The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 54, No. 23
REFUTATION OF THE DOCTRINE OF INSTANTANEOUS SANCTIFICATIONPage 1
Earlier text: SEVENTH-DAY BAPTISTS AND SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTSNORTHERN EUROPE.
By J. G. Matteson
SKIEN.—Brn. Jasperson and Roseqvist have made a good beginning in Skien. Skien is a city of some over 5,000 inhabitants. It is half a day’s journey from Christiania by steamer. When the railroad is finished, the distance will be much shorter. Skien is a central trading-place, and it is known in Norway as a principal place for all kinds of dissenters. Several other towns are situated near by along the bay, so that it is an excellent station for missionary operations, if the truth can be planted there. Bro. J. found every door closed when he came, and a renowned preacher from Christiania in full operation to hinder the work if possible. Bro. J. succeeded, however, in doing the only thing that could be done,—renting a dwelling-house for half a year. He has seated three large rooms, and occupies the fourth also for meetings. He has provided seats for 300 persons. The Lord has helped, and blessed his endeavors. All the rooms were crowded the first night, and many stood in the street and listened. Tuesday and Thursday evenings it was not so crowded, but Sunday evening the house was filled again, and there were still more hearers in the street. The people would stand up and listen for more than an hour without showing the least sign of weariness. Bro. J. says it did his heart good. Tracts are taken freely, and are also scattered in the surrounding country. These strangers and their doctrine have become a general theme of conversation on the street and in the stores. The rumors of the work in Christiania have awakened the curiosity of the people all over the country; and although our brethren find many opponents in Skien, yet they have also already some friends and defenders. Last Sabbath three persons kept the Sabbath with them. DENMARK.—Sister Renlef writes from the vicinity of Ribe (the place where Bro. Brorsen was born, and where he has labored some this fall) that another person has commenced to obey the truth, and that many have become convinced of our faith. Bro. Brorsen writes that he preached in the last part of September among the friends in Nortvig and Ring to interested hearers. Three more have commenced to obey the Lord, and others are on the way. In October he held meetings in the vicinity of Aarhus. Here he found a brother who had been brought to the Lord in a remarkable way. He was sick last winter, and sent to his neighbor for some novels to read. In the place of this he sent him Advent Tidende, which a friend from Wisconsin had been sending to him for some time. The paper led the sick man to seek the Lord and to embrace his truth. He subscribed for Tidernes Tegn, and is much interested to spread the truth. Here Bro. B. had a long discussion with a priest and three teachers about regeneration, baptism, and the Sabbath. The priest acknowledged the truth on several points. A number of the hearers were convinced that we had the truth on our side. The brethren in northern Jutland are firm in the truth, and the work is prospering among them. They are commencing to labor in the tract work, and are helping to increase our list of subscribers. The brethren are paying systematic benevolence. Bro. B. has labored with great self-denial and diligence. The mission in Denmark can now sustain him in his labors. SWEDEN.—Bro. L. G. Olsen has left Christiania, and is trying to labor in his native country. He held meetings one week at Amot. Many were willing to hear. He found two friends keeping the Sabbath, and he says that they are God-fearing people. Many were convinced of the truth by reading. Bro. O. is now in Herresta, where a dear family has been long waiting for help to spread the truth. Bro. L. Sandgren writes from Sundsvall that they have formed a small church there with six members, and asks for Bro. O. to come and help them. CHRISTIANA.—The tract society held their quarterly meeting Oct. 16. This society was formed July 24, this year. It now numbers 57 members. They have bought tracts during the quarter for Kroner 224.87, and obtained by donations and sale of tracts Kr. 206.05 (about $55.00). Besides this, they have tracts worth about Kr. 50.00. They donated Swedish tracts to Bro. Olsen to the value of Kr. 20.00, and Norwegian tracts to Bro. Jasperson to about the same amount. They ordered 50 copies of Tidernes Tegn. The building society read their report at this meeting. Expenses on our property in Akersveien No. 2 for repairs and running expenses amounted to Kr. 1,977.00; interest and semi-annual payment were Kr. 1,837.50; in all Kr. 3,814.50 ($1,017.20). Receipts were: house rent Kr. 1,555.18; shares and donations, Kr. 1,654.00; together, Kr. 3,209.00. The balance, Kr. 605.50, was put into the hands of the treasurer by members of the society eight days before the payments were due. A sister who has earned what she owns by her own hands, and lives very economically, occupying only a room 14x8 feet, under the roof in the third story, came to me before the meeting with Kr. 800.00, 400 for shares, and 400 to be loaned without interest. Our friends in America have no idea of the difficulties which we meet in this country in obtaining places for meetings. Our opponents are determined to crowd us out, and have a good chance to do so, because property and rent are very high. It has cost us a great deal to get our building in good order. We have now a very respectable hall for meetings, which can seat about 500 persons, and it is none too large for our Sunday meetings. Our expenses the coming term will not be so high. Still it will be quite a task to meet them. We have, however, used no means from our brethren in America for this purpose. The means sent by our brethren in the distant West are used exclusively for the printing work and for missionary work, and we try to use the strictest economy in every direction. At this meeting Bro. L. G. Olsen was unanimously chosen by the church to act as evangelist in Sweden, Bro. G. Johansen was chosen for exhorter, and Brn. O. Johansen and L. Hansen for deacons. The Sabbath following, these four brethren were ordained by prayer and the laying on of hands for their respective offices. The Lord came very near to us at this meeting. Nov. 6, 1879. J. G. Matteson. Stromsburg, Waco and Seward, Nov. 24.—The quarterly meeting with the Stromsburg church was good. The Saviour came very near to us by the Holy Spirit. Two were baptized. A health and temperance club was organized, all but one of the thirty-four members signing the teetotal pledge. The Constitution and By-laws recommended by the American H. and T. Association were read and adopted. Found the Waco church on the background, having neither meetings nor Sabbath-school. I reorganized the Sabbath-school, and they will now hold regular Sabbath-school and meetings. May the Lord help them to realize the times in which we are living and the importance of a closer walk with God. I then came to Seward. The brethren and sisters here seem to manifest a desire to walk in the light of present truth. A health and temperance club was organized, twelve members signing the teetotal pledge, and four the anti-rum and tobacco pledge. Mr. J. B. Finch, the great temperance lecturer of the West, signed the teetotal pledge, and became a full member of this club. H. SHULTZ. Dry Creek, Nov. 23.—The meetings at Dry Creek were continued three weeks with only a small interest, and closed yesterday. A Sabbath-school of thirteen members was organized; five copies of the Instructor are taken, and three Song Anchors were sold. The old lady eighty-six years of age, mentioned in last report, was baptized. GEO. B. STARR. The following from the Christian at Work needs no comment:— What a strange Being some people make of God! Some little time ago we noticed the appearance of a book taking the ground that God did not and could not know everything that should come to pass, because, if he did, it would do away with human causation and free-will—about as absurd a conclusion as was ever deduced from an untenable premise. Rev. George M. Steele, D. D., and Prof. Wm. North Rice, both of the Methodist Episcopal Church, are discussing the same question in the columns of Zion’s Herald, the Professor holding that God possesses all prescience, and Dr. Steele taking the opposite view. Of course, if Dr. Steele is right, man can surprise God, take him unawares—for aught we can say to the contrary, daze and bewilder the Almighty. And then, if God is not omniscient, he is not omnipotent; for omnipotence must be able to anticipate future exigencies, as well as overcome present obstacles. And if God is not omniscient and omnipotent, neither can he be all-wise. At this rate, it will not be long before we shall make the Almighty altogether such an one as ourselves. “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh;” it seems as if the set time for giving force to that declaration had already come. It strikes us there is better work to be done than that of proving the Lord an Almighty who isn’t almighty at all, but a Deity of finiteness and limitations. THE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR THOUSAND.
By A. Smith
A company is brought to view in Rev. 7 and 14, who are said to be sealed with the seal of God. It is a question of some interest to determine where, in point of time, we may look for such an event as this sealing to transpire. To deny the possibility of locating the time when the prophecy should become due, would be equivalent to impeaching the wisdom of God in making it a subject of revelation. The most remote period, I think, that has been claimed as the time when this transaction should have taken place, was that of Christ’s resurrection, when “many bodies of the saints which slept arose,” and constituted the sealed company. The arguments adduced in support of this proposition are (1.) The 144,000 were to be of the tribes of Israel, and hence not Christians, but Jews; and (2.) They were to be the “firstfruits,” answering to the wave sheaf in the former dispensation, which was offered at the beginning of harvest. Of the first argument we would say, that the limitation of this company to the tribes of Israel does not necessarily exclude Christians from a participation in its membership, for they also are declared to be the seed of Abraham. “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Gal. 3:29. “Now we [Christians], brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.” Chap. 4:28. “They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” Rom. 9:8. There is nothing, therefore, in that argument, to invalidate the claim that even the last generation of Christians may constitute the 144,000. To the second argument we reply, that Christ is plainly declared to be “the firstfruits of them that slept” (1 Cor. 15:20); but this expression is nowhere applied to those who came out of their graves soon after his resurrection. The only direct reference to this company found in the Bible is in Matt. 27:52, 53; but in Rev. 5:8, 9, four living creatures and four and twenty elders are mentioned as ministering conjointly with Christ as priests, and who ascribe their redemption out of every nation, and tongue, and people (some besides Jews among them, certainly,) to the Lamb. This company was doubtless composed of the resurrected saints who ascended with Jesus to Heaven (see marginal reading in Eph. 4:8), and probably consisted of a few holy men out of each generation from the beginning of the world; but that they were not the sealed ones mentioned in Revelation 7 and 14, appears from the fact that the 144,000 sing their song of deliverance before them. See Rev. 14:3.183 It has been claimed by some that the first converts to Christianity from among the Jews constituted the 144,000. But, as we have seen, Christians, of whatever extraction, are counted as the “house of Israel.” Furthermore, it is not likely that so many of the Jews believed and were made perfect, else the apostles would not have found it necessary to turn to the Gentiles. See Acts 13:46. But what is most fatal to both the foregoing positions is the fact that what was revealed to John A. D. 96, about thirty-five years after the resurrection of Christ, was concerning events yet to transpire. See Rev. 1:1; 4:1. It is worthy of remark that there does not appear to be a hint or reference to this sealed company in either the gospels or epistles, except, perhaps, in Jas. 1:1, 18. This is certainly very singular, if a work of such marked peculiarity had transpired at the time when, and in the place where, the inspired writers of that portion of the New Testament lived. The epistle of James was evidently written especially for the benefit of Christians living in the end of time, just before Christ’s second advent. Jas. 5:3, 7, 8. The earthly records of some of the tribes of Israel are said to have been irredeemably lost long before our Saviour’s time. But we may be assured that a perfect record is kept in Heaven, and every true convert to Christianity is assigned his place in one of the tribes of Israel. See Dan. 7:10; Luke 10:20; Heb. 12:23; Rev. 13:8; 20:12. Up to the time of Christ, the records of Israel served the purpose of establishing the genealogy of the lineage of David and Abraham, and of preserving the integrity of the Aaronic priesthood; but when the ministration in the heavenly sanctuary began, God would no longer shield the now worthless memorial from corruption. When, in the providence of God, this prophecy should become due, four mighty angels appear on the stage of action, to whom is assigned the duty of holding the four winds of the earth until the process of sealing shall have been accomplished. In prophetic language, “wind” is a symbol of war (compare Rev. 7:1 with Dan. 7:2; Jer. 25:32; 49:36, 37); and “the great sea,” which it agitates, is an emblem of the people who constitute the nations of the earth. (Compare with Isa. 8:7, 8; Jer. 46:7, 8; Dan. 7:2; Rev. 17:15.) Why should it be necessary to employ mighty angels to restrain the nations and keep peace on earth, unless the armaments and temper of those nations were such that, in all human probability, a general war of such magnitude as to seriously impede the Divine work in question were inevitable? Can the reader discern in the signs of the times a condition of military and diplomatic preparation answerable to this hypothesis? These four angels have, no doubt, received a commission from Heaven to influence the decisions of councils and legislative bodies at the capitals of nations, in order to hold in abeyance the strife of war until the specific work of sealing the servants of God shall have been accomplished. Coincident with the appearance of the four angels, and with a commission running parallel with theirs, another mighty angel, having the seal of God, is seen, ascending from the east, his ascending, no doubt, indicating his growing power and influence in the earth, like the increasing effulgence and fervor of the sun, as he ascends from the horizon to the meridian. This angel exerts a powerful influence upon the religious world, employing agencies comparatively weak at first, but increasing mightily in power, and becoming world-wide in renown. Could such events in the political and religious world have transpired at the resurrection of Christ or in the days of the apostles, and not become the subject of profane and ecclesiastical history, so emphatic as to leave no doubt as to the application of the prophecy at that time? Let stern facts respond to the question. The seal in the hand of the angel is an object that demands the most careful attention, as every servant of God is to bear its impress, and all must receive this seal gladly, knowing its character, or they cannot be sealed and finally inherit eternal life. The term is thus defined by Webster: “Seal, n. 4. Any act of confirmation. 5. That which confirms, ratifies, or makes stable; assurance.” “Seal, v. t. 2. To set or affix a seal as a mark of authenticity. 3. To confirm; to ratify; to establish. 10. To imprint on the mind.” Dr. Clarke, in his notes on Rom. 4:11, says: “There is nothing more common in the Jewish writers than the word אות, sign, and חותם Chotham, seal; as signifying the mark in the flesh, by the rite of circumcision.” It will be seen from these extracts, that the terms seal, sign, and mark are synonymous; and by reference to Heb. 8:10; Rev. 3:12; Ex. 31:13, 16, 17; and Rev. 14:11, that these symbols may indicate such impressions made upon the mind as will convince the judgment and reform the life; and that the Bible Sabbath and the so-called Christian Sabbath, are, respectively, the “SEAL OF GOD” and the “MARK OF THE BEAST.” In view of the foregoing, the use of the seal under consideration is obvious; but the conditions upon which it is to be affixed, can, I think, be made very clear to every candid reader by the following illustration: Before me lie two deeds of conveyance, one of which was executed in the State of Massachusetts, and sealed with a bit of circular, serrated red paper, attached to the document with sealing-wax, and stamped with the initials of the sealing officer; the other deed is sealed with a mere scrawl of the pen. Each seal answers a specific purpose,—it ratifies, or establishes unalterably, the contents of the document to which it is affixed. Let the first represent the seal of God, and the last the “mark of the beast.” Any individual might obtain a piece of red paper like that described, and attach it to a document of his own framing, and, though that instrument might be correct in detail, and the seal properly affixed, yet, to constitute it a legal tenure, it must be stamped by the officer of law. So one might keep the Bible Sabbath, and the life record in other respects might be quite perfect, yet such a person could not be considered as sealed in the full sense contemplated in the text, until that life record had been scrutinized by the Judge of all, and stamped with the name of God, of Christ, and of the New Jerusalem; thus showing a purity of character that will qualify the receiver to behold the face of God in glory, to enjoy the companionship of Christ, and to inherit eternal life in paradise. Until this point is reached, a Sabbath-keeper may fall from grace, lose the seal entirely, and irredeemably mar his life record in Heaven. The special work of the sealing angel, as now transpiring in the earth, consists in filling out, or writing, the moral document, so to speak, of each individual’s life, with pure and holy principles that will constitute it a legal tenure in the kingdom of God; and the scrawl of an earthly tenure is exchanged for the seal (Sabbath) of another state, and all who will are being made ready for the final stamp of immortality. Do those who keep Sunday have the mark of the beast? No; unless they do so knowing it to be a papal institution, and that the seventh day is the Bible Sabbath, which God requires men to sanctify, certainly not in a sense that it cannot be exchanged before the close of the third angel’s message for the “seal of the living God,” the Sabbath of Divine appointment. The moral aspect in the earth reveals the work of the sealing angel as rapidly approaching its final consummation, when every servant of God will receive the seal of immortality, and every sinner the impress of eternal death. It will be too late then for the self-righteous professor to plead admittance on the ground of having been associated in church capacity with some who are saved; too late for the backslider to return to his first love; too late for the sinner to plead for the mercy which he has once rejected and despised. “ ‘Too late! too late!’ will be the cry; Jesus of Nazareth has passed by.” Reader, you have not yet reached that awful period of anguish. The third angel’s message still sounds its solemn warning in your ears: “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God.” Rev. 14:9, 10. And the cheering promise still pleads: “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” Chap. 3:21. A. SMITH. SOWING TIME.
By Helen E. Brown
“In due season we shall reap if we faint not.” I seek not the harvest here
From the seeds of truth I sow;
I willingly wait to bind the sheaves
In the world to which we go. The breath of the Lord shall waft
Each one wherever he will;
And there it shall spring, and bear its fruit,
His purpose to fulfil. ’Tis a joy to bear the seed,
To go with the store of grain,
To scatter it here and scatter it there,
And sow and sow again; In the morning’s dewy hour,
’Mid noontide’s sultry heat,
At evening time, when the shadows fall,
To drop the gospel wheat. I know not which shall thrive,
But the promise of God I take;
His eye will follow the smallest grain
I sow for his dear sake. “Blessed are ye that sow!”
Yea, Lord, the work is sweet:
The hardest toil is the dearest joy,
The soul’s most dainty meat. Thank God for the sowing time!
But who can the bliss foresee,
When the work is done, and the workers throng
To the harvest jubilee! —Helen E. Brown, in London Christian. Kendall Co., Nov. 24.—Since we took down the tent, I have visited 102 families (mostly in Kendall county), and have given away 3,102 pages of tracts and 12 Annuals, have loaned 900 pages of reading matter and sold $8.15 worth, and have obtained one subscriber for Tidernes Tegn and one for the Instructor. I have also held four meetings at Norway, ten with E. M. Grove, and two north of Sheffield. The Lord blessed me in speaking his word at these places. I am now at home in Chicago. Pray for me. L. JOHNSON. Van Ettenville, Chemung Co., Nov. 26.— Since our last report we have continued the meetings in this section, and shall soon commence the third course of lectures. One opposition discourse has been preached, which we reviewed, the truth gaining the victory. The few that have embraced the Sabbath here seem to be doing well. They hold regular Sabbath-meetings, and we preach to them. A Sabbath-school has been organized, and lesson sheets have been sent for. The subjects of temperance, spiritual gifts, and systematic benevolence have been presented, and generally accepted. IOWA
By C. A. Washburn; A. W. H. Millard
Conway and Grant.—We held meetings in and near Conway, Taylor Co., Oct. 25-30. The Sabbath-keepers living near Bedford signed the covenant here, making eleven. Some who attended our meetings desire to hear more about our faith. One man, though not a Sabbath-keeper, gave us five dollars. Nov. 2-5 we held meetings in Grant township, Ringgold Co., where our tent was pitched last this season. As the result of these meetings, eight signed the covenant. These, with four who had previously signed it, will keep up prayer-meetings. We hope they will let their “light so shine” that others, who are almost persuaded, will embrace the truths of the Bible. C. A. WASHBURN.
A. W. H. MILLARD. Star Valley, Cherokee Co., Nov. 25.—I came back to this place soon after camp-meeting, and have continued meetings up to this time. The interest is deeper now than at any time before. Several have commenced keeping the Sabbath, among whom is the class leader of the United Brethren church and his family. Next Sabbath we have Sabbath service. Last week we preached ten times, besides visiting. May the Lord give strength and wisdom to present the third angel’s message in its purity. We shall visit the church at Ward as soon as we can leave Star Valley. L. D. SANTEE. NEBRASKA H. AND T. ASSOCIATION.
By C. P. Bollman
At the second annual session of the Nebraska Conference held at Seward, Neb., Oct. 2-7, the health and temperance work was made a prominent feature. Eld. Boyd and his co-laborers had been agitating the subject for sometime, and a goodly number of our people had signed the teetotal pledge and were prepared to enter heartily into the work. On Sunday afternoon Eld. Butler spoke on the subject of Christian temperance, and in a plain and pointed manner set forth its claims upon us as a people, after which pledges were circulated and 118 signed the pledge and paid the initiation fee, quite a number of others becoming pledge members. Monday afternoon an organization was effected, and permanent officers were chosen. Eld. Geo. B. Starr was elected President, and C. P. Bollman Secretary. Fourteen were reported from the Beaver City camp-meeting, making the total number of full members at the time of organization 132. Since the organization of the State Association, several local clubs have, we believe, been organized, but no official reports have been received. Secretaries of local clubs are requested to report promptly. My P. O. address is Albion, Boone Co., Nebraska. C. P. BOLLMAN, Sec. In the Christian at Work of Nov. 20, 1879, we find the following items relative to the increase of crime. And while we find in the sickening details of crime and woe as given through the press a confirmation of the prophecy that in “the last days” wickedness (Greek, lawlessness) should abound, we also see in them an assurance that the “everlasting kingdom,” the kingdom of righteousness and peace, is soon to be set up. “During the last year, in Ireland 6,959 cases of serious crimes, such as assaults, robberies, etc., were disposed of; of lesser offenses there were 266,268, and of cases of ‘punishable drunkenness,’ there were 107,723. Scotland shows a slight increase in serious crimes over Ireland. The latter country, with a population of 5,400,000 returns 79,000 paupers, while Scotland, with 3,500,000 population, returns 100,200 paupers. These figures show how much remains to be done for these countries, while the criminal statistics of England and Wales show a much larger preponderance of crime than in either Scotland or Ireland. With the poor growing poorer in Scotland and Ireland, and thousands of operatives in England and Wales thrown out of employment, the outlook for immigration to this country is justly believed to be promising to an unusual degree.” “Statistics of crime in Italy show a fearful state of affairs. The report of the minister shows that during the past year more than 2,000 murders were committed, an average per million of the population unequaled by any other country on the face of the globe. During the same time the number of ordinary robberies, burglaries, etc., is stated at 40,000, while there are 50,000 robberies accompanied with violence. In her long catalogue of crime Italy stands without a peer.” “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth” Rev. 14:13. ARNDT.—Died of typhoid fever, Nov. 3, 1879, Sister Alice R. Arndt, aged 22 years and 5 months. Sister Alice was clerk of the Troy church at the time of her death. She lived and died at the home of her parents, in the township of Sullivan, Ashland Co., Ohio. During the last days of her sickness she suffered extremely, but was constantly sustained by the grace of God, and the Christian’s hope. She embraced the present truth during a series of meetings held by the writer in Sullivan, in the spring of 1877, since which time she has been a faithful worker and a devoted Christian. The church and Sabbath-school sustain a great loss, and they deeply feel it. She was greatly beloved by all. She leaves brothers, sisters, and aged parents to mourn their loss. Funeral services at the U. B. church in Troy, which was well filled with sympathizing friends and a large circle of mourners. Sermon by the writer, from 1 Thess. 4:13. H. A. St. John. LOW.—Died of typho-malarial fever, near Sedalia, Mo., Nov. 12, 1879, Sister Jennie Low, second daughter of Rufus and Ellen Low, aged 17 years, 10 months, and 12 days. Sister Jennie, with the rest of the family, embraced the Sabbath and kindred truths a little more than one year ago, under the labors of Eld. Geo. J. Butler, and she has since lived a very devoted and exemplary life. She was beloved by all who knew her. The church and family realize that in her death they have sustained a loss. While we mourn, it is not as others who have no hope. “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” Funeral services conducted by the writer; discourse from Rev. 14:13. J. G. Wood. HALE.—Died in Norridgewock, Me., Oct. 24, 1879, Bro. Wellington Hale, aged 65 years and 5 months. He embraced the third angel’s message under the labors of Elds. J. N. Andrews and M. E. Cornell, and his faith never wavered to the last. From the time he professed religion till his death, he was a constant reader of the Bible, never allowing a year to pass without reading it through. Very patiently he bore his sickness, which was distressing, believing that in a little while the Lord would come, and that he should awake and sing “O death, where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory?” He leaves a wife and a large circle of friends to mourn his loss. Funeral discourse from 1 Cor. 15:21–23. Chas. Stratton. SANDBORN.—Died of diphtheria, in Sippewa, Mich., Sept. 2, 1879, Lida, daughter of C. and S. Sandborn, aged 4 years, 8 months, and 10 days. Lida early learned to love the Sabbath-school, and a short time before her death repeated her lesson, which she was in the habit of learning well. F. Howe. BAUER.—Died of croup, near Palermo, Kan., Nov. 7, 1879, our son, Edson Bauer, aged 3 years and 4 months. We feel that we have met with a great loss, for our little one was a promising child; but we are comforted with the blessed hope that our Saviour is soon to come, when our darling will be restored to our embrace. CHRISTIAN AND HATTIE BAUER. —Indiana has a school fund of $9,000,000. —Vesuvius threatens another great eruption. —Typhoid fever is alarmingly prevalent in Montreal. —General Grant is again at his old home in Galena, Ill. —It costs $30,000 a year to keep St. Peter’s, at Rome, in repair. —Nov. 1, the returns showed 90,000 deaths from cholera in Japan. —Religious liberty has been granted to the Baptists of Russia. —It takes $58,000,000 a year to support the state church in England. —Utah’s annual yield of lead, silver, and gold is estimated at $5,000,000. —The library of the British Museum contains over 1,000,000 volumes. —Walter Hastings, lately deceased, bequeathed $500,000 to Harvard College. —The Chilians have recently gained a decisive victory over the Peruvians. —The Spanish Countess Montijo, mother of the ex-Empress Eugenie, is dead. —The Scriptures, either the whole or a part, have been translated into 250 languages. —The wheat crop of this country for the present year is estimated at 425,000,000 bushels. —The Mormons are erecting a new temple at Salt Lake City, which is to cost $5,000,000. —Amherst College, Mass., has just received one donation of $55,000 and another of $50,000. —Edinburgh has opened its first temperance coffee-house for the accommodation of workingmen. —It is estimated that there are 12,000 mission schools in the world, containing at least 400,000 pupils. —In Italy, church property to the value of $109,000,000 was sold at auction from Oct. 26, 1877, to Sept. 30, 1879. —An equestrian statue of Gen. Geo. H. Thomas, executed by the sculptor J. Q. A. Ward, was recently unveiled in Washington. —Ex-Gov. H. P. Baldwin has been appointed United States Senator from Michigan, to fill the unexpired term of Senator Chandler. —Another lake horror is recorded. The steamer Waubuno has been wrecked in Georgian Bay, and this time it is believed that 30 persons perished. —The north-western provinces of India are suffering from a severe epidemic of malarious fever. The death-rate is increased to an enormous extent. —A liquor-seller in Massachusetts, who has been fined $200 in the Middlesex District Court, is the first one to suffer under the civil damage act. —A young lady, a pupil in St. Mary’s academy, Windsor, Ontario, was fatally poisoned by a dose of laudanum accidentally administered by one of the nuns. —A proposition to make General Grant Captain General of the U. S. army, with a salary of $25,000 or $50,000, will probably come before Congress at its next session. —The new Baptist church in St. Louis, which was dedicated Nov. 6, cost $200,000, and is said to be the finest church building owned by the Baptist denomination. —To conciliate Germany, Russia has offered some long-refused commercial facilities, releasing German traders from expensive exactions by the Russian local authorities. —Boston gives women the privilege of voting on matters pertaining to schools, but only about one thousand have registered preparatory to exercising this right at the coming election. —Those who complain of the present prices of books need to remember that in 1720 a copy of the Latin Bible was valued at $150, and wages were so low that it took a laborer 15 years to earn one. —The level of nearly all the lakes in the far West has been rising for several years past. Salt Lake has risen 12 feet in 25 years; Pyramid Lake, 9 feet in 4 years; and Winnemucca Lake, 22 feet in 4 years. —The reading room of the British Museum contains three miles of book-cases eight feet high. The dome whence the electric light irradiates the vast room is, next to that of the Pantheon at Rome, the largest extant. —The Wesleyan Methodists, at their General Conference recently held at Pittsford, Mich., refused to receive the delegate from the Episcopal Methodist church, as he was a member of the Masonic fraternity. —The “petty American republic of Paraguay,” according to the Catholic Mirror, has of late become actually rebellious in its attacks upon the authorities of the church, not sparing even His Holiness himself. —The Bank of England was incorporated in 1649. The buildings cover five acres of ground, and 900 clerks are employed. There are no windows on the street, light being admitted through open courts. —The little village of Vitznau, on the shore of Lake Lucerne in Switzerland, at which tourists take the cars for the ascent of Mount Righi, is threatened with destruction from the falling of a mass of rock overhanging it. —Nov. 25, £136,000 of bullion was withdrawn from the Bank of England, £90,000 of which was for shipment to the United States. Still later, £450,000 was drawn in a single day, little less than half of which was for shipment to this country. —The latest location of the Garden of Eden is that given by Rev. P. G. Robert, of St. Louis, at the Minnetonka Lake Sunday-school Assembly, who with learned reasons advocated the idea that it now lies at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. —During the present recess of Congress, various experiments with electric lights have been made, with the view of lighting up the halls and grounds of the capitol from the dome of the building. It is expected that all arrangements will be completed in time for the coming session. —Bishop Potter, of New York, who has recently celebrated the 25th anniversary of his episcopate, has, in that time, ordained 418 persons to the deaconate, and 342 to the priesthood. He has consecrated 108 churches, and confirmed 72,000 persons. —The almost incredible fact is stated that R. A. Packer, President of the Pennsylvania and New York railroad, while recently in Nebraska, conversed for two hours with his wife and brother in Pennsylvania, 2,000 miles distant, by means of a telephone, through which every whisper was audible! —Malarial and typhus fevers prevail in Jerusalem, owing to the overcrowding of the poor in small dwellings, the total neglect of sanitary precautions, and the scarcity of pure water. The Pools of Solomon would furnish abundant supplies, but Moslem fanaticism will not permit foreigners to build an aqueduct. —The shore end of the new ocean telegraph cable connecting France with the United States has been successfully laid at North Eastham on the coast of Cape Cod, and on the instant a congratulatory message was sent to the officers of the company in France. Starting from Brest, in the northwestern corner of France, the cable is laid to the island of St. Pierre, one of the three small islands south of Newfoundland which are owned by France, and thence to our coast. —It is significant of the new policy that obtains at the Vatican, that, whatever may have been the private advice to the Belgian bishops, all language at variance with the diplomatic correspondence with Belgium is publicly disavowed. The Inter-Ocean thinks this indicates that the church recognizes the necessity of conforming to the spirit of modern progress. Yes; the church “recognizes the necessity.” “They shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end,” said the prophet. A SOLEMN INQUIRY.
By P. C. Rodman
Dear Brethren, are we as active in the work of God as we ought to be? Are we as earnest as we should be in our efforts to save the perishing, so that our zeal persuades them that we believe the Lord is soon coming, and that the wicked will drink of the unmingled wine of the wrath of God? I fear that we shall fail of eternal life, and that the blood of souls will be found upon our garments, unless we awake. Let us be zealous and repent, and at once enter upon the work of saving souls. We have slept too long already. Where is our first love? Have not many of us lost it? If so, the Lord calls on us to repent. For a little ease, a large share of the love of this world, a little self-indulgence, can we afford to be forever shut out of the kingdom of God, which is so soon to be given to the saints? Remember, once too late is forever too late. Now is the accepted time. “Behold, now is the day of salvation.” Let us put on the whole armor of God, and fight the good fight of faith, laying hold on eternal life while we may. We are in the watching time. Read Matt. 24: 42-44; Mark 13: 33-37; 1 Pet. 4: 7; 1 Thess. 5: 6, noticing the contexts, and you will conclude that these scriptures apply now, when the signs show that Jesus is near, when sudden destruction awaits the wicked, and judgment begins at the house of God. Dear brethren, will you obey the words of our Saviour as found in Luke 21: 34-36, and be prepared to stand before the Son of man, when he shall appear? Each must heed these words for himself. We must not neglect the teachings of the word of God; if we do, we shall make a fatal mistake. Begin now to heed the words of truth; to delay is to peril our eternal interests, and permit souls that we might be instrumental in saving to go to perdition. May the Lord save us from the snare of Satan, that we may at last be permitted to enter through the gates into the city, have right to the tree of life, and dwell with angels and all the saved forever. May we be of the number that “follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth;” may we be among the pure in heart, and see God. We believe the teetotal pledge to be a source of strength in the time of temptation. When the temptation is upon us, our appetites are urging us to indulge, and we are surrounded by those who use the poisons, with but little time to recall the evidences of the injuries to be sustained by indulgence, it is a poor time to decide aright. If we have fully decided the matter in our minds before, when the temptation presents itself, it finds no entertainment. Fathers, mothers, sign the pledge yourselves, and get your children to sign it, and thus protect them when temptations are pressing hard upon them.