Having received a call from the General Conference Committee to connect with the West Indian Union Conference, I left the Hinsdale Sanitarium July 7 to take up work under the direction of the East Caribbean Conference. Two days later I arrived at Pittsburgh, where I assisted a few days in the tent-meetings which were conducted by Elder A. N. Durrant and his associates. Here I was united in marriage with a former West Indian worker, and left the same evening for New York, with my wife and little daughter. We remained eight days in New York, and I assisted Brother Humphrey in his tent effort. God is blessing his work, as the attendance some of the time was from 400 to 600. While we were there seventeen persons took their stand. Most of these were men.
On Friday morning, August 8, we reached the beautiful shores of Jamaica, the land of English liberty. Sabbath we visited the Kingston church, meeting with old friends in the message. Elder A. J. Haysmer gave a very interesting talk on the past history of the work in Kingston. Monday I went up to Manchester for my two little girls who had been separated from me on account of my leaving for America. This was a blessed reunion, the gathering of my three children once more around my table.
Friday we left for St. Thomas, reaching there after a voyage of twelve days. We were met by Sister Widgery, who was very glad of our arrival. Sabbath I spoke for the first time for God in this place. I found a well-instructed, intelligent, spiritual people living up to the message. Elder E. C. Widgery is [[FIGURE]] away on one of the islands, leaving Mrs. Widgery to bear the burden of the ministry. This she is doing joyfully. Sunday night I spoke to a very respectable congregation, including a number of strangers. The church-school will be opened the second week of the month, with my wife in charge. We hope to do all we can to extend the Master's kingdom in this part of the harvest-field, and to him be the glory.
MISSION HEADQUARTERS FOR THE SWATOW DISTRICT, CHINA
What He Said
By George MacDonald
(A suggestion for city workers)
I SAID, "Let me walk in the fields."
He said, "No, walk in the town."
I said, "There are no flowers there."
He said, "No flowers, but a crown."
I said, "But the skies are black;
There is nothing but noise and din."
And he wept as he sent me back;
"There is more," he said, "there is
sin."
I said, "But the air is thick,
And fogs are veiling the sun."
He answered, "Yet souls are sick,
And souls in the dark, undone."
I said, "I shall miss the light;
And friends will miss me, they say."
He answered, "Choose tonight
If I am to miss you, or they."
I pleaded for time to be given.
He said, "Is it hard to decide?
It will not be hard in heaven
To have followed the steps of your
Guide."
Then into his hand went mine,
And into my heart came he;
And I walk in a light divine
The path I had feared to see.
—George MacDonald.
Visit to the Southern Rhodesian Mission
By W. S. Hyatt
W. S. HYATT
At the request of the union conference committee I have spent nearly four weeks visiting our missions in southern Rhodesia. When I arrived at Bulawayo I was met by Brother and Sister W. C. Walston and Brother C. R. Sparrow, and together we spent a day in profitable counsel.
I then went to Selukwe, and was taken to the mission by Brother T. J. Gibson. The road was very steep and rough in parts, but we passed safely over it and arrived at the mission just before the beginning of the Sabbath. We received a hearty welcome from Sister Gibson and the children, and also from Sister Butterfield, who was visiting them.
On Sabbath morning fully one hundred and thirty natives assembled to listen to the glad tidings of salvation through a crucified and risen Saviour. That evening and the next morning were spent in considering plans for opening the work at the new mission farm and among the natives in that section.
On Sunday afternoon the oxen were inspanned and we started back to Selukwe by a circuitous route, which was farther but much better than the one by which we had gone to the mission. We arrived at the village at noon, expecting to catch a freight-train to Gwelo, but found that the train had left at eight o'clock that morning. We were not alone in our disappointment, for we soon met a lady and a gentleman who were expecting to take the same train. Misery likes company, but there is very little satisfaction in it after all. Since we had an appointment to meet Brother J. N. de Beer in Gwelo, a distance of twenty-four miles, we hired a cart and four mules and reached there at nine o'clock that evening.
The following day I spent profitably with Brethren de Beer and Gibson. The work in its various phases was carefully considered, and plans were outlined for me to put before the members of the committee in that part of the field. As we considered the work, we felt sure that the heavenly Counselor was in our midst leading our minds; and that evening when I took the train for Tsungwesi Mission, I left the brethren happy and rejoicing in the Lord at the prospects of their work. Truly it is good that brethren should counsel together, for in the "multitude of counselors there is safety."
The following afternoon I arrived at the Inyazura Siding, and was met by Brother Laurie Sparrow and taken to the Tsungwesi Mission, which is seven miles distant. It was a pleasure to find Sister Bowen and her two children well and patiently bearing their great loss. It is wonderful how our Heavenly Father can sustain and support in the hour of sorrow and sadness, and how the blessed hope cheers and brightens the way. Just at the time Brother Bowen was taken ill the Lord directed Brother C. R. Sparrow to visit Tsungwesi, although he was living nearly four hundred and fifty miles away. He had planned to stay only a few days, but when he saw Brother Bowen's condition, he remained and assisted in caring for him. This shows God's care for his children in their time of need.
I was pleased to see how well Brother L. Sparrow, son of Brother C. R. Sparrow, was getting along with the school and the work at the mission. There are about forty-five in the school, which is in a prosperous condition. The crops on the farm are excellent, there being over 600 bags of mealies and 260 bags of monkey-nuts; and the mission shop (or store) had purchased 100 bags of grain from the natives. The disk plow was kept at work turning over the mealie lands and getting them ready for another crop.
Brother Sturdevant having written that he expects to arrive the first of October, Brother Laurie concluded that he could manage the work without any more European help. I am thankful that young men are being developed who can bear heavy burdens.
I remained a week and rendered what assistance I could, and then took the train to visit Solusi. At Bulawayo I met Brother W. H. Anderson, and together we went to the mission and spent three days there. Almost all this time, Sabbath excepted, we spent in committee work—considering the best places of work for our mission and how to make our native schools more effective.
The committee recommended Brother George Hutchins to join Brother Gibson for the present and assist him in opening the new mission. Further, it was recommended that both at this mission and at Somabula there should be two Europeans, and that one of these should spend as much time as possible in evangelistic work with the aid of his native assistants.
I greatly enjoyed the few days at Solusi. It was a privilege to meet many of the native teachers whom I last saw five years ago. Among these are boys who have been with the mission for twelve and fifteen years. They have proved themselves loyal and faithful. Brother Walston has called in all the teachers for a special class to continue a month.13Even the oldest and best trained are pleading for more education that they may do better work for the Lord, and I believe that the Lord is giving them this desire.
May he hasten the day when we may have a proper training-school where we can prepare native workers to give this message to their people. The drought has made it hard for the mission in its attempt at self-support, but the work is onward and nothing can stop it. Brother and Sister J. Victor Wilson are working hard to help build up the mission and make it a success. I was pleased to meet Brother and Sister C. R. Sparrow, who were spending a few days at the mission. Wherever we go there are evidences that the message is onward.
The Foreigners in America
By O. A. Olsen
—No. 2
An Important Home Mission Field
O. A. OLSEN
Secretary North American Foreign Department
IN the former article I presented some quotations from the book "Aliens or Americans," setting forth some facts concerning the enormous tide of immigration now pouring into our own country year by year. At this time I shall add some more facts, from "The New America, a Study in Immigration," recently issued by the Fleming H. Revell Company, Chicago, Ill. We believe it to be high time for us to more fully understand and appreciate the magnitude of the great foreign population in our own country, and to put into operation an earnest and well-planned effort to bring this last and solemn message to the foreigners at our very doors as well as to those thousands of miles away.
In the earlier years of our country the immigration was largely from northern Europe, Germany, Scandinavia, and Great Britain. While the immigration from northern Europe continues, though in rather smaller numbers, the immigration from central and southern Europe, which in earlier days was of small account, has in late years become a veritable flood, as the following statement will show:—
"From 1883 to 1907, 81 per cent of our European immigration came from countries of central and southern Europe,—Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Servia, Roumania, Greece, Montenegro, Russia (including Poland), Portugal, Spain, Italy, Syria, and Turkey.
"In numbers, Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Russia have led all the others. In 1907 these three countries furnished nearly 70 per cent of the total immigration of the year. In the years 1899 to 1910, Italians led all others: 372,668 came from north Italy, 1,911,933 from south Italy,—a total of more than two and one-fourth millions."—"The New America," page 61.
Think of it: in two years from one country and nation in Europe—Italy—came 2,284,001; but that is not the end, they still continue year by year. This is more than the whole population of the State of Iowa with 2,224,771, and more than the combined population of such large States as Oregon, Montana, Colorado, and Maine, according to the last census.
"From 1899 to 1910 more than 949,000 Poles were counted among the immigrants. Coming from a country which is no longer theirs, fleeing from the tyranny of Russia, they are appreciative of the degree of liberty which they find in the land of their adoption.
"They are dominantly religious by nature. It has been customary to classify them all as Catholics, but it is estimated that not more than two thirds of the 3,000,000 in this country are affiliated with the Catholic Church. With them, as with immigrants from other Catholic countries, the weakening of ties with the native land and the finding of a larger civic life than the Old World had offered, tend to weaken the hold of that type of religion which is associated in their minds with the type of government which they have left. Unless a new phase of religious life meets them with the new civic life, the tendency is to feel religion to be outgrown and to become irreligious."—Id., page 73.
"We call them Polacks,' said the crude young foreman of a cotton-mill. 'They don't know anything but to work; and we drive them like cattle to that.'
"Perhaps it has not occurred to the young foreman that Paderewski, 'the greatest pianist ever,' whom he had heard play a few evenings before, is a 'Pole,' or that Chopin was their fellow countryman, or that Copernicus was of their nationality. He may never have heard of Pulaski and Kosciusko and of our indebtedness to their services in the Revolutionary war, when they fought for our independence. In those days we were poor and small, numbering only about three and a half million souls. Poland was one of the great powers of central Europe two hundred years before the beginning of our national life.
"Mr. Alexander E. Cance, in charge of that part of the report of the Federal Immigration Commission which treats of the 'new immigration' in agriculture, says in the Survey of Jan. 7, 1911: 'The goal of early Polish immigration was northern Illinois and Wisconsin. After 1885 the stream of Slavic immigration set in very strongly, and Polish rural colonies began to dot the prairies of Minnesota and the Dakotas as well as the Lake States.'"—Id., pages 74, 75.
"Bohemians began coming to America in large numbers after the revolution of 1848. They settled in New York, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Chicago, and in rural districts in Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Texas, and California. Texas has a Bohemian population of more than 50,000, engaged principally in agriculture. More than half of them now own their own property, free of debt. A recent writer in the Texas Magazine tells us that, 'together with the Germans, the Bohemian farmers have given Texas her great agricultural industries, and have been responsible largely for her rapid development.' Favorable comment is made by this writer on their quickness 'to utilize improvements in machinery and methods of agriculture.'
"One hundred thousand one hundred and eighty-nine Bohemians and Moravians came to the United States between 1899 and 1910. More than one half of the Bohemians coming to us are skilled workmen. Of the Germans and Dutch, one third are skilled, and of the Scandinavians, one fourth.
"Bohemians have qualities which any nation might covet for its citizens. To inspire them with a new patriotism, a new faith in their fellow men, a new trust in their Father as the leader of his children toward increasing light and power, is a task well worth the effort of American Christendom."—Id., page 77.
"Reports of the Commissioner-General of Immigration show that from 1899 to 1910, of Bulgarians, Servians, and Montenegrins, classed together, 97,391 came to the United States. In the same period we received 82,704 Roumanians. Of Dalmatians, Bosnians, and Herzegovinians, 31,696. Of Croatians and Slovenians, classed together, 335,543; of Greeks, 216,962; of Turks, 12,954,—a total of 777,250."—Id., page 78.
"In America, Bulgarians are found oftenest in the Middle West, Northwest, South, and Southwest. They are characterized by industry and thrift. They, with Greeks and Macedonians, are patronizers of coffee-houses rather than of saloons. They and the Greeks are named by investigators of the Immigration Commission as living 'most plainly' of all the group of nationalities with which they were found associated. They are reported as strong workers in iron and steel,—'rather heavy, patient, serious toilers.'"—Id., page 79.
We could wish that there was a better knowledge of not only the large numbers of foreigners in our midst, but also a better acquaintance with their temperament and characteristics. We will add one more quotation, which is not less significant than the former ones.
"It was found that 57.8 per cent of the pupils in the public schools are children of foreign-born fathers. Even in the cities where the percentage was lowest, New Orleans and Kansas City, eighteen and twenty-one out of every hundred were of direct European parentage. It is typical and suggestive that the highest percentage was just the same for an Eastern and a Western city: Chelsea, Mass., and Duluth, Minn., 74.1 per cent. New York City had 71.5 per cent, Chicago, 67.3 per cent, and Boston, 63.5 per cent."—Id., page 133.
The object of these quotations is to bring before our people the largeness and importance of this foreign field right here at home.
The Gospel Preached to All Nations
"And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations: and then shall the end come."
HOME AND HEALTH
The Gospel of Health—No. 4
By Frederick M. Rossiter, M. D.
To present our bodies as a living sacrifice, or, in other words, to deny ourselves of every harmful thing so that God can make us acceptable, is a necessary step to being transformed by the renewing of our mind, that we “may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
We must have clear minds and a spiritual susceptibility in order to do this. The time is coming when it will be said, “Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.” Ps. 50: 5. Note what it says, “have made.” Now is the time to make this living sacrifice; and we do not make it once for all time, but, as in old times, it is a daily sacrifice, offered morning and evening, or, as Paul said, “I die daily.” We are called upon to make an absolute surrender of all that we are; for, after all, we are not our own, for we are bought with a price; therefore in making this sacrifice we are only returning to God what already belongs to him.
The appetites, the senses, the physical desires, have such a tremendous hold upon us, have such control on what we call our happiness, that the Scriptures place the matter in the proper light when we are beseeched to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. The enemy of our souls presents the pleasures of the senses to each one in such an attractive light that to surrender all unconditionally to God, to practise self-denial in every unlawful pleasure, is for a time like parting company with an intimate friend. It costs an effort; but when freedom comes, there is a deep sense of the goodness of God for the blessedness of it all.
We need a constant trust in the mighty keeping power of God to enable us not only to gain a victory, but to keep on gaining victories. But the promise is, “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.” Personal victories are concerned with today, not with tomorrow. This is a very precious promise to one who is breaking away from some appetite that has bound him for years; for that desire will most certainly try to assert itself for a long time, and then when he feels strong and is inclined to be less watchful, the enemy comes in like a flood at a most unexpected time, and the temptation arouses a raging conflict. If he has been relying upon the promises of God, the victory can be his; he can be more than conqueror.
Some time ago a man said to me, “I would give a hundred dollars for a cigar tonight.”
For a month or six weeks he had been seeking freedom from it, but the craving would become so strong that he would go back to it worse than ever. In this instance, I saw him smoking again in a few days. So, many of us give up various habits that are harmful to the health and the spiritual growth; we give them up and still cling to them, just as this man clung to his tobacco after discontinuing its use,—he was longing for it all the time. This is the reason we lose so many victories. After leaving Egypt we still long for the fleshpots, for the leeks and onions. This shows that we have not actually and determinedly left all behind; a bridge is left so we can return if we can find some excuse. Away back in our souls somewhere there is still a mental reservation, there is not an unconditional surrender; that titbit of desire is rolled up under our tongue that we may taste it at pleasure. So it goes on. We gain victories, and then we suffer defeats. We suffer the defeats to take place, and then we suffer because of the defeats; we suffer mentally and physically. “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” Gal. 5: 17. How many are having this experience!
The gospel of health is not the message, but it is a part of the message, and a very important part, too, one that sustains a very close relation to the successful consummation of the message so far as we as individuals are concerned. It is the right arm. The right arm is the one that most persons use to do things with. So health principles comprise the part of the message that we can look to for doing things, for making a way as an entering wedge. And last, but not least, because of the health features of this message a stream of gold and silver is flowing into the treasury of the General Conference, supplying thousands of dollars for foreign missions that otherwise might be spent in satisfying perverted appetites. So, presenting our bodies to God as a living sacrifice not only brings great personal blessings to each one, but it is building sanitariums, and colleges, and schools, and printing-houses, and is sending missionaries to all parts of the world. Now if this right arm can have the proper exercise, we shall see much more accomplished; for it is the right arm that does things. Do not tie the right arm to your side. Let us each make a personal application of Paul’s admonition: “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead.” Let us be a continual living sacrifice, and not dead in sin.
Property Rights
By Worthie Harris Holden
WORTHIE HARRIS HOLDEN
Two little tots are at play. One seizes the ball that belongs to the other, and immediately a tussle ensues. There is an inherent idea of rightful possession in the mind of the tiny owner, though we might question his method of recovering what belongs to him.
Property rights is a subject parents must consider carefully, that they may instruct their children according to God’s plan for them. Have you never seen fathers and mothers who freely gave cattle, articles of furniture, or other possessions to their children, and afterward disposed of them without even consulting the owners? Give only when you are justified in so doing, and then maintain the right of possession.
Grandparents, uncles, and aunts had occasionally given the small members of one family sums of money. The mother persuaded them to put their capital into a toy bank. By and by the father was short of cash. He held up the bank, looted it, and made away with his plunder. The children never heard from their fund again. They became suspicious, and afterward hid their gain “where father could not find it.” Gladly would they have lent him their all, had he requested it and assured them that he would replace it within a certain time.
A mother insisted on entering her grown daughter’s bedroom without knocking, as the house belonged to her. Is it at all a matter of surprise that the daughter, when she goes away to boarding-school, feels free to array herself in her roommate’s apparel without asking the privilege?
These are actual occurrences in homes where the parents profess Christianity. They need enlightenment in regard to true principles. The younger ones are keen observers, and quickly acquire wrong habits of conduct, or else a feeling of resentment is cherished, which will mar the character.
Closely allied to this is the matter of teaching the children concerning tithing and free-will offerings.
The children in Sabbath-school are passing to their respective rooms and classes. A fond parent rushes up, breaks into the line, and hastily distributes some coins to his little ones to put into the collection box. Forthwith the march is resumed. Happy the child who brings his coin from his own little store.
If preferred, some arrangement can be made whereby the children can earn money regularly, though the habit of paying children for duties done should be eliminated. If you give them money, let them have it regularly, by the week or month, no matter how small the sum.15Occasional, irregular gifts from parents should be avoided.
Teach the children that one tenth belongs to the Lord,—that it is his rightful possession. You can instruct them from the time they are little tots so that they may put by their penny or two of tithe and lay aside their pennies for offerings, before they feel free to spend the remainder on themselves.
As the child advances in years and his allowance increases, this habit of practical godliness will be a continual source of blessing in the development of Christian character. When he has acquired the ability of maintaining himself, it will be natural to render to God his dues, and he will have naught but gratitude for the parents who tenderly guided his feet into paths of righteousness.
Portland, Oregon.
Among the Catholics in Montreal
By J. Vuilleumier
THE REVIEW of September 25 gave an account of happenings around our tent this summer. Here are a few notes on our doings up to this date.
Our tent was taken down September 1, and on September 7 we opened a small hall, two blocks from the tent lot and two blocks from the large stone French Catholic church.
One day the head priest of the parish came to the tent, accompanied by one of his vicars, and stated to Brother Fortier that he would see that we packed up and left, cost what it might, law or no law. In this challenge, thank God, the message was stronger than Rome. Of course the opening of our hall, looking toward a permanent French Adventist mission in the Boulevard St. Denis, caused a shock at the parsonage, and called for a new opposition campaign with such weapons as Rome has at her disposal.
Our first meeting was unmolested, although several priests on foot or in automobiles, were seen to pass by. But the second meeting was only fairly under way when stamping was heard from the people up-stairs; the windows of a back room, opening on a wood yard, were broken; Brother Boisvert, who went out to see about it, came back with a black eye and his clothes torn; and I was threatened with similar treatment in the presence of the police hurriedly called over the phone by Brother Armeneau. In the morning a policeman informed me that the large front plate glass had been ruined soon after the close of the meeting.
The third meeting went on quietly, but in the morning we learned in amazement that half of our seats—new folding assembly chairs—were piled up near the sidewalk, and "For Sale"! The police now again took hold in earnest, and continued, until a few days ago, guarding our hall by placing a man on picket in front of it from 6 P. M. to 6 A. M. All is quiet now, but our Catholic hearers have been scared away. It will take some time to bring them back.
The heavy iron yoke of Rome is galling on many conscientious souls. Thousands, I am told, would gladly break it from their necks if they dared, but most of them live in fear. An instance of this is the case of a Syrian priest, who stood in open revolt with the church for years. He lived secluded, printing a periodical, pamphlets, and leaflets in his own house, and saying mass for the people in a dark, dirty little room, where I saw him. Six months ago he died, having made up with the church, and leaving in the hands of the church the handsome sum of $26,000 to be distributed among Catholic institutions. The will was first made in favor of a young man who was his assistant editor, but who did not receive a cent. This young man was met recently by Brother Armeneau in his colporteur work. He attended our meeting last week, and is deeply interested in the study of the prophecies.
Our tent-meetings, notwithstanding our troubles, served as a door-opener into several families in which I am able to teach the truth. An elderly man, who is attending our meetings, was telling us that he had to meet "some" opposition at home on the part of his wife. Calling on him one evening, I witnessed a scene which I can represent only by the roaring of a lion behind bars. It was simply terrific, and it was all done to keep her husband, as she believed, from going to hell!
On Sunday, September 28, a letter from Archbishop Bruchesi, forbidding Catholics to read Le Pays, was read in all the churches of this diocese. The October 4 number of this French weekly came out with a firm and fearless reply from the editor, Mr. Langlois, a representative, refusing to yield to the dictates of the "ordinary" by stopping its campaign for better schools and against intolerance, and threatening to sue the archbishop for damages if his paper meets with losses in consequence of the letter.
Our first-fruits from among the French Catholics, two young men already mentioned, expect to be baptized next Sabbath, when the French believers in Montreal will be organized into a separate church. We crave an interest in the prayers of God's people, and thank our friends who have thus remembered us in the past. J. VUILLEUMIER.
Life Sketch of Elder W. A. Shafer
By S. G. Haughey
ELDER WILLIAM ALLEN SHAFER, son of Matthias and Elizabeth Shafer, was born Feb. 7, 1883, in the State of Indiana, and died of typhoid fever in the City Hospital North, Liverpool, England, Sept. 20, 1913, aged thirty years, seven months, and thirteen days. The family moved to a farm near Burdett, Kans., when the deceased was three years old, and there he grew to young manhood. He was led to a knowledge of present truth through the influence of an older brother, and from the time of his decision to obey God and devote his life to Christian service, a spirit of intense earnestness and devotion characterized every effort. At the age of seventeen William decided to enter the canvassing work, and it was arranged for him to join an older worker in the northern part of the State. An interest had already been created by literature being circulated, and a call was sent to the conference president for a minister. There was none to send, so Brother Shafer took hold and did his best, conducting a series of meetings which resulted in several new Sabbath-keepers.16
Through this and similar efforts he became known as "the Boy Preacher."
At the next annual meeting of the Kansas Conference, he was granted ministerial license, and the Lord signally blessed his future labors. In 1902 the General Conference issued a call for young men to go to the British Isles and attend our college in London preparatory to taking up work in that field. Brother Shafer responded, and entered the school in October of that year. He completed the college course, working his way, and in 1906 connected with Elder Knight, who was then conducting a tent effort in Scotland. Later he labored for two years in the Welsh field. During the summer of 1908 he was ordained to the gospel ministry, and in the fall of the same year united in marriage with Edith E. Howarth. They labored in North England until 1911, when the South England Conference called them to the work in Bristol. Here our brother worked faithfully until May of this present year, when, with his wife, he sailed as a delegate to the recent General Conference. A goodly number of souls accepted the truth in all these fields where he labored.
Ten years Elder Shafer had spent in the British Isles. He greatly desired to see his aged parents once more in this life, so at the close of the General Conference he and his wife went to the West and spent some weeks with his parents, brothers, and sisters in the State of Kansas. Just before leaving for England he complained of not feeling well. August 12 he and his wife sailed from Boston, Mass., for Liverpool, England, on the steamship "Cymric" of the White Star line. The third day out he was taken to the ship's hospital, suffering from typhoid fever. Upon arriving in Liverpool he was removed to the City Hospital North. Here everything that medical skill could do was done, no effort nor expense being spared. In all our churches Sabbaths and at family worship daily our people prayed God to spare our brother to labor longer in the cause he loved so dearly. For four long weeks his devoted wife kept vigil at his bedside watching for some indication that the Lord would raise her loved one to health. But our Heavenly Father willed otherwise, and Sabbath morning, September 20, our beloved Brother Shafer peacefully fell asleep in Jesus—the first minister of the denomination to lay down his life in the British Isles. We bow in humble submission, knowing that our Heavenly Father is too wise to err. He doeth all things well.
Elder Shafer was a man of strong faith and fervent in prayer. He endeavored always to practise in his daily life the truths he preached, so that he might be an example to all.
He filled several important positions of trust, serving as a member of the executive committee in the Welsh, North England, and South England Conferences. He was a member of the executive committee in the South England Conference at the time of his death. Our brother fell at his post in the land where he chose to labor, and around him, to the north, to the east, to the south, are the fields of ripening grain into which he thrust the gospel sickle. May his mantle fall upon some young man who will be as faithful and as devoted to the heavenly calling as was he.
His faithful wife, aged parents, three brothers, six sisters, and a large number of like precious faith mourn the loss of this devoted servant of God who laid down his life at such an early age.
The funeral service was conducted in the chapel in the Anfield Cemetery, Liverpool, and we laid him to rest in a grave on the green hillside overlooking the city, to await the coming of the Life-giver.
S. G. HAUGHEY.
A Warning to Our Young People
By Editor
THE other day a letter was received from a woman who is the mother of three children. It was my privilege to know her some twelve years ago, when she was a happy, care-free girl of fifteen years. The lesson is good for both sexes, and is so plain that it needs no comment. Below are a few extracts:—
"O, I want to be nearer and nearer each day to God, but it seems that my cares and the indifference of my husband cause me to be negligent of my duty to God! The cares of my household would be nothing if I could only lean upon my husband to lead in spiritual things. But he is not converted, and while he does not oppose me, yet at times I feel crushed and withered spiritually because I cannot converse with him on subjects that are nearest and dearest to my heart; in other words, I cannot feel free in my spiritual life.
'Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers,' is God's admonition to us; and yet we are like Eve, we must disbelieve God's judgment, and taste the forbidden fruit, and like her also, we receive the recompense for our sins, and many are the lives that are blighted as the result. O that young people could realize the dangers of marriage with unbelievers!
"I feel more every day my need of my husband's help with my little ones. I am too weak to lead them alone. I pray that the time may be hastened when his heart may be made right with God, and that we in harmony may live for God and eternity."
Systematically Heroic in Little Things
"Be systematically heroic in little necessary points. Every day do something for no other reason than its difficulty, so that, if an hour of need should come, it may find you trained to stand the test. The man who has daily inured himself to habits of concentrated attention, energetic will, and self-denial in unnecessary things will stand like a tower when everything rocks around him."
