WE must have purity in politics to sweep away the corruption that exists in the community, it is said: so the community is called on to go to the primaries and polls and purify politics. But which must we have first—pure politics? or a pure community? If we have the pure community we do not need to have it purified by politics; and if we have a corrupt community, how is such a community going to purify politics?
From the corrupt community comes corruption in politics; and from the corrupt hearts of men comes the corruption that taints the community. The heart is the fountain head of the whole stream: and from God, through repentance and faith, must come the purity that is to cleanse the heart.
OUTRAGES against Protestant missionaries in Ecuador are being reported from that country, and the United States Government is asked to protect them, they having been sent out by churches in the United States.
In Christian missionary work, the foremost consideration must always be that of how the cause of Christianity can be best advanced. Will it be by the protecting arm of the civil government? Of this, in the light of missionary history, there is room for serious doubt. Frequently the best interests of the missionary cause have demanded the sacrifice of the lives of the missionaries. Dependence upon God is a vital principle of Christianity, and this cannot well be taught in connection with an appeal to the civil power. God sent the missionaries; they went out to represent his government; and to his government—not to one which did not send them—they may properly look for protection. Why should Christian missionary work be put on a different basis now from that on which it was conducted in the days of Christ and the apostles?