“AND the temple of God was opened in heaven; and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament.” Rev. 11 : 19.
Doubtless the temple of this text is the “true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man ;” the sanctuary in which the “Mediator of the New Testament” ministers as High Priest. Heb. 8 : 1--6, 9 : 15, and 12 : 24. As there was a “sanctuary of the first covenant,” so there is one belonging to the new. The old covenant sanctuary was rebuilt on the return of the Jews from their captivity in Babylon ; and remained in use among them till Christ came. When they had rejected him, on leaving the temple for the last time, he said to them, “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate ;” and as he went out he predicted its utter destruction. From that time it was no longer the dwelling place of God ; and in a few years it was destroyed by the Romans. This was foretold in Dan. 9 : 26.
“And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself : and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.” There is now no sanctuary on earth. According to the prediction of Jesus, and that also of Daniel, that sanctuary was destroyed; and the testimony further states, “He shall make it desolate, even until the consummation.” It will never be rebuilt. It has been superceded by the sanctuary of the better covenant.
The greater part of the 2300 days belong to the gospel dispensation, and to the new-covenant sanctuary. Only seventy weeks, 490 years, were given to the Jews and their holy city. Therefore the sanctuary to be cleansed at the end of the days is that which pertains to the new covenant, the one in which Jesus is the minister or mediator.
The sanctuary of the first covenant was cleansed on the tenth day of the seventh month. This was the close of the yearly round of service. A description of this work is found in Lev. 16. Till that day came, no one entered within the second veil, the place of the ark and mercy-seat. But on that day a sin-offering was made in both apartments for the whole house of Israel; that they might be cleansed from all their sins before the Lord. It was a decisive, judgment work. In figure, all their past sins, which had been remitted, were borne out of the sanctuary by the high priest, placed on the head of the scape-goat, and sent away to a land not inhabited. This was a type—“the example and shadow of heavenly things.”
Jesus, in his ministration, must follow this example. At the time appointed for the cleansing of the sanctuary, he must enter upon his ministry within the second veil. Here the atonement must be consummated in behalf of all his people that have lived from the beginning of the world to the last one who shall be sealed to eternal life. It is the blotting out of all their sins, as it is written, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ,” &c. Acts 3 : 19--21. This final work of blotting out of sins decides the cases of his people for eternal life. This investigative judgment takes place in the sanctuary in Heaven; so that when Christ comes, he brings the reward to all his people. Hence it was right, that when we came to the end of the days in 1844, that it should be proclaimed as it was, “The hour of his judgment is come.”
When the time for this work is come, that portion of the sanctuary where the ark of God is, must be opened. Accordingly its opening was predicted as a grand event to transpire under the sounding of the seventh trumpet. Rev. 11 : 15--19. During the sounding of this trumpet the nations are angry, the wrath of God comes, the time of the dead that they should be judged, and the reward given to all the people of God. The great day of unmingled wrath cannot come, until the intercessions of Christ in the sanctuary are ended; but the closing work of his ministration, the cleansing of the sanctuary, may be going forward while the nations are angry. Then the wrath threatened in the last message, of Rev. 14 : 9--12, will follow. The time appointed for the opening of the inner sanctuary or temple came at the end of the 2300 days in 1844. The anger of the nations was manifest in 1848, and will continue till the close of probation. Then will come the great day of wrath.
It is the inner temple which is opened : for the ark is there. The prophet does not say, “I saw,” as in many instances, but, “There was seen ;” as if, at its opening, the people would be led to the discovery of the true temple in Heaven as the anti-type of the earthly sanctuary, and would have their attention especially called to the ark as the shrine containing the moral law, the ten commandments.
This has been verified in the history of the advent movement. There was incontrovertible evidence that the 2300 days would end in 1844. It was inferred that the Lord would then come, which failing to be realized, the disappointment was great. This led to deep and prayerful searching of the Scriptures in regard to the sanctuary and its cleansing; and the consequence was that the true view of the temple of God in Heaven, and the closing work of our High Priest there, was opened to their view. Before, it was hidden from the view of all; now, it is open to every humbly-inquiring mind. Glorious view! overlooked by the proud, because of its simplicity; but hailed by the humble with solemn and grateful delight.
The ten commandments are not abolished, nor changed. They are in the ark, beneath the mercy-seat in the temple of God in Heaven. The atonement is being made in respect to that law which man has transgressed. Pardon may still be obtained; for our High Priest pleads at the mercy-seat. And while this solemn, judgment work is going forward in Heaven, the attention of the people on earth is being called by a special message of warning to that law which is the rule of life to every living person, and the rule by which all are to be judged.
The closing work of intercession is already in progress, the work that will decide the destinies of mankind. The last message of warning is fast making its way to the nations of the earth, bearing to men “the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14 : 9--12. The result is that people in many nations are beginning to keep the commandments as they are written in the law of God.
The Sabbath commandment is still a part of the Divine law. It is securely enclosed from the strife of tongues within the sacred ark in the heavenly temple. It still demands of all men that they rest from their secular labor on the seventh day, the day on which God rested from his creative work, and which, for this reason, he sanctified and blessed. The story that it has been changed to another day, the first day of the week, is only a fable. There is no higher authority for the change than the Antichristian power described in Dan. 7 : 20--26 ; Rev. 13 : 1--10 ; 2 Thess. 2 : 3--8. Hence the warning against the worship of the beast results in turning men to the keeping of the commandments as they are. And this work is going forward in many nations. Men are turning to the Sabbath of the Lord—the day so long trodden under foot of men.
This work is of God, and not of men. It will be known in the end that, notwithstanding the fallibility of human agency, the Unseen Hand has guided this advent movement from first to last. The prophecy of the advent messages (Rev. 14 : 6--12) have been in process of fulfillment; and truths sublime and grand, though simple and plain, have been developed from the word of God. A work of greater importance never occupied any period of the history of our race. The closing work of our High Priest is the order of God's work in Heaven. On earth the last message of mercy is sounding to prepare a people for the close of the work in Heaven. Soon the work of salvation will be ended, and the time for every one to receive as his work shall be, will come. May the Lord help us to interest ourselves in the work of God; and then give us a place in his everlasting kingdom. R. F. Cottrell.
Magnify and Magnified.
By A. S. Hutchins
Is not the significance of each of these words equally obvious in the following scriptures? "The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honorable." Isa. 42:21.
"And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee." Josh. 3:7.
"And the Lord magnified Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel, and bestowed upon him such royal majesty as had not been on any king before him in Israel." 1 Chron. 29:25.
The following are definitions given of the word magnify, by Mr. Webster: 1. To make great, or greater; to increase the apparent dimensions of a body. 2. To make great in representation; to extol; to exalt in description or praise. 3. To extol; to exalt; to elevate; to raise in estimation.
Respecting magnifying Joshua, and Solomon, there can be but one mind. In the clearest possible manner the Lord told how this should be, and was done. And is it not just as evident to every candid mind how the law of God was magnified by the Son of God? Are not the following points sustained by facts in the case?
1. The law was magnified, exalted, by the teachings of Christ in his sermon upon the mount, in declaring its immutability, and perpetuity, and also that it takes cognisance of every motive and intention of the heart, as well as the outward actions of life.
2. The law was magnified by his life of strict conformity to its just and holy precepts, thus setting an example for those who would follow in his footsteps. Here the law of the Most High "was drawn out in living characters."
3. The law was exalted, and its sacred precepts vindicated by the death of the Son of God. If the law was of so high an estimate in the mind of its Author, as to give his Son to die that man might be redeemed from its curse, how could the Lawgiver, consistent with any principle of reason or of respect to his own authority, abolish his law, and thus legalize sin?
It would almost seem that men have come to believe it dangerous to render obedience to God's commandments, as though the Scriptures read: Whosoever therefore shall disbelieve, and disobey the commandments shall be saved, but whosoever shall do and teach them shall be damned.
"From worldly wisdom, save me, Lord,
Though men may prudence call it;
My heart be anchored on thy word,
Whatever storms befall it."
The pious doctor Adam Clarke bears a most decided testimony in favor of the law of God in his comments at the conclusion of the eighteenth chapter of Leviticus, as follows:—
"1. How true is that word, The law of the Lord is perfect; in a small compass, and yet in a most minute detail, it comprises every thing that is calculated to instruct, direct, convince, correct, and fortify the mind of man. Whatever has a tendency to corrupt or injure man, that, it forbids; whatever is calculated to comfort him, promote and secure his best interests, that it commands. It takes him in all possible states, views him in all connections, and provides for his present and eternal happiness.
"As the human soul is polluted, and tends to pollution, the great doctrine of the law is holiness to the Lord: this it keeps invariably in view, in all its commands, precepts, ordinances, rites, and ceremonies. And how forcibly in all these does it say, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength; and thy neighbor as thyself. This is the prominent doctrine of the preceding chapter; and this shall be fulfilled in them who believe; for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to them that believe. Reader, magnify God for his law, for by it is the knowledge of sin; and magnify him for his Gospel, for by this is the cure for sin."
A. S. HUTCHINS.
Reflections on Love and Purity
LOVE is not an intellectual admiration, a gratified imagination. It is too tangible for definement. But the soul knoweth its presence by its fullness of content in the beloved. —Oakes Smith.
THE Creator works no miracles to bring back its lost whiteness to the snow. But the whole array of His miracles has nothing to compare with what He has done to restore your soul's lost purity.—Congregationalist.
Fashionable Mothers.
FASHIONABLE mothers, what are you doing to make the world better or happier— to elevate, purify, and sanctify? How are you training your sons and daughters? On gospel principles, to habits of industry, economy, purity, and sobriety; and is your influence for good or evil; on the side of virtue or of vice?
Who ever knew a great and good man, or great and good women, reared under the tuition of a fashionable mother? Whence came our Moseses, Miriams, Samuels, John the Baptists, our Timothys, Wesleys, Doddridges, the John Newtons, the Washingtons—whence are they—who trained them, moulded their infantile years--fashionable mothers? Not one! These great, good, holy, and eminently useful men had great and good mothers—plain, practical, industrious, economical, diligent in business, prayerful, God-fearing.—See Prov. 31:10-31.
Read the biographies of all our great and good men and women, from early time to the present—not one of them had a fashionable mother. They all sprang from plain, strong-minded women, who had as little to do with fashion as with the changing clouds. Away, then, with your starch, your aristocracy, your gewgaws, your pride, and your folly. Live for something—live for God and glory.
A pious mother, then, is the greatest of all earthly blessings. The influence she exerts is the most excellent known on earth. Children brought up by a godly mother--who knows her duty and does it—who doubts their salvation? She makes the earliest, the deepest, and the most lasting impressions on their hearts. In their minds, religion is associated with all that is kind, winning, and pleasant in home-life. They grow up with reverence for the Bible, the Sabbath, the house of God, and the ministers of Christ. They cannot remember the first time they heard the name of Jesus, or bowed their knees in prayer, or lisped the praises of God. They are instructed to hate and shun vice, and the seductions to it, and to admire and practice virtue. Having been trained up in the way that they should go, when they are old they will not depart from it.
How great is their responsibility! God has committed to them the salvation of their own offspring. To secure the faithful discharge of the trust, he has planted in the maternal heart an affection which no toil, care, or sacrifice can exhaust. No mother, who studies her responsibility or the interests of her children, can consent to be without the sustaining and guiding influence of divine grace.
Fashion kills more women than toil and sorrow. Obedience to fashion is a greater transgression of the law of woman's nature, a greater injury to her physical constitution, than the hardships of poverty and neglect. The slave woman at her task will live and grow old, and see two or three generations of her mistresses fade and pass away. The washerwoman, with scarcely a ray of hope to cheer her in her toils, will live to see her fashionable sisters all die around her. It is a sad truth that the fashion-pampered women are almost worthless for the great ends of human life. They have but little force of character, they have still less of moral will, and quite as little physical energy.
The Home Circle.
HIDDEN BEAUTIES.
IN an ancient church in the city of Rome,
Far up in the grand and lofty dome,
The master hand of an artist had traced
Cartoons, which should never have been defaced.
The sun that stole through the turret blinds
Had faded the colors and marred the designs;
And dust, like a veil, gathered thick and fast,
And hid from the present the work of the past.
And the thronging people who worship below,
And the priests who are wont to come and go,
Ne'er dream, as they gaze on the wall so high,
Of the rare beauties that hidden lie.
But a painter, one day enwrapped in thought,
On the dingy walls an outline caught,
And guessed that under the dust and mould
Lay the work of some of the artists old.
And when he had swept the dust away,
And freely let in the light of day,
The magic brush in his skillful hand
Retouched into life the pictures so grand.
And they flooded the chapel with radiance bright,
Till it seemed almost like a holy light,
And the people, delighted, laughed and wept.
To think that the walls such a prize had kept,
So all around in this world of ours
Are beautiful characters, fairer than flowers,
By evil influence marred and specked,
Or hidden away under cold neglect,
That need but the touch of a helping hand,
And a pitying love that will understand,
To clear the rubbish and wrong away,
And raise to the life of an endless day.
— Watchman and Reflector.
Living With Ben.
"I CAN'T be a Christian and live with Ben," Mrs. Moore said it. And Ben was her husband.
She told her minister so; and the next Sunday he preached about it. That was our old minister, Father P——, who had been settled over the parish twenty-seven years. He used to preach right at us, not over our heads. He never shot at random; he never wasted any of his arrows; they all went straight home to the mark—they hit. When he came round calling on us in the week, if he heard us complain that Brother A. or Sister B. did not do as they ought to, he came down upon us the next Sunday. He did not allude to Brother A. or Sister B. though. Not a word about their shortcomings; but he took us on Christian charity and forbearance, and made very plain to us the beam in our own eyes.
On this occasion he might just as well have said: "My hearers, my subject this morning is living with Ben Moore; the impossibility for a Christian to do it."
Mrs. Moore was a kind of intermittent Christian. Or as one of the deacons said, she "did not seem to be converted all through." She seemed to think that religion was something that belonged with Sundays and prayer-meetings; something too spiritual for every day. It did not appear to occur to her that her life ought to be regulated by it; that there was a principle in it, which was able to keep her steadfast. It was a state of mind, an experience, which came and then was all over with, as a dream is. When she was in meetings, and was with Christian people, and when nothing especially crossed her, she "enjoyed her mind," as she called it; and nobody doubted that she did try to live a Christian life.
But her "thorn in the flesh" was Ben. He had an irritable temper; and she never appeared to think that it was a part of her discipline to bear it. He was often absent for many weeks at a time on business; and then she was a good Christian, consistent, cheerful, contented. But when he came home, she said she "fell from grace;" and if she had not once had clear evidence to that effect, she should be afraid she never had been converted at all.
He found fault, and she retorted; and they had some bitter experiences of recrimination, till neither of them had any respect for her character as a Christian; which was the saddest part of all to her, for somewhere in the woman's consciousness was a feeling, which at times amounted to a conviction that she truly had repented of her sins and accepted Christ; and she would not for the world have been shut out from her hope in him.
"And oh!" she said to Father P——, "if I were differently situated I think I could live a consistent life. But I can't be a Christian and live with Ben."
So the dear old man preached about it. He had a homely, direct way; and the first thing he said was: "We have among us some of the old-fashioned kind of saints, who speak about how they 'got religion.' And nobody doubts but they did get it. But what was it? What do they mean by it? They are in possession of something, which has not only given them great comfort and support all the way along, but has made them better than they were before. A woman may have a hope in Christ, and still not be any more lovable for it; a man may have faith enough to save him and yet be no kinder, no more considerate; but in such a case, religion is not doing its work.
"And the excuse of some, that they have many provocations, that they are in a hard place, is of no avail. Is it any merit to be amiable where there is nothing to hinder? There are families in which it is so easy to be good, that it would be proof of utter depravity not to be. In the homes where all are Christians, there are so many mutual helps that the members fail of some of the strongest tests of their Christian life, and likewise of some of its deepest and richest experiences. And I apprehend that our Saviour watches with a more tender solicitude the sorely-tried ones whom he has set solitary in irreligious households."
And he went on to say: "I have failed in one of the most vital points in my ministry, if I have failed to make it plain to my people that the spiritual cannot be a separate thing from the natural life; the two must go along together; they must be incorporated till the diviner element, working all through the other, like the leaven, shall be constantly making us more and more like him into whose image we shall one day be changed.—Congregationalist.
The Wood-sled in the Kitchen.
ONE winter evening, not long since, I went to call upon a neighbor who was in very feeble health, and in whom I had taken great interest. She was a simple and humble Christian woman who manifested great patience through her sickness, though she enjoyed but few of the comforts, and none of the luxuries which an abundance of this world's goods can bestow.
On receiving the answer, "Come in," to my knocking on the "keeping-room" door, I entered the humble apartment, and what was my surprise to see about half the room taken up by a great double-sled, such as we often see drawn by oxen in the winter, working upon which the husband of my friend was most vigorously employed.
"Excuse me, madam," said the honest man, rising and making a very civil bow, "my wife was feeling pretty poorly this evening, and the little ones are in bed, and so I thought I would bring my wood-sled in here to paint, so as to keep her company, as I have promised to have it finished tomorrow."
"That is right, Mr. Ellis," I replied. "Please make no apology, for I am delighted to see you so sociable. And how much more pleasant for both of you; for here is my friend Janette sitting by the fire with her knitting in the big cosy chair, and you working away at your sled, and you can chat together more merrily, I dare say, than if you were sitting in some elegant drawing-room, with nothing to do."
After making a very pleasant call, I bade my friend good evening, and on my way home, I thought, "Here is the secret of the happiness of this unpretending couple. They are dependent upon each other for all their comforts and pleasures; and, in their simple way, they enjoy life because they do not go beyond their own limited home circle for all their enjoyments."
This simple picture of my friend, Mr. Ellis, painting his big wood-sled in the room, so as to keep his wife company, has become almost like a proverb in our family. "Can't you bring in your wood-sled, and come and sit with us?" is often said, where some slight occupation comes in the way of a social meeting.
And often this humble home picture has been brought to my mind, when I have witnessed how far apart the employment of husband and wife seems to be. "I must go to my office, this evening, my dear," says the husband to the delicate wife, who has been very lonely all day. I say to myself, "Why can't you bring your wood-sled into the house, and sit with your wife, and be a happy couple in each other's company!"
Ah! if more men were like my friend Ellis, and would make it their duty as well as the pleasure to devote more time to their homes and the comfort of their families, the bar-rooms, the billiard-rooms, and card-rooms would not be quite so well filled, and peace and happiness would reign where now are weariness and discontent, all for the want of the mutual dependence, which alone can make the home, be it ever so humble, a Heaven upon earth.—Christian Weekly.
A Significant Testimony.
EDWIN BOOTH, perhaps the foremost representative of the modern drama, responding to an invitation from the editors of the Christian Union, expressed his views on the theatre question in a letter from which we quote:
“My knowledge of the modern drama is so very meagre that I never permit my wife or daughter to witness a play without previously ascertaining its character. This is the method I pursue; I can suggest no other, unless it might be by means of a ‘dramatic censor,’ whose taste or judgment might, however, be frequently at fault.”
Here we have a man, himself an actor by profession, who does not think it safe for his wife or daughter to witness the performances of the best American theatres, without previous investigation as to the character of the plays. This testimony, from the pen of a man like Booth, careful and guarded as it is, is a stronger condemnation of the theatre of to-day than the most violent denunciation of any Christian pulpit can be. It is a testimony from behind the scenes, which simply confirms the patent and notorious fact that the theatre, as an institution, is corrupt immoral, unsafe, destructive. Manly virtue, and female purity are not safe in its foul atmosphere. It is unreformable. It is a satanic trap to catch souls. It is “the illuminated and decorated gate-way to ruin.” The only safe side the theatre has is the outside, and this is the side which every wise man and woman occupies.—Evangelical Messenger.
Envy Not the Oppressor
Envy not thou the oppressor.
A Star in the Crown.
A young lady was preparing for the dance-hall, and standing before a large mirror, placed a light crown ornamented with silver stars, upon her head. While thus standing, a little fair-headed sister climbed in a chair and put her tiny fingers to examine this beautiful head-dress, and was accosted thus--"Sister, what are you doing? You should not touch that crown!" Said the little one--"I was looking at that, and thinking of something else." "Pray, tell me what you are thinking about—you, a little child." "I was remembering that my Sabbath-school teacher said, that if we save sinners by our influence we should win stars to our crown in Heaven; and when I saw those in your crown I wished I could save some soul." The elder sister went to the dance, but in solemn meditation; the words of the innocent child found a lodgment in her heart, and she could not enjoy the association of her friends. At a seasonable hour she left the hall and returned to her home: and going to her chamber, where her dear little sister was sleeping, imprinted a kiss on her soft cheek, and said; "Precious sister, you have won one star for your crown;" and kneeling at the bedside, offered a fervent prayer to God for mercy.
Danger in Books.
I HAD a friend who started in commercial life, and as a book merchant, with a high resolve. He said: "In my store there shall be no books that I would not have my family read." Time passed on, and one day I went into his store and found some iniquitous books on the shelf, and I said to him, "How is it possible that you can consent to sell such books as these?" "Oh!" he replied, "I have got over those puritanical notions. A man cannot do business in this day unless he does it in the way other people do it." To make a long story short, he lost his hope of Heaven, and in a little while he lost his morality, and then he went into a madhouse. In other words, when a man casts off God, God casts him off.—Talmage.
A Joke on the Eagle.
A GENTLEMAN who resides near one of the inlets of the Chesapeake Bay, while taking a walk by the water's edge, saw a fish-hawk rise from the water with a prize in its mouth. After getting a short distance inland, the hawk was attacked by an eagle, evidently waiting for a meal, and a quiet spectator of the fishing. Very soon the hawk dropped the fish, which the eagle catching in the air, flew away with, apparently disregarding the pangs of a guilty conscience. The next day the gentleman noticed a repetition of the fishing operation, and on the eagle's approach, as before, the hawk dropped its prey and disappeared. The eagle caught it in the air, but, strange enough, let it go, and it fell to the ground. Greatly interested, the gentleman concluded to go and examine the cause of the unusual conduct of the thieving "Emblem of Freedom." On reaching the spot he found the supposed fish to be a decayed bone.
The Effect of Politeness.
A brave, intelligent terrier, belonging to a lady friend, one day discovered a monkey belonging to an itinerant organ-grinder, seated upon the bank within the grounds, and at once made a dash for him. The monkey, who was attired in a jacket and hat, awaited the onset with such undisturbed tranquility that the dog halted within a few feet of him to reconnoiter. Both animals took a long, steady stare at each other, but the dog evidently was recovering from his surprise, and about to make a spring for the intruder. At this critical juncture the monkey, who had remained perfectly quiet hitherto, raised his paw and gracefully saluted by lifting his hat. The effect was magical; the dog's head and tail dropped, and he sneaked off and entered the house, refusing to leave it till he was satisfied that his polite but mysterious guest had departed. His whole demeanor showed that he felt the monkey was something "uncanny," and not to be meddled with.—Nature.
Begin Aright.
If you are about to do a piece of work, you will be careful to begin it right; otherwise you will have to take it in pieces and do it over again. If you are going on a journey, you will be careful at first to get into the right road. The way to begin life aright, my child, is first of all to seek God, for “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
Seeking Praise
NONE have less praise than those who hunt most after it.
Secular News.
By Editor
—The forces in Afganistan are preparing for a further struggle.
—A very destructive tornado passed through Georgia on the night of March 23.
—It is rumored that Queen Victoria will visit her daughter in Canada, and the United States.
—Reports from Europe do not show as favorable business prospects as in the United States.
—A convent near Cairo, Ill., was struck by lightning and burned early on the morning of March 26.
—Earthquakes in Persia are reported, March 22 and 23, destroying two villages, and nearly 1100 lives.
—Bismarck is reported to have become more moderate in dealing with the members of the Reichstag.
—A revolution is progressing in Sonora. But a revolution in any part of Mexico can hardly be called "news."
—Two accidents happened on the elevated railways of New York, March 25. About twenty persons were injured.
—The Merchants' Protective Association held a meeting in San Francisco March 25, in opposition to the new constitution.
—The plague has re-appeared in Russia. Vigorous measures are being adopted in hope to prevent its spread in the Spring.
—Eighty saloon keepers, the Mayor, and two Police Commissioners, are reported indicted by the Grand Jury of Rochester, N. Y.
—Boston reports increasing activity in business. The same on the canals in New York. Also among the merchants in San Francisco.
—The Council of the Chamber of Commerce of Liverpool, Eng., has adopted a resolution in favor of an international agreement for the remonetization of silver.
—It is said the death-rate from famine in Cashmere, India, is terrible; at the present rate the province is liable to be depopulated by the end of the present year.
—Andrew D. White, late a Professor in Michigan University, and later President of Cornell College, has been nominated by President Hayes as Minister to Germany.
—Congressman Whiteaker, who made such a hurried ride to Washington, voted for Blackburn for Speaker, who was not elected. And now they are asking, What was the use?
—A recent fire at Akyab, Farther India, which was accidental, destroyed the native portion of the town. The loss is estimated at £500,000. Thousands were rendered homeless.
—Times must be hard in New York—or ought to be. It is said that $50,000 were taken at the doors at the recent walking match, and an unlicensed liquor stand took in money at the rate of five dollars a minute.
—The famine in Upper Egypt causes terrible suffering. In some villages the people, naked like wild beasts, dig for roots. In one town women and children fought over scraps of bread. The inland villages are said to be starving.
—It is thought that the occupancy of most of the offices in the present Congress by Ex-Confederates, and the eulogies pronounced on Jeff Davis in the Senate, have greatly increased the chances of Gen. Grant for the Presidency.
—J. D. Mc-Intire, of Pekin, known as the king of the whisky ring, pleaded guilty in the United States Court to all the indictments against him. He was fined $1000 and his distillery forfeited on two pleas, and sentence was suspended as to the others, on condition that he squeals on the other ringsters.
—Col. Thomas Buford, brother of Gen. Buford, shot Judge Elliott, of the Court of Appeals, in Lexington, Ky., March 26. The reason he assigned was that the Judge had rendered a decision adverse to the Buford family; and he said he would have shot Judge Pryor also had not some children been in the way.
—When Sitting Bull went to Canada, the Dominion authorities endorsed his decision to remain a subject there, and the United States relinquished their efforts to get possession of him. He has lately been committing depredations across the line, and the American Cabinet resolves to notify the Dominion of the trespass of their subject.
—In the English House of Lords, March 28, Lord Beaconsfield acknowledged that the depression of the agricultural interest was unprecedented, but the depression was anticipated when protection was abolished. It was estimated that the public wealth had diminished £80,000,000, and the area of land under cultivation had diminished 1,000,000 acres.
—Renewed floods in Hungary have covered 12,000 acres of land which had already been sown, and the lives of 12,000 people are endangered. The water at Szegedin is again rising. If the rise continues there will be little chance of saving the few remaining houses. Titel will scarcely escape a terrible disaster. The water is breaking over the dykes. The soldiers and laborers strengthening them are exhausted. Other places are threatened. There is not a single boat at Devaounya, and great loss of life is certain if the flood increases.
Good Health.
Pork;
OR THE DANGERS OF PORK EATING EXPOSED.
(Concluded.)
APOLOGIES FOR PORK-EATING EXAMINED.
4. ON every hand we are met by all sorts of excuses for continuing to make swine's flesh an article of diet in spite of the striking evidence of its dangerous character which we have presented, and the truth of which no one can gainsay. Let us examine a few of the most common of these apologies and test their value.
PORK IS NECESSARY AS A HEAT-FORMING FOOD IN WINTER.
Are there not plenty of more healthy animals than hogs to supply all the animal oil necessary? Certainly there are. And, better still, we have the various grains and farinaceous vegetables which are abundantly sufficient to furnish all the heat required by man in any latitude.
OUR FATHERS AND GRANDFATHERS ATE PORK AND YET LIVED TO VERY OLD AGE.
Ah! yes; my good friend, and you are suffering the penalty of their transgressions. You may not be well aware of it as yet; but more than likely as not, your old age will not be so free from ills as was theirs. And quite as probably you may even now see in your children the results of your own, as well as your father's, disregard of the dictates of sound sense in feasting upon the hog. Their frequent sore eyes, sore mouths, tetter, erysipelas, and other eruptions, are all evidences of the scrofula which they have inherited.
Neither can you urge the plea, "Pork does not hurt me." No man ever became a drunkard who did not make the same excuse for liquor. You may not feel it now; but the future will expose your delusion.
THE HOG IS CLEANLY IF YOU GIVE HIM A CHANCE TO BE SO.
It is surprising to us that any person who knows anything of the real nature of a hog can make such an assertion. Who has not seen many a hog wallowing in the foulest mire right in the middle of a green, fragrant clover pasture? The dirty creature will turn away from the nicest bed of straw to revel in a stagnant, seething mud-hole. If one of his companions dies in the lot or pen, he will wait until putrefaction occurs, and then greedily devour the stinking carcass. The filthy brute will even devour his own excrement, and that when not unusually pressed by hunger.
The hog is by nature a scavenger, and is especially adapted for that purpose. Let him pursue his natural calling.
SUFFICIENT HEAT WILL KILL THE TRICHINÆ AND INCIPIENT TAPE-WORMS.
Surely, dead worms cannot kill any one; but it must be delightful for the pork-eater to contemplate his ham or sausage with the reflection that he will find it a diet of worms. The Frenchman sometimes eats earth worms; the African relishes lizards; and one philosopher so far overcame his natural prejudices as to eat spiders. How disgusting, you say; and yet shut your eyes and swallow a million monsters at a meal, because they are cooked, and so cannot bite. The louse-eating Patagonian cannot equal that.
WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH THE HOG?
Stop raising him. Turn him loose. He will soon find his place, like the five thousand which ran down into the sea in the days of Christ. If he must be raised, use him for illuminating our halls and houses. Lubricate our car and wagon axles with his abundant fat. Do anything with him but eat him. It would be dangerous to adopt the principle that we must devour everything which is in the way, or which cannot be otherwise utilized. Adam Clarke thought of one appropriate use to make of him. He said that if he was going to make an offering to the devil he would employ a hog stuffed with tobacco.
Reader, what will you do? Can you continue to use as food such an abominable article as pork, and in so doing run so many risks as you must do? And if you decide that the animal is unfit to claim a place upon your own table, can you conscientiously raise and sell him, to your neighbor's injury?
ONE of the New York papers, commenting upon an estimate that 15,000 persons died from yellow fever last summer, and that the losses in money trade aggregated from $175,000,000 to $200,000,000, remarks that negligence is the worst kind of political economy, since an expenditure of one twentieth part of what the fever has cost might have prevented it altogether.