The church of God has had to battle with foes without and within. This has been its experience in every age, and as a rule the hardest conflicts have been those inside of its own membership, with men and women who professed love and loyalty for the truth, but in their lives denied its holy power, and by their works brought discredit to its fair name. The church of Christ must continue to bear this double burden of conflict until the close of time.
In looking over the controversies of the past which at times have threatened to disrupt the church of God, one is impressed with the close resemblance which disorganizing elements in every age have borne to one another. Certain general characteristics have given them one classification:—
1. They have been opposed to leadership.
2. This opposition has sprung largely from envy and jealousy.
3. They have demanded larger liberty, contending for a broader sphere of belief and operation.
4. They have put forth the claim of being the genuine supporters of truth, and therefore the really loyal ones, charging upon those who differed from them departure from the faith.
5. They have posed as the champions of popular rights, contending that they were standing, not for personal interests, but for the good of the cause and the liberty of the whole people.
6. Their operations have been subtle and insidious. Covertly they have sought to carry forward their work.
7. They have claimed to possess the spirit of divine leading.
8. They have sought out the disaffected ones, rallied them around their standard, and united them in a common cause against the truth.
Perhaps not every apostasy from the truth of God has borne all these earmarks, but for the most part they are the common characteristics belonging to these disorganizing elements. This was emphatically true of the first great apostasy in heaven. The heart of Satan was lifted up in pride. He became jealous because he was not given more glory than he possessed. He charged the government of God with being tyrannical and subversive of liberty. He sought to establish a government of his own on what he considered a broader and more liberal basis. By suggestion, by insinuation, secretly, subtly, and maliciously, he carried forward his work of disorganization. Those who refused to acknowledge his claims he charged with disloyalty, posing himself as the one above all others who was true to God and to the principles of right.
The same principles operated also in the apostasy of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Jealous of Moses and Aaron, Korah and his associates charged them with taking too much authority upon themselves and of exalting themselves above the congregation. They charged Moses and Aaron with assuming authority which had never been given them by God. They claimed to be the real loyalists, charging the others with departing from God and subverting his plans and purposes; they felt that upon them rested the responsibility of reforming Israel, of standing for the downtrodden rights of the people. They claimed that the spirit of prophecy was not confined to a few chosen ones, but that the whole congregation was holy, and therefore the mouthpieces of divine revelation. Around their standard every discordant element in the camp of Israel congregated; although having different grievances, they could all unite in their opposition to Moses and his leadership. No matter if they had even quarreled among themselves in the past, like Pilate and Herod, they were made friends by the common cause which now engaged their attention.
When we come to consider the spirit of apostasy in every age, we find precisely the same principles at work. These same characteristics in a greater or lesser degree have characterized the several movements of opposition against the third angel's message. If every reader will study the question carefully and take time for investigation, he will find that, under the outward guise of pretended loyalty to the truth and zeal for the right, these selfish elements and principles are the real animus and life of the opposition. But the truth to-day, the same as in the ages of the past, will stand unmoved amid it all. The church of God at times may tremble with the impact of contending forces, but it will react; it will recover itself and go forward with new power because released from the incubus which has held it back.
We need not fear regarding the triumph of this work. Our chief concern should be that we ourselves keep pace with the message, that we do not allow ourselves to be shaken out. Only the true and tried will triumph. By God's grace we may be among that number. F. M. W.
Be Ye Reconciled
By C. M. S.
CHRIST, the great Reconciler, gave his life to the work of seeking to establish peace between man and his Maker. The whole gospel work is one continuous invitation to man to turn his back upon sin, and to turn his face toward paradise and home.
“All things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and gave unto us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not reckoning unto them their trespasses, and having committed unto us the word of reconciliation. We are ambassadors therefore on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beseech you on behalf of Christ, be ye reconciled to God.”
Lost and undone without him, no hope in ourselves, our right to life forfeited, our inheritance in the earth sold for a mess of pottage, God still looked in pity upon us, and made possible for us a way of escape from the dismal condition in which we had plunged ourselves. That ministry of Christ was not the reconciling of God to us; he was not estranged from us, nor is he now; but we had taken ourselves out of his hands, and he would not compel us to return against our will to the arms of the One who still loved us.
Therefore Christ came into our world, took upon him our nature that he might the more keenly sympathize with our temptations, made his habitation with the lowliest of us, and unfurled to our view, in his life and in his teachings, the unchanging love of God for us, and then across the great white banner of that revealed character wrote the yearning of the Father’s heart in the one word COME. And that word has been rolling through this sin-cursed and sorrow-sodden earth from then till now. As if pleading before a human court his right to our trust and hope in him, the Lord declares that his “mercy is from everlasting to everlasting.” He teaches the psalmist to declare: “Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;” “all the paths of the Lord are mercy;” “the Lord is of great mercy;” he “keepeth covenant and mercy.” He tells us also that mercy shall compass those that trust in the Lord.
As God’s character is the very embodiment of mercy, so he expects it to be shown by those who would be his. If we do not so do, we misrepresent him and cause those to misjudge him who8see us and know our profession. We were “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind.” Nevertheless, God had mercy on us, and gave us the sure promise of the riches of heaven for the poverty of this earth, peace and joy for our wretchedness, the light of life for the blindness of death, a name better than of sons and daughters in place of our miserable inheritance here. Therefore he tells us that “he that honoreth Him hath mercy on the poor.” So he that will not be merciful to the poor dishonors God; for he contradicts the character of God. His specific requirements are, “to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.” Himself the God of love, he calls for its unmistakable manifestation on the part of every child of his. The Old Testament is filled with God’s promises of compassion upon those who turn to him; and when Christ came to teach in his own life the principles of his Father, we read of him that he had “compassion on the multitude;” “and Jesus, being moved with compassion, touched their eyes.” When the demoniac had been healed, the Saviour instructed him to go and show himself to his friends, as an example of God’s mercy and compassion. When the Saviour looked upon the bereaved widow of Nain, it is reported that “he had compassion on her.” Because of her grief and his compassion, he touched the bier and spoke into life again the only son of the sorrowing widow. Then he declares of himself, “I am the Lord, I change not.” And again: “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.” “It is of Jehovah’s loving-kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.” Lam. 3:22.
That same loving Father who has recorded his character for our scrutiny, and sent One to live it out before us, is still loving the children of men, and pleading with them. He has not changed, and he will not change. It is not with malice or hatred that he will execute judgment upon the finally impenitent. It is only that sin may be eradicated, and the universe be clean once more.
So he is inviting, pleading with, admonishing, urging. The beautiful story of the prodigal son is another of God’s tender pleas to the human race. That father’s heart never ceased to love and yearn for that wayward child. So is God toward us. This revelation of God is peculiar to the Christian religion. “While he was yet afar off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.” Again, that father is our Father. He sees us while we are afar off, and when we turn to him, he has compassion on us, folds us in his arms of mercy and love, throws over us that best robe of Christ’s righteousness, and welcomes us home with a jubilation in which all the angelic hosts participate. “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” It matters not how wretched and desperate the condition of the prodigal, the best robe is his garment when the Father meets him coming home, and that robe marks him the guest of honor.
The world is full of prodigals; and so the Lord says, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” Isa. 45:22. And again: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” In our prodigal condition we are “dead in trespasses and sins;” but he declares, I am come that ye might have life. In the last verses of the last chapter of the last book of the Bible, the great work of the chief Reconciler is epitomized in these words: “The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And he that heareth, let him say, Come. And he that is athirst, let him come: he that will, let him take the water of life freely.” With all the invitations, exhortations, and admonitions with which the Word is filled, God could not close its pages without that last earnest plea to the world. The fountain of cleansing is opened, the way to it is prepared, the robe to replace the filthy garments is ready, and God stands with outstretched arms, waiting. Everything has been done that divinity could do to make the reconciliation an accomplished fact. The price has been paid, and still he must plead with men, and wait. How slow we are to realize all God has done for us! How long must he wait? He will not wait forever—he can not. If your heart is not his already, is there any reason why you should not make it so before another sun has set? The invitation has come to you.
C. M. S.
The Biennial Council in Friedensau, Germany
By William Ambrose Spicer
Fourth Report
These reports can give but brief notice to other than the regular council meetings. Once each day the East German Union Conference is in session—Elder H. F. Schuberth, president—with many interesting reports and plans for strengthening the forces in this vigorously growing field, stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea; and each evening there is either a preaching service or a missionary talk, the latter now and then accompanied by stereopticon pictures.
The Levant
The Levant Union representatives have reported to the council, E. Frauchiger for the Turkish Mission, Z. G. Baharian for the newly organized Armenian Mission, R. S. Greaves for the Greek Mission, covering ancient Macedonia, W. C. Ising for Syria and Palestine and Geo. Keough and Awada Elshaheed for Egypt. Our publications have been sold in Tarsus, Smyrna, Ephesus, Colosse, Iconium, etc., in Turkey, and our evangelists are going over the roads that the apostles traveled long ago. Elder Buzugherian told how formerly it used to bring fear to his heart to pass a prison; but when put into prison for the truth’s sake, he had found a home and a place of blessing inside prison walls, the Saviour coming preciously near. Our Jerusalem health institute is giving sometimes three hundred treatments a month. In Egypt a Christian congress made a call for Sunday observance, and a Mohammedan congress replied that neither the Old nor the New Testament knew aught of a holy day, save the seventh day, calling the attention of all Egypt to the Sabbath issue. Dr. V. Pampaian gave interesting reports of experiences in medical missionary work among Moslems and others in the Caucasus and Turkey.
Elders R. C. Porter and Geo. Thomason have reported to the council for South Africa. God has blessed with spiritual revival, and souls are being won in the colonial cities. As for mission schools, we have three hundred fifty native African Sabbath-keepers as the result of the faithful school work. The Lord is blessing the union training-school and the sanitarium. Dr. Thomason related experiences of spiritual blessings, both in the institutional work and in the medical evangelistic work in the mission fields. Elder J. C. Rogers reported for Nyasaland, bringing its scenes before our eyes by the stereopticon.
Elder A. C. Enns, on furlough from German East Africa, and Elder D. C. Babcock, of West Africa, have set before the council and the large congregation the situation in those fields. We have now about two hundred Sabbath-keepers on the West Coast. Eagerly these brethren urged the need of their fields. Recommendations were made on African matters as follows:—
That R. Stein and his intended wife, of Germany, be invited to go this autumn to the Victoria Nyanza Mission, German East Africa.
That a committee be appointed to find an English bookman for the West Coast Mission, and to keep in mind the need of a French bookman for the French territory in West Africa, these workers not to be put under appointment until the Mission Board treasury authorizes the same.
That the question of a permanent station in the Gold Coast be left to the autumn council, when appropriations are to be made; and that, if it is then possible financially, we encourage Elder T. M. French in his desire to establish a Gold Coast station.
That effort be made to select two nurses in Great Britain, a man and his wife, for treatment-room work in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
That the Publishing Department be9asked to find a Spanish-speaking canvasser as soon as possible to begin work in the Canary Islands (the nearest healthful furlough base for our workers on the West African Coast), and further,—
That as soon as the funds in the Mission treasury will warrant, a home be provided for our West African workers in one of these islands, at a cost of from ten hundred dollars to twelve hundred dollars, to which workers may go periodically for a few months’ furlough, in order to preserve life and health for service.
That E. R. Palmer, secretary of the Publishing Department, be asked to spend three months in South Africa in the interests of the book work, at as early a date as consistent.
That, on account of shortage of funds, we find it impossible to grant the South African Union’s suggestion that they be permitted to buy the property of the Maranatha (Kafir) Mission, now occupied and operated on lease.
That Elder J. C. Rogers and his wife be granted a furlough from Nyasaland (recommendation also being made to the South African Union as to possible arrangement for supplying the places of these workers).
South America
A communication came to the council from Elder J. W. Westphal, of the South American Union Conference, sent from La Paz, Bolivia, just after a visit to the Indian believers by Lake Titicaca, Peru, where the Lord is so powerfully working.
The Mission Board had been forced to cut the appropriations to South America by several thousands, but the brethren in that field are shaping their plans accordingly, and they expect to see their work move forward into greater strength. It was voted,—
That in response to the call from South America, we ask the Manitoba Conference to release Elder F. L. Perry, and that we invite him to return to South America with a view to taking the superintendency of the work in Uruguay.
On matters relating to the publishing work for Spanish South America and other fields, it was recommended,—
1. That the South American publishing-house at Buenos Aires be recognized as the publishing and wholesale distributing center of the South American Union Conference, and that all publishing business with the conferences and mission fields of that union be transacted through the publishing-house.
2. That the percentage allowed on all publications to pay the expenses of distribution be divided on the usual basis between the publishing-house and the tract societies of the South American Union.
3. That we encourage the Spanish-speaking fields, especially Spain, South America, and Mexico, to hasten as rapidly as possible the development of their local publishing work, and that we request the Pacific Press and Hamburg publishing-houses to continue to assist these Spanish fields, from a missionary standpoint, in the printing of the large books, until such time as the Spanish fields are able to take over that work as originally arranged.
4. In view of the fact that the arrangement made by the General Conference with the Pacific Press Publishing Association and the Hamburg Publishing House for the publication of Spanish books was only temporary, and as the way is now opening for the publication of Spanish literature in Spain and South America, we advise the Pacific Press to move cautiously in publishing new books in the Spanish language and in making investments in the same, so that the financial burden may be kept as light as possible for both parties when the transfer is made.
To All the World
The South American brethren asked urgently that some one of the General Conference officers be with them in the two biennial union conference sessions to be held in 1912, as well as in general meetings in local mission fields. Elder I. H. Evans, of the Asiatic Division, asked that the president of the General Conference visit the Orient in 1912, to join in councils of the Asiatic Division in these days when the foundation of the work there is being laid. The council recognized the fact that the General Conference means the whole world in these days.
Elder G. A. Irwin, vice-president of the North American Division, stated to the council that inasmuch as his call to duties in the Pacific Union Conference made it impossible to give the attention to the general work in the division that he felt it should have, he believed that the time had come to make some other provision for the North American Division. He therefore formally tendered his resignation of the vice-presidency, and asked that the brethren be perfectly free to accept it; not office, but only the place of duty in the service of this message being his one desire. After discussion, and in recognition of the fact that Elder Irwin, in the work to which he has been called on the Pacific Coast, has all that one man can do, it was voted,—
That Elder G. A. Irwin’s resignation of the vice-presidency of the North American Division, for the reasons stated, be accepted.
A committee was appointed to nominate some one to fill the vacancy, and its report was accepted later, as follows:—
That Elder W. T. Knox be appointed vice-president of the North American Division.
That an experienced man be secured for the General Conference Treasury Department, to act as assistant treasurer.
Other Actions
It was recommended,—
That the calls from South America and the Orient for an officer of the General Conference to visit these fields be referred to the officers of the General Conference, and that the matter be decided and notice given the fields as soon as possible.
That Paul Hennig, of Germany, be invited to go to the United States, to engage in teaching in the Clinton German Seminary.
That the Latin Union be asked to release Elder J. Vuilleumier, of Switzerland, and that he be invited to devote his service to the French work in Canada.
Further proceedings must be deferred to the next and last report. The weather has been perfect from the opening of the meeting. The hearty receptive spirit of the great congregation, has been an inspiration and blessing to all. These believers love the third angel’s message, they believe it with all their hearts, and are giving their lives and their means in devotion to it. It is a privilege to hear the volume of praise to God ascending as the good old hymns are sung by the congregation. The song services now and then given by the choir, have been appreciated. The days are crowded with services, including youth’s and children’s meetings; but all things move forward in good order, and with a spirit of warm Christian fellowship throughout the busy camp.
W. A. SPICER, Secretary.
Friedensau.
The Secretaryship of the General Medical Missionary Department
By Arthur G. Daniells
A BRIEF statement was made in last week's REVIEW that Dr. Geo. Thomason had been called from Africa to act as secretary of our General Medical Missionary Department. This step was not taken without much careful consideration and earnest prayer. It is not the desire of the General Conference Committee to call our workers from the mission fields when they are enjoying good health, and meeting with good success in their work. But there are times when this seems best, and really necessary.
Our medical missionary work is a most important part of the great work we are endeavoring to carry forward in all parts of the world. In this line of gospel service we come into the closest sympathetic touch with our fellow men. Here we have such great possibilities for doing good that this phase of our work is likened to the “right arm,” and the “entering wedge,” of the work the Master has committed to us. For this reason we must not permit this part of our work to be neglected.
Those best acquainted with the Medical Missionary Department realize that its interests have suffered much through lack of steady leadership. Soon after the department was fully organized in 1905, the secretary was released in response to an earnest call to take charge10of the new medical college. It was nearly a year before we succeeded in making even temporary arrangements for the secretaryship. At our recent council in Europe, Dr. D. H. Kress, the secretary of the department, was called to the Pacific Union Conference, which left the secretaryship again vacant.
Such frequent changes in the leadership of a large and important movement are very serious, and should not continue. In the interests of this most important department of our work the General Conference Committee felt that the time had come to select a medical man of wide experience and good ability to take the secretaryship, and it is intended that he shall be permitted to remain in charge of the department long enough to make its work strong in all parts of our great field.
It was hard for Dr. Thomason to consent to leave Africa. He had given seven years of the most active and devoted work of his life to the medical missionary work in that country. The Lord had blessed his labors. He loved the country, the people, and the work, and desired to remain there; but after a careful study of the whole work and earnest prayer, he felt that it was his duty to respond to the request of the General Conference Committee to take charge of the general medical missionary work. Good arrangements have been made to carry forward the work Dr. Thomason has built up in Africa. Dr. Charles Hayton will take Dr. Thomason’s place. Brother Hayton has spent many years in Africa in connection with the Claremont College. Four years ago he came back to the States to take a medical course, with the full intention of returning to Africa. He was graduated from the George Washington University last June, and after securing medical degrees in Edinburgh will return to Africa.
As Dr. Thomason takes up the heavy responsibilities of the General Medical Department, I am sure he will receive not only a hearty welcome, but the fullest cooperation from all our medical workers, and all the rest of our people. I feel sure that God will bless this phase of our work. Dr. Thomason is an ordained minister as well as an experienced physician. He will put forth his highest endeavors to make the medical work a spiritual as well as a physical blessing to men.
A. G. DANIELLS.
Atlantic Union Conference
Statement of $300,000 Fund to Aug. 1, 1911
Atlantic Union Conference
Central New England ........ $ 3097.47
Greater New York .......... 2683.91
Maine ..................... 310.80
New York .................. 1493.82
Northern New England .... 1007.23
Southern New England .... $ 459.69
Western New York .......... 1206.93
Total ..................... 10259.85
Colorado .................. 720.53
East Kansas ............... 1875.54
Nebraska .................. 7898.88
North Missouri ............ 773.32
South Missouri ............ 435.94
Western Colorado .......... 699.81
West Kansas ............... 730.89
Wyoming ................... 1209.29
St. Louis ................. 77.00
Total ..................... 14421.20
Columbia Union Conference
Chesapeake ............... 739.59
District of Columbia ...... 1239.47
Eastern Pennsylvania ...... 983.02
New Jersey ................ 1649.00
Ohio ...................... 3025.41
Virginia .................. 393.55
West Pennsylvania ......... 676.26
West Virginia ............. 352.00
Total ..................... 9058.30
Lake Union Conference
East Michigan ............. 4275.61
Indiana ................... 3484.17
Northern Illinois ......... 1864.51
North Michigan ............ 636.10
Southern Illinois ......... 1291.51
West Michigan ............. 4286.40
Wisconsin ................. 2008.62
Total ..................... 17846.92
Northern Union Conference
Iowa ...................... 4556.82
Minnesota ................. 4286.94
North Dakota .............. 2069.13
South Dakota .............. 1524.08
Total ..................... 12436.97
North Pacific Union Conference
Montana ................... 1567.60
Southern Idaho ............ 1678.40
Southern Oregon ........... 883.46
Upper Columbia ............ 3069.40
Western Oregon ............ 2941.59
Western Washington ........ 2795.68
Alaska .................... 2.15
Total ..................... 12938.28
Pacific Union Conference
Arizona ................... 607.76
California ................ 4230.81
Southern California ....... 6101.97
Utah ...................... 130.30
Central California ........ 445.50
Northern California-Nevada 1082.59
Total ..................... 12598.93
Southern Union Conference
Cumberland ................ 1458.92
Florida ................... 1732.87
Georgia ................... 671.45
North Carolina ............ 469.84
South Carolina ............ 304.60
Total ..................... 4637.68
Southern Union Conference
Alabama ................... 176.81
Kentucky .................. 225.50
Louisiana ................. 214.75
Mississippi ............... $ 334.03
Tennessee River ........... 472.22
Southern Union Mission .... 5.00
Total ..................... 1428.31
Southwestern Union Conference
Arkansas .................. 201.31
New Mexico ................ 157.14
North Texas ............... 568.37
Oklahoma .................. 1948.14
South Texas ............... 189.86
West Texas ................ 128.60
Total ..................... 3193.42
Western Canadian Union Conference
Alberta ................... 537.20
British Columbia .......... 514.55
Manitoba .................. 665.10
Saskatchewan .............. 864.25
Total ..................... 2581.10
Miscellaneous
Australasian Union Conf.... 3623.12
Various countries ........ 648.42
Miscellaneous ............ 577.91
Total .................... 4849.45
Grand total ............... $108676.51
Note and Comment
New England and Roman Catholics
In his correspondence to the Washington Star of July 31, Mr. William E. Curtis gives the following facts and figures in regard to Roman Catholics in New England.—
The Roman Catholics have by far the largest number of members in every one of the New England States. In Massachusetts 69.2 per cent of the population confess to that faith, and only 7.6 per cent belong to the Congregational Church, which represents the faith of the Pilgrims; only 5.2 per cent of the people are Baptists, only 4.2 are Methodists, and only 3.2 per cent are Episcopalians.
In Rhode Island 74 per cent of the people belong to the Catholic Church, 7.5 are Baptists, 5.8 are Episcopalians, 3.7 are Congregationalists, and only 3 per cent are Methodists.
In Connecticut 59.6 are Roman Catholics, 13 per cent are Congregationalists, 7.5 per cent are Episcopalians, 6.9 per cent are Methodists, and 5.5 per cent are Baptists.
In Maine 53.3 per cent are Roman Catholics, 15.4 are Baptists, 9.9 are Congregationalists, 9.4 are Methodists, and 2.6 are Episcopalians.
In New Hampshire 56.3 per cent are Catholics, 10 per cent are Congregationalists, 8.4 per cent are Baptists, 6.6 per cent are Methodists, and 2.6 per cent are Episcopalians.
In Vermont 55.9 per cent are Catholics, 15 per cent are Congregationalists, 12 per cent are Methodists, and 6.8 per cent are Episcopalians.
The preponderance of the Roman Catholics is due to a large foreign population, and also to the circumstance that they include every child that has been baptized; whereas the Protestant denominations count only those who have been formally admitted to communion.
The Call of the Hour
By Eliza H. Morton
ELIZA H. MORTON
O YE who dwell in Christian lands,
Hear ye the call, I pray,—
The call of teeming millions far,
The call for help to-day.
In heathen darkness are the souls
Across the waters wide.
The call comes not from their own lips,
Though for them Jesus died;
But he it is who sends the call,
Through his own chosen ones,
Those who obey his Word and live—
His daughters and his sons.
Send teachers to the Orient now,
To teach in every place;
Lift up the banner of the cross
Before the yellow race.
’Tis men we need of purpose strong,
And women true as steel,
Those who will go and sacrifice,
With tender hearts, and feel
A heavy burden for the souls
Of those who know not God,
But who are longing for the peace
We find in Christ, our Lord.
Yea, send your money and your prayers
To educate, uplift,
And through the clouds you soon will see
A tiny, shining rift
Which will enlarge and prove to be
A flood of glory bright,
Reflecting like the silvery moon
The heaven-born rays of light.
O brethren, sisters, hear the call,
Arise, united stand,
The gospel of the kingdom send
To every far-off land;
And bide the day—O happy day!—
When to the world is given
The knowledge that God's will is done
On earth as 'tis in heaven.
Portland, Maine.
Fukien Province, China
By W. C. Hankins
W. C. HANKINS
BEGINNING May 1 we held our regular annual meeting for the believers in Fukien province. This meeting was the largest we have ever held, and it taxed the seating capacity of our little chapel at Kulangsu to the utmost. It never could have accommodated all who came if the partition at the back had not been removed, the front end taken out, and an addition made by stretching a tent-fly over the court in front of the chapel. By doing this, we had a room over fifty feet long and about half as wide, which comfortably seated our own people and others who came. We had a regular attendance of from eighty to one hundred.
A good interest was shown throughout the meeting, and ten persons were baptized a few days before its close. These annual meetings are to our people in China much the same as our camp-meetings are to our people at home.
During the meeting the advisability of opening a chapel in the city of Haiteng was discussed, and it was decided to do so as soon as possible. There are already three families of Sabbath-keepers in that vicinity, and quite a number who are interested.
After returning home from a visit to the Sabbath-keeping companies inland from Swatow, the writer went to visit Tokang, in company with Brother and Sister B. L. Anderson and Mrs. Hankins. While there, we celebrated the ordinances of the Lord’s house with the brethren in that region.
This Tokang station is the oldest one in the Southeast China Mission, as it was opened by Brother Nga Pit Keh before we came to China. The openings for work in that district are very good. There are no other missions carrying on work within some miles, and there are a large number of boys and girls whom we could gather into our schools if we could open them; but our present quarters are such as to forbid the carrying on of any extensive work. The house itself is poorly lighted, more poorly ventilated, and almost ready to fall down. Then, too, its situation is indescribably bad. The pigs wallowing in the slimy mud in front of the house could not but give one the impression that it was built in the midst of a pigsty; and surely no pig-pen that we ever saw was more utterly filthy than is the street in front of that Tokang chapel. Not only is this an eyesore, but it is a menace to the health of our workers. Already two of our people have died of the plague in that house,—the chapel boy and the mother of one of our workers,—and we feel that we should lose no time in securing better quarters. We have done our best to find a suitable house that we could rent, but there is nothing to be had.
We have, however, been able to get a good piece of land for a moderate price, which has an almost ideal location. It is near the river, but is at the top of a small hill, where we can get pure air and not be surrounded by the filth of a Chinese village. We have the title to our land, but we need about one thousand dollars with which to put up a house that will serve the combined purposes of chapel, school, and living quarters for our workers.
Then there is the work at Tsoanchiu. We have carried on work there now for about five years. During that time it has been gradually growing, until we now have an organized church; and it has about outgrown the small house that has served as chapel and schoolroom combined. We have a boys’ school there, with an enrolment of between sixty and seventy. The main object of the school is to teach the gospel to its students. Most of the boys come from heathen homes, and already a number of them have declared their determination not to worship idols any more. We are also beginning to see some interest among the parents of the children. We expect a large harvest from the combined educational and evangelical work that is being carried on there.
Our location is a good one, but it is too small. We have been looking for more commodious quarters, but everything to be found calls for a large outlay in repairs, and then, when all is said and done, it is only a rented building. In this same compound that we are renting is a large building with only the walls standing. This place could be bought for a small sum, and one thousand dollars would convert it into a good-sized chapel and schoolroom, and build a second story for the workers to live in, besides serving as a place for the foreign workers to live when working there. We already have a goodly number of Sabbath-keepers, and the workers say that we could have one hundred fifty children in our school next year if we only had the room. Can we afford to let such a work come to a standstill for the lack of one thousand dollars?
This is God’s work, so we are going to ask him daily to send us two thousand dollars. He has many children who could easily spare this amount to help such an important work. If you are one of them, and the Holy Spirit tells you to send us this amount, or a part of it, please do not delay, but send it at once to the treasurer of the General Conference, telling him what it is for. We think that we need the money right away, but we know that God will send it in his own good time.
We are of good courage. We have never yet been sorry that we accepted the call to come to China. The work is onward, and the angels of God are going before us to open the doors of men’s hearts to accept this last great message of mercy. But we feel our own weakness and unworthiness, and we hope that our brethren everywhere will pray for us that we may faithfully do the work that God has given us to do, and follow where he leads the way.