p. 16 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 40. (10/12/1904)

Earlier text: Now is the best time of the year to See the WORLD'S FAIR

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OF INTEREST TO CHURCH ELDERS and LIBRARIANS

By H. H. Hall

Important recommendations with reference to a great Home Missionary Campaign were passed at the recent General Conference Council at College View, Nebraska.

They are as follows:—

1. We recommend that a mighty missionary campaign be inaugurated this fall which shall know no cessation until this Gospel of the kingdom is carried to every nation, tongue and people; and that such varied and effective plans be developed in every conference and church as will assign a specific place in this movement to every man, woman and child among us.

Outline of the Plan

2. This campaign to be introduced in the following manner:—

(a) By devoting the month of November principally to the circulation of periodicals and tracts, and the month of December to the sale of “Object Lessons,” “Story of Joseph,” and such other literature as may be adapted to the development of interests already created.

(b) That Missionary Conventions in all our churches be held on Sabbath, October 29, and Sabbath, November 26. On the first Sabbath, October 29, the following topics be considered:—

“A Call to Service.” — Mrs. E. G. White

“Continuance in Well-doing” — A. G. Daniells

“The Best Ways of Using Tracts and Periodicals” — Various Writers

“Our Young People, Their Privileges and Responsibilities” — M. E. Kern

In the second convention, Sabbath, November 26, consideration be given to the following topics:—

“Dedicated Literature” — W. C. White

“The Development of House-to-house Workers” — H. H. Hall

“Mission of Our Large Books” — E. R. Palmer

“Family Bible Studies and How to Conduct Them,” S. N. Haskell

3. The Readings and a Suggestive Program for these Conventions, together with detailed plans for the campaign, to be published in the “Review;” and in order that this essential information, and the valuable instruction and interesting reports from the world-wide field, which this paper contains, may be studied by all our people,

We recommend, That during the month of October, the Librarians, Church Elders and Conference Laborers seek to place it in the home of every Sabbath-keeper.

Follow-Up Work

4. To make this movement most effective and economical,

We recommend, That special attention be given to the work of following up every effort made, by securing yearly subscriptions to our periodicals, holding Family Bible Studies, making missionary visits, etc.

Missionary Campaign Supplies

5. That the periodicals to be given particular prominence be, The Third Angel’s Message Series of the “Signs of the Times,” the Signs Number of the “Southern Watchman,” and such special issues of “Life and Health” and our foreign papers as may be announced later.

6. Among the tracts the use of which we would suggest, are “The Last Generation Message,” “Heralds of His Coming,” “Waymarks to the Holy City,” “Who Changed the Sabbath?” “Family Bible Teacher,” and the new envelope series of the Religious Liberty Leaflets.

7. We suggest the following books as being particularly appropriate in this movement, as they may be used anywhere and at any time without waiting to consult with the State Agent: “Object Lessons,” “Story of Joseph,” “Education,” “Mount of Blessing,” “Things Foretold,” “Cobblestones,” “Thoughts on Daniel” (paper), “Thoughts on Revelation” (paper), “Great Nations of To-day,” “Little Folks’ Bible Nature,” “Sunshine at Home” in foreign languages, “Steps to Christ,” and “Power for Witnessing.”

Organization

8. That the President, Missionary Secretary, State Agent, and Superintendent of Young People’s Work, be recognized as a committee in each Conference to direct this campaign, but in view of the necessity of immediate action, we urge each Church Elder and Librarian to begin work at once.

You will at once recognize that while these plans are broad and practical, yet to be made effective, they must have the hearty co-operation of our Church Officers, particularly Elders and Librarians.

The first step is to invite each Sabbath-keeping family to become a reader of the good REVIEW. The second includes the laying of careful plans for the Missionary Conventions to be held October 29. In some cases two or more churches may unite in these conventions; in others, distance may forbid. But whether union conventions or separate ones are held, shall we not plan for them at once? And, in our planning, shall we not arrange for each member to have some part? The articles and suggestions to be read are to take but a small portion of the time, and are designed to open the way for the congregation to relate experiences and otherwise express themselves.

H. H. HALL, Secretary. General Conference Publishing Committee.

Sundown or Midnight, Which?

Does the Sabbath begin at sun down or at midnight? This question with many others is answered in the little work entitled, “Scripture References.”

Price 2 cents each. $1.40 per hundred

ADDRESS PUBLISHERS OF THIS PAPER.

TO CONTRIBUTORS.

By Editor

The Signs of the Times is a purely missionary enterprise. For this reason it has felt free to ask for contributions from its friends. It pays nothing for contributions, either prose or poetry, unless solicited by the editor, and then the fact is stated when the articles are asked for. This is a plan rarely followed, but sometimes deemed expedient.

How Prepared.—Write plainly, with typewriter or ink, with wide space between the lines, to admit freely of editing, writing of subheads, etc. Write on one side of the sheet only. Sign the name to the manuscript, as it becomes oftentimes separated from accompanying letter. Anonymous contributions are not used, whatever their merit. If the writer does not wish his name to appear, let him use some “pen name” for the public. But we wish the writer’s name and address.

Manuscript Returned.—We will return all unused manuscript desired, if stamp and directions are enclosed. We are forced sometimes to return good manuscript, mainly for three reasons: (a) Sometimes the articles are too long; (b) sometimes we have a number on the same subject; (c) sometimes our plans are such that an article can not be used till it is out of date. We therefore hope that no offense will be taken by those who have freely contributed their best thought, if their productions are returned. When we receive too much matter, we can not use all.

Articles Desired.—Those which set forth in the Spirit of Christ the great saving truths of God, short and to the point. It is better to treat one important phase of truth clearly, in a short article, than many points vaguely, in a long one. We desire no caustic, critical productions, which might minister to personal pride or pleasure, but can not save souls.

TO ADVERTISERS.

The fact that an advertisement appears in this paper indicates that, as far as its managers can ascertain, it is reliable. Extreme care is taken in the securing of advertisements, and losses incurred through misrepresentation of firms advertising in this journal have been made good by publishers. We can give no editorial notices or assurances at the request of advertisers.

TO OUR PATRONS.

By Editor

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New Thought

New Thought.—The Christian Advocate well describes the teachings which masquerade under “New Thought” in the following: “This has become a cant phrase. Sometimes it stands for mental stagnation; again for spider-web attenuations; but most frequently for old exploded ideas, dressed up in luxuriant phraseology. Not unfrequently real truths are plagiarized from Christianity and diluted with a mixture of Agnosticism and Spiritualism, with a few grains of Christian Science, and a sprinkling of theosophical conceptions which have nothing to rest upon. Thus the sound is new to ears unconnected with well-stored memories. The old is not always true, nor the new always false; but it is as false to call the old new as to call the new old.”

Complaints about School Books.

There is great complaint on the part of parents over the frequent change of text-books in public and church schools. Town Talk, for instance, of a few months ago, thus speaks of the text-books in the schools of California:—

At the present time, parents are burdened by the purchase of the new histories, geographies, and arithmetics just issued by the State Board of Education, with the pleasing prospect of new books in the other studies to follow as soon as they can be issued. It is said that the old books were so bad that they could not be used any longer, and a change was imperative. True, the old books were bad, but, in the opinion of teachers, the new ones are no better.

It then utters the following good sense as to the purpose of text-books:—

In fact, the whole plan and purpose of a modern text-book is wrong. A text-book to fulfil its proper purpose should be an aid to the pupil, not an exponent of methods for the teacher. Why should there be such a bewildering number of arithmetics, grammars, and geographies on the market?

The principles and facts suitable for the use of the schoolroom are comparatively few in number and well defined. They can not vary much, no matter how numerous the books. Two times two are four, Columbus discovered America, and a verb must agree with its subject; these and like verities form the bulk of the subject matter in school books.

Why, then, such an infinite variety of books and compilers without number, to set forth facts so few and palpable? How can the grammar of Brown differ so widely from the grammar of Green, and the history of Smith be at variance with the history of Jones?—Because, in order to make a market and to sell text-books, book-makers have to create a difference where none exists; because the school book has departed from its legitimate function and has assumed one which does not belong to it. It now exploits methods of instruction and teaches the teacher how to teach. Needless to say, it does this imperfectly, clumsily, and impertinently. A certain very late text-book for the use of infants beginning to read has each day's lesson divided off and numbered, with minute directions for each step, for fear the teacher might go astray and teach rat before she does cat.

The State Board of Education could not do better than to issue a series of books containing the elements of the subjects to be taught, and leaving the methods to the intelligence and professional knowledge of the teaching body. The book would be less bulky, the subject matter less complicated, and every new whim in pedagogy would not necessitate a change of texts.

And we believe that every live, progressive teacher will agree with the above. The demand for too rigid uniformity makes machine-made men and women.

Special Numbers for the Gospel Message

By Editor

In November we issue four special numbers which will together give the Gospel Message for this generation, adapted to all the sore, hungry needs of humanity. These issues ought to have a million circulation. If the Bible is true,—and of that we have no doubt,—these issues are all-important. Therefore every soul we can reach with them should have the privilege of reading them. We want the co-operation of all our friends and readers to give them the very largest circulation possible.

What One Worker Thinks.

One of our faithful SIGNS workers, who will never be well till God heals her, writes from Prince Edward’s Island, that she has already taken thirty-two orders for the special November issues on the final Gospel Message. She writes: “The Lord’s hand is in this movement; I never found such favor with the people. I believe the orders for November will far exceed our expectations.” And this is an echo of others. Now if one sick one can do as well as this, what ought not the well ones to do?

Wise Men Disagree.

Hugo de Vries, the great Dutch botanist, in the University of Amsterdam, is said, from his study of plants, to take direct issue with Darwin on the origin of species. A daily paper remarks: “Thus we have two great minds in the same line of investigation arriving at diametrically opposite results. So it runs in speculative thought. The fact of yesterday is the absurdity of to-day. The only thing we are certain of in speculative philosophy is that we are certain of nothing.” A few more now will doubt Mr. Darwin’s conclusions. It has been nothing to them that the Holy Scripture has set them down as erroneous all along.

The Immaculate Conception.—

Bishop Kelley, of Savannah, sends a pastoral from Lourdes, France, to his diocese “ordering the celebration of the golden jubilee of the dogmatic definition of the Immaculate Conception,” as expressed in the Savannah Morning News of August 22. We suppose that similar pastoral letters have been sent by all the bishops. By this dogma it was “infallibly” declared “that the most blessed Virgin Mary in the very first instant of her conception was, by a singular grace, and privilege of God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ the Redeemer of the world, preserved from all stain of original sin, had been revealed by God, and, therefore, must be firmly believed by all the faithful.” Great joy filled the hearts of the faithful, the bishop tells us, when the dogma of Pius IX. was published, because another star was added to Mary’s crown. And yet how contrary to Scripture and human hope it all is. The Word of God tells us that God sent forth His Son “born of a woman,”—a woman of the same nature as other women. Again, we are told that Jesus was made of “the seed of David according to the flesh,” a flesh in which original sin through the ages was manifest and often dominant. He was made “in all things” “like unto His brethren.” Why?—Simply this, that man might have as a Saviour one who had met and conquered in the flesh all that man must meet and conquer in the flesh; and that, as Jesus, with the same flesh conquered in all His temptations, He within us will enable us to conquer in all our temptations. The dogma of the Immaculate Conception puts Christ far away, and necessitates all the intermediaries in the Catholic system; it denies the scripture, There is “one Mediator also between God and man, Himself man, Christ Jesus,” and takes from the sin-burdened heart the preciousness of a divine-human Saviour, who is approvable by every one who will accept His invitation, “Come unto Me.” His human nature shares all the sin, the misery, the sorrows, the woe of human weaknesses, while His divine nature triumphs over all. Such a Saviour is the Son of God, born of humanity, to all who believe.

The Human Body, a Model Machine

The great Creator of the universe excels as a machinist. Professor Atwater, of Wesleyan University, after numerous experiments, says that the most economical engine built to-day utilizes, in the shape of work, only fifteen per cent. of the energy contained in the fuel supplied to it. The human power machine develops twenty per cent., without counting what is required to keep the internal mechanism of the body running, which is not less than twenty per cent. more. The professor adds this conclusion: “Thus the human engine runs with much less waste than any mechanical contrivance yet devised. Man stands to-day the model machine, and, with all his vaunted ingenuity, he can not construct an apparatus that comes near to equaling his own body as a work producer. Nor, indeed, will any other kind of engine, tho built of the best obtainable materials, run for anything like so long a period without wearing out, requiring in the same time so small an expenditure for repairs.” Verily, “the works of the Lord are great; sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.”

The Population of the Philippines.

A complete census, as far as a complete census could be taken under such conditions, has been taken of the Philippines. The total population is given as 7,635,426, of which only 647,740 is classed as wild and uncivilized; 7,000,000 are therefore considered within the pale of civilization. The islands number 343. Luzon has the largest population, 3,798,507; of these 223,506 are uncivilized. Panay has 743,646; Cebu 592,247, all civilized. More than one-half of the people of Mindano are wild tribes, 252,940 out of a population of 499,634. Manila has a population of 210,028. There are only 23,000 of the aboriginal negritos left on the islands. Nearly all those who are reckoned as civilized are Roman Catholics. Query, Was Roman Catholicism made the standard of civilization?

Moslem Opposition

A current press item says that difficulties are continually arising in Moslem countries which hinder the circulation of the Bible. One of the Bible agents writes that the Turkish authorities in the Mosul district had seized his books and money, and that licenses for colporteurs were being withheld in and around Bagdad, also that at Bushire, on the Persian Gulf, the authorities had refused to allow cases of the Scriptures to enter Persia.

Sunday-School Lessons for 1906–1911

The Sunday-school lessons for 1906-1911, as outlined by the International Lesson Committee, will be as follows: For 1906, Synoptic Gospels; for 1907, Patriarchs; for 1908, first half, Gospel according to John; for 1908, second half, Saul to Solomon; for 1909, the Acts and the Epistles; for 1910, Division of the Kingdom and the Return; for 1911, Gospel according to Matthew.

Pacific Press Board Meets in Mountain View

The legal office of the Pacific Press Publishing Company, formerly of Oakland, is now at Mountain View, and the first meeting of the board was held here, Monday, October 3.