Earlier text: THY BROTHER'S KEEPERThe Sabbath School.
By Ellen G. White
JESUS TEACHING AND HEALING.
JESUS did not go to Capernaum to avoid society nor to find rest from his labors. Capernaum was a great thoroughfare of travel; people from many countries passed through the city, or tarried there for rest in their journeyings to and fro. Here the great Teacher could meet all nations and all ranks. He could give lessons that would not only be received by those present, but would be carried to other countries and into many households. Investigations of the prophecies would thus be excited, notice would be directed to the Saviour, and his work and mission would be brought before the world. Here he had a better opportunity than elsewhere of meeting the representatives of all classes, as they mingled together, every one intent upon his own errand. The rich who were courted for their wealth could here be reached by his ministrations, as well as the poor and needy. Christ presented himself to the people as the Saviour of the world. As soon as it was known that he was in Capernaum, multitudes crowded to hear his words of heavenly wisdom. The scribes and Pharisees were confounded; their purposes in regard to Jesus were defeated. They had listened to his teachings in order to catch him in his words, and turn the minds of the people from him to themselves. They knew that since the ministry of Jesus had commenced, their own influence over the people had greatly decreased. The sympathetic hearts of the multitude accepted lessons of love and kindly benevolence in preference to the cold forms and rigid ceremonies exacted by the priests. The inhabitants of Capernaum had been greatly astonished by the sudden and effectual cure of the ruler's son at a word from Jesus, when he was more than twenty miles distant from the sufferer. They were rejoiced to learn that he who possessed such miraculous power was in their own city. On the Sabbath day, the synagogue where he spoke was packed with people, and many who desired to enter were unable to do so. As usual, a great number came through curiosity, but there were many who earnestly desired to learn regarding the gospel of the kingdom of God. All who heard him were astonished, "for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." His words were a demonstration of the Spirit of God, and they struck home to the souls of men with divine power. The teaching of the scribes and elders was cold and formal, like a lesson learned by rote. They explained the law as a matter of custom, but no authority from God sanctified their utterances, no holy inspiration stirred their own hearts and those of their hearers. Jesus had nothing to do with the various subjects of dissension among the Jews. His words were so simple that a child could understand them, yet lofty enough in their grand simplicity to charm the highest mind with their noble truths. He spoke of a new kingdom which he came to set up among them, in opposition to the kingdom of this world, and of his power to wrest from Satan his dominion, and deliver the captives bound by his power. There was a man in the synagogue who was possessed of the spirit of Satan. He broke in upon the discourse of Jesus with a piercing shriek, that chilled the blood of the hearers with a nameless terror. "Let us alone!" he cried. "What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee, who thou art, the Holy one of God!" Devils even believed and trembled, but the Israel of God had closed their eyes and ears to divine evidences, and knew not the time of their visitation. Satan's object in leading his wretched victim to the synagogue, was to distract the attention of the people from Jesus to the paroxysms of the poor sufferer, and prevent the words of truth from reaching the hearts of the people. As the victim realized that the Healer was near to release him, his heart was aroused to long for freedom from Satan's power. The demon resisted this power and held control over the poor wretch who was wrestling against him. The sufferer tried to appeal to Jesus for help, but when he opened his lips, the demon put words in his mouth so that he shrieked out in an agony of fear, "Let us alone! what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth?" The darkened reason of the poor man partially comprehended that he was in the presence of one who could free him from the bondage that had so long enslaved him; but when he sought to come within reach of that mighty hand, another's will held him back, another's words found utterance through him. It seemed that the tortured man must lose his life in the terrible struggle with the demon that had been the ruin of his manhood. Only one power could break this cruel tyranny. Jesus spoke with a voice of authority and set the captive free. The demoniac spirit made a last effort to rend the life from his victim before he was forced to depart. Then the man who had been possessed stood before the wondering people in the freedom of self-possession. In the synagogue on the Sabbath day, before the assembled congregation, the prince of darkness was again met and conquered. And even the demon had testified to the divine power of the Saviour, crying, "Thou Jesus of Nazareth! Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee, who thou art, the Holy One of God!" The man whose reason was thus suddenly restored praised God for his deliverance. The eye that had so lately glared with the fire of insanity, now beamed with intelligence and overflowed with grateful tears. The people were dumb with amazement. As soon as they recovered speech they marveled one with another, saying, "what a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out!" It was not according to the will of God that this man should be visited with so terrible an affliction as to be delivered wholly into the hands of Satan. The secret source of his calamity, which had made him a fearful spectacle to his friends and a burden to himself, was in his own life. The pleasures of sin had fascinated him, the path of dissipation had looked bright and tempting, he had thought to make life a grand carnival. He did not dream of becoming a disgust and terror to the world and the reproach of his family. He thought his time could be spent in innocent folly; but once on the downward path, his feet rapidly descended till he had broken the laws of health and morality. Intemperance and frivolity chained his senses, the fine qualities of his mind were perverted, and Satan stepped in and took absolute control of him. Jesus then retired from the synagogue while the people were still spell-bound with wonder and admiration. This miracle was then followed by another quite as wonderful. Jesus sought the house of Peter for a little rest; but there was no rest for the Son of man. He was told that the mother of Peter's wife was sick with a fever. His sympathetic heart was at once called out to relieve the suffering woman. He rebuked the disease, and it was at once removed from her. She rose from the bed, filled with joy and gratitude, and ministered with willing hands to the wants of the Master and his disciples. These miracles and works of healing were spread abroad throughout the city. Yet these acts of mercy only made the bitterness of the Pharisees more intense. They closely watched all the movements of Jesus, seeking for cause to accuse him. Their influence prevented many from applying to Jesus for relief from their infirmities upon the Sabbath day. They feared being stigmatized as transgressors of the law. But no sooner had the sun passed out of sight in the west than a great commotion ensued. The diseased flocked to Jesus from every quarter. Those who had sufficient strength came by themselves, but a much larger number were borne by their friends to the great Physician. They were in every condition of helplessness and approaching death. Some were burning with fevers, others were paralyzed, stricken with dropsy, blind, deaf, and lame. And in the distance was heard the pitiful cry of the leper, Unclean! Unclean! as he stretched his decaying hands toward the Healer. The work of Jesus commenced when the first afflicted one was brought before him. The supplicants were healed by a word from his lips or a touch of his hand. With gratitude and rejoicing they returned to gladden with their enlightened minds and healthy bodies the homes that they had so recently left as helpless invalids. In answer to the question, What is Mormonism? a Utah missionary writing to a leading New York paper, says that "Mormonism is organized impiety. It is irreligion officered and disciplined after the manner of the Christian church. It has its prophets, its apostles, and its deacons, all terribly intent upon building up the Mormon church. And in prosecuting their work, all means, not excepting deception and lying, are considered lawful. They promise wealth to the poor, official position to the vain, and sensual indulgence to the coarse and brutal. They have bait suited to every kind of fish." Again, in reference to the objection often urged that the constitution of the United States stands in the way of applying the law, he says:— "Men talk wisely about interfering with a man's religion. Many slaveholders held their slaves as a religious duty, and yet we interfered with the slaveholders' religion. Suppose that a sect should arise, a part of whose worship should consist in offering human sacrifices. Should we not find some way to punish the murderers? Religion should be protected within certain bounds. But if it adopts a creed that is opposed to the civilization of the times—if it encourages impurity and licentiousness—it should be treated as a crime. And this is the way to deal with Mormonism. It is a crime against civilization. Its aim is to re-establish the barbarism of the past. Its march is backwards, and it moves to the sound of muffled drum and dirge-like strains. It aims its dagger at the very heart of the nation. Its purpose is to destroy the institutions upon which the stability of the nation depends. Marriage, the family, and the home life, cannot exist in connection with Mormonism." "DUST ON YOUR GLASSES."
By Observer
I DON'T often put on my glasses to examine Katy's work, but one morning, not long since, I did so upon entering a room she had been sweeping. "Did you forget to open the windows when you swept, Katy?" I inquired; "this room is very dusty." "I think there is dust on your eye-glasses, ma'am," she said modestly. And sure enough, the eye-glasses were at fault, and not Katy. I rubbed them off, and everything looked bright and clean, the carpet like new, and Katy's face said:—
"I am glad it was the glasses, and not me, this time." This has taught me a good lesson, I said to myself upon leaving the room, and one I shall remember through life. In the evening Katy came to me with some kitchen trouble. The cook had done so and so and she had said so and so. When her story was finished, I said smilingly:—
"There is dust on your glasses, Katy; rub them off, you will see better." She understood me and left the room. I told the incident to the children, and it is quite common to hear them say to each other:—
"Oh, there is dust on your glasses." Sometimes I am referred to.
"Mamma, Harry has dust on his glasses; can't he rub it off?" When I hear a person criticising another, condemning, perhaps, a course of action he knows nothing about, drawing inferences prejudicial to the person or persons, I think right away, "There's dust on your glasses; rub it off." The truth is, everybody wears these very same glasses, only the dust is a little thicker on some than on others, and needs harder rubbing to get it off. I said this to John one day, some little matter coming up that called forth the remark: "There are some people I wish would begin to rub, then," said he. "There is Mr. So-and-So, and Mrs. So-and-So; they are always ready to pick at some one, to slur, to hint—I don't know, I don't like them." "I think my son John has a wee bit on his glasses just now." He laughed and asked:—
"What is a body to do?" "Keep your own well rubbed up, and you will not know whether others need it or not."
"I will," he replied. I think as a family we are all profiting by that little incident, and through life will never forget the meaning of "There is dust on your glasses."
—Observer. The greatest wrong you can do to God, is to doubt his love. Love is always the same, though it causes us to change our position. SCARCELY ANSWERED.
By James White
THE Advance publishes "Some Questions from a Roman Catholic Brother," which it professes to answer. It well says, "The following letter speaks for itself":— "BALTIMORE, MD., Jan. 12, 1881.
"Dear Sir: I am a Catholic, and I have been disputing with a Protestant gentleman on the subject of religion. The other day I pointed to the multitudinous sects as a proof that they one and all have not the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth—since some of them hold as gospel doctrine what others deny as such. My friend replied that they are one where essentials are concerned, and many only in non-essentials.
"'Since these essentials are vital,' I retorted, 'they ought to be as sharply defined and as well known as the ten commandments. What, then, are the essentials of Christianity, which all Protestant denominations are a unit in maintaining?' He could not tell me. As I have heard the same assertion often made but never yet demonstrated, will you, as an exponent of Protestantism, kindly furnish me with the desired information? I would like to have a tabulated statement, so as to know precisely—1, 2, 3, 4, etc.,—all the essentials of Christianity recognized as such by all Protestant denominations. Hoping you will gratify me in the next issue of your paper, and thanking you in advance for your courtesy, I am
"Yours respectfully,
L. W. REILLY." The editor indorses the statement of the Protestant gentleman, and admits the reasonableness of the requirement that these "essentials" of religion should be sharply defined and well known. He then proceeds to answer them, and his first item is as follows:— "1. All the evangelical Protestant denominations are a unit in accepting the supreme authority of the ten commandments." This is an error, at the very outset. The denomination to which President Garfield belongs is quite numerous, and it certainly claims to be evangelical, and is generally fraternized by other denominations, and it is almost "a unit" in its rejection of the authority of the ten commandments. We make this statement from a long and close acquaintance with their teachings. We have heard it from the lips, and read it from the pens, of eminent men of the denomination; not as an incidental declaration, but as the subject of a labored argument, sometimes in a public discussion where it is expected that the views of the speaker and of his indorsers will be stated with precision. Nor is that denomination alone in this. There is an increasing tendency in that direction with other denominations. It is becoming a very common thing with nearly all denominations to deny the binding force of the fourth commandment in their endeavors to refute the claims of the seventh-day Sabbath. This position is taken by accepted authors in the largest denominations of the land. And if the fourth commandment was local, or confined in its obligation to the Jews and to a past dispensation, then there can be no "supreme authority of the ten commandments." Far, very far is the Advance from being right in this first item of Protestant faith. And it is equally unfortunate in respect to its seventh article. It reads as follows:— "7. They are a unit in accepting the divine sanction and peculiar grace put forth upon the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper, and are a unit in maintaining that the essential thing about these sacraments is not the particular form or mode of the rite, but it is the spirit with which the believing heart accepts from God the grace which he offers, and of which the sacraments are the expressive symbols." Whether it be right or wrong to reject the statement of the above item of faith, it still is true that there is a very large part of the evangelical Protestant church who would never accept it. Protestants are not a unit in any such form of faith. Every true baptist in the world would deny it. And we do not speak merely of the Baptist denomination, but baptists in principle, whatever their name. It is not difficult to enforce or elucidate their position. Let us place Naaman the Syrian under the tuition of the Advance, and he could easily display the spirit which he did display, and reason it out logically. "I accept the divine sanction and peculiar grace put forth upon the prophet's injunction, but the essential thing is not the particular river to which I must go, or the form or mode of applying the water. The rivers of Damascus are just as good as Jordan, or sending my servant to bring some water and sprinkle it upon me is just as well as dipping myself in the river, as long as I, with a believing heart and in a right spirit, accept the grace offered in the precept." If the Advance can find any fault with this language in the mouth of Naaman, it is because there is a defect in its own article. But, had Naaman reasoned thus and acted accordingly, he would not have obeyed the prophet's direction. And none can deny that the grace offered is received in obeying the Lord's requirements, and not in substituting something else for them. When the sacrament was perverted in Corinth, Paul said, "This is not the Lord's supper." And so we might say of every perversion of the divine commandments, "This is not the Lord's ordinance." And there is no difficulty in framing reasons and excuses for any and every departure from the divine precepts. The Protestants deny the right of the Catholics to elevate the tradition to a level with the written word; but they only accept such traditions as "have a pious use." It is not so much the matter of accepting Scripture or tradition, as it is the spirit in which the believing heart accepts the grace which is offered to him who believes the gospel! And where shall this thing end? In his ninth, and last, article also the editor has strayed from the facts in the case. A part of it reads thus:— "They agree in protesting against any form of religious persecution, believing that to his own Master, even God, every man must be accountable, and that each individual possesses an incommunicable responsibility for his own religious beliefs; that in essentials all the sincere disciples of Christ, everywhere, of all names, of all grades of regenerate, spiritual development, are one." Now the truth is that they are more nearly a unit in denying the right of a denomination or of individuals to religiously carry out their conscientious convictions in obeying the fourth of the ten commandments exactly as Jehovah spoke it, and has given it to us in his written word. What evangelical Protestant denomination has raised its voice in a protest against the arbitrary persecuting laws of Pennsylvania, under which people are punished for obeying the fourth commandment of the ten? What denomination has repudiated the object of the "Religious Amendment" association, which openly avows its determination to disfranchise those who will not keep a day not mentioned in the commandment, in preference to the rest-day of Jehovah, which is enjoined in the commandment? The Advance cannot be ignorant of the object of this National Association which has the moral support of almost every large denomination in the land. It is far better to confess our faults than to try to evade the responsibility of them. If ever Catholics are convinced that the Protestant denominations are right, it must be by some better argument or reason than that of the unity of their faith! Whether it be fortunate or unfortunate, the fact remains that among them no unity of faith exists. Were we to select the large denominations, and then accept only those things as matters of faith in which they do not differ, we should find our creed to be beautifully small. Although the Advance thinks that however the questions are answered, the answer would amount to about the same, it is prudently careful to say,— "Now our Catholic questioner will please remark that in saying this, in answer to his questions, we do not assume to speak authoritatively for the rest; we only 'speak from the floor,' not ex cathedra." And here is just where the Catholic questioner can not fail to notice the difference between the Catholics and the Protestants. When a Catholic makes known his faith he does "speak authoritatively for the rest." They are of one faith. In noting these points we state explicitly that we have no manner of confidence in the Catholic system. We believe in "the unity of the faith," but not a unity enforced by arbitrary power. It must be under freedom of conscience, under the enlightening influence of the holy Bible. Unity of faith is not desirable if the faith be a false one. We only confess that there are serious errors among Protestants, even among those acknowledged as "evangelical." We would that there was among them a greater willingness to confess their errors, and to correct them, and less inclination to excuse them, or to evade the responsibility of them. DOES 2 Cor. 3 teach that the fourth commandment of the decalogue has been done away or abolished, as some contend? No. Those who refer to this chapter in proof of such a position, confound the law with the ministration of the law; the same as if a person should confound the Constitution of the United States with the regulations which govern the executive branch of the government. Paul indeed testifies in that chapter that something has been done away; but what is it? Let us see. Verse 7: "But if the ministration of death written and engraven in stones was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away." Verse 11: "For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious." Verses 13, 14: "And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: but their minds were blinded; for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament; which vail is done away in Christ." These are all the verses which contain the words, "done away," or "abolished;" and to what are they applied? In the first verse quoted, we are told definitely that it was a certain "glory" which was to be done away; in the second, it is "that," unspecified, which is done away; in the third, it is "that," unspecified, which is abolished; in the fourth, the object is again specified, namely, "the vail" which is done away in Christ. Looking at these verses again, we inquire, What glory does Paul refer to in verse 7, which was to be done away? The preceding sentence states plainly that it was the glory of Moses' countenance. On what occasion and under what circumstances was this glory manifested? Ex. 34:29-35 answers: When Moses came forth from the immediate presence of Jehovah, from whose hand he had just received the tables of the ten commandments, some of the surpassing glory in which he had been enveloped still lingered upon his countenance; and Aaron and the children of Israel were afraid to approach him because of the shining of his face. Therefore he put a vail over his face while he talked with them. Here are both the glory and the vail which were to be done away. Thus was the Mosaic dispensation established. It was a dispensation or ministration of glory. Paul proves this by the fact that when it was ordained the face of Moses reflected so much of its glory that the children of Israel were unable to look upon it. But this glory was to be done away. Why? and how? Because a new dispensation was to succeed that of Moses, and the glory of this latter dispensation was to overpower and eclipse that of the former, as the light of the rising sun obscures the moon and stars. This was the dispensation of Christ, or the ministration of the gospel. The chapter before us is a vivid contrasting of these two dispensations, the Mosaic and the Christian; and the glory of the former was to be done away by the surpassing glory of the latter. Before the magic of these few facts, the supposed difficulty of this chapter instantly disappears. That which was done away is plainly declared in the first instance, verse 7, to be the glory of that dispensation, as exhibited in the countenance of Moses. But it may be suggested that glory is a supplied word, and hence that the relative, "which," may refer to some other antecedent, and may mean the law. We reply, The relation of words to each other is much more clearly shown in the Greek language, in many instances, than in the English. In the case before us, that which our translators have rendered by the sentence, "Which glory was to be done away," is in the Greek simply the definite article and a participle; and this participle agrees in gender, number, and case, with the word glory which stands before it; and there is no other word in all the verse with which it can agree. This point is thus settled with absolute certainty. Our translators have given it the rendering they have, in119 humbled and penitent, and the morrow began a new life with each. We need not follow them further. Would that this story, founded on fact, might arouse other noble men to a sense of their duty—to an acknowledgment that they are their brothers' keepers, under God.—Christian Weekly. -The Arizona Legislature has appropriated $1,000 for fish propagation. -Connecticut takes out more patents in proportion to her population than any other State in the Union. -Eight hundred acres have been planted to flax in Santa Barbara county. -The population of Ireland has decreased nearly three millions in the past forty years. -Thirty persons have died of the plague in the province of Bagdad, within a short time. -Henry Stanley, the African explorer, was seen last November. He proposed to stay at Vivi for a while. -There are now in the United States 82,261 Sunday-schools, 886,328 teachers, and 6,623,134 Sunday-school scholars. -It is stated that within forty days Portland, Oregon, and Walla Walla, W. T., will be connected by railroad. -The writing on the sides of the New York obelisk is said to represent the chirography of Rufus Choate and Horace Greely. -The 17th, St. Patrick's day, is likely to be a great day for Ireland. They are uniting to make the celebration a rousing one. -The President of the Western Union Telegraph Company says that it has been decided to put wires underground in New York. -Turkey, regarding war with Greece as unavoidable is trying to prolong negotiations until the military stores from America arrive. -Yale began to confer degrees in 1702, and since that time has given them to 11,939 individuals—exclusive of 923 honorary degrees. -Lieutenant Schwatka intends to visit his parents in Oregon early next month, and start on another Arctic expedition next spring. -In order to encourage the coming of Protestant missionaries into Brazil, the Emperor has offered to pay the expense of their transportation. -The inaugural address of President Garfield touches upon subjects of the utmost importance and is received with general favor by the people. -There are now 2,269 lager beer breweries in the United States. These turned out last year one barrel for every four persons in the country. -The Nebraska Legislature has passed a law that no screens shall be permitted in saloons, and that it shall be a misdemeanor for one man to "treat" another. -In the year 1900 February will have but 28 days, although a leap year. This phenomenon occurs once in 200 years, and always in the odd 100. -A telegram from Cork says: "The authorities are in possession of information that some 2,000 Fenians are now there, and secret drilling is going on." -A burial lot for friendless young men who die in New York, has been given in Woodlawn Cemetery by the Young Men's Christian Association of New York. -Mrs. Valeria G. Stone has given away $1,800,000 in less than three years. It was agreed upon with her husband before his death that she should dispose of the property, about $2,000,000, as she saw fit, for educational and benevolent purposes. -Consumption of coffee in the United States, as shown by the warehouse deliveries, for three years: 1880, 2,203,733 bags; 1879, 2,243,002 bags; 1878, 1,903,157 bags. -A telegram from London, March 6, stated that it had been snowing steadily in Scotland for seventy hours. Traffic was blocked, and many shipwrecks were reported on the coast. -A Christian village has been founded in the heart of the slave district near Lake Nyassa, Central Africa. Eight new English missionaries joined Bishop Steere in that country last year. -The Supreme Court of Maine has decided that "a church is not a corporation with authority to create debt in erecting a house of worship." It might be a good thing if such a law were to prevail in every State. -Fifty ladies of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union who were at the Executive Mansion Tuesday, February 1, will present President Garfield with a portrait of Mrs. Hayes, to be placed in the White House. -Remodeled regulations for the elementary schools in France have just been issued. They forbid corporal punishment, and provide that the wish of the father shall always be consulted as to participation in religious instruction. -The Guardian, the conservative organ of Anglican churchmen, has opened its columns to the discussion of disestablishment. This is significant of the English feeling, as a proposal to have such a discussion in those columns ten or even five years ago would have been judged insane. -A new park five times as large as Central Park is being talked of by Boston people. It lies six miles from the city, and is in the borders of six towns. It is described as a wild, rocky, picturesque wilderness, which Charles Sumner once remarked was a slice of Switzerland set down in Massachusetts. -The Chicago Times says that the losses to the principal Western railroads by snow blockades, will more than equal the net earnings of those lines for January and February. Nearly one thousand miles of the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul R. R. in Minnesota and Dakota, have practically been blockaded all winter. -The New York World's City of Mexico correspondent says: "The Mormons, who perhaps anticipate difficulties with the new regime about to be inaugurated at home, have again been endeavoring to procure lands for a large colony of the saints. So far the Mexican Government has taken no action in the matter, but may when Congress assembles." -A woman near Boston, who has been blind for five years, is rejoicing in having found a needle that she can thread herself, by means of a catch or spring in the eye, and is thus enabled to do plain sewing. The needles are fifteen cents a paper, and can be had by addressing Mr. Theodore Tillinghast, care of Wamsutta Needle Co., New Bedford, Mass. -The French Government, it is said, is going on steadily with the work of separation of Church and State. The Supreme Council on prisons is to be reconstructed as the Educational Council has been. The representatives of the different religious denominations are to be excluded. The Archbishop of Paris, the chief Rabbi and the President of the Protestant Consistory have heretofore been ex-officio members of the Council, but hereafter they will not be so recognized. -Terrible shipping disasters are reported on the Aberdeenshire coast, Scotland, Saturday, March 5. No less than nine vessels were wrecked and one hundred lives lost. One vessel was the Liverpool ship Ben Rhydding, from Calcutta. All the crew, thirty in number, perished within sight of land. No such storm is remembered within a century as has raged from Tuesday to Saturday. -Garfield's cabinet, which has been the object of so much speculating by the press, as finally announced, gives very general satisfaction. It is as follows: For Secretary of State, James G. Blaine of Maine; for Secretary of the Treasury, William Windom of Minnesota; for Attorney-General, Wayne MacVeagh of Pennsylvania; for Postmaster-General, Thomas L. James of New York; for Secretary of the Interior, Samuel J. Kirkwood of Iowa; for Secretary of War, Robert T. Lincoln of Illinois; for Secretary of the Navy, William A. Hunt of Louisiana. -A telegram from Rome, March 6, states that "the loss of life by the earthquake on the Island of Ischia is appalling. One hundred and two bodies have been found at Cassamaciate up to the present, and many others are under the ruins of the buildings. In the village of Lacco thirteen houses were destroyed and five persons killed. It is stated that three hundred houses have fallen at Cassamacciola. The Government is sending relief. No corpses have been recovered. Sixty-one wounded persons were sent to the hospitals. The fissures in the streets were fifty centimetres wide." "And there are your grab-bags—your grab-bags! I tell you there is too much of this. Your fairs and your bazaars won't do, and your voting, your casting of ballots for the most popular man or the most popular woman, just helping along their vanity. I tell you it grieves the Spirit, it offends God. They've got so far now that for twenty-five cents young men can come in and kiss the handsomest woman in the room. Think of this! Look at the church lotteries going on in New York. Before God, I would rather preach in any barn, or in the most miserable hovel on earth, than within the walls of a church paid for in such a way. What is the use of going to a gambling den when you can have a game of grab with a lady for a partner? I tell you it's about time you stopped hiring ungodly men and ungodly women to sing in your church choirs just because they have a good voice. You smile. I tell you it's no smiling matter. You ought to blush with shame; that's what you ought to do. And there is such a thing as having an organist who gets drunk, and who can't play but he must go back every now and then and get a drink to refresh him." OBITUARY.
By Alonzo T. Jones
PALMER.—Died, February 12, 1881, near Dayton, W. T., Sister Eliza Palmer, aged 71 years. Sister Palmer, with her husband and others of her family, embraced present truth in 1875, under the labors of Bro. I. D. Van Horn. Funeral discourse by the writer, from Psalms 17:15, at request of deceased.