Earlier text: THE WORK AND THE WORKERSPresident Wilson and the Lord’s Day Congress
By F. M. W.
RECENTLY, as announced in these columns, President Wilson accepted the honorary chairmanship of the honorary council of the International Lord’s Day Congress. Of the work which this congress proposes to do the Providence (R. I.) Journal of July 13, 1914, says:— Representatives of various Lord’s day and Sabbath organizations met in New York on January 22, and made preliminary arrangements for the holding of such a convention. Plans are already well advanced. A general committee of arrangements has been organized, and an executive committee elected, to which has been committed the principal work of perfecting the plans of the congress. On July 4, Dr. Henry Collin Minton, chairman of the committee of arrangements, sailed for Europe to make the work of the congress known abroad, and to select speakers. It is hoped that many distinguished men will be secured to address the congress. The platform of principles has been prepared, setting forth the meaning of the Sabbath, and pointing out the unity of all the great historic branches of the Christian church in its regular observance of the Lord’s day as the day of rest and worship. It states the aim of the congress, and shows the relation of the state to Sunday, and holds that “the weekly rest day has become a civil institution, embodied in law and custom, thus safeguarding the physical, social, economic, and spiritual privileges of all citizens.” The Sunday question in all its world-wide aspects will be considered. There will first be a world’s survey, country by country, of all the conditions in every land. In addition the congress will deal with the religious and moral, the industrial and economic, the hygienic and social, and the legal and governmental aspects of the Sunday problem. There will also be an attempt to formulate a program for a concerted advance and for the direction of the immediate activities of those who are interested in promoting the due observance of Sunday. Already a number of the leading religious denominations have indorsed the movement, and all kinds of associations, both religious and civic, are urged to enroll among those promoting the congress, and to send delegates to its meetings. Whether President Wilson is in full sympathy with the principles and aims of this organization matters little. The fact that he has willingly accepted the position of honorary chairman, and that this action on his part has been heralded to the world, places his influence strongly on the side of the work which the congress is seeking to do. Well would it be indeed if our government officials could keep free from alliances and affiliations which place them in actual antagonism with the principles of liberty which they are set to maintain. All the world today is being wheeled into line in the promotion and carrying out of these great schemes of federation. What we have believed for many years would take place, what prophecy has declared would come, we see fulfilling before our very eyes today. If one at the present time desires convincing proof that we are living in the last days, let him find it in the world-wide advancement of the message of God for this day and generation, and in the combinations and confederacies which are being formed against that message. Well might we fear for the outcome if we did not know that truth will triumph in the end. While a power from beneath is springing up and taking fast hold of satanic agencies, marshalling them for the last great conflict, power from on high is descending on the people of God; and this power, if received into the life, will enable every believer in this movement to stand in the hour of crisis which is just before us. Even though we may stand alone as far as our fellows are concerned, we may stand with God and with heaven. In the casting up of accounts, and in the numbering of opposing forces, let us remember that we must take account not only of the little flock of God in this earth, but of the whole family in heaven and in earth. The problems being worked out in this world belong not alone to the race of man. The reign of sin and God’s dealings with sinful man form an object lesson to the whole universe. Hence, in standing for the right we stand with God, with all the heavenly hosts, with the multitudes of the unfallen worlds. In such a company as this we need not feel lonely. Recognizing the identification of our interest with the interests of God’s great universe, may we be strengthened to endure to the end. The Message for All
By W. A. S.
THE advent message of Revelation 14 is God’s word to every creature in these closing days of earth’s history. Christ is coming. That being the fact, the message of preparation for his coming is due to every creature, Protestant or Catholic, heathen or Mohammedan. And we thank God that the threefold message of Revelation 14 wins its way among all peoples. It is the “everlasting gospel” for these last days. An interesting word comes to us from Japan concerning the proportion of believers coming to us from heathenism. Elder F. H. De Vinney, superintendent of the Japan Mission, writes:— Some time ago you asked us to report what proportion of our believers came from heathenism, and what from Christian bodies. I have made a careful investigation of two hundred and seventy-nine cases of those now with us in full faith, and find that in eighty cases they were from other Christian bodies or had once been connected with them. In the other one hundred and ninety-nine cases they were fresh from heathenism, and never had any connection or sympathy with Christianity. A few years ago we made the same investigation with about the same result, and I believe this to be a fair showing of the work of the message in Japan. From all we can learn, the proportion of converts from heathenism is about the same in various older mission fields; while of course in the African interior the believers have come, almost without exception, straight out of heathen darkness into the light of this third angel’s message. In the great prophetic truths which are God’s witness to the world and his challenge to unbelief, we have the very message by which to appeal to the hearts of men who have not been taught to regard the Bible as of divine authority. We thank God for this definite message that catches the attention of men of every class. The Lord is coming. This being the fact, the message which he himself8has given to prepare his people for the end is the message that he would send to every creature. In the outline of the advent movement given in the prophecy of Revelation 14 the Lord specifically charges those who bear the message to carry it to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. It is the everlasting gospel set in terms to meet the issues of the very last days. Just as the gospel message of fulfilling prophecy in apostolic times turned the Thessalonians “to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for his Son from heaven,” so the message of fulfilling prophecy in our time, preached in the great mission fields, turns men from idols to serve the living and true God. It is inevitable that the message should appeal also to Christian converts of other societies in these mission fields. We rejoice that it does; for this whole movement is founded upon fulfilling prophecy, and the time has come for all to hear. Christ’s own inspired word in Revelation 14 demands that just before the end a people keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus shall preach the judgment-hour message, with its warning against following tradition, and its call to Sabbath reform; and with the coming of the hour has come the movement fulfilling the prophecy. It is a message for Christendom; it is a message for heathendom; it is a message for the Mohammedan world. The cry of it is to go through every land, and it matters not where men are, or what their calling or belief, the great overwhelming fact is that the Lord is coming, and he has sent into the world the definite message of preparation for that great event. At the same time we know that in none of the great mission fields are our workers aiming merely to reach the converts of other societies, nor are they engaged in the work generally described by the term “proselyting.” The great masses are non-Christian, and it is among these masses that the message is to be proclaimed. Of one thing we may be assured, and that is, no selfish or worldly interests will be served by joining in this movement. The movement offers no inducement of a worldly nature. The message calls for separation from the world, for the sacrifice of every earthly interest, and for the dedication of life and means to the service of God; and with it all there is the assurance that those who turn from tradition to keep the commandments of God will suffer the wrath of the enemy, who, as the prophecy declares, will make special warfare against the remnant church that keeps the commandments of God and has the testimony of Jesus Christ. But it is a good way, the way of this third angel’s message, and the hope that it brings is the “blessed hope.” It is God’s truth for these last days, and we rejoice in it, and rejoice to see others receiving it and joining in the work of carrying the good tidings to those who have not heard. Are You Like Hur?
By G. B. THOMPSON
Not much is said in the Scriptures concerning Hur. When war was being waged in the wilderness against the Amalekites, he is mentioned as being with Moses and Aaron. When Moses ascended Mt. Sinai to receive the law, he referred the elders, if any difficulty arose, to Aaron and Hur. But of Hur it is recorded that when Moses was praying for victory for God’s people in their warfare against their enemies, “it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.” Ex. 17: 11, 12. He helped stay up the hands of Moses. Moses was in a place of responsibility in the great movement that the Lord was then leading. There were plenty of critics and faultfinders. There were rebels in the camp who breathed out suspicion against God’s chosen leaders. They made many strong and bold accusations, and could no doubt show to their own satisfaction that in the administration of affairs partiality was shown, and that some who did not agree with Moses were relegated to the rear. When the wickedness of their own hearts prevented their being used of God in some responsible way, they accused Moses of standing in the way of their advancement. They became wrathful, and determined to get rid of Moses, being quite sure in their own minds that God had no hand in putting him in any such position of responsibility, seeing he was not running things to their notion. But instead of destroying Moses they destroyed themselves. Instead of entering Canaan they left their carcasses in the wilderness. But Hur was different. When the struggle was on, instead of turning against the leader, he “stayed up his hands.” God greatly honored this spirit, and placed a record of it in his Word as an example for his people to follow till the end of time. He will always honor those who stand by the burden bearers and men placed in responsible positions in his work. Many a faithful wife, who with kind words and a loving disposition has encouraged her companion while he toiled on in the heat of the battle, will receive equally with him in the final rewards because she “stayed up his hands.” Many in the church, who, instead of criticizing have patiently and continuously stayed up the hands of the church officers while they strove the best they could to advance the work of the Lord, will not be overlooked in the day of final accounts. It means much to stay up weary hands. We often fail to appreciate the heavy burdens men are sometimes carrying in a quiet way. Those who stay up the hands of all such, God will bless. Any one can criticize and find fault. One does not even need to be a Christian to do this; in fact, the less religion he has the better the critic and grumbler. But God will surely deal with this sin. It is well to read the story of God’s dealing with rebellious Israel, and what happened to those who failed to stay up the hands of those chosen of God to lead his work, that we may escape a similar fate. G. B. THOMPSON. God’s Law and His People
By C. M. S.
In the days of old when Israel was entering the Promised Land, the law of God led the way. In the ark of God, representing the throne of God, the law went forward, and the people followed. Between the people and the Promised Land lay a river that barred their way; but at the presence of the ark and the law the waters of that river were driven back and banked up that the people might go through unimpeded. The reason for that manner of leading, Joshua declares thus: “For ye have not passed this way heretofore.” During forty years God had been preparing them for this. Doubtless every path of that wilderness had been trodden by them again and again; but there came a time when they must make a straight course, without regard to intervening obstacles. That last journey is by a way that is new to them, and as never before they will need careful leading. Thus the symbol of God’s throne and government goes on ahead. The law of God was to them the key that opened the Promised Land. Is there no lesson in this for us, so near the border of the eternal inheritance? The last admonition of the Old Testament is this: “Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and ordinances.” That this admonition is for the people of the last generation is shown by the words preceding and following this text. It is the time just previous to the day that shall “burn as an oven,” consuming the wicked. It is the day when the message of Elijah the prophet is due, “before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come.”9 Is it not significant that the last admonition of the last prophecy is in regard to the law of God, and that it accompanies prophecies relating to the very close of God’s work in the earth? At the time when all the world will be confederating in opposition to the truth of God and his remnant people, the admonition of the prophet to the people of God is, “Bind thou up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.” Isa. 8: 16. Is there no significance in this admonition given to a people who are to live at that time? In the days of ancient Israel the nations confederated to hinder the plainly expressed purpose of God. Just so is it to be in our generation; and that confederating process is now under way. The law of God led the way then; it must lead the way now; and that is why God directs the attention of the last generation so particularly to his law. The confederated nations of Israel’s day could not prevent that law-led people from entering that promised possession. Neither can they in the closing of God’s work in this earth prevent God’s law-led people from entering upon their long-promised inheritance. While the agents of Satan, through spiritism, are blinding the minds of the people to the truth of God, and gathering souls into the great nets of perdition, while they claim to be the very ministers of God, the instruction of the Word rings out clear and plain, “To the law and to the testimony! If they speak not according to this word, surely there is no morning for them.” Isa. 8: 20. That is, if they are not led by the law, there is no light for them, or for those who follow them. Of that mighty company that is to “follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth” the Word declares, “They are without blemish.” In other words, they are righteous. “Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law.” Isa. 51: 7. The psalmist says, “O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.” Ps. 119: 97. Again: “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” Ps. 119: 11. That attitude toward the law of God will transform the desires of the natural man, and build up a strong bulwark against sin; and at no time in the history of the world have men needed such a bulwark as much as now in the time of sin’s culmination and the close of the gospel work. God says of that company which triumphs in that day, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” As truly as the law went before literal Israel of old into the Promised Land, it will go before spiritual Israel into the eternal inheritance, the kingdom of perpetual peace. From every side that law and that people will be attacked, as was Israel of old, by the confederated powers of sin; but that company, obedient to that law, are finally seen standing before the throne of God, and this is what is said of them: “These are they that come out of the great tribulation, and they washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God. . . . The Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them unto fountains of waters of life: and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes.” Rev. 7: 14-17. The law of God and the ark of the covenant containing that law, with the covering cherubim above it and the glory of the Shekinah overshadowing it, represented the throne of God. That symbolic throne of God led Israel into Canaan; and the law of God, which is the foundation of the government and throne of God, will finally lead all the faithful children of God up to the very throne of God itself in the heaven of heavens. But let no man think to accomplish the keeping of that holy law in human strength. One who is “our Righteousness” has kept it; but his keeping it does not absolve us from loyalty to its every precept. Grace abounds, but there is no place in God’s everlasting kingdom for the willingly disobedient. Let us hide the law in our hearts, making it our delight as did our blessed Saviour, that it may work out God’s purpose in our lives and illuminate the way and lead the way into the everlasting Canaan, the inheritance of the saints, the kingdom of our God. A Liberal Platform Surely
It was a liberal spirit of affiliation surely which the recent International Sunday School Association showed in its endeavor to cooperate with all classes in the work of home visitation. One of its resolutions, passed in the fourteenth annual session, held in Chicago, June 23-30, 1914, reads:— We declare in favor of the cooperation of Protestants, orthodox and liberal, as also of Roman Catholics and Jews, in the great movement of Home Visitation wheresoever possible to operate the same in order to help children and adults alike into personal rightness with God and into social rightness with men. Even some of the stanch friends of that association recognize that this is a liberality which oversteps Christian orthodoxy. Quoting this resolution, the Sunday School Times of July 18, 1914, says:— Can we imagine the apostle Paul organizing a city-wide, house-to-house visitation in Ephesus, to be conducted by Christians in cooperation with the worshippers of Diana and of other pagan deities, and with the agreement on his part to turn over to the pagans the names of all children and grown people who preferred their worship, for them to bring into their temples and instruct, provided they would give the Christians the names of all who might prefer to investigate the Christian faith? Is it objected that the conditions were entirely different then? that there was no such body of Christians in any city as we have today? But is the underlying principle in any way different? Is the gospel less exclusively the way of life today than it was then? Are substitutes for the gospel safer now? Roger Williams and Religious Liberty
QUOTING Oscar Straus, in his book “The American Spirit,” the Watchman-Examiner of July 16, 1914, gives the following testimonial with reference to the attitude of this faithful minister toward the question of religious liberty:— Let us tarry a moment in Rhode Island, where the banner of religious liberty was first unfurled. In the midwinter of 1636 a solitary pilgrim might have been seen wandering through the primeval forests of New England, an exile from the territory of the Massachusetts Puritans, seeking a place of refuge from ecclesiastical tyranny, where he and all men might worship God according to the dictates of their consciences. At that time there was no such land in the whole civilized world. This pilgrim, the first true type of an American freeman, the trusted and trustworthy friend of the savage Indian, the benefactor of all mankind, was Roger Williams, who accomplished what no one before this ever had the courage and wisdom, combined with a conviction of the broadest liberty, even to attempt,—to found a purely secular state “as a shelter for the poor and the persecuted according to their several persuasions.” The time, let us hope, is not far off when all civilized people, even in the remotest corners of the world, will recognize the truth and power of the principles that throw around the name of Roger Williams a halo of imperishable glory. SPEAKING of the influence exerted by some of the mediocre Bible critics, the Word and Way of March 26, 1914, says:— The near higher critic is more disagreeable and dangerous than the real higher critic. He is more disagreeable because more noisy, cocksure, and arrogant. And more dangerous because more numerous and irresponsible. He has a smattering only of knowledge of the things about which he talks with much show of learning—great swelling words of vanity. To take up with the school of higher criticism, marks him, he fancies, a man of distinction—an intellectual and literary somebody—in the public mind. Atchin, New Hebrides
By C. H. PARKER
THE New Hebrides have been and are a very interesting field from a missionary standpoint. They have called forth a great deal of heroic effort and sacrifice upon the part of the Presbyterian mission. This mission has been operating here for the last sixty years. The work has been hard, and many lives have been given as foundation stones for the gospel structure to be reared thereon. Erromango, rightly called, has been baptized in the blood of John Williams, Mr. Harris, and the Gordons. All the southern islands of this group have nominally accepted Christianity, with the exception of Tanna, which still has a large proportion of its population held in the darkness of heathenism. Few of the people of Ambrym, Mallicolo, and Espiritu Santo, which are the largest islands of the northern division, have exchanged their heathenism for Christianity. Mallicolo is the backbone of heathenism and cannibalism. Only a short time ago a boat’s crew were killed and eaten, and only four weeks ago seven native teachers of the Presbyterian mission were shot and eaten, almost in sight of our mission. The men of the heathen population go about perfectly nude, with the exception of a bark belt around their waist, which serves as a place for carrying their pipes, matches, knives, cartridges, etc. The coast women wear a narrow strip of cloth around the loins, while those inland wear a sort of grass skirt. The children wear the dress they were born in until they become quite large. If an injury is done to any man, he retaliates upon the first man he meets: no distinction is made. Their houses are thatched roofs set on the ground, with a hole through which to crawl in. There are no mats to cover the dirt floor; they lie in the dirt like the beasts. As a result, their houses are plague spots of vermin and disease. When building a house, they make a feast, at which they kill a number of pigs. The one who kills the pigs cannot go down to the salt water for ten days. The owner of the house cannot go down for forty days. All this time they must keep their faces blackened, and of course water does not come in contact with their bodies. Tusked pigs are at a premium, and we are told that the people have been known to pay as high as £60 ($300) for one. These pigs are used in making sacrifices to the dead. Women are bought and sold for pigs, the number of pigs for a woman being, as a general thing, about ten, though it goes above and below at times. Often wives are bought when they are but mere children. In their anils (heathen dancing grounds) the people set up carved figures to their departed friends. Before these figures they place a stone altar, upon which their pigs are killed. All food is offered before it is eaten. Their worship is ancestral, and they make carved figures in memory of their dead. These figures are very grotesque. Over each of them is placed the form of a bird, like an, albatross, with outstretched wings. In the bush they have a house where they go and talk with their dead, asking them to give them good seasons, rain, plenty of yams, and to make them strong in war with other tribes. Every time they kill a pig, they receive a new name. It is very hard to keep informed as to the names of the people, as they change so often. You call one by his old name, and you are stolidly told that that is not his name. He cannot tell you his own name, but some one standing by must speak it for him. I suppose that this is heathen etiquette. Mr. Pig is king pig here, as he is waited on hand and foot. His food is prepared and cooked from the best, and the woman must feed him before she prepares her own food. When the tusks of the pig complete the circle, pierce again the jawbone, and come through, the pigs are considered very valuable. These pigs are kept tied up to a pole by a front foot, for fear they will break their tusks while fighting with other pigs. Female pigs are never offered in sacrifice. Polygamy is practiced, and a man can have as many women as he has pigs to buy with. Thus some men have plenty of women, while others have none. This causes a great deal of immorality. The men and women do not eat together, and in most instances the men cook their own food on separate fires. The men will not take food from a woman, not even from a white woman. When they work on a plantation, they are compelled to eat food prepared by the white people. When they return to their people, they have to kill a pig so that they can be restored to caste, as they have broken caste. The women are the burden bearers, while the men stalk on before, carrying a gun, a bow and arrow, or a club. If a woman runs away, the sinew of one of her legs is often burned, so that she will not be able to repeat the offense. At the death of a man or a woman, a great wail is set up by the men. To one not acquainted with it, it would be mistaken for the howling of dogs. The ones that will profit by land or other possessions of the deceased, howl the loudest and the longest. The body is buried almost immediately, and generally in the house in which the person died. Sometimes, I am told, the face is left exposed to view. In the event of the death of an old man, three young men have to stop for one hundred days in the house where he is buried. During this time they cannot leave the premises nor see a woman. One rainy day, while passing by a house where an old woman was buried, we noticed a fire burning at the entrance, and a covering of palm leaves above, so as to convey the heat inside. We asked what it was for, and were told that literi (the old woman) was cold. These heathen people have no written language; their oral language is handed down from the father to the son. It is wonderful how exact and concise they are in their talking and word building. Upon this we shall have more to say at another time, as we are called upon to reduce one of these heathen languages to writing. Later, no doubt, we shall be required to do the same with other languages, as there is such a babel of11tongues in these islands. We find it very interesting in hunting for the different persons, numbers, cases, genders, articles, etc. All that is needed is perseverance, faith in God, and the controlling power of the Holy Spirit for the tongue of the dumb to speak. If They Only Knew
By Grace Twing Folton
CHRIST is coming. We have heard it,
And our hearts throb with delight.
Soon will end earth's dismal story,
Soon will close her dreary night;
Then will dawn in matchless glory
Her eternal morning bright. O that every one might know it!
Is the burden of my prayer.
O that men would pause to hear it,
Mid their ceaseless toil and care!
O that thoughtless youths might learn it,
And their careless hearts prepare! Would the rich cling to their riches,
Would they hoard their gold away,
While earth's weak ones cry with hunger,
From the famine they might stay,
If they knew that when he cometh
All their wealth would pass away? And those who bear life's burdens,
Who are weary and oppressed,
Who must toil, and plan, and struggle,
Would their hearts be cheered and blessed
If they knew the heavenly Master
Soon would come and bring them rest? To the suffering and the sick ones
Who have sought for health in vain,
Carry then the joyful message,
It will help them bear the pain,—
This sweet hope of seeing Jesus,
And of being whole again. Those who run the race for pleasure,
Who but chase a fleeting goal,
Tell them of the love of Jesus
That can satisfy the soul;
They may share heaven's purest pleasures
While eternal ages roll. We have been greatly favored of late in receiving so many communications from Pitcairn Island, and all of such an encouraging nature. The following letter from Brother Adams, who has recently located there, was written on January 30, and reached the Australasian Union Conference office on March 13:— “Just a few lines to let you know how we are getting on. We are now holding our camp meeting, and it is proving a precious season to our souls. The Lord is coming graciously near to us, and is stirring up the hearts of his people, reclaiming those who had given up, and deepening the experience of those desiring a closer walk with God. We are praying that the work will not be a superficial one, but that it will be lasting. The people are beginning to realize the nearness of Christ’s coming, and the need of a preparation to meet him. “We conduct three general meetings each day for the adults, one for the young people, and one for the children. We begin our early morning meeting at five o’clock, and are reading from the spirit of prophecy on the second advent and the necessary preparation for that event. Our midday meeting is held at one o’clock, and we are reading on the responsibility of parents to their children, home training, and health reform. The evening meeting is held at 6 P. M., and takes the form of Bible studies. ‘Importance of Studying God’s Word,’ ‘Repentance,’ ‘Conversion,’ ‘The Holy Spirit,’ ‘What It Means to Be a Christian,’ ‘Living Up to the Light,’ are some of the subjects presented. The meeting will close on Tuesday. May God bless it to the good of every soul, is our prayer. “Mrs. Adams and the baby are doing well. I trust that the Lord’s blessing is with you all. We do long for some news from you and our loved ones, but we are strong and of good courage in the Lord. We have only one desire, and that is to glorify God and be used of him in the salvation of precious souls. God bless you is our prayer.” March 16 another letter was received at the Australasian Union Conference office. This letter was dated February 3. From it we quote the following:— “We finished our camp meeting yesterday, and it was a season of refreshing to both old and young. The Lord came near by his Holy Spirit and touched and softened hearts. Especially were the young affected, and many came forward with tears and repentance. Confessions were made of wrongs that had existed for thirty years. Public wrongs were made right. In fact, there was real searching of heart, the desire of all being to have their records clear in the books of heaven. I believe that in most cases the work was genuine. “I do pray that God will give us wisdom and grace that we may be able to look after the members here and feed them with food that will be convenient for them, that they may grow up to the full stature of men and women in Christ, and at last stand perfected before him. Remember us before the throne of grace.” The Truth to Eclipse Every Earthly Interest
In a personal letter received from a brother laboring in the South, some principles were touched upon which are worthy of being passed on for the consideration and help of others:— “Each race, each nation, has its own peculiar conditions and prejudices. God has never given to this denomination the task of breaking them down or erasing them. There is convincing evidence before us that these will last to the end, and be aggravated more and more as the days go on. England has its ‘home rule.’ China has its ‘north and south.’ Mexico has its ‘Huerta and Villa.’ Principles of right and wrong are involved in these national controversies the world over. Should one line up decisively on either side of the controversy, his opportunity to reach men on the other side would be gone, perhaps never to return. This is the paramount question: Can we afford to dig an impassable gulf between us and any living soul?—Never! “This question should be more important to us than the guaranty of our individual rights, liberties, privileges, and pursuits of happiness. Every Seventh-day Adventist must understand this. When we go to the world with this great advent message, we cannot label ourselves politically on one side or the other. We may have our conscientious convictions as to who is right; but where there is a possibility of our being shut off from reaching the man on the other side with the truth, we must hide everything that would arouse his prejudice as we step up to him to arrest him with the message of present truth. When he gets that into his heart, we need have no fears nor anxiety as to what will be his relation to his political antagonist. It is so with every national problem. It is the aim of Satan, it is his studied purpose, to blind the eyes of the people of this world with some great national problem or racial prejudice. He seeks to bring on an eclipse of the everlasting gospel message, and I am doing what I can to help people discover his designs and escape them.” OUR Australasian Union Conference has established a mission on the island of Atchin, in the New Hebrides. The islanders are still untamed heathen, and recently there was a rising which drove out the European trader and his associates, the only white people on the island aside from our missionaries. Our missionaries were warned to flee by friendly natives, but felt they should hold their ground. For a time they kept watch with the windows of the mission house barricaded. The situation occasioned most earnest prayer among the churches in Australia, and the Lord turned the uprising to his glory. “The natives who made the trouble are very friendly with us now,” writes the superintendent, C. H. Parker. “We believe that the Lord has helped, and that he will turn all things to his glory. We need your prayers that we may guide these feet into the footsteps of Jesus. We have given 238 treatments this month to the suffering.” Looking After Cheerfulness
By Louise Alcott
It is part of my religion to look well after cheerfulness, and let the dismals shift for themselves.—Louise Alcott. Sending the New Hebrides Launch on Its Mission
REVIEW readers will be interested in the account given in the Australasian Record of the sending of a launch to Brother Parker for use in his work in the New Hebrides Islands. The boat was made possible by the raising of funds for this special object by the united contributions of the Sabbath schools of Australia on a recent Sabbath:— “The members of our Sabbath schools who recently had the privilege of giving offerings for the building of an auxiliary launch for the New Hebrides, will be glad to learn that on the afternoon of April 30, the boat was launched from the yards of H. M. Ford, North Sydney. A company from the union conference office assembled to witness her trial run, and were well pleased with her graceful lines and trim appearance, as well as with her steadiness and speed in the water. She has a length over all of twenty-six feet, with a beam of nine feet, while her depth is three feet. She is yawl-rigged with lugsails and jibs, and should develop a fair speed under sail. When the wind is light, the engine, which is a five-horse-power standard, will do duty, and at full speed will drive her at eight knots. The fore part of the boat is decked, while from the foremast a ‘coach house’ extends aft twelve feet. Under this the engine is situated, and on each side of it a bunk is fitted. The cockpit at the stern, covered with a neat awning, is roomy, and could seat ten persons comfortably. “The launch is well-built, and should be safe in almost any weather. We rejoice to think what a comfort and help it will be to our devoted workers on Atchin. After the inspection the launch ran across the harbor to where the ‘Marsina’ was berthed, and was hoisted on board. She started on her journey on May 1, and we believe will be followed by many prayers that she may reach her destination in safety and be the means, in God’s hands, of hastening forward the threefold message.”