Earlier text: CONFERENCE ADDRESSThe Well of Loch Maree
By Whittier
Calm on the breast of Loch Maree
A little isle reposes;
A shadow woven of the oak
And willow o’er it closes. Within, a Druid’s mound is seen,
Set round with stony warders;
A fountain, gushing through the turf,
Flows o’er its grassy borders; And whoso bathes therein his brow
With care or madness burning,
Feels once again his healthful thought
And sense of peace returning. O restless heart and fevered brain,
Unquiet and unstable,
That holy well of Loch Maree
Is more than idle fable. Life’s changes vex, its discords stun,
Its glaring sunshine blindeth,
And blest is he who on his way
That fount of healing findeth. The shadows of a humbled will
And contrite heart are o’er it;
Go read its legend, “Trust in God,”
On Faith’s white stones before it.
— Whittier. The following interesting and instructive account of the origin of the words “Pagan” and “Heathen,” we find in “Trench on the Study of Words,” pp. 101, 102. Many of our readers will doubtless be surprised to learn that pagans and heathens were originally only the dwellers in the country, in distinction from the dwellers in the cities. It is equally an instructive fact, that Christianity made its earlier conquests, not among the weak-minded and ignorant, but among those of the strongest minds and the highest cultivation, the dwellers in the cities, the seats in those days of the civilization and learning of the world. “Examine the words ‘pagan’ and ‘paganism,’ and you will find that there is history in them. Many of us, no doubt, are aware that ‘pagani,’ derived from ‘pagus,’ a village, signifies properly the dwellers in hamlets and villages, as distinguished from the inhabitants of towns and cities; and the word was so used, and without any religious significance, in the earlier periods of the Latin language. ‘Pagani’ did indeed then not unfrequently designate all civilians, as contradistinguished from the military caste; and this fact may not have been without a certain influence, when the idea of the faithful as soldiers of Christ was strongly realized in the minds of men.” “But how mainly was it that it came first to be employed as equivalent to ‘heathen,’ and applied to those yet alien from the faith of Christ? It was thus: The Christian church fixed itself first in the seats and centers of intelligence, in the towns and cities of the Roman Empire, and in them its first triumphs were won; while long after these had accepted the truth, heathen superstitions and idolatries lingered on in the obscure hamlets and villages of the country; so that ‘pagans,’ or villagers, came to be applied to all the remaining votaries of the old and decaying superstitions, inasmuch as far the greater number of them were of this class. The first document in which the word appears in this, its secondary sense, is an edict of the Emperor Valentinian, of date A. D. 368. The word ‘heathen’ acquired its meaning from exactly the same fact, namely, that at the introduction of Christianity into Germany, the wild dwellers on the ‘heaths’ longest resisted the truth.” “Here, then, are two instructive notices for us: First, the historic fact, that the church of Christ did thus plant itself in the haunts of learning and intelligence; and secondly, the more important moral fact, that it shunned not discussion, that it feared not to grapple with the wit and wisdom of this world, or to expose its claims to the searching examination of educated men; but, on the contrary, had its claims first recognized by them, and in the great cities of the world won first a complete triumph over all opposing powers.” “WILLINGLY IGNORANT.”
By R. F. Cottrell
Why will men deceive themselves? Why will they, rather than to submit to God's law, seek to undermine and overthrow it? When the one-day-in-seven plea is shown to be false, from the fact that God sanctified, that is, set apart or appointed the seventh day of the seven, the very day on which he rested from the work of creation, why will they blind themselves by the false assertion, that the day is lost, and we cannot tell which is the seventh day in God's given order? Can they not see that this is an argument against God himself? If we cannot keep God's commandment, we cannot. Then who is to blame if we do not? Their argument stands like this: 1. God commands us to keep the seventh day. 2. But his providence has so ordered it, that we cannot tell which day that is. 3. Therefore, any one day of rest after six of labor will be acceptable obedience to the commandment. We might just as well argue that since God has suffered his sanctified day to be lost, he does not require us to keep the commandment at all. But if the people were not willingly ignorant, if they really desired to know which day of the seven is God's sanctified rest-day, they certainly could find it. All believers in Christ and readers of the New Testament know that Jesus recognized and observed the day that the Jews observed; Luke 13: 14-16, and 4: 16; and that the first day of the week was the day next following the Sabbath. Matt. 28: 1; Luke 23: 56; 24: 1. And if they will not close their eyes to the fact, history will show, that, for many centuries of the Christian era, say from the third to the sixth in particular, the Christian world was divided, and there was much contention on the question; not at all which day of the week was the Sabbath, but whether the Sabbath should be kept, or another day, the first day of the week, a day to which “Sylvester, who was bishop of Rome while Constantine was emperor,” gave the “imposing title of Lord’s day.” In those early centuries it was not questioned at all, which day was the Sabbath. No other day than Saturday was ever called the Sabbath by any writer, in the church or out, for more than five hundred years after Christ. In those centuries no one had ever imagined that the Sabbath could be kept on any other than the seventh day, the day God rested on, and therefore blest and sanctified, and which the Jews have ever observed, and do observe to this day. The seventh-part-of-time theory had not then been invented. The Roman Catholic Church still recognize the Sabbath and the first day of the week as two distinct days, claiming that the church, having the power, has “substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no scriptural authority.” It was left for Protestants, near the close of the sixteenth century, to develop the seventh-part-of-time theory, and thus show how the fourth commandment, without change, can be kept on the first day of the week. Why will men choose to be blind? Why will they contend that the day of the Sabbath has been lost, against all history and the testimony of the whole world—Jews, Catholics, and Protestants being perfectly agreed in numbering the days of the week? Why will they, to excuse themselves in following mere human tradition and custom, dishonor God by representing, that, though he requires us to keep holy the day on which he rested, yet it is impossible for us to know what day it is? If they would candidly reflect, they would know that all such excuses are vain. How much better would it be for them to learn this fearful mistake now in time to correct it, than to pass on in blindness till the day of God shall reveal it. R. F. COTTRELL. The clouds, which rise with thunder, slake
Our thirsty souls with rain;
The blow most dreaded falls, to break
From off our limbs a chain;
And wrongs of man to man but make
The love of God more plain,
As through the shadowy lens of even
The eye looks farthest into heaven
On gleams of star and depths of blue
The glaring sunshine never knew.
—Whittier. A man who prided himself on his morality, and expected to be saved by it, was constantly saying, “I am doing pretty well, on the whole. I sometimes get angry and swear, but then I am strictly honest. I work on the Sabbath when I am particularly busy; but I give a great deal to the poor, and I never was drunk in my life.” This man hired a canny Scotchman to build a fence around his pasture lot. He gave him very particular directions. In the evening when the Scotchman came in from work, the man said, “Well, Jock, is the fence built, and is it tight and strong?” “I canna say that it is all tight and strong,” Jock replied, “but it’s a good average fence, anyhow. If some parts of it are a little weak, other parts are extra strong. I don’t know but I may have left a gap here and there a yard wide or so; but then I made up for it by doubling the number of rails on each side of the gap. I dare say that the cattle will find it a good fence on the whole, and will like it, though I canna just say that it is perfect in every part.” “What!” cried the man, not seeing the point, “do you tell me that you have built a fence around my lot with weak places and gaps in it? Why you might as well build no fence at all. If there is one opening, or a place where an opening can be made, the cattle will be sure to find it, and will all go through. Don’t you know, man, that a fence must be perfect or it is worthless?” “I used to think so,” said the dry Scotchman, “but I hear you talk so much about averaging matters with the Lord, it seemed to me that we might try it with the cattle. If an average fence wont do for them, I am afraid that an average character won’t do in the day of Judgment. When I was on shipboard, and a storm was driving us on the rocks, the captain cried, ‘Let go the anchor!’ But the mate shouted back, ‘There is a broken link in the cable.’ Did the captain say when he heard that, ‘No matter; it’s only one link. The rest of the chain is good. Ninety-nine of a hundred links are strong. Its average is high. It only lacks one per cent. of being perfect. Surely the anchor ought to respect so excellent a chain, and not break away from it’? No, indeed; he shouted, ‘Get another chain!’ He knew that a chain with one broken link was no chain at all,—that he might as well throw the anchor overboard without any cable as with a defective one. So with the anchor of our souls. If there is the least flaw in the cable, it is not safe to trust it. We had better throw it away and try to get a new one that we know is perfect.”—Sel. Little Faults Seen Clearly in God's Light
LITTLE faults become great, and even monstrous, in our eyes, in proportion as the pure light of God increases in us; just as the sun, in rising, reveals the true dimensions of objects which were dimly and confusedly discerned during the night. THE SANCTUARY.
By Uriah Smith
Thirty-sixth Paper.—The Atonement.
In the long retinue of subjects with which the question of the sanctuary stands so intimately connected, and in the understanding of which it exerts so controlling an influence, the doctrine of the atonement occupies a prominent place. We have already seen that the cleansing of the sanctuary, the investigative Judgment of the saints, the blotting out, or remission, of sin, and the finishing of the mystery of God, are all one and the same thing. We now make the additional statement that this is also the atonement. The frequency with which the expression is made that Christ atoned for our sins upon the cross, shows how widely this idea is entertained. But this leads to two ultra and fundamental errors. Men have been driven by this idea to the extremes of error in opposite directions, and have spent their time in an unnecessary and fruitless warfare. The Scriptures plainly declare that Christ died for all. Now with the view that the death of Christ is the atonement, the conclusion is easily reached that the sins of all have been atoned for, and hence that no condemnation can ultimately remain to any. This branch of the argument blossoms at once into Universalism. But the Scriptures just as plainly assure us that all will not be saved; that some do now, and will in the end, rest under condemnation. For these, of course, no atonement is made; and if the atonement and the death of Christ125 are the same thing, it follows that his death reaches no farther than the atonement, and hence that he did not die for all, but only for a chosen few. On this branch of the argument we find the bitter fruit of ultra Calvinism. The subject of the sanctuary relieves us from the false claims of both these errors. The trouble in either case lies in the premise common to both, which is defective; and with a false premise, however sound the reasoning based upon it, it is impossible to reach a correct conclusion. The death of Christ and the atonement are not the same thing. And this relieves the matter of all difficulty. Christ did not make the atonement when he shed his blood upon the cross. Let this fact be fixed forever in the mind. But does it not say that he bore our sins in his own body on the tree? And as he died for all, did he not thus bear the sins of all? He did, indeed; but in what sense? What office was he fulfilling in the shedding of his blood? For light on this, we turn again to the type. The idea and the doctrine of the atonement are drawn from the typical system. To reach the atonement several steps were necessary: 1. The confession of sin upon the head of the victim. 2. The sacrifice of the offering. 3. The work of the priest. And this work was performed three hundred and sixty-four days in the year before the day of atonement came. The work of atonement was the last ceremony of the year, and completed the round of sanctuary service. The offering and the service of the priest preceded the atonement. The offering was not the atonement, nor was the service of the priest, until the day of atonement arrived, and the service was commenced in the most holy place of the sanctuary. The parallel between the earthly and the heavenly sanctuary has been sufficiently drawn to make at once the application. The anti-typical atonement, which is the real removal of sin, was not made when the offering for this dispensation was provided, nor by the service of the priest in the first apartment of the sanctuary, but is accomplished only by the service of the priest in the most holy place, which is the closing work of our Lord’s ministration, the cleansing of the sanctuary, and did not commence, as we have seen, till 1844. In this case, as in the type, the offering and the usual priestly work precede the atonement. But when Christ suffered for us, in what capacity was he acting? Not as our priest, but only as the offering; for he was put to death by wicked hands, even as the victims of old were slain by the sinner. It was as the sacrifice and offering that he bore our sins in his body on the tree. Here the blood was provided with which he was to minister. This was an act preparatory to the priestly work he was to perform; the atonement is the last. Those who make the offering to be the same as the atonement, confound together events that are more than 1800 years apart. The offering was general. Christ died for all the world. The sacrifice was offered to all who would accept of it. But the atonement at the close is specific; it is made only for those who seek the benefits of his redeeming work. It is not the place here to introduce a dissertation on the subject of the atonement. It is mentioned in this connection simply to show that the great sanctuary question locates the atonement, and guards us against the error of confounding the offering with the atonement, and placing it at the commencement of Christ’s ministry, instead of at its close. But does not Peter say, “Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins”? Acts 2:38; and if sins are remitted in the act of baptism, how can we look forward to a future time for the atonement and remission? So some minds may query. But the text does not say that sins are remitted in baptism. It is only for, or “in order to” remission that this rite is performed. It looks forward to a future time, when all the requirements of God having been complied with in faith, sins will be blotted out, and the times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord. It may be asked again if Rom. 5:11, does not say that we have already received the atonement? The word katallage, there rendered atonement, should be rendered reconciliation, as in the margin. Reconciliation is effected between ourselves and God, but the atonement, or the removing of sins, so that they can be remembered no more against us, is the last act of priestly service performed by the Lord for us. But are not our sins forgiven now? and, if forgiven, are they not put away? We answer. Forgiving sin and blotting out sin are not the same. Forgiveness is conditional, the condition being that we comply with certain requirements upon which it is suspended, till the end of our probation. If we fail, we stand at last unforgiven, and no atonement can be made for us. The doctrine on this point is stated by Ezekiel, and an illustration is given by the Saviour himself. The doctrine. Eze. 18:26: “When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done, he shall die.” In chapter 33:13, it is added, “All his righteousness shall not be remembered.” That is, he shall be treated as though he had never been righteous. But the righteousness of the righteous is by faith; therefore, if he turn and commit iniquity, he shall be treated as if he never had faith; the forgiveness, conditionally extended, is withdrawn. The illustration. Matt. 18:21–35. We will not take space to quote it, but simply epitomize the facts: A king had a servant who owed him an enormous sum of money; but having nothing wherewith to pay, his lord forgave him the debt; but this same servant had a fellow-servant who owed him a small sum, and having nothing with which to pay, asked to be forgiven the debt. But his fellow-servant would not, but cast him into prison till he should pay all. His lord, hearing of it, immediately withdrew his own offer, and delivered the unmerciful debtor over to the officers till he should pay all that was due. Christ puts the fearful point to this illustration by adding, “So likewise shall my Heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.” This plainly illustrates the conditional nature of forgiveness, and shows how past forgiveness may be nullified by present or future sin. How, then, if the atonement is yet future, do we receive of its benefits? How are we justified? In reply, we would ask the questioner, How, if the atonement was made on the cross, did those who lived before that time secure its benefits? And just as the people of God who lived and died before Christ could receive the benefits of the atonement if it was made on the cross, just so both they and we can receive its benefits, if it is deferred to be the closing work of this dispensation. It is by faith. The patriarchs were justified by faith, and so died. So with the righteous ever since that day. All their life work, their acts of faith, stand faithfully written out in the heavenly books of record. The time comes for the investigative Judgment, for the last division of Christ’s work as priest, for the sanctuary to be cleansed, for sins to be blotted out, for the atonement to be made. The books are opened. Every case is examined. Then the sins of those whose record shows their last acts to have been acts of repentance, faith, and obedience, are atoned for, or blotted out. U. S. OUR CAMP-MEETINGS.
By James White
Our annual camp-meetings for the several State Conferences are becoming gatherings of great importance. As a people we have no settled pastors. Many of our churches do not enjoy the labors of any of our preachers once a quarter during the entire year. How important, then, that the members of our churches, and the scattered brethren, should spend one week each year in holy convocation, to enjoy the preaching of the Word, be benefited with the social services, and to take, and to feel, personal interest in all branches of the great work. The camp-meeting presents a favorable opportunity also for our people to bring their unconverted children and friends under a strong religious influence favorable to their conversion. And probably no means of grace are more favorable to the instruction and quickening of our people than these annual meetings. We therefore decide that the numbers of these great occasions should not decrease, but rather increase. The camp-meetings for 1876, have far surpassed those of previous years in numbers in attendance—both of our people, and from the outside—in interest, efficiency and power. And we have learned this, that as far as our people lay their plans, and promptly meet the feelings of the better classes in liberal and respectable preparations, in a spirit of courtesy, just so far the people seem to respond in general interest, and in maintaining order. Our camp-meetings are becoming proverbial for unparalleled good order. Our camp-meeting reporter, Miss Mary L. Clough—Mrs. W.'s niece, much respected and beloved by our people, not only for her ability as a writer, but for all those qualities and accomplishments which make her a refined lady—has done a work with her pen which but few of our people comprehend. We sum up the advantages of this reporting system as follows:— 1. It takes the work of reporting from the newspaper reporters, who are not always able to do us justice, even if they were disposed to be candid; and it secures to us full, truthful and candid statement of the facts in the case. 2. In having this matter of reporting entirely under our own control, we can furnish the daily reports to as many different papers as copyists can produce copies. And as there are plenty of good copyists on all our camp-grounds, this matter of multiplying copies for different secular dailies can be run up to any number desired. 3. In this grand reporting system we are getting the start of those who may wish to misrepresent us through the secular press. And this very thing will prove a mighty lever to open our way to gain access to the people. As we have had free access to the best daily papers at Omaha, St. Paul, Dubuque, Milwaukee, Madison, Des Moines, Burlington (Iowa), Kansas City, Indianapolis, Chicago, Cleveland, Lansing, Grand Rapids, Bay City, Jackson, Detroit, Syracuse, Rome, Boston, Burlington (Vt.), Portland, Augusta, Bangor, and a host of smaller ones, in which have been given brief statements of our history, movements, and doctrines, the masses of the great North will no longer inquire—“Who are the Seventh-day Adventists?” 4. In a style to secure an attentive reading from the public, full statements have been given of our publishing houses at Battle Creek, Mich., Oakland, Cal., and Bâle, Suisse. Our College and Health Institute have also been mentioned in such connections as to advertise them far more completely than could be done by notices of them among the common advertisements of all these papers from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic. 5. And all this advertising, and spreading before the masses the facts concerning our religious faith, and what we are doing, has cost simply the writing, copying, stationery and postage. Put into the hands of our tract societies and our institutions $10,000, and with this sum they cannot send out as much light, and so effectually advertise our institutions, as has been done the past season by means of the camp-meeting reports. The camp-meetings, of this season have been a great success, closing with the very excellent ones in Nebraska and California. Let God be praised for the past, and let timely preparations be made for 1877. We here suggest that Eld. S. N. Haskell, a member of the General Conference Committee be consulted in season relative to the location and general arrangements. We shall be very happy to see these grand convocations extending into Virginia, Kentucky, Texas, and other Southern States. J. W. OUR PUBLICATIONS.
By James White
Our publications are the right arm of our strength. The publications alone, without the living teacher, can do but little in converting people. And our preachers, without our publications, would make very slow progress. But when all our preachers fully see the importance of our publications, and give their circulation that proportion of their time which their importance would justify, then will our publications add nine-tenths to the usefulness of our preachers. We solemnly believe that the foregoing statements are not overdrawn. And if our preaching brethren will carefully consider them they will agree with us. And as no man would wish to devote his life to preaching unpopular truth except to accomplish good, it becomes all our ministers to bend their energies to accomplish the most good possible. Taking this view of the subject, it will be very apparent that most of our ministers neglect to give our periodicals and general publications that circulation which the case demands. One of the greatest discouragements in certain localities, as often expressed by our ministers, is “They are not a reading people, and do not take our books.” One of the most hopeful features in certain communities, as expressed frequently by our preachers is, “They are a reading people, and take our books freely.” And we have for several years come to this, to measure a minister’s usefulness very much by his tact, and activity to sell our books, and obtain subscribers to our periodicals. Those who do not succeed in this, do not succeed in accomplishing much lasting good. We plead for hearty and full co-operation of all our ministers with our publishing work. Each one of our ministers should regard our Office of publication as his own. Especially if he has become a member of the Association by the payment of $10 or more into the capital stock he should feel that it is his, and that it should be cared for by him. But too many seem to feel that every dollar that they can get out of the Office by taking advantage of our unparalleled discounts is clear gain. And but very few seem to feel a proper care for the prosperity of the Office. Time after time we have surprised the people with the low prices of our periodicals and publications. This Office pays the postage on all our periodicals, which in the course of one year amounts to a large sum. And then came the offer to furnish the REVIEW, VOICE, SIGNS and REFORMER, postage paid to the Tract Societies, and to those who would send them to their unbelieving friends, for one-half the full price. It was expected that these liberal offers would stimulate all our people to greater activity in obtaining full-pay subscribers to all our periodicals so that no loss would be sustained. But here we were sadly disappointed. We were alarmed for the welfare of the Office by seeing the lists of full-paying subscribers changing to half pay, till they were greatly diminished, and the tables of our business rooms covered with requests of reductions where we had offered none, and all sorts of plans to take advantage of our liberal offers. And after risking this experiment of liberality until a loss was sustained to the Office of not less than $10,000 we were forced to change from one-half discount on our periodicals to Tract Societies and others, to only one-fourth discount. But if all our preachers would plead for our periodicals before the people, as is their duty to do, and would they labor to obtain all full-paying subscribers possible so that there might be at least 6,000 full-pay subscribers to each, then could the half-pay plan be carried out to any extent desired. But when our offers of one-half discount, and postage paid, are taken advantage of in turning full pay to half pay, our efforts to accomplish greater good by a wider circulation of our periodicals, is at once broken down by the professed friends of the cause. We can have no other object in these remarks, and in all our efforts to guard our publishing house, than the best good of the cause, the prosperity of which depends very much upon the prosperity and efficiency of our Publishing Association. We now urgently invite all our ministers, and all true friends of the cause, to feel that the S. D. A. Publishing Association, located at Battle Creek, Mich., is theirs to guard and to love, and to labor for its upbuilding. And let our friends all feel assured that all will be done that can be done in the line of discounts on our periodicals to the Tract Society, without embarrassing the publishing house. But the power to do this is with our ministers and friends generally, and not with us. If we can have their hearty co-operation, we can do almost anything. At present the SIGNS OF THE TIMES is offered to the Tract Societies, and to those who wish to send it to their personal friends, postage paid, at $1.50 a year. And the HEALTH REFORMER is offered to the same, postage paid, at 75 cents a year. But these reductions are made only to Tract Societies who pay the prices from the treasury, and to persons who send these periodicals to their friends, and pay for them from their own purses. The price of the HEALTH REFORMER one year, postage paid, is $1.00 to all who subscribe themselves, and pay for the journal. And the price of the SIGNS one year, postage paid, to all on this side the Rocky Mountains is $2.00 a year. The REVIEW is our church paper, and will give church matters, in which the outside world can take no interest. The SIGNS is our pioneer sheet, and will be every way adapted to new fields. The SIGNS will contain secular and general religious news, and accounts of the progress of the cause, in connection with most valuable sermons, expositions, and articles, making it just the paper to put into the hands of those who investigate with profit. The REVIEW is offered at one-fourth discount to poor brethren only. We recommend the SIGNS as the proper paper to introduce in all new fields when lectures are given. Where the cause shall be established, and churches organized, the REVIEW should be introduced, and if preferred can take the place of the SIGNS at a later date as the church paper. Mrs. W. and the writer feel the burden to make the SIGNS the paper for all new fields. We plead that the HEALTH REFORMER shall have full 6,000 regular, full pay subscribers. Every minister should preach on the importance of the health reformation, and should call in earnest for subscribers to the REFORMER, from the outside world. And they should see to it that none of the families of our people are without this journal. We are resolved to again appeal from the Bible on the subject of hygiene. We have a duty to the people in this respect, and dare no longer neglect it. Mrs. W. again takes up her pen on the subject of Christian temperance, and the practical duties of the household, and designs to give an article in the REFORMER each month. And the editor of that journal is securing Miss Clough and other able writers to contribute to the columns of the REFORMER. Also that which will add greatly to the interest of the REFORMER for 1877, will be sketches of the lives and the experiences in health reform of Elders Bates, Andrews, and others with their portraits. These will be given, one in each number for that year. Every effort will be made to make our periodicals attractive and useful, and we plead that all the friends of the cause shall make corresponding efforts for their circulation. We leave for California the first of November, and shall commence important series of articles in the SIGNS by the first of December, and ask the Tract Societies east of the Rocky Mountains to give us a circulation of the SIGNS of 10,000. We hope that the distribution of 75,000 or more of the Family Health Almanac will not stand in the way of canvassing for the SIGNS. This sheet shall be circulated, and if the Tract Societies hesitate, we shall call for subscribers, pay or no pay, and donations direct to the Oakland Office. See Eld. Cottrell’s report of the three free subscribers to the SIGNS on another page. If the Tract Societies will take hold of the work, that system is the best; but we determine that the Tract Societies shall not stand in the way of the circulation of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES. The people shall have the paper, and God will furnish the means. J. W. OUR SCHOOL.
By James White
The Battle Creek College is in a prosperous condition considering the times. We are expecting a large increase of students at the winter term. There are many applications from young men, who have the ministry in view, for charity from our school. But this is impossible at present, while a debt of more than $10,000 is on the College. We appeal to the several State Conferences where these young men live. We exhort the Presidents of these Conferences to take this matter in hand at once. We say to these young men, Make your appeals to the Executive Committee of your Conference, and not to the board of our embarrassed school. A fearful responsibility is taken by our wealthy men, who will let a debt rest upon our College, and let it continue in embarrassment so that it cannot give that assistance that some worthy young men need. God in his providence is opening the vast field before us. Calls are coming in for laborers, one-tenth of which cannot be filled. And yet these wealthy men will hold on to their wealth in the face of the most urgent calls from the Spirit and providence of God. Our soul is stirred to the depths. And we here pledge $100 to every $900 from all our people to raise the debt upon our school, and to create a charity fund for the benefit of worthy students who need help. We offer this in addition to the $2,000 in stock we already have in the Seventh-day Adventist Educational Society. God in his providence is testing these men who have more than a competency, and the risks they are taking are greater than they can afford to take. Now let those among us who have means which they can give to the cause without embarrassment ponder this matter well, and then act in the fear of God. As all our good people shall appropriate $18,000, more or less, to our College, it will be the writer’s pleasure to take another $2,000 in stock in our good school, or more or less, in proportion to the amount all others may raise. May God bless our effort to provoke others to love and good works. J. W. We have never seen as bright a prospect of success before our Health Institute as at the present time. J. H. Kellogg, M. D., graduate from Bellevue Medical College of New York City, and editor of the HEALTH REFORMER for several years, now takes his place as physician-in-chief. Miss Katie Lindsay, M. D., graduate from the medical department of Michigan State University, also takes her place. And doctors Fairfield and Sprague, who attended medical lectures at the Michigan State University last winter, with Miss Lamson M. D., make up the medical fraternity of the Battle Creek Health Institute. For more than five years we have been laying our plans that our Health Institute should have the benefits of the highest, most thoroughly educated and cultivated medical talent in the nation. God has helped in this work thus far. And we trust his help to its full completion. And that which gives us hope above all others, is that those who tremblingly take their responsible positions are deeply imbued with the spirit of Christian temperance, and with a sense of the need of the help of God in all their labors of love for the afflicted. The next great enterprise to be taken hold of is thorough improvements in buildings, &c., so that our Health Institute shall not in any respect be second to any on the continent.