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Review and Herald, Vol. 90, No. 27.

When We Feel the Strongest
Earlier text: When We Feel the Strongest

Through Perils by Night

By W. A. S.

THAT is a blessed promise which the evil one perverted in the temptation in the wilderness: “For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.” Ps. 91:11, 12. Christ refused to tempt God by rashly putting himself in jeopardy; but many a time, we know, servants of God in peril have gone forward over unknown ways depending on the promise of angel guardianship.
When, in his old age, John G. Paton, the missionary, was visiting his home land, one little girl, in whose home he was to be a guest, asked her father,—
“Is it the real Dr. Paton who slid down the rock, that is coming to see us?”
“Yes, dear,” said her father; “the very same.”
“And, papa,” she asked with glowing eyes, “will his coat be dirty where he slid down the rock?”
She had heard the story of Paton’s deliverance from savages that dark night on Tanna, in the New Hebrides Islands, when he slid down a precipice, asking God to bear him up from destruction. In his story of early days on Tanna, he gives the incident as follows:—
Having made half the journey, I came to a dangerous path, almost perpendicular, up a great rock round the base of which the sea roared deep. With my heart lifted up to Jesus, I succeeded in climbing it, cautiously grasping roots, and resting by bushes, till I safely reached the top. There, to avoid a village, I had to keep crawling slowly along the bush near the sea, on the top of that great ledge of rock,—a feat I could never have accomplished even in daylight without the excitement; but I felt that I was supported and guided in all that life or death journey by my dear Lord Jesus. I had to leave the shore and follow up the bank of a very deep ravine to a place shallow enough for one to cross, and then through the bush away for the shore again. By holding too much to the right, I missed the point where I had intended to reach it. Small fires were now visible through the bush; I heard the voices of the people talking in one of our most heathen villages.
Quietly drawing back, I now knew where I was, and easily found my way toward the shore; but on reaching the great rock, I could not in the darkness find the path down again. I groped about till I was tired. I feared that I might stumble over and be killed; or, if I delayed till daylight, that the savages would kill me. I knew that one part of the rock was steep-sloping, with little growth or none thereon, and I searched about to find it, resolved to commend myself to Jesus and slide down thereby, that I might again reach the shore and escape for my life. Thinking I had found this spot, I hurled down several stones and listened for their splash that I might judge whether it would be safe. But the distance was too far for me to hear or judge. At high tide the sea there was deep; but at low tide I could wade out of it and be safe. The darkness made it impossible for me to see anything. I let go my umbrella, shoving it down with considerable force, but neither did it send me back any news.
Feeling safe, however, that this was the place I sought, and knowing that to await the daylight would be certain death, I prayed to my Lord Jesus for help and protection, and resolved to let myself go. First, I fastened all my clothes as tightly as I could, so as not to catch on anything; then I lay down at the top on my back, feet foremost, holding my head downward on my breast to keep it from striking on the rock; then, after one cry to my Saviour, having let myself down as far as possible by a branch, I at last let go, throwing my arms forward and trying to keep my feet well up. A giddy swirl, as if flying through the air, took possession of me; a few moments seemed an age; I rushed quickly down, and felt no obstruction till my feet struck into the sea below. Adoring and praising my dear Lord Jesus, who had ordered it so, I regained my feet; it was low tide, I had received no injury, I recovered my umbrella, and, wading through, I found the shore path easier and lighter than the bush had been. The very darkness was my safety, preventing the natives from rambling about. I saw no person to speak to till I reached a village quite near to my own house, fifteen or twenty miles from where I had started. I here left the sea path and promised some young men a gift of fish-hooks to guide me thenearest way through the bush to my mission station, which they gladly and heartily did. I ran a narrow risk in approaching them; they thought me an enemy, and I arrested their muskets only by a loud cry: “I am Missi! Don’t shoot; my love to you, my friends!”
Praising God for his preserving care, I reached home, and had a long, refreshing sleep. The natives, on hearing next day how I had come all the way in the dark, exclaimed,—
“Surely any of us would have been killed. Your Jehovah God alone thus protects you and brings you safely home.”
With all my heart, I said, “Yes! and he will be your protector and helper too, if only you will obey and trust in him.”
Certainly that night put my faith to the test. Had it not been the assurance that I was engaged in his service, and that in every path of duty he would carry me through or dispose of me therein for his glory, I could never have undertaken either journey. St. Paul’s words are true today and forever: “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
W. A. S.

“Fallen, Fallen Is Babylon”

By C. M. S.

BABYLON, from remotest times, was the seat of nature-worship, which manifested itself in most repulsive rituals and ceremonies. Contrary to the inspired record of creation, Babylon taught that all existence was an emanation of Deity; that all life, animal and vegetable, partook of the divine substance. She confounded the creature with the Creator, and her teachings transformed the Deity into a kind of god-world, whose manifestations were to be found in all the phenomena of nature.
With that belief and those teachings she fabricated a host of idols and served them, and then taught their service to the nations of the world. To such an extent did Babylon carry this iniquitous practise that the prophet of Jehovah declared of that land, “It is a land of graven images, and they are mad over idols.” Jer. 50:38. Again the prophet says of her: “Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will execute judgment upon her graven images; and through all her land the wounded shall groan. Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall destroyers come unto her, saith Jehovah.” Jer. 51:52, 53.
To what does the Lord refer in the words, “Though Babylon should mount up to heaven”? The instigator of the whole Babylonian system once had his seat in heaven. Satan it was who first brought confusion (babel) into the universe of God. He sought to overthrow the government of God, to usurp God's place and prerogatives. This is what the Word of God says of this king of Babylon:—
“How art thou fallen from heaven, O day-star [Lucifer], son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, that didst lay low the nations! And thou saidest in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit upon the mount of congregation, in the uttermost parts of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” Isa. 14:12-14.

Self Above All Else

In this boast of Lucifer there is no thought nor intimation of loyalty to God or dependence upon the Creator. The whole idea is an insurrectionary one,—rebellion against the existing order, a purpose to set up a throne and government of his own in the place of the throne and government of God, self-salvation. The dissemination of these ideas and the consequent disaffection of a host of the angels broke, for the first time, the order and harmony of heaven. That marked the origin of Babylon, confusion.
It is reasonable to suppose that Satan's mission among men would be identical with his mission among the angels. The history of nations and the record of God's Word prove this to have been the case. Satan's first work in Eden was to induce man to attempt to be like God; and thus he instituted confusion (Babylon) there.

Babylon, “the Gate of God”

In the faithless posterity of sensual Ham, Satan found fertile soil for the propagation of his presumptuous purpose. These sons of Ham and Nimrod decided to undertake a work that would insure their own salvation. They would build a mighty tower that would save them from the destructive power of any flood that Jehovah might bring upon them. They would build a tower that would reach to heaven, and then they would become the gatekeepers of heaven for all the rest of the world. That is what the name they gave their tower signified. All the world would then flow to their city, the very gate to the heavens, and Babylon would be the keeper of the keys. (Babylon of today claims to be able to open and shut heaven, thus the gatekeeper, thus the keeper of the keys.)
What they named the gate to heaven God rightly named Babel, confusion. Thus what they called the gate to heaven, God, by what he calls it, shows to be the entrance to perdition. There was more in that “Babel” than mere confusion of speech. Babylon's dogma of self-salvation was in itself confusion. It was opposed to God and his truth; it was another system designed to supplant the true worship of Jehovah; it was a system of rebellion against God, for it was propagated in image-worship, which was contrary to the law of God. Confusion it was, and wherever it went it carried confusion and disobedience with it, and men began to look to their own deeds for salvation, and to attribute to their Creator the attributes of their own carnal hearts.

Babylon's Teaching

The confounded speech was the secret of their scattering; but they did not all leave Babylon. Later that city became the great commercial emporium of the East. Babylon occupied the position of a great spider, sitting in the center of a mighty web of highways which led to all parts of Asia, and to Africa and India. She manufactured cloths of richest colors in fine linen, wool, and silk. She dealt in spices and ointments, gold, silver, and precious stones, wines, and fine flour. Her wares were hawked to the ends of the earth, and princes came to her storehouses to purchase for themselves and their retinues.
Sitting thus in the mart of the nations, great Babylon taught them the religion of self-salvation, taught them to look to their idols for the help which none but God could give; taught them to trust in their own works to appease the wrath of the offended gods. The building of the tower of Babel was the outgrowth of the character of the men who built it. That self-righteous characteristic, that assumption of the power of self-salvation, has worked itself out along different lines in different countries; but the principle is the same in all its manifestations. Buddha learned it, sitting in austere contemplation under the bo-tree; monks and nuns have practised it in the seclusion of the cloisters; men have followed those teachings on bleeding knees, scourging their backs with withes and cruel knouts, or have sought to drive sin out of their mortal bodies by sleeping on beds of spikes or standing between fires. All this was germinant in the teachings of Babylon of old and of spiritual Babylon of today; and all is alike contrary to the law of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Perpetuation of Babylonian Error

Babylon of old fell under the direct judgment of God; but before she fell, the call went forth to God's people: “Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and save every man his life; be not cut off in her iniquity: for it is the time of Jehovah's vengeance; he will render unto her a recompense.” Jer. 51:6. Babylon went down; but the principles of Babylon's religion persisted in the nations she had taught, even in the nations that overthrew her. Every false religion of earth has been founded upon that Babelprinciple,—self-righteousness and self-salvation.
Spiritual Babylon today sits upon her throne in the seven-hilled city, and teaches a religion of penances to purge away sins, while she traffics in the souls of men. Rev. 18:11-13. Babylon of old sought to make herself mistress of the very gates of heaven; spiritual Babylon claims possession of the keys to the gates of heaven, with the right and power to open and shut heaven. Babylon of old reveled in a host of idols; spiritual Babylon fills her sanctuaries with them. Her worshipers bow down to images and pictures of saints, and perform painful and arduous tasks to cleanse their souls from sin, while her priests take to themselves authority belonging only to God, the authority to forgive sin. The cities of ancient Babylon had their patron saints; the cities of those countries dominated by spiritual Babylon have theirs. Ancient Babylon mocked heaven with her infractions of the law of God; spiritual Babylon has even attempted to change that law, to make right that which is wrong and to make wrong that which is right. The Word declares of the head of that system that he should oppose and exalt himself “against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God.” 2 Thess. 2:4. Ancient Babylon oppressed the people of God, even to the death; spiritual Babylon, God declares, is “drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” Rev. 17:6.
That is the character of Babylon,—persistent, unchanging; and spiritual Babylon “never changes.” Babylon's whole history has been spelling out her name, Confusion. As Babylon of old fell, so will spiritual Babylon fall. “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and is become a habitation of demons, and a hold of every unclean spirit.” Rev. 18:2. As God called his people out of ancient Babylon (Jer. 51:6), so does he now call them out of spiritual Babylon. “I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come forth, my people, out of her, that ye have no fellowship with her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Rev. 18:4. God said of ancient Babylon: “The heavens and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for joy over Babylon; for the destroyers shall come unto her.” Jer. 51:48. And so he says concerning the end of spiritual Babylon: “Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye saints, and ye apostles, and ye prophets; for God hath judged your judgment on her.” Rev. 18:20.
The end of Babylon's history is the end of the history of all sin and all confusion in the universe of God. It is no wonder that the heavens and the earth are called upon to celebrate that grand consummation. The close of that history is near at hand; the call to come out of her is now ringing through the earth. The tragedy of sin closes when the result of Babylon's operations are wiped out in the triumph of the work of Christ.
C. M. S.

A Great American Church

By F. M. W.

WILL such an institution as a great American church ever be instituted?— We believe it will. At least we believe there will be formed such a union or federation of churches in America as will constitute but one church so far as the carrying out of certain agreed plans and policies are concerned. And we believe this for two reasons. In the first place, the Scriptures of Truth plainly indicate that such a federation will be formed.
In the thirteenth chapter of the book of Revelation we have a striking prophecy of the work which the people of the United States, represented by the symbol of the two-horned beast, will do in the closing days of earth’s history. There shall be formed an image to the papal beast, a union of church and state. The church will carry on its work and enforce its dogmas and doctrines through the power and support which the state affords. This will never be accomplished by a union of the Methodist Church with the state, or of the Baptist Church with the state, or with any one of the American churches alone uniting with the United States government, but it will be accomplished by a federation — by the formation of what we might call a great American church.
This federation will bring such influences to bear upon the government that the government will be led to afford it legal support. We say that the prophecy indicates that this federation will be effected, and this prophecy will be fulfilled.
We believe further that such a federation will take place because we see on every hand elements working to bring it about. The Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America is in line with this movement. We see arguments in favor of the union advocated by leaders of Christian thought on every side. One of the recent utterances of this kind is by Benjamin W. Bacon, D. D., LL. D., who holds the chair of New Testament exegesis and criticism in Yale University. In an article contributed to the Independent of April 24, he says:—
The time is not far distant when the faith and loyalty and devotion fixed upon this commonwealth of Christ that is to be shall find organic expression. Those who serve and love and hold to this Holy Catholic Church, the communion of all true saints, will find a way to combine freedom and catholicity, leaving the dead past of the Old World and its ecclesiastical quarrels to bury its own dead, and organizing the Church of God in America, free and catholic, a church “having many members but one body.” The promise of it is seen even now in the many combinations for Christian service, the multiplying federations of churches, the leagues and unions for cooperation.
It is proper indeed that the various members of the Christian church should unite for the purpose of promoting moral reform. It is proper that they should throw themselves as one solid phalanx against the strongholds of vice and sin, but the danger comes in the means by which the church will seek to gain power and influence to accomplish its ends. So long as it seeks to uphold Christ and to preach the gospel of his free grace; so long as the church seeks to point out sin and the terrible results that will follow in the wake of evil-doing, and endeavors as did the apostles to persuade men, through the terror of coming judgment and the power of Christ’s love, to turn their feet into right paths, it can expect the blessing of God. But when, no longer content with these heaven-ordained means, it seeks to compel submission to its creed, to require through legal enactment conformity to moral precepts, then it is that it turns aside into the path of the church-and-state combinations of the past, and the end can be only the loss of spiritual power, and separation from God in the day of final reckoning.
O, that the churches of Christ in America today might realize the tendency of the times, the drift of the combinations they are forming, and read in the prophetic word the warning which God is sounding against the course they are pursuing! Upon us to whom a forewarning of the danger has been given rests the responsibility of sounding the warning cry. F. M. W.

The Lost Sense of God

THE world is fast losing God out of its knowledge. The sense of his presence is being lost from many hearts even of his professed children. There is a failure to acknowledge God's nearness, and his divine guidance in the affairs of every-day life. It is this sense of the divine presence that brings us into real communion with God. When we can realize that his great heart of love joys in our joys and sorrows in our afflictions; that there is nothing that befalls us as his children but draws out his interest in our behalf, we shall come to see how practical is our relationship to him, and how much more than an abstract principle or a theory of doctrine is our Heavenly Father. We shall find him indeed a present help in every time of trouble.

Two Glasses of Milk

(A True Story)

A PROMINENT surgeon was riding one summer day through the country on his bicycle. The road was long and dusty; the afternoon heat was intense. The open gate of a farmstead invited him to turn in. An enticing glimpse of cool, green shade, and of a well-sweep, with a shining dipper hanging near, promised rest and refreshment.
A young woman was sitting on the porch, who arose to meet the doctor as he approached, asking permission to help himself to water at the well.
“Certainly,” she exclaimed, “but shouldn’t you like some milk instead? We have a pitcher of fresh milk on the ice, and I shall be glad if you will have some of that.”
“O, thank you,” replied the doctor, “that would be delightful; but I fear it would impose too much on your kindness. The water will answer as well.”
But with a charming grace the young woman insisted upon bringing the pitcher of milk, and the tired doctor drank two glasses of it and was refreshed. When he had rested and was about to go, he handed the young lady his card and said, “If you ever come to the city and need the advice of a physician, please call me.”
Months passed and the incident was forgotten. About a year later the mother of the little household was very ill. The local doctor, who had attended her for many years, could do no more, and informed her that she must go to the city to a hospital for a serious operation. This was sad news for the little family, whose income was slender. The mother protested that such expense was out of the question, but both father and daughter insisted, and planned between themselves for the sacrifices they would make to meet the cost.
Preparations for the trip were hastily completed. The daughter arranged to go and stay near the hospital at the home of an aunt. While packing her trunk the card of the bicycle traveler was found, and the young lady decided at once that she would hunt him up as soon as she reached the city, before selecting the hospital. She was somewhat awed as she entered the house of the great surgeon, but he set her at ease in a moment and made her happy by remembering her. She explained all that the country doctor had said about her mother, and asked his advice as to which hospital she should select.
“My dear young lady,” said the great-hearted man, as he took her hand, “if you will trust your mother to me, I shall be very happy to do all I can for her. I have my own private sanatorium right here, and will personally attend to your mother. In the morning I will send a carriage for her, and you can come to see her every day. If you have any doubts about the matter, just write your doctor and tell him I have the case.”
The next day her mother was safely established at the sanatorium, and the daughter was assured that everything possible would be done for her comfort. But in the evening there was panic at her aunt’s house.
“My child! what have you done? That man charges the most terrible prices. They say he gets a thousand dollars for one operation, and when he keeps a patient at his own hospital he charges fifty dollars a week for board and nursing. O, dear! you should have asked about this before taking your mother there. Your father can never pay such charges.”
So the frightened girl fled to her room and wept alone in her dismay; but as she remembered the kind face and gentle tones of the great surgeon, she felt that somehow it would come out all right.
The operation was entirely successful, and at length the happy daughter was told that she could take her mother home in two weeks. This would make a total stay of four weeks at the sanatorium, and as she realized what this meant, together with the cost of the operation, which the great man had performed himself, the anxious girl began again to wonder, with fear tugging at her heart, how they would ever be able to pay.
The final day arrived. In the surgeon’s private office were the father, mother, and daughter ready to return to their home. The mother was entirely well, and looked better and happier than she had for years. The father and daughter were happy because of the mother’s splendid recovery, but the daughter could not shake off her worry on account of the bill which the surgeon would soon give them.
“Now, I am so glad you are all right again,” he said, “and I hope your little visit with me has done you good that will last. I have put your bill in this envelope, which I ask you not to open until you get home this evening. Then after you have finished supper, you can take it out and talk it over.”
A little puzzled, but profuse with thanks for giving back health to the beloved mother, the family departed. That evening when the meal was over, the envelope was brought out, and at least one heart beat quickly as the bill was unfolded. Here is the way it read:—
To professional services rendered $..... To service at sanatorium, $..... $.....
Received payment in full, by two glasses of milk given to a weary traveler.
It is only one illustration of the beautiful truth that giving pleasure is getting pleasure; doing good is receiving good. “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”—Christian Herald.

Noon-Hour Prayer

By Mrs. M. M. Barton

“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.”
O, I LOVE to talk with Jesus! How it soothes my troubled heart, Just to tell him all my trials, And his loving care impart!
Yes, he drives away my anguish, Or gives grace, and helps me bear All the burdens of this earth-life, That my heart would break and tear.
O, such loving consolation He doth give me when I pray! As I tell him all my heartaches, How he drives them all away!
And he whispers to me gently, While he soothes my troubled fears; And he tells me, “Child, I’m with thee, Will be with thee all thy years.”
And then when I leave my closet And to round of duties go, I’m buoyed up above the trial, For I’ve told him, and he knowsHow to take away the heartache, And so fill me with his love That my heart is tuned to praises, And my thoughts are turned above.
—Mrs. M. M. Barton.

Help the Living

By ELIZABETH ROSSER

ELIZABETH ROSSER
LET us bring our precious boxes E’er our loved ones pass away; Let us fill their lives with odors While it still is called Today; Soon, ah! soon, the grave will open And embrace them in its arms; Then, too late, will we remember Their sweet graces and their charms. Then, too late, we’ll break our boxes And the precious ointment pour On the head and feet of loved ones Who will hear our words no more; Then, too late, we’ll chant the praises Which their dead ears cannot fill; Let us break our precious boxes While we have them with us still.
There are souls in deadly conflict With an unrelenting foe; There are hearts bowed down in sorrow Which those hearts alone can know; Now, while they are in the battle, Is the time for us to cheer; Now, while they are deep in sorrow, Shed with them the mourner’s tear. Soon their battles will be over, Whether they be lost or won; ’Tis for us to help them upward E’er the setting of the sun. Soon, ah! soon, will come the summons And our loved ones slip away; Let us bring our precious ointment While it still is called Today.

General Conference Committee Actions

By William Ambrose Spicer

FURTHER actions were taken by the General Conference Committee in the councils following the General Conference, as follows:—
The treasurer was authorized to add the following special items to the appropriations for the current year:—
Completion of headquarters buildings at Seoul, Korea, $950.
Rooms for lady teacher, Soonan Girls’ School, Korea, $450.
For the new South African mission station, Northeast Rhodesia, $2,000.
Mission home, South China, $1,500.
Mission home, Philippine Islands, $1,500.
Philippine printing-office and equipment, $1,000.
The following officers were appointed for the Asiatic Division and its mission fields, R. C. Porter having been elected president of the Asiatic Division by the General Conference in session:—
Vice-president, F. H. De Vinney.
Secretary and treasurer, C. N. Woodward.
Superintendents: Japan, F. H. De Vinney; Korea, C. L. Butterfield; Central China, R. F. Cottrell; East China, Dr. A. C. Selmon; South China, George Harlow; Philippines, L. V. Finster; Malaysia, F. A. Detamore.
Secretaries and treasurers: Japan, C. N. Lake; Korea, Frank Mills; Central China, Dr. A. G. Larsen; East China, W. E. Gillis; South China, B. A. Meeker; Philippines and Malaysia, to be supplied by Asiatic Division officers.
General Conference departmental committees were appointed as follows:—
Young People’s Missionary Volunteer Department: M. E. Kern, secretary; Matilda Erickson, Meade MacGuire, C. I. Benson, E. Arnesen, Guy Dail, F. A. Allum, Mrs. L. Flora Plummer, Mrs. F. D. Chase, H. R. Salisbury, Mrs. Anna L. Hindson, Miss Edith Graham, Maximo Trummer, H. S. Beckner, G. W. Pettit.
Sabbath School Department: Mrs. L. Flora Plummer, secretary; G. B. Thompson, W. W. Prescott, M. C. Wilcox, W. A. Spicer, Mrs. Vesta J. Farnsworth, F. M. Wilcox, Mrs. F. D. Chase, T. E. Bowen, C. C. Lewis, W. E. Howell.
Educational Department: J. L. Shaw, secretary; W. E. Howell, C. C. Lewis, Frederick Griggs, C. W. Irwin, M. E. Kern, C. L. Benson, O. J. Graf, B. F. Machlan, Otto Luepke, E. C. Kellogg, Paul Steiner, Erik Arnesen, H. U. Stevens, C. P. Crager, H. M. Lee, H. F. Benson, R. B. Thurber, Geo. Teasdale, W. T. Bartlett.
Medical Council: W. A. Ruble, M. D., secretary; L. A. Hansen, assistant secretary; H. W. Miller, M. D., A. B. Olsen, M. D., G. H. Heald, M. D., R. H. Habenicht, M. D., V. L. Mann, M. D., W. B. Holden, M. D., Riley Russell, M. D., A. C. Selmon, M. D., H. J. Williams, M. D., W. H. James, M. D., L. M. Bowen, J. A. Burden.
Publishing Department: General members: N. Z. Town, secretary; W. W. Eastman, W. C. White, R. C. Porter, L. R. Conradi, J. C. Raft, J. T. Boettcher, F. W. Spies, J. W. Westphal, G. W. Caviness, A. J. Haysmer, J. R. Ferren, E. F. Forga. Publishing house managers: E. R. Palmer, C. H. Jones, R. Hook, F. F. Byington, B. B. Noftsger, W. C. Sisley, H. Hartkop, E. Lind, L. E. Borle, J. M. Johanson, Chas. N. Lake, C. L. Butterfield, A. Pages, G. E. Hartman, W. E. Perrin, Dr. A. C. Selmon. Managers circulating departments and branches: H. H. Hall, G. C. Hoskin, L. W. Graham, J. W. Mace, I. A. Ford, D. W. Reavis, A. J. S. Bourdeau, S. N. Curtiss, J. F. Beatty, J. M. Rowse, R. L. Pierce, L. D. Randall. General missionary agents: C. J. Tolf, J. B. Blosser, A. F. Harrison, V. O. Cole, C. G. Bellah, F. E. Painter, W. R. Beatty, J. D. Richardson, J. W. Davis, A. A. Cone, W. L. Manful, C. E. Weaks, L. D. A. Lemke, Samuel Joyce, Maximo Trummer, G. H. Clark, J. A. P. Green, H. Boex, J. L. Brown, R. N. Carter.
The South American Union Conference Committee was authorized to organizethe work in Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia as a Northwest Union Mission field of the South American Union Conference.
It was voted to approve of the plan of securing a location in Bolivia for an industrial Indian mission farm at a low altitude, thus giving a change for those engaged in the Indian work from the high altitudes round Lake Titicaca to the lower altitudes in Bolivia, in order that the health of the workers may be conserved while still engaging in continuous work among the Indians. The South American Union Committee is asked to secure more definite information and estimates as to the cost of this enterprise, reporting later to the General Conference Committee.
A physician in private practise abroad having provided the necessary funds for support, it was voted that the officers of the General Conference should secure a missionary physician for service in southern China, $500 being added to the appropriations to cover cost of transportation.
W. A. SPICER, Secretary.

Requests for Prayer

236. A California sister desires prayer for the restoration of a friend, and also that she herself may be healed of nervous trouble.
237. From the same State (California) another sister writes, asking prayer that she may be relieved from rheumatism.
238. Another sister in California begs that we pray for her husband, who is a drunkard.
239. A New Hampshire sister requests prayer for the healing of herself and a friend.
240. “I am suffering from cancer. Please pray for my recovery,” writes a brother living in Georgia.
241. An aged isolated sister begs us to join in prayer for the restoration of her hearing; also that a friend’s eyesight may be restored.
242. An afflicted sister in Ohio desires prayer for the healing of herself and two friends.
243. An anxious father and mother in Michigan write, “We request your united prayers in behalf of our daughter who is very ill.”
244. A Kentucky brother desires prayer for the restoration of his wife’s hearing.
245. A sister in Washington asks prayer for her infidel husband, that he may not cause their home to be broken up.
246. A sister living in Nebraska asks prayer that she may be healed from deafness. She also speaks of having received a definite answer to a request for prayer published in this column some weeks ago.

In His Steps

By PEARL WAGGONER

PEARL WAGGONER
We follow in his steps, Where Christ before has trod, To do his will, to soothe earth’s ill, As laborers with God.
We follow in his steps, Although the path be lone; He’s close beside, each step to guide, And ne’er will leave his own.
We follow in his steps, Earth’s broken hearts to heal; Where’er he went, we too are sent, His own life to reveal.
We follow in his steps, Where lives are sunk in sin, The lost to seek, the word to speak, Some soul for Christ to win.
We follow where he leads, In fields afar or near, Till all below shall come to know The tidings of good cheer.
To follow is our aim, Untiring, faithful, true; Where sight is dim, to lean on him, And keep the goal in view.
We follow in his steps, Though rugged be the way; Rest by and by awaits on high, Strength now for every day.
We’ll follow in his steps, Where Christ before has gone; Till heaven’s light shall greet our sight, Still follow ever on.
Hinsdale, Ill.

Religion in Daily Work

“THERE is a story of a Welsh pastor who, when about to baptize a shoemaker, thus addressed the candidate: ‘Take care, John, that you wax the threads more carefully, that you draw the seams more closely, and that all your work is done more to the glory of the Master, to whom you now dedicate your life.’ That is the way religion is to show itself in our lives if we are truly and fully following Christ.”

The Ease of Criticism

CRITICISM is so easy a task that any one, no matter how unskilled, can do it without effort. The man in the gutter can criticize the saint, but that does not lift him an inch out of the gutter. When Thales, away back in classic times, was asked what was most difficult, he replied, “To know oneself;” but when he was asked what was most easy, he answered, “To advise another.”

God’s Constant Friendship

By John Howe

How constant is God's friendship! He loves us with an everlasting love and to the end, when other friendships are upon slight grounds, easily and often broken off.—John Howe.
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