— The Persian rebels continue to win over the troops of the shah, and it is reported that the capital of the province of Fars is also in the hands of the rebels.
— Agents of many different manufacturing and industrial interests are now in Washington, presenting their objections to certain phases of the proposed tariff law.
— A tornado swept over a portion of Wise County, Texas, on March 24, resulting in the death of twelve persons, and the serious injury of a number of others, while a large amount of property was destroyed.
— During the fall and winter season of 1908-09 eighty-nine vessels were lost on the Atlantic Coast, the financial loss of which amounted to three million dollars. In the wrecking of these vessels, two hundred twenty-one persons lost their lives.
— Two delegations from Porto Rico are now in Washington to lay the grievances of their island before the American government. One of these delegations is from the upper house and the other from the lower, and they hold views as to the island’s welfare that are diametrically opposed to each other. The members of the upper house are appointed by the President of the United States, while the members of the lower house are elected by the people, and these two bodies for months have been in a complete deadlock in legislative affairs.
— On March 23 Ex-President Roosevelt sailed from New York on board the steamer “Hamburg” for his South African hunting trip. He was given an enthusiastic farewell by the people, and forts Hamilton and Wadsworth fired a president’s salute of twenty-one guns. It is planned that the trip will occupy fifteen months.
— The officials of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad have adopted a definite rule to the effect that any employee who enters a saloon, either while on duty or off duty, loses his position with the company, and the company will not reopen cases of dismissal when the cause for dismissal is failure to observe this rule.
— A report from Berlin, Germany, states that the great air-ship constructed by Count Zeppelin, made a flight on March 20, carrying twenty-six passengers. This is the greatest success ever achieved by any air-ship in the matter of carrying passengers. The flight covered one hundred fifty miles, and the balloon was in the air four hours.
— Lieut. Ernest H. Shackleton, of the British navy, who left his permanent quarters in the South Polar regions last autumn for a dash for the south pole, has returned, having gone to within 111 miles of the pole. He found the south magnetic pole, discovered eight mountain chains, surveyed one hundred mountains, ascended Mount Erebus, a volcano 13,120 feet high, and disproved the theory that there is an area of atmospheric calm surrounding the pole. He encountered almost continuous blizzards and a practically continuous temperature of seventy degrees of frost.
— The great French strike, which practically isolated Paris from the rest of the world for a week, and tied up a number of industries in other parts of France, came to an end on March 21. The government has yielded to the strikers in some of the details, but their demand for the dismissal of the official having in charge the postal system was not granted.
— Representatives of the four civilized nations of Indians in Oklahoma have recently been in Washington to lay before the Department of the Interior charges against unscrupulous land-grabbers, who, through the use of poisoned whisky, are obtaining possession of the land owned by many of the younger Indians in that State. This poisoned liquor in many instances cited has caused the death of those who have imbibed it.
— The present indications are that as a result of the suggestions of the Bureau of American Republics, the presidents of the five Central American States will meet for a general discussion of ways and means for living up to the letter and spirit of the peace pact signed at Washington, thus removing all cause for intervention by either Mexico or the United States. It is expected that the meeting will take place on some American vessel, in neutral waters.
— The police commissioner of New York has been endeavoring to get an appropriation of $100,000 to enable him to so strengthen the secret service of the city that it will be able to deal successfully with the Black Hand Society. The refusal of the board of aldermen to grant the appropriation has induced the commissioner to make the following statement in reference to conditions in that city: “This job of police commissioner, for example, would be a regular gold-mine to a dishonest official. If it were put up at auction to the highest bidder, a man could well afford to pay one million dollars for a year’s opportunity to accept what the criminal classes would be only too glad to offer him.” He stated that he had been definitely offered a bribe of six hundred thousand dollars to protect certain criminal interests, and this protection would have been of an entirely negative character. All they wanted was to be let alone in the prosecution of their wicked business.
— On March 19, the son of J. P. Whitla, of Sharon, Pa., was kidnapped, taken to Cleveland, Ohio, and held for a ransom of $10,000, the kidnappers threatening that in case the money was not paid within a certain time, the parents would never see their child again. The kidnappers’ communication also contained a veiled threat against the child’s life. Mr. Whitla, following the instructions of the kidnappers, paid over the money and within a few hours was in possession of his child. Soon after, the kidnappers, a man and woman, were captured with the money in their possession, and identified by the child as the persons responsible for his abduction. The prominence given to this case might cause one to feel that cases of child-stealing were somewhat rare; but this is far from true. The disappearance of children in some such manner is of almost daily occurrence. Another child abducted about the time that Willie Whitla disappeared has not been found.
Tour of Central Union Conference
By John S. Wightman
JEFFERSON CITY at last! Beginning a second religious liberty tour at Colorado Springs, Colo., January 17, with a mass-meeting in one of the prominent halls of the city, and intending to visit the various capital cities of the Central Union Conference territory during the time of the legislative sessions, Mrs. Wightman and the writer reached the capital city of Missouri, March 19. All the State capitals have been visited with the exception of Topeka, which, unfortunately, will be reached after the legislature has adjourned. Religious liberty mass-meetings have been conducted in a number of cities, where Mrs. Wightman has delivered a lecture upon the “Inalienable Rights of American Citizenship.” At nearly all the cities the attendance was excellent. Lectures have been given in Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Canon City, Palisade, Denver, Arvada, Fort Collins, and Greeley, Colo.; Sidney, Minatare, North Platte, College View, Lincoln, and Omaha, Neb. Other cities visited, and in which strong personal effort has been put forth, are Cheyenne, Wyo.; Bridgeport, Kearney, and Grand Island, Neb.; and Kansas City and Sedalia, Mo.
Ten days were profitably spent in Denver. There is no State Sunday law in Colorado except that controlling saloons and places of amusement. Several bills were introduced in the legislature, making Sunday labor a misdemeanor, or crime, and fixing the penalty. We immediately furnished lengthy communications to the press—the four great dailies of Denver—in opposition to the proposed laws, not one of which was refused publication. Efforts in the House of Representatives to show the danger of religious legislation were successful. Sunday bills perished in the committee on judiciary. The chairman assured me that this would be the fate of such bills. In the senate one bill still claims some attention; but should it pass that body, it can have no hope of recognition in the lower house, unless some great changes take place. Thus, so far, does Colorado refuse to take a signal step in legislating a “sabbath day” upon the people by prohibiting “labor” on that day. Quick and painstaking personal work, personal letters of protest, petitions, and the extensive circulation of our religious liberty literature among lawmakers, with an extensive newspaper correspondence, have undoubtedly prevented this kind of legislation, at the time the Senate was that the National Reform Bureau was urging this legislation in Colorado.
Our trip through Nebraska was hastened in order to reach Lincoln, the capital, in time to make our position understood upon the question of religious legislation, at the time the Senate was considering a bill to remove certain restrictions pertaining to outdoor amusements on Sunday, and to materially modify the Sunday law. It proved to be an opportune time for a work of public education. Securing the Auditorium, which will seat two thousand persons, two meetings were held,—one on February 23, the other on February 28. At the first,—an inclement night,—fifteen hundred persons were present. Among these were Ex-Governor Sheldon, Mr. William Jennings Bryan with his wife and daughter, and a large number of the members of the legislature. Mrs. Wightman delivered the address, which was listened to with marked attention, and received frequent applause. At the second meeting, the weather being fine, over two thousand persons attended. The speakers were Elder E. T. Russell and Mrs. Wightman, Elder Russell calling attention to fundamental principles of government, and Mrs. Wightman dwelling on the real dangers that threaten the American system of jurisprudence. In the meantime—eleven days in all—a correspondence, pro and con, upon the subject of religious legislation, took place in the columns of the State Journal, Nebraska’s foremost newspaper. In all, sixteen long letters were published, furnished by more than a half-dozen persons. Certainly Lincoln never was so thoroughly aroused over the question of religious legislation as at this time. These articles will be republished in pamphlet form, and with valuable addenda, will be ready for distribution by the Religious Liberty Department within a short time.
Senator Ransom, of Omaha, made a speech in the Senate, in favor of civil and religious liberty, which if not the best, may be said to be one of the best, made in assemblies of lawmakers. Though the bill to modify was defeated by the pressure of combined ministerial alliances brought to bear on the members of the legislature, still the cause of religious liberty has won many new and strong friends both within and without the boundaries of the legislature, and the agitation must result in the enlightenment of many minds. And the Sunday law is no better and no worse than it was. At the time of this agitation, articles from the pen of the writer were published in other papers in Lincoln, Omaha, and Hastings.
A mass-meeting in one of the theater buildings at Omaha, March 7, brought out a good attendance, though the weather was quite inclement. Mrs. Wightman gave the principal address, upon “Roger Williams and Civil Government.” Elders E. T. Russell and A. T. Robinson, Pastor L. A. Spring, secretary of the Nebraska department of religious liberty, and his wife, and others, gave valuable aid on this occasion. The Omaha papers printed extended and good reports of the meeting. Shortly afterward, a meeting was held in one of the orthodox churches of Omaha, in which the same ground was taken as to legislation curtailing the natural rights of the people as was taken by us in our Omaha meeting. So much for a change of public opinion!
We enjoyed a pleasant visit with the chief justice of the State of Nebraska; and though in a recent opinion he sustained the constitutionality of the Nebraska Sunday law, he seems, in the main, to be sensible of the truths of religious liberty, and willing to admit the rights of all in the premises. In the opinion rendered by the court, he no doubt followed the precedents established by law, rather than expressed the personal convictions and beliefs individually entertained. The chief justice assured us that but for an attack of rheumatism, he, too, would have been present at the religious liberty meeting. Space forbids me to speak of the many public officials whom we have met, and of what they have said. We are encouraged as we see some desire, and even an attempt upon the part of some of these to throw off the galling yoke of ecclesiastical oppression, to free themselves and the civil power from the usurped authority of an organized church force. Many see the danger menacing the free institutions of our land, and will, we feel sure, eventually voice themselves in protest against this new kind of tyranny.
In the Wyoming Legislature, at Cheyenne, there were no Sunday observance bills. And we found little beyond personal work to do. Elder R. T. Baer, the secretary of the State conference religious liberty bureau, is keeping close watch of events at this place, while in Brother John T. Burns, secretary of the Dry Farming Congress of the United States, he has a valuable coworker. By the efforts of Brother Burns, religious liberty truths are being brought before many prominent people of the nation, with whom he is personally acquainted. We much enjoyed our visit with Brother Burns and his estimable wife.
After the Omaha meeting I went to Des Moines, the State capital of Iowa, upon invitation of Elder M. N. Campbell, president of the Iowa Conference, to assist in a sharp conflict they were having in the legislature there, of which I will write more particularly in a future article.
At Jefferson City we find enough to keep us fully employed. No less than eight Sunday bills have been introduced in the legislature,—seven to make more exacting an already strict Sunday law adopted in 1853, and one to modify the existing statute. Besides a strong effort at this place, we are planning on conducting mass-meetings at a number of cities in Missouri, and later in Kansas; and while the legislature of that State is adjourned, we will do what we can at many places where local battles have been waged for stricter municipal Sunday regulation. While we had planned for an eight-weeks’ tour only, we find it will necessarily lengthen out well into the twelfth or thirteenth week, according to the present outlook.
It may be interesting to REVIEW readers to know that, so far, in this second tour, over six thousand persons in the aggregate have been reached by public speech; two million four hundred fifty thousand readers of the secular press have been reached with articles ranging from one-half to two columns in length; nearly six hundred personal visits have been made; several thousand letters written; many thousands of pages of literature distributed, besides several hundred copies of Liberty being judiciously distributed.
God has blessed the united efforts in the territory of the Central Union Conference to stay the tide of religious legislation and the relentless hand of persecution. Altogether, we have endeavored literally to obey the injunction, “Be staunch to defend your religious liberty.” JOHN S. WIGHTMAN.
Christian Liberty
By K. C. Russell; W. A. Colcord
Reports, Notes, and Comments Pertaining to the Current History of the Rights of Conscience
Conducted by the Religious Liberty Bureau
K. C. RUSSELL, Chairman
W. A. COLCORD, Secretary
Spring
The hand of the Infinite has again guided our great earth over its trackless course into the season of sunshine and flowers, and of planting and sowing with new hopes of abundant harvests.
Thrice blessed are those children whose parents and teachers truly love all nature for the beautiful spiritual lessons which the Heavenly Father seeks to teach through it; parents and teachers who see in the planting, the growing, and the harvesting of each year not alone temporal prosperity or adversity, but also the tender love of our God.
We live in a beautiful world, even though it be terribly marred by sin. Beauty of color, of form, and of sound greet and delight the senses at every turn and at all times. And at no season of the year is all this loveliness more to be appreciated than at this one, when awakening life floods in upon us as it emerges from its winter’s sleep. Through these marvelous colorings to be seen in earth, sea, and sky, through the gladsome songs of the feathered world, and the golden stars of night, is the Creator seeking to tell man of his glory and goodness. But it is all to small purpose if only the charms of nature affect us, and the lessons of eternal value go unlearned.
These lessons are learned by the same laws of thoughtful attention as those obtained from the printed page. No one imagines it possible to gain knowledge from books without conscientious effort, nor should it be thought that nature’s great pearls of truth are found more easily. When we rightly read his written Word, we invite the Holy Spirit to teach those lessons which alone can supply our individual needs; no less do we need this teacher of truth to instruct us when the heavens or any of the other works of God declare to us his glory. And he is always at hand to impart these lessons of inestimable value whenever we lend our minds and hearts to learn.
Ah, this is the difficulty! We have eyes which see not, ears which hear not, and other avenues which are closed to the gracious ministrations of this, the greatest of all teachers; and all for the want of thoughtful, prayerful effort. Even the refreshing and uplifting lessons of a beautiful Sabbath walk may not be apprehended, even faintly, solely because of thoughtless inattention.
Growth comes only through work; and if as parents and teachers we truly desire the symmetrical development of our children, we shall daily lead them to put forth those efforts which will form habits of observation and appreciation of the spiritual lessons which God is seeking to teach through his works. Not only so, but we shall teach them to beautify the home and school environment, and to turn to good account the wealth of flowers, shrubs, and trees, of green lawns and trim gardens, which this spring season alone can produce. Such efforts are paid for in the coin of heaven.
Where Is Thy Flock?
THIS is a solemn question. It will be asked every teacher at the bar of God's judgment, and the flock is not to be considered as a whole either, but requirement will be made for an account of each individual. The good shepherd left ninety and nine, and went abroad in the darkness, searching for the one lost one.
The value of a soul — who can measure it? An eternity of bliss, or everlasting oblivion! Long and earnestly should our prayers follow the wayward one. Carefully and with diligence should we seek to lead him into the way of right. But it is quite impossible for us to succeed in this undertaking unless cordial relations are established between us and each one of our pupils. It takes time, it takes effort; yea, it often takes humiliation on our part to establish these relations. No child can best learn unless he loves his instructor, and has confidence in him. The very genius of the teacher's success is embodied in this cordial confidence.
But teachers are human, and make mistakes; and children are bright, and quite as likely to see error on the part of the teacher as the teacher is to see wrong in them. A wise teacher indeed is he who knows and remembers this, and who is ready to see his own errors and to acknowledge them. A frankly open and honest acknowledgment of wrong on his part does not lower the dignity of the teacher; but quite to the contrary, it lifts him in the estimation of his pupils; and above all, teaches them the value of the acknowledgment of wrong. So long as teachers and pupils are human and erring, just so long must each be ready plainly to acknowledge the wrong, and to do what he can to make it right. This open-hearted spirit on the part of teachers and pupils will certainly yield a reward. It is this spirit that enables the teacher to bear long with the erring pupil, and to go to great lengths to save him. With the spirit of Christ animating him, it is possible for each teacher to render a joyful account of his flock.
Every Pupil Is a Possible Inhabitant
EVERY pupil is a possible inhabitant of the eternal kingdom of God. It is easy to forget this in dealing with the restless and often wilful child. It is easy to say and do that which may turn him in the wrong way. It takes more than human wisdom to lead in the pathway to heaven.
The Patience of Our Lord
FREQUENT meditation upon the patience of our Lord with us helps us to learn the lessons which enable us to bear long with the wayward child. Over and over again have we promised God that our course of life would change, and often have we failed in taking his power with which to make these changes; and still he loves us, and holds to us. He can not forget us; for he bought us with an infinite price. Being thus bought and redeemed, shall we forget to be grateful and to co-operate with him in the work of lifting others into the joys of heaven?
Mercy and Justice in Christian Teaching
MERCY and justice have met in Christ. It is only in those who have the mind of Christ that they can again meet. To deal with children in exact justice, and yet with perfect mercy, requires the gift of heaven. But it is a free gift, one which every teacher should take. With it we may be able to deal with the greatest possible care, and yet with all necessary firmness, and to expect and require obedience, and yet to hold the confidence of the erring one, so that the righteousness of our requirements may be appreciated. The Christian teacher should appreciate his unlimited possibilities.
Courses of Study and Text-Books
By Milton P. Robison
EVERY one who has taught in our schools has felt the need of text-books which are written from the standpoint of Christian education. How difficult and discouraging it is to both teacher and pupil to leave out certain pages, or to omit such topics, or to reverse the order of subjects in the books we use. We as teachers have also felt the need of unity in the different schools in regard to courses of study and text-books. When a pupil goes from one school to another with books not used in the second school, he is obliged to buy others, and it is difficult to make his future work connect naturally with that of the past.
For these reasons the conferences, the union conferences, and now the General Conference have, at educational conventions, chosen courses of study and selected some text-books. They have also encouraged the writing of other suitable text-books.
These same conditions obtain in the public schools, and so each State has fixed a course of study and selected text-books for its schools. All States have not the same courses nor text-books.
Imagine a teacher from one State securing a position in another. This teacher, upon examining the text-books on geography and grammar used in the State in which he finds himself, is not pleased with them. They do not look interesting; the illustrations are not good; the grammar has no system of diagraming, and is too hard; the geography is too easy. He thinks, “How much better I could teach from the books I used in the State from which I came!” He therefore instructs the pupils to buy a grammar and a geography different from the ones prescribed. Would this do in the public school?—No!
Let us suppose, however, that his plans are discovered by the superintendent, and he tells him that the State laws call for certain text-books. He accepts the prescribed books, but very plainly states to his classes in these subjects, his dislike for them. He keeps before the minds of his pupils the thought that he does not agree with the text-books, and does not see why they were ever adopted. Can he expect good recitations and a lively interest on the part of pupils when he himself can not have an interest as teacher? Remember that book represents the subject to the pupil. It is very evident that such teaching will greatly militate against the best interests of education. How much progress would education make in a State where teachers were allowed to do as I have pictured?
And yet, many teachers have been and are doing just such things in our church-schools every year—and then they ask why it is we do not have better schools and a better system. They also ask why it is that we have so few text-books of our own after so many years of church-schools.
Those who have sufficient experience and ability to write the kind of text-books we need can hardly be expected to have much of a burden to do so, knowing that each individual teacher has the power to use or discard them as it strikes his fancy. How much better it would be to adopt a series of books, and then let each teacher do his best by way of suggestion and helps to make each succeeding edition of the series more nearly perfect. Thus, without the great expense of an entirely new book, we can, in a short time, have books suited to our needs. But in the past if one series of readers has not suited, the cry has been, “Who will write some readers?”
I know that very often there are good and potent reasons why a course of study or a text-book should be changed. Do not misunderstand me; I maintain that such changes should be made; but how? Not by individual teachers, nor by individual conferences if the change affects courses or text-books adopted by a union conference. When it becomes evident that a change of any kind would be beneficial, it should be presented before the ones who first adopted the course or text-book; and there the decision should rest.
Never will our educational work be upon a firm basis until we as teachers, and those in charge of the work in different localities, realize and act upon this principle.
Many times, however, it is not the books that are at fault, but the teacher; this I know from experience. He, at first, thinks that such and such a text-book is very objectionable indeed, then gradually learns to like it better, and at the end of the school year is much pleased with it. A teacher of short experience is hardly fitted to judge that which years of experience and extended study have produced.
I think this subject is important. As we have no State law to help us do our duty, we must know and do it without this help. We must be bound together by a love for souls and a determination that we will do nothing to hinder the work. Let us stop finding fault, and do with our might what our hands find to do; and if changes become necessary, let us have them brought about through proper channels.
MILTON P. ROBISON.
Never Coming to the Knowledge
By R. B. Thurber
The great missionary who sewed tents to pay expenses once wrote to a young man who knew the Scriptures from his youth, about some people who are “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge.” This is the class who are very willing to wait, but not to work meanwhile. You have heard of being “comfortably sick.” This ever learning and never getting is a sort of comfortable stick-to-it-ive-ness, an agreeable patience. It is altogether possible for a person, especially a student in school, to find it easier to stick to a lesson than to get it or forget it. Stability without accomplishment is like trying to get to a distant point by constantly riding on a merry-go-round.
But how can one really be ever learning and yet not knowing? However paradoxical it may seem, it is nevertheless true. In the grammar class we would call learning a present active participle. It means present, active participation in the acquiring of knowledge. So the expression clearly indicates that progress is made toward knowledge by those who are ever learning. Then the advancement must be unmade as fast as it is made, or it is made in the wrong direction. In each separate lesson either the student has not really learned the lesson or has forgotten it.
There are several reasons why lessons are not really learned by students. Lack of concentration is one. It is safe to say that there is scarcely a lesson assigned by teachers in the academic and college grades that could not be mastered in half an hour were complete concentration brought to bear upon it. A focused mind can do wonders. But a concentrated intellect is developed by a concentrated will. Are you willing?
Another cause for studied but unimpressed lessons is what I will call acute incapacity; that is, the mind is capable enough in itself, but it is so nearly full of literary rubbish or passing-events trash that it will not hold any more than the surface glaze of a lesson. In truth,24the facts are treated by the mind just as it has learned to treat the bulk of its contents, and so they do not stick long enough, even with careful balance, to gravitate and fall into the teacher’s hands in the next class recitation, but slip quickly, to give room for more of the same kind that comes pouring in ad nauseam. And soon, as some one has said, truth goes in at one ear and out at the other because there is nothing between to stop it. The student always finds out, sometime, by experience that such a brain-sieve can not hold facts any better than it does fiction. But experience is a slow school; how much more sane it is to unload — unlearn — to make room for better things.
Lessons are forgotten because the underlying principles of each truth are not mastered. Principles are as trunks to every branch of learning. Principles learned build a “gray matter” brain cell, from which direct and related facts can always be secured. Bare facts do not seem to go farther than the nerves. Perhaps this is what makes nervous wrecks of the fact-crammers. There is a philosophy even in history, and other like memory studies. Fact is a nail driven through a board; reason is the clinch on the other side.
Lessons are forgotten because they are studied for the daily class recitation, and not to be recited in the life experience. A student should consider as a danger-signal a sigh of relief when that class recitation is over which has witnessed his being reproached for a poor lesson or for getting through on a “bluff.” In his case there is something wrong not only with the mind but also with the character. Each student should require of himself all that is required of any one in the class, else the lesson is not mastered. Answering correctly every question that is asked is not the sign of a perfect lesson. Each student leaving a recitation should have a mental or written note of every requirement which was met in the class better than he could meet it, and the deficiency should be made up before the next day’s lesson is touched. The beginning of such procedure would mark the end of “cramming” for examination.
No one, without “coming to the knowledge” every day, can hope to reach the acme of happiness and joy in knowing. The pagan philosopher, the evolutionist, the higher critic, the infidel, all are in the throes of “ever learning.” It remains for the Christian to enjoy the supreme satisfaction of “coming to the knowledge.” R. B. THURBER.
Adolescence
THE following questions propounded by an English teacher in a private school through the New York Times are worthy of careful consideration:—
Really, it seems to me that the public-school training is not entirely responsible for the fact that the Lincoln essays of the eleven-year pupils proved fresh and original, while those of the older children verged on the commonplace. The child of eleven is a young Elizabethan, fired with the joy of endeavor, knowing no fear, and daring all things. The child of sixteen is self-critical and doubtful of his powers. This is not the result of school training, but of natural development.
I take it that Stevenson’s youthful efforts, hot with the fire of eleven years, were far more interesting reading than his more studied efforts of the late teens, when he was “mastering many styles.” Yet we know well that the Stevenson of thirty would not have been possible had the Stevenson of seventeen or so not labored and doubted his own powers.
Isn’t the stage of development responsible for the quality of the output? Are not the clever, original child of twelve, the conscious child of sixteen, overpowered it may be by the greatness and skill of the master minds, and the clever youth of the twenties, who is fast becoming master of himself and alive with enthusiasm, one and the same person?
This period of life is one of great storm and stress. The rapid growth, unprecedented in the life of the child, makes very heavy drafts on his fund of nervous force. Not only is the body passing through a period of rapid development, but the mind also is undergoing great changes. The strain on body and mind, in their intimate relations, is so great, as manhood and womanhood walk into the life of the boy and girl with such vigorous and strenuous strides, that it is small wonder that bright children tend to dulness and the even-tempered to irritableness. The possibilities which lie in these years of rapid development only make their importance the greater. And if treated tenderly and yet firmly; patiently, while spurring them to whole-souled effort, our children may be brought safely to strong and beautiful manhood and womanhood.
The Relation Between God's Purpose for the Young and the Literature We Give Them
By Mrs. H. W. Pierce
MANY assurances of God's love and care for the young are given in the Holy Scriptures. The most precious promises to the people of God include their children; and when we search the Testimonies given for God's people just before the coming of Christ, we find line upon line and precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, concerning his thoughts and plans for the young, and the great responsibilities he has laid upon us all in their preparation for the great work,—the carrying of the gospel as comprehended in the third angel's message to all the nations of the earth. One just engaged in this work requires a well-balanced, all-round education from the cradle to the close of the work, or to the grave if he falls asleep before the work is completed.
The promise found in the prophecy of Malachi has been wonderfully fulfilled among Seventh-day Adventists during the last quarter of a century. He says, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” Mal. 4:5, 6.
In some of the early camp-meetings no Sabbath-school was held on the ground, but perchance some sister, whose heart was drawn out to help the children, gathered some of them around her and taught them. No youth's meetings or children's meetings were held as a part of the program at our gatherings. By comparison we see a change little short of miraculous.
Schools and academies are multiplied throughout our denomination, being established in many of the far-away foreign mission fields, as well as in our own land. Periodicals and books are provided in abundance, suitable and instructive for the help of the young, in both intellectual and spiritual things. Conventions are held, the whole denomination being actuated by the one great thought, We must prepare our young people for service, because through them God will accomplish the greatest work ever committed to mortals—the closing work of the gospel of Christ.
No one can read our denominational books without gaining breadth of thought and depth of knowledge; and, if the reader's heart is open to the convictions of the Holy Spirit, a deep-seated desire to do unselfish, loving service for God and humanity is begotten within him.
It is true that with the enlargement of the work it is well to become acquainted with the manners and customs of the people of other lands before we visit them. And the experiences of those noble missionaries of the last century who left all to carry the first knowledge of Christ to heathen lands, are very helpful to those who are preparing for a similar work in this message, the keynote of which is, “The coming of Christ in this generation.” But while the biographies of Williams, Carey, Judson, Robert Moffat, Paton, and a host of others are profitable, yet if the reading of these books crowds out the study of the more valuable books, “Patriarchs and Prophets,” “Great Controversy,” “Desire of Ages,”—books written by inspiration of the Holy Spirit,—a loss is sustained, and a mistake is made that is not soon rectified in the preparation of the young for the work of God.
The pernicious and trashy reading with which the world is flooded should find no place in the homes of Seventh-day Adventists, and the reason why it is not found in our homes should not be that “papa or mama” would burn it up, but rather, that father and mother have provided a better grade of reading, and parents and children have read it together around the fireside until the children have been educated to choose the good books provided by our own people. Then we may hope they will never care for the light and trashy books and papers that crowd the news table and reading-rooms, and are distributed on the trains all over the country. They will be able to discriminate between the earthly and frivolous and that which bears the signature of heaven, the former, unsatisfying, the latter, true food for the mind and the soul.
In like manner also should the taste for physical food be educated in the home so that our children will choose the simple hygienic food that God has told us is for our good, instead of the flesh-meats and other stimulating foods used by the world generally.
That our denominational literature is appreciated and highly prized by the best people not of our faith is no longer a doubtful question, as our canvassers testify week by week. Surely we should not come behind in our own estimate of that which we recommend so highly to others. “Patriarchs and Prophets” is rich in Bible history, and shows how wonderfully the compassion and mercy of God was manifested and his justice vindicated in the sight of the whole universe. “Great Controversy” is both truthful and eloquent in the history of those noble Reformers of the sixteenth century; and it also tells us of the judgments of God that are already coming upon the world, and describes the closing scenes of earth's history, and the deliverance of the faithful when they shall be transferred to the heavenly world. “Desire of Ages,” next to the New Testament itself, is replete with the rich teachings and worthy example of the Saviour of men. “The Story of Daniel the Prophet,” “The Seer of Patmos,” “Coming King,” and a score of other books, including nature books, may also be mentioned, all of them being written in a way to interest as well as instruct the reader. We are a busy people, and the time is short. We are necessarily a hard-working people, and much literature, good in itself, must go by unopened for lack of time. Otherwise the best and most important, even that which contains the signature of heaven, will be crowded out.
First of all, may God grant that our youth may open their hearts to the influence of the Holy Spirit that it may create in them a taste for the heavenly manna. And this not only in the choice of literature, but of associates, of dress, in fact, of everything that goes to make up life and character. God loves the young, and will do a mighty work through all those who will submit their wills and their whole lives to him for service.
We are told that our children will become what we make them, and surely the literature we give them is a very important factor in the formation of their characters.