Earlier text: The Way to HealthA Hope That Lives and Works
Another Word Concerning the German Meetings
The grand thing about this advent message is that it works. The third angel's message is a success everywhere. It transforms the individual and begets in his heart the “lively hope,” and it builds up and unifies a great movement. There is constructive power in this system of truth which is to us the “blessed hope.” Paul wrote to the Colossian brethren:— “For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth.” Everywhere it is the same. Now in the two German unions we have ten thousand believers. It is four years since I met with them; and I can see evidence of the continuous growth not only in the work generally, but in the believers. They are experienced Seventh-day Adventists. A large and strong corps of trained workers has been developed. These believers have exactly the same aims and hopes and outlook upon the world-wide field that our brethren have in every other part; and here is a mighty force at work, under God, for the speedy finishing of the task committed to us. It is by no means an easy way of service that our brethren have set before them. It is a battle all the time; but a winning battle. In many parts the book workers find themselves beset with restrictive and oppressive regulations; but the book work goes forward. In some parts our brethren have been subject to fine or imprisonment for celebrating the Lord's supper; but brethren who come from such experiences are not a whit behind any others in their courage and confidence in the triumph of the message. The brethren know that the Lord is working for them. Liberty has come in Catholic Bavaria. In ancient Nuremberg, where a few years ago public meetings were forbidden, Elder F. Priester had last winter as many as five hundred out to his meetings. The Lord has done it. A sister from Augsburg—where the Augsburg Confession was prepared—told me of former experiences with intolerance, and the coming of a fair degree of liberty. “We fasted and prayed,” she said, “and asked the Lord to influence the hearts of men in power. And very soon after the special season of fasting, the liberty came.” At this conference also the brethren have been thanking God for a splendid deliverance in the grand duchy of Mecklenburg, in northern Germany. It is a Protestant state; but there was an absolute denial of religious liberty. Elder F. Goetting told us how he, and later some fellow workers, had to work quietly among the people, watched by the police, and forbidden even to hold a cottage meeting. As souls accepted the truth, some were fined for meeting together. The situation seemed very hard indeed; and the Lutheran clergy were pressing the police on to more earnest action still. Two of our brethren, lay members, with the prayers of all ascending to God, went to the grand duke, and laid the matter before him, telling of fines and police opposition, and of our desire to preach and practise the Word of God in a Lutheran province. One of these brethren was a delegate to our conference, and told us of the interview. When the case had been stated, the grand duke said he would find out about us. “We went away,” said the brother, “saying to ourselves, ‘Well, now, he will ask the pastors; and they are not on our side.’” But our brethren put the case in the hands of God, and he led the grand duke to do splendid service for religious liberty. The permission came to our people to meet freely together, though it is supposed that only members can so meet. But this is an advance step, and our brethren rejoice. A police officer told them that the ruler had really a stiff controversy with the pastors, and against their opposition he nobly stood for right. “It was a wonder,” said the officer to our people; “the Lord must surely have helped you.” Our brethren are holding public meetings in spite of restrictions. In many places the local pastors are not aware of the distinctions in the permission and the law, and do not know how to apply hindering restrictions. In one country place Elder Goetting reported having had three hundred people at his meeting. The seed is sown, a foothold is gained; and by the time the opposition gets the machinery of oppression started, the worker is on to some other place. And all the time the message spreads. Of course it is not to be understood that these difficulties are found everywhere. In fact, in most of the union territory there is liberty. But really the various hindrances do not seem to make any great difference as regards increase of membership. That is a lesson for us to take to heart. We need not think that restrictive laws will be able to stop the truth. This last quarter, in the two German unions, there has been a net gain of five hundred members. This means a large, strong conference added every year, or, for that matter, the equivalent of a small conference every quarter. The third angel's message is a success. And how it wins the loving devotion of the believers! It was good to watch the earnest, enthusiastic congregation day by day. These brethren are Seventh-day Adventists of the old-time stamp. Their hearts are in the forward moves in all the world, and they hunger and thirst for the power of God that is to cut the work short in righteousness. Just under the pulpit a good old brother sat day after day, in order that his dull ears might catch the words from the speakers. He comes from Bavaria. Down in that Catholic land he heard the first angel's message in the days of 1844, and his wife began to keep the Sabbath then. He himself began in 1854, knowing nothing of any movement in the world, but seeing only the truth as it is in the Word. How his heart rejoiced some years ago when he found this people! Old and feeble physically, his love is young and strong, and will never grow old, we trust. Drawing my ear down, he said to me, “O, I have such a hungering and thirsting after God.” This message is searching all lands, as a fisherman's net sweeps the depths of the sea, to find the true souls that are waiting; and the message is preparing them for heaven and eternal life. The cheeriest message borne in the conference came by letter from a young brother who sent the message from prison, where he lies for refusing to work on the Sabbath. “Eight years ago,” he said, “I made the covenant of a good conscience with God at Friedensau. Nearly half of the time since, I have spent in prison. Why has the Lord showed just me such grace that I should be called to suffer for his precious name?” And he trusted that all at the conference might know personally that the joy of the Lord is our strength. Our youth are ready to endure hardness as good soldiers; and the Lord is standing by them. More than one told me of the richest of blessings that had come to them while suffering imprisonment and punishment for loyalty to the Sabbath truth while under military service. Six young men and women at our13 meeting were dedicated with prayer to the work in East Africa. When Elder L. R. Conradi called for those who were ready to follow on later to stand up, forty or fifty young people were at once on their feet. Four years ago, when such a call was made, I remember that about eighteen volunteered; and Brother Sander, one of the strongest and most robust of all, was selected. He now lies in an East African grave, and the heathen chiefs say, “He was a good man; and he loved our people.” There are other African graves, too, in this short campaign of our German brethren in East Africa. But for the love of Jesus and his truth our youth are ready to pay the price, and fathers and mothers give them into the hands of God. These sights and scenes of the great German meeting would bring joy to all our people. I can only give the impressions here and there, almost at random. But God is in the work in the land of Luther and the regions worked directly from the German field. Years ago Froude, the historian, said, “The land of Luther needs again the spirit of Luther.” Well, in this reformatory message of Revelation 14, the spirit of Reformation truth is spreading once again through the land of Luther. National Reform and the Rights of Conscience
By C. M. S.
The sixth annual session of what the National Reform Association terms its Christian Citizenship Institute was held at Winona Lake, Ind., August 8–19. There were twelve speakers on the program, representing different phases of the work of the National Reform Association. Rev. William Parsons, of Portland, Ore., spoke upon the general theme of the home, the influences affecting it, and the legislation which the association considers essential to the preservation of the home. Rev. J. S. Martin, the general superintendent of the organization, gave a series of eleven addresses upon the general theme of education and character, as interrelated and interdependent. Rev. R. C. Wylie gave a series of ten addresses upon the general theme of the social message of the gospel. Rev. F. F. DeLong spoke twice upon the general topic of Romanism, dwelling upon the power and purposes of Rome, the necessity of an awakening, and whatever the Roman Church is doing to mold to her liking the education given in the public schools. Dr. G. W. Grannis, the secretary of the Lord’s Day Alliance of the United States, addressed the institute twice upon the necessity for stricter Sunday laws together with Elder and Sunday-law enforcement. Dr. S. F. Scovel, the president of the organization, gave three very carefully prepared addresses upon “Christian Citizenship,” “Christian Internationalism,” and “The World-Wide Meaning and Mission of National Reform.” There were other speakers who gave from one to three addresses each, which did not in any material way go into the real principles which the National Reform Association was organized to promulgate. In fact, some of these were not far from the principles which we hold, notably so the address of Dr. J. K. McClurkin on “John Knox and His Banner.” The bold stand of Knox for liberty of belief and the right to teach the gospel unhindered by a religion-and-state government, was ably set forth by this speaker. His example was held up as worthy of the approval of every Christian; but this address seemed strikingly out of place in an institute of this character, whose purpose is the very same as that of the intolerant queen, in spite of whose interdicts Knox preached the gospel to the people of Scotland. What that intolerant ruler demanded was uniformity in religion. The religion which she held was good enough for her realm. A uniform belief was more to her liking than individual independence in matters of faith and conscience; so she proscribed Knox and his religion, and made them outcasts from the realm. Said Dr. S. F. Scovel, in his address on August 19, on “The World-Wide Meaning and Mission of National Reform:”— Uniformity is essential both to peace and progress. The opinion of the majority must be decisive. Even in the matter of men’s consciences a degree of uniformity is necessary. We would allow the greatest amount of individual rights of conscience consistent with the necessary uniformity. It is your duty to take care not to disturb the convenience of your neighbor. In England, when people meet, they turn to the left; but in France they turn to the right. If in England you should turn to the right, or in France you should turn to the left, you might get killed or kill somebody. So the only possible way for you to do is to go to the right when the law ordains it, or to the left when the law ordains that you go to the left. The state must have its opinion and its law, and the church and family must have their opinion and their law, and somehow or other we must come to an agreement. Note the unavoidable conclusion of this teaching: Uniformity is necessary, even in matters of conscience. Whichever way the law ordains for you to go, that way you must go. Then the “agreement” which the doctor says must be between the law of the state and the opinion of the individual is such an agreement as exists between the lion and the lamb when they have lain down together—the one inside the other. There is no longer any discord between the two; uniformity has been achieved. It was this sort of uniformity which the queen of Scotland sought to bring about between herself and John Knox. As that intolerant ruler made John Knox and his religion outcasts from the realm, so does this National Reform organization seek to make outcasts of all who assert their God-ordained right of freedom of conscience, not only from this country but from every country in the world where they shall be able to establish their unchristian régime. Said the Rev. Dr. William Parsons to the writer, while discussing the question of the rights of the individual in matters of conscience:— The only possible way I see out of the difficulty is for you good people to find some spot on the face of this earth where you can carry out your ideas, and then go there and stay there. We replied that we had heard statements previously made by members of that organization to the same effect; but that there was a much better and more Christian solution of the difficulty, and that was to apply the golden rule, and recognize in one another the rights of conscience; that under such a program the seeming difficulty would vanish away. The argument of Dr. Scovel, though polished and plausible, is a veritable apology for every persecution of Christians by heathen in every part of the world, and of every persecution of Christians by so-called Christians since miscalled Christianity went onto an earthly throne in Rome. It is an apology for the brutalities of the Inquisition, the fires of Smithfield, and the disgraceful cruelties of colonial America, practised in the name and to the shame of religion. “The opinion of the majority must be decisive,” says the president of the National Reform Association. So said the heathen of the New Hebrides when they ate the missionaries who came to them with the gospel of peace and salvation; and National Reformism can not consistently reprimand or accuse them for their act. The colonial governments said the same when they whipped and banished and hanged and sold into slavery those who thought it more necessary to follow the leadings of God’s Word as they understood it than to profess to believe what they did not believe—for the sake of uniformity. And the National Reform Association can give no consistent denunciation of those cruel acts, because they were done in the cause of uniformity. The accusation of the Jews against Christ was on the very same basis. They believed in uniformity. The teachings of Jesus were out of joint with theirs. There was not the necessary degree of uniformity; and so14 they slew him. What denunciation has National Reform for the crucifixion of our Redeemer?—It has none; for it is wedded to the doctrine of the necessity of uniformity in matters of religious faith and practise. Standing upon that platform, it stands side by side with every persecutor that has ever oppressed a child of God. Standing there, it stands side by side with Rome, both pagan and papal, in her warfare upon the Word of God and upon the liberties of the individual in matters of faith. Uniformity of expression is not the essential in religion, but conformity with the divine Word and will, unhindered by any human intermediary or interloper. There is nothing so essential in the religious life as absolute freedom to follow the leadings of the divine mind. Whosoever comes between another individual and God, in order to make that individual’s religious faith and expression conform to his own, has put himself in the place of God to that individual, and shut out the light of heaven. But that is what the whole National Reform propaganda stands for. It denominates the rights of the individual in matters of faith merely “so-called rights,” or “miscalled rights,” and puts the necessity for uniformity above all such rights. The similarity between the position taken by the National Reform Association and that now being given expression to by Roman Catholicism in European countries, is strikingly apparent. In Spain and Portugal and France and Austria the Roman Church is now, and has been, demanding uniformity. If the National Reform position is right, Roman Catholicism is right. She has refused to allow freedom of religious faith in those countries. To do so would be to admit that uniformity is not essential. Therefore Protestant places of worship must be secluded, and must not display any sign to indicate that they are places of worship. For them to do so might bring in a lack of “the necessary degree of uniformity.” So she has forbidden them; and because she would not yield, the rusty chains on the prison door where she has held the intellect of the people incarcerated for centuries are beginning to break under the heaving strain of prisoners who have a right to be free. The despotism of uniformity was demonstrated through the Dark Ages. It is more than a coincidence that this organization, whose work is to be so influential in causing the people of this world to worship that great antichristian power known in Holy Writ as “the beast,” should be enunciating principles so similar to the principles which that power stood upon throughout the Dark Ages, and still stands upon. Our Work for the Cities—No. 5
By Arthur G. Daniells
FROM the considerations to which attention has been called in this series of articles, it is plain that the earnest appeals which have come to this denomination in behalf of the masses in the cities, mean far more than we at first see and understand. This call means more than the appropriation of money to the large cities. It means more than the holding of tent and hall meetings by a few able speakers in our leading cities. It means more than to conduct city missions in a few large cities in the United States. This call means all this and much more. It is a call to a broad, well-organized evangelistic campaign throughout the world. It is a call to do the most important part of all gospel work; namely, to preach the gospel. When Jesus began his public work, he directed the people to the prophecy of himself which says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, ‘because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel,’” and he said, “This day is this scripture fulfilled.” During his ministry he selected men, and sent them out to preach the message of salvation; and when about to return to heaven, he commanded his disciples to go “into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Paul declared that it has “pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe,” and added, “Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel.” The preaching of the gospel is the fundamental part of gospel work. It precedes all other phases of that work. It is that which makes disciples, and adds to the church daily such as are being saved. All other work is built upon this. All the administrative and institutional work of the church springs from the results of preaching the gospel. However good and important the administrative and institutional work may be, it can never take the place of the purely evangelical work. That must go on, or the other departments, growing out of its results, will become of no effect in advancing the cause of Christ. In the history of our own cause we find lessons of great value regarding this question. The pioneers gave their lives wholly to the proclamation of the gospel as it was revealed to them in the three-fold message of Revelation 14. This led to the most earnest, prayerful study of the Word, and to a close and continuous association with the people. Their preaching convinced hearers, and led them to accept the message. As they pressed forward with their work, and believers increased, they began to feel the need of agencies which they could use to multiply their forces, efficiency, and results. This brought the printing-office, the school, the sanitarium, and organization. But all these were designed by the pioneers to be tools in their hands for the hastening of the work they had set themselves to do; namely, to preach the everlasting gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people in all the world. It was never thought by those who launched these administrative and institutional features, that they could take the place of the evangelical work that had been carried forward; but the tendency has ever been for institutional work either to take the place of, or paralyze, evangelical work. The formal, business, mechanical duties, needed in the carrying on of organized work and institutions, are more compatible with the natural heart, and can be performed without special spiritual attainments; whereas, successful evangelical work can15 not be done without much study of the Word, earnest prayer, and the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. For these reasons the tendency is to swing toward the formal, mechanical, official part of the work, to the neglect of the more spiritual, evangelistic phase. Ten years ago a reorganization was called for. We were told that our administrative circle was too small, that the management of our world-wide work was being carried on by too few minds, and that as a result the progress of our cause was being hindered. In response to this counsel we entered upon the task of thorough reorganization in our administrative methods in both conference and institutional affairs. Earnest, conscientious endeavors have been made by our brethren in positions of responsibility to adjust all these affairs in harmony with the counsel given; and any one who will give the situation as it was ten years ago, and as it is today, careful study, must admit that no mistake was made in the call for reorganization. But in our efforts at reorganization we have not given due attention to the development of the evangelistic work. We have not given that phase of our cause the prominence it should have had. We have not emphasized this side as we should in our schools and conferences. We have not lifted it to the exalted place it should hold in the estimation of our young people. We have not made the earnest efforts we should to find and develop the most simple, economical, successful methods of working. Most important of all, we have not cultivated as we should the spiritual side of this work. Now the call comes to take up this neglected work; for all this is involved in the call to enter upon this world-wide evangelistic work in the cities. While we deeply regret our past neglect, we respond most heartily to the call in behalf of the city evangelistic work. A committee of seventeen members has been appointed to give special attention to this work, and twelve thousand dollars has been appropriated to a number of conferences to develop the work in their large cities. Two city missions—one for the English and the other for foreigners—have been opened in New York City. Comprehensive plans have been laid for a forward move, which it is hoped will result in great good. Sabbath, September 17, is to be a day of fasting and prayer in behalf of this movement. The undertaking is a tremendous one. Much more is to be done than is here suggested, and we are in deep need of divine help. Surely those who long for the success and speedy triumph of this cause will join in this effort. Sees Peril in Armaments
By F. M. W.
It has been argued many times by those favoring an increase of naval armament, both in this country and in the countries of the Old World, that the possession of large, well-equipped navies is the best possible guaranty of peace. Such claims, of course, are anything but logical reasoning, and are only put forth for want of better arguments. In a recent address by Henry Billings Brown, former associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, at the anniversary exercises of the Yale law school, he spoke as follows on this question, as reported by the Washington Post:— Armaments have not only not decreased, but never in the history of the world has there been such complete preparation and such readiness for war. The usual excuse for the maintenance of large armies,—that they give the most distinct assurance of peace,—is fallacious. Large preparations for war by any power invite similar preparations by others to meet them, and a collision is ultimately certain. The most strained relations of the present day exist between the two powers best prepared for war. It is a general rule that the man who is fully armed and prepared to defend himself is oftenest called upon to do so. The old adage, that the man who is looking for trouble is apt to find it, is as applicable to nations as to individuals. These words of Justice Brown are sensible and to the point. The millions spent by the nations year by year for the munitions of war are not harbingers of world-wide peace. To him who reads aright the prophetic utterances regarding conditions in the last days, these preparations of war speak with one voice of the Armageddon but a little way ahead. Let none be deceived by pleasing platitudes. Rather let us discern, as students of prophecy, from the shaping of present-day problems, the gathering storm, which is soon to break upon the world.
F. M. W. Florence Nightingale’s Service to the Suffering
The life of Florence Nightingale, whose death occurred in London, August 14, shows what may be accomplished by one who gives his life unreservedly to the cause of God and the service of suffering humanity. Reared in a home of refinement, and possessing all the advantages that come through education and social position, she laid these aside to answer the call to minister to the sick and suffering. She was the first woman to nurse the sick and wounded soldiers on the battle-field, beginning this work in connection with the Crimean War in 1854. At first treated with indifference and even opposition, her sacrificing efforts won the confidence of her associates, and she became known as “the angel of the Crimea.” She instituted many reforms in camp sanitation, established hospitals, and was a pioneer in bringing about better conditions in caring for the sick and wounded. Atlantic Union Conference
By W. T. Knox
Statement of the $300,000 Fund\nto Aug. 1, 1910
Atlantic Union Conference
Central New England ........$ 877.31
Northern New England ...... 427.01
Southern New England ...... 194.34
New York .................. 140.35
Greater New York .......... 1017.08
Western New York .......... 458.76
Maine ..................... 31.60 Total ..................... 3146.45 Canadian Union Conference
Maritime .................. 67.39
Ontario ................... 54.55
Quebec .................... 29.50
Newfoundland .............. .... Total ..................... 151.44 Colorado .................. 7.65
Western Colorado .......... 252.41
Kansas .................... 662.14
North Missouri ............ 389.87
Southern Missouri ......... 64.57
Nebraska .................. 542.01
Wyoming ................... 512.15 Total ..................... 2430.80 Columbia Union Conference
Chesapeake ................. 51.15
Eastern Pennsylvania ....... 40.98
West Pennsylvania .......... 85.33
Ohio ....................... 84.62
New Jersey ................. 75.60
Virginia ................... 2.50
West Virginia .............. 1.00
District of Columbia ....... 301.95 Total ..................... 643.13 East Michigan ............. 1379.86
North Michigan ............ 102.05
West Michigan ............. 879.60
Indiana ................... 1500.43
Northern Illinois .......... 665.09
Southern Illinois .......... 256.81
Wisconsin .................. 300.00 Total ..................... 5083.84 Northern Union Conference
Iowa ...................... 184.07
Minnesota ................ 2660.10
North Dakota .............. 1789.18
South Dakota ............... 34.00 Total ..................... 4667.35 North Pacific Union Conference
Montana ................... 418.65
Southern Idaho ............ 508.00
Upper Columbia ............ 427.30
Western Oregon ............ 278.44
Western Washington ........ 633.90
Alaska ...................... 2.15 Total ..................... 2268.44 Arizona ................... 36.86
California ................. 887.5116
Southern California ....... $ 610.61
Utah ...................... .25 Total ..................... 1535.23 Southeastern Union Conference
Cumberland ................ 780.88
Florida ................... 1193.48
Georgia .................... 206.20
North Carolina ............ 152.96
South Carolina ............. 45.25
Bahamas ................... .... Total ..................... 2378.77 Southern Union Conference
Alabama ................... 35.35
Kentucky .................. 59.00
Louisiana .................. ....
Mississippi ................ 20.00
Tennessee River ............ 65.47 Total ..................... 179.82 Southwestern Union Conference
Arkansas ................... 6.90
Oklahoma .................. 545.97
New Mexico ................. 11.60
Texas ...................... 32.00
West Texas ................. 32.90
South Texas ................. 3.78 Total ..................... 633.15 Western Canadian Union Conference
Alberta .................... 41.40
British Columbia ........... ....
Manitoba ................... 20.00
Saskatchewan ................ 65.50 Total ..................... 126.90 England ................... 490.00
New Zealand ................ 102.27
India ...................... 29.72
West Indian Union .......... 1.00
Miscellaneous .............. 10.00
European Subtreasury ........ 2.43
Germany ..................... 5.00
Canal Zone .................. 5.00 Total ..................... 645.42 Grand total ............... $23890.74 Delivered From the Serpent’s Coils
By W. A. S.
VERY early in the history of the Moravian movement, those early pioneers of missions had pressed into the Guianas of South America. The lowlands were fever-traps, and the forests were infested with wild beasts and deadly serpents. Sir Walter Raleigh had explored the rivers of the country in pursuit of the fabled “El Dorado,” where the very sands of the lake were to be golden, and the city to be of gold and precious pearl. It was not for love of gold that the Moravian pioneers entered the unknown lands beyond the coast plantations. They loved the souls of men, and plunged into the wilderness to bring the gospel feast to the Arawaks and Caribs, and the equally fierce Bush Negroes of the interior. One day, while alone in his station, on the River Corentyn, the missionary Dahne had an experience, thus told in his own language:— One evening, not being well, and going to lie down in my hammock, upon entering the door of my hut, I perceived a large serpent descending upon me from a shelf near the roof. In the scuffle, the creature stung or bit me two or three times on the head, and, pursuing me very closely, twined itself several times round my head and neck. Supposing that this would be the occasion of my departing this life, I, for the satisfaction of my brethren, wrote the cause of my death in a few words with chalk upon the table, “A serpent has killed me,” lest they should charge the Indians with the deed. But, on a sudden, that promise of our Saviour to his disciples was impressed upon my mind, “They shall take up serpents; and . . . it shall not harm them” (Mark 16: 18), and, seizing the creature with great force, I tore it loose and flung it out of the hut. I then lay down to rest in the peace of God. Although for years denied Christian companionship, beset by perils from the hostile Indians, and weakened by illness, the simple faith of the missionary made real the companionship of the One who had promised, “Lo, I am with you alway,” and he declares that he passed his time “in happiness and peace.” The hearts of the natives were touched at last, and hundreds were baptized. The apostle Paul teaches the doctrine that every man shall give an account of himself to God. Man's personal relationship to his Creator does not involve allegiance to Pope or priest or prelate. It does not take into account majorities or minorities. God holds every one personally responsible for what he believes and does, irrespective of the course pursued by his fellows. Speaking of this principle, the Western Recorder of June 2 truly says:— No man or body of men must come between a man's conscience and his God. To yield to a majority, no matter how large, where conscience is involved, is to put that majority in God's place. That is the plain English of it. That is the universal and unquestioned belief of all Protestants. A man must yield his conscience only to his God. And to let any man or all men be master of one's conscience is having another god before Him. No man nor body of men must come between a man's conscience and his God. In this age of religious subservience to man and of trusting to blind leadership, it would be well if every child of God would appreciate and experience this truth. Before God's judgment bar at last, no one of our fellows can plead our cause. Each at that time must meet his record, irrespective of the course pursued by others. Let each, then, look to God, and take the rule of faith, which he has provided in his Word, as the standard whereby character shall be formed now and judged at last. Old Truth and Modern Isms
By C. E. H.
MANY are being carried away with the glitter of so-called new theological truths. Others are drifting into the vortex of skepticism and unbelief. Yet in spite of the multitude of isms presented to men to lure them away from the simple faith of God's Word, there are those who still cling to the old way. George L. Clark, writing in the Harvard Seminary Record of April, speaks emphatically against some of the doctrines taught to-day:— They who are drifting out upon the barren sands of pantheism have no relish for a religion of historic events. Dreamers may enjoy reveling in abstractions, but the rank and file of the Christian church will continue to believe, with the greatest thinkers of the past, that the human soul, burdened by sin, perplexed, filled with remorse, needs something more than a formula for a pantheistic idealism, or a Saviour who rises but little above a respectable commonplace. The periods of greatest spiritual power in the past have been times when men were too serious, too much in earnest, for spiritual gymnastics. We need a brotherly Saviour; we must have a divine, an Almighty Saviour. The world is not to be converted by men who are in doubt about the Christ who is described as clothed with all power in heaven and earth. So long as we are sinners, so long shall we need a Saviour. Only through the Word is the Saviour made known to us. No call should ever be made for other ways of salvation. It is impossible in this world to exhaust the remedy already given us. C. E. H. Abusing God's Gifts
By J. N. Q.
God provides for the needs of all his creatures, and provides abundantly; and if man's selfishness did not pervert God's gifts, not one of his earthly children would ever feel the pinch of want. A recent incident in this city, in which man's greed and injustice were revealed, illustrates the point. A near-by farmer shipped a load of melons to a commission dealer, expecting a fair remuneration, as the season had just opened. In a few days the mails brought to him the startling news that the melons brought but one cent each, which amount would be sent him, minus the freight. Suspecting this, trickery and fraud, he took a train to Washington, and without making his identity known, visited the dealer. He admired the melons, asked where they were raised, and what was the price. The reply was about what he expected. They were his own melons, and the price asked by the dealer was fifteen cents each. The dealer was chagrined when the man's identity was made known. That this is not an isolated case can be easily proved; and if our sense of right and justice cries out against it, how must the Creator feel when he witnesses so many denied his bounties because of such an execrable spirit as that shown by the dealer mentioned above? THE history of the church in every age has shown that with the loss of spiritual power and vital godliness has come a spirit of show and ostentation. This is seen in imposing church architecture, grand music, costly furnishings, and an effort to make the externals of worship attractive and imposing. All this, however, can not make up for the lack of spiritual power. Speaking of this in the Baptist Standard of August 4, George W. Truett says:— Many things are from time to time proposed for the prosperity of the churches. Is it not amazingly singular that the main thing is so often overlooked? It is suggested that the churches should have better buildings, with better equipments; that they should have a more scholarly ministry; that they should have better music, and numerous other things, in order to secure the best prosperity. But what are all these things, if the great passion and purpose be lacking to win lost souls to the Saviour? The magnificent buildings, the elegant music, the eloquent ministers, all seem a hollow mockery if poor, lost souls on every side go down to eternal death. What, then, is the main thing for God's people to be praying for and working at with never-ceasing faithfulness?—It is the winning of lost souls to him who died for them. To this end Christ came and lived and died, and rose again, and went back to glory, and there offers unceasing intercession. For this cause his churches are left in the earth,—like their divine Founder, to seek and to save the lost.
The great need in the Christian ministry to-day is a return to gospel simplicity,—a reaching out after the gospel's only vitalizing power; namely, the Holy Spirit. Externals of worship, however imposing their display, can never satisfy the soul's hunger after God. Without divine ministry they serve only to make of religious service a hollow mockery. The Christian church needs power, but that power can come only by a living connection with the Lord Jesus Christ.