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Review and Herald, Vol. 87, No. 14.

The Beatitudes
Earlier text: Standing on the Rock of Ages

An Age of Delusions

By William Ambrose Spicer

WHILE the keen and critical intellectualism of the time scorns the simplicity of faith, it feeds upon superstition. Under the full light of the twentieth century, the world that repudiates Bible truth is at the same time ready to follow hard after the delusions of bygone ages of darkest heathenism.
Only the other day, the police authorities of New York commented on the many thousands of dollars being paid every year in that city, by intelligent people, to astrologers, necromancers, and other dealers in magical arts.
The Theosophic Messenger for March (Chicago) has a report of the annual Theosophical convention in Benares, India, last December, attended by representatives from Europe, America, Australia, and all parts of India and the East. Mrs. Besant, the president, unveiled a portrait of a former member, Damodar, who is said to have disappeared mysteriously many years ago. The report says:—
His disappearance put the society in a very awkward position, but it was alleged by the members that he had gone to the snowy peaks of the Himalayas to work under the masters who are said to be behind the movement, and to fit himself for the work in the society. There is a strong rumor here that he will return in a few months to take up the work in the society, and in the same body.
One may say that this is all in perfect harmony with local conditions,—in Benares, the seat of hoary Hinduism. But this is only one of the crude phases of modern mysticism. It has its intellectual and humanitarian side, and its philosophy of the higher life. This same Mrs. Besant—a woman of highest culture—lectured through America last summer. She announced the purpose of her campaign:—
My message is very simple. “Prepare for the coming Christ.” We stand at the cradle of a new subrace, and each race or subrace has its own Messiah. Hermes is followed by Zoroaster; Zoroaster by Orpheus; Orpheus by Buddha; Buddha by Christ. We now await with confidence a manifestation of the Supreme Teacher of the world, who was last manifested in Palestine. Everywhere in the West, not less than in the East, the heart of man is throbbing with the glad expectation of the new avatar.
It is a suggestive declaration; for we know that before Christ appears in the clouds of heaven, Satan himself is to come, with all power and signs and lying wonders, as the great humanitarian and benefactor of men. The gospel of his coming is to precede him. And this we have in the revival of mysticism and disguised and open Spiritualism that is sweeping over the world.
The leaven of the New Thought idea is but the old leaven of heathen philosophy, modified and intensified to meet the times. In an essay on Indian thought, Jean Delaire wrote some time ago in the London National Review (September, 1908):—
Thus India has apparently still a mission to fulfil, for her thought is slowly beginning to mold the thought of Europe and of America; our keenest minds are to-day studying her philosophy; our “New Theology” is founded upon the old, old Vedanta.
Truly, new and old are commingling. In an age of the highest scientific attainment, we are to see the fullest development of soul-destroying delusions. Because men receive not “the love of the truth,” they are to fall under the “strong delusion.” 2 Thess. 2:8-11. This time of the master working of Satan, so long foretold, is upon us.
And these warnings of the Word of God for such a time are not merely for us to pass on to others. With the true form and doctrine of truth in the third angel’s message, we must preserve in the soul also “the love of the truth” in order to be kept safely under the shadow of the Almighty. The one who drew angels into his snare from before the throne of God, is come down in great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time, and will war in a special way against the remnant church “which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
He will never truly label his delusions, and is set, if possible, to deceive the very elect. In recent years some of the phases of this spiritualistic philosophy, with variations, have been urged among us as a call to higher ground in the advent message; and the stand against it brought on a crisis in our work. Thank God, the great body of our people stood true to the definite message and to the Word of God, refusing to be led off from the pathway of the advent people that runs from the days of 1844 straight onward to the gates of the city of God.
But the deadly germs of the evil thing are all abroad. Christendom, according to the prophecy, is being “replenished from the East.” Isa. 2:6. If our eyes could see spiritual wickedness, we would see Satan spreading his fine-spun web of old and new deceptions over all the earth—“the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations.” Isa. 25:7.
This is the covering that the Lord promises to destroy by the brightness of his coming. “And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us.” Verse 9. As the darkness deepens, the light of the blessed hope shines brighter and brighter. The end of all things is close at hand. W. A. S.

The Messenger and the Message

By C. M. S.

To the messengers of Jesus Christ there is given the greatest trust ever committed to man. The apostle says: “As we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.” The example of Paul in this regard is one that every minister of God should strive to emulate. In fact that is the only attitude of the professed minister of God that is honoring to God. Wherever the ministry is regarded as a vocation, a calling, the means for making a livelihood, the message is discounted, and the messenger has mistaken his “calling.” It was when men began to look upon the ministry as a profession, that they came to look upon the Bible as a fit subject for the dissector’s scalpel, and forgot that the Bible was the very Word of God, “Sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow.” As Christ declared that it would be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for those cities of his day which refused his witness with all the light they had, so may we know that it will be more tolerable in the day of judgment for such men as Paine, Voltaire, and Ingersoll than for those professed ministers of God who have stood in the sacred desk and cast discredit and doubt upon the Word of God. Those were open enemies in the field; these are traitors in the camp. Men who were yearning for God and desiring to know and to do his ways, would not go to such men as Ingersoll in their soul hunger. But when they go to those who were entrusted with the gospel, they go in sincerity, with open minds and hearts, ready to believe, anxious to know what the messenger of God has to teach them. He who casts a single doubt into the mind of such an inquirer, “it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”
Such men as Paine and Voltaire have drawn their sustenance from the commissariat of the enemy while working for him; but the unfaithful trustee of the gospel message has drawn his support from the church of Christ while working against it and its Founder. The hungry soul expects through the doctor of divinity the bread and the water of life—and has a right to expect them; and such a professed servant of Christ who feeds to a single soul a stone of doubt and a serpent of unbelief has taken upon himself the most fearful responsibility that it is possible for a human being to assume. The consistent, open infidel will fare better in that day than he who, in the garb of religion, has taught men to look upon the Word of God as a myth, an unreality, the work of human minds and hands.
It is infinitely better to anchor to the Rock of Ages and believe in him for whose glory we were created, and then live and reign with him eternally, than to fill the world with the philosophies of doubt and then perish on the grave of our false theories.
What God wants of those who have named his name is unswerving loyalty to him and his Word. The disloyal, the doubters, the questioners, the critics of “that which is written,” God has not commissioned and can not use in the promulgation of his message of salvation. If the pulpits were relieved of such teachers, the atmosphere of the professed church of Christ would be cleansed and vivified, the zeal of the church would be aroused, souls would be converted, cold hearts would be melted, and there would be no “empty pew” question.
Says the Inspired Word: “I charge thee in the sight of God, and of Christ Jesus, who shall judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be urgent in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure the sound doctrine: but, having itching ears, will heap to themselves teachers after their own lusts; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside unto fables.” 2 Tim. 4:1-4. If ever scripture prophecy was fulfilled, this has been fulfilled to the letter and is being fulfilled to-day on the part of thousands of congregations. Ordained teachers of the gospel have left the sacred work to which they were called—if at any time they were really called—and have turned to the fables of evolution, New Thought, and the Higher Criticism, Socialism, politics, and “civic righteousness.” The teachers have taught what they would, or what the people wanted, rather than what they were commissioned to teach, and the result has been doubt, frivolity, sin.
Nevertheless, God has not changed. In spite of the fact that men have turned away from him in large measure, have abandoned the Book of truth for the guesses of a self-contradicting science, yet he goes to them with another message, that earth’s history may not end with earth’s millions unwarned. “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations; and then shall the end come.” Matt. 24:14. That is God’s program, from which we need not expect him to vary. We have had the long waiting period, now is going the warning—the last warning—and then comes the end. It is the end of this present world, the end of misery, the end of sin, the end of him who was and is the root of sin; but the end of that condition is synchronous with the beginning of another and better and more glorious time. It is the beginning of a joy that will never be alloyed with sorrow; a peace that will never be disturbed by fear of terror either by night or by day; it will be the beginning in literal actuality of that reconciled relationship between God and his estranged children for whose accomplishment Christ became man and man’s sacrifice and mediator. When we think of the terrible end awaiting an impenitent world, we must not forget the glorious beginnings of better things which lie beyond that end. These things are the realities that should absorb the attention of those who speak for God in the congregations of his professed people. Of infinitely greater importance are they than any amount of learned essays upon the structure or literature of the Bible, or any amount of criticism, either higher or lower, that would create a cloud of dust to blind the eyes of the child of God regarding Jesus Christ and his work for man. Criticisms of the Bible have never yet convicted men of sin or shown them the necessity of seeking shelter in Christ, and yet the world is full of it, and the libraries of the people are being filled with books that seek to rob Christ of his rightful position and man of his Saviour.
We are in the greatest crisis this world has ever known, and happy is that teacher of the word, who, being called of God to his holy calling, is faithfully giving the message God has for man in this present day. C. M. S.

Magnifying Little Things

By F. M. W.

ONE purpose should possess the heart and one inspiration thrill the life of every Seventh-day Adventist, and that is the giving of the message of Christ's coming to the world in this generation. To this high calling, every question of minor importance and every personal consideration should be subordinated. One spirit should energize the body, and operate in every individual movement. Only as the work committed to us is appreciated in its greatness and importance, only as the Spirit of God rules and reigns in each individual life, can unity of sentiment and harmony of action be preserved.
Each member of this church has had in life an individual mold of character and a distinctly personal experience. Each has been led over a different road than any of his fellows. This to some degree has given to each one a certain bias of thought and reasoning. Realizing this, how careful each should be to see that he maintains that relationship toward his fellows which will make for peace and for concerted, harmonious action. Says the apostle Paul:—
“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
Keeping the unity of the Spirit does not necessarily mean that one man must think in the mold of another, or that one must not express an opinion contrary to established precedent, or to the opinions of others, but it does mean that though he may differ with his brethren in methods, in plans, and even in principles, he will do so as a Christian.
It is one thing to differ from our brethren and do it in such an egotistical, self-righteous manner as to repel rather than to win, and another to choose the better way,—to mollify the difference as far as possible by love and Christian courtesy. When each esteems other better than himself, when each counts his brother as honest as himself, when each believes that God by his Spirit can speak to his brother as well as to himself, differences will be robbed of much of their rancor and bitterness.
Truth is vital. Principles are above men, and should be held and properly promulgated, even at the expense of the dearest friendship, if need be. But let truth be maintained in love, and principles promulgated with due consideration for those holding opposite views.
If we must differ, let us differ as men, not as children; as friends, and not as foes; as Christians, and not as those actuated by the spirit of the accuser. From the views of others, let us dissent, if need be, kindly and considerately, and with due regard for our own limitations of vision and conception. We can not afford to be too dogmatical of our own opinions or too condemnatory of the opinions of others. We can see where we have erred in the past, and the future may reveal that our opinions to-day need revision.
We do not refer in this to the plain, fundamental truths of the gospel and the great doctrines constituting the frame-work of this message. These are plain and positive in declaration. They admit of no vital difference, and but little discussion as to their meaning. But it is the details of the doctrines, the finer, subtler meanings, which are most likely to produce differences. These sometimes grow big with importance, and come to take the place of the great fundamental truth of which they are but a small part. Better let these discussions rest. Let us not unduly magnify little things. The great movement itself demands our energy. Satan would be pleased indeed to see our time occupied with minor questions, the determination of which, on either side, would add not one whit to the power of the message.
It is said that some of the old philosophers used to argue for hours over the proposition that man could not move. He could not move where he was; and he could not move where he was not; therefore, he could not move. While there is little danger that we shall spend time over such silly questions, there is constant danger that we shall be led to spend time over questions quite as useless so far as the saving of souls is concerned. We may spend days in discussing whether or not the needle's eye through which Christ said the camel could not pass, was a gate opening to the city of Jerusalem, or the eye of an ordinary sewing needle; or arguing over the question as to what the seven thunders of Revelation 10 uttered; but during all that time souls around us are perishing, and we are ignoring and losing sight of the great issues which should command our thought. Our contention even may be for truth, and yet it is well always for us to consider which will accomplish the most good, to allow some minor truth to quietly rest, or to promulgate it to the sacrifice of peace and the creation of discord.
Let us be guarded that we be not switched off from the great main track of this movement. The apostle Paul exhorts Titus in words suited to our consideration:—
“But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.”
Again, in his epistle to Timothy, this great teacher, while exhorting his disciples to study the Word in order to rightly divide it, also warns against the danger of turning aside to discuss questions of minor consequence:—
“Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. . . . But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. . . . But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.”
This is good counsel for us to-day, quite as much as for the church of the first century. May we say to every suggestion which would detract from the promulgation of the great issues of this movement, in the words of Nehemiah: “I am doing a great work, so that I can not come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?” F. M. W.

Forsaking All

By F. M. W.

THE spirit of centralization and self-centered interest is entirely foreign to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Heaven gave its choicest gift for the salvation of man, and in giving its best and greatest it gave its all. With the spirit of the gospel possessing the heart of the disciple, this same principle will be revealed in his life.
When once the completeness of the sacrifice of Christ is appreciated in its fulness, when once the sweetness of the gospel is experienced in the life of the believer, there will be no selfish withholding. Hoarded means will not be found among the believers; the question of chief concern will not be the service of self, but how fully may the interest of the cause of Christ be served and advanced. This recognition will beget a spirit of self-forgetfulness and self-sacrifice. It will lead to simplicity of life and simplicity of living.
How much of the Lord’s money is squandered to-day by his professed followers in ways and means not only useless, but positively harmful as well? What can we say of the money spent for unnecessary house furnishings, for unnecessary wearing apparel, for storybooks and magazines whose influence is positively detrimental to the reader, for cheap, popular music, for photographs, for candy, and soda-water, and scores of other things which might be enumerated? Truly, one who feels the fire of missionary spirit burning in his heart, and who truly recognizes his duty to a lost world, can not thus spend the means entrusted to him.
If this people would but bind about some of their supposed wants, there would be no dearth of means in the Lord’s treasury. If they would only give that which they could conveniently dispense with without sacrifice to the point of actual need, our mission treasury would be full to overflowing. This spirit of simple living will sometime take possession of this people.
There will come a day when with those who truly devote their all to this movement, costly and extravagant living will give place to simplicity and economy.
When this spirit of consecration possesses both ministers and people, when in fact as well as in name, all that each possesses is placed upon the altar of service, then will come the day of power and refreshing to the church of God. It is this spirit of consecration and of complete surrender which will spiritualize the ministry, energize the church, and bring the power of God into this movement.
F. M. W.

Inciting to Crime

THERE is no question but that the record of murders, robberies, suicides, and other heinous crimes as recorded in the daily newspapers which are so eagerly read by the thousands, incites to the commission of such deeds. Like begets like. Every man is influenced in a measure by that which he reads. For that reason, there is thrown upon the press a great responsibility in the education of the public mind and in the promotion of good morals and good citizenship. But how few of the public prints appreciate this responsibility! By far the large majority pander to depraved tastes for mercenary ends. The position of a public teacher, whether in the pulpit or through the press, is a responsibility which can not be lightly regarded, and for which solemn account must some day be rendered.

The Call to the Ministry

It has been truly said that when one is called to the work of the gospel ministry, his brethren will recognize this fact quite as readily as the one who is thus called. Francis Wayland, in the Western Recorder (Baptist) of March 24, 1910, gives expression to this truth:—
We believe that there is such a thing as a call to the ministry; that is, that a man is moved by the Holy Spirit to enter upon this work. This call is manifested in two ways: first, in his own heart; and secondly, in the hearts of his brethren. So far as he himself is concerned, it appears in the form of a solemn conviction of duty resting upon him with such weight that he believes it impossible for him to please Christ in any other way than in preaching the gospel. He dares not enter upon any other pursuit until he has made every effort in his power to be admitted to this work. I beg these remarks to be remembered. They may be considered by many as obsolete and behind the age. It may be so, and yet the age may be wrong.
Continuing, Mr. Wayland speaks of the motives which lead many men to-day to enter upon this sacred calling:—
I know it is common to hear men, even among Baptists, talk of the choice of a profession, and of balancing in their minds whether they should be lawyers, ministers, teachers, or physicians. They will say, perhaps, they dislike the turmoil of politics, the hard and irregular labor of a physician, the monotony of teaching; they are fond of study, of writing, and of quiet mental improvement; and besides, they can enter the ministry, be married and settled so much more easily than would be possible in any other profession, that they, on the whole, prefer it. Now I would always dissuade such a man from entering the ministry at all. If he could, with just as clear a conscience, be a lawyer as a minister, let him be a lawyer by all means. The church of Christ can do without him. He proposes to enter the ministry of reconciliation from merely selfish motives, and the Saviour has no occasion for his services. He makes a convenience of the ministry of the word; he uses it to promote his own objects; he is a hireling whose own the sheep are not. If he begins in this way, in this way he will, unless the grace of God prevent, so continue. He will soon tire of the work and leave it for something else, or he will continue in it to shed around him on every side the example of well-educated, cold, worldly minded selfishness.
It can not be denied that this describes conditions as they exist to-day in very many cases. Many men have entered upon a ministerial career, not because they heard the call of God sounding in their ears, not because they felt as did the apostle Paul, "Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel," but because they saw in that calling a means of livelihood better suited to their selfish desires than that afforded by any other. Such men are always ready to believe they hear the call of God in every invitation extended to them to occupy a position of greater financial remuneration. The ministry of God is brought down to the basis of dollars and cents, and instead of crying out against the evils of the present age, they must cater to those influences which help to afford them their support. The true minister of Jesus Christ, who feels that upon him rests the burden of souls, and who has received from his divine Master a message for dying men, will to the utmost of his ability fulfil his mission regardless of questions of pecuniary interest. Counting not his life dear unto himself, but willing to spend and be spent for the Master, he will seek to walk in the footsteps of his divine Lord, and give to the world a true spirit of sacrifice. His salary will not be regarded as his reward, but rather only a means whereby he is enabled to work for God. His reward will be the joy here and throughout eternity of having been an instrument in God's hands for the salvation of his fellow men.

Note and Comment

Sent Away Empty

HERE is one of those items that must stimulate us to hasten on in every church with the raising of this year's part of the $300,000 Fund, which, among other things, is to provide little training centers for native workers. In reporting of a visit to our Tamil Mission, South India, Elder W. W. Miller says, writing in Eastern Tidings:—
Some men came from a village eight miles away, begging us to send workers to their village. They said they were idol-worshipers, but wanted to worship the true God. They offered us two acres of land on which to erect a school building, and promised one hundred fifty children as soon as a school could be started. We had to answer, “We have no one to send.”

Makes for Spirituality

THERE is no truth of the Sacred Scriptures so quickening to spiritual life as the return in glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed this doctrine is set before the church as the great focal point to which they are to look and for which they are to plan. J. M. Weaver, D. D., in the Western Recorder (Baptist) of March 24, 1910, says of this blessed truth:—
Over three hundred times in the Old and New Testaments the second coming of Christ is mentioned, showing its certainty and its importance as a doctrine presented in the gospel, and intended to be proclaimed to the world. Yet the vast majority of men, even of professed Christians, disregard or think little of it. That he will come sometime, no Christian denies, but few believe he will come in their day, consequently it has but little influence over their lives; and yet Jesus says, “They shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” Where this doctrine is received and believed, it leads to deeper spirituality, to more godly living, causing the child of God to think more about the future life than he would otherwise.
Every true and sincere believer in Christ’s second coming has felt this quickening influence in his experience. Expecting soon to meet his blessed Lord, he has sought to “purify himself even as he is pure.”

Our Message for the Inca

By Delwin Rees Buckner

DELWIN REES BUCKNER
TIME, bruskly brushing past each massive door, His wings as sharp as pointed edgéd swords, Effaced at length the graven, lying words The gold-adornéd Inca temples bore; In cult, they paid the bright-rayed radiant sun. The helpless priest beheld his temple fall, Or fell himself beneath some staggering wall Where still he lies, his ministration done.
The Spaniard came and built his human creed On soil the heathen Inca priests had sown, But, O! erelong, our hearts in anguish pray That we may see some grains of gospel seed Grow where tradition, lifeless as a stone, Has borne for ages well-nigh endless sway.
Ambato, Ecuador.

The Great Feasts of Bolivia

By F. A. Stahl

I AM constantly reminded of the scripture, Matt. 24:37, 38. Since December 8 till the present time there has been one feast following another in rapid succession, and this will go on until the middle of February, 1910. Not a day has passed that we have not heard and seen from our door demonstrations of these feasts, and night after night we can hear the beating of the drums, many times at our very gate. The people do not mind cold or rain. It seems to be all the same to them on these occasions. Many do succumb, however, to the effects of exposure and excesses.
Every feast is in honor of some saint named by the Catholic Church, and the people believe they are serving God in all these things. On these occasions the people wear masks of the most hideous kind, likenesses of demons and creeping things, that seem to be of Satan’s own designing.
A MASK USED IN RELIGIOUS FESTIVAL PARADES, AND WELL STYLED AS OF “SATAN’S OWN DESIGNING”
A MASK USED IN RELIGIOUS FESTIVAL PARADES, AND WELL STYLED AS OF “SATAN’S OWN DESIGNING”
But in all this there is still much to hope for in this people. I have often thought if they manifested the same endurance and persistence when they received the truth as they do now, they would indeed form a stanch church in Bolivia. Our prayer and desire is that the Lord will grant such a company soon, from which native laborers will go forth to proclaim this precious message. Remember Bolivia at the throne of grace. F. A. STAHL.

Kansas

By W. H. Thurston

The Kansas Conference, according to our last report, has as many Sabbath-keepers and nearly as many churches as three union conferences combined; namely, Canadian, Southern, and West Canadian unions. The offerings for 1900 were about eighteen thousand dollars, and the tithe was nearly forty thousand dollars. The people have money, and they have a mind to give, and the Lord is blessing the cheerful contributions of both men and means for the advancement of the gospel work at home and abroad.
The monthly reports from the field bring the glad news of others accepting the truth, and still others investigating. While there is opposition without and some within, the work moves steadily onward, and believers are added to the church. Aside from those who are actively engaged in the various departments of conference work, we are endeavoring to interest all in the distribution of reading-matter and general missionary work.
In addition to the winter efforts of our laborers in schoolhouses, halls, and among the churches, we have held several general meetings and Sabbath-school and young people's conventions, with good results. Two churches have been dedicated, and another will soon be ready for dedication. A very successful canvassers' institute was held early in February, and two more are to follow. A goodly number of faithful men and women are entering the book work for a continuous, united, successful effort.
The conference committee has held its spring council, and formulated plans for the summer's work. There will be seven or eight well-organized tent companies in the field this year, and good results are expected from these faithful efforts.
The sanitarium, located at Wichita, is doing a successful business, and the outlook for the medical work is hopeful. At the close of the campaign with “Ministry of Healing,” if not before, we expect to have a medical jubilee.
The academy, located at Oswego, is in a prosperous condition, and we are planning to start an intermediate school in the northwestern part of the State in the near future.
We are endeavoring to keep all departments of work moving on evenly, and the outlook is encouraging. The work is the Lord's, and we are colaborers with him. Harmonious action and faithfulness on our part will bring success, and the work will triumph gloriously, and we shall triumph with it. So may it be.
W. H. Thurston.

In Burma

Having attended a general meeting in Burma, Elder W. W. Miller writes:—
“We held three meetings a day. One was for the church, one for the Burmese, and one in the evening for the public. The Lord blessed in these meetings in a special manner, giving power to the messages borne. The theme that was made most prominent was the second coming of Christ to this world.
“The attendance was good from the beginning to the end, and a good interest was manifested all the way through. Many heard some of the special truths for the first time. The mixed congregation was quite noticeable, there being Parsees, Cingalese, Chinese, Tamils, Negroes, Burmese, and Europeans. At the close of the meetings three Burmese and three Europeans were baptized by Brother R. R. Cook.
“The work in Burma is advancing quite rapidly, and it looks as if Burma is ripe for the third angel’s message. We need more workers in Burma to study the language and get out among the people and give the last call, ‘Come; for all things are now ready.’ While in Rangoon, we visited the Pagoda Temple one evening, and among the worshipers who were paying homage to Buddha was one woman in particular that attracted our attention. She was in a kneeling posture before the temple, and had a large cheroot in her fingers. She would spend a little time in bowing before the image, then she would smoke her cheroot. She also had her mouth full of pahn. It was very evident that her worship was a dead form. How far short it came from fulfilling the scripture, ‘Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord’!
“As we looked at this temple and beheld its magnificence and thought of the great amount of money that was spent in its erection and its maintenance, we realized that all this wealth was poured out to build up a religion that is only a dead form. We thought, too, of how the banner of the third angel’s message, the living truth for these last days, trails in the dust because of lack of means. It seemed to us that it is time our people were wide-awake and making greater sacrifices, that means might flow into the Lord’s treasury, and these people in Burma hear the truth for these last days and be turned away from their worship of idols to serve the living God.”

Louisiana

By J. F. Weathington

I AM thankful to report my efforts in Louisiana in circulating the Missions number of the REVIEW. I ordered one hundred twenty-five copies. After receiving these, by some mistake as many more were sent me, I did not return them, but went to work with them, in the name of the Lord. Some of the brethren and sisters helped me. I traveled some on the railroad, visiting towns and churches, preaching and speaking as I had opportunity. I had a blessed experience among both white and colored.
The most I received for one paper was $1.10. I placed some papers in the hands of a brother about twenty miles above Greenwood, which resulted in the return of $6.05. My expenses on the railroad were about four dollars. I gave all my time to missions—not because I am able to do so, but I want to do all I can to hasten the work in this difficult field, where sin seems to be mountain high. I have sent in, altogether, twenty-one dollars, and have more to collect.
Pray for the work here. While the enemy is active, the Lord is strong to overrule his efforts.
Two new pupils came to our school last week, and six or seven are expected this week. The Scripture truly says we can do nothing against the truth, but for it. J. F. WEATHINGTON.

A Japanese Farmer's Experience

By K. Nemoto

FORMERLY I was a member of the Presbyterian Church; but I became convinced of the second coming of Christ, and of the importance of the law of God, through reading the Owari No Fukuin (Gospel for the Last Days). This was in February, 1909. Soon after that I began to keep the seventh-day Sabbath, because I realized that I was committing sin by transgressing the law, and I repented of it. In the beginning I was much perplexed on account of the observance of the Sabbath; but by the aid of the Holy Spirit I endured this trial.
When the time came to set out the rice in May, the Sabbath came at a busy time. I planned to finish setting certain ground by Friday; but being unable to do so, I thought to continue the work on Sunday, and so had the rice plants pulled preparatory to setting. But on the Sabbath it rained very hard, and flooded the fields, so that I was obliged to postpone the work for a whole week. Then I finished setting the rice. But the plants, which had lain for a week before being set, looked bad. And some of my neighbors mocked me for what they called my foolishness in keeping the Sabbath. And indeed the plants did look half dead.
It worried me somewhat to be thus mocked. But nature helped my rice field; and when harvest-time came, I had the best crop in the whole village. Thereby I learned this lesson: That while every one desires to have a good crop, our efforts do not entirely decide the result. And now I give this testimony: That if we only work, and trust in God, he will harmonize our efforts with the work of nature. This is truly wonderful.—K. Nemoto, in our Japanese paper, Gospel for the Last Days.
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