Earlier text: Live Only One Day at a TimeChrist the Power and Wisdom of God
“Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” 1 Cor. 1:24. Christ’s gospel is a thing of divine power. Do you want proof of it?—You shall not go far. How could Christ’s gospel have been established in this world as it was, if it had not in it intrinsic might? By whom was it spread,—by mitered prelates, by learned doctors, by fierce warriors, by califs, by prophets?—No; by fishermen, untaught, unlettered, save as the Spirit gave them utterance, not knowing how to preach or speak. How did they spread it,—by the bayonet, by their swords, by the lance, and with the scimitar? Say, did myriads rush to battle, as they did when they followed the crescent of Mohammed? or did they convert men by force, by law, by might?—Ah, no! Nothing but their simple words, their unvarnished eloquence, their rough declamation, their unhewed oratory,—these it was which, by the blessing of God’s Spirit, carried the gospel round the world within a century after the death of its founder. But what was their gospel, which achieved so much? Was it a thing palatable to human nature? Did it offer a paradise of present happiness? Did it offer delight to the flesh and to the senses? Did it give charming prospects of wealth? Did it give licentious ideas to men?—No; it was a gospel of morality most strict, it was a gospel with delights entirely spiritual,—a gospel which abjures the flesh, and which, unlike the coarse delusion of Joe Smith, cut off every prospect from men of delighting themselves with the joy of lust. It was a gospel holy, spotless, clean as the breath of heaven; it was pure as the wing of an angel; not like that which spread of old, in the days of Mohammed, a gospel of lust, of vice, and wickedness, but pure, and consequently not palatable to human nature. And yet it spread. Why? My friends, I think the only answer I can give you is, Because it has in it the power of God. But do you want another proof? How has it been maintained since then? No easy path has the gospel had. The good bark of the church has had to plow her way through seas of blood, and those who have manned her have been bespattered with the bloody spray; yea, they have had to man her and keep her in motion, by laying down their lives unto the death. Mark the bitter persecution of the church of Christ from the time of Nero to the days of Mary, and farther on, through the days of Charles the Second, and of those kings of unhappy memory, who had not as yet learned how to spell “toleration.” From the dragoons of Claverhouse, right straight away back to the gladiatorial shows of Rome, what a long series of persecutions has the gospel had! But, as the old divines used to say, “The blood of the martyrs” has been “the seed of the church.” It has been, as the old herbalists had it, like the herb camomile,— the more it is trodden on, the more it grows; and the more the church has been ill-treated, the more it has prospered. Behold the mountains where the Albigenses walked in their white garments; see the stakes of Smithfield, not yet forgotten; behold the fields among the towering hills, where brave hands kept themselves free from despotic tyranny; mark the Pilgrim Fathers, driven by a government of persecution across the briny deep. See what vitality the gospel has. Plunge her under the wave, and she rises the purer for her washing; thrust her into the fire, and she comes out the more bright for her burning; cut her in sunder, and each piece shall make another church; behead her, and, like the Hydra of old, she shall have a hundred heads for every one you cut away. She can not die, she must live; for she has the power of God within her. Do you want another proof? I give you a better one than the last. I do not wonder that the church has outlived persecution so much as I wonder she has outlived the unfaithfulness of her professed teachers. Never was church so much abused as the church of Christ has been, all through her history. From the days of Diotrephes, who sought to have the preeminence, Bonners, Dunstans, and men of all sorts have come into her ranks, and done all they could to kill her, and with their lordly priestcraft they have tried to turn her aside. And what shall we say to the huge apostasy of Rome? A thousand miracles that ever the church outlived that! When her pretended head became apostate, and all her bishops disciples of hell, and she had gone far away, wonder of wonders, that she should come out, in the days of the glorious Reformation, and should still live! And, even now, when I mark the supineness of many of my brethren in the ministry; when I mark their utter and entire inefficiency of doing aught for God; when I see their waste of time, preaching now and then on the Sunday, instead of going to the highways and hedges and preaching the gospel everywhere to the poor; when I see the want of unction in the church itself, the want of prayerfulness; when I see wars and fightings, factions and disunions; when I see hot blood and pride, even in the meetings of the saints,—I say it is a thousand thousand miracles that the church of God should be alive at all, after the unfaithfulness of her members, her ministers, and her bishops. She has the power of God within her, or else she would have been destroyed; for she has got enough within her own loins to work her destruction. “But,” says one, “you have not yet proved it is the power of God to my understanding.” Sir, I will give you another proof. There are not a few of you who are now present who would be ready, I know, if it were necessary, to rise in your seats and bear me witness that I speak the truth. There are some who, not many months ago, were drunkards; some who were loose livers; men who were unfaithful to every vow which should keep man to truth, and right, and chastity, and honesty, and integrity. Yes, I repeat, I have some here who look back to a life of detestable sin. You tell me, some of you, that for thirty years even (there is one such present now) you never listened to a gospel ministry, not even entering the house of God at all; you despised the sabbath, you spent it in all kinds of evil pleasures, you plunged headlong into sin and vice, and your only wonder is that God has not cut you off long ago, as cumberers of the ground; and now you are here, as different as light is from darkness. I know your characters, and have watched you with a father’s love; for . . . I am the spiritual father of some here whose years far outnumber mine. . . . I have seen you honest who were thieves, and you sober who were drunkards. I have seen the wife’s glad eye sparkle with happiness, and many a woman has grasped me by the hand, shed her tears upon me, and said: “I bless God; I am a happy woman now; my husband is reclaimed, my home is blessed; our children are brought up in the fear of the Lord.” Not one nor two, but scores of such are here. And, my friends, if these be not proofs that the gospel is the power of God, I say there is no proof of anything to be had in the world, and everything must be conjecture. Yes, and there worships with you this day (and if there be a secularist here, my friend will pardon me for alluding to him for a moment), there is in the house of God this day one who was a leader in your ranks, one who despised God, and ran very far away from right. And here he is! It is his honor this day to own himself a Christian; and I hope, when this sermon is ended, to grasp him by the hand, for he has done a valiant deed; he has bravely burned his papers in the sight of all the people, and has turned to God with full purpose of heart. I could give you proofs enough, if proofs were wanted, that the gospel has been to men the power of God and the wisdom of God. More proofs I could give, yea, thousands, one upon another.—Sermons of the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, of London, Third Series, New York, Sheldon & Co., 1861, pages 378-382. Value of Time at Our General Meetings
By W. J. Stone
Few realize the value of time at our general gatherings, or what it costs to prepare for and hold one of these meetings; therefore many do not utilize every moment according to its worth. I was asked to occupy some time in the workers’ meeting preceding the Indiana camp-meeting, where we were discussing methods of work and topics to be considered at the camp-meeting. I devoted a portion of the study to the value of time, endeavoring to show that such opportunities are rare, and every moment should be occupied in a manner to accomplish the greatest possible good.8 I asked the workers this question, “How much do you think it costs to hold an average camp-meeting, with an attendance of six hundred?” The cost was estimated all the way from three to ten thousand dollars. We then took up the cost of traveling and the salaries of all the laborers. It was estimated that at least one month’s time would be consumed in the workers’ meeting, camp-meeting, cleaning up the grounds, and getting back to the fields of labor. It was stated by the president of the conference that this item alone would cost the Indiana Conference over $1,500. The total expense of the camp-meeting for freight and all incidentals, wear and tear on tents, etc., was estimated at $500. The average expense to each individual, in extras that he must have in preparing for the meeting, car fare, drayage, rent of tent and furnishings, extra cost of living when at the meeting, etc., was placed at $10 each. A number thought it would cost more. This made, for six hundred, $6,000. Then it was estimated that among this number there would be three hundred of the attendants whose time could be easily estimated at $1.50 a day; afterward this estimate was found to be too low. This added $4,500 more, making a total of $12,500, at a conservative estimate, that the Indiana camp-meeting would cost the believers in this State. This sum was then divided so that we could better comprehend the amount, showing that the cost would be $1,250 a day, and $125 an hour, or over $2 for each minute, estimating that ten hours would be devoted to public services each day. I think all saw, more plainly than ever before, the importance of thoroughly organizing the work, so that every moment would be used wisely, and of selecting competent committees to consider thoroughly all questions to be brought before the conference, so that, by prayer and counsel, well-defined plans may be brought before the believers for consideration. When this is done, care should be taken not to bring in vital changes or substitutions, in open conference, that would prolong discussions, and consume valuable time. Should changes be desired, the matter should be referred to the committee, giving all interested persons an opportunity of meeting the committee, and thoroughly considering the question. It was also believed that all who are called upon to speak to the people should feel the burden of the call, and that they have a message from the Lord; also that where so many are together at so great a cost, every testimony borne ought to be to the point, and the argument stated with brevity and simplicity. As we grow older, and at last are left
Without the love that seemed so much a part
Of each day’s life that never had we thought
Of it as love, but simply life itself,
What is it that comes back of her we miss
With tears more bitter because shed so late?
Is it the loving counsels that throng back,
The wisdom doubly prized as daily proved?
Is it her beauty or her graciousness
That haunts me while I wake, and comes in dreams?
No, no. All day and many nights and days
My mind is filled with myriad little things:
The way she kissed me when she tied my hood
And sent me off to school, a little girl;
The infinite pains she took to dress my dolls,
And make me “parties” with “real things to eat;”
And how she’d come a dozen times at night
To bring a drink, or comfort me, afraid.
My grown-up years seem sudden blotted out;
And all the day and in my dreams at night
I see her doing all the little things
That she, when we were children, used to do.
I hear the little words she used to say
When I had hurt myself or some one made me cry.
But now I weep: she can not comfort me;
And bitterest are my tears that it’s too late
To say, “I do know now how wonderful you were!”
— Alice L. Wood, in Hampton’s. Treating the Sick Child in Time
By Kate Lindsay
EVERY year hundreds and thousands of persons, especially children, lose their lives because the disease from which they were suffering was not treated in time. A child is ailing, seems feverish at night, chilly in the morning, is peevish and irritable, and has a capricious appetite. In the words of the mother, “Johnny is not like himself.” And truly he is not like his ordinary, healthy, happy self. Poison is working mischief somewhere in the little body, deranging and upsetting the nervous system, and making him feel generally uncomfortable and out of sorts. Whether the indisposition is serious or not, is what mothers, nurses, and all having the care of children should seek to discover at once. A clinical thermometer, or a thermometer for testing the temperature of the body, should be a part of every household outfit; and whenever a child is ailing, its temperature should be taken, and its pulse and respirations counted. The temperature of a child in health is slightly above that of the adult, being 98.5° to 99.5°, while that of the average adult is from 98° to 98.5°. The temperature should be taken three times a day; when it reaches 101° or above for two days, it is an indication of something serious. The respirations of a new-born baby are forty a minute, and usually decline to thirty or thirty-five by the end of the first month, continuing to decline until the child is four or five years old, when they are twenty to twenty-five a minute. They further decline to sixteen or eighteen at fourteen or fifteen years, which is the ordinary adult rate of respiration. The pulse at birth is usually one hundred twenty to one hundred forty; at one year, one hundred ten to one hundred twenty; and it gradually declines until fifteen, when it is from eighty to eighty-five. In adult life the normal rate is seventy to seventy-five. The pulse and the respirations are very difficult to count and very variable. In small children any exercise or other excitement may cause a rise of from ten to fifteen or twenty beats a minute, and the rate of breathing is increased in proportion. So a baby’s pulse and respirations are of value only when they are observed while it is sleeping; the temperature, not being specially affected by outside influences, is the most reliable indication. After testing the temperature, pulse, and respiration, the next most important measure is to examine the throat for redness, swelling, or white patches, which may indicate either tonsillitis or diphtheria. Hundreds of children have died of the last-named disease because of a neglect of these measures. A child with an apparently slight sore throat was permitted, perhaps, to go to some child’s party, or some one in the family where the party was held had a sore throat. I know of a case where twenty-five children were exposed to tonsillitis by being allowed to take a ride with a child suffering with it. As the child’s temperature had not been taken, no symptoms of the disease had been discovered, and no danger was apprehended. Not only were the other children9 exposed, but the little one itself was made much worse. After an examination of the throat and nose, the next inquiry should be as to the condition of the stomach. Many patients, especially children and young persons, owe all their trouble to a disordered condition of the stomach. The fever, headache, and boneache may all disappear with the emptying of the stomach and bowels. Often such cases have an alarmingly high temperature for a short time; but the symptoms soon become less marked, and disappear when once the decaying food has been unloaded from the system. Constipation and accumulation of fecal matter in the bowels often cause a rise of temperature. Therefore mothers and others caring for children should know whether the bowels are regular. The writer has seen swellings in youth and children which were diagnosed as cases of tumor. In one case, when inquiry was made of the mother as to how long it had been since the bowels moved regularly, she could not tell; and by inquiry of the twelve-year-old girl herself, it was ascertained that at least a week had passed without any action, the child meanwhile eating heartily of all foods found at a farmer’s table. It was not until she was taken suddenly ill with chills and fever that the case was looked into, and a course of mild cathartics, enemas, fasting, and fomentations prescribed, which finally dispersed the swelling. The moving off of the impacted mass was the work of many days, however; and after it was over, the child was so weak and emaciated that it took weeks to recover her usual health. The next inquiry should be as to the possibility of infectious diseases, as typhoid fever or any of the eruptive fevers. Children are often victims of typhoid fever, and this should be borne in mind, especially if the disease is in the neighborhood, or if there has been any danger of an infected water-supply in traveling or otherwise. In small towns and villages without water-works, there are likely to be numerous cesspools, also many wells, shallow or deep; and it is only a matter of time, modified by the porous nature of the soil and the depth and location of the well, when the contents of the cesspool will drain into the well; or, worse still, the contents of the privy vault may contaminate the water, and whole families be thus poisoned with filth. There are always children who are running around the neighborhood, visiting other children, so that a case of typhoid fever may occur in a home possessing a faultless water-supply. A Symmetrical Christian Character
“It is a splendid commendation of any man to say that he can not be thought of in any relation without his religion, since all sides of his life meet in a symmetrical Christian character.” Teaching Native People the Principle of Self-Support
By T. E. Bowen
In mission enterprises there is danger that missionaries sent from Western civilization, with its well-equipped institutions, sanitariums, schools, etc., will overlook a very important principle in giving the natives the gospel, and so fail at the beginning to train them to start out from where they are, and depend largely upon their own efforts. The gospel has power to work out its own providence; it adapts itself to its environment. Jesus in his wisdom saw best to develop resources as the church developed. He taught that the most important thing to be accomplished is the transformation of the natural heart. To Nicodemus, he unfolded this truth by saying, “Ye must be born again.” Connected with this, he laid down the principle of self-sacrifice, that others might receive the benefit of the gospel. In the Missionary Review of the World for January, 1911, appeared an article written by Chas. W. Briggs, after about eighteen years’ experience, entitled “Self-Support in the Philippine Islands.” Some valuable suggestions to missionaries are given in this article. The writer says:— “Self-support may also be promoted by adapting Western institutions, not adopting them, on the mission field. Chapel and church buildings should be adapted to the country and the economic conditions of the people. Orientals living in thatch houses or in huts of cheap materials, do not need expensive church buildings, which are beyond their means and necessarily make demands upon mission funds. There are exceptions to the strict application of this rule, but they should be exceptions. When one congregation is helped to build a church beyond its station and means of support, it is a bad example to other neighboring congregations. Human nature is such that help is likely to be taken where it can possibly be obtained.” “The missionary is in danger of not appreciating the fitness of a humble chapel or church building or school building to the people who build it and are to use it. One needs to be made over into the native, and to see from the native point of view, before passing on the fitness of a given building to its users and their environment.” “No congregation can be self-supporting when it is weighed down with a plant that is away beyond its means or tastes, and when the members thereof must simply be subjects for charity and funds from abroad. Vigor of spirit, and the independence and aggressiveness of Christ, as well as the grasping of his great principle of self-sacrifice, can not be inculcated nor fostered by institutions that may fit some other country ever so well, but be a misfit on the field in question.” “Self-support on the mission field may be promoted by definite appeal to the self-respect of the native, and to the persistent inculcation of the principles of Christian stewardship. The native Christian has something that he can give for the support of the gospel; and he will never thrive and become vigorous till he gives it to the point of making sacrifice. He is just as truly one of God’s stewards as is the millionaire Christian in the West. The great principle includes him, just as it did the poor widow who ‘cast in more than they all.’ Just because the native church is poor, and living from hand to mouth, the missionary must not neglect the matter of teaching it, and training its ministers, to the idea that they are to give every week, as the Lord prospers them. We can not afford to despise the day of small things. It is only the amount itself that is small; the principle is just as big as in the case of the rich, and obedience to it brings just as great a blessing as to them. Moreover, the missionary will find it easier to get his poor congregation to respond, and apply Christ’s great principle, than will the eloquent preacher in Christendom, when he seeks to teach stewardship principles to a wealthy congregation. And the result of such inculcation of the principles of Christian stewardship will be a vigorous, independent, self-supporting, and aggressive Christian body.” “The appeal to the self-respect of the church and the individual Christian on the mission field, is never in vain. When the young men and women workers are made to feel that the task of evangelizing their own people is their task, not that of the missionary, and when they are encouraged in doing some heroic work at this task, they respond with enthusiasm. Christ’s call for sacrifice stirs in their spirit just as it does in the spirit of the missionary. They find it is easier and far more interesting to be willing workers for the Lord, without prospect of pay from some foreign purse, than to be parasites on foreign bounty.” “I have found a blessing in working to this end by indirection, getting some young preacher to teach this, and preach it in public. This is better than for the missionary to be forever harping on it.10 He may be suspected of wishing to avoid the expense of paying for the work. But the young native minister can set his own people on fire with the same thought and motive, without being suspected of ulterior motives. An organization can be brought about by indirection, with a platform demanding obedience to Christ and strenuous service for his kingdom, without a cent of pay from any mission board. If properly managed, such an organization will ring with the very spirit of patriotism and of the passion of Christ; and it is the native pastors who must do the teaching.” When we stop and ponder that, in our effort to take the third angel’s message to the waiting millions in heathen fields, we can send only a few missionary trainers, and that the real bulk of the work must be done by the natives themselves in these various countries, the principles outlined above should certainly appeal to us with great force; and surely they are in harmony with the simple Bible principle that Jesus laid down at the beginning of his work. When souls are fired with the passion that filled the heart of Jesus to reach their own people, God’s mighty Spirit will work with their consecrated, self-sacrificing efforts wherever they are put forth, and as a result souls will be won to the kingdom. Let us not despise the day of small things, and so fail to recognize the hand of God working for hearts, even though there may be no great show of churches, schools, or sanitariums in fields where the message is seeking to gain a foothold. Are not these but the later-developed fruit of the former? A Quiet and Cheerful Mind
“One means very effectual for the preservation of health is a quiet and cheerful mind, not afflicted with violent passions nor distracted with immoderate cares.” The North India Mission
By S. A. Wellman
In the partial organization of the India Union Mission in October, 1910, the northern portion of the peninsula of Hindustan was set off as the North India Mission of Seventh-day Adventists. This extends over a territory a thousand miles in width from east to west, and fully as far from north to south. Within its boundaries is a population larger than that of all the United States and its possessions. For many years other missions have been operating in these portions of India. A great work has been accomplished by them. Schools have been established, and young men and women have been educated and sent forth into the villages to teach the people, so that to-day many thousands are rejoicing in a knowledge of their Lord. Yet what are these compared with the millions who still sit in darkness? Something over five years ago Brother and Sister L. J. Burgess took up work among the Hindustani-speaking people in the United Provinces. Their work in obtaining a command of the language has been wonderfully blessed, as have been also their efforts in the production and spread of our literature. A number of tracts and small pamphlets has been issued in Hindi, Hindustani, and Roman Urdu. These have found honest hearts in various parts of this province and up in the Punjab. More inquiries have come, and more pleas for light have been made, than have been possible to answer. The working force has been, and still is, so small as to make it an impossibility to answer the earnest pleadings for help which have come from various quarters. The best that could be done was to send literature, where we had it, to meet the need. At the present time the small working force in the Hindustani tongue is of necessity confining its efforts to the United Provinces and to very small sections of them. Stations have been started at Lucknow, at Najibabad, and in the Garhwal district, and a measure of success has attended the work in all these places. Here at the headquarters of our work in India, Brother and Sister Burgess have worked winters while down from the hill station in Garhwal, and have found a number interested in present truth. Also, during their winters here they have devoted much time to the translation and printing of more of our literature in Hindi and Urdu. One interesting case is that of a Mohammedan gentleman, who was editor of a vernacular newspaper. On account of writings in his paper which were deemed seditious by the government, he spent several years in the penitentiary, being released a year short of his time because of good behavior. While in prison, he became much interested in the Bible, and read it through several times. On his release the police, as they often have a habit of doing in this country, drove him from place to place. In these wanderings he came to our mission, hungry, discouraged, and about to end his life. Brother Burgess studied the Bible with him, he in turn working on the former's translations. Last spring when Brother and Sister Burgess left for the hills, this gentleman was reading and studying “Great Controversy,” being greatly moved by the truths which it teaches. At the same time he was translating a new version of the Gospels with a committee of missionaries in Lucknow. On our return to Lucknow from the hills in October, what was the surprise of all to find that he had translated the whole of “Great Controversy” into Urdu during the summer. At present he has the subject of the state of the dead under consideration. He is educated in Hindustani, English, Hindi, Arabic, Greek, Persian, and Hebrew. He investigates everything carefully, and spends much time and effort on his work. This case is an example of the slow way in which many in this country move toward new ideas and new truths. Remember this man before God, that he may be genuinely converted, and know and accept the whole truth. A Sister Chilton, who was a Church Missionary Society worker, and who accepted the message at the sanitarium about two years ago, is doing zenana work among the higher circles of Indian people. Also, a day-school will be started this year in charge of one of our native workers and his wife. Yet this is but a meager beginning in this, one of five great cities of the United Provinces. And around these are the thousands of country villages and smaller cities which must also receive the last message of mercy. G. W. CAVINESS
By G. W. Caviness
It was my privilege to spend the greater part of January and February in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. We now have four small companies in that region, with a membership of about forty. During my stay I baptized eleven. Years ago a brother received a portion of a copy of our Spanish paper, and was deeply impressed with what he read, but did not know whence it came. Some time later he received a whole paper, which came from the City of Mexico wrapped around some medicine. He then subscribed for it, and for five years has been a faithful reader. He has written me frequently regarding Bible subjects. One year ago I visited this brother in his father’s home. I found he had the ten commandments printed in large letters on the wall, and had been having meetings and Bible studies with his parents and other relatives. On my recent visit, I held several meetings in his father’s house, with an attendance of from sixty to seventy-five, a goodly number standing at the windows listening. I baptized this brother, four of his brothers, and a sister-in-law. His mother and sister are also keeping the Sabbath. On my arrival this family gave me the most touching reception I ever received. Two of the brothers met me at the station, about a mile away; and when we reached the house, the whole family came to the gate to meet me. After shaking hands all around, the brother began a sweet Spanish hymn of welcome. To the strain of this we marched into the house, and there remained standing until the song was finished, when a short prayer was offered. A Spanish laborer was with me, and our meeting was so tender that it caused tears to come to our eyes. These people are largely Zapotecan Indians, and are of a serious, religious disposition. It is from this state and race that President Juarez, the great reform president, and also Porfirio Diaz, the present executive, came. These people own their homes, also portions of land which they till; so they are somewhat independent. They offered us a lot on which to build a house of worship. There is a splendid opening for a good work to be done here. One young man in Pochutla, a telegraph operator, desires to connect with our work. He is very devoted, and had in mind to educate himself to be a priest; but now that he has received the truth,11 he desires to fit himself to preach this message. These people are intelligent and capable. All of those baptized are reasonably well educated. Their life and customs are very simple and patriarchal. Of these brethren baptized, only one is married; the others, although twenty-five or thirty years of age, stay at home, work with their father, and obey him like well-trained children. It was truly inspiring to present the truth to them, and to see the earnestness and eagerness with which they received it. Many were the hearty “amens” as the Word was presented; and frequently after the meeting they would say, “What preaching! How clear! How simple!” The brother who is laboring here is a good man, but he has had very little experience. He came into the truth from reading, and the only help he has had is the few weeks I have been able to spend with him during the last two years. We greatly need a capable man, who understands Spanish, to connect with the work in this section of Mexico. From other places come calls for laborers. The canvassers are having splendid success. We expect soon to have an institute, and will have six or more new workers to join the present forces. We are glad to see that the Lord is going before us, and opening up avenues for work. Although there is some trouble in the northern part of the republic, this revolution has not yet interfered seriously with our work. We trust our brethren will remember Mexico, and that the Lord will send forth laborers into his vineyard. Our Work in Australia
By J. E. FULTON
WE have lately held two excellent camp-meetings in this field,—one in Melbourne, Victoria, February 2-12, and the other in New Zealand, February 7-19. The blessing of the Lord was present at both these meetings. The business connected with the two conferences passed off harmoniously, and the instruction presented to our people was well received. The New Zealand camp-meeting was held on a new plan. Instead of beginning on Thursday night, as is usual, the meeting began on Tuesday night, and with the exception of the devotional services the full time on Wednesday, Thursday, and until noon on Friday was given to business matters. New Zealand has more local institutions than any other conference in our union, and these received due consideration; but by Friday noon the business of the conference was finished, and on Friday night the camp-meeting proper began. During the week that followed, the work of instruction for our people and the preaching for those outside were carried on without interruption by business sessions. This gave our ministers time to visit the campers and to meet with them in little groups for instruction. We think the plan an excellent one, and recommend it to all. Our Sabbath services were seasons of refreshing. A large number reconsecrated themselves to God, and others gave their hearts to the Lord for the first time. At both these camp-meetings, consideration was given to our foreign work, and our people heartily pledged themselves to support the plans for aggressive missionary effort. A second tithe was voted to be used in extending our work in the island field. Besides this, New Zealand voted one thousand dollars for the foreign work. A brother kindly loaned five thousand dollars to our conference institutions, at a low rate of interest, thus enabling us to pay off some loans bearing a higher rate of interest. The readers of the REVIEW will be glad to hear that our different institutions in Australasia are having a good degree of success. Our leading sanitarium at Wahroonga has been well filled with patients for a number of months. At times it has been difficult to accommodate all who came. The training-school at Cooranbong has never been so full as at present. An excellent class of students is in attendance, and a good spirit prevails. We can also give a favorable report of the work of our publishing-house in Warburton. All are kept busy, and the demand for literature in the field is excellent. Our smaller institutions, such as schools, sanitariums, and cafes in the different states, are also quite successful. Of the field work in the different states, the presidents give cheering reports. In some of the tent missions, goodly numbers have accepted the message during the past season. There is no other union conference which has such an extended island field as the Australasian Union. This great foreign field appeals very strongly to the hearts of our brethren and sisters in Australia and New Zealand. The offerings in behalf of missions have been liberal; yet our people feel that the demand for rapidly extending the work in the many unentered fields calls for renewed consecration, and additional sacrifice of men and means. New plans are being laid for the extension of the work, and for its maintenance. Our conferences are just now taking up what is called the “penny-a-day plan,” which, while appearing rather insignificant, will in the aggregate greatly swell the fund for aggressive work. The plan is that each church-member shall, at family worship each day, place two cents (one penny) in a suitable box provided by the union conference. Six cents (three-pence) of this each week, or twenty-four cents (one shilling) each month, will be placed in the fourth Sabbath collection. The other eight cents of each week’s donations will pay for three copies of the Signs of the Times every week, three copies of each issue of Life and Health, and three leaflets. These periodicals are sold, and the profits from them will give an additional six cents for the Sabbath-school offering, four cents for the educational fund, and will also provide for the free distribution of a few leaflets. Thus the plan looks not only toward the spreading of the truth among the islands of the sea, but also toward active missionary work in the home field by our church-members. Two things to be said in behalf of the plan are: (1) It is systematic; (2) it is within the reach of all our people. Many, no doubt, will do much more than this, but it was thought best to present a plan within the reach of even the poorest members of the church. At the present writing the West Australian camp-meeting is about to begin. To give the readers of the REVIEW an idea of the distances which our general workers must travel in Australasia, it may here be remarked that the writer has lately left New Zealand, where the before-mentioned camp-meeting was held, and has been on the water most of the time for over two weeks, in order to reach West Australia. The distance covered between these two camp-meetings is about thirty-six hundred miles. Those in America who look on the map for Australia may think it to be simply a large island, forgetting that there is really more land area in Australia than in the United States. The writer lately took a voyage to inspect our missions in the East Indies, going as far as Padang, in Sumatra, our most distant mission station. The journey from Sydney by steamer took one full month. In many parts of the field it is apparent that journeys must be taken by water, and even to reach different points on the continent of Australia, trips must be taken by sea. This takes a great deal of time, and often means a good deal of unpleasantness. Those who have much traveling to do among the Australasian states and islands often look forward with glad anticipations to that time spoken of by John, when “there shall be no more sea.” Pray that the work of the Lord may go forward with power in this great field. Wahroonga, New South Wales.