By GEO. F. WATSON; WATSON ZIEGLER; FRANCIS M. WILCOX; WM. F. KENNEDY; H. M. J. RICHARDS
The Proposal for the Purchase of the Boulder (Colo.) Sanitarium
The Colorado Conference Committee of the last conference year was concerned in the transmission of a certain offer made, through it to the General Conference Association, for the purchase and change of management of the Boulder-Colorado Sanitarium.
They had for a long time been considering the condition of sanitarium affairs in Colorado, which were in a state of financial embarrassment in consequence of the heavy interest-bearing debt contracted in the establishment of the work. There were also conflicting interests. These things caused much perplexity.
At this time Dr. O. G. Place, Dr. F. A. Washburn, and Brother A. W. Lane made a proposition for the purchase of the sanitarium, which, if accepted, would have at once paid back to the General Conference most of the amount now owed to it by the Boulder Sanitarium, and have lifted off of the denomination the heavy financial burden of this sanitarium debt. It is true the plan proposed, if accepted, would have made the sanitarium a semi-private institution.
This offer was thought by the local conference committee to be at least of sufficient excellence to warrant its consideration by the General Conference, although they might, by reason of greater experience, look upon the proposition with disfavor, and, pointing out its imperfections, counsel us as to a better way. Wise counsel was desired.
With this spirit, therefore, it was determined that, as there was to be a session of the General Conference at Washington, D. C., within a few days, this proposition should be laid before its proper officers at that time. It was also thought desirable to invite Dr. Place to attend this meeting of the General Conference, and personally explain his plan in addition to enjoying the spiritual benefits of the gathering. This was done. His offer, however, was not accepted.
It was not alone because his offer was considered too low that the proposition was rejected by the General Conference, but also because Sister White spoke very plainly against any plan to sell the institution, and called upon the whole General Conference assembled to rally to its relief and support until it should be made a success under purely denominational ownership. We have accepted this counsel, and are working in harmony with it.
The offer of Brethren Place, Washburn, and Lane was not made public by the Colorado Conference Committee until after it was placed in the hands of the proper officers of the General Conference, because it was honestly feared that such publicity might frustrate the plan, although, in its original or in a modified form, it should receive the approval of the General Conference.
It was understood that a large legal, or at least moral, long-distance control was still exercised over the institution, and it was not known that this would be friendly to a move which, in the minds of the majority concerned, had for its purpose the placing of the sanitarium more fully under local management.
The members composing the conference committee, both then and now, have fully received the counsels given regarding a different way to make the Boulder Sanitarium a success financially, and are moving in harmony with it. At the same time, they wish it to be known by all, that, in all their efforts to find a right solution of this problem, they have acted under the controlling purpose to do only that which, with the blessing of heaven, should further the work of the church of God and bring increased prosperity to the medical missionary work of the Boulder-Colorado Sanitarium, which is placed among us to be used as a right arm of missionary effort among suffering, afflicted humanity. In this they desire to be placed clearly upon record.
As many brethren have misunderstood the foregoing matter, and thought that the offer referred to was one to purchase the sanitarium for a hotel, it is only justice to the Colorado Conference Committee, and to those who made the proposition, to say that neither Dr. Place, Dr. Washburn, nor Brother Lane was in any way concerned in any proposition to buy the Boulder Sanitarium for a hotel. There were, however, such offers from persons not of our faith; such at least as would have resulted in turning the sanitarium into a worldly health resort hotel. The sale of the institution for a hotel was strongly condemned by the servant of the Lord; and the Colorado Conference Committee, with the sanitarium board, have ever been united to oppose such an alternative.
At a special council held in Denver, at which there were present, besides Elder W. C. White, a majority of our committee, and other leading workers of our conference, it was decided that a statement should be prepared for publication in our church paper, the REVIEW AND HERALD, that would set forth plainly the facts in this matter, and thus remove a wide-spread misunderstanding in regard to it.
At a full meeting of our committee held later at Palisade, Colo., this decision was reaffirmed by a unanimous vote, and it was further provided that this statement should be also contributed to the compilers of the pamphlet on the sale of “Ministry of Healing,” for publication in the same.
It was further unanimously voted, in order that it might be known what was the full and the true nature of the proposition considered by the committee, that it be incorporated in full in this statement. It therefore appears as follows:—
“BOULDER, COLO., MAY 5, 1905.
“The following proposition is made by the undersigned to the officers of the Colorado Conference of Seventh-day Adventists located at Denver, Colorado:—
“For a clear title and warranty deed to all buildings and real estate, located near Boulder, Colo., belonging to or controlled by the Colorado Sanitarium Company, used for sanitarium purposes, and also for the manufacture and sale of health foods, with all the appurtenances belonging thereto, including all water rights, personal property, equipment, furnishings, fixtures, books and records used in connection with both sanitarium and food departments, including live stock, conveyances, and implements now held and used by each department, we hereby agree to pay, upon the receipt of such a warranty deed and a bill of sale of above-mentioned property, the sum of ——, as follows: —— to be paid in cash, and the remaining —— on or before —— years from the date of the transfer, at six per cent per annum, provided, however, that the above proposition is accepted and the institution is delivered before the fifteenth day of June, 1905, at twelve o’clock noon.
“In consideration of the above purchase, we hereby agree that the said sanitarium shall be conducted along the same general lines as it is now being conducted, carrying out the original object for which the institution was established, and as far as is consistent with the best interests of the truth and the institution to carefully and wisely teach Sabbath and health reform, the moderate use of drugs, hydrotherapy, dietetic reforms, and the gospel for this time.
“We hereby further request and desire, in case such transfer is made, that the board of directors of said institution shall consist of at least two members of the State conference committee, together with the three legal officers of the company, namely, its president, vice-president, and secretary and treasurer.
“It is hereby further agreed that if at any time the institution or any stock of the same should be offered for sale, the Colorado Conference of Seventh-day Adventists shall be advised of the fact, and they be given the first chance to purchase the same.
“Further, in the event of death of any owner of stock or interest in the institution, such stock or interest shall then be offered for sale to the Colorado Conference of Seventh-day Adventists at fair market value.
[Signed]
“O. G. PLACE,
“F. A. WASHBURN,
“A. W. LANE.”
It is only fair to state that the foregoing proposition made to the committee by the brethren named was made with the declared purpose of more fully uniting the work, and lifting the debt from the denomination.
According to counsels from Sister White, other plans have now been adopted—the reorganization of the sanitarium and the sale of “Ministry of Healing”—to accomplish the same purposes, and we are united in these things.
GEO. F. WATSON,
WATSON ZIEGLER,
FRANCIS M. WILCOX,
WM. F. KENNEDY,
H. M. J. RICHARDS,
Colorado Conference Committee.
In signing the preceding statement, it is only proper that I should say that while I am a member of the Colorado Conference Committee at the present time, I was not a member of the committee when this proposition was made, at the time of the General Conference in 1905, hence in a personal way had no knowledge of the question at that time.17
I am pleased to state, however, that I believe that the conference committee of last year acted in good faith in what they believed to be for the best interests of the work, and I am pleased to add further that I believe that our conference committee at the present time is seeking to act in harmony with the counsel which has been given, and that they stand together for the upbuilding of a united work in the Colorado Conference.
FRANCIS M. WILCOX.
Cuba
By Joseph Clark
On page eighty-seven of the last Yearbook you will see that the Cuban Mission Field contains a population of nearly two million, and that we have no church building, no school, and no teachers. Our people here are poor, and are kept quite busy to meet expenses and keep out of debt. Nearly all the public schools are very poor, and there are no normal schools to train teachers. They know of the superiority of American schools, and attend where there are any. The president of Cuba taught a private school in New York, and is favorable to private schools. Cuba is a large, long island, seven times the size of Jamaica. There are six provinces corresponding practically to States. It is said that seven thousand Americans have deeds to land in this province. While Cuba is a good place for investors, I do not urge settlers to come here and endure the hardships of pioneering, as they can buy supplies cheaper in their own country and have better schools. We ought to have some workers here who have an income.
In the REVIEWS of March 1 and 8, with the endorsement of our director, I asked any to write me who had any jewelry laid away or had surplus property of any kind. Only seven have written,—one brother has some lodge pins and some sisters have some jewelry that they will not wear again. Are there others? I know that Adventists are a very busy people, and some may not have taken time to write. Will you write now, stating what surplus property you want to put to work? One, in writing in the REVIEW about the recent earthquake said, that nearly all of their relics and keepsakes were destroyed, and adds, “Perhaps we thought too much of them.” Do you? Much surplus property will be kept until we can not buy or sell.
After about three years’ residence in Cuba, I am sure that there is great need of an industrial school here. Some young men who know the language and customs of the people can be converted and trained to carry the message quickly to all parts of the island.
We do not want expensive buildings or much land. We need some oxen to help till the land and some ponies to help carry our Spanish books to the homes of the people scattered in the country where the influence of the priest is not much felt now. Plenty of well-trained teachers can be secured. Only a little help is needed to start a self-supporting work.
Please write to-day. Postage to Cuba two cents, the same as to your next post-office. JOSEPH CLARK.
The Sabbath and Sunday Question in Manitoba
By W. M. Adams
REV. FATHER DRUMMOND, S. J., of the St. Boniface College (Catholic), Winnipeg, while giving his views of Sunday street-cars, tells the Winnipeg citizens that those who created the Sunday sabbath ought to know best how to keep it.
He says: “Where Sunday cars are in use, people do use them very largely to attend church, and besides rational amusement is not at all against the spirit of the Lord's day as instituted and organized by the Catholic Church. All the rest of the Christian world, which takes its observance of the first day of the week from the Catholic Church alone, has no right to dictate to us as to which way we shall observe the Sabbath.” — Winnipeg Telegram, April 11, 1906. (Italic ours.)
In Gladstone, where I have recently held a course of meetings, resulting in twelve conversions to the truth, two ministers preached against the Sabbath. The Presbyterian minister said, “The Sabbatarians claim that Jesus Christ kept the seventh-day Sabbath, and that he never gave commandment to change it. They are right in both points.” Then after such an acknowledgment, he tried to show that we ought to keep Sunday anyway. His man-made arguments and human philosophizing simply confirmed the new believers.
The Methodist Episcopal minister based his sermon on Gen. 2: 1-3. After making of none effect this text, he said, “How did Moses get this idea of the seventh day's being set apart in the beginning? I'll tell you. He received it as any minister gets his ideas to-day. Moses was simply a preacher, that was all.” In closing his remarks he said, “There is no command in the Bible for the change of the Sabbath, and we do not need any.”
The acknowledgments of these Protestant ministers will appear the more self-stultifying as the “Pope's True Position” is heralded by Father Gregory O'Brien in the Winnipeg Free Press, of April 5, 1906. He says: “If the Bible is the only guide for Christians, then the Seventh-day Adventists and the Jews are the only people observing the law of God with regard to the Sabbath day; those who claim the Bible as their sole guide have no right whatever to keep Sunday, but are bound to keep the seventh day—the Sabbath.”
The Sabbath question is stirring this field. Especially at this time is it brought prominently before the people by the agitation of Sunday laws. Winnipeg is now stirred over Sunday street-cars.
We greatly need both men and means to push the work in this field at this time. Statistics show that over three hundred thousand immigrants, during the last three years, have come from the United States; this number is not quite one third of all the immigration to this country.
We shall be pleased to receive help for the advancement of the work. Any one interested and wishing to know more about the progress of the cause in the Manitoba Conference, should address the writer at 438 Selkirk Ave., Winnipeg, Manitoba.
We are of good courage, and are planning to put three or four tents into the field this summer to give the people the truth of the third angel's message. Now is the time to work. Pray for the work in Canada. W. M. ADAMS.
China
By J. N. Anderson
SHANG-TSAI HSIEN.— I am now in the province of Honan, where I have been visiting the different stations, and studying the work. The last week in January we spent in counsel and Bible study at Sin-tsai Hsien, where, as you know, the workers first located, and where now the two nurses are alone, carrying on the work. Nearly all the workers were present, and our coming together was not in vain, for the Lord met with us, and we all felt that it was an occasion of real profit and blessing to us and to the work. Many questions relative to our work were freely talked over, and plans were agreed upon as to its future.
Since the Russo-Japanese war, an indescribable intensity has laid hold of every phase of Chinese life. Tremendous forces, here and there seeming to rise up like menacing giants, are blindly struggling for the mastery. An ominous unrest and suspicious foreboding prey upon the minds of all classes. The officials—corrupt, venal, and unscrupulous—belonging to, and living in, the past, are unable to stay or direct the oncoming reform or destructive revolution. The national spirit of China is at once both antidynastic and antiforeign, as the clearest minds read the events of the day.
Again China is consciously and definitely turning her back on the past, and just so surely is her face set toward the modern; but she wants the foreign, Western civilization, without the foreigner. To effect these ends, many agencies and forces are now in operation. Some of these are educational and reformative, while others are destructive and revolutionary. China is honeycombed with secret societies that are a unit in crying “China for the Chinese,” and “Death to the foreigner.” These are anxious and eventful days to this race, and who is sufficient for all these things?
In such a situation as this, God must, and surely will work; and it is in view of this that we are anxious to have counsel and help, that the cause of truth may run and be prospered in China. At our recent meeting we voted to ask that a man be sent out to visit China this fall and winter, beginning here in Honan not later than next November, and then going south to the other provinces of Fukien and Quangtung in time to get back to Shanghai for the Centenary Conference to be held there not later than May, 1907, representing all the missionaries of China. This conference celebrates the hundredth anniversary of Morrison’s entering China, and it will be a very important gathering, and we here feel that we should be well represented there. We are planning to hold our general council for all China at Shanghai, just after the close of the Centenary Conference.
I am sure you realize something of the magnitude of these Oriental fields, and that you are planning to enter them with all possible dispatch. It seems to me that the next two years will be full of meaning and of possibilities to us in our work, in this hour of China’s crisis. We all feel that now is the time for us to organize our work, and so carry forward the message in these parts. J. N. ANDERSON.
LOSS OF SCHOOL PROPERTY IN MISSISSIPPI
By Mrs. H. W. Pierce
SOME of the readers of the REVIEW know already of the beginning of a school founded over three years ago on the principles of Christian education in Eschol, Miss. About one hundred and sixty acres of wild land from which all the good timber had been cut, was donated by the Mississippi Lumber Company. It is located about five miles from Quitman, Clark County. Nearly three hundred dollars was also given by the citizens aside from our own people. This seemed to be the outgrowth of presenting the subject of Christian education in a local camp-meeting held in Quitman.
By these donations we were encouraged to believe that the Lord would have a school started here. So, in harmony with the advice of the conference president and other brethren, Mr. Pierce built a very neat schoolhouse, well ventilated and heated. Brother and Sister Atwood connected with the work at this time, but remained less than a year. It became the conference school in the fall of 1903, but from lack of funds the conference could do but little to build it up.
My husband had built a small house for ourselves, but there was no place to accommodate pupils whom we hoped would come in from a distance. At this time we had given us for the work one hundred dollars from our brother in the West, and other donations came in later, and a good-sized house was erected for a farmhouse and students’ home. A barn was built before this, and a small shop.
After Brother and Sister Atwood left, the work of teaching fell mostly to me, and never in my public-school work did I enjoy so much of the blessing of the Lord, and realize the presence of his good Spirit in the schoolroom. The Bible lesson was the first one in every day’s work, and an influence for good was plainly discerned.
In the meantime a peach orchard and grape vineyard have begun to produce their luscious fruit, and over thirty acres of land is under cultivation. The land has been cultivated by a friend who came here that his children might have the advantages of the school.
Doubtless some noticed in the newspapers an account of a cyclone the night of March 2, which destroyed a portion of the city of Meridian, Miss., the loss of property being many thousand dollars. At nearly the same time we experienced what some of us had never known before, the power of a cyclone coming in its fury with terrific roar, uprooting trees, and taking buildings in its path. Our dwelling was spared, also another small building on our lot that served as a house. Had these been taken, three families would have been without shelter, for Brother and Sister Atwood came back to help us last fall.
It was but a moment, and while amid the sound of thunder and rain, we were thanking the Lord for our preservation, the sound of cries from children fell on our ears, and the family who occupied the larger house came in. Nearly all were slightly hurt, and the father’s head and face were covered with blood, and he was otherwise injured. The house was shattered, the furniture blown to pieces, and could not be found. Some things were afterward picked up miles away. Surely it was God’s love and mercy that spared the lives of eight persons in that one house, amid the breaking timbers and the terrible crash. The dear white schoolhouse in which we loved to worship, the barn, and the shop, all were gone. People came from miles away to see the desolation. This was but a small destruction compared with the recent earthquake on the Pacific Coast, but it affects a few as that has many. Surely these calamities should lead us to realize that our time to work is short, and that the work of warning the world must be finished amid many difficulties. Let us pray that God will use these calamities which are permitted to cause loss even to his own work, that they may also produce an awakening of all his people to the solemn crisis before us,—a time of conflict and of glorious victory to the faithful. MRS. H. W. PIERCE.
Report of “The Woman’s Mission”
By Lettie M. Rowe
THIS mission work was started in October, 1904, by a few sisters who saw the great importance of the proclamation of this message in this place.
These meetings were first held at the home of Sister Wood, and for a time, only three sisters met there every Friday evening. Soon others, however, began to come in until the room would not accommodate them all.
We began to search for a larger room about the first of April, 1905. After looking at several places, we found the room which we now occupy. The landlord said the tenant would be moved out in about a week. We were to call then, and he would decide about our having it. Three days before we were to call to see him, we received five dollars from Sister Zetta Whitney, of Augusta, Maine, to help in this work. The brethren and sisters of the Norridgewock church kindly loaned us twelve settees for which we were very grateful. Brother Osborne also kindly offered to preach at our Sunday services, and to assist us in any way he could, when he was at home, and he has done this much of the time.
The first meeting in the new location was held May 5, 1905, with an attendance of twenty-four, and was led by Sister Wood. After our first Sunday afternoon service, which was well attended, we organized our society, naming it “The Woman’s Mission.” We elected as president, Cenie P. Wood; vice-president, Mary D. Hayden; secretary and treasurer, Lettie M. Rowe; assistant secretary and treasurer, Mary S. Rowe; organist, Lucy Z. Osborne.
We have not depended on a minister to lead our services, but different ones have been appointed, who have received great blessings in doing this.
We have held two hundred and forty-seven services during the year, five being held each week, with a total attendance of 4,105, and an average attendance of sixteen.
No account of the literature distributed has been kept until this present year, neither of our calls at the jail. Since this new year there have been one hundred and seventy-five papers and 34,770 pages of tracts given away, thirty loaned. Eighty-nine missionary letters have been written, and sixty received, also one hundred thirty-four missionary calls have been made. Eighty-five subscriptions have been obtained for our periodicals.
Nine have decided to keep the Sabbath. One of this number is a lady, living in Corinna who accepted the truth through reading tracts and correspondence. A goodly number have expressed a desire to lead better lives, and two have been baptized. Outsiders have told us that they enjoyed our meetings, and said they thought we were doing a good work and wished us Godspeed. We have been favored with the help of Brother and Sister Goodrich at two different times, also a visit from Brother Hursum over one Sabbath and Sunday. Our expenses have been met by collections and donations.
One year has now passed, and we feel sure that the Lord has led in this work, and that some good has been accomplished. We hope and pray that this work may be onward, and that we may be so consecrated to God that he can ever use us in his service, and we may see many souls saved in the kingdom of God as the result of our efforts.
LETTIE M. ROWE, Sec.
On the Pacific Coast
By Walter Harper
I FINISHED my large delivery of orders in Arizona and New Mexico on March 4, at Albuquerque, N. M. I started for California that evening. About one o'clock that night the train was wrecked—derailed—about one hundred and two miles west of Albuquerque. I was somewhat bruised in the side, but was not delayed. I was all right after a few days' rest and treatment at the beautiful Loma Linda Sanitarium, near Redlands, Cal. It is truly refreshing to visit this charming place, and drink in the healthy spiritual atmosphere pervading it. We bespeak for Loma Linda success, and it certainly deserves it. God is good to give our people possession of so grand an institution, so admirably situated.
The Lord wrought marvelously in sustaining me in my arduous work, and gave marked success in getting orders. At times it seemed as if I was fairly overwhelmed with work, and I could not stand the heavy strain.
On April 18, the day of the great earthquake in central California, I was off in San Bernardino County, nearly five hundred miles from San Francisco, busy filling orders. We felt no shock whatever there, and the first tidings we had of it was late that afternoon when word came over telephone from the nearest main line railroad station. Since then I visited the city of San Francisco, San Jose, Mountain View, Palo Alto, and the Stanford University. The sight is appalling. One's mind is carried forward to the time of the seven last plagues and the desolation of the earth. It seems as if we have an object-lesson of that terrible time when the Lord will rise to shake terribly the earth. O may we take warning, flee to the sure fortress, and make God our refuge! Then we shall have no fear as to what a day will bring forth.
I have spent several weeks in canvassing in the southern counties of California since I returned to the State. God blessed in a wonderful way. Soon I go to labor for a time in the coast counties.
WALTER HARPER.
A Testimony of Praise
By C. H. Castle
It is to acknowledge the goodness of God that these few lines are written. It was in July, 1904, at the European General Conference, that a resolution was passed advising our return to the United States immediately because of my rapidly declining health. The leading brethren in that meeting who advised the move took this method to shield us from adverse criticism which is sometimes experienced under similar circumstances, and for this we are truly thankful. They well knew how loath we were to leave our chosen field of labor, and we left only upon the urgent advice of those fully acquainted with the circumstances.
For many months after reaching America I was unable to do much of anything, and at one time it seemed that my work was about done; but God graciously spared me. It is because of the publicity given our return from England, and because of many inquiries, that these statements are made public. I am sure there are many friends who rejoice with us that I am once more able to take up active work in the Master's cause. I have very recently, upon invitation of the North Pacific Union Conference, accepted work as treasurer in connection with this conference. For nearly a year I have been steadily gaining in health, and feel that I can safely take up the work again, and it is with deep gratitude that I take this opportunity of expressing thankfulness to God for his goodness. We know that many fervent prayers have been offered in my behalf, and prayer has been answered.
We have noted the spirit of devotion to the cause of truth on the part of fellow laborers in various parts of the field, and gladly would we have remained at our post but for the urgent counsel to pursue a different course. I do sincerely thank God for life and health, and a part in this closing work. The constant care of a devoted companion has aided much in bringing me back to the enjoyment of health. Our one purpose remains ever the same—to stand loyally by the work of God until it is finished; and we desire the prayers of our brethren and sisters that we may be faithful to the end of the race. C. H. CASTLE.
College Place, Wash.
Jamaica
By Hubert Fletcher
It will be of interest to note the progress of the work in this island. Although we have three superintendents besides the conference president to look after the work, we have more calls for laborers than we can fill. The more than fifty churches and companies scattered throughout this island are chiefly the result of the work of the lay members.
Through their visits to other districts, the scattering of literature, etc., they create interests, and in most cases conduct meetings until a worker is sent to their help. For instance, a certain church, hearing of some Scotch and Irish labor immigrants living about fifteen miles away, visited them and held a meeting. The people were delighted, and requested that they should return. Arrangements were made to visit them every Sunday for some time; after a while some decided to obey the truth, and one of our ministers was invited to visit them, and as a result seven were baptized. At present we have only one tent operating in the field. But calls for baptisms and meetings are coming continually; also companies are springing up like beacon lights here and there. The lay members are doing good work.
On the eighteenth of May it was my privilege to visit the Glengoffe church. This is a fine church, with a neat church building on the summit of the mountain. About five years ago a man who was working at his trade in a distant parish had the message presented to him through a tract that was sent to him by his brother. He was convinced, and after several years returned to Glengoffe, his native home, when the convictions of the truth came to his mind with such force that he could no longer resist. He then decided to obey, and told his intention to a friend, one of the leading men of the district, and handed him a tract on the Sabbath question.
The brother kept the next Sabbath, and a week later his friend joined him. The news soon spread throughout the district, and a storm of persecution was raised by relatives, friends, and foes. But persecution always strengthens the believers, and establishes the work of God. One by one others were added to their number through their zealous and faithful work. They were visited by brethren and workers from time to time, until they built themselves a church. This was destroyed by the hurricane of 1904, but was afterward rebuilt. This building soon became too small, and an addition was made. But the influence of these brethren was not confined to their own district. The bread they cast on the waters was found after many days. As a result, there are believers in Harthill, Luner, and Florence Hill. All these are the result of the lay members' work. It is indeed encouraging to see the zeal and faithfulness of those who are coming in at the eleventh hour.
I buried one soul in baptism. The ordinances were celebrated, and a very profitable occasion was enjoyed. My prayer is to be kept humble before God, and for divine strength to bear the responsibilities laid on me, so that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. HUBERT FLETCHER.
Linstead.
Central America
By H. A. Peebles
LA CEIBA, SPANISH HONDURAS.—It is now three months since I came to this field to labor. Our force is small, Brother A. N. Allen being the only person in Spanish Honduras who is engaged in actual field work, which consists in selling Bibles and such literature as we have, in caring for the sick, and scattering the seeds of truth by word of mouth wherever possible. Our work is partly self-supporting, and is not without results. Within three months three persons have accepted the Sabbath, and other points of our faith as they have been presented. The self-supporting laborer is often obliged to leave an interest which ought to be followed up, and yet, in spite of the difficulties, nine have accepted the truth since Brother Allen has labored here.
The country is rugged, “mule back” being the only mode of travel in the greater part of it; and as I am told of the dangers encountered in crossing rivers and mountains, exposed to storms, and threatened by lawless men and diseases of various kinds, I can but think of the words of Paul as descriptive of the life of a field missionary in this country: “In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, . . . in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often.”
The two great needs of this country are Spanish literature and a Spanish-speaking minister. We can always sell Bibles, but we need Spanish literature bearing upon the message.
Brother Allen found a lady to whom he had sold a Bible, reading it to a circle of friends. Could something pointing out the message for our time have accompanied the Bible, who can tell what the results might have been? Many are willing to receive instruction, and several are waiting for baptism.
The great need is literature; but Spanish Honduras is not sitting still and begging for that need to be supplied. It is trying to meet this want as best it can. Our native brother, Senor Moncada, is, entirely at his own expense, printing a book containing essential Bible truth. It is not a perfect piece of work, and of necessity is done slowly, with but one man as printer and only a small foot-power job-press, but it is a gift from the heart, and it advances little by little with continual prayers that God will bless it to its purpose. I wish again to say that the great need of this field is Spanish literature and a Spanish-speaking minister. Will not those who love the truth, and desire to see it prosper in these dark lands, pray that these needs may be supplied?
H. A. PEEBLES.
Field Notes
Six persons received baptism at Connersville, Ind., May 27.
A CHURCH which has now twelve members was organized recently at Regina, Saskatchewan.
THREE persons were baptized at Reading, Pa., and six were added to the Reading church, Sabbath, May 26.
ELDER M. SERNA reports the baptism of nine persons at the Sanchez (Mexican) church, Ariz., May 21.
ELDER W. A. YOUNG reports the recent baptism of twelve persons at Wolf Lake, Ind., and three others at Eaton.
AT Middletown, Conn., on a recent Sabbath five persons were baptized, and a church of twelve members was organized.
ELDER E. E. FRANKE is holding tent-meetings in Newark, N. J., and Elder A. R. Bell is conducting similar work in Trenton.
ELDER C. H. BATES reports from Colorado: “We expect soon to baptize two in Villa Grove, two in Alamosa, and four or five in Farmington. Others are in the valley of decision.”
Commencement Exercises at Union College
By R. C. Porter
The school year at Union College closed May 20, 1906. The enrolment during the year had reached three hundred and seventy-five. During the past year the school has enjoyed one of the most prosperous years in its history. The senior class was not so large as usual on account of changes having been made in the course of study, there being but five members. Four of these had completed the ministerial course in the Scandinavian department, two from the Swedish, and two from the Danish department. These will enter the ministry. The other member of the class completed the business course. The class motto, “As Recruits to the Front,” very forcibly expressed the sentiment of the class as their object in obtaining an education. The spirit of the entire commencement was of a missionary character.
Just before the close of the school year a canvassers' institute was held, conducted by J. S. James, J. B. Blosser, and the State agents of the Central Union Conference. As the result of this institute about forty students entered the canvassing work.
Thursday of the closing week of school was class day. Each member of the class participated in the exercises of that evening by delivering an oration on the line of work in which he was especially interested. Sabbath forenoon the baccalaureate sermon was delivered by Elder M. D. Mattson. In this discourse he very ably presented the sins of the great nations of earth which have caused their overthrow, and showed how these were all culminating in our own day, preparatory to the final overthrow at the coming of Christ.
Saturday evening a musical recital was given by the music department of the college at the request of the graduating class. This recital showed that very thorough work has been done in the music department, and that much attention has been given to organ and chorus work.
Sunday evening the class address delivered by the writer was a presentation of the theme, The Motive and Reward of Service. In it was presented the spirit of sacrifice that should accompany the missionary in his work, and the importance of the home base of supplies being adequate for the support of the workers sent to the front.
At the close of the class address, the class presented to the college a missionary map of the world, with golden threads running from Union College to each missionary station where students or teachers from the college were engaged in work. The exercises closed with the presentation of diplomas, both to the class and to the graduates from the music department, by Prof. C. C. Lewis. They were presented with a beautiful but brief missionary address by Professor Lewis, in perfect keeping with the spirit of the commencement exercises.
In the farewell students' meeting, nearly every student in the school took part. Nearly all expressed themselves as determined to return home to engage in some way in work for their fellow men, and to labor to bring other young people with them to attend Union College another year in preparation for future work in the cause of God. We are greatly pleased with the missionary spirit that pervades the institution and its work. I believe that with the spirit that prevails, the success of Union College is assured.
R. C. PORTER.