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Review and Herald, Vol. 92, No. 21.

The Harvest of the Lord
Earlier text: The Harvest of the Lord

Worship in Song

D. E. LINDSEY
It is with much pleasure that I have read in the Review several short articles on church music and singing, and I wish to add a few thoughts. The musical leader should be a Christian, for sacred song is more an inspiration than an art, the expression of emotion rather than of vocal culture. The basis of all musical effect is feeling. Since feeling is from the heart, so must its expression be, else it is in an unknown tongue. The understanding, or head merely, can utter no music, least of all religious music. Sounds may be given in time, pitch, and power, but music will be wanting. The effect at best will be counterfeit. It may be beautiful, but for some reason it will not reach the heart. Some false quality will betray execution. The solemnity will be hollow, the softness flat, the loudness a strain. If feeling, then, be requisite to perfect musical utterance, how shall one express the sublime conceptions and emotions of the worship of God, whose heart has never bowed in reverence and adoration before Divinity, thrilled with the joy of pardon, melted with pity for the Saviour's sufferings, or beat responsive to a Saviour's love?
Piety is the essential qualification for good religious singing. To this may be added many minor qualifications. The hymns should, moreover, be such as are elevating, such as have a high inspiration, an uplifting power. It should be remembered that singing is worship; also that singing is one of the most important aids in preparing the heart and mind for the reception of the truth, by inducing a docile spirit, and is most effective in fastening, as with iron bands, the truth already communicated.
Then let our songs well up from full hearts, hearts full of love for Jesus. O, how much we need the inspiration of the Holy Ghost to help us to sing in our Sabbath schools and churches! Let the old sing, the middle-aged, the young men and maidens, and the little children. Let all join in glorious songs of praise to God and the Lamb.
Clyde, Ohio.

“Jesus of Nazareth Passeth By”

LADEN with sins and burdened with cares, Beset with temptations, tormented by fears, From self look away; to thy Saviour draw nigh: Jesus of Nazareth now passeth by!
If thou hast wandered, as sheep that do stray, Then wander no more, for Christ is the way; And he leadeth to God, who dwelleth on high: Jesus of Nazareth now passeth by!
Seek him, my soul, in the days of thy youth, Seek him, and follow, for he is the truth! Sick of the false, for truth dost thou sigh? Jesus of Nazareth now passeth by!
Art thou discouraged and faint in the strife, A perishing sinner? Christ is the life. Come follow him, for why will you die? Jesus of Nazareth now passeth by!
Thou art all weakness, but he is all strength; Looking to him, thou shalt conquer at length; Whence thy help cometh, then, lift up thine eye: Jesus of Nazareth now passeth by!
Hasten, O hasten, thy Saviour to meet! Thy sins and thy sorrows lay at his dear feet; Take up thy cross, thine own self deny: Jesus of Nazareth now passeth by!
Jesus of Nazareth, my hope and my God, Guide me and keep me till life's paths be trod; Forsake me not, Lord, or I falter and die; Jesus of Nazareth, pass me not by!
— Selected.

I Can Do All Things

“I CAN DO all things, through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

How a State Church Would Operate

THE activities and the programs of certain religio-political organizations in America give us a very clear idea of what we might expect conditions to be in this country should such organizations ever succeed in securing a dominating influence here.
The Mormon organization believes in and is working for a union of church and state in this country.
The National Reformers do not believe in Mormonism, but do believe in that particular tenet of the Mormon faith and practice—the union of religion and the government.
The Roman Catholic who understands the policy and program of his church believes in a union of church and state, and all Catholics in America are commissioned to work for the shaping of American legislation and American constitutions in harmony with the purpose of the Roman Church.
We have a right to inquire what the result would be to the boasted equality of men under American rule were any of these organizations to attain their object, unite the church and the state, and carry that union to its logical conclusion. Our Lord has given us a rule by which to test the outworking of such programs. It is this: “By their fruits ye shall know them.” History is full of the records of the operations of such programs; but we do not need to go to history. The latest news of the day tells us what we may expect; for already these systems are in operation to a limited extent in numerous localities. As we test the whole tree by what we find it bearing on one bough, so may we test these whole systems by what we see even a branch producing. Here is a branch by which we may judge the fruit of the Mormon system should it ever gain control of our national politics:—
The faculty of the University of Utah has been disrupted through the intrusion of Mormon influence. Fourteen of the professors have resigned. In February the president notified four of the professors that they were dismissed “for the good of the institution.” Later the head of the English department was notified that he was to be demoted and the position given to a teacher in a Mormon high school, who was also a bishop in the Mormon Church. The action of the university president produced public remonstrance and condemnation. A thousand undergraduates held a mass meeting to express disapproval of what had been done and to testify to the efficiency of the dismissed professors. In spite of the agitation and protests, the board of regents persists in sustaining the dismissals, and refuses to heed the demand for investigation. All the men who were dismissed, and all those who resigned as a protest against the dismissals, are non-Mormons. — United Presbyterian, April 15, 1915.
Of course this procedure was entirely out of harmony with and opposed to the spirit of the national Constitution, which declares that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.” But such a course as that noted above seems to make religion the chief test of qualification for such an office and public trust as the dismissed professors had been filling.
Not only is such a course out of harmony with and opposed to the spirit of the national Constitution, but it is out of harmony with and opposed to the spirit of the Utah Constitution as well. Section 4 of Article I of the Utah Constitution reads as follows:—
The rights of conscience shall never be infringed. The State shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust or for any vote at any election; nor shall any person be incompetent as a witness or juror on account of religious belief or the absence thereof. There shall be no union of church and state, nor shall any church dominate the State or interfere with its functions. No public money or property shall be appropriated for or applied to any religious worship, exercise, or instruction, or for the support of any ecclesiastical establishment.
Article X, Section 13, prohibits State aid to sectarian schools. The spirit and intent of both these sections is openly violated by the course pursued in the University of Utah. Every favor granted by a State institution on account of some form of religion is, to that extent, an establishment—a government recognition—of religion. To discharge a person from a public office because of his religion is a restriction upon the free exercise of religion. To discharge teachers who are not Mormons and fill their places with Mormons does set up a religious test as a qualification for office. To give men offices because they are Mormons does unite church and state to that extent. When the places of teachers who are not Mormons are declared vacant and then are filled with Mormons, the conclusion is inevitable that such church is dominating the state and interfering with its functions. When teachers who are not Mormons are dismissed from a State institution and their places are given to Mormons, the institution then becomes, to that extent, an ecclesiastical establishment and not entitled to support from the public treasury. Such a school then becomes a sectarian school, and the constitution of that State forbids the appropriation of public money for its support.
But an ecclesiastical hierarchy cares nothing for State constitutions or for a national Constitution. It claims a divine right to be over and above civil institutions, and the right to use them for its own ends. What that system does in Utah it would do in any other State where it had the power, and throughout the entire nation if it had the power. It is not the particular form of the religion which entails such results; but any form of religion based on the idea of a union of religion and the state will work out its object in the same way. What that church does there it will do through the entire country if it ever secures the dominating influence for which it hopes.
But we have another example of the same tendency. This time, however, it is seen in the program of another church, but a church which has the same policy for an actuating principle. The occasion of this demonstration was the recent mayoralty election in Chicago. Mr. William Hale Thompson, one of the candidates, is not a Catholic. Mr. Robert M. Schweitzer, the other candidate, is a Catholic. In electioneering for the Catholic candidate, at least one influential Catholic organization made the religious issue the chief issue of the campaign. The secretary of that organization is reported to have sent out letters to Catholic voters urging them to defeat Mr. Thompson because he is not a Catholic, and to elect Mr. Schweitzer because he is a Catholic. In urging Catholic voters to defeat Mr. Thompson, the secretary of the Chicago branch of the United Catholic League of the United States is reported to have written as follows:—
You are aware that the present candidate, Mr. William Hale Thompson, for mayor of Chicago is not, a Catholic, and for that reason you should assist in defeating him by voting for our friend Robert Schweitzer, and thereby placing the church where it belongs in the city of Chicago. Mr. Schweitzer has pledged himself that, if elected, he will place only Catholics in office, and it should be to your interest to vote for him against William Hale Thompson.
Your duty to your church in the coming election is to vote for the Catholic candidate, and I hope you will cast your vote accordingly.
Elections are supposed to be civil functions, not ecclesiastical. They are supposed to be in the interest of the nation, State, or municipality, not in the interests of a church or hierarchy. They are supposed to be under the control of the state, not of any church. It is supposed that they who vote express their own preference and follow the dictates of their own will, instead of expressing the will of some one else, under pressure, in the interests of a body of ecclesiastics who hold themselves responsible only to a spiritual leader independent of any civil control. We have a right to suppose these things in view of the foundation upon which the nation and the individual States rest. The constitution of the State of Illinois declares that no preference shall “be given by law to any religious denomination or mode of worship.”—Art. II, Bill of Rights, Sec. 3.
And yet a candidate for the mayoralty of a great city will, under the pressure of the religious system to which he belongs, promise that, if elected to that high office, he will deliberately annul the provisions of the highest law in his State, if the press of that State correctly represents him. He will give the offices to the members of his church, and let the members of the other churches pay their salaries. The injustice of such an arrangement seems never to appeal to those who make it. But the reason lies in the system itself and in the education which they have received at its hands. To elect a man to a municipal office or a State office because of his religious profession, and so make religion rather than worth and fitness the test of office holding, defrauds the State or municipality, disgraces such appointees, and makes a farce of religion.
The policy of the National Reformers in seeking to have religion taught by state-paid teachers, and condemning to exile those who do not believe in a union of church and state, is on a par with both the foregoing examples. As soon as one steps upon that platform,—a union of the civil and the religious,—he loses his sense of justice and equity, and is willing to sacrifice any right of the individual if only he may insure the triumph of his system. That system is and always has been a merciless juggernaut riding in placid unconcern over the forms of its prostrate victims. We may see by these illustrations what the nation may expect if any system that stands for a union of religion and government ever accomplishes its purpose in America.
C. M. S.

A Separate People—No. 3

There are organizations that are proclaiming the coming of the Lord. Associated with these are many excellent persons; but they are not giving the threefold message of Revelation 14; they are not preaching the coming of the Lord in its proper relation to the other great truths which, together with this, constitute the message for this generation. For us to identify ourselves with them and sound the message of the Lord’s coming from their standpoint would be to ignore the distinctive character of that message in its relation to the other important truths with which it is allied. Giving the message from their standpoint, we could not give it as the third angel’s message. Uniting our efforts with theirs in the proclamation of the coming of the Lord would give us the appearance of sanctioning other doctrines held by them, some of which are diametrically opposed to the Scriptures of Truth. Such affiliation would serve only to weaken our efforts and to compromise our position.
There are organizations and journals which have as their ostensible object the conservation of American liberty. They stand opposed to the efforts on the part of Rome to make America dominantly Catholic. From a patriotic or political standpoint their principles may be sound and their reasoning logical. In their membership are found many noble men. Many connected with these orders are honest in their convictions, and are standing for right principles as they understand them. It is quite possible that their efforts have served to stay temporarily the hand of oppression. It is not for us to condemn them, nor to seek in any way to discourage their efforts. Mark 9:38, 39.
But these organizations and publications are not giving the threefold message of Revelation 14. They are not sounding the warning against the beast and his image from the standpoint of this message, or for that matter, in the majority of cases, from even a religious standpoint. The propaganda which nearly all these organizations and journals are conducting is inspired by the spirit of patriotism or politics. The warning they are sounding against Roman intrigue and aggression is not for the purpose of saving the souls of those to whom they stand opposed. There are some notable exceptions to this rule. There are several societies which have done excellent work in a missionary and Christian way for those in Roman darkness. But the majority of these anti-Romanist papers and parties are fighting Rome the same as the great political papers and parties are fighting one another, but often with far less dignity of speech and method. Some do not hesitate to advise the employment of Rome’s methods in the fight against the papal hierarchy.
Shall we as Seventh-day Adventists join these organizations in their work, and become members or officers in their societies, imbibing their spirit, and sanctioning, by our membership among them, their methods? Shall we circulate these bitter and sensational anti-Romanist publications? Shall we step down from the platform on which God has placed us in his providence and join with those who are opposing Rome solely from a political or patriotic standpoint? Shall we give our influence to arraying class against class and party against party? Shall we foster the spirit of religious and political hatred? Shall we seek such classification for our work? We cannot afford to do this. We cannot forget the solemn, sacred message of salvation which has been committed to us for our fellows. We cannot compromise our character before Heaven, or our position before the world, by the exercise of a partisan spirit or by the employment of political means. We have committed to us a more important work, which demands all our interest and energies.
It is our privilege as well as our duty to enlighten the members of these organizations regarding the real principles of the issues involved. But we may do this without organic union with the organizations of which these men are a part. The work of Seventh-day Adventists is distinctively and positively a soul-saving work; and they cannot consistently engage in any effort which has not this for its ultimate and supreme object.
We do not mean by this that as individuals we should never unite with any local organization for the object of civic improvement, or for the promotion of great moral reforms. Local conditions and circumstances and the issues involved must determine these questions in each particular instance. We should seek the good of the communities in which we are located (Jer. 29:7), and in every practical way show the spirit of true Christian helpfulness and neighborliness. It may be proper for our workers to present before these orders the message of truth which we have for all men, the same as they improve every consistent opportunity to preach the gospel. But this is quite different from uniting with patriotic or political organizations to fight by patriotic or political means the very ones to whom Heaven has sent us with a message of salvation.
Seventh-day Adventists are not anti-Romanists in the common use of this term. They stand, we hope, through the grace of God, opposed to sin in every form. They believe in contending for the faith which was once delivered to the saints, for Bible truth in its purity; against evil doctrines, whether taught by Romanists or by so-called Protestants. Their mission to the world is not to condemn Romanists or Protestants or their fellows of any faith or creed. Their mission is to save men, whether Catholics or Protestants; and while they should not soften their message to meet popular favor, while they should seek to give it in its clearness, at the same time they should be careful that they do not give it with such a spirit or by the employment of such terms as would make it a message of condemnation rather than a message of salvation; by methods that would serve to turn men away from God instead of winning them to him.
The power of this message in the closing work of God in the earth will not consist in its being uttered in scathing criticism of error, but in its being given in such love and meekness, attested by the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit, that the hearts of men will feel its power, and thus they be led to accept Christ as their Saviour. We cannot give this message by the employment of anti-Catholic publications. These are not suited for missionary work on the part of our people. We have an excellent literature of our own, and need not to resort to worldly sources for publications to meet the special issues before us.
It is one thing to cry out against Rome, to reveal the terrible things which have occurred in her history, to show the subversion of Bible truth as found in her teachings, to hold up to ridicule her scandals and infamies; but it is quite another thing to preach the third angel’s message in a way to win Romanists from the error of their way, in the love and power of the Spirit. The first can be done by the intellectual worldling, by the man who knows not God, by the patriot, by the politician; but the second can be done only by him whose heart has been touched and sanctified by the message he bears, and who recognizes that he sits not as the judge of his fellows, not to bruise and to wound, not to grieve and to offend, not to condemn and to destroy, but as Christ’s ambassador to win men to him through the manifestation of his love and of his grace.
It is to this work God calls this people. They can do it only as they stand upon the high plane of gospel truth, only as they maintain that distinctive character to which he has called his church in all ages. Let us seek to prove true to the holy trust committed to us, and let us by no unwise associations, by no affiliation with worldly elements, compromise our position before the world or misrepresent the character which should actuate those who preach God’s saving message of truth to all mankind. It is as true today as when the prophet of God uttered the words concerning ancient Israel, ‘Lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.’ F. M. W.

The Sure Word of Prophecy

Synopsis of Present Truth — No. 3

The Sure Word of Prophecy

“We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed.” 2 Peter 1:19.
The prophetic scriptures afford infallible evidence that the voice of the living God speaks in Holy Writ. One of the distinguishing marks of divinity is the power that foretells and records the course of history long ages before the events come to pass.

God’s Challenge

God’s challenge to false religious systems in olden time was this:—
“Declare us things for to come. Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods.” Isa. 41:22, 23.
And all the gods of the nations were silent; for they are no gods. The Lord alone, the one who speaks by the Holy Scriptures, is able to tell the end from the beginning:—
“I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand.” Isa. 46:9, 10.
By this means God has borne witness of himself through the ages, that it might be known that the Most High rules above all the kingdoms of men, and that men might recognize his purpose to put an end to sin and bring eternal salvation to his people. “I have spoken it,” he says, “I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.”
The fulfillment of the word of prophecy in history is a fascinating story. To the Lord, the future is an open book, even as the present. The word is spoken, telling of the event to come; it is written on the parchment scroll by the prophet’s pen. Time passes; centuries come and go. Then, when the hour of the prophecy arrives, lo, there appears the fulfillment.
It is seen in matters of individual detail, as well as in the affairs of nations and empires.

Word Is Fulfilled After Long Waiting

In the dream divinely given to the lad Joseph, it was plainly foretold that his brothers would one day come as suppliants before him. His father rebuked him for telling the dream, saying, “Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?” Gen. 37:10. The brothers sold the lad into slavery, to be well rid of him. Yet twenty years later, all unconscious of his identity, these same brethren presented themselves before the prime minister of Egypt, and “fell before him on the ground.” Gen. 44:14.
Again: the wicked stronghold of Jericho had been utterly destroyed. Joshua declared:—
“Cursed be the man . . . that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his first-born, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it.” Joshua 6:26.
The hands of angels had thrown down its walls, and its ruin was to stand as a memorial. Over three hundred years later, when the apostate Ahab was ruling, and Israel and Judah had departed from the Lord, Hiel the Bethelite set out to rebuild Jericho.
“He laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his first-born.”
But accident and death may come at any time; and the work on the walls went on, no one thinking of the neglected scriptures with their warning of long ago. So the full account runs:—
“He laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his first-born, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun.” 1 Kings 16:34.
The fate of some of the mightiest cities the world ever saw has borne testimony through the centuries to the fulfillment of the prophetic word.

The Witness of Nineveh

Nineveh was founded by Nimrod. He built not only his capital here by the Tigris, but other towns round about, conceiving first of all the idea of grouping the capital and suburbs into one great city, the “Greater Nineveh,” as we would say in these days of Greater London and Greater New York. At the dawn of history Nineveh was “a great city.” Gen. 10:11, 12. In Jonah’s day it was an “exceeding great city.” Sennacherib, of the Bible story, was its beautifier. Rawlinson says:—
The great palace which he raised at Nineveh surpassed in size and splendor all earlier edifices.—“Second Monarchy,” chap. 9.
A description is preserved on the clay cylinder in the king’s own words:—
“For the wonderment of multitudes of men raised its head — ‘the palace which has no rival’ called its name.”—Taylor Cyl., Records of the Past, Vol. XII, part I.
At the preaching of Jonah the city had repented; but in later years pride of conquest and luxury and wealth were filling it with blood. The prophet Nahum warned it of certain doom, appealing to those who had any fear of God to turn to him. The message was:—
“The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.” Nahum 1:7.
Some, no doubt, heeded the warning and turned to God for refuge. But the city’s life of sin ran on. Then the prophet Zephaniah spoke the word, just as the stroke was to fall:—
“Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city! She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the Lord; she drew not near to her God.” Zeph. 3:1, 2.
Prophecies uttered against the mighty city had declared:—
“He will make an utter end of the place thereof.” Nahum 1:8. “The palace shall be dissolved [“molten,” margin].” Nahum 2:6. “She is empty, and void, and waste.” Nahum 2:10. “How is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in!” Zeph. 2:15.
The Medes and the Babylonians overthrew Nineveh. The king immolated himself in his burning, “molten,” palace. Nineveh became a desolation. Describing a battle that took place there in the seventh century of our era, between the Romans and the Persians, the historian Gibbon bears testimony to the fact that it has indeed become “empty, and void, and waste:”
Eastward of the Tigris, at the end of the bridge of Mosul, the great Nineveh had formerly been erected: the city, and even the ruins of the city, had long since disappeared; the vacant place afforded a spacious field for the operation of the two armies.—Chap. 46, par. 23.
And to this day, the site of Nineveh is pointed out across the river from Mosul, only mounds of ruins, these almost obliterated by the drifting sands of centuries. The word spoken is fulfilled, though at the time, no doubt, it seemed to proud and prosperous Nineveh that such a fate could never be. From Nineveh’s mounds we seem to hear a voice that says:—
“All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: but the word of the Lord endureth forever.” 1 Peter 1:24, 25.
W. A. S.
(To be continued)

The Bombay Mission

The week spent in the South India Mission, visiting our workers and believers, and studying the conditions and needs of the field, was most enjoyable and instructive. A longer time would have been of greater profit, but our time was limited, and Professor Salisbury felt it necessary to hurry across the country to Bombay, a thousand miles from Trichinopoli. We spent one day in the old important city of Madras on our way. This is a great educational center, and we should not delay to begin work in this city.
GROUP OF WORKERS AND VISITORS AT KALYAN MISSION BUNGALOW
GROUP OF WORKERS AND VISITORS AT KALYAN MISSION BUNGALOW
On our arrival at Bombay we were met by Brother and Sister George W. Pettit, from Oregon; Brother W. R. French, from Texas; and Sister R. E. Boose, from Iowa. We had known these dear fellow workers in the homeland, and were happy to find them looking well, and thoroughly interested in their work.
Brother Pettit is the superintendent of the Bombay mission. The territory of this mission lies along the eastern shore of the Arabian Sea. It is one thousand miles long, with an average width of about one hundred miles. The population of this district is 27,000,000. Two principal languages are spoken by the people: the Marathi by 18,000,000, and the Gujarati by 9,000,000. It seems appalling to a visitor from a land of general education that less than two million of this great mass of humanity can read and write. It is hard to imagine what must be the life of twenty-five million people in this age of enlightenment, who cannot read a line in their own tongue. It is unnecessary to say that this state of illiteracy greatly adds to the already difficult task of Protestant missionaries.
Of the people in the Bombay mission, 21,000,000 are Hindus, 5,000,000 are Mohammedans, 500,000 are Jains, 80,000 are Zoroastrians, 150,000 are Roman Catholics, and 50,000 are Protestants.
Bombay is the principal city in this mission, having a population of one million. As regards population, institutions of learning, beautiful residences, large, up-to-date public buildings and business blocks, wide, clean streets, sanitation, etc., it ranks among the best cities of India. We were glad to find an aggressive evangelistic work being carried on in this important center. Our workers have secured the exclusive use of an excellent hall in a good location. We had the privilege of meeting with our brethren and sisters on the Sabbath, and of speaking to a full house of interested persons Sunday night. Although
this effort in Bombay has been in progress only a little more than a year, fifteen new believers have been baptized, and a church of twenty-five members has been organized. The interest is growing, and the workers have the fullest confidence that God will give them a good, strong, useful church in that city. I see great wisdom in such an effort. The same kind of work should be in progress in every large city in India. It must be done to reach souls, and to give strength and help to our whole movement throughout India.
We spent a day at Panvel, where Brother and Sister A. G. Kelsey, from Michigan, are in charge of a station. This is a large village thirty-five miles from Bombay, but only sixteen from the railway. My heart was touched by the devotion, self-sacrifice, and courage of these dear workers. They are working in the midst of as dense, dark heathenism as exists anywhere in India. After looking around the village, I asked the brethren if there is anywhere in India a lower stratum of human existence, and was relieved by their assurance that there is not. Here we are working at the very bottom of heathen superstition and degradation as it exists in India. Although British influence has been established in Bombay since 1661, and missionaries have been working in the city for nearly a century, yet no missionary effort has ever been made in the region of Panvel. Our workers at the Kalyan mission, twenty miles away, are the nearest European neighbors Brother and Sister Kelsey have. They are conducting a day school for the children of the village. The attendance averages fifty, about an equal number of boys and girls. Of course they are all heathen, but the teachers are constantly endeavoring to give them the light of the gospel. Two Christian native teachers are employed to assist in this work. Recently two converts were baptized at this mission.
Sister Kelsey had just opened a neat little dispensary. This was greatly needed, and they hope that their ministry of love to the suffering will draw them to God's message of salvation. May the good hand of our God be with these dear workers in their difficult field.
GROUP OF CONVERTS IN KALYAN
GROUP OF CONVERTS IN KALYAN
Another day was spent at the Kalyan mission, with Brother and Sister M. D. Wood and their helpers. This place is on the railway line, forty miles from Bombay. The people here are like those of Panvel—enshrouded in the darkest heathenism. Ours is the first Christian mission ever established in Kalyan.
It was a great pleasure to again meet Brother and Sister Wood and Sister Reid, and to make the acquaintance of Sisters Moss and Ulrick. The two latter came to India as missionaries for another society, but have connected with our mission during the last year or two. These workers are all in excellent health. They have a large work on their hands, which taxes their strength to the utmost. Here we have one of the largest and best-organized medical dispensaries in all our mission fields. It was opened in February, 1913.
We reached Kalyan early enough in the morning to see the work of the day start. There was a great crowd waiting for the doors to open. The first task was to seat as many as possible in the large waiting room. A native brother connected with the mission then read a Scripture lesson, gave them a twenty minutes' talk about the gospel, and offered an earnest prayer for them. The most of them paid the closest attention to all that was said. Then the dispensary work began. Between fifty and seventy-five persons received attention that day. Some were disposed of in a few minutes, while others were in a serious condition, needing the most thorough, skillful treatment. In a register specially printed for our dispensaries in India a record is kept, showing the name, age, sex, religion, disease, etc., of every person who passes through the dispensary. In glancing over the register, I gleaned the following: Number of patients treated during the year just ended, 16,421; visits to homes, 978; villages represented, 85; minor surgical cases, 312; different diseases, from sore throat to leprosy, 26; gospel talks, 312; pages of literature distributed, 11,820; expenditures, $375; receipts, $482. Every detail of the work is so well arranged, and all the assistants know the part they have to do so well, that a large number can be treated every day, week after week.
Besides the work at the main dispensary, they itinerate in the villages near by, and one day in the week they do dispensary work in a large town about sixty miles away. Sister Wood is granted a free pass for a first-class compartment over the railway line to do this work.
Brother Wood has two schools in operation, with an attendance of forty. As he speaks the Marathi, he is able to preach to the people in the surrounding villages. He took me to a hill just out of Kalyan, from which we could see villages in all directions. In these are living thousands of persons in the superstition and darkness of heathenism. No missionary efforts have ever yet been made for these lost souls. They have no schools, no doctors, no civilization. To me, the situation seemed terrible. But we have now made a beginning, and our workers are hoping and praying that their ministry will lead many of these suffering, sorrowing people to Him who died for them. Our church at Kalyan now numbers fifteen, and the hearts of the workers are set on building up a large, strong center. The two churches in this mission field have a membership of forty. In addition to the tithe paid by the missionaries, these churches pay an annual tithe of $2,000.
I was sorry not to have the privilege of meeting Brother and Sister Enoch, who have spent several years in this part of India. Their fellow workers here are hoping that their furlough in America will be a blessing to them in every way, and that they will soon return to this great, needy field. A. G. DANIELLS.
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