“Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest,” said the man who came to Jesus. “Foxes have holes,” said Jesus to him, “and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” This man was a scribe, the first one of that learned class to declare himself openly for Jesus; from a worldly point of view, he would be a valuable accession to the little group. But Jesus was about to found a church which was to be nourished by the blood of martyrs, and none but those who could face without dismay every desolation and forlorn condition of life would be likely to face death. Jesus stated to the scribe only the minor facts of his estate—without money, house or lands, or influence—even a home or the comforts of life—worse off than the beasts and birds.
The scribe dropped off; after this flashing utterance of entire consecration, he is never heard of again. There were others like him who could not, though deeply drawn to Jesus, endure the life of self-denial which was involved in following him. “Follow me!” said Jesus to one such disciple; but he said: “Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.” Alas, for this man! he placed the duty dictated by natural feeling and social custom before the duty of following Jesus. To place that which is natural and social, however amiable and benevolent, before that which is spiritual, is an error which is eternally fatal.
In God’s order of things that which is natural is first, only that man may consciously renounce it for that which is spiritual. A man is born, but that he may be born again; and to every child of our race is asked, in some form or other, the question, “Wilt thou be born again?” “Let the dead bury their dead,” said Jesus, “but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.”
This seems a harsh reply; it is full of the calm inexorableness of judgment never to be revoked. They who are spiritually dead may busy themselves about the obsequies of those who are naturally dead; but there is a duty higher than this for those who have the direct call of Christ. When this call comes, to postpone is to reject—to bury the dead is to die ourselves.
“Lord, I will follow thee,” said another, “but let me first go and bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.” Not so did the Zebedee brothers, when they dropped their nets, and left their boats, and followed Jesus; not so did Peter and Andrew, nor Philip or Nathanael; not so the woman of Samaria, when she left her pitcher at the well, and ran to the city to spread the great news of the Messiah. O, no! Aim an arrow to hit two points at once as you twang it from the bowstring, but think not that a heart leaping with joy to go with Jesus turns back to make farewells to those in his house.
To the consecrated one in the first exaltation of the direct call from Jesus, there is no one but Jesus—no one else to greet in welcome or adieu.
“Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee,” says David, and this is the voice of the church in all ages.
Plow a straight furrow, O husbandman; the field is the world—hand to the plow, eye to the front, every muscle strained to the forward, no loose and wandering glance to the right or left, or backward to the tents of ease—they are left behind forever. “For no man,” said Jesus, “having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”—M. E. Ditto, in World’s Crisis.
Christ, the Bread of Life
By Joseph Parker
JESUS is not a phenomenon, he is bread; Christ is not a curiosity, he is water. As surely as we can not live without bread, we can not live truly without Christ; if we know not Christ, we are not living; our movement is a mechanical flutter, our pulse is but the stirring of an animal life. It is in this way, then, that Jesus Christ is to be preached. It is even so I would ever preach him. I would call him the water of life; I would speak of him as the true bread sent down from heaven; I would tell men that it is impossible to live without him.— Dr. Joseph Parker.
A Little Child
There's nothing more pure in heaven,
And nothing on earth more mild,
More full of the light that is all divine,
Than the smile of a little child.
The sinless lips, half parted,
With breath as sweet as the air,
And light that seems so glad to shine
In the gold of the sunny hair.
O little one, smile and bless me!
For somehow—I know not why—
I feel in my soul, when the children smile,
That angels are passing by.
I feel that the gates of heaven
Are nearer than I knew,
That the light and the hope of that
sweeter world,
Like the dawn, are breaking through.
—Selected.
The Belittler
BEWARE of people who are constantly belittling others, finding flaws and defects in their characters, or slyly insinuating that they are not quite what they ought to be. Such persons are dangerous, and not to be trusted. A disparaging mind is a limited, rutty, unhealthy mind. It can neither see nor acknowledge good in others. It is a jealous mind: it is positively painful to it to hear others spoken well of, praised or commended for any virtue or good point. If it can not deny the existence of an alleged good, it will seek to minimize it by a malicious “if” or “but,” or try in some other way to throw a doubt on the character of the person praised.
A large, healthy, normal mind will see the good in another much more quickly than the evil, but a narrow, belittling mind has an eye only for faults,—for the unlovely and the crooked. The clean, the beautiful, the true, and the magnanimous are too large for its vision. It delights in tearing down or destroying, but it is incapable of upbuilding.
Whenever you hear a person trying to belittle another, discard him from your list of friends, unless you can help him to remedy his fault. Do not flatter yourself that those who tell you of the failings of other people, and criticize and hold them up to ridicule, will not treat you in the same way when an opportunity presents itself. Such people are incapable of true friendship, for true friendship helps, instead of hinders; it never exposes the weak point in a friend's character, or suffers any one to speak ill of him.
One of the finest fruits of culture is the power to see the man or woman whom God made in his own image, and not the one who is scarred by faults and deficiencies. It is only the generous, loving soul who ever attains to this degree of culture. It is only the broad, charitable, magnanimous, great-hearted man or woman who is blind to the defects of others, and enlarges their good qualities.
An opportunity of associating with people who see the best instead of the worst in us is worth far, far more to us than an opportunity to make money. It increases a hundredfold our power to develop noble characters.
We are all of us constantly, but unconsciously, molding others by our thoughts about them. The qualities you see in your friend and those with whom you come in contact you tend to enlarge. If you see only the little, mean, contemptible side of people, you can not help them out of their faults, for you only intensify and fix them; but if you see the good, the noble, the aspiring traits in them, you will help to develop these qualities until they crowd out the base, unworthy ones.
Everywhere, the world over, this unconscious interchange of influence is at work, hindering or helping, according to its nature.—Success.
The Test of Strength
By Charles T. Everson
We have often seen a family go forth for an outing. And we have noticed that the strong father is well loaded, while the mother carries her share, and each child in proportion has a lighter burden, down to the baby, who, rather than carrying anything, is itself carried. The burden borne by each indicates the strength of the bearer, if assumed by one who is capable of judging correctly. In giving a heavy burden to a member of the family, the father thereby says to that member, “You are accounted strong.” A lighter burden indicates a less degree of strength.
So when we find that we are carrying heavy burdens, it ought to be a source of encouragement to us. In laying on a heavy burden, God is saying to the bearer, “You are strong.” As the load grows heavier, it shows that we are increasing in strength.
We have, perhaps, also observed that when a family starts off for an outing, very often at the outset the smallest member of the family will pick up a very large parcel; for he feels himself stronger than he really is. Then the father must take the parcel away from him, and give it to a stronger member of the party. Otherwise the little child would wear himself out in a short time, and lose all the pleasure of the day’s outing. Sometimes we pick up the burden that the Father has assigned to some one else, and we lose our blessing by attempting to carry more than God has given us. We should not sigh to carry the burden that God has assigned to another member of the family. Another’s burden might gall us, but ours never will; for it fits our condition.
But we may be sure of this: as we grow stronger, it means added burdens; for God is using to its utmost capacity every available means for the salvation of mankind. But the promise is: “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.” In other words, a day of burdens is a day of great strength.—Charles T. Everson.
Procrastination
There is hardly anything more destructive to effective work and high accomplishment than a habit of “putting off” disagreeable tasks. This postponing-of-the-disagreeable habit is also demoralizing to character. It produces superficial work and superficial living.
There is something lacking in the quality and solidity of character of a man who is always shirking disagreeable duties, sliding along the line of least resistance, and just trying to do those things which are agreeable and easy. It is13struggling with difficulties, with boldness and determination, that gives stamina to character and backbone to life.
A man who has been accustomed from boyhood to plow straight furrows regardless of obstructions, who will not swerve a hair’s breadth from his purpose, and who will not go around or over but through obstacles, has a solidity, a substantiality, about him that is not found in a man who stops when he finds a hard place, and drifts along the line of least resistance. It is struggling with the difficult and wrestling with obstacles that give nerve and stamina to character.
A habit of always taking up the most disagreeable duties first, when possible, takes the drudgery out of a task, and gives a delight to life which is never experienced by those who postpone distasteful or dreaded duties.
There is a sense of triumph which comes from the consciousness that you have mastered what discomposed you and was obnoxious to you, and that you have conquered what seemed difficult, and have got it out of the way.
A man who shirks unpleasant duties and goes around obstacles has a sense of inferiority. He has a sort of contempt for himself, his cowardice, his shrinking nature, and his laziness. He does not respect himself so much as the man who sweeps everything before him, whether inviting or not.
There is a feeling of strength and a sense of power which come to a man who has conquered the enemies in his pathway and the obstacles that lay between him and his goal. A man who always tries to avoid the disagreeable and shirks obstacles is a weakling. He ruins his executive capacity, and is not capable of grappling with difficulties.
There is everything in making up one’s mind resolutely to turn neither to the right nor to the left of an unwavering aim. It gives direction, purpose, and vigor to life which never come to a man who drifts with the current.
A strong man never hesitates or wavers when he comes to a hard place, but is all the more resolute to conquer, and this very determination not to shirk or to turn aside because of difficulties half conquers them. Dreading or postponing them engenders fear, and destroys self-confidence, without which no great thing can be accomplished.
If procrastination runs in your blood, and if you have come down from an indolent ancestry, you will be obliged to discipline yourself severely to overcome the “putting-off” habit; for every disagreeable task that confronts you will tempt you to postpone it. All sorts of excuses will present themselves to you, and the only way to overcome this fatal tendency is to compel yourself to begin at once the thing you dread. Do not allow the argument which, perhaps, speaks in your blood to comfort you.
Listen to nothing, but begin the work instantly, and you will soon conquer this unfortunate weakness which is fatal to all achievement, and death to any effective endeavor. Force yourself to begin immediately the task at hand.
Procrastination is the greatest enemy of achievement. Nothing is more delusive than delay. The man who thinks he is going to do the delayed thing later, especially if it is a disagreeable task, will probably never do it.
People who hesitate, delay, dilly-dally, weigh, consider, and dread a task, seldom amount to anything.
A habit of delay is destructive to energy, which does things. More boys fail to get on in the world from this fatal habit of “putting off” than from anything else. It induces laziness and mental inaction, and tends to destroy self-trust.
If this fatal tendency runs in your blood, the moment you feel a temptation to postpone a task come over you, jump up on the instant and go at your work with all your might. Take up the most obnoxious thing you have to do, and never allow your habit to suggest another postponement.
“Putting off” is a dangerous enemy: it is worse than a thief of time, for it robs you of opportunity. It mortgages your to-morrow for the debt that should be paid to-day. Every hour’s delay makes your task all the harder.—Selected.
How to Be Beautiful, Though Homely
By F. E. Clark
It is entirely possible. It has been accomplished hundreds of thousands of times; so often, indeed, that beauty has come to have in the minds of all close observers but little connection with regularity of feature, color, complexion, or form.
A beautiful face is only the window of a beautiful soul.
What does it matter if the panes of glass are small, and if the sash is a little crooked, if through the window you see a warm, cozy fireside, a bright evening lamp, happy children at their games, a contented father and mother, well-read books, a full work-basket, a bouquet of fresh flowers, and, in the room beyond, a bountiful supper table laid for the family?
Is not that a beautiful scene?
These things are symbols of what any face may reveal—happiness, content, intellectual capacity, joy in work, appreciation of beauty, and a generous spirit.
A face that reveals these characteristics can not be ugly; it can not be repulsive; it must be attractive and winning; it can not help being beautiful in the best sense of the word.
Why bother about the panes of glass or the sash? It is what the window shows us that we care for, not the window itself.
The face may be homely; but “homely,” in its original sense, is to be homelike, and what is more truly beautiful than homelikeness? The picture we saw through the window is homelike, and that made it beautiful.
No face can be so plain that it may not be beautiful if through it show glints of happiness, content, intellect, generosity.—Rev. F. E. Clark.
Good for Fits
For a fit of passion: Walk out in the open air; you may speak your mind to the winds without hurting any one or proclaiming yourself a simpleton.
For a fit of idleness: Count the ticking of a clock; do this for one hour, and you will be glad to pull off your coat and work like a beaver.
For a fit of extravagance and folly: Go to the workhouse or speak to the inmates of a jail and you will be convinced that—
“Who makes his bed of brier or thorn,
Must be content to lie forlorn.”
For a fit of ambition: Go to the churchyard and read the gravestones; they will tell you the end of ambition. The grave will soon be your bed chamber, and the earth your pillow.
For a fit of despondency: Look on the good things God has given you in this world, and to those he has promised to his followers in the next. He who goes into his garden to look for cobwebs and spiders no doubt will find them; while he who looks for a flower may return into his house with one blooming in his bosom.
For all fits of doubt, perplexity, and fear: Whether they respect the body or the mind; whether they are a load to the shoulders, the head, or the heart, the following cure may be relied on, for I had it from the Great Physician: “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee.”—Selected.
A Mother's Care
I do not think that I could bear
My daily weight of woman's care,
If it were not for this:
That Jesus seemeth always near,
Unseen, but whispering in my ear
Some tender word of love and cheer,
To fill my soul with bliss!
The failure of some household scheme,
The ending of some pleasant dream,
Deep hidden in my breast:
The weariness of children's noise,
The yearning for that subtle poise
That turneth duties into joys,
And giveth inner rest.
These secret things, however small,
Are known to Jesus, each and all,
And this thought brings me peace.
I do not need to say a word,
He knows what thought my heart hath stirred,
And by divine caress, my Lord
Makes all its throbbing cease.
—Selected.
Do the Hard Thing First
SUSPENDED above the desk of a Pittsburg bank president is this motto: “Do the Hard Thing First.” Ten years ago he was discount clerk in the same bank.
“How did you climb so fast?” I asked.
“I lived up to that text,” he replied.
“Tell me about it.”
“There’s not much to tell. I had long been conscious that I was not getting on as fast as I should. I was not keeping up with my work; it was distasteful to me. When I opened my desk in the morning and found it covered with reminders of work to be done during the day, I became discouraged. There were always plenty of comparatively easy things to do, and these I did first, putting off the disagreeable duties as long as possible. Result: I became intellectually lazy. I felt an increasing incapacity for my work. One morning I woke up. I took stock of myself to find out the trouble. Memoranda of several matters that had long needed attention stared at me from my calendar. I had been carrying them along from day to day. Enclosed in a rubber band were a number of unanswered letters which necessitated the looking-up of certain information before the replies could be sent. I had tried for days to ignore their presence.”
“Suddenly the thought came to me: ‘I have been doing only the easy things. By postponing the disagreeable tasks, the mean, annoying little things, my mental muscles have been allowed to grow flabby. They must get some exercise.’ I took off my coat and proceeded to ‘clean house.’ It wasn’t half as hard as I had expected. Then I took a card and wrote on it: ‘Do the Hard Thing First,’ and put it where I could see it every morning. I’ve been doing the hard thing first ever since.”—Robert Webster Jones.
Patience Instead of Complaining
IMPATIENT people water their miseries and hoe up their comforts. Sorrows are visitors that come without invitation, but complaining minds send a wagon to bring their troubles home in. Many people are born crying, live complaining, and die disappointed. They chew the bitter pill which they would not even know to be bitter if they had the sense to swallow it whole in a cup of patience and water.—Spurgeon.
Karmatar (India) Training-School
By J. L. SHAW
J. L. SHAW
It has been about four years since the work was first started at Karmatar. Shortly before the death of Elder D. A. Robinson the property which the mission now occupies was leased for the purpose of having a home for the orphans, and for the workers who should labor among the native people in the surrounding villages. Elder Brown successfully started the medical work. Even now the mission is known in the surrounding villages as the Doctor’s Bungalow. When Brethren Robinson and Brown died, the work was considerably frustrated, and plans for medical and other work among the native people were given up, as there was no one to go forward with them. Since their death the place has been used as a home for the orphan children, and about two years ago a European school was opened here. This school has been in successful operation, and good has resulted from the faithful work of those in charge. With the beginning of the present year it was thought best to move the school to Calcutta, that more might have the opportunity of attending. A very pleasant, commodious schoolroom was found, and the school, which is now in operation, opened in its new quarters with a better attendance and support.
THE KARMATAR SCHOOL
Moving the European school to Calcutta left the property at Karmatar again wholly for native work. It was a question in the minds of some whether the property should be retained, as the rent was quite an expense. It seemed for a time that the place would have to be given up, but the Lord heard the prayers of those who asked for aid, and funds were raised to pay the rent on the property for five years. Two of the workers contributed their salary for one year toward paying the rent, and another sister who is a self-supporting missionary pledged the remaining sum necessary to pay the rent for five years. Arrangements have been made with the landlord to lease the property for that length of time, and he has granted an option of renewing the lease for another five years, when the present lease expires. I might also add that the landlord, desiring that we should continue work in this place, made a reasonable reduction in the rent.
All things considered, the workers have all felt that the Lord had a work for us to do here, and now by his strength they wish to make it a center of light among the benighted people of India. The property consists of a large, well-built building with ten rooms, bathrooms, and three spacious verandas. There are several other buildings on the place, which can also be used to advantage in the work. The grounds, including rice land, consist of about twenty-five acres. There are a large number of fruit-trees,—mangoes, guavas, custard apples, limes, pomegranates, and bananas,—besides a variety of beautiful shade trees, which are much to be desired in this hot climate—nine hundred and seventy-three trees in all. These, with the peaceful surroundings, make the place very pleasant.
For some time we have felt the need of a training-school for native workers, and plans are now in operation to make Karmatar a training-center for this purpose. Our hope of reaching the many people of India lies in training the native people themselves, so they can bear the glad tidings of salvation to their own people. We have been much hampered in this field by the lack of workers from America who were able to speak the language and teach the people, and by the limited training which our native workers have had. If we can get men and women to come to this field and learn the language who are qualified to train new converts, there is no reason why, with the blessing of God, a mighty movement can not be inaugurated among the people of India. The time has come to lay broader plans for the extension of our work among the native people of this land. Most of the efforts of our workers in India have been for the English-speaking people, and very little has been done for the natives.
There are a number of young people who would like to attend our training-school and get a fitting for the Lord’s work, but they have no money to pay their way. The people of this country are very poor, and most of them are able to pay but little if anything toward the education of their children. It costs six rupees, or approximately two dollars, a month for board and tuition of each pupil in the Karmatar Training-school. This is a small sum, and there may be those who would like to support a pupil in this school. There may be some in the homeland unable to go to a foreign land themselves who would like to help the cause in India by supporting or helping to support a young man or woman while getting an education in our training-school. There may be Young People’s Societies who would like to help some young people in this country while getting a preparation for work among the needy and benighted people of this land. If so, we know of no better way. To train young people of this land to carry the message to their own people is the wisest work we can do. Those who would like to know more about the training-school may correspond with Sister Georgia Burgess. Any donations sent to the Mission Board will be gladly forwarded by them to this field.
L. H. CHRISTIAN
By Louis H. Christian
Scandinavia
L. H. CHRISTIAN
We came to Denmark a little more than a year ago. Soon after our arrival, we began to labor in Copenhagen, the largest city in these northern countries. As our own mission hall was rented out until spring, we secured a hall in the center of the city, for meetings during the winter months. These public lectures were quite well attended, when the nature of the hall is considered, the average attendance being over two hundred. For this I am grateful. And yet a congregation of two, three, or four hundred in a city of half a million is but a drop in the bucket.
During the month of August I visited our smaller churches in Denmark. There are nineteen churches in this conference. Although the stay at each place was brief, we had good meetings, and I greatly enjoyed this opportunity of becoming15acquainted with our brethren in Denmark. They are a plain, God-fearing people, sincerely devoted to, and generally speaking, well-grounded in, the different phases of the present message.
The last church visited was that at Frederikshavn. At this place we have a nicely located sanatorium, which is doing a noble work. In spite of difficulties, it is struggling ahead, and evidently has a bright and useful future, if it receives the needed assistance in beginning.
In September I visited nine of our churches in Norway—from Bergen, along the coast to Christiania. Norway is a remarkable country, and the Norwegians a liberty-loving, progressive people. Our work among them is intensely interesting. In Bergen, the first city visited, we have a church of about seventy members. In Stavanger, farther south, there are sixty members. The companies I met with were smaller, but not less earnest and consecrated. It touches one's heart to see how loyal, even in their poverty, these brethren are to the cause of present truth.
My last stop was made in Christiania. Our membership here is about two hundred—the largest Scandinavian Adventist church in the world. Our work in Scandinavia practically began in this city. It is just twenty-five years since Elder Matteson began to labor in Christiania. More than seventy-five accepted the message that first winter, in spite of the strongest opposition possible. The Lord has since blessed, and is still greatly blessing his work in this city. Our large publishing house here has, during these years, printed thousands of books, pamphlets, tracts, and papers. Scores, yes, hundreds, of people are to-day rejoicing in the message, as a result of literature prepared by the Christiania publishing house. For this good result we must not forget to be grateful, both to the Lord and to those who did the work.
HAMMERFEST, NORWAY
Since the visit in September, I have spent the holiday week in Christiania, in connection with a canvassers' institute. More than twenty canvassers were present, besides twelve students from Elder O. A. Johnson's Bible school. We had a pleasant, and I hope a very profitable, time in studying preparatory to successful canvassing. There is a sturdy, spiritual, old-time canvassers' corps in Norway. Do they not meet any difficulties?—Yes, mountains of them; mountains of solid rock; for Norway is a mountainous country. But there is no mountain in this world so steep or so large that it can not be either ascended or surrounded. We who seek to proclaim the third angel's message would certainly be the basest of cowards if we were frightened or disheartened by difficulties.
On the eleventh of last October we began a series of public meetings in our own hall in Copenhagen. These were continued until the holidays, with a good interest. Our hall can seat three hundred persons. This year we have rented a large hall down town, for two lectures a week. There has been a splendid attendance. We still have meetings in our own chapel.
In connection with our public work, we have a five months' Bible training-school. There are twenty-five students. They are earnest, devoted, and intensely eager to learn. They are too young in experience to enter the Bible work or the ministry in the immediate future, but they are planning to canvass. Our school is plain and elementary, yet the Lord is with us. We try to be practical. The students attend in the forenoon from 8 o'clock to 11:30, and canvass in the afternoon. Since the holidays they have worked 843 hours, and sold 1,797 papers, 474 books, 55 tracts, and secured 31 subscriptions for our papers.
I have baptized thirty-three dear souls since coming to Copenhagen. Others are keeping the Sabbath. I could have baptized a larger number, but have kept them waiting until they were better prepared. There seems to be need of caution on this point, for one who is a stranger in a foreign country. Not all of these have accepted the message as a result of our public work. Two sisters, who had received a few Danish papers from America, decided to obey, and asked for baptism before they saw an Adventist minister. One of our colporteurs found them.
We love Denmark, and feel at home here. If it were not for the great work among the Scandinavians of America, we would gladly remain, even though we came here with the thought of staying but a year or two.
Pray for the work here. The great need of the cause in Scandinavia to-day is earnest, humble, genuine labor in spiritual and educational lines. It is the old, true advent doctrines, advent spirit, and advent methods that will bring substantial success.
A Chinaman Gives Up Opium
A CHINAMAN who had been thirty-nine years the slave of opium, gave it up entirely. When asked how he did it, he said, “I used my two knees.”
