Earlier text: IDOLATRYTHE NEW BIRTH.
By G. W. Draper
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." 1 John 1:9. This is a plain statement of the results which will follow a confession of sin. The language used implies that if we confess our sins God is in some way under obligation to forgive us. It implies that if we confess our sins, faithfulness on God's part requires Him to forgive us; that if we confess our sins, justice requires that God should forgive us. Jesus has suffered death in our stead for our sins and thereby paid the ransom price for our redemption. The everlasting covenant between the Father and the Son was that if Jesus would give His life in their stead all who confess their sins and believe in Him should be forgiven. This covenant God will not break, and as His faithfulness and His justice are immeasurable and absolute, it is an absolute certainty that if we confess our sins He will forgive us. With how much confidence may we lay hold upon the assurance of forgiveness and salvation! But a mere lip confession, repeated as a magic formula, in which the mind and heart do not join, is not what is referred to here. In a true confession of sin is involved the experience of the new birth. "Except a man be born again, he can not see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3) is an exact parallel to "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." Many volumes have been written upon the new birth; but a simple consideration of the figure employed will teach us more than to read them all. We must believe that when the Saviour used a figure He used it accurately so far as it is applicable at all. A birth is a coming forth from that which envelops. It is, of course, in a sense the coming forth to enjoy a new life, but it is not the beginning of existence. A creature exists before it is born. So while it, after birth, has a larger and fuller degree of life and enjoys new powers, yet these are not necessarily involved in the idea of "birth." A creature may be born dead and consequently never enjoy any expansion of life and power, yet we, nevertheless, truly speak of it as having been "born." To be "born," or to be "born again," is for a creature to come forth from that which has previously enveloped it. That is all that is necessarily implied in the idea of "birth." As the purpose of the new birth, as Christ set forth to Nicodemus, is entrance to the kingdom of God, we may inquire what it is in which man is enveloped which prevents him from "seeing the kingdom of God." Many would reply at once that it is sin, and it is this mistake which keeps many from the kingdom. Sin, when treated as God invites us to treat it, and disposed of by confession, is no barrier to the kingdom. Jesus, by His death, disposed once for all of the question of sin, and God no longer imputes men's acknowledged trespasses unto them. Despairing soul, look up! Confess your sins and they are gone forever. But there is something in which all men are enveloped by nature which keeps them from confessing their sins, and bars them relentlessly from the kingdom of God. It is self-righteousness. As long as one is enveloped in self-righteousness he can never make a heartfelt acknowledgment of sin. As long as he, in his heart, believes he is good, he can not, except merely with his lips, confess that he is evil. From this envelopment he must come forth through the energy of the Spirit of God to see that he is by nature vile and unclean. Having thus been "born of the Spirit," he will make heartfelt confession of sin, and God will then, in His faithfulness and justice, forgive and cleanse from all unrighteousness. When we speak of self-righteousness the mind naturally turns to the Pharisee, because that quality and that character have been so long associated. To bring the lesson down to modern times, where self-righteousness is referred to, we usually think of some person who is very rigid in the performance of recognized duties and nearly always a professor of religion. But while there are too many of this class who "think in themselves that they are righteous and despise others," it would be a serious mistake to suppose that self-righteousness is confined chiefly to those who profess to be Christians. It is the common inheritance of humanity. Man, whatever his rank, profession, or condition, is by nature a self-righteous creature. When overtaken in wrong-doing, he will advance every possible excuse, reasonable or unreasonable, to show that he is not to blame, that others forced or led him into evil-doing, that his intentions were good, and that the peculiar circumstances in which he was placed were the cause of his wrong-doing and in some measure justified or extenuated his acts. Adam traced the cause of his sin to the woman, and indirectly to God Himself; the woman laid the chief guilt upon the serpent. Aaron, when rebuked for his grievous sin in leading the children of Israel in their idolatry, placed the blame all on them, saying, "Thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief." Ex. 32:22. And Saul, also, after violating the express command of God, excused his act by saying that he "feared the people," and thus was virtually compelled to do as he had done. 1 Samuel 15. This is the nature of all mankind except those who have been "born again," who have had their rags of self-righteousness stripped from them by the conviction of the Spirit of God. The thief, the drunkard, the covetous and avaricious, the brawler and the reveler, one and all, will find justifying circumstances for their course of life, and while admitting that people may have reason to take exception to their conduct, yet maintain that they are at heart good, and mean to do right. Such is the deceptiveness of self-righteousness. Reader, let the solemn words of the divine Teacher, "Ye must be born again," admonish you that all your claims to goodness or good intentions are in vain. Thrust from you as your deadliest enemy all trust in anything that you are, and, yielding to the influence of the Spirit of God, confess your sins, and God is faithful and just to forgive you your sins, and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. How They Became Convinced
By Editor
[Believing it would be of interest to our readers, the editor of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES has asked Sabbath-keeping ministers and evangelical workers to tell in a few words the scripture or scriptures, the truths and principles, which constrained them to accept the unpopular truth of the seventh-day Sabbath. These testimonies must not exceed 500 words. Let us hear from all.] FOR more than twenty years I tried strenuously in three different States, to have my way, and, tho laboring severely and suffering intensely, I failed. Sorrow and misfortune followed me continually. At last I turned to God for help, and He gave it, tho for some eight years I sought a fellowship and consolation among many different churches, but could not find it. I felt a great void in my heart, an intense longing for a revelation of the truth as it is in Jesus. I knew it must be somewhere, or God would not have placed in my heart the earnest desire that absorbed all other purposes. However, my search at last brought a rich reward. In March, 1894, my most inveterate enemy, who intensely hated the truth and all its followers, sent me a large package of old Review and Heralds, and in three days' time I was convinced that this was the great and glorious thing that I had sought after so diligently. I accepted it all, believed it all, and kept the next Sabbath and every one since. Thus, tho the papers were sent as an insult, it proves how God can make the wrath of man to praise Him. This knowledge has proved so perfect and satisfactory! It grows grander and brighter, sweeter and better, every hour. It shows that all of the Bible is in accord, explaining itself. It fills the heart and mind full every day, and the next day we are surprised to find new depths to be explored, new heights to be surmounted; still God satisfies and fills all each day. After six months' labor, with the help of Brethren R. M. Kilgore and A. F. Harrison, all of my family, wife, son, and four daughters,—accepted the truth, and consecrated themselves to Christ's work. I thought the foreign mission work of the most consequence, and have tried to qualify all my children for it. My oldest daughter is now in far-off Sumatra with Brother Munson; and, tho all of the others are doing grandly in Kentucky, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, I yet hope they will all labor in East India. B. T. WALKER. WHEN I was about seventeen years of age, two ministers came from Michigan and pitched a tent in our home town, Springdale, Arkansas. In company with the family I attended the meetings, but I do not remember that the preaching had any appreciable effect on me. But one evening father bought a package of tracts from one of the ministers, and among them was one entitled "Elihu on the Sabbath." The family gathered around the fireside while father read this tract to us. I was struck with the directness of its argument, and from that time was convinced that the seventh day was the true Sabbath, and that it should be observed. The particular texts that convinced me more than all others were, Mark 16:1, 2; Luke 23:55, 56 and 24:1; Acts 13:14, 42-44 and 16:13. When I saw that Inspiration spoke of the seventh day as the Sabbath long after the crucifixion and resurrection, I saw at once that it must still be the Sabbath. A few years later I was converted, and took my stand for the "commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." I find Isa. 58:13, 14 fulfilled in my case. W. F. MARTIN. Criticism
By John A. Adams
CRITICISM has its function, but a little of it goes a long way, and it can very easily go the wrong way. Doubt may serve to dislodge error, but it never builds, and, indulged, soon becomes a paralysis. Negation is a north wind, and never comes with the flowers and fruits and harvests of summer in its arms. The Christian religion is positive, the most positive factor that has ever entered into the affairs of man; and it is as tremendous in its energies as it is vast in its scope and object. To be in the spirit and purposes of it is to be positive. —Rev. J. A. Adams. THE Gospel of Christ has brought in the principle of brotherhood between persons who are not children of the same father and mother. Sin made enemies of brothers; Christ makes brothers of those who had been enemies. Where Satan put hatred even of brother against brother, Christ has put that feeling of brotherly love which reaches out far beyond the mere circle of the household, and grasps the hand of persons of every nation without regard to color, creed, or caste. The first feeling of the natural heart toward a person of another nationality is to set up a wall of repulsion, especially if the outward appearance of that person is unlike that with which we are familiar, and the language which he speaks is different from our own. It is that feeling that prompts the Chinaman at home to denominate all foreigners “foreign devils.” It is that same spirit which prompts the unconverted in America or England, or any other country, to look down upon or torment or abuse a Chinaman or a foreigner of any other nationality. The truly converted man or woman will never engage in “amusement” of that order. The considerate regard for men, without regard to race or nationality, is one of the characteristics of Christianity. Christ brought the Gospel that brought men back into brotherhood with one another, and back to the acknowledgment of the Fatherhood of God. That united again the disrupted family, insofar as men were willing to reunite the severed ties—but only that far. The unwilling brother can not be forced back into harmonious family relation. He remains outside because he chooses so to do. He is still a member of the family, still under the same fatherhood; but still a prodigal, unwilling to return to the forsaken homestead. Persistence in that course disinherits him in the end; but the faithful brother never ceases to watch and pray for his return. If he does return, he becomes more of a brother only in that he acknowledges the brotherhood and the fatherhood, and brings himself into harmonious relations with the brothers and the sisters and the Father whom he had disowned. He brings in loyalty instead of disloyalty; love and interest instead of hatred and indifference. As soon as he has come into full fellowship with the family of God, he begins to realize that he has other brothers and sisters who are astray on the bramble-grown moors of sin, or who, with calloused hearts, are wandering in dangerous ways of their own choosing, which must end on the dark precipice of eternal ruin. Then he begins to realize something of the burden of heart which others had felt for him while he was disowning those who were seeking after him in love. That true brotherly feeling takes possession of his heart, and the burden for souls rests upon him. Then he becomes a seeker instead of a wanderer, an advocate for God instead of a recruiting officer for the army of the evil one. The heat of the desert will then be nothing to him, if only he may find the wandering footprints of his brother there. The beasts of the forest, the fevers of the jungle, the terrors of wild men, will not deter him from following, even there, the path which the feet of his unreconciled brother have taken; and out of all such inhospitable places the searchers in God’s family are to-day seeking out—are finding—the brothers and sisters that are straying there, disheartened, bewildered, lost beyond any power of their own to find their way again. “Into all the world” the Head of the family is urging His children to go in search of the prodigal members of the household. It is a glorious work, an imperative work. The business is very urgent. When our neighbor’s son or daughter is lost in the woods, the whole neighborhood is intensely in earnest, and no time is lost in searching the hills and valleys till the lost one is found. We have brothers and sisters that are as truly and much more dangerously lost, who must eternally perish, unless some one shall go to the rescue. God is calling for such service. The time for rescue is short. Who will say: “Here am I, Lord, send me”? Have you found Christ? There are millions who have not found Him. You can help. HOW THE MOUTH REVEALS CHARACTER.
MEN often draw their own pictures, portray their own characters, without being conscious of the fact. And, strange as it may seem, they do the work with their mouths. Men who give way to anger are prone to give vent to their feelings by expressing sinister opinions of others. They fling opprobrious epithets at those whom they dislike, quite unconscious that they are actually describing themselves. Feeling it a natural privilege, even an innate virtue, to express the mind freely, they seem unaware that the expression of the mind is the expression of the character. The Scripture says of man, "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he." It is also true that the unreserved utterances of his lips are the reflection of the thoughts of the heart. This is especially true of words spoken in anger; for on such occasion no time is taken for second thought, or to cover the real sentiment of the mind. When in a guarded frame of mind, most persons are somewhat politic, have some idea of expediency, some desire to keep back disagreeable characteristics, and to present a favorable appearance, at least. But in anger all policy is cast aside, the real man is portrayed in bold relief, and the light is thrown upon the character as under no other condition. It is a mistake to say, Such an one is a good man, but he is given to fits of anger; he has a terrible temper, which at times gets the upper hand of him. The reverse is the true condition. The character is manifest when there is no reserve; the impulse of the moment displays the man, and the words uttered under sudden provocation or any sudden impulse are the index to the privacy of the mind. The veneering of restraint drawn over the thoughts and desires of the heart can pass current as character only before the dim visage of the human eye. The outbursts of temper and the indulgence of angry words are but the protrusion of character through the gauzy veil of deceitful appearance. When a man assails another with vile epithets, he is but telling—what he is himself. According to the Scripture before cited, the quite common retort, "You are another," aptly applies. It states the exact truth; altho the spirit behind the retort may be the same as that which actuated the accusation. The apostle Paul sets forth this principle in his epistle to the Romans: "Thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest; for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things." The human understanding finds it difficult to see how that can be; but it is truth, for it is the Word of God, and that Word "is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." It knows the character of man without his words, or in spite of them; and it says that the person who presumes to condemn another is adjudged guilty of the same things for which he passes condemnation upon his fellow-man. Again, the Word says, "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." The result is that "the heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his lips." So the inspired counsel is, "Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee," which can be done only by the acquirement of a new heart. Then the spontaneous utterance of the mouth, under any7 circumstance, will be the expression of a pure heart and of a character that will stand the judgment test. For "by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." THE FINAL RESULT OF GOSPEL WORK.
THE effect of the Gospel is twofold,—it is salvation to them that believe, and a witness in the judgment against those who believe not. The commission, as given by Mark, says: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” Mark 16:15, 16. Again He says: “This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” Matt. 24:14. A witness is one that gives testimony. So the Gospel message is to be a testimony to all nations, an official notice to every creature, that the Lord is coming to gather His own into His kingdom. See Matt. 25:31-34; John 14:1-3. And when this official notice shall have been given to all the world, then the event will take place. Now as to the effect on those who reject the Gospel invitation to come and take the water of life freely, Peter asks, “What shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God?” And we have the answer given by the apostle Paul: “To you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power.” 2 Thess. 1:7-9. The next verse repeats the fact that this destruction of the disobedient will take place when Christ “shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe.” Thus we have in these few scripture utterances the whole story of the ultimate effect of preaching the Gospel in the earth. CHRISTIAN ATHLETICS.
By Editor
It seems that new qualifications for Christian work are being put to the front. The popular colleges and universities are doing it, and if it keeps on, the M.A., the A.B., the Ph.D., the B.S., and kindred titles indicative of intellectual attainment, will be relegated to the rear of athletic accomplishments. The following announcements in the Examiner (Baptist) marks the tendency, especially the words that we have italicized:— Mr. John R. Mott, senior college secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association, has recently announced that several prominent college and university men are ready to sail for the Orient to become secretaries of the Young Men's Christian Association in Shanghai, Hongkong, and Nagasaki. Gailey, the big Princeton half-back, is now in Tientsin, where he has been conducting an association among the sons of the mandarins. Carter, of Harvard, who was on the winning hockey team, is traveling secretary for all the associations in the Indian Empire. Robertson, the Purdue athlete, who was instructed in engineering, is now at Nanking, the head center of the Chinese examination system. C. C. Rutledge, of Philadelphia, who was one of the crack baseball and football men of the Ohio Wesleyan University, will sail this month for Hongkong. For two years he was in the Naval Academy. He was a volunteer in the Spanish War, and rose from private to first lieutenant. . . . The great association of over a thousand members in the foreign concession in Shanghai will have reinforcements this year from America. It has separate departments for Chinese and Europeans. Plans are on foot for a building on the American model for each of these branches. Notable achievements in cricket and track athletics have made this association respected even among the numerous nationalities of the foreign settlement. Arthur Rugh, a former college baseball captain, will go to Shanghai. Inspiration sets forth a knowledge of the Scriptures as a thorough furnishing "unto all good works" (2 Tim. 3:16, 17), together with an abiding in Christ as an essential to fruit-bearing (John 15:4). The knowledge necessary to the acquirement of collegiate titles is not to be ignored, neither is healthfulness of body; but the association of modern athletic games as auxiliary to the work of Christ is an unwarranted commingling of common and sacred things. Christian athletics consists in being "strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might." Of the apostle Paul it was said that his "bodily presence is weak;" but where is the man, since the ascension of Christ, that has accomplished as much for the furtherance of the Gospel work as he did? RESULT OF REJECTING THE LIGHT.
THE responsibility which accompanies the knowledge of truth, and the consequences of not walking in its light, are forcibly emphasized in the Word of God. A notable application of the principle is found in Christ's denunciation of the cities on the Sea of Galilee:— "Then began He to upbraid the cities wherein most of His mighty works were done, because they repented not: Wo unto thee, Chorazin! wo unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell; for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee." Matt. 11:20-24. Light on the great plan of salvation increases as time passes on (Dan. 12:4; Eph. 3:5; Heb. 1:1, 2; Rev. 1:1, 2; 14:6-12; 18:1), so succeeding generations are held accountable for greater results in Gospel work than were their predecessors. Greater attainments are expected of them, both in character and in good works. But the foregoing illustration shows a wonderful retrogression even in the face of a wonderfully-increasing light. And the Scriptures show us that such degeneration, even on the part of those who profess to follow Christ, will continue till the end. See 2 Tim. 3:1-5. The culminating light in connection with the Gospel work is that spoken of in Revelation 18. It is represented by an angel having great power, and the earth lightened with his glory. This is the last effort for fallen man, and seems to be specially directed to rescuing the Lord's own honest-hearted people from the thraldom of the apostate church. This appeal is made just prior to the close of probation, as shown in verse 4: "Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." The whole chapter is a warning to those who have had extraordinary light, of the danger of going down to perdition in spite of that light. The result of rejecting this last-hour warning may be learned from verse 21: "And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all." The responsibility of those who have the light of truth, and the fearful results of failing to walk in it, are tersely stated by the Saviour in a few words: "That servant [that professed disciple], which knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to His will, shall be beaten with many stripes." NO ENFORCED MINISTERIAL CELIBACY.
By Editor
THE editor of the Christian Advocate, commenting on an advertisement for four pastors at four hundred dollars a year, to do circuit work, and the remark of a contemporary that the church thus advertising "ought to establish a monastic order and teach its ministers to live like Italians," gives utterance to the following good sense:— The glory of Protestantism as distinguished from Catholicism is that there is no enforced celibacy. Wherever its ministers live they exhibit to the people a Christian home; at least that is the ideal, and the majority of them reach it. To live in this country like Italians requires a climate very much like Italy. When the Italians come to this country they do not live as they did there, unless compelled to by absolute poverty. Four hundred dollars a year is less than is paid to hod-carriers in this city, and no more than is paid to hod-carriers in the country. A minister needs books and papers and clothes suitable for society and the pulpit. On circuit work ministers get a great deal more than four hundred dollars in the way of gifts from the people—not of money—but of food and other things. We have never been happier than when looking out of the window of a house in which we were boarded and lodged for two dollars and fifty cents per week, and seeing some hod-carriers going up and down who received eighty-six dollars a year more than we did, allowing for their holidays. It had cost them not a cent of money or a minute of time to learn how to go up and down a ladder. It had cost twenty-five hundred dollars and fifteen years of study in preparatory schools and college to fit us in a tolerable degree for the position; yet there were persons in the congregation that thought the salary of three hundred dollars too much! That ministers sometimes marry too young for pastoral efficiency, their own development, and domestic happiness, is true; but there is no need to raise up an order of celibates to keep up circuit work. 1470.—Christmas—When and Why? Will you please tell me when, and by whom, and under what circumstances, the 25th of December was made Christmas? J. W. B. 1. There is absolutely no command nor example for the Christmas festival in the Bible or the New Testament. The very word itself smacks of idolatry in its last syllable, "mas," from "mass," the Roman Catholic ceremonial, in which Christ is supposed to be literally offered in the wafer. 2. Christ was not born on that day, nor near that day. McClintock and Strong's Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Cyclopedia says, "The day of Christ's birth can not be ascertained from the New Testament, or, indeed, from any other source." There is much more Biblical ground for believing that it occurred about six months from the Passover, somewhere in September or October. 3. When first celebrated it was called the Nativity, was not an ordained feast, and was not celebrated on December 25. Some observed it on May 20, some January 6. It was not until about A.D. 380 that the Eastern Church adopted the Christmas festival on December 25. 4. The real origin of the custom was unquestionably an effort on the part of "devoted churchmen" to furnish a counterpoise to the Pagan Saturnalia or feasts of Saturn and Bacchus, held the latter part of December, sometimes in Rome, all through the month and extending even into January. These orgies were celebrated in honor of the return of the sun, the vivifying and fructifying of nature, and with all manner of drunken reveling, licentiousness, gift-giving, gift-receiving, and abominable idolatries. In Babylon, where it originated, this great festival was celebrated in honor of the birth of Tammuz, and the 25th of December was specially devoted to the birthday of the god. 5. The church, already in apostasy, compromised, as she did on the Sunday question, as she did on Easter, and adopted the heathen day with many of its excesses, and to furnish ground for "the faithful," declared that Christ was born December 25. The evergreen wreaths, the chaplets, the garlands, the fir tree, the yule log, the wassail bowl, and other accessories to its celebration and feasting, are all of Pagan origin. There is less reason to be urged for the observance of Christmas than Easter, tho Easter, Sunday, and Christmas, have all the same origin. The observance of such man-imposed festivals leads souls from the saving truth of God and brings worldliness and apostasy into the church of Christ. Much more might be said, for which we have not space. 1471.—Mortal or Immortal? Was Adam immortal before he sinned? L. M. F. H. He was not. There are no immortal sinners, and men immortal will not sin. Immortality is God's physical stamp of incorruptible character. When the judgment of God has found that the elect number of incorruptible characters is made up, then, at the second coming of Christ, immortality will be bestowed. 1 Cor. 15:51-54. If Adam had been immortal he would not only not have died; he would not have sinned. See article on "Man's Nature," in the SIGNS of Nov. 11, 1903, page 7. ROME AND OUR SCHOOLS.
By Editor
FROM an editorial in the Union Signal of January 14 we take the following striking setting forth of the attitude which the Roman Church sustains toward the public school system of the United States. It is well to remember, too, that this is her attitude toward everything else which she does not control in this country; and while remembering that, it would be well to remember that her cause is not weakened, but rather strengthened, by the efforts of Protestant editors and preachers to bolster up Sunday, the pet child of the Papacy, by legal enactments. We quote:— The Roman Catholic Church is persistent in its attacks upon the American public school. Its chief open objection is that our schools are “godless,” and the latest notable renewal of this charge is that made by Cardinal Gibbons. Had some individual priest or bishop expressed himself in precisely the same words as did Cardinal Gibbons, the incident would have lacked most of its significance, but when the man pre-eminent in Catholicism in America sees fit to utter his views upon any public question, it may serve as an index to the thought and purpose of the Catholic body as to the matter concerned. In this case the Cardinal’s remarks not only call attention again to the attitude of Catholicism on the school question, but they would also indicate two things: First, that Rome in America believes she has reached a degree of strength that brings bold and defiant utterance within the bounds of things to be taken seriously; second, that the public school system of the United States is one of the chief obstacles to Catholic domination in America, and hence an institution to be destroyed if possible. Were our cities overwhelmingly peopled by men and women thoroughly American in sympathies and views, the irruption of this question now and again might be allowed to pass almost unnoticed, but when we remember that our urban populations are for the most part of foreign birth and parentage, and also that an increasing proportion of this majority is now coming from countries where Catholicism has ruled the minds of the common people for generations, then the statements of the leading Catholic on this continent demand serious treatment. Cardinal Gibbons has said that “the system of public education in this country is imperfect and vicious, and undermines the religion of our youth,” and also that “the education of pupils therein is shallow and fragmentary, and often proves a curse instead of a blessing.” It will be noticed that he attacks our schools upon both the moral and the intellectual side. It is, then, in perfect order to inquire as to the moral and intellectual benefits that Catholic education has conferred upon those peoples that have long been guided by that church. Of course, the line of attack upon our schools is the demand that the funds for public education be so divided as to allow the Catholics to use a portion for their parochial school system. That is, all taxpayers must assist in paying the expenses of denominational schools. We note that some of our religious exchanges rather ignore the possibility of this being a serious issue in America, falling into our common American error of reading the future only by the past, overlooking the fact that we are a nation of changing populations and ideas, that to the majority of our citizens of foreign birth the ideals that inspired the founding of this nation are practically unknown. We are rather inclined to agree with Dr. Bliss, when he says: “It seems a concerted movement all along the line. Prominent Roman Catholics—including among their number the great name of Cardinal Gibbons, and making use alike of contributions to the popular press and more learned articles in the American Catholic Quarterly—are attacking our public schools as Rome has not attacked them for many years. Some believe that it is a new movement directed from the Vatican; but, however, this may be, the battle is on, and it behooves Protestants and all loyal Americans of every faith to be both forewarned and forearmed.” THE influence of the name "Christian" is recognized by Antichrist, and therefore it is being utilized as a catch by various antichristian "isms." Spiritism started out as rank infidelity, but in that form its influence was too much circumscribed; the adversary of souls is especially anxious to deceive those who have been attracted by Christianity. So "Christian" Spiritualism was invented, and is doing its deadly work of deception. At first, Socialism was an outgrowth of general opposition to organized government. It was a kind of refined anarchy, based somewhat upon the theory that it is possible to equalize property by popular force, and keep it in that condition. That, however, has been modified to the idea that a new political party, made up of the self-same factors that now constitute the old parties, but with new political aspirants at the head, would cure all the ills of the body politic. But as many people fail to see how men are changed at heart by political methods, having seen that political "reforms" result merely in more or less change in the persons who bask in the sunlight of official privilege, it is deemed necessary to vary the delusion. So we have "Christian Socialism" for a variation. There was a time when science was supposed to overthrow the teachings of the Word of God, and therefore to undermine the doctrine of Christianity. But science itself, by continually stultifying its own conclusions, demonstrated that many "scientific" theories were only "science falsely so called." Yet this does not refute the fact that there is true science, and that true science and God's Word are in harmony. But there is a class of people to whom "science" appeals in a weaning manner, and who have also a leaning toward Christianity; but viewing the matter mainly from the standpoint of sentimentality, they are caught by the euphonious term, "Christian Science." However, the attempts to demonstrate the theories of this cult exposes the paucity of either Christian or scientific results. But it serves the purpose of a delusion. Half a century ago it was a rare thing for a Protestant to recognize Roman Catholicism as Christianity. But to-day the most prominent among professed Protestant ministers recognize the Roman institution as a Christian denomination. Only recently the Young Men’s Christian Association of this city invited a local Catholic priest to deliver the address at one of their stated meetings, and made a great ado over the event. Would the Catholic Young Men’s Institute invite a Protestant minister to address one of its meetings? However patronizingly a Roman prelate may talk to a Y. M. C. A. meeting, or to any mixed audience on an every-day topic, Rome does not recognize Protestantism as Christianity. "Rome never changes" is a papal slogan yet. Then when Protestants ask to be taught by the Roman priesthood, when Protestants acknowledge Romanism as Christianity, surely there is a great change somewhere. But the change is not in Rome; confessedly it is not there; then where is it? Christian Romanism is another last-day delusion. Protestantism and Romanism fraternizing as boon companions is the veriest "Babylon," notwithstanding the assumption of the name "Christian;" and millions will go down to perdition through the great deception. See Rev. 14:6-8; ch. 17; and 18:1-5. Be not deceived by the name; it is the character that counts.