One of the most important qualifications of the true Christian is frequently given the least attention by those who are confidently expecting the Christian’s reward.
God has told us very specifically some of the most important characteristics of those who shall be accounted worthy to inhabit the palaces of eternity. We read:—
“Jehovah, who shall sojourn in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh truth in his heart; he that slandereth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his friend, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor.” Ps. 15: 1-3.
Three times in this short scripture, inspiration makes reference to the work of the tongue. The redeemed soul will speak truth, he will not slander “with his tongue,” and he will not take up “a reproach against his neighbor.” But if probation should close today, how many of us who profess the name of Christ would be able to pass that qualification test? It is a standard that few measure up to. The natural tendency is all the other way. If the course of a brother or sister does not meet with our approval, our first inclination is to talk the matter over with some one else. But that is not what God expects us to do. “Go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.” What gossip killers Christians would be if they would arm themselves with that weapon and use it unflinchingly! And wherever gossip is killed, souls are saved.
We cannot overestimate the importance of that instruction and the importance of coming up to the Christian qualification test above mentioned. All that heaven has for us depends upon how we relate ourselves to this matter; for we read again: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” Prov. 18:21. And that, too, has a double-edged application; for it means death or life not only to us, but also to those who may be affected by our doings or may follow our course—upward, if it be upward; or downward, if it be downward.
The psalmist sets before us an ideal purpose in regard to this matter: “I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.” Ps. 39: 1. This is an expression of the purpose of Christ. He would not take
C. M. S
By C. M. S.
up a reproach even against the wicked. Many of us feel that because we do not transgress the commandments by overt acts, we can pass judgment upon everybody and everything, and be perfectly guiltless. The Word of God gives us no warrant for any such hope; its admonitions are all against it. There is perhaps no more expressive form of that admonition than this: “I will keep my mouth with a bridle.” He would not give it free rein. He would not permit himself to canvass the shortcomings of his associates. He would not take up a railing accusation against even Satan himself, but left him for the Lord to deal with. And what was not safe for Christ to do is not safe for us to do.
Many of the admonitions of Scripture in reference to this matter apply to our experiences both in this life and in the life to come. In Prov. 21:23 we find this one: “Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.” That is as true here as hereafter; and so is this one: “He that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile.” 1 Peter 3:10. He who refuses to heed that admonition, will have no place among the one hundred and forty-four thousand; for “in their mouth was found no guile.” They will have learned, before probation closes, to control their tongues.
When sin and sinners have been burned out of the earth, and God has set up his kingdom here, it is written that “they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain.” Isa. 11:9. That rules out the gossip and the talebearer; for we read that “the words of a talebearer are as wounds.” Prov. 18:8. “Where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth.” Prov. 26:20. If God should take into his kingdom those who had not overcome the tendency to gossip and criticize, the peace of his universe would be broken again. Every talebearer taken into the kingdom would be another “accuser of the brethren,” and the great conflict between sin and righteousness would have to be fought out again.
Perfection in the sight of God must be the aim of every true Christian. He will not expect to reach it by his own powers or goodness; but that aim must be his aim. “Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” Matt. 5:48. “Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on,” etc. Phil. 3:12. What is the test of perfection?—“If any stumbleth not in word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also.” James 3:2. Perfection is a prerequisite of salvation; but a tongue under control is a prerequisite of perfection. It is therefore one of the first requisites of salvation. That being the case, is it not surprising that so little consideration is given to a matter upon which so much depends?
James further admonishes us: “Speak not one against another, brethren. He that speaketh against a brother, or judgeth his brother, speaketh against the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judgest the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. One only is the lawgiver and judge, even he who is able to save and to destroy: but who art thou that judgest thy neighbor?” James 4:11, 12.
We had not supposed, when we were criticizing one another and judging one another, that we were putting ourselves in the place of God, usurping his prerogatives; but that is the way inspiration puts it. While we have been condemning the Papacy for putting itself in the place of God and usurping his prerogatives, we have been, in principle, doing the same thing whenever we have yielded to the temptation to sit in judgment on our brethren, “speaking one against another.”
This is no light matter. The destiny of our own souls is dependent upon how we relate ourselves to the matter of controlling our tongues. Verily, “death and life are in the power of the tongue.” If we would choose life, we must control the tongue. We must cease from our lingual activities in the line of criticizing one another and flaunting the faults and failures of one another before others. “To him therefore that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” James 4:17. On the other hand, “the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for them that make peace.” James 3:18. Let us be like the worthy woman of the Proverbs who “openeth her mouth with wisdom;” and on whose tongue is “the law of kindness.” In doing so, we not only remove the barriers that stand between ourselves and salvation, but we also remove, by our example, barriers that would prevent the salvation of others.
C. M. S
Rome, the Hope of the Nations
For centuries the hope of millions of the human family centered in Rome. Of the pretended successor of St. Peter it might be truly said, as was said of one of old: “Whom he would he slew; whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down.” Before the Roman pontiff, princes and potentates bowed the knee, and kings and kingdoms rejoiced in his blessing or trembled before his anathema. But in God’s good providence there came about a change.
The Reformation of the sixteenth century set in motion influences which brought about a reaction in the political and religious worlds. Men began to think for themselves. By thousands the papal yoke was discarded, and the yoke of Christ, representing civil and religious liberty, was taken on. The power of Rome was greatly weakened.
But these revolutionary changes in the civil and religious worlds have wrought no change in the papal system. In principle the Roman Church of today is the Roman Church of the dark ages. The principles of papal domination enunciated by Gregory VII and Innocent III are as firmly believed and taught by their disciples at the present time as in the days of those popes; and Rome today looks forward with fond anticipation to the time when she will recover her old-time prestige, and the power which she once enjoyed among the nations of men. She fondly anticipates a union of Christendom, recognizing the pontiff of Rome as the head of all the churches. One of the latest expressions of this hope on the part of the church is voiced in an interview recently given by Cardinal Gibbons to representatives of the press. The Baltimore American of September 29, reports his words as follows:—
The reunion of the scattered branches of Christendom is a consummation devoutly to be wished, and I would gladly sacrifice the remaining years of my life in lending a helping hand toward this blessed result. The first essential requirement is the recognition of the sovereign pontiff, who, as the successor of St. Peter, is the divinely appointed head of Christendom. Every organization, whether religious, civil, or political, needs a head for its peace and security, as well as for its very existence. Once the proper position of the Pope is recognized, I do not believe that the other controverted doctrines are as formidable as commonly imagined. When a proper explanation is given of the various dogmas upon which Christianity is founded, I am persuaded that the logical sense of the people would prompt them to accept.
And if the various Christian denominations of the United States were once united, working with one heart and one spirit, what a wonderful influence our Christian forces would exert in the civilization and the Christianizing of mankind! What amazing things would then be done for society and humanity!
The union of the churches would bring about an era of civilization unknown in history. You and I may not live to see it, but it will come, I hope, and then the one undivided church will flourish and triumph.
The cardinal declares that in the bringing about of this union “the first essential requirement is the recognition of the sovereign pontiff, who, as the successor of St. Peter, is the divinely appointed head of Christendom.” Should this be accomplished, the cardinal believes that the Christian forces would exert a wonderful influence in the Christianizing of mankind, and that “amazing things would then be done for society and humanity.”9
Roman Rule in Europe
Surely Rome could never expect to do for society and humanity more than she has done for them in the past. In the noontide of her power she had abundant opportunity to make effective those Christianizing forces and civilizing influences which she now desires to see set in operation. She did according to her own will. Upon many of the nations of the world she placed her own indelible stamp. Surely it is proper to judge of what she would do in the future by what she has done for mankind where she has had centuries of unlimited sway. But the sad fruits of her utter failure are too apparent.
In Spain, which at one time boasted of her great universities, and under Saracen government stood as the center of educational influence in all Europe, we find, after nearly a millennium of Roman rule, fifty-eight per cent of the population above ten years of age unable to read and write. Conditions are even worse in Portugal, where over seventy-three per cent of the people above ten years of age are unable to read and write their own tongue. Here the domination of Rome became so oppressive that a few years ago the people freed themselves from her yoke. Her priest-ruled king was forced to abdicate, her monasteries were opened, many of her priests and monks were banished, and a representative form of government was established.
In Italy, the seat of Roman Catholicism in the world, the situation is but little better than in Spain. More than forty-eight per cent of the population above ten years of age are unable to read, and this per cent would undoubtedly be even higher than this had it not been for the anti-Roman influences which have been at work for years in that country. The revulsion of feelings on the part of the people of Italy led them to establish a government free from Roman domination, and impose upon the pontiff restrictions which would perhaps be imposed by no other government of earth.
Rome’s influence previous to the great Revolution transformed France, one of the fairest and most fruitful states of Europe, into a condition of bankruptcy and penury, and the people themselves from disciples of priestcraft to atheists and infidels. For more than a century France has been endeavoring to recover from the blighting influences of church rule, and it has succeeded to such an extent that at the present time only a little more than fourteen per cent of its population over ten years of age are placed in the illiterate column.
In Italy thirty-eight per cent of the persons entering into the marriage relationship are unable to read or write. In England and Wales only one and eight-tenths per cent of this class of persons are illiterate. Thirty-eight per cent of the men enlisting in the Italian army are illiterate as against five tenths of one per cent of the army enlistments in Switzerland and three hundredths of one per cent in Germany. These comparisons speak for themselves.
Rome’s Second Opportunity
Did Rome learn a lesson from her experience with the nations of the Old World? What use has she made of the new opportunities afforded her in the western hemisphere? What are the results of her rule in South America and the Catholic states of North America? It has been a repetition of her history in Europe. At the present time in Mexico seventy-five per cent of the people are unable to read and write, in Bolivia eighty-two per cent, in Brazil eighty-five per cent. Contrast these figures with the seven and seven-tenths per cent of illiteracy found in the United States, including the total population, both native and foreign born.
And in the nations of the western hemisphere upon which Rome has placed her heavy hand there is working the same revulsion of feelings against papal domination. This is apparent particularly in the countries of South America. As expressed by Bishop H. C. Stuntz, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, “The stars in their courses are fighting against Rome in South America.”
This has been shown in many striking instances during the last few months. In the Outlook of October 18, Prof. George H. Blakeslee, the head of the department of history in Clark University, recites some of the influences which are now at work in South America derogatory to the interests of the church. In the month of June the students in Santiago and Valparaiso went on a strike as a protest against the presence of the papal nuncio. For a week they refused to attend lectures or classes. At the same time some fifty thousand of the citizens, it is estimated, met together in the capital and petitioned the president of Chile for the nuncio’s expulsion. “These demonstrations were not limited to a few extremists, but were engaged in by many thousands of people.” One cause of this anticlerical outbreak was the belief that the papal delegate was obtaining immense sums of money by mortgaging monastery property, taking this money out of the country and sending it to Rome.
Ecuador, so long religiously intolerant, Professor Blakeslee says “has made all ecclesiastics ineligible for congress, has secularized all cemeteries, and established complete religious freedom.” In Uruguay the same principles are at work. In the adoption of the new constitution it is agreed by both political parties “that a section shall be inserted in it providing for the disestablishment of the church.” Perhaps one of the most striking instances showing the change of feeling toward the Roman Church in South America is the recent action of Bolivia in providing “that only civil marriages are legal, and that if a religious service is desired this must be celebrated after the civil marriage has been performed.” The cemeteries have been released from the power of the clergy and placed under state control; and “the famous Corpus Christi procession, which plays so prominent a part in the religious life of Latin America, has been forbidden by law in La Paz, the capital of Bolivia.”
Nor is this all. As stated in these columns two weeks ago, on Oct. 4, 1913, the chamber of deputies of Peru, by vote of sixty-six to four, repealed the clause in the law prohibiting freedom of worship, thus “permitting freedom of worship and of conscience to the Peruvian people.”
The Cause of Her Failure
What has wrought this change of attitude on the part of the people of these various countries? Why have the nations of the Old World—France, Italy, and Portugal—thrown off the papal yoke? Why is it that for the last few years a strong anticlerical party has existed in Spain, seeking to secure the same liberty? Why is it that in Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Uruguay, and Mexico, where Rome has had her latest opportunity to demonstrate what she can do for the people, such strong reactionary influences should now be at work? It is because, instead of giving to the people the liberty which they crave, she has exploited them for her own selfish ends. Her rule has ministered to ignorance, illiteracy, and degradation. As stated by Wiley, “The noon of the Papacy was the midnight of the world;” and when men have begun to think for themselves, when they have had one little taste of the liberty vouchsafed to them by their Creator, they have turned in bitterness against the power which was seeking to hold them down in slavery of mind and conscience.
Hence, in view of this record of Rome, but little assurance is afforded for the future by the bright picture drawn by Cardinal Gibbons. These nations have complied with the first essential requirement. They have recognized the Roman pontiff as the sovereign head of Christendom, but lo, in the history of not one single government have the amazing things in behalf of society and humanity of which the cardinal speaks been apparent. And when the claims of Rome are recognized in America, as he
A Subject of Prophecy
By F. M. W.
fondly believes they sometime will be and as the Scriptures of Truth clearly indicate, she will do for America what she has done for the nations where she has held sway. This indeed is the promise. In a letter from Rome announcing the plans of Leo XIII, printed in the New York Sun of July 11, 1892, it is declared, “What the church has done in the past for others, she will now do for the United States.” Is this what the people of the United States desire done?
A Subject of Prophecy
Cardinal Gibbons fondly believes that this union of which he speaks will sometime be an accomplished fact. He says: “You and I may not live to see it, but it will come, I hope, and then the one undivided church will flourish and triumph.” Yes, it will come. As far as this recognition of papal Rome is concerned, it will some day be an accomplished fact. We state this, not on the basis of the cardinal’s hope, but on the strength of the prophecy of the Scriptures. The inspired penman uses the symbol of a beast having seven heads and ten horns to represent the papal system. He declares that one of the heads should be wounded to death, but that the wound should be healed, and all the world should wonder after the beast. This wound of the papal head was inflicted in the events which culminated in the overthrow of papal domination in 1793-98. The healing process from this death-stroke will become an accomplished fact before the close of earth’s history. Rome confidently expects this, and is working to this end.
Her hope is not in the so-called Catholic nations of the world. These for the most part, as a result of her influence, have been relegated to second-class powers in the sisterhood of nations. Her hope is in the so-called Protestant nations of earth. It is to Germany, to England, and particularly to the United States, that she looks for assistance.
And the Roman hierarchy is awake to these changed conditions. It recognizes its loss of prestige in the Old World, and now places its hope upon the New. The Western Watchman (a leading Catholic journal) of Oct. 29, 1908, under the title “America, the Church’s Land of Promise,” says:—
His Holiness is enthusiastic over America, especially the United States. To begin with, he likes our government and our public officials, with whom he has come into official relations. It must be confessed that the United States has treated Rome well whenever we had an opportunity. . . . Despoiled and persecuted in countries called Catholic, hampered and thwarted by Protestant governments, the church is given fair play and even-handed justice only in the United States. No wonder, then, the Holy Father feels kindly toward us as a nation.
And the prophecy declares that largely through the influence of the United States will Rome once more be enthroned among the nations of men. Under the symbol of the two-horned beast of Revelation 13, the United States is brought to view in prophecy, and is there set forth as the agency whereby the nations of men will be led to give once more their influence and prestige to the papal hierarchy.
When that day comes, the record declares that in her heart she will say: “I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.” Drunken with flattery, infatuated by her own delusive hopes, Rome does not count on the final reckoning, but that reckoning will surely come. The nations in which she has trusted, and which have humbled themselves to do her bidding, the record declares, shall hate her, and “shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.” Rev. 17:16, 17. Then great Babylon herself shall come into remembrance before God, “for her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.” Rev. 18:5.
Israel of old trusted in Egypt, and it became a broken reed which pierced her hand. Rome has proved a broken reed to the nations that have looked to her in the past, and she will as truly prove a snare and a delusion to the nations that hope in her for the future.
It is against the great system of error represented in the Papacy that we war, not with the men and women belonging to the Roman Catholic communion. Many of these are honest but deceived in their religious convictions. They long for clearer light, and it is for those who rejoice in the liberty and blessings of the gospel of Christ, to point out to those in darkness the way which leads upward to light and liberty and heaven.
F. M. W.
Our European Division Meetings—No. 7
By Arthur Grosvenor Daniells
The Our European Division Meetings — No. 7
Our series of general meetings in the European Division Conference closed with a ministerial institute for the workers in the Scandinavian Union Conference. This institute was held in our school buildings at Nyhyttan, Sweden.
Nyhyttan is located in a beautiful rural district in the central part of Sweden. For thirteen years our Swedish brethren have been struggling to provide a good school in which to train their young people for the work of the Lord. They have a large farm and comfortable buildings. The farm produces vegetables and fruit for the students, and pasture and grain for their horses and cattle. The school is free from indebtedness, and is so managed as to meet its operating expenses without loss.
We have not enough young people in Sweden to make a large school, but the brethren are doing their best to give those we have a good, practical, Christian education. In this way they are binding them to the cause of God and drawing them into the Lord’s work. The school is bearing excellent fruit.
Our ministerial institute was attended by nearly every minister and Bible worker in the Scandinavian Union. Several of the leading canvassers also were present. In all, there were just ninety enrolled,—twenty-seven from Denmark, twenty-five from Norway, twenty-eight from Sweden, and ten from Finland. But few of these workers had ever attended a meeting of this kind. They wanted help, and believed they would get it. They were prompt in attendance, gave close, studious attention to the instruction given, and sought the Lord whole-heartedly for new life and power for service. The blessing of God came upon us all.
We shall never forget the blessed days we spent together in those beautiful timber-covered hills at Nyhyttan. Many prayers were offered in the forest surrounding the buildings. A new surrender and consecration of the life was made by ministers, Bible workers, and colporteurs. At times the Lord came graciously near to all. The revelation he gave us of his unspeakable love for this lost world, and of our poor, half-hearted efforts for the perishing, led to deep repentance before God. Hearts were broken, confessions were made, and a new standard of Christian living and service was lifted.
The instructors in the institute were Elder L. R. Conradi, president of the European Division Conference; Elder J. C. Raft, president of the Scandinavian Union Conference; and the writer. Our general topics of study were the ministry, the Holy Spirit, and pastoral and evangelical work. The careful study of these subjects for ten days gave a new and more exalted view of the Christian ministry; and if the instruction is followed and the good resolutions are kept, the result will be a new ministry, with larger results in winning souls to Christ. This was the main theme of the institute.
The cause is progressing encouragingly in all parts of the Scandinavian Union Conference. This is especially true of the evangelical work in Finland. The Lord is raising up earnest young men and women to proclaim the message, and many are accepting it.
The sale of our publications is still being carried on successfully in all parts11of the union. Surely this seed sowing must ultimately bring a harvest.
A very pleasant day was spent at the Skodsborg Sanatorium, in Denmark, on my way to Sweden. This institution is enjoying a large patronage. During the past summer there were two hundred and thirty patients taking treatment at this institution.
Since it was opened, its patronage has grown steadily from year to year. Dr. J. C. Ottosen has been with this sanatorium from the first day, and, with his associate workers, has reason to rejoice in the splendid growth of the institution. The management has added buildings from year to year to care for the growing patronage, and when we were there they were about to begin the erection of another large addition. This building they were able to erect with the summer’s earnings and with gifts from some of their guests. The present policy of the board of directors is to reduce their indebtedness as rapidly as possible. The outlook is encouraging.
A great change for the better has come to our cause in all parts of Scandinavia since the financial crisis in 1900, when our brethren in America resolutely took their stand to pay every dollar of the loss our Christiania publishing house sustained. The payment of sixty-six thousand dollars under the circumstances gave the public great confidence in the integrity of our people. The results fill us with gratitude and rejoicing. Truly the Lord has wrought for us!
A. G. DANIELLS.
In the Levant Union Mission
By Guy Dail
GUY DAIL
This year our Levant meeting was held at Ovajuk, not far from Constantinople, September 16-21. About sixty of our people attended,—workers from the Armenian, the Cilician, and the Grecian fields, and laborers and lay members from the Central Turkish Mission,—while from one hundred and fifty to two hundred were at the public lectures. Unfortunately, Brother E. E. Frauchiger, the superintendent of the Levant, was detained at home in Constantinople by a severe attack of malaria.
Good preliminary work had been done by Brethren A. J. Girou and O. Pirenian, who had been laboring with the people for a week or so before the conference convened. Our own members were awakened, backsliders reclaimed, and sinners converted. Brother A. M. Buzugherian baptized seven on the Sunday morning of the conference. Most of them were young people, among whom there is still a great work to be done, not only here, but also in the surrounding Armenian villages. Brother R. S. Greaves and Dr. V. Pampaian remained to follow up the interest, and we wish them a further harvest.
Probably there is no part of the “regions beyond” much harder to work than is the territory of the Levant Union. First, there is the large Mohammedan population, whose Mussulmanic prejudices against Christianity have not been lessened by the political events and the attitude of the powers of Christian Europe during the past year. The followers of the prophet have been treated to an example of the manner in which so-called Christian nations unite to overthrow the crescent by means of the cross, declaring a sort of crusade, and then in the division of the spoils these same Christian peoples turn against one another, and the cross becomes divided against itself. They listened to the promise of the great powers in Europe affirming that the status quo in the Balkans must be maintained at all costs, and then felt these same civilized powers retreating from their promise as soon as the allied Balkan States had sufficiently advanced toward Constantinople!
Again, among the nominal Christian nationalities in Turkey itself there is little unity, but rather a bitter enmity. The Greeks and the Armenians are not good friends, although both claim to be Christian nations. And even in the schools of Christian learning, there are strong traces of modern unbelief, caused by an acceptance of the hypothesis of evolutionary science and by the theories of higher criticism.
Brother Baharian stated that there has been a great decay in belief among the Armenians, if one compares their condition now to that of twenty years ago. Then men and women believed in religion and in the Bible, but now a belief in the veracity of the Scriptures is the exception among the masses of the Christians in Turkey.
Another great difficulty is the compulsory military service; for, rather than serve the Turkish-Mohammedan government, thousands of young men, the cream of the nation, become voluntary exiles in lands where they have greater privileges and can secure better remuneration for their labors and talents. Bible society agents complain that they are not able to carry on their work in certain previously well-populated districts because the inhabitants have literally deserted their homes, leaving sections depopulated.
One of the burning questions at the conference was that of securing and training more workers. At present our Constantinople school is closed because of lack of promising young men of suitable preliminary training to make them hopeful candidates for the ministry.
The canvassing work has suffered materially among us on account of the war. There will be a falling off in our annual sales of about twenty per cent, I should judge, for the present year, as compared with 1912. In many parts of Turkey our workers state that the people actually do not have money for bread—and of course there is none for literature. Again, we must not forget that about four fifths of the people cannot even read. However, the desire for news of the latest battle fired up the determination of many a soul to learn to read the papers, and so the war will work an educational blessing in this particular to quite a number of Turkey’s people. Furthermore, the reorganization of the army, or at least its strengthening numerically, will compel some to receive a better education than they would have received had they remained in their native villages.
Our canvassers will therefore have a larger reading public in the future than they have had thus far, if present indications may be taken as a criterion. Many of the Greeks, especially, still have an insatiable desire for wisdom, even as in Paul’s day, and without doubt one of the best methods of scattering the message in Greece will be through the colporteur. Our literature in Greek, Turkish, and Armenian has been enriched12during the last year, so that our brethren in all parts of the world who desire to approach their neighbors using these languages should not forget that reading-matter is now procurable. Such books as “His Glorious Appearing,” and “Steps to Christ,” and many tracts can be obtained. Our Arabic literature is also increasing. Those who would be pleased to assist in this branch of the work can secure price-lists by writing to the Internationale Traktatgesellschaft, German Post, Box 109, Galata, Constantinople.
During the war, Sister Loxandra Keanides acted as head nurse for Princess Alice, of Greece, in the Italian hospital at Saloniki, where she had many opportunities to speak words of comfort to the wounded, sick, or dying soldiers; and that her efforts were appreciated by not a few is shown by the kind messages received from those who recovered under her care.
There was a good missionary spirit among the brethren at the meeting. The Sabbath-school gifts amounted to 230 piasters (a piaster is about four cents), while the cash and pledges to the missionary fund amounted to some 1,400 piasters.
Sabbath was the best day of the conference. The forenoon service was a real consecration meeting, there being a hearty response to the appeal for reconsecration to God.
After the conference the workers remained a few days for a special workers’ meeting, and the time was improved by study, counsel, and laying plans for the proclamation of the message. Although there are signs of progress in this field, and we have recently been informed of baptisms in various places, yet there remains a great deal to be done before we can believe that we have fulfilled our duty to the twenty million people in the Levant Union, which now includes Bulgaria also. The score of workers here are greatly desirous of being remembered at the throne of grace by God’s people all over the world.
The Power of Latter-Day Evangelism
Of this the Pacific Christian Advocate of Sept. 17, 1913, declares:—
“Nothing is clearer in latter-day evangelism than that the welfare of society, the Christianization of the state, is to be secured by the transformation of the individual. The great reforms that are struggling for dominance can never come to their own except by ascendency in individual hearts. The community made up of Christian units can be relied upon to establish Christian centres in the community life. In personal discipleship to Jesus Christ lies the secret of that ‘confederacy of regulative forces’ that will alone ultimate in the righteousness that exalteth a nation. It follows that the man who devotes himself with utter abandon to the work of winning souls is not only conferring personal benefits of immeasurable value, but is making a distinct contribution to public welfare. You may not find his name in the ‘Who’s Who’ record of his time, but in the annals of eternity it will be writ large in the list of the benefactors of his race.”