In these days of change in China, it does not take long for a new order of things to become firmly established. No sooner is a parliament promised, and no sooner are the people given a taste, in the provincial assemblies, of what it means to have a word to say in the affairs of the nation, than the demand for the immediate opening of a parliament becomes so strong that a decree is issued by the throne shortening the nine-year limit, and promising a parliament in the fifth year of Hsuen Tung (1911 is the third year of Hsuen Tung). In view of this early opening of a parliament, compulsory education is now proposed, and the first steps are being taken to carry into effect the education of the millions of China's boys and girls.
It may be asked, What is causing such marked changes in public opinion and governmental policy now, when up to only a few years ago, decades and even centuries saw no change of any moment? The answer is, The newspaper. Some idea of the number of newspapers in China may be gained from the fact that there are eight dailies in Shanghai, three in Hankow, five in Tientsin, and five in Peking. Even interior cities are issuing dailies. This great educational factor is coming to be the mouthpiece of the people. Public opinion is taking shape, and the death-knell of the old order is sounding. Questions of the day relating to government, education, business, social customs, etc., are discussed in these dailies, and in many cases very ably. The educated Chinese in the cities are coming to be a newspaper-reading people. Although the percentage of illiteracy is still high, and poverty is a deterring factor, yet the one man who can and does read becomes a newsmonger, in the tea-shop and in the street, for a large circle of those who can not read.
Photo by F. E. Stafford
The accompanying illustration of a scene in a barber's shop is a striking evidence of the new order of things. It tells of a state of affairs a millennium removed from the days of the first opium war. The Chinese commissioner Lin was a captive on board a British gunboat. When asked if he would not like to hear some of the recent happenings of the world, he replied that a man in whose mind were stored the Four Books and the Five Classics had no desire nor need to hear the recent events in the world.
With such conditions as these in the China of to-day, can any believer in the triumph of this message doubt the importance of pushing the interests of11the Chinese publishing work? Probably in no other field in which the message is being proclaimed, is there such an opportunity to make use of the printed page as there is in China to-day. Given a people who, in the first place, have a reverence for literature, and in addition are now breaking with the past in the line of government, education, industries, and even to some extent in religion, what more could be asked to emphasize the importance of this work?
In spite of difficulties our publishing work has grown. Since the first stages of the work in Honan, when Dr. H. W. Miller began issuing a few hundred copies of our Chinese paper each month, the issue has almost doubled from year to year. During 1909 the average monthly issue was about five thousand. In the spring of 1910 we began issuing monthly a Mandarin edition of the Shi Djao Yueh Bao (Signs of the Times Monthly) in addition to the wenli (classical) edition. The average monthly issue for the two editions was twelve thousand. In addition to the monthly paper, tracts and pamphlets are put out as fast as our limited facilities will permit. In the early months of 1910, eighty-five thousand of the Sabbath Calendar were shipped from the Mission Press. At the time of this writing, two hundred thousand copies of the 1911 Sabbath Calendar have been sold. In February, 1910, a special issue of the monthly was put out for the Chinese New-year, and seventeen thousand copies were sold. We are now working on our Chinese New-year's special for 1911, and the orders already received have passed the forty thousand mark.
From every station in the field, most encouraging reports are received of the interest taken by the Sabbath-keepers in selling and distributing this literature. All are working to the end of having every Sabbath-keeping family subscribe for the paper.
The list of publications issued by the China Mission Press at the present time includes the monthly paper, Sabbath-school lessons, and the Sabbath Calendar, all of which are issued in both the classical and the Mandarin. The following tracts and pamphlets are issued in the classical: “Know Thy Creator,” “A Treatise on the Sabbath,” “The Lord’s Day” (this deals with the origin and meaning of Sunday-keeping), “The Lord Is Soon Coming,” “God’s Love for Man,” and “In the Beginning.” The following are also issued in the Mandarin: A song-book containing 126 songs; “Christ Our Saviour,” “The Lord Is Soon Coming,” “The True Sabbath,” “Know Thy Creator,” “The Sabbath a Definite Period of Time,” “Sabbath Poem,” “Easy Steps in the Gospel Story,” “The Second Chapter of Daniel,” and “Gospel Primer.” The “Story of Joseph,” and “A Dialogue on the Sabbath” are issued in the Cantonese dialect. A song-book is also issued in the Shanghai dialect.
As a result of the literature distributed, many have heard the message, and accepted the truth for this time. One instance will suffice to show the far-reaching results that may be realized: About four years ago a man came to one of the mission stations in Honan. He seemed to be an earnest seeker after truth, and when he returned home, took with him a supply of all the literature that had been issued up to that time. Later events proved that this man himself had little interest in the gospel; but a neighbor of his, who had for many years been an evangelist and colporteur, borrowed the bundle of literature, and gave it a careful reading. As a result he in time began to keep the Sabbath, and for over two years has been one of our most efficient workers. Through correspondence and sending out tracts and pamphlets, a friend in another province, who was also an evangelist, began keeping the Sabbath, and with him a little company of seven others. In this way the work was opened in a new province.
We praise the Lord for the progress already made; but when we compare what has been done with what must be done, and compare our facilities with the immense size of the empire, as to both territory and population, it is evident that we have barely made a beginning. If the population of the United States requires practically the entire output of three large and well-equipped publishing-houses to supply the needed literature, what can our one cylinder-press, taking a twenty-by-thirty-inch form, with our two job-presses, do in supplying the literature needed in warning four hundred thirty-five millions of people?
Evidences are not wanting in all parts of the world that the work will soon close. We must improve the time. All connected with the publishing work here are of good courage to do the best we can with the equipment we have; but when plates of a book and tracts must wait month after month before they can be printed, we are led to pray earnestly that help may soon be forthcoming to equip the publishing work in China, that it may do its part in proclaiming the closing message.
Shanghai.
As I Near the Tomb
By Noah W. Vincent
NOAH W. VINCENT
HEAR me, my Saviour, as I near the tomb,
In me abide;
Be thou my light, and keep me through the gloom
Close by thy side;
Thy presence be my joy, O blessed Lord!
My hope, my life, my bountiful reward.
Loved friends far off, but near my cruel foes,—
Thou, Christ, art true!
Blest Shelter, in life's storms of pains and woes
My journey through.
To thee my heart, my all, be gladly given;
Prepare me here to dwell with thee in heaven.
So much forgiven, I would love thee most,—
Thy grace so free;
To praise thee more, impart the Holy Ghost,
Blest gift for me.
Bless me to others; make us all thy friends,
Meek, pure, and true, till hope in vision ends.
Sedan, Kan.
Out in the Pacific
By A. H. Piper
A. H. PIPER
Brother Munson, of Java, writes: “Cholera is among us again, and we have to plead the promises of the ninety-first psalm. There is ever present, also, the fear of a Mohammedan uprising. Constantly, in some part of the East Indies, the Dutch government is quelling uprisings. At various times in Sumatra, Celebes, and in other islands, local insurrections against the government, or attacks on the missionaries, have resulted in the massacre of many Europeans. Pray that God may preserve us from all these dangers. They are far from imaginary.”
Brother and Sister Sterling, who labor in the Cook and other islands, were looking to the recent meeting of the Australasian Union Conference to send help to enable them to work the islands in their field.
During the meeting Brother Sterling made a trip to several of the islands, the natives of which pleaded with him to remain with them; while his wife bravely remained in Rarotonga, caring for the sick and suffering during an epidemic that passed through the island, until she herself was taken ill, and had to be cared for by one of our Pitcairn sisters. On receiving word that no one was appointed to go to their assistance, Brother Sterling wrote, “Imagine our disappointment on being told that no one was coming here to help us.” But we must soon send some one to the Cook Islands.
Christiania, Norway
By F. M. LUND
F. M. LUND
THE REVIEW is received regularly, and has been a blessing to me and my fellow workers in the printing-office. Last year when I received the Missions number, I read aloud from its interesting pages every day for a long time in the office. After a little while the machine foreman went out canvassing. A few weeks passed, and a lady compositor followed in the printer’s steps. Yet a few weeks, and my business manager went to the mission school at Skodsborg. Thus you see that the missionary spirit is catching. Of course, it has caused some difficulty to keep the office running with so much inexperienced help; but if I had more workers to send out into the vineyard, I would willingly let them go. I am glad to say that another lady compositor has recently asked for baptism.
Longing to do more personal work for the Lord, I advertised recently in one of the newspapers to help people in religious matters. I received several letters, and a most interesting correspondence followed. Some have come to our home for Bible readings, and I have visited others in their homes, pointing out the truth to them. This work gives me new strength and courage, and I hope some of these dear souls may accept the message of truth for this last generation.
Editorial
By Editor
“To every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.”
THUS the advent message was divinely marked for all the world. And it has been flying swiftly toward the goal. Our brethren in the early days rejoiced as they saw the work begin to enlarge. In the REVIEW of Jan. 3, 1856, it was stated:—
“The scattered flock” is a term often used by our people, denoting those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. It is very appropriate, as will be seen from the fact that we send out papers to Sabbath-keepers in nineteen different States of this Union, from Maine to California, besides the Canadas.
AT that time the REVIEW was our only paper. Now many papers in many languages are preaching the message. And the “scattered flock” is spread through all the continents. We asked our circulating department to tell us where the REVIEW goes now. Its report shows, of course, a list in every one of the forty-eight States and Territories, with Alaska, Hawaii, Porto Rico, and the Philippines, and in every province of the Canadian Dominion. Week by week the REVIEW goes into all the countries of Europe, save Greece and the Balkan States.
IN Africa, the paper visits homes in Egypt, Algeria, Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, South Nigeria, Cape Colony, Natal, Orange River Colony, Rhodesia, Northwest Rhodesia, Griqualand West, Basutoland, Nyasaland, British East Central Africa (Uganda), German East Africa, and Eritrea (by Abyssinia). Thus, round the circle of the Dark Continent and away in the interior, in regions unexplored in 1856, the REVIEW is assuredly passing on the words of cheer and progress contributed from all parts.
THE list for Asia shows that we reach Siberia, Japan, Korea, Straits Settlements, Burma, India (from Bengal to the Bombay side, and from Tinnevelli to the Himalayas), Syria, and Palestine, including the ancient Joppa and Jerusalem. This means that the witnesses for the last message are spreading in a yet slender line through Asia, the cradle of the human race.
TO the southward, the REVIEW reaches readers in Mexico, Guatemala, British Honduras, Spanish Honduras, the Bay Islands, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama; and in the West Indies, Cuba, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, the Bahamas, Barbados, Trinidad, St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Dominica, St. Croix, Haiti, Santo Domingo, and Grenada; in South America, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Uruguay, Ecuador, Venezuela, and British Guiana.
BY the Pacific mail routes we reach New Zealand, West Australia, South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania, Norfolk Island, Brisbane Island, Java, Sumatra, New Guinea, and the Fiji, Samoan, Cook, Society, Tuamotu, and Friendly Islands. Out in the mid-Atlantic, Bermuda receives the REVIEW’s weekly visits.
THUS our lists bear testimony to the fact that the “scattered flock” is being sought out from amid many nations and peoples in this time of “the gathering call.” And our papers in other languages go where even the REVIEW does not.
“Long upon the mountains, weary,
Have the scattered flock been torn;
Dark the desert paths, and dreary;
Grievous trials have they borne.
Now the gathering call is sounding,
Solemn in its warning voice;
Union, faith, and love, abounding,
Bid the little flock rejoice.”
Our Refuge and Strength
By Frank M. Wilcox
THE Lord declares himself the strength and refuge of his people, “a very present help in trouble.” How comforting is this assurance! What strength it affords for these times of temptation and peril! We are engaged in the last great conflict with the powers of evil. We shall be brought often into strait places; difficulties will beset us round about, and it will seem many times that we are so hedged in that there is no way of escape. To whom shall we turn for counsel? Where shall we find comfort in our distress? Where a refuge from the storm? How blessed the assurance, “God is our refuge and strength”!
The “little flock,” God’s remnant people, are scattered abroad throughout the earth. Here and there is one laboring to hold up the standard of truth. Here and there are families living alone and apart from all of like precious faith,— children with unbelieving parents, wives with unbelieving husbands and children, or husbands whose wives know not God. These need solace and comfort which they can not obtain from a cold, unfeeling world. They need help which even associated believers can not impart.
There are hours of darkness that assail the individual soul, hours of personal need which only God can appreciate. It seems that all humanity is powerless, and the soul stands alone in its desolation. At such times God is the only refuge. His sympathizing eye sees the situation. His heart feels for the tried and tempted one. He himself has trodden the winepress alone; he has lived and labored and toiled and struggled without human sympathy or help; therefore he knows and senses all of human loneliness and woe.
Poor, weary toiler in the Master’s vineyard, bear this in mind. Though you may be laboring under India’s burning sun, in Africa’s wilds, in plague- and famine-stricken China, or in the lonely islands of the sea, cut off from human fellowship and sympathy and love, remember the source of your power. The great God of heaven is your mighty helper, and you are as near the throne of grace as are any of your brethren in the home land. Calcutta, Peking, Bulawayo, Buenos Aires, and lonely Pitcairn are all as near to heaven as Washington or Mountain View. Roll your burden on the Lord, cast yourself at his feet, pleading his mercy. Enter into the communion and fellowship of his Holy Spirit; come so near to him that you can feel the beating of his great heart of love for you. This is your privilege. To your efforts God will respond; for the Master says, “Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”
And you, tired, troubled mother, this message of strength is for you. Alone in your family, shut up for the most part within four walls, where you are seeking to live for God, he knows your burdens, your heartaches, your trials. He is your staff and stay. To him you may go with every perplexity. There is no trial so trivial, no difficulty so small, but that he will give it consideration. Take a little time to go before him. Tell him freely just what you need to meet the petty annoyances; tell him just where you fail. Ask him for hope, courage, cheerfulness, power. Believe he hears your cry, and then go on with a happy heart, doing every duty, menial though its nature, as for him. His love will sing in your heart, and your service, made his service by consecration and faith, will be one of joy.
Sad, grieving mourner, to you God speaks. Have you lost all, and is hope buried in the tomb? O, God still lives! And he holds the key to the house that13holds your treasure. He has passed through death. He drank the dregs of the cup of suffering and sorrow. From the depth of your despair, look up. Look away from the darkness of self to the Light of life. Look to the Man of sorrows, to the God of all comfort. “He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.” He wounds that he may heal, bruises that he may bind up again, not for his pleasure but for our profit. He will fill the aching void, and his loving sympathy and fellowship will prove as balm to the crushed spirit.
And so to every class, to the people of God in every place and in every circumstance to-day, the word of the Lord is, “God is our refuge and strength.” To every longing heart he speaks. To every upraised hand he reaches down. Let us be of good courage. Let us place our hand in God’s, and sing the song of faith even in the darkness. We know not what scenes wait on the morrow in our experience; but we do know that “though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof,” we have nothing to fear; for “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
We need to be still, and know that God is over all. We need to take time daily from our duties to withdraw into the secret of his presence in prayer and meditation, and thus obtain strength from him for all of life’s conflicts. The long night of sin will soon be gone, the glorious day of victory will soon dawn. The battle will be over, the race will be run, and we shall be gathered around the great white throne. We shall look upon the face of him whom we have learned to love; we shall clasp the pierced hand of him who has been our power and stay. For that supreme hour of happiness we may well endure even unto the end. He has trodden the way before us. He knows the dangers and pitfalls, the griefs and sorrows, the temptations and conflicts. He will go with us in all our journey. Let us rejoice in his blessed companionship.
F. M. W.
Forces in Training
By C. M. S.
(Concluded)
ONE of the most dangerous and deceptive forces with which humanity has to contend to-day is that which is generally termed Spiritualism, but more properly Spiritism; for it is the very antithesis of “spiritual” in the true sense of that term. We need not give its history or its doctrines; they are well enough known. But the result of its operation is the same as that of the other evil forces mentioned. It denies the Bible and the God of the Bible. It denies sin and therefore exonerates the sinner. It denies the necessity of the work of Christ, and denies him in denying that. It seeks to demonstrate the immortality of the soul by making devils talk to us in the language of our dead loved ones. Pretending to speak for those who have passed through the door of the tomb and who have no knowledge of the affairs of men, it shocks our sense of propriety and reverence, and even, ofttimes, of decency itself, by the foolish, whimsical, nonsensical, inane vaporings of the “spirits” whom it calls out of its darkened séance chambers.
Has God fortified us against this?—Yea, verily. In that Book, discarded by the Higher Critic, misconstrued by the Christian Scientist, scoffed at and denied by the Spiritist, we have our shield, our buckler, our helmet, our armor, our sword, and our consolation of hope and assurance of victory.
But there is another force we must not forget, a force that held the world under lock and key for twelve hundred sixty years, and still clanks in our face the chains with which it threatens to bind the world again when it shall come once more into possession of that power of which it was shorn in the eighteenth century. It has put force in the place of love, built a barrier between man and his Redeemer, fashioned a place of torment for good and bad alike, that it may wring money from the relatives of both for praying them out of this hell of its own creation. Not satisfied with that, it has put a human in the place of Christ in this world, and seated a triumvirate—Joseph, Mary, and Christ—on the throne of heaven itself. It has truly fulfilled the prophecy concerning a power which would put itself in the place of God, and set itself forth as God. To make the fulfilment more accurate, it has established a sabbath of its own in opposition to the Sabbath of Jehovah, and anathematized the observers of his sacred day. It grants passports to heaven through Mary instead of Christ, and puts the keys of heaven itself in the hands of a human being—Peter. Jesus, Son of God and Son of man, who poured out his life on Calvary to save man, is given a very inferior place in its scheme of salvation. The sins of men are forgiven by men, often before they are committed; and a wafer shaped by human hands, and baked in a priest’s kitchen, is adored as God himself.
That power, lording it over men as Christ would not do, claims the allegiance of the whole world, and is shaping the powers of earth to do its bidding in bringing that about. It is another of those forces training for the fray of the last conflict, and one of those forces which we shall meet face to face.
Within the last few years a movement has been instituted within that organization, designed to weld into one solid political mass all the members of all the various Roman Catholic societies in this country and in England, in order that Catholics may demand what they call their rights, and compel compliance with their demands. It is designed to be a force that will compel Congressmen to give the Catholic Church the legislation it desires. It has come to be of sufficient power already to mold some of the acts of our government. We shall see and hear much more of this force in the near future. The weapons we are to use in the warfare against that masterful organization are not carnal but spiritual. The power furnished for their operation is not ours but God’s, and we are his.
Apostate Protestantism swells the ranks of those forces opposed to the last work of God in the earth. Protestantism, nurtured in the cradle of the faith, and fed upon the milk of the Word, has grown and flourished many years, until now, prosperous and strong in numbers, it has forgotten the quarry whence it was hewn. It is leaning again toward Rome. “Protestantism is now reaching hands across the gulf to clasp hands with the Papacy, and a confederacy is being formed to trample out of sight the Sabbath of the fourth commandment; and the man of sin, who, at the instigation of Satan, instituted the spurious sabbath, this child of the Papacy, will be exalted to take the place of God. All heaven is represented to me as watching the unfolding of events. . . . 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.”—Special Testimonies (“The Crisis Imminent”).
The effort to secure religion by law is a part of this confederacy of apostate Protestantism with Roman Catholicism. For twenty-one years Congress has been earnestly besieged for the passage of such laws; but the angels have held the winds; for we were not ready for the crisis. How much longer they will be held, we can not tell; but tremendous pressure is being brought to bear upon our nation’s lawmakers to induce or compel them to do the bidding of these forces. Says the servant of the Lord:—
“I am bidden to say to you that you know not how soon the crisis may come. It is stealing gradually upon us, as a thief.” “Satan sees that he has but a short time in which to work, and he has set his satanic agencies at work to stir the elements of the world, in order that men may be deceived, deluded, and kept occupied and entranced until the day of probation shall be ended, and the door be forever shut.”
We see his forces working also in labor unionism, in trusts and combines that grow opulent on the sweat of men, women, and children.14We see it in Theosophy and New Thought and myriads of schemes for self-salvation and self-aggrandizement. We see it in a pampered pulpit, that makes a gospel of “the mistakes of Moses,” and forgets to exalt or magnify the law God gave through him. Turn where you will, there is some force at work for evil; and wherever that force exists, that power from beneath has its hand on the throttle, and is controlling the machinery.
And against all these forces is arrayed a little company, an insignificant minority in themselves, as compared with the numbers of their adversaries, but with all the power of an omnipotent God behind them and angels of God beside them. We may be in that company if we will.
The forces of God are training now for that very conflict. Shall we prove true to our training and to the truth of God, which he has committed to our trust? Will we stand when the clouds lower and the forces clash, when the last struggle is on? Through the power of God we can do so. There is power in God to enable us to stand. Therefore, we say, in the words of the apostle, “Quit you like men, be strong.” Standing on his side, we know that no weapon formed against us can prosper. He is able to make even the wrath of men to praise him.
Now, we have seen the forces in training. We have seen them arrayed for and against the truth and purpose of God. What will be the grand resultant, the final direction taken by these antagonistic forces working upon the purpose of the Almighty?—The “resultant” is victory. “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and them that come off victorious from the beast, and from his image, and from the number of his name, standing by the sea of glass, having harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty; righteous and true are thy ways, thou King of the ages. Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy; for all the nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy righteous acts have been made manifest.” “The ransomed of Jehovah shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” “And God himself shall be with them, and be their God: and he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more. . . . And he saith, Write: for these words are faithful and true.”
C. M. S.
Benefits of Sanitary Science
By Editor
A CORRESPONDENT sends us a clipping from the New York Times of February 16, calling attention to a recent statement of Dr. Wm. H. Guilfoy, registrar of records of the health department of New York City. Dr. Guilfoy places particular emphasis upon the benefits of sanitary science, and tells how much has been accomplished for New York in the measures which have been taken in the prevention of disease. In sending us the clipping, the correspondent states that it is “respectfully dedicated to the REVIEW AND HERALD, a publication which has repeatedly asserted that the world is growing worse.”
Our claim that the world is growing worse has referred to the growing moral15decadence rather than to the increasing condition of physical degeneracy. We are quite willing to accord due credit to our medical brethren for the splendid fight which they have put up in combating the various diseases to which the human family is heir. Remarkable progress has been made through their efforts.
Had the doctors of the great professed church been as faithful in guarding the flock from moral disease, the outlook for the future of Christendom would indeed be more encouraging. But a moral paralysis has laid fast hold of too many professed teachers of religious truth, and instead of the church of God raising a standard against the inroads of the moral leprosy of sin, which has invaded the church, it has become contaminated itself; and in its departure from fundamental principles of truth, its denial of the power of vital godliness, it has become inert, and powerless to cope with the situation confronting it.
It is not enough to point to-day to our great benevolences, to fraternal clubs and philanthropic societies; these too strongly emphasize the makeshift from individual responsibility and personal Christian endeavor to ways of proxy working.
But even in the physical world the prospects are not so roseate as our correspondent would have us believe. While it is true that medical science has been enabled to cope much more successfully with many epidemic diseases, and while specifics and remedies have been found to meet particular conditions, there has also been an alarming increase of other diseases, with which the medical profession is utterly unable to cope. The New York Times, to which reference has been made, says of the conditions in New York City:—
Despite the general decrease in the death-rate, which was remarkable because of the birth-rate in this city,—26.55 per thousand was the highest in its history,—there were increases of death from cancer, organic heart-disease, and hobnailed liver. Appendicitis also showed an increase of deaths.
The only solution of this world's problems, either in its freedom from sin or its freedom from the results of sin, as shown in disease, is in the coming of the Lord. When sin and all its effects shall have been purged away by the cleansing fires of the last day, righteousness will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea, and peace and righteousness supreme will reign in the hearts of men. But not until the coming of Christ will this condition prevail, no matter how greatly we may deceive ourselves into believing otherwise.
Double Confusion
By F. M. W.
Is the government accountable for its violation of the fourth commandment? Many wrong conclusions are drawn from faulty premises, or from a confusion of terms and definitions. This is the mistake of Rev. Geo. W. Grannis, secretary of the Lord's Day Alliance, in his advocacy of Sunday-closing of post-offices. In a recent address in Detroit, Mich., according to the Journal of that city, of February 22, he said:—
If the government breaks the fourth commandment, it ought not to prosecute those who break the eighth commandment, which says, “Thou shalt not steal.”
Mr. Grannis's conclusion leads him into double confusion. In the first place, he contrasts the moral responsibility of the government with the moral responsibility of the individual. As a matter of fact, the government as such does not possess moral responsibility. A government of itself has neither soul nor body, mind nor intellect, heart nor conscience. Christ never died for a nation as a nation. He did, however, die for the nation as individual units. The individual has a heart to which appeal may be made, a conscience that may be enlightened, an intellect and a judgment which can correctly weigh questions of morality. An individual may be called to an account; for right-doing he may be rewarded, for wrong-doing there may be meted out to him just punishment. This is the first error into which Dr. Grannis is thrown by his arguments in behalf of Sunday-closing.
The second error is equally great. He compares the responsibility of the government in the violation of the fourth commandment to the responsibility of the individual in the violation of the eighth commandment. Admitting the moral responsibility of the nation, this comparison is equally as illogical as the first. Sabbath observance has to do with the relationship existing between God and man alone. Into this relationship, government may not rightly enter. God only has a right to call man to account for what he does in this regard, whereas the principle of theft involves a civil relationship,—a relationship existing between man and his fellows,—over which the government has jurisdiction. The government has no right to deal with theft from the standpoint of the command of God, but wholly on the basis of the civil relationship. The doctrine of the moral responsibility of the nation is a taking catch-phrase with National Reformers. Its analysis, however, reveals its evil sophistry, and the wicked scheme its use is designed to foster.
F. M. W.
In German Cities
OUR brethren in Europe have large city problems, and are working away at them as they are at other lines of evangelistic effort, with ministers, colporteurs, and Bible workers. In a recent letter, Elder H. F. Schuberth, president of the East German Union, said of our work in Berlin:—
In greater Berlin we now have ten churches, with a total membership of seven hundred fifty. It is wonderful what a power is in our truth to draw all classes of people. Last year we baptized a high officer in the army, a member of an old family of noblemen.
Of the rapid growth of German cities, a newspaper says:—
Advance figures compiled from the 1910 census returns show that there are now in the German empire forty-seven cities of more than 100,000 population. Of these, seven have more than 500,000 population. They are, Berlin (without suburbs), 2,064,153; Hamburg, 936,000; Munich, 593,053; Leipzig, 585,743; Dresden, 546,882; Cologne, 511,042; and Breslau, 510,929. Four others have more than 300,000 population. They are Frankfort-on-the-Main, 414,406; Dusseldorf, 356,733; Nuremberg, 332,539; and Charlottenburg (a suburb of Berlin), 304,280. Twelve other cities have more than 200,000 population, and twenty-four others have populations ranging from 100,000 to 200,000 each. Ten years ago there were but two cities in the empire with more than 500,000 population, and only thirty-three with more than 100,000 population.
Revising Moses
UNDER this head the Washington Post of February 22 speaks of the present-day proposals to “bring Moses down to date by reducing the ten commandments to tabloid form.” It makes this very sensible observation:—
But the great problem of the commandments, after all, is to meet their requirements. . . . Let us revise ourselves first. The chances are there will be but scant time left in which to furbish up the fourth law of Moses.
