Searching the Scriptures.—One of the most useful booklets we have seen in the line of Scripture searching is that published by George Morrish, 20 Paternoster Square, London, E.C., at the price of one halfpenny, under the title of the “Scripture Searcher’s Almanac.” This Almanac is specially adapted for young people. A portion of a verse is given for each day, the reference being omitted for the searcher to fill in. Where the name of the book is not given, the text is to be found in the New Testament. For example, under date 1st January, we find the words, “God so loved . . . He gave His only begotten Son”; the book, chapter, and verse, in which these words are to be found are to be entered in the Almanac, and so on through each day and each month of the year. Prizes are offered for successful answers. Our young people might gain everlasting benefit by searching the Scriptures in this way; certainly they could not glean in a better field.
The Pope and Peace.—Were it not that there is abundant evidence of the Pope’s sympathies the Allies might be led to believe that all his well-advertised efforts in the direction of peace came from a well meaning if a woefully misdirected man. Fortunately, the Pope’s sympathies and the policy of the Vatican are so patent that it is to be hoped no one is deceived by them. And one can only hope and pray that the tortuous worldly policy of the Vatican will end in the disaster it deserves. The establishment of the temporal power is the dream and ambition of Pope Benedict; for the realisation of this, the whole machinery of papal diplomacy is at work night and day in these days of Europe’s tribulation. In a letter issued by the German Humanity League (a Socialist organization), it is openly stated that the Kaiser has promised the Pope restoration of the temporal power. We hope to see the day soon dawn when the Kaiser and the Pope will be relegated to a well-merited silence in the councils and affairs of nations.
Munition Workers and Sabbath Labour.—The Munition Workers’ Health Committee was appointed by the Ministry of Munitions to consider and advise on questions of industrial fatigue, hours of labour, and other matters affecting the personal health and physical efficiency of workers in munition factories.
The first question considered by the Committee was labour on Sabbath. And it is understood that they report that such labour is not conducive to the maintenance of good health and tends, over a lengthened period, to a lessening of efficiency, which prevents the maximum output being obtained. It did not require the evidence of the Committee to substantiate what is a well-known fact to all who have given any attention to this matter. Breach of God’s laws inevitably ends in disaster, either morally or physically, and sometimes both. The output in munitions would have been greater had the fourth commandment been observed by all engaged in the work.