Earlier text: Moving to Battle CreekVermont: Baptisms at South Starksboro
By A. S. Hutchins
The three Sabbaths following our excellent camp-meeting, I spent at South Starksboro, holding meetings also on first-days, and some evenings, assisted by Bro. Evans. As previously stated by Bro. D. T. Bourdeau, a good interest had been awakened here by the labors in the tent during its short stay. Our meetings were highly interesting. Some more decided to obey God by obedience to all his commandments. The last Sabbath, extra seats had to be prepared in the school-house, for the convenience of the audience, who came to hear the word, and to witness the ordinance of baptism. Strange reports had been put into circulation about us. It was said that we received a fee for baptizing each candidate, of three or five dollars, that the ordinance was not administered by the preacher, but that he stood upon the shore and witnessed it, and that we always baptized in the night. The day was most delightful. After the close of the second sermon, we repaired to the water, where five happy souls followed the example of the Great Head of the church. The large number present saw nothing strange or queer to mark the occasion. Under the gracious power of the Holy Spirit, dear, old faithful pilgrims rejoiced with those who have recently learned to love the precious truths of the blessed Bible. Truly there is power in the gospel and the efficacy of Christ’s blood, to unite the hearts of believers. But we must press forward for higher attainments, and seek to have our lives marked with a growth in grace, and our efforts crowned with usefulness and happiness. One of the number baptized never professed religion till our meetings after the camp-meeting. It was heart-cheering to see her move forward so readily in obedience. Oh! that many more who have heard and been deeply convicted, would yield to the convicting influences of the Spirit of God, and know the unspeakable joy of communion with him, and of a hiding place from the fast approaching judgments, in the great day of his wrath. A. S. Hutchins. Oct. 3, 1872. Tent-Meeting at Woodland, California.
By M. E. Cornell
On Sunday evening, Sept. 15, the last meeting was held in the tent at Woodland. Before taking down the tent, a special meeting was held to consider the question of building a meeting-house. The result was a resolution to build, and over $1500.00 were soon pledged for that object. As far as we know, about thirty have decided to keep the commandments, and many more are investigating. Above $225.00 worth of books were sold during the meeting, and forty subscribed for the REVIEW, and twelve for the Reformer. Over two hundred dollars in coin were voluntarily contributed for our expenses. The discussion with Prof. Martin seemed to result gloriously for the cause of truth, the unprejudiced generally deciding that our position was fully sustained. Several have already withdrawn from their church, and several others have declared their intention to do so. The following document serves to show the feeling existing toward us for the truth’s sake, among the candid outsiders: “Eld. Cornell:
We, the undersigned citizens of Yolo County, and nonprofessors of Christianity, take this method of manifesting our appreciation of your services as a Biblical Lecturer, in the town of Woodland, by tendering you the amounts set opposite our respective names.”
With this paper was given into my hand $100.00 in gold coin. At another time $5.00 came to hand from Anonymous through the mail, all of which was handed over to Bro. Loughborough and applied on the expense fund. Several have been baptized, and more will follow soon. The meeting-house is to be put right forward this fall so as to be ready for use the coming winter. With the general spirit of investigation now manifested in the reading of the Bible and publications, we confidently expect there will be many more who will soon take their stand upon the truth. We shall ever remember with gratitude the kindness of the dear friends at Woodland, especially the respect shown us by the county officers and leading citizens, from the very first of our labors there. We trust that no one of them will ever have occasion to regret the favors they have shown to the strangers with the tent in Woodland. Northern N. Y.
By S. B. Whitney
SINCE my last report, and previous to our good camp-meeting, have spent two Sabbaths with the friends in North Creek and Chester, where I partially organized a church, with S. E. amounting to something over $120.00. I spent one Sabbath each at Keene and Vermontville, arranging matters for the Conference, &c. At the latter place, several joined the Tract Society, and four were baptized. On my way to Conference, I stopped one Sabbath at Buck’s Bridge, where two were baptized. Since the camp-meeting, I have attended monthly meeting at Chase’s Mills, spent one Sabbath at Vermontville, and two at home, writing and making preparations for another tour. Sept. 14–18, was again in Chester. Here the friends are doing remarkably well. They have a flourishing Sabbath-school and Bible-class. Five or six more have commenced keeping the Sabbath since I was here last. A little incident illustrates how the thing stands. On Sabbath morning, as Bro. Cowles and I were approaching the school-house, a peddler who was passing, seeing the numbers at the house and on the road, halted and asked if he had made a mistake and gone to peddling Sunday. Bro. Cowles replied that he was peddling on the Sabbath, to which he made no reply. Sept. 20–23, was at Indian Lake. This company are also doing well. A young man who had never made a profession of religion has recently taken hold of the truth in earnest, and was baptized. Last week, went to Thurman, where the Baptist minister had invited me to occupy his house; but I found he had turned square about, and every opening there closed against me. I immediately found an opening, however, in this place, where I have just commenced meetings, having spoken but twice. The audience has been good, considering the weather and short notice, with some interest, but time must disclose the result. Brethren, will you pray for us? Johnsburg, N. Y., Oct. 1, 1872. J. BYINGTON
By J. Byington
I was last Sabbath with the church in Oceana County near Greenwood station, six miles south of Whitehall. Quite a good number of brethren came together from different towns. This is in the pine woods, where present truth has been preached but a short time. I believe Bro. Strong was the first here to present the third angel’s message. Our meetings were interesting. All seemed to have a mind to work. Here I met with Adolphus Palmer and wife, with whom we formerly met at Buck’s Bridge, N. Y., some fourteen years since. They yet keep the Sabbath, but have done but little here to advance the truth. They now seem to have a mind to work. Oh! that all might feel the danger of a lukewarm state when so much is to be done. Here also I met with Bro. Newman (formerly of Windsor, Eaton Co.), who is elder of this church. I felt blessed in my visit to this place, and hope to spend more labor with them. Coopersville, Mich., Oct. 3, 1872. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth. FELL asleep, in Bushnell, Montcalm Co., Mich., July 16, 1872, sister Emma P. Brigham, aged thirty years. Sister Brigham embraced the present truth about fifteen years ago. She was conscientious and very devoted in her religious life, and much respected by all who were acquainted with her. She leaves a companion and a large circle of friends who deeply mourn their loss. Funeral services by the writer. S. H. LANE. DIED, of asthma, Sept. 13, at the Mountain House, Brush Creek, Cal., George W. Rhodes, of Johnstown Center, Rock Co., Wis., aged 57 years and 9 months. He went to California hoping to get some relief by a change of climate, but he only lived five days after he got there. He leaves a wife and one son besides numerous friends to mourn their loss. Funeral services were held at Johnstown Center, Oct. 6, when a discourse was delivered by the writer to a large and attentive congregation from Heb. 9: 27. I. SANBORN. DIED, of typhoid fever, in Wright, Ottawa Co., Mich., Hannah Tubbs, wife of Bro. Ira Tubbs, 72 years of age. Sister Tubbs embraced religion some forty years since, and received present truth under the labors of Eld. Joseph Frisbie fifteen years ago, in the town of Wright. Her husband says she was ever a good wife, a very patient, faithful Christian, and a lover of present truth. She had lived with her husband fifty years. We endeavored to speak words of comfort at the funeral from 1 Thess. 4: 14. J. BYINGTON. DIED, in Waterloo, Wis., Aug. 23, 1872, after an illness of eleven and one half days, Elijah O. Brown, our youngest child, at the age of 4 years and 23 days. Funeral services by Eld. John Atkinson. Wm. W. AND H. BROWN. A Word to the Young.
By Chas. L. Kellogg
DEAR READERS OF THE REVIEW: I have often thought I would contribute something for the paper in favor of present truth. I have been too slack in my Master's cause; but since our good camp-meeting in Vermont, I have resolved to be more faithful in the future than in the past; and when I consider how pure and holy I must be in order to be owned of God as one of his dear children, I feel like striving harder to live out the truth, harder to overcome pride, harder to overcome self. Oh! I want a shelter from the storm, a place within the city of God when the earth shall be dissolved in a sea of flame. And I would say to the young friends that read the REVIEW, It is high time that we awake out of sleep. God wants us to purify ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh, that we may be ready to stand in the time of trouble which is coming upon the earth, to try us and see if we are in earnest in serving the Lord. And if we are weighed in the balances and found wanting, we cannot be accepted as God's children. Then let us flee to the arms of outstretched mercy and confess our sins unto the Lord, with weeping and with godly sorrow, that they may go beforehand to judgment, so that we may not have anything to condemn us in the time of trouble. Dear young friends, let the warning that we have had through the gifts in the church, that but very few of the young will be saved for the lack of consecration to God, sink with weight deep into our hearts. And may it actuate us to new life and vigor in the work of overcoming. We are living in the Judgment hour. Time is very short. The blessed Jesus is now pleading for fallen man; but soon he will cease pleading and come to take vengeance on the ungodly. Oh! solemn thought! But yet it is a stern reality. Shall any of us be among that number upon whom the blessed Jesus will come to take vengeance? We need not, if we will comply with the word of God. Zeph. 2: 3: “Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.” Then let us seek the Lord with our whole hearts, that we may escape in the great day of the Lord. CHAS. L. KELLOGG.
Brooklyn, N. Y. The Influence of Praise.
By Beecher
If there ever was dexterity, it is shown in the following passage: “For as touching the ministering of the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you: for I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago: and your zeal hath provoked very many. Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be ready: lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting.” If Paul's example is our liberty, there can be no question that it is right to persuade men to do good by praising them, and to make use of their pride and self-love to inspire them to do better. The question is not whether men ought to be made to do better by the highest motives; but whether, in their place and turn, all motives may not be employed. The apostle never failed, when it could be done consistently with honesty and truth, to praise the disciples for what they were, and for what they had done; and then to go on and employ praise to induce them to do still more. It is in accordance with the world's experience, that people work better by praising than by driving. This is so among laboring men, and among children; and it is a thing that it would be well for parents to take heed to, who, often thinking that they must bring up their children to act from the highest motives, make duty very rugged and very unattractive, and do not recollect that a child has human nature as anybody else, and that the most perfect obedience can frequently be secured by encouragement and commendation, rather than by command and the rod. So the apostle led the churches; and I do not think we shall be in much danger if we follow in his footsteps. You will take notice, too, that while he praised them, and told them that he boasted of them wherever he went, and gave them the advantage of a good reputation, there was a shrewdness still which he practiced. For he said: “I have sent the messengers before, lest the people of Macedonia should be surprised by finding that you have given nothing. I have not sent back to tell you that I have praised you to them, and that they all expect much of you, and to beseech you to make ready so that I may not be put to shame.” He praises them, and sees to it that praise is so employed that it will inspire them, and necessitate their doing better. Is this unmanly? Is it unfair? If so, the apostle is not worthy of our trust. “Therefore, I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness.” It is as if he had said, “If I found it necessary to impose my apostolic authority upon you, and drag out your contributions under circumstances such that you could not help giving, I should do that: but it would be unpleasant. Therefore, I leave you in a situation in which you can act voluntarily in this thing, and be able to say, ‘We did it ourselves, and that without being coerced,’ so that it may seem to be a matter of bounty.” His words were, “Make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not of covetousness.” The apostle felt just as I feel. I hate money that is wrung out of people—money that they give because they cannot help it. I feel as though a blight went with collections and contributions that are taken from people almost by compulsion. But money that is given willingly, even if it is not given from the highest motives, if it is given from the love of praise rather than from conscience; if it is given from a consideration of some social or collateral end, rather than from a conception of the glory of God—how much better it is than money that is given grudgingly and meanly! “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful giver.” You will observe that the apostle deemed the manner of a moral course to be almost as important as the course itself. With him it was not enough to do a right thing. He wanted to see a right thing beautifully done. It is not enough that ladies are taught to walk. We teach them to walk gracefully. Although clumsy walking would answer the purpose of locomotion, there is something higher to be sought. There is a pleasure of grace. It is not enough that a person speaks intelligibly. We attempt to teach persons to speak with such accomplishment that they shall bring pleasure as well as intelligence to the ear. There are graces of diction. It is not enough that a person writes in such a way as to be understood. There is what is called a “beautiful” or “pleasing” style in writing. Now, as we have learned, in a lower sphere, that things should be done not thoroughly alone, but in such a manner as to touch the feeling of beauty and grace, and carry pleasure as well as profit; so the apostle has taught, in respect to moral actions, not only that we are to do right, but we are to do right cheerfully, beautifully, largely, so that at the same time that the thing itself shall strike those who behold it as an equitable or benevolent thing, the manner of doing it shall also make its impression. Is there not a great deal in that?... I would rather take “No” from some men than “Yes” from others. The difference in men between kindness and unkindness, or between selfishness and benevolence, is not a whit more than between the modes of doing the same things. Of two men that are kind, one is contrasted with the other almost as much as either of them is with a third person who is unkind. I remember an old lady that lived next to my father's house in the West, who never did a kind thing except in an unkind manner. I think she gave more to the poor than our family did; and yet, I think she never gave them anything without scolding them. Children who went to her house, before they left, had their little gift of cake, or what not; but they never got away without feeling that getting away was, on the whole, sweeter than the cake itself! It seemed to be a part of her nature to repay herself by rude speech, or by some troublesome dealing, for the kindness that she meant in her heart. I have known men that were conscientious in such a way that, on the whole, persons were impressed with the feeling, “It is all very well to be conscientious; but I think I do not want to be conscientious. If my conscientiousness is going to affect me as such a person's does him, I think, on the whole, I would rather dispense with it and be agreeable.” There is a way of manifesting right qualities so as to make them more unlovely than wrong ones. We know that the devil has the power of making things that are wrong beautiful. Vice, it is said, is courteous, sweet-voiced, full of hope and cheer. Places of wickedness are made agreeable to every sense. And, on the other hand, we know that much of that which passes for moral principle is as bald and unattractive as it can be made. It seems to have been taken for granted that if a thing is sound at the core, that is the compensation for every disadvantage that it may have. Men often excuse things that are disagreeable by saying, “They are about right at the root.” Now I hold that it is a wicked thing for men to make the reality and beauty of religion seem homelier than the devil makes the hideous vices and crimes in this world, and that we are bound not only to do right, but to do it in such a way that it shall seem lovely as well as right. Do you recollect the expression, “The beauty of holiness?” I have looked at many men in my life, who were stern, and proud, and reliable, and sound in truth, and sturdily good, and have wondered as I looked at them whether the thought ever crossed their mind, “What is the meaning of the beauty of holiness?” and whether it ever occurred to them that God wanted divine qualities among men interpreted so as to make them attractive as well as useful. That which is true in respect to the exhibition of moral traits, is true in respect to the performance of the whole round of Christian duties. We can take up our cross every day and leave the impression that we are more unholy than before we became Christians. I think persons, after becoming Christians, sometimes seem to be more selfish than when they made no profession of religion. There is such a thing as spiritual selfishness. If a person is so wrapped up in religious self-contemplation as to forget those around about him, he is spiritually selfish. At any rate, many persons who leave their evil ways, and attempt to become better men, create the feeling among their associates that they have lost warmth; that they have deteriorated in social elements; that they are not as engaging as they were. “They may be safer,” it is said, “but they have sold their beauty to get grace.” Now, I hold that every man who becomes a Christian is bound to glorify God in his conduct. He is bound to illustrate the beauty of religion. He is bound to let his light so shine that men shall be drawn to holiness of life, and not be repelled from it. He is bound to make the sanctuary where he has invested his heart seem like a paradise to those about him.—Beecher's Lecture Room Talk in Christian Union. Tract and Missionary Department.
By O. Mears; L. E. Clarke
The Ohio T. and M. Society held its first annual meeting in connection with the Ohio Camp-meeting at Mansfield, Ohio, Sept. 15, 1872. Meeting called to order by the President. Prayer by Bro. Littlejohn. Remarks by the President on the state of the cause, and the workings of the Society. Secretary’s report was called for, which read as follows:— | Report item |
Amount or number |
|---|
| Money received for memberships |
$165.00 |
| “ “ donations |
203.88 |
| “ “ on book sales |
47.35 |
| Donations of books |
70.73 |
| Whole amount received |
$486.96 |
| Number of families visited |
63 |
| Number of pages pamphlets and tracts distributed |
19,290 |
| Value of same |
$24.91 |
| Number of pages loaned |
3,138 |
| Value of same |
$3.26 |
| Number of new subscribers for REVIEW, 2; Instructor, 9; Reform, 59; Do. 4 months, 10. |
|
Moved and carried, that the President appoint a Nominating Committee. The following brethren were named: H. A. St. John, Eli Glascock, and J. B. Gregory. Meeting adjourned to the call of the Chair. Sept. 16. Opened with prayer by Bro. Butler. Nominating Committee brought in their report, which was accepted. The following officers were elected by vote: | Office |
Name |
|---|
| President |
Sanford Rogers, |
| Vice President |
O. F. Guilford, |
| Secretary |
M. E. Reynolds, |
| Treasurer |
Wm. Chinnock. |
| Director Dist. No. 1 |
Eli Glascock, |
| “ “ “ 2 |
W. T. Carson, |
| “ “ “ 3 |
Sanford Rogers, |
| “ “ “ 4 |
O. F. Guilford, |
| “ “ “ 5 |
John Mears. |
Do not jest with your wife upon a subject in which there is danger of wounding her feelings. Remember that she treasures every word you utter, though you never think of it again. Do not speak of some virtue in another man’s wife, to remind your own of a fault. Do not reproach your wife with personal defects, for if she has sensibility, you inflict a wound difficult to heal. Do not treat your wife with inattention in company. Do not upbraid her in the presence of a third person, nor entertain her with praising the beauty and accomplishments of other women. If you would have a pleasant home and cheerful wife, pass your evenings under your own roof. Do not be stern and silent in your own house, and remarkable for sociability elsewhere. Remember that your wife has as much need of recreation as yourself, and devote a portion of your leisure hours to such society and amusement as she may join. By so doing, you will secure her smiles and increase her affection. Do not, by being too exact in pecuniary matters, make your wife feel her dependence upon your bounty. It tends to lessen her dignity of character, and does not increase her esteem for you. If she is a sensible woman, she should be acquainted with your business and know your income, that she may regulate her household expenses accordingly. Do not withhold this knowledge, in order to cover your own extravagance. Woman has a keen perception—be sure she will discover your selfishness—and though no word is spoken, from that moment her respect is lessened, her confidence diminished, pride wounded, and a thousand, perhaps unjust, suspicions created. From that moment is your domestic comfort on the wane. There can be no oneness where there is no full confidence.—Religious Health. Using the Abilities We Already Have
God helps us to make use of such means as are within our power and not to sit down idly to regret the powers we do not possess. Perhaps it would be dangerous for us to possess the abilities we covet; it is always safe to consecrate those we have. Appointments and Quarterly Meeting Notices
And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Owing to a necessary detention here at Battle Creek, I am obliged to postpone my appointment for Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, one week. Providence permitting, I will meet with the church there, Sabbath, Oct. 26. Geo. I. Butler. Feeling the need of a more concentrated effort on the part of the Tract and Missionary Society, it was voted by the church that we appoint a two days’ meeting, Oct. 19 and 20, and invite other churches to meet with us, and by their experience and counsel help start the work. Cannot some from Clyde, Princeville, and Eugene, meet with us? Brn. E. F. Andrews and B. F. Merritt are both expected to be present. W. O. Dungan. Quarterly meeting of the church at Patricksburg, Owen Co., Ind., first Sabbath and first-day in Nov. A general invitation is extended. Let all the scattered brethren be present. Come humbly before the Lord and let us see what he will do for us. N. Carahoor. As the Brn. at Greenwood Prairie Minn., did not get the appointment for quarterly meeting in season, I will endeavor to meet them Sabbath and first-day, Nov. 2, 3. Preaching at half past ten. Stephen Pierce. The Lord willing, we will meet in quarterly meeting, and to organize Tract Societies in Iowa, as follows:— District No. 2, at Marion, Oct. 26, 27. “ No. 1, at West Union, “ Nov. 2, 3. “ No. 8, where Brn. Clark and Bartlett may appoint, “ 16, 17. Also with the church at Fayette, Wednesday evening, Oct. 30. Laporte City, Tuesday evening, Nov. 5. State Center, Sabbath and first-day, “ 9, 10. H. Nicola, J. T. Mitchell. Quarterly meeting for the Bunker Hill, Mich. church Oct. 19 and 20. All members are requested to report personally or by letter. Hope to meet brethren from Leslie and Alaiedon. Hollis Clark, Clerk. I will meet with District No. 7 of the Mich. T. & M. Society, at Wright, Mich., Sabbath and first-day, Oct. 26 and 27. We should be happy to see a general turnout from all the churches in this district. E. H. Root, Pres. T. & M. Society. District No. 4, of New England, T. & M. Society, will hold its quarterly meeting at Amherst, N. H., Oct. 26 and 27. We hope all the members of this Society will be prompt to send in their reports to the Secretary one week prior to this meeting, and to attend if possible. C. K. Farnsworth, Director. Quarterly meetings and Tract Society meetings in connection will be held as follows: Bowersville, Nov. 16. Bellville, “ 23. North Bloomfield, “ 30. Bowling Green, “ 30. Clyde, Dec. 7. State quarterly meeting at Clyde, “ 14. We trust there will be a general attendance at these meetings, and that full reports will be prepared. All who have a real interest in the success of the cause, will be prompt to labor and sacrifice for it. O. F. Guilford, Sanford Rogers. As these meetings have not been attended by a minister in a long time, and the brethren earnestly request it, I have consented to attend at most of the above appointments. J. H. Waggoner. The “Trial Trip” a Success.
By James White
The plan to furnish the September, October, November and December numbers of the Reformer, for the sum of twenty-five cents, has met a hearty response from the friends of health reform. The names and the quarters have come in with such a rush that the September number was exhausted some time since, and its place has been supplied by a number farther back, but equal in value. Under the circumstances, we decide to change the plan of operation, so that, after October 20, the friends are invited to send names, and one dollar for each, for fourteen numbers of the Reformer, commencing with the November number of 1872, and reaching to the January number of 1874. In this case, two numbers extra are furnished to new subscribers. All our friends are urgently invited to work on this plan for the wider circulation of the Reformer until the first of January, 1874. The circulation of the Reformer has reached 10,000 including the “Trial Trip” subscribers. We hope to retain most of these as regular subscribers. We may lose some, but we hope to gain more on the plan now suggested than we lose. Let those who have given the names of their friends do all they can to induce them to become permanent subscribers. Here is a useful field of labor. All will be done that can possibly be done to make the Reformer a live, instructive, and interesting journal, and we must depend on the true friends of health reform, to circulate it everywhere. Windsor Camp-Ground, Cal., Oct. 4, 1872. Battle Creek, Mich., Third-day, Oct. 15, 1872. Bro. J. M. Gallemore, of Salisbury, Mo., calls for a course of lectures in his place. If any laborers in that section can attend to it, they can correspond with him. The Sabbath Reformer: Review of a New Monthly
We have received the fourth number of the first volume of a monthly sheet entitled “The Sabbath Reformer,” published by Eld. J. E. N. Backus. Albion, Dane Co., Wis. Eld. Backus is a member of the Seventh-day Baptist denomination, and his paper, bearing on its front the bold motto, “He that saith I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar,” is devoted to the cause of a reform on the true Sabbath. It is not a large sheet, and for this reason is within the reach of all, the subscription price being only 15 cents a year. The Herald of Life Relocates to Springfield, Massachusetts
THE Herald of Life, formerly published in New York, is now issued at 455 Main St., Springfield, Mass. It is the organ of the “Life and Advent Union,” and is devoted to the doctrine of the non-resurrection of the wicked. $2.00 a year of 48 numbers. Beware of Impostor Claiming Battle Creek Connection
We learn that one L. Bruce is imposing upon the charities of our brethren in Western N. Y., under the plea that he has been a laborer in this Office, and wishes to get back to Battle Creek. He is an impostor. No such person has worked here, and is not wanted, unless it be to hand him over to the officers of justice. Beware of him. Bro. White in California.
We have just received a note from Bro. White in California, giving his address as follows: The address of Eld. James White, and Ellen G. White, is Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California. The New Hymn Book.
By James White
While in the Rocky Mountains we compiled a book of Hymns and Tunes for Camp-meetings and other Religious Gatherings of about two hundred pages, to which James Edson White, our son, has added several very valuable pieces of music. It contains in all 266 Hymns and 40 tunes. These are the very best from the larger book now in use with several Tunes not found in it. Preachers entering new fields will find this book a decided advantage, as it enables them to offer a valuable collection to singers of all denominations for the small sum of twenty-five cents. Bound in Morocco 50 cents. We have received copies of this new book and are very much pleased with it. Santa Rosa, Cal., Oct. 2, 1872. The Youth’s Instructor.
By James White
We are happy to know that many of our young brethren and sisters, especially those at the Office, are fully determined to improve the Instructor in every respect, and do all they can to extend its circulation. It will be improved in appearance, and in reading matter, and efforts will be made to increase its circulation, to 10,000 copies by the first of 1873. The price of the Instructor to new subscribers for the first year will be twenty-five cents. This is made very low to induce brethren and sisters to send it to thousands of their young friends, and to encourage the members of our Tract and Missionary Societies to obtain many thousand subscribers. It will be expected that old subscribers will pay fifty cents a year. This is not high for a paper the size of the Youth’s Instructor. And this will be necessary to meet expenses in furnishing it to many new subscribers at half price. The poor and stingy can have it for twenty-five cents a year. JAMES WHITE, Pres. S. D. A. P. A. Rates of Discount.
By James White
On and after the first day of November, 1872, the rates of discount from advertised prices of the publications of the Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association, when sold by the quantity at the Office, or delivered at the Railroad depots, or at the Express office, will be as follows:— Bound Books, thirty per cent. Pamphlets, thirty-five “ “ Tracts will be furnished to Tract and Missionary Societies at a discount of one-half, the Societies to pay one-half of the other half, or one-fourth advertised prices, the other one-fourth to be paid from the Book Fund. In this case, Tract and Missionary Societies receive thirty-three hundred pages of Tracts for $1.00. On all new bound books and pamphlets, which command a rapid sale, twenty-five per cent. discount will be made during one year after they are offered for sale. After that, the usual rates will be allowed. JAMES WHITE, Pres. S. D. A. P. A. Systematic Benevolence.
By J. D. Van Horn
To the Churches of Seventh-day Adventists of Michigan. DEAR BRETHREN: When the plan of Systematic Benevolence was devised and adopted by our people as a means of supporting the cause of God financially, it was an experiment. An examination of the subject, has shown that it is God’s own plan, established among his ancient people Israel, and sanctioned by Christ and the apostles. It has ceased to be an experiment with us, and we are compelled to say that, as a system, it works well. There is great need of a more thorough work in carrying out this plan in this Conference. All should bring their figures up to the plan, that there may be plenty of means in the treasury of the Lord to carry on his work. Owing to a failure on the part of some churches to report, it has made it impossible for the Treasurer of the Conference to keep a correct account with them. This failure has been caused mainly by neglect, but partly, no doubt, by the s. b. year beginning with the Conference, which held its sessions at different times, so that the quarters were very irregular. But this has now been changed so there need be no trouble hereafter. At our last session of the Conference, held in September in connection with the camp-meeting, action was taken to have the Systematic Benevolence year begin with the first day of January, in harmony with our blank books, in all the churches of the Conference. This will bring the quarterly reports every year alike, and all will know that these reports are due, and should be sent to the Conference secretary or Treasurer the first day of April, of July, of October and of January. Every church should realize that the secretary or treasurer must have these reports in order to keep a correct account on the books with them. Now what we propose is this: First let each church, that has not already done so, settle up with the Conference treasurer between this and the first of January next. This may be done by each church treasurer sending to the Conf. Treasurer a correct copy of the record kept by him, of the amount pledged and paid to the Conference each year since s. b. was organized with them. Second, let every church hold a meeting the last week in December to re-arrange s. b. for the year 1873. A vote should be taken saying how much of this you pledge to the Conference for said year, and then report the same to the Conf. Treasurer. A new account will be commenced at that time with each church, and by faithfulness on the part of all, the work will move on right in the future. We hope and pray that all our churches and scattered brethren and sisters will immediately take hold of this matter in earnest, and by so doing receive the blessing of God. If any should desire further information concerning this subject, they can write to me, and I will cheerfully comply with their request. The name and address of the Conference Treasurer is, Addie Merriam, Battle Creek, Mich. J. D. VAN HORN, Secretary.