We had something to say upon this subject last week, but there are other points that should be mentioned. In our article last week it was stated that hypnotism is a power for evil that should be avoided. It may be difficult for some to see this, but a few points ought to open the eyes of the most unwary.
A certain hypnotic “professor” in advertising his school says: “Hypnotism is power. . . . Hypnotism is the art of bringing others under your will, making them do exactly as you wish.”
No one will say that the foregoing is not a true statement of what hypnotism is. And now look at it. Hypnotism is not only “power,” but it “is the art of bringing others under your will.” God never forces or controls the will of another. And it is only the agencies of evil that can suggest such slavery. For it is nothing short of a slavery of the whole mind of the subject, as well as the enslavement of the body,—a species of slavery that could not be made worse.
When a person surrenders his will to another, he knows not where he may be led. And while some physicians have thought that hypnotism might be made to serve the healing art in various ways, yet, let us ask, have they taken into account the many other sources through which it may serve the cause of evil and misery?
When the hypnotist “brings another under his will,” and thereby makes him do exactly as he wishes, have you any assurance that he will not wish to make him do something that is disgraceful and grossly criminal? For while “hypnotism is power,” it is a power to work evil as well as that which seems to be good. We say that which seems to be good, advisedly; for any power that takes away the will of another is purely and solely evil. The good that it may seem to do is only for the purpose of throwing the victims off their guard, in order that they may the more certainly be led to irredeemable ruin. Neither the hypnotist nor his victim may be sensible to this fact, but there is a master hand behind the scenes who is perfectly cognizant of the evil he is working.
No person can be forced into the hypnotic state. Every one who is hypnotized must first surrender his will to another. His will can not be taken from him, but he surrenders it. And in making that surrender he submits to a slavish despotism that is more degrading and tyrannical than anything that was ever seen where only the body is under the yoke.
Hypnotists themselves acknowledge that not all persons can be hypnotized. And were it not for the superstition in the minds of men which leads them to think that the hypnotist has a magic power that they can not resist, very few persons would ever be brought under this subtle influence. And with superstition out of the way, and every person standing on his God-given rights and powers not to yield his will to others, hypnotism would come to a sudden terminus.
J. G. M’Kendrick, M.D., LL.D., Professor of the Institutes of Medicine, University of Glasgow, says of the hypnotic state, “Once the condition has been successfully induced, it can be more easily induced a second time, a third time more easily than a second, and so on until the patient may be so pliant to the will of the operator that a fixed look, or a wave of the hand, may throw him at once into the condition.” Now where is there any chance for good to come out of the workings of such power? The individual who submits to it gives up his will power and places himself wholly at the mercy of another. How can any one be foolish enough to make such a sacrifice?
The hypnotic professor to whose advertisement allusion has already been made, says that “it is used to relieve the suffering, to reform the erring, to control the wayward, and to knit the bonds of family affection.” And at the close of his advertisement he says, “Those who may wish to become masters of this wonderful art for the working of evil in any way are not expected to apply for the free lesson, which possesses such startling possibilities.”
Thus the professor admits that hypnotism is a power for evil, and that workers of evil may become masters of the art. Jesus, in exercising His power, exercises it only for good. And the instrument through whom He manifests His power must be devoted to the good, and to that alone. And the very moment that the agent of Christ’s righteousness and power even makes the start to descend to the use of that power in the cause of evil, the heavenly current is broken, and the agent is without strength. Divine power can not be prostituted. It can not be made to promote sin by “working evil.” Then since the power that works in hypnotism may be turned to the purposes of the evil-doer, it therefore follows that it is from no good source.
And, rest assured, the worker of evil will not refrain from becoming a hypnotist simply because he is admonished so to do by the “professor.” Those who are given to evil are quick to catch at anything that will help them in their nefarious work. And there will be more tricksters than others who devote themselves to the mysterious arts of hypnotism. And when you surrender your will, and with it all your powers of mind, to another, you may find yourself in a grasp that can not easily be broken. For, as Dr. M’Kendrick affirms, the person who is once hypnotized is more easily brought under the influence the second time, and in a little while becomes so powerless that the hypnotist can throw him under his spell by a simple “wave of the hand.” Who wants to be brought into such a helpless condition? And who wants to experiment with a power that is possessed of such evil possibilities?
It will be observed that in the advertisement already quoted from the hypnotic “professor,” he claims for hypnotism the power to “reform” and “control” the erring, and also to “knit the bonds of family affection.” The “family affection” that has no stronger bonds than hypnotism can offer is resting upon a very flimsy foundation. And the feet of the erring are surely standing on slippery places if they are depending upon this treacherous power.
For, since this power can be used in “the working of evil,” it is possible for one hypnotist to perform what seems to be the work of “knitting the bonds of family affection.” But in a little while another may come along who can gain something for himself by breaking these bonds; and so he works his power in that direction. Upon its own testimony there is not a crime in the whole calendar, from highway robbery and adultery on down the list, that may not be forced upon a victim when once he or she is surrendered to this hypnotic influence.
We can not hope that all will see and avoid this danger. Some will be so overconfident that they will go right ahead, in the face of every admonition and regardless of the most palpable facts. But those who regard their safety, including everything that pertains to their welfare for both time and eternity, will avoid every approach to the magic and mysterious arts of hypnotism. The one fact alone that it can be used as such a mighty agency for evil should be an eye-opener that once and forever sets you on your guard, and fills you with the fixed determination not to come under its influence. And don’t be afraid of the most skilful hypnotist that ever lived. There is no power on earth that can hypnotize you unless you voluntarily yield your will to the control of another.
Some one may say to you that electricity, steam, gunpowder, etc., may be useful agents for good, and also dangerous elements for evil, the same as hypnotism. But just think about it for a moment and you will see that there is no semblance of a parallel. The useful operations of either electricity or steam do not require that any one shall first surrender all his will to their control before they can act. Electricity and steam are independent forces over which man presides, and no vassal must sit at his feet, stripped of his powers of will and intellect, in order to give them a medium through which to act.
Hypnotism may seek to pose under the mantle of science; it may hide behind certain ones of the medical profession; it may seek in every way to show a respectable and fair exterior, but beware; there is evil lurking there.
Question Corner
“Enquire and make search and ask diligently.”
896. Who Are They?
“And there [“they,” R.V.] are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.” Rev. 17:10. J. H.
The best light we have is this: These seven heads, mountains, kings, represent those Church-and-State dynasties or systems which have fought against God. These are Babylon, Medo-Persia, Grecia, Rome pagan, Rome papal, the present system of Church-and-State governments, and the papal system restored.
WHAT is meant by the division of the earth as spoken of in Gen. 10:25? F. H.
The division of the land among the descendants of Noah, as indicated in the first part of the chapter. Then Bab-il (men’s gate of God) became Babylon (confusion, division).
PLEASE explain Matt. 24:34. What generation is this? How long is this generation? When does it begin? A. T.
It means the generation which sees the fulfilment of the signs mentioned by our Lord. It began between the falling of the stars in 1833 and 1844, when the last part of the message of Rev. 14:6–14 began, and ends when the Lord comes. A generation is not a definite time. It means generally the people living upon earth at the same time.
“NO NATURAL RIGHTS OF SUFFRAGE.”
It is beginning to be boldly advocated by men of influence in American affairs, that there is in this country no natural right of suffrage,—that no such right is asserted by the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution. This is said in the North to justify imperialism, and in the South to justify the disfranchisement of the negro. It means, when carried into effect, class rule, which is but one form of despotism. Its meaning can not be limited to the negro or the inhabitant of Porto Rico, Hawaii, or the Philippines; for if it is admitted that a person has no right to vote or hold office because he is a negro, or a semi-civilized native of new American territory, by the same principle it can be asserted and justified that no objectionable person of whatever race or color has any right of suffrage; that is, that no people for whom other people in the majority or in power have a very strong dislike, or consider beneath themselves, have any right to participation in the government. There are classes of white people who have quite as strong an aversion for each other as the white people of the South have for the negroes. Many of the poor hate the rich, and would put negroes in public office sooner than vote for the men who stand at the head of the combinations of wealth; and many of the latter, on the other hand, look upon the mass of the poor as being no more than so much cattle, and no more qualified to participate in government than are the negroes in the estimation of the Southern whites. When, therefore, a person is disfranchised because he is an inferior socially or physiologically, or is looked down upon, or violently disliked by his neighbors, every essential feature of republican government is set aside, and the right of suffrage is asserted only for those who have the power to enforce it. This can result only in the establishment of class rule, which is as essentially a despotism as is the rule of the autocrat of the Russias.
Any negro, or Malay, or Hawaiian, who is able to govern himself—to control his own conduct so as to show respect for the rights of his neighbors—is qualified to participate in the Government of the United States; and any white man who can not govern himself—who oversteps the rights of his neighbors because he does not respect them—is not qualified to participate in that government, no matter what his wealth, or influence, or station in society.
It is startling to see these fundamental principles of free government denied as they now are both in word and deed in this country. Such signs portend a revolution in government from republicanism to a monarchy, as surely as tho accompanied by the clash of armies on the field of battle.—American Sentinel.
THE “TRUST” IDEA.
WHILE there has been more or less of the idea of combination of interests and forces among men from time immemorial, the trust, or combine, has never been so marked a feature in the world's history as during the last quarter of a century. The prime objects for combining on the part of laboring men are protection, and advancement of wages, bettering conditions, etc. The object of the capitalist is to reduce expenses in manufacture and operation of business, and to increase profits by controlling operators and trade.
The growth of trade unions has been great, but practically ineffectual, so far as real assistance to the workman is concerned. To meet the trade union, the combines and trusts of wealth are formed. To meet the combines of wealth, the unions and trade associations are organized, each in human wisdom compelling the existence and strengthening of the other, while both are fomenting suspicion, jealousy, and hatred between classes.
But the growth of the trust, or capitalistic combine, has been colossal and alarming; for he of the trust, in the words of the prophet, “gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all peoples.” The prospect is that in a little while every commodity and necessary of existence which can be bought and sold, and are so bartered to any extent, will be controlled by trusts. Not to go back into past years, it is sufficient to summarize for 1897 and 1898. In the former year nineteen different trusts and combines were formed, as follows:—
Whisky Distillers’ Combine.
American Glucose Company.
American Malting Company.
American Window Glass Company.
Enameled Ware Manufacturers’ Association.
Eastern Stamping Company.
Shelby Tube Company.
American Wood-working Machinery Company.
Sewer Pipe Manufacturers.
International Mining Syndicate.
Vanderbilt Soft Coal Trust
Anthracite Coal Trust.
Carpet Manufacturers’ Association.
Western Canned Goods Manufacturers.
Western Book Paper Manufacturers.
Leather Belt Manufacturers.
White Granite and Semi-porcelain Manufacturers.
Insulated Wire and Cable Manufacturers.
American Thread Company.
In 1898 there were twice the number of 1897, among which were these:—
Northwestern Theatrical Association.
New York Syndicate to control pottery-ware factories.
Steel Rail Manufacturers.
State Distilling Combination in Kentucky.
International Paper Company; capital, $45,000,000.
National Biscuit Company, consolidating rival consolidations.
American Hay Company; capital, $5,000,000.
American Steel and Wire Company.
Pig Iron combination, headed by Hanna and Carnegie.
Coal combination to control war supplies.
New England envelope manufacturers.
Cutlery Trust; capital, $2,000,000.
United States Spirits Association, to control United States output.
Combine to control fish and oyster trade.
International combination to control needle output.
American-Indies capitalistic combine to control Cuban development.
Glass manufacturers form a national combine.
Flint Bottle Manufacturers’ combine.
Refrigerator Car Manufacturers’ combine.
Beer Trust; capital, $5,000,000.
Steel Trust; capital, $200,000,000.
Silver Trust; capital, $30,000,000.
Trust to control electrical appliances and machinery; capital, $25,000,000.
Tobacco Trust; capital, $100,000,000.
The aggregate capital reported to be held by the trusts and combines formed in 1898 exceeds the enormous sum of $1,000,000,000. Twenty different concerns capitalize at $744,000,000. And one paper says that it is “rumored that the most gigantic of trusts, the Trust of all Trusts, has been formed, with a joint capital of $585,000,000, and including the following: Standard Oil Company, United States Leather Company, American Sugar Refining Company, National Lead Company, United States Rubber Company, American Tobacco Company, American Spirits Manufacturing Company, American Cotton Oil Company, and New York, Chicago, and Bay State Gas Company.”
Political and Religious.
This trust idea permeates every phase of human life, not only commercially, but politically and religiously. Political alliances and counter alliances are formed and being formed. Antagonistic political parties combine against a greater party. National alliances are in vogue, and even America is feeling that she is rapidly being forced to do as other nations have done.
In the religious world the same spirit is even more manifest. We do not call the rapidly-forming intra and extra church organizations trusts and combines; it would not sound well. They are unions, associations, societies, guilds, brotherhoods, leagues, etc., etc.; but the same trust idea is there, born of a fear of impending evil or a desire to control. Some of these organizations include those who belong to what once were considered irreconcilable bodies, holding diametrically opposite views, as Unitarians and Trinitarians, Roman Catholics and Protestants, worldlings and Christians. This certainly in many cases means a compromise of principle. These confederacies at the very best are but human substitutes—Satan’s counterfeits—for vital union through Jesus Christ. They are abnormal and render ineffectual the simplicity and power of the normal church. What is worse, many of these confederacies are ignorantly, we hope, opposed to the truth of God for this time
What does the Lord say as to such combinations? Listen:—
“Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it shall come to naught; speak the word, and it shall not stand; for God is with us.”
What shall the Christian do? Listen further:—
“For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, Say ye not, A confederacy, to all to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself [“in your hearts,” 1 Peter 3:15]; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread. And He shall be for a sanctuary.”
There is a better way to accomplish God’s work than the trust idea, a better way to secure union; and that is union through Christ Jesus: “That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us; that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me.” This is true union, the only true Christian union—union in life. Here is power.
WASHINGTON A CATHOLIC CENTER.
THE Catholic Telegraph, as quoted by the Catholic Mirror (December 3), says:—
“That the city of Washington is becoming the center of Catholic education in this country there is but little doubt. Since the erection of the first building of the Catholic University ten years ago, various religious orders have built monasteries in the vicinity of the university so that the scholastics of these various houses may have the advantage of pursuing a course at that institution. Much has been said of the university. Little has been given to the public of the orders which are already clustered in its neighborhood or of those other orders that are to come there.”
The Telegraph then goes on to mention the Paulist Fathers, the Marist Fathers (Society of St. Mary), the Franciscan Fathers, the Congregation of the Holy Cross, and the Jesuits.
But what is the object of that church in all this? What but political influence? And truly she is gaining it.
CATHOLIC CHURCH IN CUBA.
Some papers in America are saying that the government has promised to support the Catholic Church in Cuba till matters can be adjusted, and the people educated to support the clergy. The Catholic Mirror says:—
“Bishop Santander has given us the assurance that the Catholic Church in Cuba can take care of itself until such time as the faithful learn to contribute, as Catholics do here, to the support of religion. And Father McHale, the president of Niagara University, who was lately down in Porto Rico in the interests of his community, the Lazarists, says that the Porto Rican Catholics are already contributing to the support of their priests in much the same way as we do here in the United States.”
What is the truth of the matter?
An Inland School of Naval Architecture
It may be of interest to know that perhaps the greatest school of naval architecture in America is not situated on the sea, or some great lake, but is at Cornell University, in central New York. But such seems to be the fact. The department is presided over by Professor Durand, a graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy, who has had eleven years’ work in the construction of ships for the navy, and Assistant Professor McDermott, for twelve years designer and in charge of scientific work in the great J. & G. Thompson shipyards at Clydebank, Scotland. The Cornell school has been running seven years, and men trained in it are employed in all the great shipyards of the country, and have helped to design and construct the Massachusetts, Brooklyn, Alabama, Iowa, Kearsage, Kentucky, Illinois, and, in fact, all Uncle Sam’s recently-built ships, besides hundreds of merchant vessels plying upon the Great Lakes and upon all the oceans. Fifty Cornell students are this year specializing in naval architecture and marine engineering. This shows the war tendency, when a great inland university will make such a thing as the art of building great battle-ships one of its pre-eminent features.
On Thinking
“How few there are who think, of all the thinking few, And some who never think at all, but only think they do.”
THE MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, CITY MISSION.
By W. H. B. Miller
For some months preparations have been progressing for the establishment of a Helping Hand Mission in this city. In consequence of the stringent regulations of the Central Board of Health, serious difficulties have been encountered; but by determined and united effort they have at last been overcome, and the mission is now an accomplished fact.
HELPING HAND MISSION IN MELBOURNE.
On the evening of September 12, at 6 o’clock, the opening ceremonies took place in the presence of a large gathering of interested friends. Mr. R. Best, M.L.A., occupied the chair, and Dr. Howard, who has kindly consented to act as honorary medical officer, formally declared the mission open. The program was a very pleasing one, consisting of appropriate musical selections, and addresses by the chairman and others interested, including representatives from other similar institutions in the city, who heartily wished the enterprise Godspeed, and promised co-operation in the noble work of rescuing the perishing. The committee of management reported a hearty response on the part of the public. Substantial donations of both money and materials had been willingly given, and the prospects for future success were very encouraging.
The buildings selected for the mission are centrally situated, and are well adapted to the purposes of the institution. A large four-story warehouse is connected by a bridge with a three-story structure at the rear. On the ground floor of the main building is a nicely arranged mission hall, with walls illuminated with appropriate Gospel mottoes and landscape paintings. We trust that this room will be the spiritual birthplace of many a poor soul. The next floor contains the kitchen, lunch counter, and dining tables. The third and fourth stories afford comfortable, clean sleeping accommodation for about sixty men.
The second story of the rear building contains well-appointed baths, lavatory, and consulting and sanitary rooms, and it is intended in the third story to make provision for various industrial occupations for idle men. There is also a wood-yard in connection with the mission for the same purpose, and it is proposed to establish branch wood-yards in the various suburbs of Melbourne.
A little four-page periodical, The Helping Hand, has made its appearance in the interests of the mission enterprises.
An Old People’s Home has also been established, and is progressing very satisfactorily. Efforts are now being made to obtain a suitable location for electric-light baths.
The brethren here are manifesting an active and practical interest in these philanthropic lines of work. It is a glorious privilege to co-operate with God—to assist in the great scheme of redemption; and may He bless our efforts to raise fallen humanity.
W. H. B. MILLER.
RELIGION IN PORTUGAL.
By George R. Witte
LISBON has quite a colony of British people, who sustain two churches, one an Episcopal, the other Presbyterian. The latter carries on a very interesting work among the Portuguese, supporting a Portuguese minister, and having both a day and a Sunday-school. The Presbyterian Church is located in an old convent. The British Bible Society also has a depot here.
The work among the Portuguese is, in some respects, very encouraging. Their services are well attended, and their singing especially is always quite inspiring. Even before I understood their words, I used to enjoy hearing the old familiar tunes, such as, “Pass me not, O gentle Saviour,” “I gave My life for thee,” and others. When, some time ago, the Rev. George C. Grubb and Mr. H. Maxwell Wright were here—the latter speaks Portuguese like a native—and conducted a two weeks’ series of special meetings, the Portuguese turned out in such crowds every night that the room was barely able to furnish even standing room.
An even larger work than at Lisbon is done among the natives at Oporto, where the Wesleyan Methodists also carry on a flourishing mission. Space does not permit to speak of the many strange and interesting sights of Lisbon, a city which is set on many hills, and which presents a very striking appearance from the river. Nor do I feel competent to give judgment of the character of the people. They are not as licentious as I had anticipated; dirty they certainly are, and religiously supremely indifferent. One rarely sees a priest on the street, and no one shows them the slightest respect; in fact, a year ago they were repeatedly mobbed in the streets. The Jesuits are said, however, to be secretly gaining in power, as the queen and the high aristocracy are greatly influenced by them.—George R. Witte.
“Christ has a service for all his members,” said James Therrall, an old carpenter in a village on Salisbury Plain, to a young Christian who complained that she was unworthy to work for the Lord. “Let not one of the members say, ‘The Head has no need of me.’ I used to think as you do long ago, but He taught me otherwise by a crooked stick.
“One day my son went to a sale of timber, and in the lot was a stick so twisted and bent that I spoke sharply to him, saying, ‘You have a bad bargain there, lad; that crooked stick will be of no use to any one.’
“It’s all timber,” replied my son, not the least vexed by my reproof. “I paid the same price for it as the rest. Depend upon it, no tree grows for nothing. Wait a bit; don’t fret, father; let us keep a lookout; there’s a place somewhere for it.”
“A little time after this I had a cottage to build; a queer bit of a house it was, and pretty enough when it was finished; there was a corner to turn in it, and not a stick in the yard would fit. I thought of the crooked one, and fetched it. Many a hard day’s work would have failed to prepare a joist like it. It seemed as if the tree had grown aside for this very purpose.
“Then said I: ‘There’s a place for the crooked stick after all. Then there’s a place for poor James Therrall. Dear Lord, show him the place into which he may fit in building Thy heavenly temple.’ That very day I learned that what God gives me He gives me for His glory, and, poor and unlettered as I was, there was a work for me. There is a work for you; God has something for you to do, and nobody else can do it.”
This village carpenter had neither the knowledge of the schoolman, nor had he taken a10degree at college, yet was he a teacher of divine truths, and he was wise in the wisdom of the children of light. He would often recur to the time when, looking solely on his own weakness and infirmities, he overlooked his only source of strength, and thought he was too poor and ignorant to do anything for the Lord he loved. He lived to a good old age, a blessing to the souls in his neighborhood, and where, as he liked best to say, he watched for his Master. When some who loved their ease too well, or child or servant or sick one complained, “I can do nothing,” he would point to the best-built cottage on the plain, with its pretty bay-window and slanting roof, and tell them he had once thought the same himself, but his error had been corrected by a dumb instructor—a beam in that roof—a crooked stick which seemed fit for nothing; but it found its proper place in the building at last, and gave it a grace and strength which no other timber, however superior in other respects, could have imparted. Thus the warped tree had preached to him a sermon on true humility, and made him from that day a humble steward of the things of the kingdom.
—Anon.
IN DEGREE.
By Will T. Hale
As the mite the widow offered
Brought a blessing sweet and rare,
And the riches of the Dives
Were not worth a pauper’s prayer,
So I smile when men mark “failure”
O’er the life of any man;
For the acme of all greatness
Is to do the best we can.
—Will T. Hale.
THY NEIGHBOR.
By W. B. O. Peabody
Who is thy neighbor? He whom thou
Hast power to aid or bless,
Whose aching head or burning brow
Thy soothing hand may press.
Thy neighbor? He who drinks the cup
When sorrow drowns the brim;
With words of high sustaining hope,
Go thou and comfort him.
—W. B. O. Peabody.
PUNISHING IDOLS IN INDIA.
During the recent famine in India the people prayed before their idols for rain. The following incident is narrated of the people of Aurungabad, in Western India: “The Hindus had hired Brahman priests to keep up their noisy worship before the village idols, and fully expected abundant rain as the result of their worship. But after waiting for days and weeks they resolved to punish the gods, who had received costly offerings without giving them the looked-for blessing in return. In some places they indignantly besmeared their idols all over with mud, and closed up the entrance of the temple with thorns. In others they filled up the temples with water and blocked up the doors, so that the idols might shiver in wet as a punishment for keeping their fields dry.” —Gospel in All Lands.
OUR WORK AND WORKERS.
THE brethren at Glenwood, Iowa, are erecting a new house of worship, which they expect to complete by January 1.
AT Ni Wot, Colo., five members were recently added to the church after a short course of meetings held by Brother G. F. Watson.
THE Colorado Conference organ, Echoes from the Field, reports President J. M. Rees at Grand Junction, preparing to organize a church.
THREE persons were baptized and united with the church in San Francisco on the 11th inst. The ordinance was administered by Brother E. E. Andross.
THE West Virginia Conference organ, The Monitor of November 23, notes the baptism of fifteen persons at the camp-meeting at Grafton. We had overlooked the item, which is of deep interest, not only to the brethren of that State but throughout the field.
WE understand that our brethren at the Review Office are unable to make up the new book, “Making Home Happy,” fast enough to supply the demand. Nothing else could so well express the popularity of the book. For sale at all our publishing houses and branches. Cloth, 50 cents; paper, 25 cents.
“GUIDING STAR” is the name of the new mission which was opened at Sioux City, Iowa, November 30. We trust it may be the means not only of guiding those in want to a place where they can find temporary relief for the body, but where they can also find salvation in Him whose work the mission is.
“THE IOWA Conference now has a larger number of persons employed in the different branches of work—ministry, Bible work, mission work, etc.—than ever before, and each one is finding all that he can do.” So says President C. Santee in Workers’ Bulletin. This may be true in all the other conferences as well, but we have not seen it so stated.
BIRMINGHAM, ALA.—On the 30th of November we opened our new mission here. The Lord came very near at the dedication service; nearly all present took part in the meeting. We are serving five-cent meals and holding meetings every night. Birmingham Home Mission is located at 2409 Second Avenue. All are welcome. Let the brethren living in Alabama remember we can use beans, all kinds of dried fruit, and old clothing. Direct as above.
W. WOODFORD.
A PROMINENT feature of what we call “our work” (of course it is the Lord’s) is illustrated in the following item from The Kansas Worker: “In Kansas City two sisters found a family,—husband, wife, and seven children, in very poor circumstances. The husband was sick so he could not work; the mother was washing to make a living. The sisters took hold and cleaned up the house, made garments for each of the children, and had the man come over to our home, where he received treatment; in a few days he was able to go to work again. The family are now cheerful and happy, and the mother and seven children come regularly to Sabbath-school.”
FROM the Workingmen’s Home, 1341 State Street, Chicago, we have received hearty expression of appreciation of THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES as a feature of the reading-room. In connection with this acknowledgment the manager sends the following report for November: Lodgings, 5,406; penny lunches, 43,486; baths, 2,264. This brief report speaks louder than general comments, and we return the benediction sent to our paper, wishing the mission “Godspeed in its holy mission.”
FROM The Gospel Herald we learn that the Southern missionary chapel at Lintonia, Miss., has been completed. It is a portable structure, can be taken down and erected at any convenient place. In the autumn the work of this mission was considerably hindered—at least the human plans were hindered—by the yellow fever quarantines in that region. A school is connected with the work at Lintonia, which is greeted with favor by many of the people, who prefer to have their children under its influence than in the public school. In the Herald we also notice that funds are being raised for a chapel at Yazoo City, and for a chapel and school at Bruce’s Landing, Miss. Donations for these worthy purposes may be addressed to Southern Missionary Society, Yazoo City, Miss.
