One year ago last fall the General Conference Council laid a plan by which the counsel that had come to us from Sister White concerning her book, “Ministry of Healing,” might be carried out. Sister White has given the entire profits on this book for the benefit of our sanitariums, and she has asked “every member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church” to do his part in placing “Ministry of Healing” in the homes of the people.
There are many reasons for placing this book before the people at this time. I will mention two or three. The enemy has occupied the field, and is working diligently to fill the minds of the people with false views of God and the work of healing. The doctrine of Christian Science is spreading with great rapidity, and it becomes the duty of every Seventh-day Adventist to do his part in bringing to the people the true light on this subject. A brief citation of some things found in “Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures,” by the late Mrs. Eddy, contrasted with a few brief statements found in “Ministry of Healing,” by Mrs. E. G. White, should impress us with the importance of circulating the latter book.
On page 11 of Mrs. Eddy’s book she calls the message she gives the “gospel.” But what does this “gospel” teach? On page 2 she says of prayer: “An error which impedes spiritual growth.” Commenting upon James 5, this “gospel” of Mrs. Eddy’s says: “This common custom of praying for the sick finds help in blind belief.”
On page 38 she says: “The eternal Christ, his spiritual selfhood, never suffered.” On page 46 we read: “Jesus’ students, not sufficiently advanced to fully understand their Master’s triumph, did not perform many wonderful works until they saw him after the crucifixion, and learned that he had not died.”
On the subject of marriage this so-called “gospel” says, on page 65: “Matrimony, which was once a fixed fact among us, must lose its present slippery footing, and find permanence in a more spiritual adherence.” It places discredit upon the divinely ordained marriage institution.
The book says: “Miracles are impossible in science, and here it takes issue with popular religion.”—Page 83.
We read on page 184: “We say man suffers from the effect of cold, heat, fatigue. This is human belief, not the truth of being.” Again, on page 389, occurs this statement: “The less we know or think about hygiene, the less we are predisposed to sickness.” On page 447 we read: “Expose and denounce the claims of evil and disease in all their forms, but acknowledge no reality in them.”
The following is said of sin: “Sin exists only so long as the material illusion of mind in matter remains.”—Page 311. “Divine mercy destroys error, but never pardons it.”—Page 329. On page 339 the remedy is given by which we may get rid of sin: “To get rid of sin through science is to divest sin of any supposed mind or reality. . . . You conquer error by denying its verity.” “Any material evidence of death is false.”—Page 384.
Of the record of creation, after quoting Gen. 2:7, the book says: “Is this addition to his creation real or unreal? Is it the truth? or is it a lie concerning God and man?—It must be the latter.”—Page 524. On page 528, after quoting from Gen. 2:19, it says: “Here the lie represents God as repeating creation.”
It is claimed that more than a million copies of Mrs. Eddy’s book have been circulated. The cheapest price for which this book can be bought is three dollars. I have compared the mechanical construction of the latest edition (1911) with that of “Ministry of Healing,” and find that it contains a few more pages of printed matter than “Ministry of Healing,” but the paper and binding of the latter are far superior. “Ministry of Healing” is far superior in every feature, and its price is only $1.50 a copy. It teaches the message of Christ, pure and simple, in marked contrast to what I have quoted from Mrs. Eddy’s “gospel.”
In the preface, the publishers say of “Ministry of Healing:” “The great world is sick, and wherever the children of men dwell, sin and suffering abound. . . . In this modest book, dear reader, the author . . . has brought within the reach of every intelligent father and mother, every man and woman, lay and professional, a vast fund of information on life and its laws, on health and its requisites, on disease and its remedies. . . . It is a dedicated book, given by the author to the blessed service of sick and suffering humanity, one in which publishers make no profit, save that which shall return in ‘the joy of the Lord,’ in souls blessed and comforted in God.”
The opening statement of the author is: “Our Lord Jesus Christ came to this world as the unwearied servant of man’s necessity. He ‘took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses,’ that he might minister to every need of humanity. . . . His compassion knew no limit.”
“During his ministry, Jesus devoted more time to healing the sick than to preaching. His miracles testified to the truth of his words.”—Page 19. In speaking of the blind and deaf who had never seen nor heard before meeting Christ, the book says: “His voice was the first sound that many had ever heard. . . . his face the first they had ever looked upon. . . . As he passed through the towns and cities, he was like a vital current, diffusing life and joy.”—Pages 19, 20. “The voice of the mighty Healer penetrated the deaf ear. A word, a touch of the hand, opened the blind eyes to behold the light of day. His voice reached the ears of the dying, and they arose in health and vigor.”
Will God pardon sin? The case of the paralytic is cited. The book says: “Jesus had watched the first glimmer of faith grow into a conviction that he was the sinner’s only helper, and had seen it grow stronger with every effort to come into his presence. Now, in words that fall like music on the listener’s ear, the Saviour said, ‘Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.’” When the Pharisees charged him with blasphemy, his reply was: “Whether is easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins (then saith he to the sick of the palsy), Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.”
In a message by Sister White she has asked every Seventh-day Adventist to do his part in placing this message of Christ’s healing in the homes of the people. When there is such activity to lead people away from the Word of God and the true source of healing, should we not hasten to place before them this volume filled with such precious light? Shall we be clear if we fail to do this in response to the call of God? How shall we meet in the judgment our neighbors and friends who may have accepted the false way because we failed to bring to them the light God has given us?
In addition to the blessing each will receive, and the blessing received by those to whom this message of healing is brought, some of our denominational sanitariums will receive one dollar from the sale of each book. God calls upon us to give free, as a willing service, our labor in selling this book. Let every church officer and each laborer encourage all to do their part of this heaven-appointed work.—R. A. Underwood, in the Northern Union Reaper.
Christian Liberty
By K. C. Russell; S. B. Horton
Reports, Notes, and Comments Pertaining to the Current History of the Rights of Conscience
Conducted by the Religious Liberty Department
K. C. RUSSELL. ................................. Secretary
S. B. HORTON. .................................. Assistant Secretary
News and Miscellany
— Thirty persons were drowned near Uglitch, Russia, on June 12, by the sinking of an overcrowded ferry-boat.
— June 15 the steamer “John L. Lowry,” with fifty excursionists, was burned at Hamletsburg on the Ohio River. The number lost is not given.
— At Dubuque, Iowa, May 27, fire started in a large lumber-yard, destroying property to the amount of $1,000,000.
— Official returns in the matter of the recent earthquake in Mexico place the number of those killed by this disturbance at about two hundred.
— Of the many large war-ships which will attend the English coronation navy review next month, the United States battle-ship “Delaware” will be the largest.
— It is reported that in the northern part of Haiti a rebel force has defeated the federal army, and the prospects are that the present government will soon be overturned.
— Work continues on the raising of the battle-ship “Maine.” The coffer-dam has thus far proved of sufficient strength to withstand the pressure of water from the outside, and the wreck will soon be uncovered.
— In view of the threatened invasion of Portugal by adherents of the deposed monarch, the government has mobilized a very considerable portion of its army along the frontier, and declares itself ready to deal decisively with any Royalist army that may invade the country.
— The Navy Department has decided to erect three towers at Arlington, Va., to be used in wireless telegraphy. The highest of these will be 600 feet tall; the other two, 450 feet each. The department expects by the use of these towers to be able to communicate with vessels at a distance of three thousand miles.
— An army of 4,000 men, said to be the best equipped force among the late insurrectionists in Mexico, is now menacing the capital of that country. The leader of this force is said to be a noted bandit, who is preparing to attack the city in the near future in case his demands concerning the control of that military zone are not complied with.
— In studying recent census figures, one is impressed with the decrease of the rural population in many sections, and the continual influx of people to the great centers of population. This is not only true of the United States, but of other countries as well. The census recently taken of Scotland shows the same tendency.
— An international seamen’s strike was inaugurated in London on June 14. This strike will affect Great Britain, France, Belgium, Holland, and Scandinavia. The German lines and the American Line have acceded to the demands of the strikers. The full effect of this strike will not be apparent, however, for several days; and if it should continue any length of time, great inconvenience will be suffered by Americans who desire to return from ports in the countries affected by the strike.
— The long-expected debate on the Canadian reciprocity bill began in the United States Senate on June 14. It is expected that the discussion will not end before the middle of July, and perhaps not until the first of August.
— Fifteen persons lost their lives off the Virginia peninsula on June 12 as a result of the storm which swept over that portion of the country on that date. Great damage was done by this storm in Newport News, Norfolk, and vicinity.
— The coronation census of the city of London, which has just been concluded, shows a large increase of female employment in various stores and offices. In some firms, women are employed as buyers and heads of departments in control of large numbers of employees.
— There is prospect of a serious disagreement between France and Spain over the activity of the Spanish army of occupation in Morocco. France has asked Spain to outline definitely her proposed course of action in that country. Reports seem to indicate that Germany is interested in the movements of Spain, and is urging them on.
— The representative of the Chinese government at Washington has signed the prospectus of the $30,000,000 railway loan as a preliminary of the simultaneous issue of bonds in New York, London, Paris, and Berlin. This issue of bonds is for the purpose of providing for the construction of railroads in China. American, British, French, and German financiers are to share equally in the purchase of these bonds.
— Former President Cipriano Castro, of Venezuela, is now in the West Indies on board a small steamer endeavoring to return to Venezuela. It is rumored that a considerable quantity of arms and ammunition is on board this vessel, and that General Castro intends to begin a revolution in the country over which he was formerly president. The United States government is keeping a close watch on the movements of this vessel, with a view to preventing General Castro’s return to Venezuela.
— A $25,000,000 corporation, or trust, was organized in New York City on May 14, composed of twenty-one baking companies in the larger cities of the East and of the Middle West. This concern is known by the name of the General Baking Company. The organizers of the new company declare it is not their purpose to create a monopoly in the baking business, but rather to educate the public to a high standard of quality in bread. However, bakers who are not in this organization look with a great deal of suspicion upon the organization of this great baking company.
— A report from St. Petersburg states that 6,500 European-trained Chinese troops are being quartered in villages and towns within a three days’ march of Harbin, Manchuria, and that auxiliary troops are being maintained in the same area; that 90,000 so-called rural guards have been drafted along the Chinese Eastern Railway, and that four divisions of regular troops have been stationed at various towns in the provinces. It is felt that this step calls for great vigilance on the part of Russia if she is to maintain her standing in the far East.
Jury Trial Denied Sunday Violators
By Leslie Littell
TWENTY-TWO baseball players and nine theater people were arrested last week, in Fort Smith, Ark., for violating Sunday laws. They were denied the right of trial by jury, and fined from one dollar to ten dollars each, and costs. The Constitution declares that “in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury,” and that this right shall “remain inviolate.”
Ministers and members of the law and order league are back of this movement. It is an attempt to overrule the rights of conscience and justice, without due process of law, and will no doubt become a precedent to be used in the future against Sabbath-keepers.
LESLIE LITTELL.
Sunday Observance in Post Offices
ON May 16, Representative James R. Mann, of Illinois, introduced into the House a bill (H. R. 9433) “for the observance of Sunday in post-offices,” which was referred to the Committee on Post-offices and Post-roads. The introduction of this bill brings to mind the fact that a similar bill was introduced into Congress three quarters of a century ago, and resulted in the adoption of the famous Sunday Mail Reports of Col. Richard M. Johnson, by both the Senate and the House of Representatives. We hope the men who deal with this bill will realize all that is involved in this kind of legislation as clearly as did Col. Johnson and his associates, who adopted these reports. The Religious Liberty Department has requested a hearing on this bill.
Russian Persecution of American Jews
A REPORT from London indicates that the Russian government refuses to yield to the United States in the matter of permitting American Jews to visit Russia. This report states that the condition of the Jews in Russia is worse now than ever before in the history of that country.
Camp-Meetings for 1911
ATLANTIC UNION CONFERENCE
Northern New England . . . Aug. 24 to Sept. 3
CANADIAN UNION CONFERENCE
Quebec, South Stukely . . . Aug. 25 to Sept. 3
CENTRAL UNION CONFERENCE
Nebraska (local), Palmer . . . . . . . July 24-30
South Missouri, Springfield . . . . . Aug. 3-13
East Kansas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aug. 10-21
Mississippi . . . . . . . . . . . Aug. 31 to Sept. 10
Tennessee River . . . . . . . . . . Sept. 7-17
SOUTHWESTERN UNION CONFERENCE
Texas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aug. 3-13
West Texas . . . . . . . . . . . . Aug. 10-20
New Mexico, Corona . . . . . . . Aug. 17-27
Oklahoma . . . . . . . . . . . . Aug. 24 to Sept. 3
Arkansas . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sept. 7-17
South Texas . . . . . . . . . . . Nov. 2-12
WESTERN CANADIAN UNION CONFERENCE
Saskatchewan (North), Nokomis . . . July 4-9
Alberta, Didsbury . . . . . . . . . . July 13-23
Saskatchewan (South), Pense . . . July 25-30
European Division
WEST GERMAN UNION CONFERENCE
Belgium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July 19-23
GENERAL CONFERENCE COMMITTEE BIENNIAL COUNCIL
Friedensau, Germany . . . . . . . July 4-16
EAST GERMAN UNION MEETINGS
Friedensau, Germany . . . July 6-16, afternoons
LATIN UNION CONFERENCE
Roman-Swiss and Latin Union . . . . July 18-23
France and Holland . . . . . . . . July 26-30
Barcelona . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aug. 1-5
BRITISH UNION CONFERENCE
North England . . . . . . . . . . . Aug. 3-8
Scotland . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aug. 10-13
Ireland . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aug. 17-20
Wales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aug. 24-27
South England . . . . . . Aug. 31 to Sept. 5
Glendale Sanitarium Training-School for Missionary Nurses
WE desire at least twenty-five young people for our nurses’ class which began June 1, 1911. Applicants will be admitted to the class any time during June.
WE are now able to offer a strong course, in which an exceptionally large amount of valuable practical experience may be obtained. Our proximity to Los Angeles enables us to give our nurses a thorough training, each nurse spending some time in visiting nurse’s work in this city. We desire to put at least twelve nurses into Los Angeles during the next few months to help do the work there that we are being called to do in all our large cities. We can do this and more if our young people will respond to this call. The training that we can offer is one which many of our young people, if not all, should have in order to prepare them for active missionary service as nurses, canvassers, and Bible workers.
WE are preparing to open up a surgical ward in our sanitarium, and this will greatly increase our surgical and obstetrical work.
Those desiring to enter should apply as early as possible to Belle Wood-Comstock, M. D., Glendale, Cal.
Annual Meeting of the Michigan Sanitarium and Benevolent Association
By GEO. E. JUDD
The regular annual meeting of the Michigan Sanitarium and Benevolent Association for the year 1911, will be held in the chapel of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, on North Washington Ave., Battle Creek, Mich., Thursday, June 29, 1911, at 3 P. M., standard time, for the election of trustees and the transaction of such other business as may properly come before the meeting.
By order of the board of trustees.
GEO. E. JUDD, Secretary.
The Nurses' Training-School at Loma Linda, Cal.
There are still a few vacancies for students wishing a training in the Nurses' Training-School of the College of Medical Evangelists, Loma Linda, Cal. Beginning with September, 1912, ten grades of preliminary education will be required for entrance to this course, instead of nine grades, as at present. The course opens Sept. 4, 1911. Students may be received earlier by special previous arrangement. Address all correspondence to Dr. Julia A. White, Superintendent of Nurses' Training-School, Loma Linda, Cal.
Meeting of the Members of the Ontario Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
By M. C. Kirkendall; J. T. Errington; J. T. Smith; T. H. Noble; R. A. Heard
NOTICE is hereby given that a special session of the Ontario Conference of Seventh-day Adventists will be held at the church of the Seventh-day Adventists on the south side of Awde Street west of Dufferin Street in the city of Toronto at 2:30 P. M., Wednesday, July 5, 1911, for the purpose of obtaining the approval of the members of the conference to an agreement entered into by the trustees of the conference for the sale to Robert Taylor and Edward Taylor Musson, for the sum of thirteen thousand dollars, of the property of the conference known as the Lornedale Academy; being that part of Lot 10 in the Third Range from Lake Ontario in the Late Indian Credit Reserve in the township of Toronto in the county of Peel, lying south of the Streetsville Gravel Road, and containing fifty acres more or less, and being more particularly described in the said agreement for sale, which agreement bears date the thirty-first of May, 1911, and provides for the payment of the purchase money as follows: One thousand dollars as deposit on the execution of the agreement; four thousand dollars on or before the eighteenth of July, 1911; and the balance at the expiration of five years from the date of the completion of the sale, with interest payable at five per cent half-yearly, such balance to be secured by a first mortgage to the trustees on the lands. And for the purpose also of obtaining the assent of the members of the conference to the deed of the said lands to the said Robert Taylor and Edward Taylor Musson, to be executed and delivered pursuant to the said agreement for sale and purchase.
Dated this first day of June, 1911.
M. C. KIRKENDALL, Chairman;
J. T. ERRINGTON,
J. T. SMITH,
T. H. NOBLE,
R. A. HEARD,
Executive Committee of the Ontario Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
A Practical Training for Actual Work
THERE will be an excellent opportunity for twenty earnest, consecrated young people to enter the next Hinsdale Sanitarium Missionary Nurses' training-class, which begins July 9.
Unusual opportunities are afforded not only for sanitarium nursing, but also for receiving a training to work in the large cities. Only those need apply who expect to devote their lives to medical missionary work in our large cities, the needy portions of the South, the foreign field, or some other equally definite place in the Master's vineyard.
Send immediately for application blank and further information to David Paulson, M. D., Hinsdale, Ill.
“Despise Not Prophesyings; or, Truth Vindicated”
The above is the title of a leaflet written by Elder E. T. Russell, treating on the subject of the spirit of prophecy, and considering some of the objections that are urged against that gift at the present time. It is written in answer to the argument that the testimony in Volume IX regarding Sunday labor contradicts other writings by the same author. In this leaflet the author carefully compares the testimony in Volume IX regarding Sunday labor with the teachings of “Great Controversy,” “Early Writings,” and “Testimony for the Church, No. 33.” It plainly shows what Sunday enforcement will mean to those who keep the commandments of God; in other words, it teaches when the mark of the beast will be received. None should fail to read this leaflet. It contains forty pages, and can be procured from any State tract society office, or of the International Publishing Association, College View, Neb. Price, three cents a copy.
South Carolina Conference
By W. H. Brandon; Eliza Warner
The fifth annual session of the South Carolina Conference of Seventh-day Adventists will be held in connection with the camp-meeting at Woodruff, S. C., July 20-30, 1911, for the election of officers for the ensuing year, and the transaction of such other business as may properly come before the conference at that time. The first business meeting of the session will be called at 9 A. M., July 21.
All members, in good standing, of the Seventh-day Adventist churches in this conference, are entitled to act as delegates in the conference proceedings.
W. H. Brandon, President; Eliza Warner, Secretary.
Addresses
The address of Elder W. A. Westworth is now College Place, Wash.
The address of Elder Eugene Leland is now 311 Van Buren St., Battle Creek, Mich.
Any one knowing the address of Mrs. Daisy Wagner, formerly of Ohio, will confer a favor by sending it to M. H. Brown, Route 1, Greensboro, N. C.