ECHOES FROM THE "BAPTIST MINISTERS' MEETING" IN NEW YORK CITY.
THE various and contradictory reasons adduced in favor of Sunday observance, by those who attempted to discuss Dr. Hiscox's paper on the anti-New Testament character of Sunday observance, were truly "Zebraic." The majority of the speakers discussed nearly everything but the paper. Not one of them attempted to refute Dr. Hiscox's exegesis of the passages which he so carefully analyzed, or the pretended arguments which he pulverized so completely.
Rev. E. T. Tomlinson, of Elizabeth, N. J., opened the discussion. He recalled his Seventh-day Baptist parentage with pleasure, and gave full meed of praise to a people so conscientious, although he differed from them in toto on the Sabbath question. He proposed to determine the status of Sunday by tracing its history backward, and not by beginning with the New Testament, as Mr. Hiscox had done. His argument is fairly summed up as follows: The Church Fathers speak of a certain regard for Sunday; the apostles made some distinction between days; Paul taught that men were not to be "judged" because they esteemed days differently. Every man should be fully persuaded in his own mind. What he said was the essence of easy-going no-Sabbathism. It was much more fully stated by Justin Martyr, a semi-pagan Father, about 150 A.D.; and it is the fountain of the "Continental Sunday evils" about which we hear so much. It was evidently a fair statement of Mr. Tomlinson's views, but not an answer to Dr. Hiscox's paper.
Prof. Norman Fox, of New York, agreed with Dr. Hiscox that there is no evidence of transfer of the Sabbath, nor any biblical authority for keeping Sunday. He took the ground that the Sabbath was wholly Jewish, and that "there was nothing left to transfer;" also that the Gentiles were never commanded to keep either Sabbath or Sunday. His theory was a compound of no-Sabbathism and pan-Sabbathism. Mr. Fox is too good a historian to accept the popular false theories.
The chairman, Dr. Luther, of Jersey City, referred to the fact that at his ordination he was so heterodox as to deny any biblical ground for Sunday observance; but age and experience had shown him that Adam's first day of existence was Sunday, and hence that Sunday was kept until the time of the law at Mt. Sinai, etc. This was so nearly reductio ad absurdum that it seemed a pleasantry, or a subterfuge, one could scarcely tell which.
Rev. Walter Rauschenbusch, New York, stated the various theories very clearly and definitely, and took the ground that all "enacted law" in the Old Testament had ceased, and that only general principles remain, to be applied as experience and wisdom dictate. He agreed with Dr. Hiscox as to the lack of biblical authority for any transfer.
Other speakers followed, with various phases of all the various theories and notions. The efforts to quote or to refer to history showed a lamentable ignorance of real facts and great ability in making unfounded assertions. Some proposed the childish proposition of sending the Seventh-day Baptists on a voyage around the world so that they "would keep Saturday on Sunday," and be all right. It was a great surprise to hear Dr. Lemuel Moss, of Minnesota, present this as his only argument. Dr. Moss also reported that at one time he had a Seventh-day Baptist pupil who sought explanations and help on the Sabbath question, and he frankly told him that he had no wisdom to impart and no arguments to make to dissuade him from being a Seventh-day Baptist.
Professor Schmidt, of Hamilton, agreed with Hiscox as far as the Bible is concerned, and with Rauschenbusch as to the propriety and value of observing Sunday under the law of love and freedom. His statements touching history were much more accurate and intelligent than those of the majority of the speakers.
Toward the close of the meeting Dr. Yerkes, of Plainfield, and others, attempted to induce Dr. Hiscox to say what should be done. "Should we all observe Saturday?" "Why did he observe Sunday?" etc. The Doctor was wary; he kept Sunday first "from association;" he did not say that it was wrong thus to do; he would keep the Sabbath readily if all others would. He was not ready to say, and had not attempted to say in his paper, what should be done; but he added with great force, "I have proven that the usual arguments for Sunday observance, based on the New Testament, are valueless, and if you do not believe this, so much the worse for you."
The whole discussion revealed the utter want of unity among the defenders of Sunday. No one made any honest effort to prove Dr. Hiscox wrong. The strongest and most intelligent speakers acknowledged the essential, if not the absolute, accuracy of his position. A few wordy and superficial men attempted the cowardly tactics of talking Dr. Hiscox down by denunciation and lofty assertion. The younger men were mainly silent, and many were troubled and thoughtful.
Several of the speakers seemed more anxious to be rid of the whole thing than they did to candidly discuss the paper. It was a strange discussion to occur in such a gathering, among men who so frequently assert that Baptist history and Baptist doctrine show that "the Bible alone is the Baptist standard of faith and practice." It is useless for conservatives to sit on the safety-valve lever of the Sabbath question in its relation to the Baptists. Rupture in their ranks, or a general return to the Bible Sabbath, is sure to come. The no-Sabbath tendency now seems to be in the ascendancy; but it is also certain that many of the more thoughtful men are deeply anxious about the situation. It is too late to give the Sabbath question settlement by lofty indifference or by silence. Something will be said, and Baptists, of all others, must face the fact that "something must be done."—Evangel and Sabbath Outlook.
Judging Our Neighbors’ Afflictions
By Joseph Addison
WE cannot be guilty of a greater act of uncharitableness than to interpret the afflictions which befall our neighbors as punishments and judgments. It aggravates the evil to him who suffers when he looks upon himself as the mark of divine vengeance, and abates the compassion of those toward him who regard him in so dreadful a light. This humor of turning misfortune into a judgment proceeds from a wrong notion of religion, which in its own nature produces good will toward men, and puts the mildest construction upon every accident that befalls them. In this case, therefore, it is not religion that sours a man's temper, but it is his temper that sours his religion.—Addison.
SUNDAY DISCIPLINE IN SOUTH CAROLINA.
The New York Independent tells of an incident, at the Second Presbyterian Church in Columbus, S. C., lately, which makes somewhat clearer what lies behind the case of Miss Sadie Means, which is now on appeal to the Southern Presbyterian General Assembly. Our readers will remember that she was dropped from the roll of the church for doing telephone duty on Sunday. She appealed to the Presbytery, which sustained the church, and from there to the Synod, which reversed the decision. Recently Dr. Law, a new professor in the Presbyterian Theological Seminary at Columbia, preached for the pastor of the church on "Sabbath Keeping," and after his sermon took occasion to rebuke the church for allowing others to remain in the church without discipline who were engaged in secular work on Sunday, while Miss Means was excommunicated. Considerable correspondence has since passed in the matter, from which it appears that the session of the church, being anxious to take action against Sunday breaking, agreed to impose discipline on any new cases that might arise, but to allow those who had been so engaged in the past to continue in the church, simply with remonstrance or rebuke. Accordingly, Miss Means, being a new offender, was disciplined, while those who had long been equally guilty were simply labored with and patiently endured.
The Independent comments on this wise: "It appears to us that if Miss Means was guilty, then the others were guilty also, and that one law should be applied to the old gander and to the gosling. Dr. Law may have been imprudent or officious in volunteering his rebuke, but we do not see that the elders who rose in church and told him to 'stop right there' had much defense to make."
USE THE ABDOMINAL MUSCLES IN BREATHING.
By O. C. Godsmark
BY ELDER O. C. GODSMARK.
IN correct breathing the work is performed principally by the muscles of the abdomen. As the air passes in through the nostrils, down deep into the lungs, the lower front portion of the abdomen should be pressed downward and outward, leaving the shoulders and upper portions of the chest to remain motionless, or nearly so. Then, as the air is expelled from the lungs, the front portion of the abdomen should be drawn up and in, as though the abdomen were a real bellows to open out and permit the air to fill the lungs, and then to close in and drive the air up out of them again. By thus breathing the labor is thrown upon the muscles of the abdomen, where nature seems to indicate that it should be, thus relieving the chest and lungs of that unnatural strain which is otherwise constantly brought to bear upon them.
There are many reasons why this method of breathing is highly beneficial to the general health, and for some troubles may be counted almost a sure specific. If those who are troubled with constipation or any of the long list of ills that follow in its train will consider the effect this abdominal breathing has upon the action of the intestines, they can but see a lasting remedy that far surpasses any patent nostrum ever put upon the public. With every breath that is drawn, the downward outward motion of the abdomen gives a gentle yet positive action to every portion of the internal viscera, which motion nature must have in order to properly carry on the process of digestion. The liver in its secretion of bile, the pancreas in the production of pancreatic juice, the intestines in the secretion of their juices, the kidneys in their operations, and even the stomach itself, will be greatly benefited by this method of breathing.
It is safe to say that not one out of twenty breathe as they should. An effort is made to stand erect by merely holding the head erect and trying to crowd the shoulders back, giving the hips little or no attention. Get the hips and abdomen in position, and the shoulders will care for themselves, we will assume a graceful carriage, and find our general health improving.
In order to breathe correctly we must have the proper position in sitting, standing, or walking, and that is the position usually assumed by portly people.
Imagine yourself as possessed of a large, full abdomen, then draw the air through the nostrils into the chest by decidedly lowering the front portion of the abdomen, and expel the air again by drawing these muscles up and in. Nothing that has to do with our health is of more importance than is our breathing. By taking full, deep inspirations of air, using the muscles of the abdomen as above stated, one can but realize a very perceptible improvement in his general health. With many the “stomach, liver, lungs, and brain are suffering for the want of deep, full inspirations of air, which would electrify the blood and impart to it a bright, lively color, and which alone can keep it pure and give tone and vigor to every part of the living machinery.”—Testimony, Vol. 2, p. 67. By incorrect breathing, especially when the clothing is tight or hangs from the hips, this motion is entirely lost to the abdomen, and the contents of the intestines too frequently become stagnated, allowing the poisonous fluids to be absorbed into the system again, to do their deadly work of poisoning the entire body and clouding the brain.
READING, COMPANIONS, AMUSEMENT.
By Mrs. C. R. McCartney
BE careful what your children read. Do not take it for granted that it is all right when you see them sitting quietly in some corner with a book in their hand, and please yourself with the thought that your boy or girl is so studious and fond of reading. Examine what it is. Enjoy it with them. Supply them with plenty of good literature. If you don't know yourself you can easily find out what books and papers are suitable. Make it a matter of serious duty. Do not allow skeptical or vicious literature inside your doors, not even when it comes wrapped around a parcel. Destroy it instantly. You don't know what one such paper may do. An aged minister said that he would give all he now possessed if he could undo the work of a quarter of an hour's reading in a book given him by a companion at the corner of a street forty years before. But it was impossible. In that quarter of an hour a line of thought had been started which had colored all his after life.
If your mother heart is growing with your child's growth, and you are cultivating your talent of sympathy, you will anticipate their desire of companionship, and make them understand that their friends are your friends, and that they are always welcome to your house. Your mother's eye will be alert to see who are the good and true and noble, and you will encourage your son or daughter to select these as friends. I would have mothers the farthest possible from matchmaking, but I would have them invite or encourage to their homes none whom they would be grieved to see become the life companion of their son or daughter.
I come now to amusements, and from this quarter too comes a loud call for parents' sympathy. It is a beautiful sight to see a mother or father in midtime or evening of their days looking on and enjoying, or even taking part in, the amusements of the young people. They have been making their way up the hill of life through toils and cares, and have gained wisdom and experience; but with it all they have not forgotten that they were once young, and their heart is big enough to take in the children's sports and the young men's and women's plays. Mothers, as often as you can, take part in your children's amusements, it will help to keep them good and pure, and it will help to keep you young. But let yours be a wise sympathy. Be sure the amusements are of the right kind.
Innocent amusements, both for indoors and outdoors, are so many and so well known that I will not wait here to say anything about them, except that, even though right and proper, they may be indulged in too much. Too much time and thought may be given to them. But I have something to say about the questionable amusements. I am sorry to say that these are prevailing in our day and in our towns to an alarming extent. Mothers, you must arouse yourselves or your children will be ruined. It has been said that the character of a community may be known by its amusements. What, then, can be said of that community the nature of whose entertainments are portrayed in hideous and disgusting pictures on our streets; whose theaters are crowded on almost every night in the week; whose youth spend evening after evening in card playing and dancing?
"What is the harm in a dance or a simple game of cards?" How often do we hear this question asked by mothers, whose care it ought rather to be to inquire, "What good is there in this, that is so engrossing and captivating our children?" I cannot, perhaps, tell you what harm there may be in them. I do not know much about them. But there are a few things I can say regarding them. I can tell you that the church of Christ in all ages has lifted its voice against them; I can tell you that those most eminent for piety in past generations and in our own time condemn them with one accord. We can hardly afford to disregard the opinion of such. Another remark I would make about them is, They often, very often, lead to evil.
There is a game some of you may have seen called the "checkered game of life." When a move is made onto one of the squares, a hand points to where the player must go next. When he reaches that, the hand points him farther on. If some of you mothers were quietly to look over the shoulders of your boys as they sit so merry, thoughtless, and bright at the card table, you might, if you observed closely, see a hand pointing to the gambling table and the saloon. Or, as you follow with admiring eye the graceful form of your fair young daughter as she moves lightly around in the promiscuous dance, you might notice here and there an ominous finger pointing to the theater, the public ball, the tarnished name. From the gambling den and the saloon, the hand, standing out now more clear and defined, may be seen pointing down to the haunts of vice, to poverty, disgrace, a felon's cell, a drunkard's grave, a drunkard's hell. A simple game of cards or a dance at the beginning, "but the end of these things is death."
HIDDEN DISEASE IN FLESH MEAT.
FLESH eaters never know what they are eating. Apparently healthy animals may be infected with deadly disease. The following dispatch well illustrates the subtle nature of diseases that make flesh eating extremely dangerous:—
"NEW YORK, January 3.—Almost a score of lives will be taken at Ex-Vice President Morton's country place at Rhine Cliff a week from to-day. They will be sacrificed in cold blood, in accord with the law of the State, and for the good of mankind. Seventeen of the finest of Mr. Morton's noble herd of Guernsey cattle, will be murdered. They are suffering with tuberculosis, and the State Board of Health has ordered that they be killed. This will leave but forty-eight of the famous herd, but they, however, are absolutely free from disease or defect.
"Since the foundation of Mr. Morton's herd was laid in 1887, by the importation of fifty-nine head of cattle, selected on the island of Guernsey, it has been customary to have all the cattle examined every two months by a Poughkeepsie expert. Three weeks ago Dr. Faust examined the whole herd, and, acting under instructions from Mr. Morton, looked carefully for symptoms of tuberculosis. He exhausted all the ordinary tests, and reported all the cattle free from disease.
"Mr. Morton, however, in order to make no mistake, asked Dr. Faust to try Dr. Koch's test. This consists in a hypodermic injection of tuberculous matter. This week Dr. Faust again visited Ellerslie. He injected the fluid behind the right shoulder of every one of186the herd. Then he spent ten hours watching them carefully.
"If the germs of tuberculosis have entered the system of the cow, the tuberculous matter causes high fever, lasting for five or six hours after the injection. Then the fever subsides and the cow's condition becomes as it was before. Seventeen of the herd developed fever. The animals will be killed.
"It is only recently that the Koch test has been applied to cattle. It has worked wonders in other herds than that of Mr. Morton. A number of cattle breeders of this State who sent herds of blooded cattle to the World's Fair have had the test applied to their herds recently. The result has been that over one hundred of the cattle that were praised and prized at the World's Fair have been killed."
SOMEHOW OR OTHER.
By Boston Traveler
EVERY day is an everyday blessing,
Poverty's cottage and crust tho' we share;
Weak is the back on which burdens are pressing,
But stout is the heart that is strengthened by prayer.
Somehow or other the pathway grows brighter,
Just when we mourned there was none to befriend.
Hope in the heart makes the burden seem lighter,
And somehow or other we get to the end.
—Boston Traveler.
A WORD TO MOTHERS.
By Mary Emily Wright
BY MARY EMILY WRIGHT.
How often you hear a mother say: "Oh, she won't be young but once, let her enjoy herself! I do not want to make an old woman out of her." This is a mistake. The girl who is never called upon to assist with the home duties is encouraged in selfishness, and is not being fitted to care for her own home when she has one. First the school duties and then social demands are urged as reasons why a young girl should not be tied to home cares and labors, and so, amid a round of gayety, the things which would best fit her to govern her own heart and home are left out of her education. Only a girl thoroughly imbued with selfishness will be the happier for such indulgence. To one with a spirit of love and helpfulness it will be a real grief. Sometimes in an emergency the daughter offers to take the place of the cook, who has failed to come or is ill; naturally she makes some mistakes. Are these sufficiently overlooked and the successes praised to encourage her to try again? or does the mother ungraciously say she would rather do it herself than to have materials wasted? Show a just appreciation of every effort of your girls to help you, and where services are not offered, require them when needful, and so shall they grow to be womanly women.
Teach the sons to be careful of mother, too. Why should a boy be allowed to sleep over the breakfast hour just because he does not wish to get up? His mother has to put up his breakfast, making a vain effort to keep it hot, and serve it when he wishes to come down, when often, instead of thanking her, he grumbles because the meal is not so palatable as when first served. The boy should be taught that mother's time and strength are valuable, and that he will not be allowed to tax them unnecessarily.
It is a fact worthy of note that the children of unselfish mothers are generally very selfish; if a mother would teach her children to be unselfish, she must give them the opportunity and the encouragement, at the risk of appearing somewhat selfish herself. Her unselfish example is rarely sufficient.
Kate Douglass Wiggin speaks of mothers "immersed in a puddle of maternal affection." The phrase is very apt. So many women seem to think that maternal affection consists in effacing themselves and becoming nothing more than a servant to a child, until he or she learns to consider mother as little more than the source of supplies, calling upon her for the gratification of every conceivable wish, no matter how much time, strength, or nerve force it may cost. Look at the matter from the standpoint of the children's welfare and begin to teach them to be helpful as soon as they pass infancy; let them begin to fill their niche in the family economy, and feel that they have a work to do in the world.
The fathers ought to take the initiative in impressing these things, but, alas! how often the children are only following the father's example when they show selfish inconsiderateness.
Above all, mothers, do not waste strength in putting on unnecessary ruffles and tucks to gratify maternal pride, and then when they come home from school be too tired to enter, with any zest, into the story of school life or the lessons.
Take time to rest every day, time to keep in touch with events in the world, that your mind may be as wide-awake as the eager little seekers after knowledge who come to you as miners to a mine. Be the moral, intellectual, and spiritual guide of your children, not the gratifier of every thoughtless, selfish wish; then will they rightly estimate the mother's place in the home, and it will not be necessary to admonish them to take care of her, for she will be the object of their tenderest solicitude and most devoted affection.—American Agriculturist.
I KNOW A THING OR TWO.
"My dear boy," said a father to his only son, "you are in bad company. The lads with whom you associate indulge in bad habits. They drink, smoke, swear, play cards, and visit theaters. They are not safe company for you. I beg you to quit their society."
"You needn't be afraid for me, father," replied the boy laughingly; "I guess I know a thing or two. I know how far to go and when to stop."
The lad left his father's house, twirling his cane in his fingers and laughing at the "old man's notions."
A few years later and that lad, grown to manhood, stood at the bar of a court, before a jury which had just brought in a verdict of guilty against him for some crime in which he had been concerned. Before he was sentenced, he addressed the court and said, among other things, "My downward course began in disobedience to my parents. I thought I knew as much as my father did, and I spurned his advice; but as soon as I turned my back upon my home, temptations came upon me like a drove of hyenas and hurried me into ruin."
Mark that confession, ye boys who are beginning to be wiser than your parents. Mark it, and learn that disobedience is the first step on the road to ruin. Don't take it. —Selected.
THE HOME BOY.
By College View Enterprise
WHO does not like this boy and recognize him wherever met? He always is polite, and has respect for others' rights; he does not worry his father by doing things he has forbidden him to do; he studies hard, does his work well at home, and then plays with vim born of a clear conscience. This boy is of inestimable value. Mothers should exert themselves to train their boys to be mother's home boys. Let them have a helping hand in the housework; make them associates, friends, and they will find more pleasure in your society than they find among the rude boys on the streets. We know of many boys who never think of play until mother's day's work is finished. They are all manly boys, and will be the men that make their mark.
Give your boy some particular work all his own. One boy can take care of the poultry, another can, by the aid of a knitting machine, do all the knitting for a family. It would be only right to pay them a certain amount for such labor, and they will be, as a rule, very saving of their money. Give them tools to work with. Let them learn to mend the walls and fences and do the many necessary things that must be done about the house. Let them also learn to do the marketing; they can soon buy as good a piece of meat as you can. Accept the work they do for you—even if it does not first suit—without faultfinding, or it will become to them detestable. Let the boys know they are useful to you; they will appreciate their home much more than if they are made to understand that they are always in the way and no account for anything.—College View Enterprise.
PRAYER AND FIGHTING.
NOTWITHSTANDING the secular tendency of the present Hungarian Cabinet, it is said that the traditional prayer season still prevails in the Austro-Hungarian army. At a fixed hour morning and night the sentinel gives the signal. At once the officers and men place themselves under arms, the trumpet sounds, and each man puts his hand to his cap and remains motionless in prayer for some minutes. The word of command, "In position for prayer," is given by an officer, who faces the men, and holds his bare sword towards the ground in token of respect. The same custom prevails in the navy and is very ancient. An interesting fact is that the image of Mary Immaculate is embroidered in gold on all the flags of the regiments.
Saving the Preaching That Goes Up in Smoke
A MAN out of a job and with bad luck all through life stood in a smelter of a Missouri lead mine. Turning to the foreman he said, "If you only get nine-tenths of the lead in the ore, where does the other tenth go?" "Up in the smoke, I suppose," was the reply. Then said the man to himself, "If it goes up in the smoke, I think I can find a way of getting it out," and he did. It made him rich, and brought riches to others. If all the preaching that goes up in smoke could only be caught and saved, how this world would be pushed on! But how much of it would be worth saving at all?
Apples of Gold
By Editor
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MISSIONS: THEIR STATE.
By Rev. J. Murray Mitchell, M.A., LL.D.
[An address delivered at the Dublin Conference of the Evangelical Alliance, and published in Evangelical Christendom.]
SUPPOSE I could bring the heathen world before you so that you could simply see it as it is—if we could bring it all into a focus—the dreadful spectacle would shake the soul to its foundations and haunt us till we died. We cannot so focus heathenism. We can now only with the mind's eye glance rapidly at its chief forms. But even that hurried look will deeply pain us, if we have any regard either for the honor of God or the well-being of man.
There is a disposition in many quarters at present to speak kindly of heathen religions. They are called "imperfect revelations." We are told there is an "ethnic inspiration," and so on. Now, we all admit that reason and conscience are precious gifts of heaven, and may, in a sense, be called revelations of God; but oftentimes mind and conscience are "defiled;" aye, conscience may be "seared as with a hot iron." No man can rightly judge of heathenism unless he has lived in a heathen country and seen with his own eyes its real fruits.
Let us rapidly glance at the chief heathen systems. The most widely diffused is spirit worship—animism, as it is often called. It underlies every form of paganism, and it continually crops up through superincumbent strata. The spirits worshiped are malignant, with hardly an exception—evil spirits, veritable fiends, acknowledged and worshiped as such. And they are supposed to be all around us—lying in ambush, watching for opportunities to harm us. The worship paid them proceeds from fear—blank terror; it has in it no element of love, but much of hatred.
Is this an exaggerated statement? I wish it were. But no. If in some places—Japan, for example—it has a milder aspect, in others—Dahomey, for instance—it becomes utterly diabolical. The honor paid there to any good of man is measured by the quantity of human blood shed on his account. France has lately conquered the country, and we may trust that these horrible celebrations are now suppressed. This, then, as I have said, is the most extensive of heathen religions.
2. Let me next speak of Islam—Mohammedanism. It is full of life and proselytizing zeal, still spreading, at least in Africa, north of the equator, chiefly, yet not solely, by war and conquest.
The two merits Islam possesses are its rejection of idolatry and its prohibition of intemperance. It has been praised as non-atheistic. But the being it worships is an almighty despot, ruling a universe of slaves. Islam knows nothing of a God of love. It denies that Jesus is the Son of God; it denies also his crucifixion. It poisons society at its fountain-head by sanctioning polygamy, and divorce at pleasure, for example, the pleasure of the man. Woman is robbed of her rights more than in any other faith. Islam is intolerant; only Mohammedans enjoy the rights of citizens. The Mohammedan who changes his creed must be put to death. It sanctions slavery; slave hunts are conducted by Mohammedan Arabs, who believe they have divine permission to turn a smiling land into a wilderness by slaughtering and enslaving. And how many accept this dreadful faith?—Alas, about 170,000,000 of our unhappy fellowmen!
3. We point next to Buddhism. Extravagant estimates of its extent are sometimes given; but we cannot count the Buddhists much under 300,000,000. There are two forms of Buddhism, differing greatly from each other. The southern is likest to the original system. It is professed in Ceylon, Burmah, and Siam, the northern form in Thibet, Mongolia, China, and Japan. Southern Buddhism is atheistic. It denies a future life. Nirvâna, the chief end of man, is the cessation of conscious existence, and generally of existence altogether—utter extinction of being. Existence is misery; the sooner it ceases the better. This is original and proper Buddhism, preëminently the religion of despair. These tremendous dogmas the northern Buddhists have modified; they believe in various fantastic deities and in a future existence. Yet it was Buddhist books generally—but especially the northern ones—that the great Orientalist, Burnouf, declared to be "miserable in form and odious in meaning."
I need hardly speak of what is called "Esoteric Buddhism." It is a pure fiction—an invention of that amazing woman, Madame Blavatsky. The Mahatmas of Thibet were the offspring of her own bewildered brain; and the Lamas know nothing about them. Or, if the lady was no deceiver, she was egregiously deceived. Cunning natives of India have, we know, cheated Europeans, and supplied them with fictitious writings. Did Madame Blavatsky know the language in which her "Esoteric Buddhism" is explained? In what language is it? Sanskrit, Pali, or Thibetan? Let the original text be produced, or else the whole thing must be laughed out of court.
Nor need I speak of Sir Edwin Arnold's "Light of Asia." Sir Edwin is a poet, and makes lavish use of the poet's prerogative of "giving to airy nothing a local habitation and a name." Buddhism has been praised for its moral precepts. Several of these resemble the commandments of the second table of the Decalogue. But, in carrying out these precepts, Buddhism runs into the most irrational asceticism, and all missionaries to the Buddhists have declared that even the good precepts exercise little or no influence on the life.
4. Now glance for a moment at Hinduism. It is confined to India, but professed by more than 200,000,000. For the most part it is the wildest polytheism, reckoning its gods and goddesses by hundreds of millions. But among educated men it becomes the most absolute pantheism, acknowledging only one being in the universe,—spirit; the world around us has no existence. Only say—believing it—Aham Brahma, "I am God," and you have attained the height of human wisdom. Could the force of folly or of impiety go farther?
The most characteristic feature of practical Hinduism is caste—a stupendous system of regulations affecting one's whole life. Violate any of these and you are expelled from society; father and mother cast you off; you suffer social death.
Not a few dreadful institutions—such as suttee, or widow burning, self-murder under the wheels of the car of Jaganath, and infanticide, which in certain classes was fearfully common—such things, you all know, have been suppressed by the strong hand of the British Government; but other deplorable evils, such as the general heartless treatment of widows and of the lower castes, child marriages, and many similar things, still exist, and cannot be easily crushed out, so completely interwoven are they with the whole framework of Hindu society and thought.
5. I must hurry on and speak of the system of Confucius. The religion of China generally is a strange medley; but that of the literati and influential classes is Confucianism. This can hardly be called a religion; it is a system of morality, in which the duties of men toward men are elaborately expounded. But when the great sage was asked about another world, he answered: "I do not rightly understand this world; how can I speak of another? And, as for worship, you should perform the usual rites, but have as little dealing with the gods as possible."
This is but a poor creed, and because of its being so Buddhism and Taoism have had sway in China. Of Buddhism I have already spoken. Taoism, the so-called religion of reason, is eminently a system of unreason, full of absurd magical ceremonies. But Confucianism sways the middle and higher classes to a very large extent, and surely it is a most cheerless, chilling creed.
Thus I have run over the leading heathen religions. All are dark and dreary. How deplorable that 1,000,000,000 of our fellow-creatures—our brothers and sisters—should still be lying in this darkness of death!
Let our spirits be stirred within us with sorrow that God is thus dishonored and that man is thus miserable.
When we look on this awful state of things, we are ready to sink into despondency. The case seems hopeless, and we have great heaviness and continual sorrow of heart because of these, our brothers, ignorant of the Creator, the Redeemer, the Sanctifier, and, as the apostle would say, "without God and without hope in the world." Deep sorrow is right, but despair is wrong. "We serve the God of hope;" we must be men of hope. Yes, our hopes are "bright as the promises of God."
But more than this. Even already we can see—not merely hope for—the salvation of God. For already each one of those great heathen systems has been reached, touched, and, I may say, shaken.
"WHY STAND YE HERE ALL THE DAY IDLE?"
By Adelaide M. Culner
BY ADELAIDE M. CULNER.
"SEE My fields all white and gleaming,
Waiting for the willing hands."
God is calling to his children,
"Go ye forth, nor idle stand.
"Are My harvest fields forgotten?
Are My laborers asleep?
Wake them, rouse them to their duty;
For My harvest must they reap."
If you cannot do the reaping,
You can bear the sheaves away.
God will teach each one their duty
If we willingly obey.
Go ye, willing for the Master;
He will surely give the yield;
He will bless your every effort.
Go ye forth into the field.
All will hear the holy message
Of a Saviour's dying love.
Coming soon in brightest glory
He will take us home above.
Historical Sketches
By Editor
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This work comprises Reports of the European Missionary Councils of 1883, 1884 and 1885, and a narrative, by Mrs. E. G. White, of her visit and labors in these missions.
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