Earlier text: Fate of the California Sunday LawWhat Air Shall We Breathe at Night?
Many years ago Florence Nightingale assaulted the popular superstition against breathing night air with the unanswerable question, What other air can you breathe at night? Dr. Oswald, in the last number of the Popular Science Monthly, enters upon the assault against this superstition, which survives every attack, upon no other ascertainable ground than that the less reason there is for a superstition the harder it is to kill it. "Before we can hope," he says, "to get rid of the consumption with any chance of success, we have to get rid of the night air superstition. It is probably the most prolific single cause of impaired health, even among the civilized nations of our enlightened age, though its absurdity rivals the grossest delusions of the witchcraft era. The subjection of holy reason to hearsay could hardly go further. 'Beware of the night wind; be sure and close your windows after dark!' In other words, beware of God's free air; be sure and infect your lungs with the stagnant, azotized, and offensive atmosphere of your bedroom. In other words, beware of the rock spring; stick to sewer-age. Is night air injurious? Is there a single tenable pretext for such an idea? Since the day of creation that air has been breathed with impunity by millions of different animals—tender, delicate creatures, some of them—fawns, lambs, and young birds. The moist night air of the tropical forests is breathed with impunity by our next relatives, the anthropoid apes—the same apes that soon perish with consumption in the close though generally well-warmed atmosphere of our northern menageries. Thousands of soldiers, hunters and lumbermen sleep every night in tents and open sheds without the least injurious consequences; men in the last stage of consumption have recovered by adopting a semi-savage mode of life, and camping out doors in all but the stormiest nights. Is it the draught you fear, or the contrast of temperature? Blacksmiths and railroad conductors seem to thrive under such influences. Draught? Have you never seen boys skating in the teeth of a snow-storm at the rate of fifteen miles an hour? They counteract the effect of the cold air by vigorous exercise. Is there no other way of keeping warm? Does the north wind damage the fine lady sitting motionless in her sleigh, or the pilot and helmsman of a storm-tossed vessel? It cannot be the inclemency of the open air, for, even in sweltering summer nights, the sweet south wind, blessed by all creatures that draw the breath of life, brings no relief to the victim of aerophobia. There is no doubt that families who have freed themselves from the curse of that superstition can live out and out healthier in the heart of a great city than its slaves on the airiest highland of the southern Appenines." Is there not, the reader perhaps asks, danger in the malarious air of the Roman campagna or the Charleston meadows? Yes! There are regions where the air is poisonous. But the only way to escape the poison is not to live in such a region. You might as well allow sewer gas in your bathroom and expect to escape the poison by keeping the chamber door closed, as to live in a malarious swamp and escape the malaria by trying to live in an air-tight house. Any fresh air is better than any stale air.—Christian Union. A RETIRED wholesale liquor-dealer recently said to an interviewer from the N. Y. Times: "More than two-thirds of the stuff sold for brandy in this country is the meanest kind of poison. It is manufactured from an oil of cognac. In most of the gin sold there will be found oil of vitriol, oil of turpentine, oil of almonds, sulphuric ether, and extract of grains of paradise. You can purchase oils and essences from which 'whisky of any age' can be procured. This style of whisky when tested will show sulphuric acid, caustic potassa, benzine, and nux vomica, and other poisons. This is the sort of stuff that bores into the coatings of the stomach and creates ulcers. In porter you will find opium, henbane, capsicum, cocculus indicus, copperas, tobacco, and sulphuric acid. In beer,—alum, opium, nux vomica, green copperas, vitriol, sub carbonate of potash, and jalap are used. Cocculus indicus is used largely in cheap beer. Three grains will produce nausea and prostration: ten grains will throw a strong dog into convulsions. Fox-glove and henbane are used for about the same purposes as cocculus indicus. Oil of vitriol is used to increase the heating qualities of liquor, wormwood is used for its bitter and stimulating qualities, green copperas gives porter a frothy 'head.'" "In astringent wines you find alum, Brazil wood, oak sawdust, lead, and copperas. Sugar of lead and arsenic are also used in wine. In pale sherry, sulphuric acid, prussic acid, and alum are among the 'harmless' ingredients used to give color and the appearance of age."—Christian Instructor Cigarette Smoking.
By Napa Register
Cigarette smoking prevails to an alarming extent among the youngsters of California. It is a very injurious habit for older persons to indulge in, but when little tots are seen sucking away at the death-dealing twist, it is a matter for sad reflection. Parents should be very watchful. The boys are sly, and many an unsuspecting father has a boy who indulges when out of his sight, as well as the street gamin. One of the most disgusting features of cigarette smoking, is the custom of lighting them just at the close of public meetings, and puffing the villainous fumes, fraught with horrid stench, into the faces of gentlemen and ladies present. It is not so bad for men to have to submit to a thing of that kind, for most men are users of the weed in some shape, but it is a burning shame to cause the ladies of an assembly to pass through a gauntlet of urchins whose chief business in hand seems to be to generate an impenetrable cloud of tobacco smoke. Nor is this obnoxious custom confined to the doorways of theaters and halls; it is carried into the sacred precincts of the house of God. Santa Cruz has a local law prohibiting the smoking in public of cigarettes by boys under eighteen, and it is certainly a righteous ordinance, and should be adopted by every city in the State.— Napa Register. "I sell liquor for a living. I must live." If a man must live like a shark, swallowing the substance of others, he must take the chances of a shark. It is a question whether or not there is absolute necessity for such a man to live. If he voluntarily starves to death because he is too lazy to do anything but sell rum, then let prohibition make a martyr of him. A counterfeiter must live, but his boarding-house will be the State Prison if he is detected and proved guilty of tampering with the currency of the country. Is it not a greater crime to make counterfeit men than it is to make counterfeit money? The traffic in rum dilutes the pure gold of manhood and stamps the victim with the spurious mint mark that resembles humanity while in reality it cannot be trusted. There is honorable work for honest hands, and there is no valid excuse for selling what Robert Hall called "liquid fire and distilled damnation" for a living; and a license written on paper or parchment will be a poor attenuated shield to hold up on the grand day of assize to keep off the arrows of Almighty wrath. A LIQUOR-SELLER presented his bill to the executor of a deceased customer's estate, asking, "Do you wish my bill sworn to?" "No," said the executor, "the death of the deceasd is sufficient evidence that he had the liquor." Judge Blake's Hard Time.
By William N. Burr
THE thought often comes to me that Gilbert was born with a genius for finding out people who have a hard time. One day last week a new family appeared down on the bottoms, put up a tent, moved into it for the winter, hung out a sign bearing the words, "Washing, Ironing, and Mending," and before Saturday night Gilbert knew all about their hardships, and had dropped much of the oil of comfort and good cheer into the lives of the shrinking, discouraged man and woman, as they told me to-day when I called upon them, at Gilbert's suggestion. "I called on Judge Blake this morning," Gilbert began as we sat down to the supper table this evening. "I thought I'd just run in and talk over that mining business a little, though I don't suppose we can do much with those new claims before spring; but I didn't get a chance to say a word of the matter I went to talk about. The Judge was having one of his 'unhappy-state-of-mind spells,' as old Aunt Clarindy would say, and so I put in the forenoon trying to get him under the influence of something that would give pleasure to himself and more comfort to those about him." "I suppose you found the Judge packing up his pile of deeds, notes, certificates, and what not of that like, preparatory to his long-anticipated advent into the county poor-house, didn't you?" I remarked, attempting facetiousness, for I knew Judge Blake, or thought I knew him, about as well as any man of my acquaintance. "Not exactly," laughed Gilbert in reply; "but that which you have suggested would hardly have been any more foolish, to my mind, than was the unwarranted grumbling mood in which I found that man, sitting as he was in his warm, cheery library—a perfect picture of comfort and quiet it was, but for the scowl on the brow of the man who calls that fine house his own. He grumbled about this, that, and the other, until one might have thought the woe of the world rested on Judge Blake alone. His mines had not yielded during the year all he expected; rents are lower than they were two months ago; two of his down-town store-rooms have been vacant for a week, and one of his tenants could pay him only two-thirds of his rent the first of the month, promising the other third, however, by the tenth. He went on at such a rate that I began to think if dyspepsia were catching, it was best for me either to attempt to cure the Judge at once or not expose myself further to what might prove a calamitous result; so I said to him:— "'Judge, you have a horse in the stable and a fine sleigh haven't you?'" "'Yes,' he replied; 'do you want to borrow the rig to give some miserable invalid a sleigh-ride?'" "'I was going to propose that you and I take a little drive out together this morning,' I said. 'It will do you good to get out of doors, and I want you to make a call or two with me.'" "'On some of your hard-time folks, I presume, to teach me that there are trials and tears in this world which I know not of,' he snapped, at the same time going to the door and calling to his man to bring around the sleigh. 'Well, I suppose I do grumble more than there is any need of doing, but I tell you what 'tis, Gilbert, those miserable people down on the bottoms ain't the only ones that have a hard time of it in this world.'" "The Judge's fine turnout was soon in readiness, and putting on his heavy overcoat, fur cap, and gloves, he announced himself at my service." "I drove down town, occasionally giving him a sort of good-fellow pat on the back as we passed certain blocks which bore his name, and then we went over to the North Side and stopped at Mrs. Mallory's." "'Now for tears and trouble, and a long-faced recital of life-long trials,' said the Judge, as we alighted." "I did not say a word, for just then we caught the sound of Mrs. Mallory's voice, singing:—
The trivial round, the common task
Will furnish all we ought to ask:
Room to deny ourselves, a road
To lead us daily nearer God." "I knocked and was admitted by the cheery little washer-woman herself, who, as she said, had just stopped rubbing to sing out a verse that had been in her mind ever since she got up that morning." "Well, we chatted with Mrs. Mallory for an hour, and before we left, the Judge, in his shrewd, lawyer-like way, began to question the good woman as to her circumstances and needs. He found out some things that she never would have told voluntarily, and indeed I doubt if she knew sometimes just how much information she was giving him, he put his questions so shrewdly; but when we were back again in the sleigh, the Judge took the reins, explaining to me that he proposed to do the directing as to where we should go next." "He drove back to Merilar Street, and devoted himself for half an hour to ordering coal, provisions, etc., etc., to be sent to Mrs. Mallory, North Side. Then we drove back to his house in silence." "He gave the horse and sleigh over into the hands of his hired man, and then so urgently invited me to go with him into the library that I abandoned the thought of accomplishing all I had planned for the forenoon, and went with him. When we were again seated before the grate he looked up and said:—" "'Gilbert, I'm too much ashamed of myself to know what to say; but if you ever hear me complaining again of having a hard time, I wish you'd knock me down at once, and don't be at all alarmed if I don't get up again until I have begged your pardon on my knees. Now, what was it you came over to talk about this morning?'" HE always did. No one could ever teach him anything. The first words he lisped when a baby were, "Oh yes! I know." The first words he will speak when ushered into the Presence where the eternal glories are revealed, will be, "Yes! yes! I understand." He never opened his eyes with wonder. He never asked troublesome questions. When a boy, neither father nor mother could teach him anything. He would rather any day pound his fingers than suffer his father to tell him how to drive a nail. He could milk a cow better than the hired man, and was not in the least disconcerted that the udders gave not a drop of milk; it was obstinate Polly's fault; "never saw such a cow." His mother in vain endeavored to teach him something about dress. He wore the loudest of neckties, and, as soon as he had liberty of purchase, the most extraordinarily patterned pantaloons, and laughed at the "old woman's" notions. His mother was always the "old woman," his father always an "old fogy." At last they sent him to a boarding-school. The father said, hopefully, "School will knock some of the conceit out of him." But the father either had not read or had not heeded Solomon's wise saying, "Though thou shouldst bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him." Poor Solomon evidently had sorrowful experience with men who knew it all. The school was the mortar, and the teacher and all the boys were pestles; but not even continued pounding did any good. The boy knew how to hold his pen better than the writing-master, and how to manage his voice better than the singing-master, and how to translate better than the Latin teacher, and how to bat and catch better than the ball-captain, and how to handle his knife and fork better than the motherly matron who made table habits her special care. The boys called him, ironically, "the boss." He took it as a compliment, and it added an inch to his height. At the end of the year he came back from school with a bigger stock of assurance than he had when he went there. His genius for conceit was amazing, admirable. He went to college. He was at first a little taken aback that he had a dozen conditions to work out in the summer vacation; and for once in his life he really did work hard, for he was ashamed to fail of entrance. But he attributed his conditions wholly to the stupidity of the professors; and after he got in he faithfully fulfilled one-half of one of Paul's exhortations: he diligently forgot those things that were behind. No secret society would have him; he assured himself and his friends that he would have no secret society. The prayer-meeting could not shut him out, and he attended regularly and spoke always. He flunked with greater grace and ease than any fellow in the class, and said "not prepared" with as smiling self-assurance as if he had made the best recitation of the day. He did not get on the base-ball nine, owing to the prejudice of the captain, nor take an oratorical prize, though no one could deny that he was self-possessed on the stage. He ought to have been valedictorian; but he did not even get a part. He saved his diploma by the skin of his teeth, and carried himself so loftily on graduating day that some sub-freshmen, who had come up to see how the college looked, thought he must be President of the Faculty. He went into business. His father had some influence and got him a place as clerk in a wholesale dry-goods house. He did not know cotton, woolen, and linen apart, nor a ledger from a journal; but he was a graduate of ——— University, and from his pinnacle of lofty eminence he looked down with a serene and lofty self-complacency upon the members of the entire establishment, from the principal to the errand boy. He came late and went away early; and always wore irreproachable kid gloves, and carried a delicate little cane. He talked of "our house" so largely in evening gatherings that the girls supposed him to be a partner, and even practical men, after they had made large discounts, still estimated him at one hundred per cent more than his real valuation. He married, of course; and his wife thinks that loyalty to her husband requires that she should think of him as highly as he thinks of himself. She tries faithfully to be loyal; but she is a sensible woman, and it is very hard work. He is now a man in middle life. He has shifted from place to place a dozen times, and has gone down a step or two at every shift. He now stands at the door of a retail store in Broadway and bows the customers in. He performs this service with such a lovely air that country shoppers suppose him to be the proprietor, and always address him by the name upon the sign. He acknowledges the compliment with a gracious smile, but in truth counts it no compliment at all. He assures his wife that if he and the head of the house could only change places he would make things buzz; for he knows a thing or two, and the head of the house is a fool. But he still wears the irreproachable kids, and walks to church on Sunday morning with his wife, who has earned her own dress by furtive services for a compassionate uncle, with such a lordly air that the sexton pays him as much deference as though he were a millionaire, and every Sunday afternoon puzzles his head anew over the insoluble problem why so rich a gentleman should take a pew in the gallery instead of the center aisle. "Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of an idiot than of him." — Christian Union. "RIGHT" has been defined as "the center of a circle," and "about right" as its "circumference." The center remains unchanged, but the circumference may be drawn of any size.—Selected. PEACE.
By Frances R. Havergal
Is this the peace of God, this strange, sweet calm?
The weary day is at its zenith still;
Yet 'tis as if, beside some cool, clear rill,
Through shadowy stillness rose an evening psalm,
And all the noise of life were hushed away,
And tranquil gladness reigned with gentle, soothing sway. It was not so just now. I turned aside
With aching head, and heart most sorely bowed;
Around me cares and griefs in crushing crowd;
While inly rose the sense, in swelling tide,
Of weakness, insufficiency and sin,
And fear, and gloom, and doubt in mighty flood rolled in. That rushing flood I had no strength to meet,
Nor power to flee; my present, future, past,
Myself, my sorrow, and my sin I cast,
In utter helplessness at Jesus' feet;
Then bent me to the storm, if such His will.
He saw the winds and waves, and whispered, "Peace, be still." And there was calm. O Saviour, I have proved
That thou to help and save art really near;
How else this quiet rest from grief and fear,
And all distress? The cross is not removed,
I must go forth to bear it as before;
But, leaning on thine arm, I dread its weight no more. Is it, indeed, thy peace? I have not tried
To analyze my faith, dissect my trust,
Or measure if belief be full and just;
And therefore claim thy peace. But thou hast died,
I know that this is true, and true for me,
And knowing it, I come, and cast my all on thee. It is not that I feel less weak, but thou
Wilt be my strength; it is not that I see
Less sin, but there is pardoning love with thee,
And all-sufficient grace. Enough! And now
I scarce can think or pray, I only rest,
And feel that thou art near, and know that I am blest.
—Frances R. Havergal. - Cincinnati, Ohio, has a saloon for every eighty-four inhabitants.
- The reduction of the United States debt during November was $5,534,142.
- The sum of $3,650,000 is now invested in the manufacture of iron in the Birmingham, Alabama, district.
- Germany has suffered severely from the overflow of the Rhine and other rivers. The floods have now subsided.
- A man in New South Wales has been sentenced to three months' imprisonment for attempting to commit suicide.
- The total amount of revenue and tax collections from tobacco for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1882, was $47,391,988.
- In the ten years from 1870 to 1880 the value of the silk production of the United States rose from $12,210,662 to $34,410,463.
- The steam barge R. G. Peters caught fire and sunk in Lake Michigan, forty miles from Milwaukee, Dec. 2. Thirteen men perished.
- The Great Northwestern Telegraph Company have appointed a committee to consider the project of laying a cable in Lake Superior.
- The president of the First National Bank, Buffalo, N. Y., has been sentenced to ten years' imprisonment for embezzling the bank funds.
- Nearly 60,000 applications have been received by the Irish Land Commission, from persons desirous of taking the benefits of the Arrears-of-Rent Act.
- The German Empire has now about 34,000,000 acres of forest, valued at $400,000,000, and appropriates $500,000 every year to increase and maintain the growth of trees.
- Of eighteen theaters examined in New York, only two comply with the law in regard to providing escape from fire. Most of them are death-traps in more than one sense.
- The bank clearings of the country for the week ending November 25 amounted to $155,400,000, an increase of $3,000,000 over the previous week, probably the largest recorded.
- The receipts from internal revenue taxation have increased from $113,000,000 in 1879 to $146,500,000 in the present year. The commissioner recommends a reduction of from $60,000,000 to $70,000,000 per year.
- The length of the submarine cables in the whole world is estimated to be 64,000 miles, and their value to be $202,000,000. The length of all the wires in the world would reach forty-eight times around the earth.
- A rich and influential German saloon-keeper in Cleveland, Ohio, was convicted, Nov. 20, in the Police Court of violating the Sunday Law. The Judge fined him $100, and sentenced him to ten days in the work-house.
- England has ordered the construction of an iron-clad war-ship of 10,000 tons burden, which is to have engines of nearly 1,000 horse-power. She will carry the largest guns. The cost of the vessel will be about $3,000,000.
- Judge Dykeman, of the Supreme Court of New York, has decided that telegraph companies have no right to set poles on the highway without equitable compensation to the owners of premises before which they are placed.
- Joseph Cook thinks that this government may be preserved pure by making education general, by having an active church membership, and by making it an offense punishable by a fine to stay away from the polls.
- The Commissioner of Agriculture estimates the yield for 1882 as follows: Corn, 163,500,000 bushels; wheat, 410,000,000 bushels; oats, 470,000,000 bushels; rye, 20,000,000 bushels; buckwheat, 12,600,000 bushels; barley, 45,000,000.
- The municipal bank of Skopin, Russia, in the province of Riazan, has failed for over £2,000,000, ruining the whole town, as well as hundreds of families elsewhere. The chief industry of the town is the manufacture of Russia leather.
- Affairs in Ireland are in a dangerous condition and anarchy is threatened. A picked force of one hundred armed men will be sent from England, who will not hesitate to shoot, when they deem it necessary. This, of course, will only add fuel to the flames.
- A recent order from the War Department changes the name of Fort Point, San Francisco, to "Fort Winfield Scott," in honor of that general, and Fort San Jose, at Black Point, to "Fort Mason," in honor of the late General Mason, once military governor of California.
- Secretary Lincoln has prohibited the use of tobacco at West Point. Why doesn't some one, in the name of humanity, go to Mr. Lincoln and implore him not to deprive the young men of this necessity? If tobacco is the blessing that it is claimed to be, this act is an outrage. But we don't believe it.
- Dec. 3, Arabi Pasha pleaded guilty to a charge of rebellion, and the court-martial sentenced him to death. The Khedive, however, commuted the sentence to exile for life. It is thought that he will be sent to some part of the British dominions, probably the Cape of Good Hope. If he should come to America, he could make a fortune lecturing.
- It is stated that more vessels were cleared with flour and grain from California during the year ending June 30, 1882, than for any previous year. The whole number thus cleared was 559. All but twelve of these went to Europe. There were 149 under the American flag, 345 under the British flag, and the remainder under various foreign flags.
- Carl Johnson, a young man aged twenty-one, is to be hung for the murder of an old man in San Francisco two months ago. Lest any should shake their heads at this, and say that it is impossible that a murderer should be hung in San Francisco, we will add that the young man is a sailor with neither money nor influential friends. Why should he not hang?
- A Mr. Morse intends to produce the "Passion Play" in New York some time during the winter. Two years ago Mr. Abbey gave up the attempt in deference to public opinion, but this man is determined to go. There is justly a great deal of indignation over the matter, even the secular papers opposing it. The Herald says that the church ought at once to take measures to stop it.
- Clarence Gray, who killed the editor of the Santa Barbara Press, over two years ago, has just been cleared. He has had two trials before; the first resulted in a disagreement of the jury, the second in a conviction of murder in the second degree. The clearing of Gray is universally considered as a travesty of justice, as the assassination was of the most ruffianly and brutal character.
- The special census bulletin just issued contains a table of statistics compiled from the census returns of 1880, relating to all manufacturing industries, except gas, in each of the States and Territories. It shows that there are in the United States 253,840 establishments, employing 2,025,279 males above 16 years of age, 531,753 females above the age of 15, and 181,918 children and youths. The capital invested is $2,790,223,506. The value of materials used amounted to $3,340,029,000, and the value of manufactured products amounted to $5,369,667,706. The total amount paid in wages during the year was $947,919,674.
European Baboon.—As the chamois is the only antelope found in Europe, the baboon is the only quadrumana on that continent. It is found on the rocks of Gibraltar. The commandants of the fort have orders to protect these apes, and record all curious facts regarding them. It appears from this register that at present the tribe of baboons consists of twenty-five individuals, which always occupy that side of the rock which is sheltered from wind. It is supposed that the wind, from whatever direction, is hurtful to them. They avoid it with the greatest care; and they can detect a change twenty-four hours in advance, so that, when the officers see the apes shifting from one side of the rock to the other, they look out for a change of weather. The apes eat grass with avidity; roots, bulbs (especially those of oxalis), wild olives, and the fruit of a small date which grows naturally on the rock. They will not touch any fruits the soldiers put in their way, except grapes, of which they are very fond. They sometimes descend to the gardens of the town in search of figs. The apes drink at a spring in a cavern, near the level of the Mediterranean, at the steepest part of the rock. They make light of the difficulties of a rock which is four hundred metres in height, and the sides of which are perpendicular. In their gambols their favorite amusement is to disappear behind the borders of the precipice, and let themselves down from one projection to another until they are a few feet from the line of the breakers, then to climb the giddy height again with an equal agility.—Scientific American. THE NATURE AND TENDENCY OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM
By Joseph Harvey Waggoner
This is a thorough expose of the system of spiritualism. The author has carefully studied the subject, and has given such copious extracts from a large library of spiritualist publications, as to fully condemn them in their teachings and in their practices, by their own testimony. It is also shown from the prophetic scriptures that spiritualism is one of the most impressive signs of the times. 184 pp. Price, 20 cents. Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal. WHO CHANGED THE SABBATH?
By Editor
This question very naturally arises when the evidence is presented that Sunday is not the original Sabbath of the Lord; and a complete and satisfactory answer to it is given in the tract with the above title. The following is the plan of the argument: 1. Scripture evidence is introduced to show that God regards his law as unchangeable. 2. The prophecy is quoted which clearly points out the Papacy as the power that should make the change. 3. Standard Catholic books are quoted from to show that the prophecy has been fulfilled. Every one who desires to know the truth in regard to the Sabbath should read this tract. 16 pp. Price, postpaid, 3 cents; $2.25 per hundred. Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal. THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY; OR THE GREAT CONTROVERSY BETWEEN CHRIST AND SATAN.
THIS is a series of four volumes, covering the entire period from the creation and fall of man to his final redemption. Volume One is devoted to Old Testament history. It is not merely a narrative of the leading events in the lives of the patriarchs and prophets; but moral lessons are drawn therefrom, in such away as to make the book practically useful to the men and women of to-day. Volume Two commences with the life and mission of John the Baptist, and considers the first advent of Christ, his life and mission, as manifested by his miracles and teachings, and the nature and necessity of his life-work. It closes with Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Volume Three takes up the subject at this point, and brings to view the most thrillingly interesting portion of Christ's earthly career—his betrayal, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection. It closes with a brief history of the early church, including the missionary labors of Peter and Paul. Volume Four (in press) contains a history of the church from that time to the end, closing with the coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and the establishment of the everlasting kingdom of Christ on earth. These books are not argumentative, but they throw a vast flood of light upon the sacred page. They are written in a clear, simple style, and are of absorbing interest to both young and old. They offer special encouragement and instruction to Christians; and there is nothing better to place in the hands of skeptics, to convince them of the truth of the Bible. 400 pp. Price per volume $1.25 Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal. THE SPIRIT OF GOD: ITS OFFICES AND MANIFESTATIONS TO THE END OF THE CHRISTIAN AGE.
By J. H. Waggoner
This is a brief but comprehensive argument on the solemn and important subject of the Spirit of God. Its chapters embrace the following heads: The Holy Spirit of Promise; The Power from on High; Circumcision of the Heart; The Unity of the Faith; The Law and the Testimony; Try the Spirits; The Great Commission; Gifts in the Reformation; In the Present Century; Spirit of Prophecy Restored. These are subjects of vital importance to all, and especially to those who are looking for the return of their Lord. 144 pp. Price, 15 cents. Address, Signs of the Times, Oakland, Cal. LIFE OF ELDER JOSEPH BATES, WITH PORTRAIT.
By Editor
This is a reprint of his autobiography, with lengthy introduction, and closing chapters on his public ministry, last sickness, and death, by his fellow-laborer, This is a book that will be read with the deepest interest by both old and young. The first portion of the book pertains to his sea-faring life of over twenty years. Here will be found the record of his adventures in his passage from cabin-boy to master and owner. Then follows the account of his conversion, which took place while on the ocean, and the reforms with which he was connected. He was the organizer of the first temperance society in New England, and was identified with the advent message from its start. Every family should have a copy. 352 pages. On fine tinted paper, $1.25; Plain white paper, 85 cents. Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal. This book contains sketches of the Christian experience and public labors of this remarkable man. No other man in this century has been more widely spoken of, and more generally misunderstood. These sketches were prepared by those who were his co-laborers, and are a true presentation of the leading events of his life and labors. In addition to the life and character of the man, the character of the Great Advent Movement, in which he acted so prominent a part, is clearly set forth. It is shown that Mr. Miller was no mere enthusiast, but a man of calm judgment, and his interpretation of the prophecies was mainly correct, his only mistake being in regard to the nature of the event to take place at the close of the 2300 days, in 1844. No one can consider himself well versed in the history of the advent movement in this country who has not read this book. 408 pages. Price, $1.00 Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal. THOUGHTS ON BAPTISM.
By Joseph Harvey Waggoner
AN EXAMINATION OF THE ACTION, SUBJECTS, AND RELATIONS OF THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. Also, a Brief Refutation of the HISTORICAL CLAIMS FOR TRINE IMMERSION.
SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED. Prices, post-paid,—In flexible cloth, 35 cents ; paper covers, 25 cents. Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal. THOUGHTS ON REVELATION, CRITICAL AND PRACTICAL.
By Uriah 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. It is a new and harmonious exposition of that important book, and is designed to create an interest in its study. 416 pp. $1.25. Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal. Sunday Law in New York.
By Editor
THE new Penal Code which has just gone into effect in New York, provides for the strict observance of Sunday. Only works of necessity and charity are allowed. As the Police Commissioners have already decided that the running of surface and elevated railroad trains, ferry-boats, and delivery wagons, the keeping open of ice-cream saloons, newspaper offices, etc., is not a violation of the law, it will be seen that "charity" may cover a multitude of sins. The general opinion is that the law will be enforced in such a manner as to make it odious, as was the case in California. Over 500 arrests were made in New York City last Sunday, but there were very few liquor-sellers among those arrested. Milkmen, butchers, bakers, grocers, barbers, rag-pickers, news dealers, and Hebrew storekeepers were the chief victims. In Brooklyn the drug stores were closed. There will, no doubt, be a reaction in a short time, and Sunday traffic will go on as before. Yet all these efforts to enforce Sunday observance, bring the question before the people. No cause, good or bad, wins without a struggle. People seeing the inefficiency of State laws, will soon begin to clamor more loudly for a religious amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Good Books to Read
By Editor
Do YOU want some good books to read? If you do, examine our list on this and the preceding pages, make your selection, and send on your order. Queries About the Soul
By Editor
To L. E. W.—You will find your queries in regard to the soul answered in the articles entitled “Scriptural Meaning of the Word Soul,” now being published in the SIGNS, commencing with No. 37, bearing date of Sept. 28. Selling Thoughts on Daniel and Revelation
By Editor
AN agent in this State has taken orders in two weeks for seventy-one copies of “Thoughts on Daniel and Revelation.” To accomplish this, he worked only ten days, thus averaging over seven orders a day. He has sent in his first order to the office, for two hundred copies. This is the best possible proof that the people want the book, and that good wages may be made by selling it. The best of all is that the books thus disposed of will do an incalculable amount of good. Whoever sells a copy of this book does the purchaser a real favor. The book is sold only by subscription, and thousands are waiting to receive it. Who will take it to them? Now Is the Time for Missionary Work
By Editor
THE season of the year has now arrived when most people have a great deal of leisure. Our friends who enjoy the weekly visits of the SIGNS, can do their neighbors a great favor by inducing them to subscribe for it for a year. There is no paper that furnishes more reading matter for the same money; and what is of most importance, the matter is all of a high order. The selections are made with the greatest care, and the editors and contributors aim to discuss only live subjects. Apart from the denominational articles, the paper is worth more than its price to any family. Now is the time to do missionary work; and there is no better way to do it than to secure a subscriber to the SIGNS. Cannot each reader send at least one? Let us hear from you. Hardly Consistent.
By Editor
THE pastor of the First Congregational Church, Oakland, delivered a lecture last Sunday evening on the subject, "What are we to believe about death?" In the closing portion of his address, as reported, the following sentence occurs:— "To the Christian soul death is but a blessed sleep; it is the coming into the presence of Him so longed for." The first part of the sentence is correct according to the Scripture; death is a sleep, and those who sleep in Jesus are blessed. But how about their going into the presence of Christ to sleep; wouldn't it be, to say the least, disrespectful? If we should meet a dear friend whom we had long desired to see, would we at once fall asleep? When David said, "In thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore," did he anticipate taking a long sleep as soon as he reached Heaven? We do not believe it; for we read of those who overcome that "they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple." Rev. 7:14, 15. See also Rev. 4:8; 5:13, etc. Paul says that "we shall not all sleep." All who die, will sleep; but before they go to Heaven there will be a grand awakening.