“The end of the commandment is charity;” and the end of that part of the divine law which relates to the care of the body is likewise charity. In other words, the adoption of right physical habits is to be regarded as a means rather than an end; as a fitting up for work, not as the work itself.
We may learn a lesson from the sad experience of the Israelites. They obeyed the letter of the divine ordinances committed to them, but neglected to do the work for a perishing world which these ordinances especially fitted them to do. They rightly regarded themselves as a chosen people, but utterly lost sight of the fact that they were chosen to be channels through whom the divine blessing might flow out to suffering humanity.
Now, in the closing period of this earth’s history, the Lord has called out a chosen people, and committed to this people life-giving principles, soul-stirring truths, which are to be proclaimed in all the world. It is evident, then, that adopting these principles for ourselves and our loved ones, is simply preparatory to effective and systematic missionary effort. It is putting on the whole armor of God, in order that we may fight the enemy of souls, and rescue men and women for the kingdom.
We are the Lord’s servants, and as a kind master, He looks after our physical welfare. He provides appropriate food, and instructs us in regard to the maintenance of the best health. Are we, then, to rest content with complying with these commands concerning our own comfort and well-being?—By no means. We are servants, and therefore have a work to do. This work consists in loving ministry to our fellow men.
Philanthropy in its true sense, is the duty of every Christian. He “went about doing good,” is the divinely worded summary of Christ’s earthly life. If our lives are according to the pattern, it will be equally true of us. The great need of the world to-day is not head religion, but hands-and-feet religion. Possibly, if Christ were upon earth to-day, He might say to some of us, “Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”
The health principles are given us as a sacred trust, that the light may shine forth from every Seventh-day Adventist home into the surrounding neighborhood. Why should not our brethren watch their opportunities to speak of these life-giving truths? Why should not our sisters give at least one afternoon a week to calling on their neighbors, and inviting them to subscribe for one of our health magazines? Some may say, “We have neither the time nor the strength.” No, but God will give them to you as you need them. Only a very few have availed themselves of His promise, “Then . . . thine health shall spring forth speedily;” but no one who has done so, has been disappointed. The Lord is not straitened for means, but He is asking for willing instruments. When we once begin to realize the solemn fact that God will hold us accountable for every ounce of strength committed to us, our anxiety to be faithful in the use of what we already have will be greater than our desire for more.
Let us foster the missionary spirit among the children. Why not encourage them to sell our papers? There is an immense work to be done. No one can be spared. The world is to be warned by a people showing in their daily walk and conversation an earnest love for God, and a willingness to lay down their lives, if need be, for the good of their fellow men.
Pointed Paragraphs
Selected from the Writings of Mrs. E. G. White
THE transgression of physical law is transgression of God's law.
In order to be fitted for translation, the people of God must know themselves.
It is our duty to study the laws that govern our being. Ignorance in these things is sin.
God's law is written by His own finger upon every nerve, every muscle, every faculty, which has been intrusted to man.
In the Long Run
By Ella Wheeler Wilcox
In the long run, all love is paid by love,
Though undervalued by the hosts of earth;
The great eternal government above
Keeps strict account, and will redeem its worth.
Give thy love freely; do not count the cost;
So beautiful a thing was never lost,
In the long run.
—Ella Wheeler Wilcox.
Putting On the Whole Armor
A little further reading of the Scriptures will show that in putting on each separate piece of the armor, and in putting on the whole armor, we are simply putting on the Lord Jesus Christ. Compare the following expressions with the armor as listed above: “I am . . . the truth;” “the Lord our righteousness;” “He is our peace;” “Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;” “the author of eternal salvation;” “His name is called The Word of God.” With the whole armor on, we are completely hidden in Christ. Whatever comes to us must come through Him. Whether the enemy attacks us in the front or in the rear, it is all the same, “for the Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward.” If the enemy makes a side attack, he will find every position guarded, for “the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.” It is our acceptance of the “unspeakable gift” for all that Jesus is to those who believe in Him, that settles the whole matter, and makes us “more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” Thus we enter into the experience of those saints of old, “who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.”
“By faith, they, like a whirlwind’s breath,
Swept on o’er every field;
The faith by which they conquered death
Is still our shining shield.”
An Artful Question Well Answered
WHEN there is an issue between us and the one with whom we are examining a question, it is well to go with our friend as far as we can in the premises and the principles laid down, and especially is it essential to have some common authority to which both parties agree, and to which they can mutually appeal.
In the time of Christ such an issue arose between Him and the class of people whom He was trying to teach. His mode of procedure on that occasion will be a pertinent and instructive lesson to all who engage in defending the truth in these last days.
In arguing with the Jews, Christ quoted a passage from the Old Testament. They and He both believed in the Old Testament as a book of truth; and whatever it declared, they could both accept as authority. The passage Christ quoted was that recorded in Matt. 22: 23–32,—that God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,—and then He immediately adds, “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
From this declaration it is argued that therefore Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are living; but as they were known and acknowledged to be dead, modern theologians contend that they were living as disembodied, immaterial, and therefore immortal, spirits, their bodies being in the grave; which is the point that modern theology would prove.
To understand the words of Christ, we must fully comprehend the point in controversy between Him and those Jews with whom He was arguing, that we may see clearly what His words were designed to prove, and what He designed to teach them thereby. We must then look carefully at the whole narrative, which reads as follows:—
“The same day came to Him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked Him, saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed [children] unto his brother [and these children would be considered as belonging to that brother, and have all the rights of primogeniture, and inheritance belonging to such children]. Now there were with us seven brethren [or brothers]: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased [or died], and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother; likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh. And last of all the woman died also.” Now comes the puzzle.
“Therefore in the resurrection [when the dead come to life] whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.
“Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection [or after the resurrection] they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead [while they are dead, they are no honor to God, nor credit to His work; and if there is to be no resurrection, and they are forever to remain dead, as you Sadducees believe, how could God call himself their God? Hence they will live again].”
Therefore Christ completes the idea, by adding the words “but of the living,” making the whole sentence read: “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
Did Moses Teach the Resurrection?
The point then at issue between Christ and the Sadducees was whether the dead would ever be raised, as Christ taught, or would not be, as the Sadducees asserted. The Sadducees believed the writings of Moses, but denied the resurrection; Christ also believed the writings of Moses, and taught the resurrection. Here, then, was a distinct issue between them. The Sadducees heard Christ teaching that the dead would be raised, which they denied; and to sustain their faith in opposition to His, they refer to the law of Moses concerning marriage, and then state the case of the seven brethren, which was either an actual occurrence, or might have been, in which case it would serve their purpose just as well. Seven brothers had been married successively, one to one woman, and all had died; and last of all the woman died also. Thus the case was all closed up till the next world; and now they say, If these persons are all going to be raised from the dead and live again, to which one of these seven brothers will this woman belong in that future world? This problem they doubtless thought would completely overthrow the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead; but they calculated without their host. He caught them in their own ignorance. “Ye do err,” He said, “not knowing . . . the power of God,” who is able to make alive again all those who have gone into their graves; and they erred also in not knowing the Scriptures, which teach that the dead will live again. They erred further, not knowing the nature and condition of that future state, which would have removed all their objection; for in that state “they neither marry, nor are given in marriage;” so it would make no difference how many husbands the woman had had here; their relations there are not to be based on any such conventional arrangements.
The question which Christ was here discussing with the Sadducees had no respect whatever to an intermediate state to which people nowadays try to apply it; neither did the question of the Sadducees refer to such a state. They did not inquire whose wife she was then, or which one of the seven men’s immortal souls claimed the immortal soul of the woman in the spirit world there; but, Whose shall she be in the resurrection (a future event)? So Christ told them that they erred, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. And then to condemn them out of their own mouths, He proceeds to prove from the writings of Moses—what? A conscious intermediate state?—No; that was not the question; but that the dead will be raised, as He had claimed. “But as touching the resurrection of the dead,” He says (“as touching the dead, that they rise,” Mark says; and “that the dead are [or will be] raised,” Luke says), “have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living?” Did this language sustain Christ’s position, as against the Sadducees, that the dead will be raised?—Most assuredly; for God is not the God of the dead, of those who are irrecoverably, or eternally, dead, as the Sadducees believed, but of the living, or those who will live again.
Victory Through Faith
“Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” “And this is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith.”
Success in the Christian Life
Our success in the Christian life does not consist in what we do as of ourselves, but in our appropriation of that which has already been done for us by Jesus our Saviour. This truth cannot be made too clear nor emphasized too much; for there can be no real success on any other basis.
Accepting Victory Through Jesus
Our victory in the Christian warfare does not consist in our going out to battle with the hope of gaining a victory, but in appropriating the victory before we go out to meet the enemy. The real battle is in our inmost souls, and there is where we must gain the victory if we have it at all. What others see of our experience is simply the outward manifestation of an experience through which we have already passed when we were in the secret place with God. The struggle comes in being willing to give up our fears of defeat and our own plans for victory, and to accept victory simply as a gift. He gives us continual victory through the continual gift of Jesus the victor. We accept the victory by accepting the victorious life of Jesus.
The Whole Armor of God
All this is clear from the simple statements of the Scripture. “Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” The victory is really gained when we put on the armor; for with the armor on, we shall “be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” But what constitutes the armor? “Having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” What an assurance of victory in such an armor! Every separate piece is sufficient to make the wearer a conqueror. “Truth,” “righteousness,” “peace,” “faith,” “salvation,” “the word of God,”—what more could be asked? or what more could be given? Surely, “He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust,” and He has taken the whole burden of the warfare upon himself. He simply asks us to accept the abundant provision which He has made for us, and then “he that is feeble . . . shall be as David; and the house of David . . . as the angel of the Lord.”
W. W. P
By William Warren Prescott
In His parting words to His disciples the Saviour said, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” Through the beloved disciple the same Saviour has said to us, “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.” The indwelling presence of Him who has conquered the world brings to us victory in advance. But Christ must dwell in our hearts by faith, and therefore “this is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith.” When we thus accept the wonderful provision which has been made for us, we can go out to the daily battles just as the children of Judah did under the leadership of Jehoshaphat, who “appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord; for His mercy endureth for ever.” They gained the victory over “the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir” when they believed the word of the Lord through Jahaziel, upon whom “came the Spirit of the Lord in the midst of the congregation.” Then they went forth, singing the song of victory as they went, that there might be manifested in their experience the victory which they had already gained by their faith, and the Lord “made them to rejoice over their enemies.” The same faith in the victory offered to us in the word of promise makes it possible that “the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion.” Begin each day in fellowship with Jesus, with a will submitted to the will of God, and every thought brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and then go forth with singing to enjoy in your experience the fruit of the victory already gained. “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ.”
W. W. P
The Comforter's Comfort
“I WILL pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever. . . . I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” Thus did Jesus comfort His disciples that last night before His death. The promise of His presence as the Comforter, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, “the Spirit of truth,” was the greatest comfort that the loving Saviour could offer. He did not merely speak comforting words, but He provided actual comfort in the promise of His abiding presence in the Spirit, the real essence of comfort. This was even better than His bodily presence. “It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you.” Christ in us is better than Christ among us.
Sin is the cause of all sadness. The only genuine comfort is found in salvation from sin, and it is only the power of His presence which can save us from sin. We are “saved by His life.” “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” True happiness is found in freedom from sin, in loving obedience to the law of truth through the power of the Spirit of truth. “Happy is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night.” Thus the greatest comfort to the living concerning the living is found in the Saviour’s coming to be the life of the life, to deliver from every evil thing, to minister the happiness of obedience. This is the message of comfort to all the living, and concerning all the living.
It is also true that the only Scriptural comfort concerning those who sleep in Jesus is found in the Saviour’s coming. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” Death is an enemy. Jesus, and not death, is the one who introduces us into eternal happiness. Jesus took our flesh, and “gave himself for our sins,” in order that “He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” Death is an enemy, even to those who believe in Jesus, but to them it is a conquered enemy, and this will be made manifest at the coming of Jesus, when the righteous dead “shall be raised incorruptible.” When this experience of sinless immortality and eternal happiness shall be an accomplished fact to the saved, “then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” And this is the comfort to the living concerning the dead who have died in hope. The power of the coming of the Lord is a resurrection power. His presence is life. His coming means deliverance from sin, and deliverance from death. This is the Comforter’s comfort. “I will come to you.” “I will come again, and receive you unto myself.” The coming of the Lord is life for the living, and hope for the dead. His presence is the only lasting basis of comfort and happiness. “Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”
“As I cast earth’s transient joys behind,
Come thou near, come thou near;
In thy presence all in all I find,
’Tis my comfort here.”
“Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
The Trees of the Lord
By W. W. P.
The sap of a tree is its blood, and the blood is always the life. And so when we are told that “the trees of the Lord are full of sap,” it is the same as saying that they are full of life. It is true that the words “of sap” are supplied in our Authorized Version, and that the Revised Version renders the statement thus: “The trees of the Lord are satisfied.” But this does not change the real idea to be expressed; for a tree can no more be satisfied without the full current of sap flowing through it than a man can be satisfied without a full current of blood flowing through his whole system. And this is not a mere comparison; it is simply the statement of the same general truth under two forms. The blood is always the life, whether it be the red blood which flows in the human body, or the white blood which flows in the body of the tree; and a living organism can be satisfied with nothing but life.
On one occasion they brought to Jesus a blind man, and “besought Him to touch him.” And after Jesus had “laid His hands upon him,” He asked him whether he could see. “And he looked up, and said, I see men; for I behold them as trees, walking.” This man whose sight had been only partially restored, could see more clearly than many men whose sight has always been normal. These are the men who “seeing see not.” But those whose eyes have been anointed, and who see the realities of things rather than mere outward appearances, must often have been impressed with the idea that trees are in a certain sense a lower type of men, men without the power of will or the power of moving about.
A writer, who is a seer if not a prophet, has well said: “In every particular connected with organic existence, in the laws of their development, decay, and reproduction, trees and human beings are complete counterparts of one another. The former expresses the ideas suggested by the latter, only on a lower platform, as befits a humbler sphere of being. Cuvier’s well-known maxim, ‘An origin by generation, a growth by nutrition, and a termination by death,’ applies equally to both. Even their structure to a certain extent is similar. The leaves correspond to the lungs and digestive organs; the blossoms represent the distinctions of sex; and the names of trunk, arms, and limbs are given indiscriminately to similar parts of both organisms.”
It is therefore not a mere comparison, but an interpretation of facts which should appeal to us every day, when the Scripture uses the tree as a means of conveying gospel instruction. The whole field of vegetable physiology is closely allied to human physiology, revealing in infinite variety the power and the wisdom of the one life. But the tree is the king in the realm of vegetable life, and touches most closely upon the experiences of man. And so we read: “The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing: to show that the Lord is upright: He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”
The Lord fills the trees with His life, and the result is seen in their growth and in the fulfillment of the purpose for which each kind of tree was created. The palm tree seems to have a special lesson for us. “It grows in the desert, in places where no other tree is found; and bears there most bounteous crops of fruit,—a symbol of life triumphing over death.” “The cedar is among trees ‘as the lion among beasts, or the eagle among birds,’ a type of the Majestic.” The lesson which the trees of the Lord teach by flourishing and bearing fruit is “that the Lord is upright.” This truth may be experienced by every one who will yield himself to the unhindered working of the life of the Lord, just as the trees do. Then “he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” This is the experience which honors God. “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.”
In the words spoken at the beginning, “The fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind,” the law for all fruit bearing was established. It is simply a more full statement of this same law which is given by the Saviour in the sermon on the mount: “Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.” And again He said: “Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.” The application of these principles to the human tree is made in these words: “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.” In the certainty with which each one of the trees of the Lord bears fruit “after his kind” is set forth the gospel teaching that “he that doeth righteousness is righteous,” and that he must be righteous in order to do righteousness. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” And so the gospel commission is “to preach good tidings unto the meek, . . . to proclaim liberty to the captives, . . . to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, . . . to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.” Only in this way can we be made to bear “the fruit of righteousness,” as trees of the Lord in the garden of the Lord.
W. W. P.
No Sweeter Word
By W. T. Sleeper
“I WILL not leave you desolate.” John 14:18, R. V.
No sweeter word than this can find a tongue,
When strength and courage fail with harp unstrung,
“I will not leave you desolate;”
A precious word which poets love to sing,
To trembling age a word most comforting,
“I will not leave you desolate.”
When loving friends and social joys depart,
And troubles come to overwhelm the heart,
“I will not leave you desolate;”
When night is coming on that hides the sun,
And weary limbs remind you “day is done,”
“I will not leave you desolate.”
O blessed word! I hear it once again—
The service ended—as a sweet “amen,”
“I will not leave you desolate;”
Ling’ring awhile until the Father call,
I catch the vanishing recessional,
“I will not leave you desolate.”
— W. T. Sleeper, in the Observer.
Correction in Testimonies, Volume VI
By Editor
OUR attention has been called to a typographical error in “Testimonies for the Church,” Volume VI. On page 155, second paragraph, ninth line, the words, “the precious rays of light,” should be omitted from the text. Those who have a copy of the book should make this correction at once, and others would do well to preserve this note, as they will certainly purchase this valuable book as soon as possible.
A Worker's Prayer
By F. R. Havergal
LORD, speak to me, that I may speak
In living echoes of thy tone!
As thou hast sought, so let me seek
Thy erring children, lost and lone.
Oh, lead me, Lord, that I may lead
The wandering and the wavering feet!
Oh, feed me, Lord, that I may feed
Thy hungering ones with manna sweet!
Oh, strengthen me, that while I stand
Firm on the rock and strong in thee,
I may stretch out a loving hand
To wrestle with the troubled sea!
Oh, teach me, Lord, that I may teach
The precious things thou dost impart,
And wing my words that they may reach
The hidden depth of many a heart!
— F. R. Havergal.
West Indies
By A. J. Haysmer
TRINIDAD.—After a rather tedious passage from St. Thomas, I arrived in Trinidad, January 10. I found the workers all usually well. I was sorry to learn on landing that I was one day late to attend the laying of the corner stone of the new church in Tunapuna, but was glad to hear that the work, which had received a terrible blow by the conduct of some of the workers, was again raised in the public mind to a higher plane. This church, when completed, will be the largest and strongest yet erected in this island. It is in the midst of thousands of East Indians, and some circumstances make this and San Fernando important places in which to begin work for this people. There are nearly eighty thousand persons in the island, about ten thousand of whom are reported to have accepted Christianity. The castes are broken, and workers should be trained to labor in their native land. We hope to begin this work soon. Some have already accepted the truth, and others are interested. Among the former is a family who have been working in connection with the Presbyterians for eighteen years, the husband holding a ministerial license. A wholesale and retail merchant who became convinced of the truth when we held a tent-meeting in San Fernando two years ago, recently told us that we ought to build a church there, and work among his people. He said that he would give a lot and one thousand feet of lumber. When we told him that we did not have money to complete the building, he said that he wished he could give us a church. This is clear evidence to us that the Lord desires us to move forward in this work, and we are laying plans to do so. But we must have help. Who are interested? We need means to erect churches; we also need reading-matter in the native language. The Hindi is the most generally used.
Since coming here we have spent the time in visiting the different companies, and considering plans for the development of the work. January 24–27 was occupied in a council meeting held in Port of Spain. Delegates were present from six churches and companies in different parts of the island, also others from different places, and a good attendance from the city. This was a profitable meeting, nearly all phases of the work being considered, and plans laid for a more systematic effort to carry this last message to the people. The following are the recommendations considered, and accepted:—
1. That a General Sabbath-school Secretary and an Assistant Secretary be elected for the islands of Trinidad and Tobago.
2. That a Corresponding Secretary and an Assistant Secretary be elected for the island tract and missionary society.
3. That we make our weekly missionary meetings educational; and to that end we recommend that one night in each month be given to health and temperance work, and the other nights to such work as those in charge shall plan.
4. That we rejoice in the steps taken in connection with The Forward Movement, and that we carry on this work as adapted to our field.
5. That, in harmony with the custom of Seventh-day Adventists, we adopt the envelope plan of collecting First-day offerings, and further, that we urge our people to adopt the ten-cent-a-week plan.
6. That our Sabbath-schools be encouraged to increase their donations.
7. That in each church a building fund be established; and that our people be urged to give systematically to this fund; that this fund be used in building churches in our field. And as Port of Spain is the capital of the island, and the work in all parts of the island is affected by the condition of the work there, we further recommend that, for the present, this building fund be used in assisting to build a church in that place.
8. That ways and means be devised for placing a library consisting of the “Testimonies for the Church,” health books, etc., in each church.
9. That we recommend the securing of temperance pledges, and that we advise all our people not only to sign the pledge themselves, but to labor with those not of our faith to do the same.
10. That we consider ways and means by which our church schools may be made self-supporting.
11. That we hold a Sabbath-school and a tract and missionary convention as soon as possible, that we may become more intelligent in these important branches of the work.
12. That since the Lord has told us that the work is halting because of the haphazard way of carrying on the canvassing work, and also that to make prompt remittances is the only way of carrying on business, we recommend that plans be adopted to carry out this instruction from the Lord.
During the meeting, discourses were given on the importance, sacredness, and qualifications of the gospel ministry, also on the duties of church officers, health and temperance, missionary work, etc., etc. We believe there are brighter days before the work in this island. The delegates and the laborers returned to their work full of courage.
One of the urgent needs of this island is a church building in Port of Spain. There is a good interest, but no suitable place to which to invite the people. This matter should not be delayed longer. Are there not some who desire to help build a church here?
I leave to-morrow for St. Vincent, to assist Elder E. Van Deusen in a series of meetings there. We trust that our people will remember the work and the workers in this field. A. J. HAYSMER.
Port of Spain, Trinidad, Jan. 29, 1902.
General Meeting in Argentina
By J. W. Westphal
In the northern part of Argentina, and not more than one hundred and fifty miles from the Paraguayan border, are three small churches with an aggregate membership of about fifty-five, among whom are representatives of the following nationalities: Italian, French, Swiss, German, Belgian, Brazilian, besides natives, both white and Indian. For these a general meeting was held at Las Toscas, November 14–17. Elder Town and his wife, Elder McCarthy, and the writer were the laborers present. Although the distance was only a few hundred miles, it took five days to make the trip each way. Seventy-five miles were made by team.
On Sabbath and Sunday a good representation of our people was present. The services were held in a galpon (granary) or in a grove. The brethren greatly appreciated this meeting. A plain testimony was borne, and was generally well received. Sunday morning a call was made for those to arise who wished to begin to serve the Lord, or wished a closer walk with Him, and there was a general response. Two arose for the first time—a sister of seventy years, and her daughter. The former has since been baptized. Her son was ordained elder of the Las Toscas church.
It is truly wonderful what the grace of God can do. It takes people from every station in life, from every nation, with varied habits, opinions, and prejudices, and makes them one. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” And this grace is manifested in the work of the three angels’ messages.
Since the meeting at Las Toscas I have been in Uruguay for a few weeks, visiting the companies of Nueva Palmira and Montevideo, and the church of Nueva Helvecia. Elder Town was with me at the first-named place, and Dr. Habenicht at the other. The Lord blessed in the meetings we held with them.171At Nueva Helvecia it was the writer’s privilege to bury eight precious souls with their Lord in baptism. A spirit of unity and love prevailed in this church, and we hope to see some of its members become successful workers in the great harvest field. At Montevideo three sisters are trying to hold up the light of truth. It was the writer’s privilege to baptize one of these, a woman of seventy-six years. She is the first of our people ever baptized at that place, and her baptism was probably the first real baptism that ever occurred in the city. One of these sisters has not yet been baptized, but will be soon.
The hearts of all these brethren and sisters are deeply attached to the work of God. Nearly four hundred dollars in tithe and offerings was received. Uruguay has been blessed with a good crop, so our brethren there are in a better condition to help the cause than are the brethren in Argentina. The drought that has so seriously affected the crops in Argentina is now making itself felt in Paraguay. But this must draw us nearer to God.
J. W. WESTPHAL.
Diamante, Entre Rios, Argentina, Jan. 15, 1902.
America’s Religious Crisis
The Rev. George C. Lorimer, a prominent Baptist clergyman of New York City, says that America has arrived at a religious crisis. This was the subject of a recent discourse, in which he set forth that “in the last hundred years more than twenty-three million foreigners have come to our shores, and they are still coming. The majority are not from Scotland, England, Ireland, and the north of Europe, but they are Magyars, or are from Italy and Southern Europe, and have no inclination to our belief.” From this Dr. Lorimer sees two perils arising; namely, “desecration of the Sabbath, and increase in places of amusement.” “We live for money by day, and pleasure by night,” he said, and ere long it would “no longer be a question of opening them [saloons] for a few hours on Sunday, but they will be open every minute of the week.” “The crisis is real,” he declared; and “it is not confined to New York alone, but to the whole nation, from ocean to ocean. The condition is such that it breaks a minister’s heart.”
This is not the testimony either of an ignorant man or of an alarmist. The prophecy of Joel 2: 15–17 is the proper rule of action for such a time.”
The Black Horse Story
From newspaper clippings sent us, it appears that an effort is being made through the press to throw ridicule upon the belief and work of Seventh-day Adventists, by means of a fortuitous incident that occurred in connection with the recent Sanitarium fire. A paragraph has been going the rounds of the press which affirms that “Seventh-day Adventists are all wrought up, and declare that the end of the world is near at hand, firmly believing that the warning has been conveyed to them by the appearance of a black horse on the ruins of the Sanitarium at Battle Creek.” “Thousands daily visit the place,” it says, “and speculate on the strange sight.” It declares further that “the Adventists, who lay great stress upon Bible signs, have been searching the Bible for a reference to the black horse. They have at last found just one reference, and that is in the sixth chapter of Revelation. This entire chapter refers to the end of the world.”
The only basis for this story was that on one of the walls of the ruins the fire and smoke had left their impress in such a way as to produce a figure having quite a striking likeness to the appearance of a horse. The happening was the subject of some natural comment, but nothing is known here of any attempt to connect this trivial incident with the fulfillment of the prophecies of Holy Writ. For many years the belief of Seventh-day Adventists regarding the symbol of the black horse described in the sixth chapter of Revelation, has been set forth in Seventh-day Adventist literature, which has been before the people everywhere. Thus there is no occasion for any one to pay attention to puerile reports of this character, gotten up by people who neither know nor care anything about the truth.