity when Christ shall come to take his remnant to himself; for that “full end” which is determined “in the midst of all the world,” is the end of the world. That remnant will be, to the Lord, the most precious thing in this world, in fact, the only thing the world contains that God considers worth saving. But that remnant is of so great worth that heaven gave its best to redeem it.
That this remnant is exceeding precious in God’s sight, is shown by the term he uses in speaking of those who make up the company saved out of the doomed world. He says of them:—
“They shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.” Mal. 3: 17.
As jewels are considered the most precious things of one’s possession, God uses that term to express to us how he looks upon those who persist in their loyalty to him and their service of him. Another version renders this scripture: “They shall be mine, saith Jehovah of hosts, even mine own possession.” That, too, expresses the tender regard of the Almighty for his faithful people who have remained loyal when the millions of earth have turned their backs upon him, and upon the law on which his government is founded.
God has with deep solicitude sought in every possible way to turn his wayward children back to the paths of loyalty and truth that he might not be compelled to cut them off from the eternal inheritance. He says: “What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?” Isa. 5: 4. That longing solicitude over his erring children must emphasize the preciousness of the remnant that does prove true to him in spite of the almost universal disloyalty.
In a time of great trouble King Hezekiah sent to the prophet Isaiah, asking that he pray to God for Israel’s deliverance from the hands of Rabshakeh, who had determined their destruction and had blasphemed the God of Israel. “Wherefore,” said Hezekiah, “lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left.” God, by the mouth of his prophet, spoke words of assurance and comfort to his remnant, and turned Rabshakeh about and sent him back to his own land, where he would pay with his life for his defiance of the Almighty.
More than this, God purposes that his remnant shall be a rallying-center for the honest-hearted that desire to know and walk in his ways. This we may learn from Jer. 40: 11, 12: “When all the Jews that were in Moab, and among the children of Ammon, and in Edom, and that were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, . . . then all the Jews returned out of all places whither they were driven, and came to the land of Judah.” In the last days of this world the honest-hearted souls in all the nations will join themselves to God’s remnantvital at this time. Nothing can possibly concern God’s people in such a time as this more than the proper management of their temporal affairs in view of the nearness of the end and the “better and enduring substance.”
Mount Vernon, Ohio.

A Good Man

Editorial

“A Good Man”

Of Barnabas, one of the apostles, it is said, “He was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith.” Acts 11:24. The emphasis seems to fall on the first qualification. “He was a good man.” It is the richest of the divine endowments. How that quality of goodness outranks cleverness, or brilliancy, in the all-round wear and tear of life!
It was no mere abstract goodness. Barnabas had the genuine gift, which strengthened every moral fiber, gave him clean-cut convictions, kept him true to principle, and energized him for active service. All this appears in the story of his life. A man of faith and full of the Holy Spirit was Barnabas, but first it is written that he was “a good man.”
The power of the Spirit of grace that transforms the life and makes its rough places smooth, and the high places low, and the crooked things straight, is the most wonderful work of all. This is the building of a life on the sure foundation of Christ Jesus the Lord. Do this gracious work in our hearts and lives, dear Lord, and bestow that plain but richest endowment that makes good men and good women. W. A. S.

W. E. GERALD

Sociability

W. E. GERALD

THERE is, perhaps, no quality of the human soul that is more beautiful and prolific of blessing than that of sociability.
Solomon says, “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.” This text shows that one of the rewards of sociability is a quickening of the understanding.
Humility must accompany sociability in order to make it pleasurable. In a free discussion it behooves each one to have due respect for the others’ opinions. Egotism and conceit can have no place in ideal sociability. Sociability will lead a man to attend the prayer-meeting, the teachers’ meeting, the Sabbath-school, the preaching service; and he is a stupid listener who comes back without having learned something.
In the exchange of thoughts in social contact, the mind is stimulated into greater brilliancy. It is easier to kindle a fire in a hot stove than in a cold one. Paul, in his epistle to the Romans, touches this subject when he enumerates the sins into which the backslider falls. “Without natural affection” are the words given in the Authorized Version. The marginal rendering gives the word “unsociable.” In another place where Paul says that no man “liveth to himself,” he is simply stating the rule under which any and every man must live if he is at his best.
The prophet Isaiah teaches that God does not expect us to hide ourselves from our own flesh, and perform monkish ceremonies and acts of penance. The Siamese twins could not be separated, because their vital organs were united. So the great web of humanity has one warp. Still closer is the relationship in the true church of Christ. Paul indicates this in his letter to the Ephesians by the following expressions: “The head, even Christ;” “the whole body fitly joined together;” “compacted by that which every joint supplieth;” “maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”
Wonderful arrangement! Who has fully sounded the depths of this mystery? It is the gospel that enables us to enter into this experience and to appreciate more and more this glorious fellowship.
Portland, Maine.

Darwinism

I OBJECT to the theory for several reasons. First, it is a dangerous theory. If a man links himself in generations with the monkey, it then becomes an important question whether he is going toward him or coming from him — and I have seen them going in both directions. I do not know of any argument that can be used to prove that man is an improved monkey that may not be used just as well to prove that the monkey is a degenerate man, and the latter theory is more plausible than the former.
It is true that man, in some physical characteristics, resembles the beast, but man has a mind as well as a body, and a soul as well as a mind. The mind is greater than the body and the soul is greater than the mind, and I object to having man's pedigree traced on one third of him only — and that the lowest third. Fairbairn, in his “Philosophy of Christianity,” lays down a sound proposition when he says that it is not sufficient to explain man as an animal; that it is necessary to explain man in history — and the Darwinian theory does not do this. The ape, according to this theory, is older than man, and yet the ape is still an ape while man is the author of the marvelous civilization which we see about us.
One does not escape from mystery, however, by accepting this theory, for it does not explain the origin of life. When the follower of Darwin has traced the germ of life back to the lowest form in which it appears, — and to follow him one must exercise more faith than religion calls for, — he finds that scientists differ. Those who reject the idea of creation are divided into two schools, some believing that the first germ of life came from another planet and others are holding that it was the result of spontaneous generation. Each school answers the arguments advanced by the other, and as they cannot agree with each other, I am not compelled to agree with either.
Go back as far as we may, we cannot escape from the creative act, and it is just as easy for me to believe that God created man as he is as to believe that, millions of years ago, he created a germ of life and endowed it with power to develop into all that we see today. I object to the Darwinian theory until more conclusive proof is produced, because I fear we shall lose the consciousness of God's presence in our daily life if we must accept the theory that through all the ages no spiritual force has touched the life of man or shaped the destiny of nations.—W. J. Bryan.

C. M. S

The best medicine for our own sorrows is the effort to heal the sorrows of some one else. However heavy our personal trials may be, we shall forget our quarrel with life and with God if we will give ourselves steadily to the endeavor to make life brighter and fuller of comfort and blessing to others.—Rev. Philip Moxom, D. D.
nant and go into the antitypical land of promise. But in this case the members of the remnant band will be in all the nations, hunting out God’s jewels and pointing the way to the land of the eternal inheritance.
God has left to this company a gracious and comforting promise: “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in loving-kindness. He will again have compassion upon us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” Micah 7:18, 19. When God has done that, and the robe of Christ’s righteousness covers that company, its members are sealed for God, and the eternal inheritance is sealed to them. What a glad and glorious experience that will be! They who have part in it will not think any trial of this life too hard, or any experience or suffering too bitter. To be eternally with him who purchased our redemption with the price of his own life, will be a joyous satisfaction that no experience of this life can, in the faintest degree, approach. Truly blessed will they be who are numbered among God’s remnant.

C. M. S

Object of Sabbath-School Work

C. G. MANNS
The object of the Sabbath-school is to save souls. In order that the Sabbath-school may do this, its teachers must be under the influence of the Holy Spirit. The school is molded by its teachers. Teachers should be elected who have a love for souls. Every teacher in the Sabbath-school should be a follower of Christ. The Saviour says, “Without me ye can do nothing.”
The object of the Sabbath-school is to train the youth to be workers in the broad harvest-field. The Sabbath-school may be called a nursery, out of which plants, well cared for and trained, are taken to be transplanted in the field of labor.
The Sabbath-school is to train minds and hearts for the service of God. It should be one of the greatest instrumentalities in bringing souls to Christ. Our Sabbath-school workers need to be especially imbued with the spirit of Christ. The children need a more decided training in religious culture.
Our Sabbath-schools are nothing less than a Bible society, and when rightly conducted are a power in the earth for saving souls for the kingdom of God. The influence growing out of the Sabbath-school work should improve and enlarge the church. May the blessing of God rest upon our Sabbath-schools in doing the work for which they are divinely appointed.
Charleston, S. C.

The Convicting Spirit

A YOUNG man had been extremely profane, and thought little of the matter. After his marriage to a high-minded, lovely wife, the habit appeared to him in a different light, and he made spasmodic efforts to conquer it. But a few months ago the glaring evil was set before him, by a little incident, in its real and shocking sinfulness.
One Sunday morning, standing before the mirror shaving, the razor slipped, inflicting a slight wound. True to his fixed habit, he ejaculated the single word “God!” and was not a little amazed and chagrined to see reflected in the mirror the pretty picture of his little three-year-old daughter, as, laying her doll hastily down, she sprang from her seat on the floor, exclaiming, as she looked eagerly and expectantly about the room, “Is Dod here?”
Pale and ashamed, and at a loss for a better answer, he simply said, “Why?”
“’Cause I thought he was when I heard you speak to him.”
Then noticing the sober look on his face, and the tears of shame in his eyes as he gazed down into the innocent, radiant face, she patted him lovingly on the hand, exclaiming assuringly: “Call him again, papa, and I dess he’ll surely come.”
Every syllable of the child’s trusting words cut to his heart. The still, small voice was heard at last. Catching the wondering child up in his arms, he knelt down, and for the first time in his life implored of God forgiveness for past offenses, and guidance for all his future life, thanking him in fervent spirit that he had not “surely come” before in answer to some of his awful blasphemies. Truly “a little child shall lead them.”—Selected.
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