Earlier text: Yearning for the HomelandEffects of Worry and Nerve Tension
Few mothers realize to what a great extent constipation may be termed a nervous disorder. I confess that I used to laugh at the suggestion, so firmly convinced was I that it was a purely functional trouble. But there came a time when I was convinced that in my own case, and probably in the experience of many others, it is largely nervous. Most housekeepers rise in the morning just long enough before breakfast to dress, prepare the meal, and get the wage-earners off to work at a certain time. Every minute is so planned that the most possible may be accomplished in a short time. After breakfast the children must be dressed and started off for school, the table cleared, the dishes washed, and all the other duties of a housekeeper and mother performed. On arising from her bed,—even from laying herself down there the night before,—the mother has in mind all there is for her to do through the day, and in what order duties must be done, that all may be accomplished. Now, stop and think for a moment; are not these early morning hours filled with the feeling of hurry—of the necessity for haste to accomplish what the day holds? Is not every nerve on a tension? Analyze your morning feelings, and see if this is not so. You have no time to give thought to the needs of your own physical organism; indeed, I doubt if you would even provide food for yourself if there were not others to be fed. Some of us are most scrupulous in seeing that the children’s habits are kept regular, and we watch over them to see that their bodies are kept in condition to ward off disease. But for ourselves we have no thought; we never stop to think that the cultivation of a habit in our own bodies whereby the waste of our system shall be thrown off regularly, requires thought and care. The realization of the truth of all this came to me one week when I concluded that I was cured of this trouble. I wondered what had made the change, and stopped to think of all I had been doing the previous months. The fall sewing was all done, the house had been cleaned, the last of the fruit had been put up, and I had no particular thing to do, for which the housework had to be hurried. I had been living “on my nerve,” and that week the tension had been removed. That opened my eyes. I resolved to rise half an hour earlier, and do my work more leisurely, and, most of all, not to allow myself to give thought to the day’s work for one and one-half hours after breakfast. It was a simple resolution, but a bit hard to abide by sometimes when I found duties almost forcing themselves upon me before their time. Do not misunderstand me, and think that I do nothing for that length of time. I do; but I work leisurely. After the leisure has accomplished its purpose, I work as fast as ever. Every day I hold to my resolution, the body performs its functions as naturally as could be possible; and almost invariably on the days I do not, it fails to throw off the accumulated waste. I made this discovery only after spending a great many dollars for the cure of this trouble, which I considered chronic, and the performing of many exercises that I now consider unnecessary for the women who do their own housework. What we need more than anything else is the dropping of the tension we keep on ourselves,—a determination to take things more leisurely at the beginning of the day.—American Motherhood. Preserving Eggs
By Corinne Updegraff Wells
SCIENCE has solved the question of November eggs at spring prices. They may be preserved for nine months, or more, in a solution of silicate of soda, commonly called water-glass. The solution is harmless, gives certain results if properly used, is easily prepared, and in bulletins issued by the Bureau of Agriculture at Washington is recommended as the best-known egg preservative. Silicate of soda is a thick, sirupy liquid8 sold by the pound at drug-stores. In ten-pound lots the price is usually ten cents a pound for the best grade. Ten pounds will make enough solution to cover fifty dozen eggs, making the cost two cents a dozen. There are three grades of silicate of soda on the market. An inferior quality costs a trifle less than the best, but the saving may result in loss of eggs. To prepare the solution, stir one part of silicate of soda into sixteen parts of water that has been boiled, cooled, and measured. The logical time to put eggs away is in March, April, or May, when they are cheap. It is advisable to do it as early as possible, before the temperature is high. They must be unquestionably fresh. The ideal way is to drop them in the solution as soon as they are brought from the nest. When this can not be done, one should secure them not more than three days after they are laid. Soiled eggs, cracked ones, or those that have been washed, can not be used. An egg-shell contains many air-cells. In time the air spoils an egg, as it spoils a jar of fruit that is not tight. When covered with a solution of silicate of soda, the shell becomes hermetically sealed by an invisible, glass-like varnish. It is so effectually sealed that an attempt to boil it without first piercing the large end of the shell with a needle, will result in an explosion. Stone crocks with lids are the best vessels in which to keep the eggs. A six-gallon crock will hold twenty dozen. A new keg or barrel will answer the purpose, but should first be well scalded. The best place to store the eggs is in a cool, dry cellar. The preparation may be poured into the crock and the eggs dropped into it at different times, or the eggs may be packed in and then covered with the liquid. After a few months the solution will become cloudy, and occasionally small transparent lumps will appear on the surface of the water. These are deposits of water-glass and need cause no uneasiness. The preparation is slightly alkaline, but not injurious to the flesh. The eggs may be handled with safety. They should be taken out of the solution only as they are needed, because, after the long storage, the air causes rapid deterioration. There is but little loss of the original delicate flavor, and the whites, when beaten, are as stiff as those of new-laid eggs.—Corinne Updegraff Wells, in Harper's Bazar. DON’T snub a boy because he wears shabby clothes: when Edison, the great American inventor, first entered Boston, he wore a thin, shabby suit in the depth of winter. Don’t snub a boy because his home is plain and unpretending: Abraham Lincoln’s early home was a log cabin. Don’t snub a boy because of the ignorance of his parents: Shakespeare, the world’s poet, was the son of a man who was unable to write his own name. Don’t snub a boy because he chooses a humble trade: the author of “Pilgrim’s Progress” was a tinker. Don’t snub a boy because of physical disability: Milton was blind. Don’t snub a boy because of dulness at his lessons: Hogarth, the celebrated painter and engraver, was a stupid boy at his books. Don’t snub a boy because he stutters: Demosthenes, the greatest orator of Greece, overcame a harsh and stammering voice. Don’t snub any one: not alone because, some day, he may far outstrip you in the race of life, but because it is neither kind nor right nor Christian.—Selected. In South America
By L. R. Conradi
The great South American mission field has had but little help from our general laborers. Elder W. A. Spicer visited the field in 1906, when the South American Union Conference was organized. Aside from this, no General Conference officer ever visited this continent. It was planned some months ago for Elder A. G. Daniells to attend the general meetings to be held at Buenos Aires last autumn. He being unable to go, I was asked by the Mission Board to make a visit to this great country. Accordingly, I sailed from Hamburg, October 13, reaching Rio de Janeiro, our first stopping-place in South America, October 31. This city is situated on a beautiful and commodious harbor, which is large enough and of sufficient depth to accommodate all the navies of the world. Surrounded by picturesque mountains of all sizes and shapes, Rio, the beautiful capital of Brazil, encircles the bay. The narrow entrance to the harbor is well guarded by strong fortifications, while a number of dreadnoughts and other men-of-war were quietly anchored inside the harbor, grimly guarding the “Monroe Palace” of Pan-American peace. Instead of going ashore to see the glories of the greatest Portuguese-speaking city of the world, I sat quietly down with Elder F. W. Spies, who had been notified of my coming, to talk over the condition and needs of that most glorious kingdom of God, which as yet does not openly appear. All too soon our steamer left port, sailing to the southwest into a somewhat cooler climate. A journey of three days brought us to the great mouth of the Rio de la Plata River, and by noon we anchored in sight of Montevideo, the growing capital of Uruguay. Although our boat lay for ten hours within a short distance of the shore, yet none of the passengers who were bound for any of the ports farther on were allowed to land, notwithstanding their eagerness to do so after having been three weeks at sea. Prosperous little Uruguay, whose dollar has an even greater value than Uncle Sam’s, was in the midst of another revolution. As there are but one million inhabitants in Uruguay, and the important third of these live in Montevideo, I was sorry indeed to be deprived of the privilege of meeting our workers here, and of viewing the city at closer range. Uruguay is only a mission field, with one hundred members, whose tithe averages twenty-eight dollars each, per annum, so that they are able to support their five workers. This speaks well for the liberality and prosperity of the brethren here. By next morning our steamer had reached the port of Buenos Aires. As the English mail steamer arriving before us had cholera on board, our steamer was detained in quarantine for several hours; but toward noon we pulled into the docks, where I recognized among the waiting crowd the familiar faces of Elder J. W. Westphal, and Brother G. E. Hartmann, the union treasurer. A suburban train took us to Florida, where the Argentine Conference had its small camp-meeting. On the way we passed the centennial exposition of Argentina’s independence. From the fine buildings one could readily judge of the progress and prosperity of this, the most progressive of the republics of South America. Argentina now has a population of nearly seven millions. Of late years its immigration has averaged about three hundred thousand a year, mostly from Latin Europe. Stranger as I was to the country, and although I had passed from the far north to the extreme south of the world, yet I was accorded such a hearty welcome that I at once felt at home, and within an hour I had begun my first Bible study on this continent. The Argentine Conference has something like five hundred members, about two thirds of whom are German-Russians. I was pleased to notice that the churches were well represented, and nearly all the workers in Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay were present. A few had been kept back by the revolution in Uruguay. The conference business and the preaching services were mostly conducted in the Spanish and German languages. About eighty were present on week-days, and twice that number on Sabbath. As thus far but little had been done for Buenos Aires, which, with its million and a quarter of inhabitants, is to-day not only the largest city of the southern hemisphere, but also the fourth city in all America, and the largest Spanish-speaking city in the world, the brethren collected some six hundred dollars with which to enter upon more aggressive work in this city. The weekly offerings, which thus far had been consumed by the conference work, were dedicated to work among the many millions of native Indians in South America. Had not certain parts of Argentina been hampered by drought and grasshoppers, the conference would have paid a second tithe to the union for its mission work. Their average tithe for each member is about fourteen dollars a year. The conference was held November 3-12.9 November 9 the new publishing-house was dedicated. The brethren had secured several suitable lots adjoining one another, and on these they have erected the printing-office, and some dwelling-houses for the workers. They have chosen a good locality, and with their present equipment, they are well prepared to do printing for the many millions of Spanish-speaking people in South America. Brother Max Trummer, their general canvassing agent, held a special course for the canvassers. We were pleased to learn of his success in this field. While many of the common people are unable to read, yet those who can read, especially among the business men, are frequently glad to purchase our literature. During this meeting I was also pleased to make the acquaintance of a representative of the American Bible Society, who appreciates the efforts our people are putting forth for the circulation of the Scriptures. He gave us a very good address, setting forth the importance of Bible circulation. Elder C. E. Knight enjoys the confidence of our people, and was unanimously re-elected president of the Argentine Conference. All went home with a stronger determination than ever to work earnestly for the spread of present truth. Dr. L. E. Kebler, of the Department of Agriculture, warns against the rapidly increasing use of dangerous drugs. There are used annually in this country 150,000 ounces of cocain, when 25,000 ounces would be sufficient for a much larger population than this country possesses. The growing extravagance in the use of this and other similar powerful drugs, is a serious menace to the health and well-being of the nation. In Northern China
By W. A. Westworth
ACCOMPANIED by Elder I. H. Evans and Dr. M. M. Kay and wife, I left Shanghai, December 1, bound for the northern part of this great empire. Journeying west for seven hundred miles, we came to Hankow, where work has recently been begun. Here is a city of about one and one-half million population, the center of a vast territory reached mainly by waterways, with which China abounds. Brethren F. A. Allum and Esta Miller have procured a good location for work here, and evidences of God's leading are seen. Many interested ones are coming continually to the public services, and daily the inquirers fill the time of the brethren. Sister Allum is carrying on a good work for the women. We hope that in a short time we shall have a church in this so-called “Chicago of China” to witness to the truth of God. Turning northward, after two days' journey we came to the river, down which we sailed for twenty-four hours, and arrived at our headquarters for Honan, the Cheo Chia K'o station. Here we were welcomed heartily by Dr. and Mrs. H. W. Miller, Elder and Mrs. O. A. Hall, and Sister Pauline Schilberg, and by a large number of our Chinese evangelists and workers who were here assembled in the workers' school being conducted by Dr. Miller. We thoroughly enjoyed our three days' stop with these earnest workers, whose zeal to carry forward the message can not but bring good results. Here we saw old men and women who, inspired by a desire to know more of the message, had come overland four hundred li [about 134 miles] to attend. Here was a boy who wheeled his mother over thirty miles on a wheelbarrow. Her poor bound feet had so crippled her that it would have been impossible for her to walk. And here I would say, for the benefit of many who wonder about the matter, that after a woman has gone thirty or forty years with her feet bound, and perhaps with several small bones of the feet broken in the process, it is impossible for her to unbind them, or, without the binding, to walk at all on the poor stumps which remain. At this point of our trip, Dr. and Mrs. Kay left us to go down the river eastward to their allotted station at Ying-shang, to join Brother Fred Lee and wife, who for the past year have been the only foreign workers for many miles around in that section of China. Our evangelist, Brother Han, who has done such noble work for the cause at Ying-shang, was at Cheo Chia K'o, waiting for this additional help. He conducted them to their new station, which meant a seven days' journey on a small Chinese house-boat down the river. Here Dr. Miller joined us in a prospective expedition to try to find a suitable location for the Mandarin School, which he is carrying on temporarily at Cheo Chia K'o. I wish the brethren of the educational circles in the home land could see this “advanced” school for workers,—a small room about fifteen feet square, with a dirt floor; no heat in winter, and no possible place to put in heat, because of the crowded condition of the room; and with no equipment save Bibles, and the few books belonging to the teacher. We can not begin to care for all who both want to come and who should come; nor can we supply students any work in this small place in a large city; therefore we must pay all their expenses. We pray for the time to come when we can have a small farm, and give the students an opportunity to work and thus meet expenses. In spite of the present unfavorable conditions, we have many willing hearts, and with a consecrated teacher, much good is being accomplished. We believe God will soon give us better facilities for carrying on this important work. After traveling eighteen hours in a cart, we reached the one inland railroad of China, and started north again. City after city was passed, and hundreds of miles of country traversed, representing scores of millions of people. Our hearts were saddened as we thought that in all this great region there is not one worker for the message. We journeyed to the Yellow River district, bounded on the south by numerous hills of a peculiar formation, which are inhabited by thousands of cliff-dwellers, as many as five tiers of homes being seen in some places, and soon came to our first view of “China's Sorrow,” as the river is called. Crossing this river on a wonderful cantilever bridge, with one hundred two spans, each span about one hundred twenty feet long, we rode for several hours, when we came to a branch railway line recently completed by a Belgian company, but taken over by the Chinese government. Seven hours' ride farther west brought us to Tai-yuan, the capital city of Shan-si. We were obliged to show our cards no fewer than four times to satisfy various officials, and thus had vividly brought to our minds that here it was that the terrible Boxer movement of 1900 had its worst development. Here scores of missionaries were slaughtered, many after they had been gathered by the mandarin into his yamen, or official residence, under pretense of protection. We saw the monument that was erected at the demand of the foreign powers to the memory of those who thus died. Tai-yuan is a vast and thriving city, far in advance of most Chinese cities I have seen. It is the center of a dense population, the capital of a prosperous province, and the ancient capital of the country. Here again the same desolate and heart-rending story,—not one worker to tell of the glory and power of the message of the third angel. Returning to the main line after two more days of travel, we reached Peking, that mighty city of the Middle Kingdom. As we saw this great center, with its hundreds of thousands, yea, millions, of people; as we gazed upon its shrines and temples; as we entered the sacred precincts of the headquarters of Buddhism, and there saw the largest idol in all the world, fully seventy-five feet high, and heard the chants of the many priests or the weird monotony of a lama instructor, in solemn repetition reciting the words of their sages and philosophers; as we saw the poverty and degradation which abound everywhere in a Chinese town,—all these things filled us with an indescribable longing to see the word of life here preached, and honest souls told of the soon-coming Saviour to end all this hollow mockery, this blasphemy of heathenism, this woe and sadness which make life a burden to so many created in the image of God. A MISSIONARY in Africa told the following pathetic story of his annual collection at Christmas-time for missions: “One of the number making offerings was an African girl sixteen years of age. She brought three shillings, and laid it down for Christ. The missionary was amazed at the amount. It was astonishing for any one in that country, and in such poverty, to give so much. He told her she should not do it; but she burst into tears, and said she must. She loved Christ so much. Afterward he asked her where she could get so much money, and she told her story. She had nothing to give. She must; love must. She had gone to a planter, and sold herself as a slave for three shillings. She sold herself a slave for life, and gave it all to her Saviour.” Sound Doctrine and the Federation Movement
By W. A. S.
Sound Doctrine and the Federation Movement
THE apostle Paul has more to say about “sound doctrine” than any other Bible writer. As the margin of the Revision sometimes gives it, it was “healthful doctrine.” There is health for soul and spirit and mind in the great doctrines of salvation. As the apostle preached, he preached the definite message of the Word of God, that saved men who received it. The love of Christ was in it all; and for that very reason there was no compromise with sin or with error in the message that he preached. He lived to see some who had been his associates turn from the truth. He saw fanatical movements sweep in, and men going among the churches to tear down and draw away believers. But his remedy for it all was to cling to the Word of God:— “I commend you to God,” he said to the elders of Ephesus, “and to the word of his grace.” “Study to show thyself approved unto God,” he wrote to Timothy, “rightly dividing the word of truth,” or, “cutting a straight course in the word of truth.” As he saw some churches rent by the deceptive teachers who had turned from the truth, his confidence was still in the eternal foundation, and he said:— “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” 2 Tim. 2:19. And those who remained firm on the platform of truth, putting away all iniquity, keeping sins forgiven, saw indeed that God’s truth and work remained when the flurry of opposition or fanaticism had spent itself. Looking forward, from that time of confusion and apostasy, the apostle was shown the “perilous times” of the last days. And for this time, by inspiration, he left this charge and exhortation:— “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.” But the only remedy is the more earnestly to preach the “sound doctrine.” And because Seventh-day Adventists have set out to do this, in the fear of God, the complaint is often made that we preach “doctrine, doctrine, doctrine,” referring to the truths that distinguish the gospel message for the last days. But this is the apostolic idea of preaching the gospel. Christ swept aside the traditions of men, and rebuked the religious world for making void the commandments of God. Paul was commissioned to carry a message that would actually turn men “from darkness to light.” And this threefold message of Revelation 14 is doing that same thing, —turning men from following tradition to the keeping of God’s commandments, by the faith of Jesus. The age is impatient of sound doctrine, however. The time has come of which the apostle wrote. This year’s president of the British Wesleyan Conference said, in his inaugural address:— Doctrinal preaching is not popular today, and we are apt to be governed in our selection of topics by the popular taste; and yet other aspects of truth are but as the mint and anise and cummin compared with the weightier matters of the law. . . . If we do not seize and hold the conscience, it matters not what else we may captivate. These are true words. But more and more the true foundations are being undermined by skepticism and compromise. The fundamental idea of the Church Federation movement is the minimizing of distinctive doctrinal features, in order to secure common action in the promotion of Federation aims, including the exaltation of the Sunday institution. The idea is at work in the great mission fields, aiming at dividing the territory, and restricting denominational operations to certain districts, some going so far as to turn churches of one denomination over to another body. And some argue for the dropping of distinctive doctrinal features from the teaching in mission fields. There is a curious little contribution to this question in the Medical Missionary of June 10, 1910, a journal once connected with our own work. In the report of a convention of missionaries of various societies, held in the Battle Creek Sanitarium, we read of a question-and-answer service:— Question: Should the distinctive doctrines of the various churches in the home land be at all emphasized on the mission field? Voices in chorus: No, no, no, no. Elder A. T. Jones: Should they be emphasized on the home field? And the chairman explained that the opinion of the meeting was not at all divided. That is the sentiment prevailing in many quarters, and it is of the very essence of the Federation movement; but Seventh-day Adventists are not represented in such an attitude. This church and movement originated in the apprehension of a definite message, with distinctive doctrines to be emphasized and proclaimed in all the world in these last days. We were once asked by a missionary society, in a most kindly way, if we could see our way clear to withdraw from a certain country having about forty millions of people. The reason assigned was that the older society was at work there, and the tendency of our doctrines was to create division. Many answers might have been given, in Scripture terms; but we asked the representative to look at Rev. 14:6-12. That, we explained, was the divine commission in this advent message and movement. Believing that our call was to carry that special message “to every nation,” we asked how we could, in loyalty to our own principles, withdraw from any field or people. The representative saw that we could not. No, no, and always no. This advent movement was raised up in fulfilment of prophecy, and must proclaim the threefold message to the world, emphasizing the distinctive doctrinal features that are the deciding issues for this time. The foundations of this movement are laid in the sure word of prophecy. Men may turn from it, but the foundation remains, and the work goes forward. The movement will herald to all the call to worship God and keep his commandments, and cry the warning against the worship of the beast and his image and the receiving of the mark. Loyal hearts will hear and obey in every land, as the message speeds on, and will stand at last with the seal of God upon their foreheads. God’s seal is affixed only there; for no merely formal assent is counted loyalty to God. It must be the service of heart and mind. With the mark of apostasy, however, it is different. It may be received in the forehead or in the hand. The evil one is not particular about heart service. Some will give full assent to the doctrines of apostasy and the rival to God’s Sabbath, receiving the mark in the forehead. Others, having no care for religion, or knowing that the institution of the Papacy is not the Sabbath of the Lord, will be swept along by the false system, will reject the call to obey and proclaim the Sabbath truth, and, thus giving merely formal assent to the institution of apostasy, will receive the mark in the hand.11 Now is the time of all times to sound the advent message clear and straight. That message has built up this work, and spread its soul-saving influence through many lands; and the same message will see the finishing of the work, in spite of federated forces of opposition. Thank God for the “sound doctrine” of the third angel’s message! There is a wholesomeness and power in it that banishes the rash and the fanatical and unsound spirit, and plant in the heart the loyalty and love of Christ, the spirit of Christian fellowship, and the steady, even experience of the grace of God, that will strengthen believing souls to endure unto the end.