Earlier text: Under the LawInternational Tract Society Reading—Rooms, St. Louis, Mo.
By N. W. Allen
THE interest at our mission is increasing steadily. "Our able minister," the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, is preaching to thousands of interested ones, and the full results will be revealed in the Judgment only. Often I find that so many want to read it at one time that they divide out the contents of a binder and then replace them (not, however, in the same order). Nearly every day I meet or hear of some one who is simple enough to believe that the Bible means what it says; who has come to believe, therefore, in many points of present truth; and who seems to be just waiting for some one to connect these scattered ideas by the Third Angel's Message. A promising young man who has been preparing for the ministry and expected to go into that work this fall, kept the Sabbath of the Lord for the first time last Sabbath with us. He now desires to become a minister of the message as soon as he becomes sufficiently versed in the present truth. He is giving us a good deal of help in the mission, already, and is studying with gratifying diligence. His mother is a niece of ex-President Buchanan. An old Baptist minister also kept the Lord's Sabbath with us. A card from him was published in the SIGNS some time ago, I believe. He first learned of the truth by reading the SIGNS in the Public School Reading-room, and was then directed to come to the mission. Several others are deeply interested, and are honestly studying the Sabbath question in the light of the Sanctuary truth, and give good omens of coming out on the Lord's side. Bro. Feeks came last week to help us, and is working earnestly and well. We sadly needed his help too. The work has been more than one could do. The prospects are that we shall have to give a Bible-reading or a discourse nearly every night pretty soon. Pray that the Spirit may go before us and prepare hearts to receive the seed of truth, and that we may walk humbly before the Lord, that he may use us to sow this precious seed. N. W. ALLEN. 2339 Chestnut St., St. Louis, Mo. Pasadena, California.
By E. A. Briggs
I HAVE been holding meetings here five weeks, and considerable interest is manifested by the listeners. Eleven have resolved to keep the Sabbath, and regular Sabbath meetings will be held after our departure. Brethren Swayze, Morton, and Blackwood are actively assisting in the work. I have recently visited the newly organized church at Norwalk, and baptized three adults. The sixty Sabbath-keepers who belong to that company are rejoicing in the Lord, and striving to walk in the newly-found light. So the work moves forward all along the line. Let us thank God and take courage. Fremont, Neb.
By A. J. Cudney
WE are now holding tent-meetings at this place. A thorough system of missionary work was carried on before the tent was pitched; the circulation of the Signs, by obtaining trial subscriptions, was the commencement of that work. The meetings have now been going on two weeks. The interest has been good from the first. Attendance, from 200 to 500. The Children of God Manifest
"IN this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil; whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother." 1 John 3:10. [Missionary Department continued on page 527.] "Yes, it's very well for the minister to talk about ennobling every-day work. But I would like to see him ennobling my work," said a dry-goods clerk to his employer, with whom he was dining by a special invitation. "Why?" asked his employer, with a kindly smile. "Is your work so peculiar that you can't dignify it?" "I don't complain, sir, of my work; but—well, you know what it is," answered the clerk, tempted to frankness by his employer's manner. "There I stand, day after day, selling spools of thread; there's nothing ennobling about that, is there, sir? I've tried to feel as the minister says we ought to feel, if we are doing any honest work. But the work is so small that it belittles me." "Ah! I see," said his employer, kindly, as if he were talking to a younger brother. "You have not yet discovered the secret of getting much out of little. Look at my partner, honored and beloved by all who know him. And yet he began life in our very store, doing what, do you think? Why, selling pins! And he was discouraged, as you are, by what seemed the smallness of his work. Pins morning, noon, and night! That was all he had to sell at his counter. "Well, he went to the store one morning, after hearing such a sermon as you heard, about taking our Christianity with us everywhere and putting it into every-day life. And he noticed what he might have noticed a hundred times before, that nearly all his customers were women, and that the majority of them were poor. He took to studying their faces, and thereby learned from the care-worn furrows, of their heroic self-denial, patience, suffering, and mother-love. "Well, he was not a thoughtless young man, and he found a feeling of respect and real chivalry for women growing up in him. Later on he noticed what a large number of customers called for black mourning-pins, and that led him to think of his mother, who had been dead several years. That thought did him good, for she had been a Christian woman. "Then, one day, he found among his customers a woman who had been cheated by a clerk at another store. And he resolved that he would try to restore her confidence in clerks, as a class, by honest dealing. "He began to take a new and deeper interest in his own work. He made a point of being on hand punctually, and his customers found him always good-natured and obliging. In short, he so dignified pin-selling that one day his employers discovered that they had a clerk too valuable for that counter, and advanced him to a higher place, with an increase of salary. He dignified his new position as he had ennobled his old one. "Ten years after he found himself in the position of confidential clerk, and to-day he is half-partner in the concern. All this good luck was the natural result of doing his best where he was. "Don't make the mistake," the old merchant continued, "of saving your talents for a bigger place. Use all you have where you are. Fill the place you are in and you will grow too large for it. You can ennoble even the humblest, every-day work if you are determined to do your best where God has put you. "Why, I know a poor, lame, half-witted creature who was obliged to stand in a close, hot room twelve hours a day, stitching harness. He had heard from some preacher that every-day work could be ennobled, but he had only a dim idea of the man's meaning. "One day he looked out of his dirty window and saw a horse dashing madly by with a light carriage, in which was a woman and a child. A bold man leaped from the curb, caught the horse by the bridle, and was dragged along by the infuriated animal. But the bridle held, the horse was stopped, the mother and child were saved. "The thought flashed through the mind of the poor leather-stitcher, 'Suppose the sewing on that bridle had been poorly done, with bad thread? Then the bridle might have broken, and the man, as well as those in the carriage, would have been injured. How do I know but what that sewing was some of my work?' "Animated by that inspiring thought, he stitched away like a hero, determined to do his humble work well, for the sake of others. From that time on he ennobled his calling, as every one may do who has the spirit of the Master, whose life has made our lives worth living." The clerk thought over this talk, and went to his store the next day with his eyes open, and a new resolution in his heart. He found the following statements to be true, and wondered that he had not discovered them before:- I can ennoble my business of selling spools of thread by first ennobling myself.
- I can do this by exercising patience, honesty, industry, and faithfulness.
- There is abundant opportunity in my place to use all the politeness and gentleness in my station of life.
- In my relations with the other clerks near me I can indirectly ennoble my work.
- I can find a use for almost every Christian grace I possess without going outside of my own work.
That clerk is still selling thread, but his employer has an eye on him. The after-dinner talk did the clerk so much good that he is capable of filling a higher place. And he will get it before long, if he continues to live up to his discovery, that life is worth living, providing we ennoble it, even when environed by small duties.—Southwestern Presbyterian. Sign the Pledge at School.
"There goes Madge after her father," said Alice Gray, as she stood looking out of the second story window. "You'll see her almost every evening about this time start off for him," she added, as her cousin, Bessie Young, who was visiting her, came and looked curiously over her shoulder. "What an old face the child has!" "I should think so! Why, Bessie, that child works like a big woman, and the people about here are mean enough to let her do a woman's work and only pay her child's wages! She has washed and scrubbed all day long for thirty cents!" "That little girl go out washing? Why, Alice, you must be mistaken." "You'd better tell Bessie about Madge; perhaps she'll be as fond of her as you are," said Mrs. Gray, looking up from her sewing. "Well, to begin at the beginning, Madge's father was a schoolmate of papa's, and, though I can hardly believe it, papa says he was one of the handsomest, brightest boys in the school. Father says one day a lady came to the school and talked to the boys about the harm that liquor and tobacco do in the world, and asked them to sign a pledge not to touch either liquor or tobacco. Father signed, and about half a dozen boys, but Jim Robson, Madge's father, made fun of the pledge and said a man ought not to be afraid of liquor or tobacco; a man ought to know when he'd had enough and stop, but a little would not harm him. He talked so that a lot of the boys would not sign, and then when Jim smoked a cigar just to show his independence, and bought a glass of beer instead of lemonade, just to seem grown up, those boys did the same. "Still, father says Jim Robson never drank much, and was thought to be a very fine young fellow, and married one of the prettiest girls in the village. Father married, too, and moved away; for fifteen years he never saw Jim again, and then three years ago he saw a mite of a girl coaxing a drunken man to come home, and—it was Jim Robson! His wife was dead and two of the five children, but Madge keeps house for him, and the two little boys, younger than her, earn money by blacking shoes, putting out ash-barrels, and so on." Just as Alice finished her sentence Bessie caught sight of the poor little girl leading her father home. He was so drunk that she could hardly keep him up, and in spite of all her coaxing he would cross the street just as a heavy wagon drove by. They saw Madge push him in front of her, but a moment more and the wheel had struck the child—she was not run over, but lay as if stunned in the street. Alice and Bessie were pushing their way through the little crowd which had gathered, and with the help of a policeman carried the poor girl into Mrs. Gray's sitting-room. Jim Robson walked in with them, sobered at once by his fright. "If she's dead, I've killed her," he kept saying. "She might better die," said Alice bluntly, "than live such a wretched life as you make her lead." "Hush, Alice!" said Mrs. Gray, really frightened lest the drunkard should knock her daughter down—"hush." "No, no, ma'am!" said the poor man, sadly, "she says but true. It's a miserable life the lass has led! But, by the help of God, if my girl is but spared I'll drink not another drop." The last words Jim spoke loudly and solemnly, as if taking an oath, and they seemed to waken poor Madge. She opened her eyes and said:— "What's that? Father, do you mean it?" "I do! I do! O Madge! you've held by your poor father when all else gave him up; don't525 leave him now, and I'll never let a drop stronger than coffee pass my lips." "I'll be all right soon," said Madge, with a wonderfully happy smile. Yet, though she did not die, Madge was badly hurt. She lay for many weeks unable to move or help herself, but Alice and Bessie did all they could. Mr. Gray found work for Jim, and Madge thought the fall the best thing that ever happened. "God let me fall to save father," she said again and again, and would not complain. Jim Robson did not drink again, and became a sober, steady man; but oh! how often he wished he had signed and kept the pledge when he was a boy at school!—Youth's Temperance Banner. CHILDREN, make your mother happy;
Make her sing instead of sigh,
For the mournful hour of parting
May be very, very nigh. Children, make your mother happy;
Many griefs she has to bear,
And she wearies 'neath her burdens—
Can you not the burdens share? Children, make your mother happy;
Prompt obedience cheers the heart,
While a willful disobedience
Pierces like a poisoned dart. Children, make your mother happy;
On her brow the lines of care
Deepen daily—don't you see them?—
While your own are smooth and fair. Children, make your mother happy;
For beneath the coffin-lid
All too soon her face, so saint-like,
May forevermore be hid. Bitter tears and self-upbraiding
Cannot bring her back again,
And remorseful memories
Are a legacy of pain. Oh, begin to-day, dear children;
Listen when your mother speaks;
Tender, quick, and sweet obedience
For your highest good she seeks. She loves you better than all others,
And for your sake herself denies;
Always patient, prayerful, tender,
Ever thoughtful, true, and wise. Remember while you live, dear children,
Tho' you search the rounded earth,
You'll never find a friend more faithful
Than the one who gave you birth.
—Herald and Presbyter. Perseverance Brings Success
If you wish success, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, and caution your guardian. Hints to Writers.
By Editor
The Diphthongs ei and ie.—Some people are frequently at a loss how to spell words containing these diphthongs, when they have the sound of long e; for in some words the e comes before the i, as in receive, and in others the i comes before the e, as in believe. A careful writer would not like to be caught spelling receive, r-e-c-i-e-v-e, or spelling believe, b-e-l-e-i-v-e; and to tell in what words of this class e comes before i, and in what ones the i should be written before the e, without looking them up, is often quite a matter of perplexity. Nor will it satisfy all minds to do as we once heard a teacher direct, that is, make both letters like i and put a dot midway between them, so that it may be taken to belong to either. No one should be satisfied with less than making every letter distinct, and then putting the right letter in the right place every time. The following general rule may be given in reference to these words, which will perhaps assist some minds to remember their proper spelling:— 1. After s, and c having the sound of s, e always comes before i; as, receive, deceive, perceive, conceive, receipt, deceit, conceit, ceil, seignior, seine, and seize, with their derivatives and compounds. To this there is one exception, in the word siege, in which, following s, the i comes before e. 2. In all other words of this class, i always comes before e; as, believe, belief, relieve, relief, mischief, handkerchief, fief, field, fiend, fierce, frieze, grief, mien, niece, piece, pier, pierce, priest, reprieve, and yield, with their compounds and derivatives. To this there are two exceptions: leisure, and teil, a tree. Doubling Final Consonants.—The words revel and rebel each end with a single l; but when another syllable is added, the l in rebel is doubled, but the l in revel remains single; thus, rebelling, reveling. Why is this? The rule is that all monosyllables ending in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel, double that consonant on taking an additional syllable; and words of more than one syllable ending in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel, if accented on the last syllable, double that consonant on taking an additional syllable; but if the accent is not on the last syllable, the consonant is not doubled. Thus: pean, peanned, peanning, hot, hotter, begin, beginning. The consonant is doubled in such cases to preserve the short sound of the vowel; as, for instance, peaned would naturally be pronounced with the long sound of a, instead of the short; and then it would be a very different word from peanned. Take the words first introduced: revel has the accent on the first syllable, so does not double its final consonant; but rebel has the accent on the last syllable, and therefore does double it. The word traveling has but one l because the word travel is accented on the first syllable, and the word worshiping but one p for a like reason. The rule is a simple one, and if the reader will fix it firmly in his mind, he will find that it will enable him to master thoroughly a numerous class of words, which otherwise he will be liable to misspell. Abbreviations.—In writing for the press, use no unnecessary abbreviations. Never write Sab. for Sabbath, nor com. for committee; for, (1) it makes additional work at the office of publication to write them out; (2) it seems like abusing the noble institution of the Sabbath and the royal law of which it is a part; and (3) it looks shiftless in the manuscript. Never write tho for though, thro for through, etc. Write such words out in full, just as they should stand in print. Never abbreviate the name of a State, unless some place, county, town, city, or district in the State is named in connection with it. Thus, it would be proper to say, I spent a week in Chicago, Ill.; but not, to say, I labored a long time in Ill., and then in Wis., and then in Minn., etc. In such cases the names of the States should be written in full. So we should not say, The Mich. Board of Health, The Vt. Legislature, etc., except in statistical or index work, where the shortest abbreviations are allowable.—True Educator. THE YOUTH'S INSTRUCTOR.
By Editor
AN ILLUSTRATED WEEKLY PAPER FOR YOUTH AND CHILDREN, DEVOTED TO MORAL, MENTAL, AND RELIGIOUS CULTURE. THIS paper is not devoted to insipid stories and religious fiction, but is filled with a great variety of that kind of reading which tends to the healthful development of the youthful mind. Its pages are made bright by the choicest illustrative pictures, and its columns are always full of useful information. As a Sabbath-school and Lesson paper, it is suited to the wants of scholars and teachers, and is calculated to increase the interest of all who read it, in thorough Bible study. TERMS, ALWAYS IN ADVANCE.—Single copy, 75 cents a year; Five copies to one address, 60 cents each; Ten or more copies to one address, 50 cents each. SPECIAL PREMIUM OFFER—THE SUNSHINE SERIES. For every new subscription, accompanied with 85 cents, we will give "The Sunshine Series," consisting of a package of ten beautiful pamphlets of 32 pages each. These comprise a choice collection of sketches, stories, poems, etc., adapted to the wants of children, and contain more reading matter than can be found in many dollar books. Remember, the whole series, 320 pages, and the INSTRUCTOR for a year, for 85 cents. Address, YOUTH'S INSTRUCTOR, Battle Creek, Mich. Or, PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal. THE EARLY LIFE, CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE, AND EXTENSIVE LABORS OF
ELDER JAMES WHITE,
AND HIS WIFE,
MRS. ELLEN G. WHITE. THE production of this book was the last literary labor performed by Elder White. As nearly the whole of his active labor was performed in connection with the Seventh-day Adventist denomination, which he was largely instrumental in founding, the work is necessarily quite a complete history of that people. The book abounds in interesting incidents, personal sketches, and religious experiences, some of which are quite remarkable, and altogether it forms a volume at once instructive and interesting. 416 pp. Price, $1.25.
Address SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal. SABBATH READINGS
By Editor
COMPILED BY MRS. E. G. WHITE. THESE are some of the few really good books. For twenty years Mrs. White has been selecting choice, interesting, and instructive stories, the best of which are presented in these four volumes of 400 pages each. It would be difficult to find a better collection. The selections have been carefully made, and none need fear to place them in the hands of the young. They are not, however, designed exclusively for the young, but are adapted for general home reading. All the members of the family circle will find something in them to entertain and instruct. They are just the thing for holiday or birthday gifts. Price per set, neatly put up in box, $2.40. Address,
SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal. HISTORY OF THE WALDENSES.
By J. A. Wylie, LL. D.
ILLUSTRATED BY TWENTY FULL-PAGE ENGRAVINGS. This work describes the conflicts waged by the Waldenses, and the martyrdoms they endured in defense of their faith and their liberty. Recent events have brought the Waldenses to notice, and thrown a new light upon the grandeur of their struggle and the important issues which have flowed from it. To them are we to trace the Constitutional liberties that Italy now enjoys. In their mountain fastnesses they maintained the faith of the early Christians, and by their untiring missionary labors this faith was diffused to all the nations of Europe, thus preparing the way for the great Reformation. Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal. HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION.
By J. H. Merle D'Aubigne
By J. H. Merle D'Aubigne. This book is indeed a standard in evangelical literature, and is so well and favorably known as to need no description; it is the most complete and impartial history of the Reformation extant; and certainly no one should need to be urged to seek all the information possible concerning the history of one of the greatest revolutions ever effected in human affairs. Bound in cloth, 5 vols. in one......................................$1.50
Larger edition, illustrated............................................ 4.00
Address, PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal. Progress in Public Education
A PHENOMENAL progress in public education has been made in England. Twelve years ago there were only 2,000,000 pupils registered in the elementary schools of Great Britain; now there are registered over 5,000,000. The quality of the work done in the schools has also been greatly improved.—Ex. Dr. Hammond says that when you poke the end of your finger in your ear the roaring noise you hear is the sound of the circulation in your finger, which is a fact, as any one can demonstrate for himself by first putting his fingers in his ears, and then stopping them up with other substance. Try it, and think what a wonder of a machine your body is, that even the points of your fingers are such busy workshops that they roar like a small Niagara. The roaring is probably more than the noise of the circulation of the blood. It is the voice of all the vital processes together,—the tearing down and building up processes that are always going forward in every living body, from conception to death. THE manufacture of iron wool has begun at the Isabella blast furnaces at Sharpsburg, Pa. It is produced by throwing a jet of steam against the stream of hot slag as it flows from the furnace. The product is similar in appearance to third-grade cotton, but is eighty per cent. heavier. It is incombustible, and when placed in the fire it remains unaffected. It has been used for packing to deaden sound, for protection against fire, and for various other purposes. It is an excellent polishing agent. Hundreds of people are visiting the furnaces to witness this novel manufacture. A great trade in paper bottles is growing up in Germany and Austria; ten per cent. of rags, forty of straw and fifty of brown wood-pulp are used in making them. Thin paper is coated and impregnated with a solution composed of sixty per cent. of defibrinated fresh blood, thirty-five of lime, and five of sulphate of ammonia; dry and coat again; put ten or twelve sheets together, and then dry in heated moulds under pressure. They are made in two pieces and joined afterwards, and are said to be perfectly proof against spirits and other liquids. Making bricks of cork now constitutes one of the new German industries. The usual size is ten by four and three-fourths by two and a half inches. They are prepared from small corks, refuse, and cement, and have not only been used for certain building purposes, on account of their lightness and insulation properties, but are also employed as a covering for boilers, in preventing the radiation of heat.—Sel. —The Banner of Light speaks familiarly of Sunday as "the Sabbath." —The pope, it is announced, will shortly issue a formal protest against the French divorce law. —The Chinese Baptists of Oregon have erected a church, and support a missionary in their native land. —D. L. Moody, the evangelist, has been engaged by the Young Men's Christian Association to preach in St. Louis this fall. —The property of the Trinity Church corporation, New York, is said to amount to the enormous sum of $200,000,000. —The queen of Sweden has given $10,000 towards publishing and distributing gospel tracts among the children of different lands. —The missionary steamer, Morning Star, was launched at noon, Aug. 6, at Bath, Maine. It is expected that it will sail for Honolulu, Sept. 10. —It is said that the only Greek Church in America is the one in San Francisco, the only other one, in New York City, having been formally closed, on the 17th inst. —An eloquent advocate of "the New Theology" has had eight pastorates, and has left seven of the churches with a smaller membership than when he took charge of them. —A missionary journal states that a man in Canton, China, was led to purchase Christian books by hearing so many curse them. Thus it is that God causes the wrath of man to praise him. —Colonel Clibbon, of the Salvation Army, has been officially expelled from Neuchatel, Switzerland. The Canton of Berne forbade the meeting on the ground that the exercises were not religious. —Bishop Brondel, of Montana, has formally excommunicated John Maguire, a theater manager, from the Catholic Church, for bringing Ingersoll into the town of Missoula for a series of lectures. —The Young Men's Christian Association of the World convened at Berlin on the 20th inst. Emperor William sent a note, apologizing for absence on account of ill health, and invoking the divine blessing on the convention. —It is reported that another Mormon elder was killed in eastern Tennessee last week, and one who removed the bodies of the elders previously murdered had received warning to leave the State or he would receive like treatment. —John Williams, the martyr missionary of the Pacific Islands, said: "I dread the arrival of an American ship, for though she may have more missionaries in her cabin, she brings in her hold the death waters of damnation." —The Freeman's Journal (Catholic) says: "Had even Judas Iscariot gone to the Blessed Mother of the God he had betrayed, and asked, with a contrite heart, her intercession, he would not have been refused." The Catholics seem to regard the Virgin Mary as the special protectress of outrageous criminals. —It is stated, as an illustration of the power of special prayer offered for the safety of the Moravian vessels, that for 120 years a ship has annually left England for the Moravian mission in the Arctic regions of this continent, and that not a single ship or passenger has been lost by storm, iceberg, or wreck. —A dispatch of Aug. 18 says: "Six thousand people left Philadelphia yesterday to attend a Spiritualistic camp-meeting at Neshaminy Falls. Fully 1,000 persons drove into the camp from the surrounding country. It was not at all like Sunday. There were various games, diversions, and an orchestra on the lecturer's stand, piping out lively music." —Mr. Pentecost regards Moody's recent evangelistic work in London as the greatest revival that has occurred in this century. The city was thoroughly canvassed, and so many people were interested that they have the names and addresses of no less than forty thousand persons who visited the inquiry room of the mission. Not less than a thousand churches have undertaken to follow up the work. —Joseph Cook prophesies a schism in the Congregational Church. He divides the sect into two classes, one of which "takes Plymouth Rock as a corner-stone," and the other "consists of those who float in the tides which rise and fall in the marshes about Plymouth Rock." A third class "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone," might not be so popular as the first two classes, but it would stand longer than the one built on Plymouth Rock. —The Christian at Work has an article on "Unseen Forces," in which it discusses "The Georgia Wonder," Miss Hurst, mind reading, "muscular divination," etc. Its conclusion is that "we stand on the confines of an unseen world in whose realm laws govern and phenomena become apparent, of which only occasionally we catch a glimpse." By and by Spiritualism will have reached such a stage that no one will be at a loss to account for these phenomena, although even then the majority will ascribe them to the wrong source.