Steps in the 
 Life of Faith. 
 
 REV. J. R. PARKER. 
 
• * • • « 
 
 . •« . •„ * e ' 
 
<M^yt<<L^s4vL 
 
 M 
 
STEPS 
 
 IN THE 
 
 lipe §r FAITH 
 
 OR 
 
 TRUSTING GOD IN WORK, 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. J. R. PARKER 
 
 'THIS IS THE VICTORY THAT OVERCOWETH THE 
 WORLD, EVEN YOUR EAITH." 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 THE HELPING HAND SOCIETY, 
 PHILOMATH, OREGON. 
 
 COPYRIGHTED 1903 BY J. R. PARKER. 
 
Y ■> CONFESS 
 Twe C«pias Received 
 
 MAR 3 1904 
 
 Copyrigm tin-try 
 CwS* W XXc. No, 
 COPY 8 l 
 
 ^ **o£K 
 
 1/ 
 
 PREFATORY. 
 
 Is it a matter of course that the Infinite God should 
 reveal Himself? How unspeakable, then, the privilege if 
 man he so constituted that he may recognize God in His 
 revelations ! 
 
 But do we not often look for Him in the Word and the 
 starry heavens only? It seems to me we shall gain infin- 
 itely if we emphasize to ourselves the fact that He is also 
 now revealing Himself. 
 
 He did reveal Himself in the history of a nation. 
 The Bible is its faithful record. He is still revealing Him- 
 self in the history of individuals and institutions, if we 
 but train ourselves to recognize Him. 
 
 But He is " the same yesterday, to-day, and forever," 
 and of course He reveals Himself now in accordance with 
 the very principles and promises of the great record of 
 revelation. 
 
 The value of this little book lies in the simple em- 
 phasis it puts upon the fact that " Our Father " is glad to 
 make known to us, in the happenings and history of our 
 own lives, that He is the living God, and that we may be 
 sure of His mighty help when our spirit and our purposes 
 coincide with His. I bespeak and pray for its message a 
 wide and helpful hearing. 
 
 B. E. EMERICK, 
 Pres. Philomath College. 
 Philomath, Oregon, Dec. 11, 1903. 
 
FAITH BEG I NNING S. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 As it is not my purpose to write a history of my 
 life, only so far as it will throw light upon the sub- 
 ject in hand, I shall pass almost entirely any refer- 
 ence to my life in childhood and youth. I was born 
 June 14. 1862, and early in life it pleased the Lord 
 to awaken in me a desire to lead a good and pure 
 life. My parents at that time were not professors of 
 religion, but were respectable and moral people, who 
 frequently attended church, though not very regular. 
 My mother was a constant Bible reader and other 
 religious literature was found in the home, but fam- 
 ily prayers were unknown unless perchance some 
 minister happened to stop with us. I was past seven- 
 teen before any active step was taken toward being 
 religious, and had at that age seen much of the ways 
 of sin. My one regret was that I had grieved the 
 Spirit so long. As I now recall the events, it seems 
 that an awful sense of darkness overcame me, and 
 for three days, not knowing what was troubling me, 
 under a sense of fear and dread, I was seeking to 
 correct my life. That was a memorable winter 
 (1879-80). Revival seemed to be everywhere. Rev. 
 D. B. Myers was then pastor of Lincolnville Circuit, 
 White River Conference. Pleasant Grove, near our 
 home, was one of his appointments. Religion at that 
 time was at a low ebb in the community. Various 
 
attempts had been made both by the United Brethren 
 and Methodists at revival work, but for years no 
 revival of a very wide spread character had been ex- 
 perienced. At times the tide would set in and it 
 would seem that the answer to many prayers was at 
 hand, then it would recede again, and the commun- 
 ity would again drift into worse worldliness than 
 ever. When a young boy, upon the occasion of one 
 of these incoming tides, a meeting was being con- 
 ducted by an aged Methodist Minister. There seemed 
 to be quite an interest manifest. Some were seeking 
 the Lord. One night the old minister came down the 
 aisles shaking hands with every body and inviting 
 them to come to Christ. I stood next the aisle, and 
 felt that if he should speak to me I should have to go, 
 and at once I wished in my heart to be let alone. 
 He shook hands with all as far as he could reach, 
 and left me standing unnoticed. My wish had been 
 granted. How lost I now felt as the thought came in- 
 to my mind of the possibility of being left out of 
 heaven. I then wished he had spoken to me. It was 
 too late. He was gone. I was left in my sins, 
 though I never could shake off the impressions of 
 that hour. 
 
 The meeting of the winter of 1879 and 1880 was 
 destined to be the turning point in many lives. It 
 seems as though sin had burned itself out, and the 
 people wanted something better. My oldest brother, 
 Rev. W. F. Parker now of St. Joseph conference, 
 and Rev. R. Z. Brown now of Oregon conference, 
 with many others had been greatly awakened in 
 religion. Not only had the public services been 
 quickened, but house to house prayer-meetings added 
 fuel to the flame. Local preachers and laymen from 
 St. Joseph conference points had come across the 
 
 4 
 
border and were publishing the tidings of new found 
 joy in God. These Spirit filled workers seemed to 
 kindle fires wherever they went, as so many brands 
 in dry stubble, or as Sampson's foxes in the Phili- 
 stine's wheat. And if in these meetings some ex- 
 cesses were manifest, and some very orderly brethren 
 grew nervous for fear the train would derail and up- 
 set, I am of the opinion that the amount of good 
 done and the number of souls started heavenward 
 more than compensates all fears and violations of 
 of human sense of religious decorum. But the meet- 
 ing of which I especially speak was the regular re- 
 vival service of the year. Rev. D. E. Myers was a 
 calm and forceful speaker. He always instructed as 
 well as made you feel. In a few days a deep interest 
 was manifest. It is but natural for me to remember 
 those sermons as the best I ever heard. Those scenes 
 of twenty-four years ago, and the impressions of 
 those hours in the house of God are indelibly stamped 
 upon my mind. No song has ever had such a charm 
 as the song of that night, the night I stepped over 
 the line for God. 
 
 "Whispering softly wanderer come, 
 
 Follow me I'll guide thee home" 
 
 In memory I hear it yet. What a relief when a 
 schoolmate proposed to go to the altar if I would. 
 We went. Three or four others followed. What a 
 time- I'll never forget how my brother behaved. In 
 his earlier years he had tried to be religious under 
 a deal of discouraging circumstances, had backslid- 
 den, and now, being restored to favor with Christ, 
 was serving as class leader. He was the only member 
 of our family at this time that professed religion. 
 When I stepped into the aisle and started forward 
 his part of the singing stopped. He tried to control 
 
himself, but it was no us© Shouts of "Salvation 
 is free," "Hallelujah" and " Glory to God" filled the 
 house. He seemed the happiest man I ever saw. 
 
 Much as I love to linger with these scenes, duty- 
 beckons us onward. This mountain is not a place 
 to pitch a tent. Suffice to say that it was amid such 
 holy surroundings that I was "born again" Dec. 18, 
 1879, and this meeting was the beginning of a re- 
 vival of religion that continued almost without ceas- 
 ing for five or six years, and out of which went sev- 
 eral ministers of the gospel. The unity of spirit 
 among believers was amazing. Every class and pray- 
 er meeting was an "upper room" time. And although 
 there was not an entire agreement as to points in 
 teaching, the Holy Spirit so indwelt the hearts of 
 God's people that these differences of opinion did 
 not hinder the revival until afterwards, when they 
 became matters of dispute and contention, the re- 
 vival began to decline. I have seen in prayer and 
 class meetings, strong hearted, stalwart sinners, brok- 
 en to pieces under the power of the Spirit and con- 
 verted to Christ. 
 
 With my new found life and joy came an intense 
 desire to do something for Christ. I at once set 
 about such christian work as I could find to do, little 
 thinking that at a later date the call of the Lord to 
 preach his word was to be made known to me. I 
 had an intense longing to know the Word of God, 
 and found my chief joy in prayer and meditations. 
 At an early date in my christian life there opened 
 to my view practical ideas as to what it meant to be 
 a christian. In memory these life beginnings come 
 clearly into view. I was made to see them, as clearly 
 in fact as now, though I did not then have the clear 
 light of the Word upon it, that man's chief concern 
 
 6 
 
should be to please his God, and that whatever he 
 did should be to glorify his Maker. I remember how 
 completely my notions of life in general, and of mon- 
 ey and talents seemed changed. Religion had not 
 only brought to my heart the joy of pardoned sin, 
 but somehow my whole notion of life seemed 
 changed. Once I dreamed of finding a pot of money, 
 and upon waking the thought of what I should do 
 with such a sum had it been true, almost overcame 
 me. I had an intense love for certain kinds of agri- 
 cultural pursuits. My first thought was to buy a 
 large farm and engage in farming for the Lord. No 
 words can describe the imaginary joy that was mine 
 as in fancy I saw the golden harvests and herds that 
 would come of obedience to God. But then I thought 
 of the mortgage on the old farm, and of some of my 
 brothers who were poor and struggling against the 
 tide and of a host of poor men who needed encourage- 
 ment and help, and ere I was aware the scene had 
 entirely changed. The mortgage on the old home 
 had been lifted, my brothers and a score of other 
 poor men were occupying comfortable homes upon 
 small farms bought out of that pot of money. One 
 of the earliest inclinations of my christian life was 
 to unite the spiritual and practical, and I now be- 
 lieve had I been permitted to fellowship at that time 
 those who had learned to trust God in temporal as 
 well as spiritual things I would have made much 
 more rapid progress in the life of faith. 
 
 From my earliest youth, I hungered for knowledge, 
 and sought it in every obtainable book; some how- 
 ever, was read to my sorrow. When converted, I 
 hungered for the word of God, of which at the time 
 I was very ignorant. It was not any great know- 
 ledge of the Scriptures that led me to Christ. It was 
 
 7 
 
the hunger and cry of a heart under the conviction 
 of the Holy Spirit. Now that life and peace had 
 come, I wanted to know the will of him who had so 
 graciously shown me to be a great sinner. The Word 
 of God was becoming more than meat and drink to 
 my soul. Step by step was I being led into the life of 
 faith and a spiritual ministry of service. As I came 
 to know God through his Word, and to see the un- 
 speakable love of Jesus for a lost world, my heart 
 burned more than ever to be of service to Christ 
 and when later it came clearly to my mind that 
 God had laid his hand on me for the gospel ministry, 
 the sacrifice required was not that of an unwilling 
 mind, but rather that of preconceived notions of what 
 my life's work should be. At the time of my call 
 to the ministry of the Word, I was consciously, 
 though not perfectly, living up to all the light I had. 
 I did not choose the ministry. At this time I was 
 hesitating between electing and agricultural life or 
 one of the professions as my future line of work. 
 I had strong inclinations to law and medicine as 
 desirable pursuits, and had taken up some read- 
 ing along these lines. My call to the ministry 
 was as marked and distinct as my conversion, 
 and was as unexpected to me then as any thing 
 that ever happened in my life. Somehow the 
 idea gripped me, and I could not get away from it. 
 Christ seemed to say to me, "This is the way. Walk 
 ye in it." It rang in my ears. I was constrained to 
 ask the privilege to try to speak. About all I remem- 
 ber was the words I used as texts. My timidity rose 
 as a great barrier and often drove me to God in 
 prayer for grace to stand before the people. Good 
 it was for me that the Lord had taught me some- 
 thing of prayer and trust in him ere his call was 
 
 8 
 
manifest to me. This kept a constantly quickened 
 conscience, and saved me not only from backsliding, 
 but helped me to steer clear of a great many rocks 
 and shoals. I was licensed to preach in March 1881, 
 but did little preaching for two or three years. The 
 fact is, I could not preach. I could tell my experience, 
 and that was about all. I was not long in finding 
 out that one called of God to preach must have 
 something more than an experience of religion. At 
 this point I met two difficulties. First, a great many 
 good people told me that if I was called of God to 
 preach, I ought to drop every thing and begin then 
 and there, that the Lord would fill my mouth if I 
 would but open it in his name, and if I stopped to 
 go to school I would be held to account for all the 
 souls of men and women I might save while in 
 school. This kept me undecided what to do, and 
 therefore I accomplished little, although in this state 
 of mind I taught and went to school by turns. Happy 
 for the young people of the twentieth century that 
 the most of the above class of good people have 
 gone to heaven. Second, when I had once decided 
 to take a course of training I was unable to keep con- 
 stantly at it. After leaving the common schools, I 
 could at best attend a school of higher learning but 
 a few months at a time. This and that was resorted 
 to as a help, with no better results. Though T had 
 learned to carry all to God in prayer, I had not 
 learned in all to trust Him alone. At times J be- 
 came almost entirely discouraged, thinking a training 
 was not for me. Twice during these years I appealed 
 to prominent men in the church who promised to help 
 me secure aid from the Beneficiary Fund, but never 
 heard of it afterwards. Probably to these facts more 
 than any others may be attributed the concern I now 
 
have for young persons in like circumstances. 
 While the experience thuts obtained under difficulties 
 is valuable, the loss sustained for want of an oppor- 
 tunity to pursue a course of study without inter- 
 ruption cannot be repaid. I must limp through life 
 as a result of it. It is thifs deep sense of my own 
 loss that has helped to stir me up to do something 
 to help those who are on the same road. And when 
 seven years ago the call came from membens of the 
 board of trustees of Philomath College to take hold 
 of the business management of the institution, the 
 cry of my heart was, 'If the Lord bless me in this 
 place, the poor shall have a share in it." The way of 
 disappointment is sometimes hard, especially if it 
 involves the fact of ones usefulness in life, but if 
 while traveling it, you find that which will help 
 others to realize their hopes, you may endure with 
 grace your own loss. 
 
 "Each loss has its own compensation, 
 There is healing for each pain: 
 But the bird with the broken pinion 
 Never soared so high again." 
 
 10 
 
MINISTERIAL LABORS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 In February 1883 I decided to do something in 
 the ministry. My health had almost broken down 
 in teaching and I decided to change climate. About 
 this time I received a letter from Bishop N. Castle 
 in answer to inquiries I had made about Oregon. I 
 kept that letter a long time, because of what seemed 
 to me to be very safe advice for any young man. 
 Ho did not paint the glowing possibilities of the 
 country. He simply stated that the field was a needy 
 one and then pointed cut some of its difficulties, clos- 
 ing by saying, "Be sure of your call, lest the devil 
 upset your faith." This made a deep impression on 
 my mind. I have often since found the Bishop to be 
 a wise counsellor. Rev. C. C. Bell, a former school- 
 mate in Roanoke Seminary, had gone to the coast 
 the fall before, and had written me, urging my com- 
 ing at once After two or three weeks consideration 
 and prayer the decision was made, and on March 
 26, I was on my way. Time and space will not per- 
 mit anything more than a mere mention of the fact 
 that we could not then go as quickly as now. No 
 railroad connections between Oregon and the East 
 made it necessary to go via San Francisco and up the 
 coast by steamer. It took from eight to ten days for 
 emmigrant trains to make the journey to "Frisco," 
 and three days by steamer to Portland. What a 
 
 n 
 
change has come with years! Portland is now 
 the terminal of five trans-continental railways, and 
 by the Harriman systems, including the Southern and 
 Union Pacific line's, you can make the journey be- 
 tween Chicago and Portland or San Francisco in 
 seventy hours. 
 
 I found a needy field. During the summer I en- 
 gaged in camp meeting work. I here met Bishop 
 Castle. Philomath was his home. He was at this 
 time superintendent of the Coast Distrist. My spirit- 
 ual life was greatly quickened by these meetings, 
 and I decided to make Oregon my future field of 
 work. I was charmed, ais I have ever since been with 
 its natural beauty. There is something about the 
 beauty of this coast country which if one once be- 
 comes fascinated with it, spoils him for living in 
 places not so bleissed with natural scenery. Then 
 again, the more one sees of it, the more is he im- 
 pressed by the thought that it is destined to become 
 as great in population as it is in undeveloped ma- 
 terial wealth, and natural beauty. I found the same 
 revival spirit here as in Indiana. The camp meet- 
 ings of this summer were seasons of spiritual power 
 and many sinners were converted and believers 
 sanctified. At the annual camp meeting at Philo- 
 math, June 30, I first met Miss Dora E. Newton to 
 whom on Sept. 30 the following fall I was united 
 in marriage. This union though of such brief ac- 
 quaintance, we have had many reasons to believe 
 was in the Lord. She had been brought up by 
 pious parents, was early converted to Christ, and had 
 been a member of the Methodist church since thir- 
 teen years of age. Her religious ideas seemed ad- 
 mirably suited to my own. To the influence of her 
 life for good upon my own am I indebted more than 
 
 12 
 
to any other human agency. I should many times 
 have been disheartened and given up the struggle 
 had not her constancy in prayer and faith supple- 
 mented my own. With the return of health and 
 strength I hoped to continue school work. In the 
 fall I was offered a position in the college at Philo- 
 math to assist in teaching, in connection with which I 
 took up again my studies which were carried through 
 the fall and winter terms. Having undertaken to 
 carry full time in teaching and full course work in 
 study, I broke down under it and left school at close 
 of winter term. Broken health compelled me to 
 almost entirely quit study and resort to such outdoor 
 work as I could pick up. This was a season of great 
 discouragement. With an empty pocket, poor health 
 and a discouraged heart, I found the poorly organ- 
 ized conditions at that time existing in Oregon not 
 very encouraging for one in my circumstances, and 
 under a fit of homesickness decided with my wife to 
 return to Indiana, which we did in Sept. 1884. I 
 have since regarded this move as not being in the 
 Lord, entailing as it did sacrifice and inconvenience 
 to others. I had appealed to my father for help, and 
 as a natural consequence in cases where parents 
 love their children, he came to my help, though it 
 involved his borrowing on his own account the money 
 to help me. Through this step we were permitted to 
 get into a considerable debt, but seeing our mis- 
 take, the Lord graciously used it as a means to open 
 our eyes to better things. From that day to the 
 present, through the aid of our most merciful Heaven- 
 ly Father, we have not consciously taken a step that 
 has financially inconvenienced others, or gotten our- 
 selves seriously into bondage. Upon arrival in In- 
 diana I found that we were in no better circum- 
 
 13 
 
stances to extricate ourselves from our difficulties 
 than had we remained in Oregon. My thought was 
 to immediately return to Oregon at any cost, and 
 although my wife was far from her native home 
 among strangers, she begged me to stay until we 
 made enough money to return without further debt. 
 To the good /sense of a woman I yielded, a thing I 
 have often since found to be of great advantage. 
 Hastily gathering together a few things we prepared 
 for the winter. About Dec. 1 we entered service with 
 Rev. Wm. Simons, Goblesville Circuit, St. Joseph 
 Conference as helpers. We could both sing and I 
 could talk some. We helped Brother Simons for 
 three months and saw about eighty persons turn to 
 Christ and profess saving faith. Here I date the 
 real beginning of my spiritual ministry, for pre- 
 vious to this I had done no preaching to speak of. 
 I believe it was during this winter that I received 
 the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, which has been with 
 me with more or less manifest fullness ever since. 
 Somehow from that time to the present I have 
 known a power in my life unknown before. 
 
 While waiting at the home of a brother Dinnius 
 en our way to the Forest appointment during a two 
 days snow storm, a copy of "Muller's Life of Trust" 
 came into our hands. Up to this time we had met 
 no one who seemed to have had much exercise of 
 faith in God for temporal things, our only light in 
 this direction being that which the Lord had been 
 pleaded to teach us through his word in our own 
 experience. The testimony of God's faithfulness to 
 his promises as appearing in this narrative of trust 
 greatly helped our feeble faith. We had read vol- 
 ume after volume on the "Spiritual Life," "The In- 
 ner Life," "The Interior Life" and many phases of 
 
 14 
 
the "Life of Holiness," Life of Blessing," etc.; but 
 here was a simple narrative that rivited itself more 
 upon our attention than all the books of human 
 writers we had ever read. Such were the benefits 
 derived from the reading of this simple narrative, 
 that every early impression of my christian life 
 seemed revived, and a renewed consecration to God 
 and his work was the result. Up to this time conse- 
 cration had seemed rather vague, and the writing's 
 I read upon spiritual subjects seemed more theo- 
 retical than real. In fact the attempt to explain 
 certain religious experiences occupied more space 
 than narrating what the writer knew, or what was 
 being done through the experience obtained. But in 
 "Muller's Life of Trust" I perceived an entirely dif- 
 erent tone. There wae something in it so real and 
 vital than it reminded me of the Acts of the Apostles, 
 or the simple story of the Gospel as given in the 
 Scriptures. I was brought face to face with a man, 
 then living just across the waters, where God was 
 daily hearing and answering his prayers. Perhaps 
 my financially stranded condition had much to do 
 with these impressions, but it matters not what 
 explanation may be given as accounting for the dif- 
 ference in the impressions made upon my mind by 
 these different treatises, I am cure of one thing, I 
 was in a state of desperate need. That need was 
 not simply inward and spiritual. It was outward and 
 tangible. I was pennyleiss. I needed money. I 
 needed it badly. I began to trust God. Faith 
 sprang up in my heart the faith as never before that 
 the same God that heard my cry for forgiveness 
 would hear my cry in temtporal conditions when I 
 needed help. From that day I began to see more 
 clearly than ever before the following points as set 
 
 15 
 
forth in the scriptures: 
 
 1. God our Father and Jesus Christ our Savior, 
 not only pardons and cleanses from sin, but are 
 our partners. 
 
 2. By faith in this real partnership or fellowship 
 with God and our Savior Jesus Christ, we not only 
 have spiritual security, but are promised temporal 
 help. 
 
 3. That Jesus, as the King of God's Kingdom 
 on earth, and the head of all principalities and power 
 in heaven and earth, works all things for good to 
 them that love him. 
 
 4. That all needed blessings, temporal or spirit- 
 ual, may be obtained from God through prayer and 
 faith by all who meet conditions. 
 
 5. That to live such a life, man must be entirely 
 given up to God. Self must be crucified. Every 
 interest temporal and spiritual, must be submitted 
 to the King and brought into the Kingdom. 
 
 6. That using the partnership we have with the 
 Father and Son we need not tell our personal needs 
 to man, but may obtain them through faith and 
 prayer. 
 
 7. That man is simply a steward and not an 
 owner in the possession of time, talents, property, 
 opportunities, influence, etc., and must account to 
 God for their use. 
 
 Writing as I am away from any notes whatever 
 of this period I am compelled to draw solely from 
 memory, but the above is in brief a sketch of the 
 ideas impressed upon my mind at that time. With 
 these truths burning upon our hearts, we renewed our 
 consecration als above mentioned, establishing the 
 following simple rules as a guide to our faith in fu- 
 ture emergencies. 
 
 16 
 
1. To at once repent of known sin and acknow- 
 ledge a wrong. 
 
 2. To carry every need to God in prayer, and 
 especially tell no man of our personal needs. 
 
 3. Not to contract debts, especially when we had 
 no means back of us should we suddenly be removed 
 and thereby others be inconvenienced. 
 
 4. To decide no important matter when in a 
 stata of discouragement, or distrust, or under any 
 pressure whatsoever. 
 
 5. To let matters alone upon which we could not 
 obtain clear light. 
 
 6. To give at least one tenth of our income, be 
 it (small or large, to benevolent purposes. 
 
 In these principles my wife heartily joined me 
 and has ever since helped to maintain them. On 
 one evening the week following in the course of 
 my remarks I told the brethren in public what joy 
 I had found in God, how I had been perplexed over 
 financial matters, and that from then on, God being 
 my helper, I should tell my needs to Christ only 
 and trust him alone to supply them. Brother S — 
 chided me, saying, "I wanted to take up a big col- 
 lection for you, but now your speech has spoiled 
 it all." We surely needed "a big collection." The 
 brother was not a little surprised as well as pleaised 
 to know that we had received at the close of the 
 meeting much more than his "big collection" would 
 doubtless have been, for the Lord gave us there 
 mere money than we had received in the two former 
 meetings. 
 
 The following June (1885) we returned to Oregon 
 and began work for God upon a different plan. For 
 eight years we practically lived in our trunks. We 
 spent part of this time in pastoral work, part in 
 
 17 
 
school; but the larger part was given to a line of 
 evangelistic work in neglected fields where there was 
 the least human likelihood of a support. Through it 
 all, God manifest hils hand, we were net only de- 
 livered from formier debts, our current needs met, 
 not only enabled to give one-tenth, but often more, 
 and also kept in peace of mind as to the future. We 
 now regard those eight years of "cloud and pillar" 
 life as in many sensete the most precious in our ex- 
 perience. We would not have the reader understand 
 that we think such a life has been peculiar to us. 
 Far from it. It would doubtless be manifest that 
 scores of God's dear children have had similar ex- 
 periences, were they recorded. I have met many 
 laymen who have told me of God's manifest help 
 in answer to prayer in times of special financial 
 and other needs, as well as similar occurrances in 
 the lives of many of God's ministers. It is chiefly 
 for the purpose of encouraging others to trust God 
 that we undertake thi's record of God's faithfulness. 
 The children of God cannot develop a strong faith 
 without trials. Strength comes from exercise, and 
 exercise of faith is possible only as we face diffi- 
 culties. 
 
 A want of space will not permit even an attempt 
 to record the many instances of God's faithfulness 
 or the showers of blessings that fell upon numerous 
 revival efforts and pastoral labors. In 1885-86 we 
 labored in city mission work in San Francisco, Oak- 
 land and Alameda, Calif., and for five months at- 
 tended a private school for training christian workers 
 upon the plan of faith and industry, students working 
 and studying alternately, and conducting Mission 
 work also. A whole volume would be required to 
 record God's many mercies in connection with this 
 
 18 
 
work. We traveled circuits in Oregon and Washing- 
 ton, and also assisted at times other pastors in 
 labors. From 1893 to 1896 I traveled Western Oregon 
 and Washington and part of Eastern Oregon as Pre- 
 siding Elder of Oregon Conference. 
 
 In the winter of 1887 we were invited to hold a 
 meeting in a community much in need of a revival. 
 After three hard weeks work no financial help what- 
 ever was received, though at that time we were much 
 in need We had to thank God for the trials as well 
 as the blessings, believing He would make it up to us 
 elsewhere and hold our peace. Another meeting 
 followed where we assisted a pastor in a three weeks 
 meeting that resulted in several conversions and the 
 organization of a new class of his denomination. 
 He already had an assured salary of $600,00 and ex- 
 pected this new class to supplement that amount 
 somewhat. For our three weeks labor he gave us 
 $1.00, saying he was sorry he could not pay us more. 
 Here was an excellent opportunity to test that prom- 
 ise of God's word, "In everything by prayer and 
 supplication with thanksgiving make your request 
 known unto God." According to our consecration 
 we had to take the dollar, thank him for it, and then 
 appealed the case to headquarters. The Lord would 
 not allow us to even judge him or think evil of him. 
 In prayer we told the Lord that we could not live on 
 such pay, and that as he had not made that pastor 
 see that we needed money as well as himself, we 
 asked him to be pleased to supply our needs from 
 other sources. He was as true as his promise. 
 
 The reader must not conclude that we regard our- 
 selves as having been martyrs, or having attained 
 unto a life of faith unlike that which may be lived 
 by others, or that a life of faith is opposed to regular 
 
 19 
 
methods of church work or doing things. Far from 
 it. But we would have you know that where regular 
 methods do not exist, or when they fail because of 
 the carelessness of those who are entrusted with 
 church machinery, the pastor or christian worker 
 has access to a throne of grace where his needs may 
 be met without sacrificing his honor as a servant of 
 Christ, or becoming a pauper. I can see no special 
 objection to the salary system in supporting the 
 ministery. It has many things to commend it. But 
 I am of the opinion that a system of "free will" offer- 
 ings based upon the promises of the King meets 
 more the mind of the Lord and affords an opportunity 
 for a grip upon the promises of God not had under 
 any other arrangement. There is a woeful want of 
 information among people in many places upon the 
 question of the scriptural obligation to support the 
 ministry. The church has no literature upon the 
 subject to speak of. It seems to me that a great need 
 at present, at least where I have labored among min- 
 isters and people generally, is a practical church 
 literature upon such questions I am sure that the 
 effort to supply this would be abundantly blessed 
 of the Lord. This coupled with a quickening and 
 deepening of the spiritual life among the people in 
 general, and the ministry in particular, will go a 
 long way toward correcting the ills complained of 
 along financial lines. God is certainly interested in 
 the temporal prosperity of the church as well as 
 her spiritual life. In fact the spiritual is to dominate 
 the whole life of the individual member of Christ's 
 body. The obligation to respond to the claims of 
 Christ upon our temporal income is as spiritual in 
 nature as any other laid upon the christian. It seems 
 to me that if the minister of God's truth, instead of 
 
 20 
 
complaining and finding fault with his congregation 
 or his officiary for delinquency in financial matters, 
 would stand out upon the promises of God and toach 
 the people their duty in temporal affairs, it cannot 
 fail to bring fruit. I say this because I believe that 
 the average christian wants to do his Master's will, 
 and will do it if lovingly dealt with, and because I 
 believe that the success of any church depends large- 
 ly upon the business sense of its pastor and leading 
 members. I think a stated contract for the support 
 of a minister as a matter of business, is all right, 
 provided the minister's faith goes beyond that con- 
 tract and centers in God for his temporal support; 
 for if the contract fails for any reason and he has 
 never learned to trust in God for his support, he finds 
 himself with little faith for temporal matters, and if 
 he does not become sour, he will grow discouraged 
 and financial bondage is the result. In case of the 
 failure of a contract for any reason, let the minister 
 with a humble spirit call his officiary to the throne of 
 grace, and with earnest supplication wait upon God 
 with a willing heart to abide the result, and see how 
 the Lord will inspire their hearts and help their 
 weak hands. 
 
 Two years during this period we served as pastor 
 of country circuits. One circuit could promise no 
 stipulated amount. Only two pledges of $20 each 
 could be obtained. The parties for some reason 
 never paid but $15 apiece. We did not suffer thereby. 
 We took $1.00 out. of each $10, 10 cents out of each 
 $1.00 and so on, that came into our hands during 
 the year and bestowed it upon the poor or other be- 
 nevolent objects, and by the blessing of God lived 
 and paid a large part of our former indebtedness. 
 Two ministers who at this time sought to discourage 
 
 21 
 
me and made light of my trusting God for temporal 
 supplies, have since come to grief. One has gone 
 out of the ministry in poverty, and at last accounts 
 had well nigh lost hope in Christ; the other has lost 
 his property and bids fair to die in old age without 
 a dollar. Probably the best year of our life in the 
 ministry was spent at Elberton, Wash. It cost us 
 our cow to get to our field of work. All our goods 
 were in two trunks and two grips. The brethren 
 agreed to pay us $300 if they could and more if they 
 could, and furnish us a house. We had all our money 
 with us — just $2.50 when we arrived. With a few 
 boards we made a table, bedsteads and cupboard. 
 One brother gave us a stove on salary, another a 
 pony and another a cart and harness. We arrived 
 on the grounds, at once began to speak of Christ 
 and it seemed that "victory" was the watchword 
 from the start. God gave a net increase of eighty- 
 one members for the year, and instead of $300 salary 
 we got about $450, *and instead of owing the store- 
 keeper at end of the year, he owed us $7.50 and we 
 had a bank account of $125. When we were preparing 
 to go to this circuit, a letter from my brother Frank 
 informed me that if ever I expected to see mother 
 alive I should come home at once. I had not been 
 home for six years. My first impression was to "go 
 at any cost." The trip would cost at least $90. 
 Recalling our consecration, that we was not to make 
 decisions under pressure, or to take steps upon which 
 we could not obtain clear light, the matter was taken 
 to God in prayer. We went on with our preparations. 
 I wrote my brother that I could not come, and that 
 I believed mother would not die, but that I should 
 yet see her. So after a year of glorious work for 
 the Master, the money lay in the bank with which 
 
 22 
 
to make the trip, my mother was still alive, and with 
 a glad heart I was soon on the way to see her. 
 
 The following fall we was stationed at Colfax, 
 Wash., where the winter previous we had a glorious 
 revival and organized a church. Plans were laid 
 for a church and we had begun to collect money 
 for the purpose. It seemed that we must suffer 
 apparent defeat as well as have victories. The peo- 
 ple became disheartened by the panic and the work 
 came to a standstill. Two banks closed up business, 
 and the best of men could not obtain money. Under 
 advice of Presiding Elder I resigned. Nearly all 
 my funds were gone. After giving my wife enough 
 to take her home by rail, I had but a few dollars 
 left. With a pony and cart, for which we could find 
 no sale, I started to make a journey of nearly six 
 hundred miles home. This journey was fairly strewn 
 with mercies. The expenses of provisions for our 
 kitchen and horse feed had to be met for about 
 three weeks, besides the additional expense of a 
 hundred miles by boat occasioned by the breaking 
 and slush of the snows in the Cascade Mts., making 
 it unsafe for us to cross at that time. The Lord 
 kindly met these needs, though we told no one 
 of our need or asked for help. We arrived home 
 three weeks before our conference with $1.50 left. 
 
 11 
 
THE VISION OF FAITH , 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 What is faith? The Word tells us that "faith is 
 the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of 
 things not seen." This definition seems to be laid 
 down as a general principle as the moving cause in 
 the lives of those worthies recorded in the eleventh 
 chapter of Hebrews. The careful reader will observe 
 that in each instance of that unparalleled record of 
 faith's victories and triumphs, the actor was called 
 upon to believe in the manifestation of God's power 
 in something external to himself, or in the exercise 
 of faith, performed some external act. Taking Abra- 
 ham's faith as the type of both Old and New Testa- 
 ment faith, we have these two facts clearly set forth. 
 
 1. There was opened to him a view or vision of 
 God's purpose for the race. 
 
 (Gen. 15 chapter.) He was called to look into the 
 heavens and count the stars, and also to count the 
 sands by the sea-shore, and being unable to number 
 either, he was assured "So shall thy seed be." As 
 he stood before God in wonder at such gracious mani- 
 festations, it is written of him that "he believed 
 God and it was counted to him for righteousness." 
 
 2. The faith thus awakened in him by this open 
 vision and the Spirit of God that revealed it, led him 
 to act accordingly. Notice his subsequent act of 
 consecration and waiting upon God. Notice how 
 he watched away the birds from the sacrifice and 
 
 24 
 
quitted not the spot even though the darkness settled 
 upon him. Then notice in answer to this waiting 
 faith che coming of the smoking furnace and the 
 burning lamp. Paul's obedience to the heavenly 
 vision is an exact parallel. In fact every instance in 
 Scripture seems to warrant us in holding :1. That faith 
 as "the substance of things hoped for" is the mani- 
 festation of God's will either in vision as given of 
 old or, as revealed in his Word in Christ and the 
 promises of God to miem 2. That faith as "the evi- 
 dence of things rot seen" is the trust of the human 
 heart in the living God for the fulfillment of what 
 God has revealed in Christ and his promises. Since 
 the manifestation of Christ to the world and the 
 completion of the Holy Scriptures, men no longer 
 need "the vision" of old as an incentive to trust, 
 for Christ is the fulfillment of all visions, types and 
 shadows that preceded him. Of this fact God has 
 "given assurance to all men in that he hath raised 
 him from the dead." All the views of life possibie 
 of divine fulfillment and all the promises of God 
 center in him, and if the Scriptures teach any truth 
 above another it is that Jesus who now sits enthroned 
 at the right hand of the Father longs and earnestly 
 desires to relive his life in his people. In this mani- 
 fest desire of our gracious Lord and Master, men 
 are not called upon to believe in fancies and fanatical 
 visions, but to accept as possible of fulfillment what- 
 ever God has promised. These promises of the liv- 
 ing God contain the "substance" of all that is light 
 and good for men to enjoy and possess. If the doubt- 
 er questions this he has but to refer to the fact of 
 God's faithfulness in the creation and sustenance of 
 all nature, his gracious dealings with the penitent 
 in all times past and his punishment of evil doers. 
 
Nations have risen at his word while others have 
 fallen and are monuments in history declaring God's 
 displeasure against sin. We can therefore see in 
 the promises of God, revealed in his Word, the "sub- 
 stance of all our hopes, even though they he to us 
 unfulfilled for the time being, for God does not re- 
 quire us to rest our hopes upon vagaries and vision- 
 ary schemes. The true believer does not follow 
 "cunningly devised fables" and is not called upon to 
 believe as true that which is not true, but to accept 
 from God that which is being true, and also his place 
 in helping to bring it to pass. This doubtless was 
 the meaning of our Lord's words, about Abraham, 
 in his discussion with the Jews as to his divinity. 
 "Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, 
 and was glad." The promise of the Christ of the 
 future for the world's salvation was so potent in 
 heavenly blessing that Abraham upon the plains of 
 Mamire "embraced it, and was persuaded of it" to 
 such an extent that God accounted him righteous. 
 In other words, he with others of the olden time 
 found Christ in promise sufficient for their needs in 
 enabling them to fill their place in God's plan for 
 tho race. "Know ye therefore that they which are 
 of faith, the same are the children of Abraham." 
 "And the Scripture foreseeing that God would justify 
 the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel 
 unto Abraham, saying in thee shall all nations be 
 blessed." 
 
 "That the blessing of Abraham might come on the 
 Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive 
 the promise of the Spirit through faith." 
 
 You can read with profit the whole history of 
 Abraham's faith. In so reading, you will notice that 
 God's promise was the ground upon which his faith 
 
 26 
 
rested. It appealed to his reason, for the God that 
 made the countless stars and the sands innumerable 
 on the sea-shore had announced it. It awakened 
 his conscience, inspired his heart and convinced 
 him of the necessity of action, for the same voice 
 told him that its fulfillment was for the salvation of 
 the world, not for his own personal benefit. "He 
 believed God." He at once began to act. His faith 
 was accounted to him for righteousness. Why? Be- 
 cause a living faith has every essential element in 
 it of all right conduct. Faith was the seed in his 
 heart, of which his obedience was the stock and 
 flower. Is it any wonder that the apostle James 
 says: 
 
 "But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith with- 
 out works is dead?. Was not Abraham our father 
 justified by works when he offered his son upon the 
 altar? 
 
 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and 
 by works was faith made perfect? 
 
 And the Scriptures was fulfilled which saith, Abra- 
 ham believed God and it was imputed into him for 
 righteousness; and he was called the Friend of God." 
 
 Notice a few points in James' inspired comment 
 upon Abraham's life. 
 
 1. Faith wrought with his works. 
 
 2. By works was faith made perfect. 
 
 3. The inevitable conclusion; perfect faith implies 
 works accordingly. 
 
 4 Abraham was accounted righteous on account 
 of faith, but was called the friend of God because 
 he obeyed God. 
 
 So Jesus said to his believing desciples, "Ye are 
 my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you." 
 
 It is to be feared that in these days of smoothe 
 
 27 
 
preaching, too little stress is given this thought, if 
 indeed, in many places it be given any attention at 
 all, that the only proof to the world of faith in 
 Christ, is in works of love and meekness for Jesus' 
 sake. The farmer plants his seed in the soil, and 
 if the blade does not in due time appear, he justly 
 concludes that the seed is dead. He sowed poor 
 seed. The preacher sows the gospel seed. Not all 
 of it is lost. Some is sure to bring the desired har- 
 vest. It may be that much apparent loss is due to 
 the fact that the preacher has only preached his 
 opinions. Paul's desire for Timothy was that he 
 "preach the Word, be instant in season and out of 
 season." Timothy was to give himself wholly to his 
 ministry. Why? By so doing he would save him- 
 self and them that hear him. Why place so much 
 stress upon the Word of God, Paul? 
 
 "We are born again by the word of God that liveth 
 and abideth forever." Whoever heard of a soul being 
 converted to Christ under the influence of a human 
 message? Thousands have yielded to the claims 
 of Christ and begun a new life by the simple preach- 
 ing of the gospel by Spirit baptized lips Why? "It 
 hath pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to 
 save them that believe. 
 
 Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word 
 of God." 
 
 Brother, let us not expect any sort of message 
 to produce conviction for sin and saving faith in 
 the hearts of men. Have you sowed seed and realized 
 no ingathering. Examine the kind of seed you sow. 
 Test it in your own garden. Preach the sermons 
 to yourself that you give to other folks. If these 
 messages don't awaken your own stubborn,dull heart, 
 how can you expect them to awaken the dead around 
 
 28 
 
you? Does the Word of God grow in your own gar- 
 den, "first the blade, then the ear, and full corn in 
 the ear?" Does it burn in your own heart as a fire 
 shut up in your bones? As you witness the sins of 
 men, the awful ruin that awaits them except they 
 repent; as you consider that for all these Jesus died 
 that they might be saved, and saved now, how do 
 these most serious truths affect your own heart? 
 I have never known a minister to give himself to 
 the consideration of these facts, to humble himself 
 before God, among his people, but that sooner or 
 later he has "seen of the travail of his soul and was 
 satisfied." 
 
 Our "vision of faith" is incomplete if we stop 
 with our own personal salvation. Far too many of 
 us are hunting for material with which to make tents 
 and camp upon the summit of some individual exper- 
 ience. How human we are! "Oh fools and slow of 
 heart to believe all that the Scriptures hath spoken." 
 Do you remember that hour of glorious manifest- 
 ation when Jesus was transfigured before his dis- 
 ciples? What a delightful vision! How full of rap- 
 ture! How they longed to be forever in such a state 
 of extreme delight! To be sure it was good for them 
 to be there, else Jesus would not have permitted it. 
 He expected Moses and Elias to visit him that day. 
 What a meeting! In the presence of his disciples 
 they talked with Jesus of the death he was to die 
 at Jerusalem. What an honor to be in such Loly 
 company! Do you wonder that they wanted to camp 
 there? But notice how quickly the scene changes. 
 The cloud disappears. Moses and Elias are gone. 
 Now instead of the transfigured Christ with glori- 
 fied visitors from the other world as guests they see 
 no man but "Jesus only." This heavenly tableau 
 
 29 
 
had one lesson above all others to impart Mountain 
 top views have their place in our lives, but if all 
 the children of God would shut themselves up to 
 beholding these glories what would become of this 
 old world? Christ at once returns to his life of ser- 
 vice, thus demonstrating that the truest glory of 
 human life is in service and not in what men call 
 enjoyment. Jesus had not forgotten the prophecy 
 passed upon Abraham, of which he was the fulfill- 
 ment: "Thou shalt be a blessing." To bless, he 
 must serve. Doubtless he often repeated to his dis- 
 ciples, "He that would be great among you, let him 
 be -servant of all." In other words, would not our 
 Lord have us understand that all our visions of the 
 right, all our views of truth all our ecstatic delights, 
 all our aspirations and holy impulses avail nothing, 
 if we fail to see "Jesus only." "Jesus only" stands as 
 the completion of faith's vision, because he stands 
 for service. "Jesus only" is love, love at work, love 
 in action. It was no wonder that Paul desired his 
 converts to "know the love of Christ which passeth 
 knowledge," for love is life, life born into the human 
 heart from God, and love is service. It is not strange 
 that he declared "now abideth faith, hope and love; 
 but the greatest of these is love" since love is the 
 fulfillment of that for which faith contends and hope 
 longs. 
 
 From the very nature of things, we can never real- 
 ize our hopes fully in this life, but the believer who 
 is determined to please his Lord at any co»st, will be 
 surprised, upon meeting the simple conditions of a 
 life of faith and prayer, to find how there will come 
 strength out of his weakness, and how Christ will 
 many times suggest through his word by his Spirit, 
 in times of great need, lessons of practical wisdom. 
 
 30 
 
This life of prayer and trust, based upon the v/ord 
 of God is capable of proof and practical application 
 in any relation in which a christian may be called 
 to serve, or in any business in which a christian 
 may engage, or in any relation of the individual life. 
 It must of necessity be so, for to live a prayerless 
 life, which also implies a life without faith, in any 
 relation is to live in sin. "Whatsoever is not of 
 of faith is sin." The believer is not only "justified 
 by faith" and "sanctified by faith," but "we walk by 
 faith, not by sight." This certainly has a wider appli- 
 cation to our condition here on eartn than to what 
 is narrowly styled "the spiritual life," or "the inner 
 life." It seems to me that great violence is done 
 the word of God by interpreting it after the "piece- 
 meal" fashion. We have sort a fallen into the habit 
 of thinking that God is more interested in knowing 
 that we are living a life of faith in our "inner life" 
 than in our "outer life." What a sad mistake! The 
 Words of our Lord are always addressed to man as 
 man, and not to man as "inner" or "outer" or spirit 
 or soul or body Every single utterance of the gos- 
 pel is to man as a unit, one and indivisible. If this 
 was not true, men could perchance find some shield 
 in their own makeup, and the nature of the gospel 
 appeals to hide the deformity of their lives. The 
 sermon of Christ upon the Mount abounds in illus- 
 trations of the power of this truth. This unit of 
 human responsibility to God is strikingly referred to 
 in such passages as the following: 
 
 "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. Where 
 your treasure is there will your heart be also. If 
 thy right hand, or foot or eye offend thee, remove 
 them, for it is better to enter life with one eye or 
 foot or hand, than have two to be cast into hell-fire. 
 
Cleanse first the inside of the cup that the outside 
 may be clean also." I might go over with profit 
 through the whole of the 5th, 6th and 7th chapters of 
 Matthew and show tnat equally as much stress is 
 laid by Our Lord upon mante outward as upon his 
 inner life. The attempt in our day to spiritualize, 
 in a narrow subjective sense the plain words of 
 Inspiration, is so marked in many places, that out- 
 breaks of the worst religious fanaticism are its legit- 
 imate fruits. On tne other hand, the rationalist sees 
 in these precious promises of God only the shadowing 
 of his own blind reasonings and practically rules 
 God out of his life, and if religion is maintained at 
 all, it is a mere form of Godliness without the power 
 thereof. Take Christ's words as an illustration in 
 reference to our life. "Take no thought (be 1 not 
 anxious) for your life, saying, what shall we eat, 
 or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be 
 clothed?" How fanaticism has twisted that passage 
 into warranting the most unreasonable neglect of 
 personal and temporal interests, and how rational- 
 ism, even in the church, has robbed it of its beauty 
 and power in human life, and even announced its 
 impracticability for present conditions in this world. 
 A man once said to me/'If I was to obey that passage, 
 I would come to want. My family would starve. I 
 would have nothing to feed you preachers on." Poor 
 fellow! Doubters and blind guides had doubtless 
 heen his teachers. I said, my good fellow, you are 
 ■entirely mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures 
 or the power of God. You obey that passage in the 
 sense intended as shown by the connection in which 
 it occurs, and you have an assurance of plenty for 
 two worlds that is better than a policy in all the 
 insurance companies on earth. Let us examine it 
 
a moment. Christ's sermon on the Mount was given 
 primarily to his disciples, as shown by Matt. 5: 1. 
 And no man without the spirit of loyalty to Jesus 
 can understand much herein written. It is a mes- 
 sage distinctively to beleivers. What is the state 
 of a believer Scripturally considered? Paul says: 
 "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet 
 not I, but Christ liveth in me." Again, "ye are dead, 
 and your life is hid with Christ in God." Peter says: 
 "We have forsaken all to follow you, what shall we 
 have therefore?" Every word of Jesus spoken to his 
 disciples was upon the supposition that they had 
 died, that their old life wais gone, that their former 
 occupations for selfish purposes had been given up 
 and that they were seeking a new life, with new 
 employments, for new purposes. What was the use 
 of their being concerned about that which they had 
 thought so little of as to give up and cast away? 
 Their occupation henceforth was to "Seek first the 
 Kingdom of God and his righteous," and in pursuing 
 their new avocation, "all these things" that they 
 had formerly gotten by worry, care, anxiety and their 
 own labor," will be added unto you." Notice the force 
 of Christ's promise. "No man hath forsaken father 
 or mother, house and lands, son or daughter for 
 my sake and the gospel, but shall receive in this 
 life one hundred fold, and in the end everlasting 
 life." But my friend said, you are now talking for 
 a preacher. I am a farmer. How can that passage 
 apply to me? Precisely as it does to the preacher, 
 though the relation to material things is different. 
 It altogether hinges on whether you farm for your- 
 self or for the Lord. Make the purpose of your farm 
 life the "same as the purpose of your heart life. As 
 you have allowed Christ to come into your heart, 
 
 33 
 
allow him to set up business on your farm. Then 
 you will see the force and application of the word, 
 "Take no thought for your life" or your farm, or 
 your business, or your anything else. If you let 
 Christ control your farm, as you hope and desire 
 he does your hear, the first fact that faces you 
 is that you are not its owner. The true owner 
 and the one who furnishes all the capital with which 
 you do business is now in authority. You are a 
 tenant. Your sole business lis not to "take thought 
 for yourself," not to worry, or fret, or stew about 
 crops, but to please Him for whom you labor. Try 
 it, my brother, and see if you are not a richer man 
 spiritually, and more blessed of God temporally. 
 
 34 
 
BEGINNING COLLEGE WORK. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 VvThen the Board of Trustees, in June 1896, elected 
 me Business Manager of Philomath College, I had 
 little serious thought of accepting it; but as it came 
 to me entirely unsought, I felt I could not turn it 
 aside without due consideration. I considered the 
 matter carefully and prayerfully for five or six 
 months. The constant strain upon my nerves after 
 ten years active work, three years and three months 
 of which was spent upon the conference district as 
 Presiding Elder, had wrought such conditions in my 
 health as to determine mte to refuse any longer to 
 serve in that capacity, although by conference time 
 I was not fully decided as to taking up the college 
 work. The way did not seem clear. The vision of the 
 Lord was not yet manifest as to what duty was. In 
 this state of indecision I began the year 1896-97 in 
 evangelistic labor, and helped some of the brethren 
 in some successful meetings. My father had come 
 to live with us in 1895, and during my absence from 
 home early in 1896 it pleased God to have mercy 
 upon him and convert him. My wife and a young 
 lady who was stopping with her at the time was 
 led to make him a special object of prayer, and one 
 day fasted and prayed for him, with the result that 
 he was touched by the Holy Spirit and yielded to 
 Christ and was saved. He only lived about thirteen 
 
 35 
 
months after his conversion. Three weeks after my 
 return home from an evangelistic trip, on Feb. 3, 
 1897 he died. His health had been poor for many 
 months. At this time I was preparing to accompany 
 him home to Indiana, as he earnestly desired to see 
 the rest of his children before he died. This privil- 
 ege was denied him, for the Master came quickly 
 and relieved him of suffering and took him home. 
 On Feb. 10 I started with his corpse to Indiana for 
 burial. I note here an occurrence of divine mercy 
 I shall never forget. I do not want the reader to 
 think a life of faith leads to carelessness, on the 
 contrary, it leads to the greatest care. My trans- 
 portation had been provided for to St. Paul and Chi- 
 cago. Upon arrival in Portland I failed to get to 
 see the Wisconsin Central agent who was to issue 
 my ticket from St. Paul to Chicago, but being assured 
 by a friend that he would look after the matter and 
 see that transportation was telegraphed me at St. 
 Paul upon my arrival, and as it took nearly four days 
 to reach St. Paul, I started in full confidence that 
 no mishap would occur. What was my chagrin when 
 arriving at St. Paul to find that no instructions had 
 been received there and as it was after office hours 
 at the general railroad offices, I could not obtain 
 any favors as a minister, and as the train would 
 leave for Chicago in a short time, bearing my 
 father's corpse to Huntington, Ind., where my 
 friends were in waiting, you may imagine my sit- 
 uation, a stranger in a *strangei city, and not enough 
 money to purchase a ticket to my destination. Had 
 I not found my Heavenly Father a helper in other 
 circumstances of a similar character, I should have 
 been distressed indeed. Seeking as quiet a opot 
 as could be found in a Union Depot, I poured out my 
 
 36 
 
heart to God in prayer. I asked the Lord to look 
 upon my condition, and as this disappointment was 
 no fault of mine, I prayed that he would be pleased 
 to use it as an occasion to strengthen my faith, by 
 moving the heart of some one in my behalf. My 
 heart was filled with great peace and rest. I left my 
 retreat and started again to the telegraph office to 
 see if any instructions had been received, and find- 
 ing none was turning away and my attention was 
 drawn to a gentleman with grip in hand, going to 
 a train. The thought sprang into my mind, "That 
 man will help you." I conferred not with flesh and 
 blood. I at once approached him and stated briefly 
 my need. He dropped his grip, saying, "I never did 
 such a thing before, but I will risk it," and loaned 
 me the money needed. I took his name and address, 
 shock his hand with a "God bless you" and was 
 on my train in a few minutes. Thus the Lord, in 
 answer to prayer, had given me favor in the eyes of 
 a stranger and my journey was not hindered. 
 
 Often during the busy rush of the past ten years 
 had I longed for more time to pray. Now it had come. 
 Immediately following my father's funeral, I was 
 taken with La Grippe, which was not finally broken 
 for more than seven weeks. Much of this time I 
 was entirely unfit for any active* work, and im- 
 proved the time as betet I could in meditation and 
 prayer and study of the Word of God. My heart 
 hungered to know more of God, and especially his 
 will relating to my taking up the college work. I 
 had a great aversion to financial work as it is usually 
 expected to be carried in such cases. It seemed to 
 me that I had no adaptation to such work and could 
 not succeed in it. I felt that I never could under- 
 take to get money for the Lord's cause as some per- 
 
 37 
 
sons obtained it, and that if I entered upon the work 
 and did not meet the general expectation of those 
 concerned in it, however honestly and hard I labored 
 I would be subjected to much criticism thereby. 
 These and other ^similar reasons were urged by my- 
 self as reasons why I should not take up the work 
 for the college. It seemed to me that the Christian 
 College of which this was a small illustration, was 
 neglecting the class of youth most needing help, 
 perhaps not wilfully, but all the same actually neg- 
 lecting the sons and daughters of the poor and very 
 poor. I knew too well what that meant by my own 
 experience. If I should take hold of this work and 
 succeed in liquidating the debt and helping the school 
 on its feet would "the poor have a share in it?" I 
 had never seen a christian college, or at that time 
 had any personal knowledge of one in which there 
 existed any permanent provision, by labor or other- 
 wise, whereby this most needy clalss of youth could 
 be trained or be given a chance to help themselves 
 to a fitness for life. Then I observed that the finan- 
 cial embarrassment in these colleges waJs largely 
 due to expenditures being more than the income 
 would reasonably warrant, hence large indebtedness 
 accrued as a result, and Philomath College was not 
 the exception. I considered further that it meant 
 a great risk upon me personally. The institution at 
 this time had a considerable debt, had run down 
 in attendance, was greatly in need of repairs and 
 more room and equipment, and I could not see how 
 it could guarantee me a dollar of salary. During my 
 services as presiding elder for three years and more 
 previously, my (support had come without any special 
 exercise of faith, and faith at this time in this par- 
 ticular relation, because of unuse, was not as strong 
 
 38 
 
as formerly. Not only must the college debt be raised, 
 but we simply could not hope to build up the attend- 
 ance without more and better equipment in room, 
 apparatus and repairs. This would mean that from 
 sources entirely outside of the regular income of 
 the school, all these funds must come, as also funds 
 for my own support and that of my family. I was 
 now counting the cost. The battle before me, if 
 undertaken, was a real one. There was no shadow, 
 symbol or metaphor about it. However, as I brought 
 the matter time and again before the Lord, it 
 seemed to me that all His former acts of faithfulness 
 came up before me as troops of witnesses to strength- 
 en and encourage faith. Finally, the thought was 
 deeply impressed upon my mind, "why not test the 
 power of God to help in this hour of the school's 
 need?" The "why not" settled it. I decided then 
 and there to take up the work if the board of trustees 
 at its coming annual session would adapt a plan to 
 guard against future indebtedness, and place the 
 school on its current income. But aside from any 
 present need of the school, the thing that most in- 
 fluenced my decision was the hope born of faith 
 and prayer and a sense of my own loss, that an arm 
 of help might be connected with the school as a 
 means of aiding worthy young men and women in 
 pursuing successfully to its close a course of train- 
 ing. This seemed possible to me on the basis of 
 faith in God and a system of industry. I have since 
 visited a school in another part of our country upon 
 the same basis that is greatly blessed of God in this 
 very line of work, though at the time of which I 
 now speak I had no personal knowledge of such a 
 school. It seems to me that the church is largely 
 missing its purpose and work by neglecting the poor. 
 
 59 
 
If higher education is a work of the church, then 
 certainly the isons and daughters of the poor are as 
 much entitled to it as the rich. We have been made 
 aware of the fact that even in the church such 
 ideas do not grew rapidly. Nevertheless, we entered 
 the work, gave ourself definitely to a purpose, not 
 knowing how long it would take or how great the 
 difficulties were ahead of us. Had we expected to 
 succed a- ethers, we surely would have failed. We 
 had no business ability, smartness or cunning that 
 we dare to bank on. With a somewhat indistinct 
 sen/se as to duty, and with a determination to take 
 no step upon which we could not ask God's blessing 
 to rest, the battle was begun. Recovering sufficient- 
 ly fromi La Grippe to be able to travel, I first attended 
 a Young Peoplei's District Convention, and although 
 it was found convenient to use me by program com- 
 mittee on two or three vacant numbers, I was not 
 given the privilege of 10 or 15 minutes when it was 
 desired in which to explain to the convention the 
 nature of my work, though I did not expect or ask 
 for a collection. My next opportunity of a public 
 character was to fill the pulpit for a pastor by in- 
 vitation, which I did to the beist of my ability, but I 
 was slyly denied the privilege of a free will offering 
 for my work from his congregation, though I had 
 gone at his invitation to preach for him at some ex- 
 pense to myself. The Lord did not allow me to go 
 away entirely empty-handed, however. One young 
 man was blessed and gave mte the gratitude of his 
 heart in a (substantial "free will offering." I thought 
 then, and still think, that such acts of smallness are 
 perilously near "putting a muzzle on the ox that 
 treadeth out the corn." But as I was trusting God 
 for succetes, I naturally expected to meet some trials 
 
 40 
 
of this sort. Almost every man I would meet had 
 some queer look on his face when it became known 
 to him that I was East in the interest of a school. 
 How I had to in silence listen to speeches about like 
 this: "We are not able to pay our preacher a living 
 salary;" "The church has more schools than she can 
 support;" "I have not paid my taxes yet this year;" 
 "The church has >sent now more money out west than 
 she will ever get back;" "If your school was near 
 by me, I would help it." I found on the whole that 
 human nature was a queer sort of thing, but none 
 of these things moved me. I had put out my fleece. 
 It lay on & very dry spot of ground. I wanted not 
 only drew up the fleece, but also upon the ground, 
 and I expected to get both in spite of doubt and the 
 devil. 
 
 I headed my course for Dayton. LotJs of folks 
 said, "no use to go to Dayton. Everybody canvasses 
 Dayton." But I was not going there to canvass Day- 
 ton. I might do that some other time, but this time 
 I was too weak and sick. I was just going down 
 to see the town, to see the brethern; to see the 
 Publishing House. That's all. Oh, how many 1 rat- 
 ings of unbelievers were thrown in my way! Gods' 
 ways are not our ways, and hi's thoughts are not 
 our thoughts. In the very beginning I found the 
 question, "what would Jesus have you do?" to be all 
 sufficient. I relate the following somewhat in full 
 to show how God works when we trust him. A num- 
 ber of persons had told me Bro. could help 
 
 me if he would, but he had so many calls, that it 
 was doubtful if he would be interested at all in my 
 
 work. I made up my mind not to ask Bro. for 
 
 help. I told the Lord if, in view of these things 
 he wanted Bro. to help the work I was engaged 
 
 41 
 
in, to cpen the way to it. I met him twice unexpected- 
 ly, but wals too busy at the time to talk with him. 
 The third time I met him in the Missionary Treasu- 
 rer's office. About the following conversation took 
 place between Bro. and myself. 
 
 "Say, Parker, what are you doing out there, any- 
 way? You seem awful busy around here." 
 
 Trying to serve the Lord. 
 
 "How are you getting on with your school out 
 there in Oregon? I've had my eye on you. I've 
 watched you all I could through the Telescope." 
 
 We are doing the best we know how with our little 
 sense and small means. Here followed a brief state- 
 ment of my plan of work and what I was trying to 
 da 
 
 "What do you want me to do for you, any way." 
 
 I would rather you would answer the question, 
 what does the Lord want you to do? 
 
 "Will twenty-five dollars help you any?" 
 
 Yes, every little helps, but I don't know what you 
 ought to do. 
 
 "Will fifty dollars do you any good?" 
 
 Yes, every little helps, but my brother, you ought to 
 know enough about your Lord's will in the use of 
 money entrusted to your care to know how to dispose 
 if it without asking me about it. The question is, what 
 does Jesus want you to do? I might let you off very 
 easy, whereas Christ would desire you to do more, 
 or I might ask more than your Lord would have you 
 give. Don't ask me, a>sk your Lord. If he don't want 
 you to give, I don't want any of your money. 
 
 Whereupon he gave me, I suppose, all the cash he 
 had with him, $125, with a promise to send me a 
 check for $75 more by a certain date. I thought of 
 Abraham's prayer when asking for Sodom. When 
 
 42 
 
Abraham limited God, negotiations stopped. I named 
 no amount, put no limit on him or God's will con- 
 cerning him. 
 
 Here was dew on my fleece, and the mist began to 
 arise from the sea, a cloud the size of a man's hand 
 that would soon moisten the ground. The fruitage 
 of faith seemed in the near distance. Jacob like, 
 I rejoiced "when I isaw the wagons" coming full of 
 corn. Time and again has the Lord drawn upon this 
 dear brother to the total amount of about $1 500 
 In every instance his offerings have been connected 
 with special times of want, this showing that when 
 a man gives in the Lord he never gives amiss. His 
 heart was also opened to our personal needs in sums 
 of which he desired no mention to be made. As he 
 has since departed to be with his Lord, he is doubt- 
 less enjoying the fruits of his labors that do follow 
 him. With a glad heart we left Dayton to journey 
 north to fill some engagements previously arranged. 
 While the sum realized during these few weeks was 
 not large, we was so encouraged in spirit by the 
 way the hand of the Lord had been manifest, that 
 we returned home in June following the general 
 conference of 1897 fully determined to devote an- 
 other year to the work, should the board of trustees 
 approve of the plans under which we expected to 
 operata 
 
 A brief outline of the principles of our plan of 
 work, as we saw it at this time will doubtless be of 
 interest to the reader, and aid in understanding more 
 fully what follows. One thought was uppermost in 
 our mind. We desired above everything else that 
 God might be glorified and his truth honored. 
 
 1. Our first object was to pay off the old debt as 
 rapidly as possible, and at the same time neglect 
 
 43 
 
no vital interest relative to the progress of the 
 school. 
 
 2. As a matter of conscience, :n harmony we 
 believed with the word of God, we did not expect to 
 solicit aid from the ungodly, believing that there was 
 ample funds among God's people to meet the needs 
 of the work in hand. This has been adhered to, so 
 far as we have had knowledge, until this day. How- 
 ever, we have not refused gifts voluntarily made by 
 persons who were not christians. Several dollars 
 have come in in this way from people not religious. 
 
 3. As far as possible, we desired to conduct this 
 business in connection with our ministry of the 
 word, and while we expected constantly to keep 
 prominent our financial mission, we were unwilling 
 to make that the chief work, lest we become rusty 
 in the ministry of the word and become a mere 
 servant of tables. 
 
 4. We desired to so labor in obtaining funds that 
 our mission would become neither irksome to us, nor 
 distasteful to the people of God among whom we 
 should labor, and above all did we desire that the 
 giving of money by the people should be made to 
 them a means of grace. 
 
 5. We did not expect to use "leverage" or "pres- 
 sure'' of any kind to induce persons to give, other 
 than the Lord would be pleased to have used by 
 his word and Spirit. Our one great aim was to 
 cause men to see the needis of the work and leave 
 the matter wholly with thetai, thus throwing the 
 responsibility where it belonged, upon the individ- 
 ual conscience. We expected to keep prominent 
 the ideas of christian stewardship. 
 
 6. We determined to make no> man's gift more 
 prominent than another, as for instance, the publish- 
 
 44 
 
ing abroad by mouth or press the larger gifts as an 
 inducement to get others to give largely or for any 
 other reason. This will account for the fact in part 
 that in our printed reports only the gross amounts 
 are given, and not the names of individual donors. 
 If we publish one, we would have to publish all, 
 and this was hardly possible with the hundreds of 
 people who gave in a single year. 
 
 7. Every name of a donor, so far as could be ob- 
 tained was to be recorded whether he gave one cent 
 or one hundred dollars, with the amount of donation 
 to his credit. 
 
 8. Where funds would be given for purposes other 
 than to apply on the debt, we determined to carry 
 out to the letter the will of the donor. 
 
 We knew such a method of procedure might take 
 longer sometimes to win, and with some people 
 would not be in favor, but our chief concern was 
 to keep on good terms with the head of the firm, 
 our Lord Jesus, our chief partner. "The cattle on 
 a thousand hills are his," as also '"the gold and sil- 
 ver." We had elected him as our patron, and unless 
 we were greatly mistaken, these principles were 
 sufficient upon which to base a plan of work. 
 
 45 
 
WORKING UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The board of trustees in regular session June 1897 
 canvassed the ground quite thoroughly and seemed 
 glad for something new to happen. Some were hope- 
 ful-, though others expressed featfs of the result. As 
 one item of the plan made the faculty's compensation 
 to consist solely of the income from regular interest 
 on a small endowment and tuition fees and such 
 contributionis as might be given for the purpose, 
 minus expenses of running the school for the year, 
 it was feared that a faculty could not be obtained 
 upon such conditions. The general sentiment was 
 in favor of a change and the new plans were unani- 
 mously adopted. Prof. J. M. C. Miller was elected 
 President, and Henry Sheak was reelected Professor 
 of Natural Sciences. These two with myself con- 
 stituted a sort of triumvirate to whom was commit- 
 ted the entire management of the school for one year 
 under certain restrictions, with authority to supply 
 other needed teachers, also to pay them, and in fact 
 do about as we pleased. I was to devote my time 
 to getting money, working with my head at plans 
 and with my hands to realize them if no one else 
 could be induced to help, or if funds were not forth- 
 coming with which to pay for some much needed 
 labor, I was to have the privilege to call on the Presi- 
 dent and his colleagues to help mie out. The general 
 
 46 
 
financial condition of the country was such as to 
 make it anything but promising in the obtaining of 
 funds. We took a glance at the resources and found 
 that to live and maintain a creditable teaching force, 
 a vigorous canvass would have to be made for stu- 
 dents. To do this meant quick work. We also must 
 renovate the old Dormitory, which had been unused 
 for a time, and build a small building for additional 
 recitation room. I never saw men labor harder to 
 win than these professors. The student canvass 
 was made early in the season. By the tenth of 
 August we had a prospective list of about one hun- 
 dred and fifty students. I say "we," because we all 
 dropped everything and canvassed. Then we tack- 
 led the old Dormitory. We had to rebuild flues, cloth 
 and paper and repaint inside. As we were saving 
 all money possible to put up a new building for reci- 
 tation rooms, we turned mechanics ourselves. I 
 had in my pilgrimage found it necessary sometimes 
 to prove my faith by my work, and happened to 
 know a little more than the President about how to 
 use a trowel. The old flues had to come down. They 
 were unsafe. The President was a mathematician, 
 and had to have everything demonstrated I argued 
 that there was no use tearing down the flues, but 
 we would build up underneath them from the rooms 
 below and (save both time and labor. This he said 
 never could be done. No use to try to convince his 
 mathematical mind that a man could build on the 
 lower end of a flue and get a good job. My next 
 offer was that I would build up the flues if he would 
 tear down the old ones, clean the brick and wait 
 on me, which as the Irishman understood was noth- 
 ing more than packing brick and mortar up on top, 
 while the man up there did the work. I found the 
 
 47 
 
President made a first rate waiter. But after two 
 flues had been torn down and rebuilt, he was quite 
 willing to try the experiment of "building on the 
 wrong end" of the remaining ones. After about a 
 month's work the old hall was remodeled, repapered 
 and painted and cleaned inside, and the college reci- 
 tation rooms treated likewise. This was all gratis 
 work, as we were saving our money for material 
 for the new building. 
 
 About this time my purse was getting pretty lank. 
 The week we had set to rebuild the flues in the hall, 
 a gentlemian came to me and wanted me to do a 
 like job for him in his new house, which would take 
 about five day's work. I confess for a moment it 
 was a real temptation for me to jump the job. The 
 President said, "I don't see how you can afford to 
 stay here and work with such a chance as that to 
 meet your wants, and yet I don't see how we can do 
 without these flues being built, and we can't do it 
 next weak." I kept at the Lord's work, for such I 
 thought the building of those flueis then was. By 
 Saturday noon the job was completed. Afternoon 
 I started out to solicit more funds for our new 
 building, expecting to reach a camp meeting by even- 
 ing, where I was to aissist in preaching on Sabbath. 
 One brother that I solicited said, "I won't give you 
 anything for the college, but I will give you some 
 personal help," and gave me exactly the amount that 
 my work for the week would have comie to had I 
 gone and built flues for another man. How good 
 the Lord is! "Son, go work in my vineyard, and 
 whatsoever is right I will pay thee." 
 
 We had counted on getting about one hundred 
 students out of the one hundred and fifty prospective 
 ones. We v/ere not disappointed, for as I now re- 
 
 48 
 
member one hundred and one enrolled for the year. 
 With the opening of school, having secured the 
 lumber on the ground, the new building for added 
 recitation room was begun. It was not very preten- 
 tious, but was to be made well so as to be added to 
 if need be for future emergencies. As no funds were 
 in hand to pay for labor, the faculty had agreed that 
 if I would boss the job and guarantee good workman- 
 ship, I could work student labor on the building and 
 >hey would donate it, providing no work was given 
 to students who were able to pay their way. This 
 was agreed to. The building was almost entirely 
 put up by student labor, and inexperienced labor 
 at that The fall was exceptionally fine for work out 
 doors and with a gang of hardy rustics who were 
 more than glad to earn their tuition with saw and 
 hammer, we soon had everything under cover, and 
 could finish rain or tshine. Some of this same crowd 
 of young men have since graduated and are doing 
 good service for the Lord in filling places of trust 
 as christian gentlemen. The year was quite as suc- 
 cessful as could be expected under the conditions, 
 and closed with a hopeful outlook for the future. 
 The sacrifices made by the faculty were great, but 
 they did not murmur, and was ready to undertake 
 another year under the same conditions. So far 
 our plans had worked. No new debts had been made, 
 the old debt had been somewhat reduced, and some- 
 thing had been done in adding rooms in which to 
 work and what we had already had undergone a 
 general overhauling and cleaning, this work extend- 
 ing to the campus and things generally. We had 
 also added to the equipment of the laboratory and 
 library. 
 
 We will have space for only a faw instances of 
 
 49 
 
special mercies during this year. While the income 
 to our faculty was very small and did not seem any 
 adequate compensation for the work performed, it 
 was done with a ready, willing mind. This fact in 
 itself was a token of special goodness, for the Lord 
 seeemed to inspire all hearts with the idea of render- 
 ing service for a high and noble purpose. The prime 
 motive was not how much salary could be obtained, 
 but how much service could be renderedv How often 
 we forget as we behold the great progress and 
 material growth with other lines of development 
 made by some of the older churehefs and institutions 
 of our country, that the true foundations of these 
 beautiful superstructures were laid in sacrifice and 
 tears by those who sowed that others might reap. 
 It was a question to know what to do with our 
 dormitory to obtain the best results. We regard 
 as another special mercy, that our dear Sister Brad- 
 ford, a woman of experience and piety was led to 
 offer her services to Christ as Matron of the dormi- 
 tory, to accept isuch compensation as the Lord was 
 pleased to provide. Thus were the students who 
 roomed and boarded there, brought under the in- 
 fluences of a home, rather than a mere place to 
 board. The spirit of the year throughout, was that 
 of harmony and victory even though laboring as 
 we must under many disadvantages. Many times 
 faith and courage ;seemed taxed, but there was not 
 for an hour, anything like a pull back spirit. Pass- 
 ing this brief notice of life in the school, the readers 
 attention is now called to some of our business per- 
 plexities. 
 
 The country was groaning under the weight of 
 the results of the panic. Every man to whom the 
 college owed a cent wanted money, and people who 
 
 5o 
 
owed the college had little to pay with. Here was 
 a phase of matters entirely new to me. as in my for- 
 mer life I had never come in touch with such experi- 
 ences. I never prayed more earnestly in my life 
 for wisdom than during these days. One thing I hoped 
 for was to inspire confidence in our creditors in the 
 new order of things if nothing more. One note was 
 soon to out-law on account of no payment having 
 been made on it for nearly six years. How glad 
 I felt to have some money on hand to make a small 
 payment when the party called to inquire about it. 
 The $200 received from the brother mentioned in 
 a former chapter was turned at once every cent of 
 it, not even excepting the commission due me, 
 en obligations due two parties. So glad was they 
 to receive the money that they volunteered donations 
 that were credited to the college amounting to $45. 
 I reported the disposition of this money with the 
 result above noted to the party who had given it, 
 and in a short time received from him another check 
 for a hundred dollars. Thus was faith and courage 
 strengthened as this hundred was applied to whittle 
 down the old debt. This work the Lord was carry- 
 ing on while I was soliciting monoy for our Lew 
 building and other purposes, and helping in the can- 
 vass for students. As I have been enabled to 
 wait on God in prayer and faith, all the while be- 
 ing busy at work, the Lord has done more through 
 means of his choosing than I have been able to do 
 with all my work. Notice the following. On one of 
 the largest notes against the college the annual inter- 
 est would be due September 10 of this year. I did 
 not sit down and expect the Lord to meet that inter- 
 est, while I did nothing. I never had that notion of 
 faith. Every possible turn was made to get the 
 
 5i 
 
money, so as to have it ready when time for payment 
 came. I worked as if there was no God to trust. 
 On the other hand I was praying and trying to irust 
 God as if I had no hands to work. But it seemed 
 as if the Lord was determined to try my faith and 
 patience more and more. It seemed as if money 
 would not ccme. The 9th of September came, and 
 with it a note from our creditor stating that he 
 would expect his interest the following week. All 
 day Sunday I laid the matter before the Lord. Some- 
 how, I became restful over the matter. The Lord had 
 it already provided for. On Monday in the mail came 
 a check from a brother, covering the amount needed, 
 to be used where most needed. I had not heard 
 from this man for months, and he had no knowledge 
 of any special need, iso far as I knew, as it had been 
 more than two months since he had any communi- 
 cation from me, and I had never intimated to him 
 this or any other special need. The Lord was evi- 
 dently determined to have the glory, while I was to 
 be benefitted by the blessings of hard work and a 
 strengthening faith. "Thanks be to God that giveth 
 uk the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" "All 
 the promises of God are in Him yea, and amen, to 
 the glory of God by us." I sent the gentleman at 
 once the interest due him, told him how I had worked 
 to meet the claim, and how the Lord had graciously 
 came to the rescue, and how I had received the 
 check. I reminded him of the fact that we were 
 paying him too much interest, and asked him to 
 kindly let us take up his note, then bearing 10 per 
 cent, and islsue him another bearing eight per cent, 
 and give us five years time with the privilege of 
 paying when we likea before that time expired. This 
 he at once consented to, and the notes were at cnce 
 
 52 
 
exchanged. I will state here, lest I forget it, that 
 during the struggle to pay off the college debt I 
 never borrowed a cent to meet an obligation of inter- 
 est when due, or for any other purpose for college 
 claims. The money wais cither in hand when desired 
 or the creditors gave the interest or obligation. All 
 this, in view of the fact of the great financial strin- 
 gency of the time, I regard as a special mercy of 
 Our Heavenly Father. I do not desire for one minute 
 to have it thought that I raised the money for these 
 purposes by my financial ability or (skill. Far from 
 it. My service in the matter is not to be taken into 
 account in comparison to "what God hath wrought " 
 In fact I have performed nothing worthy of mention, 
 and would never undertake this record, but for the 
 hope that others might be encouraged to trust God 
 in times of need. 
 
 The summer of 1898 was partly spent in canvassing 
 for students and funds, and partly in directing 
 improvement work about the college. With the pros- 
 pect for an increased attendance it became apparent 
 that more room would be needed, and the funds nec- 
 essary to meet this expense was provided before a 
 lick was struck in erection. By the generosity of the 
 faculty in allowing me to use the labor of students 
 without means, we put on an additional room to the 
 building erected the year before, thus greatly facili- 
 tating the clasis room service. This building, with 
 both rooms thrown together, is now used as quarters 
 for the Commercial Department of the college. Dur- 
 ing this entire summer I was engaged in work for the 
 college, one way and another, except a small part 
 of my time in working our garden at home. The 
 only compensation received from the college for my 
 labor or time was $25.00 for labor performed in di- 
 
 53 
 
reeling the students in the work of improvement. 
 Do you ask how we lived? In one way and another 
 the Lord, through answer to prayer, provided for us, 
 and that without telling our needs to anyone else 
 but Him. 
 
 Before the opening of school it seemed clear that, 
 as affairs were fairly well in shape for the year's 
 school work, that we »should take a trip East for 
 another pull on the debt. Finances were short. I 
 tried to sell some things belonging to us that we 
 could get on without. Failing in this it was made 
 plain that I might borrow a small sum, as our home 
 was unencumbered, and should we not live the debt 
 could easily be met out of my personal effects, and 
 no one be inconvenienced or suffer loss. Seventy-five 
 dollars were obtained in this way, upon personal 
 note. This is the only instance in borrowing money 
 during the year' ! s struggle to pay up the college debt, 
 and this was mostly used in expenses of travel, 
 though I borrowed it purely as a personal affair. 
 However, it was paid in due time, to the glory of God. 
 be it said. As preparations went on for this trip, my 
 wife being in poor health, I finally determined not to 
 go alone. It seemed to me the sacrifice upon her 
 part was too great. I felt it to be wrong to ask her 
 to remain at home during my absence of nine months, 
 with the care of home and child. But we had gone 
 to our limit. I could not borrow another cent beyond 
 what could conveniently be gotten out of my per- 
 sonal effects, and that amount had already been se- 
 cured in the seventy-five dollars above referred to, I 
 could not ask her to invole our home, as I might be 
 taken away, and she suffer thereby. I could not draw 
 on a single dollar of college funds to meet this need, 
 though at this time I had in possession a good Jeal 
 
 54 
 
more of certain college funds than would have served 
 our needs, and might have taken the risk and had I 
 succeeded in replacing it no one would have been the 
 wiser for it. Do you ask why I would face such re- 
 sponsibilities and such risks, and not use money al- 
 ready in hand? I did not believe I was under any 
 obligation even to temporarily divert funds in trust, 
 or use them when at any time they might be called 
 for in their intended place. I have a rich Father and 
 a rich Elder Brother. They were my partners in this 
 business. I believed if I was faithful in that which 
 belonged to another, my partners would supply all 
 my n3ed according to their riches in glory. Prayer 
 was made unceasingly to God for the money needed 
 to meet the added expense of taking my wife and 
 child on a journey of nine months' absence from 
 home. Believing that God would do right, that He 
 is best known and revealed to men by His acts in 
 fulfilling His promises, these precious promises TTr ere 
 plead in the name of Jesus to supply our need. As 
 we were professing to live a life of faith, and claim- 
 ing that God would hear prayer and answer, we could 
 not even hint to a soul that we lacked anything. This 
 exercise of prayer and trust went on for some weeks, 
 during which time my wife was preparing in every 
 way possible for the trip. I was seeking to arrange 
 college and personal affairs to get off as early as 
 passible, and also watching for an opportunity to 
 make some turn by which I could, in a Christian way, 
 make the money we needed, but ail the while looking 
 to God for help. I had seldom before relied upon that 
 promise of our Lord as at this time: "When thou 
 prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou Last 
 shut the doc*-, pray to thy Father which is in secret; 
 and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward 
 
 55 
 
thee openly." For weeks wo were in the closet, and 
 the door was shut. We had no one to blame if the 
 money did not come. Our cry was of heaven. We 
 expected an answer "openly." Did it come? The 
 chariot was on the way while we were yet in the 
 closet. I received just a few days before we were to 
 start a letter from a servant of Christ enclosing a 
 check more than covering cur immediate need, with 
 the remarkable statement, "this is for your wife." I 
 had had no communication with this person for 
 months; he had no knowledge of our intended trip, 
 or of any need upon our part And it is my firm con- 
 viction that had we prayed as earnestly and beliov- 
 ingly before as in this last instance, I need not have 
 borrowed the seventy-five dollars above referred to. 
 My brother and sister, when you go to God in secret 
 prayer, don't forget to shut the door. Don't leave be^ 
 hind you the possibility of a retreat. If the Holy 
 Spirit leads you through the promise of His word into 
 the secret closet of intercession, shut the door behind 
 you, and stay there until the answer comes. Don't 
 be discouraged because of delay in answer. Hab. 
 2:3-4 may help your struggling faith: "For the vision 
 is yet i'or an appointed time, but at the end it shall 
 speak, and not lie; though it tarry, wait for it; be- 
 cause it will (surely come, and will not tarry. Behold, 
 his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him; but 
 the just shall live by his faith." If we carry all our 
 burdens to 1 God in secret, using in the meantime ruch 
 means as are right before Him in our service for 
 Him, we may not only expect God's richest and 
 choicest blessings to rest upon our endeavors in the 
 so-called routine work of life, but when the wisest 
 plans iseem to fail, we may expect and look for God in 
 times of special eea to repeat his wondrous acts of 
 
old. He is still Jehovah — Jireh. But don't forget to 
 shut the door behind you when you enter the secret 
 closet. If when you have met all known conditions, 
 and God is not pleased to come to your help through 
 the ordinary means of relief, and you are driven into 
 the secret place" for help, and fail to "shut the 
 door," do not be disappointed if an answer to your 
 prayer never comes. God cannot honor the faith that 
 goes to him even in secret, and leaves behind it a 
 door through which to beat a retreat in case of fail- 
 ure. In fact such is not faith at all. Faith sees be- 
 yond failure; in fact it never learned how to cpell 
 that word, much less to know its meaning. No one 
 can read the campaigns of General Grant without be- 
 ing impressed with the thought that, while he mani- 
 fested the highest military skill in planning his work, 
 he never planned for a retreat. Who will say that 
 the power of faith here was not as signally displayed 
 in its recognition of the God of battles as ever was 
 known to Joshua and Moses, though manifest differ- 
 ently; and who will say that there was less at stake 
 of blessing to the world? The faith of the Syro- 
 Phonecian woman stands as the most striking ilhJs- 
 tration in New Testament Scripture. With her ban- 
 ner upon which was inscribed in tears the cry, "Lord 
 help me," she mounted the summit of every difficulty, 
 and in deepest humility won from our preciouis Lord 
 the commendation, "Woman, great is thy faith. I 
 have not found such faith in Israel. Be it unto thee 
 even as thou wilt." Here low became high, and the 
 will of the woman became the rule by which oven 
 the Almighty Christ chose to work. My brother and 
 sister, don't allow anything to prevent you from car- 
 rying everything to God in prayer, and when once 
 your petition is before Him, don't be discouraged if 
 the answer does not come by return mail. If you 
 
 57 
 
can't afford to wait until your impatience and unbe- 
 lief is killed out, think it not strange if the answer 
 never comes. "Wait, I say, on the Lord." 
 
 Early in September of this year we were on the 
 way East. After a few days' visit with friends the 
 canvass began with the session of St. Joseph confer- 
 ence, presided over by Bishop Castle. The encour- 
 agreement received here at this conference seemed 
 to betoken victory, and from here I began a pilgrim- 
 age that took me to the sessions of North Ohio, Lower 
 Wabash, Sandusky, East Ohio and Ohio German tin's 
 fall, and in the following spring attended the ses- 
 sions of the Pennsylvania conference. As a result of 
 this year's work, including a constant canvass during 
 the winter, we returned home with the amount of 
 over $1350. We were entitled to a liberal commission 
 on this sum, as the board of trustees had so ordered 
 that traveling expenses be met out of collections, and 
 I be given a commission besides. But the Lord had 
 so graciously provided for us in answer to prayer, by 
 moving on the hearts of different persons to assist 
 us personally, and by the money earned in somle 
 special lectures, that I did not need this year a cent 
 of commission due us, and let it go to cut down the 
 debt so much. Time and space will not permit rain- 
 ing any of the considerable number of instances of 
 divine mercy during this year. It would simply be 
 impracticable, were we other wise persuaded so to 
 do, to record the names even of the many who gave 
 us encouragement in this work. Instances of (special 
 favor at the hands of railroad companies, instances 
 of favor by entire strangers were constant reminders 
 of the fact that I was on a journey for the Christ who 
 is the head of all principalities and powers. Now 
 comes the test of the power of the Spirit in adjusting 
 
 S8 
 
claims. We were no sooner home again than our 
 creditors began to look for settlement. With every 
 man approached went up the prayer that God would 
 open his heart, that the money might go as far as 
 possible in adjusting college claims. But one in- 
 stance can here be given. The college owed a man, 
 who was regarded as very stingy. Upon the note had 
 accrued more than one hundred dollars interest. He 
 had agreed one year before to wait a year for settle- 
 ment. As soon as I returned home I received a 
 letter from him, saying he must have his money. I 
 wrote him at once that I had the money. I told him 
 how God had been with me during the year, and 
 asked him to find out from the Lord how much he 
 ought to give the college on the obligation. In a few 
 days I received a letter from him stating that he 
 would gladly give the interest, which amounted to 
 
 over one hundred dollars, and also asked me to send 
 
 .j 
 him the name of our general missionary treasurer. 
 
 I found out two years afterward, when in Dr. Mc- 
 Kee's office at Dayton, Ohio, that on a date corre- 
 sponding with these events there was sent the Doctor 
 a donation of one hundred dollars by this same man 
 for the permanent mission fund, and he was not a 
 member of the United Brethren church, either. So 
 you see when a man carries matters of duty to God, 
 and allows him to settle it, it is always gospel meas- 
 ure. During this year the old debt was largely re- 
 duced, and at the Oregon conference, 1899, cash and 
 ^subscriptions secured for more than five hundred 
 dollars as a beginning for some needed repairman d 
 a new building for gymnasium and library purposes. 
 Rev. P. O. Bonebrake was elected president, Presi- 
 dent Miller having resigned to enter other work, and 
 Rev. G W. Fisher, of California was added to. the 
 
 59 
 
faculty, as teacher of languages, to take the place 
 held by Rev. B. E. Emerick, who this year went to the 
 Seminary. The work of the college proceeded upon 
 the same lines of encouraging poor students, by pro- 
 viding for them such labor as our conditions would 
 permit. The new faculty force entered into the 
 spirit of self-sacrifice in a most commendable mlan- 
 ner, and the work in school was greatly blessed of 
 the Lord, not only in good class work, but a gracious 
 revival influence was manifest among the students in 
 converting almost every unconverted student. Lum- 
 ber and material was very cheap at this time, and on 
 October 20th we had on the ground the material 
 almost entire for the new building for gymnasium 
 and library uses, and enough money and pledges to 
 almost complete it for use. The building was put 
 under roof by November 25, and was finished so as 
 to be partly used, and the following year was com- 
 pleted, so as to be used throughout. This has proved 
 a valuable accession to our equipment, as it gives a 
 room 24x40 feet for gymnasium purposes, a library 
 room and two society halls for literary purposes, and 
 r„s the work grows, and we are able to enlarge and 
 modernize our main building, this new building can 
 easily be converted into a gymnasium. All through 
 the year, while occupied in work at the college or on 
 the field in canvassing, we never loosed our grip one 
 day from the promises of God to supply every need. 
 Two important special gifts were received during 
 this year that deserve special mention. The college 
 furniture in the recitation rooms had been an tye- 
 sore from the first. Time and again had it been a 
 subject of thought and prayer. Great was our joy to 
 receive, entirely uncought, humanely speaking, suffi- 
 cient money from one brother at the time of great 
 
 6o 
 
need as a gift especially for the purposes named, 
 enough money to buy a good grade of sittings and 
 tables and blackboards for our recitation rooms, and 
 also paper for the same. The same want of furniture 
 was greatly needed in the "College Home," but uow 
 to supply it we knew not. Our time was all occupied 
 with other needed things. But He knew. On a day 
 or two following Christmas I received a check that 
 I had not sent for, except to headquarters above, cov- 
 ering this need From its proceeds we procured for 
 each of the rooms in the "College Home" a new iron 
 bedstead, with spring mattreiss and study table, and 
 a new range for the kitchen. The same need is 
 unmet in our very poor furnishings for the college 
 chapel to this moment, but, as in our service we have 
 not been able to procure the funds with which to 
 meet it, we are not troubled over it, believing in due 
 time we will be able to receive it by some means, or 
 He who is our partner vail be pleased to call on 
 some of his servants to meet it. In the summer and 
 fall of 1899, following, two special gifts were given 
 from two servants of God, both since gone to be with 
 Jesus, that gave us no small degree of encourage- 
 ment. We had come to our limit of funds in work 
 on the gymnasium and library building. Some sub- 
 scriptions were just then not available, and we 
 needed funds very much. One of these gifts was from 
 a brother who knew of the work on the building, and 
 it/s possible need, and sent $100 to assist in it. The 
 other was an offering of $50 from an aged servant of 
 Christ, with the words, "use where most needed." 
 
 6i 
 
FAITH AND VICTORY, 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 As one of the prime objects in view was the pay- 
 ment of the last cent of outstanding debt against the 
 college, we could not rest at ease until this had been 
 accomplished. In the fall of 1900 it had been reduced 
 to about $1150. We began a campaign to entirely 
 clear this up. We could reach but a limited number 
 of places in Oregon conference 1 with any profit, and, 
 as some of these were struggling under weights of 
 church debts it did not seem possible to realize much 
 in such efforts. With a few struggling mission 
 churches, and a few circuits that were paying pastors 
 about half a support, and some of these but one or 
 two years old, and some of them just whittled out of 
 the woods, and trying to build for themselves houses 
 of worship and parsonages,, we thought ourselves 
 happy in a few weeks to reduce the old debt within 
 the limit of $1000. Following this, in January, we 
 started East for a final pull. I had my faith more 
 sorely tried on thifi trip than any I had hitherto made, 
 though I made up my mind not to return home until 
 I got what I went after. Everybody seemed disgusted 
 with debts, and it would cause a man's face to wrin- 
 kle and twist to mention debt. I have traveled from 
 house to house, day in and day out, and received but 
 little. So I thought if the people were so disgusted 
 with debt, I would keep before such minds some spe- 
 
 62 
 
cial object of our advance work. This seemed to 
 work well, for dollars soon began to pile up to aid 
 our improvement fund. In one city alone we picked 
 up some hundreds of dollaus in this way, to be ap- 
 plied on debt and improvement. In some places we 
 found it easy to obtain help for improvements, but a 
 difficuL thing to get anything on debt. I noticed that 
 in portions of the country over which I had been a 
 few years beiore, I received more help than formerly, 
 the people manifested the keenest interest in the 
 welfare of the school. The last of March I was seven 
 hundred dollars or more from the goal. I really, for 
 a few days, became discouraged, and it seemed as 
 though I would have to be content to return home 
 with a part of the old debt unmet. How faith and 
 courage wrestled witL that awful obstacle. Would it 
 ever be paid? Would it be possible to meet enough 
 people willing to help on the old debt to wipe out 
 that seven hundred dollars? To manifest outward 
 discouragement never would do. Hence, when busil> 
 engaged in canvassing, I was incessantly praying and 
 trying to believe in ultimate success. This exercise 
 of faith and prayer continued until I came into a 
 restful state of mind regarding the whole matter, and 
 I felt assured that the debt would bo met. I closed 
 my canvass in Ohio, and started intj Pennsylvania. 
 Worn out and tired I called at the parsonage in 
 Greensburg, where I was royally welcomed by Broth- 
 er J. A. Eby. A pile of letters awaited me. Among 
 the lot were two from my dear wife. Her joy was so 
 great at the contents of a letter she had received that 
 she forgot to tell me all of it in one letter, and wrote 
 another to finish. She had received a letter from a 
 brother, who I had never seen, and to whom I had 
 never written for money, containing a check for five 
 
 63 
 
hundred dollars, "to be applied on the college debt " 
 I will not attempt to tell you how I felt. It was the 
 Lord's doings, and was marvelous in our eyes. It 
 seems that this brother, who sent the check, did not 
 at the time know that I was East in canvas>s for the 
 school, as he had sent the check to Oregon. From 
 Greensburg we operated a few days at points in 
 western Penn. and picked up another hundred 
 dollars. Thil.3 left a little over one hundred net to 
 raise to meet the debt. This was secured on the mad 
 to Eastern Pennsylvania, and in that part of the 
 country. By the kind invitation of Rev. W. H. Wash- 
 inger, we spent the week preceding General Confer- 
 ence in rest at Chambersburg. 
 
 In review of these events we have to thank God 
 that during this winter and spring not only had the 
 entire balance of debt been provided for, with a mar- 
 gin of one hundred and fifty dollars for shrinkage in 
 subscriptions, which, however, did not shrink much, 
 but between nine hundred and one thousand dol- 
 lars had been secured for special improvements. In 
 the meantime our family needs had been looked after, 
 no bills had been contracted for home needs, our 
 traveling expenses had been met, and all personal 
 expenses on the road besides. It was an established 
 custom on the road that whenever fifty or one nun- 
 dred dollars were secured to turn it at once into a 
 check and put it out of my reach, or apply it at cnee 
 on some college obligation. It might be interesting 
 to some brethren to know that more than once, when 
 standing on a conference floor, or in the pulpit, 
 preaching or pleading the cause of the college or our 
 coast mission work, I have been practically without 
 money, having emptied my pocket the day before, and 
 put it where it would be secure for its intended ob- 
 
 64 
 
jects, keeping cnly enough to carry me to the Lext 
 place, with a small balance with which to meex any 
 incidental, as a meal or otherwise. In some instances 
 my sole capital amounted to less than one dollar, and 
 among entire -strangers. To our Heavenly Father's 
 praise I record that net once did I ever have even an 
 occasion to draw on any funds placed in deposit, the 
 Lord meeting my needs on the advance march. Ar- 
 riving at Pittsburg, I counted my expense money 
 twice to see if I had enough to purchase a ticket to 
 go forward, and at Harrisburg I literally emptied my 
 pocket to send alrndst every cent I had in meeting a 
 college obligation by mail. Many peculiar experi- 
 ences occur, as a matter of course, in such a life, but 
 if our trust is in the living God "all things work to- 
 gether for good " A pastor had invited me to give a 
 missionary lecture in his church. The date was 
 set, and I started on my itinerary, suppos- 
 ing everything all right. On the appointed day I was 
 on the ground. Upon meeting the pastor I learned 
 that no announcement of the meeting had been made, 
 and he had written me not to come, which I had not 
 received. I learned that the reason for this was that 
 some church officials had objected to my speaking, 
 because they contemplated some church improve- 
 ments and were fearful that my canvass there would 
 interfere with their work. The pasto** treated me 
 with every consideration, and seemed much disap- 
 pointed with any interference with his plans. I be- 
 lieved I was in the way of the Lord, and no board 
 of officials could stand against me getting the money 
 God intended me to have. So I said to the pastor, "If 
 the Lord wants me to have any money in this town, 
 your people will get none of it, and, more than that, 
 they ought not to want it." I always feel sorry when 
 
 65 
 
I find a church that is officered by that notion of 
 things. It reminds me of the earnest appeal of an 
 old colored preacher. Some of his leading members 
 had winced and complained of his earnest appeals 
 for mission and other benevolences. Rising to the 
 height of his eloquence, he said, "Breddern, show me 
 a church da am killed by gibbin, and I will climb 
 into the tower of dat church and wid thunder tones 
 preach its funeral from de text. 'Blessed am de dead 
 dat die in de Lord.' " Suffice to say that I got what 
 I went after. Another instance, I stopped off at a 
 little country town, where a revival was progressing. 
 The pastor invited me to preach at the night ser- 
 vice, and gave me the privilege of a few minutes to 
 speak of my work. I did not aisk for a collection, but 
 passed cards to any who might desire to assist me, 
 leaving it wholly a matter of free will. About fifteen 
 dollars was handed me at the close of the service. A 
 wiry little man, that proved to be steward, invited me 
 home with him. When informed of how much I had 
 received, he said, "We are behind with our preach- 
 er's salary, and if you fellows knew what a time we 
 have to raise our preacher's salary you would not 
 come here picking up our loose money." For a mo- 
 ment I kind of felt guilty, and began to feel like an 
 intruder. Such an official rdbuke almost gave me 
 the chills. Regaining my balance, I said, "Perhaps it 
 will relieve you somewhat to know that ten dollars of 
 the fifteen came from two ladies outside your church, 
 members of another denomination." I relate these 
 instances because they are so abnormal, and are in 
 such striking contrast to> the universal sympathy and 
 spirit of co-operation extended to me throughout our 
 church. It has been my privilege to visit a number 
 of our older colleges, and have received help and a 
 
 66 
 
"God bless you" from noble men in their faculties, and 
 from citizens of towns where these institutions are 
 located, and some men who have been the stanchest 
 of friends of other colleges have shown the largest 
 catholicity of spirit by most generously aiding the 
 work I represented. Ais one man said to me, "Our 
 schools are most vitally conected with our church 
 life, especially so in mission districts, and the church 
 at large should somehow feel that an institution in a 
 mission field is worthy of as much consideration at 
 its hands as the college that is surrounded by strong 
 conferences and well-to-do churches." So I have 
 great cause for gratitude for the almost universal co- 
 operation that has been given me, and upon the 
 same ground I have reason to believe the same will 
 continue to be forthcoming. The church is one, and 
 its life one. The missionary spirit is its dominant 
 feature, and to establish and firmly fix its work in 
 the great Pacific Coast region, this fact must not be 
 lost sight of. 
 
 By the last of June of this year every cent of out- 
 standing debt against Philomath College was can- 
 celed, and we had between $900 and $1000 in cash, 
 given for special purposes. Since we have received 
 two annuities of one thousand dollars each, a number 
 of donations in smaller sums for special purposes 
 and general use. Years ago the college had borrowed 
 quite a bit of its small endowment for contingent 
 purposes. This was not included in our "outstanding 
 debt." Since the outstanding debt was met, assets 
 have been added to the permanent fund, that, at a 
 conservative estimate, more than covers this old 
 loan, and, though but little of these are at present 
 productive, they are practically secure to the col- 
 lege in the form of notes, deeds and bequests, for all 
 
 67 
 
of which we thank God and take courage, and look for 
 better things. Steps have been taken, by adjusting 
 the articles of incorporation, so that no debts against 
 the institution can be contracted, or any funds di- 
 verted from their intended uses. 
 
 OUR FIELD AND OUR NEEDS. 
 
 The man who does not see in the light of present 
 day openings that the Pacific Coast is coming to be 
 the greatest portion of our great country is greatly 
 deficient in vision.. This is not the judgment of coast 
 men only, but page after page of statements from 
 prominent educators and statesmen East could be 
 given in support of this opinion. The U. S. govern- 
 ment sees it, hence the interest manifest in all that 
 pertains to the isthmian canal, and the immense ap- 
 propriations by congress for the improvement of our 
 rivers and harbors. Other churches are seeing it, 
 and, instead of slacking in interest, are doubling their 
 efforts to> make sure their position, and their church 
 work for the future. The United Brethren church is 
 being established at a great sacrifice, upon the part 
 of its ministers and teachers. When I plead for a 
 tetter condition of things for Philomath College, I 
 plead for the future of the church on the coast. Much 
 is said, perhaps none too much, of the sacrifices of 
 the foreign missionaries, and we sometimes think the 
 days of heroic effort in the home field are past I 
 wish I had time and space to dwell in detail upon the 
 heroic toil of some of our ministers and ministers' 
 wives. A most commendable advance is made in 
 some of the older conferences in demanding a mini- 
 mum of $500 or more salary. Such a step with us 
 now would not be possible. Our ministers must 
 be trained to sacrifice and hard service for 
 
 68 
 
our work here. Hence the absolute need for the 
 greatest efficiency, that our coast ministers for the 
 future get largely their training here, that we raise 
 our own preachers cut of the brush and off these 
 prairies, and train them here. We have a faculty of 
 noble teachers, who have caught the spirit of heroic 
 effort, and working hard to keep the institution un- 
 embarrassed, and to help as many young men and 
 women as possible through school. President Emer- 
 ick is a graduate of Westfield College and Union 
 Biblical Seminary. Professor Caldwell is from York 
 College. Professors White and McDonald are gradu- 
 ates of Philomath. These, with three assistants, 
 constitute the teaching force The school is well 
 filled with students. Last year the factulty aided 
 about fifteen young men and women by giving work 
 to help them through. Why should not the church 
 provide for the permanency of such work? Why 
 should not our heroic teachers be provided for as 
 well as the man in the pulpit of a missionary church? 
 The missionary board supplements the support of 
 the local congregation in our mission churches in im- 
 portant places, but what board pleads the cause of or 
 gives any financial aid to the teacher in our schools 
 in these same mission districts? Are they doing a 
 work less important? In the absence of any pro- 
 vision to meet this need we are thrown upon the 
 Lord, and the benevolence of the people. Gifts of 
 books or funds to add to our library will be greatly 
 appreciated. The needs of this field will be the more 
 seen when it is remembered that our students come, 
 for the most part from the sturdy class of hard work- 
 ens, who, with little, are whittling out homes, and 
 helping to build churches where none exists. At this 
 time the writer has plans ahead to labor in evangel- 
 
 69 
 
istic work the whole of next summer in districts full 
 of people, not easily accessible in the winter, and 
 where, for the most part, poor religious organization, 
 or none at all, exists. In some of these localities no 
 effective preaching has ever been, and yet the people 
 are intelligent and want the gospel. Shall we not 
 give it to them, and shall they not be encouraged to 
 isend their sons and daughters to obtain Christian 
 training. These facts, together with the excellent 
 openings made, and others inviting us, in promising 
 towns and cities on the coast, only emphasize the 
 need of our educational work on the coast. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 The work of Philomath College is not a boom. It 
 has been a steady growth under present plan of 
 work. The only financial risk to the institution has 
 been borne by the faculty and business manager. 
 But there is involved in this effort the present and 
 future honor of the church to whom the institution 
 belongs. Will the church help it to a better equip- 
 ment and better support for its teachers? It is but 
 a child among our other colleges, but there is a 
 child's future before it, provided it has proper suste- 
 nance and He helped by placing in its hands tools 
 with which to work out its destiny. This the church 
 can do without a sacrifice. If every man and wo- 
 man in the church with whom the Lord may be 
 pleased to bring us in touch will devote some specific 
 offering and a prayer for this work, you will be sur- 
 prised at the results in the years to come. Shall it be 
 done? 
 
 We can without difficulty obtain sufficient a suf- 
 ficient amount of land, upon which to enlarge an 
 
 70 
 
industrial arm of help, to assist worthy young men 
 and women to obtain Christian training. Six acres 
 are already operated with profit to the institution. 
 As this land is handy to market, with a comparatively 
 small outlay to begin, and supplemented by varying 
 sums from year to year, the proceeds of a valuable 
 property can be made as available to the institution 
 as if it was actual caJsh in hand, at the low rate of 
 interest now obtained for money, and this without 
 outlay, other than the funds necessary to equip it 
 and operate it. 
 
 Mixed farming, including grain, hay, fruit raising, 
 vegetable culture, poultry raising and dairying are 
 always reasonably profitable in Oregon. We can 
 easily dispose of all the garden seeds in bulk that 
 we can produce at a fair price to seedsmen. Student 
 labor can be used to operate such a plant as this in a 
 way to not only pay a reasonable interest on money 
 invested, but the good done by aiding these worthy 
 young men and women who want training, and are 
 without means, will ten times repay the church in 
 an improved type of service and workers in the 
 years to come. Before I had ever seen anything of 
 this sort, I became convinced of its practicability. It 
 has since been my privilege to visit an institution in 
 another part of our country, under the influence of a 
 sister denomination, where I have seen wrought out 
 the very principles that I have advocated for sev- 
 eral years as possible, and for which I now contend. 
 
 If the Lord be pleased to commit to us the funds 
 to operate an industrial benevolent arm of work, it 
 will be maintained upon the following principles: 
 
 1. A continuation of the non-debt making policy 
 that now maintains in the school. 
 
 2. The college will in no sense be financially in- 
 
 7i 
 
volved by its operation, but will receive the benefits 
 derived from the same. 
 
 3. None but dependent worthy young men and 
 women will be admitted to its privileges, others being 
 able to pay their way. 
 
 Our space will not permit any detail of this plan, 
 but we are constrained to make this announcement 
 by the fact that so many young persons with whom 
 we have come in touch during the past year have 
 despaired of entering college, because it did not seem 
 possible for them to continue when once in. It 
 seems to us that faith and industry ought to solve 
 this problem. The land is ready. Have we the 
 means? The Lord has. Will we be entrusted with 
 it? Time will tell. Large gifts, as a rule, follow 
 demonstrated experiments of this sort. If successful 
 it is not difficult for men to give and place funds in 
 trust for such purposes. What God wants, even 
 more than our giving, is the prayer of our hearts 
 for such a work. Shall He have both? 
 
 To endow and equip an institution for such a 
 purpose certainly is nothing less than seeking to 
 carry on the work instituted by Jesus when on earth. 
 In bringing the advantages of Christian training 
 within the reach of the lowly, are we not helping 
 the Christian college to fulfill its true mission? 
 
LIBRPRY OF CONGRESS 
 
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