THE K I N G ’S BUS I NES S 599 dances are now designed to promote lust. Are th e crowded dance halls a sign of th e pu rity of h e a rt of th e people? F o r years, th e w riter has tried to get some man in a Men s Meeting to say th a t he has engaged in round dances w ith pure thoughts, h u t has never found one. A re th e homes b e tte r? Domestic life cleaner; divorces fewer; children more obedient and respectful and happier? Is crime on th e decrease; are th e re fewer holdups, fewer bandits, fewer thefts, fewer seductions, fewer m u rd ers’ ’ Are th e re as many m urders in all Italy as in th e city of Chicago in one year? A re th e re few er bombs th row n? Are th e re fewer checks on salesmen con ductors and other employees? Are th e churches and Sunday Schools fu lle r’ Do we need fewer policemen? Are the jails em ptier? Who is it believes th a t th e world is getting b etter? Certainly, God does not th ink so, for He predicts in H is Word th a t it will be worse and worse un til the end. The devil does not th ink so for he knows his tim e is sh o rt and he is working over time. Lawyers know the world is no t getting b etter; th a t is why they are so busy Doctors know it isn ’t b u t th ey cannot tell all they know. Don’t let any one tell you th a t th ere is g reater advance in science, nor won derful improvement in machinery, th a t you can travel th rough the sky to the moon, th a t it is far more com fortable to live. T h at is no t th e question. Is th e age improving, morally and spiritu ally ? You will find some preachers and teachers who will say it is, b u t you never can find one who can prove it Make them prove it.—-T. C. H. ¿1^, Ms? M i T H E SHORTEN ED and Improved (?) Bible This is one of the signs of the times: that men will not endure sound teaching and that they shall turn away their ears from the truth. (2 Tim. 4.3, 4), There are some portions of the Bible that men are willing to endure, if they must, but there are other portions which they consider immaterial or entirely outworn. Hence the recent movement to get a “ shorter Bible” trimmed to suit the modern mind. “ The Shorter Bible” is now ready, the New Testament being already in print, the Old to appear soon. Professor Kent of Yale University with the help of one or two others has done the job. Many scholars have given their approval and the thing is booming. It is true that the professor is a great scholar, but his scholarship is that of liberalism, and we need not go on to say what type of passages have been eliminated as “ unimportant” and what passages have been patched up to meet the popular demand. The shorter Bible is remarkable— for its omissions. One well known Christian seholar says of it, “ The deadliness is seen, not in how much is omitted, but in what is omitted. *’ There may be a real call for an edition of the Scriptures giving only the most vital truths necessary for the study of busy Christians or for using in dealing with others. This might be a convenience, provided one did not make it a substitute for the whole Bible. But beware—when some self- appointed scholar who does not believe in the verbal inspiration of the Scrip tures gets out his scissors and paste-pot and proposes to give us what there is of the Bible that “ is of practical value.” J. B. Smith after reviewing the work, well says “ The tactics of Professor Kent and his associates are a modern repetition of the tactics of the first higher critic (Gen. 3 :1) and it is a mark of the apostasy.” We agree with the statement of the Sunday School Times: “ The Shorter Bible rejects the inspiration of the Word of God, therefore evangelical Christian believers must reject the Shorter Bible —K. L. B.
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