CALIFORNIA WORKERS' CONVENTION.
By David Paulson
Our California brethren set aside the month of January for a convention or institute for their laborers. The first part of this was devoted to a study of the underlying principles of the various lines of work, and a consideration of the best methods of labor. The last ten days of this convention were devoted exclusively to the medical missionary phase of the work. About a score of the Pacific Coast physicians were in attendance, as well as quite a number of medical students and representatives of our various health institutions in this section. Brethren Jones, Corliss, and Sadler, Dr. Kellogg, and other workers were specially led by God to lead out in important lines of instruction. We were all impressed as never before with the beauty and clearness of truth, and an earnest longing was created in our hearts for higher attainments, mentally, morally, and physically, to enable us to accomplish the work for humanity which the present situation demands. The trend of medical thought is now in the direction of utilizing the wonderful possibilities which are wrapped up in the physiological methods of caring for the sick. This idea is what our health institutions have stood for and helped to keep alive for more than a quarter of a century. In order to accomplish what we may with natural remedies, it is necessary to possess a thorough knowledge of the human body and its functions. This is a point which some of our brethren have not seen as clearly as they should; consequently they have allowed the idea to prevail among many of our young people that a mere smattering of medical knowledge, a superficial training, was all that was really essential to make them efficient medical missionary workers. This is a great mistake. The man who is to stand at the bedside of the sick and dying must shoulder a responsibility that no other worker in the cause is compelled to assume, and he needs to be thoroughly fortified with the highest and best training that it is possible for him to secure. To dabble with physiological remedies in such an ignorant way that the patient's life must be jeopardized thereby is a sin for which the inefficient worker will be held accountable in the day of God. The great truth of God's manifestation in all nature, and particularly in the human body, was emphasized in this convention to a degree to which it has perhaps never been presented before in the history of our work. A clear recognition of this truth marvelously simplifies to our minds such questions as divine guidance, forgiveness, spiritual as well as physical, prayer, and what constitutes real service. Brother Jones's closing study upon the sanctuary question will probably never be forgotten by those who had the privilege of listening to it. He called attention to the fact that when God in a special manner spoke to His people at Mount Sinai, He veiled himself so that they should never have any temptation to build up, either in their minds or outside of themselves, any image of God; for any image which they could make would so cheapen the thought of God that it would make them a small people, and they would do only a small work in the earth. So the Lord sought to impress the idea of His existence and His character upon His people, knowing that they could not crystallize these two conceptions into an image. But by and by they began to build images outside, after they had first imagined for themselves images in their minds. We have reached the time when we are beyond making images to God outside of ourselves, but there are still thousands of Christian people who are setting up images of God in their minds, and thus belittling both God and themselves, just as the people back there did when they constructed the images outside of their minds. The results are the same in both cases. The great God that upholds the entire universe, that controls the waves and the winds, that manifests himself in the glistening of the dew-drop and in the fragrance of the rose, that is every moment performing those wonderful miracles that are constantly taking place within every human body, cannot be conceived by a mental image without belittling Him, and belittling ourselves by entertaining such a meager conception. The whole sanctuary service was to impress the people with the great God that was dwelling in their own temples, but by and by the people degenerated to such an extent that they saw only the boards, the shining gold, the altar, and the veil; then God took away the entire service. In this generation, God is to cleanse in a special manner, by the presentation of cleansing truths, our bodies and characters. And so He has again presented before us the whole sanctuary truth, but if we see no more in it than the children of Israel did anciently, we shall receive no greater benefit from its study. If we do not appreciate the fact that the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary can take place no faster than we adopt in our hearts and lives truths which shall cleanse these temples here below, then we shall make the same mistake that God's people did anciently. Not a discordant note was struck in this convention. Medical missionary physicians, students, evangelical workers, and lay brethren sat down together, and alike feasted upon the same glorious truths. If that spirit of earnestness for truth and zeal for unity of work shall characterize these laborers as they return to their positions in our institutions and to their respective fields of labor, then eternity alone will be able to measure the good which was accomplished by this never-to-be-forgotten convention.