SPEAKING of judgment beginning at the house of God, the apostle Peter says further: “And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” By the expression “If the righteous scarcely be saved,” we are not to understand that it will be a grave question of whether even the righteous shall gain an entrance into the kingdom of God; for in another place the same author under the inspiration of the Spirit says that, “if ye do these things [mentioned previously, as adding to our faith virtue, etc.] ye shall never fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”
The Lord does not grudgingly give the righteous salvation. The meaning of the scripture is that if it was necessary for God to do all that He has done in order to save the righteous, if it was necessary for the awful sacrifice of the Son of God, if the destiny of humanity at one time hung in the balance as it did at Gethsemane when Jesus asked for the cup to pass from Him, and if all this extraordinary work was necessary, and by man’s faith and a life of self-sacrifice and self-denial and cooperation with God the righteous are given a place in the kingdom, then what will happen to those for whom no work has been done, or rather who refuse that work and who refuse furthermore to do anything themselves — where shall these, the ungodly and the sinner, appear? The same question is taken up in the book of Hebrews in a slightly different way. “If the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?” Heb. 2:2, 3. We are not left to answer the question ourselves or to speculate upon the outcome or to advance our own theories, for this question asked by the book of Hebrews, is also answered in the same book. The answer reads: “If they escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven.” Heb. 12:25.
R.
State and Church
By H.
STATESMEN and warriors have their peculiar characteristics. Gladstone and Marshall, Jefferson and Lincoln, Alexander and Cæsar, Washington and Grant,—all these and others by the thousand are examples. They were skilful in dealing with men and conditions. Ready to use the popular trend of feeling and influence the public mind, they succeeded in their spheres. With all of them their life-work was largely the result of their life-training. Schooled in statecraft or warfare, they were prepared to stand at the head of men, in governmental bodies or on the battlefield. The world is ready to honor these men for the work they did. The governments they served, protected, or established, are monuments of their skill.
Thoughtful people of every age have admired another class of men, a class who have given their lives to the service of God by service to their fellows. Paul and his companions in the early days of the Gospel, Luther and his coworkers in the Reformation, Williams in the stormy days of our colonial history, Carey and an army of others who were lights in mission fields, not to name even a few of the scores of men and women of later days who have and do mold the religious life of their times,—these are worthy of a share in the glories of human endeavor and achievement. And the world is ready to honor these, too.
But do we class them together? Practically never. Great statesmen are not associated in the mind with great pulpit orators, philanthropists, missionaries, or evangelists. Great as the latter may be, or however pious the former, each is in a class by himself. If the warrior prayed before his battles, the historian makes special mention of it; if the minister of the Gospel is much interested in political matters, people unconsciously question his piety.
Why should this be? Simply because the sphere of the state is, or the human heart somehow feels that it should be, far removed from the realm of religion. A statesman may be religious, and is all the better for it, but when he favors his religion or his religious constituents in public laws or judgment, he serves only a part of his constituency, and brings together two forces which are incompatible. A Gospel worker may be public-spirited and loyal to civil authority, but his source of strength is not the hand of man, not the power of the state, but the God of heaven. When he stoops to ask the help of the state in the furtherance of his religious plans and beliefs, he tacitly acknowledges that he has lost faith in the power of God.
Granted that the thing he seeks to advance is right and true, still the state has no prerogative in the matter, for religion in every phase is a matter between God and man, a matter of which God is the author and director; man’s part is to obey. And while it is his duty to obey, man has not the slightest right to compel obedience, even God Himself does not do that. God’s law is a law of liberty, fair and kind and broad,—broader than man’s life and needs, else it could not save him,—and when man attempts to legislate upon it, he makes it narrow, so narrow—and human. He brings it down to his own level, and by this very act he removes his own source of salvation.
What wisdom we see, then, in the words of U. S. Grant: “Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church, and the private school, supported entirely by private contribution. Keep the state and the church forever separate.” And that other statement by James Madison: “There is not a shadow of right in the general government to intermeddle with religion. The least interference with it would be a most flagrant usurpation.”
H.
“A Soft Answer”
By H.
A SOFT answer turneth away wrath.” How do we know? Have we tried it? Is it true because the wise man said so a long time ago? No indeed; the statement is true because the fact is true. How much of the bitterness between daily associates would be turned to real strength and pleasure if this fact were remembered! Surely it is worth while to cultivate a sweet tone, to learn how to give a “soft” answer.
How almost detestable is the man or woman who is “snappy.” The excuse that such a one is “grouchy” is altogether insufficient. He is mean and selfish, often deliberately so, for there is no excuse for it.
There are times when a decided rebuke is necessary. Of course every one recognizes this. But O the sore hearts there are in this world from continual nagging. Children make mistakes or do something wrong; proper punishment or rebuke is administered—and then repeated over and over in cruel complaining and abuse, until the poor culprit is either crushed or calloused. If he rebels, the punishment is repeated; if he submits, wounded and broken, the harm is equally as great. “Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath.” “A soft answer turneth away wrath.”
H.
Japanese Strike in the Sandwich Islands
Japanese workers in the plantations of the Sandwich Islands are trying to raise wages by a strike. The editor of the Jiji, the local Japanese newspaper, has been prominent in the leading of this strike and in fomenting trouble. The sheriff broke into the offices of the Jiji, arrested the editors, seized their private papers and books, and now Ambassador Takahira at Washington has been appealed to and immediate investigation of alleged violation of treaty rights has been demanded.
Those who were leading in the trouble in the Sandwich Islands are trying to imbue the minds of the strikers with the idea that the Japanese Government is with their movement and will demand satisfaction of the United States for the recent raid of the editorial offices of the local Japanese newspaper. What adds to the gravity of the situation is that two Japanese training-ships will soon arrive and the Japanese leaders are alleging that when the cruisers are in port lawlessness can not be punished, because the Tokyo government is in sympathy with and is backing the strikers. All evidence goes to show that the matter has not in any sense become international. The United States Government at Washington has not been appealed to by the Japanese Government. Both powers are waiting, allowing the local authorities to deal with the situation. Representative Japanese in San Francisco speak of the strike as assuming a status that they can not consider wise or proper. The consul-general at San Francisco has advised against any attempt to aid the Japanese in Hawaii, and says that the leading Japanese on the Coast are not in sympathy with the movement in Honolulu, H. I., which is largely the result of a few hotheads, and can not be raised to the dignity of an international question.
Artillery Against Air-Craft
In “Harper’s Weekly” for June 12 is an article on Artillery Against Air-craft, by Newton Forest. A few extracts from this article provoke thought. He says:
“During all ages nations have vied with one another in the inventions of weapons of offense and defense in order that peace may be had between them. But in modern times this test of ingenuity has been more pronounced. First it would be the armor that would resist the ton of projectile hurled against it; then it would be the shell that conquered the armor-plate, and so the fight goes on. We have great battle-ships, but we have smaller and swifter vessels to keep an eye on them, and we have torpedo-boats to destroy them. But no sooner were the torpedo-boats launched than the building of a craft—the torpedo-boat destroyer—was begun to take care of them. And so it comes on down the line, until we reach the very latest weapon of defense—the air-ship gun.
“Like every other weapon of offense, the air-ship—and hardly before it has settled in our midst—has been followed by a weapon of defense against its attacks. This modern dog of war was designed and manufactured by the Krupp works at Essen, and has been placed at the disposal of the German War Office, by which its adoption is most certain. The new invention is made from the Krupp crucible nickel steel, which accounts in a large measure for the high reputation of the Krupp ordnance. For a given caliber Krupp can be expected to produce a lighter gun and one capable of withstanding greater pressure, which means a greater muzzle velocity and striking energy. This fact was demonstrated some few years ago when these works produced a field-gun after American specifications which afforded a greater effective shrapnel range of less weight than the type of American gun. Therefore, this new air-ship destroyer has a maximum shrapnel range with a minimum weight, both of which are considered most essential in reckoning with a fast-flying aeroplane.
Of course in the defense against aerial attack, the firing of the gun must necessarily be of the high-angle kind; and the weapon must be capable of rapid training of a wide arc. All of these conditions are met by the new invention, one of which is mobile for operation in the field, and the other designed for a fixed position either on fortifications or on board ship, or, as the inventor says, it might also be used on a heavy auto truck. The field-piece is of two-and-one-half-inch caliber and fires a nine-pound shell with a velocity of 2,000 feet per second. The gun is mounted to slide on a chassis, in which is contained the spring-recoil mechanism. The chassis is pivoted near the breech of the gun, and elevation is secured by means of a large, vertical hand-operated screw. The methods adopted for traversing the gun, which can be moved through a radius of three hundred and sixty degrees, are most ingenious. A large pin passes through the trail of the gun-carriage into a fixed shoe which is11driven into the ground. The two wheels of the carriage are attached in a pivotal way near the front of the carriage, and by means of a hand-wheel and suitable gear they may be swung around in front of the gun until their axles are radial to the fixed trailpin mentioned above. By this ingenious arrangement the entire gun-carriage can be easily and quickly traversed through a complete circle. But this is not all; the gun itself, by means of a system of swivel bearings which permit of a rapid change independent of the carriage, may be traversed so as to be aimed at any point within a circle.
“A novel feature of this new gun is the means adopted which enables the gunner to follow the course of the fired projectile. The shells used are so designed that they are ignited at the moment the gun is discharged, and the slow-combustion material with which they are filled burns slowly and emits much smoke. This smoke leaves a trail through the air similar to that of a sky-rocket, which marks the exact line of flight of the projectile. This enables the gun-pointer to see at a glance whether he has overshot or undershot his target, and to adjust his gun accordingly. This type of shell is designed particularly for use against balloons or dirigible air-craft. Such a shell passing through the gas-bag of a dirigible would ignite the gas, and consequent disastrous explosion would follow.”
A number of governments are seriously considering the adoption of this new gun, or one adapted to the same purpose. One of the difficulties in an invention of this kind is to obtain a gun that can shoot at an aerial craft without having the recoil drive the gun into the ground. Of course there are many other difficulties as well to overcome, but recoil is the first and most important.
This peculiar sort of artillery work makes necessary a new set of mathematical tables for firing. Thus we have Germany, England, and the United States actively engaged in experiments with this sort of gunnery. The nations are intensely active and do not wish to be caught unprepared for any emergency in the matter of warfare.
Jewish Views of Religious Liberty
In its zeal for legislation in favor of Sunday, “The United Presbyterian” (Pittsburg) has the following to say with reference to Jewish opposition to this sort of legislation:
“One bill proposes permission to conduct secular business as usual on the Sabbath by such as observe Saturday as a day of rest, and another extends permission to all who keep any other day of the week as holy time. In many ways the determination on the part of the Jews to abrogate practically all distinctively Christian institutions and laws, has been very positively shown. Our school-books and holiday entertainments must be dechristianized, and the name of Jesus be blotted out from the instruction of children. To the average American Jew this country is their land of promise. Nowhere in the world have the Jews enjoyed such privileges as here; in no other land have they been allowed to stand on their feet in the fulness of manhood and citizenship. And yet they seek to break down the institutions and the laws which have been fundamental in our government and national life. This is a Christian land, altho not yet wholly sanctified in the lives of its citizens, and they who seek safety and a home here should accept the situation. If the Jew thinks it hard to be compelled to forego the profits of business on one day of the week he should remember that it would be an immeasurably greater hardship for the great body of the people to be deprived of the holy day.”
Mr. Charles H. Joseph, the editor of “The Jewish Criterion,” also of Pittsburg, makes an answer to this charge. What he has to say is worthy of thought. It is this:
“We would ask the reverend author of the foregoing. By whose authority does he lay claim to the country, and why is it more his country than ours? Such uncharitable and intolerant language comes with poor grace from such a source. This land is just what it is because it gives every man the right to worship God according to the dictates of his conscience and is absolutely free from sectarian domination. That the American people indorse this view is shown by the fact that Mr. Taft was elected President despite the unchristian outbursts of hidebound orthodox theologians of the narrow school. We dread to think of what would have happened, and the kind of Constitution we should now be living under, if the drafters of that document and the founders of the government had been narrow-minded churchmen, instead of big, broad, liberal men.
“Tho our worthy friend is so eager to accuse the Jews of doing this or that in an effort to desecrate the Sabbath, what has he to say of those communities where liberal laws are in force and where the Continental Sunday is observed? All through the larger cities of the West the communities seem to be just as moral as the people of Pennsylvania, and yet they refuse to recognize the Blue Law as essential to righteousness.
“As for our school-books, by what right has any sectarian body to insist that they should be ‘Christianized’? This is a country where men and women of all nationalities and religious beliefs have sought their home. This applies to the ancestors of the editor of The United Presbyterian as well as any one else; and why should the Jewish child be compelled to read or study Christian church teachings in the public schools which he helps to support? Where is the fairness, where the justice of such a position? He says, ‘Nowhere in the world have the Jews enjoyed such privileges as here.’ Well, where else in the world has any other American enjoyed such privileges as in his own country?
“We want to call the attention of the editor to this one fact, and that in as emphatic a manner as possible: the Jew is no less an American than he is, even if his religious belief is different. It is well that this should be understood once and for all. We are heartily sick of the utter intolerance and self-sufficiency that characterize such ignorant outbursts.”
The President's Recommendation to Congress
June 16, President Wm. H. Taft sent in a recommendation to Congress recommending that Congress adopt by a joint resolution by two-thirds of both houses “proposing to the states an amendment to the Constitution, granting to the Federal Government the right to levy and collect an income tax without apportionment among the states according to population; and second, the enactment as part of the impending revenue measure, either as a substitute for, or an addition to, the inheritance tax of an excise tax upon all corporations, measured by two per cent of their net income.”
He states that he has been informed that a two-per-cent tax of this character would bring into the treasury of the United States not less than $25,000,000, and that one of the merits of this tax is the federal supervision which must be exercised in order to make the law effective over the annual accounts and business transactions of all corporations. “While the faculty of assuming a corporation form has been of the utmost utility in the business world, it is also true that substantially all of the abuses and all of the evils which have aroused the public to the necessity of reform were made possible by the use of this very faculty. If now by a perfectly legitimate system of taxation we are incidentally able to possess the government and the public of the knowledge of the real business transactions and the gains and profits of every corporation in the country, we have made a long step toward that supervisory control of corporations which may prevent a future abuse of power.” It is thought by Republican leaders that this plan of the President's will be adopted in the Senate by a majority of at least a dozen. It is reported that the progressives are meeting a forlorn hope against the plan, but that it would not be surprising to see the opposition go to pieces when the whole subject of special taxation is taken up by the Senate. It is generally understood that if the corporation tax goes through, the Democratic Senators will vote solidly for the submitting of the Constitutional amendment to the respective states.
The Proposed Air-ship Coast Defenses.—
We are living in a time of almost universal peace; and yet there is more war talk than has existed for many years. Coming very shortly upon the announcement that Count Von Zeppelin had made 900 miles with his air-ship is the statement that the United States will have an air-ship coast control. The idea is to have balloon houses all along the Atlantic Coast from Maine to Florida. These stations are to be about 250 miles apart and each station will be equipped to care for two or three balloons. These air-ships are not to be used for fighting, but merely for scout work. They are to go out over the sea looking for a hostile fleet and then fly back to shore to give the alarm.
It is a question just how this proposition will be viewed by the people at large in America. It may be that the plans of the War Department will not be looked upon with any great favor by Congress. It is claimed that the present plans are mainly educational. If the plans interest the public, it is then supposed that public sentiment will prod Congress to make the proper appropriations.
Auer’s Thorium Flint
Auer von Welsbach, the well-known inventor of the Welsbach or incandescent gas mantle, has produced an alloy of iron and thorium which when struck lightly against a piece of iron emits exceedingly bright sparks. These sparks are produced by the almost instantaneous oxidation of particles detached by the blow, and sufficient heat is developed to ignite tinder instantaneously. The new thorium flint, which marvelously surpasses the old-fashioned flint and steel may be well called an everlasting machine. For explorers and tourists especially it will be very useful and will doubtless also be of some value in the ignition of explosives.
Blue Gas for Lighting and Heating
A new gas is being introduced in Germany under the name of “blue gas.” It is delivered in the liquid form in such shape that it can be used in closed rooms in hanging burners, giving from 50 to 1,000 candle-power. In order to use the gas it is poured from steel cylinders, in which it is delivered, into the gasometer. About three dollars’ worth of gas will run a fifty candle-power burner for 480 hours, so that it is even cheaper than petroleum. It can be used for heating, cooking, and other industrial processes. It is three and one-half times more heating than ordinary coal gas and is not poisonous. Almost any apparatus that is arranged to burn ordinary coal gas or acetylene gas can be easily changed so as to burn this new gas. It is only about a third as explosive as coal gas and about one twelfth as explosive as acetylene. Insurance companies require no special permission to use it.
Excavations at Ancient Adria
Near the city of Adria, Italy, excavations are being made on the site of the ancient Adria, the sea-port which gave its name to the Adriatic Sea. The work of exhuming the buried city is in charge of a commission which includes the most celebrated archeologists of Italy, and it is expected that archeological treasures of the greatest importance will be discovered.
Air-ship Budgets of the Nations.
—A note addressed to Parliament by the British War Office contains a comparative statement of the sums expended in 1908 by the governments of the principal nations of Europe in the construction of air-ships and in experimental work in aerial navigation. In American money the amounts approximate the following sums: Germany, $1,900,000; France, $225,000; Austria-Hungary, $26,000; and Great Britain, $25,000.
White House, Washington, D. C.
Conference Delegates Visit White House.—
June 2 the Seventh-day Adventist General Conference closed for a day to give the delegates and visitors the opportunity of visiting the capital city. Of a part of that day we take the following report from the Washington Post of June 3; it will speak for itself:
“Taft Receives Adventists
“Assures Them That They Are Entitled to Religious Liberty
“More than 400 delegates of the Seventh-day Adventists’ conference, now in session at Takoma Park, were received by President Taft yesterday afternoon in the east room of the White House. The President shook hands with each one of the company. Elder G. A. Irwin, vice-president of the conference, introduced the delegation and presented to the President resolutions passed by the conference. He said:
“As vice-president of the North American division of the Seventh-day Adventists, I am pleased to present to you, Mr. President, an address that has been prepared by our people, embodying their sentiments and their expressions of sympathy in your work.”
“The President replied as follows:
“Doctor, I am very glad to meet you and your coreligionists. I am glad to meet them here and to welcome them to Washington. I have no doubt that your conference has led to satisfactory results, that your aims are high, and that you are entitled, like all the rest of us, to worship God in the way that seems best to your conscience, and that under our Constitution everybody figures on an equality in that regard.”
Villa Unearthed Near Pompeii
Near Pompeii a large villa was recently unearthed by a restaurant keeper. It is reported that some excellently preserved frescoes were revealed.
Revival Meetings in Melbourne
Mr. Charles M. Alexander, the evangelist, and Mr. Hemminger, musician, are holding revival meetings in Melbourne, Australia. According to the press reports these meetings are being attended by large throngs. Meetings are held at midday in the Town Hall, attended by many of the business men of the city. A large choir is being organized, and an organization to manage personal workers is a part of the movement.
Seventeen Astronomical Observatories
Seventeen Astronomical Observatories are cooperating in the compilation of a great map of the sky. This work has been going on for the past twenty-two years; each observatory charting the portion of the heavens under its observation, by means of photography. Over 22,000 negatives have been taken and over 2,000 of these have now been engraved on copper.
Plague and Cholera Reports
One hundred thirty-one deaths from bubonic plague occurred in Amoy during two weeks, ending June 14. The disease seems to be on the increase. Chang Chow reports upward of 200 deaths daily throughout the country. Cholera is spreading in Russia. About fifteen new cases are appearing every day in St. Petersburg.
Electrically Controlled Warship Guns
A Secret Invention of Sir Percy Scott is announced, by means of which the large guns of a war-ship may be electrically controlled. It is said by this system a broadside may be trained and fired without the presence of a gunner; the entire mechanism being operated from the conning-tower.
Austria-Hungarian Ambassador Resigns
Because of the strained relations between Austria-Hungary and Great Britain, which necessitated a change in the Austria-Hungarian ambassador at London, Count Mensdorff has resigned. He will be succeeded by Marquis Pallavicini, Austria-Hungarian ambassador to Turkey.
“These Are Wonderful Words”
Burning-Ghat of India
An Indian missionary writes: “A high-caste Hindu, by trade a tailor, working for me, sitting on my veranda, heard me reading from the Gospels and explaining as I went on. He became interested, and one day asked me to give him a copy in Hindi, as he could read that. I gave him St. John’s Gospel. Now and again he would ask a question, and I saw the man was wanting to know more about what he read at home, that he might more clearly understand. I then felt it would be good to read the Revelation to him. He became intensely interested. When he came to the vision of God’s throne in the fourth chapter, of the book with seven seals, no one found worthy to open it, and the rest, till he came to the sixth verse, fifth chapter, where mention is made of the Lamb as it had been slain, who took the book to loose the seven seals thereof, I looked at him and said, ‘You remember in John’s Gospel, 1:29, John the Baptist said, “Behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world!” This One and the One John pointed to are the same. He has been slain and has risen.’ Then when we went on to the end of the same chapter, where the Lamb gets the adoration and worship of all heaven, honor, glory, and power to Him that sitteth upon the throne and the Lamb forever and ever, the man looked at me and said, with a new light in his eyes, ‘I understand; and if what you have13read and explained to me could be told to our Hindu people, many would become Christians. They read but don’t understand, as they have none to explain; these are wonderful words I have heard today.’ He has since been sorely tried; two children died of plague, and his caste people told him, ‘See what comes of your religiousness, your reading that book. God is angry with you and has taken your children.’ He came and told me this. I gave him comfort from God’s word, and bade him look to God nevertheless and hold on, for he would see his dear ones again. That was in March last. About a fortnight ago another Hindu came and asked for John’s Gospel, and said, ‘I am the brother of the tailor you had last March, Harbunse by name.’ So Harbunse has done for his brother what Andrew did long ago, ‘first findeth his own brother,’ and may he also come out as a follower of the Master.”—The Indian Witness.
Notes on the Conference
By Editor
(From the Editor)
The Juggernaut of India
The Election of Officers
One of the great events of every gathering of this kind is the election of officers, the report of the nominating committee. For that nearly all are waiting with interest. A partial report has been rendered, and most of the general officials for the next four years were elected as follows:
For president, Arthur G. Daniels.
For vice-president of the European field, L. R. Conradi.
For vice-president in North America, George A. Irwin.
For vice-president of the Asiatic division, Irwin H. Evans.
For secretary, W. A. Spicer.
For treasurer, W. T. Knox.
For Sabbath-school Department secretary, George B. Thompson.
For Educational Department secretary, Frederick Griggs.
For Publishing Department secretary, Edwin R. Palmer.
For secretary of the Medical Missionary Council, W. A. Ruble, M.D.
For secretary Young People's Missionary Volunteer Department, M. E. Kern.
For secretary of Religious Liberty Bureau, K. C. Russell.
For secretary of North American Foreign Department, O. A. Olsen.
Other additional members of the committee are as follows:
W. W. Prescott, W. C. White, Geo. I. Butler, S. N. Haskell, W. C. Sisley, C. H. Jones, H. R. Salisbury.
To these will be added the secretary of the North American Negro Department, not yet elected, and the presidents of the various union conferences of the world, numbering twenty-one. This body of forty-two men constitute the executive committee of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Later there were added the superintendents of union missions, an uncertain and growing number.
A vote was taken on the nominee for president alone by delegates and by the large representative congregation; and both votes so far as we saw were unanimous. The great burden of the president is for the foreign field. This is what ought to be the burden of homeland Christians. This election was free from all politics and rivalry of any sort. And this we do not say boastfully; it is only Christian that it should be thus.
Changes in the Constitution
The Constitution of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists is not a rigid instrument to confine and dwarf and cripple the work of God. It is an elastic mode of procedure designed to bring about orderly cooperation in the church, and subject always to easy change as the growing cause and expanding conditions of a world-wide message demand. The progress of the work in the Orient demanded another vice-president and it was provided for, and some changes were made in the basis of representation of union conferences, fixing upon one delegate for every 500 instead of one for every 1,000 as it has been.
A Great and Needy Field
One of the great fields of the world which appealed to the delegates was India, represented by J. L. Shaw and H. Votaw. Professor Shaw is the superintendent of the field; Brother Votaw has charge of the Burmese field.
The 300 millions of India were laid before the delegates. India is a multiplex problem, in which there are 147 languages and dialects with as many different peoples. The curse of caste has taken strong hold upon the people, separating man from man, drying up human sympathy, and degrading and perplexing the souls of the people. The condition of women, the wives and widows of India, presented another problem not offered by other fields. The poverty of millions is deplorable.
Yet there are precious souls who are waiting for the Gospel of God and who are yielding to its claims, and rejoicing in its freedom. The weak condition of Professor Shaw, who left India ill and nearly died on the way, was a mighty appeal for the Indian field. Only about six provinces have been entered. Other provinces and countries of India, containing from one to ten millions of souls, are yet unentered by the great threefold message.
Burma calls loudly for more laborers, not only among the Burmese, but among the Karens of upper Burma. A good beginning has been made, but much more must be done. Burma is not a poverty-stricken, over-populated country like the western parts of India. The people have more leisure and more room. They are Mongolian in type, altogether, different from the people of the west part. There are those responsive to the pure Gospel of Christ, and many in Karenese Burma are waiting for the truth.
India calls for help in publishing, for sanitariums, for schools, for medical missionaries, for missionary nurses, for Bible-workers, for colporteurs, for teachers, for evangelists; not less than from thirty-five to forty workers are asked for for this great field. We believe they will be furnished, and the hearts of these men who are making the plea for that great field will be cheered by liberal response in men and means.
But India is only one needy field. Of others, later.
Gaining Readers
By Editor
ARE you who love the SIGNS OF THE TIMES improving every opportunity to place it in the hands of others? We appreciate very much orders like the following:
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This order is from a very busy man, and he has secured these subscriptions during his spare time. Such lists indicate that many homes would welcome the SIGNS each week if their attention were called to its message of comfort and hope and its instructive articles and studies. To those who give some time to this work we give the special rate of $1.00 per copy per year where four or more subscriptions are sent in at one time. The person obtaining the subscriptions gets the benefit of the commission, fifty cents on each. Let us be more active in acquainting others with the message contained in the SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
