“Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”
How many parents have read these verses carefully, studied their real meaning, and found the duties they point out? Christ says “suffer,” or let, or permit, the children to come unto him. We are to do nothing that will in any way hinder them from coming to Christ,—“and forbid them not.” We are never to discourage one of the least of God’s children when trying to obey or work for him. Now if we neither hinder nor discourage them, we shall certainly do all in our power to lead them to their Creator.
We often hear parents say that their children do not seem to enjoy hearing the Scriptures read to them, or that they fail to interest their children in Bible truths. This condition of things ought not to exist. How can it if we have ourselves obeyed the commands of God to us in behalf of teaching our children from infancy?
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”
When Moses was instructing Joshua concerning the law, he said, “Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this law.” Joshua did as Moses commanded, as recorded in Joshua 8:35. He did not say, Mothers, let your children stay at home, but even the “little ones” came to hear the law of Moses.
We often see parents come to meeting, leaving their children at home, thinking that they cannot understand what is said, and that the only place they can learn anything is in the Sabbath school, where they are often sent without being taught the lesson at home, the parents excusing themselves by saying, “It is the teacher’s duty to do this in the class.”
Our children are the lambs, and we are the sheep, of the Lord’s pasture. Christ’s charge to Peter was, “Feed my lambs.” What Christ said to his disciples then, he addressed to all his followers in all ages.
Parents, we “need to understand that God desires us to educate, discipline, and train our children.” We should be “ministers of righteousness in the home.” God can fit children to be missionaries for him. He wants to do this work through us. Shall we let him? “How shall we do it?” I hear some one say. The Word of God answers: “He shall teach you all things.” “Christ . . . is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption;” and “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for . . . instruction in righteousness.” Every time we read the word “righteousness,” let us read it “right-doing.”
How happy we should be that to us is intrusted the glorious work of teaching our children the way of righteousness! and how thankful for the Word of God, which contains the precious truths to be taught, and the promise that Christ will be our teacher.
Let us so live before our children, and so instruct them, that when God asks, “Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?” we may answer, “Behold, I and the children whom God hath given me.”
“I think, when I read that sweet story
of old,
When Jesus was here among men,
How he called little children as lambs
to his fold,
I should like to have been with them
then.
I wish that his hands had been placed
on my head,
That his arms had been thrown
around me,
And that I might have seen his kind
look when he said,
‘Let the little ones come unto me.’
‘Yet still to the Saviour in prayer I
may go,
And ask for a share in his love.
And if I thus earnestly seek him be-
low,
I shall see him and hear him above.
In that beautiful place he has gone to
prepare
For all who are washed and for-
given,
O, may we at last find a glad welcome
there,
Safe at home in the kingdom of
heaven!’
A Beautiful Home-Life
A TEMPERANCE speaker relates, in Young People, a bit of experience that is as interesting as it is suggestive. She was to speak at a certain small town, where she arrived in the afternoon. At the station the visitor was met by the president of the local Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, a soft-voiced woman with a young face beneath silver hair.
As the two ladies were riding along the shady street, pupils from the public school began to throng the sidewalks.
At a crossing a bright-faced boy stood waiting for the ladies to pass, and lifted his cap with a courteous gesture and sunny smile.
The hostess leaned from the carriage with a pleasant greeting, and the gray cap covered the brown curls again as they drove on. “One of your Sunday-school class?” ventured the speaker.
“No,” replied the hostess; “my only son, Harry.”
As they approached the home, they nearly overtook a young girl of about fourteen, and a middle-aged man, walking briskly. The man was listening in a deferential way to the girl’s merry chatter. At the gate they paused; the man lifted his hat in a parting salutation, as he held the gate for the girl to precede him; then bowing, he passed on.
“This is our home; that is my husband.”
“And you have another guest, or, is the young lady a caller?” asked the speaker.
“That is our Margaret, our eldest. She and her father are great chums.”
That evening, at the daintily appointed tea-table, the youngest child, a bashful girl of seven or eight years, had the misfortune to drop and break a fragile piece of china. Her face crimsoned with distress, and the violet eyes lifted to her mother’s face were large with gathering tears. The speaker winced, dreading discordant notes where all had been harmonious. “I hope they will not send her away in disgrace—poor little thing!” her thoughts ran. But even as she thought, with perfect12courtesy the mother spoke the same conventional words of reassurance which she would have used had the honored guest broken the cup. Seeing the quivering lip of her cherished child,—her guest from God,—she added softly, “Mother knows you are sorry, dearest. Just let it pass, and overcome it,” while the father, with ready tact, engaged the speaker in conversation.
The speaker was charmed. That evening, walking with another white-ribboner, she could not resist saying, “Your president seems wonderfully blest in her children.”
“Yes, but she has anxieties as well as the rest of us,” was the unexpected reply. “Margaret has grown so winning that even the college boys would walk round by the high school to walk and talk with her, until her father quietly happened to be returning from the courthouse to his office, past their house, every time. Yes, it does take his time; but he is queer. He thinks that is one of the things his time is for. He thinks it pays.”—Selected.
Workers Who Never Strike
THERE is one class of laborers who never strike and seldom complain. They get up at five o’clock in the morning, and do not go back to bed until ten or eleven o’clock at night. They work without ceasing the whole of the time, and receive no other emolument than food and the plainest clothing. They understand something of every branch of economy and labor, from finance to cooking. Though harassed by a hundred responsibilities, though driven and worried, though reproached and looked down upon, they never revolt; and they cannot organize for their own protection. Not even sickness releases them from their posts. No sacrifice is deemed too great for them to make, and no incompetency in any branch of their work is excused. No essays or books or poems are written in tribute to their steadfastness. They die in the harness, and are supplanted as quickly as may be. These are the housekeeping wives of the laboring men.
If these women had the time to rest which their husbands spend in dramshops and dissipation, and if they had the money to spend which their husbands squander on liquor and tobacco, they would brighten their homes with comfort and sunshine, rear their children in respectability, and cause life’s desert to rejoice and blossom like the garden of the Lord.—Selected.
Does Fruit Require Cooking?
COOKING increases the digestibility of all foods with the exception of meat, for raw meat is more digestible than cooked meat. Cooked gluten will digest in half the time required to cook meat. Raw meat is easily digested. Raw gluten is not easily digested, but cooked gluten is. Cooking vegetable food increases its digestibility. The acids and juices of fresh uncooked fruits are, however, somewhat more valuable as a means of destroying germs and of sterilizing the stomach than are the acids of cooked fruits. So if a person who is bilious or has a foul stomach, and wishes an aseptic diet, will adopt a fruit diet for the purpose of sterilizing his stomach, he will find the acids of fresh fruit better than those of cooked fruit. This is why the grape cure has been practiced with so great success in Switzerland and many other places. The whole secret of the grape cure is that the acids of the grape destroy or prevent the growth of germs in the stomach; and those people who are troubled with foul stomachs, especially persons suffering from prolapsus and dilatation of the stomach, find great aid in the fruit cure,—in eating nothing but fruit for a short time. Those germs that feed upon meats, cheese, and all kinds of animal foods, are starved out upon a fruit diet, because they have no food upon which they can grow and thrive.
Professor Kiosoto, an eminent Japanese bacteriologist, Professor Koch, and others, have shown that the acids of lemons, apples, and other fruits—citric acid, malic acid—are capable of destroying all kinds of disease germs. Cholera germs are killed in fifteen minutes by lemon juice or apple juice, and typhoid fever germs are killed in half an hour by these acids, even when considerably diluted. If you squeeze a lemon into a glass of water containing cholera germs, and let it stand fifteen or twenty minutes, you may drink the water with impunity, as the germs will be dead; these juices will kill other disease germs.
In the acids of fruits we have an antidote for every kind of disease germ. It is well to remember this. You have only to eat freely of fruits to drive out of the stomach every bad germ.
Now, instead of telling a man to have his stomach washed out, we can tell him to drink orange juice, which will cleanse the stomach as thoroughly as a stomach tube, provided it is not a case of gastric catarrh. If we have to deal with gastric catarrh, in which there is a large amount of tenacious mucus adhering to the walls of the stomach, a stomach tube to dislodge it is required, but in ordinary cases of biliousness, foul tongue, bad breath, sick headache, and nervous headache a fruit diet is a wonderful purifier. The fruit diet will cleanse the stomach and the alimentary canal, and drive off disease germs, which are responsible for a large share of our ailments.—Good Health.
Six Things a Boy Should Know
1. THAT a quiet voice, courtesy, and kind acts are as essential to a gentleman as to a gentlewoman.
2. That roughness, blustering, and even foolhardiness are not manliness. The most firm and courageous men have often been the most gentle.
3. That muscular strength is not health.
4. That a brain crammed only with facts is not necessarily a wise one.
5. That the labor impossible to a boy of fourteen may be easy to a man of twenty-one.
6. That the best capital for a boy is not money, but a love of work, temperate habits, simple tastes, and a heart loyal to his friends and his God.—South Dakota Educator.
Alcohol Versus Food
THE TRUTH ABOUT ALCOHOL
1. A certain quantity will produce a certain effect at first, but it requires more and more to produce the same effect when the drug is used habitually.
2. When used habitually, it is likely to induce an uncontrollable desire for more in ever-increasing amounts.
3. After its habitual use a sudden total abstinence is likely to cause a serious derangement of the central nervous system.
4. Alcohol is oxidized rapidly in the body.
5. Alcohol, not being useful, is not stored in the body.
6. Alcohol is a product of decomposition of food in the presence of a scarcity of oxygen.
7. Alcohol is an excretion, and, in common with all excretions, is poisonous. It may be beneficial to certain phases of disease, but is never beneficial to the healthy body.
8. All medical men advise healthy persons to avoid alcohol altogether.
9. All connoisseurs advise people to avoid taking alcohol into the empty stomach.
10. The young, developing individual is always advised to abstain from alcohol.
11. The use of alcohol, in common with narcotics in general, is followed by a reaction.
12. The use of alcohol is followed by a decrease in the activity of the muscle cells, and the brain cells.
— Winfield S. Hall, M. D., in The Union Signal.
THE TRUTH ABOUT FOOD
1. A certain quantity will produce a certain effect at first, and the same quantity will always produce the same effect in the healthy body.
2. The habitual use of a food never induces an uncontrollable desire for it in ever-increasing amounts.
3. After its habitual use a sudden total abstinence never causes any derangement of the central nervous system.
4. All foods are oxidized slowly in the body.
5. All foods, being useful, are stored in the body.
6. All foods are products of constructive activity of protoplasm in the presence of abundant oxygen.
7. All foods are formed by nature for nourishment, and are by nature wholesome and always beneficial to the healthy body, though they may injure the body in certain phases of disease.
8. No medical men advise healthy persons to avoid food.
9. People are universally advised to take food into the empty stomach.
10. The young, developing individual is always advised to partake bountifully of food.
11. The use of foods is followed by no reaction.
12. The use of food is followed by an increase in the activity of the muscle and brain cells.
Three Little Rules
By Stella George Stern
THREE little rules we all should keep
To make life happy and bright:
Smile in the morning; smile at noon;
And keep on smiling at night!
— Stella George Stern, in St. Nicholas.
Protestant Missions in China
By J. N. ANDERSON
J. N. ANDERSON
BARRING the unsuccessful attempt of Conrad Lange, of Herrnhut, to enter China (1742) as a missionary, the beginning of Protestant missions in this empire dates from 1807, when Robert Morrison, a young man of twenty-five, was sent out by the London Missionary Society. In 1805 this institution firmly resolved to open gospel work among the Chinese, purposing as their first, and what proved to be their most effective, stroke to give the people of this land the Word of God in their own language,—a task which in those days seemed to many to be beyond the range of possibility. Up to that time only one Englishman had learned the Chinese language, and the conviction was general that men of the West could not acquire an adequate knowledge of it.
But in the year 1806 Messrs. Morrison and Brown were appointed, and directed to begin the study of Chinese, assisted by Young-sau-tak, a native of China then in England. Dr. Vanderkemp, a tried missionary in South Africa, was asked to join them, chiefly on account of his age, in consideration of the respect the Chinese pay to old age. He, however, did not feel that God called him out of Africa into China, and so declined. Mr. Brown also soon declined, and thus the work of enlightening almost one third of the human race fell to one single man—Robert Morrison. But he was as Gideon's band sifted by God, and then led to a great triumph. Assisted by his Chinese tutor, a Chinese harmony of the Gospels, Paul's epistles, and a Latin-Chinese lexicon, Mr. Morrison succeeded in gaining considerable knowledge of the Chinese language before leaving England.
In the month of January, 1807, he set sail, not for Penang according to the original plan, but for Canton; and owing to England's attitude toward foreign missions, he was obliged to go to China by way of America, where he formed the acquaintance of James Madison, then Secretary of State, who gave him a letter of introduction to the consul in Canton. He reached Macao, China, Sept. 4, 1807, where his presence was immediately detected by the Roman clergy, whose bigotry forced him to seek a more congenial place. Going to Canton, less than one hundred miles to the north, he secluded himself there, adopting for a time the dress and manners of the Chinese, until he saw that both the natives and his own countrymen avoided him.
THE GREAT GATEWAY TO PEKING
On account of trouble between the British and Chinese authorities, Mr. Morrison, in the year 1808, was compelled to go back to Macao, where, despite his danger from Catholics, Chinese, and the English themselves, he continued in his quiet, patient way to pursue his studies, having for his fixed object the translation of the Bible and the creation of a Christian literature for China. Dr. Milne very fittingly says of him, “The patience that refuses to be conquered, the diligence that never tires, the caution that always trembles, and the studious habit that spontaneously seeks retirement, were best adapted for the first Protestant missionary to China.”
Near the close of the year 1808 Mr. Morrison married Miss Morton, the daughter of John Morton, Esq., then on a visit to Macao; and on the same day he received an appointment as translator to the English manufacturing company at Canton. This made him financially independent, and at the same time it afforded him opportunity to use his Chinese. Other men might have been led astray by such opportunities, but not so with Robert Morrison; he never swerved from his settled purpose—to give China the Word of God. He pursued his studies assiduously; and as he had opportunity, he taught orally a few Chinese whom he gathered to himself behind locked doors. During this same year he prepared a grammar and part of the New Testament for the press, but the publication was deferred until later. In 1810 Mr. Morrison amended and revised the copy of The Acts of the Apostles he brought with him from England, but at great cost and risk of punishment. The next year (1811) witnessed the revision and enlargement of his Chinese grammar, but its publication was delayed until 1815, when the East India Company took it in hand. It was in this same year that he wrote his first Chinese tract on the subject of Redemption, to which was added in the following year a translation of the Gospel of Luke, which came out about the time a Chinese imperial edict was issued making the printing of Chinese books and the preaching of the gospel capital offenses. Many Roman Catholic missionaries, especially in Peking, were silenced and sent out of the country, but Morrison silently labored on, being seconded about this time by the arrival of Mr. Milne (July, 1813), whose labors, especially in Chinese colonies in the surrounding lands, proved a great success.
In the latter part of 1813 Mr. Morrison saw the New Testament translated into Chinese, and in the following year the first native convert was baptized. An English-Chinese lexicon was soon completed, and four years later, after hard, confining labor, the long-wished-for result was attained; namely, the entire Bible in Chinese, a copy of which he was permitted to present in person to the king of England during a visit which he made to England in the year 1824. His wife having died of cholera in Canton in 1821, Mr. Morrison married a second wife while in England, and returned to China in 1826.
Thus it is seen that for twenty years Morrison was the soul and center of Protestant missions in China. During these years his labors had been both incessant and arduous, yet the actual results, as far as the salvation of the Chinese was concerned, seemed virtually nothing. Had he pursued the wrong course? and was his life work a failure? If converts determine the answer to this question, we must reply in the affirmative. But we must look deeper. Many lives have been buried deep in the soil14of humanity, and few, if any, fruits have appeared until years have rolled by; and then, as by magic, these very lives as it were have come forth in an abundant harvest. So it was in the case of Robert Morrison. All the twenty-five years he spent in China were years of sowing; the harvest came later, and other hands gathered the grain. He had seen only a very few Chinese turn to God, but his work of translating the Bible, etc., brought near to China as never before the kingdom of God. Instead of blessing a few Chinamen, he blessed and continues to bless the entire Chinese race.
Robert Morrison fell asleep Aug. 1, 1832, just as his labors were beginning to bear fruit. He died in China, where the power and the fragrance of his life still remain.
About the time of his death a local persecution burst forth, and scattered the little company of native believers who had come to the light of the gospel through Morrison's labors. This was the situation when Dr. Medhurst, in 1835, arrived in Canton, to build on the foundation so well laid by Morrison.
This is a sketch of the history of Protestant missions in China for the first twenty-five years. Seemingly the great Middle Kingdom was still untouched, and people of the West felt themselves safe and at liberty only in the few treaty ports; and so in their effort to invade China proper the missionaries had gone to the hosts of Chinese settled in the Malayan Archipelago, where they studied the language, preached the gospel, founded schools, thus laying the foundation for a large work in the mother country. Twenty million pages of printed matter had been distributed, and in 1838 ten thousand children had passed through the mission schools.
But China itself must be entered; and, as is always the case, God had an instrument to lead the way. He moved upon the heart of Gützlaff, a German missionary sent out by the Netherlands Missionary Society, who, though in poor health, repeatedly risked his life by land and by sea. He traveled up and down the coast of China distributing tracts and other reading matter by the thousand without harm or molestation, to the great astonishment of the whole world. This led to an extended trip by Dr. Medhurst, whose colportage labor up and down the coast was the great step which prepared the way for a general missionary movement on all China, which has grown until to-day, instead of one society with a very few workers, there are forty-five or fifty different societies represented by about two thousand workers, assisted by more than six thousand native helpers. The stations and out-stations number about three thousand. Instead of being confined to a few treaty ports along the coast, they are scattered until every province of this great land has been entered.
For all this success we have every reason to be thankful to God, who has so marvelously wrought for this and other heathen lands within the last century. Many who sat in darkness have been brought to the salvation of our God. On the other hand, this world-wide missionary movement is the great sign and a necessary condition of our Lord's soon return, since it prepares the world for the advent message which makes the coming of Christ both expedient and urgent. And it is in this hour and for this crisis that we as a people have been called. China is ready for the message, and Christ bids us “go.”
Hongkong.
Porto Rico
By Mrs. Ida M. Fischer
Its Needs and Possibilities
MRS. IDA M. FISCHER
LOOKING at it not only from a financial, but from a missionary point of view, no acquisition of territory by the United States presents a wider field than this little island.
A PORTO RICAN HOME
The towns and villages are almost entirely Spanish, in both architecture and people. San Juan, the capital, rising as it were out of the sea, with the massive walls of Morro Castle, Fort Cristobal, the Palace, Casa Blanca, and the barracks, presents a picture, Spanish indeed, in all its grandeur. The tourist does not fail to take the steamer for a trip along the coast to Ponce, the second city in size, San Juan claiming to be the first. Most of the way between the ranges of mountains and the water, the level country appears, where grows the palm in all its beauty. Sugar cane is cultivated, and the tall chimneys of the sugar factories can be seen along the shore.
Generally, the vessel anchors at Humacao, the town proper having been built five miles inland because of fear of pirates. The next stop is at Arroyo, the port of Guyama, where sugar is loaded on the vessel. After several hours more of sailing, the tourist finds himself in Ponce.
In order to complete the tour, an overland trip is taken on the military road. Here the student of nature is lost to everything but the beautiful scenery around him,—steep mountains, broken into innumerable ridges, and little valleys, void of any timber save palms, bananas, and small trees, which afford a shade for the coffee shrub.
All along the road the monotony of the scenery is relieved by the little shacks made of grass, which seem to swarm with humanity. Although simpler in construction than many of the huts in the heart of Africa, they bear the name of home.
After traveling about twenty miles on the military road, one soon comes to Coamo Hot Springs. This place is considered the health retreat of the island. Many diseases are claimed to be cured by bathing in these springs. In fact, the benefits to be derived from their waters are recognized by many.
“The next point of interest is Aibonito Pass, the highest altitude on the road. It was here that the American army received word that the treaty had been signed by Spain. That they were planning an attack cannot be doubted, but because of its inaccessible and impregnable position, this would have proved unsuccessful.”
Cayey, the center of the tobacco district, soon comes to view, and one is surprised to see this plant being cultivated on such slopes, places where one would think nothing could be grown. But this is a characteristic of the soil here; if the land doesn't grow one thing, it will another.
One of the many needs of Porto Rico is capital. It is said that “Dr. Brioso, a member of the Executive Council, made a statement to the effect that the estimated money per capita in circulation is less than three dollars, and that of over thirty million dollars in mortgage loans outstanding, about thirteen million dollars is at twelve per cent interest, and the rest at higher rates; and these loans are said to be amply secured, and the interest promptly paid.”
When we stop to consider the possibilities of the island from an agricultural view, its untouched resources in sugar, coffee, fruit, cotton, and perhaps rubber, we question why men with means are holding back. During the winter months in the States, fruits and all the green vegetables sold in American markets, could be shipped, and excellent prices would be paid for them.
Many fincas (small property) and haciendas (large farms) are now standing idle, because the owners do not care to live on them, and are afraid to trust them to others.
The natives and their needs should appeal to us as a people.15
The inhabitants are divided into three classes: “the Spanish and those of Spanish blood comprising most of the planters, bankers, and business men, and owning the bulk of the property; the natives, of somewhat mixed blood, constituting probably three quarters of the population; and the emancipated slaves.”
These natives are very poor, living in only one-room shacks, their diet consisting mostly of plantains, bananas, and a little rice. As a general thing they are good natured, polite, and kindly, not prone to drunkenness. During my stay here, I have seen only two drunken Porto Ricans. While they are not total abstainers, they seem to realize some of the dangers associated with liquor. It is said that they never mix their drinks, and while they use liquor almost constantly, they never use it to excess.
“Many of them are quick and anxious to learn, but the policy of the Spanish government and hierarchy for four hundred years has been to keep them in ignorance and subjection, and it has not yet dawned upon the average peon that there may be open to him the same opportunities and possibilities as to the dominant race.”
It is estimated that nearly eighty per cent of the entire population are illiterate. Much has been done by the United States in establishing schools and furnishing good teachers, but they also need manual training. As one writer has said, “Half a dozen institutions like Hampton and Tuskegee would accomplish more beneficial results than a thousand libraries in the United States.”
Four hundred years of superstition and oppression have made it hard for the people to grasp the truths of the gospel; there are some who are seeking for light and peace. Many of them are willing to read if they only had the literature. As I go among the people, they manifest an interest in the literature shown them, and seem to regret that they are forced to say, “Yo tengo no dinero” (“I have no money”), and when given or loaned tracts or books, they seem almost to devour them.
That the principles of the message are leaving their impressions upon the minds of some is shown by the interest manifested in our work. We are anxious that the truth may take hold of this people, that the life and character of Christ may be manifested in their lives.
This is a needy field; surely the needs of this people must reach the hearts of those who are anxious to see the gospel go to every creature.
Mayaguez, Porto Rico.
Mission Notes
IN 1835 Paris had only ten Protestant churches; now in and around the city there are one hundred and five. In 1857 there were seven hundred and twenty-eight Protestant pastors; to-day there are over twelve hundred.
DURING the eighty-five years of its existence, the American Bible Society has distributed 68,923,434 Bibles. The last year the number was 1,554,128. Of this number 147,327 went to residents of the United States, and 973,615 to foreign lands.
THE book sales in Uganda for 1901, gathered from returns made from eighteen European and scores of native centers throughout that country, show that 785 Bibles, 2,375 New Testaments, and 4,980 Gospels and portions of the same were sold there last year.
DR. ASHMORE, in a recent article on the situation in China, shows that not much faith is to be placed on the dowager empress as a reformer. It is only by compulsion that she has been forced to adopt this rôle; and while she issues instructions for reforms, she may be counted on to try to prevent those reforms from being carried out. “However,” he says, “it may be depended upon that reform is to begin. So many declarations made public will of themselves stir up the desire and the anticipation. The vast masses of the Chinese are not content with existing conditions. In that fact lies the certainty that something will have to be done. And whatever is done, is going to create a tremendous opportunity for missions. Allow me to repeat it, that it is going to create a tremendous opportunity for missions.” — Exchange.
Our Assistants
ANGEL hands cast down the walls of Jericho, when the signal was given; and the same angels are sent forth still to do service for those who shall be heirs of salvation. Heb. 1:14. Our instructions are: “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life.” 1 Tim. 6:12. Jesus Christ is one with us, in our flesh, a merciful and faithful High Priest, to make reconciliation for our sins, and to succor us when we are tried by mighty foes; and he delivers us by “the power of an endless life.” Heb. 2:17, 18; 7:16.
Vain imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God are cast down by the power of the eternal Spirit; and every thought is brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. That means that we may have the perfect knowledge of God, which comes only by personal experience of his powerful presence in us; for to know God is life eternal.
“He that cometh to God must believe that he is.” To know the nature and character of God, and to believe that he is,—that he is everywhere present, filling all in all,—is the one thing essential to perfect victory over every enemy,—over the carnal mind and the lust of the flesh.—Selected.
An Open Prison
A COUNTRY where the jail is every day thrown open that the prisoners may wander forth at their own sweet will is unique. Such a land is Montenegro. Here, according to a writer in the Leisure Hour, little stigma attaches to an enforced residence in the wretched prison that almost fronts the royal palace. There are few criminals except those who have committed murder instigated by vendetta. Thieving is almost unknown, and is punished by public flogging.
Those who commit blood offenses are condemned to sleep for a longer or shorter period in the miserable prison. Restrictions disappear with the darkness, for at daybreak the doors are thrown open, and the prisoners are permitted to come forth and walk about the neighborhood, and talk or smoke and chat with friends upon the green square which faces the building.
One of the principal distinctions between these criminals and their fellows is that they carry no arms, a deprivation that is the greatest disgrace to a Montenegrin. According to the gravity of their crime, they are fettered on one or both feet. This heavy iron chain they hook with careless nonchalance into their belts, and walk the green proudly, knowing that none of their friends will think the worse of them because of the deed which brought them there.
Although prisoners, they still wear the national costume, for in Montenegro all are garbed in much the same fashion, little distinction appearing between prince and peasant, soldier and scholar. For the matter of that, every man is a warrior, trained to battle. He takes his turn to serve for a few weeks in each year in barracks and as bodyguard to the prince.
The universal dress is picturesque. Men and girls alike wear the capa, a headdress they never doff. Married women cover their heads with a lace veil. The capa is a red cloth cap bordered with black silk. It is regarded as symbolical. On the men's the letters “N. I.” are prominent. They stand for Nicholas I. In other respects the headgear of men and women is alike.
The red color is supposed to be in memory of the blood shed for freedom; the black border is mourning for the lost Servian empire, and the golden half moon recalls the centuries elapsed since the empire fell.
Besides the cap, a red, double-breasted short jacket is part of the costume. It is richly embroidered in gold or black silk. A bright-colored sash about the waist holds the weapons; full, baggy blue cloth trousers reach to the knees, and white woolen gaiters, hooked on with innumerable gilt hooks and eyes, cover the rest of the legs. The feet are encased in slippers of untanned goat's hide, while a cugna, a sort of long gabardine, woven of white sheep's wool, homespun, serves as upper dress for the poorer people. The rich employ for the purpose a beautiful robin's-egg green broadcloth, embroidered with gold. This completes the masculine attire.
The women wear a woolen skirt, with a long linen tunic beneath, and the cugna of white wool or broadcloth above.
Christ’s Love Shining on Our Faces
“It is only when Christ’s love shines on our faces that we open our lips in praise, and move our hands in service.”
Beautiful Things
BEAUTIFUL faces are those that wear —
It matters little if dark or fair —
Whole-souled honesty printed there.
Beautiful eyes are those that show,
Like crystal panes where earth fires glow,
Beautiful thoughts that burn below.
Beautiful lips are those whose words
Leap from the heart like songs of birds,
Yet whose utterance prudence girds.
Beautiful hands are those that do
Work that is earnest and brave and true
Moment by moment the long day
through.
Beautiful lives are those that bless,—
Silent rivers of happiness,
Whose hidden fountains but few may
guess.
