It would be hard to choose a phrase more suggestive of the manner in which the Turkish empire is approaching dissolution, than the symbolical language in which the Apocalypse describes its fall as “the drying up of the great river Euphrates.” To understand the appropriateness of the designation, it must be borne in mind that the Turks first appeared in the knowledge of the civilized world upon the eastern banks of the Euphrates. There they paused for fifty years and built up an empire to the east. Then the four angels bound in (by) the great river Euphrates (see Rev. 9:14) are loosed, and the Turks crossed the river to overthrow the Roman empire in Asia, and to establish four Turkish kingdoms, which were finally united in one. This power which first appears in history as the power of the Euphrates, it is declared, Rev. 16, 12, shall be dried up when the sixth vial is poured out.
This symbol would indicate that the overthrow of the empire will not be accomplished by some great catastrophe which will overwhelm it with sudden ruin, but that the process would be gradual, and due to the slow destruction of vigor and vitality. For more than a hundred years the Ottoman power has been waning. Roumania, Servia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece, Egypt, and the Caucasus have passed from under her dominion, and the great fabric of empire still remaining is about to fall to pieces from its own rottenness. It is dried up. Its vitality is gone forever. It can have no rehabilitation. The attempts of England to bolster up the decaying empire and to secure reforms, have proved an utter failure. It is seldom that a country has ever presented so terrible a picture as Turkey does at this time. The country is impoverished; roving bands of marauders prey upon the helpless; the tax-gatherer has plundered until he can find nothing more, and the taxes are uncollected; there is no money in the treasury; there is no public credit at home or abroad; the army is unfed, unclothed and mutinous; every pacha in his government rules as he will or can, unrestrained by authority; the laws are laid aside, and anarchy, riot, and murder everywhere reign. It is apparent that the “Euphrates is dried up;” that the Turkish empire is a corpse, that the inquest is only delayed until the powers can agree concerning the disposition to be made of the estate. The jealousy of England, France, Austria, and Russia of the aggrandizement of each other, is the only lease of life that Turkey holds. There will, in all probability, soon be an agreement. When Poland was the “sick man,” Russia, Austria, and Prussia agreed concerning the partition. There is little doubt but that a similar agreement will soon be reached in the case of Turkey. —Evangelist.
THE RECORD OF DISASTER.
The Kansas City Journal of Jan. 8, 1880, gives the record of disaster for the year 1879, as follows:—
Jan. 13, explosion in Dinas colliery, Wales; 60 lives lost.
Feb. 16, British ship Adriatic stranded near Dunkirk; 42 lives lost. The 26th, 13 vessels of Gloucester, fishing fleet, lost, with 143 lives. The 22d, boiler explosion at Stockton, Cal.; 16 killed, 26 injured.
March 2, business part of Reno, Nevada, burned; loss, $1,000,000. The 12th, Szegedin, Hungary, overflowed; 900 lives lost; damage, $3,000,000. The 19th, French floating battery Arrogante foundered; 47 drowned.
April 17, fire-damp explosion near Mons, Belgium; 187 lives lost. The 18th, destructive tornado at Walterborough, N. C. The 30th, Orenburg, Russia, nearly destroyed by fire; 949 dwellings burned.
May 5, explosion of blasting powder at Stratford, Canada; 50 cars wrecked, 3 workmen killed. The 30th, tornadoes in Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska; over 40 killed, 80 wounded. Avalanche at Fontana, Switzerland; 6 killed.
June 12, waterspout burst at Buffalo Gap, Black Hills, drowning 11. The 17th, earthquake near Aci, Sicily; 5 villages destroyed. The 28th, collision of steamship City of New York with bark Helen, sinking the latter; 5 drowned.
July 3, colliery explosion near Glasgow, Scotland, killing 31. The 10th, five tons of giant powder exploded at Bodie Mine, California; 8 killed, 40 wounded. The 12th, steamship State of Virginia wrecked on Sable Island; 9 killed. The 14th, Egyptian steamer Sammaot lost at sea, with 25 lives. The 16th, terrific storms in Massachusetts; over 20 killed. The 26th, storm in Butler county, Pa., with immense damage to property. The 31st, steam-yacht Josephine upset at the Thousand Islands; 5 drowned.
Aug. 15, hotel near Bath, L. I.; burned; 5 lives lost.
Sept. 12, a colliery explosion at Lycett, Eng.; 5 killed. The 17th, a tenement house burned in South Boston, Mass.; 5 lives lost. The 22d, the boiler of a tug-boat burst near Chicago; 4 lives lost. The 26th, the business part of Deadwood, Dakota Territory, burned.
Oct. 9, a collision on the Michigan Central railroad, near Jackson, Mich., killing 15, wounding 31. The 14th, great floods in Spain; about 1,000 persons drowned; damage $6,000,000. The 18th, the steamer Nuevo Pajaro del Oceano burned at sea; 33 lives lost. The 20th, the schooner Petrel lost in the North Atlantic, with 15 lives. The 23d, Bethany College, Virginia, partly burned. The 30th, 80 buildings burned in Parker, Pa.
Nov. 7, collision of the Champion and Lady Octavia, off the Delaware capes; 30 lives lost. The steamship Arizona narrowly escapes total wreck by running into an iceberg. A factory at Kansas City falls, killing 7. The 14th, destructive tornadoes in parts of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky. The 19th, a fleet of dredges and barges wrecked in Lake Ontario; 31 lives lost. The 26th, Mound City, Ill., mostly destroyed by fire.
Dec. 2, the steamer Borussia foundered at sea; only 15 of 234 on board known to be saved. The 13th, great fire at Red Rock, Pa. The 28th, a train goes down at Tay bridge, Scotland; all on board drowned. The 28 and 29th, a conflagration in Boston, Mass.; loss $2,500,000.
The Accepted Time Is Now
The proper time, the right time, the prosperous time, the good time, the favorable time, the sure time, the successful time, the golden time—any or all of these—may be said to be comprehended in the great Scriptural idea of “accepted time.” And this time is now. Yesterday was a good time; all the by-gone years were a good time. But they are buried to us forever. Many of us would give a great price to live over again those lost days. We weep as we remember them. We think we would use them better, and live a greater and better life, if we could actually redeem for ourselves those blooming springtimes, and joyous summers, and glorious autumns, and sublime winters. They were once accepted times for us; but, alas! they are ours no more. They will testify of us in the last great trial, and that is all. We must leave them, however deep the sorrow as we retrace them, and however many our tears in remembrance of what we have lost forever.
OUR MISSIONS.
By James White
Our missions are increasing. The fields of our operations are extending. Men qualified to successfully prosecute the work, are very few, and our means to sustain these missions are limited. The General Conference and our institutions generally are in debt.
The liberality of our people exceeds that of any other. They have raised large amounts for the several branches of our good cause, and there is danger of discouragement on their part, and a reaction in the matter of free-will offerings, unless great care is taken in the expenditure of means.
We invite the reader to take a view of the humble manner in which our cause commenced, and the policy pursued in its earlier history. “Call to mind the former days,” is the injunction of the apostle. For this object were the memorials of the Bible instituted, that the people of the Lord might look back to his providential dealings with them, that they might not in their hearts wander away from him, and forget their gracious God.
If it had been best, the Lord being judge, he would have selected men of learning, wealth and popularity to commence this work. Elder Joseph Bates, who had followed the sea for twenty-one years, sat down to write the first book upon the Sabbath, circulated at the very commencement of our cause, with only a York shilling at his command. The writer left the humble calling of chopping cord-wood to attend our first Conference in the State of Connecticut in the year 1848. In that State he earned money in the hay field to bear the expenses of Mrs. W. and himself to our second Conference held in Western New York. Trained in the school of rigid economy, we learned the value of money.
In our early labors we have suffered hunger for want of proper food, and cold for want of proper clothing. We deprived ourselves of even the necessaries of life to save money for the cause of God, while at the same time we were wearing ourselves fearfully in order to accomplish the great amount of work that seemed necessary to be done in writing, editing, traveling and preaching from State to State.
It is possible that God had a design in choosing us in our poverty and humility, to not only have a care for the temporal interests of the cause as well as the spiritual, but to make us an example of industry and economy for others. And right here we would remark that sound growth in every branch of the work has been slow. And if at any time during our brief history, any branch of the work has been started on a large scale, without due caution, we have been sure to be disappointed in the results.
The publishing work increased gradually and safely all the way from Paris, Me., Saratoga and Rochester, N. Y., to Battle Creek where the Publishing Association has grown to be a powerful institution. Had we commenced at Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, or any other large city where our expenses would have been greater, and where the cause would have been sustained at great expense, our work would have been crippled in its infancy, and we would have lost very much which we have gained by establishing ourselves in the little city of Battle Creek. And we cannot withhold an expression of our fears that Elders Andrews and Matteson have not taken the wisest course in settling in Bâle, Switzerland, and Christiana, Norway.
And when we have thanked God for accessions to our ranks of humble, small preachers, God has ever made them larger by natural growth in the work, and they have been of great service to the cause. But when in our weakness we have rejoiced at the accession of men of learning and talent, we have been almost sure to be pained to see them dwindle in influence and power, many of them to uselessness after they have drawn largely from our treasuries. This failure on the part of these men may be partly due to the fact that we have injudiciously given them great prominence in our prints.
We do not say that all those who enter upon the work should labor just as hard as we labored, and suffer all the privations we suffered. And yet the conviction presses itself upon the mind that God had a vastly greater purpose than to secure a large amount of work at little cost from the feeble hands of the pioneers in the cause. Was it not his great design to set an example of industry, economy and humility to those who should unite themselves to the cause at a later date, when means should be plenty, and the temptation to ease-loving and popularity might threaten the overthrow of those who enter the vineyard at the eleventh hour?
J. W.
SLANDER
By James White
An exchange says, “Spurgeon, the noted clergyman of London, has been more ridiculed and abused than any other preacher in Great Britain. During the early part of his career—he is but forty-five now—his sermons on regeneration by baptism excited a world of opposition and censure, and he was for many months attacked all along the line of established orthodoxy, hundreds of papers and pamphlets devoting themselves to the exposure of the arrant theologic quack, as they were fond of calling him. The illustrated weeklies caricatured him in every conceivable way also, without disturbing his equanimity in the least. Indeed, he seems to be one of the very few men who are not troubled by journalistic criticism or condemnation. He appears, on the contrary, to enjoy it. He keeps in his library at Nightingale-lane, Clapham, several bulky volumes filled with newspaper clippings, in which he is denounced as a mountebank, hypocrite, blasphemer, villain, and he grows merry over them when he exhibits his volumes—he names them his treasury of abuse—to any of his visitors. He has made it a rule never to reply to anything said of or about him in the public prints. If he had attempted to deny the stories told to his disadvantage, he would, he says, have been prevented from doing anything else, and it would, he adds, be very unprofitable for a man to occupy all his time in trying to disprove that he is a humbug and a scoundrel.”
“Spurgeon is known as a Baptist, but he does not strictly represent that sect. He calls himself a Particular Baptist of an advanced school of thought; and what he believes, his immense Tabernacle congregation believes without demur or distrust. It has often been alleged that his creed is Spurgeonism, and that his followers are Spurgeonites, and the allegation is pretty nearly true. He does not affect the merely clerical character. He does not like to be addressed as Reverend, or to be ranked as a clergyman. ‘I am a preacher, and I try to do good by preaching; that is all there is of my ministry,’ he has proclaimed more than once. No man is more tranquil, sincere, and contented. ‘I do the best I can,’ he says, ‘and leave the rest to God.’ He has the most absolute faith in prayer. He feels sure that prayer will bring everything that is desirable. Whenever he wants anything, from physical or spiritual strength to money for his church or for some charitable purpose, he prays for it, he avers, and it always comes in due season. Still he does not neglect work. He is one of the hardest workers in all London, performing every day labor enough for half a dozen men.”
No man who has acted a prominent part for God and humanity has escaped the bitterness and vileness of the tongue of slander. They said of Jesus Christ, whose great heart of love and benevolence ever sympathized with human woe, that he had a devil, that he cast out devils through Beelzebub, the prince of devils. Said Christ, “Ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake.” “It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?” Matt. 10: 22–25.
The first apostles and disciples of Jesus Christ learned by bitter experience that the words of their Lord were true, and the millions of holy martyrs for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ all along the ages of the persecution of the church, shared with their Master the tongue of slander and the cruel power of wicked men and devils brought to bear upon them. They have all been sustained by the promise, “If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him.”
We have nothing to say in praise of Spurgeon’s general habits, or of his piety. His smoking to the glory of God we shall attribute to the lusts of the flesh and the grossness of poor human nature; but he really seems to have a happy way of meeting those who do not like him.
There is a blessed, sanctified spirit of resignation under abuse in the words of Christ to his church: “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake; for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in Heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” Matt. 5: 10–12.
The apostles did not become martyrs in advance, and make themselves unhappy by dwelling on their sufferings for the name of Christ in a melancholy manner. It is said of Peter and John, that “they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.”
In no period of the Christian church may we expect the tongue of slander to walk through the earth with such bitterness as in the last days, when a message of restitution shall go forth in vindication of the downtrodden commandments of God and testimony of Jesus Christ. Here the wrath of the dragon will be literally poured upon those who act a prominent part in the work. “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Rev. 12: 17.
God help us to bear what is coming upon us. If we endure reviling with Christian meekness, it will discourage and dishearten those who would otherwise rejoice and take courage in their villainies. Their very object is to make us feel badly and throw us under a cloud of discouragement. If we would assist them in their work, then we should yield to the force of their bitter words. If we would successfully meet them and secure the blessing of God, we should rejoice that we are worthy to suffer for the name of Christ.
J. W.
HEAD-QUARTERS
By James White
We have decided to remain at Battle Creek until camp-meeting season. Our interests and feelings are so interwoven with the prosperity of our institutions located here, that we have decided to remain and labor to guard against the selfishness of not only those who have moved to Battle Creek for worldly profit, but also against the influence of some who have resided here a score of years. Here we have spent the strength of a quarter of a century of the best of life in building up these institutions, and here we have appropriated five times as much means for the benefit of these institutions as any other man has done. And here we pledge ourselves before God to do what we can to guard our own and our brethren’s property that has been put into these institutions.
Here is a church that has in past days done nobly and liberally for the upbuilding of the cause. The influence of some who have come in among us to speculate89has gradually affected others, and, we blush to say it, there has evidently been overreaching in trade to the disadvantage of some who have moved to Battle Creek.
Our duties as pastor of the church at Battle Creek shall be first, and other matters, at home or abroad, shall be second. For exposing sins among us and defending the cause of the widow and the fatherless, we have had the blessed privilege of sharing some reproach. We only regret that we have not always borne it with rejoicing. These things, with many cares and labors, have led us from time to time to flee in sadness from the scene of battle. By the grace of God we decide to remain at our post, and trust the consequences with Him who is able to sustain.
J. W.
BATTLE CREEK.
For some days past, the General Conference Committee, all the members of which are now in Battle Creek, have been holding important deliberations touching the interests of the cause in Europe, on the Pacific coast, and in other parts of the great harvest field.
Among the localities to which it seemed necessary to give some attention, that the interests of the cause might be advanced, and a better state of prosperity secured, not the least prominent was this city, where are located such important interests as the publishing work, the Sanitarium and the College. For a long time the church has not been provided with proper officers to look after the great variety of matters that need attention in this large church, which has an ever changing but increasing membership.
Accordingly on the evening of Feb. 1, on the recommendation of the committee, the church elected Eld. C. W. Stone as an additional elder, and voted that Prof. S. Brownsberger, already acting as an elder, should be ordained, and that Brn. W. C. Sisley and L. Graves be elected and ordained additional deacons. The ordination of the parties was then attended to, which gives the church three elders and three deacons. The occasion was one of interest.
The committee have forcibly set forth on various occasions the principles by which those who come to reside in Battle Creek should be governed. They should be guardians of the institutions located here, in which all our people have an interest, and they should place themselves in such a relation to the General Conference that its officers can control the influences, so far as they are embraced within the church, which shall surround these institutions. This will certainly commend itself to the good judgment of every friend of the work here.
The following pledge drawn up by the elders of the church, and designed to be an embodiment of these principles, was indorsed by an almost unanimous rising vote of the church at the meeting above referred to:—
PLEDGE OF THE CHURCH AT BATTLE CREEK, AND OTHERS, TO THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF S. D. ADVENTISTS.
“Whereas, there are located at Battle Creek, Mich., most important institutions connected with the cause of present truth, of such a nature as to call in people from all parts of the country, thus bringing special and sacred responsibilities upon the church in this place, and
“Whereas, These institutions are objects of care and solicitude to the General Conference of our people, and must be more or less affected by the influences surrounding them; therefore
“Resolved, That we, the undersigned, members of the church, and other Sabbath-keepers residing in the city of Battle Creek, deem it just and right to make to the General Conference the following pledge:—
“1. We acknowledge the paramount importance of maintaining, at all hazards, and at all cost, the right influence here at the head of the work,—an influence which shall stand for the right, and keep this important post against the insidious attacks of our wily foe. And we pledge ourselves to try to cherish this spirit, and to frown down everything of an opposite nature.
“2. We acknowledge the correctness of the principles now entertained by S. D. Adventists on the subject of Leadership; namely, that the General Conference, aided by the counsel of those whom we believe the Lord has chosen to lead out in this work from its very commencement, and by the spirit of prophecy graciously manifested among us, is the highest authority ordained by the Lord in his church, and that the action and advice of this authority, in all matters of expediency and discipline, should be received and respected by all this people. And we pledge ourselves, on these principles, to stand by and stay up the hands of those who are called to lead out and bear responsibilities in this cause, and to bring ourselves into strict Scriptural discipline in the work of the Lord. And every act of rebellion against these principles shall be promptly discountenanced and immediately corrected, so far as in our power to correct it.
“3. We acknowledge that the chief troubles in the church arise from a failure to heed the testimonies to the church; and this failure comes from neglecting to study them till we can imbibe their spirit, and so feel the force of their teaching; and we are assured that where the testimonies are lived out, the intangible and undefinable spirit of perversity and opposition which has stood in the way of the work here, cannot live. We therefore pledge ourselves to study carefully the testimonies, and deal faithfully with our own souls in regard to their teaching.
“4. Whenever we fail to carry out the foregoing pledges, either from an incurable spirit of opposition, or from an inexcusable spirit of carelessness, stupor, and lukewarmness, so that our influence is in the way of the advancement of the cause, and prejudicial to the interests of any of the institutions that are or shall be located here, this fact being decided by the General Conference Committee, we pledge ourselves, further, to relieve the cause from our presence by removing from the place; for the work of God is high and holy, and must not be marred by unconsecrated hands, nor be embarrassed by the opposition of rebellious hearts, nor be hindered by dead weights.”
Most of the members of the church have already attached their names to the foregoing pledge. All are expected to sign it. And not only the members of the church, but all Sabbath-keepers who come to reside for a longer or shorter time in the place. We believe it right that they should do this. And the church will expect that all who come here in the future to unite with this church, or to identify themselves with us as Sabbath-keepers for a time, will subscribe to these principles by signing this paper. And those whose feelings are so out of harmony with the best interests of the work here that they cannot cheerfully take their stand on principles which under our circumstances are so eminently just and proper, are not wanted in our midst.
THE RELATION OF BAPTISM TO THE LAW OF GOD.
By John Nevins Andrews
BY ELD. J. N. ANDREWS.
Baptism is a duty peculiar to the gospel of Christ. It is commanded in the New Testament, but is not commanded in the law of God. The gospel is not a part of the law of God, yet the relation between the gospel and the law is most intimate. Baptism is a part of the gospel system, and is no part of the law of God; yet baptism, like the gospel to which it pertains, directly relates to the law of God. This is a fact of great importance, as we shall show. Baptism would never have been necessary if men had not broken the law of God. They are baptized because they have sinned against God.
The gospel of Christ, which is the good news of pardon through his blood, would never have existed had not the law of God been broken. The law contains man’s whole duty as an innocent being, but has nothing to say concerning repentance and the forgiveness of sins. The gospel is not given for the purpose of revealing the duty which man owes to God. This is revealed in the law of God, which requires that men should love God with every power of their being, and this love is shown in the keeping of the commandments. Deut. 6:4–9; Eccl. 12:13, 14; 1 John 5:3. The gospel is not given to enlarge this demand; for the law demands every power of man’s being, and the gospel cannot add to this. The gospel is given to show how men that have broken the law of God can find pardon. The gospel shows how God can maintain his law without punishing those who repent, and how he can be just, and yet justify him that believes in Jesus. Rom. 3:19–30.
The mercy of God desired to save sinners; his justice demanded that they should be punished as the transgressors of his law. This conflict between the attributes of God is spoken of in Ps. 85:10–14. This conflict was settled when Christ decided to die for man. He took the place of the sinner, and was cut down by the sword of divine justice. 1 Pet. 3:18; Zech. 13:7; Gal. 3:13. Then justice could permit mercy to enter and offer pardon to sinners. The law of God demanded the death of the transgressor, in pronouncing a curse upon every kind of sin. Deut. 27:15–26. Christ took this dreadful curse upon himself by dying in our place, and he signified the fact by the manner of his death. Gal. 3:13. Christ died for all, because all merited death. 2 Cor. 5:14, 15. His death magnified the law and made it honorable; for the curse of the law was shown to be just, in that God gave his Son to suffer it. Isa. 42:21. The life of Christ, which was thus sacrificed, was of greater value in the sight of the law than were the lives of all who had broken it.
The law pronounces its curse upon all sinners, but it will accept the death of Christ as the sinner’s substitute. Christ has suffered death for our transgressions. Isa. 53:5–12. When we repent of our sins and believe in Christ, he presents the merit of his death before his Father on our behalf, and it is accepted. Rom. 5:9, 10; Heb. 7:25. Then the law regards us as though the sentence of death had been executed upon us, because Christ, our substitute, has died in our place. Gal. 2:19, 20; Rom. 6:1–3, 7–11. In the sight of the law the sentence of death no longer stands against us, because we have suffered death in the person of Christ, our great sacrifice for sin. His death is accepted in our behalf the moment we truly repent and believe. Now we are counted dead in the sight of the law of God, as though the sentence of death had been executed upon us. The law of God being thus honored, we may receive pardon through the gospel. But the very first public act for the remission of our sins is baptism. Acts 2:37, 38.
We have remission of our sins by virtue of Christ’s blood. Eph. 1:7; Luke 24:47. Faith and repentance apply that blood to our souls. These are the inward acts by which we have remission of sins, but there is an outward act by which all this is expressed to the world. We have broken the law of God and merited death. We have found pardon through the blood of Christ; and because Christ, our sacrifice, has died for us, the law regards us as though its sentence had been executed upon us, and as though we had actually suffered death. Now this fact of our death must be publicly expressed. This is done by the ordinance of baptism. The fact of our death must be attested by our burial. Rom. 6:1–8. Thus baptism is the public, outward act for the remission of sins. Acts 2:37, 38. The law counts us as having suffered death, and no longer holds its sentence of death against us. Rom. 6:8; 7:4; Gal. 2:19, 20. The gospel takes us as dead men and buries us, thus acknowledging the justice of the law of God in its sentence of death against us. Then by the same ordinance it raises us from this burial in baptism, to walk in newness of life. Rom. 6:3–5; Col. 2:12; 3:1.
We have spoken of baptism in its relation to the law of God; we shall next speak of it as the memorial of the burial and resurrection of Christ.
INFIDELS AND THE BIBLE.
HUME used to go to church sometimes in Scotland. Collins insisted on his servants going to church, “that they might not rob or murder him.” Voltaire “built a church to God” at Ferney. Mr. Huxley wants the Bible introduced into boarding-schools. Professor Tyndall is indignant at being charged with hostility to religion; and Mr. Herbert Spencer leaves ample space for the “unknown and unknowable.” The heart, like nature, “abhors a vacuum;” it craves for something beyond a negation, and as long as the unknown is treated as “unknown” the craving is hard to satisfy.—Saturday Review.
AN APPEAL.
By A. Swedberg
BY A. SWEDBERG.
With the beginning of the year 1880, our Swedish paper enters upon a new and important era. As the readers of the REVIEW already know, it has been changed in form and size, in order to lessen its cost, and secure a wider circulation. This seemed necessary, as it does not yet pay its way. It now presents a neat appearance, and receives the highest commendations from all who have seen and read it in its new form. We believe that with a united effort on the part of our brethren everywhere, the Harold can, during this winter, be introduced into thousands of families that would read, and thus many of them would become permanent subscribers. During the last three years the list of paying subscribers for the Harold has been more than doubled. But to put the paper on a self-supporting basis, we need at least one thousand full-paying subscribers and two thousand in clubs.
Let us consider for a moment the condition of things in the Swedish cause. The Swedish brethren are few and scattered. Many of these few have been prejudiced against our American brethren by those who have apostatized from our faith. In this country there are no laboring preachers in the missionary field. My Swedish brethren are as sheep scattered upon the hills without a shepherd. And because there are so few to look after their spiritual interests, many of them are indifferent and inactive. Considering these things, what can be done to extend the circulation of the Harold, which at present is the main preacher in the Swedish cause?
This is an important question. And the present is an important time,—a time in which we wish to put forth special efforts to circulate the printed truth. But we know that our Swedish brethren cannot alone accomplish the work that should be done in circulating the Harold; hence we appeal to our American brethren for help.
There are several ways in which our American friends can help us in extending the circulation of the Harold. Bro. Loughborough says in one of his reports:—
“We must have more papers in Danish and Swedish, from some source, to help in that work from this port. . . . We hope our friends in America, who so kindly sent us clubs last year, will see fit to continue them, and that others who have clean papers, whether Signs, or German, Swedish, or Danish papers, which they would like to distribute, will mail them to J. N. Loughborough, Ravenswood, Shirley Road, Southampton, England. We promise you on our part that they shall be judiciously distributed.”
We have here at the office old volumes of the Harold, bound in paper covers, which are especially adapted to be used in the kind of work Bro. Loughborough is doing. If placed in libraries and on board of vessels, they could accomplish a great work. Here is a chance for those who have means, to invest some of it in sending these bound volumes of the Harold to Bro. Loughborough.
Many of our American tract societies are located in places where there are Swedish settlements. We appeal to such T. and M. societies to take clubs of the Harold, and judiciously distribute among those who are interested to read and investigate. Also, let active and capable canvassers be appointed to thoroughly canvass such Swedish neighborhoods. With the present attractive appearance of the Harold, the low price at which it is offered, and the beautiful and instructive premium that is offered with it at $1.00 a year, it takes but little effort to obtain subscribers. Here our American brethren can greatly assist us in the circulation of the Swedish paper.
In order that the Harold might more rapidly be introduced into thousands of families in this country, and thus its sphere of usefulness be increased, it has been offered six months on trial for the nominal price of 25 cents. Here is a good opportunity for our brethren living in Swedish communities or having Swedish friends and acquaintances, to send the Harold on trial to such among them as they think would be interested, and benefited thereby. We want 5,000 trial subscribers for 1880. Shall we not have them?
The cause in Sweden is onward. New laborers are constantly being raised up in that country to proclaim the solemn message. These call loudly for reading matter to distribute. The people are reading and investigating with great interest. Our colporters there are too poor to purchase reading matter for missionary purposes, but they are willing to devote their time and do all in their power to distribute our publications, if we will only send them. Who among those that are well able will pay for reading matter to be sent to these colporters for free distribution?
The cause we labor in is a glorious one. The third angel’s message must be proclaimed to the world before the great and terrible day of the Lord shall come. Shall we then stand idle, and see this work languish, when God is everywhere opening the way for us to carry it forward to a successful issue, and to the salvation of multitudes of souls that are now in darkness with reference to the great and solemn truths pertaining to our times? Let us put on the whole armor of God, and with courage and cheerfulness go forth into the missionary field. Jesus is our Leader and Captain. We need not fear; for he will guide us successfully through the battle, and at last we shall come off conquerors and wear the starry crown in the kingdom of God.
Battle Creek, Jan. 22, 1880.
MISSIONARY WORK IN SWITZERLAND.
By John Nevins Andrews
In my last report, I spoke of my purpose to obtain the addresses of a large number of French Protestants. I have already obtained several thousands, and many of these are the names of those who give for benevolent and religious purposes, as for the distribution of the Bible. I have also obtained a large number of names of the better class of farmers and of other persons in various branches of industry. Many of the readers of our paper, in response to my request, have sent in the names of their friends and acquaintances. Persons of whom I know nothing except that they take our paper have sent us lists of names. We now send out almost our entire edition of two thousand copies. We seek to follow the manner of the tract societies in America, and after sending several numbers, we write to those who receive them. This involves much labor, which we are trying to get our friends here to help us perform. I hope soon to give the result of this effort to enlist our friends in missionary work, and to show that they bear their part of the burden of labor and expense.
We have many evidences that our paper is doing a good work. A lady who has never seen any preacher of our faith wrote us from the interior of France a few days since, expressing her deep interest in the truths of our paper, and sending twelve francs, which is more than twice our subscription price. We have also just received from a lady at St. Petersburg a letter very similar to the one just mentioned, and containing the same sum of money. Both these ladies send us names for Les Signes, and the lady at St. Petersburg desires the German paper also. A Swiss gentleman that I have never seen has recently sent twenty-five francs for our paper; another who has received one number of Les Signes has just sent his subscription for it, and ordered tracts. We have also a class of readers that take a deep interest in our paper, because it has contained so many articles on temperance. We have received encouraging letters from friends of temperance, some of whom seem not to be professors of religion, from most of the countries of Western Europe.
Since my return to Europe, I have been making an earnest effort to render our work as nearly self-supporting as possible. All of our brethren have undertaken to pay the tithe, and they appear to do it gladly. I am persuaded that we can soon sustain ourselves. It is my first business to renew the work of the tract societies, which greatly declined during my long absence. I hope to say shortly that nearly all our friends are active workers. I also hope that our French friends in America will render all the assistance in their power. If they wish to aid in the expense of sending our paper into France, we shall be glad of their assistance. We have plenty of addresses, and are receiving more all the time. We will do all the work, after the manner of the tract societies in America, and only ask these dear friends to bear the91expense of such number of copies as they are able. Or, if they wish to send us the names of their friends in France or elsewhere in Europe, we will send the paper to them instead of using such names as we have. We offer to do the work, because it would not be advisable to send our paper to America to be sent back to Europe. The postage in Switzerland is two-fifths of a cent on each number; the postage to France is one cent, and it is the same to all the countries of Europe and to America. Our paper is furnished to subscribers at one dollar per year. We will make the same discount to tract societies that is made on the American papers which they send out. We earnestly ask the co-operation of our French friends in America. And if there are any tract societies of Americans that can consistently aid us, we make them the same proposition that we have here made to the French.