Some Methods of Living That Produce Poisons That Intoxicate Us — Health Impaired in This Way — Some of the Common Diseases That Result — How to Live So as to Avoid It
By David Paulson, M. D.
Medical Superintendent Hinsdale, Illinois, Sanitarium
Although there are about fifteen hundred diseases, yet there are only a few causes for them all. Likewise there are only a few ways of becoming well. The old-fashioned doctor frequently had fifteen different remedies for one disease, while the modern physician has only one remedy for fifteen diseases. For example, the fresh air cure is not only the most important thing in tuberculosis, but it is almost equally useful in fevers, nervous diseases, and many other disorders.
The Bible says the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth. It is a common mistake to overlook the real causes of disease that are close at hand, as well as the simplest and most effective remedies that are easily obtainable, and spend time and money traveling to the ends of the earth for a better climate, when it is really the inside climate that is causing the trouble. As a result of wrong dietetic habits, such people carry a vicious climate with them wherever they go; and though they may return sunburned and a little invigorated, they are face to face with the same conditions as before.
The Body a Poison Factory
It is important to know that even the healthy body is a poison factory; and the body of an invalid is doubly such. We breathe pure air; when exhaled, it contains poisons. The water we drink is saturated with toxins when eliminated. The cells of the body are constantly manufacturing poisons.
Furthermore, the alimentary canal of the average individual is a veritable paradise for germs. They naturally flourish there just as weeds do in the cornfield or bugs in the garden, and they are not there for any good purpose.
Our Natural Defenses
The child enters this world free from germs, but they are soon introduced in various ways into his alimentary canal, and then we must reckon with them in both health and disease. God has placed in the human body certain defenses to destroy and neutralize these poisons which are constantly absorbed from the alimentary canal. The thyroid gland should perhaps be placed at the head of the list. Its greatest business is to manufacture something that destroys these poisons; and one reason why goiter is now so frequent is because the dietetic habits of the majority of the people are such as to encourage toxins, thus overwhelming the system with poisons, and thereby overworking the thyroid gland.
The liver is another organ that stands between us and destruction. It is fortunately so arranged that practically everything absorbed from the alimentary canal should pass through the liver before it reaches the general circulation. It acts as a sort of custom-house inspector; and as long as it can hold out, the midnight supper, the outrageous banquet, the juicy beefsteak, strong tea and coffee, and even the excessive use of tobacco, can be tolerated reasonably well, and the individual can truthfully boast, as far as his feelings are concerned, “None of these things hurt me.”
A Group of Chronic Disorders
Sooner or later the liver begins to be a filter instead of an overworked protector; and then it permits some of these poisons to slip into the general circulation and batter down the resistance of the body, and what happens depends on the individual.
Perhaps the susceptibility to colds is wonderfully increased. Attacks of tonsillitis may begin to be frequent though unwelcome visitors. Possibly pyorrhea appears—that miserable, stubborn infection at the roots of the teeth. More than likely the skin becomes dry, inelastic, and discolored. Some lose flesh as if they had tuberculosis.
A larger number suffer from lassitude, dragging themselves around minus their former snap and energy. Others become depressed, and begin to believe that their wives have ceased to love them, or their husbands are not good to them, as the case may be. Still others develop persistent insomnia; for the poison irritates their brains so they can not sleep, and they beg the doctor to give them another poison to put them to sleep. A small number develop rheumatoid arthritis, that slow, persistent, obstinate swelling of the joints that used to puzzle the doctors and in most instances baffle their skill.
Frequently neuritis, various neuralgias, attacks of sick headache, are due to the same cause. Mucous colitis was formerly a very mysterious disorder. We now know that in most instances it follows long-continued auto-intoxication, and that after it has developed, it encourages the auto-intoxication; so a vicious circle is developed, which often taxes the ingenuity of the physician to the uttermost.
What Favors Auto-Intoxication?
The best evidence that this formidable list of disorders is largely due to auto-intoxication, is the fact that they either speedily disappear or improve, when the auto-intoxication is corrected. So it becomes a matter of prime importance for every one to become thoroughly intelligent as to the causes of this condition and how to correct them.
Nine tenths of all civilized people suffer more or less from intestinal stagnation, and this is as serious a matter for the human being as stagnation of the sewerage system in a large city.
Practically all this stagnation takes place in the large intestine, or the last few feet of the alimentary canal. Pondering over this fact, and recognizing clearly what it meant in disease and suffering to the human race, a dozen years ago Smith, a great English bacteriologist, Metchnikoff, head of the Pasteur Institute, and Lane, one of the world’s greatest surgeons, each independent of the other, came to the conclusion that the large intestine was not only useless but actually a nuisance, and men would do well to be delivered from it. And Lane actually began to remove the colon in a considerable number of aggravated cases. The results on the general health were in some instances simply phenomenal—which was apparently conclusive evidence that the colon was all wrong.
But a few more thoughtful men gradually came to the conclusion that it was the modern diet that was a failure rather than the large intestine; in other words, that it was the fuel that was at fault instead of the engine—that it was more sensible, and certainly safer for the patient, to feed him properly and undertake to clear out the colon, than to remove it.
Starve the Germs and Feed the Patient
Dr. Combe, the great European authority on auto-intoxication, says that the best way to disinfect the intestine is to saturate it with food that nourishes the man but is offensive to bacteria.
When dogs have their thyroid glands removed, they die in a few days if fed on meat, but can live indefinitely when fed on bread and milk. Likewise if a surgical operation is performed on a dog, under anæsthetic, which connects the blood vessel going to the liver with the one leaving the liver, so that the foodstuff coming from the alimentary canal does not pass through the liver at all, the animal can live satisfactorily on a non-flesh diet, but only a short time on meat. To those who have already overtaxed the poison-destroying properties of their thyroid glands, and whose livers are permitting poisons to pass into the circulation, these experiments should convey a valuable hint.
All physicians who have given any thought to the matter know that decomposing protein foods are the most virulent poisons, and that the substitution of a properly selected non-flesh dietary lessens the absorption of these poisons from one half to three fourths. In other words, the so-called “strengthening diet” really strengthens the germs rather than the man. Dietetic blunders may arouse slumbering and inoffensive microbes, and lead them rapidly to multiply and invade the whole system. The colon bacillus—a common intestinal germ—may under such conditions be found in the gall bladder, the kidneys, and even the lungs.
Some Dietetic Suggestions
Preference should always be given to solid, substantial foods that require thorough mastication. When monkeys are fed exclusively on soft foods, they are likely to develop pyorrhea, or infection of the gums. Thorough mastication not only excites the flow of the saliva and the gastric juice, but it also stimulates the intestinal movements.
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Eating between meals disturbs the rhythm of digestion, encourages the activity of the germs, and thus favors auto-intoxication.
Dr. L. Duncan Bulkley, the noted New York skin and cancer specialist, secures most phenomenal results in inflammatory skin disorders by prescribing an exclusive bread and rice dietary for five consecutive days. Lettuce, coleslaw, cooked spinach, and other varieties of green garden truck, cooked carrots, and similar foods, by their bulk stimulate the activity of the intestines, and their rich contents of mineral salts are beneficial for the blood. So it can be truthfully said that such foods clean the alimentary canal and the blood at the same time. Fruits both raw and cooked serve the same purpose.
If we want to enjoy simple, natural health, we must return to the simpler foods of uncivilized people. Bran biscuits, whole wheat bread made from the old-fashioned Graham flour when that is obtainable, are steps in the right direction.
Such fiery spices and condiments as mustard, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, etc., cause spasm of the pylorus, delaying the emptying of the food from the stomach, and have a tendency to produce nervous spasm at different points in the alimentary canal, thus promoting stagnation of its contents and at the same time encouraging hyperacidity and intestinal catarrh.
God has put a flavor into every food, just as He has put fragrance into every flower; and no food is in any way improved by adding to it stinging, burning, blistering, irritating substances.
Other Remedial Measures
Only a small amount of poison can be generated during the first twenty-four hours after the food is eaten; and that is the normal time for the food remnants to traverse the entire length of the alimentary canal. But among civilized people it more often requires forty-eight and sometimes even seventy-two hours or longer.
Such people have already discovered that they feel better after taking salts and various cathartics. But that is only substituting artificial dysentery for an abnormal stagnation. The ordinary laxatives increase the spasm of the lower bowel, irritate the mucous membrane, promote mucous colitis, and thus actually increase the absorption of toxins.
Provided there are no adhesions or other conditions requiring surgical interference, it is nearly always possible, by using a larger amount of food possessing bulk, and eating more liberally of fruit, to secure a normal bowel movement in the morning. For those who are not in the best of health, it is highly advantageous to take a small enema before bedtime. Securing two bowel movements daily, in the majority of cases increases physical efficiency and a sense of well-being from fifty to a hundred per cent in a few months’ time.
White Russian Mineral Oil
Dr. Lane, the brilliant English surgeon, was the first man to suggest liquid paraffin as a substitute for medical laxatives. Being a mineral oil, it is neither digested nor absorbed, and it can not decompose in the alimentary canal. As it is merely a lubricant, it does not create the laxative habit. For the benefit of our own patrons, we import by the barrel the variety known as the white Russian mineral oil, which is practically tasteless and very inexpensive. For those who can not secure it readily in their own drug stores we can supply it.
Of all the different medical laxatives, senna and castor oil, the old-fashioned remedies of our forefathers, are perhaps the simplest and the least harmful. Metchnikoff, the eminent French scientist, developed the Bulgarian bacilli idea with the view of helping to disinfect the colon. In many instances, these are undoubtedly advantageous. In other cases, they appear to render no benefit.
Many persons are suffering from intestinal stagnation simply because they have prolapsed abdominal organs, which produce kinks or strain of the intestine. Such can often be wonderfully benefited by wearing for a time properly adjusted abdominal supporters, and at the same time taking such simple exercises for strengthening the abdominal muscles as lying down and carefully raising the heels six inches to a foot from the floor and lowering them again, then raising the head and shoulders a few inches, repeating half a dozen or a dozen times once or twice a day. These exercises should be taken cautiously at first, until the muscles are accustomed to the exertion.
Above all things, our vast army of sedentary people need more outdoor exercise. While we can not reverse modern conditions, we may introduce into our daily life more normal conditions.
Many who are suffering of auto-intoxication can secure amazing improvement by adopting a sane, sensible plan of living. Others will need a careful physical examination and intelligent advice by some competent, conscientious physician.
Above all things, every patient who is struggling with ill health should remember that God’s wish for him is that he may “prosper and be in health” (3 John 2); and that if he will cheerfully use all the light Providence causes to shine on his pathway, God will give him all the health he will make good use of; and what is equally important, He will bless to his good all the ill health He permits him to retain. 2 Cor. 12:7-9.
A SEVENFOLD SIGN OF THE GREAT EVENT
By M. C. W.
A World-Molding Nation Rising to Power in the Last Days
NATIONS, governments, dynasties, peoples, are noted in prophecy for one or more of three reasons: 1. They are world-molding dynasties having more or less influence upon other nations and civilization in general; 2. They are nations that come in close connection with the work and people of God; 3. They are nations that are used as scourges of the professed people of God, or of other nations proud, arbitrary, oppressive.
As an example of the first we have Babylon, which has influenced all nations of civilization. Babylon also falls into the second class. Other examples of the second are, Medo-Persia, Grecia, and Rome. Examples of the third are the Huns, the Saracens, and the Turks.
Other nations, great and large, proud and ancient, like China, do not enter into God’s great prophetic time-table, because they have been neither world-dominant nor world-molding, nor have they especially affected the work and people of God.
The subject of this study is not only a world-molding power, but it has much to do in connection with the work and people of God.
THE SYMBOL
“And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like unto a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the authority of the first beast in his sight. And he maketh the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose death stroke was healed. And he doeth great signs, that he should even make fire to come down out of heaven upon the earth in the sight of men. And he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by reason of the signs which it was given him to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast who hath the stroke of the sword and lived. And it was given unto him to give breath to it, even to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as should not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond, that there be given them a mark on their right hand, or upon their forehead; and that no man should be able to buy or to sell, save he that hath the mark, even the name of the beast or the number of his name.” Rev. 13: 11-17, A. R. V.
The subject is presented before us under a well-known prophetic symbol — a beast. In the language of inspiration, in prophetic symbolism, a beast signifies a nation or government.
“These great beasts, which are four, are four kings [or kingdoms], that shall arise out of the earth.” “The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom upon earth.” Dan. 7: 17, 23. “The ram which thou sawest, that had the two horns, they are the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough he-goat is the king [or kingdom] of Greece.” Dan. 8: 20, 21.
By the same rule of interpretation, the two-horned beast of our study represents a great power which the infinite God has thought worthy to be brought into the prophetic field.
THE TIME OF ITS APPEARANCE
The time when this nation arises in the divine program of the world’s history is fixed by the previous verse: “If any man is for captivity, into captivity, he goeth: if any man shall kill with the sword, with the sword must he be killed. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.” Rev. 13: 10.
The prophecy of verses 1-10 of the chapter has largely to do with the papal head of the ten-horned, seven-headed beast. This is the head that was wounded to death, but the death stroke was healed. Verses 3, 12, 14. This is the head which sought to dominate the religion of the world through civil power for “forty and two months” (verse 5), “time and times and half a time” (Dan. 7: 25), “a thousand two hundred and threescore days” (Rev. 12: 6), each day symbolizing a year (Eze. 4: 4-6).
The twelve hundred sixty, prophetic days or years of the papacy closed in 1798, when the death-dealing blows of the Reformation had swept from that system its spiritual domination, upheld by the civil power, and as a beast — a union of church and state — it received a death stroke, or a deadly wound. That system which had led many captive, itself, in its titular head, Pius VI, went into captivity. That system which had put many to death for heresy (Rev. 13: 7), received the deadly wound when its power to persecute was taken away, reaching its culmination in 1798. Just at this time, John sees “another beast” — nation — rising to power: “And I saw another beast coming up.”
NATIONS AT THAT TIME
What world-molding power does history disclose as at that time coming upon the stage of action? All the great powers of Europe were then in existence, and had been for centuries — Great Britain, Russia, Prussia, Austria, France, Italy, etc. The German federation was not formed till nearly a century later; and the empire of Austria-Hungary, long after. United Italy was not effected till 1870. Not in Asia, Africa, or South America were there any powers rising to world prominence at this time. All the governments of earth were under the dominating influence of the great powers of Europe, the beast of the seven heads, or were of insignificant influence in world affairs, save one, and that was the United States of America.
In 1798 Pope Pius VI went into captivity. In 1776 the thirteen colonies of Great Britain in America declared themselves to be free and independent states. The war of the Revolution followed, and the new nation emerged victorious from the fray. In 1789 her constitution was adopted, and she was well launched as a nation.
She was not at that time great in population, wealth, prestige, or appearance, but in that youth were the potencies of a giant.
The first prophetic sign is demonstrated to be true. The great divine prophetic time-table of nations found the new modern government train upon the track, steam up, and ready, in 1798. The first specification is met. Henceforth the world will be watching the mighty child born into the family of nations. It is a sign of God’s foreknowledge and power and supervision. Here was born a government that was to be a sign of the end, and the first particular foretold in prophecy is fulfilled.
So the study of John Wesley led him to say, in 1754, of this beast: “He is not yet come, though he can not be far off; for he is to appear at the end of the forty-two months of the first beast.” (“Explanatory Notes on the New Testament.”)
Bishop Berkeley, about 1730, was led to say of America, in poetic language:
“Westward the course of empire takes its way;
The first four acts already past,
The fifth shall choke the drama with the day.
Time’s noblest offspring is the last.”
By the first four “acts” are meant Babylon, Medo-Persia, Grecia, Rome. America is the fifth and last, which closes the drama of earth’s history. M. C. W.
The next study will be on the place where the new nation is to be manifested.
Sunday Law Unconstitutional
OREGON has a Sunday law that was passed in 1864, but not many attempts have been made to enforce it. Recently the district attorney of Multnomah County ordered that all places of business be closed in harmony with that law.
The proprietor of a cigar store sold a cigar on Sunday, and allowed himself to be arrested, for the purpose of bringing the law into the courts. He was found guilty in the justice court, and fined $25. The case was taken to the circuit court upon appeal, and Judge Morrow declared that the law is not in harmony with the state constitution, and also that it is a violation of the constitution of the United States.
In giving his decision, the judge said, “I have been waiting five years to get a knock at this law, and this was my first opportunity.”
There is nothing right about any form of a Sunday law. A man is answerable to God alone for his time, and no state has any right to take any part of it or to prescribe how he shall spend it unless he is a criminal. A law-abiding citizen has a perfect right to spend his time as he deems best; and to make honest labor or honest business a crime on one day of the week while it is all right on another day, is something with which the state has nothing to do.
Beside all this, there is no sacredness whatever to Sunday. It is not a holy day. There is not one word of authority in the Bible for keeping Sunday. The Bible says that the seventh day is the Sabbath; and God has not sanctioned the change of the day from Saturday, the seventh day, to Sunday, the first day.
When men undertake to pass Sunday laws, they are not only violating a principle of freedom, but they are also setting up a day in opposition and rivalry to the divinely prescribed rest day of Jehovah.
The question is left with the conscience of the reader as to whether or not Jehovah will call men to account for setting aside His holy day of rest, and undertaking to condemn men as criminals for not resting on the rival Sunday-sabbath.
“HOWL, YE-SHEPHERDS”
ONE of the most solemn warnings to be found in the Bible is addressed to the shepherds of the Lord’s flock. It says: “Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel. And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape. A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and an howling of the principal of the flock, shall be heard: for the Lord hath spoiled their pasture. And the peaceable habitations are cut down because of the fierce anger of the Lord. He hath forsaken his covert, as the lion: for their land is desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of His fierce anger.” Jer. 25: 34-38.
It would seem hardly necessary to call attention to the fact that such a warning as this could not apply to true shepherds. It must apply to false ones. And yet while these shepherds are false, they manifest every confidence that they are doing the work of the Lord; for the Master has said concerning them: “Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.” Matt. 7: 21-23.
The true shepherd teaches God’s word, and he could not teach that Word unless he believed it. But it is one of the most conspicuous facts in the religious world to-day that the religious teachers as a class have largely discredited the Bible. A leading New York attorney recently said that but a small fraction of the ministers under forty years of age believed in the miracles of the Bible. But when you throw out the miracles of the Bible, you have to throw out Christ and everything that goes with His work.
Doctors of divinity are using very much the same language, not only in their pulpits, but in their writings, as was used by Thomas Paine, Voltaire, and the other great infidels of the world. These men who are discarding the Bible and yet are claiming to be pastors of the flock of God are misleading the world. They are seeking to teach that the world is growing better, and that we are going to have a time of universal peace.
Churchmen, especially since this war has broken out in Europe, are becoming more vehement in their assertions of the doctrine of universal peace. Every Christian certainly desires peace, and all should work for it; but a man who believes the Bible, knows that a condition of peace will never be reached in this world until after the second coming of Christ.
The people of this world right at the last, when they realize to the full the deception into which they have been drawn, will turn with awful fury upon these false shepherds who have led them astray, so contrary to the plain teaching of the word of God; and in the language of this scripture from Jeremiah, these shepherds will howl and cry because the day of their slaughter is come. They had no right to claim to be teachers of the word of God while teaching such misrepresentations of that divine Book. The “voice of the cry” of these shepherds, and the “howling of the principal of the flock,” will be heard when the Lord Himself shall set His hand to the spoiling of their pasture.
TOO CIVILIZED FOR RELIGIOUS DESPOTISM
ONE of the greatest dangers in this time is the thought so many people have that the world has become so civilized we will never have any more religious tyrannies.
Many people have been earnestly teaching, for a quarter of a century or more, that the world had become too civilized to have wars, and that even the weapons of war that were forged in this time were peacemakers. Many writers and public speakers had named the big guns and the Dreadnought battleships “peace-makers.” But Europe and a large part of Asia have burst into an active volcano of war, and this shows how easily we may be mistaken.
The hearts of men are practically the same in all ages, and the people of the twentieth century need to be as much guarded against religious despotism as were the people of any other age. It is better to guard against these difficulties in their embryonic stages than to be compelled to grapple with them when their strength has reached the proportions of a giant of tyranny.
GOSSIP
By G. B. T.
An exchange delivers itself in the following forceful style on the pernicious evil of gossiping: “We muzzle the dog, because once in a great while some one happens to get bit by a dog made cross with heat and lack of water, but a gossip can run around with ‘its’ tongue out, and bite more characters than all the dogs in Christendom, and no one ever thinks of muzzling it.”
This is a rather severe stricture, we admit; but considering the dastardly work at which it strikes, it seems to be none too severe. Scandalmongers, backbiters, and tattlers are everywhere. Their prevarications and exaggerations curse and damn whole neighborhoods. No refinement of character, no social polish, no modesty of speech, no education, no mental power, is necessary to enable one to start this business. All the equipment necessary is a mean, unsanctified disposition. More the pity that professed Christians stoop to engage in this unholy work! G. B. T.
FORCE OF HABIT
By J. C. C.
It has been said that habit is cumulative. By way of illustrating this statement, the law of gravitation has been pressed into service through demonstrating that a falling body rapidly increases its momentum as it sinks. It is the same with the force of habit. After a positive act, one is not exactly the same as before; and by repetition of the act, changes go on rapidly, with cumulative momentum, either toward good or toward bad, as the power of habit forces one onward.
George Eliot said on this point, “Children may be strangled, but deeds never; for they have an indestructible life.”
While there may be room for some modification of this sentiment, it applies to bad habits this far: Unless the grace of God intervenes, a smirched youth is sure to become a tainted man. Beware, then, that the force of habit leads in the right direction. J. C. C.
The Moslem Menace in South Africa
By Will H. Spicer
Great Proselyting Activity on the Part of Mohammedanism
The Missionary Review of the World for October, 1914, contains an article by the Rev. Samuel Zwemer, in which he quotes from a letter of the Rev. S. Garabedian, of Cape Town, and from other sources, upon the situation suggested by the title.
The facts challenge the attention, and appeal for the action of the forces of Christian faith. A few quotations from the letter and the article will outline what confronts Christian effort in that country:
“There are whole streets [in Cape Town] that once were Christians, but are now Mohammedans, and in some streets every other house has had one or more of its family become Mohammedans. Mixed marriages are very common indeed. Families and relations are half Christians and half Mohammedans; not because they were once Mohammedans, but the reverse.”
“The total Moslem population in South Africa, according to the colonial office list, London, 1913, is . . . 53,904, . . . not large in proportion to the whole population of more than 8,000,000.”
But the propaganda is carried on actively; and in view of the great progress that the Moslem faith is making in heathen central Africa, this attack on the southern base is most significant.
The objects of the propagandists are two. “One is their desire of winning merit and Paradise by their conversion of Christians to Islam. The other is, by mixed marriages, to make their race whiter.” The Malays are the chief workers, but Arabs, Turks, and Indians also have a part. The means of propagation are not exclusively those that may lawfully be employed by persons of any faith whatever in spreading their doctrines. They play upon the fears of the ignorant by the threats and promises of witchcraft, and by immorality. It is a common practice, with such workers, to marry a Christian wife under the Malay rites, which are not recognized by law. The unfortunate then has no redress in case of desertion, or in case the man chooses to add others to his family, as frequently happens.
FORTY MOSQUES IN CAPE COLONY
“There are no less than forty mosques in the Cape Town district alone.” “Moslem schools are being established everywhere in South Africa, and many of the children still bear baptismal names. The children are taught the Koran daily, and some of the schools receive government grants.” “Among the children, we are told, there are some who are pure Dutch and English, so that the better classes are being drawn in, and it is no wonder that some of these marry and become Mohammedans.”
Most of the converts are among the “colored”—mixed—population, some of whom are in a lamentable state of ignorance, and as a whole are in the socially embarrassing position of being unadmitted to white society, while at the same time feeling themselves above the raw, or for that matter, the educated, native. Many of these people, as well as of the natives, are but nominally Christians, and are bound in ignorance. “Many of the Christians are so ignorant that they speak of the mollah as a priest, and the mosque as the church, and the Koran as the Bible.” “It is painful beyond description to see everywhere white and colored, who were once Christian or Jewish children, now adults bearing Mohammedan names, wearing the Malay head-dress, often, alas, decorated with charms; and it is marvelous to see what a difference this has brought about—moral deterioration, aloofness, hatred, antagonism to their former coreligionist and nationality.”
The one good effect which it is suggested that this condition of affairs can have, is in the direction, possibly, of inspiring the live Christian forces, and leading to a revival of religion, and the reconversion of the back-slidden, whether joined to Islam or still nominally Christian. It has had this influence to some extent.
Another step that at this distance would appear to be needed, is the establishment of government schools that shall teach such facts as are undisputable, without fear or favor, and the abolishment of public grants to schools where the students are not made intelligent in these matters. Christianity has nothing to fear from instruction in the simple historical facts; but it is difficult to see how the traditional Islamism, or the modern, either, for that matter, could survive exposure to the light.
YET THEY ARE EDUCATED
“Yet the leading men of the Cape Town Mohammedans are educated. They have a number of high schools and colleges in close touch with the Panislamic movement of Cairo and Constantinople.”
In view of these facts, it is obvious that mere education is not the means by which men can be won. The blindness of fanaticism and devotion will lead men to believe what they please, to a very large degree; and the strength of the Christian religion must be found in the representation of the gospel of Christ in its true attractiveness. This will win men to a love for it, and will enable them to see clearly not only the strong historic evidence which can be presented, but also the experimental. Where there is light, darkness is impossible.
WILL H. SPICER.
Equipment Donated Foreign Offices
Expression of Appreciation from Leading Workers
FOR a number of years, it has been the privilege of the Pacific Press to unite with our Foreign Mission Board in supplying equipment for our printing offices in Africa, India, China, Japan, and elsewhere in the foreign fields. Early in 1914, we were able to send a number of thousand dollars’ worth of machinery to some of those fields. That this work has been appreciated is evident from the utterances of some of our leading men who are on the ground. We quote the following from an article that appeared in the “Eastern Tidings,” published at Lucknow, India:
“Doubtless all the readers of the Eastern Tidings are aware of the generosity of the Pacific Press Publishing Association in giving to our printing office, first a Cottrell cylinder press in the year 1912, and again at the first of this year a large lithograph press. We have just received word that they have granted our request for a type caster of the latest pattern, which will cost about $1,500. This makes our office one of the best equipped in this part of India, and will make it possible to put out with dispatch our ever-increasing work.
“The Pacific Press has also extended its liberality in helping to equip our printing offices in China, Japan, Korea, and Mexico.
“We are deeply grateful to our brethren of the Pacific Press for their gifts, and know that they will rejoice with us to learn how greatly it is aiding us in putting the printed pages filled with hope and salvation before India’s millions who sit in darkness. May God continue to prosper that institution, and greatly bless those connected with it who have willingly deprived themselves of needed equipment that they might help those who are in greater need and who face the difficult task of giving the final message of warning to the millions in heathen and Mohammedan lands. H. R. Salisbury.”
Brother L. V. Finster, superintendent of our work in the Philippine Islands, writes:
“I am glad to tell you that the paper cutter and Boston wire stitcher which you so generously donated to this field have arrived in perfect order. They are now both in service in our office, and we appreciate very much your help in our work here.”
“I am glad to tell you also that our mission home is now under way. We hope to be able to move into it in about a month.61
“The work is moving ahead here very fast. Last month was our banner month in book sales. We are having good attendance at nearly all our meetings.”
