Central New England ........ $ 2,635.61
Chesapeake .................. 519.04
Eastern Pennsylvania ........ 1,888.18
Greater New York ............ 495.33
Maine ....................... 563.78
New Jersey .................. 552.63
New York .................... 1,626.50
Southern New England ...... 1,158.50
Vermont ..................... 1,190.71
Virginia .................... 468.58
West Pennsylvania ........... 1,377.84
West Virginia ............... 381.51
Western New York ............ 1,675.50
Total ....................... 14,533.71
East Michigan ............... 2,437.01
Indiana .................. 5,177.27
North Michigan .............. 693.74
Northern Illinois ........ 2,778.31
Ohio ........................ 4,952.50
Southern Illinois ........... 1,136.29
West Michigan ............... 4,706.15
Wisconsin ................... 3,602.47
Total ....................... 25,483.74
North Pacific Union Conference
Conference not specified .... 429.66
British Columbia ............ 122.80
Montana ..................... 497.63
Upper Columbia .............. 2,286.53
Western Washington .......... 1,909.78
Idaho ....................... 884.90
Western Oregon .............. 2,129.94
Total ....................... 8,261.24
Northern Union Conference
Alberta ..................... 200.80
Manitoba .................... 305.30
Saskatchewan Mission Field .. 47.60
Minnesota ................... 5,283.50
South Dakota ............. 2,645.47
North Dakota ............. 1,949.13
Conference not specified .... 73.82
Total ....................... 10,505.62
Pacific Union Conference
Arizona .................. 387.74
California-Nevada ........... 7,766.59
Southern California ......... 1,189.61
Utah ........................ 395.08
Total ....................... 9,739.02
Southern Union Conference
South Carolina .............. 144.39
Alabama ..................... 433.89
Tennessee River ............. 1,119.61
Florida ..................... 613.54
North Carolina ........... 587.21
Kentucky .................... 30.36
Cumberland .................. 876.36
Louisiana ................... 390.61
Mississippi ................. 254.59
Georgia .................. 408.47
Total ....................... 4,859.03
Southwestern Union Conference
Not specified ................ 20.18
Arkansas .................... 384.86
Oklahoma .................... 2,631.21
Texas ....................... 1,203.41
Total ....................... 4,239.66
Unknown
Unknown ..................... 158.20
Foreign
Algeria .................. 13.33
Australia ................... 163.84
Bermuda ..................... 36.00
China ....................... 31.60
South Africa ................ 278.16
Jamaica ..................... 13.41
Yukon Territory ............. 20.00
England ..................... 263.06
West Africa ................. 14.06
Mexico ...................... 2.00
Costa Rica .................. 6.25
India ....................... 122.34
South America ............... 41.80
Switzerland ................. 9.69
Panama ...................... 19.00
Nicaragua ................... 4.00
Central American Mission .... 26.00
Trinidad .................... 28.69
Norway ...................... 25.00
Japan ....................... 12.50
Hayti ....................... 5.00
Egypt .................... 51.55
Palestine ................... 2.00
Tobago, W. I. ............... 1.22
Cuba ........................ 8.00
Hungary ..................... 3.00
Tahiti ...................... 11.88
France ...................... 6.80
Philippine Islands .......... 1.00
Samoa ....................... 8.00
Total ....................... 1,220.18
Grand Total .................. $98,193.34
I. H. EVANS, Treasurer.
One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollar Fund
By A. G. Daniells
For Special Work at Home and Abroad
Think of This
If our brethren and sisters whom God has ordained shall remain at the base of supplies, could fully realize how hard their brethren who are placed in responsible positions in the cause are often pressed, they would certainly act promptly in providing relief. “The King’s business” requires haste. His messengers can not at all times control affairs, and it is well that they can not. God’s providences sometimes compel quick action, and call for decisions and advance moves that we are unprepared for at the time.
Then it is that the rank and file of our people should be prompt to act in helping those who are pressed into hard, trying places. Here is an incident that illustrates this point:—
In one of our mission fields those in charge of the work were compelled to provide educational facilities for the young people. In their efforts to do this they found a place that seemed exactly suited to their requirements. After the most careful investigation and prayerful counsel they all agreed that the place should be purchased. But this would involve them in the payment of two thousand dollars, for which no provision had been made by the brethren in the home land. They could not raise it themselves. They could secure only a limited time in which to make a final decision.
In this situation they wrote to our Mission Board for counsel. This counsel failed to reach them before the expiration of the time allowed for making their decision. They must either decide to take the place without knowing whether they could get more help or lose the opportunity. This was a hard problem. But they made the purchase, and then waited with great anxiety for word from our Board. That word advised them to secure the place, and promised the financial help required. The following paragraph taken from a letter to the Board gives some little idea of the great anxiety they were under, and the relief the promised help brought them:—
As my husband is not here to reply to your letter, I will do so for him. I wish he could know the good news your letter conveyed to us. He was much disappointed because he had to go away before hearing from you, and he went off with a heavy burden on his mind and heart. We have all looked anxiously for a letter, and I wish you might have seen the rejoicing yesterday when Brother Cobban came with the mail. One of the girls, a regular “Topsy,” said “Hi, Yi,” and then jumped about a foot in the air. Sister Hughes cried, and Professor cried, and Brother Cobban looked pale and serious. Professor Hughes has worked so very hard, and you can imagine what a relief your letter brought to him. If I knew where to catch him, I would send Mr. Bender a cablegram, for I know he is anxious and worried.
Who can read this without tears? It was not intended for publication, but it is worthy of it. And this is but one of many like experiences that are taking place in all parts of the world. If we all fully realized how hard our brethren are often pressed, and what great relief our gifts bring to them, we would not be so negligent as we often are in giving what we fully intend to give.
Now, the $150,000 is to render help to our brethren who are in charge of struggling enterprises in great need of help. Every dollar of this fund is needed this minute. Then will not our brethren act at once? A. G. DANIELLS.
Higher Aspirations
By Mrs. R. C. Baker
MRS. R. C. BAKER
ONCE I thought it would be sweet
To wear the laurel wreath of fame;
To hear the world's glad plaudits greet
The faintest echo of my name.
But O, how vain and transient all
Earth's glittering treasures I have found!
Its pleasures on the senses pall,
Its fame is but an empty sound.
But though it may not be my lot
Upon earth's gilded page to shine,—
The goal by mortals madly sought,—
A high ambition still is mine.
This is my aspiration high,
When past these scenes of toil and strife,
To find my name indelibly
Recorded in the book of life;
To stand amid the ransomed throng
Who through much tribulation come,
To join the glad triumphal song,
And find at last in heaven a home;
To hear my Saviour's glad "Well done,"
Crowned by his hand salvation's heir,
What triumph mortals e'er have won
Can with that hour of bliss compare?
Then let earth's glittering bubbles break,
Her rainbow-tinted glories die,
With longings deep my heart shall ache
For deathless joys beyond the sky.
Markham, Ontario.
Ruling the Spirit
By Ellen G. White
MRS. E. G. WHITE
“He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.” He has conquered self,—the strongest foe man has to meet.
The highest evidence of nobility in a Christian is self-control. He who can stand unmoved amid a storm of abuse is one of God's heroes.
To rule the spirit is to keep self under discipline; to resist evil; to regulate every word and deed by God's great standard of righteousness. He who has learned to rule his spirit will rise above the slights, the rebuffs, the annoyances, to which we are daily exposed, and these will cease to cast a gloom over his spirit.
It is God's purpose that the kingly power of sanctified reason, controlled by divine grace, shall bear sway in the lives of human beings. He who rules his spirit is in possession of this power.
In childhood and youth the character is most impressible. The power of self-control should then be acquired. By the fireside and at the family board influences are exerted the results of which are as enduring as eternity. More than any natural endowment, the habits established in early years will decide whether a man shall be victorious or vanquished in the battle of life.
In the use of language, there is, perhaps, no error that old and young are more ready to pass over lightly in themselves than hasty, impatient speech. They think it is a sufficient excuse to plead, “I was off my guard, and did not really mean what I said.” But God's Word does not treat it lightly. The Scripture says: “Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? there is more hope of a fool than of him.” “He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.”
The largest share of life's annoyances, its heartaches, its irritations, is due to uncontrolled temper. In one moment, by hasty, passionate, careless words, may be wrought evil that a whole lifetime's repentance can not undo. O, the hearts that are broken, the friends estranged, the lives wrecked, by the harsh, hasty words of those who might have brought help and healing!
Overwork sometimes causes a loss of self-control. But the Lord never compels hurried, complicated movements. Many gather to themselves burdens that the merciful Heavenly Father did not place on them. Duties he never designed them to perform chase one another wildly. God desires us to realize that we do not glorify his name when we take so many burdens that we are overtaxed, and, becoming heart-weary and brain-weary, chafe and fret and scold. We are to bear only the responsibilities that the Lord gives us, trusting in him, and thus keeping our hearts pure and sweet and sympathetic.
There is a wonderful power in silence. When impatient words are spoken to you, do not retaliate. Words spoken in reply to one who is angry, usually act as a whip, lashing the temper into greater fury. But anger met by silence quickly dies away. Let the Christian bridle his tongue, firmly resolving not to speak harsh, impatient words. With the tongue bridled, he may be victorious in every trial of patience through which he is called to pass.
In his own strength man can not rule his spirit. But through Christ he may gain self-control. In his strength he may bring his thoughts and words into subjection to the will of God. The religion of Christ brings the emotions under the control of reason, and disciplines the tongue. Under its influence the hasty temper is subdued, and the heart is filled with patience and gentleness.
Hold firmly to the One who has all power in heaven and in earth. Though you so often fail to reveal patience and calmness, do not give up the struggle. Resolve again, this time more firmly, to be patient under every provocation. And never take your eyes off your divine Example.
God's ideal for his children is higher than the highest human thought can reach. “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” This command is a promise. The plan of redemption contemplates our complete recovery from the power of Satan. Christ always separates the contrite soul from sin. He came to destroy the works of the devil. And he has made provision that the Holy Spirit shall be imparted to every repentant soul to keep him from sinning.
The tempter's agency is not to be accounted an excuse for one wrong act. Satan is jubilant when he hears the professed followers of Christ making excuses for their deformity of character. It is these excuses that lead to sin. A holy temper, a Christlike life, is attainable by every repenting, believing child of God.
Joint Heirs with Christ
By W. S. Hyatt
W. S. HYATT
“BEHOLD, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.” 1 John 3:1. The Lord calls upon all to behold his love. Love can be seen by its results, and the Lord calls upon all to behold the love that would make a race of prodigals “the sons of God.” The world lies in wickedness, but now and then a prodigal comes to himself, and says, “I will arise and go to my Father.” The Father saw him while he was yet a great way off, and ran to meet him. Love for the erring covered the sins of ingratitude, and the wanderer is made to realize that he is truly a son, and not a servant, although unworthy of the least of this parental affection.
We may behold this manner of love, but not understand it; we may enjoy its blessings, but not comprehend its greatness. How it is possible for a race of rebels to be transformed into sons of God will be the mystery of this life, and only eternity can reveal it to us. Nevertheless, it is a truth to the believer, for “to them gave he power to become the sons of God,” and they are adopted into the royal family (Gal. 4:5), and loved the same as the only begotten Son. John 17:23. Thank God for an “adoption” that makes the prodigal to realize that he is not a servant, but a son; and, also, for the spirit of true sonship whereby he can look up with a filial confidence and say, “Father, Father.”
The conditions by which we may become sons of God are clearly stated. “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” 2 Cor. 6:17, 18. And again he says, “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.” Rev. 21:7. Now listen to the promise whereby this may be accomplished: “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” John 1:12. Truly this is a wonderful privilege to the believer. “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.” Rom. 8:17. Language fails us when we attempt to express the greatness of these9blessings. But the reader will note that these children are to “inherit all things.” The inheritance is not to be divided among the members of the family, for he says to each and every one who overcomes, “He . . . shall inherit all things.” These children are joint heirs with Christ, and in his love for them the Father grants to them the same privileges to the inheritance that he does to his son Jesus. Together “the whole family in heaven and earth” enter upon this inheritance and enjoy it forever.
Such love, such condescension, can be found only in the wonderful love of God, and is worthy of our “beholding.” Should not every child of God join in showing “forth the praises of him who hath called” us? Men love to extol the virtues of those who are their friends. Therefore the believer should never lose an opportunity to speak God’s praises and show forth his virtues. Truly we may join in the words of praise, “Who is like unto thee, O Lord, . . . glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?”
Cape Town, South Africa.
Things that Differ
By John Norton Loughborough
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH
PAUL, in his prayer for the Philippians, offered the following petition: “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ.” Phil. 1:9, 10.
In the margin, for “judgment” it reads “sense.” The true religion of Christ is a sensible thing. So the apostle would have the Philippians show abundance of good sense. This agrees well with his statement made to Timothy, that “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” 2 Tim. 1:7. Having this sense, they could “approve things that are excellent,” or, as expressed in the margin, “try the things that differ.”
The apostle knew that differences would arise. These differences might come from various causes. One which he warned against was “oppositions of science falsely so called.” 1 Tim. 6:20.
Again: Differences would arise from the presentation of strange doctrines. To Timothy he said, “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenæus and Philetus; who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.” 2 Tim. 2:15-18. Notwithstanding it was and is the privilege of each and every follower of Christ to receive the Holy Spirit as a guide, yet Paul said to the Corinthians, “But fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtility, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” 2 Cor. 11:3. Paul had the same fear for the Galatians, and gave them this instruction: “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” Gal. 1:8. There was a tendency on the part of the people to drift into false theories of the Scriptures. So he admonished, in the ministerial charge to Timothy, “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine.” 2 Tim. 4:2. To Titus, when he was sent to look after the needs of the churches, that he might “set in order the things that are wanting,” Paul said, “There are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake. . . . Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith.” Titus 1:10-13.
Although it was the privilege of all to have the Spirit’s aid to guide them into truth and harmony, yet the apostle readily saw a danger of being turned aside. So to the Corinthians he wrote: “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”
In the same epistle the apostle defines their condition of mind thus: “For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every one?” 1 Cor. 3:3-5.
Again he said of them, even in their professed celebration of the Lord’s supper, “For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies [“sects,” margin] among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.” 1 Cor. 11:18, 19.
It seems, under these trying circumstances, there was to be an approval of teachers among them by some one. On this point we read in “Early Writings,” Supplement to Experience and Views, pages 15, 16: “I saw that the church was in danger in the apostles’ day of being imposed upon and deceived by false teachers. Therefore the brethren chose men who had given good evidence that they were capable of ruling well their own house and preserving order in their own families, and who could enlighten those who were in darkness. Inquiry was made of God concerning these, and then, according to the mind of the church and the Holy Ghost, they were set apart by the laying on of hands. Having received their commission from God, and having the approbation of the church, they went forth baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and administering the ordinances of the Lord’s house, often waiting upon the saints by presenting them the emblems of the broken body and spilled blood of the crucified Saviour, to keep fresh in the memory of God’s beloved children his sufferings and death.”
Of course the self-sent ones plead for liberty. While there was liberty in Christ from any bondage with which Judaizing teachers might wish to burden them, and in Christ a freedom from the condemnation of sin, and a freedom to each to seek the Lord for the guidance of his Holy Spirit for themselves, there was a danger of following their own spirit instead of the Spirit of the Lord. So the apostle told them, “Ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh.” Gal. 5:13.
It is possible that those addressed took, in its broadest sense, the worldly definition of liberty: “The power in every rational agent to make his choice and decide his conduct for himself, spontaneously and voluntarily in accordance with reason and motives.” It is true that every soul has the power of freely10making his choice of the master he will follow, but he must at last receive the results of that choice, whether a wise or an unwise one. It is not even in the province of the gospel to compel him to follow the right, but to admonish, as did Peter when he spoke of the believers as being “free, and not using . . . liberty for a cloak of maliciousness [“extreme enmity or disposition to injure.”—Webster], but as the servants of God.” 1 Peter 2:16.
While it is true that Christ promised the Spirit to abide with his people to the end, and sent it to reprove the world of sin, and to teach of righteousness and of judgment to come, yet he committed the preaching of the gospel to men. Even the Holy Ghost in its work made men “overseers.” So at Miletus Paul said to the elders of the church whom he had called from Ephesus: “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.” Acts 20:28.
The apostles of Christ had found that men left to themselves, were liable, like those in the days of Ezekiel and Malachi, to “follow their own spirit” (Eze. 13:3), and needed to take heed to their spirit, lest they “deal treacherously.”
Speaking of his own duties, the apostle Paul said that on him rested “the care of all the churches.” 2 Cor. 11:28. This led him to visit personally as far as possible each individual church; but seeing that this could not be, he gave them instruction how to proceed, and said, “If I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” 1 Tim. 3:15.
He gave instruction to Timothy in reference to the proper persons to be selected as elders and deacons. Of the elder—“overseer”—he said, “One that ruleth well his own house, . . . for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?” 1 Tim. 3:4, 5. Still further in the same book, “Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine.” 1 Tim. 5:17.
To the Hebrews he said, “Obey them that have the rule over you, . . . for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.” Heb. 13:17.
In his letter to Titus it seems that Paul commissioned him to organize churches. Some have intimated that all Titus was to do was to have elders and deacons elected. Let us consider what is stated: “For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting.” Titus 1:5. Was the appointing of elders and deacons all that was wanting? It seems from the reading that there was something to be done besides that. It reads: “Set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee.” If, as suggested by some, everything in apostolic times was managed by the Holy Ghost, and no authority placed upon any human being, how was it that Paul was appointing Titus to do this kind of work? He does not say, “The Holy Ghost alone set you about this work,” but, “I had appointed thee.”
It would seem from Peter’s instruction to the elders that some authority was placed in their hands, and their danger was of abusing that authority. He says, “Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.” 1 Peter 5:2, 3. To Titus Paul said, “These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.” Titus 2:15.
It appears then, in a church raised up by those who had imparted to some of the believers the Holy Ghost, even by the laying on of hands, differences arose, and it became needful to have overseers, who, in the fear of God, would seek to correct evils in the church, rather than to let everything go on haphazard, under the plea that the Holy Ghost was to do all the correcting, and no one in the church might say to another, “Why do ye so?”
Healdsburg, Cal.
Is It a Sacrifice?
By Daniel H. Kress
D. H. KRESS, M. D.
“Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house.” These were the words addressed to Abraham. The reason why God separated Abraham from his friends and relatives was that he might qualify Abraham for a life of usefulness, with which his early associations and surroundings undoubtedly interfered. “And he went out, not knowing whither he went.”
Abraham's future life was to be one of faith. There were no flattering earthly prospects held before him. He was to live one day at a time, walking with God. He would meet with providences and experiences that he could not explain, but in all he must endure as seeing the invisible One guiding and directing. He lived as a stranger upon earth.
To-day God tests many as he did Abraham. He calls them away from friends and kindred, from cherished plans, etc., in order that they may develop character, and that he may make them a blessing in the earth. This often means a separation from every earthly tie or prospect, or from a life of ease and comfort, to enter upon what appears to be a life of self-denial, hardship, and sacrifice.
He who will count all things as mere refuse as compared with the excellency of the knowledge of Christ will not consider it a hardship to forsake all. He is willing to sell all that he has to purchase the field in which is hid from the eyes of the world the pearl of great price.
Such an exchange should not be regarded as a sacrifice, for it is not. It is not a sacrifice to exchange an old worn-out garment for a spotless new one; neither is it a sacrifice to exchange a life of sin, with its misery, for a life of holiness, with its attendant blessings.
Takoma Park, D. C.
G. B. THOMPSON
By G. B. Thompson
Prayer—No. 3
G. B. THOMPSON
Men of great spiritual power are invariably men of prayer. In the closet they have poured out their soul in supplication and confession, and then the Lord rewards them openly by blessing their labors. Study the lives of God's servants, both in the Bible and outside, and we see that the men who passed through great crises and wrought great things for God, winning lasting victories, spent much time in prayer. When the people were rebellious and about to stone Moses in the wilderness, he prayed earnestly. In answer to prayer water came from the flinty rock to relieve the thirst of the people. When Israel suffered defeat before the men of Ai, Joshua fell on his face before the Lord in earnest prayer. On another occasion prayer stopped the sun in its course in the heavens, that victory might be wrought for Israel. When Jacob, with fearful heart, heard that Esau with an armed band was approaching, he prayed. He wrestled with all his strength with the angel, and won a victory. When David had rebellion in his kingdom, and having left his throne, was fleeing before his son Absalom, as he ascended Mount Olivet, barefoot and weeping, he prayed, and said, “O Lord, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.” That simple prayer saved the day. The counsel of David's trusted counselor was set aside, and Absalom's army was routed.
It was in response to prayer that fire leaped from the sky, and consumed the sacrifice prepared by Elijah, and turned the tide of victory on the side of these who had not bowed the knee to Baal. When Hezekiah received a threatening letter from the hand of Sennacherib, he “went up into the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord,” and prayed. In a wonderful manner he exalted the might and power of Jehovah. God heard the petition of his servant, and in the stillness of the night a warrior from the army of heaven moved unnoticed among the tents of the hostile thousands, and a hundred eighty-five thousand slept the sleep of death, and Jerusalem was saved. But the victory was won by prayer.
Daniel yearned for light, and for days sought the Lord for instruction. In answer to his requests, an angel came from the presence of Jehovah to give him “skill, and understanding.” Prayer has raised the dead. When Jesus stood at the tomb of Lazarus, he prayed, and “Lazarus came forth.” When Peter was in prison, the church prayed, and an angel was sent to bring him forth from his dungeon. When Paul and Silas were in prison, with their feet in the stocks, they “prayed and sang praises.” An earthquake which violently shook the prison occurred before morning, and the jailer and his family were converted.
Luther was a man of prayer. Wesley, Whitefield, Moody, and others loved to pray. Prayer indeed is power. Well might Mary Queen of Scots say, “I fear John Knox's prayers more than ten thousand men.” It is indeed strange that we pray so little.
Shall we not in these days, when the souls of men are being tried, come to God more frequently in prayer? We can carry to him our every care. “He can read a sigh, and see a meaning in a groan.” Though when we would do good evil is present with us, we can pray like the converted Hottentot, “Lord, deliver me from all my enemies, and above all, from that bad man—myself.”
Once more let me ask, How much time do you take to pray?
Takoma Park, D. C.
Give Them Water
By Mrs. A. D. Wellman
MRS. A. D. WELLMAN
A NEIGHBOR'S child who often comes to our home, one day got possession of a choice volume, thinking to look at the pictures in it. I told him that I suspected his hands were not perfectly clean, hence he better not handle that book; and I gave him something else to amuse him.
But soon he asked for another book that I had sometimes shown him. Again I expressed fear that his hands were a little soiled; and thereupon, with an appealing pathos in his childish voice, he asked, “Why don’t you give me some water to wash my hands in?”
This trifling incident aroused in my mind a query as to whether we do not sometimes hold unfortunate souls aloof as unclean, practically forbidding them the best of life, when we might instead help them to become fitted therefor.
Santa Cruz, Cal.
About Babylon
If ever there was a city that seemed to bid defiance to any predictions of its fall, that city was Babylon. It was for a long time the most famous city in the world. Its walls, which were reckoned among the wonders of the world, appeared rather like the bulwarks of nature than the workmanship of man. The temple of Belus, half a mile in circumference and a furlong in height; the hanging gardens, which, piled in successive terraces, towered as high as the walls; the embankments which restrained the Euphrates; the hundred brazen gates; and the adjoining artificial lake,—all displayed many of the mightiest works of mortals concentrated in a single point. Yet, while in the plenitude of its power, and according to the most accurate chronologers, one hundred sixty years before the foot of an enemy had entered it, the voice of prophecy pronounced the doom of the mighty and unconquered Babylon. A succession of ages brought it gradually to the dust; and the gradation of its fall is marked till it sank at last into utter desolation. At the time when nothing but magnificence was around Babylon the great, fallen Babylon was delineated exactly as every traveler now describes its ruins. And the prophecies concerning it may be viewed connectedly from the period of their earliest to that of their latest fulfilment.
The immense fertility of Chaldea, which retained also the name of Babylonia till after the Christian era, corresponded, if that of any country could vie, with the greatness of Babylon. It was the most fertile region of the whole East. Babylonia was one vast plain, adorned and enriched by the Euphrates and the Tigris, from which, and from the numerous canals that intersected the country from the one river to the other, was distributed over the fields by manual labor and by hydraulic machines, giving rise, in that warm climate and rich, exhaustless soil, to an exuberance of produce without a known parallel, over so extensive a region, either in ancient or in modern times. Herodotus states that he knew not how to speak of its wonderful fertility, which none but eye-witnesses would credit; and, though writing in the language of Greece, itself a fertile country, he expresses his own consciousness that his description of what he actually saw would appear to be improbable, and to exceed belief. In his estimation, as well as that of Strabo and Pliny (the three best ancient authorities that can be given), Babylonia was of all countries the most fertile in corn [wheat], the soil never producing less, as he relates, than two hundredfold, an amount, in our colder regions, scarcely credible; though Strabo, the first of ancient geographers, agrees with “the father of history” in recording that it reached even to three hundred, the grain, too, being of prodigious size. After being subjected to Persia, the government of Chaldea was accounted the noblest in the Persian empire. Besides supplying horses for military service, it maintained about seventeen thousand horses for the sovereign’s use. And, exclusive of monthly subsidies, the supply from Chaldea (including perhaps Syria) for the subsistence of the king and of his army, amounted to a third part of all that was levied from the whole of the Persian dominions.
Such was “the Chaldees’ excellency,” that it departed not on the first conquest, nor on the final extinction of its capital, but one metropolis of Assyria arose after another in the land of Chaldea, when Babylon had ceased to be “the glory of kingdoms.” The celebrated city of Seleucia, whose ruins attest its former greatness, was founded and built by Seleucus Nicator, king of Assyria, one of the successors of Alexander the Great, in the year 293 B. C.,—three centuries after Jeremiah prophesied. In the first century of the Christian era it contained six hundred thousand inhabitants. The Parthian kings transferred the seat of empire to Ctesiphon, on the opposite bank of the Tigris, where they resided in winter; and that city, formerly a village, became great and powerful. Six centuries after the latest of the predictions, Chaldea could also boast of other great cities, such as Artemita and Sitacene, besides many towns. When invaded by Julian, it was, as described by Gibbon, a “fruitful and pleasant country.” And, at a time equally distant from the time of the prophets and from the present day, in the seventh century, Chaldea was the scene of vast magnificence, in the reign of Chosroes. “His favorite residence of Artemita or Destagered, was situated beyond the Tigris, about sixty miles to the north of the capital [Ctesiphon]. The adjacent pastures,” in the words of Gibbon, “were covered with flocks and herds; the paradise, or park, was replenished with pheasants, peacocks, ostriches, roebucks, and wild boars; and the noble game of lions and tigers was sometimes turned loose for the golden pleasure of the chase. Nine hundred and sixty elephants were maintained for the use and splendor of the great king; his tents and baggage were carried into the field by twelve thousand great camels, and eight thousand of a smaller size; and the royal stables were filled with six thousand mules and horses. Six thousand guards successively mounted before the palace gate, and the service of the interior apartments was performed by twelve thousand slaves. The various treasures of gold, silver, gems, silk, and aromatics, were deposited in an hundred subterranean vaults.” In the eighth century the towns of Samarah, Horounieh, and Djasserik formed, so to speak, one street of twenty-eight miles. Chaldea, with its rich soil and warm climate, and intersected by the Tigris and Euphrates, was one of the last countries in the world, of which the desolation could have been thought of by man. For to this day “there can not be a doubt, that, if proper means were taken, the country would with ease be brought into a high state of cultivation.”—‘The Evidence of Prophecy,’ by Dr. Alexander Keith, published by William Whyte and Co., Edinburgh, 1848, pages 396–400.