Review and Herald, Vol. 85, No. 17. (4/23/1908)

Review and Herald

Apr 23, 1908

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 23, 1908

CHRIST IN SONG

GREATLY ENLARGED AND IMPROVED

During recent months arrangements have been made by which we have purchased the plates and rights for “Christ in Song” for use in the Seventh-day Adventist denomination; and now no private individual has any interest in, or receives any profits from, our sales of the book.

It has been thoroughly revised, and a large number of new songs have been added, so that the new book will be

The Largest and Best Song-Book in the World

This is a strong statement, but we honestly believe it to be correct; and we further believe that in view of the present agreements between music writers and publishers, it is not possible for another book to be printed which would contain so nearly the cream of the musical productions of such a large corps of popular music writers as is found in “Christ in Song.”

All the favorite old songs have been retained in the new edition, and a large number of splendid, soul-stirring new songs have been added. There are such a large number of new compositions—comprising over one hundred pages—that if these had been published as a separate book, it would have sold readily at twenty-five cents a copy.

Can Use Old and New Editions Together

There will be no difficulty in using the new edition with the old books, for although the song numbers have been changed in some instances, the new edition gives in small figures the old number of each song. For instance, “Wonderful Love” is No. 245 in the new edition, while in the old edition it is No. 196; therefore both numbers are shown, but not in such a way as to be confusing.

When “Christ in Song” was first published, favorable arrangements could not be made with the owners of some desirable copyrighted music for its use in the book. As a result the compiler in several instances wrote special music, using the words of the original song. Such were, “What Shall the Harvest Be?” “None of Self, and All of Thee,” “Throw out the Life-Line,” “Praise Him,” and several others. In the new edition, these songs are replaced with the original copyrighted music. In most instances, the right to use such songs has only been secured by a liberal cash payment, and these permissions for the present edition have cost more than a thousand dollars. This is only one of many features which will commend the new edition to our people for general use.

Two Books in One

If only minor revisions or changes had been made, we would not feel justified in asking our people everywhere to buy this new edition; but since we are now practically giving two books in one in this very large and superior collection of music, we feel that no one will regret the purchase of the book, even though he already has a copy of the old edition.

Now in Press

This enlarged edition, printed from new plates, is now in press, and will be ready some time during the month of June. Definite date of publication will be announced later. Orders should be sent early to the regular sources of supply. Every person who reads this notice will surely want a copy of the book.

Notwithstanding the great expense in securing the use of these new songs, and notwithstanding the increased size of the book, there has been only a slight increase in price.

Prices

The new edition will contain 544 pages,—128 pages more than the old edition, and the prices will be only 60 CENTS IN FULL CLOTH and $1 IN HALF-MOROCCO. We shall still bind some books in cloth, flexible, similar to the old edition, though we do not especially recommend this binding for this large book. The price of this style will be 40 cents.

Review and Herald Publishing Association

New York City Washington, D. C. Battle Creek, Mich.

PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING COMPANY

Portland, Ore. Kansas City, Mo. Regina, Sask. Mountain View, Cal.

SOUTHERN PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION

Fort Worth, Tex. Hickory, N. C. Nashville, Tenn.

Faith and Deliverance

The experience of Moses and the children of Israel in “The Deliverance from Egypt,” which is the subject of the Sabbath-school lesson for May 2, presents in a historical setting the experience of every individual who is delivered from the bondage of sin through faith in the power of the cross.

Of the bondage of the children of Israel in Egypt we are told: “The Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor: and they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve was with rigor.” When the first effort was made looking toward a mitigation of their life of servitude, their hard service was made the more rigorous: “And the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying, Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves. And the number of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish aught thereof: for they are idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God. Let heavier work be laid upon the men, that they may labor therein.” This was a determined effort to crush any further manifestation of the desire for liberty, by showing that it would only make their slavery the more abject.

By a special revelation of himself as a God of infinite power, Jehovah encouraged the people to believe that he had sent his servants, Moses and Aaron, as messengers of a deliverance, and that he would work that deliverance for them. “And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel: and Aaron spake all the words which Jehovah had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed.” Although their confidence wavered when the conditions of their bondage became worse than before, yet this confidence was restored by further revelations of the same wonder-working power.

The record declares again and again that it was by “a stretched out arm” that the children of Israel were delivered from bondage. This expression is in almost every case joined with “a mighty hand,” or “the mighty hand,” or “mighty power,” or “great power,” so that “a stretched out arm” becomes the synonym of power, or of the revelation of power.

The real significance of “a stretched out arm” may be learned by the study of another portion of scripture. Thus we read the words of Jesus to Peter: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkest whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. Now this he spake, signifying by what manner of death he should glorify God.” It is well known that crucifixion was the manner of death suffered by the apostle Peter. It is clear, then, that “a stretched out arm” is a type of the cross, and the gospel lesson of the deliverance or redemption of Israel from Egypt by “a stretched out arm” is that deliverance from sin, or redemption, is accomplished through the cross of Christ. “For the word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved it is the power of God.” “We preach Christ crucified, unto Jews a stumbling-block, and unto Gentiles foolishness; but unto them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” The cross of Christ, Christ crucified, is that which distinguishes Christianity from all false religions, and is the very essence of that gospel which “is the power of God unto salvation.” To reject the cross of Christ is to reject the outstretched arm of the divine Saviour, the only way of salvation.

This wonderful truth is clearly taught in the experience of Israel with the Amalekites. As the battle progressed, “it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.” Victory to every individual and to the church as a whole always comes through the power of the stretched out arm, the power of the cross of Christ. “Without me ye can do nothing.”

The blood of the slain lamb which was sprinkled upon the posts of the doors as a sign that those within were to be passed over by the angel of death on that fatal night, was also a type of the blood which is efficacious for redemption from sin. Thus we read: “Knowing that ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers; but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ.”

“For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in him should all the fulness dwell; and through him to reconcile all things unto himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross.” So again it is clear that the experience of Israel in the deliverance from Egypt is a gospel lesson.

In the record in Exodus no mention is made of faith, but from the interpretation given through the apostle Paul in his letter to the Hebrews we learn that the whole experience was one of faith. Read Heb. 11: 24-30. The forsaking of Egypt by Moses, the keeping of the passover, the passage of the Red Sea, and the capture of Jericho, all declare with the greatest emphasis, “By grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory.” And so the gospel of salvation by faith, righteousness by faith, is taught, not merely in those portions of the Scriptures where the subject is discussed in express terms, but also in those experiences which are the exhibition of faith in action. Those who read the Bible in the light of this principle will find that it is all present truth, and that it all has its place in the teaching of this last gospel message.

Editorial

By Editor

IN the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead lies the hope of humanity. There is no other ground of hope. The world is being taught that man’s hope is inherently bound up in himself, and that through ages of progression, man will reach divinity. But the Word of God has definitely set itself against any such idea. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who by the power of God are guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” I Peter I: 3-5. While the churches of all Christendom are having their attention called to the resurrection of our Lord, it is important that the significance of his resurrection be made known—that outside of him man is lost; that in him we may be born again, this time to a hope imperishable, and an inheritance that can never pass away.

The Temperance Crusade

By C. M. S.

The growth of the temperance movement in the United States has been a matter of astonishment to both friends and foes of the temperance cause. There have been other temperance waves that have swept over large portions of the country, but they seem only to have prepared the way for the great movement which is now in progress.

In the Review of Reviews for April, 1908, there appears a lengthy article by Ferdinand C. Iglehart, which treats in a thorough and comprehensive manner the progress of the work of temperance reform throughout the entire country. From the introduction of that article we quote the following paragraph:—

In two thirds of all the territory of the United States the saloon has been abolished by law. Forty years ago there were 3,500,000 people living in territory where the sale of liquor was prohibited. Now there are 36,000,000 people under prohibitory law. Since that time the population of the country has scarcely doubled, while the population in prohibition territory has increased tenfold. There are 20,000,000 people in the fourteen Southern States, 17,000,000 of whom are under prohibitory law in some form. In 1900 there were 18,000,000 under prohibition in the United States; now there are 36,000,000. In eight months State-wide prohibition has cleared the saloon from an area as great as that of France. In that area there is a solid block of territory 320 miles north and south by 720 miles east and west, in which on the first day of next January a bird can fly from the Mississippi to the Atlantic Ocean, and from the boundary of Tennessee to the Gulf of Mexico, without looking down upon a legalized saloon. Great Britain and Ireland could be set down over this space without covering it. There would be 10,000 square miles of “dry” territory left as a border.

Naturally the liquor men have set themselves to do all within their power to counteract this movement. Money and misrepresentation have been the chief instruments of its warfare. Several years ago it was able through these instrumentalities to win back to the liquor column several of the States that had voted prohibition; but the fact that the States which have lately joined the prohibition column have done so after having ousted the majority of the saloons of the State through local option indicates that the present victories of the temperance forces will be more permanent than those gained in past years. We condense the following epitome of the situation largely from the article referred to above:—

Maine went prohibition in 1851, repealed the law in 1856, re-enacted it in 1858, and is still under prohibitory law.

New Hampshire abandoned prohibition in 1902; but out of her 224 towns 183 are “dry,” and the people are agitating the matter of resubmitting prohibition to the vote of the people.

Vermont abandoned prohibition in 1903; but three fourths of her people are now living under prohibitory law through local option, and 221 of her 246 towns have voted “dry.”

Massachusetts has abolished the saloons from a large number of her manufacturing cities, such as Lynn, Worcester, and Brockton.

Although Rhode Island has local option, only sixteen towns have abolished the saloons.

Connecticut has voted out the saloons from more than half of her towns.

New Jersey has as yet given little encouragement to the temperance movement, though strong efforts are now being made to secure local option.

New York has 30,000 retail liquor dealers, but under local option a large number of towns have recently voted the saloons out.

The Pennsylvania legislators have refused a local option law, and the State thus far seems to stand solid against temperance reform.

On November 5 of last year Delaware voted on the question, one half of the State voting “dry.”

Maryland has expelled the saloon from half of its area.

In Ohio 490 villages and cities have expelled the saloon. Of her 1,376 townships, 1,150 have forbidden the liquor traffic.

The saloon is strongly entrenched in Illinois, and yet the temperance forces are making gains. Chicago has as many saloons as all the fourteen Southern States. Within a year sixteen “dry” counties have been added to the ten already existing; and by the election of April 8, thirty-six counties out of the 102 in the State are now anti-saloon territory.

Indiana has 683 “dry” townships out of a total 1,016. In seventy-two of her ninety-two counties a majority of the citizens have recorded themselves against the saloon.

Wisconsin has no single county in the State entirely “dry,” but through local option half of her territory has voted out the saloon.

Michigan has only one “dry” county out of her eighty-five, and there are but fifty towns and cities out of 412 that have abolished the saloon.

In Minnesota about forty-five per cent of the population live under prohibitory law. Twelve hundred of the 1800 organized townships have no saloons.

Of the ninety-nine counties of Iowa only twenty-two grant a license to sell liquor.

Only one tenth of Nebraska’s counties have voted out the saloon.

Kansas has incorporated prohibition in its constitution, and the people of the State generally hold that it is a success.

South Dakota has gone back from prohibition to license. Only two of her sixty-six counties and thirty of her 136 towns and cities have abolished the saloon.

North Dakota retains her constitutional prohibition, and the governor states that her population has increased seventy per cent within the last ten years.

Montana, Wyoming, and Nevada are strongholds of the liquor power.

Colorado passed a local option law last year, and the temperance forces are making a strong campaign against the saloon.

Idaho is under license law, with the provision that municipalities may prohibit the sale of liquor by ordinance. This provision has made it possible for several cities to prohibit the liquor traffic.

The State of Washington has proceeded no further than to close about two thirds of its saloons on Sunday, which is an exceedingly doubtful victory for temperance.

Eight of Oregon’s thirty-three counties are “dry,” and seventy precincts in other counties have abolished the saloon.

In California the temperance forces are having a hard battle, and are winning some victories, especially in the southern part of the State.

Missouri has a local option law, and the temperance movement is gaining ground there. Of Missouri’s 114 counties, forty-seven are now “dry,” and within the last three years 700 saloons have gone out of business in St. Louis alone.

In Arkansas fifty-eight of the seventy-five counties are “dry,” and eighty per cent of the territory of the State has expelled the saloon.

Texas has 243 counties; and of these 147 are entirely “dry,” and more than half the others are partly so.

Two thirds of the territory of the State of Louisiana has voted for prohibition. Twenty-four of her parishes have outlawed the saloon, and other sections have done the same.

Florida is under local option law, and of her forty-six counties thirty-three have prohibition. About three fourths of the people live under prohibitory law.

South Carolina has dispensed with her State dispensary. Of her forty-one counties, twenty-three have dispensaries, and eighteen are “dry.”

Virginia has, within a few years, abolished half of her saloons. Of her 140 incorporated towns, 120 are “dry.”

In spite of the fact that Kentucky has $160,000,000 invested in distilleries, her people have expelled the saloon from ninety-four of her 119 counties. Ninety-seven per cent of her territory is “dry.”

In Tennessee all but five of the ninety-six counties are now “dry,” and in only three of her cities is liquor sold.

Ninety-nine per cent of the territory of North Carolina is “dry,” and the State is to vote on prohibition the last Thursday in April.

Ninety per cent of the territory of Mississippi is “dry,” and a prohibitory law has been adopted to take effect, Jan. 1, 1909.

Alabama has passed a State prohibitory law to take effect, Jan. 1, 1909.

Oklahoma has incorporated prohibition into its constitution.

Georgia adopted prohibition last summer; but 135 of her 150 counties had already voted for the expulsion of the saloon under the local option law.

This movement against the saloon is more than a wave. It resembles more the uprising of a people long oppressed by a malignant foe. The saloon outlawed itself long before the people arose to outlaw it. The saloon has ridden roughshod over every desire of the people for peace, happiness, and prosperity, and now finds itself sorely attacked on front, flank, and rear. May the good work go on until no State in all the Union can put the stamp of legality upon the soul-destroying traffic. C. M. S.

The General Conference Council

By W. A. Spicer

The General Conference Council called for April 14-25, at Washington, opened at the appointed date. The council is held in the chapel of the new College Hall of the Foreign Mission Seminary, which is just receiving the finishing touches of the builders. Most of the delegates are being accommodated at the Sanitarium and the Seminary, with a few in private houses.

The following brethren are present at this writing: A. G. Daniells, G. A. Irwin, L. R. Conradi, H. W. Cottrell, I. H. Evans, R. A. Underwood, Allen Moon, E. W. Farnsworth, W. B. White, E. E. Andross, E. L. Stewart, W. J. Fitzgerald, F. M. Burg, Geo. B. Thompson, K. C. Russell, F. Griggs, H. R. Salisbury, A. G. Haughey, W. H. Thurston, R. C. Porter, G. F. Haffner, H. H. Burkholder, C. F. McVagh, Geo. W. Wells, Dr. M. A. Ruble, Dr. D. H. Kress, O. E. Reinke, A. Boettcher, F. H. DeVinney, L. H. Christian, H. W. Carr, C. H. Jones, E. R. Palmer, B. G. Wilkinson, T. E. Bowen, Geo. Teasdale, W. A. Westworth, Morris Lukens, H. F. Ketring, C. B. Haynes, M. C. Strachan, W. A. Colcord, E. C. Widgery.

It was decided that the afternoon and evening sessions, while continuing as committee meetings for the transaction of business, should be open sessions, to which students and nurses from the local Seminary and Sanitarium would be invited, as well as other visitors.

First Day, April 14

From the opening session the most encouraging and uplifting spirit has prevailed in the council. At this early stage in the meeting considerable time has been devoted to discussing various questions, which have been referred to subcommittees to formulate recommendations which will be brought in later. The agenda paper of the council, showing the list of questions that have come in for consideration and decision, is an unusually large one, and covers the work in all lands. Over one hundred and fifty topics were listed, aside from the questions brought in by visiting delegates.

The calls for appropriations for the mission fields for the year 1908 were referred to the committee on appropriations, and various calls for help and interchange of laborers in this country have been referred to a committee on distribution of labor.

In discussing some calls from the South, the chairman of the committee spoke of the encouraging progress and prosperity of the work in that great field, and of the need of helping some of the conferences to secure still further facilities. In our work there is to be no North, no South, no West, but one field. The Northern conferences have responded generously to the call to send tent companies to the South. About eight tents and companies will go this season from Northern conferences into the Southern field.

When the call for a large meeting tent for use of the Southern Union Conference was presented, Elder H. W. Cottrell, of the Pacific Union, stated that he would undertake to see that the tent was secured.

Representatives of other portions of the Southern field suggested like needs in some of the local conferences, the requests being referred to the committee on appropriations.

The evening session of this first day of the council was devoted to a discussion of the preparation for the Sunday-law hearing before a congressional committee to be granted next day.

One incident, simple in itself, reminded the council of the intense interest with which the workers in the mission fields will follow this annual spring council to which they have sent calls for help. The chairman read the following telegram from Elder G. M. Brown, of California, who has been forced by illness to retire from the superintendency of the Mexican mission: “Greetings to the council. Remember Mexico and its needs.” The hearts of all responded to the appeals from the needy fields, and the union and local conference men present have spoken of the earnest desire in their fields to supply both men and means to extend the work.

Second Day, April 15

The business program was a short one for this day, inasmuch as the council adjourned at 10:30 in the morning in order to allow the delegates to go to the city to attend the Sunday-law hearing. One item on which decision was reached, however, was that of the midsummer offering service. Inasmuch as the fourth of July this year falls on the Sabbath it was—

Voted, That a special program, combining the ideas of religious liberty and missions, be prepared for Sabbath, the fourth of July, the regular midsummer offering to be taken on that day.

Action was taken recommending the ordination of Brother M. E. Kern, the chairman of the Missionary Volunteer Department, and granting him credentials from the General Conference.

At the evening session, after a report to a large congregation of the experiences in the Sunday-law hearing, Elder L. R. Conradi gave a review of the work in the Russian and German union conferences. The first conference organized in Europe was Denmark, in 1880. Up to 1898, there were four conferences; now there are in all fifty field organizations in Europe, union conferences, local conferences, and mission fields. In 1898 Europe had 6,002 Sabbath-keepers, who paid a tithe of $38,500, and offerings of $5,500. In 1907 there were 15,400 Sabbath-keepers, a tithe of $142,000, with offerings of $25,000.

Briefly the speaker presented a stirring picture of the tremendous needs of Russia, with its one hundred fifty millions of people and but thirty ministers and Bible workers. Yet it is demonstrated that wherever laborers go, honest souls are found. Years ago Russian brethren were exiled for a time to Gerusi, on the Persian border. They scattered some literature, and left an influence behind them after the days of exile were over. For years no one knew of any special interest there, but lately has come the word of converts to the truth, and now there are ninety Sabbath-keepers in that region. Dr. Vahon Pampaian has been laboring at the foot of Mount Ararat for a time, with apparently little results; but now a change has come, and five are reported as accepting the truth. While Hungary greatly needs all possible help, it has released one of its workers who understands Russian, to go into the region of Omsk, in central Siberia. Vast Siberia is being entered by hundreds of thousands of settlers every year. We ought to have one hundred laborers in Russia at an early date. The Friedens School in Germany has a Russian

Department, established for training Russian workers in the days when liberty was restricted in the Muscovite empire. Now, however, plans should be laid to secure Russia a school of its own. After twenty years in Russia we have there now a union conference, with three conferences, three mission fields, two thousand seven hundred Sabbath-keepers, and the membership is growing at the rate of about four hundred a year. This entire union, with its one hundred fifty million to be warned, will have but fifteen thousand dollars income for its work this year.

The German Union was next described, with its seven thousand five hundred Sabbath-keepers, and one hundred fifty million people. They have but one hundred eighty ministerial and Bible workers. This union has aimed to stretch its resources in order to help in other lands. This year it will operate its own work for all its millions with seventy-six thousand dollars, and send to help outside its boundaries the sum of fifteen thousand dollars. The brethren in Europe desire to send workers and means anywhere in the wide world according to the needs, and to stand shoulder to shoulder with the brethren in America and all the world in pushing the work forward. Yet the union itself has tremendous mission fields. Hungary, with its fifty millions, has just been organized as a conference. More workers are needed there. This winter a way has been found for holding public lectures in Vienna, the capital of Austria, where now is a church of twenty-five members. There are only about one hundred Sabbath-keepers in Austria, and all about in that country are vast provinces where not a worker is to be found. There is progress in the Balkan States, and in the Netherlands; but everywhere are calls for more help.

Elder Daniells, the chairman, stated that many present would remember when the work in Germany was begun, when all the funds for operating there were sent from this country. Now what a cheering report comes from Germany! The only explanation of such facts is that this is God's work, and his mighty power is in it.

Third Day, April 16

At the morning session the plans concerning the next General Conference led to an inspiring discussion of the purposes and aims of a General Conference, led by Brethren Daniells, Underwood, and Farnsworth. Among the points suggested were the following: These general gatherings help to preserve the unity of the work; this is one work; there are no divisions, no separations.

A General Conference is an occasion when the attention of the whole denomination should be focused anew upon the essentials,—the things primary and fundamental. It is to be a time of shaping the line of attack upon the work set before us, to agree upon the most effective plans, and then to scatter out to carry forward the work in all the world,—the energies of an entire people devoted to the one great purpose. It is an occasion also for the forming of personal acquaintance with one another in the service, which is the basis of confidence and of sympathy and co-operation with one another in the fields. It was suggested that now that the General Conference comes but once in four years, it should be truly a world's conference, with larger representation than heretofore from the fields abroad. The questions of Bible instruction and of reports were also discussed.

A memorial was presented, adopted by the German workers in session in Chicago in December. From this memorial we quote the following greeting to the American brethren:—

This message has gathered us from all nations and tongues, and has made us one people,—a people to whom God has entrusted the greatest work ever given to mankind.

We realize the necessity of concerted action between our American brethren and ourselves, and assure them of our entire harmony with them on all points of present truth; and, furthermore, that they can rely upon our faithful support until the time has come when this message shall have found its conclusion.

Recommendations and requests made by the German meeting were referred to various committees.

A request made to the Lake Union Conference for help in the Jewish mission work was brought to the council, and referred to the committee on appropriations for consideration, along with estimates of needs submitted by the mission fields.

As this report must be sent to the printers, only the first morning meeting of this date is reported. Regular business will be continued this afternoon; this evening Elder E. E. Andross is to present the needs and the work in the British Union, and Elder L. R. Conradi will present the Levant Union, the Levant including the countries around the eastern end of the Mediterranean.

W. A. Spicer, Secretary.

A Plan to Double the Number of Our Workers in Mission Fields

By A. G. DANIELLS

DURING the past winter all the union conferences in the United States have adopted a series of resolutions outlining a well-defined plan for greatly increasing our contributions to foreign missions. These resolutions were printed in full in last week’s REVIEW. The two main resolutions of the series are these:—

1. That we undertake to raise for foreign mission work an amount equal to ten cents a week per capita for our church-membership.

2. That we urge each conference in this union to make a most earnest effort to secure the payment of a full tithe in every church.

If these two reasonable resolutions are carried into effect by all our churches in the United States, there will be a great increase in our gifts and appropriations to missions.

It may be well to state the exact sources from which we receive our funds for the support and enlargement of our work in mission fields. They are as follows: The regular tithe from union conferences; the Christmas, midsummer, and personal offerings; the portion of the Sabbath-school contributions passed on by each school; and the surplus tithes appropriated by union and local conferences.

It is now proposed that an effort be made to raise in contributions for missions a sum in each conference equal to ten cents a week for each church-member. And it is agreed that the Christmas, midsummer, and Sabbath-school offerings sent in by each church shall be applied on the amount to be thus raised. That means that if the Christmas, midsummer, and Sabbath-school contributions devoted to missions, in a church of twenty members, all amount to fifty-two dollars for the year, the members of that church will have only fifty-two dollars more to raise by personal gifts to make a sum equal to ten cents a week for each member.

Now, brethren and sisters, let me ask if you think this is an unreasonable undertaking? Do you think it is possible and reasonable for our people in the United States to give a sum equal to ten cents a week, or five dollars and twenty cents a year for each member, to proclaim the third angel’s message to all the world in this generation? If we can not do this, how are we going to finish our work in our day?

The conference officers, ministers, and delegates who attended all our union conferences during the past winter believe that this amount can and should be raised. They believed, too, that our people generally would believe it and gladly do it. And believing this they pledged to undertake the task of raising in each conference for missions a sum equal to

ten cents a week for each church-member. We now have about seventy thousand members. Ten cents a week for each member will mean seven thousand dollars every week. That will be just a thousand dollars a day, and the splendid total of three hundred sixty-five thousand dollars for the year. That will more than double our present contributions to missions, and that means that we shall more than double our forces in mission fields.

How this announcement will cheer the hearts of our missionaries! They are few and hard pressed in the great lands to which we have sent them. They are all overworked in their efforts to help and save the teeming millions around them. Their ranks must be strengthened. It is time to bring on the reserves, for we are surely approaching the final struggle.

Brethren and sisters, more must be done to hasten this work. We know of no more practical and effective way than to increase our gifts that we may enlarge our operations. True, we must pray and rely upon the operations of the Holy Spirit. This we must surely do, but with our prayers and our reliance on divine power we must give of our means. This is our Lord’s appointed way.

We feel sure that our people everywhere will welcome this plan for increasing our gifts to missions. We believe they will be glad to count it their own plan. How I wish that each church could study, discuss, and adopt these resolutions as the conferences have during the past winter. It would surely do every member good, and it would create a new burden for our missionary enterprises.

This must be one of our campaigns until this plan is materialized. Each conference is to appoint some one to give this work special attention. These persons are to write articles, give addresses, and correspond with the churches in behalf of this movement. Then, too, each church is to appoint some one of its members to distribute and collect the missionary envelopes, and do everything reasonable and necessary to help the church raise an amount equal to ten cents a week for all its members.

No better use can be made of money in this world than devoting it to soul-saving work. We earnestly appeal to our church officers to take hold of this effort with all their hearts.

Remember that the one thing that stands between us to-day and the end of the world is the finishing of the work. God has given us this work to do in this generation. This campaign for funds is to hasten the finishing of this work and so hasten the coming of the day of God.

A. G. DANIELLS.

Come Over into Macedonia

“PASSING by Mysia, they came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: There was a man of Macedonia standing, beseeching him, and saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. And when he had seen the vision, straightway we sought to go forth into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel unto them.”

Scuttling the Ship

THE following suggestion clipped from one of our exchanges is applicable to a great many besides the one who is named:—

The press reports that the Rev. R. J. Campbell, pastor of the City Temple, London, has addressed a letter to those sympathizing with his views, in which he suggests that they effect an organization along the lines of the “New Theology.” Of course, this means a new sect, and is a move in the right direction. Let the “New Theology” folks combine their forces, and have a propaganda distinctively their own. Such a course would be honorable and, at the same time, place them in a proper attitude before the world. Dr. Campbell now denies the deity of Jesus; and should he continue to occupy the position as minister of the City Temple, the public will lose faith in his integrity. No man has a right to receive support for the preaching of doctrines which he deliberately tries to destroy. A change of faith necessarily tends to a change of base—even for temporal supplies. Some “New Theology” men, however, seem unable to comprehend that fact.

There are many clergymen to-day whose preaching is of the same nature as that of Mr. Campbell—as subversive of “the faith once delivered to the saints” as the teachings of Voltaire and Paine ever were—yet occupying pulpits dedicated to the promulgation of the truth of God, and supported by the contributions of those whose beliefs they assail, and whose Saviour they deny. It is a case of attempting to scuttle the ship on which their supporters have embarked. The only honorable thing would be to step out, and declare themselves antagonists of the Bible, and disbelievers in the redemptoral work of Christ, and then draw their support from those who wish to follow them.

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