Review and Herald, Vol. 85, No. 7. (2/13/1908)

Review and Herald

Feb 13, 1908

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 13, 1908

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Seer of Patmos

A STUDY on the book of The Revelation, and an interpretation of the prophecies of this scripture, clearly citing the evidences by which it may be known that the Lord's coming is to be witnessed in this generation; giving the work of the United States of America and the part it is to have in connection with this great event; revealing the triumph of the church over the powers of darkness, and containing a thorough study of the entire sanctuary question, which forms the basis of the third angel's message — one of the most essential topics to study at this particular time.

The book is bound in two substantial bindings; viz., half cloth, $1.25; full cloth, with gold stamp, $1.50.

Testimonies Bearing Directly upon the Sabbath-School Work

A book of 128 pages, being a compilation of Testimonies pertaining to the Sabbath-school work, arranged by the executive committee of the International Sabbath-school Association.

These Testimonies were selected and arranged in a convenient form for the benefit of the large force of Sabbath-school workers who desire to study this important branch of our work, and to become more proficient in it.

The Testimonies are arranged in chronological order as far as possible, giving first place to those written first. It has a complete alphabetical index which will render the contents readily accessible, and will enable the worker readily to refer to any particular statement made in the Testimonies upon any topic treated.

The following table of contents will reveal the fact that practically every feature of the Sabbath-school work is covered in these selections from the Testimonies:— The Sabbath-school and the Church Service; The Use of Helps; Search the Scriptures; Sabbath-school Duties in the Camp-meeting and at Home; To Superintendents and Teachers; Sabbath-school Influences; Possibilities in Sabbath-school Work; Responsibilities of Parents and Teachers; Need of Genuine Religion in Our Sabbath-schools; Co-operation with Christ; The Object of Sabbath-school Work; Heart Work in Sabbath-school Teachers and Scholars; The Teacher Must Be a Learner; The Spirit of Investigation Essential; What It Means to Be a Laborer with God; The All-important Lesson; Need of Consecrated Teachers; Christ Our Example; Treatment of Erring Pupils; Qualifications of Teachers; Safety in Following Christ; Fresh Themes to Be Presented; To Teachers; Danger of Formalism; Holy Spirit Essential to Success; Consecration of Teachers; Safeguarding the Children; Love the Constraining Power; God's Manner of Imparting Knowledge; Fragments.

An edition of this book is now being printed, and will be ready in about 30 days. Orders can be sent in now, and the books will be mailed as early as possible.

Bound in limp cloth ..... $.25 Limp leather ............ .30

The Great Second Advent Movement

A Book Essential to All Believers, and Especially Commended to the Readers of the Review

It is a revision and enlargement of the book well known throughout the denomination as “Rise and Progress.” It accurately cites the progress of the Adventist denomination from its beginning to the present time. It strengthens the faith and confidence of all its readers. It clearly portrays the dealings of God with the Adventist people and the message they are giving. It contains conclusive evidence that this great advent movement was heaven appointed, and is inspired of heaven for the special purpose of preparing the world for the second coming of Christ. No reader of the REVIEW should be without this book. It ought to be on the reading-table of every Adventist home. It will be a very profitable book for the young people to read in connection with the Missionary Volunteer Reading Course. It is one of the great books which all our young people should study. It will bring to them an inspiration in church and denominational work that no other book can possibly impart. Bound in plain cloth, price, $1.25, post-paid.

Early Writings

Workers’ Edition

A NEW edition of this important book has been printed on thin paper, and is bound in three styles of binding,—pamphlet, or paper cover, for general circulation, and two styles of limp leather for the special use of workers who have occasion to carry the book with them.

In the leather binding, it makes a very neat and durable book of only 5 inches in width, 7 inches in length, and ½ inch thick. It has round corners, and is in every respect a very neat and convenient size for workers.

Pamphlet, paper covers .......... $.35 Flexible leather, stained edges .... 1.25 Flexible morocco, gilt edges ..... 1.50 Regular thick paper edition, cloth bound, plain edges ............ .75

The Law of God as Changed by the Papacy

EVERY family that has children growing up could do them no better or more lasting service than to hang up, in some appropriate place where the children can see them as they come and go, “The Law Chart” containing the ten commandments as God gave them, and the chart containing the commandments as changed by the papacy. By these charts, hanging side by side, the children would be constantly reminded of the sacredness of the Sabbath, its binding obligations, and also the source of the authority for the substituted day. The charts would also be object-lessons to all who come into the home,—silent, yet effective witnesses for God and his down-trodden law and broken Sabbath.

Both charts are printed on strong muslin, with large type, in size and style about the same, 36 x 45 inches. Sent, post-paid, $1 each.

My Garden Neighbors.

THIS wonderful little book has recently been brought out in an entirely new dress. It is not only neat in appearance, but very helpful in contents. One of the best books published for boys to read. It gives true stories of certain birds and animals and other creatures that made their homes in the author's garden. It is intended first of all to reveal some of the wonderful and interesting things that are happening daily at our very doors, and to cultivate a closer observation of, and a greater love for, the things of nature, and through them to lead our minds to the Creator. The book is filled with moral lessons. No boy or girl can read it without being greatly benefited. It contains 256 pages, and is nicely illustrated with drawings made especially for the book. Price, $1.

Special Offer

For four new annual subscriptions for the Instructor, one of which may be the sender's, we will mail free a copy of this beautiful book, “My Garden Neighbors,” or we will send the book and the Instructor one year to one new subscriber for $1.50. In foreign fields we will supply the Instructor and the book for $2, post-paid.

Bell's Guide to Correct Language

WHY use poor English? Why not learn to write intelligibly? Who has ever left a better reputation as teacher of the English language than Prof. G. H. Bell, author of “Guide to Correct Language”? His pupils’ success wherever they may be found is sufficient guarantee for his book, “Practical Guide.” It is written in three parts.

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Part III: The Use of Capitals,—one of the most difficult problems in connection with the use of the English language, yet rendered simple and plain in “Practical Guide.”

This text-book is written especially as a ready reference book, designed for the use of all classes of people. It contains many facts that everybody wishes to know. It will be a benefit to all. Substantially bound in cloth, 50 cents, post-paid.

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Editorial

By Editor

The Demand for Authority

THE general departure of the leaders of Protestantism from the old and fundamental truths of the gospel is preparing the way for the revival of Roman Catholicism. This is one of the signs of the times. Those who read the prophecies aright are not surprised at this development, as it is one of the indications of the nearness of the end.

OUR attention has been called very definitely to this significant tendency, by an article in the January number of the North American Review, written by Archbishop Ireland, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of St. Paul. From this article we take the following paragraph:—

How great the need of the papacy in the Christian world is evidenced to-day as, perhaps, never before during its history. Outside the fold over which the papacy presides, there are people, there are ministers; but what of the sacred truths, the teaching of which is so imperiously commanded by the Lord—“Teaching all things, whatsoever I have commanded you”? Adolph Harnack speaks for a large section of Protestantism when he reduces Christianity to the “Fatherhood of God.” Where something more of the olden doctrines yet remains, how timid often and uncertain is the voice of him who proclaims them! And when, here and there, the earnest and sincere echoes of a conservative pulpit still recall the incarnation, the virginal birth of Christ, the redemption, the resurrection, a cruel denial is heard near by, going forth from the neighboring pulpits within the same religious communion. The mockery of Christian faith is the boast of so many churches, separated from Rome, that theirs is a latitudinarianism which cloaks all beliefs and all denials. Nor is there remedy within reach. There is no authority—from the very principles of Protestantism there can be none—to which all must listen, which all must obey. The “Reformation” of the sixteenth century refused to hold to the “rock” upon which Christ has built; abandoning it, they built on the sand, and the edifice they raised has crumbled into ruins.

This statement of the situation by a prominent Roman Catholic contains much food for thought. It indicates a clear perception of the present crisis in Protestantism and of its probable downfall. It ascribes a reason for this outcome, which is not only plausible, but convincing. It sounds a pessimistic note concerning the future, declaring that there is no remedy, but basing this declaration upon an unsound interpretation of the true principles of Protestantism. It suggests what will appear to many, and to more and more in the future, as the only hope of certainty amid all the uncertainty of interpretation and teaching—the authority of the so-called infallible church.

It is true that there is among professed Protestants of to-day a denial of nearly every fundamental doctrine of the original gospel of Christ, and a confusion of voices which may properly entitle them to be designated as Babylon, but this is not due to the failure of Protestant principles, but rather to the departure from those principles. What are the original Protestant principles? Let D’Aubigné, the historian of the Reformation, answer:—

The principles contained in this celebrated protest of the 19th of April, 1529, constitute the very essence of Protestantism. Now this protest opposes two abuses of man in matters of faith: the first is the intrusion of the civil magistrate, and the second the arbitrary authority of the church. Instead of these abuses, Protestantism sets the power of conscience above the magistrate, and the authority of the Word of God above the visible church.

If these principles, which were exemplified in the apostolic church, had been followed in the succeeding centuries, the pages of history would not have contained the record of apostasy from the truth and the use of the civil power to punish heretics; and such an organization as the papacy would never have been known. The original Reformers did not build “on the sand,” but upon solid rock. The ruin threatens because the successors of the Reformers have not maintained the original foundation, but have themselves been substituting sand for rock. Instead of protesting against the intrusion of the civil magistrate, professed Protestants have been foremost in demanding that religious observances and religious institutions should be enforced by law, and they are to-day uniting with Roman Catholics in this very work. In doing this they have abandoned the Protestant ground, and have gone back to papal ground. If this contributes to their failure, the responsibility for such failure can not be made to rest upon Protestant principles.

Again: the present departure from fundamental gospel truths is due to the departure from the second principle of Protestantism—that the authority of the Word of God is above the authority of the visible church. The turning point in this experience was in the early days of this advent movement. Then the plain teachings of the Word of God were appealed to in order to show that the coming of the Lord was near. Instead of yielding to the authority of the Word, in harmony with the Protestant principle, many of the leaders of religious thought turned to the creeds and the commentators,—the voice of the visible church,—and adopted principles of interpretation which enabled them to make void the plain teachings of the Scriptures. The seed was then sown for the harvest which is now being reaped. Then the coming of Christ at some time in the future was not denied, but the message of the near advent was rejected. The principle of interpretation then adopted has now been followed to the logical result in the denial of the second advent at any time. In like manner the virgin birth, the miracles, the resurrection, and the atoning work of Jesus have all been denied, and human philosophy has been substituted for the gospel of Christ. But all this is the direct result of following Roman Catholic principles rather than of following Protestant principles. The difference in the application is this: in the Roman Catholic Church, all follow the mind of one man, and so maintain the appearance of an outward unity, since all agree to the same errors; in the departure from Protestant principles, each teacher has been its own pope, with the result that all have fallen into errors and into many different kinds of errors, so that

there is no outward appearance of unity; and as there is no longer any recognized authority, there is no probability of again securing even the outward appearance of unity. The final outcome is the same whether all are united in believing the same errors which are promulgated by the authority of the visible organization claiming to be the only true church, or whether there is a confusion of errors with no authority with which to enforce obedience to any of them. In neither case is the true Protestant principle exemplified.

While the Roman Catholic archbishop makes a good argument, it is an argument which really tells as much against Roman Catholicism as against apostate Protestantism. Both have departed from the truths of God’s Word, and both make reform hopeless so long as they insist upon the authority of the human mind as above the authority of the Word of God, whether that mind be expressed by a pope on the Tiber or by a pope in every theologian’s study.

But is there no provision for an authoritative voice in the church? Is there no guide which will keep the believers in the right path?—Most certainly. The church has not been left to the frailty of merely human judgment. Here is the original promise: “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the truth.” And it is further declared: “And he gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ: till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we may be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error.” The same Spirit which is the organizing power and the life in the church is also the teaching authority in the church, and in order to make this effective God has placed the gifts of the Spirit in the church. It is through the operation of these gifts that he will cause believers to “attain unto the unity of the faith.” And in the interpretation of the Word of God the voice of the living prophet will guide, when necessary, to a right understanding of the writings of the prophets of the olden time. This is the experience which the church will have when following implicitly the instruction of the Word of God, instead of accepting tradition or a merely human voice.

Having shut away from the church, so far as such a thing is within human power, the true voice of authority in the church, and having substituted therefor its own voice, the papacy now invites apostate Protestantism to find authority for a visible unity in the Roman Catholic Church, and many will doubtless respond to the invitation, but only to substitute one error for another. Is there “the need of the papacy in the Christian world” to-day? There is need of the voice of authority to guide the perplexed out of the mazes of error, but that voice should be the voice of the true Shepherd speaking through his appointed mouthpieces, not chosen by cardinals, but by the gift of the Spirit. There is no other movement which can meet this demand for authority, in harmony with the Word of God and the true principles of Protestantism except this great advent movement and the proclamation of the third angel’s message. Let it be proclaimed in all the world “in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”

A Memorial to Congress

By A. G. DANIELLS; W. A. SPICER

[On January 29 there was introduced in both houses of Congress the memorial which we give below.—ED.]

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives in Congress Assembled:

Your memorialists respectfully represent that the body of Christian believers with which they are connected, the Seventh-day Adventists, and whose views they represent, has a growing membership residing in every State and Territory in the Union; that nearly all these members are native-born American citizens; and that it is supporting missionaries and has a following in every continent of the world. It is a Protestant body, which was established in this country about sixty years ago.

We recognize the authority and dignity of the American Congress, as being the highest lawmaking power in the land, to whose guidance and fostering care have been committed the manifold interests of this great country; and our justification for presenting this memorial to your honorable body is that we are not seeking to direct your attention to any private or class concerns, but to principles which are fundamental to the stability and prosperity of the whole nation. We therefore earnestly ask your consideration of the representation which we herewith submit.

We believe in civil government as having been divinely ordained for the preservation of the peace of society, and for the protection of all citizens in the enjoyment of those inalienable rights which are the highest gift to man from the Creator. We regard properly constituted civil authority as supreme in the sphere in which it is legitimately exercised, and we conceive its proper concern to be 'the happiness and protection of men in the present state of existence; the security of the life, liberty, and property of the citizens; and to restrain the vicious and encourage the virtuous by wholesome laws, equally extending to every individual.' As law-abiding citizens, we seek to maintain that respect for authority which is the most effective bulwark of just government, and which is especially necessary for the maintenance of republican institutions upon an enduring basis.

We heartily profess the Christian faith, and have no higher ambition than that we may consistently exemplify its principles in our relations to our fellow men and to the common Father of us all. We cheerfully devote our time, our energies, and our means to the evangelization of the world, proclaiming those primitive principles and doctrines of the gospel which were interpreted anew to mankind by the Saviour of the world, and which were the fundamental truths maintained by the church in apostolic times. We regard the Holy Scriptures as the sufficient and infallible rule of faith and practise, and consequently discard as binding and essential all teachings and rituals which rest merely upon tradition and custom.

While we feel constrained to yield to the claims of civil government and religion, as both being of divine origin, we believe their spheres to be quite distinct the one from the other, and that the stability of the republic and the highest welfare of all citizens demand the complete separation of church and state. The legitimate purposes of government 'of the people, by the people, and for the people,' are clearly defined in the preamble of the national Constitution to be to 'establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty' to all. All these aims are of a temporal nature, and grow out of the relations of man to man. The founders of the nation, recognizing that 'the duty which we owe our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can only be directed by reason and conviction, and is nowhere cognizable but at the tribunal of the universal Judge,' wisely excluded religion from the concerns of civil government, not because of their indifference to its value, but because, being primarily a matter of the heart and conscience, it did not come within the jurisdiction of human laws or civil compacts. The recognition of the freedom of the mind of man and the policy of leaving the conscience untrammeled by legislative enactments

have been abundantly justified by a record of national development and prosperity which is unparalleled in history. This is the testimony of our own experience to the wisdom embodied in the principle enunciated by the divine Teacher of Christianity: 'Render to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, and to God the things that are God's.'

We, therefore, view with alarm the first indication of a departure from this sound principle. In the history of other nations of the world, where church and state have been united to a greater or less degree, or where the struggle to separate them is now in progress, we have a warning, ofttimes written in blood, against the violation of this doctrine which lies at the foundation of civil and religious liberty. We affirm that it is inconsistent with sound reasoning to profess firm adherence to this principle of the separation of church and state, and at the same time endeavor to secure an alliance between religion and the state, since the church is simply religion in its organized and concrete expression; and, furthermore, that the same authority which can distinguish between the different religions demanding recognition, and give preference to one to the exclusion of the others, can with equal right and equal facility distinguish between the different denominations or factions of the same religion, and dispense to one advantages which it denies to the others. These considerations ought to make it doubly clear that what God has put asunder, man ought not to attempt to join together.

A more specific reference to an important period of history may illustrate and enforce the affirmations herein set forth. Under a complete union of a heathen religion and the state, with extreme pains and penalties for dissenters, the first disciples, directed by the divine commission, proclaimed the doctrines of Christianity throughout the Roman empire. For nearly three centuries the warfare of suppression and extinction was waged by this haughty power, glorying in the superiority of its own religion, against non-resistant but unyielding adherents to the right to worship according to the dictates of their own consciences. Then came a reversal of the unsuccessful policy, and what former emperors had vainly sought to destroy, Constantine as a matter of governmental expediency embraced, and Christianity became the favored religion.

Then began that period of 'indescribable hypocrisy' in religion, and of sycophancy and abuse of power in the state. 'The apparent identification of the state and the church by the adoption of Christianity as the religion of the empire, altogether confounded the limits of ecclesiastical and temporal jurisdiction. The dominant party, when it could obtain the support of the civil power for the execution of its intolerant edicts, was blind to the dangerous and unchristian principle which it tended to establish. . . . Christianity, which had so nobly asserted its independence of thought and faith in the face of heathen emperors, threw down that independence at the foot of the throne, in order that it might forcibly extirpate the remains of paganism, and compel an absolute uniformity of Christian faith.'—Milman.

'To the reign of Constantine the Great must be referred the commencement of those dark and dismal times which oppressed Europe for a thousand years. . . . An ambitious man had attained to imperial power by personating the interests of a rapidly growing party. The unavoidable consequences were a union between church and state; a diverting of the dangerous classes from civil to ecclesiastical paths, and the decay and materialization of religion.'—Draper. Succeeding decades bore testimony to the fact that 'the state which seeks to advance Christianity by the worldly means at its command, may be the occasion of more injury to this holy cause than the earthly power which opposes it with whatever virulence.'—Neander.

It was but a series of logical steps from the union of church and state under Constantine to the Dark Ages and the Inquisition, some of these steps being the settlement of theological controversies by the civil power, the preference of one sect over another, and the prohibition of unauthorized forms of belief and practise; and the adoption of the unchristian principle that 'it was right to compel men to believe what the majority of society had now accepted as the truth, and, if they refused, it was right to punish them.'

All this terrible record, the horror of which is not lessened nor effaced by the lapse of time, is but the inevitable fruit of the acceptance of the unchristian and un-American doctrine, so inimical to the interests of both the church and the state, that an alliance between religion and civil government is advantageous to either. If the pages of history emphasize one lesson above another, it is the sentiment uttered on a memorable occasion by a former president of this republic: 'Keep the church and state forever separate.'

The American colonists, who had lived in the mother country under a union of the state and a religion which they did not profess, established on these shores colonial governments under which there was the closest union between the state and the religion which they did profess. The freedom of conscience which had been denied to them

in the old country, they denied to others in the new country; and uniformity of faith, church attendance, and the support of the clergy were enforced by laws which arouse righteous indignation in the minds of liberty-loving men of this century. The pages of early American history are stained with the shameful record of the persecution which must always attend the attempt to compel the conscience by enforcing religious observances. The Baptists were banished, the Quakers were whipped, good men were fined, or exposed to public contempt in the stocks, and cruel and barbarous punishments were inflicted upon those whose only crime was that they did not conform to the religion professed by the majority and enforced by the colonial laws. And all these outrages were committed in the name of justice, as penalties for the violation of civil laws. 'This was the justification they pleaded, and it was the best they could make. Miserable excuse! But just so it is: wherever there is such a union of church and state, heresy and heretical practises are apt to become violations of the civil code, and are punished no longer as errors in religion, but as infractions of the laws of the land.'—Baird. Thus did the American colonies pattern after the governments of the Old World, and thus was religious persecution transplanted to the New World.

We respectfully urge upon the attention of your honorable body the change which was made when the national government was established. The men of those times learned the meaning and value of liberty not only of the body, but also of the mind, and 'vindicating the right of individuality even in religion, and in religion above all, the new nation dared to set the example of accepting in its relations to God the principle first divinely ordained of God in Judea.'—Bancroft. Warned by the disastrous results of religious establishments in both the Old and the New World, these wise builders of state excluded religion from the sphere of the national government in the express prohibition, 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.' Thus they founded a nation—the first in all history—upon the Christian idea of civil government,—the separation of church and state. And the century and more of liberty and prosperity which has crowned their efforts, and the widespread influence for good which the example of this nation has exerted upon the world at large in leading the way toward freedom from the bondage of religious despotisms and ecclesiastical tyrannies, has demonstrated the wisdom of their course. The 'new order of things' to which testimony is borne on the reverse side

of the Great Seal of the United States, introduced an era of both civil and religious liberty which has been marked by blessings many and great both to the nation and to religion.

We are moved to present this memorial, however, because of the persistent and organized efforts which are being made to secure from Congress such legislation as will commit the national government to a violation of this great principle, and to the enforcement of a religious institution. Already there have been introduced during the present session of Congress five bills of this nature:—

S. 1519, 'A BILL to prevent Sunday banking in post-offices in the handling of money-orders and registered letters.'

H. R. 4897, 'A BILL to further protect the first day of the week as a day of rest in the District of Columbia.'

H. R. 4929, 'A BILL prohibiting labor on buildings, and so forth, in the District of Columbia on the sabbath day.'

H. R. 13,471, 'A BILL prohibiting work in the District of Columbia on the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday.'

S. 3940, 'A BILL requiring certain places of business in the District of Columbia to be closed on Sunday.'

While a merely cursory reading of the titles of these bills may not indicate clearly their full significance, we affirm that an examination of their provisions will reveal the fact that they involve the vital principle of the relation of government to religion. Their passage would mark the first step on the part of the national government in the path of religious legislation—a path which leads inevitably to religious persecution. If government may by law settle one religious controversy and enforce one religious institution, it may logically settle all religious controversies and enforce all religious institutions, which would be the complete union of church and state and an established religion. We seek to avoid the consequences by denying the principle. We are assured that the only certain way to avoid taking the last step in this dangerous experiment upon our liberties is to refuse to take the first step.

We hold it to be the duty of civil government to protect every citizen in his right to believe or not to believe, to worship or not to worship, so long as in the exercise of this right he does not interfere with the rights of others; but 'to pretend to a dominion over the conscience is to usurp the prerogative of God.' However desirable it may seem to us who profess the Christian faith to use the power of government to compel at least an outward respect for Christian institutions and practises, yet it is contrary to the very genius of Christianity to enforce its doctrines or to forge shackles of any sort for the mind.

The holy Author of our religion recognized this great principle in these words: 'If any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not.' The triumphs of the gospel are to be won by spiritual, rather than by temporal, power; and compulsion may be properly employed only to make men civil.

Therefore, in the interest of the nation, whose prosperity we seek; in the interest of pure religion, for whose advancement we labor; in the interest of all classes of citizens whose rights are involved; in the interest of a world-wide liberty of conscience, which will be affected by the example of this nation; in the interest even of those who are urging this legislation, who are thereby forging fetters for themselves as well as for others, we earnestly petition the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives in Congress assembled, not to enact any religious legislation of any kind whatsoever, and particularly not to pass the bills to which reference has been made in this memorial. And for these objects your memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray.

THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS: [Signed] A. G. DANIELLS, Pres.; W. A. SPICER, Sec.

Another Special Providence

By William A. Spicer

THE last India mail brought most interesting information. For a long time we have been hearing of Tamil-speaking Christians, in South India, observing the Sabbath. At last it has been found possible to visit them, Brethren Shaw, Enoch, and James being the party to make the visit.

In letters from these brethren they report themselves pleased and surprised indeed at what they found—a thousand Sabbath-keeping people, earnest and zealous in the truth that they know, and most anxious to have a missionary located among them to teach them further and lead them in service. The brethren felt that Elder Enoch should respond to this call instead of settling on the Bombay side of India as had been planned.

Soon, we are promised, full reports will be sent. The brethren feel that this is another indication that the Lord has many surprises for us as the work moves onward. “He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness.”

Of late these experiences have been coming in our work. In Korea, in Turkestan, in other parts, we have had this experience of seeing the truth planted and bringing forth fruit away beyond our own efforts. So the Lord is leading the work forward. It only increases our responsibility, for at once the call becomes more urgent for helpers and teachers. Truly we live in stirring times.

W. A. S.

God's Assuring Promise

By C. M. S.

THE earth is filled with signs of the impending end. The words of God's messengers have been fulfilled and are fulfilling now in the conditions around us. The hearts of men are “failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth,” just as our Saviour declared they would when they should see the signs that portend the day of earth's calamity. But it is comforting to know that God has promised to preserve those who believe and trust him.

Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, applies to these times of sign-fulfilment the direct promise of the Lord to the faithful, lest fear should be in the hearts of any concerning the ability or willingness of the Lord to save them. After rehearsing the special signs of the last days which the prophet Joel had foretold, he quotes the promise of the Lord through the same prophet as follows: “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Acts 2:21. This is the message of the gospel. It is such a message as Paul and Silas bore to the trembling jailer in these words: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” And the Saviour himself declares that “he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” It is the strength that comes in answer to his call upon God that makes standing, or endurance, possible.

But ever does the Lord stand ready and waiting to be called upon for that help, for that saving power. “Come unto me,” says Christ, “and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” That includes the rest for eternity as well as the rest of soul here amid the perplexities, trials, and persecutions of this present life. “Let him that is athirst come,” says our Saviour; “and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” There is enough of that water to supply every thirsty soul in all this world. There is plenty of strength to make a glorious overcomer of the humblest and weakest soul that has ever come into the world. There is no one too weak to call upon God, and “whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” God has spoken that; therefore there is no reason in the world why we should become fearful or disheartened when we see the signs of our Saviour’s return, even though the earth be filled with calamities that make the hearts of the sinful sick with terror. “Look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” The promises of God are sure, and because they are, we can be sure of eternal salvation if we “call on the name of the Lord,” and “hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.”

C. M. S.

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