DELEGATES TO THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF MOTHERS, WASHINGTON, D. C.
Doings at the Nation's Capital
By M. Ellsworth Olsen
International Congress of Mothers — Prospects for National Prohibition — Regarding Sunday Legislation
Tent Meeting Near the Capitol Building
By M. ELLSWORTH OLSEN
SINCE I wrote my last letter for the SIGNS, several interesting things have happened here in Washington. I will give first place to the Third International Congress on the Welfare of the Child, held a few weeks ago under the auspices of the National Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher Associations.
There were delegates from a number of foreign countries, including China and Japan. Among the speakers were distinguished educators and workers for the uplift of home and child life in the United States. The conference lasted six days; and the meetings, which were of an exceptionally interesting and vital character, were held chiefly in the large audience room of the New Museum and in the Hotel Raleigh. A reception was given the delegates one afternoon in the White House. Public interest was very manifest, and the citizens of Washington who were able to attend, enjoyed a rich treat of good things.
UNUSUAL BUT NOT ABNORMAL
One of the speakers was the president of the congress, Mrs. Frederic Schoff, whose practical, sympathetic talks showed an intimate acquaintance with the daily needs of the American mother. The Hon. P. P. Claxton, commissioner of education, spoke with earnestness and enthusiasm of the relation of the home to the great problem of national education.
Prof. M. V. O'Shea, of the University of Wisconsin, discussed "New Times and New Problems in Education," in his very illuminating way, and took part in the discussion of other interesting questions. Professor O'Shea is a specialist on child culture, and his books and magazine articles have done much to awaken parents and teachers to the importance of the subject.
Mrs. Stoner, of Pittsburg University, gave a very interesting account of how she has trained her daughter, who, at an age when most children are struggling with such elementary subjects as reading, spelling, arithmetic, and geography, has already a fair knowledge of several languages, is familiar with higher mathematics and with history, and is withal unusually well developed physically. Mrs. Stoner says her daughter is not at all a prodigy, but that she has taken time to teach her, and that the time other little girls waste, her girl has improved.
There is much food for thought in this. It is a fact that the age of keenest curiosity, hence of the liveliest desire to learn things, is just the age when parents regard the child's time as worth practically nothing, and leave the little one either without instruction, or place it in school to share with thirty or more others the attention of one overworked teacher.
AIMS AND PURPOSES
There were many other helpful addresses, but perhaps the general character of the various meetings held can best be apprehended by means of a brief quotation from a statement of the aims and purposes of the congress. They are in part as follows:
"To carry the mother love and mother thought into all that concerns or touches childhood in home, school, church, or state; to raise the standards of home life; to develop wiser, better trained parenthood; to bring into closer relation the home and the school, that parent and teacher may cooperate intelligently in the education of the child, using systematic, earnest effort to this end, through the formation of mothers' clubs and parent-teacher associations in connection with public schools and elsewhere. . . .
"To give young people, ignorant of the proper care and training of children, opportunities to learn that which will enable them to better perform the duties of parenthood.
"To promote high ideals of marriage and the maintenance of its sacredness and permanence.
"To interest men and women to cooperate in the work for purer, truer homes, in the belief that to accomplish the best results, men and women must work together.
"To rouse the whole country to a sense of its duty and responsibility to childhood."
THE SPIRIT OF THE MOVEMENT
As setting forth the spirit in which the work is carried on, here is part of the president's printed message, entitled, "To Mothers, from a Mother":
"Gentle little mother, working faithfully in your home to make your own children's lives true and pure, strong and vigorous, gathering them each night by your own fireside, listening to the evening prayers, and tucking them snugly in their beds, do you know of the great world outside, of which your children are a part, in which, as soon as school days come, they must live? — Yes, you know only too well of its temptations, and for your dear children's sakes you wish you could make it better. You are only one mother with perhaps little outside influence. You think your own thoughts, but they do not go far toward solving the problems that face the children when beyond home influence. Get six mothers to organize a mothers' circle, and your influence is increased. Get twelve, and it is again doubled. Get the fathers on an advisory council, and keep them informed of what you are studying and trying to do, and the influence is again more than doubled."
Speaking to mothers of the value of associated effort, she says:
"You will be kept in touch with the thought of the best and most experienced men and women on bringing up children.6(Continued on page 13)
Doings at the Nation's Capital
(Continued from page 5)
You will have study courses recommended to you — books for yourself and for your children. You will feel the pleasure of knowing that by your membership you are strengthening and encouraging those who are working successfully to improve the conditions of childhood throughout the nation. You may never find it possible to attend a national congress; but if you do, it will stimulate you to a higher conception of your great privilege and opportunity in being a mother. If you can not attend, you may read the wonderful words of those who have studied children and know how to bring out their best physically and morally."
Such work needs no commendation. All that is best in modern civilization is founded on a tender regard for the mother and the child. Such regard is of the essence of Christianity. The Master said, "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones," and He also said, "Of such is the kingdom of heaven."
CIRCLE OF MOTHERS IN TAKOMA PARK
Wisely conducted organizations for child welfare can bear much fruit. A circle of mothers on similar lines has been recently started in Takoma Park, D. C., and is already accomplishing good in bringing parents together for council, and prayer, and study of the Bible principles involved in the right training of children. Mrs. C. C. Lewis is leading out in this work, and the Lord is granting His blessing.
Some of the readers of the SIGNS may be so situated that they can start similar circles. If not, it is the privilege of every mother to know that God will freely bestow wisdom and grace upon every humble supplicant. Upon the mother rest the most sacred responsibilities that can be conceived. Her work is not only arduous, but exceedingly delicate, and it can not begin to be done properly without much help from above.
PROPOSED NATIONAL TEMPERANCE LEGISLATION
The best people of Washington continue to take a keen interest in the proposed temperance legislation. Petitions in favor of the Hobson-Sheppard bill calling for national prohibition, are pouring into both houses of Congress, and are doubtless having some weight with the members. At this writing it is doubtful if the bill will be reported during the present session. In any case the friends of temperance should spare no pains to keep the subject before the public by education and agitation. It is an encouraging fact that forty millions of Americans are living where they are not tempted by the saloon; but we should work for the other sixty millions. It is a national crime to license the sale of the deadly poison, and draw government revenue from what is really a traffic in blood.
The friends of temperance in Takoma Park have recently organized a temperance society, with Elder S. B. Horton as president, and Miss Gregg as secretary and treasurer. The members of the Takoma Park church and of the Memorial Church in Washington have been active in circulating petitions, and writing letters to their congressmen.
CONCERNING SUNDAY LEGISLATION
There is nothing of special interest to report in regard to Sunday legislation. A hearing was given a short time ago on a bill brought in by Senator Hughes, of New Jersey, granting all employees in the District of Columbia one day of rest in seven. Several representatives of labor organizations and of large employers of labor spoke for and against the bill. It was plainly pointed out that such a law would work serious hardship both for the men and for their employers in case of emergencies, especially in connection with railways and electric lines.
In the absence of Elder Longacre, the secretary of the North American Division of the Religious Liberty Association, Elder S. B. Horton, of the Columbia Union, appeared before the committee. He pointed out the danger in legislation of a paternal character, and further showed that the advocates of Sunday laws use these laws calling for one day's rest in seven merely as stepping-stones to get legislation setting apart Sunday as a sacred day, and compelling all men to refrain from labor on that particular day.
SERVICES IN A TENT
I must not close without mentioning the fact that Washington is enjoying the privilege this summer of hearing the message of a soon-coming Saviour in a commodious tent pitched on a prominent corner not many blocks north of the Capitol. Elder R. E. Harter, president of the District of Columbia Conference, is preaching nightly to large and interested audiences. There is a large choir, under the direction of Brother de Fluiter, of Colorado, and the gospel singing is an attractive feature of the meetings. At the present writing, a children's choir is being organized, which will add a new feature to the song service. Let us pray that God may use these instrumentalities, and that many honest, truth-loving souls in this city may give heed to the message.
Gave Up Salary and Friends for Conviction
By Charles E. Ford
Sense of Duty Leads Successful Preacher to Resign His Position — A Trial of Faith and a Stand for Principle Should Not Hold to Doctrine Just Because Grandfather Did
Extract from Sermon
By CHARLES E. FORD
HOW any one could be a Seventh-day Adventist was a mystery to me at one time in my life. But to-day the mystery is why all people are not Seventh-day Adventists. You may be interested to know how this great change has come about, especially when I tell you I used to be a Methodist minister. I did not leave that church because I had any trouble with the conference in which I was working, for I was on the best of terms with my coworkers.
FEELINGS OF FEAR AND EMBARRASSMENT
In my Methodist days, the Seventh-day Adventists did not appeal very strongly to me. I thought them an ignorant class of people. They were associated in my mind with Holy Rollers, Dowieites, and Mormons.
Yet acquaintance with them brought a feeling of fear, for I found they knew more about the Bible than I did, and I was embarrassed lest they should propound in public or private some question I could not answer. Ministers who have attempted to refute the position held by Seventh-day Adventists are not anxious to try a second time. I do not mean by that to say that all ministers of the Protestant churches are dishonest. But they realize there is something about Adventism which requires close mental application, and they do not have the time, with all their other duties, to give the question that study.
THREE HUNDRED CONVERSIONS
The Methodists sent me out to hold revival meetings. In one of the towns that I visited, I found a church of two hundred members. I wanted some one to assist me in the altar service; but when I approached leading members of that church, I was surprised to learn that a Seventh-day Adventist and his wife had the confidence of the public to a greater degree than any one else in the town. Upon invitation, they were glad to help sinners find Christ, and the series of meetings resulted in three hundred conversions.
The Adventists distributed considerable literature, and it was not long before members began to come to me with questions concerning the Sabbath. I told them it was not an important subject, but they insisted that I preach upon it. So I did the best I could with it, telling them they need keep only the seventh part of time, that it is impossible to keep the Sabbath on a round world, and that the seventh-day Sabbath was made for the Jews. I also gave the various other arguments so often used as a bolster for Sunday observance. I did not then realize that the round world theory would apply equally well to Sunday.
Near the close of the meeting, we had a testimony service, during which I found the Adventists were not so easily turned aside. The brother who had assisted with the altar service urged that I allow the people to hear the other side of the question, now that I had presented mine, but I refused to consent.
HAD TO ACKNOWLEDGE MY ERROR
A few years later, however, I had to go back to that town, and tell those people the truth of the Bible, for I found there was no Scripture support for the statements I had made in my sermon that day. I made my confession to those dear people, as I am glad to do to you.
It is a great pity all the religious people of the world can not see alike. Jesus poured out to His Father the longing of His soul that all His disciples might be one, saying, "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." John 17:21.
Some say we must have many denominations and creeds, in order to reach minds of varied caliber. But I am persuaded Jesus knew what He was talking about when He made that prayer, and that it is God's desire that all His children read His word with the same mind. The Bible was never given to teach us one thing at one time and another thing contrary to it at another time. God never intended that one great religious class in the world should believe His word in one way, and others in another way. His will toward His people is that they shall be of one mind; and this would be possible if all would lay aside their preconceived notions, their prejudice, and what men have said about Bible truths, and study the word of God for themselves.
That is what I decided to do. I was pressed with church duties, and with ritualistic lodge work, but I made up my mind God's word should have first place in my life. Taking my Bible and concordance, I went to my study, and praying God to give me light, began an exhaustive study of the Sabbath question. I searched my Bible from cover to cover, and was surprised to find not a line authorizing the observance of Sunday.
THE EVIDENCE I FOUND
Instead of finding that the Sabbath was made for the Jews, as I had been led to believe from a study of theological books, I found the words of Jesus, "The Sabbath was made for man." Mark 2:27. Then as I turned back to Genesis, I found it was even so,— that God did ordain and sanctify the seventh-day Sabbath in the beginning (Gen. 2:2, 3), at the time He created the world; that He rested on the seventh day, and made it a holy day for man's benefit, that man might think of his Creator, remembering whence come all life's blessings.
Then, lest man should forget it, He reiterated it at Mount Sinai in thunder tones to His awestruck people: "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 man servant, nor thy maid servant, 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." Ex. 20:8-11.
IS THE JEW THE ONLY MAN?
If you belong to the race called man, the Sabbath is for you. Christ, the Creator of heaven and earth (John 1:1-3, 14, 15), says so, and He surely knows.
I could think of no reason why the Jews should be called men more than I. Further study revealed the Bible statement that "he is not a Jew who is one outwardly." Rom. 2:28. I learned that to be an Israelite in heart is to be a Christian, for "if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Gal. 3:29.
I found that Christ Himself kept the seventh-day Sabbath, and that He asked us to follow Him. John 15:10. Thus if we do as He did, we must keep it. I began to see that we are truly Christians only as we walk in His footsteps.
Not once in the Bible is Sunday called the Sabbath, but Saturday is so called many times. Even in the New Testament, there is no authority for Sunday keeping.
TILL HEAVEN AND EARTH PASS
I had been led to believe that Christ nailed the Sabbath to the cross; but I found, instead, Christ's statement: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets:487I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Matt. 5:17, 18. I found that even in the new earth, after sin is banished, the hosts of God will go up to worship Him from one Sabbath to another. Isa. 66:22, 23.
I found evidence, even in the New Testament, that Jesus' disciples kept the seventh-day Sabbath faithfully (Luke 23:56), and that He commanded them to pray, for forty years after His death, that they might not be obliged, at the time of Jerusalem's destruction, to flee on the Sabbath day. Matt. 24:20. Thus He sanctioned the observance of the seventh day long after His ascension to heaven, and declared false the statement, often made by religious teachers, that the apostles kept Sunday in commemoration of the resurrection. I found the fact to be, according to the New Testament, that the apostles never attached to Sunday any sacredness, but that they faithfully observed Saturday as the Sabbath.
NOT ONE TEXT TO SUPPORT ME
I had believed that the sanctity of the Sabbath was transferred to the first day of the week, but I was astounded to find not one passage of Scripture for it. Then I sent to the Methodist Book Concern an order for the best books they had on Sunday observance, regardless of cost. I studied them carefully, but found no Bible evidence for Sunday keeping. I did find plenty of Scripture for Sabbath keeping.
I read in Isa. 58:13, 14: "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath [from trampling upon it], from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."
TENDERED MY RESIGNATION
The other doctrines held by Seventh-day Adventists, I had not studied, but I decided I would do as God would have me do.
I wrote my presiding elder, asking him to give me Scripture for Sunday observance, for I was anxious to be set right on the question. I told him if he could not, to consider that letter my resignation. When he sent a man to fill my place, I wrote a personal letter to the bishop, asking counsel and help. Later I surrendered my credentials, and my connection with the denomination was severed.
I would have been a miserable hypocrite had I not followed in the light God had given me. There is not a more dangerous person in the world than he who is deceiving himself and others.
GRANDFATHER DID, BUT SHOULD I?
Some people are blinded by theology and preconceived ideas. My grandfather was a Baptist preacher, and I expect to see him in the kingdom of God. But we are advancing in the light. I do not believe people will be saved because they keep Saturday, or because they do not keep it. But they will be saved because they are honest, and obedient to all God's commandments as far as God has given them light and understanding. My grandfather never saw the Sabbath truth; but God has revealed it to this generation, and will hold us responsible for obedience to His commandments.
The Sabbath truth was not heralded in Martin Luther's time. It had been buried in the rubbish of tradition for centuries, together with many other Bible truths. When Luther proclaimed the doctrine of justification by faith, it was a great truth for the people to accept, who had believed in justification by penance, and who had been deprived of the Bible. Yet that doctrine rests upon a firm foundation in God's word. Rom. 5:1. The Bible foundation of the seventh-day Sabbath is just as firm.
"IT WILL COST ME MY JOB"
"But," says one, "if I observe the Sabbath, it will cost me my job. Keeping the seventh day puts us all out of joint with the world." True, Christianity has been "out of joint" with the world ever since it started. The Bible says that the man who "will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."
It was not easy for me to leave a good salary, a popular church, my livelihood, and to step out, apparently upon nothing. All sorts of rumors were circulated concerning me, people even reporting I had been sent to the insane asylum. A note against me was due at the bank in a short time, but I had no money with which to meet it.
I told my banker of the stand I had taken, and that I had no money. He gave me six months in which to meet the note. It was not an easy thing for me to do, but God never intended that a man should have a cotton string for a back-bone. He intends that His people shall stand firmly for principle. If they do not bear the test, they will never reach heaven. The trials are not easy to bear, for we are living in a wicked and perverse generation.
"WOULD STARVE IF I LOST MY JOB"
"But I would starve if I lost my job," I hear you say. Why not trust your Creator? The Sabbath command is God's command. The same God made the earth, and He is still God. He will provide for the needs of those who trust Him.
I had $1,000 worth of property and $3,500 worth of debts when I took my stand for the Sabbath truth. I tried hard to keep God's holy day, and to be an honest man. In my heart I said, "I will die by the right."
One day, as I was working on my place, wondering where I would obtain needed money, I overheard a conversation, and learned that a janitor was wanted for a schoolhouse near. The position was offered me at twenty dollars a month, and I took it. Fifteen dollars a month had been paid before that. Then I borrowed a cross-cut saw and a bob-sled, and cut stove wood to supplement my earnings.
A PREACHER SAWING WOOD
Just think of a Methodist preacher working in the winter at sawing wood, with the snow two feet deep, and people he has converted during his ministry passing up and down the street. They would ask, "What are you going to do with the wood?"—"I hope to sell it." "Well, send a cord up to my place." I worked hard, but I had more money the next spring than the rest of the preachers.
GOD OF HEAVEN WILL STAND BY YOU
My dear friend, if you are tested, the God of heaven will stand by you. I am so glad our Saviour left the glories of heaven, and came to this wicked world to help just such men and women as we are. The Father who so freely gave that gift for us, will not withhold any good thing if we walk uprightly. Jesus invites us to roll upon Him our heavy burdens. He will bear them for us.
Let us, then, stand firmly for principle. "To the law and to the testimony." If preachers, learned doctors, "higher critics," and world-renowned theologians "speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." Isa. 8:20. Outside God's word, there is no God, no heaven, no hope. If you desire New Jerusalem's pearly gates to open for you to enter, throw your heart's door wide open now to the Saviour. Let Him cleanse it from sin, the transgression of God's law. He "is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory," and this He will do "with exceeding joy."
Why So Many Crimes in San Francisco?
By M. C. Wilcox
THE San Francisco Chronicle of May 4 says editorially:
"It is difficult to understand why there are so many crimes of violence committed in the night-time in this city, and so many burglaries. As the finance committee of the supervisors shows, our police force exceeds by a trifle the charter limit of one officer to each 500 of population. That would seem to be sufficient to assure safety, and is sufficient elsewhere.
"We are spending a great deal more money for protection of life and property than is expended by some other cities, at least where crime is less rampant.
"Compare this city with Los Angeles, for example. The census figures — the latest complete statement available — show the following:
POLICE DEPARTMENT
Population
Expenditure
Per Capita
San Francisco
416,912
$1,486,830
$3.56
Los Angeles
319,198
669,208
2.09
FIRE DEPARTMENT
Population
Expenditure
Per Capita
San Francisco
416,912
$1,562,679
$3.74
Los Angeles
319,198
479,783
1.50
"Now, we do not hear from Los Angeles about such an orgy of crime as we have at times in this city; and as to fire protection, Los Angeles is as much a wooden city as San Francisco.
"If we are not getting as much for our money as the people of Los Angeles get, there is some reason for it. And the public ought to know what that reason is."
Los Angeles has but 200 saloons in which to manufacture crime; San Francisco has more than ten times as many, 2,059. Let San Francisco close her saloons. Experience ought to teach her a lesson. Peace reigned while liquor was prohibited just after her great earthquake and fire of 1906.
M. C. WILCOX.
HOW JUDSON FOLLOWED THE WORD
By William A. Spicer
A Pioneer Missionary to India — Sent Out a Congregationalist, Became a Baptist en Route — How It Came About
THE Baptist Foreign Missionary Society has been celebrating the hundredth anniversary of its founding. Because of the part Adoniram Judson had in the founding of this society, the celebration was named the Judson Centennial.
A hundred years ago Judson, the pioneer of North American foreign missions, reported from India that though he had gone out under the Congregationalist society, his convictions had led him to become a Baptist. Under the inspiration of this call, the Baptist Missionary Society was quickly formed, later to stand by Judson in his work for Burma, which was so wonderfully blessed of God.
ADONIRAM JUDSON
HOW HIS VIEWS WERE CHANGED
The Baptist missionary organ, Missions, reprints a letter which Judson wrote from Burma in 1815, telling of his change of views. During the long journey from Boston to India, he was led to give special study to the question of baptism, because of the fact that William Carey and his associates, who had opened mission work in India, were Baptists. Judson knew that he would meet them, and wished to have his own position thoroughly grounded in the Scriptures.
A STRUGGLE, A CRISIS, AND A DECISION
But as he studied the Scriptures on the journey, the conviction came to him the rather that there was no other Scriptural teaching on the subject than that of adult baptism by immersion. On reaching India, where he was to begin work for the Congregationalist body, he was brought to a crisis in his experience, and his first attention was given to settling the question of his own faith in this matter. He wrote:
"Alone at Calcutta, without the least conversation on the subject with any Baptist friend; with the Bible and Dr. Worcester [a work by Dr. Worcester on baptism] in my hand, and much on my knees in prayer for the influences of the Holy Spirit, who is promised to guide erring creatures into all the truth, I felt the convictions which had been gaining on my mind for several months, ripen into a full persuasion, that I was in an unbaptized state. I read on the inspired page, 'He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.' The former, I hoped, through the rich grace of God, I had been enabled to do; and I felt necessity laid on me with regard to the latter. This single consideration, I repeat it, forced me into the baptismal water. On the one side was everything to allure; on the other (God is my witness!) everything to repel, except the sweet consciousness of doing His will, and pleasing Him who laid down His life for me.
"In professing religion in the divinely appointed way, I continue to rejoice to this day, and hope it will afford me consolation and joy in that hour which tries men's souls.
"I have thought that the cause of truth required me to say this much concerning my motive in being baptized."
In that day, Judson's change of faith in this matter led to a considerable stir. One of the lessons for our time is that the man whom God so abundantly blessed in Burma as the pioneer of American missions was a man whose only question was, "What saith the Book?" Where the Scriptures led, Judson would follow, cost what it might.
In a later generation, there has come too generally a sentiment that after all it does not matter so much what the Bible says. Still the call of God to all men is to believe His word and follow it. And sure it is that no one has ever yet been able to find within the pages of God's book any authority for infant baptism, or any trace of baptism by any other form than that which the Word itself commands, namely, immersion. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved," is the ringing call of the gospel message. And surely every Christian who hears that call, who has not been baptized, should give earnest attention to this Bible doctrine. W. A. S.
