THE last symbol of Rev. 13, the beast with two horns like a lamb, was described, as he came forth and took his place among the symbols of earthly governments, as “coming up out of the earth.” This expression is most clearly designed to point us to the contrast between the manner of its rise, and that of the other symbols introduced in the prophecy. They rose out of the sea. Daniel’s four beasts came up as the four winds of heaven strove upon the great sea. The first beast of Rev. 13, the one preceding the symbol under notice, and embodying all the characteristics of Daniel’s four, also came up out of the sea. There was all the fury of the gale, the roaring and dashing of the waves, the noise and tumult of the raging storm; and in the midst of this confusion, as if stirred up by the fearful commotion, these four beasts reared their heads. In other words, the empires of which they were the symbols, arose by the upheavals of revolution, and through the strife of war.
The two-horned beast comes up out of the earth. No tempest of political excitement is raised, no armies clash together like the waves of the sea. John beholds only the unbroken surface of the immovable earth, and coming up calmly and peaceably, bearing on his head the symbols of gentleness and innocence—the horns of a lamb—this beast arises.
In the rise of our own government, this very feature, the peacefulness of its rise and progress, is one of the prominent things that arrest the attention of the beholder. Political writers mention it; and the more remarkable part of it is, that, without dreaming that prophecy had pointed all this out eighteen hundred years ago, they use terms to describe it, almost identical with those used by the prophet; at least, those which are exactly parallel in meaning; showing that the same channel in which the mind of the inspired writer was led when making the prediction, is followed by the political historian in recording its fulfillment.
This is shown in the following extracts which I give from a work entitled, “The New World Compared with the Old,” by George Alfred Townsend. The first extract is from pages 462, 463. Two sentences I italicize to more particularly arrest the attention of the reader:—
Our attention is turned from Europe to the near Orient, whence are to come the problems of multitude and mode which will speedily overflow the Rocky Mountains, and meet Europe half way on the plains of Missouri. Destinies of colossal magnitude tower in that Asiatic mist, and with youth, but confidence, we accept them. This hemisphere was laid away for no one race; the pilgrims, and they of the caravans of the earth, have seen our star, and at last the English Magi also.
And ours is the government of which Emile de Girardin in “La Liberte” says (1868): “The population of America, not thinned by any conscription, multiplies with prodigious rapidity, and the day may before long be seen, when they will number sixty or eighty millions of souls. This parvenue is aware of his importance and destiny. Hear him proudly exclaim, “America for Americans!” See him promising his alliance to Russia; and we see that power which well knows what force is, grasp the hand of this giant of yesterday.
In view of his unparalleled progress and combination, what are the little toys with which we vex ourselves in Europe? What is this needle gun, we are anxious to get from Prussia, that we may beat her next year with it? Had we not better take from America the principle of liberty she embodies, out of which have come her citizen pride, her gigantic industry, and her formidable loyalty to the destinies of her Republican land?
Since America was discovered, she has been a subject of revolutionary thought in Europe. The mystery of her coming forth from vacancy, the marvel of her wealth in gold and silver, the spectacle of her captives led through European capitals, filled the minds of men with unrest; and unrest is the first stage of revolution. Out of her discovery grew the European reformation in religion; out of our Revolutionary War grew the revolutionary period of Europe. And out of our rapid development among great States and happy peoples, has come an immigration more wonderful than that which invaded Europe from Asia in the latter centuries of the Roman Empire. When we raised our flag on the Atlantic, Europe sent her contributions; it appeared on the Pacific, and all orientalism felt the signal. They are coming in two endless fleets, eastward and westward, and the highway is swung between the oceans for them to tread upon. We have lightened Ireland of half her weight, and Germany is coming by the village load every day. England, herself, is sending the best of her working men now (1869), and in such numbers as to dismay her Jack Bunsbys. What is to be the limit of this mighty immigration?
On page 635, the same writer, speaking of the difference between the English and Spanish settlements on the American continent, says:—
In this web of islands, the West Indies, began the life of both [North and South] Americas. There Columbus saw land, there Spain began her baneful and brilliant Western Empire; thence Cortez departed for Mexico, De Soto for the Mississippi, Balboa for the Pacific, and Pizarro for Peru. The history of the United States was separated by a beneficent Providence far from this wild and cruel history of the rest of the continent, and, like a silent weed, we grew into empire, while empire itself, beginning in the South, was swept by so interminable a hurricane that what of its history we can ascertain is read by the very lightnings that devastated it. The growth of English America may be likened to a series of lyrics sung by separate singers, which coalescing, at last make a vigorous chorus, and this, attracting many from afar, swells and is prolonged, until presently it assumes the density and proportions of epic song.
Can any one doubt that a nation of such progress, capacity, prowess, and influence, as is so vividly set forth above, would fail to find its place and receive its mention, among the prophetic delineations of the governments of earth? Place these expressions side by side: “Coming forth from vacancy,” “like a silent weed, we grow into empire,” “coming up out of the earth.” The first and second are from a political writer describing what has been; the third is from the apostle John, describing what would be. Can any one fail to see the parallel between them? And can any one fail to see how accurately our own government, in this respect, answers to the requirements of the prophecy?
U. S.
The Sanctuary.--No. 1.
By R. F. Cottrell
THE sanctuary of the first covenant was the great center of the system of worship ordained of God for the former dispensation. It was a dwelling-place of the Most High. In giving Moses directions for the building of the tabernacle, God said, "Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them." Ex. 25:8. And afterward, when God chose a place among the tribes of Israel in Canaan to record his name there, the same form of worship was transferred to the temple, which in its main distinguishing features was built according to the same pattern.
The sanctuary was divided into two grand apartments, the holy and the most holy. The apostle describes it thus: "Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary [the holy]. And after the second vail, the tabernacle which is called the holiest of all; which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; and over it the cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy-seat." Heb. 9:1-5.
This sanctuary was the central point to which the worshipers were to look as the place where God dwelt. It is also evident that the most sacred and important things connected with it were those within the second vail. The leading object here was the ark of the covenant, a shrine made expressly to contain the tables of the testimony on which were engraved by the finger of God his holy law, the ten commandments.
God's name was in this law. The chosen title which distinguishes the Creator of all things from all "the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth," is found in that law, in the fourth commandment alone. The reason given why God sanctified the Sabbath day is, that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and rested the seventh day. In this commandment alone, God is distinguished from all false gods as the maker of all things. And the promise of God that he would cause his name to dwell in a chosen place in the land of Israel, was fulfilled by causing the ark containing the law written by his own hand to abide in that place.
The law of the God was covered by the mercy-seat, or propitiatory. This arrangement had a meaning. The law condemned the sinner as its transgressor. Unless mercy shall interpose, the sinner must die; for "the wages of sin is death." But the mercy-seat pointed him to offered pardon; and all the blood of the sin-offerings of that dispensation were offered with reference to the transgressions of the people against that law which was beneath the mercy-seat, in the ark. The blood of beasts could not in reality take away sin. It could only point, as a type, to the blood of Christ, which should, in due time, be offered to cleanse the transgressions of that holy law.
The position of the law of God and the mercy-seat in the sanctuary is a good illustration of the great truth, "Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other." Ps. 85:10. Above the mercy-seat, between the cherubim, God dwelt in his sanctuary, as witnessed by the visible symbol of his glory.
This sanctuary was merely a type of the "true tabernacle," wherein Jesus Christ ministers as High Priest; and the service of the priesthood connected with it was merely a representation of the service of Christ in putting away the sins of his people. The ancient sanctuary and priesthood belonged to the first covenant; the sanctuary and priesthood of the new of Christ pertain to the new. The former is called by the apostle "a worldly sanctuary;" but the sanctuary and priesthood of the new covenant is in Heaven. Says Paul, "We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices; wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law; who serve into the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount." Heb. 8:1-5.
From this testimony we may learn, 1. That under the new, or gospel covenant, we have a High Priest in Heaven. 2. That he ministers there in a sanctuary called "the true tabernacle," distinguished from the one pitched by man, as the one "which the Lord pitched." 3. That as priests were ordained to make offerings, it was necessary that he as a priest should make an offering. 4. That his work as a priest is in Heaven, and not on the earth; God having given to Aaron and his sons forever the earthly priesthood. 5. That the service of the earthly priest was "the example and shadow of heavenly things," that is, it was a type of the service of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary. 6. That the tabernacle built by Moses was made according to a pattern shown him; and he must be particular to follow the pattern precisely, because that tabernacle was to be the best possible representation of the true tabernacle, in which Christ ministers.
Let these particulars be closely examined, and two points will be clearly evident. 1. That the heavenly sanctuary, like the earthly, has two apartments. 2. That Christ must minister successively in the two apartments; for, according to the "example," the priests went daily into the holy, but the high priest alone, on the last day of the yearly round of service, into the most holy place.
The Greek word translated sanctuary in Heb. 8:2, quoted above, is in the plural number, and signifies holies, or holy places. In Heb. 9:8 the same term is rendered holiest of all, in verse 12, holy place. In chapter 10:19, it is rendered holiest. But in each of these instances it would be properly translated as it is in chapter 9:24, holy places. "For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true." Here the fact is recognized that the earthly sanctuary had holy places, and besides this, it is expressly declared that these holy places were figures of the true holy places where Christ is a minister. Heb. 8:2. Much more proof might be cited on this point, but this is enough to prove that the sanctuary in Heaven has its two holy places, like that upon the earth.
And as the ministration of the priests on earth was an example or shadow of Christ's ministration in the heavenly holy places, it is certain that He must minister first in the first apartment of the sanctuary, and afterward enter the second apartment, the most holy, to finish the work of his priesthood.
The earthly priests served in the first holy place only, every day throughout the year; then, on an appointed day, the high priest entered the most holy place. This work in the most holy finished the round of service. The services of this day were most solemn. The day was called the day of atonement. It was said, "For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the Lord." From this language it seems that the services of this day were all-important; that without this, all the offerings of the past would be in effect incomplete; that they would not be cleansed from their sins. This day's service is described in Lev. 16. By reading carefully verses 16-20, 33, it will be seen that an atonement was made that day for the sanctuary and the altar of incense to cleanse them from the sins of the people; and all their sins are represented as being borne out of the sanctuary and placed upon the head of the scape-goat and sent away. Hence this work was the cleansing of the sanctuary.
Must our High Priest finish his work of intercession in behalf of his people, by following the example and doing a work corresponding to this? It is necessary, if he follow that which was given expressly as a type. It is objected that the heavenly things need no cleansing, or purifying. The answer is, The cleansing of the earthly sanctuary had reference only to the taking away of the sins of the people which had been imputed to it; and if our sins have been borne into the heavenly sanctuary by our Priest, it is necessary that they should be removed. Let us hear what an apostle says on this point. Heb. 9:23. "It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; [the blood of animals;] but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these."
The point is settled that Jesus as our priest must follow the type of the Levitical priesthood; and consequently must finish his priestly work by a general atonement for all his people. Under the law there was a set day for this work, the tenth day of the seventh month in each year. It seems reasonable that there shall be a time appointed in prophecy for this momentous work--a time for the cleansing of the sanctuary of the new covenant. Accordingly we read in Dan. 8:14, "Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." This text may be the basis for a future article.
R. F. COTTRELL.
The Law Given to the Israelites Only.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
WHEN God spoke the ten commandments he introduced himself to Israel in these words: "And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." Ex. 20:1, 2. Those who say that this law was given only to the Jews, try to make a strong argument, thus: I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt. The words thee and thy refer to those, and those only, who were brought out of Egypt.
Then we go on with the commandments: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Six days shalt thou labor." The words thou and thee used in each one of the ten commandments, refer to the same individuals, viz., those brought out of the land of Egypt. Therefore this law was addressed only to the Israelites, and has no reference to other nations.
There are many overwhelming objections to this position; but try their own plan of playing upon the words, thy, thee, &c. I am the Lord thy God. Thy refers only to those brought out of Egypt. Hence God is only the God of the Jews, and is not the God of the Gentiles, because they are not included in this term. It will be seen that it proves this position just as plainly as the other.
We know that this is false. Thus Paul says: "Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also." Rom. 3:29. This one fact shows the falsity of this argument, founded on the use of the words thee and thy in the ten commandments. D. M. CANRIGHT.
The Wife's Mistake.
Mrs. Hopgood prided herself on being the best of housekeepers. She was one of those rapid housewives who pursue an atom of dust as a hunter might pursue a stag. No bold natured fly ever dared to buzz within her dainty walls. No cat purred upon her hearthstone. Plants were tabooed because their leaflets would fall. Canary birds were ruthlessly excluded lest they should scatter seed. Sunshine was regarded as an arch enemy. "It brings flies and fades the carpets," said Mrs. Hopgood. As for Mr. Hopgood and the children they lived mostly in the kitchen.
"I can't have the boys' muddy boots trampling over the carpets, and the girls' sewing in the parlor," said Mrs. Hopgood. "As for Hopgood he don't care where he sits. One place is as good as another where he is concerned."
The Hopgood family also took their meals in the kitchen.
"I've got a dining-room as nice as anybody's," said Mrs. Hopgood, "with a real carved oak side-board with a marble top, and silver polished till its better than any looking-glass; but where's the use of turning things all upside down just for one's own family? Common crockery ware and good bone-handled knives are just as good for every-day use."
"Mamma," said Elsie Hopgood, a cherry-cheeked girl of sixteen, "I should like to sit in the parlor sometimes. Mrs. Montfort and her daughter use theirs every evening, and it looks so pretty and pleasant there."
"Stuff and nonsense!" said Mrs. Hopgood sharply. "I keep house myself after my own fashion, and I give others leave to do the same."
"But, mamma," pleaded Elsie, "I was thinking how I should like to invite all the girls here some evening, and have tea, and afterward some little games. I have been asked out so many times, without ever responding, and I am really ashamed to go."
"Then you had better stay at home," said Mrs. Hopgood, polishing vigorously away at the stem of her silver card receiver.
"I think I see myself with all the young folks in town capering on my Brussels carpet, and cake crumbs and melted cream daubed over everything."
Elsie made no answer, but her countenance quickly fell.
"I wish mamma was like one else," she said to herself, the tears obscuring her eyes. "I wish she was like Kate Prickett's mother, who lets her have company every Thursday evening. John Elton wants me to marry him. If I was married I could have a house of my own, and do just as I pleased."
"Mother," said Mr. Hopgood, a week or two afterward, with a troubled face, "is it true that our Elsie is out walking with John Elton evening after evening? He is a worthless, dissipated fellow, and no fit associate for any girl."
"Mercy upon us! I don't know," said Mrs. Hopgood with a perturbed face. "I supposed she was with Kate Prickett or Clara Montfort. I'm a great deal too busy with pickling and house cleaning to run at a giddy girl's heels the whole time. But I'm going to commence cleaning to-morrow, and then I'll warrant I'll give her enough to do to keep her out of mischief."
"Mother," said Isaac Hopgood, gravely, "sometimes I think that if we made home a little more attractive to our children—"
"Oh, nonsense!" quickly interrupted his wife. "I suppose you'd like us to have tableaux like Mrs. Montfort; or a magic lantern like the little Mickfords. Our children haven't been brought up in that way."
Mr. Hopgood said no more. Mrs. Hopgood was, to use her own expression, "in the thick of house cleaning," the next day, with the carpets rolled into heaps, the floors spattered with soapsuds, and her head tied up in a pocket handkerchief, when the door suddenly opened.
"Take care of my pan of soapsuds and soda!" cried she shrilly. "Oh, its you, is it, Ally?"
"Yes, mother, it's me," said Alexander, her eldest son, who had just gone into business as junior partner to his father. "I say, do leave off washing a minute and attend to me! Ryerson's in town—my old chum, you know—only for one day, and I have asked him to dinner."
"To dinner!" almost screamed Mrs. Hopgood, dropping her brush in her consternation: "Alexander Hopgood, are you crazy? Of course I can't have him to dinner. Just look at the confusion the house is in."
"Oh, he won't mind that, mother. Ryerson is a thoroughly good fellow. Just let him sit down to anything with the rest of us, any—"
"I shall do nothing of the sort, Alexander," said Mrs. Hopgood, severely compressing her lips. "You know I do not approve of your inviting company at any time, still less at such a period as this. If you have been fool enough to ask him, you may get out of the scrape the best way you can."
"But mother—"
"I don't want any more discussion on the subject," says Mrs. Hopgood, dabbling away with the brush.
Alexander went out slamming the door.
"Well!" quoth Alexander Hopgood to himself, "If I can't ask a friend to my home, there's at least the alternative of inviting him to the hotel. I never did such a thing before, but I don't see how else I can manage."
So Alexander Hopgood entertained Mr. Ryerson at the hotel, and gave an unlimited order for iced champagne and desert. And the upshot of it all was that Alexander Hopgood was brought in at eleven o'clock at night by two of the waiters, hopelessly intoxicated.
"Don't be 'f-fraid, mother," stuttered he, brandishing an empty bottle, as he became dimly conscious of her white, scared face bending over him. "Go on with your washing! It's a deal jollier at the hotel than it is at home. Freedom forever! Hoo-oo-ray!"
"Oh, what shall I do?" sobbed Mrs. Hopgood, when the waiters were once more out of the house and the roll of the cab wheels had died away. "To think—only to think that a son of mine should ever disgrace himself thus!"
"It's your own fault, mother," said Benny, the second son. "You wouldn't let Ally bring his friend here."
"Hold your tongue," sharply retorted Mrs. Hopgood, wincing beneath the prick of this home truth. "Call Elsie, I need her help."
"Oh, mother!" piped Fanny, the younger girl, running down stairs in frantic haste, "Elsie ain't here!"
"Not here?"
"No, mother, she hasn't been to bed at all—and there's a note on her table, directed to you."
"Open it, mother," said Isaac Hopgood, huskily.
"This is a sad night for our household. My God! has our home become so distasteful to our children that they fly from it like rats from a sinking vessel?"
Elsie's note was short enough. It read:—
DEAR MOTHER: I am tired of living in the kitchen. I have run away with John Elton, and before you see me again I shall have entered upon a new future. ELSIE.
Mrs. Hopgood broke out into wild, hysterical sobbings. Mr. Hopgood read the hurriedly scrawled paper with a face cold and set like steel.
"Run away with John Elton?" he repeated slowly. "Poor Elsie! then God help her. For he is as great a villain and scoundrel as ever lived; and she has sealed her own doom. Mother! mother! this comes of your housekeeping."
"It wasn't my fault, Isaac," sobbed Mrs. Hopgood, rocking herself backward and forward on a chair into which she had dropped.
"It was your fault," retorted her husband almost savagely. "You made the very name of home a mockery to your children, and shut your soul inside of a scrubbing pail, and now you are reaping the bitter harvest."
Of course poor Alexander Hopgood was unable to lift his throbbing head from the pillow the next day, and his mother never left him until afternoon.
When at last she came down stairs, the parlor blinds were thrown wide open, a flood of sunshine streaming in, the table neatly set in the pretty dining-room, and flowers on the table, and new books, games and puzzles scattered around.
Mrs. Hopgood gazed around with a bewildered air. She hardly knew her own home.
"This is the way in which we must live, henceforth, mother," said her husband cheerily. "Let in the sunshine; teach Ben and Fanny that 'home' is something more than an and try in so far as we can to retrieve the errors of our past life."
Mrs. Hopgood mutely bowed her head. "I will try, husband," she answered.
The Home Circle.
MUCH TO DO.
"NOTHING to do?" O, pause and look around
At those oppressed with want, and sorrow, too!
Look at the wrongs, the sufferings that abound,
Ere yet thou sayest there's naught for thee to do.
"Nothing to do?" Are there no hearts that ache,
No care-worn breasts that heave an anguished sigh,
No burdens that thy hands might lighter make,
No bitter tears thy sympathy might dry?
"Nothing to do?" Ah, look without, within!
Be to thyself and to thy duties true;
Look on the world, its troubles, and its sin,
And own that thou hast much indeed to do.
Wasted Power.
A FRUITFUL cause of power wasted is the common error that great successes are the result of native genius, or inherited talent; that prominent people have become so in spite of themselves, and that for ordinary people to try and emulate them, would be simply absurd.
This is a huge mistake, and one that holds hundreds in mental and spiritual bondage.
Enviable reputations are the visible apexes of pyramids built of steady labor, deep thought, and patient study. Roses do not grow without thorns, and nothing worth having comes by chance, except fortunes, and inherited money is oftener a curse than a blessing.
The patience and perseverance that took a snail to Jerusalem, will bring the most ordinary human being to some Jerusalem of honest usefulness. The humblest abilities are susceptible of development; and as the proverb does not tell us how far from Jerusalem the snail was when he set out on his journey, it often happens that we are nearer our Jerusalem than we dream of.
Regular, systematic work is the secret of all success. A well-known artist and teacher used to say, "that a talent for drawing was well enough, but hard work did the business."
We all know that Nature lavishes her richest gifts on people too lazy to use them, and that others blessed with moderate talents reach the highest positions in arts, sciences, and commerce.
The truth is, we see the bright laurels, and hear the victor's praises sung; but of the trials, the struggles, the disappointments and fears, we are ignorant. Success makes up for all his past sufferings, and he is the first to forget the thorns while enjoying the perfume of the open flower.
It is thus the world over, "no cross, no crown." Ours is an elastic nature, and yields to the soft, expanding properties of success.
From the baking of a light cake, to the successful performance of a great scientific experiment, the same qualities—patience, care, and labor—are brought into requisition, and the humble cook is as deserving of praise as the learned professor.
The only contemptible thing in the world is idleness, the idleness that does nothing thoroughly, shirks all responsibility, and in despair of doing great things folds his hands and does nothing.
If each creature born into the world has its peculiar mission to perform, why, the sooner that mission is discovered, the better.
Let it be great or little, it should be undertaken earnestly and conscientiously, and persevered in with ever-increasing knowledge and power. The room for improvement extends into every department of our social fabric; physically, morally, and mentally, we want building up.
The over-anxious mother.
By Christian at Work
Some of the most amiable women we know make their children's lives intolerable through their over-anxiety. Their everlasting fussing or fretting either annoys their families, or after a while is passed by with as little concern as the idle wind. Their very lovingness helps them to become chronic fault-finders, and their habitual interference, their perpetual cautions and their feminine fidgeting make them continual irritants. The anxious mother comes at last to be a blister rather than a blessing to her household. And her sons, having been used to hearing her complaints on occasions when complaint was not needed, cease to attend with proper respect when her counsels are good and wise.—Christian at Work.
POWER OF A PSALM TUNE.
A good deacon, who was naturally a high tempered man, had been used to beat his oxen over their heads, as all his neighbors did. It was observed that, when he became a Christian, his cattle were remarkably docile. A friend inquired into the secret. “Why,” said the deacon, “formally, when my oxen were a little contrary, I flew into a passion, and beat them unmercifully. This made the matter worse. Now, when they do not behave well, I go behind the load, and sit down and sing Old Hundred. I dont know how it is, but the psalm tune has a surprising effect on my oxen.”
Cheerfulness and Affection
You find yourself refreshed by the presence of cheerful people. Why not make earnest effort to confer that pleasure on others? You will find half the battle is gained if you never allow yourself to say anything gloomy.—Mrs. L. M. Child.
BEAUTY may attract love at first, but it alone cannot retain affection. It is the sterling qualities of the heart and mind that win in the long run.
Reports from the Field.
Pierson, Mich.
JANUARY 29 we commenced meetings at the Maple Grove school-house five miles west of Pierson, and to date have given twenty-four discourses. We are nearly through with the presentation of the Sabbath question, and held our first Sabbath meeting Feb. 22. The brethren from Pierson met with us, and it was one of the most precious seasons that we have ever had the privilege of enjoying. Eight or ten, who had once taken the Lord's name upon them, but whose love had waxed cold, returned to the Lord with hearty confession. Fourteen adults signed the covenant. Several others are keeping the Sabbath, making about twenty in all. The community is very much stirred, and nearly all are convinced on the Sabbath. We are visiting from house to house. Will the friends remember us?
February 24.
Finlay, Dakota.
By S. B. Whitney
THE interest here is still encouraging. One very interesting family have embraced the Sabbath, and others are deeply interested. Twenty were present at our first Sabbath meeting last Sabbath, and some who were anxious to be there were prevented by ill health. The meeting was good, the Lord being present. As the school-house is now vacant, and the storm and cold weather have somewhat reduced our audiences, we have decided to return there with our meetings this week. Opposition is being manifested to some extent, mostly of a private character.
Bro. Olsen reports good interest, crowded houses, and some embracing the truth.
February 25. S. B. Whitney.
Onarga and Oakland, Ill.
By G. W. Colcord
EARLY this month I held a few meetings at Onarga, and found the church thriving. Lately I have held services at Sadorus. We organized a church of seven members, and afterwards admitted the eighth.
I have spoken in Oakland twice. Last night five arose for prayers. This morning one desired baptism. We are hoping to build a meeting-house. One has promised $300; and another said, "Give me the material, and I will see that the house is built."
G. W. COLCORD.
Kempton, Ford Co., Ill.
By Lewis Johnson
I HAVE labored about a month in Kankakee and Ford counties. I met with our French and American brethren at Kankakee and St. Anne when Elds. Colcord and Bourdeau were there. These meetings were a great encouragement to me. The Lord has blessed me in my labors.
The word of God has made a great stir here. Eight have promised to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. I have obtained eleven subscribers for the Tidende and one for the Signs, and sold books for $4.95.
LEWIS JOHNSON.
Martintown, Ill.
By Daniel T. Bourdeau
At Martintown I have for the past two weeks spent half of my time for the French, and eleven have heartily embraced the message. Not one of these belonged to a Protestant church. They were either Roman Catholics, or had left that church without joining another, not knowing of a body of Christians that met their idea of what a church should be. The very first Sabbath, eight of them took a firm stand, some with deep feeling expressing gratitude for the truth.
D. T. BOURDEAU.
Lodi, Wis.
By N. M. Jordon
JANUARY 1, I commenced a series of meetings in the Green Ackerman school-house, one mile from Poynette village, and about eight miles from Leed's Center. Five or six took a firm stand for the third angel's message.
January 28, we commenced meetings in Poynette village, in Mr. Wood's hall, which he kindly permitted us to use free of charge. We continued the meetings four weeks. The attendance and interest were good; but the opposition from the churches was strong. A few have commenced keeping the Sabbath. Those here and in Bro. Ackerman's neighborhood will make a company of ten or twelve Sabbath-keepers. They hold Sabbath meetings.
N. M. JORDON.
Chatham, Ontario.
By John Fulton
We have closed our meetings here. Twenty are keeping the Sabbath. Sabbath-school, and weekly prayer-meetings are established. Bro. Black remains until we return with the tent. J. FULTON.