Earlier text: The Work and the WorkersMisrepresenting the Saviour
By C. M. S.
Advocates of strong drink have for many years misrepresented our Lord and the apostle Paul, and in fact the whole Bible, over the question of alcoholic beverages. The drunkard and the liquor seller will insist that our Saviour made intoxicating drink at the wedding in Cana. Admonish the user of alcoholic beverages in reference to the danger of continual indulgence in strong drink, and he will hide behind Paul’s suggestion to Timothy that he take “a little wine for thy stomach’s sake.” There are even ministers of the gospel who insist that the “wine” made by the Saviour must have been fermented wine; that the wine used at the Lord’s Supper was fermented wine; and that fermented wine must be used now or the ordinance is not properly administered. None of these assertions are true. The inconsistency of holding such a position ought to have been apparent to all Bible scholars. The Saviour would not be likely, in instituting the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper, to prescribe as one of the emblems that which had been denied to all officiating priests from the time of the instituting of the sanctuary services. Here is Jehovah’s prohibition to his priesthood concerning just such a drink as our great high Priest is supposed to have used and instructed his followers to use in the Lord’s Supper:— “And Jehovah spake unto Aaron, saying, Drink no wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tent of meeting, that ye die not: it shall be a statute forever throughout8 your generations: and that ye may make a distinction between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean.” Lev. 10:8-10.
The Lord indicated in that prohibition the detrimental effect of intoxicating beverages upon the mind. With a priesthood given to drink there would be no distinction made between the holy and the common, the clean and the unclean. Had the priesthood through all the centuries heeded that command of Jehovah, the history of the church, and especially of the Christian church, would have read very differently from what it does now. That which caused men to fail to distinguish between the common and the holy and between the unclean and the clean in the old dispensation has the same effect under the new dispensation; and because that command of Jehovah has not been heeded by a large portion of the priesthood during the Christian dispensation, the common and the holy have been often intermingled and no distinction put between the unclean and the clean. Many temperance advocates have been troubled over the use of the word wine in the New Testament, and have not known how to answer the charge made by liquor dealers and liquor drinkers to the effect that the New Testament recommends the use of fermented wine. The real meaning of the Greek word οἶνος (oinos, wine) will be of great help in solving the difficulty. Οἶνος (oinos) means the grape tree, or vine plant. Οἶνος (oinos) means the fruit of the vine, or grape plant, and fermented wine is only one of those fruits. Mr. Ferrar Fenton, M. R. A. S., M. C. A. A., a thorough Greek and Hebrew scholar, who has made an exhaustive study of the subject of the Bible and wine, tracing every original word that refers to drink in the Bible to its original source and to its common usage at the time when the Bible was written, in giving the definition of the word οἶνος (oinos) says:— Οἶνος, the fruit of the vine, or grape plant. It is also used to denote various kinds of drinks or confections of other succulent fruits, such as the date and lotus fruit, according to Liddell and Scott’s Lexicon. According to Prof. Samuel Lee of Cambridge University, the root of the Greek word is undoubtedly the Hebrew vocable yain (wine); which, as I have before shown, . . . was not confined to an intoxicating liquor made from fruits by alcoholic fermentation of their expressed juices, but more frequently referred to a thick, non-intoxicating sirup, conserve, or jam, produced by boiling, to make them storable as articles of food, exactly as we do at the present day, the only difference being that we store them in jars, bottles, or metal cans, whilst the ancients laid them up in skin bottles, as Aristotle and Pliny and other classic writers upon agricultural and household affairs describe. Consequently the contention of some of my correspondents that the Greek οἶνος (oinos) always meant fermented and intoxicating liquor is totally inaccurate, and only arises from ignorance, or prejudice in favor of the delusion of the commentators of the Dark Ages, who fancied drunkenness was the highest delight, and intoxication an imperative Christian practice; because Mohammedan Arabians were a sober people.
The original word from which we get “wine” does not either in the Hebrew or in the Greek always signify an intoxicating drink. It referred also to “grapes as fresh fruit” and to grapes when “dried as raisins, or prepared as jam, or preserved by boiling for storage, or as a thick sirup for spreading upon the bread as we do butter; and that sirup dissolved in water for a beverage at meals, as described in the Hebrew Bible by Solomon and others, and amongst Greek writers by Aristotle, and Pliny amongst the Roman ones.”—“Bible and Wine,” pages 82, 83. Professor Fenton makes this further interesting explanation in reference to the drink used in the time of our Lord:— This mixing of the sirup with water ready for use at meals is alluded to in more than one of our Lord’s parables. The liquid was absolutely non-alcoholic and not intoxicating. Grape juice was also prepared by heating it, as soon as possible after it had been squeezed in the press, by boiling, so as to prevent fermentation, and yet preserve its thin liquid form as a drink. To insure this, certain resinous gums were dissolved in the juice, or sulphate of lime, or what is commonly called gypsum, was put into it, as is now done in Spain, to make the liquid clear and bright, and prevent subsequent fermentation arising from changes of atmosphere. All these plans for producing a non-intoxicating wine are still followed extensively in every grape-growing country of southern Europe and Asia, as of old.—Id., page 83.
From this we see that the word wine as used in the Bible seldom refers to the intoxicating beverage now designated by that word. The drink (wine) referred to by Biblical writers as permissible was not a fermented drink, but a drink made by diluting a simple, unfermented fruit sirup. Fermented drinks were made and drunk in those days and in the days of the prophets; but such drinks the Bible condemns. “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” Prov. 20:1. “Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath complaining? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek out mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it sparkleth in the cup, when it goeth down smoothly: at the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.” Prov. 23:29-32. This wine which sparkled in the cup was fermented wine, and the effect of drinking it was the same then as now. It bred every kind of disorder then, and ruined men’s bodies and souls then even as it does now. What our Lord forbade to his people then because of its deleterious effects he is not encouraging us now, by either example or precept, to make use of. In another article we shall deal with some of the specific texts used by liquor advocates to make it seem that the Bible encourages the drinking of alcoholic wine. C. M. S. The Law of Efficiency
By F. M. W.
An earnest effort is being made today to apply the law of efficiency to every department of human experience and progress. As never before, the man of business is studying to improve his methods and to bring in greater economy in the employment of time, material, etc. Gospel workers as well as business men must recognize this law of efficiency in their labors. The apostle Paul recognized it. His exhortation to Timothy was: “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Tim. 2:15. These times demand men of ability,—earnest, thoughtful, studious men, who will recognize the need of the improvement of every ability to the utmost in the furtherance of the work of God. But let the gospel worker remember that there is another equipment above and beyond any acquired ability, which he must possess if his labors shall become really efficient in the Lord. That equipment is the equipment of wisdom from above, the power of the Holy Spirit in the life. Without this the man of learning and human resource in the gospel ministry will be able to accomplish but little; with it his labors will be increased in infinite proportion. With this equipment the humble, unlettered fishermen became the mighty apostles of the Christian church. With it humble men and women today may do great things for God. The divine endowment greatly transcends in value and importance any human equipment, but Heaven does not place a premium upon ignorance. The Holy Spirit adapts itself to the human agency through which it works. It can use an unlettered, consecrated man with far greater power than it can use a learned, unconsecrated one. But the educated, consecrated worker can be used to the greatest advantage in the work of the Master. Let us seek for greater efficiency in all our labors, for broader knowledge, for improved methods, for wiser employment of time. But above all, let us seek for the heavenly endowment, the life-giving and wisdom-giving spirit of the Master. F. M. W. The Bond of Missionary Interest
By William Ambrose Spicer
CONTINUALLY we have reminders of the blessed tie that binds the hearts of our people together in active interest in the missionary cause. The missionary toiling away in one far quarter of the earth, isolated from associates of like precious faith, little realizes how very personal an interest is being taken in his work by many whom he has never seen. Out in Southern Oregon some time ago we heard of a little girl who returned from the missionary meeting with heart aflame. The children of that conference were working to supply a typewriter for the Tsungwesi Mission, South Africa, pioneered by Elder M. C. Sturdevant. Half the amount had been raised, and the State secretary had sent word to the local group that efforts must be made to close up the enterprise. This little girl came home with a purpose. “Mamma,” she said, “Elder Sturdevant just must have that typewriter, he cannot wait any longer; we have got to raise the money. I am going to sell my chickens and send the money in, for Elder Sturdevant must have that typewriter.” In itself, perhaps, a small item financially, in the great fund of half a million dollars needed every year for the mission fields; yet this little maiden’s interest illustrates the manner in which needs in the far fields appeal to hearts in the home churches. Thank God for a living movement and a progressive work that invites every believer to join in partnership with it. Here is another word just in from Mrs. A. C. Gilbert, Sabbath school secretary of the Saskatchewan Conference, western Canada. Writing of the manner in which the little children of that conference worked for missions, she says:— Some of these children have raised chickens; some gardens; some sold papers; others picked berries; two brothers owned a little cow, and their parents gave them the price of the best can of cream, which was ten dollars; and they were so pleased to send this in for the native teacher. Another little boy watered and fed a calf while it was in the stable, for which he received three dollars. This he sent in for the same purpose. I will not take more of your time in telling of the different ways in which they earned money for missionary purposes. Thus in every conference and local church the little rivulets are started which keep flowing on into the main stream of missionary giving until the mission treasury can pass on to the fields over a thousand dollars a day to keep the work moving. Our churches rejoice to hear the words of progress from the fields, and to the workers far away they send the message that they will stand by as God may enable, so that the means and the recruits may be kept moving onward into the regions beyond. Is Material Prosperity an Evidence of Spiritual Growth?
By F. M. W.
In the excellent progress which is attending this movement at the present time, it is well for us to stop and consider this question. We are selling more books than ever before in our history. We are paying more tithe. We are giving more toward the support of foreign missions. We have materially increased our organized forces. Our institutions are found in every quarter of the earth. Are these activities a proof of increasing personal piety in the church? They should indeed stand as the fruit of piety; and we believe that on the part of many believers in this message they are the outward evidences of a deepening experience in God. But, dear reader, how is it in your individual case? We need to consider this question from the individual rather than from the denominational standpoint. It is possible to go out and preach the message, hold Bible studies, sell religious literature, with commercial rather than missionary motives. One may even form the habit of giving to missionary enterprises (and it is an excellent habit to form) from motives far removed from those of true Christian liberality. This movement has grown into a great, active, organized agency. This has been made possible by the earnestness, the zeal, the labors, of the believers in this message. But as we may possess a zeal without knowledge, so we may possess a zeal without piety. Has the spirit of personal piety kept pace with the spirit of zeal? Are the men and women connected with this work as devoted to God, as consecrated of life, as pure of heart, as unsullied by the world, as free from the power and the thralldom of personal sin, as were the believers of two or three or four decades ago? Has the fine gold of faith become tarnished, the love of the truth corrupted? Has the simplicity of life and experience departed? Let each for himself consider these vital questions. Some, we know, in their personal experience have kept pace with the material progress made. Others, we fear, have fallen behind. In the hearts of some,9 worldly principles have found entrance. They have grown weary of the way, and their hearts are turned back to Egypt’s allurements. Dear reader, where do you stand? Are you a preacher,—a messenger of God’s saving grace to those who know it not? Do you know the power of the gospel in your own life? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you kept from falling by faith in his mighty power? This experience in your life will give power to your testimony. Without it your message will be as sounding brass and as a tinkling cymbal. And in your experience, dear Bible worker, canvasser, physician, nurse, teacher, it will prove the same. The overshadowing demand of this hour is not for more money, larger book sales, increased patronage in school and sanitarium. These are all desirable; but above these, the demand for greater personal piety, for more of God in the soul, is loud and insistent. “God with us,”—this is the need of this people. The spirit of power and of sanctification and of wisdom is needed by the church. Possessing this spirit, every necessity to the finishing of the work will be supplied. Consecrated men and devoted means will be ready for every opening, and a speedy work will the Master accomplish through his people. Our only hope in the finishing of this work in this generation is in God. Christ in us, Christ working for us and through us,—in this union with the divine, will the work be accomplished. F. M. W. The Prisoner's Prayer and the Opened Door
By W. A. S.
Of the year 1556, in England, Foxe, the martyrologist, gives a narrative of the deliverance of Agnes Wardell in answer to her prayer to God. She and her husband were Protestants, and had been compelled to flee from their home in Ipswich, leaving their children behind, in the care of a maid. The mother returned secretly to see her children, and somehow the officers learned of her presence and came after her. The maid locked her in a clothespress. The officers passed and repassed the hiding place, and finally went away, but took the maid with them. Mrs. Wardell was suffocating, and felt her life going. She managed at last to call a tenant woman, and told her where to find the key. A long time the woman worked with the key, and had to give it up. The lock would not open. Then, says Foxe:— She desired her to break it open; “for,” said she, “I had rather fall into their hands than to kill myself.” Then went she, her mother’s tenant, and sought for her husband’s hammer and chisel to break it open, but could not find them, nor anything else to break it open withal, and came again, and told her she could find nothing to break it open with. Then said she, “Essay again to open it, for I trust God will give you power to open it.” And being within in much extremity, she heartily prayed unto God, who heard her prayer and helped her; for, at the first essay and turn of the key, it opened easily. When she came out, she looked as pale and bleak as one that were laid out dead. Christian Unity
By F. M. W.
It is interesting, and amusing as well, to watch the various somersaults and contortions and the devious windings and twistings indulged in by the advocates of church unity to agree upon some basis of church federation. Of this the Texas Christian Advocate says:— In this time, when so much is being written and said about the desirability of organic unity of the Christian churches, isn’t it a strange ecclesiastical phenomenon that those who advocate most strenuously the union of the churches, lay down a platform for such union, and announce that they are already standing on it with both feet, have built their own sectarian platform, which contains one or more tenets as essential to unity that other Christians cannot accept without stultifying themselves? Unity pamphlets are sent out, pleading for unity, that make a condition that is both unreasonable and distasteful. The Advocate then proceeds to give its views of the basis of sectarian unity:— If organic unity of the churches ever comes, it will be based on a platform of faith and order made up of what is common in all churches. No sectarian tenet will have any place there. These deluded advocates of unity need to go back and study the greatest common divisor as worked out in Ray’s Arithmetic, in the making of which only common factors are taken. It is just so in making this unity platform. No plank now peculiar to the Methodists, or to the Baptists, or to the Episcopalians, or to the Presbyterians, can be used, but planks common to them all must be taken. The talk for unity that says, “All others must accept our characteristic sectarian plank,” is worse than futile. They are talking one way and living another way. Undoubtedly if a working federation of the churches is ever brought about, it must be on such a basis as that proposed by the Advocate, but after all, what will such a union be worth? If the Methodists in entering such a union must deny everything peculiar to Methodism, if the Baptists must surrender the principles which have made them a separate denomination for years, if the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians must likewise sacrifice their peculiar religious tenets, there will be brought together a strange conglomeration of religious creeds. Entering such a union, each denomination must deny its experience of the past. It must declare that that for which it has contended all these years has been a mistake, and with this admission we should be inclined for the most part to agree. But better a community separated into a hundred independent religious organizations possessing convictions and contending for the faith, as they understand it, which was once delivered to the saints, rather than a united spineless, conscienceless organization without convictions, following blindly in the path of human leadership. There is but one center of unity, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ; one basis of united faith, and that is the Scriptures of Truth. Accepting the Scriptures as the basis of faith, it would be necessary for some of these denominations to make a great revolution in their creeds and religious beliefs. All would have to abandon the human institution which has supplanted the Sabbath of Jehovah. It would be necessary for a very large majority to surrender their faith in the immortality of the soul, the conscious state of the dead, and the eternal torment of the wicked. It would be necessary to abandon their hope of a temporal millennium before the coming of the Lord. In fact, the revolution would be so great that we greatly fear that a union on this basis will never be worked out this side of the coming of the Lord, and a union on any other basis can be but a human union at the best. And when the great final test of character comes, all human confederacies will prove ropes of sand. Let us make Christ and his Word the center of our hopes, the safe and sure foundation of our faith and experience. F. M. W. Is It Right?
By I. H. Evans
The question, “Is it right?” is one that is ever present with the sincere Christian. He applies this criterion to all he does, and is continually measuring his life by this one standard. By this measuring line his conscience approves or disapproves every act or word. The worldling is not guided by this standard in his actions. With him the question is not, “Is it right?” but rather, “Is it expedient? is it popular? is it lawful? will it bring gain?” The heathen, according to his enlightenment, is guided by the same rule of action. But the standard of the Christian is more exalted. The Word of God is his infallible guide. “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” In all the Christian does, he applies the Word of God as the rule of righteousness. If the Word approves his course, he knows it is right; if he cannot find any Scriptural authority10 for his actions, he fears they may be wrong. The kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom. Its prosperity depends not upon outward show or material things. The Pharisees asked Christ when the kingdom would come, and he replied, “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation.” That is, it is not material; it cannot be seen with the eye. Christ said of the Father and his worship, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” Just before his death he said, “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight.” The pure church must ever remain separate from the world. Its power and influence for good must always be in spiritual things. Its strong men must be rich in faith, mighty in prayer, and earnest, studious exponents of the Word of God. With Paul, they must “know Him and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings.” Material things belong not to the realm of the kingdom of God. They belong to this world. Therefore, the citizens of the heavenly kingdom should heed the divine injunction: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world,” ever remembering that “if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” A church devoid of spirituality will love the world, for it will be like the world. The lives of its members will be like the lives of worldlings, and they will be satisfied with material things. But the true people of God will live and toil for the establishment and enlargement of his kingdom. Christ said, “The kingdom of God is within you.” This kingdom is in the hearts of men. It cannot consist of buildings made of brick or stone, however fair and enduring. When the disciples wished to impress upon Jesus the strength and beauty of the temple at Jerusalem, in which they took great pride, he said to them, “There shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.” Some of the most magnificent church buildings to be found in the world today were built during the Dark Ages, when the church was far from God. The Son of God has paid the debt for sin. He has broken the bands of slavery to Satan, and redeemed man from the bondage to which he had sold himself. To his people he has promised rest, joy, and peace. To the weary and heavy-laden, Jesus says, “Come unto me, . . . and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” The gospel of Jesus Christ assures peace to his people; never does it place his church under bondage. Never does it exact more than his people can perform. The only service acceptable to God is the service of love. Debt for money is bondage unless one has ample possibilities with which to pay. One can hardly conceive of a more embarrassing condition than to be obligated for money he is not able to pay according to promise. We search in vain for an illustration in the Word of God where God’s people have ever borrowed money with which to carry forward his work. When the Lord commanded the tabernacle to be built in the wilderness, the invitation was given to all who would give “willingly” to make an offering, and there was an abundance. When David would build a house for the Lord, he made a lifelong preparation, and then transmitted his collection of money and material to his son Solomon to build the temple to the honor and glory of God. In all the endeavors to establish the gospel in the early church, we find neither illustration nor suggestion that this was to be done on borrowed money. Paul labored with his own hands to support himself while preaching Jesus Christ; but in the many countries he visited and the large churches he established, we find no intimation that he left a debt for the believers to pay. When God’s remnant people feel the need of extending their work, is it right that they borrow the money with which to carry it on? Is it right for a people who have been made free from the bondage of sin by the life and death of Jesus Christ, to place themselves under bondage to the enemies of Christ? “If any man love the world,” said John, “the love of the Father is not in him.” This world is in rebellion against God and his authority. Therefore, if God’s people are in debt to the world, they are in bondage to the enemies of God. Often when unbelievers accept Christ, they find themselves in debt to the world; but what excuse can men offer for going into debt after they give their hearts to the Lord and become his children? The church with all its affiliated interests should be entirely free from money obligations. The only debt it should owe to the world is that of preaching salvation through Jesus Christ. Is it right, then, for any man to start a work in the name of the Lord on borrowed money? If there is a work which the Lord requires done, should not the leaders place it before him in continual prayer, keep it always before God’s people, and wait for the Lord to send the means with which to undertake the work? Surely if the Lord is leading his people, he will supply the means to do his bidding; but if he be not leading, it is well that the means to start a work be lacking. Surely it cannot be right to build and equip institutions in the name of the Lord on borrowed money; but it is right for God’s people to carry on his work in all lands without indebtedness. And this can be done—because it has been done again and again—if God’s people will be true to the Lord, and the leaders wait upon him in prayer and expectancy. We are instructed by the spirit of prophecy to shun debt as we would shun disease. In “Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. VI, we have these words:— “Debts must not be allowed to accumulate term after term. The very highest kind of education that could be given, is to shun the incurring of debt as you would shun disease. When one year after another passes, and there is no sign of diminishing the debt, but it is rather increased, a halt should be called. . . . Methods must be devised to prevent the accumulation of debt upon our institutions. The whole cause must not be made to suffer because of debt which will never be lifted unless there is an entire change, and the work is carried forward on some different basis. Let all who have acted a part in allowing this cloud of debt to cover them now feel it their duty to do what they can to remove it.” —Pages 211-213. Is it right to violate the word of God and the warnings given us by the spirit of prophecy, in making debts? Is it right for leaders and men in responsible places to incur the condemnation of disobedience by going contrary to this instruction? The time has come when the ministry and people should walk in obedience to the word of God in regard to incurring debt. We can find salvation from it by repentance and obedience. Christ must become our “all and in all.” Six-Day Labor Law Upheld in New York
The supreme court of the State of New York has recently declared constitutional the clause in the State labor law which provides for one day of rest in seven. The Survey of May 9, 1914, says:— In ordering the writ dismissed, Justice Tompkins pointed out that since the penal code makes all unnecessary Sunday work illegal in trades, manufactures, and mechanical employments, the statute under consideration was apparently framed to provide employees in factory or mercantile establishments that are in operation11 on Sunday, with some other full day of rest in every seven. He said:— “I think the law may be sustained as a health regulation and for the general welfare of the public. It has always been held that the state has power to protect the health and morals of the people, and preserve the repose and sanctity of the Sabbath day by forbidding labor and industrial and commercial pursuits on that day. I think the state has the same power to require employers who have the legal right to conduct their operations on the first day of the week to provide their employees another day out of every consecutive seven days for rest and recreation.” THE volcanic fires which are smoldering under the surface of our industrial and social life are indicated from time to time by the mutterings of discontent which come from the lips of the laboring classes. The recent utterances of Vincent St. John, national organizer of the Industrial Workers of the World, before the members of the United States Commission on Industrial Relations, are significant. According to Mr. St. John the I. W. W. “are pledged to violence,—murder if necessary,—the destruction of goods and property, any violation of the law they deem necessary to gain their point.” This labor representative claims, according to a dispatch to the Washington Post of May 22, 1914, “that if a local of the I. W. W. agrees today to work for a specified wage, it has a perfect right to break that agreement tomorrow.” The words of this union leader are given by the Post as follows:— “The point with us is to gain our end,” said St. John. “It does not matter to us how we gain that end. If violence against human life is necessary, all right; the end justifies the means. If it means the ruin of property, all right. Again the end justifies the means.” “If it means the isolation of a factory, the ruining of raw or finished material inside the factory or outside, all right. Again it is a case of the end justifying the means. “Do we believe in agreements between the members of the locals of the I. W. W. and owners of industries?—No, we are against working agreements of any kind, for any length of time. That is where we differ from the trade-unions. We are a step farther. It is our belief that the workman loses by making a contract as a member with the owner of a mill, factory, or other plant.” While St. John spoke, Joseph Ettor, accompanied by a young woman who wore neither hat nor coat, sat in the front row and nodded his head approvingly. And these are not the sentiments of Mr. St. John alone. If they were, their expression would not be so ominous. But his sentiments are the sentiments of a large and growing class of discontented wage earners throughout the world. The doctrine of sabotage—destruction of the full property of the employer—has given place to the doctrine of syndicalism, which demands that the laboring man shall own and absolutely enjoy the full fruits of his labor, and that it is right to resort to any and every means necessary to bring about this realization. Intensity is taking possession of the elements of society today. The world is being bound into bundles. Federations, societies, and associations are being formed which will be wheeled into line to take part in the struggles of the closing days of earth’s history. These conditions are signs of the times. They indicate where we are living. That there will be a great social conflict between the elements of society the Scriptures plainly declare. The apostle James says that in the last days the laborer shall be oppressed, and the natural result of this oppression will engender strife, hatred, and warfare. Under these conditions he admonishes the brethren to be patient unto the coming of the Lord. James 5:1-8. The significance of the march of events in this world must not be lost from our minds. They should not grow common by association, but we should realize their import, and be admonished of the greatest of all events,—the coming of the Lord,—to which they unmistakably point. Business Conditions and Prospects
According to the Philadelphia Record, business conditions throughout the country are far from depressing. The prospects for autumn trade are good. The June payments of dividends and interest from the combined business of the country will be $4,000,000 larger than a year ago. It is probable that the wheat crop will amount to nearly 900,000,000 bushels. Dun’s “Review” notes a number of helpful indications. It states that in the dry goods market “there has been an abandonment of the lethargy so plainly evident of late.” In New England shoe factories “business has been better than at any time this spring, and a few prominent manufacturing concerns have received more orders than in previous years.” And in the iron and steel trade, which is supposed in a large measure to be the thermometer of trade conditions, the Iron Age says, “Improved sentiment is everywhere admitted.” A recent number of the New York Herald says:— There are signs on every side that the period of retrenchment, economy, doubt, and gloom has ended, and that the country is about to enter upon an era of expansion and prosperity. . . .
What are the evidences of this? Well, bank clearings are larger than a year ago, although prices of the commodities exchanged are lower—an evidence of increased volume of business. The same story is told by recent comparative increase in the earnings of a number of the railways. Pittsburgh tells of greater purchases of basic pig iron—the inevitable forerunner of greater demand for finished steel products. Fall River notes an improved inquiry for cotton textiles. And so runs the better feeling through the whole cycle of industries.
Readers’ Appreciation of the Review
By Editor
IN every mail that comes to us there are letters from our members in all parts of the world expressing keen appreciation of the REVIEW. It is not possible for us to print many of these, but once in a while we feel that it is due our readers to have just a word from long-time subscribers, and to know just how they feel in regard to the REVIEW. We quote the following from a recent letter from Colorado: “Yours of April 22 is received. I left Colorado about five months ago, but the blessed paper, the REVIEW, in which God is certainly interested and which he evidently maintains, has reached me each week. I not only enjoy its visits, but value them, and should fear to be without the REVIEW. I have prayed and wished that every Seventh-day Adventist would give proof that he, too, feels that way about the REVIEW. When renewal time comes, I do not renew with my spare change, but simply spare the amount necessary to renew. May God continue to bless all connected with the REVIEW in any way, and make them the greatest possible blessing, is my prayer.” Our First Word from Tunis
Our first word from Tunis comes to the Mission Board office on a post card from Elder L. R. Conradi, who, with Elder L. P. Tieche, of the Latin Union Conference, has passed into that country in returning to Europe from the visit to our work in Algeria. Writing from the city of Tunis, which he says is a fine city of 250,000 inhabitants, Elder Conradi reports that they had just visited the site of old Carthage—a ten-cent fare from the city. The post card shows the ruins of that ancient rival of Rome. On the hills above the ruined walls may be seen the extensive buildings of the “White Fathers” of Africa, a Roman Catholic missionary order which is working through all northern Africa, its representatives being found in all parts of the interior. Four Things That Do Not Come Back
“FOUR things come not back,—the spoken word, the sped arrow, the past life, or the neglected opportunity.” The Bible Is Like a Fountain
“THE Bible is like a fountain. The more you look into it, the deeper it appears.”