We present herewith a reported interview with Bishop William Burt, of Buffalo, given to a reporter of the Standard, published in that paper of Sept. 28, 1912. Bishop Burt has spent twenty-six years as a representative of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Europe. He lived eighteen years in Italy, fourteen of which were spent in Rome. Some months ago Bishop Burt, together with Archbishop Ireland, wrote a series of articles regarding the Catholic question, which appeared in the columns of our leading magazines. His intimate knowledge enabled him to speak with authority with reference to the present outlook:—
Rome does not change. The Roman Catholic Church to-day, in Europe and in America, has at heart the same inflexible purpose and principles that it had centuries ago. While I am not at all alarmed, and believe we should all keep cool and be kind, yet I look on conditions to-day, in Europe and in America, and I ask myself, Can it be that some day the Roman Church will actually take control of the United States? The menace is a real one.
Thirty years before the French Revolution Sir Isaac Newton predicted that the Catholic Church was destined to be trampled underfoot by the infidelity generated by the Roman Church itself. The prophecy has been fulfilled. The people of Europe have become sick of the formalism of the Greek and Roman Catholic Churches.
Infidelity in religion and socialism in economics are the results of this situation. Socialism is gaining in Vienna; we shall soon have religious liberty in Austria. Our long struggle for the privilege and right of worshiping God freely, of singing and preaching according to our own consciences, has not been in vain. But it has been a slow process. The largest results have come where our people have been most persecuted.
All we ask of Rome is to give us an equal chance with her to reach the people; we do not want a monopoly. If Rome sincerely wants religious freedom in this country, let her give us religious freedom in Europe and elsewhere. But Rome does not change. I have attended services in this country, in Eastern cities, in which the favors to be asked of the saints, through the church, were graded according to the financial gifts of those who asked the favors. All was put on a mercenary basis, almost reminding us of Tetzel and the protest of Martin Luther.
The modernist movement in the Roman Church of Europe is now a thing of the past. Merry del Val has succeeded in smothering it. Some of its leaders have been subdued, others have found it more safe and convenient to confine their efforts solely to quiet study in monastic retreats than to continue preaching and writing for publication. The pressure has been too strong against these men.
No, the Roman Catholic capital will never be moved to America. Whatever the designs of Rome concerning America may be, she is shrewd enough to know that a Pope on the Tiber really has more power in America than he would have if he were brought nearer and if the enchantment of historic associations was given up. Rome plans to build up a world imperialism, with the city of Rome as the center. Such are the indications, judging by the fact that in recent years Catholic individuals have been acquiring millions of dollars' worth of property in and about Rome, under conditions which will be favorable to the church. Nor do I look for any change in the relations between the papal and Italian governments.
I look on and ask myself, Are the American people fools, that they can be so blind regarding certain conditions? Here in America are one million children a year being taught in Catholic schools that this country was discovered by Catholics, that it really has been built up by Catholics, and that some day it will be dominated by the Catholic Church. Their schools in most cases are conducted without state supervision, such as the public schools must accept by law. Even in the public schools, the Catholic influence is strongly felt in many cities because of the presence of many Catholic teachers and pupils. It will not be at all surprising if there is a serious issue joined in the near future over such questions as state support of parochial schools. That is the thing they are working toward.
Yes, the Catholic Church is consistent in opposing the socialistic or popular democratic movements. It naturally hates anything savoring of socialism. And it knows how to make friends of the wealthy classes, bringing them to believe that in the church they will find the solution of their present difficulties.
The trouble with Americans is that they are prone to seek the easy way out; they prefer to look on the bright side all the time. They do not like to admit the seriousness of these problems. Our people are lacking in some of that iron in the blood and steel in the convictions which our fathers had. What our religious leaders to-day in America need is a clear issue in which to put their whole strength.
A Strange Mixture
In a recent number of the Illinois Baptist is given an account of a strange case of church union at Purcell, Okla. The denominations of that place, composed of the Trinity Methodist, the Methodist Episcopal, Campbellites, and Presbyterians, have entered into a covenant to provide a union church. The experiment is to extend over a period of one year. It is to be controlled by a board consisting of three members of each denomination, and non-denominational literature is to be used in the Sunday-school. Speaking of this attempt at church unity, the Western Recorder of Sept. 12, 1912, says:—
“Just imagine a sermon on infant baptism, and the reception it will receive at the hands of the Campbellite members; and one on Calvinism, and how it will set on the Arminians. We suppose it is a case where you ‘pays your money and takes your choice.’ . . . We freely predict that this amphibious, graminivorous, carnivorous chameleon will be short-lived, and full of trouble, and without any sort of verification of the scripture that it is pleasant for brethren to dwell together in unity. If there should be an addition to this queer institution, we are at a loss as to what he should be called. However, you can name him and take him. What next?”
True Christian unity can never be effected by an effort to subordinate denominational differences on the so-called non-essentials, and uniting on the essentials. This is but human devising, a man-made compromise. The true basis for Christian union is found in taking the Scriptures of Truth as the one standard of faith and conduct, and the life and teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ as our one example.
She Should Marry a Minister
It is to be regretted that every minister who is inclined to preach long, tedious sermons (and long sermons are usually tedious ones) could not have for a wife the sensible woman referred to in the following extract, which we clip from the Reformed Church Messenger:—
“If I were a minister’s wife,” said a woman in the car, who was talking too loud not to be overheard, “you may rest assured I should take an interest—an active interest—in my husband’s work. I should say to him, ‘Richard, if you want to do well next Sunday, preach short! If you want your congregation to grow larger and larger, preach short! If you want to draw them to this church, that church, and the other, preach short! Always preach short! But, Richard, have something to say, always! Condense, condense, and condense; and then have an air about you as if time were worth something, and you could not afford to lose a minute of it.’”
“If on a Sunday morning he seemed to be in an extra amiable mood, I should venture to say, ‘Richard, dear, don’t be all day in giving out your notices! Don’t blink over them and clear your throat, and go poking through them as if you had never seen them before, and were pondering them in your mind as you call attention to them. Don’t, I beg you, Richard, read them straight forward, and then say them all over again backward! There is nothing so tiresome!’”
“I am not sure but some Sunday I should say, ‘Richard, if you get the least mite tedious to-day, I shall fuss with my bonnet strings as a warning. And when you say, “In conclusion,” don’t, for pity’s sake, go on until you reach a “Finally,” and after that “One word more,” or “Just another thought.” I do think it is such a mistake to try to tell all one knows in one sermon.’”
Just then the auditor was obliged to leave the car, but he could not help exclaiming to himself, “What a sensible woman!” It is to be hoped that some day this sensible one will marry a minister.
It would be wise for every preacher to take to heart and faithfully practise this wise counsel.
Our World-Wide Testimony Meeting
Greetings for the Week of Prayer From Many Lands
Chosen (Korea's New Name)
C. L. BUTTERFIELD: “Greetings from Chosen. The past year has been one of great blessings received. One hundred fifty have been baptized, and many others have expressed a desire to unite with God’s remnant people. Surely in this land, now known as Chosen, God has many chosen souls. By the time you read this, the buildings of our new mission station at Seoul will be completed. For the past three years we have been in rented quarters, and we thank God and the donors of the $300,000 Fund for the publishing-house, offices, chapel, and three dwellings now being built. While success in giving the message does not depend upon material things, yet the buildings will be a great help. Pray for the work and workers in Chosen.”
Ireland
J. J. GILLATT: “We have been passing through a period of severe strain, owing to the government’s action in seeking to pass the Home Rule Bill. In spite of the unrest, however, the people are more inclined than formerly to listen to the message we bear, and for this we are grateful to our Heavenly Father. Thus far twenty-two new members have been added this year, and others are awaiting baptism. This, though small, is the largest gain in any one year for Ireland. If stormy times will hasten the work, we say,—
‘Then let the hurricane roar,
It will the sooner be o’er;
We’ll weather the blast, and we’ll land
at last
Safe on the evergreen shore.’”
Pray for the progress of the message in priest-ridden Ireland.”
Shanghai, China
DR. A. C. SELMON: “Passing along Nanking road (the main street in the city of Shanghai) the other day, I noticed through an open doorway that the inside of a large building seemed on fire. But on coming nearer, it proved to be a temple. Over the doorway was the name, ‘Insure Peace Temple.’ I stepped in to see if the building was ablaze or not, and found the rooms so full of smoke that I could hardly breathe; but the smoke came from the thousands of sticks of burning incense, and from a large urn, near the door, that was full of artificial silver money. The place was full of people, and every one who came in added a big bunch of the paper money to the flaming heap.
“Much is being said now of the wonderful changes that have taken and are taking place in China, but these changes have not weaned the people from their idolatry. In the crowd that thronged this temple were elegantly dressed men and women, women being in the majority, and they were all very intelligent-looking people. The saddest of all was to see that almost every one of the women had one or more of her little children with her, and these little ones were kotowing to the idols and muttering prayers to the filthy brass and iron gods. Changing from a monarchy to a republic does not change the hearts of the people. All that it will do is to open the way for us to bear a message to the people of the One who insures peace to those who put their trust in him.”
Brazilian Union
F. W. SPIES: “Cheering reports come from various parts of this great union field. Baptisms of believers are reported from the various divisions. Canvassers are having good success. The good work is onward. We are encouraged at what is being done; yet the many important and promising fields in which we have no workers cause us sorrow as we contemplate what might be done if we had the men and the means to push the work. Still we are hopeful, and believe the Lord is remembering our needs, and is preparing workers and gifts for Brazil. So we keep on placing ourselves and the need before him.”
Tsungwesi Mission, Rhodesia
M. C. STURDEVANT: “Greetings to all assembled in the week of prayer from the workers at Tsungwesi. The work is truly onward. Eleven were baptized in June as the first-fruits of our new mission. All is well.”
Bengal, India
L. G. MOOKERJEE: “Step by step the Lord is leading the remnant people. Each week of prayer season has found us on higher ground. We pray that God may bestow his Spirit upon his waiting church. The household of faith in Bengal send their Christian greetings to all.”
Pakhoi, South China
A. H. BACH: “Heartiest greetings from a land where Satan leads captive at his will millions on millions of souls, from a place where practically not one realizes his need of a Saviour, and yet where, praise God, nearly one hundred have been won to accept the present-time truth, and to wait for the Lord from heaven. They all send their hearty wishes, asking you to join them in prayer, that the gospel may be preached here with saving effect, that our motives may be above every human motive, and that the work may be, even in the smallest details of every-day life, wholly the Lord’s.”
Algiers, North Africa
PAUL BADAUT: “Our workers in Algeria unite with me in the testimony of good cheer and hope, mingling our praises to the Heavenly Father with the voices of our world-wide coworkers. We thank him for the victories given, and for the assurance that at a time not distant the lights of the last message will be shining all along this border of darkest Africa, from Tunis to Morocco.”
India
V. L. MANN, M. D.: “Although we are surrounded by sin, sickness, and death, we feel drops of the latter rain, for which we thank God. We need your cooperation in preparing some of India’s millions for that universe-wide social meeting soon to come in heaven, with Christ as leader. Pray with us that India may have a large representation there.”
South American Union
J. W. WESTPHAL: “The interest our brethren in the home lands have shown in our field by their prayers and their liberal gifts, and by workers sent, is reciprocated by our brethren here with heartfelt gratitude. The believers here are anxious to help in similar ways. As an example: while the average tithe per member of the church at our school headquarters in Argentina was five dollars for the first six months of the present year, the donations for the same time amounted to an equal sum, and this after two years of almost total failure of crops. The prayers of our brethren are ascending to God that he may bless the offerings to the salvation of souls in every land that the gifts may reach.
“Yet, thank the Lord, the calls are ever ahead of our efforts. The Lord is opening doors for us before we call. People outside of the denomination are asking us to begin a larger work for the Indians of the Andes. Only recently a letter came from a prominent resident of La Paz, Bolivia, asking that we begin Indian work at that place. We have13long-delayed calls to enter the southern extremity of the continent, the territory along the Strait of Magellan. We rejoice that the General Conference is making an effort to send a man to take up this work. Recently the first church was organized in Ecuador. The difference in the present condition of the fields and that of eleven years ago, when I first saw them, is wonderful. Then in some of the fields every door seemed closed to the truth. To-day there is not one field where the doors are not wide open. Open doors beckon us forward, and the responsibility of entering rests upon us.”
East German Union
H. F. SCHUBERTH, the president, speaks especially for the new mission field of Galicia, in Austria: “The members of the first Galician society, Ray of Light, send greetings, and desire at this season of prayer to express their thanks to God, and their appreciation to the brethren, for sending them the third angel’s message. Nine million people in the darkness of Roman and Greek Catholicism ought to hear the truth. As all opportunities to get at the people through our literature were taken away by law, the only way was to organize this society, Ray of Light; but even now our workers have several times been called before the police, all letters and papers searched, and one of our best Polish-speaking German woman nurses was sent out of the country. As the East and West Galician Missions, since the organization of the Danube Union, are the only mission fields that are worked and supported by the East German Union, we feel a special burden for the millions of that country, and we ask for the prayers of the people of God for the work and workers in this difficult field. May the Lord use this new society as a ray of light in saving many souls for eternity.”
Province of Hunan, China
R. F. AND MRS. COTTRELL: “Our fifth summer in China is nearing its close, and we praise the Lord for the strength he has given us thus far to labor for him. We thank him for the comfortable home he has enabled us to build here, made possible through the gifts of our brethren and sisters in America. We rejoice in the progress the message is making in this land, so long under the ensign and power of the dragon. However, the enemy is still alive and active. At the instigation of Roman Catholics, a number of our people have recently been imprisoned on various false charges. One, a canvasser of only a few months’ experience, lying in a dreary, filthy jail, writes that although his health is suffering from the confinement, his faith is still strong in God. Conscious of his innocence, he believes that the same One who liberated Peter will soon open before him the prison doors that he may again travel and witness for Jesus. The evidence of what the gospel can do and is doing for many in dark China should inspire and nerve every soul with fresh courage.”
Hawaiian Islands
C. D. M. WILLIAMS: “Hawaii sends greetings. The message is onward. We are of good courage. Last night two went forward in baptism. This week we are starting the work on the island of Maui. Our Norwegian brethren on the island of Hawaii have another family keeping the Sabbath. We were glad to greet Brother and Sister Robert McKeague a few days ago, and to see that the Lord is answering the Macedonian cry of Hawaii.”
Chowkiakow Training-School, Hunan
F. A. ALLUM: “To our brethren and sisters assembled during the week of prayer, greeting. At this season of prayer we would ask you all to remember China. The spirit of prophecy says:
‘Let us cry to God that the angels may hold the four winds till missionaries shall be sent into all parts of the world, and shall proclaim the warning against disobeying the law of Jehovah.’ From this we can see that until China is warned, neither you nor I can expect to see the return of our Lord. Therefore, my earnest prayer at this season shall be, and I hope, dear brethren and sisters, that you will make it yours, too:—
“Stir me, O stir me, Lord! I care not how,
But stir my heart in passion for the world.
Stir me to give, to go, but most to pray;
Stir, till the blood-red banner be unfurled
O’er the lands that still in heathen darkness lie,
O’er deserts where no cross is lifted high.’”
THE GALICIAN RAY OF LIGHT SOCIETY
Montevideo, Uruguay
NORA DAVIS: “It is such a pleasure to see the work in the city of Montevideo opening up so rapidly, both medical and evangelical. Doors which have been closed are now being opened, and prejudices broken down. We find it very true that the missionary nurse’s work opens the doors to the Bible work. We are all of good courage, and are pressing on. Pray for us.”
Scotland
A. E. BACON: “Greetings from the believers in Scotland. We rejoice with you in the progress of the message in every land. This year we have many blessings from the Lord, in Scotland. A sturdy band of believers are gathering to the standard of truth in this land, in whose hearts burns the loyal spirit of the old Covenanters. While the battle is severe, we are assured of final victory. We thank God that by his grace we can say with Joshua and Caleb, We are well able to go up and possess the goodly land.”
Hunan, China
HWANG DGEN DAO, native evangelist, bears testimony through translation by R. F. Cottrell: “I praise the Lord that his Spirit has been at work in Hunan. Recently conditions have greatly changed. Previously the workers in our mission found few openings for preaching, and suffered much reviling and persecution. At the present time some who formerly persecuted are most friendly, some who reviled us previously now speak words of commendation. Moreover, many are now longing for the third angel’s message, not only in Changsha, but in the cities, towns, and country districts throughout the province. This can be none other than a fulfilment of Matt. 24:14, and this evidence of Christ’s soon return fills my heart with cheer and praise.”
Shanghai, China
C. N. WOODWARD, secretary and treasurer of the China Union Mission: “One year ago I had not the remotest idea of being in a foreign field to-day. But I have nothing to regret, for the past year has brought many blessings. When I see how God can take a heathen from his idols, and give him an intelligent knowledge of his truth and a fervent love for it, how can I doubt his ability and willingness to work through us to finish his work in the earth?”
Calcutta, India
FROM this city of a million, where Elders G. W. Pettit and J. M. Comer are in the midst of a city effort, Elder Pettit speaks: “The cities of India send greetings. The little church here, numbering less than twenty, are overjoyed that God is answering prayer and is sending them help to proclaim the message that has kept them faithful and in the attitude of prayer for years without the living preacher. The believers and the handful of workers here enter upon the work courage-filled as they remember all those around the world who will be pressing their petitions before the throne in heaven in behalf of India.”14
Sumatra, East Indies
B. JUDGE: “Pray for us while we pray for you. ‘Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence.’ Here we are among millions of people, and no ordained man to administer baptism. We have four believers waiting to be baptized, one from the worshiping of devils. Who is going to help answer his own prayers for help for these islands? We are full of courage as we read such texts as this: ‘I am sought of them that ask not for me; I am found of them that sought me not.’”
Italy
L. ZECCHETTO: “Last Sabbath was another good day here in Florence. A crowd of people was gathered by the lovely Arno to witness another baptismal service,—a young man leaving all to follow his Master. He goes to our school at Gland, Switzerland, to prepare for service in the message. I am more encouraged in the work than ever.”
Abide With Me
By Worthie Harris Holden
WORTHIE HARRIS HOLDEN
Leave me not, O blessed Saviour!
Cleanse me from impurity,
Fill me with thy gracious presence,
That I may be all like thee.
Thou alone art my Desire,
Thou alone canst free from sin,
Burst the chains that bar and hinder,
That thy power may dwell within.
Then endued by thy blest Spirit,
I may haste to service sweet,
Bringing offerings of thanksgiving
Meet to lay at Jesus' feet.
Leave me not, for thou art Wisdom,
Thou my Righteousness and Light;
Now thou grantest thine anointing
To fulfil thy word of might.
Make Religion Concrete
By Arthur W. Spaulding
Come, Let Us Live With Our Children—No. 8
Make Religion Concrete
ARTHUR W. SPAULDING
Every Christian parent wants his child to be a Christian, and essays to make some contribution toward his conversion. But what it is to be a Christian and what constitutes conversion are matters variously understood. To most persons religion in another is a perfume,—something gratefully recognized by the senses, but hard to define, harder still to compound. And so most parents, instead of seeking laboratory methods to make it, seek magic methods to conjure it. You and I many times have seen parents in tears upon witnessing the open profession of Christ on the part of their child. The tears are not to be condemned, for they are here the symbol of joy; but they are also the symbol of that helplessness, that unscientific appeal to fortune, to chance, to emotion instead of to reason, which characterizes altogether too many of our conversions.
Lacrimose conversions are all too liable to be, like Reuben’s character, “unstable as water.” So long as we believe, so long as our youth are taught, that the most pronounced evidences of religion are speaking in meeting and eschewing novels, we shall find our young people at once babes and hopeless prigs.
Far be it from me to leave an impression of condemning the one or approving the other. I believe in open testimony for Christ, and I hate and fear the effect of fiction upon the minds and souls of our children. But I maintain that these (chance examples among the other evidences of religion) must not be sought as ends in themselves; they should come, if they come at all, from convictions and experiences of a deeper life. Testimonies for Christ should be, not a mere profession of loyalty, but a report, or at least an echo, of service rendered.
All this points to the great need of a clearer conception of what constitutes religion and of what operates to secure conversion. Sentimentalism in religion is a rotten stick, yet it is what many, if not most, Christian workers lean upon. And I charge that its opposite extreme, materialism, is induced chiefly by the revulsion of sensible but ill-informed natures against sentimentalism.
Fathers and mothers, if you would have your children steadfast Christians, acting upon principle, not upon emotion, you must live with them a life wholly permeated with the everlasting gospel. The transient evangelist can do nothing for your child without you; with you, there is little for him to do. Let us learn day by day what it is to make religion concrete. God waits to teach all of us, each in his own peculiar circumstances. In that learning there are certain points to be observed.
Be natural, not sanctimonious. A boy or a girl hates sanctimony. To their clear eyes it is hypocrisy. To “talk the truth” is often disastrous business for our neighbors and our children alike. It is things, not words, that attract the youth. Some fathers, some Sabbath-school superintendents, some preachers, have a special religious voice to use on occasion. The sermon, the Scripture reading, the “good talk,” suffer from its intrusion. Some whine in a thin, high key; some roll forth their words in a sepulchral, orotund form; some chop their vowels into fine “ah’s.” Many indulge so much in the use of this special voice that it becomes habitual with them; so that one man unconsciously orders a grocery list in a pulpit voice, and another converses about the flowers of the field as if he had just come from witnessing the deluge. A person so afflicted is greatly hampered in getting close to a fifteen-year-old boy or girl.
Do not talk about the truth as if it were resting on Sinai’s top. “The word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and15in thy heart.” The fact is, if we ourselves are thinking about the gospel, are planning for it in every act of ours, are applying its principles in our every thought about others, it will shine out in our faces, and our words will reveal it. But if our thoughts are habitually low or frivolous or selfish, and we think of the truth only when it appears necessary or proper to do so, every effort we make to impress the truth upon our children will bear the marks of an artificial effort, and we shall be sure to be sanctimonious. For the sanctimonious voice and mien come from an effort to impress others with our unreal piety.
The man with concrete Christianity does not fill his speech with talk of money-getting. He is industrious and frugal, but his thought and his effort are given to the forwarding of the message. It is sham Christianity that excuses a love of money-getting by saying one can thus put more money into the cause. A great obstacle to the consecration of many young people is their desire, gained in the atmosphere of the home, “to get on in the world.” The parents who with cheerful hearts are strict in the paying of tithe and all other obligations, and who are liberal toward their fellow men here and in foreign lands, but who restrict their own personal expenditures, are doing much to put practical Christianity into their children.
The absence of faultfinding and criticism, of either your own family or your neighbors, is a phase of Christianity that will do more to convert your boy and your girl than all the tears and prayers ever offered. Instead of holding up the town drunkard as an awful example to your son, enlist him in helping that drunkard’s family. Instead of criticizing Mrs. Blank’s feathers and furs (which your daughter may secretly admire, and may vary only in imitation), get Mrs. Blank interested in visiting and helping clothe some destitute children in your neighborhood. And take your own children out with you in Christian Help work.
Live a Christian life, and study daily how better to live it. Then talk with your children naturally, easily, and in a Christian way about whatever comes up. But do not act pious, nor talk in a sanctimonious voice. If, like a Christian, you grant to your children a much-desired holiday and participate with them in it, you will find much less trouble about requiring attendance at church. Only the one who habitually lives both with his children and with Christ knows what splendid, perfectly natural opportunities are all the while presenting themselves to inculcate the truth. Stand close to your boy in the work and sports of his life, and you will find it easy to lead him to be a Christian.
All that a Christian sees has some relation to his Saviour and his kingdom. The fair green earth in the spring-time is an earnest of the resurrection, the harvest is the glad day of the Lord’s coming, the singing birds are an example of cheerfulness in the midst of danger and persecution, the flowers in their simple beauty are the promise of God’s care, the sunset splendors make the opening portals of the New Jerusalem. Keep seeing and sensing these things; and though you may not always be saying them, you can not avoid always in some way conveying their impressions. The boy and the girl brought up in such an atmosphere know religion, not as an exotic, easily blasted by winds of criticism and failure, but as a vigorous, practical plant, adapted to all the conditions it finds. That is robust Christianity.
Keep Pegging Away
By Nixon Waterman
NIXON WATERMAN
Men seldom mount at a single bound
To the ladder’s very top;
They must slowly climb it, round by
round,
With many a start and stop.
And the winner is sure to be the man
Who labors day by day;
For the world has learned that the safest
plan
Is to keep on pegging away.
You have read, of course, about the hare
And the tortoise,—the tale is old,—
How they ran a race, it counts not where,
And the tortoise won, we’re told.
The hare was sure he had time to pause
And to browse about and play,
So the tortoise won the race because
He just kept pegging away.
A little toil and a little rest
And a little more earned than spent
Are sure to bring to an honest breast
A blessing of glad content.
And so, though skies may frown or smile,
Be diligent day by day;
Reward shall greet you after a while
If you just keep pegging away.
—Selected.
Coals of Fire
MANY years ago two British officers, Captain Conolly and Colonel Stoddart, were thrown into prison by the Afghans in Bokhara, and after lying six months in a miserable dungeon, they were beheaded.
For a long time their fate was unknown in England, until a missionary undertook a dangerous journey to Bokhara, and ascertained that they had been murdered two years before. Five years later, a Russian officer, passing through the bazaar in the city, picked up a little well-worn English prayer-book which Captain Conolly had used in prison, and in which he had written an account of his sufferings. The Russian officer bought the book, and carried it home to St. Petersburg.
The little prayer-book that lay for seven years on the shelves of a Bokhara bazaar, next spent fourteen years in St. Petersburg, where an English visitor, who chanced to see it, begged permission to take it to Captain Conolly's relatives in England. Thus, twenty-one years after her brother's death, Miss Conolly received the book that told of his sufferings. About that time a mission hospital was opened at Bannu, near Bokhara, and Miss Conolly undertook the support of a bed in memory of her brother. Over it hangs a tablet which reads: “Conolly Bed. In memory of Captain Conolly, beheaded at Bokhara.”
No wonder that when the doctor in charge tells the sick Afghans of the way the Christian lady took her revenge, they are impressed that here is something very new and strange—an object-lesson of the love of Christ.—Selected.
Read Your Bible
By Phillips Brooks
READ your Bible. If you can read it with your soul as well as with your eyes, there shall come the Christ there walking in Palestine. At one word of prayer, as you bend over the illuminated page, there shall lift up the body-being of that Christ and come down through the centuries, and be your helper at your side. — Phillips Brooks.
The Noon-Hour Prayer
“Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.” “And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends.”
Answered Prayer
A SISTER who asked us to pray that her husband, who was far from God, might attend camp-meeting, writes that he was regularly present at the evening services, and on Sabbath stopped his work, and they attended the meeting as a family.
Several weeks ago prayer was requested for the healing of a little girl whose parents were not believers in this truth. A sister who has been interesting herself in the case sends word that the child has been making an excellent recovery since October 10, the day the request was published, and is gaining in health and strength. The parents, who were formerly very prejudiced, are now interested in the truth.
“When the prayer service for the sick was published in the REVIEW about ten years ago,” writes a brother from Colorado, “one of my sisters was stricken with tuberculosis. She knew there was no earthly help for this malady, and yet feared to die. One day while talking with her, I asked if she would not like to have me send in her name as a subject for prayer. To this she readily assented. I asked the Prayer Band to plead that she might be healed if it was God’s will, and if not, that she might be given the courage to meet death fearlessly. I only wish you might have seen the change from a timid, shrinking girl, to a brave, fearless woman, in the few weeks she was spared to us. She fell asleep in the hope of a part in the first resurrection.”
Requests for Prayer
143. A mother who has prayed many years for the conversion of her four daughters, their husbands and children, asks that we join her in pleading with God for the granting of this petition.
144. Prayer is requested for the healing of a brother in Minnesota who is afflicted with cancer.
145. “Please remember my husband at the noon-hour prayer service. He is unconverted, but favorable to the truth. Also pray that if it is God’s will, I may be restored to health,” writes a sister from Mississippi.
146. A pathetic request comes from Missouri. A mother desires our united prayers that she may have courage to accept Christ as her personal Saviour. Her son, sixteen years of age, is an earnest Christian and desires to prepare himself for the ministry. His influence has led her to long for an experience in the things of God.
147. From New York a burdened sister writes asking prayer for the conversion of her daughter and family, two brothers, a sister, and an aged mother. The daughter and her little boy are in poor health, and she desires their healing if it is the Father’s will. Let us also remember this sister’s husband, who is having a hard struggle in giving up the use of tobacco.
148. A friend in New Jersey requests that prayer be offered for the conversion of her five sisters and one brother who are out of the ark of safety. Some of them have known and loved the truth, but worldly influences have drawn them away. She also asks that we pray for the healing of a sister-in-law who has been a constant sufferer for eight years.
149. An anxious mother sends this word from South Dakota: “I request the prayers of God’s people for my boy. He seems to have lost all interest in the truth. A sister also asks prayer for her son and for a lady friend.”
150. From Texas a sister sends the request that we pray for her husband, whose left eye was so seriously injured some weeks ago that the doctors fear he will lose his sight. The shock of the injury has weakened him physically. Let us pray for his complete restoration if it is God’s will.
151. One of our sisters in Georgia asks prayer for the conversion of her brothers, and for herself that she may be healed.
152. A sister residing in Washington, who has suffered from poor health for twenty-seven years, requests the united prayers of this people for healing. Medical help seems to afford her no relief. She also asks prayer for the conversion of her husband and brothers.
153. A California sister requests prayer for the healing and conversion of a friend, eighty years of age, who knows and believes the truth, but has not yet taken his stand for God and the right.
154. From Costa Rica a brother writes asking that we pray for the healing of the wife of one of our workers there. The brother himself is experiencing some trying financial difficulties. Let us remember him also as we bow before the throne of grace.
More Holiness Give Me
“More holiness give me,
More sweetness within,
More patience in suffering,
More sorrow for sin.
More faith in my Saviour,
More sense of his care;
More joy in his service,
More purpose in prayer.”
