WE print elsewhere in this paper an article entitled, “Preacher and Plutocrat; or, the Corruption of the Church through Wealth,” by Rev. Walter Allen Evans, which is deserving of more than passing notice.AMS October 17, 1895, page 321.1

Many will doubtless seek to turn aside the force of Mr. Evans’ criticisms, warnings, and exhortations, by the cry of pessimism, and by pointing to our boasted civilization, the progress of the age in the arts and sciences, to the material prosperity of the world, and to the intelligence of its people; but none of these answer to the various serious questions raised by Mr. Evans.AMS October 17, 1895, page 321.2

Human nature is optimistic.AMS October 17, 1895, page 321.3

“Hope springs eternal in the human breast,AMS October 17, 1895, page 321.4

Man never is, but always to be blest.”

To this characteristic of the race rather than to any scriptural warrant, is due the general belief in the final triumph of the gospel by the conversion of the world.AMS October 17, 1895, page 321.5

The true mission of the Church is little understood even by her ministers. Popular theology inculcates belief in a temporal millennium wherein all the world is to be converted to the Lord Jesus Christ, and all nations to own him as King; but the Scriptures teach a very different doctrine.AMS October 17, 1895, page 321.6

When the Saviour was about to leave this world, he commissioned his disciples, saying, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature;” ^{1Mark 16:15.} giving them also the divine assurance, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” ^{2Matthew 28:20.}AMS October 17, 1895, page 321.7

But he gave them no promise that the time would ever come when all the world would receive the message which they were to give. On the contrary, he told them that as he had been persecuted so they would be persecuted. ^{3John 15:18-21.} And that “as the days of Noe were, so shall the coming of the Son of man be.” ^{4Matthew 24:37.}AMS October 17, 1895, page 321.8

The days of Noah were days of moral darkness and degeneracy, yea, even days of gross wickedness ^{5Genesis 6:5.} and forgetfulness of God; days when faith was well-nigh extinct in the earth; and that this is what the Lord wished to be understood as teaching would be the condition of the world in the closing years of its history, is evident from his language on another occasion, when he asked this question: “Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? ^{6Luke 18:8.}AMS October 17, 1895, page 321.9

The gospel “is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” ^{7Romans 1:16.} But the Scriptures nowhere teach that the time is ever coming when all the world, or even the majority of the world, will believe. When asked by one, “Lord, are there few to be saved?” ^{8Luke 13:23.} He said unto them, “Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat; because strait is the gate and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” ^{9Matthew 7:13, 14.}AMS October 17, 1895, page 321.10

Again, speaking of the end of the world, we find the Lord saying to his disciples: “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” ^{10Matthew 24:14.} There is nothing, however, in all this that indicates that the purpose of the gospel is to convert the world.AMS October 17, 1895, page 321.11

In perfect accord with the texts already quoted, are the words of inspiration found in the Acts and in the Epistles. In the first general council of the Christian Church, James declared that Simeon had set forth “how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.” ^{11Acts 15:14.} While we find Peter declaring “that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts;” ^{122 Peter 3:3.} and the Apostle Paul, writing to Timothy, says: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away.” ^{132 Timothy 3:1-5.} And again, in giving a solemn charge to his son in the gospel, he says: “I charge thee in the sight of God, and of Christ Jesus, who shall judge the quick and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure the sound doctrine; but, having itching ears, will heap to themselves teachers after their own lusts; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside unto fables.” ^{142 Timothy 4:1-4. (R. V.)}AMS October 17, 1895, page 321.12

In the light of well-known and recognized facts, must we not conclude that the time foretold by inspiration has come? For, according to the testimony of ministers themselves, men are heaping to themselves teachers after their own lusts, and are turning away their ears from the truth, and are being turned unto fables. ^{15Since writing this there has come to our notice the following from a sermon by Bishop Coxe, before the Episcopal General Convention at Minneapolis. As reported in the New York Independent, of October 10, the bishop said: “The last days seem to have come and ‘the perilous times’ are upon us. The apostle’s terrible portraiture of final apostasy is paralleled by what comes to us in journals, as every day’s report. Shameless nudity in bathing, and semi-nudity in evening attire, with lascivious dances, long banished by Christian decorum from social life, are flagrantly characteristic of American manners. Suicides, murders, outrages too awful to be named; scandalous marriages, husbands and wives slaying one another, or seeking divorces, which even heathen lawgivers would not tolerate; the decay of family ties beginning with ‘disobedience to parents,’ and the loss of ‘natural affection;’ all this leading to scorn of law; contempt for magistrates; lawless revenges, and cruel retributions; the decay of conscience in public men; the corruption of whole legislatures; Socialistic anarchy and threats of a warfare upon society, with torch and dynamite, and with nameless inventions, the product of our boasted science; such are the staple of journalism of which the constant ‘evil communications corrupt good manners,’ or aggravate what is already bad. Worse than all, in some respects, is the chronic cowardice which has settled upon men who should be watchmen to discover and martyrs to perform.”} Instead of being upon the verge of temporal millennium, wherein all men are to yield to the claims of the gospel and gladly acknowledge Christ as sovereign, is it not evident that the world is ripening for the harvest, so graphically described by the pen of inspiration: “And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.”? ^{16Revelation 14:17-19.}AMS October 17, 1895, page 321.13

“What Is Christian Endeavor?” American Sentinel 10, 41, p. 322.

ATJ

THE word “Christian” means, pertaining to Christ,—partaking of the nature and spirit of Christ.AMS October 17, 1895, page 322.1

“Christian” endeavor, therefore,—that which is such in fact,—must be such endeavor as bears the stamp of Christ’s character and life. All Christian work is but the work of Christ himself, performed through human instruments.AMS October 17, 1895, page 322.2

But we see in this country very much that is called Christian endeavor, the like of which we search in vain to discover in the purposes and life of Christ. An example of this is furnished by the Christian Endeavor convention which closed its session in Brooklyn, October 9. This appears from the following resolutions, with the passing of which the convention concluded its work:—AMS October 17, 1895, page 322.3

1. That we favor the execution of law, and call upon the executive officers in our towns and cities to honor their oaths of office and earn their salaries by executing law.AMS October 17, 1895, page 322.4

2. We protest against any modification of laws in the interest of the liquor traffic providing for the opening of saloons on Sunday.AMS October 17, 1895, page 322.5

We protest against the inauguration by statute of any system of “local option” that does not cover the whole State.AMS October 17, 1895, page 322.6

We call for such revision of the excise laws as will do away with the screens in saloon windows, and will permit policemen the right of entrance to saloons at all hours of the day or night.AMS October 17, 1895, page 322.7

3. We favor the divorce of city government from partisan politics.AMS October 17, 1895, page 322.8

4. We believe in the observance of Sunday as a day of rest from labor, service for humanity, and worship of God.AMS October 17, 1895, page 322.9

5. We congratulate the governor and legislature of Texas on their defense of decency in forbidding prize fighting.AMS October 17, 1895, page 322.10

6. We wish to express our sympathy with Armenia in her sufferings and with Cuba in her struggles.AMS October 17, 1895, page 322.11

7. We urge more interest interest in and work among mission fields, home and foreign.AMS October 17, 1895, page 322.12

8. We pledge ourselves to purity in private life, loyalty to American institutions, and service to Jesus Christ.AMS October 17, 1895, page 322.13

The commission given by Christ to his followers was: “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Mark 16:15. They were to go teaching all nations “to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” Matthew 28:19, 20. This was the work that Christ did as a man on earth, and which he has done through his disciples in all the centuries since. All endeavor that is Christian must be in the line of fulfilling this commission.AMS October 17, 1895, page 322.14

In these resolutions passed by the “Christian Endeavor” convention, there is, however, not one reference to Christian work, as defined by these words of Christ, except the vague and weak reference in the seventh, and the last one, pledging the convention to “service to Jesus Christ;” and the nature of that “service” is presumably to be discovered in the light of the resolutions preceding. We look in vain through the record of the life of Christ for any precedent justifying the title of “Christian” to work of the nature described in the first six of these resolutions. His work did not concern municipal politics and government. It was work of a wholly different and higher sort.AMS October 17, 1895, page 322.15

The truth is, such work is not true Christian endeavor. It is political “reform” work done in the name of Christianity,—the work of the earthly arm clothed with Christian authority and power, or what appears as such in the public mind. Christian work is the work of Christ by the Spirit, not with any carnal weapons of warfare, but with spiritual weapons, which are “mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:3-5. It overthrows the strongholds and puts to flight the hosts of the enemy not by political agencies, but by “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”AMS October 17, 1895, page 322.16

“Excluded from Canada” American Sentinel 10, 41, p. 322.

ATJ

THE Truth Seeker, a “Journal of Free Thought and Reform,” published in this city, has been excluded from the mails in Canada, under a ruling of the Postmaster General, because of its “scurrilous and blasphemous character.”AMS October 17, 1895, page 322.1

It seems that the particular feature of the Truth Seeker, which has excited the ire of the Canadian authorities, is the pictures which appear each week upon the first and last pages of the paper. These pictures certainly are objectionable from a Christian standpoint. Those appearing on the last page, especially, are certainly blasphemous, and we confess that we do not like them. They are not only wicked because they ridicule sacred things, but they are often grossly unfair. We believe they hurt the Truth Seeker; but that they justify its exclusion from the mails is quite another question.AMS October 17, 1895, page 322.2

“Blasphemy” is an exceedingly elastic term. In some countries, to speak against the Virgin Mary is to be guilty of “blasphemy.” In the early history of Maryland, to speak reproachfully of the Virgin was an offense punishable by a fine of five pounds; and a third offense, by confiscation of all property, and banishment from the colony.AMS October 17, 1895, page 322.3

Genuine Christianity has no use for civil power, neither has it anything to fear from the Truth Seeker, or from any other paper of like character; and spurious Christianity cannot be trusted with the power to define and punish heresy. Those who favor the exclusion of the Truth Seeker and other infidel publications from the mails, would not stop there; they would likewise exclude everything that opposes them. At a National Reform Convention held last November in New Castle, Pa., Dr. McAllister, the editor of the Christian Statesman, exhibited a copy of the Truth Seeker to the audience and called attention to the cartoons on the first and last pages, and said that it was simply “secularism gone to seed.” That statement was as grossly unfair as are some of the Truth Seeker’s cartoons; but that was not the worst thing the Doctor did. He spoke of the AMERICAN SENTINEL in the same connection and classed it with the Truth Seeker, though he certainly knew there was an impassable gulf between the two papers.AMS October 17, 1895, page 322.4

But bad as was Dr. McAllister’s statement, it was not sufficiently strong to satisfy Dr. H. H. George. He arose, and referring again to the Truth Seeker, the SENTINEL, and to certain religious liberty tracts that had been distributed in the town, said; “They all eminate from the same source and are of the same character.” He could not well have made a statement that was more utterly devoid of the truth. The Truth Seeker is, to say the least, agnostic. It is diametrically opposed to the Christian religion, while the SENTINEL is emphatically Christian and is edited by ministers of the gospel, and is supported almost wholly by Christian people. Thus it appears that the same spirit which excludes the Truth Seeker from the mails because of its blasphemies, would go farther if it could, and exclude from the mails those Christian papers which do not teach the popular theology of the day. Both Canada and the United State would better endure the evils that they have, rather than place themselves in the power of a lot of theocrats who would speedily bring upon them evils which they know not of.AMS October 17, 1895, page 322.5

“Some Political Religion” American Sentinel 10, 41, pp. 322, 323.

ATJ

IT would be amusing were it not such a serious matter to witness the various attempts of the several political parties and factions in this city to successfully “straddle” the Sunday and excise questions.AMS October 17, 1895, page 322.1

We commented two weeks ago upon the attitude of the two great parties upon these questions, showing that both of them had declared in favor of meddlesome and mischievous Sunday legislation while professing to favor liberty. But bad as their utterances were, they have been exceeded in that direction by the anti-Tammany fusion in this city. This fusion has adopted the following so-called excise plank (italics ours):—AMS October 17, 1895, page 322.2

We insist that every citizen is entitled by the fact of his citizenship to enjoy the largest measure of personal freedom, consistent with the welfare of the community, and not in conflict with the moral and religious convictions of his fellow-citizens.AMS October 17, 1895, page 322.3

While we believe that the sanctity of Sunday should be maintained in the interests of religion, of public morals and of health, through rest from all unnecessary labor on that day, we also believe due regard should be had to the sentiments of that large portion of the community who desire on that day to enjoy some orderly and harmless recreation.AMS October 17, 1895, page 322.4

We, therefore, favor and will endeavor to secure such modification of existing laws as will prevent blackmail, partially and oppression, and will enable this city to determine for itself, by popular vote, whether the sale of food, beverages, and other necessaries, shall be permitted on Sunday during such hours under such restrictions as will not interfere with religious observance and exercise.AMS October 17, 1895, page 322.5

This sounds very much like a travesty upon even a political platform. It is positively the worst political utterance which we have yet seen. The constitution of the State guarantees liberty of conscience and freedom of worship; but this so-called excise plank promises the individual only “the largest measure of personal freedom” “not in conflict with the moral and religious convictions of his fellow-citizens;” which is only saying that a man shall not be permitted to enjoy any freedom other than may be conceded to him by the religious prejudices of his neighbors. This is worse even than the papacy, and all that is wanting to complete the utter inconsistency and the absurdity of it, is another plank protesting against the massacre of Christians by Turks in Armenia, and the killing of Christian missionaries by Chinese mobs in China. The whole trouble in those countries arises from the fact that the persecuted Christians assert the right to a “measure of personal freedom” that is “in conflict with the moral and religious convictions of” their fellow-citizens.AMS October 17, 1895, page 322.6

The weakness of this fusion deliverance on the question of personal freedom, is equaled by the absurdity of the party’s attitude toward Sunday. That attitude is one of regard for the day as a religious institution, and a conservator of public morals and health, in so far as a belief in “the sanctity of Sunday” is consistent with harmless recreation” and the regular business of selling “food, beverages, and other necessaries” on that day, and in so far as beer drinking is conducive to health and public morals! Dubious champions these of the cause of Sunday sacredness! But this is political religion: and the ecclesiastics who have been so long and earnestly laboring to bring religion into politics, ought not to find fault with what the politicians see fit to give them.AMS October 17, 1895, page 322.7

“The Sabbath and Liberty” American Sentinel 10, 41, p. 323.

ATJ

ONE of the principal arguments put forward in support of the demand for Sunday laws, is that they are necessary in order that the workingmen may be free to rest on Sunday; in other words, they are necessary in order that the workingmen may have more liberty.AMS October 17, 1895, page 323.1

It is said that “the right of rest for one is the law of rest for all;” and by this is meant that the right of one person to rest on Sunday, demands a law compelling rest on the part of all. In this way men are to be made “free” to enjoy their rights.AMS October 17, 1895, page 323.2

This is not the freedom that men need. It is not real freedom at all. Rights are to be secured to people, but not thrust forcibly upon them. A right is of no value to an individual when separated from personal freedom in the matter of its exercise. If the individual does not choose to exercise a given right, to force him to do so only makes that right a curse to him instead of a blessing.AMS October 17, 1895, page 323.3

Every person has the right to rest upon the first day of the week; but not every person wishes to claim the right in his practice. A large number believe that another day is the proper day for the weekly rest, and that such rest upon the first day is wholly improper. A still larger class believe in spending the day in any manner that may suit their tastes, whether it be working, or resting, or seeking amusement and pleasure. To enforce Sunday rest upon these classes would not be securing to them a right, but denying one: since the right to Sunday rest is but an outgrowth from the more general right to rest (or not to rest) upon any day of the week, as conscience or convenience may direct; and they would feel that their right had been invaded rather than confirmed. Nor would such enforced rest be any less an invasion of the right of all other persons in this respect, whether they were conscious of the fact or not; for the rights of all classes are the same.AMS October 17, 1895, page 323.4

And thus the assertion that “the right of rest for one is the law of rest for all,” is self-contradictory, since it is equivalent to saying that “the right of rest for one” denies the right of rest for another. Such a proposition is, of course, an absurdity.AMS October 17, 1895, page 323.5

Those who believe Sunday rest to be a duty which they owe to God, should not call for a Sunday law compelling people to rest, in order that they may have “liberty” to do so. They already have the liberty, in common with all persons, to do what is right. Sin is a voluntary, not a compulsory act; otherwise the sinner could not be held responsible. True, the pathway of right doing is not free from obstacles; but under the provisions of the gospel, none of these obstacles can bar any person from the liberty to walk therein.AMS October 17, 1895, page 323.6

It is only a lack of faith in God that keeps an individual from doing what he believes it is the will of God that he should do. He is a slave to fear; he has not that soul-liberty which would make him free to obey the dictates of conscience. He who sins is the servant of sin, and all sin’s servants are slaves. John 8:34. Such persons might take Sunday rest under the “protection” of a Sunday law, but it is evident that they would be in slavery still. What they need is not a change of circumstances, but a change of heart.AMS October 17, 1895, page 323.7

He who will not obey a divine command until he has the “protection” of a human law in doing so, pursues a course that is most dishonoring to the God in whom he professes to believe. His very obedience, rendered under such circumstances, must be offensive.AMS October 17, 1895, page 323.8

As regards those who desire Sunday rest on other than religious grounds, they have the privilege of securing such rest by any means which will not invade the equal right of their fellowmen.AMS October 17, 1895, page 323.9

There is a liberty which all men need, and their need of this is the world’s greatest need to-day. It is the liberty which frees men from the slavery of sin. And there is a “law of liberty,” which is perfect (see James 1:25; Psalm 19:7), and insures perfect liberty in the life that conforms to it. And one precept of that law declares: “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work; ... for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Exodus 20:8-11.AMS October 17, 1895, page 323.10

That liberty comes with the attainment of perfect trust in the power of God; and the Sabbath—the memorial of creation—is the divinely-appointed “sign” of that power. See Exodus 31:13; Ezekiel 20:12, 20.AMS October 17, 1895, page 323.11

This shows the relation between God’s Sabbath—the seventh day—and that which is liberty in the truest and highest sense. The keeping of the Sabbath signifies allegiance to the true God—the Creator—and that allegiance is a perfect trust in the power of the true God, which casts aside all fear of the consequences of full obedience to his commands.AMS October 17, 1895, page 323.12

To all this a Sunday law is contrary. Instead of leading men to trust in God—setting them free in him—it tends to confirm them in the bondage of that fear which debarred them from the path of obedience to their convictions of right. It is the expression of trust in the power of man, which is contrary to trust in God. For, “Thus saith the Lord: Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.” But “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.” Jeremiah 17:5, 7. A like statement is made by the Apostle Paul: “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” Philippians 3:3.AMS October 17, 1895, page 323.13

Thus it is evident that a Sunday law is not for liberty in the case of any man, but against it. It can be nothing more than a badge of the bondage of those who would take refuge beneath it. It is contrary to the perfect law of liberty, which is the law of God.AMS October 17, 1895, page 323.14

“Foreclosing Their Mortgage” American Sentinel 10, 41, p. 327.

ATJ

SUNDAY, October 6, was spent by the leaders of the anti-Tammany forces of this city in arranging a fusion ticket in the interests of “reform.” This action was discussed the next day in the Methodist Preachers’ Meeting, after which the following was unanimously adopted:—AMS October 17, 1895, page 327.1

The members of the New York Preachers’ Meeting of the Methodist Episcopal Church desire to put on record their condemnation of the action of the representatives of political parties and political faction, who, claiming to represent the reform sentiment in this city, spent the hours of Sunday, October 6, in conference over the parceling out of nominations for office on the basis of the number of votes they claimed to control.AMS October 17, 1895, page 327.2

We desire to declare that in a political campaign where the chief moral issue is the rigid enforcement of Sunday law this sabbath desecration by the men who claim to represent the moral elements in our politics is an outrageous affront to not only the Christian sentiment of the people, but to the moral sense of all law-abiding citizens.AMS October 17, 1895, page 327.3

It will be seen from this that the Methodist preachers are not satisfied simply with the enforcement of the “law” as it stands, but that they demand that Sunday shall be observed as the Sabbath. There is nothing in the so-called Sunday law of New York to forbid politicians to consult together in regard to candidates, or even to hold a convention upon that day. Such action would not be contrary to the statute, nor is it contrary to good morals upon any other hypothesis than that Sunday is the divinely-appointed Sabbath; and this is the very ground upon which action was taken by Methodist preachers.AMS October 17, 1895, page 327.4

The politicians had placed themselves upon record as favoring “the maintenance of the Sunday ‘law’ in the interests of labor and morality.” The preachers seize upon this and demand that politicians shall themselves set an example of the kind of “morality” which they propose to foster. It is thus apparent that in pledging themselves to the support of the Sunday “law” in the “interests of morality,” the politicians have sold themselves to the preachers, and they must not find fault if the purchasers demand the delivery of the goods.AMS October 17, 1895, page 327.5

We are told that Sunday “laws” are not designed to be religious, and that it is not their purpose to secure the religious observance of the day; that they are intended in fact, only “to guarantee to all men the right to rest one day in seven;” but when the politicians exercise that right, in their own way, and spend the “civil sabbath” in arranging their plan of campaign, they are roundly denounced by the preachers as violators of their pledge to “maintain Sunday law in the interests of labor and morality.” It is evident, therefore, that the preachers intend that the force of the Sunday “law” shall be to secure not only physical rest, but religious observance, and to forbid everything which is not in keeping with the supposed character of the day.AMS October 17, 1895, page 327.6

“Back Page” American Sentinel 10, 41, p. 328.

ATJ

WE print on another page an article on “Religion in the Normal Schools,” which contains some facts and suggestions worthy of serious consideration.AMS October 17, 1895, page 328.1

We are in harmony with the suggestion made in the closing paragraph, that it is only a “matter of simple justice to all denominations, and to those outside of all denominations, that all religious bias should be removed from” all schools under State control or supported wholly or in part by State funds.AMS October 17, 1895, page 328.2

We do not take this view, however, simply because of the impossibility of doing equal and exact justice to all concerned in the matter of giving religious instruction, but because in the very nature of the case the State is not qualified to give that kind of instruction. A teacher to properly give such instruction must have not only a religious but a spiritual qualification: and certainly it would be improper for the State to determine who possesses the necessary qualification for giving instruction in matters of religion. It would likewise be manifestly improper for the State to allow the various churches to certify to the qualification of teachers in that respect; therefore, the only thing for the State to do is to omit religious instruction from its curriculum.AMS October 17, 1895, page 328.3

Nor do we believe that the morals of the people would suffer in the least from this omission. Religious instruction properly belongs to the home, the church, and the parochial school. In all these places such instruction can be properly given, and by persons properly qualified to give it. But outside of these agencies any attempted religious instruction is almost certain to be merely perfunctory and calculated only to displace and to cause to be neglected that home training which would otherwise be given.AMS October 17, 1895, page 328.4

Germany affords a striking example of what religious instruction in the public schools will do for a people who depend largely upon it. Nowhere, not even excepting in “infidel France,” is unbelief so general as in Germany, and formalism in religion so widespread. We believe it would be many times better, both for the schools and the public, if all State schools were purely secular.AMS October 17, 1895, page 328.5

THE Levenworth (Kansas) Standard thinks it has solved the problem of the persecution of Adventists in Tennessee and other States, and has invited them to come to Kansas. In fact, judging from what the Standard says, one would suppose that a general exodus of the Adventists to that State had already begun. Our contemporary says:—AMS October 17, 1895, page 328.6

The Standard’s invitation happened to find those much persecuted people ripe for just such a move and more than willing to flee from the venomous reptiles of bigotry who have made their lives a burden and seek homes in a State where they can live in peace and worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience. They will locate in groups in various portions of the State wherever the conditions are found to be most favorable. The Standard is now engaged in giving them all the assistance it can in the selection of localities and it hopes to land a fair share of them in this county and city. These people are not Puritans; they believe in religious liberty, and if Kansas can get every last one of them in this and other countries to locate within her borders, she will have accomplished the finest of immigration work she ever undertook.AMS October 17, 1895, page 328.7

We cannot think that there is any such movement among the Adventists. It is true that individuals of that faith may be seeking homes in Kansas; but the Adventists are not so anxious to avoid persecution as they are to discharge what they believe to be their duty to the world. They believe that everyone who has truth in advance of others is under obligation to give that truth to the world, and this cannot be done by colonizing in one or two States. Adventists are a missionary people, and no effort has ever been made by them to colonize; and instead of fleeing from States where the laws are unfavorable to them, we find them sending out missionaries into all parts of the world, planting the standard of truth upon every shore. They have established missions in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and in the Islands of the Sea. They have even invaded Russia, thus braving the terrors of exile to Siberia; and we are satisfied that not until they feel that their work is done will they forsake any neighborhood simply to avoid persecution.AMS October 17, 1895, page 328.8

The question of religious liberty cannot be settled by fleeing from bigotry and intolerance, but by meeting it in the Spirit of Christ and with the truth of the gospel, and overcoming it in its strongholds.AMS October 17, 1895, page 328.9

IN the New York Christian Advocate, of Sept. 19, the editor says:—AMS October 17, 1895, page 328.10

When we were in Vienna it caused a great effect to find the little Wesleyan place of worship. The law would not allow it a shape like a church building; it could not have a name; it existed by sufferance. Consequently it was shut up and had a long conflict with the government. Finally certain rights were given to it, and a church was erected, and one Sunday last month, for the first time in Vienna, Protestant church bells rung out, a set of bells having been presented to this Protestant church.AMS October 17, 1895, page 328.11

No American Protestant will question the propriety of this little church’s “long conflict with the government” in its struggle to occupy the place of a light-bearer to the multitudes that sat in darkness around it. No such person will claim that the “law” which “would not allow it a shape like a church building” or even a name, was not wholly unjust and unworthy of recognition. Yet it was “the law of the land;” and if “the law of the land” ought always to be enforced, simply because it is the “law,” the Roman Catholic authorities of Vienna were in the right in trying to extinguish the kindling flame of Protestant public worship.AMS October 17, 1895, page 328.12

THERE is a large amount of humbug in the talk about the workingmen becoming slave to Sunday labor. The workingmen can not on Sunday if they want to. It is not they who are doing the talking about the prospect of such slavery, or who feel any fear of it. It is not an over-amount of labor that they fear, but a scarcity of it, with low wages.AMS October 17, 1895, page 328.13

October 10, 1895

October 24, 1895