At a conference of city mayors held at Binghamton, N. Y., June 7, a resolution was presented advocating the repeal of laws against Sunday baseball playing. In answer to the request of the secretary for an expression of opinion twenty-seven out of thirty-two mayors declared themselves in favor of permitting Sunday baseball. Commenting upon this, the Thrice-a-Week World of June 27, says:—
This is an impressive manifestation. Here is a body of representative officials from scattered communities throughout the State, who are charged with the preservation of law and order, and with virtually one mind declaring that the restraints placed on young boys and men who seek recreation in the open air on Sunday are actually harmful. The right of local regulation by each municipality is all that they ask the legislature to grant. It is time that this question was handled with common sense. To deprive large numbers of boys of the right to play ball on the one day in the week when their time is their own is not to make them moral. If ever there was a question to be dealt with locally, it is that of Sunday recreation for the people.
In its issue of June 20, the same paper, in commenting upon the assertion of Mayor O'Neill, of Auburn, that the great need of his city was Sunday baseball, declares:—
It was not a frivolous reply. In all communities the greatest needs are moral needs. The right to decent, harmless amusement and exercise on Sunday becomes a moral need when by hypocrisy and the tyranny of illiberalism that right is denied. The right of a working man or boy on his only free day to play ball if he so prefers is as important to him as any other right of personal freedom open to arbitrary abridgment.
There are many conscientious observers of the first day of the week who do not believe in games upon that day. We respect them in this regard which they hold for the day they observe. We hold the seventh day as sacred time. We believe that no manner of work or amusement should be carried forward on the Sabbath of the Lord, but we do not believe that work or play should be prohibited by law upon either day of the week. It is for us to observe the day as we believe God requires, and observe it as strictly as our understanding of God's will indicates. But it is for us to accord to our fellows the same liberty of action which we choose for ourselves.
If our neighbor prefers to use either the first or the seventh day for his own pleasure or business, that is a matter which rests wholly between him and the Lord. So far as his fellow men are concerned, that which he has a right to do upon the third or fourth day he has the same right to do upon the first or seventh day. That which would be uncivil upon one day of the week would be uncivil upon every other day of the week. The state has a right to demand and enforce civility every day, but it has no right to enter into the personal relationship existing between any man and his Maker, and determine for him in any measure how individual worship shall be rendered.
Will We Learn the Lesson?
By Editor
Of the training which the Roman Catholic Church affords its children in the principles of its faith, and of the lesson which Protestants may wisely learn from this example, the Lutheran of June 12, 1913, says:—
While Protestants are scattering a great deal of energy in social service and similar movements, the Roman Catholics are looking after the children. In Chicago they gather up as many of the infant waifs that are brought into the world by unwilling mothers as they can lay their hands on, and are nursing them into good Roman Catholic church-members. They leave to Protestants the work of straightening out trees after they have grown crooked, and devote themselves to the bending of twigs in the direction in which they would have them incline. To them a child with a future is worth ten perverted adults whom no number of high-pressure revivals can permanently wean away from their past. This is not saying that the church must neglect to seek the lost however advanced they may be in years or pronounced in sin; but it is saying that an ounce of prevention in the work of redemption is worth a pound of cure. It is saying that if the stream of humanity is to be purified, the best place to begin is at the fountain. The church must watch the cradle if it would prevent disaster at the grave. O, for more Christian kindergarten teachers in the form of fathers and mothers in the home! We should then need less in the church and the Sunday-school. But as things are, we must have both. In the value it places upon the child, let the Roman Church be our teacher.
The Leafless Bible
The Christian Herald relates the following story regarding the influence of so-called higher criticism:—
A pastor, having finished a course of sermons on Bible criticism, was visited in his study by one of the earnest workers in his church. His caller began by asking what he should now do with the Bible. "Why, read it, of course," was the reply. "But," said the visitor, "I don't just know what to do about it, so I came to ask your advice." And he produced, as he spoke, a Bible, which he opened and laid before the smiling pastor. "Why," said the latter, "there is nothing here, John—nothing left of it. How is that?" "Well," was John's answer, "you see, it's this way: You told us that the stories of the creation and the flood were largely myths and that the patriarchs were legendary figures, so out went Genesis. Then, you told us the Pentateuch was chiefly folk-lore and ancient legends, and out went those books, too. Ruth was a pastoral, you said, and then there was a bunch of Jewish history books, with more or less legendary contents, and out they went, like the rest. Job, you told us, was a dramatic composition, just a play; the Psalms were simply the Jewish hymnal; Proverbs and Ecclesiastes were the wisdom of the ancients gathered from everywhere, and the Song of Solomon was nothing but a wedding song, so out they went with the rest. To make the story short, pastor, you cast so much doubt on all the other books that I just had to tear them out one by one until there was precious little left but the covers. You've destroyed my faith in the inspiration of the old Book, and now, I ask you again, what I am to do about it?"
The preacher was thunderstruck at this result of the series of discourses upon which he had spent so much precious time and so much erudite care. "Why, John," he said, in a voice that had a quaver in it, "I think you'd better get the old Bible and read it as you did before. Though it may have human errors in it, it is still the voice of God speaking to man, and the only message we have to teach us the way of salvation."13
Many have assailed the Word of God, but they have never yet produced a book which is better. They have yet to offer a substitute for the Christian's hope which they have sought to destroy. While it is true that there is much in the Scriptures of Truth that we cannot understand, there is enough which may be understood to insure the salvation of every man who will faithfully follow its instructions. The mysteries of the Word of God stand as one great evidence of its divine authorship. If the Word had been produced by the power of man, we could hope to fathom its deepest meanings, but coming as it does from the divine source of wisdom, it affords an inexhaustible mine of wealth and riches, a boundless field for research and study.
Within the Fort of Lion
By Worthie Harris Holden
WORTHIE HARRIS HOLDEN
STRONG stands the Fort of Lion,
Built on the Rock of Might;
Safely within abiding,
Valiant her soldiers fight.
Reared by Jehovah's wisdom,
None 'gainst his fort prevail;
Fiercer the battle wages,
Yet the assaults must fail.
Risk not thy soul to venture,
E'en to attack the foe,
Ever beyond the threshold,
Lest arrows lay thee low.
Fight with the will to conquer,
Firm in the strength of Heaven;
Soon shall the victor's laurels
Unto the brave be given.
Portland, Oregon.
The Malaysian Mission Field
By I. H. Evans
I. H. EVANS
(Concluded)
At Soerabaya we met Brother and Sister Wood and Brother Brouwer and his wife. We had corresponded for some time with these workers, and it was a real privilege to meet them and talk with them face to face. The location where the meetings were being held and where Brother and Sister Wood were living seemed unfavorable to health, and it was advised that they move as soon as a suitable place could be found.
The next day we went to Soember Wekas, where we met Brother and Sister Judge from Sumatra, in addition to the workers we had seen en route. Our meetings began on Sabbath morning, and continued over the one following. We had Bible studies morning and evening, the remainder of each day being spent in considering plans for pushing the work.
The workers welcomed Brother Detamore to the mission as superintendent, and sent a vote of thanks to the Mission Board for sending him to their needy field. Brother Detamore took a deep interest in the field, and his enthusiasm was a real inspiration to the workers. During the meeting the entire work of the mission was considered, and a union mission field was organized. Java was divided into three divisions, only two of which we are now occupying. Brother Wood was appointed head of the Soerabaya district, and Miss Tunheim of the Batavia district. Brother Judge was appointed director of the work in Sumatra, and Elder Montgomery of the work in Borneo, while Elder Detamore was asked to take charge, for the present, of the work in the Straits Settlements and the Federated Malay States, in addition to his duties as superintendent of the entire field.
The Malaysian field has over fifty million people, speaking a diversity of dialects, and requiring much sea travel to reach, as most of the territory is islands. In some places there are calls for workers where important interests are at stake. This is especially true in Borneo, where, before a foreign worker had ever entered the field, some thirty had begun to keep the Sabbath, and earnest calls for help are coming to those in charge of the field.
Although I spent five weeks in the East Indies, one can get but a limited idea of the field and its work in so short a time. The very same spirit that possesses the hearts of God's chosen people in other lands possesses the hearts of the workers and believers in these great, needy fields. In Java we have but three families of workers for thirty-two million souls. In Sumatra, Brother and Sister Judge are now alone. In the peninsula Elder Detamore and Brother Sharp's family will be the only workers for the whole district. In fact, there will be but seven families, or parts of families, for the fifty million souls in that island mission field, whose length and breadth cover more area of land and sea than the United States, and whose population is more than all that of England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Norway, and Sweden. Nor is the field an isolated one. Singapore is like New York, Liverpool, and London in its shipping interests. Her people are more cosmopolitan than those of any city of my knowledge in either Europe or America. Here are gathered the nations of earth in miniature. Singapore is the world in a nutshell. Side by side may be seen the black man from Africa, members of nearly every tribe from India and Burma, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Korean, the Filipino, the Malaysian in his varied dialects and costumes, and representatives from most of the European countries and both the Americas. It is well that the truth has obtained a foothold in this representative city. Its light should shine far, and from it should go forth a stream of literature and an army of trained workers to the great island field of which it is the commercial center.
We are pledged to the endeavor, in both labor and prayer, to win many souls to the kingdom of God the coming year.
Frank Admissions
IN its issue of June 6, 1913, Everyman, an English magazine, prints an article on "The Continental Sunday," by Rev. James Adderley. In the course of his discussion he made the following sensible and truthful admission regarding the divine authority of the Sunday sabbath:—
Is it not time that we more frankly allow that the old-fashioned Sabbatarian argument will not hold water? Can these statements be denied? (1) That, historically speaking, the Christian Sunday is not the same thing as the Jewish Sabbath; (2) that our Lord's attitude toward the Sabbath was revolutionary, in the sense that he went against the religious view of his day, which is the view that modern Sabbatarians want to rehabilitate and fasten on to the Christian Sunday; (3) that St. Paul knew nothing of a Christian sabbath on the first day of the week; (4) that the "first day of the week" was a day of joy and worship, and had no connection with the Sabbath; (5) that even when Constantine, in the fourth century, combined the Mithra festival and the Christian Lord's day and decreed a holiday, he did not forbid some work, and therefore was not reconstituting the Sabbath; (6) that the first Reformers were opposed to making Sunday a sabbath, as savoring of Judaism.
The writer argues for a Sunday observance from the standpoint of making the day useful and health-giving. Speaking of the enforcement of a Sunday rest, he justly observes:—
Peace will never come so long as Christians try to force a law which they think is divine upon people who either suspect that the law is not divine or reject the God whose law it is supposed to be. We all agree that we want a weekly rest. Why should we quarrel over the particular day, and why should we try to coerce our fellows in the name of religion? We do not dream of doing this about any other religious duty, not even about religious duties the sanction for which is undoubted. Why should we choose the one religious practise the sanction for which is extremely doubtful, and impose it on others?
The Deacon's Thanksgiving
By Willis Hawkins
OLD Deacon Bedell was the cheeriest man
You'd meet with in many a day.
He 'lowed that the Lord had a pretty good plan
For running the world, and he'd say,
"I'm thankful that things are about as they are—
They could be a mighty sight wuss—
An' the things we've complained of the loudest so far
Have proved to be blessin's to us."
When adversity smote him, it fell like the dew
On a mountain's impervious crest,
For his simple philosophy held to the view
That everything worked for the best.
And for others' misfortunes he always could find
Such sweet consolation to give,
It seemed that he envied the halt and the blind
The lives they were destined to live.
When his end was approaching he said, with a smile,
With composure on face and in breast,
"I've worked pretty hard a consid'able while,
An' I'm thankful to git a good rest."
So he went through the world strewing smiles on his way,
And the neighbors surviving him tell
That, no matter what happened, it seemed every day
Was Thanksgiving for Ezra Bedell.
—Selected.
Pellagra
By George Henry Heald
G. H. HEALD, M. D.
Editor Life and Health
Pellagra is one of the most sinister diseases that the human family must face, for several reasons, among which are its rapidly increasing prevalence, its high mortality, and its mysterious nature. Thus far no one can say that he knows certainly the cause of pellagra, and up to the present there has been no treatment that is reliably curative.
As to its increase. Only a short time ago the disease was unknown by name to the ordinary person, and to most physicians it was only a name for a rare disease they never expected to see. Now the physician who does not have pellagra in mind as one of the possibilities will almost certainly make a blunder sooner or later; and in some States the disease seems to have attacked almost entire neighborhoods.
The characteristic symptoms are, (1) an inflammatory condition of the digestive tract, very persistent and not yielding to ordinary treatment; (2) a rash, especially on parts of the body exposed to the sunlight, worse in the spring; (3) there are apt to be during some stage of the disease mental symptoms more or less severe.
The purpose of writing this article is to call attention to the work of Dr. W. E. Deeks, of the Ancon Hospital, Canal Zone, who formulated a theory as to the causation of the disease, and inaugurated a course of treatment based upon the theory, which has been remarkably successful. The fact that a number of our own people have been victims of the disease gives point to the theory that Dr. Deeks has advanced.
Any one desiring to read the articles by Deeks may find them in the Medical Record, March 23 (William Wood & Company, New York City, 15 cents), and Southern Medical Journal for July (Southern Medical Association, Nashville, Tenn., 25 cents).
Of those treated by his method two thirds—eighteen out of twenty-seven—were cured, three more were improved, and of those who died the record is that some died so soon after entering the hospital that the treatment had no opportunity.
Deeks attributed pellagra to "the result of an autointoxication caused by the action of some ferment or organism on a carbohydrate diet to excess, to the exclusion of green vegetables and fruits during the warm weather, when metabolic activity is lessened."
The disease, he says, "seems to prevail among the poorer people or those accustomed to live upon the cheaper or less nutritious foods." He made careful inquiry as to the diet in these cases, and concluded that corn could not be considered the important factor in the causation of pellagra. In some cases no history of the use of corn in any form could be obtained. "All, however, were consumers largely of sweet and starchy foods to the practical exclusion of proteids, green vegetables, and fresh fruits." And an extensive experience in the tropics, he says, has shown that "health is best maintained and much suffering avoided when sweet and starchy foods are excluded from the dietary or reduced to a minimum."
Corresponding to the lack of energy in the warm climate, there is less muscular activity and hence less opportunity for the body to burn up the fuel foods; as a result there is not a proper digestion and assimilation of the starchy and sweet foods, and fermentation results. It may be that pellagra is an infection, but if it is, the indigestion caused by the overuse of starchy foods seems to give it a foothold: and the facts that a rigid dietary cures and that the only patient who after cure had a return of symptoms was one who had returned to his old dietary, and who was again cured by a strict diet, is additional evidence that the disease is favored by a faulty diet.
Deeks believes that pellagra has increased because of the increased use of cane-sugar and of cereals. "I believe that it is not corn alone, but any cereal or starchy food in conjunction with cane-sugar in a warm climate, where there is lessened metabolic activity, and consequent inadequate elaboration of digestive elements which initiates the intoxication."
His treatment consists, "(1) in limiting the nourishment absolutely to fresh fruit-juice, preferably of oranges, meat broths, and milk as long as there is nausea and vomiting; and the absolute avoidance of everything that contains sweet or starchy elements; (2) in the administration of from fifteen to thirty drops of dilute nitric acid in three fourths of a tumbler of water three times daily on an empty stomach." In three or four days a carbohydrate-free diet is ordered. This in his practise consists of eggs, meats, fish, green vegetables (such as lettuce, celery, onions, tomatoes, beets, carrots, spinach, peas, string-beans, etc.), and fresh fruit of all kinds. The nitric acid is continued three times daily before meals.
It is always well to be wary of first reports on a new remedy. But Deeks, it should be remembered, reported on twelve cases in the spring, and now he reports on eighteen new cases, fully convinced by his additional experience that he has discovered, to say the least, an important contributing cause of pellagra.
While we remain committed to the proposition that the human body is essentially a fuel-burning engine, it must be recognized that much less fuel is required in warm climates, and there are other essential foods that must not be neglected.
The writer believes that as good results might be obtained without the use of meats and fish, provided a proper amount of milk and eggs is supplied.
Suggestions for Keeping Cool
By Olive P. Ingersoll, M. D.
OLIVE P. INGERSOLL, M. D.
THE feeling of general weakness and exhaustion which comes over a person in extremely hot weather is one of nature's demands for relaxation. The great secret of health during the summer months is to eat little, drink reasonably of good, pure water, work moderately, and let go all nerve tension. This last is of paramount importance.
Our bodies maintain practically a uniform temperature the year round, in spite of changes in the surrounding atmosphere. This is accomplished by a heat-regulating center, which is located15in the upper part of the spinal cord. This center keeps the heat production and heat elimination of the body properly balanced.
But there are many things that we can and should do to cooperate with nature in the work of adjusting the body machinery to the various changes to which it is subjected. For example, lessen the total amount of food, especially those articles which are readily oxidized, or burned, in the body to produce heat. Among these the fats and oily foods are chief.
Next, minimize the expenditure of energy. This does not mean to sit around and do nothing, but it does mean to pursue an even course, so far as possible; calmly and quietly to do such work as is necessary, both physical and mental, and to conscientiously refrain from getting excited or wrought up from any cause whatever. Never fume because the weather is hot. It only adds fuel to the fire. Neither should one expend energy in the mere effort to keep cool. Wandering around in search of a cool place or vigorously fanning oneself increases the heat produced. Do not spend physical or mental energy watching the mercury in the thermometer. It does not affect the weather, and it does make you warmer. You can afford to take the newspaper account of this.
As to simple treatments that will help one to keep cool, the most effectual are the following:—
In the early morning, when it is cool, slowly and easily sponge off with cold water. Do not rub hard or rapidly. Dry the skin with as little friction as possible.
In the heat of the day, or in the early evening, nothing is quite so refreshing as a hot sponge bath. Have the water as hot as can be borne by the hand, and, with a soft cloth, lightly sponge the entire body. Dry and powder without friction. A hot foot-bath just before retiring at night is very comforting. Hot treatments should be short in duration and the movements slow, in order to get the proper reactive effects that are cooling. After the treatment is finished, rest for a while, if possible, in a cool room—at least as cool as is available.
The warm-air bath is another very comfortable way of getting cool. Of course, a cabinet of some kind is preferable for this; but if one cannot be obtained, much the same effects can be realized by exposing the skin of the body to as hot air as can be found in the hottest room in the house. Even the direct rays of the sun are agreeable, but care should be taken not to expose the head or upper part of the spine to the direct rays of the hot sun. All other parts of the body may be exposed. Follow with a tepid or warm sponge bath without friction.
The principal diseases that are troublesome in the hot weather are of the digestive tract. This is doubtless due to the facts that foods decompose much more readily in hot weather than in cold, and that many people drink large quantities of ice-water with their meals, which is a very injurious habit. It is much better not to drink at all while eating. Drinking freely between meals of water that is tested, or boiled, will obviate many difficulties.
Any tendency to diarrhea should be promptly taken in hand by leaving off all food for at least twenty-four hours, and thoroughly cleansing the bowels by a hot enema. A little cooked starch added to the water for the enema renders it more soothing. When food is taken, starch in some form is best, either corn-starch, arrowroot, or oatmeal, prepared in a gruel with hot milk. Browned rice gruel is a very good food for patients thus suffering. There should be no haste in returning to the regular diet after the attack is over. If the trouble does not subside readily, at least within twenty-four hours, the services of a doctor should be obtained. If the patient is a baby under two years of age, the doctor's advice should be sought at once, as soon as the diarrhea is noticed, as it is a very fatal trouble in cases of infants.
On the whole, the summer months should be as health-giving as any months of the year. Everybody should join the campaign against the flies and mosquitoes, by observing the strictest cleanliness about their premises, keeping all garbage covered until it is properly disposed of. Out-of-door life, working in gardens, etc., together with the above suggestions carried out, should enable every individual, under ordinary conditions, to pass a healthful and pleasant summer-time.
Richmond, Va.
Noon-Hour Prayer
By Editor
"Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice." "And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends."
THE following lines, written by Sarah K. Marine, may bring courage to some weary heart:—
"If in life you chance to be
On some storm-tossed Galilee,
When the tempests raging high
Cause the waves to reach the sky,
Recollect who said, 'Be still,'
And abide his blessed will.
Sweetly trust him, calmly trust him,
Fully trust his blessed will.
"When it comes your time to be
Led through your Gethsemane,
Recollect who knelt and prayed
In the silence of its shade.
Pray though grief your cup may fill,
'Father if it be thy will'—
Sweetly trust him, fully trust him,
Calmly trust his blessed will.
"If through malice you should be
Led up rugged Calvary,
Recollect whose footsteps sore
Trod the stony path before,
There his blood did for you spill.
Fully trust his blessed will.
Sweetly trust him, calmly trust him,
Fully trust his blessed will."
Requests for Prayer
255. A California brother asks our prayers for healing from rheumatism.
256. Another brother in the same State (California), who has been connected for years with our institutions, is losing the use of his lower limbs. He asks an interest in our prayers.
257. A sister writes from Alabama requesting prayer for healing.
258. From Kansas a sister sends the request for prayer in behalf of a friend who has just accepted this truth. She is ill, and strong influences are at work to discourage her.
259. A Texas sister desires prayer for the healing of a friend; for her husband, who is a drunkard and cigarette fiend; and for herself that she may be restored to health and may endure the many trials that come to her, with Christian fortitude.
Dying Without God
A YOUTH at one of the large ironworks in Sheffield, says one, was accidentally thrown onto a red-hot armor-plate. When he was rolled off by his fellow workmen, it was doubtful if he could live, he was burned to the bone on nearly all of one side. His work mates cried, "Send for the doctor," but the poor suffering youth cried, "Never mind sending for the doctor; is there any one here who can tell me how to get saved? My soul has been neglected, and I am dying without God. Who can help me?"
Although there were three hundred men around him, there was no one who could tell him the way of salvation. After twenty minutes of untold agony, he died as he had lived.
One man who saw this accident, and heard the cries of the dying youth, was a wretched backslider, and when I asked him how he felt about the matter, he said: "I have heard his cries ever since, and wished I could have stooped down and pointed him to Jesus, but my life closed my lips."
Does your life tell sinners that you are saved, or does it close your lips, when those around hear you talk, and witness your actions? — Selected.
Do It Now
If you ever find yourself where you have so many things pressing upon you that you hardly know how to begin, let me tell you a secret: Take hold of the very first one that comes to hand, and you will find the rest all fall into file and follow after, like a company of well-drilled soldiers; and though work may be hard to meet when it charges in a squad, it is easily vanquished if you can bring it into line.
You may have often seen the anecdote of the man who was asked how he had accomplished so much in his life. "My father taught me," was the reply, "when I had anything to do, to go and do it." There is the secret—the magic word "now."
Somebody Knows and Cares
By Edw. J. Urquhart
EDW. J. URQUHART
As we press along with the jostling throng
Over life's stormy and wind-swept hill,
While the winds so cold sweep over the wold
And our hearts grow faint and our bodies chill,
It is sweet to know as we onward go
That somebody cares, that somebody knows
The passionate fire of our hearts' desire,
Who would carry our sorrows and lighten our woes;
That Jesus is near our hearts to cheer,
To strengthen us when we are tired and weak,
And to guide us on when the lights are gone,
To dispel all our fears when his face we seek.
Thus burdens grow light, and the darkest night
Is brightened by love-light ever so fair.
The heart that was sad is made light and glad
With hardly a pain and hardly a care.
Yuba City, Cal.
The Montana Camp-Meeting
By Meade MacGuire
This meeting was held June 26 to July 6, at Manhattan, a village situated between Bozeman and Helena, Mont. The camp was conveniently located between the two railway stations of the town.
An unusual interest was manifested on the part of the village people. This was shown by the attitude of a pastor of one leading church who invited one of our ministers to occupy his pulpit on both Sundays of the meeting, and encouraged his people to come to the tent.
The people were extremely courteous when visited by our members, and many favors were shown us. It is planned to station some workers in the place to follow up the interest.
Prosperity has attended the work the past year. At the beginning of the year quite a heavy debt rested upon the conference, and some departments of the work were greatly in need of help. The reports of the secretary and the president showed that the conference is now free from debt, each department is in a fairly prosperous condition, and there is apparently no disturbing element in the conference.
During the past year the conference has been in charge of our venerable pioneer worker, Elder H. W. Decker, who has been officially connected with this work for fifty years, and whose labors have been signally blessed of the Lord.
Elder U. Bender, recently from the West Indian field, was present, and was chosen president of the conference for the coming year. Other workers present from outside the conference were Elder C. W. Flaiz, Prof. E. C. Kellogg, and Brother W. R. Beatty, of the North Pacific Union, and Elders E. W. Catlin and L. F. Starr by special invitation. Each rendered valuable service in the various lines. Elders F. B. Armitage, of South Africa, and L. V. Finster, of the Philippine Islands, were present in the interest of the foreign missionary work. Their stirring recitals of experience in those fields were interesting and helpful, and the people responded by a donation of $1,100 for foreign mission work, a really liberal donation from so small a meeting.
The young people also raised sixty-five dollars toward paying the transportation of a missionary to Brazil, and other liberal contributions were made for local work.
The closing Sabbath was a day long to be remembered. Sabbath-school was placed in the afternoon, and the morning service began at 9:30. After the sermon a call was made, and nearly the whole camp came forward, and by earnest, heartfelt confession of definite sins and faults invited the presence and blessing of God. As the Spirit came in to work upon hearts with power, the way was opened for a glad song of victory and praise. In the afternoon a special meeting was called, and after a brief discourse two young men, Brethren C. H. Rittenhouse and D. H. Hanson, were set apart by ordination to the work of the ministry. Again the Lord came very near, and hearts were deeply touched. Sunday morning twelve persons were baptized in a near-by stream.
We left the Montana Conference full of courage, and with confidence that under the blessing of God great progress will be made in this field the coming year. Meade MacGuire.
Michigan
By W. H. Green
DETROIT CHURCH, No. 2.—Since half of the year is in the past, it is fitting and proper that we render a report to our friends; for there are those who are interested in the work among our people, and giving freely for its support.
You will be pleased to learn that the little church has made substantial and lasting growth along all lines.
Six persons have joined the church (two by letter), and others are receiving instructions, in order that they may learn the truth, receive baptism, and be admitted as members of the church. While six have been added to the church, our membership is still about the same as it was the first of the year, because we have granted letters to two and dropped the names of others.
Our Sabbath-school is growing gradually by adding members and means to the cause. The Missionary Volunteer Society, though recently organized, is taking on new life for its work. The Christian Help band has done good work for the church and community, and is growing in force and usefulness every day. Several are selling our literature with good success.
Our seventeen church-members, mostly women, gave $348.94 in tithes and offerings for various purposes during the six months ending June 30, 1913. This is more than twenty dollars per capita. Adding the offerings received during the last six weeks of 1912, we have a total of $520.48. Taking twenty as a membership basis, our little company gave more than twenty-six dollars per member for the seven and one-half months. Fifty dollars was donated to our building fund by the First Church. We are much in need of a strong force of Bible workers and a suitable place of worship.
The Lord has blessed the work here as we have taught the people publicly and from house to house.
W. H. GREEN.
The Minnesota Camp-Meeting
By C. L. Benson
THE annual camp-meeting of the Minnesota Conference was held this year in one of the many beautiful parks of St. Paul. Owing to the recent General Conference, it was decided to hold this meeting just one week, from June 16 to 23.
One hundred forty family tents were pitched among the trees surrounding the large pavilion. Although some rain fell, and the weather was very hot, a courageous, pleasant spirit characterized all the campers, and a deep spirit of earnestness was noticeable at all the meetings.
Services were held for the English, Germans, and Scandinavians. In the English meetings the local conference brethren were ably assisted by Elders Chas. Thompson and O. A. Olsen; the Germans by Elders W. F. H. Shroeder, C. K. Reiswig, and G. F. Haffner; the Scandinavians by Elders Carl Svenson, Erickson from Chicago, L. H. Christian, and O. A. Olsen. The young people on the grounds numbered more than three hundred, and Sister Pogue and Elder W. W. Ruble, assisted by the writer, had the satisfaction of seeing many give their hearts to God for the first time, and almost all on the ground consecrate anew their lives to the finishing of the third angel's message. Other helpers were Sister Armitage, from Africa, Dr. David Paulson, from the Hinsdale Sanitarium, and Dr. Schunk, from the Iowa Sanitarium.17The book work was ably looked after by Brethren Gay and Shrewsbury, assisted by the union conference canvassing agent, Brother F. E. Painter, and S. N. Curtiss, manager of the Kansas City Branch of the Pacific Press Publishing Association. Eight hundred dollars' worth of books and tracts was sold on the ground. A good interest was aroused in the sale of our publications.
Elder G. W. Wells continues to act as president, all the conference officers being reelected, with one exception.
The General Conference recommendation to raise twenty cents a week per member for missions and the liquidation of institutional liabilities was enthusiastically carried. The mission offering taken on the ground amounted to over $3,500, besides the Sabbath-school collection of $239.
Sabbath was the great day of the feast. Elder Olsen spoke from Isa. 52:1-10. The Lord came very near, and almost the whole camp went forward. At the afternoon service, Brethren Stemple White and B. C. Haak were ordained to the ministry. Following this impressive service, fifty-six, mostly young people, followed their blessed Lord in the ordinance of baptism.