Earlier text: Fifth MeetingZeal for God in Finishing His Work
By I. H. EVANS
Sabbath, May 17, 11 A. M. I SHALL read a text from the second chapter of John, the seventeenth verse: “And His disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.” We read in the Bible of two kinds of zeal. One kind the Lord seems not to accept on the part of his followers; the other I believe ought to possess the hearts of those who believe the message for this time. I want to read about the first kind of zeal,—a zeal for doing things, but lacking consecration, and without God in the heart. Now, men may have that zeal, and the church may have it; it has had it in the past; and men who have been called of God and have been doing God’s work, and have been leaders of God’s people, have had that zeal,—the zeal of doing without the zeal of consecration. Oftentimes, from a human standpoint, it seems the easiest way to work, for a man to take upon himself the entire responsibility and by his activity leave God out, doing all in human strength. I want to cite one or two examples of men who have thus exemplified zeal not according to the wisdom of God. Paul wrote to the church at Rome, as we read in Rom. 10:1, 2: “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.” They had a zeal of doing, of acting, of sacrificing, but it is not pleasing to God. It was a wasted zeal, bringing no salvation, no rest, and little satisfaction. Yet they had great zeal, and were willing to sacrifice, and suffer, and endure, but their hearts were not right with God. In 2 Kings 10 I read about the experience of a king of Israel. This king was a zealous man. One day he met a fellow patriot, one of his own kind. He took him into his chariot, asking him to come and see his zeal for the Lord. Now, I think Jehu had zeal. God had told him to go out and destroy the children of that wicked Ahab. Jehu went about it in a very forceful way. He was most active, and destroyed the children of the house of Ahab. Yet God said of this man, “But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin.” Verse 31. Notwithstanding all Jehu’s zeal, his heart was not right with God. I have sometimes thought that is the reason why men and women sometimes give up this truth, why preachers apostatize and turn their strength in opposition to the work of God. They have had zeal, but their hearts were not right with the Lord. While they were thus active and working with all their might and strength, they had lost, in a way, that precious experience that binds the heart to God. And when a man has zeal without God in his life, he is sometimes going far from what God would have him do. I have heard not a few men say, “I cannot understand how a man that is so zealous and earnest and self-denying can be a man that God does not accept.” Yet that man may later fight the truth of God. It is a strange thing. The Jews were in that very condition when Christ was here. The high priest and all his assistants in the priesthood were zealous for the cause of God; they were ardent worshipers. They were very punctilious in offerings and sacrifices, in their tithe, and in all the little details of their lives; and yet, notwithstanding all this zeal, they demanded that Christ should be crucified, and they set the mob on to take his life. I believe every man ought to know by personal experience that his heart is right with God; that his zeal is not born from ambition; that his enthusiasm is not of this earth; that his consecration is to God and not to man. Loyalty should be given to right principles, to the Word of God, and not simply to church or organization. All men should examine themselves carefully whether they be in the faith or not, because if we are putting forth this zeal and making these sacrifices for anything in this world but the love that we have to God, we miss the mark. There must be in the soul a burning fire, a spirit of loyalty, not to man, not to the church, but to the Lord God, and to Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Now I want to read about the zeal that is according to God (Isa. 59:16, 17): “And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.” This is Christ our Saviour; he was clad with zeal as with a cloak. What is this zeal? What are its characteristics? It is a consuming, burning love in the heart for God and the kingdom of God. It is a love that burns with intensity, that consumes utterly soul and body and strength and mind of the one possessed of this love. It is wonderful for a man to have the whole life and soul and body so burning with love, so consumed with devotion to God, that it seems as if he was clothed with zeal as with a cloak. That is what the prophet said of Christ; but notice what kind of man he was: he put on righteousness as a breastplate. He was not like Jehu; he was not like those Jews and that priesthood at Jerusalem; for he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and was clad with zeal as with a cloak. I tell you, my friends, one who goes out with righteousness as his breastplate, in the fear of God, and with this burning zeal in his soul, will do a mighty work for God. That man will be a mighty power, a power as irresistible as any force you can think of in nature. Wherever he goes, he will burn his way into the hearts of the children of men. There is no power in this world that can withstand the onslaught of such a man as that. No power, either kingly or governmental, can withstand the influence of a man whose heart is covered with a breastplate of righteousness, and who is clothed, as it were, with a zeal that is like a coat. Such men are absolutely irresistible forces in this work. This was the experience of Christ, our Saviour. There have been men with zeal for God, mighty zeal. I will call your attention to one. There had been a great apostasy in Israel, and when there is an apostasy in the church, the tendency is for everybody to be affected by it. A great sin had come into Israel. The Moabites had tempted the people of God, had gotten the men of Israel to marry the women of Moab, and the men of Moab had married the women of Israel. The people of God were mingling on equal terms with that heathen nation which God had said should not come into his house. The Lord’s wrath was mightily stirred. He sent his angel down from heaven and began to slay the people. There was a great slaughter. When Phinehas the priest saw one of the sons of Israel and a Moabitish woman sin at the door of the tabernacle of the Lord, what did he do?—In his zeal for God he took a javelin and thrust them through. We say this was an awful thing to do; yet God approved of it, for he said of Phinehas, “Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace.” Why?—Because Phinehas had in his zeal for the Lord tried to put this sin out of the camp. Oftentimes now men will stand hesitating and criticizing and finding fault, when they ought to take hold with the people of God and help to cleanse the camp of sin. We are living in the most critical time of the work of God; because everything that we are doing is so prosperous, and we are so filled with what we are doing that we are very liable to leave God out of our reckoning and believe we can finish his work in our own strength. One of the great things we need to do now, while we have zeal and are in earnest in this work, is to be sure that we are all the time individually on God’s side. If we do not have the zeal according to God, but our zeal comes because of selfish ambition or because of some worldly interest, we shall make an awful mistake. The work of God will triumph, but we shall be lost when the final reckoning comes. What the church needs is to have each individual member of the body on God’s side all the time, and to have the zeal which is according to the righteousness of God. This zeal, this earnestness, is a thing that belongs to this people. I believe that there has never been a people in the history of the Christian church that is so much entitled to this zeal as this remnant church. Why?—Because there has never been a people in the whole realm of Christianity that made such wonderful professions of religion as we do. There never was a people that pretended to give the message we are giving to a perishing world. We say to the people that we are living in the end of time. I suppose there are very few here today that do not believe that in a way, that we are in the last end of time. Now how should you expect a man to act if he actually believed that he was living in the very last generation and that probation was about to close? Would he be a man to take things easy? Would he be indifferent whether men heard the truth he believed or whether they did not? I think if a man really believed the truth, he would be very much like a Methodist preacher I once met. He said: “If I believed what you say you believe: if I were an Adventist who believed what you are teaching, I would work with all my heart and mind. I could do ten times more work than I am able to do now if I knew the Lord was soon coming.” The very fact of knowing that the coming of the Lord is so near should of itself set a man on fire, and13consume him with zeal. The very fact that a man is not going to leave his goods to his children, but is going to live on until the Lord comes, ought to cause him to cut every cord that binds him to this world, and consume him with zeal for God’s service. If that does not do it, what can? And yet, my friends, how weak we are, with such a great and mighty truth as we have. I tell you there is something wrong. To believe this is the last generation of men, and this the last message of mercy going to the world—to believe it with all the heart—will fire a man’s soul with such zeal that he will be an irresistible force. I remember once when I was preaching to a congregation about giving their children to the Lord’s service, one mother would not make the sacrifice of giving up her daughter for training in the Lord’s work. I talked very earnestly with her, but she would not make the sacrifice. She wanted to have her daughter always with her, and could not bear to have her go to some foreign land. She was not willing to let the girl go out of her sight. What do you think became of that girl? That woman held on to her and would not let her go to school to get a training for the Lord’s work. The girl afterward married out of the truth and apostatized. Do you think a parent who will not give her children to God believes this truth? We have the last message of mercy to be given to the world. This is the end of time; for the Lord is soon coming. Yet men are not willing to give themselves and their children to God. Do you believe that is right? Do you believe, my friends, that is the spirit that ought to prompt and permeate a church?—No. I believe every Seventh-day Adventist parent in this world ought to give himself and his children to God for service [amens], that they may go wherever God shall call them, whether to Africa, India, China, or any other field in the wide world where there is need. Every son and daughter ought to be on the altar to go where God calls, when God calls, and because there is suffering and hardship and trial. That should be an incentive, not a hindrance. Do you say, I do not feel, Brother Evans, as though I could give myself to go where God might call? Why not? Why should a man hesitate to go and do the finishing work for God? Because of hardships? These hardships depend a good deal on how you look at them. A man might think he was having a very hard time when he was having a very good time if he but knew it. When you get into a foreign field it is not half as hard as you think it is. I talk to young men about going to China. I set before them the conditions. I tell them of the language that is to be learned, and they shrug their shoulders and say, “I think I am better adapted to school work at home.” But, brethren, who is going out to these great heathen lands if you do not go? Who is going to make the sacrifice if you do not make it? Who is going to take the message to those people who are dying by the millions if you hesitate to do it? If every one of us believed this truth with all his heart, there would be no hindering cause to prevent your or my going to any field in this world for God, if the need was there and the opportunity presented itself to go. Today we are paralyzed in our work because we cannot get young men and women fast enough to go out into the work. I believe, my friends, as fast as we can get the men, the people of God will give the money. Think of the tremendous increase in the offerings. Why, yesterday when I heard the treasurer’s report, my heart was wonderfully cheered. I said, “The people are ahead of the ministry, and the people are going ahead of even our boards in making provisions to fill these great and needy fields. Where are the men who are ready to go?” Do you ask, Isn’t there sacrifice? Isn’t there hardship?—Yes, of course there is. But why in the world would a man believe this message if he is not willing to sacrifice for God? I could believe that if a man thought the Lord was not coming for a hundred years, or two hundred, he might want to look out for a rainy day, but if we believe this message it should stir every heart to cut loose and give all for God. Do you not believe that? Do you not believe, my friends, that every one of us ought to be willing to do anything for God, to go anywhere for God? I think so. And yet look at the great fields in Asia unoccupied—look at them from a reasonable standpoint. In the Asiatic Division there are 25,000,000 souls dying every year without Christ. Think of it! Twenty-five million! Do you say, I cannot do anything; for I am not sufficient; I am not qualified? It is not great ability that wins in the work of God, but great consecration. The consecrated man, the consecrated woman, whose heart is full of fire and zeal for God, who is willing to give and suffer, can do much more than a man that is better trained yet lacks entire consecration. I tell you, my friends, there is need of a mighty awakening in the church of Christ today. How are we going to finish this work? How are we going to ever get it completed? When I come here and hear these splendid reports, and see what is being done, my heart burns with fire and zeal, and it seems as though we could finish it soon; but when I go back to that great Asiatic Division, with its 600,000,000 people, and see that there is not one man for 20,000,000 population; when I see our men failing in health, being scattered hither and yon, long distances apart, my heart cries out, How can this work be done without more help? How can it ever be finished in this world, and we go home to glory, until this church arouses itself and we have a mighty outpouring of the Spirit of God upon us to fit us for service? And, brethren, I will tell you that awakening must come if we close the work in our day. If the people would give themselves wholly to God, with heart and soul and body, we could do a mighty work for God. A wonderful work could be accomplished in a short time. Brethren, we must not forget what God can do with a consecrated instrument. It does not take great men to do a great work for God when he works with them. You remember the story of Israel going around Jericho—how all the hosts marched around, but did not have to fight any battle; they just had to obey God. When they came around the seventh time, and gave the shout of triumph, God did the work. But Israel must follow on. God works; they must show zeal, and service, and consecration, and obedience, and God can do the work. I believe the time must be very near for the fulfilment of those statements given to us from the servant of the Lord, that there would be a host of our people cutting loose from the world, from the farms, from the shop, and going out to preach this truth to the world. Why, bless your souls, if it is not soon now, when will it be? When will those prophecies ever meet fulfilment if some do not arouse themselves and set themselves to work with intense activity? I say the time is now. It is now the time when every Seventh-day Adventist ought to set himself to work definitely for the coming of Jesus Christ. Do you say, I can not preach well? My dear friends, let your soul burn with fire and zeal for, the coming day, and God will lead you out. He will lead you to your neighbors and your friends, and you can give your goods, you can give your children, and in some way God will lead you into a work that will be mighty. I knew a man over in Michigan, a poor old blacksmith. He was a very untidy man, and had no education; yet that man had great zeal. When he was introduced to me as one who had raised up a church of forty members, I said, “How in the world did he do that?” He did it by Bible readings, by distributing literature, by praying with the people. He had raised up a better church that year than had any minister in the conference. And what one man can do other men can do. Suppose the one hundred fourteen thousand men and women in the United States, in Europe, and in all the world, should give themselves definitely to work for God like that, would not there be a stir in the world, men going out with their satchels filled with literature, talking about the Lord’s coming, distributing this message, telling of the Lord’s coming near at hand. Then a man would not be looking on his acres, on his fine possessions, nor reckoning up his bank-account; his soul would be burning with zeal for God, and he would be giving every fiber of his being to God,—his wife, his children, his soul, his money, his time. God can take every man and woman who will give themselves to him. If you and I are possessed of this zeal, this earnestness, brethren, we shall impart it to another, and that one to another, and so on, and these things will extend and expand more and more, until soon the whole world will be reached. The message will be given, and our Lord will come. Of Christ it was said that the zeal he had for God consumed him,—it ate him all up, his life, his strength, his all. Now, what are we going to do? I have talked with many a man since I reached the United States. Some say, I am going to be a doctor; I am going into private practise. Others say they are going to do this or that. My friends, what is your object in doing this or that? Why do you want to be a great doctor? Why do you want to be a great man in the world? It seems to me that the greatest thing in the world that a man can be is to be an instrument of God to finish this work. What will you do with that greatness by and by? Can you take it with you? It will last during your lifetime, and then it will go out. But if a man will give his life to the work of soul-saving, by and by518he will have eternal riches. He will not be flattered; he will have few friends, and no worldly greatness, no social prestige; but, O brethren, he will have a great harvest of souls in the kingdom of God! I should rather have that for my inheritance, I should rather have that for my treasury, than to have all the riches and honor of this world, and then go down to ruin at last. The great thing is to build so solidly, to work so truly, to be so loyal to God, that every fiber of the being will live through all eternity. I appeal to you with all my heart to cut loose from every earthly tie, and to swing clear into the service of God, and give yourself with great zeal to the finishing of this work. May the text be true of us, “The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.” I want this to be true of me. I should rather have it true of me than to have anything in this world,—to know that I have given all I have on earth to get heaven; that I stand for righteousness; that I stand for hard work, that I stand to finish this work. I do not care for riches, or for the honor or glory of men, but that I may have it said of me by God himself that “the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.” I want to be consumed wholly in God’s service, to put all he has given me into his service, and to hear these words said to me by the Lord himself when I have finished my work. The General Conference Treasurer's Quadrennial Report
By W. T. KNOX
Jan. 1, 1909, to Dec. 31, 1912
In submitting the quadrennial report of the Treasury Department of the General Conference, it is recognized that, to a very large extent, it will indicate the spiritual condition of the people, the degree of their devotion and self-sacrifice, and their love of the truth. It will be a telling index of their attitude to that cardinal feature of their faith, the second coming of Christ. In this report we may also expect to find material evidence of the degree of prosperity the Lord may have given to his cause and people during the time covered. It is with great satisfaction, therefore, that this financial statement of the operations of the General Conference is submitted, for it certainly reveals a remarkable growth in our mission work. The operations of the General Conference Treasury Department may be segregated into four divisions: first, the administrative and departmental work of the General Conference; second, those large cities of North America where conferences have not sufficient financial strength to properly care for them, the many foreign nationalities settling in the East and Middle West of the United States, and the Negroes of the Southern States; third, those organized fields other than North America, such as Europe, Australia, South Africa, South America, and the West Indies; fourth, those great divisions of the world designated under the general term of heathen lands, such as India, China, Korea, Japan, the Malay Peninsula and islands, the great island territory of the South Seas, and the scattered mission fields, such as West Africa and Mexico. With the ever-expanding work of the denomination, and the resulting increased demands made upon the General Conference, we should expect to see an increased expenditure of funds upon the first of these divisions. Additional helpers and expense in administrative and departmental work are unavoidable in an increasing work. A study of this report in detail, however, is most gratifying, in that it shows but very slight increase in cost to the denomination. In the second division, pertaining to the large cities of America, the foreign populations of the United States, and the North American Negro Department, increased appropriations have been granted in the years 1910, 1911, and 1912 to some of the union conferences of the East and South, due chiefly to the fact that some of these conferences, formerly barely self-supporting, by adopting the general policy of a liberal division of their tithe with the General Conference, have required corresponding assistance to enable them to care for their fields. One union conference, the Western Canadian, that has been receiving aid from the treasury, has become self-supporting, and is, according to its membership, one of the most helpful in securing funds for the mission treasury. Others give promise of soon being able to do likewise. The rapidly increasing foreign populations have necessitated increased expenditures for the North American Foreign Department also. It is with much satisfaction, however, that attention is called to the fact that notwithstanding much of the expense involved in these first two divisions is for the support of work entirely devoted to the general features of the denomination, the results of which contribute in a very large measure to the gathering of mission funds and the recruiting of laborers for foreign fields, the entire outlay for them is met without encroaching upon the gifts of the people to foreign fields; the tithe of the General Conference, the division of tithe from the local conferences, and special gifts being ample to meet all the expense involved, and leave a handsome surplus for foreign mission work. In the third division referred to, the European Division and Australia, which formerly made large demands upon the mission treasury, have not only become self-supporting, but are now, by the blessing of God, able fully to relieve the General Conference of all financial responsibility in sending the gospel message to large portions of the earth. A glance at the map of the world will reveal what this means to the General Conference treasury. To all the European nations, Iceland, Siberia, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, German and British East Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and the South Sea islands, the message is now being carried independent of our treasury, leaving us free to devote greater energy and more attention to the great, needy fields of heathendom. South Africa gives encouragement that it will soon be able to care for its own territory. Two mission stations that in the past have received a large portion of the South African appropriations, are now financially independent. South America, while forging ahead and making a most gratifying record, will probably require our assistance for some time, as will also the West Indian Union Conference. Of the fourth division specified—the dark heathen lands of the Far East—the most encouraging word that can be said, is that the Lord is most wonderfully opening doors before us, and from them are coming many Macedonian cries. Their millions are reaching out their hands to us, calling for the best of our young men and women, for our means, and for our prayers,—calls that evidence that the Lord is rapidly preparing the way for the coming of his Son and the termination of this long reign of sin. This financial report is some evidence of how the Lord's people are relating themselves to his final work of mercy in behalf of those who have so long been in darkness and ignorance concerning him. In the body of the report are given the different sources from which we have drawn our funds, and the amounts received from them each year during the quadrennial period, a marked increase being almost always shown each year, with the exception of the Religious Liberty Offerings and the second tithe, there being nothing received from the latter source since 1909, the surplus or per cent of tithe from local conferences taking its place. The same is also the case with conferences that in the past have undertaken the support of laborers in other fields. Special attention is called to the Annual Offerings, which amounted in 1909 to $27,066.29, in 1910 to $54,374.08, in 1911 to $48,676.47, and in 1912 to $71,676.46. The First-day Offerings increased from $18,789.68 in 1909 to $25,236.14 in 1912; the general mission fund from $87,832.92 in 1909 to $102,477.45 in 1912. The Harvest Ingathering Fund, beginning with $41,183.46, reached the sum of $50,164.45 in 1912. The most remarkable showing, however, is found in the Sabbath-school Offerings, which in 1909 contributed to the treasury $81,911.65; in 1910, $99,779.95; in 1911, $115,651.65; and in 1912, $188,421.82; the Sabbath-schools thus contributing to our funds during 1912, $8,000 in excess of the entire mission offerings to the General Conference in 1906. It is evident that we can learn valuable lessons in raising mission funds from the Sabbath-schools. Their constant education concerning our mission efforts, their catchy devices and their special features to maintain a live interest in the fields, and their weekly appeals for contributions, without doubt, have largely contributed to the remarkable success made in this line of work by our Sabbath School Department. Great relief has also been brought to the treasury by the liberal attitude of the local conferences in sharing their tithe with the General Conference. Without this aid, the Mission Board would not only not have been able to make an increase in its mission work, but it would have continued in the dire distress prevailing in 1910, during which year a heavy deficit was created. This division of tithe gave the treasury in 1912 the sum of $157,688.38, and has placed the General Conference where, if nothing unforeseen occurs, it can carry its work through the trying summer months without15embarrassment to the mission fields or itself. For a number of years we have been endeavoring to educate the denomination to a systematic giving to missions that would equal ten cents a week per member. At one time it was thought that the amount thus raised would be ample for all the needs of the Mission Board. Some advancement has been made in this effort each year, as shown in the reports from the Treasury Department; but the rapidly advancing movement of the message has, in the past two or three years, made it very evident that our ideas and plans concerning mission work and offerings must be enlarged. At the Friedensau meeting in 1911, with some trepidation and misgivings, it was decided to appeal to the churches of America to increase their offerings to equal an average amount of fifteen cents a week per member, the necessities of such a request being placed before them. The result has been most gratifying, the offering for 1912 amounting to $472,610.87, or a weekly basis of only a fraction of a cent less than fifteen cents a week per member. The summary of the report gives the total receipts and disbursements of mission funds in a way that all can see the growth of the work during the period under consideration. There were in— |
RECEIPTS |
DISBURS'TS |
|---|
| 1909 |
$377,972.79 |
$357,532.56 |
| 1910 |
374,639.37 |
410,611.48 |
| 1911 |
427,861.98 |
404,922.53 |
| 1912 |
653,458.28 |
495,361.92 |
A total of receipts for the four years of $1,833,932.42, in contrast with $888,607.45 for the previous four years, a gain of $945,324.97. The total disbursements for the four years have been $1,668,428.49, as compared with the previous four years' disbursements of $833,871.04, an increase of $834,557.45. During this same period, there was received by the treasury on the $300,000 Fund, $177,999.30, the fund being closed July 1, 1912. Of this there was disbursed as follows:—
China ........................$57,119.76
Japan ........................1,414.34
Korea ........................14,729.02
India ........................29,039.68
Europe .......................7,972.40
Australia ....................1,000.00
South American Union ........14,000.00
Brazil .......................4,500.00
West Africa ..................1,500.00
West Indian Union ............4,500.00
Cuba ........................300.00
Canadian Union ...............571.23
Montreal church ..............1,949.89
Total ........................138,596.32
Balance ......................39,402.98
$177,999.30 In the past, one of the perplexing problems of the denomination has been a proper provision for the care of the aged and infirm conference workers. During the fall council of 1910, the present plan, known as the Sustenation Fund, was adopted,—a fund created from five per cent of the tithe of all the conferences of America. Thus far the plan has afforded universal satisfaction, and has proved a great blessing to the denomination. Since it has been in operation, from Jan. 1, 1911, it has yielded $110,963.60; one hundred eighty-five ministers, Bible workers, and other conference laborers have regularly drawn their support from the fund, at an outlay of $103,538.16. Temporary assistance has been given to the amount of $3,801.07. From the rapidly increasing demands made upon the fund, it is evident that it will be necessary in the near future to raise the per cent of tithe devoted to this work. We have in this report much to encourage us. The funds connected with our evangelistic work are all in healthy condition. Much of the heavy financial pressure of the past years has been removed. With this there comes to our brethren in distant and difficult fields a feeling of security that has not always characterized their labors. This is as it should be. But, without doubt, this Conference will give voice to many pleas that should be granted, and if they are, they will call for still greater outlay, all of which should only confirm us in the faith in which we hold the message, but will necessitate greater devotion and liberality than in the past, in order that not only every opportunity to advance the kingdom of God may be improved to the full, but also that every phase of our denominational finance may be properly cared for. W. T. KNOX. General Conference Departmental Resume
By C. M. S.
THAT this denomination is making an earnest attempt to fulfil the commission given to it is evidenced by the many tongues in which the message is now being made known to the world. The publishers' display of books and pamphlets in the large room assigned to the Publishing Department at this General Conference is concrete evidence of that fact. In seventy-one different languages the truths held by this people are now being published. The first meeting of the Publishing Department at this session of the General Conference was held on May 15, with representatives present from the Review and Herald Publishing Association, the Pacific Press Publishing Association, the Southern Publishing Association, and from the publishing houses in England, Australia, Germany, China, Japan, the Latin Union, Mexico, South America, Scandinavia, and Finland. At this meeting the secretary of the Publishing Department made brief reference to the first meeting of the department's representatives, which was held in Battle Creek, Mich., twenty-three years ago. At that time nothing whatever had been done in the book work outside of the United States. In that year six agents who were sent to England to begin the book work there were able to sell but little over seventeen dollars' worth of books in one hundred forty hours. From this very unpromising beginning the publishing work has gone on in the regions beyond, until a very large proportion of the publishing done by this denomination is done in other languages than that in which this message started. What would we have thought twenty years ago if it had been announced that the truths of the third angel's message were being printed in Iceland? But such is the case now. The printing-press is busy, even under the arctic circle, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and the soon coming of our Lord. At the second meeting of the Publishing Department considerable attention was given to the important part borne by the publishing work in the proclamation of the message. The wonderful progress of this department of the work was dwelt upon by Brethren C. H. Jones and J. N. Loughborough. It was estimated that one third of those who have accepted this message have done so as a result of reading our literature. The first meeting of the Educational Department was a very interesting one, and was calculated to set a new pace for the denomination in the matter of educating and training our youth for a part in the proclamation of the gospel message committed to us. There had been improvement all along the line. The past four years had shown striking growth both in the number of schools and in the number in attendance at the schools. State schools had grown more rapidly than they could be manned or equipped, and church-schools had sprung up rapidly. The secretary of the department urged the necessity of having the work done in all our schools thorough in all intellectual essentials and true to the principles of Christian education. The first meeting of the Missionary Volunteer Department was a call to devotion and consecration on the part of all who hold positions of responsibility in connection with this branch of the work, that the influence thus set and the work thus accomplished by these consecrated lives may be blessed of God in the salvation of the young and in the preparation of other workers to carry on the same great undertaking. The testimonies borne by the many secretaries present indicated that they sensed the importance of heeding the counsel given by those in charge of the meeting. At the second meeting of the department Elder A. G. Daniells gave a stirring address upon "The place of the Missionary Volunteer Movement in Our Denominational Work." He indicated the purpose of that department to be the conservation of the thousands of our young people, saving them to the work, that they may become forceful factors in its completion. Personal work for others was set forth by Elder Meade MacGuire as the supreme qualification for leadership in this work. The necessity of such a department in our work can hardly be overestimated. One of the most valuable assets of the denomination is its young people, reared, for the most part, in Sabbath-keeping homes, and made familiar, through the Sabbath-schools, with the fundamental principles of the message. To save these thousands to the work and fit them to carry it on is one of the most important undertakings of the denomination. In the meetings being held by the Medical Department much emphasis is laid upon the spiritual side of the work and the opportunities offered for personal soul-saving endeavor. Dr. Ruble emphasized the necessity of a real spiritual awakening among our medical men, and urged the importance of having the work of the medical secretary so arranged that he can give his entire time to that line of work, Elder W. J. Stone urged the necessity of co-operation on the part of all our workers if the medical branch of our work is to accomplish what God520(Concluded from page 15) designs it should. Our message is delayed, said he, so long as there is a lack of interest in any phase of the work. There must be a combination of medical and evangelical work. This was manifested in the life and work of Christ, and must be manifested also in his followers who are giving this message. The meetings being held by the Sabbath School Department are intensely interesting. In the place where these meetings are being held is an interesting exhibit, consisting of maps of the various States and countries, with a star to indicate the location of each Sabbath-school. A chart makes prominent the growth in our Sabbath-school donations to foreign missions from the first $700, given previous to 1887, to the $228,000 given last year. Forty-eight State Sabbath-school secretaries are in attendance, and each of them brings words of encouragement concerning the progress of the work in the field he represents. If the world needed a striking example of unity in diversity, it has it in the wonderful unity and harmony prevailing among the many departments of this work, all of which are putting forth their utmost endeavors for the success of the work as a whole, each contributing its portion, and God pouring out his blessing upon them all.