Earlier text: Home NursingIt is the eleventh hour in our work, and the Lord of the harvest is searching the market-places for laborers. I am glad to see in the REVIEW the appeals from the brethren for strong young people to come into the Foreign Mission Seminary for a little time, on their way to the fields; so that, by study and association, the right decisions may be reached as to the fitness of each individual worker for the various places that call for help. We had hoped to make up a good list of candidates in Europe. But the growing work in Europe and in the mission fields which are directly served from Europe, keeps our brethren here at their wits' end to supply the calls. The vice-president for the Asiatic Division hoped we might find some strong young evangelistic laborers for the Orient at this British Union meeting. There are some here—just the kind we like to send. But it is agreed that we can not, in justice to the home fields, draw out any more workers at present. This union has in recent times sent eight into East Central Africa, five to India, others to South America, and a number of workers have recently returned to the United States. Now, with a redistribution of the forces, for a united effort to press a vigorous campaign forward in every part of Great Britain and Ireland, every available worker is needed at his post. A little later the workers will respond; for they are here, and will be happy to go. Young people of good experience in the work are needed in the Foreign Mission Seminary, to join in seeking God definitely to know just what particular call they are best fitted to respond to. We shall not fill all the posts and find no more need to call for workers. The more workers sent out, who are builders indeed, the more the field enlarges, and the greater the need. With the growing work in Europe, our training centers here are continually under pressure to supply the help called for. The school at Friedensau has been enlarged, and yet, with all the increase in numbers, the presidents of German union conferences are praying earnestly for more laborers. In Scandinavia the school work has recently been enlarged. And here in the British Union, the brethren have just dedicated a fine new college building, the erection of which gives the British school its first real school building. Well may our brethren rejoice at this. And we of America rejoice with them; for this school, even without a proper building, has been sending well-trained young people into the distant mission fields, and now will be able to do still better work. The building at the Watford headquarters is a model of the substantial and practical in school construction. The Lord has blessed the brethren as they have worked for the funds, and also the committee and the architect, Brother W. C. Sisley, in planning the details. The cost was just under twenty-five thousand dollars; and under one roof are accommodations for chapel, schoolrooms, and living-rooms for about eighty boarding students, and a hundred day students besides. The brethren in America raised ten thousand dollars toward the cost; and with the co-operation of the believers here and of the printing-office, the new building was dedicated absolutely free of debt. There was a large attendance at the British Union Conference. While revision of lists leaves no great gain in membership, there has been actual gain, and the financial reports show splendid gains. Old believers and newer ones unite in dedicating themselves to God for the 'finishing of the work.' That is the phrase that rings in all our souls to-day. The third angel's message wears well. Here were some of the first believers in Britain—from Ulceby, Grimsby, Southampton, Bath, Kettering, Wellingboro, and London, which, twenty years ago, made up about the full list of companies. And none are more earnest and hopeful for the speedy finishing of the work than these who have for thirty or twenty years been rejoicing in the truth. The message never grows old. It is alive, and lives and grows in the believing heart, becoming more precious every year that passes. The importance of looking after the children in Sabbath-school and church is freshly emphasized with me as I meet again the children of the earlier days of our work in England. They were Sabbath-school children then. A few years only have passed, and here they are, nurses, teachers, Bible workers, ministers, bearing burdens in the cause. So ought it to be, with the passing of only a few years, with many thousands of children now in our Sabbath-schools. But just now, this year and next, the calls must be answered by young people ready to go at short notice. I do pray for that the calls the brethren at Takoma Park are making for young people of good experience in the work to come to the Foreign Mission Seminary this year will be responded to, and that the Lord of the harvest will thrust out the right ones to answer present calls. Let every soul be sure he is in the market-place of the wide world's need at this eleventh hour. Communion With the Dead
By F. M. W.
It is not professed Spiritualists alone who cherish belief in communion with the departed. Many who pass as good orthodox members of the professed Christian church, affectionately hold to this sentiment. Under the heading given above, the editor of the Northwestern Christian Advocate (Methodist) of July 29 says:— Those who have gone from us to the home land still love us and think of us. Their loving relationship to us should be a sanctifying influence in our daily lives. Their coronation should give us a deeper consecration to all things true and beautiful and good. The memory of their love should redeem us from all selfishness. Their purity should help us to be clean and strong in the hour of temptation. They are doubtless oftener nearer to us than we think. The spiritual world is so near us that we ourselves are in it, though our eyes are holden. If our eyes were opened, we should be greatly comforted. How pitiful it would be if we should also be ashamed! “How pure at heart and sound in head,
With what divine affections bold,
Should be the man whose thought
would hold
An hour’s communion with the dead.”
The doctrine of the immortality of the soul has permeated the world, and is Satan’s great masterpiece in preparing the minds of men for his last great deception as manifested in so-called modern spiritism. The Word of God plainly declares that “the dead know not anything. . . . Their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished.” In speaking of those who have died, Job says: “His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.” Our friends who have died are asleep,—in a sleep that knows no waking until the resurrection morning. They are without thought, without consciousness, incapable of memory, of love, or of hatred. They know nothing whatever of the events which have occurred on this earth since their death. The Scripture plainly tells us that Satan will work in the last days with great power, and signs, and lying wonders. It declares that the agencies which do this “are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth into the kingdoms of the earth and of the13 whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” The falsehood told by the arch-deceiver to our first parents in the garden of Eden, “Ye shall not surely die,” has been believed by the nations of men, and its baneful fruit will be seen in the last great deception of personating demons, by which Satan will engulf the world. This doctrine of the immortality of the soul and the conscious state of the dead, has been received in the Christian church; and many professed Christians to-day, while holding no organic connection with Spiritualists so-called, and who would dislike to be called by this name, are such in belief; and unless they obtain a knowledge of what the Scriptures declare concerning this subject, they will be overthrown by this great, overmastering delusion of the last days. Upon us who understand the Bible teaching on this question, and who realize the crisis before us, rests the responsibility of doing our utmost to spread abroad a knowledge of the truth of God. National Reform and the Rights of Conscience
By C. M. S.
THE writer was never so forcibly impressed with the fact that the National Reform Association is actually and actively fulfilling prophecy as during the institute recently held at Winona Lake, Ind. This was particularly manifest in the attitude of the chief speakers toward the rights and consciences of the individual, and the exaltation of a church-state above everything human and into the place of everything divine. The nation is made a veritable god in the temple of National Reform,—a god of the Juggernaut type, riding in placid unconcern over the living consciences of the people, and crushing them under its ponderous wheels. In that organization, which is arranging now to spread out its influence and its operations to all parts of the world, the characteristics and the purposes of the papal power are blooming forth again. This is truly an image of that. The Word of God denominated that power “the beast.” That same Word tells of the making of an “image” to it, and we do not need to look farther than the National Reform Association in order to find an organization fulfilling the characteristics of that “image,” and ready to lead the world in doing the work which that image was to lead the world to do. The National Reform Association stands for the rulership of the world by one executive. So has always stood, and still stands, the Church of Rome; and she has the executive who is ready to occupy the position. The National Reform Association stands for a national religion, dictated by the church and adopted by the state. Upon that platform the Catholic Church has stood for centuries, and still stands. The National Reform Association stands for the idea that the church-state (into which it would turn the government) has a right to rule in the civil, moral, and religious realms. Holding such a position, it is absolutely impossible for it to grant to individuals the rights of conscience; for to admit one’s right to follow the leadings of his conscience in a state which claims jurisdiction over the religion of the individual, would be equivalent to admitting one’s right to follow his own wishes in relation to civil matters under an ordinary state government which has laws regulating civil affairs. If it is right for the state to rule in religious things, the individual, of course, has no recourse any more than he has in the ordinary civil state when he does that which is out of harmony with the civil law. The National Reform Association stands on that platform, and speaks of the rights of the individual as “so-called rights” and “miscalled rights.” In taking this position, that organization is in perfect harmony with—a perfect “image” of—the papal power. That power declares that freedom of conscience is insanity, and anathematizes the idea that “liberty of conscience and of worship is the right of every man.” See the encyclical of Gregory XVI, Aug. 13, 1862. Saint Augustine calls freedom of conscience the “liberty of perdition.”—St. Augustine, Epistle 105, al. 166. Pope Pius IX stigmatizes as among the errors of his time the idea that “every man is free to embrace and profess the religion he shall believe true, guided by the light of reason.”—Apostolic Letters, “Multiplices inter,” 10th June, 1851. The two organizations stand upon the same platform here. Said the Rev. J. S. Martin, in his address on August 17 upon “The Liberty of the Teacher:” — Among all the foes of our country we have none to fear even half so much as those who, in the name of religious liberty, and of individual rights of conscience, are infringing upon the rights of the Christian people and of the state itself. Liberty of conscience has always been dangerous to a tyrannical, state-enforced religion. So surely as men think, they will think outside the dusty, beaten path of stereotyped intellectual expression; and so surely as they worship God in spirit and in truth, they will express that worship in forms that are outside the rigid ritualistic ruts of state-enforced creeds. The Pope trembled on his throne when he found he could not stop the mouth or the pen of Luther, who was teaching a free salvation and the liberty of the individual to accept it. The liberty of the individual in matters of faith and conscience, as proclaimed by the Anabaptists of Europe, was looked upon by the church-states of Europe as a fearfully dangerous thing; and they were denounced as the chief enemies of those governments for holding it. So they were slaughtered by the thousands by those states which were still dominated by the papal idea that the rights of the individual are only “so-called” or “miscalled” rights, and that the state is a “moral individual” with rights which it must maintain even in immoral ways. No appeal of right of conscience of infidel or atheist or any other may free her [the state] from this which is her right and her duty [that is, maintaining her rights as against the so-called rights of any and all of her citizens]. That necessitates, of course, in the ultimate an absolute monarchy, which can do what it pleases without any regard to the wishes of “any and all of her citizens.” The National Reform Association, therefore, by its own teachings, condemns itself as an outspoken enemy of the republic. A republic, supposedly, and theoretically at least, is operated in harmony with the will of the majority of the people in temporal concernments. But here is an organization that openly advocates a rule which may be diametrically opposed not only to the will but even to the (“so-called”) “rights of any and all” of the people. We have intimated before that National Reformism is not in harmony with the principles of the republic. By such teachings as this they now openly affirm it themselves. Their program and their teachings are both incompatible with the American idea of government; that is, a civil government supreme in civil things, which leaves the individual conscience supreme in the matter of its relation to God. The National Reformer, when confronted with the idea that the individual must follow the leadings of conscience if his attitude in spiritual things is to be acceptable in the sight of Heaven, professes to be able to see only two possible results of such liberty—polyandry and polygamy. And to save the world from polyandry and polygamy, which are horrible enough, they would institute something equally horrible, and if possible more debasing, because of its proposed universality—the slavery of conscience to the dictum of a state-church, and the confiscation of the liberties of all the people. To prevent polyandry and polygamy, they think it necessary to prevent the Sabbatarian from following the law of Jehovah. They would make the Constitution a religious creed, and turn the laws of all the States into Articles of Faith.14 No better machine for the manufacture of hypocrites was ever devised. If the church of the third and fourth centuries was endangered and made an apostate by the conditions that caused unconverted pagans to flock into her fold, certainly the program which this organization is working upon is doubly certain to produce a like result. With a creed in place of a Constitution, and the church made a national institution, there is no kind of politician or wire-puller or grafter or hypocrite or scoundrel who will not fall upon his knees and cry for membership. The fact that this National Reform program has met with such favor among the federated churches makes its success assured; and its success means the perversion of our government and the reign of persecution for those who will not be hypocrites. In another article will be set forth the purpose of the National Reform Association regarding the promulgation of its doctrines in other nations. In that will be strikingly manifest how the National Reform Association is fulfilling prophecy. Deliverance in the Tiger Jungle
By W. A. S.
WHEN the monsoon rains have raised the rivers of India over banks, travel along the low country is even now attended with difficulty. Forty years ago there were still fewer facilities in the way of roads and river-craft. About that time, Dr. Jacob Chamberlain was pioneering the Godavery district. He had made a long journey into the interior, where foot of missionary had never before passed, and was returning with his party of coolies and guides and several native preachers. At a point where they expected to find a government steamer, they learned that the boat had broken down in battling against the fierce current. Their only course was to make a seventy-five-mile journey through the jungle. The coolie carriers deserted, followed by the armed guard, rather than attempt the journey through the deadly jungle, with rivers in flood. Other carriers were secured, and the missionary pressed on through the uninhabited country. Just before reaching the fords of a stream across which was higher ground, on which they could camp for the night, they met two hunters who told them that the fords were impassable, and that there were no boats and no material for rafts in all that region. Night was coming on, and the tigers had begun to roar about them. The guides and the party felt the situation hopeless. Then Dr. Chamberlain went aside, and pleaded with God, claiming the promise, “I will be with thee.” “Now we need thee,” he cried, “We are in blackest danger this night. Only thou canst save us from this jungle, these tigers, this flood. O Master, Master, show me what to do!” “Turn to the left, to the Godavery, and you will find rescue,” came the reply, not audible to the ear, but as clear and distinct as if spoken aloud. The guides insisted that to go to the left meant certain increase of the danger. The river was overflowed, and there was no high ground. The missionary again went aside and pleaded with God. “Turn to the left, to the Godavery, and you will find rescue,” came the reply again. But the guides, who knew the country, were only more determined that to go to the left would defeat their plan of making a high bluff, six hours’ journey beyond them. For the third time the missionary rode apart to send up the petition that Heaven would not allow him to follow any false impression of his own mind. Again there came the same distinct command, “Turn to the left.” “It is God’s answer to my prayer,” he said. “I can not doubt it. I must act immediately.” By exercise of arbitrary authority he led the party to the left into the low land along the river. To all who inquired or remonstrated, he could only cry out, “There is rescue at the river.” Approaching the river, the missionary pressed on ahead, looking expectantly for the sign of the promised rescue. As he came out of the jungle upon the river’s bank, there at his feet he found a large barge, tied to a tree. Two men were in it, who explained that in spite of their efforts, the boat had broken from its moorings away up the river. It had, they said, acted like one possessed, and they had been unable to stop it till they reached the point where the missionary came to the river. The promised rescue was assured; for the missionary had full authority from the government to take possession of the barge. He says:— Who had ordered that tidal wave in the morning of that day, that had torn that boat from its moorings, and driven it so many miles down the river (and across from the north to the south bank), and that had thwarted every endeavor of the frightened boatmen to force it back to the north shore, and had brought it to the little cove-like recess, just at that point where we would strike the river? Who, but He on whose orders we had come,—he who had said, “I will be with thee,”—he who knew beforehand the dire straits in which we would be in that very place, on that very day, that very hour,—he who had thrice told me distinctly, “Turn to the left, to the Godavery, and you will find rescue”? I bowed my head, and in amazed reverence thanked my God for this signal answer to my pleading prayer. Infidelity Fostered by Perverted Truth
By C. M. S.
EXTREME representations of Christianity and extreme assumptions on the part of its professed devotees always result in reaction toward infidelity. This is why the great deceiver invents and encourages such things. It was the false doctrines and extravagant assumptions of the Roman Church in France that gave rise to the infidelity which culminated in the great Revolution, with all its terrible results. Christianity had been so grossly misrepresented that men rebelled against the power that called itself by that name; and, in their ignorance, not knowing anything of the genuine principle, they rushed to the farthest extreme for a substitute. Another Roman dogma, adopted extensively by Protestants, has worked mightily for infidelity, and this is the monstrous doctrine of eternal torment. It is a terrible misrepresentation of the character of God to portray him as a tyrant who takes pleasure in the torture of his enemies. This is the idea the heathen have of a god; therefore their idols are represented as vindictive creatures, and their worship is but a series of efforts to appease the wrath of some being possessing only traits of cruelty and revenge. There are men, however, whose instincts (unconsciously influenced by the spirit of Christianity in the world) revolt at such things. And when they are led to believe that the Christian’s God is one who will take pleasure in the eternal torment of his enemies, they instinctively shrink from allegiance to him. Hence we have infidelity, and human endeavor in the line of self-preservation, self-elevation, and self-salvation. If such men would study the Word of God in its own light, from its own standpoint, they would see the God of the Bible portrayed as a God of love. “God so loved the world [“while we were yet sinners”], that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life.” Rom. 6:23. Sin and death came upon the race through man’s own disobedience, and the Son of God gave his own life as a ransom for all who would believe, and accept pardon and eternal life. Then men who suffer the penalty of eternal death (not torture) will do so because they will not accept the life provided for them. See John 5:39, 40. “God is love” (1 John 4:8), and is “not willing that any should perish.” 2 Peter 3:9. “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” Eze. 33:11. But God can not in justice save men15 who choose sin and its consequences. It would do them no good, and they would continue to mar the peace of the universe. “Let favor be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord.” Isa. 26:10. So the Lord continually makes this appeal: “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.” Deut. 30:19. To teach that such a God of love could find pleasure in torturing forever any of his creatures, is a travesty on his character, and a sheer perversion of his holy Word. It is no wonder that such a dogma should make infidels of those who do not study the Bible for themselves. C. M. S. Lovers of Pleasure
By J. N. Q.
A spirit of self-pleasing has always characterized the human family, and just before the second advent of our Lord it is to become abnormal in its manifestation. That this condition has been reached in the city of Washington is evidenced by the following from the Herald of August 24:— More than a hundred thousand dollars was forwarded yesterday to Washington vacationers in the mountains, at the shores, or abroad, by one bank alone. As there are about twenty banking institutions in this city, and yesterday was only one day of the season, though perhaps the biggest for drafts, it is estimated by bankers that this summer's play has cost Washington people anywhere from two to ten millions of dollars. “It has been a big season of foolishness,” said one of the bankers last night, “but a certain amount of prodigality seems necessary to make people appreciate the value of a dollar.” The spirit of pleasure seeking, like whisky drinking, creates an appetite which becomes insatiable, leading its devotees into a miserable bondage. That recreation is essential to physical well-being can not be disputed; but when millions of dollars are squandered in seeking pleasure, then dissipation is the word to be used, not recreation. A day or two in the quiet of the woods, away from the stress and strain of business, is to be desired; but no great outlay of money is required for this. The glitter and glamour of the ballroom, the banquet costing thousands of dollars, these consume money rapidly, and are also a severe strain upon the vitality of those who indulge in them. Simplicity in recreation, as in everything else, is the safe and sane method. J. N. Q. In Brussels, the latter part of this month, will be held the Interparliamentary Union,—“an association of members of the parliaments and congresses of the most important nations.” This union has for its object the “promotion of means for preserving international peace.” One measure proposed at this meeting is the adoption of plans looking for a “world federation, with courts, legislative body, and executive head.” But while these peace federations are being agitated, the nations are frantically pushing ahead their preparation for the coming conflict, which in the future is inevitable. The United Presbyterian of August 18 sees no particular absurdity in the existence of these two movements in the world, fostered in part even by the same men. It says:— This is a proposal that the nations now make real what fifty years ago was the most daring dream of a poet. The movement for universal peace is one of the most striking tendencies of the times. Another is the unprecedented preparation for possible war. That the two movements are in progress at the same time is not absurd. The immense burden of naval armaments, the building of huge warships, and the arming and drilling of vast armies, have caused the statesmen and all other men to realize that if a great war comes, it will threaten the existence of civilization. If war does not come, the nations are nevertheless exhausting themselves in preparing for it. They can not go on indefinitely increasing armaments. The only deliverance is the success of some plan to make war unnecessary, useless, impossible. Every war budget, every new battle-ship, is an argument for peace. The plan to be proposed this month by the American delegates to the Interparliamentary Union may not be adopted, but it will at least invite the attention of the nations of the world to one great plan for universal peace.
The statements of prophecy and the actual conditions now existing, do not encourage us in believing that in the future questions of international difference will be adjusted through arbitration. This never will be, at least to the extent which some of its advocates fondly hope. The Scriptures plainly teach that the battle of Armageddon is just ahead; that the elements of anarchy and strife, which are so rampant in the world, stirring the hearts of men to fever heat, will find their culmination in the blood and war and smoke of universal conflict. This earth will sometime see the reign of peace; but not until He shall come whose right it is to rule, even the Prince of Peace. Then will the armies of men give place to the invincible hosts of heaven; war and strife will be forever banished; and the righteousness of God will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. This only is the hope of the child of God in this evil time.16 The Kaiser a Bible Student
Speaking to a clergyman recently, Emperor William of Germany stated that he loved to read the Bible daily, and that a copy of it was placed on a table beside his bed:— I find the most beautiful thoughts expressed in it. I can not understand how it is that so many persons pay so little attention to the Holy Scriptures. Can any one read the Gospels and other parts of the Bible without feeling convinced that they contain simple truth, well authenticated, and established on unquestionable facts? Whenever I have to come to any decision, I ask myself what the Bible would teach me to do in that particular case. The Bible is to me the fountain from which I draw light and strength in the hours of sorrow and depression. I seek consolation in the Bible, and I am convinced that many who have neglected religion will regain definite belief and will feel the need of communion with the Almighty if they study it. Periods of dangerous doubt have always produced in their wake periods of enthusiastic religious feeling. I can not understand how life can be lived without real communion with the Almighty. We all must go through Gethsemane. There are hours and hours in which our pride is humiliated. It is difficult for us to be meek; for each one of us desires to be his own master.
The Influence of America
By C. E. H.
It is becoming more and more evident each year that the United States is exerting a tremendous influence upon the other nations of the world. There are great possibilities bound up in this invisible power over the destinies of nations. This is especially true when this power is for good. As an illustration of what may be accomplished by this country through the efforts of missionaries; we note the observation of foreign mission work recently made by Mr. Fairbanks, former vice-president:— Our country leads the world in the number of foreign missions and in the contributions made for the purpose of carrying forward their great work. The influence of America, which is felt in many lands, is due in a greater degree to the labors and sacrifices of the missionaries than it is to our statesmanship or our men of trade and commerce. The better side of America is made familiar to millions in non-Christian countries; and a vast army of noble men and women in the name of the Christian churches of America are lifting them into a better conception of the true significance of a great Christian nation. The disinterested purpose of the missionaries is becoming more and more apparent; and that they are laboring in the interest of humanity in its broadest and best sense, is coming to be appreciated in the field of their labors. Such an influence radiating from this country will be of far more value in revealing the Christian sentiment of the people of this country than all the legal expressions that may be recorded on the law-books. C. E. H. We are living in an age of the false and sophisticated, and it is to be regretted that much of the education of the present day cultivates this spirit in the minds of young men and women. Many graduates go out from the higher institutions of learning with false conceptions of life, with false ideals, and very poorly prepared to relate themselves to the experiences which lie before them. The following excellent counsel, given to a graduating class several weeks ago by Mayor Gaynor, of New York City, contains some good advice:— Do not go out of here puffed up with pride. Be simple men. A man who has inordinate pride has no charity whatever. He does not treat anybody right. Bring yourself down to simplicity. Let your prayer be every morning, “O Lord, save me this day from being proud and arrogant, because I am only a little man here, with other men.” This is sometimes hard, but it will do you good. The vain man never reaches the highest point in the professions. Be simple. Lead the simple life. It is the simple man who succeeds. Do not arrogate airs to yourself, because they easily slide off. Go out of here with no notion that you are learned men, or that your education is complete. Anybody who thinks so had better stay on here. Keep on studying. To be a success you must work hard. Afterward
By George H. Allen
The seed waits in the furrowed soil
For sun and rain and coaxing toil
To call it forth in blade and leaf,
In fragrant bud and golden sheaf,—
The harvest, then. O'er desert sands, in scorching sun,
Pilgrim his weary course must run;
O'er mountain heights, with blistering feet,
Before he walks the golden street
Where there is rest. Wrestling with storms upon the deep,
O'er life's frail bark the billows leap,
A prey to the remorseless sea
Until is reached the heavenly lee
Where there is peace. For humbling cross and fretting thorn
He shall receive the golden crown,
And sorrow's tears like pearls shall gem
That fair, immortal diadem,
The victor's crown. Southern California Camp-Meeting and Conference
By George A. Irwin
THIS meeting was held at San Diego, August 4-14. San Diego, a city of fifty thousand inhabitants, is located on a beautiful land-locked bay in the extreme southern part of the State, less than a dozen miles from the Mexican border. Because of its mild and equable climate, it has become one of the principal tourist-centers for which Southern California is noted. Preceding the camp-meeting, a successful tent-meeting was held in the city by Elders C. E. Ford and E. J. Hibbard. This resulted in a number of accessions to the church, and prepared the way for the excellent outside interest that was a prominent feature of the camp-meeting. Three hundred tents were pitched, and it was estimated that fifteen hundred of our people, all told, were in attendance. Notwithstanding there was much business to attend to, because of conference proceedings and institutional reports, there was from the first a good spiritual interest, which deepened until the close. The last Sabbath of the meeting was a day of special victory, fully three hundred persons coming forward to seek the Lord. Among this number were some who in former years occupied prominent positions in the work, but for some time had not been obeying the truth. The conference reports revealed gratifying gains in nearly all branches of the work. The tithe received during the past conference year amounted to $41,993, an increase over the preceding year of $5,326.46, or an average per capita of $16.56. A second tithe, amounting to $9,418, was also received. Offerings for missions amounted to $14,141. A total of $21,587 was raised for work outside the limits of the conference. Altogether there was raised $86,397, or $34.08 per capita. Three new churches, with an aggregate membership of ninety-six, were admitted to the conference. In all, 431 persons were added during the year, making the present membership 2,750. Three new church buildings and one mission home were built during the year. The annual report of the Loma Linda Sanitarium and the College of Medical Evangelists showed a total net gain, after making due allowance for bad debts and depreciation on buildings, furnishings, etc., of $4,006. The patronage for the year was the largest by far since the opening of the institution. Following the report from Loma Linda, an appeal was made for funds to assist in the erection of the new buildings for the accommodation of the medical college, with the following result: $298 in cash; $3,860 in straight pledges; and $3,900 in conditional pledges, contingent on the sale of property. To this amount should be added $3,000 that was raised a few days previously by the Loma Linda church. This shows that the Southern California brethren sense the responsibility resting upon them to bear a large share of the expense in building up and maintaining this important institution. The manager of the Paradise Valley Sanitarium reported a prosperous year. As the result of an increased patronage and careful management, the balance-sheet of this institution showed a net gain of $2,000. While the general financial condition of the Glendale Sanitarium has been improving of late, and is better than the preceding year, its balance-sheet showed a small deficit in the year's operation. The report of the Fernando Academy showed that institution to be in good financial condition, its assets being $28,000, with liabilities of only $1,000. The receipts for the past year exceeded the expenses by $184. This school has come to be an important adjunct to the work of the conference, educating and training young people for service in the Lord's work. The Sabbath-school collections for foreign missions during the meeting amounted to $826 in cash, together with six gold watches, twenty-three rings, five bracelets, and five brooches. An offering for a fund to assist worthy students to attend Fernando Academy amounted to $394 in cash and pledges. Brother Miller's appeal for help in providing literature for the blind resulted in an offering from the congregation of $229. By vote of the delegates, $300 from the conference funds was added to the offering. The collections taken during the meeting for camp-meeting expenses amounted to $287. Ministerial credentials were renewed to twenty persons; and three young men—E. M. Adams, A. S. Booth, and Dr. H. J. Hoare—were ordained and given credentials. Five persons received ministerial license, and twenty others received missionary credentials. Thirty-three persons were baptized the last day of the meeting.17 Elder E. E. Andross was unanimously re-elected president of the conference, with the following persons associated with him as members of the executive committee: J. A. Burden, C. E. Ford, E. J. Hibbard, H. G. Lucas, H. W. Lindsay, and J. W. Mc Cord. It was planned to make a simultaneous effort, soon, in all the churches, to raise the Southern California quota of the $300,000 Fund, and also for the sale of "Ministry of Healing." Elders J. N. Loughborough, J. O. Corliss, and the writer were the laborers from outside the conference. The talks given by Elder Loughborough on the rise and progress of the message were highly appreciated, and did much to strengthen the faith of the people in the certain and speedy triumph of the faith held by the pioneers in this message. The book sales, all told, amounted to over $2,000. A strong tent company was left at San Diego to follow up the interest. Taken as a whole, the Southern California camp-meeting was a success, and will, I trust, be the beginning of spiritual growth, missionary zeal, and self-sacrifice on the part of all the churches.