Earlier text: EARN YOUR OWN SUBSCRIPTIONFallen Man
By Methuselah Jones
THE object of the everlasting gospel is the rescue of the fallen sons of Adam. Before sin entered Eden man bore much of the image of his Maker, held personal communion with him, and moved about freely and joyously in his earthly paradise. But no sooner had the first apostate arraigned the honor and equity of Jehovah's law than he gained the attention and service of man, bringing him thereby into bondage. Rom. 6:16; 2 Peter 2:19. In this deceived and fallen condition, Adam was not only himself a sinner, but he opened to his posterity the way to every species of misery, vice, sin, and death. In the service of sin, blinded in captivity, and hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, men have ever since been hiding from God (Gen. 3:9, 10), and will not readily seek divine favor. They do not like to retain God in their knowledge. Rom. 1:28. Sovereign Love contested the claim of the usurper in the announcement, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Gen. 3:15. Through Adam's choice, yet also by intrigue of the enemy of all righteousness, man fell captive to sin, and his posterity heirs with him to suffering, pain, and death; yet through the manifestation of Immanuel, "God with us" in the flesh, the power of the tempter would be broken, the castles and strongholds of sin would be demolished, and captive man would be once more free to rejoice in that liberty which comes with righteousness. Gal. 5:1. The promise made in Eden of a Saviour that would bruise the serpent's head, has been a beacon light through all the ages. God the Father and God the Son were equally interested in the work of man's restoration. "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Rom. 5:8. The captive is not only made free, but he who caused the captivity is to be destroyed, with all the fruit of his works. Heb. 2:14. Did not the glory of Eden fade, as the black pall of death fell over the once innocent and happy pair? Did not the prince of darkness unveil his dark banner with delight as, with government upon his shoulders, scepter in hand, and subjects to execute his biddings, he entered upon a career, apparently uninterrupted, of destruction and ruin? The mystery of iniquity found a hotbed in which to develop. Man in its service became base, sunken in woe, bowing at the shrines of superstition and demonism, a mouthpiece for his designing captor. Did not this being entertain the hope that the whole human race would be left entirely in his hands? Ah, but the star of Bethlehem has appeared, Messiah is born, and the enemy is met. The life, love, cross at Calvary, death, ascension, and mediation of the Son of God all go to prove that victory is gained and Messiah is king, that Satan is defeated and his governmental reign is at an end. The gospel work is to close in this generation, and the sons of Adam are being called from captivity and bondage to heed the proclamation of liberty. The gospel is to-day, as it has been in all ages, the only way of salvation for any member of the human race. Rom. 1:16, 17. It is soul-inspiring, life-giving, and health-preserving; yea, more, the characteristics of their Leader will be seen in those who believe and obey, for they shall be like him. Is any struggling for victory over the subtle tendencies of a depraved heart and nature, let them read John 8:32, 36. Have the demon of unbelief, and the poison fangs of a perverted appetite, the coils of a hasty and unsubdued passion, been working to undermine faith in the gospel of liberty; and to lead its victims over the road of regret, back to the castle of doubt? Read again and believe John 8:32, 36. The gospel in the three angels' messages of Rev. 14:6-14 has been to many, as it is to the writer, a polar star in their Christian pilgrimage, a glass by which the heavenly landscape is viewed. Through that glass we see Eden restored, and the redeemed standing on the sea of glass, joint heirs with Christ. The six thousand years of sin's reign shall vanish before the all-absorbing glorious radiancy of the cycles of eternity. Yea, "the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: . . . and sorrow and mourning shall flee away." Isa. 51:11. Let us heed the call God is sending to the world in the message which is to close the work of the gospel in the earth. The Eastern Question
By B. E. Connerly
DURING the past half-decade the ever-changing Ottoman régime in European politics has so affected the territories of the eastern Mediterranean basin that the present aspect of the Eastern question, as it centers in the Near East, has been somewhat changed. For years it has been the studied foreign policy of the great powers to divide and appropriate the decadent Moslem countries, but, notwithstanding the alarming decrepitude of the Ottoman empire (which has for fifty years been known as the Sick Man of the East), there has not been a time when the Turkish empire could have been dismembered by the jealous powers without the greatest danger of involving all Europe in a great and calamitous war of conquest. Thus, ostensibly for the peace of Christendom, the powers, at great cost to themselves, have supported the Sublime Porte in its European capital on the Golden Horn. True, the Young Turks have made great reforms in their country, but the Eastern question is not settled. This Ottoman question, now latent, now open, is viewed by diplomats with uncertainty and alarm. Statesmen, journalists, and students of prophecy know well that the danger-point of the world's peace still lies in western Asia. Properly read, the signs of the times indicate that this struggle of more than a thousand years between European Catholics and Asiatic Mohammedans—a struggle without parallel in the annals of human warfare—will not cease until all Europe and Asia are forced into the impending interracial life-and-death struggle for the supremacy of the world. And this for three reasons:— First, Europe is politically divided into two groups,—Germany, Austria, and Italy, known as the Triple Alliance; and France, England, and Russia, the triple entente,—the one hostile to the interests of the other in Mohammedan territory, and thus practically giving Turkey a balance of power in all European schemes of aggression in the Levant. Second, the wary Turk has finally awakened to the fact that by the European brotherhood of nations he is considered as only a dusky foreign infidel, and that whatever help has been offered during his decrepitude has had as an object the widening of their already overlapping spheres of influence in his territory. But the Turk sees forces of untold strength beyond the limited confines of Europe organizing for a desperate conflict, and the recently adopted proposition, "Asia for the Asiatics," is rapidly becoming a Turkish slogan. Today, after two years of constitutional liberty, the Turk dares to propose a foreign policy of his own, and suggests that Turkey become a power to be reckoned with on the chess-board of world politics. Third, there is a mighty awakening in the Mohammedan world; and 210,000,000 followers of the desert prophet in Europe, Africa, and Asia propose to restore Islam to her former glory. These are ready to follow the star and crescent, and to make Turkey to the West what Japan is to the East. But Turkey is not again to become a world power. She has in a remarkable manner fulfilled prophecy, till today only the great climax remains, in which the Ottoman empire is to be a prime factor in preparing the way of the "kings of the East" to join in that great intercontinental struggle. How interesting is the study of the Eastern question! Mohammedanism's long and desolating career has minutely responded to the voice of prophecy, and now the storm is brewing. The shadow of Europe that is stealthily creeping over Asia is to be met with terrible resistance. Soon the Ottoman problem is to be forever settled. In this great drama the nations have played well their part. Arabia, Egypt, Persia, Russia, England, and France have followed the lines foretold. Soon Turkey and the other warring nations will meet their Waterloo, and this wicked world its Armageddon. The Making of the Sabbath
WE have already traced the origin of the Sabbath institution. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, established it as a memorial of his great work. It is proper now to consider the steps by which the Sabbath was thus set apart, the three distinct acts of the Creator by which it was dedicated to this use. 1. The first step is indicated in the following scripture: "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made." Gen. 2:2. The Creator chose one day from the weekly cycle as his own rest day. This was the seventh day of the week. By this act he distinguished this day above all its fellows. This henceforth would forever remain the rest day of Jehovah. 2. After resting on the seventh day, "God blessed the seventh day." This divine blessing constituted the seventh day holy time. It set apart that day in a class by itself, and made it unique and of a different character from all its fellows. Upon no other day of the week was the divine blessing bestowed. The blessing of God upon a sinner separates him from his iniquity and makes him the blessed of the Lord, and so the Lord in placing a special blessing upon the seventh day separated it from all its fellows, from the other days of the cycle, and gave to it a blessed character. Thus the seventh day became not alone God's Sabbath day, but it became his blessed Sabbath, his holy day. This blessing placed upon the seventh day of the week in the beginning still remains upon it. By no act of the Creator has it ever been removed, and we can say of it, as Balaam said of Israel, "He hath blessed; and I can not reverse it." No forces of evil can take from the seventh day the heavenly benediction placed upon it by its divine Author. 3. The third act of God in making the Sabbath signalized his purpose concerning the institution. After resting upon the seventh day, and making it holy by blessing it, the record is that he "sanctified it." The reason why he blessed it, the reason why he sanctified it, was "because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." Gen. 2:3. He placed his blessing upon the seventh day because it had been his rest day, and he sanctified the day for the same reason. To sanctify is to set apart, to separate to a holy or sacred use. To whose use was the Sabbath set apart and sanctified? For whose benefit, by these three distinct acts of God, was the Sabbath created? Not for his own evidently, for he had used it previous to its sanctification. Our Saviour plainly answers this question. He says, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." Mark 2:27. It was not made for Adam alone, but for the whole human family, of whom he stood as a representative. Most fitting indeed that God should thus give this institution to our first parents. Busied as they were during the week with the work to which their Creator had assigned them, it was appropriate that they should have a day of rest in which they could turn their minds more fully to the contemplation of God and his wondrous works. Sharing God's blessings every day, they could experience in the observance of the Sabbath a double blessing. This same blessing is in the Sabbath to-day for all who will observe it. Spiritual and Physical Rest
The idea of physical rest was not the only one in the establishment of the Sabbath institution. We can hardly conceive that our first parents knew fatigue and weariness in the same sense that men do to-day. God designed that they should obtain from the Sabbath not only physical rest, but spiritual rest also, a rest of spirit and of heart, a new joy in the contemplation of God, a quickening and reviving of the spiritual sensibilities. To this spiritual rest a cessation from physical labor was necessary. If we to-day see in the Sabbath of the Lord only physical refreshing, an opportunity merely to relax from the wearing toil of the six days in order that we may more vigorously prosecute our purposes during the succeeding six days, we shall miss the grand purpose of the institution. Physical rest will contribute to spiritual rest, and in the observance of the Sabbath institution is absolutely essential and required. The mind, instead of being intent upon matters of personal concern, is left free to contemplate God and his goodness. In his created works around us this love is revealed. Earth and sea and sky, mountain, hill, and dale, the delicately tinted flower, the majestic, waving tree, the warbling of the bird in his leafy bower, the hum of the insect in the air, — all speak of the great Creator and of his love for the children of men. The contemplation of these blessings and of every material benefit begets deeper gratitude of heart. The goodness of God leads to repentance. The contemplation of all he has done for us leads us in return to honor and glorify him. Let us welcome the Sabbath institution in the spirit in which God gave it, and so employ its sacred hours that we shall receive the double blessing of spiritual and physical rest which it holds for us, and which its divine Author is desirous of bestowing upon us. The Hand of God in History —
By W. A. Smith
Notes on Important Eras of Fulfilling Prophecy
He Shall Confirm the Covenant With Many for One Week
THE death of Christ for us, when the fulness of time had come, is too great a theme even to approach in this outline study of great eras in the fulfilment of time prophecies. The theme of that infinite sacrifice will be the study through the ages of eternity. Human philosophies of the atoning work and ministry seem only to obscure the sacred truth. "He died for me," is the sum of it all. And all the height and depth and length and breadth of "the unsearchable riches of Christ" are in the laying hold by faith of that glorious truth, "He died for me." The plain texts of Scripture that tell of his love and life and death for helpless sinners, press the truths home to the heart in the simple way that heals the hurt of sin and brings the comfort of eternal hope. "Since I, who was undone and lost,
Have pardon through His name and word;
Forbid it, then, that I should boast,
Save in the cross of Christ, my Lord." There, in the "midst of the week," at the middle point of the last seven-year period of the prophecy, was set up the cross, "towering o'er the wrecks of time." "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth," said Christ, "will draw all men unto me." John 12:32. This is why there is a divine power pleading with every heart to yield to God. That witness of conscience which ("in the day9 when God shall judge the secrets of men") will accuse or else excuse those who have not had the light of written revelation (Rom. 2:15, 16), is planted in the heart because Jesus, the divine Son of God, died for all, that all might believe and be saved. "That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." John 1:9. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16. It was to tell this "good news" to all men that Christ commissioned his disciples to go forth. The full period of seventy weeks—490 years from the commission to Ezra—had been allotted to the Jewish people. They had been given a special place in the working out of God's plan. It was not because God had not all along loved all men, but because as children of Abraham of old that people were called to be a blessing to all nations with their witness to the living God. But they had been unfaithful to their trust. The mercy of God waited. The prophecy of the seventy weeks, however, set the bounds beyond which the Lord could not wait. If that people would not bear the witness of the living God to all the world, the work would have to be put into other hands. The first half of the last week of years had passed, and now Jerusalem had crucified the Lord of glory. He had come to his own, and his own received him not. Yet those who cried, "Crucify him!" were ignorant and blind. In the agony of the cross, Christ prayed for them, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Three years and a half of his ministry had been given among them. Three and a half years yet remained of that last prophetic week. The Messiah was to "confirm the covenant with many for one week." In the person of his apostles and witnesses the gospel was still pressed especially upon that people of Jerusalem, "to the Jew first," "beginning at Jerusalem." The covenant was confirmed with "many," "and believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women." Acts 5:14. The three and a half years of special ministry to that people would end in A. D. 34. And that was about the year of Stephen's martyrdom, when the whole Jewish council had again rejected the appeal of the Holy Ghost. The great body of Christian believers in Jerusalem were driven out by persecution, and "they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word." The Gentiles responded in Samaria; the Ethiopian treasurer received the gospel on the road to Gaza. The gospel message had fairly passed the boundaries of Jerusalem, and was on its course toward all nations—"unto the uttermost part of the earth." Though every Jew, as every other man, still had the gospel invitation pressed upon him, the time of that people as God's special witnesses had passed. They had failed to keep the trust, and Christ's word to the Jews was fulfilled: "The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." Matt. 21:43. That nation is the nation "of them which are saved," the children of Abraham by faith, "where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all." Col. 3:11. "Just as I am, Thy love I own
Has broken every barrier down;
Now to be thine, and thine alone,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come." The "sure word of prophecy" in all the events of the "seventy weeks" had been fulfilled. Each time the hour struck for the work to be done, the fulfilment came. And the Lord Jesus, who is the Word, gave himself in fulfilling his own words by the prophets. Thus with his own life he set his seal to "the vision and prophecy." In closing, let it be recalled again that this first 490 years of the vision and prophecy are "determined," or cut off from the yet longer period of 2,300 years, reaching from 457 B. C. to A. D. 1844, when the cleansing of the sanctuary, the final ministry of our High Priest in the heavenly temple, was to begin. The exact fulfilment in the days of his first advent seals up the vision and prophecy (Dan. 9:24), and we know of a surety that when the year 1844 brought the ending of the great prophetic measuring line, the final phase of Christ's work was entered upon in the true sanctuary above. The events on earth connected with the ending of the 2,300 years, in A. D. 1844, will repay study at a later time in this series of outline notes. Forces in Active Antagonism to the Fundamental Principles of the American Government
By C. M. S.
IN God’s dealings with men we find this fundamental principle, not merely expressed, but actually operating:— “Surely the Lord Jehovah will do nothing, except he reveal his secret unto his servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7. The revelations of his Word and their fulfilment in affairs of men and nations verify our Lord’s declaration through the prophet Amos. But he has done more than that; for he has also revealed to his servants the great purposes of the adversary, and the manner by which they will be worked out. We know that our nation is a subject of prophecy; we know that, in spite of the fact that the various colonies had governments that were at enmity with the governmental principle laid down by Jesus Christ, yet when the nation was established, it was established upon the principle which our Lord enunciated—the separation of church and state. It is therefore only reasonable to suppose that if this nation should abandon that principle, and adopt and operate upon the opposite principle, the all-wise Father would reveal that to his servants in his Word. And he has done so.10 Throughout the whole world, this nation, the United States of America, is known as the nation whose key-word is freedom of conscience,—the nation which leaves the spiritual interests of the people with the church, and the temporal interests with the state. It is also a republic, a nation wherein the people rule. Therefore, of more than ordinary significance are these words of Inspiration in reference to that symbol which so certainly represents this nation: “Saying to them that dwell on the earth [the people], that they [the people] should make an image to the beast who hath the stroke of the sword and lived.” Rev. 13:14. These words indicate that Inspiration is speaking of a nation whose ruling power is “the people.” They indicate also the apostasy of that government from the principles upon which it was founded; for that governing power of which Inspiration speaks, assumes the right to enter the realm of religion and dictate to men whom they shall worship and how they shall do it, and then overrides the rights of every man’s conscience by declaring that they who do not thus worship shall be killed. Rev. 13:15. From freedom of conscience to martyrdom because of conscience is not the work of a moment, and such a work is not accomplished without the putting forth of tremendous power. Whence comes that power which can metamorphose a nation from within, without force of arms, which can set a mighty nation backward against the current of its own progress and the shibboleth of its own people, without the shock of foreign war? There can be but one answer, and that is: From combination of great forces, inside the nation, operating upon the religious instincts of the people. Do we see any such combinations in this country now whose principles are in antagonism to the principles of soul-freedom upon which this nation was founded? The history of certain great movements now in operation in this country answers that question by their own utterances and the records of their doings. As might have been expected, the establishment of this nation upon the principles of soul-freedom was not accomplished without opposition. It was not done with the unanimous consent of the people. The adherents of the idea of a national religion were not converted in toto, neither has that idea at any time since lacked its supporters and advocates. In the bosoms of such people there has constantly lurked the idea that in some way the state is responsible for religion, must support the church, must protect and perpetuate the day of worship. As early as 1829 that sentiment was taking tangible form in an organized assault upon Congress to the end that the government should recognize the first day of the week as the nation's sabbath and enforce it. The movement gained considerable headway, because of its influential clerical backing; and it was for the purpose of explaining its refusal to yield to that demand that the Congressional Committee on Post-offices and Post-roads drew up and issued its now famous Sunday Mail Reports. Those reports not only explained why the government could not do what was demanded of it, but warned the people against entering upon such a course, and plainly outlined the danger. The reports declare that should Congress yield to the petitioners because of their belief that the carrying of mail on Sunday was a violation of the law of God, "it would establish the principle that the legislature is a proper tribunal to determine what are the laws of God." The report continues:— It would involve a legislative decision on a religious controversy, and on a point in which good citizens may honestly differ in opinion without disturbing the peace of society or endangering its liberties. If this principle is once introduced, it will be impossible to define its bounds. Among all the religious persecutions with which almost every page of human history is stained, no victim ever suffered but for the violation of what government denominated the law of God. To prevent a similar train of evils in this country, the Constitution has wisely withheld from our government the power of defining the divine law. . . . Extensive religious combinations to effect a political object are, in the opinion of the committee, always dangerous. . . . All religious despotism commences by combination and influence; and when that influence begins to operate upon the political institutions of a country, the civil power soon bends under it; and the catastrophe of other nations furnishes an awful warning of the consequences.—United States Senate Report, Jan. 19, 1829. What those feared who drew up that report is now fast coming to be a real, tangible, active menace to those vital principles of our government which guarantee our civil and religious liberties. It is certainly true that whatever menaces our religious liberties menaces our civil liberties as well; for when religious liberty is denied and trampled upon, the very basis of liberty itself is gone. With religious liberty denied, there is no basis on which to rest any kind of liberty. A man must feel himself a free man in soul as well as in body if civil liberty is to have its full meaning and full value to him; and he can not consider himself a free man while his soul is chained, while there is a church-and-state padlock on the door of his mind, while the temple of his soul's worship is closed and barred by the decrees of his government. Nevertheless, the warning given to the nation through those Sunday Mail Reports continues to fall on ears that are dull of hearing and on hearts that will not heed the danger-signal. The demands of that element that sought legislation on behalf of a religious institution were answered by the arguments adduced in those reports, but they were not silenced; and in the year 1863 the movement was crystallized into an organization which put forth, as definite propositions to be labored for, the very things condemned and warned against in those reports. That was the National Reform Association. And it proposes not only that the government shall define what the law of God is, but that the government shall be based upon that law; that it shall establish a national sabbath and protect it from desecration; that the government shall maintain the religious element in education; that the government shall declare its own allegiance to Jesus Christ, and its acceptance of the moral laws of the Christian religion, so indicating that this is a Christian nation, and placing the Christian laws, institutions, and usages of our government on an undeniable legal basis in the nation's Constitution. Those are principles diametrically opposed to the principles upon which this nation was founded. They are principles upon which every church-and-state government could profess to stand. Rome claimed to be representing God when she burned the martyrs and racked and mutilated the victims of the Inquisition. The church-and-state governments of England and Scotland claimed to be doing God's special service when they burned and hunted to their death men and women who would worship God in harmony with the dictates of conscience. The church-and-state governments of colonial days professed to be the personal representatives of Jesus Christ, and to base their laws on the divine law when they harried and hunted and hanged the best Christians in the world because their religious beliefs did not harmonize with the tenets of faith adopted by the government. That institution which in our day would reestablish the colonial, or medieval, or church-and-state government in this country has been carrying on its propaganda during all these years since 1863 with increasing vigor, conducting institutes, publishing literature, and besieging national and State legislatures for legislation in harmony with its ideas. Having been continually met with the argument, which it could not answer, that what it proposed was unconstitutional, it is seeking now a complete transformation of the nation through a transformation of the nation's fundamental law—the Constitution. The attempt and the whole propaganda is revolutionary, because it would change the whole genius of the government, and the nation would then stand for everything that it repudiated when it became a nation. Such an attempt against a government's most fundamental ideas, establishing a complete metamorphosis of its actuating principles, can not be considered as a matter of no consequence. It is a movement against the government as truly as any ever inaugurated anywhere against any government. Then, in place of the liberty of conscience now guaranteed, we would have the dictation of the state in the religious affairs of the people. Instead of all religions being on an equal footing before the law, the government would favor or establish one and disbar others. Where the government now guarantees that no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification for office, the religious test would then be the first and chief test. Departing From the Faith
By F. M. W.
IN every quarter we see a wide departure from the old-time faith. Doctrines of the Scripture that a few years ago were recognized as the very bulwarks of Christian faith are coming to be discarded, and that, too, by those who profess to be Christian teachers. Two years ago the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church had before it an appeal from some of the members of the presbytery of New York against the action of that presbytery in licensing young men who it was claimed denied some of the fundamental doctrines of the Scriptures. The assembly at that time clearly defined its position in harmony with its long-established faith in these doctrines. Again in 1911 the assembly, after considering certain publications made by two Drs. Brown connected with the New York presbytery, felt called upon to resolve:—11 - That the assembly reaffirms the doctrinal deliverances of the General Assembly of 1910, as interpreting the faith and doctrine of our church.
- That we admonish all ministers in our church to refrain from giving utterance to sentiments which unsettle the church and which are in conflict with the standards of the church.
It was the hope of many that this declaration of the General Assembly would go far toward settling these theological discussions which were troubling the church, but the coming assembly evidently has before it the same perplexing questions, and in view of the history of the past, under more aggravated conditions. A short time ago, during the Easter period, the New York presbytery licensed three students of the Union Seminary. These young men, it is affirmed, expressed open doubts as to the virgin birth, the bodily resurrection of Jesus, and the raising of Lazarus. The editor of the Herald and Presbyter of April 17, 1912, quoting its New York correspondent, explains the action of the presbytery in these words:— It appeared to be the thought of the presbytery that the young men were right at heart, and will see things more clearly after they get out of their present philosophical fog.
The editor of this organ of Presbyterianism, however, dissents very strongly from this position of the New York presbytery, even as some of the members of the presbytery itself. The editor justly says:— The Presbyterian Church must stand by the doctrines of God's Word if it is to live and do its work. To admit men who deny these doctrines, in the hope that they may learn better, is as foolish as to admit wolves to the sheepfold with the hope that they will grow lamblike. Experience does not justify such a hope. How about the professors who taught them to deny these doctrines? Have they grown back to the truth? How about Prof. William Adams Brown, whose published views were called to the assembly's attention last year? Has he gotten out of the fog or grown out of his antagonism to the theology of the church and of the Bible? How about the churches to which these befogged young men are to minister?
It must not be forgotten that the New York presbytery licenses and ordains men, not for itself alone, but for the whole church, and that it is for the whole church to say whether it will keep open a door through which men who do not accept its doctrines are pushed into its ministry. There are indications that the New York presbytery is pushing on to its own dissolution. John Fox, D. D., a member of the New York presbytery, likewise very strongly dissents from this action of the body with which he is officially connected. In a communication to the Bible Student and Teacher for May and June, 1912, Dr. Fox truly declares:— How seriously this impugns the gospel story need not be argued. Once more the church, with pitying eyes, must look on this sorrowful spectacle of three attractive youths, trained in Christian families and the Christian church, but reduced, under the influence of the theological school in which they had been studying (Union Theological Seminary), to such a pitch of doubt that they could not truthfully at Christmas time sing or pray or preach the virgin birth; could not at a funeral console mourners with the story of Lazarus; could not at Easter or on any Lord's day say unqualifiedly, 'I believe that the body of our Lord Jesus Christ was raised from the tomb by the power of God.' Yet knowing all this, the presbytery voted to license them. It would have been better to appoint a day of fasting and prayer for them and for ourselves.
As to the manner in which these young men may justly regard the action of the presbytery in giving them license to preach while holding such skeptical views in regard to the Scriptures of truth, Dr. Fox continues:— Not a word of caution or warning was uttered by the presbytery to their candidates. They might, naturally, infer that the presbytery regarded their errors as trifling, if, indeed, they were errors. Is our church ready to declare that its ministers and theological schools may, at their discretion, write not Credo, but Dubito, after every one of these articles in the Confession of Faith and every passage of Scripture which supports them?
If the members of the New York presbytery were the only ones holding such liberal and antichristian views regarding the qualifications for the Christian ministry there might be hope, but it is safe to say that their action will find many supporters and sympathizers not only among Presbyterians, but among Christian leaders of other so-called evangelical denominations as well. These young men doubted the miracles of the Old Testament, the accounts of the exodus as affirmed in the Pentateuch, the construction of the tabernacle according to the patterns given Moses in the mount, because, as Dr. Fox says, "they were at sea as to the inspiration of the Scriptures." "They doubted the raising of Lazarus because they could not trust the Gospel of John." In the shattering of their faith is seen the baneful effects of Higher Criticism regarding the Scriptures of truth. Verily we have reached the time when there is a departure from the faith once delivered to the saints. There is a letting down of the bars in the Christian church to open and avowed skepticism, a breaking up of confidence in the old foundations of Christian faith and doctrine. Can we wonder that the time has been reached in the history of the church when there is demanded a great message of reform. Apostate Christianity is seeking to make men drunken with the wine of her subtle philosophy. In the midst of the delusions on every hand, of the voices of false shepherds sounding from every quarter, God is erecting a standard of truth, an ensign for the nations, and around it will be gathered the true of heart, the loyal, faithful ones from every communion and from every nation. Let us prove faithful to the call of God to us, and in the midst of the gathering darkness prove light-bearers and life-savers to those wrecked upon the shoals of skepticism and unbelief. Note and Comment
By Editor
THIS is what a writer who signs himself Marquis de Fontenoy declares the newly created American cardinals to be. Of their rank as compared with government officials this writer, according to the New York Tribune, says:— It must be borne in mind that even though Cardinals Farley, O'Connell, and Gibbons are at heart patriotic Americans and members of an American hierarchy, yet they are as cardinals foreign princes of the blood to whom the United States, as one of the great powers of the world, is under an obligation to concede the same honors that they receive abroad, . . . and at any official entertainments at Washington the cardinal will outrank not merely every Cabinet officer, the Speaker of the House, and the Vice-President, but also the foreign ambassadors, coming immediately next to the chief magistrate himself. For such a claim to be made for the officials of any other church would be counted by all men most absurd, and first of all by the Roman Catholic itself. But these lofty claims on the part of Rome and those who are set for her defense are becoming so frequent of late, and are so fully conceded by many even occupying high government positions, that with the multitude they are beginning to pass as axiomatic truths. It simply shows the truckling to Rome on the part of politicians, and of others, who seek by admission of her claims to avail themselves of her influence.