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Review and Herald, Vol. 84, No. 8.

Our Trust

Review and Herald

Feb 21, 1907

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 21, 1907

Our Trust

*There is no hour so dark but through its gloom Some bright stars shine. There is no soul so lost but may find room In Christ divine.*
*No wayward one whate'er his plight may be, But may, O Lord, find perfect rest in Thee.*
*Though far from home the wandering footsteps stray, In paths of sin; God's door of mercy stands ajar alway, To welcome in The penitent who in his sorrow kneels To claim the pardon which His love reveals.*
*Out of the depths I lift mine eyes to Thee, O Righteous One! Complete, I pray, the gracious work in me Thou hast begun; And keep me true through every passing year, Till waking in Thy likeness I appear.*
— Selected.

One Hundred Thousand Circulation

By Charles H. Jones

Conducted by the Department of Circulation of the Review and Herald Publishing Association

One Hundred Thousand Circulation

Would not every Seventh-day Adventist rejoice if it could be said that our good old pioneer missionary paper, the Signs of the Times, had a circulation of one hundred thousand copies weekly? Well, that is just what we are striving for, and we trust there will be no let up until the deed is accomplished.
And it is not such a great undertaking after all—only an average of about two copies to each church-member.
The Salvation Army War Cry, Ladies' Home Journal, and other papers of that class have a circulation of from five hundred thousand to one million copies. With our constituency and the important message we have to give to the world, is it too much to expect a circulation of one hundred thousand copies for the Signs?
It has already been demonstrated that the Signs of the Times is the most effective agency we have for bringing people into the truth, but the publishers have been studying to see how they could make it still more efficient for general missionary work, and the next volume promises to be better than ever.
Beginning about the first of April, there will be a series of twenty-six special numbers covering all points of present truth. Among the subjects to be considered in this series are the following:—

THE BIBLE

Oneness of the Scriptures and Their Inspiration.

PROPHECY

  1. Its Object and Scope.
  2. The Great Image of Daniel 2.
  3. The Four Beasts of Daniel 7.
  4. The Seven Seals of Revelation 5 and 6.

THE COMING OF THE LORD

  1. Will He Actually Come Again?
  2. How Will He Come?
  3. What His Coming Means to the Righteous.
  4. What His Coming Means to Those Who Reject Him.
  5. What His Coming Means to the Earth, Including the Promised Inheritance and the Everlasting Kingdom.

OUR SACRIFICE AND PRIEST

  1. The Lamb Slain from the Beginning.
  2. Our Sacrifice in Type and Shadow.
  3. The Ancient Sanctuary and Its Service.
  4. The Antitypical Sanctuary—Our Center of Worship.
  5. The Twenty-three Hundred Days of Dan. 8: 14.
  6. The Judgment and Its Message.

THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES

  1. Signs in the Sun, Moon, and Stars.
  2. Signs in the Physical Earth—Cyclones, Earthquakes, Tidal Waves, etc.
  3. Crop Failures, Destruction by Insects.
  4. Various False Isms Which Are Undermining Christian Faith.
  5. Capital and Labor.
  6. Socialism.

THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL

  1. The Law—Its Scope, Character, and Perpetuity.
  2. The Gospel—What It Is and Its Purpose.

MAN AND HIS DESTINY

  1. The Man Created and His Nature.
  2. The Entrance of Sin and Its Ripened Fruits—Death.
  3. Righteousness and Life.
  4. Christ Our Life.
  5. The Resurrection.

SPIRITUAL GIFTS

  1. What They Are, Their Purpose and Distribution.
  2. Restoration in the Church.

ELECTION, PREDESTINATION, AND FREE WILL

THE GREAT THREEFOLD MESSAGE

  1. The Condition of the World.
  2. God's Healing Message.
  3. Message Rejected, and Result.
  4. The Beast.
  5. The Image.
  6. The Mark.
  7. The Result of the Messages.
  8. God's Sealing Work.

THE CHURCH

  1. What the Church Is.
  2. The Called-out Ones.
  3. The Apostate Church.
  4. The Two Witnesses.

BIBLE TEMPERANCE

  1. The Temple of God—Eating, Drinking, Dressing, Exercise, and Breathing.
  2. True Sanctification.

THE SABBATH, THE TEST OF THE AGES

  1. Its Origin, Nature, and Object.
  2. The Sabbath in the Old Testament.
  3. The Sabbath in the New Testament.
  4. The First Day of the Week.
  5. The Change of the Sabbath.
  6. The Restoration of the Sabbath.

THE GREAT FEDERATION MOVEMENT

  1. Federation of Capital.
  2. Federation of Labor Organizations.
  3. Federation of Socialistic Societies.
  4. Federation of Religious Bodies.
  5. The True Church Unfederated.

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

  1. What It Is.
  2. Relation of Church and State.
  3. Preaching of the Scriptures.
  4. Religious Liberty in America.
  5. The Prophecy of Revelation 13.
  6. Religious Liberty Menaced.
  7. The World-Wide Extent of the Movement.
  8. The Year of Uncertainty in France.
  9. The Papacy's Challenge to Germany.

THE OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT

  1. The World's Great Need.
  2. Baptized for Service.
  3. The Power of Godliness.
These subjects will be supplemented by Bible readings, and taken up in such a thorough, systematic, progressive way that they can not fail to interest and convince the honest in heart.
Every church and isolated member ought to take a club for general missionary work, and then an earnest effort should be put forth by them to secure yearly subscriptions. The next volume will contain “a feast of good things,” and our friends and neighbors should have the privilege of enjoying it.
We presume all our readers will give a hearty assent to all this, but, dear friend, let us be a little more definite, and ask you personally, What are you going to do to help bring about this much-to-be-desired result? Are you willing to act your part, and pay for two or more papers to be used by your church in general missionary work, or to send to your friends or neighbors?
Are you willing to take a club, and then sell the papers on the street or from house to house?
Are you willing to join the ranks like a good soldier, and do your part in this work?
It means hard work and self-sacrifice, but there is a blessed reward at the end.
In one of the Special Testimonies it is stated that “our missionary paper, the Signs of the Times is doing its work everywhere, and is opening the way for the truth to be more fully presented.” And in another place we read, “It is a fact that the circulation of our papers is doing even a greater work than the living preacher can do.”
Now in view of this, we have every reason to take courage and push the work vigorously.
The past year has been an eventful one, and 1907 promises to be even more so. Calamities are multiplying on land and sea. Earthquakes continue in divers places, capital and labor are still at war, our large cities are fast becoming like Sodom and Gomorrah, the nations are arming for the last great struggle, and everything goes to show that we are nearing the end. In the “Outlook” department of the Signs special attention will be given to current events, showing the fulfilment of prophecy.
Now, just now, is our time to work, and we appeal to you to take hold with us to help increase the circulation of our pioneer missionary paper, and in this way assist in giving the last warning message to the world.
We can not all go to foreign lands as missionaries, but we can all have a part in circulating the Signs, and thus have a part in giving the last message.
If you are a member of a church, talk with the elder or librarian about this matter. If the church is already taking a club, see if it can not be enlarged.
If you are alone, then write to your tract society or to the publishers direct, asking for descriptive matter and suggestions, how to use the Signs, etc.
Little booklets have been prepared telling what the Signs will contain during the coming year, what it has accomplished by those who have used it in the past, how to organize and pay for a church club, who are agents, club rates, etc. These little booklets contain full information in regard to the Signs, and they can be had for the asking. Address your tract society, or the Signs of the Times, Mountain View, Cal.
The following words from Elder E. K. Slade, president of the East Michigan Conference, is a sample of many letters pledging hearty co-operation:—
“I believe the Signs is growing better all the time, and feel that it is not receiving the circulation that it should. We wish to do our part, and I shall endeavor to use my influence and best efforts for the accomplishing of a stronger work with the Signs in our conference.”
C. H. JONES, President Pacific Press Publishing Assn

The Victories of Faith

Editorial

The Victories of Faith

“WHATSOEVER is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”
When we talk about faith, we must necessarily talk about the victories of faith; for that is the only thing that faith knows. Whenever there is anything else than victory in the Christian life and experience, it is because of the lack of faith. Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of our faith, and he always “giveth us the victory,” so that we can say, “Thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ.”
It might be interesting to consider simply the cases wherein victory has come to individuals through faith; it might encourage us to do even this, but it always seems to me that the personal element should be strong in our instruction. We might be encouraged and comforted by considering at some length some of the grand examples of the victory of faith as set forth in Hebrews, of whom Paul says, “Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: and others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonments: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented (of whom the world was not worthy); they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.”
What a catalogue! every one of them a victory of faith. But what I desire is that we as individuals shall enter into the experience of just such victories of faith. It will be worth a great deal more to us if we learn how to work righteousness by faith, than to hear of a hundred others who had wondrous success in that work. It will be more profitable to us to learn how to meet the enemy and conquer him by faith, than to know how many others have done the same thing.
The main object of this lesson will be to bring to your minds something of the practical experience of the victory of faith. All the victories of faith are not recorded in the Bible. On the daily history of the earnest Christian, who believes in the power of God as revealed in Jesus Christ, may be written the reward of faith.
Let me state first that what God can do, faith in God can do. Faith is that which so unites us to Christ, so brings him present to us as a living Saviour, that what was wrought when he was here in bodily form, shall be wrought by us by the power of his Holy Spirit working in us. The Scripture gives us a definition of faith. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith takes those things which are unseen and brings them before us. Faith makes real to us the things which are not seen with the naked eye. Faith takes the unseen, though eternal things, and brings them to us in present experience. By faith we take possession of them. When God gave us Jesus Christ, he gave us everything; and when we receive Jesus Christ, we receive everything. Eternal life comes with him; for he says, “He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” Inasmuch as Jesus Christ is the revelation of the infinite God, finite man will spend the day of eternity in studying what he received when he received Jesus Christ. But God designs to reveal to us, even in this life, more and more of what we receive in Christ, and faith is that which makes these things real to us.
What God requires of us is the revelation of what he is, and the assurance of what he will do for us. Faith is that which lays hold of this experience, and works it out. Suppose we study carefully the details of this faith. Faith is the gift of God, and the faith God gives is a living faith, a living element that possesses in itself life and working power. “For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.” It works by love. “And now abideth faith, hope, and charity [or love], these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” Love is the first fruit of the Spirit. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” This love of God is nothing else than the very life of God. We can not separate one of the attributes of the character of God from God himself. We have just so much of love as we have of God, and no more. The revealing of God’s presence is simply the revealing to us of his attributes. When the love of God was revealed in Jesus Christ, it brought victory. I said before, that faith does just what God does. Christ said, “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world,” and our first text reads, “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” What Christ did as an overcomer, that our faith working through love, can do. James says, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you,” and Peter says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist steadfast in the faith.”
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, because in him sin,which brings condemnation, was itself condemned. In him the condemnation passed from the sinner to the sin. The sins of the repentant sinner are condemned in the flesh by the grace of Christ, because of Christ’s experience in victory over the flesh.
(To be continued)

God's Warnings Justified

By C. M. S.

WHENEVER God has given a warning to his people in any age of the world, there has been reason for it, and business in it; and they who have heeded it have escaped calamity, and found shelter in the refuge provided.
The Word of God contains the record of prophecies that have been fulfilled, prophecies that are fulfilling, and prophecies that are yet to be fulfilled. That men may not lightly regard these things, the Lord says: “Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.” Isa. 42:9. Inspiration makes reference to this fulfilment of past prophecy that men may think more seriously of the prophecies yet unfulfilled. If the prophecies of the past have been fulfilled, those of the future will also come to pass. Past fulfilments of prophecy leave men without excuse for disbelieving what God has foretold concerning the future. Then to assure us that he will not leave us in the dark concerning occurrences of the future, he says: “Before they spring forth I tell you of them.”
Those who heeded the warning given to the antediluvian world were safe when the flood came. Those who did not were lost. The warning came to Sodom before the Lord laid the hand of punishment upon it, and those who heeded it went out in safety. He told Abraham the condition of his descendants in Egypt, and their ultimate deliverance from bondage. He told Israel of calamities which would come because of their forsaking him, and Israel knows that those words came true. He told Israel when they might expect their Lord, and he came on time. He gave warning of the destruction of Jerusalem, and the fire and sword of the Romans swept it to the ground; but they who heeded the warning came out unscathed.
Now the Lord has told us who are living to-day what we might expect in this generation, and we see these things fulfilling before our eyes. He has told us that the rich would oppress the poor, and take from the hireling his wages. We have seen it done, and are seeing it done with greater frequency as the days go by, with greater and greater harshness, with less and less care for the miseries of the people oppressed. He has told us that the rich would not simply be growing richer, but would be actually heaping treasure together, and we have seen it done and doing.
These things were given as way-marks to tell us when we are in “the last days.” They have come; we are in “the last days.” In these last days, then, the Lord tells us that “perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” 2 Tim. 3:1-5. No one writing at the present time could better describe the condition of things to-day than the prophet of the Lord has pictured them beforehand in the Scriptures.
But this is not all. The Lord, speaking to the people of this age, says that “there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them;” and “through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you.” 2 Peter 2:1-3. How exactly this is being fulfilled at the present time! first, on the part of religious teachers who deny the divinity of Jesus Christ and the efficacy of his atonement for man’s salvation; and second, on the part of schemers who defraud the people in the name of religion, who literally “make merchandise” of deluded followers! Witness the mind-cures, the psychic healing, the “absent treatments” at so much each, the “divine healing” for the money there is in it. Witness the wonderful power exercised not long ago when three thousand persons arose to their feet, declaring that John Alexander Dowie was the prophet Elijah, and then see them pour their money into his hands. Verily, that scripture was fulfilled before our eyes. Then witness the subsequent revelations, the scandals, the disruption—all designed by the father of deception to cast reproach upon religion.
False Christs were to come: they have come, and there will be more of them; and those to follow will make greater pretensions and show greater power than those that have gone before.
False prophets were to arise: they are in every part of the world. One class was to cry “peace and safety.” They are hard at work doing it now, and their name is legion. They are in the church and out of the church. Some are prophesying wonderful progress, others a temporal millennium of righteousness under the personal reign of Christ. And all this in spite of the scripture which says that “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.”
False Christs and false prophets will multiply, and their deceptions will increase as we near the end. We see how the former warnings were justified, how they have been fulfilled, and those who have heeded them have escaped. As the destruction that is now hastening on is more terrible and complete than anything that has gone before, there is certainly no less reason for the giving of the warnings that are fulfilling and to be fulfilled.
Some are carried away by every delusion that Satan has ever invented. Some have been deceived by every false prophet that has ever arisen; and so the Lord, looking down upon the last days, and seeing the workings of the greatest deceptions the world has ever known, says: “Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea! for the devil has come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” Rev. 12:12.
Let us thank the great Revealer that he has faithfully pointed out the great delusions and stumbling-blocks that are to increase till the trump of God peals out through the clouds of heaven. We have seen his word fulfilled in the past; we see it fulfilling now; and we know that all that has been written will be fulfilled to the very letter. Let us, then, take the Word of God as the man of our counsel, that we may escape the corruption and deception that are pouring in like a flood upon the last generation of men. When we see teachings disseminated whose tendency is to disrupt and disorganize that upon which God has set the stamp of his approval, we may know that it is the work of the destroyer, and not of the Deliverer. C. M. S.

The Absolute Certainty

By W. A. S.

“THAT thou mightest know the certainty of these things, wherein thou hast been instructed.” Luke 1:4.
The fulfilment of prophecy supplies an evidence of absolute certainty as to the foundations and meaning of the advent movement. It is good for any one to go over and over the prophetic outlines, as one would prove over and over the addition of a column of figures if his life depended upon an absolutely correct result.
There is a mathematical certainty about the truths of the third angel’s message. We can add up the evidence in this or that column of prophecies and fulfilments, and the result is the same every time—the last days have come, and this advent people is raised up in fulfilment of prophecy to bear the final message to the world.
For example, twenty-five centuries ago, in the days of Belshazzar, Danielthe prophet was given a view of the great controversy to the end of time. He saw the apostasy casting the truth to the ground, warring against both the sanctuary of God and his people. He saw the investigative judgment beginning in heaven, and the standard of truth lifted up against apostasy.
“How long shall be the vision?” called one heavenly being to another in the vision regarding the time of the cleansing of the sanctuary, which is the investigative judgment.
The reply was, “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” Dan. 8:14. This longest of the prophetic periods, beginning 457 B. C. (Dan. 9:25; Ezra 7:6-8), expired in the year 1844 A. D., when the cleansing of the sanctuary, the hour of God’s judgment, began.
Nearly two thousand years ago, John, in the Revelation, was shown the events on earth to follow the opening of the judgment hour in heaven. He saw the message being carried to every nation and people, “The hour of his judgment is come,” with the warning against the worship of the beast and its image. He was shown that the people obeying and bearing this message were keepers of “the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14:6-12. And he saw also that this remnant church would meet the special opposition of the enemy not only because of keeping the commandments of God, but because of “the testimony of Jesus,” “the spirit of prophecy,” in its midst. Rev. 12:17; 19:10.
All these things were shown those prophets of God long centuries ago. The year 1844 came. The cry of the judgment hour was raised. A people keeping the commandments of God and having the spirit of prophecy in its midst began giving the threefold message just as the prophet describes it.
It was necessarily so, for the word of the Lord was pledged to it. Without such a people and work, and at that time, the “sure word of prophecy” would have failed. Failing the voice of the spirit of prophecy in the midst of the movement, guiding in the work and organization, and bearing the messages of God to the remnant church, the prophecy would have failed. But there was no failure. Every word of the prophecy was fulfilled. Such things can never come by chance.
Any soul that steps off from the platform of truth to which the Lord called this advent people has no platform of advent truth. If this development from 1844 onward was not the true movement, and that exercise of the spirit of prophecy by which the Lord organized and guided this people as one united body was not the true gift, then it is too late for any true advent movement to arise.
The divine commission and guidance in this advent movement is established on grounds of absolute certainty. God’s prophets foresaw it; the time brought the fulfilment. W. A. S.

Organization—No. 4

By A. G. Daniells

A Brief Account of Its History in the Development of the Cause of the Third Angel’s Message

The first definite proposal to be found in the records of our history to organize the affairs of this cause was made by Elder James White in the REVIEW AND HERALD, Feb. 25, 1860. The gifts for leadership with which Elder White was endowed placed him, at the beginning of this cause, in the front of the battle. From the first it was his lot to bear the heaviest cares and responsibilities connected with its progressive measures.
His large views of the character and scope of the message, and his careful study of the complications that were continually arising with the growth of the work, gave him clear and positive convictions that organization was a necessity. But knowing how generally and decidedly both ministers and people were opposed to organization, he waited long before making it an open issue. The time came, however, when it could no longer be delayed with safety, and then he fearlessly launched the movement.
Believing that the reader who is following this series closely will be especially interested in the first printed call for organization, I will here give the entire statement as it appeared in the REVIEW:—
To those who have so kindly and generously lent money to this office, we wish to say that as an individual, we do not wish to be considered in any way responsible for it. We act simply as publishing agent by direction of the Publishing Committee, for which we receive about three fifths the amount of our yearly expenses. And there are no reasons why we should be responsible for borrowed money used for the benefit of this office, which is the property of the church at large. This property is not insured, therefore in case of fire, would be a total loss. Those who consider it proper to let their money remain at the office under these circumstances, will do so at their own risk.
We hope, however, that the time is not far distant when this people will be in that position necessary to be able to get church property insured, hold their meeting-houses in a proper manner, that those persons making their wills, and wishing to do so, can appropriate a portion to the publishing department. Till this can be brought around, we must do the best we can; but we wish it distinctly understood that we bear no individual responsibility in the matter. To illustrate: A sister in Vermont proposed to let the office have the use of one hundred dollars, without interest, as several others had done. The money was sent, and also a note filled out for us to sign. We refused to write “James White,” but in its place, wrote “Advent Review and Sabbath Herald Office,” and sent it back to Vermont. In a few weeks the note was returned, and the money called back. This was all done in good feeling.
We call on preachers and leading brethren to give this matter their attention. If any object to our suggestions, will they please write out a plan on which we as a people can act?—James White, in Review and Herald, Vol. XV, page 108, Feb. 23, 1860.
This statement set on foot a definite and powerful movement in our ranks for organization. From the time it appeared in the REVIEW, the agitation and discussion of the subject never ceased until organization was successfully and permanently established. But the advocates of organization found that they had on their hands a difficult task. The opposition which this proposal encountered was described a few years later by Elder White as follows:—
Time never can show the bad results of the spirit of anti-organization among us. It kindled and raged like fire at the first suggestion of organization. It prostrated the cause everywhere, and when the scale turned in favor of organization, there was hardly a congregation among us, from Maine to Minnesota, but what had become so distracted and discouraged that they needed the labors of some faithful preacher a month before they were prepared for organization.—Review and Herald, Vol. XXI, page 140, March 31, 1863.
In another article published nearly three years after making his first proposal regarding organization, Elder White published the following statement:—
About all that has been done among the Seventh-day Adventists in relation to organization, is to silence the batteries of those who opposed it, and by dint of battle to succeed in forming the Publishing Association. And there the matter hangs, and we are not in as good condition to make a general strike for organization as we were two and a half years since, when the subject was first introduced. 1. Because those who were then ready to take hold of the work of organizing churches and conferences with courage and hope, have had their courage worn out, and their hopes dimmed, by the opposition of some, and what has been worse, the wavering, hesitating, non-committal position of others. 2. Some of our brethren who were in favor of organization, who were the supporters and best friends of the cause, have become much discouraged as they have seen that the course of several of our preachers has strengthened the minds of rebellion against order, the gifts, and systematic benevolence. Had our preachers all struck unitedly for organization at the first, this rebellion could then have been put down at once; but in Ohio it increased so rapidly as to soon wreck the cause in that State, and leave only the hope that some will make a timely escape. In Pennsylvania and southern New York, it grew with fearful results. The brethren voteddown organization, and sent us a report of their doings for publication.—Review and Herald, Vol. XX, page 140, Sept. 30, 1862.
From these statements it is evident that very few of our people have any adequate idea of what it cost the pioneers of this cause to establish the plan of organization that has proved such a factor in promoting union, order, and co-operation among us. Sister E. G. White, who also had an active part in that work, has written of it as follows:
It is nearly forty years since organization was introduced among us as a people. I was one of the number who had an experience in establishing it from the first. I know of the difficulties that had to be met, the evils it was designed to correct; and I have watched its influence in connection with the growth of the cause.—General Conference Bulletin, Jan. 29, 1892.
Let none entertain the thought, however, that we can dispense with organization. It has cost us much study, and many prayers for wisdom, that we know God has answered, to effect this structure. It has been built up by his direction through much sacrifice and conflict.—General Conference Bulletin, Jan. 29 and 30, 1893.
In presenting this phase of the history of organization as it is related to our cause, it should be made very plain that the opposition the most of our people felt toward organization did not spring from either lawlessness or insubordination. They held conscientious convictions regarding the matter. Anything approaching organization in religious or spiritual affairs alarmed them, for they believed this would result in spiritual declension and unholy alliances with the world. This was the view they had held while connected with the special movement of the first angel’s message, and many still firmly and conscientiously maintained it.
A. G. DANIELLS.

Help Secured for Our Educational Department

By Arthur G. Daniells

As far back as the Educational Convention held at College View in 1903, a number of our brethren who were deeply interested in the development of our school system believed that some one of experience and influence in the educational work should be chosen to devote his entire time to the important and rapidly growing interests of the Educational Department. At that time, both the chairman and the secretary of the department were in charge of large, important schools from which neither could be released without much difficulty and loss to the institutions. Being unable to secure any one else to give this work his full time, it was left with the officers of the department to do what they could to meet its needs while overseeing the institutions directly under their care.
It should be mentioned that these officers found the interests of the department pressing heavily upon them, and they made earnest efforts to take care of them. The secretary was obliged to carry on a large correspondence, and to visit many schools. The report presented by the officers to the Washington General Conference in 1905, showed a remarkable growth in this phase of our work. At this time, the belief of 1903—that some suitable school man should be chosen to give his entire time to the work of the department—became a settled conviction, and an unsuccessful effort was made to arrange for this.
In July, 1906, a large, enthusiastic, and successful educational convention was held at College View. Nearly all our leading teachers in the United States were present. In view of the great interests of the educational work, this convention unanimously passed a resolution requesting the General Conference to make the arrangements and changes necessary to enable either the chairman or the secretary of the department to devote all his time and energies to the general work of the department.
The General Conference Committee agreed with the convention in this, and began at once to make the arrangement requested. And now, after months of patient, perplexing, but persistent effort, we are glad to be able to tell the delegates to the convention that their request has been complied with. The chairman of the department, Prof. Frederick Griggs, has been released from South Lancaster Academy, in order that he may give the interests and needs of the general educational work his undivided attention.
Professor Griggs has just spent five days at headquarters, counseling with the General Conference Committee regarding his work, arranging the affairs of his office, etc., and has hurried into the field to visit a large number of schools before the summer vacation. It was decided that if possible he ought to visit all the colleges, academies, and intermediate schools as far west as College View and Keene. The purpose of this visit is to become acquainted with the teachers, the good work being done, and the general and special needs of these schools. It is the earnest desire of the General Conference to render through the Educational Department all the aid possible to make our school work the great blessing God designs it to be to his cause in the earth.
We are profoundly thankful that we have been able to make arrangements by which Professor Griggs can now give the needs of this department his entire time. Our educational work has made great advancement in recent years. There are now in operation twelve colleges, twenty-three academies, twenty intermediate schools, and over four hundred church-schools. Connected with these schools are more than eight hundred teachers giving their time, talents, and hearts to the training and development of eleven thousand of our young people and children. These schools have under cultivation six thousand acres of land. The total value of the buildings, land, and equipment of these institutions is placed at a million dollars. Three colleges, fourteen academies, and nineteen intermediate schools,—thirty-six in all,—have been established during the last six years. These have added one hundred and fifty-three to the list of our staff of teachers.
This large educational enterprise demands a great deal of attention. Our general school system must be perfected. This work must be developed in foreign lands. Text-books must be prepared. New schools must be opened, and thousands of our young people who are not now in our schools must be prevailed upon to enter them.
Professor Griggs will attend the General Conference Committee Council to be held in Switzerland in May, and while in Europe he will visit all the schools now established there, and will do all he can to help them. In view of the great work to be done in this department, we solicit the earnest prayers and hearty co-operation of all our people. A. G. DANIELLS.

Note and Comment

THE following striking statement is taken from the Lutheran Witness:—
The consciousness of guilt in sin appears to be fading from our minds. We are conscious of sin, we know that there is evil and wrong, but the guilt is measured by a lowered standard. We see sin in the world, and in some of its forms regard it as of exceeding enormity, but it does not affect us with an overwhelming sense of guilt. We know there is sin in ourselves, but there is not that crushing sense of its guilt that in former days entered so largely into Christian experience. There is not the apprehension of the wrath of God which a clear conception of the nature of sin would create. We have become accustomed to looking at it as imperfection, an inheritance from our ancestors, an infirmity of our nature, a violation of the common laws of living, as a something wrong and disquieting, but without the sense of deep personal guilt. We think of sin as toward ourselves rather than as Godward.
The reason for the condition above set forth is found in the prevalent teachings concerning the law of God, which seek either to set the law aside entirely or to interpret it in harmony with human wishes.

The Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollar Fund

By I. H. Evans

For Special Work at Home and Abroad

Publishing House in Port of Spain, Trinidad

This little publishing house is one of the youngest in our denomination, and one that has been put up largely by the sacrifice and self-denial of those in the field. This institution is a small cement building, with six-inch walls, about twelve feet in height, sixteen by forty-five feet in dimensions. It has ventilation really on but one side, and on that side stands the Seventh-day Adventist church. The roof, which is partly of galvanized iron and partly terra-cotta, is subject to the scorching rays of the tropical sun. Port of Spain is only ten degrees north of the equator, and the city is surrounded, except on one side, by mountains, so that it gets comparatively little breeze, and the employees of the office are exposed to the most intense heat. They did not have the money with which to buy a lot backing up against this building, and the General Conference Committee has authorized them to purchase the said lot, so that they could open up their printing plant, and have ventilation through the same.
This little plant is sending out the Caribbean Watchman, one of the ablest missionary periodicals printed by our denomination. It has supported itself from the very start, and has maintained a monthly circulation of about seven thousand five hundred copies.
I. H. EVANS.
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