Earlier text: Everlasting RighteousnessCOLLEGE VIEW, NEBR., JAN. 24, 1912. WHAT is the inspiration of the recent ministerial institutes which have been held in our denomination? Why has it been deemed necessary to call together our ministers and Bible workers in various sections of the country to spend a number of days in institute work? The answer to these questions may be found in the consideration of the character of the work we as a people are seeking to do. God has committed to us a message which is to be carried to earth's remotest bounds. Beginning in weakness, that message has advanced with the years until now it reaches out into, and has obtained a foothold in, nearly every nation under heaven. God has signally blessed the efforts of our laborers. Before the power of this great movement, mighty obstacles have been swept aside, mountains of difficulties surmounted, and the truth carried into the strongholds of darkness and superstition. For some time the conviction has been growing in the hearts of our workers that the purpose of God could never be met in the accomplishment of this work by might or by power, through human devising or organization, however perfect. They have felt that while God has wonderfully blessed thus far in the prosecution of the work, that he had for them still greater blessings of spiritual power and strength. Our workers have been longing in their labors for a power to move mightily the hearts of men. That they may go forth better prepared as the ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ; that they may enter into the highways and byways opening before them with better plans and methods, better mental equipment, and above all a spiritual preparation, they have come together in these gatherings. That the Bible instruction which has been given in these institutes is well calculated to aid in securing these desired results is apparent. Three leading topics have been considered, as stated in the past; namely, the message, the messengers, and the power of the Holy Spirit. In the institute now going forward at this place, Elders A. G. Daniells and G. B. Thompson are leading out in the discussion of the first topic. This they are considering under the following heads:— - Why the third angel's message is necessary at this time.
- God's preparation for the proclamation of the message in this generation.
- The beginning and development of our movement under the third angel's message.
- Every feature of our movement meets every specification of the prophecies.
- The doctrines of our message.
- Doctrines.
- Doctrines.
- The organization of our movement.
- Knowing the message.
Instruction on the subject of the ministry is being given by Elders A. G. Daniells and H. R. Salisbury. Brother Daniells considers the following features of this great subject:— - Its place in the gospel plan.
- Its purpose.
- The call to the ministry.
- The Holy Spirit's place in the ministry.
- Preaching.
- Personal effort.
- Evangelistic work.
- Pastoral work.
- Relation to organization and to individuals.
- Intellectual and spiritual development.
Brother Salisbury has given a series of lessons on the following practical phases of the ministry:— 1. Preparation—
a. Before entering.
b. After entering.
2. Study—
a. Too little.
b. Too much.- Preparation of the sermon.
- Delivery of the sermon.
- Out of the pulpit—
a. General deportment.
b. Conversation.
c. Dress.- Mannerisms.
- Vocabulary.
- Observation.
- Value of time.
- Opportunities.
The work of the Holy Spirit has been presented by Elder G. B. Thompson. The subject has been brought before the institute under the following topic heads:— - Our greatest need, and why.
- The work of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament and in the life of Christ.
- The Paraclete.
- The work of the Holy Spirit after Pentecost.
- Conditions of receiving the Spirit,— three lessons.
- The result of rejecting the Spirit's work.
- The fruits of the Spirit.
- The gifts of the Spirit.
Four hours a day have thus been consumed in Bible study and instruction. These studies have been filled with living interest to all who have taken part in the same. In addition to these regular classes, Elder Daniells has conducted the daily question box, in which many questions relating to the operation of our cause and practical Christian experience connected with the work of the ministry have been considered. The workers meet together daily for an hour of social worship. This is the meeting of the great spiritual family of brothers and sisters of the same common faith who come together and exchange experiences, telling each other of their hopes and fears, praying with and for each other, and thus seeking to make the excellent principles brought out in the lesson hour practical and effective. Of the spirit attending the institute and of some of the excellent results which have already been achieved and which the closing days will bring, we believe, still more liberally, we will speak more particularly next week. F. M. W. Following the Flight of the Message
By W. A. S.
It was in 1848, just as our pioneer brethren were preparing to publish the first paper to herald the message of the judgment-hour, that three New York men petitioned the Colombian government for a concession to construct a railway across the isthmus. Wherever we turn our eyes, we see a divine providence has been making ways for the message as the hour of God's judgment came. And we can learn a lesson in system and hygiene and careful organization from the modern engineer. The French engineers began with little thought of sanitation, and in the days when no one knew about the mosquito as a disease-bearer. The first work-camps were death-traps. The laborers were called in and settled in the mud and marsh and went to work. The result was disease and death and failure. When the American government began the work, a new age of systematic sanitation had dawned. The first thing the authorities did was to spend a year or two in cleaning up towns, paving streets, establishing sewer systems, and building sanitary homes. The wide verandas were screened completely by wire mosquito-netting. Everywhere ponds and lakes were covered with oil to prevent8 the breeding of the mosquito. Care of health is compulsory. The result is plainly to be seen. I have been told by canal workers again and again that they have never had better health in their lives. It has completely transformed the region that only twenty years ago stood for every disease and fever pest known. We are surely on right lines in our missionary operations, in planning for sanitary and habitable quarters for the missionary as the first essential. Health for the service is the first thing after the spiritual equipment for ministering to souls. The new light that has come in recent years, as to the care of the health and the avoidance of disease, has come in the providence of God just as we are ready to respond to the commission to go through every unhealthful clime with the message of salvation. But we must resolutely work to the plan. Sanitation is enforced by military discipline in the Canal Zone. We shall have to let the yet higher law of the divine commission put us under discipline. Our workers in unhealthful fever climes must watch insanitary conditions and the mosquito, as soldiers watch the enemy at the gate. The work that has been done in sanitation and the sharp results secured in the Canal Zone are one of the greatest lessons of history. It is taught us just at the time when our picket-line is pushing into the heart of the tropics in every continent. Thank God for his wonderful preparation of the way for the message, and for the divine power that is causing it to raise up the fruitage of commandment-keepers everywhere. I find our workers of good courage. They say that the rare visits from brethren of the general work passing through, with the opportunities to talk of the experiences and progress of the message as looked at from the home point of view, greatly cheer and encourage them. On the other hand, it is cheering to us who come out from the home lands to feel the warm, glowing love for the message that abounds in the homes of these missionaries of ours. They live under unnatural conditions; they often see their children growing up amid disadvantageous circumstances. But these workers have come out in the name of the Lord to seek for the lost sheep over every plain and mountain trail. They are here for the love of souls; and wherever I find these missionary homes I thank God for the inspiration of them. We do not always hear the reports of the work the missionary wives are doing. But there they are, in our missionary homes all round the earth, keeping the home spirit and making the home one of the most blessed things on earth, and a type of the eternal home in heaven. Thank God again for the missionary homes, and remember them in prayer at the daily worship-hour. Our lines are so long drawn out, and so thin at every point; and sin and evil seek so determinedly to check the advance that our only hope is in the living God whose arm is moved by prayer. The bigness of our work is terrible as we think of the smallness of our ranks and resources. But with us are the living God and all the holy angels. So the work will hasten on to completion. Roman Optimism
By William Warren Prescott
When the besieging army was at the gates of Babylon, the king Belshazzar showed his contempt for his foes, and his confidence in the protecting care of his deities by holding an idolatrous feast, during which the wine of Babylon was served in the vessels of the house of God, and praise was given to “the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.” This daring blasphemy marked the downfall of the kingdom of Babylon, for “in that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom.” We are reminded of this episode in ancient history by the overweening arrogance of modern Babylon and her boasted feeling of security in spite of her loss of power in lands which have for centuries been most loyally Catholic. Taking courage from the ability of the Papacy to rally in periods of acute crisis in the past, the representatives of Rome carry themselves proudly, and with much emphasis confidently assert their belief in the triumph of Catholicism over her present foes. Aroused to the highest pitch of enthusiasm by the rapid growth of their church in this country, and filled with ecclesiastical pride over the appointment of new cardinals for America, and the spectacular celebrations of their return from Rome, the Roman hierarchy is proclaiming abroad the superior qualities of Romanism and the certainty of Rome’s early victory over all opposing forces. As indicating the present feeling and the hopefulness of American ecclesiastics, we make the following extract from an editorial in America (Roman Catholic) of Dec. 30, 1911:— The church alone, though beset on all sides, and supposed by her enemies to be overwhelmed and helpless and almost at an end, is at peace. She stands among the sepulchers of the nations, unterrified and undismayed. In her luminous and beneficent progress through the ages, she has passed through more awful catastrophes than those which now surround her; but they have only brought out with greater splendor the divine power with which she is invested, not only of resisting the enemies that seek to destroy her, but of repairing all the material and spiritual havoc of which they are the authors. . . . Protestantism is disintegrating before her eyes, and multitudes of its greatest representatives are hurrying to the temples which their forefathers had abandoned. All the old enemies are gone, and she faces new ones to-day, not pagans, nor heretics, nor Turks, but apostates and atheists, who hate the very name of God and rail like madmen against the faith they have foresworn. They have seized on the machinery of governments, and by confiscation, robbery, and expatriation are striving with almost satanic fury to efface from the souls of men every memory of Christianity. But the lesson of the past will be repeated. The church will be called upon to quell the tumult which these very men have provoked among the people, and to save from ruin the very governments which were fashioned to compass her destruction. In appearance she was never so weak, but in reality never so powerful as to-day. From the solitude of the Vatican, to which her recreant children have consigned her, she rules the hierarchy of every nation, selects her princes and prelates from kingdoms and empires and republics, with absolute unconcern for the statesmen or rulers of the nations, and her least word is listened to and obeyed with reverence and love at the uttermost ends of the earth as never before in the history of the world. The apostasy of modern Protestantism and the tendency to yield the ground gained in the Reformation of the sixteenth century, and so to join hands again with Rome, doubtless inspire fresh courage in the minds of the representatives of the Papacy, and tend to strengthen the feeling that Rome will again have spiritual dominion over the whole world; but the hour of Rome’s triumph will mark the time of her overthrow. When her sins reach unto heaven, then God will remember her iniquities, and then “shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.” At no time in the past has there been a more emphatic demand for the proclamation of the pure gospel and the announcement of the fall of Babylon than in this generation. The threefold message which announces the hour of God’s judgment and warns against the worship of the beast and his image, must now be proclaimed in every land. Already the voices have been heard in heaven saying, “The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ;” and it only remains to spread the announcement of his speedy return and to make ready a people prepared to meet him. When this work is finished, the end will come. The pride of modern Babylon is the pride which goes before a fall. An Inspiring Outlook
By Francis M. Wilcox
To this people has been committed the giving of a great truth to the world. Christ is soon coming, and to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people the proclamation is to be heralded in this generation. From a human standpoint the outlook would appear most forbidding. How can a hundred thousand believers accomplish this mighty result during their lifetime? If, indeed, the work depended upon human effort, we could well be discouraged; but though our numbers are small, and human effort at best is feeble, we are the bearers of mighty principles, and a mighty God stands back of this movement, pledging for its strength his own infinite power. We are not left to our own wisdom or ingenuity. It remains for us only to place ourselves in the hands of God, and become willing instruments for him to use as his providence shall indicate. We may furnish the feet to carry his message, the tongues to speak his words, and the hands to do his bidding. This is our part. He himself will take the mighty truth borne by such humble instruments, and clothe it with his own great power. It is most encouraging to-day to consider the spirit of evangelism which is taking hold of the hearts of our people, and to see the scores of young men and women who are giving themselves for service in the great world-wide work. We were forcibly impressed with this recently in attending a meeting of Missionary Volunteers at the Foreign Mission Seminary, and in hearing scores of young men and women tell how the Spirit of God had filled their hearts, and they had received, in different but unmistakable ways, a clear, convincing call to the work of the Lord. One young couple, who had recently completed their school work in the far West, were burdened for work among the Japanese, and they had laid aside every worldly prospect to answer that call. Several others told of how God had impressed their hearts with the needs of the great Indian field, and they had come to the Foreign Mission Seminary to better fit themselves for work there. A brother from Kansas told of the manner in which he and his wife had been called of God to take up the work, and they are expecting soon to enter the great Spanish Catholic countries. One spoke who had been for seventeen years a Methodist missionary in India. While on a furlough to this country he had received the truth through the humble effort of one selling our publications. He is now attending the Seminary to better acquaint himself with our work, that he may return again to the land of his adoption to present the gospel in greater fulness. Others spoke of like calls to other fields. This experience in the Foreign Mission Seminary can no doubt be duplicated in many of our higher schools through the country. A recent letter from Prof. E. C. Kellogg, president of Walla Walla College, brings a photograph of the Foreign Mission Band in that school, comprising a large number of young men and women who have dedicated themselves to foreign service. Similar bands have been formed in Union College, Berrien Springs, and other schools. In the dedication of these fresh young lives to the cause of God lies the hope of the completion of this message, and this is but an earnest of what we shall see in the future. There will come a blessed time, we believe, when the hearts of God's people as one man will be turned to the Lord, when the lives of young and old will be laid upon the altar of service, when in answer to the call of God there will arise from every heart the cry, “Here am I; send me.” God's work is hastening to a speedy triumph. Let us no longer delay to throw ourselves into the channel of his blessing. We can not afford to wait, lest the pillar of God's providence be moved forward and we be left behind. We must move quickly in these times if we would keep step with God's advancing providence, and triumph with his work in the near future. The Coming Jubilee
By C. M. S.
THERE are frequent expressions in the Bible which seem to indicate that even the Spirit of Inspiration was unable to find words adequately to express his feelings of exultation over the prospect of the triumph of righteousness and the end of the reign of sin. Study the significance of these wonderful words:— “Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of Jehovah; awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. . . . And the ransomed of Jehovah shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. . . . Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake thyself from the dust; arise, sit on thy throne, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bonds of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. For thus saith Jehovah, Ye were sold for naught; and ye shall be redeemed without money. . . . How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth.” These expressions from the fifty-first and fifty-second chapters of Isaiah reveal in unmistakable language that heaven is intensely interested in the culmination of the controversy between good and evil, between truth and error, between righteousness and iniquity. Heaven is jubilant over the victory which is soon to be accomplished; and this language is only a foretaste of what will be heard in heaven itself when the victory is won and the ransomed of the Lord are gathered home. We hear an earnest of that strain of praise, spoken of the Redeemer as he returns to heaven with the fruits of his sacrifices on earth:— “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors: and the King of glory will come in. Who is the King of glory? Jehovah strong and mighty, Jehovah mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; yea, lift them up, ye everlasting doors: and the King of glory will come in. Who is this King of glory? Jehovah of hosts, he is the King of glory.” When that being, with the hosts of the redeemed, has passed through the everlasting doors, through the gates of pearl into the city of eternal peace and everlasting righteousness, we are given just a glimpse of the joy-filled host and just a hint of the jubilant song of praise they sing upon the sea of glass around the throne of God. “They sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty; righteous and true are thy ways, thou King of the ages.” Rev. 15: 3, 4. “After these things I heard as it were a great voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, Halleluiah; Salvation, and glory, and power, belong to our God: for true and righteous are his judgments; for he hath judged the great harlot, her that corrupted the earth with her fornication, and he hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And a second time they say, Halleluiah.” The same idea is expressed in the appearance of the New Jerusalem which the prophet John was privileged to see “coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.” Then comes that consoling assurance from the Redeemer himself:— “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them, and they shall be his peoples, and God himself shall be with them, and he their God: and he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more: the first things are passed away.” Rev. 21: 3, 4. Could any language be more expressive of the intensity of Heaven’s interest in the culmination of the work of the gospel in the world? We have at best but a faint idea of what the culmination of God’s plan for the world means to the universe. If we could realize all that10 is involved in it, we would not wonder at Heaven’s intensity, but we would wonder at our own lack of it. We would not wonder that God speaks of spewing a portion of his professed followers out of his mouth; but we would wonder how he refrains from doing this to practically the entire body of his professed people. When that work is completed, and the trophies of God’s grace are gathered home; when the universe is swept clean of sinners and of sin, and the heritage of man is again in his possession through the work of the second Adam,—there will be such a time of rejoicing as this universe has never known and as human words can not express. If the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy when this earth was called out of nothing into existence, what may we not expect when that same portion of God’s creation is called back out of the clutches of sin into the rightful possession of the ransomed sons and daughters of the Almighty! To have a part in that jubilee will be a more precious experience than the human mind can conceive. To have a part in that jubilee means to have eternal life in the everlasting kingdom of righteousness and to enjoy the association of our Redeemer and of unfallen beings through eternal ages. Protestantism and Romanism
By William Warren Prescott
In recent papers and magazines much space has been devoted to reports and discussions relating to the Roman Catholic Church. The elevation of three archbishops to the cardinalate and the public celebrations attending the return of two of them to this country have brought the Roman Church to unusual prominence of late, and have called out very different expressions of opinion concerning the attitude of Protestants toward Roman Catholics. Notable in this discussion is an article in a recent issue of the Christian Work and Evangelist (New York), by Rev. Frederick Lynch, who asks whether the attitude of Protestants toward Roman Catholics is “to be one of hostility and prejudice, such as our fathers entertained, or one of most cordiality and friendliness as to one of the same faith as ours.” To quote further:— Are we going to waste our energies and our feelings in hating another Christian church while we stand almost despairing before a thousand enemies of Christ? For, fundamentally the Roman Church believes as we do: God, righteousness, the sacrificial life, the forgiveness of sins, Christ the only Saviour of humanity, the unparted life of God’s eternity in our hearts, the immortality of the soul. For our part, we have no time to waste in hating
It is a well-known boast of the Roman Catholic Church that she does not change, and that her doctrines to-day are the same as in past centuries. Thus Cardinal Gibbons affirms that “her creed is now identical with what it was in past ages.”—“Faith of Our Fathers,” page 29. This being the case, it follows that there is the same reason for separation from the Roman Catholic Church to-day as in the sixteenth century, and it is perfectly evident that if Martin Luther had taken the same view of this matter as is here expressed by Dr. Lynch, there would never have been any Reformation. Since Rome has not repudiated any of the assumptions which were put forth in the middle ages, and on the other hand by the decree of infallibility has set the seal of inerrancy upon the utterances of the whole line of popes, it ought to be plain to all that any union with Rome in the twentieth century can be brought about only by yielding the whole ground gained by the Reformers, and repudiating their break with the Papacy as unwise and unnecessary. Such utterances as the one we have quoted testify to the apostasy of Protestantism, and indicate the marked change in the attitude of the Protestant clergy toward Romanism which has taken place in the last quarter of a century. Dr. Lynch evidently makes the mistake which is so common among Protestants of supposing that theological terms well understood by Protestants, have the same meaning in Roman Catholic theology as is attached to them in Protestant theology. This leads him to conclude that “fundamentally the Roman Church believes as we do.” But let us note the actual facts: While the Protestant is at liberty to accept the revelation made in the Scriptures according to their plain sense, the Roman Catholic must accept the interpretation of the Scriptures made by the doctors of the Roman Church. This is clearly stated in paragraph 3 of the Creed of Pope Pius IV:— I also admit the Holy Scriptures according to that sense our holy mother church has held and does hold, to which it belongs to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the Scriptures; neither will I ever take and interpret them otherwise than according to the unanimous consent of the fathers.
We call attention to the result of applying this principle to two or three of the doctrines mentioned in the paragraph quoted above. The Catholic doctrine of righteousness or justification is defined at length by the Council of Trent. We quote canon XII:— If any one saith that justifying faith is nothing else but confidence in the divine mercy which remits sins for Christ’s sake, or that this confidence alone is that whereby we are justified, let him be anathema.
This was Rome’s answer to the gospel of justification by faith as preached by Luther and his associates. It is this definition which lays the foundation for the Roman Catholic doctrine of righteousness by works. Are Protestants of the present day prepared to deny the glorious doctrine of justification by faith proclaimed by the Reformers, and to consent to the idea that Roman Catholics and Protestants are in perfect harmony upon this fundamental teaching? Roman Catholics formally admit that “our Lord Jesus Christ is alone the great center of the Christian religion, the fountain of all grace, virtue, and merit,” and that “union with Jesus Christ is the highest and noblest aim of man;” but the practical value of this teaching is entirely nullified by the claim “that only the holy Catholic Church supplies the means for this union with Jesus Christ.” Thus while apparently consenting to the idea that Jesus is the only mediator between God and man, they so make this mediation to depend upon human means that they thereby practically introduce other mediators and saviors, and make the experience of salvation wholly dependent upon the priesthood of the Roman Church. This was one of the vital questions at issue in the Reformation. Are Protestants now ready to admit that it was a mistake to differ with Rome concerning this doctrine, and do they wish to accept the canon of the Council of Trent in the place of the teaching of the Reformation? The wide difference between the teaching of genuine Protestantism and the teaching of Romanism concerning the forgiveness of sin, may be shown by an extract from an authorized text-book. The title is “Familiar Explanation of Christian Doctrine. Adapted for the family and more advanced students in Catholic schools and colleges.” It has the approbation of the Roman hierarchy and was printed by the Roman Catholic publishers, Benziger Brothers, in 1877. We submit this extract:— Question.—Does the priest truly forgive sins, or does he only declare that they are forgiven?
Answer.—Keys are not given to a person that he may declare the gate to be open, but that he may have the power either to open or shut it. Thus also the power of forgiving sins is not given to priests, in order that they may declare sins to be forgiven, but that they may really and truly forgive or retain them.—Page 375.
This blasphemous claim places in the hands of the priesthood absolute control of salvation, and bestows upon every priest the power to shut any person out of heaven.11 In view of these facts we inquire, Is it true that “fundamentally the Roman Church believes as we do?” And are Protestants prepared for union with Rome on the basis of the acceptance of Roman Catholic doctrines as substantially identical with Protestant teaching? What has been designated as “the invasion of Protestant lands by Rome in a spirit of fierce aggressiveness,” and the tendency of some Protestant leaders to compromise with Rome, emphasize the need at the present time of such a proclamation of the gospel in its purity as will show clearly the difference between Protestantism and Romanism, between Christianity and baptized paganism, and will invite all to the standard of “the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Word From the Far East
By I. H. Evans
LEAVING San Francisco, Nov. 22, 1911, our little company of workers, consisting of Elder Elbridge Adams and his wife and their six months’ old babe, and Brother Floyd Ashbaugh, all bound for the Philippines, with Miss Eunice Le Master, Mrs. Evans, and myself, arrived November 28 at Honolulu, where we spent a pleasant day with Elder and Mrs. C. D. M. Williams. None of our workers ever stop at this port without receiving a most hearty welcome from these devoted servants of the Lord. The work in the Hawaiian Islands is moving somewhat slowly, owing to the conditions prevailing in this beautiful island field. We found Elder Williams and his wife both of good courage in the Lord and anxious to do all they can in the advancement of his work. Leaving Honolulu the evening of the same day, we sailed direct for Japan, making the trip on schedule time, and reaching Yokohama on Sabbath morning, December 9. A number of the brethren from Tokio met us at the boat, and we were indeed glad to see their faces once again. They brought with them several letters from our workers in Shanghai, urging us, in view of the situation there, to continue our journey to China without delay. This we accordingly did, canceling our appointments in Japan and Korea. Sabbath morning, December 16, we arrived in Shanghai, and were met by quite a large company of the friends in this place. They had risen long before daylight, and taken the long, cold ride down the river where our ship anchored, twelve miles below Shanghai, to bid us welcome. We were happy to meet these dear friends again, after our six months’ absence. The workers for the Philippines spent one day with us in Shanghai, Elder Adams speaking to the foreign workers in the afternoon, and taking ship immediately afterward for his field of labor. We felt sad to part with these workers after our pleasant association together on our long voyage; but thus it is in the great work in which we are engaged—we meet and part continually. The one all-important thing is for each worker to be loyal to God, and to do the best possible work for the Master. In Shanghai we found all our foreign workers gathered from the central and northern provinces of China. During the trying crisis through which China is now passing, the Lord has mercifully protected his workers, and the lives of all have been preserved. In the destruction of the city of Hankow we lost the furnishings in two chapels, some medical supplies, and some literature. But the lives of the workers were spared; and so far as we know, their homes have not been molested. In the city of Chang-sha a number of missionaries of other denominations made their home in the cottages which we built last summer. Nearly a dozen of these were with Elder R. F. Cottrell and Brother S. C. Harris; and after our workers left for Shanghai, these missionaries continued living in these cottages. Our brethren here believe that not one of our Chinese church-members will give up the truth because of the present troubled condition of the country. If this be so, it will speak well for those who have accepted the message. Our native evangelists have endured much during these trying times, and have shown themselves loyal to the message. One case seems almost miraculous when we read how God wrought for his faithful servants. Money was needed for the native workers in Honan. There was no way to get the money to the field unless some person would carry it there; and this could be done only at the risk of the messenger’s life. But the hour always brings the man in the Lord’s work. A Chinese brother, Liu Tien Bang, volunteered to come down to Shanghai with Elder O. A. Hall, get this money, and return with it to Honan. Two belts were made, each holding two silver shoes (a silver shoe is worth about twenty-five dollars gold); and this man and a boy, each wearing one of these belts, started for Honan. It was impossible for them to go by the way of Hankow, as the route was in the hands of either imperial or revolutionary troops. Away from the troops, bands of robbers terrorized the roadways. Altogether, from a human view-point, there seemed little likelihood that they would ever get through with their lives, to say nothing of the money. In view of the conditions on land, Brother Liu and his assistant took a route mostly by water, steering, as they supposed, where the soldiers would not be. They passed through the famine-stricken district of Anhwei. While in this district, for no reason that they were conscious of, they tarried two days at a small place, and then started again on their way. Afterward they learned that the road they planned to take had been for a long time under the terror of an armed band of robbers. During the two days these men waited, a company of soldiers marched through this district, defeating the robber band, and setting the country free from their power. On another occasion these brethren were called in before the officials, and their belongings were examined to see if they were carrying money or contraband of war to the enemy. But again the Lord delivered his faithful servants; and though their baggage was carefully examined, their persons were not touched. Thus they were allowed to pursue their way; and through the great mercy of our Heavenly Father the needs of the workers were relieved. In Shanghai an epidemic of the measles has been raging for some time, both natives and foreigners suffering from the disease. So far about fifteen of our workers or members of their families have suffered from the epidemic; but all have made a good recovery. The circulation of our literature is practically at a standstill for the present; but it now looks as if matters would soon be so adjusted that the future of our work in this field would be more and more bright. A general meeting for the foreign workers in China has been called, Jan. 25 to Feb. 10, 1912. Three years have passed since we have held a meeting of this kind; and we earnestly ask the prayers of the believers everywhere that God will greatly bless us during this important gathering. Our workers are of good courage, and we look for splendid results in giving this last great message in this darkened land. I. H. EVANS. IN the House of Representatives on May 26, 1908, Hon. Joseph J. Russell, of Missouri, quoted the following timely statement from a speech made by Mr. W. J. Bryan:— The attempt to unite church and state has never been helpful to either government or religion, and it is not at all certain that human nature can yet be trusted to use the instrumentalities of government to enforce religious ideas. The persecutions which have made civilization blush have been attempts to compel conformity to religious beliefs sincerely held and zealously promulgated. The above is a statement of truth which ought to be apparent to each one conversant with history. The Night Is at Hand
By M. E. Yergin
The evening lamps are lighting;
The sun is going down;
The stretching shade along the glade,
Is blending farm and town.
The muffled tread of armies
Sounds through the gathering gloom;
The world, astir, perceives the whirr
Of a coming stroke of doom. Each throne is thrilled with trembling;
Each crown sits insecure;
Each royal heart, with troubled start,
Feels fear and terror sure.
The last white fields of harvest,
Evangel reapers glean;
Their dots of light in the edge of night
Will soon no more be seen. For the dread of all the ages
Creeps out within the shade;
And each skulking king swift hastes to
bring
The fear his hands have made;
While the Saviour of the ages
Comes o’er the furrowed hills,
With his angel throng sent out along
Where earth’s raging battle kills. With praise, and shouts of triumph,
Come hosts from ancient graves;
And from dungeon gloom, and prison
room,
And from under the ocean waves.
The living rise to their Saviour,
With the last sheaves they could glean;
They light no more earth’s death-dark
shore,
They are stars in eternity’s sheen. Forever and forever,
As long as the ages roll,
Our God will give to all who live,
The desire of their inmost soul;
And joy shall be transcendent
With the souls whom they beckoned
home
With their dots of light in the edge of
night,
When the night of this earth had come.