Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Aug 20, 1903
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Small Prophetic Chart
THE Review and Herald has just printed some small prophetic charts on thin enamel paper, 3¼x5 inches, suitable to paste in Bibles. They are made plain and cheap, so that all can have them. Price, three cents. Order of the Review and Herald, Battle Creek, Mich.
The Place of the Bible in Education
By Alonzo T. Jones
BY A. T. JONES
248 pages, in paper and cloth bindings, 25 and 75 cents, postpaid.
ONE of the new books just out. An excellent volume to study in connection with the “Education.” Its chapter divisions are as follows:— Christian Education; The World’s Education; The Essentials of Knowledge; The Secret of the Great Apostasy; The Greek or “Scientific Method” To-day; The Separation of Christianity and the State; The Bible’s Right to Supreme Place in Christian Education; The Education of Daniel; What Was Taught in the Schools of the Prophets; The Study of Wisdom; The Study of Knowledge; The Study of Science; The Study of Mental Science; The Study of Moral Science; The Study of Physical Science; The Study of Physical Science—Anatomy; The Study of Physical Science—Healing; The Study of Physical Science—Physical Culture; Literature, History, Law, Logic; The Failures of Popular Education.
Order of the State Tract Societies.
Patriarchs and Prophets
As the International Sunday-school Lessons for the last half of 1908 will be upon Old Testament subjects specially treated in “Patriarchs and Prophets,” the present time is very favorable for the sale of this book to thousands of Sunday-school attendants, teachers and workers.
“Patriarchs and Prophets” contains the foundation principles of the message, and interweaves them in the biographies of the leaders of Israel mentioned in the coming Sunday-school lessons, in a manner that will guide those studying these lessons into the full gospel for this time. While the circumstances are favorable, a special effort should be made to give the people this “meat in due season.”
Send to the Review and Herald for free copies of “Helpful Hints,” which contains the topics of the International Sunday-school lessons, and the pages in “Patriarchs and Prophets” where these lesson topics are mentioned.
“Patriarchs and Prophets” is an elegant book in every particular. It is published in the English, Danish-Norwegian, Swedish, German, and Holland languages, and substantially bound in all the popular styles of binding. It contains 760 large pages; prices, $2.25 to $4.50.
Order of the State Tract Societies, or of the Review and Herald Publishing Company, Battle Creek, Mich.
Our Paradise Home
By S. H. Lane
BY S. H. LANE
THE Review and Herald Publishing Company has just issued a new book entitled “Our Paradise Home,” written by Elder S. H. Lane. It is a treatise on the subjects of the coming kingdom, and the saints’ inheritance. The important subjects are presented in an attractive and interesting manner. Those who have read it say they did not want to lay it down until it was finished. It contains an introduction and sixteen chapters upon the many phases of the following subjects:—
Sin Permitted; The Fall of Satan, The Purchased Kingdom; The Three Worlds; The Redemption of the World Promised; The Two Kingdoms; The Two Jerusalems; The Three Heavens; The Earnest of the Holy Spirit; A Glimpse of the Future Kingdom; The Rest that Remaineth; The Events of the Millennium; The Judgment; The Two Resurrections; A Description of the Kingdom of Glory; The New Jerusalem.
In all of these subjects the plain Gospel facts are forcibly given by the author, who has had many years experience in the ministry.
It is a small book, full of the message, just the kind for a canvasser to use as a help, or for church members to place in the homes of their neighbors and friends. The title, “Our Paradise Home,” attracts the attention of the people, and a brief explanation of its contents sells it. Our first agent took some sample copies out to try it, and in a few hours returned all sold out and full of courage. He said, “It sells at sight.”
It contains 128 pages, printed on good stock, is nicely illustrated with new designs made especially for the book. Bound in a neat board cover for 25 cents, and in cloth, with similar design for 50 cents. It is a regular subscription book, and will be sold to agents at fifty per cent. discount.
It will be kept in stock by all State inter-tract societies.
Special Offer on Mental Arithmetic Withdrawn
By Editor
OUR special offer on this book, made for "a short time" on July 21, is withdrawn. Having a large stock on hand and desiring to reduce it, and desiring to give the book a special advertising, we made the price for a few weeks 25 cents per copy. The book hereafter will be sold at the regular price, 65 cents per copy, postpaid.
Education
A NEW BOOK BY MRS. E. G. WHITE
A VALUABLE volume on education in its entirety, covering all its phases, especially prepared for parents, teachers, and students; excellent for all classes. The great principles of Christian education are clearly set forth, and invaluable counsel for the education of the youth is placed within the reach of all.
Order of the State Tract Societies, or of the Review and Herald Publishing Company, Battle Creek, Mich.
Hypnotism: What Is It?
By Editor
IN many papers and magazines the subject of Hypnotism is being discussed, and the public mind is well prepared for the reception of the valuable instruction on this subject contained in a booklet of 48 pages, entitled, “Hypnotism: What Is It?” by Augustin J. Bourdeau.
Of the merits of this little work we will let others who have read it testify.
The Christian Herald, of Detroit, says:—
“The most informing discussion of this subject that has come to our knowledge is a booklet of 48 pages by Augustin J. Bourdeau, number 28 of the “Words of Truth” Series, published by the Review and Herald Publishing Company, Battle Creek, Mich. Single copy 3 cents. For this pittance one may easily become informed on this subject.”
The Church Herald, of Fort Scott, Kans., in commending this tract, says:—
“An excellent and timely brief treatise in very neat pamphlet form on Hypnotism, issues from the press of the Review and Herald Publishing Company, of Battle Creek, Mich. The writer of the treatise evinces a very thorough insight into this modern and widely prevailing form of diabolism, and exposes it unsparingly. A wide circulation of this timely treatise would be of much avail in helping to stay the plague of monstrous iniquities that is exposed in its pages.”
Our local tract societies should be circulating this inexpensive, timely little booklet, while the people are interested, and while they are hunting for the light contained in its pages.
Kept by all tract societies. Three cents single copy; liberal discounts on all large orders.
Mothers’ and Teachers’ Manual
By C. C. Lewis
BY PROF. C. C. LEWIS
This book is especially designed to assist in the home and the church-school work. It contains suggestions from our best educators for mothers and teachers. To all those interested in the education of the youth, and to mothers, this is indispensable. We have a few copies remaining, which we will sell at the following reduced prices: Paper covers, 25 cents; cloth, 35 cents.
Order of the Review and Herald, Battle Creek, Mich.
A New Experience
THE time has come for a new experience in giving this closing message. We have been weak when we ought to have been strong in the Lord. The work has advanced altogether too slowly. We have trusted too much to human wisdom and to the power of the flesh, and have been led to adopt such principles and policies as the Lord could not bless and His name be glorified. With warnings and entreaties and finally with judgments He has called us to return from wrong paths to the right ways of the Lord. We have confessed our mistakes, we have humbly asked for guidance, and we are seeking to walk in the light of the Lord. In this we have the assurance of special blessing upon the work, and we confidently look for a new experience in this message. In this time of the latter rain let all hearts be united in earnest petitions for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and for a renewal of the experiences of the apostolic church. We believe that the time has come for a marked change in this work. The time has come for a new power in the ministry. The time has come for greater results in the proclamation of this last message of mercy. Our faith must lay hold upon God as never before for signal victories for His truth. We must have a new experience.
Foreign Missions no Rival to Home Interests
By W. A. S.
THERE is no rivalry between the interests of home and foreign missions. When Carey talked of carrying the gospel to the heathen, there were actually some clergymen who uttered a warning against depleting religion at home by carrying any of it to heathen lands. With the thrilling record of the last missionary century, men now smile at the notion.
But it is worth while reminding ourselves often that every step in advance abroad marks a strengthening of the work at home. As we are told in “Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. VI:—
The home mission work will be further advanced in every way when a more liberal, self-denying, self-sacrificing spirit is manifested for the prosperity of foreign missions; for the prosperity of the home work depends largely, under God, have upon the reflex influence of the evangelical work done in countries afar off.
It is just as truly the case that the home field, as a whole, is blessed by sharing its blessings with lands afar as that an individual is blessed by sharing his mercies with another. When a stranger visited Hermannsburg, in Germany, the parish of the missionary pastor, Harms, the visitor wanted to know how long they had had the revival in progress which he saw under way. He thought he had lighted upon the place in the midst of a special revival effort. They told him that the revival had been in progress for seventeen years—ever since the little flock had annexed the whole wide heathen world, and Africa in particular, as their missionary parish, and had begun of their little store to train and send out missionaries to the lands in darkness. It was a wonderful work that they did in the ends of the earth, and the reflex influence kept their hearts aglow, and brought blessing and progress at home.
The quick way to finish this work at home is quickly to tell all the world the message. When once we have planted the witnesses in every land, it will not take long to finish the work at home and abroad. For let it be the working text continually: “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”
W. A. S.
Delivered from the Serpent’s Coils
By W. A. S.
VERY early in the history of the Moravian movement, those early pioneers of missions had pressed into the Guianas of South America. The lowlands were fever traps, and the forests were infested with wild beasts and deadly serpents. Sir Walter Raleigh had explored the rivers of the country in pursuit of the fabled “El Dorado,” where the very sands of the lake were to be golden, and the city to be of gold and precious pearl. It was not for love of gold that the Moravian pioneers entered the unknown lands beyond the coast plantations. They loved the souls of men, and plunged into the wilderness4to bring the gospel feast to the Arawaks and Caribs, and the equally fierce Bush Negroes of the interior.
One day, while alone in his station, on the River Corentyn, the missionary Dahue had an experience, thus told in his own language:—
One evening, being unwell, and going to lie down in my hammock, upon entering the door of my hut, I perceived a large serpent descending upon me from a shelf near the roof. In the scuffle, the creature stung or bit me two or three times in the head, and, pursuing me very closely, twined itself several times round my head and neck. Supposing that this would be the occasion of my departing this life, I, for the satisfaction of my brethren, wrote the cause of my death in a few words with chalk upon the table, “A serpent has killed me,” lest they should charge the Indians with the deed. But, on a sudden, that promise of our Saviour to his disciples was impressed upon my mind, “They shall take up serpents; and . . . it shall not harm them” (Mark 16:18), and, seizing the creature with great force, I tore it loose and flung it out of the hut. I then lay down to rest in the peace of God.
Although for years denied Christian companionship, beset by perils from the hostile Indians, and weakened by illness, the simple faith of the missionary made real the companionship of the One who had promised, “Lo, I am with you alway,” and he declares that he passed his time “in happiness and peace.” The hearts of the natives were touched at last, and hundreds were baptized.
W. A. S.
Editorial
By Editor
Faith in God
THERE are testing times in our experiences which plainly reveal whether we really have faith in God. When outward circumstances seem to be against us and our human reason rises up against the counsel of the Lord, we have an opportunity to learn whether our confidence after all has not been in ourselves, or in some one else just as weak as we are. It is so easy to be deceived, and to think that we are exercising faith in God, when there are outward indications of success and the path seems to be bright. We must learn, however, that faith in God rests securely upon the Word of promise regardless of appearances. Such was the faith of Abraham. “Looking unto the promise of God, he wavered not through unbelief, but waxed strong through faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was able also to perform.” This is the faith which is needed now. This message is the Lord’s message and this work is the Lord’s work. He has set his hand to deliver his people and to fulfil to them all his good promise. He asks now that they shall believe Him and thus open the way for Him to do what He has promised. Do we have faith in God?
The Removal to Washington
By Arthur Grosvenor Daniells
(Concluded.)
As we found nothing in the vicinity of New York City to meet the instruction in the second communication, and as we were directed in both letters to study the advantages of Washington, some members of the committee decided to go to that city. Before going to Washington it seemed almost impossible to the committee that that city possessed the advantages required for our headquarters. Our eyes were fixed on New York City, and, although our search had greatly disappointed us, yet we could not think Washington could be the right place. But we had purposed in our hearts that in this important step of moving from Battle Creek, we would follow strictly the counsel of God. Therefore some members of the committee went to Washington.
We had not looked about the place long before there began to steal over us a conviction that, after all, Washington might be the place for our headquarters. The longer we continued our search, the deeper this conviction grew. We found conditions here far more in harmony with the counsel we have received than we had found anywhere else. Soon after this visit we received a third letter from Sister White. This letter gives additional light, as will be seen from the following statements:
We have been praying for light regarding the location of our work in the East, and light has come to us in a very decided way. Positive light has been given me that there will be offered to us for sale places upon which much money has been expended by men who had money to use freely. The owners of these places die, or their attention is called to some other object, and their property is offered for sale at a very low price.
In regard to Washington, I will say that twenty years ago memorials for God should have been established in that city, or rather, in its suburbs. It was in the providence of God that our people were offered the church that they recently purchased there. I am glad that this church is so nearly paid for.
We are many years behind in giving the message of warning in the city that is the capital of our nation. Time and time again the Lord has presented Washington to me as a place that has been strangely neglected. There should be a sanitarium in Washington. The people in the nation's capital should know what we are doing. Let the work stand high upon its eternal foundation as gospel medical missionary work. Why should not this work be carried forward in Washington? Why should not the leaders of the American people have the privilege of learning the Lord's will?
If there is one place above another where a sanitarium should be established, and where gospel work should be done, it is Washington. We can not estimate how great an influence would have gone forth from Washington in favor of the truth had a sanitarium been established there twenty years ago. Above all places, this place should now be worked. Satan is working there against Jehovah with all his might.
I present this to you as a matter that is stirring me mightily. One thing is certain: we shall not be clear unless we at once do something in Washington to represent our work. I shall not be able to rest until I see the truth going forth as a lamp that burneth.
I dare not now write all the words that have been given me on this subject. In the future I may feel free to write them.
From the light given me, I know that, for the present, the headquarters of the Review and Herald should be near Washington. If there is on our books and papers the imprint of Washington, D. C., it will be seen that we are not afraid to let our light shine. Let the publishing house be established near Washington. Thus we shall show that we are trying to do what God has bidden us do to proclaim the last message of mercy to a perishing world. We should begin our work there in a limited way at first, and increase as the Lord may favor us.
The Lord is good. He is going before us. The Lord has been striving with me, and I say to you, We must make decided moves, and quickly bring things into order, that God may see a different representation, lest his wrath come upon us, and we be not able to escape. The Lord calls for sanctified minutemen. He has no use for men who try to serve God and Baal. Let us pray much, and let us refuse to say one word that will irritate a fellow-worker. We are to provoke one another to love and to good works, not to anger.
Let us take hold of the arm of infinite power. Let us walk humbly before God, but let us be giants in meeting discouragement and difficulty. We must have increased faith. Let us praise God. He is our strength, our shield, and our defense, our front guard and our rearward.
This letter was followed a few days later by another, giving clear, definite counsel. Among the statements made are these:—
Our people far and near need to ask themselves how the Lord regards their neglect of important centers in America. There are many places in this country in which the truth has never been proclaimed. Many years ago there should have been a sanitarium in Washington, D. C. But men have chosen their way in many things, and the places to which the truth should have found entrance, by the establishment of medical missionary work, have been neglected.
The Lord has opened this matter to me decidedly. The publishing work that has been carried on in Battle Creek should for the present be carried on near Washington. If after a time the Lord says, Move away from Washington, we are to move. We are pilgrims and strangers in this earth, seeking a better country, even a heavenly. When the Lord tells us to move, we are to obey, however inconvenient and inconsistent such a command may seem to us to be.
These letters settled the question as to the general location. When we started out, none of the committee was favorable to Washington, and the Lord's servant had no definite light as to the city we should select. Now the Lord had given his servant clear, direct light, and those who had come face to face with the conditions in and near Washington, felt clear in their own minds as the result of their personal observation. At the beginning of our search we were instructed to give different places diligent and prayerful study, and were assured that the Lord would make the way plain. This was fulfilled. The conditions saw convinced5our judgment, and at the same time the Lord gave definite light through the spirit of prophecy. This removed all uncertainty regarding the question of location. It now remained for the committee to go to Washington to purchase land for building purposes, and to make necessary arrangements for removing the general offices to that city.
The latter part of July the following brethren came together in Washington: W. W. Prescott, H. W. Cottrell, W. C. White, I. H. Evans, O. O. Farnsworth, C. H. Jones, R. A. Underwood, S. N. Curtiss, and A. G. Daniells. We were assisted in our work by J. S. Washburn, L. C. Sheafe, Dr. Neal, Dr. Howard, A. Kakstrom, and W. M. Lewis, who were living in the city.
Each morning before going out to look at properties, we met for a season of earnest prayer for divine guidance. According to the Testimonies sent us, we were to be located where we could have the Washington, D. C., imprint on our books and papers, and yet we were to be in a rural place, where we could have land enough for sanitarium and agricultural school purposes. We were not a little perplexed to know how to combine all these points with our limited resources. But we told the Lord that it was he who had directed us to leave Battle Creek, that when he did so, he knew the city to which we should go, that he had revealed this to us, and that he knew the very spot on which we should locate, and we earnestly prayed him to guide us to it, and make us know when we had found it.
We proceeded to inspect every part of the District of Columbia accessible by train or street-car lines. This was not a very great undertaking, as the District is small. It would not be profitable to relate in detail what we saw that would not meet the needs. After looking the District over, we all agreed without dissenting vote that Takoma Park was the suburb in which we ought to locate. The points considered in our investigations were climate, altitude, quality of land, water, rural conditions, railway and street-car advantages, prices, the general character of the place, etc., etc. While we could not say that Takoma Park fulfilled all these features perfectly, it came nearer to it by far than any other part of the District.
When the decision was made to settle at Takoma Park, we began at once to reach a decision regarding the exact spot. At this point, some of us, if not all, were well-nigh overwhelmed. We found no land in the District of Columbia that could be purchased for less than one thousand dollars an acre. Land that could be purchased for that price was of very poor quality, and too inaccessible for our use. The cheapest ground in Takoma Park inside of the District line was two thousand dollars an acre. We felt that we must have not less than thirty acres, and we needed fifty. But the thought of paying from sixty to one hundred thousand dollars for a small tract of land staggered us.
But we were not left in perplexity long. The providence of God opened the way before us. We found a tract of fifty acres just outside the District, but within the city limits of Takoma Park, that we could purchase for six thousand dollars, or at the rate of one hundred and twenty dollars an acre. We gave this place thorough examination. We found that some years ago it was selected by a Boston physician for a sanitarium site. He is said to have expended about sixty thousand dollars in the purchase price and in clearing it of all the underbrush, logs, and rubbish. Financial difficulties prevented him from carrying out his plans, and the tract passed into the hands of a gentleman who held a mortgage on it, at a cost to him of fifteen thousand dollars.
The land is seven miles north of the Capitol building. It is about a mile from the Baltimore and Ohio Railway station at Takoma Park, and the same distance from the electric and street-car line, running from the city to Takoma Park. It has an altitude of about three hundred feet above the Potomac. The tract is within the city limits of Takoma Park, and thus it will have the advantages of the postal service, gas, water, sewerage, and streets, yet it is cut off from dwellings, and everything of a city appearance. It is covered with trees and underbrush. The latter is not very heavy, as it has all grown up during the last few years. There are hundreds of nice shade trees on the ground. Some are chestnuts, some are oaks, and some are pines. A beautiful stream of water runs across the entire tract near the boundary line. This stream is called Sligo Creek. It is fed by living springs. The water supply for Takoma Park is obtained from this stream, the pumping plant being located but a few rods above our upper boundary line. All the water flowing from the pumping station is ours, and can be used for an artificial lake, and for power purposes. The land itself is as good, we believe, as any we saw anywhere in the District.
After visiting the place three or four times, and giving every feature as critical study as we knew how, we decided that this was the place the Lord would have us take, and that we ought to purchase it at once. Although this tract is outside of the District of Columbia, it is so near that we can establish the printing plant inside the District, and have it within easy access of this place.
This will place us within seven miles of the nation's Capitol, with both railway and street-car advantages. It will give us the Washington imprint, and a thoroughly rural location, with land enough for a sanitarium and a school. The citizens of Takoma Park, as represented by the mayor and some of the leading men, gave us a very hearty welcome to the place, and assurances of friendly co-operation in carrying out our plans.
In all our travels and searching, we found no other spot that filled so fully the specifications of the Testimonies as this one. We believe the providence of God has led us to the place he would have us occupy. As we study the surroundings, advantages, and possibilities of Washington as a place in which to operate, the conviction grows upon us that the Lord is preparing the way for the accomplishment of a great work. In one of the Testimonies sent to us regarding the location, there is pointed out the similarity between the conditions existing in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost and those existing in Washington at this time when the latter rain should be poured out. Surely the time has come for the Lord to do great things in the earth. It is our fervent desire and most earnest prayer that this move may mark a new era in the history of this cause. We are looking to the Lord for this, and we believe that it will be even so. God has set his hand to finish the work. He is leading on to victory.
We have felt it proper to lay these facts at once before our brethren, for we know that all are deeply interested in this move. We earnestly appeal for co-operation and help from all, in the effort to follow the instruction that God has given.
In behalf of the committee,
A. G. DANIELLS.
The Foundation of God’s Institutions
IN the foundation upon which God's institutions rest, there is nothing which the world would count a valuable asset.
Look Up for Strength
“If you would be discouraged, look within; if you would be distracted, look around; but if you would be strengthened, look up.”
Arrival in Washington, D. C.
By A. G. Daniells
MONDAY, Aug. 10, was the day fixed for our arrival in Washington, with our four carloads of goods. Professor Prescott, S. N. Curtiss, and Brother Coyle and wife were the first on the ground. They reached the city early in the morning. Bro. Edson Rogers and I arrived at noon, having come direct from the Ohio camp ground. In the evening Bro. E. R. Palmer reached the city, with his sister, Bro. Joel Cady, and my family.
During the day a number of our Virginia brethren and sisters, who were returning from the camp-meeting to their homes, called at our building, 222 North Capitol street, to assure us of a hearty welcome from Virginia. Elder H. W. Cottrell, who was passing through the city, spent the day with us. Thus our first day was a busy, and very pleasant one.
Tuesday we began in earnest to attend to the many affairs that had to be disposed of. Early in the day Bro. H. W. Kellogg, of Battle Creek, called on us. He was on his way to Florida. At our request he went with us to inspect the place we have selected at Takoma Park. After going around and across our land, and following the creek all the way through our place, he expressed great satisfaction with our selection, and advised us by all means to go on with our negotiations. We greatly appreciated Brother Kellogg’s visit.
By night our ranks had been increased by the arrival of Bro. C. F. Wilcox, the mailing clerk of our papers; Sister Welch, the head proofreader, and Bro. H. H. Burden, an accountant.
Wednesday our numbers were further increased by the arrival of Sister Estella Houser, of the Mission Board Department; Ethel Edwards, in charge of the paper lists, and Bro. D. K. Nicola, one of our accountants.
Professor Griggs, of South Lancaster Academy, spent the afternoon with us in counsel regarding various features of the educational work. Although we were exceedingly busy with local affairs we were glad of this early visit from Brother Griggs.
We have secured for our general offices for one year a building known as the Washington House. It is the house in which George Washington was often entertained on his visits to this city. It is six stories high, and contains sixteen light, airy rooms, eight of which are 16x20 feet. The building is in a perfect state of preservation, and has just been papered and painted throughout. It has a vacant lot on the south side thirty-seven feet wide the entire length of the lot. This place is but one-half a block from the Capitol grounds, and one block from the Baltimore and Ohio Railway station. We pay a rental of $100 per month. This is less than one-half the price of any other place we found with the same amount of room, and as well adapted to our needs. This will be the headquarters of both the General Conference and the Review and Herald Publishing Association, the new corporation which has been formed in Washington.
When our furniture is all placed and everything is ready for action, we shall all gather for the dedication of ourselves, our furniture and rooms anew to the ministry of God’s boundless love for lost humanity. This dedication will be reported in due time.
Washington is a clean city, and it is adorned with beautiful parks and shade trees. It is a city in a forest. There are three hundred thousand people gathered here from all parts of the world. This is truly an important mission field.
A. G. DANIELLS.
A Response
By Arthur G. Daniells
WE are more grateful than words can express to our dear brethren and sisters for the splendid interest they are manifesting in the removal of the headquarters of this cause to Washington, D. C.
From all quarters we are receiving assurances from our people of their confidence that the Lord is leading in this change. They tell us that they believe that the cloud has moved by divine appointment to the Nation’s Capital, and that they have moved with it. They say that although they cannot move in person with the cloud, they have moved in spirit,—that we have their prayers and best wishes, and that we shall have their means as far as may be needed. One conference president writes:—
“Personally, I wish to say that it cheers my heart to be able to address the General Conference at Washington . . . I trust that the blessing of the Lord may rest in a rich measure upon the work and workers at Washington. I feel as though I would like to have a hand in clearing up the grounds for our new headquarters.”
Another president sends these kind words:—
“I am glad that the General Conference officers are to be located in Washington, D. C. I believe this movement will be followed by the special manifestations of the Spirit of God. As I have been moving about in the conference quite a little during the last few weeks, I have come in contact with a number of ministers of various denominations, and I find that they are looking upon this movement very seriously. They see that it means something, and are free to confess that the Seventh-day Adventists are becoming the most aggressive Christian people on the face of the earth.”
It is no exaggeration to say that hundreds have voluntarily assured us that somehow this move has filled their hearts with a confidence and gladness that they have not experienced for years. Some of us upon whom was placed the responsibility of securing a new location experienced a special blessing when the final decision was reached. But we did not look for the general and signal blessing that has come to our people as they have heard of the Lord’s dealings with his people. We now see the meaning of a statement in one of the Testimonies sent us while searching for a location. That statement was to the effect that confidence would come to our people as soon as we began to move. These words have already met a fulfillment far beyond anything we had anticipated. What we have seen leads us to look for larger manifestations.
Furthermore, we are glad to tell our people that we have met with a warm welcome in Washington. The Post speaks of our coming here as one of the most significant and important events of the year. The people of Takoma Park show great friendliness. Our brethren and sisters in Washington have met us at the trains and taken us to their homes, until we could get settled in our own homes. After presenting to our people in Battle Creek the communications we had received from the Lord’s servant, and the blessed experiences we had in our efforts to find a location in harmony with the Testimonies, a large proportion of the Tabernacle congregation manifested undoubted confidence in the move, and bade us farewell with their best wishes and earnest prayers for great blessings. It was hard for many to see the offices go, but they manifested a kind Christian spirit. We shall not forget these dear souls.
We are altogether unworthy of all this goodness. It humbles us before our gracious Lord. Again and forever, we surrender all to God for the service of a perishing world. • A. G. DANIELLS.
The Power of a Right Life
“A MAN who lives right, and is right, has more power in his silence than another has by his words.”
The Bible as the Only Creed
ONE great advantage possessed by the papacy over some Protestant systems of religion, says the New York Times, is the ability to bring itself up to date. Creed-bound bodies compare unfavorably with the papacy in this respect. “There are,” says the Times, “those to whom the papal deliverances seem antiquated and irrelevant. But compare the responsiveness of the papacy to the spirit of the age with the irresponsiveness of the formulated creeds of the Protestant churches, with the thirty-nine ‘Articles of the Christian Faith’ according to the Church of England, expressing views which were not obsolete in the seventeenth century, with the Westminster Confession of the Presbyterian Church, expressing views similarly obsolete, and expressing them with such ‘indecent violence of language,’ according to Lord Salisbury’s phrase, that the expression has had just now to be modified in accordance with public opinion, and of course the discrediting of the authority which proclaimed, up to 1903, that unelect infants were necessarily born to be damned, and, in 1903, that this was not necessarily so.”
If people would stick to the Bible, making that their only creed, they would not be obliged to reverse themselves, and bring their theology up to date, with many explanations and apologies for their course. The Bible does not reverse itself, and is always up to date; indeed, much of it is history written in advance. The Word of God is the only sure foundation of faith, and he who stands on that foundation will never be put to shame.
National Honor and Christian Missions
IN a recent issue of the New York Times the editor discusses the meaning of the “national honor,” as exemplified by the attitude of the “Christian” Powers toward China. This attitude is doubtless doing much to hedge up the way of Christian missionaries in that country, and we are reminded that we must hasten to do the work that remains before conditions there become even more forbidding. After having “killed some hundred promiscuous and unoffending Chinamen in retaliation for every single European a hair of whose head or a thatch of whose bungalow had been injured,” says the Times, “the European Powers further demanded an ‘indemnity’ which was openly calculated to the very utmost of China’s supposed ability to pay, although we alone expressed our willingness to waive any pecuniary indemnity in consideration of increased trading privileges. But the indemnity was nevertheless fixed at a certain and specified number of the ‘haikwan taels’ which were the sole international currency of which the Chinese knew, and which were computed on a silver basis, silver being the only standard known to the Chinese. Silver went down, down, down, and the obligations of China mounted up, up, up. Finally, after many proceedings on the part of the ‘Christian’ Powers which denoted the intention not merely to exact the pound of flesh, as Shylock did, but to increase the tract to be surgically operated upon according to the emaciation of the patient, the ‘Bankers’ Commission,’ quite naturally under the lead of Russia, has fixed the rate of exchange at a point which increases the obligations of China by $400,000 a year. We protest. Great Britain protests. These two Powers, it seems, still desire to be known as ‘Christian,’ still have some sense of national honor and of national shame. But none of the others has the least. These two are outvoted.
“And now we hear that there is a recrudescence of the ‘anti-foreign feeling’ that in Peking. We should think so. To be treated as the Chinese have for these three years been treated by the ‘Christian’ Powers ‘would make a cotton rabbit fight.’ In the point of pugnaciousness the Chinaman may not unfairly be described as a cotton rabbit. But these repeated outrages seem to have brought even him to a fighting mood. Who can blame him? Above all, who can blame the individual Chinaman for rejecting with disgust the Christianity the ethical standards of which he knows by the procedures of the ‘Christian’ Powers in his country?”