Earlier text: THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATHA PARTY of clergymen were discussing this subject when the case of Rev. Mr. B. was mentioned, a graduate of Andover, of high standing, and for a time very successful. "He was made a raving maniac twenty years ago by the use of tobacco!" remarked one of the party. Another gave his account of the man whom he recalled vividly to mind "with his pale face, stained lips, repulsive breath, and quivering hand." The abject slave of tobacco, he chewed negro-head tobacco, a match for any man who has not the iron nerves of an African goat or horse. He preached three years with unexampled popularity and success. His health then failed and no one knew the cause. A few months rolled away, and he utterly broke down, yet still no one knew the cause. In a few months more he became a maniac, relinquished his pulpit, and was as wild as the man found "cutting himself with stones among the tombs," and no one knew the cause. He was then taken to an asylum for the insane, and remained twenty years! He there breathed a fetid atmosphere, paced the floor of confined walls, stared upon the outside world through iron gates, cursed himself, cursed his wife and children, and in his wild ravings "dealt damnation round the land," thus day and night champing tobacco as a fretted horse champs his bit. He once was pacing his room as he had aforetime, year by year, when a change came over him. He stopped abruptly, and in a sort of soliloquy exclaimed, "Why am I here? What brought me here? What binds me here?" His soul bursting with indignation, he cried aloud, "Tobacco! Tobacco!" He walked backward and forward; then bursting into tears, he cast the foul plug through the iron gates, and looking upward to God, he said, "O God, help, help! I will use no more." Now, we believe in no miraculous cure in this case. Mr. B. dropped his tobacco, and the sad, dark eclipse fled from his beautiful mind, and it came out from the horrible storms and tempests of insanity clear as the sun and fair as the moon. He soon regained his health and vigor, again preached the gospel of the blessed God, in the Presbyterian connection, and after ten years of arduous service he died, revered and beloved.—Prof. Twing's Facts about Tobacco. The Drunkard’s Lament
By The Signal
WHAT a fool I am, says a drunkard. Will these limbs that now tremble like an aspen ever again be steady? Will this burning fever be quenched? The ample fortune my father gave me is gone with my health and happiness, where demons in human shape, deal out destruction in the wine cup. Is there no revenge? No, no, no! I am my own destroyer, and they—the wretches who have swept away my all, have protection of law covered by a license, granted by my native State, but no protection for me and my starving wife and children.—The Signal. Demosthenes, the great orator of Greece, said that "to drink well is a property meet for a sponge, but not for a man." THE NEW SUNDAY-SCHOOL LIBRARY AT CLAYTON.
By A. E. C.
"YES it's just as I expected—milk-and-water, sentiment and twaddle, and somebody got married at last." Joel said this, disgustedly dropping the bright-covered, tastily-lettered volume he held in his hand. It was my book, taken that day from our new Sunday-school library, selected by a competent committee and lately arrived. What with getting dinner and doing the dishes and putting away our Sunday clothes and hunting up the text, I hadn't had time so much as to look at it. But I was anticipating a real "feast of reason and flow of soul" for the evening, when I could settle down to reading undisturbed and undistracted. The good man's sharp criticism rather dampened my enthusiasm, though I haven't lived these forty odd years with Joel not to understand somewhat his way of thinking and mode of speech. Besides, the dear old fellow having been brought up on such strong meat as the "Pilgrim's Progress," "Saint's Rest" and "Fox's Book of Martyrs," couldn't naturally be expected to take with very keen relish to the sugared and spiced compounds craved by the intellectual and moral appetite of the moderns. So, mentally, I "made allowances," as I have found out it is often needful to do, and said, speaking rather cheerfully and gladly in reference to the "got married" part of his remarks, "Well, you and I did that once, you know." Joel was taken altogether by surprise; my pleasant word displaced his ill humor as effectually as a soft answer turns away wrath. Before he meant it the lines of his rugged old countenance relaxed into one of those slow rare smiles that, upon his lips, is like a touch of sunshine in a winter landscape. Without at all intending it, he heartily exclaimed, "Yes, thank the Lord, Keziah;" but couldn't refrain from adding a trifle impatiently, "and a sight more sensibly than they do it in the books, too, I hope." With the preface of this foolish little episode that kept repeating itself to my silly, old woman's heart in rhythmic numbers and tender cadences, I drew up the Boston rocker and half-sympathetically, notwithstanding what had been said, turned to a perusal of the fortunes of Mr. Sydney Fitz-Simmons and Miss Arabelle St. Clair. Faithfully I plodded through page after page of prosy moralizing, insipid narrative, and senseless dialogue. When, finally, after several evenings of like doubtful pleasure, I had counted the whole three hundred and ninety-five pages and the book had closed over, I tried to think out and gather up the lesson of the story. Hard task to which I set my feeble powers! Perhaps, though, it was one of those artistic works without a purpose, itself its best excuse, of which the cultured talk in these latter days, and so quite beyond the appreciation of a plain, old-fashioned body like myself. Perhaps. During a religious revival, remarkable for its anxious-seat experiences and higher-life attainments, it seemed that the saintly young Arabelle succeeded in discipling the worldly and wicked Sydney. Small gain to the good cause he must have been, since we are told that the moment when he "gave up all" (to quote from the book) was "while he stood at the door of the St. Clair mansion, in the solemn moonlit stillness, holding Arabelle's little hand in his;" and that the inspiring motive of this act was "the sudden, awful fear that came over him of an eternal separation from the spotless soul that looked out of Arabelle St. Clair's beseeching eyes." Then we are told what wondrous joy thrilled the zealous young evangelist when she subsequently beheld "lying amidst the clustering curls and upon the marble brow of Sydney Fitz-Simmons, as he knelt lowlily at the altar-side, those crystal drops that were the outward sign of an inner newness." This for the grounding in faith of the youth of a church which enjoins, "Buried with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead, even so we, also, should walk in newness of life"! "Oh, but our children will read something; it's better than dime novels and sensational story papers," Mrs. Huntly easily said in reply to a disparaging word of mine. Mrs. Huntly had been one of the committee of selection for the new library. Such a jumble of mawkish sentimentality, vulgar cant, unsound doctrine and distorted views of life "better"—than anything! It was Robert Collyer, I believe, who said there was nothing so near a splendid angel as a splendid devil; and I had almost averred that there might be a genuine badness which could put to the blush this perverted teaching sent forth in the guise of religious effort. At all events, I should no sooner expect boys and girls to develop a moral manhood and womanhood that was pure and gracious and elevated and noble and sweet from this kind of stimulus than I should look to see a skunk-cabbage flowering into roses. To say nothing of the dwarfing of the mental powers which must as inevitably follow such an intellectual pabulum, as a stunted physique would come of an un-nutritious diet. Of course they "got married at last"—this Sydney and Arabelle—just as Joel discovered. It was doubtless foreordained in the author's first thought of them that they should this, and it was certainly throughout the unfolding of the tale Arabelle's one aim and purpose. Now of that most blest estate surely no woman has reason to say better things than Keziah Speedwell, speaking out of her own happy experience; yes, very happy, spite of Joel's persistent melancholy and trouble-looking-for. Yet even she might hint to the young maidens of Clayton Parish that besides matrimony life contains some supplementary blessings well worth attaining unto. Only to hear them cry out in chorus, "Oh, Aunt Kezzy is old-fogyish and behind the times;" therefore she wisely refrains. All in all my first acquaintance with the new library was not prepossessing; but a part is not the whole, I reasoned, and I will not be too quick to condemn. Next week my selection proved to be of a different nature. "The Last Days of Mary Jane Potter," its title read, and its text recounted the exercises and ecstasies of a damsel of tender years dying by inches of some extraordinary malady unknown to medical science. Mother Potter kept the wolf from the door by a continual play of a washboard, while the afflicted Mary Jane, during her oft-recurring paroxysms of suffering, saw visions appalling, which, in intervals of ease, with such strength as she could muster, were narrated and explained. In the final chapter Mary Jane went off triumphantly, and the old lady, comforting herself that the poor girl was "better off," put away her tubs and made ready for the funeral. Another book told pathetically of the life of a little lad so gentle and patient, so good and lovable, that unawares he stole one's heart. But, with all these beautiful traits of character, there was something at fault in his tibial appendages, and the sweet child never walked. In due course of time he went to be an angel; "and with the angels stand," I could but fervently hope in view of his former condition. "Don't want to be a good boy; won't be a good boy; good boys has lame legs and dies," little Freddie Maynard stubbornly declared, after hearing the story of poor Jo. Then again, I got hold of a most curious work relating how a feminine fanatic lost her husband through neglect of caring for him in a fever; how she lost her money through a haphazard investment; how she caught the consumption through over-much going to evening meetings; and finally how she went whining about, trying to submit to the dispensations of Providence—O, greatly abused Providence so perpetually made the scapegoat of human blundering and sin! She didn't die; but she was going to, for the last glimpse of her, leaves her all ready, shouting in such a fervor of self-abnegation as neither nature nor grace ever put into the soul of a flesh-and-blood woman, "The dearest idol I have known;
Whate'er that idol be,
Help me to tear it from thy throne,
And worship only thee." And there I rested from my research into the new library. It wasn't worth the cost of the candle-light to read it by, nor the strain on my dim old eyes. And here I want to make my moan over that constantly rising tide of wishy-washy, goody-goody literature which threatens to engulf the rising generation in its intellect-stultifying, heart-perverting waters. I am so sick of the vauntings of a namby-pamby passion; so tired of death-bed scenes and limb-paralyzed children; so disgusted with cant and hypocrisy. True love, whether human or divine, uplifts, ennobles, glorifies; a merry heart doeth good like a medicine; a sound body becomes a "fit temple for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit;" length of days is Heaven's own gracious gift; and God never will hold himself responsible for our troubles that he gave us sense enough to keep out of. And here, too, I want to make an appeal to those good and wise men and women who hold Sunday-school Institutes and labor for the perfection of the scheme of righteous instruction-giving. I want to ask them to devise, out of their goodness and wisdom, some method for insuring to the dear boys and girls of our Sunday-schools, reading matter of a better type—reading fit for the bright minds and noble instincts and precious souls that are their heritage.—A. E. C., in Examiner and Chronicle. COLERIDGE relates that Alexander, during his march into Africa, came to a people dwelling in peaceful huts, who knew neither war nor conquest. Gold being offered him, he refused it, saying that his sole object was to learn the manners and customs of the inhabitants. "Stay with us," said the chief, "as long as it pleaseth thee." During this interview two of his subjects brought a case before him for judgment. The dispute was this: The one had bought a piece of ground which, after the purchase, was found to contain a treasure, for which he felt bound to pay. The other refused to receive anything, stating that he had sold the ground with what it might be found to contain, apparent or concealed.479 Said the chief, looking at one, "You have a son;" and to the other, "you have a daughter; let them be married, and the treasure given them as a dowry." Alexander looked astonished. "And what," said the chief, "would have been the decision in your country?" "We would have dismissed the parties and seized the treasure for the king's use." "And does the sun shine in your country, does the rain fall there? Are there any cattle there which feed upon herbs and green grass?" asked the chief. "Certainly," said Alexander. "Ah," said the chief, "it is for the sake of those innocent cattle that the great Being permits the sun to shine, the rain to fall, and the grass to grow in your country." The Home Circle.
By A Country Pastor
ACROSS the brook, and half way up the hill,
A cottage stands, so desolate and still,
The peddler views it with a blank dismay,
And gathering up his pack moves on his way.
There, in a room, not living and not dead,
Lies Robert Moyle stretched on a narrow bed,
One of God's saints, uncanonized; the grace
Of patience shedding luster o'er a face
That pain has marked with many a rugged line,
And twisted out of shape, but left divine.
His sky is lath and plaster, dark nor clear,
But gathering deeper shadows every year;
His stars are spots that here and there shine down;
Whitewash for light, but these are turning brown;
One plant set in the window of his room,
Makes his scant share of summer's wealth of bloom. Four cheerless walls, bare, mutilated, grim,
Is all the universe appears to him;
Gaunt poverty and haggard pain abide
Unbidden and relentless at his side.
For twenty years have passed since his fond wife
Found him amidst the woods and maimed for life;
The tree at whose firm base he toiled so well,
Swerved in its course and felled him as it fell.
But with the bitter grief rose in his mind
The faith that God was infinitely kind,
And so he conquered doubt, and fought despair,
And sunned his heart with hope sustained by prayer;
Looked in the face of death, and felt no dread
Although a grave lay underneath his bed.
The pastor counts his room a sacred place,
And him a proof of God's sustaining grace. Ah, not alone in ancient time was tried
Man's faith in God; men still are crucified;
And at affliction's dreadful stake to-day
The martyrs stand, and slowly waste away,
Sharing the smile of God and Heaven's acclaim,
With those who died for Jesus in the flame.
Some mount to rest as if on wings of light;
Some, step by step, grope through a starless night
Up craggy steeps, and weep and bleed and pray,
Nor know if God be near or far away,
But meekly bow to his all-holy will
And in the darkness love and trust him still.
These be the heroes for whose victories won
No cities flame or senates cry, Well done!
But in that world where worth is always fame,
Divinest honors shall surround each name.
—A Country Pastor, in Christian Union. -The Michigan relief fund in New York, amounts to $110, 353. -Charles Davis, the boy who fatally stabbed a Chinaman at Tulare, has been sentenced to six years in the State Prison. -Four hundred mormons are to arrive in New York by the steamer Wisconsin. -The steamer Clan MacDuff foundered off the Welsh coast, recently. Forty lives were lost. -The first term of the Woman's Medical College in San Francisco will open November 15. -Steps have been taken in San Francisco toward starting a cremation society. -An attempt was made in New York recently, to burn the Cunard steamer Bothnia. -Ex-Governor Edwin D. Morgan of New York succeeds Windom as Secretary of the Treasury. -John Buchanan, the dealer in bogus diplomas, has been sentenced to one year's imprisonment, and a fine of $1000. -J. G. Holland, the author and poet, died very suddenly at his home in New York, on the 12th, aged 62 years. -The immigrants arriving in the United States during September, numbered 57,452, against 54,874 for September, 1880. -In consequence of the unprecedented drought, the water supply of New York is in danger of being cut off. Very much alarm is felt in the city. -The seventy-second annual meeting of the American Board of Foreign Missions was held in St. Louis last week. Over 500 delegates were present. -The Catholics of Oakland held a church fair recently in which "comic songs, clog dances, and everything calculated to create amusement," were furnished to the patrons. -An explosion of petroleum occurred on the 4th, on board the Italian brigantine Armenia, bound from Barcelona for Marseilles. The vessel sunk and eight persons were drowned. -An Austrian family by the name of Jelletich, consisting of father, mother, and two children were burned to death in their house, near Jackson, Amador Co., Cal., October 20. -A terrible inundation has devastated the communes of Settirno and San Petro, Italy. Fifty-four houses have been destroyed and four lives lost. The losses of cattle and grain are enormous. -A terrible hurricane, accompanied by a flood, visited Mazatlan Mexico recently. Crops were entirely ruined for 100 miles in the interior, and over 100 persons are supposed to have perished. -Thirteen students were recently suspended from the California State University, for "hazing." The Faculty decided that hereafter all students found guilty of this offense, should be expelled. -Scoville, Guiteau's counsel, is evidently more insane than his miserable client. He imagines that people of "high reputation, and well-known charity," will contribute to save the assassin's life. -Fever is epidemic at Umritisir, in the Punjab, Hindostan. The mortality is from 200 to 300 daily. The total deaths for the eleven days which ended October 1, is 2,265, of whom 1,138 were children. -Peter Cooper, although ninety-one years of age, is actively engaged in the establishment of a technical school at Cooper Institute, New York, in which to teach young men and boys the use of tools and machinery. -A dispatch from Burlington, Iowa, October 24 says: "The river is the highest ever known here, even higher than last spring, and is still rising." A break in the levee below Hannibal, Mo., has caused much damage. -In a recent gale off the English coast, it is estimated that 43,670 tons of produce were lost at sea. The emigrant ship Thinguall, with 500 people on board, has not been heard from since the gale, and it is feared that she is lost. -As the ship Friedeburg was unloading a cargo of railroad iron at Long Wharf, Oakland, three rails fell vertically into the hold, making a hole in the ship's bottom, which caused it to sink immediately in twenty-five feet of water. -The present condition of Ireland is simply one of anarchy. Riots are the order of the day. "No rent" cards are conspicuously displayed. The arrest of the most prominent land-leaguers seems only to augment the difficulty. -One thousand two hundred employes of the Old Colony Railroad have been examined for color blindness, in compliance with the new Massachusetts law, and forty engineers, firemen, conductors, and others have been dismissed as having defective sight. -Designs have been made by a Swedish naval architect, for a new kind of passenger steamer, which shall make the trip across the Atlantic in six days. It is intended to carry 600 first class, and 1,500 second and third class passengers, and 3,000 tons of cargo, besides 3,200 tons of coal, the amount necessary for the voyage. -A serious fire occurred in New York on the 10th inst. The Fourth avenue car stables, occupying an entire block, were burned, together with a large number of horses. The loss on this was $200,000. The flames then spread to Morrill's furniture ware-house, in which were stored $2,000,000 worth of property. This was entirely demolished. -The pastor of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Pittsburg, announces that he will refuse absolution to any parent or guardian who sends children to the public instead of the parochial schools. A member declares that, in case of the priest's refusal to spiritually minister to his family in the manner prescribed by the usages of the Church, recourse will be had to the civil law. -In Waldeck, a province of Germany, a decree has been issued that no license to marry will hereafter be granted to any individual who is addicted to drunkenness; or, having been so, he must exhibit full proofs that he is no longer a slave to the vice. The same government has also directed that in every report made by the ecclesiastical, municipal, and police authorities upon petition for license to marry, the report shall distinctly state whether either of the parties desirous of entering into the matrimonial connection is addicted to intemperance or otherwise. SCRIPTURE AND ARITHMETIC.
HENRY, upon being asked how many boys were in his Sabbath-school class last Sabbath, replied: "If you multiply the number of Jacob's sons by the number of times with which the Israelites compassed Jericho, and add to the product the number of measures of barley which Boaz gave Ruth; divide this by the number of Haman's sons; subtract the number of each kind of clean beasts that went into the ark; multiply by the number of men who went to seek Elijah after he was taken to Heaven; subtract from this Joseph's age at the time when he stood before Pharaoh; add the number of stones in David's bag when he killed Goliah; subtract the number of furlongs that Bethany was distant from Jerusalem; divide by the number of anchors cast out at the time of Paul's shipwreck; subtract the number of people saved in the ark, and the remainder will be the number of boys in the class." How many were there? "I CANNOT give," said the well-to-do lady, "but I think Mrs. ———, across the street, will be very glad to do so." And thus she eased her own conscience and did a mean act. We recall a wealthy person of our acquaintance who used never to give money, excusing herself because she gave her time so liberally in collecting it from others. "One cannot be expected to give time and money too," she was wont to say. Whenever she was asked to buy a book or a picture, or give for never-ceasing fairs or festivals, she would say, "Mrs. B——— is very kind. I am sure she will patronize you." We hardly know a meaner thing than this, except it be the case of a wealthy man in a neighboring city who will not pay for the sprinkling of thirty feet in front of his office, because he knows the water-cart as it wets the street in front of his neighbors on either side of him will not omit him. —Congregationalist. The Christian’s Daily Work
It is a very common thing for Christians to pray that the Lord will add his blessing to their work ; as if they went ahead, and the Lord followed after. A Christian's daily prayer should be that he may know what the Lord would have him do. His daily work should be the doing of what the Lord sets him at. There is never any doubt about the blessing when that order of service is observed.—Sel. Obituary.
By William M. Healey
HOLMES.—Died in Oakland, October 16, 1881, Laura E. Holmes, aged 8 years, 11 months, and 4 days. Laura has been a great sufferer for two years past, beginning with measles, which left her a cripple, instead of the lithe, active girl she had formerly been. Brother and Sister Holmes have a cheering hope in the promises of God. We endeavored to show that the Lord knows best how to deal with us, and, though "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, the Lord delivereth them out of them all." Ps. 34:19. Issued by the S. D. A. Fublishing Association, and for Sale at this Office. History of the Sabbath and First Day of the Week, the period of 6,000 years. By Eld. J. N. Andrews. 528 pp. $1.25 The Sanctuary and the 2300 Days of Dan. 8:14. By Eld. U. Smith. This work explains the past Advent movement, and makes plain the present position of those who wait for the Lord. 352 pp. $1.00 Thoughts on Daniel, critical and practical. By Eld. U. Smith. An exposition of the book of Daniel, verse by verse. 416 pp. $1.25 Thoughts on Revelation. By Eld. U. Smith. This work presents every verse in the book of Revelation with such remarks as serve to illustrate or explain the meaning of the text. 420 pp. $1.25 Life of Wm. Miller, with portrait. This book gives interesting sketches of the Christian life and public labors of this pioneer in the Advent movement in this country. 416 pp. $1.00 Life of Elder Joseph Bates, relating his experience of twenty-five years on ship-board, with incidents of his rise from cabin-boy up to master and owner. The closing chapters relate to his labors in the ministry and in the cause of temperance and other moral reforms. Fine tint paper, 352 pp. $1.00 Life Sketches of Elder James, and Mrs. E. G. White. The early lives and Christian experiences of both are given in this volume. Their subsequent history is so connected with the cause, that this book gives an outline of the rise and progress of our people and our cause. With fine steel portraits of both. $1.25 Thrilling Incidents in the political life of Francesco Urgos, while a soldier with Garibaldi, including his perilous escape from the tyrants of Rome, and his subsequent travels in Africa and Syria. 328 pp. $1.00 The Biblical Institute. This work contains a synopsis of the lectures given at the Battle Creek College by Eld. U. Smith, and at Biblical Institutes. 352 pp. $1.00 The Nature and Destiny of Man. By Eld. U. Smith. This work treats on the great questions of the condition of man in death, and his destiny beyond the resurrection. 356 pp. $1.00 The Spirit of Prophecy; or, the Great Controversy between Christ and his angels, and Satan and his angels, in four volumes. By Mrs. E. G. White. These volumes cover the time from the fall of Satan to the destruction of sin and sinners at the close of the one thousand years of Rev. 20. Each, 400 pp. Vol. I. Old Testament Facts to Christ. $1.00. Vol. II. Life and Ministry of Christ. $1.00. Vol. III. The Death, Resurrection and Ascension of Christ, with the Lives of his Apostles. $1.00. Vol. IV. (In preparation.) $1.00 The Constitutional Amendment: A discussion between Eld. W. H. Littlejohn and the editor of the Christian Statesman, on the Sabbath. 384 pp. $1.00 Spiritual Songs. A book of hymns and tunes. 537 hymns, 147 tunes, 416 pp. $1.50 The Song Anchor. A popular collection of songs for the Sabbath-school and praise service. 164 pp. 35 cts. Bound in muslin, 50 cts. The Bible from Heaven. By Eld. D. M. Canright. An argument to show that the Bible is not the work of men, but is in deed and in truth, the work of God. 300 pp. 80 cts. The Soul and the Resurrection, showing the Harmony of Science and the Bible on the Nature of the Soul and the Doctrine of the Resurrection. By J. H. Kellogg, M. D. 75 cts. The United States in the Light of Prophecy; or, an exposition of Rev. 13:11-17. By Eld. U. Smith. Dealing with our own land and applying to our time. Of surpassing interest to every American reader. 200 pp. 40 cts. Thoughts on Baptism. By Eld. J. H. Waggoner. The subject viewed in the light of the Bible and History. 186 pp. Bound in flexible cloth, 35 cts. Paper covers, 25 cts. A Word for the Sabbath; or false theories exposed. A poem, by Eld. U. Smith. 60 pp. 30 cts. Glazed paper covers, 15 cts. The Game of Life. Three lithographic illustrations with explanations. These scenes represent Satan playing a game with man for his soul. Neatly bound in board. 50 cts. The Advent Keepsake. A collection of Bible texts for each day in the year, on the subjects of the Second Advent, the Resurrection, etc. Muslin, 136 pp. 25 cts. Bible Lessons for Little Ones, No. 2. Flexible cloth. 15 cts. Bound Volumes of Review and Herald. Each, $2.50 The Youth's Instructor for 1879-'80. Firmly bound. $1.00 Bible Lessons for Little Ones. A Sabbath-school book designed for the use of beginners, and prepared with special regard for the wants of very young children. In flexible cloth, 84 pp. 15 cts. Gems of Song. A vest-pocket song book containing hymns only. A choice collection. 96 pp., 119 hymns, bound in flexible cloth. 15 cts. TRACTS.—1 cent each. The Coming of the Lord—Perfection of the Ten Commandments—Without Excuse—Thoughts for the Candid—A Sign of the Day of God—Brief Thoughts on Immortality—Which Day?—Can We Know? or Can the Prophecies be Understood?—Is the End Near?—Is Man Immortal?—The Sleep of the Dead—The Sinner’s Fate—The Law of God—What the Gospel Abrogated—100 Bible Facts about the Sabbath—Sunday not the Sabbath—“The Christian Sabbath”—Why not Found out Before? FASHIONABLE FOLLY.
By Editor
The Mendocino Beacon has a San Francisco correspondent who is not afraid to speak right out and call things by their right names, and he has a faculty for doing it. We have read several strictures from his pen on the society manners of the city, both secular and religious. The following is an extract from his description of what he saw of a Saturday night at the fair in Mechanics' Pavilion:— “I never saw such ill-bred staring in my life, but it is a gauntlet the average female San Franciscan admires. Strangers to us and our city could find no better place to study our characteristics than right here; old men and young men, women and girls, are found in one grand whole; it is a carnival of dress and fashion; a vortex of beauty and show; a whirlpool of excitement; elegant costumes meet the eye constantly, and men of fine physique and presence, are not at all averse to a promenade; and the gallant mashers are constantly presenting themselves. It is a sad, sorry spectacle to see the extent to which our respectable women paint and powder. We are accustomed to place the painted eye-brows, and carmined lips and cheeks, the powdered face and pencilings, with the demi-monde, but here, in this Saturday night show, our most respectable women outrival, in this shallow ornamentation, the most blasé and fallen of their sisters. Natural features are almost obliterated. Young girls are almost disguised by their paint and powder; mothers ape their daughter’s youth by the aid of such devices, and they in turn imitate the abandoned and dissolute, who conceal the ravages of sin beneath the apothecary’s magie. It is a sea of shame to the honest thinker; no line to mark the gulf between virtue and sin. San Francisco ladies are beside themselves, and the whole theory is so transparent as to be ridiculous. Who does not know that it is all a mockery, and that beneath the wealth of puff box does not lie features the garish light of day would laugh at, in comparison with what we see them now. Who believes in this gas-light beauty, for a moment? Ah, woman, what strange fancies you will pursue!” OAKLAND AND SAN FRANCISCO.
By Editor
In our partial report of the camp-meeting we stated that over $7,000 had been pledged toward lifting the debt on these churches. Since that report went to press, enough more has been pledged to make up the whole amount desired, $10,000. With this burden lifted from their shoulders, we shall expect that the members of these churches will take fresh courage, and will double their diligence in the cause. Let us not rest satisfied with present blessings. GIVING is as much a part of true Christian worship as praying or any other duty. The religious fervor which is cooled off by a plea for pecuniary aid to God's cause, is not very deep-seated. And one should no more expect to make one donation answer for the whole year, than he would make one prayer do for the same length of time. Systematic withholding, and fault-finding, usually go together. The following illustration is a good one:— "A missionary declined to receive from a Karen a rupee for a whole year, instead of the pice a week which the other native Christians were giving. To be sure, a fifty-two pice would not make a rupee, and the treasury would be fuller if the rupee were accepted. But the donor would not be as much blessed. 'Don't you know,' said the missionary, 'that a door-hinge, if opened only once a year, soon comes to creaking. Open often, no creaking; give often, no croaking.'" REV. (?) MR. HARRISON, the "Boy preacher," is at present, "showing off" in San Francisco. His actions are reported as those of a clown or an escaped lunatic. In no sense of the word is he a preacher. Incoherent sentences, frantic contortions, and wild shouts, with which he works on the nerves of the excitable, are his stock in trade. Prof. Swing, in the Chicago Alliance, thus explains why at twenty-seven years of age he is still called the "Boy preacher:"— "It is probable that he (Harrison) gained his title from the fact, that having been once a 'boy' he fossilized in that condition and did not, like the common run of urchins, pass on to manhood. Like certain juices of grapes or apples, he was arrested in the boyish state of fermentation, and bottled for use in future years. . . . He has that playfulness of style, and that peculiarity of speech and logic, and that free and easy relation with the great personages of the Bible, that indicate the influence of some seven or eight summers in the world. . . . All the facts, so far as known, justify the appellation, 'Boy Preacher,' and the same facts justify the hope that he is in the last of the series." No one expects any good to come from his gymnastic performances; and it is certain that the cause of religion cannot be injured by anything so ridiculous. Sensible people know too much to call it religion, and those who are carried away by his frenzy, are beyond the possibility of injury. Our Publications in England.
By Editor
ANY of the books, pamphlets and tracts issued at this Office may be obtained of Eld. J. N. Loughborough, Ravenswood, Shirley Road, Southampton, England, who will furnish catalogues and prices in English money, and receive subscriptions for all our periodicals. 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. The Sabbath-school Department contains two series of lessons, one for children and one for youth. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE, 75 CENTS A YEAR. All new subscribers paying the above price will receive the "Child's Poems" as a premium without extra charge. TERMS TO CLUBS, PAID IN ADVANCE. Price per Copy, Post-paid. 5 to 10 copies..............................60 cents a year. 10 copies and upward .....................50 cents a year. Subscription for 5 to 10 copies will be taken for six months. Larger clubs may be paid for quarterly. Address YOUTH'S INSTRUCTOR, Battle Creek, Mich. "REV. DR. HARRISON, Congressional Chaplain, states in the Wesleyan Christian Advocate, that the Methodist Episcopal Church, during the twenty-seven years from 1852 to 1879, has failed to keep pace with the growth of population in the Middle States by 27 per cent., and in the "Border States," so-called, viz., Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri, the falling behind has been 40 per cent. In the New England States he says the showing is better; but taking the nineteen Northern States together, the M. E. Church, which in 1852 had one member out of 22 population, in 1879 had but one in 25—a relative decrease of over 11 per cent. The Advocate says: 'Here is in the whole field a manifest failure to keep pace with the growth of population, a fact which is profoundly suggestive of waning influence.' Rev. Dr. Fuller of the Atlantic Methodist Advocate says that it is no better in the Southern States. In thirty-five years the M. E. Church South has not doubled, while the population has nearly tripled. He adds that owing to the laxity of the conditions, and the pressure for new members, irreligious persons have been brought in with damaging effect." THE GLORY BELONGS TO GOD.
By R. F. Cottrell
"If any man minister, let him do it as of the ability that God giveth; that God in all things may be glorified." 1 Pet. 4:11. No one can claim that he has done great things in the service of God, by ministering much to the necessity of the saints, because he can give no more than God has given him. To God belongs all the glory. As for ourselves, he that gives all that God has given him, does what he can; but the glory is due to Him alone. The poor widow that gave her two mites, did more than all those that gave of their abundance; for they did not give all. And this rule is not only applicable to the ministering of worldly goods, but to all our powers of body and of mind, by which we serve God. If we have abilities to labor to effect in the cause, God has given all our talents, and he alone must have the glory. None can do more than God has given him strength and talents to perform. Those that labor to the extent of the abilities that God has given, do what they can; and none can do more. The apostle Paul understood this, therefore he says: "But by the grace of God I am what I am; and his grace which was bestowed on me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." God requires a full sacrifice of all that we have and are in his blessed cause; and when we have consecrated all to him, we have done no more than our duty—we have given nothing but what he first gave us. All is of his grace, and all the glory is his. "Where is boasting then? It is excluded."