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Review and Herald, Vol. 83, No. 7.

Our Publishing Work
Earlier text: The Patent-Medicine Evil

Prattville (Mich.) Young People's Convention

By W. D. Curtis

THIS meeting was held January 11-14. There was a good attendance from the churches and companies south of and including Jackson.
The convention had been preceded by a series of revival meetings conducted by Brother P. C. Hayward and Sister Ida Dunlap. The Lord had blessed their labors by the conversion of many, and the revival efforts were continued during the convention, at the close of which twenty-three persons were baptized.
The convention proper was a decided success, and the young people in that part of the conference were greatly encouraged. The papers read, and the discussions which followed, bore evidence of latent talent, which, if consecrated to the Master's service and trained, could do much toward carrying the advent message to the world in this generation.
Plans were put in operation which will bind the young people more closely to the cause of God, and help them to feel a greater responsibility in church work. They will also assist in keeping some of their companions in the Adelphian Academy, that they may receive a training for service.
Elders Slade and Sandborn, the president and vice-president of the conference, were present; also Professor Lamson, principal of the Adelphian Academy, and the writer.
The East Michigan Conference had previously decided to ordain Brother Hayward to the gospel ministry, and send him to Arizona, supporting him for one year. The ordination service was held on Sabbath, Elder Slade offering the prayer, and the writer giving the charge. It was a very precious season, and hearts were made tender by the presence of the Holy Spirit. The blessing of God is resting upon each branch of the work in the East Michigan Conference.
W. D. CURTIS.

Home Missionary Work

By Wm. T. Markel

YORK HAVEN, PA.—We have no church or Sabbath-keepers nearer than Harrisburg, twelve or fourteen miles distant. There are six or eight families, neighbors, who live from one quarter to one and one-half miles from our place.
During the week of prayer we met with these people to sing and to pray with them. We had the reading for the evening, and also read from their Bibles, as one of these families requested me to read from their Bible, instead of mine; so I read from both, and they admitted that there was no difference.
Since the week of prayer they have been urging us to come, and we have been going first to one home, and then to another. We have been giving out a great many tracts and papers, and loaning books. May the Lord water the seed, and may he continue to give us wisdom and strength to go forward and in his name sow the seed.
WM. T. MARKEL.

School Work in the South

By GEO. CRAWFORD.

I DESIRE to write a few lines to the readers of the REVIEW about the work in western North Carolina, and especially to those who are thinking of moving where they can do good work for the Master.
I came to this place in September, 1902, by request of a conference officer, to open up a mission school among the mountaineers, in a locality where very few children ever saw the inside of a schoolhouse, and many had never heard preaching, or even a prayer.
Space forbids telling of my experiences in getting the house built and the school started. However, with some donations, solicited principally from a few Wisconsin churches, I was able to finish a respectable building eighteen by twenty-four feet, with a seating capacity of forty; this was accomplished with an outlay of about seventy-five dollars in cash.
Here I was privileged to open school Jan. 4, 1903, with fifteen pupils, all beginners. The average attendance has gradually increased until the present time, when the enrolment stands at forty. Nearly all the children of school age within reasonable distance of the school are attending. None of the parents of these children are of our faith, as the few who accepted the truth here have moved away. About twelve are from the families who opposed us the most when I first came here, and have left the public school to attend mine.
I use our denominational books for readers, and they are liked. I teach from 8:30 A. M. to 1 P. M. In connection with the school, my wife and I have been conducting a Sunday-school regularly for eighteen months, with good success. After the Sunday-school I give a short discourse. Two local Baptist preachers attend regularly with their families and will help in the school, and also send their children to day-school.
Up to the present time I have supported myself and taught the school, except three months last fall when I hired a teacher. The way has been hard at times, and we have been close pressed, but God has always provided. The property here belongs to the conference. I was sick with typhoid fever last summer, and lost part of the little crop I was trying to raise. This left me in such a financial strait that I was forced to close the school during November and December, but I am thankful that the way has been opened to continue the good work.
Many calls are coming for preaching, and several for schools. O, for workers to fill these places! One substantial worker came from Wisconsin last winter, and is now located in a county farther west, and is doing a good work among the people. He is pleading for help to put the printed page into every home in the county. His health is very poor, but he is selling many books. If one lay member can do that, why not others? Where are the canvassers and teachers? A short distance from here resides a man in his one hundred and tenth year, who invited me to preach at his house every time I could. I held three meetings, with fair interest.
We are now needing money to erect a small, comfortable dwelling at this place for the future teachers to live in. It is absolutely necessary. This can be done now for less than half what it will cost six months later. Any one desiring to help, may write me at Cove Creek, N. C. References given if required.
GEO. CRAWFORD.

Help for the Colored Work

By C. P. Bollman

You can help the mission schools for the colored people in the South by selling “The Story of Joseph.” It is now being handled as a forty-per-cent subscription book, canvassers receiving forty-per-cent commission on all sales. In other words, instead of paying twenty-five cents for one copy of the book as formerly, and selling it for the same price, the canvasser now pays fifteen cents for this book, and sells it for twenty-five cents, thus making a profit of ten cents on each book.
This plan will enable many to do something to help the mission-school work for the colored people, who would not be able to donate to this cause all the time necessarily spent in selling the book.
Of course, those who desire to do so, can still make a donation of their time by giving their commission, but some will wish to earn something in this way to help pay living expenses, and some will doubtless be glad of the opportunity to assist the mission-school work, and at the same time earn something to put into other branches of the cause. This they can do by engaging in the sale of “The Story of Joseph.”
The books can be obtained from the tract societies the same as other supplies. Those who are selling other books can include a few copies of “The Story of Joseph” when they are sending in their orders.
We believe that many thousands of these books can be sold, and that they will be sold in the near future. Women and children can engage in the sale of this book near their own homes; old persons, too feeble to travel any great distance, can sell the book to their friends and neighbors. It sells very rapidly, and almost every one who sees it wants a copy. This is certain to be the case in families where there are children; and remember that every penny of profit derived from the sale of this book, is used in helping to carry on the mission-school work among the colored people in the South.
The Southern Missionary Society ought to receive from this source alone hundreds of dollars during the present year. Indeed there is no reason why hundreds of thousands of the book might not be sold within a few months.
Remember that the book should be ordered through your tract society, just the same as other subscription books.
C. P. BOLLMAN, Secretary S. M. S.

Colorado

By G. W. Anglebarger

DENVER.—We are glad to be able to report that the work is moving forward in this city. The church is growing not only in numbers, but in spiritual life. We are planning to enter upon an earnest missionary campaign, during which we expect to place the printed message in some form in every home in this city of one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants.
As a preparation for the work which we naturally expect will be needed as a result of this colporteur work, we organized a class for Bible study about ten weeks ago, with eleven members. At this writing there are nearly one hundred members, besides a goodly number of strangers who attend quite regularly each week, and seem deeply interested. While we are studying each point of this grand old message carefully, we have also endeavored to make the drills so practical that the members of the class will be able not only to receive the instruction, but to give it to others. In following this plan we find that our own people greatly enjoy studying the blessed truths for themselves, and as their hearts are thus filled, they have a real desire and determination to speak to others from the abundance of the good things which they know for themselves. Some of the members have already been giving readings to those not of our faith with good results. G. W. ANGLEBARGER.

Summary of Canvassing Work for December, 1905

AGENTS HOURS ORDERS VALUE
Atlantic Union Conference
Central New England 8 458 155 $ 519.45
Chesapeake 1 114 22 76.60
Eastern Pennsylvania 6 379 67 286.75
Greater New York 4 48 92 229.25
Maine 4 107 40 111.11
New Jersey
New York 11 561 196 395.07
Southern New England 5 301 113 277.50
Vermont 2 60 49 63.25
Virginia 3 256 161 204.50
Western Pennsylvania 11 375 289 550.37
West Virginia 4 275 154 280.19
Total 59 2,934 1,438 $ 2,994.04
Canadian Union Conference
Total 14 141 $ 102.75
Lake Union Conference
East Michigan 2 96 $ 46.00
Indiana
Northern Illinois
North Michigan 5 200 46 205.05
Ohio 17 200 177 575.75
Southern Illinois 3 116 132 311.95
West Michigan 5 46 43 63.85
Wisconsin 3 62 54.80
Total 35 720 398 $ 1,527.40
Southern Union Conference
Alabama 2 62 $ 39.05
Cumberland 10 414 215.00
Florida 5 124 113.20
Georgia 6 60 78.85
Louisiana 2 92 98.00
Mississippi
North Carolina 7 384 137.10
South Carolina 8 614 303.40
Tennessee River 18 731 606.60
Total 58 2,481 $ 1,591.20
Northern Union Conference
Alberta
Manitoba
Minnesota 8 249 111 $ 161.60
North Dakota
South Dakota 11 572 90 387.39
Total 19 821 101 $ 548.99
Central Union Conference
Colorado
Iowa 19 309 177 $ 180.00
Kansas 13 606 126 396.45
Missouri 3 19 8 281.40
Nebraska
Total 35 934 311 $ 857.85
Southwestern Union Conference
Arkansas
Oklahoma 4 62 106 $ 46.20
Texas 13 646 262 730.55
Total 17 708 368 $ 776.75
Pacific Union Conference
Arizona
British Columbia
California-Nevada 17 302 322 $ 747.92
Montana
Southern California
Upper Columbia
Utah
Western Oregon 1 7 3 2.00
Western Washington 3 54 42 72.75
Total 21 363 367 $ 822.67
1Australasian Union Conference
Victoria 12 887 358 $ 1,559.62
South Australia 13 978 357 1,014.25
Queensland 8 210 73 424.37
New South Wales 21 1,220 366 1,311.81
West Australia 6 572 114 526.12
New Zealand 19 1,017 298 1,168.62
Tasmania 4 449 156 859.25
North Queensland Mission 2 249 127 410.12
Singapore Mission 1 155 92 289.00
Total 86 5,737 1,941 $ 7,563.16
General Summary
Atlantic Union Conference 59 2,934 1,438 $ 2,994.04
Canadian Union Conference 14 141 102.75
Lake Union Conference 35 720 398 1,527.40
Southern Union Conference 58 2,481 1,591.20
Northern Union Conference 19 821 101 548.99
Central Union Conference 35 934 311 857.85
Southwestern Union Conference 17 708 368 776.75
Pacific Union Conference 21 363 367 822.67
*Australasian Union Conference 86 5,737 1,941 7,563.16
Grand Total 344 14,839 4,924 $16,784.81

Publishing Department Notes

By E. R. Palmer

THE general agent of the Australasian Union Conference writes that he considers the biggest end of the publishing work is in the field, therefore he stays in the field with his men most of the time.
The summary for December is not so large as it was for November, but it is quite as good as might naturally be expected in view of the fact that nearly all the agents were engaged during a large part of the month in making their Christmas deliveries.
It is gratifying to see such excellent, complete reports from the Atlantic and Southern Union Conferences. These are undoubtedly the two hardest territories to work, and yet they seem to be taking the lead. This evidently results from a thorough organization of the field work.
Good news comes to us from the bookmen's convention, held in Kansas City, beginning January 13. A large number of able leaders in the canvassing work were present. We understand that these men enthusiastically adopted plans for publishing our large books in three bindings, full information concerning which will be given by publishers in their respective parts of the field.
We feel sure that much good will come from the decision of our leading bookmen in the western part of the United States to concentrate their efforts for the season upon one or two large books, instead of scattering their efforts over a large number at one time. By this move the State agents and canvassers can work together to a definite end, and do a much better work. The book upon which special effort will be made this season is “Great Controversy.”
A thoroughly maintained reporting system is one of the vital means by which leaders in the publishing work can know the situation in their territory, and thus be able to put forth efforts intelligently. It is stated on good authority that the chief advantage of the Japanese in their recent war with Russia was due to their perfect means of communication with every detail of their widely scattered forces. They maintained such a perfect telephone system that the generals were in constant touch with every factor in the great campaign.
This is the season at the very beginning of the year for training workers for the spring, summer, and fall campaigns; this is the time for holding canvassers' institutes, for coming into intimate touch with the faculties of all our schools and the students under them; this is the time for holding on to every agent if possible so as to carry him successfully over from the last year's work to this year. The summary indicates that a large number of agents were held steadily at their work during the cold December weather. Can we not hold on steadily through the next two months, and then recruit a large number of additional workers from our schools, and conventions, and private enlistings among the churches?
E. R. PALMER, Sec. Gen. Conf. Publishing Dept.

Hearing on the District Sunday Bill

By L. A. S.

A HEARING on this bill, which was brought before the present Congress by Representative Allen, of Maine, and was referred to the commissioners of the District of Columbia, was granted by the commissioners February 8. The nature of this bill has been already set before the readers of the REVIEW.
The hearing took the form of alternate speeches of five minutes each, for and against the measure.
The Rev. R. H. McKim, who led in the recent effort to introduce religious teaching in the public schools of the District of Columbia, was the first speaker in favor of the bill. He said the bill originated in the Churchmen’s League, an Episcopal organization of the District, and that the bill expressed the mind of the Episcopal church. He said it did not interfere with any man’s conscience, and aimed to protect the laborer, and to protect the public against making Sunday a day of traffic. He referred to the Sunday laws of the States, and said the District of Columbia ought not to be an exception in the matter of Sunday legislation. It is three hundred years too late, he went on, to object to Sunday laws, for “we took over the observance of Sunday with the rest of our Christian morality when we settled this country three hundred years ago.” He cited the Supreme Court decision that “this is a ‘Christian nation.’” Sunday laws were, he declared, on the same plane with laws against polygamy. He spoke of Sunday as the “Lord’s day.”
Dr. McKim’s time having expired, the opponents of the bill were called for, and immediately a man jumped to his feet, claiming to represent the Master Butchers’ Association, and saying that he opposed the bill because of its exemption clause for observers of the seventh day. That is, he was so strongly in favor of Sunday legislation that he opposed any exemption for any one. The presiding commissioner, Mr. McFarland, reminded the speaker that his speech was not in order as not being in opposition to the substance of the bill, but the latter persisted, and was allowed to occupy five minutes in an argument for a more rigid Sunday bill than the one under consideration. These two speeches very plainly revealed the religious animus that was back of the proposed legislation.
The opponents of the bill were then allowed ten minutes. The first opposing speaker was Gen. William Birney, a long-known resident of Washington, who set forth that the bill was not properly constructed. Mr. Birney proceeded to declare that the bill was aimed at the Seventh-day Adventists, and referred to the prosecutions suffered by seventh-day observers under Sunday laws, their punishment in the chain-gang, etc.
Following General Birney, Elder K. C. Russell spoke against the bill as being religious legislation. The bill, he said, mentions the driving of dirt carts and other work on Sunday, but the offense alleged from such work is not felt by people on Monday or any other day of the week except the first; hence it is plain that the feeling created is not on account of the nature of the work, but of the nature of the day when it is done. He stated that he had never known a seventh-day observer to be offended or disturbed by traffic on the seventh day. He was not opposed to Sabbath observance, but to Sabbath legislation. Sunday legislation means enforced idleness, which breeds dissipation and crime. Elder Russell quoted statements from Mr. Evarts and Dr. Barnes, both advocates of Sunday, declaring that Sunday as a mere rest day, apart from religion and worship, was of no benefit, and would better be a day of labor.
The Rev. Mr. Nicholson, of the Methodist Preachers’ League of the District, spoke next in favor of the bill. His speech was in substance a repetition of previous arguments, claiming that the bill was not a religious measure, and that any possible religious scruples were provided for by the exemption.
Elder W. W. Prescott followed. He called attention to the fact that while most of the States have Sunday laws, the national government has not yet committed itself to Sunday legislation, which it is asked to do by this bill. In the national government church and state have been kept separate, and the example of the United States in this respect has affected the whole world. In Russia, the czar has recently issued a rescript granting religious freedom. France has abolished the concordat, which had bound the nation to the Catholic Church since 1801. In England, there is a reaction against the despotism of the education act. Should the United States now turn into the pathway of religious legislation, its flag of freedom would be lowered, and the whole world would be turned back from the path of liberty. This government ought not to set such an example before the nations.
Next followed the Rev. Dr. Butler, Lutheran minister, who said, “We stand for the fourth commandment.” He did not, however, quote the commandment. Dr. Butler repeated the argument about protecting labor and the wrong of imposing too much labor on the people, and said Sunday laws were sustained by “overwhelming sentiment” on the part of the public.
Mrs. Margaret Dye Ellis, representing the W. C. T. U., followed. She spoke of Sunday observance as a legacy received from the forefathers of the present generation, and argued for the bill on the ground that such a law in the District of Columbia would be a guide to the people of the nation.
Rev. A. H. Lewis, Seventh-day Baptist, spoke of the Sunday mail reports of 1829-30, in which Congress had fully considered and settled the question of the right of Congress to legislate for Sunday observance. The bill, he said further, creates a crime out of that which is not criminal in itself nor a crime on six days out of the week. He spoke of it as a religious measure. The trouble is, he declared, that for the past half century Sunday observance has been on the decline because the support of religious conviction was failing it, and now the clergy were trying to bolster up by law this institution which has lost its support in the consciences of the people.
The Rev. Mr. Price, M. E. clergyman, spoke in support of the bill as being merely municipal legislation and a measure demanded by the poor laboring men. After him, Rabbi Simon opposed the bill as a measure not needed by the working men, calling attention to the fact that the laboring men are strongly organized and quite able to take care of themselves. The inheritance from our forefathers, he said, was the Puritanic Sunday, which popular sentiment was now against. The solicitude for the poor laboring men, he said, did not harmonize with the purpose of this bill to prohibit the children from playing games and obtaining recreation on Sunday. The bill exempts railroads; why is this? he asked. Why also allow the sale of tobacco and prohibit the sale of dry goods? Rabbi Simon spoke as one who sensed the hypocrisy of this “Christian” measure and of the “Christian” arguments in its support.
Mr. Manning, representing the Retail Clerks’ Association, favored the bill, although it was not, he said, such a measure as they wanted. He made an argument on the bad effects of continuous labor without a day of rest. He said relief had been sought by legislation and by private agreement for Sunday rest, but very little assistance had been received from the public in the effort for legislation, thus contradicting the idea that public sentiment was overwhelmingly for such legislation. If the merchants, he said, would get together and settle the question by agreement in a reasonable way, there would be little need for the proposed bill. Commissioner West questioned the speaker regarding the size of the organization for which he spoke, and the progress made toward a settlement of the Sunday rest question by agreement between the union and employers; in reply to which Mr. Manning stated that the membership of his association embraced about three hundred clerks, and that few of these now work on Sunday, but prior to organizing nearly all of them did Sunday work.
The whole number of clerks in the District, Mr. Manning stated, was about four thousand. The commissioner inquired if the end of possible progress toward elimination of Sunday work through organization had now been reached, so that legislation was now desired, and was answered by Mr. Manning in the affirmative. The commissioner regretted that no laboring men’s association was represented at the hearing.
Elder W. A. Colcord said it was evident from the discord over this measure that it would be against one essential purpose of government as provided in the Constitution, which was to promote “domestic tranquillity.” Elder Colcord spoke against the bill on the ground of its character as a religious measure.
Mr. C. A. Ford, representing a clerks’ association, favored the bill, and alleged that where grocer’s clerks refuse to work on Sunday they can not hold their position. If grocery clerks were Seventh-day Adventists, he said, they could not serve God, because they were compelled to work on the Sabbath.
The hearing occupied about an hour’s time, and the presiding commissioner announced that further consideration would be given to arguments on the bill addressed to the commissioners by letter, before the report of the commissioners was made to Congress. L. A. S.

Aggressive Work

By D. W. Reavis

In all the contests of human affairs there are two common methods of procedure—the aggressive and the defensive. The aggressive method evidences foresight, thought, and preparation. The defensive method suggests weakness, or at least limited present resources. The characters of the contesting parties are manifest in the methods generally followed in accomplishing their purposes. When a keen conception of the honesty and righteousness of a cause finds deep development in the human heart, a mere defensive procedure in the interests of that cause would be antagonistic to the nature implanted in man. The first traces of a tendency to a defensive policy are positive evidences of a decline of faith in, and consecration to, the cause espoused.
In the very beginning of the affairs of this world, the author of offense, and the designer of its defense, came to one of the loveliest and fairest of God's aggressive and glorious works, clothed in the image of a beautiful and fascinating creature, to defend his perversion of the law of love and liberty, the foundation of divine government. Eve failed and fell because she ceased to be aggressive in following the purposes of God in her privileged duties. When she ceased to follow God's plan, she could not withstand even the power of an enemy who was operating in the defense of open rebellion against the law of her own being. Her failure came as the result of ceasing her aggressive work. This first departure weakened her to the extent that she could not withstand the allurements of Satan's sophistry. Her case should serve as an example to those to whom a special work is assigned for this generation. They should not cease their aggressive work, and thereby allow the tares to be sown, to spring up, and choke the grain of truth, and force them thereafter to a defensive effort in destroying evil, instead of bountifully sowing the seeds of truth.
God's methods ever were, and always will be, those of earnest, unceasing aggression. But few times in the experiences of his people has been commanded them to stand still, and in each of these instances provision had been made for a special manifestation of his power. When Abraham left his house in obedience to God's command, nothing could turn him from his course. When Noah built the ark, though years were required to complete it, he did not cease his efforts nor become a commercial ship-builder for unbelievers. When Jonah went to warn Nineveh, God made a spectacle of his vacillating course, that the world might know his messages could not be thwarted by the unfaithfulness of man. When John the Baptist was sent to be a herald of Christ, all the prevailing allurements about him could not turn him aside from the message committed to him. The child Christ, when accounting to his parents for his separation from them at the feast, annunciated a divine principle that should actuate all his followers, when he said, “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?” When he was about to finish his work in the flesh at a time when some of his disciples began to doubt, a time symbolizing our day, he came to them in the mountain whither he had sent them with the following reassurance and commission that was to apply to every follower of his to the end of the conflict: “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations.” He did not commission us in a defensive, but an aggressive work. Ours is a work of teaching the people the vitalizing principles of the whole message for this time. We can not acceptably serve under heaven's high commission through a half-hearted, indifferent, defensive policy. We must of necessity, on account of the strenuousness of the times in which we live, be “instant in season, out of season,” constantly on the alert, grasping the situations as they arise, and making them count to the best advantage for the advancement of the Master's kingdom.
In view of the dangers which threaten us and the striking evidences of the coming crisis, is it not evident to all that the time has fully come for earnest, aggressive work against approaching and new-established error, that the honest in heart may be saved? While it is true that we are far advanced in one of the most complicated crises associated with the closing events of this world's history, if those to whom God has committed his truth would awaken to the importance of the time, and use the opportunities all about them, the year 1906 would prove to be one of the most favorable in results ever known to this people. Never was there a time so productive in openings for effectual aggressive work. The harvest is fully ripe, and he who desires to bountifully reap may find ample opportunity all about him—in fact, first of all, within himself; for we firmly believe the first and greatest need of believers in this day is an individual conception of the importance of the hour, and a physical, mental, and moral preparation to meet it. We suggest, therefore, individual preparation as the first and most essential line of aggressive work. This preparation can be secured through study and work. We become strong in actual service.
Following individual preparation, we consider the consecration of means and a liberal financial support of the Lord's work as the next essential in providing for aggressive advancement of the gospel of the kingdom in the earth. No business can be aggressive without ample financial support. The greatness and importance of the business measures the financial requirements. The message for this time has no equal in importance; and if we are to render it aggressive, we must contribute to it in proportion to its importance. The Lord is not dependent upon men for the support of his work, for all the gold and silver are his; but he gives his followers the privilege together with the blessing ever associated with giving back to him of his own. The spirit of giving manifested in a man is a true index of his appreciation of the value of God's gifts to him. It is the gospel thermometer of the heart, the measure of faith.
The admonition to Timothy was, “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” We do not claim that “the dividing of truth” here mentioned applies solely to distributing the truth to others; but the lives of Paul and Timothy furnish us good examples worthy of imitation in the circulating of the truth in the then most modern and improved methods. If Paul had lived in our day, he would have had car-loads of literature on land, and ship-loads of it on the high seas. Ought we to be doing less in this far more important time? We are not doing a hundredth part of this kind of work we ought to be doing, for this is distinctly a reading age. People in nearly every country on the face of the globe are more influenced by what they read than by all other sources of information combined.
To illustrate the influence and power of our literature, we cite the complete defeat of a very promising crusade for better Sunday observance in Lincoln, Neb., last October. A few workers with our four little religious liberty tracts in a short time silenced one of the strongest Sunday reformers in the West, and completely spoiled the city for his kind of work. If this literature has the power to so perfectly defeat a local attack, ought it not to be systematically and aggressively circulated under more favorable circumstances? Would it not be more in keeping with our commission to be aggressive in our efforts with it, and not to wait until an attack is made, and we are forced to a defensive effort? Let us be at least as wise as men of the world, who “in time of peace prepare for war.”
There is a wonderful field open to wise, tactful, aggressive work in connection with the meetings of the various organizations, such as the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Christian Endeavor Society, Epworth League, temperance societies, etc. We are not to hold ourselves aloof from the associations of the people. We are not to meet with them to partake of their ways, customs, and practises, but to encourage them in what they are doing that is right, and, by inspired modesty, tact, and skill, to help the honest to see and to maintain right principles. We have too long held ourselves in reserve in connection with the work of temperance people. We believe in temperance; we practise temperance, and ought to be positive factors in all local temperance organizations, co-operating with them against the evils of intemperance in every legitimate and lawful way. In all these meetings and associations we should be able to say with Paul: “For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; to them that are without law, as without law (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ), that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.”
There is another effective method of aggressive work almost entirely unemployed, which if used by prudent and competent persons would be a great factor in educating the public mind in right principles in matters pertaining to religious liberty and the proper sphere of the church and the state. We refer to prepared articles for the press. These may be original, or compiled from appropriate matter selected from our large stock of literature. It is not a very difficult matter for those of mature judgment to adapt good general matter to the needs of local issues; yet the need of this kind of work at this time is very great.
Personal letters properly written to any one, especially to members of legislatures and prominent men in all professions, are accessible resources of almost unlimited power. The writer had a dream not long since in which it seemed all the children and youth in the community were taking instruction in penmanship and letter-writing. Their teacher appeared to be an angel; but crouching behind each pupil were two little demons availing themselves of every opportunity to prevent development of the pupils. The lesson taught in this scene was that Satan recognizes the power of the pen, and is constantly working to prevent its effectiveness in the giving of the message for this time.
The admonition in the Scripture, “Ask, and ye shall receive,” applies to our petitions to men as well as to God; and we shall have frequent occasions to comply with the instruction of this scripture in petition work. If we make use of our privilege of petition, the word of the Lord, “Ye shall receive,” will be fulfilled to us as surely as we do the work. There are two desirable results accomplished in the petition work. First, it is effective with lawmakers, and second, it binds the petitioners to the principles for which the petition stands. The simple act of attaching his name to a petition intuitively commits that person to the cause for which petition was made. He is far more liable to study into the matter after signing a petition favoring it than he was before he signed. The petition work, therefore, is effectual in that it combines both defensive and aggressive methods of work.
In all human efforts of any lawful work, the most aggressive line, the one that will the quickest yield the most abundant and lasting results, is that of constantly petitioning the throne of God to hold the four winds of heaven until the servants of God are sealed, and to quicken our perceptions of the needs of the hour, and the priceless value of souls. D. W. REAVIS.
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