This meeting was held at Woodburn, Ore., a small city about forty miles south of Portland, in the beautiful Willamette Valley, May 31 to June 10. The camp was pitched in a beautiful pine grove about half a mile east of the station, and was connected with the city by sidewalk, making the camp reasonably accessible to the people of the city. About the ninety tents were pitched, and between five hundred and six hundred persons camped on the ground. The laborers present from outside the conference were Elders G. A. Irwin, A. O. Tait, G. F. Haffner, A. J. Breed, F. M. Burg, G. A. Snyder, M. E. Cady, Drs. W. R. Simmons, W. B. Holden, and J. E. Froom, and the writer.
This camp-meeting was pronounced by those who know best, to be one of the most instructive and encouraging meetings of its kind ever held in Oregon. From first to last there was a connected line of study given on the fundamentals of present truth, which was greatly appreciated both by our own people and by those not of our faith. All the speakers seemed to have unusual liberty in presenting the truth, and God certainly blessed their efforts. The spirit of harmony, love, and union which pervaded the meeting was indeed refreshing, and not a discordant note was heard during the entire session. Elder Frank S. Bunch, who has faithfully served the conference as president one term, was re-elected by unanimous vote, with about the same committee for counselors as last year.
During the past year the tithe had increased nearly four thousand dollars, and a surplus of three thousand dollars was in the treasury after all accounts were settled. Of this one thousand dollars was donated to foreign missions.
The report of the Laurelwood Academy showed a gain of about two hundred dollars in its running expenses. The spiritual condition was excellent, and eighteen of the students had been baptized during the year. An effort will be made the coming year to better equip this school, and pay off the small debt resting upon it.
A resolution passed the conference, recommending that a thorough effort be made in the city of Portland and suburbs to carry the truth to the people, and Elder G. A. Snyder, with a company of workers, has located there, and will now begin aggressive work for souls.
A good company of canvassers is now taking the field in western Oregon. Some intelligent, consecrated young men are developing in the ministry, and the work in that field is progressing.
The last Sabbath at noon the meeting was closed by the health officers on account of two cases of scarlet fever which had developed in the camp. Great consideration was shown us by the authorities, but no more meetings could be held. All felt sorry for this, but it could not be avoided.
We thank God for the good camp-meetings in the North Pacific Union Conference this spring, and feel that they have been a great blessing to the work in our field. W. B. WHITE.
Industrial School in Jamaica
By J. B. Beckner
Jamaica
KINGSTON.—We secured subscription pledges to the amount of fourteen hundred and fifty dollars toward our industrial school, to be paid within the year. On the strength of this, we bought sixty-five acres in a valley, about twenty-five miles from Kingston, one and one-half miles from Bog Walk railway station. It has a good house, built only six years ago, which will make a good dormitory. The purchase price is fourteen hundred and sixty-one dollars. We also took a lease and sale on forty-one acres adjoining this property. The purchase price of this will be eleven hundred and seventy dollars. The rent at this price will be about three per cent. Our people are very enthusiastic over the prospect of a school, which we have so long needed. We expect all the clearing and building to be done by the students. Already nine stout, hearty young men have promised to come and begin work as soon as we shall have possession of the property, which will be the tenth of June.
Our rainy season is now on, and workers report that this is interfering with the meetings. J. B. BECKNER.
Canvassers’ Summary for May, 1906
AGENTS
HOURS
ORDERS
VALUE
Central New England
4
215
88
$ 317.55
Chesapeake
....
....
....
....
Eastern Pennsylvania
3
266
153
188.00
Greater New York
....
....
....
....
Maine
1
76
17
23.55
New Jersey
....
....
....
....
New York
4
158
151
194.75
Southern New England
2
17
45
84.25
Vermont
2
41
34
45.25
Virginia
2
138
77
123.85
Western Pennsylvania
12
417
284
500.17
West Virginia
8
505
164
382.48
Total
38
1,833
1,013
$ 1,859.85
Atlantic Union Conference
| Central New England | 4 | 215 | 88 | $ 317.55 |
| Chesapeake | .... | .... | .... | .... |
| Eastern Pennsylvania | 3 | 266 | 153 | 188.00 |
| Greater New York | .... | .... | .... | .... |
| Maine | 1 | 76 | 17 | 23.55 |
| New Jersey | .... | .... | .... | .... |
| New York | 4 | 158 | 151 | 194.75 |
| Southern New England | 2 | 17 | 45 | 84.25 |
| Vermont | 2 | 41 | 34 | 45.25 |
| Virginia | 2 | 138 | 77 | 123.85 |
| Western Pennsylvania | 12 | 417 | 284 | 500.17 |
| West Virginia | 8 | 505 | 164 | 382.48 |
| Total | 38 | 1,833 | 1,013 | $ 1,859.85 |
| Atlantic Union Conference | 38 | 1,833 | 1,013 | $ 1,859.85 |
| Canadian Union Conference | 9 | .... | 278 | 563.30 |
| Lake Union Conference | 67 | 3,622 | 1,396 | 3,108.45 |
| Southern Union Conference | 73 | 6,630 | .... | 6,520.71 |
| Northern Union Conference | 19 | 2,360 | 740 | 2,220.85 |
| Central Union Conference | .... | .... | .... | 5,846.90 |
| Southwestern Union Conference | 45 | 5,496 | 2,898 | 7,969.30 |
| North Pacific Union Conference | 5 | 181 | 157 | 292.30 |
| Pacific Union Conference | .... | .... | .... | .... |
| British Union Conference | 77 | 5,602 | 2,652 | 3,073.76 |
| Australasian Union Conference | 53 | 3,621 | 1,186 | 5,336.48 |
| Grand Total | 386 | 29,345 | 10,320 | $36,791.90 |
Notes of Progress
By E. R. Palmer
We have great reason for thanksgiving as we present our summary for the month of May. We believe this to be the largest summary presented for several years. A casual glance at the totals indicates that this prosperity is quite general.
It is gratifying, indeed, to see that the greatest prosperity for the past month is shown by union conferences where the work has usually been considered rather difficult. The Southern and Southwestern Union Conferences are well in the lead, and yet it is a well-known fact that times are not so very prosperous in many of the Southern States. Thus we have another item of evidence to show that prosperity in this work does not depend so much upon good times in a worldly sense as upon good times in a spiritual sense. We greatly rejoice with our brethren in the South over the splendid advance they are making.
The month of May seemed to be an off month for the Pacific Union Conferences. Nearly all their agents were attending conventions or other meetings of some kind, and hardly any reports were sent in. However, some excellent work has been in progress in qualifying agents for the service, and we are promised a good report for the month of June. In fact, we have before us reports which indicate that the agents in the two conferences of California are now selling three or four thousand dollars’ worth of books each month. More students have been sent into the field from our schools than previously for quite a number of years, and there never was a time in the history of the work here in the West when agents averaged such large sales, as at the present.
The only reason why more books are not sold at the present time is that our force of agents is not large. Nearly all in the field are having remarkable success. As proof of this, and as an encouragement to our workers, I will give an analyzed report of the work in Texas for the month of May. Texas is the largest State in area, and appears in the summary with the largest report. Twenty-six agents worked an average of thirty-one hours each per week, and their sales averaged one hundred and ninety-two dollars each per month, or nearly fifty dollars each per week. This is one of the best reports we have seen for that number of agents. May the Lord continue to bless the canvassers in Texas who are putting in such good time and meeting with such excellent success; and may he also abundantly bless our dear Brother Eastman, who is back again at his old post after several years of faithful service in the foreign mission field.
We are now in the midst of the season. The best months of the year are before us between now and the holidays. The evidences are abundant that the Lord is with us and is restoring the old-time prosperity. Are not these omens sufficiently encouraging to induce scores, yes, hundreds, of our brethren and sisters to enter the work? There are many canvassers who have gained a rich experience in the past, but who for one cause or another have become discouraged and dropped out. But now the courage of every one is rising. This is an hour of advancement and success. Is17not this the time for these old workers to return to the field and fill up the ranks, and join in fighting the battles of the Lord? We give to all such, and to all others who can leave their homes and worldly employment, an invitation to this service.
E. R. PALMER,Sec. Gen. Conf. Publishing Com.
England
By E. E. Andross
LONDON.—We have nothing but words of encouragement to present with reference to the work here. While there are many difficulties, yet the Lord is still helping us to overcome these, and we are all of good courage in him.
We sent out our first missionary to British East Africa a few days ago. Brother Peter Nyambo, a young colored man who has been in attendance at our school here for the last two years, left us for Germany, and from that country he will sail, in company with another young man, to German East Africa. From there one of our German brethren, Brother Enns, will accompany him across the border into British East Africa, and look up a site for our mission station, and establish it. In the meantime we will prepare some other helpers for the work in that field, and send them on as soon as possible. We are now doing all we can to raise funds to carry on this work, and I believe we shall not have any serious difficulties in this matter. Our brethren are interested in this work, and will respond very well.
We have just taken up an offering in the interests of our institutions and people in California that have suffered from the earthquake. This was rather hastily done, and I am not prepared to say how liberally our brethren have responded; but it will at least be a token of our interest and sympathy.
As yet we have not succeeded in securing a suitable location for our institutions. We thought that we had been successful, but at the very last moment matters developed that decided us against taking the place, and now we are looking for something that will be more suitable.
We have just succeeded in securing a place to hold our British Union Conference early in August. It is in the northern suburbs of London. We hope to have a large attendance of our people at this meeting. E. E. ANDROSS.
Colorado
By G. W. Anglebarger
DENVER.—We are indeed glad to report that the good work in Denver is still onward. Our Sabbath and Sunday night meetings are well attended. Some good souls are taking their stand with us in the message. Sabbath, June 16, three were baptized, and Sabbath, June 30, five were baptized. Others who are now keeping the Sabbath of the Lord will soon follow. Elder L. A. Springfield and the members of the church are earnestly assisting in the work.
We praise God for his keeping power. Through all the struggles and conflicts that have come upon our church here, we have not lost one soul; all are standing true to God and to the work that is being done by our General Conference organization. We know that this grand message will triumph, and our only safety is in standing together, that we may triumph with it.
Quite a goodly number of letters have been received from our people in different places asking me to visit their friends and relatives living in Denver. Good results are following this work. If others have any such friends or relatives living here, please address me at 531 Santa Fe Ave., Denver, Colo., and pray that as I may visit them, the Lord will bless in leading them to God and into the precious truth. G. W. ANGLEBARGER.
General Meeting in Scotland
By E. E. ANDROSS
THIS meeting was held in Kirkcaldy, beginning Friday evening, April 6, and closing Tuesday, April 10.
About two years ago a tent-meeting was conducted in Kirkcaldy by Brethren Ritchie and Westworth, as a result of which a number took their stand for the truth, and later a church was organized. This is on the battle-ground of John Knox, and the old-time love for truth, and the willingness to suffer for it if need be, still lingers in the hearts of many of the people of Fifeshire. From our limited experience, it seems that the people of this country are more ready to listen to and obey the truths of this message than in any other part of Scotland, though we are sure that other parts will respond, perhaps equally as well, when we are prepared to work them.
We had a larger attendance than at any former meeting in this field, and from the beginning the Lord’s presence was very manifest, guiding in the presentation of the Word and in all the business of the meeting. Hearts were drawn closer together than ever before, and all united in planning for a larger work in every phase of the message than has been accomplished in the past.
The chairman, Elder MacLay, presented a very encouraging report of the field work, showing marked progress in an increase of membership and of tithe, the latter being especially good.
Scotland has seemed to be the most fruitful field for our book agents of any part of the British Union Conference, and the past year’s report revealed steady progress in a financial way; but from a careful study of the report it was manifest that some had yielded to the temptation to handle such books as give the best financial returns. However, our brethren and sisters engaged in this work are perfectly loyal to the truth, and were glad to co-operate with us in an effort to place in the hands of the people those books containing the message for this time in its simplest and plainest form. We confidently expect to see large results from the faithful seed sowing of our devoted workers in the Scotch mission.
Elder S. G. Haughey was elected chairman of the field, on the recommendation of the British Union Conference. The members were very sorry to lose Brother and Sister MacLay from this field, where they had done excellent service, but on account of Sister MacLay’s health, it seemed necessary that a change be made, and all heartily welcomed Brother and Sister Haughey, and will give them their cordial support.18
All were disappointed at not having Elder Conradi’s assistance in the meeting, but it seemed necessary that he should return to the Continent, following the meeting in Ireland. Elder Haughey, Professor Salisbury, Brother Sisley, and the writer, besides the local laborers, assisted in the services.
E. E. ANDROSS.
W. H. THURSTON
By W. H. Thurston
Canada
OTTAWA.—July 6 the Sunday bill was taken up early in the day, and the House in committee reconsidered nearly the entire bill. Many heated discussions were entered into, and some declared their hostility to the bill. One member said he had favored the measure brought down by the government, but it had been so hacked and changed and mangled that he was unable to recognize it. The government's vacillation throughout the progress of this bill was most remarkable. Instead of a third reading we found the bill again in committee. As the bill now stood, it permitted on Sunday “everything but a prayer-meeting.”
Far into the night the debate surged, the old ground being gone over again, and at 3:25 in the morning, with a multiplicity of amendments, the bill was given a third reading.
W. H. THURSTON
Burma
By H. H. VOTAW.
INSEIN.—Last Sunday, May 13, we held another baptismal service. We were permitted to use the beautiful Royal Lakes for the service. I have never seen a prettier spot for such a service. It being just at the end of the dry season, the places we had used upon former occasions were too nearly dry to use now. Bathing is strictly forbidden in these lakes. But God must have touched the heart of the one in charge, for he gave us permission to use the lake without any hesitancy.
Our candidates were two young Burmese women. They are nieces of our Brother Maung Maung. Their grandmother is one of the four surviving persons who were baptized by Dr. Judson. She was for years a Bible woman, laboring most earnestly to spread the gospel tidings. We have strong hopes that these young women will be of service in carrying this last message to their countrywomen. They have had a good education in English. Both are in school still, and in recent examinations passed with good grades. They seemed to fully sense the solemnity of the ordinance in which they were to participate. We had carefully questioned them upon all points of faith, and found they agreed with us, and that they were intelligent upon all these points. Their father, who has believed our teachings for a long time, was much touched, and we hope he will obey soon.
A relative of these girls, who is a Buddhist, was present, and in endeavoring to express the feelings of her heart, she used expressions similar to these: “That was so solemn. It was like death. I felt like crying all the time.” Some friends told us that she talked during all the day and evening about it, at frequent intervals. We wish indeed that it might lead to her conversion.
Two ladies, members of the English church, who had never seen an immersion, also told us how impressed they were. One told her pastor she had seen a baptism like Jesus’, and he said, “Why, sister, Jesus stepped into the water, but John poured water from a shell upon his head.”
There are a number of interested persons, whom we entertain strong hopes of baptizing erelong. God's hand has been manifested for us in a marked degree in the last year. H. H. VOTAW.
The Montana State Camp-Meeting
By W. B. White
This gathering was held at Basin, Mont., June 21 to July 1, and was one of the largest and best camp-meetings ever held in this conference. Basin is a small town about thirty miles north of Butte on the Great Northern Railway, and is beautifully situated in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. The camp was nicely located on a large level piece of ground, behind which high mountains rose above us, forming a beautiful background. Twenty-five family tents were pitched, and quite a number lodged in rooms in the city. About one hundred and twenty-five were in attendance, and nearly all remained till the last day. Besides the conference laborers, there were present Elder G. A. Irwin, Prof. J. L. Shaw, who is spending a few weeks in our union conference, Prof. M. E. Cady, who stopped only one day on his way from Walla Walla to College View, Neb., and the writer. An excellent spirit of love, harmony, and union prevailed during the entire meeting, and indeed this spirit seems to pervade the whole conference, and speaks well for the future of the work in this field.
Elder Irwin remained through only part of the meeting, leaving Wednesday evening for the educational convention at College View; but during his stay he gave a very interesting and valuable series of lessons on the spirit of prophecy and its connection with the people of God in all ages, and especially with the remnant church. These were greatly appreciated by all, and many expressed themselves as receiving great help and encouragement from them. Quite a large number were present who were attending their first camp-meeting, and these studies were especially valuable to them.
The main topic of the meeting was the nearness of the end, and the great need of the Holy Spirit to conquer and subdue our lives, and make us overcomers. The doctrines of absolute surrender to God, faith in his promises, and a daily abiding in him, were clearly set forth, and found a place in the hearts of the people.
The finances of the conference are very encouraging, the tithe being about thirteen hundred dollars in excess of what it was last year at this time. The conference had quite a good surplus for a small field, and voted one third to foreign missions. On the second Sabbath a midsummer offering was taken, and about forty dollars was given.
The last day of the meeting the needs of the Mt. Ellis Academy at Bozeman were considered, and in a company of about one hundred persons, between ten and eleven hundred dollars was subscribed for the erection of a boys' dormitory, with large schoolroom in connection. This we think was about as liberal giving as we ever saw in so small a company. The academy has enjoyed a very prosperous year, and the future looks bright.
During the summer two tents will be in the field, one in the city of Bozeman and the other in the Kalispell country, in the northwestern part of the State. Elder W. F. Martin, the president of the conference, will spend considerable time the coming summer and fall in building up the several lines of work in the churches, and looking after some financial interests. The conference now has five hundred and twenty-five church-members, in fourteen churches. Quite a number will go out from the camp-meeting into the canvassing work, to sell our subscription books. A conference office will be built in Bozeman on the church lot, which is quite a central location, and Brother Amos Everett and his wife will have charge. A small depository of books will be kept in connection with this office. The future looks bright in the Montana Conference, and we shall pray that God may abundantly bless the work and workers.
W. B. White,Pres. N. P. U. Conf.
North Dakota Camp-Meetings
By JOHN G. WALKER
THREE very successful camp-meetings have just been held in North Dakota,—two in English at Rock Lake and Stanley, and one in German at Bowden. The two former were attended by about two hundred of our isolated English and Scandinavian brethren and sisters in the northeastern and northwestern parts of the State, and the latter by over four hundred of our brethren of the German churches. A kind, sympathetic spirit characterized the meetings; and the people showed their spirituality and their interest in the truth by their liberality in giving of their means to the cause. Many of them sacrificed for the advancement of the message. The amount donated by our brethren for home work and for missions outside our own field was over thirty-nine hundred dollars. This does not include the tithe paid to our treasurer during the camp-meetings.
We were glad to have the services of Elders R. A. Underwood, G. F. Haffner, V. Leer, C. J. Kunkel, L. H. Christian, Brethren P. T. Magan, J. S. James, and O. J. Graf, and Sister Bessie L. Shaw, to the latter of whom our brethren donated in cash and pledges over fourteen hundred dollars for the work in India.
More than one hundred and sixty young people between the ages of thirteen and twenty-five attended the meetings, and many of these gave their hearts to God for the first time, and others renewed their covenant with him.19
Over thirty were baptized, and twenty others expressed their desire to be baptized at their home churches.
There was an outside interest at all the meetings, and especially was this true, at Rock Lake, where almost the whole village came out to hear the truth.
We are thankful for the help we received from Brother Magan, who attended both of the English meetings, and whose plain, pointed talks showed a depth to the message that has created in the minds of many not of our faith an interest to hear the Word of God.
JOHN G. WALKER.
The Southern New England Conference
By Irene J. Cady
The third annual session of the Southern New England Conference convened at Middletown, Conn., June 14-24, 1906. The business of the conference was taken care of in five meetings, thereby giving the greater part of the time to the spiritual part of the meeting. Since our last session, through the efforts of Brother A. J. Clark, a company has been raised up at Middletown, which was admitted into the sisterhood of churches of this conference.
Resolutions were adopted expressing our attitude toward the spirit of prophecy, toward the sale of our books, toward the support of the canvassers in their training, the subscribing to our denominational papers, and the religious liberty work of the conference.
The following officers were elected for the ensuing year: President, W. A. Westworth; Secretary and Treasurer, Irene J. Cady; Conference Committee, W. A. Westworth, D. B. Parmelee, D. A. Bidwell, James Teft, G. P. Coates; Religious Liberty Secretary, W. R. Andrews.
Ministerial credentials were granted to W. A. Westworth, J. C. Stevens, W. R. Andrews; ministerial licenses to A. J. Clark, C. H. Reimers, H. S. Prenner, H. L. Shoup; and missionary credentials to Matilda Thaler, Lora Tarbell, Ona M. Russell, Irene J. Cady, Harold Waldo, Charles Dyer.
IRENE J. CADY, Secretary.
The Educational Convention
By W. E. Howell
(Continued)
On Monday evening the convention was stirred by a forceful presentation, by H. R. Salisbury, of the urgent and wide-spread need of training-schools in foreign fields, and of some remarkable results that have followed the work already done.
Believers in other lands often find themselves cut off from friends and from their means of livelihood. Here is the opportunity for the training-school to take them and prepare them for service. The best and quickest way to prepare them for service, is to put them into actual service while they are gaining their preparation, turning it as far as consistent in the direction of self-support while studying, and aiming at the development of workers from among those who are subjects of missionary labor.
The value of the training-school may be illustrated by the fact that the one in London has put nine licensed ministers into the British conferences and mission fields; also, that since the close of the school in Denmark only two ministers have been developed in the Scandinavian field, and the young people are either going into worldly pursuits or coming to America. The training-school at Friedensau, Germany, on the contrary, has sent young men to Jerusalem, Joppa, Egypt, Macedonia, Servia, Bulgaria, Central Africa, Russia, Switzerland, Holland, and through all Germany. Brother W. H. Anderson is making his progress in mission work in Central Africa principally through school work, using manual training as one of its strongest features.
Equip these schools the best you can. Do not let lack of equipment hinder your making a beginning, for the strength of a school is in its work, not its facilities.
In choosing men and women to establish mission schools and colleges in foreign lands, select only those who know they are called of God, who have been taught of God, who go willingly, who have been missionaries at home, and who have enough of the life of Christ in them to be worthy of imitation; for the native is quick to imitate his teacher.
Send practical men, skilled in manual labor — send men of broad education. Remember that the great pioneer missionaries were men of learning as well as piety, such as Judson, Moffat, Paton, Livingstone, and Chalmers. Many heathen races, such as the Arab, the Hindu, the Chinese, the Japanese, are intellectual, and must be met on that ground.
Send young people of large powers of adaptability, who go to save souls, not to proclaim their own country's greatness. They should be simple in manner and sympathetic in nature, neat and orderly in personal appearance, and dignified in deportment.
One of the latest messages to us is that we are nearer the end than any of us are aware. Let us start a movement among our students that in the sudden closing up of this work, we may be ready to send, not hundreds, but thousands to every part of the harvest-field.
A very enlightening study of the relation of evolution to education and religion, was conducted by Professor Prescott on Tuesday evening. The basal question in religion is the relation of God to the living world. Fundamental to this is the relation of God to things, inorganic as well as organic,—the right idea of God. Christian education examines and presents the true relation of God to all things. What is to be accomplished in the study of nature is not simply to see beauty and feel sentiment, but to discover God's relation to the visible creation. To study nature without revelation may lead to the acceptance and worship of a false god, for we are dependent upon the Bible for our knowledge of God as Creator, together with the method, means, time, and order of creation. He who is the head of creation, is also the head of redemption.
Contrary to the teaching of evolution, there has not been an unbroken continuity of development in nature from the beginning. “By the word of God . . . the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.” “The heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment.”
We are taught also that science, working in its own sphere, discovered how God made the world. They also discovered a new god—Force, Infinite Power, the Great Intelligence, who works by development rather than by specific acts, by continuous revelation rather than by special revelation, by continuous inspiration rather than by special inspiration. Therefore evolution applies revelation and inspiration to the experience of men to-day as well as in Bible times, and declares that creation is going forward as in the beginning—evolving a new theology, progressive orthodoxy, the central idea of which is the oneness of God and man. The divine spirit being immanent in the human, education is the removing of hindrances to the work of God upon the will and the reason, thus opening a natural channel for educative influence. It is claimed that the child is born of the Spirit when it is born of the flesh, if we only have eyes to see it, thus ignoring the miraculous birth of Christ, the atonement, and faith in his vicarious work for us, making regeneration, redemption, justification, sanctification, as empty as the jargon of the alchemist, and precluding the necessity of Christ's return to earth.
In the definition of science, a personality is a purposeful force. But the message is to fear God and give glory to him; to worship him—not it. The third angel's message answers all the false teachings of evolution, and is inseparable from Christian education. Let all our teaching be directed toward the discovery and the understanding of the right relation of God to created things, and a solid foundation will be laid for a sound religious experience.
On Tuesday a lively talk on the teaching of English was given by M. E. Olsen, followed by another on Wednesday, on thoroughness in education. In regard to English he said: Some knowledge of the resources of our native20tongue is necessary to the presentation of gospel truths with freshness and charm. Speakers and writers do well to avoid dead, conventional phrases, and seek to embody all their thoughts in simple and fitting language. The daily reading of a little good poetry is a help in the formation of taste. Good writing does not call attention to itself; it is sincere, effective, and unobtrusive. The Bible affords the finest examples of English prose.
The keeping of a commonplace book in which snatches of poetry, quotations from great authors and other interesting literary material can be entered from time to time is an excellent plan. Self-improvement in the use of English may be rapid and far-reaching. Continual watchfulness is necessary until correct language becomes second nature.
In the teaching of English the effort should be to draw out by the reading of good literature and proper exercises in composition the latent capabilities of the pupil. The best instruction will be individual.
On thoroughness in education the following thoughts were presented: Education of the right kind always makes for more efficient service. It is really a widening of the human channel by means of which blessings given of God are to flow out in more abundant streams to a needy world. The man who buried his talent was pronounced both wicked and slothful. The sin of neglecting to seek a thorough preparation needs to be brought home to our young people.
Even after leaving school, education can go on. The diligent use of spare moments will accomplish much. We must not be satisfied with ourselves. Paul wrote: “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect; but I follow after.” The true worker will have a passion for continual improvement; nothing short of perfection will satisfy him.
In order to secure the best work there must be a proper division of labor. “There are diversities of gifts . . . for the body is not one member, but many.” To be able to do one thing and do it well is better than to do many things in a superficial way.
An instructive address was given by the chairman of the convention, Frederick Griggs, on Thursday evening, on Lessons from the History of Education. He said, in part:—
“The early church Fathers thought that by introducing some of the pagan philosophy into their Christian schools they would become better able to refute that philosophy as a whole. It was a fatal mistake. This union of the false and the true resulted in the papacy. There followed a rapid descent into the Dark Ages, when the form of religion was held to be of greater value than its essence. Then came the Renaissance. Through that great mental awakening God prepared the way for the glorious spiritual awakening of the Reformation. Men and women came to the school at Wittenburg from all parts of Europe, and went forth again carrying the gospel message. Thus justification by faith was preached throughout the world in the lifetime of Luther. There must and will go forth from our schools in this generation a host of men and women who will carry the last warning message to the world.
In training young people for our work we can learn a lesson from the ancient Spartans. They confined the education of their children to those things which had the most direct bearing on their public life. Our young men need a thorough training for the great work before us, but thoroughness in preparation need not involve the weaving in of wrong principles. We must build upon the principles of eternal truth.