“BEHOLD what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.” It is impossible for us to have Christ abiding in our hearts unless we constantly behold him.
“Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him; and he can not sin, because he is born of God.”
In the second chapter of his epistle John says, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
This means that we have a world on our hands. It is of no use for us to think that we can follow our preferences or natural tendencies. We have a world on our hands, and we are to make known the saving principles of our Lord Jesus Christ,—the principles that have been committed to us to impart to the world. God wants us to be faithful stewards of the grace of Christ.
“Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.” It does not understand the principles that underlie our course of action. We must stand before God with a conscience void of offense. There are wonderful privileges for every one of us. God never places before us a requirement without giving us the power to perform it. He never asks us to take one step in advance of him. He leads the way, and we are to follow after. Following him, we are in no danger of going astray. Thus only can we perfect a Christian character as stewards of the grace of God.
To us has been entrusted the truth of the gospel for this time. It is a wonderful, wonderful treasure, and the Lord desires us to have our eyes enlightened and our hearts quickened. He desires us to be nerved and strengthened by the power that he will give us if we will only be true to him. He desires every one of us to perfect a character after the divine similitude. The Christian who does not do this casts reflection on God. He dishonors his Saviour. Those who have access to the words written in the Scripture are without excuse if they do not apply these words to themselves, if they do not thus cleanse their hearts from sin. By the light shining from the throne of God upon our pathway, we shall be judged at the last great day.
“Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida!” Christ said; “for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.”
To have light shining upon the pathway in the clearness of the gospel of Christ, as it has shone upon our pathway, is a fearful responsibility. We are to follow on step by step, with our eyes fixed on our Leader. He will not lead us one step out of the right way.
God gave Christ to our world to save us from eternal death. Behold him, behold him! Keep looking upon him till you reflect his image. Do not accept the words of any man, unless you can see that he is conformed to the divine image, because if you do, you sustain him in doing wrong; you sustain him by asking his counsel and following his directions. What we need is the word pure from the holy Bible. Christ has bidden us conform our lives to his life. We are to know what it means to keep the commandments of God in truth and righteousness. The love that was in the heart of Christ is to be in our hearts; that we may reveal it to those around us. We need to be daily strengthened by the deep love of God, and to let this love shine forth to those around us.
Brethren and sisters, you are to reveal this love from the very beginning of the married life. It is to be the guiding principle in the family. Let your children see that you are controlled by the Spirit of God. Every member of the family is to be brought under subjection to the will and way of God.
I want you to think of the education that is to be given in the home. This education begins with the parents. They are to build the home after the pattern that Christ has given them. They are to teach what Christ taught, to bless what Christ blessed, and to correct what Christ corrected. Sin is not to dwell in the mortal bodies of those who have committed themselves, body and soul, to Christ.
There is no middle ground presented before us. The cross of Calvary is the great center of the plan of salvation; and we are to begin to crucify self at once, that we may be preparing for a place in the redeemed family in the heavenly courts. What we need is the saving power of the grace of Christ day by day. This saving grace is to begin its work in our homes. Not an angry word is to fall from the lips of parents. They are to be constantly under the influence of the Holy Spirit. They are to realize that they are the teachers of their children, and that they are to reveal the kindness, tenderness, and love of Christ. And yet they are not to overlook the faults of their children. They are not to gratify their wishes simply because they desire gratification. This is not the way to train children for God. Children are made happy by being brought under right control. The most unhappy children I have ever seen were those who had never been brought under control.
You may talk to your children about bringing them under the control of God, but it will not have any influence on them unless you first teach them to obey you, and unless they can see that you yourselves are under the control of God.
Parents, you have a church in your home, and God demands that you bring into this church the grace of heaven, which is beyond computation, and the power of heaven, which is without measure. You can have this grace and this power if you will. But you must educate yourselves in accordance with your baptismal vows. When you took these vows, you pledged yourself, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, that you would live unto God, and you have no right to break this pledge. The help of the three great powers is placed at your disposal. When in the name of Christ you ask for grace to overcome, it will be given you; for the promise is, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” Yes, seek God for aid. If you are in perplexity, do not go to your neighbors. Learn to carry your troubles to God. If you seek, you will find; if you knock, it will be opened unto you. But this means faith, faith, faith. Exercise living faith in Christ, and do not, I beg of you, step aside out of the right way.
Your home is to be an example of what a Christian home should be. You are to bring your children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. You are to overcome the faults which wrestle for the victory, and which,9unless overcome, will separate you from God.
The father and mother are to be respected in the Christian home. The father is the priest and house-band of the home. The mother is the teacher of the little ones from their babyhood, and queen of the household. Never is she to be slighted. Never are careless, indifferent words to be spoken to her before the children. She is their teacher. In thought and word and deed the father is to reveal the religion of Christ, that his children may see plainly that he has a knowledge of what it means to be a Christian.
Brethren and sisters, are you doing your God-given work in the home? Are you allowing your sons and daughters to shun the responsibilities that properly belong to them? Does your daughter sit at a musical instrument, while the mother does the cooking? Do the little ones go to the mother for everything, when the older ones ought to be taught to share the burden of caring for them, that the mother may have time to rest? Many mothers die years before their time because they have had to carry the burdens that ought to have been willingly borne by younger shoulders.
Children are to be educated to deny themselves. At one time, when I was speaking in Nashville, the Lord gave me light on this matter. It flashed upon me with great force that in every home there should be a self-denial box, and that into this box the children should be taught to put the pennies they would otherwise spend for candy and other unnecessary things. They are to be taught that there is a great work to be done for a needy, suffering people, even the colored people of the Southern States. To them we must present the truth for this time. We are to take up intelligently the work of helping them. A good work has already been done with these self-denial boxes, and let no one lift a finger to hinder this work. Let no one speak a discouraging word regarding it; for it is God’s plan, and thus he has said that help should be sent to the work for the colored people.
You will find that as the children place their pennies in these boxes, they will gain a great blessing. They will tell the children of neighboring families what they are doing, and the way will open for these boxes to be placed in other homes. We are not to do anything to discourage this work. Every member of the family, from the oldest to the youngest, should practise self-denial.
As the children of such families grow up, they understand something about mission work, because they are taught what it means to deny self in order that souls may be brought into the truth. They are taught that the money which they save by denying themselves goes to relieve a race whom the great majority of people in this country seem largely to have forgotten. The colored people need help and education and training, and we are going to work to the point until a great work is accomplished. As long as God gives me breath, I shall bear my testimony regarding this matter. I thank God that he has means and ways by which self-denial can be taught in the family. Thus his people are to be taught how to do missionary work, how to go out and in simplicity open the Word of God to others. When questioned about their faith, they are able to state plainly and clearly the reasons of their faith. Such families bring into the church the influence of their home training.
(To be concluded)
Report of the Southwestern Union Conference
By N. P. NELSON
THE Southwestern Union Conference is composed of the following States and Territories: Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Indian Territory, and has an area of 382,089 square miles, and a population of 5,360,274, of which about 900,000 are colored. There are also hundreds of thousands of Mexicans who speak the Spanish language.
This union conference has a membership of 3,333, and a ministerial force of fifty-five, of which number three are colored. The most of this force of workers have been engaged in new fields, as the policy has been to push the work into new territory, where the message for this time has not been given. Good results have followed, and twenty-two churches and companies have been raised up, and thirteen church buildings have been erected; two of these are for the colored people, one in Arkansas and one in Texas.
Our academy, located at Keene, Tex., is under the management of the union conference. The last two years have been very encouraging and prosperous. During the year which has just closed the school has had an enrolment of one hundred and sixteen, with a corps of seven teachers.
A vigorous effort has been put forth to pay off all the indebtedness of the institution, so that it may be better able to carry out the purpose for which it was established. Oklahoma has done nobly, and has now paid up her apportionment in full. Arkansas and Texas are doing their utmost to meet their obligations, and are hopeful that they also will soon be free from debt.
Vigorous efforts have been put forth the last two years to make the academy true to its name—“Industrial Academy.” The industrial department work has been revived, and good work is being done in the different industries carried on by the school.
The tract societies have, the last two years, sold books to the amount of $40,798.78, but we expect to do more in the future, as the canvassing work is reviving in all the three conferences, and the prospects are very promising. Organized efforts are being put forth to place a strong canvassing force in the field for our large denominational books. Several young ladies who have taken up the sale of the Watchman and The Signs of the Times in our large cities and towns have been very successful. Others are preparing to engage in this work.
Last December a branch publishing house of Nashville, Tenn., was established in Fort Worth, which will be a great help in supplying our local societies with books promptly.
Our local tract societies have been doing well the last two years. The Texas Tract Society was heavily involved in debt about two years ago, but at the present time it does not owe the publishing houses a cent, having paid them up in full.
The Arkansas Tract Society has an old debt of about seven thousand dollars, but has, during the last two years, been able to settle for all books it has ordered, and also to pay for the stock of books on hand. This is indeed encouraging for Arkansas.
Another encouraging feature of our work is the success attending our union conference paper. When this union conference was organized, it was thought that one good-sized paper could better occupy and represent the field than three small ones. The three State papers were merged into one union conference organ. Its pages are filled each week with reports and articles from the workers, and it has seven hundred regular subscribers who watch eagerly for it. Except the first year, it has never been a great financial burden. During 1903 it lacked only fifty-four dollars of being self-supporting, and for 1904 it lacked only $14.75.
There are two sanitariums located in this union conference,—one in Little Rock, Ark., and the other in Keene, Tex. They are doing good work, and are in a prosperous condition. Treatment rooms are being fitted up in several of the large cities.
The mission work among the colored people has received special attention the last two years, and the prospects are very encouraging for a good work to be done for that people. We have several efficient colored workers who are pushing the evangelical work among their own race. Two large preaching tents, one for Arkansas and one for Texas, have been ordered for use among the colored people, and will be in the field this summer. It is hoped that these tents can be kept in the field every summer. They have been purchased by the union conference for the colored work, and will be used only by them.
An industrial school is being established in Arkansas. Forty acres of land has been purchased, and a small building erected; but more facilities must be provided as finances will permit. We must educate the colored people so that they will be able to labor intelligently for their own race.
We have a large population of Mexicans in Texas. We have been able to do but little for this people as we have no efficient workers who can speak the10Spanish language. Then again, our resources are so limited that had we had the workers, we could not have supported them. But we hope and pray that the way will yet be opened up so that we shall be able to do progressive work among this people. We believe that this people also ought to hear the last message of mercy to a fallen world.
When the Southwestern Union Conference was first organized, it was well able to carry forward its missionary work for the colored people and the Mexicans within her border, and also to help some outside of her own territory, but when it was reorganized in 1902, and the strong conferences of Colorado, Kansas, and Missouri were taken away and added to Nebraska and Iowa, we were left very weak financially. At the time of the reorganization it was understood that we should receive assistance, as the principal sources of financial help had been taken away from us. We have received some help, for which we are very thankful, as without it little could have been done. But no regular income or resource has been provided. Some arrangements should be made at this conference to aid the Southwestern Union until its own resources will be sufficient to enable it to do the work which the Lord in his providence wants done.
Our people are quite faithful in paying their tithe. The amount per capita is about eight dollars, an increase of about one dollar over last year.
Texas is supporting a minister in Arkansas, while the Oklahoma Conference has appropriated $1,699.60 to fields outside of her own territory.
Experience has taught that a wise and economical use of the tithe gives encouragement to our brethren to be faithful in paying in their tithes and offerings. There is nothing that encourages our people more than to know that aggressive work is being done in new fields, and that souls are being brought into the truth.
Another matter that should come before this General Conference is that of the Southern Union Conference’s ceding the conference of Louisiana to the Southwestern Union. Geographically it belongs to the Southwestern Union Conference, and also naturally. Louisiana sends her young people to our academy; she has splendid railroad connections with Texas, and would naturally get her supplies of books from the Nashville branch publishing house at Fort Worth, Tex.
Our plan in the Southwestern Union Conference for the promulgation of the everlasting gospel in the future is to push out into new fields with tent companies, and to locate more Bible workers in the large cities. We have found the efforts of the Bible workers productive of good results. Plans and arrangements have also been made to push the sale of our books and papers, and quite an army is at present engaged in this important work.
We realize to some extent that the field is ripe for the reapers, and that while the work meets with more or less opposition, the faithful workers will reap in due time if they faint not. There are precious souls who are longing for the glorious truths of the third angel’s message.
The Lord has gone before us, and we are of good courage. The work is the Lord’s, and he is at the helm, guiding and directing in the great work of saving souls for whom he shed his life-blood. He has promised to be with us always, and with him as our helper and strength, we will press on till the work is finished and the victory won, and our blessed Lord comes to take us to our Eden home. Yes, then we will lay the burden down, and evermore be at rest in the kingdom of our God.
N. P. NELSON,
President.
Report of the Northern Union Conference
By R. A. UNDERWOOD
In behalf of the delegates from the Northern Union Conference I wish to express our grateful acknowledgment of the providence of God over his work and chosen people.
The evidence of Christ's leadership among his people is a sign of the speedy fulfilment of the impending glorious events attendant to the setting up of Christ's everlasting kingdom.
To you who are holding aloft the cross of Christ in distant lands, as well as to those at home, we pledge our unfaltering co-operation with you, in proclaiming this gospel of the kingdom to all the world in this generation.
Organization, Location, and Composition
The Northern Union Conference was organized in 1902. Prior to its organization, the territory of the Northern Union Conference and a part of the territory of the Central Union Conference were united in one union conference.
The Northern Union Conference is composed of four organized conferences, located in the States of Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, the province of Manitoba, and a large mission field known as the Northwest Territory of Canada.
Area and Population
The area of the four conferences is 305,766 square miles; the population of the three States and Manitoba is 3,451,394. The Northwest Territory of Canada has an area of 2,585,140 square miles. The conference will better understand the vast extent of this mission field by a brief comparison of its territory. The statistics show that it contains more territory in square miles than is embraced in the provinces of British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward's Island, and the added territory of the Atlantic Union Conference, the Southern Union Conference, the Lake Union Conference, and more than one hundred and fifty thousand square miles besides.
Many have the impression that the Northwest Territory of Canada is but "the frozen fragments of the North." This is an error. Calgary, in Alberta, is south of London, England. Edmonton, the proposed capital of Alberta, is about three hundred miles north of the border line of Montana, and is as far south as Dublin in Ireland, Liverpool and York in England, or Hamburg in Germany. It is farther south than any part of Scotland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and is four hundred and fifty-five miles south of St. Petersburg, the capital of Russia. Much of this vast new territory, recently opened to the civilized world for settlement, is rich in fertile soil and minerals.
I am unable to give its population, as no recent official census has been taken. For the last four years a constant flow of immigration, representing hundreds of thousands of various nationalities from Europe and America, have been pouring into this new world.
To the extent of more than a thousand miles east and west and three hundred miles north and south a life of new opportunities has come into existence. Homes have been made and villages and cities have recently sprung into existence, where for ages the open prairie had been the undisputed hunting-ground of the Indians.
The largest portion of the Indians of North America are to be found in the territory of the Northern Union Conference. Northwest Canada presents great opportunities for missionary labor.
Membership
The four conferences have a total church and scattered membership of 4,496 Sabbath-keepers. The mission field has four organized churches, with a total membership, including all scattered Sabbath-keepers in the territory, of one hundred and sixty-eight, making the total number of Sabbath-keepers in the Northern Union 4,664.
Schools
The Northern Union has four academies or industrial schools. Three of these were opened for the first time last fall. They are located as follows: The Elk Point Industrial School at Elk Point, S. D.; the Harvey Industrial School at Harvey, N. D.; the Maplewood Industrial School at Maple Plain, Minn.; and the Northwest Training-school at Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. The combined attendance of these schools the past winter has been about one hundred and fifty students. The total investment in the four schools is about $35,000.
During the two years there have been conducted in this union fifty-five church-schools, with an enrolment of six hundred and thirty-two students. These schools have in general done good work.
The General Conference has assisted the Northwest Training-school at Portage la Prairie by helping the principal, Prof. O. A. Hall; the Nebraska Conference largely supports him. We hope for much from this school in training workers for northwest Canada. Two of its11students have already entered the work.
Book Sales
We have sold $36,066.20 worth of books in the Northern Union during the past two years. We have had much difficulty in obtaining books in the foreign languages, which has lessened our sales and discouraged a number of our agents. With a branch office of the Pacific Press located at Minneapolis, and a live general field agent in the union, both of which we expect soon to have, we hope for a marked improvement in our book work.
Evangelization
The increase of Sabbath-keepers in the Union for the two years is five hundred and thirty-eight. These figures would be increased had there not been a large emigration to the South and the Pacific Coast from our Union the past two years.
We have eighty-two laborers on the pay-roll in the Union. A number of these are aged persons, some are unable to work, while others give only a part of their time to the work.
A revival of personal effort in missionary work is seen among many of the churches. A goodly number in each of the conferences have accepted the truth during the past winter.
We have a large field for labor among the many tribes of Indians. We have one organized church among the Indians in Manitoba.
The Union is supporting five laborers in the mission field of the Northwest Territory, who are doing good work, and are represented in this conference by Elder J. W. Boynton. The General Conference has recently sent Brother Paul Curtis and his wife into this field, the Iowa Conference promising to pay ten dollars a week for their support. We hope to see others enter this field soon.
We have no large sanitariums in the Union; however, we have a number of nurses and physicians who are doing excellent work in the medical line on a self-supporting basis.
More than one half of the territory in the four conferences in the Northern Union is yet untouched by any organized labor, to say nothing of its vast mission field.
Financial
The following will show the amount of funds raised from tithes and offerings for evangelistic purposes in each conference and the mission field in the Union for the past two years, also the amount each conference gave of the same for the general work outside of its own field.
The Minnesota Conference raised in tithes and offerings for evangelistic work $55,267.33. Of this amount she gave the general work, $22,413.30, which is a fraction over forty per cent of the entire amount raised. The average tithe per capita for all the Sabbath-keepers in Minnesota for the two years is $8.89.
The South Dakota Conference raised in tithes and offerings for evangelistic purposes $27,842.05. Of this amount she sent out of the conference for the general work, $10,531.57, which is a fraction over thirty-seven per cent of the entire amount raised. The average tithe per capita for all the Sabbath-keepers in South Dakota is $11.99.
The North Dakota Conference raised in tithes and offerings for evangelistic work $18,294.71. Of this amount she gave to the general work $5,659.27, which is a fraction over thirty per cent of the entire amount raised. The average tithe per capita for two years for all the Sabbath-keepers in North Dakota is $9.37.
The Manitoba Conference raised in tithes and offerings for evangelistic work the sum of $9,768.42. Of this amount she sent to the general work $1,122.39, which is a fraction over eleven per cent of the entire amount raised. The average tithe per capita for the Sabbath-keepers in Manitoba is $11.71.
The Alberta Mission field raised in tithes and offerings, the past two years, for evangelistic work, $1,557.09. Of this amount they gave to the general work $175.79, which is eleven per cent of the entire amount raised. The average tithe per capita for the past year in Alberta is $7.44.
The average tithe per capita for the Northern Union Conference for the past two years is $9.69.
The total amount raised in two years in the four conferences for evangelistic work is $111,172.50. Of this amount $39,726.48 was given to the general work, which is thirty-five per cent of all funds raised for evangelistic purposes.
Quite a large sum has been donated to local interests, such as the Washington fund, enterprises in the South, and elsewhere, which are not included in the $39,726.48.
Personal
This conference will be glad to know that Elder C. W. Flaiz, who resigned as president of the Northern Union Conference more than a year ago, owing to loss of health, is slowly recovering. He thought it not prudent to attend this conference, but hopes that another year of rest and outdoor exercise will restore him to his usual health.
Our Need
We have a vast field with a large per cent of foreign population. Our work needs to be greatly enlarged and strengthened in the larger towns and cities. We must enter the new settlements before the ground is pre-occupied. This field calls for laborers and the printed page in English, German, Russian, French, Swedish, Danish, Polish, Bohemian, Icelandic, and the Rumanian languages. We must give the gospel in its simplicity to the many tribes of Indians in this vast territory. The Northern Union Conference needs strong young men of the nationalities already mentioned to enter the ministry, with the gentleness of John, the zeal of Peter, the faith and courage of Paul, clothed with authority and power from above.
We must have a church honest with God, living examples of the truth, liberal with her means, baptized with the Holy Ghost; then the earth will soon be lightened with the glory of God, and Christ will come to bring an end to sin and death. For this we hope, for this we live, and consecrate our all.
R. A. UNDERWOOD,
President.
Report of the Lake Union Conference
By Allen Moon
THE territory of the Lake Union Conference is composed of five States; namely, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin, with a combined area of 249,015 square miles, and a population of 15,985,581. In this territory there are eight Seventh-day Adventist conferences, which, at the close of the year 1904, reported 456 churches, with a membership of 16,044. The tithe paid during the year 1904 was $131,087.72; or about $8.22 per capita. The amount paid in 1904 for foreign mission purposes, so far as reported, is as follows:—
Annual offerings .......... $ 7,717 27
Weekly offerings .......... 3,677 22
Miscellaneous offerings .... 5,730 86
Sabbath-school donations .... 5,351 14
Total ...................... $22,476 49
The general financial condition of the States composing the Lake Union Conference will no doubt compare favorably with that of any like-sized territory in the country, engaged in like pursuits. Agriculture is the chief occupation of the people of the country districts. Some mining is carried on in certain portions of the country, and the usual pursuits of trade and commerce, in the towns and cities.
Our people share measurably in the general prosperity of the country. It should be noted here that northern Michigan and northern Wisconsin suffered greatly last year from the result of early frosts, which damaged the corn and other crops. Our people in these sections, being largely engaged in agriculture, have suffered loss, and, as a result, the tithes and offerings have decreased.
It does not fall to our lot to chronicle any very important changes that have taken place since the last General Conference. One item, perhaps, is worthy of notice: At the time of the Oakland Conference, what is known as the Northern Peninsula of Michigan had been organized as a separate mission field. This field contained four churches, with a membership of eighty. After some effort to work this territory as a mission field, it was finally voted by a majority of representatives of the mission field, and also of the North Michigan Conference in session, to add the mission territory to the North Michigan Conference, which was finally consummated.
The North Michigan Conference is not wholly self-supporting, but since its12organization it has been treated, in a measure, as a mission field, drawing support from the East and West Michigan Conferences, as well as from the Lake Union Conference.
The spiritual life and growth of our people vary according to locality, conditions, and environment, and I think I might say, according to the faithfulness of those who first brought light and truth to the knowledge of the people in these various localities. If the servant of God has been faithful to instruct in all that pertains to the requirements of a Christian life, the results will surely be life and growth and power, and the peculiarities of locality or conditions or environment will have little or no influence.
If one may judge from the attendance at public worship on the Sabbath, the apparent anxiety to know the truth, and the readiness with which our people respond to calls for help financially and otherwise, it would seem that there was a good degree of spiritual life among the people.
Of the various lines of Christian work maintained in the Lake Union Conference, the evangelical stands first. A corps of ninety-eight ordained ministers and thirty-nine licensed men is constantly in the field. In addition to these, there is quite a number of Bible workers, colporteurs, canvassers, etc., all sent forth to preach the truth of God either by word of mouth or by means of the printed page. As we view the work from a given locality, perhaps, or in a given period of time, we may feel disposed to say it is almost a failure; yet it is a fact that more than sixteen thousand souls have been gathered out of a population of fifteen millions. A beginning only has been made, which reveals the possibilities of the future.
One of the difficulties encountered in the progress of the work is the inequality of the distribution of laborers. One instance will suffice to illustrate this fact: Illinois comprises about one third of the population of the union conference, with the second city in America, and yet in that State we have less than one tenth of the membership, and a list of laborers correspondingly small.
The Medical Department of our work is an important factor. We have in the Lake Union Conference, sanitariums at Battle Creek, Mich.; Madison, Wis.; Moline, Peoria, Chicago, and Hinsdale, Ill.; and Connersville, Ind., while many are employed in treatment rooms in the various cities of the district, Ohio leading in the number of physicians and nurses employed outside of sanitariums. This vast army of physicians and nurses is engaged in humanitarian work, and yet the purpose is the advancement of the cause of truth in the earth.
The educational work in the Lake Union Conference at the present time has reached considerable proportions. The schools at Berrien Springs, Mich., and Mt. Vernon, Ohio, are doing college work, while the schools at Cedar Lake, Mich.; Bethel, Wis.; Sheridan and Du Quoin, Ill.; Boggstown, Ind.; and Holly, east Michigan, are intermediate industrial schools. The attendance of students during the past school year has been fair at all these schools, and at some the attendance was unusually large. An excellent class of young people is in training for the great task which the people of God have in hand at this time, and we shall hope to see them find their places in the closing work. It must be that our schools are to become a power in the preparation for the last-day work. A great deal of money has been expended on plants and the preparation of instructors to do a thorough work in these institutions. May God grant that it may not be in vain. The forces now prepared and in course of preparation in the Lake Union Conference ought to be a mighty power in the hands of God for the accomplishment of his purpose, not only among the millions of souls in its midst, but in all the wide field beyond.
The aim of the laborers of the Lake Union Conference is to bring about complete amity and unity between the laborers of all departments of the work on the basis of the truth of God; to teach and encourage faithfulness on the part of every church-member in the payment of tithes and offerings, as well as every other duty pertaining to the Christian life; to inspire zeal and energy in the minds of all for the accomplishment of the work to which God has called us in the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom in all the world for a witness unto all nations, before the end shall come.
We realize that if we attain to the accomplishment of our aim, it means a more thorough consecration than heretofore; it means the coming of the latter rain, the baptism of the servants of God with power from on high. Then the sacrifices of his people will be acceptable upon his altars, and their prayers will come up before him as incense.