Earlier text: Create a Pleasant AtmosphereTHROUGHOUT the annual report of the London Missionary Society the success of their medical missionary work in China is constantly emphasized. Dr. Fahmy, of Chiang Chiu, reports that the majority of those who eventually become church adherents in his district were favorably impressed while under treatment in the hospital, especially as indoor patients. TWO members of the China Inland Mission staff were recently murdered in Chen-Chanfu, in the long-hostile province of Hunan. It is not thought that these murders are evidence of any general anti-foreign or anti-missionary movement. The directors of the mission at Shanghai believe the murders to be the result of an epidemic of cholera in the district, for which the foreigners have been held responsible. This is one of the most recently opened stations of the mission, work there having been begun just before the Boxer uprising. It was then temporarily abandoned, and the murdered men had only recently resumed work in that place. FROM the annual survey of the mission work of the American Board we cull the following significant facts concerning the importance of entering China now: “It is the time for missionary societies to put forth their greatest efforts, to employ their best men, and to seize and effectually occupy strategic points in China. Money and men are wisely massed to meet an emergency like this. A year now is worth a score of years like those which have just gone. They will march the farthest and win the greatest victory who begin their march soonest, and put their best forces into the march.” THE annual expenditures in the United States for various objects run on the following scale: foreign missions, $5,000,000; home missions, $12,000,000; church expenses, $125,000,000; dress, $250,000,000; jewelry, $450,000,000; tobacco, $600,000,000; liquor, $1,200,000,000. IN Porto Rico the Methodists have seven missionaries, the Presbyterians four, and the Episcopalians three. Besides these, six other Protestant churches have representatives in this island. DURING the ninety years of missionary operations of the American Board twenty missions have been planted, in which there are five hundred and twenty-four churches, with a membership of fifty-six thousand. They have sixteen collegiate institutions for both boys and girls, with about sixty-one thousand pupils enrolled in their mission schools. The missionaries are assisted by thirty-five hundred native pastors, preachers, teachers, and Bible readers, who are engaged in the work of education and evangelization. South Africa
By E. B. GASKILL
CAPETOWN.—Mrs. Gaskill and I recently spent a few weeks in Kimberley, and the change did us both good. Peace, as you know, was proclaimed here on the first of last June; and since our return from Kimberley the Boer prisoners of war that had been sent to the prison camps in India, Bermuda, Ceylon, and St. Helena have been coming home. This gives us an excellent opportunity to place our literature in their hands as they pass through Capetown. I have been doing what I could, and have distributed thousands of papers and pages of tracts among them. When I consider the conditions of the country, with martial law in full force so long, I can but thank the Lord for the many favors and privileges which the authorities have granted me, which have greatly helped us in our work here. I have always been able to get from the authorities what I have asked for, even being allowed to go among the prisoners to distribute literature. We are very thankful that the Lord sent us here, and for the many experiences we have had during our stay, which has been anything but monotonous, one event following another in quick succession. E. B. GASKILL. At the last General Conference it was recommended that I make Illinois my field of labor. In harmony with that recommendation I came to this State, and began laboring in the southern part of it, in company with Brother Charles Thompson. My first summer’s work was at Mt. Erie, where Brother Thompson and I held a series of tent meetings. The Lord blessed our efforts there, and some dear souls were brought to see the present truth, and by God’s Spirit were impressed to accept it. In the latter part of last winter and in the early part of last spring, my time was spent in the second campaign for “Christ’s Object Lessons.” The Lord blessed my efforts in that work, and I gained some rich experiences while canvassing for that wonderful book. I canvassed mostly ministers, doctors, and business men, in the cities of Decatur, Springfield, Peoria, and Bloomington. I have received many testimonials, mostly from ministers, highly recommending the book, and wishing me much success in placing it in the homes of the people. June 18, 1902, Brother Victor Thompson and I pitched a tent at Loami, and held meetings for eight weeks. The Lord blessed our efforts, and a goodly number accepted the truth. I next attended the camp meeting held at Springfield, August 28 to September 7. My family came from Battle Creek, Mich., to attend the camp meeting; and after the meeting was over, I located my family in the city of Springfield, as the church there engaged Mrs. Huffman to teach the church school. Since the camp meeting I have labored at Springfield, Loami, Bloomington, Peoria, Petersburg, Lewistown, and Tallula. The Lord blessed, and good meetings were held at all these places. At Loami we organized a Sabbath school with a full corps of officers. We also organized the believers there into a company, and appointed Brother Henry Calliar as leader, and Sister George Turner clerk and treasurer. One good characteristic of the little company at Loami is that they seem anxious to learn the way, and are rejoicing in the light. Tobacco, tea, coffee, and swine’s flesh have been discarded by nearly every one, and we have reason to hope that those who have not yet laid aside these unnecessary things, yea, these hurtful things, will soon do so. The company are in harmony with the tithing system, and are returning to the Lord his own. At Peoria I found Brother and Sister Craig treating the sick. They have all they can do, and the Lord is surely blessing their efforts. I baptized three dear souls while there. The Lord greatly blessed in our meetings at Lewistown. Little prejudice existed there, and that little is giving way, and a more lenient feeling toward our people is taking possession of the public, for which we praise the Lord. The Christian people kindly granted us the use of their house in which to preach on Sunday forenoon and evening. We had a splendid hearing at both services, and are sure that a good impression was left on the minds of the people. We held the quarterly meeting with the Lewistown church. I spoke once at Petersburg in the Baptist church to a good congregation of attentive listeners. We have one faithful sister in that town. We hope sometime to see the truth preached in Petersburg, and a good company of believers raised up there. I am now at Tallula, and the Baptists have kindly offered us their beautiful church in which to hold our meetings. Heretofore all efforts to get a church in Tallula in which to preach have been fruitless. Many tell us that they will attend our meetings. My courage in the third angel’s message was never better, and I do praise my Heavenly Father for the blessed privilege he grants me in having some humble part in his work. May God help us all to proclaim the glorious message for to-day, and thus hasten the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to take his children home. SIMULTALA, BENGAL.—I have lately returned from a three months' tour, collecting funds for the mission and selling and distributing literature. I spent much of July in visiting the Boer prisoners in the camps of northern India. I circulated a number of our Dutch papers among them. The work here is going forward steadily, by God's help and blessing. There are many sick all around us. I am unable to do as much for them as I would like, owing to my limited medical knowledge. We could treat hundreds of villagers monthly if we had a medical missionary. I have to send the difficult cases to the next mission station, sixteen miles from here, conducted by a doctor and his wife of the Free Church of Scotland. Quite a number of poor sick women are waiting for my wife to visit them, but at present she is not able to do this, on account of her health. We need the help of a medical missionary, as such work wins the people quicker than anything else, except the pure, simple gospel message of full, free salvation; and these two together go well—preaching the gospel and healing the sick. Please remember us in prayer. We thank the American brethren for all the practical help given since we started. W. A. BARLOW. British Columbia
By O. E. Davis
I ARRIVED IN VANCOUVER, June 13, 1902, just in time to attend a general meeting for the purpose of considering plans for the summer's work. Prior to this time the province of British Columbia had been set apart as a missionary field, with Brother J. L. Wilson as superintendent. The British Columbia Tract Society was organized at this meeting. As the laborers went into the field there were only two licensed ministers, and two or three Bible workers. There were only two tent companies, one of which Brother Wilson and I joined. Our tent was pitched at Ladner, on the Fraser River, in the fertile valley of Delta. The people with whom we labored were mostly of English descent, firmly rooted in the idea that Sunday is the Sabbath, and satisfied with their church. But at the close of these efforts, as the workers came together and gave in their reports, we found that several souls had started in the straight and narrow path that leads to life everlasting, and many more are earnestly considering the principles that have been set before them. Only eternity can tell what the harvest will be. September 11 the workers assembled at Vancouver to attend the first camp meeting held in this province, and to organize the British Columbia Conference. While the camp meeting was very small compared with some of our Eastern meetings, yet the amount of work done at this meeting was wonderful; not because man did anything, but because the people yielded to the Spirit of God, and came forward with a hearty response when money was called for to carry on the work in the closing scenes of the third angel's message. Since June 1 the British Columbia Conference and the British Columbia Tract Society have been organized, two large tents have been purchased, a suite of bath rooms has been equipped in Vancouver, and a large tract of land has been secured near New Westminster for an industrial school, many incidental expenses have been met, and the work moves forward with no debts trailing in the rear. At the close of the meeting the workers were assigned their various fields of labor, and soon took their departure for the same; mine being that of Port Simpson, an Indian town, nearly seven hundred miles north of Vancouver. This is certainly one of the tribes of the world to whom the gospel must be preached. Many of these people are quite clever and industrious. The work for the Indian and the Eskimo has scarcely been touched. As the angel of mercy is18 soon to take its flight from this earth never to return, is it not high time that we give these people more of our time and assistance, that they too may join in the victor's song? Who will say, "Here am I; send me"? The California Camp Meeting
By A. T. Jones; M. H. Brown
The camp meeting and conference at Fresno, September 30 to October 12, proved to be a missionary meeting throughout. From the president's address at the beginning, until the second ordination service at the very close of the meeting, the keynote was, “Foreign fields,” “The gospel in all the world as a witness to all nations, that the end may come.” The detailed report of the proceedings will show this more fully. Space will be taken here only to state that eighteen of the workers of the California Conference accepted the call to other fields. Five thousand dollars, and at least thirteen and one-third per cent of the income of the conference in the coming year, and the support of every worker of the conference sent by the conference to foreign fields, was unanimously voted by the whole congregation. About one hundred and ninety dollars was freely donated by those present from their own pockets to send a 40 x 60 foot tent to Elder Andross in England. More than a hundred dollars was donated in a Sunday afternoon collection for the work in the South; and nearly seven hundred dollars was given to the Material Fund of “Christ’s Object Lessons.” In other words, all calls and donations were for the general work, none for the local. The following-named workers go abroad: Brother and Sister J. S. Harmon, to Ontario; Brother and Sister Shaeffer, and Brother Douglas, to the South; Brother and Sister McCord, Brother and Sister Castle, and Brother Walter Halliday, to England; Brother and Sister Albrecht, to Germany; Brethren Walter and Frank Bond, to England, on the way to Spain; Brother A. S. Marchus, to England, on the way to Natal, South Africa; Brother F. Dewitt Gauterau, to France; Brother D. A. Parsons, to Ireland; and Dr. Keem to China. Brethren McCord, Douglas, Gauterau, Parsons, and Shaeffer, were ordained to the gospel ministry, unto which they go forth. With such a spirit prevailing throughout, it was only the sure consequence that the meeting should be unanimously pronounced by those present the best that they ever attended. There were present persons who had attended twenty-four annual camp meetings in different parts of the country, and these, with praise and thanksgiving, declared this meeting to be the best they ever attended. It was remarked that this was the smallest State camp meeting that had been held in California for many years. This is doubtless true as to actual numbers; but measured by its missionary results, it was certainly by far the largest camp meeting ever held in California, if not the largest ever held in the world. At the session of the State Conference, which was held in connection with the camp meeting, the following resolutions were adopted:—
That the conference committee be made up largely of men of apostolic character and experience. That the board of directors of the California Conference Association be made up of the men best qualified to do the deacons’ work of the conference. That the conference committee be advised to refer to the directors of the association those parts of the conference work which naturally belong to the deacons. We recommend that suitable homes be purchased for aged and infirm ministers, the value and location of each home to be mutually agreed upon between the conference and the minister interested. That our people in this conference be invited to contribute regularly for the erection and maintenance of a fund called the “Ministers’ Fund.” That this fund be available for use in two ways in aiding such ministers: (1) in the purchase of homes for them; (2) in paying for treatment and care at the sanitarium when they are sick and in need of such help, it being understood that the sanitarium will share with the conference in such expense. That the necessities of these ministers and those dependent upon them shall be met from the tithe, the same as other conference workers. That our people in this conference be invited to contribute to a Sanitarium Treatment Fund, to aid the sick and worthy poor among us to secure treatment at our sanitarium. The California Sabbath-school Association maintained an “endowed bed” for years from its surplus funds, but now that money all goes for missions. It proved a great blessing to many, and the plan now recommended, if adopted and supported, will revive this blessing, and accomplish great good. Inasmuch as Christian education is the one essential for our children, and the providing for the same is one of the first duties of the church; and,— Inasmuch as a proper financial support of our church schools is necessary, that the best results may be attained, and as there is at this time no definite general plan for the support of the church schools, and as a result many churches have not yet availed themselves of this means of grace,— We recommend to the prayerful consideration of our people in this conference the advisability of paying a second tithe for the support of the church schools and other financial needs in our churches. Whereas, There is a great call for earnest and consecrated workers, both in our institutions and in many new fields,— We recommend, That we as a people put forth extra efforts in getting our young people interested in the different lines of educational work that are being carried on for the development of efficient workers at St. Helena Sanitarium, at Healdsburg College, at the Pacific Press, at the Sanitarium Food Company, and at the Vegetarian Café in San Francisco, and that we heartily co-operate with these institutions with our prayers and the use of our best judgment in the selection of suitable young people to take up these different lines of work. Whereas, There is a great need of an opening being made for medical missionary work in Arizona, and Elder Webster has recently asked for financial assistance in developing the work in that field, and also for a consecrated physician suggesting the name of Dr. E. C. Bond, formerly of this part of the State; and,— Whereas, The Pacific Union Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association has recommended that Dr. E. C. Bond answer this call from Arizona,— We recommend, That our people donate liberally to the establishment of this branch of the work in Arizona, and extend their earnest prayers for God’s blessing to rest upon the efforts that are put forth in this direction. That missionary conventions for the purpose of familiarizing our people with the details of missionary work be encouraged. That careful, systematic efforts be made thoroughly to develop the interest awakened by the circulation of “Christ’s Object Lessons.” That every Seventh-day Adventist family be encouraged to subscribe for a few copies of The Signs of the Times and of The Pacific Health Journal, with which to do missionary work around home. Whereas, There has been established at what has heretofore been known as Crystal Springs a post office bearing the name of Sanitarium; therefore,— We recommend, That the name of the church at that place be changed from Crystal Springs to Sanitarium. We hereby instruct our conference officers to appropriate from the conference funds five thousand dollars for use by the General Conference in Europe. Also that, in addition to the first tithe that is now being paid to the Pacific Union Conference, and the second tithe for the support of the mission work, we will for the present year devote at least thirteen and one-third per cent of our tithe to the General Conference. And, further, that the California Conference support, as far as consistent with its work, every minister from this conference who is sent by it to foreign fields. That we pay the Pacific Press Publishing Company $2,460, more or less, advanced by it for the work in Australia, at the request of the California Conference Committee, about three years ago. The circumstances under which this money was advanced were explained by Brethren Knox and C. H. Jones. It was advanced at the urgent solicitation of Sister White, and used for the advancement of the cause in Australia when it was greatly needed. In view of the sad lessons taught us by denominational debts, and in view of the Bible injunction to “owe no man anything, but to love,”— It is the sentiment of the delegates here assembled that institutional and denominational debts are not Scriptural, but a curse; and that our conference and tract society officers are hereby advised not to involve the conference or the tract society in debt; and,— We also recommend the board of Healdsburg College in increasing its facilities or in establishing new industries to do so without incurring any debts. The following officers were elected:—
California Conference: President, A. T. Jones; Secretary, M. H. Brown; Missionary Secretary, A. J. Bourdeau; Sabbath-school Secretary, Mrs. Carrie R. King; State Canvassing Agent, A. S. Kellogg; Conference Executive Committee, A. T. Jones, I. O. Corliss, D. T. Fero, M. E. Cady, H. G. Thurston, medical superintendent St. Helena Sanitarium, C. H. Jones, A. S. Kellogg, and J. S.19 Osborne; Treasurer of Conference, Pacific Press Publishing Company; Auditor, J. J. Ireland, auditor Pacific Union Conference. Board of Directors of California Conference Association: M. H. Brown, E. A. Chapman, C. H. Jones, T. A. Kilgore, G. W. Mills, R. P. Gray, and E. G. Fulton. The secretary of the Sabbath-school department presented the following report:— Since our last annual report the California Conference has been divided, taking eight hundred from its membership, into what is known as the Southern California Conference. The number of schools at the present time is ninety-five, with a membership of 3,271. In addition to this number, there are 292 isolated Sabbath keepers, to whom we have written and sent lesson quarterlies. About fifty have responded to our letters, and these we count as members of our State Home department. The total amount of contributions for the year ending June 30, 1902, is $3,916.17. According to the reports received, the amount donated to missions is $1,583.65; to the care of orphans, $288.26. A. T. JONES, Pres.
M. H. BROWN, Sec. Sabbath-School and Missionary Convention
By George F. Enoch
At the council meeting held in Port of Spain in January, plans were adopted for the more rapid advancement of the work in our field. To this end two secretaries, with assistants, were chosen to have special charge of the Sabbath-school and the tract and missionary work. It was also decided to hold a convention as soon as possible, for the consideration of these two important branches of our work. That convention was held in Port of Spain, June 20–24, with Elder W. G. Kneeland in the chair. The different sessions were under the supervision of their respective secretaries, and the instruction from the Bible and the Testimonies will, if faithfully carried out, give a great impetus to the work in this field. Mrs. M. E. Kneeland, secretary of the Sabbath-school department, outlined the conditions and needs of our schools. Different Sabbath-school workers read very interesting papers, covering the several phases of the Sabbath-school work. After each paper there was a general discussion of the principles outlined. It was decided that whenever possible, branch Sabbath-schools should be established, and that the “Ingathering” service should be more fully considered, and started if practicable. In the tract and missionary work the principles underlying seed sowing were thoroughly studied. All joined in praising the Lord for the precious “seed baskets” (Ps. 126:6) he has provided this people, and we were encouraged to go forth into the field to scatter the precious seed, knowing that none shall return void, but in the harvest all shall return bearing their sheaves with them. The envelope system of doing tract work was specially discussed. Several of the companies in the island had already been working according to this plan, and every one testified of the blessings received from carrying it out. The experience meeting, where those who had been systematically doing this work were given an opportunity to tell their experiences, was one of the most interesting of the session. One of the most pressing needs of our field is a suitable place where we can train laborers for the Master’s vineyard. Our children should be in schools, where they can be taught the principles of the kingdom, but we must first have a training school. Surely in our ranks somewhere there are suitable teachers, and in the West Indies we have the necessary constituency. The one thing lacking is the money. All were rejoiced to know that we had been given the English edition of “Christ’s Object Lessons” at a very low price for our island field. As the first shipment of five hundred copies had already been received, each one decided to take his quota and go out and sell the books, and not to rest until our school was realized. Instruction in canvassing for the book was given by Brother Philip Porter, who has successfully sold many copies. On the Sunday night of the convention a most enthusiastic temperance meeting was held. Although it rained almost till the hour of meeting, our hall was well filled. At the close of the service seventy-two signed the teetotal pledge during the singing of inspiring temperance songs. All signed in the permanent book of the Port of Spain Temperance Society, also on cards with the pledge neatly printed, which each one kept for himself. The West Indies is the land of rum, and we are determined to wage a relentless warfare against King Alcohol, until many who are now his captives shall be rescued, and countless others saved from his toils. First Meeting of the Southern Illinois Conference
By Wm. Penniman
This meeting began on the evening of November 6, and closed on the evening of November 9. The recent rain, causing bad roads, hindered a good many from coming from a distance who intended to come by wagon roads. Some came by rail, and we had a good representation from East and Upper Alton. Meetings were held in the forenoon, afternoon, and evening. A good meeting does not consist in numbers, but in a humble and contrite spirit on the part of those who are present. Prejudice against the truth here is gradually wearing away, as those who had never before entered our doors, and some of the most intelligent and leading citizens of the town came out. A part of the time our congregations were quite large. The sermons were both practical and doctrinal, and the truth was presented in such a clear and forcible manner as to win the hearts of the people. The themes presented were fully abreast of the times. Elder Lane preached the truth with his usual power and freedom, so that not only the brethren were encouraged, but those not of our faith were anxious for more. He also took a broad view of the missionary field, showing how the missionaries of the different churches are paving the way for this gospel of the kingdom to be preached in all the world, and that must be done by reaching the masses instead of the classes. The truth must go into the highways among the wealthy and aristocratic as well as into the hedges among the poor. The Scripture says the isles shall wait for God’s law. Many of them already have it, and the hand of God was made plain in the Philippine Islands in opening the way for the truth by the Spanish War. Elder Charles Thompson, vice-president of the conference, presented the work of selling “Christ’s Object Lessons.” We trust that when the third quota of books is sent out, every member of the conference who possibly can will engage in the work, and thus have a part in the jubilee. A NEW church building has just been completed at Humboldt, Kan. AT Yazoo City, Miss., six have recently been baptized under the labors of Brother W. H. Sebastian. A TENT meeting at Campville, N. Y., conducted by Brother L. T. Nicola, has resulted thus far in bringing six adults to the observance of the Bible Sabbath. A LOT has been secured for a church building for the second church at Nashville, Tenn., and it is hoped to have the building completed by the end of the year. AT Kansas City, Kan., seven persons have accepted the truth, under the labors of Brethren Sydney Scott and S. S. Ryles, and a church of fourteen members has been organized. A CHURCH of fourteen members has recently been organized at Ridgefield, Wash., and another organization is in prospect at Etna, where already there is a flourishing Sabbath school. A TENT meeting for Germans was recently conducted in Brooklyn, N. Y., by Brother O. E. Reinke, with the result that six converts have been baptized, and three others are keeping the Sabbath, and will be baptized soon. BROTHER H. C. GRIFFIN reports from Fairview, Tex., where he has been holding meetings, that two confirmed tobacco users have discontinued the use of this weed, and with their wives have begun the observance of the Bible Sabbath. BROTHER C. F. McVAGH reports that a seven weeks’ tent effort at Scranton, Pa., has resulted in bringing six earnest souls into the truth, while others are left in a very hopeful condition. A number from Honesdale and Hawley have been baptized since the camp meeting in June. TWELVE persons were baptized at Joplin, Mo., the last week in October, and the company of believers there has been materially strengthened. A new church building is being erected, Brethren Cruzan and Ziegler working on the building during the day, while they hold evening meetings in a tent near by. A METHODIST minister and his wife have accepted the truth at Laurents, La., where Elder S. B. Horton has been conducting a tent meeting. An acre of ground has been given and funds have been pledged for the erection of a meeting house and church-school building. — Civil war is reported to prevail in Afghanistan. The brothers of the ameer have conspired to secure his overthrow. — Wednesday, November 19, was a national “day of penitence and prayer” in Germany. Newspaper work was suspended, and all the theaters were closed. — Severe cold weather is reported from France and Germany, and German meteorologists predict that the coming winter will be the hardest in many years. — A fuel famine is reported from the town of Greensburg, Kan., no coal being obtainable because all that is ordered is confiscated by the railroads. The residents have telegraphed to Governor Stanley for assistance. — Reports from Milford, Utah, state that an “extinct” volcano in the Wasatch Mountain range has broken out into activity, throwing out smoke, dust, and lava, accompanied by explosions that are heard at a distance of twenty miles. — Protestant ministers in Bayonne, N. J., have begun a crusade against Sunday baseball and football games in that city. Those against whom the movement is directed threaten to retaliate by stopping other forms of Sunday recreation. — The butchers’ association of New York City has brought its power and influence to bear to secure a strict enforcement of the Sunday law in their line of trade. The result is visible in the closed doors of butcher shops in the metropolis on Sunday. — Owing to an unprecedented freight blockade in Pittsburg, 60,000 men in that city are idle. Mills and shops are forced to close, and business is turned away because of the inability to secure raw material. A shortage of railway freight cars appears to be the chief cause of the trouble. — Horse flesh is being extensively used in Germany in the manufacture of sausages, and much of it is also sold for “beef,” owing to the scarcity and high price of the latter. Old and broken-down horses are imported from England and other countries, it is said, and are fattened to be sold for food. — Inhabitants of St. Vincent are reported as being in a desperate situation owing to the repeated eruptions of La Soufrière, which have affected almost every part of the island. The refugees have crowded into the southeastern end of the island, where there is a scarcity of water and much suffering for the necessaries of life. Something must be done, and no one can tell when the volcano will become permanently quiescent. — The United States is negotiating for the control of a strip of land at least three miles in width on each side of the Panama Canal route, and for control also of the cities of Panama and Colon, situated at the terminals of the route, in order to be able to enforce proper sanitary regulations during the construction of the canal. This concession to the United States is viewed with distrust on the isthmus, and for this reason the negotiations have been prolonged. — It is reported from Vienna that King Leopold of Belgium is suffering from mental aberration. — The Indian government has appropriated £1,500,000 for the relief of sufferers in India from drought and famine. — A monument was erected November 19 in Bartholomew County, Ind., to mark the location of the center of population in the United States. — It is believed that between 2,000 and 3,000 people lost their lives in the recent eruption of the Santa Maria volcano, in Guatemala. — A report from St. Petersburg states that two hundred persons perished in a conflagration which destroyed the trading town of Resht, Persia, recently. — Great suffering is reported to exist among the peasants in Finland, on account of a failure of crops, which were ruined by frosts and floods. Thousands of families, says a St. Petersburg paper, are suffering from starvation, and from diseases due to lack of food. — The Ministerial Alliance of Salt Lake City has begun a fight against the election of the Mormon, Reed Smoot, to the United States Senate. If he is chosen by the Utah Legislature, the ministers will, they say, draft a petition to Congress calling for his rejection by the members of that body. — A young lady in Peoria, Ill., recently took a quantity of a preparation guaranteed to produce a beautiful complexion, and died from its effects about a day later. A lady “magnetist and beauty specialist” of that city who had compounded the stuff and persuaded the victim to buy a bottle of it, is under arrest. Her “medicine” was found to be composed largely of arsenic. — A young man nineteen years of age was arrested at Winamac, Ind., for stealing, and at his trial it was discovered that he had made arrangements for being caught in the act, in order that he might be sent to jail, where he would have opportunity to learn a trade. He explained that the rules of the labor unions shut him out whenever he applied for work, and he could get employment only in the streets or on a farm. — Anti-Catholics in Great Britain are making an effort to have the Jesuits and priests of other Catholic orders expelled from that country, under a law passed in the reign of George IV, which decreed that any person in the kingdom of Great Britain who should become a Jesuit or member of any other like religious order should, upon conviction, be banished “for the term of his natural life.” — Some hope of the dawning of a brighter day for Russia comes with the announcement that M. Pobiedonosteff, the procurator-general of the Holy Synod, who has, since his accession to the office in 1880, been the strongest enemy of liberal ideas in Russia, has resigned on account of the infirmities of age. “His retirement,” says the New York Sun, “will mean the removal from public affairs of the strongest man in the empire and the greatest enemy of anything approaching representative government.” — Another great hotel, larger and finer than any now built, is projected in New York City. It will occupy the site and take the place of the old Hotel Brunswick, and will fill the entire block on which the latter now stands. Nearly $5,000,000 will be spent on the building. — President Samuel Gompers, of the American Federation of Labor, said, at the recent annual session of the organization in New Orleans, that “unless our unions radically and soon change their course and cease quarreling among themselves over jurisdiction, we shall at no distant date be in the midst of an internecine contest unparalleled in any year of the industrial world, aye, not even when workmen of different trades were arrayed against each other behind barricades in the streets over the question of trade against trade.” The statement caused a great sensation among the convention delegates. In Partnership with the Lord
By S. H. Lane
In tithing we simply render to the Lord his own. The tithe is not ours, never was, and never can be. It is true that we may not render it to the Lord as it comes into our possession; but it is a fearful responsibility that we assume when we do not return to the Lord his own; we may not have to answer for this sin in this life, but when we are brought before that court from which there is no appeal, we shall then have to meet the matter with the Lord. When one makes an offering to the Lord, he presents to him a gift which is certainly valuable in his sight. He who aids the Missionary Acre Fund, is making an offering to the Lord, which is certainly pleasing to him. Some have donated produce from the garden and21 farm, some the profits arising from the ever keeping of fowls, and others the results of hard labor, by the day, week, or month, and some the fruit of trees. Brother Barker, of Rhode Island, has just sent in three dollars, the proceeds of a peach tree. Now, this brother, having dedicated the fruit of that tree to the Lord, every time he looked at that tree, thought of the Lord; it could not be otherwise. When he picked the fruit, he thought of the Lord; and as he marketed the fruit, he felt sure he was doing the work of the Lord. Surely, in doing this work we are in partnership with the Lord. Now, it may not be too late even yet for some to give certain portions of their crops to the Lord. Will you not think of it, and send in a donation to the Missionary Acre Fund? Then next year donate a fruit tree or certain portions of your crops and time to the Lord. We are glad to say that funds are coming in constantly, debts are being canceled; and if we do not tire in this good work, this work of being in partnership with the Lord, the Battle Creek College property can be paid for, and turned over to the American Medical Missionary College, which is doing a grand and noble work in educating medical missionary workers for all parts of the world. Who will help now, and continue that help until the debts are all paid? Address all donations to H. M. Mitchell, Battle Creek, Mich. S. H. LANE.