p. 18 | Review and Herald, Vol. 91, No. 9. (2/26/1914)

Among the Churches in the Atlantic Union Conference

By R. D. Quinn, K. C. Russell, D. H. Kress

DURING the past month meetings have been held at Hartford, Conn., and at Rochester, Buffalo, Burt, and Syracuse, N. Y. In all these meetings we witnessed the same manifestation of God's power that has been seen in previous meetings held in other places. The results attending these efforts are marvelous to our eyes. They bear the divine impress. Nothing short of a miracle can accomplish what has taken place not merely in one church, but in every church where we have been. It is a difficult matter to give a written account or a satisfactory explanation of such meetings. At some of these places serious difficulties which have existed for years melted away as snow before the burning, midsummer sun, and the spirit of union and love came in among brethren who had been estranged.

When strong men, who cannot be touched by ordinary human appeals, weep aloud; and when men who are naturally stubborn, self-willed, and immovable, in brokenness of spirit and with many tears, fall on each other's necks and ask for pardon and forgiveness in the presence of the entire church, we cannot but recognize a superhuman power at work.

In all our experiences in the ministry we have never witnessed such complete renunciation of the old man with his deeds. Some of these meetings continued from four to six hours, and yet no one felt wearied. The meals were forgotten. There were those who, near the close of some of these meetings, expressed their gratitude to God "for being present in the meeting this morning," when actually it was nearing sunset. Some remarked, "They were the shortest long meetings we have ever attended." We could appreciate more fully the words of Christ when urged to eat, "I have meat to eat that ye know not of." To witness such scenes is a pleasure and a joy that the world knows nothing about. How often we have said in our hearts, "How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" Confessions were made which laid the glory of man in the dust. It was not unusual to see men and women rise from four to seven or eight times, and with brokenness of spirit make confession of sins revealed. Thus the King's highway was cleared. Unfaithfulness in the payment of the tithe into the treasury, or storehouse, of the Lord, a lack of living up to the light God in mercy has given on the principles of health, and evil speaking, were prominent among the confessions made. These revivals are all marked with genuine reformations in character and in deeds.

The encouraging feature is that ministers are the foremost in participating in these reforms, and confidence in the ministry is increased. This in itself paves the way for the tithe and offerings to flow into the treasury of God, and it also paves the way for the fulfillment of the promise, "Prove me now herewith . . . if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." As long as these sins exist, the windows of heaven remain closed and prayers remain unanswered. But "hereafter we shall see heaven open" in answer to prayer.

The removal of this rubbish which has been piled up at the door of the heart allows the door to swing back and admit Jesus. At the same time this opens the windows of heaven in showers of blessing upon the thirsty souls. The latter rain will not fall without some efforts on our part. We must see our wrongs, search for our sins, and zealously repent of them. We must know our real condition, or we shall not feel our need of Christ's help. We must understand our danger, or we shall not flee to the refuge. We must recognize our poverty before we can effectually pray for the true riches.

It is not uncommon at the first meeting to have men who are tall and well-proportioned in self, arise and tell of their love for the truth and what they have endured from relatives and friends because of it. But before the meetings close, these same men in brokenness of spirit may confess they have not even rendered to God his own in tithe and offerings, or have assumed a self-righteous attitude in their homes, and are in need of an entire change of heart, and plead for it with an earnestness which knows no denial. To see such men come down and take their place with publicans and sinners, and actually experience a resurrection to walk in newness of life, is refreshing. This paves the way for effectual prayer to be offered. When this experience is reached, usually the entire church presses forward, and earnest prayer is offered for the baptism of the Holy Spirit for obedience and for service.

We are convinced from what we have seen that the time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord has come. There are better things in store for the remnant church.

"Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith our God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: . . . and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass."

This is the experience that is coming into our churches today. The power attending the message is gathering momentum from week to week. Great blessings are awaiting the true and humble people of God. Pray for the latter rain, for "in the great and measureless gifts of the Holy Spirit are contained all of heaven's treasures."

R. D. QUINN, K. C. RUSSELL, D. H. KRESS.

Pennsylvania

By A. N. Durrant

PItTsBURGH.—The year 1913 brought us many blessings, and steady progress was made along all lines, even though we fell short of the standard which we should have reached. Fourteen members were added to Church No. 2, while ten were dropped. The membership of the Sabbath school has grown from sixteen to thirty-eight, and the donations now total three dollars each week. During 1913 the tithes amounted to $438.29. To the Twenty-cent-a-week Fund we contributed $129.80; for church expenses, $114.36; and $80 was paid on the building fund, making a total of $762.45. In tithes and offerings for foreign work there was an increase over the previous year of $170.80.

The year 1914 opens with a good interest. A few are now keeping the Sabbath, and we trust they will unite with us soon. We have organized a church missionary society, and nearly all our members have willingly taken hold of this work for others. Our great need now is a place of worship.

The McDonald company, the second colored church in the conference, has also made some progress. Five members were added for the year, thus making fifteen. Their tithes amounted to $217.92, and their offerings to $49.67. This company meets only once each quarter, as the membership is very scattered. The work for the colored people in this great city needs your prayers and your help. A. N. DURRANT.

The Columbia Union for 1913

By B. G. Wilkinson

As we look back upon what God has done for his work in the Columbia Union Conference during the year 1913, our hearts are moved with gratitude. This little union, with only a few more than six thousand members, is pressing on in the work. Many large propositions were faced last year, and with the help of the Lord were successfully carried out.

All the workers from the different parts of the field report encouraging additions, both in churches to the conference and in members to the churches. The president of one conference says that every tent effort in his territory last summer resulted in raising up a new church. We do not have at hand the definite figures of the net increase in membership, but we are satisfied it will be of an encouraging nature.

New Church Buildings

All over the union there have been arising new memorials to God. While sometimes the devotion to the task, and the raising of money to erect a church building, check for the time being other features of the work, nevertheless when the new structure is up, permanency is given to the work, which begets confidence in the hearts of believers and others. We are satisfied that if the new buildings which have been erected are properly used, next year will see a large growth in the membership throughout the union.

At Baltimore a new brick structure, worth about $12,000, was erected and dedicated; also in the same city a new church for colored people, valued at $5,000. At Newark, N. J., an English memorial was erected, valued at $10,000, and a Slavo-Bohemian church, costing $5,000. In this same conference a new church building, containing offices for the conference and rooms for a church school, was erected in the city of Trenton. The writer was present at the dedication of the new church at Hagerstown, Md., worth about $4,000. In this same conference a church was erected at Fords Store, at a cost of about $1,200; one at Pondsville, Del., at a cost of $500; and one at Whitesville, costing $2,000.

In a few days the writer expects to attend the dedication of the new church in Wilmington, Del., valued at $3,500. In Takoma Park, D. C., a new church, valued at $20,000, was dedicated free from debt. The church at Pittsburgh was rededicated, with a new addition costing $3,800, while the old debt of $1,500 was completely liquidated. Portsmouth, Va., has seen a new church building arise, valued at $2,500; while plans have just been laid to erase completely the debt of $6,000 from the church at Richmond. Other plans are in progress which will be reported later.

Tithes and Offerings

We are glad to report an increase of about $13,000 in tithes this year, bringing the total tithe of the union up to $131,000 for the year 1913. In two conferences alone the increase in tithe was nearly $4,000 each. Of the $60,000 allotted to the Columbia Union to raise upon the Twenty-cent-a-week Fund for 1913, all was raised except about $2,700. This is all the more encouraging when we remember that some things operated strongly to make this work difficult the last year,—the heavy floods in Ohio, and the holding of the General Conference session in the heart of the union. This was attended by so many of the brethren of this union, whose expenditure in time and money, together with their donations to various missionary objects, kept them from attending their own camp meetings, and naturally diminished their gifts. The Columbia Union this past year has sent in to the General Conference for its various needs about $88,000.

Institutions

We are glad to report that the operation of Mount Vernon College this year was successful. There will be no loss, and we are confidently expecting a gain. Through donations the debt has been reduced several thousand dollars, so that whereas four years ago the debt was $32,000, this year it will be reduced to $23,000, and of course whatever comes to this institution as a share of its efforts in the Twenty-cent-a-week Fund will bring its liabilities lower than the sum mentioned.

The total debt on the Philadelphia sanitarium today stands at $9,000, whereas it once was $85,000. At the recent committee meeting held by the Columbia Union Conference, plans were adopted to unite again this year in an effort to raise money to pay off the remainder of this debt.

It was with pleasure that the union could cooperate in the effort to make the educational institution at Washington a college. While the outlook for Mount Vernon was most encouraging, we feel very glad to transfer the college interests to the school planted at the headquarters of the denomination and the influential center of the United States. All will take hold with good courage and earnest efforts to do their part in making both the college at Washington and the academy at Mount Vernon successful. Splendid provisions have been made to secure a larger patronage and success for the Washington Sanitarium. In all these the Columbia Union is endeavoring to cooperate to her best ability. We believe there are splendid days ahead of this excellent institution.

Publishing Work

This branch of the work is progressing. The last few months have witnessed high marks in the record of the union, and the work has bright prospects of taking on still larger proportions. By July we had reached the $15,000 mark, but 1914 bids fair to see that mark reached as early as April, and the probabilities are that by July we shall have reached the $20,000 mark. Our work prospered well during the closing months of the year. Even December, which usually gives us a record of not more than $1,500 to $2,000, almost reached the $5,000 mark.

The institutes thus far this winter have been strong. Ohio had the largest attendance that has been known in many years. A colporteurs' band at Mount Vernon College was recently organized with a membership of over sixty. This

is the largest colporteurs' band ever organized in this school. The canvassing spirit runs high among the students.

Men are leaving excellent positions throughout the union to engage in this important work. It will be interesting to watch the progress of this work through the columns of the Columbia Union Visitor. The union is manned with a splendid corps of field agents, the best corps of agents we have ever had in the history of the union.

Religious Liberty

The work in this department has taken on new life and vigor. The religious liberty institute held at Baltimore, Md., was timely, and it was there that we came in close touch with the work of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, with the Lord's Day Alliance, and with Cardinal Gibbons, the American head of the Catholic Church. Reports of what took place there have already appeared in the REVIEW, so we shall add nothing at present.

Letters are now being sent out from this department to all our brethren throughout the union, preparing them to cooperate in a great effort in behalf of temperance. We believe that we as a people should do a greater work along this line. There is no reason why this denomination should not assume its proper place as a pronounced advocate of routing the forces of rum.

We have just closed a successful meeting of the Mount Vernon Academy Board and of the Columbia Union Conference Committee. Nothing has been left undone to keep the union conference for the time being in control of the academy, and to give to the school all needed support, in order that the work of Mount Vernon Academy may be the very best that can be arranged. The Columbia Union Conference Committee also laid some good plans in behalf of the evangelical work and for the increase of our foreign mission funds for the coming year. Throughout the union every one, both workers and people, is of good courage, and we are looking forward to the favor of God and the witness of the Holy Spirit.

B. G. WILKINSON.

Our Cottage Home

By John G. Paton

Our cottage home in the ancient village of Torthorwald, about four and a quarter miles from Dumfries, consisted of a "but" and a "ben" and a "mid room," or chamber, called the "closet." The one end was my mother's domain, and served all the purposes of dining room and kitchen and parlor, besides containing two large wooden erections called by our Scotch peasantry "box beds;" not holes in the wall as in cities, but grand, big, airy beds, adorned with many-colored counterpanes, and hung with natty curtains, showing the skill of the mistress of the house.

The other end was my father's workshop, filled with five or six "stocking frames," whirring with the constant action of five or six pairs of busy hands and feet, and producing right genuine hosiery for the merchants at Hawick and Dumfries.

The closet was a very small apartment betwixt the other two, having room for only a bed, a little table, and a chair, with a diminutive window shedding diminutive light on the scene. This was the sanctuary of that cottage home. Thither daily, and oftentimes a day, generally after each meal, we saw our father retire, and "shut to the door;" and we children got to understand by a sort of spiritual instinct (for the thing was too sacred to be talked about) that prayers were being poured out there for us, as of old by the high priest within the veil in the most holy place. We occasionally heard the pathetic echoes of a trembling voice, pleading as if for life, and we learned to slip out and in past that door on tiptoe, not to disturb the holy colloquy. The outside world might not know, but we knew, whence came that happy light as of a newborn smile that always was dawning on my father's face; it was a reflection from the divine presence, in the consciousness of which he lived.

Never, in temple or cathedral, on mountain or in glen, can I hope to feel that the Lord God is more near, more visibly walking and talking with men, than under that humble cottage roof of thatch and oaken wattles. Though everything else in religion were by some unthinkable catastrophe to be swept out of memory, or blotted from my understanding, my soul would wander back to those early scenes, and shut itself up once again in that sanctuary closet, and, hearing still the echoes of those cries to God, would hurl back all doubt with the victorious appeal, "He walked with God, why may not I?"

Our mother, Janet Jardine Rogerson, was a bright-hearted, high-spirited, patient-toiling, and altogether heroic little woman, who for about forty-three years made such a wholesome, independent, God-fearing, and self-reliant life for her family of five sons and six daughters as constrains me, when I look back upon it, almost to worship her memory.

In her girlhood she had gone, with her high spirits and breezy disposition, to gladden the quiet abode of some grand or great-granduncle and aunt, familiarly named, in all that Dalswinton neighborhood, "Old Adam and Eve." Their home was in the outskirts of the moor, and life for the young girl had there not probably too much excitement. But one thing had arrested her attention. She had noticed that a young stocking maker, James Paton, son of William and Janet, was in the habit of stealing alone into the quiet wood, book in hand, day after day, at certain hours, as if for private study and meditation. It was a very excusable curiosity that led the bright young heart of the girl to watch him devoutly reading and hear him reverently reciting; and finally that curiosity awed itself into a holy respect, when she saw him lay aside his broad Scotch bonnet, kneel down under the sheltering wings of some tree, and pour out all his soul in daily prayers to God. . . .

Somewhere in or about his seventeenth year, my father had passed through a crisis of religious experience, and from that day he openly and very decidedly followed the Lord Jesus. Family worship had heretofore been held only on Sabbath day in his father's house; but the young Christian, entering into conference with his sympathizing mother, managed to get the household persuaded that there ought to be daily morning and evening prayer, and reading of the Bible and holy singing. And thus began, in his seventeenth year, that blessed custom of family prayer, morning and evening, which my father practiced probably without one single omission till he lay on his deathbed, seventy-seven years of age; when, even to the last day of his life, a portion of Scripture was read, and his voice heard softly joining in the psalm, and his lips breathed the morning and evening prayer, falling in sweet benediction on the heads of all his children, far away many of them over all the earth, but all meeting him at the throne of grace. None of us can remember that any day passed unhallowed thus; no hurry for market, no rush for business, no arrival of guests, no trouble or sorrow, no joy or excitement, ever prevented at least our kneeling around the family altar, while the high priest led our prayers to God, and offered himself and his children there.

Our place of worship was the Reformed Presbyterian church at Dumfries, fully four miles from our Torthorwald home; but the tradition is that during forty years my father was only thrice prevented from attending the worship of God,—once by snow so deep that he was baffled and had to return; once by ice on the road, so dangerous that he was forced to crawl back on his hands and knees; and once by a terrible outbreak of cholera at Dumfries. All intercourse betwixt the town and the surrounding villages was publicly prohibited; and the farmers and villagers, suspecting that no cholera would make my father stay at home on the Sabbath, sent a deputation to my mother on the Saturday evening, and urged her to restrain his devotions for once. That, however, was needless; as where the life of others was at stake, his very devotion came to their aid.

Each of us, from very early days, considered it no penalty, but a great joy, to go with our father to the church; the four miles were a treat to our young spirits, and occasionally some of the wonders of city life rewarded our eager eyes. A few other pious men and women from the same parish went to one or another favorite minister at Dumfries; and when the God-fearing peasants foregathered in the way to or from the house of God, we youngsters had sometimes rare glimpses of what Christian talk may be and ought to be.

We had special Bible readings on the Lord's Day evening, and the Shorter Catechism was gone through regularly. O, I can remember those happy Sabbath evenings! no blinds drawn and shutters up, to keep out the sun from us, as some scandalously affirm; but a holy, happy, entirely human day, for a Christian father, mother, and children to spend.

There were eleven of us brought up in a home like that; and never one of the eleven, boy or girl, man or woman, has been heard, or ever will be heard, saying that the Sabbath was dull or wearisome to us. But God help the

homes where these things are done by force and not by love!

The very discipline through which our father passed us was a kind of religion in itself. If anything really serious required to be punished, he retired first to his closet for prayer, and we boys got to understand that he was laying the whole matter before God; and that was the severest part of the punishment for me to bear. I could have defied any amount of mere penalty, but this spoke to my conscience like a message from God. We loved him all the more, when we saw how much it cost him to punish us; and, in truth, he had never very much of that kind of work to do upon any one of all the eleven—we were ruled far more by love than fear.

His long and upright life made him a great favorite in all religious circles far and near within the neighborhood. At sick beds and funerals he was constantly sent for and much appreciated; and this appreciation greatly increased, instead of diminished, when the years whitened his long, flowing locks, and gave him apostolic beauty. His happy partner, "Wee Jen," died in 1865, and he himself in 1868,—an altogether beautiful and noble episode on human existence having been enacted, amid the humblest surroundings of a Scottish peasant's home, through the influence of their united love by the grace of God; and in this world, or in any world, all their children will rise up at mention of their names and call them blessed.—"John G. Paton, Missionary to the New Hebrides."

Fathers and mothers, will you not pray as did John G. Paton's parents? The boys and girls everywhere need your prayers, they need the prayers of your family altar. May they have them?

Brief Statements From a Council of Medical Workers

By L., A. H.

THERE was recently held at Takoma Park a council of available members of the Medical Department for the purpose of considering several questions of importance. The council was authorized by officers of the North American Division. Reports of the council will be duly given. Following are some of the statements of principles given by various individuals. More will follow later:—

Spirituality Our Real Asset

Our sanitariums should be centers of spiritual revival.

The greatest resource of power in our work is the power of God.

We must be spiritually right if we would exert a drawing power.

Scientific skill and efficiency are essential, but we shall not win out by these alone.

The world has men of greater scientific skill than we. It has greater facilities than we. We cannot compete with it on its own ground. We have truth that the world does not have and does not discern. This truth will do for us what worldly skill and material equipment cannot do.

Prayer has a place in our work that will be appreciated more as we develop our spiritual experiences. Through its power much will be done that we may not now expect.

The development of the spiritual side of our work will strengthen the confidence of God's people in it, and will secure their support. This will mean much toward sanitarium success.

The worship hour of the sanitarium should be a means of practical spiritual uplift, and not be allowed to become a matter of routine or formal program, perhaps of dread more than of enjoyment. Every member of the family should receive benefit from it.

We should encourage the study of "The Testimonies for the Church" by our workers. Those who are well grounded in the principles therein presented are better prepared to withstand the many influences that will seek to draw them away from present truth.

A Missionary Training

Our training of nurses must be a training of missionaries.

Acceptable candidates for a missionary training should be missionaries to begin with.

The training course should be but the finishing touch to the life preparation of the missionary.

The training course should embody experience in missionary work, so that the missionary spirit will be kept alive.

We should emphasize Christian experience and insist that it is the first requisite for admittance to the nurses' training course.

We should not accept persons as candidates to the nurses' course whose Christian experience and missionary spirit would not make them acceptable for conference employment.

The sanitarium is itself a broad missionary field. Nurses need the qualifications of true missionaries in order properly to fill their place in sanitarium work.

Nurses should not come to the sanitarium with the idea that they are mere employees. They must realize that they are a part of the working force of the institution in carrying on its missionary work.

Some nurses are always getting missionary opportunities, and some never get them. The difference is not in the patients, but in the nurses; and the longer they go without doing missionary work, the harder it is for them to do it.

The reason some workers do not do missionary work is that they do not know how to do it. They have not had the preparation. We must see that they get it. We should give them a training that will be a missionary experience and will better fit them for the work they must do when through training.

Nurses should lose sight of the dollar side of their work by seeing the greater side. Their motives should be higher than to work merely for the money. They should not look at the money part any more than the minister or other missionary worker should do so. Five nurses of the right kind are worth more than twenty-five of the other kind.

We expect the nurse to be careful in observing the pulse, temperature, and other indicators of the patient's physical condition; should we not also require a careful observation of the patient's spiritual condition, and have reports on the same, so that intelligent spiritual effort can be put forth? Is our work done when we have looked after the patient's physical needs?

Education and Efficiency

Education is not the most important requisite for student nurses.

Education has its place, however, and students should have enough of it to enter upon their course intelligently.

Students should be mature enough to realize the importance of the work they are doing, and to show stability in doing it.

The graduate nurse may be called into positions where she will meet all classes of people. Education will help to qualify for this.

Nursing is an important life work. It is a high calling, an exalted profession, and it deserves a good preparatory training.

The more preparation our prospective student nurses can obtain in our schools, the better it will be. The student nurse should be prepared to do good work the first year of institutional connection.

Nurses should be fully qualified to enter conference work at home or abroad when they are graduated. They must have a general education in addition to their nurses' training in order to do this.

Our aim should be to train students for denominational work rather than prepare them to meet the requirements of State boards. Their preparatory education should have this same purpose as well.

We are to prepare skillful mechanics, as it were, in massage, Swedish movements, etc. Our nurses must show efficiency in the various branches of their profession, or the work itself will be brought into disrepute. The nurses' course is the last end of a nurse's training, so she must have her education first, as she will not get it afterward.

It is true that Peter and John were not educated men, but neither did they do the work of a Paul. Consecrated education can be used by the Lord. There is plenty of room in our cause for education of the right sort. We must know how to give it properly and how to make good use of it.

As teachers in our training schools, we often lose time because students are not able to comprehend what we are trying to tell them. They should spend more time in school getting a foundation education. Our nurses' training schools have their special work to do, and should not have to do the work that can be done in our other schools.

L., A. H.

A Rest Home for Consumptives

By L. A. H.

THE Phoenix Rest Home, of Phoenix, Ariz., is perhaps the only institution operated by Seventh-day Adventists for the especial care of persons suffering from pulmonary diseases. It has been in operation about three years, and has established itself as a reliable enterprise, worthy of support.

It is a good thing to have a place among our own people to which we can refer consumptives, a class of sufferers greatly needing proper care, but usually unable to find admittance to the regular sanitarium. It is very gratifying to hear of excellent results in the improvement

in health of a number of those who have gone to this place for help.

In a recent letter to the secretary of the General Conference, the manager of the Phoenix Rest Home, G. A. Roberts, tells of the improvement of several workers who have recently been to the home as patients. In some instances, hope had been denied the patient by the family physician. Some had to leave important positions in connection with the cause of God, with uncertainty as to the outcome. When, by the blessing of the Lord through his health-giving agencies, these individuals are returned to their friends and their work, there is indeed cause for appreciation.

Besides the good news of physical benefits received, there are given also reports of practical and tangible results in spiritual labor for souls. Several interesting cases are mentioned of unbelievers being brought to a realization of salvation in Jesus. The spirit of those connected with this work is evidently one of earnest purpose to make it as fully a true missionary effort as possible. Conference brethren speak well of it. We feel free to commend it to those requiring its service. L. A. H.

Ministerial Reading Course

By Editor

This week we print an excellent article on "The Gospel Ministry," by Elder S. N. Haskell. It contains some very helpful suggestions.

Ministerial Reading Course

Reading Schedule for March

THE Reading Course for March includes the following sections in Part I in "Preparing to Preach:"—

XIII. Argumentation.
XIV. Illustration.
XV. Imagination.
XVI. Application.
XVII. Moral Quality.
XVIII. Homiletical Maxims.

In Part 2, Section 1, Pulpit Manners; and Section 2, Extemporaneous Preaching.

The Educational Department has received about four hundred registrations to the Ministerial Reading Course. Many letters speak favorably of the book "Preparing to Preach." According to the schedule, the months of March and April will be occupied in completing the first book. Those who register in the course before the end of April will be regarded as charter members.

Our First Educational Sabbath,

By W. E. H.

March 7

Everything is in readiness for a good day on our first Educational Sabbath, March 7. In the Department of Education we have been very busy in the pleasurable task of preparing material for the readings and setting plans on foot throughout the field to make the most of this important occasion. Education is a subject of deep interest to every Seventh-day Adventist home in the land. No phase of it is of greater moment than that represented in our church schools. In the first eight grades of our school work there are more than three times as many pupils enrolled as in the academy and college grades combined. We may truthfully say that it is three times as easy to put truth into the minds and hearts of children as of older persons. They are equally susceptible to evil influences. Hence the great importance of placing the young under proper instruction. As glad as we are to say that about fifteen thousand of our children and youth are enrolled in the first eight grades, we are compelled to add that there are as many more who are not attending a Christian school, for whom provision ought to be made.

The readings for Educational Sabbath, March 7, deal with the interests of our church school work. Here are the topics:—

The Care of Our Children.
Where Shall We Educate Our Children?
What Our Church Schools Are Doing.
What Is Being Done for Our Church School Work.
What More Needs to Be Done.

These readings, together with a suggestive program and much other suitable matter, are found in the March number of our educational magazine, Christian Education. We invite every reader of the REVIEW to secure a copy and study these important themes with us. Be sure to go to church March 7.

W. E. H.

The Gospel Ministry

By S. N. Haskell

THE greatest honor conferred upon mankind is to be associated in the work of saving souls. The gift most coveted by the minister of the gospel should be, not to hold audiences spellbound with his eloquence, but to be a soul winner for God. Education and eloquence, when consecrated to God, aid greatly in soul winning, but they cannot do the work. The ability to put into words the power that will make men and women cry out, "What shall I do to be saved?" is not brain power; it is heart power. It comes to those who will agonize before the Lord for souls until they obtain the victory.

"If all had the interest that Knox felt when he cried, 'Give me Scotland, or I die!'—a wrestling with God that will not be denied,—the Lord would work with their efforts, and would give them souls for their hire."—"Gospel Workers," page 297. It is an experience each one must gain for himself. Many years ago when Elder D. A. Robinson, who now sleeps in India, was a young man just beginning to preach, he was successful in holding his audiences, but gathered no fruit. He became discouraged, and talked with me about choosing some other kind of work. I said to him: "The Lord has shown you that you have ability to preach by your having good audiences. Instead of leaving the ministry, gain the victory. I cannot give it to you; you must get it on your knees before God." Before he opened another series of meetings, he spent several days in fasting and prayer, until he felt in his soul that he had the victory. From that time I never knew of his holding a series of meetings in any place without fruit. I well remember in my early experience, when praying alone in the woods, I obtained the victory in God that enabled me to hold the attention of the people.

The minister who preaches to please the people will accomplish no more. The minister who preaches to please the Lord, and as he stands in the desk realizes that Christ died to save every soul in the audience before him and that He longs to save them, will keep such a clear connection between himself and heaven that God can place in his mouth the words that will reach hearts.

When we engage a man to do a piece of work, we expect him to do the work as we wish it done. The minister is called of the Lord to do his work, and the one who recognizes this fact will keep in touch with the Master and do the work according to his mind.

Christ is the perfect example. The individual who will prayerfully follow his example will have success. Prayer and personal contact with the people were the striking elements in his work. He was also familiar with the Scriptures, and leaves directions for all to "search the Scriptures."

There are some ministers who think that preaching is their only work; they sit in their homes day after day and feel that if they preach several times a week, or each evening, they have done their full duty. In the Saviour's ministry, we have only a few sermons re-

corded; but he went about doing good continually. It was a quiet talk with the woman at the well that opened the door for the Saviour's work in Samaria. We find him taking a long and tiresome journey to the coast of Tyre and Sidon to reach one soul.

There are those who think that the work is to be done in the cities only by eloquent sermons, by ministers who can draw large audiences. Ephesus was one of the leading cities of Asia Minor in Paul's day. The eloquent Apollos first held a series of meetings in the city with small results. Paul held public meetings for three months, but the prejudice was so great that he had to close his public effort.

Then Paul began a more quiet work in the school of Tyrannus; this he continued for two years, and through this means, "all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus." In his last visit to Ephesus he makes known his method of work by which he could bring out a strong church in the center of the popular idolatry of that day. He said to them, "I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house." Acts 20: 20.

If one would be a successful soul winner, he must learn, like Paul and the early disciples, "in every house . . . to teach and preach Jesus Christ." Many ministers say, "I am a poor visitor." Learn to be a good visitor. The best way to become a good visitor is to learn to be a good canvasser. As a rule, ministers who were good canvassers before they began to preach are good soul winners. They know how to enter the homes and teach the people by their own firesides.

Christ "dined and lodged with the rich and the poor, and made himself familiar with the interests and occupations of men, that he might gain access to their hearts."—"Gospel Workers," page 183. S. N. HASKELL.

Notice to Church Elders

By Editor

THE readings and a suggestive program for Educational Sabbath, March 7, are printed in the March number of our educational magazine, Christian Education. A copy of this number was sent you from the office of publication about February 20. Should you not receive a copy soon, send a card to the Review and Herald, for we want you to have it and do all you can to make the day's program a success.

Continue reading: Notice to Educational Secretaries