There are five conferences in the Central Union, and its membership is a little over eight thousand. Owing to the fact that the Western Colorado Conference was transferred last January to the Pacific Union, our Union does not show much gain in membership.
We have in our conference about one hundred workers, including the Union laborers, stenographers, and all who are on the pay roll. This number was for the summer campaign. Probably during the winter months this number of laborers will be lessened by twenty or more.
Institutions
A large number of institutions are located in our territory; namely, four sanitariums, Union College, the Clinton German Seminary, and four academies, including the two colleges and the academies, has increased about twenty per cent on the average during the past two years. Last year Union College had an increase in attendance of more than ten per cent over the previous year, showing the best attendance that we have had since the separation of the foreign department. The present year shows a larger increase than last year. The Clinton German Seminary has also opened with a large increase over last year, and there is an excellent spirit in both schools. Union College has prepared more than fifteen hundred workers for positions in the cause of present truth. These are now scattered in almost every country in the world. The present year is the twenty-sixth year of its operation. For twenty-five years of its history it carried a burden of debt. Two years ago it had an indebtedness of more than seventy-one thousand dollars, but at the present time Union College is free from any encumbrance of debt. The Northern Union Conference paid a little over eighteen thousand dollars of the indebtedness of the college, and the remainder was met by the Central Union Conference. Owing to the increase in the cost of living and the price of materials necessary to maintain a family of over three hundred, it will require very careful management to keep the school from running behind on our present basis of tuition.
The college is doing excellent work. The first Sabbath after school opened, about two hundred and fifty of the students united in a definite consecration to service. A large part of the College View church joined with the faculty and students in this definite surrender and consecration.
During the present year we have made some necessary repairs and improvements on the premises of Union College. The buildings have been repainted, and other necessary repairs have been made. We have erected a much-needed barn, at a cost of a little over four thousand dollars, and are now about to put up a milk house. We have raised $2,775 in cash to pay on the barn, and have pledges enough to cover the rest of its cost; so there will be no indebtedness upon that building. This barn will be sanitary, and up to date in every respect. We hope to improve the herd of cattle, and to make them a real asset to the college.
During the past year over eight thousand dollars has been paid to students for labor in various industries conducted by the college. There is a printing plant, a farm and dairy, a laundry, and a bakery. The latter the college owns jointly with the sanitarium. The new bakery is perhaps equal to any in the denomination at the present time, and is doing quite a large business.
Camp Meetings
We have conducted six camp meetings during the season, and these have been occasions where much of the Spirit of God was present. Two hundred and thirty-one have been baptized at these meetings, and about twenty-five thousand dollars has been raised in pledges to missions and other enterprises. Six young men have been ordained to the gospel ministry.
The first of August we were about twenty thousand dollars behind on our Twenty-cent-a-week Fund, but the conferences have been organized thoroughly for the Harvest Ingathering campaign. They are taking hold of this feature of missionary work with great vigor, and17we hope to come out with fully twenty cents a week per capita on the mission funds of our Union. Thirty-one tent efforts have been held during the summer, with fair results in most cases. More than one thousand believers have been added during the year.
Financial
A little over two years ago the indebtedness of the conference institutions in this Union had reached $385,000. The last two years and a half this has been reduced to about $160,000. The present indebtedness is divided among our various institutions, largely among the sanitariums. Debts to the amount of $225,000 have been canceled. Union College has been freed from debt. Clinton German Seminary has paid about half of its indebtedness. The Boulder-Colorado Sanitarium has had its debt reduced materially, and other institutions have made good headway in lessening their obligations.
A little over two years ago we had $118,000 indebtedness against the Central Union Conference Association. This has been reduced to less than ten thousand dollars. We are truly thankful for the progress that has been made in freeing our work from indebtedness, and we hope to see every dollar of encumbrance cleared from the Union at no distant day.
The Christian Record Publishing Company
This institution, doing printing for the blind, is located in College View, at the headquarters of the Central Union Conference, and it falls to our lot to have considerable to do with this printing plant, which is operated wholly in the interests of the blind. About nineteen tons of reading matter was sent from this office to the blind people of the United States and Canada last year. This is all sent free of cost to the blind, and the United States government, in view of this, permits us to send out this reading matter without postage.
A number have embraced the truth during the past year as a result of this effort for the blind. This year we have been compelled to purchase a new printing press, at a cost of about $2,200. During the year 1915 the cost of operating the plant was only $5,280. The North American Division assisted in this to the amount of $1,694, and the remaining amount, with the exception of about $900, was collected by solicitors. The first nine months of the present year, from January 1 to October 1, the expenses of the Christian Record Company were $10,011.27. This increase of expense comes from increased cost of material, the purchase of a press, and additional work done for the blind. We have received in donations, including what the North American Division has appropriated to meet this, $8,756.17, which leaves a deficit of about $1,255.
Sanitariums
Our sanitariums have enjoyed a good patronage. Especially the Boulder-Colorado Sanitarium, which has had the best patronage it has had since it was founded. We have secured release from paying the taxes on this institution, which amounted to nearly $1,400 annually. Some necessary equipment has been added during the year, including a good X ray and other needed appliances. We are hopeful, with the blessing of God, to see the work of the sanitarium at Boulder accomplishing what the Lord designs it should, as a factor in giving the message of Christ to the world. Our other sanitariums have made valuable improvements and repairs during the past year.
Our Book Work
Through God's blessing the Central Union has sold $66,941 worth more books in the past two years and eight months than were sold in the three years preceding 1914. It is also encouraging to note that notwithstanding the big record of last year, the first eight months of this year show a gain of forty-six per cent over the previous year. If we reach the goal of one hundred thousand dollars, which we have set, we shall have made a gain of $99,767 over the corresponding three-year period. This we have good reason to believe will be reached.
There is a revival of missionary effort in the Union. Every conference has its missionary secretary, and the churches are awakening to their opportunity of reaching those about them. Our workers are full of courage, and are anxious to see the work finished and Christ come, which will put an end to the long battle with the foe, and bring the triumphs of the King of peace.
R. A. Underwood.
Pacific Union Conference
By Elmer E. Andross
The Pacific Union Conference, whose territory covers the States of California, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah, and also western Colorado, made encouraging progress during the first six months of this year, as is shown by the statistical reports, and by word received from our laborers in the field. During this period 523 persons were baptized, and 112 others united with the church on profession of faith. These additions brought our total membership for the Union up to 12,362 on June 30, 1916.
Many of our people in this Union are paying on pledges, made some time ago, to lift our educational institutions out of debt; but this has not prevented an increase over 1915 in the various offerings. While our brethren and sisters in this field contributed mission offerings to the amount of $9,011.58 during the first six months of 1915, they gave $11,206.66 during the same period of 1916. The Sabbath school contributions amounted to $20,387 for the first half of 1915, and to $23,709.67 for the first half of the present year. Home mission contributions jumped from $3,898.12 to $9,095.90, and the tithe increased from $85,465.75 to $98,795.07, these figures being for the first six months of the two years, respectively. The increase in the sales of books and periodicals was about $10,000, the sales for the first six months of 1915 having been $33,795.39, and for the first six months of this year, $43,351.81. The number of our Sabbath schools has been increased from 209 to 252, and our churches from 169 to 197. Our force of laborers has increased from 255 to 278.
Late last fall, Utah and western Colorado were united to form the Inter-Mountain Conference. The first annual meeting and encampment of the united field was held in Salt Lake City in August. Our brethren in the field seem pleased with the new arrangement, which makes the administration of the work in western Colorado easier, and in that way strengthens the work in Utah.
This section, although in two States, lies west of the Continental Divide.
The camp meeting season in this Union Conference, which began May 25, with the encampment in Hanford, Cal., was a most blessed one. We feel that our people have been drawn nearer to the Lord as a result of the summer's meetings, that they have been helped to lay aside those things which hinder spiritual growth, and that they are willing to labor for the salvation of souls as the Lord may direct. One evidence of this was the earnestness with which our people coöperated on camp meeting field days in visiting homes, distributing announcements, and inviting the public to attend the meetings. Camp meetings were held at Hanford, Oakland, Stockton, San Fernando, Napa, and San Diego, Cal.; at Fallon, Nev.; Salt Lake City, Utah; Dolores, Colo.; and at Phoenix, Ariz.
Elders I. H. Evans, G. B. Thompson, A. O. Tait, and G. W. Reaser, Drs. P. T. Magan and A. W. Truman, Prof. M. E. Cady, and Brother Ernest Lloyd rendered efficient help at our camp meetings this season. Returning and departing missionaries also gave excellent help, among these being Elders R. C. Porter and R. F. Cottrell, who sailed from San Francisco August 1, on the steamship “China.” Dr. Riley Russell gave valuable assistance at the Napa and San Diego meetings.
The missionary department of the work was ably represented throughout the camp meeting season by Brother Ernest Lloyd. Brother Lloyd, after spending a year at Pacific Union College, taking special work, resumed his work as missionary secretary in the Union Conference last May. He spent that month in the interest of the magazine work, organizing magazine bands among the students of Pacific Union College, Lodi Academy, San Fernando Academy, and Loma Linda Sanitarium. As a result, fifty-two of our lady students obtained an experience in selling magazines, and more than a score continued their work throughout the summer.
During the camp meetings the nine-o'clock hour was given to the home missionary and book work. The circulation of the Signs of the Times weekly, our message-filled tracts, and our small books, such as “Armageddon,” “The World's Crisis,” and “The Vatican and the War,” received special attention. Of these books, from 1,000 to 3,000 were sold at each camp meeting, our people agreeing to dispose of them to their neighbors and friends.
Elder Reaser has given attention to various financial interests in the Union field, assisting in the collection of the pledges on the $150,000 educational fund, and in other ways. His work has been well done, and is greatly appreciated. He has visited the various camp meetings during the season, and given assistance wherever possible.
Prof. M. E. Cady, our educational and young people's secretary, has fostered the interests of the church schools, academies, and the college. Prof. C. W. Irwin, president of Pacific Union College, attended most of the camp meetings, taking part in educational symposiums, and giving all information possible to prospective students. He was assisted in this work by Profs. G. W. Rine,18M. W. Newton, and H. A. Washburn. Prof. H. G. Lucas, principal of San Fernando Academy, represented that institution at the San Fernando and San Diego camp meetings, and Elder W. P. Dayton attended the Stockton camp meeting in the interest of Lodi Academy.
Our college and our academies have each had a good opening this year. The college has a larger enrolment than ever before. The new college building is in process of erection, but it is understood that work is being done only as fast as money is in hand to complete it. The building will cost, when finished, about $25,000. It is expected that it will be under roof and weather-boarding before the winter rains begin. Repairs and improvements, made also at the San Fernando and Lodi Academies during the vacation, are proving of great benefit.
Our sanitariums at St. Helena, Glendale, and Loma Linda report a splendid patronage. A new concrete building has just been completed at the St. Helena Sanitarium, at a cost of $25,000, this entire sum having been met from the earnings of the institution, so that the new structure will be dedicated free from debt. The new building is being used for offices of physicians, and for the ladies' and gentlemen's treatment-rooms. Paradise Valley Sanitarium suffered in patronage as a result of the floods of last winter, which cut off all railway connection between the institution and the outside world for about two months. Of late, needed improvements have been made, and a better patronage is hoped for.
More than sixty-five tent and hall efforts have been held in the Union Conference since the first of the year. Our faithful ministers, Bible workers, and lay members have coöperated to make each of these a success. From eight to twelve of these meetings are still in progress at this date, September 25. In the Central California Conference, fourteen efforts have been held this year, including those now in progress. Ten efforts were held in the Southern California Conference, ten in Northern California, six in the Northwestern California field, five in the California Conference, seven in Arizona, five in the Inter-Mountain Conference, and four in Nevada.
The colporteur work has made good progress under the leadership of Brother F. E. Painter. From time to time, the canvassers have reported orders amounting to $100 a week. Exceptionally large sales have been made by Elder F. De-Witt Gautereau, who sold among the mining camps of Nevada $640 worth of books in one week.
Thousands of persons have learned of our work through the newspapers since the first of the year. Brother F. A. Coffin, who is in charge of the press bureau in this Union Conference, reports that between January 1 and September 1 not less that 821 articles appeared in the secular newspapers, occupying 284 columns of solid type. These articles covered many phases of our progress and of the message for this time.
Several changes have been made among our Union Conference workers. Brother Claude Conard, who gave the Union efficient service as secretary-treasurer and auditor, has for some time had a burden to reënter the educational work, having had experience as a teacher in former years. He has, therefore, given up his work in the Union Conference, and taken charge of the commercial department at the Pacific Union College. Brother B. M. Emerson, formerly secretary-treasurer of the Southern California Conference, has succeeded Brother Conard.
Another change was that made in the case of the religious liberty secretary. Elder W. F. Martin, who acted in this capacity the first half of the year, felt that with his burdens as president of the Southeastern California Conference he should not be able to continue to carry the additional responsibility of the religious liberty work.
For the rapid growth of the work, the prosperity of our institutions, and the unity of spirit on the part of our workers, we praise God. Much remains to be done. Thousands throughout the field, and especially in our large cities, are not yet, we believe, adequately warned of the dangers before us; and yet on every hand we see tokens that the work soon must be finished. With our conference presidents, our department secretaries, our ministers and Bible workers, as well as our institutional laborers, faithfully following the Lord's guidance, and with all our lay members at work for the salvation of the unsaved, we believe our part will be finished on time.
E. E. ANDROSS.
The Florida Camp Meeting
By George Ide Butler
I HAD the privilege of attending the first part of the Florida camp meeting, and I wish to tell the readers of the REVIEW some of my impressions of it. The general report will doubtless be given by others.
This was the largest camp meeting ever held in Florida by the white brethren. The colored camp meeting, held half a mile away, was also the largest of its kind ever held in the State.
The meeting was held on the same ground as last year, and when I saw more of our brethren present than last year, saw the orderly way in which the camp was laid out, and the nice array of the many new tents, my heart was filled with gratitude to God. I had attended the summer camp meetings in Massachusetts, in Buffalo, N. Y., and in Eastern Pennsylvania, and the fall meetings in White River Junction, Vt., and Foxcroft, Maine. These were all good meetings, but I was rejoiced to see that our meeting in Florida was the largest one I had attended this year.
My mind went back to the time when the Florida Conference was organized. It was a “little flock” indeed that gathered for that purpose—perhaps twenty-five or thirty in all. Yet we were glad at the time to see an organized work in Florida. The growth in this far Southern State has been gradual. The membership in 1915 was 1,001. The tithe for the same year was $15,361.96, an increase in four years of nearly $5,000. The Twenty-cent-a-week Fund in 1915 amounted to $8,685.96. This was $1,340.96 above the quota for the conference. One hundred and eighty-six persons were baptized in 1915, and the increase in membership for four years was nearly 200. I think the growth in Florida is greater than in any other Southern State.
The brethren and sisters are all of good courage, and harmony prevails throughout the conference.
The meetings were excellent, and the Spirit of the Lord was present from the beginning. Elders F. W. Paap and J. L. Shaw were present from the General Conference. Their labors were much appreciated, and their instruction was most spiritual. The first Sabbath of the meeting the whole congregation arose and expressed their determination to press forward in the spiritual life.
The writer gave three discourses at the white camp meeting and five at the colored. His theme was the work of the Spirit of prophecy. The believers seemed to be impressed with the importance of the subject.
May God especially bless Florida, my home State.
GEO. I. BUTLER.
Faithfulness in Present Responsibilities
“God will intrust to us higher responsibilities only as we faithfully perform those already waiting at our door, however little they may seem to us.”
Christ’s Star Always Ascendant
“Those who face the west can never see the Christ. His star is always in the ascendant.”
The New Mexico Conference
By C. M. Sorenson
THE annual session of the New Mexico Conference was held in connection with the camp meeting at Clovis. Owing to the drouth prevailing over the conference territory, the attendance was not so good as in previous years.
The camp was well located in the residential part of the city, and during the early part of the meeting the attendance from the town was good, and there seemed to be some real interest. During the latter half of the meeting, the rain came down in torrents. While this was a great blessing to the people in the State, it materially interfered with the attendance at the services.
The Spirit of the Lord was manifested in a marked degree. The people were able to return to their churches with hearts filled with hope and joy in God. The laborers showed an eagerness to seek the blessing that belongs to God’s servants at this time, and they left the conference with renewed determination to press close to one another and to the Lord.
The president’s report showed progress. Several church schools had been maintained in the conference, and some bright young people were preparing to enter the Junior College at Keene. Notwithstanding the fact that some of our people had left the State because of conditions unfavorable for agriculture, the conference has a membership of three hundred. One hundred and twenty-nine were added during the twenty-three months since Elder Coberly became president. The gain in membership for this year was forty-two. The conference and tract society have erected a neat office building in Clovis.
No change was made in the officers of the conference. Elder R. B. Coberly is the president, Brother L. J. Black is the treasurer, and Brother E. H. Wilcox is the field missionary agent.
The laborers who were in attendance during portions of the meeting were: Elder J. W. Christian and Brethren A. F. Harrison and W. L. Adams, from the Southwestern Union; and Prof. J. L. Shaw and the writer, of the General Conference and the North American Division Conference.
C. M. SORENSON.
Mount Vernon Academy
By W. E. Howell
A VERY encouraging report has come in from Prof. N. S. Ashton on the opening of Mount Vernon Academy. In his letter he says:—
“We have a very fine school this year. The school home is fuller than it has been for a number of years, being taxed to its capacity. Other students are coming, and we may have to place some of them outside the home. The class of students this year is especially good.20
“We have now three more tables in the dining-room than we had at any time last year. The enrolment to date is 150, and a number of others are coming. We have fourteen students taking the eighth-grade work and one hundred and thirty-six above the eighth grade. Prospects for the year are bright.”
On account of the release of some teachers for the foreign field, it has been necessary to add two new teachers this year: Prof. Arthur Robbins for the science department, and Professor Miller for the music department. Principal Ashton reports that these new teachers are well received by the students, and are building up their departments with good success.
The city of Ephesus, situated about forty miles from Smyrna, was chiefly celebrated for its splendid temple to the goddess Diana, regarded as one of the seven wonders of the world, and its immense theater, said to be the largest ever built by the Greeks. A thriving business in the manufacture of small, portable shrines to the goddess had been built up, as well as the preparation and sale of books of magic. During Paul’s labors in Ephesus at one time, the believers brought to him their supply of these books, and burned them in a public place. “And they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver,” or thirty thousand dollars.
Paul’s letter to the Ephesians was written during the time of his first imprisonment at Rome, about A. D. 63. “There are no personal greetings in the letter, and so it is believed to have been a circular one, intended to be passed around among several churches. It is an epistle of general exhortation and counsel, especially fitted to those that had lately come from heathenism, and were still exposed to its temptations.”
Colossians
“This epistle was written by Paul, A. D. 62, while a prisoner at Rome, to the church at Colosse, one of the chief cities of Phrygia, in Asia Minor. It is not certain that Paul was ever himself at Colosse, but that being visited by Epaphras, the faithful minister and probable founder of the church there, and consulted by him on some important matters of doctrine, as well as receiving comfort from him, he wrote this letter, and sent it by the hands of Tychicus and Onesimus. The church at Colosse consisted of Jews and Gentiles, among whom some heretics and false teachers had found their way, and the special object of this epistle was to counteract their errors, as well as to establish the believers in faith and practice.
“After the usual salutation and an earnest prayer, the apostle enlarges in glowing language on the divine and mediatorial glories of Christ, and the believer’s completeness in him. He then gives a solemn caution against the philosophical speculations and carnal ordinances set forth by the false teachers, who appear to have been speculators, mere professors of Christianity, advocating angel worship, occult science, and keeping of feasts and fasts, and a false worldly humility and wisdom, thus endeavoring to combine the doctrines of Oriental theosophy and carnal asceticism with those of pure Christianity. He then points out the true source of spiritual life, even Christ, who is the church’s living head; and after exhorting them to purity of walk, self-denial, constancy in prayer, the cultivation of peace and love among themselves, and giving sundry important practical directions in matters pertaining to domestic and social life, he concludes with affectionate commendations, salutations, and the usual benediction. Note especially the testimony of the apostle concerning the divinity of Christ.”—Selected.
Philemon
This brief epistle, “the only one of Paul’s letters which is of a strictly personal and private nature,” was written near the close of the apostle’s first imprisonment at Rome, to Philemon, a Christian of Colosse. This believer appears to have been “a man of means and influence, and of marked Christian character, warm sympathy, and large hospitality and beneficence.” His slave, Onesimus, had run away to Rome, perhaps with some of his master’s goods. Here he met Paul, and was genuinely converted. The apostle persuaded Onesimus to return to Philemon, and receive whatever punishment might be meted out to him. By his hand Paul sent the epistle to the Colossian believers, and this short letter to Philemon, in which he beseeches grace in behalf of “my son Onesimus.”
The letter is “remarkable for its delicacy, generosity, and justice.” In this letter Paul had peculiar difficulties to overcome; but in it he manifested “a degree of self-denial and tact in dealing with them which, in being equal to the occasion, could hardly be greater.”
Philippians
Philippi, the chief city of eastern Macedonia, was named for Philip II, of Macedon, who wrested it from Thrace about 358 B. C., and made of it a fortified garrison. In 42 B. C. it came under the control of Rome. The emperor Augustus “transported Roman citizens to Philippi, and made it a ‘colony,’—a miniature Rome, where Roman laws, customs, and language prevailed.”
In answer to a divine call, Paul, in company with Silas, visited Philippi about A. D. 51 or 52, and through their ministry the first church in Europe was established there. In later years Paul twice visited this church. It is thought the second letter to the believers at Corinth was written at Philippi.
Paul’s letter to the Philippians, like that to the Ephesians and the Colossians, was written at Rome during his first imprisonment A. D. 62 or 63. It was especially called forth by the thoughtful love of the Philippian brethren, who had sent Epaphroditus to Rome with gifts for the apostle’s support. The epistle is “remarkable for its Christian joy and for the warm affection shown by Paul for the Philippian converts. The Philippian Christians are reminded that as believers in Christ they partake of a dignity and of privileges far more exalted than those belonging to them as Roman citizens, and are exhorted to live worthy of their heavenly citizenship.”
Missionary Volunteer Department
M. E. KERN Secretary
MATILDA BRICKSON Assistant Secretary
MRS. I. H. EVANS Office Secretary
MEADE MACGUIRE
C. L. BENSON Field Secretaries
J. F. SIMON
“Abide in Me, and I in You”
By Amos R. Wells
My heart lies open to Thy sun
As roses to the day;
Thy flooding graces overrun
Along the shining way.
I yield my weary life to thee
With passive lowliness,
As empty channels to the sea
Where eager surges press.
As waiting wires are strangely filled
By swift electric force;
As wintry, barren fields are thrilled
From life's triumphant source;
As air, and light, and heat rush in
Where doors are open-wide,
O Saviour, to my soul of sin
Come, enter, and abide.
And now with strengthening mercy fed,
O thou creative Christ!
Not all thy meat nor all thy bread
Has happily sufficed.
Transported by thy graciousness,
That thou wilt dwell in me,
My wakened powers boldly press
Henceforth to dwell in thee!
For thou art more than I can know
Within my narrow bound,
And I to thy far heights would go,
Thy deepest depths would sound.
With kindling eye and fervent heart
I leave my little home,
In all thy deeds to have a part,
On all thy ways to roam.
Out on the largeness of thy mind
My daring thoughts expand;
In thy wide reaches unconfined
I compass sea and land.
I do not faint, I do not fear,
On tireless wings I glide,
And height is home, and far is near,
When I with thee abide!
— Amos R. Wells, in Sunday School Times.
Educational Department
By Frederick Griggs; W. E. Howell
FREDERICK GRIGGS - - General Secretary
W. E. HOWELL - - Assistant Secretary
Lodi Academy
By J. H. Paap
Another school year has opened at the academy, and the attendance is encouraging. In the academic grades there are 96 enrolled, and in the lower grades 71. This is better than last year.
In industrial lines we offer agriculture, carpentry (four years), sewing, cooking, wickerwork, drawing, and wireless telegraphy. This last subject is offered for the first time this year.
We are gradually approaching the standards set by the council at St. Helena. Our science department is being added to each year, and last summer we spent over $300 in new laboratory equipment. Our library is gradually growing, two hundred new books having been added the past year. The dormitories have been painted, and the academy building is being painted now. We now have fiber runners in the chapel aisles and hallways. This is a great help in keeping the building quiet. We are looking for and expecting a successful year. J. H. Paap.
Working with Christ
By G. W. Blinn
“My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath . . . done to me great things; and holy is his name.” Luke 1: 46-49.
I am so thankful that God has allowed me to be a colaborer with him, that I must write a few lines of my experience to encourage others. When I first accepted the message, I longed to tell others about it. I prayed God that he would give me some part in his work. I prayed morning, noon, and night; on the street, in the barn, in the house, and at my work. As I prayed, I studied the Bible. I soon found these words: ‘He that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant. Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.’ 1 Cor. 7: 22, 23.
The Lord gave me a vision of the multitudes who are without the gospel, and I was moved with compassion for them. I said, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” And he gave me a vision of the canvassing work. I am so glad that I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great. Duty has become a delight, and sacrifice a pleasure.
“Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.” Although the work has brought trials and tribulations, I can say, as did Paul, “I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed.”
I will now give some account of what God has done for me during my nine years’ experience in the canvassing work. Not that I should glory, for I know that of myself I can do nothing. It is only through him that strengtheneth me. Phil. 4: 13.
I have sold and delivered ten thousand dollars’ worth of books in New Jersey. These have been “Bible Readings,” “Daniel and the Revelation,” “Coming King,” “Practical Guide,” “The Great Controversy,” and “The Desire of Ages.” I have slept in more than thirteen hundred homes, visited and talked with more than sixty thousand persons, and distributed thousands of pages of tracts; and as a result of my labors, souls are coming into the truth. See what God has wrought! I am an unlearned and ignorant man, but God “hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and . . . the weak things to confound the things which are mighty.” 1 Cor. 1: 27.
In closing, I want to say for the benefit of others who are thinking of starting in the work, Be sure to read these scriptures:—
“He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.” “In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand.” “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.” “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall21doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”
I can truly say, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. . . . For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.” Luke 1:46-49. G. W. BLINN.