Earlier text: Our Publishing WorkThe Oneness of the Old and New Dispensations
A CORRESPONDENT of the Sunday School Times submitted for the consideration of the editor of that paper the following question:— Will you, in your paper, please state at what time after the birth of Christ did the practical observance of the old dispensation in order that a person could be saved, cease, and the new plan of life and salvation begin? This question was answered under the heading, “The Oneness of the Old and New Dispensations,” and we quote a portion of the reply:— On one truth let us be clear: Christ saved from the beginning. “Before Abraham was born, I am.” “In the beginning was the Word, . . . in him was life; and the life was the light of men.” Therefore the spirit of the law and the love—which are the same—of the old dispensation never ceased, and never will cease. But the particular way in which men were to give evidence of the control of that law of love in their lives did change with the life and death of Jesus Christ. Even under the old dispensation, there is no reason to suppose that the offering of sacrifices was necessarily essential to salvation. Rather it was what they stood for that was evidence of salvation. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” Eventually the symbolic sacrificing of animals was replaced by the actual sacrifice of the life of Jesus Christ. Christ’s sacrifice was greater than all other sacrifices, and was the actual and the fulfilment, of which all others were only the type and the forecast. Therefore it would seem that the hour, if it is necessary to determine that, of the passing of the old form of sacrifices, was the hour of the passing of Jesus’ life on the cross. It was then that the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom. This teaching is so plain and so perfectly in harmony with the Scriptures that we wonder that all do not see it, and follow these principles to their legitimate conclusions. Righteousness by faith has always been the one way of salvation, and the evidence of this righteousness has always been obedience to the commandments of God. The death of Christ abolished the law of ceremonies, but not the law of the ten commandments. One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollar Fund
By Arthur G. Daniells
For Special Work at Home and Abroad The Purpose and Basis of the Appeal At the General Conference Committee Council held in Washington last April, it was decided by a unanimous vote to proceed at once to raise the sum of $150,000 for our work in the South and in Washington. This council was attended by nearly all the members of the General Conference Committee in America and by several presidents of local conferences. The council had hardly closed when word came telling of the partial destruction of the Pacific Press printing plant by the California earthquake. With a desire to aid the Pacific Press, it was decided to take a special collection in all our churches in the United States to restore the building, and to take no steps to start the $150,000 fund until after that collection had been taken. When this collection had been taken, and we had completed our plans for raising the $150,000 fund, and had taken the initial steps to start the movement, the entire plant of the Pacific Press was destroyed by fire. This terrible disaster caused us to again delay the effort to raise the large sum required in the South and at Washington. As it appeared evident that the Pacific Press would require immediate financial assistance, it was finally decided to send General Conference representatives to Mountain View to counsel with the brethren on the Pacific Coast as to what arrangements it was thought should be made. At the same time it was decided to call a special council of the General Conference Committee and the presidents of local conferences to meet in Washington immediately after the Mountain View meeting. The Washington Council convened September 27, and was attended by a large number of our leading men in the United States and Canada. The list of names has been given in recent numbers of the REVIEW. This large council gave the question of providing means to meet the urgent needs of our growing cause days of prayerful, thorough consideration. As a result of this study it was decided to readjust our plans so that the Pacific Press could receive reasonable assistance without adding to the $150,000 which we had planned to raise before the fire at Mountain View. The decisions of the council are given in the following resolutions, which were adopted:— It is recommended, That a fund of $150,000 be raised, to be distributed as follows:— The South ........................$ 50,000
As apportioned by the Southern Union Conference:—
Nashville San. ......$25,000
Huntsville San. ........ 5,000
Graysville San. ....... 1,500
Atlanta San. .......... 3,000
Graysville Academy. ... 2,000
The Watchman .......... 2,500
To be apportioned by
Southern Union ....... 11,000
Washington Sanitarium ....... 50,000
Pacific Press ................ 20,000
Review and Herald ........... 10,000
British School .............. 10,000
Williamsdale Academy (Nova
Scotia) .................... 2,000
Skodsborg Sanitarium ........ 2,000
West Indies .................. 4,000
Chilean Printing House and
School ..................... 2,000
Total ........................$150,000 That the first fifty thousand dollars raised be given to the South. That the remaining one hundred thousand be divided on a pro rata basis as received. A meeting of conference presidents was then held to recommend plans for carrying the action of the council into effect. The report of this committee was presented, and after discussion and amendment was unanimously adopted, as follows:— In harmony with the action taken to raise $150,000 to prosecute various enterprises, we recommend,—
1. That to accomplish this work the General Conference Committee immediately establish an active agency at headquarters to disseminate information to forward the raising of this amount, with such auxiliary agencies in other publishing centers as the committee may deem advisable.
2. That each union conference provide a man to directly engage in this work.
3. That each union and local conference be free to adopt such measures as in its judgment are best suited to its locality.
4. That as conference presidents we pledge ourselves to do all in our power to accomplish the raising of this fund as soon as practicable.
5. That the publishers of the REVIEW AND HERALD be requested to publish the donations by conferences, and in aggregate only. One hundred and fifty thousand dollars seems like a large sum to call for in addition to the means required to carry forward our regular work. The officers of the General Conference did not feel free to make such a call without first laying the whole situation before the majority of the conference presidents. We are profoundly grateful for the earnest, thorough study these brethren in positions of responsibility gave this question in the council. To all it appeared to be duty to raise this amount. All were united on this, and all will unite in the effort to raise the sum. It will be seen that a large share of the $150,000 to be raised is for our mission fields, and for our institutions that have suffered so severely from fires. One third of the whole amount is for the South, which we all recognize as a home mission field. Twenty thousand dollars is for fields outside of the United States, thirty thousand for the Review and Herald and Pacific Press, and fifty thousand for the Washington Sanitarium, which the spirit of prophecy has repeatedly urged should be established without delay. Our growing, advancing cause demands that all that is here proposed shall be done. Believing this, we take hold of this effort with confidence, feeling assured that the Lord, who is ordering the battle, will grant us help. When we think of the sixty thousand loyal believers in this country, who are being so greatly blessed in the truth, and prospered with means, we know that this sum can soon be raised. The gift of only ten cents a day for one month by all these believers would raise more than the amount called for. Surely this is not an impossible undertaking for this prosperous people. Of course many who have been blessed in financial affairs will give large sums, hundreds or perhaps a thousand, to make up for widows, orphans, and dependent ones who are numbered among the Lord’s people. There is much we wish to say to our brethren and sisters regarding this matter, and we would like to say it all just now, but space and time will not permit of this. We shall follow this general statement with articles dealing with every phase of the question, and explaining all points about which our people desire information. The officers of the General Conference Committee and the editor of the REVIEW AND HERALD were appointed a committee to do such work as is called for at headquarters. We shall be pleased to aid our brethren in every way possible in accomplishing this task. If any of our people desire any information which we may fail to give through the REVIEW, please be free to correspond with any member of this committee. "If to heathen lands He calls me,
Let me never answer, No;
Telling out the great salvation,
In his name I'll gladly go. "If he needs my gold and silver,
Let me never answer, No;
All I am and have I offer,
Gladly helping others go." OVER the ocean, across the wild wave,
Heathen are dying, with no one to save;
No one to rescue from grief and dismay,
The heathen are waiting and looking
this way. Looking for you, brother, happy in
grace;
Living each day in the light of His face.
Looking for you, sister, how can you
stay
When the heathen are looking and calling this way? Think of the grace that to you has been
giv'n,
Knowledge of Jesus, the Saviour in
heaven,
God's Holy Bible, the light of life's way,
Unknown to the heathen still looking
this way. Show us the light which to you has been
giv'n,
Bright Sun of Righteousness, sent down
from heaven;
Come over and help us; send messengers, pray;
We are fainting and dying by thousands
to-day. Idols of stone can not help us we know;
But where is your God? O, where shall
we go?
Going to judgment without one glad day,
The heathen are waiting and looking
this way. Jesus, the Saviour, bright Morning Star,
Looking for lost ones, straying afar;
Be his glad messenger, speed on your
way
To the millions of heathen waiting to-day. Drunkenness and Crime
By Ellen G. White
In these times, when the daily newspapers are filled with many horrible details of revolting drunkenness and terrible crime, there is a tendency to become so familiar with existing conditions that we lose sight of the significance of these conditions. Violence is in the land. More intoxicating liquor is used than has ever been used heretofore. The story of the resultant crime is given fully in the newspapers. And yet, notwithstanding the many evidences of increasing lawlessness, men seldom stop to consider seriously the meaning of these things. Almost without exception, men boast of the enlightenment and progress of the present age. Upon us, to whom God has given great light, rests the solemn responsibility of calling the attention of thinking men and women to the significance of the prevalence of drunkenness and crime with which they are so familiar. We should bring before their minds the scriptures that plainly portray the conditions which shall exist just prior to the second coming of Christ. Faithfully should we uplift the divine standard, and raise our voices in protest against the sanctioning of the liquor traffic by legal enactment. For a time after the great earthquake along the coast of California, the authorities in San Francisco and in some of the smaller cities and towns ordered the closing of all liquor saloons. So marked were the effects of this strictly enforced ordinance, that the attention of thinking men throughout America, and notably on the Pacific Coast, was directed to the advantages that would result from a permanent closing of all saloons. During many weeks following the earthquake in San Francisco, very little drunkenness was seen. No intoxicating drinks were sold. The disorganized and unsettled state of affairs gave the city officials reason to expect an abnormal increase of disorder and crime, and they were greatly surprised to find the opposite true. Those from whom was expected much trouble, gave but little. This remarkable freedom from violence and crime was traceable largely to the disuse of intoxicants. The editors of some of the leading dailies took the position that it would be for the permanent betterment of society and for the upbuilding of the best interests of the city, were the saloons to remain closed forever. But wise counsel was swept aside, and within a few short weeks permission was given the liquor dealers to reopen their places of business, upon the payment of a considerably higher license than had formerly been paid into the city treasury. In the calamity that befell San Francisco, the Lord designed to wipe out the liquor saloons that have been the cause of so much evil, so much misery and crime; and yet the guardians of the public welfare have proved unfaithful to their trust, by legalizing the sale of liquor. Those who have been placed in positions of official responsibility, and who in the recent past have become thoroughly familiar with the advantages of the closed saloon, now deliberately choose to enact laws sanctioning the carrying on of the liquor traffic. They know that in doing this, they are virtually licensing the commission of crime; and yet their knowledge of this sure result deters them not. The evils that are so apparent at the present time, are the same that brought destruction to the antediluvian world. “In the days that were before the flood” one of the prevailing sins was drunkenness. From the record in Genesis we learn that “the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.” Crime reigned supreme; life itself was unsafe. Men whose reason was dethroned by intoxicating drink, thought little of taking the life of a human being. “As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” The drunkenness and the crime that now prevail, have been foretold by the Saviour himself. We are living in the closing days of this earth’s history. It is a most solemn time. Everything betokens the soon return of our Lord. The very conditions we see in the great cities of our land; the mad acts of men whose minds have been inflamed by drugged liquor sold under sanction of human enactments; the dead and the dying whose destruction can be traced to the use of poisonous liquor,—all these evils are but a fulfilment of our Saviour’s prophecy, whereby we may know that Jesus will soon appear in the clouds of heaven. O, what a work there is before the faithful watchman who must quickly warn the people of the perils of these last days! How important it is that God’s messengers shall call the attention of statesmen, of editors, of thinking men everywhere, to the deep significance of the drunkenness and the violence now filling the land with desolation and death! As faithful colaborers with God, we must bear a clear, decided testimony on the temperance question. The Lord can not bear much longer with an intemperate and perverse generation. In days of old, when Moses was rehearsing the desire of Jehovah concerning his people, there were uttered against the drunkard the following words:— “The Lord will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousies shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven.”
The people of San Francisco must answer at the judgment bar of God for the reopening of the liquor saloons in that city. O that our cities might reform! In places where the judgments of heaven have fallen, God is now proving those whose lives he has spared, as to whether they will continue to allow health and reason to be destroyed by the sale of maddening drink. To-day, in many places, men are being tried in courts of justice, because under the influence of drugged liquor they have committed all manner of violence and sin. Satan looks on, highly gratified over the persistent determination of men to sell and use these poisonous drinks. Well could it be said of the cities in our world to-day, as the Saviour declared of the cities “wherein most of his mighty works were done,” “Woe unto thee!” “The men of Nineveh shall rise up in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it; because they repented at the preaching of Jonah.” When the Lord sees men whom he has spared as he spared the inhabitants of Nineveh, continue to legalize and carry on the liquor traffic, the next stroke of the Infinite will be to destroy life. God has given men an opportunity to repent, to prepare to meet death with Christ’s armor on, if death must come; and yet9 they continue in the wicked works that brought the cities under the rebuke and the chastening hand of God, and caused the devastation of that in which they took so much pride. Human lives have been wonderfully preserved. Should there not be an acknowledgment of the Lord’s mercy? Should there not be heartfelt repentance? Should not the liquor saloons that have wrought so much evil, be entirely abolished? God is now withholding further vengeance, in order that a faithful work may be done by his ministers. Let there be proclaimed, with no uncertain sound, the message: “Watch; . . . for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.” In every place is to be heard the voice of the faithful sentinel of truth. God is now calling upon his servants to engage in this closing work of warning the world. Those whose talents have heretofore been tied up in mercantile and other worldly pursuits, are now to plan to use their talents speedily in proclaiming the third angel’s message. Let not Satan keep you from engaging in this work. Count the cost of delay. Souls are perishing in sin. We must now improve every opportunity. The world is to be warned; soon Jesus will come. We are to allow nothing to interpose between us and the work God has given us to do. The people must hear the truth in clear, distinct lines. Just at this time we must make special efforts to bring the truth before those who live in our cities. As we near the close of this earth’s history, we shall see repeated in many other places the calamity that befell San Francisco. Now is our golden opportunity to co-operate with heavenly intelligences in enlightening the understanding of those who are studying the meaning of the rapid increase of crime and disaster. As we do our part faithfully, the Lord will bless our efforts to the saving of many precious souls. The Blessed Hope
By G. W. Wells
HE is coming, the Saviour of the world is coming again! This thought should fill every Christian’s heart with joy. It has been the long-looked-for, long-hoped-for event of all the past ages. The glorious consummation of all the prophetic utterances is reached in that day. The cruel reign of sin will then cease forever. O day of joy and gladness and rapturous delight! “My longing heart cries out, O, come!
Creation groans for thee!
The weary pilgrim sighs, O come!
Bring immortality.” Jesus said to his disciples, shortly before he left this world, “Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterward.” No doubt this statement filled their hearts with sorrow; they did not comprehend its true meaning. Peter said, “Why can not I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake.” Their love for their Commander was warm and fervent, and they found pleasure in his presence. To cheer their hearts, and to comfort his followers in all future time, he uttered this most assuring promise, “I will come again.” “I go to prepare a place for you,” and “I will come again.” What for?—To “receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” John 14: 1-3. No promise have we of entering into his presence, of being with him, until “that day.” “Thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.” Thank God for the assurance of the resurrection, without which even those “fallen asleep in Christ are perished.” “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.” These are words of comfort; for those of our loved ones who have fallen asleep in Jesus, and are sweetly resting in “their beds” (Isa. 57: 1-3), now come forth glorified, and they with us are made immortal, “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound; and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” 1 Cor. 15: 52. “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” If then, as we see by these irrevocable statements, our being with him, our seeing him as he is, our entering into our reward and being made immortal; if the bringing to an end of iniquity and sin, and the ushering in of the reign of righteousness and peace, the gathering together of all the redeemed, yea, the joy of being with him where he is,—if all this is contingent on his second coming, how important that we prepare for, and look forward to, that day of all days! “Looking for that blessed hope, and glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ”—him who made himself a friend of sinners, him whose hand was ever ready to minister to suffering humanity, him whose ear was never deaf to the cry of the unfortunate, him whose lips spoke only pardon and hope. The “chiefest among ten thousand,” the One “altogether lovely,” is coming again. That is his promise. For six thousand years sin has reigned in the hearts of men and held sway in the earth. O, what rivers of scalding tears, multitudes of broken hearts, and blasted hopes, and ruined lives, this old world has witnessed! But now it is in its last struggle. The King of Peace is soon to come. What will ever stay the deadening tide of intemperance and crime that is blighting the homes and lives of millions? What will ever bring to an end the cruel, thoughtless, heart-sickening oppression of the poor and the needy? What, O what, but the glorious appearing of Jesus? Praise God, that day is “near, it is near, and hasteth greatly.” Glorious will be the deliverance and rich the reward of the faithful in that day, and together the redeemed will join in the universal anthem of praise, saying, “Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and power, and might, be unto our God forever and ever.” Our Lord's Teachings About Money
One huge barrier always more or less obstructs the mission work of the church—the want of money. The fear of debt often prevents forward movement, and the fact of debt compels retrenchment. Even when men offer to go, Boards are often unable to send and support them. We believe that all this ought not to be so. Our Lord's teachings as to money gifts, if obeyed, would forever banish both these limitations on church work and all concern about supplies. These teachings are radical and revolutionary. So far are they from practical acceptance that, although perfectly explicit, they seem more like a dead language that has passed out of use than a living tongue that millions know and speak. Yet, when these principles and precepts of our Lord on giving are collated and compared, they are found to contain the materials of a complete ethical system on the subject of money, its true nature, value, relation, and use. Should these sublime and unique teachings be translated into living, the effect not only upon benevolent work, but upon our whole spiritual character, would be incalculable. Brevity compels us to be content with a simple outline of this body of teaching, scattered through the four Gospel narratives, but gathered up and methodically presented by Paul in that exhaustive discussion of Christian giving in 2 Cor. 7: 9. 1. The basis of Christ's teaching about money is the fundamental conception of stewardship (Luke 12: 42; 16: 1-8). Not only money, but every gift of God is received in trust for its use. Man is not an owner, but a trustee, managing another's goods and estates, God being the one original and inalienable owner of all. The two things required of stewards are that they be “faithful and wise,” that they study to employ God's gifts with fidelity and sagacity—fidelity, so that God's entrustments be not perverted to self-indulgence; sagacity, so that they be converted into as large gains as possible. There is a perfectly plain and simple basal principle, yet it is not the accepted foundation of our money making and using. The vast majority, even of disciples, practically leave God out of their thoughts when they engage in finance. Men consider themselves owners; they “make money” by their industry, economy, shrewdness, application; it is theirs to do as they will with it. There is little10 or no sense of stewardship or of its implied obligation. If they give, it is an act not of duty, but of generosity; it ranks not under law, but under grace. Hence there is not felt inconsistency in hoarding or spending vast sums for worldly ends and appropriating an insignificant fraction to benevolent purposes. The great day of account will bring an awful reckoning, not only to wasters, but to hoarders; for even the unfaithful servants brought back to their Lord the talent and the pound, at last, but without profit, and the condemnation was for not having used so as to increase the entrusted goods. The Principle of Investment
2. In our Lord's teachings we find this kindred principle of investment: “Thou oughtest to have put my money to the exchangers.” Matt. 25: 27. Money changing and investing is an old business. The “exchangers,” as Luke renders, are the bankers, the ancient Trapezitæ, who received money on deposit and paid interest for its use, like modern saving institutions. The argument of our Lord refutes the unfaithful servant on his own plea, which his course showed to be not an excuse, but a pretext. If it was true that he dared not risk trading on his own account, why not, without such risk, get a moderate interest for his Master by lending to professional traders? It was not fear, but sloth, that lay behind his unfaithfulness and unprofitableness. Thus indirectly is taught the valuable lesson that timid souls, unfitted for bold and independent service in behalf of the kingdom, may link their incapacity to the capacity and sagacity of others who will make their gifts and possessions of use to the Master and his church. 3. Another most important principle is the subordination of money, as emphatically taught and illustrated in the rich young ruler. Matt. 19: 16-26. This narrative, rightly regarded, presents no enigma. With all his attractive traits, this man was a slave. Money was not servant, but his master; and, because God alone is to be supreme, our Lord had no alternative. He must demolish this man's idol, and when he dealt a blow at his money, the idolatry became apparent, and the slave of greed went away sorrowful, clinging to his idol. It was not the man's having great possessions that was wrong, but that his possessions had the man; they possessed him and controlled him. He was so far the slave of money that he could not and would not accept freedom by the breaking of its fetters. His “trust” was in riches—how could it be in God? Behind all disguises of respectability and refinement, God sees many a man to be an abject slave, a victim held in bonds by love of money; but covetousness is idolatry, and no idolater can enter the kingdom of God. How few rich men keep the mastery and hold money as their servant, in absolute subordination to their own manhood and the masterhood of the Lord! 4. We ascend a step higher, and consider our Lord's teaching as to the law of recompense. “Give, and it shall be given unto you.” Luke 6: 38. We are taught that getting is in order to giving, and consequently that giving is the real road of getting. God is an economist. He entrusts large gifts to those who use the smaller well. Perhaps one reason of our poverty is that we are so far slaves of parsimony. The future may reveal that God has been withholding from us because we have been withholding from him. 5. Kindred with this law of recompense is the law of superior blessedness. “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Acts 20: 35. Paul quotes this as a saying of our Lord, but it is not to be found in either of the Gospel narratives. Whether he meant only to indicate what is substantially our Lord's teaching, or was preserving some precious words of our Great Teacher, otherwise unrecorded, is not important. It is enough that this saying has the authority of Christ. Whatever the blessedness of receiving, that of giving belongs to a higher plane. Whatever I get, and whatever good it brings to me, I only am benefited; but what I give brings good to others—to the many, not the one. But, by a singular decree of God, what I thus surrender for myself for the sake of others, comes back even to me in the larger blessing. It is like the moisture which the spring gives out in streams and evaporation, returning in showers to supply the very channels which fill the spring itself. Computation by Comparison
6. We rise a step higher in considering God's law of computation. How does he reckon gifts? Our Lord teaches us that it is by comparison. No narrative is more telling on this theme than that of the poor widow who dropped into the treasury her two mites. The Lord Jesus, standing near, watched the offerings cast into the treasury. There were rich givers that gave large amounts. There was one poor woman, a widow, who threw in two mites, and he declared her offering to be more than any or all the rest, because, while they gave out of a superfluity, she gave out of a deficiency—they of their abundance, she of her poverty. She had cast her two mites into the sacred treasury, and by so doing became rich in good works and in the praise of God. Had she kept them, she had been only the same poor widow. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and the two mites “make a farthing.” He who, as the superintending Providence of nature, watches the fall of a sparrow, so that “one of them is not forgotten before God,” also, as the overseer of the treasury, invisibly sits and watches the gifts that are dropped into the chest, and even the widow's mite is not forgotten. He tells us here how he estimates money gifts—not by what we give, but by what we keep—not by the amount of our contributions, but by their cost in self-denial. This widow's whole offering counted financially for but a farthing (a quadrant, equal to four mills, or two fifths of a cent or three fourths of an English farthing). What could be much more insignificant? But the two mites constituted her whole means of subsistence. The others reserved what they needed or wanted for themselves, and then gave out of their superabundance. The contrast is emphatic; she “out of her deficiency,” they “out of their supersufficiency.” Not all giving—so called—has rich reward. In many cases the keeping hides, with God, the giving. Self-indulgent, hoarding and spending spread a banquet; the crumbs fall from the table, to be gathered up and labeled “charity.” But when the one possession that is dearest, the last trusted resource, is surrendered to God, then comes the vision of the treasure laid up in heaven. 7. We ascend still higher to the law of unselfishness in giving. “Do good and lend, hoping for nothing again.” Luke 6: 35. Much giving is not giving at all, but only lending or exchanging. He who gives to another of whom he expects to receive as much again, is trading. He is seeking gain, and is selfish. What he is after is not another's profit, but his own advantage. To invite to one's table those who will invite him again, is simply as if a kindness were done to a business acquaintance as a basis for boldness in asking a similar favor when needed. This is reciprocity, and may be even mean and calculating. Never will the work of missions, or any form of service to God or man, get the help it ought until there is a new conscience and a new consecration in the matter of money. The influence of the world and the worldly spirit is deadening to unselfish giving. It exalts self-indulgence, whether in gross or refined form. It leads to covetous hoarding or wasteful spending. It blinds us to the fact of obligation, and devises flimsy pretexts for diverting the Lord's money to carnal ends. The few who learn to give on Scriptural principles learn also to love to give. These gifts become abundant and systematic and self-denying. The stream of beneficence flows perpetually—there is no period of drought. Once it was necessary to proclaim to the people of God that what they had brought “was more than enough,” and to “restrain them from bringing.” Ex. 36: 6. So far as known, this is the solitary historic instance of such excess of generosity. But should it not always be so? Is it not a shame and disgrace that there ever should be a lack of “meat in God's house”? When his work appeals for aid, should there ever be a reluctance to respond or a doling out of a mere pittance? Surely his unspeakable gift should make all giving to him a spontaneous offering of love that, like Mary's, should bring its precious flask of spiknard and lavish its treasures11 on his feet, and fill the house with the odor of self-sacrifice!—Missionary Review of the World. When a multitude on the day of Pentecost wished to know what people convicted of sin should do, Peter’s answer was, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Acts 2:38. The apostle’s admonition was immediately heeded, and three thousand went forward in the ordinance of baptism before the day closed. Those who administered the rite were controlled by the power of God’s Spirit, and were evidently doing the Lord’s will in this matter. Not only were all these baptized, but they were received into Christian connection, or church fellowship, the first day they believed in Christ as their Saviour. All, both ministers and converts, were herein literally walking in the instruction given by Jesus when he said, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” The order of working is, first to teach the gospel, then baptize those who believe it, afterward teach the baptized believers all the practical things included in church fellowship and Christian living. The believer becomes a child of God by faith, and upon confession is then buried with his Lord by baptism. From the grave of his baptism he rises to live a new life, and as a new-born babe is to grow up into Christ in all things. Paul and Silas at Philippi baptized the jailer and his household the same hour of the night in which they believed. It is scarcely possible that the officers and helpers of the prison had, previously to their baptism, enjoyed a Christian experience. Why did the Christian ministers working in connection with those interests, hasten the ordinance of the divine rite as they did? Were they proceeding in the appointed order of gospel work? Was it safe to baptize men and women on the day they were converted? If they were born again, and by faith in Christ became the children of God, could any one consistently object to their baptism? May we not hope to see the time come again, and that too in a short time, when gospel ministers can go speedily forward with their work? When such experiences are realized, will not the time be here when efforts short in duration, but great in righteous success will be the features of God’s work? O for such a close union with the power from on high that we can fully realize all that our Father in heaven has promised us! We know that every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of Lights, and that with him there is not even a shadow of turning. God worked in a marvelous way with the gospel labor in the early days of the present dispensation. The Scriptures plainly teach that even a greater work is to be done through the power of God in the closing period of the dispensation than was done in the beginning. Let us earnestly pray that this time may soon come.