Earlier text: Errors in EducationA Warning to Tobacco-Users
The New York Times has a startling warning for tobacco-users. A gentleman of wealth and culture, with a cigar in his mouth, passed out of an instrument-maker's establishment as a professor of microscopy entered it. The wealthy gentleman was himself an amateur in the use of the microscope, and had just been trying the power of one upon a drop of blood from his finger. The instrument was still adjusted on the counter, and the professor glanced at it. Inquiring of the proprietor who the gentleman was, he informed him that he was his best customer, buying largely of his instruments. "And this is a drop of blood from his finger?" asked the professor. To the affirmative answer he said, "Very well, tell your best customer, if you can without impertinence, that unless he stops smoking at once he has not many months to live." He did not stop, but left for Europe in a few weeks to recruit his failing strength, and in a short time his death was announced from Paris, the doctors styling his disease "a general breaking-up." You would not have said that John Hammond looked in the least like a hero, a square-shouldered, rough-handed fellow of fifteen, wearing a very happy-go-lucky checked shirt and blue overalls. Those blue overalls had seen service, as their irregular patches bore witness; driving the cows through the morning dew, hoeing, milking, and tramping the fields, they, and others like them, had been of John’s wearing apparel for as many years as he cared to remember. And of course no boy takes pains to look back at the days when he wore short skirts and pinafores; he imagines life begins when he puts on boots and jacket and trousers. But, although John was a country fellow, with rather a steady and monotonous round of work before him, and no very brilliant prospects in the future, as far as eye could see, he had, like all boys worth anything, ambitions of his own. His father was a hard-working man who had, as a boy, lived on a large, rather barren farm which he had at last been able to purchase with his jealously treasured "savings," and held naturally the belief that his son would work and improve the same land after he had grown old, died, and left it. John had other thoughts; he felt in himself an ability for pursuits different from the one his father chose. That was well enough; boy as he was, he saw it to be a noble and dignified thing to till the ground and make it fair with orchard and garden, but all men were not intended by nature for the same work. He had a genuine love for mechanical pursuits, and there was a cunning at his fingers’ ends which seemed to promise a real bent toward making and fashioning. It was better to be a carpenter, even, than a farmer, but best of all would be engineering; the building of stupendous bridges and laying out of long lines of railroads. His mother knew all these longings. Most mothers do find out their boys’ inclination, I fancy, in the right kind of family: “I wish you could have all the learning you want, Johnnie,” she said, one morning, fondly patting the rough head that lay on her ironing-table. Then, getting a fresh iron from the stove and skillfully “trying it” with her finger, she went on, “but I don’t think it would do any good to talk it over with father. He wouldn’t hear to it, because he thinks farming’s good enough for anybody. And besides that, you know there isn’t any money.” “Yes, I rather guess I do,” said John, dolefully. Then catching the troubled look on his mother’s face, he said bravely, “But don’t be bothered, I can stand it, any how.” There was a good deal of real tenderness between his mother and himself. That night, as John was bringing in the wood to fill the great box by the kitchen stove, an idea struck him; such a bright idea that he stopped short, and nearly let fall an armful of kindlings. “I’ll do it!” he said aloud. “No, nothing, mother, I was only talking to myself,” as Mrs. Hammond came out in time to hear the exclamation. Just after dark John might have been seen going up the neatly-kept walk that led to the minister’s trim little house. His only concession to the importance of making a call all by himself had consisted in brushing his hair very smoothly and polishing his square, determined face with soap and water till it shone again. It would not have done to put his best clothes on, for, aside from the fact that they made him ill at ease, he had been careful that no one at home should suspect his absence on any unusual errand. Yes, the minister was at home and would be glad to see John alone. The boy’s heart beat loudly as he was ushered into the study; ministers were in his mind inseparably connected with churches, communion tables, and funerals, and nothing but the importance of his present errand could have induced him to encounter one alone. Mr. Burns was a hearty jovial-looking man. “Glad to see you, John,” he said, warmly, rising from his study table, and greeting him, John thought proudly, just as if he were a grown man. “Now, this is nice to have you come by yourself for a call.” “I wanted to ask you a question,” said John, choking a little in his awkwardness, choosing the extreme edge of his chair as presenting greater advantages than a larger surface. “I want to go to school and have a real business, different from farming, and I thought you’d know better about such things than anybody here. We haven’t got any money, and I want to know what to do.” It seemed a very long speech to the boy, when he had finished, and his heart beat alarmingly at his own daring. “Ah!” said the minister, rubbing his chin, and eyeing the boy sharply. “So you want a profession. Have you talked with your father?” “No, sir, but mother knows about it. I thought it wasn’t any use to speak to father, till I could see a way to do it. He’d say no, unless he could see some real sense in it.” “Yes, I understand, and it was wise to you to think of it. Do you want to go to college? or haven’t you got as far as settling that?” So John, encouraged by the kind tone and apparent interest of his listener, went on to talk of his plans more freely than he had ever told them to any one. The minister listened, put in a word now and then, and at the end gave a nod of approval. “I think something must be done for you, my boy,” he said heartily. “But I can’t say a word more till I’ve thought it all over, and when I have, I’ll either send for you or go up and see your father. Will that do?” It would do beautifully, John thought, and he went away delighted beyond reason. And in the days which followed he did very little but whistle and toss his cap up into the air at uncertain intervals, rousing in his mother homely fears that “John wasn’t well, because his appetite was so poor.” But after waiting, the day came when the minister called and asked to see his father. John, on his way from a neighbor’s, saw the two in close conclave near the kitchen window, and, in ridiculous desperation, ran into the barn to hide on the highest hay-mow of all. No one came to find him, a fact not to be wondered at, considering that the hay-mow is not a common resort for families in general, however well the boys may know its fragrant, dusty corners. Finally he crept out and went into the house, rather shame-faced but very conspicuously unconscious of the out-of-the-way occurrence. His mother, rather flushed and excited, was laying the supper-table; his father, by the window, was reading the Bell-brook Gazette upside down. “So you want to go to school,” said the father, at last, rather gruffly. “Why didn’t you come to me about it first?” John’s heart sank into his boots at the tone. “I thought Mr. Burns might know best whether it was foolish or not, and—and—” “Oh, tell the boy, father,” broke out his mother. “It’s a shame to keep him waiting. And don’t you see, he’s ready to cry.” It all came out then, and I am not sure, good as the news was, that John did not cry after all. He was to study with the minister that winter, mathematics and general English branches, and the next fall enter the Boston Institute of Technology. His father would mortgage the river pasture, or perhaps sell it for the money necessary for the first year’s expenses; they could not plan beyond that. Perhaps then the boy’s ability would have proved itself worth the borrowing of the money, if he cared to pledge himself for its payment when he had gotten to the point of earning it for himself. How John worked that winter at books and “chores” no other boy without an object in life would ever believe. And when summer came, a little tired but still enthusiastic, he was all hope for the coming fall term at school. Mr. Burns praised his scholarship and ability without measure, and the father, at first agreeing to the plan under protest, and because the minister declared it to be the best thing, grew prouder than ever of his boy, and willing that he should make his way in the world, let the farm pass into what hands it would. But there came a morning—and I am sorry to tell this part of the story—when the little household was all in confusion, and the village doctor was looked for with as much anxiety as if he carried the keys of life in his black case. Mr. Hammond had had a stroke of paralysis, and the doctor could only say, pityingly, that there was not immediate danger of his death, but that he must be a helpless man always. The farmer moaned and tried to speak. The good doctor’s voice had not been low enough, and from outside the door the verdict had reached the sick man’s ears. John was close by his father’s side, half terrified by his drawn face. The moan came again, and he put his own face down to translate the half articulate sound. “The farm? the work?” he questioned. The eyes brightened with assent. “Oh, father, don’t bother about that. I shall stay at home. I’ll take care of the farm just as you would.” And he kept his promise. Sick people, through weakness and pity of themselves, cannot always be generous, and it is a question whether Farmer Hammond ever quite understood the sacrifice his son made for him. His mind became a little cloudy by bodily illness, and as no one ever reminded him that John had hoped for a different life, he forgot the fact altogether. Do you know how a hard blow sometimes hardens character, and changes the boy into the man in the space of days? It was so with John. He put his own plans resolutely aside, and took on his shoulders the burden of his father’s work, hiring when it was necessary, but bending all his energies toward making the farm pay. And it did as farms go; there was not much ready money in the family purse, but there were fields of grain, a cellar stocked with vegetable beauties, and thriving live-stock as witnesses of success. Beyond that, his father had been made as happy as a man so disabled ever could be. When, after years, the father died, it was too late for the accomplishment of John’s boyish purposes. If you should ask him to-day how he regards his life, it is probable he would tell you that it seems a failure, but his townsmen tell a different story. Cheery, helpful, and brave, he never fails a friend, and has made the very best of the place duty seemed to mark out for him. I could show a score of intelligent articles from his pen on various agricultural subjects; I could recount dozens of his brave deeds, but the story of his life dwindles down to the one moral,—that, although circumstances may deny a man what he longs for most, he can succeed in becoming good and great at heart in spite of them. And, after all, character is the only thing worth striving for.—Boston Budget. THE spiders, large Epeiridae, which produce silk, inhabit the hottest countries. They are represented in our latitudes by a few species of inferior size, the most common of which, the Epeira diadema, is very numerous in the gardens in autumn, and may be remarked by the regularly shaped webs which it weaves among the bushes. These delicate gauzes, however, give only an imperfect idea of the webs that are woven by the larger spiders of tropical regions. In India, the Sunda Islands, Madagascar, Reunion, and Mauritius, the Epeira construct webs of extraordinary dimensions, and the traveler has frequent cause to admire the threads which he finds strung across the water-courses and fastened on the opposite side. The threads of these spiders are of different167 kinds, and proceed from different glands. The silk which is wrapped around the cocoons is not the same that is spun in the webs, and may be of an entirely different color. The silks of various Epeira were brought to Europe by travelers in the seventeenth century, and excited admiration by their firmness and brilliancy. Experiments were tried in making cloth and gloves from them, but they were found to have no powers of endurance. Louis XIV., wishing to encourage a new art, had a coat made of the silk, but was glad to take it off the first day, for it suffered a rent every time he moved. These efforts appear to have been made with the silk of the webs. That unrolled from the cocoons proved to be the stronger. M. Bon, in 1709, carded from the cocoons a silk which he described as much finer and stronger than ordinary silk, and which, he claimed, was fitted to make any kind of fabrics. In Spain, Raymondo Maria de Tremezer, between 1777 and 1791, made several articles as bright and fine as silk, from the threads of the Epeira diadema. Mr. Rolt, an English merchant, was able to exhibit to the Society of Arts a specimen thread twenty thousand feet long, that had been spun by twenty-two spiders in less than two hours, and which was five times as fine as the thread of the silkworm. Alcide d'Orbigny asserted that he had garments, able to sustain considerable wear, made in South America from spider's silk.—Popular Science Monthly. The Home Circle.
By Alice Cary
True worth is in being not seeming;
In doing each day that goes by
Some little good—not in the dreaming
Of great things to do by and by.
For whatever men say in blindness,
And spite of the fancies of youth,
There's nothing so kingly as kindness,
And nothing so royal as truth. We get back our mete as we measure,
We cannot do wrong and feel right;
Nor can we give pain and gain pleasure,
For justice avenges each slight.
The air for the wing of the sparrow,
The bush for the robin and wren,
But always the path that is narrow
And strait for the children of men. We cannot make bargains for blisses,
Nor catch them like fishes in nets;
And sometimes the things our life misses
Help more than the things which it gets.
For good lieth not in pursuing
Nor gaining of great nor of small;
But just in the doing, and doing
As we would be done by, is all. Through envy, through malice, through hating,
Against the world, early and late,
No jot of our courage abating,
Our part is to work, and to wait.
And slight is the sting of his trouble
Whose winnings are less than his worth;
For he who is honest is noble,
Whatever his fortunes or birth.
—Alice Cary. -There are 577 different editions of the Bible in the public library of Stuttgart, printed in over 100 languages. -We learn that in the town of Hull, England, there were last year 1,223 convictions for Sunday trading, and but 1,597 in all the rest of the kingdom. -Preliminary steps have been taken by the Seventh-day Baptists of the United States toward publishing a Seventh-day Baptist Quarterly. The first number will be issued as soon a sufficient number of names is received to warrant the undertaking. -A Catholic Chinese Mission has been started in San Francisco, which is under the patronage of Rome itself. It has the special sanction of the pope, and its head is a relative of the Papal Secretary of State. About sixty Chinese pupils are now in attendance. In May, four priests will arrive from Rome, who have been commissioned by the pope to labor among the Indians of California. They will establish their headquarters at Clear Lake. -"A bill has been introduced into the Connecticut House of Representatives for the purpose of amending the divorce law so that divorces may be granted on the grounds of general misconduct." Why not further amend and grant a divorce whenever a wife shall wear an ill-fitting dress or a husband shall fail to brush his hair before sitting down to a meal? -for that is about what the "misconduct" clause can be stretched to include. -Christian at Work. -President Merrill E. Gates, in an article in the Independent, well says: "In order to do what is right, we must first know what is right. Dwelling upon thoughts of God and duty renders stronger the power of conscience. We need to study carefully how to apply in our own daily lives the moral law, which the seeing power of conscience reveals to us. In no life does righteousness grow of itself, neglected, or against the choice of the intelligent will." -Mr. Spurgeon says of the Salvation Army proceedings: "It is time that somebody spoke, now that the attempt is made to make men religious by turning all religion into a game of soldiers. Because they would not hinder anything that promised well, Christian men have borne with much that grieved them, but there is a point beyond which long-suffering charity cannot go. That point is nearly reached; even the most ultra-tolerant must feel that hope has been disappointed, and fear now takes its place." -Rev. Heber Newton's reason for giving his sermons on the "Right and Wrong Uses of the Bible" is in substance this: Men are losing faith in the Bible; they do not believe concerning it as they used to; there is danger that they will throw it away entirely. To prevent this he tells them that the Bible does not teach what they used to think it did; that they need not cease to believe the Bible, because it really teaches just what they think it ought. This preaching is on the principle, "Tell me what you believe, and I will preach it to you." Such preaching is becoming altogether too common. -Joseph Cook states that in India, according to an authentic and most recent official statement, there are 21,000,000 widows, fully one-half of whom were never wives. This arises from the fact that child marriage is the rule, a girl often being betrothed in infancy. If the person to whom she is betrothed, and whom she may never have seen, dies, she is considered a widow, and must so remain through life, occupying the most menial position, allowed but one meal a day, considered as merely a thing, a proper subject upon which to practice extreme cruelty. And yet in India the religion flourishes which infidels extol as superior to the Christian religion. -The Christian Herald says: "There is not a syllable in all the word of God which would indicate that a union of the different denominations is possible, much less desirable and Scriptural." The Herald might have truthfully added that there is not a syllable in the word of God to indicate that the existence of different denominations is desirable or Scriptural. Our Saviour prayed that his disciples, and also all that should believe on him through their word, might be one; and Paul teaches, Eph. 4:13, that we will not arrive at the state of "a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ," until we "come in the unity of the faith." -A writer in the Occident, near the close of a long article on "Infant Baptism" says: "The baptism of their children is not to be neglected by believers for many reasons, chiefly because it is commanded of the Lord," and yet does not tell us where this commandment may be found. But perhaps he thought it was of no use to try to hunt up the commandment, since he says that the baptism of a child "neither makes him a member of the church on earth, nor gives him any title to the privileges of the church in Heaven." From which we conclude that he himself is not very clear as to the use of infant baptism anyway; and we are sure that a perusal of his article has not enlightened us the least. -The New York Examiner (Baptist) publishes an article entitled, "Wherein Moses and Jesus Are One," showing that there is no conflict between Moses and Christ—between the Old and the New Testaments. Following the closing paragraph: "The idea of obedience to God is an idea uniquely peculiar to the Bible as a book of revealed religion. It belongs equally to the Old Testament and the New. The Old Testament and the New are thus shown to be, by overwhelming probability, one agreeing system of religious truth. They are certainly thus shown, be they true or be they false, to be at any rate indivisibly one in essence and spirit. You cannot throw away the Old Testament and keep the New. The principle of obedience, conspicuously common to the two, unites them indissolubly, as in character so in destiny." -"Grace Greenwood," writing to the Independent, from Paris, France, uses the following language, which might well have been written as a comment on Luke 21:25, 26: "But the new year seems thus far to be outdoing its predecessor; almost every day's record being of disaster, loss, suffering, tragedies, and most unnatural horrors. The elements seem to be in a state of anarchy—fires, explosions, and overflows, shipwrecks and land-slides; the subsidence of towns, the moving of mountains, the flooding and firing of mines alternately appall us. From Ireland comes the strange story of an ancient reliable bog taking suddenly to traveling and whelming acres of cultivated land. All that we lack are earthquakes and tidal waves; but the new year may have them also in store for us. Here in France we have been spared physical disasters; but the political ground seems a little shaky. . . . The Government has been and is in a condition of perplexity, to designate it by no stronger term." —The estimated reduction of the public debt for March is, $9,500,000. —Additional outrages by the Apaches are reported from Arizona and New Mexico. —A Pittsburg pawnbroker has discovered that 99 per cent. of the money he lends is spent for strong drink. —Of the forty-seven prisoners in the jail at Portland, Or., six are boys under twenty years of age, and five are charged with murder. —A cloud-burst occurred in the hills near Merced, Cal., during the recent storm, and a large number of sheep were carried off by the torrent. —A conductor in Massachusetts has been found guilty of manslaughter for disobeying orders and causing a collision that resulted in the death of three persons. —A land-slide on the Cincinnati and Southern Railroad, near Mason, O., March 30, threw a passenger train from the track, injuring sixty persons, some of them it is feared fatally. —A number of coal barges got adrift at Pittsburg, Pa., the 31st ult., and were swept down the river. Several other barges and boats containing grain and coal were sunk by them. —An unprecedented amount of snow fell in North Carolina last week. The snow was reported, March 26, as over two feet deep at Greenboro, and three feet at Henderson, with no abatement in the storm. —Ogden, U. T., is said to be so full of gamblers and roughs from the North and West that it is dangerous for the citizens to go out on the streets after dark, the police being powerless to arrest the offenders. —There are now 6,000 men at work on the Panama Canal, and work is said to be progressing satisfactorily. It is estimated by engineers that the entire canal, forty-six miles in length, will be completed in seven years. —Quite a severe earthquake was felt the morning of the 29th ult., in many parts of this State. There were three distinct shocks, of sufficient force to shake plastering from the walls. As usual, many persons were very much frightened. —The study of Latin has been made compulsory in the high school of Charleston, S. C. Instead of the attendance diminishing, as was feared, it has increased, and the principal reports that the change has had a good effect on the mental development of the pupils. —It was decided in the courts in New York that policemen should be allowed full pay during sickness, since which time sickness has increased to an alarming extent. The Police Commissioners say that immediate legislation is necessary to save the force from demoralization. —The Geographical Society of Germany advocates the resumption of Polar expeditions. And we would further suggest that the Geographical Society of Germany be sent out on the next expedition. If the members should ever return they would know vastly more about the Polar regions than they possibly can from reading the published accounts, or listening to the stories of returned explorers. —A conversation was recently carried on by means of the telephone, between two persons, one of whom was in New York, and the other in Cleveland. As these places are 600 miles apart, the promise that conversation will yet be carried on between New York and San Francisco or London, seems not improbable. —A New Jersey boy who started West to exterminate Indians, was armed with four dime novels. Dime novels may be more destructive to human life than toy pistols and bowie knives, but the trouble would be for a boy to get an Indian to hold still long enough to read him several chapters of the blood-freezing fiction.—Ex. —President Chadbourne, of the Massachusetts Prison Commission, when visiting the State Reform School at Westboro, inquired how many of the young criminals came from farms. The Superintendent after making investigation reported to him: "There is not a single boy here whose father is or has been a farmer." Comment is unnecessary. —A morning paper has in one dispatch the account of the killing of five children by being shot through "sport." There should be a lunatic asylum for the special accommodation of those who don't know that guns are not toys with which children are to be amused; and until such asylum is built the penitentiary would serve `admirably as a substitute. —A socialist manifesto is in circulation in the southern part of Russia, inviting people to avail themselves of the coming fetes on the coronation of the Czar to pillage the houses of the nobles and the Jews. A deputation of nobles has gone to St. Petersburg to ask Count Tolstoi, Minister of the Interior, to provide for the protection of their property. —From a London cable dispatch of March 31, we extract the following: "The infernal machines seized at Liverpool on Wednesday were of a very formidable character. Each consisted of a well-make tin cylinder containing two gallons of explosive material, the whole covered with an outer casing of canvas, neatly stitched. The throwing of the package against the ground would have sufficed to explode it quite as effectively as a fuse, which was also provided. The police authorities say this capture frustrated two attempts to blow up Government buildings, one in Liverpool, the other in Manchester. Both explosions were to have been effected this week, and experts assert that the machines are identical in power with the one used at Westminster. These occurrences and the threats to blow up the post-office keep the Dublin military on sentry duty in London, and menacing letters received in every direction make the public feverish. There is no calm, temperate consideration of the subject. Whatever danger really exists is exaggerated, and the people are in a condition of thorough scare." 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. THIS is a pamphlet of only 84 pages, but its value is not to be judged by its size. It is just what its title indicates: a faithful presentation of Bible truth on this important subject, and an exposure of the false theories prevailing in regard to it. Every believer in Bible truth should read it. Buy it, read it, and lend it to your neighbor. Price 10 cts. Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal. The Quarterly Meetings.
By M. C. Israel
THE time for holding the quarterly meetings of the Tract and Missionary Society is given in another column. We cannot overestimate the importance of the work in which we are engaged. The prophet says, “The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly.” The work that the Lord has intrusted to his people at this time to do is of more importance than all other enterprises in the world besides. The Missionary Society is one of the great agencies for carrying on this work, therefore it is necessary that its officers and leading members should meet together, if possible, as often as once in three months, to council together and seek the Lord for wisdom, and a deeper consecration to his service, and that ways and means may be devised whereby the work may be carried on more efficiently. This State Quarterly Meeting will be one of more than usual interest, as at this time the wants of the cause in all parts of the Conference will be considered, and labor as far as can be for the coming tent season will be planned. It is the only general meeting that will be held before the fall camp-meeting. The annual meeting of the Publishing Association will also be held at this time. Elder Haskell and Sister White will be here; and we hope that our ministers and licentiates, directors, secretaries, and librarians, and all others who, can, will be present. Let every district in the State be well represented. We feel sure that God will bless our united efforts to advance his cause. Let all the church and district meetings be held, and we hope every member of the society will consider it a duty to fill out a report and hand to the librarian; those who are not connected with any church society can send theirs to the State Secretary, Miss Alice Morrison, Oakland, Cal., so that we may have a full report at the State meeting of what labor is being done. M. C. ISRAEL. Notices to Our Readers
By Editor
A PRESS of other matters prevented the preparation of an article on “Justification by Faith” for this number. It will appear next week. This number concludes the articles on the Two Covenants. We hope all the readers of the SIGNS have read them with care. They are well worth a careful perusal. Brother Andrews furnishes us articles on the first six chapters of Zechariah, which will be of interest to all. The first will appear in our next issue. Special attention is called to Sister White’s article in this paper on attending the camp-meetings. See notice of the annual meeting of the Publishing Association. The appointment and remarks in this paper concerning quarterly meetings refer to the Missionary Societies. The quarterly meetings of the churches in the Conference have been held. Questions Answered.
By Editor
J. T. C.—We have no definite opinion to give at present on Zech. 11:7. We may refer to it at some other time. S. E. M.—Spiritual death is the opposite of spiritual life; it is a state of sin. Adam lost his righteousness or died spiritually when he transgressed. It was no part of the penalty of the divine law, unless God threatened to make Adam a sinner. But such a thought is both absurd and impious. Your other question is rather obscure. Mrs. A. J. H.—We cannot explain Isa. 65:20. We have seen a number of "explanations," none of which were satisfactory to us. We cannot understand the view you speak of more than you can. It cannot be the truth. R. C. B.—We will notice your communication at our earliest convenience. N. R. P.—Your questions concerning Melchisedec cannot be answered. If they could the words of Paul in Heb. 7 would not hold good. For an exposition of the subject we refer you to the pamphlet on the "Age to Come," for sale at this Office. F. G. H.—We have not seen the book to which you refer. You will find a complete and very clear exposition of the 2,300 days of Dan. 8, in the book entitled "The Sanctuary and its Cleansing," for sale at this Office; price $1.00. "In Matt. 24:29, we read: 'The powers of the heavens shall be shaken.' Will not this be the last of those signs which Christ gave the disciples of the second advent? and will it be a literal shaking? I see some able writers convey the idea that the falling stars of 1833 is the last of those signs. There were but three signs given by the Saviour in Matt. 24. The shaking of the powers of heaven takes place when the Lord comes, and is not given as a warning that they may know when the advent is near. For a thorough examination of this subject we refer you to the pamphlet on the Age to Come, published by S. D. Adventists. It may be had at this office or at Battle Creek. Probably it may be found at a depository in your own district. Is It in the New Version?
By Editor
A WRITER in the World's Crisis is trying to prove that Sabbatarians break the Sabbath law. Among other things he says:— "The law requires them not to travel more than a Sabbath day's journey,—a trifle over one English mile. How can those attend church on that day who live at a greater distance?" We are always pleased to get help to understand the obligations of the law. In this case we are entirely dependent on the writer in the Crisis; we confess to our own incompetency to learn our duty from the Bible—if his statement is correct! We hope he will not desert us in our dilemma, but answer the following queries:— Where, in the Sabbath law, can we learn that we must not go more than a Sabbath day's journey, even going to church? Please give the chapter and verse. And in what text may we learn the distance of a Sabbath day's journey? "To the law, and to the testimony." Saints' Inheritance.
By Editor
THE pamphlet of this name, once so well known to Seventh-day Adventists, has been out of print for some time. Eld. Loughborough, the author, has carefully revised it, in fact re-written it, and it has just been issued at this Office. It is a complete gathering of the Scripture evidences concerning the new earth which is to be prepared for the people of God. It is written in an attractive style, and will be read with interest by all. 80 pages; price 10 cents. Money-rate of Iniquity.
By Editor
At a meeting of ministers in Chicago it was declared that the traffic in liquors is “debauching our youth, corrupting our politics, impairing the value of our property, jeopardizing our lives, insulting our laws, and polluting our commerce.” And what do you think was advised as the proper method of dealing with such a terrible evil? By a vote of 75 to 15 it was resolved that it is expedient to raise the license of saloons to $500! Don’t chain the tiger or kill the mad dog. Increase the “tax” on him and let him run. But we do injustice to the tiger and the mad dog. There is no parallel. They may kill a few outright, but they cannot debauch our youth—the worst crime of all—nor corrupt our politics; neither can they greatly injure our commerce. It is to be feared that the liquor traffic has debauched our churches and corrupted our ministry, as well as blinded our legislators. Divine Plan of Church Finance.
By Editor
ALL our readers know the opinions of the Seventh-Day Adventists in regard to the proper method of raising money for religious purposes. All our churches to a greater or less extent follow the Scripture rule of tithing. It is purely a voluntary matter, but it is largely followed among us. And we are pleased with every effort to introduce the system in any church work in every denomination. We have received samples of tracts on this subject which are prepared for gratuitous distribution, written by "A Layman." Their titles are as follows:— No. 1.—What We Owe.
No. 2.—Some Questions and Answers.
No. 3.—Thanksgiving Ann.
No. 4.—Divine Plan of Church Finance. And to these is added one specially to ministers: No. 5.—What you Owe. This relates to the duty of pastors to present the subject to their congregations. We intend to send for some of the tracts to circulate, and we invite our ministers and the officers of our churches to do the same. They can be ordered together or by the numbers. Address THOMAS KANE, 439 Warren Avenue, Chicago. A Temperance Item
By Editor
Under the head of "A Temperance Item," we find the following in the Oakland Times of last Monday morning:— "On last Sunday James Miller's son was hunting rabbits on his father's ranch, near the Green Schoolhouse, and ran into an old squirrel hole. He reached his hand in and pulled out some wool, made another grab and felt something bite him, and pulled his hand out with a large tarantula fastened to the third finger of his right hand. He pulled him loose and killed him, and then started for the house. Mr. F. Hartman was called and gave the boy all the whisky he could drink. He has fully recovered. Mr. Miller expresses his heartfelt thanks for the kind act of Mr. Hartman in saving his son's life after the poisonous bite of a tarantula.—Livermore Valley Review.
"We forget just where the moral of this interesting story comes in." It needs no "moral." It is simply a matter of fact that alcohol has a chemical affinity for certain kinds of poison, and therefore acts as a neutralizer or antidote to them. But a chemist would laugh at the idea that this fact proves that it is good for a daily drink. Quite the reverse. CALIFORNIA has had an abundance of rain during the last two weeks. It has been general, covering the whole State, and “there are millions in it.” Appointments
By W. K. Vickery
PURSUANT to article 6, section 2 of the By-Laws of the Pacific S. D. A. Publishing Association, the eighth annual meeting of the stockholders of said Association will be held at the Pacific Press Office, corner of Castro and Twelfth Streets, Oakland, Cal., on Monday, April 23, 1883, at 9:30 A. M., for the purpose of electing a board of five directors, and transacting such other business as may come before the meeting. W. K. VICKERY, Secretary. Quarterly Meetings.
By M. C. Israel
THE usual time for holding Church and T. and M. quarterly meetings will be April 7, 8. District quarterly meetings April 14, 15. Blanks for reports have been sent out to all the Tract Societies and scattered members in the State, and we ask that every member be prompt to return these filled out, that there may be a full report of labor at the State quarterly meeting.
M. C. ISRAEL. State Quarterly Meeting.
By M. C. Israel
THE California State Quarterly meeting of the Tract and Missionary Society will be held in Oakland, April 21, 22. As this will be an unusually important meeting a general attendance is expected. All directors, secretaries, and librarians are especially invited, and all others who can come. M. C. ISRAEL,
Vice-Pres. T. and M. Society. W. M. HEALEY
By William M. Healey
No preventing providence I will spend Sabbath and first-day, April 14, 15, at Lakeport, holding such meetings as the brethren there may appoint.