Your ShelfYour Projects

Signs of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 27.

Walk in the Light
Earlier text: Walk in the Light

Getting "Stirred Up."

By G. D. Ballou

"WELL, my brother, how are things moving with the church at your place?" "Oh, they are rather dull and indifferent. We want some one to come down and stir us all up." When I hear this, I say to myself, "Well, I wonder how long he thinks they would stay 'stirred up.'" When a thing is only just stirred up, it soon settles. Wonder if it ever occurred to the minds of these brethren how much better it would be to be built up than to be stirred up.
Somehow human nature loves to be stirred up. The emotional and sentimental nature responds quickly when the right chord is struck. People go to theaters and pleasure parties and entertainments, and at all these places the great effort seems to be to feast the emotions. Sometimes in the modern revival a great effort is made to stir things up. Indeed this is really about all that ever is done. And we all know how often this stirring up process has to be repeated in order to keep up any manifestation of life. There is a great lack of permanency where things are only just "stirred up."
Would it not be much better to be built up? We know it costs more effort to build, but it pays better in the end. If you want to be merely stirred up, you have only to sit passive under the influence of some powerful appeal, and let outside influences mould you. But if you would be built up, there is some clearing away of rubbish, some grading, some hewing of stones, and framing of timbers to be done.
Our characters are forming every day, and if we would stand the test of the Judgment, we shall have some building to do. Emotional efforts will not produce satisfactory results when examined in the light of the Judgment. There must be a motive power within, supplied constantly from the perennial fountain of life. We cannot afford to depend for our strength and courage on outside influences. There must be purposes within that will give power to our own characters and thus help us to aid others.
We have seen some who seemed to depend entirely on the influence of the Sabbath meeting to pull them through the week. They seemed to be drawing the little strength they had from their brethren. Their light was only borrowed. There was no power to lift and help the meeting; they had merely come to receive strength and grace, with no thought of imparting any blessing to others by their earnest, faithful service and praises to God. In case the influence of Satan is in the meeting, these individuals go away full of darkness and doubt and fault-finding, because the meeting is not good. They are just as ready to drink in darkness as to receive light. If such would change their course, and seek supplies of grace at home, and begin the work of "laying up in store a good foundation against the time to come," and if they would begin to build on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, they would not feel the need of being "stirred up" so often. They would have life and light and strength within, and their testimonies, yea, even their presence would silently impart grace to the meeting.
Our brethren and sisters cannot build us up in the work. We have no right to lean upon others for support. We should "lift up our eyes unto the hills from whence cometh our help." And when we thus draw strength and nourishment from the living vine, we rest assured that the angels of God will be in every meeting we hold, to minister the holy Spirit to every heart. Then there will be no darkness in the meetings, no indifference, no coldness, but the blessed presence of the Spirit of God will constantly cheer us, and none of us will ever feel that we want the minister to come and merely stir us up. Go about the work of "building yourselves up in your most holy faith" and God's Spirit will stir up the energies of your being to constant untiring efforts in the Master's cause. G. D. BALLOU.

The Christian Spirit.

By Advance

LET no mistake be made concerning what is meant by a Christian spirit. Let us not, as is too often done, take one side of the character of Christ in forming an estimate of the whole. Men speak of the loving-kindness and gentleness in Christ, as though these virtues made up his whole life. This is a great mistake. The wrath of God against sin was incarnate in Christ. He denounced the hypocrisies of the Pharisees, laid bare the sin of society, stripped men of falsities, and pronounced woes on the heads of evil-doers. He overthrew the tables of the extortionate money-changers, and made a whip of small cords and drove them as thieves out of the temple.—Advance.

The Heroism of Christ.

INDIVIDUAL examples of heroism are not so conspicuous in the rank and file of contending armies as in single, hand-to-hand combats. In the rank and file individuality is lost in the general mass, and each one partakes only of his little share of the meed of praise that is meted out to the heroic army. But when a call is made for a Marcus Curtius to voluntarily step out from among his comrades and go down to death alone in the forlorn hope, then we have a hero worthy of the plaudits of his fellow-men, which he receives. So the heroism of Jesus is brought out in the solitariness of his conflicts and sufferings. In his heroic resistance to the triple temptation in the wilderness, on the mountain, and the temple pinnacle, he was alone with Satan. Alone, patiently, and unmurmuringly, he trod the wine-press of God's wrath. Of the people none were with him. Alone, we behold him triumphing over the fiercest opposition—over the tyranny of the magistrate, the subtlety of the philosopher and the bigotry of the Jew. Alone he met and routed the Sanhedrim. Alone, with heroic fortitude, he endured the contradiction of sinners and the desertion of friends. Alone, before Herod and before Pilate, he told the truth and asked no favors at a time when to tell the truth was death. He was alone in the noble purpose to permit them to crucify him, himself conscious, meantime, of the possession of an omnipotence exerting which he could have blotted the blood-thirsty and blood-shedding mob from the face of the earth, but which he reserved for his final victory over death, the last enemy that should be destroyed. Heroism! Produce another such as Jesus of Nazareth from the long list of the world's illustrious!
—Christian Intelligencer.

Faith and Superstition—Expediency and Principle.

By Rev. T. C. Jerome

TWO HUNDRED years before the battle in which Saul was slain, another leader of Israel had stood upon that same battle-range of Gilboa. A like innumerable hostile array was encamped below, or upon the opposite slope of Little Hermon.
But Gideon, to meet the enemy, had only three hundred men; Saul had "all Israel," certainly three hundred thousand. Gideon's band was armed with trumpets, pitchers, and lamps; Saul's host was panoplied with all approved equipments of war. Gideon was unknown heretofore, his family "poor in Manasseh," and he "the least in his father's house." Saul had been forty years a king. Yet Gideon made ready for the onset, hopeful and stout-hearted, while Saul "greatly trembled," because Gideon's sword was also "the sword of the Lord," while from Saul the Spirit of God had long since departed.
Within twenty-four hours preceding either battle, both these chieftains had taken brief excursions from their camps. Both were attended by only one or two retainers. Both stole away by night clandestinely. Both went where it was peril to go: Gideon within the enemy's lines, Saul into a witch's den. Yet Gideon returned exultant, while Saul "fell all along on the earth, sore afraid," because Gideon went where God had sent him; Saul, against God's express statute.
Gideon was the greatest of the judges, notable even among those heroes as a man of faith and of principle. In every step, he sought counsel or encouragement directly from God, and then did precisely what God said.
Saul was weakest of kings, notable, even among the many of Israel's wicked rulers, as a man of superstition and of expediency. He appears often very religious, eager to worship. At Gilgal, he could not wait for the high priest to come, but must needs usurp the sacerdotal office. At Bethaven, he builded an altar; or, as the margin reads, "began to build." This, like most of his good resolutions, seems to have been abandoned soon after the beginning.
Saul had a rare taste for sacred music. Days together, he listened to David's harp and David's psalms. Doubtless he would have sighed devoutly under the trills of a prima-donna in a modern quartette choir. But none the less the javelin sped swift from his hand towards David's heart. He prophesied, and slaughtered the prophets. He put away the wizards, and traveled ten miles to consult a witch.
To be sure, Saul had always pious and plausible excuses for disobedience. "Neither by Urim nor by dreams had the Lord answered me." "The best of the sheep and the oxen the people spared for sacrifice." "The Philistines were advancing, and my forces deserting; so I forced myself to offer the sacrifice before the battle." All has the appearance of signal piety, but really it is signal presumption, self-will, "stubbornness, and rebellion."
"I have sinned," said Saul, over and over. "I have played the fool," he says again. "Is this thy voice, my son, David?" But, with all, he never radically changed his course. Even at the moment when he had received at Samuel's mouth his sentences of final, irremedial rejection, with the next instant he could but still implore the seer's prayers as a measure of policy: "I have sinned, yet honor me now before the people, and turn with me to worship." As written in Hosea, "Israel hath forsaken his Maker and buildeth temples." Men may be most solicitous for the forms of godliness, when they have most denied its power. They will then make gain of godliness.
Saul, alas! considered himself the architect of his fortunes, strangely unmindful that he peculiarly, patently beyond all men, had been anointed king by God alone, and that only God could crown him with success. And still, Saul's career is not exceptional. Rather is it a most vividly detailed, inspired picture of the natural human heart. A sadly tragical picture, also, since Saul evermore chose as the ruling purpose of life his own way rather than God's ways. Handel found no biography more mournful, and to-day the step to which funerals tread is the "Dead March" in "Saul."
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice. By faith the elders obtained a good report. If ye love me, keep my commandments.—Rev. T. C. Jerome, in S. S. Times.

A Riddle.

By Epsilon

Ques. Why are you loading that cannon with such warlike missiles?
Ans. In order to slay those ten men who stand in a compacted group.
Q. Then do you consider those men your enemies?
A. I hate one of them, but the other nine I highly esteem.
Q. Why would you slay nine friends in order to get rid of one enemy? Would you not be loser instead of gainer?
A. It does look so, but since my enemy is always in the compacted group, there is no way to get rid of him but to slay the whole ten.
Q. Has this one man some bad trait, that you hate him so much?
A. Really, I cannot say that he has a single bad trait, but I was taught to hate him, and some of my neighbors hate him also.
Q. Have your neighbors any just cause for hating him?
A. They say that the king dismissed him from the group, and gave a commission to a better man to take his place.
Q. Have you, or your neighbors ever seen the commission of a new appointment?
A. No; if such a commission was ever written, it was lost long ago.
Q. Did the king ever find fault with this hated man?
A. No; the king has often spoken highly of him, and commended him to the people.
Q. Did the king's son turn the people against him?
A. There is no record that he did so; on the contrary, he, too, highly commended him. But they say that the king's son turned him out of office.
Q. Have you no other evidence than hearsay that he was dismissed?
A. No; but the other man takes best with the people. He was of old very popular with the outside barbarians.
Q. Does it not seem that some of the people are trying to ring in this popular barbarian?
A. If the voice of the people is the voice of God, it ought to be the voice of the kings.
Q. How did you learn that the voice of the people is the voice of God?
A. By hearsay.
Q. If you credit hearsay, would you not likely believe at least seven lies to one truth?
A. Perhaps so. EPSILON.

The Right and Wrong Use of Self

By Christian Union

WHEN a man has gone astray, he has lost the right use of himself. He has not necessarily lost all will power, nor all intellectual power. And when a man is recalled from wandering, and it is said he is born again—a generic term that stumbled Nicodemus and has a great many theologians since that day—all we mean is that from his wrong use of himself he turns toward the right use of himself. Going in the wrong direction, he changes his direction; using his moral sensibilities in the wrong way, they are changed too. He is brought to recognize a higher standard of living, body, mind, and soul, and enters upon that better understanding. Then we say he has been recalled by his shepherd; he has returned. He was in the wrong pasture; he was in peril; he has heard the voice, and been called, and is now restored to the shepherd and bishop—that is, care-taker—of his soul. Every organ of the body is, according to the design of God in nature, good. It is wrong use that produces evil. Every faculty of the human mind and soul is right and needful to the body and soul, to social relations and universal truth. But the wrong use of right things is sinfulness. It may be in a single act, or in a continuity of acts until they become habit; then it is character; and a bad character is nothing but an automatic practice of wrong uses induced by individual acts of sin.

The Secret of a Consistent Christian Life

The difficulty of living a consistent Christian life, which some persons complain of as if there were something of injustice in requiring it, has generally no other foundation than arises from trying to appear religious when one is not so. If one actually follows Christ, he finds royal companionship and the peace that passeth all understanding. He really passes from bondage to liberty, and all the burdens of life are not only made lighter, but they afford an ennobling discipline. But to take the name of Christ, yet not fully consent to become his disciple; to say that one is seeking a heavenly city while he is making all his investments in worldly possessions; in short, the attempt to serve God and mammon is what makes a religious profession perplexing. God says, "Give me thy heart." If the heart be given, the service is joyful. By one stroke, if one follows God's command, self is dethroned, and then all comes easy, and, as it were, natural. The simple recipe for a comfortable religious life is to be religious, not to make a pretense of being religious.—Sel.

How to Grow.

By A. J. Gordon

By fixing our creeping affections on Christ, who is in Heaven, he will lift us up. If the question is, What shall I do to grow in grace? we point to Jesus on the throne and say, "Seek to come unto the measure of the stature of the perfect man."

The Sabbath-School.

By Ellet Joseph Waggoner

LESSON FOR THE PACIFIC COAST—JULY 26.

  1. On what occasion did Christ deliver the discourse recorded in the fourteenth chapter of John?
  2. What had Jesus said that caused the disciples sorrow? John 13:33.
  3. Where was he going? John 13:1.
  4. Was he going to the Father immediately?
  5. With what words did he comfort his troubled disciples? John 14:1-3.
  6. What idea is conveyed by the use of the word "again"?
  7. What testimony does an inspired apostle bear on this point? Heb. 9:27, 28.
  8. For what purpose does Christ appear unto them that look for him?
  9. In what different ways will his coming affect the righteous and the wicked? Isa. 66:5.
  10. What did Christ say he would do for his disciples at his second coming? John 14:3.
  11. Then since he comes only the "second time," what must we conclude?
  12. When, after Christ's resurrection, Peter asked what John's work would be, what did Jesus reply? John 21:20-22.
  13. What saying immediately went abroad? Verse 23.
  14. Why did they think he would not die?
  15. Does the inspired writer make a distinction between death and the coming of Christ? John 21:23.
  16. Can you find in Christ's promise to his disciples, proof that his coming does not mean the conversion of sinners?
  17. Will Christ come to earth in person? 1 Thess. 4:16.
  18. To what will the manner of his coming be similar? Acts 1:10, 11.
  19. How was he seen to go into Heaven? Acts 1:9.
  20. Is the one who is coming the same one who was crucified and buried here on earth? Eph. 4:8-10.
  21. As Christ went up, what received him? Acts 1:9.
  22. With what will he come? Rev. 1:7.
  23. How many will see him when he returns?
  24. Is it probable that before Christ comes any one will teach that he has actually come in a secret manner? Matt. 24:26.
  25. Should we believe such teaching?
  26. How can we prove it to be false? Matt. 26:27.
  27. Who will attend the Saviour when he returns? Matt. 25:31.
  28. What part will the angels have to act? Matt. 24:31.

LESSON FOR AUGUST 2.

  1. What doctrine occupies a prominent place in the preaching of the apostle? 2 Pet. 1:16.
  2. When had they been eye-witnesses of the glory of Christ's second coming? Verses 17, 18.
  3. To what occasion does Peter refer? Matt 17:1-5.
  4. Did they have any stronger evidence to present than that of their own senses? 2 Pet. 1:19.
  5. How early was Christ's second coming a subject of prophecy? Jude 14.
  6. How long after the creation did Enoch live?
  7. How long before the birth of Christ?
  8. Who are the "saints" referred to in Enoch's prophecy? Jude 14 (Revised Version); Matt. 25:31.
  9. What other patriarch of ancient time prophesied of the Lord's second coming? Job 19:25-27.
  10. What testimony did David bear on this subject? Ps. 50:3-5; 96:11-13.
  11. For what purpose did he say the Lord would come? Ps. 50:5.
  12. With what words of Christ does this agree? John 14:3.
  13. What did the apostle John say at the thought of Christ's soon coming? Rev. 22:20.
  14. Why did he say this?
  15. In the day of the Lord's coming what will be said? Isa. 25:9.
  16. Why will the Lord save these persons?
  17. In what condition must one be in order to wait for another?
  18. Who are the ones that will be rewarded when the Lord comes? 2 Tim. 4:8.
  19. If we do not love to hear of or think about the Lord's coming, of what may we be assured?
  20. Would we not naturally expect some revelation to be made concerning the time of so important an event? Amos 3:7.
  21. What does Paul say to the brethren? 1 Thess. 5:1.
  22. Of what "times and seasons" is he speaking? 1 Thess. 4:15-17.
  23. If there was no need for Paul to write concerning the time, what must we conclude?
  24. Why are the brethren not ignorant of the time? 1 Thess. 5:4, 5.
  25. What makes them children of the light? Ps. 119:105.
  26. Upon whom will the day of the Lord come as a thief? 1 Thess. 4:2, 3; Luke 21:35.
  27. What will cause men to be blind to the near coming of Christ? Luke 21:34, 35.
  28. Can the people of God be called "dwellers" upon this earth? Heb. 11:13; 1 Pet. 2:11.
  29. Where is their home? Heb. 11:16; Phil. 3:20 (Revised Version).
THE words of Christ in John 14:1-3 are very significant when we consider them carefully, in the light of his previous words. At the last passover supper, Jesus had told his disciples once more that he was about to leave them. He had previously told the unbelieving Jews that they would die in their sins, and that whither he went they could not come (John 8:21). And now to his loved disciples he said: "As I said to the Jews, whither I go ye cannot come; so now I say to you." John 13:30. Peter, ever zealous, declared himself ready to die for his Master, but even that would not give him the desired privilege of being with the one whom he loved. In this time of sadness and gloom the Saviour spoke the comforting words found in John 14:1-3 and onward. He assured them that the separation would not be final, but that he would return to take them to the mansions prepared for them.
What the Saviour promised must be considered in the light of what the disciples wanted. They desired his personal presence with them. Now if Jesus promised them something else, his words could contain no comfort for them. We would therefore expect him to promise a literal return for them. And this is just what he did. "I will come again." This can mean nothing but that he would once more be as really present with them as he was then.
HOW can we know that Christ has not already come? and if he has not come, how can we tell when that event takes place? These questions have been answered in advance. When he comes it is to execute judgment upon all that are ungodly (Jude 15); his people will be taken to be with him forever (1 Thess. 4:16, 17); but they are yet separated from him. Many will teach that Christ has come, but we need not be deceived. "For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matt. 24:27. He will come in the same manner in which he ascended to Heaven (Acts 1:11), a real, personal being, "this same Jesus," and "every eye shall see him." Rev. 1:7. There will then be no need for one to tell another that the Lord has come, for none can be ignorant of the fact.
WHY do we have so much to say about the coming of the Lord? Simply because we find so much about it in the Bible. There is no other subject which occupies so much space. Peter says (2 Pet. 1:16) that the apostles had made known the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that they had evidence of that which they declared. Besides their personal testimony, we have, as he says, the "more sure word of prophecy," which speaks with no uncertain sound on the subject of Christ's coming. Indeed that is the principal object for which they were given. They all point to the one event. Peter, after speaking in the third chapter of his second epistle with great positiveness concerning the coming of the Lord, says that Paul in all his epistles speaks of these things (verses 15, 16); this statement we can easily verify by an examination of the writings of Paul. In them the coming of the Lord is spoken of familiarly as a thing well understood.
And why should it not be so? What more natural than that the event which is to be the consummation of all things should be often spoken of? Christ had comforted the hearts of his sorrowing disciples with the promise that he would come to receive them to himself. Now if they had never said anything about that promise, we would say that their love for their Lord, and their desire to be with him was not very ardent. We would measure their love for their Master by the earnestness of their longing for his return. They did love the Saviour with intense devotion, and consequently his return was their constant theme. Does any one say that they were too sanguine, or that they were mistaken? Such a statement is nothing less than charging the Lord himself with deception, for they said nothing but what he had taught them. If they were mistaken in this, we have no warrant that they were not mistaken in everything, and in that case what becomes of our Bible? No, they were not deceived, and we can depend upon what the Holy Spirit has preserved for our instruction.
ONLY those who love his appearing will receive the crown when the Lord comes. 2 Tim. 4:8. It is only to those who look for him that he appears unto salvation. The mere fact that we talk about the coming of the Lord does not prove that we love his appearing, but it is certain that we do not love his appearing if we do not love to think and talk about it. If we love the Lord we shall certainly love his appearing. How may we know that we really love him, and are preparing for his coming? He says, "If ye love me keep my commandments." If we are walking in his footsteps, obeying his voice, we show our love for him.

NOTES ON THE INTERNATIONAL LESSON.

By W. N. Glenn

AUGUST 3—PSALM 51.
THE title to this psalm represents it as the confession and prayer of David after being reproved for his crimes in connection with the murder of Uriah, and his conviction of sin. The whole tenor of the psalm is characteristic of David, and there is no dispute regarding the authenticity as far as verse 17. But it is claimed by several critics that verses 18 and 19 must have been added during the captivity in Babylon, as that prayer was not appropriate in David's time. But David was a prophet, and his prophetic reference to a future condition of the city need not cast a doubt upon the authorship of this remarkable and exemplary expression of penitence and faith in God.
It is a peculiarity of the Bible that its Author does not hide the faults of even those whom he most highly esteems. David, when chosen to be king, was said to be a man after God's own heart, yet no effort is made to cover up his sins in the record that the Spirit indites concerning the faithful servants of the Lord. But after being fully exposed to all posterity, he is given all credit for his humble confession and penitence. Infidels are wont to make much ado over David's sin against Uriah, but they overlook the fact that God severely rebuked the crime, and punished his erring servant, who himself openly confessed before all men that he had sinned grievously. No one can consistently accuse God of compromising with evil, although he has so loved the world that he gave his Son to die that sinful man might have pardon. Those who do accuse the Creator of complicity in crime only presume upon his goodness, and abuse his long-suffering mercy.
DAVID, in this psalm, recognizes the fact that confession goes before forgiveness. After a fervent petition for pardon, verses 1 and 2, he thus bases his plea: "For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me." God is very anxious to forgive his disobedient creatures, but it would do them no good to forgive them, and be no guarantee of future uprightness on their part, unless they should realize that their course had been wrong, and manifest an intention to live better lives. Hence the requirement of a full confession as a prelude to pardon. See Lev. 16:21; 26:40-42; Ps. 32:5; 1 John 1:9, etc.
"AGAINST thee, thee only, have I sinned," &c. Verse 4. Ordinarily it might be supposed that the offense was specially against Uriah; but David was so impressed with the importance of God's commandments that the enormity of his sin seemed to be against God. What was there in the acts for which he had been reproved, and for which he shows such profound penitence, that constituted sin against God? Evidently it was the violation of the moral law. Two of the commandments of God had been flagrantly disregarded; hence the sin was primarily against God, who would be justified in judging the criminal. Suppose, as many claim, these commandments to be abolished, then we could not say that such acts as those committed by David were sinful against Jehovah, and there would be no need of confessing them or asking pardon for their commission. What kind of Government would such a state of things produce? Sodom unrestricted would be the ideal kingdom of God resulting from a practice of the antinomian theory.
IN verses 5 and 6 we have a forcible contrast between man in his natural state and as God would have him to be. "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity." Such a crime as the murder of Uriah could not have been committed by one whose heart had not been much hardened. It was a premeditated deed; the king had all night to think about it and devise the plan. Hence he realizes that such a corrupt condition was the result of impurity of heart from his very birth. But "thou [God] desirest truth in the inward parts." God would have the heart made clean, that he may write his law there. David seems to comprehend this, in Ps. 40:8: "I delight to do thy will, O God; yea, thy law is within my heart." Though this is prophetic of Christ, as we learn in Heb. 10, there can be no doubt that the writer describes his own feelings in regard to the law of God. The Lord desires the circumcision of the heart, and not merely that which is outward. See Rom. 2:25-29. This is also comprehended in the prayer under consideration in this lesson. Verse 10: "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."
"PURGE me with hyssop, and I shall be clean." Verse 7. The hyssop was a plant much used in the Jewish purifications, especially in the purification of leprous persons and their houses (Lev. 14), and we understand by the expression here that the penitent psalmist desired a complete work in his heart. He no doubt realized as never before, his carnal condition, and the necessity for a thorough cleansing. "Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." See also the gracious promise of the Lord to the obedient, recorded in Isa. 1:16-20.
"RESTORE unto me the joy of thy salvation," &c. Verse 12. This verse, as also verse 8, shows that there is joy in reconciliation with God, rather than in a sinful state under his displeasure. David had experienced the "pleasures of sin" to the fullest extent, and he knew how vain and unsatisfactory are such falsely-called enjoyments in comparison with the delights to be found in the favor of Heaven. And he who would seek real enjoyment, even in this life, would do well to follow the example of David, confessing his sins and bringing before God the "sacrifice of righteousness"—a broken and a contrite heart—and thus secure joy and pleasures which the world can never give.

Temperance.

Alcohol and the Heart Beats.

As a rule, it is well to let the processes of life in our bodies go on without noticing them, for doubtless it would make us very nervous to have the internal machinery in motion before our eyes. But to prevent people from abusing that delicate machinery, it often becomes necessary to show it; and if a person addicted to wrong indulgence is made "nervous" by the sight, it may save him from being made something far worse.
Dr. N. B. Richardson, of London, the noted physician, says he was recently able to convey a considerable amount of conviction to an intelligent scholar, by a simple experiment. The scholar was singing the praises of the "ruddy bumper," and saying he could not get through the day without it, when Dr. Richardson said to him:—
"Will you be good enough to feel my pulse as I stand here?"
He did so. I said, "Count it carefully; what does it say?"
"Your pulse says seventy-four."
I then sat down in a chair and asked him to count it again. He did so, and said, "Your pulse has gone down to seventy."
I then lay down on the lounge, and said:—
"Will you take it again?"
He replied, "Why, it is only sixty-four; what an extraordinary thing!"
I then said, "When you lie down at night, that is the way nature gives your heart rest. You know nothing about it, but that beating organ is resting to that extent; and if you reckon it up, it is a great deal of rest, because in lying down the heart is doing ten strokes less a minute. Multiply that by 60 and it is 600; multiply it by 8 hours, and within a fraction it is 5,000 strokes different; and as the heart is throwing 6 ounces of blood at every stroke, it makes a difference of 30,000 ounces of lifting during the night.
"When I lie down at night without any alcohol that is the rest my heart gets. But when you take your wine or grog you do not allow that rest, for the influence of alcohol is to increase the number of strokes, and instead of getting this rest you put on something like 15,000 extra strokes, and the result is you rise up very seedy and unfit for the next day's work till you have taken a little more of the 'ruddy bumper,' which you say is the soul of man below."—Pacific Rural Press.

The Cost of the Liquor Traffic

THERE are 206,394 persons holding licenses to sell liquor in the United States. Counting all persons engaged in the business, there are not less than 500,000 people. Eighty-one million dollars is paid into the treasury as revenue, but this traffic costs the consumers over $813,000,000. This would build four continental railroads from New York to San Francisco, equipping them with cars and telegraph wires, and all needed paraphernalia. If all these people were usefully employed and this money wisely spent, what a rich and prosperous nation we would be!

High License and More Saloons

PERHAPS the "temperance workers" who think that the grand remedy is to be found in high license, may be able to explain the following: "Des Moines, Iowa, with a tax of $1,000 a year on each saloon, finds itself supporting twenty-seven more of those institutions than when it only cost a liquor-dealer $250 to help men make beasts of themselves."—Ex.

The Effects of Tobacco.

By John Harvey Kellogg

THAT tobacco is a poison cannot be doubted by any one who has experienced or witnessed the effects of the first cigar upon one endeavoring to acquire "the manly art." Careful observation and experiments by scientific men have established the fact that it may cause gastric derangement, heart disease, neuralgia, convulsions, and marked depression of both the nervous and muscular systems.
As with arsenic and other poisons, the system can be so accustomed to its use that the immediate and noticeable effects will be but pleasant. Close observation, however, will generally reveal some chronic disturbance, and a sudden stoppage of the habit will often, although not always, develop marked symptoms of poisoning. The action of this drug is largely determined by the size of the dose, and the age and temperament of the individual; phlegmatic adults, like the Dutch, are comparatively unaffected; but people of a nervous disposition are most surely and seriously poisoned.
The special object of this article is to call attention to the alarming extent to which cigarette smoking has spread among boys. Tobacco in this form is less apt to cause primary symptoms, as nausea, prostration, etc., but because of its mildness the smoke is inhaled, and this, with the great number of cigarettes consumed, is sure to produce deep and lasting constitutional effects, so insidiously that they are seldom attributed to their real cause.
We Americans are a nervous people, living at a high pressure, and consequently should be the last to use tobacco. But it is during the period of growth, when the tissues of the body are in the formative state and active changes are taking place in them, that they are most susceptible to modifying influences—it is during boyhood that the use of tobacco does the most harm. The growth is stunted, the powers of body and mind enfeebled, a craving for stimulants is apt to be developed, and there is great liability to chorea or some other nervous affection, and to heart disease.
Investigation revealed, some years since, that in the University of France the scholarship of those addicted to tobacco was materially lower than that of those who did not use it. Note the diminutive size of the Spaniards, Portuguese and Cubans; for generations the cigarette has been almost constantly in the mouths of the women and children as well as of the men. These people are excessively nervous and lack brawn, their strength being principally nervous energy, a condition of things for which tobacco is largely responsible.
The community must be aroused to the danger that is threatening us. As a nation we will surely degenerate if our men come on the stage with their nervous and physical systems impaired. The tendency already is to increased nervousness and shorter stature. Mothers, fathers, guardians, teachers, family physicians, and ministers, each and all of you have a direct and personal responsibility in this matter which you cannot shirk. Example is of more force than precept, and the chances of your boy's heeding your admonitions are slight if he can point to the example of his father, doctor, or minister smoking. The boy will not reason; he cannot realize the importance of this question, and it rests with the tact of his guardian to induce him by some means or other to faithfully promise (and perform) not to touch tobacco until he has acquired physical maturity, a period varying from about nineteen to twenty-five years of age. The imminent danger will be thus averted, and so much having been gained, the rest will be comparatively easy. It is useless to hope that at any time short of the millennium will we see the use of tobacco entirely eradicated, but we must check it so that its proportions will not be so huge as to threaten the future of the nation.—J. L. Moffatt, M. D.
Continue reading: North Pacific Camp-Meeting