Earlier text: THE SNARE OF THE NATIONSGOD'S SIGN OF POWER.
By C. Edwin Johnson
"And hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God." Eze. 20: 20. 'Tis Sabbath eve, the joyous hour
When holy time is ushered in,
The true "Lord's day," God's sign of power
To cleanse and save the soul from sin.
At sunset, while the balmy air
With songs of birds is trembling still,
We lift our hearts to Him in prayer,
That He perfect in us His will. Faintly the twilight lingers still;
The happy bird has sought its nest;
Thoughts of His love our spirits thrill;
We thank Him for His holy rest.
The evening stars now flashing out
In wondrous beauty from the sky,
Remind us, once God's sons did shout—
The morning stars sang songs on high. Those shouts of joy, those songs sublime,
Were sung at nature's glorious birth,
When God had wrought six days of time,
Creating all in heaven and earth.
The seventh day the Lord did rest,
And blessed and sanctified the same;
And gave to man this loving test,
That he might ne'er forget His name. And when in flaming fire He came
In awful grandeur from the sky,
His will from Sinai to proclaim
To trembling Israel waiting nigh,
He wrote His law on changeless stone,
Each word by His own hand was traced;
He graved it thus to make it known
No word would ever be effaced. Of this great law, the fourth command
Alone can tell us who God is,
He who made sea, and sky, and land,
And claimed the seventh day as His.
'Tis this command that shows His power;
He spake, and, lo, all things had birth!
Memorial of that joyous hour
The Sabbath day He gave to earth. This is His sign, His mark, His seal,
His test to-day for every soul;
Obey, and thus your love reveal,
And be by Jesus Christ made whole.
Blest sign of what God is to man,
He who creates alone can save;
Let popes dispute it if they can,
And all the hosts of Satan rave. A holy day for heavenly rest,
Day that delights each loyal heart;
And he is blessed, yea, doubly blessed,
Who recognizes what thou art.
In earth made new, thy holy hours
For aye and aye with joy shall come.
There, sons of God in Eden's bowers
Will hail Thee in their new-earth home. The Palm Tree and Christian Growth
THE Arabs have a saying about the palm tree, that it stands with its feet in salt water and its head in the sun. They often can not drink of the brackish water found in the oasis where the palm grows; but they tap the tree and drink the sweet palm wine. The palm tree, by the magic of its inner life, can so change the elements found in the unkindly soil around it that they minister to its growth and strength and fruit-bearing. So we in our earthly life must often have our feet in the mire and bitterness of sin around us; and upon our heads will often beat the fierce heat of temptation. But, in spite of these things, we shall be able to grow, and grow strong, if within us there is the making of a new life through Jesus Christ.—Selected. Comfort of the Holy Word
By C. C. Hall
THINK of the comfort of the holy Word, when earth breaks up and heaven expands.—Rev. C. C. Hall. What Prominent Men Have Said.
NOW that a wave of sentiment is passing over the land favoring the enactment and enforcement of semi-religious laws, it is well to know what eminent men have said upon the subject. George Washington, who was President when our national Constitution, that great bulwark of our liberties, was adopted, said of that instrument: "If I had the least idea of any difficulty resulting from the Constitution adopted by the convention of which I had the honor to be President when it was formed, so as to endanger the rights of any religious denomination, then I never should have attached my name to that instrument. If I had any idea that the general government was so administered that liberty of conscience was endangered, I pray you be assured that no man would be more willing than myself to revise and alter that part of it, so as to avoid all religious persecution. You can without doubt remember that I have often expressed my opinion that every man who conducts himself as a good citizen is accountable alone to God for his religious faith, and should be protected in worshiping God according to the dictates of his conscience." Thomas Jefferson, the framer of the Constitution, said: "Almighty God hath created the mind free; all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burdens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the holy Author of our religion, who, being Lord of both body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercion on either, as was in His almighty power to do." James Madison, a signer of the Constitution, said: "Religion is not in the purview of human government. Religion is essentially distinct from government and exempt from its cognizance. A connection between them is injurious to both." "Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church, and the private school, supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the State and the church forever separate."—U. S. Grant. "The whole history of the Christian religion shows that she is in far greater danger of being corrupted by the alliance of power than of being crushed by its opposition."—Macaulay. "Many thus imagined that the doctrine of the Gospel requires the support of the civil power. They know not that it advances without this power, and is often trammeled and enfeebled by it."—D' Aubigne. "Secular power has proved a satanic gift to the church, and ecclesiastical power has proved an engine of tyranny in the hands of the State."—Dr. Philip Schaff. "Prescription has no part nor lot in the modern government of the world. The stake, the gibbet, and the rack, thumb-screws, swords, and pillory, have no place among the machinery of civilization. Nature is diversified; so are human faculties, beliefs, and practises. Essential freedom is the right to differ, and that right must be sacredly respected."—John Clark Ridpath. "There are many who do not seem to be sensible that all violence in religion is irreligious, and that, whoever is wrong, the persecutor can not be right."—Thomas Clarke. "Where legal enactment begins, moral suasion ends."—Christian Union. Some Preliminary Considerations
LIFE AND IMMORTALITY. No. 1.
Some Preliminary Considerations.
WHO does not long for life, for continued existence? The past of life may have been blackened. Its years may have been weary dragging ones, fruitful only in seemingly unrequited toil. They may have been gay, heartless, careless years, knowing only the pleasures that pall. They may have been years of evil, filled with sinning and wickedness and remorse. They may have been years of repeated failures, in which seeming defeat was followed only by greater defeat. Yet, notwithstanding all this, “hope springs eternal in the human breast,” and mankind longs for a continuance of conscious existence, expecting something better. Even the majority of those who attempt, in moments of insanity, to end existence, but are rescued, are nearly always grateful that life is still spared, and a miserable existence prolonged, in the wish, the “chance”—sometimes the hope—that it will issue in something better. Satan understands this human longing for life. It was he who said, “Yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.” Job 2:4. And the whole history of the race demonstrates its truth. Man will use life recklessly when he seems to have it in abundance; but when its tenure is threatened, he will spend time and labor and fortune and oftentimes even honor for a few more years of existence. All things else without life are nothing. “For what shall a man be profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and forfeit his life? or what shall a man give in exchange for his life?” Matt. 16:26, R.V. And yet mere existence here is not life as God designed man should possess it. It is not life even according to man’s ideal. The enemy of all righteousness, knowing the worth of life, knowing how man clings even to its semblance, has perverted it; and sinful, sinning man knows only its perversion. There is even more difference between true life and the life known by the majority of mankind than there is between the living, growing, healthful, flowering, fruit-bearing tree and the dying tree; between the living, flowing fountain of pure, sparkling water and the poisoned, murky stream or stagnant pool, with its swarming germs and miasma of death; between the caroling, happy, living songster and the bird with drooping wings. Life, true life is all that is desirable. It is eternal; but its perversion ends in death. Who does not long for the former? But may he obtain it and possess it? If so, where is its source? How may it be obtained? How may it be held forever? It is needless to say that man has not found it here. Long and weary and hopeless has been the quest of the fountain of eternal youth. The end of each long search is marked by the grave of the seeker. Men have sought it in occupation, in food, in drink, in chemicals; but over the quest of each is written Failure. The secret of life has been as elusive as that of the Holy Grail. Ponce de Leon stands as type of them all, who, in search of the fountain of perpetual youth, found his grave in the island of Cuba. In all that man can of himself do, the problem of eternity is yet unsolved. But is the quest hopeless?—Not at all. The boon of life may be found if sought at its fountain-head; and the Guide-book to the Fountain is the Bible—the Word of God. “The words that I speak unto you,” says its Author, “they are spirit and they are life.” “God offers,” says Emerson, “to every mind its choice.” He has offered it from the beginning. Infinite Wisdom does not ask us to devise the way of life; the way is prepared from of old. Infinite Power does not require of us the might to conquer life; the strength, nay, more, the life, will be given. But Infinite Love demands that the choice shall be left with us. Around every accountable human soul God has placed a circle sacred to that soul,—the circle of free choice. Infinite Power will not enter to compel the choice. Infinite Love will permit none other power to enter without the consent of the soul to whom that sacred inclosure belongs. God made man a complete, reasoning being, an individual, an ego; and none in the universe respects that individuality as does the omnipotent, omniscient God, that conferred the possession. The privilege of choice of principles is a right belonging to every man, inalienable except with man’s consent. It has always been man’s right and privilege; and the Lord was not stating a new truth, one only at that time and to that nation applicable, when He declared: “I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse; therefore choose life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed; to love the Lord thy God, to obey His voice, and to cleave unto Him: for He is thy life, and the length of thy days.” Deut. 30:19, 20, R.V. Choice compelled can not produce or foster love. Love can not compel; love can not be compelled save by love, which compels not. Love, beneficent, self-sacrificing love, begets in its object love in return; and the love begotten by love compels the receiver. The soul forced to do, or to outwardly do, that which it does not choose to do, performs an empty task. It is lacking in all that constitutes true service. Its labor may be in a palace; its task to sit upon a throne and receive the homage of thousands; but its days of greatest splendor are joyless and irksome, because they are not of choice. On the other hand, if the choice be free, the labor may be humble, the task onerous, the place uninviting—among the dead and dying, perhaps—yet the heart is filled with joy; the man is working out his own choice. God desires the happiness of His creatures; He knows that happiness depends on choice; and, therefore, He has placed upon poor mortal man the awful responsibility of choosing. This choice involves God’s character as well as the character of man. It is necessary, therefore, to examine what revelations God has for us in His Holy Word upon the great subject of life and immortality. A WRONG CONCEPTION OF MISSIONARY WORK.
By Editor
DR. JOHN FRYER, professor of oriental languages and literature in the University of California, has a paper in Ainslee’s Magazine for August on "Missionary Work in China." Dr. Fryer, more perhaps than any other man in America, understands China and the Chinese character and the Chinese languages. He has been a resident of China for many years, has, we understand, translated many and various works into Chinese, has even acted as interpreter between Chinese officials of different provinces and dialects, and has intimate acquaintance with leading nobles and officials. Certainly, such an one from the view point of scholarship and opportunity of observation should be listened to with respect. Mr. Fryer scorns "the missionary tramp—with little education, but with vast amount of conceit instead. He is sent out perhaps by a small Christian denomination or church, and is half paid or even self-supporting." This class Mr. Fryer tells us is imprudent, and before long "finds himself involved in serious riots or other difficulties, and makes a passionate appeal to his consul for protection." Doubtless this class is in evidence. Presumption with such is mistaken for faith. Mr. Fryer condemns the "debauched Americans," to whom the Chinese point with scorn, among which are found even well-to-do merchants. The Chinese class these with the missionary, and tell the latter to begin at home. That they are classed together is, we believe, largely the fault of the missionary. Among the mistakes of the missionaries, as Mr. Fryer conceives them, is on the one hand making too much of the converts, and another is in not recognizing in any way the many good features in the religious beliefs and practises of the Chinese. . . . These good missionaries overlook the fact that Christianity does not go to China to destroy the existing religions; but as Christ came to fulfil the desire of the Jewish prophets, so Christianity seeks the fulfilment of all the better aspirations of the Chinese sages and religious teachers. To regard any of these oriental religious systems as wholly false is now coming to be considered as a mistake of the past. As we grow into juster views and discriminations, we are beginning to see that all the great historic religions of the world are only the products of seeking after God. As the same sun shone on China that shone on Judea, so it was the same Spirit of God that moved the Chinese prophets and sages to write down what they believed God had inspired . . . Should not the missionary therefore recognize and acknowledge all that is good among the Chinese beliefs and religious practises? Should he not make of them a foundation upon which the higher precepts of the Gospel of Christ should stand? Of the American missionary in general Dr. Fryer speaks highly. He says of the nearly 1,000 in China:— They are men and women of whom America may well feel proud. The home of the missionary is a center of light for all the surrounding districts. The children of the mission schools and colleges see the home life of the missionary families, learn the meaning of the stars and stripes on the national flag, understand their feeling of patriotism in its highest sense, and delight to learn the history of the country7 that has sent them so much help from purely philanthropic motives. It is the spirit of patriotism that the Chinese need next to the spirit of Christianity; and it is the American missionary who is eminently qualified to teach it to them even in the face of the corrupt government of China. Of the difficulties which the missionary has to encounter Dr. Fryer enumerates the following:— 1. The enormous size of the nation and the extent of country. . . . The emperor of China rules over one-tenth of the surface of the habitable globe, and nearly half of the population of our planet. Both the land and the people are not only immense and overwhelming, but strange, unique, and without analogy. The methods used for preaching the Gospel in our own lands or among uncivilized races have to be modified greatly, if not entirely changed, when applied to the civilization of China. The mass to be moved is enormous, and the power applied must be in proportion. The complexity of the language. The old saying that "the devil invented the Chinese characters to keep Christianity out of China," appears to have some show of reason when we find that in place of a Chinese alphabet there are tens of thousands of formidable hieroglyphics or pictorial characters, and that each constitutes a separate monosyllabic word. Furthermore, this written language is to be seen and not heard, to be read and not spoken. Then there is the official or court language used in the northern and central provinces, with hundreds of different dialects spoken south of Yang-tse. The missionary there has therefore to learn the local dialect, the court language, and the written or classical language, before he can preach, read the translations of the Scriptures, and carry on oral and written intercourse with all the different classes of natives he meets. This alone is the work almost of a lifetime. 2. But when the missionary has overcome these difficulties, which few succeed in doing beyond a certain limited extent, his task is only just begun. He has to learn all that the ordinary Chinese know from their classical and other books and teachers, in order to meet them on their own ground. Then he must begin to attack the sentiments the Chinaman holds most dear, and which are hallowed by the earliest associations and parental love. 4. Another serious difficulty the missionary has to contend with is the complicated form of the religion of the Chinese. Instead of one system of doctrines and teachings, there are three great and separate religions, dwelling side by side and with little if any friction or want of harmony. Altho radically different in their origin, characteristics, and general aims, each seems to be a complement of the other. A Chinaman may select and follow as much of all these as he pleases, without being inconsistent. The missionary has therefore to study all their religions in their history, doctrines, and practical influence upon the heart and every-day life of the people, before he can begin to meet them on their own ground and answer all their objections to Christianity. He has three separate citadels to attack instead of one. [These are the doctrines compiled by Confucius from the ancient kings and sages, a collection of high moral precepts and sayings; the philosophy of Tao-teh-king, or Taoism; and Buddhism.] . . . The Western Paradise, the Buddhist Hells, the transmigration of souls, the vegetarian diet, the doctrines of Karma and Nirvana, and the worship of the goddess Kwan-yin, who has power to save and to bestow sons upon her votaries, are all so firmly engrafted on the ordinary Chinese mind that it seems impossible that they should be modified, much less effaced by the teachings of Christianity. Yet the missionary is expected to go forward boldly to attack this giant also, in the name of the Lord, and armed only with its sling and his stone. 5. As if all these difficulties were not sufficient, Buddhism had hardly settled down harmoniously with its two sister religions when Mohammedanism entered the empire, pushing its way into imperial notice with great effect, and contesting with its monotheistic doctrine against the corrupt religious practises that had grown up in the other three religions. . . . Most missionaries who have come in contact with Mohammedans, would much rather work in places where they are not to be found. 6. Perhaps the greatest difficulty of all is ancestral worship, which may be called the national religion, and which will die the hardest. Some of the above difficulties are real; some are manufactured; and some are based on a wrong conception of the Christian religion. The great field of China, its enormous mass of people, the unwholesomeness of its climate, and the fearful apathy and deadness of conscience wrought by centuries of perverted truth and heathen formalism, are no doubt tremendous obstacles to Gospel work; but all these things can be met and overcome in the only way they have ever been overcome,—by the Gospel of Christ. In the italics above we have indicated certain statements and conceptions which are worthy of more than passing notice, and upon which we are moved to make the following observations:— Dr. Fryer's misconception lies in looking upon Christianity as he looks upon all these other religions. He considers it better, vastly better, doubtless, than any other of these great historic religions; but still one of them, somewhat more advanced, in fact, the embodied developed wisdom of the ages. Many others in Christendom hold similar views. Now the simple fact is that there is no comparison between Christianity and Buddhism, or any other religion. The latter is a form, a system, a cult; the former is the life of God, sent down from heaven to a dying world. The teachings of Confucius and Buddha and Socrates are dry, dead forms, with no more life behind them than is possessed by the tombs of their authors; but the teaching of Jesus Christ is replete with the life of God to all who receive it by faith. Sinful man may know what is right, but that knowledge will impart no power to do what is right. Some of the great moralizers of the world have been unregenerate men. One of the best lectures we ever heard against gambling was delivered by a gambler to a boy who had invested in the gambler's game to the gambler's gain. Some of the best utterances against the liquor curse have come from the lips of confirmed drunkards. It has been one of the schemes of the arch enemy of all good to get men to be content with the naked precept. He has even deceived Christians. He has led many to believe that God's living truth could be conserved by writing it in cold, dead creeds to which men have subscribed their names. Creed has been compared with creed, and creeds with heathen system, and the subscriber to "Christian" creed settles down to self-satisfied complacency, if not hypocrisy, cold, formal, powerless, dead. The theories are good, but possess no life, and it is life the great sick, dying world needs. Of what use is it to tell a sick, dying man that he is sick and ought to be better or well. He knows he is sick; he longs to be well; and it is only the refinement of cruelty to lay before him another set of rules and formulas and precepts and theories and the highest civilization, and say to the poor, impotent, starved soul, Do these and be blessed. He looks back to the centuries of human doing, and sinks into discouragement. O, it is but a wretched caricature of Christianity to present it as a superior system of morals! It is a hope-destroying perversion of the Gospel song to present it as a mere creed, set to the music of war drum and cannon. The Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to every one who believes. It has no three citadels to attack, but one,—the carnal, unregenerate heart of man. The bearer of the message of life needs not to know the numberless creeds of earth. He needs not to know the devious, subtle ways of sin's sowing. David needed not to know the feints and thrusts and parries and strokes of Goliath of Gath; he needed only to know his stone and sling—and he did know it effectually. The missionary needs not to know how to "move the mass," but how to reach the individual soul. God will care for the mass. The apostles needed not to know the subtle philosophies of heathen nature-worship to reach the citadel of the longing heart lost in the mazes of them all. The mighty life and love of God in the message were all-sufficient. Subtle philosophies were dissipated, idol fanes crumbled, and heathen gods and goddesses fell before the simple word of life of the Gospel. It was not till a sickly, worldly Christianity felt it necessary to study heathen philosophy, and endeavor to find a basis for Christianity in it, that her power to save men was lost, and the counsel of God was darkened by the great cloud of words without knowledge. Life was substituted by its shadow, truth by its form, and soon both form and shadow were perverted. But the Dark Ages are in the past, praise God. The Reformation betokened the dawning, and now God again wishes His church to present to the world the great "everlasting Gospel," with its solemn admonition to turn from man and "fear God, and give glory to Him," and "worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." What the missionary needs to know above all things else is God and His Word. In that Word is all that is necessary to meet the combined and complicated antagonistic religions of the ages. The best detector of discords is he who best knows harmony. He needs not to study the discord. It would, in fact, ruin his ear for harmony. The missionary to China also needs to know that God has given him his mission to that particular field of his labor. He should know how to care for his own body, the temple of God. He should yield himself to God for the best and wisest service for the purchase of Christ's blood in China. He should go not representing America, nor American civilization, nor American patriotism, nor American Christianity even, but representing Christ and His religion alone. He would then have no lame apologies to make for American sinners or American "Christians." He could proclaim in all steadfastness the one Saviour, the one life, the one Gospel, and he could say that all others were spurious or weak imitations at best. Such a missionary would not become involved in political troubles. He would not be considered, as soon as he was known, as an enemy of the government. He would not appeal to foreign powers, or to consuls, but to God, and God would hear and as manifestly answer and interpose as in ages past. Every soul who accepted Christ as the life would nevermore be troubled about ancestral worship. The acceptance of the Gospel of truth would meet all the soul's need, and utterly demolish the unholy systems of heathen idolatry. And yet this would not be done by long arguments or direct attack upon the hoary battlements of error. The light of the Gospel of Christ let within the heart will shine away all that is dark and obscure. The real difficulties call for the self-sacrifice and devotion characteristic of God's work in all ages, but as man yields to God, God will make plains of the mountains, and multiply every consecrated gift among native Christians. Civilization, as men may measure it, may not follow, but God will warn all and will gather out those who will glorify His name to all eternity. SUNDAY CLOSING IN HONOLULU.
By C. M. S.
WHEN the recently-returned transport Logan arrived at Honolulu, the day of the week was Sunday. According to the laws of the Territory, saloons are closed there on Sunday. The men swarmed ashore and at once began looking for saloons. There were none open. Some of the men went to the parks, a few to the churches, and the rest wandered aimlessly about. But the Logan remained in port Monday and Tuesday, and the soldiers made up for their enforced thirst of Sunday. The saloons were crowded the entire time, and at night none but men in uniform could get to the bar. Fights were frequent all over town, and the local police and provost guard were kept busy. Now comes a decision from the Attorney-General that such strict Sunday observance as was enforced on that day, is not required under the law, and he instructs the high sheriff to permit a more liberal interpretation and enforcement of the Sunday-closing law, which would be more in consonance with the law itself and with public convenience. So there will be no more such strict Sunday closing in Honolulu. While Sunday closing in any country and at any time is a farce, and while it should be unlawful to do on Monday and Tuesday what it is unlawful to do on Sunday, yet the continued nullification of liquor laws by attorney-generals is regrettable. What the parent will do the child will imitate, and the Territory of Hawaii has learned its lesson in its infancy. The position of this Honolulu official is identical with the position of the President and Attorney-General of the United States. Where the financial interests of the liquor element are "paramount," it is but to be expected that any restrictive liquor legislation will be nullified. The only remedy is a total eradication of the whole wicked business, root and branch. Sunday-closing is on a par with what was called the "righteous compromise" with vice in the Indian army. Vice will never be eradicated from armies as long as armies exist, and it is doubtful if there will ever be a total prohibition of the liquor traffic. But individual souls will be saved from both, not through a compromise with them, but through a firm Christian stand against them in whatever shape they may come. C. M. S. RUSSIAN LIBERTY OF WORSHIP.
By C. M. S.
APROPOS of the observation of Dr. Talmage that he found as much liberty of worship in Russia as in New York, it is interesting to note what the Guide for the Rural Clergy (Russian Orthodox) has to say regarding schism and sects in Russia, as published in its April issue of the present year. The Guide dwells at length upon the fact that "sects" in Russia are increasing in strength, and that many learned men are aiding the movement both by their writings and their personal influence. In referring to what has been said by the Moscow Gazette upon the same subject when deprecating the rapid increase of sectarianism, the Guide quotes from that journal as follows: "The merest glance at the data of Russian criminal statistics startles one with a most alarming phenomenon—the exceedingly rapid increase in the number of offenses against religion. We have three and a half times as many such offenses now as in 1878. Such an increase is undoubtedly a result of an increase in the actual number of sectarians, and not merely in greater zeal on the part of the clergy and civil authorities in bringing to light and prosecuting this class of offenses, as it is attempted in certain quarters to account for the fact." The Gazette declares that the government measures are inefficient in dealing with these "dangerous sects," and explains in the following language what these measures are: "What is done, as everybody knows, is to depart [exile] the followers of such a sect to some locality where no propaganda is possible, and where they are kept under strict supervision by the authorities. But in remote localities, where the Orthodox clergy is in small numbers, the fight against sectarian fanaticism presents infinitely greater difficulty than in the interior of Russia. And so it comes to pass that in the region of Yakutsk we see large settlements consisting entirely of the most stubborn Skoptsi; in the Caucasus and along the Amoor we encounter villages the entire population of which consists of implacable enemies of the Orthodox Church." The Guide then adds: "What must be the influence of such compact and intensely fanatical centers on the surrounding population were needless to point out. It will thus be seen why these deportations and the action of the administration go wide of the mark." That is, when the Russian Government exiles a religious sect, the sect propagates its doctrine in the place to which it is exiled, as did the early Christians during the great persecutions at Jerusalem. This indicates to these Russian Orthodox editors an inefficiency on the part of the government. It is difficult to imagine what punishment short of death would be considered efficient by the officials of the Russian Church. Continuing, the Gazette says: "To what results such methods lead is shown by the following fact: We have always striven to transfer [exile] Skoptsi to the remotest and wildest localities, such as the regions of Turukhansk and Yakutsk, and now large numbers of them turn up at Irkutsk, that capital of Siberia where the founder of that sect once resided and carried on his propaganda. The deported Skoptsi again took up their propaganda, and whole families of new converts appeared in the very city. Many of these monstrous cases are already in the public attorney's hands."9 This does not look like freedom of worship. The "sects" are not only exiled from their homes, but are hounded by the public attorneys and the religious prosecutor in the places to which they are exiled. The Gazette editor closes his article with an admonition to the Orthodox clergy to preach their faith more zealously, that there may "be less and less frequent need of transporting [exiling] sectarians—a measure to which we are now driven by necessity, because of the lack of more efficient means of influencing them." Would that men who profess to be followers of Christ would learn the Gospel they pretend to preach, instead of thus misrepresenting Him and the character of His work. But this is what has always been true and always will be true of a Church-and-State religion. REMEDIES THAT CAN NOT CURE.
By Charles M. Snow
At the same time that religious bodies are exercised over the small attendance at churches, the proprietors of some religious journals are exercised over a falling off in the number of their subscribers, and many are declaring that the fate of the religious weekly is sealed. The one asks, "How can we get the masses to church?" the other, "How shall I prevent a decrease in my subscription list?" The one is answered, "Give them a larger, more liberal gospel," and the other, "Incorporate broader ideals." In deference to these replies, many a pastor is trying to teach a "more liberal gospel," and in the attempt aggravates the malady. He deserts the Christ of the record for a "larger Christ," and in so doing spreads infidelity and empty pews where he was commissioned to "preach the Word" and save souls. He attempts through human philosophies to win recruits for the cause of God. The attempt is foredoomed to failure. God can not sanction human inventions in His great complete plan of salvation. Man must keep his hands off the ark. There is no such thing as a "larger Christ." There is only the Christ who died for men, and is now seated at the right hand of God, making intercession for us. The Christ of Bethlehem, Nazareth, Gethsemane, and Calvary is the Christ whose life and death must save mankind. If a "larger Christ" than He is needed, there is no salvation for the race. There is no true conception of Christ except what we get from the Word itself. The philosophies of all the ages can not alter that one jot or tittle. The farther men wander from the tower of truth the deeper will they sink in the slough of error, and error can never save a soul. What is true of the "liberal preacher" is also true of the "broader" religious paper. They may discard their religious features and adopt "broader ideals," but they will be simply influencing individuals to do the same thing and to adopt the broad road that leads to destruction. When a man is lost on the desert, he does not pin his faith to a wider wandering. He seeks to get back to the way he has lost. Just so in this case. It is not broader ideals and wider wanderings that are needed, but a speedy return to the first principles of the Gospel. Deserters are not won back by one who goes with them. The truths of Christ's Gospel are sufficient for these times. If men seem more indifferent to religion now than formerly, it is because religion has been made so "broad" that many an honest man prefers to conform to the world outside of the church rather than inside. Such an effort has been made by religious teachers to abolish the law of God, that many a worldling believes it has been done. He can, therefore, see no necessity for a salvation from the results of transgression, "for where no law is, there is no transgression." Rom. 4:15. Thus do the professed followers of Christ unconsciously nullify the effect of the work they seek to do. The true remedy is not conformity to the world, nor even to the spirit of the times; for the spirit of the times is not the Spirit of Christ. God does not change with the changing spirit of the times. He "is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever," and he who can not be reached and saved by the Gospel in its purity to-day, will never be reached and saved by any human "expansion" of it. Among many sad conditions that were to exist just prior to the second advent of Christ was the condition of the church, "having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." 2 Tim. 3:5. That is what men do who clamor for a "larger Christ" and a "more liberal, broader gospel." They are denying the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to save men. At the same time they maintain a form of religion. The apostle says, "From such turn away." Heeding that admonition, and turning to the "only Name under heaven . . . whereby we must be saved," is the only safe course for him who would reign with Christ in the earth made new.