The sublime beauty and infinite wisdom of the plan of redemption are much obscured by the prevailing conception of it. That sin was unforeseen by God, that upon its entrance the sacrificial system was devised and given to the patriarchs, that this was perfected in the Levitical system, and finally, upon its failure, was succeeded by the present plan of redemption through Christ,—all this evolution is contrary to a true conception of God’s wisdom and knowledge.
God, knowing the end from the beginning, was not surprised at the entrance of sin. Before the earth was created, plans were laid to meet all that might occur to thwart God’s design in forming the earth. In Rom. 16:25, 26, we are told that the plan of redemption was “kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, . . . made known to all nations.” This is made clearer in the revised version, which substitutes the expression “through times eternal” for “since the world began.” Through times eternal the plan of redemption was kept as a secret between the Father and the Son; but when the world was created, and sin entered, it began to be revealed, first, to Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, later through the scriptures of the prophets, and now unto us by both prophets and apostles.
The plan of redemption was necessary to save mankind. Sin, the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4), had entered the world, bringing death in its train. Rom. 6:23. The condemnation of the broken law rested upon the whole race. The law could not be altered, for it was righteous (Ps. 119:172), perfect (Ps. 19:7), and a transcript of the character of God himself. The integrity of the law, the justice of God, and the redemption of man could be attained in but one way—the offering of a substitute for mankind, to obey the law which man transgressed, and to suffer the penalty that man merited. He alone could be the substitute for all mankind who was their creator,—Christ, the Son of God; none lower than he would be an equivalent for the race. Therefore “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
The plan conceived by an infinite mind and actuated by divine love was, in its fulness, far above man’s comprehension; for as the result of sin man was so weakened in faith and mental grasp that he was like a child in comprehension. God therefore taught him by symbols, revealing all that man was able to perceive. By the simple sacrificial system, given through Adam, man’s faith was directed toward the great offering by which his salvation was assured. At first the instruction regarding sacrifices was given orally; then as men multiplied on the earth, more specific instruction had to be given, that the service might remain truly typical, unperverted by man’s faulty conceptions. The Levitical law as given through Moses perpetuated the sacrificial system prefiguring the offering of Christ until it should be made.
The teaching as given by these ceremonials to the children of Israel was the same gospel that Christ himself proclaimed: it recognized the authority of the same law, proclaimed the same penalty for transgression, and pointed to the same means of salvation. Only the method of presentation was different. There could be but one everlasting gospel,—there is salvation in no other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Acts 4:12. To the Hebrews Paul wrote: “For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” Heb. 4:2. These children of Israel heard the proclamation of the gospel, but they failed in the same way that man ever has failed, by not receiving it by faith. Only a few had the faith of Abraham, to see the day of Christ and rejoice in it. John 8:56. The innocent lamb, whose life man sacrificed for his sin, truly represented the nature of Christ, of whom it has been said, “He was treated as we deserve, that we might be treated as he deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which he had no share, that we might be justified by his righteousness, in which we had no share. He suffered the death which was ours, that we might receive the life which was his.”
How far beyond human comprehension is the grace of God! In Rom. 3:25, 27, Paul speaks of this justification “through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, . . . that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” Thus the plan as formulated by God unites a provision for the broken law and man’s salvation with perfect justice. Had the law been kept, the doer would have been righteous, for the law is righteous; but none have obeyed; all are under the condemnation of the law. But the righteousness of God without the law is manifested in this plan of redemption,—the righteousness to which the law and the prophets bear witness that it is genuine, even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ. Truly is the man blessed to whom the Lord will not impute sin! Then let us unite with Paul in the words of Rom. 1:16, 17: “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.”
Mount Vernon, Ohio.
Winning Faith
By T. E. BOWEN
T. E. BOWEN
The Lord takes pleasure in meeting the faith of his believing children. While on earth, Jesus did everything he could to encourage men to exercise faith in his power. He healed in their presence; with a few loaves, he fed the multitudes; he stilled the tempest on the sea; he even walked out over the billows, through the storm, to save his disciples in a crisis. Yet how often he was disappointed in their really trusting him only in time of distress! “How is it,” he would ask, “that ye have no faith?” “According to your faith be it unto you,” was the rule by which he wrought for those who came unto him for help or healing.
One little incident in the early experience of Robert Moffat and wife in Africa illustrates how steady was the faith flame in Mrs. Moffat’s heart. Nearly ten years had passed, and there was no visible fruitage yet for their labors. A friend in England about this time, writing to her, asked what they could send in the way of a special gift that she would most prize. The answer was sent back, “Send us a communion service; we shall want it some day.”
Over two years passed, and surely it was a little peculiar that the very day before they held their first communion service in Africa, a delayed box should arrive at their mission, and when opened, lo and behold, here was the communion set from England, asked for so long before. Ah! God had watched over it, and answered the faith of his trusting servant.
The proper measure for faith is not so much what God is able to do, as what we are able to believe. God’s rule yet is, “according to your faith be it unto you.” This being true, let us cease blaming the Lord that greater results are not achieved in connection with his work in the earth, and join the apostles in their prayer, “Lord, increase our faith.”
Takoma Park, D. C.
The Commonest Blessings
By G. H. Morrison
It is not the rare gifts, the possessions of the few; it is not great wealth, great learning, great genius, or great power; it is not these things that make their possessors happy. It is health, it is friendship, it is love at home; it is the voices of children; it is sunshine. It is the blessings that are commonest, not those that are rarest; it is the gifts that God has scattered everywhere.—G. H. Morrison.
Korea
By Riley Russell
RILEY RUSSELL, M. D.
WE have been in Korea for almost four months, and enjoy our work very well indeed. I have visited almost all the Korean companies. Most of our traveling has to be done by foot or on horseback, as the different companies are scattered among the small villages. Last week we went on a trip of two hundred li (about seventy miles), and remained three days with an isolated company. We left Soonan about noon, and, after passing over several low mountains, and through fertile valleys, we stopped for the night at Morokdongkoda, staying in an old Korean hotel. There was one room, and fourteen persons slept in it. It was about ten by fifteen feet in size. And as the Koreans have no ventilation, and all smoke, the atmosphere gets rather dense.
AT THE WELL IN KOREA
Among the company were traveling merchants from all parts of Korea; so we did not miss the opportunity to scatter a good supply of tracts, and see that every man had a copy of “The True God and His Sabbath.” Two of the men were much interested, and Brother W. R. Smith gave a Bible study to one of them. We have this man’s name and address, and will correspond with him.
The natives have no furniture, no stove, no glass. They build a fire under the floor, and then spread down a blanket, and lie down. A company of boys and young men kept up a continual howl until about midnight, and on inquiring we found it was to frighten away the robbers; for the town had been robbed about one month before.
The next morning we had a bowl of rice, and started on our way. While we were riding through a small village, a man ran out and called, “We Won! We won!” or, “O doctor.” When we stopped, he said his wife was very sick, and he wished us to come to see her. When we turned aside, all the rice-threshing ceased, and the natives gathered around. We were able to help the patient, and did not fail to distribute our tracts, while Brother Smith asked them if they were Christians. We quickly bade them good-by, and rode on, while they followed to the edge of the village,
and bowed, saying very politely: “We thank you so much.” We hastened on, passing through snow-covered rice-fields, and over mountain trails. At one place we saw about ten men with a falcon, hunting pheasants. We were told that there were many tigers in the mountains, but we did not see any, although I have seen many beautiful skins for sale.
Our destination was reached about 10 A. M., and soon we had the company collected. We studied and preached for three days, and between times visited at their homes, or saw their sick,—of whom there were many,—for they are more than one hundred li from any physician. The people said we did just like the Saviour, preaching the gospel and healing their sick. This caused us to lift our hearts to God that he would help us to be true ambassadors for him.
On our way home we passed many people. They asked us who we were, and when we said we were Ansikel makzos, or Sabbath-keeping missionaries, they would say, “O! you live at Soonan.” Some of the other missionaries had warned the people against us, but it only made them the more interested and ready to read our literature; for man can not stop the third angel’s message.
I never enjoyed a trip more in my life, and never was more busy. We in Korea ask an interest in your prayers. Three men of us, and two Bible workers, have thirteen million people to warn. But God will help us.
Soonan.
An Appeal From China
By W. C. HANKINS
W. C. HANKINS
The China Mission of Seventh-day Adventists has just held its second biennial workers’ meeting. One action taken at that meeting is of special interest to all our young workers and young people in the home land, and that was a call for forty families to enter China during the years 1909 and 1910. It is planned to locate at least two families in each province during the next two or three years, and we hope, by the grace of God, to give the third angel’s message to China by the time it has gone to the rest of the world. To one who has but a vague idea of the vast extent of territory in this field and of its almost countless population, and knows but little of the difficulties that face the worker here at every step, this may seem a comparatively easy task; but it is very apparent to the workers on the ground that it will require complete consecration on the part of all the workers,—both foreign and Chinese,—the whole-hearted co-operation of all our people in the home land, and a mighty outpouring of the Spirit of God before this work will be accomplished.
There are several ways by which every one can have a part in this undertaking. Perhaps the most important and the most effective way of all would be to make this field the special subject of daily prayer. O that our people would realize the power of prayer, and exercise that power to the uttermost! We are told that ‘Elias . . . prayed earnestly that it might not rain;’ ‘and he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain.’ James 5:17, 18. Let us pray as did Elias, and we shall see great results in the mission fields. Don’t forget, brethren, that China, with its four hundred millions of perishing souls, needs your earnest prayers in its behalf.
It will take thousands of dollars to carry this work to its completion. But if every one prays earnestly for this field, there is no doubt but that the money will be forthcoming. People can not very well withhold their fifties and refuse to give liberally of their means when they are uttering whole-hearted petitions to God for the success of his work. And what better use can we make of our money than to use it for the salvation of souls? It will be a grand thing to know, by and by, that there are souls saved who heard the gospel because we gave the money to carry it to them.13And then, too, how much better it will be to have all our money invested in the bank of heaven when this old earth shall have gone into bankruptcy. How glad we shall be, then, that we did not allow Satan to beguile us into investing our means in the things of this world. See Matt. 6:19-21.
Parents, tell your children that, although you would love to keep them with you for the rest of your life, yet you are willing to give them to God’s service, and so bid them Godspeed, and send them on to the front of the battle. Dear young people, God is calling you to leave those you love, and come to these needy fields. He is calling you to take your place on the firing line, where the fight is the hottest, and the dangers are most numerous. It means that you will have to face hardship, danger, sickness, and death; but our Leader is here with us, and he will be with you, and you will learn to know him better and love and trust him more than you ever did before.
No one should think of coming to a field like China who is not in good health. It is hard on the worker, hard on the Mission Board, and bad for the work, to have a man invalided home after only a few years’ sojourn in the field. Then, too, it is very necessary that the foreign missionary should have a good all-round education. Know something of hygiene, nursing, and hygienic cooking. The wives, especially, should be good cooks, good housekeepers, and know how to sew. These seem little things, but they become vital things in a foreign land.
It is fatal to the interest of the work to think that less education and less preparation in Bible study, history, etc., is needed by those who come to China than by those who work in the home land. If anything, the opposite is true. Many of the Chinese are very bright people, and are likely to ask unheard-of questions. And besides this, we must meet the foreign missionaries of other denominations, who are, as a rule, a very well-educated and well-informed class of people.
Yes, our mission fields demand the very best material — consecration, youth, health, education, experience, adaptability, perseverance, and a love for souls such as the Saviour had. May God send many such to help finish the work in China.
Kulangsu, Amoy.
British Guiana
By E. C. WIDGERY
We are glad to report that our courage is good in the Lord. We have had some peculiar experiences, but we have kept looking unto Jesus, and we do praise our Heavenly Father for his kind hand which has upheld us. Our health is good. My experiment of a pure vegetarian diet, or the entire exclusion of all animal products, seems to be the very thing for a tropical climate. This may seem rigid; but, really, I do not suffer from the heat; in fact, I often forget I am in Demerara. Our mission house is cool, and away from the crowded city; and the mosquitoes do not trouble me—they do not seem to care for vegetarians.
We make our milk from cocoanuts, which we buy at one cent each, fresh. One nut makes a pint of good milk, which is not only beneficial to our health, but is cheap.
The interest is growing. Our church is now becoming too small. At quarterly meeting the brethren have to take part in the ordinance of humility under the mission house, there being no room in the church. And now that Dr. H. N. Greaves has come, we shall have good success, as we have patients waiting for him.
We are very much cheered by all the good news we receive from the fields beyond. We enjoy our work, and pray continually for all the workers, especially those who bear the heat and burden of the day.
E. C. WIDGERY.
The Leicester (England) Sanitarium
By A. B. Olsen
About six years ago, Mrs. Olsen and I conducted a good health school in Leicester, under the auspices of the local vegetarian society. The lectures and demonstrations were given in the Y. M. C. A. hall, and there was a large interest manifested by the numerous people who attended. Among those especially interested were Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Goddard, both of whom were life abstainers, and also vegetarians, Mr. Goddard being a non-smoker as well. On the third day of the school, we were invited to a lunch at the Midland Sanatorium, a large double-fronted house located in the heart of the town, close to the residence of the mayor.
The Midland Sanatorium had been run for several years as a “water-cure,” part of the time in charge of a hydropathist who had no medical education, and later under the management of Dr. English, who had recently resigned. The building was amply and well furnished throughout, but lacked proper bath-rooms and bath-room appliances.
Mr. Goddard offered us the free use of the building, with its complete furnishing, including linen, table ware, etc.; and also offered to build suitable bath-rooms, and to connect them directly with the house, provided we would take the institution, and run it as a sanitarium. This offer was afterward confirmed by writing, and the matter was put before the British Conference committee, and later before the General Conference Committee, and accepted, the General Conference Committee making the generous donation of fifteen hundred dollars with which to start the work.
The bath-rooms were built according to a plan drawn up and presented to Mr. Goddard, and the place was formally opened by the mayor of Leicester the following February, 1904. Until two years ago, the sanitarium was in charge of Drs. F. C. and E. S. Richards. On their accepting the call to Australia in December, 1906, two nurses, Brother and Sister W. M. Scott, graduates of the Caterham Sanitarium, were placed in charge of the institution.
Since the house contains only about eight or nine bedrooms for guests, it was thought wise to give most attention to outside patronage, and with this purpose in view, Brother and Sister Scott made a systematic canvass of the members of the medical profession in Leicester. The success of this canvass was far better than had been anticipated, for, without a single exception, all the doctors visited showed a real interest, and offered to co-operate by sending patients, and by giving the institution their patronage. Thus, within a comparatively short time, the out-patients began to increase steadily in number, and this increase has gone on satisfactorily, so that the number of outside patients for 1908 was fully double that of the preceding year.
Recognizing the importance of having the best modern physiological apparatus and a thoroughly up-to-date equipment, the board of managers has provided liberally for the Leicester Sanitarium, and it now possesses the best medical equipment of any of our British institutions.
Thanks to the generosity of the owner, Mr. Goddard, there is no rent to pay other than five dollars a year, to make the contract binding. During the past two years, the institution has enjoyed much success in every way, and it has not only been able to treat a large number of patients, and many of these at a much reduced rate, and in some cases without payment, but it has also been able to meet its running expenses and to provide necessary improvements and additional apparatus. Last year there was a profit above all expense of more than five hundred dollars; and the previous year the gain was nearly as much.
We feel thankful to God for the kind providence that has been over the Leicester Sanitarium and for the measure of success granted to us. Through the influence of the institution, many souls have had brought to them a knowledge of the truth of God in all its fulness, and we are glad to say that some of these have fully accepted its principles and identified themselves with our people. We trust that many more will gain for themselves, not only an increase of better health and strength, but also healing for the sin-sick soul, and will awake to a newness of life in Christ Jesus which they have never known before.
The workers consist of Brother and14Sister Scott; the head nurses, Brother Lionel Brooking and Sister Hannah Howarth, and four members of the freshman nurses’ training class, two young men and two young women, with the writer as superintendent.
It is our plan to conduct one year of the nurses’ training-school at Leicester, after which a new class is taken in, the old nurses coming to Caterham to do their second and third years; and this arrangement has been found to work satisfactorily. We hope the day will come when we shall have many such self-supporting health institutions scattered throughout the large cities of this great kingdom. But the greatest need we feel is that of having consecrated workers.
A. B. OLSEN, M. D.
Aspiration and Character
WHAT we earnestly aspire to be, that in some sense we are.— Anna Jameson.
Search the Scriptures
By John Quincy Adams
I SPEAK as a man of the world to men of the world; and I say to you, Search the Scriptures! The Bible is the book of all others, to be read at all ages and in all conditions of human life; not to be read once or twice or thrice through and then laid aside, but to be read in small portions of one or two chapters every day, and never to be intermitted unless by some overruling necessity.—John Quincy Adams.
Florida
By R. W. Parmele
Since our camp-meeting, which closed October 12, meetings have been held for the white people at Hastings, Orange Mills, Daytona, and Port Orange; and Elder E. W. Webster has been constantly at work in Tampa, and Brother W. K. Achenbach in Jacksonville. These brethren have both seen some fruit as the result of their labor.
Hastings and Orange Mills are only five miles apart. The fruit of these two efforts makes a nice company of twelve or fourteen, who, we hope, may erelong be organized into a church. They are now raising money for a church building.
At Port Orange, Elders Clark and C. B. Stephenson held a series of meetings in our church building. As a result, seven were added to the membership, and three others are keeping the Sabbath.
At Daytona, where Brethren Wm. H. Branson and C. P. Whitford and I have been laboring, eleven new ones are keeping the Sabbath. Several others promised to obey, but being tourists, we do not know whether or not they are faithful.
On Sunday, March 21, a church of fourteen members was organized. The membership is more than half composed of old Sabbath-keepers; we hope soon to see the membership greatly increased.
Nearly half of the entire expense of this meeting (including salaries of laborers), has been borne by voluntary contributions. Two new converts (sisters) donated fifty dollars at one time, and they have since offered to donate a lot worth two hundred fifty dollars on which to erect a church building. At this writing, two hundred twenty-five dollars in cash has been subscribed, and we are sure a sufficient amount will yet come for the erection of the building.
There have also been a number of accessions to the churches visited this year.
A VIEW ON THE PARANA RAILWAY
Meetings have been held by our colored laborers this year at Palatka, Jacksonville, and Fernandina. Four accepted the truth at Palatka, four at Jacksonville, and thus far three have taken their stand at Fernandina.
Brethren Stephenson and Branson will soon begin a meeting with the new church at Morriston, in their new church building. At the close of this meeting, the building will be dedicated. I start in a few days for Miami and Key West, where are a number of Sabbath-keepers, some of whom have never heard the message preached.
Though this is a difficult field, yet I believe it to be the most fruitful one in which it has ever been my privilege to labor.
R. W. Parmele.
Brazil
By F. W. SPIES
THE third annual session of the Santa Catharina and Parana Conference was held in Curityba, capital of the state of Parana, February 2-7. A number of brethren had assembled from different parts of the state of Parana, and also a few from Santa Catharina.
The deliberations of the conference, although they involved some important changes, were all unanimous.
A resolution was adopted expressing thanks to God for the rich blessings bestowed upon the work during the past year. Another encouraged all our people to take an active interest in the circulation of our Portuguese missionary journal, O Arauto da Verdade.
In a further recommendation, the conference declared itself in harmony with the resolution recently adopted by the Brazilian division of the South American Union Conference Committee to hold an institute for workers in San Bernardo, from June 1 to September 30, and encouraged all who could do so, to attend the course of instruction.
By another resolution a tent fund was created, and although the meeting was not very large, over six hundred milreis, or about two hundred dollars, was pledged and partly paid toward this enterprise.
It was also recommended that church elders and officers encourage the people to greater faithfulness in the paying of tithes and offerings. It was decided that the intermediate school of Brusque, which has been closed for several years, be reopened near Desterro, the capital of Santa Catharina.
Although a goodly number had been baptized, there was no gain, but rather a loss in membership, owing to the fact that the Itarare church, of about forty members, and the company at Salto do Riberas Grande, of about twenty members, had been given over to the Sao Paulo Mission, in whose territory they are located. Then, too, a number of members emigrated to the Argentine republic. The tithe had increased about five hundred dollars, and there was also some increase in offerings.
With the help of Elder C. F. Knott and Brother E. C. Ehlers, who have recently come to this country, this conference now begins the fourth year of its existence, better manned and better prepared to do the great work assigned it.
The officers elected for the coming year are as follows: President, Emilio Hoelzle; secretary and treasurer, A. G. Stauffer. The members of the conference committee are Emilio Hoelzle, C. F. Knott, Jorge Wischral, Adolf Hort, August Anniess, Gustav Richter, and Theodor Neumann.
Our prayer is that the Lord’s rich blessings may strengthen all the workers and make them able for his service.
F. W. SPIES.
The Chile Conference
By J. W. Westphal
The annual conference of Chile has again been held at Santiago, and in the same hall as previously. Owing to circumstances, the attendance was not so large as last year, but the south was better represented. Harmony prevailed throughout all the councils. The officials of last year were re-elected. Brother Carter E. Krieghoff, secretary and treasurer of the conference and tract society, and local editor of the Señales, had given excellent satisfaction in all these capacities. Owing to unfavorable exchange conditions and a tardy payment of accounts by canvassers, the tract society had become somewhat embarrassed. Notwithstanding the unfavorable exchange, the gold value of the tithe was more than the year before. The donations had averaged about the same. A goodly number had been baptized during the year, and there were many interests calling for help.
The Chile school, located at Pua, received considerable attention. Means were raised to further complete the building and to supply it with necessary conveniences. However, the one hundred fifty dollars given, or promised, is only a small fraction of what is needed to make it what it should be. The necessity of an educational fund to assist students in the school was thoroughly discussed, and the payment of a second tithe and donations were recommended to start it. Elder George Casebeer and Sister Gertrude Leiva have done a good work in the school during the last year, and from the colporteurs’ class there are a number in the canvassing work. Sister Sanchez, of Argentina, was invited by telegraph to come and take the matronship of the school.
For some years the annual meeting and conference has been held here in Santiago, and at each a goodly number have been baptized, at one time seventeen who nearly all united with this church. This shows that there is here an active and growing work.15
On Sabbath, February 20, seven were baptized by the writer. The place of baptism was outside the city, whence all repaired immediately after the morning service. All united with the Santiago church. As time did not permit the brethren to return home for refreshments, they had brought with them well-laden lunch baskets; and there on the dry gravelly river bed, under the shadow of a sluiceway, we enjoyed a Sabbath picnic dinner. An interesting feature of the Santiago conferences has been the celebration of the ordinances of the Lord’s house. After dinner all gathered at the place of worship. My brother took charge of the ordinance service. A few respectful spectators were present. There were few, if any, of the brethren who did not take part with happy hearts. Before closing, a sister, who had once been a member of the church, but had gone off into sin, and was consequently disfellowshipped, came forward, broken-hearted, confessed her wrong, and then handing over a fuller, written confession, asked the church’s forgiveness. She related how she had sought for peace, and tried to make herself believe that she could be saved in her sin, but was left without consolation. Not until she had decided to leave her wrong course and return, did she find happiness. Gladly did the brethren forgive and forget, and receive her back into the fold. The work of the message in Chile is onward.
J. W. WESTPHAL.
