Jl'NK. 1921 



O I, E A N T N G S IN BE K C U I. T IT R E 



(li-rt'iil example before (he world, had not 

 some time in their lives read that promise 

 in Malachi where the old prophet chal- 

 lenges the people by saying, "Prove me 

 now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I 

 will not open unto you the windows of 

 heaven, and pour out a blessing that there 

 shall not be room enough to receive it." 



Now, what I have been telling you above 

 is certainly an evidence that, even if there 

 is here and there an example of heathenish 

 blindness, there are thousands of evidences 

 that the people of the United States, and 

 I hope the world at large, are on the road 

 to "the kingdom of heaven" that the dear 

 Savior talked so much about when he was 

 here with us. 



What I have been telling you above is in 

 the line of saving life. The awful war we 

 have just passed thru was a work of de- 

 stroying life. I have talked to you about 

 the League of Nations and the work on foot 

 to stop cutting i^eople to pieces and de- 

 stroying life as a method of settling difPer- 

 ences. What about this armament business 

 — building men-of-war that cost, a good 

 friend of mine said, $25,000,000, and after 

 they were made, having the sad spectacle 

 of seeing them going on to the scrap-heap 

 icithout ever heiufj used? And the saddest 

 part of it is that you and I have to be 

 taxed to furnish these millions to make 

 ships and machinery to destroy the lives 

 that God gave. 



Some wise woman belonging to the W. C. 

 T. U. said a few days ago that the text, 

 "Thou shalt not kill," was going to be 

 read, "Thou shalt not make iiiiiilnnciitu to 

 kill." Some good man or woman has sug- 

 gested that there is only one nation on 

 earth that could successfully fight the 

 United States, and that is England. And 

 then somebody else said that after the way 

 we worked together with England during 

 the recent war a sort of brotherhood had 

 been established that would effectually pre- 

 vent for 17?? time any more wars between 

 America and England. These two coun- 

 tries in times past have suffered somewhat 

 from strained relations as to which should 

 be in the best shape in the way of naval 

 equipment for invasion. With England and 

 the United States united, since what has 

 happened to Germany, there is no probabil- 

 ity nor hardly a possibility that any nation 

 on earth would presume to declare war 

 against us. Well, while I was thinking of 

 that old hymn about the heathen in their 

 blindness I was wondering if it was not a 

 little heathenish to keep on investing un- 

 told millions in preparation for some future 

 war. May the Lord be praised that both 

 America and England, and, I trust, other 

 nations, have already cut down their ap- 

 propriations for future armament. 



Since I wrote that Home paper about re- 

 membering the Sabbath day to keep it holy, 

 jjcrhaps half a dozen kind friends have 

 written that I overlooked the sad fact (?) 



that the greater part not only of the people 

 of the United States but of the whole world 

 were having Sunday on the wrong day. It 

 should be Saturday instead of Sunday. Now 

 please do not feel hurt, dear friends, if I 

 suggest tliat these good people are also 

 guilty of "heathenish blindness" in think- 

 ing that the world would be made better 

 by having Sunday on Saturday. Those who 

 have had Gleanings for the last 50 years 

 will recall that about once in 10 or 15 

 years I have taken this matter up. Now, I 

 think I am right, and I think the good 

 people of the world will stand by me when 

 I say this talk about the first day and the 

 seventh day is all folly, and I hope to be 

 able to prove it in a few words. To me it 

 looks as if there were no first nor seventh 

 day. The argument I bring forward and 

 have urged for the last 40 years or more is 

 briefly this: One or more islands of the sea 

 were settled by people from two different 

 directions, and both were exactly right in 

 deciding what day was Sunday. But they 

 had two different days. They could not do 

 otherwise, and therefore it was imj)ossible 

 for them to decide which day was the first 

 and which was the seventh. In fact, I have 

 challenged our Advent friends on this dur- 

 ing all these years, and I also called their 

 attention to the fact that for many years 

 no one ventured to rise up and reply in re- 

 gard to the island argument. Finally one 

 good woman said something like this: 



"Mr. Boot, were I over on that island 

 where they can not decide as to the Sab- 

 bath, I would find out which side had the 

 most followers, and then I would take the 

 opposite." 



That is, she would make her decision by 

 being contrarv. Would that be Christian- 

 like? 



Well, now, here is something further: In 

 my recent visit to Battle Creek, Mich., I 

 took the liberty of saying to Dr. Kellogg 

 that I could with all my heart approve of 

 all their work except that one thing of 

 thinking that the world would be benefited 

 by putting everything out of joint aiid hav- 

 ing Sunday on Saturday. Just now I can 

 not remember the precise words Dr. Kellogg 

 used; but they were something like this: 



"Mr. Eoot, I forgot to tell you that / 

 have backslidden, gone back, and. have been 

 for several years in favor of the day usual- 

 ly accepted as Sunday. ' ' 



I arose and took him by the hand and 

 said: 



"Doctor, , can I say 'praise the Lord' for 

 this news?" 



He replied, "Yes, ^Iv. Root, say 'praise 

 the Lord' if you choose." 



It has long been a wonder to me that a 

 man of such great skill and intelligence 

 with such world-wide reputation, could con- 

 tinue to put himself "out of joint" with 

 the rest of the Christian people of the whole 

 wide world. 



I told you I have had something like half 



