Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Mar 24, 1904
Tracts That Will Answer
QUESTIONS, such as, What does it all mean? Why wasn't this found out before? Who changed the day? How may we know anything about Christ's coming? etc., etc., are invariably asked of those presenting present truth. The following lists of tracts, arranged according to subjects, will furnish ready answers to these questions, and in many cases are more effective than verbal discussions:—
What Does It All Mean?
Signs of the Times ............ 1
What Do These Things Mean? ..... 1
Wonders of the Nineteenth Century 2
Great Day of the Lord ........... 2½
Truth for the Times ............. 1
God's Message for To-day ........ ½
Heralds of His Coming ........... 1½
Without Excuse .................. 1
Sabbath or Sunday, Which?
Which Day Do You Keep, and Why? ½
Is Sunday the Sabbath? .......... ½
Who Changed the Sabbath? ........ 1½
Day of the Sabbath .............. 1
Bible Authority for Sunday Observance ½
The Seventh or One-Seventh ...... ½
New Testament Sabbath ........... 1
Scripture References ............ 2
Elihu on the Sabbath ............ 1
Rome's Arraignment .............. 1
Seal of God and Mark of the Beast 2
Christian Sabbath (Catholic authority) 1½
Mortal or Immortal?
Immortality of the Soul ......... 2
Tormented Forever and Ever ....... 1
Thoughts for the Candid .......... ½
Jesus and the Resurrection ...... ½
Thief on the Cross ............... ½
Scripture References ............ 2
Rich Man and Lazarus ............ 1
Spiritualism
Spiritualism, Its Source and Character 1
Samuel and the Witch of Endor .... 2
Hypnotism, What Is It? ........... 3
What Must I Do to Be Saved?
Some One Cares for Your Soul .... ½
Jesus Died for You ............... ½
The Name—Help to Overcome ........ 1
What Must I Do to Be Saved? ...... ½
The Way to Christ ................ ½
Privilege of Prayer .............. ½
There Is Help in God ............. 1
Salvation through Christ ........ ½
Sure Promises of God ............ ½
Power of Forgiveness ............ ½
The Christian's Privilege ........ 2
Have Faith in God ............... ½
Religious Liberty
United States as a Christian Nation ½
Shall Christ and Cæsar Yoke Together? ½
Church and State Distinguished ... 1½
Limits of Civil Authority ........ ½
Religious Liberty and the Mormon Question 1
The Civil Sabbath—Disguised Legislation ½
The Immaculate Conception ........ 1
Christ and the Pharisees ......... 2
Our Answer ........................ ½
Discount in Quantities
There are 50 of the half-cent tracts in a package: and of the one-cent, or larger tracts, there are 25 in a package. To those who will order sufficient full packages to equal 100 or more tracts, we will allow a discount of forty per cent, postage to be added at the rate of two cents for each package.
The American Standard Edition of the Revised Bible
MANY of the readers of this paper have availed themselves of the opportunity of securing one of these Bibles. We feel confident that many others will appreciate this American Edition when once they have it for study.
To those who do not know about it, we will say that it is the Revised Version of the Bible as approved by the American Committee on Revision, and it has but recently been published.
Of its value, the editor of The Signs of the Times says: “The most perfect translation of the Bible into English there is in the world.” The Northwestern Christian Advocate says: “There can be no doubt that in this version we are nearer the thought, and therefore the spirit, of the Master than in any version now existing in English.”
REFERENCE BIBLE, BOURGEOIS TYPE (same size of type as is used in this notice), American Standard Revised Version, with Scriptural references, topical headings, and marginal readings; size, 5¼ by 8 inches. Will be sent post-paid at the following prices:—
Style R.—Black cloth, red edges, $1.
Style R1.—Leather, limp, round corners, red under gold edges, $1.75.
Style R2.—Leather, with overlapping edges (divinity circuit style), leather lined to edge, round corners, red under gold edges, $2.75.
Style R3.—Same binding as R2, but printed on the famous India paper, thus making the Bible very thin and light, $4.
TEACHERS' EDITION. A Teachers' Edition of the American Standard Revised Bible has just been issued. It is printed in the same type as the above, and contains a concise Bible Dictionary of 118 pages, a new Combined Concordance of the Revised Version, 234 pages, besides Bible Atlas and 12 Maps. It is printed on India paper, and therefore only about 1¼ inches thick, weighs 1 pound and 9 ounces, and is furnished at the following prices:—
Style TR2.—Same binding as style R2, but on India paper, and with Teachers' Helps as described above, $5.25.
Style TR3.—Better leather binding than style TR2, $6.25.
WITHOUT REFERENCES. A new edition has just been issued in minion type (same size as used for obituaries in this paper, see page 23). It has no references, and is 4 by 6¼ inches in size. We can furnish it as follows:—
Style R10.—Leather, limp, round corners, red under gold edges, $1.40.
Style R11.—Leather, divinity circuit, round corners, red under gold edges, $1.60.
AMERICAN STANDARD REVISED NEW TESTAMENT. In same size of type as style R10. It has no references, but is printed on a smaller page, the size being 3¼ by 4½ inches.
Style R6.—Leather, limp cover, round corners, red under gold edges, 55 cents.
Style R7.—Leather, divinity circuit, round corners, silk book mark, red under gold edges, 70 cents.
Education
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE
A book for children, young or grown up.
A book for the aged: we're never too old to learn.
To parents, teachers, and students, all pupils in earth's preparatory school, this book is dedicated. May it aid them in securing life's greatest benefits, development and joy in service here, and thus a fitness for that wider service, the “higher course” open to every human being in the school of the hereafter.
Table of Contents
First Principles:
Source and Aim of True Education.
The Eden School.
The Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Relation of Education to Redemption.
Illustrations:
The Education of Israel.
The School of the Prophets.
Lives of Great Men.
The Master Teacher:
The Teacher Sent from God.
An Illustration of His Methods.
Nature Teaching:
God in Nature.
Lessons of Life.
Other Object Lessons.
The Bible as an Educator:
Mental and Spiritual Culture.
Science and the Bible.
Business Principles and Methods.
Bible Biographies.
Poetry and Song.
Mysteries of the Bible.
History and Prophecy.
Bible Teaching and Study.
Physical Culture:
Study of Physiology.
Temperance and Dietetics.
Recreation.
Manual Training.
Character-Building:
Education and Character.
Methods of Teaching.
Department.
Relation of Dress to Education.
The Sabbath.
Faith and Prayer.
The Life-Work.
The Under-Teacher:
Preparation.
Co-operation.
Discipline.
The Higher Course:
The School of the Hereafter.
Scripture Index.
General Index.
This intensely interesting and instructive volume is not at all intended for those alone who seek merely a worldly education. “Our ideas of education take too narrow and too low a range. . . . True education means more than a preparation for the life that now is. It prepares the student for the joy of service in this world, and for the higher joy and wider service in the world to come.”
Dedicated to Parents, Teachers, Students—to All.
Bound in cloth, beautiful cover design, postpaid, $1.
Order of State Tract Societies; Review and Herald, Battle Creek, Mich.; Review and Herald, Washington, D. C.; Pacific Press, Oakland, Cal.; Kansas City, Mo.; Southern Publishing Assn., Nashville, Tenn.
Editorial
By Editor
A Present Danger
WHEN the truth has been perverted, and error has been taught under the semblance of the truth, there is danger that some reformers will fail to distinguish between the truth itself and the perversion of the truth, and that in their zeal to avoid any possible appearance of error they may discard even the truth itself. The enemy of the truth will be ready to lead such a kind of reform as this. It will serve his purpose just as well as the perversion of the truth. Now that it has appeared that faith in the righteousness of Christ can be perverted into faith in the supposed divinity in one's self, and now that it is being emphasized that “the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking,” there may be some who have never been in genuine sympathy with the great principles of righteousness by faith and of true health reform who will now depreciate both. Beware of any such teachers. It is not necessary to give up the truth in order to be rid of error. Preach righteousness by faith. Teach the principles of health and temperance. Give the message. Discard error, but hold fast to the truth.
Perishing and Continuing
“THOU, Lord, in the beginning didst lay the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands: they shall perish; but thou continuest.” Observe these simple statements. The Son, addressed now as Lord, is the one through whom all creative work was wrought, “through whom also he made the worlds.” Now mark the difference between the things and the one who made the things. It is a very simple statement, but it draws a marked contrast between the things and the one who made the things. What is included in the things that perish?—Man. Do not forget that. A simple statement here with reference to things created, that they perish, but the Creator continues, settles forever, for any one who will receive it, the idea that any created thing apart from the Creator continues; that there is in anything created, including man, any principle that will preserve from perishing; and makes it clear that the power which preserves from perishing must come from without the created thing, and never from within the created thing. That simple statement of contrast between the things that perish and him who continues, settles a great many things. Call to mind another statement of the Scripture. “There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were,”—things continue. Things continue. There is, it is asserted, a power in things to make them continue. There is a force, there is something inherent in things, that causes them to continue, and that forbids such a catastrophe as the coming of the Lord. But against the idea that there is anything inherent in things, including man, any principle, or power, or law, or force, whatever it may be called, that is inherent in these things by which these things continue, is the declaration of this scripture which says that they perish, and the only one who has in himself, as coming from the final source, the continuing principle, is the Son of God. It is important that we should read this scripture and understand it clearly; for it is a defense against error, and there is a power in it that will bring help to us at once. The eternal Son, who is God, continues. While the things created through him have not that power, but pass away, perish, he, because of his relationship to the Father, continues. He is eternal. “They shall perish; but thou continuest: and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a mantle shalt thou roll them up, as a garment, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.” The only way for man to be saved from ceasing to continue is by receiving power through faith in the Son. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
“Strong to Destroy”
It is evident that the judgments of God are in the earth. By the course which men are taking, they are bringing upon themselves swift destruction, and destruction by fire is already a marked feature of the record of the present year. It was especially noted in the Baltimore fire that the so-called fire-proof buildings seemed to stimulate rather than to check the flames in their work of destruction. It will certainly be demonstrated that man can neither devise nor construct a building that will be fire proof, or that can withstand the force of storm and tempest, when the forbearance of God has been worn out by heaven-daring presumption.
These conclusions are suggested by what has already occurred, and are emphasized in the following paragraphs taken from a recent communication received from Sister White:—
When I was last in —, I was in the night season called upon to behold buildings rising story after story toward heaven. These buildings were warranted to be fire proof, and they were erected to glorify the owners. Higher and still higher these buildings rose, and in them the most costly material was used. Those to whom these buildings belonged were not asking themselves, “How can we best glorify God, that we may enjoy him forever?” God was not in their thoughts.
I thought: “O that those who are thus investing their means could see that this display does not give them one iota of advantage with God. They are piling up magnificent buildings, but how foolish in the sight of the Ruler of the universe is their planning and devising. They are not studying with all the powers of heart and mind what they may do to glorify God, that they may enjoy him forever. They have lost sight of this, the first duty of man.”
As these lofty buildings went up, the owners rejoiced with ambitious pride that they had money to use in glorifying self and in provoking the envy of their neighbors.
Much of the money that they thus invested had been obtained through exaction, through grinding the faces of the poor. In the books of heaven an account of every business transaction is kept.4There every unjust deal, every fraudulent act, is recorded. The time is coming when in their fraud and insolence men will reach a point that the Lord will not permit them to pass; and they will learn that there is a limit to the forbearance of Jehovah.
The scene that next passed before me was an alarm of fire. Men looked at lofty and supposedly fire-proof buildings, and said, “They are perfectly safe.” But these buildings were consumed as if made of pitch. The fire-engines could do nothing to stay the destruction. The firemen were unable to operate the engines.
I am instructed that when the Lord’s time comes, should no change have taken place in the hearts of proud, ambitious human beings, men will find that the hand that has been strong to save will be strong to destroy. No earthly power can stay the hand of God. No material can be used in the erection of buildings that will preserve them from destruction when God’s appointed time comes to send retribution on men for their insolence and their disregard of his law.
The Word of God plainly marks out the course of action that all are to follow. Those who give no heed to this Word, but press on in the path of transgression, paying no attention to the commandments of God, must at last suffer the punishment of their sin. God bears long with those who disregard the laws of his kingdom. He gives them greater and still greater opportunities to repent. Nothing is left undone to lead them to acknowledge that “man’s chief end is to glorify God, and enjoy him forever.” The Lord’s long-suffering mercy ought to lead them to repentance. But because sin does not meet with immediate retribution, sinners become bold and defiant in transgression. “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.”
The love that God has shown in sending Christ to this world to die for us is an argument sufficiently strong to lead men to be reconciled to God. Those who, notwithstanding the great price paid for their salvation, continue in sin, will reach at last the boundary line of mercy. Then the Lord will show himself strong to punish. He forbears till he sees that forbearance will be of no avail.
This instruction has a very practical bearing upon the work which we now have in hand. Economy and simplicity should characterize our plans. Principles rather than display should give character to our work. Modest buildings, consecrated to God’s work and under his protecting care, will bear testimony to the great truth of the nearness of the end and to our source of dependence upon the preserving mercy of God better than expensive structures which may be boastfully declared to be fire proof and tempest proof. Let these principles find illustration in the buildings soon to be erected in the different parts of this country.
Sin and Immortality
By L. A. S.
THESE words represent opposing ideas. Inseparable from the idea of sin, is the idea of death. “The wages of sin is death.” Death and immortality are opposites to each other.
Sin not being immortal, no sinner can be immortal. The very idea of immortal sin — of an immortal sinner — is contrary to the sovereignty of God. God has no use for sin; therefore it can not be supposed that he will tolerate sin indefinitely in any part of his universe. It can not be supposed that he will suffer a plague-spot to exist forever in any part of his creation.
The mind of God has been plainly revealed to us on this point. No sooner had the fall in Eden taken place, than God took measures to guard the tree of life, lest Adam, who had become a sinner, should put forth his hand to the tree of life, “and eat, and live forever.” Gen. 3:22-24. God designed that Adam should live forever, when he was created. He was then perfect and without sin. But as soon as Adam became a sinner, God took measures to separate him from immortality, as a sinner, providing at the same time a way whereby he might regain immortality, by being separated from sin.
God took Adam away from the tree of life in Eden, but gave him access to a new tree of life,— Jesus Christ,— by partaking of which, he and his posterity might regain what had been lost, because that tree of life imparted to them the righteousness of God.
As death is inseparable from sin, so immortality is inseparable from righteousness.
Sin is a monarch. It reigns over the individual who yields to it, making him its bond-servant. But God’s universe, like Alexander’s world, does not admit of two sovereigns. God is the sovereign over all, and there can be none other. If sin were immortal, God would cease to be a universal, omnipotent sovereign.
The presence of God is death to sin, and his presence will be in every place. Sin survives now only because God is still working out his plan for the salvation of the sinner. The sinner can come to God through Christ; he can be crucified with Christ, that the body of sin may be destroyed, and he, freed from that body, still live. This is God’s plan for the destruction of sin now. But when Christ ceases to be the sinner’s refuge, then sin will be destroyed by the presence of God, and the sinner with it. When sin is destroyed now, the sinner is made righteous and fitted for immortality. When sin shall be destroyed in the day of judgment, it will be through the destruction of the sinner. There is no provision for, no possibility of, an unending existence of the sinner.
Popular theology may define death as being an endless separation from God and heaven, without cessation of conscious being; but when Adam had separated himself from God by sin, God at once took measures to bring such a state of being to an end. God will have a clean universe, without sinners or trace of sin, and in which the former state of things “shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.” L. A. S.
The Spreading Plague of Eastern Philosophy
By William Ambrose Spicer
Present-Day Revivals of Ancient Errors—No. 1
The Spreading Plague of Eastern Philosophy
THE second chapter of Isaiah bears a warning message for the last days. Of corrupting influences at work the prophet said: “Thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the East, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers.”
It is an evident fact that Christendom is being replenished, or filled up, with the bewitching philosophy of the East. Ancient teachings of the Gentile, or heathen, peoples are being revived under new modes of expression. The ideas are spreading with a swiftness that would be surprising if we had not the warnings of the prophetic word to prepare us for just such developments in these “perilous times.” In the ancient world the religion of human nature and false philosophy developed until the Lord could no longer endure Babylon upon the earth. So now again the modern world-Babylon is becoming “the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.”
Twelve years ago, in a Testimony entitled, “The Crisis Imminent,” we were told:—
We are standing upon the threshold of great and solemn events. . . . Prophecies are being fulfilled, and stormy times are before us. Old controversies which have apparently been hushed for a long time will be revived, and new controversies will spring up; new and old will commingle, and this will take place right early.
The commingling of new and old, of ancient and modern systems of philosophy and unbelief, has appeared as the characteristic feature of religious thought in our day. In an article on theosophy, appearing in the January East and West, a literary and scientific review published in Bombay, an Indian writer says of the trend of thought in the West:—
We now have the spectacle of a general intellectual movement in directions strangely parallel with Oriental philosophy.
A Buddhist observer says of the Eastern doctrine:—
Its thoughts are stealing unseen through the whole West. We see its5effects in the great, leading lines of Western thought.
The attitude of modern religious thought toward science teaching and nature study, leads an English theosophical writer to declare:—
Unless we mistake the signs, the day is approaching when the world will receive the proofs that only ancient religions were in harmony with nature, and ancient science embraced all that can be known.
We need not be surprised at the suggestion that it is possible in “this enlightened age” for men to plunge into the darkness of bygone ages. Great light shines in our time, but if that light be turned to darkness, “how great is that darkness!” Men to-day are capable of going as deeply into folly as in the days when the ancients, professing to be wise, as Paul says, became fools. Archdeacon Farrar truly says of our own time:—
Every variety of blasphemy and folly has its apostles. Every negation, however audacious and desolating, has its defenders on the platform and press. Every superstition, however grotesque and discredited, has its fanatical partizans and devotees.
No greater mistake could be made than to assume that heathenism necessarily means a low plane of intellectual life. The idea of associating heathenism with ignorance has come from observing the degraded condition of the heathen world. But this condition is the full fruitage of the most refined and subtle intellectual conceptions of God and nature. No keener minds ever existed than those who, professing to be wise, became fools in the things of God. One writer says:—
If we investigate early paganism by the light of recent discoveries, we soon perceive that its chief strength lay in its intellectual attractions, and that many of its priests and initiates were distinguished as philosophers and men of science. But—still more strange!—if, after our investigation, we glance at the world of to-day, we see the men of this nineteenth century returning to the wisdom of long-past ages, and modern thought sustaining its flight upon the wings of ancient lore. Nay, almost every characteristic of antiquity seems to be reappearing.
Truly, new and old are commingling, and every wind of doctrine is blowing. Christendom is being replenished from the East. The modern revival of mysticism and rationalistic philosophy comes from India, just as does the bubonic plague. The West may quarantine against the plague, but there is no quarantine against the more terrible pestilence of a soul-destroying philosophy. India is called the “mother of superstitions.” It is the home of refined heathen philosophy. From the same source came the inspiration of the philosophical movement that leavened the early church after apostolic days, and developed the mystery of iniquity. The Alexandrian movement was a commingling of the old and the new. Its philosophy of God came from India. Alexandria has aptly been called, “The great mixing bowl of East and West.” The early church drank itself to spiritual death from that bowl. The world is drinking the same wine of Oriental corruption in the religio-scientific teaching and rationalism of the new-thought movement.
In India we hear much boasting by Hindu and Buddhist leaders concerning the progress their ideas are making in the West. Most missionaries are too busy trying to save souls from the frightful wreckage of heathen systems to pay much attention to boasts about the progress of the mystical philosophy and pretty sayings in the West. But it is a revelation to one returning to this country, to see how these ideas are indeed pouring in a mighty flood from the book and magazine and newspaper press. As surely as we have a message from God to the great heathen world over the seas, we must raise the warning cry against the same evil principles in Christendom.
With every wind of doctrine blowing, and the most subtle deceptions coming in like a flood, we must keep the feet firmly planted on the eternal foundations. The influences working all about us would replenish this people also from the East. The ideas one meets on every hand in current literature are knocking at our own doors. Soon after returning from India I heard teaching concerning God in nature at one of our educational institutes that made my heart tremble, so familiar were the sound and suggestiveness of the phraseology used to one fresh from the Eastern home of pantheism. I apologized for it in my own mind as an unfortunate use of scientific terms where Scriptural terms only could express the true thought of the power of God working in the things that are made. But the history of the past year or two teaches plainly enough that we are guilty before God if unwatchful and indifferent in these times when a false philosophy is laying a snare for the feet of all.
After that institute the same phraseology was unwittingly carried into one of our schools, and young people in the class room, quick to catch the natural conclusion from the terms used, were thrown into great confusion of mind. Some said, “It means there isn’t any God.” An adult and experienced believer present told me that it seemed all at once that the presence of an evil influence could be felt in the room. By a study of the Word and the spirit of prophecy the truth concerning the person of God was soon made plain. But this modern philosophy of God and of religion which is sweeping the world into its meshes would delight to capture our schools and ruin our youth. As a recent Testimony has told us, these views, fully developed, make God “as nothingness” in the minds of those who accept them.
To set forth in plain terms the dangerous tendencies of the new philosophy carries no suggestion of personal controversy. These ideas belong to no individuals. What has been heard of them in our midst is but a repetition of what in various and similar phrase, one may read in the current literature of the new movement. It has now leavened every denomination, more or less, except ours. Only God can keep the pestilential theories from slaying souls among us. The bubonic plague is still slaying its thousands in India. The community where it started may long ago have been purged from it. But there was a vitality in the germ that has caused it to sweep down multitudes during the last six years.
There is a fascination and a vitality in the new philosophy that give to the very ideas wings and power of self-propagation. Thoughts are planted in minds to develop later into the full fruit. Souls off guard are infected by the contagion without knowing it. It is not a question of men or of books, when once the thought germs of the evil system are spread abroad. The evil thing itself must be faced and fought in our own hearts and minds, and we must join in setting forth God’s message for this perilous time with a new vigor and directness of aim. Old controversies have been revived. New and old are commingling together. All the religious world is being replenished from the East. But the simple third angel’s message that has made us a people is God’s shield and protection in the closing hours of the great controversy. W. A. S.
Natural Obstacles Do Not Count
IN Elijah's time, when he had his controversy with the priests of Baal, both water and stone were inflammable material. Again in Moses' time, a bush in the desert was fire proof. Natural obstacles do not count when the purposes of God are concerned.
Our Medical Work in Philadelphia
By Arthur G. Daniells
On the ninth of February a council meeting was held in the city of Philadelphia, in the interests of the medical missionary work being conducted in that city. This meeting was called by Elder Underwood, the president of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, and was attended by members of the conference committee, the Philadelphia Sanitarium Board, Elders H. W. Cottrell, W. C. White, and J. E. Jayne, Dr. G. A. Hare and Brother J. R. Scott, both of Washington, and the writer. The object of this council was to take into careful consideration the general management, or perhaps more properly the development, of the medical missionary work in the city of Philadelphia.
Those in charge of the institution placed before the council a detailed statement of its history, its financial standing, its prospects for the future, and its present6needs. The facts presented deeply interested the brethren from abroad, who had been invited to the council, and who assisted much in the consideration of the plans for the further development of the work.
Dr. Read, who has charge of the institution, explained their plans of working by which they were able to co-operate with a number of the leading physicians and surgeons in the city, and to secure a patronage of a most excellent class of patients. By this means they are able to place our medical missionary work on a good, permanent basis in that city of reliable medical schools and physicians of wide reputation.
The financial statement for the two years during which the institution had been in operation showed that it had been fully self-supporting. Under all the circumstances, this was considered encouraging. The institution has been running two years. It has had no gifts from our people. All that has been expended for furnishings, equipment, rent, wages, training of nurses, and charity work has come from the earnings of the institution, and from loans on which interest has been paid. After paying all current expenses, there has been a small gain, which has gone into the equipment.
But it was evident to all that some changes were necessary. The facilities and equipment are not what they should be for the character of the work open to the institution. These facilities can not be provided from the earnings. They can only be added by either securing loans or gifts. Those in charge of the work could not consent to borrow more money. The struggle to meet the present obligations is too great to be continued. When physicians and managers are continually worried with financial perplexities, they are, in a measure, unfitted to render the highest service to the sick and suffering.
In view of the whole situation, it was decided to immediately put forth an earnest effort to secure donations to this medical missionary enterprise. The steps to be taken are these: the medical missionary work in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference will be made a department of the regular conference work; the Philadelphia Sanitarium will be taken over by the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference; the property and the immediate management of the institution will be placed in the hands of a legal board of trustees, to be elected annually by the conference delegates, and an earnest effort will be made to raise five thousand dollars in donations to place the institution in a position to do better work.
While it will be expected that the brethren and sisters in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference will donate liberally toward this fund, it was agreed by all present at the council that there were reasons why it would be right to give our people in all parts of the United States an invitation to contribute to the medical missionary work in Philadelphia.
The Eastern Pennsylvania Conference has a small membership, and the conference has been burdened for years with a crushing tract society debt, placed upon them by former conference officers without their knowledge. The brethren and sisters have been giving of their means to remove this oppressive burden. They are getting free, but this long pull on their means has crippled them so that they are unprepared to do all for the Philadelphia Sanitarium they could otherwise have done.
Furthermore, it is plain to any who will give the conditions careful study that Philadelphia must be classed with the cities in the East to which the spirit of prophecy has repeatedly called our attention, as demanding the gifts and services of our people throughout the field. It ranks among the largest and most influential cities in the United States. It is the center of a circle of populous cities. Its age, history, factories, and educational institutions all place it in the front ranks.
Up to the present time but little has been done by our people outside of the Pennsylvania Conference to establish our work in Philadelphia. Special help has been rendered to other important cities, both in the West and in the East, but no general gifts have been made to this city. After reviewing the whole situation, the council agreed to place the opportunities and needs of the city before our people, and ask those who may be impressed to do so, to give of their resources to this work. The council requested me to make this statement in the REVIEW, and it assigned similar work to others in charge of the work in Pennsylvania.
I am pleased to speak a word in behalf of the work in Philadelphia. The ministers and physicians, assisted by Bible workers and nurses, have been working heroically during the last two years to place this cause on vantage-ground in that city. The lack of funds has made the struggle a hard one. We now come to our people with a modest request for help. Many thousands could be expended there, but the brethren ask for only a few thousand dollars, in order to provide suitable surgical and bath-room facilities, so that they can do better work. Now is the time to help. The brethren present at the council began the fund with as liberal donations as they felt able to make. Dr. Read and others will say more regarding this matter.