FOLLOWING the West Michigan Conference I accompanied Elder S. E. Wight to Springfield, to meet with the executive committee of the Southern Illinois Conference. This was my first visit to this city since my wife and I left it seventeen years ago to go to South Africa. At that time we were engaged in labor in this city.
I was glad to meet some who were then members of the church, still faithful and looking for the coming of the Lord. I was thankful to note the progress the truth has made since that time. A comfortable place of worship has been secured, centrally located. I spoke to the church one evening. A good congregation of believers was present, a number of whom have somewhat recently embraced the truth.
While I was here, the executive committee voted to release Elder Wight to accept the call to the presidency of the West Michigan Conference, and Elder E. A. Bristol was elected to take his place as conference president. The labors of Elder Wight have been greatly blessed and much appreciated in this conference, and the brethren felt sorry to part with him. But we feel sure Elder Bristol will receive the hearty co-operation of all. This conference furnishes a splendid field in which to build up and develop the work, and our prayer is that great progress may attend the work of the message in this field.
G. B. THOMPSON.
A Word From North Missouri
By A. R. Ogden
WE are glad to be able to give a good report of the work in this conference. Success, in the conversion of souls, has attended the efforts put forth in various localities. A several weeks’ meeting at Greensburg, conducted by Elder J. W. Beams, assisted by the writer for one week, resulted in the reorganization of the church, which for several years, because of removals and other hindrances, had been wholly disorganized. About fifteen members were gathered in. As a result of a series of meetings held in Kansas City by Mrs. Lulu Wightman, assisted by the pastor, Elder B. L. Dieffenbacher, and Sister E. A. Merrell in Bible work, about fifteen souls were also gathered in at that place.
A successful canvassers’ institute was held at Goldsberry during the latter part of March. Several were converted during the meeting. We confidently expect good results from the work of the faithful canvassers. The institute was largely of a spiritual nature, that side of the book work being kept prominently before the workers. We believe that the workers, after such a season of seeking the Lord, go out into the field better prepared for service in so high a calling.
We plan to operate five tents in our field during the summer. As a result of these efforts, we hope to see, within a few months, many persons who at the present time know nothing of God’s last message to the world, rejoicing in the new-found light and living in harmony with it. To this end we shall unitedly work and pray. A. R. OGDEN.
Field Notes
Brother E. F. Ferris reports that five have accepted the Sabbath truth at Elizabethtown, Ill.
Brother P. L. Hoen, a Scandinavian worker in northeast Philadelphia, reports a new Sabbath-keeper, as well as others very much interested.
Elder A. A. Meyer baptized five persons at Tangier, Okla., recently.
A recent report states that two have been baptized at Muskogee, Okla.
Elder A. S. Bringle baptized thirteen at Wellington, Kan., on Sabbath, April 2.
Sabbath morning, April 2, Elder M. Stuckrath baptized three persons at Milwaukee, Wis.
The work is still onward at Staples, Minn. Twenty-six have definitely taken their stand for the truth.
Two families have already taken their stand for the truth at Buffalo, Okla., and others are in the valley of decision.
At Meadow Lawn, Minn., as a result of the work of Brother E. M. Chapman, twelve adults are keeping the Sabbath.
Another person has taken his stand for the truth at Pine City, Minn., which will make three at that place awaiting baptism.
Special efforts are being put forth in Anoka, Minn., to interest others in the truth, and as a result two are now keeping the Sabbath.
At Central Church, St. Louis, Mo., recently, six souls were buried with their Lord in baptism. There are others who will be baptized soon.
Six persons were buried with their Lord in baptism at Superior, Wis., on March 23, and were afterward taken into church-membership.
Six persons have united with the church at Alpena, Mich., and there are several others keeping the Sabbath who will unite with this church soon.
Fourteen souls have been added to the Pueblo (Colo.) church since camp-meeting, eight by baptism, six on profession of faith and former baptism.
Several new Sabbath-keepers are reported in the vicinity of Milltown and Marengo, Ind., by Brother Charles E. Allen, who has been laboring there.
Some good meetings have recently been held north of Bache, Okla., and seven persons have already commenced to keep the Sabbath, and still others are interested.
Four persons were added by letter, and three by profession of faith, to the Rows (Ohio) church on April 9. Also one new member was added to the church at Troy, Ohio, on Sabbath, March 12.
Sabbath, March 26, two souls were baptized at Burlington, Vt., by Elder H. J. Parman, and afterward united with the church at that place. Also, on April 2, three others were baptized at Burlington.
Brother J. W. Raymond reports from Hornell, N. Y., that three have taken their stand for the Sabbath, and others are deeply interested as a result of a series of meetings which he is conducting there.
W. R. AND F. M. HADDOCK
By W. R. Haddock; F. M. Haddock
Ontario
DURING the last few weeks it has been our privilege to hold four temperance meetings,—one in Calvary Church at Rosanna, one in the Methodist church at Springford, one in the Baptist church at Mt. Elgin, and one in the Methodist church at Courtland,—having an average attendance of about seventy-five. These are all country churches, and according to reports, many more would have been present had it not been for the bad roads caused by the stormy weather.
A deep interest has been awakened, and the meetings were much appreciated by all. By them, the way has been opened to hold meetings in Calvary Church, in Rosanna, to present the stirring truths of the last message of salvation.
We realize that of ourselves we can do nothing, but trusting in God with full assurance of faith, we meditate on the words, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
We earnestly ask for the prayers of all our people to attend our efforts in spreading the gospel message in this place.
W. R. AND F. M. HADDOCK
East Michigan Conference
By G. B. Thompson
The session of the East Michigan conference held at Lansing was in every way a most excellent and profitable meeting. The churches were well represented by delegates, and all entered most heartily into the work of the meeting. The spirit of unity which characterized the conference was very encouraging. While the reports of the different committees were carefully considered, the decisions concerning the plans for advancing the work were generally unanimous.
The financial reports rendered were in printed form, and arranged in a way to be easily understood by all the delegates, and showed an encouraging growth in the various departments. There was a gain of nearly four thousand dollars in tithe over the previous year, as well as a substantial gain in offerings.
But few changes were made in the officers and heads of departments for the coming year. Elder E. K. Slade was unanimously chosen president.
Throughout the conference the spirit of devotion was manifest. The Sabbath was a good day for all. The Lord came near, the Holy Spirit reproved of sin and unfaithfulness, and the spirit of confession and a desire to put away sin were felt in the hearts of all.
We believe that all returned to their homes from this meeting with a deeper desire than ever before to do aggressive work for the Master, and be among the overcomers when Jesus comes.
G. B. THOMPSON.
Fireside Correspondence School
By W. E. Howell
The Teacher's Refectory
AMBITION to become a teacher is a noble aspiration. Teaching is enumerated among the gifts of the Spirit. No more delicate and responsible work is committed to mortal kind than that of directing the thoughts, forming the tastes, defining the ideals, molding the character, and determining in large part the career and destiny of God's youth and children. Yet of such kind is the work of the teacher. He that desireth to become a teacher desireth a good thing.
But the favorable conditions of having the desire, the aspiration, the ambition, are not sufficient to produce the successful teacher unless there is a corresponding energy of action to qualify for so solemn, so delightful a work. Nor is it enough to have made a good beginning, either in preparation for, or in the pursuit of, this vocation. There is urgent need of —
A Follow-Up System
Did you ever receive by request a circular of information from some large commercial house? Whether you made a purchase or not, did they let the matter rest there, or did you receive once or twice a month thereafter a friendly, breezy letter, calling your attention to the same matter again, or to some new proposition or attraction? What is all this for? — They have something to sell, and they want you to buy it. Their follow-up system often leads you to feel that you too want to buy it.
Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown of gold and silver and greenbacks; but we teachers have to do with incorruptible crowns. We are seeking one ourselves, and want it decked with many stars — a star for every soul it may please God to give us as a compensation that can not be expressed in a paltry wage. So great a work calls for adequate qualifications. One of the greatest teachers among us writes: —
“God wants every teacher to be efficient, not to feel satisfied with some measure of success, but to feel his need of perpetual diligence in acquiring knowledge.”
“Many who are teachers of the truth cease to be students, digging, ever digging for truth as for hidden treasures.”
“God does not ignore ignorant men, but if they are connected with Christ, if they are sanctified through the truth, they will be constantly gathering knowledge.”
The import of these words is that the teacher should make constant use of a follow-up system to broaden and deepen his education. No wide-awake teacher will be “content with a meager knowledge, a few attainments, just to be passable.” He grows weary — or at least ought to — of passing out to his students the same article of mental diet over and over. But he can not stop now to attend the banquet of good things over at the college, where they fare sumptuously every day, and he sometimes feels faint and helpless and ready to die.
Now the Fireside Correspondence School has found many lines of usefulness, but it has seemed good to it to establish also a —
Teacher's Refectory
Here refreshments are served a la carte. The teacher may order what his soul lusts after if it is on the bill of fare; he will get what he orders, and pay for only what he gets. There is perhaps nothing like a little experience in teaching to whet the teacher's appetite for more — more of what he has a little of, and much of what he has nothing of. The correspondence method is well adapted to the need of the teacher who must go on with his teaching, but who is hungry for better and more extended knowledge of his subjects. No teacher is properly qualified to teach a subject in which he has not himself advanced at least two or three grades beyond his class. It takes the master of a subject to simplify it to the understanding of the uninitiated.
Our educational statistics show more than a thousand teachers in active service, some worthily, some more or less unworthily, even in their own eyes. Teachers, you who are hungry and faint, why not step into the Teacher's Refectory and have some refreshments? We should be most happy to serve you if we have anything to your liking. The summer will bring you some spare time. It would rest you to feel that you were getting something fresh and new for your students next year, even if at first thought you may think you are tired of books and study. A teacher in the middle West has already written in to make arrangements for taking up correspondence study for the summer as soon as his school is out. You will be safe in doing likewise. We have prepared a special leaflet (menu) for teachers, entitled “The Teacher's Refectory.” It will tell you some interesting things you want to know. Send for it. Always address Fireside Correspondence School, Takoma Park, Washington, D. C.
We regret deeply to announce the death of the first student to enroll in the Fireside Correspondence School, Emma L. Runck. Her registry number was A1. She was taking general history and life of Christ, and looking forward to medical study. We miss her lessons, which always bore evidence of earnest, conscientious work. Particulars may be found in the REVIEW of March 31.
W. E. HOWELL, Principal.
The “Blue-Laws” Defended
By William A. Colcord
A BRIEF editorial in the Washington Star of April 10, headed “Blue-Laws,” runs as follows:—
“A former governor of Connecticut is out in a defense of the so-called blue-laws of that State. His argument is that they were not so very blue for their time. And he is probably right. Too much present-day ridicule of those enactments is based upon an appraisement of them as compared with present-day enactments. They would not answer now. They were none too serviceable then. But they were devised for conditions very different from any that to-day exist, and by lights that have long ceased to guide either lawmakers or executives.”
The growing numbers of defenders of the old-time blue-laws is not a good sign of the times. It is rather an evidence of retrogression and preparation for a return to the “old order of things,” when religion was made a matter of law, and conscience compelled to yield to the will of the majority.
The editor well says that these laws were “none too serviceable” in their day. They did, however, serve the purposes of the narrow-minded and bigoted as means of persecution, as such laws always do. As means of promoting genuine religion they were and always18will be dismal failures.
It is true also that “they were devised for conditions very different from any that to-day exist,” one of the chief of which was the prevailing idea that church and state should be united, and that religion should be regulated by law. And the “lights” under which they were devised were the lights shining from the Dark Ages. It is a sad fact that so many to-day are turning once more to these same “lights,” as is evidenced by the wide-spread demand for Sunday laws and Sunday enforcement. This is an evidence that the days of the blue-laws are returning. W. A. C.
Christian Education
By Frederick Griggs
Conducted by the Department of Education of the General Conference
FREDERICK GRIGGS - - - - Secretary
For Every Day
By Frank Walcott Hutt
A CHEERFUL song for every day,
And not for glad days only;
A song to clear a misty way,
And soothe a heart that's lonely;
A song that's not too late to bring
Joy unto one that may not sing.
A song whose mission 'tis to find
And cheer the place of sorrow,
And have its message glad and kind,
Fulfilled before to-morrow —
Whether the skies be blue or gray,
A cheerful song for every day.
— Frank Walcott Hutt, in Housekeeper.
Christian Liberty
By K. C. Russell; W. A. Colcord
Reports, Notes, and Comments' Pertaining to the Current History of the Rights of Conscience
Conducted by the Religious Liberty Bureau
K. C. RUSSELL - - - - Secretary
W. A. COLCORD - - - - Corresponding Secretary
A Faithful Religious Liberty Worker Fallen in Death
By K. C. R.
ELDER T. H. PURDON, of Rutland, Vt., died Sunday, April 17, 1910. He leaves a wife and a daughter, besides other relatives and many friends, to mourn their loss.
At the time of his death he was the only laborer left in Vermont of those who were connected with that conference in its earlier days; indeed, his whole experience in the third angel's message, both as a lay member and as a minister, has been in the Vermont Conference.
While he was loyal to every phase of this message, there was no department that appealed to him more strongly than that of religious liberty. For many years he has been given special supervision of this branch of work in the Vermont Conference. His face had become familiar in the Vermont State legislature, as he regularly visited the State capitol at Montpelier. His pleasant and genial manner in meeting these men of prominence won their confidence and respect.
We are sure that there is no department of this work that will sense more keenly Elder Purdon's death than that of religious liberty.
We are confident that our beloved brother, who is now sweetly sleeping in Jesus, will be among those who will stand upon the sea of glass, having gotten the victory over the beast, his image, and his mark. K. C. R.
News and Notes
By A. J. S. B.
Miss Bertha D. Shaw has been appointed missionary secretary of the Western Canadian Union Conference. Her present address is Box 244, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Brother E. S. Horsman, until recently the field missionary agent of the Southern California Conference, has responded to a call to act in the same capacity for the Northern California Conference. His address hereafter will be care California Tract Society, 601 Telegraph Ave., Oakland, Cal.
Brother Wm. V. Sample, manager of the Canadian branch of the Pacific Press Publishing Association, has consented to act also as field missionary agent of the Western Canadian Union Conference. It is planned to provide sufficient help in the office to enable him to do considerable field work in behalf of our canvassers in that splendid territory of “magnificent distances.”
On account of failing health, Miss Stella B. Lowry, secretary of the Alberta Tract Society, has been obliged to resign. In addition to her duties as tract society secretary, she was also carrying on the work of conference secretary and bookkeeper. We trust that she will soon recuperate sufficiently again to connect with our organized work. Brother Frank Hommel was appointed to take the place of Sister Lowry.
Brother J. R. Ferren, formerly of the periodical department of the Pacific Press Publishing Association, has consented to serve as missionary secretary of the Pacific Union Conference. Although very reluctant to have Brother Ferren leave their employ, the managers of our Western publishing house cheerfully released him to this wider sphere of activity in the upbuilding of home missionary work. He is now holding a missionary institute with the students at Fernando Academy, in the Southern California Conference.
Brother Paul Curtis is now acting as missionary secretary of the Central Union Conference, having been appointed to that office during the last session of the conference, held at St. Joseph, Mo., January 15-23. His entire time and energy are to be devoted to this particular phase of our work. His headquarters are at the branch office of the Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1109 East Twelfth St., Kansas City, Mo. The detailed periodical statistics recently sent out by Brother Curtis to the missionary secretaries in that union conference show careful study and much hard work on his part. Such information will prove of great benefit in laying the proper foundation for intelligent missionary effort.
Brother Ernest Lloyd, who was for a time engaged as a Y. M. C. A. secretary, has been appointed missionary and tract society secretary of the Southern California Conference. Miss Rena Stevenson, at one time connected with the California Tract Society, is now acting as his office assistant.
Brother Charles M. Cottrell, formerly manager of the Canadian branch of the Pacific Press Publishing Association, has accepted a call to the field missionary agency of the Southern California Conference. The prospects for a successful year for our canvassers in that pleasant field are most encouraging.
By vote of the Northern California Conference, held at Lodi, Cal., February 2-7, the office of the California Tract Society was transferred from Mountain View to 601 Telegraph Ave., Oakland, Cal. This new location (at the Twenty-second Street and Telegraph Avenue Station of the Key Route Ferry Line, connecting the cities of Berkeley, Oakland, and San Francisco by a twenty-minute electric service), makes it very convenient for our church-members in these cities to visit the tract society office frequently. The city location is also very advantageous to our magazine agents, who can now secure their supplies on short notice. In speaking of the transfer, Brother S. G. White, the secretary, says: “Everything is running smoothly in our new home, and I believe it was a wise move to bring the tract society to this city.”
At his own request, Brother W. H. Covell, for years the field missionary agent of the California Conference, was recently released from that work to become field periodical agent in the same conference. In thus appointing a man of experience to take charge of the periodical work alone, the Northern California Conference has taken a step in advance of all our other local conferences, the large majority of which are appointing field missionary secretaries to promote the distribution of all literature, excepting the subscription books. The retail value of the periodical business in the California Conference during the past two years has amounted to over forty thousand dollars. During 1909, for instance, seventy-five thousand copies of our ten-cent magazines were sold in the city of San Francisco alone. Is there any reason why an equal number of our valuable magazines should not be placed in many of our other large cities in the United States and in Canada?
A. J. S. B.
Luther’s Mighty Pen
By J. A. Wylie
WE step a moment out of the domain of history, to narrate a dream which the Elector Frederick of Saxony had on the night preceding the memorable day on which Luther affixed his “Theses” to the door of the castle church. The elector told it the next morning to his brother, Duke John, who was then residing with him at his palace of Schweinitz, six leagues from Wittenberg.
On the morning of the thirty-first of October, 1517, the elector said to Duke John: “Brother, I must tell you a dream which I had last night, and the meaning of which I should like much to know. It is so deeply impressed on my mind that I will never forget it, were I to19live a thousand years. For I dreamed it thrice, and each time with new circumstances.”
Duke John: “Is it a good or a bad dream?”
The Elector: “I know not; God knows.”
Duke John: “Don’t be uneasy at it; but be so good as tell it to me.”
The Elector: “Having gone to bed last night, fatigued and out of spirits, I fell asleep shortly after my prayer, and slept calmly for about two hours and a half; I then awoke, and continued awake to midnight, all sorts of thoughts passing through my mind. Among other things, I thought how I was to observe the feast of all saints. I prayed for the poor souls in purgatory, and supplicated God to guide me, my counsel, and my people according to truth. I again fell asleep, and then dreamed that Almighty God sent me a monk, who was a true son of the apostle Paul. All the saints accompanied him by order of God, in order to bear testimony before me, and to declare that he did not come to contrive any plot, but that all that he did was according to the will of God. They asked me to have the goodness graciously to permit him to write something on the door of the church of the castle of Wittenberg. This I granted through my chancellor. Thereupon the monk went to the church, and began to write in such large characters that I could read the writing at Schweinitz. The pen which he used was so large that its end reached as far as Rome, where it pierced the ears of a lion that was crouching there, and caused the triple crown upon the head of the Pope to shake. All the cardinals and princes, running hastily up, tried to prevent it from falling. You and I, brother, wished also to assist, and I stretched out my arm; but at this moment I awoke, with my arm in the air, quite amazed, and very much enraged at the monk for not managing his pen better. I recollected myself a little; it was only a dream.”
“I was still half asleep, and once more closed my eyes. The dream returned. The lion, still annoyed by the pen, began to roar with all his might, so much so that the whole city of Rome, and all the states of the holy empire, ran to see what the matter was. The Pope requested them to oppose this monk, and applied particularly to me, on account of his being in my country. I again awoke, repeated the Lord’s prayer, entreated God to preserve His Holiness, and once more fell asleep.
“Then I dreamed that all the princes of the empire, and we among them, hastened to Rome, and strove, one after another, to break the pen; but the more we tried the stiffer it became, sounding as if it had been made of iron. We at length desisted. I then asked the monk (for I was sometimes at Rome, and sometimes at Wittenberg) where he got his pen, and why it was so strong. ‘The pen,’ replied he, ‘belonged to an old goose of Bohemia a hundred years old. I got it from one of my old schoolmasters. As to its strength, it is owing to the impossibility of depriving it of its pith or marrow; and I am quite astonished at it myself.’ Suddenly I heard a loud noise — a large number of other pens had sprung out of the long pen of the monk. I awoke a third time; it was daylight.”
Duke John: “Chancellor, what is your opinion? Would we had a Joseph, or a Daniel, enlightened by God!”
Chancellor: “Your highness knows the common proverb, that the dream of young girls, learned men, and great lords have usually some hidden meaning. The meaning of this dream, however, we shall not be able to know for some time — not till the things to which it relates have taken place. Wherefore, leave the accomplishment to God, and place it fully in his hand.”
Duke John: “I am of your opinion, chancellor; ’tis not fit for us to annoy ourselves in attempting to discover the meaning. God will overrule all for his glory.”
Elector: “May our faithful God do so; yet I shall never forget this dream. I have, indeed, thought of an interpretation, but I keep it to myself. Time, perhaps, will show if I have been a good diviner.”
So passed the morning of the thirty-first of October, 1517, in the royal castle of Schweinitz. The events of the evening at Wittenberg we have already detailed. The elector has hardly made an end of telling his dream when the monk comes with his hammer to interpret it. — J. A. Wylie, in “History of Protestantism,” page 263.
Religious Liberty Notes
BROTHER E. G. FULTON, of Los Angeles, Cal., our most extensive café manager, in reporting his work through the Pacific Union Recorder, states that in his literature distribution to his customers, he is making a specialty of religious liberty tracts. This is a suggestion to other brethren engaged in similar lines of business.
Greater New York has now been added to the list of cities which are in the throes of a tremendous struggle for Sunday closing. Mayor Gaynor is showing himself equal to the most determined among the modern municipal heads fully bent on responding to the mad rage of the populace for this sort of disregard of true American governmental principles.
The Ministers’ Alliance of Kansas City has assured the barbers of the city, who are struggling for a “close” Sunday, that they may expect their “moral” support, passing resolutions to that effect, and ordering them sent, not only to the barbers, but to the mayor and the prosecuting attorney. This was after the last-named official had told the barbers that nothing could be done for them by his office.
The Colorado Conference paper, Echoes from the Field, has, in its issue of April 6, the following from Elder J. S. Wightman, religious liberty secretary of the Central Union Conference: “Now is the time to go to the public, and next winter will be the time to go to our representatives. On what we can do for the people now will depend what we can do with the legislators later on—to influence and prevail on them to make no law that will conflict with, or take away, the rights of conscience. A Testimony has said, ‘Be stanch to defend your religious liberty.’ Let us be stanch, then; and in this year of our Lord 1910 put our best endeavors to his service.”
The candidacy of J. B. Billard for mayor of Topeka, Kan., has intensely aroused the ministers of that city, as they declare him to be an atheist, since he has opposed Bible reading and religious exercises in the public schools. They allege that he will undertake to turn the city over to the “wets.” Rev. Dr. Charles M. Sheldon, the famous author of “In His Steps” and other similar books, is pastor of a church in Topeka and among the leaders of this ministerial fight. Declaring this to be a Christian country, he regards it as a “shame” to elect to the municipality’s chief office this “enemy to the teachings which are the very heart of our religious faith.”
The Missionary and Publishing Work
Notes, Plans, Reports, Statistics, and Other Information Regarding Missionary Endeavor and the Circulation of Gospel Literature.
Conducted by the Missionary and Publishing Department of the General Conference.
E. R. PALMER — — — — — Secretary
N. Z. TOWN Assistant Secretary
A. J. S. BOURDEAU Missionary Secretary
The Publication of Luther’s Theses
THE day on which the monk of Wittenberg posted up his “Theses,” occupies a distinguished place among the great days of history. It marks a new and grander starting-point in religion and liberty. The propositions of Luther preached to all Christendom that God does not sell pardon, but bestows it as a free gift on the ground of the death of his Son; the “Theses,” in short, were an echo of the song sung by the angels on the plain of Bethlehem fifteen centuries before: “On earth peace, good will toward men.”
Luther acted without plan—so he himself afterward confessed. His arm would have been unnerved, and the hammer would have fallen from his grasp, had he been told that its strokes would not merely scare away Tetzel and break up the market at Juterbock, but would resound through Christendom, and centuries after he had gone to his grave, would be sending back their echoes in the fall of hierarchies, and in the overthrow of that throne before which Luther was still disposed to bow as the seat of the Vicar of Christ.
Luther’s eye did not extend to these remote countries and times; he looked only at what was before him—the professors and students of the university; his flock in Wittenberg in danger of being ensnared; the crowd of pilgrims assembled to earn an indulgence—and to the neighboring towns and parts of Germany. These he hoped to influence.
But far beyond these modest limits was spread the fame of Luther’s “Theses.” They contained truth, and truth is light, and light must necessarily diffuse itself, and penetrate the darkness on every side. The “Theses” were found to be as applicable to Christendom as to Wittenberg, and as hostile to the great indulgence-market at Rome as to the little one at Juterbock. Now was seen the power of that instrumentality which God had prepared beforehand for this emergency—the printing-press. Copied with the hand, how slowly would these propositions have traveled, and how limited the number of persons who would have read them! But the printing-press, multiplying copies, sowed them like snowflakes over Saxony. Other printing-presses set to work, till speedily there was not a country in Europe where the “Theses” of the monk of Wittenberg were not as well known as in Saxony.
The moment of their publication was singularly opportune; pilgrims from all the surrounding states were then assembled at Wittenberg. Instead of buying an indulgence, they bought Luther’s “Theses,” not one, but many copies, and carried them in their wallets to their own homes. In a fortnight these propositions were circulated over all Germany. They were translated into Dutch, and read in Holland; they were rendered into Spanish, and studied in the cities and universities of the Iberian peninsula. In a month they had made the tour of Europe. “It seemed,” to use the words of Myconius, “as if the angels had been carriers.” Copies were offered for sale in Jerusalem. In four short weeks Luther’s tract had become a household book, and his name a household word in all Europe.
The “Theses” were the one topic of conversation everywhere—in all circles, and in all sorts of places. They were discussed by the learned in the universities, and by the monks in their cells. In the market-place, in the shop, and in the tavern, men paused and talked together of the bold act and the new doctrine of the monk of Wittenberg. A copy was procured and read by Leo X in the Vatican.
The very darkness of the age helped to extend the circulation and the knowledge of the “Theses.” The man who kindles a bonfire on a mountain top by day will have much to do to attract the eyes of even a single parish. He who kindles his signal amid the darkness of night will arouse a whole kingdom. This last was what Luther had done. He had lighted a great fire in the midst of the darkness of Christendom, and far and wide over distant realms was diffused the splendor of that light; and men, opening their eyes on the sudden illumination that was brightening the sky, hailed the new dawn.—J. A. Wylie, “History of Protestantism,” pages 266, 267.
A Health Journal in Spanish
WE are informed by Elder G. W. Reaser, superintendent of the Mexican field, that they have a good supply of our Spanish health journal, and can supply copies of the same to our people in the United States at five cents a copy. This monthly magazine, La Salud y Vida (Health and Life), is published in Argentina, South America; but our Mexican publishing house orders it in quantities, so that our people in the United States and Mexico can secure copies conveniently.
Postage on letters to Mexico is two cents, the same as in the United States.
Address Compañía de Publicaciones, No. 1420, Avenida 20, Tacubaya, D. F., Mexico.