WORD has recently come that friends in England and America are sending contributions for famine relief. Through the influence of our board, I suppose, we have also had placed at our disposal one thousand dollars of the Americo-Indian famine fund. When I heard of the collections being made for us, I corresponded with Brother Ellery Robinson, who is in Bombay now, to see if he could take a trip to the famine districts and see if there was anything we could do independently to help any who otherwise would be left unaided. The famine district proper is about a thousand miles from Calcutta, and two or three hundred from Bombay.
Last week Brother Robinson visited several stations in the district. I hope he will be able to send you a report of his trip, though, as he writes me, it was the same dreary sight of famine scenes that all have been made acquainted with by photographs and descriptions. He writes that the upper-caste people seem to get on, and it is the low-castes that are suffering most. The wrecks of humanity are gathered about the relief stations and works. The greatest mortality has been from disease; and often when epidemics have broken out, the people, always more or less unmanageable, have flown in all directions, spreading disease, and dying unattended in the jungle and country roads.
Brother Robinson’s trip seems to have confirmed him in the view we have before had from the information obtainable, that the most effective way to use our funds at present is to turn them over to those on the grounds who have permanent stations, and a knowledge of the situation. To attempt relief work with a small amount of money in a country where we have no permanent work, and with practically no workers, would be useless. With all the ingenuity of the East to get the better of people, multitudes who might get on without relief are ready to take advantage of the general distress. It is not merely to give, but to give intelligently, that is required. Some large contractors have complained that the government relief camps and the general distribution have drawn away labor from their works, and thus disturbed the labor market. Such things are inevitable, and no doubt these successive famines will educate the people more and more to depend upon the government to feed and care for them. But the only thing to do when millions are on the verge of starvation is to help them to live, a task in which one of the difficult things is to secure the real co-operation of the sufferers themselves.
We will, therefore, so far as we know now, turn over money sent us to those who are on the grounds. I have given orders for specified amounts to be sent to several mission stations, and our friends may be assured that we will put the money where we believe it will be properly spent. Some have sent us money for general relief purposes. These amounts we have left free to use anywhere, and in India on all sides famine conditions practically exist in isolated cases all the time. The hurt of India is grievous, and its wound incurable. But when money is sent us marked “famine relief,” we do not feel free to use it save in those districts from which the reports have come that led to the sending of the money, or in actual famine territory elsewhere if rain fails in districts where we are working. I know that some money sent for famine relief in India is used in general relief. One missionary told me that prices were higher, and so help was being given to persons about the mission. But unless friends who contribute give directions that we can use such contributions wherever we see need, we cannot divert them.
It is a fact that the use of money as a means of influence is common in India. There is a general impression among the heathen that missions are so anxious for converts that they are willing to spend money freely to draw them. The idea is common that the man who “joins” does a society a favor that should be rewarded. This idea is cultivated by some mission methods, beginning even with infancy. We have had agents of a mission school try to get little girls of from six to ten years of age to leave our school and go to the other by the offer of toys, etc. And parents have been deceived, being told that the other school was under the same management as ours. With all this rivalry to get the people, we have nothing to do, and no little time and strength have we spent in trying to get people to understand that we work for a different object altogether. But the principle is so dimly apprehended that I am sure many have thought that, in spite of our proclamations to the contrary, we are anxious for converts to our society, and some have tried in ingenious ways to get in, and have gone off rather wrathful. But I think that even they have had a sort of respect for our methods. I am told that some among the native mission communities about Calcutta call ours a “virgin mission,” and say that we will be all right if we do not get corrupted by association with other missions. Whether this regard can stand the test of a consistent refusal to compromise, remains to be seen. We must work on different principles from those so much in evidence in these parts, or nothing can save us from being weighted down with the awful burden that other societies are carrying, to which the greater part of their money and strength are devoted, and that, too, with results that we would call unsatisfactory.
The other day a leading missionary organ said that some thought the ideal of a self-reliant, independent native church or community in India was five hundred years off. As things go, I should put it further off than that, if the world were to be continued. But that which they regard as the far-off ideal we regard as the first and most elementary step in the gospel, and we do not propose to take the second step till the first is learned. But of course the crowds will never come our way. We cannot make Christians. We cannot spend money to hold communities to us that are not held by the bonds of the gospel. We can only preach the word, and we know it has power to make Christians out of the Indian people who believe it.
Our first work is manifestly to go through India with the message, by the living preacher and the literature. Most naturally, as we have begun, the work will go first to the English and English-speaking mixed classes. This is the providential channel running all over the country, along which the stream of truth may flow. From this channel the influence will go out more or less to the native communities on all sides; and workers having the languages may be developed, who can work for the people in the vernaculars. We must do this work; it has been the burden laid upon every worker who has been in India, I think. But we have been so few, and with sickness and death to contend with, we have obtained but a foothold. In order to get the best results, and train workers in our methods, we need experienced help that can give time to language study, and can go out with native laborers to engage in the home work. The new wine cannot be put in the old bottles. I believe we shall yet get some of our best workers from the heathen communities. The most progressive example of a native Seventh-day Adventist I have seen yet is a convert direct to the message from Hinduism. The Christian community is so full of caste and practically heathen ideas, nurtured by the methods of compromise adopted, that it seems generally like a Lazarus, wakened from the dead, but still bound about with graveclothes, with none to loose him and let him go. But many in the midst of these communities are waiting for us to give them the word, and they will gladly receive it. It must be so.
I believe, in our interest to tell how rapidly the truth is going, that we sometimes overdo the matter. The deep interest in the work sometimes leads to talking about its progress in so enthusiastic a vein that the impression might be conveyed that we are doing a big work in these Eastern countries. That idea may easily lead to delay in doing more. If we get a man in a seaport town to giving away literature, in our enthusiasm we almost feel that the truth has been given to all the lands that the ships visit. We read of the threefold belt of our missions around the earth. Good! Let the earth be belted many times around. But where is India, for instance, in that belting of the earth with our missions? Aside from our medical workers, who are confined to institution work, and the zenana Bible workers, who find their field in Calcutta, and several native helpers, there are four or five men of us in the field in India, some of us tied pretty closely to the places where we are, too. We have tried to “scatter out,” as best we could. But imagine all North and South America, with the present population doubled, and then “scatter” about in it four or five men with their families, and two Bible workers, and fancy if you would like to hear enthusiastic references to the great work being done. We will not despise the day of small things; and all things have a beginning. We know that the brethren love to see the work go abroad, and also that the money given to advance it comes by sacrifice. In spending it I often see the vision of hands made12rough with toil and homes denied of comforts in order that the money may come. God bless those hands and homes! We never appreciated the royal grace of such hands so much as in a land where work is often less honorable than begging, and where nice, clean work like that of preaching or teaching is at a premium with some who scorn to do the kind of work that we sometimes do ourselves without a thought of anything unusual. We have had occasion to tell such that we know where the money comes from, and shall not spend a penny that we can help, in hiring persons who look upon mission work as a business profession. It is astonishing how often preaching or teaching the gospel is looked upon as a thing to do if a person can readily find no other work. We shall go slow, and wait for the Lord to do things. If we try to do them ourselves, we shall make the same mistakes that others have made.
More money and workers will be sent abroad if we do not look upon the foreign work as something aside, something to spend the surplus upon. That is the way with other denominations. They have their work at home, churches, pastorates, and institutions, and count upon the interest in missions to lead to special contributions to carry on the good work abroad. That is practically the way we do. Maybe it is the only practical way; for we know the home work must be built up and well officered as a basis from which to work. But really we wait and wait in entering these great fields, till revolution and political upheaval (as now in China) make the way most difficult, feeling that we must first see the home field covered, and the work well officered. Why is not the work abroad just as much the work of a home Conference as its “own” work? It is, I know, in interest and sympathy, but we do not belt the world abroad with stations as we do at home. Not till the gospel is preached in all the world will the Lord come. Then the sooner the message is carried abroad, the sooner will the Lord come in America. The foreign work is the home work, and may the Lord hasten the day when it will be more practically regarded as such. Yet we know the interest of the brethren, and realize that there are many sides to look at. Only remember that the law of perspective makes the distant object look small.
W. A. SPICER.
News and Notes
— King George, of Greece, has arrived at Paris.
— The population of Connecticut is 908,355; in 1890 it was 746,258.
— A $2,500,000 railroad station was recently opened in Nashville, Tenn.
— The British government has requisitioned 10,000 more Indian troops for Hong-Kong.
— Up to October 12 the total contributions to the Galveston relief fund were $979,595.
— Prof. Max Muller, of London, is ill, his condition being very critical, owing to a relapse.
— The Pennsylvania Railroad has ordered 150,000 tons of steel rails, at twenty-six dollars a ton.
— Teller, sixty miles northwest of Cape Nome, may soon supersede the latter place as a gold-mining center.
— It is reported that the United States would like the Danish West Indies, but will pay only $3,000 for them.
— During his trial for complicity in the murder of Goebel, of Kentucky, Henry Youtsey has become insane.
The Negro Baptists of Virginia have purchased a hotel at Wytheville, the same to be used by them for a college.
— Since October 1, 3,000 Spanish immigrants have arrived in Cuba, and 12,000 more are expected before November 1.
— The Carnegie Steel Company will hereafter “export its products by an all-water route from Lake Erie ports to Europe.”
— Dr. James Carlyle, the last surviving nephew of Thomas Carlyle, the English writer, died in Toronto, Ontario, October 16.
— Over 200 extra men are at work in the Brooklyn navy yard, seven cruisers and battle-ships being repaired and refitted there.
— By order of the military government, trial by jury was inaugurated in Cuba, October 9, and the writ of habeas corpus established.
— October 14 an American force rescued Captain Shields and fifty-one men who had been captured by the Filipinos in the Island of Marinduque.
— Lord Curzon, viceroy of India, reports the general condition of the crops to be excellent. The number of persons receiving relief at present is 2,746,000.
— The copper-plate engravers at Tiffany’s, New York City, although making from $50 to $100 a week on piece-work, are striking, to have their union recognized.
— The Independent says that the discovery has been made that innocent negro men and women have been kidnapped, and forced to labor in convict camps in Georgia.
— October 11 the allied forces under Field Marshal von Waldersee started at Pao-Ting Fu, and the German troops were ordered to occupy the railroads from Yang Tsun to Peking.
— Of 65,000,000 Paris Exposition tickets issued, about 15,000,000 are still unsold. In order to dispose of them, a series of fêtes will be held, several tickets being required for one admission.
— It is rumored that Sir Redvers Buller may succeed Lord Wolseley as commander-in-chief of the British army, owing to the fact that Lord Roberts declines to accept the position “without a free hand.”
— The Union Signal states that, “under the leadership of the Catholic priests, large numbers of the striking miners are taking the temperance pledge. Last Sunday (September 30) at St. John’s church, Pittston, Pa., the Rev. Father Garvey induced 1,300 members of his congregation to pledge themselves to abstain from all intoxicating drinks as long as the strike shall last, and at Holy Savior church, in Wilkesbarre, the Rev. Father Curran did the same with 800 men, who are strikers.”
— A Kentucky farmer cleared $500 on a five-acre watermelon patch.
— A minor Vatican official has been arrested, charged with complicity in the recent theft.
— In Germany there are 544,283 children below fourteen years of age engaged in industrial pursuits.
— An apple was raised in Kittitas County, Washington, this year, which was seventeen inches in circumference, or nearly six inches in diameter.
— The Italian government has sent to Washington, D. C., a protest against the “excessive liberty” accorded to anarchists in the United States.
— While cork and poplar are the lightest woods in the world, pomegranate is one of the heaviest, being more than one-third heavier than water.
— Marked agricultural prosperity is reported throughout the cane and sugar districts of Cuba. In three days 1,860 Spanish immigrants arrived at Havana.
— The new bridge to be built over the St. Lawrence, at Quebec, will have one span in it that will be the largest in the world. The structure will cost $5,000,000, and will not be finished until some time in 1904.
— A recent lawsuit in Liverpool, England, has revealed the fact that “millions of eggs are annually imported to Belfast, Ireland, from Russia, and then sent over to England and Scotland, and sold as fresh Irish eggs.”
— Rev. Charles Knippenberg, an American citizen, agent of the Missouri synod of the Lutheran church, at Hamburg, Germany, has been notified that he must serve a year in the imperial army or be expelled from Germany.
— Washington dispatches have confirmed the alarming news that yellow fever is raging in Cuba. It is said that in Havana “not a single block is exempt from the scourge, while in some as high as seventeen cases are reported.”
— Mr. Chamberlain, secretary of state for the colonies of Great Britain, speaking at Stourbridge, England, October 9, said: “Great Britain’s foreign policy, as I sum it up, is to remain on friendly terms with every great country in Europe, and on something more than friendly terms with the United States.”
— A dispatch from Pretoria, dated the 18th inst., states that “the Boers are daily tearing up portions of the railroad and cutting the telephone and telegraph wires. Their attacks are intolerable. The repairing linesmen can not leave the garrisoned points without considerable escorts. The only remedy seems to be to corral all the burghers and deport them, as apparently none can be trusted.”
— The great coal strike was practically ended October 17, the terms of the miners having been acceded to by the coal operators. The figures of the strike which began September 17, are as follows: “working days of strike, 26; number of men out, 137,000; loss to miners, in wages, $5,200,000; cost of State troops, $35,000; loss to railroad employees, $65,000; number of lives lost, 6; number of persons injured, 40.”
— It is stated, upon good authority, that “the criminal record of the American army in the Philippines can not be equaled by any army in Europe. The official report shows that during a period of less than eleven months, with an average number of 21,078 enlisted men, there were 12,481 cases of court-martial—an average of thirty-eight a day. The report further shows that from two to twenty American soldiers each day were brought before the police courts, charged with drunken outrages.”
— A Berlin dispatch of October 17 states that according to the Kölnische Zeitung “Prince Hohenlohe has tendered his resignation as imperial chancellor, and that it has been accepted,” and that “Emperor William has designated as the retiring chancellor’s successor Count von Buelow, minister of foreign affairs.” It seems that the reasons which led Hohenlohe to retire were “his rapidly growing infirmities, and his distinct disapproval of the emperor’s personal policy in China,” and that he had “expressed strong criticisms upon what he called the kaiser’s ‘sentimental and impulsive interference in the troubles in China.’”
— The heirs of Anthony Pollok, a victim of the “Bourgogne” disaster, “offered, soon after that event, prizes amounting to 100,000 francs ($20,000) for improved devices for life-saving at sea.” It is said that as a result of this offer, “over five hundred appliances” are now on exhibition in the Palace of Navigation and Commerce, in the Paris Exposition. One of these devices is the Salvator belt, patented by Lainé. It is made up of “four rubber pouches, which may be worn constantly on the person, under the clothes; when the wearer blows into a tube, the belt is inflated, and may then support two persons. If one of the pouches is torn, the others remain inflated.”
— “The sacredness of the cow,” says the Congregationalist, “has been enormously costly in India this famine year. When the rains failed and the pastures dried up, instead of killing and curing the cattle for food, as our American Indians would have done, and so helping to tide over the famine time, the cattle starved with their masters. And now that the rains have come again, the vital question of plows comes up. The cattle are dead; and unless the land can be plowed, there can be no harvest. It has become necessary to find plows light enough to be drawn by men. The government agents and agricultural experiment stations have addressed themselves to this need, and put on sale such light plows.”
THE RELIEF OF THE SCHOOLS.
By Percy T. Magan
Some Interesting Letters.
HERE are four letters, all of which are very interesting to me. They did me so much good that I thought the people who are coming to the RELIEF OF THE SCHOOLS ought to have the pleasure of reading them, too; so, without the names and addresses, I append them herewith, and add a prayer that the godly example of these kind friends will provoke others to good works:—
———, Sept. 16, 1900.
DEAR FRIEND MAGAN: Find inclosed a postal note for twenty dollars for the college debt. I am NO member of your church. I take the REVIEW, and believe everything that is printed in it. I am a lone widow.
———, Sept. 24, 1900.
DEAR BROTHER ADAMS: I am a little girl, ten years old. I had a missionary garden this summer, and got about one dollar out of it. I send you fifty cents to apply on the school debt, or school fund. May the Lord help us to pay off that debt.
———, Sept. 18, 1900.
A. G. Adams, Battle Creek, Mich.
DEAR BROTHER: Inclosed please find a post-office order for ten dollars, to help liquidate the debt on our schools. I earned the money working in the cannery at—. It is only a little, but it is with a thankful heart that I offer it. I wish it were a thousand dollars, instead of ten. The Lord is good, and I praise his name for giving health to earn that much. I trust the dear Lord will look on the freedom and gladness with which the money is offered, instead of on the amount. I pray that the Holy Spirit will incite all God’s people to duty, till the whole debt is paid.
———, Sept. 23, 1900.
P. T. Magan, Battle Creek, Mich.
DEAR BROTHER: My wife and I have been interested in the many items that have appeared in the REVIEW AND HERALD on the Relief of the Schools, and have been praying to be guided in our personal duty and interest that we may bear our share of the burden. We can not give as much as we would like to, but can give as much as we are required to. God does not require the impossible of any of his children. We have decided to give the proceeds of a month’s labor, whatever they may be, to the fund for the relief of the schools. We leave it to you to designate the month to labor in that direction, as our income varies, and we do not wish the devil to taunt or tempt us in any way. Are there not others who would be willing to set apart a certain time to devote exclusively to relief work?
Make all remittances for the big fund for the RELIEF OF THE SCHOOLS to A. G. Adams, Review and Herald, Battle Creek, Mich.
PERCY T. MAGAN.
SUMATRA
By R. W. Munson
We have just received several copies of the REVIEW AND HERALD, and they were as water to a thirsty soul. We feel so grateful for the REVIEW that we desire to record our appreciation of its pages, which are indeed full of solid food. There is a marked contrast to the church papers of other denominations. We have also been just feasting on the Medical Missionary and Gospel of Health, which is a great improvement on the old plan. It seems so much brighter and fresher and more helpful, but I doubt not that this is due largely to the circumstances under which we are placed. I think it is an invaluable coadjutor for the missionary, whether at home or abroad. The children look expectantly for the arrival of the Instructor, and enjoy its pages.
I am glad to report progress, good health, and a cheerful outlook into the future. The day school for boys continues to grow, and has at present an enrollment of fifty-three, which will certainly be increased in a few days. Indeed, every month witnesses an increase of four or five new members. Just at present we are exercised over the opening of a boarding school for boys. We have made it the subject of much prayer, and the Lord has shown us by his providential leading that he wants the work begun. We therefore feel sure of success. This we are confident will develop, and in a few months support the man and his wife whom we are expecting out to help us.
We have had the joy of receiving an entrance to one Dutch home with the message, chiefly through the use of Dutch tracts. The Sabbath was the first subject presented after that of the Lord's second coming. The old lady who is the head of the house gladly received the word in all readiness of mind, and began to search the Scriptures to see whether these things are so. The result has been a hearty and sincere acceptance of the message. She is now reading on the nature of man. If we had more time to visit among the Dutch residents, we could accomplish much more than we do.
The desirability, even the urgency, of medical work is beginning to press hard upon our minds. I have begun to introduce the health foods, and they are meeting with an encouraging reception. With judicious management, I think a good business can be built up, which will take a great deal of one man's time.
Our Sunday morning service is variously attended. Some weeks we have a full house. Our service is held on our commodious back veranda, which is the most cheerful part of our house, and where we spend most of our time. Other days the attendance is scanty, but there is always somebody to listen. Among the Chinese, we are known as “the Jews,” because, I suppose, the Europeans who know we are Sabbath-keepers have so stigmatized us. This has one result at least: it awakens curiosity, and leads some to come to our services who would otherwise not pay any attention to us. To the natives we simply explain about the law of God, particularly the fourth commandment, and say that we suppose we are called Jews because we keep the same day as the Sabbath that the Jews keep. We feel no cringing of the flesh because of this, but rather rejoice that unwittingly our detractors are uttering a sublime truth; for we are glad to reckon ourselves among the children of Abraham by faith.
In view of the sublime truths we have to proclaim and the opportunities presented here, we feel a profound sense of our unworthiness, which at times is overwhelming. It is then Satan assails us most fiercely, but he shows his lack of sense; for the result is always to drive us to our Refuge for relief and renewed strength. We are finding more and more the power of prayer in our extremities. God is a very present help in time of trouble. Nothing, absolutely nothing, but the power of the Holy Spirit, and the fullness of the Spirit at that, can meet the responsibilities of the foreign fields. But what a tower of strength has the missionary who has learned to rely upon God in every emergency! This necessitates waiting much upon God in prayer, and this leads to a study of the word.
How little of God is there in the world, or in the “church” either, for that matter! As I study more and more the truth for these days, the more startling does the close resemblance appear between this age and the days of Noah. To what a terrible awakening will the world of sinners be brought! What a sad day will it be for the foolish virgins, who are waiting for the Bridegroom, but who are not ready to meet him! I wonder how many Seventh-day Adventists will be among this number.
The government here, as in Holland, supports both Roman Catholic and Protestant ministers; and so, we have reason to expect, will not become a persecuting agent against keepers of the Lord's day—the Sabbath of creation and of the law. Thus far we have met with only the kindest treatment from the government officials. Indeed, we have had nothing but kindness shown us from any source. The policy of the government is to safeguard the interests of the state by not permitting more than one society to labor in a given field among a given race. Permission must be obtained before work can be undertaken; but when once given, the society so authorized is quite sure of a clear field, and no interference or competition from others. There may be objections to this policy, but objections are of no avail. As a rule, it has thus far worked satisfactorily in the Netherlands Indies. In some fields where large numbers have been converted, the government is very liberal in furnishing state aid in the support of missionaries where the societies that organized and began the work could not carry it on. This has not had the happiest results in some places, as men sent out by the government were not orthodox in their faith, and much harm to the native converts resulted. Private missionary enterprise is certainly the only Scriptural plan of spreading the gospel. But I set out to say that as we had been authorized to labor among the Chinese here, there is no probability of interference or interruption from any source except Satan; but our trust is not in the government nor in its protection, but in God.
We hope soon to open a school for Chinese girls. There is every indication that it would succeed. Indeed, there are many avenues that might be entered, but the preaching of the word is the main business. Yet, in order to be self-supporting in whole or in part, we must push out in these ways that offer some means of acquiring an income and at the same time give an opportunity of instructing the children in the Third Angel's Message.
In conclusion I say, “PRAY FOR US.”
R. W. MUNSON.
Padang, Sumatra, West Coast, Neth. East Indies.
KANSAS CAMP-MEETING.
By R. M. Kilgore
When I arrived, the meeting was well begun, with a good representation of our people in attendance. Emporia is a large city, but on account of the distance of the camp, and the incessant rains, but few not of our faith attended. The water and mud made it necessary to move the large tent and several small ones to a higher point of land. These circumstances caused many of the campers, and some of the laborers, to abandon the field. The meetings were greatly interrupted, and the camp was threatened with dissolution. But the mists cleared away, and the last two days of the meeting brought with them blessings, both temporal and spiritual.
The Lord gave freedom to his servants in the preaching of the word. Souls were converted, and several persons were baptized. During the meeting Elder J. W. Westphal conducted a series of lessons on the church and its character and work; Elder G. G. Rupert gave consecutive lectures on prophecies bearing especially on the present and the immediate future. Both of these elicited much interest on the part of all who engaged in the studies. Elder Shultz and Professor Böttcher labored for the Germans, with good results; and Elder Covert and Sister Emerson labored in the interests of the youth and children. Elders C. Mc Reynolds and J. E. Jayne and Dr. Loper did all they could. Prof. P. T. Magan was present, but was not able to speak.
The conditions were such that too little could be done toward raising funds for the objects usually presented; but Kansas is not behind in missionary effort, and her contributions for both home and foreign fields are always good, under favorable circumstances.
The Conference will hold its business session in December next. On my way from Emporia, I stopped at Black Rock, Ark., where Elder Field and Brother Griffin were holding a local camp-meeting. I spoke four times. But few of our people were in camp. Those who were present received the word and enjoyed the studies. The tent was well filled with those not of our faith, who gave good attention every night. As my stay was necessarily brief, the results must be reported later. R. M. KILGORE.
ORGANIZATION OF CUMBERLAND MISSION FIELD INTO A CONFERENCE.
By Smith Sharp; J. W. Franklin
At a meeting held on the Harriman camp-ground, Sept. 14, 1900, steps were taken to organize the Cumberland Mission Field into a Conference. After the opening exercises, Elder G. A. Irwin spoke of the necessity of organizing this mission field into a Conference. The mission field now comprises four hundred and fifty members, and pays an annual tithe of about thirty-eight hundred dollars.
The Chair appointed the following committees: On Plans of Organization: Elder C. A. Hall, Prof. C. W. Irwin, W. E. Haskell. On Nominations: Elder N. W. Allee, E. R. Gillett, J. W. Franklin. On Credentials and License: A. F. Harrison, G. W. Wells, E. D. Haskell.
The Committee on Organization offered the constitution that is usually adopted in our State Conferences, with the following exceptions: Art. VII, Sec. 1, “Each organized church in the Conference shall be entitled to one delegate, and an additional one for every ten members.” The constitution was so amended that the delegates to the General Conference are to be elected at the annual Conference session. It was decided that the organization shall go into effect Jan. 1, 1901; also that the general Conference shall settle with all laborers and receive tithe until that time; and that one half of the tithe of the last quarter of 1900 go to the Cumberland Conference, and the other half to the General Conference.
The constitution for the Sabbath-school Association, and also the one for the tract society, were adopted without amendment.
Credentials were given to Elder Smith Sharp. Ministerial license was given to Geo. Wells, Hugh W. Jones; and missionary license to E. W. Carey, W. E. Haskell, J. W. Franklin, Mrs. Mettie Lenker, Mrs. Laura Whitgrove, Miss Carrie Lowwell.
The officers elected were as follows: Conference President, Elder Smith Sharp; Secretary, J. W. Franklin; Treasurer, the Tract and Missionary Society. Executive Committee: Smith Sharp, A. F. Harrison, and Geo. W. Wells. Sabbath-school Association: President, Geo. W. Wells; Secretary, Miss Ethel Craw; Third Member of the Advisory, or Executive, Committee, Mrs. A. F. Harrison. Tract and Missionary Society: President, Elder Smith Sharp; Vice President, Hugh W. Jones; Secretary and Treasurer, E. W. Carey; State Agent, R. H. Patterson; District Directors, E. W. Carey (District 1, eastern Kentucky), Hugh W. Jones (District 2, eastern Tennessee).
It was decided that this Conference present a request to enter the General Conference, at its next session; also that it send a representative to the next General Conference; that the new officers of Sabbath-school Association of the Cumberland Conference enter upon their duties at once; and that the funds for the last quarter of the Sabbath-school686society of the Cumberland Mission Field go to the Sabbath-school society of the Cumberland Conference. The financial condition of the Conference is good. The expense of the camp-meeting this year was fifty-one dollars, and the receipts were fifty-three dollars. Seventy-two dollars and fifty cents was raised for the tract and missionary work. There was also a hearty response to the call for pledges in behalf of the educational work.
SMITH SHARP, Pres.,
J. W. FRANKLIN, Sec.
ATLANTIC CONFERENCE.
By H. W. Cottrell
The annual session of the Atlantic Conference was held at Jersey City, N. J., Sept. 25-30, 1900, as previously announced. The various churches of the Conference were well represented by their several delegates. The attendance was good. Besides the ministers of the Conference, Elders Allen Moon; I. H. Evans; A. G. Daniells, of Australia; G. B. Thompson, of New York; L. T. Nicola; and the writer were present.
The occasion was one of victory. The Spirit of the Lord was present throughout the entire period, and on the part of many was manifested in unusual quietness under a severe test. The preaching was done by the ministers from abroad, who enjoyed the freedom of the Spirit of Christ in drawing practical lessons from the word of the Lord.
The various departments of the work received due consideration. Two new churches were received into the Conference. Elder A. E. Place was again elected president. Brethren Jesse C. Stevens and R. G. Patterson were ordained to the sacred work of the gospel ministry. H. W. Cottrell.
