If we all could realize the dangers of this time as we should at all times, how many snares we might shun; but many will make the fatal mistake and at last be lost. How dreadful to think of being shut out of the holy city! Do we realize the great responsibilities that are resting upon us as individuals? Are we all letting our light shine as we should? Are we seeking at all times to glorify the Lord in all our works and ways? Do we realize that the eye of the Lord is upon us at all times? Do we love the truth? If we do, our works will show it. Let us not put off the coming of the Saviour too far in the future, and so have him come upon us as a thief, and find us unprepared, Let us awake out of sleep, and live up to the light that shines upon our pathway. Let us bear the cross, so that at last we may wear the crown in the kingdom of God forever. D. T. & AMELIA SHIREMAN.
Religious Enlightenment in the East
Within the last few years the progress of religious enlightenment throughout the East has been very great. Forty years ago a complete copy of the Old Testament could not be found in the city of Jerusalem. At the present time there are twenty-four schools in Palestine, in which 1000 children are taught the Bible.
Men and Things.
HOW TO CULTIVATE GOOD MANNERS.
The following thoughts are worthy of the careful attention of every young person, especially of every Christian. Home is the place to learn what we wish to practice abroad:—
MANNERS.—Young folks should be mannerly. How to be so is the question. Many a good boy and girl feel that they cannot behave to suit themselves in the presence of company. They feel timid, bashful, and self-distrustful, the moment they are addressed by a stranger, or appear in company. There is but one way to get over this feeling and acquire graceful and easy manners; that is, to do the best they can at home, as well as abroad. Good manners are not learned from arbitrary teaching so much as acquired from habit. They grow upon us by use. We must be courteous, agreeable, civil, kind, gentlemanly and womanly, at home, and then it will soon become a kind of second nature to be so everywhere. A coarse, rough manner at home begets a habit of roughness, which we cannot lay off, if we try, when we go among strangers. The most agreeable people we have ever known in company are those that are perfectly agreeable at home. Home is the school for all the best things, especially for good manners.
A WORD FOR WOMEN.
Every woman covets good looks, a fine appearance. Some mourn all their life long because they were not possessed of physical beauty. But there is another kind of beauty attainable by all and far more lasting than the former. The following hits it very happily:—
A good woman never grows old. Years may go over her head; but if benevolence and virtue dwell in her heart, she is as cheerful as when the spring of life first opened to her view. When we look upon a good woman, we never think of her age—she looks as charming as when the rose of youth first bloomed upon her cheek. That rose has not faded yet; it will never fade. In her neighborhood she is the friend and benefactor—in the church the devout worshiper and exemplary Christian. Who does not love and respect the woman who has passed her days in acts of kindness and mercy—who has been the friend of man and God—whose whole life has been a scene of kindness and love, a devotion of love and religion? We repeat, such a woman cannot grow old. She will always be fresh and buoyant in spirits, and active in humble deeds of mercy and benevolence. If the young lady desires to retain the bloom and beauty of youth, let her not yield to the sway of fashion and folly; let her love truth and virtue; and to the close of life she will retain those feelings which now make life appear a garden of sweets—ever fresh and ever new.
WHY YOU ARE UNHAPPY.
See here, you poor, unhappy, discontented soul. Do you know what is the matter with you? Read these lines, and face right about:—
THE TWO BUCKETS.—A great deal of trouble is caused by the habit of looking at things “wrong end foremost.” “How disconsolate you look!” said a bucket to his fellow-bucket, as they were going to the well. “Ah!” replied the other, “I was reflecting on the uselessness of our being filled; for, let us go away ever so full, we always come back empty.” “There now! how strange to look at it in that way,” said the first bucket. “Now I enjoy the thought that, however empty we come, we always go away full. Only look at it in that light, and you’ll be as cheerful as I am.”
A SWEET MORSEL FOR TEA-DRINKERS.
I clip the following from a letter from a missionary now in China. It speaks for itself:—
I have not had a good cup of tea since I left California. Every one I know here uses black tea, which has a peculiar taste that I do not like. They laugh at the words, green tea. Said a gentleman here the other day, “There is no such thing as green tea. I notice,” he said, “a great amount of Prussian blue among the articles sent up the river to a certain gentleman of this city, and it goes back in another form. It comes on the leaves of your green tea.”
A THOUGHT FOR IDLE CHURCH MEMBERS.
Why is it that our ministers are so overworked and broken down often? Does not the following suggest the reason?
Because many people in the church refuse their portion of toil, and hardship, and sacrifice, in the cause of religion, others, and especially those engaged in preaching, are compelled to endure much more than their rightful share of privation in order that the work of the church may not stop. Many of the sacrifices and difficulties connected with the ministry are not at all necessary for the interests of religion. They do not promote it; but their entire influence opposes and weakens this interest. These hardships are made necessary only by the indolence, unfaithfulness, and worldliness, of the church. This is the truth,
TOUCHING THOUGHTS
whether anybody likes to hear it or not. Whenever half the people in the church become willing to take upon themselves a tithe of the privation and sacrifice which they now think they may rightly require of many ministers, there will be a great accession of strength to the church, and her missionary work will be vastly extended.
TOUCHING THOUGHTS.
Who can read these most solemn and touching thoughts and not have his soul moved? Tears would come when I read them. May the Lord impress the reader's mind for good.
SWEEPING FLOOD.—The flood is sweeping onward. Into it have fallen the days and months, until the year is nearly gone. Friends, also, may have gone, and property, and youth, and hope. How life's edge is crumbling! How wistfully we look after it as it goes; but it passeth away. It is remarkable that immutability should be the result of this mutability; but it is so. The past, with all its experience, is gone; but its impress is left ineffaceably upon us. How silently the snow-flakes fell upon our brow! Who felt the plow-share as it made its furrow on our cheek? It was a feathery touch, but, oft repeated, the expression of age is left. What can make us young again? Woe may have bowed us down so that we shall never again stand erect, or prosperity may have inflated us so that our simplicity cannot be restored.
Time has gone, but traces remain; the years have left their lessons. Though we have been unconscious of it as we are of the revolving of the earth on which we stand, we have been moving. At no two consecutive moments have we had the same character. Worse or better, nearer Heaven or nearer hell, onward ever, and toward a fixed or changeless character. The past is gone, but the effect upon us is an inalienable inheritance; our being must be annihilated before it can be utterly effaced. If being evil, we hereafter become good, or being good, shall fall back into sin, our former estate will have its bearing upon our future. The stream flows on, and may betake itself to a new channel; but the plants it has nourished still grow and bear their fruit. So the passing begets the permanent, and time determines our eternity. It is well to live thoughtfully.
D. M. CANRIGHT.
Aledo, Ill.
By R. F. Andrews
Immediately after Conference, I resumed my labors in this place. Found the people still anxious to hear. The Lord has greatly blessed the feeble effort that has been put forth. I think I never attended a protracted meeting when it was more evident that the Lord was powerfully working upon the hearts of the people. This corner of the earth has long been considered a God-forsaken place. Men have lived here till they passed the meridian of life without being moved by a popular gospel. But the truth, the precious, present truth, has, praise the Lord, affected their hearts. In a number of families where there was no family altar, it is now erected, God's worship is maintained, and his holy law is regarded as the great standard of right. The heads of eleven families have decided to lead a life of obedience to the commandments of God. Nearly forty in all have taken their stand in favor of the down-trodden law of the Most High, and so far as I know, only five of them were professors before. Just now we are having some opposition from a Mormon elder. We trust that it may result in the prosperity of the truth. We feel that our strength must come from God alone. We praise his name for what he has done in the past, and mean to humbly trust in him in the future. Pray for us.
R. F. ANDREWS.
That Lowly Grace.
By G. W. Amadon
It is an observable fact in nature, that the limbs of trees heaviest loaded with fruit, hang lowest; and Jesus, in unfolding the will of God to men, says: “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear MUCH FRUIT.” John 15:8. Again he addresses his disciples, “I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit; and that your fruit should remain;” i. e., that it should be of a permanent character.
The true child of God, like the tree of life, bears a variety of fruit (see Rev. 22:2; Gal. 5:22, 23), and yields that fruit continually. But it is only concerning one variety (humility) that mention is now made.
Humility is defined by Webster as, “The state or quality of being humble; freedom from pride and arrogance; lowness of mind; a moderate estimation of one’s own worth; a sense of one’s own unworthiness through imperfection and sinfulness.” This grace, in the sight of the Lord, is of great account. Strictly speaking, humility is true greatness. The humility of Jesus was perfect, and yet he understood his divine greatness. Bishop Taylor well says, “Humility is like a tree whose root, when it sets deepest in the earth, rises higher, and spreads fairer, and stands surer and longer, and every step of its descent is like a rib of iron.”
The Scriptures everywhere speak well of humility. Says David, Ps. 138:6, “Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the LOWLY; but the proud he knoweth afar off.” This text shows the Lord’s great regard for a humble-minded person. Mr. Webster defines the word “lowly,” as “humble, meek, free from pride.” Jesus says, Matt. 5:5, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Precious in the Lord’s sight is the grace of meekness, and it will find its sure reward in the world to come. Of the word “meek,” Mr. Webster says, “Mild of temper; not easily provoked or irritated; given to forbearance under injuries; gentle, yielding, patient.”
True meekness, or humility, is a very great attainment, yet both a possible and necessary one. How beautifully was this grace exemplified all through the life of Jesus, and how much happier we all should be, if in this respect we were like the heavenly Pattern. Says the divine Redeemer, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Matt. 11:29. With what heavenly luster this grace appeared in the character of Jesus during the dark hours of his trial. Though mocked, spit upon, scourged, and insulted with every indignity that the malice of Satan could invent, he bore it all with meekness and true greatness of soul. All those who would walk in the footsteps of Jesus must have this fruit of the Spirit, as well as the others.
A little Sabbath-school scholar was once asked what meekness was, and gave this reply: “Meekness gives smooth answers to rough questions.” This, though but a child’s definition, is not far from correct. If we, like the Saviour, would “bear all things,” we must be meek. But let us be careful, as an old divine said, not to be proud of our humility. It was Bishop Law who observed that the devil is “content that we should excel in good works, provided he can make us proud of them.” Without doubt, this is the rock upon which many a one has split. Supposing themselves to be really and truly humble, they suddenly become possessed of that opposite spirit which the Lord knoweth afar off. See Ps. 138:6.
May we all be so happy as to secure the “blessings” spoken of by our Saviour in the sermon on the mount; and yet we must not forget that each one of those blessings is attached to conditions of humiliation and suffering in this world. The prophet Zephaniah, in view of the awful events connected with the finishing of the mystery of God, exhorts the church to seek meekness that they may be hid in the day of his anger.
Let us, dear readers, seek all the graces of the Holy Spirit, not forgetting humility; for, in the language of St. Bernard, “it is the guardian of all virtues.” G. W. AMADON.
An Exhortation.
By J. Q. Foy
It is a fact much to be regretted, that on occasions when God's servants have a special burden for the young, and also for backsliders, and earnest appeals are being made, indited, and sent home, by the Holy Spirit, that there are generally those who seem to be affected, and who, with those who are sincerely inquiring the way to Zion, manifest a desire to be Christians, whose hearts are not in the work, and who, perhaps, have not considered the important step that they are taking. There may be those also who have often listened to similar appeals, and perhaps as often expressed in a similar manner their interest in the matter; but not having made a full surrender, they have, by refusing to do their duty, grieved the Holy Spirit, thus wounding their own consciences, and now feel just enough to cause them to participate in the good and holy work for the present, only to mar and hinder it afterward by continuing their former course. This fact, deplorable and terrible in its consequences as it is, cannot, perhaps, be avoided. It is Satan's business to hinder the work of God, and to ruin souls; and he will make use of any and every means to effect his purpose. Perhaps none are more efficient than this. But woe to those who continue thus to aid him in his unholy work.
Dear young friend, be not thus deceived by the great enemy of your souls, nor be thus beguiled into his service. The broad road is not the way to Heaven. The way thither is a “narrow road—a rugged, thorny maze.” The carnal heart does not love it, nor can it by any means be induced to follow in it. Take Jesus for your pattern. Follow no others, only so far as they follow him, no matter how pious they may appear. Strictly follow out your convictions of duty, earnestly seeking God for a true knowledge of your own heart, and of his will concerning you. Do not dare to vary in the least from his requirements. God is long-suffering, but will not be trifled with. He is infinite in mercy, and so long as we are striving to walk humbly and carefully before him, will bear with our failures; but it will not do to presume upon his mercy. “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.”
Do not stop to parley with the devil. Does he tell you that you are a great sinner? Admit it. Does he suggest that the blood of Christ is not sufficient? Remember the promise: “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool; If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land; . . . for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Isa. 1: 18–20. Compare, or rather contrast, this short, fleeting life with that which is to come; count the cost. Settle it in your mind which you will have. Decide that you will have eternal life, even at the expense of this, and let it be a final choice. To remain undecided will leave you more exposed to temptation. However strong your attachment to the vanities and pleasures of the world, bid them farewell forever. However painful and laborious the work of subduing the carnal heart, make up your mind it shall be done, and set about the work in earnest, relying upon God for strength. Consider it a case of life and death, and resolve never to yield while there is the least ray of hope. By yielding to little sins, you grieve the Spirit of God from you, and thus are left an easy prey to the enemy; while by bearing little crosses and performing little duties, you are strengthened for future conflicts.
When tempted to think the way too straight, or the cross too heavy, go, in your imagination, to Gethsemane, to the judgment-hall, or to Calvary. Consider at what immense cost redemption was purchased for you. Who, in view of such scenes, would wish, or even consent, to have Heaven without making any sacrifice to obtain it? It would be no Heaven to such. The very nature of the case demands that if we would reign with Christ, we must also suffer with him.
“Ne’er think the victory won,
Nor lay thine armor down;
Thy arduous task will not be done
Till thou obtain the crown.”
Religion is that without which mortals cannot be truly happy.
It is the very essence of all goodness and true blessedness. The name, when properly defined and applied to those principles inculcated by the word of God, is itself a synonym for happiness. To the true Christian, even in his darkest hours, when the hand of affliction is laid heavily upon him, religion affords that comfort and peace which the world can neither give nor take away, and compared with which the best that this world can afford is as the shadow to the substance. Yes, to say nothing of the future bliss and glory in reserve for the Christian, to be enjoyed to all eternity, the comfort and satisfaction which the hope of these gives even in this life amply repay for all the sacrifice and self-denial they cost, and especially when we consider that we are required to sacrifice only that which would be an injury to us if persisted in. The path of duty is the only sure way to happiness; and the reason why so few of all the professed followers of Christ are able to testify to the sweets of religion, is that they have so little of it. Then why hesitate? Oh! why, unless it be that a spell from Satan be upon us? Oh! that we might be made to realize our danger, while there is hope that it may be averted. We have been warned that a fearful time is just before us. Why not make a preparation? It is an individual work. That others are without a shelter, will make our case none the better.
“Each in his lot must singly stand,
And pass the final, searching test.”
God grant that we may lay up a good foundation against the time to come, that, when the toils and trials and sorrows of earth are ended, and the ransomed of the Lord shall come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads, we may be among them. J. Q. FOY.
Battle Creek, Mich.
Mutual Forbearance.—
If we wish to succeed in life we must learn to take men as they are, and not as they ought to be; making them better if we can, but at the same time remembering their infirmities. We have to deal, not with the ideal man of dreaming poets, but with the real men of every-day life, men precisely like ourselves. This fact of common aims, ambitions, and infirmities, ought to create constant sympathy and forbearance. While every man has his own burden to bear, he may at the same time in some way help another to bear his peculiar burden, and be himself helped in turn. God has mysteriously linked all men together by this curious fact of mutual dependence, and this wonderful possibility of mutual help.
There Is One God.
By M. S. Merriam
I SEE in REVIEW, Vol. 37, No. 12, that Bro. Canright states some of the proofs of the immortality of the soul, that are assumed by some; and one is, that it is self-evident, and taken as understood without being declared in so many words, the same as the “existence of God is understood, while it is nowhere positively asserted in the Bible.” I understand him to admit in his argument, that the Bible does not declare that there is a God.
I think this must be a mistake; for I read in 1 Cor. 8:6, “But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.” Also 1 Tim. 2:5, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
Are not these positive declarations that there is a God? I think so.
Yours for the truth, M. S. MERRIAM.
Battle Creek, Mich.
Acquaintance with God.
By I. G. Camp
“Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace; thereby good shall come unto thee.” Job. 22:21.
With whom are we exhorted to acquaint ourselves? With some noble man of the earth who is able and has promised to bestow upon us some worldly honor or pleasure? Oh, no! far from this. Acquaint now thyself with the God that made the heavens and the earth, who is able and has promised to bestow upon us every needed blessing.
And be at peace! Oh, yes! an acquaintance with the Lord brings peace, peace like a river, and righteousness like the waves of the sea; an ever-flowing peace, and one righteous act after another as one wave follows another in quick succession. When are we exhorted to acquaint ourselves with the Lord? Acquaint now thyself with him. Now is the accepted time.
And thereby good shall come unto thee. Yes; and the amount of good that shall come unto us in consequence of an acquaintance with the Lord is unspeakably great. Words cannot express it. Pen cannot paint it; and the amount of evil we escape cannot be told. Who that has had an acquaintance with him but longs for a more intimate acquaintance, a closer union and communion and fellowship with him?
I inclose a small sum as a thank-offering to the Lord for the good that I have received at his hand. Three of my beloved daughters have been converted to a saving knowledge of the truth. Two of them are safely sleeping in Jesus, awaiting the sound of the trump of God to call them forth to glorious immortality. I. G. CAMP.
Turning the World Upside Down.
By F. J. Bideler
“THESE that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.” Acts. 17: 6. Such was a part of the accusation brought against Paul and Silas by the Jews at Thessalonica. The disciples were going from city to city, preaching and proving from the sacred Scriptures that Christ was the true Messiah, that he came just in the right time and manner, while the unbelieving Jews, by rejecting him, virtually overthrew all the chronological dates and prophecies in the Old Testament concerning him. Were they not really the ones that were turning the world upside down?
Just so it is at the present time. Wherever our people go with the proclamation of the third angel’s message, the cry is immediately raised: “Oh! those crazy Adventists that are turning the world upside down are come hither also. They destroy the peace of neighborhoods and families. They teach that hated seventh-day Sabbath, which no one can keep because the world is round, and no one can tell where the day begins or ends.” (They can tell us when Sunday comes, however, when they find us at work on that day.)
Now who are the ones that are turning the world upside down, those who teach that there is a definite seventh day, and that it can be kept? or those who, in order to get rid of its claims, are willing to throw all chronological order into confusion by claiming that the days of the week are indefinite, and that we cannot keep the Sabbath of the fourth commandment because we cannot tell where it begins or where it ends? Verily, God is not the author of confusion.
F. J. BIDELER.
Steuben Co., N. Y.
Fight Them with Books.
A VERY pious lady in a town in Illinois, not many years ago, was pondering how she could be most useful in promoting the spiritual welfare of the people. She finally settled upon this plan: to purchase with her own money a carefully selected library of interesting and appropriate books, and lend them gratuitously to such persons as she could induce to read them. She was not wealthy, but had just received a small sum of money as her portion of her recently deceased mother's estate.
A portion of this money was expended for the library of religious books. This proved to be quite as profitable an investment, financially considered, as many a less considerate Christian has put into silver-mining or petroleum stocks.
The books obtained, she visits from house to house; calls the attention of each lady friend to such a book as she judges most suitable to her present spiritual condition, and leaves it with her to read.
The entire field was gradually cultivated by this kind of judicious labor, and well covered with the seed of books.
Never obtrusive, never giving offense, cautiously and kindly feeling her way to the sanctuary of the heart, she worked on patiently like the secret agencies of nature, with little noise and no pretension, until, after weeks of delay, the signs of hopeful promise appeared.
The result was that, with other laborers in the field, a powerful and wide-spread reformation swept over and through the town, in which many nearly hopeless cases were happily and thoroughly converted to God.—Temperance Advocate.
Truthfulness at Home.
Of all happy households that is the happiest where falsehood is never thought of. All peace is broken up when once it appears there is a liar in the house. All comfort has gone when suspicion has once entered—when there must be reserve in talk and reservation in belief. Anxious parents, who are aware of the pains of suspicion, will place general confidence in their children, and receive what they say freely, unless there is strong reason to distrust the truth of any one. If such an occasion should unhappily arise, they must keep the suspicion from spreading as long as possible, and avoid disgracing their poor child while there is a chance of his cure by their confidential assistance. He should have their pity and assiduous help, as if he were suffering under some bodily disorder. If he can be cured, he will become duly grateful for the treatment. If the endeavor fails, means must of course be taken to prevent his example from doing harm; and then, as I said, the family peace is broken up, because the family confidence is gone. I fear that, from some cause or another, there are but few large families where every member is altogether truthful.
But where all are so organized and so trained as to be wholly reliable in act and word, they are a light to all eyes and a joy to all hearts. They are public benefits, for they are a point of general reliance; and they are privately blessed within and without. Without, their life is made easy by universal trust; and within their home and their hearts they have the security of rectitude and the gladness of innocence,—Harriet Martineau.
Charity.
An exchange publishes the following paragraph under the heading of “Cautiousness.” We think it rather deserves to be called Christian Charity:
Shun evil speakers. Deal tenderly with the absent; say nothing to inflict a wound on their reputation. They may be wrong and wicked, yet your knowledge of it does not oblige you to disclose their character, except to save others from injury. Then do it in a way that bespeaks a spirit of kindness to the absent offender. Be not hasty to credit evil reports. They are often the result of misunderstanding, or evil design, or they proceed from an exaggerated or partial disclosure of facts. Wait and learn the whole history before you decide, then believe what evidence compels you to, and no more. But, even then, take heed not to indulge the least unkindness, lest you dissipate all the spirit of your prayer for them, and unnerve yourself for doing them any good.
Bringing the Heart Into the Duty
It was a saying of the martyr Bradford, “that he would never leave a duty till he had brought his heart into the frame of the duty; he would not leave confession of sin till his heart was broken for sin; he would not leave petitioning for grace till his heart was quickened and enlivened in a hopeful expectation of more grace; he would not leave the rendering of thanks till his heart was enlarged with a sense of the mercies which he enjoyed, and quickened in the return of praise.
Amendment Agitation in Illinois.
THE Christian Statesman of March 1, 1871, publishes the following item:—
“The Auxiliary Association of Illinois has arranged for a North-western Convention to be held in Monmouth on Wednesday and Thursday, the 5th and 6th days of April next. One thousand dollars have been raised to be expended in the canvass of the State. The call has been signed by thirty of the leading citizens of the States which are to be represented in the Convention, and, together with full particulars, will be published in our next number.
Obituary Notices.
By H. M. Kenyon
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.
DIED, in Allegan, Mich., of consumption, March 6, 1871, sister Adelia Dickens, wife of Bro. Erastus Dickens, in the 31st year of her age. Sister Dickens had been keeping the Sabbath of the Lord the last eight years of her life, during which time she lived a godly and consistent life. She was beloved by all who knew her. We laid her away, hoping to meet her again at the resurrection of the just.
H. M. KENYON.
New York School Funding and Slanderers
IN the recent distribution of the school moneys in New York City, it is said the Hebrew societies received $6,000; the Protestant schools, $32,000, and the Roman Catholics, $180,000.
DIOGENES said the most dangerous wild beast was a slanderer; and the most dangerous tame one, a flatterer.
F. NELSON: The two dollars were credited on W. Hall's Review, and his paper sent as directed.
PHEBE R. MILLS: See Review, Vol. 37, No. 10. The paper has been sent from that date.
My P. O. address is Jamaica, Vt. N. ORCUTT.
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MISCELLANEOUS. Geo Wilson $4.24 37-14, J Noyes 4.00 41-1, G Mathewson 1.20 38-1, J H Warren 4.00 39-1, F Warner 8.00 39-11, W R Irish 8.00 38-19, M A Middleton 75c 38-14, E Parker 75c 38-14, W Francis 48c 37-12, G L Davis 5.00 38-9, M J Prosser 3.00 38-1, Mrs R Wilkins 4.00 41-1, S S King 75c 38-14, Z Aldrich 75c 38-14, M Hornady 4.00 40-9, R R Moon 4.00 38-1, G A Wilson 50c 38-21, Mrs E Sharp 50c 38-21, Mrs M Parker 50c 38-1, Geo Banks 6.40 37-11, J A Very 2.50 39-13, A E Seely 3.00 38-18, M Farmer 4.00 40-9, N Holloway Jr 75c 38-14.
Books Sent by Mail.
M Adams $1.34, P W Baker 10c, W G Bralliar 1.50, J D Dennis 10c, M Salisbury 10c, T M Trine 10c, Mary Sherman 10c, W H Turpin 10c, L Welch 15c, C C Van-Doren 10c, J G Satterlee 10c, M M Butcher 20c, H Grisier 10c, S M Fuller 13c, L Lathrop 10c, W S Ernst 25c, A O Thompson 20c, A J Corey 10c, H A Brooks 10c, W B Kennedy 10c, W VanGusen 10c, C R Rice 10c, P W Baker 10c, J A Hamilton 10c, D D Hughes 10c, A Pierce 10c, J Chase 10c, M Wixon 28c, H Siple 15c, H Pancoast 7c, T Denman 2.25, J Dubois 72c, R F Andrews 17.00, Wm Harris 1.15, H Mallinckrodt 15c, Miss Rawson 20c, J Williams 50c, Lucretia Day 1.00, L H Densmore 1.25, N R Stearns 15c, S D Moberly 1.00, Wm Bitner 5.75, W E Stillman 18c, A H Bradford 60c, A W Flowers 35c, Z Davis 10c, L M Fuller 10c, E VanLeonard 10c, N Fahnestock 10c, T D Waller 1.50, B L Francisco 3.00, J H Gallemore 1.00, A R Merriam 20c, W T Shirley 10c, J C Smith 17c, H Marsh 10c, M Smith 10c, C Blanchard 20c, J Green 10c, J Hanson 25c, T Whitehall 5c, W W Stebbins 4.00, J Hawxwell 15c, T A Drey 10c, O L Wolfsteme 30c, J Lewis 1.05, J Medley 15c, G N Williams 10c, S A Harrell 10c, Martha Dodge 25c, H W Simmons 10c, Selinda Buck 10c, J A Pease 10c.
Review to the Poor.
S Vincent $5.00, A E Seeley 2.00.
Cash Received on Account.
A Ross 75c, C Stratton $3.00, G W Colcord 4.00, J Brinkerhoff 3.20.
Western Camp-Meeting Fund.
W E Stillman $5.00.
Shares in the Publishing Association.
G W Mitchell $20.00.
Michigan Conference Fund.
Church at Holly $20.00.
Books Sent by Express.
D M Canright, State Center, Iowa, $10.50, David Downer, La Crosse City, Wis., 7.00.
Book Fund---$10,000 Wanted.
Amount Received Heretofore.—$2753.90.
One Hundred Dollars Each.—A H Bennett.
Twenty Dollars Each.—Truman Loomis.
Five Dollars Each.—John Williams, Henry Satterlee.
Book Fund.
A sister $2.00, Lucretia Day 2.00, A friend 1.00.
It Is Profitable to Obey God.
By D. T. Bourdeau
It is unwise to wait until we get out of financial difficulties before obeying God. If we are in a hard spot, it is then that we need divine aid; and how can we get it? We know of no other way than in obeying God. Then we can ask expecting to receive. “Whatsoever we ask,” says the beloved apostle, “we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.” 1 John 3: 22. Here is included a rich promise. God will grant us whatsoever we ask of him, if we obey and please him. No good thing will be withheld from those who walk uprightly. Is it not therefore profitable to do what God commands us, and to give ourselves unreservedly unto him? He who cares for the sparrow, clothes the lilies, and numbers the hairs of our heads, will not leave nor forsake us, if we do what we can for ourselves, while seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. While the wicked shall suffer hunger, and those very things come upon them for disobeying God, which they feared would come upon them for obeying him. God’s people will have their bread and water secured unto them, if they have to be fed miraculously as were the Israelites in the wilderness, and as was faithful Elijah, when pressed by wicked men and Satan. They will then have to live by faith. But can they expect to have faith then, unless their faith is previously tried and brought into exercise? No more than we can expect to have physical strength without physical exercise.
Thus we see that to obey God is profitable both for the present life, and for the life that is to come. When men get cramped in business, and are called upon to give their notes as security, they like to get a good backer. I would give more for a signature of the God of Heaven, whose heart is ever touched at the real wants of his children, and who has an exhaustless fund at his command with which to bless his creatures, than for all the aid of frail, finite man while disobeying God.
But the great motive that should lead us to obey God, is that by so doing we glorify him, and stand for the right, which is the noblest, as well as the most profitable business, that poor, fallen, dependent man can engage in. D. T. BOURDEAU.
Earthquake in Hawaii.
NEW YORK, March 13.—Special dispatches give further particulars of a severe earthquake at the Hawaiian Islands. It occurred at 10 o'clock in the evening, and was very severe. Walls of all stone or adobe buildings, with few exceptions, were injured, and the college buildings at Punahou were damaged extensively. Many persons rushed into the streets from their beds. Three distinct motions were felt, shaking horizontally, then perpendicularly. The finish was a distinct wave-like motion from the southwest. The violence of the shock lasted about twenty seconds, and the whole fully a minute. At Lahaina, much damage was done to buildings, but the seminary buildings suffered most, the walls being shaken to pieces, though they did not fall. At Makee's plantation a cattle train was badly injured, but other localities did not suffer much. At Mellakai nearly all the stone walls were leveled and the frame of a building was thrown down. The road to Laper was destroyed. At Lahaina the shock was very severe. Clefts opened in different parts of the island, and valleys were filled with masses of earth and rock shaken from the mountain tops. On Hawaii, but little damage was done, the Hilo and Kau districts receiving a slight shaking. The volcano is very active, but evidently had no participation in this earthquake. Persons in two different islands state that a bright light was visible in the eastern sky. Chimneys on sugar plantations suffered but little. Several shocks, not severe, have been experienced since.
SAN FRANCISCO, March 13.—The earthquake on February 19th at the Hawaiian Islands was general throughout the group. On Lanai, great rocks were hurled down from the cliffs, and some small valleys rendered uncultivable by the debris from the mountains, and the great wonder is that no lives were lost. The shocks commenced at Honolulu at 10:07 P. M., three in number, in rapid succession, lasting fully a minute; at other islands, the time was different, at Lahaina the last occurring at 11:24 o'clock.
JAMES WHITE
By James White
Camp-Meetings.
We wish to say to those brethren who are expecting us to meet with them in camp-meeting this season, that at present we are not prepared to make any definite statement relative to the future. The labors of the past year have told fearfully upon us. Could we have had rest on our return from the West last November, at the close of our extreme labors during the camp-meeting season, we might now be ready for the labors of the present season. But in consequence of the unfaithfulness of others, a terrible burden fell on us at the Office, and we have been overwhelmed with labor and sadness, until we are forced to give up active labors at present.
The General Conference Committee will provide competent laborers to attend all the camp-meetings. We may attend some of them; but do not expect to labor as we have done the past two years.