As central in the moral world, which is itself central in the material, the moral law holds the central place in the universal system. It is the law of laws. Characterized by the unbiased and unswerving uprightness, straightness, or equity of its dictates, it is known as the law of righteousness. Righteousness is simply rightness. In its ultimate analysis this law of rightness is love, the purest, highest, and most comprehensive of all principles. Its exclusions and inclusions embrace the entire realm of morality. Love worketh no ill. Love worketh all good. No more comprehensive moral principle can therefore exist. As applicable to all moral beings whatsoever, no higher nor greater moral law than the law of love can be conceived. Universal justice and benevolence are included in its range, and eternal harmony in its results. Upon its fulfilment depends the union or unity of the moral universe. No sacrifice therefore of this principle can pass unchecked in a universe which deserves the name. Order and unity must prevail, or the system perish.—Dr. H. Grattan Guinness.
“And one of the scribes . . . asked him, What commandment is the first of all? Jesus answered, The first is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God, the Lord is one: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. The second is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12: 28-31.
Complete harmony with the will of God as expressed in his law is an indispensable condition of eternal life in the kingdom of God. “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Matt. 7: 21. “The world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” 1 John 2: 17.
WHEN man was created in the image of God (Gen. 1: 27), the divine thought for him was the very essence of his life and being; or in other words, the law of moral perfection, the law of love, was implanted in his inmost nature, and the law of his physical being was written in his members. Thus was man in very deed “the image and glory of God.” 1 Cor. 11: 7.
The relation which man sustained to God, his creator, and to God’s created works, has been clearly and authoritatively set forth thus:—
“Thou hast made him but little lower than God,
And crownest him with glory and honor.
Thou makest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands;
Thou hast put all things under his feet:
All sheep and oxen,
Yea, and the beasts of the field,
The birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
Whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea.” Ps. 8: 5-8.
This dominion which man held over both the animate and the inanimate creation, was not arbitrarily bestowed upon him, but became his by virtue of the relation which he himself sustained to God, the creator, in whose image he was created, and whose law of love was the very life of his life. Man was king of this world, not by appointment or election, but by creation. All other beings and things were subordinate to man; all other laws were subordinate to the moral law, the law of man’s being; the relations of all other beings and things to each other and to the rest of creation were subordinate to man’s relation to God as expressed in the law of love, a law operative in the plane of moral being only. Hence man’s dominion was preserved, and order in the world was sustained, by man’s perfect harmony with the will of God for him, since the will of God for all the rest of creation was ministered through man, who was in this sense priest as well as king.
Creation had its origin in the will of God. “Thou didst create all things, and because of thy will they were, and were created.” Rev. 4: 11. This active will of God found expression through the eternal Son, whose delight it was to do his Father’s will. “So strict is the substantial oneness of the Son with the Father that the Son is the word of the Father,—the Logos, the thought, the reason, the wisdom, of the Father,—and so the means wherethrough the inner will and purpose of the Godhead has passed outward into realization. The Father has ever worked through the person of the Son. The Son is the one mediator, acting from and for the divine nature toward all else that is.” The Son, the eternal personal wisdom of God, thus speaks of his mediation between the Father and all that is:—
“The Lord possessed me, the beginning of his way,
Before his works of old.
I was anointed from everlasting,
From the first, from the beginnings of the earth.
When there were no depths I was brought forth,11
When there were no fountains abounding with water,
Before the mountains were settled,
Before the hills, was I brought forth.
While as yet he had not made the earth,
Or the fields,
Or the first clods of the world.
When he prepared the heavens I was there;
When he set a canopy over the face of the deep:
When he established the skies above:
When the fountains of the deep waxed strong:
When he gave to the sea its bounds,
That the waters should not pass their border;
When he appointed the foundations of the earth;
Then I was by him, I the builder;
And I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;
Rejoicing in his habitable earth;
And my delights were with the sons of men.” Prov. 8: 22-31, Medd’s Translation.
The great truth that it was through the mediation of his eternal Son that God wrought in the original creation, when all things were brought into being, becomes the pillar and ground of the central principle of the gospel—the mediatorial principle. This is clearly revealed in the following scriptures:—
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made.” “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world knew him not.” “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth.” John 1: 1-3, 10, 14.
“To us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we unto him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through him.” 1 Cor. 8: 6.
“In him [the Son] were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and unto him; and he is before all things, and in him all things consist [that is, hold together]. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in him should all the fulness dwell; and through him to reconcile all things unto himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross; through him, I say, whether things upon the earth, or things in the heavens.” Col. 1: 16-20.
“God having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners, hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds; who being the effulgence of his glory, and the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had made purification of sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” “Now in the things which we are saying the chief point is this: We have such a high priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.” “Now hath he obtained a ministry the more excellent, by so much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which hath been enacted upon better promises.” “He, because he abideth forever, hath his priesthood unchangeable. Wherefore also he is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” Heb. 1: 1-3; 8: 1, 2, 6; 7: 24, 25.
The teaching of these scriptures should be carefully noted, and may be briefly summarized thus:—
1. It was through the mediation of the eternal Son, the Logos or Word, that all things were brought into being.
2. In and through the Son all things were created, not only upon earth, but also in the heavens.
3. In and through the same eternal Son all created things are sustained and kept in order.
4. The same eternal Word, or Son, through whose mediation all things were created, became flesh, in order that through his mediation for sin man might become reconciled to God.
5. The head of the original creation thus became the head of the new creation, and the mediator in the one became the mediator in the other.
6. The one through whom God made the worlds is the one through whom purification for sins was made.
7. The one through whom God made the worlds and through whom purification was made for sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high as high priest, the minister of the sanctuary in the heavens.
8. He who was the mediator in the original creative work, is now the mediator of the new, or better, covenant.
9. Those who come to God through this mediator will obtain full and complete salvation from sin.
It is thus evident that the gospel provision for mediation in behalf of man after sin had entered into the world, did not require the introduction of a new principle into the divine administration, but simply a new application of a principle already in operation. “The restriction of the thought of mediatorship and sacrifice to the gracious intervention of the eternal Son on behalf of fallen and sinful man, has narrowed and thrown out of proportion our thought of the dignity and glory of the Son, and of the grandeur of his work. Sin, of course, brings another element into worship and sacrifice. Sin creates a gulf between the creature and God; and only a mediator, a priest, can bring the creature back to God even when it wills to be brought, or can make atonement and satisfaction on its behalf for the injury and wrong done to the majesty of the supreme Lawgiver by an act of disobedience. There is a new need, that of expiation; and there is a greater, and to us a more evident need of a mediator.”
“But the standing truth, that from the first instant of creation there has been a mediator between the Father and creation, one through whom, necessarily, creation came into being, renders it easier for us to apprehend alike the necessity, and (such is the love of God) the probability, of an atoning mediator who should undo the mischief of sin; and, this being so, the impossibility that it can be any other than the uncreated mediator, through whom and for whom were all things made, the eternal Son.”
It is the active working of the will and power of God, mediated through the eternal Son, which directs the planets in their courses, and preserves order throughout the universe; and this fact is made the basis of an appeal for confidence in the working of that same power, which is mediated through the same eternal Son, to guide and to uphold those who are just as unable to keep themselves as is any mass of inert matter. All this is plainly revealed:—
“Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these, that bringeth out their host by number; he calleth them all by name; by the greatness of his might, and for that he is strong in power, not one is lacking. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from Jehovah, and the justice due me is passed away from my God? Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard? The everlasting God, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary; there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to him that hath no might he increaseth strength.” Isa. 40: 26-29.
The material universe does not hold together and maintain that constant order in all its parts by virtue of any merely initial or inherent power, or as the result of the working of impersonal laws; but there is continually being displayed that same active will through which all things were brought into being, and this will is mediated by the eternal Son, “who being the effulgence of his glory, and the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power,” is always and ever the only mediator for the Father. As the things that are made are thus perfectly obedient to the will of their Creator, it is declared of them that they render worship to him:—
“Thou art Jehovah, even thou alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all things that are thereon, the seas12
and all that is in them, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshipeth thee.” Neh. 9: 6.
It is because of this perfect obedience to the will or law of God, this unhindered revelation of his power and wisdom, that God is glorified in the inanimate creation. Thus we read:—
“The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament showeth his handiwork.
Day unto day uttereth speech,
And night unto night showeth knowledge.
There is no speech nor language;
Their voice is not heard.
Their line is gone out through all the earth,
And their words to the end of the world.” Ps. 19: 1-4.
Just so it is the purpose of God that man, created in his image, shall glorify and worship him by perfect obedience to the divine will, and therefore in the last proclamation of the everlasting gospel before the consummation of all things, the heavenly message is put into this setting:—
“Fear God, and give him glory; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made the heaven and the earth and the sea and fountains of waters.” Rev. 14: 7.
But God has by creation endowed man with a mind, and has granted to him freedom of will which he himself respects, so that it must be by man’s own consent that the will or law of God is revealed in his life. Consequently, it must be in his mind and heart that the will or law of God is written, and this is accomplished through the mediation of the same eternal Son, the mediator between his Father and all that is, who took the flesh in order that “he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people,” and who is now “the mediator of a better covenant, which hath been enacted upon better promises.” And these are the promises:—
“I will put my laws into their mind,
And on their heart also will I write them:
And I will be to them a God,
And they shall be to me a people.” Heb. 8: 10.
When through faith in the promise of God and through the acceptance of the atoning mediation of Christ, the eternal Son, this work has been wrought in the heart of man, and the incorrigibly wicked have been destroyed, then man will be just as obedient to the will of God as is the inanimate creation, complete order will be restored throughout all creation, and the whole universe of God will render one constant and eternal tribute of praise and glory to “him that sitteth on the throne, and shall worship him that liveth forever and ever.”
W. W. P.
The Ministerial Institute at Keene, Tex.
By G. B. Thompson
The conference session and ministerial institute for the Southwestern Union Conference were held at Keene, Tex., February 1-14. The time from February 3 to 10 was devoted entirely to the work of the institute. The attendance was quite large. Practically all the workers in the union were present, and entered most heartily into the work of the institute.
Members of the church at Keene attended most of the daily studies. In addition to this, the faculty of Keene Academy arranged the work in the school in such a way that the students were permitted to attend nearly all the studies during the entire institute. This made a very large daily attendance. During the evening services and on the Sabbath every seat in the large church was occupied.
From the beginning of the institute, the blessing of the Lord was present in a very marked manner. Many publicly testified that it was the best meeting they had ever been privileged to attend. A spirit of deep heart-searching took hold upon all. As the exalted character of the work in which we are engaged was studied, and the holy and sacred calling of the gospel ministry was emphasized by Elder A. G. Daniells, a new vision of the responsibilities of the work was received. The instruction given was along the same lines as in the former institutes, and the same excellent spirit which had attended similar gatherings in other unions was present in this meeting. And there was an encouraging and ready response upon the part of all the laborers present. All realized their need of greater efficiency in soul-winning work, and felt greatly reproved for that lack of zeal and consecration which should be seen in the lives of those who claim to be giving the last gospel call that the human family will ever hear.
At one of the early morning meetings, without any special call, almost the entire body of workers came forward in a consecration service. This meeting occupied the greater part of the forenoon. As testimonies were given of a fuller surrender to the work of God than ever before, the blessed peace and joy of the Holy Spirit filled all our hearts.
The Holy Spirit revealed a deplorable dearth, and created a thirst for deeper drafts of spiritual power. The Lord gave us a new vision of his work, and our responsibility in connection with it. It is a vision of the needs of the world that has moved so many of our dear people to give their lives to this work. Parents have given their children, and the children have laid themselves on the altar. But the work is enlarging, and our responsibilities are increasing. We must climb up to greater heights, where the horizon of our vision will be extended.
The Lord in a very distinct manner laid upon his servants a new and greater burden for souls. Many felt that they had grieved God by carrying too little burden for the lost. All felt that they must be anointed with a new power that as they returned to their fields they might13be able to gather in more souls for the Master. Definite and permanent victories were gained, such victories as mark a new experience in the lives of those who obtain them.
The pivotal point in the matter of receiving the Holy Spirit for service is found in our entire and unconditional surrender to God. There can be no substitute for this. We can not even substitute prayer for surrender. It will not suffice to pray instead of surrendering. We must do this thing. Nothing can be withheld. The key to every closet in the heart must be turned over to the Lord. Self will make almost any concession, permit us to give up many things, almost everything, if it can only be permitted to retain something and live.
Many expressed the thought that we had come to a new era in the work of the message, and that this meeting marked a distinct crisis in the lives of all who attended it. This is no doubt true.
The Southwestern Union is a large field, and contains great possibilities for the spread of the message. As devoted, consecrated, self-sacrificing workers are found here as anywhere. As they return to their fields of labor with renewed courage to press the battle to the gate, we believe that their labors will be fruitful in gathering in souls for the heavenly garner.
It was inspiring to see so many young people attending the institute and deeply interested in this work. The Keene Academy is filled with an excellent class of students. The molding influence of the school is seen from year to year in the intellectual, moral, and social development and culture of the students. From this school a large number of consecrated young people have gone forth to fill places of responsibility in the work of God. Some are laboring in foreign lands. Others are laying plans to enter the Foreign Mission Seminary, preparatory to devoting their lives to the great work which lies before us in heathen darkness, where millions are waiting for the gospel. The Keene school is doing a good work, and should receive the loyal support of all.
Elder G. F. Watson was reelected president, and but few changes were made in other officers. It was a very harmonious and progressive session.
G. B. THOMPSON.
An Important Movement
By W. T. Knox
The “Ministry of Healing” campaign has not had as much attention as it should have had. This must account for the lack of such results as should have been seen in this movement. Nevertheless, it is a work that deserves our earnest attention and our fullest support.
It was the financial needs of a number of our sanitariums that led to the launching of this campaign. The returns thus far have not been sufficient to change this condition materially; hence the relief campaign is about as much needed now as when it was launched two years ago.
It should be evident to all that this “Ministry of Healing” proposition, if taken hold of energetically and worked out, would afford financial relief to our medical institutions to the amount of $350,000 to $400,000. This amount would be a wonderful help to them in their present condition.
All will admit that the plan of this movement is a perfectly simple and workable one, and that the completing of it might just as well be accomplished in one year’s time as in four. There is still time for us to complete it, if we take hold of it with that in view.
All will grant that the placing of nearly four hundred thousand copies of “Ministry of Healing” and a proportionate number of Life and Health in that many homes would be a great blessing to the people receiving them, as well as to those selling them. At the same time it would bring added patronage to our sanitariums, besides giving the direct financial relief.
It would certainly be a serious calamity to our people to suffer defeat in any worthy undertaking. So far this has not been our record, and we are surely not willing to have it so now. Some of the brethren have expressed a purpose to give this work special attention during this year. As definite measures are taken to carry it to a successful and early issue, we trust all our people in this country will lend the fullest possible co-operation. The movement requires this to make it a complete success. The returns to us as a people will fully warrant our best efforts.
W. T. Knox.
Keizan, Korea
By R. C. WANGERIN
R. C. WANGERIN
We are now comfortably settled in our little house, and have a Korean workers’ house in which to hold our church services. But this is too small by far to accommodate the many who come to worship with us. Our aim is a separate and larger church building. It may be some time before we shall realize this; nevertheless the project has been launched, God is leading on, and who can stay his hand and say, “What doest thou?”
Our December special (Li Chyensa Eui Reuipel, The Three Angels’ Message) paper campaign is now on, and all have taken a lively interest in giving it a wide circulation in the south. The proceeds are to go toward a church building.
These people are as yet not fully established Christians. They are heathen, with the exception of a few who come to us from other missions to study God’s Word as it reads, and who are thoroughly convinced that we have the truth. Three such young men have gone with one of our Korean workers on a month’s campaign with our literature, going from one village, town, or city to another. Others are working closer at home, and our Korean sisters, together with our workers, are doing a splendid work.
There are 15,000,000 people who speak the Korean language, for whom the Saviour died. It is estimated that there are 250,000 Christians, or that number who are under Christian influence. This leaves 14,750,000 who know nothing of a kind, merciful Heavenly Father, and have never heard of a Saviour’s love.
It is our special endeavor to reach some of these during this campaign, and bring joy and light into these dark hearts and homes. Those who are working near home have called for nightly prayer-meetings, that we may bear up in the arms of faith and prayer those who are toiling some distance from home, and ask God’s blessing upon the printed page, the seed which is being sown. These things have not been planned for either by a foreigner or by a native worker. They are to us evidences that the Lord is in the work. We have been too hesitating and too slow. We must step more quickly if we are to keep pace and at last triumph with the message.
Last Sunday we attended a funeral. The deceased was a man who one day came to our tent for medical aid. We did what we could for him at the time, and he continued to come to our meetings until shortly before his death. On his death-bed he confessed that he believed in our church and in the name of Jesus. Then came the request for a Christian burial. A collection was raised of two yen (one dollar) for a wooden box to serve as a casket, a Korean carpenter donating his time and work.
When my wife and I reached the house, which was too small to entertain so large a gathering, the casket was brought out into the open court of the village. There in the presence of several hundred spectators, we conducted the services. We sang one of our good advent hymns, told of the gospel of salvation through Christ and the hope of a resurrection in him, and then went to the grave on the mountain, where again a short service was held. There were no groans, there was no yelling by hired mourners, none of the peculiar demonstrations so common in burial services here.
In a quiet, peaceful manner the Spirit of Jehovah is melting hearts, breaking the barriers of customs ages old, and preparing the way for the ushering in of the kingdom of God. The day is not long hence when the work upon earth will be finished, when the redeemed of all ages, and of every nation, kindred, tongue, and people shall stand before the throne. In this connection the thought expressed in “Education,” page 271, comes to me, as I think of our Adventist young people:
“With such an army of workers as our youth, rightly trained, might furnish, how soon the message of a crucified, risen, and soon-coming Saviour might be carried to the whole world!”
Then let the great army of youth among us put on the whole armor and go forth to help finish the work.
J. S. JAMES
By J. S. James
India
J. S. JAMES
At our last meeting in Mussoorie all felt that we should make a special effort during the present year to publish suitable literature for circulation in the various vernaculars. We are really more behind with this branch of our work than with any other, and yet there is no agency better adapted to spread the message to all parts of this land. Our greatest need seemed to be a book containing a digest of the principal phases of the truth for this time, together with certain phases of gospel teaching especially needed in a country like India, to place in the hands of all our converts, workers, and interested persons, and to be sold generally by our colporteurs. Seventy-five or eighty subjects were selected, and14the past four months have been spent in preparing them. In form the work will be somewhat like our old “Bible Readings,” but will be especially adapted to this country.
For our part of the field we are getting out “Steps to Christ” in one volume, and the tract “Fundamental Principles of Seventh-day Adventists.” New editions of all our tracts will be printed, and others added. We had hoped to start a quarterly journal in Tamil, to be sold by subscription and single copies, but we are not able to put the necessary colporteurs into the field for its circulation. This may develop later in the year. We are giving special attention to this phase of the work, and hope to have some regular colporteurs at work before long.
There is no question but that our part of the field is ready for the spread of this message. We can scarcely go anywhere and work a few days but that an interest springs up, and calls are sent to us to send men to teach the Bible and establish work. How we are to meet these calls is the problem. We never can supply a foreign force, and even though it were possible to do so, it would not be desirable. It is evident that our work in these fields must very largely be carried forward through the agency of trained native workers. But such workers are exceedingly rare, and hard to get at present.
Since coming to Bangalore, I have improved a little in health, and have also made some progress in language study. Remember India at the throne of grace.
Bangalore.
Persian Government Offers Shah Amnesty
WITH the consent of Great Britain and Russia, the Persian government, through the Russian consul at Astrabad, will inform the former shah, Mohammed Ali Mirza, that it is willing to allow him a yearly pension of $100,000 and grant amnesty to his adherents on condition that he quit Persia without delay.
Northeast Africa
By Anol Grundset
ANOL GRUNDSET
On Dec. 5, 1911, at 4:30 P. M., on schedule time, the first train arrived at Asmara over the Nefasit-Asmara Railway. A large representative company invited by the government to participate in the exercises of the day, together with hundreds of other bystanders and a large gathering of curious natives, greeted with enthusiasm the arrival of the decorated train. The whistle announced its coming, reechoing among the mountains, but no view could be had of it until it wound around the curve, before entering the station. Hundreds of hearts were made glad, as, after passing through tunnels, over cliffs, and along canyons, it ascended for the first time onto the Hamasen Plateau, and unloaded its human cargo at Asmara. It meant an end to many of the hardships of travel, as well as a saving of time and means.
This railway has been many years in process of construction, and now that it is finished, it reflects much credit upon the Italian government. Its starting-place is Massawa, the seaport, said to be one of the three hottest places on earth. Here a continuous sweat-bath is forced upon every traveler, free of charge, from the time of entering till he leaves the place. Ghinda is the next station, and is about half-way to Asmara. The city is considerably above sea-level, but at certain seasons of the year is under the fever line.
The next station of importance is Nefasit, which lies nearly hidden among stalwart mountains. A little to the southeast lies the Bizen Mountain, famed for its large Abyssinian monastery, where several hundred monks spend a solitary life. The mountain is considered holy by the Abyssinians, and they have placed several restrictions about it, one being that no female should be allowed about its base or to ascend its steep precipice.
In reaching the capital, Asmara, the present terminus of the railway, an ascent of over seven thousand feet above sea-level is made. Railway construction is now going on through more favorable and level country, another ninety-five kilometers of track being laid inland to Keren.
So even in Africa we see Daniel’s prophecy fulfilled: “Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” All these inventions aid in speeding on the everlasting gospel, “a witness unto all nations,” before the end comes.
In Asmara is located the governor’s palace, also other government buildings, the splendid Baldeseras Fort, etc. The city is electric-lighted, has several flour-mills with most modern machinery, and a machine-shop with latest appliances and skilled workmen. It has a well-built post-office, colony mail arriving and departing every other day, with foreign mail arriving and departing weekly. Telegram and cable service is open with all parts of the world. Marconi wireless also is in use at Port Massawa.
The merchants of Asmara are chiefly Italians, Greeks, Jews, Indians, Arabs, and Abyssinians. A large assortment of articles used by these peoples are for sale, often, however, at exorbitant prices. There being no American nor English merchants, many commodities from those countries are lacking.
There are seven religious denominations in the city at present, Seventh-day Adventists being the seventh. Our mission station is a little over a mile south of Asmara. We are glad to be located in the rural district, away from the city. At this writing the harvesting of the grains is nearly over. The natives are busy with their thrashing, the Bible custom of treading out the grain with oxen still being in vogue here. The straw and chaff are separated by the help of the wind. The flowers (where abundantly watered) are in bloom. Snow is never seen here.
There are drawbacks and discouragements which I could mention, but we try to cultivate the habit of looking on the bright side. Our great aim and desire above all is the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who sit in heathen darkness.
ARRIVAL OF FIRST TRAIN AT ASMARA
Asmara, Eritrea.
Latest Statistics of Roman Catholicism
THE latest statistics of Roman Catholicism in Great Britain show that there “are now in England and Wales three archiepiscopal sees and thirteen episcopal sees; in Scotland two archiepiscopal sees and four episcopal sees. The total number of priests at present laboring on the missions in England and Wales is 3,890; in Scotland, 560. The Catholic population of Great Britain numbers 2,269,000 souls, as compared with 2,206,553 last year—an increase of 62,447.”
The Influence of the Bible
“UNDER Bible influence all the finer faculties are expanded, invigorated, and elevated; all the purest and best emotions of the heart are refined, exercised, and ennobled; all the highest, manliest, and most beautiful attributes and virtues of the character are molded into symmetry, and assimilated to the likeness of Christ and God.”
Christian Missions in South India
THERE are 1,374 white missionaries in south India, 452 native pastors, 3,457 catechists and evangelists, 7,277 male and 4,155 female teachers. There are 250,000 pupils in the Christian schools, and 755,000 native Christians.
