JAMIE’s mother said he never remembered anything. The simplest direction must be repeated two or three times for him. But an observant person might have said that the reason Jamie did not remember was that he did not need to. His mother always said things over for him.
When Jamie’s mother was ill, his grandmother came to take care of the family. Grandmother knew a great deal about boys because she had brought up five, and all were men to be proud of. Jamie’s father was one of them, and Jamie and his mother were sure he was a man to be proud of, even if grandmother had not thought so.
The first day grandmother was there, Jamie forgot to go to the grocery, and forgot to bring the jelly from the preserve closet, and forgot—there were just seven other things that he forgot.
“You have to tell him a dozen times before he remembers,” said poor mother from her pillow.
“Oh, no, dear! Let us teach him to remember with only one telling,” said grandmother.
The next morning grandmother said, “It’s time to feed the chickens, Jamie.”
Just then Raymond called from the back yard. He had a new ball mitt, and Jamie went out to admire and try it on.
“Jamie,” said grandmother from the doorway, “come here, please. Did you do what I told you?”
“What did you tell me, grandmother?” said Jamie pleasantly.
“Sit down here until you can remember,” said grandmother.
Jamie scowled fiercely, but he sat down. He wanted very much to play ball with Raymond, so he hurried and thought of everything he might be asked to do. When his eye fell upon the pan of chicken feed he remembered, and was off like a flash to do his work.
When he started to the grocery that day, he came back to say that he had forgotten what he was to get.
“Sit down here, and think until you remember it,” said grandmother. And it took much longer that time.
Every time that day that he forgot what he had been asked to do, he was required to sit down and try to recall it. Once he could not, he simply had not listened at all, and grandmother had to tell him again. But that was not until he had spent nearly a half hour trying to remember. No fellow likes to take a half hour to remember, when the boys are out in the back yard waiting for him to help build a merry-go-round.
Before a week had passed, Jamie’s memory was improved to such a degree that he could listen to grandmother’s grocery list once, and then repeat it correctly to the clerk when he got to the store.—The Mother’s Magazine.
Under South American Skies — No. 5
By W. W. Prescott
Brother Montgomery and I, accompanied by Brother Arthur L. Westphal, who was returning to Argentina, arrived at Valparaiso on Wednesday, May 10, after an uneventful voyage from Lima. We were met by Elder F. L. Perry, the newly elected president of the Chile Conference, and other brethren, and found that appointments had already been made for public services. That same evening we spoke to the believers in Valparaiso in their usual place of meeting, where about fifty came together. The next day we went to Santiago, where we were hospitably entertained at the home of Brother Perry. We held four meetings in the hall occupied by the church in Santiago. The attendance was good, and the interest was excellent. There are about seventy members of the church in Santiago, and plans have been made for a public effort, when it is hoped that this number will be largely increased.
On the following Monday we left Santiago for Buenos Aires, and as we were obliged to stop overnight at Los Andes, the last place of any importance before crossing the Andes, an appointment had been made for an evening service there. There is no organized church at Los Andes, but about twenty-five believers and interested persons gathered at the home of one of the brethren, and we had a profitable meeting with them. Brethren Perry and Soto accompanied us to this place.
An important meeting of the executive committee of the South American Division Conference had been appointed to be held as soon as we arrived in Buenos Aires, and Brethren F. W. Spies and H. Meyer, of the Brazilian Union Conference, reached the city a few hours in advance of us, to attend this meeting. Five out of the seven members of the committee were present, the absent members being Elder E. L. Maxwell, the superintendent of the Inca Union Mission, and Brother W. H. Williams, the secretary-treasurer, who was then making preparations to leave the United States for his new field.
The committee continued its sessions ten days, and the occasion was a very profitable one. We all felt the need of a special blessing from God as a preparation for the work before us, and we earnestly sought for that blessing. An hour or more was spent each morning in studying the Bible and reading the Testimonies and in prayer. The provision which the Lord has made for us in order that we may have a rich Christian experience was dwelt upon, and how this same experience may be ministered to others was also considered. We felt a deep conviction that all the workers in South America ought to join with us in a special consecration to the work in giving this closing message in this great field, and as a means to this end Brother Montgomery was requested to prepare in behalf of the committee a letter to be sent to each worker, setting forth the need of a real revival throughout the field, and inviting all to join in a concert of prayer to bring about such a result. This letter has since been forwarded to the laborers, and so far as we have learned, it has called out an encouraging response. We confidently look for greater results in this field as the fruit of this special consecration on the part of the workers.
One of the most important matters before the committee was the preparation of the statement of the needs of the field for 1917, to be submitted to the Mission Board in the United States as a basis for the annual appropriation to South America. This involved a careful study of the work now being carried forward in every mission and how it ought to be developed. It was because I desired to cooperate intelligently with the committee in this work and in presenting the requirements to the Mission Board that I felt the necessity of visiting the west coast and then returning to Buenos Aires for a final meeting with the committee before sailing for the United States. I am thoroughly satisfied that the results fully justified this change in my program. After having the opportunity to observe for myself the conditions under which the work must be carried forward, I was much better prepared to counsel with the brethren as to plans for the future. We spent several days in going over these matters in the most careful way, developing plans for the advancement of the work in all parts of the field.
One especially encouraging feature of the situation in South America is the number of South Americans who are ready to enter the work. There are now about fifteen such persons, some of whom have already had some experience in the field, and their names were placed on the list for the consideration of the Mission Board. One great advantage which these young people have over those who come from the United States is the fact that the language of the country is their own language. What this means is best appreciated by those who are obliged to pray and preach in an acquired language.
Among the important actions of the committee was the organization of the Lake Titicaca Indian Mission. Brother F. A. Stahl was appointed superintendent, and Brethren C. V. Achenbach and J. M. Howell were associated with him on the committee. The definite territory included in this mission consists of the departments of Puno, Cuzco, and Madre de Dios, in Peru, and that part of the basin of Lake Titicaca which is in Bolivia. At present there are more Sabbath keepers within the borders of this mission than in all the remaining portion of Peru and Bolivia, and the number is steadily increasing. I have spoken in a former report of the many openings and calls for additional workers around Lake Titicaca, and the South American Division Conference Committee approved the requests suggested by the local committee for further help.
The budget for 1917 as finally adopted indicated clearly the desire and the purpose of the leaders in this South American field to do all in their power to bring the work in this country to a speedy conclusion. They will wait with much interest to see whether their suggestions to the Mission Board can be adopted.
I fully expected to sail for the United States June 8, but an accident to the ship caused a delay of two weeks. All arrangements have now been made to sail on the steamship "Vauban," of the Lamport and Holt line, June 25. We left New York in midwinter and arrived in Brazil in midsummer. We leave Buenos Aires in midwinter and shall arrive in New York in midsummer.
On reviewing the work of the six months which I have spent in South America, I find that I have attended two union conferences and two local conferences, and that I have visited every mission field and the most of the places where any special work is being carried forward. I have spoken 87 times, besides attending a very large number of other meetings. We have had manifest tokens of the working of the Holy Spirit on many occasions, for which I have been very thankful. In every part of the field we have been cordially welcomed by the workers, and they have made our stay among them most pleasant. Homes have been freely opened to us, and the real spirit of Christian hospitality has been shown toward us. This we have thoroughly appreciated. We leave the field with a deep interest in the success of the work here, and we shall continue to pray and labor for the advancement of the third angel's message in South America.
W. W. Prescott.
Reaching the Masses
By Chas. Thompson
THE camp meetings of the Northern Union Conference for 1916 are in the past. We began them May 25 and closed June 25, holding a ten-day meeting in each of the four conferences comprising the union. These meetings will be reported by others, but I desire to report an effort during and immediately following these meetings that will perhaps not be mentioned in other reports.
Elder A. G. Daniells was with us through our entire series, and labored with his usual freedom and enthusiasm in behalf of all the interests to be considered at a large camp meeting. In addition to this, he gave ten lectures in public halls, auditoriums, and theaters, and in these ten meetings he spoke to about twelve thousand people. These lectures were given in the cities of Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth, Superior, Jamestown, Fargo, Hutchinson, Mankato, and Colquet. At each place quite thorough advertising was done, and notwithstanding the severe heat, we were greeted with fine audiences which gave marked attention to the words spoken.
Elder Daniells's subject was “The World's War; Its Cause and Meaning.” From prophecy and history and from statements of modern scholars and writers, emphasized by various maps and views thrown upon a large screen by a stereopticon, convincing testimony was given that the present European conflict16is a prelude to Armageddon, and a fulfilment, in part at least, of the scenes foretold in the last verses of the eleventh chapter and the first verses of the twelfth chapter of the book of Daniel.
At these lectures about two thousand interested persons gave their names and addresses that they might be further informed upon this and kindred subjects through the reception of literature. These names were taken by the home missionary department of the church in the place where the lecture was given, and it was planned to visit these persons and present them with a printed copy of the lecture, and thus come in personal touch with them and seek to increase their interest in God's message for today.
I wish to say personally that I watched the outcome of these lectures with great interest, and I am convinced that much good was accomplished, and that through this medium, properly handled, thousands of honest people who live in our congested cities can be brought in touch with the truth.
We are all aware that through the Spirit of prophecy we have been urged to work the cities. We have also been told that the Lord will not come until our entire membership takes part in home missionary work. We must accept the fact that there is a harmony between these two statements. There are thousands of people in the cities, many of them the very best class of citizens, that will never go to one of our churches, or attend a public effort in a tent. They will, however, attend a lecture in an auditorium or other public building; and thus an interest can be awakened in their minds, and they will leave their cards with the lecture committee. This opens the way for personal work to be done at their homes or places of business; and the rank and file of our church members can engage in this personal work.
I believe that many of our ministers who are able to present various phases of our message in an interesting manner should develop further the line of work being done by Elder Daniells in this public way, and thus reach not only the “masses,” but the “classes” also, and secure names and addresses of thousands of interested people, thus taxing our church members to the extent of their ability to answer the calls that would come to them.
In “Testimonies for the Church,” Volume VI, page 29, we are told that God desires to see the entire church devising ways and means whereby the high and low, rich and poor, can hear the message. Surely the time has come for the church to be performing the work outlined for her in both the Scriptures and the Testimonies. CHAS. THOMPSON.
Eastern New York
By C. H. CASTLE
FULTON.— Following the annual conference held at Oneida, a company of eight workers under the leadership of Elder W. H. Holden, went to Fulton for a tent effort. About fifteen hundred announcements were distributed in the city.
The meetings began Tuesday evening, July 11, the topic for the evening being “The Metal Man of Prophecy.” There were fifty-seven present in the tent, but the number outside brought the actual attendance up to seventy-five or more. The attendance has increased from night to night until on Sunday night, when the subject of the Millennium was presented, there were more than one hundred and fifty inside the tent and quite a number listened outside.
In years gone by there was a company of believers in this city, but for several years there have been only three representatives of the third angel’s message here. We hope that the effort this summer will reestablish a strong company of believers to hold up the light of present truth. C. H. CASTLE.
Rural School Convention
By LYNN H. WOOD
THE readers of the REVIEW will be interested in learning that there is to be a convention held by the rural school workers and those interested in this line of work, at Madison, Tenn., August 31 to September 5. There will be a number of prominent men from the Department of Education at Washington, who will take part in these meetings. Dr. P. P. Claxton, United States Commissioner of Education, has promised to send Mr. Foigt, who is an expert on rural school work, to be present with us during most of the convention. A number of instructors from Berea College, Berea, Ky., will also be present.
Early in the spring Dr. E. A. Sutherland was speaking about the work done at Madison in the public rural school convention held in Knoxville. A number who were present at that meeting, afterward said that they could hardly believe that all this was being done. Opportunity was offered these persons to attend the summer school for teachers held at the Peabody College in Nashville, and they took advantage of their visit in Nashville to investigate the status of affairs in our school at Madison. After making a careful examination of the place and of the different lines of work, in the afternoon they spoke to the students and faculty, and all expressed themselves as having found more than had been told by Dr. Sutherland at Knoxville. One public school official is reported to have said he considered the work done by Madison as representative of the highest class of rural school tactics. Surely God has verified his promise to us, that if we will walk out and engage in the line of work he asks us to, he will rain a blessing upon us.
Notice some of the statements made by the Spirit of prophecy about this line of work:—
“We wish that all the Lord's servants were laborers. The work of warning souls should not be confined to ministers alone, but brethren who have the truth in their hearts, and who have exerted a good influence at home, should feel that a responsibility rests upon them to devote a part of their time to going out among their neighbors and into adjoining towns to be missionaries for God. They should carry our publications, and engage in conversation, and in the spirit of Christ pray with and for those whom they visit. This is the work that will arouse a spirit of investigation and reformation. . . .
“New fields are open in which all can test their calling by experimental effort in bringing souls out from darkness and error, and establishing them upon the platform of eternal truth. . . . The work of fitting a people in these last days for the coming of Christ, is a most sacred, solemn work, and calls for devoted, unselfish laborers. Those who have humility, faith, energy, perseverance, and decision, will find plenty to do in their Master's vineyard. There are responsible duties to be performed, which require earnestness, and the exertion of all their energies. It is willing service that God accepts. If the truth we profess is of such infinite importance as to decide the destiny of souls, how careful should we be in its presentation! . . .
“God says to those who profess to believe in him, Go forth into all parts of the world, and diffuse the light of my truth, that men and women may be led to Christ. Let us awake to our duty, and do all that we can to help forward the Lord's work. Let superficial excuses be blown to the four winds. Let decided action commence on the part of all who can help. Let them cooperate with the angels sent from the heavenly courts to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation. Forget not the words, ‘We are laborers together with God.’ No longer grieve the Spirit of God by delaying.”—Sowing Beside All Waters.
It may be that there are those who would like to attend this convention and learn of the methods employed by these workers. Such are invited to correspond at once with Dr. E. A. Sutherland, Madison, Tenn. An urgent invitation to attend is extended to all who are interested. Brethren, let us come up to the help of the Lord in this matter.
LYNN H. WOOD.
Camp Meeting Labors
By George I. Butler
It was my privilege to attend the three camp meetings in the East held at Lawrence, Mass., Buffalo, N. Y., and Lebanon, Pa. They were all excellent meetings. It is not my purpose to report each of these meetings. That privilege belongs to others more specifically responsible. I was only one of several laborers in attendance. However, there were a few items which greatly interested me.
I think more of our people were in attendance at the Lawrence meeting than at either of the others, but not a great many more. The weather was cloudy, quite cool, and very rainy. Stoves were put in the large tent, so we could keep quite comfortable. The brethren and sisters present were very cheerful. I heard no complaints. Elder F. C. Gilbert's Bible studies each morning were exceedingly interesting. The main thought continually emphasized was the17importance of all our members being tillers for God.
The sale of our literature was the constant theme. That feature I never saw made more prominent in any camp meeting. The result was surprising. Thirty-six hundred dollars' worth of literature was sold at the meeting, including about seventy full sets of Sister White's “Testimonies for the Church.” On the closing Sunday the whole contents of the bookstore were brought out to the large tent and piled high in the minister's stand. About 11 A. M. the book sale began, presided over by Elder A. E. Sanderson, a good bookman. In about two hours $1,500 worth of books were sold. It was a most interesting scene. The whole camp seemed to enjoy it. I had never seen, in the hundreds of camp meetings I have attended, such a rapid disposal of our literature. I had never seen such a general interest in the circulation of our literature. Those books, pamphlets, and tracts were disposed of in large lots to those who expect to go right out and sell them to the people. When our brethren and sisters wake up to do what the servant of the Lord, now sleeping, has said should and must be done, we shall all be astonished at what great quantities of literature will be required to meet the demands.
A new plan has been formed in the Atlantic Union Conference by which to carry on this special work of distributing our literature by all our members. A large automobile has been purchased by the Massachusetts Conference, to be used in carrying literature to all the churches in the conference. From this supply our brethren and sisters may obtain literature; and with colporteurs and laity thus working together, it is hoped to bring about such a circulation of our precious books, tracts, and periodicals as has never been known in the history of this work. That which the servant of God foretold would come in the experience of this cause will surely be fulfilled before the coming of Christ.
Advance steps are being taken in the Atlantic Union Conference, where there is great faith in the Testimonies. There seemed to be a large degree of spiritual life and union of effort. This is an evidence that the prediction, made more than a score of years ago by the Spirit of prophecy, that with power the message would return to the East, where this work originated, is being fulfilled. The writer feels to thank the Lord from his very soul for the clear evidences that are seen of this. The loud cry of this message is fast approaching. All of us want a part in it.
I was present at the Buffalo camp meeting only four days, having stayed at the Massachusetts meeting till its close, and being also booked for the Eastern Pennsylvania meeting at Lebanon, Pa. Here also the weather was quite cold and rainy. Overcoats were in demand for comfort, but with large stoves in the big tent it was quite comfortable. The meeting in progress was excellent, a good spiritual interest being manifest. The sale of books was also quite large. About fifty sets of the Testimonies were sold, I understand. Being absent at the beginning and the close of the meeting, of course I cannot give all the particulars. I feel sure, however, that it was a good meeting.
We reached Lebanon just before the beginning of the first Sabbath, and stayed till the close of the meeting. The camp was pitched on the beautiful fairgrounds. The place was all that could be desired. Instead of a large tent for the assembly meetings, we had the commodious building belonging to the fairgrounds. It served the purpose well, only it seemed a little strange not to have any large tent such as we usually have at camp meetings.
The meetings were good. Of Division Conference laborers there were present Elders W. T. Knox and C. S. Longacre, and the editor of the REVIEW, Elder F. M. Wilcox. Elder George Enoch, our missionary from India, was present most of the time, laboring in the interest of mission funds. He gave several very interesting discourses on mission work in India, presenting a vivid view of the great need of missionary work among the three hundred millions of benighted India. These talks were very instructive to me. The conference raised more than $4,000, a very liberal offering considering the number present. May God pity and lead us all to labor earnestly for the millions in midnight darkness in those dark regions of idolatry. We must be greatly in earnest as a people to help carry the gospel message to this great mission field.
The discourses of our brethren were excellent. The appeal to the young people to give themselves to the work of God was most pathetic and powerful. A large number stood up and made their vows of consecration to the work of God. Many were baptized. The social meetings were good.
A good amount of time was given to me at each camp meeting. In all, I gave about twenty discourses at these three meetings, mostly on the experiences of the pioneers in the third angel's message, and especially on the early work of Mrs. E. G. White; also the great work accomplished by the gift of the Spirit of prophecy which accompanied her labors. Her labors were invaluable to this cause.
I believe it is very essential that the large number of new believers coming into this message have an opportunity to learn of the beginning of this cause, in order that they may know its fundamental principles. Many of our older members also need to learn more about it. I felt the blessing of God and much freedom in presenting the subject, and best of all was the hearty reception of the truths presented. I greatly enjoyed the privilege of being once more an active laborer in the grand work. This work, the work of preparing a people for the soon coming of the blessed Lord in the clouds of heaven to gather his children home, is the grandest thing in the world. No other joy compares with this.
G. I. BUTLER.
Ontario
By M. J. Allen
TORONTO.—We have been laboring here eighteen months. After the close of our tent effort we carried on meetings in a hall, holding services each Sunday night, and as a result forty persons have been baptized, and these with eleven others have been organized into a church. We have used Present Truth Series and a club of thirty weekly Signs as helps in our work, and at the close of our meetings the people were always anxious to receive this reading matter. Since our company was organized, $1,515 has been paid in tithes and offerings, and we are $156 ahead on our Twenty-cent-a-week Fund. To God be all the praise for these results.
M. J. ALLEN.
Along the St. Lawrence
By Jean Vuilleumier
FOLLOWING our Quebec camp meeting at Lennoxville, seven colporteurs, divided into two companies,—four young women and three men,—started to sell a French book in the counties south of the St. Lawrence. This book is the first issued by the new press at the Eastern Canadian Missionary Seminary. It is a free translation or adaptation from “The World’s Crisis,” and is entitled “La Crise du Monde.”
If we are to send the gospel of the kingdom to every corner of this beautiful but priest-ridden province, savoring a good deal of the provincial France of the seventeenth century, this is a step in the right direction. By means of colporteurs, possibly resident district colporteurs, we may aim at reaching all this territory in a comparatively short time; whereas it might take a hundred years to do this work by preaching, if preaching could be resorted to as a rule.
In this way, by means of frequent visits with well-adapted and well-graded publications, prejudice and bigotry will be broken down, and the field will be prepared for the living preacher, not only in large centers, but also in the smaller cities and towns.
In Montreal we have a good circle of friends in the various churches, not excluding the Catholic Church; but either the reaping time has not come or the reaper has not appeared. Some of the leading members of the French Protestant churches attend our Sunday meetings from time to time, and are reading our publications.
On Christmas Day I preached a sermon in the French Salvation Army Hall, connecting the first advent of Christ with the second; and the same day I was asked to present our views on the trumpets and Armageddon in the home of Professor Bieler, D. D., whose wife is a daughter of D’Aubigné, the well-known Swiss historian of the Reformation.
My attendance of the French pastoral meetings will, I hope, bear fruit in time, and it is already opening doors for us. In the course of the discussion following the reading of the paper for the day, I have had the opportunity of introducing such subjects as Bible hygiene, the new earth, creation versus evolution, the Sabbath versus Sunday, the infallible Bible versus higher criticism. When I challenged the meeting on the Sabbath question, one minister remarked that as no one had taken up my challenge, he must therefore conclude that perhaps the Seventh-day Adventists are right in their position on this subject. The chairman took occasion to speak kindly of our work and to bid us Godspeed.
Having been requested to present a paper for the March (1916) meeting, I prepared an extensive essay on the second coming of Christ. In concluding, I quoted from a sermon preached in The Hague, Holland, in 1830, by the historian D’Aubigné. (His true name was J. H. Merle; D’Aubigné was his wife’s name, a descendant of the distinguished French Huguenot, Agrippa D’Aubigné.) Here is the quotation, made doubly interesting from the fact that D’Aubigné’s son-in-law, Professor Bieler, was present when it was read:—
“Yes, O earth! now polluted with injustice and drenched with blood! abode of unrest, revolution, and distress! upon thee, some day, shall peace, righteousness, and the glory of our God reign. I know it, for the Word of truth declares it; and the heavens and the earth shall pass away, but this Word shall never pass away. And this day is not far, and perhaps mine eyes shall behold it.”
The remarks which followed the reading, and in which eight ministers took part, were friendly and appreciative.
Another sphere of activity has been the columns of the French weekly L’Aurore (the Dawn), started just fifty years ago, under circumstances similar to those in which Elder James White began the publication of Present Truth. The18founder, a school-teacher, Mr. L. E. Rivard, is still living. The paper is a union organ for the Presbyterian, the Baptist, the Methodist, and the Anglican Churches and missions in Canada and New England. In this paper I have a good opportunity of treating the papal question, the second coming of Christ, and various phases of present truth.
Though about to leave Montreal to take up teaching in the French department at the Oshawa (Ontario) school, I do not feel that I am really leaving this field, to which my family and I have become endeared. I shall endeavor from headquarters to fit up soldiers and prepare munitions for the battle field, while stronger and more aggressive warriors shall take my place at the front.
JEAN VUILLEUMIER.
Audience Reaches Two Hundred and Sixty-five Miles
By Frank A. Coffin
A GREAT audience composed of 701,381 Californians heard about Seventh-day Adventists last month. Articles on the truths of the message, our work, and our institutions, appearing in California newspapers during June and the last week of May, reached that many persons. Probably the articles were read by many more, but this number is the actual combined circulation of the 76 papers that printed articles about us during the one month. These items ranged in length from an inch to two and one-half columns. Not counting the space used for headlines, the 200 articles which appeared would fill 74 columns, or about 10½ pages. If this matter were printed in book form, it would give us a book three fourths as large as “Testimonies for the Church,” Volume IX.
Many thousands were told that Sunday laws are wrong, and why. They were informed why religion ought not to be taught in the public schools, and why they ought to keep the seventh day as the Sabbath. Others were warned that the judgment hour has come, and that Jesus is about to appear. They were told that the dismemberment of Turkey is the sure forerunner of Jesus’ coming. During the last of May and the month of June four camp meetings were held in California, and two of our institutions had their commencement exercises. The newspapers gave considerable space to these events.
It is difficult for us to conceive of a throng of 701,381 men and women. If these were to pass before us, single file, one a second, just long enough for us to give each a handshake, we should be shaking hands for 195 hours, or about eight days. If all these people were standing in line, allowing two feet for each person, the line would extend 265 miles. This company is a little less than a third of the population of California, the 1910 census giving the population of the State as 2,377,549.
Our workers who have been holding tent meetings, and who have written up their sermons for the newspapers, have found this means of advertising very effective. One of our ministers learned that certain women of a large and popular church, although too timid to attend his meetings because of the influence of their pastor, were meeting at appointed times, and studying the Bible together, using the sermons published in the daily newspaper as a guide. The lady who told of this said the city never before had been stirred as it had been since our brother began holding meetings there.
Our efforts to reach the people through the public press are in harmony with the instruction given us by the Lord years ago. We ought to do much more of this work in a careful, judicious way. Newspaper publicity certainly occupies a large place in giving the truth to the public, and every one of our ministers ought to make use of this most profitable medium.
FRANK A. COFFIN.
The Work in Porto Rico
By D. D. Fitch
ELDER D. D. FITCH writes of his work in Porto Rico:—
“A year has passed since Mrs. Fitch, mother, and I left California to take up work in Santurce, P. R. The work from the start has been very interesting. As the result of determined efforts on the part of Elder Steele, the superintendent of the field, a church building had been made possible here in Santurce. This was nearly finished upon our arrival, and was soon in use. This building is used Sabbath morning by the Spanish people, and in the afternoon by the English.
“The enthusiasm and love for the message manifested by this people is very commendable indeed. During May and June I have had the privilege of baptizing fourteen persons, all adults save one, a boy of fifteen.”
“I am sure that the Lord is calling out those who will later be active in the proclamation of the message. I am making a strong effort to get all the members well posted and fortified in the truth. Prior to baptism, I am giving each candidate a thorough personal examination on the points of faith.”
Time, Yes, High Time
By F. W. Paap.
The wise man says, “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” Eccl. 3:1. And Paul, writing one thousand years later, and with special reference to the close of time, declared, “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep.” Rom. 13:11. This surely must apply to the people living in the last days. For upwards of seventy years this great reformatory movement has been preached. From the very beginning unmistakable evidences have been given that “the day is at hand.”
The confidence and faith of the pioneers of this work were heaven born. If they were so assured of the ultimate and glorious victory of the cause in those early days, what should be our confidence and enthusiasm after the lapse of nearly three fourths of a century? As the message has advanced in all parts of the earth, the forces of evil have been marshaled, and steadily these evil forces have made inroads upon our faith. But today comes the living word to all the latent potentialities of the movement, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.” Isa. 60:1.
The church is the light of the world; and to her is given the command, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
The statement, “It is high time to awake out of sleep,” cannot be thoroughly appreciated apart from several thoughts: “Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.” The call is for consecrated activity. The church must awake. It is not only time for this, but it is high time. “Let the church awake, let every member take up his individual work, and vindicate the name of the Lord by which he is called.”—An Appeal, p. 8. In this solemn time, with such a tremendous task assigned us, we must not become discouraged or faint-hearted. Angels of God will open the way before us, and prepare hearts to receive the gospel message. “The Lord Jesus is our sufficiency in all things; his Spirit is to be our inspiration; and as we place ourselves in his hands, to be channels of light, our means of doing good will never be exhausted; for the resources of the power of Jesus Christ are to be at our command. We may draw upon his fulness, and receive of that grace which has no limit.”—Id., p. 20.
With the hour so late, with time so short, with souls all around hungering for a knowledge of Christ, yet still perishing for want of the bread of life, with19opportunities without number to do service for Christ, and with virtually every facility provided with which to do successful work in winning the lost to Christ, shall we not arise, awake, put on the armor, and go forth to the warfare, willing to do and dare for God?
F. W. Paap.
Northeastern California
By Walter Harper
NINE years ago, in July, 1907, I was providentially led to put aside well-laid plans to labor in another field, and take up work in northeastern California. The Lord signally blessed my efforts, and I have always wished to return and do more work there. In April of this year I was privileged to do this, and I am having good success, and receiving many answers to prayer. I pray that many new believers may be gathered for the kingdom as a result of the pages of truth which God graciously permits me to scatter abroad.
I have been able to place books in the homes of Indians and half-breeds, as well as in those of the whites, including both Americans and foreigners. One family recently gave orders for $8.70 worth of our good books and bought “Armageddon” outright. One recent Friday when I wished to close up the week’s work early, the Lord helped me to take orders amounting to $11 in about ten minutes. To him be all the praise and glory.
WALTER HARPER.
Oklahoma
By M. G. NUNES
MUSKOGEE.—Wednesday, July 5, we started a series of tent meetings in Muskogee. There are about 12,000 colored people in this place. The interest seems to be on the increase. Sunday, July 9, the tent could not seat all who came to the meeting. We hope that the Spirit of God will work on the hearts of the people and cause them to decide for the great Sabbath truth. Let the readers of the REVIEW remember the work among our colored people.
Muskogee is the leading town in the State for Negro business places. Business men are doing well here. As we visit among them, they show quite an interest in what we say to them.
M. G. NUNES.
Home Missionary Department
E. M. GRAHAM General Secretary
F. W. PAAP A. M. Div. Secretary