IN this enlightened age of progress and liberty it falls upon the ear like an echo from the Middle Ages to hear it made a matter of common remark, as well as official declaration, that it is not permitted to print and distribute the Bible in the language of the common people. But we are obliged to acknowledge that such in truth is the present situation in “Free Greece,” as the Greek press and the Greek people proudly delight in designating their country.
Strange Incongruities
Once in the acme of intellectual development and creative art, unsurpassed, doubtless, in any succeeding generation, and once also at the zenith of political glory and strength under the leadership of the intrepid Alexander, the Greek race to-day is a disappointment when we look into the form of Christianity which they profess and practise. They have not advanced as far as we have a right to expect beyond the superstition and bigotry which put Socrates to death on the charge of bringing in new gods and corrupting the youth of Athens, because he taught a higher, purer conception of right living than was tasteful to the heathen palate, and because in so doing he ignored the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up in the plain of Dura.
How strange a religion that seems which idolizes the symbol of the Cross in gold or marble or wood or painting, while concealing in an antiquated tongue the words of Him who poured out His life upon that cross, that all men might be saved; a religion that will fight against the desecration of the material, visible sign, and yet withholds from the people the teaching of Him who spake as never man spake, lest they learn the full meaning of Gethsemane and apply the remedy for sin according to their individual convictions and understanding of the word of God.
A Personal Incident
To one who has never before visited a land of such spiritual incongruities, the first impressions of so strange a situation are exceedingly impressive. Some time after arriving in Greece, there was providentially placed in my hands by a Greek neighbor, an ex-banker of Byzantine extraction, a copy of the New Testament translated into the Greek vernacular. It is one of a few surviving copies concealed here and there in Greek homes as a relic. It is printed and bound in about the same style as the American Tract Society Bibles we used to have in Sunday-schools for seat use and for handing to visitors. This particular copy had all the fly-leaves removed, as well as all printers’ or individual signatures, leaving only the bare text. The original and the translation are arranged in parallel columns. The language of the translation is approximately that of the “Twentieth Century Testament” issued some time ago in the United States. Doubtless the poorest peasant in Greece could understand its wording.
Unfortunately, however, the ignorant populace are so influenced by tradition and superstition, taught as they are to regard the letter of the original New Testament as sacred and not to be altered in any degree except by authority of the Holy Synod, that they did not hail with joy the advent of the Gospel in terms of their own understanding. With one accord they set about to destroy every copy they could find, not sparing doors, windows, or other forms of violence to gain possession of them.
When my neighbor learned, therefore, that I am specially interested in the Bible, he ventured to loan me his copy, “on condition,” he said, “that you let absolutely no one outside your family see it, not even a servant or caller of any kind, that you will not tell any one that you have it in your possession or that it belongs to me, and that when you are not actually using it you will keep it under lock and key.”
“But why these severe restrictions?” I inquired.
“Because,” he continued, “if the people find out that I have this Bible in my house, they will break my doors and windows, and not spare me nor my property till they get possession of the book and destroy it.”
On the giving of my word, he handed me this Bible carefully wrapped and tied, and I walked home with new sensations. “Where am I? in the twentieth century? or are the sands of time running backward? Am I in ‘Free Greece,’ or in the Waldensian valleys of the fourteenth century?”
Late that evening, after the outside world was quiet and the rest of the family had retired, I took out the precious treasure, and with the windows closed, lost myself till the early morning hours in the contemplation of both the theme and the language in the light of the day’s revelations. Vividly before my mind’s eye arose that familiar painting, a copy of which I saw on sale in Athens the other day, of the Waldensian grandfather and grandchild reading the precious word with mingled feelings of eagerness to learn better the way of salvation, and of fear lest they be discovered by enemies of that word and it be taken from them. I think I really sensed for the first time something of what those feelings might be. And I prayed to God more fervently that if His providence had led me to this difficult field, He would supply me with needed discretion, courage, and consecration to fulfil my mission.
The Bible Society in Greece
Some years ago the British and Foreign Bible Society issued a translation of the entire Bible in modern Greek—the modern purged, or literary, Greek, however, not the vernacular. The principal agency of that society in the Levant is in Constantinople. It established a branch in Athens, with a Greek converted from the Orthodox faith to Protestantism, in charge. The circulation of this Bible was not forbidden for a time, but later, by a combination of religious bigotry and political intrigue, to be described in another article, the government passed an act prohibiting the circulation of any translation or paraphrase whatever of the original Greek text.
The Bible Society still has a score or two of these Bibles in their Athens depository, tho not permitted to sell them. I was fortunate enough, however, to procure a copy. The translation is said by competent judges to be unsatisfactory and to need revision, but it is invaluable as an aid in acquiring a Gospel vocabulary in a country whose religion283deals principally with ritualistic, technical, ancient terms, with very little bearing on practical godliness, and whose general literature is almost destitute of treatises on practical Gospel themes.
Education and the Bible
The Bible Society must now content itself with selling New Testaments in the original Greek and parts of the Old Testament in the Septuagint Greek. One of their canvassers may frequently be seen on the streets of Athens with a small supply of these, seeking to interest the people to buy and read. Of course, only the educated can read and understand, and this is the very class that as a rule has the least interest to study the Bible. They feed upon ancient philosophy and classical lore, and upon modern skepticism, evolution, and fiction. Many of them read French and some of them German, and the bookstores of Athens are filled with such works as “The Descent of Man,” “Hypnotism,” “Free Thought,” “Spiritualism,” and every kind of fiction, in French and German, to say nothing of the numerous translations into Greek of this class of books. The University of Athens is sowing in the hearts of the youth the seeds of science falsely so called, and the inevitable crop of skeptics is fast ripening.
It need hardly be added, therefore, that our seller of Bibles finds but a slight interest in the word of truth. The Athens agent of the Bible Society sets hope upon the education of the masses, by the multiplying and improvement of schools by the government, to the extent that they can read the Bible in ancient Greek. But many of the teachers are graduates of the university, and practically all the school text-books are prepared by the same class; so that, even if a knowledge of ancient Greek should become wide-spread, the tastes and desires of the people would call for almost any other book than the Bible.
Shall we not hope, rather, that as in nearly every other country on the globe there may also in Greece be a providential breaking down of the barriers against introducing the word in the modern tongue, that the people of “Free Greece” may see the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world, and walk in that light before eternal darkness come upon them?
In our next, we shall tell of a recent effort of the queen to render the New Testament into the language of the people.
Spiritualism and Demonism
By R.
UNDER this caption the “Independent” of April 1, has a few words to say which show that occasionally, at least, some one thinks of the true explanation of spiritualistic phenomena. While the Society of Psychical Research is working on the hypothesis that the phenomena are due to some mental influence emanating from the medium or other source, possibly a disembodied spirit, the phenomena themselves often more clearly indicate that they are originated by beings of devilish caprice. A portion of the article reads as follows:
“While the Society of Psychical Research is seeking evidence that the spirits of the dead may communicate with the living, and while some of our most competent students of physics accept it as a fact that they do, we are forced to the conclusion that such an existence after death as these spirits show us through Mrs. Piper and other mediums is not worth the having. The platitudinous inanities which these spirits repeat excite no wish for such an existence as theirs.”
PRISON OF SOCRATES.
“We would commend to the study of the Society of Psychical Research another side of the question, that of demonical possession. Every one believed in it two centuries ago. Most of the attacks on Luther’s character are based on his violent and vulgar treatment of devils. Our missionaries have much to say about demonism in China, and Dr. Happer has written a very interesting book on the subject, while other missionaries have declared that Korea is peculiarly infested with devils.”
Our dead friends and acquaintances do not visit us. Such appearances are the “spirits of devils, working miracles.” Rev. 16:14. “The dead know not anything.” Eccl. 9:5. Their thoughts cease, their emotions perish. They have nothing more to do with anything under the sun. Eccl. 9:6, 10. R.
Getting at the Roots of Crime.
The new penology, in the words of one of its chief advocates, Samuel J. Barrows, corresponding secretary of the Prison Association, of New York, declares:
GREEK PROTESTANT CHURCH OF ATHENS.
“It is useless to stay the flood of crime by dikes at the mouth of the stream; it must be filtered at its source. Intelligent penology, like intelligent forestry, does not consist merely in cutting down crooked trees; it means work in the nursery, the protection of the growing plants.”
And this is true. The International Prison Congress meets in Washington in 1910; $50,000 appropriation is asked of Congress, a sum which would much better be expended for this purpose than in the building of battle-ships.
But the remedy for crime must go deeper than any legislation or mere humanitarian efforts can go. The roots of crime are in the carnal man, whose mind is naturally at enmity to the law of God. Rom. 8:7. The Gospel is God’s remedy to bring sinful man into harmony with His law. And so the old Gospel was preached in days past when crime was diminishing in America. The very increase of crime now is the fruitage of preaching a Gospel which is not the Gospel. Man does not, can not, and hence will not ever find power in himself to rise above the evil of his carnal heart, save as he brings Christ the Lord in by faith. If that be done, that man will be an overcomer of sin. In other words, he will be a doer of righteousness. The stalwart preaching of God’s Gospel with the demands of God’s law, and the living of that law in Christ will do more to restrain crime than all the schemes invented by man.
Arbitrary Power
ARCHBISHOP O’CONNELL, of Boston, is a veritable pope in his archdiocese. He uses the Boston Pilot as his official organ, and he expressly states (we quote from the Western Watchman, a Catholic paper):
“There is one and only one official organ of the diocese. All other papers, magazines, journals, reviews, and calendars, whether for parochial or general distribution, on sale in any way, controlled, printed, or edited in this diocese by priests of this diocese, must have, before publication, under penalty of suppression, the written permit of the Archbishop, with the added understanding that all such printed matter is subject to all the conditions imposed by the laws of the Holy Office, and that for good and sufficient reason the Ordinary may at any time call for the discontinuance and suppression of such papers and calendars.”
The Western Watchman remarks: “Here is something that will make every Catholic editor rub his eyes and look at the map on the wall.”
What Mr. Roosevelt Said in 1903
The following is reported in the Circle for March, by Lindsay Denison, newspaper and magazine writer:
“The radicals are almost half right. Corporations cunning has developed faster than the law of nation or state. It is undoubtedly true that corporations have found ways to steal long before we have found that they were susceptible of punishment for theft.
“But sooner or later, unless there is a season of readjustment, there will come a riotous, wicked, murderous day of atonement. It is true that some great fortunes are being accumulated lawfully but dishonestly. It is true that other fortunes are being accumulated honestly but illegally. There must come, in the proper growth of this nation, a readjustment. If it is not to come by sword and powder and blood it must come by peaceful compromise.”
And even so speaks the “more sure word of prophecy.”
Sugar Trust Tariff Cartoon
A striking cartoon comes to our notice, in which a giant automobile with a hog in charge, is labeled 45 per cent duty; while behind it trudges an ordinary American citizen pulling a wooden-wheeled wagon on which is a sack of sugar, labeled 80 per cent duty. That is, the consumer must pay on his sugar 80 per cent duty, while the wealthy sugar-trust man, who benefits by it, can purchase his automobile at 45 per cent duty. Underneath is the following legend: “A Trust Reason: We ought to have protection because we auto.”
The Coming Revolution.
—Mr. Frank B. Kellogg, the Standard Oil prosecutor, in his argument to have the Standard Oil Company dissolved in Missouri as a violator of the Sherman Act, declared that if present conditions continued, “your children and mine will be mere employees of corporations, and all further initiative of enterprise will cease.” “History has shown that when unchecked by court or legislation, monopolies have been stopped by revolution.” And this is what the voice of prophecy is, that before the greed of men lies the uprising of the masses.
A Law for Dress, etc.
If a Sunday law be demanded on hygienic principles, why should not laws regulating sleeping, diet, clothing, ventilation of dwellings, and a dozen other things pertaining to hygiene, be demanded also? If man's rest in the week be regulated by law on hygienic grounds, why not his rest on the day?
Thursday Island
By J. E. Fulton
After about nine days’ travel by steamer from Sydney, we were brought to Thursday Island, a few miles north of Cape York, at the very extreme north point of Australia, and only about ten degrees south latitude. Situated so near the equator, the weather is warm, but being a small island exposed to the tempering sea-breeze, we did not find our stay uncomfortable on account of heat.
Thursday Island.
Opening Pearl Shells, Torres Straits.
The town on the island, the small, is not an unimportant one, being a port of call for the ships passing from Australia to the East Indies, the Philippines, China, and Japan. From the number of hotels in the town one might wonder if the real name were not Thirsty Island. This place is the headquarters for the pearl-fishing industry, there being 347 pearl-fishing boats registered at this place, many of which lay at anchor on our arrival. They were of all sizes and shapes, from the ten-ton cutter to the fair-sized schooner. In company with the captain and harbor pilot, I visited one of the largest of these schooners, a rather fine, well-fitted little vessel, and here I was shown into some of the mysteries of the pearling business. I was first attracted to the diving apparatus, a very cumbersome looking suit. The body is first clothed with flannel and then in the diving suit, which keeps out the water, the head and face being covered with an immense helmet with a window in front through which the diver looks. The helmet has a long rubber tube connected with it, reaching from the vessel above down to the lowest depths below to which the diver can go, and through this tube air is pumped down to the diver as he pursues his pearling work down in the “lower regions.” The work is a perilous one, for the diver is forced into unnatural conditions,— the vitiated air, great water pressure, and then the sharks which abound in the tropical waters are fierce at times, often attacking the diver even when dressed in this formidable attire.
The diver thus dressed for his hazardous task and equipped with an instrument for cutting the oysters off the rocks to which they cling, and a bag to fill with the valuable fish, descends in a likely spot and commences his work. He is lowered by ropes from the vessel, and by a signal from the diver he is drawn up to deposit his find. The oyster is opened, the fish removed, and then the shells are packed in large cases and sent away to London or other places where they are used for various purposes, such as buttons, knife handles, and ornaments.
Sometimes valuable pearls are formed in the oyster and, of course, when found, are especially valuable. The shells we saw were large, flat, plate-shaped shells, rough and dingy on the outside, but bright and shiny within. The fish which we mention being taken from them are not in all cases thrown away. Many of the Japanese, and others who follow the business, string the fish on cord and dry it, after which it is ground up, mixed with curry, and so used as a table delicacy. There is no doubt that much money is made by this pearling business.
But we looked upon these hundreds of men who throng these fishing-boats as being the greater pearls. Here they were from the many surrounding islands of the great Malay Archipelago, and from far-off Japan, all looking downward and seeking pearls, and scarce one knowing ought of the “Pearl of great price.” Could they but know Him who called the fishermen of old! Could they but know the value of a human soul, they would no longer squander their lives for naught but these sea-born treasures. Could they look up instead of down, and learning of His priceless value, be led to “search after Him, and find Him,” what boundless and enduring satisfaction and wealth would be realized by them!
So here at the very beginning of our voyage into the tropics, on the outskirts of the great island, we are at once beset with the enormity of the task set before us in giving the message in this generation to the many, many thousands, yea, millions, of these tropical seas, that they may be led to see the emptiness and uncertainty of worldly wealth and pleasure, and be drawn to the enduring riches, and to the beauties of divine truth. J. E. FULTON.
Thy Kingdom Come!
LORD, when we pray, “Thy kingdom come!”
Then fold our hands without a care
For souls whom Thou hast died to save,
We do but mock Thee with our prayer.
Thou couldst have sent an angel band
To call Thine erring children home;
And thus through heavenly ministries
On earth Thy kingdom might have come.
But since to human hands like ours
Thou hast committed work divine,
Shall not our eager hearts make haste
To join their feeble powers with Thine?
To word and work shall not our hands
Obedient move, nor lips be dumb,
Lest through our sinful love of ease,
Thy kingdom should delay to come?
—Anon.
The Usefulness of Missionary Wives
By Dr. Herrick
I NEVER saw a missionary’s wife whose companionship did not double her husband’s usefulness. It is the missionary’s wife who, by years of endurance and acquired experience in the foreign field, has made it possible in these later days for unmarried women to go abroad and live and work among the people of Eastern Lands. — Dr. Herrick.
Our Work and Workers
A SABBATH-SCHOOL of twenty-three members has been organized at Sonoma, Cal.
A NEAT new church building was dedicated by the brethren at Hastings, Nebr., March 26.
A CHURCH of eleven members was organized at Lake Charles, La., March 20, by E. L. Maxwell.
AT Corsicana, Texas, Brother Thomas Defreeze reports that six have been added to their number through his labors.
“I HAVE just closed a seven-weeks’ meeting at Boggstown, Ind., with eleven accessions to the truth,” writes Brother Thomas Hubbard.
NINETEEN were added to the church at Watseka, Ill., March 27. Brother J. C. Harris conducted the studies which resulted in this harvest of souls.
BROTHER J. H. BEHRENS has been conducting meetings at Vallejo, Cal. Six have been baptized, and several others plan to go forward in baptism soon.
AT Leesburg, Ohio, through the faithful labors of Brother John P. Goode, assisted by Brother J. J. Marietta, eight have signed the covenant to keep all the commandments.
HOUSE-TO-HOUSE Bible work, in connection with regular church work, has borne good fruit at San Diego, Cal., where eleven precious souls were baptized, March 21.
BROTHER J. W. LAIR writes of baptizing a man and his wife, two daughters, and a daughter-in-law, recently at Hygiene, Colo. They unite with the English church at that place.
AFTER meeting much opposition in the Gospel work at Shreveport, La., Brother John E. Hanson is rejoicing over nine souls who have accepted present truth during this year.
“BROTHER CHAS. SUTTON has sold and delivered since February 1, $290.50 worth of books; and spent two weeks of this time at home and the canvassers’ institute.”—Kansas Worker, April 7.
THROUGH the faithful labors of Brother and Sister Alberto Gomez, in Torreon, Mexico, three families have embraced the truth. They now request that an ordained minister be sent to baptize this company of believers.
A LETTER from Brother J. W. Beams, Livonia, Mo., states that he conducted meetings early in April, which closed with the baptism of seven. A company of fourteen are holding up the light of present truth at that place.
LAST summer Brethren D. E. Blake and Geo. E. Peters pitched a tent at Gadsden, Ala., and conducted a series of meetings. Brother A. J. Haysmer reports the organization of a church of twenty as the result of their effort.
“AS a result of the efforts put forth in Hornell, N. Y., from January 28 to March 25, eighteen precious souls are rejoicing in the blessed hope.” So writes Brother T. B. Westbrook, with whom Brother J. W. Raymond is connected in labor.
THE tithe for the first quarter of 1909 in Nebraska amounted to $11,770.33, which is $3,761.13 more than was received during the corresponding quarter of last year, and is the largest amount ever before paid in one quarter in the Nebraska Conference.
THE work in Lowell, Mass., is gradually moving forward. At the quarterly meeting on April 3, thirteen souls were buried with their Lord in baptism, among them a Jewish brother. The services were conducted by Brethren Lee S. Wheeler and F. C. Gilbert.
BROTHER J. P. PIPER writes: “I recently closed a three-weeks’ course of meetings at Smithburg, Md. Fifteen new Sabbath-keepers are there witnessing to the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” A Sabbath-school of twenty-eight members was organized, Sabbath, March 27.
BROTHER C. N. MILLER, who is now the editor of the Christian Record, the paper for the blind published at College View, Nebr., with his wife and Miss Wheeler were losers by the fire in Fort Worth, Texas, which burned the Western branch of the Southern Publishing Assn. recently. While on their way from California their baggage was stored at the office, and all was burned.
India Library Fund
By Editor
NOT long ago was a little article in the SIGNS OF THE TIMES by Mr. George F. Enoch, who spoke of the difficulty of reaching many of the various castes of India, but he also spoke of one place that was common to all, and that is a great library, and suggested the opportunity that might be given to the readers of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES in donations to a fund for this purpose. In response to that note which we were glad to second, the following have responded:
D. D. Fitch ............... $1.00
Clifford Jennings ............ 1.00
Bertha McFadyen ............ 1.00
L. Tissaw ...................... 1.00
Edward Bush ................... .25
S. G. Sharp and wife .......... 1.00
Elizabeth M. Weisenbach ...... 2.00
Minnie Oliver ................... .60
Mrs. and Miss S. .............. 20.00
A Good Order
WITH a list of thirteen yearly subscriptions for both the weekly and monthly editions of the SIGNS, with $26.00 accompanying, comes the following good letter:
“I have received all the letters you have so kindly sent me. There are several reasons why I have been silent, but not because I have lost interest by any means. My Bible work has been about all I could attend to. There are several who are rejoicing in the truth as a result of the little I have been able to do. The Lord has been wonderfully good to me. Most of the names I am sending you are of those who have accepted present truth within the last two years. I am so glad to be able to send their names to you, for I know you (the SIGNS) will do them good as you have so many others in the past. I hope to be able to send other names soon.”
Our Cooperation Corner
By Editor
OUR cooperation friends, in response to calls that have been made or simply suggested from time to time, are joining with us in furnishing the SIGNS OF THE TIMES to those who are too poor to take it; or to a missionary in foreign lands who meets with those who speak the English tongue; and to other places where there is need of the paper, requests for which come to the notice of the editors and publishers. We have from time to time published these donations, always designing to acknowledge them by letter, but sometimes omitting their publication. We will acknowledge the donations which are sent from time to time. If there are those who do not wish their name used, we will publish their initials or whatever other pseudonym they may desire. If mistakes are made, let us know.
E. A. Turnbull ............... $18.00
Lillie A. Gainard ............. 1.00
J. N. Webb .................... .10
Clifford Jennings ............. 1.00
John Charlson ................. 9.00
A. Subscriber (L. A.) ......... 2.00
A. B. Saunders ................ 20.00
Wanted for Missionary Work
CONTINUOUS supply of SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Watchman, Life and Health, and tracts, but no Reviews. Send to Mrs. James F. Woods, 322 South Detroit St., Warsaw, Ind.
SIGNS, Watchman, Life and Health, Life Boat, Instructor, Little Friend, and tracts. Miss Nellie Burdick, Hardy, Ark.
A SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST.
Widower, who has four sons, desires to correspond with owner of small farm, mine, or business, for rent or sale on a small advance. Adventist preferred. Address, William C. Corus, Box 361, Turlock, Cal.
HOME FOR SALE.
Seven-room plastered house, oil-finished, electric lights, cellar, porcelain bath and lavatory; in fact modern and convenient throughout. Lot 50x150, fenced, 15-foot alley along one side, 25 trees, well-seeded lawn, berries, etc. Within one block of S. D. A. church and church school; four blocks from Press. If sold soon, $1,750. Easy monthly payments if desired. Address, “No. 28,” care of Pacific Press, Mountain View, Cal.
Bibles
Bibles.— Remember that we are headquarters for anything in the Bible line. We shall be pleased to send you our catalog of Bible selections on application. Pacific Press, Mountain View, Cal.
PLAN YOUR VACATION NOW AT OUR EXPENSE
A Choice of Four Free Trips Is Offered You
Seattle, during Alaska-Yukon Exposition
Yellowstone National Park
Yosemite Valley
Lake Tahoe
All Your Expenses Paid
If you have friends in the East who want to visit the Pacific Coast, we can arrange it
THIS IS YOUR OPPORTUNITY
For complete information address SUNSET TRAVEL CLUB
