Review and Herald, Vol. 93, No. 1. (1/6/1916)

Review and Herald

Jan 6, 1916

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Jan 6, 1916

The Law of God

Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments.

III

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

Thou shalt not kill.

VII

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

VIII

Thou shalt not steal.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man servant, nor his maid servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.

An Alarming Amount of Spiritual Indifference

THAT there is an alarming amount of spiritual indifference existing in the great Christian church was the general agreement of the commission of evangelization of the Federal Churches of Christ in the United States of America, which recently met at Columbus, Ohio. Dr. W. E. McCulloch, reporting the results of the meeting in the United Presbyterian for Dec. 16, 1915, says:—

While reports from certain portions of the field were encouraging, there was general agreement that the church of Christ in America is manifestly lacking in power. There is a most alarming amount of spiritual indifference within the church. A very considerable portion of its membership is sadly lacking in the elements of vital religion. As regards increase, the church is hardly keeping pace with the population in percentage of growth. The passion for winning souls to Christ is the possession of the few. We need a new enthusiasm, a new aggressiveness, that shall be Pentecostal in its transforming, conquering power.

We recognize that this is a true statement of the conditions existing in the great Christian church. The Word of God says that such conditions should exist in the last days. 2 Tim. 3:1-5. It is well for Seventh-day Adventists to consider to what extent this picture is true as applied to them. We would not say that there is an alarming amount of spiritual indifference within our church. We believe that a very large number of our brethren and sisters are devout Christians, alive and earnest in Christian service. But there may be found in almost every church membership those who are spiritually indifferent to an alarming degree, and who are sadly lacking in the elements of vital religion. For these members we need continually to labor. Let us be constantly on guard lest our membership shall so deteriorate in Christian experience that the standard of vital godliness shall be brought down to the level of that found in the great popular churches of the day.

Religion and the War

It has been stated by various writers that the great conflict now going on in Europe has served to very greatly increase the spirit of religious devotion among the people of the warring nations of the Old World. It is now claimed that there has been a reaction from this in France, and that the reaction is due to the unwise advantage sought by the Roman Catholic Church. Referring to the state of religion in France, the editor of the Record of Christian Work, in that paper for December, 1915, says:—

M. Yves le Febvre, in a symposium which La Grande Revue has instituted concerning the effect of the war on the religious life of France, says that, at first, the people attended mass with great zeal, and interested themselves in pilgrimages, propitiatory services, novenas, and the like. A medieval interest in miracles revived, but the tactlessness of the clergy in other lands, and especially of the Vatican, has checked the movement, if it has not stopped it altogether. French soldiers and their families have not been able to accept the monstrous theory that the war is a chastisement upon France because of her abandonment of the Roman Church.

This reasoning of the Catholic Church, the editor asserts, has little weight in view of the worse “terrors which have fallen upon Belgium, a land that certainly is not deficient in Catholicism;” and Austria, a true son of the church, apparently has suffered equally with France. We can believe that God permits war, famine, pestilence, earthquake, fire, and other ills of life to come upon the inhabitants of the world in order that they may be awakened to a realizing sense of their lost condition, and to their need of his saving grace. But it is indeed a “monstrous theory that the war is a chastisement upon France because of her abandonment of the Roman Church.”

But not content with working upon the feelings of the people, according to the Record of Christian Work, clerical pressure is being brought to bear in French hospitals. Various cases of clerical intolerance have been reported. “Soldiers who should receive convalescent care for a month, are sent away at the end of eight days for having refused to attend Catholic services.” The government has sought to safeguard its soldier wards, and has issued a poster affirming that— “1. Your right is absolute to practice the religion to which you belong. “2. Your right is absolute to remain outside of all religion.”

We are glad that in the midst of the duties and perplexities of war the principles of civil liberty are still recognized by French officials. A religious system which seeks to gain influence through working upon the fears of its devotees, which refuses succor to those in sickness and distress because they are not of the same religious faith, does not truly represent the religion of Jesus Christ. We believe that in the Catholic Church there may be found many earnest Christian men and women; but they are Christians not because of the system with which they are connected, but in spite of it.

Note and Comment

By Editor

A Noble Stand

THE newly inaugurated governor of Kentucky, A. O. Stanley, has taken a plain, straightforward position as regards his attitude toward the saloon interests. He declares publicly that during his term as chief executive of the State, not one drop of intoxicating liquor shall be admitted to the executive mansion nor served at any dinner given by the governor, and that he himself will be a total abstainer during his term of office. His reason for this is that the State demands the very best which is in him, and that no man can give his best who yields to the influence of intoxicants. We wish that the governor of every State in the Union would take just such a stand as this.

Mr. Spurgeon on Long Sermons

ADDRESSING a class of students preparing for the ministry, Mr. Spurgeon gave the following sensible advice with reference to sermons:—

Sermons ought never to be measured by the yardstick or the clock; but they ought to be measured by this one simple rule, “Have done when you have done.” Don’t be particular about how you come to a close, but be a great deal more concerned not to keep on till your discourse dies like a candle which cannot give another flicker. If you multiply words, you will spoil what you have done. Strike while the iron is hot, but do not keep on striking till the iron grows cold; though that is what many do. They hit the nail on the head, and drive it in; and then go on hammering till they split the board, and the nail drops out. They preach their people into a good frame of mind, and then preach them out of it.

EDITORIALS

By Editor

A God That Helps

THE God of the Christian is a present help in every time of need. He is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. It is the one who has never known this sweet and tender relationship, who has never experienced this practical help that comes from the Father above, that can declare, as was recently declared in an infidel paper sent us, that “there is no God that helps man.” The child of God knows that he serves a being who does help. He knows that when he prays there comes from above an answering response to his petition, which affords him a stronger evidence of the reality of God than does the sight of his eyes or the hearing of his ears.

There are two evidences of God, the external and the internal. The one who has never known God can read the evidences of his existence in his material universe and in his great works; but the one who has really come to know him, finds the internal evidences—the joy of communion with him, the messages of God to his heart, the miraculous working of divine power in his life—far more convincing than any external proof. We serve indeed a God that helps man. He will prove a present help in every time of need if we will but lay hold of his strength, and clasp his hand that is reached out to save.

New Year Wishes

By Francis McLellan Wilcox

WE stand on the threshold of another new year. We seek to peer into its future, but the curtain swings back only moment by moment and hour by hour. It is well that this is so, for we could not stand at one revelation all that the twelve months may bring to us. Its failures and successes, its joys and sorrows, are known only to the Infinite One. But what a satisfaction it is for the child of God to feel that his Father knows the future! In his great hand of love every human hand may be placed with the assurance that confiding trust will meet the fullest response in infinite, loving guidance.

Let us bring to the feet of the Lord Jesus all our hopes and our plans for 1916, seeking for his divine direction in their realization. If his providence shall indicate that our plans should be surrendered, let us hold ourselves ready to surrender them willingly and cheerfully. If, on the other hand, we are convinced that it would make for his glory and our good to seek the attainment of our cherished desires, then let us realize constantly how great a help we have in his companionship, and how completely we may rely upon his guidance.

WE WISH FOR ALL OF OUR READERS A HAPPY AND TRULY PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR.

1. We wish for you spiritual perfection. This was the wish expressed by the great apostle of the Gentiles to the Corinthian church. He says: “For we are glad, when we are weak, and ye are strong: and this also we wish, even your perfection.” We pray God that he may make the coming year the best year of all your lives, a year of marked growth in grace, of victory over sin, of close and loving companionship with the Lord Jesus. Do not let the failures of the past throw a pall of darkness over your experience for 1916. Wherein you have committed wrongs, make the wrongs right; and then let the past go, with all its failures. Of his own personal experience the apostle Paul declares:—

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 3: 13, 14.

We, like Paul, have not yet apprehended or fully laid hold upon Christ. Many, many times have we come short of the mark, but the standard of our past efforts must not become a gauge for future days. We must forget the things that are past, step out from under the cloud of our failures of last year, and press on toward the mark of perfection in Christ Jesus.

2. We wish for you physical health. We can say, in the words of the apostle John, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” It is the privilege of the child of God to ask for Heaven’s blessing upon him physically. The psalmist declares that the Lord is willing not only to forgive our iniquities, but to heal all our diseases as well. Ps. 103: 3. But we cannot ask with assurance for the healing of disease and for the maintenance of health unless we are endeavoring to rightly relate ourselves to the laws of our being. It must appear mockery to God to pray him continually to save us from the results of our violation of the laws of our being which he has established.

Heaven has been pleased to give to this church a great flood of light with reference to questions of health. We need to give careful attention to this instruction. Let us seek with good judgment and consistency to observe the laws of health to the best of our knowledge, and then let us pray God with confidence to restore our health or to maintain the fullness of strength with which he has endowed us, in order that he may use our physical powers to his glory.

3. We wish for you temporal prosperity. We hope that every reader will have that measure of success in the temporal affairs of life that God sees will be for his highest good. We may well make the expressed wish of the wise man the desire of our hearts. He says:—

“Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.” Prov. 30: 7-9.

It is right and proper that we should seek in every lawful manner to better our condition so long as we keep in view the glory of God and the needs of his cause. If prosperity attends our efforts, let us realize that God places within our control money, not to hoard selfishly, but to use for the cause of suffering humanity. On the other hand, if our efforts bring to us only food and raiment, “let us be therewith content,” being careful that we do not allow the spirit of murmuring and faultfinding to enter our hearts. The apostle declares:—

“I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.” Phil. 4: 11, 12.

It has been truly said that “contentment is a pearl of great price, and whoso purchaseth her at the expense of ten

thousand desires maketh a wise and happy choice.” Seek to maintain in your lives during the year to come, under the blessing of God, “that peace which passeth all understanding,” which “shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

At best, we are strangers and pilgrims in this world. Here we have no certain dwelling place. We are looking for a heavenly city, whose builder and maker is God. Let us seek in all the trials and troubles of life to live at peace with our fellows, and at peace with God. And as the years speed by and some of our cherished hopes so long deferred make our hearts sick and our spirits faint, let us stay our souls upon the One in whose hands are all the issues of life. We are inclined to value life’s experiences as they minister to present pleasures and conveniences, but the Infinite One does not measure life from the standpoint of twelve-month periods, but from eternity. He may see in his great wisdom that the ministry of present pain is necessary in the accomplishment of his purpose in the life, for our success throughout eternity.

Some we meet are growing old gracefully. The years have mellowed their lives and softened their faces. They have learned to sing songs in the darkness. The passing years have enlarged their comprehension, broadened their sympathies for their fellows, and made them more generous in their estimation of life’s experiences. The faces of others reveal worry and discontent. They have discovered thorns in every rose, bitter in every sweet. Distrustful of God, uncharitable toward their fellow men, they have become irritable, disappointed, and disagreeable.

Let us seek to grow old gracefully and sweetly. Let us realize that even though threescore summers and winters may have passed over our heads and our hair have become whitened by the frosts of time, there is still joy in Christ Jesus. The past may be dead so far as our hopes are concerned, but the future is pregnant with hope and courage and confidence in God. The things of time and sense have little attraction, but the eternal realities beckon us on. God is able to make the closing days of life in this world the best days, a little foretaste of the life to come. It is the privilege of those of us who are older grown to say with the poet:—

“Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, The last of life, for which the first was made; Our times are in his hand Who saith, ‘A whole I planned, Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid.’

“Then welcome each rebuff That turns earth’s smoothness rough, Each sting that bids not sit nor stand, but go! Be our joys three parts pain, Strive, and hold cheap the strain; Learn, nor account the pang; dare never grudge the three!”

F. M. W.

Why Worry?

By G. B. T.

A GENTLEMAN visited a school of deaf-and-dumb children, and was asked to write for them a question on the blackboard. He wrote, “Why did God make you deaf and dumb, while I can hear and speak?” Tears filled the eyes of many as they thought of their sad affliction. Presently, however, a little boy stepped forward, and taking the chalk, wrote beneath the question, “Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.”

Here, from the writing of a child, we are instructed in the secret of rest. It comes from an abiding trust in the Lord. When we can see in the trials and perplexities of life the hand of an infinite and loving God, and with confidence look up and say, “Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight,” fretting and nights made sleepless by worry will pass away.

Why worry, anyway? Did it ever do any good? Did it ever bring a blessing into your soul? Did it ever solve any perplexity, or change the aspect of any question? Did it ever strengthen your soul for a future conflict, or enable you to bring a blessing to your neighbors or friends?—Never. It simply destroys our peace of mind, wrecks us mentally and spiritually, and unfits us for doing our best in the struggle of life.

The apostle writes, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Rom. 8:28. It is easier to admonish others to believe this text when they are walking in the shadows, and we in the sunshine, than to receive it for comfort into our own souls when we are in the grip of some sad bereavement or some terrible disappointment, or to explain the mysterious providence seen in some frightful catastrophe which has spread ruin and death about us. But God’s word is true when we cannot see, as well as it is when we can. It often shines the clearest when darkness surrounds us; and frequently, when the clouds are dispelled and rays of light again are seen, we find that the experience which seemed so trying and so hard to bear was for our good after all.

I once read of two painters on a high scaffold completing some beautiful design. One of them, after giving his work some finishing touches, stepped back to see its beauty. Absorbed in viewing the production of his own hand and brain, he stepped farther back, forgetful of the place where he was standing; still another step to the rear, and he stood on the very edge, ready to step off and be dashed to the pavement below. Seeing his danger, and knowing that prompt action must be taken to save him, his companion dashed his paintbrush against the work his friend was admiring, destroying its beauty. The artist sprang forward, and in anger demanded why this was done. When it was explained to him that it was to save him from death by being dashed to the street below, he was happy and thankful.

So in our experience. The Lord must destroy many of the beautiful plans we have drawn in our minds, in order to save us. And if we would only banish worry, and trustingly rest in the hands of our loving Father in heaven, how it would sweeten life for us! Our Father knows, and he cares for us.

“Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.” Luke 12:6, 7.

The following paragraph expresses the same sentiment, and can be studied with profit:—

God never leads his children otherwise than they would choose to be led, if they could see the end from the beginning, and discern the glory of the purpose which they are fulfilling as coworkers with him. Not Enoch, who was translated to heaven, not Elijah, who ascended in a chariot of fire, was greater or more honored than John the Baptist, who perished alone in the dungeon. “Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.” And of all the gifts that Heaven can bestow upon men, fellowship with Christ in his sufferings is the most weighty trust and the highest honor.—“The Desire of Ages,” page 225.

G. B. T.

“Let Each Man Be Fully Assured in His Own Mind”

By L. L. C.

TRUE Christianity does not mean intellectual bondage. There is a form of apostate Christianity in which freedom of thought is circumscribed, and the individual must relinquish his right of personal opinion and submit to the judgment of some other man or set of men.

This is not God’s plan. He does not wish forced submission even to himself. Adam was left entirely free to refuse obedience to the divine command not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This is quite at variance with the methods of those who seek by force to make others do or even believe what in their judgment is right. But force can make only hypocrites, not converts.

In presenting salvation to fallen mankind God says, “Come now, and let us reason together.” And when we have

entered the service of Christ, we find it is our “reasonable service.” Yet the intellectual side of religious experience is often given slight consideration. Many confuse spirituality with emotionalism, forgetting that we are to love the Lord with all our mind as well as with all our heart and soul.

To the true Protestant the Bible is the highest authority and the only court of appeal in theological questions. Correct theology is of the greatest importance to every human being. The dictionary defines Christian theology as “the knowledge derivable from the Scriptures, the systematic exhibition of revealed truth, the science of Christian faith and life.”

In all theological questions the seeker after truth should make personal study concerning the teaching of the Scriptures, as did the noble Bereans, who “searched the Scriptures daily, whether these things [preached by Paul] were so.” It is not safe, nor is it according to God’s plan, that some one else should do our thinking for us, even though that one be a trusted minister or a beloved relative. Even God himself does not so present matters in the Scriptures that we are freed from careful study and personal decision as to our own duty.

Whether it be a matter of doctrine, the interpretation of a difficult text,—of which there are many that may be wrested to our own destruction (2 Peter 3:16),—or our own personal duty under any given circumstances, let us follow the admonition of the apostle Paul, “Let each man be fully assured in his own mind.” Rom. 14:5, R. V. L. L. C.

Then Shall the Sanctuary Be Cleansed

By W. A. S.

The Prophecy of Daniel 8—No. 2

“Then Shall the Sanctuary Be Cleansed”

THE Bible teaching concerning the sanctuary of the Levitical service shows clearly how it is that the cleansing of the sanctuary is God’s answer to error and apostasy.

The priestly service of the earthly sanctuary, or temple, in the days of Israel, was typical of the work of Christ, our High Priest, in the heavenly temple. The earthly priests served after “the example and shadow of heavenly things.” Heb. 8:5. And of Christ’s ministry in the heavenly temple we are told:—

“Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.” Heb. 8:1, 2.

In the earthly service, the cleansing of the sanctuary was the closing work of the high priest, marking the end of the yearly round of mediatory ministry. The cleansing of the sanctuary in the time of the end must, therefore, according to the sure teaching of the type, be the closing ministry of our great High Priest in the heavenly temple, before he lays aside his priestly work to come in glory.

The Service of the Earthly Tabernacle

There were two distinct phases in the priestly ministry of the tabernacle in Israel. The sanctuary was built with two apartments, the holy place and the most holy.

In the holy place were the candlestick, with its seven lights, the table with its ever-renewed “bread of the presence,” and the altar of incense, on which sweet incense, symbol of Christ’s continual intercession, was burned morning and night.

Within the inner veil was the most holy place, where was the ark containing the tables of the law, written with the finger of God. The cover to the ark was the golden mercy seat, above which, at either end, stood two cherubim of gold, their wings meeting on high, their faces looking ever toward the mercy seat. It was a type of the throne of God—the angels about the throne, the law the foundation of his government, the mercy seat typifying the interposition of mercy and pardon for the sinner; and above it shone out the visible glory of the Lord, the Shekinah:—

“And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony.” Ex. 25:22.

The apostle says of the service in the first apartment:—

“Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God.” Heb. 9:6.

Day by day the offerings were slain at the altar before the outer veil, and the blood was taken into the first apartment, where it was sprinkled before the veil of the most holy. It was an acknowledgment of transgression of God’s law, meriting death, and a confession of faith in the Lamb of God who was to suffer death in the sinner’s stead, and whose atoning blood would plead before the righteous law.

Thus day by day, either by the sprinkling of the blood “before the Lord” or by the eating of a portion of the flesh of the burnt offering in the most holy place, the ministry of the priests transferred the sin in type to the sanctuary, and the sinner was pardoned.

For a full year—lacking one day—the ministry was in the holy place only. But on that last day of the yearly round of service—“the tenth day of the seventh month”—the high priest entered the most holy place:—

“But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people.” Heb. 9:7.

He sprinkled the blood upon the mercy seat and in the holy place, “because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel.” The sanctuary was to be reconciled or cleansed from all the sins registered there in type by the blood of the offerings brought day by day during the year. As the high priest came out, bearing the sins, he confessed them all upon the head of a scapegoat, by which “all their iniquities” were borne away from the camp, into the wilderness—removed forever. See Leviticus 16.

It was a solemn time of judgment in Israel. Every man’s life came in review that day. Was every sin confessed? Whosoever was not found right with God, as that service was performed, was cut off from part with God’s people:—

“It is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the Lord your God. For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.” Lev. 23:28, 29.

It was indeed an annual day of judgment in Israel. And all this was an “example and shadow of heavenly things.” Heb. 8:5.

Christ’s Closing Work in Heaven

Therefore the last phase of Christ’s ministry as our high priest in the sanctuary of God above must be a work of judgment, a review of the heavenly record, corresponding to the final ministry in the second apartment of the earthly tabernacle, when the sanctuary was cleansed.

Daniel the prophet was shown in vision this change in the ministry of our High Priest in the heavenly temple. The prophet describes the wondrous scene, as God’s living throne, with its wheels flaming with glory, moved into the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, for the closing work of Christ’s ministry:—

“I beheld till the thrones were cast down [“placed,” Revised Version], and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.” Dan. 7:9, 10.

This scene, as the next verse shows, opened while still on earth the apostasy is exalting itself. But in heaven above a solemn judgment work is going forward, the finishing of which will give God’s answer to the apostasy, and bring the second coming of Christ in glory to end the reign of sin. It is the cleansing of the sanctuary, the time when—in reality and not in type—every case registered in the sanctuary comes in final review before God. When that work closes, according to the type, whosoever is not

found right with God is cut off from part with his redeemed people.

Then the priestly ministry of Christ will be closed, and the destiny of every soul fixed to all eternity. To that time must apply the words spoken by Jesus:—

“He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: . . . and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly.” Rev. 22: 11, 12.

But now the Saviour, from his place of ministry on high, speaks to all the encouraging exhortation and assurance,—

“He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.” Rev. 3: 5.

To let men on earth know when this judgment work, the cleansing of the sanctuary, began in heaven, the prophetic period of 2300 years was given. It is of most solemn importance that we know when that period begins and ends.

W. A. S.

The Increasing Demands of Our Rapidly Enlarging Work

By Arthur G. Daniells

It is constantly being impressed upon us that the third angel's message is truly a world-wide message, and that there is connected with it an irresistible power pushing it on to the ends of the earth. New conditions calling for serious consideration and demanding an advance are constantly arising. We have scarcely met the demands of yesterday when new ones come pressing hard upon us. Thus the strenuous activity continues year after year.

Those who have read the reports of the Loma Linda council that have recently appeared in the REVIEW, must have been deeply impressed with the large volume of administrative work that passed through that meeting. Not only was the amount large, but many of the measures were far-reaching in their scope. Some one remarked at the close of the council that it had been about as important as a General Conference session.

In this note regarding the important measures adopted, I shall refer to the one making provision for strengthening the administrative staff of the General Conference Committee. As our work has extended to new continents and their various divisions, new responsibilities and a larger volume of work have come to the officers of the General Conference. At the last session of the General Conference the North American and European Division Conferences were organized to care for all the administrative interests within their territory. This was supposed to relieve the officers of the General Conference so that they could attend more easily and efficiently to the interests of the foreign fields outside of these divisions. It was arranged that the General Conference president should spend a year in Australasia and the Far East, and that the secretary should spend several months in Africa.

These visits revealed not only the magnitude of the work already being carried on in these continents, but the numerous avenues open for us to enter, and the many pressing demands for more workers and means and for more of our personal service. The time we could spend in the fields and the help we could render were altogether inadequate to meet the requirements of the conditions we found.

Immediately on our return to our homes we found pressing demands from South America and Europe for us to visit these fields. But there were reasons why we could not leave at once for these countries. It is necessary to spend some time at our offices and homes. Besides, there are not enough days in the year nor enough physical endurance in the human body to keep up such a pace.

The brethren at the council recognized all these conditions and made provision for more general help. They elected Prof. W. W. Prescott general field secretary of the General Conference, and Prof. J. L. Shaw assistant secretary. These brethren are to devote their entire time to the general administrative work.

No sooner had Professor Prescott been elected than he was requested to make an extended visit to South America in my place. He consented to do so, and sailed December 11. Brother Prescott accompanied Elder O. Montgomery, who was elected president of the South American Division Conference, which was partially organized at the Loma Linda council. They will attend the meetings of the Brazilian and the South American Union Conference sessions. A general meeting of all the leading workers in South America will be held in Argentina, for the purpose of completing the organization of the division conference, and adjusting all the affairs of the field to accord with the new organization.

Professor Prescott will return home by way of the west coast, so that he can visit the brethren in the Chile Conference, in the Inca Union Mission, and in other places in the northwestern part of the continent. He will also attend a meeting of the West Indian Union Conference Committee at Panama, arriving home, if possible, in time for the spring camp meetings.

The third angel's message is making most encouraging progress in South America. We shall all await with deep interest reports from the general meetings soon to be held in that division. The first of these conferences will be convening about the time this statement appears. Shall we not unite in earnest prayer for the special presence and blessing of God upon these important gatherings? Our brethren in South America have had strenuous work, and are still hard pressed. Let us remember them at the throne of grace.

As assistant secretary, Professor Shaw will work in close association with Elder Spicer, in the office and in the field. His long experience in foreign lands especially fits him for this part of our work. He will share the toil and responsibilities connected with the visits to foreign countries. Only by these larger plans are we able to keep up with this rapidly growing work. A. G. DANIELLS.

Continue reading: Mission Needs for 1916