IT has been said that a church is an organized body. The subject of the organization of a church must be considered.
When the truth is preached in any place, and souls embrace it, the judicious minister will consider the means of drawing them together and uniting them in Christian love and church fellowship: At a proper time they should be asked to sign a covenant, simple in form, with a few specifications of points of primary importance. A promise to meet together for worship, and to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus (Rev. 14:12), is all that is usually embraced in this covenant, and is quite sufficient. This is not to constitute them a church; that is an after consideration.
When the time arrives for the organization of a church, all the believers are called together. Let it first be ascertained how many there are of those present in whom all have full confidence. This is a matter of extreme delicacy, and needs to be handled with great prudence. It cannot be expected that, at such a time, there will be much willingness to express want of confidence in any. The cause for a lack of complete union will not be called for: only that such a lack exists, if that is the case. With careful management, asking if any would like to have a talk over their personal matters before entering into church relations, will generally effect the purpose. Generally these investigations or talks should be confined to matters between the individuals, or to traits of character which need to be corrected, and which it may be feared the person does not realize and may therefore fail to correct. It is by no means to be required that the life of any one, before embracing the truth, shall have been all that must be required afterward. Due credit must be given to a profession of faith and the promise of "amendment of life." Having ascertained the number who can fully fellowship one another, against whom no charges shall be preferred, let them be considered the nucleus, the body by whom others are to be received. Then proceed to vote on the others, just as they would receive members into the church at any other time. Exhort all to be faithful, as having a regard for the honor of the cause and for the welfare of souls. It is easier to keep trouble out of the church than to get it out when it is let in. And it is the better way for all concerned to organize the church as nearly in perfect harmony as possible.
Do not let the church imbibe the idea that it is well to take in disorderly persons, those of whom they stand greatly in doubt, for their good. Let careful inquiry be instituted. There is no "charity" in receiving unworthy persons into a church. It is a sin against the soul of a person who is unfit for church membership, to receive him, and thereby fasten a deception upon him, making him think he is fit when he is not.
And in all cases, members should not be received into the church until they are well instructed in the truth. Our faith is, in some points, unpopular with the masses, and some ministers are afraid to present these points lest they should excite prejudice. This will only be the result when they are presented in an unfortunate manner. But if the minister has wisdom in the truth, and has enough of the Spirit of God to impress the truth upon the hearts of the hearers, there is no danger. The Bible doctrine of tithing is one of which many stand in fear; also of Spiritual Gifts. There are good reasons why such doctrines should be presented when first the truth is preached, and before a church is organized.
1. Somebody will present these subjects to the members; they cannot be long concealed, if any should be so unwise as to try to conceal them.
2. The one who first preaches the truth in a place is the proper one to present such doctrines. Having become interested in him and his preaching, the people will receive the truth from him more readily than from any other.
3. If the minister does not present these points in their true light, somebody will follow him, perhaps an enemy, and present them in a false light; and then prejudice is sure to be excited and souls may be irrecoverably lost.
4. If such points of truth are left until the enemy brings them, the believers will always blame the minister, and justly too, for having held them back.
And finally, if the minister cannot present all points of Bible truth without creating prejudice, he should by all means "tarry at Jerusalem" until he becomes qualified to fill the office which he has assumed. We have known a minister to consider it a shrewd proceeding to get members into the church, and thus bound by church ties, before acquainting them with all the truth, and we have known members to despise the minister for so doing, and to leave in disgust, claiming that they had been deceived. In no case can any good result from such an unwise policy.
The members should be early trained to maintain family prayer and to take part in social meetings. And no company or church should be left alone for a long time, after they embrace the faith. Let the work be followed up and vigilantly watched, that nothing be lost.
A full organization should not be hurried. There will always be unwise ones to urge the preacher to "open the door of the church," as soon as a good impression is made, or a good interest is awakened. This course will do for those who require only "a profession," and are more anxious to multiply members than to have the disciples "rooted and grounded" in the truth. Haste, or any injudicious action, in such matters is sure to lower the standard, which must in no wise be done.
One remark should here be made, and not forgotten. Inexperienced and injudicious persons should never be permitted to organize a church alone. It should be done only under the direction of the officers of the Conference, some one of experience being present. A Conference president once said: "A church of disorderly spirits was organized, contrary to the advice of the Conference Committee, and at the next Conference it was presented for admittance. I opposed the request. The minister learned something, and confessed he did wrong."
It sometimes happens that a person is living in the neighborhood where a church is organized, who has been a professor of the present truth, but not connected with any church. Unless he is known to be a consistent representative of the faith, he should be received with all the caution which would be thrown around the reception of any other member. His profession should give him no advantage over the other members unless he has proved that he has had a valuable experience in the truth. Persons who have honored their profession will generally be found to hold a membership with some church, even though no church is very near.
And if a person be living in the neighborhood where a church is to be organized who is a member of some church of the same faith, he should in no case be received until he brings a letter from his own church. Other points respecting the reception of members will be noticed hereafter.
The following form of a Church Covenant has been adopted by the Seventh-day Adventists:—
"We, the undersigned, hereby associate ourselves together as a church, taking the name Seventh-day Adventists, and covenanting to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus."
Many have sought to improve this by specifying favorite points of faith; but they have always failed. It is possible to weaken the faith in general by an effort to strengthen it in some particulars; for when some particular point is strengthened by being mentioned, others are proportionally weakened by omission. It is for this reason that "Articles of Faith" are always inefficient, dwarfing both the faith and the life of those who accept them. In the holy Scriptures the man of God is "thoroughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Tim. 3:17), and by these alone is faith developed and perfected. Rom. 10:17.
We come now to consider the officers of the church. Paul said to Titus that he left him in Crete that he should "ordain" elders in every city. Titus 1:5. The word "ordain" is identical with "appoint," which is used in Acts 6:3. Yet it is not proper to use them interchangeably now, because custom has appropriated the word ordain to an appointment to sacred offices, and because an appointment to secular offices is not by the same form or ceremony which attends an appointment to sacred offices. In Acts 6 it is shown that an appointment or ordination in the church is by prayer and laying on of hands.
The selection or choosing of a person to a certain work does not constitute the appointment or ordination. The Holy Spirit said to the church in Antioch, "Separate [or set apart unto] me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them." Acts 13:2. The Lord had called them to a special work, and to this work the brethren were to appoint them. "And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away." Verse 3. This was not the beginning of their ministry; and here is shown that ordination for a special work is proper and scriptural. And the call of the Holy Spirit was not considered sufficient in their going forth to this work; the brethren must ordain them unto it. Thus they were constituted "the messengers of the churches." 2 Cor. 8:23; Phil. 2:25. And this again shows that the highest servants of the Lord were not to act independently of the will and co-operation of the church.
Ordination or appointment of church officers was always by prayer and laying on of hands. The utmost care was enjoined in their selection. They must show a fitness for the position before they were set apart. Thus Paul wrote to Timothy: "Lay hands suddenly on no man; neither be partakers of other men's sins." 1 Tim. 5:22. To lay hands upon incompetent or unworthy men is to make one's self responsible for the errors they may commit, or the reproach they may bring upon the cause. Again the injunction was laid upon him: "The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." 2 Tim. 2:2.
If it be said that this refers to evangelists, it may be replied that it will refer just as well to local elders, as will be seen when we examine the directions concerning them. In many respects the office of an evangelist is more responsible than that of a local elder, and the error of laying on hands "suddenly," without due consideration, without proper regard to the call of the Holy Spirit or the fitness of the candidate, is greater in the case of a minister or evangelist than of a church elder. It is an error, however, that is frequently committed, to the injury of the individual and to great detriment of the cause of God. And he who commits such an error ought deeply to feel the responsibility of the injury which is done.25That it is a great injury to "lay hands suddenly" upon a man, or to lay hands at any time on a man who is not faithful, who is not competent to teach others, or in any way to encourage one to preach or to assume a sacred office, unless he gives evidence that he has a call from Heaven, we will next show, as it is a point of too much importance to be passed by.
False Witness.
By Ellet Joseph Waggoner
SOME time ago we received a circular from a crank who pretended to know exactly when the Lord would come. We say "a crank," because his professed "calculations" showed that in his mental make-up he was decidedly crooked. He represented nobody, and made no pretensions to, and we thought we treated his guess-work with great respect when we promptly granted it a place in the waste basket. The time that he had set was Jan. 5, 1885, and as this date is in the past, he is doubtless now at work on a new and improved computation.
But news was scarce after election, and the most of the papers to which this circular was sent, gave it a prominent place in their columns. More than this, both secular and religious papers have given the gratuitous information that "the Adventists have fixed it that the end of the world is to be January 5, 1885." When this statement was first noticed, a denial of it, and a true statement of the case was sent to the San Francisco Bulletin, which showed its fairness by giving it as prominent a place as it did the other. But not one of the papers that copied the original charge have copied the refutation. After that refutation appeared in the Bulletin, a religious journal in San Francisco repeated the statement that the Adventists have fixed the time for the end of the world. We can only conclude that, not having been able to make any headway against the doctrines of Seventh-day Adventists, it is willing, in order to create prejudice against them, to place itself among those who love and make a lie.
Wherever Seventh-day Adventists are known, it is well understood that they set no time for the Lord to come, and have no sympathy with those who do so. It is true that some who profess to be Adventists do presume to fix the time when the Lord will come; but the unwarranted act of a few irresponsible persons should not be set down against an entire denomination, which repudiates both the persons and their methods.
The Lord himself, speaking of his coming, said, "But of that day and hour knoweth no man." This is in the same chapter in which he says that after certain signs have taken place, we must "know that he is near, even at the doors." The same word that obliges us to be Adventists, also obliges us to confess our ignorance as to the day, or month, or year when the Master will return.
We have no expectation of causing false reports to cease. We do not suppose that, because of our protest, people will cease to show their contempt for the Bible doctrine of the coming of the Lord, by maligning and ridiculing those who profess it. On the contrary, we expect that such things will increase. Personally they do not trouble us, and our only object in noticing them is to disabuse the minds of some who have innocently believed these false reports, and who, but for them, would look with favor on the doctrines which we are sure are of vital importance. E. J. W.
BUDDHISTS assert that Roman Catholicism is a counterfeit of their religion, and was invented by the devil. The Christian at Work says that those who are familiar with both systems declare that there is a remarkable similarity between them. The Buddhists are no doubt correct in their assertion, only the devil invented the original as well as the counterfeit.
Vain Philosophy.
By Alonzo T. Jones
DANIEL WEBSTER said: "There is more of valuable truth yet to be gleaned from the sacred writings, that has thus far escaped the attention of commentators, than from all other sources of human knowledge combined." This is a true saying, and worthy of all acceptation. From the days and works of Origen to the present there has been a vast deal more of valuable truth that has escaped the commentators than they have ever discovered. The commentaries are valuable for one thing, that is, to show us the meaning of many of the Hebrew and Greek words, which cannot be brought out fully in a translation. With this exception, the value of any commentary, in points of doctrine or duty, is a minus quantity. Indeed almost all the commentators have the faculty of "darkening counsel by words without knowledge;" of creating difficulties where there are none. One of the best Bible scholars of modern times said that commentators are to the Bible what curtains are to windows. A window is made to let in the light; a curtain obscures it, or shuts it out.
These thoughts have been suggested by reading the Sunday-school lesson notes in the different denominational papers and publications which propose to help in understanding the International Lessons; but particularly by the notes on Acts 20:2-16, Paul at Troas. In the eighth verse Luke says, "There were many lights in the upper chamber where they were gathered together." On this Theodore D. Woolsey, D. D., LL.D., in the Sunday School Times, comments as follows:—
"Why does Luke find it best to introduce the number of lamps in the chamber where Paul preached? Meyer answers, that the fall of the young man was thus at once perceived. But if so, there is no reason for mentioning the fact in the introductory way, before anything is said of Eutychus. Plumptre more naturally explains the mention as accounting for the closeness of the room, which led to the sleep of Eutychus. It seems to be a sufficient explanation that the air was bad, and this comes fitly from the physician Luke."
Notice, the question is, Why does Luke mention the number of lights where they were gathered together? One answers, Because the fall of the young man was thus perceived. Another answers that it accounts for the heat and closeness of the room, which caused Eutychus to go to sleep. And Dr. Woolsey sums it all up in his saying that "it is a sufficient explanation that the air was bad." The first of these has made the discovery that there were many lights in the upper chamber, so that they might know when a person fell out of the window. We wish that from the height of his great erudition, he had condescended to tell us whether it was so common a custom for people to fall out of the window that they must take lights to the place of meeting, so that they might see them fall? The second finds that there were many lights, because the room was hot and close. The third, who was an instructor in Yale College for fifty years, renders the profound decision that there were many lights where they were gathered together, because the air was bad. We wonder why the thought never occurred to them that the meeting was in the night, and there were many lights because it was dark.
This idea of the air being bad, however, occurs in several places in the notes. H. Clay Trumbull, in giving his "Illustrative Applications" says: "Heat and smoke in a close and crowded room are solid obstacles to an intelligent hearing of the gospel, even with an inspired apostle for a preacher. Ventilation is often an important means of grace. That young man who sought it in the window, was doing his best to keep awake, even at the risk of his life." According to this we have: 1. Heat and smoke in a close and crowded room. 2. This was a solid obstacle to an intelligent hearing of the gospel. 3. Ventilation is a means of grace. 4. This young man sought this, his only means of grace, on that occasion. And behold he went so sound asleep as to fall out of the window. Now if that was the effect of ventilation (the means of grace) upon the only one who had it, what could have been the condition of those in the body of the room, who had no ventilation, no means of grace? And yet on the other hand, if the windows were so wide open that a man could fall through, we cannot help wondering how the room could be "hot and close," and how, with windows so wide open, there could be no ventilation!
But by turning to the very next page of the same paper our wonder on this point is removed. Under the heading "Oriental Lesson-Lights," we read: "The 'upper room' is the large and airy chamber beneath the roof, . . . with large latticed windows on three sides through which the cooling breeze blows. This seems to have been the kind of room in which Paul's meeting was held." By this we find that the room, instead of being "hot and close" was "large and airy," that instead of there being "no ventilation," a "cooling breeze" could blow through. And although that wonder is removed, it is replaced by another, viz., we wonder which of these teachings (?) the Sunday-school scholars and teachers are to believe. Are they to believe the room was "hot and close" or "large and airy"? Are they to believe that there was no ventilation, or are they to believe that "a cooling breeze" could blow through the room?
There is another subject in this same lesson that gives room for more vagaries. That is, "the first day of the week." President Woolsey says of this, "The first day of the week, on which the Christian people gathered to break bread, to celebrate the resurrection of Christ." Now any one can read in 1 Cor. 11:26, "As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death." In view of this we wish Dr. Woolsey would tell us how that, in commemorating the death of Christ, they in the same act could celebrate his resurrection. Again he says: "The time, in the present instance, for partaking of it, was on the evening of our Sunday." On that we wish he or some one else would tell us, if this was our Sunday evening, how that breaking of bread after midnight on Sunday night, could by any possibility be on the first day of the week?
In the same paper Faith Latimer gives "Hints for the Primary Teacher," in which she says: "When Paul was a young man, what was his name? He had been brought up a strict Jew, and all Jews kept the last day of the week as the Sabbath; but after Paul became the servant of Christ, he kept holy the first day of the week, and so did all Christians." The Bible says nothing about this, and we should like to know how she knows it. Next she asks, "What made the change?" but gives no answer, nor any hint of what answer she expects shall be given. We should like exceedingly to hear the answers to that question that will be given by the different teachers in the Sunday-schools. How many will give the Bible answer: "He shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change times and laws" (Dan. 7:25), and show that the Papacy was what made the change? Further she says: "Who rose from the dead on the first day of the week? From that time it was called the Lord's day." On this we state these facts: Matthew wrote in A. D. 61, thirty years after the resurrection of Christ; Mark wrote about A. D. 63, thirty-two years after; Luke wrote the Gospel and the Acts about A. D. 64, thirty-three years after; Paul wrote 1 Corinthians A. D. 60, thirty years after; and John wrote the Gospel in A. D. 97, sixty-six years after, and every one of them called it "the first day of the week." Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:2, 9; Luke 24:1; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2; John 20:1, 19.26We can only wonder how persons can become so infatuated with themselves as authorities, as to make statements to be accepted as scriptural, which upon the slightest investigation are found to be flatly contradictory to the Scriptures. But such "wonders will never cease," at least not as long as men will love falsehood more than truth, and their own will more than the word of God.
Space forbids pursuing these fallacies any further; but every one of these can be found in a single number of the Sunday School Times (Dec. 20, 1884), and yet the list is not exhausted. And we are the more sorry to see them there, because the Times is generally exceptionally good.
"Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase; so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine."
First, We are told to honor the Lord. It is a principle in the nature of things to pay respect and honor to position. The display that is made when some great man passes through the country is not so much because of the man as of the position he may hold. Any person who would not respect position is in no sense worthy to hold it. "Honor" is esteem due or paid to worth; when applied to the Supreme Being, reverence, veneration, a nice sense of what is right, just, and true, with a course of life corresponding thereto; a token of esteem paid to worth; a sign of veneration. All persons in any position should honor God, for he is their Creator, preserver, and constant benefactor. "A son honoreth his father and a servant his master; if then I be a father where is mine honor?" These are the words of God. Certainly all should honor him. "Them that honor me I will honor."
Secondly, We are told with what we should honor God,—our substance, with all that relates to our temporal interests. This includes all of our increase, everything that we may rightfully call our own.
Thirdly, The Scriptures state with what portion we should honor God. "With the first fruits of all thine increase." Of everything that is received, before appropriating it for our necessities, or for any purpose whatever, the first and best should be set apart for God. To wait until our wants are supplied, and then appropriate to God what we can spare, would be placing ourselves first and God second. The Scriptures abound in expressions showing that man should give his first and best to God. "The first of the first fruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God;" "a cake of the first of your dough ye shall give unto the Lord;" "the first fruits also of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the first of the fleece of thy sheep shalt thou give him;" "of all the first fruits of the earth," "and the first of all the first fruits of all things, and every oblation of all, of every sort of your oblations;" "the first of your dough that he may cause the blessing to rest in thine house." Every offering made of the first fruits was a "heave offering," which was a thank offering. This was to be a voluntary or "free-will offering." See Ex. 23:19; 34:26; Num. 15:20, 21; Deut. 18:4; 26:2; Eze. 44:30. No increase or income of whatever nature or character was exempt. Nothing could be more explicit, and there can be no misunderstanding upon the part of any of what the first fruits were to be taken from. This is not a tithe, but a thank offering to God. By withholding it we rob God. It is as much his as the tithe or the Sabbath. Mal. 3:8. By pursuing this course it is positively said that we can honor God. "Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase."
Fourthly, It is distinctly stated that in proportion as we do this we shall be blessed. "So shall thy barns be filled," etc. Webster defines so to mean "for like reason; with equal reason; in such manner; to such degree." As we thus honor God we shall be blessed, for it shows that we respect God as the author of all good.
Fifthly, The blessings here promised pertain to this life. "So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine." David says, "I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." Of the righteous he said, "The righteous showeth mercy and giveth," "he is ever merciful and lendeth." Ps. 37:25, 21, 26. Underlying this is a principle, a reason which would be well for us to consider.
There was a time when sin separated man from God so that there was no connection between a holy God and sinful man. It was then that the plan of salvation was devised in the courts of glory. Christ, the first and best, the archangel, God's only Son, voluntarily offered to give himself for a fallen race. The first religious duty ever made known to man after his fall was that of sacrifice. By this he was to show how much he appreciated what Heaven had done for his salvation. All that we receive in this life comes to us through the providence of God. Could we realize this, we would be anxious to give to God a free-will offering of all the first fruits of our increase as a token of appreciation of God's goodness to us. How many of those who read these lines will commence with 1885 to honor God in the way he has appointed? S. N. HASKELL.
Hard Times, and the Progress of Our Cause.
By John Norton Loughborough
WE hear the cry from every side, "Hard times." Yes, it is hard times, and also exceedingly close times for the advancement of most branches of business. Those who have plenty of money can of course "tide over" these times of depression without suffering or sacrifice. But those who depend on the fruits of their labor are the ones who realize the effects of the hard times. Although they may have raised good crops, yet it is almost impossible for them to find sales for their produce at prices that would cover the cost of raising. The merchants and the tradesmen, who are to a great extent dependent upon the patronage of the farmers, find their receipts diminishing in proportion to the decrease of the receipts by the farmer. As usual, monied men, finding that there is a scarcity of money in circulation, take advantage of the situation, and charge higher rates of interest on loans, and so hard times are made still harder.
I doubt not most of our friends have become fully cognizant of the facts above stated, because their own individual circumstances are more or less affected by the general depression in money matters. But I wish here to ask, Have we each, as we should, inquired into the bearing of hard times upon our special work, and our institutions which are established for the advancement of the cause of present truth? While we can see, and know, that hard times affect us, we should realize that it is likely to affect still more seriously all enterprises that are supported largely by the liberality of the people. Instead of becoming any way slack in our interest and care for our institutions, we should bestir ourselves to make greater sacrifices, and do more than usual for them, lest the cause be left to suffer.
In order that those who desire to know how matters stand, may understand and realize more fully their duty, I will make some statements. As we regard the press as being one of the main levers of our cause, it must be apparent to all that our publishing houses should be especially cared for in these times of financial embarrassment. The SIGNS OF THE TIMES, the "pioneer paper," "our able minister," which is doing such efficient work all over the world should not be curtailed in its circulation because of hard times, neither should the Pacific S. D. A. Publishing House be left to become embarrassed; but, on the contrary, these should be helped to go forward in their noble work.
At the time of the stockholders' meeting last April, it was found that more room and greater facilities must be provided for the prosecution of the work at the SIGNS Office. It became necessary to secure a little more land, on which27to add to the buildings of the publishing house, and also to purchase another printing press. To accomplish this, it has required an outlay of a little over thirteen thousand dollars. During the same time the directors have taken up six thousand dollars of the interest-bearing bonds, and three thousand dollars of deposited funds have been withdrawn. It must be gratifying to our friends to learn that these necessary improvements have been made without increasing the interest-bearing debt.
While this has been done by the association, there has been a falling off in the receipts of the SIGNS Office, that must be remedied in order that the work may go on unembarrassed. I find, by looking at the accounts, that whereas the various State Tract Societies were owing the SIGNS Office $10,000 last spring, their debt is now $20,000. I see also that the California Conference, which deposits its funds with the Pacific Press, has $1,500 less on deposit than usual. If the Tract Societies will make it a point to collect from individual members their dues on publications, and make early payments on their amounts, it would give the Pacific Press great relief at this time. If each brother and sister in the California Conference will carefully consider, and pay faithfully their tithes, it will keep good the amount of Conference funds on deposit at the Pacific Press and enable the managers to pay out such funds to the ministers and Conference workers as they may need, without becoming embarrassed in other directions.
I sincerely hope that none of the subscribers to the SIGNS OF THE TIMES will be like the man who said, "It is hard times; I must curtail my expenses." While looking over to find where he could diminish his expenditures, he concluded that he could not dispense with any of his indulgences of appetite, dress, or home comforts, but finally decided to stop his paper. Instead of stopping the SIGNS, let us each at once examine our individual SIGNS account, and put the figures one year ahead; and let all our Tract Societies see that all their clubs are paid up to date. If all should do this, it would not only be giving the publishers their dues, but every one might have the satisfaction of rendering timely aid when it will be most appreciated.
Many of the brethren and sisters have rendered timely assistance to the work by making the Pacific Press a depository for money for which they had no immediate use. This they have done either without interest, or at a low rate of interest. If all who can, will do the same, it will help to advance our work. There is no safer place of deposit in the world than our institutions, and especially our publishing houses. They do not rest, like banks and such institutions, upon the strength of individuals, but upon the strength of the cause of present truth, having the whole denomination of 30,000 members for backers. No one has ever yet lost a dollar by placing it on deposit in our publishing houses. None have failed to get their money when it became necessary for them to use it. Some have chosen to place their money in other enterprises, or in the hands of friends that wanted to use it a little while, and have lost it all. Thousands of dollars have been thus lost, which, had they been placed on deposit in our publishing houses, would have been returned, every dollar, on demand.
I hope none of those who have money on deposit with any of our institutions, at low rates of interest, will be moved to take out their money by flattering inducements, from uncertain sources, of "a little more interest." The rise in interest will undoubtedly soon recede, and money come back to its old basis of interest. Neither should any expect that these institutions can afford to pay any higher rate of interest while they are furnishing the SIGNS OF THE TIMES at the present low prices. Let us rather study and plan, to let them have the use of more money instead of diminishing our deposits.
There may be persons who are earning and laying aside money for the purpose of attending college at some future time. Let such deposit their money with the office or college, and it will be safe and sure when you want it. Do not be induced to loan it here and there, to this or that friend, to be invested in uncertain enterprises, and, perhaps, when wanted, found to be either lost entirely, or so tied up that you cannot get it. May the Lord help us all not only to pray for the prosperity of our institutions, but to do all in our power to help them; and especially so, through these hard times. We shall then have the satisfaction that in one particular at least, we are obeying our Saviour's injunction to "seek first the kingdom of God."
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.
Christian Recreation.
By Ellen G. White
It was my privilege to attend the annual reunion and New Year's exercises of the Oakland Sabbath-school this year, and I can truly say that it was a most interesting and profitable occasion, the remembrance of which will long live in my mind. The mottoes which adorned the walls of the church, the songs of the children, the general review of the lessons, in sixty-six parts, extending from creation to the new earth state, the erection of a cross containing the graces enumerated by the apostle Peter, the responsive exercise on the beatitudes, between the members of the third and fifth divisions,—in fact all the exercises showed that the minds of the children were being directed to the Giver of all their blessings and not to their own selfish interests.
Custom controls even the professed Christian world, and these holiday occasions are usually made scenes of hilarity and self-pleasing. But the lessons given youth and children should be such as will present their heavenly Father in a correct light, and continually impress their minds with the claims that he has upon them. Constant effort is required to keep their minds free from the contaminating influences of worldly associations and practices. By a careful selection of their holiday amusements, we may wheel these occasions in as helps to make impressions which will be as enduring as eternity. The world's customs and fashions will take our children out of our hands unless we seek constantly to surround them with a pure, a heavenly atmosphere.
One of the most interesting exercises of the evening was the bringing in of the sheaves by twenty-four girls and boys. To these sheaves were attached the offerings of each class in the senior division and of each of the three primary divisions. The children were thus taught to consider it a privilege to bring to the Master the very first fruits of the new year, and the small rivulets were turned, not to self-pleasing, but into the Lord's treasury.
As the children deposited their sheaves, each repeated a verse expressing the desire of the givers, that the offering would be the means of accomplishing great good. Such works will stand the test of the trial by fire so soon to be realized. It is well represented by laying upon the foundation, gold, silver, and precious stones. This is the very best kind of recreation, and the bright, happy faces of the children showed that there was no discontent, no jealousy or ill feeling on the part of any. The custom of the world of bestowing gifts upon one another and inventing programmes simply to amuse the children may well be represented by laying upon the foundation, wood, hay, and stubble, which will be consumed by the fires of the day of God.
Everything connected with the reunion showed that much time and painstaking had been bestowed upon it. And now the question arises, Does it pay? We answer, Yes, indeed. The result of the efforts made to turn these occasions to God's glory, will not be wholly known until the day of final accounts. The presence of Jesus was invited both by song and by works. And he alone it is, who can make this the happiest year of our lives. E. G. WHITE.