Your ShelfYour Projects

Review and Herald, Vol. 88, No. 36.

Opportunity
Earlier text: The Progress of the Message in Australasia

Which School Shall It Be?

By H. R. S.

WITHIN two or three weeks our schools will open their doors for another year's work. Careful preparations have been made for this; Christian teachers have been selected; equipment has been added, and repairs have been made just as far as finances will permit. At the camp-meetings and in the churches the reasons for establishing and maintaining institutions where training may be given in harmony with the principles of Christian education have been carefully set before our people. Those who represent the field at home and abroad have told of the sore need of workers who have had a thorough preparation in the subjects necessary for one who can properly present the great three-fold message.
It now remains for our brethren and sisters to do their part. It becomes our duty to see that those in our churches who will attend school should enter our own schools.
The nearer we approach the end, the closer we must draw our young people to us. We must shield them from the innumerable temptations in the world, and place within their reach every possible means whereby they can grow up in this message. Every day it becomes more and more apparent that we must look to those who are being educated in our schools to carry this message to its final triumph.
Those in charge of our schools are giving careful thought to the question of the subjects which should be taught, that no essentials may be lacking, and that at the same time the non-essentials may be weeded out.
Complaints sometimes come to us that our schools are poorly equipped. It is true that our schools should have better facilities for carrying on their work; on the other hand, if they received the loyal support they deserve, they would be full to overflowing; more teachers could then be employed, so that the courses of study could be strengthened, and better equipment provided.
But there is a more important part to consider. The laborers needed now are those whose vision of the work to be done is in no wise obscured by popular beliefs or worldly policy. There must be a keen discernment between right and wrong, that they may be definite in their warning against those subtle philosophies which to-day lie so close to the truth. How can they do this if the training has been received where the teaching is in plain contradiction to the spirit of the truth we are to give the world at this time?
Some have given as an excuse that they can not afford the expense of sending their sons and daughters to our schools. A careful study of this problem shows that the greater number of the students who have passed through our schools are from those who could least afford the expense. A large number of students have earned their own way. Many others are sent by those who felt they must send their children, no matter how great the sacrifice, because they had given them to the Lord, to be used in his service, and because they felt deeply the necessity of having them educated into that service.
In the parable of the field it took all to secure the pearl. To-day it will take all that the parents and church can do to save the young people from being carried away by the manifold temptations which Satan is ever keeping before them. If you have not already planned for your son or daughter to enter one of our own schools, then look at this matter in the light of the times in which we live, the nearness of the end, and the demands for workers who have been trained for Christian service.
H. R. S.

Study at Home

By W. E. Howell

"There's a Way"

THE Fireside Correspondence School announces its third annual opening Monday, Oct. 2, 1911.
I wish it were possible to express on this printed page, and to impress upon the mind of the reader, the satisfying results of study by correspondence. When the Fireside Correspondence School was organized two years ago, it was somewhat of an experiment in the minds of many. Even those who were chosen to manage the school could not say very much from personal experience. We have now given this work a thorough test for two years, and the results are gratifying beyond even our own expectations.
In our enthusiasm for this work we would not mislead any one. I shall therefore content myself with the giving of some facts, and with letting our students speak for themselves.
Fact 1. We had on our roll during the past year 211 names; 161 were new names.
Fact 2. In age the new students ranged as follows: minimum 15, maximum 76; in the “teens,” 29; in the twenties, 72; in the thirties, 36; in the forties, 12; in the fifties, 5; in the seventies, 1; general average, 27.5 years.
Fact 3. The occupations (new students) most largely represented were: Farming (fathers and sons), 33; teaching, 20; at home (mothers and daughters), 19; ministry, 12; canvassing, 10; nursing, 9; foreign mission work, 6; Bible work, 6.
Fact 4. The subjects with the largest number of registrations (new students) were: Grammar, 47; Bible doctrines, 40; composition-rhetoric, 16; New Testament Greek I, 13; physiology, 12; general history, 11; advanced rhetoric, 11; bookkeeping, 9; stenography, 9; algebra, 8; arithmetic, 8; church history, 6.
Fact 5. Every student recites the entire lesson.
Fact 6. Every lesson is examined and corrected by the teacher for the benefit of the individual student.
Fact 7. Before a student sets down his answer in black and white, he must know the answer; where the lesson is so set down, the teacher can easily see whether the student knows it or not.
Fact 8. Students do not suffer the disadvantage of getting behind the class, nor of being kept back by others.
Fact 9. Tuition may be paid in instalments, or with a discount if paid entirely in advance, or with a larger discount when two studies are taken at the same time.
Fact 10. Students have said to us repeatedly—but not for publication—that they get more out of their studies by correspondence than they did in a class in the ordinary school.
Next time we shall permit a few of our students to speak for themselves.
A calendar of full information will be supplied on request. It is necessary for you to act promptly in order to be ready for the opening day. Address the school at Takoma Park, D. C., or the undersigned. W. E. HOWELL, Principal.

Field Notes

JUNE 7, ten persons were baptized at Cottonwood, Ariz., and at Phoenix, two.
SABBATH, July 1, seven persons were baptized at El Paso, N. M.
ELDER T. B. BUNCH baptized five persons at Coquille, Ore., July 2.
FIVE persons were baptized July 1, all of whom joined the Sheridan (Wyo.) church.
AT Jena, La., as the result of tent-meetings, twenty adults have accepted the truth.
ELDER W. A. YOUNG reports baptizing two persons at South Bend, Ind., and six at Wolf Lake.
SABBATH, July 15, five persons were baptized at Mason City, Iowa, and at Mt. Pleasant, Elder M. W. Lewis baptized eight.
AT Kief, N. D., July 8, six persons were baptized. The following Sabbath, eight persons (Russians) were baptized at Dogden.
DURING the effort at Tolstoy, S. D., a baptismal service was held, at which time ten young people were baptized and received into the church.
ELDER T. W. FIELD reports the baptism of eight young people at Madge, Tex. At Houston, six members of one family were baptized; in July, five persons were baptized at Ladonia.
JULY 24, Elder J. W. Boynton baptized five persons who united with the church at Everett, Wash. July 28, he baptized three more believers, who united with the church at Port Angeles.
WITHIN the past three weeks five new Sabbath-keepers have been added to the little company at Garden City, Kan. Seven adults have begun the observance of the Sabbath at Fort Scott, and at Horace six are keeping the Sabbath as the result of meetings held at that place.
NINE more adults have been baptized at Grand Rapids, Mich., making a total of twenty-eight to receive this ordinance during the past year. During the Gladstone (Mich.) camp-meeting, sixteen persons were baptized. At Mt. Pleasant, Sabbath, July 8, six persons were baptized, five of whom had been brought into the truth by practical missionary work.

Christian Education

By H. R. Salisbury

Conducted by the Department of Education of the General Conference
H. R. SALISBURY   ·   ·   ·   ·   Secretary

News and Miscellany

Notes and clippings from the daily and weekly press
— On the Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton Railroad, August 26, a train was wrecked near Kingsway, Ohio. Ten persons were seriously injured. The train was trying to make up lost time.
— In a terrific storm which raged along the South Atlantic seaboard, August 28, seven persons were killed at Charleston, S. C., and more than $1,000,000 worth of property was destroyed.
— A tribe of people has been discovered in the arctic regions of North America, whose members had never before seen a white man or an Indian. They seem to belong to the race of Eskimos, but are Scandinavian in appearance.
— By the explosion of a powder-magazine in San Jose, West Indies, August 26, fifteen persons were killed. The explosion is said to have been caused by a soldier who lighted a fire with which he melted lead for casting little images of saints, which he sold to add to his scanty pay.
— In a wreck on the Lehigh Valley Railroad near Manchester, N. Y., August 25, thirty-two persons were killed and sixty injured. A broken rail caused the disaster. Two cars of the train plunged off the trestle, striking against the stone embankment, and dropping to the bed of the Canandaigua outlet, forty-five feet below. This is one of the most serious wrecks that ever occurred on this road.
— August 26, Harry N. Atwood made the long-distance record of the world in an aeroplane, traveling from St. Louis to New York. He covered the distance of 1,365 miles in flying time of 28 hours and 31 minutes. He received a reward of $10,000 from a Washington man for his achievement.
— In a panic caused by the explosion of a film in a moving-picture machine at Canonsburg, Pa., August 26, twenty-five persons were killed and scores were more or less injured. A cry of fire was raised when there was no fire in the building. The result was the terrible disaster which ensued.
— Recent statistics show that many are deserting the rural districts for residence in the city and town. During the past ten years the percentage of people living in cities or other incorporated places of more than 2,500 inhabitants increased from 40.5 to 46.3 of the total. Twenty years ago only 36.1 per cent of the total population lived in such incorporated places.
— William A. Pinkerton, head of the famous detective bureau, is quoted as criticizing some of the moving-picture shows because they give exhibitions of train-robbing, pocket-picking, kidnapping, and other crimes, thus exerting a bad influence on the minds of impressionable boys. During two weeks recently, sixty-eight boys disappeared from their homes in Chicago to lead lives of adventure, and their action is attributed partly to this cause.
— By order of the War Department, issued August 28, vaccination against typhoid fever was made compulsory for every officer and enlisted man under forty-five years of age in the United States army. The only exceptions allowed by the department order are those who have had the disease, or who have already been vaccinated. This will necessitate the treatment of nearly sixty thousand soldiers. It is claimed that the vaccination secures immunity from the disease for three years.
— One of the world’s greatest dreadnaughts, if not the greatest, was launched at Quincy, Mass., August 26. This vessel has a displacement of 26,500 tons, 500 tons more than that of the “Arkansas” or the “Wyoming,” the largest American dreadnaughts. Its length is 585 feet, and its breadth, 98 feet. Its armament consists of twelve 12½-inch guns, twelve 8½-inch guns, twelve 4½-inch guns, and two 21-inch submerged torpedo tubes. This boat was built for Argentina, and will fly the flag of that country.
— Two English scientists claim to have discovered the human aura, or life rays, which emanates from the living body. In demonstrations before physicians and scientists in Philadelphia, August 26, it is claimed that the aura was distinctly visible. The rays could be seen passing from one body to another as the persons came in contact with each other. It is claimed that the aura follows the contour of the body, and in diseased portions becomes weaker. In this way diseased places can be located the same as by X-ray examinations. Whether or not all that is claimed for this new discovery can be practically demonstrated, or what particular value will come from it, only the future can tell.

Sanitarium Relief Campaign

By L. A. Hansen

The Faithful Few

THE following letter from M. E. Ellis, of Nebraska, a missionary secretary of long experience, presents a situation that is true of missionary work and workers in general. It is the experience of many church elders and missionary leaders that there are usually a certain few who may be relied upon to respond to appeals for help of any kind. It is not these that need urging. Those who are already doing, are generally willing to do more. Nothing is so effective in securing help for a good work as an actual experience in a good work. Says, Brother Ellis, writing under date of July 19, 1911:—
“We regret to say that the ‘Ministry of Healing’ work in Nebraska, so far as apparent results are concerned from week to week, is at a low ebb just now, as the harvest season is on; but letters from our good church workers indicate that the real animus of the movement is alive and flourishing, and you can look for good sales to be reported from our conference this fall and winter, in spite of the drought. The only thing that causes us anxiety is the small number who are taking hold of the work in spite of prayers, vigorous efforts in different directions, and diversified attempts to create and stimulate interest in the move.
“We are often told that we can not expect everybody to have part in every plan proposed. While this is the truth, it is not all the truth; for in about every missionary plan that is launched, we find nearly the same persons as active participants. Take the number, for instance, of those who are doing something in our conference in this present campaign. In round numbers, five hundred of our people have taken three thousand books, an average of six books apiece, this year. But these are in the main the same people who sold the Harvest Ingathering REVIEW last fall; who have invested in our Foreign Missions Investment Fund this spring; who have paid up their part of the $300,000 Fund; who report missionary work each quarter; and who take the REVIEW, and are real, live Seventh-day Adventists. As this number represents only about one in five of our membership, and about one in three of the actual families represented in our membership, I am fully persuaded that the descendants of the children of Meroz are with us to this day.
“On the other hand, excellent experiences and rich blessings are being reported, just as the Lord said they would be, by those who are doing the work. One brother recently sent us fifteen dollars for five books. He said he had explained the nature of the work the money was going for, and that was all that was necessary. A sister who lives in the drought-stricken part of our State has just sent in her fourth order for books; and another in the same locality writes: ‘I received the five books sent me, and will dispose of them just as soon as possible. I know the Lord will help me, and it seems such a little thing to do for his sake.’ This same spirit manifested by a few hundred others in our conference would mean much to the success of this work.
“Just before the spring work opened up, after we had, through our general meetings and our laborers in the field, reached practically all our people and enlisted their help, we sent a circular letter to eight hundred families as a last appeal before the busy season came on. In response to this we received fifty orders for 335 books; forty-four responses from those who already had books or hoped to order soon, and who wrote to let us know that their hearts were with us in this movement; and five responses from those who could not use any books, but sent $39.15 in cash to help the good work along.
“We are expecting to do vigorous work through the fall and the holiday season. The character of the book itself, the promises of success which have been given us, the urgency of the need which prompts the campaign, and our faith in our stanch, loyal people, give us every assurance of abundant success.”
In our relief campaign, provision is made for every one to take part. The help of each one is essential to the successful completion of the entire work,—either this or the unequal burdening of those who do help, if the work is accomplished. This would mean for some to have more than their share of work, and, at the same time, loss to others of the blessing to be had in taking part in the work. The ideal way is for all to take hold of the work before us, do our part, and then share in the joy of willing service and in the satisfaction of seeing the work done.
L. A. HANSEN.

Principles of Success in Church Missionary Work

First Reading
DURING this missionary hour let us study together four elements of success, which, combined and applied to our church missionary work, are bringing a new condition of things into a large number of our churches. They are (this outline might be placed on the board to advantage):—
  1. Enthusiasm
  2. Leadership
  3. Individual responsibility
  4. Simple plans of work pursued

Enthusiasm

Of enthusiasm Webster says: “It is inspiration, as if by divine or superhuman power; . . . enkindled and kindling fervor of soul.” Emerson says: “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”

Leadership

Be the individual enthusiasm ever so high, it must be encouraged, if it is to be retained and made to spread throughout the church. The elder should be thoroughly acquainted with the evangelizing influence of our periodicals, tracts, and other agencies that God has given us for reaching others; and he should lead out in using these agencies. The librarian should unite with the elder in studying and planning, and in suggesting methods of work to the members.
With two such leaders in the smaller churches, and a strong committee of perhaps five, including the elder and librarian, in the larger ones, a good work can be accomplished. The members will respond, and the work will go forward, if the officers stand solidly together, and lead in the missionary interests. The weekly missionary meeting, if it is possible to hold it, forms a center for real work; and the monthly Sabbath service may be an opportunity for inspiration, education, and reports of progress. The leader’s responsibility is specifically outlined on page 116, Vol. IX, of “Testimonies for the Church:”
“The leaders in God’s cause, as wise generals, are to lay plans for advance moves all along the line. In their planning they are to give special study to the work that can be done by the laity for their friends and neighbors.”

Individual Responsibility

In his infinite wisdom, God has so arranged the plan of redemption that every addition to the church may become one more agency in the carrying out of his great plan. Why not accept this confidence God places in us? On page 86, Vol. IX, of the Testimonies, we are told: “Whatever our position,—whether presidents of conferences, ministers, teachers, students, or lay members,—we are held accountable by the Lord for making the most of our opportunities to enlighten those in need of present truth.” Again, on page 26, we read: “Let the church arouse and go forth to do her appointed work. Every believer, educated or uneducated, can bear the message.”

Angels Are Waiting

“Heavenly angels have long been waiting for human agents—the members of the church—to co-operate with them in the great work to be done. They are waiting for you.”—Id., page 46.

Simple and Continuous Work

A very timid sister was constrained to take a few tracts from the missionary meeting for circulation. Tremblingly she started out with them, and dropped one over the hedge into a neighbor’s yard. That neighbor became interested, and later accepted the truth. One day when the giving of that first tract was referred to by the one who gave it, the rescued neighbor inquired, “Why didn’t you do it before?”
While in a clothing store in Los Angeles recently, one of our ministers engaged the proprietor in conversation on conditions in the world, and their significance. The man said: “Yes, I am studying along those lines myself. I have been getting some reading-matter at the vegetarian cafeteria that I believe you would be interested to read,” and he went to his desk and brought back some of our Apples of Gold and Bible Students’ Library tracts on the nearness of the end, and handed them to our minister. Think of it!—men of the world willing and ready to help give the message. Shall our church anterooms and cupboards be filled with dust-covered packages of truth because we are too timid or too indifferent to put them into circulation?
At a recent missionary meeting there were present an intelligent lady and her boy—not Adventists—who were present at a similar meeting held six months before, at which time they were members of another church. We learned from this sister that it was the literature given her by members of our church that had been the means of bringing her into the truth. She has now ordered papers with which to work for her friends. How in harmony is this experience with the promise in the Testimonies (Vol. IX, page 86): “When we are successful in the work of soul-saving, those who are added to the faith will, in turn, use their ability in giving the truth to others.”
One of our young men, who has the missionary spirit, and in his spare moments does some house-to-house work with literature, besides visiting seven or eight vessels with our magazines and papers, a few months ago began leaving the Signs with a lady visiting in town. While she remained, he visited her; and later, when she returned to her home, he kept up a missionary correspondence with her. The following is a copy of a recent letter from this worker to his conference missionary secretary:—
“DEAR BROTHER: I will endeavor to relate to you how Mrs. —, of Wisconsin, received present truth. Having met this lady in San Pedro, and learned of her desire to know more about the teachings of the books of Daniel and the Revelation, I secured her address, and began mailing the Signs of the Times weekly to her. The paper had just started a series of articles on the book of Revelation. I also sent her a twenty-five-cent copy of ‘Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation.’ The first letter I received from her showed that she was interested. She said that in their home they had about eight hundred dollars’ worth of books on history and religion, but none of them so religious as the Signs of the Times. Letters received a little later showed that she and others were becoming deeply interested; and before I answered, I received word that she had visited the Adventist church for the first time, and hoped to continue. This dear sister was baptized last Sabbath, and her brother will be baptized soon.”
Such experiences as these more than pay for the hours of work which show no visible results. When we are faithful, the Lord in his mercy allows us to see results occasionally to cheer us in our work for him. Should not such incidents encourage us to press on?
At a camp-meeting a short time ago, a brother said: “I was away up in the hills of South Dakota, and that man came up there and searched me out.” God wants us to be willing to search men out, and he has given us the facilities for multiplying the effectiveness of our efforts by the use of our tracts, periodicals, magazines, and books. Shall we not become better acquainted with them, and use them?
It is refreshing to go into a well-attended missionary meeting, where something is being done, and listen to such experiences as the following, which were given in a recent meeting:—
One sister had just received a letter from her brother, in which he told her that through the influence of the Signs of the Times, which she had been sending, his family were keeping the Sabbath, and had begun to hold Sabbath meetings with the neighbors.
Another had heard from her boy at school that day, and was so glad that he had decided to go out canvassing. (He is in the field now, and having success.)
Another sister reported the receipt of twenty-five dollars to help build their new church, it having come from a Presbyterian minister whose mother is a patient in her home.
Do you not think that those who attended that meeting went away encouraged, and determined to be more diligent in service? Although struggling to build a church, the work for others has not been decreased. As a result, they will have more members for the new church.
Scores of such items might be given concerning the work where our churches are throwing themselves into it. At a recent camp-meeting, one librarian reported the addition of two to the home church—a man and his wife, formerly Socialists—who were on their Signs mailing-list. Bible work followed, and they are now in the church.
The mother of a large family relates the following:—
“I lived in Montana, sixty miles from a railroad; was not religious, and didn’t know of an Adventist in the State. A relative in Missouri accepted the truth, and began sending me the Signs. It came for more than a year before I read much of it except the Home department. Finally I was impressed to read more, and decided to keep the Sabbath. This opened a flood of light, and I found every one of those papers, smoothed them out, and studied them. This was before I knew anything of a conference in Montana. My oldest child was twenty years old before she heard a sermon.”
This faithful sister now has five children in the truth; two are in church-school work, and one of these and another have been successful canvassers, having placed between two and three thousand dollars’ worth of books in one city during vacations.
Should not the positive assurance that such results as these are within reach of our home missionary work bring in an enthusiasm that will put doubt, unbelief, fear, and every other barrier of Satan forever out of the way?
Should it not give our church leaders new zeal in real missionary leadership, as they realize their relation to the activity of the church?
Should it not deepen our feeling of individual responsibility, causing us to pledge our hearty support to every advance move undertaken; and lead us, one and all, to become more thoroughly acquainted with our literature, and to use it more liberally?
Let us work while the day lasts; “for the night cometh, when no man can work.”
Miss. Sec. Pacific Union Conf.

The Missionary and Publishing Work

By E. R. Palmer; N. Z. Town

Notes, plans, reports, statistics, and other information regarding missionary endeavor and the circulation of gospel literature.
Conducted by the Missionary and Publishing Department of the General Conference
E. R. PALMER   -   -   -   -   Secretary
N. Z. TOWN   -   -   -   -   Assistant Secretary

Suggestive Program for Fourth Sabbath Service

(Sept. 23, 1911)
Opening Song: No. 548, “Christ in Song.”
Scripture Reading: John 4: 35-38; Matt. 9: 35-38.
Prayer.
Second Song: No. 546, “Christ in Song.”
First Reading: “Principles of Success in Church Missionary Work.”
Second Reading: “Interdependence of Home and Foreign Missionary Work.”
Discussion of suggestions in first reading; experiences and plans for future work.
Passing Report Blanks.
Collection.
Closing Song: No. 316, “Christ in Song.”

Interdependence of Home and Foreign Missionary Work

By M. E. Ellis

(Second Reading)
THE carrying of the gospel message to all the world is not a part of the work of this people, but it is the work, and there can be no distinction in the mind of the Lord as to the relative importance of home and foreign work, except such as is based on the need of any locality.
“The One who, of all who ever walked the earth, was the most tender and faithful in what we call home missionary work, was the same who said, ‘Go ye into all the world.’ The voice broken with weeping over Jerusalem, the city of his love, was the same which uttered the sublime words, ‘That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations.’ And when we drop out of our life-work the ‘universal thought,’ it has lost the spirit of Him who said, ‘The field is the world.’”
—“The Missionary Idea,” page 30.
The same thought is emphasized in “Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. VI, page 27: “The home missionary work will be farther advanced in every way when a more liberal, self-denying, self-sacrificing spirit is manifested for the prosperity of foreign missions; for the prosperity of the home work depends largely, under God, upon the reflex influence of the evangelical work done in countries afar off. It is in working actively to supply the necessities of the cause of God that we bring our souls into touch with the Source of all power.”
Again and again has this experience been worked out in our churches. “The companies who appreciate that “the field is the world,” whose foreign missionary services are not the droning over of the readings prepared and furnished them, but the active assimilation of the material sent because it feeds their souls, thirsting for “news from the far countries,” are invariably the churches whose home activities reach out into every field of local endeavor, and whose means seem to be replenished as the widow’s meal and oil, as repeated calls for its “sharing” become more frequent and more insistent.
The Lord, who has made of one blood all nations of men, has so closely united the interests of “all nations” that to get an idea of his love, is to find our minds broadening and our hearts enlarging to take in the scope of the whole field. And the call to lift up our eyes, and look on the fields has, ever since the moment of its utterance, had a meaning broader than the Samaritan harvest-fields, and demanded eyes strengthened by faith and focused by intelligence, to see fully its wonderful extent and its possibilities.
Rev. E. K. Alden says: “The foreign missionary purpose is the definite aim to carry the riches of the gospel of Christ as speedily as possible, to the utmost of our ability, to every unevangelized people on the face of the earth. It emphasizes the claims of the human race as such—all its millions everywhere as they reach the period of personal accountability alike responsible, according to their measure of opportunity, to the same God; alike guilty and ill-deserving; alike summoned to repentance; alike recipients, to some degree, of divine grace; alike called upon to accept that grace and be saved. It emphasizes the claims of the most needy,—those who have received the least of that light ‘which lighteth every man that cometh into the world,’ and who are most imminently disposed to sink down into everlasting night. . . .”
“This is the burning, controlling thought of the genuine foreign missionary spirit. No wonder it has sent, and is sending, hundreds of devoted men and women away from the thousands, however needy, of lands nominally Christian, to the more needy millions of lands positively heathen. No wonder that gifts and prayers from those who can not personally go, pour themselves out in lavish measure from thousands of grateful hearts. The wonder is that the messengers, gifts, and prayers are not all multiplied a hundredfold, with a fervor of consecration a hundred times more intense.
“This very statement of what the distinctively foreign missionary spirit is, indicates how vitally it enters into every department of Christian work at home. Since there are multitudes, as already suggested, who are necessarily prevented from becoming personal messengers, who may nevertheless be as completely filled with the same burning zeal as those who go, this flame of burning zeal must express itself in every conceivable form of Christian activity for the salvation of every man, woman, and child accessible all around us. . . .
“The hour has now come when these two interests, home and foreign missionary work, must move on not only simultaneously, each pressing on in its own distinctive purpose and each encouraging and supporting the other, but also with redoubled earnestness and zeal, with largely increased forces, and with a united front, determined on a common victory. It is the hour for a far broader and more thorough missionary movement as related to the whole world and to the responsibility of the present generation than has hitherto been known in the history of the church.
“Recognizing our one necessity, the salvation of a lost, perishing world; our one deliverance, the crucified and risen Christ; our one commission, the gospel of reconciliation, by us received to be communicated to all; our one responsibility, personally to bear the good tidings to the utmost of our ability to the ends of the earth; and our one opportunity, the present earthly life; shall we not bow our heads to receive our one anointing, the baptism of the Holy Ghost?”
M. E. Ellis, Miss. Sec. Neb. Conf.

Suggestion to Elders

By J. R. Ferren

(Not to be read publicly)
THE influence of every reading that is designed to instruct and inspire, depends largely on how it is given. To get the real spirit of this study, it should be gone over carefully in advance by those who are to take part in it, and should be clearly and forcibly presented. The experiences should be read slowly, that all may be impressed by them. The reader should have been stirred by them; then he will be able to express interest and feeling in passing them on.
This service should be turned to account:—
1. By taking an expression of the audience, either in a few moments’ experience and consecration service, or by vote.
2. By getting out all the literature that may have accumulated that ought to be out, having it before them, and distributing it among members for circulation.
3. By planning for a good supply of tracts—a $5 package, or more—right there, taking up a collection for them, if you need the supply.
With a little planning, you can make this an opportunity not only to encourage the missionary spirit and a stronger organization, but to arrange for advance work. J. R. FERREN.

Love One Another

“BELOVED, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.”

Sunday Laws and Religious Liberty

By S. B. H.

EVER since the Connecticut Legislature has been in session this year, appeals have been made looking to the modification of the present Sunday-observance law. A final stand was taken upon the question by the General Assembly on August 16, resulting in the failure to secure such modification. The senate had passed one or two measures on the subject, but the house refused to accept those measures. It is being stated by friends of a more liberal Sunday law that the Connecticut legislators fear the political influence which might be brought against them by the clergy of that State, and for that reason refuse to respond to what is evidently a popular demand for amending the Sunday law.
It is not an uncommon thing to pick up a newspaper to-day, and find considerable condemnation expressed against the operation of Sunday laws, which are very generally referred to as blue-laws. Some who are opposed to enforced Sunday observance believe that in order to repeal these laws, a general enforcement of the same should be undertaken.
MANY speeches were recently made in the Senate and the House of Representatives, based on the fundamental principles upon which our government was founded; and as these principles apply to the question of religious legislation, we are planning to formulate a symposium on the subject of civil and religious liberty, from the view-point of congressmen, and publish it in this department soon.
ELDER L. H. PROCTOR, of Elmira, N. Y., on the evening of Sunday, August 13, delivered a forceful sermon on the subject of Sunday laws, maintaining that their existence is due to selfishness. He said, among other things: “This [same] spirit of selfishness is prevalent in our time, even among many so-called Christians. Take the enforcement of Sunday laws, for instance. Is it right for some in our land of liberty to make use of the civil power to enforce their religious doctrines upon the people? Have they any more right to do this than had the Pharisees in Christ’s day to enforce their views on the people? Is it not time for all liberty-loving people to arouse and come to the rescue of our country, and save it from the disgrace and ruin which have overtaken other countries?” S. B. H.

Newspaper Comment on Sunday Laws

By S. B. H.

SPEAKING of the Sunday-law modification as proposed in the Connecticut Legislature, the Springfield (Mass.) Weekly Republican of August 10, under the heading “Sunday Laws and Anarchy,” says, among other things: “Changes in the Sunday-observance law of Connecticut are not likely to be made at this session; but for all that, the debate in the State senate on the Sunday amusement question revealed the fact that the question is one in which the public are interested. One senator even declared that he owed his election to the fact that he had pledged himself to favor a more liberal law. The subject seems to gain interest for the moment because of the imprisonment of Upton Sinclair, the author, and several other members of the Single Tax Colony at Arden, Del., for playing tennis and baseball on a recent Sunday.”
The editor referred to Senator Spellacy’s speech, in which the speaker made the statement: “You are making anarchists when you make one class stand idly by and watch the other class go by in their automobiles.” Continuing, the editor goes on to say: “The question of the Sunday law, as thus presented, becomes a class question. Under present conditions, it is maintained, the rich are favored, and the poor suffer from discrimination. And every one realizes that the advent of the automobile, and its wide-spread use on Sunday as a recreation vehicle, has rendered it absurd to deny equivalent privileges to those of less means.” S. B. H.
Continue reading: Not Content With Moral Suasion