p. 12 | Review and Herald, Vol. 81, No. 13. (3/31/1904)

Being True

By Florence Ketring-Harper

FLORENCE KETRING-HARPER

I HAVE heard the thought expressed that it is impossible for us to be true,—that there are times in the lives of all when they “say what they do not mean, and mean what they do not say.” That this is so with most of us we must admit with sadness; but I do not believe it need be so. I am glad to say that I have known beautiful exceptions, and how much satisfaction and gladness an acquaintance and friendship with them brings to us! It seems at times like an oasis in the desert.

But even though I had never met these exceptions to what appears like a rule among us, yet I should believe they existed; for the Word of God bears me out in the belief that they are possible, and what is possible is also probable.

I believe it is possible for us to be as true as the Author of truth. And we would not for one moment give consent to the suggestion that he was ever vacillating or changeable, that his words and moods could not be depended on. He did not have “moods;” he was ever the “Sun of Righteousness . . . with healing in his wings.” This does not imply that he was always smiling and buoyant; but the Word of God sustains the statement that he was always peaceful and cheerful, and that his presence had peace and rest for all who yielded to its influence. Yet at times he was saddened, and even wept, at earth’s woes. But this did not destroy his peace, nor that of those who were about him.

The sun shines with rainbow beauty through the rain-drop; and even so can our sunlight glow through tears, as his did. Our Saviour and Example was true; he did not appear to be, or for any reason pretend to be, what he was not. What you read in his words and actions you could have read in his heart had it been open to your gaze.

And God’s Word—our guide-book—says, “Ye are complete in him;” and, Ye shall “be filled with all the fulness of God.” If we are “filled” and “complete,” will there be room for anything at any time but truth and sincerity? Can we not be true? Can we not be depended on as he was and is? Why can not our lives flow with a steady current, as his did? Why can not we reflect the steady beams of the Sun of Righteousness,—beams that will bring healing?

Shall we not let the “spirit of truth” into our lives, to make us true,—true to God, true to one another, and true to ourselves? It is not an impossibility; it is a beautiful possibility, and will bring the blessing and peace of God, the confidence, trust, and love of our fellow man, and consequent gladness and sweetness into our own hearts. And thus the way will be so clear for the fulfilment of God’s promise, that we “shall be a blessing.”

Dean Stanley on Baptism

The following summary is given by the Christian Commonwealth as the views of the late Dean Stanley on the subject of baptism:—

1. Immersion was wisely selected, not only because it was a “most delightful, ordinary, and salutary observance,” but because it was significantly expressive of the design of baptism.

2. The word which Christ used to express baptism is literally translated immersion.

3. Christ himself was immersed.

4. The apostles uniformly practised immersion.

5. Immersion was the invariable practise of the primitive church.

6. It was the almost universal practise of Christians for thirteen centuries.

7. When the substitution of sprinkling for immersion began to find favor, it was stoutly resisted as an innovation.

8. Even in some of the cold countries (Russia, for instance), the innovation has been up to the present time successfully resisted.

9. Immersion, “even in the Church of England, is still observed in theory. Elizabeth and Edward VI were both immersed. The Rubric in the Public Baptism for infants enjoins that, unless for special causes, they are to be dipped, not sprinkled.”

10. The change from immersion to sprinkling is greater than that which the Roman Catholic Church has made in administering the sacrament of the Lord’s supper in the bread without the wine.—Selected.

The Gospel Message and Our Gifts

“THE gospel message, for want of our gifts, is only tardily accomplishing its great work of evangelization.”

In the Firelight

By Eugene Field

THE fire upon the hearth is low, And there is stillness everywhere; Like troubled spirits, here and there The firelight shadows fluttering go. And as the shadows round me creep, A childish treble breaks the gloom, And softly from a farther room Comes: “Now I lay me down to sleep.”

And, somehow, with that little prayer, And that sweet treble in my ears, My thought goes back to distant years, And lingers with a dear one there; And as I hear the child’s amen, My mother’s faith comes back to me,— Crouched at her side I seem to be, And mother holds my hand again.

O, for an hour in that dear place! O, for the peace of that dear time! O, for that childish trust sublime! O, for a glimpse of mother’s face! Yet as the shadows round me creep, I do not seem to be alone,— Sweet magic of that treble tone, And “Now I lay me down to sleep!”

— Eugene Field.

Is Your Home Like This?

It is with a shock that we note in religious journals to-day the discussion of such themes as “The Passing of the Family Altar.” In the New York Christian Advocate, Rev. W. J. Hampton speaks on this subject, and his statements apply with too much truthfulness to many Seventh-day Adventist homes. He says:—

“Is the home life of to-day pervaded with the same Christian atmosphere as it once was, or has the commercial spirit of the twentieth century crowded out quite largely the church life in the home? We believe this is a serious question, and one which affects largely the spiritual tone of the church. We recall distinctly the home life of several years ago. All the children knew father’s wishes, and knew, too, that he wanted them respected. Father wanted none of the children late at prayers, so all were down-stairs early in the morning, ready for the family devotions. What a familiar picture!—father seated in his armchair, the well-thumbed Bible open; close by sits mother and the children. Reverently and tenderly the Holy Scriptures are read, then all kneel, while the father, the priest in the home, invokes God’s blessing on home and children. After prayers are offered, all are seated at the table; every head is bowed while the father asks the blessing on the food. How happy and cheerful everybody seems! Then come the separations for the day, each one to his work. Evening repeats the scene. The hours of the evening are enlivened with music, playing simple games, bright, animated conversation, reading books and current literature; then singing, prayers, and good nights, and the day was spent. This was church life in the home. But how different to-day! Home life to-day is almost wholly without God. In the city it has become practically a fashionable boarding-house; an apparent disposition on the part of husband and wife to agree to board together. Husband’s thoughts engrossed in business, lodges, and clubs, while the wife is immersed in dresses, social functions, and club life. The care of the children is handed over to a paid nurse girl. The modern home is run something after this fashion: at breakfast time, one by one the members of the household drop into the dining-room, and seat themselves at the table. No family altar. No blessing at the table. No thought of God. It is rumored that it has become unpopular and unfashionable to have the blessing asked at the table in the up-to-date home. A writer says of a father, ‘I have no home any more; my children have turned it into a board-house.’ Here apparently was a yearning on the part of the father for the return of that home life of which he had once had a taste.”

‘We learn to-day that young men are drifting away from the church as never before. The non-Christian influence of home life may have something to do with it. A young man walled about with family prayers from childhood will have a safeguard about him through which it will be difficult wholly to break. A thousand influences and sacred memories will hold him back when sorely tempted, and will carry his thought Godward. We have in this country to-day something like nineteen million Protestant church-members, and, counting five persons to every home, some four million Christian homes. It is estimated that only one Christian home in eight has a family altar, and most of us will agree from observation that that estimate is sufficiently high. Place these Christian homes in a row, and we would pass through three million five hundred thousand homes before we would hear the sound of a father’s voice at a family altar, and from these homes one hundred and fifty thousand young men, having reached twenty-one, go out annually, never having heard a parent’s voice in prayer at a family altar.”

‘The following beautiful scene was enacted in the Christian home of —, of Rockaway, N. J. He has a family of eight children, all Christians but the youngest, still a child. On a recent Sabbath evening the family gathered together for family prayers. The Bible was opened, and the father read the chapter which told about Absalom’s defeat and death, and the tidings brought to King David, and the wail of grief of the broken-hearted father over the death of the wicked son. Then he knelt, and offered a touching, fervent prayer. As the result of that service held in that Christian home—for it was nothing short of that—a man, once a schoolteacher, was converted, and the next Sabbath presented himself at the altar of the church, and the writer received him in the church on probation. Is it not possible for this to be duplicated in every Christian church in our country? Instead of the passing of the family altar, may there be a return to the church life in the home! May the broken family altars be set up again! If this is done, we believe a different spiritual atmosphere will prevail in all our Christian homes, the chill will be removed from many a prayer-meeting, and the altars of the church will soon feel the effect, and be baptized with the tears of penitents coming home to God.’

Patent Medicines and the Harm They Are Doing

By Alfred B. Olsen, M. D.

ALFRED B. OLSEN, M. D.

MR. BARNUM, the great American showman, once said that people liked to be humbugged, and that he was able to oblige them. Though he has gone the way of all flesh, there are still plenty of men left to humbug the people, and not least among these are the unscrupulous nostrum vendors, whose thriving business allows of advertising on a princely scale.

The wide-spread use of unknown drugs and patent pills and powders is simply amazing. The average man or woman will swallow anything, asking no questions, and pay a big price for it, too, provided only it bears the label, “medicine,” and is guaranteed (!) to cure. If it tastes bitter, so much the better. The viler the compound, the more potent it is. Such is the opinion of many persons.

One scarcely stops to consider the composition of the draft or pill, or the competence of the maker. It matters not whether he is entirely ignorant of anatomy and physiology, and knows nothing of the needs of the body, if he only guarantees (!!) a cure on the taking of a certain number of bottles or boxes.

Why such carelessness and neglect of the human machine? Who would take his watch to a shoemaker for repair, or entrust a broken cabinet with a blacksmith? Why are there not many quack medicines for horses and cattle? There are two reasons. First, because such animals are usually cared for in a rational manner, and have better health than mankind; and second, because no sensible man would give his horse quack compounds, but would send for a competent veterinary surgeon. In many respects horses are treated and cared for in a much more wholesome manner than most human beings.

An Age of Humbugs

This is said to be an age of great

intellectual advancement, which is doubtless true to some extent; nevertheless it is a time when frauds and deceptions and all kinds of chicanery flourish as never before. One can scarcely go anywhere without seeing evidences of the enormous quantity of proprietary medicines consumed by the people. The hoardings blaze with the virtues of Smith’s Small Stomach Seeds, or Sally’s Soothing Sirup, or Olden’s Onion Ointment, or some other preparation. You find them on the cover pages of magazines and journals of all kinds. They cover pages in the daily press. The proprietors amass their thousands, yes, and even millions. These advertisements fairly cover the railway stations, and disfigure the country landscape.

The wonderful virtues claimed for each and every compound are marvelous to contemplate. Have you a headache? Peter’s Pepper Pills will cure you. Is it biliousness? Peter’s Pepper Pills are just what you need. Or a pain in the shoulder? Only Peter’s Pepper Pills will give relief. Or palpitation of the heart? A dose of Peter’s Pepper Pills will cure, will put you right at once, or, perhaps you are affected with indigestion, or shortness of breath, or influenza, or constipation. Peter’s Pepper Pills, and nothing else, if taken frequently enough, and in sufficient quantity, and long enough, will put you right. Cure guaranteed!!

Mystery Lends Enchantment

Why is the composition a secret and patented? Why keep it a secret?—Because, if people knew the ingredients of the pills and powders and drafts, they would shun them, and then their fascination and charm would disappear. It is a fact that the mysterious does have an attraction for many people. Mystery is a sort of mental distance that lends enchantment to the medicine. Would that all such preparations were actually at so great a distance as not to be obtainable. Then there would be far more health and happiness in the world.

It is impossible to exaggerate the fraudulent claims made for all kinds of preparations. Some one sends us a rupture cure, an ointment to rub on the skin locally. This is one of the least harmful of all so-called cures, and possibly does little injury, except to deplete the purse of the ignorant victim, and in some cases at least cause him to postpone rational treatments until it is too late, and he pays for his folly with his life. To think that any ointment actually reduces and heals a rupture is too absurd to require refutation.

Large Profits

A recent number of the Lancet contains a warning about a draft which is being put on the market. Concerning the great evil perpetrated in this particular case we quote a few lines as follows: “It may be an alterative, whatever that means, but to say that it is curative is a lie. The ten-shilling box contained forty-eight powders, which at a moderate estimate would cost the vendors one-half pence for bromide of potassium, and nearly one pence for milk-sugar. We do not, however, so much object to the price,—if people are so silly as to buy quack remedies, they must expect to pay for them,—but the heartless swindle is scandalous. To raise false hopes in those whose lot it is to be tied to a drunkard [the drug was claimed to cure drunkenness] is disgraceful, and no punishment can be too bad for the person who profits by such deceit.”

Many of these preparations are more or less poisonous, and consequently dangerous to health. Others are inert substances that neither produce benefit nor injury, and only affect the patient mentally. He thinks he is taking a potent remedy; he imagines he is improving, and forthwith sends a glowing report, which is promptly published, and he has the distinction of getting his name in print. This accounts for some of the testimonials seen in the advertisements. Others, probably the majority, are manufactured to order. Taking medicine soon becomes a habit in most people, and this is easily explained when one remembers that these preparations do not cure, but simply relieve pain by paralyzing the nerves. When the pain disappears, the patient feels better, and imagines that he is being cured. When the effect passes off, the pain and discomfort return; then more medicine is promptly taken, and so it goes on until the patient becomes a slave to the drug, and can only give it up with difficulty. And if he does so, he experiences more pain and disagreeable feelings than at the start.

We often wonder why the religious press is willing, even at any price, to publish these questionable advertisements. Some people think that what is in print must be true, and much more so if in a religious paper. It is sad that our religious publications are so poorly supported that they have to depend to a greater or less extent upon printing disgraceful and scandalous advertisements. This is a great mistake, and ought never to be permitted under any circumstances. We are glad to know that there are some noble exceptions, but unfortunately they are extremely rare.

It hardly needs to be said, in conclusion, that in our opinion one prominent cause of the much-talked-of physical deterioration is this foolish and yet widely prevailing practise of doctoring one’s self by means of proprietary medicines.

A Lamentable Mistake

How terrible is the mistake those parents are making, who are constantly cherishing the selfishness of their daughters, by administering to their vanity, by loading them with finery, and exempting them from duties which they ought to discharge. How many a mother makes herself a slave, in order to make her daughter a lady; wears out her own energies, in order that her daughter may loll away her time in laziness, and waste her sympathies over the sickly sentimentalism of a shilling novel! And what a lady such a girl makes! A man who has regard for his future peace and prosperity, had better marry a great doll, on whose India-rubber face the red and white paint legitimately belong, than marry her; for what can humanity expect of a selfish wife—a cold-hearted and selfish mother?—Rev. G. C. Baldwin.

Serving by Suffering

SICKNESS is discouraging. It is disheartening not to be able to do the heroic things that the spirit yearns to do. Life seems to be useless. The days seem lost in which no active service can be done for the Master. Sometimes persons suffering thus from illness, laid aside or broken so as to be equal to but little, lose out of the heart the joy, the peace, the hope, the enthusiasm, and become depressed, unhappy, cast down, sometimes almost despairing.

But this is not victorious Christian life. The lesson for such is that the noblest thing in life is always the doing of God's will. That is greater than any heroism, greater than the largest service one can render, greater than any toil and sacrifice. Let us accept our limitations. Let us not repine and chafe when God shuts us in a sick-room. Do not let us fret and waste our life in needless discontent when we can not do the things we want to do, and that seem should be done by us. The highest duty of our life amid the limitations of ill health or physical feebleness is to keep our spiritual condition right.—Selected.

Hungry for Love

THE world is hungry for love. It is not hungry for great poets, great soldiers, great inventors, but it is longing for great lovers. A great lover is simply a soul set free enough from selfishness to live in other lives, and free enough from reserve and cowardice to tell others how he loves them.

One of the most beautiful stories we have ever read is told of Wendell Phillips, the orator. He was passionately devoted to his invalid wife, and one day after he had lectured, his friends urged him not to return to Boston that night. “The last train has left,” they said, “and you will be obliged to take a carriage. It will mean twelve miles of cold riding through the sleet.”

“Ah, yes,” he replied, “but at the end of them I shall find Annie Phillips.”

No journey is too long with love at the end of it, no task is too hard with love for its reward. The most successful men, not only as God counts success, but even according to men’s poor measure of success, are those that care for others. They live in others’ successes as well as their own. They add the happiness of others to their own joy.

That is all the world worth having. Not the world of greed and gold, not the world of war and murder, not the world of pride and envy. God is the chief lover, the one pattern of love. Every one that loveth is born of God, and whatever his Father has is his.—Christian Work.

W. G. KNEELAND

By W. G. Kneeland

Grenada

W. G. KNEELAND

THIS island, twenty-one miles long by twelve miles wide, containing about one hundred and twenty square miles, was discovered by Columbus, Aug. 15, 1498. It is ninety miles north of Trinidad and one hundred miles southwest of Barbados, in about twelve degrees north latitude. The island is supposed to be of volcanic formation, and its general surface is quite rough. Several of the mountains are over two thousand feet high; and one reaches a height of 2,749 feet. The island is well watered, and has several good harbors.

Its climatic conditions are good for the tropics. The dry season is usually from February to May, and the wet season the rest of the year. The average rainfall is seventy-nine inches. The average highest temperature during the hot weather in the hills is eighty-three degrees, and on the plains ninety degrees.

Its population of sixty-five thousand six hundred are divided in their religious professions, as follows: Roman Catholic, 36,437; Anglican, 22,477; Wesleyan Methodist, 3,584; Presbyterian, 580; not including a few East Indians. Educational advantages are better than in some of the other islands. In the chief town, St. Georges, there are two high schools and a free public library. Agriculture is the leading industry of the island, and cocoa and nutmegs are the chief exports.

Our literature has been well received by all classes. Two have partly accepted our message, and many are convinced, as a result of the labors of the faithful canvassers. We expect to open public work in the island soon, and trust that a good harvest of souls will be gathered from this island for the Master's soon return. Remember us in your prayers.

Word From India

By Annie Knight

ANNIE KNIGHT

My last report was from Allahabad. From there Miss Humphrey and I went to Simla, arriving about the seventeenth of April, and remaining till the close of the season, the following November.

We began work by calling on the physicians and leaving our cards, then canvassed while we waited for other work. We did not wait long until we were both nursing. But we did not wish to neglect the other line of work—canvassing and Bible readings—which we had begun, so we agreed for Miss Humphrey to give the treatments and do the nursing as far as it was possible for her to do so, and I was to resume the Bible readings and canvassing, which for a time had to be discontinued

We also arranged for a school of health to be held at the Y. W. C. A. lecture hall, they paying all expenses. The school continued ten weeks, meeting in the afternoon once a week.

We nursed two cases each, after which Miss Humphrey devoted all her time to giving massage to patients in their homes, and in the hospital, under the direction of three of the leading physicians. She gave from two to five treatments daily, Sabbaths not included.

The receipts for her nursing and treatments amounted to 1,454 rupees, from May to October. Our school of health was also a success, being quite well attended. Many of the principles of healthful living were received gladly, and put into practise, with good results, both to their health and happiness.

I gave from three to seven Bible readings weekly, and took about forty yearly subscriptions for our London Good Health, and sold several copies of "Ladies Guide." One day my receipts amounted to thirty-two rupees ($10.75).

Of course that is not a big sum,—some of our canvassers have taken as high as seventy,—but it shows what can be done by an inexperienced canvasser; for I never canvassed till I came to India.

As a result of the Bible readings held, one family accepted the truth, and a lady who had attended meetings in Calcutta was fully established, and united with the church the following winter. Thus three precious souls were added to the fold.

When we left Simla, Nov. 3, 1902, we started out on a canvassing tour through the Northwest Provinces of India, as recommended by the advisory board at Calcutta. It was indeed most gratifying to us to look back upon our work in Simla, and see how signally the Lord had blessed us; how truly he had sent his angel before us, and prepared the way!

After leaving Simla, our first stop was at Umballa. Here we spent three days, canvassing for our Indian paper, Oriental Watchman, the London Good Health, and "Christ's Object Lessons." We also stopped at Ludhiana, Julinder, Amritsar, and Lahore. Here Miss Humphrey was employed by a lady whom she had treated before, in Simla, to resume her treatments, and remain with her as nurse. We spent six weeks in Lahore, Miss Humphrey nursing, and I canvassing.

Owing to extra work at the sanitarium in Calcutta, it was thought best to recall us from the field, to take up work there. But as the lady mentioned above was still in an uncertain state of health, and was determined to go to the Delhi Durbar, she obtained permission for Miss Humphrey to accompany her there as nurse till the Durbar was over. I returned to Calcutta, Dec. 26, 1902, and took up work, where I was joined two weeks later by Miss Humphrey. We both continued in the work here until her death, March 4, 1903.

We had been in the field ten months, during which time we could only say, Surely goodness, mercy, success, and favor have followed us all along the way. And we never enjoyed our work more. Our receipts for treatments and literature, during the whole time, amounted to 2,382 rupees, or $793.66. Thus ended our work together.

We had all learned to love Miss Humphrey very much. She was most proficient in all her work; gentle and kind; one of the most unselfish persons I ever met; thorough and conscientious in all she did. The work and workers sustained a great loss by her decease.

In April, 1903, I again went to Simla, this time alone, to resume the work begun the previous season. The Lord, by the Spirit, went before and prepared the way, giving me strength as my days. In May I was joined by Miss A. Helen Wilcox. She is a noble woman, one among a thousand, indeed, and has done valiant service. She took up the work which Miss Humphrey had begun, while I continued to give Bible readings and canvass. I tried to strengthen those things that remained from the last season

and to do as much aggressive work as possible. As a result, one other was added to our number, the other three grew stronger and more courageous. The family that embraced the message the year before, so far as I know, are fully established on all points, and are only paying their tithe monthly, and await baptism.

We organized a Sabbath-school of ten members—five adults and five children. The Sabbath-school donations for the season amounted to forty rupees. We feel much encouraged with the outlook for Simla. But what we need now most of all is more laborers. Truly, the harvest is great, but laborers are few. Brethren and sisters, will you not pray the Lord to send forth laborers into the vineyard, and then be willing to answer your prayers by saying, “Here am I, O Lord, send me”?

At the close of our work in Simla I attended our general meeting in Calcutta, which was held November 6-10. Nearly all our workers were present, and we had a most blessed and profitable time. As we met and told how God had led us and blessed us, it was truly refreshing. But as we looked at the great work before us and our little band of workers, our cry was, “Truly the harvest is great, but the laborers are few. O Lord, our Lord, thou wilt send forth laborers. The work is thine, the people are thine, and we are thine. We give our all to thee to be used in thy service.”

After the meeting, the workers went forth: Brother and Sister Meyers and Miss D. Ella Smith to Burma; Sisters Anna Orr and Daisy Jewett to southern India, on a canvassing tour; Brother and Sister James through the Northwest Provinces and the Punjab; Brother and Sister Burgess to take charge of our native work at Karmatar, assisted by Sister S. E. Whitels; while I am to visit a portion of the Northwest and Punjab. I went out alone because there was no one to send with me. The work indeed is great, and the laborers so few. Is there not some young lady who would be glad to come over to India and join me, and share my blessings in this glorious work? Think of it! There are only two workers for all southern India, only three for all the Northwest and Punjab, none for the central provinces, and only three for Burma!

Since leaving Calcutta I have worked in Lucknow and Cawnpore, both of which are large cities, and not one of our people is there. I found many hungry souls, waiting for just the message which we have to give to a dying world. People asked me why we do not establish work in these cities, and settle down to do something permanent. And all I can say is, We have not the workers. But there are Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, and others, all here before us many years, who have missions, schools, and orphanages, etc., well-manned; and we—what have we? Yet we believe—we know—God has commissioned us to carry the last message to the world. O, my heart is stirred to the depth, and burdened, as I see the work yet to be done.

In Lucknow I took fifty-eight subscriptions for Oriental Watchman and London Good Health, and sold some books. Thus, fifty-eight families will be preached to in that city each week for a whole year. I have been in Cawnpore only one week, but thus far the Lord has given me good success, and he will complete that which he has begun. It is a blessed privilege to be a worker together with the Lord.

“O, who will go, salvation’s story telling, Looking to Jesus, counting not the cost?”

Do we really believe all power is given unto Him, and that the all-powerful One really commands us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature? What a blessed work! I am so thankful that the dear Lord has given me a place in it, and I want to do the work acceptably to him, so that when he comes, I may hear the “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”

Cawnpore, India.

The Rhenish Conference

By Guy Dail

GUY DAIL

The second annual meeting of the Rhenish Conference convened December 30 to January 3. The meeting was held in the beautiful city of Cologne, often called the German Rome. The town has four hundred thousand inhabitants. It is compactly built and cleanly kept. It contains one of the finest Gothic structures in the world, the Dom, a cathedral of the whose twin towers reach five hundred feet into the heavens. The building was six hundred years in progress of erection. Cologne lies at the head of steam navigation on the Rhine.

There were fifty-six members in the Cologne church at the close of the third quarter, 1903. There is still a good outside interest to hear the message. This interest has been quickened by the recent conference held there.

Rhenish Prussia comprises the territory of the Rhenish Conference. This is the greatest manufacturing province of Germany. Here are great coal fields, rich valleys, and well-cultivated hills. Cotton, woolen, and silk goods, and machinery are the chief manufactured products.

The hall where about one hundred and fifty of our Rhenish brethren came together was located on Grosse Budengasse, about a minute’s walk from Hohestrasse, the leading promenade of the city, where thousands upon thousands of people walk to and fro. Delegates were present from Barmen, Elberfeld, Essen, Gladbach, Meiderich, Mulheim on the Ruhr, and Vohwinkel, representing our churches in these respective cities. The new church in Dusseldorf was received into the conference.

The Rhenish Conference was organized a year ago. At that time it had two hundred and thirty members. During the year its net increase has raised its membership to three hundred and three. It pays two tithes to the German Union. The tithe was three thousand dollars for 1903. After auditing its accounts, there was a surplus of about twenty dollars in the treasury for the beginning of the new year. It employs one ordained minister (the president), two licentiates, and three Bible workers. The president, Elder G. Schubert, has had to work at the disadvantage of carrying on lectures in two different places, besides having on his shoulders the care of the conference. Although much of the aggressive effort is put forth among people whom we have formerly thought most unpromising, yet we find that God’s power is going out before his servants, and souls are being saved.

In Vohwinkel is the oldest church we have in the German empire. Here lived J. H. Lindermann, who began the observance of the Sabbath in 1867, from a study of the Bible alone. About forty brethren followed him. In 1875 Brethren J. N. Andrews and J. Erzenberger labored here, and the eighth of January, the following year, eight were baptized, and the church of Solingen was established. Sister White visited this field in the spring of 1887. Here we are erecting a chapel on a piece of ground that has been turned over to us by one of the oldest brethren in the German field. The German Union will own the lot and the chapel, which together will be worth about four thousand dollars. This is the second meeting-place we own in the German Union.

There was a pleasing spirit of union among the brethren at the conference, and the meeting closes with more harmony among the workers than has ever been before. There is courage and energy to press the battle to the front. United action will surely bring still greater results. It is the ambition of each worker in the Rhenish Conference to see as many souls brought to a saving knowledge of present truth as is possible. We hope that the coming year will see a still greater and better growth.

Elders Conradi, Erzenberger, and Schuberth, with Dr. Hoenes, rendered valuable assistance in counsel and the

correct dividing of the Word. The health talks of the doctor were appreciated. After the regular conference closed, these brethren visited the neighboring churches on Monday and Tuesday; for, while there are six million people in the conference, it is so thickly inhabited that the various places are easy of access. Few fields present such an advantage in this respect.

The resolutions passed expressed ‘thanks to God for his care; a determination to be more true in the future’; the setting apart of the First-day offerings to German East Africa; to increase our efforts to dispose of “Christ’s Object Lessons,” and provide the necessary material fund; to send a tenth of the poor fund of the churches to the central poor fund, for the conference; to send all the Sabbath-school gifts to the union treasury for missionary purposes, as in other parts of the union, without deducting anything for local expenses; and thanking Brother A. Doerner for the assistance he has been in the past to the conference committee by his counsels, as he now desires to be relieved from this burden, on account of his health. The work for the coming year promises well.

Prince Edward Island

By J. G. Hanna

CHARLOTTE.—Since my last report another honest soul has become obedient to God's Word. This is a young woman who at first was deeply prejudiced against us. But a few Bible readings, directed by the Spirit, removed the prejudice, and she took her stand to obey. She is stopping with us, and is diligently studying the Word. We hope to see her become an efficient worker for the Lord. It means much to be obedient to the Word of God on this island; for the people, as a rule, are perfectly satisfied as they are.

Our services in the tabernacle have been well attended this winter, considering the severe weather. This winter has been the coldest and stormiest since about 1861. Our little company meets every Sabbath, and we enjoy our studies. We have some visitors almost every Sabbath at our meetings.

Our health has been excellent since we came to the island. We have much for which to praise the Lord. We thank him that we are permitted to have a part in this closing message. J. G. HANNA.

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