The Bible in the Public Schools

The following request has recently in the come to hand :" Seeing the vast importance Of suitable environments, especially for the young, and knowing the influence of the word of God in producing the very best, would it not be well for such of God's people as are interested in the matter, to make it a subject of special prayer that the Bible may be recognized throughout the land as having a national place in the Public Schools ? It must, of course, be left with you, whether or not to give this suggestion publicity through your magazine. If thus given, it might lead not a few to be exercised and to unite in prayer to that end."

We gladly give publicity to the suggestion. By virtue of his heavenly calling and of the holiness which becomes him in all his ways, the Christian may not mix with politics. He cannot oppose the enemies of the Bible therefore in a political way. This does not mean, however, that he is indifferent to the national welfare, in which welfare the Bible has, doubtless, the most prominent place.

The Christian's power is in God his Father, to whom he goes in believing and persevering prayer. If the people of God rightly interested in the welfare of the nation, and therefore in the character of its rulers and governors, were to make the subject a matter of earnest prayer, they would doubtless see their sphere of influence far more fruitful and honored both of God and of men than by taking part in politics, as many do. The world knows the chasm which exists between them and the people of God. It may resent the Christian consistency which makes them feel that chasm; but when the consistency is not in one thing alone, but in the whole life, they will in their hearts honor the man who abides in the Christian path. Christians on their knees before God may control national matters far more than all the politicians together, though unseen, unheard and unnoticed. What disasters, what bloody wars, what miseries, may already have been avoided in the history of nations through the prayers of a few godly souls! And at the present time, what Christian heart has not felt like praying- for wisdom to be given to the President of the United States concerning Mexico ?

We know God's chief interest on the earth now is in His Church, but if He takes interest even in the sparrows, how much more in what may be for the welfare or for the misery of a whole nation of human beings.

Who can tell how much of the peace and welfare of this favored land-for many years a refuge to multitudes of the needy and oppressed of other lands-is the result of the place the Bible has had in it ? What is it that makes the vast difference today between it and its southern neighbors, South America, Central America and Mexico ? Their natural resources are not a whit less than those of the United States, but under the yoke of the Roman Catholic Church, they have been deprived of the Bible. They were, instead, furnished with images, crosses, candles, etc., for idolatry, to their moral and national ruin.

Human nature is no better here than there, but the holy influence of the word of God has led to the
formation of a very different moral and national character. Our own father and mother, of sweet and revered memory, refused the tempting advantages offered them in 1853 by their home government to induce them to emigrate to one of its colonies. They chose to give up those inducements and suffer many of the hardships of pioneer life in the United States in order to have their family in environments formed by the Bible, and they never regretted it, but repeatedly expressed thankfulness at the step they had taken. The teacher in the log school-house may not always have been a very pious man, but a chapter from the Bible every morning spoke to him as well as to the scholars, and what a beneficent influence!

Since those early days, however, the Roman Catholic hierarchy, that well-known and relentless enemy of the Bible, has crept in, and, as is her wont, has set out to seize the reins of government, to get the Bible out of the schools. She calls the public schools irreligious ; then makes them religious after her own fashion-substituting for the noble and holy teaching of the word of God a mass of foolish traditions and doctrines of men, and Mariolatry and worship of images instead of the true and only God. If people forget or are indifferent to the rivers of blood shed by Popery, of those faithful men and women who laid down their lives to keep the word of God, they may at no distant day find that Rome's boast that "she never changes," is only too true.

Dr. Eliot

A newspaper clipping has been sent us, giving some recent utterances of Dr. Eliot's, the President Emeritus of Harvard University. If it were some erring Christian, one could, with the courage of love, seek to help such or his followers out of error; but Dr. Eliot is not an erring Christian. His flat denials of the plain facts revealed in the word of God, and daring to contradict God to His face, proclaim him aloud an apostate from the faith; and what Heb. 10:26-29 versus concerning such does not warrant, we believe, discussing what they say. The sayings themselves are the greatest possible warning to others not to follow them. But what a deep, deep pity that the youths of the land should ever be under such influence!

Some months ago we came in contact with a few youths of the Yale University, who are under the same kind of influences, and the moment they were touched by the word of God, they became not only discourteous, but insolent. How little such know that they are the very ones who prove the word of God true, for it has abundantly foretold about them.

Brazil

A recent letter from our brother J. P. Ribeiro who, with his wife, is laboring in the Word in Brazil, speaks of the work where they are as very encouraging indeed. They especially desire the prayers of God's people here, speaking of the assurance that they are remembered at the throne of grace as one of the most cheering things in their pathway. They are now in the upper reaches of the Amazon. Their address is:

J. P. Ribeiro,

Seuna Madureira, Alto Purus, (Telegrafo Sem Fios) Amazonas, Brazil.