This lesson, as well as the last, should be carefully studied in connection with the corresponding records in Matt. 24, 25, and Luke 21. Matthew gives the fullest account of our Lord's great prophetic discourse, and in it, rather than in Mark or Luke, do we find the key to its interpretation and the data by means of which we are enabled to rightly divide the teaching as it refers to the several classes of persons who are most deeply interested in it. The immediate and primary reference to the destruction of Jerusalem and the tribulation attending that awful period is soon lost sight of in the greater and more appalling events which it symbolizes. From the destruction of the temple and the sacking of Jerusalem by the Romans, the Master proceeds to the consideration of the greater events that will usher in the end of the world. (Matt. 24:3.) It is not to be supposed, for a moment, that the destruction of Jerusalem, dreadful as that event was, and frightful as were the circumstances attending it, fills up the lines of this wonderful prophecy. We must look ahead to that more dreadful time spoken of by Daniel the prophet, and elaborated by St. John in the Apocalypse.
Two methods of treating this lesson are open to us. First, we may attempt a minute and careful exposition of the whole prophecy, and point out its several scenes and parts in the order of their prophetic fulfillment. This would involve an amount of study, and the examination and comparison of so much Scripture, and the criticism of so many conflicting theories of interpretation, that we should become hopelessly lost in a maze. Second, we may indicate the general drift of the prophetic teaching, and leave our readers to pursue the study of detail according to the best light and help they may be able to find. . . . Our Lord's second coming and the end of the world, while they are often spoken of in the Scripture as one event, as "the day of the Lord," "that great and notable day," etc., constitute, in fact, one great double event in which there are many minor and contributing happenings. If the whole were dramatized (as, in a sense, it is by the prophets), it would be seen to comprise, in the course of the development, many separate acts and scenes."—G. F. Pentecost.
This lesson opens with a reference to the long period of Papal persecution, namely, from 538 to 1798. This time is mentioned in Daniel 7:25, and also in parallel passages in Revelation. During that time, over 50,000,000 of Christians suffered death at the hands of Papists. Referring to this our Lord says: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken; and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." Mark makes it more definite, thus: "But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light."
From Matt. 24:22 we learn that those days of cruel persecution were to be shortened for the "elect's sake." Some seek to apply this text to the destruction of Jerusalem, but the elect were not in that city. Not a Christian was in Jerusalem during the final siege by the Romans. The Papacy was clothed with civil power to punish heretics for 1,260 years; and had not the period of tribulation of the elect, in the providence of God, been shortened, the martyrdom of the church would have continued to 1798, in which event, in all human probability, no flesh of the elect would have been saved. But the Reformation under Martin Luther and those associated with his great reform, modified this tribulation, and continued to restrain the rage and consume the power of the Papacy until 1700, since which time, according to all church history, there has been no general persecution against the church. In this was fulfilled the words of the prophets: "The earth helped the woman." Rev. 12:16. "They shall be holpen with a little help." Dan. 11:34.
We have before seen that our Lord speaks of the long period of tribulation upon his followers, and we have also seen how those days of tribulation were shortened for the elect's sake. Christ says that the sun should be darkened immediately after the tribulation of those days. We refer to the noted dark day of May 19, 1780, as the fulfillment of this declaration. We do not say after those days, but "after the tribulation of those days." The days (1,260 years, Dan. 7:25) reached to 1798, eighteen years later than the dark day in 1780. As given in Mark 13:24, this point is still plainer: "But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened." That is, before the 1,260 years closed, but after the tribulation or martyrdom of the saints ceased, the sun was darkened. Those who would point to the future, or to the past prior to the eighteenth century, for the darkening of the sun here mentioned, will do well to read again Mark 13:24: "But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened."
"A something strikingly awful shall forewarn that the world will come to an end, and that the last day is even at the door."—Martin Luther.
In May 19, 1780, there was a remarkable fulfillment of the predicted darkening of the sun; and in reference to the facts and date, there can be no doubt; for besides the historical accounts, which all agree, there were many aged persons, with whom men of the present generation have mingled and conversed, who witnessed it, and have testified to it.
"In the month of May, 1780, there was a very terrific dark day in New England, when 'all faces seemed to gather blackness,' and the people were filled with fear. There was great distress in the village where Edward Lee lived; 'men's hearts failing them for fear' that the Judgment-day was at hand, and the neighbors all flocked around the holy man; for his lamp was trimmed, and shining brighter than ever, amidst the unnatural darkness. Happy and joyful in God, he pointed them to their only refuge from the wrath to come, and spent the gloomy hours in earnest prayer for the distressed multitude."—Tract No. 379 of Am. Tract Society—Life of Edward Lee.
"The 19th day of May, 1780, was a remarkably dark day. Candles were lighted in many houses. The birds were silent, and disappeared. The fowls retired to roost. It was the general opinion that the day of Judgment was at hand. The Legislature of Connecticut was in session, at Hartford, but being unable to transact business, adjourned."—President Dwight, in (Ct.) Historical Collections.
The supernatural darkening of the sun, May 19, 1780, has been so universally understood that Noah Webster's dictionary, under the head of Explanatory and Pronouncing Vocabulary of Noted Names, says, "The dark day, May 19, 1780;—so called on account of a remarkable darkness on that day, extending over all New England. . . . The true cause of this remarkable phenomenon is not known."
"THE MOON SHALL NOT GIVE HER LIGHT."
"The night succeeding that day (May 19, 1780), was of such pitchy darkness that in some instances horses could not be compelled to leave the stable when wanted for service. About midnight, the clouds were dispersed, and the moon and stars appeared with unimpaired brilliancy."—Stone's History of Beverly.
Mr. Tenny, of Exeter, N. H., quoted by Mr. Gage, to the Historical Society, speaking of the dark day and dark night of May 19, 1780, says: "The darkness of the following evening was probably as gross as has ever been observed since the Almighty first gave birth to light."
"THE STARS SHALL FALL FROM HEAVEN."
We here give an extract from an article written by Henry Dana Ward, in regard to the falling stars of Nov. 13, 1833, published in the Journal of Commerce, Nov. 15, 1833: "At the cry, 'Look out of the window,' I sprang from a deep sleep, and with wonder saw the east lighted up with the dawn and meteors. The zenith, the north, and the west also, showed the falling stars, in the very image of one thing, and only one, I ever heard of. I called to my wife to behold; and while robing she exclaimed, 'See how the stars fall!' I replied, 'That is the wonder!' and we felt in our hearts that it was a sign of the last days. For, truly, 'the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.' Rev. 6:13. This language of the prophet has always been received as metaphorical. Yesterday, it was literally fulfilled. The ancients understood by aster, in Greek, and stella, in Latin, the smaller lights of heaven. The refinement of modern astronomy has made the distinction between stars of heaven and meteors of heaven. Therefore, the idea of the prophet, as it is expressed in the original Greek, was literally fulfilled in the phenomenon of yesterday."
Professor Olmstead, of Yale College, says: "The extent of the shower of 1833 was such as to cover no inconsiderable part of the earth's surface, from the middle of the Atlantic on the east, to the Pacific on the west; and from the northern coast of South America, to undefined regions among the British possessions on the north, the exhibition was visible, and everywhere presented nearly the same appearance. The meteors did not fly at random over all parts of the sky, but appeared to emanate from a point in the constellation Leo, near a star called Gamma Leonis, in the bend of the sickle. This is no longer to be regarded as a terrestrial, but as a celestial, phenomenon, and shooting stars are now to be no more viewed as casual productions of the upper regions of the atmosphere, but as visitants from other worlds, or from the planetary voids."
POWERS OF THE HEAVENS SHAKEN.
This event we must regard as being future. It holds the same place in the events of this chapter that the departing of the heavens as a scroll does in the events of the sixth seal of Rev. 6. Both follow the falling stars. Please compare Matt. 24:29, 30 with Rev. 6:12, 17. But though nature be convulsed, the people of God will be safe. Islands may disappear, and mountains be thrown down; but the saints will remain unharmed. Earthquakes may break up the earth's surface, so that kings and nobles, rich and poor, bond and free, may hide "themselves in dens and in the rocks of the mountains," still God will be the hope of his people.—James White.
The Missionary.
By John Norton Loughborough
GENERAL CALIFORNIA CAMP-MEETING.
THIS meeting was held, according to appointment, in the city of Fresno, April 2 to 8. It was preceded by a workers' meeting which opened on the evening of March 27. Both the camp-meeting proper and the workers' meeting were quite well attended; the workers' meeting not so largely as it would have been had it been understood by all our people that such a meeting is of the greatest importance to those who design to engage in any branch of the work, instead of being simply an occasion of labor in pitching tents. This being the first workers' meeting held in connection with the Central California camp-meeting, the nature of the meeting was not so fully understood as it will be hereafter. Our camp-meetings are so short that our people need the opportunity of the workers' meeting to obtain the full benefit that they require.252This was the largest camp, and the largest attendance of Seventh-day Adventists, we have ever had in that part of the State. There were seventy camping-tents upon the ground. In these there were, by actual count, three hundred and twenty-seven campers. There were also many of our people living in Fresno, near to the camp, who attended the meeting but did not camp upon the grounds. Our camp-meeting Sabbath-school, held the morning of Sabbath, April 6, numbered four hundred members, and was divided into forty-seven classes. The Sabbath-school contribution, all going to the Russian Mission, amounted to $57.10. The services of the camp-meeting were held in a pavilion, 60x100 feet, which was well filled each evening of the meeting; on some occasions many went away because there was not room for them in the tent. There was deep interest on the part of the people of the town. Twenty-two sermons were preached during the camp-meeting; these were given by Elders E. J. Waggoner, E. P. Daniels, N. C. McClure, Isaac Morrison, and the writer. Brother J. H. Cook conducted a class of workers, whose special business it was to give attention to the spiritual interest of the camp. This class had one or two meetings each day for instruction in the important branch of labor for complete conversion to God. Brother Leland conducted a canvassing class each day, except Sabbath. This class not only had opportunity for instruction, but a practical application of that instruction in a canvass of the camp for our various periodicals.
The children's meetings, which were conducted by Elder McClure, were a success in that many souls were led to give their hearts to God. Each day of the meeting there was also a young people's Bible-class, conducted by Brother Guilford, Jr., and others; this comprised those between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five, and was full of interest.
The spiritual interest of the meeting was good from the first, and with the first day of the meeting calls were made for those desiring to get nearer the Lord, or to give their hearts to him. The afternoon service on most of the days of the meeting was a revival service, comprising a brief sermon, a call, and labor for those seeking God. Sometimes as many as one hundred and fifty were forward at once upon the front seats. There were many hopeful conversions, and many obtained a richer experience than ever before in the pardoning love of God. At the close of the camp-meeting, there were thirty-six baptized in the baptismal font of the Christian Church, and others residing in Fresno will be baptized soon. The interest among the citizens of the place was such that, at their earnest request, and that of our own people, the pavilion was left standing for another week, and Brother Daniels is conducting services each evening.
There was one new feature connected with this camp-meeting, of which I wish to speak, it was a "cooking school," conducted by Sister F. L. McClure. This was held in the restaurant tent for six afternoons, from 3:30 to 5 P. M. This class was attended by one hundred ladies, some of them citizens of the place who were not of our faith. All expressed themselves as highly benefited by these practical lessons. They were not only taught the theory of hygienic cooking, but practical demonstration was made before them in preparing and cooking the various dishes. In this the class took part, thus obtaining experimental instruction in properly cooking the various grains and vegetables that they may be both wholesome and palatable, as also lessons in that most important branch of cookery, bread making.
I look back upon this camp-meeting as a bright spot in my experience. And I think all of our people there thus regard it. As they left the camp they were happy in God, and many of them expressed themselves as richly paid for all their labor and painstaking in preparing for and coming to the camp.
There has been a very thorough canvas of this central district during the last few months, with the remonstrance to the Blair bills, and this has awakened an earnest desire in many places to hear on the present truth. If it were possible to do so, there are a dozen places in that district where they desire tents erected immediately for the proclamation of the truth. Brother D. C. Hunter will start out with a forty-four-foot tent next week, and others will labor either in Bible reading, colporter work, or preaching at two other points. As we look over that, and other fields, ripe for labor, we can only call the attention of our readers to the words of our Lord: "Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest." "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest." "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few."
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.
TOMMY BROWN.
"What is your name?" asked the teacher.
"Tommy Brown, ma'am," answered the boy.
He was a pathetic little figure, with a thin face, large, hollow eyes, and pale cheeks, that plainly told of insufficient food. He wore a suit of clothes evidently made for someone else. They were patched in places with cloth of different colors. His shoes were old, his hair cut square in the neck in the unpracticed manner that women sometimes cut boy's hair. It was a bitter day, yet he wore no overcoat, and his bare hands were red with the cold.
"How old are you, Tommy?"
"Nine year old come next April. I've learnt to read at home, and I can cipher a little."
"Well, it is time for you to begin school. Why have you never come before?"
The boy fumbled with a cap in his hands, and did not reply at once. It was a ragged cap, with frayed edges, and the original color of the fabric no man could tell.
Presently he said: "I never went to school 'cause—'cause—well, mother takes in washin' an' she couldn't spare me. But Sissy is big enough now to help, an' she minds the baby besides."
It was not quite time for school to begin. All around the teacher and the new scholar stood the boys that belonged in the room. While he was making his confused explanation some of the boys laughed, and one of them called out, "Say, Tommy, where are your cuffs and collar?" And another said,
"You must sleep in the ragbag at night, by the looks of your clothes!" Before the teacher could quiet them, another boy had volunteered the information that the father of the new boy was "old Si Brown, who is always as drunk as a fiddler."
The poor child looked around at his tormentors like a hunted thing. Then, before the teacher could detain him, with a suppressed cry of misery, he ran out of the room, out of the building, down the street, and was seen no more.
The teacher went to her duties with a troubled heart. All day long the child's pitiful face haunted her. At night it came to her dreams. She could not rid herself of the memory of it. After a little trouble, she found the place where he lived, and with two friends went to visit him.
It was a dilapidated house, in a street near the river. The family lived in the back part of the house, in a frame addition. The ladies climbed the outside stairs that led to the room occupied by the Brown family. When they first entered, they could scarcely discern objects, the room was so filled with the steam of the soap-suds. There were two windows, but a tall brick building adjacent shut out the light. It was a gloomy day too, with gray, lowering clouds that forbade even the memory of sunshine.
A woman stood before a washtub. When they entered, she wiped her hands on her apron and came forward to meet them.
Once she had been pretty. But the color and light had all gone out of her face, leaving only sharpened outlines and haggardness of expression.
She asked them to sit down, in a listless, uninterested manner; then, taking a chair herself, she said:—
"Sissy, give me the baby."
A little girl came forward from a dark corner of the room, carrying a baby, that she laid in its mother's lap—a lean and sickly-looking baby, with the same hollow eyes that little Tommy had.
"Your baby doesn't look strong," said one of the ladies.
"No, ma'am, she ain't very well. I have to work hard, and I expect it affects her;" and the woman coughed, as she held the child to her breast.
This room was the place where the family ate, slept, and lived. There was no carpet on the floor, an old table, three or four chairs, a broken stove, a bed in one corner, in the opposite corner a trundle-bed—that was all.
"Where is your little boy, Tommy?" asked one of the visitors.
"He is there in the trundle-bed," replied the mother.
"Is he sick?"
"Yes'm, and the doctor thinks he ain't going to get well." At this the mother laid her head on the baby's face, while the tears ran down her thin and faded cheeks.
"What is the matter with him?"
"He was never very strong, and he's had to work too hard, carrying water and helping me lift the washtubs, and things like that."
"Is his father dead?"
"No, he ain't dead. He used to be a good workman, and we had a comfortable home. But all he earns now—and that ain't much—goes for drink. If he'd only let me have what little I make over the washtub. But half the time he takes that away from me, and then the children go hungry."
She took the child off her shoulder. It was asleep now, and she laid it across her lap.
"Tommy has been crazy to go to school. I never could spare him till this winter. He thought if he could get a little education he'd be able to help take care of Sissy and baby and me. He knew he'd never be able to work hard. So I fixed up his clothes as well as I could, and last week he started. I was afraid the boys would laugh at him, but he thought he could stand it if they did. I stood in the door and watched him going. I can't ever forget how the little fellow looked," she continued, the tears streaming down her face. "His patched-up clothes, his old shoes, his ragged cap, his poor little anxious look. He turned round to me as he left the yard, and said, 'Don't worry, mother; I ain't going to mind what the boys say.' But he did mind; it wasn't an hour till he was back again. I believe the child's heart was just broke. I thought mine was broke years ago. If it was, it was broke over again that day. I can stand most anything myself, but, oh, I can't bear to see my children suffer!" Here she broke down in a fit of convulsive weeping. The little girl came up to her quietly, and stole a thin little arm around her mother's neck. "Don't cry, mother," she whispered, "don't cry."
The woman made an effort to check her tears, and wiped her eyes. As soon as she could speak with any degree of calmness, she continued:—
"Poor little Tommy cried all day; I couldn't comfort him. He said it wasn't any use trying to do anything. Folks would only laugh at him for being a drunkard's little boy. I tried to comfort him before my husband came home. I told him his father would be mad if he saw him crying. But it wasn't any use. It seemed like he couldn't stop. His father came and saw him. He wouldn't have done it if he hadn't been drinking. He ain't a bad man when he is sober. I hate to tell it, but he whipped Tommy. And the child fell and struck his head. I suppose he'd a' been sick, anyway. But, oh, my poor little boy! my sick, suffering child!" she cried. "How can they let men sell a thing that makes the innocent suffer so?"
A little voice spoke from the bed. One of the ladies went to him. There he lay, poor little defenseless victim. He lived in a Christian land, in a country that takes great care to protect sheep, and diligently legislates over its game! Would that the children were as precious as brutes and birds!
His face was flushed, and the hollowed eyes were bright. There was a long purple mark on his temple. He put up one little wasted hand to cover it, while he said:—
"Father wouldn't have done it if he hadn't been drinking." Then, in his queer, piping voice, weak with sickness, he half whispered: "I'm glad I'm going to die. I'm too weak ever to help mother, anyhow." He turned his head feebly on his pillow, and said, in a low tone: "Some day—they ain't going—to let the saloons—keep open. But I'm afraid—poor father—will be dead—before then." Then he shut his eyes from weariness.253The next morning the sun shone in on the dead face of little Tommy.
He is only one of many. There are hundreds like him in tenement houses, slums and alleys in town, in country. Poor little martyrs, whose tears fall almost unheeded; who are cold and hungry in this Christian land; whose hearts and bodies are bruised with unkindness. And yet "the liquor traffic is a legitimate business, and must not be interfered with," so it is said.
Over eighteen hundred years ago it was also said:—
"Whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in Me, it were better for him that a mill-stone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea."—Common School Education.
The Home Circle.
WE CAN MAKE HOME HAPPY.
Though we may not change the cottage
For a mansion tall and grand,
Or exchange a little grass plot
For a boundless stretch of land,
Yet there's something brighter, nearer,
Than the wealth we'd thus command.
Though we have no means to purchase
Costly pictures, rich and rare,
Though we have no silken hangings
For the walls so cold and bare,
We can hang them o'er with garlands,
For flowers bloom everywhere.
We can always make home cheerful,
If the right course we begin;
We can make its inmates happy,
And their truest blessings win;
It will make the small room brighter,
If we let the sunshine in.
When we gather round the fireside
When the evening hours are long,
We can blend our hearts and voices
In a happy, social song;
We can guide some erring brother,
Lead him from the path of wrong.
We may fill our home with music,
And with sunshine brimming o'er,
If against all dark intruders
We will firmly shut the door;
Yet, should evil's shadow enter,
We must love each other more.
There are treasures for the lowly
Which the grandest fail to find;
There are chains of sweet affection
Binding friends of kindred mind.
We may reap the choicest blessings
From the poorest lot assigned.
—Selected.
Health and Temperance.
By John B. Gough
PLAIN AND POINTED LOGIC.
I WISH to say that the clergymen of the Church of England are positively doing more against the temperance cause than dissenters; and the same is true of their wives. I was invited to lunch with a clergyman, who is now bishop of Carlisle, and we had a discussion for two hours. A titled lady was present, and she helped him. I was alone, and had to bear the brunt of the battle in scriptural argument.
"The Bible permits the use of wine," said he.
"Very well," said I, "suppose it does?"
"The Bible sanctions the use of wine."
"Very well, suppose it does?"
"Our Saviour made wine."
"I know he did."
"Why, we thought you were prepared to deny this."
"I do not deny it. I can read."
"Wine is spoken of in the Bible as a blessing."
I replied, "There are two kinds of wine spoken of in the Bible."
"Prove it."
"I do not know that I can, but I will tell what it is: the wine that is spoken of as a 'blessing' is not the same that is a 'mocker,' and the wine that is to be drunk in the kingdom of Heaven cannot be the wine of the wrath of God. So that, although I cannot prove it learnedly, I know it is so.
"Now, there are others who go farther than I can go, but you will please let me go just as far as I can understand it, and if I cannot go any farther, don't find fault with me. I hold the Bible permits total abstinence; and I would rather search the Bible for permission to give up a lawful gratification for the sake of my weak-headed brother, who stumbles over my examples into sin, than to see how far I can follow my own propensities without committing sin, and bringing condemnation upon anyone's soul."
Another gentlemen who came to me for a long talk, said: "I have a conscientious objection to teetotalism, and it is this: Our Saviour made wine at the marriage of Cana, in Galilee."
"I know he did."
"He made it because they wanted it."
"So the Bible tells us."
"He made it out of water."
"Yes."
"Then he honored and sanctified the wine by performing a miracle to make it. Therefore," said he, "I should be guilty of ingratitude, and should be reproaching my Master, if I denied its use as a beverage."
"Sir," said I, "I can understand how you should feel so; but is there nothing else you put by, which our Saviour has honored?"
"No, I do not know that there is."
"Do you eat barley bread?"
"No," and then he began to laugh.
"And why not?"
"Because I don't like it."
"Very well, sir," said I, "our Saviour sanctified barley bread just as much as he ever did wine. He fed five thousand people with barley loaves, manufactured by a miracle. You put away barley from the low motive of not liking it. I ask you to put away wine from the higher motive of bearing the infirmity of your weaker brother, and so fulfilling the law of Christ." I wish to say that the man signed the pledge three days afterwards.—John B. Gough.
MOTHER AND SONS.
By Canada Presbyterian
DOES any boy who reads this paper feel that he has a hard time with his chores about the house? I wish he would read this account of a family of four—father, mother, and two sons—who lived years ago "in a small house situated in the roughest locality of the rocky town of Ashford, Connecticut."
The family was very poor; a few acres of stony land, a dozen sheep, and one cow supported them. The sheep clothed them and the cow gave milk and did the work of a horse in plowing and harrowing; corn-bread, milk, and bean porridge were their fare. The father being laid aside by ill health, the burden of supporting the family rested on the mother; she did her work in the house, and helped the boys do their work on the farm. Once in the dead of winter, one of the boys required a new suit of clothes. There was neither money nor wool on hand. The mother sheared the half-grown fleece from a sheep, and in one week the suit was on the boy. The shorn sheep was protected from the cold by a garment made of braided straw. The family lived four miles from the "meeting-house," yet every Sunday the mother and her two sons walked to church. One of these sons became the pastor of a church in Franklin, Conn., to which he preached for sixty-one years; two generations went forth from that church to make the world better. The other son also became a minister, and then one of the most successful college presidents; hundreds of young men were moulded by him.
The heroic Christian woman's name was Deborah Nott; she was the mother of the Rev. Samuel Nott, D. D., and of Eliphalet Nott, D. D., LL.D., president of Union College.—Canada Presbyterian.
THE WATER SUPPLY FOR LIVERPOOL.
LIVERPOOL, England, needed an additional water supply, and the Government went into Wales, seventy miles away, and bought a large valley, including the village of Llanwyddyn. This valley is now being filled with a body of water five miles long and eighty-four feet deep. It is understood that all the houses, the church, two chapels, tavern, and post-office are to remain as they were, and are gradually being submerged under the collecting water that pours into the valley. A new village has been built near by, and all the Llanwyddyans have removed to it.—Selected.
HATES DRUNKARDS.
The drunkard maker always hates his oldest and most liberal customers, and is proud of cursing them and kicking them out. How we should be surprised to hear a shoe-maker slam the door against an old customer and say, "You villainous old scamp, I've made boots and shoes for you and your family for twenty years, and you have paid me for them, and here you are again after more shoes; get out, and don't let me ever see your face again." How funny it would look to see a tailor basting an old school-mate into the gutter because, after getting his clothes there for fifteen years, he wants to buy an overcoat! or a minister assaulting an old stand-by because he has been twenty-five years a communicant and elder in his church, and therefore must be unfit company for anybody. But that is the way the League of Freedom and the Grocers' Protective Union treat their old patrons. By the way, it is time the old drunkards were beginning to get ashamed of the drunkard makers, who are ashamed to call their own business by its own name.—Rescue.
The Progress of Total Abstinence
A TOTAL abstinence journal called La Feuille de Temperance has been established in France. In a recent issue, Prof. G. Bunge, who is considered an authority upon alcoholic subjects, referring to the advance of total abstinence principles, says that when once established they suffer no arrest by obstacles, but are continually progressant. He reviews the prohibition movement in America, and says that in England there are 5,000,000 total abstainers; in Norway, 100,000; in Sweden, 60,000; in Denmark, 30,000. He continues:
"The society of the Blue Cross, at ten years of age, counts 5,000 members, and the movement gains from day to day. They have established the fact that where the principle of total abstinence is once accepted the movement stops for no obstacles; it continually progresses, until at last it secures a strong majority in the Government and attains its end,—the prevention by law of the sale of alcoholic beverages."
Whisky Saloons and Race Trouble
By Nashville Christian Advocate
The nucleus of a race trouble in the South is in almost every case a whisky saloon. The parties to it are usually the most vicious elements of both races. A drunken white man and a drunken negro have in them the conditions of combustion wherever they come in contact. When drunkenness does not exhibit its effects in low fun and obscenity, it is apt to take the form of brutality. The whisky bottle and the pistol are the devil's twin agents. We know of no case in which a race difficulty has originated among the sober, respectable element of either race. The respectable, industrious element of both races could live together to the end of time without serious trouble.—Nashville Christian Advocate.
LOCKWOOD, MONTEREY COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
By George E. Hollister
We feel very grateful for the good work accomplished here, and for the blessings of God vouchsafed during the past week; Elder Wm. Ings reached here March 29, and remained until the 5th inst.
Sabbath, March 30, the Lord's Spirit came divinely near, sins were confessed and difficulties removed that had previously hindered the work.
For six days, during Elder Ings' stay, we enjoyed such a feast as this people had never before had. Nearly all work was laid aside, some bringing their lunches and remaining from morning until night.
On Thursday, the 4th inst., nine adults were baptized upon the profession of their faith, afterward a church was organized and the ordinances of the Lord's house celebrated. A Tract and Missionary Society was also organized.
We feel that the little vine here planted will be an honor to the Husbandman, and we pray that it may be found with an abundant harvest, ripened, when he shall send his angels to gather the vintage.
GEO. E. HOLLISTER.
News and Notes.
By Editor
—Rio Janeiro is afflicted with an epidemic of yellow and typhoid fevers.
—One hundred and forty Alsatians have been fined 600 marks each for failing to report for service in the German army.
—The Michigan House of Representatives on the 11th inst. passed a bill prohibiting the manufacture, sale, or giving away of cigarettes.
—Scores of families are threatened with eviction from their homes in Donegal, Ireland, and are making defensive preparations, which may end in bloodshed.
—The Spanish Government has refused China's request for permission to establish Consulates in Manila, and at other points in the Spanish colonies in the Pacific.
—Heavy thunder, wind, and hail-storms visited Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio, and Maryland the 12th inst., doing considerable damage to stock and buildings.
—The Southern Pacific Company has established several new hospital stations along its line of road in New Mexico and Arizona Territories, for the benefit of its employés.
—Secretary Windom has given orders to again start the mint at Carson City, Nevada, which will hereafter run on regular time, on gold and silver coinage, as in years past.
—Owing to the suspension of labor on the Panama Canal, over 3,000 persons on the line of works are in a destitute condition, several deaths from starvation having already occurred.
—As the Provincial Treasury of Quebec is absolutely empty, it is difficult to see where the money is to come from with which to pay the $400,000 provided for in the Jesuits' Estate Act.
—The five States of Central America are taking measures to establish a confederacy. A code of international law is being formulated, and other important features are to be introduced.
—It is authoritatively stated that no opinion will be rendered in the Chae Chang Ping case until early in May. The U. S. Supreme Bench is divided upon several material points connected with the case.
—Chevreul, the distinguished French chemist, is dead. For several years he has been one of the foremost scientists in France, as well as the most distinguished centenarian. He was 102 years old.
—Evidently Boulanger is still an object of fear to the French Government, as at latest accounts it was determined to crush him and his associates, seventeen of whom will be indicted by the Senate court.
—The Mormon Conference, just closed, elected Wilford Woodruff president of the church, with George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith as counselors. Lorenzo Snow becomes president of the Twelve Apostles.
—The State Department at Washington announced officially April 10, that there would be a cessation of naval demonstrations in Samoan waters. Bismarck has proposed that the two Governments maintain only one vessel each at Samoa, instead of three, as at first contemplated.
—It is rumored that the operators employed by the Western Union Telegraph Company have again banded themselves together in a secret organization. It is not improbable that before the summer closes there may be a sudden stoppage of all the Western Union business, and a general strike among its thousands of operators.
—The Catholic Total Abstinence News, the organ of the Catholic Temperance Union of Pennsylvania, has come out violently opposed to the Prohibition Amendment. It says it will make the evils of the illegal traffic a hundred-fold worse, and quotes the utterances of high Catholic dignitaries in favor of license and against Prohibition.
—Won Kwang Pei, formerly of the Chinese Embassy at Washington, advocates the expulsion of every American in the service of China as a reprisal for the exclusion of Chinamen from America. In a memorial on the subject he refers with contempt to the American navy, which he declares would be powerless in an aggressive movement.
—Many will remember the great overflow of the Yellow River, in China, last year, which caused such loss of life. Recent advices state that after almost superhuman effort, the breach has at last been closed, and the river runs in its accustomed channel once more. It is possible, however, that a further outbreak may occur in the next month as a result of the melting of the snow in the mountains.
Win by Tenderness
By Frederick William Robertson
Always hold fast to love. We win by tenderness, and conquer by forgiveness.—F. W. Robertson.
SAN JOSE, CAL.
By John Frederick Bahler
APRIL 5-11 Brother Wm. Ings was with the church at this place. He held two Bible-readings, gave five discourses, attended the ordinances of the Lord's house, conducted a Tract Society meeting, and a church business meeting. The closing meeting was one of deep interest, confession of past wrong being witnessed to by God's holy Spirit.
The meeting for the celebration of the ordinances was also a very precious season. God's sweet Spirit rested upon us to that degree that it seemed, indeed, as one sister said, "as though we had dropped anchor in still waters."
The instruction given was good, beneficial, and timely. Much good was also accomplished by Brother Ings in visiting the different members. To God belongs all the praise and glory.