A star preceding the name of a conference, indicates that that conference has paid its membership share of the fund.19
Lake Union Conference
East Michigan ............. 3,181.78
*Indiana .................. 5,248.02
North Michigan ............ 1,705.22
*Northern Illinois ......... 2,968.06
Southern Illinois ......... 1,466.96
*West Michigan ............ 8,733.70
Wisconsin ................. 5,046.73
Total ..................... 28,350.47
North Pacific Union Conference
Montana ................... 886.64
*Upper Columbia ........... 3,036.43
*Western Washington ....... 3,364.53
Idaho ..................... 1,037.65
Western Oregon ............ 2,992.35
Hawaii .................... 21.05
Alaska .................... 20.00
Total ..................... 11,358.65
Southern Union Conference
*South Carolina ........... 268.09
Alabama ................... 623.14
*Tennessee River .......... 1,405.31
*Florida .................. 951.48
*North Carolina ........... 954.75
*Cumberland ............... 1,360.99
*Louisiana ................ 572.54
Mississippi ............... 413.33
*Georgia .................. 457.97
Conference not specified .. 97.41
Total ..................... 7,105.01
Northern Union Conference
*Iowa ..................... 9,654.36
*Minnesota ................ 5,766.98
*South Dakota ............. 2,671.47
*North Dakota ............. 2,156.63
Conference not specified .. 73.82
Total ..................... 20,323.26
Pacific Union Conference
*Southern California ...... 4,792.48
*Arizona .................. 466.79
*California-Nevada ........ 10,249.03
*Utah ..................... 440.58
Total ..................... 15,948.88
Southwestern Union Conference
*Arkansas ................. 938.93
Oklahoma .................. 4,132.00
Texas ..................... 2,548.90
Not specified ............. 22.82
Total ..................... 7,642.65
Western Canadian Union Conference
*Alberta .................. 1,211.35
British Columbia .......... 224.50
Manitoba .................. 349.76
Saskatchewan Mission Field 59.60
Total ..................... 1,845.21
Unknown ................... 161.70
Foreign
*Algeria .................. 13.33
Australia ................. 178.71
Bermuda ................... 36.00
China ..................... 165.60
South Africa .............. 439.02
Jamaica ................... 66.01
Yukon Territory ........... 20.00
England ................... 282.77
*West Africa .............. 50.00
Mexico .................... 65.97
Costa Rica ................ 6.25
India ..................... 418.25
South America ............. 83.81
Switzerland ............... 9.69
Panama .................... 27.11
Nicaragua ................. 9.00
Central American Mission .. 26.00
Trinidad .................. 28.60
Norway .................... 25.00
Japan ..................... 12.50
Haiti ..................... 5.00
*Egypt .................... 51.55
Palestine ................. 2.00
Tobago, W. I. ............. 1.22
Cuba ...................... 8.00
Hungary ................... 3.00
Tahiti .................... 14.88
France .................... 6.80
Philippine Islands ........ 1.00
Samoa ..................... 8.00
Barbados .................. 5.00
Portugal .................. 6.00
Straits Settlements ....... 10.08
Pitcairn Island ........... 20.00
New Zealand ............... 1.52
Fiji ...................... 4.87
St. Kitts ................. 7.51
Ireland ................... 25.56
Russia .................... 5.00
Denmark ................... 14.59
Santa Domingo ............. 2.50
Total ..................... 2,166.79
Grand Total ............... $141,689.07
I. H. EVANS, Treasurer.
California
By C. M. Gardiner; James Taphouse
GRANGEVILLE.— We began meetings in this place with an attendance of about one hundred fifty at our first meeting; and our attendance has steadily increased to from two hundred to two hundred thirty. The interest and attention to the Word spoken are all that could be asked. The brethren living near have done all they could to assist, and Elder B. L. Howe, who is teaching school near by, has spoken regularly every third night. We are thankful to God for the interest manifested, and for his holy presence in every service.
C. M. GARDINER,
JAMES TAPHOUSE.
Korea
[Brother F. W. Field of Japan sends the following extract from a recent letter which he had received from Sister Mimi Scharffenburg of Soonan, Korea. — Ed.]
“I AM having interesting meetings with the sisters in Pyeng Yang every Thursday. On Tuesday afternoons a company of women gather for Bible study a few villages north of here, where I also have some very interesting experiences. The three oldest young ladies in the school here make good progress in their work; so do the rest, but these three are especially earnest in wanting a preparation for the work. We are also trying to put into practise what we learn. On Fridays these three sisters and myself go out into the neighboring villages, visiting from house to house, trying to interest the people in the truth. We divide, and go two by two. The girls can hardly wait to hear the others tell of the experiences they have had in the houses they visited. By going out with them in this way, I learn much about the customs of the people, etc. My teacher is also very good about explaining to me all about their belief, etc., which is a great help to me in getting better acquainted with the people. I would like to be out with them more, but I feel that I can not do more, while the school work is going on, together with language study.
“There are a number of girls who want to come to school, but have no means. I have been thinking a good deal about what kind of work they could do while in school, to make their living. They say that it takes only three yen ($1.50) a month to pay for their food and fuel.”
Minnesota
By A. V. Olson
ALEXANDRIA.—A successful tent effort was conducted here last summer by Elders C. L. Emmerson and E. M. Chapman. At the close of this effort Brother Emmerson was compelled to leave on account of failing health, and I was asked to take his place.
With the exception of a few weeks, we have been here ever since. At times we have felt tempted to leave for a newer and more promising field, but by the help of God we have labored on. Public meetings have been held; regular weekly Bible readings have been conducted in many homes; scores of visits have been made, and thousands of pages of tracts, papers, and books have been placed in the hands of the people. Now when we see a number of precious souls rejoicing in this glorious truth—ready for the heavenly garner—as the result of our efforts, we feel that our toil has not been in vain. To us these souls are “pearls of great price.” Words can not describe the joy that fills our hearts when we see sinners turning to God, and we know that likewise there is joy in heaven.
As there are a number of Scandinavians in this place who do not understand the English language, some work has been done for them in their own tongue, with the result that three are keeping the Sabbath.
A. V. OLSON.
Early Experiences in the Publishing Work—No. 4
By John Norton Loughborough
THE second move made in publishing in connection with the third angel's message was a tract issued by Elder Bates, in the latter part of the year 1846. The title-page of this tract of forty pages is as follows: “The Opening Heavens, or a Connected View of the Testimony of the Prophets and Apostles, Concerning the Opening Heavens, Compared with Astronomical Observations, and of the Present and Future Location of the New Jerusalem, the Paradise of God; by Joseph Bates. New Bedford, Press of Benjamin Lindsay, 1846.”
Brother Bates was moved to write this book by the wonderful vision which Sister White had concerning the planets, at Topsham, Maine, in the month of November, 1846. This vision settled the faith of Elder Bates that the visions of Mrs. White dealt with subjects which were outside of her previous knowledge, and were a true manifestation of the gift of prophecy.
When he had the manuscript prepared for this book, he had no money with which to get it printed. He sought the Lord to open the way for its publication. A sister near New Bedford, who had just completed and laid her first carpet on her bare floors, took up this beautiful rug-carpet, sold it, and gave the money to Brother Bates to print the book, saying that “she could make another carpet when she might need it.” This illustrates the spirit of sacrifice which actuated those who first accepted the message. The advancement of the cause of truth was the first object before them.
Elder Bates told me that “his understanding of astronomy was such that he could tell, at midnight, very nearly where he was upon the sea, as to latitude and longitude, by merely looking at the celestial bodies.” He also said that one day he tried to talk with Mrs. White about the stars, but he soon found she knew nothing about astronomy; in fact, he said she did not know whether she had ever looked into a book treating on that subject. She told him she knew the North Star and the Big Dipper, and that was all the stars she knew. She then turned the conversation to the new earth, and what the Lord had shown her in vision regarding it.
ON April 19, 1845, the Illustrated London News published something of great interest to astronomers from the pen of Lord Rosse, respecting the wonderful discoveries he had made through his monster telescope, especially a view of what astronomers called “the gap in the sky.” In the vision of Mrs. White, mentioned above, she would count the moons, and then describe the planet with which they were connected. Thus she described Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, Brother Bates giving the name of each planet as she described it. Finally she began to talk about the “opening heavens,” giving a most glowing20description of its glory. Calling it “an opening into a region more enlightened,” and said, “The New Jerusalem will come down through that place.”
While she was thus talking in the vision, and giving this description, Elder Bates arose to his feet, and exclaimed, “O how I wish Lord Rosse was here tonight!” Elder White inquired, “Who is Lord Rosse?” “O,” said Elder Bates, “he is the great English astronomer. I wish he was here to hear that woman talk astronomy, and to hear that description of the opening heavens. It is ahead of anything I have ever read on the subject.” No wonder Elder Bates was moved to publish his tract, “The Opening Heavens,” and give some facts in harmony with the vision that had so fully established him in the faith of the third angel's message.
Huggins, who first discovered this wonder in the heavens, said of it: “The space seemed much brighter than the rest of the heavens, which appearing wholly blackish, by reason of the fair weather, was seen as through a curtain opening, through which one had a free view into another region, which was more enlightened.”
William Herschel said of this opening in the sky: “It has been calculated that it [this space] must be two trillion times the diameter of the sun.”
Of this matter Brother Bates said, when concluding the description, as given in his tract: “Thus we see from the testimony adduced (and we could give much more were it necessary), that here is a most wonderful and inexplicable phenomenon in the heavens; a gap in the sky more than eleven billion three hundred fourteen million miles in circumference. Says the celebrated Huggins, ‘I never saw anything like it among the rest of the fixed stars—a free view into another region more enlightened.’”