Earlier text: THE INSTRUCTORThe Worship of Relics
By C. M. S.
“Rome Never Changes”—No. 13
THE victory won over paganism by the professed church of Jesus Christ by absorbing into its system the rites and ceremonies of the pagan religions and baptizing and renaming them, was one of those victories that are far worse than defeat. As a result of that process—victory by absorption—that glory-loving church of the early centuries of the Christian era drew farther and farther away from the primitive and fundamental principles of the gospel, and partook more of the characteristics of the systems she absorbed. That recognized principle of dietetics, that we become that which we consume and assimilate, proved true also of this conquest of paganism by formal Christianity in the days of Constantine, Constans, Constantius, and their successors. Christian in name, that system showed unmistakable characteristics of the paganism it had superseded and absorbed; whereas paganism, defeated in outward form, was soon permeating all the features and functions of the nominal church of Christ. During those dark and superstitious centuries the nominal Christian church was lost in the bewitching idolatries of saint and relic worship, and the spiritual guides of the church were the abetters and leaders in that terrible apostasy. The people became infatuated with relics and relic worship; large sums of money were paid for them, and the belief in their efficacy was practically unbounded. The superstitious veneration of the fragments of departed saints was not restricted to any class. Rich and poor, high and low, princes and peasants, were alike brought under its deceptive spell. It is related of Alfred, king of England, that in confirming a treaty with his enemies in the year 876, the oath of confirmation was taken over “the Christian relics, which (relics), with Alfred, were next in veneration after the Deity.”—Life of Alfred, by Asser, at A. D. 876. We hear also of King Richard paying over to Saladin, the conqueror of Jerusalem, fifty-two thousand bezants for the redemption of four chests of bones, “relics of the saints,” which Saladin had confiscated ‘so that “Christians might no longer believe that they had as intercessors in heaven those whose bones they worshiped on earth.”’—Matthew Paris, at A. D. 1191. In that heyday of relic worship the claims made for the performance of miracles by the power of relics rivaled anything recorded of the work of our Saviour. Kings visited the tomb of Thomas a Becket for healing, and thousands of their subjects followed their example. It is declared in the biography of Thomas a Becket that through the instrumentality of that dead saint’s prayers and relics “lepers were cleansed, the blind, the deaf, the dumb, and others sick of all kinds of distempers were cured,” and “some dead restored to life,” and criminals escaped punishment or had members of their body restored that had been cut off as a penalty for their transgressions. One manuscript dealing with the miracles alleged to have been performed by the relics of this saint, credits him and them with two hundred and sixty-three miracles. In one of the instances mentioned an infant forty days old who had7 died of rupture is said to have been restored to life when the mother placed a small fragment of a relic of St. Thomas in the child’s mouth and prayed to the dead saint for the child’s recovery. Rich gifts were lavished upon the shrine in which the bones of a Becket were deposited. These consisted chiefly of gold and precious stones. The largest of these precious stones was a royal diamond, given by King Louis of France. The timber work of this shrine was “covered with plates of gold, damasked and embossed, garnished with brooches, images, angels, chains, precious stones, and great Oriental pearls; the spoils of which shrine in gold and jewels of an inestimable value filled two great chests, one of which six or eight men could do no more than convey out of the church.” See “Lives of the Saints,” by Rev. Alban Butler, Vol. XII, pages 800-810, under “Life of St. Thomas.” Soon after the day of Pentecost, Peter, whom Rome claims as the first pope, had occasion to defend himself for preaching the gospel and healing in the name of Christ. The divine record of that occasion reads:— ‘And when they [the Jewish leaders] had set them [Peter and John] in the midst, they inquired, By what power, or in what name, have ye done this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders, if we this day are examined concerning a good deed done to an impotent man, by what means this man is made whole; be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even in him doth this man stand here before you whole. He [Christ] is ever the stone which was set at naught of you the builders, which was made the head of the corner. And in none other is there salvation: for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved.’ Acts 4:7-12.
Granting that Peter was the first pope (for which there is absolutely no shred of evidence), what, then, is the teaching of the first pope concerning help or healing or salvation from any other source than Jesus Christ himself? If some one on that occasion, or on any other occasion during Peter’s life, had said to him, ‘May not I obtain healing and help by praying to a dead saint? may not I obtain healing or restoration to life for my child by putting a piece of a bone of a saint in his mouth? may not I find salvation through praying to, and through the intercession of, Mary, the mother of Jesus?’ Peter would have replied, as he did to the rulers of Israel, that in the name and through the power of Jesus Christ alone can healing and help come; ‘neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved.’ Relics are nothing; prayers to the dead fall dead, because the dead are not alive. Will not the dead saints work for us!—No; they cannot even work for themselves. But let God’s Word answer that question:— ‘But man dieth, and is laid low: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? As the waters fail from the sea, and the river wasteth and drieth up; so man lieth down and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be roused out of their sleep. . . . If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my warfare would I wait, till my release should come. Thou wouldest call, and I would answer thee: thou wouldest have a desire to the work of thy hands.’ Job 14:10-15.
‘Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.’ Eccl. 9:10.
‘The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.’ Ps. 115:17.
‘The living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything. . . . Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.’ Eccl. 9:5, 6.
‘Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.’ Ps. 146:3, 4.
What can a dead saint or the relics of a dead saint do for the living, to help, to heal, and to save? Their very thoughts are perished, likewise their love, hatred, and envy; they “know not anything;” there is no work nor device nor knowledge in the place to which they go; and they have no “more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.” This testimony of infallible Scripture makes it absolutely certain that the dead have nothing whatever to do with anything that takes place in this world between the time of their death and the time of the general resurrection. For this reason, prayers to the dead and trust in relics are both useless and a mockery. God has laid help on One, Jesus Christ, and on him alone; and if we pray to the dead and to the relics of the dead, we are spurning the help of the only One who can help us, and putting in his place, in that respect, that which cannot help or heal or save; and that, too, in spite of the apostle Peter’s emphatic declaration. The councils of the Roman Church which permit and command the veneration of relics, and thus foster in the hearts of the people the worship of relics and a trust in relics, is diametrically opposed to the teaching of the one whom they claim as the first pope. If Peter was the first pope, then there has been a tremendous change, a complete revolution. But Peter was not at any time a pope; and not until two hundred years this side of Christ was relic worship to any appreciable extent brought into the Christian church. We have stated that the whole system of relic worship and trusting in relics and dead saints was brought into the Christian church from heathenism. The following from Hislop’s “Two Babylons” will substantiate the assertion:— In the realms of heathendom the same worship [of relics] had flourished for ages before Christian saints or martyrs had appeared in the world. In Greece the superstitious regard to relics, and especially to the bones of the deified heroes, was a conspicuous part of popular idolatry. The work of Pausanias, the learned Grecian antiquary, is full of reference to this superstition. Thus, of the shoulder blade of Pelops, we read that, after passing through divers adventures, being appointed by the oracle of Delphi as a divine means of delivering the Eleans from a pestilence under which they suffered, it “was committed” as a sacred relic “to the custody” of the man who had fished it out of the sea, and of his posterity after him. (Pausanias, book 5, chap. 13, page 408.) The bones of the Trojan Hector were preserved as a precious deposit at Thebes. “They” [the Thebans], says Pausanias, “say that his [Hector’s] bones were brought hither from Troy, in consequence of the following oracle: ‘Thebans, who inhabit the city of Cadmus, if you wish to reside in your country, blest with the possession of blameless wealth; bring the bones of Hector, the son of Priam, into your dominions from Asia, and reverence the hero agreeably to the mandate of Jupiter.’” (Id., book 9, chap. 18, page 746.) Many other similar instances from the same author might be adduced. The bones thus carefully kept and reverenced were all believed to be miracle-working bones. From the earliest periods, the system of Buddhism has been propped up by relics, that have wrought miracles at least as well vouched as those wrought by the relics of St. Stephen or by the “Twenty Martyrs.” . . . Who has not heard of the holy coat of Treves and its exhibition to the people? From the following the reader will see that there was an exactly similar exhibition of the holy coat of Buddha. [Hislop then refers to the miraculous manner in which the holy coat of Buddha was procured and exhibited, and continues:] . . . This holy coat of Buddha was no doubt as genuine, and as well entitled to worship, as the holy coat of Treves. The resemblance does not stop here. It is only a year or two ago since the Pope presented to his beloved son, Francis Joseph of Austria, a “tooth” of “St. Peter,” as a mark of his special favor and regard. The teeth of Buddha are in equal request among his worshipers. . . . “King of Devas,” said a Buddhist missionary who was sent to one of the principal courts of Ceylon to demand a relic or two from the rajah, “King of Devas, thou possessest the right canine tooth relic (of Buddha) as well as the right collar bone of the divine teacher. Lord of Devas, demur not in matters involving the salvation of the land of Lanka.” (Pocoke’s “India in Greece,” page 321.) Then the miraculous efficacy of these relics is shown in the following: “The Saviour8 of the world (Buddha) even after he had attained to Parinibanan or final emancipation (that is, after his death), by means of a corporeal relic, performed infinite acts to the utmost perfection, for the spiritual comfort and mundane prosperity of mankind.” (Ib.)—“Two Babylons,” pages 177, 178. From a work entitled “Asiatic Researches” we learn that the bones of Buddha were “scattered all over the world, like those of Osiris and Jupiter Zagreus.”—“Asiatic Researches,” Vol. X, pages 128, 129. From this it is evident that the collecting and veneration of relics and trusting in them for protection is as old as heathenism. Osiris was believed to have been divided into fourteen parts and scattered through the world. These relics were sought for by the leaders in idolatry, and were entombed with every mark of veneration. Plutarch says that Isis, the wife of the god Osiris, sought these relics of her husband, and buried them where she found them. This accounts for the many sepulchers of Osiris in Egypt, and is the forerunner of the multiplication of relics seen even in our days. “Egypt,” says Hislop, “was covered with sepulchers of its martyred god; and many a leg and arm and skull, all vouched to be genuine, were exhibited in the rival burying places for the adoration of the Egyptian faithful. Nay, not only were these Egyptian relics sacred themselves, they consecrated the very ground in which they were entombed.”—“Two Babylons,” page 179. As the worship of Osiris in Egypt was really a Babylonian worship Egyptianized, we have relic worship traced back to Babylon of old. Thus heathenism, with its back turned upon God and groping in the darkness for gods of its own and for help where no help was, instituted relic worship and prayers to the dead. With heathendom thus saturated with relic worship, it was but natural that half-converted heathen peoples brought into the church of Christ should bring many of their customs, inclinations, and religious prejudices with them. That they did, and that was what Paul saw developing in his day when he declared that “the mystery of iniquity doth already work.” The Gospels and the letters of Peter and Paul and James and Jude and the Revelation do not so much as hint at the worship of relics as a Christian duty or a Christian privilege—do not mention it at all. The early church before the third century knew nothing of it except what it saw in heathendom. Peter (called the first pope by the Roman Church) declared plainly the futility of any such worship or basis of trust; but now the Roman Church is filled with relic worship, and her members offer unceasing prayers to the dead. Somewhere between the days of Peter and the days of Benedict XV there has been a change in the worship and the faith of that part of Christendom which claims to have the only true apostolic succession. If the Roman Church dates back to the days of Peter, she is unable successfully to deny the charge that she has changed, and that the change which she has made has been a revolutionary one. She stands, on the question of relic worship, where heathendom has stood since the days of ancient Babylon; but she does not stand with Peter. Delivered From the Pangs of Hunger
By W. A. S.
ROBERT SAMUEL was a godly minister in Suffolk, England, in the days of King Edward VI. The Word of God had been set free in England, and Samuel ministered it to his flock. Then came the reign of the Catholic Queen Mary, and the proscribing of all who did not accept the Romish doctrines. In 1555 Samuel was arrested for heresy, and sent to prison. He endured great sufferings, being chained to a post in such a manner as to keep his body in torture. And further, Foxe says:— To make amends for the cruelty or pain that he suffered, they added a far more grievous torment, keeping him without meat and drink, whereby he was unmercifully vexed through hunger and thirst; saving that he had every day allowed two or three mouthfuls of bread and three spoonfuls of water, to the end rather that he might be reserved to further torment than that they would preserve his life. In this time of Samuel's sore distress, as he leaned upon the Lord, there was given to him a token that the angels of the Lord were about him, and that God would deliver him from the pangs of hunger and thirst. Foxe says:— Certain there were that heard him declare what strange things had happened unto him during the time of his imprisonment; to wit, that after he had been famished or pined with hunger two or three days together, he then fell into a sleep, as it were one half in a slumber, at which time one clad all in white seemed to stand before him, who ministered comfort unto him by these words: "Samuel, Samuel, be of good cheer, and take a good heart unto thee; for after this day shalt thou never be either hungry or thirsty." Which thing came even to pass accordingly; for speedily after he was burned, and from that time [of the visit of the messenger] till he should suffer, he felt neither hunger nor thirst. And this declared he to the end, as he said, that all men might behold the wonderful works of God. Many more like matters concerning the great comfort he had of Christ in his afflictions, he could utter, he said, besides this, but that shame-facedness and modesty would not suffer him to utter it.—Vol. III, page 371. "And yet," adds Foxe, "if it had pleased God, I would he had been less modest in that behalf, that the love and care that Christ hath of his, might have the more appeared thereby unto us by such present arguments, for the more plentiful comfort of the godly, though there be sufficient testimonies of the same in the Holy Scriptures already." The promises of Christ of grace sufficient were fulfilled to his own in those dark days of the papal supremacy. He walked the fiery pathway with the witnesses to his truth, showing himself their ever-living Saviour. It was the hope and comfort of his promises that made the hearts of men and women, and even youth, strong to meet a hostile world with testimony to the truth of God. As in Bible times, so was it in Reformation times. And still his angels are with us, and his promises are living words for daily strength and comfort, in great trials or in common ones. "And, lo, I am with you alway," the assurance comes, "even unto the end of the world." “Behold, He Prayeth”
By G. B. Thompson
“BEHOLD, he prayeth” is evidence of a new life in us as truly as in Saul of Tarsus. Prayer is the Christian’s life. It was the spiritual life of Enoch through the wicked centuries in which he “walked with God.” It was manifested in the life of Abraham, “the friend of God.” Read his great intercessory prayer for Sodom found in Genesis 18. Jacob wrestled with God in prayer, and received from him the blessed assurance, “Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.” Gen. 32: 28. Moses, the mighty leader of Israel, was a man of power. Hear him interceding for Israel when they had grievously sinned: “Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin—; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.” Ex. 32: 32. Elijah prayed, and the “fire of the Lord fell” and consumed the altar and the sacrifice. Anna the prophetess prayed, also devout Simeon. Before Pentecost the disciples “continued with one accord in prayer,” and after Pentecost the believers “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.” Acts 2: 42. The apostle Paul exhorts, “I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.” 1 Tim. 2: 8. Prayer can be traced through the entire history of the church. Its triumph has been accomplished in all ages through prayer. In the darkest hour of the church militant there were men who were praying,9 Luther and his associates were ‘men of untutored prayer;’ they wrestled and prevailed. “John Knox was famous for his earnest prayers. He was heard at the great crisis to plead, ‘Give me Scotland or I die;’ and Queen Mary said that she feared his prayers more than she did all the armies of Europe.” Uncover the lives of mighty men of power in the church in more modern times, and we find they were men of prayer. Of David Brainerd it is said that “he delighted greatly in secret retirement, and loved to get quite away from all the world, to converse alone with God in secret duties.” Moody was a man of prayer; it was in secret communion with God that he received power to bring men to Christ. “At the burning of Farewell Hall in Chicago, back in the sixties, Mr. Moody, having lost his parish with most of his earthly possession, set out for New York with a feeling that his life was broken in sunder. On the cars he kept praying that God would endue him with more power for a greater work. His plea was, ‘Make me willing, O Lord, in the day of thy power; willing to receive all that thou wouldst bestow upon me.’ In a room at the Old Metropolitan Hotel he kept up that prayer, hour after hour, kneeling, walking the floor, pleading, ‘O Lord, make me willing to be as strong for service as thou wouldst have me.’ Toward evening a friend knocked, and, receiving no answer, entered. Mr. Moody was standing, with tearful eyes uplifted, and saying softly in a broken voice, ‘O Lord, stay now thy hand! No more! No more!’ His prayer had been answered. God had fed his hungry soul, and filled him even to the lips. And then began that marvelous work of evangelism in America and Europe, when souls came to Christ like doves flocking to their windows, which must ever be a mystery to those who doubt the importance of the energizing influence of the Spirit of God.”—“The Sermon,” page 207. Man was made to pray. Though sin has almost blotted from his nature this holy attribute, yet a few flowers bloom in the desert of human experience as a reminder of a time when man talked face to face with God. There still remains in the heart of man a desire to reverence and worship a Being of a higher order than himself. Even savages have some conception of a supreme Being. Barbarians and uncivilized races ignorantly worship they know not what. The heathen have their prayer flags and prayer wheels. Idolaters bow down to gods of wood and stone. The ancient Greeks and Romans supplicated the gods of mythology, and reared altars to the “unknown God.” The Indian, with his untutored mind, implores the Great Spirit. Men may say they do not believe in prayer, but in some awful calamity they are inclined to pray. When the earth quakes under them, there is a disposition to reach up and get hold of something. When on some stricken “Titanic,” as the wife of your bosom imploringly clings to you, and your innocent children gather about you weeping and asking for help before the doomed leviathan takes the final plunge and the angry swirl of the ocean sweeps over you, from your heart will come a prayer. Amid the terrors of the last days, when creation is shivering to atoms, when the earth is sinking beneath the terrible disorder of sin, when mountain ranges are sinking, and islands with their living freight are disappearing, “the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every freeman,” will hide themselves “in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains,” and will say “to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” Rev. 6: 15-17. It is better to pray now, and then be able, in the awful hours when destruction wastes at noonday and hopeless terror seizes upon the ungodly, to rejoice with joy unspeakable. Reader, do you pray? Is the family altar erected? Do you pray with and for your children? or do you send them forth to mingle with the sin and wickedness about them without committing them to the care of a kind Father? Do you ever forget to pray? Do you allow the hurry and bustle of life to rob you of communion with God? Are you conscience-smitten over the neglect of prayer in your life? If so, you stand in a slippery place, and there should be in your life a real revival of prayer and secret communion with God. “Lord, what a change within us one short hour
Spent in thy presence will prevail to make!
What heavy burdens from our bosoms take,
What parched grounds refresh, as with a shower!
We kneel, and all around us seems to lower;
We rise, and all—the distant and the near—
Stands forth in sunny outlines, brave and clear.
“We kneel how weak, we rise how full of power!
Why, therefore, should we do ourselves this wrong,
Or others, that we are not always strong; That we are ever overborne with care;
That we should ever weak or heartless be,
Anxious or troubled; when with us is prayer,
And joy and strength and courage are with thee?” News From Central Europe
By L. R. CONRADI
At the invitation of Elder Schuberth I spent December 4-6 in Berlin. He had so arranged that in the three meetings we held on the Sabbath I was able to speak to all the dozen companies in the city. We had overflow meetings. The courage and faith of our brethren and sisters in this great city are good, and the work is onward. We also had a very interesting visit with one of the leaders of mission work in the German colonies. From Berlin we went together to Friedensau, and spent several days in counsel there. I spoke twice to the students and the church. There are now one hundred and twenty students in attendance. Dr. Meyer has taken charge of the school. The Russian department is still in operation. During our stay arrangements were completed for the care of one hundred wounded soldiers at Friedensau. At the very outbreak of the war we offered our new building in Hamburg and our school and sanitarium in Friedensau to the Red Cross Society; but so many mechanics being called to arms, the finishing of our building in Hamburg was so delayed that its use was out of the question. Matters in Friedensau were also delayed because our offer was not brought to the notice of the proper persons. But as soon as they heard of it, they visited the place, looked over all our equipment, and spoke very highly of it. This was in the latter part of October. A contract for one hundred wounded was signed, and we are to receive some remuneration. It will be an excellent experience for our nurses and students. The very first thing we were called upon to do was to prepare a sufficient number of suits for the hundred wounded to permit of change of clothing. We were happy to secure enough material, and our sisters had a busy time for several weeks in preparing the outfits. I found seventy-five beds in the boys’ dormitory, also the necessary day rooms, and quarters for the inspecting officer, while the other twenty-five beds are in the sanitarium. Over fifty of our nurses have recently passed the state examination at Berlin, a thing which heretofore had been rather difficult, as a several years’ course was required in one of the state institutions. But one of the physicians who had become acquainted with our nurses and10 their thoroughness, encouraged them, under present circumstances, to apply; and now whenever they state that they are from Friedensau, they are passed quite readily. At Burg two of our brethren are engaged as head nurses for the Red Cross Society. One of these is Brother Krug, who had been in charge of our health institution at Jerusalem. They had about fifty wounded in the hospital where Brother Krug is at work. Apparently, he was well liked, and giving excellent service. I next went to Munich to counsel with Elder G. W. Schubert, and here in the evening I also spoke to a full house. The work in the Central European Union is onward. On the tenth of December I reached Lake Constance, and crossed by steamer into Switzerland. Luggage and passport were carefully looked over on each side of the border. Late at night I reached Gland. All day Friday I spent in counsel with the brethren. That evening I spoke to the church, and Sabbath forenoon went to Geneva with Elder Tieche, where I met with the church in their new chapel. The Lord has blessed the church in Geneva so that the chapel was well filled. By heavy donations they were able to pay the $6,000 for the lot, but they are in debt to us for the building. As the watch trade is to a great extent at a standstill, our brethren suffer considerably, and it is difficult for them to meet such an extra expense. If only all our brethren could once learn the lesson of securing all the money before they build, it would protect them against all times of need. In the evening I spoke once more at Gland, and on the thirteenth we had a committee meeting, Elder Dexter being able to be with us. We were sorry we could not reach Brother Curdy, who was holding meetings near Vevey. In view of the fact that we have no minister at present in Paris, it was decided for Elder Vaucher to return to that city. Elders Steiner and Tieche are conducting a course of meetings in Geneva, and Elder Dexter in Lausanne, Elder Augsbourger in Neuchatel, and Elder Kamm in Bienne. Thus the largest cities in French Switzerland are being worked, and some good results are already appearing. Elder Dexter is expected to take charge of the work in southern France as soon as he gets through with his interest at Lausanne. I was pleased indeed to see for the first time our neat little printing plant which Brother Borle had fitted up in what was formerly used as a barn. A few thousand dollars made great changes, and gave suitable places for the printing office, stock room, and offices for the editors and manager. Several of our printers from Hamburg had gone there to assist, and thus far had good fortune in not being enlisted. The sanitarium has about the same number of patients as it generally has at this time of year. We thus have full assurance that our institutions at Gland will not suffer any loss. In order to facilitate the correspondence and the sending of means to our workers in the French colonies, this work has been turned over to the Gland office, and we were pleased to learn that the work is also onward in these fields. In Mauritius a church of twenty-eight has recently been organized, and as many more are interested in the truth. One of the natives of the island who had been for some time in Australia, has recently returned, and is assisting Elder Badaut in the work there. On my return trip I came via Basel, where I met Brother Seebald, who is in charge of our depository. He informed me that one good Swiss sister bequeathed $800 to the mission work, and he has since been able to secure the necessary legal documents. Thus God is constantly providing for the support of his cause. In order to cross the border near Basel I had to take a hack to the German frontier; and after the baggage and passports had again been searched on both sides, I passed on with another hack to the first German railway station. After crossing the frontier, I spent one night with my sister. The next day I spent a few hours with Elder Oblaender in Frankfurt, and after another night’s journey, safely arrived home. Amid the turmoil of war, we are permitted to preach the gospel of peace, a peace which grim war cannot destroy. While war deals its blows of death everywhere, we are permitted to offer life in Christ Jesus, life eternal. No wonder that such a gracious and powerful message must triumph even in the darkest hour. NOTWITHSTANDING the zealous efforts of the advocates of the temporal millennium to make it appear that crime is on the decrease, evidences present themselves in every quarter to show that instead of the world growing better, crime and lawlessness are increasing out of all proportion to the increase in population. Regarding this the Rev. John Josiah Munroe, in the United Presbyterian for Nov. 19, 1914, declares:— No fair-minded man can deny for a moment that for the past quarter of a century crime has been alarmingly on the increase. While the population of the country has increased at the rate of 400 per cent, during the same period crime has increased 1,400 per cent, and the end is not yet. This looks like burning the candles at both ends, which, if persisted in, will bring about calamitous results. An illustration of this is given in some of the conditions reported in New York City. Of these conditions the Washington Herald for Dec. 6, 1914, says:— Greater New York is engulfed in a crime wave of appalling proportions. Murderers can be hired like taxicabs, for the day, hour, or job. To hire a murder neatly and expeditiously done involves less risk of detection and punishment than to carry a lighted cigar into the subway. Police Commissioner Woods is responsible for the statement that there were seventy-three homicides here in September, October, and November, with 623 felonious assaults, any one of which might have resulted fatally, in the same period. Bomb throwing also is flourishing, and the police are almost powerless to check it. Between September 16 and November 26 there were nineteen bomb explosions, and only four men were arrested, three in one case and one in another. The perpetrators of the other seventeen dynamite outrages are still at large, without a clue to their identity. In the week between October 18 and 25 there were eight murders in the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn alone, with two revolver assaults, where the assassins failed to kill. And on September 23 there were four murders. Fields Are White for the Harvest
Of the work being done in the great world mission field a recent number of the Churchman speaks as follows:— More than 8,000 missionaries of both sexes from the United States, and 38,000 native converts acting as missionaries, are teaching the Christian faith throughout the world. They have converted 1,500,000 men, women, and children in all lands, and are bringing 75,000 more into the fold every year. More than 1,300,000 are learning the ways of Christianity in the 30,000 colleges, theological seminaries, training and Sunday schools that have been established by American missionaries. In the 600 hospitals and free dispensaries established in foreign lands it is estimated that 3,000,000,000 treatments have been given by the 400 male and female doctors making up the foreign missionary medical staff. In times of famine they distribute huge sums of money. Last year the American people contributed nearly $17,000,000 to promote the work, while all nations are spending about $38,000,000 to support their 24,000 Christian and 112,000 native missionaries, who have gathered in more than 6,000,000. Missionary Called to Nyasaland
WE learn by a recent letter from Cape Town that Brother W. H. Hurlow, formerly a worker at the Plumstead sanitarium, has been called to join the mission staff in Nyasaland. He is located at the head station, Malamulo.