Earlier text: THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRISTA WARNING CRY.
By Chas. W. Waddell
“SON of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at My mouth, and give them warning.” The call to be a watchman to the house of Israel is a very important one, and is coupled with grave responsibility. The watchmen are to look after the welfare of the people, and warn them of danger. If you were going into a community where stealing was the prevailing sin, you would be alert trying to teach the people its sinfulness. The same in regard to Sabbath-breaking or any other particular sin. Altho as a child of God you would speak against all forms of evil, yet the most particular sins would be the great burden of your heart. The world to-day presents before the worker for God a great missionary field. I do not mean the millions of heathen in distant lands, altho they stand in perishing need of the Christ life, but I mean that in our own land of boasted light and liberty there is a great need of workers who are filled with the Spirit of the Master, and will warn the people against one of the prevailing sins of the age—licentiousness, unchastity. We dare not deny that this sin, reaching out its terrible feelers like those of the dreaded devil-fish, is casting its baleful influence over every walk of life, and dragging many a noble man and woman down to a living death. In the face of existing facts it is useless to deny that it is the prevailing sin of this generation; yet to-day it is slighted alike by the pulpit and by the press. Go where you will, in every city, in every village, and you will find that this grim monster has been there, has entered the once happy home, and has taken perhaps, the idol of a mother's heart. Many of these mothers can look back over the past, and see where they failed to stamp upon the mind of the daughter the great value of a strictly moral character. We send our children to school to enable them to fight the battle of life successfully, on a business plan; but far too many of us neglect to prepare their young minds to fight the battles and resist the temptations of life on a moral plan. When I see these things, when I see parents allowing their children privileges that are sure to lead them into strong temptation, I do not wonder that the dreaded sin of immorality abounds on every hand. And I am led to ask myself, Will we refuse to heed these important lessons until they are forced upon us by a bitter experience? Many men who realize that they are called of God to the important work of the ministry do not realize that they have a duty to perform as regards this question; and, as I travel from city to city talking on this important theme, I find those who have never handled it from the platform, and I can not understand it. Has the great God abandoned the fallen sisters of the street? Has He ceased to work through human agencies for the bringing back, for the uplifting of those who most need His help?—Nay, verily! He has heard the cry of many of these women, and altho that cry is unheeded by the professed churches, He will raise up those who are not ashamed to do the important work. If permitted by the editor, I will endeavor to point out some of the dangers along this line, and also will try to impress upon the hearts of the fathers and mothers of this country the value of a proper understanding of this great question in early life. Waukesha, Wis. CHAS. W. WADDELL. PREACH THE CROSS.
By T. L. Cuyler
[T. L. Cuyler, in Evangelist.] IN these days no preacher can improve on Paul. To his converts in Corinth he wrote: “I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” He also declared: “First of all I delivered unto you that Christ died for our sins.” The “first of all” does not refer to priority of time, for6 he had sounded the Gospel taught elsewhere before he struck its keynote among the corrupt idolaters of Corinth. It means that as the principal thing he preached the cross, and salvation by the atoning blood. Whatever else came second, this came first; whatever he omitted, he never omitted the core and marrow of the Gospel. The atonement is the cardinal doctrine of the New Testament; for the very core of Christianity is the sacrificial death of its divine Founder. All its paths converge on Calvary. The Gospel does not underrate ethics, or the duties of human brotherhood, or the spotless example of Jesus; but the atonement is the sublimest display of the divine love, and it transcends all other revealed truths in saving power. If I could deliver but one discourse to a congregation composed of all nations of the globe, this should be my text, “Christ Jesus died for our sins.” This is the truth that has lain closest and warmest to the Christian heart in every age of the church. This is the touchstone for every pulpit. Wherever the highest spiritual power has been attained, there has been the most faithful preaching of the guilt of sin, and of salvation only through the redemptive work of Christ Jesus on the cross of Calvary. It is the duty of every minister to thunder against injustice and intemperance and fraud and selfishness and hypocrisy and covetousness and every form of wickedness; but the true vantage ground from which to assail them is beside that cross where Jesus died to condemn all sin and to save the sinner. Sometimes a theory of the atonement is presented in the pulpit, from which every drop of its vital fluid has been drained away. Neither Paul nor Peter nor John would have recognized their doctrine. The one theory of the atonement which meets the tremendous necessities of a world lying in wickedness is this plain, short, simple line: “Christ Jesus died for our sins.” The three great and glorious ideas compressed into this line are—Substitution, Sacrifice, Salvation! Christ became our substitute and suffered for us. Christ became our sacrifice, and laid down His life to take away our guilt; the “Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all!” Christ secures eternal life to every true believer and faithful follower. The highest success in preaching lies just there. Paul’s keynote, struck amid the idolatries of Corinth and in defiance of Caesar’s lictors at Rome, has been the secret of converting power everywhere. Luther preached this Gospel of atoning blood to slumbering Europe, and it awoke the dead. Amid all his emphasizing and defenses of the divine Sovereignty, Calvin never ignored or belittled the atonement. Cowper sang of it in sweet strains among the water-lilies of the Ouse; and Bunyan made the cross the starting-point for the Celestial City. John Wesley proclaimed it to the colliers of Kingswood and the swarthy miners of Cornwall. Moody’s bells all chimed to the keynote of Calvary. Spurgeon thundered his doctrine of vicarious atonement into the ears of peer and peasant with a voice like the sound of many waters. The heart of God’s church has in all ages held to this as the heart of all Christian theology—“Christ Jesus died for our sins.” This sublime central truth is no more obsolete to-day than yonder sun in the firmament. To every young brother who is about entering the ministry I would point the example of the mightiest of all preachers, and would say to him, “Follow Paul, and plant your pulpit on Calvary, and let the uplifted Christ draw all men unto Him!” “Much noise about religion may indicate the confusion consequent on the lack of it.” “FRIENDSHIP is one of the fair flowers of Paradise blooming in our world of pain.” GENTLENESS
By Jno. Wm. Stein
The life that moveth everywhere,
The light that shineth over all,
The love that scatters every care,
Are gentler than a feather’s fall.
The earth removes its robe of snow,
And decks itself in garb of green;
In gentlest grace her blessings flow,
Unostentatious and serene. Elijah, who in Horeb sought
The Lord for counsel to sustain;
In wind, earthquake, and fire had thought
To find Him; but he looked in vain.
God was not in the cyclone’s path,
Nor in the earthquake’s, fearsome tread,
Nor in the fire’s consuming wrath,
But in the “still, small” word He said. The whispers of His love are sweet;
The counsels of His wisdom calm;
His work, His way, His word complete,
Prove none so gentle as “I Am.”
Omniscience is serenely kind,
Omnipotence supremely mild;
It takes Christ’s matchless grace to find
The grandeur of a little child. Kalamazoo, Mich. JNO. WM. STEIN. THE ROYAL PURPLE OF GOD'S LAW.
By Edison Driver
A certain king once sent to a weaver, and said to him, “Make me a curtain for my palace, and let it be according to this design that I send.” The weaver was happy in receiving such a commission, and set about his task at once. But when he looked over the pattern and saw that the groundwork was purple, he was troubled. “The established custom,” he said, “is to use red for groundwork, but this calls for purple. Now, of a truth, I don’t think the king will ever notice the difference at all, and if he does, will acknowledge the red looks just as well; besides it’s cheaper and more convenient for me. So the red goes in for groundwork; the rest will all go in just as the pattern indicates.” Imagine the poor fellow’s consternation, when the king utterly refused the tapestry at any price. “The stamp of royalty is lacking,” was the explanation. “There is not a hint of the royal purple in it; your red doesn’t mean anything, except, perhaps, that you have obeyed your own convenience instead of me. I hope your convenience will reward you well for your loyalty, fellow!” Likewise imagine the surprise and consternation of those who have woven a substitute Sabbath into the great law of Jehovah, saying, It looks as well as the one He ordered, and is according to the custom. The two cases are parallel. The Sabbath commandment is the seal of God’s law. It marks Him as creator, and consequently King of all created things. It is the royal color He has chosen, and given as a sign between Him and His own. The king who ordered the purple in the curtain had reasons for so doing. The King who ordered the Sabbath in His law also had reasons for His order, and its change will be like changing the purple of the curtain. The stamp of royalty again is lacking, and disobedience is conspicuous. EDISON DRIVER. How They Became Convinced
[Believing it would be of interest to our readers, the editor of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES has asked Sabbath-keeping ministers and evangelical workers to tell in a few words the scripture or scriptures, the truths and principles, which constrained them to accept the unpopular truth of the seventh-day Sabbath. These testimonies must not exceed 500 words. Let us hear from all.] When I was about sixteen years of age, I asked my mother why people kept the first day instead of the seventh as the Sabbath. Just what brought this to my mind I do not remember. I had read the Bible very little. But somehow it was brought to my mind very forcibly. In answer to my question my mother told me that the day had been changed by Christ. I took it for granted that she knew, and therefore rested easy over the matter. I don't remember this ever coming up again till the year I was twenty-four During the summer I was converted. I was attending the Disciple Church. One Sunday the minister invited those who wished to make their stand for Christ to come forward. I went, and it was decided that I should be baptized in two weeks. In not more than a week or two the keeping of the right day came up again. I had resolved to wholly follow the Lord, and I now determined to take the Bible, and study the matter myself. I gave the First-day people plenty of opportunity to help me. They gave me books to read. The ministers tried to show me that the First Day was the one to be kept. It wasn't long until I heard a discussion on the Sabbath. Above everything that I could hear, there came that ringing testimony in Matt. 5:18: “Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Not one jot or tittle as long as heaven and earth shall last. This was evidence to me that Christ had not changed the law of God. Then in Mark 16:1, I read that “when the Sabbath was passed” the holy women came to anoint Jesus. Now if any one knew which was the right day, these Christian women did. And they witnessed to this fact that when we come to the First Day (verse 2), the Sabbath is always past. When I decided to keep the Sabbath, I was told that we could not tell which was the seventh day. But when I thought of the calendar, and all the leading works that have ever been written, testifying that Saturday is the seventh, and Sunday the first day of the week, I knew that so far as we had light we could tell which was the right day. Then another scripture, Luke 23:56, shows that no time had ever been lost. They kept “the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” This was the seventh day as shown by Luke 24:1. I was convinced that I should keep the seventh day as the Sabbath. I have found much more evidence since then that has confirmed me more and more. I have enjoyed a rich experience, and much of the blessing of God in keeping the day. C. J. BUHALTS. In April, 1860, I went to hear a man on the Sabbath question. His first discourse was based upon Mark 2:27, 28; Gen. 2:1-3; Exodus 16 and 31; Isaiah 56. The whole struck me with considerable force, but especially Isaiah 56. Here was a prophecy that could not be fulfilled during the Levitical priesthood. This discourse was on First-day eve, and his second discourse was based upon Matt. 5:17-20. Applying Campbell's Translation, he showed that we should not even think that He came to destroy the law or the prophets. In connection with that, he showed the Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment all the way through the New Testament. I went home on Monday and read the Bible, also Sabbath Tracts Nos. 1-4. That book went over the same grounds, and also some history besides. The next Friday my wife said, “Shall I prepare to-day for the Sabbath?” I said, “Yes.” So we have kept it ever since. I have found a blessing in it from that day to this. This makes our forty-third year. My wife's convincing points were Matt. 5:17-20 in connection with James 2:8-11, especially the tenth verse. A. J. STOVER. In the recent general elections there were, for many hours after the polls closed, many anxious men waiting in nervous suspense the result of the count which was to determine their election or rejection by the people. With tremendous energy and nervous intensity have they been doing missionary work for themselves for weeks, and days, and hours, the intensity increasing as the time diminished, and their friends and parasites with them, till the polls closed on election day. And the night after is one of eager, watchful, anxious, wearying waiting in rooms laden with tobacco smoke and whisky fumes, till the big blanket ballots are dissected, and the results tabulated and counted. Some candidates learn quickly the result, hardly ever for a moment hoping for success. Such are many of our Prohibition friends, standing simply for a principle and a protest, hoping that sometime men will yield to the principle, and that it will win in politics. Other some merely run as candidates to keep up the party organization, and furnish a place where protesting opinions to the policy of the dominant party may find expression. But other candidates are in close districts, and it is many hours often before the final results are determined, and the men know their fate. Then there are the heart-burnings, and sore disappointments, and the enmities of defeat; or the exultation, the shouting, the triumph, but only for a little time. What a vast amount of money and energy are expended! How many lives are shortened by the intensity of the strain! Hearts and minds are broken, often forever. How many characters are ruined by yielding to questionable methods, even in politics, under the pleas of “necessity,” “the end justifies the means,” or “the other party does it.” Excellent men who once yield in this way, kept continually in the whirl of the political vortex, seldom recover from the induration of moral fiber, and the erstwhile sensitive consciences are rarely restored to their normal tone. And oftentimes the man whose election is sure in politics, whose triumph is certain, goes down because of it to everlasting moral defeat. How many of these men, if able, would have given princely sums, if their election could have been made “sure.” They have not worried about their “calling:” it is the election to a little place, for a little time; and wealth and friends, and oftentimes health and honor are sacrificed to secure it, and yet they fail. O the cheapness, the littleness, the unsatisfaction of it all! What is the lesson? Why is this written?—Simply this, reader: To call your attention, whoever you are, to an election that is full of eternally grand and glorious possibilities. God has called every soul on this earth to an eternal sonship with Him, to an eternal kingdom, to an eternal salvation. “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth,” He eagerly implores. Isa. 45:22. “The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth, let him say, Come. And he that is athirst, let him say, Come. And he that will, let him take the water of life freely.” Rev. 22:17. This is the extent, the universality, of God’s call. He has chosen us in Christ Jesus “before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before Him: having in love foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.” Eph. 1:4, 5. This is God’s calling and choosing (election), not because of our worth, but because of the grace of His good pleasure that we may be made holy, be made sons, be made kings and priests of God, and may possess an eternal kingdom. But there is danger that we shall not obtain that to which we are called, and to which God has chosen7 us. It is a fearful thing to contemplate. All souls feel it at some time in their lives; but it is a strange thing that the adversary of God and man so blinds men that many times, nearly at all times, the eternal things are hidden by the temporal, the great things by the little, the valuable by the worthless. The little dollar so often hides the eternal riches of God. A little place here hides the everlasting kingdom. A brief space of time shuts out God’s great eternity with all its infinite possibilities. But while there is great danger of losing this election by Him, there is also a method, a way of making it eternally sure; but it means co-operation on our part, with diligence. In 2 Peter 1:2-11, are the infallible instructions, which, if kept, are mightily effectual. The apostle tells first of God’s multiplied grace and peace through knowledge of His will in Jesus Christ; of the all things granted that pertain unto life and godliness; of His precious and exceeding great promises, through which we become partakers of the divine nature, and then he exhorts us in our faith to supply virtue, in virtue knowledge, in knowledge self-control, and so on, adding patience, godliness, brotherly love; that these will make us fruitfully abound in the knowledge of Christ, and so for the good of every one; and then closes with the following words:— “Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence
To make your Calling and Election sure:
For if ye do these things,
Ye shall never stumble [fall, fail];
For thus shall be richly supplied unto you
The entrance into the Eternal Kingdom
Of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”
O reader, would you not have a part in this kingdom? The above are good things to do, aren’t they? and worthy of all diligence, too, aren’t they? Then why not co-operate with God, and diligently do them, and so make your calling and ELECTION TO AN ETERNAL KINGDOM SURE? The Gospel of Jesus Christ is based on love, the love of God (John 3:16), a love that commendeth itself in a voluntary sacrifice in behalf of persistent enemies (Rom. 5:8). Such was the spirit of Him who inaugurated the Gospel work; therefore such must needs be the spirit of all who engage in the work if they would be at all successful. In this sin-stricken world the opposite principle prevails. With the entrance of sin came the spirit of hatred, of enmity, of jealousy, of revenge. The Gospel call is to come out of this condition into an atmosphere of love. The contrast of environment is set forth very plainly. In the world the “works of the flesh”—the natural desires of man—predominate. The result is, “adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like.” Gal. 5:19, 20. Now the majority of people do not realize that their course is productive of such fruit. They are having enjoyment, and they imagine it is innocent enjoyment; they are giving enjoyment to others, in an innocent manner they suppose; they are also jealous, and envious, and dislike others, all of which seems all right to them. So they go on through life, may be professing to serve God, but they are striving to get all they can out of this world. They do not see the true character of the world, therefore the more deceptive it is, the more they become attached to it. But the foregoing description of it all is from the Spirit of Him who knoweth all things. That is the way it looks to Him, and the reason why men and women do not see their natural course and the fruit of it in its true light is because they do not believe the Word of God. “Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” The Gospel is calling men out of the awful condition described as the “works of the flesh;” it is calling them to partake of the “fruit of the Spirit,” which is “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” Gal. 5:22, 23. Through the Gospel the Lord is calling men “out of darkness into His marvelous light.” The call comes from the Fountain of love. “God is love.” Therefore, to be effectual, the instrument used in dissemination of the Gospel must be a channel through which love can flow. The Sermon on the Mount is an epitome of Gospel principles, and there we find a very striking contrast. Jesus says, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.” That is the spirit of the world that had found its way into the Jewish church. “But,” He continues, “I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” The cultivation and manifestation of this spirit of love is essential, “that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.” This spirit of love must come from the Fountain of love, and must be reciprocal in order to keep in touch with Him. Therefore He says, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Why?—Because “all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” Then what eventually must come of it all?—Why, “the world passeth away, and the lust thereof.” See 1 John 2:15-17. So then the love of the world must give place to the love of God, in order to benefit the individual by the new and better conditions contemplated by the Gospel. But only through a belief of the Word can the change be wrought. The carnal mind—the natural, worldly mind—can not of itself work out the change; because it is “not subject to the law of God.” The sinner is in a state of disobedience from which he can not extricate himself, and the Gospel of love for the sinner is calling to him to accept propitiation for the past, and lay hold of Him who can imbue him with the spirit of love and consequent obedience. A simple faith in the Saviour, who gave Himself for all, and a surrender of the rebellious will to His obedient will, is all the response necessary to transfer one from an atmosphere of sin and death to the realm of love and eternal life. The plan of redemption contemplates a restoration to the condition of obedience from which Adam by disobedience fell. Obedience is the test of love to Him who so loved us. The Saviour says, “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.” In this way is the covenant of love maintained inviolate. “If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.” And the apostle John expresses the principle in one sentence: “This is the love of God, that ye keep His commandments.” Nothing short of this is acceptable in support of a profession of love. This is then an ideal condition to which the sinner is called by the Gospel of love—an implicit faith in God, a perfect obedience through faith, and an eternal embrace in the love of Him who first loved us, and gave Himself for us. WHOM SHALL MAN WORSHIP?
By S.
A Pertinent Question Just Now.
THIS question is as old as the human race; and the question, Who ought to receive worship? is as old as the rebellion in heaven. It did not come into either heaven or earth until the justice and sovereignty of God were challenged by the father of sin. And so the controversy and conflict from then till now has been over the matter of loyalty, obedience, reverence, worship. It is as great an issue now as it ever was—indeed it is reaching its culmination in this very age, as we shall see. The man Adam met the question and fell before it. Disobedience was the proof of his disloyalty; disobedience showed his worship of another out of harmony with the One he should have served; obedience is one of the highest forms of worship. As all the offspring of Adam fell in his fall, so there came One who was to meet the same test, and who, if He met it successfully, would open a way whereby all men might rise and stand in His triumphant stand. He came; He met the test in the personal presence of the fallen rebel, and He triumphed gloriously over the common enemy of God and man. In the example of His own life Jesus Christ answered truly and fully that question for all time. So now when voices are calling to us from every side, when scores of standards are being raised, we ought to know what is the true Standard and the true Voice. Otherwise we shall be deceived, and ruined eternally. As God is not a God of discord, there can be but one true standard, one true voice. All others, all that are not in perfect harmony with this Standard, this Voice, are false; either counterfeits of the genuine or open or secret enemies of the true. He who worships anything but God has listened to one of these voices of deception, and has placed himself under one of those false standards. It makes no difference what that other object of worship may be, to worship it is to range one’s self on the side of the enemy of God. The worship of self is such a worship, and he who performs it is on the side of Satan and against God. Self-worship is a religion that is very much in evidence at the present time. It is not confined to sect. It is manifest wherever the Spirit of God has not come into the heart to soften and subdue the elements within us that would war against God. We may be made to think we are doing God service while we are burning incense to this idol and so serving under the banner of sin. This worship of self is not the mere serving and pleasing of self, known as selfishness. It is a specific act of worship performed as self-worship. It is the dogma of a cult or cults in which the object of worship set before the individual is the “divinity within himself,” the “Good within him,” the “God within him.” The cults which teach these God-defying doctrines are becoming numerous. It is becoming “quite the thing” to be a member of one or more such. Those religions teach that we have God within us. That makes the human being divine in the mind of the believer in that doctrine, and then he is prepared for the instruction given by such a cult for his worship of himself. He is taught to sit down at some definite time each day and slowly, carefully, and distinctly repeat to himself such sentences as these and many more of similar import:— I am ONE with Infinite Life. I am HEALTH, for the indwelling Life is Health Itself. I am STRENGTH, for the Eternal Good [by which they mean God] within me is Strength Itself. I am HARMONY, for the Divine Mind is Harmony Itself. I am LOVE, for the Infinite is Love Itself. I am WISE, for I know that God is Wisdom Itself. I am TRUTH, for the Truth is Law of Being. And so it goes on, attributing to the finite all the attributes of the Infinite. Whatever God is, that they claim to be; whatever He has, that they claim to possess. If they are a part of God, what He is they must be; and they claim that they are, because they have Him within themselves. The ascription of all those attributes to self makes self a god. The repetition of those claims at recurring, designated periods is an act of homage, worship; and the deeds which go with it testify to the reality of that worship. With such the “I” is all, and the “I” is God. This is the key and the kernel of the philosophic religions which are claiming such attention in the world to-day. Their adherents are multiplying rapidly. Every cult in which man is looked to in this way and set up in this way in the place of God is doing the work of God’s enemy, and is inspired in that work by him who sought to usurp the throne of the Most High. That one said to Christ, Fall down and worship me, and all you see shall be yours. That would have made Christ the servant of Satan, second to Satan, instead of the servant of God and Redeemer of man, and would have stamped failure upon Christ’s mission as Adam’s did upon his. But Christ was more than equal to the test. He answered: “It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.” And those words of Christ should be uttered by every man or woman to-day who is urged to turn from the worship of the true God to the worship of self, and consequently and unavoidably to the worship of Satan. The principle underlying that declaration should be made a part of the very life. That made Christ a victor, and it will make you a victor. The enemy is coming in like a flood. This is the standard which is lifted up for you in this crisis: “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.” Allow the enemy to gain no foothold in that citadel by flattering you with the possession of the attributes of divinity in a flesh which you know to be only frailty itself without God’s sustaining grace. Whom shall we worship? If God be God, worship Him; but if man be God, there is nothing worth worshiping in the universe. There is, however; and He is the Lord our Righteousness, our Creator and Redeemer. OUR LONDON LETTER.
By M. Ellsworth Olsen
The Real Meaning of the Educational Bill.
PARLIAMENT resumed its sittings yesterday after the summer’s vacation. One subject was uppermost in the minds of every one; namely, the Educational Bill. This much-disputed document consists of twenty-one clauses couched in terms so ambiguous that its opponents always lay themselves open to the charge of not properly understanding it. Seven clauses were passed before Parliament broke up for the summer recess. Mr. Balfour informed the House last night that the remaining fourteen clauses, which contain the most fiercely-contested points, will have the precedence of all other business until acted upon. The present government has not been fortunate in its efforts to create a system of education for Great Britain. They brought in a bill in 1896 which they were compelled to abandon because, as Mr. Balfour said, it was practically impossible to carry it through the House. There were then no less than 1,238 amendments on paper, with the prospect of still more. Again in 1901 they announced the abandonment of an Educational Bill. The present bill is accordingly the third effort of the existing government, and by it they propose to live or die. Public opinion is, of course, divided. The Non-conformists, who number about half the population, or at least nearly so, are solidly opposed to it, for the simple reason that it favors the State church, and virtually turns over to that body the control of public education. This the bill does not do ostensibly; in fact it is worded rather obscurely, and therefore its advocates can the more easily put a very mild construction on the parts which awaken the bitterest opposition. But there are some keen, clear-headed men in the Non-conformist ranks, and they see in the measure now before Parliament not only a narrow and clerical system of education for the nation, but ultimately the destruction of their whole status as a religious body. Accordingly, the various denominations have been active during the last two months holding mass meetings to protest against the bill, and endeavoring in every possible way to stir up opposition to it. A very large number of persons have definitely decided to offer passive resistance, by refusing to pay the rates in case the bill is passed in its present form. Imposing demonstrations have been held recently in Leeds, Manchester, and London, and another is to be held in the latter place the first of November. The tone of all these meetings has been defiant. The government is called upon to withdraw the bill or dissolve Parliament and appeal to the people. On the other hand, the Primate and the other high dignitaries of the State church have urged the adoption of the bill. At the Church Congress recently held in Northampton scarcely a dissentient note was heard. One speaker referred distinctly to the opportunity the bill would afford for training the children in the faith and practices of the Church of England. Ritualists were the strong element in the Congress, and it is becoming increasingly evident that they have the future of the church entirely in their hands. This party, also known as Sacerdotalists, resemble Roman Catholics in nothing more than in their earnest efforts to mould the minds of the children and youth. There is already a large literature for this purpose, and silently, slowly, but very effectively, it is doing its appointed work. Cardinal Vaughn, the head of the Catholic Church of Great Britain, has taken a strong stand in favor of the bill. In a letter to Mr. Redmond, leader of the Irish party in Parliament, he writes: “We are unanimous in our desire to see this bill passed into law, if it can be passed without the acceptance of any amendment destructive of the religious independence of our schools.” As the Irish members of Parliament are practically all Roman Catholics, they are likely to join hands with the government in the effort to carry the bill through, altho, as is well known, they are bitterly opposed to the government’s policy in other matters. Altogether, with a very large working majority and with rare personal popularity backed up by the strenuous but not always discreet Colonial Secretary, Mr. Balfour has a very fair chance of passing the bill with, possibly, a few slight modifications. If this is done, it will mean a long step backwards for Great Britain. Non-conformists are now compelled to support a State church. They will then have the added privilege of supporting a system of public education in which religious teaching based on the Church of England catechism will form a prominent part. Incidentally the system of Board Schools, modeled on the same general principles as our American public schools, will be demolished. It can not be said that the Board Schools are irreligious, for they provide for the teaching of the Bible; but what the clergy evidently want is the creed and the catechism. With the new bill in force only communicating members of the State church will be qualified to teach in the majority of the schools; and while Dissenters will have some schools where their religious views may be inculcated, thousands of them will be situated where they can not avail themselves of such privileges, and will be in a sense compelled to send their children to schools that will be dominated by High Church or Ritualistic principles. England may yet become a priest-ridden country. The fond boasts of progress toward greater freedom and liberality are certainly not justified by the present trend of affairs. Medieval intolerance is not so far off as one would suppose. Certainly there is no more vital spot than a nation’s system of education. When the children are once in the hands of the State church, it is not difficult to predict what will be the outcome. London. England, October 30.