The missionary work of the college was carried on formerly by an organization under the direction of a member of the faculty. The Young People's Society was a separate organization, whose principal burden was the weekly Sabbath afternoon meeting.
When the school opened this year, it was thought best, after careful consideration, prayer, and study of the Testimonies, to discontinue the missionary society, and ask the students to carry on the missionary work of the school in their Young People's Society. The old constitution was set aside, and it was decided not to draft a new one until experience should teach us what we needed under the new arrangement.
The work has been divided into departments, each led by committees whose chairmen are members of the executive committee of the society, thus bringing the several departments into close touch with one another.
The first work we took up was in the interest of the special number of the Scandinavian papers. Many of the students wrote to their home churches, encouraging them to assist in getting the papers into every Scandinavian home in this union conference. By mail, personal work, and with the assistance of a few churches, we were able to distribute one thousand of this special number.
Our periodical and correspondence work for the year is, to us, an experiment. We have written to the presidents of the conferences in this union conference for the names and addresses of persons in localities where a course of meetings will be held next summer. The Signs is being sent to these persons, and our students are corresponding with them. All letters received are preserved, and will be turned over to the laborers before they enter the field. Thus they and the field are prepared for the work, and we are prompted to be more faithful, knowing that our efforts will be followed by personal work.
A number of young women are engaged in house-to-house tract work in the city of Lincoln. Already some have become sufficiently interested to desire Bible readings.
Work in the country and at the Lincoln City Mission is being carried on by a company of young men. We hope that the effort in the country will develop an interest which will demand public meetings, and result in bringing souls to a knowledge and acceptance of the truth which is so dear to us. The tracts used by this department and all others, in doing work in this State, are furnished us, free of charge, by the Nebraska Conference. This help we greatly appreciate; for our regular income is quite limited.
The Scandinavian and German students are also engaged in missionary efforts; each department sends out fifty papers, and corresponds with the people in their own language. Personal, house-to-house tract work is also carried on among the Scandinavians and Germans of Lincoln.
With many of our students it is quite impossible to spend the time required to carry on the work already mentioned. Some of these engage in conducting cottage meetings each Sabbath with the sick and suffering of our village who are unable to attend the church services. Others are engaged in Dorcas work. This company of workers prepare bedding and clothing for the needy. Forty pieces of clothing, besides towels, quilts, and books, have been sent to the Huntsville Industrial School. Now garments are being prepared for the Nyassaland Mission in Central Africa. Several of our well-to-do brethren whose aid we have solicited, have opened not only their hearts, but also their purses to this worthy cause, thereby furnishing us funds with which to carry on this branch of the Lord's work. The merchants of Lincoln have given us liberal discounts on the material for these garments. We hope to have three hundred ready by the first of April, to be sent with any missionaries who may be going to Nyassaland after the General Conference.
To help make our weekly Sabbath meeting interesting and profitable, each program is preceded by a ten-minute Scripture drill. Different members are appointed to ask questions on the scriptures which have been selected for our study. For some time we have been learning the principal texts concerning the law and the Sabbath. Most of our members are able to give not only the thought, but also the reference of these Scriptures. We are now studying the spirit of prophecy, adding new texts as the old ones are mastered. We hope, with the co-operation of the Holy Spirit, to be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh a reason of the hope that is within us, with meekness and fear.
Our entire school has become interested in what might be termed the hundred-dollar Life Boat campaign. Having done but little for the regions beyond, we decided to make an aggressive effort in behalf of the Argentine school in South America. We could think of nothing more effective and appropriate than to show our appreciation of the educational advantages we enjoy, by a little self-sacrificing effort to help poor, worthy students in that needy school to receive a preparation for the Master's service. Accordingly it was decided to raise one hundred dollars for this purpose. Just the day before presenting the plan to the school, Misses Smith and Burghart, from the Chicago Sanitarium, arrived here on their way across the continent, in the interest of The Life Boat and what it represents. The school soon became interested in their work and in the sale of the paper. It was, therefore, thought best to unite the two missionary efforts by advising each student, as far as possible, to earn his donation to the hundred-dollar fund by selling The Life Boat. The day was set, arrangements were made, and about one hundred students and teachers boarded the 1:10 P. M. street car for the city of Lincoln. We had over a thousand papers, but within two hours nearly every one had sold out, and was looking for an opportunity to help others sell their quotas. Many who considered themselves unable to sell anything were surprised at their success. We trust this experience may be the means of inducing some to engage permanently in work for the Master. Over one hundred and twenty-five dollars has been subscribed to this student fund.17We realize that satisfactory results will be secured only as God's blessing rests upon our efforts. We trust that even our feeble efforts may, by his strength, become a power for the truth.
OTTO J. GRAF.
G. W. ANGLEBARGER
By G. W. Anglebarger
Colorado
DENVER.—The work in Denver is in an encouraging condition. Our people are using the four tracts prepared for general distribution. The revival of the old-time missionary spirit among God's people here causes our hearts to rejoice. Our Sunday night meetings are well attended by many strangers, and a deep interest is being manifested by them in the truths presented. Denver is a wonderful missionary field.
G. W. ANGLEBARGER
An Appeal in Behalf of the Washington (D. C.) Church
By Ellen G. White
“ELMSHAVEN,” SANITARIUM, CAL.,
Feb. 22, 1903.
Dear Brethren and Sisters: I have been pleased to learn, through reading the REVIEW, and from letters from Elder J. S. Washburn, that a church building in Washington, D. C., formerly known as the Central Methodist Protestant church, has been purchased by the Second Seventh-day Adventist church of that city. A house of worship was greatly needed by our people in the section of the city where this property is situated. The purchase of this church will provide a suitable place in which witness can be borne to the truths we advocate. The building will stand as a memorial for God.
This property must now be paid for. Some payments have already been made, but a large sum must yet be raised to complete the payments. We therefore ask those who have means, to act as the Lord’s helping hand by doing something to help to free this church from debt. Every penny given will help. If all will give what they can, the indebtedness will soon be liquidated. We pray that those who can help in this enterprise may be constrained to do so by their love for Christ. We regard the purchase of this church property as a wise step, and your co-operation in assisting the brethren there to pay for it will bring you into harmony with the beneficent purposes of God and the gospel.
Let those who have means use it wisely. It is a talent lent them by the Lord to be used when called for to advance his cause. In the place of spending money for selfish pleasure, let every one deny self and lift the cross. God’s blessing will follow.
Do not all our people desire to share in the privilege of paying for the house of worship in Washington, D. C.? If every one of the believers in this country would give something, the necessary sum would be raised, and the amount given by each would scarcely be missed. Let us help our brethren in the national capital; for they are too poor and too few in number to bear the burden alone. Those who share in this missionary enterprise by making gifts, large or small, according to their ability, will ever after feel a deeper interest in the progress of the Lord’s cause in Washington. Those who respond to this call, making gifts to the Lord for the purchase of this church property, will receive a rich blessing for so doing. ELLEN G. WHITE.
L. BROOKING
By L. Brooking
Argentina
AFTER staying to follow up the interest awakened by the camp-meeting at Humboldt, I came to the Chaco to work. Here I found a change. Some lukewarm ones had dropped out. But on the other hand, Dr. Habenicht had been there on a visit, and had spoken forcibly on the harmfulness of mate drinking. Our efforts to induce our people here to give up the habit had met with little success, but the doctor's talks convinced some, and I was glad to see some born in the country, all their lives addicted to its use, standing free. For this I praise the Lord. Satan has tried hard to destroy the work here in special ways, but some are standing firmly in the place of those who have given up. Some Sabbath-keepers have come from Chile with false doctrines about the sanctuary question, teaching that it is necessary to keep each day of atonement (October 22), and to observe the feast of tabernacles and other feasts. Only one, however, united with them, and he is beginning to see the error of that teaching.
We have an example here of how Eze. 34:11 is being fulfilled. On one of the islands of the Parana River lived a man and his wife, natives. During one night in a dream she heard several times a voice telling her to go from there. Finally she decided to go; so putting her husband, who was sick, into the canoe, and their three children, she saw a light like a falling star. Before that she was afraid of falling stars, but a voice told her, “Go forward; I will accompany you.” Following the light, they arrived at the hut of a Sabbath-keeper, Angel Benetez, who taught them of the true God and the Sabbath. Very soon afterward they were baptized. The wife had often prayed that she might know the true God, and he answered her. “For thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.” Her husband also was healed of an incurable disease which he had had for about sixteen years.
L. BROOKING
Maritime Conference
By M. S. Babcock; Mrs. M. S. Babcock
Since May last we have labored in the Canadian Maritime Conference, in response to a call at the session of the Lake Union Conference held in Chicago in March preceding. Though most of the time has been spent in the province of Nova Scotia, we have traveled sufficiently to note quite fully the conditions, physical and spiritual, throughout the eastern section of the Canadian Union Conference.
In one sense the field is not new. The first angel’s message was heard here with a loud cry. The prejudice of former days has worn away in large measure, and the hour has come to enter with the last call of mercy. The climate and country and people are not well understood perhaps, nor is there a foundation for a right understanding of either to be had in any printed matter extant, if we may judge from what a careful and quite extended search furnished us. Of course customs differ somewhat, and the bent of the mind and trend of thought are distinctive in some respects from what may be noted in the United States, or even in the mother country.
The ways of trade and the manner and scale of the industrial pursuits seem strange and circumscribed to those accustomed to life in the Western States. But the people are prosperous generally. We have not seen a “tramp” since coming to the provinces, and there are really no people suffering for the necessaries of life, except possibly in the overcrowded large cities. The climate, as a whole, in this eastern section is very agreeable, not severe, though the summer season is short. One will actually suffer more in the chilling cold of the “salubrious” valleys of central and southern California at a much higher temperature than in this land, and will not experience the tonic effect of the cool, bracing atmosphere that is realized here.
The people are warm-hearted and open-handed. To a large degree they are religious, and not a few seem desirous to be Christians indeed, through a study of the Word and a true fellowship in the living, abiding presence of Christ. Still they are conservative, and are taught zealously to shun “new doctrines” and latter-day “heresies,” under which heads plainest and oldest Bible truths often are classed, because, not having been studied, they seem new and strange. This, however, is a difficulty not confined to these parts.
Young, active, truly converted messengers, full of the Spirit, ready to devote all their powers to faithful service for the Master in an old country just opening up to the new life and pulse of modern methods and movement, are needed. This is a work at our very doors. For the most part no new language need be learned.
Now is the time to sow seed for the Master in Canada, and may the General Conference wisely plan to secure the best help available for this needy field.
We spent the week of prayer with the18little company at Tiverton, Nova Scotia, on Long Island, Digby County. They had not been visited by one of our ministers for more than six years. What a comfort it was to see their joy and to rejoice with them and their friends in a few short days of public and private worship. We are thankful for a part in the closing call of the gospel.
M. S. BABCOCK,
MRS. M. S. BABCOCK.
Bridgewater, Nova Scotia.
Washington D. C.
By J. S. WASHBURN
SINCE February 2, the day of our payment, we have received on the fund for the memorial church $1,850.20, so that all our loans are paid, and we have quite a sum toward making another payment on the $7,900 still due on the church, which is bearing interest at 5½ per cent, or $1.19 per day. By the time this report shall be read, our appeals and subscription papers will have been supplied to every organized conference in the North. These have been sent out, partly direct and partly to the conference secretaries, with the request that the secretary send them to every worker and to every local elder. We have found that where the subscription papers are in use, a systematic work is done, such as can not be done without them. Quite a number who are not members of the church, nor even keeping the Sabbath, have subscribed and paid in money on this memorial church. In Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota a good work has been done. In all these States the subscription papers have been used. We are glad to supply them to all who may wish to use them, sending them directly or through the local officers.
The appeal for the memorial church in Washington, written by Sister White, sets forth the situation so clearly and definitely that I trust all will read it, and that in a few weeks our new church, free from debt, may be re-dedicated to the work of the last message of truth to a lost world.
J. S. WASHBURN.
Kansas
By T. Godfrey
TURKVILLE.—I have just closed a series of meetings at Turkville, Kan., in which two families took a stand for the truth. Two other families who had been Sabbath-keepers for a number of years assisted in the effort at this place, and as a result we have a Sabbath-school of about twenty members. The work is onward in this part of the great field. The Spirit of the Lord is moving the people, and the Macedonian cry is coming from every quarter. T. GODFREY.
Branch Sabbath-Schools
By Flora L. Plummer
THE planning of active missionary work in the home, in the neighborhood, in the town or city where they live, is the first work to be considered by all who desire to become missionaries. The organization of branch Sabbath-schools has often demonstrated the value of the plan as a means of developing workers and carrying the gospel into the homes of many who have not yet heard the advent message. Many very encouraging reports of this work have been received, but we have space for but a few. The following is from a young lady, and tells of her first experience in this kind of work:—
“Our branch school was organized last May, and is held at the home of one of our sisters. The interest among the children has grown steadily. For quite a while we were obliged to go out and gather them in each week, but gradually we have made them feel that we trusted them to come alone, and on time. The children are from five to twelve years of age. We have found it more satisfactory to have them all in one kindergarten class, as some of them have had no Bible instruction whatever. Otherwise our school is conducted in much the same way as our regular Sabbath-school. The interest shown in the simple lessons is remarkable. One little Indian girl, twelve years old, borrowed a Bible, and looked up the lessons. When she met one of the helpers in our school, she said to her, ‘O, those stories she tells at Sabbath-school are all true; for we borrowed a Bible and found out!’ As her grandparents had helped her in the search, we feel sure that they learned some truths also. The mother and sister of one little boy attended our church services one Sabbath, to find out what kind of people we were. Afterward they sent the child to our branch school regularly. This lady has asked for Bible readings to be held at her home. She has never before felt any interest in religious things. A Catholic lady who sends two children is particularly faithful in sending them on time, and in teaching them the lesson and the memory verse. The children are all given The Little Friend, and the mothers are supplied with The Signs of the Times. Though we do not see fruits in every case, we know that seeds are being sown, and that the Lord will care for the results; so we are full of courage.”
Another interesting report is from a young colored sister in one of our large cities:—
“For two months I have been holding a branch Sabbath-school at a private house, with an average attendance of eighteen. We call for nearly all the children each time, as in that way we get more of them out. I have talked some to the children about the children in foreign lands, and compared their condition with ours. For the past month I have been taking up a collection, and each Sabbath get a fair donation. I have also talked to them about the home missionary work which they could do among their playmates. We call our school the Bee Hive, and the children are the bees. This idea has pleased them, and created quite an interest. I illustrate our Bible lesson with simple objects, and they seem to be really interested. My children are all colored, as I am working among my own people. I find this work opens the homes of the people to me. I am at present helping to nurse two of my pupils. By so doing, I have won the confidence of the mother. This work opens up many opportunities. I send the Signs to the parents by the children.”
The workers in some of the mission fields are using the branch-school plan as an entering wedge into the homes of the people. Sister Hoffman, of Finland, writes of successful work in Borga. A branch school has also been started in Honolulu in the Portuguese district. It is well attended, and the workers are planning for another in a different part of the city.
This branch work is ideal for young people. Some who have never had experience in teaching in our regular Sabbath-schools have met with the best of success in this work. One of our ministers who had opportunity to observe the results of such work writes: “Nearly all the members of our regular school have something to do in branch Sabbath-school work. Even the children seem to feel a responsibility in bringing others to the schools. I do not know of anything that we have taken hold of yet that has in it the possibility of developing workers that this has.”
What a wonderful factor in spreading a knowledge of the truth this branch Sabbath-school work might be, if it were taken up by every church, and as far as possible in every home. These little schools would become centers of light, reflecting truth to all who come within reach of their influence. The lights from such schools would form no small part of that great light which will fill the whole earth with its glory.
MRS. L. FLORA PLUMMER.
A Personal Experience
By J. F. Balzer
“CHRIST’S OBJECT LESSONS” is truly a wonderful book, and those who undertake to sell even their own quotas will reap a rich harvest of blessing. Feeling that to delay would be to lose a great opportunity and come short of the glory of God, I ordered my quota of “Christ’s Object Lessons.” That was before Christmas, and the next evening after I received the books, I took one to our postmaster. Not knowing much about the book, I could tell him but little concerning it, but I had some testimonials that I had clipped from the REVIEW; these I read to him. He examined the work, and said, “I will take the book, and give it to my wife.” Although he is quite skeptical, a few days afterward he remarked that the book he had bought of me was all right.
Soon after this I gave a canvass to a young lady who is keeping house for her brother, and before I was half through with my canvass, she said that it was an excellent book, and that she wished she could show it to her Sunday-school classmates, as they wanted to get their teacher a present, and she thought this would be the best thing they could get. The evening before Christmas I called on her at the church, where she and several others were at work. Her face lighted up for joy as she said, “I have been so afraid you would not get here on time with those books. I have been reading the one you left with me, and I don’t see how I can get along without it. I want one for myself, and another for our Sunday-school teacher.”
At another place while I was giving a canvass to a lady, the hired man came in. When I finished, the lady said that it was a good book, but that they were hard up, and she could not take one. The hired man followed me to the buggy, and asked me to bring him two of those books. When I called on him with the books, he was rather sad; for he had not yet received his wages. I said that if he could get the money within a few days, I would let him have the books, and thus he need not be disappointed in his plans for19Christmas.
At another place where three sisters and a brother (their parents being dead) are keeping house, the Lord gave me an order for “Home Hand-book” and “Prophecies of Jesus.” As a result, the brother has discarded tobacco and tea and coffee.
These are only a few of the encouraging experiences with which the Lord blesses the canvasser. Though I have made but feeble efforts in the way of canvassing, and many golden opportunities have passed, which, if properly used, might have resulted in a rich harvest for the Lord, yet he has most wonderfully blessed me. To him be all the praise. May the Lord grant that all, especially the young people, may fully awake from their slumber, and improve the few opportunities that are still left. Let us arise and finish the work with zeal and devotion, that when Jesus shall come to deliver his people, he may say to us each, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” J. F. BALZER.
Tennessee
By B. Hagle; Mrs. B. Hagle
We left Erin, Tenn., Jan. 2, 1903, stopping at Springville for a week, where we held meetings each evening. The brethren and sisters manifested a desire to labor for the salvation of their neighbors and to engage in the sale of “Christ’s Object Lessons,” and as a result some have begun to keep the Sabbath.
We next went to Trezevant, where we spent about one week. When the brethren decided to do their part in the sale of “Christ’s Object Lessons,” the blessing of God came in. An elder and a deacon were elected, and four students in the school were converted and baptized, and some who were lukewarm and had not been to church for some time, were revived.
We next visited Leach, where Elder Fulton had preached the truth about eighteen years ago, raising up one of the strongest churches in this conference. A great deal of prejudice was aroused there at that time. The tent was burned, and Elder Fulton's life was threatened. The church held on until about four years ago, when it went down through removals, deaths, and apostasy, only three in the place remaining faithful. We labored there about four weeks, and by the help of God we were able to raise up a church of twenty members, and a Sabbath-school of over forty. We received many calls, but on account of other appointments were not able to fill them.
Truly the harvest is great, but the laborers are few. May the Lord roll the burden on his people to arouse and give the last message of warning while the angels are holding the four winds of strife and war. I praise God that he gives us health and strength to hasten from place to place to give the warning. We have but a short time in which to do this work. It is no time now to become discouraged. Let every one of God's servants arouse and push the work. O that some of our people who are dying because of spiritual inactivity would move into some of these places and teach these people the truth! People can make a living here, and spend part of their time in missionary work. The people must have the warning. We are of good courage in the work.
B. HAGLE,
MRS. B. HAGLE.
Field Notes
A NEW church building was dedicated at Connersville, Ind., March 8.
BROTHER J. F. JENSON reports the organization of a Sabbath-school at Calhan, Colo.
A CHURCH of fourteen members was recently organized at Blaine, Kan., by Elder C. A. Beeson.
A NEW house of worship will be dedicated at Perry, O. T., March 15. A canvassers’ institute will be held in connection with the dedication.
ELDER R. C. PORTER reports that two have recently been added to the company of Sabbath-keepers in St. Louis, Mo., and four recently received baptism.
A CANVASSERS’ institute is now in progress at Portland, Ore.; also one at Kansas City, Mo., and one at Hutchinson, Kan.
THE company at St. Clairsville, Ohio, has been strengthened by the recent addition of ten persons, and steps have been taken to secure a hall for Sabbath worship.
BROTHER T. J. HICKMAN reports from Harper, O. T., that a number have accepted the truth there as the result of house-to-house labor, and a good interest is manifested by the people.
AT Westlake, Idaho, a company of twelve have been brought into the truth, and a church building has been erected, under the labors of Elder C. E. Ford.
BROTHER F. H. CONWAY, who has been holding meetings in and near the town of Schley, O. T., writes that ten persons have accepted the truth as the result of his efforts.
A REPORT from the town of Daisy, Wash., states that ten persons have accepted the truth under the labors of Brother W. S. Holbrook. They are ready for a church organization.
A REPORT from Brother George W. Berry, written near the close of January, stated that twenty-four had witnessed to the converting power of God at Ionia, Wyo., as the result of meetings held by Brethren Cook and Beames. Steps were being taken for the erection of a house of worship.
BROTHER A. G. HAUGHEY writes some good words regarding the prosperity of the work in the West Michigan Conference. He says: “No doubt you will be pleased to know that fully one half of the churches of the West Michigan Conference have sold more than one thousand copies of ‘Christ’s Object Lessons’ above the aggregate of their respective quotas, and that the remaining one half are still working to dispose of their proportion. In a few weeks at most, we hope to be able to report this work as having been completed. We are much encouraged with the results so far seen from our late campaign. Since the Wright conference one church has been organized, also one company, and we expect to organize one other church next Sabbath. We are planning to turn our entire ministerial force into new fields during the summer months. We hope to be able to raise up a number of churches and companies. I believe the Lord will give us special blessings while working in this way.”
AN interesting account of the opening exercises of the Avondale school (Australia) is given in The Bible Echo of January 15. The assembled students were told how to make the coming school year most profitable to themselves and to their associates, and the subject of the importance of the Avondale school as a training place for native Australasian workers was presented by Elder E. H. Gates. After this an exhibition was given of the fruit and vegetable products of the school farm, which now supports all the school family, and brings in a considerable revenue besides. Brother M. Hare told how depressed he was when he first came to Cooranbong some years ago, by the information given him by the old settlers, that it was impossible to grow vegetables there. It was not long, he was glad to say, before he had proved their ideas false. In his own garden he had raised sweet potatoes of such great size that a single tuber was a good load for a person of average strength to carry. Brother S. W. Carr said that visitors often came to Avondale to inspect the farm, and were much impressed by what they saw. As the Testimonies have stated, the school farm will soon be an object lesson for the farmers of New South Wales. During the height of the drought, it was stated by the Newcastle Herald that “Cooranbong20is the greenest spot in all New South Wales.” The number of students enrolled already amounts to one hundred and ten. Everything indicates that the school will be blessed the coming year with both temporal and spiritual success.
Elder J. M. Rees, president of the Missouri Conference, reports as follows for the work in his conference: “We are much pleased with the way our churches and isolated brethren are taking hold of the tract work in Missouri. We have been unfortunate in not being able to get tracts as fast as we could use them. We have now received orders for over 26,000 copies, and we are certain that thousands more should, and doubtless will, be used. We have just fairly started in the work. It is the opinion of those who have carefully read the tracts that they are the best ever issued by the denomination, and should have a wide circulation. This is our time to work. We find that the people are interested in the subject-matter presented in these tracts; and when they have read them, they ask for more literature of a like nature. When we had circulated 5,000 copies of the first tract here in Kansas City, the city papers gave us a good article on the work we were doing,—our aggressiveness as a church, etc. This has been a help to us. As our workers go about the city, they hear many reports of good results from this work. We trust our brethren all over the State will take courage, and push the work until it is closed up in victory.”
Two Sabbath-keeping sisters who were obliged to go to the mountains in New South Wales for their health, obtained rooms with a pleasant Christian woman, and were at once impressed with the bright Christian experience of their landlady; while she in turn was somewhat surprised to find her tenants holding views which to her seemed both strange and erroneous. She readily accepted an invitation to study the Bible with them, and investigate the Sabbath question. Being a firm believer of the Word of God, search was begun for the reasons for Sunday observance. With sorrow of heart she found them not, but on the other hand saw the truth in its beauty. After keeping her first Sabbath, and spending one week in almost continuous study of the Word, she went to the home of her parents, in one of the suburbs of Sydney, that she might pass on to them what God had revealed to her. Again the Word was searched, and as a result, parents and daughter together kept the following Sabbath. Fearing that there might be some point that they had not properly considered, the counsel of their earnest young pastor was sought, who kindly spent two forenoons studying the Bible with the daughter. The young minister was perplexed, as he had not confronted so difficult a question before. He finally told the lady that if she was fully convinced that the seventh day was the Sabbath, he thought she ought to keep it, and that if he became convinced, he would keep it too. It is needless to add that subsequent study has strengthened her convictions, and brought to light many precious things which she had not known before. There are several other interested ones in the large circle of friends of this earnest Christian worker.—Bible Echo.
The Former Days
By Washington Morse
For fifty-one years I have taken this most valuable paper [the REVIEW], and I have learned to love it dearly. Fifty-one years ago this month I was with the little company at Ballston Spa, N. Y., where steps were taken to purchase a hand press to print the REVIEW and tracts. At this meeting about seven hundred dollars was raised, and put into the hands of Elder James White, to purchase the press, and locate the office at Rochester, N. Y. The history of the work since then was given in the REVIEW of Jan. 6, 1903.
I with thousands of others experienced the great disappointment of Oct. 22, 1844. No one but those who had that experience can ever know our heartfelt sorrow. Our experience was like that of the disciples of Christ after his crucifixion. But we read, “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. . . . For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” We were the people to whom those words were spoken. The burden of that message was time; that was what all our great men rose up against; that was just what stirred the world; and that is the basis of these messages, as by these prophetic periods we are able to show just when the judgment began. Never did the truths of the first angel’s message shine so clearly to the world as now. O my dear brethren, with such a flood of light as we have, can we doubt that this work is heaven-born?—No, we can not doubt. There is no longer delay. I have no if’s in my faith. There is no uncertainty about this great work. God has led out a people to give these warning messages to this last generation, and some who are now living will witness the glorious appearing of Christ in the clouds of heaven. The time has come when we must show by our works that we are preparing for the hour of temptation just before us. See Rev. 11:1-10.
Sixty years ago this present winter I witnessed the night when the moon seemed turned to blood. Beginning at 10 P. M. everything on earth looked as red as blood. Elder Wm. Miller was giving a course of lectures in the village of Pittsford, Vt. He had finished his lecture, and had gone to his boarding-place, when he was suddenly called out into the street to witness the moon and the earth draped in blood. Presently a young lady who had attended his lectures night after night, but was a great scoffer, came up to Brother Miller; wringing her hands in anguish, she said, “Mr. Miller, will you pray for me?” He exclaimed, “Madam, Christ is not coming down the vaulted skies to-night. But you may know how you will feel when he does come, unless you repent.” She gave her heart to God that night. My dear brethren and sisters, the day is just before us when our cases will come up in the court of heaven, and unless we are free from sin, we shall be eternally lost. Then we shall have no time to repent.
Now we can look back over the events which have occurred in the history of these messages, and as we compare them with the prophecies, we see that they exactly correspond. In 1844 all who came out and accepted the time message were greatly blessed. It was like—yes, it far exceeded—our happy conversion from sin to holiness, and we knew that God set his seal to the preaching of time. The mystery of God is to be finished in our day. In Rev. 10:7 it is said, “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished.” This angel began to sound in 1844 when the judgment began (see Dan. 7:9, 10), and already we have passed fifty-eight years under its sounding.
As I read of the destruction of our publishing house, I could but say to myself, What do these things mean? May the Lord help us all to learn the lesson that he designed to teach us in this great calamity. WASHINGTON MORSE.