Earlier text: THE WORK AND THE WORKERSMANY and varied are the influences which stand opposed to the Christian. Foes without and within dispute his advancement at every step. In the world evil combinations are forming against the truth of God; wicked men are combining to thwart God’s purposes and to oppress his people. We are not fighting against flesh and blood alone, but against principalities and powers and rulers of darkness in high places. We view with concern the gathering of the forces of evil and the powers of darkness, but we must realize that, after all, the real issues in the Christian warfare come in our own hearts. Here must be witnessed the greatest triumphs of the grace of Christ; here we must meet sin in hand-to-hand conflict. We must neither give nor receive quarter; it must be a fight to the death, a conflict which results either in the destruction of the old man of sin with his evil tendencies and lustful desires, or in our eternal destruction. And many there are today in the service of the Master who, while they are attempting to do worthy service for their King, are endeavoring to evade the real issue. Some there are, possibly acting the part of gospel messengers, who have failed to realize the power of the gospel in their own lives. They are preaching to others, but they themselves, unless transformed by the power of God, will be castaways in the end. The apostle Paul recognized this danger in his own experience, and so he said: “I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” Sad indeed will it be for us, after having turned away from the opportunities which this world affords us in the way of material advancement, and casting in our lot with an unpopular cause, giving our time and means to promulgate what we believe to be the truth of God for this day and generation, if that truth should not sanctify our own hearts and lives, and we fail of attaining that which we have been the means, under God, of helping others to gain. The assent of the mind to the plan of salvation is not sufficient. The intellect may be convinced, but it is necessary that the heart be moved and the life be changed; that the motives and purposes and wellsprings of the whole being be transformed. Are we who read these words evading the real issues in our Christian experience? Are we fondly congratulating ourselves that we are working out our salvation by refraining from labor on the seventh day, by the payment of tithes, by the making of mission offerings, by the distribution of literature? We may do all of these things and fail of salvation at last, because the salvation that Christ gives is “not of works, lest any man should boast.” Religion is not a mental assent to truth; it is not a belief in a historical Christ; it does not consist in a round of ceremonies and ritualism. It is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Religion has to do with the personal and individual relationship existing between every soul and his Redeemer. The question for each individual to ask himself is, Have this truth and this message accomplished for me God’s purpose and design? Have I received the truth in the love of it, making such application of it to my own needs that through the Spirit of God I have become transformed into the image of the Master? Am I at heart what I seek to make my neighbors believe I am by my outward actions? Have I a conscience void of offense before God and man? Is Christ giving me the victory over every besetment? Am I as patient and kind and loving in the privacy of my own home as I appear to be in public? Do I know that God for Christ’s sake has forgiven my sins, and that I am accepted in the Beloved? Around the experiences of everyday life revolve the real issues in Christian warfare. If we have been tempted in the past to avoid the real issue in our Christian experience, may God help us to enter the conflict today, and to give sin no quarter till it is eliminated from our lives. This experience will add power to our testimony. Then we can tell men that there is victory for them, because we have found the victory ourselves. We shall be able to say, Come and see what God has done for us; come and taste of that which we have found so precious. In that experience we shall render to God his own in tithes and offerings, not for the purchase of our salvation or from a sense of duty, but because we love to give to him who has given so much for us. Then will the Sabbath of the Lord be not alone a memorial of the creation of this material universe, but a sign of that same creative power working for our sanctification. Christ will put a new joy into our hearts and a new song into our mouths. Then Christian service, instead of being full of doubt and uncertainty, will be one of assurance and power in the Holy Spirit. Let us recognize and meet the real issues in our lives. “Rome Never Changes”
By C. M. S.
THAT hope upon which the Christian hangs with greatest comfort and consolation is the unchanging purpose of our loving Heavenly Father. We know that he is the embodiment of love. His tender dealings with his children in all ages prove it beyond any question; and the peace of soul that comes with full surrender to his will is a sweet confirmation of the Christian’s trust and hope. God has not left us to arrive at this conclusion through our own guessing, or philosophizing, but has declared the truth plainly, that we should not be harassed by doubts as to the certainty of our trust. Let us hear him:— “I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” Mal. 3: 6. And the author of the epistle to the Hebrews, in urging upon Christians the necessity of steadfastness in their profession and in their lives, declares:— “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yea and forever.” Heb. 13: 8. A counterfeit always proclaims itself to be such by the evidence it bears of its maker’s attempt to imitate the genuine. Counterfeits are merely imitations of something else that is true. The endeavor of the counterfeiter is to make them appear genuine. That is just as true in spiritual affairs as in temporal. The hypocrite is a counterfeit Christian; and the false church is a counterfeit of the true. The hypocrite pretends to be and do all that the true Christian is and does; and the false church professes to8 have all the characteristics and do all the work of the true church. A system has come into the world which professes to be even more than a true church,—in fact, to be the very kingdom of God on earth; and as one of the most comforting attributes of God is his unchangeableness, that system claims to be unchanging also. That system is the Papacy; and that claim is put forth to prove her genuineness and at the same time to prove all other churches counterfeits of the true. It is worth while therefore to examine the claim of the Papacy in this particular. In the work “Faith of Our Fathers,” by Cardinal Gibbons, those outside the Catholic Church are told that— in coming to the church, you are not entering a strange place, but you are returning to your Father’s home. The house and furniture may look odd to you. But it is just the same as your forefathers left it three hundred years ago. In coming back to the church, you worship where your fathers worshiped before you; you kneel before the altar at which they knelt; you receive the sacraments which they received, and respect the authority of the clergy whom they venerated.—Page 17. On page 29 of the same work we read:— Her creed is now identical with what it was in past ages. Again, on page 31 we have this pronouncement to the same effect:— And so the church proposes the doctrines of faith, such as they came from the lips of Christ, and as the Holy Spirit taught them to the apostles at the birth of the Christian law,—doctrines which know neither variation nor decay. Concerning the same matter a clerical contributor to the Catholic journal America, in giving the substance of a discussion with a Protestant, contributes the following:— A Catholic lady with whom he had recently talked had told him with a great deal of pride that the church never changed. This had made a great impression on him. He had failed to see the difference between an unchanging body of religious and moral truth and an institution whose methods might be adapted to the conditions of a special day. His Catholic friend had spoken proudly of the changeless body of religious and moral truth, and he had understood her as referring also to all the methods and activities of the church.—America, Oct. 17, 1914, page 8. The affirmation of unchangeableness in religious and moral teaching is so frequently and authoritatively made that it is not necessary to cite others. Now as to the facts in the case, what are they? Is Rome unchangeable? Are her doctrines the same as they were in ages past? If Rome in her teachings is unchangeable, we should very naturally expect to find that the infallibility of the Pope had been held as one of the dogmas or tenets of that church; for it is so held now. It must, therefore, have been so held ever since the days of the apostles; for “Rome never changes.” As a matter of fact, it was never adopted as the belief of that church until the year 1870, and even then there was the most strenuous opposition to it on the part of most brilliant and consistent thinkers and leaders of the Roman Church. On this very point, Dr. Doellinger, the noted Catholic theologian, says:— To prove the dogma of papal infallibility from church history, nothing less is required than a complete falsification of it [church history]. The declarations of popes which contradict the doctrines of the church, or contradict each other (as the same pope sometimes contradicts himself), will have to be twisted into agreement, so as to show that their heterodox or mutually destructive enunciations are at bottom sound doctrine, or, when a little has been subtracted from one dictum and added to the other, are not really contradictory, and mean the same thing.—“The Pope and the Council,” pages 49, 50. The proof of unchangeableness, purchased at such a price, is far too expensive. But in adopting the dogma of papal infallibility Rome did, in 1870, make a complete and radical change. The proof of this assertion is furnished by the same Catholic writer above quoted:— Some explanation is imperatively needed of the strange phenomenon that an opinion according to which Christ has made the pope of the day the one vehicle of his inspirations, the pillar and exclusive organ of divine truth, without whom the church is like a body without a soul, deprived of the power of vision, and unable to determine any point of faith—that such an opinion which is for the future to be a sort of dogmatic Atlas carrying the whole edifice of faith and morals on its shoulders, should have first been certainly ascertained in the year of grace 1869, but is from henceforth to be placed as a primary article of faith at the head of every catechism. For thirteen centuries an incomprehensible silence on this fundamental article reigned throughout the whole church and her literature. None of the ancient confessions of faith, no catechism, none of the patristic writings composed for the instruction of the people contain a syllable about the Pope, still less any hint that all certainty of faith and doctrine depends on him. For the first thousand years of church history not a question of doctrine was finally decided by the Pope.—Id., pages 63, 64. But now all questions of doctrine are decided by the Pope; and when he speaks ex cathedra, Catholics are to believe that he is speaking as the very mouthpiece of God. From that dictum in matters of faith and morals there is no appeal, and they are heretics who doubt. Before 1870 the Roman Church looked to the councils as final authority. After 1870 the council sank out of sight as the authoritative teacher of the church. In fact, at the General Synod of Constantinople in 680, Pope Honorius I was pronounced a heretic, and his dogmatic decision of the Monothelite controversy was declared heretical, and his name was struck out of the liturgy. Pope Hadrian I, in seeking to have the church approve of and adopt the decrees of the second Nicene Council on image worship, was energetically snubbed by the great assembly at Frankfort in 794, and “in 824 the bishops assembled in synod at Paris spoke without remorse of the ‘absurdities’ of Pope Hadrian, who, they said, had commanded an heretical worship of images.” There was no thought in those days of the Pope’s being infallible; he was not looked to then as the one great teacher of the church from whose dictum there was no appeal. Between the attitude of the church then and the attitude of the church now upon this question there is a vast difference. There has been a change—a remarkable one. The declaration that “Rome never changes” is thus demonstrated to be unwarrantable and untrue. Thus, while Rome claims this attribute of divinity, she is unable to substantiate the claim; and her claim being untrue, she proves herself farther from divinity than she would be if she had not made it. In another article we will show that upon another important count her claim is untrue. Always Triumphing
By G. B. Thompson
“BUT thanks be unto God, who always leadeth us in triumph in Christ.” 2 Cor. 2: 14, A. R. V. These words are true, though they do not at times seem so. This metaphor of the great apostle is drawn from the scene of an ancient Roman triumph, when some victorious general, returning from the gory field of conquest, ascended the Capitoline Hill amid the plaudits of the assembled thousands. The captive kings and princes were paraded before him, and prisoners carrying the spoils of war followed his carriage. Some of these captives were led away to be put to death; others were permitted to live. The Captain who leads in the Christian’s army is a victorious leader. He has spoiled the principalities and powers of darkness, having made a show of them openly; he has triumphed over the powers of hell. He has bound death and hell to his triumphant chariot. He has been received back to the throne of God, with the trophies of his victory as a mighty conqueror. Those who surrender to Christ to be9 led by him share in his triumphs in this life. They meet a conquered foe. Oftentimes they are indeed a spectacle to angels and men. Some have sat in the stocks. Some have been sent into exile. Others have been whipped, tortured, and stoned. Some have been fed to beasts in the arena. But through faith they have triumphed. Though living in caves and clothed with sheepskins, they have been victors through God. Many have been accounted the offscouring of all things; been hated, despised, mocked, and ridiculed; yet in the spiritual realm they have been victors. In heaven they will be accorded a triumph. Though seemingly conquered by force and superior numbers, they nevertheless by faith in the Son of God have triumphed even though they have yielded up their lives. Though, enslaved by the powers of earth, and marked as criminals through unjust and tyrannical laws, yet their consciences have been free; they have had liberty of soul. Though they were set aside and debarred from the society of those they loved and of the great of earth, they will be placed in the front rank in the society of heaven. Are you tempted to feel downcast? Struggling Christian soul, lift up your head. If you will but permit Jesus to conquer your soul, he will make you to triumph now, and in eternity give you a place among the victors. The Lord knows no defeat. He never leads his people in retreat. His bugle call is ever forward. With him it is a march and a victory. Struggle as they may, he can scatter the legions of darkness. His people may well be of good cheer, knowing that if faithful they will conquer, even in death. G. B. THOMPSON. The Lesson of the War
By Editor
Not alone to Seventh-day Adventists, but to Christian men and women of other denominations as well, is the great European conflict appealing as a notable sign of the times. Some striking articles have appeared in various church journals. The Sunday School Times devotes its issue of October 17 to a discussion of the lessons of the war and its relation to the great field of prophecy. Some striking comments are made in this number. Regarding the standpoint from which the present conflict should be considered, the editor, under the heading “Can the Great War Be Explained?” says: “The truth is that the only persons who are on the vantage ground from which clear judgment can be pronounced here are they who accept the whole counsel of God as revealed in the Scriptures.” Answering the charge that Christianity has proved a failure in not being able to avert the present conflict, the editor declares further:— Men are asking why a loving God can permit such tragic and widespread suffering. The church has a Word which reveals to her a God who, because of sin, must deal just as he is dealing with the nations today. Why is it, again is asked, that civilization, built up by Christian nations, is now failing at the very points where it was thought to be strong? The church of Christ has a word of prophecy, that shows that the present chaos is inevitable, and but the foreshadowing of the ultimate, complete downfall of a man-built civilization, Christian only in name. The church has a word of promise that gives her the glad tidings of how men may escape these sin disasters, and may cooperate in God’s own plan for bringing about the golden age which men have dreamed and which prophets have accurately described. God’s Word shows us that no form of human government,—autocracy or limited monarchy or republic,—supplemented by never so many peace conferences, will ever avail to bring final peace and good will on earth. God’s Word makes it unmistakably plain that only when Christ comes to establish his kingdom, which shall take the place of all present forms of Gentile rule on earth, shall peace come. Many argue that it makes no difference when Christ will come; that if we are only ready, that is all that will be necessary. An understanding of God’s teaching on the return of Christ has a bearing upon everyday life and duty. Now as never before we need to know truth. Many Christians think that all theories about the Lord’s return are unprofitable or even fanatical. Many other earnest Christians feel that it has little practical bearing upon their Christian service whether the Lord comes before the kingdom is set up, or afterward. Yet the question of how the church is to serve in bringing in the kingdom is determined by the question whether Christ comes before or after the kingdom is established. While many consecrated evangelists have labored earnestly for the upbuilding of the kingdom of Christ, they have never taken time to study the prophecies relative to the setting up of the kingdom. These men are at an utter loss to explain the present situation. Of this situation the editor declares:— But God would not have a single child of his in bewildering fog or darkness at this moment because of the relation of the world’s greatest war to God’s program. To many students of God’s Word there is nothing surprising in this war. To them there is nothing disheartening in it. It is indeed perhaps the most awful expression of sin that the world has seen since Christ first came. But our Lord has foretold such warfare, and he is so much mightier than the power of sin, that he can and will by his arbitrary might sweep aside its wreckage and ruin when he returns to reveal himself in glory, the King of the world that he has redeemed. It is not then merely a question of whether or not Christ may come to earth while we still live. . . . But to know that he is to come before his kingdom can be set up will prevent the shaking of the faith of thousands of Christians in this stormy day. Of similar import are words from other prominent men in this war number of the Times. In an excellent article contributed by Prof. Griffith Thomas, consideration is given to the futile efforts made by many well-meaning but misguided religionists to bring in the kingdom of God through social betterment, peace conferences, etc. Of this work Professor Thomas declares:— Perhaps the supreme lesson to be learned at the present time is that the kingdom of God is something vastly different from what is taught in many quarters today. Some people seem to identify the divine kingdom with the introduction of a new social order; others regard it as associated with the coming of civilization and international peace. But neither of these is the New Testament conception of the kingdom, and this war will do some good if it reminds many, even among preachers, that all the transformation of the social order and all The Hague conventions in the world will not usher in the kingdom of God. That kingdom is nothing less than the rule of God over life. The circumstances of the present war will open the eyes of many who have been “sidetracked” in their preaching of a social gospel and of an evangel of international concord. After twenty years of The Hague convention, when civilization may almost be thought to have reached its consummation, and when Europe has apparently been leavened with the principles of peace, this war suddenly takes place. It shows that in spite of everything, civilization and the kingdom of God are not synonymous terms. The effect of the present catastrophe upon Christian people generally he believes will be to make them “turn their attention all the more earnestly to the ‘sure word of prophecy,’ and make them look for deliverance to the imminent advent of the King, and not to any gradual amelioration of social and national conditions.” It is gratifying to see a journal like the Sunday School Times lend its widespread influence to an endeavor to lead men to study the present situation in the light of prophecy. The quotations given above might be supplemented by many others from various religious journals and writers, which indicate that the spirit of inquiry after the meaning of the things that are coming upon the earth, exists now everywhere. This is our golden opportunity to present clearly and distinctly the truths of the prophetic word. Providence has placed within our hands much excellent literature bearing upon the fulfillment of prophecy in these times in which we live. Let us scatter this literature like the leaves of autumn. But while we take advantage of this spirit of inquiry in the world, let us not be carried away with the spirit of the10 times, or even with the consideration of the issues of the war, to the exclusion of the proper representation of the truth in all its phases, and to the development of Christian character in our own experience. Professor Thomas concludes his article with the following excellent suggestions which we commend to the careful, personal consideration of every reader:— Meanwhile, as we ponder the present and look forward to the future, what is to be our attitude as Christians? The answer can be given in the words of a motto now being used in English commercial life: “Business as usual.” Christians everywhere must go about their Master’s “business as usual.” John 9:4. Hearts are still longing for Christ, and some of them more keenly than ever. John 6:68. The comfort of the gospel is as much needed and as potent as before. Rom. 1:16. The truths of the Bible call for emphasis and instruction just as they did three months ago. 2 Tim. 3:14. Prayer will be found as great a necessity and as real a strength today as aforetime. Dan. 6:10. It is recorded of Garfield that during a terrible crisis in the American Civil War he quieted a large and excited crowd by quoting these words: “Clouds and darkness are round about Him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.” Ps. 97:2. On this great truth we, too, can rest; and even though we walk in darkness and have no light, we shall yet trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon our God. Isa. 50:10. Autumn Council of the General Conference Committee
By W. A. Spicer
THE regular autumn council of the General Conference Committee was called in the offices of the General Conference, Takoma Park, D. C., October 25. The following members were present:— I. H. Evans, W. T. Knox, O. A. Olsen, R. A. Underwood, E. E. Andross, G. B. Thompson, E. R. Palmer, O. Montgomery, B. G. Wilkinson, Chas. Thompson, C. H. Jones, M. N. Campbell, W. W. Prescott, R. D. Quinn, S. E. Wight, F. Griggs, A. J. Haysmer, N. Z. Town, G. F. Watson, Dr. H. W. Miller, M. E. Kern, J. L. Shaw, L. H. Christian, C. W. Flaiz, H. S. Shaw, Mrs. L. F. Plummer, W. C. White, Dr. W. A. Ruble, C. S. Longacre, W. A. Spicer. I. H. Evans, vice president of the General Conference, called the meeting to order. He referred to the absence of the president, Elder A. G. Daniells, in Australia. On account of the interruption of sailing arrangements in the Far East, one of the proposed institutes that Elder Daniells was to attend, that in Shanghai, China, had been postponed. According to the latest information, Elder Daniells was planning to sail early in November from western Australia, to attend the biennial meeting in India. Elder L. R. Conradi, president of the European Division, had expected to be present at this autumn council, but was held in Europe by the pressure of the unusual situation there. Elder A. J. Haysmer, of the West Indian Union, was present as the one member from outside the North American Division. Auditors and Publishing House Managers
Taking advantage of the time of the autumn council, the union conference auditors had been called in convention, in order to join in planning for perfecting the accounting and reporting systems of the denomination. Publishing house managers had also gathered, representing houses in this country. These brethren, together with departmental secretaries, were invited to meet with the committee in council. The following were present:— H. G. Childs, H. H. Hall, W. H. Williams, S. N. Curtiss, W. L. Burgan, H. H. Cobban, C. L. Benson, W. E. Howell, F. W. Paap, M. MacGuire, L. W. Graham, E. L. Richmond, J. W. Mace, F. M. Wilcox, Claude Conard, W. H. Edwards, A. N. Anderson, J. J. Ireland, G. G. Roth, T. D. Gibson, A. H. Brigham, S. J. Lashier, I. A. Ford, C. L. Kilgore, Miss E. Graham, W. J. Hoffman, R. T. Dowsett, C. E. Smith, W. A. Harvey, G. H. Curtis, C. B. Stevenson, L. A. Hansen, T. E. Bowen, C. C. Lewis, W. W. Eastman, R. L. Pierce, C. Sorenson, S. Mortenson, V. O. Cole, S. E. McNeill, F. C. Gilbert. It was agreed that the program of the council, which meets in connection with the North American Division Council, should be as follows:— General Conference Committee sessions, 9 A. M. to 12; Division Conference Committee sessions, 2:30 to 5:30 P. M. Evenings for committee work or for sessions, as may be needed. The treasurer of the General Conference, Elder W. T. Knox, presented the financial report of the General Conference for the year 1913. Here we can only give the totals shown by the report, as follows:— Income for 1913, $586,977.11. Expenses for 1913, $550,375.90. Income over expenses, $36,601.21. The treasurer also presented a partial report for 1914, showing the operating account of the General Conference for the current year, up to October 18. The totals are as follows:— Income to date, $281,613.25. Expenses to date, $347,178.59. Expenses in excess of revenue, $65,565.34. Cash on hand available for operating, $92,750.48. The treasurer presented a report of the operation of the sustentation fund for the nine months of 1914, as follows:— Receipts for nine months, $56,368. Disbursements, $57,662. Excess of disbursements, $1,294. The council took up the consideration of the mission field calls and the General Conference appropriations for 1915. The treasurer stated that the mission fields had made their calls for next year on a very conservative basis. At the outbreak of the war in Europe it was recognized that emergencies might readily arise in many of the fields, and that very considerable help might have to be rendered to the European Division Conference in caring for its mission fields in Africa and Asia, as well as in giving aid in the various countries directly involved in the conflict. Owing to these considerations, the calls from all our mission fields were based practically on the work as it stands, without providing for launching new enterprises. Our brethren in the mission fields have most loyally cooperated in this year of stress, and though all of them might well have urged provision for enlargements, the effort has been to hold back until times are a little more settled. The following figures show the basis of the calls:— Appropriations for 1914, $491,923. The calls for 1915, $502,756. This shows that the total increase of calls was but about $10,000. The council, according to its custom, went into the estimates field by field. Various items were cut from some of the calls, while in other cases, items were added. Because of the new missionaries sent out since the fields made up their budgets, the sum total, when worked out, will doubtless be found somewhat increased over the $502,756. The specific field appropriations cannot be made up until the council closes and new work is figured in. Possibly a few notes on the study of the appropriations will be of interest to the reader in illustrating the manner in which these matters are dealt with in council:— Asiatic Division: $3,000 cut out from the estimate, the same being asked for purchase of land and erection of headquarters for the Central China Mission in Hankow, the Chicago of China. In harmony with the plan not to authorize building operations this year, the field was asked to postpone this enterprise. It was possible to reduce the estimate also by the expense of a furlough for Elder R. F. Cottrell and wife, whose furlough time was due next year, but who have, on account of the pressure this year, volunteered to remain for another year and a half before taking their needed change from tropical China. It was also found possible to advise a very slight reduction in the Malaysia Mission appropriation.11 Hawaiian Mission: The calls were reduced by asking the Hawaiian Mission to postpone for a time the plan for a much-needed alteration in the Hawaiian Mission building, to provide more room for the work. A thousand dollars was saved on this item by the postponement. Cuban Mission: The estimate of the Cuban Mission was increased by the addition of the salary of Elder H. C. Goodrich, who has been transferred to that field from Panama. Haiti: The budget for Haiti was increased by an appropriation to cover the salary of Brother E. A. Curdy, who has been added to the field in order to assist Elder A. F. Prieger, and to allow Brother and Sister Prieger to take a much-needed furlough, both being serious sufferers with the malaria. India Union Mission: Calls for new missions were deferred, but new workers having entered the field during the last year and other recruits being already on the journey, the committee voted an increase for the India Union Mission over last year's call. South Africa: $2,528 was added to the South African estimate, to provide for enlargements that could not be deferred. This means, however, cutting out a supplementary call from Northwest Rhodesia for the opening of a new mission field called Lusahas. In sending in the call for funds for projecting this new station beyond the Zambezi, the South African Committee recognized the fact that it might not be possible for the Mission Board to grant it this year. Elder W. H. Anderson, superintendent of the field in which the mission was to be located, wrote that there was an urgent call to push into a new region, but that he realized that in this year of special stress the General Conference might have to defer response. South America: By the elimination of some items, the South American Union Conference call was cut from $26,292 to an even $25,000. Thus the council gave study to the calls from the mission fields, these named being but a portion of the whole. The calls showed that in every mission there are open doors of opportunity waiting for workers to enter and reap the harvest of souls. We must send this first report to press while the council is just beginning its work. Belief in a Personal Devil
A READER of the Sunday School Times recently asked the editor of that journal if he believed in a personal devil, and if so what reasons he should give for his belief. The writer states that “a very intellectual minister, at the present time preaching not far from this place, disclaims this fact.” To the inquiry the editor gives the following excellent reply:— The Bible presents a personal devil so clearly that to understand its references to him as being merely figurative, standing for evil in the abstract, would be to bring the Bible below the grade of ordinary books in intelligence and trustworthiness. The Bible speaks of Satan or the devil as “he,” and “him,” not “it.” For example, we read in Heb. 2:14 that Christ took upon himself the body of a man “that through death he might bring to naught him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” If only impersonal evil has the power of death, such a passage as this, together with many others, very needlessly and ignorantly goes out of its way to present the devil as a person. The unique inspiration of the Bible as the Word of God becomes a strangely helpless thing if the person Satan does not exist. Again, he is referred to as “the prince of the powers of the air” (Eph. 2:2),—a far-fetched reference for mere abstract evil. And “Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing judgment, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.” Jude 9. Was it impersonal evil that wanted to get at the body of Moses? Our Lord Jesus Christ leaves us in no doubt as to the existence of the person Satan. When foretelling the time when the Son of man shall come in his glory, he says (Matt. 25:41): “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels.” Abstract evil needs no fire to punish it. . . . The apostle John is shown “the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, . . . bound . . . for a thousand years” (Rev. 20:2); and later, “the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, . . . tormented day and night forever and ever” (Rev. 20:10). Answering those who accused our Lord of casting out demons by the power of the prince of the demons, Christ answered, “If Satan casteth out Satan, he is divided against himself.” Matt. 12:26. All this is strangely unnecessary language if there is no power of evil in the universe save abstract sin and sinful human nature. And if there is no personal devil, how was the sinless Christ in the flesh tempted? He was led up into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. If the devil there means only abstract evil, how would that evil get access to Christ? There was no sin in him; evil promptings could not have come from his sinless nature; and he was alone in the wilderness. To do away with a personal devil leaves us in a difficult situation to explain this great crisis of our Lord’s earthly life. Let any one who honestly desires the truth on this question take his Bible and a concordance, and thoughtfully, prayerfully read each passage listed under the words Satan and devil. Then let him ask, “Is there a personal devil?” There can be but one answer that does not stultify the Bible, its writers, God, and oneself. Satan is a person, present with his personal helpers in this world, seeking to destroy the works of God; he is the most terrible adversary that mankind has. But Satan met his eternal conqueror when, nineteen centuries ago, Christ “despoiled the principalities and the powers,” and “made a show of them openly, triumphing over them.” Not a single attack of our great adversary can harm us if we carry the shield of faith in our Lord, wherewith we “shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one.” It will be a sorry day for the church of Christ when it has no competition from the world. That will not be until the church has lowered its standard to meet the world's level, and reaches out for unhallowed fellowship. Speaking of this spirit which exists on the part of the great Christian church, Peter Clark Macfarlane, former secretary of the national brotherhood of the Disciples of Christ, in a recent address in Toronto, gave utterance to these poignant words:— The church today is ambitious to be popular. It wants the crowd. It has built great churches to contain the crowd. Within twenty years we have doubled the seating capacity of the churches of the continent; we want these large auditoriums to be filled. The question I raise is whether the church can fill them and remain true to her mission. The people want to be amused. You can replace your choir by an opera, and perhaps fill the church. You can replace your preacher by Mr. Edison's talking “movies,” and perhaps draw a larger congregation. You may swing the doors open on week nights for all sorts of social and cultural things; and it is surely far better for these groined arches to echo with the happy laughter of youth than with the rustling wings of bats. But all that will not prove that yours is a popular church. It may prove that it is a popular place of amusement, of entertainment, of resort. But that which would be a success for a theater may be a failure for a church. The church cannot permanently compete with a theater as a means of entertainment; it cannot compete with the university as a means of education; it cannot compete with the newspapers as a source of news; it cannot compete with the clubs in the dissemination of artistic and cultural knowledge. There is one field alone in which the church is supreme, and that is in its legitimate field — in its message to the soul of a man; in its revelation of the character of God; in its capacity to pull aside the curtains of material life, and sit down with a man in the chambers of his inmost being and reason with him of righteousness and repentance and the judgment to come. CARRY the radiance of your soul in your face; let the world have the benefit of it.—Fox. Panvel, India
By A. G. KELSEY
WE are moving our school, dispensary, and workers into our new quarters, where we have all within one walled compound, with water pipe and other much-needed improvements. We have a fine Sabbath school of about fifty children. They are much interested in the lessons, and quite enthusiastic in learning the Scripture memory verses. They are nearly all non-Christian, but children of the better classes. We have a good interest at the dispensary. Our first two candidates are nearly ready for baptism, and we are thankful for this man and his wife. They professed Christianity, but were higher critics. Since hearing the truth they have rejoiced in the Christian’s hope. The people of Panvel are very friendly and pleasant, but they do not readily respond to Christian effort. However, we believe that there are precious souls here who may be drawn to Christ if we but continue the Christian life before them. Our work up to the present has been confined to Panvel alone, but we hope to move out into some of the near-by villages next year. The Lord has blessed us with good health since we came to India, and we are full of courage in the work, looking for Christ’s soon appearing.