Earlier text: Hadst Thou Been HereThe “Sacrifice of the Mass”
By C. M. S.
“Rome Never Changes”—No. 9
The “Sacrifice of the Mass”
It was pointed out in the preceding article on this topic that the mass is regarded in the Roman Church as a true sacrifice, a propitiatory sacrifice for both the living and the dead; that, through transubstantiation, the thin, round wafer becomes the very flesh and blood, soul and divinity, of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that the wafer and Jesus himself are one and the same, the victim on the cross and the “victim” (so-called) on the altar of the Catholic Church also one and the same; that the sacrifice of the mass is a bloodless sacrifice, and is necessary in order to make complete the sacrifice offered on Calvary. It was shown that if the sacrifice of the mass were a true and propitiatory sacrifice, and if Christ were in the wafer, then he has been offered many thousands of times since the institution of the mass, thus contradicting the Scripture declaration7 that Christ was offered once, and only once, for the sins of men. While it is declared that this “sacrifice” is efficacious for both the living and the dead, in practice it pertains chiefly to the dead; and it is through the love of the living for the dead that the sacrifice of the mass becomes a mine of wealth for the Roman system. Fabulous sums are turned into the coffers of the church every year by the living relatives of the dead in payment for the saying of masses. But those who know what the Word of God says in reference to the state of the dead, know that all the masses said since the system was inaugurated cannot change the condition or the prospect of one single soul that has passed beyond the portal of the tomb. The closing of the eyes in death closes the record of the life, and by that record man is judged worthy or unworthy of everlasting life. Says the preacher:— “If the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be.” Eccl. 11:3. By that we understand that man’s case is ready for judgment when Death has laid its cold hand upon him. There is nothing that can be done then to change the record of his life. The rich man who has robbed the poor man, cannot, with that ill-gotten wealth, bribe the keeper of purgatory, and purchase a swift release from the place of punishment and a swift entrance into the mansions of the blest. Were that procedure possible, God would be doing for money (as if he needed money) what he would not do for justice. It is a common thing for the wicked and the selfish of this world to bribe officials and secure for money what they cannot secure, and are not entitled to have, by the plain rules of justice. But God is not to be bribed. He is not a corrupt official. He does not release some men and women from the pains of purgatory because they had, or their relatives have, plenty of money to pay for masses, and then hold other men in the fearful torments of that place of anguish and distress and unutterable pain because some one has not the money to pay for masses, or, having it, has used it for other things. Such a conception of God, of the attributes of his character, and of the principles of his government, is diametrically opposed to what the Bible teaches us of God and his character and his government. As if anticipating that such injustice and inequality of judgment might some day be charged against the Almighty, the patriarch Job asks:— “Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice?” Job 8:3. He does not give an answer. Surely such a question answers itself, as does that other question, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” In another connection Job does make this emphatic declaration:— “Yea, surely God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert judgment.” Job 34:12. The psalmist declares of him that he “shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.” Ps. 9:8. It is again declared of him that “justice and judgment are the habitation” of his throne. Ps. 89:14. The revelator declares that at the day of final accounts God will “give every man according as his work shall be.” Rev. 22:12. If there were such a place as purgatory, conducted as the Roman Church teaches that it is conducted, not one of these texts could be true. For, according to that teaching, men are not rewarded according to what their works have been, but according as they have been able to pay money to the priest for masses; and men are not judged according to the rules of justice and impartial judgment, but their ability to get through purgatory expeditiously depends upon the fortune they have left, and what their relatives spend it for. If it is spent for masses, the deceased goes through purgatory with comparative ease and in a comparatively short time; but if the relatives of the dead put his money to other uses, the deceased may remain in that place of torment for years or ages. What a charge is this against the justice and love of God! Why should masses be said to get souls out of purgatory, when those souls are in purgatory to be purified and made fit to enter heaven? Doesn’t God know when their purification is complete? If souls are hurried through purgatory by the saying of masses, would there not be danger of their entering heaven before they were purified and fit to enter there? If purgatory is a place of cleansing, how can the payment of money expedite that cleansing process? Or are souls released from purgatory merely on demand of the priest? In that case, purgatory is not a place of cleansing, but of detention merely, and the price of exit is as many masses as the relatives can afford to pay for. The doctrine of purgatory and the mass is thus seen to be self-contradictory and self-destructive. If purgatory is a place of necessary purification, the mass for the dead is out of place, and defeats the object of purgatory, by releasing souls on the payment of money when their purification is still incomplete. If souls, after their purification is complete, are kept in the torments of that place because masses have not been paid for, the system contradicts itself again; for it is money and not purification that determines when the doors of that place shall be opened for each individual soul. There are numerous texts of Scripture which disprove the claims of the Catholic Church concerning the work which the mass is supposed to do for the dead. A few must suffice. If the dead are unconscious, there can be no suffering; and if there is no suffering between death and the day of final judgment, the pains of purgatory are a myth and have nothing upon which to operate; and masses for the dead cannot release the dead from pains they are not suffering. Speaking of man’s condition in death, the patriarch Job says:— “But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? . . . So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. . . . If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands. . . . Thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away. His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.” Job 14:10-21. Job declares they shall not rise till the heavens be no more; but this does not imply that they shall never rise from the grave at all; for he says, “Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee.” There is coming a time, at the last day, when “the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. . . . The heavens being on fire shall be dissolved.” 2 Peter 3:10-12. That is the time of the coming of the Lord and of the resurrection, to which time Job’s prophecy pointed forward. There was no purgatory in Job’s day, so far as he knew. “The preacher, the son of David,” speaking by inspiration, bears this testimony against purgatory, and consequently against the mass as a propitiatory sacrifice for the dead:— “The living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun. . . . Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.” Eccl. 9:5-10. The psalmist also bears testimony against purgatory, and therefore necessarily against masses for the dead. In speaking of the death of man, he says:— “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” Ps. 146:4. “The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.” Ps. 115:17.8 “In death there is no remembrance of thee.” Ps. 6:5. Not even David, the servant of the Lord, the sweet singer of Israel, had regained consciousness at the time when Peter gave his great Pentecost sermon; for Peter, speaking by inspiration of the Holy Ghost, says, “For David is not ascended into the heavens.” Acts 2:34. That is the testimony of him whom Rome claims as the first pope, and it ought to settle the question with Catholics especially as to whether men go to heaven before the day of final judgment, or whether they can be helped out of purgatory and into heaven by masses said in their behalf; and the testimony from Job, Psalms, and Ecclesiastes, and other scriptures ought to settle the question for all Christians as to whether there is a state of consciousness, in either misery or bliss, between death and the resurrection. The dead are sleeping, awaiting the call of God. They will come forth in the resurrection, “some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt,” to go down in the “second death” to everlasting oblivion. That is the plain teaching of the Scripture; and that being true, the “sacrifice of the mass” is entirely outside the program of the Almighty. Money paid for masses is money wasted. God cannot be bribed to alter judgment in the cases of the dead because of money paid to any one on earth by the living, or bequeathed to any one on his own behalf for that purpose. The claim that the mass is necessary to make effective the sacrifice on Calvary and the relation of the mass to Christ himself will be considered in another article. C. M. S. Our Sanitarium Work
By F. M. W.
For the principles of health and temperance represented by our sanitariums to Seventh-day Adventists have much to be thankful. Many connected with this movement are alive today, and in the enjoyment of health and strength, who, but for these principles, would now be in their graves. This truth was forcibly illustrated to the writer some years ago at the first camp meeting which he ever attended among Seventh-day Adventists. It was held in Carthage, N. Y. Elders James White, J. B. Goodrich, and A. S. Hutchins were in attendance. One day these three brethren were together at the grocery stand. The conversation turned on the question of health. Addressing Brother Goodrich, Brother White said, “Brother Goodrich, step on the scales and show the brethren what health reform has done for you.” Brother Goodrich tipped the scales at more than two hundred pounds. Brother White then laughingly turned to Elder Hutchins and said, “Brother Hutchins, step on the scales and show the brethren what health reform has done for you.” This Brother Hutchins did, remarking as the scales registered a little more than one hundred pounds, “Had it not been for the principles of healthful living given to this people, I should not weigh even as much as I do, and should undoubtedly long ago have been in my grave. It is to these principles I owe my life at the present time, and their observance has enabled me to work for years while many of my fellows with the same measure of natural strength have fallen by the way.” And this has been true in the experience of many readers of this paper. It has been true in the experience of the writer. He feels that he owes much to the principles of healthful living, as poorly representative of them as he has at times appeared. Our sanitariums are doing today an excellent work in the promulgation of these principles. The writer recalls with much pleasure the physical salvation afforded him through the blessing of the Lord at the Boulder-Colorado Sanitarium when he was driven West years ago on account of his health. He acknowledges with gratitude the harborage afforded him by the sanitariums at College View, Nebr.; Walla Walla, Wash.; Portland, Oregon; St. Helena, Glendale, Loma Linda, and National City, Cal., when at various times in his journeyings he has stopped for a few days of rest and recuperation. These institutions, with others not mentioned, are doing, in their respective fields, noble work in the promulgation of health principles, and in the training of earnest young men and women to go out as messengers of light and blessing into this sin-cursed and disease-cursed world. Recently it was the writer’s privilege to spend a number of days as a patient at the Washington Sanitarium. Here he found the same spirit of efficient, kindly ministry which he had met in the other institutions. His condition was not so serious but that he was able to mingle freely with the Sanitarium family, both the guests and the workers, and to observe carefully the methods employed and the attention given to those seeking relief. To our people in the Central East he can most heartily recommend this institution. It is in charge of an excellent medical faculty. Dr. H. W. Miller as medical superintendent and Dr. R. Irvine as house physician, with Dr. Margaret Evans Stewart in charge of the city treatment rooms, and Dr. E. Elliott at the city dispensary, constitute the force of physicians directly responsible for the work in the main institution and for the work in the city of Washington. The writer knows from his own experience and from much longer observation, that the services of these physicians are efficiently and conscientiously rendered, and that those who commit themselves to their care for medical attention receive painstaking service. Many serious surgical cases have been treated with excellent success. Associated with the work of these physicians is that of the general manager, W. T. Knox; assistant manager, C. E. Hammond; chaplain, J. N. Anderson; head nurse, Mrs. Stella Slaten; matron, Miss Hulda Olsen; and cashier, Ellis Workman. Associated with these, and forming the larger number of the Sanitarium family, are other earnest young men and women who have either been trained as nurses or are now attending the nurses’ training school. The Sanitarium is well equipped, and thus well prepared to afford necessary care to the sick. Special attention is given to the diagnosis of each case. By physical examination, laboratory tests, X ray, etc., the causes of disease are traced to their origin and the actual physical condition determined. This thorough examination affords a knowledge for appropriate prescription and treatment. In the Sanitarium there exists an excellent Christian spirit of unity and cooperation. Our brethren and sisters in this institution are united in the carrying forward of their work. A sweet spiritual influence pervades the place, and this is the occasion for frequent remark on the part of even worldly guests who visit the institution. To the writer’s personal knowledge a number who have visited this Sanitarium as guests have become acquainted with us as a people, and have dedicated their lives to this movement. Our sanitariums afford a large field for missionary operation. To them come the high and the low, the rich and the poor, who have been brought to a place in their experience where they are sobered and thoughtful, ready to receive counsel and sympathetic ministry. What a privilege is afforded our sanitarium workers to labor for those who are providentially brought within their own doors, and what an opportunity is given to our brethren and sisters generally to direct to our sanitariums the sick and afflicted among their neighbors. Every Seventh-day Adventist should consider himself a representative of our health principles and of our sanitarium work. He should feel that in his territory he is an agent to represent to others in his own life these health principles, and he should stand ready when opportunity is afforded to recommend our sanitariums to the sick and suffering. Our sanitariums in various parts of the country will be glad to furnish free9 literature descriptive of their methods. Shall we not reach out to help these institutions? The workers in them need our prayers. Shut up within four walls day after day, ministering to the nervous, the petulant, the diseased in body and mind, they need a constant supply of divine grace to keep brightly burning in their own souls the love of the Master. Let us uphold our physicians and nurses by our prayers; let us cooperate with them in their endeavors to advance the interests of the work they represent. By so doing we shall be blessed not only in our own experience, but be the means in the hands of God of carrying the blessing of Heaven to those about us. The Destiny of the Wicked
By G. B. Thompson
THE Lord has declared that he will “put away sin” by the sacrifice which he made. Heb. 9:26. He came to “destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil,” the originator of sin. Heb. 2:14. “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” 1 John 3:8. Sin is the work of the devil. It is this that the Creator is determined to destroy in the lake of fire. If we refuse to allow sin to be separated from us now, we must needs be destroyed with it in the lake of fire. The Lord loves and will save every sinner who repents, but sin he purposes to destroy, and this affliction we are assured will not rise up the “second time.” Nahum 1:9. Many other texts teach the same blessed truth. In “smoke shall they consume away.” Ps. 37:20. “The fire shall devour them.” Ps. 21:9. “They that forsake the Lord shall be consumed.” Isa. 1:28. “The transgressors shall be destroyed together.” Ps. 37:38. “Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed.” Prov. 13:13. “He that hateth reproof shall die.” Prov. 15:10. “They shall be as though they had not been.” Obadiah 16. “Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.” Isa. 47:14. No eternally burning hell; the very fire which consumes the wicked will itself go out; there “shall not be a coal to warm at.” Nothing will remain but ashes. In addition to these clear and unimpeachable statements of God’s Word, we have placed before us some examples that will enable us to clearly understand what the Lord means when he speaks of the destruction of the wicked: “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; and spared not in the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, the preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly.” 2 Peter 2: 4-6. These cities were utterly destroyed, completely annihilated, as cities. They are not still in flames; they have been totally consumed; they are extinct; they do not exist. The Dead Sea is said to roll over the place where they once stood. The inspired pen records that the destruction of these cities stands as an “example” of the destruction of the wicked at the last day. Another writer bears similar testimony: “Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” Jude 7. Here again we are told that the destruction of these wicked cities is an “example” of the final destruction of sinners. We are told further that they suffered the vengeance of “eternal fire.” Not that they are eternally burning, for the flames have long since gone out, but the fire is eternal in that the effect is eternal. The cities were destroyed forever. In like manner will all the finally impenitent be “punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” 2 Thess. 1:9. Surely these scriptures are conclusive in this matter, and settle beyond a cavil the fate of the lost. But some may say, Do not the Scriptures say that the wicked will go into everlasting punishment?—They do. “And these [the wicked] shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal.” Matt. 25:46. This text is in perfect harmony with those already studied. The punishment for sin is not eternal life in misery, but death,—the second, awful death; a death from which they will never be raised; a death that will hold them in its fixed embrace forever. The wicked receive eternal death; the righteous receive the opposite, or the gift of God, eternal life. The beautiful harmony of this must be clear to all. The Universe Will Be Clean
A glorious, triumphant scene, beheld in vision by the Patmos seer, should be noticed in this connection, as it has a vital connection with the topic under consideration, and bears further testimony in harmony with the foregoing position in reference to the fate of sinners. “And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.” Rev. 5:13. Here “every creature” in the universe is represented as praising the Lamb, and adoring him who sits on the throne. There is not a discordant note anywhere throughout all the created works of God. Never since Lucifer was cast out of heaven, nor since Adam was driven from his Paradise home, has this been true. There has been a controversy ever since the author of sin entered to mar the handiwork of God. Satan and his angels have been at war with the government of heaven, and he succeeded in leading this planet into revolt also. Rebellion is here. The law of God has been despised, and his Son been hated and set aside. “Every creature” does not now praise God, neither could this text ever be fulfilled if it were true that there was an ever-burning hell somewhere on the outskirts of creation, in which myriads of human beings were to suffer, wail, and gnash their teeth in torture and unspeakable woe through numberless cycles of time, as long as God himself would exist. But the Lord declares that there is a time coming when “there shall be no more curse.” Rev. 22:3. There will not be, then, an endless lake of fire and brimstone in which millions of lost souls will through countless ages curse and blaspheme their Creator. No such foul blot as this will remain to mar the creation of God. Every unrepentant sinner will pass under the dominion of the second death. Every incorrigible being will be destroyed; every rebel voice will be stilled in the realms of the second death. Then, and then only, will be heard the glorious anthem of universal praise and adoration which the revelator records. Then the prolonged controversy will be ended. Sin will have been blotted out. Satan, fallen angels, and sinners will have been destroyed. The gospel will have gloriously triumphed. God’s universe will be forever clean, and joy and gladness will fill every heart throughout the illimitable realm of the great Creator. Then those who have by faith laid hold upon the abundant life which Christ has promised to the believer, will be found a triumphant company, clad in immortality, and with joy and inexpressible happiness will praise and adore their Redeemer through all the ages to come. Shall not we be there? G. B. Thompson. Sifted for Action
By R. C. PORTER
THE Lord’s purpose in sifting his people before beginning any specially important campaign is significantly suggested by the natural process of sifting, which removes the chaff from the wheat, or the bran from the flour. It is the separation process by which10 the undesirable portion is removed, and the desirable, unmixed with that which is light and chaffy, remains for use. Wheat is sifted before sowing, to remove the tares and weeds from the seed. So the Lord sifts his people for the purpose of removing the aliens who are not prevailers with God, from the true seed of Israel, before advancing upon the very citadel of the powers of darkness. Such campaigns require steady, loyal action on the part of every one engaged, in order to insure victory. The early church was sifted before Pentecost. But the Lord gave assurance that not one grain of wheat should fall to the ground during the process. The sifting was not merely collective, but it reached each individual. Christ said to Peter, “Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.” All who have read Peter’s experience at the time of Christ’s trial and crucifixion, and compared his cowardice and disloyalty at that time with his fearless loyalty afterwards, can readily see that the sifting process had removed the undesirable elements from Peter’s character. When the early church had been sifted, it was prepared for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the early rain, and it gave God the glory for what was accomplished through its mighty power. Gideon’s army illustrates the process by which men who are not whole-heartedly devoted to the advancement of the Lord’s cause are sifted out. Tests were applied under the direction of Christ, the head of the church, who knows men’s hearts. These tests revealed the character of Gideon’s army of thirty-two thousand men, with which he was to meet the vast host of the Midianites. The company seemed small to begin with, but the Lord said there were too many for the conflict in which they were called to engage. The reason there were too many is plainly stated. There were never too many loyal Christians enlisted in the Lord’s campaign, but there were too many who were seeking self-glory. They were lacking in faith, and would hinder instead of strengthen the work in advance moves requiring implicit faith in God and the plans of campaign he chose to lay for the accomplishment of his all-wise designs. The first test removed one class, the second another, and so the sifting process continued until the worldly, the unbelieving, the indifferent, and all seeking self-glory were sifted out. This sifting process, which reduced Gideon’s army from thirty-two thousand to three hundred, was a trying time for the three hundred loyal ones who remained. They saw their comrades with whom they had trained and marshaled for the campaign, leaving the ranks. Company after company dropped out. All who were leaning upon the arm of human support turned back when they saw so many with whom they had touched shoulders in the ranks return in fear. When the sifting work was finished, only those with unshaken faith in God remained. The company was small, but it was unconquerable because of its relationship to God. The method of campaign seemed unwise and certain of defeat to the unbelieving company left behind, but the battle was not theirs, but God’s. Through faith this sifted, tried, and loyal company of only three hundred men, won one of the most notable battles of ancient history. When the unbelievers who were sifted out were predicting sure defeat, God was just ready to inaugurate a victorious campaign. Religious Vulgarity
By Editor
UNDER this heading J. H. M'Ilvaine, D. D., contributes an excellent article to the Lutheran for Nov. 12, 1914. While recognizing the power for good which is connected with some of the religious movements of the present day, he deplores very greatly some of the methods which are employed by these organizations and by popular revivalists in carrying on their work. Some of these workers he feels have fallen into the mistake of— thinking that religion, to help the man in the street, must be brought down to the level of the man in the street. If the man in the street is vulgar, religion must be vulgar; if he is irreverent, religion must be irreverent; if he is slangy, religion must be slangy; if he likes the sensational, the spectacular, the theatrical, religion must be sensational, spectacular, theatrical. If he prefers the vaudeville to the church, vaudeville methods must be introduced into the church. But the object of religion is to lift men up, and it can only do this from above. Religion must indeed reach down to the streets and the very gutters, but must keep its hold on the skies. If it loses its hold on the skies, it can never lift men from the streets and gutters. If religion itself becomes irreverent, how can it teach men reverence, which is the soul of religion? If religion loses its own soul, how can it save the souls of men? What shall it profit religion if it gain the whole world and lose its own soul? Of the familiar address with which some revivalists approach God, this writer declares:— Is it reverent to treat God, to speak to God as one does to the man in the street? Because you say to the first man you meet, “Good morning, how do you do?” is it reverent to say, “Good morning, God, how do you do?” Because you give to a man or woman of more or less distinction the Chautauqua salute, is it reverent to wave your silly handkerchief to God? Because you use slang with the man in the street, is it reverent to use slang to God? to say, “God, do you get me?” “God, you must be stuck on this fine body of ministers;” “God, it must make you crazy to see so many converted to you;” to ring an imaginary telephone and say, “Hello, God, this is —”? Is it reverent in the midst of prayer to Almighty God to burst into a laugh and to say to the devil, “Ha, ha, old man, you’re up against it now,” and to take the attitude of a prize fighter and spar with an imaginary devil, and all in the name of prayer? I say that is not prayer, but buffoonery in the name of prayer. The Lord Jesus Christ is our friend and brother. He has come down from the mansions of glory into the conditions of our manhood, that he may lift us to his glory; but he is the Son of God, very God of very God, the King of glory, King of kings, and Lord of lords. Is it right or reverent to rob him of his majesty and glory by common, coarse familiarity? If I had the honor to count among my friends the king of England, would it not be insufferable vulgarity to call him George, and to go about speaking of him as George? What then can we say of such prayers as the following? “Well, Jesus, I was in a sick home yesterday. The lady said she hadn’t time to read my sermon, but the nurse read it to her every day. Thousands all over the world are reading the sermons published in the newspapers.” That is not prayer; that is advertising. . . . The beautiful parable of the prodigal son, the most exquisite picture that the world has of God’s relation to men—does it gain or lose even for the man in the street, to turn it into slang and make it ridiculous? “The son said, ‘Come, divvy up, I’m tired of this, pass over the mazuma, see?’ and the father tumbled to it, and said, ‘I get you.’” The beauty is gone, and this precious part of the Bible he would take from us. Does it help men to reverence God, to describe him as coming in judgment, going from the garret to the kitchen, and then in his dramatic presentation of God the speaker goes down on all fours, snoops under the pulpit, says: “Hello, what’s this? A pack of cards? Throw it into the dump. What’s this in the ice box? Beer? Throw it into the sewer. What’s this handkerchief in the cupboard?” and a woman says, “It’s my ball costume,” and then there is a laugh. Does it increase our respect for Christ, to say, “This is the way that Jesus Christ preached: You lobsters, you four flushers, you false alarms, you excess baggage, you are a bunch of guys, and the whole bunch of you ought to be in jail. That is the way Jesus preached, and you preachers can learn a lesson to preach as he did.” I say that is a slander and libel on the truest gentleman that ever trod this earth, and I wonder that no Christians in loyalty to their Master, with bowed and shamed faces, got up and left the place. With the estimate of this style of preaching expressed by Dr. M'Ilvaine we are in hearty accord. “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”