SOME OF THE NEW BELIEVERS IN CARRIACOU, GRENADINES
Among the Schools
By W. E. Howell
No period of labor in the field since I left college eighteen years ago has been more profitable and enjoyable to me than the six weeks I spent among our schools and educational conventions in the West during July and August. The meeting of scores of old students who have buckled on the gospel harness and are bearing the heat of the day with Christian fortitude, gave me a deeper sense than ever before of how rich is the teacher's compensation. Associating in counsel and prayer with fellow teachers, many of whom I have known since my own school-days, caused me to appreciate how strong is the tie that binds us—head, hand, and heart—to the cause we have loved from early youth. The old men, and women, too, who have stayed up our hands during these years of service, who have grown still more gray, yet more ardent within their love of the truth, impress anew the words of Scripture. “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”
The educational work on the Pacific Coast is very progressive in most respects. The educational officers and teachers seem keenly alive to the importance of putting into practise the special instruction given to our schools for years, and frequently repeated in one form or other. The managers of the Pacific Press are working shoulder to shoulder with these workers, in the publishing of text-books and school supplies, in pushing their circulation inside the denomination and outside, and in frequent counsel in educational matters. The conference officials are lifting in every way they can to sustain the hands of these workers, and to remove every hindering obstacle to unity and progress. As long as the leaders keep within bounds and in the lead, the people are sure to follow.
The Pacific Union educational convention was held on the camp-ground in Oakland, July 2-8, and the summer school at Lodi, July 17 to August 14. Of the convention, the union conference secretary, Professor Lewis, writes: “The longer I think about it, the more sure I feel that the convention did some excellent work,—work that will be felt in the future. I think we have a fine corps of superintendents, and I look forward to a very successful year of educational work.” Of the summer school, one teacher says, “It is one of the very best I have ever attended in California.”
The North Pacific Union held its convention in the pine woods at the foot of Mt. Hood, July 18-25. It was very fully attended by all the teachers, including members of college faculties and the educational officers, and most of the time by the entire union conference committee. The results were correspondingly good, and very strikingly in unison, in nearly every respect, with those of the Pacific Union convention, even to the adoption of text-books, although there was no concerted plan beforehand. Of the summer school, July 27 to August 29, the union secretary writes: “We are having a fine time, with an attendance of fifty teachers.”
The Central and Northern unions held a union summer school this season at the Danish-Norwegian Seminary, Hutchinson, Minn. Though spending but one day there, I found an atmosphere of progressive, earnest activity. Professor Ruble has worked diligently to systematize the work in his union, and to raise the standard of efficiency in the schools.18
To this effort the teachers are responsive, seeming no less eager than their secretary to bring their work up to the degree of solidity and fruitfulness that it richly deserves.
Of my visit to our schools at St. Helena, Loma Linda, Lodi, Walla Walla, Hutchinson, and elsewhere, I desire to write at another time.
Though the educational problems yet to be solved are many, and though their solution implies much arduous labor, diligent study, and fervent prayer, yet to me the present outlook is decidedly promising, and I daily pray for greater capacity and despatch.
W. E. HOWELL.
British West Indies
By A. N. Durrant
CARRIACOU.— For five weeks — beginning April 28, when we pitched our tent — we conducted a series of meetings in this island, the largest of the Grenadines.
The island is beautiful, and our tent being pitched near the seashore, we were often reminded of the time when the Great Teacher taught by the Sea of Galilee.
We had some trying experiences in maintaining order during the meetings. Some nights, after solemn discourses from the Bible, we would appeal to our hearers to yield to the Word; then some would come forward feigning earnestness, and while we were praying with them, after having talked with them, they would get up or creep quietly away.
Only eight have accepted the message, but for even these we praise God. Two have come directly from Romanism. One of these, a young man, has since borne the following testimony: “While I was standing [in meeting] the Holy Spirit came into me and said I must raise my hand if Mr. Durrant asked. I held up my hand; and I am glad to say to-day, I feel the peace of God in my heart. . . . I am a changed man. . . . A few days before, Satan came into me, and I said to a friend, ‘Let us buy a bottle of rum, take a good drink, and when Mr. Durrant calls, we’ll go forward, and when he comes to bless us [pray with them], we will take out the bottle and drink the remainder in his presence,’ but I now beg the Lord for pardon.”
Brother A. G. Peart and his wife and Sister Moore assisted in the work here, and Brother Peart now remains to further develop it.
The accompanying picture shows some of the new Sabbath-keepers; but it does not represent the class that attended the meetings, being taken when we could not get a truly representative gathering.
The great problem now confronting us is the securing of a place of worship. Land is very scarce, as the island contains only 8,467 acres, with a population of about 8,000. More than half of the island is owned by one or two proprietors. We went to the commissioner to see if we could obtain a piece of ground, but found we could not. A large town lot, with an old building about thirty-six by twenty feet, on the main street near the court-house, is now offered to us for one hundred sixty dollars. This seems like a providential opening.
Those who have accepted the message are very poor in this world’s goods; in fact, the island is poor. The chief products are cotton and corn. If we give permanence to the work in this island, help will have to come from outside. If any one reading this report, would feel it a pleasure to send an offering to purchase this property and to establish a memorial among these small islands, it would indeed be casting bread upon the waters. Offerings should be sent through the regular channels. Pray for these dark, priest-ridden people in this needy field. A. N. DURRANT.
Reaching the Children of an Entire Community
By Edmund C. Jaeger
THE sickness of the world is a challenge to God's people to demonstrate the power of the Almighty to heal the body and deliver them from sin. We must vindicate the character of God before a skeptical world. This is our work. God can not approve of the ways of those who are “careless of human needs, sufferings, and rights.”
Whenever I see any one who undervalues the efficacy of medical work in bringing earth's unshepherded souls to a knowledge of Jesus Christ, I am aware immediately that it is because he has never had a practical experience in such work. The health work is as effectual in battering down walls of prejudice as was that seven days' march around the stronghold of ancient Canaan in overthrowing its walls. And this I purpose to prove to you by using an argument based upon the results obtained through prosecuting medical missionary work, in a well-defined and dignified manner, for two years in the communities of Southern California.
Two years ago, without any resources and with little encouragement from human sources, I began the presentation of the health truths. It was my contention that it would be better to spend time in educating little children than to waste it on listless adults, for I have found that the mind of an adult, with its prejudices and indifference, is ordinarily much akin to Luther's coal-sack. By the time the truth gets home to the mind, it is all spoiled by these contaminations of character. That contention was all right, but how was I to get the children? After conferring with a good-hearted, public-spirited school-teacher who listened to my plans, the way opened for the establishment of a lectureship in the public schools. God was in it, and so I went to work. Some of our people thought the lecturer was too young, but now I am glad I started just when I did. My youth was a scapegoat for my mistakes, and the children felt more at home with one near their own age.
The first lectures were given in Riverside, and happily were well received by both parents and school authorities. They became so popular with the teachers and children that a demand was made for a series to continue through the year. For the past two years the Lord gave me the opportunity to lecture once a month on sanitarium methods in the treatment of disease. Each lecture lasted about thirty minutes. To reach all the grades in the seven school buildings of Riverside, consumes about a week's time, working from three to five hours a day.
I am happy to find that some of the teachers depend solely on my instruction for the information to be given in hygiene, physiology, and scientific temperance. In these two years I have covered almost every subject of the health reform,—the use of condiments, tea, and coffee, and meat-eating, together with food combinations. Of course I have had to use tact in presenting some of the more advanced ideas with reference to the use of flesh foods. But common sense appeals to the majority of people, especially in relation to their physical being.
During the year which has just closed, five hundred lectures were given before fully fifty thousand children and adults. The work included talks before the young people's society of Christian Endeavor, before the primary, grammar, and high schools, before teachers' institutes, and before other large audiences.
My appointment as State lecturer to the Young People's Branch of the W. C. T. U. has opened the way to present many lectures before the W. C. T. U.
This next year the work will be carried on in affiliation with our new medical school at Loma Linda. The sanitarium has had such a helpful and far-reaching influence on the public that to connect directly with the institution will not cripple the work, but rather give dignity to it.
Sometimes the children get things a bit mixed, and I have a chance to smile at their remarks. After giving a lecture on digestion, in which I described the wonderful organs of assimilation, the mother of a little five-year-old was much surprised at the enthusiasm with which her son told of “the wonderful pianos and pianos and pianos which we have all over in our bodies.” Little Theodore went home much worried after a lecture on proper breathing. Upon being seated at the dinner-table, he disclosed the cause of his perplexity. “Mama,” he said, “Mr. Jaeger says I've got a lung.” Strange discovery!
I am glad to say that I have a strong grip on the older boys in the grammar grades, and I have confidence that few of them will run wilfully into sin. I am spending the summer in personal work with these youth and visiting their parents. We want to work together. One can not accomplish much without parental cooperation. These parents are glad to receive the help I have offered, and have aided financially. I have tried to be a self-supporting missionary, and God has put it into their hearts to make this possible.
At my request, many of our Missionary Volunteer societies in the United States are supplying my boys with the Instructor. Ernest Lloyd, our tract society missionary secretary, who delights to help in our literature work, has sent hundreds of copies of Our Little Friend to distribute among the little folks.
Space does not permit me to tell of reformations in homes brought about by this beneficent work, nor of the hundreds of boys who have gotten hold of higher ideals in life. If I have done nothing more than help some one get on the right track to eternity, that will be sufficient reward. There is nothing so glorious as to know that we are letting God use us, instead of our trying to use God. The question is not, How can I get more of God's Spirit? but, How can God's Spirit get more of me?
EDMUND C. JAEGER.
I. KALBERMATTEN
By I. Kalbermatten
Bolivia
LA PAZ.—I am glad of the privilege of sending a few lines to the REVIEW in regard to the work here in Bolivia. About seven months ago, my wife and I were sent to this field from Argentina by the South American Union Conference. Since arriving, we have been associated in the work with Brother and Sister F. A. Stahl. There is much work to be done here. Until a few years ago, the message of the soon coming of the Lord was not known in this country. We find it very slow work to get these people to understand and accept the message. Though we enjoy complete religious freedom here, fanaticism reigns supreme.
La Paz, the capital city of Bolivia, has seventy thousand inhabitants, fifty thousand of whom are native Indians, and nearly all unable to read. They speak the Aymara language, and very few of them can speak the Spanish. Several months ago, Brother Stahl and I began to hold meetings for the Indians, gathering them together in one of the parks. For some time we had an attendance of from fifty to eighty. Brother Stahl presented to them the evil effects of alcohol and cocaine, showing the importance of being free from these vices in order to be prepared for the soon coming of Christ. Notwithstanding we had to speak to them through an interpreter, they listened with much interest.
Not only the Indians attended our meetings, but also a number of educated persons. Among these was one lady, a widow, who seemed to be honest and to fear God. This woman soon offered to help in our work. As we were then in the rainy season, and it often rained at the time we wished to hold our meetings, she offered the use of her large new house, situated near the place where we held our meetings, whenever it rained.
After these meetings had continued about a month, the priests warned the Indians against listening to “those deceivers and heretics,” and as a result, the poor Indians soon stopped attending our meetings. But the work we had done had not been in vain. The lady in whose house we held the meetings is now a faithful observer of the Sabbath, and is rejoicing in the soon coming of Christ. As she is a person who has considerable influence, she is a great help to us in proclaiming the message in this city. Already several are studying the truth with her.
A number are also reading our books and papers with interest. The most of my time is occupied in colporteur work with periodicals and books, and visiting the interested ones. Although I am not a nurse, I have had the privilege of taking care of a typhoid-fever patient for twenty-two days; and thanks to our Heavenly Father, he is now well again.
Brother and Sister Stahl are well known, and recognized in this city as very successful nurses. Sometimes calls come from places a day’s ride by train from here. My wife and I will soon be left alone in this city, as Brother and Sister Stahl are to take up their new duties among the Indians in Peru, where already there are about one hundred who are keeping the Sabbath. Our prayer is that God may also bless their work where they are going.
I. KALBERMATTEN
Conditions of Receiving the Holy Ghost
By R. D. Quinn
In the first place, a Spirit-filled man will be a Word-filled man. The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit. Study the Word. If we neglect our Bibles, we may pray, and ask God to use us; but God can not use us, because there is not much for the Holy Ghost to work upon. “By looking constantly to Jesus with the eye of faith, we shall be strengthened. God will make the most precious revelations to his hungering, thirsting people. . . . As they feed upon his Word, they will find that it is spirit and life. The Word destroys the natural, earthly nature, and imparts a new life in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit comes to the soul as a comforter. . . . This is what it means to live ‘by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.’”—“Desire of Ages,” page 458.
Perfect Obedience
“If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter.” Our part is to keep God’s commandments, and his part is to give us the Comforter. This second step that leads into the blessing is complete renunciation of sin. The Holy Spirit is a Holy Spirit, and we can not have both him and unholy sin. Therefore, instant and perfect obedience to every intimation of the divine will is the one supreme condition of receiving and retaining the Holy Ghost. “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
Prevailing Prayer
“If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” Luke 11:13. It was while Christ was in prayer on the banks of the Jordan that the heavens were opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him. It was in answer to earnest and continued prayer for ten days that the Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost. And even after Pentecost we read, in Acts 4:31: “When they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.”
Peter and John went down to Samaria and prayed for the new converts, that they might receive the Holy Ghost. “Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain;” “then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.” Zech. 10:1; Hosea 6:3. “What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”
The Reckoning of Faith
After we have complied with all the conditions, the only thing for us to do is to accept what God has promised, and go on believing that we are filled, whether we feel like it or not. A little girl was once asked by a gentleman how old she was. Her quick reply was, “I feel ten, but mama says I am only eight.” It is not a question of feeling, but of fact.
Read Gal. 3:13, 14: “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” If we have received the blessing of Abraham, which is righteousness by faith, then there is no reason why we should not claim the Spirit by faith, and go on our way rejoicing, believing that “at all times and in all places, in all sorrows and in all afflictions, when the outlook seems dark and the future perplexing, and we feel helpless and alone, the Comforter will be sent in answer to the prayer of faith. Circumstances may separate us from every earthly friend; but no circumstance, no distance, can separate us from the heavenly Comforter. Wherever we are, wherever we may go, he is always at our right hand to support, sustain, uphold, and cheer.”—“Desire of Ages,” page 800.
R. D. Quinn.
Field Notes
TEN persons were recently baptized at Calhan, Colo.
EIGHT young people were baptized at Mankato, Minn., recently.
ELEVEN persons were baptized at Dodge Center, Minn., July 22.
AT Hillsboro, Wis., Elder W. H. Thurston baptized five persons recently.
ON a recent Sabbath four Scandinavian believers were buried with Christ in baptism at Portland, Ore.
FIVE new Sabbath-keepers are reported as having taken their stand at the Dexter (Maine) meetings.
FIVE persons have taken a definite stand for the truth at Taunton, Mass., as the result of tent-meetings.
AT the close of the tent effort at Manchester, N. H., Elder G. G. Rother reports six families of Sabbath-keepers.
ELDER E. L. CARDEY reports twenty persons who have accepted the truth thus far during the tent effort at Troy, N. Y.
FOUR new Sabbath-keepers recently took their stand for the truth as the result of tent-meetings at Omaha, Neb.
DURING June three candidates were baptized at Osceola, Iowa. At Oakland, Elder J. W. Dorcas baptized three persons.
BROTHER J. M. BURDICK baptized ten persons Sabbath, August 5. These joined the Chicago (Ill.) North Side church.
SINCE the beginning of meetings at Nashville, Tenn., in June, eleven persons have been baptized, and many others are interested.
ELDER D. E. ROBINSON reports that during the month of July sixteen young persons of the St. Helena (Cal.) church were baptized.
SABBATH, August 12, five members were received into the church at Seattle, Wash. Four of these were baptized by Elder A. J. Stone.
DURING June and July six persons were baptized in the Memorial Church, Washington, D. C., making a total of thirty-six since January 30.
TWENTY-EIGHT persons went forward in the ordinance of baptism during the Eastern Pennsylvania camp-meeting, Elder W. H. Heckman officiating.
SIX persons have been baptized at Houston Heights, Tex., as the result of the self-supporting missionary work of Brother J. H. Smith. Others are interested.
AT the close of a short series of lectures near Great Falls, Mont., fourteen persons took their stand for the truth, eight of whom were baptized on Sabbath, July 22. Ten were added to the church, two by former baptism.
Gospel Workers' Department
By Arthur G. Daniells
Their divine calling, qualification, and preparation. Methods of labor, plans, etc.
Conducted by A. G. DANIELLS
L. D. SANTEE
By L. D. SANTEE
Heavenward
L. D. SANTEE
DAILY we're journeying on to the portals
Of that beloved city where pearl are the gates,
Where far, far away in the gold and the crimson
Of morning eternal, the Saviour awaits;
And we, here confined in earth's limited prison,
Press onward in hope till the Day-star arise,
Strong in our faith, for the Saviour has risen,
And our journey of earth-life shall end in the skies.
The sun woos the flowers with his amorous kisses,
The summer smiles sweet from the lap of the year,
But tasteless and tame are the best of earth's blisses
Compared to the heaven that now is so near,
Where the feet of the loved ones shall cross o'er the portals,
And the brows that are dear to us shine 'neath a crown,
Where angelic eyes with a gladness immortal
Shall look in their brightness down into our own.
What wonder we chafe in our limited prison,
And long for the day when the soul shall be free,
The rapture when we, saved by infinite mercy,
Forever and ever with Jesus shall be!
Daily we're journeying on to the portals
Of that beloved city where pearl are the gates,
Where far, far away in the gold and the crimson
Of morning eternal, the Saviour awaits.
Moline, Ill.
Perplexities Arising From Sunday Laws
By S. B. H.
FROM press reports we learn that the British Parliament has exempted London, Manchester, Leeds, and Liverpool from the operation of the Sunday law, because it worked hardships on the Jews of those cities who keep the Sabbath. On this question the New Orleans daily States of August 15 says editorially, under the heading “The Jewish Sabbath:” —
“This is a matter of interest to us, for there is a growing demand in this country for similar legislation that will require serious consideration in the near future. All things considered, it does not seem just to compel a citizen, who for conscience’ sake keeps the seventh day of the week as a day of rest, to refrain also from labor on Sunday.
“‘But the question is broader than that,’ says the Brooklyn Times. ‘The law establishes Sunday as a day of rest, and requires general cessation from business activities; and it is a civil institution as well as a religious one. It would not be right to allow one set of citizens to keep their places open on the day when the great majority were closed, so far as large commercial enterprises are concerned. Nor would it be right to permit a dealer to do business both Saturdays and Sundays. There would have to be police inspection to see that one of the two days was observed.’
“It is generally admitted that our present law is a hardship for the orthodox Jew who religiously observes his Sabbath, and it appears that bills were introduced at the last session of the New York Legislature to relieve the Jewish butchers and grocers who cater to a local trade, but the measures were not passed. The country, however, is beginning to feel that it would be only just to allow them greater latitude in cases where their religious convictions compel them to strict observance of the seventh day as their Sabbath, and where it is shown that they have complied with religious custom.”
The States editor well says that it is unjust to compel a citizen who keeps the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath to refrain also from labor on Sunday. This is one of the inconsistencies and anomalies of Sunday laws. But the editor closes his article with a recommendation which does not accord with the American idea of civil government. He says that the Jews should be allowed greater latitude “in cases where their religious convictions compel them to strict observance of the seventh day as their Sabbath, and where it is shown that they have complied with religious custom.” This recommendation, in the last analysis, would mean that the civil government has ordained itself to pass upon the religious customs of its citizens. It will be remembered that the Johnston District Sunday bill (Senate 237), now before the Sixty-second Congress, contains the same proviso; namely, that the subject of religious practise shall become a part of the administration of civil government.
The editor of the Brooklyn Times recommends a policy indicated in the last sentence of the second paragraph of the States editorial, which savors very much of the Russian idea of civil government. It is customary for the police of Russia to busy themselves with the doings of religious meetings, but we hesitate to believe that such a policy will ever be put into practise in this country.
The publicity being given to the Sabbath and the Sunday-law question in this country is an omen of good, to say the least, for it awakens a spirit of careful and earnest study of this great problem. But the more carefully the unprejudiced mind studies the Sunday-law question, the more convinced will he become that Sunday legislation is unnatural and full of perplexities. We may say, in passing, that in the light of what the British Parliament has done in behalf of the Jews, certainly if Christian ethics are to govern in the land which the National Reform Association denominates “a Christian nation,” then every person in the land will be protected in choosing his own rest day, for the Scriptural injunction on such matters is, “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.” This language reveals no hint to compel the observance of Sunday or Sabbath by civil law.
S. B. H.
A Commendable Action
By S. B. H.
At its recent meeting the Southern California Conference passed the following resolution on the subject of distributing the magazine Liberty:—
“In view of the strong efforts being made to secure a Sunday law for California, in anticipation of the forthcoming Panama Exposition and the necessity for enlightening the people concerning this issue,—
“9. We recommend, That this conference unite with the other California conferences in furthering the expected action of the Pacific Union Conference to supply the civil officers of the State—the judges, county supervisors, and leading lawyers—with the magazine Liberty for one year, and that this conference pay its pro rata share of expense for the same, to the amount of three hundred dollars, if necessary.”
This recommendation will be very helpful to the cause of religious liberty in the great State of California. Now is the time for energetic endeavor in placing our literature in the hands of the people in order that they may become familiar with present truth. This is especially true with regard to the civil officers of our State and nation, whom we must warn in regard to the limits of civil authority. The magazine Liberty furnishes an excellent medium for such work, and it is to be hoped that every conference in the United States will take the same position as did the Southern California Conference.
S. B. H.
Christian Liberty
By K. C. Russell; S. B. Horton
Reports, notes, and comments pertaining to the current history of the rights of conscience
Conducted by the Religious Liberty Bureau
K. C. RUSSELL - - - - - Secretary
S. B. HORTON - - - - Assistant Secretary
Sunday Rest "in Shifts" in England
By S. B. H.
THE following paragraph from the Westminster Gazette (London) of July 24, indicates that the Sunday question is a live issue in England:—
“From two opposite points the question of Sunday arises. Last week the Wesleyan Conference at Cardiff protested against Sunday games; and now the Shop Hours bill is grappling with the matter of Sunday labor. We will leave aside the question of drink and religion for the moment, only suggesting that the village church should be open at least as many hours as the village tavern. The question for a legislature is that of the one day in seven which is required for rest or recreation. And we can not all take it together. The world of to-day would be paralyzed if there were no labor on Sunday, as marked by the clock at Greenwich. But we can take our rest, our recreation, our spiritual refreshment in shifts. And in practise we have begun to act on that system. The journalist’s Sunday falls on Saturday, and Monday is the parson’s Sunday.”
S. B. H.
Religious Liberty Notes
ELDER K. C. RUSSELL is at present visiting the camp-meetings of the Lake Union Conference, and sends in to the office the cheering information that he has secured many additional subscriptions to our religious liberty magazine, Liberty.
THE first elected president of Portugal is Manuel de Arriaga, who says that his purpose will be not to advance the interests of any party, but to conciliate all factions, and to place the government above the intrigue and differences of politics. He admits that the Portuguese Republic is on trial, not only before its own people but before the world.
A SPECIAL to the Washington Post, August 22, from Asheville, N. C., announces that two large hotels at Montreat, founded by the late John S. Huyler, of New York, have declared their intention of refusing guests who arrive on Sunday. The despatch goes on to say: “The action is for the purpose of furthering sabbath observance, and preventing travel on Sunday. Montreat, with its thousands of acres of mountain parks, hotels, and cottages, was sold by Mr. Huyler several years ago to the Southern Assembly, a corporation of the Southern Presbyterian Church.”
THE temperance cause in Maine is witnessing a very lively campaign at the present time. On September 11 a vote will be taken by the people on the question of constitutional prohibition. It will be decided on that day by the voting population of Maine whether the State is to remain in the column of State-wide prohibition States, or resort to statutory legislation in behalf of local option. In this campaign, our people are taking an active and consistent part, which consists largely of distributing literature on the subject of temperance, at public meetings. The Maine Conference designs placing at least fifty thousand copies of the Temperance Instructor in that State. We have sent to the 130 newspapers of Maine an article on the temperance question, with the hope of securing additional news on the right side of this important movement in the matter of State prohibition.
News and Notes
WE are indebted to Brother A. J. S. Bourdeau, manager of the magazine department of the Review and Herald Publishing Association, for the following notes and experiences:—
The rapidity with which the last three large editions of Life and Health have sold, is shown by the following: The June edition of 50,000 copies was sold by June 7; the July edition of 65,000 copies was disposed of by July 8; and the August edition of 72,000 copies was sold by August 13.
ONE of our successful magazine agents is a deaf mute. In a recent letter she writes:—
“Last winter I sold 350 copies of Life and Health in several small towns. They sold readily, although I could not give a canvass, not being able to read aloud or to talk. With the money I earned, I helped to pay my sister’s expenses while she was attending —— Academy.”
Her last order was for fifty copies of the August number.
AT the recent camp-meeting held in Montana, the tract society of that conference made provision for sending Liberty to four hundred of the leading attorneys of that State. We are pleased to report other large orders of this kind for both Liberty and the Protestant Magazine.
AN aged brother in California makes the following request:—
“Please remember me at your noon prayer season. Ask the Lord, if it is his will, to heal me so that I can carry the printed pages to the people who are hungering for the message of truth for this time. I am almost seventy years old, and a cripple, suffering with rheumatism. I have a standing order for 100 copies of Life and Health each month. I am also selling the Signs of the Times and the Watchman.”
Let us not forget to pray for this aged brother, as well as for the other faithful workers who are going from door to door with our publications.
ONE of our brethren in New Jersey, a successful worker with Life and Health, relates the following interesting experience:—
“One lady who gave me her subscription, said that she took her daughter last year to a sanitarium to be operated upon. She spoke in a very friendly way of the kind treatment she had received, saying that what she had seen and learned there had proved a great help to herself and family. She realized that there is something more to sanitarium work than the commercial side, and told me of the spiritual help she received while there. She said, ‘It would not take me long to become converted to their faith.’”
ONE of our successful scholarship workers writes as follows, from Wisconsin:—
“We have been enjoying the magazine work this summer. Since June 1, 1911, my sister and I have succeeded in disposing of 3,825 magazines, our largest sale being 400 copies in six hours.”
Since this time we received another order from this young woman for 1,575 copies of the August number of Life and Health, making a grand total of 5,400 copies sold by her and her sister since June 1, or 2,700 copies a month.
“PLEASE grant me 79 copies of the current issue,” writes the superintendent of the largest Sunday Bible School (1,000 members) in Buffalo, N. Y. “This valuable publication [Life and Health], gotten up with such exceeding beauty and merit, should be in the homes of many of our families. Will see that you have as fine a notice from the platform next Sunday one week, as you would care to receive.” This gentleman is a railway ticket agent.
The Missionary and Publishing Work
Notes, plans, reports, statistics, and other information regarding missionary endeavor and the circulation of gospel literature.
Conducted by the Missionary and Publishing Department of the General Conference
E. R. PALMER - - - Secretary
N. Z. TOWN - - - Assistant Secretary
From the Pacific Press
By N. Z. T.
From a private letter written by Brother C. H. Jones, manager of the Pacific Press Publishing Association, we extract the following items, which we are sure will be read with interest by all our brethren and sisters:—
“These have been busy days with us here at the Pacific Press. Never before have we been so crowded with work, and never in all my life have I seen so much work piled up ahead of us. We have just finished the following:—
Great Controversy, English . . . . . 10,000
Practical Guide to Health . . . . . . 10,000
Home and Health, Spanish . . . . . 5,000
Patriarchs and Prophets, English 5,000
Patriarchs and Prophets, Swedish 3,000
House We Live In . . . . . . . . 5,000
Those Bible Readings . . . . . . . 5,000
Last-Day Tokens . . . . . . . . . . 3,000
Christian Science . . . . . . . . . 5,000
“And we now have in hand the following:—
Great Controversy, German.
Coming King, Spanish.
Christian Education Reader, Nos. 5 and 6.
God’s Advanced Guard — a 400-page book by Brother Howell.
Acts of the Apostles, by Sister White, about 600 pages.
Missions number of the Signs of the Times, 500,000 copies.
“All this in addition to our regular work, such as the Signs of the Times, Little Friend, Pacific Union Recorder, etc. During the first five months of this year, we shipped out over ten tons of books per month, and in July twenty-four tons; and in addition, between one and two tons of periodicals each month.
“We have been obliged to go back to the old standard of working ten hours a day in all departments, and some of our machines have been running from twelve to fifteen hours a day. This rush is not in any one department, but extends all through the institution from the type-room on down to the photoengraving department, electrotype foundry, press-room, folding-room, bindery and shipping department. We have been obliged to call in ten or fifteen employees, in order to keep up with the demand. It is wonderful the way the work is going.
“A day or two ago we received another order from South America for 1,100 copies of ‘Patriarchs and Prophets,’ Spanish, and 300 of ‘Coming King.’
“We have already printed over 300,000 copies of the first sixteen pages of the Missions number of the Signs of the Times. We will keep our contract to have 500,000 copies printed and bound ready for mailing by the first of October. Five cylinder presses are in constant operation, in addition to our Webb perfecting press, which is printing the Missions Signs at the rate of about 40,000 copies a day.”
