OF the experiences awaiting his messengers at the hands of wicked men Jesus said: "They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service." John 16:2. And history records the fulfillment. The blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church in early centuries and in the dark days of papal rule.
In the missionary advance also, in modern times, many a life has been laid down at the hands of violent and fanatical men. Always, it seems, God has overruled this violence to his glory, and the testimony sealed with death has opened the way for the progress of the gospel among the persecutors.
But a different word was spoken by Jesus as to perils by violence from animal enemies in the wilds. He declared that his messengers were given power over these things,—to tread on serpents and scorpions, etc.,—"and nothing shall by any means hurt you." Luke 10:19. This was a promise to the seventy, sent8out before the crucifixion; but the promise of special deliverance from perils of this nature was also a part of the great commission for the carrying of the gospel to all the world. Mark 16:18.
It would not be legitimate to interpret this as meaning that under no circumstances was a missionary of the cross ever to suffer death from attacks of beast or reptile in the wilds. But it does suggest a special providential protection amid such perils. And it is a plain fact of missionary history that truly the hand of God has been over the missionary frontier force exposed to dangers in the jungle and the wilderness.
Miss Belle M. Brain has been a close student of missions. She says:—
So far as the writer has been able to discover, in an investigation covering more than ten years [she means that her own search of the record has continued for ten years], there is not on record a single case of a missionary attacked by snakes or animals in which God did not interpose to save his servant from death. The promises in Luke 10:19 and Mark 16:18 did not, apparently, cease with apostolic times.
Within a few weeks newspaper dispatches have reported the death of a missionary in Central Africa as the result of injuries received some time before in an attack by a lion. But so far as we are able to find the record, this is the only instance reported, although wild beasts in Africa slay thousands every year, and the missionaries have ever been pioneers in piercing the wilds.
Thousands of missionaries are at work in India, where from fifteen to twenty thousand people, more or less, die of the bite of poisonous snakes every year. Yet no missionary has ever perished of the bite of a serpent there, so far as recorded.
"From all parts of the mission field," says Miss Brain, "come stories of deliverances so great that they would seem to be miracles." We quote two illustrations given by this writer:—
Mrs. Scudder in the Tigers' Lair
While on a long journey across India, Dr. John Scudder, the first medical missionary from America, contracted jungle fever, and it was thought he could not live. When word reached Mrs. Scudder, she borrowed a tent, laid in a stock of provisions, hired the necessary bearers, and started to him at once, taking her little son with her.
The way led through a dense jungle infested by wild beasts. But all went well until night came on, when the bearers became so terrified at the growling of the tigers that they suddenly fled.
With no human arm to protect her, the defenseless woman spent the long hours of that lonely night in prayer. Again and again she heard the tread of wild elephants, and the low, menacing growls of tigers not far away. "All night long," says her brother, "they seemed to be circling around the spot where she knelt, ready to spring upon her and her child. But God held them back."
In the morning the bearers returned and the journey was resumed. At its close, Mrs. Scudder found the crisis past and her husband convalescent.
Delivered From Lions and Rhinoceroses
During his first years in Africa, Mr. Willis R. Hotchkiss, of the Friends' Africa Industrial Mission, had many dangerous encounters with lions, rhinoceroses, and snakes.
One morning, while crossing a ravine with a small party of natives, five lions were discovered on a rocky platform jutting out from the hillside about two hundred and fifty yards away. A clump of trees at the crest of the ridge offered protection, but the ascent must be made in full view of the lions.
As the men started up, the lions began to pace to and fro, and give vent to low, menacing growls that meant danger. Escape seemed impossible; nevertheless, keeping their eyes on the lions, the men made for the trees as fast as they dared. Presently, to their great relief, the lioness trotted off, taking her full-grown cubs with her. As she was the dangerous factor in the situation, Mr. Hotchkiss now dared to turn for an instant to see how near they were to the trees. To his dismay he found two huge rhinoceroses blocking the way. To add to the peril, an instant later the lioness reappeared, and, with blood-curdling roar, came bounding down the hillside toward them.
The first impulse was to run; the second, a wiser one, to fire. But the lioness proved an uncertain target, and the men did not aim very well. One bullet took effect, slightly wounding her, but soon the ammunition gave out. In this extremity Mr. Hotchkiss turned to God.
"With empty rifle in one hand and hunting knife in the other," he says, "I lifted up that mightiest of all weapons, prayer. Not a nicely formulated prayer,—there was not time for that,—but just the wordless expression of a desperate need. But it was enough. The infuriated beast had got within seventy yards, when, without apparent cause—but God—she suddenly turned at right angles and dashed away. The day of miracles past?—Never!"
When it was all over, they turned to look for the rhinoceroses. But they, too, had disappeared, having been frightened, doubtless, by either the charging lioness or the noise of the rifles.
To these we may add a narrative of experience in which one of our colporteurs not long ago recognized the delivering hand of Providence. One of our bookmen in the South African colonies was out taking orders from house to house.
In one community he was told by the people to beware of a fierce dog kept at a certain house toward which he was working. It was a big black dog, particularly vicious toward strangers, they said; and he was told he would better not go inside the gate unless the people of the house were about to restrain the dog.
The worker came to the place described. No one appeared to be about, and he could see no signs of the dog. He did not want to pass by the house, as the commission of the gospel colporteur is to make sure of visiting every family on the route with the message-filled books. With a prayer to God to keep him, he opened the gate and went into the yard.
He had closed the gate behind him and taken but a step, when a dog—unmistakably the big black beast described—came bounding out and rushed viciously at him. There was no time for escape by the gate. But the colporteur had asked God to care for him, and in his heart was the prayer for protection.
The dog reared up to spring upon him—and fell over dead. Truly it was a deliverance; but quick with the thought of deliverance came the thought, "What am I to do? These people will think I killed the dog." But the owner of the house, it proved, had opened the door just in time to see the dog fall back dead, and the worker escaped all blame. He took the gentleman's order for the book, and went on his way rejoicing at the deliverance, and feeling that God would surely bless the placing of the literature in that home.
A yet later incident comes to us just now from a colporteur in Europe. In the German workers' paper, Zions-Wächter, appeared the following report:—
Before one house appeared a small sign with the warning: "Beware! a savage dog." Scarcely was I up the steps of the veranda when out from a corner sprang the savage beast. Instantly I sent up a murmured prayer, "Lord, protect me!" One pull upon the bell at the door, and there came a servant, whose first question was, "How did you get in? Where is the dog?" Then he asked me about my business. With some difficulty I succeeded in selling him a small book. Then the servant must needs drive away the dog, and under his guiding protection I was let out of the gate, and left the house. Truly the Lord that once held the jaws of the lions opens the doors before us, and he it was who held back the savage dog in order that the way might be prepared for the entrance of the truth.
To those who believe in a Heavenly Father who notes the sparrow's fall and who watches over even minor details in the lives of his children, these experiences will not be counted commonplaces. There is a God in heaven who cares. Many an unbeliever, or even thoughtless professor, gives credit for a peril narrowly escaped to good luck or favoring conditions, when he should rather thank God for his loving mercy.
"Is Irreverence in Handling the Word of God a Sign of Religious Decadence?"
By F. M. W.
THIS is the question asked by the editor of the Lutheran in the issue of that paper for March 12, 1914. He quotes a Baptist minister as looking with "gravest apprehension" on the type of evangelism represented by some present-day revivalists. This Baptist clergyman is reported as saying: —
Our day has produced a type of evangelist that, to say the least, is not ideal. As a rule they know little about theology or philosophy, and boast of their ignorance. They are slangy and unmannerly and impudent. Dignity is thrown to the winds, and every sense of seeming regard for religious propriety is offended. Coming to God is "hitting the sawdust trail."
There are cities now awaiting the coming of a certain famous evangelist who cannot fill the engagements for two years yet to come. In the meantime there are ministers and laymen enough, with brain and heart enough, in those cities to shake them from center to circumference if they would but bestir themselves and get down to work. It is humiliating to the last degree. There are distressing reactions after the extraordinary and hippodramatic campaigns which lift great communities into a frenzy of religious fervor, but a work of grace that comes from a steady pressure upon society from the members of the churches will not be followed by the reactions.
The Philadelphia Ledger also deplores this vulgar type of preaching. Speaking of the present-day evangelists, it says: —
The evangelist offends the ears of cultivated people by his slang, his manners, and by words which come unwashed from the vernacular of the crowd. He is not the only offender against reverence and good taste. Many evangelists, and not a few preachers who imitate them, lower the standards of propriety by indulging in expressions more adapted to the barroom than the pulpit.
The reason why some platform lecturers employ this grade of language is indicated by the Ledger: —
Many folks unfortunately like that sort of thing, just as they prefer ragtime to the "Ninth Symphony" of Beethoven.
Such speakers find ready listeners. They are surrounded by men and women who sound their praises and hang upon their every word. If this were not the case, they would be led to employ other than spectacular methods in presenting the gospel. Says the editor of the Lutheran: —
When one recalls the preaching of such evangelists as Torrey and Moody, and sees how steady has been the deterioration, in both spirit and method, of the modern revival, and how increasingly spectacular and abnormal the means employed to bring it about, there is only one conclusion to be reached, and that is that the excusing by very many Christians of such irreverent, and at times profane, handling of the Word of God, is a sure sign of spiritual decadence. A preacher is on no less holy soil than was Moses when he heard the words at the burning bush: "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." There is a divine sense and instinct in the reverent Christian that feels itself outraged when holy things are dealt with in an unholy way. . . .
There are men and women who would feel themselves outraged were their dearest friends to step into their parlors with muddy shoes and soil their carpets, and9yet they will excuse a preacher who dips his tongue in irreverence and profanity and rolls the gospel over it as a sweet but defiled morsel. He addresses God with shocking familiarity, as if he had been his baseball companion from his youth. What is positively distressing is the loss of the sense of reverence among Christians, the sense of the divine fitness of things. It is the crying sin of the day.
The truthfulness of this criticism we must acknowledge. This is an age of degeneracy, socially, politically, religiously. Too many in the great professed Christian church have but a form of godliness, their own lives denying the power which they profess. It is this large, indifferent, world-loving, godless class in the Christian church that applauds to the echo the theatrical style and methods of modern evangelists.
We would not deny that some good is accomplished through such preaching. God may take the words of a sensational preacher and impress them upon the hearts of men. The apostle Paul recognized this of some who with unworthy motives and by unwise methods preached the gospel in his day: —
"Some indeed preach Christ . . . of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: but the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel. What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice." Phil 1:15-18.
Notwithstanding the motives which prompted such preaching, it was overruled of God to the extension of the gospel of his Son.
But the question naturally arises, If on account of their earnestness and enthusiasm, and in spite of their vulgarity and sensational methods, God works through some evangelists for the accomplishment of some little good, how much more might they not accomplish by preaching the gospel in a sane, sensible, dignified manner, and with the same earnestness and enthusiasm which they now employ in their work?
It is not for us to judge our fellows, nor is it for us to take them as our models. We have one model — the Lord Jesus Christ. The quiet dignity of his life, the quiet dignity of his personal labor, commends itself to our judgment. He had all classes with which to deal, the same as do his representatives today; but without show or ostentation, with pure, becoming, appropriate speech, with beautiful figures and illustrations drawn from the common experiences of the people, he unfolded the marvelous truth of God. Truth was presented in such a way that it carried power and conviction to move the multitudes.
It is better to take Christ as our model today, both in preaching and in Christian living, than the example of those in any age who would improve upon his methods.
F. M. W.
A Pleasure-Loving Church
UNDER this heading the New York Weekly Witness of April 1, 1914, publishes the following letter from one of its correspondents:—
To THE EDITOR: In our town the Methodist, Baptist, Congregationalist, and Episcopal Churches have their ball teams, and are playing for a prize, to be won at the end of the season. There is much interest taken in their game, both outside and inside the churches.
In a city a few miles from here three churches have ball teams, also bowling alleys and pool tables, and one of these churches allows smoking.
Are not these things contrary to the teaching of Christ? Is it possible for any one that is filled with the Spirit to indulge in such things and not lose it? Is not the church that has such amusements putting temptation in the way of the Lord’s people? Are we not now in the last days, when men have become “lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof”?
If we turn away from the churches, where shall we go? Surely we are living in perilous times. D. W. P.
This reader of the Witness truly recognizes the spirit of the present day, and correctly estimates its influence. In its efforts to gain adherents and to maintain its hold upon the masses, the great Christian church of today has widely departed from the methods employed by Christ and his apostles. The church may gain worldly influence by adopting worldly methods, but it will be at the expense of vital godliness and piety.
Blame Attached to the Home
THAT parents are largely to blame for juvenile delinquencies in their children is the opinion of Miss Mary Bartelme, assistant judge of the juvenile court of Chicago. She says:—
It is the parents with whom we deal, not the children, when delinquency cases are brought into court. The companionship of the home is no longer what it used to be, and the parents are to blame.
She suggests that there should be more of the personal touch on the part of the parents in personal and individual interest in every member of the household; not an interest which is that of “superiors,” but the interest which brings a personal touch with the boys and girls.
Note and Comment
The Best Fruit
OVER the court of honor at the Columbian Exposition, President Eliot of Harvard had inscribed these words: "Toleration in religion is the best fruit of the last four centuries." Commenting on this, the Watchman-Examiner of Feb. 19, 1914, says:—
Yet nearly four hundred years ago (in 1524) Hubmeyer, the Baptist, in a book on "The Burning of the Heretics," said: "Christ came not to burn nor to murder, but to give life. If men cannot be convinced by appeals to reason or the Word of God, they should be left alone. The burning of heretics is a device of Satan." In 1560 a Baptist who had been the friend of John Knox complained of "those who affirmed it to be lawful to persecute and put to death such as dissent from others in controversies of religion. Be these the sheep whom Christ sent forth in the midst of wolves? Can the sheep persecute the wolf? Doth he which is born of the Spirit kill him which is born after the flesh?"
Success Not Always Evidence of Good
SUCCESS as the world counts it is not always an evidence of the good accomplished. The cause of God in every age has been advanced through trials and difficulties. On a certain week in September, 1756, John Wesley recorded in his celebrated Journal: “Wednesday and Thursday I settled my temporal business. It is now about eighteen years since I began writing and printing books; and how much in that time have I gained by printing? Why, on summing up my accounts I found that on March 1, 1756 (the day I left London last), I had gained by printing and preaching together, a debt of twelve hundred and thirty-six pounds.”
Hookworm Campaign in Porto Rico
LIFTING the whole laboring population of an island from a state of chronic indolence to something like normal ability in less than ten years is something of an achievement, even for these days of medical wonders. Yet that is what has happened in Porto Rico since 1904. When in that year the Americans went to the island, they found twenty per cent of the laboring class gradually losing in strength and inclination to work; nearly forty-five per cent were increasingly unable to work, having passed the stage when they suffered from mere disinclination; twenty-five per cent were facing death. The worst phase of the situation was that these victims were looked upon as shiftless and indolent, when in reality they were chronic invalids. Not until ten years ago did planter and government cease to urge these pitiful sufferers to work, and recognize the truth that they were totally unable to respond to such appeals. But today, the result of the campaign against hookworm has surpassed even the most extravagant expectations of the most hopeful campaigners. A bad case of the disease is now almost unknown in the well-populated districts of the island, and even in the mountains there is scarcely an individual who has not heard of the cure for the disease, and who does not know that medical treatment will cure it.
A Tour Through the Asiatic Division
By R. C. Porter
R. C. PORTER
After spending two weeks settling in our comfortable home at Shanghai, and holding a brief committee council, in company with Elder R. F. Cottrell I attended the general meetings in Hupeh, Honan, and Hunan, three provinces of Central China.
The Lord has greatly blessed the labor of our workers in that field the past year. Two hundred and thirty-two converts, most of whom were from heathenism, were baptized. An intermediate training school for workers was started in Honan, with buildings and equipage free from debt. It opened with a full attendance, with promise of doing successful work. Although Central China is the scene of unusual brigandage and revolution under the leadership of White Wolf, a former army official of high rank who is now seeking revenge against the government, so far none of our missions have been disturbed.
The homes for workers at Hankow and Yen-cheng are now occupied. This is a great relief from the insanitary conditions that have been a menace to the health and life of these workers. Many expressions of praise and thanksgiving arise to God from appreciative hearts for the gifts from the homeland that have made possible this exchange. There are upward of forty outstations being operated in this division.
Returning home, we spent two weeks attending to delayed business and correspondence, after which a tour through South China, Malaysia, and the Philippines was begun.
South China
While in this territory we visited Hongkong, Canton, Fatshan, Three Eye Bridge, Wia Chow, Swatow, and Amoy. Hongkong being a natural center for the work in that field, it was at first thought advisable to remove the headquarters to that city. However, when the committee on location investigated available properties, they found rents too high and lots too expensive to admit of such an undertaking. The headquarters will remain in Canton unless a providential opening indicates otherwise.
In Canton two new homes for foreign workers, and a girls' school building, have just been completed. The former girls' school building in the city will now be used for a boys' school, and city evangelistic work will be continued there. The new buildings are located a mile and a half from the city. A steam car runs within five minutes' walk of the compound.
The general meeting held at Fatshan was a spiritual feast. There were many heartfelt prayers and testimonies given by the Chinese members present which revealed a real depth of Christian experience. The workers showed a spirit of humility and devotion to the work that insures a successful advance for the future.
Dr. Law Keem and family have removed from Hongkong to the province of Kwang-si to open a new field. They went in response to a call from fifteen Sabbath keepers living in that province who desired further instruction and baptism. I am sure that our brethren and sisters in the homeland will rejoice with us that in another large province a lighthouse is established.
At Pakhoi a good work is progressing, and there are four outstations in operation where encouraging work is being done. Elder E. H. Wilbur, with his family, has moved there to take charge of the work. Brother A. H. Bach and his family are moving to Shanghai.
At Wai Chow, which was reached by a twenty-four hours' ride by river steamer, packed so thickly with Chinese that it was impossible for our company to lie down or sleep, we found our workers comfortably situated. They have two foreign houses, a girls' school, and a good location in the city for evangelistic work. While the committee was in session at Hongkong, it was decided to purchase the lots lying in the rear of their foreign compound, upon which to erect a building to accommodate both a boys' and a girls' school. Elder J. P. Anderson and Brother S. A. Nagel with their families are located at this place. They are successfully operating outstation work in the vicinity.
Photo by R. C. Porter
At Swatow a good foreign residence is occupied by Elder W. F. Hills and family and his father and mother. Brother Ang conducts a school for girls. They had also planned for a boys' school, but owing to the lack of funds, they sent their boys to Amoy last year. Money is needed with which to purchase lots and erect modest buildings for conducting their educational work. Good work in both evangelical and school lines is being done. A call for help came from a country village. These people had opened their heathen temple for the proclamation of the message. Our workers are successfully operating eight outstations in the outlying district. An effort to prevent our mission from maintaining a foothold in the city was checked by two members of the city council, who suggested that if there was not room for all some of the others might retire.
At Amoy, Elder and Sister B. L. Anderson are carrying the work in the absence of Elder W. C. Hankins and wife, who are away on furlough. Here the workers have good homes which are well located. Both boys' and girls' schools are being conducted, and an evangelistic campaign is carried on in the city. Lots have been purchased, bounded on one side by the seashore, upon which permanent buildings for both boys' and girls' schools are to be erected. They very much desire to purchase a good garden spot in the rear of these lots, upon which to raise their vegetables, but they have not the money. Elder N. P. Keh is conducting a successful station farther inland. Nine other outstations are doing good work in bringing converts from heathenism to Christianity. Another family and funds are needed to open up work in an adjoining province, where another dialect is spoken.11
Malaysia
Elder F. A. Detamore, Brother and Sister H. E. Sharp, and a company of faithful native assistants are doing very aggressive work in Singapore. Last year a tent effort was conducted, which resulted in the conversion of fifteen persons. The church there has a neat building, which accommodates about one hundred and twenty-five persons. The Sabbath I met with them it was filled nearly to its capacity with believers. A church school is being conducted. Sister Mamie Yarnell is now en route in response to their call for a teacher to train workers.
A good work is being done at Batavia, Java, under the supervision of Sister P. Tunheim and Brother and Sister Van de Groep. While there, Brother B. Judge, from Padang, Sumatra, met with us. He and his wife are in need of a furlough, but they are remaining until other workers reach the field. They have a prosperous school, and an inland station operated by a native worker. Thus the light is beginning to spread in that island field.
Brother and Sister G. A. Wood are conducting a very aggressive campaign at Surabaya, Java. Four were baptized while we were there, and six others desire baptism after a little more instruction. The work has a good start in this place. Both ends of the island have been entered, and urgent calls are coming for labor in the interior. A good work is being done with our literature.
A good beginning has been made in opening up the work in North Borneo by Elder and Sister R. P. Montgomery, assisted by Brother Chan, a Chinese evangelist.
We have not yet entered the Celebes Islands. However, a native who became interested through our literature is making an enthusiastic canvass in that field for our books. Thus God's providence is going before, beckoning us onward. It will require workers and means; but the time has come, and the Lord will supply them. In our work, as in the building of the wall of Jerusalem in the days of Nehemiah, there is a constant call for more mortar. Those who furnish the material with which to build are as important to the work as the builders. What a privilege to be partners with the Lord in the finishing of his work!
Brother A. R. Duckworth and family are doing good work at Kuala Lumpur. They have some substantial members who are joining them in carrying the message to the people.
Philippines
Brother L. V. Finster and family and Brother and Sister W. E. Lanier are leading in a very fruitful effort in Manila. There are one hundred and twenty-five members in that city. With the aid of some good native evangelists and literature salesmen, they have conducted a tent effort and have sold a large amount of literature the past season.
During the recent visit of Brother and Sister C. N. Woodward, Mrs. Porter, and the writer, after a careful search for a location, very desirable lots were purchased in a good section of the foreign residence portion of the city, upon which two dwellings and a printing plant will be erected. This opening seemed providential. A teacher whose house had burned was leaving for America, and she offered the lots, all prepared for building, with water laid on, grass and trees in good condition, for less than other locations not so desirable could be purchased.
Photo by Mrs. R. C. Porter
At Malolos, about two and one-half hours' ride by train from Manila, the first church in the Philippines was dedicated January 25. Among others in attendance was the first Sabbath keeper to accept the faith in the Philippines. The building was erected at small expense, most of the work being done by the brethren. The outlay in cash did not exceed one hundred and fifty dollars. The church membership there is twenty-five. There is still a good interest, and a native evangelist remains to continue the meetings.
Dr. Fattebert and wife and Brother Floyd Ashbaugh go to open up the work in the Cebu province. Elder E. M. Adams has removed to Iloilo to open that new field. So in all parts of the division the message is spreading, and hungry souls waiting for light gladly accept it and pass it on to others. Thus an ever-increasing army of workers is pushing into unentered territory with the sealing message. Will not the readers join us in the prayer that the angels may hold the winds of strife in these dark lands that the work may not be hindered until God's servants are sealed for his kingdom?
Brazil Union Conference
By F. W. Spies
F. W. SPIES
Following the good workers' meeting at Santo Amaro, Sao Paulo, the Brazil Union Conference held its third biennial session January 19-25. The reports rendered showed that progress had been made in the various departments.
During the past two years we gained some members by immigration, but lost a greater number by emigration. Then, too, dropping from our church rolls a goodly number of such as by their lives showed that they were not of us, still helped to reduce the actual membership of our union. But even then there was a gain of about sixty in membership, and an encouraging increase in tithes and offerings.
One thing that greatly encouraged the delegates present, was the fact that three brethren who had developed in our field could be ordained to the gospel ministry. And this increase of ordained ministers enabled us to make better plans for the various parts of our great field than ever before. Nevertheless, it is the impression that a country larger than the United States (aside from its island possessions), with about twenty-three million inhabitants, is too extensive to be properly administered as one union conference.
We believe that both our union conference and the workers' meeting were a decided help and uplift to our workers, not only in that a study of better plans and methods of work gave greater efficiency, but we believe a better understanding of the Lord's readiness to help us and a fuller appreciation of his presence with us will bring greater power to finish his work.
The public meetings begun for the people of Santo Amaro were very well attended from the first. And although the priest of the place did his best to hinder the work, we have not had even a ripple of persecution. The large majority of the people of the town seem on our side. Soon after our evening meetings began, a boy, paralytic from a fall, and incurable the doctors said, was brought to us. The treatments given by our nurses soon enabled the boy to walk, and he grew better right along. Others came, and still others. Thus the people received the impression that we have come to do them good, and even the threats of excommunication could not keep them away. At a recent meeting, after having spoken for several nights on the sanctuary and the law, Elder Lipke asked those present who were willing to serve the Lord, keep all the commandments (the fourth included), and get ready for Jesus' coming, to rise. More than thirty persons responded. Thinking he might not have been understood, he put the question in another way, and the result was the same.
As we start out on another biennial period, our workers are of good courage, expecting that the Lord will do great things for us, and give us power from on high to hasten his work to a close.
Faith
By Lillian Odell Lickey
LILLIAN ODELL LICKEY
WHY do I tell Thee at evening
The perplexing cares of day?
Why do I hear thy promise
To lift those cares away?
Why do I praise thee on waking,
For courage and strength and light?
Is it not that I know thy angels
Have kept me through the night?
Do I know that the Father heareth?
Have I faith in his power to save?
Did not his hand still the tempest,
And break the bands of the grave?
Before the mountains resounded,
Or ever life was given,
Thou didst weigh the hills in a balance,
And number the host of heaven.
