Now is the best time of the year to See the WORLD'S FAIR
On 10 different days in September and 8 in October, Santa Fe agents in California will sell tickets to ST. LOUIS and return at $68.50CHICAGO and return at $72.50 and to New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington at very low rates.
September tickets good 90 days for returning, October tickets good until December 31st. Come back a different way if you wish, and stop off at pleasure. Be sure to VISIT GRAND CANYON going or returning, and bear in mind that Santa Fe is the Way.
Information, tickets, etc., from Santa Fe Agent, San Francisco.
“PRAY YE THE LORD OF THE HARVEST.”
The Christian commission reads, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.” Yet very few professing Christians seem to know what this means. With reference to the great need of missionaries in Africa, Dr. Charles E. Hurlburt, director of the Africa Inland Mission, says:—
“If Africa is to be evangelized in this generation, there must be a speedy awakening to mighty intercession. Something more than interest is needed; more than thrilling tales of the darkness of Africa’s sin, more than word-pictures of possible dangers to be met. The present generation of African souls can hear the Gospel only through a great awakening in the prayer-life of God’s people, and such prevailing intercession as will speedily move the Arm omnipotent.
“Let us look at a single section of one field, which is only an illustration of many others. The Africa Inland Mission has marked for its advance a line covering, with some windings, nearly a thousand miles to the Nile. Its nearest missionary neighbor, on the right of its frontier station, is nearly one hundred miles away, and on the left, over two hundred. Along the line of its proposed advance there are no stations for some hundreds of miles either way. This line is said by Sir Harry Johnston and13other English explorers to be as thickly settled as any part of Eastern Equatorial Africa. To establish a narrow lane of stations along this line, placing them twenty miles apart, and not more than two or three on a station, will require from one hundred to one hundred and fifty workers. . . . The new missions must be started as tho we had no stations; that is, unknown languages must be learned and reduced to writing, and the people must be taught to read; translations must be made of the Scriptures, and put in the hands of the people; we may not expect to reach all without native helpers, nor can there be strong Christian life without access to the Word of God.
“Suppose that a new worker is able to take up a totally new language, learning it word by word without any help, reduce it to writing, secure a vocabulary, and master its peculiarities of construction in two years. This would be a good record for the most competent man. Suppose that in the next five years he is able to translate a large part of the Bible. How many of the people of “this generation” will have passed into eternity without a ray of Gospel light during the two years of learning the language? How many outside the narrow lines of the mission station will have passed away during the years of translation? But if the one hundred and fifty are not forthcoming this year, who can measure the loss involved in a year’s delay? If we double this line, and measure on a thousand miles beyond the Nile through a wholly unevangelized country, and add to this similar lines for every society working in this section, the field grows too vast to picture.
“Let us look at another phase of the problem. The Church Missionary Society, the largest body of missionary workers in British East Africa, having a vast field, doing an aggressive Gospel work, reported last year in the East Africa Protectorate Year-book a staff of European workers numbering forty-four, and this after thirty-two years of work. Suppose their bishop should send home for three hundred or six hundred missionaries to come out at once, would not the society, which has the largest force of any society in the world, answer that only God could meet this request?
“A still further reason for prayer may be found in the fact that the various governments among whom the continent has been divided are pushing forward rapidly to secure and develop their respective possessions. Occupation by so-called Christian governments does not mean evangelization unless missionaries keep pace with [or in advance of] the government forts. In East Africa, British occupation means the introduction of Mohammedanism through soldiers and servants, and thus a new and sore delay to the Gospel. To meet, then, the necessities of fields already occupied, and to go forward to occupy the unevangelized parts of the continent, demands at once a force of trained workers so vast that imagination would be staggered had not God revealed to His children His wonder-working power.
“If the people of God would only think of this until they feel it, and study His promises until they believe them, then meet in little groups for definite, earnest, believing prayer that the Lord of the harvest would ‘thrust forth laborers into His harvest,’ then, and only then, will the light of God penetrate the darkness of the Dark Continent. Fellow-Christian, will you pray for Africa? Do not wait for numbers. Do it now. ‘Two or three’ are sufficient to meet for prayer and claim the Master’s presence. ‘Pray ye the Lord of the harvest.’”
SOUL-SEEKING AMONG GOLD-SEEKERS.
By S. Hall Young
BY REV. S. HALL YOUNG, D.D.
In 1897, when the marvelous discoveries of gold became generally known, multitudes of men from all walks of life and from all parts of the globe hastened to the Klondike. The peculiarity of that crowd was that not one in ten had ever mined before. They were largely from the cities, plenty of lawyers and doctors and merchants and railroad men and clerks, as well as farmer boys. It is only thirty miles from Skagway to the navigable headquarters of the Yukon. But what a thirty miles! Granite mountains crushed into sharp fragments and heaped up, narrow gorges with precipitous faces of solid rock; glaciers hanging on mountain breasts; threatening avalanches, and above, sheer cliffs with glaciers at their base! Half that crowd turned back before they got across the Chilkut Pass.
I landed the last of August, and, after two months of struggle, and by sacrificing more than half of my goods in order to get the other half across the mountain, I reached Dawson. It was on the 9th of October, 1897, in the midst of a jam of ice floating down on the Yukon for two hundred and fifty miles in zero weather, with a foot of snow on the ground, and in the midst of four or five thousand houseless and homeless men. What a camp that was! What confusion! What ignorance of conditions! Hardly any of those men knew where they would get their gold, or how, but they expected to get it. We could not buy a pound of any kind of provisions for less than a dollar a pound.
Conditions were not very favorable to holding religious meetings, but the devil was at work and I could not be idle. I went to every gambling-hall, every saloon, every large building in Dawson, asking the privilege of preaching the Gospel there. I was refused everywhere, not because they were enemies, for many had been my friends years before at Fort Wrangel, but they said that they could not clear out the crowd or keep them quiet. At last I found an unfinished log house capable of holding about a hundred men, and I paid $850 in cash for it. Two men were touched by the first sermon in that building, and confessed Christ at our first prayer-meeting. They joined our church at its organization as charter members on confession of their faith.
I will never forget that first Sunday. At night we had a still larger congregation than in the morning—men not able to find even standing room. I saw we were going to have great difficulty in lighting that building. Candles were a dollar apiece and very scarce; kerosene was $20 a gallon. I said to the men: “Now, you will have to help me out in this. Blow out the candle you would have used in your cabin to-night, and light it here.” In that way they lighted our building all that winter at a good deal of sacrifice to themselves.
Under those circumstances we commenced our service, but after a winter of work our building burned down, with a loss of a thousand dollars, for which I was responsible. We organized on Easter Day, 1898, the first Presbyterian Church of Dawson, with fifty-nine charter members. To our great pride and joy, seven of those charter members were women, for good Christian women are very scarce in the Klondike. The first thing those good ladies did was to organize a Ladies’ Aid Society; they gave a supper to pay off the debt, charging the prevailing price, $3.50 a meal; when the rush came in we paid off the debt. We made that church self-supporting, and it has continued a strong self-supporting church ever since. We built a church at the cost of $3,000, paying for it; built a hospital at the cost of some $5,000. Then I turned over the mission to the Canadian Presbyterians, and started the Presbytery of the Yukon. I organized another mission at Council, and that has been in charge of a theological student. At Teller we opened a mission in charge of a good Presbyterian elder until we could get a minister to carry on the work.
But you can not always measure the effect of preaching the Gospel in Alaska or elsewhere by church organizations or even by professions of Christianity. There is no people in the world that needs the safeguarding of precious lives from all manner of loose morals as in those camps. When the saloon is the only place to congregate, when there is no restraint of law or order, and no restraint of Christianity, men will drift with the tide. How often in our prayer-meeting have men said, with tears in their eyes: “If it was not for this church or this mission, I would be just drifting with the crowd.” The Gospel is the only thing that can correct the evils of society, and the only thing that can safeguard those precious lives.
We do not need sympathy for physical hardships; there are trials much greater. All manner of vice marched with that company. I heard the miners say: “God does not exist here in the Klondike.” And by the oaths that sounded from lips unused to them before; by the vast moral loss that many men met with; by the sad fall of many a professing Christian into all sorts of vice—by those falls you gauge the moral stamina of a man. The saddest part is to see the wickedness of those who have been trained in ways of Christianity.
We have many vices there—all the vices and lusts; but of all, I believe the most universal, deadly, dangerous, and soul-killing, is that mad lust of gold. I know nearly all the men who “struck it rich” at Bonanza and Eldorado and other rich creeks in the Klondike, and to nine out of ten of those men their gold-dust has brought nothing but trouble and misery, for they knew not how to get any real good out of it. I knew one young man who was brought up in a Christian home, and who came there a big, stalwart, lovable fellow. Three months later he sold a claim that he had staked for $25,000. In two weeks he had not a cent of it left; one wild spree, and it was all gone. A crowd of those gambling and confidence men flocked around him, and kept him giving and treating the town, and having, as he thought, “a big time.” The outcome of it was attempted suicide as he went back to work for wages on the claim that he had sold.
One thing that impressed me was the futility of a mere secular education to safeguard a life from moral failure and ruin. I knew many college-bred men, some of them educated in Oxford and Cambridge, in England, or in Yale, Harvard, Princeton, who are now saloon-keepers, bar-keepers, superintendents of a faro table, or the mere hangers-on and stokers for saloons and gambling-halls. The worst savages I have ever known—the most filthy, hopeless, irreclaimable savages—were educated, college-bred men from Christian communities. But if the man is strong in character, and especially if he has that strength that is from above, he becomes tenfold stronger and more noble in the face of such temptations. No more lovable and admirable men exist anywhere than the men of those camps in the North. The hard rubbing that destroys clay, polishes the diamond.
In the rough logging camps, and away up in dark little cabins up those creeks, I have met men ready to discuss any question. The brightest congregation I have ever ministered to, and the hungriest for the Gospel, was in Alaska. Some of those men came regularly every Sunday from fifteen to twenty miles to hear the sermon. Many of them had not heard a sermon in months, and thousands of men scattered in the wild camps of Alaska have not a chance all winter to hear the Gospel. One old-timer, whom I had known seventeen or eighteen years before at Fort Wrangel, said he had not been to church since he saw me last. He came merely for music, but presently he began to be touched; he began to study the Bible; he joined the Bible class; and at last the old “forty-niner” got up to give his testimony in the rough language and slang of the camp. He said: “You all know me. I’ve lived the life of the camps, and I had no thought of what was going to come hereafter. I’ve been in every camp on the Coast, from California to the Arctic, and I’ve had all sorts of luck; but, partners, this is the first time that I’ve ever struck it real rich.” I never knew the joy of service until I experienced the service of preaching the Gospel to those miners of the North.—Missionary Review.
HIGHER GROUND.
By Llewellyn A. Morrison
BY LLEWELLYN A. MORRISON.
“The Master is come, and calleth for thee.”—Martha of Bethany.
MASTER, call me! kindly call me—
I am still afar from Thee;
Evil and despair enthral me—
Loose the bonds and set me free;
Liberate from sin’s dominion;
Send me freedom from above;
Be my Comfort and Companion;
Draw me by the cords of love.
REFRAIN:—
Call me, Saviour! Call me near Thee!
Bid my joy and peace abound!
Speak to me and I shall hear thee;
Call me up to higher ground.
Master, call me unto labor,
Each glad morning, in Thy name!
Every mortal is my neighbor;
Send me forth with heart aflame,
For the souls of men aspiring,
Ransomed by redeeming blood;
Greatly for a host desiring,
Who shall come with songs to God.
Gently speak when burdens press me,
’Mid the conflict and the strife,
And when sorrows sore distress me,
In Thy Word abideth life.
Every moment let the Spirit
Be my guide, the journey through;
Sanctify, by Thine own merit,
All I think or speak or do.
Call me, Master! I’ll be waiting
For Thy summoning to come
Where the truth needs no translating,
In the blessed, heavenly home;
There shall I Thy grace assever,
All Thy ministry adore,
Dwell within Thy courts forever,
Laud and praise Thee evermore.
Toronto, Can.
WIDOWS IN INDIA.
The following account of a Hindu widow’s sad lot, told to a missionary, appeals to every Christian to aid in sending the Gospel which alone can brighten the lives of the widows of India:—
“I was married by my parents when a very young child. I was taught the routine of household duties, and the ceremonies of worship of our household gods. But what good did it do to worship them? What Fate has written in my forehead, must be. My husband died, leaving me one son and three daughters. Since the time of his death I have eaten but one meal a day, and that meal is of rice and vegetables only, and must be cooked by my own hand. Every fifteenth day is the widow’s fast day. My one meal is eaten on the morning of the fourteenth. On the fifteenth I must not take even a sup of water. Having not eaten since the morning before, I become so weak and faint that often before the morning of the sixteenth I become unconscious. If my son, who loves me, thinks I am dying, he may not refresh me with a drop of water to save my life. Should he give me such a drink of water, he has to endure one year’s penance to atone for sin. Again and again, especially in the hot months, my life has become almost extinct; and I wonder why death has not come and ended my suffering.”
“We are allowed no flesh of any kind, and you know how fond we Bengalis are of fish. Sometimes a large fish is brought into the house, more than the family can eat. And I just long for one taste of it! I see all the others enjoy it, and a good share goes to waste; but I dare not put a morsel into my mouth! This may seem a little thing to you, but such a longing comes over me for a taste of fish that I can hardly endure the sight.”
“But why are you bound by such unjust rules?” I ventured to say. “Ah! she answered, if I care to choose a life of shame, I might break them. And such treatment is the cause of so many of our widows going wrong.”
“But the greatest sorrow of all I have not told you. My youngest daughter, only sixteen, is now a widow in her father-in-law’s house, and has to spend all the days of her life in this round of fasting and suffering. She is the servant of the household, and can take part in no social feast nor marriage ceremony, nor in any other pleasure that comes now and then to brighten the dark life of other women. She is a childless widow. Her fate is worse than mine. How can I ever bear her sorrow and mine, too!”
OUR WORK AND WORKERS.
DURING the late sessions of the Canadian Union and Quebec Conferences at Knowlton, sixteen persons were baptized.
AT the General Conference Council, held at College View, Neb., it was decided to hold the next biennial session of the General Conference at Washington, D. C., May 11–30, 1905.
AS a result of labors by Brethren T. H. Starbuck, J. J. Clark, and C. L. Butterfield, they report the addition of ten members to the church at Grant’s Pass, Oregon, and fourteen converts to the truth at Ashland.
THE Missionary Worker states that Prof. H. C. Lacey and family, formerly of Australia, late of Healdsburg, Cal., have arrived in England. Professor Lacey will teach the Bible classes in the London school. He is a native of Leicester.
IT is reported that the Chinese Government has recently opened one hundred and eighty elementary schools in the province of Shantung. Altho free to all many of them are empty, while mission schools, where tuition is charged, are well attended. The reason is said to be distrust of government officials, and the belief that mission schools really educate.
THE following list of officers have been elected by New York Conference: President, S. H. Lane, secretary and treasurer, T. E. Bowen; additional members of the executive committee, J. W. Raymond, H. W. Carr, O. L. Stillman, Courtland D. Green, C. W. Lindsay, W. L. Skinner; secretary of S. S. department, Mrs. J. R. Calkins; secretary and treasurer of tract society, T. E. Bowen; educational secretary, H. W. Carr.
IN the Pacific Union Recorder, Brother F. D. Starr tells of a new convert at Cœur d’Alene, Idaho, one of whose first strong convictions about the Sabbath came to him while a soldier in the Cuban War. He became somewhat acquainted with the Spanish language, and when he found that in it the common name for the seventh day of the week was Sabado (Sabbath), it was to him an evidence of the genuineness of the ancient institution.
IN his annual address at the recent conference session, the president of Indiana Conference recommended that, for the next year, half of the Conference laborers be placed at the disposal of the mission board, and that they be supported in their foreign fields by the conference. The Camp-meeting Bulletin says, “The people seemed much interested, and quite enthusiastic over the policy, and the business meeting was turned into a praise meeting.”
AT the annual session of Ohio Conference, held at Marysville, last month, the following officers were chosen: President, H. H. Burkholder; vice-president, D. E. Lindsey; treasurer, C. V. Hamer; auditor, W. H. Edwards; recording secretary, D. E. Lindsey; missionary secretary, N. S. Miller; medical missionary secretary, W. W. Miller; educational secretary, James Shultz; field secretary, I. D. Richardson. It was decided to place six tent companies in the field. A resolution was passed to hold subject to missionary call, half of the conference means and laborers, when seventy persons indicated their willingness to go to any field to which they might be assigned. Brother B. L. House was ordained to the Gospel ministry.
JAPANESE Red Cross nurses carefully minister to wounded Russian prisoners. A missionary says that “the war has proved a marvelous revealer of Japanese character and capacity for development. The nation loves high ideals, and keeps its gaze steadily upon them. There promises to be a grand opportunity before long, for preaching the Gospel among such a people.” But the live missionary is seeking the opportunities that are open now. If these be faithfully filled, those that are to come “before long” will be all the more open and fruitful. It is a question, however, whether Japan’s developing war spirit will not render her people less and less susceptible to the Gospel message. Is not the present the more opportune moment?
FROM a report of labor in the Welcome Visitor, by Brethren C. A. Pedicord and B. L. House, at Dresden, Ohio, we take the following: “One man and his twelve-year-old boy walked sixteen miles to our meeting and they are staying with relatives here all this week to attend the meetings. He has known about the truth for twelve years, but never had heard an Adventist minister. He read a notice of our meetings in the Zanesville Recorder and decided in his mind to keep the Sabbath and take his stand with this people. One thing that impressed us was that he has taught the truth to his boy from infancy up; and he is as interested as the father. The mother of the boy is dead. The boy told his father he wanted to come over and hear God’s people preach.”
THE late General Conference Council decided that on the first Sabbath in November there be a general collection amongst our people for the benefit of the colored work in the South. This important cause is sadly in need of funds, and the only way to relieve the situation is to give. Giving is the highest token of interest in any cause. Talking is good; appealing through our periodicals is good; praying is good; but the only thing that meets the urgent need of funds to defray the necessary expense is giving. Giving is the supreme evidence of the love of souls. God so loved the world—the lost, perishing world—that He gave; and when He gave He didn’t stop short of giving His only-begotten Son, which meant the gift of all things. Therefore the only thing for us to do is to reciprocate to the utmost of our ability.
WRITING to the Workers’ Bulletin, Des Moines, Iowa, of the work in Sin Tsai Hsien, Honan, China, Sister Bertha L. Selmon says: “Most of the missionaries of China have gone to the mountains. They are not looking for the near coming of the Lord, and expect many years in which to labor. Therefore, on account of the heat, they do very little in summer, and seek the established resorts in the mountains. We are staying at our post so far, for we feel that we can not spare the time when it is so precious. . . . Much of the ground in this part of the country which used to be devoted to rice culture, now helps to furnish China’s curse, opium. Just now, men from the large coast cities are buying up the local crop. This place furnishes them with ten thousand ounces of silver worth of opium this season. Last year the crop was worth between fifteen and twenty thousand ounces. This was the first seed planted in China by foreigners, and the devil. The plant of sin is great, but by the power of the Spirit of God the seed of His kingdom may grow even in China, and bear fruit for eternal life.”
REPORTING the work in Calcutta to the Eastern Tidings, Mrs. J. L. Shaw says: “During the last few weeks, notwithstanding the unfavorable weather, some of our sisters have been having some good experiences in working for the Lord in various ways. Every week some are going to one or more of the hospitals visiting the sick, where are found many who are passing through deep waters, and who welcome those who can give them kind help in their hour of trial. The hospitals in Calcutta afford opportunities for active missionary work. The soul-saving literature to some will be a seed sown to save a soul. To others, a few flowers will be a messenger that will speak to their souls sooner than the printed page. Some of our sisters can testify of14good experiences in visiting those who are ill, and of blessings received into their own lives by ministering in a humble way to those who need help. There is nothing that will give a brighter experience than this line of work. It is a sure cure for discouragement and doubt, and a means given us by God of helping those in trial. May we all avail ourselves of the blessing given by the service rendered to the sick and afflicted. There is work for those who will engage in it with a heart filled with love. As one timidly expressed it, “The Lord has helped me to do something.”
OF the great revival in Los Angeles, Cal., which we have before noticed, the daily Examiner of that city says: “In the course of the meetings their conductors have given away over $600 worth of literature. According to Evangelist Simpson, the expenses of meetings have been in the neighborhood of $1,100. There has been contributed $1,200 in cash, and jewelry valued at $300. The last evening’s service at the Spring Street tent was a great outpouring of people gathered to be present at the closing of the long-protracted series of meetings. Mr. Simpson was billed to speak on ‘Temperance,’ and he handled the subject in a far different manner from the conventional temperance orator. The speaker insisted that temperance means, primarily, self-control, and he asserted that many a man who can discourse with glibness about temperance, is as much a slave to tea and coffee as is the most hardened drunkard to his daily dram. ‘Temperance,’ said he, ‘will discard everything that is injurious to health, whether it be in the line of things we are accustomed to be shocked at, or something which we regard as a daily necessity.’ Mr. Simpson, before coming to California about a year ago in search of health, was an evangelist in Canada, where he labored for ten years in every city of prominence in the Dominion. Since coming here he has held services in Riverside and Redlands, increasing the membership from a scattered handful to a large congregation, and building a church in each place.”
(1) “Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him Jehovah had given victory unto Syria: he was also a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. (2) And the Syrians had gone out in bands, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maiden; and she waited on Naaman’s wife. (3) And she said unto her mistress, Would that my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! then would he recover him of his leprosy. (4) And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maiden that is of the land of Israel. (5) And the king of Syria said, Go now, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment. (6) And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, And now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy. (7) And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? but consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me.
(8) “And it was so, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. (9) So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariots, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. (10) And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. (11) But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of Jehovah his God, and wave his hand over the place, and recover the leper. (12) Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. (13) And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee to do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? (14) Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.”
Golden Text.—“Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved.”Jer. 17: 14.
SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.
(1) What does the Scripture say of the standing of Naaman the Syrian? Of what disease was he afflicted? Verse 1. Note 1. (2) Who had a raiding Syrian band captured in Israel? In whose service was she at this time? Verse 2. Note 2. (3) What ardent wish did she express to her mistress? Why? Verse 3. Note 3. (4) What further was said about the maiden’s desire? Verse 4. (5) When the king heard of the prophet in Samaria, what did he say to Naaman? As Naaman departed, what did he take with him? Verse 5. (6) To whom did Naaman take the letter? What did the letter say? Verse 6. (7) When the king of Israel read the letter, what did he do? What did he say about such a demand? Why did he think such a demand had been made? Verse 7. Note 4. (8) Who else heard of the matter? What word did Elisha then send to the king? Verse 8. Note 5. (9) What then did Naaman do? Verse 9. (10) What message did Elisha send to Naaman? Verse 10. (11) How was Naaman affected by this simple message? What did he do and say? Verse 11. Note 6. (12) How did the Syrian express his contempt for the waters of Jordan? How is his condition of mind again expressed? Verse 12. Note 7. (13) What significant questions did Naaman’s servants ask him? Verse 13. Note 8. (14) How did Naaman show that he saw the force of their argument? And what was the result? Verse 14.
NOTES.
1. That the Lord has something to do in overruling the affairs of earthly kingdoms is shown in His giving victory to Syria over her Assyrian enemies—both of which nations were heathen. For years Benhadad II had withstood the power of the Assyrian Empire, and it had been mainly through the genius and prowess of Naaman. “But he was a leper,” notwithstanding the fact that “he was a mighty man of valor.” Although leprosy is a loathsome disease, it is generally of slow progress, and a man may be afflicted for years without any serious detriment. In Israel, however, the leper was segregated on the first appearance of the disease. Sin is compared to leprosy, in that it is extremely offensive to God, and is incurable by any human remedy. Therefore, no matter how noble in appearance or how gifted in mental endowment one may be, if he be a sinner—a spiritual leper—his natural or acquired qualifications go for naught in the sight of God.
2. These Syrians who had taken the little girl captive were no doubt roving bands of marauders, such as infest the country yet, who went out for robbery and other depredations. The little maid was part of their booty, and they had given or sold her to the great captain’s wife. Girls are still liable to capture throughout that region, as they always find a ready sale.
3. This young maiden seems to have been of a kindly, sympathetic nature, notwithstanding the great wrong that had been done her, and evidently she was now kindly treated. However, the Lord used her as His agent to bring His name to the attention of Naaman, whom He knew to be susceptible to the truth. And through Naaman the power of the God of Israel was manifested to all Syria. God’s plan of missionary work is to set the truth before those of great influence; for, if they will accept it, their indorsement goes far toward a favorable impression upon the lower classes. The Lord will have His name and His truth brought to the attention of kings and others in authority, even if His children have to be forced through oppression or chastisement to bear the message. Thus Joseph came before the king of Egypt; Daniel and others before Nebuchadnezzar and Darius and Cyrus; Paul before the governors of Judea, and before the emperor of Rome; Luther before the dignitaries of Germany; and many other instances that might be mentioned.
4. Jehoram, king of Israel, was the son of Ahab and Jezebel, and we learn from 2 Kings 3:13, 14 that Jehoram was too close a follower of his parents to be on friendly terms with the prophet of God. And it may have been for this very reason that he lived in constant dread of the king of Syria.
5. The same Spirit that moved the Jewish maid-servant in Damascus to mention the prophet in Samaria also moved the prophet to have Naaman sent to him. And the main purpose was beyond the mere physical healing of the Syrian captain; it was that he, and others through him, might know that there was a prophet in Israel, and through that knowledge find salvation.
6. Naaman’s pride came near losing him his opportunity. His oriental love of display, and his being accustomed to personal flattery received a decided reproof. Had the imaginary insult not been overcome, no doubt there would have been more trouble for Israel in future. Yet Elisha had not been discourteous; he had simply treated the great officer as a common man. The prophet of God was dealing with a leper, and not with a great captain. He was prescribing for the needs of the leper, and not entertaining a nobleman. Therefore he simply told him what to do in order to be healed. So all spiritual lepers must stand on an equality before the great Healer. “There is no respect of persons with God.”
7. The only difference between the waters of Jordan and those of the rivers of Damascus was the command of God. No washing in any of earth’s rivers could heal the Syrian’s physical or his spiritual leprosy. The power of God alone could do either.
8. Naaman’s servants evidently had faith that their master was to be healed, and they were loath to have it otherwise, when the thing required was so small. Hence their wise counsel, the reasonableness of which appealed to the better judgment of Naaman. But many a poor sinner is losing eternal life because he is too proud to accept the humble conditions, or to observe the simple commandments and ordinances of God. “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
READERS FOR THE CHILDREN.
TEACHERS and parents will be glad to know that the first two books in the series of Bible Readers are ready for use this fall. Every church school and every home where there are children should be supplied. Bible Reader No. 1 sells for thirty-five cents ($.35); Bible Reader, second year, forty cents ($.40). Part One of the Bible Reader, third year, can be obtained from the Advocate Publishing Company for twenty cents ($.20). This portion of the book is printed in pamphlet form for use this fall in the church schools.
These Readers deal with the stories of the Bible. The vocabulary is built gradually, beginning with a few words and gradually increasing the number. The three books correlate Bible, nature study, geography, history, language, reading, writing, and spelling. Each is complete in itself.
Address your tract society, or the Advocate Publishing Company, Berrien Springs, Mich.
THE FAMILY BIBLE TEACHER.
The work of the Family Bible Teacher continues with splendid results. During the past few months upwards of 10,000,000 copies of these lessons have been sent out. Some workers by the use of the Family Bible Teacher have taught as high as six and seven hundred families a week, and thus many are being brought to an acceptance of the Third Angel's Message. This method affords a splendid opportunity for those of no experience in missionary lines, to present the truth to their friends and neighbors.
A sample of the Introduction blank, special price-list, and a little booklet giving suggestions for using the Family Bible Teacher will be sent on request by addressing your State tract society or Southern Publishing Association, Nashville, Tenn.
Mountain View Acreage for Sale
MOUNTAIN VIEW—10-Acre Lots for Sale—$160 to $225 per acre. Two miles from R. R. Electric Cars projected through the tract from Stanford University to San Jose. Desirable for Fruit Vineyard or Homes. 32 Lots in tract, 14 of which are sold to neighbors. $50.00 per acre cash; balance, 1, 2, and 3 years, 7 per cent. Address, B. E. & R. V. Burns, Mountain View, Cal., or J. J. Truman, Call Building, San Francisco, Cal.
BOIL YOUR CLOTHES
By Alfred Mallett
It is the only sanitary way. Clothes boiled with E-Z Washing Tablets will keep white as snow. No rubbing. No hard work. It will pay you to investigate. Three washings for 10 cents, by mail. Agents wanted.
ALFRED MALLETT
Elkridge StationBaltimore, Md.
Scripture References
This little pamphlet contains full Scripture references and comments on twenty-six different subjects, some of which are: The Scriptures, The Prophecies, The Second Advent, The Resurrection, The Millennium, The Sanctuary, The Sabbath, Immortality, Spiritualism, Nature of Man, The Two Covenants, etc.
