An effort is being made to form the United States of Australia, and to establish a federal parliament composed of delegates from all the colonies. Our latest news from there stated that the federal convention was in session at Adelaide, S. A., working on a constitution, or basis of federation. As would naturally be expected, the Church and State spirit was on hand to gain a dominant position in the proposed new government. Cardinal Moran, speaking for the Roman Catholic Church, proposed that the preamble of the new constitution should include this declaration:—
"Religion is the basis of our Australian Commonwealth and of its laws; and in accordance with the spirit of religion, genuine liberty of conscience is the birthright of every Australian citizen, and full and free exercise of religious worship, so far as may be consistent with public order and public morality, shall be accorded to all."
Like all other Jesuit propositions, this would sound very smooth to the unwary. But with the government on a religious basis, what would constitute "public order and public morality" would be a subject of religious legislation; and "full and free exercise of religious liberty" would be estimated from a Church and State standpoint. Of course in practical working this would mean such free exercise as the civil law would prescribe; and if such a proposition should carry, a people who would vote such a measure into operation would naturally place in office men entertaining such views. From such a parliament we would logically expect the legal prescription of religious liberty to be anything but "full."
But the Council of Churches of New South Wales and Victoria also wanted to take a hand in the matter. So they assiduously circulated a petition to the convention, containing the following suggestions:—
"1. That in the preamble of the Constitution of the Australian Commonwealth it be recognized that God is the Supreme Ruler of the world, and the ultimate source of all law and authority in nations.
"2. That there also be embodied in the said Constitution, or in the standing orders of the federal parliament, a provision that each daily session of the upper and lower houses of the federal parliament be opened with prayer by the president and speaker, or by a chaplain.
"3. That the governor-general be empowered to appoint days of national thanksgiving and humiliation."
This sounds very much like the National Reform demands in the United States, and shows how this spirit of religious control in civil government is permeating the world. When the Government of the United States was instituted, its liberal Constitution was translated into many languages and circulated as a kind of missionary document for the inculcation of the principles of liberty in other nations. Following in the wake of the great Reformation it was the means of inspiring the measure of civil and religious liberty now enjoyed in Europe and in the colonies of European governments. But with the efforts for reaction which the National Reformers of various religious factions are putting forth in the United States, we see a kindred spirit moving with great zeal in other countries where liberty was supposed to be gaining ground. However, with all the persistence of the leaders in this reactionary work, they do not find smooth sailing. The adherents of civil and religious liberty in Australia were not asleep, and the following counter petition was sent in to the convention:—
"We, the adult residents of ——, believing that religion and the State should be kept entirely separate, that religious legislation is subversive of good government, contrary to the principles of sound religion, and can result only in religious persecution, hereby humbly but most earnestly petition your honorable body not to insert any religious clause or measure in the Constitution of the Australian Commonwealth which might be taken as a basis for such legislation; but that a declaration be made in the Constitution stating that neither the Federal Government nor any State Parliament shall make any law respecting religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
Advices by mail, dated April 7, state that the committee of the convention, to whom the petitions were referred, had opposed the plea of the petition of the Council of Churches. We deem this the overruling of Providence, that the free Gospel of Christ may have "free course and be glorified" in Australia, rather than be hindered with the incubus of a Church and State government. W. N. G.
SOPHY—BAKER'S SECOND COUSIN.
By Priscilla Ann Baker
BY PRISCILLA ANN BAKER.
TALKIN' about sickness, makes me think of that spring after we sold the old homestead down on Nubbin Ridge, an' moved up here by Bean Blossom. The folks we bought from was powerful sickly, an' I don't wonder at it sence I've reformed, so to speak. They went away to Floridy fur their health as soon as we bought 'em out, but I don't know whether they found it or not. We moved right up here that fall, so as to be here ready fur work in the spring. Well, we wus here in the spring sure enough, an' so was the work, but we wa'n't ready fur it—Baker nor me, neither one.
Part of the house was pritty good an' new,—a two-story front on the side of the kitchen, which was on the north of the house, an' had a bedroom north of it, agin along the end like. The kitchen part had ben built nigh onto forty years, an' was kind of sunk in the ground, an' had a cellar under it that wa'n't walled up nor nothin'. But it kep' our garden stuff from freezin' by bein' banked all round.
We thought we'd build 'fore a great while, but we wa'n't in no hurry. We'd alwas ben well—Baker an' me—exceptin' my rheumatiz an' his bilious spells, which I never drempt we could do without; but we both kep' a-bein' right smart worse that winter, till by the first of March he wus plum down in bed with typhoid, the doctor said, an' I wus that done out an' draggy I couldn't much more'n waggle; an' old Dr. Duncan (he wus tendin' on Baker) says he, "You'd better be careful, Mrs. Baker, or I'll have another patient."
Well, when Baker'd ben dangerous three or four days, an' I'd ben up with him the hull night, one morning I jest set down in the kitchen to rest awhile, if 'twas nine o'clock, fur I couldn't go no longer till I did, with my head a-achin' an' a-singin' as it wus. The table wus settin' jest as we'd had breakfast, an' the floor hadn't ben swep' fur two days (I hadn't had time frum Baker), an' everything looked like a young harrycane had ben a-visitin' us. I'd got Uncle Dan'l Philip's Ben to do the chores and tinker round; but land! I had a time of it, for I couldn't hire a girl nowhere; they wus all afraid of ketchin' the fever.
I hadn't set but a little spell till somebody knocked on the door kind of gentle like, an' thinkin' it wus some of Uncle Dan'lses to see how Baker wus. I set still an' says. "Come in."10
When the door opened, in walked a strange lady (I say "lady," for Sophy is one from the crown of her head to the sole of her foot), an' says she: "I suppose you are Cousin Priscilla. You don't know me tho, so I'll explain. I'm Sophy Randolph, a daughter of Hannah Randolph, your husband's cousin, who lives in Bloomfield."
My stars! thinks I to myself, I wish you was in Halifax! Not but what I like Baker's kin, an' like to have 'em come an' visit us when there's a decent chance of treatin' 'em like white folks. But I managed to say: "O, you are? I'm glad to see you, only Baker's powerful sick, an' I'm afraid you won't enjoy it much," says I.
"Don't worry about my enjoyment," says she, a-kissin' me, "I jest come because he's sick."
An' while she was layin' by her wraps, as she calls her cloak an' things, she told me how she'd jest got home from—Sammy Terryum's, I think she called it, where she'd ben several months a-learnin' how to take care of sick folks; an' her ma a-readin' in the Bean Blossom Globe (she's always took it) about Baker's bein' sick, an' her a-wantin' to come an' "put some of her learnin' into practise," she said, an' her ma a-bein' right in fur it.
Jest then I heard Baker, an' went in to tend on him, an' as he was purty bad, I had to stay quite a spell. When I come out agin, that young woman had washed them dishes, an' swep' an' dusted that kitchen as clean as a new copper, an' was a-steppin' round with my checked apron on a-tendin' to the bird—poor little feller! I'd forgot him. My heart, which had dropped plum down below zero when I first see her, begun to rise right smart, I tell you; fur I see she meant what she said about helpin' me. If ever I needed help, 'twas then. The neighbors come in some, but 'peared like they didn't take holt to do nothin'. We hadn't ben there long, you know, an' they wus mighty skeared of the fever anyways, an' I don't blame 'em overly much neither. None of Uncle Dan'lses wus able to help much, fur they wus about all down with the influenza; so there I wus.
Well, I took Sophy in to see Baker; an' bein' part out of his head, he thought she wus her mother (she does look a sight like her), an' he called her "Hanner," an' kep' a-talkin' about when they wus children.
Purty soon she says, "Why, Cousin Priscilla, there's not enough air in here, is there? an' it's so warm, too!"
"I don't know," says I. "Dr. Duncan had me shet up the winder tight so he wouldn't take cold, an' said to keep a good fire a-goin'."
"Why, that's so strange!" Sophy says, "They taught us at Sammy Terryum's that fever patients should be kep' cool, an' talked so much about havin' the air fresh an' pure."
"Well, I'm in fur what's pure," says I, "but I gen'ally go by them as is s'posed to know. Dr. Duncan's gettin' purty old, an' mebbe he wusn't learnt the same as you've ben. Baker's got the fever, you know, an' I wouldn't have him take cold fur nothin'."
She didn't say nothin' fur a spell, but jest set an' watched Baker, an' bathed his head, an' looked round at the stove an' at the winder now an' agin. I see she wus mighty uneasy, an' I jest happened to think of bein' at Jonas Gaston's down on Nubbin Ridge onst when they had the fever, an' young Dr. Duncan, a son of the old doctor's, a-talkin' jest like Sophy about air, an' urgin' 'em to let in plenty air, not right on 'em, of course, but have it ventilatin' out an' in, an' circulatin'. He said not to keep 'em too warm neither, fur they wus havin' a warm enough time of it. The more I thought about it, the certainer I wus Sophy was right; fur that young man's called the best doctor in Brush County, an's sent fur far an' near. I told her about it, an' then I opened the winder some, top an' bottom (there wa'n't but one), an' we shet off the stove some too, an' 't wa'n't long till Baker quit a-flouncin' round like he'd ben the hull night an' mornin', an' dropped asleep, her a-coolin' his head; an' I see the old doctor was wrong there.
When Baker'd lay quiet a spell, she got up an' motioned me to foller her out, an' asked what I wanted got fur dinner, an' where to find the things, an' then would have me lie down in the front bedroom, an' rest. I never waked till noon, an' when I went out, Ben wus eatin' his dinner, an' she wus comin' out from Baker with an empty glass. She'd coaxed him to drink some milk after he'd woke up. While we eat dinner, she says, "Cousin Priscilla, I don't want to be officious, but don't you think Cousin Felix (she meant Baker) would be more comfortable in the parlor, away from the noise and smells of the kitchen?"
"Yes," says I, "I've ben a-wishin' he wus in there."
An' so, Ben a-helpin', we set up a bed, an' moved him into the front room; an', there bein' a hall between it an' the kitchen, 'twas a heap better fur him, an' comfortabler.
The doctor come that night, an' raised a rumpus about Baker takin' cold, with them winders open.
"There's entirely too much air in here," says he, a-struttin' across the room jest like our old gobbler.
"There haint neither," snapped Baker, jest like he does to me sometimes when nobody's here. Not that he's overbearin' with me, only crabbed now an' agin, like other men.
Then Sophy, tho she wus mighty respectful, begun an' talked quite a spell to Dr. Duncan, an' told as how we all, an' particular anybody sick an' feverish, needs lots of fresh air; an' what his son had said, an' what a fine thing our fireplace wus, a-ventilatin' the air an' carryin' it right up the chimbly. An' then a-lookin' at him as respectful an' confidin', as if he wus a hull doctor college, drug store an' all, says she, "Isn't it true, sir, that a fever patient seldom takes cold?"
At that he made her a bow, an' says, "Well, well, madam, well, well, you are probably right;" an' then, glancin' at me, "We'll see how it'll work in this case, with Mrs. Baker's consent."
I told him to give Sophy his directions out in the kitchen; she could mind 'em better 'n me. So he give 'em, an' she listened right along till he said to give eggnog made of brandy, with an egg beat into it, ever so often. My! how her eyes flashed! an' says she, "I can't do that; for he's burnin' up now."
"He must have it to keep his strength up," says he, a-lookin' like he needed something strengthenin'. Then Sophy begun. She's said since she never give a temperance lecture; but if she'd ben a-talkin' to a church full of folks instead of jest one, I'd a-called it a powerful good lecture, if 't wa'n't long. She got him lectured right smart anyway, fur he finally agreed that to use lemonade in place of the brandy wus "probably as well in this case." I foller'd him out to ask how Baker wus doin', an' he said he thought he'd pull through all right, only he seemed tired, bein' moved; an' then he asked, "Who is that young woman, Mrs. Baker? She's very intelligent, very."—Good Health.
(Concluded next week.)
The Outlook
By Editor
"I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will look forth to see what He will speak with me."
WOMEN AND TOBACCO.
By Editor
LAST week we copied a short article which showed how rapidly the use of tobacco, in the form of cigarets, is increasing among girls. The following is from a recent number of a French paper of Paris, Les Annales; and it must be confessed that it presents in a lightsome style a deplorable tale:—
“M. Decroix, the delightful president of the Society for the Prevention of the Abuse of Tobacco, must have jumped for joy at reading in the papers that the young czarina is so opposed to the use of cigarets that she is trying to take some action in her own immediate circle against the habit of smoking, which has become quite prevalent among women in the best society in Russia.
“M. Decroix would no doubt like to see the sovereigns of other countries imitate this example, for during the past few years the cigaret habit has been laying hold of women all over the world.
“In France the association of men and women in all kinds of sports has been the cause of a greater degree of intimacy, and has brought us to accept the cigaret, whose use is extending among young women of the most exclusive circles. . . .
“In all times Spanish women have smoked, and not only cigarets, but cigars. Marbot, in his ‘Memoirs,’ tells us this without mincing matters. And they smoke in England and in the United States, altho in the latter country it is only recently that women have begun to use tobacco. . . .
“To confine one’s observations to those in the highest places, it may be said that the empress of Austria smokes from thirty to forty cigarets a day; the dowager empress of Russia smokes, but only in her private apartments, while the queen of Roumania, the queen regent of Spain, Queen Amalia, of Portugal—who in this respect is following her mother’s example—the wife of the Comte de Paris, and, lastly, the queen of Italy, are all confirmed smokers. And yet M. Decroix is anxious that kings and princes and their august consorts should be the ones to set a good example. At one time, about two years ago, he had a hopeful moment. It is well known that Queen Victoria is fond of snuff, and that her son, the Prince of Wales, smokes cigars from morning until night.”
SUNDAY-LAW WORKERS IN CALIFORNIA.
THE Sunday observance forces in some parts of California are exceedingly active at present. The Pacific Christian Endeavorer gives reports from a number of Lord's Day Committees. It says:—
"Forty Lord's Day Committees reported in one week, and sixty within two weeks. . . . Wheatville Union is organized for sabbath defense, altho there is not a store or post-office within seven miles. . . . The special Lord's Day Committee of the Los Angeles City Union has succeeded in its attempt to stop the doing of contract work on Sunday. . . . Santa Clara Presbyterian Society reports sabbath observance discussed in the pulpit, in the Sunday-school, Endeavor Society, and mid-week prayer-meeting. . . . Grass Valley Congregational Society has had a hard-working Sabbath Committee for the past year, but thus far have been unsuccessful in securing Sunday closing. . . . Some idea of the magnitude of the work in sending out sabbath observance literature can be gained from the fact that the 80,000 leaflets sent out last week made a pile twenty feet high. . . . Some of us have become so interested in sabbath reform that we have entirely forgotten that we started out to win a banner. Long ago we realized that the banner could only be an incentive and not a motive. . . . The Placerville Presbyterian Society, the only one in El Dorado County, is circulating a petition for Sunday closing."
A report is given from one pastor who seems to have had his eyes open to the iniquity of at least one feature of this Sunday-observance agitation. He truthfully says: "In pressing for Sunday-observance legislation we endanger the religious liberty so dearly bought by our forefathers, and the separation of Church and State."
Churches Without Confessions of Faith
ON the authority of James L. Hill, D.D., the New York Independent says: "In 1896 there were 1,395 Congregational Churches that received no accessions upon confession of faith, and 1,750 Presbyterian Churches that did not report any additions on confession of faith."
The Fireside
"That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner-stones, polished after the similitude of a palace."
SOMETIME.
By Eugene Field
LAST night, my darling, as you slept,
I thought I heard you sigh,
And to your little crib I crept
And watched a space thereby,
And then I stooped and kissed your brow,
For, O, I love you so!
You are too young to know it now,
But sometime you shall know.
Sometime, when, in a darkened place,
Where others come to weep,
Your eyes shall look upon a face
Calm in eternal sleep,
The voiceless lips, the wrinkled brow,
The patient smile shall show—
You are too young to know it now,
But sometime you may know.
Look backward, then, into the years
And see me here to-night—
See, O my darling, how my tears
Are falling as I write!—
And feel once more upon your brow
The kiss of long ago—
You are too young to know it now,
But sometime you shall know.
—Eugene Field.
The Universe Full of Music
The universe is full of music, only our ears are out of tune.
Literature in the Household
IF I might control the literature of the household, I would guarantee the well-being of church and state.—Francis Bacon.
Sound Advice Requires Disagreement
"THE man who always agrees with you may be a pleasant companion; but if you want sound advice, you must go to some one else."
Incredible as it may seem, the writer has excellent authority for the statement that as late as 1886 a physician pursued the course here described,—having doors and windows kept closed in a house where there were several cases of typhoid fever. Happily, however, such antique precautions have become a great rarity among medical practitioners.
NOT WORK BUT WORRY.
By Editor
At this time in the end of the ages, when intensity is taking possession of everything below, it is good to read words like the following, reproduced from the Advance for the benefit of hurrying readers:—
“And in all the activities of modern life we see many evidences of hurry. In education we are too fond of short cuts and partial courses. In reading we give more time to the happenings of the day than to the treasures of the centuries. In social life there is a lack of repose. In married life extreme nervous irritability—not to call it some unkinder name—often prepares the way for divorce bills soon after the wedding bells have ceased to ring. Many Christians are so constantly occupied with secular affairs that they can not, or do not, 'take time to be holy;' and in all departments of life, leisurely completeness is almost a lost art.
Now there is nothing more exhausting to both body and soul than unnatural speed. Work is God's grandest tonic this side of heaven, and one should drink his fill of it as long as life lasts; but hurry, and its twin brother, worry, fill many untimely graves. What a sad chronicle one could compile from the yearly files of the daily papers, of ministers, journalists, lawyers, merchants, professors, workers in all professions and callings, who were spurred forward by the spirit of our times until brawn and brain could endure the strain no longer, and they dropped dead in their tracks, or, sadder still, with maniacal hand pulled down the shattered temple of life!
But this is not God's method of activity, either for himself or for his children. In creation and in redemption he did not hurry events at the expense of completeness; and, instead of hurrying the great workers of the world, he gives them ample time for preparation and performance. We see this in the lives of Abraham, Moses, John the Baptist, and Paul. We see it also in the greatest Worker of all the time—Jesus. Not only did he tarry at Nazareth until he was thirty years old, but in those three years of public activity, tho he was charged with a work greater than the creation of a universe, yet we see in his life no incompleteness because of hurry. He found time to spend entire nights in prayer, time to heal, to teach, to give himself without stint to every suppliant, however humble; time to take nature into his confidence and to get from her materials for the making of parables; time, when he was betrayed, to touch and heal the ear of smitten Malchus; time, while dying on the cross, to pray for his enemies, to commit his mother to the care of John, to save the penitent thief; and at the supreme moment when he arose from the sleep of death, he, or some leisurely spirit, found time to fold and lay aside the napkin which loving hands had wrapped around his thorn-scarred head.
And we, like him, may escape from the fever and fret of life by allying our souls with eternal verities. How earnest Jesus was, yet how calm! He can give rest, for it is in him. He can offer peace, for his quiet soul is its fountain-head. Let us walk with him day by day, and he will teach us how to do much without needless hurry; to live much without wearing intensity; to rest much, because we may rest in the Lord continually.
THE VALUE OF DECISION.
DECISION, says a medical journal, is a noble element of character. The vacillating man can never realize greatness. He wastes his impulses and time in hesitancy. He poises too long between opposite forces, and when he moves onward, it is with the faltering step of indecision. His faculties are relaxed—they are not condensed into a manly force by a determined will. How many opportunities for doing good, in great or small degree, are lost by indecision!—Commercial Deceptions.
THE FAMINE IN INDIA.
By Rev. Rockwell Clancy
BY REV. ROCKWELL CLANCY.
(In Gospel of All Lands.)
My last circular letter with reference to the terrible famine raging in India met with such a ready response from numerous friends that I am encouraged to send another circular letter. Will the editor of this paper kindly accept our hearty thanks for having given the last letter a place in his columns, and will the readers of this paper who sent us help accept our thanks and the gratitude of large numbers of little children whose lives their donations have helped to save?
In looking over the records of the famine children who have come to us, I find that since September, 1896, we have received more than 200 children in addition to those we had previous to that time.
We have received in all 250 children, and, finding it impossible to keep all who came to us, we decided to establish in our compound a depot for the distribution of famine children. From our depot we have sent 10 girls to a Presbyterian mission, 17 to our orphanage at Bareilly, 20 to our school at Cawnpore, 59 to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Mission at Cawnpore, and 35 to Ajmere. Our workers in the famine-stricken villages are busy collecting orphan children.
Yesterday two native workers brought in 58 children, and have returned to their villages for more. I received a letter from a friend this morning offering us a lot of boys. A few days ago more than 50 girls passed through our station from Jabalpur to our school at Aligarh; and on Tuesday 38 girls were sent on to our school at Bareilly, in addition to the 17 above named. If we had the accommodation, we could take in hundreds of children.
This famine gives a grand opportunity for filling our schools with boys and girls who have not yet been contaminated by heathenism. These children will grow up in the faith, and when trained for work will go back to their villages to bring their relatives to Christ.
I have been in India thirteen years, and consider the present opportunity the best I have had for helping to solve the great problem of India's salvation. Every child placed in a mission school helps to solve the problem. Great good will come out of this famine, because thousands of children are being rescued.
This work among famine children is purely a work of love; and only the love of Christ can help one to do the disagreeable things which must be done for the children. They are brought to us in a terribly filthy condition, covered with vermin and sores, sick, and so emaciated that many of them can hardly walk. This morning I went out into the compound where the children are, and saw a native barber shaving the girls' heads as a sanitary measure; the next thing is a hot-water bath, to which many of the children strongly object, as they have not been used to soap and water. The few rags they have are burned.
They have to be fed on specially prepared food four or five times a day, with great care, as injudicious feeding would cause their death. At present we are devoting most of our time to the care of our children. A physician supplies us with large quantities of fever medicine and other mixtures; and all day long our compound is like a small dispensary. We have had remarkably few deaths, as not more than six children have died.
It is almost impossible to keep them from eating food which would cause their death. They have an abnormal craving for solid food. A few nights ago a little boy not more than six years of age, while lying under a blanket near the box in which grain is kept, dug a hole through the box, and was found shortly after eating raw grain; a large quantity was concealed under his blanket. This discovery probably saved his life. They are very deceitful about their food, and try very hard to get an extra supply, stoutly declaring that they have not had anything to eat. It is piteous to hear them crying and begging for food, not understanding our kindness in keeping it from them to save their lives. It will be several months before they will be able to take food like healthy children.
You can understand the amount of patience and love required to go on day after day caring for these little ones who have no idea of the laws of health and sanitation. But He who said, 'Suffer the little children to come unto Me,' has wonderfully softened our hearts toward these little famine victims; and when we have to send any away to other schools, it is almost as difficult for us to decide whom to send as if we were their parents.
When the famine began, we had no money for the support of famine children, nor did we know where it was to come from; but week after week as the children have come to us, God has sent us money through his people in America, England, and the colonies. We believe that he will continue to care for his little ones. The cost of a child's support has risen from $15 to $20 a year, or from £3 to £4.
The number of people on government relief works at present is 2,000,000. The government is doing a great work in saving life. Thus far we have not asked for any help from any famine funds given to the government. In addition to supporting children we are feeding a large number of hungry people in the villages. Sir A. McDonald, the lieutenant-governor, in a public address at Lucknow a few days ago, stated that we are in the midst of the worst famine of this century.
LANDS WITHOUT A MISSIONARY.
THE last closed country of South America has recently allowed missionaries to begin work there, says the Missionary Review, and it is ardently hoped that erelong the other closed doors will be opened and that the strongholds of Satan will be captured in the name of the Lord. Tibet is still besieged by missionary armies and progress is being made among Tibetan peoples and footing has even been gained in Tibetan territory.
The 2,000,000 miles of unoccupied territory in Africa is gradually growing less as the picket stations of the advance guard of Christendom are penetrating the Soudan and other inviting territory—inviting because of the difficulties to be encountered and the victories to be won. Afghanistan and Beluchistan still shut out the light of life, but an occasional ray from the Sun of Righteousness penetrates even there in spite of governmental edicts. The Philippine Islands and some other papal possessions are still hostile to the truth, but one by one these countries are following the example of the Central and South American republics by shaking off the yoke of Rome and declaring for freedom of belief and worship.
In Northern India and Western China some doors are still either closed or there is no one to enter. Russia prohibits active missionary work except in the way of Bible distribution; the Stundists, however, thrive through persecution. Turkey is trying to stamp out Christianity in spite of treaties, and thereby endangers her own existence. On the whole, notwithstanding the disastrous retrenchments and curtailing of established work, due to lack of support from Christians at home, the missionary host is steadily advancing, and is surely, if slowly, fulfilling the Lord's command and prediction by the preaching of the Gospel of the kingdom among all nations.
MAKING MERIT IN BURMA
By Mrs. Hascall
BY MRS. HASCALL.
I WAS led by a friend to the house of an aged disciple, and, climbing the notched pole, we found Mah Yu seated on a smoky plank, with not even a mat to relieve the roughness. As she was nearly blind, she could not distinguish our faces, but her face revealed to us the light that was in her soul, and she commenced at once to tell her story:—
"I wanted peace in my heart; my soul was not satisfied. I worked hard and earned money, carried gifts to the priests, and made offerings to the idols, but there was no peace. I traveled miles on foot, that I might worship at the large pagodas. I bought idols, I gave feasts, I did everything I could think of, but I had no peace. At last I said, 'If I can but dig a well that will always give water to the passers-by, surely that will bring me merit, and I shall have peace.'"
"So with these hands"—and she showed them to us, crippled, shapeless, useless hands—"with these I dug yonder well. It was the work of months, but I did it alone. When it was too deep for me to get down, I climbed by my notched stick, nor did I stop digging till water came to my feet—yes, to my knees—and I stayed till I knew I had dug deep enough so that my well should never be dry. Then I stopped, but there was no more peace than before. I saw the weary traveler, the procession of priests on their morning begging tours, my neighbors, my children, the old and the young, my people, and the foreigner, all come to drink at my well. They pronounced the water good, but still my heart was not satisfied. People praised me and said, 'You have gained great merit by this deed,' but it did not comfort me.
"Then at last came the Jesus Christ teacher; he told me how to find peace. By faith I saw the Son of God in his love; I gave my heart to him, and now I have great peace, and I am going to him, erelong."
"But, auntie," we said, "do you not want to live and tell others what you have found?"
"No," she said; "you see how helpless I am, poor too. My own children, eight in number, and all rich, tho they live near by, do not come or even speak to me since I was baptized. They will not feed me, and I am cared for by the Christians, who daily bring me food and water. I have all I need, but"—and then she sang, 'My heavenly home is bright and fair,'12and, 'My faith looks up to thee,' sung not as we sing, for there was no music in those weird sounds, and you would not have recognized the sweet hymns we sing; but it was to her sweeter far than anything she had ever heard in the Buddhist religion, and her face, lighting up so beautifully as she sang line after line, showed that she understood and believed every word.
We left her there, and as we walked slowly away, we thanked our Master for the command, "Go ye into all the world."—Women of Burma.
Missions
"And those who have wisely taught shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and those who have turned many to righteousness, as the stars forever and ever." Dan. 12:3. Boothroyd.
POINT UNTO JESUS.
By Ernest Tegart
Do you know a friend that hungers
For some word of love and cheer?
Look all o'er the land and ocean,
Look around you far and near;
Do not step from duty's pathway,
Tell about the wily foes,
How at last you met and conquered,
Through the help that God bestows.
It may be he stands and falters
On the brink of sin and wrong;
Show him how much Jesus loves him,
How each mouth will sing the song
O'er the last of foes triumphant,
In a land where sin has ceased,
Where true hearts, so long been sundered,
Will again unite in peace.
O my brother, save the dying,
All about you they are cast;
Bid them now to look on Jesus,
He can save them from the past.
If they'll turn their eyes but forward,
They may see what Christ will give;
Tho your sins are now like scarlet,
You may look on Him and live.
"Cast thy bread upon the waters,"
Leave it there in Jesus' care;
Draw thy soul toward the hungry,
Hold them up in silent prayer.
It may be that when Christ cometh,
You may hear it said, "Well done,
Enter now into the kingdom,
When the race of life is run."
ERNEST TEGART.
OUR WORK AND WORKERS.
By Editor
THE New England annual conference and camp-meeting will be held at Worcester, Mass., June 10-21.
BROTHER J. S. HARMON reports the organization of a Sabbath-school of thirty members at Arbuckle, Cal.
THE annual meeting for the Maritime Provinces of the Dominion of Canada, will be held in Hopewell Cape, Albert County, N. B., May 26-30.
A CHURCH of nineteen members was organized at Provo, Utah, April 3, by Elder C. M. Gardner. He also reports a Sabbath-school of fifteen members at Springville.
THE General Conference Committee has appointed May 29 and 30 as a season of fasting and prayer, in connection with which a collection will be taken for the benefit of the mission work.
APRIL 11, four candidates were baptized at Murfreesboro, Tenn., and a week later two others were baptized, all by Elder F. D. Starr. He also reports several awaiting baptism at Sand Hill, Ky.
ELDER A. J. BREED left this city on the 11th inst., for the north, for the purpose of attending the Upper Columbia Conference, at College Place, Wash., and the North Pacific Conference, at Portland, Oregon.
ELDER N. W. KAUBLE has been chosen president of Union College, and will make his headquarters at College View, Neb. Professor Miller is obliged to discontinue his labors there on account of failing health.
ELDER J. A. HOLBROOK reports a seventeen days' meeting at Star of the West, Ark., with the result that seventeen persons were added to the church. Among the number were a Protestant Methodist minister and his wife.
IN the island of Barbadoes, Lesser Antilles, Elder Van Dusen reports forty-three baptized believers, and in the island of Antigua, fourteen. A club of fifty SIGNS is being used in the former island, and book agents are at work in both.
THE annual meeting of the stockholders of Healdsburg (Cal.) College was held on the 10th inst., when the following named persons were chosen as a board of trustees for the coming year: N. C. McClure, A. J. Breed, Wm. Ings, T. P. Heald, R. S. Owen, W. T. Knox, C. H. Jones. The chairman of the board is Elder N. C. McClure, and the secretary, Wm. Ings. The president of the faculty is Elder R. S. Owen.
THE annual meeting of the Rural Health Retreat Association of St. Helena, Cal., was held on the 6th inst., at the sanitarium. A board of directors was chosen, comprising the following named persons: N. C. McClure, A. J. Breed, J. A. Burden, Wm. Ings, I. C. Keck, F. Zelinski, T. Coolidge. Officers were elected as follows: President, N. C. McClure; secretary and business manager, J. A. Burden; medical superintendent, A. J. Sanderson, M.D.
MRS. M. A. BUZZELL writes to the Review of the work among the Chinese in Chicago. She says: "We hold a free school on Sunday and Monday evenings of each week. On Sundays we have an attendance of thirty to forty, and about twenty-five devoted Christian teachers. Many of those who have recently arrived in this country are as ignorant of God and his power, and of Jesus, the only Saviour, as though they never had heard of such beings, and probably some of them never have." She adds that there are Chinese women who have been in this country as much as thirteen years, who still worship and make offerings to the moon. Many of those who attend the school are anxious to learn to read the Bible, and to learn how to be Christians. What shall we do with these people for whom Christ died? Shall we give them the word of life as the Master would, or shall we join political societies and ask the government to drive them out? If this were really a Christian nation, what would the answer be? God "hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth," and he himself "hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation." Acts 17:26. "And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God." Lev. 19:33, 34.
PILGRIM'S PROGRESS
BY JOHN BUNYAN
A new, clear-type edition of convenient size. Neatly bound in cloth, cover design in colors, 240 pages, size 5x7½ inches.
Price, 50 Cents
Address . . PACIFIC PRESS PUB. CO., Oakland, Cal. 43 BOND ST., New York. 18 W. 5th ST., Kansas City, Mo.
"The Eastern Question, What Its Solution Means to All the World," by Alonzo T. Jones. While this great question is absorbing the attention of millions on both hemispheres, we wish to call your attention to the importance of reading and circulating something treating the subject from a Biblical standpoint. This tract contains the following subheadings: The Seven Trumpets; The Rise of the Turkish Power in Prophecy and History, Fulfilled to the Very Day; The World's Crisis; Daniel's Visions; "At the Time of the End;" The King of the North and His End; When He Comes to His End; The Plagues of God's Wrath, and Need for Watching and Praying. It contains 16 pages; price, 2 cents.
PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING CO., New York City, N. Y. Oakland, Cal. Kansas City, Mo.