Review and Herald, Vol. 87, No. 5. (2/3/1910)

Review and Herald

Feb 3, 1910

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 3, 1910

Winter Woods

By Florence Jones Hadley

Gray, naked boughs that dumbly reach Wan, bloodless hands up to a sky All dark and stern and pitiless Wherein no signs of promise lie.

And yet, though sullen skies bend low O'er empty nests all tempest blown, Patient they wait in simple faith That Love must ever seek its own.

Through days that hold no gleam of sun, Through nights that know no moon nor star, They hold a dream of downy nests, Of warm scents blown from fields afar.

They hear the unbound streamlets sing Through waving meadows, wide and sweet, While through the drifted snow they feel The fevered pulse of summer beat.

O still gray woods, for me you hold A lesson that none else may teach— Who waits in faith, some glad, sweet day Shall clasp the good now out of reach.

— Florence Jones Hadley, in Northwestern Christian Advocate.

The Work — and — The Workers

SHOW it to others, as this brother did: “After having ordered your magazine as per your special offer, I showed the September number sent as a sample copy, to two fellow workers in my office, and they both have asked me to order one each for them as subscribers for one year. Enclosed find $2 to cover the subscriptions.”

WRITES W. H. Covell: “I have read the last number of the Protestant Magazine quite carefully, and have received some excellent help from it in relation to other work I have in hand. I have an inward conviction that the Protestant Magazine will give new life to the message we all represent, and we earnestly wish you Heaven’s choicest blessings, and a circulation of a million copies at no distant day.”

MANY people in all parts of the country are beginning to realize the practical value of Life and Health. The following quotation illustrates the way many are expressing themselves in regard to this health journal: “I have been reading your magazine for several months, and appreciate it very much, and think it worthy of high praise. Your directions are very helpful; and, altogether, I would miss a great deal of sunshine without it.”

AN isolated member, Mrs. I. T. Reynolds, who has recently learned of some of the many benefits of circulating Life and Health, writes as follows: “I wish all isolated members would order a few copies of Life and Health each month. They could use them in their immediate neighborhoods, and would find joy in the service associated with their circulation, and would also assist in spreading the good tidings to those about them. I can leave my home for only a little while, and then must hurry back to my ‘shut-in.’ But I find that Life and Health is a great introduction, which admits me into the most exclusive homes of this old Southern city, and very often I sell other and larger publications in the same families afterward. It is a good work, and I trust all who can do so will soon have a part in it.”

“ENCLOSED you will please find money-order for $6, in payment for 150 magazines. I sold them all in eight hours. I wish I might devote more time to selling this valuable paper, but I have the whole care of three small grandchildren, which takes nearly all my time.” Besides doing the very best kind of missionary work, and receiving herself a rich blessing, this sister cleared $1.12½ an hour while selling the 150 copies of Life and Health. Eight hours is the standard for a day’s work in ordinary vocations. The usual wages for the eight-hours’ service range from $1.50 to $2.50. Note the fact that this sister, who is old enough to be a grandmother, and has the complete charge of three small grandchildren, cleared $9 a day in her work with Life and Health. Let all mothers and grandmothers consider this effective and remunerative missionary work.

ONE of our regular Life and Health workers, in ordering more copies of the journal, favors us with the following statement: “Yesterday afternoon, between one and two o’clock, I went out and sold 35 copies of Life and Health alone.” This worker cleared $2.45 in one hour’s time.

ALL our people who have children should profit by the following testimonial: “I am 66 years old, and have been married 50 years. We celebrated our golden wedding the second of August. I have taken the REVIEW since 1882, and the Signs of the Times since 1881. I have seven children grown. One is a minister, one a doctor, two are trained nurses, one a canvassing agent, two are farmers, and all but one are in the truth, for which I thank the Lord; and I believe the papers have had a great deal to do with keeping the children in the truth. I can not afford to do without the REVIEW.”

At least 10,000 of our people ought to follow the example of Elder Watson Zeigler, who writes as follows: “A few days ago I saw a copy of the Protestant Magazine for the first time. It surely fills a long-felt want so far as Romanism is concerned. To my mind it ought to be helpful to us as a people in pointing others to God and his Word, rather than ecclesiastical effort. I realize that we are all doing all together too little to enlighten the people concerning this all-important theme. I herewith send you $1.50 for 10 copies of this magazine, which please send to my address. I believe I can place that many copies where they will do good.”

SAYS A. E. Everett: “Christian Education fills a long-felt want in the homes of our people, as well as in our schools. The true methods of Christian education are plainly set forth in such a manner as to be of the greatest value to our faithful mothers who feel burdened that their children shall receive a Christian education, yet do not know how to give the necessary instruction. The teachers in our schools can not afford to be without this educational journal. In make-up, the appearance of Christian Education will compare favorably with any educational journal printed. The type is large and clear, and altogether the journal makes a pleasing impression. We recommend it to our teachers and people in general.”

WE are constantly impressed with the results obtained by the aged in work with Life and Health. Those having good success are in every instance constant readers of the REVIEW. They seem to gather their inspiration from our leading church paper. Note the following: “Enclosed find post-office order for $9, for which please send Life and Health to the following 15 addresses. I also wish to renew my subscription for the REVIEW. I am a widow nearly 70 years of age, with little to do with; but I feel that I can not afford to do without the dear old REVIEW, which I have been taking over 40 years.” When a sister 70 years of age can turn in an order for 15 subscriptions, with the cash, it is about time for those in the prime of life to be considering their personal responsibility in connection with the circulation of our message-filled literature.

MANY of our workers are finding people outside of the denomination who are much interested in the “good old REVIEW.” We have just received a subscription sent in by one for a professor in a prominent business college. This worker was soliciting for donations for missions, and the professor became interested in the paper itself, as well as in the missions, and gave the worker one dollar to apply on his subscription.

ONE of our Life and Health workers who has taught his family the science of soliciting for our magazines, writes as follows: “My children alone have made as high as $10 in one day, and never fall below $5 or $6 a day. They work only about half the time when the weather is so warm. Their mother has made as high as $18 in a day and a half. My little boy is 13 years old, and my little girl is 11.”

NEVER too old to sell Life and Health. When an aged person, bright and spry, presents Life and Health, it gives one the impression that doubtless the agent has something that has helped him to live so long and so well, and one buys whatever he offers, through confidence in the worker. The following is the testimonial from one of our aged successful workers: “Please find $1.50 as the renewal price of my paper. I have sold Life and Health for the past two years. I am 81 years old, and well. I put in all the time I can canvassing for our periodicals.”

THE following letter has just been received: “I picked up a copy of your magazine in the road, read it, liked it very much, and herewith enclose 25 cents, for which please send me the Protestant Magazine for one year, and oblige.” This is still another proof that the Protestant Magazine recommends itself. In the first place, its name is sufficient to arrest the attention of either Protestant or Catholic, and its contents being the plain third angel’s message, and that message being sent of God for this special time, all the powers and hindrances of earth can not keep it from sincere, truth-loving people. Let not our people, through the cares of life or the lack of a keen conception, fail to discharge their obligations in so plain a duty as generously circulating the Protestant Magazine.

IN the Saviour’s command to cast your bread upon the waters that it may be gathered after many days, is given the promise of fulfilment. Oftentimes our circulators of literature become discouraged because they do not see immediate results of their labor. For the benefit of such, we quote the following, which comes as the result of the sale of the Youth’s Instructor: “Please find enclosed $1. I wish a half-year’s subscription for your Youth’s Instructor, beginning with the December number, and I desire you to send our Sunday-school superintendent as many copies of the Temperance number as you can for the other 50 cents. That is the only copy of the paper I have seen, and I think it will do much good in our neighborhood. I have read it with great interest, every word of it, and with decided approval; hence, my subscription.”

Modern Spiritualism

By W. A. S.

Editorial

Modern Spiritualism. — Following the coming of the judgment hour in heaven, in 1844, the advent movement was fully developed, and began to carry to the world the last threefold message of Revelation 14. But of the last-day opposition to the truth, Paul had said: “Now as Jannes and Jambres [the Egyptian magicians] withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth.” And as though definitely timed to meet the development of the final phase of the work of God, Satan very soon after 1844 began the manifestations of modern Spiritualism, his final deception.

Under the Search-Light.— Our early pioneers at once noted the development. They had the “sure word of prophecy,”—that “light that shineth in a dark place,”—and the testimony of the spirit of prophecy, to guide them. And when all the world scoffed at those first spiritualistic manifestations, beginning in 1848, the clear witness was borne that there was a deep and sinister meaning to these things. In the first article Mrs. E. G. White ever contributed to our papers (in the Present Truth, August, 1849) was this testimony:—

I saw that the mysterious knocking in New York and other places was the power of Satan; and that such things would be more and more common, clothed in a religious garb, to lull the deceived to more security; and to draw the minds of God’s people, if possible, to those things, and cause them to doubt the teachings and power of the Holy Ghost.

And in the ADVENT REVIEW Extra, for September, 1850, a writer—evidently Hiram Edson—called attention to the prophecy of the rise of a miracle-working agency in connection with the development of the two-horned beast of Revelation, and referring to the Rochester rappings, said:—

Through these agencies Satan will work “with all power” and signs and lying wonders.” . . . Here we see that Isa. 8 : 19 is being fulfilled [seeking unto wizards, and to the dead for knowledge], just at this point of time when the law of God is being sealed “among my disciples” under the third angel’s message.

Fulfilling to the End.— In those days little was in evidence. But true to the witness borne by the spirit of prophecy and the early pioneers, that delusion has increased more and more, until the newspapers and journals of the world are filled with its teachings, and society and the popular churches are leavened with it. And it has knocked for entrance at the door of our own church, professing to bring us a wider, clearer view of the message, and carried off some souls into mysticism and darkness as it was turned back by the sure defense of the “sure word.” W. A. S.

“Our Friend . . . Sleepeth”

By W. W. P.

THERE is hardly a family without its absent member. There are few homes in which the roll can be called and all answer “Here.” In our family circles there are voices and faces which live only in the memory. We still have a vivid recollection of the closed eyes, the folded hands, the hush in the household, the solemn service, and the last journey to the quiet resting-place. “Earth to earth, dust to dust,” said the minister, as the handful of earth was thrown into the open grave, and then in subdued tones the notes of the hymn were heard:

“Asleep in Jesus! blessed sleep From which none ever wake to weep; A calm and undisturbed repose, Unbroken by the last of foes.”

“Asleep.” Yes, that is the word. And then we recall the words of the Master, “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth.” And again, “Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth.” And linked with these statements come the helpful words, “I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.” Ah, there is hope for us; not simply a longing desire, but a well-grounded hope. We shall meet them again. It will be only a little while. And so, looking up into the sunlight of our Father’s face, we see in our very tears a miniature representation of the rainbow round about the throne, “the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord,” and we are comforted.

When we face death, we learn the quality of our Christianity. Faith in the work of Jesus for us robs death of its dread. Our Saviour has delivered us who, otherwise, through fear of death would all our lifetime have been subject to bondage. He has conquered him that had the power of death. He has “abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” He has the keys of death and of hades. He who believes this has the victory over death. He can not be holden of it. He falls asleep himself, or he lays away loved ones, with the full confidence that “the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.” And this hope lights up the valley of the shadow of death.

By his work in our behalf Jesus has changed death into a sleep. Both the living and the sleeping are in his care. The homes of the living and the resting-places of the sleeping are known to him. And so “whether we live, we live unto the Lord; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.” In his death and resurrection is our hope, whether we wake, or whether we sleep; for the power that can keep us from sin while we live can bring us forth from the land of the enemy. “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? . . . Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

To the heart of every mourner we would speak words of comfort. Our Father knows all about our sorrow. Jesus has wept with us. “His grief at the death of Lazarus was not alone because of the scene before him. The weight of the grief of ages was upon his soul, and, looking down the years that were to come, he saw the suffering and sorrow, tears and death, that were to be the lot of men. His heart was pierced with the pain of the human family of all ages and in all lands. The woes of the sinful race were heavy on

his soul, and the fountain of his tears was broken up, as he longed to relieve all their distress.” Bereaved mother, Jesus wept with you. Sorrowing husband, Jesus wept with you. Lonely widow, Jesus wept with you. Ah, the divine Sufferer suffers with us in all our suffering. This is divine sympathy.

How cheering is the thought of the great reunion which is now so near at hand!

“When the weary ones we love To the silent land remove, Though the earth seems poor and through waste, All our life-joy overcast,— Hush! be every murmur dumb; It is only ‘Till he come.’”

This is the Christian’s hope. And the time is so short that we may wait with courage. To-day we are parted, but we shall meet again when Jesus comes. Take heart, O troubled one! “Soon will the Master come.” > > W. W. P.

The Form Without the Power

By F. M. W.

THE Scriptures indicate that the last days would be marked with great spiritual declension. Moral degeneracy would be seen, not alone in the great world where it might naturally be expected, but even the professed church of God itself would have so failed in its divine mission and lost its holy character, as to have a name to live, and yet be dead. In the third chapter of 2 Timothy the apostle Paul enumerates a long list of sins which would characterize the last generation of men. He states in verse five that these would be found among those “having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.”

In the seventeenth chapter of Revelation there is brought to view the great system of apostate Christianity in the last days, under the symbol of Babylon. Separating from her rightful Lord, Christ Jesus, rejecting his counsels and admonitions, but still retaining his name, the church would join affinity with worldly powers, and seek to the arm of flesh for her support and influence. That these conditions are fast meeting fulfilment, is most apparent.

Denominations once humble in spirit and yielding to the simplicity of the Christian life, have become rich and popular, and careless and indifferent. They are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, and are reaching out to secure through popular and worldly methods the power with man which they have lost through departure from God. Truly Babylon has fallen and is fast becoming the hold of every evil doctrine and unholy delusion.

And Babylon will never be reformed. The great church institutions to-day will never again as churches regain their former gospel power. A new movement is at this time due, a message that shall call from Babylon those who, while still within her folds, recognize her condition and are longing and praying for light and power. God will not lead Babylon out of her present condition, but God will lead many honest men and women out of Babylon, and reveal to them his saving gospel for this day and generation.

The following sad lament by Francis Wayland, in the Western Recorder (Baptist) of Nov. 4, 1909, expresses the longing cry from many burdened hearts and throughout the world to-day:—

On us devolved the momentous duty of exemplifying this doctrine in all its moral beauty, to the whole Christian world. Had we been true to our Master and to our own principles, what blessings might we not have conferred upon the church of Christ! The wave of worldliness that has been rising so fearfully, would have beat harmlessly at our feet, and our example might have strengthened our brethren of other denominations to check its destructive progress. Is it yet too late? May we not yet arise from the dust, and put on our beautiful garments? Is it too much to hope that God will yet honor us as the harbingers of an era of more elevated piety in the history of the church? Good men of all denominations are becoming greatly alarmed at the present tendencies. The vast discrepancy between Christianity as it now appears, and the Christianity taught and exemplified by Christ and his apostles, is mournfully apparent. Poets, satirists, and journalists scoff at it, and jeer at it, and hold it up to stinging and universal ridicule. Merchants declare that they consider an account against a professor of religion worth no more than that against any other man. Ought not every denomination of Christians, then, to awake out of sleep, and does it not become us to be the first to set them the example?

This statement presents a pathetic but striking picture of conditions which we see, not alone in any one denomination, but in Christendom as a whole. It furnishes no occasion for rejoicing, but rather for sorrow. We should sense continually more and more deeply, the work committed to us, and the position to which we are called. This movement, embracing the doctrine of Christ’s soon coming, together with allied truths, is to go, not alone to the heathen world, but to the world of Christian profession as well. The Lord through the prophet Joel gives to his people this commission: “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.” The sound of the trumpet must first be heard in Zion, in the holy mountain, and from there it goes out to all the world.

The position of those engaged in this movement is a unique one. As Israel of old stood alone among the nations, so this church and this people must stand alone in the midst of all the churches, and all the last-day denominations, because to it God has committed a message for all the others. This is not because, as men and women, those engaged in this movement are better than those to whom they carry the message. God’s people to-day, those who make up the number that shall stand on Mount Zion at the coming of the Son of man, are largely within the communion of the various churches of the world. God counts them as his people, and because they love the truth and are longing for the light, and grow sick at heart at the travesty of religion which they see around them, the Lord sends to them the message, “Come out of her, my people.” We are no better than they. As individuals, their Christian experience may be even in advance of ours, and to us the grace of God has been given, as it were by accident, perhaps in his providence, a little in advance of its revelation to them, and so we are to reach out to them the hand of a brother, calling their attention in love to the blessed light which God has permitted to shine upon our pathway.

In every church communion, Protestant and Catholic alike, are humble followers of the Lord Jesus to-day, who are living up to all the light they possess, and following on to know the Lord. May our relationship to them and our efforts for them be actuated by such a spirit of humility and Christian courtesy as shall reveal to them a knowledge of the Lord’s soon coming, and lead them to rejoice in the great system of truth which has brought into being this people and this movement.

F. M. W.

“The Crusade Invisible”

By C. M. S.

SOME time ago there was published in the REVIEW AND HERALD a series of articles dealing with the conditions in American colleges and universities as brought out by Mr. Harold Bolce in the Cosmopolitan Magazine. Those conditions were a remarkable revelation to the majority of the people of this country. It would seem from them that the great educational system of America was being used to an end not designed by the founders of our educational system, and that that end or object was the elimination of the idea of God from the minds of the educated young people of the country as that idea had hitherto been understood by the generality of Christendom.

It was shown by Mr. Bolce that an attack was being made upon the foundations of Christian belief and gospel work. The universality of these conditions in the higher institutions of learning in the land indicates a concerted movement in that direction, whether such a movement was planned by human beings or

not. Mr. Bolce called it “Blasting at the Rock of Ages.”

There was generally very little said in reply by educators, so far as the public prints show, but unimpeded, the process continued, of training the educated young men of the country to disbelief in vital religion, to skepticism toward everything authoritative in the realm of morals, and to a disbelief in the God of the Bible and the Book which he has committed to mankind.

The seriousness of this situation began to dawn upon the really Christian portion of the country when they realized that these educated young men go out into every corner of the nation spreading abroad the ideas imbibed in these institutions of higher learning, bringing them into school work wherever these college graduates are put in charge of common schools, high schools, and academies. They realized that for the entire educational system of the nation to be turned against the Bible and the gospel is a matter of the most vital importance.

In the February issue of the Cosmopolitan Mr. Bolce begins another series of articles entitled “The Crusade Invisible,” in which he takes up the instruction now being given in the various women’s colleges throughout the country. These colleges are giving the same courses of instruction as those given in the colleges considered in Mr. Bolce’s previous series of articles. More than seventy thousand women students annually go through these women’s colleges, and the effect of such instruction upon them is a matter of the deepest concern. Says the editor of the Cosmopolitan: “It will shock the conservative to learn that these educated young women are repudiating ancient and even sacred authority,” and he declares that this “means the overthrow of both sacred and secular tradition, and the reconstruction of society.” A perusal of the article will convince any one that in our higher institutions of learning at the present day, infidelity is in the saddle, and is riding roughshod over the most sacred beliefs, the most substantial hopes, and the most satisfying faith of the Christian age. This education, says Mr. Bolce, is “a gospel that sweeps aside nearly everything cherished by the Christian centuries,” and is “the most remarkable intellectual and spiritual movement in either ancient or modern times.”

As a result of this instruction it is declared that “if the girl comes to college with belief in any special religion, she is soon reduced to the doubting stage. One of the main causes of this, I think, is the tendency to belittle all authority, whether divine or human.” One of the young women being educated in such a college declares that they are given “a psychology without soul; a science which excludes the necessity of a creator; and an ethics which is based on the unstable will and inclination of the multitude.”

A comparison of this with the instruction given in the men’s colleges shows a direct connection between the two, and that the purpose is the same in both,—to unsettle the faith of the student in any authority outside the human. For instance, Boston University, which is largely attended by women, “enjoins its students to cast off the authority of the past.” “Unmistakably,” says Mr. Bolce, “the colleges that teach women, as the colleges that teach men, are arrayed as an academic army against the orthodox church and orthodox interpretations of Holy Writ. There is no hesitancy on the part of these educators in declaring against the Bible. The most advanced positions taken by the Higher Critics in their destructive criticism of the Word are taken by these college professors.” Says one educator: “It is absurd for humanity to stake its hope of salvation” on much of what the Christian world has accepted as inspired writings. These students are taught to reject any plan of salvation that can not be accepted by reason; and then efforts are made to make the plan of salvation as outlined in the Word of God, unacceptable to the reason of these students.

At the Michigan University it is taught that we have “no real knowledge of Moses, who was not a man, but an idealized epitome, thrown back by the later age upon a supposititious past.” Inasmuch as this university teaches that Moses was a myth, it follows that all reference to him must be correspondingly groundless. This, of course, casts discredit upon Christ and his teaching, because of his frequent reference to Moses; so in discrediting Moses, they discredit Christ as well. But this is not left to mere inference, for at both the Chicago and the California University it is taught that “to the scientific mind there is no ‘historic certainty that Jesus ever lived.’”

The University of Michigan repudiates the account of the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt, and declares that the idea of a revelation of God to man “has no foundation in fact, and the accounts of creation are written down as myths.” Passing from the Old Testament to the New, the university professors seek to break down, if possible, “the validity of the Gospels, and the later books of the new dispensation.” With no other warrant than their own ignorance of the true meaning of the gospel and the mission of Christ, they declare that “the four Gospels were probably substituted for one Gospel under suspicious circumstances,” and that “the Gospels have been worked over.”

Through the manner in which this crusade has been planned, it is made practically impossible for a person to pass through any of the higher institutions of learning in the land without passing through this crucible of doubt and militant infidelity. The effect of these conditions upon the proclamation of the third angel’s message will be considered in another article. C. M. S.

The Peace-and-Safety Cry

By F. M. W.

NOTWITHSTANDING the gigantic preparations for war being made by every nation under heaven, there still are those who hug the delusive hope of world-wide peace. In its New-year’s issue, the Denver (Colo.) Post presents an expression of opinion from some of the world’s diplomats at Washington, D. C., regarding the present situation. These, with one voice, proclaim peace for the future, expatiate upon its blessings, and decry the horrors of war. The Italian ambassador, Baron des Planches, voices the sentiments of the others in the following words:—

Prosperity and happiness—like peace, whether individual or national—are achieved by a determination on the part of ourselves to have them. Once upon a time men and women were taught war and strife, even in their cradle days; later this doctrine was followed by one half of the world, thus worrying the peaceful remainder. Now, instead, peace is in our hearts, and we are determined to have it. For this reason we shall have it, and with it, all that goes with it. As an American general said, to paraphrase him, “War is not heaven.” Let talk of war alone. There will be no war within our time, and during that period we shall be able to adjust circumstances to prevent a possible conflict. Jingoism will always be rampant, no matter how well situated humanity may be.

Of course, these are mere platitudes. Every statesman and diplomat quoted by the Post knows in his own soul that the world’s peace in the future is far from assured. Every man knows that his own nation is vying with every other nation in increasing her armaments both on land and on sea, and preparing with feverish excitement for the great struggle for political control which lies in the near future.

This peace-and-safety cry which is echoed from pulpit and platform, together with the conditions witnessed among the nations of earth, are both striking fulfilments of prophecies. The prophet Joel tells us that in the last days the nations would prepare for war, that the implements of peace would be turned into implements of bloodshed, and that the nations would assemble together for the last great and terrible conflict of Armageddon. This we see literally fulfilling

before our eyes. The armed camps of Europe, the feverish haste with which the nations are preparing great fighting-machines for use on land and sea, the intense interest manifested in the invention of war balloons, the millions of dollars of appropriations for general war purposes,—all these things show that Joel’s prophecy is meeting a striking fulfilment in our own day.

But right at this time, as brought to view in the second chapter of Isaiah and the fifth chapter of 1 Thessalonians, there would be those who would predict a time of peace and safety. Flattering themselves in their own security, they see no danger for alarm. Drunken with their own dreams of peace, they pass over the sights before their own eyes, discount the ominous signs to be seen on every side, and seek to lull to sleep every awakened conscience with the vain promise of coming peace. But the Lord declares that when this cry of peace and safety shall have reached its climax, then sudden destruction shall come upon the world. May we heed the warning of God, and not be deceived by the siren song of security with which Satan is endeavoring to lull the world into the sleep of indifference and insensibility.

F. M. W.

Seventh-Day Adventists Can Not Federate

DR. C. T. RUSSELL, pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, has been delivering a series of sermons recently on church union. On Sunday, January 23, he spoke on “Church Federation and Teachings on Baptism,” and took occasion to suggest the means whereby some of the denominations might drop their non-essential differences and unite in church federation. He believed that if the Baptists and others who held to immersion in baptism, realized the spiritual significance of this ordinance as they should do, they would not hold so tenaciously to this particular form of baptism as a cardinal Christian doctrine. He believed that Adventists in general were becoming more generous in their views, and saw no reason why they should not be able to unite with the Christians of other churches; but in considering the Seventh-day Adventists, he felt that there was no common ground of federation between them and other denominations. Of this church he says:—

But for that portion of Adventists which considers the keeping of the seventh day of the week the all-important part of Christianity we see no ground for federation, unless, indeed, they may choose to get about the difficulty by counting the calendar the other way around the world. Thus they might bring their seventh day into harmony with what others term the first day. Or, by counting the calendar in the opposite direction, they may still keep their seventh day and realize that others are keeping the same day, though calling it the first day.

If the calendar of the week were of man's devising, then Seventh-day Adventists might well adjust their reckoning to bring them in harmony with their brethren of other churches; but believing, as they do, that God has established the order of the days, and that the true seventh day of the week is the Sabbath, and falls upon what is commonly known as Saturday, and can not by any logical reasoning be made to fall upon another day, there is no recourse left them if they are to believe God and obey his Word, but to do as they are now doing. Dr. Russell speaks truly when he says that there is no basis of federation between Seventh-day Adventists and the great churches of the land. God has given to this people a special work to do, and a particular message to proclaim. In the very nature of the case, it admits of no federation, as this term is employed by Dr. Russell; for federation would mean compromise of its peculiar character. Seventh-day Adventists may unite with those of other churches in promoting every righteous reform, in standing for every right principle; but having done all this, they still have a peculiar and particular mission to the world, a proclamation of the message which no other church is proclaiming. As they did not receive their commission from man, they can not let man mold their system of belief, determine for them what is essential or non-essential in order that they may confederate with their fellows. They choose to stand for truth, and with truth, and with all the lovers of truth by whatever name they may be known. In this union the disciples of the Lord find a federation as strong as its divine author.

Reforming Worldly Amusements

By F. M. W.

We notice that much is being said to-day about reforming some of the worldly amusements of the times. It is argued that the theaters should be brought up to a higher plane, and that the popular dance should be so revolutionized as to furnish a valuable contribution to the social life of the human family.

Of course, there may be grades of theaters and dances and other popular amusements, but according to the standard of the Christian, none of these amusements could be classified as good and bad. To the Christian all amusements of this character are bad and only demoralizing in their influence. They can not be reformed and rejuvenated and Christianized, any more than sin can be Christianized. They may be brought into the church parlors, their patrons and patronesses may consist of church people, but the fact still remains that their influence is away from God.

While to-day we see some professed Christians recommending attendance upon theatrical plays, at the same time we see men and women who have gone the deepest into these maelstroms of gaiety and dissipation, on their acceptance of Christianity, forsake these associations as positive hindrances to the Christian life. No child of God can afford to spend time and money in the pursuit of such pleasures. God calls him to higher service.

F. M. W.

Note and Comment

No Mission Without Christ

Speaking of the effects of so-called Higher Criticism upon the theological training of young men, and the fact that some who have imbibed these ideas have found their way into the foreign mission field, Henry H. Jessup, D. D., for fifty-three years a missionary in Syria under the Presbyterian Board, makes these excellent remarks in the Bible Student and Teacher for January, 1910:—

If a man does not believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ, what vocation has he among Moslems and Jews? If he does not believe in the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ, as portrayed in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah and the repeated utterances of our Lord and his apostles, what message has he to carry to the unevangelized world? Why should he put the church at home to the expense of sending him to tell the Hindu, the Chinese, and the African that he really does not know what he believes? Our message is the evangel, the gospel of glad tidings that Jesus Christ is the Saviour, and the only Saviour, of the world. This gospel he commanded us to go forth and preach to the nations, and promised to be with us always.

It would be well for every missionary, and every clergyman in the so-called Christian lands as well, to sense the force of Dr. Jessup's pertinent remarks. The work of the gospel minister or missionary is to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. When he leaves this divine calling and begins to proclaim the theories of so-called Higher Criticism, which constitute an attack upon the authenticity of God's Word and the foundations of the Christian religion, he has surely mistaken the order and character of his calling. The name “Christian” applied to such a one is a misnomer. Sad indeed it is to see so many posing as spiritual leaders of the people who are preaching another gospel than that which came by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Blind leaders they truly are.

Say Ye Not, A Confederacy

“SAY ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.”

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