Tbe (bath Ware agtte 
Vora XVI �
MAY, 1929 �
No. 5 
The Church Officers' Gazette 
Issued monthly 
Printed and published by the 
REVIEW AND HERALD PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION 
at Takoma Park, Washington, D. C., U. S. A. 
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EDITOR �
 T, E. BoWEN 
ASSOCIATE EDITORS �
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- M. E. KERN, J. A. STEVENS 
• EDITORIAL COUNCIL 
J. L. MCELIIANY �
a K. METERS �E. Kew 
Entered as second-class matter, January 20, 1914, at the post office at 
Washington, B. C., under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. 
Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in 
Sec. 1103. Act of October 3, 1917. authorised on June 22, 1918. 
Cburtb titans' tbetteral 
linfartution )3epartment 
Special Appointments for the Month of 
May 
Home Missionary �
 
Foreign Missions Rally 
�
May 18 
Some Texts to Which We Are Cited 
-UNDER the title, " True Education in Our Churches," in 
" Testimonies to Ministers," page 125, is found a striking 
statement. Think of it! — the Lord, pointing His finger to 
'texts and saying to us Seventh-day Adventists, " You need to 
study every word as for your life." It would seem there could 
be nothing more important, then, than that we should do so. 
Here is the paragraph: 
"Read the second chapter of James. Practice the truth in 
your daily life, and you will know the work that the Lord has 
given you to do. Read also the fourth chapter, especially verses 
5-12; and chapter 5, especially verses 13-20. These chapters 
are a dead letter to the larger number of those who claim to 
ibe Seyenth-day Adventists. I am directed to point you to 
these scriptures, mid to the seventh chapter of Matthew. You 
need to study every word as for your life." 
If the Lord admonishes us that these scriptures "are a dead 
letter " to the majority of Seventh-day Adventists, it would 
seem that we all would do well, church elders, ministers, and 
people, to take our Bibles and not only study what these por-
tions of God's word say, but see to it that these truths are made 
a part of our very lives. It will be by doing what God tells us 
to do in these texts that we shall "know the work that the Lord 
has given " us " to do." 
James 2 deals with practical religion. It talks about having 
faith, and the genuine " faith of our Lord Jesus Christ," too. 
This chapter starts in (verse 1) by telling us to have this 
faith, but not with respect to persons. We are to receive and 
love and fellowship the poor the same as the rich, showing no 
partiality. To be partial to the rich, neglecting the poor, is 
to sin. Verse 9. 
We use verse 11 in emphasizing how one who, while seeking 
to obey His commandments, tramples upon God's Sabbath, thus 
breaking one commandment, is guilty of all. All this is true. 
Also the one who is void of mercy,— that mercy which takes 
hold to help a destitute brother or sister or neighbor,— is guilty 
of breaking the commandments. If one is lacking in the doing 
of these deeds done by our Lord and Master, there can bo 
no value attached to a profession of His faith. Of such faith, 
without corresponding works, the scripture asks, " What' doth 
it profit?" then concludes, "Even so faith, if it hath not works, 
is dead, being alone." Verses 14, 17, 
God's moral law is a practical, everyday working document. 
It is not a dead code. It is a living royal law (verse 8), and 
must be put to a daily use. It is to be our looking-glass, in 
which we may see reflected the perfect imago of Jesus. 
"Read the second chapter of James. Practice the truth in 
your daily life, and you will know the work that the Lord has 
given you to do." " Tf we decide that in these last days we 
have no work assigned to us that is out of the common course 
of the nominal churches, we shall meet with great disappoint-
ment. . . ., Unless the work is first done in their (Seventh-day 
Adventists'] own hearts, all the specific directions that might 
be given to point out their course of action, will be labor in 
vain."—" Testi/monies to Ministers," p. 
This second chapter of James reveals the righteousness of 
Jesus, and how it is imputed by faith unto us: 
" Wilt thou know, 0 vain man, that faith without works is 
dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, whoa 
he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how 
faith wrought with his works, and by [such faith] works was 
faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which 
saith, Abraham believed God, and it [his obedient faith] was 
imputed unto him for righteousness: . . . see then how that 
by works a man is justified, and not by faith only." Verses 
20-24. 
It was not until Abraham, one hundred twenty years old, 
had made that three days' journey to Mt. Moriah, where God 
had told him to go, had built an altar, had made known to 
Isaac that he was to be offered as a sacrifice, had affectionately 
bidden him farewell, had bound hini upon the wood of the 
altar, and had raised his hand to slay his son, that God pro-
claimed, "Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou 
anything unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, 
seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from Me." 
It was right here that- God again, swearing by Himself, re-
newed unto Abraham His covenant promise that through him 
[the Seed, Christ] should all the families of earth be blessed. 
"Abraham's great act of faith stands like a pillar of light, 
illuminating the pathway of God's servants in all succeeding 
ages. . . . There are many who fail to understand the relation 
of faith and works. They say, Only believe in Christ, and you 
are safe. You have nothing to do with keeping the law.' But 
genuine faith will be manifest by obedience. Said Christ to 
the unbelieving Jews, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would 
do the works of Abraham.'"—"Patriarchs and Prophets," pp. 
153, 154. 
We Seventh-day Adventists must look "into the perfect law 
of liberty," and continue therein, squaring our lives by these 
holy precepts. This will work out in our lives the life of Christ 
which that law reveals. 
" What cloth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he 
bath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a 
brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one 
of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; 
notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are 
needful to the body; what cloth it profit? Even so faith, if 
it hath not-works, is dead, being alone." James. 2: 14-17. 
It is the not doing of the works of faith which reveals the 
lack of a genuine faith in Christ, that this scripture is talking 
about, and to which our attention is especially called. Jesus 
went about doing good. He ever ministered to those in need, 
and we axe to follow in His steps. This is not saying that 
by doing of these works we earn merit, earn the gift of ever-
lasting life. Not at all, for ever and always it is true that "by 
grace are ye saved through faith; and that [even this faith 
we exercise is a gift of God to us] not of yourselves: it is 
the gift of god: not of works, lest any man should boast." 
Eph. 2: 8, 9. All boasting is excluded, whether based on exer-
cised faith or exercised works, for all the glory of it belongs 
to God only. But let no one conclude that the doing of good 
works, ministering to others in need, has no part in God's 
scheme for the salvation of souls, for the Scriptures make it 
plain that it has. And further, God expects 'this blending 8f 
May 4 
2 �
THE CHURCH OFFICERS' GAZETTE 
faith and works together in His plan for our lives —as mani-
fested in the life of Christ among men. 
" Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from 
all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous, 
of good works." Titus 2: 14. "Having your conversation 
honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against 
you as evil-doers, they may by your good works, which they 
shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation." 1 Peter 
2: 12. "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus into 
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should 
walk in them." Eph. 2: 10. (See also Matt. 5: 16; Titus 3: 8; 
Heb. 10: 24; John 10: 32.) 
Receiving and Dismissing Members 
IT is distasteful to me to see the Sabbath worship hour turned 
into a formal business meeting for the reception or dismissal 
of members; and I often ask myself, "Is this necessary?" 
The purpose of making a motion and waiting for a second 
in a business meeting, as I understand it, is to avoid bringing 
anything before the deliberative assembly unless at least two 
persons desire to see the question discussed and acted upon. 
In the matters above mentioned there is no such need. The 
usual order is for the church board first to consider these names, 
So they come to the church recommended by its constituted 
board. The matter of waiting for some one in the congregation 
to make a motion, and then the sometimes painful wait for a 
second, seems an unnecessary formality. No one ever thinks 
for one moment that there is any objection to bringing these 
necessary and recommended matters to a vote. It would be 
much less formal and more in keeping with divine worship, if 
the elder or pastor would say, after presenting the names: 
" Vies° requests for letters to join other churches, which 
your officers have recommended, were read before the church 
last Sabbath. No one has objected, and in harmony with our 
custom we will take action to-day. As many as favor granting 
letters to the persons whose names have been read, make it 
known by the uplifted hand. If any are opposed, let them 
show it by the same sign. The letters are granted," 
Likewise a similar statement could be made preceding the 
vote for receiving members into church fellowship, there having 
been nd objection raised concerning any name during the week 
since the first reading of names. �
M, E. KERN. 
Appointing the Nominating Committee 
"IN appointing the nominating committee, should all the 
officers holding office at the time be placed on the committee? 
or should a per cent of its members be from the members of 
the church?" 
It is not considered wise or necessary that any considerable 
per cent, of a nominating committee be chosen from the staff 
of officers serving in the church. Preferably the larger per 
cent should be chosen from those in the church not serving as 
officers. [Should some, possibly the greater number, of the pres-
ent officers be favorably considered by the nominating com-
mittee for reappointment, it would prove less embarrassing for 
such that they should not be on the committee. Further, this 
plan avoids what in some instances becomes a serious charge, 
that holding officers seem to manipulate affairs so as to re-
appoint themselves. This should never be the ease, for there 
is no place in the work of God for the bringing in of worldly 
political methods in the conduct of Christ's work upon earth. 
In the choosing of a nominating committee, representative per-
sons familiar with the different departments of church work, 
such as the Missionary Volunteer, Sabbath school, and home 
missionary, should be chosen as members of the committee, thus 
giving careful consideration to the selection of those for officers 
who shall serve all the interests of the church. 
"Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in 
lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves." 
Phil. 2: 3. "Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise 
dominion over them, and they that are [counted] great exercise 
authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but 
whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister 
[one to helpfully minister unto others]; and whosoever will be 
chief among you, let him be your servant." Matt. 20: 25-27. 
These are the principles given us by the Great Shepherd, 
not only to govern us in the selection of officers, but to guide 
them, as well, in their service for the church. 
Thome Olimsionarp ;Department 
" Ministry of Literature " 
Suggestive Program for Home Missionary 
Service 
(Sabbath, May 4) 
OPENING SONG: " Urge Them to Come," No. 531 in " Christ in 
Song." 
PRAYER. 
ANN WIXOM ENT S. 
FIRST SABBATH OFi �
DIG FOR CHURCH MISSIONARY WORK. 
CHURCH MISSIONARY SECRETARY'S REPORT. 
SONG: "Heir of the Kingdom," No. 679 in "Christ in Song." 
BIBLE STUDY. 
ADDRESS: " The Literature Ministry." 
HEADING "A Mission for Every Believer." 
TALK: "Finishing the Work." 
PRESENTATION 010 LOCAL PLANS FOR LITERATURE WORK. 
CLOSING SONG: "Entire Consecration," No. 316 in "Christ in 
Song." 
BENEDICTION. 
Notes for Loaders 
This first Sabbath Missionary Service is one of the most 
important of the whole year, and the missionary committee 
should give careful consideration to the program and the work 
which will follow. The distribution of our message-filled lit-
erature is a vital factor in bringing the knowledge of this 
blessed truth to the world; and as we near the end, this agency 
will be used mightily of God to tall His children out of 
Babylon. The loud cry is to be given through this medium 
and through the living teacher. Every church should have a 
well-defined plan for distributing literature in its mission ter-
ritory. From house to house, through the mails, single copy 
sales, tract racks, and by other means, the literature is to be 
sown broadcast. Has your church a definite program to tarry 
the message in printed form to every home in its district? If 
not, the missionary committee should lay definite plans to this 
end. The month of June is a most opportune time to start 
a systematic distribution of the Family Bible Teacher, Present 
Truth, or tracts, as the summer months lie ahead, and the cam-
paign can be nicely finished before Harvest Ingathering time. 
The following is a suggestive list of the various lines of lit-
erature ministry which may be carried on in your church: 
Systematic distribution of Present Truth or the 
Family Bible Teacher. 
King's Pocket League. 
Home Bible Study League (systematic correspondence). 
Magazines and periodical work. 
Lending books and magazines. 
Tract rack. 
Literature work for foreigners. 
Finally, remember that your conference Home Missionary 
secretary stands ready to assist you in working out your mis-
sionary plans. Seek his counsel and help. Your Book and 
Bible House may also have some interesting offers along lit-
erature lines. But start something! Don't let your church 
drag along without a definite program of missionary activity, 
We must be wide awake, for opportunities are coming to us 
now which may not come our way again. "Let the gospel mes-
sage ring through our churches' 
 summoning them to universal 
action," is the admonition from the servant of God. Our litera-
ture work wins souls, and if we faithfully sow the seed and care-
fully follow up its interests, a rich reward awaits. 
HOME MISSIONARY DEPARTMENT. 
Bible and " Testimony " Study 
1. Air the time of His ascension, what responsibility did the 
Saviour place upon His people? Matt. 28: 19, 20, 
2. Is it the Lord's plan for every individual to have a part 
in the carrying out of this commission? Mark 13: 34. 
3. How did the members of the early church relate them-
selves to this program? Acts 8: 1, 4; 11: 9-20. You will note 
that a great laymen's missionary movement developed shortly 
after Pentecost. 
4. What is one of the most effective means of missionary 
labor? 
"One of the most effective ways in which light can be com-
municated is by private, personal effort."—"Testimonies," Vol. 
VI, p. 428, 
5. What outstanding example among many do we have of 
personal ministry in the experience of our Saviour/ John 
3: 1-21; 4: 6-42. 
NOTE,— Nicodemus later united with the early church. The 
THE CHURCH OFFICERS' GAZETTE �
3 
woman of Samaria immediately became a missionary in her 
own city. 
6. What man prominent among the disciples and in the early 
church was the fruitage of personal labor/ John 1: 4042. 
Note verses 43-46 relative to the call of Nathanael. 
7. What noted personage of Ethiopia was won to the gospel 
through personal contact/ Acts 8: 26-39. 
8. What line of service provides an avenue through which 
every one may have a part in soul service/ 
"Our publications are now sowing the gospel seed, and are 
instrumental in bringing as many souls to Christ as the preached 
word. Whole churches have been raised up as the result of their 
circulation. In this work every disciple of Christ can act a 
part."— Review and Herald, June 10, 1880. 
9. What promised aid is given those who engage in personal 
work? 
" By personal labor reach those around you....Angels of 
God attend you to the dwellings of those you visit. This work 
cannot be done by proxy."—"Testimonies," Vol. IX, p. 41. 
10. What conclusion must I draw from these texts and quo- 
tations? 
Answer.— That the Lord would have me earnestly engage in 
personal work for the salvation of my fellow men. 
C. A. Sonorfix, 
H. Al. Sec. Atlantic Union Conference. 
Literature Ministry 
J. W. MICE 
To a world, in one generation, a gospel message must be 
given, by a small people of 275,000, to a world of 1,900,000,000 
people, with a changing population, for one dies every time the 
clock ticks,— 109,000 every day, 40 million every year,— and 
every year there come upon the stage of action 60,000,000 young 
people who take up the world's task afresh, and to whom the 
message must be given anew. They are scattered in every 
corner of this great world, but we must find them, for it is 
not only a national but an individual message. So when the 
message comes to each one of us individually, we are to be 
willing to go wherever God may direct, for " go ye " means every 
one of us, and "into all the world" means anywhere we may 
be called to work for Him. 
This is an impossible task when we look at it from the 
human standpoint, for our resources are far from being ade-
quate to the enormity of the undertaking. No advertising plans 
have ever been laid that would accomplish the results for 
which this denomination works. Our proposition is wonder-
ful, but it seems well-nigh impossible. However, God has said 
He will give us the " all power," and for this reason He says, 
" Go ye," and With every plan that is divinely laid there is 
always power to carry it out successfully. 
Early in the proclaiming of this message, instruction came 
from the servant of God that very largely through the printed 
page this truth was to be given to the world; that it was to 
be like streams of light going around the world. Later on, 
as the work progressed, came this word, " In a large degree 
through our publishing houses is to be accomplished the work 
of that other angel who comes down from heaven with great 
power, and who lightens the earth with his glory." Again it 
is stated, "The publications sent forth from our publishing 
houses are to prepare a people to meet God. Throughout the 
world they are to do the same work that was done by John 
the Baptist for the Jewish nation," The message of John the 
Baptist was, "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at 
hand." So the literature will carry a message, a call to repent-
ance, because the coming of Christ the second time is near 
at hand. 
Our literature is going into all the world in 132 languages, 
from more than fifty publishing centers; it is being scattered 
in the form of tracts, magazines, and books, like the leaves of 
autumn;. by colporteurs,— an army of 2,500 or more,—who 
are carrying it directly to the homes of the people, along the city 
streets or along the country roads into the dark corners of the 
earth, "the holes of the rocks," as Isaiah calls out-of-the-way 
places. These colporteurs axe of many a race and nation; they 
are " the John the Baptists who prepare in the desert a high-
way for the missionary." They are sacrificing home and 
friends and comforts in order that the call of God may be 
extended. When some one remarked to Brother Lopez, our 
veteran island worker, who had left his wife and large family 
of children for nine months to carry the message to Venezuela, 
that it was a hard thing for him to do this, he said, "I love 
my family as well as any one else loves his family, but I love 
this message more; and if I do not do this necessary work, who 
will do it?" 
Then we have a great auxiliary army of literature distributors 
in our churches, who distribute our tracts and sell our mag-
azines and small Crisis books everywhere. And regarding all 
this vast flood of literature, which is compared in Ezekiel 47 to 
a mighty river, it seems to the writer that as Christ said not 
one sparrow should fall to the ground without our Father, so 
not a leaf of the printed present truth will fall to the ground 
without His notice. 
A brother told me how his attention was first called to the 
truth for this time. He was waiting for a train in the north 
country in the winter. It was a very cold day, and the icy 
wind was blowing, so he took refuge behind the little shelter 
erected for passengers. As he stood there watching the wind 
blow the snow in icy gusts, he noticed that every gust fluttered 
a paper caught in the barbed-wire fence, and his curiosity was 
aroused, so that he finally braved the tempest and picked up 
the fluttering -paper, which was a copy of Present Truth. He 
carefully folded it and placed it in his pocket to read later and 
preserve. Afterward more light came to him, and he accepted 
it. One of our veteran colporteurs, before he knew of this 
truth, had a dream one night in which he saw three angels 
flying over his house, and they carried a little paper that at-
tracted his attention. One week after this a copy of Present 
Truth was sent to him, and he recognized the resemblance be-
tween this and the little paper he had seen in his dream. He 
was interested, and went regularly to his post-office box to 
get the paper, the reading of which led him into the message. 
It was only another case of salvaged literature when Cap-
tain Jones, who sailed his ship from New York to England, 
came out on his deck one morning and picked up some pages 
of one of our tracts. The last page contained the address of 
the publishers, and he sent for more literature. The next we 
heard about him was that he was selling this literature on the 
streets of Southern cities. Later God called him far away to 
the New Hebrides, the Solomon Islands, and New Guinea, where 
he has brought thousands from the darkness of cannibalism to 
the light of the gospel. 
A drunken man was reeling along the street of a Korean 
city one night, and some one handed him a tract on the third 
angel's message. He put it into his pocket, and when he came 
to the gate of the city, climbed to its ton, about sixty feet, 
and sat down. He pulled this tract out of his pocket, and 
leaning over the top of the gate, threw the tract down, and it 
landed in the mud at the bottom. When he was sober, he went 
down, picked up the tract, and carefully wiping it, took it 
home and read it. Ultimately he accepted this message. 
We have been sowing the seed for many years, and now we 
have come to the time of reaping. More than $70,000,000 worth 
of literature has been distributed during these years. In many 
homes this literature still lies unread, but the time is coming 
very soon when it will be read, and the message contained 
therein will be a witness to the people, who will accept or re-
ject it. But in many homes this literature is greatly prized. 
In the Northland a man secured a copy of " Bible Readings for 
the Home Circle," and decided to keep the Sabbath. There 
being no Adventist church in his locality, he and his wife went 
to the Baptist church the first Sunday night to meeting. While 
they were gone, his house and all the contents were burned. 
The letter that came to the publishers was not to bemoan the 
fact that he bad met with such a heavy loss, but to say that 
the copy of " Bible Readings" had been burned with the rest, 
and to ask that if possible he be sent a damaged copy, as he 
was notable to pay much because of his heavy loss. 
A lady said the other day, "I would rather lose any artiele 
of my furniture than this good book that has been such a 
help to me." A German farmer borrowed a German " Bible 
4 �
THE CHURCH OFFICERS' GAZETTE 
Readings" from his neighbor, and kept it for months. When 
the man asked for its return, the farmer said, " I will not 
return it," and there was considerable controversy regarding it. 
Finally the farmer said, " Wait a moment," and he went in 
and wrote a check for $100. When he came out he said to 
his neighbor, " Take your choice," but the neighbor said, "I 
want my book." He was finally persuaded to take the cheek 
instead.- In the South some years ago a man said to a col-
porteur, " It would take a bale of cotton to purchase that 
book." The colporteur replied, " It is worth a bale of cotton," 
and the man took it. In Wisconsin another farmer said, "It 
will take a gallon of cream to purchase that book." The eol-
porteur said, "It is worth a gallon of cream," and the man 
took it. In far-away Western Canada a Danish woman brought 
to the colporteur as first payment a family heirloom, a gold 
pin, that she had treasured for years, having brought it from 
Denmark, but she wanted the book more than that, believing 
that it had a real message for her. 
And the spirit that is in the literature and in the heart of 
the worker, manifests itself in fruitage. A colportedr canvass-
ing in a Western State in January of this year, came to a home 
where he received an invitation to enter. As he proceeded to 
show his book, the lady asked, " What denomination publishes 
that book?" He answered, a Seventh-day Adventists." She 
said, "I am so glad. I have been waiting for years to get in 
touch with Seventh-day Adventists. My grandmother was the 
only one I ever saw, and when she died, I gave up the faith. 
I want my four children brought up Seventh-day Adventists." 
As she placed her order for the book, tears of joy rolled down 
her face, because she had found the people of her choice. 
Asp one of our eolporteurs came to a home to deliver " Our 
Day in the Light of Prophecy," the woman said, "I will not 
take the book, and you cannot compel me to do so." The col-
porteur had no intention of forcing her to take it, but talked 
a little while, hoping that she might decide to take it, which 
she did. As they were talking, her husband came home, evi-
dently a carpenter, and the colporteur said, "When we get to 
the new earth, we will not build houses for other people, but 
we will build houses and inhabit them, and plant vineyards 
and eat the fruit thereof." The man said, " Is that in the 
Bible/ I never heard of it." So the eolporteur showed him 
the passages, and talked to him about the message for to-day. 
Coming back the following day to bring this interested man 
some tracts, the colporteur said, " When you have read the 
message in the book Our Day,' and have accepted it, won't 
you give me your old snuffbox?" (He had seen this in the 
man's pocket the day before.) The man replied, "Bless you, 
my brother, 1 threw that old snuffbox away before you were 
out of I sight yesterday." Now that man and his family are 
Seventh-day Adventists, and members of our church. 
The field is truly white to harvest, and the laborers are few. 
Let us )not only pray for laborers, but be willing to go ourselves 
wherever He may call. "The call of the hour is "answered by 
the .coming of the man:" " To every man his work," applies 
to you and to me. Let nothing hinder us from doing what we 
ought to do in view of the soon coming of our Saviour. 
A Mission for Every Believer 
ALL cannot be ministers or missionaries and give all their 
time to direct Christian work, but there is one form of Chris-
tian service that every one may undertake, and that is literature 
distribution. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth 
speaketh " (Matt. 12: 34), but how far will the speaking reach? 
How thankful ought we to be for the printed page, which not 
only -carries the message to quarters which the voice often fails 
to reach, but also preserves the impressions of truth when the 
sound of the human voice speaking it has died away. True, 
leaden type will never take the place of the human voice, but 
we ought to be thankful for the blessed aid it renders to the 
human voice. 
Literature can go everywhere.- It can go many places you 
cannot go. It knows no fear, never tires, can be multiplied 
without end by the press, can travel at little expense, needs 
no public. room to tell its story. It can tell it in the kitchen, 
parlor, shop, factory, store, or railway ear. It takes no note 
of scoffs, jeers, or taunts. No one can betray it into hasty 
expressions. It never quarrels, never loses its temper, never 
answers back. It sticks to its story, and CM tell it over and 
over again. The noiseless literature can go into homes where 
men and women sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. 
To many it is their only chance to hear and to live. Tracts, 
books, papers,—silent messengers,— work while we sleep, and 
will continue their ministry after we have been laid to rest. 
A minister gave a Negro a tract. He asked him what he 
thought of it. " Oh, masse, it do my soul good. I never knew 
before why dey call 'em tracks, but when I read dat little book, 
it track me dis way and it track me dat way; when I go out 
in de barn, it track me dare, and when I come back in de house, 
it track me dare; it track me everywhere I go. Den I know 
why dey call 'em tracks." 
What a thrilling history might be written concerning the 
work of literature! Richard Sibbs wrote a little tract entitled, 
" The Bruised Reed." A tin peddler gave it to a boy named 
Richard Baxter; through reading it he was brought to Christ. 
He wrote " A Call to the Unconverted." Among the thousands 
saved through it was Philip Doddridge, who wrote " The Rise 
and Progress of Religion in the Soul." It fell into the hands 
of Williatn Wilberforce, the great emancipator of the slaves in 
the British colonies, and led him to Christ. Wilberforce wrote 
" A Practical View of Christianity," which fired the heart of 
Legh Richmond, He wrote "The Dairyman's Daughter." Be-
fore 1819, as many as 4,000,000 copies were circulated, and it 
has testified for Christ in more than fifty different languages. 
Look at this! Not a flaw in the chain! Richard Sibbs, Richard 
Baxter, Philip Doddridge, William Wilberforce, Legh Richmond, 
A man stepped into a street ear in New York, and before 
taking his seat, gave to each passenger a little card bearing 
the words, "Look to Jesus when tempted, when troubled, when 
dying." One of the passengers carefully read the card and put 
it in his pocket. As he left the car he said to the giver, "Sir, 
when you gave me this card, I was on my way to the ferry, 
intending to jump from the boat and drown myself. The 
death of my wife and son had robbed me of all desire to live, 
but this card has persuaded me to begin life anew. Good day, 
and God bless you." 
Many years ago, a lady gave some leaflets to two actors. One 
of the actors was led by these to attend church, and was con-
verted. It was Dr. George Lorimer, pastor of Tremont Temple, 
Boston, Through his influence, Russell H. Conwell was led 
into the ministry. Thus the great Baptist Temple in, Philadel-
phia, together with the -work of the Tremont Temple, and the 
personal influence of these two notable speakers, is really 
traceable in its origin to one little leaflet in the hands of a 
woman. Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland 
Mission, was led to Christ by a tract. Thousands have been 
won to Christ by the printed page. Many of the best Chris-
tian workers are using it continually and seeing results. Many 
use it who will never see the results on earth, but will in the 
better world. Whether we see results or not, it is our blessed 
privilege to know and rejoice in the fact that if we sow good 
seed, the harvest will certainly be for His glory. " Know now 
that there shall fall unto the earth nothing of the word of the 
Lord." 2 Kings 10: 10. " Cast thy bread upon the waters: 
for thou shalt find it after many days." Reel, 11:1. Litera-
ture distribution enables you to "sow beside all waters" and 
to be " instant in season, out of season." Remember, too, 
that when you put a tract, gospel paper, or gospel book in 
the hands of a sinner, and it is the means of his salvation, it 
starts a circle, for our Lord that will continue to widen until 
He comes. Remember, too, that God multiplies the seed that 
is thus sown. What encouragement this is, and what an in-
centive to "sow beside all waters," knowing that He will give 
the increase! 
How the Printed Page Can Be Used 
It is useful to open a conversation on religious matters; it 
Is just the thing to follow up such a talk. Often there are 
difficulties in the way of 'speaking 'to people about eternal 
realities. A gospel tract given in person or through the mails, 
may do the work. It can reach the king's palace; it will enter 
the home of the poor, and stay for weeks, months, and years, 
Message Teaching 
AT THE DOOR 
THE CHURCH OFFICERS' GAZETTE �
5 
and turn up again in time and deliver its true and faithful 
message just the same as it could the day it left the kind and 
thoughtful hand that passed it on. If you have not the courage 
to give it out, you can lay it around where it will be picked up 
and read, at the store, post office, depot, in the car seats. You 
can slip it into the magazine left you by the train boy, hand 
it out of the car window at each station. A ticket agent who 
gave away a tract with every ticket sold said that over twenty 
persons wrote him saying that the leaflets which he gave them 
had been blessed to their conversion. 
Multitudes upon multitudes can testify that the printed page 
was the means of their conversion, or their restoration from 
paths of sin and vice to that of peace and righteousness, or 
that they have been cheered, comforted, stimulated in their 
lives by it, receiving light and truth, making homes happier, 
and the Bible a new hook to them. What a grand work! The 
distribution of literature, a work in which young and old, rich 
and poor, educated and illiterate, can help. Any one can easily 
multiply his influence twentyfold by a wise use of printer's ink. 
Have you won a soul for Christi Do you wish to meet your 
blessed Lord with no fruit to bring from your earthly life? 
Has He not set before you an open door of service? Will you 
enter in? 
Beloved, think of the tens of thousands of sermons, the silent 
messengers which speak for Him many times, in many places, 
and to many hearts, which you may have fellowship in sending 
forth. This is a definite work for Christ, and the blessing 
that will tome to your own soul and the many others into whose 
hands you may place literature, should be a strong inducement 
for you to take up the work. 
May our God mightily stir up His own everywhere to do what 
they can. The time is short and the days are evil. Satan's 
hosts are exceedingly busy in filling the land with that which 
leads souls down tb perdition. 
As a soldier of Jesus Christ, why not lay in a store of 
ammunition and press into the battle, and accompany each page 
of literature with a prayer for God's blessing on it, and re-
member if you trust the Holy Spirit, He will guide and help 
you in this blessed work. Let us hasten our absent Lord's re-
turn by every possible way, "till He come."—Selected. 
Finishing the Work 
D. W. REAMS 
Mann years ago there came to this denomination the follow-
ing testimonies: 
" The leaders in God's cause, as wise generals, are to lay 
plans for advance moves an along the line. In their planning 
they are to give special study to the work that can be done 
by the laity for their friends and neighbors. The work of 
God in this earth can never be finished until the men and 
women comprising our church membership. rally to the work, 
and unite their efforts with those of ministers and church 
officers."—" Gospel VVorkere," pp. 351, 352. 
"The very simplest modes of work should be devised and 
set in operation among the churches. If the members will 
unitedly accept such plans, and perseveringly carry them out, 
they will reap a rich reward."—" Testimonies,' Vol. VI, p. 433. 
In response to this instruction, Present Truth, with its simple 
modes of work, began( to be issued in 1914, It was especially 
designed to provide the laity with a full, complete, topical, 
connected presentation of the full message in attractive, eco-
nomical, and effective printed form, in order that they might 
rally to the work, and unite their efforts with those of ministers 
and church officers by doing regular, systematic message teach-
ing through the simple act of circulating this specially prepared 
literature. 
One of the most encouraging evidences that the work of God 
in this earth is being speedily finished, is the general rallying 
of our churches in the systematic, successful teaching of the 
message with the special literature and simple plans especially 
prepared for them. This work is rapidly expanding, and more 
and more of 'our people are engaging in it with marked success. 
The Simple, Effective Way of Doing This Work 
In order. to .reveal the simplicity and' effectiveness of this 
methOd of ministry work by our members, we quote the fol- 
lowing letter, selected from hundreds of others just as good: 
"Please send the following issues of Preset Trial to 
Mrs. —, and send Present Trait to her address the coming 
year, This lady has fully accepted the truth through my home-
to-home work begun last October, and she has become a faith-
ful literature worker herself. She has never heard a Seventh-
day Adventist sermon nor attended any of our meetings, yet 
she is thoroughly converted to every phase of the message. 
She is faithfully paying tithe and making generous offerings; 
and in the absence of any local church, she will join the con-
ference church to which I belong. We hope to raise up a 
church of our own soon, as we have a good, growing interest, 
and the prospects are very favorable for many new members 
just as thoroughly converted to the message as we are. �
, 
" We are doing regular, systematic work from home to home. 
I am naturally very timid, and keenly feel my weakness. I 
work on in the strength of Jesus, to whom I commit myself 
every day before I start out. I humbly work, trusting in His 
promise to lead me as He did Philip. I am jealous of our lit-
erature, and want to be sure that every paper goes into the 
hands of one who will read it. So I go to the homes of the• 
people, and simply, easily introduce my work by informing 
then that I am distributing free literature on their street for 
a short period of time, and have called to see if they would 
accept and read it. I then show the paper, and in a few 
words explain the importance of its contents. I tell them that 
my object in this work is to get these important Bible facts 
before a busy world in a condensed and simplified, connected 
form. 
"Usually the people I meet in this way accept the paper, 
and promise to read it and all the others I will bring them. 
Then I leave that copy with them, and tell them I will bring 
another on an important subject the following week. So 
the next week they are expecting me when I again rap at 
their door. As I hand them another copy, 1 ask if they have 
read the one I left before. Most of them have, but some say 
they have been so busy they could not find time, but assure me 
they will as soon as possible. I do not spend much time with 
them —just enough to give a word of explanation about the new 
number and to reveal my personal interest in them. 
"After I have made a few calls in this way, they demonstrate 
a confidence in me that is really gratifying. They seem to be 
ready to listen to me, for they ask many questions about what 
they have read,. In time these weekly calls ripen into general 
interest and friendliness. Many insist upon my staying longer 
with them., Seine invite. me to spend an afternoon with them 
in the study of the Bible and the things taught in Present Truth. 
In this why My work is constantly enlarging. My friends made 
through this inspiring work are multiplying. My courage is 
becoming stronger as I see that the power of the message as. 
taught in Pre8414t Tenth and delivered by a frail instrument, 
is being marvelously demonstrated in this place, and I fervently 
thank God for the spiritual refreshing this literature ministry 
brings-to 
peOple do not take knowledge of us that we have been with 
Jesus, we cannot give it. �- 
6 �
THE CHURCH OFFICERS' GAZETTE 
The Church Missionary Service 
(Fifteen-Minute Missionary Meeting) 
Sabbath, May 4 
MISSIONARY Tone: "Big Week." 
TEXT: 1 Corinthians 15: 58, 
Stroonsnorrs: May 4 is the last Sabbath of the Big Week 
campaign, and a special effort should be made to check up on 
the results of the campaign. Encourage those who have not 
done so, to dispose of their literature, turning) in the proceeds 
to the Missions Extension Fund. Also urge each band to raise 
its goal of $2 per member. It might be well to mention that the 
special Big Week offering is to be taken up during the church 
service, and that all offerings for the Big Week — day's salary, 
dedicated wages, pledges, and profits from literature sales — 
be turned in at that time and marked Big Week or Missions 
Extension Fund. At this time mention should also be made 
of the value of follow-up work after such a campaign as Big 
Week, when hundreds of homes are visited. It might be well 
to encourage the church members to hand in the names and 
addresses of interested people which may be followed up by 
correspondence, Bible readings, etc. • The report for this week 
should be a good one. Encourage all to mark down the number 
of books, magazines, and tracts distributed. "Our publications 
are now sowing the gospel seed, and are instrumented in bring-
ing as man souls to Christ as the preached word. 
Whole 
churches have been raised up as the result of their circulation. 
In this work every disciple of Christ can aot a part."—Review 
and Herald, Jane 10, 1880. 
Sabbath, May 11 
MISSIONARY Tone: "Big Week." 
TEXT: Romans 9:28. 
SUGGESTION'S: Once more the missionary topic is the Big 
Week, but surely such a worthy topic demands the time of three 
Church Missionary Services. This campaign is in a definite 
way hastening the coming of Jesus by assisting in the erection 
of publishing houses, schools, and dispensaries around the 
world for the spread of the gospel. In. nine years it has fur-
nished $1,297,372.40 for this threefold work, assisting in all 
152 projects— building or assisting to build and equip 61 
publishing houses and depositories, 40 schools, and 51 hospitals 
and dispensaries. What an enviable record! 
As this will mark the last reference to the Big Week during 
1929, further emphasis should be made regarding the sale of 
.Big Week literature. By this time all literature should be sold 
and the money turned over to the proper persons. Be sure 
that the missionary secretary has received payment for the 
books ordered by the church members, so her account with the 
Book and Bible House will be paid up. It should not be for-
gotten that the month of May is Literature Month, and each 
band shoUld be encouraged to cover a section of the city, town, 
or country systematically with literature. Perhaps some time 
will be necessary at this service to launch this program. In 
that ease the Big Week topic should be quickly dispensed with 
and the other taken up. 
Sabbath, May 18 
MISSIONARY Tone: " Soul-winning Experiences." 
TEXT: 21 Corinthians 4: 4, 
SUGGESTIONS: It is Satan's studied plan to close the lips of 
witnessing disciples. He knows -he is overcome "by the blood 
of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony," so encourage 
the church; members to tell their Big Week exptiences. Em-
phasize the soul-winning aide of the campaign. An interesting 
feature of this program might be a short report from each band 
leader, if time permits. "Satan is now seeking to hold God's 
people in a state of inactivity, to keep them from acting their 
part in spreading the truth, that they may at last be Weighed 
in the balance and found wanting."—"Testimonies," Vol. I, p. 
860. Not all can relate their experiences in the short time 
allotted, but quite a number can do so if they touch only the 
"high points." Following right after the campaign, this meet-
ing should prove an inspiration to further missionary endeavor 
on'the part of every church member. 
Sabbath, May 25 
MISSIONARY Tone: "Review Forward Movement." 
TEXT: Ephesians 6: 11-20, 
Streensnons) It is planned that in all our churches the 
Review and Herald be given special attention at this time. 
Every Seventh-day Adventist family should be a subscriber to 
the Review. It is our oldest minister. As a minister it not 
only visits 30,000 homes, but is capable of visiting many more. 
It brings to us messages of reproof, comfort, and encourage-
ment. It brings to us reports of councils, mission fields, prog-
ress of the work, etc. It is a student of prophecy, and keeps 
us abreast of the times. It keeps us up to date. It informs 
us of any'subtle doctrines which would deceive the very elect. 
In short, the Review keeps us in the truth. 
At the last Fall Council it was voted that an earnest effort 
be made to place our church paper in the home of every be-
liever. Call attention to the fact that beginning with January 
31, the Review has had 32 pages instead of 24, and the price 
has been reduced 25 cents, making it now $2.50. It may be 
necessary, to appoint a special committee to visit every believer 
who does not take the Review, in an effort to secure his sub-
scription. Our young people are also willing to co-operate in 
this matter, and should be enlisted in this good work. This 
matter is so vital that the servant of the Lord has said if a 
family is too poor to afford it, the church should provide a 
year's subscription. Place this burden on the shoulders of 
your band leaders. For the asking, your Conference will send 
you a list of all Review subscribers in your church, 
The Fifteen-Minute Missionary Meeting Works in Chicago 
IN the absence of Pastor L. B. Schick, it was my good 
fortune to fill the pulpit in the North Shore church, Sabbath, 
January 12. 
On entering the building, I was interested in visiting the 
different departments of the Sabbath school, and to note the 
deep interest on the part of the different classes. As I went 
into the primary room, naturally the children looked up and 
smiled, but immediately settled back to their work. Evidently 
the teachers were quite able to interest them above the novelty 
of seeing a stranger. In the senior department the same spirit 
of interest and intensity was manifested. 
As we neared the close of the time allotted for the Sabbath 
school, I wondered if they would be able to close in the hour 
and fifteen minutes given them. A missionary reading, giving 
the history of our goal chart, was presented by one of the 
young ladies, and Miss Florence Lawrence, the superintendent, 
gave a very earnest word of counsel and encouragement to 
reach their missions goal—the highest ever set by their 
church for any quarter. At exactly thirteen minutes after the 
hour, the last hymn was announced, and by singing " the first 
and last stanzas only," the Sabbath school closed on time. 
Immediately at the close of the Sabbath school, Brother 
E. C. Townsend, one of the local elders, took charge of the 
much-discussed but very popular fifteen-minute missionary re-
port. Many things were brought to the attention of the church. 
There was perfect order, and every one was busy. I watched 
carefully to see how much time would be needed in making an-
nouncements and looking after the details of our home mis-
sionary work, among both the seniors and Missionary Volun-
teers, and was much pleased to note the correlation of these 
departments. In exactly eight minutes everything was done, 
ready for the preaching service. I mention this specifically, 
as it shows what organization can do in a large church, and 
how much work can be done in a short time. 
It was a great pleasure to study the Bible with the believers 
in the hour following the Sabbath school. Surely the Lord 
does come near to His people and refreshes us again and again 
by new revelations of His word. The old scriptures that we 
memorized in youth, shine with a new luster each time we 
humble our hearts before God and ask Slim to give us spiritual 
strength and encouragement. It is the same old table, and 
the bill of fare- is much the same, as we cling close to the 
Bible, but the Lord knows how to savor the spiritual food, and 
make it palatable and easy of assimilation. 
J, W. CHRISTIAN. 
THE CHURCH OFFICERS' GAZETTE 
7 
Suggestions to Junior Superintendent 
Summer Leadership.— Some one has said that a successful 
leader always trains a successor to take his place. In just a 
few weeks the church schools will close, and during these long 
summer days and weeks the boys and girls will need help and 
supervision more than at any other period of the year. What 
have you done to make such direction and leadership possible? 
Perhaps you will remain where you are for the summer and will 
be able to foster the work yourself. This is the ideal, arrange-
ment, but in ease you are a teacher and will be leaving the 
school when the summer vacation arrives, some one else should be 
prepared to lead successfully the Junior Society in your absence. 
The General Conference plan is for every church to elect a' 
 
man and a woman to serve as assistant superintendents during 
the school year. They are to aid in the progressive class in-
struction, and should also keep in touch with the devotional 
meetings of the society. By so doing they will be familiar with 
all the activities of the society, and can lead out successfully 
during the summer months, If your church has not yet chosen 
such officers, will you not urge that it do so at once? When 
the appointments have been made, you can do much, even at 
this late date, to acquaint those chosen with their responsibilities 
for the summer. �
C. L. B. 
Sixty-six Books 
(Program for Week Ending May 4) 
BY it BOSE CURTIS 
Song: "Give Me the Bible." 
Prayer. 
Exercise: "The Holy Bible." (By nine of the smaller Juniors.) 
Duet: " What Says the Bible? " (No. 196 in "The Gospel in Song.") 
Secretary's Report. 
Talk: "On the Square With God." 
Song: " Wonderful Words of Life." 
Talk: "I Rejoice at Thy Word." 
The Books of the Bible. By Two Juniors. (Let one give the books 
of the Old Testament, the other those of the New. Speak each 
name distinctly.) 
Missionary Reports and Offering. 
Closing Song: "An Open Bible for the World." (No. 482 in "Christ 
in Song.") 
Repeat in Concert Psalm 119: 105. 
Note to Junior Superintendent 
This week we are to emphasize two requirements for Com-
panion membership,— the books of the Bible in order, and the 
Bible Year. Help the boys and girls to realize that it is more 
important to know the order of the books, so that they may 
turn readily to a given text, than that they merely be able to 
repeat them glibly. And on the Bible Year, encourage those 
who have fallen behind, or who have not begun, to "redeem the 
time," as two Junior boys did; going ahead with the current 
reading, and making up back reading as rapidly as possible. 
Cheer them on to take as their slogan, 'We are going 
through!" 
The cartoon given here may be reproduced on the blackboard. 
Or if you have a world globe, ask children to bring dolls dressed 
in the costumes of different continents, and by means of a fine 
wire encircle the globe with these dolls and a. small book to 
represent the Bible. Illustrate how others have striven to pre-
serve this wonderful Book of 'books, by telling the story of 
Thomas Bitten in the article, "Selling Gospel Literature in 
the Sixteenth Century," April GAZETTE: p. 14. 
Talk: "On the Square With God" 
MANY of us receive letters which we scarcely bother to open; 
we know beforehand that they will not interest us. Others we 
can hardly wait to open, and we read them eagerly, and again 
and again. They are the letters from those who, love us and 
whom we love,—parents, brothers, sisters, friends; they are 
love letters, and mean much to us. 
The most wonderful and best of all love letters is the Bible. 
It is written to us, each of us, by our Father in heaven. Our 
letters from home or from friends remind us of happy times 
together in the past and of how lonely they are when we are 
away. They warn us against danger; they promise us help 
when and if we need it; they assure us of abiding love. So 
our heavenly Father, in His letter, says, "Remember the days; " 
Are you up to date 
son, if sinners. entice thee, consent thou not; " "Ask 
and it shall be given you; " "I have loved thee with an ever 
lasting love." 
Do we treat the Bible as a father's letter ought to be 
treated? When the postman brings us a letter from father or 
rem mother, we do not lay it aside till a more convenient time, 
and perhaps forget to read it at all for a day or two, while we 
go on with the story we are reading, the work we are doing, 
or the game we are playing. No; we forget everything else 
for the time being and give our whole thought and interest to 
that letter. We laugh over it, maybe cry a bit over it; and if 
some one is near, we often want to read some parts of it to 
that one so that he, too, may enjoy it with us. And if there 
is some bit of especially good news hi it,— if father or brother 
is planning to visit us, or is coming to take us home,— why, we 
are eager to tell the news to every one we know, and we do not 
tire of telling it over and over again. 
And then we are eager to write back to that dear one, to 
thank him for the pleasure he gave us,, and to tell him of our 
experiences and the things that interest us; and we look forward 
to the time when we can have another letter from him. Do we 
thank our heavenly Father for the wonderful letter He has 
written us, for His promises of help and comfort, for His as-
surances of love and care, and for the good news that soon He 
will send our Elder Brother to take us home to live always 
with Him? Are we eager and glad to tell the "good news" 
to our friends and associates? For in our heavenly Father's 
home there is room for all our' friends, and He wants us 'to 
tell them this, and that He is waiting and anxious to have them 
come home with us, and will be their Father, too. 
Let us think of the Bible in this way, as a love letter from 
our dear Father, and let us give it our first and best thought 
and interest. He will not disappoint us, either, for the oftener 
we read His letter, the more beautiful and precious it will 
become to us. Let us play square with God, and He will 
meet us more than half way. �
, 
Talk: "I Rejoice at Thy Word" 
DON'T you wish you could? 
Could what? 
Enjoy your Bible. 
Yes, we wish we could; but it's so dry and uninteresting. 
Oh, is it? Why, I've heard some say it was the most inter-
esting book they ever read, and that they really enjoy reading 
it more than any other book. "Probably some saintly old man 
or woman who is getting ready to die!" I hear some one 
whisper. Not all of them! Let me tell you how one learned 
really to enjoy it—and how you can! 
First, treat it fairly, as you treat any other book. If some 
one gives or lends you an interesting book to read, you don't 
read a paragraph or two here, a page there, a chapter in another 
place. No; you start in at the first word and read straight 
through, in order not to miss any of it. And you get so inter- 
in your Bible Near? 
Junior Ilitooionarp Volunteer 
atetingo 
8 �
THE CHURCH OFFICERS' GAZETTE 
gated that you dislike to stop when the time comes to do so.' 
Well, the Bible is made up of sixty-Six books,— some of them 
rather long, sonic very short, none as long as the average 
storybook. Just you try reading it book by book,— a book 
at a sitting. Find out all you can about its author, its purpose, 
its history, its background, when it was written as related to 
other books in the Bible. And think about what you are read-
ing, remembering that, unlike any other book in the world, it 
is altvays new, though so old, and it has a message to you. 
Read your Bible regularly, every day, giving it the best time. 
Read it prayerfully, asking God to help yon to understand it. 
Read it synupathetieally, with real interest and desire to know 
and understand it for yourself. Read it intentgently, with a 
knowledge of the relation of its parts and characters; for 
example, do not confuse the Saul of the Old Testament with 
the Saul of the New. Read it obediently, remembering that 
Bible reading without Bible living is mocking God. "Be ye 
doers of the word, and not hearers only." 
When you have finished reading a book, ask yourself these 
four questions about it. And take time to answer them, 
What is the principal subject/ 
What is the leading lesson? 
What is the best verse? 
Who are the prominent persons? 
And then you can! 
Can what? 
Can. say truly, "I rejoice at Thy word." 
Exercise: " The Holy Bible " 
(Provide each child with a large cut-out letter, which he will display 
as he repeats his verse.) 
"Heaven and earth shall pass away: but My words shall not 
pals away." Luke 21: 33. 
"0 how love 1 Thy law/ it is my meditation all the day." 
" Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous 
things out of Thy law." Ps. 119: 97, 18. 
"L et the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; 
teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and 
hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in 'your 
hearts to the Lord." Col. 3: 16. 
" Y ea, in the way of Thy judgments, 0 Lord, have we waited 
for Thee; the desire of our soul is to Thy name, and to 
the remembrance of Thee." Isa. 26: 8, 
" B lossed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law 
of the Lord. Blessed are they that keep His testimonies, 
and that seek Him with the whole heart." Ps. 119: 1, 2. 
"I n the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, 
and the Word was God." "And the Word was made 
flesh, and dwelt among us, . . . full of grace and truth." 
John I : 1, 14 
"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incor-
ruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth 
forever " I Peter 1:23. 
o, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of Me, 
I delight to do Thy will, 0 My God: yea, Thy law is 
within My heart." Ps. 40: 7, B. 
very word of God is pure: He is a shield unto them that 
put their trust in Him." Prov. 30: 5. 
Making Home Happy 
I �
(Program fol. Week Ending May 11) 
fly oaken El/RES-STEVENS 
Song: " Love at Home." (No. 550 in " Christ in Song.") 
Scripture Beading: Lx. 20'; 12; Rs. 103: 13; Luke 2: 51, 
Prayer. 
Secretary's Report and Missionary Reports. 
Superintendent's Talk: " Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother." 
Recitation: " Mother's Day." 
Talk: " What Mother and Father Do for Me." (This should come from 
the heart of a Junior. The expression of his own thoughts will 
be more valuable than the repetition of the thoughts of others.) 
Special instrumental Music. 
Recitation: a" Nobody Knows—but Mother." 
Story: "The Little Bird That Tells." (In "Uncle Arthur's Bedtime 
Stories," Fourth Series; p. 67.) 
Symposium by a Number of Juniors: "How I Can Show MY Love for 
Father and Mother." (These should be sentences or one-minute 
testimonies. It may be best to ask them to submit In writing what 
they expect to give, in order that all may not say the same thing.) 
Recitation: Home." 
Closing Sons: "Home. Sweet Home." INo. 737 in "Christ In Song.") 
3,-nor F-.ner4nthodent 
Invite the corolla to be itee rt 1"11;? 'seethe-. Tf 
have Carnations or some white flower to pin on all as they come 
in. �
As the boys and' girls prepare the program, help. them to 
understand 'what it means to truly honor father and mother. 
For further thoughts see the senior program on page'II. 
 
Talk:." Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother " 
OUR heavenly Father must have known that we might forget 
to honor our fathers and mothers, for He put this wonderful 
commandment right in the heart of His law. We should re-
member that whatever -we do brings either honor or disgrace 
upon our parents. I believe that if we did remember this we 
would be more careful how we act. 
quite a number of years ago d young lady by the name of 
Anna Jarvis, who lived in Philadelphia, prepared a beautiful 
memorial service for her mother, who had died some years 
before. From this grew the idea of Mother's Day, which is 
celebrated the second Sunday in May. The purpose of the 
day is to remind us of our mothers and all the love and tender- 
ness they have shown toward us. We may manifest our love 
and gratitude to them in many ways. The idea of a special 
day in memory of our fathers developed a little later, and 
now we have both a Mother's Day and a Father's Day. Let 
us not wait until these special days come, but let us show our 
fathers and mothers every day how much we love and appreciate 
them. (Repeat together Exodus 20: 12, 
Discuss the word 
" honor.") 
Mother's Day 
Um glad that once in every year 
We set aside a day 
To say, "I love you, mother dear," 
In every way we may, 
We love our mothers all the time, 
But oft forget to say 
How dear they are; and so Pro glad 
Of Mother's Day in May. 
—Julia M. Martin. 
Nobody Knows — but Mother 
Nosoov knows the work it makes 
To keep the home together; 
Nobody knows the steps it takes; 
Nobody knows—but mother. 
Nobody listens to childish woes 
Which dilly kisses smother; 
Nobody's pained by naughty blows; 
Nobody—only mother. 
Nobody knows of the sleepless care 
Bestowed on baby brother; 
Nobody knows of the tender prayer; 
Nobody --- only 'nether. 
Nobody knows of the lessons taught 
Of loving ono another; 
Nobody knows of the patience sought; 
Nobody—only mother. 
Nobody knows of the anxious fears, 
Lest darling may not weather 
The storm of life in after years; 
Nobody knows but mother. 
Nobody kneels at the throne above 
To thank the heavenly Father 
For that sweetest gift — a mother's love; 
Nobody can but mother. 
Home 
HOME is not a place to stay, 
But where there's good cheer all the day. 
Home is' not a boarding place, 
But where there's sunshine in each face. 
Home is not where riches dwell, 
But where sweet Patience weaves her spell, 
Home is not where all is fair, 
But where love lightens every care. 
Home is just a place to see 
How brave and splendid one can be. 
A place that makes all heroes bold, 
And heroines as fine as gold. 
Home is where the bravest hearts 
Are daily acting noble parts; „ 
Where angels' feet have hourly trod 
Yes, home is where there's most of God, 
—Mary Hester Earbe. 
Every Junior soipeeintendent should have the aerator Manual. Price, 50 cents. 
THE CHURCH OFFICERS' GAZETTE �
9 
Birds of the Air 
(Program for Week Ending May 18) 
BY IRENE WALKER 
Opening Song: "God Sees the' Little Sparrow Fall." (No. 262 in 
 
"Christ in Song.") 
Scripture Text: Matthew 6: 28. 
Prayer by Two Juniors. 
Exercise: "Bible Birds." 
Duet: "Once on a Mountain Side." (Two stanzas of No. 17 in "Sun- 
shine Songs," by younger children.) 
Talk: "Birds as Friends or Enemies." (Material for this talk will be 
found in "Bible Nature Series," No. 2, pp. 275-285. Make use of 
questions on pp. 279 and 285.) 
Story; " Lady Betty the Quail." (See book, "Elo She Eagle," pp. 29.41.) 
Recitation: "My Little Blue Friend." 
Superintendent's Talk: " Lessons of Trust." (See note, also poem 
"Eventide.") 
Blackboard Drill: "Birds Around Our Homes." 
(Let Juniors name 
birds they already know. Give a few minutes for descriptions 
and lessons to be learned from their habits.) 
Notebook Memoranda: " What Should I Know About a Bird?" 
Recitation: " With Father." 
Close by Memorizing In Concert Matthew 10: 2941. 
Notes to Junior Superintendent 
Birds seem to be the happiest creatures on the earth, yet 
they have none of what we call the common comforts of life. 
Men who study dead birds can tell how they are made, how 
their bones are put together, and how many feathers are in 
their wings and tails. It is well to know these things, but 
to see how birds live is much more interesting. As we study 
them, we shall be surprised how much they act like people. 
For lessons of trust, see "Education," pages 117-119. Tell 
the story of how the boy Jesus watched the common sparrows 
as they built their nests in Nazareth. And in later life as 
Jesus sought to draw lessons from things with which all His 
hearers would be familiar, He chose these plump little brown 
birds for one of His chief lessons of trust. Repeat together 
Matthew 10: 29-31. 
It would be a fine thing to have this program in the open. 
But if it is not possible to have the meeting out of doors, be 
sure to plan a walk soon thereafter. As a rule, it is not best 
to go out in large groups to study birds. Any noise startles 
them, so a crowd does not see some of the more timid little 
songsters. The best time to observe birds is in the early 
morning. But if the Juniors are quiet, you will see many al- 
most any hour of the day. Teach them how to wait quietly in 
a secluded spot for a frightened bird to reappear. Listen 
to the songs of the birds, and when you are out of the woods 
recall and imitate their notes. Examine nests, preferably de-
serted ones, in order not to frighten father and mother birds. 
Of course, no Junior Missionary Volunteer will be guilty of 
killing, or ruthlessly destroying the nest and eggs of, any harm-
less bird. If it is absolutely impossible to take children for 
a walk in the woods, visit the zoo, or at least have colored pic- 
tures where they can become familiar with our bird friends. 
As you go out to study you should have access to at least one 
good bird guide. A small pocket-size guide can be obtained 
from Doubleday, Doran & Co., Garden City, N. Y, When or-
dering be sure to state whether you wish the guide for birds east 
or west of the Rocky Mountains. For other bird books consult 
your public library. 
Exercise: " Bible Birds " 
(Juniors should have Bibles and pencils and paper ready to begin 
all at the same time. Following are suggestive sentences to be 
placed on the blackboard for them to copy, filling in blank spaces with 
the proper word. Add other sentences on Bible birds. Use Bibles 
and give references only if absolutely necessary.) 
Eli,jah was fed by �
. 1 Kings 17: 6. 
2. Noah sent a - out front the ark. Gen. 8: 11. 
3. The children of Israel were given �
to eat. Num. 11:31. 
4. -- talked about birds, when He preached the sermon 
ou the amount. Matt. 6: 26. 
5, Solomon must have watched an -- fly. Prov. 30: 19. 
My Little Blue Friend 
On, I saw a bird, a dear little bird; 
Its coat was the brightest of blue. 
At that I stood still, very still, yes, indeed, 
And scarcely would breathe' 
 for I knew 
That unless I was still the bird would not stay, 
And I never would know where it flew. 
Then, little by little, I drew closer up,-
So slowly it didn't see me. 
I could watch very plainly its shiny black eyes 
As it flitted about on the tree. 
And once it sang sweetly a dear little song 
Right where I plainly could see. �
: 
I stood there so thrilled and so thankful and glad 
To have had such a pleaSant surprise, 
That I said, " God, I thank Thee for making the birds," 
As I quickly shut tight my two eyes; 
And I wondered whatever we'd do if we had 
No birds and no bright butterflies. 
- Author 17nknourn. 
" What Should I Know About a Bird? " 
Mace these points listed where all can copy in their notebooks.) 
1. Locality - tree, bush, ground. 
2. Size- compare with robin or -English sparrow. 
3. Form-long, short, stocky, slender. 
4. Bill-stout, hooked, long, short, slender, 
5. Tail- length, shape at end. 
6. Legs - long, weak, strong, short, scales. 
7. Toes-webbed, how turned, length of hind claws. 
8. Color - bright, dull. 
9. Markings- on head, breast, wings, tail, back. 
10. Manners-walk, hop, quiet, active, noisy, silent, 
11. Habits of eating. 
12. Song- long, short, continuous, broken. 
13. Flight- direct, undulating, fluttering, labored. 
14. Nest - place, shape, materials, eggs. 
15. Young- plumage, behavior, how cared for. 
Eventide 
Am cool of day with God I walk 
My garden's grateful shade; 
I hear His voice among the trees, 
And I am not afraid. 
1 see His presence in the night; 
And though my heart is awed, 
I do not quail before the sight 
Or nearness of my God. 
He speaks to me in every wind, 
He smiles from every star; 
He is not deaf to me, nor blind, 
Nor absent, nor afar. 
His hand, that shuts the flowers to sleep, 
Each in its dewy fold, 
Is strong my feeble life to keep, 
And competent to hold. 
I cannot walk in darkness long, 
My light is by illy side; 
I cannot stumble or go wrong 
While following such a guide. 
He is my stay and my defense; 
How shall I fail or fall? 
My helper is Omnipotence! 
My ruler ruleth all! 
The powers below and powers above 
Are subject to His care; 
I cannot wander from His love 
Who loves me everywhere. 
Thus dowered, and guarded thus, with Him 
I walk this peaceful shade; 
I bear His voice among the trees, 
And I am not afraid. 
-Caroline Atherton Meson 
With Father 
1 Tool( a walk with fattier 
Out in the woods to-day. 
Ile knows the names of all the trees 
And where the squirrels stay. 
He let me look into their house 
Inside of the big tree; 
We gathered nuts for them to keep, 
And they left some for me. 
My father knows what kinds of stones 
I made into a stack; 
And when the birds sing- calls to him, 
He always whistles back. 
I'd rather walk with father 
And have him tell me things 
About the woods and what we see 
Than ride the horse with wings, 
. -Rose Waldo. 
A Good Time Being Good 
(Program for Week Ending May 25) 
BY 0. R. FATTIC 
Opening Song: "'Always Cheerful." (No: 284 in "Christ in 3011g:") 
Scripture Lessons: &el. 12: 1-7; Amos 4: 12; Eecl. 11:8-10. , 
Prayer, (Following Morning Watch suggestion, " That I may put out 
of my life anything that hinders God from answering my 'pralryks. 
For a greater interest in missionary work at home.") 
'-Do you have it MissioUari Volunteer Self-denial Dank? 
i0 �
THE CHURCH OFFICERS' GAZETTE 
Special Music. 
Secretary's Report of Last Meeting: Mission Offering. 
A Study on Amusements. From the Spirit of Prophecy. (See also 
symposium, " Tests of Our Recreation," P. 15.) 
Song: "Saviour, Like a Shepherd Lead Us." (No. 729 in "Christ in 
Song.") 
Leader's Talk: "Our Parties and Hikes." 
Story: "The Sleigh Ride" or "Plain Bernice." (See the Junior 
Reading Course book, "Stories Worth Rereading.") 
Recitation: "Be a Friend." (See o. 14.) 
The Superintendent Brings Good News. (See notes.) 
Discussion: " blow Shall We Choose Our Games?" (See notes.) 
Close With Song and Prayer. 
Notes to Junior Superintendent 
This program should help our Juniors to see that the best 
limes they can possibly have will consist of wholesome fun or 
work, It should be the plan to have a party or a hike soon 
after this meeting, Announce the hour and place you will meet, 
If your Junior meetings are held on a week day, definite plans 
can be laid at once, If you meet on Sabbath, of course you 
will come together at some other time to make detailed ar-
rangements for the gathering or hike. (Study carefully the 
"Social Life of the Junior," chapter IX in the Junior Manual.) 
If you are going for an outing, organize under unit leaders. 
(See junior Manual, p. 22.) 
The discussion, " How Shall We Choose Our Games?" may 
be conducted by an older Junior, though you, of course, will 
mold the final decisions as to the best kind of games. If pos- 
sible, refer to " Social Plans," pp. 39-41. The unit leaders 
should meet with you for specific arrangements in regard to 
games, what to take, etc. Be sure that each Junior understands 
what he is to bring, the hour, the place, and what is expected 
of him if he is to bear definite responsibilities. 
For further helps see the talks and leader's notes in the 
senior program, "Our Social Relations," p. 14. 
A Study on Amusements, From the Spirit of Prophecy 
1. Witter questions should we apply to our recreation and 
amusements? C. T., 334, first four lines. 
2. Does the Lord expect us as children to have some fun as 
we go along? C. T., 335, last par., first six lines. 
3. What two tests should always be put upon amusements? 
C. T., 337, last par, 
4. What kind of amusements are not safe, but dangerous? 
(Answered by above par.) 
5. What other test may we put on recreation and amuse-
ments/. C. T., 342, last par. 
6. Where is the most dangerous resort for pleasure? C. T., 
334, last par, 
7. What is the only safe course for us to take in regard to 
theatergoing? C, T., 335, lines 3-6. 
8. What kind of recreation is good for boys and girls? 
C. T., 335, lines 10-12. 
Leader's Talk: " Our Parties and Hikes " 
WE are members of an organization that stands for religion 
and for ithe Seventh-day Adventist message. It is the purpose 
of this Junior Society to help us to grow into workers and 
leaders for the Master. We need to have strong, vigorous bodies 
and minds. We need both work and play, To-day we are 
going to study how to find different kinds of pleasure that are 
good and all right for Christians. 
In any great work such as ours of giving the advent mes-
sage to the whole world, an organization is necessary, and 
an organization must have a leader. Our parties and hikes can 
train us in both of these lines. 
But no one can become a leader until he has learned to follow 
leadership. We boys and girls must learn to be respectful to 
our superintendent or whoever accompanies us in our good times, 
We must get a training in being a part of an organized 
plan of obeying our unit leaders. (If possible to have access 
to the hook " Social Plans," the one giving this talk should 
study the section on chaperons, pp. 30-32.) 
Besides being obedient, a Junior Missionary Volunteer is 
pledged to be kind and courteous. If a hike or party is to 
bring happiness to every one, then all should plan not to be 
rough or rude. To have the best time we must all be on friendly 
terms, no one taking unfair advantages in the games we play. 
Then, too, there are times when some Junior can help 
another who for some gOod relmon has not been able to do his 
share as quickly as the rest. We can be helpful by showing 
each other how to do new things. All will have a better time 
if every one joins in, helping in every group activity, whether 
it be work-Cr play. 
*tutor filtootonarp Volunteer 
filtetitto 
Suggestions to Missionary Volunteer Leaders 
Varying the Opening of the Meeting 
1. SING softly that beautiful hymn, " Tread softly, the 
Master is here." This will have a subduing, spiritual influence. 
2. After all have bowed their heads a moment in silent prayer, 
let the leader offer a short audible prayer. 
3. All sing softly, without the organ, a verse of a prayer 
hymn, such as " None, Still Nearer," " Closer to Thee," etc. 
4. Stand and repeat reverently the Lord's prayer in concert, 
5. Repeat Exodus 20: 8-11, then unite in singing, "Blessed 
are they that do His commandments." (Shortest and most 
pointed sermon delivered. �
Largest audience — estimated 
6,000,000.) 
6. As leaders take their places and bow their heads in a mo-
ment of silent prayer, let some one or two, appointed before-
hand, sing softly, " There are angels hov'ring round," or 
"Jesus, come and bless us." �
N. IL PAUL1KNER. 
TwoMihute Features 
Lessons front the h ayes will constitute our two-minute fea-
tures each week of this month. The Juniors have a program 
on birds, and the Senior Missionary Volunteers have one on 
"Creation and the Creator," which will in themselves bring 
nature to the forefront this month. Each -week ask a Mission-
ary Volunteer to be prepared to show a different family leaf. 
For instance, of the oak family you may have several varieties 
in your community. Consult the Junior Reading Course book, 
"Trees Every Child Should Know." Let the following sug-
gestive lessons be given to the ones conducting the four weekly 
drills, as illustrative of the lessons which they may bring out: 
1. Each leaf works unselfishly for the benefit of the whole 
tree. The fiber from each runs down into the trunk of the 
tree. Though the leaves die each year, part of them remains 
for the constant upbuilding of the tree. Like the leaves, let 
us work for the common interests of humanity. 
2. Leaves are content to work in the place where they are. 
The highest leaf does not feel above those on the lower limbs. 
3. By absorbing carbonic, acid gas, which is poison to animal 
life, and giving off oxygen, which, is healthful, leaves purify-
the. air around them, As Christians, do our lives have an at-
mosphere of purity surrounding them? 
4. Almost all trees have green leaves during summer months. 
But when cold winter comes, only the evergreens retain their 
color. Can we maintain true Christian principles regardless of 
storms of strife and stress? 
Home 
In takes a heap of living, 
To make four walls a home; 
And it matters not 
How much you've got, 
Be it cottage or palaced dome; 
The main thing here 
Is love and cheer, 
As life's dark maze we roam. 
The fires upon love's altar 
Must cheery be and bright; 
And its ruddy glow 
Cheers the heart, you know, 
And floods the soul with light; 
And its radiance fair, 
Like a beacon star, 
Illumines life's dark night. 
So keep the home fires burning 
Through morning, noon, and night, 
And their light will shill° 
In your heart and mine, 
To make the dark hours bright; 
For the love-light fair 
Reflected there 
Will turn the dark to light, 
C. A. RUSSELL. 
Have you planned a social gathering for your Missionary Volunteers? 
THE CHURCH OFFICERS' GAZETTE 
The Home Beautiful 
(Program for Week Ending May 4) 
RY C. A. RUSSELL 
Song Service. (Nos. 581, 568, 08. in " Christ in Song.") 
Opening Song: "Love at Rome." (No. 580.) 
Two Texts: Ex. 20: 12; Eph. 6: 2, 3. 
Prayer. (Especially for more love at home.) 
A Two-Minute Missionary Experience and the Offering. 
Repeat in Unison the Blackboard Thought. 
Talk: "The Home Beautiful." 
Recitation: "Rome." (See p. 10.) 
Talk: "Kindness." 
Recitation: "Home.' (By Mary Hester Force. See p. 8.) 
Closing Song: "Rome, Sweet Home." (No. 738.) 
Missionary Volunteers Separate for Band Meetings. (See p. 15.) 
Blackboard Thought 
"In all that pertains to the success of God's work, 
the very first victories are to be won in the home 
life."—"Testrawnies," Vol. VI, p. 354. 
Note to Leaders 
It will not be difficult to connect this program with our char-
acter-building series for the year. (None was given in April, 
but there are two this month. See also program on p. 14.) The 
home is the very center of character formation, and in no other 
place is the true character more clearly revealed. 
Talk: " The Home Beautiful" 
THE home beautiful —a beautiful home! Not all homes, or 
so-called homes, are beautiful. The home is what we make it 
— and God makes it. 
The three most beautiful words in the language, we are told, 
aro mother, home, heaven. Home—the haven of rest for the 
soul. Home —" a world of strife shut out; a world of love 
shut in." Home —" a man's kingdom, a woman's world, the 
child's paradise." 
Associated with the word " home" are some of the sweetest 
words which he know,— sweet because of their association,—
father, mother, brother, sister, husband, wife, son, daughter. 
S. D. Gordon, in his beautiful book, "Quiet Talks on Home 
Ideals," page 81, paints a picture of a true home. 
"Home is the holy of holies of a man's life. There he with-
draws from all the world, and 'abutting his door, is alone with 
those who are his own. It is the reservoir of his strength, the 
restorer of his energies, the resting place from his toil, the 
brooding place for his spirit, the inspiration for all his activ-
ities and battles. 
"Home is where love lives. Not where it boards, nor pays 
occasional visits, even long visits, nor even where it may be a 
sort of permanent guest, with familiar access to certain rooms 
and cozy corners. But where it owns the front-door key, sits 
by' the glow of a hearth fire of its own kindling, and pervades 
the whole house with its presence. It May be a king's spacious, 
luxurious palace. It may be the poor man's narrow-walled 
cottage, or anywhere in between these two extremes." 
It takes more than four walls to make a home. As Mr. 
Gordon says, "Home is where love lives and reigns and trains." 
Home is where there are warm, loving, tender, sympathetic, 
understanding human hearts beating together in perfect unity. 
Yes, a home may be a palace or a cabin. It may be in the 
heart of a great city, or on the summit of a majestic mountain. 
It may be a palace, tent, cabin, or anything between these 
extremes, but a home is where love lives. 
A stranger accosted a little boy on the street one day, as 
he paused in his morning walk and said: 
"Well, son, is your home in this town/ " 
The boy lifted a frank and beautiful face as he said: 
"Yes, our home is in this town. We ain't got no house 
for it yet. Papa's building one." 
I picked up a discarded magazine on a railway train. As I 
was sketching it through, my eye fell upon a picture. It was 
a full-page illustration. I studied it. The longer I looked at 
it, the dimmer grew my vision. The room was cheerless, the 
plaster had fallen in two or three places. The occupant had 
made some attempt to decorate the bare walls with a touch 
of art here and there, if only a calendar. Calendars do not 
cost anything. The mother was. at her sewing. The old clock 
indicated the hour of one in the morning. The kerosene lamp 
burned dimly. On an old mattress in the corner which served 
as a bed, a little thin form had lifted herself upon her elbow. 
She had drawn her torn nightie about her with a beautiful touch 
of modesty; besides, the room was cold. She looked at mother, 
and with just the trace of a smile playing about her lips said, 
"Mother what do poor little girls do who ain't got no home?" 
As I laid the picture down, a lump came into my throat and 
my eyes grew still more dim. 
Yes, home is what we make it—and God. 
Talk: "Kindness " 
HARSH words, unkind words, how they cut—cut like a two-
edged sword, cut to the very heart's core! 
After they are 
spoken, we regret them. Too late/ " Three things come not 
back, the sped arrow, the spoken word, the neglected oppor-
tunity." In that beautiful and touching poem by Will Carleton, 
"The First Settler's Story," he says, after telling the incident 
with all its touching pathos: 
"Boys flying kites haul in their white-winged birds; 
You can't do that way when you're flying words. 
Thoughts unexpressed may sometimes fall back dead; 
But God Himself can't kill them when they're said." 
Why not just be kind? Are we provoked? Is our temper 
stirred? Does the impatient word come to the lip? Bite it, 
hold the breath, do anything but speak the word that hurts. 
"Let something good be said." 
An old man and a young man were having a quiet heart-to-
heart talk over some of life's problems. Finally, the young 
man turned to the older one and calling him father, said, 
" Father, if you could live your life over again, what would 
you do?" The old man thought for a moment, and then with 
the trace of a smile on his lip, said, " Well, son, if I could 
live my life over again, I think I should just try to be a 
little more kind." 
There ought to be a well-beaten track between the heart 
and the lip. Love them and tell them so. 
" Do not keep the alabaster boxes of your love and. tender-
ness sealed up until your friends are dead. Fill their lives 
with sweetness. Speak approving, cheering words while their 
ears can hear them, and while their hearts can be thrilled and 
made happier by them; the kind things you mean to say when 
they are gone, say before they go. The flowers you mean to 
send for their coffins, send to brighten and sweeten their 
homes before they leave them. . . . I should rather have a 
plain coffin without a flower, a funeral without a eulogy, than 
a life without the sweetness of love and sympathy." 
Margaret Sangster has expressed the thought of the linger- 
ing heartache which comes as a result of unkind words as 
she singe: 
"If I had known in the morning 
How wearily all the day 
The words unkind 
Would trouble my mind 
I said when you went away, 
I had been more careful, darling, 
Nor given you needless pain; 
But we vex our own' 
With look and tone 
We might never take back again. 
" For though in the quiet evening 
You may give me the kiss of peace, 
Yet it might be 
That never for me 
The pain of the heart should cease. 
How many go forth in the morning 
That never come home at night, 
And hearts have broken 
For harsh words spoken 
That sorrow can never set right/ 
"We have careful thoughts for the stranger, 
And smiles for the sometime guest, 
But oft for our own' 
The bitter tone, 
Though we love our own' the best. 
Ah I lips with the curve impatient, 
AM brow with that look of scorn, 
'Twere a cruel fate 
Were the night too late 
To undo the work of morn." 
The Senior Manual is " Missionary Volunteers and Their Work." 
12 �
THE CHURCH OFFICERS' GAZETTE 
Creation and the Creator 
(Program for Week Ending May 11) 
Favorite Songs of Praise. 
A Season of Sentence Prayers. 
Opening Song: "Thy Glory Fills the Heavens." (No. 841 in "Christ 
in Song.") 
Leader's Question: "How Do You Know?" (See Notes to Leaders.) 
Talk: "The Reasonableness of the Genesis Story." 
Talk: "Design in Nature." (As this talk is given, show specimens 
of leaves, minerals, bird's nests, etc.; or exhibit pictures.) 
Reading: " Eventide." (See P. 5. 
Song by the Juniors: "Creation.'(No. 33 in "Sunshine Songs.") 
Four Scriptures: Psalms 14:1; 19:1.8; 33: 6-9; 96: 1-10. (To be read 
or recited by four Missionary Volunteers.) 
Closing Song: "Crown Him Lord of All." (No. 258 in "Christ in 
Song.") 
A Moment of Silent Prayer, Closed With Audible Prayer. 
Missionary Volunteers Separate for Band Meetings. (See P. 154 
Notes to Leaders 
Wo are living in a day when it is impossible for a young 
person to stand upon the beliefs of his forefathers. Sooner 
or later he is bound to face the question for himself, How do 
I know? Widespread are the theories which are undermining 
the foundation of a belief in God. Read and glean helpful 
thoughts from " Patriarchs and Prophets," pp. 113-116. Ap-
proach this meeting to-day with much prayer and earnestness. 
As Missionary Volunteer officers, pray that God will help you 
in making it so clear and convincing that every young person 
present will go out with a firmer belief in the true God. 
Place the following quotation on the blackboard, and read it 
impressively several times: 
" We find design evident everywhere. Design implies mind; 
mind implies thought; thought implies a thinker; a thinker 
implies a person. Thus step by step we rise to the conception 
of an Almighty Person, who is above us and around us"—
Rollo Franklin Hurlburt. 
Read Romans 1:20, and illustrate with the story of the 
French atheist who, visiting an old German baron, was being 
shown about the estate. The visitor commented upon the beauty 
of the, architecture of the buildings and the perfection of the 
arrangement of field and wood. " Who is the author of all 
this beauty?" he asked. " My son," replied the Christian 
baron simply. They went on and visited the fine hospital on 
the estate where many ills were treated year after year, and 
again the question: " Who is the author of all this perfection?" 
And again the credit was accorded to the son. At last they 
came to a school where young men by the score were being 
educated and trained to the highest manhood under the best 
minds of the age. When the Frenchman learned this, too, was 
under the direction of the baron's son, he exclaimed, "Your 
son must be a rare man indeed. I hope I shall have the pleasure 
of meeting him." Then with a Christian purpose in his heart, 
the baron asked, "How did you know I have a son?" "How, 
indeed?" exclaimed the atheist. "Have I not been viewing 
all this day the wideness of his activity and intelligence?" 
"Ali," replied the devout old German, "if you can believe 
that I, have a son from seeing his work, why can you not 
believe that there is a God, when on every side you see His 
work and the evidence of His intelligence? " 
Talk: " The Reasonableness of the Genesis Story " 
"I/ ibthe beginning God." 
Thus opens the record. In 
framing any explanation of the universe and of life, we must 
start with something, we most assume something as eternal. 
The eVolutionists, and virtually all who reject the Genesis 
story, assume that matter—the dead earth —is eternal, and 
that from it, by a long-drawn-out process, all of our complex 
life developed. The tremendous difficulties with which this 
view is beset are evident. The assumption that insensible 
matter could take on sense —by developing into creatures 
with minds—seems the essence of nonsense. Truly does the 
Good Book say of those early men who "did not like to retain 
God in their knowledge," and who first introduced this method 
of explaining all the wonders of creation in terms of the forces 
of nature,. that "professing themselves to be wise, they be-
came fools." 
We would consider as foolish the thought that a man could 
whittle out an ocean-going liner with his pocketknife, or that 
a house could spring up out of the ground by some chance 
combination of the elements in the soil. Why/ Because the 
effect produced does not have a sufficient cause. Water cannot 
rise higher than its source. A masterpiece demands a master; 
a house, an architect. The application of this principle to the 
problem before us is logically made by an inspired writer. 
"Every house is builded by some man; but He that built 
all things is God:" This analogy appeals at once to our 
reason. Moses, in presenting us with an all-powerful. all-wise 
God as the one Eternal Entity, from whom all things else 
proceeded, furnishes the only satisfying, rational explanation 
of the universe. " In the beginning God created the heavens 
and the earth." 
" God said . . . and it was so." This phrase is used 
repeatedly in the description of the creative acts. The op- 
ponents of Genesis picture God as laboriously modeling out 
all the creatures much as a sculptor would. Thus they at-
tempt to discredit creation. But the Bible record goes into 
practically no details. "He spoke, and it was done; Be 
commanded, and it stood fast." An immediate response to a 
divine command — that is the essence of the creation story. 
And here, indeed, is the crux of the whole problem. The 
skeptic protests that he cannot understand how God could 
create instantly all the multitudes of living creatures, and that 
such a belief is unreasonable. We confess that we also are 
in ignorance as to how God could perform such wonders; but 
we protest that such a belief is not unreasonable; that it is, 
instead, the most reasonable view to hold. 
In the first place, the evolutionist is perplexed as to how 
God could create a living creature at all. How else could any 
creature come into existence/ The best proved fact of science 
is that all life is the result of pre-existing life. Following that 
back to its logical end, we are led to the doctrine of the 
eternity of life, the eternity of a living Being whom we call 
God. And God being the Source of all life, other beings could 
come into existence only as a result of His willing to give 
them life. And this willing on the part of God we are 
pleased to term a manifestation of His creative power. True 
it is, that faith must play a part in obtaining a full appre-
ciation of this creative act; but it is a faith aided by facts 
and reason, not opposed to them. 
The opposite doctrine—that the nonliving earth brought 
into existence the first living thing—demands that a person 
defy the evidence as to life's coming only from pre-existing 
life, and that he go contrary to reason, which demands that 
every effect have an adequate cause. 
" Anyhow, it seems unreasonable to believe that God could 
bring creatures into existence instantly," asserts the skeptic. 
But why should God require a long time? When mere man, 
as a result of experiments with artificial lightning, can begin 
to speak of " the application of terrific energy in such a way 
as to effect changes in an instant,"— changes that it was 
formerly thought required " millions of years of slow evolution," 
—we should not find our faith unduly taxed in accepting the 
Biblical story. For if man believes he will do these feats 
instantaneously by harnessing the lightning, why should we 
find it bard to believe that God, out of whose " throne pro-
ceeded lightnings," could likewise accomplish His creative 
acts instantaneously? �
F. P. nouns 
Talk: "Design in Nature " 
WHENEVER we see design, whether in nature, a watch, a 
picture, or a book, we know that there must be an intelligent 
designer somewhere' behind that thing; for design never comes 
by chance. Nature presents an endless variety of designs. 
All its flowers have beautiful forma, and even its forest leaves 
are beautiful formations. Many of its creatures are architects 
of wondrous skill. The Queensland (Australia) ant builds its 
nest four or five feet high, a veritable palace of corridors and 
caves. One variety of spider, " the builder," puts a trapdoor, 
hinged and of perfect fit, to its underground dwelling. The 
mason bee builds its nest of mud, lays its eggs, and then fills 
the earth mold with preserved insects for the use of its un-
developed children, 
All the different kinds of bird families build their own 
kind of nest, and all the singing birds sing their own special 
song, The honeybee builds its six-sided cell so perfect in 
design that human science can offer no improvement. The 
honeycomb is a veritable wonderland of ingenuity, adaptability, 
and design. 
Nearly all the minerals in the world are composed of minute 
crystals. These crystals are of great variety, differing in 
their angles, colors, and formation. But the crystal form in 
each particular mineral is the same everywhere. Not an angle 
is found to differ. The angles of quartz are always the same 
whether taken from the Alps or the Himalayas. So it is 
with salt, iron, and marble — each crystal has its own formation. 
Note the Special Two-Minute,Yeatures on Nature, page 10. - 
THE CHURCH OFFICERS' GAZETTE �
13 
In the snowstorm millions of little snowflakes fall upon the 
earth, but every one carries with it a perfect design. Catch 
a few of the little fairy flakes, examine under a magnifying 
glass, and see that every one is composed with six points. A 
large variety are found, but the six points are found in them 
all. Usually the flakes in each storm are the same in formation. 
Now, the birds and bees have never attended school or college, 
but their work of building is accurate and beautiful, How 
does each mineral know how to crystallize into its own form, 
and what is it that stamps the snowflake with its six points? 
Why does each flower blossom according to its own pattern, 
and each fruit tree bring forth its own kind of fruit? 
Nature is full of design, and behind it all there must be a 
great Designer. 
For ages artists have been trying to imitate the Creator's 
work. But after all, their most persistent endeavors, the ex-
ercise of the most perfect skill, the use of the best materials 
to be obtained, the work done has only been one of imperfect 
imitation. We admire the artist's picture, but we turn away 
from the fairest scene portrayed to look again at the land-
scape and the sunsets of the great Master Artist. " He who 
built all things is God." �
R. HAnE, 
Things We Can Be Certain About 
(Program for Week Ending May 18) 
BY W. P. BRADLEY 
Appropriate Songs. (Nos. 11, 32, 91, 93, 132, 220„278, in "The Gospel 
in Song.") 
Scripture Readings: Phil. 4:19; I John 3:22: 5:14. 
Prayer. 
Secretary's Report, Reports of Work, and Offering. 
Introduce the Topic by Memorizing in Concert the Blackboard Motto. 
(See quotation at bottom of July in 1929 Morning Watch Calendar.) 
Talk: "Great Prayers." 
Reading: "Limitations of the Right of Prayer." 
Testimony Study: "Faith and Feeling." (Ask members in advance to 
find answers to the respective questions in the references listed.) 
Discussion: "It Isn't Likely." (Ask volunteers to name others.) 
Recitation; "Faith." (The first three stanzas of the poem by William 
Cowper, set to music in "Christ in Song," No. 726.) 
Close With Song and Prayer. 
Missionary Volunteers Separate for Band Meetings. (See P. 13.) 
Note to Leaders 
This is a call to renewed earnestness and faithfulness in the 
prayer life of every Missionary -Volunteer. We may accom-
plish any amount of work, but "only the work accomplished 
with much prayer, and sanctified by the merit of Christ, will in 
the end prove to have been efficient for good."-" The Desire 
Of Ages," p. 86e. If your prayer bands have' been gradually 
dwindling, begin anew today. We need public prayer; we need 
this united prayer in little groups; but most of all we need 
to be dead in earnest in our personal devotions. As you go 
forward with this program, pray earnestly, 
Talk: " Great Prayers " 
Iu answer to the question, " What can we pray for with 
assurance?" we, may profitably study several great prayers 
of the Bible to learn what requests are pleasing to God. 
The Lord's Prayer. Matt. 6: 9-13. 
1, " Thy kingdom come"- Prayer for the advancement 
of the work. 
2. "Daily bread"- The necessities of life, physical and 
spiritual food. 
3, "Forigive us"-Personal cleansing. 
4. "Lead us "- Guidance. 
Solomon's Dedication Prayer. 1 Kings 8: 22-53.' 
 
1. That God would control nature to the benefit of His 
people. Verses 35-39. 
2, For the conversion of strangers. Verses 41-43. 
3, In battles to which they were sent. Verses 44, 45. 
Study also: 
1. Manoah's prayer for guidance in "taring Samson. 
Judges 13: 8. 
2. Solomon's request for wisdom. 1 Kings 3: 5-9. 
3. Abraham's servant's prayer in choosing a wife for 
Isaac. Gen. 24: 12-14. - 
Praise Is Inseparable From Prayer. 
1. Many of David's psalms were really prayers. Con-
sider to-day a few, such as Psalms 23, 43, 107, 139. 
2. Daniel gave thanks for the revelation of the king's 
dream to him, and evidently.he did so before making 
it known to the king. Dan. 2: 19-23. 
Reading: " Limitations of the Right of Prayer " 
A PRAYER of a true child of God, offered in faith, will be for 
such things•only as the child supposes he needs and has a right 
to ask for, in order to fill his place and do his work in life to 
better advantage. And every such prayer will of necessity be 
conditioned on God's knowhidge that the thing asked for is 
best for the petitioner. Thus offered, every such praysr 
will be approved of God, and will be answered accordingly. 
Any promise from one person to another, or any convect be-
tween two persons, is to be interpreted in the light of the well-
understood relations of those persons to one another. Take an 
illustration, for example, from army service in time of active 
warfare. A corps commander directs a colonel to take his 
regiment to a critical position and perform a specified duty. 
As he sends him out, he says, " Call on me fur whatever you 
want, and you shall have it promptly." Hardly is the colonel 
at his post before he sends back a request to the commander 
for the suspension of all hostilities along the entire line,-
even, if necessary, at the cost of surrender,- so that the new 
movement can be made without any danger to the life and 
limb of those engaged in it. The request is refused. 
" But didn't you promise to give me whatever I wanted, if 1 
would ask for it? " says the colonel. "Certainly I did," replies 
the commander; "but that ,promise had reference to you as a 
soldier, under authority, in time of warfare. You knew that 
you were liable to death on the battle line. You knew that 1 
mast keep up active ,movements elsewhere along the front." 
"Well, then," says the colonel, "I don't see that your promise 
amounts to anything, if you are to grant only such requests 
as you think it wise to grant. I thought the promise was un-
qualified; but it seems now to be so limited that all there is to 
it is a privilege of asking without knowing whether an answer 
will be given or not." 
" The promise was unqualified within its well-understood 
limits, as between a commander and his subordinate" is the 
commander's answer. "If you ,had asked for forty rounds of 
ammunition per man, or for' three days' rations, or for a 
supply of shovels and picks, or for a covering party on either 
flank, or for an explanation of your orders on a doubtful point, 
you might have been as sure of an answer as of the sun in 
the heavens. The promise was unqualified just so far as you 
had any real needs; just so far as you might properly want 
because of your }iced; just So far as you had a right to make 
a requisition in the line of your designated service. So far 
the answer was assured you. 
"And even beyond all that, you might have asked for a ces-
sation of hostilities, in order that you might work to better 
advantage; but as you could not know if that were practicable 
and wise from the commander's standpoint of knowledge, you 
would have to leave it to him to say whether or not lte would 
accede to that request. Within your own sphere of need and 
knowledge the promise of help had no limits. Outside of that 
it must, in the very nature of 'things, be conditioned on the 
commander's judgment"-H. Clay Trumbull. 
Testimony Study: " Faith and Feeling " 
(Ask young people to find answers to these questions in the books 
indicated.) 
1. Definite faith. D. A., 347; C. 0. L., 112; G. W., 262. 
2. Does the exercise of faith depend on knowledge of the out-
come? T., IV, 28; D. A., 347; G. W., 262. 
3. am 4 any spiritual blessing appropriated? E, W., 72: 
Ed., 258. 
4. Can we prove that we are saved by our feelings? T., V, 
199; S. C., 55;75. 
'. How may the 'regueSt of the apostles, "Lord„inerease our 
faith," be fulfilled in our lives? G. C., 527; T., V, 213; Ed., 
253, 254. 
Discussion: " It Isn't Likely " 
MANY of the servants of God and others could have said, 
," It isn't likely," in answer to some of His promises.: But the 
promises were accepted in faith and the blessing and fulfillment 
followed. Some suggestive examples are: , 
' 1. The Lord tells Noah of the coming flood. Genesis 6. 
2. In his old age, Abraham is promised a multitude of seed, 
a thing.naturally impossible, Genesis 15. 
3:'A promise is made to Joshua that the walls of Jericho will 
fall when he has carried out instructions. Joshua 6. 
' Do �
r-Praier lkindWaaeet regularly? 
14 �
THE CHURCH OFFICERS' GAZETTE 
Our Social Relations 
(Program for Week Ending May 25) 
BY HELEN BURCH 
Songstr To-do,: ;; I WouldJesus:' "More 
 
Something for �
rTheaospeinhongt 
"The Saviour With WIC " Give of Your Rest," " Precious Name," 
"Not a Wasted Moment" (in 'Christ in Song"). 
Prayer. (Ask several young people to take part, telling them before 
the meeting what the subject for the day will be.) 
Introduction by Leader. (See note.) 
SymPosium: "Tests of Our Recreation." (See p. Ii.) 
Talk: "Amusement vs. Recreation." (See also 'Social Life in Rs 
Proper Setting," in "Social Plans," 1.1). 20, 21.) 
StorY: " Social to Save." (See article by Ellen Gould in "Instructor " of 
May 21; or a story from the book, " Stories Worth Rereading." 
"Mabel Ashton's Dream" and " Two Trifles " are both good.) 
Poem: "Be a Friend." 
Ten-Minute Discussion: "Our Social Gatherings." (See suggestive ques- 
tions. Urge all to take part.) 
Blackboard Thought: I Con 10: 31. (Have this text written on a black- 
board in sight of all during the meeting. Emphasize by memorizing 
it in concert.) 
Offerings, Reports, Announcements. 
Closing Song: " Would I Be Called a Christian?" (Words and music 
in " Instructor " of March 12. May also be sung to tune of No. 189 in 
"'Christ in Song." It would be well to memorize this.) 
To Close, Repeat in Concert Psalms 19: 14. 
Missionary Volunteers Separate for Band Meetings. (See p. 15.) 
Notes to Leaders 
" Social instincts are woven into the very fabric of human 
life by an all-wise Creator. They form the basis of the very 
highest development of the moral and spiritual life of man. 
The desire for social intercourse by our young people is, there-
fore, natural and right, and like all other proper impulses 
should be encouraged and directed. It is not at all surprising 
that an element of human life which is so pregnant with pos-
sibilities for individual happiness and blessing to others, should 
be the special object of Satan's attacks. Satan well knows that 
the perversion of the best is the worst. He understands, too, 
that it is the mistakes of youth that most effectually mar the 
whole life."—" Social Plans for Missionary Volunteers," p. 5 
(old edition). 
As Christian young people, we know that we cannot take part 
in certain things which the world enjoys, because we cannot 
take Jesus with us. To-day we are not going to discuss the 
danger of the theater, the dance, the moving picture show, eta. 
We are going to study the difference between recreation and 
amusement, 'and then the possiblilities before 'us in. the right 
kind of social gatherings. Plan to make this meeting mean 
something definite in your society. After consulting your 
pastor or church elder, and carefully and prayerfully studying 
the matter -with your executive committee, plan some social 
gatherings, having one, perhaps, within the week following this 
program., This will give opportunity to put into practice the 
principles and ideals set forth. To supply your young people 
with proper social life is going to mean work, time, and sacri- 
ficing of plans, but it is worth while, You may be sure that 
Satan will, try to make the gatherings serve his purposes, so 
you need, first of all, divine guidance. 
To be a success, your gatherings must have the most careful 
planning. If you have a copy of the old edition of " Social 
Plans for Missionary Volunteers," study the first forty-two 
pages. This book is now being revised, and will not be ready 
for use by the date of this program; but as soon as possible, 
obtain one through your Book and Bible House. It will be a 
constant source of help and guidance in your social gatherings. 
For additional helps make use of the writings of Mrs. E. G. 
White (especially " Counsels to Teachers"); " The Lighted 
Way," by M. E. Kern; and "Stories Worth Rereading." Have 
on hand a supply of the leaflet, " Standards of Christian Liv-
ing," for those who do not have it. Refer to pages 12, 13, 17-23, 
In some places the young people meet frequently fora "sing," 
spending an hour or more learning old favorites which may not 
be familiar to them, and some of the newer hymns. Other Mis-
sionary Volunteer Societies have formed a Mutual Improvement 
Society which meets every two weeks, for the purpose of im-
provement in public speaking, the organization of material, 
the English language, etc. Members give readings and extem- 
poraneous speeches, and discuss topics of the day which vitally 
concern Seventh-day Adventist youth. 
-Discussion: " Our Social Gatherings" 
(In order to direct this discussion into right channels, the one 
conducting It should study carefully the pages referred to in " Social 
Plans ; " also "Counsels to Teachers," pp. 388.354,) 
1. What should be a test of our social gatherings? (" If they 
can take Jesus with them and maintain a prayerful spirit, 
they are perfectly safe."—Mrs, E. G. White, in Review and 
Herald of Aug. 19, 1884.) 
2. What are the advantages of " cashes" socials? (See " Social 
Plans," pp. 37, 38.) 
3. Should id/ the young people be invited? (Do not overlook 
"slighted" ones.) 
4. Is it proper to attend a social gathering or other proper 
recreation on prayer meeting night? (See "Social Plans," 
pp. 20-22.) 
5. The advantages of the chaperon. (See "Social Plans," pp. 
30-32.) 
6. Where shall social gatherings be held? (Outdoors when pos-
sible. See " Social Plans," pp. 31-33.) 
7. Is there danger of devoting too much time and attention to 
the social life? (See " Social Plans," pp. 19, 20.) 
S. How can we improve the social life in our church and com-
munity? • 
Talk: "Amusement vs. Recreation" 
I READ in the Book, " Peace I leave with you, My peace I give 
unto you." At once the question arises, Who is the "you" to 
whom this peace was bequeathed? A moment's careful thought 
reveals the fact that "you" referred directly to the disciples, 
--followers of Christ. So we must conclude that it refers to 
such in all time; or, in other words, to Christians. 
There are those who think that salvation can be won only 
through sorrow, humiliation, and torture. Such never find this 
promised peace. They are afraid to smile, and the innocent 
laughter and merriment of youth are black-winged harbingers 
of destruction to them. "Love does not exist in their hearts; 
a frown is ever upon their eountenances. They are chilled with 
the innocent laugh from the youth or from any one. They 
consider all recreation or amusement a sin, and think that the 
mind must be constantly wrought up to just such a stern, 
severe, pitch."—" Testimonies," Vol. 1, 565. 
Certainly this 
is not Christianity, for it is devoid of peace and happineds, 
—it is a counterfeit. 
Just what is amusement? Macaulay said that his " favorite 
amusements " were "architecture and gardening." Enter-
tainment, recreation, and relaxation are given by Webster as 
synonyms for amusement. No one questions whether or not 
a man needs recreation, and from the foregoing we are safe 
in taking entertaining recreation that brings peace. 
Amusement may be good or bad. It may be used in a right 
way or a wrong way. Excess leads to a wasting of one's powers, 
to sorrow. It matters not how good a thing is in itself, if 
carried to excess it becomes bad. Also the use to which a thing 
is put will determine its value. For an adult to seek amusement 
merely for the purpose of being amused, would indicate a weak-
ness. However, proper amusement, taken as recreation, is most 
certainly in harmony with correct Christian living. 
To compare amusement with recreation, would 'necessitate 
very careful definition of terms. An act may at the same time 
be both. However, the terms are often used in a specific sense, 
recreation meaning that which provides necessary recreation 
processes, and amusement simply meaning that which gratifies 
a morbid desire for excitement or pleasure. In this sense, a 
Christian cannot indulge in amusement. Nevertheless, to think 
of recreation that does not satisfy, or please, or amuse one is 
impossible. Let us learn to find the recreation and amusement 
that will minister to our needs, but not to follow them until we 
lose sight of good, honest toil and God-given duty. 
W. C. BALDWIN. 
Be a Friend 
BE a friend. You don't need:money; 
Just a disposition sunny; 
Just the wish to help another 
Get along some way or other; 
Just a kindly hand extended 
Out to one who's unbefriended; 
Just the will to give or lend; 
This will make you some one's friend. 
Be a friend. You don't need glory. 
Friendship is a simple story, 
Pass by trifling errors blindly, 
Gaze on honest effort kindly, 
Cheer the youth who's bravely trying, 
Pity him who's sadly sighing; 
Just a little labor spend 
On the duties of a friend. 
Be a friend. The pay is bigger 
(Though not written by a figure) 
Than is earned by people clever 
In what's merely self-endeavor. 
You'll have friends instead of neighbors 
For the profits of your labors; 
You'll be richer in the end 
Than a prince, if you're a friend. 
—Edgar A. Guest. 
Order " Standards of Christian. Living " leaflet. Price, 4 cents. 
amusement, that there may be no time for the question, 
How is it with my soul? "— C. T., 325. 
"There is great need of temperance in amusements, as in 
every other pursuit. And the character of these amuse-
ments should be carefully and thoroughly considered."—
C. T., 333. 
" We may confidentially say that whatever is found to unfit 
you for religious duties, or to interfere with the perform-
ance of them; whatever dissipates your mind or cools the 
fervor of your devotions; whatever indisposes you to read 
your Bibles or to engage in prayer; wherever the thought 
of a bleeding Saviour or a holy God, of the hour of death, 
or of the day of judgment, falls like a cold shadow on your 
enjoyment, the pleasures which you cannot thank God for, 
on which you cannot ask His blessing, whose recollections 
will haunt a dying bed and plant sharp thorns in its uneasy 
pillow,—these are not for you. These eschew; in these be 
not conformed to the world, but transformed by the renew- 
ing of your minds �
Touch not, taste not, handle not.' 
Never go where you cannot ask God to go with you; never 
be found where you would not like death to find you; 
never indulge in any pleasure which will not bear the 
morning's reflection, Keep yourselves unspotted from the 
world; not from its spots only, but even from its sus-
pieions."-- Doctor Guthrie. 
8. 
9. 
THE CHURCH OFFICERS' GAZETTE �
15 
MISSIONARY VOLUNTEER SERVICE BANDS 
" Train the young to do what is appointed them, and from week to week let them bring their reports 
to the missionary meeting, telling what they have experienced, and through the grace of Christ what suc-
cess has been theirs,"—"Testimonies," Vol. VI, p. 436. 
General Outline for Band Meetings 
Memory Quotation, or Opening Song � 2 minutes 
Prayer �
 I minute 
Discussion Themes for May �
 2 minutes 
Oral Reports �
 2 minutes 
Work or Class Study �
20 minutes 
(Be sure to give opportunity for oral reports at least once 
or twice a month: Many will have Big Week experiences to tell 
the first week of this month.) 
Prayer and Personal Workers' Band 
THERE is joy in working for souls, and there is no vacation. 
The devil does not take any, and the messengers of light must 
be ever on the alert and " watch for souls as they that must 
give an account"—"Testimonies,' Vol, VI, p. 70. Do not 
forget to make chapter 14 of " Missionary Volunteers and Their 
Work" your constant study. On page 231 you will find testi-
monies that show this band idea is the Lord's plan. Do not 
falter though the number may be small. " There is no restraint 
to the Lord to save by many or by few." 1 Sam. 14: 6. 
This month -we will study the "Qualifications of Personal 
Workers." Let the leader prepare carefully each week for 
the short study. Each band member should have the leaflet, 
"Personal Work," by Meade MacGuire (price, 4 cents). This 
month whoever leads the studies should have access to " Soul-
Winning," by G. B. Thompson (price, 50 cents), and "The Pas-
sion for Men," ' by Hallenbeck (price, 75 cents). 
1. Passion for Souls.—" Personal Work," Lesson 6, pare. 1, 4; 
"Soul-Winning," chapters 1, 2; "Passion for Men." 
2. A Stable Christian Experience,—Luke 22: 32; "Personal 
Work," Lea. 6, pars. 2, 3; Les. 7, par, 1; Les. 8, pars. 1, 6, 
3. Personality and Perserermice.--" Personal Work," Les, 7, 
pars. 2-4; Les. 8, pars. 2, 3, 5. 
4. Bible Student.—Eph. 6: 17; "Personal Work," Les. 8, 
par. 4. 
Christian Kelp and Gospel Meeting Band 
"THERE is power in the ministry of song. Students who have 
learned to sing sweet gospel songs with melody and distinctness, 
can do niueh good as singing evangelists. They will find many 
opportunities to use the talent that God has given them in 
carrying melody and sunshine into many lonely places darkened 
by sorrow and affliction, singing to those who seldom have 
church privileges. 
"Students, go out into the highways and hedges. Endeavor 
to reach the higher as well as the lower classes. Enter the 
homes of the rich as well as the poor, and as you have oppor-
tunity, ask, ' Would you be pleased to have us sing some gospel 
hymns?' Then as hearts are softened, the way may open for 
you to offer a few words of prayer for the blesSing of God. Not 
many will refuse to listen. Such ministry is genuine missionary 
work."—" Counsels to Teachers," pp. 547, 548. 
"It [sacred song] is one of the most effective means of im-
pressing the heart with spiritual truth. How often to the soul 
hard pressed and ready to despair, memory recalls some word 
of God's,— the long-forgotten burden of a childhood song,— 
. 
and temptations lose their power, life takes on new meaning 
and new purpose, and courage and gladness are imparted to 
other souls! "—" Education.," p. 168. 
What is here suggested for students as missionary work is 
open to the young people of all our churches. In fact, they 
have opportunities to put the word of counsel into practice 
much more often than students in boarding'schools. Let every 
member of the band be on the alert to find those who are shut 
in and have very few privileges to hear singing. The band 
leader with others should visit such places as old folks' homes, 
old soldiers' homes, sanatoriums for tuberculosis patients, 
prisons, etc., seeking opportunities to sing sacred songs. Soon 
after the work is started there will be opportunities for prayer, 
and in some eases for Bible study. In one old people's home 
where our young people habitually went to sing, one of the 
hearers was so impressed that he made inquiry for a minister, 
and later gave $50 to help advance the work. 
You do not need highly trained musical talent. Often the 
singing of simple gospel songs with ordinary talent, but with 
natural interest an 
feeling, is the most effective. The im-
pression is of the spirit rather than of ability, and it is thus 
that hearts are touched. Encourage your Missionary Volun-
teers to sing. Lead them to use their simple ability to soften 
and inspire hearts that are burdened, 
Literature and Correspondence Band 
Selling small books and magazines. While most of the work 
of the Literature and Correspondence Ban d will be to engage 
in the free distribution of- our denorninati nal literature, many 
Missionary Volunteers will do well and a •eomplish much good 
by selling our smaller books and magazin.'s in their home com-
munities. All the books in the World's Crisis Series are good, 
and besides these there axe many others. These books are easily -
sold, for they deal with current topics in such an interesting, 
helpful way that people are eager to have them. 
When selling these good books, you are doing double mis-
sionary work: you are plaeing pages of truth-filled literature 
in the hands of your neighbors and friends, and you are earn-
ing money which can be used in numerous ways to bless others. 
Many societies raise all the money needed for their home mis-
sionary endeavor through the sale of small books. 
Then, too, why should not some of the band members have 
regular magazine routes and sell our truth-filled papers, or take 
yearly subscriptions for them when possible? 
Many devote most.. Of their time during the summer months 
to this kind of work, and find that it not only prom es money 
for missionary purposes and results in winning peop for God, 
but that they are also able to earn enough money ti seat their 
school expenses. Surely this is missionary won f a high 
order, and it deserves the support of every Literati, and Cor-
respondence Band. Usually the band members a this work 
from house to house in the resident sections; i , however, 
work is done on the streets and in public places, (ming Mis-
sionary Volunteers should always be accompanied ay an older 
Christian of experience. Those who do this work should put 
forth special effort to be quiet, decorous, and courteous. 
Symposium: " Tests of Our Recreation " 
(13e sure to read full paragraphs iu "Steps to Christ" and "Counsels 
to Teachers " as indicated.) 
1. "We sustain a loss when we neglect the privilege of asso-
ciating together." (Read S. C., 106, par 2.) 
2. " Especially should those who have tasted the love of Christ 
develop their social powers, for in this way they may win 
souls to the Saviour."— T., VI, 178. 
3. "Gatherings for social intercourse may be made in the 
highest degree profitable and instructive. (Read C. T., 
338, par. 3.) 
4. "There are amusements such as dancing, card playing, 
chess, checkers, etc., . �
. and something perfectly harm-
less should be substituted in their place." (Read C. T., 
346, par. 1.) 
5. "Between the associations of the followers of Christ for 
Christian recreation, and worldly gatherings for pleasure 
and amusement, will exist a marked contrast. (Read C. T., 
336, par 3.) 
6, "Any amusement in which you can engage asking the bless-
ing of God upon it in faith, will not be dangerous. But 
any amusement which disqualifies you for secret prayer, 
for devotion at the altar of prayer, or for taking part in 
the prayer meeting, is not safe, but dangerous."—C. T., .987. 
7. "It is Satan's policy to fill the mind with n annine for weeediv 
Do you read the Young Men and Young Women's page in the Review? 
16 
THE CHURCH OFFICERS' GAZETTE 
OUR FOREIGN MISSIONS 
This page contains interesting mater al for use of church Old a art 
conference workers in promo' ng our foreign mission work. 
Yes, God Hears and Answers Prayer 
MISSIONARY C. E. MOON passes in the following interesting 
experience from the Central Mexican Mission territory: 
"A Totonaca Indian, Tomas Gonzalez, and his people live 
in the great wooded country on the eastern slope of the Mexican 
plateau. Last year he attended a general meeting in Mexico 
City. On his return, he began working for his people. Re-
cently, as Missionary Martinez was sent among these Indians, 
he found fifty-seven attending Sabbath school, with ten persons 
awaiting baptism." 
While among these Indians, Brother Martinez and those with 
him had this experience: 
"It was a Catholic feast day, but we had held an evening 
meeting, with a good attendance. I had accompanied Tomas 
to his home, and we had retired for the night in his bamboo 
hut. Presently we heard voices in the woods near by. Then 
a man came and ordered me to come out. We knew by his 
voice that he was drunk. All kept still. Louder and louder he 
shouted, with cursing, beating his machete (a large swordlike 
knife used to cut cane] against the rocks, threatening to kill 
Martinez. A young Indian, a brother of Tomas, but not a 
believer, wanted to go out and fight this man, but his brother 
would not let him. After a while he left, threatening to 
return and kill me. Sure enough, soon we heard him coming 
back, still eursing and determined to cut into the bamboo hut 
with his machete.• Up to the doorsteps he came, and then we 
heard him suddenly stop and turn, and off into the woods he 
ran as fast as his drunken legs could carry him. 
" Wondering what had happened, cautiously we opened the 
door, and there on the steps lay another drunken man fast 
asleep, but none the wiser that his presence had so thoroughly 
frightened our enemy. He evidently counted this man an 
armed guard lying in wait for his return. How thankful we 
were, and our Indian converts as well, for this signal provi-
dence of God in answering our prayers for protection from the 
rum-crazed votaries on that wild night of revelry." 
The Women Now Attend Church 
AFTER the "devil house" on Bougainville, Solomon Islands, 
had been cleared, its altar and relics of heathenism burned, still 
another victory for God in this stronghold was to be gained. 
Of this, Missionary A. J, Campbell reports: 
"But this was not all. We now turned our attention toward 
the women, and hoped for another victory while we had the 
enemy-of souls on the run. We succeeded in getting the women 
into the devil house,' now transformed into a place to wor-
ship God, from which all the sacred jawbones and the altar 
had been removed, and consigned to the flames. This sacred 
house bad, up till this Sabbath day, always been absolutely 
taboo to the women. It was the first time in all their lives 
they had been in there, or at least since they were bargained 
for in marriage. The men as well as the women hardly real-
ized what was happening as this second victory for the gospel 
took place that day, This meant for the women, that they could 
now take part in evening worship, which privilege had been 
denied them so long. 
" On this occasion some of the women pulled their fans and 
mats up over their heads so that the men would not look upon 
them. It was realized that the teat would come next evening 
at worship time. But the women did not fail to grasp the op-
portunity, and have come each evening since. It means much 
to thesepoor women, and they are very happy about it, and 
act like freed slaves. Several more women have given up their 
smoking and chewing since that day. 
" We want our readers to pray for these people, for though 
victories have been gained on their behalf against the powers 
of darkness, which have tried their utmost to keep them in 
subjection and ignorance, there is still much to be done in 
preparing many of them for the kingdom of heaven." 
The Liumha Hill Mission, Barotseland 
MISSIONARY S. M. KONIOMACIIER sends us-these interesting 
items froM up the Zambesi River, Barotseland: 
" There is a beautiful view from our new mission. The 
country is truly wonderful. There are many villages in the dis-
trict, but, they are filled with idols and altars to the spirits of 
the departed. The magistrate called on us one Sabbath, and 
said there are about 75,000 natives in the Kalabo District. 
Many of these natives have come into the district from Portu-
guese territory. 
" We have now been here about two months, and have a tem-
porary building of three rooms, a pole kitchen, and a carpenter 
shop. The natives built a grass and pole church, and we helped 
to finish it. Our best audience has been about 250. Twice I 
have heard of delegations of natives who were coming to church 
on the wrong day. They did not know which day was the Sab-
bath. In one village I explained it to them in this way: I 
took some sticks and stuck them in the ground. The first stick 
represented the first day, I said, when God began His work 
of creation. Then there were the second, third, on up to the 
sixth day. Then God rested the next day, the seventh, and 
made it into the Sabbath. So on this day we also rest. This 
they could understand. 
" The natives were so impressed that some of the old people 
brought in their gads to us. The Mawike people have a varied 
assortment of gods in sticks, posts, and earthern pots, 
"Yesterday I had quite a long walk through the sand to 
visit a man who was reported to have such big sores on his 
body that he could not be carried to the mission. When we 
found the man, the flies were swarming around the sores. I 
had sent over some dressings, but he had not put them on. 
I called for a basin, and after washing it out thoroughly be-
gan to wash the sores. The basin was a part of a wooden 
bowl. I showed them how to clean up. The natives told me 
that he could sleep after we put on the dressings. 
"A woman sat near, and on examining her wound, I found 
her sore nearly healed. I was glad to see the progress, as we 
had been treating her for some time. We had worship and then 
I came home. 
"I hear of places not far away where there are as many 
as twenty villages in a group. They are looking for us to open 
a school there, but we have no funds with which to send them 
a teacher. They are a fine class of natives, but almost wholly 
given up to spirit worship. Remember us in your prayers." 
Gathering in Mohammedan Children 
OVER in Java, Dutch East Indies, in a leaky rented building, 
a day school for the children and evening meetings for the par- 
ents, are being conducted by Brother and Sister K. Tilstra. 
Of this work, Missionary Tilstra writes: 
" We have some difficulty in keeping this school going, be-
cause the mission is not able to help us much financially. In 
this school are enrolled more than forty children, whose par-
ents are all Mohammedans. Each child pays an average of 
20 cents a month. This is not Much, but the people do not 
get more than $12 a month, and ninny even less than that. We 
pay $12 rent a month, and the teacher receives $14 each month. 
We use the place at night for public efforts, and collect suf-
ficient funds so that we come short only about $10 each month. 
But this means much to us here. However, if we want to 
reach these poor people, we must do something for them; and 
by getting the children we can reach the hearts of the par-
ents. It is thus that we are entering this new field. Remember 
to pray for us." 
Hindus Plead for the Light 
ELBOWING his way through the crowd at the close of a 
service held by Missionary II. Christensen, near where the 
waves from Ceylon's "spicy breezes" waft upon India's south-
ernmost shore, a young Indian very courteously requested the 
next night a sermon on the second coming of Christ. He said 
further: 
"'Some time ago I accepted Christianity, and now I have 
studied the doctrines of your church, and I believe them. 
I want to hear a sermon on the second coming of Christ, for 
I love that theme so much.' This man had walked ten miles 
to attend this evening service, and returned to his home that 
night afoot after the preaching. In our conversation, I learned 
that he had twenty-five or thirty Hindu families whom he had 
interested in Christianity. As he learned that the next day 
we would pass his community, he carried the news to the 
Hindu families that the Big Sahib' from America was coming 
their way. This created a stir. They met together, and these 
families drew up a request for a teacher, and sent a delegation 
to the wayside to await our arrival and present it to us. The 
request was read by a native doctor and translated for me 
by our Indian worker, who was acting as our guide. The 
appeal was for a worker to teach them the Bible and about 
Christ, as they were Hindus, and wanted to learn a better way. 
"As I listened to their story, and saw the earnestness in their 
faces, and heard their plea, there surged through my soul an 
almost overmastering desire to remain with them myself and 
teach them the way of life. Here was a wonderful opportunity. 
How could we pass it by? I wish you might have seen the 
light that stole into their dark, pleading eyes, as they bowed 
so gratefully, when they were told that we thought a teacher 
could be sent. The picture is engraved upon my mind as we 
left them standing there with eyes fastened upon us until 
we faded from their sight, hands outstretched to us truly. 
as so often our artists picture it, pleading for the light of 
truth God has committed to us." 
Allusion Boma).