A RECENT number of the New York Christian Advocate, a leading Methodist paper, feels that an earnest effort should be made to repair “the partial breakdown of the American sabbath.” And the editor believes further, that if this is done, “the first move must come from the church.” He would not “suggest a schedule for the Sabbath which would make the day irksome with artificial restraint,” but he feels “very certain that there has been a gradual diminution of the spiritual purpose of the Sabbath on the part of Christian people, which ought now to be strongly resisted.”
Commenting upon the same situation which exists in the relation of the great Christian church to Sunday observance, the Herald and Presbyter expresses the conviction that the church is very largely responsible for the fact that this is a “Sabbath-breaking generation.” In the opinion of this Presbyterian paper the question is, “Do we keep the Sabbath, or only Sunday?” “No man has any right to be called a factor for Sabbath observance who is so weak in backbone and knee and speech that he does not call it the Sabbath.”
This paper points out the growing desecration of the Sabbath. The great mass of people are given to pleasure rather than to the service of religion. “Until Christian people have enough respect for God and for his day to call it the Sabbath they need not expect the world to pay any attention to it.” The great difficulty, we are told, is not with the sects which refuse to recognize the first day of the week as the Sabbath, but— with those professed Christian people who believe in the Sabbath so slightly and so weakly that they never call it the Sabbath, nor assert the sacredness of the day by using the name which divinely designates it as the holy day of God.
We did not expect to say much on the subject just at this time, but Sabbath desecration is a sin that in God’s sight is as deadly and as hateful as murder or theft. It is one of the peculiarly aggravated sins of our own times. Christian people should stand up and protest against it. They should advocate and defend the cause of the Sabbath. If they do not do so more vigorously, by life and word, the Sabbath will increasingly become to the world merely Sunday, a day with a heathen name, and then . . . simply Sunday, to be trampled underfoot and desecrated with impunity.
We honor our Methodist and Presbyterian brethren for feeling concerned over the desecration of the day which they hold to be the Sabbath of the Lord, but we wish to inquire in all candor if the great reason why Sunday is not better observed by the great Christian church is not that it is only Sunday and not the Sabbath? Nowhere in the Scriptures of Truth is Sunday, or the first day of the week, recognized as a holy day. There is no divine command for its observance. It is a day with a heathen name and of heathen origin. It is an interloper in the Christian church. It was brought into the church at a time when Christianity was at a low ebb, when heathen influences were shaping the faith and practise of the church. One of its fathers, and one of the first to issue an edict regarding it, was a heathen. He required that only a part of the people refrain from labor during its hours, leaving the country dwellers free to follow their regular pursuits on that day.
On the contrary, the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath is clearly enjoined in the Sacred Word. This is the one Sabbath day recognized by the great moral law spoken from Sinai. It was the only day observed by our blessed Lord during his earthly ministry, and by his apostles. It remains to the present time the only day upon which God has placed his blessing, and the only period of time which has been made holy.
In saying this we are glad to be exempted by the Herald and Presbyter from that class which weakens the observance of the Sabbath—those who believe in it “so slightly and so weakly that they never call it the Sabbath.” It is possible that, after all, they do not so confidently “believe in it.” Many there are, we know, throughout the length and breadth of the land today who believe the seventh day to be the Sabbath of the Lord, but from motives of self-interest and because it is unpopular or inconvenient, are kept from giving their allegiance to the one true Sabbath of the Lord.
We invite our Presbyterian and Methodist friends to take their stand upon the platform of God’s immutable Word. Then on Scriptural basis they can defend the Sabbath of the Lord, and appeal in a way that is now impossible to the moral sense of their churches to cease trampling underfoot the rest day of Jehovah.
F. M. W.
A Doctrine to Be Emphasized Now
By W. A. S.
MORE and more it becomes apparent that when Christ so specifically dwelt upon the manner of his second coming in power and glory, he was teaching truth especially to be emphasized in the days just before his coming. The false doctrine of a quiet, secret coming seems to be spreading through the world. A post-card message just now comes from Elder S. W. Carr, of Papua (New Guinea), East Indies, showing how the erroneous views are reaching the uttermost parts of the earth. He writes:—
During our recent trip over the main range of New Guinea we met Vaore, one of our old mission boys, who reported that some one had told him that Jesus had lately returned to the earth; but he (Vaore) had told him that it could not be true, because Mr. Carr would certainly have sent and let him know. I was able to explain to him more fully the manner of Christ’s coming.
We find this idea making great headway in America. The Millennial Dawn people seem committed to it, and one of the leading preachers of that denomination, the most popular religious writer of them all, perhaps, has been running in the most popular religious weekly a serial story entitled “Jesus Is Here.” The great religious public have little idea, after all, of the Scripture teaching regarding the manner of Christ’s second coming and the events to precede and accompany it.
How plainly it appears that Christ’s words of warning in Matt. 24:24-27 were uttered to guard us in the last days from just such false views:—
“For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
It is so plain and definite that one1192might think no Bible reader could miss the point; but fanciful and mystical methods of interpretation can befog minds with the clearest signal-lights of truth shining out in God’s Holy Word. These simple truths of Christ’s second coming, so familiar to us, are indeed great and glorious truths needing to be specially emphasized before the world just now. Let us spread the books and papers containing the light everywhere.
The present activity of the enemy in spreading the false views through the world is a sign that Christ’s coming is even at the door, and the Lord has given the truth by which to meet the error and prepare souls to meet him.
W. A. S.
Is the World Better Than When Jesus Was Here?
By F. M. W.
CHARLES M. SHELDON, author of “In His Steps,” in a recent sermon at Battle Creek, Mich., answered this question in the affirmative. He regards the existence of the following conditions as proof of this statement:—
The world today is a far better world than it was when Jesus lived in it, and it is getting better every day. Two thousand years ago there were no missionary societies, no civic improvement bodies, no public schools, no Sunday-schools, and no great churches, with their branches and various activities; no movement for the abolition of war, no sentiment in favor of universal peace, no playgrounds movement, and, of course, no newspapers, telephones, telegraphs, steamships, or flying-machines.
We are quite willing to admit the great increase in the missionary and philanthropic societies, church gilds, peace movements, inventions, etc., enumerated by Dr. Sheldon. But these are by no means a proof of growing spirituality. Rather are they makeshifts for that spirit of personal piety and devotion which should characterize the members of the church. The world today is forgetting God. The great Protestant churches have been slowly but surely succumbing to the spirit of worldliness and indifference. Before us is the United Presbyterian of October 2, and regarding present-day Christianity the editor gives this testimony:—
It seems to be an unquestionable fact that at the present day home religion is on the decline. Such is the opinion of religious leaders everywhere. There can be no doubt, as is often affirmed, that modern business life is partially responsible for the decay of the family altar. This is true particularly in the city where the rush is swift and intense and where many well-disposed people have permitted the worship of God to be crowded out of the day's program. There is also a deplorable tendency on the part of many Christian parents to entrust almost entirely the religious education of their children to such organizations as the Sabbath-school and the junior society. Too much cannot be said in commendation of these modern organizations, especially when they are maintained according to high standards of efficiency; but, they can never become substitutes for godly homes where instruction in righteousness is received from fathers and mothers who know the Lord. . . . The church likewise is suffering from the effect of religious decline in the home. There is being produced a type of church-members who are characterized by formalism, with no spiritual depth, sadly lacking in the spirit of consecration, and therefore of little practical use so far as the real work of the kingdom is concerned.
Similarly the editor of the Advance of the same date, under the heading “More Religion,” says:—
The greatest need of America at the present hour is more of the religion of Jesus Christ. It is not enough that we have better sanitation, or more knowledge, or committees on the rural problem, or on housing in congested quarters. Man shall not live by bread alone, and there has been a famine of the Word of God. There are cheering signs of an awakening to a perception of this great need. There is heart-hunger in many of our churches for a more deeply spiritual presentation of the gospel. There are men, and many of them, who have been seeking to fill themselves with philanthropy and with social reform, who are finding more and more fully every day that these things concern the outside of the cup and the platter. God has made the soul of man for himself, and it is homeless till it finds him. Let us have no less of sociology and hygiene than we have been having; on the contrary let us have more, for more is needed; but let us put farther to the front and higher in the lead the saving gospel of the Son of God.
We have today as never before a proxy of Christian effort, but the old-time spirit of practical, every-day Christianity in the lives and homes of the people is sadly on the decline. This world will never be brought to Christ by church gilds or philanthropic societies. These may be good in their way, and as a result of their effort there may be much amelioration of human woe and suffering, but for the most part they exist at the sacrifice of the personal factor in religious life. This is the real element of power. Remove from the religion of Christ personal consecration, personal seeking after God, personal prayer, and personal Christian effort, and the vital power of Christianity is lost. The demand today is for a living, personal Christianity.
F. M. W.
Fraud or Familiar Spirits
By F. M. W.
COMMENTING upon the recent utterances of Sir Oliver Lodge regarding the subject of psychic research, the British Reviewer for October, 1913, makes the following pertinent statements:—
Sir Oliver Lodge has won for himself a high position in the estimation of his countrymen, but we question whether his undoubted eminence is not largely due to other qualities than those of science. Parts of his presidential discourse to the British Association seem to us to afford evidence rather of skill in speech than of precision in thought, so that we hesitate to follow Sir Oliver, even when he tends toward conclusions which on other grounds we ourselves accept. Let us take one instance of what we mean:—
The president, as was to be expected, spoke, though not at length, of the evidence of a life after death that, according to him, is furnished by psychical research. There is great danger that imperfectly instructed Christians will in increasing numbers attempt to buttress their faith with arguments derived from this source. The evidence, if evidence it be, is in large part gathered in an atmosphere of such fraud on one side and—we say it boldly—of such credulity on the other side as to breed the gravest suspicion in the minds of reasonable men. But let us assume that the investigators do sometimes establish communication with spiritual beings. Even so, there is not the shadow of a guaranty that those beings are the disembodied spirits of men and women. A Christian ought to reflect that far more probably they are devils out of hell masquerading, for the destruction of souls, as the spirits of the departed, and he would do well to remember the condemnation that Holy Writ pronounces on those that resort to such. Fraud or familiar spirits—surely in neither can one find a fitting buttress for faith.
But that there are things done in Spiritualist circles which cannot be accounted for on any natural or scientific basis, and which prove indeed that communication is held with the unseen world, can no longer be disputed. This fact has been demonstrated too many times to the satisfaction of the most critical observers to be disputed. But that the pretended communication with the spirits of the dead is nothing short of communication with spirits of devils we believe also is just as true. We believe this, not on the basis of any scientific demonstration, but on the strength and authority of the Word of God.
Modern Spiritualism is a manifestation of the old-time necromancy. The same agencies which possessed evil men and women in the days of Christ possess evil men and women today. That these agencies will do marvelous things in these days the Scriptures plainly assert. “They are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.”
That many excellent people fondly believe that they are able to communicate with the spirits of their departed loved ones, and so have allied themselves with the Spiritualistic cult, is to be regretted. Many of these we believe will have their eyes opened to the dangerous delusion which has ensnared them. Let us pray and work to this end.
F. M. W.
The Philippine Islands
By Elbridge M. Adams
ELBRIDGE M. ADAMS
No doubt the workers in many lands are filled with deep gratitude, first to the Lord, then to the brethren at home, for the new laborers being sent into the great harvest-field. With those in other benighted lands, we share the common feeling that these workers will fill urgent and long-felt needs. Among these 8,000,000 people we have only barely made a beginning. And when our few workers are placed, it will be like a drop in the ocean, for there is so much to do. But we labor on, looking to the Lord of the harvest to fulfil his promise to “finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness.”
In connection with the work, there is one very interesting experience in which I know you will rejoice with me. After the General Conference I received a letter from a young man in Baguio,—a resort on the island of Luzon,—kindly offering us the use of the General Conference Bulletin. It was quite a surprise to us, for we did not know that there was any one in the islands taking the Bulletin besides ourselves. He also said: “I am not yet a member of the church, but am trying to live up to the light, hoping soon to join the Adventists and dedicate myself to the work. I came to the Philippines a year ago as a teacher in the Baguio school for American boys.” In answer to this letter I expressed my wish that he might indeed have his full desire realized soon. And this opened the way for a little correspondence. He began his next letter thus: “Your very kind letter came to me several days ago. I realize fully what you say in your letter, and I feel that the only way I shall find peace and rest is by going out and serving him.”
It was not long till he came to Manila to spend his vacation working at the Bureau of Science. But before he came, he asked me about the manner of keeping the Sabbath, saying that they had a half-day session in their school Sabbath morning. His work in the bureau required him to work on the Sabbath one-half day, and he attended our meetings on Sabbath afternoons. I began giving him studies, and when we had studied the seal of God and the mark of the beast, he began to see that he must give up all his Sabbath work. Of course he was greatly perplexed. He was here with good salary, reducing his school debt, which was far from being paid. It seemed certain that to keep the Sabbath meant to lose his position in the school, but he was hoping that there might be some way opened in the Bureau of Science whereby he could keep the Sabbath. One day the tempting offer stood before him,—$1,200 a year, but one-half day's work on the Sabbath. The devil reasoned with him that he could in a few months pay all his debts, and then follow his convictions. If he turned away from this he had nothing else in view, except to take the teachers' examination, looking to a position in the government schools. God helped him to turn away from the temporal to the eternal riches, and refuse the position offered, because he could not do the work and keep the Sabbath. When he went to see about the examinations for the taking of which he had made application, he found that part of the examinations came on the Sabbath, and no arrangements could be made for him unless he could take the test on the Sabbath. But again, by the help of the Lord, he stood firm, though in debt in a strange land.
This young man is a graduate of the University of Maine. He is coming every day to study the Bible. His parents are not Seventh-day Adventists, but some of his relatives are. He has never made a thorough study of our doctrines, but he has had the conviction for some time that the Sabbath should be kept. He seems to accept all truths that are presented to him, and I hope that soon there will be a place for him in the work laid upon God's people. Pray for him that he may not stumble, but walk with a steady step along the pathway to the New Jerusalem.
An Encouraging Event for Brazil
By F. W. Spies
F. W. SPIES
SEPTEMBER 22 I left Sao Bernardo for Rio de Janeiro, to meet the new company of missionaries en route for Brazil, and accompany them to their destination at Santos. Their steamer, having made a very good voyage, was on time, and the next morning Elder Henry Meyer, of Rio de Janeiro, and the writer went out to the steamer to meet the fifteen new missionaries arriving in our great and needy field. We were glad that they had had a pleasant journey,—so pleasant, in fact, that they almost felt sorry when they had to leave the steamer.
We brought them ashore at Rio de Janeiro so as to get a glimpse of the national capital, and after some counsel it seemed best that Brethren Peters and Specht, and their wives, disembark at Rio de Janeiro. These brethren will engage in school work in the Rio Espirito Santo Mission. I then accompanied the eleven remaining missionaries to Santos, and assisted them in getting their baggage through the customs.
It was indeed an encouraging event to see so goodly a number of courageous and consecrated workers come to join us. Their greatest desire seemed to be to begin at once the study of the language, that they might be able to assist definitely in drawing the gospel net in this great field. Our prayer is that the Lord may give them aptness in this, so that they may soon be able to herald the last gospel message to Brazil's millions.
In closing, we wish to say that we are indeed grateful for this goodly reenforcement of our working force, and also for the means our brethren and sisters in the home field will contribute to assist our union in maintaining these workers here. And may the glad day soon come when the faithful and untiring workers, and also those who so faithfully and sacrificingly supported them with their offerings, will enter together into the joy of their Lord.
Santos.
MORRIS LUKENS
By Morris Lukens
Australia
MORRIS LUKENS
ONE of our truth-laden books was sold to a business man some time ago. Because the man was busy, the book was not read, and lay untouched in the library. One day his son, a bright young man, while looking over some books in the large library belonging to his father, noticed this new book. He took it out and read it. He was convinced that its teachings were in harmony with the Bible.
Last year a copy of “Great Controversy” was sold to this young man’s sister. This he borrowed and read with much eagerness.
In his unsettled state of mind, the young man providentially came in contact with a Seventh-day Adventist family who believed in doing missionary work, and therefore had a number of tracts in their home for just such an occasion as this. The result was that when he went to his home, he carried with him a number of these tracts, among which were “Sufferings of Christ” and “Christ’s Second Coming.” These he read with great interest.
Later he called and asked some questions. He said he could now see why we believed the Saviour was soon coming, but one thing that he could not understand was why Seventh-day Adventists keep the seventh day as the Sabbath.
This good family then supplied him with the following tracts: “The Sabbath in the New Testament,” “Elihu on the Sabbath,” and “Who Changed the Sabbath?”
Other visits were made, other tracts and papers given; the family made his case a special subject of prayer, and, as a result, the young man began to observe the Sabbath of the Lord.
His parents, sad to say, ordered him not to enter their home again until he would give up keeping the seventh-day Sabbath; but having become thoroughly1194established in the truth as a result of this reading-matter which had been given him, he was not easily discouraged. He went to the home of his married sister, the one who had given him the copy of “Great Controversy.” The result was that she, too, began to keep all God’s commandments. He is now planning to enter the canvassing work.
“In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.” So let us labor on, knowing the Lord has promised that his word shall not return unto him void.
Malaysian Mission
By F. A. Detamore
F. A. DETAMORE
The Malaysian Mission covers a land-and-water area greater than the land area of the whole United States, and has more than half as many inhabitants. In many places the people are begging for some one to come and teach them the third angel’s message, but with grief we have to say, “Not yet.” Those who have accepted the truth are real Seventh-day Adventists and loyal to the work. They pay a faithful tithe and make liberal donations.
One brother in Singapore gets eight or ten dollars a month. With this he must pay three dollars for rent, buy food for his wife and three children, and give them a scanty covering for clothes. His wife is a Roman Catholic, and scolds because he stops work on the Sabbath, when he could be working and making more money; but he brings his children to the Sabbath-school regularly, and pays his tithe month by month. This is but a sample of the situation of many. Should all our people at home make as great sacrifices for the Lord, there would soon be men and means to finish the work.
WORKERS IN SINGAPORE
From left: Brother and Sister H. E. Sharp, F. A. Detamore,
Sister and Brother J. Van de Groep.
It is enough to move a heart of stone to hear some of them tell how they have to sacrifice to keep the Sabbath. One brother said, “I can go without food. but when the children cry for food, it is hard.” God has blessed this brother, and now he is doing well financially; but for months he could scarcely get enough to keep himself and family alive. Do you not think that such persons love the Lord? I fancy their stars will be among the brightest that adorn our Saviour’s crown in glory.
A native in Surabaya, Java, after studying the truth and becoming enlightened by the Spirit of the Lord, said, “God intends man to remember the ten commandments, so to help him, he gave him ten fingers. It is only with our eyes, ears, mouth, feet, and hands that we sin. When we are tempted to go in wrong paths, our ten toes should remind us of the ten commandments; and when tempted to steal, etc., our ten fingers should do the same.” He studies his Bible, and is trying to obey its teachings.
Up in Battakland, in Sumatra, where a native began about a year ago to sell literature, there are many souls crying for more light. Some fifteen or more are already keeping the Sabbath. When we visited them, nearly the whole village came to see us, and many of them asked intelligent questions about the truth. They said: “We are little children. We are hungry. We want some one to teach us. If no one is left to teach us to learn more, we are afraid we shall become discouraged,” This would be a good place for a young man and his wife to labor. It would be but a short time before a good, strong church could be raised up. In a recent letter from there we learn that the interest is spreading for miles around, and educated teachers are taking hold of the truth at the sacrifice of good positions. What is our responsibility? How can we face these people in the judgment if we refuse longer to go to their assistance?
Our work has begun in British North Borneo, and Elder Montgomery has already baptized a number of believers. A good interest is shown in the truth, and this bids fair to be a fruitful field. Several have gone from that section of the field to other parts to hold up the light of truth.
FIRST TENT EFFORT IN SINGAPORE. OUR CHURCH AT THE LEFT
Here in Singapore we have recently started the first tent effort that has ever been held in this section. We have interesting audiences. There seems to be some interest to hear, especially among the Chinese, of whom the greater portion of the city is composed. On Sabbath we have Sabbath-school at 8 A. M., preaching in English at 9 A. M. and 4:45 P. M., Malay meeting at 2 P. M., and Chinese service at 3 P. M., and prayers at the close of the Sabbath at about 6 P. M. Just recently there has come a request for a Chinese service at 10 A. M. for the Hakka Chinese, as they cannot understand the Teo-chiu Chinese spoken in the afternoon. This will be started next Sabbath.
Here in Singapore
Here in Singapore
Preachers Must Experience the Truth
By F. W. Gunsaulus
AND this is the message which I want to give to the pastors of the day. Preachers must experience the truth which they proclaim. They cannot go into their studies and hunt truths or ideas out of books, and then go and proclaim them second-hand to their people, and expect great results. Experience cannot be borrowed, and without it a sermon is only a second-hand affair. We cannot have renewed strength in the pulpit until we have men who have realized in themselves the value of what they are proclaiming. I do not say that we do not already have many such men, but what I say is that we must have more of them and more of it.—Dr. F. W. Gunsaulus.
British and Foreign Bible Society Report
THE annual report of the British and Foreign Bible Society continues to show wonderful progress. A year ago the issues for the first time exceeded 7,000,000. Last year the total rose to 7,899,562. Ten new versions have been added, making the number of languages now 450. In China a total of 1,868,000 Scriptures has been issued. During the Balkan war 150,000 Testaments and Gospels were distributed among the soldiers. Since the society began operations in 1804 the total output has been over 244,000,000 copies of the Scriptures.
Work in the Southwest
By G. F. Watson
SINCE our good council held in Washington, D. C., last month, I have been very busy looking after detail work and holding meetings. At Keene, Tex., I had the privilege of baptizing ten bright young men and women, and I hope that many others in the Keene school will follow their Lord in baptism.
November 19 I joined Elder W. E. Baxter, president of the Arkansas Conference, at Gentry, Ark. Elder Baxter had preceded me two days, and the meetings were well under way. The evening of the nineteenth the neat little church house was dedicated free from debt. During the week that we held meetings there, the house was well filled at every service. Sunday morning, November 23, Elder Baxter baptized twelve persons, and the evening following we received thirteen into the Gentry church. To the Lord be all the praise.
G. F. WATSON.
The Melrose Sanitarium
By George B. Starr
EVERY year a larger number and a finer class of young people are entering our training course. Every year we are raising our standard a little higher, and God is hearing and answering our prayers and sending us helpers whose hearts respond to the plans for wider and more aggressive work. Every year the training is made more practical than the last. The spiritual phases are strengthened, the Bible classes increased and broadened.
This year a seminar has been added, in which the nurses in training present the truth in all its phases, the medical and dietetic, in short talks, weaving in what they are daily learning in anatomy, physiology, hygiene, and hydrotherapy, also the Bible doctrines and Christian experience. These same nurses assist in schools of health outside the institution, and in the parlor talks to the patients one evening each week; and the people and the patients enjoy their efforts. They are more interested when three or four persons, especially the nurses in uniform, present a subject, each clearly dwelling upon some one or two points, than they are when only one covers the same ground. As the result, several nurses are gaining a valuable experience.
Doors are opening everywhere. Even the farmers are reaching for the light on dietetic reform, and inquiring what to feed their children to obtain “a better crop of boys and girls.” Dr. Hopkins and the writer were invited to speak before the Pomona Grange in Wellesley, Mass., November 12, at their annual meeting, on the topic “Food Values of Grains, Fruits, and Nuts for the Human Machine.” We, with Mrs. Starr and others from the sanitarium, took dinner with them, and mingled in friendly intercourse with the one hundred and sixty-four intelligent farmers and their wives present. They stated that a talk given by the writer one year ago, on the best food for man and the postponement of old age, had been one of the topics of conversation at every meeting during the year. The doctor and I both felt free in speaking the plain truth to these people, and it was well received. A quantity of literature was sold and given away.
The sanitarium still continues to hold a steady patronage, keeping close to the sixty-patient mark. During the summer it reached ninety.
The coming of Elder and Mrs. Garton has been a blessing to the sanitarium. Elder Garton is a good Bible teacher and a burden-bearer, and his help has enabled the faculty to plan for a greatly increased field work. Three days each week, from two to three nurses in training spend the entire day visiting among the people, from house to house, scattering literature, helping in the Harvest Ingathering, and in the schools of health. The writer and his wife spend the same time visiting former patients, ministers of the gospel, physicians, presidents and secretaries of various societies, etc.
G. B. STARR.
Medical and Religious Books
By Walter Harper
My first introduction to the canvassing work took place May 8, 1881, when I started out with the “Home Handbook,” in Fairview, Cal. I also took yearly subscriptions for the magazine Good Health. The first day I took three orders for my book and obtained several subscriptions for the paper.
The spirit of prophecy has told us that medical and religious books should now be combined in the canvassing work, and I firmly believe this plan is ordained of heaven. About one month ago I began work in Nevada. Before leaving California I secured prospectuses for “Practical Guide to Health” and “Daniel and the Revelation.” This was practically a new venture for me, as I had not worked with medical books for over thirty-one years. From the very first, the Master has wonderfully blessed me in working with this combination.
One week my orders amounted to over $350; other weeks to $275, $263, $250, etc. In a little over one month the Lord enabled me to secure orders for more than one thousand dollars’ worth of books. Aside from this, I took in more than one hundred dollars on the relief edition of “Ministry of Healing.”
On Friday, October 24, my orders totaled fifty-seven dollars by 2 P. M. I often ask for a week-end or preparation-day blessing on Friday, so that I may get a good day’s work in early and have ample time to prepare for the Sabbath. The Lord has answered this prayer in marvelous ways.
As I go out to meet the people, I lean heavily on the “everlasting arms,” and earnestly seek the Saviour’s help and presence. He does come near. I pray that a host of sheaves may be gathered into the garner of the Lord as the results of my efforts. I ask the earnest prayers of God’s dear children to this end.
WALTER HARPER.
The Work in Los Angeles
By A. S. Booth
The Lord has blessed in a very marked way in the spread of the message in the city of Los Angeles, Cal. In this city we have now ten churches, one of which is Spanish, one German, and one colored. The total membership is over one thousand.
The evangelistic work has been especially fruitful. During three series of meetings recently held, in which Elders F. M. Burg and J. E. Bond and the writer took part, assisted by Mrs. Dr. J. R. Leadsworth, Mrs. M. Lester, Miss E. Carter, and Miss Olive Adams, Bible workers, sixty-two persons were baptized and four others were accepted on former baptism. Twenty others are keeping the Sabbath, whom we hope to see fully identified with the church.
The expense of these meetings, amounting to over $900, was entirely covered by the offerings taken.
Doubtless the attendance at our meetings has been increased by the thorough advertising we have done by means of the newspapers and announcements, and by faithful work from house to house with our literature. The attendance varied from 150 to 650 persons.
One special feature which has had its influence is the use of the stereopticon. The songs were all thrown on the screen, and most of the doctrinal sermons were illustrated by suitable pictures. In our study of this way of presenting the message, we were especially impressed with the text, “Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.”
We thank God for the privilege of laboring together, and of having a part in the proclamation of the last message in this great city. Pray for the work here.
