General Conference Daily Bulletin, vol. 8
February 22, 1899
33rd Session. - WORCESTER, MASS., WEDNESDAY, - VOLUME 8. SOUTH LANCASTER, MASS. - NUMBER 6
The Daily Bulletin,
PUBLISHED BY THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF
Seventh-day Adventists.F. S. BLANCHARD & CO., Printers, Worcester.
SUBSCRIPTION PRICE, - 50 CENTS.
CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER
| An Important Report, Committee on Plans, | 49 |
| Our First Scandinavian Minister, | 49 |
| General Conference Proceedings, | |
| Tenth Meeting, | 49 |
| Eleventh Meeting, | 51 |
| Report from European Union Conference, | 53 |
| Report from Denmark, | 54 |
| The German-Russian Fields, | 54 |
| Bible Study, A. T. Jones, | 55 |
| The Feast of Belshazzar, | 56 |
AN IMPORTANT REPORT
Committee on Plans. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 49.1
This most important report is a portion of the proceedings of the Twelfth meeting, and is here given out of its order for the reason that the matter came in too late for publication in its entirety. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 49.2
The Committee on Plans and Resolutions has submitted the following partial report:- GCDB February 22, 1899, page 49.3
Whereas, It entails great expense and the loss of much valuable time to the laborers in the field to attend the General Conference once in two years, as at present; therefore, - GCDB February 22, 1899, page 49.4
We recommend, That the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists be held once in four years, instead of once in two years, reckoning from the year 1899. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 49.5
Whereas, The work in the United States has so far developed that a large portion of it is organized into conferences; and, - GCDB February 22, 1899, page 49.6
Whereas, The work of the Executive Committee of the General Conference has been greatly lessened by the reorganization of the field, and the necessity for district superintendents greatly diminished; therefore, - GCDB February 22, 1899, page 49.7
We recommend, 1. That the office of district superintendent be discontinued. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 49.8
2. That the Executive Committee of the General Conference shall consist of the president of the General Conference, presidents of the European and Australasian Union conferences, presidents of the General Conference Association, Foreign Mission Board, Medical Missionary and Benevolent Board, International Religious Liberty Association, International Sabbath-school Association, International Tract and Missionary Society, and four other members. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 49.9
3. That a General Council, consisting of the Executive Committee of the General Conference, the presidents of the various State conferences, and such superintendents of mission fields as the Executive Committee think best, be held once a year, beginning with the spring of the year 1900; and, if consistent, the time be such that the members of the council may attend the meetings of our institutions at Battle Creek, Michigan. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 49.10
4. That the Chair appoint a committee of five, to make changes in the Constitution and By-laws, so that they will be in harmony with this action, said committee to submit its report to this conference for acceptance. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 49.11
5. That Section 9 of the General Conference Constitution be amended to read as follows:- GCDB February 22, 1899, page 49.12
“The officers of the Board shall be a President, a Secretary, and a Treasurer, who shall be elected by the conference. The Secretary and Treasurer shall not be members of the Board. The Board may appoint such other secretaries as shall be deemed advisable, and fill all vacancies on the Board and other offices.” GCDB February 22, 1899, page 49.13
6. That the following plan be adopted for awakening more of the missionary spirit, and for collecting weekly offerings for foreign missions:- GCDB February 22, 1899, page 49.14
1. That the church services on the second Sabbath in each month be set apart for the study of foreign mission fields and their needs, matter for study to be furnished by the Foreign Mission Board. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 49.15
2. That each conference select a suitable person to act as Corresponding Secretary of the State tract society, who shall be known as Mission Secretary, whose duty shall be to labor specially in the interests of foreign mission work. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 49.16
3. That the librarians of the local societies be encouraged to give more time to developing the missionary spirit in our churches. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 49.17
4. That the Foreign Mission Board, through the State Corresponding Secretaries and local librarians, supply all our people, - churches, companies, and isolated members, - with special envelopes in which to place a weekly offering for foreign mission work; that these envelopes be distributed and collected at the regular Sabbath meeting; and that these offerings be forwarded monthly, through the Tract Society officers, to the Foreign Mission Board. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 49.18
Whereas, The Spirit of God has testified that “Many more workers ought to be in the field,” and that “there should be one hundred [workers] where now there is only one,” we most fervently - GCDB February 22, 1899, page 49.19
Recommend, That conference officers make greater efforts to encourage young men to enter the work of the ministry; and that our young people, remembering that the Lord has given “to every man his work,” devote themselves to the spread of the message in new fields, even though they may not have in sight a full treasury to guarantee their support. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 49.20
In harmony with the Testimonies - GCDB February 22, 1899, page 49.21
We recommend, That the various conferences in the districts where our academies and colleges are situated, support teachers in these schools, according to their ability. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 49.22
OUR FIRST SCANDINAVIAN MINISTER
The Scandinavian peoples were the first, of foreign nationalities, to manifest an interest in the views of Seventh-day Adventists. There was one laborer among them who will ever be held in loving remembrance because of the early and faithful work he did in their behalf; namely, John Gottlieb Matteson. Elder Matteson was born in Denmark in 1835, on the Island of Langeland. At the age of twenty he came with his parents to this country, and settled in New Denmark, Brown Co., Wisconsin, where he was soon afterward converted. Uniting with the Baptist denomination, he entered their college in Chicago, to prepare himself for the ministry. His attention was called to the views of Seventh-day Adventists in 1862, through reading-matter provided him by Brother P. H. Cady, at Poy Sippi, Wisconsin. Receiving these views in full, a large part of his congregation followed him into his new religious association. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 49.23
PICTURE - ELDER J. G. MATTESON
The first periodical issued in a foreign tongue, in support of the message we preach, was in response to Elder Matteson’s appeal in behalf of his own nationality. When a demand for the living preacher came from Scandinavia, Elder Matteson responded, and sailed for Denmark in the spring of 1877. He visited Norway the following year; and a church of thirty-eight members was organized in Christiania, June 7, 1879. Four papers were soon started - two in Danish and two in Swedish - devoted to prophetic and health themes. Elder Matteson remained in Europe for more than ten years, returning to America in 1888, in broken health. But he continued at the double task of doing his editorial work and laboring publicly until obliged to desist from all work, in February, 1896. Thinking a change of climate might be beneficial, he removed to the home of his eldest son in California; but he was too much enfeebled to receive help from the change, and there fell asleep, March 30 of the same year. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 49.24
GENERAL CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
Medical Missionary Work - Interesting Discussion by Delegates - Important Principles Enunciated - Health and Temperance Continued - Speeches by Judge Arthur, Dr. D. H. Kress, Dr. Waggoner, and Others. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 49.25
TENTH MEETING, MONDAY, 3 P. M., FEBRUARY 20
Elder C. W. Flaiz led the devotional exercises, and the meeting was then given over to the discussion of medical missionary work. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 49.26
Jesse Arthur: I am a little astonished to see the reluctance with which the brethren approach the subject of health reform. I make that as an excuse for rising to address the Chair. When I came here, I recognized the fact, and was duly impressed with it, that I was going to place myself among the assembled wisdom of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination. And I made the firm resolve that I would endeavor, as far as possible, with God’s help, to practice that great Christian virtue of silence. I came here to learn. I recognized the fact that I was but new in the faith, for I had but recently come into this great truth. I successfully resisted the temptation yesterday when the educational question was discussed. But I can not resist it any longer. I have come to a place where I believe that the practice of this Christian virtue has become no longer absolutely necessary for my good, or the good of the conference. This subject of health reform is one that moves me deeply; for it was through the portals of this very question that I was first given a glimpse of this great present truth. It was through this question of health reform that I first began to understand the nature and character of the Testimonies in connection with this denominational work. I was groping in the very darkest spiritual, mental, moral, and physical depths, when I went to the Battle Creek Sanitarium as a patient in 1896. I was a veritable drug fiend. Dr. Paulson said that he had never seen a man in all his experience who had as much of a drug shop in his satchel as I had. I had pills and powders and tinctures, and almost everything else you can imagine in the vocabulary of the ordinary drug store. The first demand that Dr. Paulson made when I was placed under his attention was that I should surrender that drug store to him. He said he would make use of it in the future. But what use he made of it I do not know, for I never asked him. But it is unnecessary for me to state the gradual growth of that present truth in my heart. Were I to do so, I would have to allude to some people personally in this assembly, and I do not like to do that. I would a great deal rather say nothing more about that. You find me here with my heart, soul, body, and mind devoted to this work. I am ready and willing to do anything that God wants me to do to forward the cause; but, brethren, I want to say to you this: I believe that we must take health reform in its broadest sense. Give me that banner. Place your minds and souls upon that subject, and you will find that this is an instrument of missionary work, that will be greater than any other. You can not possibly avoid the necessity of carrying this truth unto the uttermost parts of the earth. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 50.1
The Chair: The meeting is still open for remarks. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 50.2
Mrs. S. M. I. Henry: I feel as though I ought not to take any time that would be occupied by others; but while some of the brethren are getting ready to say a few words, I will speak. I want to say that I believe most thoroughly in everything that our brother has just said. I believe in the whole gospel for the whole man. That is the way we began to express it a good many years ago in the health department of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. And I have a practical realization of the necessity of every line of work that is represented by the Medical Missionary Association in carrying the gospel to certain classes of people. There are people who can never be reached with the gospel without just such an instrument as that. It is impossible; because the conditions by which they are surrounded are such that the gospel must come to them first through physical conditions. It is the purpose of the Spirit of God to reach every soul, and because all can not be reached in precisely the same way, he has adapted his instruments to the conditions of the different classes of people and different individuals. I believe that is the prow of this “present-truth” vessel, - that which shall open the way; in other terms, the entering wedge of this unpopular truth. This truth means a revolution in the whole life, and is so strange and peculiar that it must be forced through, because it can not come by gentle influences. It means a complete change, a revolution in every condition in the life and character and surroundings of every individual who accepts it. And it means some time or other a conflict in the life of every man and woman who has been born into a family which stands for this truth. I do not believe that any one can settle right down into a true realization of what it means to be a Seventh-day Adventist without having had a revolution in his life. It is not an easy truth to profess; it is not an easy thing to stand by. It is going to take all there is of anybody, and it will take all there is of the gentle, persuasive, humanizing influence that can possibly be brought to bear, to make a way for it among the prejudices of the people in the world - something to open up a channel for it. I believe you all understand that. In the correspondence which I have had with our people, with the women, and with the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union ever since I came among this people, I have come to see these things which I want to express. The question is often raised, What can I do? I do not know how to reach people. There are people who are unwilling to receive the truth. I realize the necessity that they should receive it and understand it. Here is a community that is prejudiced; and how can I, as a Bible worker, says some woman, or as a canvasser, reach this class of people? Here are a few thoughts. You can not go so far away from human needs that you will not find some one who is in distress because of sickness, sorrow, desolation, heart-breaking, something which has broken down the courage and the strength of the individual. And that is the place to begin. You go with this medical missionary ministry into a home where are the old, the weak, the sick, and degraded, and you win their hearts. You minister to their necessity. They recognize that you - although you may be a representative of a very unpopular truth, - yet you are an angel of mercy. They can not turn you away, because you give them fomentations which they need to relieve their plans. They can not afford to close the door upon the gentle ministering servant which comes with this influence, and you win their hearts. You open a way for all the truth that is represented back of it. And the truth which follows in its train will receive a hearing. My faith in humanity is that I believe when men and women get a good square view of this blessed truth, they will love it. I can not believe that people will turn away from it when they come to see what it is, if it is presented in such a way that they can understand it. I believe also that the present phase of this work, for the present needs of the world, the very best beginning for true ministry, is the work of the Medical Missionary Association. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 50.3
L. C. Sheafe: This work appeals especially to me, because it was largely through benefit derived from treatment at the sanitarium, what I learned from its health foods and principles, that fully opened my eyes to present truth; and so I want to say a work in regard to it. In my short experience since I have been in the truth, and the little knowledge I gained while at the sanitarium in regard to treatment and helping people, I have found it to be very helpful as an entering wedge to open the way for presenting the truth. I remember of speaking in a town in the State of Kentucky. A white gentleman came to me after the meeting. I had some charts that Dr. Kellogg gave me, and I was giving lectures from those charts on health principles, and the effect of food, alcohol, and tobacco on the system. He wanted to know what medical school I graduated from. I told him I had never attended a medical school. He said, Does the denomination to which you belong teach these things? I said, Yes. He said, They are the grandest people on the earth. If they show people how to live right, they will be sure to die right. One night, in the city of Lexington, a lady knocked at our door about eleven o’clock, and said, “Elder, will you come over and see my husband, - he is raving.” They had been so prejudiced against us that we could have little to do with them before this. I asked my wife to get down the “Hand-Book,” and she did so, but I could not seem to turn to just what I wanted. The man was the principal of the schools in the city of Lexington, and he had been wrapped up so in his work that his nerves were all unstrung, and he could not sleep. I just asked the Lord to tell me what to do, and it came to me to get some hot water and some cloths, and then some cold water. So the hot water was brought, and I put the hot fomentations upon his spine, and rubbed him well; and while I was doing this, in ten minutes, that man fell asleep. The next morning, about ten o’clock, his wife called to me over the fence, and wanted to know if she should wake her husband, as he had not yet awakened, and I said, No, let him sleep. So he slept until noon. The man said afterward that he had read something of our people, and their methods, but he never before thought there was so much in hot and cold water. He never experienced anything before that brought about such a wonderful change in him as that treatment. There is now a warm place in that man’s heart for our people. I was down in Nelson, Kentucky, and there found a little community of colored people, that had been established by John G. Fee. He brought about a great many reforms among these people, but had not done anything along the line of health. I had an invitation to speak to them. I spoke on the health question, just as soon as I possibly could, and this aroused quite an interest. Mr. Fee himself was there, - he is a man about eighty-two years old, - and he also became interested in the question. He told me that he did not believe that pork was fit to eat, but he had not said anything to the people about it. He admitted these to be true principles, but somehow or other he had not dared to tell his people about them. I think there are only three men out of the forty-four homes in that whole community who use tobacco in any form, and about two who drink any spirituous liquors. Some of them begin to see the light of the Sabbath, so I would say this is one of the strong points in the presentation of the principles of truth to the people to-day. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 50.4
G. E. Fifield: I have sometimes thought we were going too much into specialities. I remember that when I was a boy and used to go fishing, there was one man that always caught more fish than I caught, and I noticed that he always took along different kinds of bait, so that if the bass would not bite, he could put on a different bait, and fish for pickerel. With different kinds of bait, and different hooks, he caught more fish, but it seems to me we should not go too far into these specialities. I will confess that there was a time when I did not feel so much interested in the health work, and perhaps the reason was that I thought there were more dyspeptics among Seventh-day Adventists than among any other class of people I had ever met, - I think now that they ate too much mush. I want to be teachable on all these lines. I have been greatly impressed in the study of the work of the Master, with the fact that he never made any distinction whatsoever between working for the bodies of men and working for their souls. It was all gospel work and all work for the Master; and in the blessed Book we read that when he opens the gate wide open, and says, Come, ye blessed of my Father, and they do not see really why they should go in, he tells them that as they gave a cup of cold water to some thirsty one in his name, and visited some in prison, they did it unto me. It is Christian work to feed a body that is hungry; and wherever there is a soul that is sick, it is Christian work to feed that soul. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 50.5
O. A. Olsen: Since our last conference I have had the privilege of becoming acquainted with the development of this work in different fields. I have had the privilege of knowing about the health reform from its beginning, and I am only astonished that I, with many others, have been so slow to comprehend the light of God in this branch of the work. I went to Africa when the little sanitarium there had been open six months, and I was surprised to find it full, and to see the character and position of the people that were there as guests. Physicians were there, men in high position in the government, members of Parliament, judges, and clergymen. The Dutch Reformed Church has been bitterly opposed to our work. Many of our brethren there have come out of that church; and while we were there, one of their oldest and most esteemed ministers came to our sanitarium as a patient. He had traveled over England and other places to find help, and as the last resort he came to the Claremont Sanitarium. The Lord blessed marvelously in his case, and from the very day that he began to take treatment, he began to improve. Of course it had a wonderfully mollifying effect upon his mind and prejudices. When the doctor told him that an operation would be necessary before he could expect to be well, he said, “Doctor, may I have the privilege of going home on a visit before taking that long treatment?” Of course the request was granted. He went home and remained there a few weeks; and one day as I came into the office, the doctor showed me a letter that this clergyman had written him. He said, “Doctor, you can not imagine what questions they put to me as soon as I got home. They asked me all about your work, and if I had anything to eat, and a pillow to sleep on, and lots of other things. They then wanted to know if your sanitarium was a proselyting institution. I am glad that I can give clear and definite answers to their questions, and I tell them that the institution is in no way proselyting, but in every sense a real Christian home.” What better could he say? After a time he came back for the operation. Just about this time the synod was in session in Cape Town, and he went down and spoke to his brethren about the institution and the help he was receiving. He then asked them to pray that he might successfully undergo the operation, and especially to pray for the institution. Some one remarked that it was a queer thing to have an entire synod praying for our sanitarium, especially when they had been so bitterly opposed to us and our work. When our brethren put up their buildings, many thought that they were altogether too large; but before a year had passed they felt under obligation largely to increase their capacity. There is no minister in that field that is exerting a wider influence for the truth of God than the doctor is right there in connection with his work. We opened our work in Denmark last May with many misgivings. Our methods of treatment were new and but little known, and I did not expect that even our limited capacity would be filled. But in about one month after the institution opened, all our rooms were taken, and have been filled all the time during the summer. When I came away in January, the great perplexity was what to do with the patients who were begging for admission. And who were these? - Ministers, physicians, lawyers, and others in high standing throughout the country. They came to us from Norway, Sweden, Germany, Italy, and other places. It was a surprise to us, and we did not know what to make of it, only that it is God’s work, and it is to accomplish his purposes. God has more for us in this work than we have yet seen. My mind has been greatly enlarged upon this subject within the last two years, and especially within the last year. Health reform to-day is very much more to me than it was a year ago. I see light in it, - a preciousness, a power of God, a gospel power, that I never appreciated before. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 50.6
The Chair: We will now have an intermission of ten minutes. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 50.7
After recess, the meeting was thrown open for further consideration of the subject. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 50.8
R. S. Donnell: I have been a warm advocate of the subject of health reform for fourteen years or more. I remember that I sat down to study the question out for myself, telling the Lord that if he would show me light on the question, I was ready to step out and heed it. I do not know that I can express the thought that I want to get before you; but I know that this question is that which lies at the foundation of the true principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. When men go away from God, adopting the principles that God gives, it works for them the same in wickedness which God intended it should work in righteousness. But the question is, How are we to be sanctified? The Saviour says in his prayer, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” In the Testimonies for the Church 3:162, it is declared positively that if we will give heed to the light which God has given us on health reform, we may be sanctified through the truth. Our lives ought to be filled with this truth. There is a great work for us to do. In that great work God wants a people who will co-operate with him. You know that the Testimonies tell us that the health reform is a part of the third angel’s message, and is just as closely connected with it as are the arm and the hand with the human body. God’s people are not prepared for the loud cry of the third angel. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 50.9
J. N. Loughborough: Brother Butler used to say that “nothing succeeds like success.” The health reform question is coming to be a great success. I have been an advocate of health reform for fifty years, and I know that it has greatly improved my health. In 1863 and 1865 I was here in New England, in what they called the New England Mission. June 6, 1863, Sister White had the first view of this glorious subject of health reform, in Otsego, Michigan. I was in Manchester, New Hampshire, and aside from knowing that she had had a vision, I knew nothing of the light on health reform. But Brother White met me, as I was coughing and clearing out my lungs, and he said, “Brother Loughborough, if you don’t stop that coughing, you will have to hunt for a coffin right away.” Then they gave me some simple instructions regarding the care of my health. Then they told me that we should have a sanitarium. The first man I talked with was the father of J. H. Kellogg. He said, “Brother John, you must take hold of this matter.” I stirred around and said to the people that we must have an institution of this kind. I went to Brother Kellogg and said, “How do you feel about it?” Said he, “I will put in $500, sink or swim. If I sink it, never mind.” We got the thing started, and the question arose in regard to the location of the institution. They said, We want to put that on Judge Graves’s place; that is the nicest place around here. I was asked to go and see him, and the place was finally secured for $6,000. And there the work of the institution began. Now as to the benefits of health reform to myself. I think there is a difference between living on tea, coffee, and pork grease, and such things as that, and getting up and feeling for half a day as if you had a string tied around your head, and getting up without knowing what a pain is. I met a person not long ago whom I had not seen for six years, and he started back and exclaimed, “What ails you?” - “Nothing that I know of.” He said, “What does ail you?” I said, “What do you mean?” He said, “You look younger than you did six years ago.” I thank God for that. What is the matter? - I am reaping the benefits of living out the principles of health reform. I thank God for trying to conform more or less to these principles for over thirty-five years. I think I have had a pretty good test of them during all that time. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 51.1
S. H. Lane: I remember that Brother and Sister White returned from Otsego to Battle Creek, and there gave the first sermons on health reform that were ever given to our people. The servant of God stated to us that the whole world seemed to be presented before her, and from it was torn a mask, or veil, and O, the sickness, sorrow, and misery that she saw! The angel said that a great deal of this did not need to exist, and that there should be preached to the world the subject of temperance. But at that time we had no literature, and a sermon on temperance was an unknown quality, as a rule. We had no sanitarium, and but few were preaching on the subject. The Bible says, “Speak ye comfortably unto my people.” I am going to speak comfortably now for a few moments. I want to say, to the glory of God, I believe there has been more true, genuine health reform among the Seventh-day Adventists during the last two years, than any two years of our existence. I believe there never was a moment when our ministers were so nearly, to a man, vegetarians, as to-day. Health reform is growing very dear to our people. Those hurtful things that we once thought to be comparatively healthful, are discarded. Meat is almost entirely a thing of the past; and as I go among our people, and associate with our ministers, I find they are not indulging in jokes over some radical position that is taken, but are thanking God for them. The time was when our people read the Good Health but very little; but it is growing in favor. I have read it more or less ever since the first number was printed; indeed, I helped print the first number. I remember the first name ever set up on its list; this hand set that name. Again: they have told us why meat-eating is injurious, and have produced reasons, scientific and reasonable, - reasonable because they are scientific, - that no candid mind can set aside. And, brethren, with the sanitariums to-day, with the doctors, with the nurses, and with the grand and glorious truths that are taught in our health publications, if we do not live this thing out, we are without excuse. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 51.2
A. F. Ballenger: I want to confess to this General Conference that for years and years I failed to walk in the light on this subject of health reform. I did not do as well as I knew; that kept me behind the message, and I have been repenting of it from one end of the land to the other. Now I feel more courageous to preach health reform. Do you know why there has not been as much health reform preached as there ought to have been in the past? - Because the people have not lived it. Brother Irwin told me, as I came through Battle Creek, that the thing most needed at this General Conference was unity. Brethren, if we will come up to the light on this question, it will help wonderfully in bringing unity. Now let me say this one thing: let us see to it that our lives are so clean and strong and patient, that we will make the whole world hungry to know why we are so patient. It works terribly against healthful living to have a man who preaches health reform, lose his temper. I want to be so kind in my home, and so patient with my brethren, and so steadfast and unmovable, that the people will want the temperance and the faith, that makes me that way. Let us therefore become a voice to the world, though we need not open our mouths - a voice to the world, speaking louder than any words, recommending these healthful principles to the people. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 51.3
J. W. Westphal: I move that we adjourn. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 51.4
The motion prevailed. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 51.5
ELEVENTH MEETING, TUESDAY, 9:30 A. M., FEBRUARY 21
Prayer by Elder J. A. Brunson. Minutes read and approved. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 51.6
The Chair: We adjourned yesterday during the consideration of the health and temperance work. Elder Corliss has made a request to have the floor, and we will hear him this morning. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 51.7
J. O. Corliss: I have not taken the time of the conference, because I have felt that it was too precious for me to occupy; but when this question of health reform came up, I felt as if I must put myself on record, and let you know some things that have had an influence upon my life and health. I believe that I am a better Christian than I was a few years ago. I think that my older brethren, who have been associated with me for many years, know this. While I would not give undue credit to health reform, I believe that very much of this change is owing to the relation in which I have placed myself toward health reform. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 51.8
When I adopted these principles fully, completely, I had a clearer mind to grasp the word of God, and the truths it contains. My faith grew stronger, and my courage revived beyond anything I had before experienced. With these came returning health; and I have to say to-day that I have not enjoyed better health in the last twenty years than I do at the present time. I think my countenance does not belie my words when I tell you this. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 51.9
I always had an earnest desire to be in harmony with this work, in every part, and be able so to blend all parts of the message that I might teach it more successfully to the world. I was taught, a good many years ago, that the proper method of carrying on tent-meetings was to explain the symbols of the second and seventh chapters of Daniel: then to run down over the symbols of the book of Revelation; and then dwell upon the Sabbath and the law almost entirely, in order to get people to receive a certain theory. I was long dissatisfied with such methods. I found that while I could get a good many people to acknowledge the theory of these things, some way there did not enter into their lives that which I desired to see. When instruction came, telling us that we should blend the health principles with all these other things in our ministerial work, I began to pray most earnestly that God would enlighten me, so that I might be able to know how to do it. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 51.10
I had not been in a series of tent-meetings for some years until last summer. The superintendent of District 1 asked me to go to Ottawa, and I went there. After pleading with God for help, it came to me that instead of dwelling upon one particular feature of our faith until the people began to feel that that was the only thing we had, I should so preach Christ that these things would all blend in him, and that when people came to Christ, they would accept everything of Christ at once. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 51.11
In my early days I reined up the people on the Sabbath, man’s unconscious condition in death, etc. But with every change of subject there came a crisis to the people. Sometimes they would backslide from what they had previously adopted, rather than receive what seemed to them disconnected doctrines. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 51.12
It was quite a study, and I prayed over the matter much. I soon announced that we would give a series of Bible health talks in the tent. I was indeed surprised to see the interest manifested in this matter. I have a set of Dr. Kellogg’s charts on physiology and hygiene. These are so adjusted on rollers as quickly to show the different phases of this subject. I gave Sunday to the consideration of these topics. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 51.13
I began with the text, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” From the charts I was able to show the relation of one part of the human system to the other. You may ask, How did you know these things, if you have never been through a medical school? I have never known anything about the technicalities of medical lore, but I did have the “Home Hand-Book;” and by careful study I found it to supply the very information I needed to give the people. From that, I was able to collate points of instruction, in the same way as we gather Bible points, and crystallize them into doctrine. Then would come the text, perhaps Ecclesiastes 10:17: “Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness!” From the chart again, the combination of foods and their relation to the stomach could be carefully set forth. I also had a supply of health foods on exhibit. At the close of the discourse, the people were invited freely to sample these foods, and make inquiries. This brought me near my audience. These points were dwelt upon Sundays, when the people could attend in force. During the week, a cooking school was held in order to demonstrate the methods of preparing the foods. The reporters of the city papers visited this school, and the daily papers published the principles taught there; and so the whole city became more or less interested. I really never before had an interest like that one, and I attribute it largely to bringing these things to the front, which made the whole truth symmetrical. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 51.14
The interest continued for ten weeks; and the last night of the series, we had the largest audience of the whole time. As an evidence of the people’s appreciation of these things, those in attendance contributed something over twelve dollars a week to the expense of the meetings for the entire time. You see that was an indication that they had been longing for these things, and were willing to pay for all they received; and not only that, but it made them feel better toward our people. They said, “This people are not talking all the time on one doctrine, but they have something that will help our bodies as well as our souls.” GCDB February 22, 1899, page 51.15
With other things we went about hunting up the poor and distressed. The workers entered upon the line of Christian Help work. Day by day they started out with a little hand-bag containing fomentation-cloths, water-bags, etc., and wherever they found a suffering person, they treated him and tried to help him on his feet again. Many blessings from those poor persons were heaped upon the heads of the tent workers. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 51.16
As a result of doing that, those who did come into the truth came with a full understanding of what they were doing; and they understood that there was something practical in all these things, too, as well as doctrinal. There are details that might be entered into in this matter, but I do not feel like taking the time to bring these before you, unless somebody has a question. [Mrs. S. M. I. Henry: Did you announce beforehand the different subjects you were about to speak on?] GCDB February 22, 1899, page 51.17
J. O. Corliss: Yes, after prayerful consideration, little cards about four inches long by three inches wide were gotten out, and on these was announced a list of subjects for the week. These were put in the hands of the people on Sunday night; and they handed them to friends and others, telling them at the same time what wonderful things were being taught at the tent. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 51.18
From that effort I was impressed that there is something more to do than we have ordinarily done to bring people to realize what they must do to be saved, - to get life in them from the very beginning of their Christian experience; to get them to understand that there is a life power that they must have in order to be saved. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 51.19
A Voice: Is not this in harmony with the Testimony that says the health reform shall be the entering wedge, whereby the people shall get hold of the truth? GCDB February 22, 1899, page 52.1
J. O. Corliss: It was that consideration that led me to study the situation as I did, to decide upon the course I took. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 52.2
A Voice: Will you kindly give us some of the material results? GCDB February 22, 1899, page 52.3
J. O. Corliss: I can not give you the exact number of those who stepped out, but I think there were between twenty and thirty. I believe there is something in teaching health reform as a part of the message, and in trying to help the poor, that is better than mere proselyting. This brings the people nearer to the Lord when these things are shown as parts of Christian doctrine. I believe there is light in this method of labor; and if I were to go into the pioneer field again, I should carry it with me. My only regret is that I have been so long in the work without having before learned these principles; and now my soul longs to make known to the young men my experience, that perchance they may be saved from the mistakes which have befallen me in this thing. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 52.4
Judge Arthur: After listening to Brother Corliss, I am constrained to say something more upon this subject, and my apology for trespassing on the time of the conference will appear as I proceed. There was a thought in my mind yesterday that I believe to be of supreme importance, and in direct accord with the remarks of Brother Corliss, which I fear I failed to make clear. I made use of the expression “health reform in its broadest sense.” To define health reform in its widest and most comprehensive sense, there is involved, in my opinion, not only reform of the physical man, but reform of the mental and spiritual man as well. We should find in the Bible the order in which God intends health reform to be applied, and that is what I refer to in addressing this conference. Then let us see if we can get light upon this subject by going to the Holy Scriptures. In the very first chapter of the first book of the Bible, God institutes a diet for man. The method of health reform, if I understand Genesis, was to begin with the physical man, by prescribing for Adam a diet; and before the fall, that diet was a vegetarian diet. It was only when man’s unity with God was destroyed that man ate something else, and then his diet was something else. It was before the one became two, as Professor Prescott puts it, that man had a kingly diet, and this was the diet for the physical man. God did not start with the mental or the spiritual man first. But that did not satisfy man, and so he departed from God’s plan. By this he became weak mentally; so when God needed an instrument through whom to disclose the prophecies which reached us four hundred and odd years before the Christian era, he selected one whose mental and spiritual mind was in a properly receptive state. But he had to fit that instrument to receive these impressions. The person selected was Daniel. Did God begin at the spiritual end of the line with Daniel? - No; he began with the physical condition to prepare Daniel for the great office he was to fill. From this it is seen that God confines himself to certain laws, in order to manifest himself. If he has ever departed from this order, it has been the exception, and for the purpose of distinctly glorifying himself. But I believe that God has not permanently changed the natural order, as at first instituted. Here I appeal to the Bible for my support. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 52.5
Now I want to say that which I believe to be indisputable. When Christ subjected himself to the temptations in the wilderness, it was the human side of Christ, not the divine side, that was tempted. On the divine side he was incapable of being tempted. It was the human side of Christ; and why? - That he might suffer and be tempted as we suffer and are tempted; that his experience might be a lesson and an example to us. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 52.6
Again: when the devil took Christ upon the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “Cast thyself down,” what is the lesson intended to be taught? “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” What was Satan trying to do? - He was practically saying to the humanity of Christ, if you are the Son of God, if God has special care for you, just cast yourself down from here; that is, go contrary to the order of nature, as established by God, violate his laws, to glorify your human side, and he will lift you up. Would God have been glorified by such an act? - By no means. In that event the human side of Christ would have been glorified, and not God. Therefore Christ said to him, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” Christ comprehended the whole situation. He saw in an instant the purposes of Satan, and therefore refused to act contrary to established law. Did it ever occur to you why it was that Christ refused to perform a miracle there, when afterward he performed so many miracles, turning back the order of nature, and changing these laws entirely for the purpose of helping man? It was simply because in the miracles he afterward performed, the Father was glorified; he himself says so. It was the God-part of Christ that was then being glorified, not his human side. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 52.7
There is a lesson to be drawn from all this; and that is, that God intends us to follow the natural order that he has instituted, and plainly revealed in his word. If we undertake to evangelize the world, on the line of the third angel’s message, we must have the preparation that God has provided. We must have the health reform to start with for the benefit of the physical man. With this the mental powers will be clearer to discern God’s eternal purpose, and the use which he has for us in connection with it. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 52.8
Now in doing missionary work along the lines that Brother Corliss has spoken of, the proper thing is to prepare the missionary for his work, by his first applying these principles to his own life. Then his mental and spiritual vision will be cleared up, and he himself can properly convey the message to those who are waiting hungry for it. Then in order properly to impress these principles of truth, it is absolutely necessary, according to God’s order and law, first to apply the reform to ourselves, then to those whom we seek to save. God has taught us in his holy word that this is the only way. And therefore I wish to emphasize it. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 52.9
E. T. Russell: I can say that I am heartily in accord with all that has been said on health reform. I must confess, however, that I have been slow to adopt its principles, - perhaps because the Lord blessed me with a good constitution, that could be abused without resenting the injury. But health reform has proved a blessing to me, and I know it is proving a blessing to our conference. About a year ago we felt that there was a great lack of reform in our conference regarding these principles; so just before our late camp-meeting we prevailed on Dr. Matthewson, of the Keene Sanitarium, to make a circuit of our conference, and talk not only to our brethren, but also before members of the W. C. T. U., and institutions of learning, as the way might open. The doctor labored faithfully, both before and at our camp-meeting; and I can see, as a result, that our people are coming up on this line. Their homes, their tables, have a different appearance: they have been blessed spiritually as well as physically. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 52.10
The Chair: We will now have a recess of ten minutes, after which we will continue this subject. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 52.11
Dr. D. H. Kress: A thought was brought out the other day with reference to the rapidity with which the human family is deteriorating. I think it has been clearly shown that in the course of a series of years, this earth will really depopulate itself if it continues in the present ratio of degeneracy, stimulated by the bad habits of the people. I think I can see, as I look out upon the field, that truly “darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the people.” I was in Detroit not long ago, and went into a restaurant in the attempt to procure a meal. I sat down to the table, and looked over the menu several times; and I was unable to get anything that I really wanted to eat, and I had to lay down the menu. There was not one thing on it that I could possibly eat. I do not believe in eating everything that is placed before us. I think it is a good thing sometimes to go without eating, if we can not get the proper kind of food. I believe in that text which says, When you sit down, consider diligently what is placed before you. A person who is not true to principle in eating and drinking, is simply frustrating all his efforts in attaining a Christian experience, and in developing moral character. But I think that the principal thought which should ever be kept before us is the object of healthful living; it is not the attainment of health for itself, but it is for the attainment of perfection and the Spirit of holiness, which can not be with a diseased body and mind. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 52.12
The other night our work in the slums of the cities was mentioned. Now I have seen drunken men come into our meetings, get down upon their knees, and arise sober men, ever after to live sober lives; but I have never yet seen a man overcome impatience who is a drunkard, unless he is willing to give up whiskey also. We may meet together, and have some of our faults pointed out, - perhaps impatience, or something of that kind. I do not believe we shall gain the victory on these points unless we are willing to give up the causes which bring them about; and this brings us right down to the foundations of the health question - our eating and drinking. I believe we can not raise the moral standard anywhere, whether in the community where we are called to labor, or in our families, unless we begin by correcting our own bad physical habits. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 52.13
I have found that if this truth is properly presented to the people, it is gladly received; for they are hungering for it. I have had physicians and ministers of our own, and of other denominations, come to me, and tell me how they have been struggling along under despondency so great that they were nearly at the point of committing suicide. Upon making an examination, I discovered that they were in a bad physical condition. On inquiry into their habits of living, I found that a great many of them were entirely opposed to the principles of health, and that accounted for the moral state they were in. Simply resolving to do right will never perform it. The rays of light that God has given with reference to these subjects of health and temperance mean much to us; and I believe that Seventh-day Adventists should be the last persons on earth to show a lack of interest in them. Only a short time ago I called at a hospital conducted by the Roman Catholic Church; and in talking with the mother superior, she said she had learned I was a vegetarian; and at the conclusion of our conversation, she said, “Don’t you use fish, either?” I said “No: the little fish and myself are on the most friendly terms.” She thought a moment, and then said: “Well, I would like to live with such a people.” I said that I preferred to live with a person who is kind to the lower creatures, and to everything that God has made than with those of opposite character. At once she began to discard the use of flesh foods, and now the entire hospital is conducted on vegetarian principles. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 52.14
A short time ago a physician who had been spending three or four years working among the lepers in India came to the sanitarium: and while he was there, I had an opportunity to have a conversation with him. He said he would like to get some of our denominational literature. He said he had no doubt that we have the truth. The reason he had no doubt that we have the truth in regard to these other things, is because we have such a grand truth with reference to the health principles. He had studied them, and had seen how greatly he would be assisted in his work by having these principles to carry with him. That man is to-day a vegetarian; more than that, he is keeping the Sabbath, and expects to return to the work among the lepers. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 52.15
A short time ago I had a talk with one of the most successful workers in one of our large cities. He is not a Seventh-day Adventist; but I brought before him some of the principles of health, and tried to show him how our moral development depends on correct habits of living, bringing before him the life of Daniel. “Why, brother,” he said, “I never saw that thing in that light before. Let us get right down on our knees here, and thank God for this light.” We knelt down, and thanked and praised God for the light. That man has been living those principles ever since. People are longing for these principles. They have tried again and again to overcome their infirmities, and they have not succeeded: they have become almost discouraged. I have battled with, and tried to overcome things, for a long time, and could not. But the Lord has given me these principles of health, in order to enable me to overcome. God has no favorites; he is good to all. What God did for Daniel, he is willing to do for us, and for everybody. Every one will have the same work accomplished for him if he will recognize the principles that Daniel recognized. But there is no use of my trying to overcome impatience unless I am willing to forsake the causes which bring about these results. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 52.16
O. S. Hadley: I want to say that less than eight years ago I was a member of the Christian Church. When the beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists were presented to me, including the Spirit of prophecy, I was persuaded that they were led by God; and that was what led me to cast my lot with this people. I soon learned that health reform was one of the main things that was included in the third angel’s message. I thought that as the Spirit of prophecy had directed that, of course Adventists would not theorize about it, but do as was said with reference to the resumption of specie payment by Senator Sherman. He said the way to have resumption was to resume, and I thought the way to have health reform was to live health reform. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 52.17
Therefore, it seems to me that, as Brother Jones has said, each must begin with himself, study this question for himself, and let himself and God settle the question as to just exactly how to live. If I need to know exactly the way, and how to live the health reform, I expect that I shall be guided by the word of God. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 53.1
We have the best things to eat, if we will take them. We should not bring into our lives anything but that which will glorify his name and advance his cause. God wants us to be a peculiar people. He has given us a peculiar message; and he wants us to take advantage of the peculiar salvation of body, soul, and spirit. Unless we accept these things that are revealed to us, we may just as well give up the struggle; for the race can not be run one-sidedly. We must be fully developed men, without angles or corners. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 53.2
G. E. Fifield: This is a very interesting meeting to me. I think we all agree with these principles, but I apprehend that we are in something the same condition as some of the teachers are on the educational question. It is not difficult for a man to carry out these principles at home; but the thing that these delegates want is a little definite, personal experience, to help a man who has a large family and a small purse, and who is away from his family a good share of the time to know how to live them. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 53.3
I. H. Evans: It is evident that the majority of us believe the principles of health reform, though perhaps we do not all understand just alike what constitutes that thing. There are men who make a study of its combinations of food, and all this. Why can we not have these men talk to us, and help us on these lines? Why can we not have Dr. Kellogg come forward and talk to us? GCDB February 22, 1899, page 53.4
The Chair: I should be pleased to have the doctor step forward and speak to the delegates. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 53.5
J. H. Kellogg: I don’t know one thing that I can say unless it is that I haven’t a particle of burden to say a thing. I would be glad to hear from Professor Prescott and Dr. Waggoner on this question of healthful living. They have both been giving talks interesting and helpful at the sanitarium. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 53.6
The Chair: Dr. Waggoner, please take the stand. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 53.7
E. J. Waggoner: I thank God, brethren, that the Lord has taught me something in the last few months, and enabled me to teach something of how to live forever. Until we can see that the doctors and the preachers have only one work, and what that work is, and then go to work doing that thing, there will be trouble. Merely to say that we are agreed in this and that will not avail. It is for the doctors to know what their business is, and for the preachers to know what their business is, and they will find it is all the same business, and then work, each for himself, to carry it forward. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 53.8
What are the preachers for? - The preachers are to preach the gospel of life, the life of Christ. What are the doctors to do? - Oh, a doctor is to help people to live. That is all. I dare say the doctors have made mistakes; but I know, from association with them, that they are learning, and are willing and anxious to learn, and are getting hold of the truth. They have made the mistake that they have not seen to the end of their work. And we ministers have not seen what our work was. We have talked about translation, and have not understood what it meant; and so one has been working on one line, and another on another: we have assumed that we have one line of work, and the doctors another. It is not so. God has given to every man his work: but it is all in the one work of proclaiming life to men who are in danger of going to destruction. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 53.9
When I say the Lord is teaching me something about how to live forever, some may think that is fanaticism. Take this statement from the simple standpoint of the doctor, whose business is to give treatment. What is it for? It is not for the doctors alone to give treatment. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 53.10
All are to work on the plan of clothing the naked; but do not get the idea that you are to clothe him, and then preach the gospel to him; that these good deeds are a sort of bribe to get him nearer to you, that you may rope him in. Get into your own soul the thought that when you are doing this, you are preaching the gospel to him. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 53.11
When a physician gives a person treatment, and the treatment is successful, we say that the man has been helped. But suppose that man, after having had his life prolonged, is lost when he dies? What is the practical good of that treatment? How much real good did the physician do him? Would it not have been just as well for that man to have died at the first? Of course sometimes God uses even evil men for his own purposes; and it may be that he had a purpose in the extending of a man’s life. But what was the real good done to that man by the physician, if he is to be lost at the last? When you and I stand in eternity, ten thousand times ten thousand millions of years in the future, and look back to the five, ten, or fifteen years that a man lived after receiving treatment, will it not seem as if that man died under the treatment? What good did it do him? How do we live at all? What is it that gives us life, no matter who we are? - It is the life of God. How many lives are there in the universe? - There is but one life, and that is the life of God. What is the life of God given to us for? - That we may live it. And how long is the life of God to endure? - Through eternity. What does he let us have this life for? and why does he bear it with us, and with this whole world? - That we may take the life that he has already given, and know that it is eternal life. Then when you lay hold of eternal life, how long is it to endure? - Forever. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 53.12
I read here, “That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.” Do you know what that means? - It means that the life of Jesus, his kindness, his gentleness, his love, should be manifested in our flesh. That is all right, but he does not say sinful flesh. He says that the life of Jesus should be manifested in our mortal flesh; and when that life is dwelling in our mortal flesh, mortality does not have any hold on it. That is not fanaticism; it is a fact, because there are some men who have just that thing. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 53.13
The Jews couldn’t kill Jesus. He said, “I lay down my life.” And when he laid down his life, he was a witness to the truth, and glorified God. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 53.14
Will the use of graham bread, health foods, and other temporal means that God has provided for us, give man the power of living forever? - No. This “is the record that God hath given to us - eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” GCDB February 22, 1899, page 53.15
O, what a coming up there would be if all our people could realize the wondrous possibilities in the life of Christ, if they might realize and appreciate what is in this truth that they profess! “But,” somebody says, “have you never been sick?” - Yes; but can I not preach salvation and freedom from sin because I have been a sinner? Can I not preach the gospel of life, simply because I have been sick? GCDB February 22, 1899, page 53.16
Voice: Do you ever expect to be sick? GCDB February 22, 1899, page 53.17
E. J. Waggoner: No; I expect to live forever. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 53.18
Voice: Is there not danger that that may lead to self-righteousness? I knew a man who was so self-righteous that he was never going to be sick; and the next week the Lord gave him the grippe, and it did him lots of good. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 53.19
E. J. Waggoner: I am not going to be self-righteous, neither am I going to have the grippe to-morrow. I will not say that I am not going to have an attack of the grippe, for I expect the devil will keep at me all the time. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 53.20
Christ was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and he bore our sicknesses. They were all on him. Every disease that he cured, he took upon himself; and he cured all manner of disease, and every weakness. When the woman came to him with an issue of blood, there was a lack in her system. That lack was sickness, disease, the absence of life. What did Christ give her? - He filled up that great chasm by giving her new blood. Where did the life that she received come from? - As large amount of life came out of him as was needed to fill her. So when he took such a part of his own life to fill her, he had all the lack that she had before; but it was filled, nevertheless. So he took the disease, actually, literally. Every disease that he cured, he took upon himself. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 53.21
Now that is what the Lord expects you and me to have, when disease is seeking to get hold of us, and making us believe that we will go under. He will give us power to rise above that. When you and I get it, and know how we get it, we can preach the gospel of health; and we do not have to take a medical course in order to do it. I am not discounting a medical course; but you all can not study medicine, though every one can get this truth so that he can preach the gospel of health. When we are not doing it, we are not doing the thing we ought to be doing. Just as you can not conceive of Jesus’ losing a day’s work from sickness, so it ought not to be conceivable of Seventh-day Adventists’ losing a day’s work from sickness. Be patient, and you will find that there is nothing erratic in this. What I want you to think of is the possibility of the life of Christ being manifest in mortal flesh, and what the result of this would be. What is the life of Jesus? Has he two lives. If not, then the life of Jesus in mortal flesh will do in us what it did in him. The life of Jesus is in mortal flesh, resisting mortality, yet mortal still. Then if the life of Jesus is manifest in our mortal flesh, we shall be in this world the same as he was. Disease will be around us, but it will not hold us. Plagues will come upon this world; but there will be some people at that time, who will be free from every touch of the pestilence. They will not be afraid of the noisome pestilence. Why? - Because they have found the secret place of the Most High, and abide under the shadow of the Almighty; and the devil can not get any hold upon them. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 53.22
The Lord is teaching us. When a brother is sick we should not condemn him. His sickness is no evidence that the Lord does not love him. But still the Lord wants us to learn the possibilities of the gospel to fit us for translation. So without bothering ourselves with some details about this question, let us leave the things that are behind, see what is before us, and for us now. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 53.23
The meeting adjourned at twelve o’clock, with the benediction by A. F. Ballenger. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 53.24
REPORT FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION CONFERENCE
After the work in the United States had been fairly started, God in his special providence directed the minds of his people, first of all, to the continent of Europe, whence this country was chiefly settled. From Europe, as of old, came the Macedonian cry, in response to which our first missionary went thither. Of the old world, Europe takes the lead. Africa has been largely colonized with Europeans, and Asia is fast following in the same way. While Europe is but a little larger in area than the United States, it contains more than five and one half times as many people; but adding to this vast field, Asiatic Russia and Turkish Asia, with northern Africa, which is already worked from Europe, we find that the sphere of the European field includes three times the territory of the United States, and over 400,000,000 people. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 53.25
Acting under the special instruction of the Lord, the last General Conference, in making a division of territory, recommended that this vast and important field be organized into a union conference. In accordance with this action, a general meeting of the leading members in Europe was called at Hamburg for the organization of such conference, in July, 1898. Delegates were present from Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, France, and Russia, Elders Irwin and Moon being present from America. The most striking features of this conference were the Bible instruction, and the reports from the different countries represented, which showed the great needs of this important field. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 53.26
The usual officers - an executive committee of five, with a secretary and a treasurer - were elected, of which Elder O. A. Olsen was made president. It was recommended to organize conferences in the German Mission Field and in Great Britain. Conferences were accordingly held in these parts at general meetings held in Germany and England, shortly after. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 53.27
The reports of the work already opened show encouraging results in all the countries represented, both in increase of members and in funds. Work is now carried on to a greater or less extent in England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Finland, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Italy, Bohemia, Hungaria, Rumania, Bulgaria, Russia, Poland, Turkey, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. Only a beginning has been made in some of these fields, while nothing at all has been done in Spain, Portugal, Austria, Servia, Albania, Macedonia, Greece, and a large portion of Northern Africa. Publications have been issued in twenty-three languages, and the message is being proclaimed by the living preacher in nearly as many tongues. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 53.28
Special attention was given to the medical work, and a general demand made it seem necessary to extend that branch. The opening of the health work in Denmark called for a sanitarium, which was opened May 1, 1898, at Skodsborg, a suburb of Copenhagen, and is a striking illustration of the importance of this work. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 53.29
The Lord’s special blessing was experienced in securing suitable property, and in securing a good patronage immediately after the opening of the institution. Prominent citizens have become most favorably influenced by this work. From Germany, Great Britain, and the Mediterranean came urgent calls to secure physicians, and to start the medical work in those parts also. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 54.1
To carry on the health work in the three Scandinavian countries, the “Scandinavian Philanthropic Society” has been formed, which holds the property already secured in Denmark. The Skodsborg Sanitarium is at present full to overflowing, and our greatest difficulty is to provide room for those who are desiring admittance. Besides this, we are operating a branch at Frederikshavn, and an office has been opened in the city of Copenhagen itself, where we give treatment, but receive no lodgers. Dr. Ottosen, with his faithful corps of assistants, stands at the head of this work, and has his hands more than full. Some beginning in this line of work has also been made at Gothenburg, Sweden, where Brother Carlstrom, a trained nurse, is doing efficient work. We are also starting the same line of work at Christiania, Norway. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 54.2
In the educational line some advance steps have been taken by the Swedish Conference. A year ago a farm was purchased at Nyhyttan, Central Sweden, in order to carry on an industrial school, which is running very successfully. Our publishing work in Europe is now being carried on at London, Hamburg, Basel, Christiania, Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Delsingfors. In all these houses we publish some eighteen different journals in seventeen tongues. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 54.3
During the past year the work in Finland has been strengthened, and a beginning has been made in Palestine and Hungaria. The ship mission at Hamburg has been supplied with a motor boat, and efficient help to run it. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 54.4
At present the European field contains six organized conferences and four mission fields. The three Scandinavian conferences contain each about the same population as some of our larger conferences in America. The British Conference contains a population equal to half of all the United States and Canada, while the Southern European, German, and Russian fields each has a population greater than all of North and Central America combined. The following tabulated report shows the present standing of the various fields:- GCDB February 22, 1899, page 54.5
STATISTICS OF CONFERENCES AND MISSIONS IN EUROPEAN FIELD
| CONFERENCES | Area of Miles | Population | S.D.A. Membership. | Total No. of Workers | Ministers | Licensed Ministers | Bible Workers | Canvasers | Tithe/Member |
| 1.British Conf. | 121,186 | 40,000,000 | 800 | 64 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 41 | 10.67 |
| 2.Denmark | 16,289 | 2,200,000 | 600 | 28 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 20 | 6.64 |
| 3.German Conf. | 599,081 | 112,987,000 | 1,534 | 82 | 8 | 8 | 16 | 50 | 7.84 |
| 4.Norway | 123,200 | 2,000,000 | 611 | 31 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 21 | 6.80 |
| 5.South. Europe | 808,000 | 105,000,000 | 607 | 38 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 24 | 6.92 |
| 6.Sweden | 170,644 | 5,000,000 | 712 | 43 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 28 | 4.45 |
| 7.Finnish Miss. | 144,243 | 2,500,000 | 50 | 10 | 2 | .. | 1 | 7 | 3.69 |
| 8.Iceland | 39,756 | 72,000 | 13 | 2 | 1 | .. | .. | 1 | 6.22 |
| 9.Russian Miss. | 8,515,974 | 130,000.000 | 946 | 14 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 1.74 |
| 10.Turkish Miss. | 1,306,140 | 35,696,000 | 120 | 7 | 2 | .. | 5 | .. | 3.75 |
| _________________________________________________________________________ | |||||||||
| Total | 11,844,513 | 435,455,000 | 6,002 | 319 | 41 | 33 | 48 | 197 | 6.41 |
| Summary in USA | |||||||||
| and Canada | 4,144,186 | 81,792,665 | 50,188 | 1,225 | 323 | 210 | 327 | 365 | 7.30 |
The foregoing table, compared with the summary of the six districts of America herewith shown, will give, at a glance, the greater needs of Europe than of the United States. Our growth during the two and a half years has been, seventy-six churches, 1,831 members, six ministers, three licentiates, and $14,480 tithes. The average tithe for each member has risen to sixty-six cents. Some progress has also been made in nearly every district, in spite of the small force of workers, and many obstacles unknown to the State. We know, too, that with the blessing of God and proper help supplied to the work in that important field, it will soon show still more marked progress. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 54.6
Much more could be said, but I have confined myself to a general outline of the situation, leaving it with the representatives of each division of our field to give more of the details. O. A. OLSEN. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 54.7
REPORT FROM DENMARK
Seventh-day Adventists began missionary work in Denmark under the labors of Elder Matteson, nearly twenty-one years ago. Since that time, Brethren Johnson, Brorsen, Hansen, and others have devoted some time in this field, and the work has grown steadily, but slowly. There are now fifteen churches, with a membership of 600. Six of these churches have schools for their children, in order that they may be permitted to observe the Sabbath, and be under Christian influence. The expense connected with these schools is nearly all met by the patrons. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 54.8
In 1893 a few acres of land at Frederikshaven were procured, and a building was erected for a high school. The first term opened in October, 1894, and had an enrollment of thirty-five adults and twenty-five children. The adults were young men and women from the three Scandinavian countries. Frederickshavn is a very central point for all these countries. One can reach Frederickshavn as easily from Norway and Sweden as from Copenhagen. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 54.9
There is connected with the school a large garden, where the pupils have opportunity for manual labor, and to receive instruction in gardening. Owing to the fact that the school did not fill the large house, nor fully defray the heavy expenses connected with it, there was connected with it a sanitarium. This gives the pupils an opportunity to receive instruction in nursing and Christian Help work. During the year 1898, seventy-one persons received treatment, twenty-six of whom were treated at reduced rates, besides some nearly free. The helpers connected with the institution, including teachers and nurses, number twenty-two. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 54.10
Quite a number who attended one or more years of school are now engaged in some branch of the cause. There have been marked cures of the sick, and this has led the city authorities to render considerable help to the sick poor, who were not able to pay their way while staying with us. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 54.11
At Copenhagen and Svendborg, Christian Help work has been done to some extent. A number of sick have been treated, and the poor fed and clothed. This work is still in its infancy with us, but we find that when we move forward in the lines that God has marked out for us, his blessing follows. This work is partly self-sustaining. During the last year and a half, much interest has been manifested in the medical and philanthropic work. Grounds were bought at Skodsborg, and buildings were fitted up for a sanitarium. Work was begun there in May, 1898, and from that time until December 31 ninety-two patients have been treated, their stay at the sanitarium ranging from three weeks to six months. At the branch office at Copenhagen, fifty-nine have come for treatment while residing at home. The results at both these places have been very good, and we have many times seen the Lord’s hand in a wonderful manner. To his name be all the praise. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 54.12
The family, including the doctor and his wife, nurses, those taking the nurses’ course, and all helpers, numbers thirty-four. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 54.13
The food factory at Copenhagen is doing well. The greatest difficulty is that we can not meet the demands. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 54.14
The value of the property at Skodsborg is $34,946; Frederickshavn, $18,817; food factory, $4,032. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 54.15
The canvassing work is meeting with success. During the last year considerable attention has been given to the circulation of our periodicals. This has reduced the amount of book sales some. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 54.16
The week of prayer was a good time for this class of workers who had gathered at Copenhagen. Courage and hope were expressed by all. The laborers are all of good courage and glad to have a part in the message. The Lord is blessing their efforts, and some are being drawn to him and his truth. We had three general meetings in the fall, with good interest. Elder O. A. Olsen attended these meetings, and rendered much valuable help. His visits later among some of the churches were much appreciated. A spirit of earnestness and devotion has taken hold of many. We find among all our people a spirit of union and harmony with the truth, and an earnest desire to receive instruction, and follow advancing light. M. M. OLSEN. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 54.17
THE GERMAN-RUSSIAN FIELDS
Not until 1886 was work begun in the Russian mission field, and in the German field permanently not till 1889. The territory of the German Conference is not limited to the German empire, with its 52,000,000 souls, but from the beginning the message entered the surrounding countries, and gained a foothold in Holland, Bohemia, Hungaria, Rumania, and Bulgaria. Thus a vast mission field with some 60,000,000 people is attached, and even in Germany proper, we have believers and churches among the Poles, Danes, and Livonians, living within its bounds. All together the work is carried on in twelve tongues. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 54.18
GERMANY
From the very first the aim has been to instruct canvassers, and thus to gain an efficient corps of self-supporting pioneers. Though it took years of struggle and experience to make them thus, God has given the victory, and a number of our sisters to-day are doing very efficient Bible work, even in the largest cities, while at the same time they support themselves by canvassing. There are now over forty canvassers in the empire, their sales reaching over thirty-five thousand dollars the last two years. These faithful pioneers are followed by our ministers, and as we can run no tents, the work is mainly done from fall till spring in rented halls. One city after another has thus been entered, until there are now twenty-five churches in the largest cities of the empire, and fifteen in the country, most of these in Eastern Prussia. Our membership has doubled in three years, and on tithes tripled. At present there are 1,335 Sabbath-keepers in the empire, but we have only sixteen ministers and eleven Bible workers, or one for each two millions. Many difficulties confront us in our work, but we are glad that in spite of all these, the work is steadily advancing. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 54.19
HOLLAND
In this country the largest cities - Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Haag, and Utrecht - have been entered, and four substantial churches organized, with a membership of 111 members. Last December a successful institute was held at Utrecht, where Elder Klingbeil is at work. Twenty were in attendance. One of these was imprisoned for not doing military service on the Sabbath, and his case has come to the notice of the highest officers. There are but two ministers and seven canvassers for 5,000,000 people. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 54.20
AUSTRIA-HUNGARIA
In Austria, with some 22,000,000 people, we have only a little company of six at Prague. Since last summer Brother Himergart labors in Hungaria with good success, and is studying the Hungarian language. A leading journal contained an editorial notice, and this article was not only copied in German journals all over that state, Germany, and Russia, but also in Hungarian and Rumanian journals. Thus millions heard of the truth, even in countries where we have but a mere foothold. There are now thirty Sabbath-keepers in this field, a number of whom await baptism. All our working force for 20,000,000 people is one minister and a few canvassers. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 54.21
RUMANIA
All we have in this kingdom is a German church on the Black Sea, with fifty-two members. We have no permanent laborer in this field. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 54.22
BULGARIA
A little company has been gathered at Rustschuck, and our only worker visits the southern portion, where considerable interest has been created by the little tract, “Which day and why.” GCDB February 22, 1899, page 54.23
EDUCATIONAL WORK
Thus far all we could do in this line has been to hold annual institutes, lasting six to eight weeks. From twenty-five to thirty-five have been in attendance, Elder H. F. Schuberth taking the lead. These general meetings have been a great help in this direction. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 54.24
PUBLISHING WORK
Our publishing house at Hamburg carries on its printing in fourteen languages, and with the growth of our work the business has more than doubled of late. We supply not only German literature for Europe, but also for South America. Our journals have increased from three to five. Four of these are in the German language, one in Dutch. The Herald has a circulation of 17,000, and our Dutch paper 1,800. We have added of late a German health and youths’ paper. Our sales amount to $40,000 in the last two years. We employ now more than twenty-five persons in the office and printing-house. Our profits are being used to the furtherance of the cause in its various branches. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 54.25
SHIP MISSION
Hamburg, being the third seaport in the world, presents excellent opportunities in this direction, and the Lord has wonderfully opened the way before us. At our last conference a resolution was passed to secure a motor boat, in order to carry on this work more successfully. After carefully looking over the ground, such a boat was built at Hamburg for $1,600, and named “Herald.” It is a four-horse power boat, with a cabin. Captain Christiansen, from Norway, was placed in command, and Brother Fintel, who has been a pilot in the Hamburg harbor for twelve years, as assistant. The results already obtained are truly encouraging. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 54.26
MEDICAL WORK
Thus far we have had but one self-supporting nurse in Hamburg, but several are in training at Basel and at Battle Creek. During the last year a German health journal has been begun, and it already has 8,000 subscribers, half of these in Switzerland. We have also several benevolent societies, who are already doing good work. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 55.1
In summing up our needs:- GCDB February 22, 1899, page 55.2
1. An efficient physician, who understands the German and can take hold of the medical missionary work. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 55.3
2. Several young men (Germans), to be trained for ministerial work. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 55.4
3. A young Hollander, to be trained for work in that field. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 55.5
RUSSIAN MISSION FIELD
The work in this great field has, in spite of many difficulties, been steadily extending. While at first the labor was somewhat limited to the German settlements in the far South and East, and few native companies in the same section, during the last two years churches were organized in three of the leading cities, and labor in the fourth has been begun. Some of the members of these churches are Lettonians and Estonians. Two profitable general meetings were held, and nearly all the different parts of the field were visited by general workers. Elder J. Lobsack was made local superintendent of the mission, and was unanimously accepted as such at the last general meeting in Russia. There are at present twenty-eight churches, with 946 members, a net increase of 260 members. The real gain has been much greater, but quite a number have emigrated to America. Tithes have increased over $600. There are at present four ministers and five Bible workers in the field. For years we tried to place the canvassing work on a self-supporting basis. This was not possible, however, until lately. There are now five canvassers in the field, and the sales have recently averaged over $100 each month. One great help has been the fact that we were able to get our first publications printed in the empire itself in the Lettonian and Estonian. Thus our workers can be much easier supplied. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 55.6
Great difficulties face the work in every direction. Some are in bonds, yet we are glad that, on the whole, the work is onward, and the prospects were never so bright as now. As to the needs of this field, they are apparent to every one, when we consider that there is but one worker all told to every ten millions of people. Consecrated help is much needed, men who are willing to sacrifice all in the work of saving souls. L. R. CONRADI. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 55.7
To see eye to eye requires that we should stand face to face, - that is to look in each other’s faces; and, gazing in each other’s eyes to see ourselves imaged there. By thus seeing ourselves, we are not inclined to criticize. Seeing eye to eye brings unity and harmony. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 55.8
A man should always profit by reproof and criticism. If he has profited, then he is very foolish in being angry at receiving that by which he has profited. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 55.9
BIBLE STUDY. DANIEL AND NEBUCHADNEZZAR. Synopsis of Lesson by A. T. Jones
The Discipline of High Position - Nebuchadnezzar, His Soothsayers and Astrologers - God Reveals Himself to the King - His Confession and Its Publication - A Public Proclamation - Belshazzar Ignores His Father’s Experience - Contrast Between Alexander and Nebuchadnezzar. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 55.10
Yesterday morning when the time closed we had just noted the phases of wickedness that ruined Jerusalem and Judea, and caused the desolation of the land and the captivity of the people, - violation of all the commandments under the forms of godliness, even the forms which the Lord himself had appointed; the oppression of the people by the rich, robbing the poor and the hireling; disregard of the Sabbath; exaltation of sun-worship, and despising of prophesyings. These things were not simply carried on in the world with the people of God protesting, but they were practised among the professed people of God. These are the characteristic sins of the last days, too, that will cause the desolation of the land again, and the everlasting captivity of all the people, except those whose names are written in the book of life. The third chapter of Timothy gives you all manner of wickedness, practised under the form of godliness without the power. The fifth chapter of James shows the oppression of the hireling in his wages, and the robbery of the poor; and that is not all done outside the Seventh-day Adventist denomination. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 55.11
Thus at the very beginning of the book of Daniel, we have one of the great reasons for giving the book, and especially giving it for this present time. I need not go any further in the details of these phases of wickedness. Each one of them is important to be remembered by each one of us; because it was the religionists by whom these things were carried to such a height, and who swept away all the people. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 55.12
I would call attention again, however, to the fact that even the forms of religion, which the Lord himself has ordained, are of no account whatever without the Spirit of Jesus Christ in the heart. A man may go straight to perdition practising all the forms of religion which God himself has ordained. These forms are worse than worthless unless the thing is in the life, of which the forms are the expression. All that the forms of religion are worth, all that they were ever ordained for by the Lord, is that they are to be expressions of something that is in the life, which comes into the life without the form, and independent of the form. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 55.13
People speak of these as “means of grace;” they are no such thing. The only means of grace is the gift of God, and the faith which he has given to receive it. But when we have received the grace of God, the power of Jesus Christ in the life, the forms which God has appointed are beautiful expressions of that which is in the life. When these forms are but the means of expressing the grace, and the power of the grace, that is in the life, then there is power in these things as means of witnessing to the people, and calling their attention to God. So what the Lord wants every Seventh-day Adventist to do is utterly to despise and hate every form of religion, unless the religion itself is in the life to begin with. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 55.14
This is all expressed in that word of the Saviour: “Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt.” Jesus Christ would rather have nothing but a corrupt tree, making no pretensions to anything but corruption, than to have a crossing of things, - being corrupt and pretending to be otherwise; being irreligious, and having the forms of religion that tell people that we are wonderfully pious. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 55.15
We should dread such a thing as we dread the curse of God. We should utterly hate such things, because they subject us to the curse of God, because the iniquity in the life only incurs the curse; and these other things, - the forms of religion, bolstering ourselves up with this, saying, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, are we, - all such are witnessing to a lie before the world. The Lord says, “Ye are my witnesses.” Witnesses testify to the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Then the truth must be the first thing of all to receive. Nothing but the truth is ever to be looked for, nothing is to be used that does not minister the truth to us. Then when we have only the truth, the beautiful symbols and ordinances which the Lord has ordained are a means of conveying to people who do not know the Lord the goodness of God. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 55.16
Nebuchadnezzar is one of the great characters of the Bible and of all history - one of the greatest characters of Christianity. We will now take a view of the kings of the book of Daniel, and see what the Lord teaches us by this, - what we may gather from the great truth that “the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will,” and why he gives it to the people. This does not begin with Nebuchadnezzar. There are instances of it before his time; but his is the chief instance in which God’s purpose of bringing a man to a high place met its purpose to the full. The Lord brought Nebuchadnezzar to the kingdom for the only purpose for which he ever brings any man to the kingdom, - that which he told Pharaoh, “That I might shew my power in thee.” Nebuchadnezzar did not know the Lord when this occurred. He was brought to the kingdom; but he was willing to know the truth and righteousness. And even though he had not been willing, the Lord would have given him the chance to know; for the object of the Lord in bringing men to high places is that they may know him, and that his power may be manifested in them. Whether it be in the church or in the world, whether in the organization of the church or in the organization of the state among wild nations, the only object God has in bringing a man to a high place is that he may know God, and that God and his power may be manifested in him. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 55.17
[E. J. Waggoner: And that he may have a greater opportunity of making God known?] GCDB February 22, 1899, page 55.18
Yes; That God brings a man to a high place is not evidence at all of the man’s goodness, but rather of his need of goodness. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 55.19
I repeat: that the Lord brings a man to some high place is not evidence that the man is possessed of goodness, but that he has a great need of the goodness that he can get only by that means. The Lord wants that man to be saved; he employs the only means that will save him. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 55.20
The Lord said to Pharaoh, “For this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power.” Pharaoh would not let the Lord make known his power in him, and he made it known outside of him and upon him. But the Lord put Pharaoh in the channel in which God’s wisdom, power, and greatness could be revealed to him in a way that it could not possibly be otherwise, in order that he might know God and be saved; and Pharaoh would not have it. The power of God was manifested just the same; but Pharaoh lost all the good of it. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 55.21
Saul was called to be king of Israel. He was another man whom God put in the channel to the fulness of the knowledge of the glory of God; but Saul made the mistake of thinking that because he was there, and God recognized him in that place, this was evidence that he was all right, and that he could get along without so very much of the Lord, - that he need not follow the Lord particularly, - and so he lost it. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 55.22
The Lord appointed Jeroboam to be king of the ten tribes. The Lord had a design in separating the ten tribes from the two. We can never know what it was unless the Lord reveals it especially; it never was allowed to be made manifest back there. For the good of the world, and for the good of Israel, God separated the ten tribes from the two, and he called Jeroboam to be king of the ten. God had something for Jeroboam, for the ten tribes, for the church, and for the world; but neither the world, nor the church, nor the ten tribes, nor Jeroboam will ever know what this was until all see it in the light of eternity, because Jeroboam made the mistake that thousands of men have made, of concluding that because the Lord had called him to that place, that was evidence that he was all right; that was evidence that the Lord chose him because of his goodness, and of his great wealth and understanding, and he exalted himself instead of the Lord. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 55.23
Thus the Lord chose Jeroboam to be king of Israel. Solomon was yet alive. Jeroboam could not wait the Lord’s time, so he lifted up his hand against the king to seize upon the power. Solomon resented it, and Jeroboam had to flee to Egypt to save his life, and he dwelt there until Solomon died, when he came back. The division was already planned. It would have come out all right if everybody had let the Lord have his own way; but they could not wait. Jeroboam became king. That was right enough, but even then he could not let the Lord have his way: Jeroboam must usurp the place of God, - take everything into his own hands, and carry it utterly contrary to everything the Lord ever designed; and forever after that, the record stands, “Jeroboam the son of Nebat; who sinned, and who made Israel to sin. What a splendid thing it would have been if Jeroboam, like David, had awaited God’s time; and it might then have been written, Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who glorified the Lord and taught the people to glorify God! That might a great deal better have been written than what is written. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 55.24
That is the mistake that people make; the Lord chooses men; but these men make the mistake of their lives when they take to themselves credit, and say that it is because of their goodness that God chose them. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 55.25
David was also chosen of the Lord. Saul was yet king; but David waited, saying, God has made me king, and let him bring the kingdom to me himself. Saul hunted him for his life time after time; but always in that, David would flee like a partridge to the mountains, and dwell in dens and caves, right in the dominion which was all his own, waiting the Lord’s own time. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 55.26
At last, when David had fled, and fled, and fled, until he had exhausted every resource of Saul, and demonstrated that he simply would not move a finger in defense, nor try to resent this thing, and take the place for himself, then the Lord turned the tide, and tried him on the other hand: he put Saul into David’s hands. Now the Lord simply turns the thing around, and after that, every time Saul was in David’s hands. David was in a cave, and Saul came in and sat down, and the men in the cave whispered to David, Now is your time. This is what God said should come. He would give your enemy, into your hands, and you shall do what you will. God had said to him I will give your enemies into your hand, and you shall do what you will. And when God put Saul into his hand, David did exactly what he would; that is, doing kindness [Voices: Amen. Praise the Lord!], after God’s own heart. Yes, sir. There is a blessing in that for every one of us. Brethren, let God do what he will with you and me. What will he do? Suppose I be wicked; suppose I be sinful; suppose I be overwhelmed altogether with evil-doings, let me fall into the hands of God, and let him do what he will. I am all right; for he will do only good. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 55.27
There is more than one secret in that statement of Paul when he said he was chief of sinners. Then there was another step, and that was for the Lord to reveal himself; and when the king went to kill the wise men, and Daniel was counted among them, you know the outcome of that. Daniel was brought in before him, and told the king that there is a God in heaven who reveals the secrets and makes known to King Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days; but he told him it was not by any wisdom that he had. In the great things of the second chapter of Daniel, God revealed himself to the king, and the king acknowledged him; but still he had not learned all.
(To be continued.)
GCDB February 22, 1899, page 56.1
“He feared man so little because he feared God so much.” GCDB February 22, 1899, page 56.2
THE FEAST OF BELSHAZZAR
Address by Elder Lewis Sheafe, the Evening of February 18. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 56.3
Description of Babylon - The Royal Feast - The Hand-writing on the Wall - The Wisdom of Daniel - “The Son Knows Father’s Hand-writing” - Practical Conclusions. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 56.4
“Who is a God like unto thee?” Great and marvelous are the ways of God, and his hand, even in the closing hours of this nineteenth century, is upon the nations, and the kingdoms, the people and the individuals; and I am glad that my God is equal to these days in which we live. Sometimes we think that the times have gotten beyond God, that the Lord can not grapple with them, but this is not true. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 56.5
In the fifth chapter of Daniel, there are some lessons for the day in which we live. The announcement is made in the opening verse that Belshazzar made a feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. This was a great feast, because Babylon was a great city. Belshazzar was a great king, and this was a great day. Babylon stood in that day as did Egypt in the time of Joseph, at the head of civilization, the center of science and art, surpassing any city that was ever before it, or has existed since. God speaks of it as “the lady of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldean excellency.” GCDB February 22, 1899, page 56.6
It was a wonderful city. It lay four-square, fifteen miles on each side. Its walls towered up 350 feet, were 87 feet thick, and were penetrated by huge brass gates at the end of each of the twenty-five streets that went through the entire city east and west, north and south. Through the midst of the city flowed the great river Euphrates, bringing cheer and health and strength to its inhabitants. There were also the great palaces of the king on either side of the Euphrates, connected by a subterranean passage, one of them covering an area of eight acres. Then there was the temple of Belus, in which was the golden god of Belus, worth $100,000,000. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 56.7
All these things made Babylon haughty, proud, and independent, and what did she care for Cyrus, whose army lay outside her walls. She had within the city provision to last for twenty years, and in the hanging gardens acreage sufficient to produce food for an indefinite time. Babylon in her pride defiled men, and down in her heart defied God. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 56.8
As it was then, so it is now. The flood tides have rolled on, the sun rises and sets, the stars shine out, the moon holds her place, and as then, so now, God looks down. Will things always be the same? I am glad that there is a God in heaven. He has his hands upon the nations and the peoples and the individuals, and when he says, “Halt,” they will stop. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 56.9
In this great Babylon, with all its greatness, its pride and iniquity, there moved that man Daniel, and yet his garments were untarnished. Can you feel that he moved alone? No, sir. Daniel’s God was with him through it all. Why didn’t God take Daniel out of those surroundings? Daniel was just where God wanted him to be; and when a man is just where God wants him to be, the thing for him to do is to stay right there, no matter what the surroundings are. If you are where God wants you, there is no place in the universe so fit for you as there, and it is a good thing to find our place [Voice: And keep it, too]. Yes, keep it, - that is right. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 56.10
At this great feast Belshazzar desired that all fear should be removed from every heart, and that praise be given to the gods of gold and silver, of iron and wood and stone, who they said had given them victory. The walls of the banqueting hall on that eventful night were gilded and adorned as they had never been before. Rich tapestries hung from carved columns, the tables were laden with the delicacies of the season, the lights were high, the women were beautifully decorated, and the scene looked more like a veritable garden of Eden as beauty, wealth, and power were displayed. High upon a platform Belshazzar himself was seated, and methinks angels looked down to weep tears of pity for the blindness, wickedness, and hardness of heart of the people. Belshazzar had forgotten the lesson that Nebuchadnezzar learned and the acknowledgements made by him that the God of heaven alone is God. Many to-day forget the lessons yesterday. We forget, too, that there will surely come a reaping time, for God has said, “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Belshazzar had sown, and the harvest was coming on apace. When the feast was at its height and the glittering jeweled vessels of gold from the temple at Jerusalem had been brought in and put upon the tables, the king raised one of them to his lips to drink to the health of his lords. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 56.11
The limit of God’s mercy was now passed, and his doom was sealed. There was no loud thunder burst, no lightning crash, no earthquake, but out of the stillness, out of the sleeve of darkness, God put forth a hand, and Belshazzar saw that handwriting on the wall. Instantly his thoughts troubled him, and his countenance paled; for he had a guilty conscience. His loins loosened, and his knees smote together. All faces turned pale; women fainted, and a rush was made to flee from the place. A call was made to stand by the king, and at once a demand was made for the wise men, the soothsayers, and astrologers to come in and read the writing; but none of them were able to do it, though the third place in the kingdom, and great riches were promised as a reward. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 56.12
Finally the queen mother came in and told the king that there was a man, a Hebrew of the captives of Judah, who could read the writing. Then Daniel was brought in before the king, who said to him, “I have heard of thee, that thou canst make interpretations, and dissolve doubts: now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed in scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom.” Daniel answered and said, “Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another. I will read the writing unto the king, and make known unto him the interpretation.” In a few words Daniel gives the history of Nebuchadnezzar, and then he said, “And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this, but hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven.” What an awful thing it is to fight against God! It don’t pay - the odds are too great against the man who does it. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 56.13
Then Daniel proceeds to interpret the hand-writing: “God hath numbered thy kingdom; thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting; and thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.” The king was true to his promise; for he commanded that Daniel be clothed with scarlet, a gold chain put about his neck, and a proclamation issued to make him the third ruler of the kingdom. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 56.14
So when these great unfoldings of God’s providence came to hand, when the hand-writing of God appeared on the wall, God had a man who could read his hand-writing, no matter how dark and mysterious it was. The nations to-day have the same book, and the same lessons are there for them, but they do not understand them. It is clear and plain, but they do not see it. Only the son of God can read Father’s handwriting, because he becomes familiar with Father’s handwriting. I am glad to-night that we have become familiar with the handwriting of our Father. Then, too, remember that God always has a man for the occasion. The times have never been so dark in iniquity and sin, but that God has had men to raise up and give the message the Lord would have given. Daniel was where God wanted him, and God wants you to fill a specific place in the world. Happy are you if when God calls you, you be found in your place. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 56.15
Daniel read the writing. How awful the sentence: “Thy kingdom is numbered and given to the Medes and Persians.” We sometimes tremble when the truth of God has to be told to the people. Daniel might have withheld the truth, but he could not do so and remain true to God. He must also be true to the man before whom he stood. God had spoken, and the responsibility and result of speaking the truth lay with God, not with Daniel, and God took care of the consequences, and of Daniel, too. This he will do for you and me when we fearlessly tell the people the truth for this time. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 56.16
The decree had gone forth from God that the proud city of Babylon should fall. Cyrus knew of this annual feast, and that the people would probably be given up to drunkenness and revelry, and so he planned to take the city at that time. First the river was turned from its course into a great artificial lake, and as soon as the river was low enough, soldiers entered its bed from two different directions, and before the people were aware of it they were in the very midst of the city, and Belshazzar was that night slain vainly fighting for his life, and the kingdom was given into the hands of the Medes and Persians. Thus closes the wonderful history of that head of gold on the symbolical image of the second chapter of Daniel. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 56.17
Down the line of that image we have come, kingdom after kingdom has arisen and passed away, powers have come and gone, and here we are away down in the feet and toes of this great symbol that Nebuchadnezzar saw. The next great scene in the drama is when the stone shall be cut out of the mountain without hands, and God says it shall strike that image on its feet and grind it to powder to scatter it as the chaff of the summer’s threshing-floor, when the stone will become a great mountain and fill the whole earth. May the Lord hasten the day when that kingdom of glory shall be set up, and the ransomed shall be gathered, the number of which, John said, no man can number. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 56.18
God said of Belshazzar, “Thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting.” God weighs actions, purposes, and thoughts, and the motives that actuate men. Samuel was impressed with the physique of Eliab, but God was not at all impressed with it, for he looked down into the man’s heart, don’t you see? Sometimes we are proud of our humility. Don’t you know we are? Pride is pride, no matter in what phase it appears. O, that God would teach us the lesson of true humility. “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest to your souls.” Have you soul-rest? Is God weighing you every day? How do you stand? God holds the beam of the scales. In one side is his divine law, and into the other he invites us to step, where we may be accurately weighed. Remember that in the judgment, it is God that holds the beam - not man - and so we are sure that the decision of Jehovah will be just. Every soul must acknowledge this. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 56.19
But what an awful thing it will be to be weighed and found wanting. Too light! too light! When God puts his law on one side, and us on the other, unless we have Jesus Christ in his fulness, we will be too light. Oh, that all may be this night complete in him - he in us and we in him! GCDB February 22, 1899, page 56.20
We can praise God to-night for such a Saviour as Christ, for the sufficiency of his grace, for the boundlessness of his love, for his infinite compassion, which goes out toward all. And like the captives of Judea, let us seek the peace of the land where we dwell. Are you praying that God will give understanding to the men who hold the helm in this land? We are admonished to pray for those in authority, and in Jeremiah 29:7 we are commanded to “seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried captives, and pray unto the Lord for it; for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.” We need peace in which to tell the people that Jesus is soon coming. Then, too, if there was ever a land that needed the prayers of God’s people, the United States of America is that land. If ever there was a time when we needed to pray for it, that time is now. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 56.21
Let us earnestly draw near to God, that we may, out of the abundance of his great heart of love, bestow upon us his peace - that peace that passeth all understanding; that peace that flows like a river, so that when the testing time comes to us, we will, like Daniel of old, stand the test, and our names be found written in the Lamb’s book of life, and we be found ready to enter the goodly land when the Saviour appears. 57 The Daily Bulletin Of the General Conference “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Luke 2:14. GCDB February 22, 1899, page 56.22