A Statement of Facts Concerning Our Present Situation—No. 9
By Arthur G. Daniells
It should be understood by all that the counsel that came to us at the 1901 General Conference to reorganize was not a call to disorganize. Nor was it a call to abandon the essential principles and general plan of organization adopted by the pioneers of this cause. We accept the assurance that has been given us through the spirit of prophecy, that the Lord led and guided the men who were called to form the plans of organization for this world-wide movement which we are carrying forward.
Instead of being counseled to abandon any of the principles or essential features of our original plan of organization, we were instructed to adjust and develop the details of this plan in harmony with the growth and development of our cause. This is a most important consideration at this time. It is one that should be very clearly understood by our people. Did the instruction given through the spirit of prophecy at the 1901 General Conference set aside any of the essential features of our original plan of organization? Or did that counsel point out the errors into which we had fallen, and call us back to the original plan?
And further, what response did the General Conference make to the instruction given? Did it carry out the suggestions? And is it still doing so, or has it repudiated the work of reform and reorganization entered upon at that time?
All this can easily be determined by a little study of the instruction given by the spirit of prophecy, and the changes made by the General Conference at the time, and by its history since. The information required on these points can be obtained in the issues of the General Conference Bulletin of 1901 and 1903,7and the report of the session for 1905.
At the risk of going over a little ground already covered, I shall here give a brief, but complete summary of the counsel given to the General Conference, and the changes made in response thereto:—
1. “What we want now is a reorganization.”
2. “We want to begin at the foundation, and to build upon a different principle.”
3. “This work must be carried on in a very different manner to what it has been in the past years.”
4. “God has not put any kingly power in our ranks to control this or that branch of the work. The work has been greatly retarded by the efforts to control it in every line.”
5. “There are to be more than one or two or three men to consider the whole vast field. The work is great, and there is no one human mind that can plan for the work which needs to be done.”
6. “Greater strength must be brought into the managing force of the conference.”
7. “Men who are standing at the head of our various institutions, of the educational interests, and of the conferences in different localities and in different States,” are to “stand as representative men, to have a voice in molding and fashioning the plans that shall be carried out.”
8. “When we first met in conference, it was thought that the General Conference should extend over the whole world. But this is not in God’s order. Conferences must be organized in different localities, and it will be for the health of the different conferences to have it thus.”
9. “This does not mean that we are to cut ourselves apart from one another, and be as separate atoms. Every conference is to touch every other conference, and be in harmony with every other conference.”
10. “New conferences must be formed. It was in the order of God that the union conference was organized in Australasia. The Lord God of Israel will link us all together. The organizing of new conferences is not to separate us; it is to bind us together.”
Any one who will take the pains to read the addresses given by Sister White as recorded in the General Conference Bulletin of 1901, will see that the quotations given above cover the whole range of suggestions made concerning reorganization. And from a careful study of these quotations any one will readily see what the wrongs were, and the course to be taken to correct them. There were too few men connected with the administrative affairs of the cause. This resulted in centralizing responsibility, control, and management in a narrower circle than was demanded for the rapid, strong, and efficient development of the work throughout the world. And this naturally forced the few in charge of affairs to assume authority which is called kingly. The remedy pointed out was to bring greater strength—more men of experience and talent—into the management of the work. And this was to be done by organizing more conferences, especially union conferences, throughout the world, thus distributing the responsibilities centered in a few at headquarters. The placing of responsibilities and interests in local fields upon those located where the work is to be done will lessen the tendency for a few to assume undue authority.
This is the reorganization called for at the 1901 conference. Of course with all this we do not overlook the personal, heart-work required to make the best of plans efficient. Now we may ask, Did the General Conference reorganize in harmony with these suggestions? And has it adhered to the changes made? The following facts will answer:—
1. Before that conference closed the General Conference Committee was increased from twelve to twenty-five. It has since been increased to thirty-two. The members now represent the field in all parts of the world, and all the leading departments of our work. The chairmen of the Sabbath-school, Educational, Medical, Religious Liberty, Publishing, and Foreign Departments are members of the general committee.
2. Before the close of that conference steps were taken to organize five union conferences in the United States and two in Europe, increasing the number from one to eight. Six more have been added since, making the present number fourteen. These conferences are located in the States, Canada, Great Britain, Europe, South Africa, and Australasia. And by this time it is more than likely that the South American Union has been organized, making fifteen. These new conferences have added about one hundred and forty persons to the administrative staff of this cause.
3. Since the conference of 1901, thirty-three local conferences and thirty local mission boards have been organized in all lands. These have added some three hundred and fifty persons to our managing force.
4. Besides these regular organizations there are the department committees in charge of the leading phases of the work. The Sabbath-school has ten members; the Educational twenty-two; the Medical twenty-two; the Publishing twenty-one; the Religious Liberty ten; and the Foreign seven.
Thus there have been new conferences and department and mission boards organized, and the managing force has been strengthened by the addition of over five hundred of the most experienced and capable persons that could be selected.
5. In addition to this five colleges have been added to the twelve then operating; twenty-eight academies and intermediate schools have been started, and thirty-six sanitariums and treatment establishments have been opened. These institutions have added many more to the administrative staff of this denomination.
6. In addition to this work of organizing, the natural work of distribution has followed. All the institutions formerly held by the General Conference have been transferred to the union conferences in which they are located. And all the details of administration that can be pressed back upon union and local conferences and mission boards are distributed.
It is very doubtful whether any delegate at the 1901 conference had any true conception, at the time, of the marvelous changes that were to follow the simple steps then taken in harmony with the counsel given. These changes have given new life and strength to our organized work in all lands. We have proved that the distribution of administrative responsibilities and the ownership and management of institutions does not mean disorganization. We have proved that all these changes do not “cut ourselves apart from one another” and make us separate, independent atoms. On the contrary, it unifies and binds together. This is the testimony borne by scores of men bearing official responsibilities in all parts of our great field.
While I have endeavored in these articles to point out the chief causes of the trouble that has existed among us for years, I have been glad to be able to tell of a way that leads to unity and strength. The General Conference found that way and entered it in 1901. It has been a good way, and it is growing better all the time. Nothing can overthrow this cause. Nothing can stop the onward, triumphant progress it is making everywhere. To our Lord be all the praise.
A. G. DANIELLS.
Hinduism and Evolutionary Christianity
In view of the present tendencies in religious teaching there is much significance in the following explanation of the essential principle of Hinduism:—
According to higher Hinduism, salvation comes not by righteousness, but by knowledge; not by the casting out of sin, but by emerging out of ignorance. The root of all evil is not a discordant and unsubmissive will, but a darkened understanding. The remedy, therefore, is not moral, but metaphysical.
How much real difference is there between Hinduism and the evolutionary conception of Christianity?
The Word Made Flesh
By Ellen G. White
MRS. E. G. WHITE
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. . . . And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.”
This chapter delineates the character and importance of the work of Christ. As one who understands his subject, John ascribes all power to Christ, and speaks of his greatness and majesty. He flashes forth divine rays of precious truth, as light from the sun. He presents Christ as the only Mediator between God and humanity.
The doctrine of the incarnation of Christ in human flesh is a mystery, “even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations.” It is the great and profound mystery of godliness. “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” Christ took upon himself human nature, a nature inferior to his heavenly nature. Nothing so shows the wonderful condescension of God as this. He “so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.” John presents this wonderful subject with such simplicity that all may grasp the ideas set forth, and be enlightened.
Christ did not make believe take human nature; he did verily take it. He did in reality possess human nature. “As the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same.” He was the son of Mary; he was of the seed of David according to human descent. He is declared to be a man, even the Man Christ Jesus. “This Man,” writes Paul, “was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honor than the house.”
But while God’s Word speaks of the humanity of Christ when upon this earth, it also speaks decidedly regarding his pre-existence. The Word existed as a divine being, even as the eternal Son of God, in union and oneness with his Father. From everlasting he was the Mediator of the covenant, the one in whom all nations of the earth, both Jews and Gentiles, if they accepted him, were to be blessed. “The Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Before men or angels were created, the Word was with God, and was God.
The world was made by him, “and without him was not anything made that was made.” If Christ made all things, he existed before all things. The words spoken in regard to this are so decisive that no one need be left in doubt. Christ was God essentially, and in the highest sense. He was with God from all eternity, God over all, blessed forevermore.
The Lord Jesus Christ, the divine Son of God, existed from eternity, a distinct person, yet one with the Father. He was the surpassing glory of heaven. He was the commander of the heavenly intelligences, and the adoring homage of the angels was received by him as his right. This was no robbery of God. “The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way,” he declares, “before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth; while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth.”
There are light and glory in the truth that Christ was one with the Father before the foundation of the world was laid. This is the light shining in a dark place, making it resplendent with divine, original glory. This truth, infinitely mysterious in itself, explains other mysterious and otherwise unexplainable truths, while it is enshrined in light, unapproachable and incomprehensible.
“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.” Here the pre-existence of Christ and the purpose of his manifestation to our world are presented as living beams of light from the eternal throne. “Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the Judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek. But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” “We preach Christ crucified,” declares Paul, “unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.”
That God should thus be manifest in the flesh is indeed a mystery; and without the help of the Holy Spirit we can not hope to comprehend this subject. The most humbling lesson that man has to learn is the nothingness of human wisdom, and the folly of trying, by his own unaided efforts, to find out God. He may exert his intellectual powers to the utmost, he may have what the world calls a superior education, yet he may still be ignorant in God’s eyes. The ancient philosophers boasted of their wisdom; but how did it weigh in the scale with God? Solomon had great learning; but his wisdom was foolishness; for he did not know how to stand in moral independence, free from sin, in the strength of a character molded after the divine similitude. Solomon has told us the result of his research, his painstaking efforts, his persevering inquiry. He pronounces his wisdom altogether vanity.
By wisdom the world knew not God. Their estimation of the divine character, their imperfect knowledge of his attributes, did not enlarge and expand their mental conception. Their minds were not ennobled in conformity to the divine will, but they plunged into the grossest idolatry. “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.” This is the worth of all requirements and knowledge apart from Christ.
“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” Christ declares; “no one cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Christ is invested with power to give life to all creatures. “As the living Father hath sent me,” he says, “and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. . . . It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” Christ is not here referring to his doctrine, but to his person, the divinity of his character. “Verily, verily, I say unto you,” he says again, “The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself: so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.”
God and Christ knew from the beginning,9of the apostasy of Satan and of the fall of Adam through the deceptive power of the apostate. The plan of salvation was designed to redeem the fallen race, to give them another trial. Christ was appointed to the office of Mediator from the creation of God, set up from everlasting to be our substitute and surety. Before the world was made, it was arranged that the divinity of Christ should be enshrouded in humanity. “A body,” said Christ, “hast thou prepared me.” But he did not come in human form until the fulness of time had expired. Then he came to our world, a babe in Bethlehem.
No one born into the world, not even the most gifted of God’s children, has ever been accorded such demonstration of joy as greeted the Babe born in Bethlehem. Angels of God sang his praises over the hills and plains of Bethlehem. “Glory to God in the highest,” they sang, “and on earth peace, good will toward men.” O that to-day the human family could recognize this song! The declaration then made, the note then struck, the tune then started, will swell and extend to the end of time, and resound to the ends of the earth. It is glory to God, it is peace on earth, good will to men. When the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings, the song then started in the hills of Bethlehem will be re-echoed by the voice of a great multitude, as the voice of many waters, saying, “Allelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.”
By his obedience to all the commandments of God, Christ wrought out a redemption for man. This was not done by going out of himself to another, but by taking humanity into himself. Thus Christ gave to humanity an existence out of himself. To bring humanity into Christ, to bring the fallen race into oneness with divinity, is the work of redemption. Christ took human nature that men might be one with him as he is one with the Father, that God may love man as he loves his only begotten Son, that men may be partakers of the divine nature, and be complete in him.
The Holy Spirit, which proceeds from the only begotten Son of God, binds the human agent, body, soul, and spirit, to the perfect, divine-human nature of Christ. This union is represented by the union of the vine and the branches. Finite man is united to the manhood of Christ. Through faith human nature is assimilated with Christ’s nature. We are made one with God in Christ.
Awake!
By Christian
CHURCH of the living God, awake!
Arise, go forth at his command;
Behold the bonds of darkness break;
The morning is at hand.
Then shall thy beauty win the earth,
And alien hearts shall mercy crave,
When those who name the Name go forth
To witness and to save.
Go forth in the eternal strength;
One soul redeemed shall overweigh
All wealth and pomp and fame at length—
Go work for God to-day!
His love would bid thee sloth forsake;
Thy love shall bid his kingdom come;
Church of the living God, awake,
And bring lost sinners home!
— Christian.
The Spirit of Prophecy in the Church
By D. H. Kress
D. H. KRESS, M. D.
RIGHTEOUSNESS is right doing. No man can be righteous who is not a right doer.
In the past God's people have been reproved for wrong-doing by prophets sent from God, but in many instances they refused the message and messenger, claiming to be right, or righteous, and not in need of the warning or correction.
Jeremiah was cast into a dungeon because he dared to tell the king of Israel that his ways were not right. John was beheaded for the same reason.
Many are led astray by trusting to impressions. This is never a safe course. A self-satisfied spirit is no surety or evidence of being right. How, then, may we know whether we are right or wrong? There need be no uncertainty about this: “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” If our impressions or actions are not in harmony with both the law and the testimony of God's Spirit, we may rest assured that they are wrong and not to be relied upon; for the righteousness of God is “witnessed by the law and the prophets.” Rom. 3: 21. If our course is right, the law will witness to it, and so will the spirit of prophecy.
Anciently, when the people did evil before the Lord and forsook the law unconsciously, thinking they were doing right and keeping the law, the record says: Thou “testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law.” Neh. 9: 29. This reveals both the object and the need of the spirit of prophecy in the church, “that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law.” The law could not witness that they were right until they believed the prophets.
The remnant which keep the commandments of God have the testimony of Jesus Christ to witness to God's righteousness. Without the testimony of Jesus Christ there is danger of deception, danger of mistaking our own righteousness for God's righteousness, and being satisfied with it. Man may claim to be right, but if the righteousness which he claims is not witnessed by the law and by God's Spirit in his prophets, it is not God's righteousness; it can be nothing more than self-righteousness.
The children of Israel claimed to keep God's law, they claimed to be righteous; but when they were corrected, instead of acknowledging that they were wrong, they went about justifying their course or establishing their own righteousness, and stoned the prophets because they would not witness to it.
God still, as anciently, corrects his people by his Spirit in his prophet. To all who will take heed and refuse to trust in their impressions, or their own righteousness, and will do according to all God commands, it will be said, as it was to Noah, “Thee have I seen righteous.” The Lord, through his law and the spirit of prophecy, will witness to his own righteousness still. When in possession of it, there can be no condemnation. We know we are righteous, not because we feel righteous, but because God pronounces our course righteous. “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth?”
Wahroonga, N. S. W.
God's Strong Reasons
By Stephen N. Haskell
S. N. HASKELL
Almost every man has some strong personality. There are reasons for this. Such a thing does not come by chance. These strong personalities fit men and women for some specific work. It may be a good work, or it may be a bad work. God takes an account of this in the judgment. He says, “I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there. And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the Highest himself shall establish her. The Lord shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there.” Ps. 87: 4-6.
The early influences of a man's life, and even those before his birth, have much to do in making these strong characteristics. All this God recognizes, and when a religious reform is to be brought about, he has even sent his angel to instruct mothers how to live and how to train their children. Judges 13; Luke 1: 11-17. Because of this no man can take glory to himself. Sometimes God has used wicked men to do a great work for him. Cyrus, the Persian king, furnishes a striking example of this. Yet Cyrus never knew the Lord. Isa. 45: 1-5.
A knowledge of these circumstances and conditions that reveals, before they are born, what these men will do is God's strong reason why men should believe in him. He challenges all false gods and unbelief of every kind upon this point. “Produce your cause, saith the Lord; bring forth your strong reasons. Let them bring them forth, and show us what shall happen: let them show the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come. Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.” Isa. 41: 21-26.
This knowledge of future results, from present conditions and their relation to the future, is a divine characteristic of the Creator of the heavens and the earth. None can reveal this but he who knows the past, the present, and the future. It is One who can control circumstances that shapes character, that will fit men for a certain work when they seek him. Such a Being can give warnings through his prophets. His prophets are his mouthpiece. 2 Chron. 36: 12. It is not in man of himself, but it is the gift that God has placed in his church, for the benefit of his people. “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Prov. 29: 18. “If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.” Num. 12: 6. God's people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; and because they reject knowledge, he will reject them. Hosea 4: 6. “Believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.” 2 Chron. 20: 20.10Since the beginning of the world, when the voice of his prophets is not heard, confusion, waste, and desolation follow. Lam. 2: 9. We never would have had the book of Lamentations if the people had heeded the words of the prophets. The Bible would never have been written if there had been no prophets.
San Bernardino, Cal.
Say Ye Not, A Confederacy
By John M. Hopkins
JOHN M. HOPKINS
“For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.” Isa. 8: 11-13.
It is very evident from the following portions of this eighth chapter of Isaiah, that it was not limited in its application to the Hebrew nation. Verse 16 reads, “Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.” Evidently this applies when the seal of the law of God, the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, is being placed upon the hearts of his remnant people. See Eze. 20: 12, 20; Rev. 7: 1-3; 13: 11-18; 14: 6-12. (As the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is the sign of God’s creative power, the seal of his law as Maker and Ruler of heaven and earth, so Sunday, primarily dedicated to the worship of the sun,—hence called Sunday,—and it is later incorporated into the rites and ceremonies of the Catholic Church, and in the third and fourth centuries and onward, enforced by civil law, is the mark of the papacy; it is the sign, or seal, of that law-changing power. Dan. 7: 25.)
Hence we understand that the texts quoted above from Isaiah 8 have a special application at the time when the threefold message of Revelation 14 is being given to the world. “Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples,” means, we think, applying the seal of God’s law, the Sabbath truth, to the disciples of Christ, instead of, and in opposition to, the seal, or sign, of the beast and his image—Sunday.
But what bearing has the heading of this article upon this Sabbath question? some may question. Just this: for many years the Lord of the Sabbath has been calling the attention of the world to the claims of his holy day. This is the burden of the third angel’s message of Revelation 14. The unchanged law (unchanged by the Lord), the perpetuity of the Sabbath, is admitted by many, and indeed by the best and ablest theological teachers of Christendom. Notwithstanding this, the great body of Protestant churches, and the Catholics also, tenaciously cling to Sunday. Having, however, no divine authority to advance in its support, it being obnoxious and hateful to God as a usurper and the supplanter of his holy day, behold! the great body of churches are now uniting in great “federations” for the purpose of concerted action, not, it is true, at present in the interest of Sunday observance only, but for other supposed needed reforms. But the principal thing, the great outcome of all this unity of churches the world over, will be Sunday legislation. Indeed, this is most apparent from the following: “An inter-church conference on federation was held in the city of Baltimore under the auspices of the local ministerial union, on Tuesday, January 30, at the Eutaw Place Baptist church. . . . The presiding officer, W. H. Dunbar, D. D., president of the ministerial union, said, in answer to the question, Why this gathering of the representatives of the church of Jesus Christ to-day? . . . ‘We are gathered to concentrate our powers to unify the influence of the church in molding public sentiment and creating the demand for more effectual legislation.’”
Now when we take into consideration the fact that for many years the chief aim of the National Reform Association, having its headquarters in our national capital, aided by other powerful organizations, as the W. C. T. U., the Y. P. S. C. E., and many others, backed up by this great body of churches—when we see them constantly appealing to our State and national lawmaking powers for more stringent Sunday laws; when we hear them plainly, positively affirm this as being their object, we are forced to believe it.
Strange it may seem to many, strange it is in fact, that professed Protestants, intelligent men and women, with the dark, awful history of the past before them,—the history of the terrible result to both church and state of the union of church and state,—should desire and labor with untiring zeal to bring about a like condition in this country.
While Sunday legislation will be the chief aim, there will, doubtless, be other matters of religious belief acted upon by legislative bodies, and the inevitable result will be persecution, imprisonment, confiscation of property, fines for disobeying the civil law rather than disobey God, or shameful sacrifice of principle, and hypocrisy on the part of many.
The writer once heard a noted Congregational minister, Rev. W. J. Brown, say in a public address: “It is the duty of the legislature to interpret and enforce the law of God.” It is shocking that any Protestant minister should make such a statement. Let us analyze that statement by a few interrogations:—
First, can any State legislature, composed as they mainly are of unchristian men, often many of them very sinful men, interpret the law of God? Let God answer: “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Cor. 2: 14. Second, were they to attempt it, what would be the result? While not professing anything themselves, nearly all men in civilized countries have had some religious ideas or doctrines impressed upon the mind in early life, and when brought to action would very naturally contend for their particular beliefs. This would inevitably throw the whole legislative body into contention and disorder.
Imagine this in Minnesota. Then step over the line into Iowa, Wisconsin, or Dakota, in each of which there would most likely be a different view on many points enacted in their legislative halls. Upon crossing the boundary lines of each State, one would be compelled to change his creed to be in accord with the usages of another State. This, of course, would necessitate a final tribunal to decide upon the several differences of opinion. And who, pray, would be the head of this tribunal?—The pope, of course! And I want to say to you overzealous, misguided confederacy people that that is just the logical outcome of your whole federation movement; you are driving the whole Christian world into the lap of Rome.
Now, for the sake of righteousness; for the sake of the precious cause of Christ, whom many of you honestly, sincerely love; for the sake of peace and liberty in every land; for the sake of all you hold dear, spiritually, intellectually, socially, politically, call a halt to your misguided efforts. . . .
Third, were the several legislative bodies of the world to undertake to interpret and enforce the law of God, those who accepted their decision would accept the state instead of God, they would exalt Cæsar and dethrone Christ from their hearts. Then shall the state be allowed to dictate in matters of religion?—Never! Should this federation enterprise succeed, God only knows the awful consequences that may result from it.
Seventh-day Adventists are not working to protect themselves. They are working for principle, for humanity. They are not the only ones who will suffer in consequence of this unwise, wicked measure. It will throw the whole world, religious and civil, into the most horrible whirlpool of confusion, disorder, strife, cruelty, and oppression that the world has ever known. The seeking of legislation by the religious bodies of the world is a shameful confession on their part that they have lost the power of God from among them. Paul said: “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” Rom. 1: 16. State law can never make a man a “new creature in Christ Jesus.” How much better, how infinitely better, would it be for Christians to put away their sins, their idols, their worldliness, and turn to the Lord instead of to the state, seek power from on high to convert lost sinners to Christ, accept God’s message of mercy, of warning, fall into line with the plans and workings of God!
Villard, Minn.
How to Make Children Lovely
THERE is just one way; that is, to surround them by day and night with an atmosphere of love. Restraint and reproof may be mingled with the love, but love must be a constant element. “I found my little girl was growing unamiable and plain,” said a mother to us the other day, “and, reflecting on it sadly, I could only accuse myself as the cause thereof. So I changed my management, and improved every opportunity to praise and encourage her; to assure her of my unbounded affection for her, and my earnest desire that she should grow up to lovely and harmonious womanhood. As a rose opens to the sunshine, so the child heart opened in the warmth of the constant affection I showered upon her; her peevishness passed away, her face grew beautiful; and now one look from me brings her to my side, obedient to my will, and happiest when she is nearest me.” Is there not in this a lesson for all parents? Not all the plowing or weeding or cultivation of every sort we can give our growing crops will do for them what the steady shining of the sun can effect. Love is the sunshine of the family; without it, not character, nor morality, nor virtue, can be brought to perfection. —Presbyterian Banner.
Look Out for the Boys.
GET the boys to sign the total abstinence pledge. The saloon can no more run without boys and girls than a sawmill can run without logs. Its life depends upon the boys. It may be your boys, if you have any. How are you going to secure your boys against its allurements? Many boys just as good and just as well reared as yours, have fallen victims to its enticements. There is but one sure means of protecting the boy, and that is to abolish the saloon. Will you help to do it? The saloon-keepers says:—
“We must have more boys, at least
twelve each hour,
We must win by cunning devices.
To gather the brightest of youth’s flower
From the garden of home, its peaceful
bower,
We must use every art that entices.”
Two hundred and fifty thousand saloon-keepers are after your boy, and their wine rooms are open to your girl. For every drunkard that drops down, a boy starts in to fill the gap. Whose boy will come next?
Saloon kindergartens have been discovered in some of our large cities. They are rooms back of the saloons, fitted up with small furniture, toys, and picture-books, such as would delight children. Here wine is served in tiny glasses at the hands of some little boy or girl who receives a small recompense for services.
In one year nearly four thousand children under ten years of age were picked up on the streets of New York as common drunkards, and their acts made a matter of police record. In one hour in New York, recently, one hundred and twenty children entered one saloon.— Selected.