“THEY bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him, and set him in his place, and he standeth; from his place shall he not remove: yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.”
These words of Isaiah were forcibly impressed on my mind this morning as I stood on the principal square of Lima and watched the surging masses gathered to do homage to the “Lord of Miracles.” Since early morning the Plaza de Armas and the street leading to the church of Santo Domingo, half a block from our office, have been filled with the lay religious fraternity, in purple frocks, who have charge of the ceremony. The procession left the church a block distant, but the people are crowding in to get a better view of the ceremony.
First come banners of the Holy Heart and other such emblems, followed by crowds of the faithful with burning tapers, intermingled with gray-haired men and smooth-faced youth wearing the purple gown of their fraternity. The principal feature of the procession is still half a block away, but every head is bare awaiting its arrival. The “Lord of Miracles” is still a hundred yards away when there pass three lamps on staffs, made after the fashion of the old kerosene street lamps of days gone by, those on the outside being surmounted by angels and the middle one by the cross and other emblems. Frankincense fills the air, while the chant of singers resounds through the narrow street.
Now there come enormous candles of two and three inches in diameter, and one just in front of the carriers is at least four inches through and a yard and a half long. This time it is not an image, but an oil painting of the crucified Saviour that is being venerated. On a platform with handles there stands a painting of the Saviour on the cross, and back of this, facing the opposite direction, is one of the Holy Virgin with the Babe, and Joseph kneeling in reverence near. Surrounding these pictures on the platform are many flowers and also lighted candles of all sizes.
Carrying this “Lord of Miracles” are about twenty-four men, who sway back and forth to the music of a military band. Next comes the officiating priest, who, in the robes and miter of his office, and escorted by six youth carrying a scarlet canopy over his head, mumbles prayers out of his prayer book almost faster than he can make his mouth go. On either side fifteen to twenty policemen in parade dress,—white gloves, plumes, etc.,—accompany the procession, to do homage to the idol. As it passes, officers and soldiers who are watching stand at attention, while a few devout women fall on their knees. The crowd still fills the street, although the procession has gone on half a block.
As we see these poor, deluded people bowing down to wood and stone, silver and gold, our hearts go out in pity for them, and we feel as never before the need of giving them this last saving message.
These religious feasts are the curse of the land, as they lead to feasting and carousing. A few weeks ago I was in the interior where they had been feasting already four days, celebrating the patron saint of the village. At midnight we still heard the music and dancing, and were awakened at four in the morning by the strains of the band, while feasting, drinking, immorality, and strife were rife. No wonder that intelligent and progressive people express themselves as did a representative in congress a few weeks ago when the election of a bishop for Puno was being discussed. He said that the clergy and bishops with their religious feasts were brutalizing, exploiting, and alcoholizing the people. He was sure that if Christ would come to earth, he would not become their leader.
Slowly there is coming a change over the people, and I am told that each year the processions are losing some of their splendor and pomp of years ago. I know of two places in the interior where the communities have decided not to have any more feasts, and in one place it was decided to open a school with the money and educate their children.
BRITISH OFFICERS NEAR KONGO BORDER
From different places there come to us calls for teachers to teach the gospel, but for lack of workers we are unable to respond. Shall we allow those who wish to know the light to stay in darkness? Shall we rest comfortably in the knowledge of God's love without taking it to those who do not know it? Our earnest prayer is that God may send workers now into his great white harvest field.
Lima.
Conducted by Mrs. I. H. Evans, Takoma Park, Washington D. C
Assisted by Miss Lora E. Clement
Through the columns of this department, hints will be given on all matters pertaining to the home life. Short articles and letters are solicited from home makers, telling of their everyday experiences,—their joys and sorrows, their failures and successes.
Literary Value of the Bible
By MRS. I. H. E.
A LITTLE girl, with a very happy face, once met an older friend and began to recite the tale of her latest birthday’s addition to her “liberry.”
“Twenty volumes, all bound in blue, with pictures and gilt tops, and I have to cut the edges,” said she. Then, in answer to a half-teasing question as to the contents, she explained, “They’re literature.”
Often we unconsciously accept this child’s viewpoint, and judge a book as “literature” by the company it is found in, by its printing and illustrations, by its binding and adorning. But the true literary value of any book is not a matter of externals. It lies in the writing itself, its truth, its sincerity, the beauty of its language, its appeal to the heart, its influence on the life, its power to mold and uplift and inspire men. Judged by this standard, the Bible is acknowledged to be first in literary value of all the books of the world.
One literary critic has said: “There are three great provinces of thought,—man, nature, and God. The last is the greatest of all, and the highest achievement of literature is to lead us to a new or fuller appreciation of his character. That being true, no other book is of such great value as the Bible, for in it the character of God is written on every page.”
We come along the road from childhood to maturity with no thought at first of the literary value of the Bible. To our earliest appreciation it is a Book of Stories—Joseph, and Moses, and Ruth, and the little captive maid, and Samuel, and David, and Daniel, and Jesus. Then it is a Book of Precepts: Thou shalt, and thou shalt not. We learn a little of the greatness of God’s power, of the all-seeing eye that knows our hearts and reads our secret thoughts. Still later it is a Book of Doctrines. From it we learn that the seventh day is the Sabbath, that there will be two resurrections, what the millennium is, that the second coming of Jesus is near. And presently, it becomes to us the Book of Beautiful Thoughts, expressed in language that plays on sensitive human hearts as skilled fingers may play upon a harp. Enraptured, we listen to the wonderful rhythm and melody of the psalms, and to the lofty music of the odes of Deborah and of Moses and Miriam. The variety and charm of the “wisdom literature” of the Bible, the eloquence of its orations, the sublimity of its prophetic and descriptive writings, open before us vistas of unthought-of wonder and beauty.
In making this discovery, we find ourselves in good company. The wisest scholars of all ages, poets, philosophers, statesmen, unite in declaring the Bible to be the “crown of writings.” As a literary production it “stands at the head of the list, whether we consider its thoughts and style, its prose and poetry, its history and biography, its logic and diction, or its beauty and grandeur.”
“I owe my education as a writer more to the Bible than to any other hundred books that could be named,” said Sir Edwin Arnold; and Macaulay wrote, “If everything else in our language should perish, the Authorized Bible alone would suffice to show the whole extent of its beauty and power.”
Of the poetry of Jesus, Edwin Markham says: “Jesus lifts the worn and pedagogic into the peerage of poetry. He changes sand into pearl; he turns cloud into rainbow.”
Ruskin declared that his mother “established his soul in life” by her faithfulness in teaching the Scriptures to him as a child. He says: “To this discipline, patient, accurate, and resolute, I owe much of my general power of taking pains, and the best part of my taste in literature. I count it, very confidently, the most precious, and, on the whole, the one essential, part of my education.”
John Quincy Adams said: “For pathos of narrative; for the selection of incidents that go directly to the heart; for the picturesque in character and manner; the selection of circumstances that mark the individuality of persons; for copiousness, grandeur, and sublimity of imagery; for unanswerable cogency and closeness of reasoning; and for irresistible force of persuasion, no book in the world deserves to be so unceasingly studied, and so profoundly meditated upon, as the Bible.”
Sir William Jones, founder of the Royal Asiatic Society and a master of twenty-eight languages, paid this tribute to the Bible: “I have regularly and attentively read the Bible, and am of the opinion that this volume, independently of its divine origin, contains more true sublimity, more exquisite beauty, purer morality, more impartial history, and finer strains of poetry and eloquence, than could be collected within the same compass from all other books ever composed in any age.”
We are told that Professor Phelps, of Yale, “makes the suggestion that all examinations in English for college men be confined to the Bible;” and Fisher Ames, the great American jurist and orator, recommended the Bible as a model for orators to study. He said: “I will hazard the assertion that no man ever did or ever will become truly eloquent without being a constant reader of the Bible, and an admirer of the beauty and sublimity of its language. Its morals are the purest, its examples captivating and noble, and in no other book is there so good English, so pure and so elegant.”
The influence of the Bible on modern literature cannot be estimated. In thought, in phraseology, in allusion, in figures of speech, it runs like a golden thread through all that is best and noblest in English poetry and prose.
Of course, we do not and should not regard the literary beauty of the Bible as its highest claim on our attention and admiration. It is our Guidebook along the road that leads from earth to heaven; it is the Book of Counsel and Comfort; the Book of Hope and Salvation. “The Bible is my book,” said Victor Hugo, writer of many books; and a multitude of feeble, trembling saints of God have echoed this thought. The Bible is every-man’s book; “it touches human nature in all of its depths and ranges.”
“Bring me the Book,” said Sir Walter Scott, when dying. And when he was asked what book, he replied, “Need you ask? there is but one.” How often has his experience been repeated! How sweetly have the promises of the Bible fallen upon ears that were fast dulling to all other sounds! How has its consolation brought comfort and courage to hearts in their sorest need! Even in the valley of the shadow it brings the Saviour near, and sets the heart at peace.13
No matter how far afield we may wander in our search for knowledge and truth and beauty, we must, if we follow the guiding voice within, come back to the Bible. It is the one book, our book, the surpassing treasure of wisdom and hope and love given to mankind.
“We search the world for truth; we cull
The good, the pure, the beautiful,
From graven stone and written scroll,
From all old flower-fields of the soul;
And weary seekers of the best,
We come back laden from our quest,
To find that all the sages said
Is in the Book our mothers read.”
MRS. I. H. E.
My Father
By Arthur W. Spaulding
ARTHUR W. SPAULDING
I ONCE lived in a garden,
A garden fair as day,
And I was pure and happy,
And perfect in my way.
So that was why God loved me?
Oh, nay! and nay! and nay!
And once against the giants
I bent my mighty bow,
To rid the earth of ravage
And lay oppression low.
And was’t for this God loved me?
Not so! indeed not so!
And once with wondrous learning
I battled for the truth;
I flayed debasing errors,
And slew them without ruth.
And so for this God loved me?
Nay! not for that, in sooth.
But last—forgot my prowess—
I lowly bent my head,
While awe and wonder held me,
Above a little bed:
“Now know I why God loves me,
In very truth,” I said.
Precautionary Measures During Diphtheria Epidemics
By D. H. KRESS
D. H. KRESS, M. D.
DIPHTHERIA is a communicable disease, and therefore a preventable one. There is no more reason why an epidemic of diphtheria should occur in American cities than there is that an epidemic of yellow fever should occur. And a yellow fever epidemic in this enlightened age would, or should, be considered a disgrace in any community.
The so-called communicable diseases are not as a rule transmitted through the air, as was once thought, but are usually conveyed through actual contact. Therefore certain precautionary measures are always advisable.
The importance of having clean hands should be especially emphasized whenever an epidemic is present; for it is chiefly through the hands that the germs of disease are communicated from one person to another. While the hands should always be kept clean, it is of the greatest importance that they be thoroughly cleansed before meals. The right hand, with which we convey food to the mouth, is employed in opening doors; with it we hang to the straps in the street cars, and with it we handle our germ-laden money. And too often we forget that the same door knob, the same street-car strap, the same dollar bill, may have been in the hands of some one who himself has diphtheria, or who has been brought in contact with some one else who has it.
Milk, which forms one of the best of cultures for the growth of germs, is one of the chief vehicles by which diphtheria is conveyed, and in time of epidemic should always be suspected. Handling milk with hands that have been infected may easily cause it to become a source of danger to the families buying it.
Milk should always be Pasteurized or sterilized before it is used; and in time of an epidemic of diphtheria even the milk that is supposed to be Pasteurized at the distributing center should be re-Pasteurized or sterilized at home. A simple way to sterilize milk is to place it in the inner receptacle of a double boiler, and keep the water in the outer vessel at the boiling point for thirty minutes. This is usually sufficient time to destroy all disease germs.
It is important to keep the mouth and teeth clean. Foods which favor the growth of bacteria outside of the body also form a favorable culture for them in the mouth, where remnants of food are likely to be retained. After each meal the teeth should be cleaned with a toothbrush, using a good tooth paste or powder. Draw the brush from the gums downward in brushing the upper teeth, and from the gums upward in brushing the lower teeth. By this means the bristles get in between the teeth, and remove any particles of food that have lodged there. At the close thoroughly wash out the mouth, and gargle the throat. If it is impossible to brush the teeth, do not omit the rinsing of the mouth and throat.
Diphtheria is a throat disease. As a usual thing, germs do not flourish on a clean surface of mucous membrane. When milk or other foods which are rich in protein adhere to the mucous membrane of the throat, a favorable soil is formed for the growth of diphtheria germs. Therefore it is well, after cleaning the teeth and rinsing the mouth, to gargle the throat thoroughly, cleansing it of all remnants of food.
Children should be taught these simple precautionary measures,—clean hands, clean mouth, and clean throat,—and the reasons for them. The use of the toothbrush and mouth wash and gargle should be a part of their daily régime, and especially during an epidemic of diphtheria.
Early Hopes and Fears
By Cora A. Matson Dolson
The joys and griefs of later years
I half forget.
But all my early hopes and fears—
How large to child eyes each appears!
The merry laugh, the lashes wet—
I see them yet!
—Cora A. Matson Dolson.
When a Woman is “Queer”
“SHE is queer, you know.” Every now and again you hear this said of a woman. And when one runs this accusation to the ground, the “queerness” comes from the fact that the woman is unusual; unusual in that she does not dress as “they” (whoever “they” are!) do; or she may not do what every one else is doing (and that, in the eyes of some, is such a crime!). But, generally speaking, the “queer” woman is interesting; not because she is “queer,” because her “queerness” is simply that she is different. She refuses to be any one else than herself. She chooses to dress either as is most becoming to her or as is most comfortable to her. She doesn’t find out what “they” are doing before she does anything. She has a healthy indifference to what “they” are wearing when she buys a hat or a dress. She is just herself. Curious, isn’t it, that one can be “queer” when one is merely one’s self? But it is so. The fact remains, however, that the women generally adjudged to be “queer” add the real true color to the feminine horizon, and it is not going too far to say that they are among the women who are worth while.—Selected.
Household Hints
By Ruth Goddard; Susan M. Kane
To Clean Dress Goods.—Of all the ways and means of cleaning dress goods to make them look like new, in my experience none have been more successful than the following method: With a mixture of equal parts of wood alcohol and water sponge the material on the right side with either a cloth or a brush. Fold it for a few minutes, then press on the wrong side. All dust and grime will be removed, and no disagreeable odor will remain.—Ruth Goddard.
Granite Chips.—Perhaps a chip of granite may find its way into your stomach because some one, to rid a spoon of the food on it, vigorously struck it on the edge of a granite dish containing food. Examine your granite ware, and you can readily see whether any one in your kitchen has this careless habit. Many a person has come to the place where he has no further use for food, simply as a result of the cook’s carelessness in regard to granite chips.
A Difference.—When making a buttonhole, it makes quite a difference which end of the thread is thrown over the needle. If that part next the cloth is used, the edge formed will not wear well, but if the part next the needle is made use of, and the thread is thrown under, not over the needle, there will be a pearl edge, which will bear a much greater amount of wear. Besides, the beauty of the work is greatly enhanced. When sewing on buttons, it is well to leave the knot of the thread on the right side of the garment and directly under the button.
Ironing Tablecloths.—Tablecloths washed at the very best laundries are short-lived as compared to those washed at home. Few housewives would include even the everyday table linen in the bundle of flat work sent to the laundry if it were not for the time required to iron it. In Ireland the table linen is beautifully cared for, no matter how little there is of it in the home. I learned from an Irish lady how to fold and iron a tablecloth quickly. Sprinkle the cloth evenly. Two persons take the cloth by the corners, right side up. Gather the hem ends evenly, and pull against each other until the cloth is straight. Double, gather the ends again, stretch, shake, then fold again. Hold the folded cloth by two corners now, having the center fold and selvage edges up. Let the outside selvage edge drop, and then fold it up on the opposite side. Take the four corners again; see that all is straight, and roll tightly. Let it stand at least an hour, and iron on both sides with a hot iron. The creases will be beautifully straight, the center crease always down, the side creases up, and the whole cloth glossy and well done. The folding is simpler than the telling, and is quickly done. Sheets folded in the same way are more easily and better ironed.—Susan M. Kane.
Progress in Louisiana
By R. W. Parmele
As I was leaving the office of the Louisiana Conference for my new field of labor in the Cumberland Conference, my attention was called to some evidences of progress in Louisiana. While these were nothing very striking, yet in view of the difficulties of the field, they seemed to me very encouraging. The statistics placed in my hands covered only the past three years.
During the year 1913 the membership net gain was 40 members; in 1914 we increased by 43 members, and in 1915 we gained 42 members, net. In some unaccountable way the published statistical report gave only 14 baptisms during the year 1915, when the records show that 51 were baptized during the year. These figures refer only to the work for white people, and were not increased by immigration. The colored membership increased about 100 during the same period of time.
During the past four years we have purchased and erected six church buildings, five for white churches and one for our colored church in New Orleans. One of these for white people is now in process of building in Shreveport. The financial progress of the cause in Louisiana has been correspondingly encouraging. Harmony prevails throughout the field, and there is every reason to expect still greater success to attend the cause in the Louisiana Conference in the future.
R. W. PARMELE.
The Ohio Colporteurs’ Institute
By I. D. Richardson
THE Ohio Colporteurs’ Institute was held in Cleveland December 29 to January 9. Because of another institute’s coming at the same time it was impossible for me to reach Cleveland until the institute was about half over. The interest was the best that I have seen in my twenty-two years’ connection with the publishing work. The attendance was not only large, but those present gave evidence of having been called to the colporteur work. The spirit of devotion and consecration was excellent.
All seemed to realize that this is a great soul-winning work, and that all associated with it must first have a deep Christian experience and constantly be led by the divine hand.
When the subject of the right use of our time was presented, it was agreed by all that if one has a great longing for the salvation of souls, he will put in full time. In concluding the study on time, the workers were asked how many would agree to put in 1,600 hours in 1916. Over 36,000 hours were pledged.
OHIO COLPORTEURS’ INSTITUTE
A goal of $50,000 was set for the new year, and the meeting closed with the courage of all renewed.
The accompanying picture will convince one that Ohio has a fine large corps of sturdy men and women with which to reach the new goal. They have but one ambition, and that is to win souls by giving the message.
We confidently expect to see a great work done in Ohio this year. Quite a number of the older colporteurs were not at the institute, and we are sorry that not all who attended were present when the picture was taken; some had gone home, and two were away from the church at that hour. Brother Punches, the field missionary secretary, and Brother Reichenbaugh, his assistant, are hard at work with these workers in the field, endeavoring to help every one to make a success.15
The Virginia institute was held at Richmond with the largest attendance of any I have ever attended in the “Old Dominion.” Like the Ohio institute, the spirit of consecration and devotion was excellent, and the workers seemed to realize that they were called to this definite line of work. We expect to see a great work done in Virginia during 1916 in the sale of our literature. Brother George, the missionary field secretary, is greatly encouraged at the outlook, and I never saw a better outlook for the canvassing work in Virginia.
I. D. RICHARDSON,
Union Miss. Field Sec.
The Work in Mexico
By G. W. Caviness
DURING the last two years, the work in Mexico has passed through very serious conditions. In 1914, because of the unsettled and revolutionary condition of the country, all the American workers came out and were in the United States for about five months. Near the close of the year they returned, but they had not much more than got settled and begun the work again when still more serious conditions came on. Mexico City itself was shut in, besieged, taken and retaken at various times. The workers stayed and continued printing our papers, although it was impossible to send them out to the subscribers for a few months. A little after the middle of 1915 the way opened up again, and the papers were sent on to the subscribers, but with more or less irregularity because of the lack of communication with the different parts of the country.
Notwithstanding all the difficulties, the year 1914 was the best year for the paper. The monthly issue averaged 8,634. We do not yet know just what the average was for the past year. The present year has opened up quite well for the paper, and while we are printing both our papers in the United States, Mexico sent us first an order for 3,000 Las Señales de los Tiempos and 2,000 El Amigo de los Niños in clubs, besides the regular subscription list. In a letter received from there recently they have increased their order to 5,000 Las Señales de los Tiempos and 3,000 El Amigo de los Niños. If the other fields which receive the paper would do as well, we should soon have to print a very large edition of our truth-filled Spanish papers, which have always been our most successful evangelical workers.
The canvassers for the papers are having wonderful success in Mexico. One aged Mexican brother who is now nearing the threescore years and ten, has been working on the papers for two or three years, making a living, but frequently has been in very straitened circumstances. Recently we were informed that he came to the office and paid three hundred dollars in advance for papers to be sent to Guadalajara. When one understands the nature of the Mexican,—who seldom ever has anything ahead, but is behind, if he can possibly borrow,—and also appreciates the difficulties in the country at the present time, he will realize that this case is but little short of miraculous.
Our Mexican brethren have remained quite firm during these troublous years. One or two companies have suffered from apostasy on account of politics, and a few have found it so difficult to make a living that they have given up the Sabbath. But from all the rest word comes that they have held on faithfully, not only holding their own, but that quite a number of new converts are ready to be baptized and join them. I have in my possession the names of more than fifty who are asking for baptism; besides these I know of quite a number of others who have not sent in their names as yet.
Not one of our brethren, so far as I am aware, has lost his life during these years on account of the revolution. Although the country is not yet entirely settled, we believe our heavenly Father will overrule matters so that there will come a time of comparative peace, at least, in which the message will be carried to a few honest hearts that will receive it. We earnestly long for this time to come soon, and ask the prayers of our brethren to this end.
G. W. CAVINESS.
The Work Among the Colored People in Baltimore, Md.
By Gustavus P. Rodgers
Another year of activity and visible advance in the proclamation of the last message of mercy, closed with the determination of each of our members in this large city to do more for the Lord than ever before in their lives, for the past has brought so many blessings that we are sure the future has an abundance of the same.
During the summer of 1915 we held a successful tent effort, assisted in the preaching by Elder F. H. Seeney. At the first baptism thirty were buried with their Lord; since then we have baptized twenty-one more, also the result of the tent effort, making fifty-one in all. From last January to the time of the tent effort, twenty had united with the church, making a total for the year of seventy-one additions to the truth. With the other baptisms sixty-eight have obeyed this command. Our church is fast becoming too small for the members, though we have a comfortable gallery seating one hundred.
During the month of November a successful school of health was held in the basement of the church, and we believe many well-thinking persons were helped in the way of preparing vegetarian food. One night of the school was devoted to distributing the dishes to at least 250 persons, among whom were prominent physicians and dentists of the city, and teachers of the city schools. The Drs. Sisco and Kress were the principal speakers. We find that we can reach professional men through services of this kind, who would not be likely to attend other meetings.
The members of the church are earnest, and are zealously working to cement the work here, that our church may always stand forth as a beacon light. We ask the prayers of the readers of this paper. We wish that we could take space to tell of the many organizations and branches to these organizations that go to make a live, working church. We find that our brethren and sisters are becoming more and more faithful. During the year 1915 the church raised $1,584.86 in tithe, and $632.19 for foreign mission work. In the same time the church debt was reduced $1,900, leaving us at present $3,250 yet to pay. Summing up all receipts, we have as a total about $4,000. We hope this year to double all our past efforts in winning souls and in canceling debt, in tithe paying and in offerings to missions. We ask your prayers.
GUSTAVUS P. RODGERS.
An Interesting Missionary Meeting
By Teckla Rosenholm
An interesting missionary meeting was held in Stockholm, Sweden, not long ago. The church had decided to build up and strengthen the home missionary work, and had elected leaders at the quarterly meeting. Plans were laid to have a demonstration of the various ways in which the home missionary work can be carried on in order to give speed to the work. Brother Muderspach, who led the meeting, read from the Word of God about the workers in the vineyard, and called attention to the fact that everybody had a part in the work of the Lord. He also mentioned the object of the meeting at which they were all gathered.
The instruction began by one of the sisters who illustrated how to leave tract envelope No. 1 with a lady who was willing to accept the tract; another sister came to a lady, who, on the contrary, did not wish to have the tract. The conversation between these two was very interesting and natural. Next, an illustration of how to sell Tidens Tecken was given. This was followed by instruction as to how to proceed when an individual does not at first show any inclination to buy the paper.
Exceedingly interesting was the conversation between two brethren who illustrated the selling of the various tracts. Two sisters showed in an effective manner how to make missionary visits, how to lead the conversation on to some feature of the truth, and finish with the lending of a tract.
A brother and his wife illustrated how correspondence can be used in missionary work. They talked about this work, wrote missionary letters, which they read aloud to each other, wrapped up papers and tracts, showing the practical side of this work.
The last item on the program represented a conversation in a railway carriage. Four brethren took part in this, and after a short discussion in regard to the war, the conversation was turned to the third angel's message that is being proclaimed to the world at this time. The interview closed with the travelers' receiving a few tracts, which were passed around.
The different items were interspersed with song, music, and recitations. It was a very interesting evening, but more than that it was a very instructive one. The meeting closed with the members present choosing the kind of work in which they desired to take part.
TECKLA ROSENHOLM, Secretary.
New York
By E. L. Cardey
BROOKLYN.— One year and a half has now slipped away since the writer began labor in this part of Greater New York. Many great world events have taken place in that time, and the finishing of the work seems much nearer than it did then. God has blessed us in a measure during these months of labor in this great and wicked city, and we are glad that some precious souls are rejoicing in the light of the third angel's message who did not know it a short time ago. We cannot see that the troubled conditions in the world on account of the war have affected our work in these large cities. Doubtless this is the most favorable time we shall ever have to warn and save the honest in heart in the crowded centers of civilization.
During the past eighteen months, ninety-seven members have been added to the church in Brooklyn. Of this number twenty-three were received by letter, fifty-nine by baptism, and fifteen by profession of faith on their former baptism. We have lost nearly half this number by removal, death, and apostasy, but still it leaves a good net gain in membership.
The finances of the church also have made a good showing. The year 1914 saw a substantial increase over the previous year in tithes and offerings; but 1915 saw a much better increase in this respect. The increase in tithe was $1,258 over 1914, and the increase in the Twenty-cent-a-week Fund was about $400. Aside from this, the church carried a heavy church expense, many times heavier than during the preceding year. In all, this church raised nearly seven thousand dollars for the cause, outside of its local work.
We thank God for his blessings in these temporal matters at this time. Our people have confidence in the triumph of the message in the near future. At the beginning of the school year we began a church school, which carries nine grades, in charge of Miss Christine Johnson and Miss Hazel Gordon. The Chinese Sunday school, which is conducted in our church by our members, is prospering, and a number of bright Chinese young men are learning about the true God, while studying English. Some souls, we trust, will be gathered from this effort on the part of our members to reach the foreign people.
The outlook for the work in this city16is bright, and now is the time for work to be done in these centers. We solicit the prayers of our people for the success of the work in the Eastern cities, of which the Testimonies have spoken so frequently and earnestly.
E. L. CARDEY.
Work for the Colored People in Detroit, Mich.
By W. H. GREEN
ABOUT the middle of last August our church, with the help of the conference, leased a comfortable place for worship, and this has greatly helped our work. We have a church school with eleven members, in charge of Miss Ida A. Parker, of Logansport, Ind., an energetic and capable teacher. The church, our educational secretary, Miss Lottie E. Bell, and others, are helping to finance the school. Our faithful Bible worker, Mrs. Cynthia Bush, as well as practically all the church members, have labored earnestly during the past year for the advancement of the truth, and we are gratified to present the following report:—
Twenty members were added during the year, fifteen of whom were new converts. Our tithes amounted to $587.96. Our Sabbath school gave $148.66 to missions. We collected $120.16 on the Harvest Ingathering fund; contributed $32.75 to the academy at Holly, Mich., $180.21 to church expense, and $19 to other funds. This makes a grand total of $1,088.74. Our present membership is forty.
We are by no means satisfied with what has been accomplished, but are pressing on toward a still higher goal. We are still much in need of a suitable church. However, considering that we have done our best, we pray you to remember us before the throne of grace, that we may be zealous in helping to finish the work of God without delay.
