VIRGINIA.—I came to this State, February 8. A portion of the time since, I have been visiting, and trying to encourage those of our faith who are isolated, and deprived of church privileges. On my way to the “Northern Neck,” a narrow strip of land in northeastern Virginia, situated between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers, I called on the little company of Sabbath-keepers near Baltimore, Md. By removals; it has been reduced to two families, but we found them of good courage, and still keeping up regular meetings each Sabbath. There seem to be many good openings for the presentation of the truth in that State, which we wish might soon be filled.
On the “Northern Neck” there are also two families who faithfully and regularly meet for Sabbath worship. I stayed with them two days, presenting the dangers and duties of our time. They seemed much encouraged by the visit. They feel very lonely, however, and would welcome good Sabbath-keeping families who may feel disposed to purchase property, which may be secured at reasonable rates, and settle near them.
I spent a day and a night at the hospitable home of Sister Hitchcock, in the city of Washington. There are a few others there who also love the truth, and try to live in accordance with it. They are anxiously looking and longing for the time when the message shall be fully preached in the metropolis of our nation. Much has already been done in that city by way of circulating our publications, and some seem interested to hear, but we can only await the proper season for the desired effort there in behalf of the truth.
At the good home of Brother Wright, in Fairfax Co., Va., I was glad to form an acquaintance with Brother and Sister Groff, formerly of New York. After a brief stay with them, I came to Shenandoah County one week before my appointment for the general meeting. I improved this time in holding meetings, and visiting among the friends in order to learn the wants of the cause. I found evident signs of a lack of experience, but an earnest desire on the part of all to improve.
The weather at the time of our general meeting was fine, and the attendance good. The good Spirit of the Lord seemed very near, and the people were deeply moved by the straight testimony borne. I was much pleased at the progress some have made in the Christian life, yet I am persuaded that still greater progress can and will be made.
After looking over the field and viewing the situation, it was decided to organize a Conference, to be known as the Virginia State Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. The Constitution recommended by the General Conference, with such changes as will adapt it to this locality, was unanimously adopted. Brother A. C. Neff, of Quicksburg, was elected president, and ordained to the ministry. John P. Zirkle, of New Market, was chosen treasurer; L. D. Woods, of Quicksburg, secretary; and Walton Craig, of Mt. Jackson, and W. W. Stebbins, of Alma, members of the Conference committee.
The Virginia Conference, though small, starts out with a fair prospect of success. Considering their past opportunities, the friends of the cause here have done well. The actual membership in the State is only about sixty, but we find more than as many others who have not yet united with the church, but keep the Sabbath, and are faithful in Christian duties. An effort will soon be made to help these isolated ones, that they may become fully identified with us. There is scarcely a Sabbath-keeping family in the State that does not enjoy the weekly visit of the Review, and love its teachings. The people connected with our work are nearly all poor, yet the tithes of the State average about seven dollars per year to each member of the church, quite a good many of whom are young people. Considering all things, I think this is a good showing, and we largely attribute it to the fact that all read the Review.
In making the last statement, I would by no means ignore the efforts of those who have been laboring in this field. I believe their efforts have in a measure been blessed of God, and I also think their influence has had much to do in encouraging the people to subscribe for our periodicals. Two ordained ministers and two licentiates make up the corps of accredited laborers in this State. There is, however, room for many more to labor, and I ardently desire to see others enter the field, who will be willing to sacrifice for the truth's sake.
A State T. and M. Society was organized, with a full corps of officers, according to the Constitution usually adopted in other States. I was glad to see the enthusiasm manifested on this occasion. A fund was subscribed to the amount of $61.00, for the purchase of material to work with, which, if I am not greatly disappointed, will give a new impetus to that branch of the work in this State. In my labor for the few weeks to come, I expect to see this fund materially enlarged.
The Sabbath-school work was not overlooked in our meetings. A State organization was effected; a report of which will undoubtedly appear in due time in the Review. The brethren all left for home apparently much encouraged. I trust the meetings will in the Judgment prove to have been beneficial to the cause in the State of Virginia. There can be no doubt about it, if all concerned seek God earnestly for light and counsel, and discharge their duties in his fear. With desire and expectation I await developments.
J. O. CORLISS.
North Pacific Conference.
By Charles L. Boyd
I AM now engaged in a series of meetings twenty miles east of Portland. A few here are keeping the Sabbath. I trust that as the principles of the Adventist faith are presented and understood, vital godliness will follow. A good interest is manifested, and I trust God will glorify his own name in saving souls here. I want to say to all who are working and praying for the advancement of our holy faith, Be of good courage; victory will soon turn on Zion's side.
March 8, 1883. CHAS. L. BOYD.
Temperance.
For Whom to Go.
The following is the manner in which John B. Finch made the wife of a liquor-seller commit herself in favor of the principle of prohibition:—
We believe that the only way you can prevent drunkards is the destruction of the place where the germs of drunkenness are disseminated.
I talked in New York one time, and the next day a lady stopped me on the street, and said, "I don't think much of you." I told her that was a good thing for me, especially if my wife should find it out. She said: "You have no business to talk against liquor-sellers, when it is your business to save drunkards." I said: "If you will give half as much money for saving drunkards as your husband gets for manufacturing them, I will make it a business to pull them out of the gutter." She said: "You can't think I am very smart." I said to her: "Suppose there was a window in your house all covered with mud, what would you do?" Said she: "I would go and wash it." "And I see a boy and I say to him, 'Boy, I will give you a dollar if you will creep down, and when she gets that window washed, slap it with mud.' You would go and wash it the second time, and he would again splash it with mud; and you would wash it again, and he would put on more mud; and the fourth time you would go—"
"No," said she, "I would go for that boy."
"Well," I said, "that is my position. I am perfectly willing to go down in the gutter and pick the fallen man up, but I tell you, after having seen him redeemed, his children in the Sabbath-school, and his wife happy, I will go for the man who is mean enough to drag him down for money."
Drinking Habit and Insanity in Georgia
Of 900 insane persons in Georgia's asylums, nearly all are victims of the drinking habit.
Hand-Barrow for Drunken Policemen
IN Edinburgh, the most beautiful city of Great Britain, noted for education and refinement, a new and elegant hand-barrow has just been introduced for the convenience of policemen in carrying drunkards to the police stations.
Who Shall Vacate?
By Crusader
A MAD dog roams the streets. Children are going up and down. They are warned. With the bold curiosity of youth they venture near. One says, "He doesn't look cross; I'll handle him." He is bitten and dies in the arms of his father. Some people say, "It's a shame; the dog ought to be put off the street." Others say, "No, the children should have kept away, and they would not have been bitten."
Is the street designed for mad dogs or children? Kill the dogs and let the children run!
So with the saloon. Society is for the people, not for those who prey upon the people. Instead of asking that the people should avoid these places, we should demand that these places avoid the people.
The streets are for the citizens; if any one has to vacate, let it be the enemy.—Crusader.
An Apology for the Saloons Ably Answered.
By McGregor News
The apologists for the American saloon system maintain that the saloon furnishes a warm fireside for many a man who would otherwise be compelled to stand on the street; that many a man gets a meal at the saloon who would be too poor to get one at the hotel or restaurant. We will admit this for the sake of argument. But for every straggler who is made happy at the saloon stove, how many firesides are desolated by the saloon and its influences? How many hearths and homes are made unhappy for the sake of warmth to an occasional toper, who, but for the saloon, might have a home fireside of his own to sit by? For the occasional individual who gets a ten-cent lunch at a saloon (and he might get a better one at any grocery store), how many innocent ones go without any meal at all on account of the saloon and its influences? No, this argument of making the saloon a necessary portion of our social system is a poor one. It cannot fill any portion of the home. On the other hand, it destroys all that is beautiful of any home over whose inmates it casts its chilling shadows. Be it father, son, or employee, its blight affects equally all who must live within the circle of its baneful influence. The home and the saloon can never become co-workers in society. They cannot live side by side. American home life and American saloon life must ever be at enmity. They cannot dwell beneath the same national roof-tree. The one must be destroyed or it will destroy the other.—McGregor News.
Maine’s Success with Prohibition
By Independent
THE "Maine Law," prohibiting the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors, passed the Legislature of that State May 31, 1857, by a vote of 86 to 40 in the House of Representatives. On February 8, 1883, the constitutional amendment prohibiting the manufacture and sale was passed by a vote of 104 to 37. Notice the fact that the people of Maine have tried the policy of prohibition for twenty-five years, nearly a whole generation, and are so well satisfied with it that to-day no opposition can be organized to constitutional prohibition. The results are satisfactory, whatever is said to the contrary.—Independent.
Intemperance Impeached.
DR. CHALMERS arraigned intemperance in the following words: "Before God and man, before the church, the world, I impeach intemperance. I charge it with the murder of innumerable souls. I charge it as the cause of almost all the poverty, and almost all the crime, and almost all the ignorance, and almost all irreligion that disgrace and afflict the land. I do in my conscience believe that these intoxicating stimulants have sunk into perdition more men and women than found a grave in the deluge which swept over the highest hill-tops, engulfing the world, of which but eight were saved. As compared with other vices, it may be said of this, 'Saul hath slain his thousands, but this David his ten thousands.'"—Selected.
The Deacon's Tithe.
By Ada Carleton
THEY had a new minister at Seabrook. Old Parson Thornleigh, who had kept the flock for forty years, had gone to his long home; and in his stead had come an honest, plain-spoken young divine, with an earnest, fearless eloquence of his own. And now the worn door-stone of the little gray church on the hill was once more trodden by feet which had long been strangers to it. The minister boarded, having no family, at Deacon Larrabee's.
"He's the least bit uncertain on some points," said the deacon, leaning on his hoe-handle and talking across the fence to his neighbor Gray, who leaned on his hoe-handle to listen,—"a bit uncertain. But I like him—I do, no mistake; and I believe the Lord's going to bless us through him!"
"Amen!" was neighbor Gray's hearty response.
They hoed a dozen hills of corn in silence, their hoes keeping time to the merry song of a bird in the orchard. Then Mr. Gray paused to wipe the perspiration from his face.
"This hot weather's liable to make sickness," said he. "I suppose you've heard that one of the Widow Sperry's boys is down with a fever?"
"Sho! now you don't say so!" exclaimed the deacon, commiseratingly. "Make it hard for her, won't it?"
"Yes, particularly when she's so lately lost her cow. I've been saying that we'd all ought to take hold and make it up to her. If I'd more than one cow on my place I wouldn't stand to talk long; now, I tell you; but I lost my two best ones last spring. If I hadn't—"
It might have been unintentional, that sudden facing about as Mr. Gray threw his glance toward the hill pasture where his neighbor's herd of cows was quietly feeding. At all events, the deacon could scarcely help noticing the action. And he understood its purport. An uneasy flush mounted to his face as he struck vigorously into the next hill.
"She ought to have kept her cow out of the road. My cattle never get into the mill-pond and drown. If they should, I wouldn't expect anybody to make 'em up to me. She'd no more call, had the widow, to let her cow run, than I'd have to turn my whole drove out."
"It's a pretty hard case, nevertheless," said Mr. Gray.
And then the fragmentary conversation, tossed piecemeal back and forth across the fence as the neighbors went steadily on with their work, drifted into indifferent channels.
There had been an interested listener to the colloquy narrated above. On the shady side of the wall which separated Deacon Larrabee's orchard and corn-field sat, book in hand, the Rev. Mr. Weston. He arose, as the chat which floated to his hearing began to be of crops and haying, and walked slowly away along the orchard path with a thoughtful smile upon his face.
That night when the deacon took the shining milk-pails from the dresser and proceeded to the farm-yard, the young clergyman followed him. He stood leaning against the bars, watching the yellow stars come out in the sky, and looking abroad over the deacon's possessions, shadowy now, but substantial enough by daylight.
"You are a prosperous man, deacon."
A smile of supreme satisfaction overspread the deacon's countenance as he stood for a moment patting the sleek neck of a favorite cow.
"Well, yes," said he; "but I've made myself. A pig and a pitchfork, sir, was all I had to begin with."
"How does your neighbor Gray get along?"
"Gray? well, truth to tell, he'll never be forehanded if he lives to the age of Methuselah. He's a hard-working man enough, but why 'tis I can't tell you; there's never a poor creature comes into our town that doesn't head direct for John Gray's. Must be instinct teaches 'em; for he gives to 'em all, deserving or not. I believe he'd take the coat off his back if 'twas needed. He's a good neighbor—a good neighbor; but he'll never get anything, to speak of, ahead."
" 'But lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal,' " quoted the minister.
"Yes, yes; but, if I mind me right, the good Book says something too about providing first for one's own household,—eh?"
Mr. Weston smiled. "I believe there is a passage to that effect," said he.
"And," went on the deacon, a little triumphantly, "if neighbor Gray would give a certain portion—"
"A tithe?" interpolated the minister.
"And not go beyond that," continued Deacon Larrabee, "he'd be better off in one respect, and no worse off in the other, to my thinking. I don't believe in—in indiscriminate giving."
"Nor do I," was the quiet rejoinder. Then there was silence while Deacon Larrabee filled another pail with snowy foam.
"How many cows have you, deacon?"
"Ten," answered the deacon, with a pardonable pride showing itself in voice and feature; "and it's the finest herd in our county. They're grade Jerseys."
"Yes," returned Mr. Weston, a little absently. Then, after a slight pause, "Deacon Larrabee, I overheard the conversation between you and your neighbor Gray this morning, relating to Mrs. Sperry and her misfortunes. Poor lady! she does need substantial sympathy. Cannot you afford to lend a tithe of your cows to the Lord?"
"Which means that I give one of them to the widow," uttered the deacon, with a wry face.
"No, sir; I can't. She wanted to buy one the other day, but I told her I'd none to spare. It was all owing to carelessness that she lost her cow, and I in upholding improvidence. Get it to going on that way, and we'd all be on the town farm before we knew it."
Mr. Weston wore a thoughtful countenance, yet a gleam of something like amusement lighted up his eyes.
"Will you sell me one of your cows?" he asked.
"I—I have no need of the money now," replied the deacon hesitatingly.
The minister continued: "I heard you say this morning that you would be glad to give a good man extra wages to help you through your haying, but that you were afraid it would be difficult to procure the needful assistance at any price. Will you take me, and let me pay for the cow in that way?"
A twinkle, both genial and quizzical, dawned in the deacon's gray eyes. For a moment he studied the young minister attentively. He was not at all what his neighbors would have denominated free-handed, yet he had a just appreciation of the quality of beneficence in other people. Neither was he a hard man at heart. It was only that the prosperity which had attended his every undertaking caused him to look upon the lack of it in a neighbor's affairs as an entirely unnecessary evil,—one which prudence and forethought might overcome. Now he shook the petitioner's hand heartily.
"It's a bargain," said he. "When will you take the cow off my hands?"
"To-night, if you will lend me your assistance," was the ready response.
"Better take one of those I haven't milked," said the deacon, with a smile, "and save me that trouble."
Accordingly, a little time later, the minister, accompanied by the deacon, led his recent acquisition down the farm-house lane, and away along the thoroughfare of the sleepy little hamlet to the tiny cottage where dwelt Mrs. Sperry and her brood. There they fastened the animal to a convenient post, rapped softly, and departed, with the peaceful consciousness which attends upon a worthy deed resting upon one of them, at least, as a mantle.
Next morning when the deacon, hoe on shoulder, was leaving his door-yard for his corn-field, he encountered Mrs. Sperry. Her eyes were red, as with long watching or weeping, and her thin lips trembled with the emotion which she vainly endeavored to conceal.
She put out both hands to him. "Deacon Larrabee," said she, "I have come to thank you, and to ask your forgiveness. Oh, I have had such hard thoughts of you!—how cruelly hard only God knows—and my own heart. Why, I almost came to pray that some dreadful misfortune might overtake you!—and all because you would not sell me the cow you meant to give me."
"I--really—I--" began the deacon. The situation was a most embarrassing one, and rendered doubly so by the knowledge that beside the open window of the room appropriated to his library the minister was sitting, no doubt enjoying the conversation in the fullest measure. "Really, Mrs. Sperry—I--"
"Now, don't try to deny it," laughed the widow, a little nervously. "I know the cow, Deacon Larrabee; and--" she laughed again—"I am bowed down with contrition, to think of my unjust feelings toward you. But I shall always pray that you may prosper, hereafter, deacon; for I am sure you will have a good account of your stewardship for the Master."
The deacon mopped his face in sore perplexity. How could he confess that the gift was none of his? Yet there really seemed no other way of escape from the one-horned dilemma in which he found himself, unless—
Well, the widow's generous thanks were very pleasant to hear; and after a momentary deliberation the old deacon's good sense and genuine manliness came to the fore. He only wished that the happy thought had been his, the charity his own spontaneous deed.
"I am glad if the gift pleases you, Mrs. Sperry," said he, shaking her proffered hand; "and now, please say no more about it. Go into the house and see the woman. I'll warrant she has a glass of jelly for the sick boy."
To Mr. Weston later on he said with a laugh, and a jocular twinkle in his eye, "I've hired my man, and shall not need you; so we'll shake hands and call it square. I think that's what I meant to do all the while, though I wasn't really sensible of it. But I'll tell you one thing, Brother Weston, I don't believe the next tithe will come so hard."—Ada Carleton, in S. S. Times.
A Good Investment.
SEVERAL winters ago a woman was coming out from some public building where the heavy doors swung back and made egress difficult. A street urchin sprung to the rescue, and, as he held the door, she said, "Thank you" and passed on.
"D'ye hear that?" said the boy to a companion standing near.
"No; what?"
"Why, that lady in seal-skin said 'thank ye' to the likes o' me."
Amused at the conversation which she could not help overhearing, the lady turned around and said to him, "It always pays to be polite, my boy; remember that."
Years passed away, and last December, when doing her Christmas shopping, this woman received an exceptional courtesy from a clerk in Boston, which caused her to remark in a low tone to a friend who was with her: "What a comfort to be civilly treated once in a while—though I don't much blame the clerks for being rude during the holiday trade."
The young man's quick ears caught the words, and he said: "Pardon me madam, but you gave me my first lesson in politeness."
She looked at him in amazement while he related the forgotten incident and told her that simple "thank you" awakened his first ambition to be something in the world.143He went the next morning and applied for a situation as office boy in the establishment where he was now an honored and trusted clerk.
Only two words, dropped into the treasury of street conversation; but they yielded returns of a certain kind more satisfactory than investments in stocks and bonds.—Congregationalist.
The Home Circle.
By Home Journal
A LEGEND.
I READ a legend of a monk who painted,
In an old convent cell in days by-gone,
Pictures of martyrs and of virgins sainted,
And the sweet Christ-face with the crown of thorn.
Poor daubs! not fit to be a chapel's treasure!
Full many a taunting word upon them fell,
But the good abbot let him, for his pleasure,
Adorn with them his solitary cell.
One night the poor monk mused: "Could I but render
Honor to Christ as other painters do,
Were but my skill as great as is the tender
Love that inspires me when his cross I view!"
"But no—'tis vain I toil and strive in sorrow;
What man so scorns still less can he admire;
My life's work is all valueless—to-morrow
I'll cast my ill-wrought pictures on the fire."
He raised his eyes, within his cell—O wonder!
There stood a visitor—thorn-crowned was he,
And a sweet voice the silence rent asunder—
"I scorn no work that's done for love of me."
And round the walls the paintings shone resplendent
With lights and colors to this world unknown,
A perfect beauty, and a hue transcendent,
That never yet on mortal canvas shone.
There is a meaning in the strange old story—
Let none dare judge his brother's worth or meed;
The pure intent gives to the act its glory;
The noblest purpose makes the grandest deed.
—Home Journal.
News and Notes.
By Editor
Seventy-six buildings were burned in the town of Forest City, Sierra Co., Cal., March 15.
Madagascar has requested England and Germany to intervene to avert the bombarding of Tamativ by the French.
The venerable College of William and Mary in Virginia has been obliged to close its doors, as it had but one student last year.
A banker in Schenectady, N. Y., has swindled his patrons, principally farmers, to the extent of $250,000, and fled to Europe, leaving his family.
A liquor dealer of Whitehall, N. Y., has just been found guilty of 457 offenses. He was fined $9,000, with $500 costs, and a month's imprisonment.
The president of the Society for regulating the condition of the Russian Jews, stole 11,000,000 roubles of the society's money, and committed suicide.
The secretary of the California State Board of Harbor Commissioners has disappeared, after having embezzled $30,000. Dabbling in stocks was the cause of his stealing.
The New Jersey Senate has passed almost unanimously the bill prohibiting the sale of cigarettes or tobacco in any form to minors, under penalty of $20 for each offense.
Anarchy prevails throughout the whole country bordering on the Transvaal (South Africa), the natives having armed against the Boers. A battle has been fought in which the Dutch settlers have been badly beaten.
Nearly every member of the detective police force of Washington, D. C., has been indicted by the Grand Jury for receiving stolen goods. The police force of that city has been nothing less than an organized band of thieves.
A lady who was injured in the Spuyten Duyvil railroad collision, has just received $29,000 from the New York Central Railroad, the largest amount ever paid by that company. But even that is a cheap price for its negligence.
Two men who lived alone near San Jose, Cal., were murdered in their beds, and the house was set on fire and burned, on the 11th inst. The body of one of the men was found with four bullet holes through it; the other was burned.
A terrific explosion occurred in the Local Government Board offices, at Westminster, London, on the 15th inst., destroying much property. The loss is placed at £4 000; no lives were lost. The deed is quite generally attributed to the Fenians, and has caused the greatest excitement.
Some time ago the president of a Jersey City bank proved to be a defaulter. Then the cashier, and another employee pleaded guilty of the same offense, and all three were sent to State Prison. Now the teller confesses to having stolen $10,000, and has gone to join the others. Thus the whole working force of the bank is in jail.
A dispatch from Colusa, Cal., March 14, says: "The existing drought has seriously crippled business in this county, and hundreds will have to migrate in a short time. Already farmers have begun to sell what stock they can, and are driving the remainder into the mountains for feed." The crop outlook is very gloomy in other portions of the State.
The eighth annual report of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, shows that in the past eight years 10,445 complaints have been investigated, involving 31,355 children; 3,068 cases have been presented, 2,818 convictions had, and 5,949 children have been relieved and placed in homes or institutions. There were over one thousand convictions last year.
The total number of persons arrested in Andalusia, Spain, for complicity in the anarchist movement is 1200. Of this number 300 are charged with murder, agrarian outrages, and with being abettors of the Black Hand Society. Sixty of the prisoners have confessed complicity in four murders. The existence of a branch of the Black Hand Society has been discovered in the northern part of Portugal.
Information comes to our Government that every measure is being adopted by the Chinese Government to drive Americans from the Empire. Onerous restrictions are placed on their business, and new enterprises are entirely prohibited, if conducted by Americans. What more could be expected? It could hardly be supposed that a heathen nation would be more magnanimous than a Christian nation.
A colored boy fifteen years old attempted to wreck the Overland express train from San Francisco, one evening last week, by opening the switch at a siding where trains do not usually stop. The padlock that secured the switch bar was broken with a stone. Two women who saw some of his movements, raised an alarm and frustrated his design. His object was to be revenged for having been put off from an emigrant train, on which he was trying to beat his passage to this city.
One of the principals of the public schools of Philadelphia says that the 50,000 pupils in the public schools of that city, a large proportion use tobacco, and that the habit has increased to an alarming extent since the introduction of cigarettes. He has called the attention of the Board of Education to the enormous consumption of cigarettes among the pupils, and has prepared and had printed a short statement of the physical and mental disorders produced in children by the use of tobacco, and has pasted a copy of it on the inside of the cover of every text-book used in his school. A good idea.
Recently a man was tried in Salt Lake for criminal assault on a girl at South Cottonwood. He was a Mormon in good standing, and the testimony on the trial showed some peculiar features of Mormon life. Several women testified to the practice of holding dances at which men and women drank whisky and indulged in immoral practices. The singular fact about this was that they gave these revelations as though such orgies were too commonplace to excite any comment. It is such little incidents as these which let light in on the boasted morality of the Latter-Day Saints. S. F. Chronicle.
A Boston man has invented a smoke-consuming apparatus, which has been employed in a soap factory in Cambridge to suppress the intolerable odors emitted in burning bones and offal. The experiment has proved a complete success, no offensive smell being perceived near the building. We hope the inventor will immediately get one out so modified that it can be employed to suppress the vile odors emitted by cigar smokers in the street and on the horse-cars and ferry-boats. The apparatus will then prove a blessing to suffering humanity. An item of interest to manufacturers is that by actual experiment of several weeks, in the factory above mentioned, the saving of fuel was 60 per cent.
Lompoc, a small town in Santa Barbara Co., Cal., has always been a temperance town. No saloon has ever been allowed in the place, the citizens having a practical and effective way of enforcing prohibition. Recently a saloon was opened, and the proprietors were told that it would not be tolerated. A citizens' mass-meeting was held in front of the saloon, which was conducted in crusade style. People attended from all over the valley. By a vote, all but a few young men were found to be in favor of maintaining the temperance principles of the colony. It was then unanimously voted that the proprietors be offered the price of the saloon and contents, that the people might have a bonfire, on condition that they bind themselves not to sell liquor again in the place. This offer was refused. The saloon was then voted a nuisance, and, after a few short speeches, and more pleading by the ladies, the building was promptly pulled down and torn to pieces. It was voted that any attempt at retaliation should be met with summary punishment, and that any one starting a saloon in the place again would find no mercy. They will probably not be troubled.
Religious Notes.
—The pope recently appointed several new bishops, including bishops at Charleston, S. C., and Grand Rapids, Mich.
—A class of 250 young persons was confirmed at the church of the Immaculate Conception (Catholic), in Oakland, last week.
—There is not a mortgage debt upon any Presbyterian church in Nebraska, a thing which, so says the Occident, can be said of no other State in the Union.
—When the pastor of the Methodist church at Amherst, Mass., was sick a few Sundays ago, his wife took his place in the pulpit, and delivered an acceptable sermon.
—It is stated that some members of the Methodist Conference in India, and delegates to the Decennial Conference at Calcutta, traveled as much as 2,098 miles to attend their appointments.
—In his last lecture Joseph Cook said: “The two worst evils of our time inside the domain of Christendom are probably luxurious living among church-members, and loose thinking among religious teachers.”
—Bishop Keeney, in his address to the Conference of the M. E. Church South, recently in session at Charleston, W. Va., said: “It will be a lamentable day for the church when the selection of preachers is confined to educated men.”
—Louis Bourdaloue, the eminent French preacher, once said: “There are not twenty hearers in a thousand who know exactly what they come for when they enter a church; the sermon is never really listened to, nor really understood, save by those who could best do without it.”
—Recent statistics show that Connecticut is the only State in the Union in which every original town had a Congregational church, and in not one of these towns has the Congregational church ceased to live. Congregational church members form nine per cent. of the State's population.
—The Baptist summary for the United States for the past year gives the following totals: members, 2,394,742; increase, 48,720; associations, 1,164; churches, 26,931; increase, 558; ordained ministers, 17,090; increase, 576. There were 94,680 baptisms, against 81,570 in 1881. Nearly 28,000 were excluded, 20,580 died, 6,354 names were erased, and 11,971 restored.
—Following is a part of the report of the New York City Mission and Tract Society for the past year: Missionary visits, 47,639; Bibles and Testaments given, 171; volumes loaned and given, 10,039; children led to Sunday-schools, 2,646; children led to day schools, 306; persons induced to join Bible classes, 992; persuaded to attend churches and missions, 13,939; temperance pledges, 988.
—An English paper states that “General” Booth has modified the methods of the Salvation Army, so as to do away in London with street processions, and limit the marchings, counter-marchings, trumpet blowings, and drum beatings to the boundaries of the “barracks.” He has been moved to do this by the rude, cruel, and riotous persecutions which the Army has suffered at the hands of “roughs.”
—The latest statistics of Methodism—in which term all its branches are included—give the total world membership at 4,986,756. Of this number 3,840,302 are in this country, 878,985 in Great Britain and Missions, and 170,931 in Canada. The whole number of itinerant ministers is 33,208, with 26,298 of them in the United States. Besides this, there are in this country 88,993 “local” preachers, or laymen authorized to preach.
—Cambridge University, the foremost exponent of mathematical and Schemitic learning in Great Britain, evidently does not believe in the alleged educating power of the drama. The vice-chancellor and the heads of the colleges have just exercised the right which the law gives them, of shutting up the theatres in the town during term-time; that is, for six months of the year. The theater people are trying to stir up the inhabitants of Cambridge to resist this action of the University.—S. S. Times.
—John Wesley once said: “Beware how you invite rich men into your churches until you are sure they are Christians. Beware how you manage your churches in such a way that rich men will become a necessity to you. If your church buildings are so luxurious that you need an enormous income, wealthy men will be necessary to you, and they will rule you, and then you must soon bid farewell to Methodist discipline, and, perhaps, to Methodist doctrine.” That was a wise utterance, but it is not the only one of John Wesley’s utterances which modern Methodists have forgotten. If his sturdy simplicity were more common now, the churches might not be so destitute of regard for God's law, which he so zealously upheld.
THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY; OR THE GREAT CONTROVERSY BETWEEN CHRIST AND SATAN.
By MRS. E. G. WHITE.
THIS is a series of four volumes, covering the entire period from the creation and fall of man to his final redemption. Volume One is devoted to Old Testament history. It is not merely a narrative of the leading events in the lives of the patriarchs and prophets; but moral lessons are drawn therefrom, in such away as to make the book practically useful to the men and women of to-day. Volume Two commences with the life and mission of John the Baptist, and considers the first advent of Christ, his life and mission, as manifested by his miracles and teachings, and the nature and necessity of his life-work. It closes with Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Volume Three takes up the subject at this point, and brings to view the most thrillingly interesting portion of Christ's earthly career—his betrayal, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection. It closes with a brief history of the early church, including the missionary labors of Peter and Paul. Volume Four (in press) contains a history of the church from that time to the end, closing with the coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and the establishment of the everlasting kingdom of Christ on earth.
These books are not argumentative, but they throw a vast flood of light upon the sacred page. They are written in a clear, simple style, and are of absorbing interest to both young and old. They offer special encouragement and instruction to Christians; and there is nothing better to place in the hands of skeptics, to convince them of the truth of the Bible. 400 pp. Price per volume $1.25
Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal.
Obituary.
By John and Ada Walter
DISNEY.—Died of heart-disease, in Mount Vernon, Knox Co., Ohio, Feb. 28, 1883, Wm. A. Disney, aged 70 years and 17 days. On the day of his death he left home feeling as well as usual. While in town he had occasion to ascend a long flight of stairs to see some one on business, and while there, died suddenly while sitting in his chair.
Father Disney had been a firm believer in the third angel’s message and kindred truths for more than fifteen years. He loved to talk of the goodness of God, and of the soon coming of the Saviour. He loved right, and hated iniquity. He leaves a wife and three daughters, besides a large circle of friends, to mourn his death. We believe he sleeps in Jesus, and will awake in the morning of the first resurrection.
John and Ada Walter.
Something to Be Remembered.
IN his "Early Days of Christianity" Canon Farrar; writing of the condition of the world about the time of Christ, makes the following significant statement:—
"It is certain that the old Paganism was—except in country places—practically dead. The very fact that it was necessary to prop it up by the buttress of political interference shows how hollow and ruinous the structure of classic Polytheism had become."
Probably none of those who read and admire this book, will think to make a more general application of the principle here stated—that when any religious body, or class of people, seek to strengthen their cause by political alliance, it is a sure index that the cause is intrinsically weak.
It was not until grave heresies had crept in that the early church sought the friendship of the world. And so now, in the conflict between the Sabbath of the Lord and the Sunday of the pope, the fact that the Sunday supporters implore the aid of the State, should convince all thinking men that their cause lacks a solid foundation.
This principle will always hold good. No church or sect asks the State to enforce anything that is plainly taught in the Bible. But man-made institutions must be upheld by man, since God will not interfere in their behalf.