Earlier text: SPIRITUALISM A SATANIC DELUSIONBuddhism and Catholicism.
By J. H. WAGGONER
On Sunday evening, April 8, Rev. E. L. Rexford preached in San Francisco on the religion of Buddha, and drew the following parallel between it and Romanism:— “If the people of England and America were to enter a Buddhist church or temple, and witness the service, I venture that five out of every ten would suspect that they had stepped into a Catholic church, and were witnessing the Catholic worship. The Buddhist churches bear a striking resemblance to the earlier Catholic churches, and it is a well known fact already that the forms of service in that religion are very similar to the Catholic forms. I have had occasion to refer before to some of these resemblances, but I shall be pardoned a reference now to the same facts again. The Buddhist clergymen, like the Catholics, are forbidden to marry, and in their services of the sanctuary they are robed very similarly to the Catholics. There are double choirs employed, and you will find the incense and the lighted candles at the altar. You will find the worshipers wearing their strings of beads. Prayers are chanted and the cross appears everywhere. Religious retirement, vows, the worship of saints, fasts, processions, litanies and holy water—nearly all the ceremony, the imagery and custom of the Catholic church you may find if you enter any country where this religion of Buddhism prevails.” “So strikingly similar are the Buddhist and the Catholic worship and general custom, that Father Bury, a Portuguese missionary, when he saw the Chinese bonzes or priests tonsured and using rosaries, kneeling before images and praying in an unknown tongue, exclaimed, ‘There is not a piece of dress, nor a sacerdotal function, not a ceremony of the Court of Rome, which the devil has not copied in this country.’ But for one slight circumstance, this charge preferred against the devil might be sustained; unfortunately for Father Bury’s statement, these very customs and forms existed in India before they existed in Rome. The original work was done under the directions of Buddhism for at least four hundred years before Christ came into the world. If the devil has copied anything, he copied for the benefit of Rome rather than for Buddhists. Say what you will, that the forms have been borrowed, or that there is an instinct in man that teaches him to adopt certain forms and customs for conveying his religious impressions, this elaborate system of forms and many of the doctrines existed in the ancient East before Rome assumed any control of the destinies of religion.” In this is found but another evidence that the religion of Rome is the lineal descendant of Paganism, and it is fast eliminating from itself the faint resemblance it has heretofore had to Christianity, by substituting the sole worship of Mary for the worship of God. And yet the tendency of the English church is toward Rome, even as the tendency of all the popular religions of the age is toward formality, and destitution of the power of godliness. “From such withdraw thyself,” is the injunction of inspiration. Improve the Time and Opportunity Within Reach
Don't waste your mornings in anticipating your afternoons, nor waste your afternoons in regretting your mornings. Decide quickly, act promptly, and improve the time and opportunity within your reach. Lost time can never be found. Neglected opportunities do scarcely ever return. DEAR grandma is one of those who “being dead yet speaketh.” The lessons she taught us are still fresh in our memories; and I am sure I am not the only one of our household who, in a moment of trial or perplexity, has glanced up at her portrait, and mentally exclaimed, “Oh, that those lips had language!” Grandma was not a preacher, or a lecturer—much less a censurer or reprover; but she was that most agreeable of teachers to childhood and youth, a story-teller. Yet, let no one suppose that she soiled her venerable lips, and poisoned our innocent ears by tales of fairy lore or ingenious romance, as pernicious as they are false. Not so; the stories we listened to with so much delight were all true, and all from the capacious store-house of her own memory. Nay, more—they each had a point and moral, and were usually produced as illustrations of whatever lessons she at the time was desirous of impressing on our docile minds. Grandma’s narratives were always called forth by coincidences which, striking correspondent chords in her memory, awoke a train of facts in unison with the subject under consideration, and gave a clear and definite exemplification of a hitherto but dimly understood theory, thus frequently instilling knowledge and impressing truths by a judicious use of commonplace occurrences, which books and sermons had alike failed to effect. I shall now endeavor to transfer to paper some of her stories; and, if I can relate them with only half the grace, feeling, and pathos with which they fell from her lips, I shall be rewarded with as much attention as she always received from her audience. We had returned from the church one Sabbath afternoon, and, as usual, hastened to grandma to communicate as much as we had retained of the sermon. The text was that solemn parental injunction, “My son, when sinners entice thee, consent thou not;” and our pastor had made it the ground-work of a powerful exhortation—to the young especially—to beware of the many temptations, and snares, and allurements which they should meet in their onward path; and warned them of the consequences of yielding to the seductive influences by which they should be surrounded. “That reminds me of a young man whom I knew before any of you were born,” observed grandma, when we had reported as much as we could recollect of the discourse. “You have heard me speak of Jacob Wise?” she said, addressing my father. “Yes, mother,” he replied, “please to tell the children about him. I am sure your account of his experience will be a very suitable appendage to our afternoon sermon.” “O yes, grandma, please do!” we exclaimed; and, drawing our seats around her, we prepared for what we knew would be a treat. The good old lady did not require to be urged, but, after pausing a moment to arrange her ideas, commenced as follows:— “Jacob Wise was the son of a near neighbor when I was a happy wife in my Western home. His father was a plain, practical man, respected for his uprightness, good sense and piety; and he brought up his son in his own sound principles, at the same time giving him all the education that was within his reach. “When Jacob was about fourteen years of age, he was sent to Louisville for the benefit of a year’s instruction in a large school there, his father thinking that he would, at the end of that time, have gained sufficient knowledge and experience to fit him for whatever part Providence should assign him in life’s great drama. “There were, also, other sons and daughters around his father’s hearth. It therefore appeared expedient that Jacob should be permitted to foster the talent he had early displayed for the active pursuits of the commercial world.” “In his intercourse with his school-mates he gained his first insight into that society in which he was destined to find himself when launched on life’s broad sea; and there, within the narrow bounds of that juvenile circle, he had full scope for the exercise of all the prudence, patience, and fortitude that he had learned from his right-minded father. “But I cannot recall much of his early experience. The first circumstances of any note, that I remember, which particularly marked his character, occurred at the time of his first practical acquaintance with business. “While in Louisville, he received much attention from the family of a wealthy man who kept a large store in the city; and when, at the close of his scholastic term, he was offered a place behind the counter of his friend, his father made no difficulty in permitting him to accept of it. “Mr. Rankin was a smooth, bland, good-tempered man, and in his intercourse with the world maintained a fair and honest character. But Jacob had not been many weeks in intimate connection with him before he discovered that his dealings were not all conducted with scrupulous adherence to divine law; neither was a conscientious regard to his neighbor’s interests a very deep-seated principle. This caused him much concern; and a feeling of nervous disquiet took possession of the hitherto happy boy with respect to the most honorable course for him to pursue between his duty to his master and his own strict integrity. “But he was not left long in doubt. One day a carriage drove to the door, and a richly dressed lady, alighting, entered the store, and, approaching the counter where fancy articles were displayed, asked to be shown some children’s necklaces. Jacob, who attended to that department, was proceeding to wait on her, when Mr. Rankin came forward smiling, and with the ease and courtesy for which he was remarkable took the lad’s place, and spread before the lady an assortment of glittering trinkets which, judging from her gay appearance, he knew would please her eye. An animated dialogue ensued between the facetious store-keeper and his fair customer respecting the style and value of the various articles under view, in course of which the lady was made to believe that this elegant display had been imported with great cost and difficulty from the manufacturing cities of Europe, and, in consequence of the immense and rapid demand for them, the obliging trader had been satisfied with moderate profit, and was now willing to dispose of the remainder of the stock at fabulously low prices. “To all this, which he knew to be utterly and shamelessly false, Jacob listened with equal grief and astonishment, and it was with difficulty he restrained his honest indignation as he saw one after another of the tinsel gewgaws transferred to the unsophisticated customer at prices which were five times their value, while she was duped with the flattering persuasion that she was receiving unequaled bargains. “All doubts as to the unlawfulness of his remaining another hour under the roof where this swindling transaction had taken place, were immediately removed from the mind of the upright youth; and when Mr. Rankin returned after having obsequiously attended the lady to her carriage, and placed the parcel containing her purchases by her side, he was met by Jacob, who, with an air of grave rebuke rarely assumed by lads of his years, informed him that from what he had seen of his method of conducting business he thought it quite impossible they could agree together; he was, therefore, resolved to return without delay to his father’s house, and he was glad that the terms upon which he had entered the establishment left him free to do so. “The firm and fearless bearing of the boy awed the man of unjust practices, who neither attempted to vindicate his own meanness nor to oppose the departure of his right-minded assistant; and Jacob returned to the old homestead again, his character more permanently formed by the ordeal through which he had passed.” “But do you think, grandma,” inquired Henry, “that Jacob would have acted so independently if he had had no home to return to?” “Yes, dear, I think he would,” was the prompt reply. “He had learned to obey the commands of God and to believe his promises. He knew that the injunction, ‘Come out from among them,’ was followed by the assurance, ‘I will receive you,’ and such was his trust in his Heavenly Father’s Word that no thought for his future provision would have interfered with the performance of what he deemed to be his duty.” “Well, grandma,” said Henry, to whom this explanation was quite satisfactory, “please to go on, and forgive the interruption.” “Oh, don’t hesitate to interrupt me, dear,” she mildly said, “whenever you want to ask a useful question.” She then resumed her narrative. “Jacob remained at home for the next three years, making himself quite useful in teaching his young brothers and sisters, besides affording his father much assistance in the management of his affairs. In the meantime his own education was advancing, and every attainment that could facilitate his interest when on the commercial stage was sedulously cultivated. Nor was he without receiving many offers of clerkship in the neighboring cities, whither his good report had traveled; but a cousin of his father, who was a merchant of some eminence in New Orleans, had proposed to take him into his counting-house in a confidential capacity when he should reach a more mature age, and for this important post he was qualifying himself. “Accordingly, when he had completed his eighteenth year, a summons from his kinsman withdrew him once more from the genial atmosphere of home. This time his departure was a more serious affair than it had been when, a few years before, he left for school in Louisville. Now he was going to a large and populous city, where fashion and vice walked hand in hand, and where snares and pitfalls were spread for the simple and unwary, with scarcely a finger-mark cautioning them to beware. All the neighborhood was moved with sympathy for the youth who was about to be placed upon this scene of trial; and the last Sabbath of his attendance at our rural church the good pastor made the occasion of an eloquent and affectionate admonition from the text which was presented to your consideration to-day. “Our friend’s journey to the great maritime city of the South was not without incident. Mr. Wise accompanied his son to Louisville, and, after the necessary preliminary arrangements, went with him on board the boat that was to bear him down the lordly inland waters. His parting advice and benediction were then given, and, reminding him of the subject of his pastor’s last sermon, he wound up by giving him, as the motto of his life, the imperative charge, ‘Come out from among them.’ Then, as he desired to return home by daylight, and the boat was not to start for a couple of hours, he once more committed his son to the care and guidance of Heaven, and left him with a calm trust that he would keep the way of safety.” “After a safe and pleasant trip on board the ‘Southern Belle,’ our young friend arrived in New Orleans.” “He was much pleased with his new situation, and he found his relative a man of the most honorable and praiseworthy nature, and the place he held in his employment being near himself removed him from the evil influences under which young clerks so frequently suffer. Accommodations were procured for him in a first-class boarding-house, where none but persons of the best standing were admitted. And, whether owing to his attractions of mind or person, the sterling worth of his character, or the independent position of his family, or perhaps all these combined, he soon found himself an object of marked interest and attention to all with whom he came in contact. “Naturally of a social disposition, and disposed to look at everything in the most favorable light, Jacob saw not in the cheerful company amidst which he was unavoidably thrown any of those vicious traits and habits whose contaminations he had been cautioned to shun; and, without partaking of the mirthful spirit by which the unwary are enticed into scenes of pleasurable folly, he did not deny himself the innocent recreations which an easy intercourse with those of perfectly moral tastes and feelings afforded.” “And now to the unsophisticated youth life presented the fairest aspect. His religious duties were carefully attended to, and in the faithful discharge of his business engagements no one could be more punctiliously correct, while in the society of those whose spirits appeared to assimilate to his own he devoted those evening hours that could sometimes be spared from sterner pursuits. But it was not long before the hidden thorns of the flowers that strewed his path began to make themselves felt, nor was it without pain that conscience awoke him from the repose in which he had been lulling himself.” “Among the many charming sojourners at the establishment in which he had taken up his abode, was the family of a wealthy planter, who had come to the city for the winter. Mr. and Mrs. De Veaux were a lively and fashionable couple, and their children partook of the gay and careless temperament of their parents. Isabel, the eldest, was now in her sixteenth year, and the faultless beauty of her face and figure was only equaled by the soft and child-like sweetness of her disposition. She had been brought up without much restriction or control, and now that she was entering the vortex of society, being gay, spirited, and witty, she flung herself into the enjoyments of fashionable pleasure with all the zest of the newly emancipated.” “The winter glided along with its witching gaieties, and, though the young Christian was never tempted to join the giddy multitude in their unlawful pastimes, yet his views were more lax than they had been. With the hope of his presence having a restraining effect upon the fair being who had touched the tenderest chords of his nature, he suffered himself to be led into scenes such as sober conscience could not approve as friendly to the interests of religion.” “At length, however, the alarm came that was to disturb his security. A sermon was announced, in the church to which he belonged, to be preached by a highly celebrated divine before the members of the ‘Young Men’s Christian Association.’ Jacob, of course, attended, and heard with startled interest the minister deliver, as his text, the admonition which the pious pastor of his country home had made the subject of the last discourse he had heard from him: ‘My son, when sinners entice thee consent thou not.’ “The young man of irreproachable life had no idea that this exhortation could be applied to his case; so careful had he ever been in eschewing the evil, that ‘sinners’ were granted no opportunity of enticing him. Nevertheless, to many of the young men present, who were not so cautious, he hoped the discourse would prove salutary, and settled himself to listen to the brilliant orator, without any other anticipation than that of an intellectual treat. But his self-complacency did not last long. To that class of youth of which he was a member did the preacher address his warmest and most urgent appeals. He exposed the subtle veil woven by the ‘prince of this world’ over the consciences of those who hated vice, under screen of which he led them into the pleasures of earth, and, without requiring them to commit one apparent sin, seduced their hearts from God, from holiness, and from heaven.”127 “Painfully solemn were the feelings with which Jacob retired at the close of the service. The film had passed from his eyes, and he saw that while his outward walk had been strictly correct, his heart had wandered from its true allegiance.”},{ “Upon reaching home, the usual sounds of music and dancing, accompanied by gay voices and laughter, issued from the well-lit parlors; but the sickening sensations that ran through his frame, at the thought of time thus wasted, and creatures fashioned in their Maker’s image perverting their fine intelligences, showed the change that had been effected in his views within the last hour. With a quick step he ascended to his chamber, and to a late hour sad and prayerful musings over the unhappy position in which he found himself occupied his mind. “That Isabel must be given up, with all her attractions, was now inevitable; and lone and cheerless did his future appear, unillumined by her bright glance and smile. Life, with all the high aspirations of youth, dwindled into nothingness before him; and, casting himself upon his knees and throwing forth his hands, he groaned for help to enable him to bear the blow which had descended on his hopes.” “With Jacob Wise to know his duty was to do it; and, having felt the evil of intimate association with light and giddy worldlings, he determined to procure some more retired abode, where no similar temptation should waylay him. Accordingly, on the following morning, he waited on his pastor, and, after stating the circumstances in which he was placed, entreated assistance toward obtaining board in some private family connected with the church. The reverend gentleman sympathized with his young friend, and, after a few minutes’ consideration, mentioned a pious couple of his charge, whose only son had lately gone from home, and into whose vacant room he thought it likely Jacob might be admitted. He kindly added, that he would himself call upon them during the day and make the inquiry, promising to let the young man know the result.” “It was as he hoped. Mrs. Bennet, when she heard the case, was glad to be able to supply a home to the prudent youth, feeling satisfied that one so exemplary would be a choice accession to her little circle; and the arrangement being made, and Jacob duly advised of it, no other difficulty now remained but his parting with her whose power over his youthful heart had been so dangerously exercised.” “Jacob returned home at the usual hour in the evening; and, having communicated to the hostess his intention of leaving on the following morning, he proceeded to the ladies’ parlor in quest of Isabel.” “He found her seated at the piano, and a long conversation ensued, in which opinions and sentiments entirely opposite were maintained by each. On subjects of vital importance they were disagreed. Their souls had no affinity. And finally they, whose hearts had received their first tender impressions from each other, with an apparent calmness inconsistent with their inward feelings, separated, to meet no more.” Grandma paused, and for several minutes no one seemed disposed to speak. Each of us was looking into his own heart’s recesses to see if there were grace enough there to bear as conquerors through such trials as might be in store for us. The silence was broken by Henry, inquiring the sequel of the young Christian’s career. “Well,” said grandma, “the rest of his life was marked by a consistent adherence to the principles of his youth. He visited his parents every summer; and continued to gladden their hearts by the purity and simplicity of his life, making it evident that they who devote themselves to the service of God can be preserved from evil, though surrounded by the temptations of a rich and crowded city.” “When he had been six or seven years in New Orleans, he was taken into partnership by his kinsman and employer; and shortly after he married the pious daughter of his pastor, whose sweet companionship gently irradiated his after course.” “It is a long time since I have had an opportunity of hearing of Jacob Wise; but I dare say, if still living, he is an example of moral dignity, truth, and uprightness, and an honor to the church of which he has been, from childhood, a steady and consistent member.” Died, in San Jose, Cal., March 31, 1877, Sister Clarinda J. Bowers, aged 43 years, 11 months, and 13 days. Clarinda J. Doty was born in Tompkins Co., N. Y., in 1856. In a tent-meeting was held in Hillsdale, Mich., at which time she accepted the Saviour and embraced the present truth. In her Christian walk she has been uniformly consistent and exemplary. Her naturally kind and amiable disposition, refined by divine grace, won the respect and affection of her associates of every class. She was a great sufferer; dyspepsia, aggravated by other ailments, almost destroyed her digestive powers, so that she literally wasted away for want of nourishment. She bore her affliction with great patience, yet she hailed the approach of death as a relief from her pains. She was sensible to her last moment, and her confidence in the Saviour and in his soon coming to redeem his people was firm and unwavering. We presented the “blessed hope” at her funeral to a large concourse of sympathizing neighbors.
J. H. WAGGONER. (Review and Herald please copy.) Died, at Lakeside, Cal., April 5, 1877, Sister M. C. Bond, of congestive chill, aged 30 years, 1 month, and 27 days. She lived to do the will of her Heavenly Father. She leaves a husband and two small children. She died with the hope of a part in the first resurrection, and a home in the earth made new.
J. L. WOOD. Scriptural Distinctions of Wines.
(Continued from last Issue.) “WHEN the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was (but the servants which drew the water knew), the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, and saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.” John 2:9, 10. a. If the wine referred to above was of an intoxicating nature, then the brewer and the distiller have, as they claim, a sufficient apology for their nefarious business; for in manufacturing alcohol with which to poison their fellow-men, ruin their constitutions, squander their property, and render their children homeless and their wives widows—in all this work of evil they are only imitating the example of their divine Master! Such a position is too unreasonable to be tenable; for the work of rum savors more of a Satanic than of a divine origin. No; it is impossible for any one but the veriest infidel to regard it consistent for the Saviour of mankind to lend his influence, his example, in favor of a practice which even human wisdom can see is an unmitigated curse to the race. b. But how was this miracle wrought? It was simply by a shortening of the natural process by which wine is produced. The grape-vine sucks up water through its rootlets, and by a slow and mysterious process continuing through several months finally converts it into wine in its clusters of luscious fruit. Man obtains it by simply pressing it from the grapes. Christ, by his infinite wisdom, by his knowledge of the intricate processes carried on by the plant, for he made the grape-vine, performed the same work in a moment. The product was the same as though it had been produced in the ordinary way. Is the product of the vine, new wine, fresh grape juice, fermented or intoxicating? No; it is unfermented and wholesome. The grape-vine cannot produce alcohol. The Creator has not formed it in any plant. In simply shortening the natural process of wine-making, then, Christ produced not fermented but unfermented wine. c. Again, the governor of the feast pronounced the wine produced by Christ the best, saying, “Thou hast kept the good wine until now.” If we can ascertain which kind of wine was considered best among the Jews, we shall be able to settle this question with absolute certainty. An appeal to recognized authority will do this. Says Dr. Jacobus, “Those were considered the best wines which were least strong.” Prof. M. Stuart says that the ancients regarded unfermented wine “as of a higher flavor and finer quality than fermented wine.” Kitto says of wine which has been preserved from fermentation by boiling, “Such was esteemed [by the Jews] the richest and the best wine.” There can be no doubt, in view of such testimony, that the wine which Christ made, and which the governor of the feast pronounced the best, was the unfermented kind, which was commonly considered the best among the Jews. Lastly, Dr. Isaacs, an eminent Jewish rabbi, bears the following testimony: “The Jews do not, in their feasts for sacred purposes, including the marriage feast, ever use any kind of fermented drinks.” Was the wine used by Christ and his disciples at the passover supper, just before the crucifixion, fermented or unfermented? This is an interesting question; for all Christendom have for hundreds of years acted upon the supposition that the wine employed was fermented, and have used this kind of wine in the sacrament. If we can ascertain with certainty the character of the wine employed by the Jews in the passover feast, we shall be able to settle this question satisfactorily. Can we do so? The following facts seem to make the matter sufficiently clear:— a. The process of fermentation is one of putrefaction or decay. The ancients understood this, and were also acquainted with the fact that fermentation is occasioned by leaven or ferment. b. Not only leavened or fermented bread was forbidden during the passover, but all fermented things. Says Kitto, “All fermented substances were prohibited during the paschal feast of the Jews, and during the succeeding seven days.” Hence, the passover was called the “feast of the unleavened,” the word bread being not found in the original. c. If the body of Christ was necessarily represented by bread which was absolutely free from ferment or leaven, surely his blood—“which is the life”—should be represented by wine equally free from putrefactive elements. In view of the above facts we are certainly justified in the belief that the communion wine used by our Lord was wholly free from alcohol. —Miss Alta M. Hulett, the famous lady lawyer of Chicago, died in San Diego, Cal., March 26, aged 22. —The organizer of the Chico Labor Union, who is under arrest, confesses that the recent reign of terror was maintained by that body. —It is estimated that Jessup and Moore's paper mills, of Wilmington, Del., lost by the fire in that city April 5, $250,000. Insurance $125,000. —The factory of the American Knife Company, Northfield, Connecticut, was burned the 7th inst. One hundred hands were thrown out of employment. —There are now 102 branch organizations of the Women's Christian Temperance Union in Mass., and together they have 10,000 members. There is a vice-president in every county in the State. The reform clubs of men in Massachusetts are 120, and enroll 30,000 members. —A very valuable mail, including 500 registered letters, from Toledo to New York, was destroyed by the burning of a postal car near Sedan, Indiana, on the 8th inst. —A telegram from Chicago, April 13, states that Frank Leslie, accompanied by his wife and a staff of twelve journalists, artists, and photographers, are in that city en route to California. —A life-size statue in bronze of the poet Fitz Greene Halleck is to be erected in May, in Central Park, New York, near the place already adorned by the statues of Shakespeare and Walter Scott. This statue will be the first one ever erected to an American poet. —Extensive revenue frauds in the manufacture of tobacco in North Carolina have recently been discovered. Some thirty manufacturers in the county of Surrey, charged with participation, have been indicted. The frauds are estimated to exceed one-third of the total amount of internal revenue taxes collected in that State. —Brigham Young telegraphs to the Herald, saying: “If Lee has made a statement in his confession implicating me, it is utterly false. My course of life is too well known by thousands of honorable men for them to believe for one moment such an accusation.” It will, however, take more than this assertion to free him in the minds of the people. —The Modoc Indians, now numbering fifty-four males and sixty-three females, are located on a very fertile tract, containing 4,000 acres, in the north-east corner of the Shawnee Reservation, Indian Territory. They have engaged energetically in labor during the past year, and as a result, they have a large and valuable crop on their farm. —A terrible disaster recently occurred at Staffordville, Conn., through the breakage of a dam. For some time the reservoir had leaked, but every effort taken to mend it, proved unsuccessful. The damage is estimated at $350,000. Rev. Dr. Hawly, of the Episcopal Society, lost five hundred volumes of his fine library by this flood. He had been collecting them for forty years. —The following is a statement of the circulation of the Odd Fellows' Library for March: Novels, 7703; histories, 243; magazines, 264; poetry and drama, 184; biographies, 242; travels, 265; science, 213; theology, 37; belles lettres, 237. Total, 9388. By this it will be seen that during the month, there has been a circulation of 6,018 more novels, than all the other books of the library put together. —April 13, the following telegram was received from Roundout, N. Y.: “Fires are raging in the woods in this vicinity. On Stony Hill, six miles from this city, an area of ten square miles has been burned over. The house of George Purdy was destroyed, his family barely escaping with their lives. By the earnest efforts of all the men in the vicinity the flames were beaten back from the settlement, but are still raging in the woods, and unless a heavy rain comes soon the destruction will be great.” Keep No Secrets from Mother
The moment a girl has a secret from her mother, or has received a letter she dare not let her mother read, or has a friend of whom her mother does not know, she is in danger. A secret is not a good thing for a girl to have. In girlhood hide nothing from your mother; do nothing that, if discovered by your father, would make you blush. RELIGIOUS NEWS AND NOTES.
—Mr. Spurgeon is back in his London pulpit again, much benefited by his European trip. —Over thirty thousand persons in Italy have signed papers, declaring their willingness to fight for the restoration of the temporal power to the Pope. —The Baptists are rendering valuable service in the translation of the Scriptures in India. At their Mission Press last year 66,000 portions, including 2,500 copies of the New Testament, were printed. —The Christian church is spending about $600,000 yearly for the salvation of China, but merchants from Christian nations are taking from her not less than $60,000,000 a year, and giving her in its place every twelve months 6,000 tons of opium! —The following is such a novel work for a Catholic priest to be engaged in, that it is worthy of note: The Rev. Kenelm Vaughan, an English Roman Catholic priest, during the past three years has traveled through the greater part of South America and distributed 52,000 copies of a Spanish translation of the New Testament. —The Examiner and Chronicle, after noticing the fact that the Banner of Light, a Spiritualist paper, has gone to the expense of cable dispatches in the Slade case, tersely remarks, “And that with all the spirit intelligences of the under-world at its command! Who will believe in Spiritism after this?” —William Howitt says: “It would startle some people to discover in how many royal palaces in Europe Spiritualism is firmly seated, and with what vigor it is diffusing itself through all ranks and professions of men, who do not care to make much noise about it—men and women of literary, religious, and scientific fame.” —Friday, April 6, the Mormons commenced their forty-fourth Conference in the town of St. George, in the southern part of Utah. About 2000 Mormons were in attendance, and Brigham Young presided. It adjourned, however, to meet in Salt Lake city May 6. The proceedings of the Conference will be viewed with interest on account of the revelations connected with the Mountain Meadows Massacre. —A convention of Methodists and Methodist Protestants (formerly the same denomination, but divided in 1858 by slavery), will be held in Baltimore, beginning May 11, to discuss reunion. Commissioners elected by the last General Conferences of the two bodies, respectively, met in October, 1875, and arranged a basis of reunion, which, it is believed, will be accepted. The two bodies are about equal in size and influence, each numbering some 55,000 members.—Interior. —Dr. W. M. Taylor explained to the Yale students the outcome of short sermons. “No great theme,” he said “can be treated in fifteen minutes. Therefore, brevity means the banishment of doctrinal instruction and systematic exposition—and as a consequence of that, spiritual dwarfs, and a piety from which manhood has disappeared.” The short sermonists may reply that manhood does not depend upon avoirdupois any more than instruction depends upon prolixity.