Earlier text: Increase of CrimeThe Beatitudes in Their Broader Expression
By MRS. M. E. STEWARD
“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” “If a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.” Gal. 6:3. “Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” Luke 14:11. This “kingdom of God is within you.” Luke 17:21. It is “righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” Rom. 14:17. “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.” “By the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.” Eccl. 7:3. “The Lord hath anointed me . . . to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.” Isa. 61:1-3. “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” “The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.” Ps. 25:9. “He will beautify the meek with salvation.” Ps. 149:4. “Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart.” Matt. 11:29. O the wonderful beauty and strength of the meekness of Christ which never failed, but made him always more than conqueror! The meek, “according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” 2 Peter 3:13. “Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” “O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.” Ps. 119:97. “With my soul have I desired thee in the night.” Isa. 26:9. They shall be filled—filled with righteousness, that is right-doing; “filled with all the fulness of God.” Eph. 3:19. “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” “With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” Matt. 7:2. “The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.” James 5:11. “Let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.” Gal. 6:10. “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” How can a corrupt heart be made pure?—“By faith,” and by “obeying the truth through the Spirit.” Acts 15:9; 1 Peter 1:22. To such as have been purified the Saviour can say, “From henceforth ye know him [God], and have seen him.” John 14:7. “When he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” 1 John 3:2. “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, . . . and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.” 2 Cor. 5:19. “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children.” Eph. 5:1. “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own.” John 15:19. Hence the persecuted can say with Paul, “I take pleasure in . . . persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake.” 2 Cor. 12:10. “Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance.” Col. 3:24. “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven.” “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” 1 Cor. 2:9. “Let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.” These words, spoken by our Saviour, refer to common conversation, and not to the judicial oath. Some people in their common conversation swear by their own life, saying, “As sure as I live, I will do so,” or, “I hope to die if I don’t so do.” Others say, “As sure as there is a God in heaven, I will do as I say.” It is against this common kind of swearing that Jesus warns his disciples in Matt. 5: 33-37. Jesus submitted to the oath in the hour of his trial in court, when the high priest said, “I adjure thee by the living God.” Instead of reproving the high priest for thus administering to him the oath, he submitted the only truthful answer, “Thou hast said” (Matt. 26: 63, 64); “I am” (Mark 14: 61, 62). This was Christ’s only opportunity in life to set before his disciples the Christian’s true attitude toward the judicial oath. It will be remembered that at least two of Jesus’ disciples were present on this occasion. John 18: 15, 18, 24, 25.8 If Jesus, in teaching his disciples, had before condemned judicial oath taking, he would have enforced his teaching by refusing to be sworn, and would no doubt have reproved the high priest who administered the oath. The Exile’s Longing
By G. W. Reaser
“THE captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.” Isa. 51:14. These words express two of the most intense longings of the people of God throughout the history of the world. As sojourners in a world where sin, suffering, pain, and death reign, they are exiles from home, captives in a strange land, far away from their Father’s house. The old earth, groaning under the curse of sin, has become a vast cemetery, a “pit,” where uncounted billions have been overtaken by death and have moldered to dust. The children of God know that unless their Deliverer comes, they will all soon feel the chill of death. That Deliverer is Christ, who at his second coming will clothe his people with immortality and take them to a deathless abode. Till Jesus comes there is no escape from death, no possible way to “be loosed,” even for the children of the kingdom. Till then all the captive exiles will continue to “die in the pit,”—feel the cruel grasp of death, and unwillingly surrender to its claim. An inspired apostle expresses this longing to be delivered by the coming of the King, that he might “not die in the pit,” in these words: “Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” The second great longing of the human heart, mentioned in our text, is, “nor that his bread should fail.” One of the fiercest struggles of the human family is the battle for bread, the ever-present anxiety of the masses to secure a livelihood. And this struggle, this anxiety, this dread, will abide with the race until the redeemed are finally “loosed” from this world by the coming of the King. Then, as it is written, “they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; . . . for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters.” We may well inquire, In what way can the captive exile hasten, “that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit”? One thing must first be accomplished before deliverance will come. The King himself set the task. “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” This, then, is the task set for the captive exiles, and it must be completed before they can be loosed. The last message of love and mercy must be proclaimed to all the world; and an all-consuming passion for souls, one mighty incentive, ought to urge onward the children of God to hasten and finish their task, that all the captive exiles may be delivered from death forevermore and be with their King. Immediately associated with our text we find this precious, soul-inspiring promise: “The redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.” Jehovah’s purpose is that the earth shall finally be entirely peopled with those whose characters are righteous; but he “is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” No remedy for repining is needed by him who, while waiting for deliverance, is imbued with the love of Christ and joins heart and soul with all the agencies of heaven in warning the world and in winning souls for the kingdom. The Second Commandment
By Milton C. Wilcox
THE second precept in the great decalogue of God, Jehovah, is as follows:— “Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them; for I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing loving-kindness [“mercy,” margin] unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.” Ex. 20:4-6, A. R. V. The first commandment recognizes that there may be those to whom our allegiance is due, those whom some men regard as divine, as judges, rulers, kings, persons who claim divine prerogatives. Certain civil duties may be rendered to them; but God must be first. No worship or homage should be offered to any ruler, to any combination of rulers, or to any government, contrary to the worship of God, or before or in preference to the worship due to him. The second commandment is equally important. Let us study it:— 1. The commandment does not forbid making pictures, or photographs, or engravings, or statuary, or printing or reproducing such things, any more than it forbids the making of chairs, or bureaus, or sideboards, or sofas, or houses, or churches. The making of these things is not wrong unless the motive, the purpose, is wrong. God gave directions to his people to build and ornament and embellish the sanctuary. Figures of bells and pomegranates and angels were used for these purposes. See Ex. 25:1-9, 18, 25, 33; 26:31; 28:2, 33; 1 Kings 6:18, 29, 32, etc. The building and carrying of all these was not a transgression of the second word of the ten. Nor did Ezekiel transgress when he took a tile and portrayed a city under siege, with the necessary things for a siege. And God has especially directed his teachers in the last days to “write the vision, and make it plain upon tables.” Hab. 2:2. All the above were made to aid worship, or to teach, or to beautify in a legitimate way, but none of them were made to worship. Moses did not transgress when he made a serpent of brass and put it upon a pole. Num. 21:9. Nor did the children of Israel transgress when they looked upon it and were healed. But they did transgress when, in later times, they worshiped it, moving Hezekiah’s faithful heart to destroy it, “a piece of brass.” 2 Kings 18:4. 2. No, the commandment does not prohibit the mere making of things, but the making of things to worship. For God must not be so disparagingly limited and belittled. Sooner or later men would transfer their ideas of God to the image, and would invest that with supernatural power, or they would transfer their ideas of the image of wood or stone to God, and thus degrade God in their own minds, and to the same extent debase and degrade themselves. One of the great blessings of faith is constantly to draw man out after the infinite God, toward the One he can never fully comprehend. That means continued growth, continual enlargement, continual happiness of the highest order. He worships a God infinite in greatness, who can be represented by no art or device of man, by no conception or imagination of man; and looked upon rightly, there is great joy in the thought, if faith will but keep the great fact that the God he worships, infinite in power and wisdom and might and knowledge, is also infinite in love and mercy, in tender, constant care for those who trust him. It is for this reason, in part at least, that God has connected with this commandment the thought of his loving-kindness, not alone to thousands, but to a thousand generations (see Ex. 20:6, A. R. V., margin, and Deut. 7:9) of them that love and obey. In other words, he abides the same yesterday, today, and forever. It is not an arbitrary act of God that visits the sins of the parents upon the children; he does not sentence the son for the guilt of his father. God’s thought is clearly expressed in the eighteenth chapter of Ezekiel. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son.” Verse 20. Personally, each one of us shall “give account of himself to God.” Rom. 14:12. But it is according to the law of heredity that the man who sows the seed of9 transgression, in debasing, ruinous habits, may see the harvest in weak-minded, criminal, diseased offspring. Lowell has truly said, “They enslave their children’s children who make compromise with sin.” Oftentimes the children or grandchildren or great-grandchildren of the drunkard are imbeciles or insane. The transgression of God’s law, morally and physically, will be seen in the reaping time, if not in the original transgressor, at least in his offspring. But if the offspring rightly relates himself to God, God’s great grace will perform mighty miracles. One other thought in this study. To transgress the law, one need not carve or mold or cast a graven image and bow down to it. He may have a pantheon of gods in the temple of his mind. The image concept is in the mind generally before it is made in concrete form. God sees in the soul the cherished imaginings of sins and lusts. Read it all in Ezekiel 8. God permitted the prophet to see some of the sins that were committed in the dark, in the “chambers of imagery.” Then, too, men worship their farms, their houses, their automobiles, their art, their books, their own handiwork, and are truly idolaters. To whatever object man daily bows, rendering homage thereto, that he worships. He may not make it a caricature of a man or an ox or a goat, but he worships a false god, and is a transgressor of the second commandment of the decalogue. Thank God, the grace of Christ can save men from every species of false worship, open or in secret. Abyssinian Mission
By H. Steiner
PERHAPS a report from our mission would be of interest to REVIEW readers. We feel very thankful to God, who has guided and blessed the work so wonderfully at this place. We had the first baptism here last year. Since then we have had two like occasions. Seven Ethiopians, in all, followed their Lord in this ordinance, one of whom has since fallen asleep. Others are now interested and ask for baptism. We have to be careful in selecting them. As far as possible work is provided for them while they are receiving instruction. Thus they can be proved. Five days in the week they have half a day for work on the farm. If we see no good will on their part, we are guided accordingly. Some leave as soon as they hear they are to work. We are glad for an opportunity to prove them before we speak of admission or of their taking part in our special preparation class. Our special feature here in mission work was our boys' school. But as time passed, adults came to the mission. One whom we had never seen, came to tell us he recognized the truth of the Sabbath of the Bible, having been reproved by others for working on that day. The Abyssinians in general keep two days, the seventh day and the first, although the seventh seems of less importance to them. This man kept Sunday only, as he did not believe in the seventh day at all. But on being reproved by his own people, he searched the Scriptures, and as a result rejected the first day, and began again to keep the seventh. He united with us, being one of the first here to be baptized. He has proved true, and others are now interested, and have decided to stay with us. Many think to find a good opportunity here to make a living, but these soon leave. Those who prove faithful and remain, bring gladness to our hearts. All the farm work is now done by those attending school. They do the work without the attention on our part which was necessary when we hired the work done. One man came from the interior of Abyssinia, from a so-called Jewish tribe of Ethiopians. The Jews of Europe, considering them as brethren, are doing mission work among them. This man seems to be impressed by the present truth. From our first members we now have developed two good teachers to assist us in the work. We arranged last year for the school to end at the time of the field harvest, that we might employ the pupils in the harvest immediately after the close of school. This will be an improvement. On the whole, this has been our best school year. We are of good courage, and rejoice to be found worthy to have a part in God's work for this time. May it soon be accomplished is our prayer. Remember before the throne of grace our little company here. Santa Catharina, Brazil
By Henry Haefft
SINCE our last report in the REVIEW we have moved to Brusque, and so we shall tell of our blessings and trials at this place. The people here are almost all Roman Catholics, and well under the control of their priests. Under these conditions it is difficult for the third angel’s message to make advancement. When we began our work here, it seemed to give promise of great prosperity, and our meetings were well attended; but as soon as the priests found out what was going on, they made a strong effort against us. Nearly every Sunday for some time their theme was “The Adventists.” They also printed articles against us in the newspaper, and followed us in our house-to-house work, warning the people not to go to our meetings nor read our literature, and spoke specially against the reading of the Bible. This kind of treatment from the priests has resulted in lessening the interest, but not in destroying it all. As the result of these efforts against us, we are meeting with persecution. One night, on our way home from a cottage meeting, we were overtaken by a mob of thirteen men, all armed with clubs. They threatened to kill us that night (there were only three of us), but the Lord saved our lives. At one of our meetings there was such a noise outside that scarcely a word could be understood; but we paid no attention to it. While I was preaching, I thought of Lot’s experience as the mob gathered around his house. Later I tried to hold a meeting at this same place. That night they cut my saddle and bridle to pieces, but they spared my horse, for which I thank the Lord. We could tell many other experiences like these, but this will be sufficient to give some idea of our work here. In spite of all the efforts Satan has made, we are glad to say that the Lord gave us some souls. Seven persons were baptized October 23, two others are expecting to be baptized soon, and many others are interested. Whenever we meet with these dear people, I cannot help thinking of Peter’s experience at the house of Cornelius. That same Spirit is working with the honest souls today in a marvelous manner. Oh, I10 wish you all could see how God’s Spirit is working upon the hearts of these believers as they break away from their bad habits and sins! The Spirit of God is striving with men everywhere, but how long will it continue to strive with them? There is so much to do here in the state of Santa Catharina! We have only one ordained minister, one licentiate, one Bible worker, one canvasser, and three church-school teachers. There should be many more to give the message. We are following the command of Jesus, and praying for laborers. May God answer our prayers, and send others to help gather the harvest. Dr. Van Dyke’s Definition of Heaven
Dr. VAN DYKE gives the following definition of heaven: “Heaven is like the life of Jesus with all the conflict of human sin left out. Heaven is like the feeding of the multitude in the wilderness, with everybody sure to get ample to eat. Heaven is like the woman sinner from the street who bathed the feet of Jesus in her tears and wiped them with her hair. I do not want to know more than that. It is peace, joy, victory, triumph; it is life. It is love, it is tireless work, faithful and unselfish service going on forever. The way to achieve all this is to try to follow Christ today, tomorrow, and the day after, through prayer and right living.”—The Continent. Overcoming Evil With Good
If you love only them that love you, if you observe the golden rule toward only those who naturally provoke you to good and kind things, what thanks have you, what reward, what victory? The Christian life is an overcoming of evil by good. It is life among all sorts and conditions of men, and yet toward all governed and regulated by one inspiring and dominating principle, whether they be rich or poor, educated or uneducated, attractive or unattractive.—Western Recorder. Among the People in Northwest Rhodesia
By S. M. Konigmacher
This is a beautiful morning (November 11). There has been a shower, which has cooled the air a little. The last few weeks have been very hot in the middle of the day. I have just come in from Fufwa, where I went to help the native teacher start some village schools. On account of the cattle, the sheep, and the goats, the boys who ought to be in school are busy herding, and many prefer to be with the cattle rather than to learn to read and write. We think we are quite fortunate if we can get ten or fifteen boys to school, whereas I thought a school of twenty in Nyasaland a very small one indeed. There is no school building, so we hold the school in the shade of an old hut. The village is usually built in a circle, with the cattle inclosure in the middle. In many of these villages there is a smoldering fire of manure near each hut, and near this fire we gather for our first lessons in reading. Many times during the session one of the boys will go to see if the meat roasting in the ashes is done, and once we had to stop school till they had eaten. If a stranger comes, they will stop and ask him if he has arrived well, if the children are well, although the person addressed may not be married at all; then they ask where he comes from, and what is the news. I usually am seated on an old drum, while the boys sit on pieces of wood, or on stools carved out of a solid piece of wood. After a little while the girls quit playing, and I call them to come and join us in the fun. They come, all nicely greased with butter; and when I hand them a book, they usually turn it upside down. When I ask one what a certain word is that I tried to teach them the day before, she will turn to her companion and ask her what it is. She thinks she is doing her friend a great favor. But the strange thing is that when I ask the one who has just given help correctly, she does not know, but will ask the one whom she has helped, and that one will tell her. There is one thing that is very encouraging, and that is that the natives like our songs. Many times when we have finished a service or a school session, they will ask us to sing again. It is also very amusing to watch the people when they kneel for the first time. We tell them to bow down and close their eyes, and each will tell the one next to him to keep quiet. Some will place their hands over the eyes of small children, who often then cry loudly. They do not know what "Amen" means, and when we have finished we must tell them so, and then there is a good laugh at those who did not do it right. Sometimes the boys come to school with seeds pasted over or around their eyes, to show they are accustomed to the manly art (as they consider it) of smoking lubanja, which is a sort of opium. Even small children smoke, and in the evening they sit around the fire with the older ones, smoking their little pipes. The women and girls also use tobacco. I often think that if in learning of Christ the natives had to endure the hardship of learning to smoke, of wearing those heavy anklets, or of having the teeth knocked out to beautify themselves, they would think they were very much abused; but when custom demands it of them, they obey without a word of complaint. About the first thing the natives ask me is, "Have you brought the pictures?" They enjoy the magic lantern. It aids in the difficult task of keeping them quiet so that I can tell them the story of salvation. They especially enjoy the slides showing fishes. It was in this same village at Fufwa that I dressed a man's leg which had been broken three years before, and for want of proper care had rotted away, so that it was all gone but a small part near the hip. One evening a little herdboy brought in a deer that his dog had killed while he was out with the cattle. This makes me think of a rather interesting experience I had when I was on my way home from the Zambezi River. It was very hot, and after walking and climbing the mountain, I came to some native gardens, where I hoped to find water to drink. I sat down under a tree to rest, and presently I heard something pushing its way through the tall grass by the side of a dry stream bed. In a few moments a little deer came in sight. I sat perfectly still, and the graceful little thing did not know what to do. It would first put its head on one side, and then on the other. It could not decide whether I was a friend or an enemy. But after a little it decided it would better not stay any longer, and away it bounded over the tall grass in graceful leaps. It will be a beautiful experience in the kingdom of heaven to have all these animals come close to one, instead of rushing off for fear of death by a rifle shot. The government is picking out the strong men among the natives of the district, and sending them to the front as carriers for the soldiers. When I went to Lusaka there were two carloads of natives from the Manenga district on their way. This may affect the schools. All the workers here at the station are well, and the boys in the school seem anxious for an education. During the dry season the natives burn off the grass. There was a big fire at Fufwa on Sabbath, but it did not come toward the pool, so the grass was saved for the cattle. In some places great patches are burned clean, while in other parts some of the stalks of grass remain after the fire has passed through it. This made me think of how it will be with us; how it is even now. The fiery trials burn out all that is not alive. The grass that had life in the stem was spared; so all in the church who have the Spirit of Christ in their hearts to keep them alive will remain standing, while those who have lost the Spirit and are practically dead, will be consumed. In some patches there were a number of these live stalks together, and in others they were scattering and stood alone. It is my desire that I shall be found among those who are alive and standing after the fire has done its work. Surely time cannot last very much longer. The signs are fulfilling all around us, and no one knows what is coming next. We are surely blessed in having such a timely message. No one need be found sleeping, if he will only obey the truth. The Fu-Chau Meeting
By W. C. Hankins
As there is no foreign worker in Fu-chau, China, we have thought best to hold a general meeting there several times each year, thereby keeping in touch with the work, and also keeping the points of our faith constantly before the people. One meeting was held in the spring, one the last of June, and we have just finished holding another during the latter part of October. My wife and I arrived in Fu-chau the twelfth of October. Since our last visit a new work has been opened up in the village of Sin-chiu, about eight miles from the city of Fu-chau, and there was a call for us to hold a few meetings with that company. Accompanied by Elder Keh, we hired some chairs and went out to this village for a few days’ meeting. We found it to be in a very beautiful location near the banks of a river, and surrounded by mountains. Fields of sugar cane, and a very sweet-scented flowering shrub, whose flowers are picked to mix with tea leaves, surrounded the village, so that it is one of the prettiest Chinese villages we were ever in. If it had had the same sanitary arrangements that are found in every small place in the homeland, it would have been an ideal location. The chapel is in a rented building at the edge of the village. A good school of more than twenty nice-looking boys occupied part of the compound, while another school was carried on in another part of the village, with nearly as many more. The teachers in these schools are Adventists, and the schools are almost11 self-supporting, the mission paying only sixty dollars a year wages for one of the three teachers. A Sabbath school of fifty-nine members, with an average attendance of over fifty, has been organized here, of whom six men had been baptized at the previous Fu-chau meeting. At the close of our service Sabbath afternoon we all went down to the river, and there nine others were buried with their Lord in baptism. As there are now fifteen members and a number of interested ones, we have decided to organize a church here in the near future. From Sin-chiu we returned to Fu-chau. We first held a few meetings with our own church members, and then began an eight days’ meeting for all who would attend. Big posters were pasted up in the city, and we had a good attendance. Our chapel was generally quite well filled, the attendance averaging about one hundred and fifty. Friday afternoon we took a long chair ride to the river, where nineteen persons were baptized. One of the candidates for baptism is an old, white-haired blind man. His story is quite an interesting one. He is a well-educated heathen, and in his younger days was very devoted to the worship of idols. One day, while worshiping the idols, he went blind. From that time he never worshiped the idols again, but began seeking after the true God. When our chapel was opened in Fu-chau, he heard of the new doctrine and came to listen. He has a wife and three children, one boy and one girl being old enough to be in school; but the necessity of making a living forbids their entering school unless they can get help. It would take only forty dollars gold a year to put these two children through school and pay all necessary expenses. This man is not a beggar, but makes a scanty living by rolling pills in a medicine shop. I understand, however, that he earns less than twenty-five dollars gold a year. That is rather scanty living for five persons, even in China. Our Chinese brethren do not leave all the giving to be done by the brethren in other lands. Brother Keh told us many stories of how the brethren helped their poor out of their own slender substance, and it made our hearts ache when he told us of some who were themselves quite poor, who would yet help those poorer than they. During the meeting nearly six hundred dollars Mexican was pledged toward the building of the boys’ school and a chapel in the city of Fu-chau. We have succeeded in securing a specially favorable location in the heart of the city. The old temple buildings on this land can easily be remodeled to serve as school and chapel. It will take about three thousand dollars gold to build a school that will accommodate two hundred pupils, and a church that will seat five or six hundred people. There are now more than one hundred baptized church members in the Fu-chau district, and over one hundred boys enrolled in our school, of whom eighty-six are boarding pupils. The school has already outgrown our present quarters, and we need the money at once with which to build the new school. Now is the time for us to push the work in this important center. Fu-chau is the second largest city in South China, and we have a splendid interest there which will grow if we but foster it. We need, however, to show the people that we have come to stay, and nothing else will do this so well as some good, substantial buildings. The angels of God have gone before us to open the way. Pray for us, that the Spirit of God may rest upon us and our Chinese workers, that we may be endued with power to follow where God leads the way. Two Years in Peru
By E. L. Maxwell
IT is now two years since we came to Peru, and looking back over the manifestations of the blessings of the Lord, it seems almost unreal that such advancement should have been made as we have seen here. The work began here about fourteen years ago, in the midst of what then seemed insurmountable difficulties. For seven years it was a fearful battle against indifference and fanaticism. At the end of that period there were to be found in Peru twenty-six Sabbath keepers. With a better organization, under the leadership of Brother A. N. Allen, the work went forward more rapidly, so that at the time of our arrival at the conclusion of his five years of earnest labor, there were one hundred and eighty-seven baptized believers, according to the best statistics we have. The organization of the work has been further strengthened, and we have made an especially strong effort to get all the local members at work, believing that in this way we could accomplish much more than by a few scattered efforts on the part of the foreign workers. The results have been more than we anticipated. During 1914 the time was nearly all occupied with preparations for gathering the harvest. The past year, 1915, has been the harvest ingathering time for us, though only a beginning has been made. In September, 1915, I started up the north coast, and before returning had baptized sixty persons,—carpenters, tailors, shoemakers, and others, nearly all of the artisan class. In the mountains at an elevation of 13,000 feet, in sight of the eternal snows, I baptized three Quechua Indians, our first fruits among them, on my thirty-seventh birthday. I could not have received a more gratifying birthday present than this privilege. In Arequipa, the most fanatical city of the country, Brother I. Kalbermatten has been at work with the message, making steady progress. He now has a nice little church there. At Puno the work is advancing, so that we cannot begin to fill the calls, even with the two families added to the workers there. On the plains of Junin, three miles above the sea, I celebrated the first Protestant baptism, in sight of the famous battle field where Bolivar and Sucre wrested the southern continent from the dominion of Spain one hundred years ago. In Contumaza I was stoned three times by the infuriated and fanatical populace. I baptized seven there. In Supe I baptized four brethren in the famous Acequia, or irrigating ditch, which is really a river, about twenty-five miles long, that was cut six hundred years ago by a general of the great Chimu, who ruled the coast for centuries before the imperial armies of the Inca Manco were able to extend the sway of their sovereign in those parts. This was two centuries before the conquest by the Spaniards. This artificial river passes over great sandy plains and under a considerable chain of hills in order to reach the fertile valleys of Supe and Barranca. At the end of our first two years in this field we have seen added to our membership in Peru, 303 persons, so that we now have 490, with more than 75 to be baptized in the next three weeks. We are reaping the harvest of the sowing of other years, but the harvest has only just begun. The brethren have wept tears of joy as we have outlined our plans for the coming two years. These plans aim at the doubling of our membership, and an effort to place our mission on a self-supporting basis. We need more men, good men, like the last sent us, and we feel assured, with the blessing of God attending our labors, that it will not be long till Peru will send word that the ancient Empire of the Sun is enjoying the full light of the Sun of Righteousness. Two hundred Indian pupils are expected to enter school work at the Plateria mission, near Lake Titicaca, Peru, this spring. Brother and Sister J. M. Howell, with Indian assistants, are to be in charge of the school. BROTHER I. F. BLUE, in charge of the India training school at Lucknow, was recently compelled to go to our treatment rooms in Calcutta because of a relapse after an attack of diphtheria. Brother Roland Loasby is conducting the class work during Brother Blue’s absence. BROTHER J. S. JAMES, in a letter dated Dec. 19, 1915, says: “Our work is going forward very encouragingly here in the South India Mission. The close of this month will show that we have had more baptisms the past year than any other part of the field has had. We have numerous open doors that we cannot enter without additional help and means. We are now printing literature in two new languages. Our colporteurs are going out into the remote villages and districts, and many favorable reports are coming in.”