Earlier text: Thou Shalt Not Be AfraidThe Gift of the Spirit of Prophecy
By Francis M. Wilcox
THE present illness of Sister E. G. White has drawn from many of our readers expressions of regret and sorrow, indicating the deep interest they feel in her and in the gift which she has represented for so many years in connection with this movement. The gift of the spirit of prophecy in this church has proved indeed a precious boon. Much of the progress which has attended the proclamation of the message is due to the earnest labors in speaking and writing of this servant of the Lord. This gift has done much for the unification of the believers. It has saved them from many serious mistakes in plans and methods; it has called them to a high plane of consecration and holiness. What believer in this movement can read the earnest exhortations which have been made by the servant of the Lord, and not have his soul thrilled with new love and dedicated to new service. We believe God has spoken to this church the same as he spoke to his church in other ages. The proof of this gift rests upon the broad basis of the work it has done and of the fruit it has borne. Doubters and opposers may point to what appears to them inconsistencies; they may haggle over some turn of a phrase, some change of expression in revision, etc. These are little details which, to our mind, do not affect the broader principles governing the work of this gift or the basis upon which it rests. We doubt not that in other ages of the church similar objections were raised against the work of the messengers of the Lord. There may be circumstances connected with the exercise of the gift which we cannot understand. Some misguided in zeal or judgment may make wrong application of the instruction given, using it to further their own plans, or as a club against those who differ from their viewpoint, but neither the gift itself nor the one through whom the gift is exercised is responsible for these abuses. We do not credit Sister White with infallibility. She has never claimed this. She is a fallible, mortal woman, and, the same as the one who writes these words and the ones who read them, must avail herself of the merits and mercies of the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. Her work has been to point mankind to Christ, the Saviour of men; to lead them to search the Scriptures of Truth with greater diligence. In all her work she has exalted the Word of God, and pointed her fellows to it as the man of their counsel. But Heaven, we believe, has been pleased to use her as a special instrument in connection with this closing work. God has spoken to her in visions and dreams for the edifying of his church. It is our privilege to heed this instruction and thereby obtain rich blessings; or, regarding her writings as the king of Israel and his princes regarded the writings of Jeremiah, we may criticize and dissect them, seeking to find technical errors or inconsistencies upon which to base our rejection of their counsels. Too many have done the latter, and have made shipwreck of their faith and of their Christian experience. May God save us from following in their footsteps. This aged servant of the Lord may soon close her earthly account, and rest from her labors. Her works will follow her. The influence of her godly life and of her earnest words of counsel, spoken and written, will prove an enduring monument. In eternity she will reap, as will all the faithful in Christ Jesus, the fruit of her labors in the Lord. F. M. W. Lord’s Day Rallies
By C. M. S.
The press of late brings many notices of rallies in the interest of Sunday enforcement by State and county organizations of the Lord’s Day Alliance, which seems to indicate an increased activity on the part of that organization. Such a rally recently held in Baltimore, Md., will indicate the general scope of topics considered in such gatherings. At the Baltimore rally Dr. E. L. Watson spoke on “The Responsibility of the Ministry for Law Enforcement.” It is certain that he did not find such responsibility set forth in the example of our Lord or of any of his apostles. Dr. C. L. Pate spoke on “Country-Wide Cooperation Essential to Law Enforcement.” We have known for many years. that the whole nation was to be involved in the work of forcing Sunday observance upon all. William E. Levering spoke on “Responsibility of Civic Organizations.” The responsibility of civic organizations was set forth as being the enforcement of Sunday laws. Adjuncts of the church, their duty lies in making that particular ordinance of the church, that tenet of the church’s faith, obligatory upon all men. Dr. W. W. Davis, secretary of the organization, reviewed the organization’s activities, its plans of operation, and its purposes. Throughout the country these organizations are being formed, are conducting their rallies, and endeavoring to rally the rank and file of the people to the work of exalting the Sunday institution, enacting laws to fasten it more firmly upon all, and punishing every infraction of such ordinances. Such developments at this time were to be expected. They are in harmony with other last-day developments, and serve as additional evidence that we are in the days of the culmination of the controversy. An Infidel Recants
By C. M. S.
ONE of the most bitter atheists of France was M. Lavredeau, the poet and novelist. He expressed his hatred of religion in most scornful songs and poems and prose productions. But he seems now to have thrown his infidelity to the winds and is publishing his profession of faith in the most radical journals. He says:— I laughed at faith and held myself a wise man. I stood on the road and looked at the soldiers. There they marched cheerfully onward to death. I asked, “What makes you so calm?” and they began to pray, and say, “I believe in God.” How hard it is in this national cemetery to be an atheist. I cannot, I cannot. I have deceived myself and you, too, who have read my books and sung my songs. To forsake God is to be lost indeed. I say to my friends, Lavredeau does not dare to die as an atheist. It is not hell that dismays me, but the thought, “There is a God, and you stand so far from him.” Rejoice, O my soul, that I am permitted to know this hour in which I can kneel and say, “I believe in God.”
Not many who have gone so far as Lavredeau went in scorn of religion and in denial of God ever turn from that path of death to tread in the path that leads to life. It is to be hoped that, having found the way out of the quicksands of infidelity, Lavredeau may lead many of his skeptical admirers to a belief in God. The Second Coming of Christ
By W. A. S.
Synopsis of Present Truth — No. 9
The Second Coming of Christ
The Scriptures make very clear the purpose of Christ’s second coming and the events of that great day. The Purpose of His Coming
The second coming of Christ has been the hope of the children of God through all the ages. The apostle Paul calls it the “blessed hope:” — “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” Titus 2: 11-13.
The saints of God have fallen asleep in death with their faith reaching forward to Christ’s glorious appearing. So the veteran apostle fell, with eyes upon “that day:” — “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” 2 Tim. 4: 6-8.
It is because Christ’s second coming is the grand climax of the plan of salvation. The crowns of life are bestowed when Jesus comes. Not till then are the children of God ushered into the eternal kingdom. The saved will go together, through the gates, into the city, — patriarch and prophet, apostle and reformer, and the child of God of this last generation. Of the ancient worthies it is written: “These all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.” Heb. 11: 39, 40. It will be a glorious day when the ransomed throng, of all the ages, marches in together, through the gates into the city. It is to take his children to the saints’ eternal home, that Christ comes the second time. This was his promise to the disciples: — “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” John 14: 2, 3.
Not in detail, but in their general order, let us follow the events of that great day. As the revelator saw it and heard it in vision of the last day: — “And there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, . . . and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God.” Rev. 16: 17-19.
“And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.” Rev. 6: 14.
2. His Glorious Appearing
Then bursts upon the world the glory of his coming: — “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet.” Matt. 24: 30, 31.
“And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” Rev. 14: 14, 15.
3. The Resurrection of the Just, the Translation of the Living Righteous
The time to reap has come, and the wheat is gathered at last into the garner of the Lord: — “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” 1 Cor. 15: 51, 52.
“And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Matt. 24: 31.
“For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thess. 4: 15-18.
The righteous dead are raised to life as the trump of God sounds and the voice of the Archangel calls to his sleeping saints, and the living righteous are translated from mortality to immortality. Then all together, with the escort of the angels, they follow the Saviour to the heavenly mansions that he has prepared in the city of God. 4. The Destruction of the Wicked
Before the glorious majesty of the coming King no sin can endure; for true it is that “our God is a consuming fire” — now, in the day of his mercy, consuming sin out of the heart that by faith approaches the throne of grace, but in that day consuming the unrepentant sinner with his sin. “Where will the sinner hide in that day,
in that day?
Where will the sinner hide in that day?
It will be in vain to call,
‘Ye mountains on us fall!’
For his hand will find out all,
In that day, in that day.”
It is the great day long foretold by seer and prophet. Again let us read the description of what it will mean to the unsaved to see Christ coming in glory; for the terror of that day must warn us now to keep within the refuge of the Saviour’s loving grace: — “And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every freeman, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” Rev. 6: 15-17.
The same glory that transforms the righteous, is a consuming fire to those who have rejected Christ’s salvation: — “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” 2 Thess. 2: 8.
“When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” 2 Thess. 1: 7-9.
The Climax of Human History
Thus the second coming of Christ brings the end of the world, the resurrection and translation of the righteous, and the destruction of the wicked. The resurrection of the wicked dead does not then take place, but only that of the just; save for some of the wicked dead who have had a special part in warring against Christ—“they also which pierced him” (Rev. 1: 7)—who are raised to see his coming, necessarily to fall again before the consuming glory. The righteous are taken to reign with Christ in the heavenly city for a thousand years, while during the same period the earth lies in desolation and chaos, uninhabited by man, a dark abyss, the dreary prison house of Satan. Of the two resurrections, first that of the just and then of the unjust, we are told: — “And they [the righteous] lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power.” Rev. 20: 4-6.
It is at the end of the thousand years that the resurrection of the wicked takes place. Then the city of God descends—“the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming9 down from God out of heaven”—and the wicked come forth to condemnation and the second death, from which there is no waking. “Now Is the Accepted Time”
Now is the day of salvation, when by Christ’s grace we may prepare for that great day. To be found in him in that day will be of infinitely greater worth than anything this world can give, of pleasure, or possessions, or honor. Nothing will count then but the blessed hope. Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, found the personal Saviour in the days of the Methodist revival in England. All her wealth and all her social influence were devoted to Christ, even though titled friends took umbrage at her close association with the poor and the humble who pressed into the kingdom. She wrote of her joy in being numbered with the children of God,— “I love to meet among them now,
Before thy gracious throne to bow,
Though weakest of them all;
Nor can I bear the piercing thought,
To have my worthless name left out,
When thou for them shalt call.”
“Prevent, prevent it by thy grace!
Be thou, dear Lord, my hiding place
In that expected day,
Thy pardoning voice, O let me hear,
To still each unbelieving fear,
Nor let me fall, I pray.”
One night, at a royal ball, the Prince of Wales asked a titled lady where the Countess of Huntingdon was. “O, I suppose she is with some of her beggars somewhere!” was the flippant answer. “Ah,” said the crown prince, “in the last day I think I should be glad to hold the hem of Lady Huntingdon’s mantle.” True it is that the greatest gift of grace now, as it will be then, is to be numbered among the obedient children of God. “Let me among the saints be found,
Whene’er the Archangel’s trump shall sound,
To see thy smiling face;
Then joyfully thy praise I’ll sing,
While heaven’s resounding mansions ring
With shouts of endless grace.”
The Church’s Need
By G. B. Thompson
THE Lord has made ample provision for all the spiritual needs of his people. Though men and devils may oppose, he has assured the militant church that the very gates of hell shall not prevail against it. He gave his disciples “power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.” He bade them “heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils.” “Raise the dead,”—that was great power indeed. To the seventy he said, “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” Before Jesus ascended, standing ready to return to his Father, but looking at the future and the needs of his disciples to the end of time, he commanded them to tarry in the city of Jerusalem until they were endowed with power from on high. Beyond all question this is the church’s greatest need at this time, as the shadows lengthen and the deepening twilight gathers. It has been the need of saints and prophets in all ages. But— “Where is that spirit, Lord, which dwelt
In Abram’s breast, and sealed him
thine?
Which made Paul’s heart with sorrow melt,
And glow with energy divine?” “Is not thy grace as mighty now
As when Elijah felt its power?
When glory beamed from Moses’ brow,
Or Job endured the trying hour?” We need the power that has made psalmists and prophets and mighty men of God. We need the power which enabled Moses to lead Israel from bondage to freedom. We need the power, courage, and faith of Joshua, who challenged and stayed the sun in its course that victory might rest on the banners of Israel. We need that panoply of power which made the sword of Gideon the sword of God, and enabled him, with only a little band of faithful believers, to win a great victory over the Midianites. The church in the days after Pentecost was numerically weak, and without prestige. It was despised and poverty-stricken. It had no history to which it could refer with pride as an example of what it could do. It was, so to speak, a new religion, a sect, everywhere spoken against. It had no colleges, or printing press, or literature. It had no modern or popular means of reaching the masses. It had to meet the wisdom of the Greek, and the skill and learning of scribes and Pharisees. But the gospel they preached triumphed. The Spirit like a mighty, rushing wind had blown upon them, and given them tongues of fire. Humble men had experienced a baptism of the Spirit. It had put the courage of a lion into timid men. It pressed home upon the Jews the murder of the Son of God with such power that in the agony of an awakened conscience, enlightened by the Spirit of God, they exclaimed, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” We believe that the work of God cannot be carried forward now any more successfully than then without the power of the Spirit to open minds, search hearts, burn away the dross, melt prejudice, and perfect the character. Our theology may be ever so correct, and the organization for carrying forward the work in all parts of the world ever so properly arranged in every detail, but this of itself will not give the power to touch the heart and win men to Christ. There must be the holy fire in the individual experience to consume sin, and make us more than conquerors through him who has loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. Let us constantly pray for this mighty power, “this living flame which burned so bright in saints of old.” The South China Division
By A. G. Daniells
FROM accounts we had heard of typhoons and rough seas in the China Sea, we had dreaded the voyage between Singapore and Hongkong more than any other part of our long journey, but we were favored with beautiful weather and a smooth sea. This enabled us to attend to correspondence and bring our reports up to date for the REVIEW. Professor Salisbury joined us at Singapore and accompanied Mrs. Daniells and me on this journey. We were met at the Hongkong wharf by Brethren R. C. Porter, B. L. Anderson, and A. L. Ham. Here we were told of the death of our dear fellow worker, Elder O. A. Olsen. This was a great shock to me. When we parted just before I left America I congratulated Brother Olsen on his steady improvement healthwise and his power of endurance after so many years of unceasing toil in the gospel ministry. In our conversations he often expressed the hope that he might live to see the work of God finished in the earth, and welcome the return of his Lord. In the death of Brother Olsen I have lost a dear, true friend and a valued counselor, and our cause has lost a faithful leader. The burden of the work given him by his Lord rested heavily upon his heart. He shrank from no toil, weariness, exposure, or sacrifice required to do that work well and acceptably to God. It grieves me to think of the broken circle and the empty chair I shall face in our future councils. May our great Leader raise up many more men as earnest and faithful as our brother who has fallen. As soon as we could get ashore at Hongkong the brethren hurried us to the river boat that was to take us to Canton, where the workers of the South China division were gathered for a general meeting. This was our first sight of China, and everything was new and interesting to us. Our ride up that great river, alive with humanity doing commercial business on all sorts of crafts, was indeed interesting. Long before we reached the pier in Canton the river was so crowded with small passenger steamers, freight boats, and sampans that it looked as if we could never reach our pier without some one going to the bottom of the river. But the Chinese sampan pilots are as expert as10 are the London bus drivers. There was no confusion or collision, for every one seemed to know just what to do and when to do it. We gathered in the chapel of our Bethel Girls' School in which our meetings are held in Canton. Here we had the pleasure of meeting nearly all our foreign and native workers in South China. Elder B. L. Anderson is the superintendent of this great division, with its teeming millions. He is assisted in the leadership of the work by Brethren W. C. Hankins of Amoy, J. P. Anderson of Swatow, S. A. Nagel in the Hakka district, B. A. Meeker of Canton, Dr. Law Keem of Kwang-si Province, and A. L. Ham of Hongkong. We were also pleased to meet Sister E. H. Wilbur, who has recently laid her husband to rest in the land where they were so glad to toil for souls. Her courage is good, and she is toiling on with her two little boys the best she can. Here we made the acquaintance of Brother and Sister Thomas, who have recently come to take charge of the training school at the mission station. We had the pleasure also of meeting Brother and Sister Mountain, who have come from Australia to take charge of the circulation of literature in this part of China. They were but children when I left Australia fifteen years ago. It makes one's heart rejoice to see our boys and girls remain loyal to this message as they grow up to manhood and womanhood, and also to see them consecrate their lives to the advancement of the cause. As delightful as it was to renew acquaintance with these dear fellow workers and their wives, it was as great a pleasure to become acquainted with the many Chinese workers who are helping our foreign brethren to hasten forward the work in China. These native brethren and sisters gave us a truly warm and brotherly welcome, and seemed to greatly appreciate the instruction given in the workers' meetings. Owing to the disarrangement of shipping caused by the war, we were late in reaching this meeting, and this made our stay with these workers too short. The reports of the leaders in the different districts of the South China division were very encouraging. One very interesting item in the report Brother Hankins gave of the work in the Fukien Province is the success that has attended the labors of two of our Chinese evangelists in Fu-chow, the capital city of this province. This city has a population of five hundred thousand, and controls ten million who speak the Fu-chow dialect. The work was begun there about two years ago by Elder Keh. After acquainting himself with the language, he began active work, which has resulted in the organization of a church with fifty-nine baptized members. This is said to be one of the best churches in South China. Now something is very much needed to give the people confidence in the permanency of our work, and it is planned to buy a piece of land on which to build a school and foreign residences when they are needed. Land can be bought at a very moderate price just now, so it is thought best to secure the land at once. It is planned to try to increase the donations in the field enough to buy the land. The work so far has been carried on entirely by two Chinese workers. Brother Nagel told of the ten millions of Hakka people in his district. He is the only foreign worker among them. He has eight stations, with chapels and schools and an attendance of two hundred pupils. There are at present sixty-eight baptized members. Forty-one of these have been baptized since the opening of 1914. Many more are keeping the Sabbath and are being instructed for baptism. Brother Nagel is being assisted in his district by nine native evangelists, three canvassers, and eight teachers. He pleads for at least one more foreign worker to help in pressing the work forward more rapidly and efficiently among those millions groping in heathen darkness. Brother and Sister J. P. Anderson have an interesting and encouraging work at Swatow and in the surrounding country. Three hundred students are attending the schools under their supervision. In these schools the Bible is taught every day. Under the life-giving, transforming influence of the gospel these young people are receiving a divine mold that will prove the salvation of many of them, and prepare some of them for efficient service in the finishing of our work in China. Dr. Law Keem and wife gave a most encouraging report of their work in the Kwang-si Province a little to the northwest of Canton. They are at present living in the chief commercial city of the province. The Lord has blessed them in their labors in this part of China. They have raised up two churches and find openings for further service in all directions. Difficulties have attended their labors the past two years which would surely have disheartened them had they not been greatly blessed and strengthened by the Lord. Brother and Sister Ham are located in Hongkong. This is a large, clean, beautiful city under British control. It ranks among the greatest shipping ports of the world, and it is a most important center for our work in the Far East. We held two meetings with our church in their neat little chapel. But as I stood by the door of this small building on the hillside and looked down upon that throng of tens of thousands of human beings who know nothing about Him who died to save them, I felt the force of Brother Ham's plea for at least one more European worker for that great center. If a strong European church could be raised up it would be a source of great help and strength in all South China. While in this city we went to the cemetery to see the graves of Father A. La Rue and Sister Gertrude Thompson, who fell while toiling in this part of the great harvest field. The graves are in a good location in the cemetery, and their neat, clean appearance testifies to the attention they receive from those who remain to carry on the work to which Brother La Rue and Sister Thompson gladly gave their lives. After an inspection of the conditions surrounding the buildings in which our first missionaries to Canton lived, I appreciated as I could not have done before the blessings of our new mission station near this city. This station is outside of the city, where it is clean and quiet, and the air is fresh and pure. Here they have several acres of land, on which they have erected three substantial brick buildings. One is the school for girls, another is the home for the teachers, and the third is the home for the superintendent of that part of the field. With such favorable surroundings and good homes our workers can live and toil in China without breaking down prematurely. The buildings are plain, but substantial and convenient. It is necessary to provide such homes in these lands in order to give our missionaries a fair chance to live and work for any great length of time. It was most encouraging to find our work so well established and so prosperous in the southern part of China. All our missionaries now on the ground are most well and of excellent courage. Of their difficulties and sacrifices we shall say nothing. The greatest trial to all is the lack of workers and facilities to meet ever-increasing demands upon them. It is a fearful thing to be compelled to look into avenues open for soul-winning work and see thousands of souls dying without hope and yet be unable to help them. It leads them to ask the question again and again, Why does not the Lord send laborers into these openings he has created? Is his church doing all it can and all he expects it to do to enter these avenues? And then the prayer goes up to the Lord of the harvest to send forth more laborers. The answer to that prayer is the greatest need of these teeming Christless millions here in China. Blotted Out Transgressions
“I HAVE blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee,” In the Central European Union
By L. R. CONRADI
This union is composed of the southern part of Germany, where there are three conferences, Austria (excepting Galicia) and German Switzerland. We had but one regular conference session, that at Karlsruhe, in the South German field. General meetings were held at Stuttgart, Nuremberg, and Munich. In the last named, the general meeting was held in connection with the union conference committee session. We also had an audit at Basel. I spent February 16-27 in this field. Our first meeting was at Basel. Cars running direct from Hamburg go only as far as the last station on the German border, and from there one must cross by team and tram, after having been examined carefully on both sides of the frontier. There were nine workers engaged in the German-Swiss field last year, yielding a harvest of ninety believers, thus increasing the membership to 771. Although there is no institution at present at Basel, we have a good church of 145 members there. Switzerland is feeling the effects of the war. For quite a while the whole army has been mobilized, and still the larger part of the army is under arms, guarding the border. As Switzerland is more or less dependent on the tourists, and as it is not a strong agricultural country, the influence of the war is felt in many ways. The tithe and the offerings have decreased. Elder J. Erzberger attended this meeting, although he is having considerable trouble with his eyesight. He is doing what he can in visiting the churches. Our publishing house has a depository here, and I was pleased to speak one evening in one of the public halls to a large congregation. February 18-20 we had our conference at Karlsruhe, in our own local hall. The meeting was well attended. The South German Conference includes Baden, Alsace-Lorraine, and two provinces of Hesse. With twelve workers, the gain was eighty-seven members, increasing their membership to 726. The strongest church in this field is at the old university city of Heidelberg. It has eighty members. The church at old Worms has twenty-five members. Only a few members could come to the meeting from Alsace-Lorraine. One church was entirely cut off. Sabbath, the Lord came very near to us. Elder Schubert had spent a previous Sabbath at Stuttgart. One of our churches in that city has a nice, well-located hall. The Wurtemberg Conference has developed into a very promising field. Altogether there were seven workers. As the result of their labor, there was a gain of 134, raising the membership to 643. Last year the tithe increased, but the offerings decreased slightly. From here we went to Nuremberg, where, in connection with the general meeting, we had the audits of the Bavarian Conference. It is not many years since we obtained liberty in Bavaria. The union president is in charge of this conference. With eleven workers last year, this conference showed the best gain, 176, raising its membership to 786, so that Bavaria is now the strongest field in the union. At Nuremberg we have two churches, with 229 members; also two at Munich, with 232 members; and at Augsburg, a city renowned since the time of the Reformation, we have a church of eighty-four. We had an old hall at Nuremberg. At our evening meetings there were over six hundred in attendance. The tithe in Bavaria decreased, but the offerings increased slightly. Our people at Nuremberg much appreciated this general meeting, which gave the people there and in the northern part of the field the advantages of such a gathering. We spent the last three days at Munich in the union audit, and also held general meetings with our people. At this audit the whole union committee, except Brother Erzberger, were present. Elder J. Muth, the president of the Moravian-Silesian Conference, had a very encouraging report from that field. With seven workers they were able to receive eighty-five members. Their tithe showed an increase, and there was also a slight increase in their offerings. Elder Muth, in spite of some serious difficulties, was of good courage in his work. The Bohemian field also shows an excellent record. With nine workers, they have 116 additions, bringing up their membership to 300. The most of this work has been carried on in the German-speaking part of Bohemia. Last year difficulties were not lacking in this field. Austria proper, represented by Brother J. Wolfgarten, with fifteen workers, yielded a harvest of 110 souls, thus increasing its membership to 334. Austria, including Galicia, yielded a harvest of 346 souls last year, bringing up its membership to 1,140. Not many years ago we had here but a small constituency, and yet in spite of great difficulties, the work has steadily advanced, not only in membership, but also in finance. We can do very little in the canvassing work, and still the word preached seems to have a mighty effect in the spread of the message. As the Austrian Mission field is quite large, it had been decided to divide it from the beginning of the new year into three fields, the Austrian, Hither-Austrian, and the Adriatic, making seven fields in Austria, one of which is a conference. All the conferences in this union closed their accounts with a surplus of from 600 to 11,800 marks. The two Austrian fields had a deficit of 12,000 marks to cover. All the conferences of the Central European Union this year paid their first tithe to the union, the five per cent and the second tithe to the division, and after all their accounts were settled and some money voted to general funds, the union turned over for the mission fields 5,000 marks. This is surely a good record for a comparatively new union. There were 109 canvassers active in this union, against 126 last year, and their sales amounted to 177,000 marks, against 207,000 the previous year, or 30,000 marks less. Throughout the union during the year, seventy workers gained 798 souls. There was comparatively a small loss, forty-one members died, and the net gain was 631, which increased the membership to 4,004. As for the finances, this was the only union of the three where the tithe increased and the offerings had but a slight decrease. This speaks well for the financial development of the union, and also for the growth in membership. We believe there are bright days ahead for the Central European field. Though the 40,000,000 in this union are the greater part Catholics, yet when it comes to the growth in membership and in the spirit of sacrifice among the givers, this union has already outstripped several of its competitors, where the population is almost entirely Protestant. There is no institution whatever in this union, but many lively stones are being added to a spiritual temple which will never perish. School Interests in the Malaysian Union Mission
By K. M. ADAMS
In this mission field we have two schools under mission supervision, and expect to have more later. One of these schools is the Singapore Training School, of which I have the direction. It was formerly operated as a church school, but at the beginning of 1915 it began to operate as the training school of this mission. At the start, the attendance was thirty-six. Seven weeks later it was forty-eight, and there is good prospect for the school's growth. The tuition is $1.75 a month, for twelve months in the year. The other school is being operated at Padang, Sumatra. I am not acquainted with its work, having but recently come to this field. A Million Testaments for Soldiers
The World's Sunday School Association reports that up to April 1, 200,000 copies of the New Testament had been provided for by the gifts of American Sunday school scholars in the movement to raise “a million nickels from a million scholars for a million Testaments for a million soldiers.”