Tbe Cburch Ware a etWte 
V of.. XV �
JANUARY, 1928 �
No., 1 
The Church Officers' Gazette 
Issued monthly 
Printed and published by the 
REVIEW AND HERALD PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION 
at Takoma Park, Washington, IL C., U. S. A. 
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T. E. Bowels 
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ASSOCIATE EDITORS. �
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- M. E. KERN, J. A. STEVENS 
EDITORIAL COUNCIL 
�
0. MONTGOMERY �
C. K. MEYERS �
B. E. BEDDOE 
Entered as second-class matter, January 20, 1914, at the post office at 
Washington, 11. C., under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. 
Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in 
See. 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized on June 22, 1918. 
Qtburtb Wu& a mend 
hudrurtion s apartment 
Special Sabbaths for the Month of January 
Christian Home Day �
January 7 
Elementary School Offering �
January 28 
Proper Distribution of the Tithe 
WHILE it is important that church members should be faith-
ful in bringing all the tithe into the storehouse, the church 
treasury, that there "may be meat in Mine house," there is 
another equally important and sacred duty devolving upon 
conference committees, local, union, and General, in guarding 
the use made of this holy treasure to see to it that it is not 
put to other than the .use designated by the Lord. A very sol-
emn responsibility rests upon the custodians of the tithe after 
it has been brought into the treasury by the Lord's people. 
Whether the men composing these committees fully realize it 
or not, God holds them to a strict account for the use to which 
the tithe is by them voted. 
In the record of the days of Nehemiah a very forcible lesson 
is given us upon this point. Some tithe at least was brought 
in, but it was not placed in the hands of those ministering at 
the temple. 
" I perceived that the portion of the Levites had not been 
given them: for the Levites and the singers, that did the work, 
were fled every one to his field." Neh. 13: 10. 
Nehemiah at once instituted a thorough reform. 
" Then contended I with the rulers [note he dealt with the 
officers of the people], and said, Why is the house of God for-
saken/ And I gathered them together, and set them in their 
place." Verse 11. 
As a result of his contention with the rulers it is said, 
"Then brought a// Judah the tithe of the corn and the new 
wino and the oil unto the treasuries." Verse 12. 
Then what did Judah's governor do? 
"I made treasurers over the treasuries." Verse 13. 
He appointed a committee of four men, with Shelemiah, a 
priest, as chairman, then a scribe, then a Levite, and last a faith-
ful brother, whose duty it should be to distribute the tithe; 
"They [these four men] were counted faithful, and their 
office was to distribute [the tithe] unto their brethren [the 
Levites and singers doing the work]." Verse 13. 
The work of God languished: first, because there was a 
slackness in bringing in the tithe by the people; second, through 
the unfaithfulness, misappropriations, in its distribution. 
No tithe was to be used in repairing and keeping up the ex-
penses of the temple. Chests were placed at the entry ways 
to receive the offerings of the people. This money was given 
to the carpenters and masons doing the work. 2 Chron. 24: 8-13. 
And the same enemy at work back there to hinder God's work, 
is seeking to hinder it to-day by the same methods. 
It is made plain in the instruction given us that the indi-
vidual church member is not to divert his tithe by making 
use of it in ways he may choose, but that it is to be brought 
to the church treasury. This is right. And, further, it is made 
clear that the local church cannot appropriate the tithe by 
using it for meeting local church expenses, for conducting the 
church school, or other charitable purposes, but that it is to 
be forwarded on to the conference treasury, from which min- 
isters are to be sustained in their labors of presenting the 
truth to the people. And this is right. If this is true, then 
when a portion of the conference tithe, a tithe of its tithe, is 
forwarded on to a union treasury, the same principle surely 
holds good that those made responsible for its disbursement 
are under the same sacred obligation before God to use it for 
the support of those engaged in giving the gospel message 
committed to this people to the world; as must likewise be true 
with tithe reaching the General Conference treasury. Every 
misappropriation of this tithe fund, from the individual to the 
General Conference, retards to exactly the amount diverted the 
accomplishment of the task of giving to the world this last 
saving gospel message. To use this money to build churches 
at home or in mission fields, or to keep them in repair after 
they are built, or to buy cotton meeting houses, or tents, to 
just this extent keeps qualified messengers of God out of 
both the needy fields at home and the mission fields abroad. 
Very definite and pointed instruction is given us that the 
tithe is to be reserved for one purpose, and one purpose only, 
that of the support of the gospel ministry: 
" Had God's plan been followed, means would now be flowing 
into His treasury; and funds to enable ministers to enter new 
fields, and workers to unite with ministers in lifting up the 
standard of truth in the dark places of the &firth, would be 
abundant."--" Testimonies," Vol. VI, p..386. 
In responding to letters of inquiry from Australia, in 1897, 
as to whether the tithe might not be used in helping to meet 
the heavy church expenses at two large centers in our work, 
Mrs. E, G. White sent answer: 
"Letters have come to me . �
making inquiries as to the 
disposition made of the tithe. The writers supposed that they 
were authorized to use the tithe money in meeting the expenses 
of the church, as these expenses were quite heavy. From that 
which has been shown me, the tithe is not to be withdrawn from 
the treasury [in a local church]. Every penny of this money 
is the Lord's own sacred treasure, to be appropriated for a 
special use." "The light which the Lord has given mo on this 
subject is that the means in the treasury for the support of the 
ministers [the tithe] in the different fields is not to be used for 
why other purpose." 
" Those who have used the tithe money to supply the com-
mon necessities of the house of God, have taken the money 
that should go to sustain ministers in doing His work, in pre-
paring the way for Christ's second appearing. Just as surely 
as you do this work, you misapply the resources which God has 
told you to retain in His treasure house, that it may be full, 
to be used in His service. . . From those who do this, the 
blessing of the Lord will he removed."—" Special Testimonies," 
No. 10, pp. 16, 18, 81, 
In speaking directly to the General Conference in a com-
munication dated March 14, 1897 (the same principle applying 
to the later-organized union conferences, as well as to local 
conference treasuries), this plain word is spoken: 
" Why does it [the General Conference] allow the treasury 
which should be kept for the purpose of sustaining the ministry, 
to be drawn upon, and diverted to common things? "— Idol% V. 
In still further emphasizing the important matter of strictly 
holding the tithe for the purpose designed by those intrusted 
with its distribution, we have this word: 
EDITOR 
2 �
THE CHURCH OFFICERS' GAZETTE 
"A very plain, definite message has been given to me for 
our people. I am bidden to tell them that they are making 
a mistake in applying the tithe to various objects which, 
though good in themselves, are not the object to which the Lord 
has said that the tithe should be applied. Those who make 
this use of the tithe are departing from the Lord's arrange-
ment. God will judge for these things. 
" One reasons that the tithe may be applied to school pur-
poses. Still others reason that canvassers and colporteurs 
should be supported from the tithe. But a great mistake is 
made when the tithe is drawn from the object for which it is 
to be used—the support of the ministers. There should be 
to-day in the field one hundred well-qualified laborers where 
now there is but one."—" Testrmotges," Vol. IX, pp. 248, 249. 
The Lord not only has an interest in the territory covered by 
conference boundaries, but His eyes behold needy, suffering 
fields beyond to which messengers should go supported by His 
sacred reserve fund—the tithe: 
" He has reserved the tithe as His sacred portion, to be used 
in sending the gospel to all parts of the world."—Id., p. 51. 
And that it is not only right that conferences should share 
their tithe with the General Conference, in making it possible 
to send missionaries into all the world, and that the withholding 
of the tithe by the people of a diversion of this sacred fund by 
local or union conferences, retards to just this proportion the 
great task of going into all the world with God's closing, warn-
ing, and saving message, we have this word: 
" If one and all would accept it, each would be made a 
vigilant and faithful treasurer for God, and there would be no 
want of means with which to carry forward the great work of 
sounding the last message of warning to the world."— Id., 
Vol. III, p. 389. 
T. E. B. 
Our Stewardship 
OUR stewardship pertains to more than paying tithes and 
offerings. It is recognizing that we shall wisely and intelli-
gently use the means that God permits us to have. All that 
own belongs to Him. 
We here in America are especially favored by enjoying great 
financial prosperity. We are the envy of the entire world. It 
is now recognized that our wealth far exceeds that of any other 
country, and that a larger per cent of the gold of the world 
is now held in the United' States, Notwithstanding the many 
predictions that we are soon to experience' a great financial 
panic, our epoch of prosperity continues. Money was never 
freer than it is to-day in the United States. 
In my opinion this is providential. The one great thing 
in the purpose of God is the finishing of the gospel work, and 
heralding this message to all nations. Since America has been 
made the basis of supplies and the recruiting field, I do not 
believe that it has come by chance, but that this prosperity 
is in the, providence of God. The Lord is looking to the people 
who share in this prosperity to prove true to their responsibility 
as stewards. 
Naturally in such a time as this there are those who are 
constantly looking for easy money. Offerings are made of 
stocks and bonds of a most alluring nature. From time to time 
persons have made inquiries with reference to the safety of 
investing in certain stocks and bonds which conservative indi-
viduals in financial circles have recommended. 
There are stocks which would be considered safe and sound. 
Many have invested in stocks which by chance proved to be 
marvelously profitable, and which grew in value as the years 
passed. Many bonds are offered that would possibly be consid-
ered by financiers as sound and as safe as real estate. In a 
general way, however, we may say that any offerings of stocks 
or bonds promising large and quick returns and unusual interest, 
are to be avoided. It is not our purpose to enter into dissecting 
these various offerings to point out those which are safe and 
sound, and warn against those which are unsafe. 
My purpose is to raise the question of the advisability of 
Seventh-day Adventists' speculating or laying up money in 
these days by investing in either real estate, stocks, or bonds, 
however promising they may be. We must view the whole sit-
uation from the standpoint of our knowledge and belief con-
cerning the world and the future. A safe financial investment 
to a worldly financier, who knows nothing concerning the near- 
ness of the end, must be looked upon by the believer of the 
message for this time in a different way altogether. Real 
estate is considered as safe an investment as any that could 
be considered, yet what will real estate amount to in the crisis 
that we know to be near at hand/ How much did real estate 
amount to in Germany, or Austria, or France during the World 
War! Of what value is real estate in the event of a flood, a 
famine, or a great earthquake! If such values can be affected 
by such things, of what account would real estate be in the final 
struggle soon to be precipitated upon the world! 
The same is true of the mast valuable and conservative stocks 
and bonds that are being offered to the public to-day. We 
may make investments that would bring in regular returns, and 
that would be rated high by the most careful bankers, and ad-
visers in financial circles, yet is money thus invested assured 
as permanently safe! How will we feel about such holdings 
of property in a time of war, when governments are free to com-
mandeer our property, or in a time of persecution when the 
confiscation of property may be expected. 
Aside from the dangers always attached to investments in 
stocks and bonds, owing to the uncertainty of continued values 
in these days, is the constant danger of loss and failure at any 
time. The following words taken from the Bank Messenger are 
significant in this connection. 
" At no time in the history of our nation have the savings 
of the people been at the high peak of to-day approximately 
twenty-five billion dollarsl But there is one factor in our 
economic life which, if uncontrolled, will seriously affect its 
health. That is the large amount of savings lost every year 
through investment in worthless stocks and fraudulent securities. 
During a twelve months' period, according to the American 
Bankers' Association, the people of the nation lost one billion. 
dollars in this way, which is close to thirteen dollars each for 
every man, woman, and child in the United States. 
" Opportunities for unwise :peculation range larger now than 
at any period of our history. Many ruthless and dishonest 
people look upon that twenty-five billion dollars of savings as 
a rich prize of which they would like to get a share, so people 
who have worked hard to save their money are literally flooded 
with enticing offers to invest their money for big profits. Get-
rich-quiqk promoters strain the resources of our language in 
describing their golden plans, and in spite of the vigilance of 
government and postal authorities, there seems to be no end to 
the varied schemes for getting people's money. 
"It has often been said that it is as hard to hold on to your 
money as it is to get it. Investigate before you invest. If 
investigation is not welcomed, and when high-pressure methods 
and grand promises take the place of hard facts—watch out. 
It is not worth while to take chances." 
I believe we have reached a time in which the Lord's people 
should be placing all upon the altar, and cutting loose from 
any plan or policy for investments in this world. We cannot 
pass along carelessly and feel that we can hazard the money 
that God has placed in our hands by unwise and unintelligent 
investment with little thought concerning the outcome and the. 
possible loss. 
Aside from that which is required for the necessities of life, 
the education of our children, and the maintenance of our 
homes and our temporal needs, the Lord is calling upon us 
to turn from these alluring financial schemes of the world to 
investments that are far-reaching and eternally safe. 
E. K. SLADE. 
South Lancaster, Mass. 
I FOLLOW my Bible in all things, both great and small. 
My only rule for doing a thing is plain Scripture. 
I try every church and every doctrine by the Bible. 
I am determined to do the work of Him that sent me. 
I love the truth wherever I find it. 
While we do live, let us live in earnest. 
I feel and grieve, but fret at nothing. 
We have need to use all the common sense that God has 
given us.— Gems from Wesley. 
"MEN who want praise, don't deserve it; men who deserve 
praise, don't want it." 
" You cannot repent too soon, because you do not know how 
soon it may be too late," 
THE CHURCH OFFICERS' GAZETTE �
3 
ante filiozionarp ;Department 
" CHRISTIAN HOME DAY " 
Suggestive Program for Home Missionary 
Service 
(Sabbath, January 7) 
NINE) SONG: "On Jordan's Stormy Banks," No. 905 in 
" Christ in Song." 
ible Reading. 
rayer 
Church Missionary Report. 
feeling, 
Children's Song: "Let the Little Ones Come," No 68 in 
"Christ in Song." 
Reading: "The Home an ,Object Lesson." 
Recitation: "Walking in Papa's Footsteps." 
Bible and Testimony Study; "Light in Every Dwelling of the 
Saints." 
Dialogue: "It's Pun Being Good." 
Reading: " Parents' Lessons." 
Closing Song: " Daughter of Zion," No. 904 in " Christ in Song." 
Benediction. 
Distribution of Leaflets. 
Note to Leaders 
Christian Home Day is, appropriately, the first Sabbath in 
the year. What the life in the home is, that will the life in 
the church be. The children, rightly trained in the Clu'istian 
home, will be the strength of the church as they grow to 
maturity. Every effort should be put forth by the church to 
foster true Christian homes. To this end every home should 
be encouraged to study Parents' Lessons. 
Let preparation for the program be made in good time, Those 
who are to take part, especially the children, should have the 
material in hand as soon as possible. In the short Bible 
reading at the beginning, the texts should be assigned before-
hand to as many good readers. Let the two articles be given 
to persons who read clearly and distinctly. 
A supply of the leaflet, " Parents' Lessons for 1928," will be 
ent to each church leader. Please see that these leaflets are 
distributed at the close of the meeting. 
HOME MISSIONARY DEPARTMENT. 
Bible Reading 
Wm) is the supreme Head of the family? Eph. 3: 15. 
How much does He care for His children? Matt. 7: 7-12. 
• What is the rule in this family? Matt. 12: 50. 
•' What is the duty of children? Eph. 6:1-3. • 
What is the duty of parents/ Eph. 6: 4. 
; What is the duty of all toward little ones? Matt. 18: 10. 
''); To what home do we all look forward? Heb. 11: 16. 
What is the Lord's promise concerning it? John 14: 1-3. 
'•) What vision of this future home is given us? Rev. 21: 1-5. 
to all who dwelt within the limits of that vale, the symbol of 
thrift, integrity, and loving service, so every Christian home 
everywhere should be a lamp of life, sending out its radiant 
beams far and near, a symbol of the Christ-life in this dark 
world, and a star of hope to weary travelers seeking rest 
from sin. 
In " The Ministry of Healing," page 352, we are told that 
"the mission of the home extends beyond its own members. 
The Christian home is to bo an object lesson, illustrating the 
excellence of the true principles of life. Such an illustration 
will be a power for good in the world. Far more powerful than 
any sermon that can be preached is the influence of a true 
home upon human hearts and lives." 
In the plan of God the home is the unit of all organization. 
Parents and children are bound together by ties of love and 
mutual dependence in a way that no other group can be united. 
The home is the divinely ordained fountain of life. The 
church, the state and society are composed of members whose 
lives and characters were molded by their home environment. 
It is evident that any uplifting influence that should come 
to the world must needs come first of all to the home. The 
spirit of prophecy has told us that "in all that pertains to the 
success of God's work the very first victories are to be won in 
the home life." 
Seventh-day Adventists' homes, then, are the vanguard of the 
church. If the church is called to lift its standards of right-
eousness, those standards must first be adopted in our homes. 
If the word is given to advance in our great missionary enter-
prise, that advance must be a subject for counsel and decision 
in the family circle, if a forward movement in personal mis-
sionary endeavor is proposed, it is from the home centers that 
this blessed ministry must radihte. It is highly fitting, there-
fore, that on this Sabbath day, set apart as " Christian Home 
Day," we should consider the home as an object lesson. 
Even the blessed Christ could not impress His divine char-
acter upon a sinful world by sending written messages alone; 
so He came down here to live His life among men. He set up 
His abode in a little village of human habitation, and lived 
and worked in association with men in their ordinary activities, 
that He might acquaint us with the divine life. " The Word was 
made flesh, and dwelt among us." 
So, as stated above, the influence of the truth as embodied 
in the everyday life of a true home, is far more powerful to 
change hearts and lives than is any sermon, however good it 
may be. The world is, after all, more profoundly influenced 
by what the church lives, than by what the minister preaches. 
Some years ago I came in contact with a well-known Amer-
ican, a leader of thought, who asked me what denomination 
I represented. When I told him, he said, "Oh, yes, I know 
your people somewhat; I lived in my summer cottage right 
near a Seventh-day Adventist family, in fact, we lived with 
them for several weeks before our cottage was finished?' I al-
most held my breath for the next comment. But he went on 
to say, "That family was one of the finest Christian families 
I ever knew. Theinlove and devotion to each other, their spirit 
of neighborly helpfulness, and their loyalty to their religious 
convictions were surely very wholesome. They almost made 
me feel like being an Adventist. In fact, I did keep their 
Sabbath with them, and attended their church during those 
weeks." That man, in his busy life of religious work, very 
likely would not have attended a tent meeting if it had been 
held in his neighborhood. He might never have gone beyond 
his first impressions of us as a peculiar people with some 
fanatical ideas about keeping Saturday, if he had not come in 
contact with a Seventh-day Adventist family of the right type. 
Let us pray that God will help all Seventh-day Adventist fam-
ilies to be just such an influence as this one was. 
If love reigns in our homes, if they are places — 
" Where little acts of kindness and little deeds of love, 
Make our homes an Eden, like the heaven above," 
then their influence will radiate far and near, and will gather 
souls for the kingdom. Such homes will be missionary centers 
from which the truth will reach to am ever-widening circle of 
neighbors. 
Speaking to parents, the spirit of prophecy says, "As you 
take your children with you into the service of the Lord, 
The Home an Object Lesson 
M. E. KERN 
IN one of his poems, Wordsworth paints a beautiful word 
'picture of the simple home of a highland shepherd, where an 
I old man, his faithful companion, and finally a son of their old 
age, had toiled early and late for a sustenance, and to secure 
*1 their patrimony free from debt. The storms that had driven 
travelers to their shelters had called the old shepherd to the 
t.* �
Mountains to look after his flock, and there "he had been 
alone amid the heart of many thousand mists; " and even when 
the day was done far into the night the housewife plied her 
-Own peculiar work." 
' And thus he speaks of the light that always shone out from 
tiais bumble home; 
"This light was famous in its neighborhood, 
And was a public symbol of the life - 
That thrifty pair had lived. For, as it chanced, 
Their cottage on a plot of rising ground 
Stood single, with large prospect, north and south, ... 
And westward to the village near the lake; 
And from this constant light, so regular 
And so far seen, the house itself, by all 
Who dwelt within the limits of the vale, 
Both old and young, was named The ivening Star'" 
As the light shining from this shepherd's home became, 
4 �
THE CHURCH OFFICERS' GAZETTE 
what a victory you gain." Yes, it is a double victory, in 
winning others to the truth, and in developing the missionary 
spirit in the children. It says further, 
"If this work were faithfully done, if fathers and mothers 
would work for the members of their own families, and then 
for those around them, uplifting Christ by a godly life, thou-
sands of souls would be saved. When God's people are truly 
converted, when they realize the obligation resting on them 
to labor for those within their reach, when they leave no 
means untried to rescue sinners from the power of the enemy, 
the reproach will be removed from our churches." 
Brothers and sisters, do we want the reproach rolled away 
from our ehurchesi Then let ns organize this family mis-
sionary society, and go to work in the name of our Lord. 
And such homes will be a fine influence for lifting the stand- 
' ards of Christian living in the church, and in saving the chil-
dren and youth. In " The Ministry of Healing," pages 354, 355, 
some very definite instruction is given with reference to the 
possibilities of making our homes life-saving stations for our 
young people. It says: 
"Our homes should be a place of, refuge for the tempted 
youth. Many there are who stand at the parting of the ways. 
Every influence, every impression, is determining the choice 
that shapes their destiny both here and hereafter. Evil invites 
them. Its resorts are made bright and attractive. They have 
a welcome for every comer. All about us are youth who have 
no home, and many whose homes have no helpful, uplifting 
power, and the youth drift into evil. They axe going down 
to ruin within the very shadow of our own doors. . . If we 
would show an interest in the youth, invite them to our homes, 
and surround them with cheering, helpful influences, there are 
many who would gladly turn their steps into- the upward path." 
Let us pray, to-day, that our Seventh-day Adventist homes 
may be more and more true object lessons, " illustrating the ex-
cellence of the true principles of life,"— object lessons of 
Christian living to the world about us, object lessons of love 
and loyalty to each other, and to the church in all of its activ-
ities, and object lessons to our youth who may not yet have 
found the way, or who have not become settled in their Christian 
experience. Let the motto in every household be, " God bless 
our home, and make it an object lesson to the church and to 
the world." 
" Light in Every Dwelling of the Saints" 
J. A. STEVENS 
THAT is a tragically gripping story of the falling of the 
plagues just before the children of Israel were delivered from 
slavery in Egypt. The Egyptians had opportunity for genera-
tions to learn of the true God, but closed their eyes and shut 
their ears to every revelation of His truth. At last the hour 
of deliverance for God's chosen people came, and His judg-
ments fell upon their oppressors. The plague of darkness 
mantled country and people, token of their rejection of "God, 
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness." 
Just at this point in the historic narrative there is a statement 
of tremendous significance. "Moses stretched forth his hand 
toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land 
of Egypt three days: they saw not one another, neither rose 
any from his place for three days: but al/ the children of Israel 
had light in their dwellings." Ex. 10: 22, 23. 
The experiences of God's people during the exodus movement 
were a figure of the experiences of the advent movement in 
these last days. As in the days of Egypt, so to-day the world 
is rejecting God, and choosing darkness. Isaiah told of these 
days when he wrote: " The darkness shall cover the earth, and 
gross darkness the people." Isa. 60: 2. Surely spiritual dark-
ness is deepening everywhere, and the powers of darkness are 
taking control of the world. 
" Christ is coming with power and great glory. He is coming 
with His own glory, and with the glory of the Father. He is 
coming with all the holy angels with Him. While all the world 
is plunged in darkness, there will be light in every dwelling 
of the saints. They will catch the first light of His second 
appearing."—" Christ's Object Lessons," p. 480. 
In ancient days the blood on the doorposts indicated the 
homes of families that worshiped the true God. There was 
light in their dwellings. So in these last days, the homes Sf 
families that worship God will be lighthouses, radiating 4 
uplifting influence in the community where they are located, 
by uplifting Christ in worship around the family altar. It halp 
been foretold of this perilous time: " As the praying ones con-
tinued their earnest cries, a ray of light from Jesus would a 
times come to them, to encourage their hearts, and light u 
their countenances-"—"Testimonies," Vol. I, p. 181. 
Wherever Abraham sojourned he erected an altar, gatherin 
his family about it in earnest worship. " They which are o 
faith, the same are the children of Abraham." Gal. 3: 7. 
"family altar" should be erected in every Seventh-day Ad 
ventist home, and morning and evening the family should hav 
its worship. " In too many households, prayer is neglected 
Parents feel that they have no time for morning and evening 
 
worship. They cannot spare a few moments to be spent it. 
 
thanksgiving to God for His abundant mercies,— for the 
 
blessed sunshine and the showers of rain, which cause veg 
etation to flourish, and for the guardianship of holy angels. 
They have no time to offer prayer for divine help and guid-
ance, and for the abiding presence of Jesus in the household."—
"Patriarchs and Prophets," p. 148. 
" The restoration and uplifting of humanity begins in the 
home.... The well-being of society, the success of the church, , 
the prosperity of the nation, depend upon home influences."—
" The Ministry of Healing," p. 349. It is not too much to say 
that the family altar is the center from which radiate divine 
influences, nor is it overdrawn to declare that the family altar 
is the object of Satan's fiercest opposition. He will endeavor 
to hinder the observance of family worship in every possible 
way, and only consecrated persistence will win victory and pre-
serve the family worship service. Counsel from Heaven says: 
"Fathers and mothers, however pressing your business, do not 
fail to gather your family around God's altar. Ask for the 
guardianship of holy angels in your home. Remember that 
your dear ones are exposed to temptations. Daily annoyances 
beset the path of young and old. Those who would live patient, ; 
loving, cheerful lives must pray. Only by receiving constant 
help from God can we gain the victory over self." 
" The hours of morning and evening worship should be the:-_ 
sweetest and most helpful of the day. Let it be understood, 1 
, 
 
that into these hours no troubled, unkind thoughts are to 
Buds; that parents and children assemble to meet with Jesucti 
and to invite into the home the presence of holy angels. Let 
the services be brief and full of life, adapted to the occasion)! 
and varied from time to time. Let all join in the Bible read-I 
ing, and learn and often repeat God's law. It will add toj 
the interest of the children if they are sometimes permitted] 
to select the reading. Question them upon it, and let theta)-' 
 
ask questions. Mention anything that will serve to illustratei_ 
its meaning. When the service is not thus made too lengthy,' 
let the little ones take part in prayer, and let them join in 
song, if it be but a single stanza, To make such a service what'fy 
it should be, thought should be given to preparation. And par-
ents should take time daily for Bible study with their children. 
No doubt it will require effort and planning and some sacrifice 
to accomplish this; but the effort will be Hebb, repaM."--
"Education," p. 186. 
God designs that every Seventh-day Adventist home should 
be an uplifting influence in its community, a light shining in the . 
fast-gathering darkness of these last of the last days. Let the J 
altar fires burn brightly in your home, that light may shine 
upon the pathway of your family as they go out and come in. . 
"From every Christian home a holy light should shine forth. 
Love should be revealed in action. It should flow out in all 
home intercourse, showing itself in thoughtful kindness, in 
gentle, unselfish courtesy. There are homes where this prin-
ciple is carried out,— homes where God is worshiped, and truest 
love reigns. From these homes, morning and evening prayer 
ascends to God as sweet incense, and His mercies and blessings 
descend upon the suppliants like the morning dew. 
"A well-ordered Christian household is a powerful moment 
in favor of the reality of the Christian religion,—ern argu-
ment that the infidel cannot gainsay. All can see that there 
THE CHURCH OFFICERS' GAZETTE �
5 
s an influence at work in the family that affects the children, 
d that the God of Abraham is with them. If the homes of 
rofessed Christians had a right religious mold, they would 
xert a mighty influence for good. They would indeed be the 
'light of the world.' The God of heaven speaks to every 
aith£ul parent in the words addressed to Abraham: I know 
that he will command his children and his household 
after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice 
and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that 
which He hath spoken of him.' " 
Walking in Papa's Footsteps 
'Turns a Sabbath morning, bright and fair, 
But cold and crisp was the winter air, 
For all night long the crystal snow 
Had fallen and drifted to and fro, 
Till hill and valley seemed to be 
But foam-capped waves of a frozen sea. 
A holy stillness was everywhere; 
And nature herself had knelt in prayer. 
No sound of labor from icebound mill; 
Even the brook was muffled and still; 
No buzz of bee, nor song of bird, 
Nor even the chirp of a cricket was heard. 
The farmer had said at breakfast time, 
Before the bells began to chime: 
" I only can go to church to-day, 
The snow is too deep for horse and sleigh; 
The roadside fences are hidden from view; 
I will cross meadow and woodland, too." 
Now sturdy Ralph, but seven years old, 
'Had never a fear of snow or cold; 
He felt himself to be a man. 
"If papa can go, I'm sure I can," 
He said to himself, "his tracks I see — 
He has plainly marked the way for me." 
He reached the church. In the family pew 
He quietly sat. When meeting was through 
The pastor came, laid his hand on his head, 
"How did you get here, my boy?" he said. 
" Oh, 'twas very easy to find the way — 
I walked in my, papa's footsteps to-day." 
" in papa's footsteps! " said the man of prayer, 
" Listen, my friends, take heed, beware! 
The children all are going to-day 
In the paths we make; and if they stray, 
The fault is ours. Take this thought home 
And make straight paths in the days to come." 
—Emily D. Elton, in 
American Kindergarten Magazine. 
It's Fun Being Good 
A Dialogue by Two Little Girls 
NELLIE: Hello, Mary Dee. 
MARY: Good morning, Nellie. Where's your cousin Jean 
that's visiting you? 
NF.LL1E: Oh, she isn't up yet. She says she doesn't go to bed 
at dark and get up with the sun; at home she stays up just 
as long as she pleases. She goes to the movies in the evening 
and reads stories in bed, and her mother doesn't make her get 
up till just in time for school. Sometimes she has to go with-
out her breakfast, but she always has a lot of candy somewhere 
around, and she says that stays her stomach till dinner time, 
if the teacher doesn't see her eating it. 
MARY: I don't think that's a good way to do. My father says 
we ought to take care of ourselves, at least as well as we do 
of our cars. And my mother says our bodies are temples for 
God to live in, and He doesn't like dirty houses. I should think 
Jean would bo sick. 
NELLIE: Well, I guess she is. She's very hard to get along 
with. Her mother says the only Way to do it is to let her have 
her own way, and so she doesn't ever have to wash the dishes 
or take care of the baby. 
MARY: Why, Nellie Mae! I like to take care of my baby 
brother, don't you? 
NELLIE: Ye-e-s, I guess so, when he's good. But you don't 
like to wash dishes, Mary Dee. I know you don't, for you told 
me so. 
MARY: Oh, that was a long time ago, Nellie. I've sort of 
grown up since then, and— 
NELLIE: Yes, a long time ago! It wasn't more than two 
months ago. It was on my birthday, and my birthday comes 
next month, and— 
MARY: That's a whole year, almost, Nellie Mae. And a 
whole lot of things can happen in a year. 'Course, I don't 
exactly like to wash dishes, but mother us'ally helps me, and 
she tells me the nicest stories while we're doing it, like, " The 
Baby in the Boat," and " The Girl That Kept the Door," and 
"The Little Deer That Thought He Knew More Than His 
Mother," and " The Churn That Was Never Through Churning," 
oh, that's a good one, Nellie! 
NELLIE: Where does she get such stories, Mary? My mother 
can't tell stories. I used to ask her to, but, I don't any more, 
'cause she won't, and anyway, Jean has some in a magazine 
she bought, and some books. But she says not to tell my 
mother, 'cause — 
MARY: Then they're no good, Nellie. If I didn't tell my 
mother everything, I'm afraid she wouldn't tell me anything. 
And my mother knows more than 'most anybody, Nellie, 
'specially sinee a year ago when she started in the Mothers' 
Society. That's where she got her stories; mostly. And that's 
not all. What she doesn't know, daddy knows. He can tell 
you more things about trees and stars and cows and things; and 
mother — she's just full of flowers and birds and— 
NELLIE: Is she a vase or a bird cage, Mary Dee? 
MARY: Oh, you know what I mean, Nellie Mae Evans! My 
mother says she's just getting acquainted with the house of 
our Father. And say, Nellie, last Sabbath we were out walk-
ing, and what do you think we saw? A squirrel's nest up in 
a tree. And daddy told me all about the little squirrels that 
were snuggled up for the winter, and mother said, soft like, 
" Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; hut the 
Son of man hath not where to lay His head." If you don't 
have any foxes, you know, you can take squirrels. 
NELLIE: You must have a reg'lar school at your house, Mary 
Dee. 
MARY: That's what it is, the nicest kind oP school. Mother 
and daddy say they want our home to be a true Christian 
school; and I do too. Why, Nellie Mae, I haven't begun to 
tell you. I just wish your mother would go to the Mothers' 
Society, like my mother wanted her to, and — 
NELLIE • Say, Mary, do you think it's wrong to go to the 
movies? 
MARY: Well, I've never been to a theater show in all my 
life, but my father says they teach bad things. And anyway, 
I have so much fun, 'specially this last year — stories, and 
Junior Reading Course, and bird's nests, and painting sunsets, 
and taking care of Diekie, and learning to sew and to cook, 
and oh, ever so much—why, Nellie Mae! it's like my mother 
says: You don't have time to play with those things when 
you're busy and happy as I am. 
Parents' Lessons 
ARTHUR W. SPALDING 
"Loon here," said my friend the elder, "have you seen 
this?" and lie handed me a clipping of a newspaper editorial, 
in which the prime cause of the crime wave sweeping the coun-
try was traced to indulgent and neglectful parents. 
"Thank you," I said; "I have not seen this one before, 
but I was expecting every minute to see it. Never a day 
goes by but some judge, some educator, some editor, some 
special writer, rises up to blame the American home for the 
flood of American crime. The sorrowful thing about it is 
that they are all so terribly right. It is true that the prin-
cipal cause of crime is the lack of good-enough homes—not 
just good homes, but homes so good that, instead of missing 
by a hair's breadth the saving of their children, they succeed 
by a wide margin in making of their children true and virtuous 
and noble young men and women. 
"But," I said, "the critics of the home have the same fault. 
They are good critics, but they are not good enough. To be 
TO 
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6 
THE CHURCH OFFICERS' GAZETTE 
good enough critic, one has to be a constructive critic, a teacher. 
When the poor parents, beaten down by the storm of condem- 
nation, turn in despair and say to their critics, What shall 
we do?' the critics reply, ' Why, make your children obedient 
and pure and industrious and religious.' 
" And the parents say, We have tried to do that, but the 
World about us gots such a hold on them, with its amusements 
and its fashions and its ambitions, that it is too much for us. 
Tell us, 0 critics, how to accomplish this superhuman task.' 
" And the critics reply: ' Oh, well, that's your business. We 
are not teachers; we are critics.'" 
Now we parents need teachers. The profession of parenthood 
is the most important profession in the world, and parents need 
training for it. Mrs. E. G. White says: "Never will education 
accomplish all that it might and should accomplish, until the 
importance of the parents' work is fully recognized and they 
receive a training for its sacred responsibilities."—"Educa-
tion," p. 276. 
We can never succeed in training our children by mere f or-
biddings, by a purely negative program. It is not enough to 
say, "Don't disobey me," "Don't read that book," "Don't go 
to those movies," " Don't attend that dance," " Don't go with 
that wild party." We have to lead our children in the doing 
of good and delightful things, in the gaining of knowledge of 
nature and of book, .in pleasures pure and life-giving, in high 
ambitions that will grip and hold them. We have so to teach 
and so to train our children that they will be self-disciplined, 
filled with knowledge of God's revelation and creation and plan, 
and se always ready, with our help, to choose the right and 
. blessed way in all their youthful lives. And to know how to 
do that requires study and training. 
Public lectures and sermons on the responsibility of parents 
are good. This special service to-day is good. It is good for 
parents to say " Amen" to all this. But this Christian Home 
Day will mean little in the making of Christian homes, it will 
have little effect in saving our children from the Sodomite evils 
surrounding them, unless parents, young and old, put themselves 
to the task of receiving "a training for their sacred respon-
sibilities." 
The Home Commission of the General Conference offers this 
opportunity to parents- and prospective parents. Through the 
Parents' Lessons, itsued monthly, which aro to be studied 
privately or in the local Mothers' Society or Parents' Council, 
it provides definite, progressive, interesting lessons on all the 
problems of parents, and in all the various phases of Christian 
home culture. 
For five years these Parents' Lessons have now been issued. 
There have been each year about fifteen hundred subscribers, 
representing possibly twenty-five hundred parent-students. 
There have been around one hundred twenty Mothers' Societies 
and some Parents' Councils, studying and working. The Lessons 
have not only reached every part of the United States and 
Canada, but have gone into all the other English-speaking 
eountries, and to many of our missionaries in heathen lands. 
But there are approximately fifty thousand Seventh-day Ad-
ventist parents in English-speaking countries alone. There 
are seventy-five thousand children and young people who need 
Christian parents that have received " a training for their sacred 
responsibilities." The social and moral problems which con-
front these children and young people have tremendously in-
creased over what they were ten, twenty, thirty years ago. The 
standards of society have greatly lowered. Few adults to-day 
realize what the on-coming generation face; fewer still are 
prepared to support and train their children to meet these con-
ditions aright. 
Such specific help is offered to parents in Parents' Lessons, 
descriptive circulars of which will be given you at the close 
of the meeting. These Lessons require not merely reading, but 
study, effort, and co-operation with other Christian parents. 
It is training of the character demanded by, the Lord. 
Seventh-day Adventist parents, is the goal worthy the effort? 
When we shall stand before the great Judge and Father of all 
and hear His inquiry, " Where are the children I gape you to 
train for Me?" shall our answer be, "Lord, we did not have 
time to prepare to save them for Thee"? or shall it be the glad 
response, " Here, Lord, are we and the children Thou host 
given us "7 
Missionary-Prayer Meeting Suggestions 
January 4 
Tone: "The Home, the Foundation." 
TEXT: Gen. 18: 19. 
SEED THouours; When God Himself would start a nation, 
He made home life the deciding question. He selected Abra-
ham as the head of the home. The home is God's unit of 
society, the foundation of our government. Our denomination 
is no stronger in deep religious current than our homes. "Re-
form the church in your own home."—" Testimonies," Vol. 
VII, p. 67. (Read "The Ministry of Healing," p. 349.) 
January 11 
Tone: " The Home, a Builder of Character." 
TEXT: Luke 2: 52. 
SEED THOUGHTS: The home life of Jesus. He spent thirty 
years in home training in preparation for His great mission. 
(Read " The Ministry of Healing," pp. 349-352.) The home 
is the first and the most important school for the development 
of character. (See "Education," p. 276.) Rehearse experi-
ence of Moses as an example of molding character. (See "Pa-
triarchs and Prophets," p. 244.) 
January 18 
TOPIC: "The Home, an Object Lesson." 
TEXT: 2 Kings 20: 1-21. 
SEED THOUGHTS: (1) God's counsel to Hezekiah. Verse 1. 
(2) Hezekiah's grief. Verse 3. (3) God's mercy to him. 
Verses 4-11. (4) Visit of the king of Babylon. Verses 12, 13. 
(5) Isaiah's question. Verse 15. (6) Hezekiah's answer. Verse 
15, (7) What do my neighbors see in my house? Is it an 
example in love, thrift, courtesy, service, peace, cleanliness, 
hospitality, honesty? The home should be a missionary center. 
"Christ's Object Lessons," pp. 352-355. "Testimonies," Vol. 
IV, p. 138. 
January 25 
Tone: " The Home, a Bulwark Against Sin." 
TEXT: Joshua 24:15. 
SEED THOUGHTS; Joshua's firm stand for principle. The fear-
ful breaking down of the home in the world and in the church. 
The Elijah message. Mal. 4: 5, 6. Advancement of the work 
of God depends on Christian homes. " Testimonies," Vol. VI, 
p. 430. Religion in the home. Id., Vol. VII, p. 43. Influence 
of the family altar. Id., Vol. II, p. 701. Our responsibility 
as parents. " Patriarchs and Prophets," pp. 143, 144. 
Rises in the Night to Read His Bible 
Os a recent trip to Guatemala and Salvador, Elder C. E. 
Wood came in contact with a company of believers which has 
been raised up entirely as the result of home missionary work. 
One man who owns the largest dry goods store in the city is 
taking his stand for the truth, with his family. In this family 
are four persons who were born in Bethlehem. The entire 
family is very enthusiastic concerning the truth, and the mer-
chant told Brother Wood he often arises in the night to read 
and study his Bible. 
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THE CHURCH OFFICERS' GAZETTE �
7 
Heaven's Reporting System 
"ANGELS keep a faithful record of every man's work."—
"Testimonies," Vol. I, p. 198% 
"Every act of love, every word of kindness, every prayer in 
behalf of the suffering and oppressed, is reported before the 
eternal throne, and placed on heaven's imperishable record."—
" Testimonies," Vol. V, p. 133. 
"A report is borne to heaven of every successful effort on 
our part to dispel the darkness, and to spread abroad the knowl-
edge of Christ. As the deed is recounted before the Father, 
joy thrills through all the heavenly host."—" The Acts of the 
Apostles," p. 154. 
Reporting can be a blessing in more than one way. It will 
help and encourage others to take part in this soul-saving work; 
and further, it will be a blessing and encouragement to us to 
do still more for the Master. Many would be surprised to see 
how little they are doing, for lost souls if they should take a 
pencil and paper and put down the efforts they have made dur-
ing the past week or month. By reporting, we cheek up on our-
selves; and it usually stimulates us to do more. "Examine 
yourselves," says the word of God. It is a splendid thing for 
us to examine ourselves often to see how much we are doing for 
those who are lost; and one good way to do this, is, prayerfully 
and under God, to make out a report of our missionary en-
deavors every week.—J. I. Robison, in the Inter-American 
Division Messenger. 
Wake Up! 
"AWAKE, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and 
Christ shall shine upon thee." 
Martin Luther once told a story about Satan, who called a 
meeting of his devils, and asked them to report all the evil that 
they had been doing among men. One of them said that he 
had turned the wild beasts of the desert loose on a caravan of 
Christians, and their bones were bleaching on the sand. " What 
of that?" asked Satan; "their souls were all saved." Then 
another devil spoke up. "For ten years," he said, "I tried to 
get a single Christian asleep, and I succeeded, and left him so." 
Then Satan shouted for joy, and all hell joined in his delight. 
No wonder that Paul, the energetic, spoke of a slumbering 
Christian as dead. What would he say if he should look in on 
some of our churches? He would want to go to every church 
member and shake him vigorously and try to wake him up. The 
devils are not asleep, but too many Christians are sound asleep 
and snoring. 
Never were wide-awake Christians more needed than now. 
Never before has the church of God so many open doors before 
it, so vast opportunities to reach mar with the gospel and bring 
in the kingdom of heaven. Never has the church had such re-
sources as it has to-day. For Christians to fall asleep at their 
task has always been of sin; in this time it is a sin of infinite 
folly and disaster. 
Let us make sure that the sin is not at any rate committed 
by us. Whatever work God has intrusted to our care, no matter 
how small it may seem to us, let us do it as if it were the great-
est thing in the world. To us, indeed, it is that greatest thing. 
—The Christian Herald, Sept. 10, 1927. 
Is there be some weaker one, 
Give me strength to help him on. 
If a blinder soul there be, 
Let me guide him nearer Thee. 
Make my mortal dreams come true, 
With the work I fain would do; 
Clothe with life the weak intent, 
Let me be the thing'I meant. 
— Whittier. 
NOTHING that is worth having ever comes to one except as a 
result of hard work.—Booker 2'. Washington. 
Philippine Union Home Missionary Report 
" DURING the past two years our brethren in the Philippines 
have shown greater activity in carrying the news of the king-
dom to those about them than ever before. It seams as if 
many of our brethren are unable to rest unless they are doing 
'something for others. 
" The goal of the General Conference Home Missionary De-
partment is, Every member a worker and every worker a report-
ing member.' We are very happy to report that for several 
quarters during the biennial period 100 per cent of our church 
membership did some home missionary work and reported it. 
The Philippine Union Mission is the first union in the world 
to reach 100 per cent in reporting membership. The amount 
of work done by our brethren is very large. For instance, 83,864 
Bible readings were given; 76,361 missionary visits were made; 
16,472 treatments were given; and 231,601 pieces of literature 
were scattered. It would take one Bible worker twenty-eight 
years to give this number of Bible readings, and one eolporteur 
at least twenty years to distribute this amount of literature. 
ft would take one nurse at least five years to give this number 
of treatments. The end is not yet, for as more and more be-
lievers are added and set to work, the amount of work done by 
them will continue to grow. Many are the souls here that have 
been brought to the feet of the Master by our consecrated home 
missionary workers.. . . We never tire of telling the story of 
the church in Pinamungajan, Cebu. One brother there scat-
tered a few tracts, and as a result there are three fine churches 
to-day, one of about seventy members, another of seventy-five 
members, and another of twenty members, making a total of 
165. To begin with, there were just twelve members in one 
little church, so we can see what the Lord has done through 
this one brother." 
Take special notice, please, of the statement in the first para-
graph of this report, which says: "It seems as if many of our 
brethren are unable to rest unless they are doing something for 
others." May this be the experience of every believer in the 
third angel's message! 
The Home Bible Study League 
SOME answers have been received in response to the question-
naires sent out recently to the Pine Ridge Reservation. One 
Indian woman writes, "I sure thank you from the bottom of 
my heart for the Present Truth." She mentions that she has 
been the organist for the Episcopal church since girlhood. She 
requests more literature on the second coming of Christ. 
An Indian man expresses a thousand thanks for the Present 
Truth. 
Requests for literature indicate that the Sabbath, 
second coming of Christ, and the Bible are among the most 
interesting subjects. Thus far only one letter has been re-
ceived from the Reservation that shows any prejudice.— Gordon 
Oss, in the Northern Union Reaper. 
WE quit the goal that we have gained, 
To seek the one still unattained: 
The records we have made, we take 
To point to records we shall make. 
Man's hope lies not in what he's done, 
But in the task he's just begun. 
To-morrow's glory! That's the thrill 
That spurs us on and strengthens will. 
—Field Tidings. 
IT takes a lifetime to build up a good reputation; it may be �
" Right " is a bigger word than either " success" or "failure." 
lost in a moment.—Lutheran Standard. �
—C. S. Tanner. 
THE CHURCH OFFICERS' GAZETTE 
?humor flitotionarp Volunteer 
Outings 
Suggestion Corner for Junior 
Superintendents 
Aumouen your society has been well organized for several 
months, there is something about the beginning of the year 
which invites us to put new vim into those habits which we 
know will be a help in our Christian life. The Morning Watch 
and the Bible Year should be especially emphasized. Ask for 
at least two Morning Watch drills this month. Then be sure 
that the Juniors are beginning their Bible year on time.. A few 
words from you at each meeting time as to the chapters they 
have read, or comparing their experience with your own will 
help them to be faithful and earnest. Point out that it is 
only as we keep our connection with Heaven that we shall 
have the power to keep those other resolutions for a better 
life which we all make at the beginning of each year. Stress 
the devotional features. Every superintendent who takes 
advantage of these features knows what a strength they may 
add to the society. 
We have some good news for you! It has been arranged 
for the Missionary Volunteers of America to have a special 
mission project, not a continent, not just missions in general, 
but a special work for their money to do. The first quarter 
the young people and Juniors are asked to help establish a 
mission among the Davis In'dians at Mt. Roraima. We need 
$5,000 in three months. Is not this a challenge? The teacher-
superintendent has a real opportunity. Begin right away to 
help the Juniors earn money. (See Senior Notes to the Leader, 
p. 12.) Can you not correlate your manual training with 
missions? Invest a small sum in gingham and make kitchen 
holders, or prepare some simple guest towels and dainty 
aprons for a sale. Then, how about the school gardens, 
cannot they be made to yield good, fresh vegetables for sale 
in the early spring? Perhaps your cooking class could make 
jellies for sale, or your boys could produce neat magazine racks. 
A small investment might encourage each Junior to make it 
double itself. There are many ways, hilt the Juniors need 
leadership. The superintendent can do much to meet this spe-
cial need in the mission field by suggesting ways in which each 
Junior may earn his dollar for this great work. �
H. H. 
An Invitation 
(For Week Ending January 7) 
Suggestive Program 
Songs: (Those that breathe a missionary spirit should be chosen. Nos. 
545, 661, 548, 479, 486, etc., in " Christ In Song " are appropriate.) 
Leader's Talk: " The Invitation." (See Notes to Leaders.) 
Prayer for Our Mission at Mt. Roraima. 
Story: " Finding the Davis Indians." 
Talk: "From Our Mt. Roraima Missionaries." (See P. 12.) 
Recitation: "Bread for the Hungry." 
Superintendent's Talk: " Accepting the Invitation." 
Close With Song and Prayer. 
Notes to Leaders 
Think of it! The Missionary Volunteers of North America 
are invited to raise $5,000 for special mission work among some 
of the Indians of British Guiana. You have probably heard 
of the Indians who have waited faithfully fourteen years for 
a missionary to come and teach them more about Jesus. Last 
year two families were sent out into that wilderness, and the 
young people here are to help them establish the much-longed-
for mission with the money which they raise during the first 
three months of 1928. 
The leader should have a map of Central and South America. 
Explain that what is known to Seventh-day Adventists as the 
Inter-American Division comprises all countries between North 
and South America, the surrounding islands, and the north-
ern part of South America: Colombia, Venezuela, the British, 
Dutch, and French Guianas. Now in the interior of British 
Guiana draw a mountain and name it Mt. Rorahna. Then tell 
the story of Brother Davis, who, fifteen years ago, tramped up 
through that country, far from civilization, through forest 
and plain, crossing dangerous rivers and climbing steep trails. 
To the Indians of Mt. Roraima he preached the message of 
God's love, and told them that Jesus was coming again soon. He 
taught them some Christian songs, and then when it seemed 
that his work was but just begun, he was taken sick with the 
black-water fever and died attended only by his Indian friends. 
He told them, however, that God would send other missionaries 
to them. Those people waited long for the missionary that 
Brother Davis had promised would come to them. Everywhere 
through this country Indians axe seeking the way of life. 
Shall we refuse the light to them by not doing our part in 
furnishing the means which will bring it to them? 
For Your Poster 
Display a large outline map of South America, and in the 
north, just about where Mt. Roraima is, draw the stone 
foundations of a church. Write underneath, " Will you help 
to finish the church so bravely begun?" Have this map before 
the society as you take up the program. 
Story: "Finding the Davis Indians" 
JUST about two years ago, Elder Baxter and Elder Sutton, 
missionaries in the Inter-American Division, started out to 
find the Indians that Elder Davis had visited so long ago, and 
among whom he died. It was a very hard trip, for they had 
to travel first by boat, then by canoe, and finally they had 
to tramp over hills and through valleys for eleven days before 
reaching their destination. Often they bad to sleep in a 
wayside hut, sometimes they had to lie out in the open where 
there was much danger of becoming infected, and yet God 
blessed them and protected them. At last they reached there, 
tired, but glad to be at their journey's end. They swung their 
hammocks in a shed, but before they had fallen asleep a young 
man came into the shed and said, "I want to be a good man." 
He began to sing, " There's not a friend like the lowly' Jesus." 
Think of it, Juniors, here was a man who could not speak our 
language, and yet through all those fifteen years he had re-
membered the words of that strange hymn. Many, many times 
when his heart was longing for help he had sung that hymn 
and asked God to send missionaries. Then other Indians flocked 
in. Soon the song, " Shall we gather at the river? " was ring-
ing out in that strange land, sung by those Indians who had 
kept faith. No wonder that our missionaries felt thankful 
that God bad led them there through the wilderness, When 
news spread that the Davis mon were there, Indians flocked 
from the country, miles and miles around. One chief offered 
them a mission station already built. It had belonged to the 
Catholics, but he said, "I built the mission, it is mine, and 
we don't want the Catholics." Tribe after tribe pressed home 
to them that they needed a teacher to help them. 
Now, Juniors, it is to help establish a mission for these 
same faithful waiting people that our money is going during 
these first three months of 1928. Just think, if every Junior 
Missionary Volunteer earned just twenty-five cents, and every 
Senior Missionary Volunteer gave fifty cents, they would more 
than build that mission over there at Mt. Roraima in three 
months. Is there any Junior who can't earn twenty-five or 
even fifty cents above his Sabbath school offerings in three 
months? 
Bread for the Hungry 
THERE comes a host, they stand at our door; 
They call and knock, and their need is sore; 
They call for succor, to us they cry, 
'They hunger and thirst—shall we let them die? 
There are souls that are starving for the bread of life, 
There are hearts with anger and malice rife, 
There are weary and stricken and desolate ones 
With no Father in God, no hope in His Son. 
Christian nation! 0 people, by Jesus made free, 
To us is given—to you and to me— 
To give our treasures, not counting our store, 
For in giving we're getting and gathering more. 
Give pity and love—the love of the cross; 
Give money and labor, not counting it loss; 
Give prayer evermore that the needy may be 
Most bountifully fed, dear Saviour, by Thee— 
By Thee, and through me. 
—Selected. 
Superintendent's Talk: "Accepting the Invitation" 
THE purpose of your talk is to present to the boys and girls 
a practical way in which they can earn money during the next, 
three months for these special missions. Set a definite goal. 
Perhaps you can arrange a device on the blackboard which can 
stay there all during the three months. The church building 
with the foundation laid, and each brick representing a dollar 
turned in, would show the progress of the campaign. For ways 
of earning money see the Suggestion Corner. 
THE CHURCH OFFICERS' GAZETTE 
9 
Our Star Friends 
(For Week Ending Jamatary 14) 
Suggestive Program 
Songs; (Have an enthusiastic song service, a number of Juniors 
choosing favorites. Open with No. 295 in " Christ in Song" or 
with a song of similar sentiment.) 
Scripture Reading: Psalms 147: 1-5. (Read verses 4 and 6 until all 
can repeat them with you.) 
A Number of Sentence Prayers. 
Leader's Talk: "Making Friends." (See Notes to Leaders.) 
Special Music. 
Talk: " Capella and Her Rids." (For this and the following two talks, 
blackboard diagrams should be made. See page 13 of this paper, 
or see pages 7, 11, and 16 of the Primary Reading Course Book, 
" Star Stories for Little Folks," by Gertrude Chandler Warner.) 
Talk: " Taurus and Aldebaran." 
Talk: "The Bright Stars of Orion." 
Recitation: " Thoughts That Lead to God." 
Song: "Lord, Thy Glory Fills the Heavens." (No. 341 in "Christ in 
Song.") 
Superintendent's Talk: "The Path to the Throne." 
Song: No. 242 in "Christ in Song." 
Close by Repeating Together the First Three Verses of Psalms 19. 
Notes to Leaders 
Winter is the best time to make friends with the stars. In 
the long, clear, frosty evenings they seem to bend down as 
if inviting a chat. There is a tradition that Abraham was 
led to become acquainted with God by watching them. Day 
after day he handled the idols of his father's household, and 
at night he watched the stars ill their course. He was led 
to believe that there was a God who made not only the earth 
but the heavens. 
Aside from the fact that the stars show us the wonderful 
love and power of God, they may become real friends to us. 
When, on looking out of the window at any hour of night, 
we see a familiar face twinkling down on us, especially if we 
have learned to watch for that particular star and know its 
name, we learn to love and greet it as a friend. We may 
enjoy a field of flowers and revel in. their• color, but when we 
have come to recognize some special flower, perhaps an aster, 
that same field seems to belong to us. Just so with the stars: 
night after night we may be thrilled by the beauty of the 
heavens, but there is still more for us when we learn to recog-
nize and call the stars by name. On a frosty night just to 
watch Orion go striding across the sky, or when the first violets 
Scent the air to know that Arcturus will soon take up his nightly 
vigil. Just to know that Capella shines with a soft yellow 
light all winter long, and that Betelgeuse sends its warm 
reddish rays to us during the cold months. The stars are 
always glad to get acquainted, and they are always there. 
Each one is different and holds an interesting secret for us 
to discover. It is hoped that those who attend this meeting 
will find the stars spoken of and will look for them at every 
opportunity. (If at all possible, the superintendent should plan 
to take the Juniors out of doors some early evening and point 
out the stars studied during the meeting.) 
For the church announcement carry out the idea that the 
stars are friends. Ask the Juniors to come to meeting pre-
pared to meet some friends. The program can be profitably 
supplemented by asking several Juniors to bring in Bible verses 
in which stars are mentioned. 
Talk: "Capella and Her Kids" 
WHEN the birds ,are congregating to make their long trip to 
the warm South, if you look over the eastern horizon in the 
early evening you will find one of the brightest stars of the 
heavens pushing its way up into the night. Or if in the dead 
of winter you watch the heavens some evening, there will be 
a very bright star which will attract your attention and 
admiration. This is Capella. Just to make sure that you are 
looking at this brilliant star, suppose you find the Big Dipper, 
and then instead of using the two real Pointers which mark 
out the North Star, imagine that the two top stars of the bowl 
are pointing east, or to the right. Follow along this line until 
you see a very bright star. Another feature that makes us 
sure of Capella is the fact that very near her you will see 
three fainter stars. In years when the shepherds watched their 
sheep they called this, star Capella, which is the Latin word 
meaning small she-goat, and they called those three fainter 
stars her three little Kids. 
Now when you have found Capella, see if you cannot pick 
out the whole constellation that it is in. It is a five-sided 
figure looking very much like the pentagon that our older 
brothers and sisters draw when they are studying geometry. 
This constellation is called Auriga (pronounced Au-ri'-ga), or 
the Wagoner. 
Capella is as great big sun, very much like the one that 
gives us light, only it is many times larger. It gives out 120 
times as much light as our sun. And how far away from us 
do you think it is? Well, light travels so fast that it can go 
around the world seven and one-half tunes in one second; but 
Capella is so far away from us that it takes forty years for 
a beam of light that leaves Capella to reach the earth. If 
our sun were so far away as that, it would look no larger than 
the North Star does to us now. Another interesting thing about 
Capella is that it is really two stars, which to us seem so 
close that not even the most powerful telescope can see them 
apart. Astronomers have a little instrument that • measures 
different kinds of light, which is called a spectroscope. It is 
by the means of this instrument that they have discovered that 
Capella is really two big suns whirling around each other. 
Capella is traveling away from us at the rate of twenty miles 
a second, or more than a million miles in a day, and yet 
it would take many hundreds of years, if the world should last 
that long, for us to see any change in the brightness of this 
wonderful star friend. 
Talk: " Taurus and Aldebaran " 
IF you should imagine a line going from the top stars of the 
bowl of the Big Dipper through Capella and the three Kids, 
you would find that it passes by six stars that look like a great 
V in the heavens. The shepherds of old used to imagine that 
the stars in this part of the heavens formed the outline of a 
great bull (Latin, Taurus), and that this V was the face of 
the bull, and that the very bright star at the top of the V was 
the bull's fiery red eye. The name of this bright star is Alde-
baran, and it is indeed red; so we can hardly blame the shep-
herds for imagining that the bull was very angry. Aldebaran 
is the ninth in order of brightness of all those that we can see. 
At its great distance, it gives only about one ninety billionth as 
much light as the sun, but at the same distance as the sun we 
would get forty-five times as much light as we do now from 
our sun. It takes thirty-two years for a ray of light to reach 
us from this friend of ours. Be sure to hunt for the eye of 
the angry bull. The Pleiades, or seven sisters, a small group 
of stars very close together, are also a part of the constellation 
Taurus. 
Thoughts That Lead to God 
THINK of the rivers running slow 
Through the fields of long ago. 
Think of gardens green and cool, 
Lilac walk and sunken pool. 
Think of wind on any hill, 
Think of moorlands clean and chill 
Lit by gorse and golden rod; 
Think of stars—then think of God. 
—Fanj Inchfawn. 
Talk: " The Bright Stars of Orion" 
On of the most beautiful constellations in the heavens 
in January is Orion. To find it, first locate your friends Capella 
and Aldebaran and then look just south of the latter. The 
first thing you will notice about Orion is that bright belt of 
three stars, and three other stars that drop down from it very 
much like the sword that the old shepherds imagined they 
were. The middle star of this sword is not a star at all, but 
a great cloud of light called a nebula. We will hear more 
of that soon. But for the present after you have found the 
belt, look to the right, and high above it you will find a red 
star which the ancients thought marked the right shoulder of a 
warrior. This is Betelgeuse, and it should be an old friend 
to every Junior. Astronomers tell us that it is so big that 
if it were hollow our sun could be in the center and the earth 
still revolve about it, with plenty of room to spare. Now look 
below the belt, and down to the left you will see a bright blue 
star. This is Rigel. Like Capella, Rigel has a companion star 
so close to it that it is very difficult to see, especially as Rigel's 
bright light overshines it. 
Following Orion is Sirius, sometimes called the Dog Star 
because the shepherds of olden days thought that the bright 
star which followed the great warrior of the heavens was his 
dog. This is the brightest star in the heavens. Its beams 
sparkle with a pure white light like an immense diamond of 
the sky. In January Sirius rises just after sunset, so be 
sure to look for it in the east in the early evening. This star 
is one of the nearest to us, and its light takes only eight 
and a half years to reach us. 
10 �
THE CHURCH OFFICERS' GAZETTE 
Both Job and Amos, two men through whom God spoke to 
His people in olden times, drew lessons from their observations 
of the stars. (See Job 9: 9; 38: 31; Amos 5: 8.) 
Superintendent's Talk: "The Path to the Throne" 
POINT out the middle " star " of the sword in Orion on the 
diagram as you talk. Tell how it really is no star, but a 
vast cloud of light that surrounds the " open space " in the 
heavens through which Jesus will come for us. If possible, 
obtain a copy of the November, 1927, Parents' Lessons. 
If there is a Mothers' Society in your church this will be 
available. If not, the Home Commission of the General Con-
ference, Takoma Park, D. C., will furnish copies for 15 cents 
each. In this, Professor Spalding has admirably told the story 
of the great blazing corridor through which ninety thousand 
worlds on orbits as big as ours might swing and never touch 
each other. "Early Writings," page 41, also alludes to this; 
" The Great Controversy," pages 635, 636, and 645, and also 
"Early Writings," page 16, give a vivid account of the events 
just before and during that wonderful trip when Jesus will 
take His people home. Study these references and live that 
week of heavenly travel as you tell it to the Juniors. Those 
who obtain the story given in Parents' Lessons will feel richly 
repaid. 
Noah, a Hero Preacher and Builder 
(For Week Ending January 21) 
Suggestive Program 
Opening Song: "Trust and Obey." (No. 496 in "Christ in Song.") 
Prayer, Closing With the Lord's Prayer in Unison. 
Memory Gem: "Noah Did According Unto All That the Lord Com- 
manded Him." (Have this quotation from Genesis 7 : 5 written 
on the blackboard where all can see it.) 
Leader's Remarks. 
Song: "Dare to Do Right." (No. 61 in "Christ in Song.") 
Talk: " A Sailor Who Dared to Take Ridicule." 
Poem: "Our Heroes." 
Talk: "A Favorite With God." 
Symposium: "Noah's Time and the Last Days." (See Senior program 
P. 14.) 
Song: "Master, East Thou Work for Me?" (No. 571 in "Christ in 
Song.") 
Close With Prayer. 
Leader's Remarks 
Jesus said: "As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be 
also in the days of the Son of man." The same conditions are 
in the world to-day as were in the days of Noah. People do not 
love God, and they forget to thank Him for the blessings He 
gives them each day. They do not even love one another; and all 
they think about is having a good time in this world. They 
are living for this world and for this life alone. 
Before the flood, God sent Noah to warn the world. As 
the time of Christ's second coming draws near, the Lord win 
send His servants with a message to the world. He is calling 
to all who love Him and obey Him to tell the world that He is 
going to destroy it, and if they will put away their sins and 
obey Him, He will save them. While Noah was giving his 
warning message to the world, his works showed that he 
believed what God said. And so our lives will show to the 
world whether or not we believe what God says. 
There are not multitudes on the side of right. In Noah's 
day only eight persons were saved, and so to-day there are only 
a few who will listen to God's message. God is calling to-day 
for people to obey His commandments, but many do not believe. 
As the people laughed and mocked at Noah, they will do the 
same to God's servants to day. God 'is calling to the Juniors, 
because they are young and strong. It will take courage to 
stand true when people all around laugh at you and do not 
believe as you do, but Noah did not give up because they would 
not listen to him. God will take care of His servants, even 
as he took care of Noah and saved him from the flood. 
(For further thoughts on the life of Noah, see "Patriarchs 
and Prophets," pp. 90-104. Emphasize the thought that God 
has a message to be given to the world to-day, the same as He 
did in Noah's day..) 
Talk: "A Sailor Who Dared to Take Ridicule" 
" MERE is nothing in the world that takes so much courage 
as to stand alone. Noah lived in a time when the world was 
very wicked, so wicked that God was sorry He had made it. 
At, last He determined that He would destroy not only the 
people, but every living thing that He had created." But He 
remembered Noah, a man who was full of courage, and was 
a good man. God told Noah to build an ark, and to warn 
the people that a flood was coming. How foolish it must have 
seemed to the people about him to see Noah working away day 
after day building this great ark. Who ever heard of such 
a thing as a flood? What if it did rain? Every one could 
go up on the hills and be safe. What do you suppose his 
neighbors thought of him? What do you suppose they said 
about him? Perhaps no one before him nor after him had 
been laughed at so much as he was. But Noah did not give 
up. He was not discouraged because the people laughed at 
him, and would not believe his message. He kept on sawing 
and hammering and preaching. 
At last he finished the ark. All the animals and birds came 
two by two, or by sevens, into the ark, quietly and orderly. 
Then God told Noah to go in with his wife and his three sons 
and their wives. An angel shut the door, and no man could 
open it. 
Still the people laughed. After seven days it began to rain, 
and the water rose to the tops of the hills, and everything was 
destroyed except Noah and those that were in the ark. 
We all know how it all came out, but let us see what hap-
pened after the flood was over, and Noah was safe on dry 
ground once more. The first thing that Noah did was to 
kneel down and thank God. God promised him then that He 
would never again send another flood to destroy the whole 
world. 
It is not easy to stand alone. The hardest thing in the 
world is to do right when those about one make fun of him. 
It takes courage. Only a real hero can do this. Are you a 
hero for God among your companions? 
Our Heroes 
HMG'S a hand to the boy who has courage 
To do what'he knows to be right; 
When he falls in the way of temptation 
He has a hard battle to fight. 
Who strives against self and his comrades 
Will find a most powerful foe; 
All honor to him if he conquers, 
A cheer for the boy who says " No "! 
There's many a battle fought daily 
The world knows nothing about; 
There's many a brave little soldier 
Whose strength puts a legion to rout. 
And he who fights sin single-handed 
Is more of a hero, E say, 
Than he who leads soldiers to battle 
And conquers by arms in the fray. 
Be steadfast, my boy, when you're tempted, 
Do what you know to be right! 
Stand firm by the colors of manhood, 
And you will o'ercome in the fight. 
" The right! " be your battle cry ever 
In waging the warfare of life; 
And God, who knows who are the heroes, 
Will give you the strength for the strife. 
—Phoebe Cary. 
Talk: "A Favorite With God" 
"NOAH found grace in the eyes of the Lord." Gen. 6: 8. 
This means that Noah was a favorite with God? Why was 
Noah a favorite with God? The next verse tells us: "Noah 
walked with God." This means that he kept close to Him. 
If that is the way to become a favorite with God, any one can 
be one. It looks as if being a favorite of God depended more 
on ourselves than on God, doesn't it? 
In the twenty-second verse we find that it says, " Thus did 
Noah; according to all that God commanded him." Noah was 
obedient to God. He did just as He told him to, and did not 
ask how long it was going to take him. Do we always do 
just what God tells us to do, even when we know that we 
shall get into trouble if we do not? Perhaps that was another 
reason why Noah was a favorite with God. 
Noah stood as one faithful man among a whole world of 
people who did not believe in God. Though there was sin all 
about him, he was true to God, and did what he believed to 
be right. He not only did right himself, but tried to get other 
people to do right. For one hundred twenty years he worked 
to build an ark that he might be ready when God called him, 
and during these many years he talked and preached to other , 
people so that they might be ready when God called them into 
the ark. He did not want to be saved alone. He was building 
a big building, and he wanted to take many people into the 
ark with him. Noah was a strong man, and it took a strong 
THE CHURCH OFFICERS' GAZETTE 
11 
man to build such a largo, strong building, that would stand 
against the storm that was coming. 
Then, too, Noah was patient. He did not give up or get 
eross because the people laughed at him, and said that he 
was crazy. He tried to make the world better, and gave all 
that he had to build the ark. I believe his patience was also 
tested when he had to stay in the ark a whole year and ten days. 
But he did not complain, for the first thing he did after the 
flood was over was to thank God for His love and goodness. 
Do you wonder now that Noah was a favorite with God? 
Yes, we may all be favorites with God if we will do what He 
tells us to do. 
Saying and Praying 
(For Week Ending January 28) 
Suggestive Program 
Song Service and Opening Song: (Ask one of the Juniors to select 
a list of songs which he thinks would be appropriate for a prayer 
service. Nos. 664, 515, 634, in " Christ in Song" are examples.) 
Roll Call: "Things We May Ask For." (This should be conducted by 
the leader. Bring out the difference between just " saying " a 
prayer and truly praying. Read the quotation given, and count 
out the things that we may pray for and know that we are asking 
according to the will of God. Emphasize the fact that the prom-
ise to "keep the Morning Watch" in the Junior Law means 
real "praying." Ask each Junior to answer to his name by 
telling of something he has prayed for and received from God.) 
Repeat Together Matthew 7: 7, 8. 
A Season of Prayer. 
Superintendent's Talk: " Learning to Pray." 
Reading: " Saying and Praying." 
Recitation: " Just a Word With Jesus." 
Symposium: "Prayers of the Bible." (Give out the following names 
and references, asking Juniors to tell about these prayers and their 
answers. Elijah, James 6:1? and 1 Kings 18:36, 37; Hesekiah, 
2 Kings 19:14-20, 32-35; Nehemiah, Neh. 4: 9; Daniel, Dan. 
2: 19-23, 9: 4-20.) 
Story: " Praying for a Doll." 
Close by Repeating the Junior Law With Silent Prayer Following. 
Note for Leaders 
Remember all those good things that we promised ourselves 
we were going to do this year, we called them New Year 
resolutions? By this time you have found out again that we 
cannot do those good things in our own strength. We must 
have Jesus, and He must give very real help. Day by day, 
if we will only talk it all over with Him, He will send just 
what we need. Dear Juniors, let us not miss such a blessing, 
let us really talk with Him each day. And- let us not only 
talk about it this program time, but let us do it. The leaders 
should have special prayer as they plan this program. Call 
the officers together for a special season of prayer just before 
the meeting. 
Roll Call: " Things We May Ask For " 
" Foa pardon of Sin, for the Holy Spirit, for a Christlike 
temper, for wisdom and strength to do His work, for any gift 
He has promised, we may ask; then we are to believe that we 
receive, and return thanks to God that we have received."—
" Education," p. 258. 
Superintendent's Talk: "Learning to Pray" 
ONE day one of Jesus' disciples came to Him requesting, 
"Lord, teach us to pray." When the disciples saw Jesus 
in prayer, they felt a real longing to be able to pray as He 
did. They, no doubt, had been taught the prayers of the 
Jewish church, but these seemed so lifeless and meaningless 
to them. They desired that Jesus should tenth them to pray 
as John the Baptist had taught his disciples. 
But why did the disciples so desire to be able to pray well? 
They had observed that whenever Jesus prayed, the Father 
answered. Before God answered His prayer to bring forth 
Lazarus from the grave, Jesus said, "I knew that Thou hearest 
Me always." At His baptism He prayed; and God Himself 
spoke the answer to His prayer. When Christ challenged the 
tempter in the wilderness, prayer caused Satan to flee, and 
brought the angels near. Jesus was so confident in prayer 
that He knew the Father would send more than twelve legions 
of angels at His call. But He also knew when such a request 
would be entirely displeasing to God. Peter was converted as 
an answer to the Master's prayers for him. Again, in the 
garden, victory came as He prayed the more earnestly each 
time. The greatest prayer ever prayed—the prayer which 
caused men and angels to marvel —was prayed on the cross. 
Only Christ could pray, "Father, forgive them." Only a 
Christian may learn to pray it in the same spirit the Master did. 
Prayer is more than a set of words. It is "the opening of 
the heart to God as to a friend." To pray we must know God; 
we must know His will for us. It means that while we hope 
to see Jesus, we will be preparing for His return. Only as 
we see the answer to our prayers will we find pleasure in pray-
ing, for prayer is a heavenly art mastered by practice. Let us 
learn to pray in the trustful way Jesus prayed to His 
heavenly Father. �
LouisE C. KLEUSER. 
Reading: "Saying and Praying" 
Mx. MOODY once related this incident concerning his own 
little son: "My wife came down one, evening, and said she 
had had some trouble with one of the children. He was not 
willing to obey, and he had gone off to bed without asking her 
forgiveness. I went up and sat down by the side of the little 
child, and said, 'Did you pray to night? " I said my prayers.' 
Did you pray?' �
I said my prayers.' Did you pray?' 
'Well, papa, I told you that I said my prayers." Yes, I 
heard you; but did you pray?' 
"The little fellow was struck; he knew he hadn't prayed. 
How was he going to pray when there was something wrong 
in his heart? He could not do it. 
"'Well, now,' said �
are you going to go off to sleep with- 
out praying? ' After a struggle, he said, I wish you would 
call mamma.' She came up, and was glad to forgive him; 
and then he wanted to get out of bed and pray. He had said 
his prayers,' but now he wanted to pray.'"— United Presby-
terian. 
Just a Word With Jesus 
JUST a word with Jesus, 
When you lie down at night, 
Will make softer pillow, 
Because the heart is right. 
Just a word with Jesus, 
When you awake from sleep, 
Will help you all the daytime 
Your promises to keep. 
Just a word with Jesus, 
When Satan makes attack, 
Will drive away the tempter, 
And make him turn his back. 
Just a word with Jesus, 
When you a cross must bear, 
Will make the burden easy, 
For He your cross will share. 
— Selected. 
Story: "Praying for a Doll" 
Dm you ever hear of Jesus' sending a definite answer to a 
little child's prayer? Or did you think we must wait until 
we are grown before He pays any attention to what we ask 
Him? Of course not, for He loves the little children, and 
hears even the smallest ones when they talk to Him. 
I'll tell you about a tiny little girl—she was only three 
years old — who wanted a dolly very, very much. Whom would 
you tell, if you wanted something like that? Well, this little 
girl decided she would tell Jesus. She prayed to Him every 
day, and surely He would be interested in what would make 
her happy. 
So she talked it all over with Him —how she 
wanted a nice big doll with good joints so she could move them 
and make it sit and stand alone, and with golden curls, and big 
brown eyes that would open and shut just like she had seen in 
the big store down town. Papa and mamma didn't have much 
money to buy dollies with; so wouldn't Jesus send her one, 
please? 
Of course the answer didn't come that day, nor the next, 
nor the next. But she didn't stop talking to Jesus, and asking 
Him over and over every day for the thing she longed so much 
to have. She knew Jesus had heard for He said He would; and 
she was sure the answer would come, so she kept praying. 
One day she went upstairs for something. As she started 
to pass through her big brother's room, what do you suppose 
she saw on his bed? Yes, a beautiful big jointed dolly, with 
golden curls, and dark brown eyes that opened and shut! Just 
like she bad described in her prayer! Can you imagine how 
happily and carefully she carried her treasure downstairs to 
show the family? 
When they asked where she got the doll, she told where she 
found it, and how Jesus had sent it in answer to her prayer. 
While she didn't know then how He had done it, later she 
Found that He had impressed a woman in another part of 
the State to buy the doll and give it to her. Doesn't this show 
that Jesus hears what the little folks say? And this is a true 
story, too, for I was the little girl who prayed for and received 
the beautiful doll, which I named Rosebud. 
MARTHA MONTGOMERY. 
12 �
THE CHURCH OFFICERS' GAZETTE 
*odor Oficsssionarp Volunteer 
eating 
Suggestions to Senior M. V. Leaders for 
January 
IN many Missionary Volunteer Societies, the beginning of a 
new year finds a completely new corps of officers leading out. 
At the best there are usually a few new faces, and even the 
older ones need to refresh their memories, so begin the year 
by studying carefully our Manual, " Missionary Volunteers 
and Their Work," up to page 339, at least. If your society 
does not have a copy of this book, make it your first purchase 
from the society funds. (Price, $1.) 
Officers.—One of your first duties is to see that each feature 
of the work has leadership. The church elects only the 
leading society officers. (See Manual, pp. 106, 107.) It will, 
therefore, be necessary for you to choose a devotional sec-
retary, an educational secretary, the band leaders, and any 
other officer needed in your society. (See Manual, pp. 119-129 
for duties of officers.) The devotional secretary should begin 
at once to stress the Bible Year and Morning Watch. 
Goals.—The greatest objectives are reached when we have 
goals toward which we strive, so it is .essential that your 
Missionary Volunteer Society have very definite goals. If you 
have not received suggestive society goals, write at once to 
your local conference Missionary Volunteer secretary. Pre-
sent these at the first meeting after receiving them, enlisting 
a definite interest on the part of your members. Avoid making 
the goals the main thing in your society, but stress them fre-
quently to keep the eyes of every Missionary Volunteer con-
stantly upon them. 
Missions.—Our plan for missions is quite fully outlined in 
the program for January 7. The first program of each quarter 
will introduce a new mission enterprise, thus giving you the 
privilege of financing four different projects during the year 
1928. The second program on missions will be given the first 
week of the last month in the quarter, thus leaving time for 
an extra effort to reach your goal after the second stimulus is 
afforded. Keep this mission project continually before your 
society. The eyes of every Seventh-day Adventist young per-
son should be on the mission fields. If we cannot go, the least 
we can do is to send our money. The financial side of these 
mission enterprises for 1928 will be left with you, Missionary 
Volunteers, for promotion through your local society programs 
and efforts. Why not, together with your other goals, set a 
very definite goal for missions? Will you back the mission-
aries who have gone out among the Davis Indians with your 
prayers and with your money? They need $5,000 during the 
first quarter of 1928. 
Bands.—For instruction see page 16. This band page will 
be run as a regular feature each month. 
Sharing Your Dollar With the Davis Indians 
(For Week Flaking January 7) 
Suggestive Program 
Song Service. (Nos. 30, 65, 122, 179, 214, 235, 254, in "The Gospel in 
Song." See Junior program, page 8, for suggestions fron: "Christ 
in Song.") 
Repeat in Unison Matthew 28: 18-20, and the Lord's Prayer. 
Leader's Remarks: "Getting the Vision." (See Notes to Leaders in 
Junior program on page 8. Display the map suggested, and be 
sure that your Missionary Volunteers get a real vision of the 
'Prospects as we endeavor to help send the light to these Indians 
whom Brothel: Davis was compelled to leave without a leader.) 
Story: "Finding the Davis Indians." (See page 8.) 
Recitation: "Bread for the Hungry." (See page 8.) 
Talk: " News From Our Mt. Roraima Missionaries." 
Special Song: "As a Volunteer." (No. 112 in "The Gospel in Song.") 
Our Response: "Sharing Our Dollars With the Davis Indians." (See 
Notes to the Leader following.) 
Close by Repeating in Concert the M. V. Pledge. (Of course, you have 
the M. V. Aim, Motto, and Pledge on display where all can see. 
Repeat them often until their meaning has been burned into the 
heart of every Missionary Volunteer in your society.) 
The Bands Meet. (See page 16.) 
Notes to the Leader 
Now just what will it mean to share our dollars this year 
with the Davis Indians? To them there is no estimating how 
much it will mean, eternity alone will reveal the hearts en-
couraged, the lives uplifted, and the souls won for the kingdom 
of God. And to us what does it meant It means that if every 
North American Senior Missionary Volunteer gave 50 cents, 
and every Junior Missionary Volunteer raised 25 cents during 
the entire first quarter of 1928, there would be more than 
the $5,000 asked for in hand to build the Mt. Roraima Mission. 
Remember, this means that there must be this much money 
raised above your society expenses and the home missionary 
work which you are already fostering. Then, .too, it doesn't 
seem that we should curtail our Sabbath school offerings 
either, does it? The missionaries supported by that money 
need it just as much as those of Mt. Roraima. So dividing 
our dollar with the Davis Indians will mean that one dollar 
each quarter which we have planned to use for ourselves will 
be shared with the Davis Indians. As Missionary Volunteers 
who are blessed with the light of this gospel truth, will we 
share with those who sit in darkness? The question is yours. 
Call for pledges, and suggest ways by which money can be 
earned. It would be well to keep the church foundation, sug-
gested for to-day's poster on page 8, in view continually. Per-
haps you will build the church by adding a stone for every set 
amount raised. Of course, the amount each stone represents 
will depend upon the size of your society. 
Talk: "News From Our Mt. Roraima Missionaries " 
DURING the autumn of 1926, four young people prepared to 
go to this isolated field. They selected their equipment care-
fully, for they would not be able to reach a store for months 
and months at a time. And because nearly all of the way their 
goods must be carried over narrow trails, they must learn to 
do without many of the things that we in this country con-
sider necessary. But Brother and Sister Christian and Brother 
and Sister Cott had given themselves for service, and they 
were ready for the sacrifice. At last everything was ready, 
and they reached Georgetown in British Guiana from which 
they would go into the interior, perhaps not to see other white 
people for years to come. 
As this is being written in October of 1927, word has come 
from these travelers. Brother Christian's letter tells of the 
price these Indians are willing to pay in order to bring the 
missionaries to their own people: 
" To me the saddest part of the trip is the thought that 
already it has cost the lives of two Indians. One of these 
was Amos Daniel, who was the church warden from Roraima, 
and the one that had led out in the, school work since the death 
of Elder Davis. He had waited at Anandabaru for us for 
more than three months, and while waiting contracted the fever 
from which he died, just a few days before we were able to 
get to him. The other was a Patamonian Indian who had come 
to work for us." 
Terrible rains held back the missionaries, although, with 
hearts that refused to become discouraged, they pressed on, 
through hardships that never can be described adequately on 
paper. Wading through water up to their waists, climbing 
over fallen trees, fighting mosquitoes, facing difficulties with 
an unfaithful guide, have been only a few of the trials of 
those who are determined to help save the Davis Indians. No 
wonder that after three and one-half months out from George-
town, Sister Christian became sick Brother Christian's diary 
would wring your heart, as he depicts there the rising and 
falling of their hopes for her recovery. Here is a page from it: 
"June 29. We left for Georgetown. We said good-by to 
Brother and Sister Cott on the banks of Wong Creek, but we 
hope to see them again soon. They will push on alone until 
we join them again. Both of them were of good courage, 
and were well, considering what they had been through, for the 
canned food is hard on one when he has to eat it for so long. 
" Now we must turn back, and retrace the steps we have 
been so long in taking. But as we come back to Georgetown for 
a time, there is nothing I would rather do than go back again, 
for to see the faces of those Indians as they told us good-by 
is to see a call that one cannot forget or ignore. As we parted 
with four of the Indians from Roraima that had been with 
us the longest, the tears came into their eyes, and the one that 
spoke the most English, said: `We want Mamma Christian at 
Roraima,' and then he added, Pretty soon you come?' Ehat 
is the call that calls us back. 
" When we left, there were forty-three Indians in the camp, 
all of whom were from Roraima and are Arekunas. They 
almost all understand some English, and we find it very easy 
to pick up some of their words; in fact, I believe it would be 
THE CHURCH OFFICERS' GAZETTE �
13 
only a short time before one could learn to carry on a conver-
sation in the Arekuna language, for they have a very small 
vocabulary. They can all say the A B C's, and all that I have 
heard try, can sing a number of songs. It does one good to hear 
them whistling one of our songs while they are getting their 
loads ready for the day. To me it means that Elder Davis did 
good, thorough work, and had good material to work with." 
With the portions of this diary comes the word from 
Georgetown, British Guiana, that Sister Christian is im-
proving. Brother Christian asked permission to return, leaving 
his wife in Georgetown to recuperate. His request was granted. 
Thus, so far as is known, all except Sister Christian are among 
the Indians in the hinterland at work building the new mission. 
How much these dear workers away off on Mt. Roraima, need 
our prayers! No daily, weekly, or even monthly mail will come 
to cheer their lonely hearts! No regular communication what-
soever has been established as yet between Mt. Roraima and 
the civilized world. To go there involves real sacrifice! Surely 
it is a privilege to help "hold the ropes" of the Mt. Roraima 
mission. 
Jewels of the Sky 
(For Week Ending Jannory 14), 
Suggestive Program 
Song Service. (Nos. 335, 341, 330, 320, in " Christ in Song." 201, 52, 
282, 198, in "The Gospel in Song.") 
Scripture Reading: Psalms 19:1-6; 148: 1-6. 
Prayer. 
Leader's Introduction; "Friends New and Old." (See Notes to Leader; 
also Junior leaders' notes, P. 9.) 
Male or Mixed Quartet: "The Hand That Made Us," (No. 329 in 
" Christ in Song.") 
Chart Study: 'Stars of the Winter Night." 
Talk: "The Heavenly Twins." 
Recitation: " The Gates of God." 
Talk: " Most Glorious of All." (Base on "Parents' Lessons," for 
November, 1921. Price. 15 cents. Order from The Home Com-
mission, General Conference, Takoma Park, D. C. Or, "In Star-
land," by Fannie Dickerson Chase, a 1922 Senior Reading Course 
book, pp. 199-204. If it is impossible to get either, gather in-
formation about Orion from any book on astronomy, and read 
"Early Writings," pp. 15, 16, 41.) 
Symposium: " His Marvelous Works." (Have these texts memorized: 
Gen. 1: 16 ; Heb. 11:3, first part; Ps. 148: 5 ; Ps. 147: 4 ; Ps. 19: 
1, 2; Isa. 40:26; Ps. 104: 24 ; Rev. 14:7, last part. 
Song: " We Are Nearing Home." (No. 50 in "The Gospel in Song.") 
Close by Repeating in Concert Amos 5: 8. 
The Bands Meet. (See p. 16.) 
Notes•to the Leader 
However indifferent we may be to the science of astronomy, 
as intelligent young people should we not feel uncomfortable 
to have so largo a body of natural beauty hanging over us in 
full view, and not be familiar with it? It was with some such 
feeling, no doubt, that Thomas Carlyle cried, " Why did not 
somebody teach me the constellations and make me at home 
in the starry heavens, which are always overhead, and which 
I don't half know to this day? " If we could observe the 
heavens but once in a hundred years, what a sight it would be. 
But since the sky is continually visible, it becomes commonplace 
to us. It is said that Tycho Brahe, the great Danish astronomer, 
held God's handiwork 'in such reverence that he always clad 
himself in his velvet robes of state before entering his ob-
servatory. To inspire within your Missionary Volunteers this 
reverence, and a desire to study further into these things of 
God's creation and pare, is the object of this program. 
We need not be able to trace all the constellations in order 
to have a friendly acquaintance with the important stars. Still, 
In order to know the aspect of the heavens, we must know the 
principal constellations. They may not mean so much to us 
at first, but as we become familiar with the outlines of such 
constellations as the Ursa Major (the Big Dipper), Cassiopeia, 
Orion; Lyra and Auriga, we will be more and more fascinated 
with their study, and will greet them as friends. Some of the 
larger groups will mark for us certain sections of the sky, 
while the small and beautiful ones will remind us by their 
presence that a certain season has arrived. The tracing of the 
various figures represented by the constellations was not that 
of exact science. To see the figures of heroes, kings, queens, 
birds, and dragons in the sky, we must use our imagination, as 
the ancient stargazers did. Once we become familiar with 
them, the whole sky becomes glorified to us. 
Chart Study: "Stars of the Winter Night" 
TRH winter sky in the northern hemisphere is a very inter-
esting one. Looking to the north, we see Polaris, the North 
Star, always in the same position, while around it wheel the 
group which, in the latitude of the United States and Canada, 
may be seen the year round,—the Big Dipper, or the Great 
Bear; Vega, the big blue star of the Lyra; the Little Bear, 
or the Little Dipper, at the end of whose handle is the North 
Star; and Cepheus between it and the wide W of Cassiopeia. 
To locate Cassiopeia, draw a line from that star in the Big 
Dipper where the handle joins the bowl, through the North 
Star to an equal distance beyond, and you will find the star 
at one extremity of an irregular W. This constellation was 
named Cassiopeia in Greek mythology. (The stories of the 
naming of all these constellations are interesting.) Some de-
grees to the northwest of Cassiopeia is Cepheus, composed of 
eight stars in an irregular shape, two of these quite bright and 
in line with the polestar. These two stars make pointers to 
Polaris, quite as good as those in the bowl of the Big Dipper, 
but on the opposite side. A line through the centers of 
Cepheus and Cassiopeia extended an equal distance will pass 
between the constellations of Perseus and Andromeda. Lo-
cate these.) At the western end of the line of stars that 
constitute Andromeda, is a large square of four stars which 
mark the constellation of Pegasus, the winged horse. East 
of Andromeda and Perseus is the constellation Auriga, with 
the bright star, Capella, shining with soft yellowish light. 
(For directions for finding Capella and description, see Talk: 
" Capella and Her Kids," in the Junior program.) 
(See Junior program for location and description of other' 
constellations.) 
Enlarge this diagram on the blackboard. Tip bottom of board back, 
thus making north straight ahead of your audience. 
Talk: " The Heavenly Twins' 
On the old astrological maps the constellation Gemini, or 
the Twins, was represented by two lusty-looking youths stand-
ing in an affectionate attitude with their heads practically 
consolidated, and each wearing a star as a sort of monocle in 
the outer eye. These stars are called Castor and Pollux, after 
the brothers from whose eyes they are supposed to shine. 
They are the brightest stars in the constellation Gemini, which 
is outlined by two almost parallel rows of stars, a few degrees 
east of the star Capella. 
Pollux is the brighter of the two, and the only first mag-
nitude star in the constellation. But it is difficult to con-
sider the two heavenly bodies apart from each other. They 
lie only about four and a half degrees apart, and are so 
conspicuously a pair that each serves as an identifying mark 
for the other. Moreover, Castor has not always been the in-
ferior star in point of brilliancy. Three hundred years ago 
he was brighter than Pollux, and though in the course of the 
centuries he has been outstripped in brilliancy by his brother, 
he has still some points of superior interest, and is entitled 
to be considered with respect and admiration in the gay com-
pany of our friends among the stars. 
Castor and Pollux were supposed by the ancients to have a 
favorable influence over navigation, and the figureheads of 
ships often represented them. The apostle Paul, when ship-
wrecked on the island of Melita, sailed from it "in a ship of 
Alexandria, . . whose sign was Castor and Pollux." 
14 �
THE CHURCH OFFICERS' GAZETTE 
It is not the sailor alone whose fancy is pleased with the 
kindly vigil they seem to keep. A landsman, too, may have 
pleasanter dreams if he will but take a peep through the 
window and exchange friendly glances with them before settling 
down for the night.— Abbreviated and adapted from chapter 
18 of " The Friendly Stars." 
The Gates of God 
I SAW Orion's stately tread 
Ascend the gem-lit stairs of night; 
Around his majesty was spread 
A mystic phosphorescent light; 
I saw the matchless host he led, 
And glad tears dimmed my sight. 
You ask me why/ Ah, now I know 
You have not seen the sacred flame 
That flashes from the gates of God, 
Piercing the darkness here below, 
Burning the filthy rags of shame, 
Waking to song the very clod. 
" Orion," as they sang of old, 
"Orion, who can loose thy bands? 
What stranger can invade thy fold, 
Or snatch thy jewel from thy hand/" 
Go now, ye watchers of the sky, 
And search the vast unending space, 
Where polished moons and planets fly, 
Where blazing suns and comets race — 
Go! search the far-flung boundless girth, 
And see if there be other doors 
Between the Paradise and earth 
Through which- the grace of Heaven pours. 
Fold back, ye portals of the sky) 
Blaze out, ye beacon lamps of night, 
That stud the ramps of heaven's arch! 
Behold the Monarch from on high, 
With countless armies in their might, 
Shall pass thee in triumphant marchl 
And down thy spacious glory-lane 
Shall come the Royal bridal train 
—J. M. C. Johnson. 
A Preacher of Righteousness 
(For Week Ending January 81) 
Suggestive Program 
(P. P. Refers to " Patriarchs and Prophets ") 
Song Service. (No. 139, 112, 67, 90, 96, in " Gospel in Song," or Nos. 
495, 860, 67, in " Christ in Song," are suitable, for this program.) 
Announcements, Secretary's Report, Offering. 
Scripture Reading (Hebrews II: 1-7) and Prayer. 
Leader's Introduction: " First of a Series." 
Talk: "The Days Before the Flood." 
Quartet: " Love's Rainbow." (No. 538 in " Christ in Song.") 
Character Sketch.: "Noah, God's Chosen Messenger." 
Symposium: " Noah's Time and the Last Days." (Luke 17: 26. 80; 
2 Peter 8: 10, and short quotations from pages 101,104 of P. P.) 
Recitation: "OurHeroes." (See page 10.) 
Close by Memorizing in Concert Genesis 7: 5. (Have this text where 
all can see, and stress the fact that it is strict obedience that the 
Lord wants in all our service for Him.) 
The Bands Meet. (See page 16.) 
Leader's Introduction: "First of a Series" 
(In connection with this series of twelve programs to be given 
throughout the year, it will sustain interest if you prepare a, scroll 
upon which to portray the high point in God's work which is reviewed 
each month. For instance, this first month, you could well have an 
ark or the rainbow of promise, together with the name of the mes-
senger of that particular period listed with his outstanding char-
acteristics. Noah's would be obedience, courage, faith, ,etc. Each 
month the scroll unrolls and brings one more to view.) 
THE history of the world is the history of the great con-
troversy between good and evil, between Christ and Satan. 
It affords a lesson book for the entire universe of intelligent 
beings. Here sin has had a chance to demonstrate its horrible 
nature, and here has been manifested the infinite love of 
God to a race of rebels. The plan of redemption will be the 
science and song of the redeemed throughout the eternal ages. 
Just as in war there are times of comparative quiet during 
which careful preparations are made for the next drive, followed 
by the sharp clash and deadly conflict, so in the warfare be-
tween sin and righteousness, there have been high points in 
the conflict. In times of great wickedness, God has sent 
messages and judgments to call the attention of a wayward 
world to the principles of right, and to plead with the 
people to take their stand on these eternal principles. 
Examples of such epochs in the great conflict have been 
the time when God sent Noah with a message of love to warn 
the world of its coming doom; the time when Abraham was 
called to leave his idolatrous kindred and start a new nation 
which should stand as a witness for the true God in the earth; 
the time when Gpd manifested His power in the deliverance of 
His people from Egypt; the time when Israel had gone into 
apostasy under the leadership of Ahab and Jezebel, and 
Elijah was sent to rebuke the rulers and call the people back 
to God; the time when king Josiah led a reform; when Ezra 
and Nehemiah re-established Jerusalem; when John the Bap-
tist heralded the coming of the Messiah; and when Paul and 
the other apostles carried the message of a crucified Saviour 
to the then known world; and the time when Luther and other 
Reformers broke the midnight darkness of the Middle Ages 
and heralded the message of salvation by faith. These are a 
few of the high points in the great conflict. 
We are now in the last great conflict of this warfare be-
tween good and evil. He who came in the fullness of time to 
live a perfect life in a world of sin, and to offer Himself as 
a propitiation for sin, is about to come again, as King of kings 
and Lord of lords. 
And, as young people, we have a part in giving the message 
of His soon coming. Am we can stand on a bill and see the 
high points in our road as it stretches out before us, so this 
year, one program each month, we shall look back over history 
to see some of these high points in the great gospel message 
to sinful man; and in doing this we shall understand better 
the message of God for this time, and be better able to do our 
part in carrying "the advent message to all the world in this 
generation." 
Talk: "The Days Before the Flood" 
(Using the outline given, or one of your own, endeavor to give 
a vivid picture of the terrible consequences of disobedience to God. 
Read P. P., chap. 7.) 
1, The Two Classes. In Genesis 4: 16-26 we learn that there 
developed from Adam two classes of men, represented by Cain, 
who slew his brother Abel, and by Seth, who followed in the 
way of Abel. 
"The race of Cain became distinguished for diligence and 
success in the pursuit of worldly enjoyment and good. The 
race of Seth, less ardent in worldly pursuits, were, many of 
them at least, eminent for piety. .Cain's descendants applied 
themselves to arts and manufactures. Jabal introduced tents 
or movable dwellings, along with the roaming life for which 
tents are adapted, so favorable to the increase of cattle. 
Juba), his brother, brought musical instruments to such per-
fection as to be accounted the father of the art of music. 
rubel-coin, half brother of Jabal and Jabal, attained similar 
eminence as a worker in metals. A Jewish tradition ascribes 
to Naamah, sister of Tubalmain, the introduction of orna-
ments in female dress. In the line of Seth, mention is made 
of no one who attained great eminence in such pursuits as 
these. It was the great glory of this race that it gave birth 
to men like Enoch, who walked with God and was translated 
without dying; and Noah, who, for his eminent faithfulness, 
was selected to build the ark, and to become the second father 
of mankind."—" Bible History," Rev. William, G. Bladkie, 
27, 28. 
2. Abuse of the Marriage Relation. Genesis 6 : 2, 4. P. P., 
pp. 91, last par., 92, 101. 
The intermarriage of God's people with the world was 
one of the principal causes of the terrible conditions that 
existed before the flood. 
8. Revelry and Gluttony. Matt. 24: 38, 39; P. P., p. 101. 
4. Pride and Idolatry. P. P., pp. 90, 91. 
5. Disregard for Life and Property. Gen. 6: 11, 12. 
6. Evil Thinking, the Root of All Sin. Gen. 6: 5. 
" It is remarkable that corruption of religion and morals 
advanced most rapidly in the line of Cain, where the greatest 
progress had been made in art and in science; thus showing 
that knowledge and civilization, apart from religion, have no 
power to purify the heart, or to preserve society from cor-
ruption. In the course of time, Lameeh, a descendant of Cain, 
seems to have been the first to marry more than one wife. The 
corruption which had become so great in the line of Cain, be-
came all but universal when the two races, that of Cain and 
that of Seth, began to intermarry. Gen. 6: 5. Here and 
there, no doubt, in the Sethite district, a bright star might 
THE CHURCH OFFICERS' GAZETTE �
15 
occasionally be seen in the firmament; but, with a few such ex-
ceptions, the moral darkness of the Cainites now overspread 
the entire horizon. The wickedness of man was very great 
on the earth. . . . And God, deeming all ordinary chastise-
ments or corrections insufficient for the magnitude of the evil, 
resolved to destroy the world by a flood."—"Bible History," 
Bev. William G. Blaikie, pp. 81, SR. 
7. The Limit of Forbearance. Genesis 6: 3, 6, 7, 17, 18. 
God's repentance involves a change of plan, while man's 
repentance must mean a change of purpose. At the time of 
the flood the length of human life was greatly reduced, and 
doubtless the surface of the earth was greatly changed so that 
there have since been great barriers of seas, mountains, and 
deserts to separate men into various nations. 
Character Sketch: "Noah, God's Chosen Messenger" 
(Present this as the character which every worker to-day should 
have.) 
1. A godly /man. Gem 6: 8, 9. Why was Noah a favorite 
with God? Verse 8. It was because he kept close to God 
in love and obedience. Verse 9. Being a favorite with God 
depends more on us than on Him. 
2. Obedient. Gen. 6: 22; 7: 5. 
3. A man of faith. I-Ieb. l 1: 7; P. P., p. 95. 
4. A man of courage. there is nothing in the world that 
takes so much courage as to stand alone. 
5. A preacher of righteousness. 2 Peter. 2: 5. "Noah stood 
as one faithful man among a whole generation of faithless 
ones. He was a mighty builder, a man of large hopes, largo 
plans, and large accomplishments. He was honest, patient, 
obedient, and faithful. Though surrounded by sin, he lived 
a -strong, true life, doing patiently and steadily what he 
believed to be right. He not only did right himself, but 
preached righteousness to others; and so great was his faith 
in God that for more than a hundred years he toiled to build 
an ark that he might be prepared in the hour of need; that 
he might be ready to avail himself of the promises of Jehovah, 
and obey His commands. Noah appeals to our minds by his 
honesty, his great faith, his looking into the mighty future."—
G. A. H., in "Men of the Bible," by W. H. Davis, p. 6. 
The Name — Jesus 
(For Week Ending January 28) 
Suggestive Program 
Music: (For to-day choose such songs as: "Take the Name of Jesus 
With You," "Jesus the Light of the World," "Jesus Is All the 
World to Me," "Take the World, but Give Me Jesus," and " More 
About Jesus.") 
Blackboard Text: Acts 4: 12. (Memorize in concert. Follow with a 
moment of silent prayer.) 
Leader's Remarks. (See Note to Leaders.) 
Prayer. Closing With the Lord's Prayer. 
Talk: " Power in the Name of Jesus." (See "Review and Herald" 
for Oet. 20, 1527, article by M. D. Howard, " Victories in Haiti.") 
Duet: "hi Jesus." (No. 49 in "The Gospel in Song.") 
Reading: "A Pen Portrait of Jesus." (See 1928 Morning Watch 
Calendar, opposite September. The one giving this should make 
thorough preparation, being able to give it with real meaning, 
either from memory or reading. it.) 
Exercise: "The Many-sided Christ." 
Poems: "The Precious Name" and "It Means So Mach to Me." (For • 
the second, see 1928 Morning Watch Calendar, opposite February.) 
Talk: "The Name." 
Song: "There's No Other Name Like Jesus." 
Close by Repeating Reverently the Blackboard Text. 
The Bands Meet. (See page 16.) 
Note to Leaders 
Aim to-day to bring clearly to the understanding of every 
Missionary Volunteer that there is " no other name like Jesun' 
This Name above all names should be taken upon the lips of 
Christians with the utmost reverence. Read from " The Acts 
of the Apostles," p. 28, paragraph 2, to introduce the fact of 
the power in the name of Jesus. Call upon Missionary Volun-
teers to quote texts or give instances of the power in the 
Name; for example, Peter healing the lame man at the temple 
gate (Acts 3), and the admonitions of Jesus Himself that 
we should pray in His name. John 14: 13; 15: 16. 
Talk: "The Name" 
Mn. GLADSTONE was once asked what he considered the most 
important question before the people of England, and he 
replied, " One's personal relation to Jesus Christ. The brainiest 
men are those who give most attention to this question." He 
then went on to say that he had known all the prominent men 
of England during the preceding fifty years, sixty of whom 
had been prominent in business, polities, or literature; and 
out of that sixty, fifty-four of them had been at least pro-
fessing Christians. 
We have many standards by which we apply the test of 
greatness, and it is no uncommon thing for some one to at-
tempt to designate the ten greatest characters in the world. 
There is power in the mere mention of these names, power 
sufficient to draw many sight-seers every year to the tomb 
of Washington at Mount Vernon, and travelers of more ex-
tensive spheres to the graves of the poets and great men of 
all literature in England. There is a reverence attached to the 
sight of the spot marked as the resting place of such men as 
David Brainerd, the apostle to the North American Indians; 
John G. Paton, a pioneer of the New Hebrides; and of our 
own beloved Seventh-day Adventist missionaries who have 
fallen at their posts. 
All these and many others are names greatly beloved; but 
the name of Jesus far surpasses any of them. (Read Phil. 
2: 9-11). There have been other founders of religions. 
"Buddha, Confucius, Mohammed, were founders of world re-
ligions. But the Buddhism in its true essence, holds no hope 
of a real salvation. Confucianism is backward looking, and 
scarcely a religion at all. Mohammedanism in many ways is 
sensual and bloodthirsty." All these have swayed their power 
upon their subjects, but not ono can equal the tender, sym-
pathizing Jesus. Jesus' followers were not led to Him by' fear 
or any power of coercion. He Himself testified that He came 
among suffering humanity as One that served. Ho sought 
no crown of recognition. His was a life of true humility. Yet 
the apostle Paul declares His is a name "above every name." 
Exercise: " The Many-sided Christ " 
WHAT think you of Christ? Who say you that He is? This 
Christ challenges the attention of the world by His many-
sidedness. He meets the needs of all classes and conditions 
of men. As deep answers unto deep, so does He respond to 
the, movings of each soul of mankind. If we were to call the 
roll of the world's workers this morning and ask them, "What 
think ye of Christ? " they would amaze us by their revelation 
of His many-sidedness. 
(Have the first column below written on the blackboard, and the 
second-column parts distributed among Missionary Volunteers in the 
audience. Announce the "roll call," and proceed by questions, as, 
" What is Jesus to the artist? ") 
To the — �
He Is — 
Artist �The One Altogether Lovely 
Architect �The Chief Corner Stone 
Astronomer �
The Sun of Righteousness 
Baker �The Living Bread 
Doctor �The Great Physician 
Educator �The Great Teacher 
Farmer �The Sower and the Lord of the Harvest 
Florist �The Rose of Sharon, the Lily of the Valley 
Judge �The Righteous Judge, the Judge of all Men 
Preacher �The Word of God 
Servant �The Good Master 
Sinner �The Lamb of God that taketh away the sins 
of the world. �—Adapted. 
The Precious Name 
I KNOW of a world that is sunk in shame, 
Where hearts oft faint and tire. 
But I know of a name, a precious name, 
That can set that world on fire. 
Its sound is sweet, its letters aflame; 
I know of a name, a precious name — 
'Tis Jesus. 
I know of a book, a marvelous book, 
With a message for all who hear; 
And the same dear name, that wonderful name, 
Illumines its pages clear. 
The Book is His word, its message I've heard; 
I know of a name, a precious name — 
'Tis Jesus. 
I know of a home in Immanuel's land, 
Where hearts ne'er faint nor tire. 
And His marvelous name, His own dear name, 
Inspires the heavenly choir. 
Hear the melody ringing, my own heart singing. 
I know of a name, a precious name — 
'Tis Jesus. 
— J. W. Chapman. 
16 �
THE CHURCH OFFICERS' GAZETTE 
MISSIONARY VOLUNTEER SERVICE BANDS 
" Young men and young women, cannot you form companies, and, as soldiers of Christ, enlist in the 
work, putting all your tact and skill and talent into the Master's service, that you may save souls from ruin? 
Let there be companies organized in every church to do this work.... Will the young men and young women 
who really love Jesus organize themselves as workers, not only for those who profess to be Sabbath keepers, 
but for those who are not of our faith? "— Signs of the Times, May 29, 1893. 
This is the call through the spirit of prophecy which led to the forming of Missionary Volunteer 
Societies, and the band work of these organizations is the chief reason for their existence. 
The number of bands which you will have in your society depends entirely upon the size of your or-
ganization and the needs and opportunities of your community. The suggestions on this page are given 
with the average-sized Missionary Volunteer Society in mind. Some societies may be still further sub-
divided, while others may be so small as to necessitate the whole society working as one unit. However 
large or small a society may be, there should be at least one strong Prayer and Personal Workers' Band. 
Your conference Missionary Volunteer secretary will bo glad to keep in close touch with your society. 
Solicit his advice, and look to him for definite suggestions as to how the bands can operate to the best 
advantage in your particular community. 
Co-operate in the regular campaigns carried on by the church as a whole; for instance, Religious Lib-
erty drives, Temperance rallies, Harvest Ingathering campaigns, etc. The Missionary Volunteer Society 
leader should be a member of the church missionary committee. It is his duty to keep band leaders in-
formed on the various activities of the church as a whole. Working with others is the greatest of all 
arts; be sure your Missionary Volunteers are well versed in it. 
The time when your bands should meet varies, of course, with your own specific community; but wo 
suggest that the best plan is to divide the regular Missionary Volunteer hour, giving half of the time to 
the program, and the remaining half to band promotion and activities. The first band meeting will be 
spent largely in organization. Let all be done decently and in order. Endeavor to enlist every young per-
son in one of the bands which meets at this time. (See section below for suggestions on Prayer and Per-
sonal Workers' Band meeting time.) Study your talent, your opportunities, and your resources, until you 
are sure of the best methods for your society; then see that every Missionary Volunteer has a part to act. 
Reports should be anticipated from the very beginning by providing individual report blanks, either 
in the bands or in the society meeting. If taken in the band, the band secretary will pass on promptly all 
reports to the society secretary. 
"Missionary Volunteers and Their Work" should be your constant guidebook. See pages 213-303 for 
directions in all band work. 
Watch this page each month for further suggestions. 
Prayer and Personal Workers' Band 
The Prayer and Personal Workers' Band lies at the very 
foundation of all Missionary Volunteer work. In view of 
this fact is it necessary to urge the need of such a band within 
your society' Study carefully "Missionary Volunteers and 
Their Work," pages 228-245. 
The purpose of this band is to call together young people 
who are interested in doing personal work, that they may be 
a help and strength to one another, and that they may unite 
in specific prayer for others. 
Who should be members? First of all, the officers of the 
Missionary Volunteer Society, including all band leaders, 
should form the nucleus for this band. Around this nucleus 
gather other consecrated Missionary Volunteers. The band 
is open to every one who desires to join, but use tact in 
soliciting additional members. Avoid bringing in an element 
which may militate against the very purpose tor which the 
band is formed. 
Your study basis for the first meetings, at least, should be 
the methods and principles set forth in " Missionary Volunteers 
and Their Work," pages 229-245. 
A regular time once a week is the only specification which we 
make for this band's meetings. Bear in mind that it does not 
meet simultaneously with other bands in the society. The 
members of the Prayer and Personal Workers' Band are very 
essentially needed within the ranks of the other bands. It 
would be appropriate to meet just previous to the regular 
prayer meeting of the church during the week. Or, it may 
be more convenient for you to set the time just before the 
regular Missionary Volunteer Society meeting is held. If the 
latter plan is followed, the hour should be sufficiently early 
so that the officers of the society will be free in time to meet 
those who come to the society meeting. 
Christian Help and Gospel Meeting Band 
The purpose of this band, briefly, is to minister to the needs 
of your community, both soul and body. This is given quite 
in detail in "Missionary Volunteers and Their Work," pages 
246-261. 
Your study basis in this band should be the Standard of At-
tainment. Revised manuals on both Bible doctrines and de-
nominational history, are now available. (Prices in paper 
binding only, 15 cents and 10 cents, respectively. Order from 
your Book and Bible House.) In connection with this Stand-
ard of Attainment class work, we recommend that the leader 
„study the book, "How to Give Bible Readings," passing on 
to the class suggestions which will be especially helpful to 
them in such work. (Price of book: cloth, $1; paper, 50 cents. 
To buy such books draw upon the society expense fund.) 
The Juniors in your midst will enter eagerly into the Chris-
tian help phase of this band's work. A little child may carry 
the message where others would only blunder. If the Juniors 
have no separate organization for such service, invite them to 
join you. Of course, you will exercise care that proper chap-
eronage is provided to direct aright these enthusiastic, willing 
workers. 
Literature and Correspondence Band 
" Our publications should go everywhere," Sister White urged 
many years ago. The need is still great, so there is a definite 
work for the Literature and Correspondence Band to do in your 
own community and for those with whom you can get in touch 
by mail. 
For methods of working we refer you to "Missionary Vol-
unteers and Their work," pages 262-286. 
The Literature which you will use in your Literature and 
• Correspondence Band depends upon your community needs and 
the preference of your society. We list below magazines and 
papers which are appropriate. Choose one or more for reg-
ular use, interweaving others in special campaigns. 
1. The Present Truth, either current or back numbers. 
B. Signs of the Times, sent direct from your band, or avail-
ing yourselves of the special three months' subscription offer. 
3. Watchman Magazine. See that every minister in your 
community receives it regularly. 
4. Liberty Magazine. Send to judges and officers of the law. 
Even as this goes to press, Sunday laws are pending to legislate 
upon the religious freedom of America. It is our duty to keep 
these men in prominent places informed of the evils which re-
sult from such legislation. 
5. The Youth's Instructor is often the first entering wedge 
of interest. We hear many testimonies, " It is the best youth's 
paper in America." 
6. Our Little Friend, for Juniors to sell or distribute. 
Keep up to date on the special numbers available from tune 
to time by contact with your local conference Missionary Vol-
unteer secretary, with your Book and Bible House advertise-
ments, and with your own church elder. 
The Juniors will be energetic helpers in this band work. If 
they are not organized in a separate band for servicer be sure 
to enlist them with you. Proper chaperonage and wise in-
struction will train useful workers for future time.