To say that all men are mortal and must die, is only what all know. Evidence of this fact is continually before all; the soldier becomes so conversant with death that its terror seems to depart.
We see death before us in the universal decay of animal and vegetable life, and in nature everywhere; but it comes nearest to us when a dear friend is laid low; when we feel its slow but sure advances in our own systems; in our decaying teeth and failing sight; we feel it in our pains and weariness; in failing memory, and desire for quietness and prolonged and frequent rest.
Once we were young and vigorous. No labor was too hard or prolonged; we could bear the loss of sleep or accustomed food, and, with little sleep or rest, we could pass on in the race of life. Not so now; death has been at work, stealthily sowing the seeds of decay; but we believed it not; we could not suppose for a moment that our vigor of mind or of body would ever succumb; no, our step would continue firm and elastic, our mind would continue strong, and we would never become blind or deaf. But death smiled at our conceit, and now looks complacently upon our gray hair and shriveled face.
Hard is the hand of death, unfeeling his heart; no tear ever moistened his cheek, or caused him for a moment to loosen his grasp. Without a scruple, he hurls his darts; and most defiantly he holds his sceptre. Most proudly he sits upon his throne; but happily it is written of him, that his power has a limit, that his throne is soon to be vacant, and his sceptre is soon to rust in the earth, like that of fallen tyrants of old. Then death will be swallowed up in victory. Take courage, O dying saint, the Conqueror is soon to appear. Jos. CLARKE.
Come and See.
By Uriah Smith
WHEN the first of the seven seals was broken, that the servants of God might read from the unfolding scroll a record of the things that were soon to come to pass, John says that he heard one of the living beings before the throne, saying with a voice like the noise of thunder, “Come and see.”
In no dispensation does God do his work in a corner. He does not call his created intelligences to an examination of his plans and purposes with a voice so weak that but few, or none, can hear it. But he sends forth the proclamation through heaven and earth.
His own voice once shook this solid globe, when he spoke his law in grandeur from Sinai. A strong angel with a loud voice challenges heaven and earth to produce a being that is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof, except the Lamb that was slain. The living beings before God's throne, say to all with a voice of thunder, Come and see. Angels proclaim with a loud voice the everlasting gospel to every nation, tongue, and kindred, on the face of the earth.
All this indicates that God's truth is not to be shut up in secrecy. It never has been, it never will be. And the closing work is no exception to this rule. It is a world-wide message of mercy. It is to go with a loud voice. The truth courts publicity. It sends forth no challenges for controversy; but it invites all to come to the light and receive its benefits. It loudly calls upon all to come and see. Come and see in what period of this world's history our lot is cast. Come and see the perils and dangers that surround us. Come and see the purposes that God has to fulfill in the near future. Come and see the path of safety and salvation, and make haste to walk therein.
Parents, come and see. Children, come and see. Young and old, come and see. Professor, backslider, sinner, come and see. Thus the truth for this time, now calls upon all in thunder tones.
And this is but the prelude to a higher and more joyous note which shall be heard in a little while, from “a great multitude, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Hallelujah; for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.” Rev. 19: 6, 7. U. S.
“The Latest on the Sabbath Question.”
By Uriah Smith
A FRIEND in Ohio sends us a line narrating the following circumstance: An Adventist from the West lately moved into his neighborhood, and handed him some tracts on the Sabbath question. He became interested, and his wife, a church member, being alarmed at his loss of faith in the claims of Sunday, appealed to a prominent member of the church for help. The learned member immediately responded that he could easily put a quietus on the whole Sabbath controversy. “For,” said he, “the seventh-day Sabbath is an impossibility, because the earth revolves on its axis!”
We judge from our friend’s letter that this argument looks as ludicrous to him, as it does to us. He suggests that it be called a “clinching argument,” or, “the last on the Sabbath question.” It may be the last in that locality; but as an objection to the Sabbath it is not new. Since the claims of the Sabbath have been especially urged of late years, necessity, that prolific mother of invention, has given birth to every conceivable objection, and this member of that deformed family was born many years ago.
Bro. Andrew’s tract entitled “The Definite Seventh Day,” fully answers all objections based on difference of latitude and longitude, and vindicates from the charge of short-sightedness and folly, the act of God in giving the Sabbath to the inhabitants of a round and revolving world.
U. S.
G. W. A
By G. W. A.
Famines.
THE Scriptures foretell that famine is one of the awful signs of the end. See Matt. 24:7; Mark 13:8; Luke 21:11. Bearing on this point, is the following editorial paragraph from the Maine State Press of Jan. 8, 1874:—
Advices from India state that at least three million people there must be fed by the British Government to prevent their starvation, and England is considering the raising of a famine loan of $50,000,000. There are others, including the correspondents of the London Times, who estimate that from ten to twenty of the sixty millions of people in India will perish from hunger if generous aid is not provided to neutralize the threatened horrors of an almost general famine.
It might also be added that a famine is now raging in the five Russian Districts in the province of Samara, on the banks of the Volga.
G. W. A
A Word to the Tract Societies.
By S. N. Haskell
It is not the object in sending out the trial volumes of the REVIEW and Reformer to promiscuously gather up names without knowing whether they will be read or not, or to get names without reference to the character of the receiver of the paper. In this manner, many papers would never be taken from the post-offices, and in some cases when they were even taken from the office, they would accomplish but little good.
It would be well first to consider the character of the person to whom you wish to send it.
Secondly, you should not propose to send it without giving any notice to the receivers; but should first converse with them about it, or write them, showing them the paper, and suggesting that you propose to send it to them six months on trial, which will give them ample time to learn something of its character for themselves, and then they can act their own pleasure about subscribing for it. If there is not interest enough to pay the postage, we cannot expect very much will be accomplished by their receiving it; at least, there are enough that would willingly pay the postage, and let them be first served. It may not be best, when sending it to your own friends, to always wait for an answer before sending it; for if they do not wish it, it can be sent to another person; but all should be first notified.
Thirdly, it is not always best to send the REVIEW and Reformer to the same individual. There may be individual cases where it is justifiable; but it is not generally so. It would be proper to send them both to public reading rooms and places for general reading.
Fourthly, respectable people, those whom we have reason to believe are possessed of moral worth, and also respectable reading rooms, should be sought out and furnished.
S. N. HASKELL.
The Gospel Is Free.
By R. F. Cottrell
“Freely ye have received, freely give.”
SUCH was the charge of Christ to his disciples when he sent them out to preach the gospel. “Yes,” says one, “I believe in a free gospel, a religion that costs nothing; I have been a member of the church for twenty-five years, and it has not cost me more than twenty-five cents.”
Well, my friend, you have a very cheap religion. The only question is whether it is genuine, whether it is worth anything. It seems you consider the gospel free till it reaches you; but there it stops; it goes freely no farther. You have received it freely, but you have not heeded the injunction, “Freely give.”
We sing, “I am glad salvation is free;” but it has cost something notwithstanding. A sacrifice has been made. The Father gave his Son; the Son “gave himself;” and apostles and martyrs gave their lives; and by such means the gospel has come freely to us. Is there no sacrifice for us to make? Are we under no obligation to freely give? Come with me to Calvary; view the Son of God upon the cross; witness the apostles, to whom he said, “Freely ye have received, freely give;” see them, after their arduous toils and intense sufferings, sealing their testimony for the truth with their blood; and you will say with me, Away with your cheap religion; it will not fit one for the society of those who have gone before and left us an example that we should follow in their steps.
The church is a missionary society. It is their duty to send the gospel freely to those who have not received it. Instead of hiring a minister to preach to them, and soliciting the aid of the outside world for this object, they should sustain him to go out to preach the gospel freely to those who sit in darkness. This is to be done out of pure benevolence. But when the good news has been freely proclaimed, the receiver is laid under renewed obligation to God, the fountain of salvation, to those who have been his willing instruments of good to them, and to their fellow-men for whom Christ died. So that while they thank God for a free gospel of salvation, they should manifest their gratitude by ministering of their worldly store to those from whom they received it according to their need; for “their debtors they are;” for having “been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things” (Rom. 15:25-27); and also by uniting with them to send the gospel freely to others. So while the gospel is free, it lays a debt of gratitude upon the receiver which it is impossible for him to ever pay. The apostle Paul understood it so; for having received mercy of the Lord Jesus, he acknowledged himself a debtor to mankind at large; and the only way he could see in which he could discharge the debt was to preach the gospel to others, that they too might receive the benefit of this great salvation. He felt that “necessity was laid upon him.” Said he, “Woe is me, if I preach not the gospel.” Again, “I am a debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.” 1 Cor. 9:16; Rom. 1:14, 15.
Our conclusion is this: Having received the gospel freely, we are under obligation to send it freely to others. The mercy of God to us has brought upon us a debt of gratitude and love which it is impossible for us to overpay. Our time, our talents, our wealth, all belong to God, and are to be used only for his glory and the good of those for whom Christ died. “Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price.” “Freely ye have received, freely give.” And when we lay all upon the altar of the Lord, we give no more than is due; and if we withhold, we rob God and our fellow-men. The religion that costs nothing is worth nothing.
R. F. COTTRELL.
The Internationals.
THE “Internationals” are playing strange, “fantastic tricks before high Heaven.” In Cincinnati and Pittsburg they have been scattering sensation circulars printed in red, on which were emblazoned the words “bread or blood,” “reformation or revolution,” “reform or rebellion,” “working men pay no taxes,” “look out for the Train league,” etc.
In Union Square, New York, a day or two ago, about a thousand assembled to “compel” the authorities to abolish the contract system and substitute day labor. The speakers, as usual, were violent and full of threats about resorting to force in case their demands should not be acceded to.—Battle Creek Journal.
Wisconsin Field Calls for Laborers
By Joseph Harvey Waggoner
Wisconsin.
WHEN I came to this State I did not know that I should remain to labor at all. But as I had no other field indicated, it seemed best to begin work here. After prospecting a short time, I commenced meetings in Columbia Co. The report of these meetings is spreading abroad, and calls are coming in for meetings in every direction. But I have now received “a call” from another Conference, indorsed by the President of the General Conference, and it will be duty for me to respond to this. Who, in Wisconsin, will meet the urgent calls which are coming up for labor in this State?
To my many correspondents on this subject I wish to say that I have not time to answer all by letter. My work presses on me. Pray that the burden of this work may fall on the hearts of some who will start out as a few started out twenty years ago, when there were few or no friends to encourage and help, with strong faith in the truth and courage to hold on to the promises of God. Some young men must be baptized into this work by the Spirit of God before it will fulfill its destined mission. May the Lord arouse the church at large to a sense of these things. J. H. WAGGONER.
Among the French.
By D. T. Bourdeau
I HAVE now labored three weeks in this county, speaking from seven to eleven times a week, besides visiting more or less every day. My hearers being scattered, I have to speak in two townships, besides speaking to our American brethren on the Sabbath, and giving now and then a discourse in English for the benefit of those who do not understand the French.
I made it my first point to call on the French preacher, and give him the first chance to hear. I spoke three times before him to his congregation, who seemed to highly appreciate the remarks I made on sanctification and the leading signs of Christ’s coming. The preacher himself seemed to indorse these subjects. But from remarks he dropped, and from his not inviting me to speak yesterday (Sunday) at the close of his very brief sermon, but filling the time in singing several hymns, I should judge that his mind was more on position and to keep his flock within the circle of his creed than on the importance of present truth, which he treated as non-essential.
I have had to suspend my lectures at one point on account of bad roads, but especially because of the following circumstance: One of our hearers who was under conviction took sick as the result of taking cold in attending to his own business, and because of an hereditary difficulty causing fits at times. A physician and others maliciously attributed the cause to our preaching. The news spread far and near, until a candid physician of Ottawa examined him, and said the people need not lay the difficulty to us, but to a disease of long standing. I gave a lecture in English yesterday in a hall in this place to remove prejudice, and enjoyed much freedom. I have got to the Sabbath question, and feel the need of more power to reach hearts filled with prejudice and the love of this world, and which some are endeavoring by studied and determined efforts to turn away from the truth. Pray for us.
D. T. BOURDEAU.
Lorena, La Salle Co., Ill., Jan. 12, 1874.
The Atonement: Its Place in Moral Government
By J. H. W.
The Atonement.—No. 1.
As the law of God is the basis of his moral government, as a knowledge of the breadth and spirituality of that law is the knowledge of the nature and the extent of our moral relations and obligations, so is the atonement to the remedial system, which was made necessary by violation of law.
The atonement is more than a gospel doctrine; it is the doctrine of the gospel itself; the essence of all gospel doctrines, and that which gives life and power to every gospel truth.
The Bible doctrine of the atonement of Christ has received much opposition from those whose hearts were never touched by the power of divine truth, and who, evidently, never seriously considered the necessity which gave rise to it, nor the principles on which it is based and which it maintains. The objections urged against it are two-fold, namely, that it is contrary to reason and to justice. On the first point, it is claimed that the Bible itself is unnecessary; that nature affords us all the light that we need; and that the Bible and reason do not agree. On the second, it is urged that the Christian system is a system of license, and leads to immorality.
The object of this writing is to meet these objections; to vindicate the teachings of the Bible, and to show that a written revelation is but the supply of an acknowledged want, and its gift is only conformity to the demands of the plainest and simplest principles of government; and to show that reason is not opposed to the true doctrine of the atonement, but that it leads to it; that a co-incidence of strict justice and mercy demands it. And the principles, upon which revelation and the atonement are based are so universally recognized that conscience and reason require that they be universally received.
1. It cannot be admitted that nature affords us all the light we need, without doing violence to both our convictions and our reason. Nature, as says the psalmist, “declares the glory of God,” and may thus arouse us to feelings of devotion; but nature cannot guide us in our devotions; she does not inform us how to please and worship the Creator. The Bible and nature never come in conflict; but the Bible leads into a field of truth where nature makes no attempt to follow. We attach no blame to nature because it does not perform the office of a written revelation. It was not designed for such a purpose. When we have learned all that we can from nature, we find beyond that a plain necessity for a written revelation. This point needs to be carefully considered.
The present is a mixed state of good and evil. Confined in our views to the present state, and to observation, or to mere reason, without a written revelation, it is impossible to vindicate the justice of the controlling power, whether that power be called God or nature. Virtue is often trampled in the dust, and ignominiously perishes in its representatives. Vice is exalted on high, triumphs over justice and right, and its very grave is decorated with flowers and honored with a monument. In the operations of nature, there is no discrimination manifested, and without discrimination there can be no conformity to justice. True, we see many exhibitions of benevolence, but we see also many things that cannot be reconciled with it. The righteous and the wicked, the just and the unjust, the innocent and the guilty, the aged and the little child, alike share the bounties of Providence, and together fall by the pestilence, or sink beneath some sweeping destruction. These facts have troubled the minds of philosophers and caused short-sighted philanthropists to be faint of heart.
Reflecting on these things, some have presumed to deny the existence of a supreme, intelligent Being, and they ascribe everything to the indiscriminating laws of nature. Having arrived at this conclusion, they seem all at once to be gratified with the result, and proceed to lavish encomiums on nature, and award to her as much praise as if she never suffered the innocent to be tortured nor the guilty to escape. With nature we find no fault; but we must find fault with the position of her worshipers, who, in the name of reason, accept the most unreasonable conclusions. The laws of nature answer their purposes; but this class of would-be philosophers endeavor to make them answer a purpose for which they were never designed.
What shall we understand by the phrase, laws of nature? It can be used only in two senses: 1. As meaning the laws which nature has made for the regulations of her own operations. But it is absurd to use it so, for nature never made a law. Nature cannot deliberate and plan; she does not possess the knowledge required to devise means adapted to various ends. Or, if she made her own laws, she must have existed before they were made. How then were her operations regulated or controlled? Surely, no man will claim for nature so much as such a use of the phrase implies. All must admit that nature did not make the laws, and that the expression can only refer, 2. To the laws which the Supreme Being has made for the government of nature. He who made nature subjected her to certain laws; and it does seem strange that men will reject belief in a Supreme Being as unreasonable and absurd, and then proceed to clothe nature with the wisdom and power, and all the attributes, which such a Being must necessarily possess!
The laws of nature do not meet the requirements of justice, and cannot be the foundation of a government over intelligent creatures.
They present no standard of right, and are therefore no fit model by which to shape human conduct. As lovers of the most expansive benevolence, we may strive to imitate nature when she spreads abroad her bounties—her precious fruits and golden grain. But again she withholds these, and famine is the dire result. Shall we imitate nature in the desolations of the whirlwind, the earthquake, and the pestilence? Shall we indiscriminately spread ruin and destruction around us, involving alike the innocent and the guilty, the gray-headed and the prattling child? All answer, No. But each hand that is raised to check such a mad career practically acknowledges that nature, which is so blindly worshiped by many, presents to us no example worthy of our imitation.
Why is it that the laws of nature do not satisfy the aspirations of man? Why do we not accept them as our standard of action? It is because they are destitute of morality. We cannot trace one moral element in their framework or execution. He who studies them intelligently must be convinced that they are designed solely for a natural system; not for a moral system. Hence, they have no penalties, but only consequences; and these consequences are uniform, so that the operations of nature present an unbroken series of causes and effects, the results being the same whether issuing upon a responsible or irresponsible object, regarding no distinction of moral good or evil.
We cannot accept merely natural laws as the complete basis of government, because man has aspirations rising above those laws—which reject them as a judicial system. In other words, there is implanted in man a sense of justice, or convictions of right, to which he finds no counterpart in nature. These convictions are on a moral basis. This sense of justice is erected in the human mind as a tribunal, a judgment-seat, whereat we determine the nature and desert of actions. And before this tribunal we always arraign the actions of intelligent agents, but never the operations of nature. This is true of all men; and it shows that all, whatever their theories may be, do in fact and in practice make a proper distinction between moral and natural laws.
The prime distinction between moral and natural law is this: the first has respect to intention; the other has not. Fire will burn47and water will drown us whether we fall into them accidentally or rush into them willfully. The little child, who is yet unconscious of any intention of good or ill, suffers as certainly and as keenly on putting its hand into the fire as the man of mature mind who does the same thing presumptuously. Should a man maliciously set fire to his neighbor’s house, and a child playfully and without intention of wrong, do the same thing, all would blame the one, but not the other. And were the judge in administering law to visit the same penalty upon the man and the child because the actions and results were the same, all would cry out against such a perversion of justice. Thus all do recognize the difference between moral and natural law, and with great unanimity they judge the actions of moral agents according to their intentions.
But the operations of natural law cannot thus be judged; and its consequences, often miscalled penalties, have no regard whatever to the claims of justice. As before said, the child is as certainly burned in the fire as the man; and further, if the man were to hold the hand of the child in the fire, he alone would do wrong, while the child alone would suffer the pain of the burn consequent upon the wrong. This proves that the sufferings from the burning cannot be a penalty, but is a consequence only, and that justice is not honored in the operations of nature. Confined in our reasoning to the present state, deprived of a revelation, and without a moral system distinct from the operations of nature, it is impossible to meet the evident demands of justice.
And again, when the requirements of a moral and natural law come in conflict, as they often do in the present mixed state of good and evil, preference is uniformly given to the former. And very often are men false to their own theories to be true to this fact. Though they deny the distinctions, they act in conformity to the propositions herein set forth. In the case of the burning of a house whose inmates are in danger of perishing, moral law requires that we rescue them from impending destruction, even though we suffer much pain because of our effort; but natural law calls us to pursue that course of action which would preserve ourselves from the burning and the suffering. To obey the calls of natural law, and let others perish without the effort and consequent suffering necessary to their rescue, would be condemned by all as selfishness. Whatever may be their theories, men uniformly make the distinction here claimed, and elevate moral duties above conformity to merely natural law. J. H. W.
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.
A CRY OF THE SPIRIT.
I am so weary, Lord. My load of care
Seems still more heavy with each opening day;
I cannot lift it. Father, hear my prayer!
And give me strength to keep the upward way.
I am so lonely, Lord, the gay and bright
And prosperous ones of earth all pass me by;
The friends of happier days ignore my night;
I come to thee, O Father, hear my cry!
I am so hungry, Lord, my soul is faint
For heavenly nourishment, amid the strife;
I starve, O Father, hear thy child's complaint
And feed my spirit with the “bread of life.”
I am so thirsty, Lord, my heart would sink
Withered and parched upon earth's arid plain;
Fill thou my cup, O Father, let me drink
Of “living waters,” ne’er to thirst again.
I am so sad, O Lord, the cries of woe
From suffering human souls afflict mine ear;
Oh! save and help them, Father, and I know
They must be comforted when thou art near.
Weary and lonely, hungry, thirsty, sad,
With all my sorrows, Lord, to thee I come;
Safe in my Father's arms I will be glad,
And wait, in faith, till he shall call me home.
—Boston Transcript.
Cattaraugus Co., N. Y.
By R. F. Cottrell
During the month of December I have been laboring in a new place, a place called Sugartown. There are now five Sabbath-keepers here, where a few weeks ago there were none. But prejudice has been so strong that but few have been willing to hear. Yet I trust that the honest of heart will yet open their minds to the truth. There are signs that prejudice is giving way. My courage is good, because I believe that this is the cause of the Lord, and that it will accomplish its work of preparing the remnant of God’s people for translation at the soon-coming advent of Jesus.
R. F. Cottrell.
Jan. 5, 1874.
Missouri Church Meetings at Rockville, Clintonville, Montevallo, Avilla
By J. H. Cook
Missouri.
I commenced meetings with the church at Rockville, Bates Co., Mo., Nov. 28. Remained with them over two Sabbaths. Held, in all, twelve meetings. The brethren appeared to be very much encouraged. Found a good degree of harmony and love existing among them, and a disposition to go forward with the people of God. Two were added to the church. Systematic Benevolence was raised to $76.
From there we went to Clintonville. Gave four discourses. The brethren here are scattered and few in number. We could not see any chance to help them much at present. They pledged of their means for the support of the cause as liberally as could be expected.
Went from there to Montevallo, where we remained ten days. Held twelve meetings. Most of them here seem firm in the truth, and accepted kindly our testimony on practical subjects. I hope others who are interested here will soon take a decided stand upon the truth. Systematic Benevolence pledges were here made for the ensuing year.
From Montevallo, went to Avilla. I was disappointed to find the situation of the church there better than I had expected. So far as I could learn, there is a general good feeling among the brethren. Met some things of a discouraging nature, but, altogether, we were much pleased with our meeting at Avilla. The Lord gave some of his Spirit to the speaker and people, and we trust and confidently expect to see a coming up and pressing together of the brethren at Avilla. Systematic Benevolence pledges amount to $90. J. H. Cook.
Mound City, Kansas.
By J. H. Cook
The quarterly meeting at Mound City has just past. I think it was the best meeting of the kind that I ever had the privilege of attending. From the commencement of the meeting, the Spirit of the Lord was with us in an unusual degree. All hearts were encouraged. On Sabbath evening, when we celebrated the ordinances, we all drank largely of the sweet, melting Spirit of God. All hearts were united in love as we have never experienced here before. Bro. Glover, of Neosho Falls, formerly of Michigan, was with us in these meetings, and shared largely in the heavenly influence; and when his voice rose up in triumphant expressions of gratitude to God, we felt that it was the shout of an old veteran of the cross that had been long looking for the appearing of his lovely Saviour, and felt that he was almost in view of the heavenly city. The brethren from Centerville, Union Town, and Scott, were with us in these meetings. Brethren Sharp and Lamont assisted in preaching the word. Two were added to the church.
J. H. Cook.
California Church Visits and Missionary Organizing, 1873
By John Norton Loughborough
California.
My last report was made Nov. 27, 1873. Nov. 29 and 30, attended the quarterly meeting at Healdsburg. At this meeting a Vigilant Missionary Society was organized.
December 6 and 7, had an interesting two days’ meeting at Napa, and the 13th and 14th, was with the company at St. Helena. Organized Systematic Benevolence, amounting to $210.60 per year; also organized a Missionary Society for St. Helena. Two more signed the covenant while I was at St. Helena.
Sabbath, December 20, I spent with the church in San Francisco. Quite a portion of this church are in favor of moving on with the body of Sabbath-keepers, while a few are disposed to find fault with the leaders in the cause, and go out by themselves. This perplexed state of things cannot always exist, and we hope none will be embarrassed in their efforts to arise by the backwardness of the complainers.
At Oakland, I had two meetings on first-day, the 21st. The few there are holding on. They have formed a Missionary Society, and organized s. b., amounting to over $50.00 per year, and are doing what they can to interest others in the truth.
December 27 and 28, attended quarterly meeting at Petaluma. Here we had an excellent meeting. Although this church have had but four sermons during the past year, they are holding on with good courage, and have paid the full amount of their s. b. funds, about $300.00, into the State treasury, to be used in extending the work to others; and they have increased their figures, that they may still put side and shoulder to the work. Such, as might be supposed, feast on the news of the advancement of the truth in other places.
December 29, it was my privilege to meet Bro. and sister White and Bro. and sister Van Horn, who had arrived the night before in San Francisco. I accompanied them to Santa Rosa, where, with some of our State officers, we enjoyed two days of sweet counsel together. We felt much profited also in learning from their lips of the wonderful work of God that has been going forward during their visit in the East. We rejoiced with them to see Bro. White so free, and are thankful that he is in so good health and is of good courage in the Lord.
Bro. Van Horn accompanied me to Napa, where, on Jan. 3 and 4, we held very interesting meetings. During this meeting, s. b. was organized for the Napa church, amounting to $838.76 per year. Their new meeting-house is ready for the plastering. They now design to have it all completed, and free from debt, by April 1.
Although we have trials, we are encouraged at the prospect of the cause for the future in California. I trust, as the spring opens, and we enter vigorously upon the work, we shall see the cause advancing upon this coast as never before. May we all find our place, and faithfully do our part in the work. J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.
Woodland, Jan. 7, 1874.
Obituary Notices.
“Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.”
DIED, in Charlestown, R. I., January 1, 1874, Herbert L., youngest son of Bro. A. P. and sister N. M. Green, after a severe sickness of five days of scarlet fever. Herbie was an interesting little boy. Parents and brothers loved him dearly. May their hearts’ affections all be drawn away from this world by this bereavement as never before, and placed on things that are not seen, but eternal.
DIED, in Pontiac, Ill., September 22, of inflammatory rheumatism, our very dear brother, John A. Evans, in the thirty-fourth year of his age. Bro. E. was one of the excellent of the earth, conscientious and God-fearing, loved and respected by all who knew him. He leaves a wife and two little sons to mourn their loss. May they live so as to meet him in the resurrection morn.
At his funeral, a large congregation listened to a discourse from the words, “I am the resurrection and the life.”
R. F. ANDREWS.
DIED, December 6, 1873, of lung fever, sister Elizabeth Chapman, aged sixty-five years and ten months. Sister C. embraced present truth twenty-three years since, under the labors of Eld. S. W. Rhodes in Northern Illinois. Her life has been such as to adorn the cause of Christ. In her last hours, all was peace and joy in God, while she exhorted friends and neighbors to prepare to meet her on Mount Zion.
F. W. MORSE.
DIED, in Olcott, N. Y., November 10, 1873, of inflammation of the stomach, our beloved brother, George Gaskill, aged thirty-five years. He embraced the third angel’s message about fifteen years since, and was a firm believer at the time of his death. We have reason to believe that God will remember his sleeping dust. He leaves a wife and two children to mourn their loss.
M. G. LINDSAY.
The European Outlook.
The following is translated from a letter dated August 3, written by one who occupies a very high station in the political, literary, and religious sphere of Europe—a man of long experience, extensive knowledge, and sound observation:—
“In England, ritualism threatens the Established Church. Should a schism take place, which is most likely, a great part of the Episcopalians would soon after be thrown into the arms of the Roman church. The fear of such a revolution paralyzes the hands of statesmen, who dare not oppose a dam to the encroachment of the inner foe, and who leave the matter to laymen and the parishes. Bismarck is waging with the Roman clergy a war by far more dangerous than that against France. The strongest power in Europe is wrestling hand in hand with the Roman church, which commands her battalions, and maneuvers them as one man. Much doubt must be entertained as to whether the people of Bavaria, the Rhenish provinces, Westphalia, and Silesia, will ever be detached from their clergy, and should I be mistaken, would it be beneficial to the gospel? Bismarck encroaches on the rights of the church by closing the seminaries, which, he maintains, is necessary, on the ground that any government is impossible with the Syllabus.
“This proceeding gives an immense power to the government in Switzerland. These have united with the view of destroying the church, which is to be broken up in each canton into a multitude of parishes, which, isolated as they will be and are, will have no resisting power. The struggle toward that direction has begun in every canton. In France, Henry V. will ascend the throne; the Ultramontane fanaticism will elevate him in order to persecute, every way and every where, both Protestants and free-thinkers. The fanatic party has lost all control over itself. It multiplies false miracles and solemn processions; by means of a hypocritical piety it galvanizes the masses, both ignorant and superstitious. It will be successful. But the Internationals will soon after throw down Henry V., whose reign will then be very short, and then will commence the days of horror, when the blood of the Ultramontanes will flow in torrents. Italy is marching on pretty well. The only trouble with her is her enormous taxation. As to the pope’s ever recovering his temporal power, this is out of the question. Spain presents a spectacle never witnessed before, viz., that of a society in such a state of complete dissolution that no one thinks about stopping or conquering her.”—N. Y. Witness.