Earlier text: Baby’s SmileTo the Fields in 1909
By William A. Spicer
The report of outgoing missionaries in 1909 is a cheering one. In 1908 one hundred forty went out, nearly double the number in any former year. If in 1909 the figures had dropped back again into the seventies, we could not have counted it a reverse, especially in view of the added expense to the fields of the quadrennial session of the General Conference. But the record shows little slackening of the pace. Where workers have gone from other fields than America, as from Europe or the British colonies, into mission fields, we have noted the fact in the list. Here is the roll that lays upon us all an added responsibility to “hold the ropes” strong and steady:— Dr. H. N. Greaves and wife, to British Guiana, South America. G. A. Wood, from Australia, to Java. Dr. G. B. Replogle, to Argentina. Dr. A. H. Larson, to Denmark. Miss Dorothy Knight, from Australia, to Java. W. E. Hancock and wife, to Guatemala. Mrs. Phoebe E. Frost (paying own way), to Basutoland, South Africa. W. E. Baxter and wife, to Jamaica, West Indies. Misses Ina and Etta Austen, from Cape Colony, South Africa, to Nyassaland. Juan Robles and family, to Mexico. C. Robinson, from Cape Colony, South Africa, to Barotseland. Bernard Judge and wife, from Australia, to Sumatra. J. F. Blunt and wife, to Mexico. M. Rhode and wife, from Germany, to Brazil. Miss May Brunson, to India. Miss May Loveday, from England, to India. C. N. Harvey and wife, to Bay Islands, Honduras. B. L. Morse, from England, to British East Africa. Ernst Raessler and wife, from Germany, to British East Africa. M. Kunze, from Germany, to German East Africa. Dr. F. W. Vasenius, to Denmark, to proceed later to Abyssinian Mission. F. A. Stahl and family, to Bolivia. Henry Dirksen, to Germany. Frank F. Oster, to Germany, planning later to enter Persia. Miss Etta Cornish, to Japan. O. E. Reinke and wife, to Switzerland. F. O. Raymond (paying own way), to India. Louis Zecchetto and wife, to Italy. J. M. Cole and family, to Australia. R. E. Burke and wife, to Australia. J. W. Hofstra and family, to Holland, later proceeding to Java. Max Trummer, to Argentina. G. H. Clark, to South Africa. C. F. Foster and wife, to Chile. Wm. Steele and wife, to Porto Rico.4 B. F. Machlan and family, to Australia. R. G. Ryan and wife, to South Africa. Anol Grundset and wife, to Europe, en route to Abyssinian Mission. E. T. Wilson and wife, to Peru. G. E. Hartman and wife, and Miss Nina Hartman, to Argentina. J. P. Novak, from Mexico, to Argentina. A. F. Haines and wife, to Panama. Mrs. J. van de Groep, from Holland, to Java. V. E. Toppenberg, to Europe, en route to Abyssinian Mission. H. I. Toppenberg, to Denmark. Chris Juhl and family, to Denmark. R. C. Wangerin and wife, to Korea. Miss Georgia Sanders, to Jamaica. F. Gregorius and family, from Germany, to Palestine. N. P. Nelson and wife, to Denmark. S. A. Wellman and family, to India. G. G. Lowry and wife, to India. R. B. Thurber and family, to Burma. A. G. Kelsey and wife, to India. Miss Estella Secrist, to Burma. E. W. Wolfe and wife, to China. Fred Lee and wife, to China. Dr. A. G. Larson and wife, to China. S. A. Nagel and wife, to China. O. A. Hall and wife, to China. E. Dominick, from Germany, to British East Africa. H. H. Brookes and wife, from England, to British East Africa. Miss Fannie Gingell, from England, to British East Africa. Ernst Hartmann, from Austria, to Egypt. F. Scior and wife, from Austria, to Turkey. E. E. Frauchiger and family, from Germany, to Turkey. C. Voigt, from Germany, to Turkey. B. Melchiori (paying own way), from Germany, to Turkey. C. E. Peckover and family, to Jamaica. W. R. Pohle and family, to Peru. O. H. Maxson and family, to Peru. Cush Sparks and wife, to China. Mrs. F. W. Vasenius, from Finland, to Abyssinian Mission, accompanying Dr. Vasenius listed from America in June. Gordon Smith and wife, from Australia, to New Guinea. Brother Solomona, from Australia, to New Guinea. Miss May Cole, to Bermuda Islands. George Harlow and wife, to China. Otis J. Fisher and wife, to China. Miss Daisy Bacon (by private arrangement, as teacher), from England, to Peru. Miss Alice Fieldberg, to Guatemala. W. A. Westworth and family, to China. This list, counting the wives — who do count most decidedly in the fields — shows that one hundred thirty-four missionaries went forth into the regions beyond during 1909. It is almost the number sent out in 1908; and doubtless we have overlooked some departures, which will be reported later. It is marvelous how the money has come in to keep such a procession moving into the fields. It means that the rank and file of the believers have had the burden pressed upon their hearts to pray and give; that conferences have been unselfishly sharing men and means with yet needier fields; and that in all the fields abroad the resources are increasing, to bear ever a heavier burden in supporting the work. Only by the blessing of the Lord and his mighty power can we account for such a wide expansion in 1909. Yet it has been adding only a few, the merest handful, to fields where the millions wait unwarned. Yet a larger force should go in 1910. Let us pray for it and work for it. W. A. S. Union With Heaven
By William W. Prescott
In view of present conditions in the religious world, it seems fitting that we should frequently consider some of the fundamental truths of the gospel. We are confronted to-day with theories, claims, and teachings on the part both of apostate Protestantism and of Romanism which utterly set aside the truths of the gospel; and as we are in the world for the express purpose of giving the true gospel message in this generation, it certainly becomes us to so understand both the conditions which the message is designed to meet and the very nature of the message itself, that we may be able to give the message in a way to meet the demands of the present hour. We are confronted with claims and teachings that do really make void the truth, the genuine gospel of Christ, as will plainly appear from a brief study of the question. Christ is the one who has made the connection between earth and heaven. Earth was cut off from heaven by sin. Christ was given to restore that connection. An intimation of this was given in that dream which Jacob had when he saw a ladder resting upon the earth and reaching unto heaven, and saw angels of God ascending and descending upon that ladder. Afterward, in his talk with Nathanael, Christ himself explained the meaning of that dream when he said: “Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.” That is, it is the Son of man, the Son of God given to take the flesh and become the Son of man, who unites earth with heaven. It is absolutely necessary that the base of that ladder should rest upon the earth because of our inability to lift ourselves up at all. It is also necessary that the top of the ladder should reach to heaven, because even though we should get nine tenths of the way to heaven, and the ladder should fail to reach all the way, we would be utterly unable to lift ourselves over the gap and to get to heaven on the ladder after all. Briefly stated, the situation is just this: At the present time, by denying the deity of Christ, that he is really the Son of God, apostate Protestantism is cutting off the top of the ladder. Unless Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God, the ladder does not reach to heaven. And further, it is an old, fundamental teaching of the Roman Catholic Church that the base of the ladder is cut off and does not reach to the earth; for while Protestants emphasize now the humanity of Christ and deny his deity, and thus shorten the ladder so that it does not reach to heaven, it is a fundamental teaching of Roman Catholicism that Jesus Christ did not take the same flesh that we bear, and so the ladder does not rest upon the earth. They emphasize his divinity, but in effect deny his humanity, and therefore the base of the ladder does not rest upon the earth. Now between these two, instead of having a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, if their claims and assumptions are correct, our ladder does not reach to earth; it does not reach to heaven. But there is no salvation apart from Jesus Christ. “There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” “Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” This salvation is not an arbitrary thing. It is not a mere balancing of accounts. It is an actual experience by which we are restored to fellowship with God. Thus made in his image, we again bear the image of God, and that is wrought out by God in the person of his Son coming down to take the flesh, revealing the character of God in the flesh, uniting the character—the power of God for righteousness—with the flesh in his own person, and then by his ministry providing that same experience for all who believe on him. And that relation which he thus establishes, grows out of two things: First, and primarily, because he is the Son of God; and secondly, in order to make this fellowship complete, because he became the Son of man. Then being both Son of God and Son of man, and in himself uniting divinity with humanity once more, and that too in sinful flesh so that the same experience might come to us in sinful flesh, he then in his office as high priest ministers to those who are willing to receive that living power, that life of his, which working in them reveals anew, even in sinful flesh, the character of God. This is the experience of the gospel. Apart from this experience there is no salvation. It is time therefore to emphasize the truth concerning the person and the mediatorial work of Christ, our great High Priest.
W. W. P. No Need of a Human Sabbath Law
By C. M. S.
At a meeting of the National Reform Association, held Oct. 19, 1909, in Park Street Church, Boston, the question of whether we should have a national sabbath law was one of the chief topics of consideration. One of the principal speakers upon that topic was Rev. O. P. Gifford (Baptist), of Brookline, Mass., who made this point against the necessity for such a law:— If these gentlemen present think that we ought to have a national sabbath law, I would advise that you all get out and evangelize the masses, and bring them where they will want to keep the sabbath, and then they will keep it, law or no law. I doubt if even then legislation would be advisable. We would not dare legislate on New Testament truths—we could not if we would. The Bible lays down no law concerning Lord's day observance. The only Sabbath law we have was given to the Jews. There is much in little here. When a man's conscience is educated to the point where he sees his obligation to keep the Sabbath, there is no more need for a human law to make him keep it than there is for a human law to make the grass grow, the birds sing, the rivers run, or the sun rise and set. More than that, he will keep it even if the law is against his doing so and is enforced by the heaviest penalties. That fact is patent to all. It has been demonstrated again and again. Human laws against the performance of religious duties have had but two results. Of moral and religious weaklings such laws have made hypocrites; of men strong in moral and religious convictions such laws have made martyrs. There is no middle ground, no twilight zone, between these two results in which such a system might work for the common good of the masses. He who obeys a human religious law which is contrary to his religious convictions is not obeying God, but merely obeying the power which made that human law. He has not the courage of his convictions; he is a coward morally, and religiously he is a hypocrite. It need hardly be said that the world has a plethora of such already, and therefore is in no need of legislation to increase the supply. Jehovah declared, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Whoever sets up a human law regarding religious things, and compels men to obey that in opposition to God's law, is setting up another god—a human one—and compelling religious weaklings to make idolaters of themselves. No one else will be affected by it; for no one else will obey it. The true Christian can not obey it; to do so, he would have to transfer his spiritual allegiance from his Lord to that human power or human being which made the law in question, and that he will not do. As the human ruler has no power to save the soul or grant eternal life, he has no right to step in between the soul and the only power that can save the soul, and can grant eternal life. The One who gave his life for the ransom of the soul has a right to demand the allegiance of that soul in spiritual matters—and allegiance can not be divided. Therefore, of all the unnecessary and incongruous legislation enacted by human lawgivers, that which attempts to enforce religious duties and practises is the most unnecessary and the most incongruous. More than that, it is an imputation that divine institutions rest upon a human basis, and must be supported by human law or fall to the ground. Such work, instead of building up the kingdom of God in the earth, blinds the eyes of men as to what the kingdom of God really is and the foundation upon which it stands. Dr. Gifford spoke truly when he declared that “the Bible lays down no law concerning Lord's day observance;” for there is no command in the Bible for keeping the first day of the week as a Sabbath. Whatever authority there is for it is wholly outside of the Bible. This being true, the institution itself is outside the Bible. The Bible being the revelation of God's will and purpose concerning man, whatever is not authorized by the Bible is outside the will and purpose of God. The Sunday sabbath institution is therefore outside that will and that purpose; and when enforced by a human law in opposition to an institution which does have a divine command for its existence, we see at once that there is an open warfare between an institution of man and an institution of Jehovah. It seems peculiar, to say the least, that “eminent divines” do not see the logic of this. To be sure, for centuries the religious world has been taught to believe that in some way, which neither the Bible nor history ever explained, the apostles, through authority from the Lord Jesus Christ, substituted the first-day sabbath for the seventh-day Sabbath, that the resurrection of Jesus from the dead might be fittingly commemorated; and no inconsiderable number through the passing centuries have appealed to the clergy to have the promptings of their conscience soothed into quietude over this lack of divine command for continually disregarding a divine institution and putting in its place one which has no seal of divinity upon it. It is one of the most perplexing questions with which the clergy have to deal. If they take the position that the Lord authorized the apostles to change the day in commemoration of their Lord's resurrection from the dead, they are at once confronted with three troublesome propositions:— First, there is no record of such delegation of authority, but much Scripture proof that God's entire law is unchangeable, immutable. Second, the apostles never taught any one that there was a change of the day, and they themselves taught the keeping of “the commandments”—and kept them. Paul's conduct in this regard (Acts 18: 1-11; 28: 17) and John's admonition to the early church (1 John 2: 3, 4) should be sufficient proof of this. If Paul had been keeping Sunday instead of the seventh day, the Jews could have successfully contradicted him to the face when he declared that he had done “nothing against the people, or customs of our fathers.” It was the most distinctive custom of the Jewish “fathers” to keep the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath of Jehovah. Paul was not out of harmony with them in that regard. He kept the day they kept. More than that, history shows that there was no change on the part of the general church body in the matter of Sabbath-keeping until long after the death of the apostles. Whence came the change? The Catholic Church answers the question by declaring “the Christian sabbath” (Sunday) to be “the genuine offspring of the union of the Holy Spirit with the Catholic Church, his spouse.”—Catholic Mirror, Sept. 23, 1903. The writer of that article declares, in the same issue of that paper, that “the Catholic Church for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday.” The leaders of that church distinctly repudiate the idea that the New Testament teaches the change of the day of the Sabbath, or that Christ or his apostles ever intimated that there was to be a change. The Catholic Church did it, and claims she had a right to do so. Third, there was already established one sufficient ordinance to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead—the ordinance of baptism. Whoever follows his Lord in that ordinance declares, by that act, his faith in the resurrection of his Lord. Wherever that ordinance is performed, Christ's resurrection is commemorated, and men declare to the world their faith in its efficacy. Had the resurrection required another ordinance of commemoration, it would have been the province of the Lord himself to say what it should be; and it is not supposable that he would have been compelled to destroy his own divinely appointed memorial of creation in order to find a suitable memorial for the resurrection. Neither did he. Jehovah's memorial of creation, the Sabbath of the decalogue, has never been abrogated. It is binding upon Christians6 to-day. Said the Methodist Episcopal bishops in their Pastoral of 1874: “The Sabbath instituted in the beginning and confirmed again and again by Moses and the prophets, has never been abrogated; a part of the moral law, not a jot or tittle of its sanctity has been taken away.” Then it is surely incumbent upon all Christians everywhere to keep it; and it is impossible to do that by substituting a human sabbath institution for the one which was divinely ordained. But there is one statement in the above excerpt which should not go unnoticed, and that is that “the only Sabbath law we have was given to the Jews,” the inference being that it is not therefore binding upon Christians. If that be true concerning the Sabbath command, it is equally true concerning every other command of the decalogue. They were all given to the Jews; but we are not to suppose, therefore, that they are not binding upon Christians. It will be freely admitted that a man can not be a Christian and worship other gods, take the name of God in vain, dishonor his parents, lie, steal, commit adultery, kill, and covet. But all these commands and prohibitions were given to the Jews, and the Sabbath command was written in the midst of them. They stand or fall together. Then, too, we have our Saviour's own declaration that “the Sabbath was made for man.” Mark 2:27. That includes the human race, and not the Jew only. Finding no command in the Word of God for the setting apart of Sunday as a sabbath, the church to-day is appealing to the state for a law enforcing the observance of that day. It is a most striking anomaly that the modern Protestant church, professing to represent her Lord and Master Jesus Christ, should attempt to enforce an institution designed to supplant an institution of which he himself declares that he is Lord. Said Jesus: “The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.” Luke 6:5. Is it not a paradox that the professed representatives of Jesus should seek to abolish and supplant an institution of which Jesus is Lord? Yet wherever a national or State Sunday law is proposed that is what is involved in the proposition. Verily, there is no need for a national sabbath law. The divine institution is able to stand upon its own law; and the human institution, being in opposition to the one which God himself established, is not deserving of the support either of Christians or of non-Christians. “Every plant, which my Heavenly Father hath not planted,” said Jesus, “shall be rooted up.” Matt. 15:13. The human sabbath is such a plant. The World Prepared for the Message
By F. M. W.
DURING the last few decades, Providence has been preparing the world for the last great gospel message. A glance at the world's great array of facilities in rapid thought transmission as seen in the telegraph, the telephone, and the world-wide mail service, the rapid means of travel by railways and steamships, as well as the wonderful manner in which the nations of the world have been opened to the reception of the gospel, impresses us with the preparation which God has made for the doing of a speedy work in this last generation. Regarding the great change which has come in the attitude of the nations toward the gospel work during the last century, the Missionary Review for January, under the heading “A Century of Progress in Missions,” makes this forcible contrast of the condition of the world at the opening of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries:— Nearly every country in Asia and Africa was closed to the gospel. The church did not believe in foreign missions. There were practically no Protestant Christians in heathen lands. Only one hundred foreign missionaries had been sent out. The Bible was translated into only sixty-five languages. Only a few thousands of dollars were given yearly for foreign missions. There were no medical missionaries. There were no mission hospitals or orphanages. There was no native Christian ministry. Missionary work was not recognized in American and British colleges. There were no unmarried women missionaries, and no organized work for women. There were no mission presses or means for preparing and distributing Christian literature in non-Christian lands. Practically every nation in the world is open to missionaries. All evangelical churches are interested in missions. To speak against missions is counted a disgrace. More than two million Protestant Christians have been gathered in heathen lands — besides all who have died in the faith. There are nearly twenty-two thousand foreign missionaries in the world. The Bible has been translated into about five hundred languages and dialects. Total foreign missionary contributions amount to nearly $25,000,000 annually. Thousands of medical missionaries in the heathen lands treat three million patients a year. There are four hundred mission hospitals and over five hundred orphanages and asylums in foreign lands, operated by missionaries. There are over six thousand unmarried women missionaries to heathen women and children. There are about ninety-three thousand native pastors, evangelists, etc., working among their own people. There are nearly thirty thousand schools and colleges conducted by Protestant missionaries in foreign lands. There are over one hundred sixty publishing houses and mission presses, and four hundred Christian periodicals are published on the mission fields. Thousands of college students are on the mission field, and thousands are preparing to go. It is cause for gratitude to every lover of missions that during the last one hundred years God has so wondrously wrought in behalf of the heralds of the cross. Earnest men from nearly every Protestant denomination have given themselves to the work of the world's evangelization. Their advance has been marked by heroic endeavor, oftentimes with a sacrifice of life. These earnest, God-fearing men and women have paved the way for still greater triumphs of the cross in connection with the great missionary movement in which this people are engaged. Through their sacrifice and toil, we have facilities made ready to hand. In another column is shown the excellent progress made in our own denominational mission work during the last year. This we believe is but the earnest of a more mighty effort for the year to come. There can be no slackening of our pace. More than one billion souls in heathen darkness urge us on. Let us make the year 1910 the banner year in our missionary operations.