Earlier text: WHAT IS OF VALUE WITH GODTHE LORD'S REAL-ESTATE AGENTS.
By Geo. H. Heald, M.D.
The poor may be called God's real-estate agents; for through them we may make, at any time and in any amount, safe investments in the world to come, investments which will yield immense and perpetual dividends. Opportunities for investing in the property of this earth, if considered safe and profitable, are rapidly seized; for shrewd capitalists are on the alert for safe-paying investments. But the Lord has directed how we shall use the means he has intrusted to us. He says: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.” Matt. 6:19, 20. But how are we to make investments in heaven?—“Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.” Luke 12:33. “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven.” Who is the responsible party in this transaction? “He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will He pay him again.” Prov. 19:17. The Saviour in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew says the same thing in this language: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” This assurance takes in the most humble details of life; for “whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in nowise lose his reward.” The Scriptures contain many similar promises to those who remember the poor. Truly it is more blessed to give than to receive; and the great blessing is that the person who enters heartily into this work, forgets for the time that he is making heavenly investments; for each act is prompted by the Spirit of Him who had compassion on the multitude, so that in the day of final reward it may even be asked, “Lord, when saw we thee an hungered and fed thee?” Meanwhile the generous disciple is becoming less attached to this world, and heaven is becoming dearer; “for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Matt. 6:21. At Christ's second coming his saints “shall be like him,” for they “shall see him as he is.” To see him as he is, they must know his character; and this knowledge is to be gained by passing through the experience he passed through. If we do one act prompted by pure love, we will in that experience see more in the Saviour's love, and will be prompted to further and greater acts of love. Each new view will increase our love for the Master, and show us new duties, and these will in turn give us new views of the Saviour, till finally “we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” Should we not be thankful that the Lord has given us opportunity to carry on this work of transferring all our interests to the world to come? TOO MUCH “CHRISTIAN POLITICS” ALREADY.
By W. N. G.
In these ominous times we hear a great deal about “this Christian nation,” “Christian citizenship,” “Christian politics,” etc. We all concede that the everyday life of an individual who professes to be a Christian is the practical gauge of his Christianity. If an individual professing to be a Christian should spend more money for strong drink than for the necessaries of life, including his gifts to the cause of Christ, we would soon decide that his profession was a fraud, and the church of which he was a member would not be slow in disfellowshiping him. And if this same individual should happen to have a case in court (even in the Supreme Court), and in the decision of that case the court should take occasion to say that he was a Christian, because of certain circumstances that occurred before he was born, we would all agree that the court didn’t know what it was talking about. But if we admit that this is a Christian nation, we must all admit that the existing politics is Christian politics, and that the business in vogue in the nation is Christian business. So we have already all that the “Christian citizenship” agitators are contending for. That is, we have it in name, and that is all that the movement ever can bring about, for no human power can change the hearts of the people. The idea that churchmen should be placed in office, and take active part in politics, is already in practical application, notwithstanding the loud complaint of corruption in political circles. A National Reform journal recently reported a personal inquiry of all the governors of states as to their religious status, and gave out as a result of the inquiry that twenty-nine of the forty-five are church members, and all but one are adherents to some religious faith. The additional information might have been given that even that one had signed a barbers’ Sunday law. In addition to this, most of the judges and legislators of the country are either members or in some way supporters of churches. The Protestants, even the chiefest of the National Reform combination, acknowledge the Catholic Church as a Christian organization. Now every one born of Catholic parents is a recognized Catholic, and it is a fact patent to all that our principal cities are controlled politically by the Catholics. The Catholic Christian influence is a potent power also in the national capital, where a very large proportion of the department employees and other public officials are said to pay quite regular tribute to the “sisters” who solicit for the various enterprises of “the church.” But recently a Catholic colonel of the army was appointed by the President to the rank of brigadier general; and, altho he was promoted over the heads of more than a score of colonels his senior in rank, the appointment was confirmed by the Senate. By the way, while referring to the matter of Catholic Christianity and Christian politics, what about the saloon business? It is constantly asserted that by far the larger part of the saloon business is in the hands of Catholics. This is especially true in the large cities whose municipal affairs are controlled by Catholics. Then, according to the popular way of labeling men and things “Christian” because of outward circumstances, the saloon business would be logically rated as a Christian business, and saloon politics as Christian politics. And this so-called Christian nation does a saloon business in its own name in every one of its military posts. From a candid view of this machine-made, labor-saving Christianity with which the “Christian citizenship” reformers would fain flood the country, it would seem that we are already suffering from a plethora of “Christian politics.” We have had already too much corrupt political work, in which professed Christians are as deeply implicated as others, if not more so. There is no hope of anything better, when the word of God plainly indicates “perilous times” ahead. Experience has proved that the leaders of so-called reforms in public affairs are generally the first to prove recreant when personal interest can be subserved. Politicians generally turn reformers when their personal ambitions are defeated, only to seek new avenues to attain their selfish ends. “In the last days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves.” And this is said of those who have “a form of godliness.” So we confess a feeling of extreme wariness when professed Christians—especially professed ministers of the Gospel and disappointed politicians, and men with great financial interests in the balance—start out on a campaign of political reform. It is decidedly suspicious when men with ambition for political power start in to stir the political caldron with a spoon labeled “Christianity.” W. N. G. WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH THE WORLD?
THE bold French radical leader, A. Clemenceau, has lately written a book called “The Social Melée.” According to the Literary Digest, he takes Cain as the symbol of the whole history of society. While the modern man does not murder, he contends that he strives by fraud and force to crush out his weaker brother. The following are said to sound the keynote of the book, which may be taken as the echo of many other minds:— “It seems to me remarkable that humanity should have needed the meditations of centuries and the investigation of the greatest minds to discover the simple and apparent fact that man has ever been at war with man, that this war has lasted ever since the human race began. Indeed, the imagination fails to completely conjure up a vision of the tremendous, the bloody, and universal slaughter which has been going on upon this earth ever since it first emerged from chaos. The black cemeteries of coal bear witness of the inconceivable combat of past ages, the combats of man against nature, of man against himself. Everywhere the earth contains traces of this same indescribable strife.” “The forced labor of the chained slave or the free toil of the paid workman both rest on the common basis of the defeat of the weakest and his exploitation by the strongest. Evolution has changed the conditions of the battle, but under a more pacific appearance the mortal strife is still going on. To seize the life and body of others to turn it to one’s own purposes—that is what has been the aim and fixed purpose of the majority of men, from the savage cannibal, the feudal baron, the slave proprietor, down to the employer of our own day.” These extracts state the facts, but neither the cause nor the remedy. The cause of it all is sin, the perversion and transgression of the moral law of God, as told in the old, old Book. “The whole world lieth in the wicked one,” controlled by him through selfishness. It may be covered, as it often is, by a thin veneer of beautiful phrases, but it is there still. The remedy is the power of regeneration through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That only would change the nature of man. But the world will not receive it. See John 1: 11, 12. ABRAHAM AND EPHRAIM.
By Sam Walter Foss
[Some parents may learn a lesson from the following verses. The lesson is there.] He sermonized industriously in his didactic way, And moralized momentously with Ephraim every day, And taught by tale and proverb and by every good device The virtuousness of virtue and the viciousness of vice. His hortatory homilies intended to impress The rightfulness of righteousness, the sin of sinfulness, Were hurled at Ephraim throughout the whole year long, That he might rightly comprehend the wrongfulness of wrong. “A youth can grow up virtuous, if we but pay the price, If we but saturate his soul with showers of advice; If we instill,” said Abraham, “perpetual truth in him”— And so in truth perpetually he soaked young Ephraim. The youth absorbed a sermon, every morning ere he ate, On the awful reprobation of the awful reprobate, And he swallowed moral theses that were meant to edify, And he masticated maxims with his gingerbread and pie. And ’twixt breakfast time and dinner the iniquity of sin Was taught to him industriously and patiently rubbed in, The turpfulness of turpitude was duly analyzed, And the evil of depravity was loudly advertised. And then right after dinner the enormity of crime And the wrong of immorality was preached till supper time; Then Abraham would sermonize through all the evening hours, And drench young Ephraim’s consciousness in moralistic showers. Thus through cumulative precept did old Abraham desire Accumulative virtue should young Ephraim acquire; He taught him virtue endlessly, and waited long to see How superlatively virtuous young Ephraim would be. Thus maxim-goaded Ephraim found righteousness a bore, For salve is but an irritant when jammed into a sore; Even bread is innutritious if you resolutely cram An indiscriminate bakery down the bursting diaphragm. Thus by hortatory homilies did Abraham impress The wrongfulness of righteousness, the good of sinfulness, And taught by tale and proverb and by every good device The viciousness of virtue and the virtuousness of vice. Hence, Ephraim lived a reckless life and died a felon’s death, But gave this vindication with his latest dying breath: “I have been sermonized to death; I die, to speak precise, An unprotected victim of perpetual advice.” EVILS OF WHITE FLOUR.
By John Ellis, M.D.
Careful experiments made by Magendie and others have demonstrated that animals can only live for a few weeks if fed only on superfine white flour, whereas, they can live and thrive on unbolted flour or meal without any trouble. The Lord intended the grain as a whole for human food, and he manifestly knew what he was doing when he created our cereals. The food required to nourish the teeth, bones, muscles, stomach, to enable it to properly digest our food, and the brain, is found in excess in the dark portion of the kernel which lies immediately beneath the hull, and the miller, in bolting, separates this portion as far as he can, and most of it is fed to cattle, horses, hogs, etc., and they have good teeth, muscles, stomachs, and bones when thus fed. The white portion of the kernel, from which white flour is made, contains an excess of starch, principally a heat and fat producing material when taken as food, so that the whiter the flour the poorer it is. One simple fact ought to satisfy every intelligent man and woman that superfine white flour is not fit for human use, and that starvation must inevitably follow to a greater or less extent its use as food, viz., there is very little difficulty in keeping superfine white flour free from insects, must or mold, whereas it requires care and watchfulness to preserve unbolted flour and meal free from insects, must, etc. Do we want to feed our children upon a flour which will not sustain for any considerable length of time animal, insect, or even vegetable life? Dyspepsia is more prevalent in our country than, I think I can say, in any other. Superfine flour does not contain the nourishment required by the stomach to enable it to digest food. The prevalence of dyspepsia in our country and England has led a number of medical writers in England and in this country of late to condemn the use of all cereals—wheat, rye, oats, etc.—as food, claiming that the starch overtakes the stomach, and that we should use as food nothing but nuts and fruits, and if we find them not sufficient, we should use a little meal or animal food, they think. But if we use the dark or coarse portion of the grain as well as the white, the stomach will be nourished, and the whole grain will be digested, and it will not cause dyspepsia.—John Ellis, M.D. The origin of tobacco is thus given in an old Arabic legend, reported in the Conte Arabe:— The prophet was taking a stroll in the country when he saw a serpent, stiff with cold, lying on the ground. He compassionately took it up and warmed it in his bosom. When the serpent had recovered, it said:— “Divine prophet, listen. I am now going to bite thee.” “Why, pray?” inquired Mohammed. “Because thy race persecutes mine and tries to stamp it out.” “But does not thy race, too, make perpetual war against mine?” was the prophet’s rejoinder. “How canst thou, besides, be so ungrateful, and so soon forget that I saved thy life?” “There is no such thing as gratitude upon this earth,” replied the serpent; “and if I were now to spare thee, either thou or another of thy race would kill me. By Allah, I shall bite thee.” “If thou hast sworn by Allah, I will not cause thee to break thy vow,” said the prophet, holding his hand to the serpent’s mouth. The serpent bit him, but he sucked the wound with his lips and spat the venom on the ground. And on that very spot there sprang up a plant which combines within itself the venom of the serpent and the compassion of the prophet. Men call this plant by the name of tobacco. A recent newspaper item furnishes the Ram’s Horn with the text for a small anti-chewing homily. It says:— “A Kentucky thoroughbred took a chew of leaf tobacco and lay down and died. The experiment of this horse to try to be a man cost his owner ten thousand dollars. Should race-horses take to drink, every turf-man would be in favor of prohibition in the paddocks and on the track.” SCHOOL was over for the week, and Bess was at home. Bess is my ten-year-old right-hand man in running the household machinery. My girl, for a variety of reasons, had left me unexpectedly the week before, and a half-cleaned pantry was her memento. “Bess,” I said, “let’s finish that pantry as soon as we get the breakfast dishes done.” “All right,” said Bess, and we were soon at it. While we were deep in the mysteries, a sound of sawing, hammering, dropping, crashing came from the interior of the house. It wasn’t that the house was tumbling down, neither did the uproar create any excitement or hinder our work even momentarily, for we knew what it meant. The “paterfamilias,” with the help of the oldest boy, was tearing down the partition between two small rooms, in order to convert them into one commodious sleeping room, which might serve as a downstairs sick-room when any of the numerous brood were “laid by” for a day or two. So Bess and I worked on placidly, I washing the window, she scrubbing the broad shelf. Wallie, his father’s helper, as she is mine, came through into the kitchen with a great basket of plaster. “We’re having fun,” said he, “tearing the house down.” “And we’re having fun,” rejoined Bess, “cleaning the house up.” Fun of both sorts lasted for some time, but not monotonously enough to transform it into drudgery, until we, in the kitchen, adjourned to prepare a hasty dinner, to which they, in the next room, together with the little ones from their play, did ample justice. And the simple incident made me think about children’s fun, and about the mistake made by parents who plan it for their children as something entirely extraneous to ordinary living. Mere play in unlimited quantities does the children as much good as Huyler’s candy administered after the same rule. I knew a little girl, not quite seven years old, whose mother picked out the coarse things from a washing and allowed her to iron them. Fun!—No amount of dollies and tea dishes could have inspired the proud glow of eye and tone of voice with which she told me what a “big pile” she had ironed. Mothers, the more your children’s play can approach to real work without being tiresome, the more “fun” they will have. I speak whereof I know. Try it, won’t you?—Motherhood. DOMESTIC PETS AND CONTAGION.
By O. C. Godsmark
It is always well to know as much as possible as to the whereabouts of our pet cats and dogs at night, or while they are away from home, especially when there is diphtheria, scarlet fever, smallpox, or other contagious diseases in the neighborhood. Frequently these diseases break out in families, among children, where the utmost precaution has been observed to keep the family away from infected districts; and the only solution to the problem as to how the germs of disease could have entered the home was that they were brought in the fur of the favorite puss, or in the hair of the house dog, it being a habit of the latter to roll and rub himself in the decaying filth of some putrifying carrion. While these animals often fill an important place in the household economy, yet it is well to restrain or even prohibit their being fondled by members of the family while there is contagion of any kind in the neighborhood. When smallpox was prevalent in one of our cities of southern Michigan last season, the police were instructed to shoot all cats or dogs found in the vicinity of the pest-house or of houses quarantined, but were not so instructed until a family of five were exposed, two of whom died, by the carrying of the disease germs by the pet dog from the pest-house to their home. Frequently have scarlet fever and diphtheria been communicated to children by means of these pets. A PLACE FOR EVERYTHING.
By Miss A. C. Hudson
NEVER leave things lying about,—a shawl here, a pair of shoes there, and a hat or a bonnet somewhere else,—trusting to a servant or a member of the family to set things to rights. No matter how many servants you have, it is a miserable habit. If you use the dipper, towel, or tumbler, put it back in its place, and you will know where to find it when you want it again. Or if you set an example of carelessness, do not blame your servants and children for following it. Children should be taught to put things back in their places as soon as they are old enough to use them. If each member of the family were to observe this simple rule, the house would never get much out of order. HENRY WARD BEECHER used to tell this story of the way in which his teacher of mathematics taught him to depend upon himself:— “I was sent to the blackboard, and went, uncertain, full of whimpering. “‘That lesson must be learned,’ said my teacher, in a very quiet tone, but with a terrible intensity. All explanations and excuses he trod underfoot with utter scornfulness. ‘I want that problem; I don’t want any reasons why you haven’t it,’ he would say. “‘I did study two hours.’ “‘“That’s nothing to me; I want the lesson. You need not study it at all, or you may study it ten hours, just to suit yourself. I want the lesson.’ “‘It was tough for a green boy; but it seasoned me. In less than a month I had the most intense sense of intellectual independence and courage to defend my recitations. “‘One day his cold, calm voice fell upon me in the midst of a demonstration, ‘No!’ “‘I hesitated, and then went back to the beginning, and on reaching the same point again, ‘No!’ uttered with the tone of conviction, barred my progress. “‘“The next!’ and I sat down in red confusion. “‘“He, too, was stopped with ‘No!’ but went right on, finished, and, as he sat down, was rewarded with, ‘Very well.’ “‘“Why,’ whimpered I, ‘I recited it just as he did, and you said, “No.”’ “‘“Why didn’t you say, “Yes,” and stick to it? It is not enough to know your lesson; you must know that you know it. You have learned nothing till you are sure. If all the world says, “No,” your business is to say, “Yes,” and prove it.’”—Selected. Reciprocity as a Law of Life
“RECIPROCITY is a law of life. We can not expect much happiness or strength from our fellow-men unless we give something in return.” CHINA, THE MISSIONARY FIELD OF THE WORLD.
By Austia Patterson
One of the things which impresses the traveler in the “far east” is eyes—eyes everywhere. You step out into the street, and in a moment hundreds of eyes are upon you, and as you proceed, they increase, until they seem innumerable. Every door, window, crevice, and even the roofs of the houses have eyes peering at you. Therefore, China is the mission field of the world. 1. Because of its teeming millions. The density of the population is everywhere impressed upon the sojourner in the “Flowery Kingdom.” Whole families, of perhaps nine members, live in a little boat twelve feet long by six feet broad, and have no other home. Numbers can adjust themselves to a small amount of space and be satisfied. In the country a missionary stood up in his boat and counted three hundred villages within the scope of his unaided vision. Clustered so thickly are they that a colporter can visit from ten to twenty in a single day. Place the population of Africa and India in a territory about the size of the United States, and you have about the conditions of China. 2. Because of their strength of character and general worth. Their muscular power and endurance of toil and hardship are most remarkable, and they possess almost, at times, a stoical indifference to physical suffering. They are bright, skillful, and active, and have wonderful mental ability; a nation civilized, though heathen, where scholarship is made the test of political preferment—where the scholar is the aristocrat, although he may not have a “cash” in his pocket or know where his next dish of rice is to come from; men whose convictions of duty and right are and have been so strong for centuries as to have become almost petrifactions; a people whose ability to rule is second only to their love of ordering other people about. Their perceptions are rapid; they are quick to learn trades, and can easily become adepts in anything, from the digging in the mud after lotus roots to ably discharging the duties of the chief official position in the Celestial Empire itself. 3. Because of her undeveloped resources. China is well supplied with material in the rough, like the immense amount of mineral in her hills—enough coal alone, it is said, to supply the world for twenty centuries. But much of her latent power is yet undeveloped. A few are coming to see the real power in this nation; but as yet the little band of workers are only as tiny pebbles in the mighty torrent, and they must be backed by thousands of others before its course is eventually turned in the right direction—away from their idols and superstition toward Christ.—United Brethren Quarterly Review. JAPAN’S DEBT TO CHRISTIANITY.
By Jas. I. Seder
CHRISTIANITY has given to Japan an ideal for human life, such as had never been known in this land before—a Christian home. Not that it has changed all or even a very large per cent of Japanese homes as yet. Quite the contrary; but the model is here, criticized by the unthinking few, but admired and desired by the intelligent many. The ideal Christian marriage, the foundation of the Christian home, is based on individual freedom, mutual acquaintanceship, union of hearts in reciprocal love, and respect for mutual rights and obligations. The custom of Japan is that partners for life, or rather for a while, are selected by a “go-between.” I say “for a while” advisedly, as one-third of the marriage contracts are broken by divorce, to say nothing of other kinds of unfaithfulness. In “Christian America,” sad to say, the proportions of divorces to marriages are one to sixteen; but here they are one to three. Christ allows but one reason for divorce—adultery—and that to both man and woman. Confucius, the Chinese sage, after whose ideas the Japanese laws, customs, and practices on this subject are modeled, allows man, and him only, seven grounds for divorce,—disobedience, barrenness, lewd conduct, jealousy, leprosy or any other foul and incurable disease, too much talking, and thievishness. Christianity is justified, therefore, in setting up her ideal for Japan’s imitation, and it is to the credit of this country that she is accepting the best. Christianity has also set a stake to concubinage, which was introduced into Japan while Confucianism was regnant. The social status of women is much improved, and her rights are being recognized more and more by “the lords of creation,” by the law, and in the courts. They are, moreover, being admitted to superior educational advantages in the various government and mission girls’ schools, and are winning their way to eminence in literature and art, music, poetry, painting, and other vocations. Formerly woman was regarded as so much inferior to man that by the teachings of Japanese Buddhism she was denied entrance to the higher joys of the future world. Christianity knows no such distinctions, and the work of woman’s emancipation in Japan has at least been well begun. Even for her general educational system and progress Japan is in no small degree indebted to Christianity. Early education was in the hands of Buddhist priests, and the studies were the sūtras. Three centuries ago Confucianism came into power with the rise of the Shogunate, and from that time on, the Confucian and Chinese classics were learned by heart, and instruction was imparted in the natural history and literature. Meager as it was, and excluding women as it did, with the revolution of 1868 the old system of education fell with the Shogunate, and an entirely new start was made. Americans, notably missionaries and mission schools, exerted a strong molding influence upon the trend of the new Japanese education in its early days. Rev. Dr. Verbeck was the organizer and for some years the head of what is now the Imperial University at Tokyo. He was also for a long time educational adviser to the government, and thus in a position to exert an influence for immeasurable good in behalf of Japan. The common-school system of Japan was modeled after that of America. Dr. McCartee, now over fifty years a missionary in Japan and China, was also a professor in the university for some years.—Rev. Jas. I. Seder, Tokyo. Some of you have hard words to bear at times because you love the Lord Jesus. But in some parts of the world people who say they believe in him are beaten cruelly, and even put to death. In central Africa, a few years ago, some boys were burned to death by order of the king because they were Christians. Yet, in spite of this, a boy of about sixteen was brave enough to wish to become a Christian. He came to the missionary, and said in his own language:— “My friend, I wish to be baptized.” “Do you know what you are asking?” said the missionary in surprise. “But if you say that you are a Christian, they will kill you.” “But if they ask you if you are a Christian, will you tell a lie, and say, No?” Bravely and firmly came the boy’s answer, “I shall confess, my friend.” A little talk followed, in which he showed clearly that he understood what it was to be a Christian, so the missionary baptized him by the name of Samweli, which is the same as our Samuel. The king found him so useful that he employed him to collect the taxes, which are paid in cowries—little shells which are used instead of money. One day when he was away on this business, the king again got angry with the Christians, and ordered that all the leading ones should be killed. Samweli’s name was found upon the list. As he came back, he heard of the death that was awaiting him. That night, when it was dark, the missionary was awakened by a low knocking at his door. It was Samweli and his friends come to know what he should do. Should he run away, or should he go and hand over the money he had collected? After a silence the missionary said:— “Tell me what you think.” Looking up, Samweli replied, “My friend, I can not leave the things of the king.” His friends earnestly begged him to fly, but the missionary said: “No, he is right. He has spoken well; he must deliver up the money.” They all knelt down in prayer together, the missionary wondering sadly if he should ever see the young hero again. “My friend, I will try to start early, and leave the cowries with the chief,” said the lad as he set off; “but I fear my carriers will not be ready till after daylight, and if I am seen, I shall be caught. Good-by.” But God kept him. He went boldly to the chief’s hut, put down the cowries, and walked away. He went again a few nights after to tell the missionary, who said, “You ran when you got outside?” “No, my friend, for I should have been noticed at once. I walked quite slowly until I got out of sight, and then I ran as fast as I could, and so I escaped.” This is a true story, taken from Mr. Ashe’s12 book, “Two Kings of Uganda.” It shows that the love of Christ can make a boy brave to do his duty even in the face of danger and death. “In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence.” —Canada Presbyterian. A SONG OF HOPE.
By Mary A. Lathbury
Children of yesterday,
Heirs of to-morrow,
What are you weaving—
Labor and sorrow?
Look to your looms again;
Faster and faster
Fly the great shuttles
Prepared by the Master.
Life's in the loom,
Room for it—room! Children of yesterday,
Heirs of to-morrow,
Lighten the labor
And sweeten the sorrow
Now, while the shuttles fly
Faster and faster,
Up and be at it—
At work with the Master.
He stands at your loom,
Room for him—room! Children of yesterday,
Heirs of to-morrow,
Look at your fabric
Of labor and sorrow,
Seamy and dark
With despair and disaster.
Turn it, and, lo,
The design of the Master!
The Lord's at the loom,
Room for him—room. NINE conversions are reported by Brother Huntington at Walberton, Ind. THE special Bible school at Union College, Neb., now numbers 60. The recent Bible school in Colorado had a regular attendance of 75. TWENTY-NINE persons were baptized at Healdsburg, Cal., on the 8th inst., by Elder E. E. Andross, assisted by Prof. G. W. Rine, local elder of Healdsburg Church. Work is advancing in and around Raleigh, N. C. There is a Sabbath school now numbering 30 members, one-half of whom are adults, and many more are interested. THE president of Kansas conference, Brother C. McReynolds, says that the week of prayer in Kansas was a time of revival, and reports more than thirty-five conversions which have come to his knowledge recently. BROTHER S. N. COBB and A. R. HYATT report that there are five good souls in the city of Binghamton, N. Y., who have accepted present truth, one of whom is the leader of the “Rescue Mission” in that city. BROTHER G. H. SMITH writes from Steamboat Springs, Colo., that the ministers of other churches in that place took up their appointments, and all were attending his meetings. May the Lord lead them all into his truth for this time. THE cause in St. Johns, N. F., is progressing in a very encouraging way, notwithstanding the many hindrances, especially the difficulty of procuring a suitable hall. Elder S. J. Hersum reports that they are contemplating the erection of a house of worship. AT Ithaca, Mich., during the week of prayer, eleven were added to the church by conversion and baptism, the church now numbering 90 members. Six were converted at St. Charles, Mich., the same week, and at Saginaw 12. These are reported by Elders Burrill and Soule. WE learn from an article in the Review of February 4 that a ship mission is opened at Galatz, Rumania, for work on the Danube and the Red Sea, and that the number of our publications in the Balkan languages is increasing. Our literature has gone across Siberia and to the Transcaucasus. In one place in the Baltic provinces there is a company of ten Sabbath keepers. Publications have been translated into the Lettish and Esthonian languages, and are going through the press. Over four hundred souls have been gathered in the European field during the last year. The circulation of our publications by sale has been doubled. Truly there is cause to be grateful. THAT there is a strong desire in the various churches to hear and learn and know the truth of God for this time is evident from many circumstances constantly occurring, chiefly the openings for labor before our ministering brethren everywhere. Not long since a pastor of a large Baptist Church in Boston asked the New England conference for one of our ministers to come and preach to his people a week on the subject of the Lord’s second coming. This call was supplied by Elder G. E. Fifield. More recently another invitation was given by the Prudential Committee of the same church that a minister of ours should preach upon all the lines of doctrine which are held by Seventh-day Adventists. This Baptist minister and his people feel that God has more truth for his people in these evil days, as he most assuredly has. May they find it as it is in Christ Jesus. ELDER A. J. BREED left this city on the 13th inst. for Battle Creek, Mich., to attend a meeting of the General Conference Council. THE case of Brother Ira T. Babcock, of Lego, N. C., charged by a Methodist neighbor with unlawfully doing farm labor on Sunday, was to have been tried on the 17th inst. The result of the trial has not yet reached us. It is somewhat significant that the complaining witness had to sign his name with a simple mark. One of the peculiarities of tyrannical laws is that they place good men at the mercy of ignorant bigots. The cases of Brother Nash, of Mississippi, and Brother Lewis, of Tennessee, on charges of Sunday labor, are each set for the March terms of the courts in which they are to be tried. TO THOSE DESIRING PAPERS.
By Editor
MUCH as we dislike to refuse to insert requests for our periodicals, we feel compelled to do so unless the parties are personally known to us, or are indorsed by our state tract society officers, or ministers. If we insert the request of one unknown person, in justice we should all requests, and then advantages are taken which do not make for the good of the cause. This will be obvious to most of our readers, and we are sure none will take offense. LATE, clean papers for city missionary work. Any of our periodicals excepting S. S. Worker, Youth’s Instructor, or Our Little Friend. Please send postpaid to Mrs. M. A. Neale, 506 Eighth Street N. E., Washington, D. C. BROTHER L. NEAL, having charge of mission work in Kansas City, Kans., would like clean copies of SIGNS OF THE TIMES, American Sentinel, and other papers for city work. Carriage should be prepaid. Address the above at 721 Troup Avenue, Kansas City, Kans. My permanent home post office address is Healdsburg, Sonoma Co., Cal., care of college. MAN'S NATURE AND DESTINY.
—Assorted tract package No. 5. Six subjects or chapters in one; price, 10 cents. Address, Pacific Press, Oakland, Cal.