TO-DAY, in practically all countries, the body-politic is sick, desperately sick—sick even unto death. It was not cynicism, but despair, that impelled the late Senator Ingalls to exclaim, "The purification of politics is an iridescent dream!" Mr. Ingalls was a friend and champion of clean, honest government, but, like other high-minded patriots, he saw that the prospect of cleaning out the Augean stables of politics was hopelessly remote—so utterly vile had they become.
The Hon. James Bryce, the eminent English publicist, recently visited America after an interval of almost a quarter of a century. Being invited by the editor of the New York Independent to contribute to that journal a statement of his impressions regarding the changes, good and bad, that the past twenty-five years had brought about in the United States, he said, among other things: "The most generally diffused and conspicuously rampant mischief seems to be the sacrifice of the public interests for the benefit of private men or groups of men who compass their ends by bribery."
This is not a railing accusation, but a cool, honest, judicious statement by one of America's most friendly and sympathetic English admirers. That Mr. Bryce's terrible arraignment is every whit true, is attested by the fact that no one has ventured to deny it. The venality of not only our public officials, but of the electorate generally, is so notoriously in evidence that it has become proverbial the world over.
Obviously, the besetting sin, the typical crime, of these first years of the new century, is civic corruption and political debauchery resulting from the insatiable cupidity, which runs so feverishly hot in the blood of this generation. It has been repeatedly asserted by serious thinkers that nine-tenths of our public men are fatally susceptible to the argument of the dollar. The passionate yearning of the American heart is no longer "Give me liberty or give me death," but "Give me gold, and you may take my liberty!" Yes, so incurably sordid have most men become that millions are actually selling not only their liberty, but their manhood, their very souls, for a mess of Mammon.
Was there ever a time in the past when the following indictment of a civilized nation could be seriously made without provoking a single denial? It was made by a popular writer on economics and published in a leading magazine, September, 1904. Let us name it—
The Sovereignty of the Dollar.
At no time in the history of the United States has the power of dollars been as great as now. Freedom and equity are controlled by dollars. The laws which should preserve and enforce all rights are made and enforced by dollars. It is possible to-day, with dollars, to "steer" the selection of the candidates, of both the great parties, for the highest office in our Republic, . . . so that the people, as a matter of fact, must elect one of the "steered" candidates. It is possible to repeat the operation in the selection of candidates for the executive and legislative conduct and control of every state and municipality in the United States, and with a sufficient number of dollars to "steer" the doings of the law-makers and the law-enforcers of the national, state, and municipal governments of the people, and a sufficient proportion of the court decisions, to make absolute any power created by such direction. It is all, broadly speaking, a matter of dollars to practically accomplish these things.
Another Burning Indictment.
Mr. Frederick U. Adams, who is an authority on political and sociological subjects, not long ago delivered himself of the following vitriolic pronouncement on the humiliating status of our official life:
Within the past few years the truth has been forced home on us that the officialdom of our townships, villages, cities, counties, states, and of the nation is maggoty with corruption; that our local, state, and national legislatures are openly controlled by mercenary private interests; that the scandals concerning our judiciary can no longer be smothered or concealed; that our citizens are powerless to pass laws demanded by the majority, or to defeat those aimed to despoil the majority; that the burdens of taxation are spurned by those who have amassed wealth by means of unfair and ofttimes purchased legislation, and that the domination of corporations and vested interests is so complete as to be apparent to the dullest of the plundered.
This language is not exaggerated. It is impossible to overstate the enormity of the depth to which we have descended in the scale of political morals. Ten years ago any one of the disclosures which now are made from week to week would have aroused the nation; to-day the repetition of these horrors dazes those who attempt to keep track of them. Not one crime in a hundred ever sees the light in printer's ink. The bigger thieves are so buttressed and protected by the fortifications of wealth, and so secure behind the barbed wire entanglements woven by the courts, that their enraged dupes can not reach them.
Just before retiring from office, Governor Durbin of Indiana declared: "Statistics of political debauchery in this state for 1904, if it were possible to present them, would be nothing short of stunning." Yet no one who is informed on the questions of the day would for a moment think of placing Indiana ahead of Rhode Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Missouri, in political infamy.
Venality of Legislatures.
The evidence that practically all our state legislatures are honeycombed with the dry-rot of Graft is overwhelming in magnitude. No one can possibly doubt that this is true who has read the papers contributed to McClure's Magazine, by Mr. Lincoln Steffens, and those writers for Everybody's Magazine, by Mr. Thomas W. Lawson, and the series entitled "Forty Years in the Wilderness," etc., contributed to the Arena, by Mr. Rudolph Blankenburg.
Mr. George E. Cole, of the Legislative Voters' League, declares: "Honesty—spelled with a big H and underscored—is the thing most needed to-day in every legislature in the United States. This consideration overtops all others." The vital center of a democracy is its law-making power. Corrupt this and you imperil its life. Senator-elect La Follette, of Wisconsin, alleges that the evil influences employed in this country to subvert government are to-day mainly combined upon the law-making bodies. This is equally true of municipal, state, and national law-makers. He says that the nation has not yet begun to comprehend the real magnitude of this danger to our free institutions. It is menacing the very life of democracy.
It is freely admitted by all disinterested persons and deplored by all patriots that, in effect, all our legislatures are in the iron grip of great capitalistic exploiters, whose aim is the control of legislation for their own enrichment by the securing of invaluable franchises for a mere moiety. In this way not only legislatures are debauched, but the people are systematically robbed of untold millions of dollars in public10property. Mr. Steffens and other able writers have adduced incontestable proof—repeatedly—that the legislature of Rhode Island has for years been absolutely dominated by a small coterie of "bosses," who in turn are the henchmen and puppets of powerful and piratical corporations that control all the street railways, electric- and gas-lighting plants, and all other public-service utilities of the state.
These autocratic czars of the money tables have so thoroughly entrenched themselves in the politics of Rhode Island—and of many another state—that they virtually dictate the nominees for the state offices; they fill vacancies on the bench; they manipulate municipal administrations; they muzzle the press; as well as determine the personnel of both branches of the legislature. All this they can do by virtue of the omnipotent argument of the dollar.
But vulgar plunder is not their only resource. Dr. Newman Smyth boldly affirms that they make and unmake the career of lawyers and other professional men. Through their banks and trust companies they exploit the merchant and the manufacturer; by their generosity to churches, hospitals, and other philanthropic enterprises, they win, if not the approval, at least the kindly tolerance, of clergymen and educators, and establish strong and useful social connections. "Connecticut," says Dr. Smyth, "tells the same shameful story." That state has just sent to the Federal Senate an avowed corruptionist. Most of the newspapers of the state, like those of Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, etc., have been hypnotized with the magic of gold. They are too commercialized to assert their freedom. Accordingly, the vicious circle is complete. Dr. Smyth despairingly exclaims, "Reformers are dumb and helpless before a voter who prefers a ten-dollar bill to civic decency."
Mr. Lawson’s Unanswered Charge
In chapter 19, of his "Frenzied Finance," Mr. Lawson writes a sweeping arraignment of the legislature of one of the New England states. He declares that said legislature is bought and sold as are "sausages and fish at the markets." The largest and richest corporations in New England, whose affairs are conducted by the most noted representative citizens, habitually corrupt the said legislature; and the man of wealth among them who would enter protest against the iniquity would be looked on as a "class anarchist." He goes so far as to allege that if in New England a "man of the type of Folk, of Missouri, can be found who will give over six months to turning up the legislative . . . sod of the past ten years, who does not expose to the world a condition of rottenness more rotten than was ever before exhibited to any community in the civilized world, it will be because he has been suffocated by the stench of what he exhumes."
This picture of legislative viciousness may seem overdrawn; but, while many of the votaries of the "system" have fumed and threatened, none of them has ever attempted to disprove Mr. Lawson’s grilling stricture.
Mr. Rudolph Blankenburg, himself a noted Pennsylvanian, writes, in the April Arena, that the morals of but few states, in their law-making bodies, have been as much debased as those of his state, through the hateful influence and corrupt practises of transportation companies. In former years, venal legislators at Harrisburg, when laws respecting railroads were under scrutiny, would ask each other whether the "yellow envelope" had been distributed. This envelope contained the valuation of the recipient’s conscience "in cash," and was the logic used to obtain his vote for or against a measure.
To-day, however, more refined methods are in vogue. A number of crass "boodlers" of the early nineties were put into "stripes" behind iron bars; hence their successors have been constrained to employ artifice in the prostituting of their manhood. Present-day graft usually takes the form of heavy campaign contributions, the placing of relatives in lucrative offices, the release of an inconvenient mortgage, admitting men of influence to "the ground floor," paying for a course of study at a university for the aspiring son of an impecunious legislator, a game of poker, in which the "go-between" agent voluntarily loses to the crooked law-maker enough money to nail down his vote, etc. Free railway passes and telegraph franks are genteel forms of bribery that are freely used to secure the kindly support of impressionable legislators.
In fairness to the Keystone State, it should not be forgotten that these refined methods of graft are in vogue in nearly all the states. Last winter Governor Durbin, of Indiana, said, as a parting admonition, that the Legislature then in session would be exposed to the importunities of the most powerful and corrupt professional lobby that has visited itself upon the law-making power in the history of any state.
(Concluded next week.)
THE EARLY AND LATTER RAIN
By T. E. Bowen
John’s Mission.
CHRIST testified to John’s great work by saying, “But wherefore went ye out? to see a prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet. This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send My messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee. Verily I say unto you, among them that are born of women there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist.” Matt. 11:9-11.
Then we have the testimony of Jesus as to the authorship of John’s work, in His pointed reply to the Pharisee’s question as to His own authority for doing the deeds He did: “And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one question, which if ye tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven or from men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; He will say unto us, Why then did ye not believe him? But if we shall say, From men; we fear the multitude; for all hold John as a prophet.” Matt. 21:24-26. From this it is clearly shown that John’s work was acknowledged by the Son of God as from heaven, and that he was authorized to do his work by the same One who gave the Son power and authority for doing His.
Christ’s Mission and Work.
The Son of God—of heavenly and earthly birth combined—quickly followed the preaching of John the Baptist with His great work. Of Him it is written, “No man ever spake like this Man?” The words of life ever flowed from His divine-human lips. Mighty works were performed to witness to the truths He proclaimed, that they were from the Father. The blind received their sight, the deaf were made to hear, the dead were restored in the bloom of health unto their bereaved loved ones. The stamp of divinity was placed upon His work, that no soul could truly deny the authorship of His mission. He spake openly in the places for public congregation, He taught the multitudes by the seashore, upon the mountainside, and in secret He did nothing. He became the honored Guest around the family board, as well as at feasts where invited friends assembled; and everywhere, upon all occasions, precious instruction, containing the living principles of God’s holy law, fell like refreshing showers from His lips. Even the individual inquirer was not ignored. Alone, at night, the great Nicodemus, the teacher and counselor in Israel, received instruction from Him who was the greatest Teacher earth ever knew.
But at last His earthly mission of teaching was over. He finished the work given Him of His Father to do, and then, as a lamb dumb before its shearers, He was wickedly condemned, and led forth without the city of Jerusalem to be executed as a malefactor. The great truth must not be lost sight of, however, that Jesus Christ did work for eternity; that all the words falling from His holy lips were words His Father authorized Him to utter, and by which men must be judged at last, whether they believe them or believe them not. Because proud men rejected His work, because of His being a Nazarene, a humble carpenter, on the earthly side born of a poor woman, detracts not an atom from the great truth that He was the promised Messiah, the long-looked-for Saviour, the great Redeemer of our race.
The Gift of God in the Early Outpouring of His Spirit.
On the day of His ascension, Jesus bade His disciples go back to Jerusalem, and there tarry until endued with power from on high. With great joy they obeyed. During these ten days of waiting they confessed their sins—acts committed in seeking honor one of another, in desiring the best places, in a spirit of rivalry, with its attendant evils. They cleared the King’s highway by thorough repentance. After ten days thus seeking God, the longed-for promise was fulfilled. “And when the day of Pentecost was now come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them tongues parting asunder, like as of fire; and it sat upon each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling at11Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven.” Acts 2:1-5.
When Peter spoke that day, 3,000 souls were added to the church, such as should be saved. Many in this company had heard both John and Jesus. They were familiar with their mighty works, and, really, this day’s addition to the church was but the legitimate fruit of their labors.
But those dwelling at Jerusalem who had rejected the words of John the Baptist and of the Son of Man, did not share in this outpouring of the Spirit from heaven. They counted it as coming from a Satanic source. This is made very clear from the fact that they were the chief persecutors of these very men upon whom it had fallen. In the book of Acts is recorded some of the mighty deeds of God, through human instrumentality, as the result of this wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit.
The Result of Failing to Accept God's Messages.
Those who received John’s preaching were prepared to receive Christ’s, and those who received Him as the Son of God, were thus prepared to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.
Those who rejected the work of John the Baptist, were likewise led not only to reject the solemn work of the Son of God, but to crucify Him, and thus proved themselves wholly unprepared to receive the baptism of power for service on the day of Pentecost.
Upon His ascension, ten days before the day of Pentecost, Jesus entered upon His great work of ministry in the first apartment of the sanctuary in heaven. But those who received not the refreshing in the gift of the Spirit that day, knew it not. “The Holy Spirit this signifying, that the way into the holy place hath not yet been made manifest, while the first tabernacle is yet standing.” Heb. 9:8.
Thus those who failed to receive the Holy Spirit, went on with their senseless round of tabernacle service, not realizing that God was not there at all, that their house was left unto them desolate by Him whose presence heretofore had made it holy. The rent veil at the entrance unto the holy apartment was meaningless to them.
It is plain to be seen, therefore, that the work of John was necessary; the instruction and work of Jesus, imperative; and that these were in love bestowed upon the church by the Father in heaven, that its members might be prepared to enter personally into God’s plan, through the impartation of the Holy Spirit, to go forth to the world with the great Gospel message of salvation.
All this is recorded that we, upon whom the ends of the world have come, by studying the words and works of God in the giving of the early rain, may become familiar with events which are to prepare His people for the reception of the last great gift, to be given in the latter rain, to the church, as spoken of by the prophet Joel.
FIFTY REASONS FOR SABBATH OBSERVANCE.
By Daniel T. Bourdeau
BY D. T. BOURDEAU.
TWENTY-SECOND. We should observe it, because it is the only weekly Sabbath enjoined by the Bible, and to pretend that it is not obligatory would be claiming virtually that there is no day of rest provided by God for those living under the new covenant. To those who set forth such a claim, we should ask: Is that one of the advantages of the new covenant over the old? Never put the Bible in contradiction with itself by quoting these words of Paul: "One man esteemeth one day above another; another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind" (Rom. 14:5), to prove such a doctrine. Here the word "alike" is in italics, and is not found in the original. Paul alludes to ordinances and days enjoined by the ritual law; and in this case the expression "every day" does not embrace the Sabbath any more than these words of the Lord relative to the manna: "And the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day." There was no manna to be gathered on the Sabbath, which was not therefore embraced in the expression "every day." The Sabbath is always an exception, and is never embraced in such expressions, which are limited in their meaning as is the word "all" in these Biblical declarations: "Charity . . . believeth all things." 1 Cor. 13:1-7. "All things are lawful for me." 1 Cor. 10:23. "One believeth that he may eat all things." Rom. 14:2.
Twenty-third. We observe it, because the Gospel, having a restoring system, or remedy for sin, as well as the good news of salvation, sanctions it with the rest of the law by which "is the knowledge of sin," and of which "sin is the transgression." Rom. 3:20; 1 John 3:4. The Gospel commands us to repent; we are to repent of our sins or transgressions of the law. It commands us to believe in Jesus Christ to obtain the remission of our sins (transgressions of the law), and that the righteousness of Christ (His obedience to the divine law) may be imputed to us, and replace our disobedience, which never should have appeared, and never should appear in our lives. The Gospel commands us to pray, and one of our petitions in prayer is that God may pardon our sins. Another is that He may enable us to overcome our sins. In these two cases the law, of which the Sabbath is a part, is honored, and the importance of obeying it is clearly seen. The same is true when we ask God to give us His Spirit, whose great work consists in changing our hearts and dispositions, putting them in harmony with the divine law, and causing to appear in us the fruits of the Spirit, namely, the dispositions or virtues that are developed in obeying the divine law. See 1 John 5:3; Ps. 119:24, 72, 92, 165; Gal. 5:22, 23.
The Gospel commands us to be baptized to show, among other things, that we are dead to sin, to the transgression of the law. Rom. 6:1-12, etc. It enjoins the celebration of the Lord’s death for our sins (1 Cor. 11:26; 15:5); and every time we do this properly we ask God, in the name of our Saviour, to forgive us our sins, or infractions of the law, and to enable us to live holily, or conformably to the law of God.
(To be continued.)
THE HOLY SPIRIT.
1. By what agency was Jesus of Nazareth begotten?
“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.” Matt. 1:18.
Joseph’s first impulse was to put her away, thinking she was not a virtuous woman. But “the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus.” Verses 20, 21.
2. By what influence was He led during His ministry?
“Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water; and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him.” Matt. 3:16.
“And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon Him.” John 1:32.
“Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.” Matt. 4:1.
3. What is essential to a place in the kingdom of God?
“Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” John 3:5, 6.
4. As Jesus was about to return to heaven, what did He promise to send as His representative in the earth?
“I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth, whom the world can not receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” John 14:16, 17.
5. What is the office of the Spirit?
“The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” John 14:26.
“And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” Chapter 16:8.
6. What promise did the Lord make by His prophet Joel?
“I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions; and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My Spirit.” Joel 2:28, 29.
“There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. . . . For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues; but all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will.” 1 Cor. 12:4-11.
9. What is the purpose of these spiritual gifts?
They are “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” See Eph. 4:7-13.
10. What is the fruit of the Spirit?
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” Gal. 5:22, 23.
Do Good in Secret
By T. H. Nelson
Do good in secret and say nothing about it, then diagnose your feelings and see how much grace you really possess.
False Estimates of Self
By Herald of Light
As LONG as a man does not invoice himself for more than he is worth, he is safe in every undertaking; but when he places an artificial value on himself, and waters the original stock, and assumes false positions, or possessions, he fails, and he deserves to fail for his dishonesty. —Herald of Light.
OUR WORK IN WASHINGTON, D. C.
THE readers of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES are interested in the onward march of the great truths which this missionary paper voices—the truth of God's eternal Sabbath, of the nearness of the glorious appearance of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, of liberty to serve Him freely, as He has commanded, without the intervention of any creature that He has made. The building up of the headquarters of the work of Seventh-day Adventists in the capital of the United States, has brought these truths to the very highest point of the world's latest civilization.
The Government of the United States is standing out more and more prominently before the nations of the earth as the youngest, mightiest exponent of the world's modern intellect and culture. This government has stood for freedom, for advancement, for marvelous inventive genius. While there have been terrible failures to meet all the high ideals for which this nation stood, yet every one who has lived in foreign lands, as has been the privilege of the writer for nearly one-fourth of his life, must see that this modern nation has lighted the darkness with a new light, and brought new hope to the nations of the Old World.
And yet, it is sad to write, there are now indications that the prophecies declaring that this nation would turn backward into darkness and superstition, are now fulfilling, and that persecutions similar to those of past ages, are being already repeated. As for a time the United States led the world upward, so when the nation turns her back upon the principles of truth and of liberty, which were the original foundation of her structure, she will lead the world again headlong down the abyss to utter ruin—a ruin irretrievable and eternal.
Out of the wreck of nations, the wreck of humanity, the wreck of the world, the Lord will rescue those who will be true and loyal to Him. The SIGNS OF THE TIMES represents the great effort to warn, to instruct, and to save, that there may be transplanted from the kingdoms of the earth those who shall have a place in the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.
The headquarters of this movement are now being built up at the capital of the nation. Already this truth has been brought into wonderful prominence before the leading men of Washington, and thus, in a measure, before all the world. During the last winter, through the agitation for Sunday laws, through the campaign for better Sabbath (Sunday) observance, and lastly through the effort to introduce specific religious instruction into the public schools of Washington, the Sabbath truth and the glorious principles of religious liberty have been published far and wide by means of the three leading papers of the city. It is probable that every person who has read the newspapers here in Washington, including the men in the highest positions in the government, have become somewhat familiar with these principles. Had there not been a strong force of workers here during the last winter, it would seem that oppressive measures must have been passed. It is evident, therefore, that God has sent His people to the capital for such a time as this.
Iowa Circle, Takoma Park, Washington; new Sanitarium in process of construction showing through the trees.
We are making a strong effort to build up our institutions free of the burden of indebtedness. A sanitarium, in a rented building, is operating in the city, with marked success in reaching people of the very highest intelligence and of the highest positions.
A missionary college, in buildings of our own, is also being operated free of all debt. But a sanitarium and offices for our work must be built in Takoma Park, one of the most beautiful suburbs of the capital city. We have received on our building fund thus far $66,717.32, two-thirds of the $100,000 which was voted by the General Conference Committee of Seventh-day Adventists, for this work. Are there not readers of this paper who will forward to the office of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, or to the treasurer of the General Conference, Takoma Park, Washington, D. C., donations of from $1,000 or more down to any amount which the giver may be able to donate for this work?
The Lord of hosts Himself is leading in this movement for truth and for liberty, and that there may be a strong and sure foundation laid for His truth where the final great conflict must center. For His sake, for the sake of the message of salvation which He is thus sending out to the ends of the earth, will you not help? Has He not called His people to this world's pinnacle, that from this high mountain they may proclaim the truth to every nation and kindred, tongue and people? "O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God. Behold the Lord God will come." Isa. 40: 9, 10.
A Patient's Room in the Washington Branch Sanitarium.
A NEW CALL FROM AFRICA.
THE Church Missionary Society of England has just received, and is seeking to respond to, a new call from the heart of Africa, for the establishment of a mission in a region which the society has long had in view, but which it has hitherto been prevented from entering. Mr. Eugene Stock calls this, "without doubt, the most important opening for the society's efforts since Mr. Stanley's appeal for Uganda, in 1875." General Gordon, when governor-general of the Soudan, twenty-seven years ago, made an appeal to the Church Missionary Society to begin work among the pagan tribes on the Upper Nile. The Uganda project occupied attention at that time, and after Gordon's death the door was closed for many years. But the victory at Omdurman established British authority throughout that region, and, while the Gordon Memorial Mission was established at Khartoum, its work was not permitted to extend to Moslems. But recently Lord Cromer, the British minister in Egypt, and the Sirdar of the Soudan, Sir R. Wingate, have expressed their desire that British missions should be established among the pagan tribes further south, whom Gordon had in mind when he made his call twenty-seven years ago. These British officials have deemed it impolitic to permit the preaching of the Gospel among the Moslems whom they are trying to govern, but they see no reasons for restrictions among the pagan tribes at the south. Lord Cromer has now pointed out a definite field, and has invited the Church Missionary Society to enter it. The13territory is extensive, stretching southward on both sides of the White Nile to the Uganda Protectorate, and the northeast corner of the Kongo Free State. A mission there would be midway between Egypt and Uganda, its center being about equidistant from Khartoum and Mengo. The committee of the Church Missionary Society has issued a statement in reference to this new call, and asks for prayers and gifts and offers of service with reference to this undertaking. Of this opening Lord Cromer has written: "Not only do these districts present a far more promising field for missionary enterprise than those whose population is Mohammedan, but the manifest political objections which exist in allowing mission work in the latter, do not in any great degree exist in the former case."
—Missionary Herald.
ENDEAVOR CONSECRATION HYMN.
By John Nelson Davidson
(Tune, Suwanee River.)
WHERE I may serve Thee best, O Master,
Keep me or send;
Life's days are passing fast and faster,
Soon labor here must end.
Joy is it, blessed Lord, to serve Thee
Where Thou dost call.
Mountain or plain or forest please me;
Things either great or small.
CHORUS:
Turn my life from self and sadness,
Choose the path for me;
Thy service, Lord, is joy and gladness;
Happy my walk with Thee.
In day and sunshine call to serve Thee,
Where all is bright;
Hear near the homes of those who love me;
Or call in storm and night;
Call Thou to cities' anxious thronging,
Or desert lone;
Or 'mid earth's angry strife and wronging,
Or to the sad heart's moan.
Blessed the loving hand that saved me,
Hand pierced and torn.
Blessed the tender hand that owned me,
Sinner condemned, forlorn,
The loving kindness, it hath won me,
Love all Thine own;
And, Master, when in joy I greet Thee
Let me not come alone!
