CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER MMM 411

[All articles, except in the departments of Choice Selections and The Home which contain no signature or other credit, will be understood coming from the Editor. All signatures to articles written for the Review will be printed in small capitals: to selections, in italics.] MMM 411.2

Last Sabbath, the 11th, the Battle Creek church were privileged to listen to a discourse by sister E G. White from 1 Peter 1:3-10. As the words of the text would indicate, the discourse was eminently practical, presenting the high duties and privileges of Christian in these last days, and dwelling principally upon the themes of Christ as our burden bearer, and the duty of all who profess his name to co operate with him in the work of winning souls. A larger number were present than for many weeks previous, among whom were a goodly number of those not of our faith. The occasion was one of unusual interest, and, we trust, of profit also. MMM 411.3

The great political event of the year has come and gone, and one of the common facts which its passage has emphasized is that no one has the power to so carefully weigh human probabilities as to be able to decide with certainty the outcome of any impending issue. There is, however, one election, of vastly greater importance to every individual than the one just passed, the result of which each one has it in his power to determine; and that is the election which will entitle him to a place in the future inheritance of the saints. This is an election concerning which no one can afford to be indifferent. It is the privilege and the duty of every one to heed the apostolic injunction to “give diligence, to make your calling and election sure.” MMM 411.4

The Independent says that “there is not a solitary fact known to man creating even the faintest presumption that the death of the body is the absolute destruction of our conscious being.” This is equivalent to saying that thousands of honest, intelligent Christians can firmly hold as an article of faith on the sole authority of the Scriptures, something which those writings not only do not prove, but do not even in the remotest manner hint at. And not only this, but they can reason for hours from the Scriptures on a subject to which they contain not the slightest allusion, in a manner which not only commends itself to intelligent audiences, but convinces many of the truth of the position taken. This is just what S. D. Adventist ministers all over the country are doing continually, wholly oblivious of the fact that they are performing a very wonderful feat. MMM 411.5

It is equivalent to saying that the Bible,-the source from whence man draws all the facts known to him upon this subject,-is such a mystical book that such statements as, “The dead know not anything” (Ecclesiastes 9:5), and that in the day of man’s death “his thoughts perish “(Psalm 146:4), do not in the faintest manner hint at the view which the Independent so sweepingly condemn?. Were such actually the case, it would be a most conclusive proof that the Roman Catholic position is correct, which says that the Bible cannot be understood by the masses, but must have its meaning revealed to them by the authorities of the church. MMM 411.6

It is the plain duty of every professing Christian to recommend his religion in the most favorable manner possible to those around him. How can he do this? Not by arguing with them, nor even by any other method of speech; but by means of that which “speaks louder than words;” namely, his actions. Whatever may be the testimony of his words, it is overbalanced by the testimony of his actions, if the two are not in harmony. This is a truth which many persons of this class apparently fail to realize. While they profess full confidence in their faith, their cheerless, gloomy, and despondent bearing, day after day, virtually says to those around them, “The Christian religion is a failure. The joy and peace it promises are myths, It does not make one’s condition any better than it was before he accepted it” With this testimony constantly before them, it cannot be strange that followers of the world should think that to enlist in the cause of Christ is to sacrifice all enjoyment in life, and should prefer worldly pleasures to the undesirable state exemplified in the lives of those professors. The most effectual way to convert others is to convince them of the desirability of the state into which you have been brought through your acceptance of Christ, by that continually cheerful and joyous deportment which it is the Christian’s privilege to manifest to his brethren and to the world. Our privilege and our duty in this respect are summed up in the inspired words “Rejoice evermore.” MMM 411.7

It is quite common for some foreign Catholic journals to allude to most wonderful cures alleged to have been effected by worshiping at certain Catholic shrines in the Old World, distinguished by the possession of some especially consecrated images or relics of the “saints.” Of course every Protestant believes that these alleged cures are a humbug, and that the reputation of these places is sustained chiefly by priestly trickery and an excited imagination. As an illustration of some of the methods employed to keep up this reputation, the British Weekly furnishes the following rather amusing incident:- MMM 411.8

A French Protestant gentleman living at Nimes had a man servant, who one clay gave him notice to leave, as he wished to return to his native mountains. Shortly after, his master met him hobbling along the Boulevard with two crutches. On asking him what was the matter, the man seemed confused, but on being pressed for an answer, said, “If you will come to a certain cafe at two o’clock, I will tell yon all.” The appointment was kept, and then it appeared that, not coring to return home, be bad been recommended to go to a priest for employment, which consisted in walking round the Boulevard once a day for three weeks, with his leg tied up and using two crutches. For this be was to receive one franc per diem; and at the end of three weeks be was to perambulate in the same way three times a day for one week, and to receive a wage of three francs. This over, be was to go to Lourdes to get cured! MMM 411.9

This is one way in which doubtless the imagination of the devout but not over intelligent masses of some Catholic districts is frequently fed, and their faith kept alive in the divine authority and power of the Roman Catholic Church. MMM 411.10