THERE is trouble in the Presbyterian Church. The church is divided on certain questions, into what is called the “minority” and “majority” divisions. The Evangelist represents the minority and the Presbyterian, the majority. We publish on page 87 of this issue an editorial criticism from the Evangelist of the methods which the Presbyterian employs to increase it circulation. Our comment is, “Babylon is fallen.”
ALL should read the article in this issue entitled, “The Failure of the Pulpit.” It is written by a Methodist and published in a leading Methodist Church paper, and is therefore the statement of one who knows whereof he speaks, and who speaks as a friend and not as an enemy of the Methodist Church. No one familiar with the sins of “the man of sin” and the manifest symptoms of those sins as delineated by prophecy and recorded in history, will fail to recognize in the facts stated in the article referred to, a perfect description of the papal apostasy.
ROMAN CATHOLIC and Protestant religious papers are just now engaged in a love feast. The occasion for this is the recent Roman Catholic demonstration in favor of Sunday closing, in which it was resolved to aid non-Catholics (Protestants) in preserving the sacredness of Sunday. The Protestant press was wonderfully pleased with this and published columns of editorial commendation and rejoicing. The Catholic papers copied these and renewed their loyalty to Sunday. These Roman Catholic editors must laugh in their sleeves at the way Protestants hug the papal Sabbath.
THE Monitor (Roman Catholic), in its issue of March 2, publishes a review of an article in the Amador Record advocating religious teaching in the public schools. The Monitor’s review which embodies some good points well stated against that colorless thing “non-sectarian Christianity,” contains the following reference to Seventh-day Adventists:—
If the public school goes into the business of teaching the ten commandments it will have to go into the business of explaining them. If they are all commandments, all are important and all must be inculcated. If so, how are we to get over the elementary question of the observance of the Sabbath? Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day, is one of those “plain, self-evident” truths of which the Amador Record speaks, yet who shall say which day of the week is to be observed as the day of rest? If the public school teachers decide that Sunday is the Lord’s day the Jews will have a right to complain. And not only Jews but the Seventh-day Adventists can object to this interpretation. In fact to these latter the observance of the first day of the week as the Sabbath is a mark of antichrist and the proof of the great apostasy. They will protest that this is sectarian teaching, and so they are experienced bands at protesting, the Amador Record and the public school teachers might soon learn that their trials and tribulations had only begun.
We are pleased to note that the Monitor recognizes that Seventh-day Adventists are “experienced hands at protesting.” We are glad that it recognizes that Protestantism is not yet dead. And right here we protest against the Monitor’s quoting the Sabbath commandment from the catechism instead of from the Bible. If it had quoted from the Bible instead of the catechism it would have experienced no difficulty in determining which day is the Sabbath. The catechism which reads, “Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day,” is very indefinite and needs “explaining:” but the Bible which says, “The seventh day is the Sabbath,” is very definite and needs no “explaining.” And this very assumption of power on the part of the Roman Catholic Church to substitute its law for the law of God constitutes the “work of antichrist and the proof of the great apostasy.”
THE Western Watchman (Roman Catholic) speaks thus defiantly of the power of its church:—
The German Emperor applauded the statement made in the Reichstag the other day that the two practical dangers that now menaced the Fatherland were Socialism and Catholicism. If the church is an enemy then is she the greatest under the stars. Whatsoever she falls on shall be crushed to powder.
We surmise from the last sentence that the Watchman refers to “the stone which the builders rejected,” which “is become the head of the corner.” It is said of this stone, which is Christ (Ephesians 2:20), “Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.” Luke 20:18. If it is upon the authority of this text that the Watchman predicts the crushing of the German Empire by the Roman Catholic Church, it is terribly mistaken, for that stone is Christ. However, the fate of the Roman Catholic Church is symbolized by a stone. We refer to Revelation 18:21, which reads: “And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.” [88]