p. 14 | Review and Herald, Vol. 87, No. 20. (5/19/1910)

“Distress of Nations”

By William Warren Prescott

In his description of the conditions which would prevail in the last days, and which would clearly indicate that the coming of the Son of man was near, Christ mentioned “distress of nations.” This brief expression would properly indicate something out of the ordinary. Since the dawn of history, the nations of the earth have been involved in more or less difficulty, but according to the Saviour’s prediction there would be a period of such general perplexity in the last generation as would warrant the broadest interpretation of the expression “distress of nations.”

That such a condition now exists is the testimony, not of a professed apostle of the second advent movement, but of one whose breadth of view and Christian candor lead to this conclusion. We quote a short article from the May number of the Missionary Review of the World, which appears under the title, as “World-Wide Unrest:” —

One of the signs of the times, and very conspicuous, is the world-wide unrest. Never has this been more general if not universal. If we begin at the Sunrise Kingdom and go westward, we shall find almost, if not quite, every nation in the sun’s daily course in a state of agitation bordering on revolution. In Korea there is a desperate struggle for independence, and freedom from Japanese domination. In Japan itself there is a condition of practical bankruptcy, the nation consumed with political ambition, and anxiety to assert and maintain supremacy on land and sea, and yet too poor to risk further indebtedness and outlay. China and Manchuria are restive under the threatened aggression of Russia, and the spirit of reform that is like a liquid at boiling-point. India has not been so impatient and on the point of outbreak since the battle of Plassey. Turkey is only just starting upon its new career, and uncertain what new development to-morrow may bring; it is like a volcano between two eruptions. Persia is in the very throes of revolution, with a change of dynasty and an entire upturning of government. And as in Asia, so in Europe. Italy is far from being at rest; France is in much the same condition as before the tremendous civil and religious disturbances of 1793. Russia, for the time quiet, seethes under the surface with antagonisms between the czar and his people, and the church and the lesser sects. When was ever England and Great Britain generally more perplexed? a desperate struggle going on between democracy and aristocracy, socialism and imperialism. In the United States the conflict between labor and capital is keener than ever, and harder to bridge over by any mediation or compromise. And so it is all round the circle.

It would be difficult to compress into a briefer space a more just interpretation of the present political situation. There is, therefore, in current history a remarkable emphasis upon one of the predictions declaring that the course of this world is nearly run, and that the time is near at hand when the kingdom will be given to the Son of man. To the voices in heaven which at the commencement of the sounding of the seventh trumpet were heard saying, “The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ: and he shall reign forever and ever,” many voices on earth are responding, and are proclaiming in events and conditions of a most striking character that this long-looked-for consummation is just at hand.

W. W. P.

Always Our Position

Always Our Position.— In the early days some charged that because we recognized spiritual gifts in the church, particularly the spirit of prophecy, we must be adding something to the Word, as a doctrinal standard. In reply James White wrote in the REVIEW (Oct. 16, 1855), quoting the following from a tract he had published in 1847:—

The Bible is a perfect and complete revelation. It is our only rule of faith and practise. But this is no reason why God may not show the past, present, and future fulfilment of his Word in these last days, by dreams and visions, according to Peter's testimony. True visions are given to lead us to God, and to his written Word, but those that are given for a new rule of faith and practise, separate from the Bible, can not be from God, and should be rejected.

Again, in the same article, he quoted from the REVIEW of Oct. 3, 1854, the uniform position held as follows:—

Every Christian is therefore in duty bound to take the Bible as a perfect rule of faith and duty. He should pray fervently to be aided by the Holy Spirit, in searching the Scriptures for the whole truth, and for his whole duty. He is not at liberty to turn from them to learn his duty through any of the gifts. We say that the very moment he does, he places the gifts in a wrong place, and takes an extremely dangerous position.

These are hearty words that ring true. They exalt the spiritual gifts in the church by showing their true place and purpose. And ever these gifts among us have besought us to let the voice of the messenger but lead us into God's Holy Word.

The Power of a Changed Life

By F. M. W.

Of all the arguments which may be brought forward to prove the existence of God and the power of his grace, there is none so convincing and unanswerable as the effect of a changed life. When the power of God can take poor, degraded specimens of humanity, sunken in the depths of sin, the abject slaves of debasing habits, and in a single hour change the currents of their thoughts, put within their lives new purposes, new aspirations, new ideals, making the purity and loveliness of Christian character the one thing to be desired, and the old life of sin the most abhorrent, such a change as this affords an argument which can not be met by the scoff and jeer of the skeptic.

Men to-day are prone to question the working of miracles and the operations of the supernatural, but we see evidences of infinite working every time a soul is converted to God. In the one created in Christ Jesus, we see a new creation, an exhibition of the same creative power which brought the worlds into existence. God's hand is not shortened, that it can not save. He can snatch to-day the sinner from the lowest pit. He can take the feet from the miry clay, and establish them upon the firm rock. His power can blot out our iniquities, and cast our sins into the depth of the sea. This is our hope. We trust in the God who made the heavens and the earth, and in the Saviour who said to the leper, Be thou cleansed, and he was cleansed; who commanded the elements to be still, and

they obeyed his voice; who spoke new life into the dead, and they came forth from the tomb.

The great, convincing proof which we may give to the world to-day of the truth of his Word and the power of his gospel, is in allowing that Word to have free course in our lives, and that gospel to bring into our natures that regeneration and perfection of Christian character which it seeks to impart. By living Christ we shall demonstrate to the unbeliever the existence of Christ, and his power to do for him what he promises in his Word, and what he has done for us. Let us show forth in our experience the power of a changed life.

F. M. W.

Editorial

By Editor

The Bible Only.— That is the religion of Protestants, and that is the religion of Seventh-day Adventists—“the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. . . . That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Tim. 3:15, 17. The Bible is supreme and complete.

The Test of All

The Test of All.—The Bible is the test of every manifestation of spiritual gifts in the church. All these gifts must meet the standard, “to the law and to the testimony,” the Holy Scriptures. That is not only the Scriptural position, but it is the historical position of Seventh-day Adventists. And, blessed as this people have been by manifestations of spiritual gifts from the very beginning of our history, those gifts, whether of apostle, prophet, or teacher, have always insisted upon the Bible, and the Bible only, as the rule of faith and doctrine, all the gifts but leading the believer unto that Sacred Word.

Overturning the Word

By C. M. S.

MANY religious teachers have accepted the evolution theory of creation instead of the Biblical account, because they even have come to believe that the Biblical narrative is “contrary to known laws of the evolution of nature,” and because “the truths of geology have supplanted” the record of Genesis. But it is certain that there are few deductions more uncertain than the deductions of geologists in regard to the history of the earth. Each geologist who has attempted to give the age of the earth has reckoned it some millions of years older or younger than other equally learned geologists. Concerning the history and the composition of the earth itself the theories of scientists are various and diverse, and many scientists have won their way to notoriety through overthrowing the theories of other scientists.

Science has given various scientific reasons for earthquake and volcanic phenomena; and these have been abandoned one by one, because later science has proved the older demonstrations unscientific and unreliable, being overturned by later manifestations of the powers that produce these phenomena.

Yet, in spite of these well-known facts, there are many with whom the deductions of science are sufficient to prove the Biblical account of creation wrong, because this science does not agree with the Bible. It hardly needs to be said that it is entirely to the credit and honor of the Bible that such science does not agree with it. If it did, the Bible certainly would be overthrown with each overturning of one of the deductions of that kind of science; for science has continually overthrown such science, and demonstrated the overthrow; and the process is a continuous one. The Bible could not agree with such science and be the Word of God. It is strange, however, that so many choose to believe that each of these untenable theories has overthrown the Bible; and the strangest part of it all is that so many who have entered the sacred desk have forsaken the solid Word for the ever-shifting theories of what is termed science. “Science” has been able to arrive at few conclusions that it has not been able later to overthrow; and these few unassailable conclusions are in harmony with the teachings of that Book which is the mouthpiece of him who is the Author of true science.

The “known laws of the evolution of nature” are not as surely known now by some scientists as they were a few years ago. Many scientists are now discarding the Darwinian theory of the creation of animal life. The missing link has, admittedly, not been found; for no such link as the evolutionist is looking for was ever lost. There is more than one missing link, however, in the theory; for the Darwinian has not been able to weld up his chain from the protoplasm even to the monkey,—not by many a phantom link. The difference between the other classes of animal life are as clear and definite as between the monkey and the man. The scientist can not trace any animal out of one species and into another, or trace the origin of one genus back into another genus. Each had its own beginning, and did not spring from a dissimilar order.

With this showing, it is asking us to exercise a credulity that the scientist would not tolerate for a moment toward the Bible, when we are asked by such scientists to accept such deductions and turn our back upon the Word of God. The psalmist declares that “the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.” It is better to be simple enough to believe that sure testimony of him who is “from everlasting to everlasting,” and therein possess the truest wisdom, the key to the true science, than it is to give ourselves over to the wisdom of this world, shifting, uncertain, anchorless, rudderless, and self-destructive, believing all our lives that which is not true, and refusing to our eternal ruin to believe the sure Word of him in whom we live and move and have our being.

And yet to-day there is a great wave of popular teaching sweeping over the world that is carrying men and women away from the Word, and toward these vacillating, unsubstantial theories which contradict the Word. The colleges are full of such teachings; the public schools are full of them; the pulpits of many churches are overflowing with them; and now many Sunday-schools have taken them up. The set purpose of the deceiver is to create in the minds of young and old disrespect for the Word of God and a disbelief in its teachings.

The campaign is now on in all its might, and the baleful results are seen in a religion of cold formality, a patterning after the worldliness of the unconverted, a dearth of vital godliness, a lessening number of conversions, and a general turning to the world, whose teachings they have put above the words of Holy Writ. As a consequence, faith is disappearing, and the stirring words of God's last solemn warning are falling on leaden ears wherever that propaganda has found acceptance among the people. Perhaps the greatest menace to the soul to-day is found in this faith-destroying disease which is sweeping through Christendom like an epidemic of death.

The Christian’s hope and shield are in God, and in the Word which he has given. To forsake that Word is to turn our back upon the One who gave it, and in that there is no hope. To overturn that Word would be equivalent to overturning the very throne of God itself. It is a large undertaking, which, if it were successful, would plunge the whole creation into the abyss of eternal death and the blackness of darkness forever.

The science which has made that presumptuous attempt has not yet demonstrated its power to create one protoplasmic cell, to say nothing of a peopled world; neither can it save the souls of those who flee to it, flinging reproach upon the Word of Him who can do all this, and a myriad other things of which we have never dreamed. It is best to believe God; it is safe to believe him; and there is no safety in anything else. There is no combination of men or demons that can overthrow that glorious Word in which our hope is found. Its blessed promises have cheered the sick and suffering, the saint and the martyr, the despondent and the oppressed, through many centuries. It is no ignus fatuus, but the steady light of a sure hope, a sure guide for youth and age through every wilderness of this world. No confidence placed in it can be misplaced, and no hope built upon its promises will ever end in disappointment.

C. M. S.

The Relief of Leyden

By W. A. S.

THE armies of Spain and the Inquisition were seeking to subdue Holland. The city of Leyden was invested until its inhabitants were famishing. In order to send relief and food to the starving city, William of Orange conceived the desperate plan of opening the dykes to the sea, and flooding the land to drive away the enemy, and to allow a flotilla of relief ships under Boisot to sail to the gates of the city.

The great dykes were broken through, but the waters failed to flood the country deep enough to be effective. The investing army scoffed at the failure of the plan. Still Leyden held out, and prayed

to Heaven to send succor, determined to die one by one within the walls rather than to yield religion and liberty to the invader. Wylie says:—

At last Heaven heard the cry of the suffering city, and issued its fiat to the ocean. On the first of October, the equinoctial gales, so long delayed, gave signs of their immediate approach. On that night a strong wind sprang up from the northwest, and the waters of the rivers were forced back into their channels. After blowing for some hours from that quarter, the gale shifted into the southwest with increased fury. The strength of the winds heaped up the waters of the German Ocean upon the coast of Holland; the deep lifted up itself; its dark flood, driven before the tempest’s breath with mighty roar, like shout of giant loosed from his fetters and rushing to assail the foe, came surging onward, and poured its tumultuous billows over the broken dykes. At midnight on the second of October the flotilla of Boisot was afloat, and under weigh for Leyden, on whose walls crowds of gaunt, famished, almost exanimate men waited its coming.

But a mile distant from the gates of the city the Lammen fort, held by the enemy, blocked the way, towering high and strong, and full of soldiers. Night fell with hope well-nigh gone. Again Wylie continues the story of the providential deliverance:—

Seldom has blacker night descended on more tragic scene, or the gloom of nature been more in unison with the anxiety and distress of man. At midnight a terrible crash was heard. What that ominous sound, so awful in the stillness of the night, could be, no one could conjecture. A little after came a strange apparition, equally inexplicable. A line of lights was seen to issue from Lammen, and move over the face of the deep. The darkness gave terror and mystery to every occurrence. All waited for the coming of day to explain these appearances. At last the dawn broke; it was now seen that a large portion of the city walls of Leyden had fallen overnight, and hence the noise that had caused such alarm. The Spaniards, had they known, might have entered the city at the last hour, and massacred the inhabitants; instead of this, they were seized with panic, believing these terrible sounds to be those of the enemy rushing to attack them; and so, kindling their torches and lanterns, they fled when no man pursued. Instead of the cannonade which was this morning to be opened against the formidable Lammen, the fleet of Boisot sailed under the silent guns of the now evacuated fort, and entered the city gates. On the morning of the third of October, Leyden was relieved.

The citizens felt that their first duty was to offer thanks to that Power to whom exclusively they owed their deliverance. Despite their own heroism and Boisot’s valor they would have fallen, had not God, by a mighty wind, brought up the ocean and overwhelmed their foes. A touching procession of haggard but heroic forms, headed by Admiral Boisot and the magistrates, and followed by the Zealanders and sailors, walked to the great church, and there united in solemn prayer. A hymn of thanksgiving was next raised, but of the multitude of voices by which its first notes were pealed forth, few were able to continue singing to the close. Tears choked their voices, and sobs were mingled with the music.

We may even at this late day study with thankful hearts the evidences of an overruling Providence in the rolling back of the power of Rome in the Netherlands; for there first, in modern times, the principles of religious liberty were clearly enunciated by the head of a state. And short-lived though this recognition was, it was from the soil of Holland, in good part at least, that these principles were transplanted to the New World.

W. A. S.

The King’s Oath

By C. M. S.

JUST previously to the accession of King Edward VII, there was much bitter contention in England over the form of the oath which the king must take at his coronation. The Catholics assailed the oath from the public platform and through the press, declaring it to be an insult to the Catholic subjects of the king and to the Catholic world in general. The king, of course, took the oath.

Edward VII is not yet buried, and already the conflict is renewed. The Irish Nationalists (Catholic) have opened the controversy with a demand for the revision of the oath. A report from London states that it is to be made an early political issue. The leader of the Irish Nationalist party has written to Premier Asquith, urging the removal from the king’s oath of those words which are offensive to the Catholics.

But those words which are offensive to the Catholics are the words which guarantee England against a Catholic king, and therefore against a Roman Catholic head of the English Catholic Church. In England church and state are united, and the king of England is head of the state church as well as of the state itself. The form of the king’s oath makes it impossible for a Roman Catholic ever to become king of England, and so head of the Church of England, without stultifying and perjuring himself. He has to declare his disbelief in any transubstantiation of the bread and wine of the sacrament into the body and blood of Christ; and that the adoration of the Virgin Mary or of any other saint, and the sacrifice of the mass as practised in the Roman Catholic Church, are superstitious and idolatrous. Furthermore, he must declare that he makes these declarations without any mental reservation or any dispensation granted him by the Pope for that purpose, or any hope of any such dispensation; or without thinking that he could be acquitted before God or men, even if the Pope should declare his oath null and void.

It is not to be wondered at that Catholics feel offended at the language of the oath their king must take, and there is no question but that it would be a very embarrassing situation for the English Catholic Church to have a Roman Catholic head in the person of their king, who as a Roman Catholic would be under the dominance of the Pope of Rome. Against such a contingency the king’s oath seems their only shield under the present arrangement.

Were there no union of church and state in England, the difficulty would be avoided. It is that anomalous and unwarranted union which makes such an oath on the part of the king necessary. And it has brought many other unpleasant situations in its train, such as the financial support of the state church by a nation which is only partly in sympathy with the tenets of that church organization. When the members of the independent churches have supported their own churches, they very naturally consider they have done their duty without helping to support the state church also. It matters not in what part of the world that unjust régime is carried out, its result is dissatisfaction and oppression. The separation of church and state is the solution of this class of difficulties.

C. M. S.

Homes for Our Missionaries

By W. T. Knox

IN this number of the REVIEW will be found the statement of the $300,000 Fund to May 1. While the report shows that there has been only $9,044.75 forwarded to the General Conference thus far, reports from the different conferences indicate that the campaign is going forward aggressively in almost all parts of the field. Many of the conferences are working for and securing promises that will provide for their entire portion of the fund during the year 1910. If this plan is generally followed, and the funds promised are forthcoming by Jan. 1, 1911, it will be a great help to many fields.

Are there not some of our brethren who would esteem it a privilege to undertake to supply the necessary means to erect a home for some of our workers in such fields as China, Japan, Korea, India, or Africa, and thus hasten relief to our brethren in these countries, who are forced to live under such unfavorable, and in most cases unsanitary, conditions in native dwellings? To erect such a home would in most cases cost from five hundred to one thousand dollars. The General Conference treasurer would be very glad to correspond with any who would be interested in such a work.

W. T. KNOX.

Receipts and Disbursements of the General Conference 1909

By I. H. Evans

	RECEIPTS	DISBURSEMENTS
Cash on hand	$13,937.98
Conferences and tract societies	8,973.07	$8,118.25
Work for the colored people	7,624.02	13,123.60
Depositors	31,343.58	46,266.22
Correspondence School	1,497.90	435.95
Expense		5,354.25
Support of laborers	5,649.09	1,283.71
General Conference Association	13,879.81	13,879.81
General Conference Corporation	25,667.52	36,799.64
General Conference Bulletin	5,744.51	4,517.76
General Conference session	15,174.00	17,702.48
Miscellaneous funds	9,939.69	3,841.85
Loans	2,728.42	6,117.62
Christian Record	443.00	2,208.71
Harvest Ingathering Campaign	10,453.69	14,860.03
Publishing houses	39,256.02	32,776.51
Religious Liberty Association	4,765.67	785.23
Specific accounts	36,869.10	42,838.61
Specific donations	20,061.20	20,563.09
$150,000 Fund	2,333.50	4,265.77
Annual offering	27,066.29
First-day offering	18,789.68
Midsummer offering	19,960.03
Missions	87,832.92
Sabbath-school donations	81,911.65
Thanksgiving fund	30,835.77
$300,000 Fund	1,227.55
Second tithe	2,631.96
Tithe	12,103.04
Surplus tithe	40,063.23
Legacies	8,561.57
To laborers		64,583.35
To mission fields		229,435.15
Cash on hand		17,567.87
Total	$587,325.46	$587,325.46

Receipts and Disbursements of Mission Funds

RECEIPTS General Funds:

	Amount
Annual offerings	$27,066.29
First-day offerings	18,789.68
Midsummer offering	19,960.03
General mission fund	87,832.92
Sabbath-school donations	81,911.65
Thanksgiving fund	30,835.77
Harvest Ingathering fund	10,347.69
Tithe	12,103.04
Second tithe	2,631.96
Surplus tithe	40,063.23
Legacies	8,561.57
Total	$340,103.83

Conferences and Individuals to Support Laborers in Various Fields:

	Amount
California Conference	$436.75
Southern California Conf.	35.00
East Colorado Conf.	48.00
West Colorado Conf.	24.00
Iowa Conference	3,006.68
Greater New York Conf.	71.45
Kansas Conference	50.60
East Michigan Conf.	28.74
Minnesota Conference	40.00
Nebraska Conference	775.60
New Jersey Conference	111.00
Ontario Conference	301.00
Ohio Conference	400.70
South Dakota Conference	309.57
Individuals	10.00
Total	$5,649.09

	Amount
From miscellaneous sources	9,700.17
Gen. Conference session	16,401.75
Grand total	$371,854.84

DISBURSEMENTS Mission Fields:

	Amount
Australian Union Conf.	$8,500.00
China Mission	30,672.81
Canadian Union Conf.	7,650.66
Chesapeake Conference	750.00
European General Conf.	8,089.87
Greater New York Conf.	4,311.19

| Hawaiian Mission | $400.00 | | India Mission | 29,579.96 | | Japan Mission | 9,638.75 | | Korean Mission | 9,121.49 | | Jewish appropriations | 713.00 | | Mexican Mission | 9,942.70 | | South African Union Conf. | 23,783.27 | | So. American Union Conf. | 26,541.84 | | Southern Union Conf. | 5,175.50 | | Southeastern Union Conf. | 7,613.64 | | Southwestern Union Conf. | 4,300.00 | | Scandinavian appropriation | 1,404.88 | | West Virginia Conf. | 500.00 | | Virginia Conference | 1,200.00 | | West African Mission | 3,338.41 | | West Indian Union Conf. | 24,819.91 | | West Canadian Union Conf. | 6,970.73 | | Russian school app. | 1,161.24 | | Special appropriations | 5,211.94 | | Total | $232,091.79 |

Home Fields:

	Amount
To Gen. Conf. laborers in field on 1909 account	$28,568.30
To Gen. Conf. laborers in field on 1908 audit	2,163.59
Total	$30,731.89

	Amount
To Gen. Conf. employees on 1908 audit	$4,368.53

Departmental Expense:

	Amount
Educational Department	$2,725.67
Executive Department	15,435.11
Medical Department	3,029.07
Missionary Department	903.29
Missionary Volunteer Dept.	1,603.58
No. Amer. Foreign Dept.	1,155.82
Publishing Department	3,199.93
Sabbath-School Dept.	2,268.19
Swedish Department	46.56
Total	$30,367.22

Miscellaneous:

	Amount
Emergency calls	$676.93
Fifteen-per-cent fund	13,684.81
General Conference session	17,702.48
General expense	4,445.87
Sundry accounts	2,591.06
Harvest Ingathering camp.	14,754.03
Total	$53,855.18
Grand total	$351,414.61

	Amount
Total receipts	$371,854.84
Total disbursements	351,414.61
Receipts over disbursements	$20,440.23

Summary of Mission Receipts and Disbursements, 1905 to 1909

	RECEIPTS	DISBURSEMENTS
Deficit Jan. 1, 1905		$47,965.50
1905	$172,948.17	143,796.86
1906	212,296.85	163,755.56
1907	232,956.47	253,445.74
1908	270,405.96	272,873.08
1909	371,381.29	351,414.61
Balance Dec. 31, 1909		26,737.39
	$1,259,988.74	$1,259,988.74

I. H. EVANS, Treasurer for 1909.

Atlantic Union Conference

Statement of the $300,000 Fund to May 1, 1910

Atlantic Union Conference

Central New England .....$ 633.34 New York ............... 111.10 Greater New York ........ 598.08 Maine ................... 19.10 Southern New England .... 38.17

Northern New England .....$ 116.69 Western New York .......... 10.00 Total .................... 1526.48

Canadian Union Conference

Maritime .................. 12.68 Ontario .................... 5.70 Quebec ..................... 2.50 Total ...................... 20.88

Central Union Conference

Kansas ................... 246.95 Southern Missouri .......... 20.30 North Missouri ........... 389.87 Nebraska .................. 166.24 Western Colorado ........... 35.00 Wyoming ................... 447.15 Total .................... 1305.51

Columbia Union Conference

Chesapeake .................. 6.40 New Jersey .................. 5.00 District of Columbia ....... 116.05 Total ...................... 127.45

Lake Union Conference

East Michigan .............. 141.71 Indiana .................... 872.61 Totals ................... 1014.32

Northern Union Conference

Iowa ....................... 100.00 Minnesota .................. 2660.10 South Dakota ................ 20.00 Total .................... 2780.10

North Pacific Union Conference

Montana ...................... 1.95 Southern Idaho .............. 316.25 Upper Columbia ............... 29.44 Western Oregon ............... 14.80 Western Washington ........... 31.66 Alaska Mission ................ 1.85 Total ...................... 395.95

Pacific Union Conference

California .................. 761.01 Southern California .......... 106.46 Total ...................... 867.47

Southeastern Union Conference

Cumberland ................... 60.50 Florida ..................... 191.70 North Carolina ............... 18.93 Totals ...................... 271.13

Southwestern Union Conference

Arkansas ...................... 6.90 Oklahoma ...................... 95.29 Texas ........................ 20.00 Total ...................... 122.19

Southern Union Conference

Tennessee River ............... 5.00 Alabama ....................... 1.00 Total ........................ 6.00

Miscellaneous

England ...................... 490.00 New Zealand .................. 102.27 India ........................ 15.00 Total ...................... 607.27 Grand total .................$9044.75

Financial Report of the General Conference for the Year 1909

IN the following tabulated report, we submit an itemized statement of the receipts and disbursements of the General Conference for the year 1909. We also submit a statement of the receipts of the mission funds,—funds donated for the support of the evangelical work,—and the disbursement of the same.

We invite special attention to the last table, which is a Summary of Mission Receipts and Disbursements, 1905-09. This report is worthy of mention. The steady increase of receipts for missionary work is certainly encouraging. During the year 1909, the increase over the preceding year in the receipts for mission work, was more than $100,000. While the expenditures have nearly kept pace with the receipts, we still believe that the financial showing will be very encouraging to the Lord's people.

We certainly ought to increase our donations in 1910 over those of 1909. This year the Mission Board will need at least $100,000 above what was received last year, in order to carry its work as strongly as the conditions in the various mission fields demand.

A Visit to Chile

By N. Z. Town

On the morning of March 20 J. W. Westphal, A. N. Allen, and the writer left Buenos Aires en route for Chile, via the Andes. After an uneventful journey of forty hours we arrived safely at Santiago, Chile. The ride by coach over the summit was only about two hours, and the drivers were much more careful than when I made the trip two years ago.

After a stop of two days at the hospitable home of Brother Ed. W. Thomann, we went south, a ride of twenty hours on the train, to a small town where the annual conference was to be held. On reaching our destination we found that thoughtful friends had anticipated our coming; and we were taken to a snug corner curtained off in a comfortable room, where two good beds and other conveniences awaited us.

We were glad to meet here Brother and Sister F. H. Westphal, with whom we were associated for several years in the work in Argentina. They are growing gray in the work, but their hearts are as young and warm in the message as ever.

To one who has been accustomed so long to the Argentine plains, this visit to southern Chile was a pleasant change. Here we see woods on every side, and even the streets of the town where the meeting was held, wind in and out among the stumps. Sister Westphal showed us the skin of a tiger that a peon killed near their house not long ago. The buildings are all of wood, as are also most of the sidewalks.

The president's report showed that the Lord has richly blessed the cause in Chile during the past year. There has been an encouraging increase in the membership, and the tithe received showed a gain of more than four hundred dollars gold over the previous year. The Pua school also had a good year.

The tract society has had a hard pull during the last two years. To encourage the canvassers, the brethren had put very low prices on their books, resulting in financial ruin to the tract society. At this meeting a new schedule of prices was made, which resulted in raising the prices, on an average, about forty per cent. The canvassers were present to help arrange these prices, and voted them with good cheer. We believe this change will prove a blessing both for the canvassers and the office. During the last few years other commodities have gone up in Chile, in some cases more than one hundred per cent; and the brethren believed the time had come to put the prices on our books where the office can live.

Before the meeting closed, Brother Allen and I had to leave in order to catch our boat for Valparaiso for the north. April 4 we embarked, he for Mollendo, Peru, and I for Antofagasta, Chile, whence the train goes to La Paz, Bolivia, arriving here April 7. Those who have been absent from home six or eight months can perhaps imagine how I felt when I learned I must wait here in the hotel four and one-half days for the next train.

This town is the outlet of one of the mining districts of northern Chile, and is as barren, dirty, and desolate a place as one would wish to see. The people are largely English, who are in business here or connected with the railway and mines. This evening my train leaves, and I am glad to get away.

Some one has called Chile the “shoe-string republic,” and one does become impressed with its length when traveling in this country. The average width is about the same as from Philadelphia to New York; while its length would extend from the Atlantic coast to beyond Salt Lake City, Utah. In time our work will probably be divided into three parts, — a conference in the south, another in the center, with a mission field in the north. The outlook for the work in Chile is encouraging. N. Z. TOWN.

Continue reading: The Atlantic Union Conference