Review and Herald, Vol. 85, No. 23. (6/4/1908)

Review and Herald

Jun 4, 1908

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 4, 1908

The Great Advent Movement

By Elder Loughborough

Not Simply a Revision of “Rise and Progress”

What the Author Himself Says About the Book

Elder Loughborough writes:—.

A brother at a large gathering of our people offered some copies of “Great Advent Movement” for sale, and was met with the statement, “We do not wish this book; we have ‘Rise and Progress,’ and this is simply a revision of the former work.”

It is true that in giving the facts concerning the first development of the Advent Movement, and the description of Sister White’s gift, the record is the same. I wish, however, to state:—

1. When I wrote “Rise and Progress,” I could find only the first of the seven volumes of the Midnight Cry; but before writing this book, I had access to the whole seven volumes, and culled from them many new facts.

2. While on my trips in the countries east of the Atlantic, during the years 1896, 1899, and 1900, I had opportunity to collect many additional facts concerning the movement in those countries, not contained in my former book.

3. In the other book the progress of the cause in our institutions, missions, etc., is traced by groups of years. In this book each one, as the publishing work, sanitarium work, school work, and missions, is given a separate chapter.

4. The consideration of the doctrine of the “shut door,” of which our opponents have made so much, is treated and refuted in Chapter XIV. This chapter alone is worth the price of the book to any who have to meet this charge against Sister White.

5. In this book there are traced twenty-two exact fulfilments of predictions made through Sister White. Two chapters, XXIV and XXVII, are devoted to a consideration of some of the most striking of these fulfilments.

Those who wish to keep up to date can not afford to be without “The Great Advent Movement.” It is profusely supplied with sub-headings, and there is a complete index of these in the back, so that at a glance you can locate the desired subject. Much of the space in “Rise and Progress” was taken up with cuts and illustrations; in “Great Advent Movement” this space has been given to reading-matter.

PRICE, ONLY $1.25, POST-PAID

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The True and the Counterfeit Gospel

The subject of the Sabbath-school lesson for June 13—“A Message Against the Beast and His Image”—is an important one, and is worthy of earnest study. It will certainly be impossible to proclaim such a message effectively without an intelligent understanding not only of those truths which lie at the foundation of this second advent movement; but also of the special application of those truths in order that they shall constitute the third angel’s message.

The good news of salvation is developed from one vital principle. This is set forth in the definition of the gospel: “It is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith, as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith.” The perversion of this truth appears in many forms; but nowhere else is the perversion so fully worked out, and so completely systematized, as in the teachings of the papacy. It will not be difficult to understand the reason for this if we remember that the “mystery of iniquity” is a counterfeit gospel, originated by the enemy of truth as a most effective means of satisfying the minds of those who desire to save themselves by their own works. This involves a complete reversal of the way of life as set forth in the Scriptures. According to the revelation therein made, faith in Christ is the thing essential to salvation. The reply of the apostle Paul to the inquiry of the Philippian jailer contains the whole gospel in few words: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” To believe on the Christ set forth in the Scriptures according to the meaning of the Scriptures is to accept the divine plan for the world by giving to the eternal Son of God his true place as the representative of the Father in the control and direction of all things both in heaven and in earth.

Opposed to this divine plan is the ambition of the enemy of God to put himself in the place of the Son, and to bring as many as possible into subjection unto himself. This unlawful ambition has found its most complete expression in the organization and the workings of the papacy. In the symbolic prophecy we find the dragon giving to the beast from the sea “his power, and his throne, and great authority.” We learn that the dragon is “the old serpent, he that is called the devil and Satan,” who revealed himself openly in his effort to overthrow Christianity by using the pagan Roman empire as his agent. When this effort to shut away Christianity from the world had failed, the same end was sought by so perverting the truths of Christianity that while the familiar names and formularies of the gospel were retained, the philosophy of paganism would be substituted for the essential truths of Christianity.

The limits of this article will not permit us to follow the historical development of the papacy, and we can only summarize the leading perversions of truth found in this organization as follows: chiefest of all is the claim that the pope is vicegerent of Christ, the visible head of the church. Next comes the doctrine that tradition is a more clear and more safe guide in religion than the Scriptures, and that the Bible alone is not an infallible guide, nor a sufficient rule of faith and practise. From these two fountainheads of error flows a broad, deep stream of false doctrine, which, taken as a whole, constitutes the counterfeit gospel of Christ.

The rise and working of this wonderful system of error has been clearly foretold in the prophecies; and the preaching of “the everlasting gospel” in preparation for the second coming of Christ, is designed to expose all these perversions of truth by presenting in bold contrast with them the way of salvation revealed in the Scriptures.

As the essential and fundamental truth of the gospel is that Christ, our high priest, “is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through him,” the counterfeit gospel must expressly deny this teaching and present another way of access unto God. The extent to which this had been done is shown by the following extract: “Popery has a god of its own—him, even whom the canon law calls the ‘Lord our God.’ It has a saviour of its own—the church, to wit. It has a sacrifice of its own—the mass. It has a mediator of its own—the priesthood. It has a sanctifier of its own—the sacrament. It has a justification of its own—that even of infused righteousness. It has a pardon of its own—the pardon of the confessional. And it has in the heavens

an infallible, all-prevailing advocate unknown to the gospel—the ‘Mother of God.’ It thus represents to the world a spiritual and saving apparatus for the salvation of men; and yet it neither sanctifies nor saves any one. It looks like a church; it professes to have all that a church ought to have; and yet it is not a church. It is a grand deception—‘the all-deceivableness of unrighteousness.’ Such is the beast after whom the whole world wondered, and whom all that dwell upon the earth shall worship, except those whose names have been written in the book of life.

In direct contrast to this whole system of error is the third angel’s message, the final proclamation of “the everlasting gospel,” which is to expose all perversions of the truth, and to restore the pure teaching of the apostolic church. This message is to give to Christ, the eternal Son, his rightful place as the head of the church, present with his people on earth through his representative the Holy Spirit. This will be the natural and logical result of assigning to him his place as one with the Father, through whom alone the Father revealed himself in the original creation, and through whom, therefore, he reveals himself in redemption, which is the recreation of the soul in the image of God. And as the original Sabbath of the fourth commandment was the sign of the God who thus revealed himself in creation, so in the restoration of the true gospel the same Sabbath will be presented as the sign of re-creation, the sign of sanctification, the sign of righteousness by faith; and instead of faith in the creed of the church and a salvation through works commanded by the church, the message of the true gospel presents faith in the power of Christ to save, and the works of faith as revealed in obedience to the commandments of God, not as the price of salvation but as the fruit of salvation.

There is nothing which has contributed more to the building up of this system of false teaching than the suppression of the truth relating to Christ as our great high priest, and as revealed in the heavenly sanctuary, and substituting therefor that principal service of the Roman Catholic Church designated as the mass. In this service the earthly temple takes the place of the heavenly temple; the earthly priest takes the place of the heavenly; the earthly altar is substituted for the heavenly altar; the earthly sacrifice is presented in place of the heavenly sacrifice; and as a result, forgiveness of sin is based upon the service of the church, rather than upon the ministry of righteousness by the great Head of the church.

In restoring the truth of the gospel, that which has been suppressed by the papacy must be set forth with clearness and fulness, and this can be done only by presenting the atoning sacrifice, and the present ministry, of our Great High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary. This enables us to understand the significance of that light concerning the sanctuary and its services which was the explanation of the great disappointment in 1844, and the molding power which gave shape to the present system of truth.

It is clear, therefore, that the message against the beast and his image will present to the world anew “the everlasting gospel” as set forth through the sanctuary and its services, and that it will be the message of righteousness by faith, in which Christ will be given his true place as the head of the church, the original Sabbath will be restored as a sign of righteousness, and obedience to the commandments of God will be inculcated as the evidence of salvation by faith. It is high time that this message should be given with a loud voice to all the world.

Editorial

By Editor

WHY is the teaching of the Scriptures concerning the second coming of Christ ignored to such an extent by many professed ministers of the Word of God?—Because a false theology has robbed this doctrine of its profound significance. The restoration of a pure gospel will again bring into prominence the blessed hope of the coming of Jesus and the resurrection of the dead. There is need just now of the great second advent movement.

Fellowship with a Personal God

An essential experience for the Christian is personal fellowship with a personal God. Nothing short of this will satisfy the longings of the awakened soul, which was originally created in the image of God. Provision for this is made in the gift of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, the representative of both the Father and the Son. “We will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” Blessed fellowship!

Resting in the Father’s Knowledge

WE miss some of the best things for us in life by failing to accept with a childlike faith the “exceeding great and precious promises” made to us as the outflow of a Father’s love. We may not be able to explain all of God’s dealings with us or to fathom all his purposes, but this responsibility does not rest upon us. “My Father knows,” and we know that he knows, and we can rest in this knowledge. There is no valid excuse for neglecting so great salvation. “Come unto me, . . . and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”

The Rise and Fall of Religious Liberty in America

By C. M. S.

Struggling Toward the Light

UNDER the sway of paganism, pagan and Jew found common victims in the persons of the followers of Christ. He who had given first utterance to the doctrine of soul-freedom must, through centuries to come, witness the struggles and trials and martyrdom of those who sought to practise his teaching, and follow his example.

Then came the Reformation and the legal establishment of certain Protestant churches. But the times were no easier for him who would enjoy for himself, and grant to others “freedom to worship God.” The follower of Christ in the matter of soul-freedom had still two foes,—not now Jew and pagan, but Catholic and Protestant, each taking toll in human lives from those who would worship God “according to the dictates of conscience.”

We saw last week how little came of the edict of Milan and the proclamation to the peoples of the East in the matter of religious freedom. The course entered upon by Constans and Constantius after the death of their father put the Christian church on the throne of Europe, and placed a ban upon freedom of worship for pagan and Christian alike. It took heroic men and women in those days to worship God in any way other than that prescribed by the state. In proof of this, note the barbarous cruelties from which the Paulicians, Albigenses, and Waldenses suffered while clinging to their belief and mode of worship. The bloodiest and cruelest of military campaigns were carried on against these and other sects. Concerning the war of extermination waged by the established church against the Albigenses, the Encyclopedia Britannica says:—

The history of the Albigenses may be said to be written in blood. . . . As town after town was taken, the inhabitants were put to the sword without distinction of age or sex, and the numerous ecclesiastics who were in the army especially distinguished themselves by a bloodthirsty ferocity. At the taking of Beziers (1209) the Abbot Arnold, being asked how the heretics were to be distinguished from the faithful, made the famous reply, “Slay all: God will know his own.” The war was carried on under command of Simon de Montfort with undiminished cruelty for a number of years. . . . The establishment of an inquisition at Languedoc in 1229 accelerated the exterminating process, and a few years later the sect was all but extinct.

The Waldenses, for tenaciously holding to their belief, for their zeal in spreading it in spite of papal malediction, for their denunciation of the Catholic Church, for their appeal to Scripture instead of to the pope, for their rejection of a definite priestly order, and for their observance of the Sabbath of the decalogue rather than the day (Sunday) appointed and commanded by the church, became the special objects of the wrath of that church and the victims of its blood-mad legions. From the beginning of their history until 1848 they were regarded as a people beyond the pale even of toleration. As early as 1184 they were excommunicated by Pope Lucius III. Innocent III gave them similar attention in 1215. They shared with the Albigenses in the persecutions of 1209 to 1229. From 1316 to 1378 they suffered bitterly at the hands of Pope John XXII, Pope Urban V, and Pope Gregory XI. The duchess of Savoy began a cruel war of extermination against them in 1475. A regular crusade was proclaimed against them by Pope Innocent VIII in 1487. They were mercilessly persecuted by the French in 1545. In 1655 such barbarities were inflicted upon them by the French, with the aid of the Irish brigade, that Cromwell intervened in their behalf. In 1686 the duke of Savoy attempted their forcible conversion to Roman Catholicism, exiling to Geneva those who would not yield. Three years later many of them returned to their native valleys, and for a long period successfully resisted all attempts of their enemies to exterminate them or force them to conform their belief and practise to the teachings and the rituals of Rome. In the year 1848 Charles Albert of Savoy granted them full religious and political rights.

While the soil of Europe was still wet with the blood of those slain for worshiping God as conscience and the open Bible taught them, while fire and rack, dungeon and thumbscrew, were still busy “converting” the people to the Catholic faith, the work of the Reformation began. It did in a way grow out of those very conditions; for, as one writer says, “The religious consciousness of Europe was aroused” by the barbarities practised by the persecutors of the Waldenses,—and, no doubt, by the cruel business of the Inquisition. We can speak here of the Reformation only as to its attitude toward religious liberty. Says Henry M. King in his book, “Religious Liberty,” page 7:—

As there were reformers before the Reformation, so there needed to be reformers after the Reformation, to take the work, painfully incomplete, on to its full completion. As yet men demanded liberty for themselves, not for all men. Religious freedom meant their freedom, and not their neighbors’ who differed from them. They shrank from the logical conclusion of their own theses.

Luther’s declared program—“the Bible and the Bible only”—was wider than even he was willing to follow. We hear him declaring this truthful proposition:

“No one can command or ought to command the soul except God, who alone can show it the way to heaven. It is futile and impossible to command, or by force to compel, any man’s belief. Heresy is a spiritual thing, which no iron can hew down, no fire burn, no water drown.” Again: “Whenever the temporal power presumes to legislate for the soul, it encroaches.”

That was as true religious liberty doctrine as has ever been taught. It harmonizes perfectly with the command of Jesus: “Render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.” It seems an echo from the edict of Milan and the proclamation to the peoples of the East. It is a justification of the course of the Paulicians, the Albigenses, and the Waldenses; but it did not characterize the acts of the early Reformers or shape the course of the Reformation. Had Luther and his coadjutors followed out the principles laid down in the above quotation, history would have told a very different story of the growth of soul-freedom in Europe and America from what the record now reveals. They accomplished a great work; but they found the church in unholy wedlock with the state, and left it so. They found souls struggling for freedom of conscience, and they not only refused to help, but forged fetters of their own. It is sometimes said that religious liberty grew out of the Reformation. It did grow out of it, because it was not permitted to grow in it. Says one writer, “The great Reformation movement of Europe was a case of arrested development.” “Under the Reformation it was soon found that Protestant hierarchies and synods could fine and imprison and torture and burn dissenters from the state religion as vigorously as under the old names. . . . The Reformation of the sixteenth century failed to get possession of Europe, because it did not reform far enough—borrowed too much from papacy, retained too much of Rome.”—Struggles and Triumphs of Virginia Baptists, p. 12.

Upon the matter of religious freedom Calvin wrote: “Godly princes may lawfully issue edicts for compelling obstinate and rebellious persons to worship the true God and to maintain the unity of the faith.” But if “unity of the faith” had been of greater consideration than soul liberty, there had been no excuse for the Reformation. Rome had been working industriously for “unity of the faith,” and employing the same means of “persuasion” thereto as those which Calvin sanctioned—torture and death. There are two names that can never be dissociated,—Calvin and Michael Servetus, the latter burned for his faith, the former sanctioning the burning.

And Luther, turning away from his declaration in behalf of religious liberty, said this: “Since it is not good that in one parish the people should be exposed to contradictory preaching, he [the magistrate] should order to be silent whatever does not consist with the Scriptures.” That made the civil ruler the judge of what is Scripture truth, and gave him the right to suppress whatever did not agree with his belief. Luther, writing of the Anabaptists in 1530, said, in a letter to Menius and Myconius: “Since they [the Anabaptists] are not only blasphemous, but also seditious men, let the sword exercise its rights over them; for this is the will of God, that he shall have judgment who resisteth the power.” That declaration was purely papal in its nature.

Zwingli was not free from the same intolerant spirit, and we find him virtually passing a death sentence upon his former schoolmate, Felix Mantz. Concerning this, Prof. Williston Walker says: “The Zurich authorities, not without the approval of Zwingli we must believe, were led at last to add death to imprisonment, stripes, and banishment; and on Jan. 5, 1527, Felix Mantz became the first Anabaptist martyr at Zurich, meeting his death with heroic firmness, a death by drowning, in hideous parody of his doctrine of believers’ baptism.”

Nor can we pass by the name of Melanchthon in this connection; for it is recorded of him that in a letter to the diet of Hamburg, written in the year 1537, he advised death by the sword to all who held Anabaptist views.

How similar to the course of these men was that of Saul, who went to Damascus, “breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord,” determined to bring them “bound to Jerusalem.” But our Lord asks: “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?”

We do not desire to cast opprobrium upon any of these illustrious names. Their fault lay largely in their inheritance from the Church of Rome. The schooling and the example of centuries had had its effect upon the people. We desire in this merely to show out of what trials of faith, what turbulence, what strife, what cruel mockings, what bitter persecutions, there has come to us the blessing of religious liberty. Down through that dark and turbulent torrent of the centuries, from the days of Jesus to our own day, there has been flowing a small silvery stream, pure and sweet and wholesome, sometimes almost obscured and always threatened with complete extinction. But that little silvery streamlet has been ever under the eye of God, flowing where he willed, but always flowing to bless mankind. We shall see in our next something of the struggle that was made to suppress the gospel of soul-freedom before it should reach the New World.

C. M. S.

A Good Beginning

By W. A. S.

THE Idaho Conference has just held its first camp-meeting since its organization. It is but a nine-months'-old conference; and when organized, was expected to require some help from the union.

For a time, the officers say, it looked as if this help would be needed; but as the situation was placed before the believers in Idaho, the tithes and gifts flowed in in a most unexpected way, until not only has the work in this new conference been sustained, but at this camp-meeting five hundred dollars from the tithe was voted to the General Conference for use in its missionary operations in the regions beyond.

This was done, not out of their abundance, but out of the love for the work of missions, and the determination to share resources with the needy fields abroad. The brethren and sisters rejoiced in the gift.

It is a cheering token, coming from this little conference at the opening of the camp-meeting season.

The spreading work demands constant and systematic giving by all individual believers week by week. These steady gifts to missions in our campaigns are like the continuous rattle of the infantry fire in a battle. And most battles are won by the infantry. But in storming the strongholds of the enemy, the gifts from the conferences, sharing their tithes, is like bringing the heavy artillery into action. Idaho, among the youngest and smallest of conferences, has done splendidly in the opening of the season's campaign.

W. A. S.

Caldwell, Idaho.

The Midsummer Offering

By I. H. Evans

SABBATH, July 4, has been appointed by the General Conference Committee as the day for our midsummer offering this year. A program will be provided, one important topic of which will be religious liberty. How fitting, on this national holiday, the birthday of our national life and liberty, to take a survey of the present status of the important question of religious liberty.

From the prophetic view-point, the present is fraught with great interest, and momentous events are just before us. At this writing the Senate of the United States has already passed a bill, applicable in the District of Columbia, enforcing the observance of the first day of the week upon those who do not keep some other day. No fewer than ten bills have been introduced into this present Congress, all pertaining to the enforcement or recognition of Sunday as the Christian sabbath. There has been a very strong agitation to get Congress to commit itself in favor of Sunday laws. A federation of churches is being rapidly effected, and the combined religious denominations of the country are making their influence felt on all legislative bodies. What once was asked from Congress by petition of separate religious organizations, is now demanded as a right, by a federation claiming to represent a great majority of the people.

Nor do these professed Christian people forget that a judge of the Supreme Court of the United States has already declared this to be “a Christian nation.” Their demands for Sabbath laws are based upon this declared principle. That “this is a Christian nation” is reiterated continually by those making these demands, and they are now demanding additional statute laws, based upon the assumption that this is “a Christian nation,” and being such, Congress must make laws enforcing what these federated churches believe will help the people to be still more religious.

The image to the beast is certainly forming. Its growth is rapid. The future thrills with intense interest to the student of prophecy. But before the end the message of warning must go to all the world. Men must move on to the front. New recruits must be called. The army of workers must be greatly augmented. Every man put into a mission field calls for additional funds; and as the work develops, the demand for more means increases proportionately. The question is, Shall the work be held back because the treasury is depleted, and there are no funds with which to support the work? Surely if God is leading in the fulfilment of prophecy, he must expect his people to keep step and push forward the message in harmony with his leadership.

The midsummer offering comes at a time when the General Conference treasury is nearly empty. In the past, we have realized much help from this offering. It has often been a great relief to those who are compelled to forward the money to foreign fields. It would seem that on this special occasion, when there is such a tremendous demand for money in foreign fields, it would not be too much if we should raise twenty thousand dollars in this offering.

It will require planning on the part of each one of us to arrange for very much at this season of the year. Nevertheless, I believe that our people will heartily respond to this midsummer offering, and will do what they can. Let us not forget the date, Sabbath, July 4. Why not begin at once to gather funds for a liberal offering on this important occasion?

I. H. EVANS.

Limping Logic

IN a recent sermon on the observance of the Sabbath, Dr. A. C. Dixon declared that “the Sabbath existed before the law was given to Moses on Sinai,” and argued that the Sabbath was a physical necessity, a mental necessity, a moral necessity, and a spiritual necessity. He then drew his conclusion:—

It follows, therefore, that the Sabbath is a national necessity. Whatever is for the physical, mental, moral, and spiritual good of the people is for the good of the nation. “Righteousness exalteth a nation,” and without obedience to the laws of our nature, which are the laws of God, there can be no national righteousness. Laws for the protection of the Sabbath are, therefore, for the protection of the nation.

This argument, put into the form of a syllogism, would run thus: Whatever is necessary to the welfare of the people is a proper subject for legislation; the Sabbath is necessary to the welfare of the people; therefore the Sabbath is a proper subject for legislation. But the major premise, which is taken for granted in Dr. Dixon’s argument, is not true. A certain amount of food and sleep are necessary to the welfare of the people, but we do not concede the right of the legislature to prescribe the time for taking these necessities of life, or the amount required. There are some good things entirely beyond the control of the State, and one of those is Sabbath-keeping. We believe in keeping the Sabbath “according to the commandment,” but the commandment of God, not of man.

Giving, not Purchasing

A CORRESPONDENT of the Christian Herald made an inquiry concerning tithing:—

Do you believe a person who gives a tenth of his income to the Lord will be blessed temporally as well as spiritually?

A good principle was enunciated by the editor in his reply:—

We think so, provided the giver does not regard the gift as constituting an obligation which God is bound to fulfil. You can not purchase God’s blessing by the payment of money. Jacob supposed he could (Gen. 28: 20-22), but he had to learn by painful experience that it was by changed character, and not by gifts, that God’s favor was gained. Micah directly negatives the idea that God can be bribed. Micah 6: 7, 8. David expresses the same conviction. Ps. 51: 16, 17. Christ himself repudiates the idea in his parable of the laborers (Matt.

20: 10-16), showing that people who try to make a bargain with God must not expect special favors, while they who unselfishly do good spontaneously, expecting no reward, are abundantly blessed. The same idea is reiterated in the parable of the judgment (Matt. 25: 44), in which the givers had actually forgotten that they had given. Paul is in agreement. See 1 Cor. 13: 3. Give by all means; give a tenth and more; it is a duty and a privilege; but do not give as an investment.

So prone are we to feel that we can make some kind of return for salvation, or strike some kind of bargain for the purchase of a home in the New Jerusalem, that we need frequent reminders of the utter futility of all such efforts. All things that pertain to life and godliness are a gift,—an absolutely free gift,—but those who receive the gift of the heavenly life can retain it in no other way than by leading the heavenly life—living for God.

Note and Comment

Adjusting the Doctrines

In its interpretation of the address of the Methodist Bishops the Outlook says:—

They note, too, the wide-spread desire for adjusting the formulation of the great Christian doctrines to modern knowledge and modern thought—to evolution and to the sense of the immanence of God—though they recommend no action to that end as yet.

This is one of the indications of the drift of sentiment in the religious world—the well-developed tendency to substitute human philosophy for divine revelation. This is the death of true religion.

Catholic Statistics

THE Catholic Directory for England and Scotland claims that there are now 4,075 priests and 2,121 houses of Roman Catholic worship in Great Britain. It declares that there are 2,180,000 Catholics in Great Britain, 3,320,000 in Ireland, 2,085,000 in the British possessions in Asia, 350,000 in the British possessions in Africa, 2,810,000 in British America, and 1,092,500 in Australia, making a total of 11,837,500 in Great Britain and her possessions and the British colonies.

Principle and Expediency

THE obligation to obey a divine command does not rest very heavily upon the minds of some who claim to be disciples of the Lord. The following paragraph from the Christian Endeavor World illustrates this:—

The Jews will be indeed unwise if they push the bill which is before the New York legislature permitting those whose religion requires them to observe another day than Sunday to work on that day. The best interests of the Jew would lead him to adopt the sabbath of the Christian majority, and not persist in a harmful isolation.

With us the Sabbath of the Lord takes precedence over “the sabbath of the Christian majority.”

Religion and Politics

THE steady decline of the moral tone of public life and the increase of corruption lead men to cast about for some remedy for a situation which is growing more and more appalling. Those who have not given careful study to the principles involved, or whose views upon this subject are fundamentally wrong, are inclined to feel that it is due to the fact that religion and government have to a large degree been kept separate in this country that political life has become corrupt. This view of the case finds expression in the following paragraph taken from one of our exchanges:—

It is for the want of a healthy infusion of religion into the politics of the country that corruption has become so widespread as to be a menace to the nation, and it is only by a return to its teachings that a genuine reform, worthy of the name, can be accomplished. The crying need of the times is for an awakened conscience in public affairs, and nothing will contribute to this so quickly and so surely as a recognition of God and his unchangeable laws, not less in politics than in private life.

The only way to secure an “awakened conscience in public affairs” is to arouse the conscience of the individual, and this is done, not by uniting religion with politics, but by bringing religion into the individual life. Purity of life can not be secured by act of Parliament; neither will an official recognition of God and his law by constitutional amendment or by public proclamation cleanse the soul temple from evil or transform the conduct of the politicians. The place for religion is in the heart; the fruit of it will then appear in a life in harmony with the law of God.

The “Sick Man’s” Heirs

THE Eastern Question is an unsolved problem which is constantly worrying the great powers of Europe, each one fearing lest the others should gain undue advantage by the dissolution of the “Sick Man of the East.” The recent response of the porte to the demands of Italy, enforced by threats, has called forth an article in the Daily Telegraph (London) from which the following extract is taken:—

Incidents such as this, which we may now, perhaps, regard as closed, reveal how nervously and closely the powers watch the condition of the “Sick Man,” who, like Charles II, is so unconscionably long in dying. If the map of Europe were thrown upon the dissecting table, Italy could not afford to see the final dismemberment of the Turkish empire without claiming her share or its equivalent. This natural apprehension on the part of Italy whenever partition is mentioned, is typical of the whole Near Eastern problem. The doctrine of the maintenance of the independence and integrity of the Ottoman empire has no adherents on its merits. No one regards the rule of the sultan as a blessing in itself. Nor is it aggressiveness, or indifference, or cynicism which deters statesmen from helping or conniving at the demolition of Turkish rule in Europe. What weighs with the most sagacious is the question: “Who is to take the place of the Sick Man if he gives up the ghost?”

In carrying out his purposes, God uses men and nations without overriding their power of choice, or destroying their individuality; and when the right time comes for “the king of the north” to plant his tabernacles in the glorious holy mountain, the mutual jealousy of the nations will not hinder the movement. “He doeth according to his will . . . among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand.”

Teaching Obedience

In an editorial on “The Roman Catholic Church in America,” the Outlook makes this observation:—

One of the chief lessons Americans need to learn is reverence for constituted authority and willing obedience to law. This lesson the Roman Catholic Church is peculiarly fitted to teach.

This is a mistake. The Roman Catholic Church inculcates absolute disregard of law or authority when they conflict in any way with her decrees, as was shown in France when mobs of Catholics resisted the enforcement of law, and were not even rebuked by the church, much less restrained. The Roman Catholic Church demands the submission of all men and all organizations of men, including the state, to her own authority, and this is not the teaching which America needs.

Courting the Favor of Rome

REPRESENTATIVE Roman Catholics observe with much satisfaction the multiplying evidences that Protestants are yielding the ground taken by Luther and his associates, and are growing more and more ready to compromise with what the founders of Protestantism did not hesitate to designate as an apostate church. The following editorial note from a Roman Catholic paper illustrates this:—

How happily changed has become the attitude of distinguished public men toward the Catholic Church in recent years. The presence of Vice-president Fairbanks at the dedication of a great Polish Catholic school in Chicago, last Sunday [May 10], is an omen of still brighter days to come. It was a brave thing for the vice-president to do to-day, but twenty-five years ago no vice-president could be found willing to risk such attendance. However men differ with regard to matters of religious belief, it is gratifying to find the hot bigotries of the ancient prophets of Protestantism perishing under the light of civilization.

The desire for popularity and the ambition for political preferment will lead men, prominent in public life, to court the favor of that church which can influence so many votes in a presidential election, but such a truckling policy forebodes evil for Protestantism and Republicanism, the great bulwarks of the American nation.

Rejecting the Bible

There are some who perceive the true situation in the religious world. Thus the Western Recorder (Baptist) says, editorially:—

The candid observer is bound to admit there is a real decline in religion and that, too, in the very face of the stupendous undertakings of modern Christianity.

Among the causes responsible for this condition the Recorder mentions the waning faith in the inspiration and authority of the Scriptures:—

A stalwart and aggressive Christianity can not be had apart from the Word of God, and yet there are scores of churches that permit in their pulpits and retain in their membership those who openly repudiate the divine inspiration of a goodly portion of the Bible. There was a time when such a course would have met with wide-spread condemnation, but now the protests are few and feeble. The man who destroys belief in the Bible is an enemy, and should be so regarded by every lover of Christian truth.

The protest of the Recorder would have more weight if it advocated obedience to the clear teaching of the Bible concerning the Lord’s Sabbath. Such an exposition of the gospel as abolishes the plain letter of the law is little better in its results than an open repudiation of divine inspiration. The best evidence of belief in the authority of the Scriptures is a life shaped by its teaching. “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”

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