At the time of my last report I was at Fernando Academy. After spending a week there, I went to Loma Linda to spend two weeks with the students and helpers before the meetings that were to be held in the interests of the medical college. I found a much larger gathering of students and workers than at the time of my former visit, three years ago. Many decided improvements have also been made in the buildings and facilities for carrying on the work. It was gratifying to see the earnestness manifested to hear of the Lord's leadings in the cause of present truth.
When the college meetings came on at Loma Linda, I returned to Fernando for another week, to complete my lessons17there. There was a good interest on the part of the students in all the studies, notwithstanding it was a very busy time with them, being near the close of the school term.
May 25 to June 5 I had the opportunity of speaking to the new class of nurses, as well as the sanitarium family, at St. Helena. It was very enjoyable to see the interest manifested to hear of the Lord's leadings in the rise and progress of the three angels' messages.
June 24 to July 3 I attended the camp-meeting at Napa. Thirty-seven years ago Elder M. E. Cornell and the writer, with a sixty-foot tent, entered Napa, and a large company accepted the truth. Most of those who joined us at that time have either died or removed from the place. I met, however, our aged Brother Custer, Brother Eaton, and Sister Pond of the first members. The meeting-house erected in 1873 by the Napa church is still standing, and there is quite a large company of our people in Napa, in full harmony with the message. Our camp-meeting was an interesting and important one, especially in the work for the youth and children.
July 12-23 I was with Brother and Sister S. N. Haskell and others in a Bible institute in Eureka, Humboldt County. In former times, while acting as president of the California Conference, it was my privilege to attend four camp-meeting in San Diego, August 4-14, county. Not having visited the county in twenty years, I found, as in other places, that many of the older believers had passed away, awaiting the voice of the Archangel to raise the dead. In their places are many new ones who have accepted the truth, and are in earnest for its advancement. The institute was well attended by our people during the day. The outside interest awakened by the evening lectures is to be followed up by Brother Hare, in the tent in which the institute was held.
It is now arranged that I attend the camp-meeting in San Diego, August 4-14. I thank the Lord that, though I am seventy-eight and one-half years of age, he still gives me strength to tell of his goodness, and of his wonderful leadings in the rise and progress of this great second advent movement. It is truly interesting and restful to read of the rapid spread of the truth in the whole world. For its progress, and God's care over the workers, I earnestly and daily pray.
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.
Colorado
By C. R. KITE
THE work is onward in our conference. The "Ministry of Healing" campaign for the relief of the Boulder-Colorado Sanitarium has been presented in nearly all our churches. As a result almost seven thousand dollars has been subscribed. The patronage at the sanitarium is encouraging, every room being filled. We believe better days are before this institution.
The prospects for our conference school at Campion are better than ever before in its history. So many students have applied for admission, that it has seemed necessary to enlarge the main building. This will cost about two thousand dollars. Nearly half of this amount is already provided for, and we expect soon to have the remainder. We are glad that Prof. E. E. Farnsworth will remain with us as principal of the academy another year. Fourteen students, several of whom were not Sabbath-keepers when they entered, gave their lives to God during the school year just closed.
Four tent companies are in the field this summer, and a number have already taken their stand for the truth. More than sixty new converts have been baptized by the conference laborers during the past three months. For this we praise the Lord.
The canvassing work is being pushed forward. More than twice as many books have been delivered by our canvassers during the first six months of 1910 as during the same time in 1909.
We are now busy planning for the State conference and camp-meeting. We are expecting a good attendance.
C. R. KITE.
The Southern New England Camp-Meeting
By W. B. White
This camp-meeting was held in Pawtucket, R. I., June 16-26. The location was in the extreme eastern part of the conference, yet about two hundred fifty of our people in Connecticut and Rhode Island gathered at this time for their yearly feast. About fifty family tents were pitched, and a number lived in rooms near the camp. The weather was very favorable, and contributed much to the success of the meeting.
The treasurer's report showed an encouraging gain in nearly all lines of work. In 1908 the tithe of the conference was $7,994.94; in 1909, $8,604.83—a gain of $609.89. This is a per-capita tithe of $15.82 for 1909, which is excellent for this little conference. There was also a gain in all the offerings. The report on the book work showed a small decline over the previous year; but as the conference now has an experienced State agent, there is a good prospect that more advancement will be seen in the future in this department.
At this meeting the Southern New England Conference held its annual session. Resolutions were passed indorsing the $300,000 Fund and the “Ministry of Healing” campaign; urging the building up of the home missionary work in all the churches, and the faithful reading of the second Sabbath missionary readings; encouraging the training of our young people at South Lancaster Academy; and others touching different lines of work.
The devotional services were marked by the power of God, and many gained substantial victories. The morning sermons of Elder Geo. I. Butler, relating to his early experiences in connection with this people, and the place the spirit of prophecy has held in this work, were greatly appreciated, and helped to strengthen the faith of many. The outside attendance was not large, and only a few regular attendants were seen from the city each evening.
When the matter of buying back the farm that South Lancaster Academy sold a few years ago, came before the conference, about three hundred dollars was subscribed to a fund for this purpose. In response to an appeal to assist the medical missionary work in the union conference, about sixty copies of “Ministry of Healing” were taken by those present to sell for this work. Elder C. H. Edwards was re-elected president of the conference, with about the same committee as served last year.
We feel that the Southern New England camp-meeting was a success, and that its influence for good will long be felt in this field. With so many large cities, and its large foreign population, this small conference has a great task before it; and we trust that all its workers may be filled with the spirit of service for the Master. W. B. WHITE.
The Great Industrial School of the Day
By Bessie M. De Graw
TO-DAY God has a people in training for his coming kingdom, and his training is carried on in much the same way that it was in the days of Moses. A great industrial school is his chosen means of developing workers, and the South is one of the training-grounds.
Many of our people read the instruction in the Testimonies concerning the South, and their hearts are touched. They come to see that they are standing idle in the market-place, and they call out for work. Then the finger of God points to a great unworked field lying just at our door, and says, “Go work to-day.” He wants us to work for the good we can do others, but beyond that he wants us to enter the South because of the character development we ourselves will get out of it. We need the South more than the South needs us.
For a number of years I have been closely associated with an ever-increasing number of persons, mature and young alike, heads of families and unmarried men and women; and while I might tell of many things accomplished by them, I could also tell of many things done for them.
Let me take you to visit a school. The young man in charge was formerly a competent mechanic in a Northern city. He made good wages and lived well. To-day I find him planning, working, teaching,—a mature, solid Christian,—carrying on a small self-supporting school. He lives in a very humble cottage; his wife has but the simplest facilities. Both are giving their lives for a cause, and there is in them a firmness of fiber that never comes in a life spent in self-seeking.
In another school I find a minister and his family. He left a good, salaried position when he came South, to go on a farm in a neighborhood of uneducated people. A school is conducted. By day and by night the candle of truth is kept burning. The boys in the family are developing the farm, introducing better seed, better methods of cultivating, showing better crops. Those boys might be in an easier place, but father, mother, sons, and daughters are together building for eternity. I might tell you big results from such sacrifice. Souls are being brought to a knowledge of the truth. But better yet, that whole family is in God’s great industrial school preparing for Canaan.
It requires real conversion to enter this work; but when it is once entered, there is a joy in it that seldom comes otherwise.
Regarding the amount still to be done, there is a call for hundreds of students in this great Southern university of hard knocks and self-support. It is an institution where theory and practise are combined. All about us are people who need to be taught.
The call comes to you. Do you care to respond? There is a place for the man of learning, and a place for the man who has not had all the advantages of an education. There is room for the farmer, the mechanic, the tradesman.
One of the best ways for those at a distance to learn of the needs of the South is to attend a convention held periodically at the Nashville Agricultural and Normal Institute. The next meeting of this character will be at Madison, Tenn., August 27-31. If you wish further information, write early, and reading-matter will be sent. Plan to look into the situation with a view to doing what God would have you do.
For convention literature, address E. A. Sutherland, Madison, Tenn.
BESSIE M. DE GRAW.
Educational Work at Loma Linda
By W. A. Ruble
From the beginning of the work at Loma Linda, the object constantly held before us has been to make this a strong educational institution, in harmony with the counsel received from the spirit of prophecy. In an effort to meet this demand in the past, a strong nurses’ course has been planned for this sanitarium, and is carried into effect each year. Following this, a medical evangelistic course, giving three years’ training in addition to the nurses’ course, was offered. Still the instruction came from the servant of the Lord to strengthen the educational course. Endeavoring to follow this instruction, steps have been taken to establish a medical college at Loma Linda, as has been previously outlined in these pages.18Educational advantages are therefore offered at Loma Linda according to the following outline:—
Medical Evangelistic Course
This course consists of three years of nine months each, and is especially designed for those who do not desire a medical degree. It carries with it both medical and evangelistic experience, and qualifies workers as gospel medical missionary evangelists. The principal object in establishing the College of Medical Evangelists is to prepare medical evangelists. With this training many should go into foreign lands when comparatively few could take the five years’ medical course. We hope that mature men and women, who have definite plans for work as ministers, missionaries, etc., will offer themselves for this course.
Medical Course
A five-years’ course of nine months each, embodying the usual didactic, laboratory, and clinical lines of instruction. It also offers the practical experience of internship and evangelistic missionary work. The College of Medical Evangelists is chartered as a medical college under the laws of the State of California. The laws of this and other States require for entrance into medical schools the completion of a full high-school course. The college is open only to those who desire to prepare themselves for the work of the Christian physician and medical missionary. It leads to the degree of doctor of medicine. In offering this course, the founders of the college have taken into consideration the high standard held by State boards for scientific training in medical schools, and have determined to meet that standard as far as scientific education is concerned.
Entrance Requirements
LITERARY QUALIFICATIONS. — There are three ways in which students may be admitted to the medical course. These methods are prescribed by law, and are as follows:—
1. Bachelor’s degree. A student may be admitted on submitting to the faculty satisfactory evidence that he is the possessor of a bachelor’s degree in the arts or sciences, granted by an approved college or university.
2. High school diploma. A diploma from an accredited academy or high school, which requires for entrance the completion of grammar school (eight grades), and whose course of study embodies the subjects listed under “3” as “required,” and graduation from which requires the completion of no fewer than thirty points; such credits to be presented with the diploma.
3. Examination by a duly authorized agent of the State from which the applicant comes, or by a reputable instructor recognized by a State board of medical examiners. Such examination is to be in the following branches:—
A — REQUIRED SUBJECTS, 20 POINTS
POINTS
Mathematics: minimum, two years . . . . 4
(a) Algebra through quadratics, one year
(b) Plane geometry, one year
English: minimum, two years . . . . . . 4
(a) Rhetoric and composition, one year
(b) English literature, one year
Latin: minimum, two years . . . . 4
(a) Latin grammar, one year (b) Four books of Cæsar, one year
Physics, with laboratory work: one year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
History: minimum, one year . . . . . . . . 2
General history, one year
Languages: minimum, two years . . . . 4
German, French, or Spanish, two years
B — OPTIONAL SUBJECTS, 10 POINTS
English language and literature: maximum, one year . . . . . . . . 2
History: maximum, two years . . . . . . 4
(a) Ancient, one year
(b) Medieval and modern, one year
(c) Civics and economics
Advanced mathematics: maximum, one year . . . . . . . . 2
(a) Solid geometry, one-half year
(b) Trigonometry, one-half year
Natural science: maximum, two years 4
(a) Biology, with laboratory work, one year; or,—
(b) Botany and zoology, with laboratory work, one-half year each
(c) Geology, one-half year
(d) Astronomy, one-half year
Physical science: maximum, one year 2
(a) Chemistry, with laboratory work, one year
Physiology and Hygiene: one-half year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Drawing: one-half year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
A total of thirty points of academic work is required; and of this, twenty-six points are necessary for entrance. The remaining four points must be worked off before the beginning of the second year.
A point in any subject is defined as a half-year’s work, and must consist of eighteen weeks with five class periods a week of not less than forty-five minutes each. Two points equal two credits, or five counts, or one unit.
Academic subjects are listed as “required” and “optional.” In the required subjects, students must have completed the minimum number of points. The balance of thirty points may be made up from the optional subjects, but credit can not be given for more than the maximum number of points listed for each. It is supposed that the students coming from our schools have had the amount of Bible study usually given.
Students coming from Eastern States should secure a Michigan State medical student’s entrance certificate; or in lieu of this, one from their home State. Those who can not present a bachelor’s degree, an academic diploma from an accredited school, or a medical student’s entrance certificate, must have their credentials passed upon by the examiner appointed by the board of medical examiners of the State of California. This can be done just preceding the date set for the opening of the college year.
Advanced Standing
Applicants having taken one or more years in a reputable medical college, and desiring admission with advanced standing may be admitted upon the presentation of the proper credentials. These consist of the necessary entrance credits or diplomas, which, together with the usual application, must be submitted to the dean of the faculty. There must also be received by direct communication from the dean of the college from which the student desires to withdraw, a statement as to the applicant’s moral and professional qualifications, and the exact amount of work he has done in said college.
A Five Years’ Course
The work of the medical course extends over five years of nine months (thirty-six weeks) each. While the medical course as given in nearly all medical schools lasts only four years, it is manifestly impossible to crowd into this time all that should be given in medical and scientific lines, together with Bible, evangelistic training, hydrotherapy, dietetics, etc., and also provide for a practical experience in the diagnosis and treatment of disease under competent instruction, as called for by the curriculum. Every year of the course is a practical year. The student is not cloistered within four walls, but is from the first an active Christian worker to just the extent his advancement and experience will warrant.
Further information regarding the College of Medical Evangelists will be furnished upon application.
W. A. RUBLE, B. S., M. D.,
President.
Field Notes
At Elma, Washington, four persons were recently baptized by Elder S. W. Nellis.
Baptismal services were recently held in Memphis, Tenn., eight taking part in this rite.
Twenty persons are keeping the Sabbath as a result of a tent effort at Taswell, Ind.
At Long Lake, British Columbia, Elder P. P. Adams recently baptized a family of four persons.
Not long ago a Danish sister eighty-two years of age was baptized at the North Philadelphia (Pa.) church.
Nine members were recently added to the church at Victoria, N. C.,—seven adults and two children. Four were baptized.
There are several new Sabbath-keepers at Okolona, Miss., as the result of a tent-meeting conducted there by Elder W. S. Lowry and his son.
Two persons have recently joined the church at Grand Rapids, Wis., by baptism; and five members have been added to the church at Madison.
At Marshlands, Neb., a little company of ten was recently organized into a church. A church of eleven members has also been organized at Mitchell.
A church of thirteen was organized July 9, at Galt, Cal., by Elder Andrew Brorsen. Elder C. L. Taggart reports the baptism of the same number of believers at Madera.
A good report comes from Amarillo, Tex., where seven persons have taken their stand for the truth, and followed their Lord in baptism. During the camp-meeting at Douglass, twenty persons were baptized; and as a result of a tent effort at Cash, a church of ten members has been organized.
An Interesting Meeting
By L. A. HANSEN
It was at a conference session of the North Dakota camp-meeting, one of those business meetings sometimes considered uninteresting because of being devoted to the discussion of recommendations. But this proved one of the most interesting meetings that any one in the company had ever attended. The recommendation dealt with plans of work in distributing reading-matter. As the discussion proceeded, various persons were impressed to give their experiences. Several nationalities were represented, and their testimonies had to be translated. Here are some of the many good incidents related:—
Words Versus Works
A German laborer of many years’ experience, Elder Valentine Leer, said: “One time another brother and I were holding meetings with a certain church, when this brother gave a very strong talk on the importance of doing missionary work by the circulation of our literature. There was no response to his admonitions. Then he charged the church with coldness and backsliding. But his exhortation seemed to have little effect on the congregation except to cause greater coldness to settle over it. As he saw that he was powerless to move the people, he began to show distress, and with a sense of failure in his effort to impress them with their responsibility in the matter, he finally asked me if I had anything to say.
“I was on my feet at once, and said, ‘Yes, I have something to say. I believe in the importance of this thing. I have always carried with me a good supply of literature to give out on trains or wherever I could do so. I remember that most of our brethren used to do this. And this gave an example to our brethren and sisters, and they were active in the same work. This is only as we may expect it to be; for they are more ready to do what we tell them if they know that we are doing it ourselves. Now, my brother,’ I asked, pointing to his satchel on the floor, ‘have you your satchel filled with literature? and do you practise what you have been preaching?’ He could only hang his head in confusion; for it was well known that he was himself inactive in the very thing he was exhorting the church to do.”
The German Hotel-Keeper
A man of small stature made his way to the rostrum, that he might be the better heard. He was H. J. Peters, a German brother living at a little crossroads place on the plains, thirteen miles from the railroad. He keeps a small hotel and restaurant. A store and a blacksmith shop, with a few houses, make up his neighborhood, so that his range of home missionary work is limited to the persons who come to his place, or those he might visit in the sparsely settled country about him. He is sixty-five years old, and speaks English with considerable effort. Considering how people usually make excuses for not doing more missionary work, it might seem that this man could make some claim of that kind. But hear him:—
“I have had three strokes of paralysis, and the last stroke was such that my family thought I would die. With such consciousness as I had left, I promised the Lord that if he would heal me, I would do faithful work in distributing literature. I ordered a club of ten copies of the Signs of the Times, besides some foreign papers. These I use on a reading-table in my restaurant, and people have them to read while waiting for their meals.
“As the harvest ingathering time came, I ordered an extra quantity of papers, and through some error my order was duplicated, and I found myself with four hundred papers on hand, in three languages. This was more than I could use in my locality. But my son wished to go on a trip to see some land, and he proposed that I go with him. He suggested that I could thus distribute my papers and solicit donations. I went with him, and as I met people on the trains and elsewhere, I was able to dispose of all my papers, and I secured $64.10 for the foreign mission work.”
After Many Years
A very interesting case was reported by Elder R. A. Underwood:—
“A canvasser sold a copy of Bible Readings in a little home away up in the mountains of Pennsylvania. The book was laid up on the shelf and remained there nine years, until one day the woman found it while cleaning house. Being tired, she sat down to look at it a moment. She opened it to the reading on the new earth, and became so interested that she read on until, as a result, dinner was late. When her husband asked her about the lateness of dinner, she told him of the treasure they had had in the house so long a time, and of which they were ignorant.
“They began to study the book together, and at the end of six months, as it drew near the first of the year, the time when people make resolutions and turn over a new leaf, the husband said, ‘Wife, I have been impressed that we ought to become Christians.’ She replied, ‘That is just what I have felt.’ ‘Well, let’s do it, then,’ he said. ‘But we shall have to keep the Sabbath if we do,’ his wife answered. ‘Of course we shall, for that is what we have learned from that book.’ Together they knelt, and found pardon and peace with God. They kept the next Sabbath, not knowing of others who observed the day.
“Sometime later another canvasser came to them with Coming King, and as the woman saw the book, she mentioned that it was something like one she already had. The conversation led to inquiry about the first canvasser, and when it was ascertained that it was possible to meet him again, the man and his wife were most anxious that such a meeting be arranged. By the help of the conference officers the first canvasser paid these people a visit, and an angel could not have been more welcome in that home than he was. The man fell on his neck and wept. It was arranged to hold meetings in that neighborhood, and as a result a church was raised up. This man himself entered the canvassing field, and became a successful worker.”
The Man From Russia
An old man arose, and tottered forward to the pulpit, holding on to it while speaking. With his gray hair and beard, and his form bent with the weight of years, he looked indeed a pilgrim who had traveled a long, hard road. With the intense earnestness shown in the telling, his story was thrilling, and was listened to with deep interest:—
“I am now seventy-seven years old, but I can’t keep in my seat as I hear these things. Thirty-two years ago I lived in Russia, and there received a tract from some one in Kansas. From it my wife and I learned of the Sabbath truth. We talked it over, and my wife said that if we lived in free America, we could keep the Sabbath, but not in Russia. She presented the dark picture of what it would be for us to try to keep the Sabbath there. I presented the darker picture of what it would be to live in Russia in violation of God’s commandments, and die there, not having kept his holy Sabbath. The next Sabbath was observed by us, the first Sabbath-keepers in Russia.
“I presented the truth to a neighbor of ours, and soon he and his wife accepted it, and for a long time there were only we four keeping the Sabbath in Russia,—my neighbor and his wife, my wife and I.”
He told further of his going to Odessa and other points, and in the face of opposition giving the truth to others. There was something inspiring in listening to this old man, the first to keep the Sabbath in Russia, as he told of the work that started from some one’s mailing a tract.
Well could the conference president, C. J. Buhalts, urge the people not to stay away from the conference sessions for fear they would not be interesting; and little wonder that, as we separated, we felt more determined than ever to be more faithful in the use of our good literature. L. A. HANSEN.
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
Colportage Is One Half of the Work
ELDER L. R. CONRAD, vice-president of the European Division of the General Conference, says: “By means of colportage, we, in Germany, visit every family in the empire once in two years. Colportage is one half of the work.”
Missionary Work in Northern California
BROTHER J. R. FERREN, missionary secretary of the Pacific Union Conference, reports a number of interesting meetings held with several churches in the Northern California Conference. One small church bought a $5 package of tracts, and added 11 copies to its weekly Signs club. Speaking further of their work, Brother Ferren says: “We are putting out quite a little of our good literature. I am endeavoring to impress the value of strong organization, and the giving of regular attention to the missionary department of each church. We are getting the church missionary agents to work. Our next meetings will be at Melrose, Berkeley, Richmond, Alameda, and other points about San Francisco Bay. I then leave for the Southern California camp-meeting. I hope also to spend a few weeks with the churches in Arizona.”
The California Campaign
By C. M. S.
Of the one hundred thousand copies of the special number of the Pacific Union Recorder devoted to religious liberty principles, ninety-seven thousand have already been distributed among the various churches of California, to be used by our people in helping their neighbors to become acquainted with the principles of religious liberty and the real meaning of the Sunday law campaign that is now on in that State. Dr. W. F. Crafts, the president of the International Reform Bureau, is now in California, and plans to spend several weeks there. His object at the present time is to help the local representatives of his bureau in securing a Sunday law for California. Every possible influence will be used to accomplish the end which they have in view. The Pacific Union Recorder of July 21 states that Mr. Crafts will use the prospective Panama Canal Exposition as a club to assist in accomplishing his purpose. His threat is to use the influence of his organization with congressmen to induce them to vote for the holding of the exposition at New Orleans, unless California shall pass a Sunday law which will enable them to close the exposition on Sunday.
This threat of political pressure and of virtual boycott is not a new weapon in the hands of political religionists. That it is unchristian and opposed to every principle of the gospel is too plain in itself to need any argument for its demonstration. But this effort of the International Reform Bureau, whether successful or unsuccessful, will result in such an education of the people of California upon the principles of religious liberty as they have never had before, with the circulation of the special number of the Pacific Union Recorder.
With every Seventh-day Adventist of California doing his duty in his community, the cause of religious liberty will be greatly advanced, whether the Sunday law is secured or not. That issue of the Recorder contains a very strong and well-written presentation of the gospel of soul freedom. It is to be hoped that many of those who receive this literature may profit by the warnings which it contains, and take their stand for truth and principle.
C. M. S.
No Sunday Ball in Maine
By C. M. S.
We clip the following interesting item from the Washington Star of June 26:—
“At the instance of Senator Hale, the acting secretary of war has directed a discontinuance of the practice of Sunday baseball playing on the military reservation at Fort Preble, Maine. The action was based on a State law enacted in 1903, which provides:—
“Whoever on the Lord’s day keeps open his shop, workhouse, warehouse or place of business, travels or does any work, labor or business on that day, except work of necessity or charity, uses any sport, game or recreation, or is present at any dancing, public diversion, show or entertainment, or encouraging the same, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $10.”
“It remains to be seen whether similar action will be taken by the War Department with respect to Sunday baseball playing on military reservations in other States, particularly in Massachusetts, where the local authorities have made persistent but ineffectual efforts to stop it.
“Up to this time it has been held by the War Department that baseball playing on a government military reservation could not be interfered with by State or municipal authorities, and that the federal authorities would not prohibit the Sunday games so long as they were conducted in an orderly manner, and did not interfere with the peace and order of the community.”
And that attitude was right; for the federal authorities have never been authorized to legislate for a class of American citizens as to how they shall employ their time on Sunday when not under orders. If the soldier is religious, he will keep his sabbath as other church-members do; if he is not religious, the government has no cause or right to make him act as those do who are religious. No authority was ever granted by the States to Congress, or by Congress to the various departments of the government, for making hypocrites of human beings who happen to be in government employ; but that is all such regulations can do for those affected by them. These developments are striking indications of the rapid drift in this country away from the principles of liberty, and back to medievalism and religious tyranny. C. M. S.
Conflict of Authority
By C. M. S.
Trouble Over the Regulation of Sunday Sports at Army Posts
“A CONFLICT of authority has arisen between United States District Attorney Asa P. French and Col. Robert H. Patterson of the coast artillery over the regulation of Sunday sports in the United States forts and reservations.
“As he was about to leave for Europe on June 25, Mr. French said that agents of the Treasury Department would go to Fort Banks to-morrow, to obtain evidence of every violation of the Sunday laws.
“Colonel Patterson also issued a statement to the effect that the fort was under his jurisdiction, and that no one would be allowed to arrest any soldier without his authority.”
The above is the substance of a press despatch from Boston, Mass., of June 25. It raises the query as to why the United States government, which has no Sunday law, and is estopped by the first amendment to the Constitution from making any law of a religious character, should be exercising itself over the question of enforcing State Sunday laws over United States government reservations. As the State governments have no jurisdiction over government reservations in any other matter, there is no just ground21for the enforcement of this particular law. With as good reason might the officials of the government say: “The District of Columbia has no Sunday law; therefore we order that the statutes of Virginia upon the observances of Sunday be enforced in the District.”
The ever-increasing demands of the confederated religious elements for the enactment and enforcement of Sunday laws are causing even the high officials of the government to weaken, and to take an attitude toward the fundamental principles of this government which will hasten the overthrow of justice, and put an end to religious freedom.
C. M. S.
Christian Liberty
By K. C. Russell; C. M. Snow
Reports, Notes, and Comments Pertaining to the Current History of the Rights of Conscience
Conducted by the Religious Liberty Bureau
K. C. RUSSELL Secretary
C. M. SNOW Corresponding Secretary
Surrender
LAID on thine altar, O my Lord divine!
Accept this gift to-day, for Jesus' sake.
I have no jewels to adorn thy shrine,
Nor any world-famed sacrifice to make;
But here I bring, within my trembling hand,
This will of mine,—a thing that seemeth small,—
And thou alone, O Lord! canst understand
How when I yield thee this, I yield thee all.
Hidden therein thy searching gaze can see
Struggles of passion, visions of delight;
All that I have, or am, or fain would be—
Deep loves, fond hopes, and longings infinite.
It hath been wet with tears and dimmed with sighs,
Clenched in my grasp till beauty it hath none;
Now from thy footstool, where it, vanquished, lies,
The prayer ascendeth: May thy will be done.
Take it, O Father! ere my courage fail,
And merge it so in thine own will, that e'en
If in some desperate hour my cries prevail,
And thou give back my gift, it may have been
So changed, so purified, so fair have grown,
So one with thee, so filled with peace divine,
I may not know or feel it as mine own,
But, gaining back my will, may find it thine.
—Selected.
Religious Liberty Bible Reading
By F. Frederick Bliss
The Bible and the United States Constitution
THE preamble to the Constitution of the United States is as follows: “We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution.”
This seems to cover all human good, and to be, in its purpose, in harmony with God’s purpose, as expressed in the Bible—