“If” has lost many a battle. Often the use of this word reveals a heart of unbelief, and leads a man to lay the blame on some one else, and reason that if others had done differently, then he would not have made the mistake he did.
Yes, had it not been for the devil, we should not have been tempted; and had we never been tempted, we should not have been proved; and had we never been proved, we should never have found out the evil in our own hearts and our need of a Saviour.
Once in time of war the famine was so severe in Israel that a woman killed her own son and ate him. 2 Kings 6:24-29. When the king heard of it, he was greatly distressed. He at once laid all the blame upon the prophet of the Lord, and determined to kill him, not realizing that it was the sins of Israel that had brought the famine.
He at once sent a messenger to slay the prophet, but when the messenger came to the prophet the Spirit of the Lord rested upon Elisha, and he delivered a message of good, which would have filled the city of Samaria with rejoicing if they had believed the word of the Lord. Elisha’s words sounded out clearly in the ears of his would-be murderers, “Thus saith the Lord, Tomorrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria;” but there was no response of faith in the hearts of his hearers. A lord upon whose hand the king leaned, replied, unto “If the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be?” Then, as at the present day, the doubting heart
He did not receive the blessing. Elisha answered the man, saying, “Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.” 2 Kings 7:1-20.
Whether Elisha knew that God had already made provision for plenty of food to supply the city or not, we cannot say. Samaria was besieged by the Syrian host, and, from a human standpoint, there was no chance of receiving food. The remainder of that day passed as other days had passed; but when twilight came, four lepers that were starving outside the gate of Samaria said, “Let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.” So in the twilight they went to the uttermost part of the camp of the Syrians, and “there was no man there. For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host,” and they had all fled in great fear, leaving their provisions behind them.
Immediately the king was notified, and in the night a committee was sent to investigate, and they found an abundance of provisions in the camp of the Syrians, so that the prophecy of Elisha was fulfilled. “And the king appointed the lord on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate: and the people trod upon him in the gate, and he died,” as the man of God had said. He beheld the fulfilment of the prophet’s words, but never had the pleasure of partaking of any of the food.
There are many today in both high and low positions who lose much by doubting the instruction given by the prophet of the Lord. When they read that now is the time to carry forward a certain work, they say, “We have neither money nor means to accomplish it; if God would pour out money from the windows of heaven, this thing might be.” They delay to do the work. The time is near when the work will go with power, just as God has said. The terrible “if” which has so often hindered the work will give place to “can,” and all will be accomplished which God has spoken. Books, papers, and tracts, radiant with the message, will be scattered like the leaves of autumn.
“Servants of God, with their faces lighted up and shining with holy consecration, will hasten from place to place to proclaim the message from heaven.” When God says, “Go forward,” those who cling to the habit of saying, “It can be done if we have everything at hand with which to do it,” will fall out by the way, and, like the nobleman of Samaria, will fail to share in the good things in store for God’s people, although with their eyes they may see the fulfilment of the prophecy. God never commanded his people to go forward without having in reserve ways and means to accomplish the work. Imagine Moses saying, “Lord, if you open the sea first, then I will speak unto the children of Israel to go forward.”
Faith has only one line of reasoning; and that is to prove that what God has said can be accomplished, because God has spoken the words. Faith has lost none of its power; it is as mighty today as when in the past it “subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions.”
Satan’s stronghold has always been to persuade men to doubt the plain word of God. When God says, “Go forward,” Satan says, “It is impossible; if we had more facilities we could accomplish the work. Wait until a more opportune time.”
Ofttimes the apparent feebleness of8those attempting to carry out the commands of God are used in his providence as a means of accomplishing the work. If Goliath had been met by a man of equal strength, he would not in anger have thrown up his helmet and exposed his brow to the stone. Under the hand of God, David’s apparent weakness gave him the victory.
The children of Israel dwelt many years in Palestine without capturing Mount Moriah and Mount Zion, the strongholds of the Jebusites, but the time came for the last strongholds within their borders to be captured. There were many difficulties in the way, “nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion.”
For more than half a century Seventh-day Adventists have dwelt in this land; God has greatly prospered them, but the great strongholds of the country—the cities—have not been taken. The following quotations show that for many years God has been directing his people to “go forward” and take these strongholds; but that terrible “if” has held the work back. Unbelief has said, “If we had sufficient money, we might enter the cities. If we had more talented men,” etc., and the work has been hindered.
“Behold the cities, and their need of the gospel! The need of earnest laborers among the multitudes of the cities has been kept before me for more than twenty years. Who are carrying a burden for the large cities? A few have felt the burden, but in comparison with the great need and the many opportunities but little attention has been given to this work. Instruction has been given me that the message should go again with power in the cities in the Eastern States.”
“O that we might see the needs of these cities as God sees them! At such a time as this every hand is to be employed. The Lord is coming; the end is near, yea, it hasteth greatly! In a little while we shall be unable to work with the freedom that we now enjoy. Terrible scenes are before us, and what we do we must do quickly.”—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. IX, pp. 97, 98, 101.
My Prayer
By C. P. Bollman
C. P. BOLLMAN
I NEED thee, Lord, this very hour;
My foes, too strong, oppress me sore;
I fly for refuge to thy power,
My fortress be forevermore.
And there are foes within my breast,
Inherent in my nature. Lord,
My weakness I have oft confessed;
O give me strength now by thy word!
I cast me on thy mercy, Lord;
Thou wilt not, canst not, say me nay.
Oh, take my hand and lead me in
The plain, the safe, the narrow way.
I'll walk with thee, my blessed Lord,
And hold communion sweet with thee;
Oh, leave me not to walk alone,
But ever guide and counsel me!
The Unity and Breadth of the Law
By Milton C. Wilcox
The Law of God—No. 4
The Unity and Breadth of the Law
MILTON C. WILCOX
The unity of the law is proved by the fact that it was given by the one perfect God. He could give no other than a perfect law, one and indivisible, the reflection of his own character, the standard of character for his children. But study it from whatever side we will, the same unity is revealed.
The Underlying Principle
“God is love;” his law is the law of love. Because of love God gave the law.
“Jehovah came from Sinai,
And rose from Seir unto them;
He shined forth from Mount Paran,
And he came from the ten thousands of holy ones:
At his right hand was a fiery law for them.
Yea, he loveth the people.”
Deut. 33:2, 3.
God gave the law because he loved the people. It can only be observed in love, of which it is the proof: “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” John 14:15. “This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” 1 John 5:3. God loved, and therefore God gave man laws, and therefore man gives loyal, loving obedience. There is nothing compulsory, coercive in love.
That great principle of love, like a mighty trunk of a tree, divides into two great limbs, love to God and love to man.9From the first of these great limbs, love to God, spring four branches; and from the second limb, love to our fellows, six branches. The four branches represent the first four commandments, the six branches the last six commandments.
As soon as God had created one intelligent, responsible creature, it was the duty of that creature to recognize his Creator as supreme before all others. It was his duty to refrain from belittling his Maker by making an image or representation, and thus limiting God by his own finite ideas. It was his duty to reverence God’s name. It was his duty to observe the day set apart by his Creator for rest and worship. These four precepts grow out of the very nature of things, the vital and essential relations between God and his child.
The last six commandments, connecting man with God, proceed to guard the relationship between man and his fellow man, putting in the first place that highest of all relations, parent and child. The loving child of God who honored his heavenly Father, would honor his earthly father and mother, to whom under God he owed his existence.
He would regard the life of his fellow.
He would guard the chastity of his neighbor.
He would not take the property of another.
He would safeguard the reputation of others.
He would not unlawfully desire that which was another’s. Every phase and principle of life is met in the breadth of the law of God.
The Form of the Law
The normal form of the law is positive, not negative; but man through sin is abnormal. His nature is perverted. The flesh is dominant over spirit, and the mind of the flesh is enmity against God, not subject to the law of God, nor can it be. Rom. 8:7.
To sinful man, with a heart prone to evil, God’s law comes in largely negative form, “Thou shalt not.” All are wholly negative except two, and one of these is largely negative. These two are great and comprehensive precepts, embracing in their scope the fulness of duty. For he who honors the first of these two positive commandments, the fourth, will be a worshiper of the one true God, and will therefore keep the first three precepts; and he who honors his father and mother, will not kill, commit adultery, steal, or lie. Other precepts in the law are equally comprehensive.
But in its negative side the law condemns and reproves all sin. To the thoughtless heart it may not seem so to do, but to the devout man who meditates upon it, it will be seen to be “exceeding broad.” We have before learned that the law or commandments, on their positive side, embrace “the whole duty of man.” Eccl. 12:13. There are no duties then which the law does not embrace. On the negative side, it condemns all sin. The apostle John says: “All unrighteousness is sin;” and, “Sin is the transgression of the law.” 1 John 5:17; 3:4. And another mighty teacher of God says, “I had not known sin, except through the law: for I had not known coveting, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Rom. 7:7, A. R. V. Therefore, “through the law cometh the knowledge of sin.” Rom. 3:20. The holy law, the decalogue, is therefore all-comprehensive in both its positive and negative side.
Principles Not Particulars
The decalogue does not, however, deal with little particulars, but with principles. It does not say, “Thou shalt not hate,” in so many words, but it does say it in principle.
The commandment prohibition strikes against the very highest sin forbidden by the principle, and in that is included all the motives, purposes, steps, which lead to the great transgression. The man covets and lusts before he steals or commits adultery. The commandment condemns all that leads to the ripened transgression. This will be developed more fully in the study of each precept.
God’s holy law is worthy of our study. God pronounces blessings upon the man whose “delight is the law of Jehovah.” Nay, now, the blessing is in the doing of it. It is not an arbitrary act on the man’s part, and an arbitrary act of blessing on God’s part. There is blessing in the meditation of the law. There is blessing in yielding to its claims. It places us in the outflow from the throne of the Eternal, in the channel of life, in the way of our Lord Jesus Christ. And of the soul in such a channel it may well be said, “O the blessedness of the man,” or another rendering, “O happy the man . . . whose delight is in the law of Jehovah.”
Thoughts on the Subject of Faith
By Albert E. Place
ALBERT E. PLACE
O BLESSED faith—that hand which takes the key called “prayer,” and unlocks the treasures of Omnipotence!
O hopeful faith—that hand which builds a bridge across the chasm of sighs and the gulf of despair!
O guiding faith—that hand whose index finger ever points toward light, toward hope, toward God!
O beautiful faith—thou pencil of the soul, picturing ever the noble, the beautiful, and the true; portraying promise, home, and heaven!
O mighty faith—thou blessed ladder of release, by which the lowest hell is connected with the highest heaven, and covered with angelic messengers of divine love, ascending and descending, bringing heaven to earth and earth to heaven, bringing God to man and man to God!
O farseeing faith—thou divinely adjusted telescope, by which the glories of the far-away homeland are brought near!
O successful faith—thou hidden secret to the success of all ages, by which everything great, high, and good has been brought to the doors and hearts of humanity!
O instructive faith—that makes us understand the works and the will of God! Heb. 11:3.
O blessed, guiding, saving faith—that leads to Jesus Christ the Son of God, who is the treasurer of all the treasures of Omnipotence, who is the real fiber of every bridge over despair, the source of all light and hope, the background and beauty of every true picture, the foundation of every true promise, the joy of every true home or heart, the masterpiece of both earth and heaven!
“O give me such a faith as this,
And then what e’er shall come,
I’ll taste e’en here the hallowed bliss
Of an eternal home.”
San Jose, Cal.
The Week, and the Date Line
By C. P. Bollman
C. P. BOLLMAN
THE writer was recently asked to answer an objection to the Sabbath, the ground of the objection being that the week originated in the changes of the moon rather than in the facts of creation; and that the “day line,” or more properly date line, was arbitrarily established by men and not by the Creator. My reply was that I did not think it necessary to make an answer regarding the origin of the week further than to quote from the Encyclopedia Britannica (twentieth century edition, 1903), art. “Calendar,” subdivision “Week:”—
“The week is a period of seven days, having no reference whatever to the celestial motions,—a circumstance to which it owes its unalterable uniformity. Although it did not enter into the calendar of the Greeks, and was not introduced at Rome till after the reign of Theodosius, it has been employed from time immemorial in almost all Eastern countries; and as it forms neither an aliquot part of the year nor of the lunar month, those who reject the Mosaic recital will be at a loss, as Delambre remarks, to assign to it an origin having much semblance of probability.”
Really I do not see that either this or the question of the date line presents any difficulty as pertaining to the Sabbath question. Whatever the “day” or the “week” may mean as applied to the period of time occupied in the creation, there can be no question as to their meaning as applied to the Sabbath. The Sabbath was and is the seventh day of the week known to the Hebrews, and that seventh day of that week was pointed out in a most unmistakable manner: (1) By the double quantity of the manna on the sixth day; (2) by the withholding of the manna on the seventh day; (3) by the fact that the manna gathered on the sixth day would and did keep over for use upon the next day, something it would not do upon other days. Mistake here was impossible.
No scholar will deny that we have the identical week known to the Hebrews. There is not nor ever has been any difficulty in identifying either the Bible week or the seventh day of that week. It is not for us, therefore, to imagine difficulties that can never come to us, or situations in which we can never be placed.
As for the date line, it may be said or even admitted that the drawing of the exact longitudinal line is an arbitrary arrangement made by man; but what of that? Is it not true just the same that in the providence of God man was shut up to the selection of the Pacific Ocean for the location of that line? It certainly is. The cradle of the race was in Asia. The world was peopled from that continent, and so far as civilization is concerned its course has ever been westward. Hence of necessity the date line was located in the Pacific Ocean. Nobody is troubled by it. Nobody has any difficulty locating the days of the week because of it, except when seeking an excuse for not obeying the fourth commandment.
It is easy enough for one to get tangled up and lost in the mazes and fogs of “science falsely so-called,” but the humble believer’s experience is well described in the words of the psalmist: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Ps. 119: 105.
Spirit-Filled Ministers and Spirit-Filled Sermons
By O. A. Johnson
O. A. JOHNSON
It is possible for a learned man or an educated preacher to preach with the eloquence of angels, and yet lack the essential element to make the sermon effective. He may present a doctrinal sermon in a logical and forceful manner, and yet lack the very element that will convince the mind of the congregation of the real essence of the truth he is trying to teach.
A minister may present the steps necessary to take in conversion, and yet never have experienced the transforming power of the Holy Spirit upon his heart; hence the sermon will be cold and lifeless, and consequently result in no awakening or conversion of sinners. All such preaching will be like “sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.”
There are, on the other hand, some who are less eloquent and less logical in their sermons; but there is a Spirit attending the words spoken which goes to the heart and convicts the hearer, and leads sinners to conversion. But such spiritual sermons cannot be preached unless the preacher has experienced the power of the Holy Spirit upon his heart. There is a power that will attend the preaching of the Word of God, if the heart of the preacher is in harmony with the Word of God, and if he has the mind of Jesus.
Paul was a successful missionary. Sinners, Jews, and Gentiles were melted under his preaching. His “preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith,” said he, “should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”
The Spirit-filled prophets of old proclaimed the messages from God. “I am,” said Micah, “full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.” Micah 3: 8. Peter and the other apostles could readily have told the people many of the good things that Jesus had taught them, and they could also have related all about the condemnation and crucifixion of Jesus, and his ascension, before they were filled by the Holy Spirit; and so can many in our day, and most eloquently, too, but with little or no effect, because the Holy Spirit is not with them.
Jesus knew that neither Peter nor any of the other apostles were prepared to preach the gospel effectively until they were baptized by the Spirit of God, hence he advised them to remain in Jerusalem until they received this baptism. And the Spirit came and filled them, and thereafter Peter preached the plain gospel truth about Jesus Christ. He further pointed out to the Jews their sin in condemning Jesus. The Spirit of God was in Peter, hence this Spirit sent conviction to those who listened to his Spirit-filled words, and they were convicted, and said, “What shall we do?” That Spirit-filled sermon led to the conversion of three thousand souls that day. Acts 2.
Such Spirit-filled sermons as those of Micah and other prophets of old, were preached by the apostles, and produced a mighty stir among the listeners. The honest in heart were converted, but on the other hand the hearts of the obdurate were often irritated. At times persecution followed such powerful preaching. This was the experience of the apostles in Jerusalem and Judea after the day of Pentecost.
What we need today is more Spirit-filled ministers; for then and only then will they be able to preach the gospel “in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” The promise of the fulness of the Spirit is to us as well as to them. The Spirit and power will come to us if we will but seek for it as they did. Is it not sad that we should go on lacking that essential preparation so abundantly and freely promised us, if we will but seek in harmony with God’s will? Some will seek and obtain this divine power. May God help us all to get it, and then more real spiritual fruit will be seen as the result of our labors. O for the latter rain, for the outpouring and filling of the Spirit to come upon us ministers! Then will there be a revival attending the preaching of the truth such as has not been seen in many a day. Would that that day might soon come!
College Place, Wash.
General Meetings in South China
By B. L. Anderson
B. L. ANDERSON
I LEFT Amoy on the twenty-seventh of September for a trip into Kwang-tung and Kwang-si Provinces. The second day out, the steamer called at Swatow, where a busy day was spent in making the final arrangements in the purchase of land for the new mission compound. The boundaries were fixed, the deed arranged for, and the money paid. We are much pleased with the location secured.
INTERIOR OF CHAPEL AT CHIOH-BE, SOUTH CHINA
Leaving Swatow in company with Brother J. P. Anderson, we arrived at Hongkong the following morning, where we were joined by Brother Arthur Mountain, who attended the Kwang-si meeting with us. We left Hongkong Wednesday evening, and after a very pleasant passage up the West River we arrived at Wu-chau Friday morning. Here we found Dr. Law Keem and native evangelists busy carrying forward the meeting that had been in session since the preceding Sabbath. The different classes of workers and some of the believers11came before the regular time set for the general meeting, that they might receive special instruction on the message. The latter part of the meeting was devoted more especially to the spiritual interests. There was a full attendance, the chapel was filled to overflowing, and many an interested listener found room in the court just outside the door.
Brother Anderson rendered valuable assistance at this first general meeting in the Kwang-si field. Brother Mountain gave some interesting studies on the importance of the literature work. We were pleased to hear him offer his first public prayer in the Cantonese language, after having been in China only thirteen months.
Over a score of persons presented themselves for baptism, and of the numerous companies that I have assisted in examining for membership in the church in China, I do not recall ever meeting with a brighter and more intelligent class. Among them was a man who had seen sixty winters. He was the first man to turn from heathenism to Christ in Kwang-si Province. Nineteen were received into the church. The Wu-chau church now has thirty-eight members.
The general meeting for Kwang-tung, held at Fatshan, opened according to appointment, October 13, with a good attendance. The large chapel was filled, and the number present at times ran as high as 175. A good interest was manifested by the people of the city. The evening services were especially well attended. All the workers, both foreign and native, in performing their work manifested a zeal that was indicative of a new life and inspiration to carry forward the work to a successful finish. Brother J. P. Anderson was present at this meeting to assist in the preaching, and also to act as interpreter for those whose tongues still refused to speak the Cantonese language. Brethren Ham and Mountain, though they had studied the language only a short time, spoke to the people in the vernacular.
During this meeting twenty-two new members were received into the church by baptism, a large number direct from heathenism. The Sabbath day was filled with meetings. At the opening of the Sabbath school the superintendent (a Chinese) suggested that it might be well to have an aim to work to in the matter of making the Sabbath school offering. After some discussion it was decided to set the goal for the day at fifteen dollars Mexican. When the offering was counted, it was found that twenty-one dollars had been received. All were pleased that the goal had been more than reached.
In the afternoon the ordinances were celebrated, a large number taking part. The remaining portion of the day and the evening were devoted to the preaching of the word. After a prayer and praise service the next morning, the meeting closed, and the people returned to their homes, feeling that they had received a spiritual uplift that would better prepare them to fight life's battles.
The old Bethel school building has been remodeled and changed so that it really presents a much more inviting aspect, and there is now a good attendance. In the large and well-arranged chapel in the front part of the main building an ever-increasing congregation meets.
A few days after my return to Amoy, Brother and Sister W. C. Hankins returned from the Fu-chau district, and announced that twenty-eight were added to the Fu-chau church during their visit. Brother Hankins will soon be sending a full report of his trip.
The message is advancing here in South China by leaps and bounds. During the first three quarters of the present year one hundred and ninety-one members have been added to the church in the South China Mission. And today at Wu-chau, Kwang-si, another score of believers are being baptized into the church. We expect that before the year closes about forty will be baptized at Fatshan and Fu-chau and other places. With all these accessions, you can imagine how we are pressed to find ways and means to take care of the younger members of these believing households.
BOYS’ SCHOOL AT AMOY, SOUTH CHINA, IN PROCESS OF ERECTION
The calls that have been made for new workers for Fu-chau, Amoy, Swatow, Hakka, Hongkong, and Canton, and the Kwang-si field, are all urgent, and the growing work demands that they be sent. I am inclosing a picture of the interior of a newly dedicated chapel thirty miles from Amoy. It is owned by the mission, and will seat two hundred persons. At the close of five days’ meetings in this chapel at the time of the dedication, fifty-six persons signed cards to join the regular nightly Bible class. They are nearly all heathen. The other picture gives a view of the erection of the boys’ school near the beach, on the island of Kulangsu, Amoy.
The Outlook for Colombia
By B. E. Connerly
B. E. CONNERLY
COLOMBIA is indeed ready for the message of God; in fact, has been ready for five and forty years. One by one, the nations have been taught, until soon the Master’s great commission, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,” will have been accomplished. Colombia is one of the last to be entered; and though missionaries have seemed to delay, the God of missionaries has gone before. He who has made us strong to go and give, has made the people here strong to ask and receive.
Physically, Colombia is a country of gigantic proportions, being the third state in South America in population, and the third in area. It is more than twelve times the size of the State of Ohio. Its topography presents a unique array of contrasts, such as high mountains over against deep valleys; arid plateaus here, and water-soaked pampas there; hot, vermin-infested districts adjacent to snow-capped mountains; and universal poverty in the midst of matchless unclaimed wealth.
Its natural resources are rich minerals, vast forests, broad pastures, and immense agricultural districts. The principal products are coffee, sugar, cacao, tropical fruits, and live stock. The exports are coffee, bananas, gold, and hides. In 1913 the foreign trade amounted to $62,000,000, the balance in favor of exports.
The climate is radically tropical. For 365 days in the year old Sol pours down his virulent rays so ardently that he appears, instead of a universal blessing, to be enraged and pouring out his venom. At times, however, the heat is no more excessive here than in the States, especially during the months of July and August. There is here a sample of all the zones, though the frigid is found in high altitudes instead of north latitudes. We might describe the climate thus: Always summer on the coast, perpetual autumn on the plains, and perennial spring in the mountains, with ever snow-capped mountains in the highest altitudes.
Politically, Colombia is old, yet new. She had colleges, convents, and walled cities before our Pilgrim Fathers saw Plymouth Rock or the James River. She has had her dark past of revolutions and bloodshed; but the Latin-Americans hardly look upon these proverbial South American revolutions with the degree of horror that we in the North have been accustomed to think of them. They call them “making things lively at election.” The time of the religious dictator and the religious tyrant is past, at least in the open. Today Colombia is proud of her free institutions, and is working to maintain them.
The present administration is giving the country a good government, domestic tranquillity, freedom in religious worship, and legitimate relations abroad are guaranteed. The church, of course, is medieval and fanatical. Though separated from the state, it wields a powerful influence over national affairs, and untold power over the masses. He who comes forth from the sacred precincts of the sacristy, garbed in the holy robes of the church, has a magical power over the majority of the people that nothing but the grace of Christ can break.
Why South America is the Neglected Continent, and Colombia the most neglected state of that continent, is not easy to explain; but we are glad that the work is now begun. We have made no mistake by beginning with the medical books. This is a move upon which the whole denomination can place its seal of approval. A look at these cities and their homes is evidence enough that to teach this people something of the structure and functions of the human body, of domestic hygiene, and municipal sanitation is the very greatest blessing that can come to them. It must come before they can properly appreciate the Sabbath and kindred truths.
One of the first serious problems that confronts the worker in Colombia is the question of travel, how to get from city to city. There are but five hundred miles of railroad in the country, and that is broken up in little pieces and distributed over ten states, and the most that can be said of the few existing public highways is that they are the poorest of the poor; but we can thank God for one grand river that flows through the country. To give some idea of the expense and difficulty one experiences in traveling, let me say that from Barranquilla to Bogota, the capital, is but five hundred miles, yet the trip requires from thirteen to sixteen days, at a cost of $34, second-class; and from Barranquilla to a near-by state capital, Cucuta, requires three days’ travel by river, and costs nine dollars, second-class, then twelve days by mule at a cost of fifty dollars, and a charge of twenty-five cents for every book taken into the country. This is general. We could make dozens of such trips.
But none of these things can impede the message. Now is the time, and it must go. All alone in this great country, as large as Germany, France, and half of Spain, I sometimes almost feel as did Elijah. But I am not alone. There are mighty helpers with me. Everywhere I see signs that the Lord is working. The outlook for a speedy work in Colombia is good.
Barranquilla.
How a Young Man in Burma Found the Saviour
By Maung Vgwr Ziu
PERHAPS my brothers and sisters in America, “the main center of the world’s wonders,” would like to know how I came into the present truth. When I was about sixteen, I considered that I must go to school to be trained, but when I looked at my parents, they were poor and unable to help me. In the meanwhile I thought of my uncle in Rangoon. This was my only way to get an education. So I prepared to go to Rangoon. On the next day I wished my sisters in Moulmein with lonesome heart farewell, and took the train to Rangoon.
While I was on the train, I met one of your teacher’s uncle, and his son. They were going through Rangoon to the Meiktila Industrial School. We got into conversation, and they persuaded me to go with them to this school. Here I learned of the true God, and saw that my worship had been directed to a false god.
When I read into the depth of the words of Jesus, I saw they were reality and life and light. He is the one only who can hear us, our prayers and our needs. He is the true light, nothing but the life and light through the Father. Through his grace I am saved from eternal destruction.
I was very glad to be baptized on March 2, 1912. Now I felt I must do something for him in spreading the gospel and giving the third angel’s message to my people in Burma. I am now twenty-one years old, and it is the best time for me to start to do his work by spreading the glad tidings to other souls in Burma. I hope to begin next month.
Just recently five of the Buddhist boys in school, to whom I have been teaching the knowledge of the Bible on every Sabbath afternoon, were baptized by Brother Thurber in Meiktila Lake. Nine of them were together, but only five of them went forward in the Christian faith. I am very grateful to his guidance. So, brothers and sisters, please pray for these boys and others for whom we are working. I pray that we may gain some other souls whose lives are in the book of Satan, or in the death register roll.
With kind wishes to you all, from your really Christian brother,
