The following is a translation of the Papal allocution delivered in the secret consistory, held on June 22, last. It remains to be seen whether the Austrian government will submit to have her laws revoked by the Pope. Some of these expressions of Pius IX against schools, free religion, and civil marriage, sound very much like sarcasm to us in this country; and it is the best evidence of the benighted state of at least a part of Europe, that such expressions are soberly proclaimed and received as both reasonable and right. It shows also that the spirit of the Papacy has not changed, and warns us of what we may expect in America if the plans of certain religionists and politicians prosper:
VENERABLE BRETHREN: We should never have imagined that after the convention agreed to nearly thirteen years ago between us and the Emperor and Apostolic King of Austria, to the great joy of all well-minded men, we should be obliged to lament upon the miseries and serious misfortunes which, by the machinations of evil-disposed men, now afflict and annoy in a deplorable manner the Catholic church in the empire of Austria. In fact, the enemies of our divine religion have been unceasing in their efforts to destroy the said convention, and to do the greatest harm to the church, to us, and to this Apostolic See. On the 21st of December last, the Austrian Government passed an odious law to be carried out and strictly observed in every district of the empire, even in those districts where the Catholic religion exclusively prevails. That law establishes free liberty for all opinions, liberty of the press, of all faiths, and no matter what confession or doctrine; it grants to the members of every confession the right of establishing public schools and colleges, and members of every confession are allowed to be admitted on the same footing with the sanction of the State. Although we felt great grief on being informed of the fact, and wished to raise our voice against it, we, nevertheless, gave proof of forbearance, and we deemed it advisable then to keep silent, chiefly supported by the hope that the Austrian government, lending a docile ear to the just complaints of our venerable brethren (the holy prelates of Austria), would return to more wholesome ideas, and adopt a sounder determination. But our hopes have been frustrated. In fact, the same government on the 25th of May of this present year, issued another law which compels all the subjects, even the Catholic ones of the empire, deciding that sons born of a mixed marriage must follow the religion of the father, and the daughters that of the mother; and that under seven years of age they must follow in the stray path of their parents from the true faith. Moreover, the same law suppresses entirely the validity of the promises which the Catholic church, with reason and with the greatest justice, exacts and prescribes absolutely before the celebration of mixed marriages. It makes apostasy itself a civil law, both as regards the Catholic religion and the Christian religion generally; it suppresses all authority of the church over cemeteries, and Catholics are bound to allow the bodies of heretics to be buried in their churchyard, if they have not any of their own.
Moreover, the same government on the 25th day of May, of the present year, did not hesitate to promulgate a law on marriage which entirely cancels all the enactments agreed to in the covenant already alluded to; this law restores the former Austrian laws, which are contrary to the laws of the church; it admits, and even confirms, that form of marriage absolutely condemnable, called civil marriage, when the authority of any confession whatever refuses the celebration of the marriage on the grounds which are not admitted as valid, as legal by the civil authorities. By this law this same government has suppressed all the authority and jurisdiction of the church on matters relative to marriage, as also all competent ecclesiastical tribunals on the subject. It has also promulgated a law on education, decreeing that the whole superior supervision of education, literature, and science, as also the inspection of schools, appertains to the State, which finally decrees that religious teachings in the public schools must be placed in the hands of members of each separate confession; that any religious society may open private or special schools for the youth of its faith; that those schools shall also be subject to the supreme inspection of the State, and that the school books shall be submitted to the approval of the civil authorities; with the exception, however, of such books as are meant for religious instruction, books which must be submitted to the approval of competent authorities of each confession. You see, consequently, venerable brethren, how necessary it is strongly to reprove and condemn those abominable laws sanctioned by the Austrian government—laws which are in flagrant contradiction with the doctrines of the Catholic religion; with its venerable rights, its authority, and its divine institution; with our power and that of the Apostolic See, as also with our concordat already quoted, and with natural right itself.
In virtue then of the care of all churches entrusted to us by the Lord Jesus Christ, we raise our voice in your most illustrious assembly; we reprove and we condemn by our Apostolic authority the laws which we have enumerated, and everything, general or special, in those same laws or in matters which refer to ecclesiastical right which has been decreed or attempted unjustly, in any manner whatsoever, by the Austrian government or its subordinates, whomsoever they may be. In virtue of this same authority which appertains to us, we declare those decrees null and powerless themselves, and in their effect both as regards the present and the future. As regards the authors of those laws, especially those who congratulate themselves on being Catholics, and have not feared to propose, establish, approve, and carry out the above laws and acts, we conjure and entreat them not to forget the censures and spiritual punishments which the ecclesiastical institutions and the decrees of the ecumenical councils inflict, as having been deserved ipso facto by the violators of the rights of the church. Meantime we rejoice greatly in the Lord, and we give our well-deserved praise to our venerable brothers the Archbishops and Bishops of the Austrian Empire, who, with truly episcopal energy, have not ceased to warn their flocks of their duties boldly to defend and protect, by speech as well as writing, the cause of the church and the said concordat concluded with us. We also desire from our hearts that our venerable brothers the Archbishops and Bishops of Hungary, following the sample of their colleagues, will show themselves disposed to display the same zeal and the same ardor to protect the rights of the church and defend the concordat against the attacks which are directed against it. Nevertheless, under these calamities which in these times afflict the church everywhere, we do not cease, venerable brothers, with the deepest fervor and humility of heart, to pray to God that he may upset all the criminal designs of his enemies and those of His Holy Church, suppress their impious efforts, and in his mercy lead them back into paths of justness and salvation.
The Weather.
The steady heat of the month past has been extraordinary and unprecedented. Deaths by “sun stroke” were of daily occurrence; as the harvest work was hurried on by the hot, dry weather, instances of prostration by heat occurred in almost every neighborhood. As the cases reported are mostly in the cities; but a small portion of the whole amount are heard of. The deaths from this cause amount to a great number, while the cases of prostration and recovery are still more numerous. The thermometer stood as high as 100° in Canada, and 108° in the Western States; private letters say still higher in some localities: from 96° to 100° was common. The following are a sample of the daily despatches during the “the heated term,” as it was called:
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., July 14. Twenty laborers on the Vincennes road, near this city, were stricken down with sun-stroke to-day.
MILWAUKEE, July 14. To-day has been the hottest day of the season. Mercury, 100. Several cases of sun-stroke are reported.
WASHINGTON, July 14. The hot term has now continued twenty-two days, a length of time almost unprecedented in this latitude. To-day is the most severe of the season, the mercury standing at 103 in the shade, and standing above 95 for nearly ten hours.
NEW YORK, July 14. The heat to-day was again intense; thermometer 96. Forty-seven cases of sun-stroke have been reported the last two days, many fatal.
Despatches from all parts of the East state that the thermometer to-day varied from 96 to 106, in many places the hottest of the season.
Four deaths by sun-stroke occurred at Providence. There were many cases in Burlington, Vermont, and surrounding towns, and two deaths occurred.
ST. LOUIS, July 14. To-day has been the hottest of the season, the mercury standing at over 100 in the shade, several hours. Fourteen cases of sun-stroke are reported since Sunday, most of them fatal.
TORONTO, July 14. Heat intense. Thermometer, 100. Several cases of sun-stroke, one fatal.
MONTREAL, July 14. The hottest day of the season. Thermometer, 98. Several deaths from sun-stroke.
MARENGO, Iowa, July 14. The weather is the hottest ever known. The mercury touched 108 degrees yesterday in the shade. To-day bids fair to be still hotter.
Jewish Hopes for the Future
—Rabbi Lilienthal, of Cincinnati, at the recent laying of the corner-stone of a Jewish temple in that city, declared publicly that the Israelites no longer look for a Messiah or the restoration of the nation to Palestine. Israel, according to him, now looks for the triumph of justice, liberty and happiness, and the indefinite progress of knowledge and the virtues, as the proper fulfillment of their national hopes.
France.
IN the course of a speech in the Corps Legislatif, on July 10th, M. Baroche, the Minister of Justice, declared that the separation of Church and State was only a question of time. This declaration naturally attracts great attention, as the celebrated Encyclical of the Pope, of 1864, expressly condemns the principle of a separation between Church and State.
In the speech in the Corps Legislatif, Marshal Niel declared the extensive purchase of horses, which had been objected to by the Opposition, especially necessary to render the organization of the army complete. The Paris journals again begin to complain of the menacing tone of the German press.
Austria.
The Prime Minister, Baron Von Beust, has written a sharp note in reply to the recent allocution on the state of religion in Austria. He says the intermeddling of the Pope with the domestic legislation of Austria, is a violation of the independence and dignity of the Empire.
Germany.
By virtue of the provisions of the naturalization treaty, recently concluded between North Germany and the United States, the government has stayed all prosecutions against the adopted citizens of America of German birth. Those who have been sentenced or imprisoned will be released forthwith.
Spain.
THERE has again been serious trouble in Spain. It is reported that a movement has been preconcerted among some of the leading officers of the army, which had for its object the placing of Don Antonio, the Duke de Montpensier, at the head of the government. The Duke has been arrested and taken to the frontier. With him seven prominent generals, among whom are the late Captain-General of Cuba, Dulce, and Marshal Serrano, have been arrested; they have been banished to the Canary Islands.
Obituary Notices.
By Calvin Green
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.
DIED, of consumption, June 26, 1868, at the residence of her father, near Woodburn, Iowa, Miss Elvira C. Neal, daughter of James and Anna Neal, in the 20th year of her age. Sr. Elvira made her home in Battle Creek the past year, and a portion of that time as an inmate of the Health Institute. She was baptized and united with the Seventh-day Adventist church here in July last, and was loved by those who had a personal acquaintance with her; all of whom feel to sympathize with her relatives over their loss. Her sufferings were great during her illness, but she bore them with a Christian's meekness and resignation.
“She sleeps in Jesus, blessed sleep,
From which none ever wake to weep.”
CALVIN GREEN.
Battle Creek, July 18, 1868.
JAS. H. GIBSON
By JAS. H. GIBSON
I HAVE the sad news to relate to you that our dear mother, Elizabeth Gibson has left us, and sleeps by the side of my dear father, in the grave, until the last day. She died of heart disease and dropsy, on Tuesday afternoon, the 14th inst., at three o'clock, aged 68 years and 8 months.
My dear father and mother were out to Battle Creek, some fifteen or sixteen years ago, and heard Eld. White preach. She has taken the REVIEW ever since my father died, and it seemed to bring glad tidings to her. She has lived a good Christian ever since she embraced the faith of keeping the seventh day.
JAS. H. GIBSON
London, C. W., July 15, 1868.
Death of Cornelia Marsh
DIED, in Cayuga, Ill., the 16th inst., of quick consumption, Cornelia, wife of J. W. Marsh, aged 32 years and 9 months. She leaves a husband and five children to mourn her loss. She sleeps in Jesus.
Four Little Words.
THE JEWS, in former times, wrote texts of Scripture on parchment, and tied them on their foreheads and round their arms. This was done, they said, that they might have the word of God always before them, to keep them from trouble and sin. Some Jews do the same thing now.
We wish the children would have four words of Scripture written on their hearts, which, with the blessing of God, will truly preserve them from sin and danger. If you listen to a short story you will learn what they are.
My father lived in a cottage. As he was a poor man, with a large family, and but little money, it was only a humble home that he could call his own. In the garden a few roses and pinks were to be seen in their season; the rest of the ground was used for potatoes, cabbages, and other useful things for the family.
One day my father's master gave him a few strawberry plants. These were placed in the best part of the garden, and attended to with great care. In due time there were signs of fruit. “The plants promise very well,” said my father; “I think they will bear this year.”
Jane, my eldest sister, had been for a long time in bad health, and my father said that he wished all the strawberries to be kept for her. She could take very little food, and he was glad to get any thing to which she took a fancy, if he could find the money to buy it.
As the strawberries would cost nothing, and as we all knew they would please my sister, we agreed that we would not taste a single one—all should be saved for her.
As often as I came home from the fields in the evening, I went to see how the strawberries were getting on, and often looked at them with a longing desire to taste them. At last they were just ripe, and father said that in about two days they would be fit to be gathered, and that he was sure there would be enough to fill a saucer.
Early in the morning of the day when the fruit was to be picked, I got up before the rest of the family were awake, and the wicked thought came into my mind that I would go slyly into the garden and taste them. “A few will not be missed,” said I to myself. Slowly and softly I passed down stairs, and opening the garden door, I stood by the side of the strawberries. Oh, how fresh and nice they looked, so early in the morning! There were, I was sure, twenty that were quite ripe. How many could I take without their being missed? Perhaps two, or five. As I gazed upon them, my sinful desires grew until I was ready to take at least half of them.
I looked up at the window of the room where my parents slept, and then at the little room where dear Jane lay; there was no one to be seen. So, stooping down, my fingers were in a moment on one of the largest and ripest, when the thought darted into my mind, “Suppose they should be missed, and I am asked if I took them, what could I say?”
I quickly rose up, and was about to return into the house, when my evil heart said, “Oh, your father will not suspect that you were the thief; he will think that some strange boy got over the palings, at night, and stole the fruit.”
This bad thought made me bold, and I went back to the strawberry bed. Again I fixed my eyes on the windows and looked around me. There was no one moving. All was quite silent, except the twitter of sparrows on the cottage thatch, and the song of the lark as it flew upward to the sky. My hands once more touched the fruit, when these four little words darted into my mind—“THOU GOD SEEST ME.”
These words saved me from the sin I was about to commit. It was almost as though I had heard them spoken aloud. “My father does not see me; but God does; his eye is upon me now.” I sprang up on my feet, and got back into my room without any one in the family having seen me.
In about an hour after this time, I saw my father go into the garden to gather the strawberries. He took all that were quite ripe; and when dear Jane came down stairs, they were placed before her in a pink saucer. When she saw them, a sweet smile came over her pale face. My father looked happy; Polly, my youngest sister, looked happy; we were all happy, as we saw how they pleased her, and refreshed her parched lips. Then how glad I was that I had not taken them, and that my hands had been kept from stealing. Yes, it was that thought, “Thou God seest me,” that held me back from doing wrong in the hour of danger.
“Where are those words to be found?” I said. “Are they the text of a sermon I have heard, or a part of a Sunday School lesson I have learned?” I was almost sure that they were in the Bible; and I made up my mind to find them.
That day I had to look after farmer Dobson's sheep, and I asked my sister Jane to lend me her Bible to take with me to the field, so that while the sheep were feeding, I might sit down and seek for these four little words.
And do you know where I found them? They were in the sixteenth chapter of the book of Genesis, in an account of Hagar, who fled from her mistress into a desert place. As she sat by the side of a well, the angel of the Lord met her, and told her to go back to her mistress. Then she called the name of the angel who spake to her, “THOU GOD SEEST ME.” She was out of the path of duty, and these words kept her, as they did me, from going further in the way that was wrong and full of danger.
At night when we all met at family prayer, my father read a chapter from the New Testament. There was one part of it which was about a good man, Nathanael, to whom Jesus said that he had seen him under a fig-tree. Now, the good man who, perhaps, had been praying under the shady branches, knew that he had been quite alone: and when he heard what Jesus said, he cried out, “Master, thou art the Son of God.”
After my father had read the chapter, he said to us, “Do not forget, dear children, that God our Saviour sees you always. This is a sad thought to the sinner; but not so to those who love Jesus. If we have gone to him in faith for the pardon of our sins, and if the grace of the Holy Spirit has changed our hearts, leading us to repent of sin, and to keep his holy law, it is a thought full of comfort. He sees us in all our times of trouble and danger; and we know that he looks upon us in love, and will not forsake those who trust in him. Let the words, ‘Thou God, seest me,’ cheer you in duty, encourage you in prayer, and keep you from sin.”
Now, it did seem very strange to me that my father should use these words. It, however, served to fix them more deeply in my mind; and many a time since then, the thought of the all-seeing eye of God has kept me from the road that leads to death.
Will you, reader, think of them also? God always sees you. All things past, present, and to come—everything that has been, and now is, and that shall be,—are seen by him at once. All that are in Heaven, and all that are on the earth, are beneath his eye. Some think that if they can get out of the sight of men, they may sin as they please; but there is no place where they can hide themselves from God. The broad daylight and the dark night are alike to him. In the deep forests, and in the caves and mines of the earth, God is there. He sees all that can be seen; he knows all that can be known. “Can any hide himself in secret places, that I shall not see him? saith the Lord.” Jer. xxiii, 24. “All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” Heb. iv, 13.
Would you, then, resist evil and overcome sin—would you do what is right and find comfort when you go to the house of God, or kneel down to pray at home? Ask of the Holy Spirit to apply these four little words to your heart—“THOU GOD SEEST ME.”
A Thrilling and Affecting Scene.
By J. F. Byington
A FEW weeks since, while returning to my home, I witnessed one of the most affecting scenes of my life. As I was riding along, a lady, seemingly in deep anguish, hailed me, and requested me to come in, saying that her little boy had been shot by the accidental discharge of a gun. I immediately hitched my horse, and seeing a lad about fourteen years of age, whose clothing was much besmeared with blood, I supposed him to be the unfortunate boy, but soon learned my mistake. It was a younger brother, a little fellow nine years of age. He had been immediately killed by a charge of shot passing into the brain just above the ear. Although the accident had but that moment occurred, life was extinct, and there the little fellow lay, a corpse.
This sad accident happened in this way: The boys were going to the field to labor, and took with them a gun loaded with shot, for the purpose of killing whatever game they might chance to see. The boy in whose hands the gun was when it was discharged, was the one before mentioned, about fourteen years of age. He says he thinks in loading the gun he must have forgotten to put the hammer of the lock down, which caused the gun to discharge. They were about thirty rods from the house, and he brought back the body of his little brother, whose life had been so suddenly taken away.
It was indeed sad to see the anguish of this mother and her children. They were there alone, no neighbor as yet having been notified so as to come to their assistance. Again and again this mother repeated the name of her “dear little Willie.” And then she would beg of me not to leave them in their distress. I assured her I would not till others came, and tried to speak to her such words of comfort as I could.
The lad in whose hands the gun was when it was discharged with so terrible a result, would again and again put his lips to the ear of his lifeless brother, and call, “Willie! Willie!” almost frantic, seemingly hoping that it might be a dream, and that his brother would hear him.
There was a little sister some six or seven years of age, whose heart, it seemed, would break. She sat close beside her little brother as he lay there lifeless on the porch floor, with all the clothing on that he had as he left them ten minutes before, to go to the field to work. Such bursts of grief as came from this young and tender child, I have seldom ever seen in my life.
The father was away to town, some three or four miles distant, and as soon as others came, and it was proper for me to leave, I informed the neighbors for a mile or two each way, and got a neighbor to go for the father, and then returned to the scene of affliction and sadness. A dozen or more neighbors had by this time gathered, and the family seemed more composed.
After waiting a few moments, and seeing that there was no lack of assistance, I got into my carriage and left this scene of sorrow. I had left two little fellows at home, who were fond of recreation and sport, and I thought that nothing should be left undone by me to lead their young minds into the paths of virtue and truth, that they might receive the watchcare of our Heavenly Father and his holy angels. I thought of the thousands of children who are exposed to accidents and evil influences, many of them orphans who have not a parent's care, and no one to care for them, or administer to their wants, or even teach them what is right or wrong. I thought, too, that here is a field of usefulness where great good may be done by those who enjoy greater privileges and blessings.
Dear youth, let the great aim of your lives be to do good. Life is not what it appears to be; for the brightest hopes fail, and the liveliest anticipations often are not realized. But no one can possess a kind and cheerful disposition, with a constant effort to make others happy and good, both by example and precept, without being like a beacon light in the world, and leading at least some from a place of danger and sorrow, to one of safety and happiness.
J. F. BYINGTON.
Prayer, Faith, and Practical Usefulness
It is not until the flower is fallen off that the fruit begins to ripen. So in life it is when the romance is past that the practical usefulness begins.
As THE very act fits a man for the exercise of any bodily labor, so the best preparation unto prayer is, the very duty itself.
Though prayer be the key that opens God's treasures, yet faith is the hand that turns the key, without which it will do no good.
God's promises to us must be the ground of our prayers to him. When God makes a promise, we must make a prayer.
Youth's Department.
“FEED MY LAMBS.”
KIND WORDS.
By Charles Swain
A LITTLE word in kindness spoken,
A motion or a tear,
Has often healed the heart that's broken,
And made a friend sincere.
A word—a look—has crushed to earth
Full many a budding flower,
Which, had a smile but owned its birth,
Would bless life's darkest hour.
Then deem it not an idle thing
A pleasant word to speak;
The face you wear, the thoughts you bring,
A heart may heal, or break.
—Charles Swain.
A. B. WILLIAMS
By A. B. WILLIAMS.
THE next Quarterly Meeting of the S. D. A. church, of Johnstown Center, Wis., will be held Sabbath and Sunday, August 8 and 9, 1868. I learn there is a desire to have Monthly Meetings for the benefit of Little Prairie, Oakland, and Johnstown, to serve as Quarterly Meeting for each. We hope to see these churches well represented at this meeting. Cannot some minister be present?
A. B. WILLIAMS
The Health Reformer.
By JAMES WHITE
The first number of the third volume of this journal is received, and as I look it over I am much pleased with it. It now has twenty beautifully-executed pages of reading matter. Dr. Trall's Special Department will add great interest to the Reformer. He is admitted by all to stand at the head of the health reform in this country, so far as human science is concerned.
And notwithstanding the additional pages and improvements in the Reformer, it is still offered for only one dollar a year. Our brethren cannot afford to do without it. Every reader of the REVIEW should also read the Reformer. Brethren and friends, if you have not done so, send immediately for the Reformer. If you have a dollar to pay for yours, and one to pay for it to some poor family, send both. You who have not the ready cash, send for the Reformer, and pay as soon as you can get the dollar. And you who need the Reformer and the dollar also, for some other purpose; send immediately for the Reformer.
Yes, send for the Reformer. Get your neighbors to subscribe for it, and let this journal bless ten thousand homes, where it at present visits less than four thousand.
I will be one of a hundred to send the Reformer free to five hundred families. Here are $5.00. Brethren, swell the paying list, and the free list, of the Reformer. Send for the Reformer for yourselves, and your neighbors, and especially for the poor. If it be worth one dollar to the family in comfortable circumstances, it is worth two dollars a year to poor families. Let the poor have the gospel of health, freely and cheerfully. If they can save doctor's bills this year by learning from the Reformer how to live, they will be able to pay for it next year. Send for the Reformer.
JAMES WHITE.
"PROGRESSION."
D. W. HULL, whose first step in departing from the truth was taken under the persistent efforts of the Iowa factionists, is still "progressing," as will be seen from the following notice taken from the Banner of Light.
"Daniel W. Hull (brother to Moses Hull), who has renounced Second Adventism, and accepted the facts of Spiritualism, has a very interesting article in this issue of our paper, which it will be well for all to read, especially those who so rigidly and blindly take the Bible to be the pure and unadulterated word of God."
To Correspondents.
By Editor
MANUSCRIPTS which we do not use, are not preserved, unless the writers request it. Therefore it is generally impossible to answer questions about unused articles received months before. Articles are not, always rejected, however, because not used immediately.
Bible Repository.
We have received the first number of a monthly magazine of 32 pages with the above name, published by Rufus Wendell, in Salem, Mass. Its title page says it is “Chiefly devoted to the advocacy and diffusion of the view of a future life and immortality as the gift of God, through Jesus Christ, to the righteous alone, by a resurrection from the dead.”
It follows the views of Geo. Storrs, that there will be no resurrection “of the unjust.” This was the burdensome stone that so greatly crippled Eld. Storrs in his influence and his usefulness. It is much to be regretted that this unscriptural notion has ever been attached to the faith of eternal life through Christ alone. Price of the Repository, $1.00 a year.
Fruit.
By James White; Ellen G. White
WE wish to say to our friends in Michigan who have a surplus of fruit, that writing, and care for the spiritual wants of the people of God, make it impossible for us to make suitable provisions in the line of canned and dried fruit, so necessary to our present manner of living. If you will remember us in fruit harvest, and set apart a small share for us, and the Lord’s people whom we may have the pleasure of entertaining, you will do us a great favor.
JAMES WHITE.
ELLEN G. WHITE.
J. H. WAGGONER
By John Harvey Waggoner
I WAS sorry to be disappointed in not being able to meet with the church in Charlotte, as appointed. While preparing to go I received a call home, my oldest son having been "sun struck." Though severely and dangerously stricken he is now doing well at the Institute. Bro. Gage filled my appointment, and as we are both employed in the office, and had to be absent several days, it has placed our work in a crowded state. We ask the kind consideration of our friends in behalf of our labors under these circumstances.
J. H. WAGGONER
Invitation to Visiting Brethren
Bro. Robert Cochran of Grant Avenue, South Vineland, N. J., extends an invitation to his house, to any brother visiting Vineland.
The Advent Keepsake.
By Jos. Clarke
THIS is the title of a beautiful little book just published at Battle Creek. It is a collection of the most excellent and interesting texts in the whole Bible; and most of them relate to the soon coming of Christ. It is just the book for a pocket companion, whether you are young or old; just the thing for a present to your friend. It is beautifully gotten up, and is as charming inside as out. Do not fail to get it. Every agent should have a supply, for it will sell almost anywhere; and every Adventist should have one; and if you wish to make a pretty present, this is a suitable one.
JOS. CLARKE.
[We think just so, too, Bro. C.—Ed.]
Memory Restored.
By J. S. Miller
A SISTER, in Rhode Island, learned several hundred verses in the New Testament during the year 1867, but could not call them to mind when she wished to repeat them. Since leaving tea-drinking these scriptures have all returned to her memory, and she can now repeat them with but little effort. Those who are afflicted with treacherous memories, and still cling to tea-drinking, and other wrong habits of eating and drinking, will do well to make a note of this, and go and do likewise.
J. S. MILLER.
THE BIBLE A SIGN OF MILLERISM.
In Ticonderoga County, New York, on one occasion a company of gentlemen were being weighed, and seeing how near their estimates of each other agreed with the result. An Advent brother from Benson, Vt., was present, and at their request stepped upon the scales. Some one noticed something in his pocket, and fearing it would affect his weight, asked what it was. He took it out; it was his Bible. Oh! exclaimed the company, he is a Millerite; and shrank from him, as if he were a viper.
Earnestness in Prayer
Earnestness in prayer is a fruit of faith, and not a mere expression of ideas.
H. C. BLANCHARD
By H. C. Blanchard
PROVIDENCE permitting, I will hold meetings as follows: Trenton Center, Dodge Co., Wis., Aug. 1, 2, where Bro. T. P. Finch may appoint.
Johnstown Center, Rock Co., Wis., Aug. 8, 9. Rockton, Winnebago Co., Ill., 15, 16.
This last meeting is intended to be a Quarterly one. Brethren are invited from Johnstown and Avon. We expect to hold this meeting in the grove if the weather is favorable. Cannot Bro. R. F. Andrews be at this meeting?
H. C. BLANCHARD
Rhode Island Monthly Meeting
By P. C. RODMAN
MONTHLY Meeting for August, in Rhode Island, will be held with the church of Newshoreham the 15th and 16th. Let there be a general rally of our brethren at this meeting from every quarter. Those who choose can go to Newport and take boat on the morning of the 14th, or, perhaps, a more comfortable way for the most to go will be with Capt. Card, of Westerly. In that case you should be in Stonington the 13th, on the arrival of train from Providence. P. C. RODMAN.
Alma and Ithaca Quarterly Meeting
By F. SQUIRE
The next Quarterly Meeting of the Alma and Ithaca churches will be held at Ithaca, August 1, 2. Bro. R. P. Chase is expected to be present.
F. SQUIRE, Clerk.
Meetings at Blandon
By Stephen Nelson Haskell
If nothing in Providence prevents, I shall be at Bro. Samuel Clark’s, Blandon, Mass., and will hold meetings the first Sabbath and first-day in August. It is hoped that all the scattered brethren in that section will be present. S. N. HASKELL.
Monthly Meetings at Athens and Portland
By L. L. Howard
THERE will be a Monthly Meeting at Athens, Me., the second Sabbath and first-day in August.
There will also be a Monthly Meeting in Portland, Me, the second Sabbath and first-day in August. It is hoped there will be a general gathering at these meetings. If the Lord will, Bro. Goodrich will attend the one at Athens; and I will be at Portland.
L. L. HOWARD.
Lisbon, Marion, and Anamosa Monthly Meeting
By S. T. Chamberlain
The next Monthly Meeting of the Lisbon, Marion, and Anamosa churches, will be held at Fairview on the first Sabbath and first-day in August.
S. T. Chamberlain.
D. M. CANRIGHT
By Dudley Marvin Canright
PROVIDENCE permitting, I will meet with the church at Haverhill, Mass., Aug. 15, 16. I want to see all the scattered ones in that section at this meeting.