p. 11 | Review and Herald, Vol. 92, No. 16. (4/1/1915)

Earlier text: The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald

The Spiritual Plot of Life

How good is it that, though new chapters go on with our life's story, and people drop out whom we have loved, and incidents change so that it seems quite like another tale, yet the real plot is spiritual and eternal.—Maltbie D. Babcock.

The Schools of the Prophets

By M. E. Cady

—No. 4

The Works of God — Science

IN these schools not only did the pupils study the Word of God as revealed by inspiration in the books of Moses, but they also studied the works of God in the creation about them. In the home schools also the parents called the attention of their children to the wonderful works of God in nature.

"The great truths of God's providence and of the future life were impressed on the young mind. It was trained to see God alike in the scenes of nature and in the words of revelation. The stars of heaven, the trees and flowers of the field, the lofty mountains, the rippling brooks, —all spoke of the Creator."—Patriarchs and Prophets, page 592.

Joseph, when a mere lad, was a student of nature and revelation:—

"In his early years he had consulted duty rather than inclination; and the integrity, the simple trust, the noble nature of the youth, bore fruit in the deeds of the man. A pure and simple life had favored the vigorous development of both physical and intellectual powers. Communion with God through his works, and the contemplation of the grand truths intrusted to the inheritors of faith, had elevated and ennobled his spiritual nature, broadening and strengthening the mind as no other study could do."—Id., page 222.

"Such was the training of Moses in the lowly cabin home in Goshen; of Samuel, by the faithful Hannah; of David, in the hill dwelling at Bethlehem; of Daniel, before the scenes of the captivity separated him from the home of his fathers."—Id., page 594.

Of the students in the schools of the prophets, we read:—

"As they communed with God and studied his Word and his works, wisdom from above was added to their natural endowments."—Id., page 593.

"As they studied the Word and the works of God, his life-giving power quickened the energies of mind and soul, and the students received wisdom from above."—Education, page 46.

The general plan and spirit of science study in these schools is indicated in the book Patriarchs and Prophets, under the chapter entitled "The Schools of the Prophets," a portion of which follows:—

"In the study of the sciences, also, we are to obtain a knowledge of the Creator. All true science is but an interpretation of the handwriting of God in the material world. Science brings from her research only fresh evidences of the wisdom and power of God. Rightly understood, both the book of nature and the written Word make us acquainted with God by teaching us something of the wise and beneficent laws through which he works.

"The student should be led to see God in all the works of creation. Teachers should copy the example of the Great Teacher, who, from the familiar scenes of nature, drew illustrations that simplified his teachings and impressed them more deeply upon the minds of his hearers. The birds caroling in the leafy branches, the flowers of the valley, the lofty trees, the fruitful lands, the springing grain, the barren soil, the setting sun gilding the heavens with its golden beams,—all served as a means of instruction. He connected the visible works of the Creator with the words of life which he spoke, that whenever these objects should be presented to the eyes of his hearers, their thoughts might revert to the lessons of truth he had linked with them.

"The impress of Deity, manifest in the pages of revelation, is seen upon the lofty mountains, the fruitful valleys, the broad, deep ocean. The things of nature speak to man of his Creator's love."

Probably none of the students who studied in the schools of the prophets were more deeply interested in the study of science than was David and his son Solomon. David, speaking of his study of God's works in creation, said, "I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands." The influence of his study and meditation is stated in the next breath: "I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land." Ps. 143:5, 6. Solomon probably had a greater knowledge of science than his father David. Of his study and research, he says, "I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven." Eccl. 1:13. Of the extent of his knowledge in scientific matters, the sacred historian records: "And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the East country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. . . . And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes." 1 Kings 4:30-33.

In the schools of the prophets the students looked upon the things in nature as God's workmanship, and saw therein revealed the glory, the power, the wisdom, and the love of God. "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard." Ps. 19:1-3. "The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens. By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew." Prov. 3:19, 20. "O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all; the earth is full of thy riches." Ps. 104:24.

These students not only learned the facts of science, but from these they drew lessons which helped develop and strengthen right habits of life. "Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways [habits], and be wise." Prov. 6:6.

Thus we see that the word and works of God were given a large place in the curriculum of the schools of the prophets, and that the knowledge and skill acquired by the pupils were an astonishment to the nations round about. "And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom." 1 Kings 4:34.

These prophetic words of Moses were fulfilled during the reigns of David and Solomon: "Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." Deut. 4:5, 6. "And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments, which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth. . . . And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them." Deut. 28:1-13.

David says that the reason he had greater wisdom and knowledge than the scholars and teachers of other nations was due to his regard for the law of God. "O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts." Ps. 119:97-100.

Be Cheerful

By Pittsburgh Christian Advocate

CHEERFULNESS in the world is rare, and its value is high. And yet there is no reason for its rareness. There are none but could have it if they would only expend time and effort and thought to cultivate it; and how much better would it be for us all, and how much happier would every one be, if we would only put away our sour looks and our gloomy thoughts and our cares and worries, would trust them all to the One who has promised to bear all our burdens, and would resolve that our lives and thoughts should henceforth be only trustful and cheerful ones.

"Smile a little, smile a little As you go along. Not alone when life is pleasant, But when things go wrong. Care delights to see you frowning, Loves to hear you sigh; Turn a smiling face upon her, Quick the dame will fly. "Smile a little, smile a little All along the road; Every life must have its burden, Every heart its load. Do not make the way seem harder By a sullen face; Smile a little, smile a little, Brighten up the place:"

—Pittsburgh Christian Advocate.

EDITORIALS

By Editor

The child of God is changed by beholding. As he looks on the face of Jesus Christ, as he studies his perfect character, as he dwells on his graces and virtues, unconsciously he becomes like him. Says the apostle, "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed . . . from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord." A child becomes like that with which he associates. The character, the form and features, the very expression of the face, are molded by the environment. Husbands and wives who have lived together for years, surrounded by the same environment, passing through the same experiences, become alike in deportment, in thought, and even in looks. It is thus that we shall become like Christ through association with him; only in our association with the Lord Jesus the quickening power of his Holy Spirit hastens the transformation.

It has been said, and we believe truly, that the people of this world are divided into two classes, the workers and the shirkers. We find these two classes represented wherever we go, in the home, in the church, and in the community. Some there are who recognize their responsibility. They realize that they have been created and placed in this world for a purpose, and their burden of heart is to know what their calling is and to meet the demands of that calling. Others there are who pass along without any sense of life's responsibilities. They are here, they know not and care not why. They feel that the world owes them a living. They feel no burden aside from ministering to their own personal pleasures and caprices, and even in doing this they seek to draw heavily upon the time and strength of others. Let us realize that life is noble and earnest; that we form a part of God's great purpose; and let us seek to meet that purpose in all life's relationships. Let us not be shirkers, leaners, dependents, parasites; but workers, lifters, laborers together with God, in the accomplishment of his work among the children of men.

The Greatest Need

By William A. Spicer

Not for a moment can we settle down with the thought that the balance in our world-wide work is not to be better kept by placing yet larger numbers of laborers in proportion in the foreign fields. Now, above all times, as the work presses on in the older fields which form the base, we are to keep in mind the Saviour's exhortation to pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth more laborers into the harvest. The believing prayers of the Lord's children will bring more men and more means into the service for the needy fields beyond.

At the same time, the more the workers are increased, apparently, the greater the need seems in these far fields. Ten workers may do a grand work in a long-neglected country; and where each one of the ten may be laboring, there the openings are made on every side, calling for yet further help. But let the number of workers increase to twenty or thirty, and the openings calling for more help are multiplied proportionately. So the need keeps pressing more imperatively upon us the larger the work grows.

This throws us back upon the fact that the chief thing of all is the power of God attending the preaching of his word. Not by human might, nor by an army, but by the Lord's own Spirit the work is to be done. The matter is well put in the following statement by Dr. Mott, a leading figure in the general missionary movement:—

When I made my first journey round the world, I went home and wrote a book in which I laid great stress upon the need of an increase in the number of foreign missionaries. When I returned from my second tour, I laid stress upon the need of a great army of native workers, sons and daughters of the soil. When I came back from my third extended journey to the East, I was much led to see that I had taken a very superficial view. What we need is not so much an increase in the number of missionaries, not so much a vast army of native workers; what we need is the discovery of the hiding of God's power and the secret of the releasing of that power. We need more workers through whom God shall have his opportunity. Here and there he is accomplishing through one worker what many workers could not accomplish where the hiding of his power is not discovered.

Since then I have found the same thing exemplified all over the home field. God has his ways, and they are not always our ways. One of the most striking passages in the Old Testament is the one representing God's eye searching up and down the world trying to find a man whose heart is right toward him, that he might show his power through that man. The discovery of that secret is the great thing needed all over the world today in our Christian enterprise, the discovery of the secret which enables God to find the object of his quest, that he may realize his consuming desire and show himself strong.

While we pray for more workers and more means unceasingly, we pray also that upon the little band of laborers among the millions in the mission fields there may come the special grace and power of God that will bring great results from feeble efforts. The enormity of the need throws us back upon the One who has infinite help. W. A. S.

The Blessed Hope

By C. M. S.

THE mightiest, most important, and most glorious event in the history of this world is the second coming of Jesus Christ, the second Adam, the rightful ruler of the world, the conqueror of Satan and of death.

To that event God's prophets from times most distant have looked with hope and joy and exultation. It has warmed the hearts of God's faithful children in every age. It beams like a beacon light from every book of Holy Writ, and dying saints and martyrs have pillowed their heads upon the precious promise of their Saviour's return. We read in the book of Jude:—

"And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." Jude 14, 15.

Of Abraham, "the friend of God," to whom the promises were made, our Lord declares:—

"Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad." John 8: 56.

What Abraham saw comprehended more than the birth of Christ, the promised Seed; for we read again of him that—

"he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." Heb. 11: 10.

That city is the New Jerusalem; and they who see it as Abraham hoped to see it, see it as the consummation of the saints' inheritance. Of that city John, the beloved disciple, writes:—

"The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb." Rev. 21: 14.

That identifies it as the city of Abraham's hopes. Concerning the same city the same apostle writes:—

"And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new." Rev. 21: 2-5.

Since the clouds of heaven received our Saviour from the midst of his sorrowing and astonished disciples, the promise of his return has soothed the pillow of the dying saint and anchored the soul of the living child of God to the very throne of the Infinite.

But it is not the faithful of the gospel dispensation alone that have found comfort in the blessed hope of the Saviour's triumphant return. The patriarch Job yearned to witness the same event and to look upon the face of the One "whom having not seen" he loved. Said he:—

"But as for me I know that my Redeemer liveth, and at last he will stand up upon the earth: and after my skin, even this body, is destroyed, then without my flesh shall I see God; whom I, even I, shall see, on my side, and mine eyes shall behold, and not as a stranger." Job 19: 25-27.

It is the most blessed thought in connection with the Christian's home going that he is not going to the home of a stranger, but to the home of One whom he has learned to love, who loved him with a love men cannot measure, and whose home is his home. When we look to him through the window of his love, we see in him and in his coming nothing to fear or dread. It is only when we join the company of his accusers and turn our backs upon the proffers of his grace, that we have reason to dread the day of his return. It is the great man, the self-assertive man, the wicked man, the doubter, and the scoffer who will "cry there bitterly." But he who knows his Saviour will lift glad hands toward the cloud chariot of Immanuel, and shout, "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is Jehovah; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation." Isa. 25: 9.

The coming of that day brings the long-promised reward to the waiting children of the great Father. Says the revelator, "Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to render to each man according as his work is." Rev. 22: 12. "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He that hath ears, let him hear." Matt. 13: 43. Of that time of triumph and reward Daniel testifies: "And they that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever."

That is the class to whom our Saviour refers in these words: "He that overcometh, I will give to him to sit down with me in my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father in his throne." Rev. 3: 21. Jesus is speaking of the same class again when he says:—

"Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and shall come and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, and if in the third, and find them so, blessed are those servants. . . . Be ye also ready: for in an hour that ye think not the Son of man cometh." Luke 12: 37-40.

Signs in the industrial, the spiritual, the social, and the political world, as well as the signs in the heavens, tell us that the day of deliverance is near for the loyal subjects of the King of Peace. Let us not be engrossed or surfeited with the affairs of this world. The greatest event in the history of man is soon to cross the threshold of this world. Let us watch and be ready, lest, coming suddenly, he find us sleeping. The prize is the greatest prize that Divinity can offer humanity. Any risk at all is too great a risk. "Be ye also patient; establish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord is at hand." James 5: 8.

The Conservation of Our Forces

By Francis M. Wilcox

THE wise general in worldly warfare seeks to conserve his own forces as well as to inflict losses upon his enemy. By pursuing this policy, small but well-organized armies have been enabled to withstand much greater forces. This principle of conservation should be recognized in Christian warfare. While the church of God must carry on active warfare against the hosts of sin, and assault the strongholds of error, it must seek by every means in its power to conserve its own forces. What advantage is there in capturing the forces of the enemy in one field, while at the same time an equal number are surrendered to his power in some other locality?

Had this principle been recognized in this movement in the years that have passed, our membership would have been largely augmented, and there would be associated with us today many who are wandering in the paths of sin. Small value attaches to world-wide missionary effort if valuable positions at home must be surrendered and souls be left to go to ruin. The gospel message which we have to give to the world is not primarily for the purpose of warning men. If this were all, we could sound the warning in one field, and then pass on to another without regard to the afterresults. But the purpose of the gospel is to save men from sin; to perfect them in Christian character; to bring them to a home in the kingdom of God at last. We have fallen far short of what we should have done in other lands. The unwarned millions in Europe, Asia, and Africa make mute appeal to us to enlarge the scope of our operations. But let us remember that with our interest for perishing men in the regions beyond there should exist an equal interest in perishing men at home.

That we have been remiss many, many times in putting forth timely and proper labor for the erring and discouraged among us goes without saying. We have left men and women to die. We have seen them day after day drifting away from God; filled with the spirit of worldliness; losing their interest in sacred things; following the pleasures and vanities of the world; but our voices have not been raised in warning. This is a great sin of which we must repent before the Lord, and in our sorrow we need to bring forth the proper fruits meet for repentance, a reformation of our ways of doing. The standard of church membership should be raised. In the lives of many who are now members of this church there should be decided changes of life-purpose and of experience.

There should be in all our churches more careful, faithful discipline judiciously exercised. Allow no one to entertain the feeling that he may live as he lists and reach heaven at last; that he may go on in indifference and carelessness and still be counted a member of the church in good and regular standing. But in the application of this discipline there should be patient, earnest Christian labor.

Too often in our churches the erring ones, instead of receiving such labor, are criticized and gossiped about. Their misdeeds are told to others but little is said to them, and we find too often that even responsible members in our churches are not backward in this work of tearing down instead of building up.

It is painful to visit some of our churches and have perchance the elder or deacon, or the Sabbath school superintendent, come to you with a long portrayal of the sins of church members. This brother or this sister has done wrong. You inquire whether the proper labor has been put forth and the answer in many cases is that such timely effort has not been bestowed. They have been waiting for the minister to do the work. While this may not be true in the large majority of our churches, it is true in too many instances.

Oh, if we could realize as ministers of the gospel, as officers in the church of God, as members of his church, our responsibility before high heaven! To us has been intrusted the work of saving souls. We are our brothers' keeper. We are God's ambassadors to a lost world. As such ambassadors we hold in our hands the pardon of the Most High for the rebels against the government of God. How shall we answer in the last great day if we are recreant to our trust?

If it shall be our good fortune to stand within the city of God when it is compassed by the millions of the ungodly, and we see in that doomed throng our old-time friends and relatives and neighbors, will the conviction of condemnation rest upon us? Will we feel in that day of final judgment that we did all we could to secure their salvation? That day will come soon in our history. That fearful reality we must sometime face. May God grant that we shall be so true to our calling in Christ Jesus, so faithful in labor for those around us, that we shall have the consciousness in our own souls that we have done all we could, and that through no course of ours, either by sin of omission or commission, have souls gone down to eternal ruin. Today God gives us opportunity to labor for him. Let us work faithfully while the day lasts, before the night of darkness and despair settles down upon the world.

F. M. W.

Native Life and Mission Work

By T. J. Gibson

Southern Rhodesia, South Africa

THE natives as we find them are mostly engaged in their rural pursuits,—the raising of grain, the tending of the flocks and herds, and the trapping and hunting of game,—which are carried on in much the same way as in past centuries.

Their dwellings are built mostly of poles stood on end in the ground, tied together with twigs and bark, and daubed with earth. The huts are usually round, with low walls, wide eaves, and roofs of grass thatch. In some places they build the walls entirely of earth, much as concrete is used. As one section dries, another is added. The women do this work, and the molding of the walls in the section of a cone is very skillfully executed. The earth sets hard enough to support the roof. The walls are only about four feet six inches in height, and taper in thickness. The houses have but one room and one door. There are no windows, neither do they need chimneys, as the smoke passes through the grass roof. For a fireplace they have a raised ring, molded in the earthen floor in the center of the room. In some instances they have earthen sleeping forms raised a little above the floor, also shelves of similar construction for their household utensils. They commonly sleep, cook, and eat in the same hut, and frequently share it with their domestic animals. Their huts are built close together, forming small villages, which are surrounded with palings.

Their chief grains are several varieties of Kafir corn (in appearance something like barley), millet, maize, and in some instances, rice. They also raise beans, monkey nuts (peanuts), sweet potatoes, melons, pumpkins, spinach, tobacco, and gourds.

Their cultivation of the ground is very shallow. It is done with a short-handled hoe. The operator walks backward and away from the furrow he has turned. Single-furrow plows are now being introduced. In clearing the land they do not dig out the trees, but cut them off several feet above the ground and burn the branches around the roots. The cutting is done early in the season, and the burning just before digging and planting time. They thresh with flails, and store the grain in small earthen huts to keep it from the white ants (termites).

A very large proportion of their grain is used in the brewing of beer. The refuse is not wasted, but dried and ground, and then used for food. The beer itself is somewhat of a food, has the consistency of gruel, and is intoxicating. A quantity of grain is also ground, and used for porridge.

Flesh food is used sparingly, not from choice, but from necessity. There are very few living creatures that they refuse to eat. Different tribes condemn different creatures as food, not on the ground of physical uncleanness, but because of their association with some evil spirit. The wolf, for instance, is ridden by a witch; an owl is a spirit medium; but field mice and caterpillars are delicacies. There is a considerable variety of wild fruit, which the natives utilize in season, and there is one variety which they dry and use to make a kind of bread. The flesh of this fruit is similar to that of the date, only more scanty and not so rich. They have another fruit, the juice of which is used to make a kind of wine. It is something like cider, and can be had in the sweet stage.

They are very fair hunters, continuing the use of bows and arrows, spears, clubs, pits, and a great variety of traps and nets, in securing both beasts and birds. Only a very limited number of their chiefs are allowed to possess guns. The natives are sometimes badly mauled or are killed by a leopard or a lion, but even these beasts are successfully combated single-handed with club and spear. For instance, a native, practiced as a hunter, with a newly cut thorn bush in the left hand and a spear in the right, will approach a leopard in a tree. In most instances the leopard will jump for the man, who will receive him on the thorn bush and thrust him through with the spear. Cases are known of native hunters receiving a lion on the leap by adroitly placing the butt end of the spear on the ground, and holding the point at such an angle as to use the whole weight of the animal's charge in its own destruction.

Their social instincts are well expressed in their custom of the digging, planting, harvesting, and threshing bees, which are intermingled with beer drinking, feasting, and dancing. Their work is done on such occasions in unison, and is accompanied with singing. Their dancing is accompanied with singing and the beating of drums. Crude stringed instruments are also used. The festal season begins at harvest time and continues as long as the grain lasts for the brewing of beer. Dancing continues long into the night, and is frequently followed by violent club swinging on the part of the younger men, in the settling of their difficulties.

Handicraft

Iron smelting was carried on by the natives until very recent years. They still do some blacksmithing, but the hoes, axes, spear blades, and other implements of their own make are almost entirely supplanted by the imported articles. They do a considerable amount of wire and bead work, the material for which is mostly imported. Basket work, mat making, net weaving, and pottery are still carried on extensively. In all these industries the natives have considerable skill.

Polygamy

The natives have as many wives as they can afford to buy. Cattle are the standard currency for this purpose. The suitor agrees with the girl's father for a certain price. Girls may be spoken for in some instances while they are yet small children, and paid for on the installment plan. Wives are bought by parents, for their boys, at an early age. Wives may also be inherited by a son from his father or brother as property. While polygamy is not yet forbidden by law, it is being discouraged by the government authorities. The native commissioners are the marriage officers ordinarily. The law forbids polygamy in those who have been married by Christian rites. Natives are expected to report the death of males to the commissioner. Births are not registered. Twins of either sex are in a great many cases disposed of. In some instances one is allowed to survive. The authorities are doing their utmost to stamp out this evil.

The government has reserved large tracts of land for the natives, where they are ruled over in all minor affairs by their chiefs, subject to commissioners (Europeans) appointed by the government, one for each district. Every able-bodied male over sixteen years of age pays a hut tax of one pound a year, and ten shillings a head for more than one wife. As squatters on the farms, they are in most instances required by the owners to pay a rent of from one to two pounds a year, or its equivalent in labor.

(To be concluded)

The World's Crisis

By Editor

IN the early part of the present year the Review and Herald issued a little book, "The World's Crisis." It was published to meet a special condition which exists in the world at the present time. The book gives careful consideration to the Eastern Question, the evidences of the second coming of the Lord, the relation of the Sabbath to present-day issues, etc. This book has had thus far an unprecedented sale. Already more than one hundred thousand copies have been distributed, and the demand for the book seems fairly just begun. Men, women, and children who have never had experience in the sale of our publications are disposing of from five to one hundred copies daily.

On the Alaska Coast

In a letter to the Mission Board office from Ketchikan, Alaska, Brother F. W. Temple, owner and master of the little cruiser "Searchlight," reports that he and his wife are endeavoring to keep the light of truth shining in that region of the far north.

OFF FOR AN ALL-DAY TRIP WITH THE "SEARCHLIGHT" ALONG ALASKA'S COAST

Brother Temple writes that he had hoped to be able to do more missionary work this season than heretofore, but as he is working on his own resources, he has found it necessary of late to spend most of his time plying for hire in the Ketchikan harbor district. A missionary trip of two hundred and fifty miles, to Juneau, with publications for sale and distribution, was a more expensive endeavor than he had planned for. Now, with the necessity for sticking closely to business to make up arrears, Brother Temple plans to do what he can while waiting and praying for further workers to come to Alaska. He adds:—

"The 'Searchlight' makes many free trips to administer relief to poor unfortunates in distant camps, but I am using her to carry passengers for hire, so do not call her strictly a missionary boat. With the opening of spring my spirits have revived, and I am hopeful of getting my business into such shape that I can give more time to mission work. We are glad to note the progress that is being made throughout the wide world, but it grieves us to see so little being done for Alaska. We believe there are better days ahead for this great northern land."

A Few Weeks at Soemberwekas, Java

By R. P. Montgomery

R. P. MONTGOMERY

AFTER a few years spent in the tropics and nearly a year and a half in Borneo, Mrs. Montgomery and I felt the need of a few weeks' rest in a cooler climate. We sailed from Sandakan to Java, via Singapore. Arriving in Batavia, we took the train across to Surabaya, in the eastern extremity of Java. From Surabaya, we traveled by train about thirty miles southeast to the foot of the hills. From here we rode in small carts, pulled by two small ponies, going ungrade as far as we could, and then walked on up to Soemberwekas. Native coolies carried

our baggage.

Soemberwekas is the name of the native village, or kampong. Next to this kampong, the Java Mission owns two pieces of property which are used principally for a place of retreat for our missionaries who are in need of rest or have been having malarial fever. There are two pieces of land, of about three or four acres each, with a frame house on one and a brick-and-cement house on the other. The land is set out with about twenty different kinds of fruit trees. Many beautiful flowers, ferns, and bushes adorn the yards. There is a nice stream of water from the mountains flowing through the land, which is used for irrigation.

The location is ideal. A beautiful view of the surrounding country can be had from either place. Four miles to the north is Mt. Penangongan, about 4,000 feet above tide, a solitary mountain covered with tall grass and a few clumps of jungle on the sides. To the west and the south can be seen among the mountains two craters of volcanoes. They have been seen to smoke some at times, and occasionally a slight quake is felt. To the east, down below, the plains, dotted with groves and rice fields, stretch before your view for miles and miles onward to the sea. Here and there can be seen a tall, white smokestack, representing a sugar mill. Those plains down below are covered with millions of Mohammedan Javanese, who are plodding along in their paddy (rice) fields, cane fields, cornfields, and fruit gardens, day after day and year after year, knowing nothing of the Saviour. As I sit here and look out toward the east upon those thousands of little kampongs, I am constrained to make a plea in behalf of these people. How much longer must they wait before some one will explain to them the glad story? These same plains and these hills have been here for about two thousand years, practically as they now are, inhabited by the same race of people, waiting, waiting, waiting.

Java is one of Holland's East Indian possessions, and is one of the most beautiful islands in the world. It has an area about equal to that of Pennsylvania, and a population of 33,000,000, or nearly one third that of the United States. Our missionaries here are few. In Surabaya, Brother and Sister Wood are located, and in Batavia Sister Tunheim is stationed. Now what are they for so many millions? Can one person preach the message to 11,000,000 persons? So we in the Malaysian Mission field plead for more help for Java, as well as for some of the other islands.

We are thankful for the rest at Soemberwekas, and for the quiet study and meditation it has afforded us. We shall soon be on our way back to Borneo to continue the work in that field. When you pray for missions, do not forget us.

Uruguay

By James T. Thompson

JAMES T. THOMPSON

Our progress in acquiring the language seems to be rather slow, but we are gradually succeeding. I am now able to converse with the people and make myself understood in simple things, and I have learned a great deal of how to simplify things that are deeper. During a recent trip into the country, I found that I was able to make people understand a great deal more than I had supposed I could. Most of my work of late has been with the special issue of the Atalaya dealing with the war question. My inability to talk freely saves me from entering into lengthy conversations, and results in more sales. Mrs. Thompson also has had good success in this work.

Our workers are of good courage. The burdens of the work are pressing hard, and we feel insufficient for the great task before us; but the work is not ours but God's, and we are simply to be instruments in his hands. Our brethren are doing personal work for their neighbors as they have not done before, and those who heard the truth in years past are inquiring "what these things mean." This gives us new courage and vigor. We are also cheered by the good reports from the homeland.

Montevideo.

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