It is indeed inspiring to read the good reports which appear from week to week in the dear old REVIEW. We are always anxious to hear from the large circle of the REVIEW family. Our aims are one, our interests mutual. We are glad to be able to contribute our little. We have every cause to give the Lord praise for his marvelous working with and for us here. Believers are being added to the faith, and there are signs of more fruitage for the future.
Since October, the most of my time has been spent at Linstead, where we still have a good interest.
Our missionary society is doing an excellent work. The entire membership, including the Juniors, are at work in various ways. This has helped to lift the spirituality of the church to quite a degree. The secretary's report for three weeks will give an idea of what is being done: Letters written, 25; letters received, 1; missionary visits, 24; books sold, 8; books lent, 4; tracts sold, 8,139 pages; tracts lent, 1,563 pages; hours of Christian Help work, 68; articles of clothing given away, 7; number of meals provided, 14; treatments given, 4; missionary offerings, 7 shillings and 3 pence. Work is done at the hospital and poor-house. Cottage meetings are also held. We have at present a baptism class of eleven, and others are expecting to join.
We are busy raising funds for our much-needed church building, and I am glad to report that a start has been made on its erection. I am working on the building myself, as we cannot afford to employ a carpenter. The brethren are poor and the church is small, and whatever money is raised must go for the purchase of materials. The brethren of the church are also rendering such faithful help as they can give, none being tradesmen.
The week of prayer was a great blessing to us. Many were moved to give themselves to the Lord. May the Lord help us to greater faithfulness during the new year.
HUBERT FLETCHER.
Maryland
By Lora L. Tarbell
Rock Hall.—Just after the opening of our church school we entered into the Harvest Ingathering campaign. The people of this community were found very willing to assist foreign missions in a material way. We have reason to believe that hearts were softened by the reading of this number of the REVIEW, and the entrance thus gained to the homes opened the way for further missionary work. Our church members became much interested in the work, and some distributed fifty or more papers each.
In November we had a Harvest Ingathering program. Both our own people and those not believers with us contributed autumn products. The proceeds of the meeting amounted to forty dollars. In former years this fund has always gone to the church school, but this time it was voted for missions, and the Lord has more than made this up to the school work. O, that there were less of doubting and more of trusting in our ranks!
Two weekly Bible studies are being held by our young people. There is a lively interest in these meetings, and those in training are proving of help to our church leader.
The church circulates a club of twenty-five papers weekly, mostly Signs of the Times, and we plan in the near future to place a paper rack on the boat which visits our wharf. Rock Hall has given one consecrated Bible worker to the cause this past summer, and she has already seen some fruit of her labors.
If all our church members were faithful to their trust, this message would soon go to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. Shall we not be more earnest, more zealous in the work God has given us to do?
LORA L. TARBELL.
Who Will Help?
THERE is a great work which must be done before Christ comes—a work for the men and women and the boys and girls behind prison bars. We must go to them with the same love that Christ had when he came to save this lost world. If we do our duty, among this class will be found many who will watch and long for Christ's glorious appearing.
The Lord laid this burden upon my heart, and I have been much encouraged to see how eager these unfortunates are to hear the old, old story of Jesus and his love. I wish it were possible for you to read the many letters I receive, telling how grateful the writers are to know of the Saviour and his love for sinners.
O, who will help? There are jails in every city. Go to them with love in your heart for the fallen souls confined there. Talk of Jesus' love. Pray with and for them, and you will be rewarded by seeing some lost ones seek salvation. If you cannot go yourself, pray that God will impress some one who can to take up this work. See that these unfortunate friends have Bibles and helps to Bible study. Time often hangs heavy on their hands, and many of them are glad to spend hours in reading.
A WORKER FOR CHRIST.
Some Ways of Introducing Our Literature to the Public
THE following letter from Addington is self-explanatory and indicates in a degree the influence the public library is wielding and the interest manifest in it outside of Waurika:—
"FEB. 16, 1914.
"Mrs. Frank Beauman, "Public Library, "Waurika, Okla.
"DEAR MADAM: We have ordered a club of six magazines to be sent to the library at Waurika. The names of these periodicals are Christian Education, Protestant Magazine, Life and Health, Liberty, Signs of the Times, and the Watchman. These are all live monthly visitors, dealing with subjects full of interest to every person, no matter what his station in life may be.
"As an institution for the uplifting of humanity, both for this time and for the time to come, we appreciate the good efforts you ladies of Waurika are putting forth in this work. We are glad to have the privilege of making this donation to your library, and trust that we may be counted among your wide circle of readers.
"Who can estimate the value of a good public library? The answer to this may be had by noting the advance of this great nation of ours, 'the land of the free and the home of the brave.'
"Yours truly, "ADDINGTON INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL, "O. P. Wilson, Principal."
—Waurika (Okla.) News-Democrat.
Korea
By W. R. Smith
WONSAN.—We have had a very mild winter so far. In December about two feet of snow fell; but it is about gone now (January 3).
Night before last I arrived home from a trip to the south, where there are believers at four different places. This time we visited two companies, one about thirty miles from here, and the other forty-five miles distant. We walked, and lived on native food, which consisted of rice, pickled turnips, and occasionally eggs. A native helper accompanied me. We made the trip from the farthest place home in one day, reaching home at 11 P. M.
Next week I go by boat to a place 190 miles to the north, to hold meetings, and will be home again toward the close of February. W. R. SMITH.
A Word Once Spoken
A WORD once sent forth from the lips cannot be brought back with a chariot and six horses.—Chinese proverb.
An Important Work
By M. E.
WHERE are the boys and girls who filled your Sabbath school fifteen years ago? How many of them are today filling places of responsibility in the Lord's work? Where are the others? Mr. Foster says that other evangelical churches are losing about seventy-five per cent of the boys that grow up in the Sunday school. An English writer says that the church loses its grip entirely on eighty per cent of the youth that pass through the Sunday school. What per cent of our young people are lost to us?
Some statistics gleaned from fifty churches in two of our Central States show that within a few years one hundred and fifty young people married out of the truth, and of these more than one half gave up the Sabbath. Four lawyers met in a stenographer's office in a Western city. The conversation turned on Seventh-day Adventists, and each of them admitted that he had been brought up in a Seventh-day Adventist home. These are a few of the painful incidents that might be given showing that many of our brightest young people in the past have drifted into the world. Many of these, we have been told, might have been saved to the work through "well-organized plans." See "Christian Education," pages 45, 46.
Let us turn to the commercial world for a lesson. We are told by good authority that the Standard Oil Company has made its millions, not by refining oil, but from the by-products, such as paraffin, lubricants, and gasoline. Has the Armour Packing Company accumulated its wealth by selling beef and bacon?—To some extent, but its greater profits are said to be drawn from the by-products of beef tea cubes, gelatin, hides, and glue. Two decades ago cottonseed was a waste product. The farmers dumped it into running streams that it might be carried away. But in recent years cottonseed has been utilized, and in 1912 the cottonseed products of Georgia alone were worth twenty million dollars. (Think of tons of crisco, cottolene, meal, and fertilizing material that drifted out into the gulf in previous years for lack of attention!) Shrewd manufacturers have gone further. They are grinding the stalk of the cotton plant into paper, and making umbrella handles from its roots.
For years the smoke from the copper mines in Glamorganshire, Wales, was a plague to the surrounding country. It destroyed crops for twenty miles around. Just behind the mine was a steep mountain, near the top of which a small stream had its source. One day an engineer conceived the idea of constructing a flue up the mountain and turning into it this stream. And now as the water flows down, it condenses the smoke. Once a year the flue is cleaned, and the smoke that was formerly a destructive waste now yields a ton of precipitated copper. For thousands of years the Niagara thundered idly over the precipice. But it has been harnessed into service. The commercial world has learned well the lesson of utilizing all its resources. Let us hope that the church of God may be equally shrewd in letting no choice material escape as waste product.
Is it not time that the energies of our youth which are thus thundering over the precipice into the world be harnessed into service for God? As the engineer constructed a flue up the mountain, should not some prayerful plan be laid whereby all this enthusiasm of our youth shall be condensed for Christian service? There is but one answer. We must enlist, hold, and train our young people. The work needs them, and they need the work.
"Very much has been lost to the cause of God by a lack of attention to the young. . . . There are among us many who are not ignorant of our faith, yet whose hearts have never been touched by the power of divine grace. Can we who claim to be servants of God pass on day after day, week after week, indifferent to these souls who are out of Christ? If they should die in their sins unwarned, their blood would be required at the unfaithful watchman's hands.
"Why should not this labor for the youth in our borders be regarded as the highest kind of missionary work? It will require the most delicate tact, the most thoughtful consideration, the most earnest prayer that heavenly wisdom may be imparted. The youth are the objects of Satan's special attacks; but kindness, courtesy, that tender sympathy that flows from a heart filled with love to Jesus, will give you access to them.
You may win their confidence so that they will listen to your words, and thus be saved from many a snare of the enemy."—"Christian Education," pages 222, 223.
Upon the church, a divine hand places the responsibility of training the youth, —the youth whom the Lord has appointed to be his helping hand in the closing work. This appeal is not a call to retrench the work in the foreign fields and concentrate our efforts at home. The forces in the regions beyond must be strengthened. The call is rather one for pressing the youth into service that they may carry their God-appointed responsibilities, and that we may have a strong, well-disciplined standing army in the home field, serving at home and preparing to serve abroad. M. E.
Are All the Children In?
ARE all the children in? The night is falling,
And storm clouds gather in the threatening west;
The lowing cattle seek a friendly shelter;
The bird hies to her nest;
The thunder crashes; wilder grows the tempest,
And darkness settles o'er the fearful din;
Come, shut the door, and gather round the hearthstone;
Are all the children in?
Are all the children in? The night is falling,
When gilded sin doth walk about the streets.
O, "at last it biteth like a serpent"!
Poisoned are stolen sweets.
O mothers, guard the feet of inexperience,
Too prone to wander in the paths of sin!
O, shut the door of love against temptation!
Are all the children in?
Are all the children in? The night is falling,
The night of death is hastening on apace;
The Lord is calling, "Enter thou thy chamber,
And tarry there a space."
And when he comes, the King in all his glory,
Who died the shameful death our hearts to win,
O, may the gates of heaven shut about us,
With all the children in!
— Selected.
An Important Day
By Editor
SABBATH, May 2, has been appointed by the General Conference Committee as Missionary Volunteer Day. This day should be observed by our churches everywhere. The program will contain articles from Elders A. G. Daniells and I. H. Evans. These should be read in the regular church service.
When the Master came down from the mount of transfiguration, and saved the young man from the clutches of the enemy, he said, "This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting." Today many of our young people are in the enemy's iron grip. Some of them can be saved "by nothing, but by prayer and fasting," and the good plans and methods we get through these means. The young are the special target of the enemy, and should receive the special prayer and loving interest of older church members. Surely we should work as zealously and unceasingly for their salvation as the enemy does for their destruction. In such work God will cooperate and give success. Isa. 49:25.
Will not your church join in observing May 2? Will not your church make it a day of earnest prayer for the children and youth of this denomination?
M. E.
Perfect Union With God
" 'Tis not by deeds that win the praise of men,
Or glitter with the glory of this world,
That I may magnify my Master best,
Or hasten on the coming of the day
When he shall reign as King and Lord
of all.
All that he asks is that with all my heart
I will to do his will in everything;
That he may have his way in me, for me,
With me, through me, until at last there
come
Such perfect union and such sweet ac-
cord
Between the glorious Lord of all the
worlds
And me, his willing servant here below,
That in all things he has preeminence."
Trust God and Wait Patiently
"BE patient; keep thy life work Well in hand; Be trustful where thou canst not Understand; Thy lot, whate'er it be, is Wisely planned; Whate'er its mysteries, God holds the key; Thou well canst trust him, and bide patiently."
Around Washington
By L. A. H.
A LECTURE entitled "The Diet of To-morrow" was given recently by Prof. M. E. Olsen, under the auspices of the Food Reform League, in the lecture room of the Carnegie Library, Washington, D. C. The lecture was a presentation of a rational dietary, especially as related to vegetarianism. It was well received by a fair-sized audience. This was the first meeting of the league held in a public hall. Announcement was made of further publicity effort and of plans looking to the growth of the movement.
In a recent visit to the Washington Sanitarium Branch, we found the institution literally packed with its patronage. Every available space is used in which to care for patients and workers. Outside rooms are also utilized. The superintendent, Dr. Margaret Evans Stewart, finds considerable difficulty in caring for the growing work of the branch in its present limited quarters.
One of our nurses, Miss Nellie Waddell, is doing private nursing in Washington. She finds opportunities with physicians and with patients of giving information concerning our work and truth. In a recent patient's home she was asked many questions about the Sabbath, the second coming of Christ, state of the dead, and other questions. One indication of the religious influence was seen in the family's requesting the nurse to return thanks at each meal. The daughter soon gave up the use of coffee, and other practical reforms were seen.
The young people's societies of our churches in Washington and Takoma Park have shown good interest in health and temperance topics in the arrangement of their programs. The several programs that have been given have shown good use of the excellent material that is available for meetings that may be interesting, entertaining, and profitable, and in which the talent of a number of young people may be nicely utilized.
Dr. H. W. Miller has recently visited churches in some of our neighboring cities, speaking on the Sabbath. A good interest has been shown by the listeners in the subject of Christian temperance and general principles of health. Occasion has been given to make better known the work done in our sanitariums, and in some instances persons have been interested to seek sanitarium help.
The Washington Sanitarium Dispensary is meeting with continued success. Dr. L. E. Elliott is in charge, and reports excellent prospects of making that work largely self-supporting. Already much is being done in this direction, much to the surprise of many, considering the charitable nature of the work. The nurses who have been privileged to spend awhile at the dispensary report interesting and profitable experiences. The neighborhood visiting work has spread over a considerable area, and the report of the work has gone much farther, so that calls for nurses now come from various parts of the city from persons of a better class than it was expected to reach by dispensary work.
The register of the Washington Sanitarium shows the names of some well-known people of Washington. Evidently the institution is maintaining a hold on its local patronage. This is a favorable indication surely. Some rather delicate surgical work has been done the past few months, with unusually good results, the report of which seems to have had a salutary effect. An appreciative interest is being shown by the patients in the parlor lectures given by the physicians. L. A. H.
Harvest Ingathering at Mount Vernon
By W. E. H.
For its suggestive value to other schools, we give below the plan followed at Mount Vernon College in giving the students an active part in the Harvest Ingathering campaign. If all was not accomplished that the president and his faculty had hoped for, it was certainly not due to any lack of thorough planning and study beforehand. The faculty is to be commended for the pains taken to instruct students who were taking part in this work for the first time. President Salisbury writes as follows:—
"In harmony with the recommendation of the Columbia Union Conference, the faculty decided to use the envelope plan for soliciting funds for missions. This seemed to us a better way, inasmuch as 'most of those who went out from the school were students who had had very little experience in soliciting.
"About six weeks beforehand we began to talk of the Harvest Ingathering work in chapel, and when we placed the matter before the students, over one thousand papers were called for. When we went out with the papers, there were one hundred students, bearing ten papers apiece, who went to the city of Mount Vernon.
"Our plan was to give the students opportunity to become well acquainted with the paper, so we ordered a few early, and placed them in their hands. Those who had ordered papers were divided into groups of from four to seven, with a member of the faculty to lead them in a critical study of the magazine, so that all were fairly well acquainted with the contents of the paper. We also studied the booklet on 'General Information,' with our students, and gave several chapel talks on the importance of the Ingathering work and the proper way of representing it before the contributors.
"The same bands who met for the study of the paper, with a teacher at the head, worked particular sections that were assigned to them in the city of Mount Vernon. A committee procured a blue print, and divided the town into sections, so that our school worked fairly well the whole town.
"After distributing eleven hundred papers, the total receipts were over sixty dollars. This is not so much as we hoped for, but the old members of the faculty say that in the past it has been very hard to secure donations from the residents.
"The Lord is blessing us in our school work."
W. E. H.
Mount Vernon College
By E. G. Salisbury, President.
MOUNT VERNON COLLEGE has been enjoying the largest enrollment of recent years, if not the largest in its history, the total enrollment at the present time being 186. There have been many evidences of the Lord's guidance in our work, for which we are grateful. We are glad that it is so, for we feel that if we are not guided by the Lord in our work, it is indeed a great disappointment to him, and a defeating of the object of the institution. During the week of prayer nearly all the students of the school made a new start in their Christian experience. There were at that time thirty-five baptized, twenty-nine of whom united with our church, and since then we have had a baptism of four. While the list of converts does not include all in our school, we are praying that those who have not yet been converted may yield to the influence of Christ's Spirit before the school year closes.
Our attendance is holding very well, and we are hoping for a successful finishing of the work. The ministerial, Bible workers', and mission bands are maintaining the lively interest which has marked their progress throughout the year. There are about thirty members in each of these bands who are definitely studying and preparing for work in their respective departments.
During the entire year the Lord has blessed us with good health. There has been no contagious disease in the school, and very few individual sicknesses. The faculty have been kept well, so that they have been able to go forward every day with the responsibilities placed upon them.
We are glad to report progress in all departments of the institution, and we wish the prayers of our brethren and sisters that the work done here may be in harmony with the Lord's will, and that this institution may fulfill God's purpose.
E. G. SALISBURY, President.
The Redeemed
By L. D. Santee
L. D. SANTEE
"Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." James 5:8.
GLEAMING with a solemn glory,
Shall the hosts redeemed arise;
Prophets tell the wondrous story
Of their home beyond the skies,
Where the joy of life eternal
Shall be theirs through endless years,
Joy unclouded, sweet and vernal,
Mid the music of the spheres.
Leaving all earth's sin and treasons,
The redeemed drift out and o'er,
Entering heaven's hallowed seasons
On the bright, immortal shore,
And the pearly gates are entered
By the weary pilgrim feet.
All their love on Christ was centered,
Now their rest is long and sweet.
In the untold sea of glory,
'Neath the glow of heaven's bright sun,
Angels tell the thrilling story
Of life's duties nobly done.
All the sacrifice and sadness,
All the sorrow-haunted years,
Will be banished, and a gladness
Thrill for aye, untouched by tears.
He is coming, blessed Saviour,
Coming to receive his own;
On the earth they shared his favor,
Now they'll stand before his throne:
For the love that maketh lovely,
And the faith that maketh strong,
Send the glorious record upward
Of the ransomed, blood-washed throng.
Signs through all the earth are telling
That his coming draweth nigh;
Hearts of faith with joy are swelling,
Soon they'll see him in the sky.
Coming with the shining angels,
Christ, the Lamb who once was slain,
Wakens to a glad evangel
Those who in the dust have lain.
As the years roll by in splendor,
Each one brings his coming nigh;
With a love supreme and tender,
He will welcome to the sky.
Leaving all their woes behind them,
Christ the Lord his saints will save;
Where's thy sting, O "king of terrors"?
Where thy victory, boasting grave?
Moline, Ill.
If I Could See His Face
By Mary H. Williams
MRS. MARY H. WILLIAMS
I READ of Peter at Christ's trial,
As written in the Book—
Of the crowing cock, the fierce denial,
The Lord's reproachful look.
Were my dear Lord to look at me
When I deny his name,
If I his saddened face could see,
How could I bear my shame!
I would not slight his wondrous grace,
Or deem life's trials hard,
If I could see his pitying face
By cruel thorn-crown marred.
O may I see, and follow near,
E'en unto Calvary!
The path the Saviour traveled here
Is glorified for me.
If his approval I may claim,
When closed this earthly race,
I then may bear the Father's name,
And see my Saviour's face.
Charles City, Iowa.
News and Miscellany
Notes and clippings from the daily and weekly press
— A simple device for keeping the feet warm is an electric rug that has lately been put on the market. It is ready for immediate use by merely "plugging into the circuit" either in a vehicle or in the house, and, it is claimed, is much more convenient than various complicated foot warmers heretofore used.
— Emperor William has been emulating the example of Mr. Gladstone in using the ax as a promoter of health. On the advice of his physician, he engaged for several days in splitting and sawing wood on the imperial estate surrounding Sans Souci Palace.
— Income tax schedules by the hundreds of thousands were turned in to Uncle Sam's officials all over the land during the last few days, and they will be sorted and tabulated at Washington. Until this tabulating is completed it will not be known whether the new tax will bring in more or less than the $100,000,000 annually which the Treasury experts expect.
— Slot machines for selling books have been introduced in Germany. The books are arranged behind glass windows; underneath each volume is a number, which corresponds with another number placed on a slot alongside the apparatus. When a mark (about the value of an American quarter) is dropped into this slot, the book is released.
— On March 15 a serious earthquake occurred in the prefecture of Akita, island of Hondo, Japan. The population of the city was about 30,000, and it is believed that hundreds of the inhabitants lost their lives. The shock is thought to have resulted from the eruption of Asama-Yama, the largest volcano in Japan, situated some ninety miles northwest of Tokio.
— Germany is preparing to duplicate Colonel Roosevelt's social and scientific journey to South America with a special tour by Prince Henry of Prussia, brother of Emperor William. Prince Henry, it is announced, will visit all the republican capitals that lately entertained the American ex-President, his announced purpose being to extend the trade of the fatherland in South America.
— Senator Gore of Oklahoma advocates the purchase by the government of oil lands in Oklahoma, and the building of a government pipe line to convey oil to the seaboard for use by the navy as fuel. The navy now uses 30,000,000 gallons of oil a year, and in a few years will need 125,000,000 gallons, and Senator Gore urges the government to provide for an economical supply of the fuel.
— The Boy Scouts in this country have had a remarkable growth. Over 300,000 have now been enrolled. Their motto is said to be, "One good turn every day." They have been used in many cities and towns for clearing up rubbish and improving conditions generally. They are trained to be truthful and honorable, and aside from the military spirit, which has largely been developed, the movement is entitled to much credit.
— The Rev. Dr. Walter Laidlaw, secretary of the New York Federation of Churches and the best-informed man, it is said, in America on the population of New York City, states that there are 75,000 fewer potential Protestants in New York City now than in 1900, because immigration is almost exclusively Jewish and Roman Catholic. Of the 1,329,000 increase in the population of New York City since 1900, he classifies 654,000 as Jewish, 462,000 as Roman Catholic, and 156,000 as Protestant.
— Aviation has created the necessity for laws to regulate aeroplanes in mid-air. At present there are no such laws. The general practice of aerial navigators of rising in one country and alighting in another, and altogether ignoring national boundaries, has brought it within the range of international, commercial, and navigation laws. At present there are no courts for air cases anywhere in the world to fix damages for collisions in the air, or for accidents caused by the dropping of articles, or any breakages that may endanger the life of the people. Law experts are at work developing a new international code for the regulation of airships.
— Eight years ago there was only one girl in the country who could write 82 words a minute on a typewriter, and keep it up for an hour. She won a prize for speed and accuracy in 1906, held her supremacy for four years, and in 1909 raised the number of words to 95. Then in 1910 a man wrote 109 words a minute. He kept the lead for two years, but lost it in 1912 to a girl who wrote at the rate of 117 words. In 1913 another girl took the prize with a record of 125 words a minute. This marvelous increase in speed—a gain of more than 50 per cent over that of 1906—is due as much to improvements in the typewriting machine as to greater skill on the part of the operator.
— The new federal reserve system will begin business with a membership of at least 7,500 banks. This was apparent the latter part of February, when at the close of the last day on which national banks could signify their intention of accepting the terms of the currency law less than 50 of the 7,493 national banks of the country had failed to respond favorably. Official count of the banks and tabulation of their resources and liabilities is now going on at the Treasury Department. Most of the institutions which did not come into the new system are comparatively small, and it is estimated that 97 per cent of all the capital and resources in the present national bank system is represented by those whose applications are in.
— A most interesting service occurred at Philadelphia recently, attended by 10,000 Jews, when the rabbi buried the scrolls of the Mosaic law, a ceremony probably never before witnessed in America. The Torah, consisting of fifteen parchment sheets and bearing the writings of Moses, had been partially consumed by fire some weeks before at the burning of the synagogue. A tradition as old as history itself declares that when any harm befalls the sacred scrolls, Israel is doomed to destruction unless the wrath of divine providence is appeased by a proper burial of the documents. Accordingly, the patriarchs of the orthodox Jewish community assembled at the ruins, and gathering around the bits of the Torah that still remained, offered prayers that their people might be saved. Women wept as their husbands and fathers repeated the ten commandments and prepared the Torah for its burial. As many as could be accommodated within the walls were allowed to pause for a moment before the remains of the shrine. Crowds five times as great remained outside and recited the Kaddish, the Jewish prayer of mourning.