p. 10 | Review and Herald, Vol. 88, No. 39. (9/28/1911)

Forces Uniting for the Final Conflict

By C. M. S.

There is a tremendous issue before the people of the United States. It is being brought before them so insidiously and in such almost perfect disguise that the people do not realize the danger and the importance of the issue.

That issue is nothing less than the proposition so to transform the fundamental law of the nation as to establish the government upon a basis entirely different from that which it now rests upon, and which its founders designed it should always rest upon.

Two things are prominent in the present fundamental law of the nation; viz., the rights of the individual and the separation of religion from the functions of government. In those two characteristics our government stands in a unique position among the nations of earth. Its history has been a remarkable one. Its prosperity and stability have been the wonderment of the world. And it is due to the establishment and the maintenance of those principles of liberty and equity that it has been thus prosperous and thus stable.

There can be no equality among men so long as the religious views or customs of one portion of the people are enforced upon another portion of the people. The people whose religious customs, practises, usages, or beliefs are thus given recognition and preference are exalted above those who must sacrifice their religious scruples, and customs, and practises at the behest of others. Just as soon as that principle is admitted as a principle of this government, the great rock upon which the government is builded is shattered and crumbled, and no man’s liberties or rights are safe from invasion and usurpation.

More than that, the principles upon which the nation is now builded are the principles of true Protestantism,—the right of private judgment and the right of the private individual to act in harmony with the dictates of his private judgment, unless in so doing he should come into collision with the equal rights of others.

That arrangement was and is opposed to the principle which ruled the world

during the dark ages, and which is in vogue even in our day in every country wherein religion and the state are joined. The principle of a union of religion and the state always was the principle upon which pagan governments were established. But when paganism went down, and the Papacy took its place, that principle of government was adopted and baptized into the new order of things. The pontifex maximus of paganism was adopted into the holy order of the new régime; and that title which stood highest in the heathen world became likewise the highest in the papal hierarchy.

Under such a rule the conscience of the individual was snuffed out, or his life was snuffed out if he persisted in following out the leadings of his conscience. The individual was nothing, and the state was everything. The individual was a mere chattel of the state. He existed for its use, and had no rights which it was bound to respect. There was no such thing as individual rights or the right of private judgment.

Against those principles and propositions the Reformers and the whole Reformation protested. And against those principles the republic of America also entered protest, and does still protest in its Declaration of Independence and its federal Constitution.

Now there are numerous organizations in this country whose members seem deaf to their country’s protest or blind to its history, and are laboring with a zeal worthy of a better cause to bring about the very conditions against which the country’s fundamental documents now protest,—the conditions which made possible the martyrdoms and oppressions and hypocrisies of the middle ages. The members of these organizations are not tired of exercising their own right of private judgment; but they are tired of having others exercise theirs; and they seemingly forget that when they place the other man’s right of private judgment in jeopardy, they are, in that same act, jeopardizing their own rights in that particular.

There is now organized in the State of Indiana what is known as the Civic Union. This is to be the parent organization for similar organizations in all the States of the Union. The purpose of the organization is to unite all civic societies in all the cities and villages of America for the purpose of enforcing certain “moral laws;” and among the very first of those laws is the Sunday law. This Civic Union will not restrict its membership to members of Protestant civic organizations, but designs to unite Catholic and Protestant bodies on that one issue of enforcing Sunday laws and certain other laws which it designates as “moral laws.” Catholics and professed Protestants have been hinting to each other for years that it would be a good idea to unite their forces on such an issue. Protestants have openly invited Catholics to unite with them on this issue, and Catholics have invited Protestants to a similar union of effort. At the meeting of the American Federation of Catholic Societies held in Columbus, Ohio, September 21-24, Bishop McFaul said:—

The day is past when persons fight about creeds. We are willing at any time to unite with our non-Catholic friends to aid in solving any national problem.

One of those “national problems” which Bishop Canevin declared the Federation would help in solving was the enforcement of Sunday rest.

Now while the Civic Union is advocating the union of Protestant and Catholic bodies for the enforcement of Sunday laws, and the American Federation of Catholic Societies proposes to meet such movements half-way, there is another principle upon which that union agrees with the Catholic Church; and this principle on which they unite is as un-American as any principle ever advocated by the National Reform Association. The president of the Civic Union, in an address at Warsaw, Ind., on August 20, said:—

The right of private judgment in religion has been so overworked that we have many denominations.

The right of private judgment has been the key-note and the glory of Protestantism. The Catholic hierarchy has always been opposed to it; and this Civic Union proposes a union with Catholicism on that un-Protestant and un-American basis. Says the “Manual of Christian Doctrine” (Catholic):—

Has the state the right and the duty to proscribe schism or heresy?—Yes, it has the right and the duty to do so, both for the good of the nation and for that of the faithful themselves; for religious unity is the principal foundation for social unity.—Question 120.

So the two organizations are united already upon the principle of opposition to the right of private judgment. One says the right of private judgment has been overworked. The other declares it to be the right and duty of the state to proscribe (suppress) schism or heresy. And all who are not Roman Catholics are schismatics, and therefore ought to be suppressed.

There is another organization which has set for itself the task of enforcing Sunday laws, and this organization is, in this country in point of numbers, the greatest of them all. That organization is the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, having a constituency of between seventeen and eighteen millions. It is more than a coincidence that this organization is coming to stand where the others do upon the question of the right of private judgment and the importance of maintaining that right. Rev. William H. Roberts, chairman of the council in 1905 and acting president in 1908, in discussing the question of unity in foreign fields, said:—

“We stand, first of all upon the distinctive principle of the Protestant Reformation, the right of private judgment. . . . But the day for insistence upon that right, in the judgment of many of us, has gone by.” He declared that he did not want to see his denomination “so emphasize the right of private judgment as to injure cooperation and federation.”—“Report of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America,” page 37.

The right of private judgment in religious matters is a Protestant Reformation principle—a distinctively Christian principle. The principle which is opposed to that is a distinctively papal principle; and it is a significant fact that all three of these organizations which have set themselves for the enforcement of the Sunday institution upon the people are either set against or ready to abandon one of the most distinctive features of Protestantism—the right of private judgment. It is, of course, only logical that they should do this, in view of the fact that the Sunday institution is papal in origin, and its establishment was accomplished by human laws that ignored and trampled upon the right of private judgment.

And there is another organization that has long espoused the cause of Sunday enforcement, which is also set against the principle of the right of private judgment. That is the National Reform Association. Said Dr. W. J. Wilson in an address on The Bible in the Public School, at the recent National Reform Convention at Winona Lake, Ind.:—

There must be a national conscience maintained; and there is such a thing as a national conscience, a policy which must be above all individual conscience, and the state has a right to maintain it.

That sacrifices private judgment at one fell blow; for private judgment can never be guaranteed where the state enters the realm of religion, claims for itself a conscience, and maintains it at the expense of the conscientious convictions of any or all of its citizens. That is what papal Rome did, and the blood of the martyrs still cries from the ground against her and against that principle.

But the National Reform Association, which has thus given a quitclaim deed to the state for its conscience and is trying to do the same for the conscience of the entire nation, is also, like the other three organizations mentioned, thoroughly committed to that other papal principle, the enforcement of a religious institution, the Sunday.

It is a fact susceptible of exact demonstration that every organization in the world that has set itself for the enforcement

of the Sunday institution has also set itself against the right of private judgment or has abandoned claim to the right to exercise that privilege. It is a logical step to take. The Sunday institution is papal in origin; the enforcement of religious ordinances or customs or usages is a papal principle; the denial of the right of private judgment is papal also; and he who espouses the one espouses the other logically and naturally. This union of these organizations in the manner above pointed out clearly indicates how, not long hence, the whole world will unite under papal supervision and upon the papal principle of the right of the state to force the consciences of the people, and “cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” This is not a theory built upon dreams and human visions. It is the working out of a definite program long foretold in God’s Word, and soon to reach its culmination.

C. M. S.

Statement of $300,000 Fund

By W. T. Knox

Sept. 1, 1911

Atlantic Union Conference Central New England ........ $ 3148.17 Greater New York .......... 3022.65 Maine ..................... 368.20 New York .................. 1727.58 Northern New England ..... 1021.03 Southern New England .... 494.29 Western New York ......... 1355.25 Total .................... 11137.17

Canadian Union Conference Maritime .................. 284.62 Ontario ................... 1655.68 Quebec .................... 546.10 Newfoundland ............. Total .................... 2486.40

Central Union Conference Colorado ................. 720.53 East Kansas .............. 1875.54 Nebraska ................. 7898.88 North Missouri ........... 773.32 South Missouri ........... 435.94 Western Colorado ......... 699.81 West Kansas .............. 730.89 Wyoming .................. 1209.29 St. Louis ................ 77.00 Total .................... 14421.20

Columbia Union Conference Chesapeake ............... $ 766.34 District of Columbia .... 1239.47 Eastern Pennsylvania .... 1453.51 New Jersey ............... 1750.45 Ohio ..................... 3148.03 Virginia ................. 397.35 West Pennsylvania ....... 680.76 West Virginia ............ 407.00 Total .................... 9842.91

Lake Union Conference East Michigan ............ 4355.12 Indiana .................. 3652.24 Northern Illinois ........ 2033.71 North Michigan ........... 644.65 Southern Illinois ........ 1362.48 West Michigan ............ 4492.00 Wisconsin ................ 2112.41 Total .................... 18652.61

Northern Union Conference Iowa ..................... 4876.89 Minnesota ................ 4286.94 North Dakota ............. 2069.13 South Dakota ............. 1534.83 Total .................... 12767.79

North Pacific Union Conference Montana .................. 1569.15 Southern Idaho ........... 1809.60 Southern Oregon .......... 924.65 Upper Columbia ........... 3201.36 Western Oregon ........... 3338.23 Western Washington ....... 3406.64 Alaska ................... 2.15 Total .................... 14251.78

Pacific Union Conference Arizona .................. 665.36 California ............... 5115.20 Southern California ...... 6177.22 Utah ..................... 130.30 Central California ....... 1008.10 North California-Nevada .. 1322.19 Total .................... 14418.37

Southeastern Union Conference Cumberland ............... 1491.17 Florida .................. 1773.40 Georgia .................. 676.77 North Carolina ........... 492.24 South Carolina ........... 328.54 Bahama Mission ........... Total .................... 4762.12

Southern Union Conference Alabama .................. 180.81 Kentucky ................. 234.00 Louisiana ................ 214.75 Mississippi .............. 337.03 Tennessee River .......... 472.22 Southern Union Mission .. 5.00 Total .................... 1443.81

Southwestern Union Conference Arkansas ................. 201.31 New Mexico ............... 163.14 North Texas .............. 668.37 Oklahoma ................. 2005.14 South Texas .............. 189.86 West Texas ............... 128.60 Southwestern Union Mission Total .................... 3356.42

Western Canadian Union Conference Alberta .................. 597.20 British Columbia ......... 524.55 Manitoba ................ 700.10

Saskatchewan ............. $ 973.50 Total .................... 2795.35

Australasian Union Conf.... 3643.12 Various countries ........ 702.66 Miscellaneous ............ 587.91

Grand total .............. $115,269.62

W. T. Knox, Treasurer.

Are They True Sentiments ?

By F. M. W.

UNDER the heading, “True Sentiments From Cardinal Gibbons,” the Christian Advocate of August 3 quotes these words from a recent speech of this prelate of the Roman Church:—

Thank God, we live in a country where there is liberty without the toleration of license, and authority without the toleration of despotism, and where the government holds over us the ægis of its protection without interfering with the individual rights of conscience. We have here no state church, but there is no antagonism between church and state. On the contrary, our civil and spiritual rulers mutually aid and support one another.

It is not for us to question the motives or purposes of any man. Possibly Cardinal Gibbons may believe the sentiments expressed above. We sincerely hope that he does. We know this, however, that these sentiments do not represent the real faith or purpose of the Roman Catholic Church.

Pope Pius IX, in his encyclical letter of Aug. 15, 1854, said:—

The absurd and erroneous doctrines or ravings, in defense of liberty of conscience are most pestilential error—the pest, of all others, most dreaded in the state.

Bishop O’Connor, another prelate of that church states:—

Religious liberty is merely endured until the opposite can be carried into effect without peril to the Catholic world.

This latter statement correctly represents the attitude of the Roman Catholic Church toward all who differ from her faith and practise. All the history of the past demonstrates that the Roman Church has been tolerant only where she is powerless. She has rejoiced in the non-interference of the governments of earth with the individual rights of conscience whenever she herself has not been in a position to control the government. When, however, she has occupied such a position, she has never been slow to exercise her authority to the fullest extent, and at such times she has counted it a lawful prerogative of government to invade the rights of individual conscience and demand allegiance from its subjects to her own dogmas and doctrines. In America she is quietly biding her time until she can do for the United States what she has done for the nations of the Old World. The Roman Church has met with no change of heart in her attitude toward the governments of earth. It is to be deplored that so many professed Protestants are unable to see, through the thin guise of her smiles, the sinister and far-reaching motives with which she is working to accomplish her ends.

F. M. W.

The $300,000 Fund

THE readers of the REVIEW will be pleased to notice in the following report, the marked increase in the receipts from the $300,000 Fund. This is probably due, in a measure at least, to the action of the Friedensau council, calling upon the conferences to close up the campaign in behalf of this fund by Jan. 1, 1912.

The amount received to date is $115,269.62. Letters received from a number of the conferences indicate that a hearty response will be given to the recommendation adopted at the European council, and that by the close of the year we shall see the larger portion of this money gathered into the treasury of the General Conference.

Actions of the European Division of the General Conference Committee

By William Ambrose Spicer

Following the biennial council in Europe, which brought together all the members of the General Conference Committee resident in that field, actions were taken relating specifically to the work of the division, which will equally interest our people along with the actions of the biennial council. In fact, the proceedings of the European Division Committee give a realistic picture of the activity of our people in Europe, pushing out into Asia and Africa.

Levant Union

Concerning plans for the Levant Union, which includes the region of the eastern Mediterranean, from Egypt, in the south, to Greece and Turkey, in the north, the following recommendations were made:—

That the work in the Levant be arranged with the view to its development into a more compact union mission field.

The appropriations to the Levant for 1912 to be as follows: Armenian Mission, $1,000; Grecian Mission, $1,250; Turkish Mission, $2,600; Syrian Mission, $2,900; Egyptian Mission, $2,100; total, $9,850.

This is really a very small sum to keep going all the activities that the brethren plan for in these regions where the apostolic missionaries labored. Such figures should stimulate the gifts for missions.

The Syro-Egyptian Mission to be divided, Egypt and Syria each to constitute a separate mission field under the union.

Turkey

Miss Beatrice Baharian, nurse, from the Washington Sanitarium, to proceed to Gland, Switzerland, to secure training in the French language and in other special work in order to engage in the work in Turkey.

Elder A. M. Buzugherian to labor in Tarsus for a time, assisting a local worker, and then to locate in Smyrna.

Dr. V. Pampaian to spend some time in Switzerland, studying the French language, preparatory to his taking the medical examination in Constantinople.

A. Girou, of Belgium, to make Constantinople his field of labor.

A school for workers to be held in Constantinople from Nov. 1 to May 1, 1912; the instruction in the school to be in Turkish, Armenian, and Greek; Brethren C. Voigt and Pampaian and Miss Eunice Kalfa (teachers) and Elder E. E. Frauchiger (superintendent of the Turkish Mission) assisting as other duties may allow.

Elder Z. G. Baharian, superintendent of the new Armenian Mission, to settle at Tokat, and Brother Bedros Touzian, of Albistan, to unite with him in the work; further that an effort be made to supply Brother Baharian with a canvasser for the Armenian field.

Syria

A four weeks’ institute for laborers to be held at Haifa, Syria, conducted by Elders Frauchiger and W. C. Ising.

Miss Adelaide Khourie, nurse, invited to respond to a call for a nurse in Jerusalem.

Egypt

Hermann Pietrowsky and wife, formerly of the Foreign Mission Seminary, to go to Egypt to work for a time in Alexandria, and then to make Asyut, on the Nile, their field of labor.

A. Kafil, of Syria, to go to Egypt.

An Arabic typewriter to be secured for use in the preparation of Arabic manuscripts in Egypt.

Greek Mission

Elder R. S. Greaves, of the Greek Mission, to secure a place for a series of lectures in Janina, Albania.

Miss Loxandra, Greek nurse of the Caterham (England) Sanitarium, to join Elder and Mrs. Greaves in the work at Janina.

Siberian Union Mission

The actions regarding the new Siberian Mission, to be fully appreciated, should be read with the map of Siberia before the eye. It is a most cheering development, this spread of our work through the heretofore almost unknown regions of northern and central Asia. The Siberian Mission includes a strip of European Russia between the river Volga and the Ural Mountains. Actions were taken as follows:—

Elder E. Gnaedjin, superintendent of the East Siberian Mission, to make his headquarters at Irkutsk.

J. J. Gaidischiar, student of Friedensau, appointed to the Volga Mission.

Brethren Krause and Koehn, of Germany, to labor in the Siberian Mission, the former in West Siberia, the latter in the Ural field.

Brother A. Sidnikow to join Elder Gnaedjin in the work in Irkutsk.

The appropriations to the Siberian Mission for 1912 to be as follows (a ruble being about 50 cents): Turkestan, 1,830 rubles; Ural, 4,298 rubles; West Siberia, 4,220 rubles; Volga, 4,700 rubles; East Siberia, 2,200 rubles. This, less 4,600 rubles tithe expected income, leaves 12,600 rubles to be made up from mission funds, or $6,500, for the largest union mission field in the world, so far as area is concerned.

That F. Ginter work in Samara and among the churches, making an effort to enter Ufa, in the Volga Mission.

That H. K. Loebsack, superintendent of the West Siberian Mission, establish his headquarters in Omsk, and that he make a trip into the region of Semipalatinsk.

That K. K. Dueck labor about Powlodar, and J. Jurikson in the region of Tomsk, both in the West Siberian Mission.

For special city effort in Siberia it was agreed that Elder Loebsack should endeavor to secure a hall for meetings in Omsk, at a cost not to exceed 200 rubles ($100) a year; and that Elder J. Ebel should endeavor to secure a hall for public meetings in Tashkent, Turkestan, Central Asia, at a cost not to exceed 200 rubles a year. Thus our brethren in Siberia are endeavoring to spread out their slender forces and to occupy the vast field.

One action taken by the committee will especially appeal to our brethren and sisters. It was a vote of seven rubles a week to Brother J. Pilkewitsch, from the Sustentation Fund, to aid in providing some personal needs to this brother in prison, and to help his wife and children.

East Africa

The East African field being under the oversight of the European Division, actions were taken as follows:—

A. C. Enns, on returning from his furlough in Europe, to unite with the Pare Mission, German East Africa.

E. Lorenz, of the Friedensau school, to visit his home in Norway, and then to proceed to the Abyssinian Mission.

The appointment of P. Stein and wife to the Victoria Nyanza field was acted upon by the full council, and has been reported.

A number of candidates appeared before the European Committee and are under special consideration for the East African field. Some of these young men had interesting stories to tell of their experience in passing through the military. Our young people in the lands of compulsory military service have many trials to bear for the Sabbath truth, and many can testify of the grace of Christ that has helped them endure, and others of the delivering power of God.

This report of items coming before the European Division of the General Conference Committee within a few days’ session bears witness to the stirring activities centering in Europe, by which over one thousand new believers are taken into the church each quarter. It is the power of God, and that only, that can accomplish such a work by the consecration and devotion of those who believe in the message of Christ’s soon coming.

W. A. SPICER, Secretary.

Always Give Your Best

BELVEDERE BROOKS, the general manager of the Western Union Telegraph Company, gives this advice to young business men: “To the young man seeking success and happiness in life, I have one suggestion to make. It is the one I have given my four sons, and it is the only rule, I think, a man need follow to win his way: Always give of the best that is in you. Feel your responsibility toward yourself and your work. Never be content with a compromise with work. Give your employer the best that you have in you to give. And always remember that if you play fair, you are bound to win.”

Progress in India

By John L. Shaw

J. L. SHAW

North India

In north India work has been opened at the four following stations: Lucknow, Mussoorie, Deosa, and Najibabad. At Lucknow are located the Watchman press and the mission office and tract society depository. One sister is giving her time to zenana work in Hindustani homes, with encouraging results.

Mussoorie is the headquarters of our work during eight months of the year, while the heat of the plains is oppressive. A public effort in English is conducted each season. The sanitarium, which was operated for three years, has necessarily been reduced to treatment-rooms, owing to Dr. H. C. Menkel’s leaving the field. It, however, is enjoying good patronage, and bids fair to be self-sustaining financially, though it may be too early to say whether this hope will be realized. A free dispensary is also conducted, treating from twenty-five to forty patients a day. At Annfield, the rest-home for missionaries, a school for the children of our missionaries and other English-speaking Sabbath-keepers, has recently been started. Having a good location in a healthful climate, the prospects of the little school are encouraging. A man and his wife who could take charge of the school are very much desired.

The mission school at Deosa, Garhwal, conducted by Brother and Sister Burgess, with its one or two out-schools, is making good progress. A mission house and two small dormitories have already been built, and a school building is now in process of construction. This mission station enjoys a healthful, invigorating climate, the people in surrounding villages are very friendly, and in time we hope a church may be raised up. People strongly bound to the teachings of Hinduism do not easily find their way to Christ.

The dispensary at Najibabad has been open only one year, and during the last six months, owing to the plague, the work has been seriously injured. Our location being in the center of the native city, one of our sisters was taken down with plague, but in answer to prayer the plague was almost instantly checked, and the life of the worker spared. There is at the present time a prospect of getting land one or two miles from the city, where a mission house can be built in a healthful place.

South India

In south India work has been carried on at Nazareth, Tinnevelli, for three years. A mission bungalow and church-school building have been erected. With a church of forty members, a Sabbath-school of one hundred, a day-school of seventy-five pupils, and a dispensary, the work at this station is moving forward in an encouraging manner. An outstation, some eight miles distant, is under consideration. At Trichinopoli, a large city at some distance, Brother and Sister Lowry are just opening up work. An Indian brother has been preparing the way by teaching the truth to his fellow countrymen who are Christians.

West India

Work is fairly started in west India. A few have accepted the truth. Elder G. F. Enoch has begun work at Panvel, fifteen miles across the bay from Bombay. A few native workers are in training, and one or two out-schools have recently been opened. Our workers at Panvel are in a thickly settled district, with the great city of Bombay but a few miles away. Lonavla, a more healthful station, thirty miles away, has a few Sabbath-keepers, and it seems advisable to locate Brother and Sister Kelsey there. Two lone sisters are doing self-supporting medical work in Bombay. Such is the beginning in the great west of India.

Burma

Burma has a thriving little English-speaking church at Rangoon, with several Burmese members and one or two Burmese workers. At Meiktila, in northern Burma, an industrial school has been started. Money has been raised in Burma to buy the land and to put up the buildings, which are now being erected. A mission house for the teacher in charge of the school, will soon be built. Brother and Sister Beckner have recently taken up work at Mandalay, the largest city of northern Burma. People seem desirous of knowing the truth, and our Burmese literature finds a ready sale. 1,150 Gospels and tracts being sold by Brother Beckner in one week.

English Work

The condition of the English work in India is less prosperous. The circulation of the Oriental Watchman, having scarcely any canvassers, ran down almost to the vanishing point; there has been a small gain recently, and the subscription list is now over a thousand. At one time it had a paid-up annual subscription list of four thousand copies.

Most workers coming to India the past few years, have had a burden to enter the native work, and English evangelical work has been neglected. In all India we have not one minister free to give his full time to preaching the message in the English language, notwithstanding the fact that there are between five and seven millions of people who understand English, and who unquestionably represent the better educated and more enlightened part of the population.

In Burma the English work is doing better than in India. At Rangoon we have had ministerial work carried on uninterruptedly the past six or seven years. The tithe of the members of the church is more than sufficient to support a minister and his wife. The same was true when active evangelical work was done in the Calcutta church.

Our sanitarium in India has suffered a blow in having to be closed this year, owing to the physician’s leaving the field. The small institution conducted in Mussoorie the last three years, barring the doctor’s salary, has been about self-sustaining, though carried on in a building cramped for room and wholly unsuited to sanitarium work.

The treatment-rooms in Calcutta are doing well, having paid off considerable indebtedness incurred while carrying on sanitarium work, and are now gaining a little financially each month. Our nurses giving massage in Rangoon and Bombay are doing well. The experiment of having workers support themselves while studying the language, is being tried, and the results so far appear encouraging.

Little Russia

By John Perk

JOHN PERK

THANKS be to our Heavenly Father for the blessings we have enjoyed during the last two years in the Little Russian field, which consists of five large governments, and lies near to the heart of Russia. It has a population of about sixteen millions, most of whom are Germans, Poles, and Jews. The nickname for Little Russia is, in the language of the people, “Chohol,” which means “many-haired.” In literature the Little Russian is known as the “boundary inhabitant.” The language is Low Russian.

As far as education is concerned, most of the people can neither read nor write. They have literature in their own language, but it is very rarely read by them. The people are, nevertheless, very hospitable, and are simple in their dress. They make their clothes themselves, of hemp and wool. More attention is being given now to schooling. The soil and the climate are well suited to agricultural pursuits. The chief industry is, therefore, the cultivation of the land, special attention being given to the raising of beets. On the Russian market alone over sixteen million dollars’ worth of beet-sugar is sold. The region is also well wooded.

In the Little Russian field is the town of Kief, where the Russian empire was founded, and where, also through Vladimir, the religion of the Greek Catholic Church was adopted. For this reason Kief is called the mother town of Russia. About two hundred years ago, a kind of mausoleum was built by a priest

named Antonie. In it are two subterranean passages, with about eighty open coffins, covered with red cloth, containing dead men’s bones. Such mausoleums as this are places of honor for the bones of the saints, and many thousands make pilgrimages to them, in order to worship and kiss the remains of their saints, thus looking for life among the dead. Kief, with its twenty churches, is called the Jerusalem of Russia.

The railway service is very poor, and one can reach most of the small towns only by wagon, and even the important city of Tobolsk has no railway as yet. However, many lines are now under process of construction.

1. BAPTISM OF TWENTY-SIX CONVERTS AT AN OUT-SCHOOL.
2. PETER NYAMBO'S NEW OUT-SCHOOL.
3. CHIEF PROVERA AND FAMILY, SABBATH-KEEPERS. — BAPTISM OF TWENTY-SIX CONVERTS AT AN OUT-SCHOOL.

PETER NYAMBO'S NEW OUT-SCHOOL.

CHIEF PROVERA AND FAMILY, SABBATH-KEEPERS.

The work in the Little Russian field was started in 1909; that is to say, it was then separated from the Middle Russian field. It then had 250 members, divided among ten companies, most of which are located in the Kief government. At that time, the call of the Lord came to me to work in this field. With one ordained minister and three Bible workers, we looked trustingly through many difficulties into the future. Instead of getting more workers, we lost one Bible worker, Brother Pilkewilsch, who was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment,—one year and five months of which he has already served,—on the charge of having offended the saints. Our licentiate Brother Prowalowsky, was also deprived of his freedom for some time, so that the number of our workers was very small indeed. Later, thanks be to God, we received a substitute, so that we now have two ordained ministers and two licentiates.

It is deeply to be lamented that we have no canvassers. We gave the work a trial, and found that it was very difficult to get permission to sell books. Our solicitation was often rejected without cause. And then the Russians do not purchase very readily, for, as already mentioned, most of them can not read, and colporteurs are looked upon with suspicion. The priest soon learns of the proximity of a canvasser and makes it his business to see that the police get the canvasser into trouble. We hardly dare, therefore, to send out colporteurs. In most cases, seed is sown in the following manner: Church-members begin to speak to the people about the truth, which often arouses the whole neighborhood, and thus the way is opened for the worker. We can show, however, as the result of tract society work, a sale of 450 rubles’ worth of literature, and are in hopes of soon being able to send our canvassers into the different towns.

Two hundred fifty members were taken into the church by baptism during the last two years. We have lost some by removal, death, and apostasy. Ten new churches have been organized recently, making the number of churches and companies twenty, and the membership 514.

The majority of our people are poor. Several had their property valued, and sold a tenth in order to pay their honest tithe, and these are much happier than those who have not yet done so.

O that it were possible for us to send out more workers! I receive invitations daily to give the people more light, but it is impossible for me to answer all the calls. A whole government is untouched by the workers of the third angel’s message. From other places we hear of people who have not yet been visited, but who have begun to keep the Sabbath. We are convinced that God will give success to his faithful workers.

Continue reading: JOEL C. ROGERS