[Written in view of the special Sabbath-school offering for Korea and the Philippine Islands, March 29.]
It is a great mistake to think of the inhabitants of the Philippine Islands as one people. They are as far from being one people as are the inhabitants of Europe, India, or South America. At the outset, there are two great divisions,—the Christian (so-called) and the non-Christian tribes, or we might call them the aboriginals and the invaders. Both of these classes are subdivided on ethnological and linguistic lines, until, instead of a homogeneous people speaking one tongue, as in Japan, there are sixty-nine peoples, speaking thirty-four different languages, and many dialects in addition.
Of the non-Christian people, the dwarf Negro, or Negrito, numbers about 30,000. He has crispy hair, wide nose, thick lips, and long heels, but never attains a stature of five feet. He is a savage pure and simple. He builds no house. He sleeps under some huge tree, and if approached by any human being, will scurry away like a rabbit. Thus far all attempts to Christianize or civilize him have been unsuccessful.
The Igorots are a more formidable race of savages. They are mountain dwellers, as the Negritos are forest dwellers. The Igorot is usually a peaceable savage, as far as outsiders are concerned, but the continual tribal race feuds give him the name of head-hunter. Several hundred Igorot children are now in the government schools, and their reports are very favorable.
The Tinguianes are a very queer people, living in northern Luzon. They have no temples, but hide away their idols from public gaze in caves and ravines. They live in small huts, built high up among the branches of large trees.
PREPARATION FOR RICE SOWING IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
• The Moro lives in the southern islands. His religion is a degraded Mohammedanism. He is a warlike man. He is taught to believe that special rewards are given to the one who dies fighting the “infidel” (meaning the Christian).
We now turn to the real Filipino, the people we shall have to do with for some time to come. There are six main divisions, as follows: the Visayans, 3,225,000; Tagalogs, 1,500,000; Ilocanos, 300,000; Bicols, 500,000; Pampangans, 335,000; and the Cagayans. They were, until the American occupation, nominally Roman Catholics. As a whole, they are bright and learn readily. With the overthrow of the Spanish rule, religious oppression ceased; and liberty and freedom took its place. Within three months from the day that Commodore Dewey captured Manila, several missionary societies laid plans to open work in the Philippines. Protestantism has made wonderful progress.
FILIPINO YOUNG LADIES OF SANTA ANA
It has taken much painstaking and hard work to get the Bible translated into all these different dialects. But to-day some portion of the Bible can be had in nearly every tongue. Thus, for the first time, the natives that have been considered Christian for three hundred years, are able to read the Bible in their own language.
The Methodist Episcopal Church was the first to send missionaries to the islands. They found ready hearers, and to-day they have training-schools, a large publishing house, hospitals, churches, and members. The Presbyterians, the Church of England, the Baptists, and the Church of Christ soon followed, and have been equally successful in making progress. Missionaries have learned the different languages and are now training many native workers, which has given a great impetus to their work, so that now the work is going by leaps and bounds. The long misrule of Spain and the church, has engendered a distrust of the Catholic religion. The opening of over 9,000 public schools has also done much to enable the people to break away from the superstitions of the past. This leaves most of the people without any faith in religion as they have been taught it, and unless Protestantism reaches them, they will soon drift into infidelity. Now is a most favorable time to work. I think I was never in any other field that had such opportunities for giving the message.
God, Prayer, Man, Missions
By T. E. BOWEN
T. E. BOWEN
God says, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.” “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isa. 55:8, 9.
Here comparison is made between God’s ways and thoughts and our ways and thoughts, if in very fact such comparison is possible. In attempting it, God leads us at once to the impossible, for who can tell how far heaven is above the earth, or in what direction to point for it? This being true, then how can we tell how much higher God’s thoughts are than ours, or in what directions his ways differ from ours?
Wisdom would point out that whatever the endeavor to advance God’s own work in the earth, only that can succeed which is his way, that only can prosper which is inspired by his thought. How plain it is, then, that the man or woman who is the most successful in eliminating his way, his thought, her way, her thought, will be the individual through whom God can display the more perfectly his way and his thought; this means success, because only God’s ways and thoughts can endure in the final test, for we are told228that every plant which our Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up.
We get God’s thoughts and touch upon his ways as we search his Word and pray. It is through prayer that we lose our ways, and our thoughts become divested of self. God and prayer, then, have a wonderful part in our missionward efforts. Without these elements man and missions could accomplish little. Money and effort man-raised, man-directed, can accomplish little, however much to us it may seem to be, unless God and prayer—God’s thoughts, God’s ways—have been the molding factors in it all, the groundwork, the structure, the arch-stone, that binds together the whole.
The year 1912 was one of remarkable growth. More money was raised for missions by Seventh-day Adventists than in any preceding year, a total of $653,458.28. Here in the home field our efforts came within $12,300 of reaching our goal of an average of fifteen cents a member each week to missions. This is good, and represents much earnest labor. It is possible God will enable his people to do even more this year. But let us not rest in congratulating ourselves on the raising of this splendid sum. This of itself means little only as the Lord’s blessing is upon it all, as he takes these few loaves and fishes at our hands and blesses and breaks and multiplies as he feeds the multitudes. His ways, his thoughts, yea, his altar, must sanctify the gifts. Shall we not endeavor to mingle still more of the prayer element into our efforts this coming year?
Speaking on the subject given at the beginning of this article, Henry W. Frost, home director of the China Inland Mission, presents in the Missionary Review of the World for February some thoughts worthy of study. He says:—
“Four great propositions related to prayer and missions are found in Matt. 9:36-38; Acts 1:13, 14; 2:1-6; and 13:1-3. These passages may be regarded as one, for at the root of each passage is a great, dominating thought.
“1. God makes little of what we make much. When you and I learn this lesson, we shall have made a long stride in the spiritual life and a far advance in this matter of missions. If you let your thoughts go back upon these passages, you will be surprised by the silence of God and his followers concerning the great things of which we hear very much indeed. In that ninth chapter [of Matthew], we may say Jesus Christ is announcing that he is about to start a great campaign in behalf of the evangelization of the world. He sees the great multitude, and there comes to him a picture of the vaster multitude beyond, throughout all the world; and then his heart goes out in compassion toward them, and this compassion leads him to say that great effort was needed, and the thing was not to be accomplished by himself nor by that little handful of men about his person. The task was to be fulfilled by a great number of men and women to the very end of time.
“Notice the silence of Christ. If we had spoken before the Master had spoken, I think we should have said, ‘Lord, if thou art going to undertake the evangelization of the world, we shall need a very strong central committee. We may call it anything, but let us have it strong.’ . . . And we should have wanted sub-committees all over the world. Then we should have wanted a million-dollar campaign.
“But the Lord said absolutely nothing of the kind. Don’t let me be misunderstood. I believe in organization. I believe money is a great power, provided it is in God’s hands and provided it is God-given. When Jesus Christ comes to the thought of that great campaign which was to be world-wide, he said just one thing, ‘Prayer.’ Until we begin to learn a lesson of getting a changed viewpoint, of coming to that for which he stands,—spiritual life and spiritual power,—our services will be vanity itself.
“2. God makes much of what we make little. The very things that we are talking about lead us to pass over the things that he is talking about. Our temptation is to deal with things that are seen and can be handled. There are things that appeal to us, but God leaves them all out of account. He comes to the invisible, spiritual power that deals with spiritual forces. We want to know how big a thing is, how effective it is going to be from a standpoint of numbers, what it has done. Our thoughts are always upon these outer things. God’s thought is not there.
“God is making much of what we are tempted sorely to make little. God would have us make much of compassion. It was as Jesus saw these multitudes that his heart was moved with compassion and he said to pray. What the church of Jesus Christ at large needs is compassion, not simply for minds and bodies, but for spirits. I notice they have fasting in that passage. Fasting is an old thing nowadays, but I assure you more things come out of fasting than this world knows of. . . . Prayer is the thing that Jesus is bringing to our minds as the requisite thing, such prayer that it displaces other things in their right place and time.
“3. God does little for those who make much of what he considers little. You make much of a thing of which God makes little, and God’s wise thought is in another direction, and he will do little for you. If there were time to-day, we should go back into church and missionary history and prove it over and over again. How many Christians in the world? You say about twenty millions. Do you mean to say that if these twenty millions were doing what God wants them to do, this world would be what it is? What is the meaning of it all? It is simply this, that we have made much of what God has made little, and God doesn’t help those that make much of what he makes little.
“4. God does much for those who make much of what he makes much. O, the harmonies at last when we get our thoughts Godward and Christward, and understand the great and eternal lesson that he has taught his people concerning service! Who will be little enough that God may be all in all? Who will be done with secular methods, and take the method of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ? You may be obscure, but the day you fit your unworthy life into the great plan of God, you will see things accomplished. The promise of God is yea and amen in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus sits on his throne to bring to pass the things that he has promised in his Word.”
Of all people in the world who ought to enter the most fully into God’s divine purpose, should not those people who stand out apart and alone from all the people in the world as the “little flock,” that remnant of commandment-keepers? This is certainly true. Then how it behooves us to pray for the heavenly anointing, so that truly we shall as never before enter into God’s ways, God’s thoughts and purposes, in all our activities in both home and foreign fields to extend the third angel’s message. Christ’s word to all is, “Pray ye.” And when this is done, the gratifying results we all love so much to see, the advance into new fields, and our mission funds increase, shall not be lacking. Acts 2: 42, 46, 47.
Mission Notes
WRITING from Changsha, November 29, two days after his return from Shanghai, Brother R. F. Cottrell says:—
“On my return to Changsha, I found Brother C. P. Lillie and family and Mrs. Cottrell usually well. Excellent reports are coming in from our out-stations. About fifty are reported as desirous of baptism in various places. I fear I shall not be able to visit more than one of these places this year, as it is now low water, and the bund and well must be fixed before the Chinese new year if possible. We never had the interest in Changsha that we are having at present. The young man who took his stand during our general meeting is coming along splendidly. Twenty or more students from one of the government schools are attending daily Bible studies at our chapel. The average Sabbath attendance is over fifty, and the women’s meetings held on Tuesdays of each week are also well attended. Our brethren and sisters in this province never manifested more zeal and enthusiasm in the work than at present.”
FROM Canton, Elder I. H. Evans writes:—
“To-day [December 7] we had a most remarkable meeting, and all in the audience gave themselves to God. Several heathen bore testimony for the first time. One man, who had formerly worked for us but who had gone into the revolution and trained soldiers, wept so he could hardly speak when he bore testimony. The brethren say this was the best meeting ever held by us in Canton.”
Animal Flesh and Disease
By A. B. Olsen
A. B. OLSEN, M. D., D. P. H.
It is a well-known fact that disease of all kinds, both infectious and non-infectious, prevails very widely among the lower animals, and especially among domestic animals which are slaughtered for food. Indeed, it is a moot point if any of the animals which are butchered and eaten in civilized lands are in a state of perfect health. It is true that in the case of a fair number there may not be grave lesions or marked evidence of disease, but we must bear in mind that most so-called functional disorders produce little or no physical change that can be recognized. Furthermore, many of the diseases, including some of the most virulent, can not be recognized by the naked eye of an expert, to say nothing about a layman, but require investigation by the aid of the microscope or chemical tests to show the presence of disease. Again, even though there may not be positive disease, the presence of emaciation is of itself a bad sign, and should be sufficient to condemn the animal.
It is also a well-known fact that so-called inspection of the average slaughter-house is very largely a farce, and the casual observer might naturally think that inspection is a nominal thing, a mere form, calculated to satisfy the conscience of the consumer and permit the butcher to claim that his animals had been inspected. It is safe to say that the inspection of animals in many if not all of the leading slaughter-houses only means the exclusion of animals that are so obviously sick and diseased that a layman would have little or no difficulty in recognizing the fact.
Parasitic Diseases
Animals are afflicted with numerous contagious or infectious parasitic diseases, many of which are transferable to men through the consumption of flesh. For example, there are over fifty varieties of the tapeworm. What we call measly pork, simply means that the flesh of the pig is infected with a tapeworm known as Tænia solium, while “beef measles” indicates the presence of another variety, Tænia saginata, which is longer than the solium, sometimes attaining a length of six or seven yards. Another tapeworm which may be transferred to man is Bothriocephalus latus, found in certain edible fish. Tænia echinococcus, which produces the characteristic hydatid cysts of the liver, afflicts cattle, sheep, and swine, and in some countries is a prevalent disease of human beings. Human beings would rarely if ever suffer from any form of tapeworm if they refrained from eating dead animals.
Then there are the whipworms, hookworms, two varieties of flukes, and various filariae, not to mention other more or less numerous parasites which afflict lower animals and may be in different ways communicated to human beings.
Germ-Diseases
Besides the larger parasites, there are a large number of germ disorders to which both animals and man are subject, and which may be transferred by eating the infected flesh. One of the most deadly of these is anthrax, which is invariably fatal. Malignant pustule, or wool-sorters’ disease, although not invariably fatal, like anthrax, is a dangerous disease. There are also glanders, rabies, foot-and-mouth disease, and actinomycosis; the latter is not a germ-disease, but is produced by a ray-fungus.
Perhaps the most prevalent disease among the lower animals is tuberculosis, to which cattle particularly are subject. At the present time it is estimated that eighty per cent of the largest herds of England suffer from tuberculosis. A still higher percentage has been found in some herds. It would not be inaccurate to say that more than half the milch cows suffer at one time or another from some form of tuberculosis. That such animals sometimes recover from tubercular disease, as is the case with human beings, seems very probable. It is difficult to realize how wide-spread the white plague is among domestic animals, and particularly our milch cows. But consider how few of these animals are rejected at the slaughter-house. Most if not all other domestic animals suffer more or less from tuberculosis, and we now know that it is comparatively common among fowls.
It is not an uncommon thing to hear of typhoid fever spreading from the use of shell-fish or other varieties of fish. Oysters, sometimes known as the scavengers of the sea because they seem to thrive on sewage, are not infrequently infected with the bacillus of typhoid fever, and are thus capable of passing it on to man. A few years ago two mayoral banquets in England were followed by epidemics of typhoid fever, both of which were traced to the consumption of oysters. Cockles, mussels, and winkles, and among fish the plaice, have been known to transmit typhoid fever.
Decomposing Flesh and Ptomain Poisoning
One of the chief as well as one of the most important objections to flesh eating is the presence of putrefaction in varying degree in all forms of animal flesh. A fact that few persons realize is that decomposition sets in the moment life departs. The great bulk of flesh foods are consumed days, or weeks, or even months after death has taken place. The flesh of the average animal is naturally tough and difficult of mastication immediately after slaughter; but the disintegrating processes of decomposition, which start at once, have a solvent effect, and gradually render the flesh more tender. The epicurean usually prefers his flesh in a putrid state before eating, and fancies the flavor of the greenish mold which sometimes forms on the surface. Putrefaction of any kind of food means the formation of certain more or less poisonous bodies which give rise to ptomain poisoning, a disorder that is steadily becoming more common. Ptomain poisoning is almost invariably the result of flesh consumption. Pork, veal, kidney, or meat pies, sausages, potted meats, and tinned fish or meats are perhaps the most common causes of ptomain poisoning. Who has ever heard of a case of ptomain poisoning arising from the consumption of a baked potato, a banana, or a piece of bread? The very thought is ridiculous.
Botulism is a form of poisoning associated with the eating of sausages; hence the name. Many diarrheas and dysenteries are the direct result of ptomain poisoning, although they do not always receive their proper name. Sickness, cramp, and other violent pains of the bowels, and many headaches are also some of the penalties paid for eating putrefying animal flesh.
Caterham, England.
The Noon-Hour Prayer
By Editor
“Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.” “And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends.”
SINCE we opened this column for requests for special prayer, there have been received a large number of letters, presenting a great variety of needs. We feel that there is danger that we shall wander away from our original purpose230and that the special object of this column will be lost. We have therefore decided to publish hereafter only personal requests for healing and for deliverance from special affliction. We have received many requests for prayer for the conversion of friends. If we should enter this field, we might fill the entire paper. We feel that we can not broaden the scope of the original plan, and must therefore confine it in the manner suggested. The editors must of course always use their best judgment as to the appropriateness of the requests that shall be presented. The following come this week asking to be remembered at the throne of grace:—
130. A sister in Oregon requests prayer for healing from dropsy.
131. “Please pray for the recovery of my son, who is insane, and also for my healing,” asks a Michigan brother.
132. An afflicted sister in Missouri desires prayer for restoration to health.
133. A brother writes from Tennessee, “I ask your earnest prayers that the Lord may heal my throat.”
134. An invalid sister in California asks prayer for her healing.
135. A sister in Iowa, suffering from an affection of the nerves, requests prayer that her health may be restored.
136. A brother in the State of Iowa earnestly asks prayer that his hearing may be restored, and that he may be healed from stomach and bowel trouble.
137. A sister writing from Nebraska asks our prayers that she may be healed.
138. Another sister writes: “Please pray for the restoration of my nephew.”
139. A sister in the Canal Zone, who is trying to live out the truth in the face of bitter persecution, requests prayer in behalf of her two sons.
140. A Kansas sister desires prayer for the healing of her brother in Michigan.
The Home Lights
By Edith Casebeer
EDITH CASEBEER
O BEAUTIFUL, beautiful home lights
That shine at the end of my way,
How oft do ye give me new courage,
After a wearisome day,
Gleaming bright through the mist and the darkness,
Throwing light on my path through the storm!
And the way that I take seems less dreary,
For I know I shall reach them erelong.
I know over there in the home lights,
My Father is waiting for me;
And often when crossing rough places,
I hear his dear voice calling me:
“I love thee, my child, do not falter,
’Tis the narrow path leads unto home.”
And so I press on toward the home lights,
Knowing well I shall reach them erelong.
The Pacific Press Publishing Association
[The following report of the ninth annual meeting of the Pacific Press Publishing Association, held at Mountain View, Cal., Jan. 20, 1913, is epitomized from the report of the manager of the institution and from reports published on the Pacific Coast.—Ed.]
MAIN OFFICE PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION, MOUNTAIN VIEW, CAL.
THE attendance at this meeting was larger than that of any previous annual meeting in the history of the association. Elders A. G. Daniells, W. T. Knox, and W. A. Spicer, of the General Conference, were present. Twelve union conferences in the United States and Canada were represented by their presidents; also seventy general agents and tract society secretaries, representing Pacific Press territory, together with about two hundred members of the constituency, attended.
The meeting was called to order in the new Assembly Hall of the institution. By a few well-chosen words, C. H. Jones, president and general manager of the association, extended a cordial greeting to all. His “welcome to California, the land of sunshine, fruit, and flowers; to Mountain View, its garden spot; and to the Pacific Press, one of the largest denominational publishing houses,” meant much to many of the delegates, several of them having been delayed from two to five days en route by snowslides, blizzards, and floods.
After the usual preliminaries the report of the treasurer, H. G. Childs, was presented. The total retail value of the sales of the association, including its three branch offices, during 1912, showed a volume of business amounting to $459,349.07, an increase of $33,488 over the record for 1911. From its earnings of $33,343.78 the home office was able to apply $17,000 on notes and accounts payable. The net gain for the year, including the branch offices, amounted to $37,304.22. The association has a net worth of more than $182,000.
During 1912 machinery and printing equipment amounting to $4,104.51 were donated to foreign mission fields. The struggling little printing-offices in Japan, India, China, and Korea were thus materially helped in the prosecution of their work. Since its reorganization the Pacific Press has given a grand total of $30,076.39 for missionary purposes. The institution has not only given machinery and money, but has sent out well-trained, consecrated workers who are now laboring in South America, Mexico, China, Japan, Korea, India, and the islands of the sea.
Gratitude to our gracious Heavenly Father for the unprecedented degree of prosperity which has attended the work of the association was expressed by several of the visiting brethren present, among whom was Elder J. N. Loughborough, the first president of the Pacific Press.
The report of the general manager, C. H. Jones, emphasized the fact that the year just closed was the best in the history of the institution. The Kansas City Branch of the association, located at Euclid Avenue and Thirteenth Street, Kansas City, Mo., dedicated its new office building and warehouse on Oct. 9, 1912. The manager, S. N. Curtiss, reported sales amounting to $89,086.70 for the past twelve months, showing a net gain of $726.58. The workers at the branch office in Portland, Oregon, dedicated their new office building July 21, 1912. This office showed a net gain of $1,908.44,231the sales for the year totaling $48,202.96.
For several years after its establishment the Canadian Branch, now located in its new substantial quarters at Calgary, Alberta, was not a self-supporting enterprise, but during 1912 it made a gain of $1,138.71, showing total sales for that time amounting to $29,803.80. The manager also called the attention of the constituency to some necessary improvements made at the home office since the last annual meeting, stating that much of the work was done by employees, at a cost of about three thousand dollars.
The year 1912 was a banner one for the book work in Pacific Press territory. The total sales amounted to $322,000, a gain of about $35,000 over the previous year; and the foreign business showed a healthy growth, its sales amounting to $55,555.59. Those in charge of this work attribute this splendid gain largely to more thorough organization in the office and in the field, a better corps of trained workers, and a higher standard of attainment. Most grateful tribute was paid to the devoted canvassers who so faithfully carry the printed page from door to door, making possible the existence of the institution.
One million one hundred ninety-seven thousand copies of the Signs of the Times weekly were circulated during 1912. The subscription list stands at about 13,000. That the Signs of the Times Magazine is still growing in favor is evidenced by the increased circulation, the average being 35,250 copies a month, exclusive of the missions number. Of this particular number 490,000 copies were printed this year. Our Little Friend has a subscription list of nearly 15,000. During 1912 the periodical department carried forward a volume of business amounting to $137,339.
In closing his report to the constituency, the manager said:—
“During the last thirty-three years, in which I have been connected with the Pacific Press, never have we had a more earnest, consecrated, devoted, reliable company of workers in all departments of the office than at the present time. All, or nearly all, are members of the church and earnest Christian workers. They are here because they believe this to be the work of the Lord, and they want to be engaged in it. Some could earn more wages elsewhere, but that is no inducement for them to leave.
“The week of prayer was a season of great refreshing. Every morning special meetings were held in the chapel or in the various departments of the office, and there was a general forward movement. Following the meetings, three of our number went forward in baptism and united with the church.
“The office was closed, as usual, one day during the Harvest Ingathering campaign, and nearly all the employees went out to distribute the Signs and solicit funds for missions. Many reported rich experiences.
“As we look back over the past, and see how graciously the Lord has led us, and the wonderful prosperity that has attended this work, we are led to exclaim with the psalmist of old, ‘This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes;’ and to him we would ascribe all the praise and the glory.”
The following-named persons were unanimously chosen as a board of directors: C. H. Jones, H. G. Childs, M. C. Wilcox, H. H. Hall, E. E. Andross, B. M. Shull, James Cochran.
An advisory board was appointed, consisting of one representative from each of the following union and local conferences: Pacific Union Conference, Northern Union Conference, Central Union Conference, North Pacific Union Conference, Western Canadian Union Conference, California Conference, Central California Conference, Northern California-Nevada Conference, and the Southern California Conference.
The board chose the following-named persons as officers and assistants in effecting its organization:—
OFFICERS.—President and general manager, C. H. Jones; vice-president, H. H. Hall; secretary and treasurer, H. G. Childs; auditor, J. J. Ireland.
DEPARTMENT MANAGERS, ETC.—Manager book department, H. H. Hall; assistant manager book department, James Cochran; manager periodical department, G. C. Hoskin; art director and foreman photoengraving department, F. H. Gage; cashier, T. F. Culhane; manager Kansas City Branch, S. N. Curtiss; manager Portland Branch, J. F. Beatty; manager Canadian Branch, J. M. Rowse.
EDITORS.—Weekly Signs, editor, M. C. Wilcox; associate editors, A. O. Tait and L. A. Reed. Signs Magazine, editor, L. A. Reed; associate editor, A. O. Tait. Our Little Friend, editor, Miss K. B. Wilcox; associate editor, Mrs. V. J. Farnsworth.
PUBLISHING COMMITTEE.—H. H. Hall, M. C. Wilcox, E. E. Andross, E. W. Farnsworth, A. O. Tait, L. A. Reed, C. H. Jones, J. O. Corliss, J. R. Ferren, F. H. Gage, G. C. Hoskin, James Cochran, H. G. Childs.
PURCHASING COMMITTEE.—Manager and treasurer.
One feature of the day particularly enjoyable from a social standpoint was the dinner served in the folding-room of the Pacific Press. Five long tables were tastefully decorated, and spread with appetizing food. At these were seated one hundred fifty persons at a time. The music furnished by the Mountain View orchestra added much to the pleasure of all throughout the meal. Many leading business and professional men from the city were present, and three hundred forty were served. All pronounced this feature of the program a complete success.
The reports rendered by both the home and branch officers, gave evidence that the year 1912 had been the most prosperous in the history of the association. The entire Pacific Press family and visitors present united in expressing praise and gratitude to our Heavenly Father in the adoption of the following resolution:—
“For the goodness of our God in the temporal prosperity of the past year, for the preservation of life and health among our workers within and without the factory, for the spiritual blessings which have been poured upon us from on high, for the privilege of laboring with our blessed Lord and gracious Master in his ever-expanding and fast-closing message, we here record our heartfelt thanks and rededicate our lives to him in glad, whole-hearted service.”
Our Sufficiency
By Pearl Waggoner
PEARL WAGGONER
To sufferers prostrate with sickness,
To all the afflicted who mourn,
Who feel that their trial’s too heavy,
Knowing not how its weight can be borne,
To them a glad message is given,—
“’Tis comforting, blessed, and free,—
“My strength is made perfect in weakness;
My grace is sufficient for thee.”
Ye fainting, who seem to be burdened
With more than life’s usual cares,
The sky all above you seems darkened,
Your feet beset thickly with snares,
Discouraged because on before you
No light on your pathway you see,
To you is the word of the Saviour,
“My grace is sufficient for thee.”
Remember that whate’er the trial
Or work that is given to you,
There’s always sent with it the courage
And strength that will carry you through.
And even should others forsake you,
Yet sure and unfailing is He;
For still can be heard the glad whisper,
“My grace is sufficient for thee.”
