Earlier text: Shall We Tell Fairy Stories to the Children?Roman Purpose and American Liberties—No. 1
By C. M. S.
The greater religious bodies of the country are courting the smiles of the Roman Church in spite of her designs against the country, against its purposes, and against its institutions. Rome’s legitimate jurisdiction, as viewed by her, “is limited only by the boundaries of the world.” The Pope is reckoned a “domestic prince” in every nation of the world. It is the purpose of the hierarchy that the Pope shall be king over all kings; that all people and all religions shall ultimately be brought into subjection to him, and that by the use of bodily punishment if necessary. Protestants have long considered themselves outside the papal jurisdiction. Rome does not so regard them, as the following Catholic statement of the case will show:— Baptized infidels, such as heretics and apostates usually are, also baptized schismatics, may be compelled, even by corporal punishment, to return to the Catholic faith and the unity of the church. The reason is, because these by baptism have become subject to the church; and therefore the church has jurisdiction over them, and the power of compelling them through appointed means to obedience, and to fulfil the obligations contracted in baptism.—Dens, Vol. II, No. 51, page 80. It may be news to many Protestants to learn that they are considered subjects of the man-made spiritual king of the world—the Pope; but the foregoing is too plain to be misunderstood, and is corroborated by the following teaching of St. Augustine:— In all points in which they [heretics] think with us [Catholics], they are also in communion with us—are severed from us only in those points in which12 they dissent from us. What they have retained of the teaching of the church, they do not lose by severance from her; hence the power of conferring baptism may be found outside the church. Moreover, it is Christ himself who baptizes. The grace of the sacrament is wholly independent of the qualification of him who administers it.—“Universal Church History,” Alzog, page 424. Through such reasoning does the Catholic Church claim the fealty of all who have acknowledged their Lord’s claims by taking part in the sacred ordinance of baptism. She does not even wait for the performance of that rite by individual preference or by Protestant clergymen, if the following from Hogan’s “Auricular Confession” (page 130) be true:— I baptized more children than any clergyman in Philadelphia; among these were hundreds of Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Methodists, and Baptists, brought to me for that purpose by their Roman Catholic nurses, without the knowledge of their Protestant mothers.—Quoted in Cathcart’s “Papal System,” page 163. How many other Catholic priests are doing the same thing may never be known; but to some such unwarranted mode of procedure as this must be attributed the wide discrepancy between the seventeen million adherents which they claim in this country, and the eleven million seven hundred ninety-five thousand which the statistician, Dr. H. K. Carroll, allows them. The moral obliquity revealed in such a transaction as that boasted of in the foregoing quotation is sufficiently apparent without further comment. Claiming jurisdiction over all the world, claiming the unfaltering fealty of all who have been baptized in any church, a necessary step to the recognition and enforcement of her claims is the rehabilitation of the Inquisition. Many Protestants delude themselves with the idea that the Roman Church would not use that right-hand supporter of her sovereignty in the present enlightened age, even if she felt herself sufficiently powerful to protect herself in its use. Such persons are not conversant with the facts, and have become Rome’s apologists for an institution which she herself does not apologize for. In a work entitled, “Plain Talk About the Protestantism of To-day,” by Monsignor Segur, published originally in France, translated into English, and published in both England and the United States, we find these words in reference to the Spanish Inquisition:— That institution you may value as you choose; you are at liberty to condemn the abuses and the cruelties of which it has been guilty through the violence of political passions and the character of the Spaniard; yet one can not but acknowledge, in the terrible part taken by the clergy in its trials, the most legitimate and most natural exercise of ecclesiastical authority.—Part III, proposition VII, page 186. Monsignor Segur does not hesitate to declare that the Inquisition was established by Roman Catholic governments as an “ecclesiastical institution,” thus plainly indicating that it had the sanction and approbation of the Catholic Church; and this work is circulated in the United States with the approval of the bishop of Boston, whose “imprimatur” appears on its title-page. It will be noted that he does not give Catholics permission to condemn the Inquisition as an institution, nor even the Spanish Inquisition as such. It is only the cruelties and abuses which he charges to “political passion” that they are at liberty to condemn. Of the institution itself there is no word of disapproval. In a work entitled “Letters on the Spanish Inquisition,” by Comte Le Maistre, we find the following glowing tribute to that institution:— The Inquisition is, in its very nature, good, mild, and preservative. It is the universal, indelible character of every ecclesiastical institution; you see it in Rome, and you can see it wherever the true church has power.—Page 22. This writer, whose work is approvingly referred to by Cardinal Gibbons (“Faith of Our Fathers,” page 291), frankly admits that the Inquisition existed in Spain “by virtue of the bull of the sovereign pontiff.” Nevertheless, the cardinal, writing of the same institution, says:— It was conceived, systematized, regulated in all its procedures and judgments, equipped with officers and powers, and its executions, fines, and confiscations were carried out by the royal authority alone, and not by the church.—“Faith of Our Fathers,” page 291. Le Maistre was much nearer, both geographically and in point of time, to the institution of which he wrote than was the cardinal, Le Maistre’s work appearing in 1815. In view of the fact that Le Maistre’s book is recommended by the cardinal as “an impartial account of the Inquisition,” we must give credence to his statement of the case. The cardinal declares the Catholic Church should not be held accountable for the atrocities of the Spanish Inquisition because it was conducted by the state and not by the church. If this were true, it is also true that that state was a Catholic state, and the Inquisition in it could have been abolished by one word from the Pope. But no Pope ever uttered that word; no one was ever excommunicated for taking part in its cruel practises; and even to the present time the bishops of that church are required to take oath to “observe the laws of the Inquisition.”—“Dealings With the Inquisition,” Dr. Giacinto Achilli, page 74. “Is Ours a Christian Nation?”
By F. M. W.
THIS is the heading of an article in the young people’s department of the United Presbyterian of May 19. The writer answers this question in two ways—Yes and No. The affirmative answer recites that Christianity underlies all our laws and institutions; that the American people have been animated by the teachings of Christianity, as shown in their oaths of office, their courts of justice, their schools and homes; that wherever any religion is recognized, it is the Christian religion; etc. Thanksgiving proclamations, the fact that legislative bodies open with prayer, and the laws against Sunday desecration, blasphemy, etc., are cited as further proof. Then, too, every city, village, and hamlet from the Atlantic to the Pacific has its church spires pointing heavenward as mute witnesses to the truthfulness of the declaration, by the highest judicial authority in our land, “This is a Christian nation.” This last is a beautiful peroration to a specious and very deceptive argument, the absurdity of which is abundantly shown by the arraignment of the nation, as given in the same article by the Presbyterian itself. In its negative answer it says:— “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.” The practises of thousands of our citizens are far from that which the principles of Christianity call for. As an evidence of this we need only glance at the growing disregard for everything that is enjoined in the teachings of Sinai. Other gods have come in to take the place of the only living and true God, the name of the Holy One of Israel is most shamefully taken in vain, and with many God himself is ignored. The distinctive feature of the family altar, once so prevalent in all Christian homes, is fast disappearing. In many homes it has gone altogether, and because of this, the current of many a life is corrupted at the fountain. The sabbath law is everywhere disregarded. From the Sunday papers, with their tremendous influence as lawbreakers, down to the petty sneak-thief, who, strolling through forbidden fields, climbs the fence and steals the fruit in the orchard, sabbath authority, and even reverence for the day, is lightly regarded. Sunday baseball, horse-racing, automobiling, golf-playing, etc., have turned the day which God set apart for man’s good into a day of sport and pleasure. Instead of being a holy day, it is fast becoming a holiday, which shows that the principles of Christianity have little force over the consciences or conduct of those who do these things. If this is the spirit in which our so-called Christian heritage is recognized by the men and women composing the citizenship of the nation, we might be left to infer that even if Christianity was not regarded in the lives of the people, it was still considered a Christian nation in fact as well as theory, and that formal profession itself constituted it such without the possession of the virtues for which that profession stands; but the Presbyterian does not take even this favorable view of the situation. We quote further:—13 It is not outward acknowledgment of certain formulas that makes one a Christian. Formal recognition of God in law, or even in usage, does not constitute Christianity. Where the life of a nation is at variance with its profession, the root of the matter is wanting. Action that does not tally with profession is strong evidence that the profession has no depth. There must be the religious spirit, the outward evidence of an inward conviction. All the laws of Congress can not change the hearts of men; but the renewed hearts of men can change all the laws of Congress. The evidence that we are a Christian nation will show itself in our willingness to be obedient to the divine law, in our readiness to choose men for public office who fear God, and who are willing to enact laws in conformity with the will of God. It will show itself in our civil and political life, in our commercial institutions, in the way we do business, in our respect for the rights of all, for the day laborer as well as the employer of labor. A Christian nation will follow Christ’s teachings in its public administration of affairs as well as in its private belief. Some excellent principles are enunciated in the foregoing words. It is indeed true that “formal recognition of God in law, or even in usage, does not constitute Christianity,” and that “all the laws of Congress can not change the hearts of men.” This is a truth which many religio-political reformers would do well to ponder. The recognition of God in the Constitution, the more stringent enforcement of the Sunday sabbath law, will not add one whit to the Christianity of the nation, or to the piety of its individual units. The enforcement of religious forms only makes of men hypocrites, not saints. The evidence of our Christianity, as the Presbyterian observes, will be found “in our willingness to be obedient to the divine law.” But if we are obedient to the divine law, we shall seek to exalt the true Sabbath of the Lord, and not the counterfeit; for that law declares, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” If we are obedient to the divine law, as its principles were exemplified by our blessed Saviour, we shall have nothing whatever to do in seeking to bind the consciences of men, or to enforce religious dogmas or doctrines upon our fellows, whether those doctrines or dogmas are right, or whether they are wrong. He plainly declares that we should “render to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s, and to God the things that are God’s,” thus clearly establishing a line of separation between the province of the church and the province of the civil government, and declaring, in effect, that the state has no right whatever to legislate regarding religious questions, and that the church should not concern itself with the affairs of the state. The justice and the wisdom of this truth are demonstrated by all the history of the past. Consequent upon moral degeneracy in the church has ever been the desire to seek affiliation with the civil government to supplement its waning power with men. But the call of God to the church is to a different mission. It is not to seek through legislation to enforce its principles, but rather to go forth with the power of the Spirit of God, clothed with the panoply of divine truth, to teach men the way of life. With these weapons it will become a power against evil-doers and a terror to the unrighteous. The power of the gospel is the power of love, of persuasion, not of force. Its language is, “We entreat,” “We exhort,” “We beseech.” These are the terms employed by the great apostle to the Gentiles. The church of God to-day truly needs to lift up a standard against evil-doing. Iniquity, like an overwhelming flood, is assailing the state, the church, the home, and the individual life; but let the church occupy its legitimate sphere, and seek by Heaven-appointed methods to meet this tide of evil through the preaching of the gospel and the power of the Spirit of God, and not through human enactment. The Presbyterian says truly that the evidence of Christianity “will show itself in our civil and political life, in our commercial institutions, in the way we do business, in our respect for the rights of all, for the day laborer as well as the employer of labor;” but the change of heart by which these principles will be exemplified, must be worked out in individual lives through the power of the gospel. In its efforts to save the mass, the church will accomplish the most by seeking to save each individual composing the mass. The nation can be Christianized to the extent, and to the extent only, that each man, woman, and child composing its citizenship is regenerated and transformed by divine grace. Let the church apply itself to this much-needed labor, leaving the state to regulate its own affairs. By thus doing, it will accomplish the most in its divine mission for men. F. M. W. The Midsummer Offering
By W. T. Knox
SABBATH, July 2, has been set apart by the General Conference Committee as the time for our regular midsummer offering. It is planned that on that day there shall be read in all the churches the regular missionary reading for July. Previous to this there will have been issued, under date of June 16, our special Story of Missions number of the REVIEW AND HERALD. This number will contain items from the correspondence of our brethren in almost all the mission fields, telling of their experiences; it will thus serve to inform the readers of the progress of the work in these distant lands, will show some of the opportunities God is giving to expand the work, and will be of great interest to all lovers of the truth. The officers of the General Conference have for months looked forward to this midsummer offering with considerable anxiety and expectancy. In this rapidly developing work, each year's progress not only brings us great encouragement and rejoicing as we witness its marked progress, but also a greater sense of our responsibility to keep pace with its development. In 1909 the work went forward with great strides. This forward move was made possible by the liberality of the people, our receipts being increased for the year from $270,000 to $371,000, a gain of more than $100,000 in a single year. This generous gain enabled the General Conference to care for a deficit that had existed in its treasury for some years, and to enlarge its missionary operations to such an extent that the disbursements were increased from $272,000 in 1908 to $351,000 in 1909,—an increase of nearly $80,000. In the work of this message there is no such thing as taking a backward step, or even standing still. The decided advancement of last year calls for further progress and larger disbursements for 1910. The leadings of God in many fields have been so marked, and the calls for assistance so imperative, that we can not ignore them, and the plans thus far adopted by the General Conference Committee call for remittances of funds increasing with each succeeding month, and an outlay of many thousands of dollars for transportation to mission fields of laborers who are now prepared to leave America. But we are confronted each month with an empty treasury and our inability to forward our regular appropriations to all the fields. The reason for this condition is that during the spring and summer months the regular income of the Mission Board is insufficient to meet the requirements of the work, and thus far we have not been able to accumulate sufficient funds to carry us over this season of the year.14 To meet this condition the midsummer offering was established. In 1909 the offering amounted to $19,960.03, and was a great help in a time of urgent need. In planning for the offering this year, the General Conference Committee decided to ask for an offering of $25,000. If this amount were doubled, it would be none too much in view of the greatly increased demands upon the treasury. This is a time of year when the people of America spend great sums of money in noisily celebrating their liberty and the birth of the nation, in pleasure-seeking and worse; and is it not an opportune time for us to show our appreciation of God's goodness to us, of the liberty we have in Christ, and of our privileges as his children, by a generous contribution to extend these great blessings to others still in darkness and the bondage of sin? The necessities of the situation are sufficiently urgent, and our responsibilities so great, that we feel warranted in earnestly requesting very liberal offerings from all. W. T. KNOX. “AND when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them, saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.” A True Forecast
By C. E. H.
IN 1844 George Junkin, then president of Miami University (Ohio), published in his lectures on the Bible prophecies, the following comment on the third angel's message (Rev. 14: 9, 10):— The ministry symbolized by this angel shall exhibit the lion-like spirit of the Protestant Reformers—“saying with a loud voice.” Clear and decided language will they utter. No timid, doubting state of mind, hesitating whether to say hard things against the beast and his image, or to speak smoothly and fawningly. . . . Their language will be the fearless and honest exposure of their thoughts. In answering the inquiry as to when the ministry so symbolized would arise, and who they are, he continues:— We must look for them subsequently to the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. . . . The fulfilment is yet future, but confining upon the present. The alarm is just beginning to be sounded; and the manifest growth of numbers and of zeal for pure Christianity in Geneva, Lyons, Montauban, Paris, and other parts of France, in Britain and Ireland, in some parts of Germany, and especially in America,—these are the beginning of great events. . . . Catholicism is manifestly waking up for a last desperate effort; and the unblushing effrontery of her emissaries is arousing, and will arouse, the Protestant world to a sense of its danger. The present movement on the subject of popery will continue; the prophecies that bear on it will be studied more and more. The fearful consequences of adhering to the despotic system will be still more clearly15 exhibited before the eyes of mankind, and the essential hatefulness and tyranny of the system be held up to the execration of the race, until the day of antichrist’s destruction shall come, and the vengeance be poured out that is written in the Word of God.—“Lectures on Prophecy,” pages 237-240. What this writer has predicted, based upon the revelator’s word, has been remarkably fulfilled. Since 1844 until the present time there has been an increased study of the prophecies, and a flood of literature pointing out the Papacy as the antichrist has been poured upon the world. THE practise of sorcery is by no means confined to bygone ages. It has many modern exponents, who may be found in nearly every community, preying upon the credulity of the people as did the sorcerers of old. Speaking of the modern form of this evil, the Christian Herald of May 25 says:— To-day, the sorcerer has his antitypes in many American communities. We are living in a time that surpasses all others in the number and boldness of its spiritual impositions. On every side, we see or hear vulgar offers to impart “the gift of God” for money. . . . All over the country the Holy Spirit is made a subject of trade and barter like worldly merchandise, and the divine power of healing body and soul is trafficked in as one would sell meat and drink. Moreover, these spiritual traders have a tariff of their own, by means of which they undertake to sell salvation at fixed rates. There is sharp competition among them, and they do not scruple to cry down one another’s wares, after the manner of peddling tradesmen. Those who conduct these businesses, in advertisements that bear all the earmarks of the auctioneer, describe their power in the cure of blindness, deafness, deformities, etc., “just as the Master did.” This reference to the world’s Redeemer in a catchpenny advertisement is the last limit of impious mendacity. It is difficult to understand how any sane and well-balanced person could be deceived by such transparent quackery; yet the business is apparently profitable. Like Simon of Samaria, they prey upon the ignorant and the superstitious; but they fairly outclass “the sorcerer” at his own game in their wildly extravagant claims and their spiritual pretentions. . . . The worst feature of it is that good, simple, but overcredulous people are frequently found among the victims; and these have to pass through a bitter experience before their eyes are open, and they come back to their right bearings. We are living in an age of great delusions. Satan will deceive all but the elect of God, those whose faith is founded on the sure Word of truth. Let us take heed to the counsel of God for these perilous times. Rome and Toleration
By J. Q.
RECENTLY Wm. T. Russell, pastor of St. Patrick's Church (Roman Catholic), Washington, D. C., spoke before the Knights of Columbus, a Roman Catholic organization, on “Catholic Tolerance in America.” The following citations are from the Washington Herald:— Tolerance is the product of religious indifference. The state can not afford to permit religious liberty. Absolute religious liberty does not exist; and to legalize tolerance would mean to encourage crime. We hear a great deal about religious tolerance, but we are only tolerant in so far as we are not interested. A person may be tolerant toward a religion, if he be not religious, or liberal toward a political party, if he be not a partizan; but he is not tolerant toward a thief, because he is interested. Intolerance means fervor and zeal. The best the state can do is to establish a limited religious liberty, but beyond a certain degree of tolerance the state can not afford to admit the doctrine. No church has been so liberal in speech, attitude, and doctrine as the American Catholic Church. It was George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, who first conceived the idea of establishing a colony where man might worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience. It was his son, Cecilius Calvert, who first formed a government under which every man might worship as he chose. From Massachusetts the persecuted Puritan came to Maryland, from Pennsylvania came the Quakers, and even the Jew came from afar to find protection in Maryland, where the Catholic Church had planted the principle of religious liberty. Rome very adroitly makes use of one of her adherents, who, had he been true to the doctrines of his church, would not have made the State of Maryland a refuge for the persecuted. Because Lord Baltimore established religious liberty in Maryland, therefore the Roman Church is the author of liberty in America! But Roger Williams, in 1631, “three years before the ships of Lord Baltimore left England,” proclaimed religious liberty, which was established in Rhode Island in 1636. By parity of reasoning, the Protestant church must be the author of liberty, as Roger Williams was a Protestant! Rome never changes; her intolerant spirit still lives, and awaits but the opportunity to manifest itself. THE influence of the United States outside of its own territory was powerfully illustrated recently in a Slovak village in Hungary. Baron Levay, giving an address at a political meeting, began to speak in Magyar. He was interrupted by the audience, who told him that the majority did not understand that language, although their native tongue, and asked him to address them in English. Four fifths of the three thousand persons composing the village were those who had returned from America. The vote of thanks at the close of the meeting was in English. Would that this growing, world-wide influence might ever be exerted in leading the nations upward toward higher ideals of government. But the prophetic Word predicts the very reverse: He “causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast.” Already do we see abundant indications of the working of this retrograde movement. While we may not save the nation from taking finally this fatal step, let us labor to save the individual units composing the nation from committing themselves to the evil principles which seek to lead the nations of men on to the overwhelming flood. Little Things
By Ernest Whitney
ONE little grain in the sandy bars;
One little flower in the field of flowers;
One little star in a heaven of stars;
One little hour in a year of hours—
What if it makes, or what if it mars? But the bar is built of little grains,
And the little flowers make the meadows gay,
And the little stars light the heavenly plains,
And the little hours of each little day
Give to us all that life contains. An Important Council
By George A. Irwin
THIS council was held at Loma Linda, Cal., May 6-12. It was composed of three representatives from the General Conference; one each from the Central, Lake, Northern, North Pacific, Southwestern, and Pacific union conferences; and two from the Southern California Conference, besides the executive committees of the Southern California Conference and the Pacific Union Conference, and the incorporators of the Loma Linda Sanitarium and of the College of Medical Evangelists. The council was the outgrowth of an invitation extended by the Pacific Union Conference, at its session in January, to these conferences to join with it in establishing, suitably equipping, and making provision for maintaining a denominational medical school at Loma Linda. In 1905 a meeting was held in Los Angeles to consider the advisability of purchasing this property. At this meeting Sister E. G. White was present. Among other things, she said:— “With the possession of this place comes the weighty responsibility of making the work of the institution educational in character. Loma Linda is to be not only a sanitarium, but an educational center. A school is to be established here for the training of gospel medical missionary evangelists. Much is involved in this work, and it is very essential that a right beginning be made.” In the communications that came from time to time to those who had charge of the work, the thought of a school where persons would receive an advance training in medical missionary lines was prominent; and in one the thought that it would develop into a medical school was strongly implied, as the following sentences indicate:— “Some of the students are to be educated as physicians. It is not necessary for our students to go to Ann Arbor for a medical education. They may obtain at our schools all that is essential to perform the work for this time.” “It will take some time to get a right understanding of the matter; but just as soon as we begin to work in the line of true reform, the Holy Spirit will lead us and guide us, if we are willing to be guided.” From a careful reading of all the communications that were received relative to this work, it seemed clear that at least three classes of workers were to be educated in the school: (1) Well-qualified nurses to work as evangelists; (2) a large number of persons, qualified with the ability of physicians, to labor as evangelists; (3) a few fully accredited physicians to stand at the head of the work. The brethren in charge of the work at Loma Linda made an effort to present the importance of this enterprise to the General Conference held in Washington in May, 1909; but, from lack of time, the brethren failed to get a hearing. However, after the Conference was closed, the General Conference Committee took the matter up, and passed the following resolution:— “Resolved, That we recognize the Loma Linda College of Evangelists as a special training-school for medical missionary workers for the world-wide field, and encourage it to maintain and strengthen its efforts to provide a course of study for the training of workers combining the qualifications of the highly trained nurse with those of the practical evangelist; and, further, that before giving counsel as to the suggested plan of adding to their facilities and equipment so as to give one or two years of medical study that would be accepted by a recognized medical college as a part of a regular medical course, we request definite information concerning the changes involved in adapting their courses of study for this purpose, the requirements of such colleges as would affiliate on this basis, and what such a plan would involve financially.” The matter was again considered at the fall council of the General Conference, held in College View, Neb., in October, 1909, and the following additional resolution was passed:— “Resolved, That we recommend the board of management of the Loma Linda College of Evangelists to secure a charter for the school, that it may develop as the opening providences and the instruction of the Spirit of God may indicate.” In harmony with this resolution, a charter was obtained by the incorporators of the Loma Linda Sanitarium, under the title of the “College of Medical Evangelists,” which charter provided for the granting of medical degrees to those who graduate. This action was another advance step in the history of this enterprise. The question not yet being fully understood, the Pacific Union Conference, at its recent fifth biennial session at Mountain View, Cal., January 25-30, by request of the Loma Linda brethren, took the question under consideration. A committee consisting of Elders I. H. Evans, E. E. Andross, and H. W. Cottrell, was appointed from the conference committee on plans and recommendations, to interview Sister White relative to the meaning of the counsel received. The communication addressed to her,16 and her reply thereto, were published in the REVIEW of May 19, pages 17, 18. Her statement that a school should be established where physicians as well as other workers could be trained was so definite that the committee on plans and recommendations reported, and the conference passed, recommendations outlining a plan for the establishment of a medical school on a broader and firmer basis. These recommendations were also published in the REVIEW of May 19, page 18, and need not be repeated here. The action of the Pacific Union Conference was communicated by the committee appointed for that purpose to the conferences mentioned in the recommendation. Each of these union conferences took the matter up, gave it favorable consideration, and appointed a person to represent them on the board. The General Conference Committee, at their spring Council in Washington, in April, 1910, took the following action on the invitation of the Pacific Union Conference:— “Whereas, It is advised that a medical school be equipped and conducted at Loma Linda, Cal.; and,— “Whereas, The Pacific Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists has petitioned that the General Conference join it in this undertaking; therefore,— “Resolved, (1) That the General Conference unite with the Pacific Union Conference (and other union conferences) in establishing a medical school at Loma Linda, Cal. “(2) That we authorize the officers of the General Conference to appropriate one thousand dollars, or any fraction thereof, for the above purpose, during the year 1910. “(3) That A. G. Daniells, W. A. Ruble, and H. R. Salisbury be the General Conference members on the board of control of said school.” The foregoing is a brief history of the successive steps that led up to the assembling of these representative brethren at Loma Linda for the purpose of considering this question more fully, and making provisions for a denominational medical school. The latest communications in regard to this enterprise were so clear and explicit that all doubt as to their intent was removed from the minds of the members of the council; and hence, from the very beginning, the meeting was characterized by a spirit of earnestness and determination. This enterprise being a new thing, the brethren had to feel their way along step by step. While each proposed move was discussed freely, an excellent spirit prevailed; and when an action was passed, it was by the unanimous vote of all the delegation. Early in the progress of the council, it was made very clear to all that it would be unwise to have two corporations operating upon the same ground, and doing a work that the Testimonies clearly implied should be one. For this reason, one of the first definite actions was the passage of a resolution to consolidate the sanitarium corporation and the college corporation into one, to be known as the College of Medical Evangelists, thus making the medical school the main feature, and the sanitarium work a branch, or auxiliary, of the same. By this action, the whole of the sanitarium plant, with its facilities and equipment, would become of great service to the medical college, thus making it possible for us to begin at once to operate a medical school, allowing the other appliances to follow later, as necessity should demand. By resolution of the council the constituency of the new corporation is composed of (1) the members of the executive committee of the Southern California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists; (2) the members of the executive committee of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists resident in the United States; (3) members of the executive committee of the Pacific Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists; and (4) the original incorporators. The consolidation of these two corporations entailed some minor changes in the articles of incorporation, and made it necessary for the election of a board of twenty-one members, composed of the following persons: A. G. Daniells, Allen Moon, R. A. Underwood, E. T. Russell, C. W. Flaiz, G. W. Watson, G. A. Irwin, E. E. Andross, W. C. White, Luther Warren, J. R. Leadsworth, J. J. Wessels, H. W. Lindsay, W. A. Ruble, J. A. Burden, G. K. Abbott, Julia A. White, T. J. Evans, R. S. Owen, H. F. Rand, and H. G. Lucas. One third of this number will serve for one year, one third for two years, and one third for three years; so that at each annual election, the members elected will serve for the term of three years. This board was organized by the election of the following persons as officers: G. A. Irwin, president; John A. Burden, vice-president; Dr. W. A. Ruble, secretary; S. S. Merrill, treasurer; John J. Ireland, auditor. After its organization, the board spent some time in considering the needs most imperative at the present time in order to operate the school. These were found to be a moderate-sized hospital building, with the necessary equipment and appliances, and a dormitory for the young men. The total estimated cost of these improvements, with the amount necessary for special laboratory equipment and instruments, etc., amounted to twenty-five thousand dollars, which sum it was voted to raise by contributions the coming season. The original suggestion that each of the conferences mentioned in the enterprise contribute one thousand dollars was sustained, and the amount thus raised will apply on the sum mentioned. A curriculum outlining the entrance requirements and fees, and the courses of study, was, after very careful consideration, adopted, and a faculty of teachers selected. A calendar containing full information relative to the school is now in press, and can be had on application to the dean, Dr. G. K. Abbott, Loma Linda, Cal. Since others of the brethren will, no doubt, feel a burden to write upon this subject, I will close by expressing the conviction that the movement inaugurated by this council, if carried forward in a spirit of sacrifice and in harmony with the instruction received from Sister White relative to the enterprise, will prove to be the most important move made by us as a people since the removal of our headquarters to Washington; for it provides a place where hundreds of our young men and women can receive a training not only as physicians, but as medical missionary evangelists, without their faith and spirituality being endangered by coming in contact with the skepticism and infidelity that are met in other institutions of learning. I bespeak for this enterprise not only the prayers of God’s people, but a share in their liberalities consistent with the importance of the enterprise and the needs of the work in other lines. IN view of the advances of atheism and the danger of its finding an entrance into its own church, the Christian Advocate (Methodist), in its issue of May 19, sounds the following timely warning:— When the Methodist Episcopal Church allows its ministers to deny, or to imply a denial of, the deity of Christ, to teach that Joseph was his father, and that Christ did not rise from the dead, but that the resurrection was merely a spiritual presentation which deceived the apostles and others into believing it was his body, and that the future life is a probationary state exactly as is the present state, its well-constructed system of government will not prevent its rapid decay.