^HE KING’S BUSINESS 191 •shall flourish like grass of thé earth. His name shall endure for ever : his name shall be continued as long as the sun : and men shall be blessed in him : all nations shall call him blessed” (Ps. 72:2-17). “ The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD,-as the waters cover the sea.” That is an optimism ■worth while. * . - , m
A/IYTHS AND REALITIES.
For centuries Roman Catholics, especially young Roman Catholics and Roman Catholic women, have been fed by their Church with myths about their saints, which they have been taught to accept as solid historical facts, practically with the same authority as the supernatural incidents recorded in the Gospel, which are thoroughly attested. Protestants are now venturing somewhat along the same line. A striking instance of this is the booklet.“ The Comrade in White” by the Rev. W. H. Leathern, M. A., with introduction by Hugh Black, published by The Fleming H. Revell Co. Four beautifully written jstories are given in this book about alleged, appearances of the Comrade in White, i. e., our Lord Jesus. The Christ that is presented in these stories is not at all the Christ of the Scriptures. The representations are built upon a perverted use of passages o f Scripture. The alleged instances are not' authenticated at all, and the tendency of the book is thoroughly unwholesome. The supernatural in the Bible is well attested, and faith in it will never be increased by trying to bolster it with unauthenticated myths. Doubtless there will be a certain sort of comfort to some .of these stories, just as there has .been to some a com fort in the pretty legends about the saints, but a far more Scriptural comfort, and far more solid comfort can be fqund in the teaching of the Scripture. Each chapter in the book is preceded by a number o f quotations from Scripture and from other sources, published separately on a page preceding each chapter. One of these quotations, published along with a quotation from the Gospel of Luke, seemin'gly as if if had the same authority, is from Harold Begbie, and is thoroughly pernicious. He is quoted as saying: “ The day is at hand when we shall turn from the child-like amusements and excitements of physical science to the unimaginable adventures of super-physical discovery'; and in that day we shall not only flash our messages to the stars, but hold communion with our dead.” This is the rankest kind of spiritism. There has been, in consequence of the bereavements of the war, an appalling efflorescence of spiritism in Eng land, and this is simply one of the, many' illustrations of it. Sir Oliver Lodge’s silly book, “ Raymond,” to which we have already referred in these columns, is another shocking illustration of it. The thoroughly well authenticated incidents recorded in the Bible, the record inspired of God, will do far more good than these idle tales, though they are So beautifully written.
T he n ece ssity o f h e l l .
We clipped the following editorial from a secular paper. It is all the more significant coming as it does from such a source. There is much food for reflection in it : “ The moderns have banished hell from our theology. It is explained to
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