As the end draws near, the work of the third angel’s message will increase in strength and holiness. The workers will have Christian integrity, and will love one another as Christ gave commandment.
When the true keynote is struck, there will be great zeal and progress. Company after company will leave the black banner of Satan, and will enlist under the glorious banner of Prince Emmanuel. There will be kindled in every soul the fire of holy zeal. The true keynote is that the coming of Christ to this earth will not be very long delayed. See “Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. VI, pages 406, 419. This keynote has been partially forgotten. Its clear, ringing tones have been drowned by the noise of less important, though closely related, matters. But our leaders are awakening to the situation, its causes, and its remedy; and they are now calling the denomination back to its true position as Adventists,—believers in the soon coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and heralds of the good news of deliverance. The keynote is again sounding forth with no uncertain tone, and all other notes are being modulated into harmony with it. Let every voice join in the grand anthem that shall sound the gospel of the kingdom to all the world in this generation.
But what has our educational work to do with this movement? Much every way. It reaches the mass of our people as no other work does. It begins in the home. In a definite way parents are coming to realize their position as the first and most natural teachers of their children; and home schools are being started where church schools do not exist. If the coming of Christ were the frequent theme of conversation and study in the home, and the home life were filled with the missionary spirit, the foundation would be laid for sending forth an army of laborers into the great harvest field. The faith that was in the heart of the grandmother Lois, and the mother Eunice, dwelt also in the bosom of the son Timothy. Church and intermediate schools are also springing up all over the land. And this is providential; for the church schools are ordained by God to prepare the children for the great work of making known God’s message to the sick and suffering after the way shall become hedged up before the older workers, and they shall be no longer permitted to present the truth. See Vol. VI, pp. 202, 203. Hear it, one and all! The last work of mercy for the world will be done by children prepared for their duties in the church schools!
Finally, come the gospel training schools,—schools where students who have studied the common branches as far as the ninth or tenth grade may take up subjects designed to prepare them for the pursuit of a medical course; for the ministry or Bible work; for teaching, nursing, or canvassing; for practicing and teaching music; for shorthand and typewriting; for industrial pursuits; or for a business career.
The one great object of all these schools is “to provide places where the younger members of the Lord’s family may be trained according to his plan of growth and development, to engage in the service of our institutions and in different lines of gospel work.” And the third angel’s message, the great testing truth for this time, is to be the keynote sounded and taught in all our institutions. See Vol. VI, pp. 126-128, 133.
The Humblest Life
“THE humblest life that lives may be divine;
Christ changed the common water into wine.
Starlike comes Love from out the magic East—
And Life, the hermit, finds his fast a feast.”
Why Should Our Churches Sustain Foreign Missions
GEO. H. HUBBARD, in a recent book, answers the question, “Why should our churches sustain foreign missions?” in the following unique manner:—
“Why should a preacher preach? Why should a teacher teach? Why should a physician attend to the sick? Why should a farmer till the soil? Why should a merchant buy and sell goods and import or export fabrics? Why should a soldier fight? Why should a sailor traverse the ocean? Why should a railroad corporation transport freights and passengers from place to place? Why should a manufacturing company produce commodities of one sort or another? In short, why should any man do precisely what is involved in his chosen calling? Or why should any body of men engage in the very work that expresses the declared purpose of their corporate life?”
Teach Me, My God and King
“TEACH me, my God and King,
In all things thee to see,
And what I do in anything
To do it as for thee.”
Our Matabele Mission
By W. H. Anderson
W. H. ANDERSON
MANY of the boys have been at work on the farm. They have been harvesting the peas, mealies, and peanuts. We have cut part of the mealie stalks for forage, and put them on a rack so that the white ants can not get to them. This seemed necessary this year as there has been little rain fall, and we need to save all the feed we can for the stock.
We have sold two more cows and fourteen goats. The cows were sold in harmony with the recommendation of the South African Union Committee, at fifteen dollars each. The cattle disease is gradually drawing nearer, and we are holding our animals in readiness to sell if it is necessary, to save them from dying on our hands. We can sell the goats at a good profit now, and buy more later at a lower price.
We have torn down Elder Sturdevant’s house, as the white ants were in it so bad that he was afraid it would not bear the roof. In many places the walls were badly eaten, and the roof was completely wrecked. We shall use cement in the first few layers of brick, and so have an ant-proof house. We were promised a mason last week to do the building, but he disappointed us, and I do not know now when we can get another one. We are trying in everything to do permanent work, so that it will not have to be repeated in a short time.
The work of building Jim’s house is progressing slowly on account of repeated attacks of fever. He has not been able to throw off the fever this year, although the season is far advanced.
Five new boys have entered the school this month, and three have left. Those who left refused to submit to the discipline of the school.
The advanced class in Bible is finishing the book of Genesis. The second class is studying the twelfth chapter of the Acts. The third class is studying the sermon on the mount.
May 17 we were called to mourn the loss of one of our native teachers. Umby first attended the school at Umkupuvula in 1899, taught by Brother J. A. Chaney. Here he learned to read, and expressed desire to serve the Lord. Two years later he joined the training school at the home station to fit himself for the Master’s work. After two years, partly in school, and partly in the kraals, teaching, he laid off the burden, and is resting in Jesus.
He was taken with fever on Friday night. Evening after the Sabbath I gave him treatment, and he said that he was comfortable when I left him at half-past ten o’clock. I did not think him seriously ill, as his fever had not been more than 103. Sunday morning he walked around. I saw him at nine thirty, and he complained of severe pain in the back of the head and neck. At about one o’clock a noise was heard in his hut, and on going in, he was found in a spasm. We did all we could for him, but he never regained consciousness. He died at 4:30 P. M.
We miss him in the school, in the Sabbath-school, on the farm, and from the kraal work. God knows best, and we bow in submission to his will. I think he died from malarial poison.
The spiritual interest is extending and opening. At the same time some are sifting out. On the part of some there is a fixed determination that, come what will, they will serve the Lord. We try to make every day a “day’s march nearer home.” A good spirit prevails in the boarding school, and we thank God daily for what we see and hear among the students. There is a unity among us that means much for the work here. We are all of good courage in the Lord, and are willing to give all there is of us to advance the work.
I am getting ready for my trip to Barotseland. I expect to start in about four weeks. I can not start later, as I must be back when the rains begin in November.
Mrs. Anderson is not well, but manages to be about and to carry on her work. Brother and Sister Sturdevant are well.
A Trip Through Southern Chile
By H. F. Ketring
H. F. KETRING
It is several weeks since I left home for this trip in the south of Chile. Last Friday I rode fifty miles horseback, the greater part through dense timber, to reach several families of Sabbath-keepers who are far on the frontier. Things were indeed very primitive. The house was made of posts, placed close together side by side to form the sides, with a thatched roof.
A box served for a table, and each person was given a spoon, and we sat around one common dish of beans and potatoes. And while it was a little different from what we are accustomed to in the United States, after a fifty-mile horseback ride I could do justice to my share of the meal. After supper I preached to those present, and the entire day Sabbath was spent in instructing them in the different truths of the third angel's message. I baptized one, and others are waiting my next visit, to receive baptism.
Sunday and Monday I rode about one hundred miles west, which brought me to the seacoast. Here we have two families obedient to the truth, and the father and the mother of a third have just decided to obey the truth. They have a family of eleven children.
Having a desire to visit an Indian chief who lives about twenty miles south of here, yesterday Brother Hormaechea, a Spaniard, and myself started for his place. All but about three miles of our journey lay along the beach, which is lined with beautiful sea shells.
Upon arriving, some time was spent in conforming to their custom of receiving visitors, when we dismounted and were invited inside. On being asked upon what business we had come, I told him that I had heard of him, and that I had a great desire to come and give him a message that the great God had sent to him. He expressed his entire satisfaction and willingness to receive the message.
I then continued by telling him the story of creation and the fall; the promise of the Saviour, and his death and resurrection. I told him how he had gone to prepare a beautiful home for us, and that he promised to come again to take us to that home; that now the time of his coming is near, and he is sending his messengers to all parts of the world to tell the people to get ready to meet him and go with him to that beautiful place, and that he had sent me to tell him to get ready if he wanted to go with the Lord—he with all his family.
Then I mentioned how he had given us signs by which we might know when his coming is near, and that nearly all the signs had been fulfilled, naming the signs in Matthew 24. He wanted to know what signs were lacking yet, so I told him the only one lacking was the shaking of the powers of heaven and its rolling back as a scroll. He listened with deep interest, and said he wanted to be saved when the Lord comes, but he said they were very ignorant, and did not know much. I said, 'Yes; but we want to teach the Mapoche Indians these things.'
He seemed grateful, and asked that we establish a school on his land to teach his children and his servants' children. He has about a thousand Indians under his command, and is very desirous that they have some advantages in education.
In a small section of country there are over sixty thousand of these people, to whom the message must be given, besides tens and hundreds of thousands in the interior. Can we not do something to give these people the gospel, that the Lord can take from among them a people for his name? A company of English missionaries are now translating the Bible into their language. I can not help feeling deeply in earnest about having a school for them.
Don Pedro, the Indian chief, offered ten acres of land, and the lumber to build a house, if we would send a teacher among them. He said that a Catholic priest had promised to plant a school on his land, but he had not said anything more about it since. Now is our opportunity, if we do not want to let it go by. O, that the Lord may breathe such a spirit of self-sacrifice over his people as they have never yet experienced, that they may see the crying needs of people who are groping in the darkness to find some hope of salvation.
These Indians are not like the North American Indians, always engaged in war, but are workers. To be sure, from an American standpoint, they are very9lazy; but before the Spaniards came to Chile, the Indians cultivated more than twelve different varieties of beans, and many other vegetables.
Shall we be without blame if we do not extend the helping hand to them to lead them from darkness to light? We are of good courage, and are pushing the work as best we can. Pray for us.
Chinese Opium Smokers
By C. W. Davis
C. W. DAVIS
The poppy seems to have been cultivated in China as an ornamental flower in the Sung dynasty (976-1264), and even earlier the healing virtues of its seed were known, while the medical use of the opium capsules dates back a great many years. Opium was used for medical purposes; it was a highly esteemed drug, being imported overland from Burma through Central Asia into China.
Dr. Dugeon, of Peking, says that opium smoking was introduced from Java by the Chinese from Chicu-chicu and Changchow in the early years of the eighteenth century, toward the end of the reign of Shanghai (1662-1722). The first edict issued against it was in 1729, being directed against the practice in Formosa, which was the result of a report of an official sent by Shanghai to inquire into the unseemly proceedings in that island.
CHINESE OPIUM SMOKERS
Taou Kwang was the first emperor to attempt to suppress the vice of opium smoking. When loss of revenue was urged as an argument to deter him from his purpose he exclaimed with righteous indignation, “Heaven forbid that I should derive profit from the vices of my subjects.”
This good prince was unfortunate in the agent whom he selected to carry out his humane decree. The Viceroy Lin, haughty and overbearing, employed unjustifiable means to obtain possession of the forbidden drug, giving just ground for reprisals on the part of Great Britain. To save himself the trouble of capturing the opium ships which lay beyond the harbor, he surrounded the whole foreign quarter at Canton with soldiery, and threatened the lives of all foreigners, without distinction of nationality, in case of refusal to surrender the drug. Summoned by the Superintendent of Trade to deliver up, as the only means of escape, the merchants handed it over to the queen’s representatives to be used as a ransom for the lives of the community. Her majesty was accordingly pledged to make good their loss. To punish this high-handed proceeding, and to exact the promised indemnity were the objects of Britain’s first war with China, not at all to force the Chinese either to receive opium or to consume it.
It is impossible to say what proportion of the Chinese smoke opium, but it is well known that large numbers of all classes throughout the empire are given to this habit. In some parts of the country the proportion is larger than in others. From the imperial palace down to the lowest hovel it has in its clutches all sorts and conditions of men; even women and children in some places, are victims of this insidious vice.
The large decks of steamers are covered with smokers lying in every direction, some enjoying their fantastic dreams, others still smoking. Prepared opium has the appearance of coal-tar. They take a little on the end of an opium tool, and hold it over the peculiar opium lamps; when it is sufficiently baked, they insert it into the pipe which is now ready to smoke.
The writer has in mind the case of a woman who appeared to be about sixty years old, and who was addicted to this vile habit. She was a most pitiable object as she lay upon the deck of a Hongkong and Canton steamer, her head supported by a rude Chinese pillow (generally made of earthenware or wood). She being too weak to hold the opium pipe in the usual manner and to use the common pipe, her servant prepared the opium in the bowl, and by means of a long india-rubber tube connected at one end with the bowl, the other end being placed in the victim’s mouth, the poisonous drug was inhaled into her lungs.
Although opium is taxed heavily, various means are resorted to by which it is smuggled into the country. One method is the following: As soon as the customs officials are seen approaching a vessel which is about to enter the port, the smugglers who are on the vessel procure a long piece of strong twine and connect small sealed tins of opium on the one end and small floats on the other; then they are dumped overboard, to be picked up on some future occasion. Various are the means that are employed, cleverly and sometimes successfully, to evade the customs authorities; and for this reason it is impossible to determine the amount of opium consumed in this country.
A new vice, that of subcutaneous injection of morphia, appears now to be spreading rapidly in some parts of the country. It has been said on good authority that there are shops in Canton where persons may go and put their money on the counter, and without saying a word as to what they want, morphia will be handed to them.
Though partly consumed as a liquid decoction by the use of a hypodermic syringe, it is chiefly used to make pills and tabloids, which are taken as a substitute for opium by those who find it inconvenient to smoke during business or when traveling.
A large quantity of opium pills are made, and sold under the name of anti-opium pills. Some, in their endeavor to give up smoking, try these; but they seldom cure any one of the habit; they simply, by the opium contained, satisfy the longing of the smoker, and enable him to stave off the desire to smoke for a while.
The habit once formed is very difficult to break. Some try over and over again, but very few ever give it up entirely. It does not require a specialist to tell at a glance those who are addicted to this vile habit, or as the nation terms them, “opium devils.” Every attitude, every feature of the face, every sentence, is a living witness that they are in agony till the craving is satisfied. They are pitiable objects, emaciated almost to a skeleton, until they finally succumb to their vice.
Canton, China.
Many Converts in Canton
THERE has been a large ingathering in the Canton mission of the Presbyterian church (North). The past year was the greatest in the history of the mission. During this period six chapels have been rebuilt (the new chapels are in all respects better than those destroyed), and the following new buildings erected: A hospital for Women and Children, the Women's Medical College, the nurses' training school, a fine chapel for lepers near Canton, and missionary homes at Lien Chow and Yeunk Long. Among those baptized was a graduate of the first degree, a very able and sincere man; several other scholars, besides farmers and some bright and well-to-do business men.—Selected.
