THROUGH disobedience to the commandments of God, man became mortal, subject to death. When the woman listened to the voice of Satan, he gained control of her God-given power of hearing. Hence the warning to us, from God, "Take heed therefore how ye hear." Luke 8:18.
The tempter continued his work of deception: "Ye shall not surely die; for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods." Gen. 3:4, 5. Eve, with the active mind which God had given her, was quick to draw conclusions. She reasoned: God has immortality; if I eat of that tree and "become as gods," I will have immortality, and therefore can not die.
She accepted the words of Satan, and seeing that the fruit was good for food and pleasant to the eyes, took it, and by so doing yielded her powers of sight and touch to the enemy. In believing Satan, she disbelieved God; and in obeying him, she disobeyed God.
Nor did the work stop here; she gave to her husband, and he did eat. Then were the floodgates of wo opened upon the whole posterity of Adam. Entirely shut off from God, given over to the power of Satan, they soon began to realize the result of disobedience.
When man was created, God did not breathe into his nostrils an immortal spirit, his immortality was on condition of obedience to his Maker; for when the earth was destroyed by water, every disobedient person, "all in whose nostrils was the breath of life, . . . died." "Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark." Gen. 7:22, 23.
We all have sinned and therefore all are subject to death. "None can keep alive his own soul." Ps. 22:29.
God "only hath immortality." 1 Tim. 6:16. But "as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself" (John 5:26) that we also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, who will render to every man according to his deeds. To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for immortality, He will give eternal life. See Rom. 2:6, 7. That for which we must seek we do not possess. Outside of Christ there is no hope of immortality, eternal life.
Every soul that does not accept the soul of Christ as an offering for his sin must give the life of his own soul. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Eze. 18:4.
Those alone who have accepted Christ and become obedient to the commandments of God can hope for immortality when Christ shall come to take the faithful home to dwell with Him eternally.
Before we can have eternal life, "this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." 1 Cor. 15:53, 57. This victory is gained only through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Alma, Neb.
HOW SHALL WE SING?
By H. A. St. John
BY H. A. ST. JOHN.
"I LOVE to tell the story
Of unseen things above,
Of Jesus and His glory,
Of Jesus and His love.
"I love to tell the story,
Because I know 'tis true,
It satisfies my longing,
As nothing else can do."
THUS we sing. Alone, and with others, over and over again, we sing the above words, and many other words of like import. I have many times joined with congregations, scores of people, in singing with vim and vigor, with ringing voices, the above quoted words. "Let everybody sing," says the leader, and all sing with ardor. "Is not that the right way, to worship God with singing?" you ask. Well, let us see. Let us interrogate all these enthusiastic singers, who think they are assisting in divine worship. Do you really love to tell the story of Jesus and His love? Does it really satisfy your longing as nothing else can do? And have you told that story within the last week? Do you tell it, in love, every opportunity you get? To these questions, and others of like import, with the great majority there is no response. Their hearts condemn them. By their silence they now confess that the words they had sung, as an offering to the Lord, were lies in their mouths.
O, my soul! Can God be pleased with lies, sung to Him in the house of God, in the prayer-meeting, at the family altar, anywhere, at any time? Is it acceptable worship, think you? Is it music in His ears? Will not, and does not, God turn away His ear from hearing such offerings of praise? Is it not an abomination unto Him?
"I would be, dear Saviour, wholly Thine;
Teach me how, teach me how.
I would do Thy will, O Lord, not mine,
Help me, help me now."
Dear reader, do you ever sing the above words? And if so, was it your earnest prayer expressed in song that the Saviour would teach you to be wholly His? Did you really long for the Lord's help to do His will, not your own? If not, then how could you expect that your singing, however perfect in tune and tone it might be, would be pleasing to God, or a blessing to yourself?
The tune and the tone, are important, and should certainly have careful attention, but not exclusive attention. I believe the Lord has said nothing about the tune and the tone in His instructions upon the subject of singing, but He does say, "Sing with the spirit and the understanding." In these days, the practise of choirs, and singing classes, is almost exclusively devoted to the tone and the tune. Who has ever heard of a company of singers, met to practise and prepare for an important occasion, having a season of prayer, for the Lord's help, that they might "sing with the spirit and understanding"? This important element in devotional singing is sadly neglected, if not entirely ignored. It is swept away by the tune and the tone, and I think the enemy would have it so. The devil well knows the power of songs containing Gospel truth sung with the spirit and understanding. Thereby souls are admonished, encouraged, uplifted, convicted, and converted; and God is glorified.
Let the remnant church of God arise, and shine, then we shall hear Holy Spirit singing. The singers will have the love of God, and His truth, shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Spirit, and their beautiful and truthful Gospel songs of saving truth, uttered by souls filled with divine love, will be accompanied by the Spirit to the heart and understanding of the hearer, with almost irresistible power for good.
"Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord." Whether it be preaching, praying, giving, doing, or singing, all should be by the Spirit of God. And until it is so, the church will be dangerously lukewarm, wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. The remedy for all is found only in the faithful and true Witness, the Lord Jesus, who is waiting to give the Holy Spirit in full measure to all who so believe and desire when they pray.
FAITH VERSUS NEW THOUGHT, OR PANTHEISM.
By R. C. Porter
BY R. C. PORTER.
"When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?" Luke 18:8.
WE are not only living in an age of wonderful inventions and extensive travel, both of which are signs of the near-coming of Christ (Dan. 12:4), but we are also living in an age of varied forms of skepticism.
Taking one view of our time the outlook is very discouraging. Another view presents a very practical result that will be accomplished by the multiplied forms of infidelity now being foisted upon the world by men who are ambitious to become noted for wisdom above what is written in the Book of God. This teaching will separate between the child of faith, and the skeptic; between him who will take that Word as it is in truth "the Word of God" and him who will follow the popular religious current of new-thought pantheism in its tremendous rush into infidelity. Read a brief statement from the new-thought creed of Dr. Lyman Abbott:
I no longer believe in a great First Cause. My God is a great and ever-present force, which is manifest in all the activities of man and all the workings of nature. I believe in a God who is in and through and of everything—not an absentee God, whom we have to reach through a Bible, or a priest, or some other outside aid, but a God who is closer to us than hands or feet. Science, literature, and history tell us that there is one eternal energy, that the Bible can no longer be accepted as ultimate, that many of its laws were copied from other religions, that the Ten Commandments did not spring spontaneously from Moses, but were, like all laws, a gradual growth, and that man is a creature of evolution, not a creation.
Read also the following from Professor Mathews of Chicago University:
It will not be long before scientists will generate life in the laboratory, and already examples of this are before us. It is my belief that life can be generated by chemical action, and it only remains for the discovery of the process. I do not wish to be understood as saying that science will be able to construct a human being, perfect and like man, for the divinity of the spirit would be an element lacking.
Talking before the class in physiology, Dr. Mathews said the Biblical story of God creating man from clay, that He took up the earth and moulded it in the shape of man and then said "Live!" was "a little too exaggerated."
What could more strikingly fulfil the above text? "When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?" When eminent divines boldly disavow their faith in the God of creation, the Bible, and the Ten Commandments as proclaimed from Sinai's summit by the voice of God (Exodus 20), it is time for the faithful watchman to call to the attention of the people this sign of the times, "When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth." Coupled with this scripture let us read from Paul's dying charge to Timothy (2 Tim. 4:3, 4:)
"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables."
How plainly the utterance of such men of prominence in the church fulfil the prophetic declarations of that Word, attest its truthfulness and prove its divinity! The God who11can cause even the wrath of man to praise Him has ordained that the very testimony of unbelief shall, when the Son of Man is near to come, testify to the all-wisdom of the Creator who foresaw their doubt and infidelity, and announced even this as an evidence of His speedy return to save the children of faith.
Likeness to Heathenism.
Christ is the only "Author of life." "In Him we live and move and have our being." He made us and not we ourselves. "So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him, male and female created He them." Gen. 1:27. In creating "He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast." Compare the above utterance with the following statement of Hindoo pantheism as stated by J. H. Wyckoff, D.D. in his Round Top missionary address on August 4th, as reported in Record of Christian Work:
Then there is another doctrine, and that is the doctrine about God. If you should go with me to an out-of-the-way village in India, and ask the first man or woman whom we met how many gods there are, the reply would be, "God is one; there is one God." But those words in the mouth of a Hindoo do not mean what you think. He believes indeed that there is one God, but one in the sense that there is not only no second God, but no other existence in the universe but God. That is, he teaches that there is one real existence in the universe, the Supreme Being; that all men, from the highest to the lowest, are simply manifestations of this Being, and that all life, whether in men, birds, animals, fishes, or trees, all is God, and God is all. There in a sentence or two you have the essence of the pantheistic philosophy that lies at the base of the Hindoo religion. But we are only concerned with its practical results, and those are twofold—polytheism, idolatry. If God and His creatures are one, then He may be worshiped in any of His manifold forms. Hence the Brahman has multiplied the number of gods in India as occasion has required, until they are said to number something like three hundred and thirty million. Everything in India becomes deified as an object of worship.
What a striking similarity between the higher criticism or new thought of Christendom and the pantheism of heathendom. Both profess faith in a god, but not the God of the Bible. Both believe in an all-pervading force, or life, but not in a life proceeding from God as creator to His created beings. Heathen pantheism deifies man in its interpretation of God, and worships the creature rather than the Creator. Higher criticism, or new thought, exalts its so-called science above the Word of God, exalts human reasoning above the revelation of Jesus Christ, and cuts the cord of faith that holds humanity to its anchorage within the veil whither Jesus as our Saviour has entered; and sets humanity adrift upon the dark sea of doubt and uncertainty, in a rudderless bark without chart or compass or guiding star of hope.
In the first chapter of Romans (verses 20-23) Paul describes how pantheism usurped the place of faith in the establishment of heathenism:
"For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse; because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things."
Professing themselves to be wise, was the fundamental difficulty which led to the rejection of God as Creator. Then they established in the place of His truth the doctrine of all-pervading life, and that led to idolatry and all their abominable practices.
What a warning the above scripture should be to the modern "higher critics" who are in our day professing such great wisdom, and after the same manner disavowing their faith in the Creator. It is only those who walk humbly with God, who walk safely. Skepticism on the atonement always follows skepticism of the work of creation. "There is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved."
The Work of Faith.
In the midst of a world which "by wisdom knew not God," how cheering are the clear ringing notes of the voice of that sublime faith, sounding through the vales, and echoing from the hills of Judea and Greece and Rome and thence to the uttermost parts of the earth: "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." This glorious light is not to be extinguished by human philosophy. Humble tho those hands that bear aloft this torch of truth, shackled by prison stocks those weary feet that hasten to bear this Gospel light to the darkened corners of the earth, to cheer the hearts, and revive the hopes, of earth's toiling sin-weary millions, it still shines on. It speaks with the voice of cloven tongues of fire with such power that thousands are converted in a day. It is accompanied by angels of light with sufficient power to release from jails its faithful adherents, and bid them, "Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life." It heals the sick, restores the blind, causes the lame to walk, and casts out devils by the power of that name, JESUS. It gives a life of cheer in the midst of adversity, comforts all that mourn. It so sweetens and brightens life's pathway that the believer rejoices in the Lord always, and when the hour of death approaches, it gives an assurance that can be gotten only by the Christian's hope: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course; I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing."
At the coming of Christ, the Word declares: "The heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every freeman, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of His wrath has come; and who shall be able to stand?"
Then the voice of the children of faith, who have been willing to be counted ignorant, antiquated, and even obstinate, because they refuse to follow the multitude in the realms of new scholastic higher criticism that leads away from Christ, will be heard saying with a confidence born of an experience in trial, "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us."
Reader, with which company will you stand in that momentous hour?
THE ZHITOMIR DISTURBANCES.
By Isabella R. Hess
[Isabella R. Hess, in Chicago Israelite.]
"Vengeance Is Mine," Saith the Lord.
FROM the dawning of the ages through the centuries' dim length,
Come the hopeful words of warning that make useless human strength;
Tho we feel our pulses quiver, tho our hearts beat high with pain,
Yet we bend our ears to listen to the words divine again—
Clearly, sternly, comes the word—
"Mine the vengeance," saith the Lord.
O, the strong men's hearts all bleeding 'neath the "Little Father's" heel!
O, the women dying gladly, not the pain of life to feel!
O, the children reared in terror, lest on lifting up the head,
They should see upheld before their eyes a crucifix blood-red!
Low, but firmly, came the word—
"Mine the vengeance," saith the Lord
Now the east wind lightly bears to us the groans of those in might—
Now at last a throne is trembling 'neath the majesty of right—
When the haughty ones are humbled, and the humble ones are free,
Help us, Lord, to feel no triumph! give all glory unto Thee!
Let us chant the golden word—
"Thine the glory!" Yea, O Lord!
KEEPING IT TO OURSELVES.
THOSE who have the heaviest burdens to bear, talk least about them. It is the younger ones—younger in years or experience—who think their load is a little heavier than any one's else. The real burden-carriers have not time or energy to waste in talking about their hardships. The presidents of the United States, of whatever party they may be, have hardships and burdens that perhaps equal those of the average man or woman; yet presidents say little about that phase of their work. The very dwelling on the hardships or unpleasant features of one's work increases those hardships. They thrive under the cultivation of talk. No one's burdens are too heavy. We are not bidden to add our burdens to our brother's; we are bidden to bear his, and by so doing we shall lighten our own..—S. S. Times.
RESPONSIBILITY OF PARENTS AND CHURCH OFFICERS.
1. What work of grace has the Lord promised to perform in the last days?
"I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and streams upon the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thine offspring; and they shall spring up among the grass, as willows by the watercourses." Isa. 44:3, 4.
2. What work of reformation will be going on at that time?
"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come. 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.
3. What instruction has the Lord given in regard to the Christian education of the children?
"And these words, which I command you this day, shall be upon thy heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." Deut. 6:6, 7.
4. Why is such a course most essential in our day?
"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord Jehovah, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Jehovah. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of Jehovah, and shall not find it. In that day shall the fair virgins and the young men faint for thirst." Amos 8:11-13.
5. What illustrious example have we of obedience in this matter?
"But abide thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and that from a babe thou hast known the sacred writings which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." 2 Tim. 3:14, 15.
"Having been reminded of the unfeigned faith that is in thee; which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and, I am persuaded, in thee also." 2 Tim. 1:5.
6. What other training should be given the child?
"It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth." Lam. 3:27.
"Suffer hardship with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus." 2 Tim. 2:3.
7. What specific instruction is given in regard to the manner of child-training?
"Train up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old he will not depart from it." Prov. 22:6.
"And ye, fathers, provoke not your children to wrath; but nurture them in the chastening and admonition of the Lord." Eph. 6:4.
8. What is said of the patriarch Moses in this particular?
"Who was faithful to Him that appointed Him, as also was Moses in all his house. . . . And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken." Heb. 3:2-5.
9. In the church, what kind of persons should be chosen to bear responsibilities?
"Look ye out therefore, brethren, from among you seven men of good report, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business." Acts 6:3.
10. In the Transfiguration scene Moses was chosen to represent those who should be raised from the dead (Matt. 16:28; 17:1-5), so it behooves those who would have a home in the everlasting kingdom of God to note what the record says of him, and seek to emulate his faithfulness. See Heb. 11:24-27; 3:2, 5.
Christianity in Japan
By Editor
How Long Will It Be Before Japan Becomes Nominally Christian?
We are told that the Y. M. C. A. Branch in Japan is really embarrassed by the confidence given it by the Japanese Government. The Emperor gave the Association full permission to go to the troops with its tents and ministrations, gave them $5,000, and debarred the Buddhist priests from the army. The generals have telegraphed for more tents and more secretaries; but the Association has not sufficient money to send them. Now if the Young Men's Christian Association would only uphold and stand alone for the Christianity of Christ,13what a blessing it would be to that nation; but if they stand for politics and American Christianity, or some other specialized brand, it will simply lead the Japanese into a form instead of the reality. And the end of it all will be, yielding to that branch of so-called Christianity, the Roman Catholic, which knows how to make the most of form. Then will all the world worship the beast and commit fornication by uniting church and state. The only safety of Christianity is loyalty to the Word. May the Y. M. C. A. of Japan stand for that.
THE COLLECTION FOR THE SOUTH.
By G. I. Butler
AT the session of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists at Washington, D. C., last May, that assembly, representing the whole body of this denomination throughout the world, endorsed the collection for the colored work in the South. They appointed the time for it to be taken, Sabbath, October 7. The time is now rapidly approaching, and no time should be lost in calling the attention of our people to this important collection.
This Seventh-day Adventist movement is a world-wide movement. It is to be proclaimed "to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." It is to go with a "loud voice." It is to "lighten the earth with its glory." It is indeed the embodiment of the last warning the world will ever receive, to prepare a people for the coming of Christ. When we consider the progress it has made in the last half century, from little more than nothing to about one hundred thousand, the message being proclaimed in nearly every nation on earth, it is really wonderful. It practically doubled every ten years, and, should the same ratio continue, what a rapid progress would be made. And why may it not continue? Surely, it will, should the long-promised "latter rain" be poured out; yea, and a much greater increase be seen.
What have these facts to do with this annual collection for the colored work in the South?—Much every way. While such rapid progress is being witnessed among the white races of men, how can we be clear before God unless we make strong efforts for other races not so highly favored?
God declares that He is no respecter of persons. Hence He is no respecter of races, as races are composed of persons. He seemed to have just as much interest in the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch as in any white-skinned dignitary in the early days of the Gospel. A wonderful miracle was performed. The Lord sent Philip a long distance out into the desert to convert this one man. The Spirit of God specially inspired Philip to go near, and join himself to this colored man's chariot. His mind was in a receptive condition, reading that wonderful fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, concerning Christ's being led like "a lamb to the slaughter." From that glorious text Philip "preached unto him Jesus."
Espying water, the colored eunuch desired baptism. It was administered, "The Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip," and this colored brother went on his way back to Ethiopia rejoicing in God. There can be little doubt that he was the one who planted the Gospel in his native land, where it still exists to-day. It was a high honor to find that this church which, after being lost to the knowledge of Europeans for more than a thousand years, was paying more respect to the true Sabbath of the Bible than any other church in the world. All honor, then, to the noble Ethiopian who founded it. Promises are made in the prophecies to such as he.
Openings, more or less favorable for mental and moral improvement, present themselves among the colored people of America to-day. The Bible is at their command. And the precious truths it contains belong to them as well as to the more favored. How can we doubt but that God has been in all the providences which have attended them, designing good for this unfortunate race?
There are some nine million of colored people in these United States of America, and upward of six million of them are within the bounds of the Southern Union Conference.
Brethren and sisters, of both North and South, what have we been doing for the enlightenment of this unfortunate race?—But very, very little, in comparison with what we ought to have done. To the best of our judgment, four or five hundred would exceed the number of colored Seventh-day Adventists in the United States. Even the work among the whites has dragged heavily in this field; but several times the effort has been made for the whites that has been put forth for the colored people. The Lord has been calling for years to our people to take hold of this work with more interest.
Really, the most energetic movement ever made by Seventh-day Adventists in behalf of these people was that made by the steamer Morning Star, a small river boat, with a small party on board. It worked in the vicinity of Vicksburg, Miss., for several years. Meetings were held on the little steamer, as it was tied up by the river bank, and some sixty or seventy were brought into the truth. Night schools, and some day schools, were held in connection with this work. This was the beginning of the Southern Missionary Society. It was a good work; a noble work; a work of much self-sacrifice; and great good has been done. Fully, yea, probably more than one-half of the Mississippi Conference membership has arisen from this weak movement. Eternity alone can tell the final results of this effort. Probably one-half of all the colored converts in this Union Conference have resulted from the operations of the Morning Star.
If such a weak effort as this could accomplish so much, what might not have been the result had our strong conferences organized strong missionary enterprises, and sent them forth backed up by means, and properly sustained by the gifts of our people?
Our colored work has merely begun. Its present organization is very weak and inefficient. Yet it is far better than nothing. A beginning has been made, and the work is advancing in many directions. The Southern Missionary Society needs help to carry on its work, supporting colored schools and teachers, assisting in erecting humble houses of worship, using large quantities of literature and various other agencies.
Our training-school near Huntsville, Ala., has a valuable farm of about 360 acres of land, and several buildings, all of them very plain and common affairs. A school of some seventy pupils was held last winter; but no more could be accommodated. The Lord's instruction to us was that at least one hundred should have been receiving the benefits of the school last year, and that from two hundred to two hundred and fifty should be provided for in the immediate future. This means addition of buildings, and greater accommodations should be provided at once. Could our people see the poverty, the lack of many necessary appliances, the need of bathing and laundry facilities, and various other great needs and pressing wants, they would be impressed most forcibly that something must be done, and at once.
The use of the Southern Union Conference funds for the support of the teachers has greatly impoverished the conference treasury, and forced it to run in debt. Great perplexities have been the consequence.
The Lord has told us over and over, that a small sanitarium should be built at the Huntsville Training-school, so that the sick could be cared for, and the colored pupils taught the blessed principles of health and temperance. How reasonable and consistent this is. Very little instruction of this kind have they ever received, and none are more needy of it.
A small orphanage should also be built on the farm, where the children of pious colored Sabbath-keepers who have died in the faith could be reared in the truth, and prepared for usefulness. The cellar was dug, and preparations to build were made, but funds gave out, and the work has had to stop for months. Various other improvements should also be made.
Again, several of the state conferences composing the Southern Union have no colored laborers, whatever. Yet these states have hundreds of thousands, yea, some of them millions, of this race within their borders, and not a single laborer of their race working for their salvation. These things ought not to be so, my brethren. And what is the reason for this dearth of laborers?
1. Because funds are so very scarce in most of our state conferences that they absolutely can not support colored laborers.
2. Because of the financial weakness of our training-school, laborers are not trained and developed sufficiently to supply the exceeding needs of the field. The different features and branches of the colored work are so intertwined and linked together that they are mutually dependent upon each other. They stand or fall together, mutually supporting or else tearing each other down.
The present crying need of the colored work is means with which to make the work efficient. It has many other needs, but this stands first in order. This proposed collection of October 7 ought to be a most liberal one, and then be followed by a continued interest in this great work. Will not our people rally as one man, and help in this great emergency? May the Lord stir up their hearts to be liberal to this unfortunate, most needy race.
G. I. BUTLER,
President Southern Union Conference.
YOUR MESSAGE.
By Eliza H. Morton
BY ELIZA H. MORTON.
WHAT is your message, friend, I ask,
To those you meet?
Has it a certain sound to-day,
In home and street,—
A message true,
The world now due?
Long years ago a holy man
Proclaimed to all:
"The heavens will open, and a Flood
Of rain will fall."
That message true,
Just then was due.
And in the wilderness a voice
Of power was heard:
"Prepare the way for Christ your Lord—
The living Word."
That message true
Just then was due.
And all along the ages dark
The light has beamed.
From torches held by steadfast hands
Bright rays have gleamed,
And men proved true
When truth was due.
And now the consummation grand
Of all is near;
The King of kings in royal robes
Will soon appear,
This message true
Just now is due.
And will you not, kind friend, I ask
Take up the cry:
Redemption from the curse of sin,
A kingdom nigh?
Be brave, be true,
Speak what is due.