Review and Herald, Vol. 81, No. 24. (6/16/1904)

Review and Herald

Jun 16, 1904

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Jun 16, 1904

KAATERSKILL FALLS

By William Cullen Bryant

MIDST greens and shades the Kaaterskill leaps, From cliffs where the wood-flower clings; All summer he moistens his verdant steeps With the sweet light spray of the mountain springs; And he shakes the woods on the mountain side. When they drip with the rains of autumn-tide.

But when, in the forest bare and old, The blast of December calls, He builds, in the starlight clear and cold, A palace of ice where his torrent falls, With turret, and arch, and fretwork fair; And pillars blue as the summer air.

— William Cullen Bryant.

Kaaterskill Falls, in the Heart of the Catskills

LIFE AND HEALTH

By Editor

“I came that they may have LIFE, and may have it abundantly.”—Jesus.

“Beloved, I pray that in all things thou mayest prosper and be in HEALTH, even as thy soul prospereth”—John.

LIFE AND HEALTH

An Old Friend Under a New Name

Announcement is hereby made that The Pacific Health Journal, formerly published by the California Medical Association, has been transferred to the Review and Herald Publishing Association, of Washington, D. C., and will be published, beginning with the July number, under the name LIFE AND HEALTH.

LIFE AND HEALTH will be a true exponent of the gospel of health.

LIFE AND HEALTH will deal with practical matters in a simple way.

LIFE AND HEALTH will be a genuine medical missionary magazine.

LIFE AND HEALTH will contain reports of medical missionary work.

LIFE AND HEALTH will maintain a question box for the benefit of its readers.

LIFE AND HEALTH will contain contributions from physicians and nurses.

LIFE AND HEALTH will consist of thirty-two pages, illustrated, besides advertising pages and cover.

LIFE AND HEALTH will be sold for five cents per copy, or fifty cents per year.

LIFE AND HEALTH will be just the magazine for use by the medical missionary departments of union and State conferences.

LIFE AND HEALTH should have a circulation of FIFTY THOUSAND COPIES AT ONCE.

SPECIAL TERMS TO AGENTS AND TRACT SOCIETIES

Orders may now be placed for the July number.

Address your State Tract Society, or

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Editorial

By Editor

The Crowning Day

THE days come and go. Days multiply into weeks, and weeks into months, and months into years. Men become absorbed in the affairs of this world. The things which are seen shut out consideration of the things which are unseen. Infidel, scientists and scientific theologians proclaim “the natural order” as the ruling principle, and scoff at the idea of any such interference with natural law as would be involved in the coming of the Lord and the destruction of the world. Voicing this sentiment, the Independent (New York) prints an editorial entitled “Postponing the End of the World.” Nevertheless “the day of the Lord will come.” The scoffing of the scoffers and the increasing wickedness of the wicked are signs of the nearness of the coming day.

“Let all that look for, hasten The coming joyful day, By earnest consecration, To walk the narrow way; By gathering in the lost ones For whom our Lord did die, For the crowning day that’s coming by and by.”

Pious Selfishness

THE glory of God is the one worthy object of concern for man created in the image of God. Man was created for the glory of God. “All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.” The gospel is “the gospel of the glory of the blessed God,” and it restores the receiver to the place of privilege where he can glorify God. Professed Christians sometimes seem to forget these principles, and to attempt to make God glorify themselves. They think of their own salvation almost to the exclusion of working for the salvation of others. They pray for blessings upon themselves. They thank the Lord for tokens of special favor to them. They forget that all the blessings of heaven, included in the gift of Jesus that we might be turned away from our iniquities, are bestowed that the glory of God may be enhanced, and that the highest good of all created beings is found in seeking that glory. “Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not.” “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness.” Only the anointing of the eyes with the heavenly eyesalve will enable us to perceive the thread of selfishness which under the inspiration of Selfish-Satan is sometimes woven into our experiences of apparent humility and self-sacrifice. He who forgets self does not advertise even his humility. He who is truly seeking the glory of God will find it, and it will be found upon him. Selfishness is the dry rot of Christianity. “Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” “If any man speaketh, speaking as it were oracles of God; if any man ministereth, ministering as of the strength which God supplieth: that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, whose is the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

An Organized Campaign

THOSE who are viewing the trend of present-day events in the light cast upon them by the sure word of prophecy can but be impressed with the evidence of an organized campaign to overthrow the foundations of the gospel, to sow broadcast the seeds of doubt and unbelief concerning the fundamentals of the plan of salvation, and to prepare the way for the crowning deception of Satan when he will appear in person claiming to be the long-looked-for Saviour. The indications of such a campaign are to be found on every hand. The warfare against genuine Christianity is not a desultory one, with an untrained straggler here and there shooting at random, but on the contrary both in the Old World and in the New the attacks upon the Christian faith supplement each other in such a marked manner as to make it clear that it is an organized campaign under the inspiration of the master mind of Satan himself. The proof of this is not found in any public announcement of the fact, but the evidence is similar to that which was adduced by Abraham Lincoln in his answer to the denial of Douglas that there was any pro-slavery conspiracy. With his characteristic keenness of perception and ability to reduce a heavy argument to the compass of the common mind, he said: “When people saw Stephen and Franklin and Roger and James each working independently, as they proclaimed, turning out mortised timbers which fitted perfectly together to complete the framework of a house, with not a stick wanting and not a stick superfluous, it was natural to conclude that Stephen and Franklin and Roger and James were operating according to a common plan.” In like manner when we see men attempting to remove, one after the other, the timbers which support the platform of truth, and especially the special message for this time, we may know that a definite purpose is being carried out. This purpose is to cast down the eternal Son from his rightful place in the gospel, and to substitute the god of this world in his place. Apparently diverse efforts all aim at this one thing. They seek to prevent lost sinners from beholding “the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world,” and from preparing for the coming of our rightful King. “The sophistries regarding God and nature that are flooding the world with skepticism, are the inspiration of the fallen foe, who is himself a Bible student, who knows the truth that it is essential for the people to receive, and whose study it is to divert minds from the great truths given to prepare them for what is coming upon the world.” The third angel’s message is God’s answer to this organized campaign. Hope for ourselves and for others centers in the giving of this definite message in such clear presentation of it that there can be no misunderstanding of our meaning. God has organized a campaign in this generation, and our Leader has issued the command, “Come into line.” Faithful soldiers of the cross will now obey this command.

Studies in the Prophecies

The Nature and Purpose of Prophecy

TAKING our definition from the unpublished but generally accepted dictionary of religious terms, we should declare that prophecy is history in advance. And so it is, but this is an incomplete definition, and being incomplete, it may convey an incorrect idea concerning the fundamental purpose of prophecy. Prophecy is more than a record of occurrences which are still in the future, and it is not given merely to foretell the course of human history. The whole purpose of revelation, whether it deals with the past, the present, or the future, and whether the subject-matter is facts of history or moral precepts, is to make known the gospel of salvation to man. Past history is “written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” We thus learn the concrete meaning of abstract principles. “The shaping of events seems, to a great degree, to be determined by his [man’s] power, ambition, and caprice. But in the Word of God the curtain is drawn aside, and we behold, behind, above, and through all the play and counter-play of human interests and power and passions, the agencies of the all-merciful One, silently, patiently, working out the counsels of his own will.

The Bible reveals the true philosophy of history. In those words of matchless beauty and tenderness spoken by the apostle Paul to the sages of Athens is set forth God’s purpose in the creation and distribution of races and nations. He “hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him.” In the Bible record of the rise and fall of kingdoms “it is shown that the strength of nations, as of individuals, is not found in the opportunities or facilities that appear to make them invincible; it is not found in their boasted greatness. It is measured by the fidelity with which they fulfil God’s purpose.” Thus are the principles of the gospel taught in Bible history.

Prophecy is history in advance, but it is future history written in such a way as that in the very writing of it there are revealed the divine principles which control the destiny both of the nations and of the individuals that are the subjects of prophecy. Thus prophecy is not simply history in advance, but it is also the concrete gospel in advance. This is made clear in the divine commentary given to us upon that remarkable prophecy which is the key to all Jewish history. Here it is: “And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all the nations be blessed.” By reading the whole prophecy as recorded in Gen. 12:1-3 it will be seen that the promised greatness of Abraham and of the Jewish nation was in the proclamation of the power of the gospel of the coming Seed. So long as the Jewish nation would stand in right relation to this gospel, so long would they stand as great among the nations of the earth, but when they rejected the promised Seed, then the nation sealed its own fate. Thus was the power of the gospel of Christ preached beforehand to Abraham in foretelling the blessing which would come to all nations through him and his seed.

This is further illustrated in the commission which was given to Jeremiah the prophet: “I have appointed thee a prophet unto the nations. . . . Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth: see, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

The prophet’s words were the words of the Lord. In them was life or death, blessing or cursing, according as they were received or rejected. Thus the prophets, like the apostles, “are a sweet savor of Christ unto God, in them that are saved, and in them that perish; to the one a savor from death unto death; to the other a savor from life unto life.”

The whole principle is clearly stated in the interpretation given to Nebuchadnezzar of his dream of the tree. “The Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. . . . Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor; if there may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity.” The gospel message of prophecy declares that only in the principles of righteousness and mercy, the fundamental principles of the gospel of Christ, can there be stability either for nations or for individuals. And it further declares that “the wicked shall be turned back into Sheol, even all the nations that forget God.”

In the prophetic method of teaching the gospel, future events are so revealed as determined by the rejection or acceptance of gospel principles that in the fulfilment of these predictions the faith of believers is strengthened. The words of Jesus to his disciples, after prophesying of his death and resurrection, reveal this principle: “I tell you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he.” “And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe.” “But these things have I spoken unto you, that when their hour is come, ye may remember them, how that I told you.” Fulfilled prophecy builds a solid foundation upon which faith may rest its superstructure.

Since prophecy is a preaching of the gospel beforehand, and since one purpose at least of prophecy is to strengthen the faith of believers, we should certainly study the prophecies in such a way as to receive the full benefit of their gospel messages, and in considering the fulfilment of prophecy our faith should be increased. It is not enough to place history beside the prophecy to prove the inspiration of the Bible. This may often be done to much profit, but this is only an incidental and subordinate purpose in the study of prophecy. There is a more important purpose, and especially in this closing generation. “At this time, before the great final crisis, as before the world’s first destruction, men are absorbed in the pleasures and the pursuits of sense. Engrossed with the seen and the transitory, they have lost sight of the unseen and eternal. . . . From the rise and fall of nations as made plain in the pages of Holy Writ, they need to learn how worthless is mere outward and worldly glory. Babylon, with all its power and magnificence, the like of which our world has never since beheld,— . . . how completely has it

passed away! As ‘the flower of the grass,’ it has perished. So perishes all that has not God for its foundation. Only that which is bound up with his purpose, and expresses his character, can endure. His principles are the only steadfast things our world knows. . . . We need to study the working out of God’s purpose in the history of nations and in the revelation of things to come, that we may estimate at their true value things seen and things unseen, that we may learn what is the true aim of life; that, viewing the things of time in the light of eternity, we may put them to their truest and noblest use. Thus, learning here the principles of his kingdom and becoming its subjects and citizens, we may be prepared at his coming to enter with him into its possession. The day is at hand. For the lessons to be learned, the work to be done, the transformation of character to be effected, the time remaining is but too brief a span.”

“Believe in Jehovah your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.”

Spiritualism’s New Phase

By W. A. S.

TRUE to the early prediction of the spirit of prophecy, Spiritualism, which at first had so little profession of godliness in its platform, has in recent years assumed a more refined and religious phase. Not long since the Washington police authorities took steps to protect the public from the commercialism of some of the clairvoyants and spiritualistic mediums advertising in the metropolis. The incident brought out a defense of the new Spiritualism from one medium, who wrote as follows to the Washington Post:—

“Spiritualism means to us a scientific religion. We are not a godless people. I was for many years an enthusiastic worker with the Baptist denomination, but I did not learn to reverence God as I have since I became a Spiritualist. As a society, we teach righteousness of life, right living in all ways, in accord with God’s laws, thus seeking to build God’s kingdom on earth, in the hearts and expressed in the lives of his children.”

The words are all for God and for righteousness, and yet we know it is the voice of a stranger and not of the true shepherd. Here is where the delusions of the last days will have their power. Yet with every art, the evil one shall not be able so to disguise his voice that the true sheep may not know that a stranger is calling them. But it means that the sheep must press closely to the Master, and become familiar with his voice.

W. A. S.

Into All the World

The command of our Leader is, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation.” There is no exception in this command. No country is so remote, no nation is so highly educated, and no people is so degraded that it is not included in this great commission. Jesus knew the world. He knew its need. He knew that no man, high or low, rich or poor, could save himself. He has given us his own picture of the world’s condition:—

“There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none that understandeth, There is none that seeketh after God; They have all turned aside, they are together become unprofitable; There is none that doeth good, no, not so much as one: Their throat is an open sepulcher; With their tongues they have used deceit; The poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

And yet God loved and loves the wicked world. Jesus loved and loves sinners, and he became the Saviour of sinners. To save his people from their sins he gave himself. He left a throne of glory to share the woes of humanity, and to bring salvation to those who were without hope and without God in the world. He paid an infinite price, sufficient to redeem every soul, and he desires that every soul should know of the good news. So long has the gracious invitation been extended, that some have charged the Lord with forgetfulness concerning his purpose to bring probation to a close by coming to gather his people home, but “the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness; but is long-suffering to youward, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” He still waits for the last warning message to be given to all the world. He still repeats his command, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation.”

Until this command is obeyed, the Lord will not come the second time. “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations; and then shall the end come.” This is not an arbitrary decree, but rather a statement of cause and effect. It is the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom which brings the end. And in the last generation “the everlasting gospel,” the proclamation of the setting up of the everlasting kingdom which shall stand forever, must go to every people, in order that not one individual may be able to say in the day of his appearing, “I never heard about his coming.” “God’s people have a mighty work before them, a work that must continually rise to greater prominence. Our efforts in missionary lines must become far more extensive. A more decided work than has been done must be done prior to the second appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. God’s people are not to cease their labors until they shall encircle the world.”

“The vineyard includes the whole world, and every part of it is to be worked. There are places which are now a moral wilderness, and these places are to become as the garden of the Lord. The waste places of the earth are to be cultivated, that they may bud and blossom as the rose. New territories are to be worked by men inspired by the Holy Spirit. New churches must be established, new congregations organized. At this time there should be representatives of present truth in every city, and in the remote parts of the earth. The whole earth is to be illuminated with the glory of God’s truth. The light is to shine to all lands and all peoples. And it is from those who have received the light that it is to shine forth. The day-star has risen upon us, and we are to flash its light upon the pathway of those in darkness.”

“A crisis is right upon us. We must now by the Holy Spirit’s power proclaim the great truths for these last days. It will not be long before every one will have heard the warning, and made his decision. Then shall the end come.” It will come in this generation. There is danger that the work near at hand should so occupy our minds that we should forget “the regions beyond.” However great may be the needs which we see, there are just as great needs in other places. Conferences with twenty to fifty workers, and with only a few hundred thousand people within their limits, should remember the weaker conferences both in this country and abroad. Some of our fellow laborers are struggling under the greatest difficulties and embarrassments, trying to do their part in obeying our Leader’s command. One conference president writes: “One reason why we have not reported to the REVIEW more than we have is because of the peculiar situation in which our work has been placed. We do not want to be continually talking of our poverty and begging for means, and yet if we should relate the facts as they actually exist in our conference to-day, it could be interpreted in no other way than as being a pitiful call for assistance and for means to help carry forward our work. . . . During the last month I have preached over thirty sermons besides doing all my other work, and most of these sermons have been preached to congregations who know nothing about the truths connected with the third angel’s message. Last Sunday I preached three times at two different places. It is beyond our power to fill all the calls which are coming to us from every direction, both to preach and to visit. Thus we see that God is giving us the ears of the people. . . . The entire tithe of our conference this year has not enabled us to pay our workers more than an average of three dollars a week since the first of January last. What laborers are to do in the immediate future is beyond my power to divine. Unless assistance shall be given this conference, our workers must suffer, in fact, they are already suffering.”

We need to be reminded that “the field is the world,” and not simply the conference in which we happen to be working. The whole world must have the message, and the Lord will not come until the message is given to the whole world. Every faithful worker is our fellow worker, and is entitled to the same consideration as any other worker. The home work will be done more quickly if we carry on our hearts the burden of the work in other fields. “The home-missionary work will be further advanced in every way when a more liberal, self-denying, self-sacrificing spirit is manifested for the prosperity of foreign missions; for the prosperity of the home work depends largely, under God, upon the reflex influence of the evangelical work done in countries afar off. It is by working actively to supply

the necessities of the cause of God that we bring our souls in touch with the Source of all power.”

The stirring calls from many fields need to come to our ears anew. We need to consider again that millions in various countries are still waiting for this message. We need to lift up our eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already unto harvest. We need to reflect seriously upon the urgent command, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation.” This long-neglected work must now be done. This will prepare the way for the coming of our Lord in glory.

France and the Vatican

By L. A. S.

REGARDING the prospective separation of church and state in France, we note the following statements in a recent issue of The Independent. It appears that papal diplomacy in connection with this contest between the Vatican and the French government, has not been marked by the skill which was characteristic of it in the days of the present pope’s predecessor:—

The action of Premier Combes in recalling M. Nisard, the French ambassador to the Vatican, has been emphatically approved by the Chamber of Deputies by a vote of four hundred and twenty-seven to ninety-five. This is the first time that the government has received such general and enthusiastic support from all parties from the Conservative to the Socialist, so the maladroit note of Mgr. Merry del Val has resulted in strengthening the position of the chief enemies of ecclesiastical power. The demand of the radical Socialists for the revocation of the concordat and the immediate withdrawal of all representation at the Vatican was rejected in compliance with the wishes of M. Combes, who stated, however, that several plans for the separation of church and state were under consideration, and that the matter could be brought up after the passage of the budget next January. The position of the cabinet is thus stated by the premier:—

“We will not allow the papacy to intermeddle in our international relations, and we intend to have done once for all with the superannuated fiction of temporal power, which disappeared thirty-four years ago. We will not withdraw the whole staff accredited to the Vatican, as we are bound by the concordat to maintain at the Vatican an agent of our government for carrying on business. Some speakers urge us to denounce the concordat without delay, but such a serious step should be preceded by measures guaranteeing the republican state against the political risks which would be entailed by such a radical change in its legislation and habits.”

The committee on the separation of church and state has formulated a law providing for the abolition of the concordat and the disposal of the church property, which begins with the following words:—

“The republic assures freedom of conscience, and it guarantees the free that exercise of religion without restriction, except for the preservation of public order. The republic will neither protect nor pay salaries nor subventions under any form whatever to any denomination. It will not recognize any minister of religion, and will not furnish any building for the service of any denomination or for the lodging of any of its ministers.”

The papal nuncio at Paris, Mgr. Lorenzelli, has not been withdrawn, although it is reported that he may be made a cardinal at a consistory to be held in July, and his post left vacant. The statement published in the official organ of the Vatican, the Osservatore Romano, asserts that Cardinal Merry del Val did not refuse to answer the question of M. Nisard as to whether the text of the papal note, as published in Humanite, was correct, but only postponed his reply for further consideration. In the Italian Chamber of Deputies the Republicans, Radicals, and Socialists denounced the note to the powers as an insult to Italy and her king. In reply Premier Giolitti said that the note had, of course, not been sent to the Italian government, and that France had answered it as she thought best. Italy has no fear of the foreign congregations, as she has laws to protect herself, and if these are insufficient, new ones can be made. The state and church must be as two parallel lines which never meet; both must enjoy liberty.

Through the French premier God is sending light to the nations of Europe touching the gospel principle of the separation of religion from the civil power.

L. A. S.

“The New East”

UNDER this title The Outlook (New York) prints an editorial which is suggestive of new elements which are entering into the far Eastern question. It will certainly stimulate serious thinking on the part of those who are considering these nations and their immediate future from the prophetic standpoint. We copy the following paragraphs:—

Without being able to define the changes which it will bring to the modern world, it is quite evident that the impression prevails throughout Europe that the war between Japan and Russia is almost certain to be epoch-making in its results. A significant change has already come over the discussion of the far Eastern situation by the English and Continental press. For many decades Europe has thought of the East as a territory to be opened up and exploited by the West. It has been taken for granted that the wish and power of the East might be left out of the account; they were not factors that needed to be dealt with. The only factors in the situation to be considered by statesmen and diplomatists were the feelings and attitude of the great powers toward one another in the acquisition either of influence or of territory. It has apparently not occurred to the directors of the great forces of Europe for many decades past that India, China, Japan, Persia, Afghanistan, or Burma had any rights which a Western nation was bound to respect. Certain duties almost every Western nation recognized. The English have felt the necessity of giving India and Egypt capable, effective, and honest administration, not because Egypt or India had a right to such government, but because the English conscience demanded it.

Wherever Russia has gone in the East, she has given precisely the kind of government which she thought best adapted for the people. Being herself semi-Oriental, she has been a kind of middle term between the East and the West, mediating in a certain sense between two radically different temperaments, and using either Eastern or Western methods as best suited her purposes; but it is doubtful whether it has ever occurred to any Russian statesman that China, Japan, or Afghanistan had any rights which Russia was bound to respect. Even at this moment, when a new idea in regard to the future condition of things in the East has begun to define itself in the minds of the Western world, newspaper discussion in England and on the Continent still concerns itself with the question of the readjustment of relations between the great powers; the prime problem being, apparently, not what will the East do or think or be, but how will Russia, Germany, and England stand related to one another in the inevitable changes which are already taking place.

It is too early, and it would be extremely hazardous, to venture any prediction as to the final results of the war; but if, as seems probable, Japan is to emerge from the struggle with greatly added prestige, is to keep Korea from falling into the hands of Russia, and to preserve in consequence the integrity of China, it is quite clear that new forces have entered in the field of world-politics, and that new powers must be reckoned with. Pitt is reported to have said, when the return of Napoleon from Elba was reported to him, “You may roll up the map of Europe;” it is quite certain that the present map of the East will, in the coming few years, receive very important modifications. The great powers will no longer be able to deal with the East as a passive body; they must reckon with it as they reckon with one another. This does not mean that China is to be at once an aggressive power, that India is to expel the English, that Tonquin is to rid itself of the French; but it does mean that the East is fast coming to a consciousness of a certain unity of interest between the different great sections of the Orient, and to a dim perception of its power, if that power can be trained and organized. In Japan, the protagonist in the present act of the great drama, the East has found an executive nation; the one people, so far, in the Orient who are able not only to think, but to act—not only to feel, but to do. Japan is to-day one of the most thoroughly and highly organized countries in the world; it is doubtful whether there is in any other country such unanimity of opinion, such passionate devotion to the ruler, such eagerness to die for the sake of the country. Every particle of power, every kind of resource which Japan contains, is at the hand of the government, ready for use in a struggle which the Japanese believe to be a life-and-death fight for their independence. Out of this war Japan is likely to emerge as a power of at least the second order, sufficiently strong to command respect and to compel considerate dealing on the part of other powers. That under her leadership China may be re-organized, and become a new force in the world, is highly probable.

Satolli’s Mission to Washington

FOR some time press reports have announced the coming visit to the United States of Cardinal Satolli, who was prominent some years ago as an emissary of the papacy in this country. Various reasons have been assigned for the cardinal’s return at this time, representing his coming visit as an unofficial one; but the true reason, according to a statement given out at Washington, is one of deep political significance. In a press dispatch of June 6 it is stated:—

A prominent Washington ecclesiastic by far whose authority is unquestioned, asserted to-day that his true mission is an endeavor, to establish diplomatic relations with the United States, in order to establish a nunciature in Washington.

To this it is added:—

It is supposed that he counts upon Archbishop Ireland, of St. Paul, and upon Mgr. O’Connell, rector of the Catholic University, to aid him in the enterprise. If it succeeds, the prestige attaching to Satolli will be so great as materially to strengthen his chances for the papacy.

In the event of his success, Archbishop Ireland would receive his red hat, and Mgr. O’Connell would be nominated as the first nuncio accredited from the Vatican court to the United States government.

THUS does Rome pursue her cherished project of securing the establishment of a papal nuncio at Washington, which would mean the recognition by this government of papal sovereignty. It is the abolition of such relationship with the Vatican that is now contemplated by the government of France. France and other Catholic countries which are now drawing away from Rome have been made wise by experience, and it would be well for the United States to take heed to their example.

Protestants Moving Romeward

AMONG the signs of the times which are prominent to-day in the religious world, is to be noted the marked lessening of Protestant hostility to the doctrines of Rome. An incident illustrative of this occurred at the recent session of the Methodist General Conference at Los Angeles, Cal., when an attack upon Catholicism by the Rev. J. M. King was sharply opposed by eminent Methodists present. Commenting on this incident, the Boston Transcript observes:—

Like action [against opposition to Rome] led by Mr. Butler, of East Weymouth, was taken at the recent meeting of the Southern New England Conference. The same spirit was seen in the decision of the Presbyterian Church North, when it recently excised from its standards of faith denunciation of the pope as Antichrist. It was shown in the generous comments of the Protestant press of Christendom after the death of Pope Leo XIII. It is seen in the recent large gift by a Protestant toward the building of a Roman Catholic cathedral in St. Paul, Minn. It is conspicuously evident in Harvard’s present course of lectures by an eminent French Catholic on “Religion and Democracy.”

What gives this feature of present-day Protestantism its significance is the fact that it is not due to any change on the part of Rome, which remains to-day what it always has been. Rome is not moving toward Protestantism, but Protestants are moving Romeward. This indicates the loss on their part of that which led Protestants out of Rome in the days of the Reformation, which was their belief in the doctrine of salvation by faith. But the attitude which Protestants are now assuming necessarily results from a rejection of the truths of the third angel’s message, which is Luther’s message of salvation by faith in the fulness of the light which shines at this time from the Word of God.

Note and Comment

THE Rev. Charles Cuthbert Hall, president of Union Theological Seminary of New York City, recently in an address before the Religious Educational Association of Chicago spoke of the moral deterioration of the times as a fact painfully apparent in American life. He said: “It is a matter of consternation and deep concern to us that the moral standard of American life is deteriorating. Religion seems to have no place with us in our everyday life. I know from observation that religion has little, if any, part in our American civilization to-day. Our home life is not what it should be, and it is not to be wondered at when we realize the general apathy of the people as regards their spiritual welfare.”

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