THE shepherd goeth on before the sheep.
His mindful footsteps lead the trusting flock;
He chooseth meadows fresh with tender green,
And findeth cisterns hewn within the rock.
The happy sheep lie down in fragrant fields,
Hunger and thirst and weariness forgot;
And, when the wanderers seek forbidden ground,
Upon the shepherd's arm from loss they're brought.
And where, at last, the ways grow blind and strange,
Or lead, perchance, toward dangers for their feet,
The shepherd, knowing well his shepherd's skill,
Chooseth the path. He knoweth what is meet.
Yea, when the paths are right, but sometimes lead
Through troublous places and through valleys dark,
The shepherd's voice keeps terror from the flock;
His rod and staff their faltering footsteps mark.
And, where with noxious weeds the grass is choked,
Or peril waits in hidden den and cave,
There in the presence of the lurking foe
The shepherd makes the pasture sweet and safe.
At last the night. The weary day is done;
And, O, the shepherd's love and care behold!
He knoweth all his trusting flock by name;
He standeth at the doorway of the fold.
For bruised limbs he bringeth oil and balm,
And water for the faint in brimming cup.
Their weariness his comfort maketh less;
Their wounds with tender hand he bindeth up.
So through the day by mead and vale and stream,
And through the night beneath the starry host,
The patient shepherd watcheth o'er his own,
And not one lamb from all the flock is lost.
O Lord, thou art the Shepherd of the world!
Thy sheep are named and numbered in thy sight.
Thou goest on before; with watchful care
Thou choosest for our feet the paths of right.
The paths of right! But these, O Shepherd, lead
Thy flock betimes to peril and to pain.
Yet onward go thy feet; and now thy voice
Heartens the flock with hope and strength again.
We trust thee, Shepherd God; we follow on.
Grant us to see thy goodness in our gain,
Grant us to feel the guidance of thy staff,
And so to see thy goodness in our pain.
And, when the day is done, and at thy fold
Thou standest with the balm and water sweet,
Thy flock, still guarded by thy sleepless care,
Shall earn the gift of rest for weary feet.
—Selected.
The Martyrdom of a Book Agent
By K. C. Russell
DOUBTLESS many would be devoting their lives to the noble work of selling the precious books which are freighted with the third angel's message, were it not for some of the hardships that are incident to that kind of work. Some who have given up this work, did so because doors were slammed in their faces, because they were accused of being lazy and shiftless, because they had to go without food for one whole day, because they did not see their families for a month, had a poor delivery, had to sleep in a barn or under a haystack all night, or had to endure other hardships of a similar character.
It may be a source of encouragement for such to contrast their experiences with that of a book agent in the early part of the sixteenth century, as recorded in D'Aubigne's "History of the Reformation:"—
"At Buda, in Hungary, an evangelical bookseller named John had circulated Luther's New Testament and other of his writings throughout that country. He was bound to a stake. His persecutors then piled his books around him, enclosing him as if in a tower, and then set fire to them. John manifested unshaken courage, exclaiming in the midst of the flames that he was delighted to suffer in the cause of the Lord."
We believe there are many noble men and women now engaged in the canvassing work who have demonstrated by their loyalty and self-sacrifice and faithfulness in this work that, if need be, they would suffer martyrdom rather than renounce their faith in the blessed truth, or give up their heaven-appointed work.
"Must I be carried to the skies
On flowery beds of ease,
While others fought to win the prize,
And sailed through bloody seas?"
K. C. RUSSELL.
Influence of the Lodge
By Geo. O. States
THE other evening when I received the Signs and read it, I felt my heart stir within me, and 'said, "Surely this is God's message for gathering out a people to stand when 'there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was.'"'
I thought of many things. I thought of Christian people who are still holding onto the lodge. I thought of the money that is being paid to support these worldly institutions, in the form of dues. I thought of the worldly influence of these lodges, which is no help in living the Christ life. And then I thought of the influence my lodge had over me, and how I was driven to the place where I must lose interest in the truth or lose interest in the lodge, and how I finally decided to devote my all to the advancement of God's message in the world. I thought of all these things, and realized the strength I had gained in taking my stand for God.
A number of years ago I felt that the Lord had laid on me the work of warning our people of this danger. I wrote out my experience and laid it before our leading laborers, and was encouraged to prepare a series of articles for our church paper. This I did. Later this matter was rewritten and published in a little booklet of sixty-four pages, which sold for fifteen cents.
I feel that this book contains counsel which all Seventh-day Adventists should have, and which they should place before their neighbors. I now ask that the local elders of our churches lay the matter before their members, and find how many will take one or more copies at ten cents each. I have over three hundred dollars' worth of these booklets; and I have decided, after paying the few dollars due the publishers, to donate the proceeds to advancing this truth in the needy foreign fields. Send all orders direct to Southern Publishing Association, Nashville, Tenn.
This booklet has not been written to abuse lodges, but to point out the danger in these associations.
GEO. O. STATES.
A Missionary Volunteer Convention in South Carolina
By Robert W. Case
This meeting was held at Spartanburg, April 12-14. The young people here had invited the Cherokee society to join them in holding the convention. Elder W. H. Branson, conference president; Prof. H. M. Hiatt, Missionary Volunteer secretary of the Southeastern Union; and Brother R. E. Carter, State canvassing agent, were in attendance.
At the first session, which was held on Friday evening, a brief history of the young people's work was given, and Professor Hiatt spoke of the responsibility of Missionary Volunteers in carrying this message to the world.
On Sabbath Elder Branson gave an excellent discourse, basing his remarks upon the words found in Deut. 6:12, "Beware lest thou forget the Lord." We were shown how the undertone of worldly amusements will lead us to forget God and his service as did Israel of old. At this meeting all the youth present reconsecrated themselves to the Lord. A model Missionary Volunteer Society meeting was conducted in the afternoon by the Spartanburg society. At the evening session different lines of work for young people were discussed. Among those considered were canvassing, teaching, missionary correspondence, Bible readings, and home work.
The last meeting of the convention was held Sunday morning. The topics considered were Literature for Our Young People and How Missionary Volunteers May Help Foreign Missions. A question box was the last number on the program.
This convention was a great help to the young people who attended, and we went to our homes better fitted to carry out our aim, "The advent message to all the world in this generation."
ROBERT W. CASE.
Interesting Experiences in Japan
By Arthur Cary
I HAVE been in Japan two and one-half months, and during this time have been canvassing. I have sold 2,517 magazines, 162 two-sen tracts ("The Coming Conflict"), and 277 one-sen tracts ("The True God and His Sabbath"). The last day I canvassed I sold eighty-seven magazines in five hours.
I will try to tell you the experiences of one day. In a fine rice-polishing place I sold one paper and started away, when the owner called me back and took me to his house. It was a beautiful place. He motioned for me to come in, and had a servant bring slippers to fit over my shoes. I stepped into his office, praying the Lord to take care of me and help me in giving the truth.
The man called to a servant to bring cigarettes and old Scotch whisky, and tried to get me to smoke, drink, and eat shrimps. But I pointed to a picture of Christ in the paper, and would not touch any of those slave-makers. I told him "Christian no touch," with motions, as I could say only about a dozen Japanese words in my canvass.
I then canvassed him, and he took two papers, calling to his wife, who brought fifty sen and would take no change; so I gave him four tracts. They shook hands, I bowed, and was glad to get away.
I have had many interesting experiences, and some which have been perplexing, but my Heavenly Father works them all out for my good. Praise his name. ARTHUR CARY.
Educational Work in the South
By M. Bessie DeGraw
D'Aubigné, writing of the sixteenth century Reformation, says: "God prepares slowly and from afar that which he designs to accomplish. . . . Then when the time is come, he effects the greatest results by the smallest means."
The historian uttered a truth which is by no means confined to that great movement. It is the enunciation of a principle seen often in history. As a principle, it is just as true in the history of the South as it ever was in Luther's time.
Forty years or more ago Seventh-day Adventists were told to occupy the South because the time had come to plant here principles of liberty, of religion, and of education that would make the desert blossom as the rose. That message was a timely one. The God in heaven was even then bringing forces together that would raise the South from its low estate, and he wanted his people to be leaders in the great upward movement. Some others, like Colonel Armstrong, Mr. Geo. Peabody, Dr. Curry, and Mr. Knapp, saw more in it than we did. But be that as it may, our chance is not yet fully past.
The South needs help, and that help can come through a system of education as through no other avenue. And it is, I certainly believe, in the order of Providence that a Southern man, a man in sympathy with the great struggling masses of the South, a man born in the mountains, acquainted with Southern conditions, and educated to esteem manual labor, now stands at the head of the United States Department of Education.
We were brought forcibly to see this a few days ago when Dr. P. P. Claxton, present United States Commissioner of Education, and formerly an East Tennessee man, visited the Nashville Agricultural and Normal Institute and addressed its school and sanitarium family.
Dr. Claxton is a man deeply converted to the principles of a threefold education. Industrial training, the farm school, thoroughly educated, all-round teachers, are the forces through which he feels that the world is to be redeemed.
Dr. Claxton's talk on practical education brought many a burst of applause. So strong and clear-cut were some of his statements that the thought would go from one to another, "Where did he get that truth? Has he read 'Education'?"
But here comes the answer. God spoke to men in Babylon in the year of the birth of Christ as clearly and easily as he spoke to Zacharias in Jerusalem, to Mary and Joseph in Nazareth, or to the shepherds on the hills of Bethlehem. So it will prove to be to-day.
Let me give you a few of Dr. Claxton's thoughts:—
"Abstract thinking is not education; it never has been, and it never will be. Education is the intelligent handling of things about us. It can not be crammed down the throat; it can not be 'clothed upon.' The best way to develop a boy is by the use of the common, ordinary things of life.
"The idea that liberal education frees one from work is a mistake. Education does not free from labor. True education fits a man to deal with the things at hand. It dignifies labor.
"Paul, the great apostle, boasted that as a missionary he was indebted to no man for his support, but labored unceasingly for others, supporting himself by hand labor meanwhile.
"Give me fifty well-trained teachers, and I will accomplish more than with fifty armies.
"Christ said, 'I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.' That is the object of education,—not to take a man out of the world, but to raise him above the evil of his natural surroundings."
The South is to receive the message soon. It is a field, even now ripe for the harvest. God has put at the head of the educational work of the nation a man who knows the needs of the South, who senses the fact that industrial education is the great lever of the world's uplift,—a man who is willing to put forth his efforts to encourage all who believe these things.
Consider these facts, and answer if the South ought not to have hundreds of the very best-educated teachers, ministers, and other workers in the ranks. Who will answer?
Chosen
By Mimi Scharffenberg
SEOUL.— Just at present we are in the midst of the Korean holiday season. These days our magazine workers can not do much, for the people have so many superstitions. On one day no one is allowed to enter any other person's yard, for that means some great calamity. So if one of our workers goes into an unbeliever's house on such a day, he is at once ordered out, and the people feel that they will meet some great calamity.
One day we saw the people making little men out of straw, and throwing them out. The straw god is to represent the person, and to take upon itself all the ailments, trials, etc., that the spirits may have inflicted upon the man. After the straw god is thrown away, the man will have rest and peace for one year.
The first fifteen days of the Korean year have some special meaning to every heathen.
MIMI SCHARFFENBERG.
Field Notes
ELDER O. F. FRANK recently organized a church of twenty-six members at Leno, Fla.
ON April 10, two young men were baptized by Elder W. F. Kennedy at Elk City, Kans.
ELDER C. F. COLE recently organized a Sabbath-school of nineteen members near Burke, S. Dak.
FIVE new Sabbath-keepers were recently baptized in the St. Johns River, near Jacksonville, Fla.
A FEW weeks ago Elder Meade MacGuire baptized ten young people at the Strode Industrial School, in Kansas.
ONE sister was recently baptized at Lamar, Colo. Six persons have begun to observe the Sabbath at Fruita as a result of the labors of Elder and Mrs. J. T. Spriggs.
FOUR persons in East Richmond, Va., have embraced present truth through the labors of Elder W. D. MacLay. His meetings still continue, and others are deeply interested.
FROM Indiana it is reported that six persons have taken their stand for the truth at Pleasant View, two at Peru, one at Anderson, and three new members have united with the church at Middletown.
Christian Liberty
By Religious Liberty Bureau
Reports, Notes, and Comments Pertaining to the Current History of the Rights of Conscience
Conducted by the Religious Liberty Bureau
W. W. PRESCOTT ————— Secretary
S. B. HORTON ————— Corresponding Secretary
Enforcing the Sunday Law in Rome
By the free use of the boycott, an effort is being made in Rome to secure the better observance of Sunday and other holy days appointed by the church. This is reported in the Rome correspondence of the Catholic Standard and Times, printed in its issue of May 11, 1912. We make this extract: —
"During an audience given in 1881 by Leo XIII to the Primary Society of Rome for Catholic Interests, which body had initiated an agitation against the continuous profanation of holy days and Sundays by permission of the Italian government, that great pontiff laid to rest all the false arguments that are brought forward in favor of labor on seven days of the week. 'They say,' said Leo XIII, 'that by this means it is intended to the better promote industry and to obtain for the people a greater degree of prosperity and wealth. Stupid and lying words! They wish instead to deprive the people of the comforts, the consolations, the benefits of religion, to weaken in them the sentiment of faith and love of heavenly goods, and they are calling on nations the most tremendous punishments of God, the just avenger of his outraged honor.'"
"It was not till 1907 that a law was made in Italy obliging the people to observe the weekly repose. But, though the Italian government that made the law ought to have seen to its execution, its representatives were the first to seek expedients to infringe upon it. And now the big cities threaten to revert to their former condition."
"However, a strenuous agitation has been again entered on by the society mentioned above, so earnestly, indeed, that few doubt that success will attend its banner. In a circular sent by it to all persons of influence in Rome adherence to five points is requested: —20"1. Catholic proprietors will impede"
"every kind of labor on Sundays or holy days on their possessions, with the exception of labor to which ecclesiastical authority gives consent."
"2. They shall stipulate in contracts made when letting houses the payment of a heavy fine as often as the tenants contravene the festive repose. They shall impose a similar fine in contracts with builders or workmen in their employment."
"3. Catholics shall give no orders to business houses that permit work on Sundays or holidays."
"4. They shall not buy goods on festal days in business houses that keep open, and during the week they will preferably deal with houses that close on those days."
"5. They shall refuse to accept goods made on a Sunday or holy day of obligation.'"
"With such stern measures as these, one may expect to see, if not the government, at least business men of the 'after 1870 spirit' brought to a sense of their duty."
"The 1870 Italians are extremely fond of aping English methods and ways. It will do no harm to them if they imitate the manner in which Sunday is kept in England."
Pope Leo XIII declared that the nations were inviting the judgment of God by their disregard of Sunday, and to prevent such results the Primary Society of Rome for Catholic interests is now instituting a general boycott against those who disregard the commands of the church in respect to holy days. This method of enforcing respect to the church is quite general, and has been advocated in many instances in this country.
Medical Missionary Department
By L. A. Hansen
Conducted by the Medical Department of the General Conference
GEORGE THOMASON, M. D. - - - - Secretary
L. A. HANSEN - - - - Assistant Secretary
The Washington Sanitarium City Dispensary
(Concluded)
DR. H. N. SISCO, superintendent of the Washington Sanitarium, presented the needs of a dispensary in our educational work. He said in part:—
"We best learn to do a thing by doing it. We shall best learn to do actual missionary work by doing it. This dispensary will enable us actually to do it. We have medical subjects in the postgraduate course. We have the theory, but this will be the real educational factor of the scheme—the doing of things—that will strengthen the course because it is a right principle of education.
"Our sanitariums give an excellent training in rational methods of treatment of disease and in the care of certain classes of patients. We do not and can not, of course, expect a great deal of accident and emergency work, but the medical missionary must have it. He, therefore, needs something beyond what the ordinary sanitarium nurses' course will give him. The medical missionary nurse needs to know how to dress wounds in general, the different types of wounds, the best dressing, how to dress ulcers, how to care for many minor ailments, how to diagnose certain conditions, and what to do for them. This comes only by an acquaintance and association with work which can not be given in our sanitariums, but which can be given, and is given, in a good dispensary. From the standpoint of the education we are hoping to give our medical missionary workers, both for foreign fields and for the home field, this feature of the dispensary work, if there were nothing more to it, would be of great value.
"The dispensary work brings the nurse in contact with a class of people quite different from those met in our sanitariums, people who are not so educated and cultured. The worker gets an experience that prepares and qualifies him for similar conditions of need found among the lower classes of the foreign lands, and he can more readily adapt himself to them.
"Probably the most important standpoint from which this work will be of great value is the religious. Personal ministry to the sick and needy gives most excellent opportunity to speak words of comfort and encouragement. The individual whose Christian experience has not been the best, and whose light has perhaps shown rather dimly, will find abundant opportunity for letting his light shine brightly. He is to learn to do missionary work by actually doing it. There will be opportunity for giving Bible readings and inviting the people to helpful meetings. The dispensary work is to be not only a medical work, but a missionary work as well; and we expect it will be of the utmost value to those who enter it in developing Christian experience and in enabling the workers actually to do work for these needy people.
"There is one more thing. Our city work is to go forward with an impetus and with a power that it has never yet had. It is stated that this work among all classes is to be the open door and the entering wedge. Jesus Christ's methods of medical missionary work can never be improved upon; and the more his life and work are studied, the more it will be seen that the medical, the physical part, was an important factor of his work. We shall expect that our Foreign Mission Seminary will be stronger educationally by preparing workers to go out into the great cities of our own land and other lands to work for God."
Neighborhood Needs
Brother V. E. Peugh, manager of the dispensary, showed a map giving the section of the city in which the dispensary is located. In explanation, he said:—
"The area of this section is one-half square mile, with a population of 16,862. The population in the alleys is 1,825. The death-rate in this district is 19.97. Over 333 die every year. There are 73 saloons, whose cost of operating is $81 for every family located in that district, which amounts to $16.66 for every man, woman, and child. Drunken men and women are to be seen on the streets. Children seem literally to swarm in the streets.
"People are crowded together, perhaps a large family in one or two rooms. Damp cellars, garbage, littered yards, and many rats undoubtedly contribute in no small way to the high mortality of this district. Nothing is cleanly. Our nurses will regularly visit the homes of the people, and help them clean up; and, while doing this, they may also help them spiritually. I hope some day to see a little church in that district."
The report of Mrs. M. D. Wood, one of the visiting nurses who had already been at work in the neighborhood, was an intensely interesting one, telling in detail of various visits to places of great need. Rational treatments gave relief to the sick, favorably impressed the physicians and people, and opened the way for other work. In some places a welcome seemed already waiting, with calls for Bible readings.
On the night of the opening of the dispensary, several addresses were given, one of the speakers being Dr. H. C. Menkel, on furlough from India. He compared the dispensary to the rescue ship "Carpathia," which saved a number of lives from the "Titanic" wreck. He said many S. O. S. calls will come to this institution. We must not only save some of those who are floating, but we must go down into the depths of submerged humanity and save many. He had scarcely spoken the words when a door opened, and a voice asked anxiously, "Is there a doctor here?" A neighbor's child was sick, and, although the dispensary was not yet opened, the distress call came. Nurses were sent out, and gave the needed relief.
The first day of its work saw several patients, and on the second day the first patient to stay in the building was received. The prospects are that there will be plenty to do, and that the institution will have a useful career. From what has been said, it will be seen that the influence of this work is more than a local one, that its results are to extend even to the regions beyond. Being connected with the Foreign Mission Seminary, it becomes a part of our denominational training-school for missionaries. The District of Columbia Conference, in assuming its share of the financial burden, takes upon itself a work that belongs to a larger constituency than its own. It is to be commended for placing itself under the load, but it should not be allowed to carry it alone. The rent of the dispensary building and the salary of the one in charge make but a part of the outlay necessary to carry forward this work successfully. If there are those who wish to assist in this enterprise, let them communicate with the District of Columbia Conference, Room 708, McLachlen Bldg., Washington, D. C. L. A. H.
News and Miscellany
Notes and clippings from the daily and weekly press
— Serious rioting is reported among the striking anthracite coal-miners throughout the Schuylkill valley region in Pennsylvania.
— Thirty thousand tons of old junk, left by French engineers, has been shipped away from the Isthmus of Panama and sold for more than $2,000,000, and there is much more yet to be sold.
— Canada is about to start a mint for the coinage of gold, which will make the use of United States gold coins unnecessary. Hitherto our $5 and $10 gold pieces have circulated freely there, and several millions of United States gold may soon have to come home.
— Postmaster-General Hitchcock has ordered that all picture post-cards, papers, and magazines that are unclaimed at post-offices shall be given to local authorities for distribution among hospitals and asylums, instead of being sent to the dead-letter office at Washington, D. C.
— An American bridge-building company has secured the contract for building a state railway bridge over the river Jumma near Allahabad, India. Twelve leading bridge-building concerns from all over the world competed, but the American company's bid was 26½ per cent less than that of any competitor.
— The secretary of the treasury wishes to reduce the size of the dollar bill and its brethren of more imposing names. He thinks he can save about $600,000 a year in paper, printing, and other items if he is permitted to cut off an inch and a quarter from the length of the currency and a half-inch from its width.
— In the fear that the foundations of Grant's tomb, in Riverside drive, New York City, have been weakened, Park Commissioner Stover has ordered an examination of the subsoil and rock upon which they rest. A visit to the plaza surrounding the structure revealed large fissures and rents in the pavement, and the sinking of the stones in many places.
— A dangerous growth of reactionary sentiment is reported from Peking, China. Another Manchu uprising is believed to be imminent. The Manchus are gathering arms, and many of the princes are said to be handing over their fortunes to make the movement successful. President Yuan Shi Kai is seriously ill. He was the one strong man of the authorities in Peking, and during his illness the authorities of the republic are said to be doing nothing to prevent the threatened outbreak. Newspaper correspondents at Tientsin say that capitalists of south China, recognizing the impotence of the existing régime, are financially backing a scheme for the restoration to the throne of the imperial Manchu family. The cabinet of the republic has asked the consent of the National Assembly at Nanking to establish the provisional capital of the Chinese republic at some point south of Peking, leaving the selection of the permanent capital to some future time.
— Last year that gay city Paris was gayer than ever before, if one may judge from the money spent on amusements — nearly $12,000,000, a record sum. Grand opera received the largest share of this amount, $658,400. The rest was divided principally between the theaters, forty in number, averaging $117,580 each; music-halls, whose total receipts were $1,417,800; café concerts, which took in $1,379,000; and cinematograph shows, which received about $500,000.
— One thousand pounds has recently been refused for a rickety old chair in South Africa, which is declared by experts to be worth three times that sum. The explanation is that the old chair originally belonged to Louis XIV of France, and was later bought by the British government and sent with other articles of furniture for the use of Napoleon at St. Helena. But the ship changed her route or was driven out of her course, and was wrecked off the Cape of Good Hope, and the chair was saved from the disaster.
— Attorney-General Wickersham has appointed Stanley W. Finch, chief of the bureau of investigation of the Department of Justice, a special commissioner to suppress the white-slave traffic. Mr. Finch will begin a vigorous campaign in every State in the Union for the extermination of the vice. He will cooperate with societies and individuals interested to wipe out the traffic by a systematic and comprehensive plan of investigation and prosecution and by placing agents in every State in the Union. About 600 special officers will be employed in this active campaign.
— General William Booth, the aged head of the Salvation Army, is said to be losing his sight. On one of his preaching tours, while standing up in his automobile, a fly was blown into one eye, and before it could be removed the eye was poisoned and a cataract began to grow. An operation was apparently successful, but now the other eye is so badly affected that the general is compelled to give up work, and physicians fear his sight can not be restored. In his eighty-fourth year, this remarkable man was about to start on a preaching trip through America and Canada, but this has been abandoned.
— In the Khargeh Oasis, a shallow and flat depression in the Libyan Desert, about 1,500 square miles in extent and lying 130 miles west of Luxor, archeologists and anthropologists have been making a close study of a people that is believed to be more closely related to the inhabitants of ancient Egypt than any element in the population now resident in the Nile valley. It is not a very high grade of culture that Dr. Alex Hirdlicka, reporting to the Smithsonian Institution, finds among these descendants of the old Pharaohs. A painful living is scratched out of the soil by means of constant irrigation, and the dietary problem among the majority of inhabitants is extraordinarily simple — "rice in rice time, barley in barley time, and dates in date time." They live in tenements of dried-mud construction, roughly planned, and giving the suggestion of cliff dwellings. The population, numbering something short of ten thousand, is of poor physique, unenterprising, and harmless.21
— The King's Indian crown, which was used at the recent durbar, will be placed in the Tower of London with the other regalia, but will be available for future imperial durbars. The cost of the crown was $291,600.
— Thirteen thousand nine hundred sixty glass eyes, of all colors and sizes, were sold at auction recently in the Jersey City post-office at twenty-four cents each. The eyes were seized by the revenue officials some months ago.
— Swedish and Norwegian are to be taught at the next summer school of the University of Minnesota. These languages are accepted now as entrance requirements, and may be studied in the college and graduate schools of the university. Either language may be substituted for German as a requirement for the doctorate in philosophy or science.
— Comprehensive and spectacular plans for the organization of a great aerial army powerful enough to defend the entire coast line of the United States, the Philippines, Hawaii, and Panama are now complete at the War Department. Under the direction of the signal-corps an entirely new arm of the service will be immediately organized, provided Congress gives its consent.
— The minister of finance and the bankers representing the six powers — the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and Japan — have arranged the terms of a series of advances to the Chinese government, totaling $50,000,000, against treasury bills redeemable within one year, by the proceeds of the big loan. There will be supervision over the expenditures jointly by foreign and Chinese auditors.
— Yuan Shi Kai, president of the Chinese republic, delivered his first presidential message in the form of a speech recently, at the opening of the session of the advisory council, which is practically a provisional senate. The president proclaimed that the principles of the new Chinese government must be the maintenance of order in the interior, the achievement of progress, and the retention of external friendships. The attitude of foreign powers in recent years, he said, had been such as to merit the gratitude of China. He also stated that religious liberty throughout the republic would be guaranteed.
— The general conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church is now in session in Minneapolis, Minn., and unless that body overrules the action of the committee on the state of the church, the part of the famous paragraph 260 of the church discipline which especially prohibits dancing, card-playing, and kindred amusements, will remain a law of the church. Of the progress of Methodism an exchange says: "There were eight annual conferences represented in the general conference of 1812. There are now 132 annual conferences and 29 missions and mission conferences. Then the church-membership was 184,568, with 688 traveling preachers; now we have a membership of 3,518,099 and 20,569 preachers, while American Methodism numbers more than 6,000,000 members. In 1812 there were no Sunday-schools reported. Now we have 36,486, with 387,968 officers and teachers and 3,562,968 scholars."
A Roman Catholic View of the Separation of Church and State
In a sermon preceding the convention of the Louisiana State Federation of Catholic Societies, Rt. Rev. John E. Gunn, S. M., D. D., bishop of Natchez, declared, as reported by the Morning Star (Roman Catholic) of New Orleans, that there is arrayed against the church, and consequently against society, a strong federated irreligion, whose platform is to banish God from every department of social, educational, and national life. The speaker gave the platform of this irreligious crusade, the second plank of which he said was:—
"Separation of state and church; that the latter may be first impoverished and then paralyzed in its Christian mission. The separation of state from church, to impoverish, paralyze, and spoliate the church."
It thus appears that according to the Roman Catholic view the separation of the state from the church is one feature of an irreligious crusade.
True Zeal and Enterprise
We shall not accomplish much without zeal and enterprise; but the mistake is often made of supposing that zeal is hurry, rush, recklessness, and indifference. It is not so; steady momentum is often more effective than unrestrained vigor.—Selected.
