It was when we were living on our old homestead in Nebraska some fifty years ago. He was a humble minister,—a circuit rider. He came with Bible, hymn-book, and gospel tracts in his saddle-bags, and John 3:16 in his heart. He came in much the same way that Christ came to the home of Zacchæus. We, too, were without hope and without God in the world, sinners by choice and aliens by birth; but he sought us out, and brought the glad tidings of great joy to our home. He spoke in kindly tones to us, and called us children by our names, even as Jesus called Zacchæus by his. That helped us to get acquainted with him, and we soon learned to love him.
But we were unlike Zacchæus in one respect,—he was rich, and we were very poor. It seemed to us we needed many things to make us happy. Like Martha, we were careful and troubled; but this man of God brought to us the one thing needful,—the gospel,—and, like Mary, we chose the good part, which has not been taken from us. The impressions made on my mind by that first visit of the minister of God have never been erased. I have been in great assemblies since then; have heard many eloquent speakers, but none of them nor all of them have impressed me or done for me what that humble, earnest preacher did in his visit to my father’s house.
We were in a new country, about seventy-five miles north of Omaha, in the Missouri Valley, where corn is king. There was no railroad west of the Missouri River at that time, and it was about one hundred miles east to the nearest railroad station. Like many others, we came West with ox-teams, took up our claim, built our log and board house, broke prairie to raise corn to buy more land; for land was comparatively cheap then, and we wanted all we could get. There was no family altar and very little Bible reading in our home; we were too busy. We had caught the Western fever—the desire to get rich.
With this westward course of empire came the evangelist, the itinerant preacher. He did not take up a claim, he did not come to get rich; he came to seek and to save the lost, and he found what he came to seek. I was then far away from the Saviour, and I wondered if Christ could save a poor sinner like me. He did save me, and it was a happy day for the minister and for me. Soon after his visit I could sing,—
“No longer in darkness I’m sitting,
For the light is now shining on me;
And now unto others I’m telling
How he saved a poor sinner like
me.”
Many changes have taken place since then; many miles of mountains and plains, of hills and valleys, lie between me and the old homestead by the river. But I can see this servant of the Lord now, as I write these lines, sitting in father’s house, Bible in hand, our family gathered about him, reading from God’s blessed Book, and then singing, “Sweet Hour of Prayer,” “Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy,” and “O Happy Day!” I see him praying for us, and hear him mention our names before the throne of grace. Father, mother, and children,—not one was forgotten! That prayer did us more good than if he had prayed for the president of the United States. He sold father a Bible, a hymn-book, and a copy of “Pilgrim’s Progress.” We were soon interested in the blessed Bible stories, and I am still singing the good old hymns that made us so happy then. The reading of “Pilgrim’s Progress” did much to help me to be a Christian. He gave us a few gospel tracts, and they spoke to us when he was absent. When he left us to go on his way, he had won the hearts of us all. He not only shook hands with father and mother when he bade us good-by, but he laid his hands on our heads, and wished us the blessing of our Father in heaven. He gave us a card
with the Lord’s prayer printed on one side and the ten commandments on the other. I learned them by heart, so I could repeat them in the Sunday-school, and I can repeat them now.
Did we attend his meetings, and hear him preach?—Indeed, we did! He was “our preacher.” He had been at our house; he had eaten at our humble table. From him we had learned many precious gospel hymns, which were a great power in bringing us to Christ. Father and mother and several of us children were converted, and united with the church. Father set up the family altar, and from that time till he and mother died, and the old home was left to other people, our house was a house of prayer.
I believe that that minister’s visit and instruction was God’s preparation for me to receive present truth. That experience opened my heart to the third angel’s message, which later came to us through the reading of our good church paper, the REVIEW AND HERALD, and our missionary paper, the Signs of the Times. I was led to become a Seventh-day Adventist; and then, unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, was this grace given, that I should “preach the unsearchable riches of Christ.” Now, after many years’ experience in the gospel ministry, I can truly say that what success has attended my work as an evangelist has not been so much from my public preaching in the congregation as from my personal ministry in the homes of the people. The whole congregation may be convinced of the truth under the influence of the sermon; but it is the tears, and prayers, and earnest personal entreaties of the faithful minister in the homes of the people that lead them to make a decision to serve God, and that bring men and women and children to Christ.
Victories may be won in prayer at the fireside that can not be won in debates, public discussions, or strong, unanswerable arguments in the pulpit. It was Christ’s visit with Zacchæus in his home that brought salvation to his house. It was the night visit with Nicodemus that opened to him, and to many thousands since, the mystery of the new birth. “Ye must be born again,” spoken personally to Nicodemus, startled and aroused the proud Pharisee, and, later, made him a humble, influential disciple. Christ’s visit with the woman at the well not only led her to be a disciple of the Man who told her all things that ever she did, but many of her neighbors testified, “We have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.” It was not only Paul’s preaching, but his weighty and powerful personal letters, and his teaching from house to house, that made him the prince of soul-winners.
O dear fellow workers! if you read these lines, permit me to exhort you not to neglect this part of our ministry. We must not only feed the flock of God, but we should gather the lambs into our arms, and carry them in our bosom. Not8many of us can be great preachers, but we can all speak a word in season to him that is weary. Remember Christ’s word of commendation at the last great day is, “I was sick, and ye visited me.” The blood of consecration was put not only on Aaron’s ear, but on the toe of his foot; not only did tongues of fire rest on the disciples, but their feet were shod with the preparation of the gospel; and he who is thus prepared, and “goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”
Port Townsend, Wash.
Nervous Prostration: Its Causes and Cure
By A. B. Olsen, M. D.
A. B. OLSEN, M. D.
The writer thinks he knows all about it: he has met thousands of people who have had it, and he has had it himself.
After working thirty or forty hours steadily, without a minute’s sleep and with scarcely a morsel to eat, when one finally falls into bed at three or four o’clock in the morning, he is likely to have all the symptoms of nervous prostration in a fully developed form. But in the writer’s experience a good night’s sleep makes him well again.
Nervous prostration is a condition in which the nerve-centers are exhausted of their stores of energy. Properly speaking, nervous prostration, or, as physicians call it, neurasthenia, is not a disease, but simply a group of symptoms which indicate a weakened state of the nerve-centers. But these symptoms and the state of the nerve-centers are only indications of some other morbid conditions in the constitution of the individual; they are a result.
Nervous exhaustion is frequently attributed to overwork. This is a mistake. Rest will cure all the damage that work can do, leaving out of consideration, of course, structural or mechanical injuries, which may result from overstrain.
The only difference between a tired man and a man who has neurasthenia is that the latter is chronically and constitutionally tired. Sleep and rest do not cure him. He is not lazy, but languid; disposed to take up accustomed tasks, but lacking the force and energy to perform them. In most cases this condition has nothing to do with work, unless it be the result of too little work.
A State of Chronic Poisoning
Neurasthenia, in the vast multitude of cases, is nothing more nor less than chronic poisoning, a state of the body in which the blood and tissues are constantly filled with poisons produced in the alimentary canal in such quantities that the liver can not destroy them, or the kidneys remove them as fast as they are developed. When this accumulation reaches the point of tissue saturation, then the symptoms of poisoning appear. The nerve-centers are stupefied by narcotic poisons produced by indigestion, these poisons being similar in their effects to opium and other narcotic drugs. The brain may be excited by poisons formed in the alimentary canal, resembling strychnia in their effects. The whole body may be deranged by toxins and ptomains, which subject the body to a perfect fusillade of toxic influences, as if a whole apothecary’s shop had been turned into it.
A chronic dyspeptic is bound to become a neurasthenic sooner or later; for his stomach and intestines have become the hold of every unclean and hateful germ. They are converted into a factory of nerve-irritating, brain-stupefying, heart-exciting, tissue-paralyzing poisons, which are capable of deranging every vital function, perforating every vital process, and opening thousands of doors to germs and other causes of disease.
The Treatment Required
The most important thing to be done for gastric neurasthenia is to remove the causes, to correct the dietary; set the patient to eating right, and his stomach will gladly resume its normal functions, and will become so inhospitable toward the microbic parasites which infest it that they will disappear or perish. The neurasthenic generally recovers soon enough if he can be persuaded to assume a normal mode of life. If he is a self-made prisoner in a counting-room or an office, he must release himself from his fetters, and flee to the liberty of the woods and fields, and in the fresh air find a priceless benison.
He must not only exercise right, but he must eat right. Two meals a day, well eaten, in proper quantity, composed of fruits, cereals, and nuts, nature’s choicest products, which contain exactly the elements for building brain and muscle and storing them with vital energy,—these are true sources of energy. Flesh affords energy, it is true, but only at second hand and deteriorated.
A neurasthenic should sleep from eight to ten hours a night, or if he can not sleep, let him lie in bed and rest. A warm bath at bedtime, at ninety-five to ninety-eight degrees Fahrenheit, for half an hour or an hour, will often induce sleep when hypnotic drugs of every sort utterly fail, unless administered in such overwhelming doses as to produce a poisoned sleep, sure to be followed by a wretched awakening. He must cut off all unnecessary expenditure of energy, as a miller sometimes stops his wheel, that his pond may fill up. Mental and moral peace and content of mind are essential conditions for rapid recovery from neurasthenia.
A Natural Tonic
The daily cold bath has tonic powers equaled by no known drug. The patient should not attempt to administer the bath himself. The water should generally be as cold as can be borne without discomfort. Very cold water can be applied if employed in the right way. The vigor of the application should be increased from day to day, until powerful effects are produced.
Caterham, England.
Washing Windows
A CERTAIN woman of censorious mind,
To criticize her neighbors was inclined;
Their dingy houses, with discolored paint,
And dirty windows, were her chief complaint.
Her righteous soul became at length so vexed,
She called her pastor, Rev. Take-a-Text,
Told him her trouble, and besought advice.
The wise old doctor answered in a trice:
“Get soap and water, and remove the stains.
And dirt, and fly-specks from your window-panes.”
The woman did so, and, to her surprise,
Seemed to be looking out of other eyes;
Her neighbors’ houses, now no longer seen
Through dirty windows, all were white and clean.
The moral of this story seems to be:
Who looks through dirty windows, dirt will see;
Wash your own glass, and then, as like as not,
Your neighbors’ window-panes will have no spot;
Extract the beam before you vainly try
To take the mote from out a brother’s eye.
— Advance.
Summer Don't's for Baby's Mother
Don't let the milk stand in the hot kitchen or on the sunny back porch after it comes cold from the milkman's ice-chest. Take it in the moment it is left, and stand it in a deep pan of cold water, or in the refrigerator, until the exact time comes to prepare it for the child's meal.
Don't test the temperature or flavor of the food after it is in the nursing-bottle by putting the nipple in your own mouth, but pour a little in a teaspoon.
Don't omit giving baby an all-over sponge-bath before putting him to bed. The cleansing tubbing can be given in the morning, but the evening sponge will soothe and refresh him, and make him sleep better.
Don't forget to give the baby a teaspoonful of cool, not ice, water several times a day. Milk does not allay thirst; and during teething the little mouth is often dry and feverish.
Don't have a light in the nursery after sundown to attract mosquitoes, and have the crib well protected by netting, as much on account of filthy flies as biting and stinging insects. Protect the carriage in similar fashion.
Don't listen to any one who tells you that diarrhea is a natural accompaniment to teething. Check it at the outset by castor-oil in quantity suitable to the child's age. The oil first removes the poison which is causing the trouble, then soothes the inflamed and irritated intestines. If the trouble continues, send for the doctor.
Don't let the baby be excited by much attention; and don't let the strong sunlight shine on his unprotected head nor in his eyes.—The Housewife.
A Messenger With a Message
By C. M. S.
NEVER has God sent his servants out into the world without a definite message to give to the people. As in the days of David, so now, it is not the swift runner that is needed so much as the man with something to tell, and a sense of the importance of the message which he bears.
But this is not the case to-day in all edifices dedicated to the work of God. It is not the case with all the professed spokesmen of the Lord. Knowing the agencies that are at work to-day clouding the message of God, and doing their utmost to destroy faith in pulpit and pew alike, is it to be wondered at that faith will be very scarce “when the Son of man cometh”?
The people of old “did not like to retain God in their knowledge;” therefore he “gave them over to a reprobate mind.” The people of this age delight in fables more than in the Word of God; therefore he will permit “strong delusions” to come upon them; and as a natural result, they will “believe a lie,” and go down with it.
Isaiah is speaking of the condition of ease and security which men have made for themselves when he says: “The bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it; and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.” Isa. 28:20. They have made a bed for themselves; but some day they will awake to the sad fact that it is a bed of delusion, which can give them no comfort. They have trusted in their own righteousness; but they find, when the test comes, that it will not cover them. Instead of giving them the message of warning which should have been given, their teachers spoke to them “smooth things,” and they loved “to have it so.” When the great day comes that must “try every man’s work,” then comes the great, sad disappointment, and the terrible cry, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”
This comes, in great part, because the appointed messengers have clouded the message, or have not known it, or, knowing, have not given it, and have sought to please the people in their own ways when they should have warned them to flee for their lives, and look not behind them to the allurements of this world. It is never safe, in a time of great crisis, to turn to our own pleasures, and close the ears to the warnings of the watchman. We are in such a time. Let the messengers give faithfully the message, and let the people heed. The voices of false shepherds are many. We need to be much in the company of the true Shepherd, that we may always recognize his voice, and never mistake the voice of another for his.
C. M. S.
The Essential Belief
WE all know the power of sin; we may all know a power greater than the power of sin. We have all known what it means to be conquered by sin; we may all know what it means to be “more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” And in this very experience is shown the value of our Christianity. The heathen pray to a god that can not save. There is a God who can save, but those who do not lay hold of the salvation provided do not have any advantage over the heathen.
There is constant danger of losing sight of the simplicity of the gospel. It has one definite aim, and that is to save from sin. The central figure in the gospel is Jesus, the Saviour of sinners. He gave himself for our sins. In him “we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.” “He was manifested to take away sins.” “Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”
How, then, shall we obtain the victory over sin? How shall we avail ourselves of the benefit of the provision made for us in the gift of Jesus for our salvation? There is only one way, and that one way is within the reach of all. It is simply by believing. It is all of faith. “This is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith.” But faith must be definite. Faith for salvation is more than a longing for salvation. In the exercise of faith we actually accept the salvation. We reach out the hand of faith to take salvation, just as we reach out the hand of flesh to take any offered gift. And our Saviour has made very clear the belief essential for salvation from sin. “Except ye believe that I AM, ye shall die in your sins.” Jesus was God manifest in the flesh. A sinless life dwelt in sinful flesh, and condemned sin in the flesh. Divinity and humanity were united in the man Christ Jesus. When faith accepts this great fact, we do more than merely assent to a historic experience; personal faith in this union of divinity and humanity in the incarnation of Jesus, humanity’s representative, means that we personally were included in this experience. Thus we by faith in the Word and the promise take our place as members of the body of Christ, in whom divinity and humanity are united. Then the power of divinity works in our flesh to give us the victory over sin. Then we know “the exceeding greatness of his power to us ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead.” Then we can say, “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ.”
This faith is so simple, so definite, and so triumphant, that we urge all to exercise it. Study the Gospel of John for a foundation of your confidence that Jesus, the Man of Nazareth, is the Son of God. See the weakness of our common humanity, so far as the flesh is concerned, and then observe how divinity wrought through his humanity to conquer Satan, and to reveal the righteous character of the Father in heaven. This was not done for his sake, but for our sake, and we were included individually in that experience of victory. This will be manifested in our present experience if we simply believe it. Thus the salvation upon which we lay hold is the salvation of Jesus in our flesh, and manifested now in our mortal bodies through the faith which unites us with him. “Christ brought human nature into a personal relation with his own divinity. Thus he has given a center for the faith of the universe to fasten upon.”
“We have beheld and bear witness that the Father hath sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him, and he in God.” “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” In Jesus of the New Testament we see the I AM of the Old Testament. This is the foundation of the gospel. The acceptance of this fact brings us into personal fellowship with divine power, and this is conquering power. This is the experience which is offered to all. Believe it to-day, and be saved to-day.
Turning the Bitter to Sweet
By F. M. W.
The children of Israel had been delivered from the power of Pharaoh. A path had been made for them through the Red Sea, and they had passed over10on dry land. The Egyptians attempting to follow them were overthrown in the flood of waters. This marvelous deliverance should have set at rest every doubt. The manifestation of God's tender mercy and marvelous power should have enlisted the fullest consecration and deepest trust on the part of every soul, and no doubt many thought that never again in their experience would they doubt the Lord.
When Moses and the children of Israel sang the song of deliverance, when Miriam and all the women of Israel, with instruments of music, engaged in their triumphal march, no doubt every heart was filled with rejoicing. From Egyptian servitude, with its consequent depression and darkness, they had been raised by the interposition of God to the heights of triumph and joy. But they did not fully fathom the deeper underlying motives and purposes in their lives. They could rejoice in the hour of prosperity and success, but it yet remained to be seen whether they could carry that rejoicing into the hour of trial and difficulty.
They were brought in their journeyings into the wilderness of Shur, and for three days they traveled without finding water. Finally they reached Marah. Here is water in abundance, and in eagerness they welcome it. But hope is turned to disappointment; for the water is bitter, and the people are unable to drink it. This is an opportunity for them to demonstrate their faith in God, but here in the hour of darkness they fail. The record is that the people murmured against Moses, and in murmuring against Moses, they murmured against God and his providence. In his distress Moses cried unto the Lord; and the Lord showed him a tree, which, when it was cast into the water, turned the bitter into sweet.
God had brought his people to this testing-time in order to prove them. He knew the character of the waters before he directed their journey thither. He knew what he would do in order to quench their burning thirst. How much better it would have been had Israel trusted to his providence! How blessed would have been their experience had they in confidence stood by with cheerful hearts and composed spirits, waiting for God to work out his purpose, and seeing how he would deliver them from their extremity! Surely, he who had visited upon Egypt the plagues of his wrath, who had made it possible for them to escape from their oppressors, and had cleaved for them the path through the Red Sea, was able in his own way to furnish water to satisfy their needs.
The lesson is for us. Many times in our experiences we are brought to Marah's brink. We thirst; and when we attempt to supply our need, the water is bitter. These experiences come to us as God's proving and testing, the same as to Israel of old. How many times do we, like them, murmur and complain. O, let us learn the lesson of confidence and trust, of waiting for God to work things out in his own way and time! If we trust him, he will literally verify his promise to us that "all things work together for good to them that love God." Let us, then, commit to him the tracings of our pathway; let us trust him to go before us as before ancient Israel in the pillar of cloud and fire, we patiently following where he leads.
Enemies may oppose us, evil tongues may speak against us, fire may consume our dwellings, disease may afflict our bodies, death even may enter our homes: let us not complain; let us not find fault with God; but believe that as we trust our cases in his hands, he will work everything out for our eternal good, and will give us in this life only just the treatment which he, as a wise Physician, sees that our cases need in order to fit us for the life to come. If we trust him, he will turn for us, in every experience, the bitter into sweet. F. M. W.
The Midsummer Offering
By W. T. Knox
THE message of the third angel is still onward. From some quarters we hear of opposition and difficulties; from others, of only encouragement and successes, but everywhere of progress. From China come reports of companies of Sabbath-keepers who have not yet beheld the face of one of our workers. In Korea meeting-houses are being erected as memorials of God's truth and message. In Africa the urgent demands for the establishment of new stations far outstrip our ability to supply. And from all countries the messages of our faithful missionaries, while expressing deep regret because of their limitations, speak of courage and of rejoicing over successes given by the Lord of the harvest.
While in America the increase in numbers of believers is not what we would desire, yet the work in some of the large cities is making encouraging progress. By far the most unsatisfactory condition confronting us is our inability to supply the necessary workers and means to meet the many opportunities that are now presented to us for the advancement of the message; and yet the situation, viewed from one standpoint, should be a cause of rejoicing, indicating as it does the rapid progress of the work and the hastening of the day of the Lord.
The financial relief expected from the division of tithe by the local conferences is not yet being fully realized by the General Conference treasury, as some of the conferences required time to adjust their work before they could render this assistance. Thus far for the first four months of the year, there has been received by the treasurer, from this source, $24,289.20, while the mission offerings from all sources for the same time have amounted to $120,286.47, a total of $144,575.67. The calls made upon us for the year 1911 totaled over $475,000, but in making the appropriations, the General Conference Committee felt obliged to reduce this to $410,000, notwithstanding the great disappointment this would mean to our brethren in the mission fields. Of this amount, $155,084.45 has been disbursed during the first four months of the year. Comparing the disbursements with the receipts for the same period, we are confronted with the possibility of a shortage of $30,000 for the year.
Sabbath, July 1, has been set apart as the day upon which the regular midsummer offering will be made by our people. The necessity of a liberal offering from all is sufficiently evident to require no comment. The Mission Board is looking forward to this offering for the relief needed. The church officers should keep before the people the urgency of the situation, that money that might otherwise be needlessly, if not foolishly expended, may instead flow into the treasury of the Lord.
Let us plan on this occasion to make ample provision for the work and the necessities of our brethren in foreign fields. “For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” W. T. Knox.
Our Free Choice
By F. M. W.
Two master minds are seeking to-day to control in the affairs of men. Two opposing and contending principles are in operation. Good and evil are each striving for the mastery. God has constituted man a free moral agent; he bestows upon him the right and the privilege to choose which of these principles he will follow; whether he will permit his life to be governed and controlled by the principles of Heaven, or whether he will subordinate himself to the master mind of the prince of evil.
The choice of deciding rests with every soul. This is a great responsibility, a responsibility which, when realized, must sober every thought. “Choose ye,” says the Lord, “this day whom ye will serve.” But while the Lord bestows upon man the freedom of choice, he uses every endeavor consistent with the principle of free moral agency to lead him to choose the right. His Spirit pleads with every heart, “Turn ye, turn ye; . . . for why will ye die?” He says: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”
F. M. W.
The Philippine Islands
By Irwin H. Evans
I. H. EVANS
IT was my privilege recently to spend nearly three weeks with the brethren in this field. This was, of course, too short a time to form much of an idea of conditions in the various islands of this group, with their population of from seven millions to nine millions, and with many dialects and languages. The United States government is doing what it can to reduce these dialects, and to educate the people to speak the English language, thus facilitating commerce and a unification of interests throughout the islands. Schools have been started in many places, and a great work, both educational and industrial, has been undertaken for the benefit and uplift of the people.
BAPTISMAL GROUP AT MANILA, PHILIPPINES. THE FIRST-FRUITS. ELDER FINSTER STANDS IN REAR NEAR THE RIGHT
Reaching Manila after one of the most stormy voyages I have ever experienced, I was glad for the privilege of meeting the brethren, and learning of the progress of our work under their charge. The night of my arrival we attended services in a distant part of the city, where a few had gathered for the regular weekly study of the Word of God. Each night in the week, in some part of the city, Elder L. V. Finster conducts services, preaching the truth through an interpreter to the Filipinos. As a result, about forty have begun keeping the Sabbath, and many more are interested.
Sunday afternoon we went to a village where were gathered a company of fishermen. It was a hard-looking lot of men who had assembled from various motives to hear the word of God preached. There was no building in which to hold the meeting; for the native huts were neither strong enough nor large enough to seat the people who had assembled. Among them were lepers, the blind, the lame, and many who seemed poor in this world's goods. Some were half naked; some were clad only in rags; while others had tried to clothe themselves so that they would pass as well-dressed. One could not but think of the scenes in the Saviour's life, when the crowds about the Sea of Galilee came to him for help and to hear his gracious words. Already some of these people have given their hearts to the Lord, and may yet shine as bright jewels in the Master's crown.
On another evening I went with Elder Finster to a meeting where we met in the kitchen of a native house. There was no floor; the dim light of the small lamp was barely bright enough to read by. Seats were brought from the neighboring houses, and men, women, and children came to hear the word of God,—men with pipes in their mouths, and women with cigarettes; even a few of the children were smoking. And yet from that group of men and women, most of whom were ignorant of the kingdom of God, who knows but there may be some souls saved in the kingdom? When the meeting began, they reverently took off their hats, and one by one the cigarettes and pipes were taken from their mouths, and they listened to the explanations of the Word of God with an interest that was in marked contrast to what we often see in the home land.
Never has a series of meetings been held here but some one has given his heart to the Lord. I like to think that once every week one of these meetings is held in some part of the city of Manila; for the results mean many souls for God.
A baptismal service was held early Sunday morning, and twelve precious souls were buried with their Lord. This was the first baptismal service held in the Philippines for those keeping the commandments of God. It was a solemn occasion, and all our hearts rejoiced that this beginning had been made. That evening a church of twenty-two members was organized, with a full set of officers. Thus, we have a church in the Philippines, all of whom are Filipinos, with the exception of Elder Finster and wife, and Brother and Sister R. A. Caldwell. Others will join as soon as they have gained an experience; and we believe there will soon be more than one hundred persons keeping the commandments of God in that city.
Elder Finster is training a class of workers, who meet in his home each evening for a two hours' study of the truths of the message. Out of this number he hopes to secure several workers in the native language. Two of the young men will soon be graduated from the high school. Two others come to us from the ministry in other denominations. In a little more time, with the blessing of God, a number of native workers will be preaching the message among the Filipinos.
Brother Caldwell has sold many Spanish books, and is now selling "Thoughts on Daniel" in the Tagalog language. It is encouraging to see how readily the people buy the books, and surely such reading will bear fruit to the glory of God.
It was agreed that a small book of Bible readings, bearing directly on the truths of the message, should be published in the Tagalog, selling for about twenty-five cents. It was thought many of the new believers could sell such a book to good advantage, and that its sale would help the people to read the Word of God understandingly.
Everything looked very encouraging. The Lord has surely blessed in preaching his word among the Filipinos. We believe the third angel's message will reach every nation, kindred, tongue, and people; and our hearts can not but be made glad when we know that a start, however small, has been made among these people. Let us not forget the work in the Philippines, but bear it and the workers there before the Lord in prayer. All the workers were in good health and of excellent courage in the Lord.
