Earlier text: Faith and ActionNotes of Travel
By Ellen G. White
A Visit to Middletown, Connecticut
After two weeks’ rest at the Melrose Sanitarium, we started Friday, September 2, for the Middletown camp-meeting, where we spent three days. It had been planned that we should attend the Maine camp-meeting, and the Canadian Union Conference, which was held in Knowlton, Quebec; but I had not strength to endure so many meetings or the fatigue of so much travel. Toward the close of our stay at Melrose, my strength revived, and I was encouraged to attempt to speak to our people assembled at the Middletown camp-meeting, which was not far away, and to stop on my way West to speak to our people in Battle Creek. At Middletown we found about one hundred and twenty-five of our people assembled. This was the first annual meeting of the Southern New England Conference. A spot of ground near the city and easy of access had been chosen for the camp, and there was a fair attendance of the public. During our short stay at the meeting, I spoke four times. Our brethren dared not hope for a large attendance of the public, but on Sunday the large tent was filled, and many were standing outside. I spoke from the third chapter of First John, about God’s great gift to our world. I spoke of Christ’s temptation in the wilderness, and then dwelt for a short time on the subject of temperance. I spoke with great plainness, and the people seemed to be interested. The Lord strengthened me, and I felt no weariness after speaking. Wherever I go, I shall urge the people to keep Christ uplifted. He is always the same, yesterday, to-day, and forever, always seeking to do us good, always encouraging and guiding us, leading us onward step by step. What he is to-day,—a faithful high priest, touched with the feeling of our infirmities,—he will be to-morrow, and forevermore. He is our guide, our teacher, our counselor, our friend, ever bestowing his blessings upon us in response to our faith. He invites us to abide with him. When we do this, when we make our home with him, all friction, all ill temper, all irritation, will cease. Many years ago, when our work was just beginning, my husband and I received a letter from Brother Chamberlain, of Middletown, urging us to attend a conference in Connecticut. We decided to go if we could obtain the necessary means for the journey. My husband settled with his employer, and collected the ten dollars due him. With five of this I purchased articles of clothing that we much needed, and then patched my husband’s overcoat, even piecing the patches. We had five dollars left, and with this we bought tickets to Dorchester, Mass. The little box that we used as a trunk contained almost all that we possessed on earth; but we enjoyed peace of mind and a clear conscience, and this we prized above all earthly comforts. On reaching Dorchester, we called at Brother Nichols’ house, and as we were leaving, Sister Nichols handed my husband five dollars. This paid our fare to Middletown, Conn. We were strangers in the city, and had never seen one of the brethren living in the place. We had but fifty cents left, and my husband dared not use this to hire a carriage, so we walked on in search of some one of like faith. We soon found Brother Chamberlain, who took us to his house. It was in Middletown, about 1849, that my husband began the publication of our first paper, a small sheet called, The Present Truth. We were then living in Rocky Hills, seven miles from Middletown, and my husband often walked back and forth between the two places, though he was then lame. When he brought the first number of the paper from the printing-office, we all bowed round it, and with humble hearts and many tears besought the Lord to let his blessing rest upon the feeble efforts of his servant. My husband then directed copies of the paper to all who he thought would read it, and walked seven miles to the Middletown post-office, carrying the precious papers in a carpet-bag. Again and again, before the papers were taken to the post-office, they were spread before God, and earnest prayers, mingled with tears, were offered to God that his blessing might attend the silent messengers. Very soon letters came, bringing means to help in the publication of the paper, and bringing also the good news that many souls were accepting the truth. On Tuesday, September 6, we reached Battle Creek. Here I spent two days, speaking once to the patients in the Sanitarium parlor, once to a large congregation in the Tabernacle, and once to the Sanitarium helpers. Very short notice could be given of the meeting in the Tabernacle, and I did not expect to see many present. To my surprise, the Tabernacle was filled. It was estimated that about twenty-five hundred people were present. I spoke with freedom for more than an hour. In the night season I received a special blessing from the Lord. I was to speak the next morning to the Sanitarium helpers, and I felt the need of wisdom and grace from on high. I laid right hold of the great Medical Missionary, and I was assured that his grace would be with me in large measure. This promise was fulfilled to me as I stood on Thursday morning before a congregation of nearly three hundred, mostly made up of sanitarium physicians, nurses, and helpers. I know that when I ask the Lord to be my helper, he will not deny me, because it is my one desire to do his will and glorify his name. I am weak, but in depending wholly upon him, I obtain strength. In laying my burden upon the Burden-bearer, I find comfort and strength and hope. This is my desire,—to find abiding rest at his feet. While I keep firm hold of his hand, he leads me safely. The living God shall be the joy and rejoicing of my soul. From Battle Creek we went to Omaha, where there was a large camp-meeting in progress. In a conversation with Elder A. T. Robinson, I learned that there were more than one thousand camped on the ground. There is a decided interest in the truth in Omaha, and the people of the city seem to be glad of the opportunity of attending the meetings. I spoke on Sabbath afternoon and Sunday afternoon in the large tent. At each of these meetings the large tent was full. At the Sunday evening meeting, there were more than fifteen hundred present. Monday morning I addressed the workers. During my talk I read the following from my diary:— Many scenes have passed before me during the night, and many questions in reference to the work that we are to do for our Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, have been made plain and clear. Words were spoken by One of authority. The heavenly messenger said, “The ministry is becoming greatly enfeebled because men are assuming the responsibility of preaching without gaining the needed preparation for this work.” Those who give themselves to the ministry of the Word enter a most important work. Some have made a mistake in receiving ministerial credentials. They ought to take up work for which they are better adapted. Their efforts are feeble, and they should not continue to receive pay from the tithe. In many ways the ministry is losing its sacred character. Our churches are becoming enfeebled by receiving for doctrines the commandments of men. Many are received into the church who are not converted. Men, women, and children are allowed to take part in the solemn rite of baptism without being fully instructed in regard to8the meaning of this ordinance. Participation in this ordinance means much, and our ministers should be careful to give each candidate for baptism plain instruction regarding its meaning and its solemnity. The gospel ministry is a high and sacred calling. Properly done, the work of the gospel minister will bring many souls into the fold. “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth,” Christ said. “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” This commission is given to every ordained minister. The minister who is merely a speaker, who does not labor as Christ labored, putting his whole soul intelligently into the work, needs true conversion. Those who preach the gospel without putting the whole being, heart, mind, soul, and strength, into the work, are consumers and not producers. God calls for men who realize that they must put forth earnest effort, men who bring thought, zeal, prudence, capability, and the attributes of Christ’s character into their work. The saving of souls is a vast work, which calls for the employment of every talent, every gift of grace. Those engaged in this work should constantly increase in efficiency. They should be filled with an earnest desire to have their power for service strengthened, realizing that they will be weak without a constantly increasing supply of grace. They should seek to attain larger and still larger results in their work. When this is the experience of our workers, fruit will be seen. Many souls will be brought into the truth. My brethren, labor earnestly and seriously. This does not mean that you are not to be cheerful, but that you are to put your whole soul into the work of preparing the way for Christ’s coming. The Lord calls for whole-hearted, unselfish men to sound the note of warning. Workers who perform faithfully the duties given them of God will receive more and more grace. From their lives will shine forth more and more clearly the light of present truth. They will be given power to glorify God. They will be enabled to help and bless others by setting a Christlike example. Their path will grow brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. Their conversion will become more and more decided, and they will be vessels unto honor. God’s purpose for his workers is that they shall grow up into the full stature of men and women in Christ. As a Little Child
By Eva Gilbert
MAKE me weak, Lord, that my strength
I may find in thee.
Make me helpless, that at length
Self may conquered be.
Innocent; then will my heart
Be thy dwelling-place;
For my share, the better part—
Thine abiding grace. Make me ignorant of all
Thou wouldst have me shun;
When my heart has learned thy call,
Wisdom I have won.
Give me faith that questions not
Where my path may lie—
Satisfied, whate’er my lot,
Knowing thou art nigh. — Eva Gilbert, in World's Crisis. The Move to Washington
By G. B. Starr
“AND the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Make thee two trumpets of silver; of a whole piece shalt thou make them: that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps. And when they shall blow with them, all the assembly shall assemble themselves to thee at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.” Num. 10: 1-3. At the dedication of the temple one hundred and twenty priests sounded with trumpets, and it is written: “It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth forever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord.” 2 Chron. 5: 13. This is as it should be in all the movements and journeyings of modern Israel to-day. When the Lord commands the trumpet to sound for the camp to move into new territory, every watchman should repeat the call, and all should be “as one, to make one sound to be heard,” that all the people may be united in heart and soul in praising God, that not one soul should be confused by a discordant note. The work of God must advance steadily into new territory. It must also increase in power and glory, and achieve greater conquests and victories along the way. The latest camping place must witness its greatest triumphs, not by way of disparagement or unfavorable contrast upon any past work or place of encampment, but by way of growth, healthy growth, and certain advancement to the point of final victory. Those who advance with the work will and do rejoice in its progress. Those who fall behind and question the leading hand of God will, by this very act, bring about unpleasantness and unnecessary comparisons. By endeavoring to hold old camping grounds, and refusing to throw the weight of their influence along with the new moves, individuals will make issues that God never designed should exist; and these issues they will attribute to those who are moving in the order of God. With every soul who professes faith in the present truth it ought to be as with Ezekiel’s cherubs: “Whithersoever the Spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go.” It was no hardship for them to go; for their spirit was in harmony with the move. We are one people throughout the world, baptized into one body by one Spirit. We move and act in concert, and this oneness is the very best credential that we could present to the world of the divinity of our commission from Jesus Christ to carry to the world the latest invitation to his marriage feast. This union does exist, and we have no fears of its ever being broken or in any way seriously shaken. Individuals may be shaken entirely out of it, and they may imagine that the union of the entire body is as weak and as shaky as they; but instead of this being the truth, the fact is that God is simply shaking out everything that can be shaken, to immediately replace it all with better timber, solid timber. Let no one be deceived, the body is not being seriously shaken because you feel so. Everything is being steadily shaken more compactly and strongly together, so that every joint will be knit so firmly that the very gates of hell shall not be able to secure an entrance at any point. If the place you hold is weak, because you are weak, then you must become strong, or be removed, to give place to some one who will be strong under trial and pressure, and who under no circumstances would prove untrue, or permit the enemy to take his place of trust. God lives. Christ, the triumphant Conqueror, lives. The Holy Spirit lives, and will carry to perfection the work committed to him. And the third angel, chosen of God and entrusted with the last message of mercy to men, will not fail nor disappoint Heaven, but will accomplish the work of gathering out a people who will triumph over the beast, the image, and the mark. In the sight of an apostate world the third angel will bring out a people who will “keep the commandments of God, and hold the testimony of Jesus.” Neither of these will they be persuaded to relinquish; for they are the distinctive accompaniments, and powerful and effective agencies of the third angel with which he brings to a successful issue his herculean task under the adverse surroundings of the last generation of men. Some of us in distant fields, on the outskirts, as it were, of the world’s work, wish it known that everything is steady at the outposts. We feel no uneasiness. God is here, and our spirits rejoice in the movements from center to circumference, to push the work on and on into the “regions beyond.” Now is certainly the opportune time to work the cities, the strongholds of Satan, and to gain conquests for the kingdom of Christ, trophies of his grace. The battle must be pressed to the very gates; for souls are perishing there, souls that might be rescued. We ought to move and act as men inspired by a great and mighty commission. We ought to let the world know by unmistakable evidences that we firmly believe that we hold a royal commission to warn them, and thus save them from the certain destruction that awaits the finally impenitent. If our words and message are full of energy, the people will be stirred. Definiteness is what trembling souls are waiting for. We live in an age of compromise and indefiniteness and vacillation. Let all the trumpets give a certain sound, and all give the same sound,9and the people will prepare for the battle. Let us move in the order of God. “Let the good work go on.” Let the builders at Washington be encouraged, and sing and praise God as they work in faith to carry out his plans. His good Spirit witnesses to the move. Our prayers, our donations, and our rejoicings mingle with yours. May God hasten the work. FAITH is the soul's anchor. But the anchor must have something solid on which to hold. Christ is the rock for this anchor. Faith can not of itself save us. The anchor can not hold the ship unless it is flung out. So faith must venture on Christ. We must be fixed in his strength.—Christian Commonwealth. Incidents of Early Tent Life
By J. O. Corliss
Experiences of Former Days— No. 11
Incidents of Early Tent Life
The tent-meetings of early days were not carried on just the same as now. Instead of having a large corps of workers to visit and distribute literature, two ministers and a tent master were considered a full complement of help. Instead of several family tents, in which to lodge the workers, the minister slept on the platform, behind the desk, with the tent master, unless perchance some one happened to invite one or both of them to his home for the night. The tent desks and platforms of those days were arranged, not only for lodging the workers, but also for storing their books and trunks. The platform was usually built sixteen feet long and eight feet wide. Along the entire front of this, at the proper height for a reading-desk, a board was arranged, and covered with a huge oilcloth, or tarpaulin, reaching to the ground in front of the speaker. At each meeting a large display of tracts and pamphlets was arrayed on this novel desk, which were well advertised before the close of the meeting. As soon as the benediction was pronounced, the whole front of the desk was usually lined with people examining the publications, and many converts were secured by reading them, who would not have been led to accept the truth by simply hearing the sermons from the living preacher. Then, too, by calling attention to the books, the workers had an opportunity to become acquainted with the people, and they received invitations to visit and talk the truth at the family gatherings. Do you ask where the preachers ate their meals when they failed to receive an invitation out? Well, usually on the platform, provided they had an appetite for such as fell to their lot. Sometimes friends sent to the tent what they considered toothsome morsels, such as pies, doughnuts, and cake of various sorts. At other times, for a change, crackers and cheese were bought at the village grocery. Looking back to those experiences, it does not now seem strange that the preachers of those days occasionally had fits of indigestion. Yet some way the preachers seemed to like that sort of life, so much so that as time went on, their stay in a place was more and more prolonged, until it became a common thing to spend the greater part of a tent season in one town. When the tent did come down, the very ground it had occupied seemed almost sacred to those who had learned to love the truth on that spot. So much of interest hovered about such work, that the preachers hardly cared to put in much time preaching to organized companies, but rather felt that they were called to give the message to those who had never heard it. And the people seemed to feed on the Word as it came fresh from the lips of the speakers. It seems strange now to think how steadily they would attend a series of meetings right through the busiest season of the year, some coming four or five miles after having worked all day in the hay- or harvest-field. And such seats as we had to offer them! These consisted of rough boards placed across others fastened up edgewise by driving small stakes on each side of them. In later times we did improvise backs to the seats, by driving stout stakes back of the seats, and nailing narrow strips of boards along their tops. But these were not all at the same angle, and were poor contrivances at the very best. How different all this is now! Nearly every tent is furnished with folding chairs, or neatly contrived seats, which are comfortable. The workers now have small tents in which to cook, eat, and sleep. But those days of sacrifice were precious seasons, the memory of which even now makes one feel that the old method of presenting the message can not be improved. It also makes the truth seem dearer than it could have become without those experiences. One thing is certain: those who gave the full strength of their lives to that early pioneer work, were made to feel very sensibly that the “foundation of the Lord standeth sure.” Education for the Work
By M. E. Kern
Young People's Work — No. 4
It has been suggested that our schools have failed to prepare the young people who have attended them for all-round workers in their home churches; that their minds seem to be directed more to conference or foreign mission work, while the importance of local work is overlooked. I am not sure but there is cause for criticism in this respect, and it should be remedied. This may be the result of the example of teachers who fail to show proper interest in leading out in active missionary work in the school; it may also arise from a lack of attention to the personal needs of each student with a view to directing him into some definite path of service. Our teachers must be not only kind and lovable leaders of the youth, but sturdy, resolute men and women of principle, whose very lives and influence will produce firmness of purpose in the young,— teachers whose whole thought and interest is bound up in the welfare of the young in their care. I have lately written to a number of former students of Union College, asking them what part of their work in the school has been the most help to them in their labor for the young people, and what suggestions they have as to how Union College can be made more beneficial to the young people's work in general. All testify to the benefit of their Bible instruction and the Christian growth in the school. Besides these was mentioned the constructive work required in the classes and societies, such as the practical missionary work carried on in and about the school. Some suggest that if the Christian young people could almost be compelled to lay aside their timidity and take a more active part in the practical missionary work, it would assist them materially in taking the burden of the young people's work in other places. I feel sure that Union College can improve in taking a more active interest in the individual student, in carrying on more vigorously practical missionary work, and in holding before the students constantly by example and words the claims that God has on all their powers. I believe, if our hearts are in it, we can, as teachers, take a more active interest in the general young people's work. It has been suggested that training schools, six or eight weeks in length, be held in different parts of the State conferences, where competent instructors should give instruction in this branch of work. No doubt this would be very beneficial. Of course, these institutions could not take the place of the education and discipline of mind of which most of our young people stand in need, but they would be a decided help in stirring up an interest in this important work, and in directing the work in proper channels. It is to be expected that our young people will make mistakes, but let us not be too harsh with them. They had better make some mistakes in their efforts to do good than to spend their energies in doing evil. Their pent-up energy will find expression somewhere, and we should learn to direct it rather than to attempt to suppress it. To illustrate: one of the difficulties that has been, and is, quite a source of anxiety, is the tendency of the young people to make their meetings social gatherings and places of entertainment. But where they can be interested in the true object of the organization, this difficulty is avoided. One State worker says that that difficulty has almost disappeared from her State. The adolescent is just coming to feel his individuality. He is beginning to think for himself, but he may say very little, and wisdom and discretion are needed on the part of all who have to do with him. Let the workers study this work, and be able to give intelligent10directions to parents and leaders. Let them enter into the work of the youth, and be able wisely to direct them. If things go wrong, try to remedy them without discouraging the young people; for often they are easily discouraged. Be firm of principle and kind of heart. One worker says that in some cases where the young people organized without any definite object, a visit and instruction have resulted in making them strong companies. Let all the workers seek to co-operate with the State officers of the young people's work. One who is actively engaged in the work says, “I am distressed beyond measure at the indifference to the situation which is manifested by leading men and workers everywhere.” This ought not to be. This difficulty is melting away in the Central Union Conference, I am sure, as shown by the live interest manifested at the late session of the conference and by the young people's convention held a few weeks later. The general secretary of this work says: “What it (the work) needs is more general personal labor and encouragement from workers in the field. Secretaries may correspond and advise and suggest, but the need of the societies is personal contact with wise helpers. If the ministers in every conference would make the young people's work a prominent part of their work, many of the discouraging features would melt away.” We should study to show ourselves approved unto God; we should attack these unsolved problems with vigor, that we may indeed be workmen that need not be ashamed. The study of methods of presenting this truth and how to adapt it to the different classes is second only in importance to the truth itself. The secretary of the work in one of our States suggests that the ministers should give more wholesome instruction to parents from the pulpit, aiding them to bring up their children in the right way; “for,” says she, “most children are perishing for lack of knowledge on the part of the parents.” Educational Campaign in Behalf of Young People's Work
The young people's work should be agitated. An educational campaign should be carried on for the benefit of parents, teachers, and leaders of the young people. By exchange of thought, we shall learn better how to accomplish the work. The Youth's Instructor is the organ of this movement, and it ought to be bound more closely to the hearts of the young people than ever before. It has been estimated there are enough young men in this country to mine and smelt iron, prepare the material, and build Brooklyn Bridge in three hours. There is a mighty power in our youth. There is much pent-up power in the ten thousand youth among Seventh-day Adventists. Here is an army of youth. What are we doing to save this body of young people from succumbing to the enticements of the world, and to enlist their energies in the cause of God? The power of Niagara went to waste for centuries. Now, harnessed and properly manipulated, it is bearing its part in the work of the world. Shall it not be our privilege to so direct the youthful energy and enthusiasm of our boys and girls that they shall be accomplishing great things for God? Shall we not pray that we shall speedily see all over the world the hearts of the fathers turned to the children, and the hearts of the children turned to the fathers? God grant it. G. B. THOMPSON
By G. B. Thompson
In the reports of the events from the theater of war, we hear much of the valor and Spartan bravery displayed by the troops in battle. A romantic glory is given to the life of the soldier which is calculated to inspire a desire to “go to the front.” Of the terrible suffering, the inhuman butchery of human beings, in the frenzied efforts to win a victory, we know but little. A correspondent at the front in the war now being waged between Japan and Russia in Manchuria, gives us a faint glimpse of the frightful scenes on the battle-field of Liao Yang. He says:— “The arena north of the river which was fought over by the contending armies, presents a terrible picture of the results of war. The fields are strewn with hundreds of lines of trenches, and, marking the successive stages of retreat, crematory fires are yet burning. Searching parties are still bringing in Japanese bodies. Graves of Russian soldiers can be seen at every turn, some dug by comrades, and others by the Japanese. On one hillside is a group of two hundred or three hundred graves marked by rough sticks. Many bodies remain undiscovered in the high grain, and the odor of decomposition fills the air. Flocks of crows hover about, and hundreds of Chinese dogs roam the fields.” Then there are perhaps no greater sufferers than those left by the soldiers at home—the loving wives and children, or the fathers and mothers whose son is at the “front.” None but the compassionate God can ever understand their sufferings. A writer in the Primitive Methodist Magazine some years ago described this terrible pageant of Satan as follows:— “War is a dreadful scourge, an untold calamity, a fearful curse, a melancholy evidence of human depravity, and a solemn proof of a sin-avenging Providence. It paralyzes commerce, interferes with industrial occupations, lays waste fertile countries, loads nations with enormous debts, augments taxation, increases the burdens of the people, cherishes unholy and diabolical passions, depopulates cities, makes wives widows and children fatherless, fills families and communities with lamentation, mourning, and woe, and suddenly hurries multitudes into the eternal world [or rather hurries them out of this world], for which it is to be feared the great majority are not prepared.” How earnestly should we labor and pray for that glorious time to come when sin will be destroyed, and war will cease unto the end of the earth. My Aim
By Cecil H. Pretyman
My God, I want my life to be A song of praise unending; That in my actions all may see Thy character extending. I want my soul to get of thee A richer comprehending. Not me, but Christ who in me dwells, My daily walk revealing; To go about e’er doing good, Both soul and body healing; To learn of him the wondrous power Of human hearts unsealing. My God, what has thy love not done To bring to me salvation? Now let the light which on me shone Be sent to every nation. The bearing of this light alone Be hence my occupation. My only aim to show thy love To those in darkness dwelling, My meat to do my Father’s will, His goodness ever telling; His words to speak, his thoughts to think, His love each act impelling. To maintain a steady and unbroken mind, amid all the shocks of adversity, forms the highest honor of man. Afflictions, supported by patience and surmounted by fortitude, give the last finishing stroke to the heroic and virtuous character. Thus the vale of tears becomes the theater of human glory; that dark cloud presents all the beauties in the bow of virtue. Moral grandeur, like the sun, is brighter in the day of the storm, and never is so truly sublime as when struggling through the darkness of an eclipse. Patience is the guardian of faith, the preserver of peace, the cherisher of love, the teacher of humility. Patience governs the flesh, strengthens the spirit, sweetens the temper, stifles anger, extinguishes envy, subdues pride; she bridles the tongue, restrains the hand, tramples upon temptations, endures persecutions.— Royal Path of Life. God Remembers Our Needs
By Anna Temple
In ignorance I thought,
In silly fear and foolishness and dread,
God doth remember all the sins I wrought,
And doth forget how needy is my lot.
But, lo, instead,
When I his message read,
I found it was my needs on which he thought,
My sins that he, because of Christ, forgot!
—Anna Temple. The Right Foundation
By G. H. Heald
EDITOR REVIEW: I have recently received a letter from a friend, in criticism of some of my articles in the REVIEW, from which I make the following quotation:— “I am afraid that your last article in the REVIEW will remove the scruples of many, and that they will henceforth have excuse for indulging in the fleshpots of Egypt and various things. I am sure many will think you have given up the idea of a non-flesh diet, and how glad they may be too! Our ministers will no longer feel remiss when they indulge in chicken and juicy beefsteak, and will fail to teach the necessity of a return to antediluvian diet in these last days.” Lest others may have misunderstood, I shall try to make myself plain. I eat no fish, flesh, or fowl. I do not think they are, by any means, the best food for man, and I prefer the best. Should I be wrecked on an uninhabited island, where these foods were the best I could get, I would still eat the best, and not feel sneaking about it as though I had committed a crime. Why should the report that I had given up the idea of a non-flesh diet be cause for rejoicing? Suppose I should turn squarely around and advocate the free use of meat; would that make the way of others any clearer?—It might, if they pin their faith to me. But one principle I contend for, perhaps more than any other, is that a man should be taught of God. He can not come up to the pearly gates, and plead that Dr. A. or Elder B. told him so and so. If he has no better excuse than that, he will be “speechless.” Does an intelligent man, interested in politics, take some paper, expecting it to tell him for whom to vote? He expects it to tell him what the platforms of the different parties are, who the leading candidates are in each party, and what their political record has been. He may have one paper which he prefers, but he is apt to study other papers as well, and finally draw his own conclusions, and vote accordingly. That is what he will do if he is a MAN. So a man must do in religion; so he must do in the matter of diet. He may read what other men think, and what they do, but he must think and act for himself, according to the dictates of his God-given conscience. Suppose there are some who want—as is suggested by the preceding letter—“an excuse for indulging in the fleshpots of Egypt.” They had better have the excuse, and indulge; for they will do so sooner or later. It is only a question of time. What did the Lord do in the wilderness when the people craved the fleshpots?—He just gave them all they wanted, and allowed them to gorge themselves until the hankerers were all killed off. He knew it would be no use to try to educate all that multitude up to health reform. So now, if there are any who are abstaining from flesh because some man or men have told them to, and are still looking longingly back toward the fleshpots, they had better have their flesh. “Whatsoever is not of faith is SIN.” It does no good for one to believe one way and act another. People who are not vegetarians because they believe it is right had better be the other thing, out and out, and maintain their self-respect. We can respect the man who lives up to his belief,—whether he believes in a meat diet or a non-meat diet,—provided he himself refrains from bigotry, and from narrow intolerance of those who differ from him; but the man who believes in meat, or has no convictions in the matter, and acts as though he believed in vegetarianism because somebody else believes that way, “is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed”—what James calls a “double-minded man.” “Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.” If one who has conscientiously studied what the Lord has said regarding flesh eating, and then, after careful trial, finds that a non-meat diet is not so well adapted to the wants of his system as a mixed diet, it is a matter between him and his God alone (see the first part of Romans 14), and should by no means be made the basis of a petty persecution, as is sometimes done. “To his own Master he standeth or falleth.” In fact, so far as I am concerned, it is none of my business whether he has conscientiously studied the matter or not; that is, I can not impugn his motives. So far as he is concerned, he should be sure that he does not allow his old abnormal appetite to warp his judgment in deciding the matter. G. H. HEALD.