"SAY unto you," says our Lord, "that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." Matt. 12: 36, 37.
Says an apostle, "But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks." Eph. 5: 3, 4.
There is no greater evil in the world to-day than that of idle, pernicious talking, condemned in the above texts. It is a popular idea among young people that in order to enjoy life and the society of others, they must jest and joke and be witty, to produce laughter and merriment for others, and also to attract attention to themselves. These ideas obtain in many homes, and are encouraged in various ways. The judgment alone will reveal the terrible harvest of evil resulting from the idle and useless words that should never have been spoken.
Perhaps there is no subject concerning which there is so much jesting and joking as that of love and marriage. From bantering the little school children on up, in various degrees of foolishness and vulgarity, boys and girls, fathers and mothers, old and young, with few exceptions, seem to take more or less part in this great evil. To a great extent these are doing the same work in poisoning the pure hearts and minds of the young that is done by the vile and vulgar, out of whose perverse and wicked hearts evil is continually being brought forth in impure words and evil insinuations.
Let us try to see why there is so much harm in this jesting, which some think so harmless and "smart."
In wisdom and love, and in order to bind the human family in bonds of union, happiness, and love that could not easily be broken, God created the race male and female, and ordained the marriage relation. This is the most sacred and holy relation that human beings can enter into, if carried out as God intended. But if not so carried out, it becomes the greatest curse in the world; for, besides wrecking the homes and happiness of those who enter into this sacred covenant, and then break their solemn vows, the sins of the fathers, and mothers as well, are visited on future generations. For this reason, the world to-day is reaping an awful harvest of crime, insanity, immorality, and disease, and all these evils are terribly on the increase.
At no previous time in the history of our country has the marriage relation been so lightly regarded, and divorces so easily obtained, as at the present time, while licentiousness and gross immorality prevail to an alarming extent; and no doubt the same thing is true of all the world. One great reason of all this is that false and improper ideas are held in regard to the sacred covenant that a pure and holy God Himself ordained. Through jesting and joking, that which is pure and holy is brought down to a low, cheap, vulgar level.
Should we not think with reverence of the wonderful work of God, which we can never fully understand in this sinful world? Then let us no more dishonor Him by speaking lightly of any of His works. Love is a plant of heavenly origin; but the genuine article is scarce, because it has long been counterfeited and made a mock of by thoughtless tattlers. And many are willing to have it so.
While children in times past grew up together as friends, playmates, and schoolmates, to-day these happy relations seem out of date, and we often hear parents, friends, and others, teasing little children about their beaus, sweethearts, etc. O, that all who do this might realize the evil of it!
No wonder the children become indignant; for even in their childish ignorance, they seem to know that it is too sacred a subject to be treated in such a trifling manner, and that it is a matter in which they have no part until they reach later years. But, alas! the teasing and tormenting continue, until often children become bold, flippant, and immodest, losing respect for, and confidence in, parents, friends, and even the goodness and purity of God Himself.
A girl's best friend is her mother. This is true; but the father also should be included, and the boys, as well as the girls, should enjoy the sweet counsel and advice of loving parents. Then let fathers and mothers be careful how they jest with children; for if they are always met with jests and jokes concerning the nature God Himself has given, they certainly will not feel like confiding in them about their associates and the attachments they will form sooner or later.
Parents, do not permit your children to grow up in ignorance of the sacred nature of their bodies, which are fearfully and wonderfully made, the temples of the living God. May God Himself give us heavenly wisdom and strength, and help us to lay aside false modesty and pride, and receive the truth, pure and genuine, from His own Word; for He is the Author of all truth and purity.
Sooner or later, all youth will gain, from some source, a knowledge of life, and of their special natures. Then let all lovers of purity awake to their responsibilities, and teach the truth, line upon line and precept upon precept; for this truth, when mixed with the vile error of Satan, is all the more dangerous to the young and inexperienced, because its evil nature is not recognized.
Are these things true?
Then let us all be more careful not to "offend one of these little ones;" "for of such is the kingdom of heaven."
HOME AND FIRESIDE
There Is No End
By Llewellyn A. Morrison
By Llewellyn A. Morrison
Never a word is said
But it trembles in the air,
For the virgin voice hath sped
To vibrate everywhere.
Far away o'er unending years
The echo shall answer for our ears.
Never a deed is done
That dries the tearful eyes,
But, like signals of the sun,
It flashes to the skies.
Overhead the angels read
How we have loved our brother's need.
Never a life is lent
But love wins a higher throne,
For the royal spirit sent
Hath a vision all its own.
By myriad life is love unsealed,
And God, by the sum of it all, revealed.
Never a day is given
But it builds the after-years,
For it carries up to heaven
The promise and the tears.
The white to-morrows stand and wait,
Like dreaming mutes, at the outer gate.
There is no end. In the sky,
The stars are everywhere;
Time is eternity;
The here is the over there;
The common things of the common day
Are the minted walls of the far away.
Not My Business
A WEALTHY man in St. Louis was asked to aid in a series of temperance meetings, but he scornfully refused. After being further pressed, he said:
"Gentlemen, it is not my business."
A few days later, his wife and two daughters were coming home in the lightning express. In his grand carriage, with liveried attendants, he rode to the station, thinking of his splendid business, and planning for the morrow. Hark! did some one say "Accident"?
There are twenty-five railroads entering St. Louis. If there has been an accident, it is not likely it has happened on the — Mississippi Railroad. Yet it troubled him. It is his business now. The horses are stopped on the instant; and upon inquiring, he finds it has occurred twenty-five miles distant, on the — Mississippi. He telegraphed to the superintendent:
"I will give you five hundred dollars for an extra engine."
The answer flashes back, "No."
"I will give you one thousand dollars for an engine."
"A train with surgeons and nurses has already gone forward, and we have no other."
With white face and anxious brow, the man paced the station to and fro. That is his business now. In half an hour, perhaps, which seemed to him half a century, the train arrived. He hurried toward it, and in the tender found the mangled and lifeless remains of his wife and one of his daughters. In the car following lay his other daughter, with her dainty ribs crushed in, and her precious life oozing away.
A quart of whisky, which was drunk fifty miles away by a railroad employee, was the cause of the catastrophe.
Who dares say of this tremendous question, "It is none of my business"? — Selected.
Christianity Begins at Home
“Many a girl thinks she would like to go to Africa or the Fiji Islands, and die a Christian martyr; but she is not willing to wash the dishes for a tired mother, or play the rub-a-dub-dub on the wash-board without getting into a temper.”
Our India Letter
By S. A. Wellman
By Our Own Correspondent
A Promising Year
FOR India the year nineteen hundred twelve has been a very prosperous one. Altho Gujarat and Kathiawar in the Bombay Presidency, and some other portions of the empire in a lesser degree, have faced famine conditions for the first six months of the year, yet with the coming of the monsoon season hopes revived, and now, near the end of the rains, all India is rejoicing in the prospect of a normal crop and sufficient to keep starvation from every door. In India the poor expect nothing more than to continue their existence; and it is wonderful, the amount of contentment and happiness this lowly people find in the meager fare and most inhospitable surroundings in which they are compelled to live.
But when the rains fail! Ah, the heart-rending sadness of it all, as man and beast, under a cloudless, burning sky, and on a parched and burned earth, wearily drag out day after day with no hope of anything better till the next monsoon, looking constantly for the worst, and patiently waiting for the end! Is it any wonder that the survivors welcome the first signs of the coming monsoon when the yearly season for it arrives? The papers herald the first downpours in Ceylon and the Bay of Bengal, and with anxious eye and bated breath the multitudes watch its progress up the coast, and wonder if by any evil mischance they will be missed this year. Then comes the rain. And with thankfulness the Hindu repairs to his temple to worship his god, and the Mussulman to the mosque in praise of Allah, the all-powerful, for his mercy in sending the refreshing rain so necessary to life. And this year there is rain, and in the future there is food; hence there is hope on the plains of India.
One reason for suffering among man and beast in Gujarat, this year of shortage and famine, was that there was a lack of cars for the transportation of forage for the cattle. Thousands died before they could be supplied from the districts of plenty.
In spite of the fact that famine visits portions of India nearly every year, the suffering is relieved in these days by the excellent system of government aid that is at once instituted. The moment it is found that there will be no rain in certain districts, the government arranges for famine relief, and in due course it comes into operation. Of course, in very severe years, even this fails of the needed efficacy.
Then, too, the irrigation schemes of the government in the dry belts are taking away the dangers incident to rainless years. With the extension of these schemes, whole sections have been relieved of all fear of famine in future years, as in the northern part of the United Provinces and the Punjab because of the Jamna and Ganges canals, parts of the northwest, and the country around the city of Puna. In each of these sections, large dams have been built, holding back the waters of the rivers for just such times of shortage. Further schemes are either just about completed, as the immense dam and irrigation project between Igatpuri and Nasik on the west coast, or are in the preliminary stages, as the new irrigation scheme for the Southwest Deccan, which when finished will water the entire territory south of Puna to the city Sholapur. It is the government's intention to make the Deccan free from famine possibility in coming years.
Frontier Disturbances
Last year the China-Tibet border of India was disturbed for a time by the murder of government agents by one of the border tribes, and an expedition was sent against them; but this year, so far as India is concerned, has been a quiet one. However, on the other side of the line in Afghanistan, a small rebellion broke out among the Khost Valley people against the ameer. To some extent this affected the quiet of the border tribes in India for a little time; but the Khost people having come to a settlement with the ameer, this has died down.
Tibet has kept itself before the public eye on account of its close proximity to India, and the relations that have existed in past years between it and that government. The dalai-lama, who when the Chinese troops entered Lhasa two years ago, fled with his court to this country, has resided near Calcutta up to the revolt of the Tibetans from Chinese authority at the time China was too effectually involved in her internal troubles to attend to her subject territories. At the time of the Lhasa outbreak he went to Darjiling, and at the opportune moment proceeded to Lhasa by way of Kalimpong to take the leadership of his people in the final battles with the Chinese and the subsequent negotiations. He is said to have imbibed many modern ideas while in India, and it is fondly hoped that he will open up his country to the world should he return to power. Tibet is rich in mineral wealth, and it might, with enlightened rulers, take a higher place in the world's affairs.
MUTINY TOWER AT DELHI, INDIA
Hall of Private Audiences, Delhi, India
The New Capital
Work on the building of the new capital of the empire at Delhi has long been under way. The temporary quarters are nearing completion; and this fall, when the court comes down from Simla, Delhi will become in reality the capital of India. Experts from England have been over the ground, and the site for the new city is to be laid well outside the old city wall, to the southwest, and a ceremonial station near the Lothian bridge will be the starting-point of a broad avenue through the city by way of the Jamna Masjid and the Delhi gate of the old city walls to the new city.
The way in which the change of capital is coming to be viewed by many prominent thinkers is voiced by one authority, Mr. Harold Cox, in the Edinburgh "Review," as follows: "The day of the provincial government has now come." He says that the effect of the change will be decentralization of government, affecting now the imperial government itself, and later the provincial governments as well. More freedom of action to local governments, such as the presidencies of Bombay, Madras, and Bengal, and the provincial councils, as Bihar, and the United Provinces, and the Punjab, will result. A call is persistently made for a royal viceroy; and with the change in the methods of government expected from the new order of things, this is thought to be within the realm of possibility. One thing seems certain, and that is that as the result of the change of capital, India will see material changes in methods of administration.
Bengal and Bihar
Meanwhile the new provinces created at the durbar are getting harnessed into the traces and prepared for their responsibilities. Up to the time of the readjustment of the frontiers,11Bengal had been under a lieutenant-governor; it now becomes a presidency with a governor in council. The capital of the presidency, Calcutta, has become reconciled to the loss of the imperial prerogative, and throughout the province the new order of things seems to be opening up smoothly and with little opposition. The train of the governor, Lord Carmichael, narrowly escaped wrecking on its way from Darjiling to Calcutta, soon after his taking office; but this was thought to be the work of some one with a personal grievance, rather than a political attempt. Bihar starts life with a new capital at Patna, and work on the new quarters is pushed as rapidly as possible.
The Persian Railways
The commercial community of India have been very much pleased with the promise of a new railway from the Russian line ending in Caucasia and connecting with the Indian line at Quetta. This would make possible an all rail route from Europe to India, and shorten the journey as well as the mail time. But there are opponents of the scheme in the person of some military officers, who feel that it will be a strategic blunder, and will open the way for the southward advance of the Russian. Already Russia has completed railways to the northern borders of Afghanistan, a short distance from the frontiers of India, but separated by mountains which form a difficult barrier; and the opening of a rail route across the plains of Persia opens an easier and safer route.
The fact of the disturbed conditions in Persia, with the not very remote probability that Russia and England will have to take over the administration of the country, emphasizes the fear that is felt by many Englishmen, that the touching of the frontiers may be the opening wedge for further aggressions when a likely opportunity presents itself. Since the return of the dalai-lama to Tibet, there have been persistent rumors that the Russian agent, who was mainly responsible for the difficulties that led to the British expedition under Colonel Younghusband, is again in Tibet, influencing the political situation. This is but a sample of what is taking place all along the border-lands; and in all the recent diplomatic relations between the two countries, the paw of the Russian bear, tho covering its claws, is seen reaching out after every tempting morsel available. To open the way to India, therefore, seems but to tempt to further aggression our great Russian neighbor.
The Fight Against Disease
Against ignorance, fanaticism, and filth, the government is seeking to educate the masses of India along sanitary lines, so as to be able to cope with the awful scourges, such as cholera, plague, smallpox, and leprosy, which yearly carry off millions of India's people. Malaria and consumption are also receiving their share of attention from the government. It is reported that more people in some provinces die of malarial poisoning than of all other diseases combined. Free quinin is now dispensed from nearly all government offices throughout India.
Plague, that terrible scourge which wrought havoc in Northern China a year or more ago, is ever with us; yet some express the hope that an immune population will eventually come out of the present troubles, as it has been found that rats which pass through one epidemic are far less susceptible to a second. It is hoped that human beings are similarly affected, and that an immune population will in time develop. Yet at this writing, the slack time of the year for the ravages of the disease, the death-rate therefrom weekly is over five hundred, while in the winter season it reaches as high as eight or ten thousand. Cholera is equally fatal during the summer months.
NEW CAPITAL GROUNDS JUST OUTSIDE THE OLD CITY WALLS AT DELHI, INDIA
In a number of sections, hospitals for the treatment of tuberculosis are established, and an effort has also been begun to reach the confined inmates of the purdahed homes by means of female nurses. It has been found that the secluded inmates of the homes of India, especially among the poor, who rarely see anything but the bare walls of a small room, or perhaps at most an enclosed well-like compound, are among the heaviest contributors to this fell disease. It fact, when any of the great scourges visit India, it is the women, secluded and unable to fly from the terror, who fall easiest victims.
An Airship and a Sane Fourth
The English navy has undertaken to build the largest air-ship that has so far been designed. England set the pace of building Dreadnought battle-ships for the sea in 1906, and now it seems that she is starting in the same direction in building Dreadnought battle-ships of the air. The immense ship is now in building at Aldershot, and is to have a gas capacity of 350,000 cubic feet. The car underneath the huge gas-bag is to be fitted with rooms having every convenience.
A few days ago, the American Medical Association issued its tenth annual statistical report of the accidents and deaths due to the celebration of the Fourth of July. In 1903, the year the association began to compile these statistics, there were 466 deaths and 3,983 injuries in the United States due to the celebration of Independence Day. These casualties were so enormous that a strong agitation was started against the use of firearms, firecrackers, and the other noisy and dangerous things that had become so common, especially among small boys, in their Fourth of July celebrations. "A sane Fourth of July" became the watchword through the press and from the rostrum. As the result of this agitation, many of the dangerous things used in celebrating the national birthday have been put under the ban, and the lessening of death and accident is very remarkable. The year 1912 showed only 41 deaths and 947 injuries as against the much larger numbers of ten years ago. The table prepared by the association shows a gradual decrease in accidents year by year, as the sentiment against the barbarous methods of celebrating the Fourth became stronger and more pronounced.
Lord Tweedmouth, Lord Herbert, Lord Innes-Ker, and Viscount Gower are titled Englishmen who have represented their country in winter polo tournaments in California for the last two years. They have cabled that they will not be able to be present this year, owing to the threatened trouble in the Balkans. Things of this character show that the leading powers regard the situation as very serious. Every available man is held for what may possibly develop during the next few weeks.
Despatches from Messina state that the volcano Stromboli is in eruption again. There has been more or less activity to this volcano for centuries, but for the present its activity is beyond the usual. At the same time, the despatches and other reports are also telling of threatened volcanic action in Mexico. Violent earthquakes in the latter place, according to what many think is good evidence, are more than probably to be followed by the outburst of the active volcano.
A despatch from London dated October 9 states that 10,000 Mongols have recently been killed by the troops of Yuan Shi Kai in Eastern Mongolia.
Dedicatory Services, Kansas City Branch
By Editor
WE have just received notice, under date of October 9, 1912, of the dedication of our branch office at 1224 Euclid Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri. Among the leading workers in attendance were: Elder E. T. Russell, president Central Union Conference; C. H. Jones, general manager Pacific Press; C. G. Bellah and F. E. Painter, union agents of Central and Northern Union conferences; S. N. Curtiss and James Cochran, of the branch office; and Elder W. A. Hennig.
For nineteen years our work there has been carried on in rented quarters, under more or less inconvenience and constantly increasing expense. We are sure our patrons in the Middle West will rejoice with us in this new permanent home. The building is of brick, 35 x 70 feet, with sufficiently heavy walls to permit an additional story if it should be required. We appreciate the cooperation on the part of our friends in that section, which has made this headquarters possible.
PROF. G. W. CAVINESS reports that fifteen or more at Monterey, Mexico, have covenanted to obey the truth, and quite a number are awaiting baptism.
EXCAVATIONS have been commenced for a mission printing-office in the suburbs of Seoul, Korea. Three dwelling-houses for missionaries are also in process of construction.
CONCERNING the work at Camden, New Jersey, we note that eight persons have received baptism, as fruits of a tent effort there. Eighteen were baptized at their camp-meeting, and others will receive this rite at their home churches.
TWENTY-FIVE persons at Seattle have given themselves to the service of the Lord, as the result of the revival effort conducted by Pastor Luther Warren.
PASTOR P. A. HANSON gives an interesting account of a trip to Douglas Mountain, Washington, where he organized a church of fifteen members, and baptized three.
A CHURCH of eleven members has been organized at Lebanon, Oregon, where six persons were baptized early in August. Five Scandinavians in Portland, Oregon, have yielded to the message.
THE good news comes from Southern Italy that nine persons have been baptized recently, and fourteen others were to be baptized. The work in other parts of Italy is showing good progress.
FOUR persons at Dayton, Ohio, six at Barberton, and ten at Columbus, have recently been baptized. Thirteen were baptized at the camp-meeting, and a large number went to their home churches to be baptized.
THE cheering news comes from England of the baptism of about twelve or fifteen at Wood Green, eleven at Darlington, while fifteen at Acton are ready for baptism, and at an effort at Bristol sixteen have decided to stand for the truth.
AT Sayre, Pennsylvania, twelve persons have decided to obey God. Nineteen were baptized on the last Sunday of the camp-meeting at Washington. Eight at Butler have been baptized, and the believers organized into a company of thirteen.
THREE souls at Grand Rapids, Michigan, have been baptized, and five at Detroit. Ten or twelve persons at Flint, and four at Sault Ste. Marie, have yielded to the truth. At the close of the East Michigan camp-meeting, seventeen persons were baptized.
SEVEN at Brookpark, Minnesota, have been baptized, and a church of eleven members has been organized. Seven at Bruno and four at Duluth have received this ordinance. Twenty-five at Minneapolis and fifteen at Pine Island have promised to obey the commandments.
A CHURCH of sixteen members has been organized at Cedar Falls, Iowa. At Lansing five were buried in baptism early in September, six at Center Point have received this ordinance, and twelve at Creston have decided to obey. Thirty-eight were baptized at camp-meeting.
NINE at Blythedale, Missouri, have stepped out into the light, and five at Poplar Bluff, and a Sabbath-school has been organized at the latter place. The last Sabbath of the South Missouri camp-meeting, twenty-six persons were baptized, and at the North Missouri meeting, six.
SUBSEQUENT to the annual meeting of the Norwegian Conference, twenty persons were baptized. Ninety others have embraced the truth during the past year. At this session the Norwegian field was divided into two conferences, called the East and West Norwegian conferences.
SIXTEEN persons among the Scandinavians of Trempealeau and Dunn counties, Wisconsin, have begun the observance of the commandments, and four have been baptized. The German work in Sheboygan is progressing well, five having embraced the message, and others are "almost persuaded."
THE membership in the West German Union shows a net gain of 1,400 for the past two years. At a session of this union convened from July 19 to 28 at Friedensau, a new union was formed, comprising the southern portion of Germany, German Switzerland, and Austria, under the name of Central European Union. This union has a population of 35,000,000, quite a per cent of which is Catholic, which indicates that it is a difficult field to work. At this meeting about fifty persons were baptized.13
TWENTY-FIVE persons are awaiting baptism at the Tsungwesi Mission, South Africa. Five at our Zululand station, fourteen at Solusi, and three at Somabula have received this rite, and fourteen at Parys, Orange Free State, have given their hearts to God.
A REPORT from Placerville, California, tells of a good revival in progress there, and ten have received baptism. Three at Buckeye, nine at Santa Ana, four at Fresno, three at New Monterey, three at Lodi, and twelve at Turlock, have been baptized, and four at Oceano are awaiting baptism. A Sabbath-school has been organized at Reedley.
AS THE result of an evangelistic campaign at Aurora, Illinois, eleven individuals have been baptized, and six or seven more have taken their stand to keep the commandments of God. In the face of much opposition at Maeystown, the work is still going forward, and five adults were recently baptized, one of whom is a leading business man of the place.
THIRTEEN individuals were baptized at the Yinshan general meeting, China, thirteen in Hupeh, six at Shanghai; and at the conclusion of a Bible school in Hunan, Brother R. F. Cottrell expected to baptize about twelve more. The six at Shanghai are the fruits of an active evangelistic campaign carried on by Brother F. E. Stafford, with whom many of our friends are acquainted, and Sister B. Miller.
BROTHER H. L. SHAFFER writes of the success that is attending the work at Wichita, Kansas. Seven have already been baptized, and many others are interested. At the Wellington church three persons have received this rite, and at Arkansas City, eight. Five more at the latter place have yielded to the truth, six at Sharon Springs, eight at Salina, and five more at Wichita. At the Emporia camp-meeting forty-four souls were baptized.
ON a recent Sabbath a newly finished church in Shepparton, Victoria, Australia, was dedicated, free of debt. A church was organized in Richmond, Melbourne, with a membership of forty-one. Four at Kelvin Grove, Brisbane, have taken their stand for the message, and others are in the balance. Seven new converts have been added to the church as the result of an effort in Sydenham and Tempe, suburbs of Sydney, and nine in Sydney have identified themselves with us.
Our New Kansas City Branch Office
Our Work and Workers
By Editor
AT Chamberlain, South Dakota, four have received baptism.
ON a recent Sabbath four were baptized at New Orleans, Louisiana.
NINE in Orange, New South Wales, have been led to obedience to the truth.
THE erection of a church has recently been completed at Faleloa, Tonga.
FIVE souls at Elizabethtown, Kentucky, have yielded their hearts to God.
THE ordinance of baptism has been administered to four at Ferdinand, Idaho.
AT two general meetings recently held in Fiji seven believers were baptized.
AT Wismar, British Guiana, three persons have been baptized; and at Bootooba, two.
FOUR at Butte, Montana, have requested baptism, and it is hoped others will be ready soon.
PASTOR W. A. YOUNG baptized four persons at Indianapolis, Indiana, the last day in August.
A CHURCH of eight members has been organized in Little Rock, Arkansas, for the colored people.
MISS P. TUNHEIM tells of a baptism in Batavia, Java, in which nine participated in this ordinance.
A SERIES of meetings held at Fort Fairfield, Maine, resulted in the conversion of twelve individuals.
AT the Central American camp-meeting, held at Bonacca, Bay Islands, fourteen candidates received baptism.
THE brethren at Westerly, Rhode Island, have erected a new chapel, which was dedicated Sabbath, September 14.
A REPORT from Pastor J. S. James tells of an institute held in South India, at which five persons were baptized.
AT the Mississippi camp-meeting, held at Jackson, six were baptized. Twenty converts are reported at Jackson during the year.
TWELVE were baptized at the camp-meeting for colored believers in Virginia, six of whom united with the Richmond church.
DESPITE the opposition encountered at Lisbon, Portugal, the message is progressing, and five have been baptized there recently.
FOUR persons were baptized in the sea as the result of meetings held at Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, Danish West Indies.
PASTOR L. V. FINSTER reports from Manila a baptismal service where twenty-four or twenty-five candidates received this ordinance.
FOURTEEN new converts have been added to the church at Spartanburg, South Carolina, and at their camp-meeting eleven were baptized.
ON the last day of the Georgia camp-meeting fifteen individuals were baptized, and several others returned to their homes to be baptized.
A REPORT from Norfolk Island states that thirteen persons have received baptism, and it is expected that a number more will receive this ordinance later.
PASTOR E. A. CURTIS reports the baptism of six young persons at Grand Junction, Colorado. Thirty-four were baptized at the camp-meeting held in Denver, and others will be baptized in their churches upon their return home.
PASTOR CARL LEER reports from Williston, North Dakota, that since May 26 115 persons have been baptized, and fifteen more received on profession of their faith, making a total of 130 that have been added to the German churches.
UNDER the labors of Brother H. E. Reeder at Sheridan, Wyoming, three have accepted the truths presented from the Word, and six others are quite fully convinced.
UNDER the labors of Brother E. W. Thurber, six persons at Vernon, Vermont, have accepted the truths presented from the Word, and a church organization has been effected.
SUNDAY morning, September 15, fifteen persons were baptized in Long Island Sound, at Bridgeport, Connecticut. Five others are obeying the truth who it is hoped will soon unite with us.
A SUCCESSFUL series of meetings has been held at Somerville, Massachusetts, and about twenty persons have stepped out into the light. Three at Taunton have taken this same stand.
AT the close of the North Texas camp-meeting, held at Cleburne, fifty were baptized, and thirteen at the Northeast Texas meeting, held at Avinger. Thirteen were baptized at Dallas, and three more are awaiting baptism.
