kt„,,,,,immiouiwmffio.thuom.......omtffim.,.....mnw....omu.m..mwimcooioimuuum,...3.m...r.tmmimmmca..Hmmotmmmn.......iomunimionmmm.f i � E a E- � a i ® Eastern Canodan . :6. „...: {1 :-... 2 � ; .... � ; � . rg Y. � E. a' � .4 i � Mesv s-.4,-toi g..---er � i ▪ VOL.17 � No. 50 � Ei = a � a -2 � a = _ � - jpmiiminomintintimumitommmiiimiraunimmoniiminiontimminimmummilimmoimutimionimumitComiliciiitonliminntimunoinumminmitiumanimuirOmintiummilmiciiniummilloimimuntimminiaminum34, vinisseva: � OSHA WA, ONTARIO, DEC. 18, 1917 The Halifax Disaster When the explosion occurred which wrought such fearful havoc in the city 3f Halifax on the morning of December six, we were on board the Maritime Express en route to Halifax to buy a boat for our col- porteur work in Newfoundland. We were only a few hours' ride from the city at the time of the accident. The first meager report of the calamity reached us at Amherst, N: S., where our train was de- layed for an hour waiting for a company of doctors and nurses and. quantities of blankets, bandages and medical supplies that were being sent for the relief of the suffering. All along the line doctors, nurses and weeping men and women who had friends and rein_ Lives in the stricken city crowded into our train which made such slow progress that it was night before we arrived at our destination. Long before reaching the city we could see the lurid glare of the burning ruins against the inky heavens, and when ten miles out we began to notice the broken'windows. At the out- skirt of the city our train was brought to a standstill by piles of debris thrown across the tracks. Carry- ing our heavy luggage we groped our way in the dark- ness amidst the wreck and ruin. The air was filled. with a sickening odor of burning flesh. Autos and wagons were hurrying to and fro as best they could with their loads of dead and wounded. Arriving at Elder Chapman's home I was thank- ful to find him and his family alive and uninjured though every window in their house had been shattered and doors splintered. They were all seated in the dining room having.family worship when the crash. came. Flying glass and other wreckage fell in heaps around them and yet they all escaped without as much as a scratch or a bruise. Surely the protect- ing hand of God was over them. Shortly after my arrival Elder Chapman and I went down to a large nearby hospital to visit a wounded sister. The awful scenes we there saw I would gladly erase from memory if it could only be done. Every available space in the institution was filled with the wounded, the dead, and the dying. The beds were full, the floors in the hallways, rooms and everywhere were covered with the sufferers ly- ing on mattresses or heaps of rags. Everything was soaked with_ blood. All had been cut and gashed by flying glass and bruised or crushed by falling timbers. Many were mangled and mutilated beyond recogni- tion; their faces like pieces of raw meat with eyes gone, noses cut off, and ears missing. Many too, had been fearfully burned by fires that broke out in their wrecked- homes. Doctors and nurses were working to the point of exhaustion setting broken limbs, ex- tracting glass, splinters a,)d plaster from wounds, cut- ting, sewing, cleaning and bandaging, while men, women and children came and went in search of mis- sing loved ones. The moans and shrieks of the suf- fering were heartrending. The hospital itself pre- sented a sad picture with every window broken and bed blankets, window shades, tar paper and old boards tacked up to keep out the cold wind and driv- ing snow. Early the next morning, in the face of a raging blizzard that added to the misery and wretchedness of the people and rendered rescue work well-nigh im- possible, we set out in search. of our people, the ma- jority of whom had resided in the complete!y devas- tated section. , The seeires that greeted our eyes at every turn baffled description. In one brief mornent the once fair Halifax had been laid in ruins. Hum- ming factories, bulging warehouses, busy shops and conifortabl6 homes had been razed to the ground and every bdilding in the city damaged: In an instant from one to two thousand lives had been snuffed out and thousands more wounded, many of them blinded, crippled and maimed for life. Shortly after the ex- plosion fires broke out among the ruins and soon a large area of the city was a veritable lake of lire. Scores, if not hundreds, of bodies of men, women and children. pinned under the wreckage, many of them alive, were destroyed by the flames. We saw men 2 � EASTERN CANADIAN MESSE1V GER Who had escaped digging in the ashes of their honies for some trace of their families, some found their charred remains, others found Only the ashes while still others found not a thing. At the morgues we saw the dead by the hundreds. In one corner was an unidentiiied � (»nail and her four children. The husbatid and father had undoubtedly been killed at his work and was perhaps in the same morgue but there was no one left who could toll. What realai Bs of Nova Scotia's proud metropolis is a scene of desolation. � Practically every window in the city is broken, churches and schools are un- roofed and here and there throughout the city are buildings with walls knocked in or out. Ca Hoods of tar and roofing paper have been nailed up over the demolished windows and doors. .As sow' as news of the catastrophe' spread over the country, train loads of supplies were dispatched to the stricken (pit,;, for the relief of the stifferiog. After a search of two or three dayi.,. we were able Lo locialie all or our people and \e are glad to say that with the exception of one little baby girl w ho was still missing when we left all are alive :Jed most of them uninjured. This is marvelous, espcciall3 so in view of the fact that the majority of � lived ill the section where every house was thzistrro ed. The\ all feel that. the Lord miraculously dolt ve!-ed i hem and they are praising God for his protection and care. When viewing such scenes of disaster we are forcefully impressed with Lire rzlet that the judg- ments of 00d are abroad in the laud and we are also reminded of the words of the Savionr when he said, "Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, aid slew them, think ye that they were sinners above ail men that, dwelt in Jerusalem ? I tell you Nay: hot, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. � A. V. OLsoiN. School and M. V. Societies in Maritime It -affords considerable. pleasure to he able to re- port progress along the M. V. and Educational lines of work throughout the Union. Although this has been a hard year and it seemed at times as though some of the church schools would not pull through, all of them are doing nicely and prospering. On a recent trip to Maritime I visted Williams- dale, Oxford, Halifax, Moncton and St. John, and on the way back, I stopped at Montreal. it seemed good to retnrn to Williamsdale. It was the first Lime I had been back since serving -on the faculty during the year 1014-15. � I was pleased Co note the several improvements that have been made recently. The two new cottages make a line-addition to the school property. � All the buildings are now supplied with running water of exceptionally good quality. I noticed that the library is gradually assuming proportiens. A little more work and expense will put an excellent working library at the disposal of the students,. thereby enabling them to do even better class ork. The new laboratory equipment had just, arrived and, judging from the intense interet shown, this class priPably become ono of the most popular classes in the sehool. � These are hoe young people fit digs school Wit 11 their eye's �tO\Vard the Millifitry. Bible oi � teityhing and nursing, mid we look for grew_ tAtiogs flow them. Brother and Sister Martin, the new nleillber, Of the faeulty, are (king geOd work and seem to have the coniidence of the good people of Maritime. � I was glad of the opportunity I had of visiting in the homes of it number of the students, and was much impressed by the willingness with which the parents sacrificed to keep f heir boys and girls in sehool. From Williamsdale I went to Ilidifox. � rrhere met an earnest working church. \Ve hail good young people's meetings and an excel ledt interest was shown in the elnirelt school work. The cherch decided that they would esttiltlisli tl. church i..!ehool i hove next Sep- tember, so that their children might ire' taught in a Christian school by a Christian teacher, who, Sister W hite � "As :t Chrhstinn � te:ic!l) the children to be missionaries. At St. JOho they have a line company or young people and cloldieo. They are going to rev ioe their M. V. work and ore ztlso hie tug plans for the establish- ing of a church there ne;;t fall. This church has sent out a num � or young men and women into the Lord's vineyard and I trust that many of the boys and girls now in the work of God. We had ti good ineeting at Moncton. Tile.ce is a • stronv, desire 1.;,r a church �there. � if the church can see the way financially, they \Yili start one. 1 aril Stir(' 'Lica, as the God in whom we trnSt lifts all tire ‘vcalth of the world at his command, there will be no lack of funds for this worthy object. The members of each of these churches ATV :111X.10111-; to have no one but a thorcughly converted teacher sent to them. � I trust that, we shall not disappoint, them. At Montreal ve have a lively M. V. Society. Many are catering heartily into all the phases of M. -v. work. Just as soon as conditions are favorable, they hope to have a church school. There' is "the sound of a going'' in our' church, but the world pulls hard and insistently on our youth. Let us ask ourselves if we are doing all that we can and ought to do for the boys and girls. Let us pray- God to give us willing and earnest hearts and a deep devotion to the salvation of our young people, that it may be our happy privilege to meet them all berme the throne of God in his soon-coming kingdom. N. H. SAUNDERS. EASTERN CANADIAIV MESSENGER MARITIME • •-....-......................-4.-.......... .1.- ••••-• The "Testimonies" _Chat in everything ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; even as the testi- mony of Christ was continued in you: so that, ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coining of the Lord Jesus Christ." I Col'. 1: 5-7. "The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to Make war •with time remnant of her seed, which keep the corn DI m en ts of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." ''1 fell at his feet to worship him. And be said onto me, See thou do it not; I a:11 thy fellow-ser- vant of thy brethren that have the testimony of Je- sus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is f he spirit of prophecy." Rev. 19:10. "Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the kW, happy is he." Prov. 29: 18. These few soriptures show us sun1c w hat or t he importance of having the testimony of jesus, or spirit of prophecy, not only as a people but as indi- viduals., that each individual may have in his own possession what God has said to his people through this gift, by having in his library the "Testimonies for the C11111.013." Many have felt that they would like to have theta but where would the means come from to purchase them. leannot express how thankful I that. our brethren in the Eastern Canadian Union have devised a simple means of helping the brethren and sisters to obtain the "Testimonies." The offer made through the MESSENGER dated November i 3 is a liberal one and the means or raising the amount re- quired is within the reach of all. Even the children can sell such books as the "World War" and thus help to get the"Testimonies" in their home. The "Testimonies" will be a great help to God's children under these trying circumstanees under which they are now placed. How min+ better we would now be prepared if all had been reading them and heeding what they say! But it is not too late. Than1Z God he will still hear the cry of his children. "Prayer moves the arm of omnipotence. lie who marshalled the stars in order in the heavens, whose word controls the waves of the great deep . . . the same infinite Creator will work in behalf of his peo- ple if they call upon him in faith. He will restrain the forces of darkness until the warning is given to the world and all who will heed it are prepared for the conflict." � Vol. V. Test. 32. p. 453. Never was there a time when God's children were in greater need of help and divine wisdom. "War lifts his helmet to his brow; 0 God, protect thy people now." I know of no book or books outside of the Bible that will furnish the help we need as will the"Testimonies." Brethren, you who have the "Testimonies," take them from your shelves and read tbein. Toil who have not the "Testimonies," take advantage of this liberal offer. I hope every Sabbath keeper in this Union will avail himself. of this opportunity. The Maritime Tract Society has on hand quite a number of "World War," "Armageddon," "Shadow of the I3ottle," and when these are sold - we will get more. The same offer as made by the Canadian Pub- lishing Assn., is made by the Maritime Tract Society and we will expect those living in Maritime to order through their local society. Get the "Testimonies" and read them? � J. L. WILSON. Present Truth Beginning January 1918, Present Truth will be changed to a mont lily, and the price of Canadian sub- scriptions ‘will be twenty-five cents a year. This will be in addition to the series now published known as the Present Truth Series. The forecast for 1918 shows a list of strong, timely topics that will be a help to our people and will raise questions in time minds of non -believers that will help to interest them in this great truth. We give below a list of suggested topics of the vari- ous issues month by month: January—The World in Ferment. February—Atter the Wtq—Witat? March—Armageddon— The Last Great Battle. April—Prophecy Fulfilled mid Fulfilling. May—Signs of the Times. June—Christ's Second Coming. July—The Sabbath. August—The Change of the Sabbath. September—The Last Gospel Message. Outober—The Sanctuary. November'--The Judgment. December—The Reward of the Saints. We do not wish our readers to confuse this new publication of Present Truth with the Present Truth Series. The Present Truth Series consists of 24 numbers that will take its place with the others of our tracts such as Words of Truth Series, etc. The present series of 24 numbers will be kept on hand for missionary work and the old prices will prevail. The numbers and titles will be unchanged. The new paper will he called Present Truth, the same name that was given it when it first appeared in 1840. We feel that our people should respond nobly to this offer for we do not know of any monthly publi- cation so filled with ibis message that can be pro- cured for twenty-five cents a year. � Send it to a' number or your friends and start it with the first is- sue in January. Ti will be necessary for you to order at once so that this can be gotten to the publishers•in time to send out lite first issue. � Send all orders ac- companied by cash to the Canadian Publishing Association. 4 � EASTERN CANADIAN MESSENGER Eastern Canadian Messenger OFFICIAL OIt(4AN OF THE EASTERN CANADIAN UNION CONFERENCE OF SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS Office Address Oshawa. Ont F. A. Spangler - � - � Editor Entered as second•class matter. Price, 50 cents a year in advance. ' Our New Policy The past year has revealed many things of in- terest in this Union and we feel that the gain in the publishing and periodical work has been marvelous. We cannot give definite figures at this early date but from present indications it seems that the retail value of books and periodicals etc., sold in this Union the past twelve months will reach the fifty thOusand dollar mark. This will more than double the volume of business done in 191G. Never before have we done such business as we did during the slimmer months of this year and we are looking forward to even greater things the coming season, and are plan- ning accordingly. To handle all this business hits required a great deal of labor and we find it necessary to change the policy of the publishing house to conform to the standard followed by our denominational tract soci- eties. We have carried on our books several hun- dred accounts with individuals and societies and find that the task is too much for us. Therefore we have been obliged to discontinue opening up personal ac- counts and deal only with our workers, church li- brarians, and colporteurs, both book and periodical. This does not mean, however, that we wilt not sell to whoever wishes to purchase. It simply means that all individuals desiring to purchase any goods must accompany their order with cash. • Church members of course, can order through the church librarian and settle with that individual. The librarian in turn will order from us and it will be charged to the church account. We are forced to request that our churches, col- porteurs, and workers settle their bills in full at the end of each month. The publishing houses are de- manding this and in order to pay up our hills it is necessary for us to follow the same rule. We desire to take this opportunity to thank our many patrons for their business with us in the past, and we hope that in the future we may do greater 'business with you. We wish to make you feel that we are trying to build up this work for your benefit so that you can carry on your missionary work more aggressively, and with the least amount of annoy- ance and delay. We are striving to stock up with all- standard goods so that we can take care of orders as they come in and not make you wait until they can be shipped from one of the other publishing houses to us. We are putting in a supply of tracts and feel that this will be welcome news to many as hereto- fi'ne these orders liave been filled elsewhere. � Afte • If putting our new policy into operation, by spendit g less time upon our bookkeeping, we will have mork time to give to the building up of the work, which will be to our mutual benefit. -We wish our many patrons the season's greet- ings, and trust that they will find 1918 a happy and prosperous year. CANADIAN PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION. • -• � Change of Address Kindly note the change of address of N. H. Saunders to 184 Fulton Ave., Toronto, Ontario. All Young Peoples' Missionary Volunteer and Educa- tional reports for Ontario, Quebec and the Union should be sent to him a I t hat address. • Notice This issue of the paper is No. 50 for 1917, and Will be the last one printed this year. There will not be any issue dated December 25. We Nvish to thank the many contributors who have sent in articles throughout the 3-ear and have thus shown their interest in the paper; and together with the many readers, we wish to extend to them the holiday greetings, with the sincere wish that many blessings will be theirs during 1918. THE MESSENGER. Quebec Conference Report for November 1917 Churches Tithes Miss. Sab. S. Misc. Total Fitch Bay $ 18 40 $ 3 00 $ 2 29 $23 00 $ � 23 69 Individuals 15 45 2 00 40 45 Mont'l Eng 219 93 51 15 9 33 280 41 Mont'l French 31 23 26 00 12 24 69 47 Namur 6 00 6 00 North Hatley 13 4:5 29 78 621 .4944 Quebec 4 49 24 10 34 70 13 56 76 85 Sherbrooke 3 05 5 70 8 75 South Bolton 5 00 5 00 South Stokely 81 10 10 07 5 00 102 17 Sutton 13 96 15 78 7 14 1 40 • 38 28 Total $407 06 $171 58 $78 91 $42 96 $700 51 F. E. DUFTY, Secy. Colporteurs' Report, Week Ending Dec. 8, 1917 Ontario Name �Book firs- Value Helps Total Del. - A Green �BR 22 $143 50 L Chamberlain BR. 64 121 00 G H Cooke � BR 47 122 00 W Duclos � BR 24 $24 00 $2 50 $26 50 2 .50 Minnie Levy Mag 10 12 45 12 45 12 45 A Dagg �BR 15 8.00 *F Thumwood BR 69 62 00 4 00 66 00 108 05 *C Wallis � WW 29 61 00 61 00 61 00 Totals 270 $159 45 $ 6 50 $165 95 $578 50 *Two weeks.