Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Apr 7, 1904
By Land and Sea
THE new, revised edition of this book seems to be appreciated more than the old edition. Orders are being received from news companies and from religious organizations, which reveal the growing popularity of the book. Many excellent testimonials are received in behalf of this book, recommending it highly, and advising all young people to study it carefully, and especially those who are contemplating entering the missionary field. It is a good history, written in an attractive manner for our young people's societies.
The reduced price ($1.50) brings this book within the reach of all.
The Lover’s Love
is a book possessing merit and essential human interest, written through the dictation of the divine Spirit, revealing the love of God, and winning the heart to him. Note what others say who have read it:—
“I have read the book with interest, and believe it will be a blessing to many in setting forth some of the glories of John 3:16. Young people will surely read it with interest.
“W. A. SPICER.”
“I have received a copy of ‘The Lover’s Love, or John Three Sixteen.’ It is a very excellent book. I think it is one in which our people would be interested. I feel that it is a very valuable addition to our Sabbath-school library.
“MRS. L. FLORA PLUMMER.”
“I have looked the book through, and read a portion of it, and can truly say that it is very interesting, placing the love of God in such a light that it unfolds the tenderness of his care to all those who read the book; and the work is so worded and the thought so brought out that it lends fascination to all classes of readers. There are those who are not interested in reading religious works who, upon examination of this book, become at once interested, and to that extent that they continue to peruse its pages. I trust that this will not only reach the home of every Seventh-day Adventist, but the homes and hearts of all.
E. A. BRISTOL.”
“Another beautiful book has just appeared from the pen of Rev. William P. Pearce, entitled ‘The Lover’s Love.’ It contains 172 pages of clear type, and is elaborately bound. The matter is most interesting, holding the attention, and imparting inspiration to the reader. It will be of exceptional interest to church people who think of their own and others’ welfare.”—Daily Bulletin, Anderson, Ind.
“I want to express my appreciation of the new book just published by you, and written by William P. Pearce—‘The Lover’s Love, or John Three Sixteen.’ I have read it with the keenest pleasure and delight. I trust it may have a large sale. I wish that every Christian and every non-Christian might read this beautiful book. It would strengthen the one, and lead the other to a better understanding of the wondrous love of God in giving his only begotten Son to die for us, that we might live.
“MRS. R. W. MCMAHAN.”
“I am pleased with the contents of the book and the author’s manner of handling this wonderful subject. I feel confident that the circulation of the book will do much in leading to a greater love of the Saviour of mankind, and trust that it may accomplish much good.
“S. N. CURTISS.”
“Having quite carefully read the new book, ‘The Lover’s Love, or John Three Sixteen,’ by William P. Pearce, I find much of real value in it to help the Christian in loving ‘even as he [the Lord] loved.’ That the church lacks this love which is promised to be shed abroad by the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the believers, is more and more evident. This little volume certainly helps the Christian to see some of the heights, and depths, and breadths of the love emanating from the heart of the Infinite. We can heartily recommend this little volume to the careful perusal of both old and young.
“T. E. BOWEN.”
“I am in receipt of the little book entitled ‘The Lover’s Love, or John Three Sixteen.’ I have had an opportunity to read only a portion of this book, but am greatly pleased with it. It is full of excellent thoughts, and I am sure I shall take pleasure in reading the whole of it. The subject is presented in a forcible way, and the numerous illustrations used by the author appeal forcibly to the soul of the reader. I believe the Spirit of the Lord led the writer, and I wish for the book a wide circulation.
“E. A. SUTHERLAND.”
The price of this book is 75 cents, postpaid.
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The Thin Edition of Steps to Christ
THE full book, “Steps to Christ,” bound in limp, red Russia leather, making it less than one half the thickness of the regular book, yet fully as readable, and far more convenient to carry in the pocket or valise for ready reference or daily study. Retail price, 60 cents. Regular discounts to agents.
Testimonies, Volume VIII
By the time this notice reaches the readers of the REVIEW, the last volume of the “Testimonies for the Church” will be ready for delivery by all the publishing houses and tract societies. This volume will be of unusual importance to the people.
Price, in cloth, 75 cents; red limp leather, $1.25.
Second Quarter Sabbath-School Lessons for 1904
THE Sabbath-school lessons for the second quarter, April, May, and June, 1904, are a series of thirteen lessons upon outline studies in the Revelation, under the following divisions:—
The Revelation of Jesus Christ; The Seven Churches; Scenes in Heaven; The Seven Seals; Events Under the Sixth and Seventh Seals; The Seven Trumpets; The Breaking Up of the Empire of Rome; The Fall of the Western Empire; The Fall of the Eastern Empire; The Early Advent Movement; The Measuring of the Temple and the Two Witnesses; and The Events of the Seventh Trumpet.
The quarterlies are now ready. Regular retail price, five cents a copy.
Our Paradise Home
THOUGH no effort is being put forth to keep this book especially before the public, the demand for it remains good. The people recognize in it true merit, and it seems to meet a hearty response in the common human interest, which quality in a book always guarantees a large circulation.
The people everywhere accept it readily. Boys and girls sell it easily. One small boy recently sold one hundred copies in a few days. When this book is placed in the home, many cardinal principles of the message go with it, for it is a little message-bearer.
It is now only nine months since it was first published, and nearly forty thousand copies have been sold. It is bound in three styles of binding: board, 25 cents; cloth, 50 cents; presentation edition, 75 cents. Regular discount to agents.
The Year Book for 1904
EVERY Seventh-day Adventist should have the Year Book. It is an epitome of what has been accomplished in the advancement of the work. It is a complete directory of all the departments of the General Conference and of the local conferences. With it you can readily learn the address of any officer, minister, or worker. With the Year Book you can always tell where the near-by vegetarian restaurant is; also where to find the treatment rooms and sanitariums, as well as the addresses of our physicians.
You may know the population of each union conference, with the number of churches and present membership. In traveling, you may know where to locate our nearest workers.
You will realize, after perusing the Year Book, that without it you would have been behind the times in the message, and with it you have a cyclopedia of the denomination and its work. Don't delay. Order now. Price, postpaid, 25 cents.
Christ’s Second Coming, or the Bible Evidences and the Signs of Our Times
By J. Q. A. Haughey
BY J. Q. A. HAUGHEY
THIS excellent tract, which has been out of print for some time, has been reset, and bound without covers, and made No. 42 of the Words of Truth Series. It contains 32 pages of Bible evidences of Christ’s second coming, and has proved to be an excellent tract for general circulation. Several hundred thousand have been sold, and excellent reports have been received of the good work it has accomplished.
It now sells for 2 cents a copy, with the usual discount to Tract Societies.
Order of State Tract Societies; Review and Herald, Battle Creek, Mich.; Review and Herald, Washington, D. C.; Pacific Press, Oakland, Cal.; Kansas City, Mo.; Southern Publishing Ass’n., Nashville, Tenn.
Editorial
By L. A. S.
A Broad Platform
THE Christian travels in a narrow way, and by the world is accused of being narrow-minded; but he stands upon a broad platform, for his platform is the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. The world travels in a broad way, but its platform is too narrow to afford any foothold for eternity. The broad-minded man is he whose mind is instructed by the law of the Lord; for “Thy commandment is exceeding broad.” The law of the Lord governs the entire universe, and a knowledge of that law is a key to the understanding of all mysteries. The narrowest pathway is the best through a world where iniquity and perils abound upon every side. At the end of the Christian’s narrow pathway here, lies a broad expanse that will afford an eternal home for that great multitude whom no man could number, gathered out of all the nations. In this world it is not the way of our pilgrimage, but our platform of principles, that requires breadth. L. A. S.
Four Dimensions
IN the science of things earthly there are but three dimensions known. People have speculated about a fourth dimension, but only three—length, breadth, and thickness—pertain to any visible object. No object is so great as to have more than these. But in the science of heavenly things we come to a fourth dimension. We find this statement of it given by Inspiration (Eph. 3: 17-19): “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”
The love of Christ is so great that three dimensions will not measure it,—his love for us. It must have breadth, to cover every nation and family on the earth; it must have length, to extend from Adam’s day to ours; it must have depth, to reach to the lowest plane of sin and woe; it must have height, to lift us up to the throne of God. Truly this is a love worth comprehending, worth possessing. L. A. S.
The Foundation Principle of the Gospel
“WHAT then shall one answer the messengers of the nation? That Jehovah hath founded Zion, and in her shall the afflicted of his people take refuge.”
“Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone of sure foundation.”
“Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
“And in none other is there salvation: for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved;” for “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
The church of Jesus Christ was founded by Jehovah as the channel through which this message of the gospel of Christ must go to the nations. It now becomes necessary in this generation for the people of God to study again the foundation principles of the gospel of Christ; and it becomes necessary that there should be a clearing away of that which hinders any from seeing Christ in his rightful place in this message as the Son of God, the Creator of all things. It is necessary to emphasize again the principles which underlie the gospel, giving to Christ his true place. The message for this time is such a teaching of the gospel as will meet every need, and will prepare a people to meet the Lord, will bring help to every one, will shed light on every path, and will emphasize the place that belongs to Christ the Son of God in the sanctuary service, and will teach us and all who lay hold of this experience in a very real way to obtain the power for us in the gospel which is “the power of God unto salvation.” Here is a scripture which serves as a foundation for much study for this time:—
“Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.”
The thought that stands out so clearly in this scripture is that he who is the head of creation is the head of the church. “Jehovah hath founded Zion, and in her shall the afflicted of his people take refuge.” Let us read it again with this thought in mind: “In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. . . . For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the pre-eminence.”
The right teaching of the gospel of Christ will give to the eternal Son his rightful place as head of creation. And the power that was revealed through Christ in the original creation is the power which is revealed through him as the head of the new creation, and the Sabbath is the sign of that power in both cases.4A right understanding of this thought will help us to meet the needs of this time.
We are beset on every hand by all kinds of false teachings brought in by the enemy to lead the people into error. The right kind of teaching of this message for this generation will involve the teaching of the gospel in such a way as shall bring to every one now who is looking for help just the help that he needs, and shall shed light on every one who is in darkness. That is the message for this time, and the message for this generation will especially emphasize the place which belongs to Christ the Son of God.
He who is the head of the original creation is the head of the church. This truth is at the foundation of the gospel and the message for this time, and a right understanding and teaching of it will help us greatly in presenting the truth at this time in such a way as to meet the needs of this time. When Paul the apostle preached this gospel and wrote this gospel, there had come into this world such a perversion of the teachings of the gospel as called for a restatement of the whole gospel—for the shedding of a new light upon the very foundation principles of the gospel of God, concerning his Son; and those perversions of the truth of God, which had brought things to such a pass at that time, grew almost invariably out of the perversion of the relation which God sustains to creation, through his only begotten Son.
This same apostle Paul, who wrote this epistle to the Colossians, was one day in Athens, and he met certain philosophers, the Epicureans and the Stoics, and they thought they would like to know what this babbler said. They spent their time in nothing else than to tell or to hear some new thing. There were those various sects of the philosophers who were at the time bringing forward new theories and new explanations of things. They said, Here is a new man come among us, let us hear what he has to say. They were philosophers of the Epicureans and Stoics. Now when the fulness of time had come, and Christ was revealed in the flesh, there were these schools of the philosophers who had perverted the truth, who had shut away the light, who did not profess to have anything in common with the teachings of the Jewish religion. And there were the Jews who had so far lost the original truth of the gospel as revealed in their services that they were no longer the channel of salvation and light and blessing both to themselves and to the world. These services they had turned into a means of hiding the revelation of God, so that there was no clear revelation of light, and the people sat in darkness, and the philosophers speculated, and the teachers of religion invented some new ways of salvation by works.
The philosophers in that time, such as the Epicureans and the Stoics that Paul met, while they disagreed upon many things and speculated over many others, generally agreed upon one principle, and that was the perversion of the relation of God to his created works. These philosophers in olden times, when this gospel in which the pre-eminence must be given to Christ the Son, was taught by the apostle Paul and others, taught a philosophy which shut out Christ, the Son, from his place in the original creation.
“The Epicureans maintained that the universe arose out of a fortuitous concurrence of atoms.” “The Deity had somewhat more of majesty and influence assigned to him by the Stoics. They did not limit his functions merely to the regulating of the clouds, and the numbering of the stars, but conceived him to animate every part of the universe with his presence, in the nature of a subtle, active, penetrating fire.”
These were the teachings of the Epicureans and Stoics—those philosophers whom the apostle Paul met that day, and to whom he was preaching on Mars Hill. To these he preached of the God who made the heavens and the earth. He did not preach to them the gospel of a force that brought the universe into shape by a mere fortuitous arrangement of atoms, that is, by chance. Nor did he preach to them of a god that pervaded all things as a subtle essence. He brought to them the gospel of that God to whom they had made reference by their inscription on the altar which they had erected to the unknown God. He declared unto them that that God whom they worshiped in ignorance he would reveal unto them, in his relation to the universe—the God that made the heaven and the earth. This was the true God, that God who had been revealed through his works, who had been especially revealed through the gospel, who had been set forth in the sacrifices and offerings and services of the sanctuary. But that God had been largely lost sight of, both by the heathen and by the professed believers in God. Now where was the root of their perversion of the light that had come to them? It was in this one thing: they had perverted the teaching of the relationship which God sustains to the things that he had made. That is to say, they did not give to Christ the Son his place as head of creation: they did not teach that through him all things came into being, and that without him nothing came into being that came into being. They did not teach that truth that through him all things were created, whether they be thrones, or principalities, or powers: they did not give to him the place of pre-eminence in God's creation of things. And, because of that, they did not give to him his place as the head of the church, of the new creation. For that philosophy which takes away the eternal Son from his place as head of the original creation, will end in taking him from his place as head of the church, for these things are bound together in such a way that they can not be separated. And, again, we are to mark that the true gospel for all time and for this time, is that which gives unto Christ the eternal Son, his place as head of the original creation, his place as head of the new creation, the church, and makes him in all things to have the pre-eminence.
When he is given his place, it stands forth as the leading truth of this gospel, that through faith in him there shall come to the believer that creative power which makes him a new man in Christ Jesus—that creative power which transforms him into the image of God—that creative power without which the gospel is not the power of God unto salvation. So then, when we set aside Christ from his place in the original creation, we take away from the gospel that which is its power for salvation. This is not a mere theory; it is a great fact of experience.
Shall We Follow Strange Gods?
By W. A. S.
Present-Day Revivals of Ancient Errors—No. 3
Shall We Follow Strange Gods?
As with the mind men serve the law of God (Rom. 7:25), so with the mind begins the worship of false gods. The strange and grotesque ideas of deity found in heathenism came all by natural descent from philosophic conceptions of God. Professing themselves to be wise, and endeavoring to apply to the things of the Spirit the methods of scientific research, men were switched off from the only way of divine knowledge. The men who did these things were not children. They were scientists and philosophers, as keen as any in our day. But they sought God by methods that can never apprehend him. The late Dr. Krishna Banerjee, Sanskrit examiner to the Calcutta University, thus pointed out the mistake of the early science students who sought for the explanation of life and a rational conception of God:—
They propounded many theories on the origin of the world, the nature of God, the properties of matter and mind. . . . Sciences, distinct in themselves, were blended together. Objects which surpassed the limits of the human understanding were pursued with the same confidence and eagerness with which the easiest questions were investigated. The philosophers professed to have solved problems really out of the range of our knowledge, while they threw doubts on matters which everybody believed, and which none could deny without belying his nature.
The result was that their hearts were5darkened, and the baleful systems of heathenism were developed. Instead of finding God, human reason found Satan, who ever since the fall has been setting himself forth as God. The modern effort to find what is called a rational basis for faith is pursuing the path of the ancient philosophy. Old controversies which raged round the question of a philosophy of God have been revived in the new-thought movement that is sweeping the world. Western modes of religious thought are being “replenished from the leaves of the East.” Isa. 2:6. Truly came the word of God twelve years ago:—
“New and old will commingle, and verily, this will take place right early. . . . A crisis is to be revealed in the great and prolonged controversy in the government of God on earth. Something great and decisive is to take place, and that right early. If any delay, the character of God and his throne will be compromised.”
In the last great conflict Satan will make his supreme effort to usurp the place of God in the minds of men. Yet it is not by the clever mind and the learning of the schools that we shall be kept. The simple, childlike faith in God and his Word is the protection. The child’s thought of God is truer and more reverent than the highest effort of minds blinded by a false science and philosophy. Many a good old mother, in those sad days when the Alexandrian controversies raged, could have told the learned disputants more of God than ever dawned on their critical minds. They were trying to put God into a formula, and to subject Deity to the scientific methods of the laboratory. It was the method of the East. Professor Gwatkin shows that Oriental thought, the philosophy of Indian heathenism, was—
The groundwork of all the Gnostic systems, and almost dominated the theology of Neoplatonism [the ruin of the early church]. . . . Its conception of the Divinity as pure Being . . . remained an axiom of all philosophy.
It is the new-thought conception, the Unitarian idea, carried to its logical end. Indeed, I have heard in India one of the leading Unitarian preachers of the world declaring to an audience of Brahmo-Samaj followers, that the ancient Rishis, or wise men, of the Brahman philosophy were right in their conception of Deity.
As against this idea, we have the thought of God that any child must get from Bible statements, or from the extracts quoted last week from “Early Writings.” These presented the view of the person of Jesus, in humanity’s form upon the throne, and beside him the Father, in form like unto himself, but so glorious that to mortal eyes in vision his person was veiled in a cloud of light. We have heard the suggestion that it savors of idolatry to think of God as having bodily form. This argument has been illustrated by the case of one asked to describe his thought of God’s person, and who, evidently betrayed by the question, thoughtlessly began to answer, and was pressed on to describe in detail the anatomy of the human form. Of course the result was repugnant to every sense of spiritual propriety. But wherein did the sin begin?—In the question that demanded an image. It was wrong and irreverent to ask for it; it was wrong to give it. The reverent faith of a little child leaves it just where Inspiration leaves it—in the very thought a cloud of glorious light veils the form of Deity.
Faith does not seek impiously to lift the veil or to penetrate the glory. It does not attempt to describe in human language the indescribable glory of his person. The reverent thought seeks not to picture it. The spiritual mind does not think of describing; it worships. The heart knows that the bodily form and presence is there. That is sufficient for the eye of faith, and with Job we cry:—
“I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not a stranger.” Job 19:25-27, margin.
To this blessed hope the heart clings, and the Word of God tells us that one day we in redeemed flesh, if faithful, shall see his face. It will not be the strange and awful specter of refined philosophic fancy, but a loving Father whose bodily form we may approach unto.
Over against faith’s reverent thought of God, there is set forth what is called the larger, more glorious, more philosophic view. If he has form, we have been told, it must be as large as the universe. And this view seeks support in the figures of speech by which Inspiration has sought to convey a faint idea of his almighty power. We have heard it stated in public assembly that what many Seventh-day Adventists need is a new God; that many are serving a God too small for the larger and true idea. Such a conception of God is set forth in a tract circulating among us:—
Then if only his hand is so great that all the waters lie in the hollow of it, how large is he himself? It is simply impossible for any human mind to conceive of the size that such a hand would have to be. . . . “Meted out heaven with the span.” The span is the measure from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the second finger. What is the compass of the heaven? Conceive it if you can. Yet the whole compass of the heaven is by him measured simply with the span. Then again, what is the size of that hand? . . . And when no human mind could possibly conceive only the size of the hand, the reach of the span with which he meted out heaven, how infinitely beyond all reach of human thought is any true conception of the form of God.
The mistake is in assuming that the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 40) is endeavoring to impress us with the greatness of God’s form. It is “the greatness of his might” that he desires us to know. Just here comes in the conception of infinitely colossal form that can never be harmonized with the view which Inspiration gives of the Father on his throne beside “the man Christ Jesus.” It is truly the setting forth of a new god, which our fathers knew not. It is, in fact, the Universe-God of heathen philosophy, sometimes given members and parts, and again considered as an ether-like presence; for consistency is not a characteristic of philosophic views of Deity. Pike says of a Persian view: “It was thought the universe should be deemed an immense being.”
In Egyptian and other views,—
The universe was a living and animated being, like man and the other animals; or rather, they were so only because the universe was essentially so.
. . . This was the Universe-God, which the ancients adored as supreme Cause and God of gods. . . . God, in the view of Pythagoras, was One, a single substance, whose continuous parts extend through all the universe. The world or universe was thus compared to man. . . . Thus he made the universe a great intelligent being, like man—an immense deity.
The ancient philosophers of the East, by a study of nature, from the atom to the universe, sought a philosophic view of God. The new philosophy, religious and professedly Christian, is pursuing the same path. Dr. Stockwell gives the theory of God in the atom:—
That innate element in all organic life which science has termed “the tendency to differentiate,” and which other modes of thought have called “that which aspires,” or “the God-element within” . . . is indeed the “God Immanent,” and it is to be found alike in the atom, in the planet, and in man, varying only in degree. In this view the word “personality” finds a deeper meaning.
(In passing, let us note that the controversy does not center round the word “personality.” Any instructed Hindu would allow the personality of God.) Our author says that the student of the new philosophy is not content with Spencer’s theory that beyond the atom is a wall that can not be breached. We read:—
And so we find him in search of a bridge that shall span the chasm between the atom and that which lies beyond. For, in other words, he feels that if he can understand the atom fully, it may be known what God, man, and the universe is. Shall I say that some of these men are beginning to entertain the tremendous conception that they have found the hither end of such a bridge—that they are reverently pushing out upon it, and, with daily confirmations of the solidity and soundness of the conclusion are peering with profound awe and wonder into the unspeakable glory that is6seen to envelop like a great cloud its thitherward course?
The new Babel builders have almost reached heaven—they think: “And now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.” Gen. 11:6. The new discoveries in light rays, of radium, and hitherto unknown properties of matter encourage men to think they are close to the secret of life. And now the writer—who fairly represents the new movement—follows the theory to the conclusion of the ancients:—
Professor Hemstreet, writing of the views of Tesla, says: “Now call this energy God’s mind, and the ether God’s body, then we have the secret of eternal life and the process of cosmic evolution. . . . God in the ether is no more strange than a soul in the body. . . . Gravitation, attraction, and all energy and mind are qualities of the ether. Mind in the ether is no more unnatural than mind in the flesh and blood.”
This is the new mode of expressing the Universal Mind, the Universe-God of heathen philosophy. An older mode of expression is that of the Upanishads, or secret inner philosophy of the ancient Hindus:—
He who dwelling in the ether, is within the ether, whom the ether does not know, whose body is the ether, who from within rules the ether, is thy soul, the Inner Ruler, immortal.
From this very philosophy of God have come the frightful corruptions of heathenism. The idea of magnifying the form of God, until he must necessarily fill the universe with his bodily presence, comes from the false assumption that great power implies a correspondingly colossal frame. It was thought that God must be great in form in order to be great in power. The error is due to the failure to apprehend that which is the only hope of our salvation. God’s power is manifested by his word. He need not be infinitely great in bodily form, in order to be infinite in power. He speaks the word of life from his throne, “upholding all things by the word of his power.” The sinner, redeemed, has not to search the universe to view, a little at a time, a form that the logic of the philosophy must necessarily picture as greater than the universe, one whose smallest measurements—it is an awful suggestion—must be beyond all human conception. He will find a God whom he can approach upon his throne in the heavenly temple, and he shall stand before his face. In his flesh shall he see God, and by his side “the man Christ Jesus,” in form like unto the Father. The false philosophic view takes the thought away from the infinite power, which is our hope of salvation, to fasten it upon the mind-staggering conception of infinite form that has led to the grossest idolatry. This view, as we shall see, leads logically into pantheism, with all its mixture of light and darkness, of poetical fancies and vulgar crudities.
We know well why the enemy makes his last attack upon the all-powerful Word of the living God. It is our only foundation. In the warning as to the commingling of new and old controversies, we have the instruction: “The only rock that is sure and steadfast is the Rock of Ages. Those only who build on this Rock are secure.” And in taking our stand upon the Word of God we are standing on the Rock of Ages. It has been the stay and support of the saints of God through all the long dark millenniums of apostasy. Still it brings to our hearts assurance of the infinite power and protection of our God, the God of our fathers, in the trying hour upon which we have entered. W. A. S.
Danger of Oriental Philosophy
By L. A. S.
The following paragraphs from an article contributed to The Independent by Mr. Colgate Baker, who was for years a resident of Japan and is thoroughly familiar with the Japanese religion and character, give one an idea of the effect of Oriental philosophy upon minds representing the intelligence and civilization of Christian lands. It may be natural to suppose that Oriental philosophy is a thing suited only to inferior minds darkened by heathenism, and not dangerous to the Caucasian brought up under the influence and amid the advantages of the great centers of civilization; but this does not take into account the fact that heathen philosophy was not devised to suit minds darkened by centuries of ignorance and degradation, but that heathenism was the product of this philosophy, received when men knew God, but did not desire to retain him in their knowledge. Mr. Baker says:—
It is my conviction that the Japanese character is the most insidious force that has ever menaced Christianity. The Japanese philosophy is diametrically opposed to Christian principles on all cardinal points. It is a philosophy which completely possesses those who believe in it, with a power almost hypnotic. One has only to observe the white men who have become Japanese to see how it wrecks the moral character of the Caucasian.
The effect of the Japanese philosophy on the brain of the European or American is not unlike that of a subtle narcotic. It perverts all moral ideas, and poisons the very source of every thought and action. To the white man who falls under the sway of this mystic power Christian civilization, with its ideals, appears ridiculously quixotic. He has nothing but contempt for the men of his own race, and is even ashamed of the color of his skin. It is only natural that such an individual should forsake his own kind, don a kimono, become a Japanese, and try to lose himself in the great yellow mass.
While sojourning in a small city on the Inland Sea, far from the beaten tracks of tourists, I was surprised to hear that a white man had come to the place with a troupe of Japanese actors, and was to give a performance at a local theater. Out of curiosity I witnessed the performance of this man, and subsequently invited him to dine with me. As I expected, the fellow, who called himself Yensaburo Black, was completely possessed by the Japanese philosophy. He was an Englishman, educated at Harrow, and his father, happily deceased, had been one of the pioneer newspaper editors of Japan. He preferred to converse with me in Japanese, rather than in his own mother tongue. Of course, he spoke enthusiastically of the Japanese life. He declared that he was supremely happy. It was painful for him to meet foreigners, he said, because they did not understand Japanese life and ideas, and because they reminded him of the contemptible Christian civilization he wished to forget. He assured me that before he had accepted my invitation, he had inquired whether I could speak Japanese and would entertain him in Japanese style, and had he not been satisfied on those points by the tea-house people, he would have stayed away. This man refused to touch the foreign dishes placed before him, explaining that he could eat only Japanese food.
What the Japanese philosophy has done for Mr. Yensaburo Black it has done for others of stronger mind, greater abilities, and more distinguished position.
The Japanese character, Mr. Baker says, possesses “exquisite esthetic sensibility,” which makes the Japanese “competent and enthusiastic art critics,” but along with this the same character reveals “an absolute lack of what the Christian world understands and cherishes as moral ideas.” “The high development of the poetic and artistic sense of the Japanese in no way affects the moral side of his character.” People are very much in error who imagine that education or the cultivation of poetic and esthetic tastes alone is able to create morality. The world’s supply of morality is drawn wholly from the Christian religion.