Earlier text: SPRINGFIELD, OHIOHAVE GOD'S COMMANDMENTS BEEN ABOLISHED?
By R. F. Cottrell
WHEN God came down upon Mount Sinai, and gave the ten commandments with his own voice, it is said that he gave to the people, "right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments." Neh. 9:13. These commandments, laws, or judgments were given as a rule of righteousness, or right doing. They are primary laws, showing what is right and wrong; and obedience to them is what constitutes righteousness, or a right moral character. Said Moses concerning these laws, "And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us." Deut. 6:25. Jesus was affirming the perpetuity of these commandments to all then future generations when he said, "For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of Heaven." See Matt. 5:17–20. The apostles also teach that "all unrighteousness is sin," and that "sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 5:17; 3:4; Rom. 4:15. If all unrighteousness is transgression of the law, it follows that all righteousness is obedience to the law. In harmony with this is the declaration: "Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man." Since these commandments are the rule of righteousness, Inspiration, by a common figure, has affirmed that they are righteousness. "My tongue shall speak of thy word; for all thy commandments are righteousness." Ps. 119:172. To abolish these laws would be to abolish righteousness. And what is affirmed of one is affirmed of all—all of them are righteousness. There is no evading the truth that this refers to the ten commandments—those known in the days of David as God's commandments. The abolition of any one of them would be the abolition of righteousness. Has God done that? Will he ever do it? Let us hear his own testimony on this point: "Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law." Isa. 51:6, 7. How similar to this testimony are the words of Jesus: "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law." Matt. 5:18. In the face of divine testimonies like these, is it not astonishing that any professing godliness118should teach that this righteous law has been abolished, or changed in a jot or tittle? To every intelligent believer in God as revealed in the Bible, as an all-wise and unchangeable being, the presumptive evidence is all in favor of the perpetuity and immutability of his law. God has said this law of ten commandments is the truth, and is perfect; and that all these commandments are truth and righteousness; and that every one of these righteous judgments endures forever. Ps. 19:7; 119:142, 151, 160, 172. He promised in prophecy that his law should not be abolished, and that the Messiah should magnify it. Isa. 51:6; 42:21. Accordingly Jesus bore testimony to its perpetuity to all generations then future, and to its unchangeability till heaven and earth pass. Matt. 5:17–20. The apostles taught the same doctrine, and that God will judge all men by this law in the day of Jesus Christ. Rom. 3:31; Jas. 2:8–12; Rom. 2:12–16. To me there is only one reason imaginable why good men, Christians, believers in the Bible, should ever entertain the thought for a moment that this law has been abolished or changed in the least iota, by divine authority. That one reason is the influence of the great apostasy, foretold by Daniel, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the apostles. Dan. 7:20–26; Matt. 24:11, 12, 37–39; 2 Thess. 2:3–8; 1 Tim. 4:1; 2 Tim. 3:1–5; 4:3, 4. In consequence of the great apostasy which resulted in the establishment of the papacy, that power that was to "think to change times and laws,"—the times and laws of God,—most Christians find themselves out of harmony with the law of God as recorded in the Bible, and it being more natural for men to search for an excuse than to correct their customs received by tradition, some have taken the position that the Sabbath law has been changed, others that it has been abolished, and others still that the whole decalogue has been done away. The change of the Sabbath being untenable from the Scriptures, men have claimed that the Sabbath was a Jewish institution, and was nailed to the cross, and failing to make it appear that one commandment of the moral law has been singled out and abolished while the rest stand good, they have gone to the extreme of claiming that the whole law, given by Jehovah in person, has been swept away; and this by Him whom God sent into the world to die for men's transgressions of that law, that sinful man might find pardon, and become reconciled to God! The only way out of this confusion of absurdity and error, is to return to the law of God as originally given. And this Christians are doing all over our land and in almost every nation of Europe. This is because God has sent his last warning to the world; Rev. 14:9–12, and they are heeding his voice. Let all renounce false tradition and return to the truth. COMMEMORATION.
By M. E. Kellogg
AMONG the many so-called arguments used to support the first-day Sabbath, none is more frequently used than the one drawn from John 20:19. The text reads as follows: "Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you." The argument drawn from this passage in support of first-day observance is something like this: "Christ rose from the dead on the first day of the week, and here is a record of the disciples meeting upon that same day, evidently to commemorate his resurrection." This argument is used by every one who undertakes to find scriptural reasons for first-day observance. Now, setting aside the fact plainly revealed in the text, that the disciples were thus assembled for fear of the Jews, also the fact recorded by another evangelist, that at that time the Lord upbraided them for their hardness of heart, because they believed not them who had seen him after he had risen from the dead; setting aside these facts which clearly demonstrate that at this very time the disciples had no faith in his resurrection, we wish to inquire, Would it be possible for the disciples to commemorate the resurrection of Christ the same day he was raised from the dead? Or, to give our question a wider scope, Can an event be commemorated upon the same day the event takes place which makes the day commemorable? We unhesitatingly reply that it cannot. For instance, the signing of the Declaration of Independence could not be commemorated upon the fourth of July, 1776, not till the fourth of July, 1777. So of your birthday, it could not be commemorated the same day you were born. To commemorate is to preserve the memory of something by some act. It would be the greatest folly to talk of preserving the memory of something by some act the same day the event occurs which you desire to preserve in memory. The thing to be commemorated, then, must necessarily be in the past. If a yearly observance, it can be commemorated in a year from the event which makes the day commemorable; if a monthly, in a month; if a weekly, in a week, not sooner. How, then, can people believe that the disciples at this time were commemorating the resurrection of Christ? It is a manifest absurdity to suppose such a thing. The next meeting which we have a record of took place after eight days, which reaches to Monday, and possibly to Tuesday. An illiterate countryman sold a lot of fire wood to a gentleman in the city. When the wood was delivered, the gentleman gave him a check upon a certain bank. The countryman looked at it for a while, and then said, "This is not money." "But, if you take it to the bank," replied the gentleman, "it will get you the money." "I have no money in the bank," remarked the countryman. "Very true," answered the gentleman, "but go with that piece of paper to the bank, hand it to the man behind the counter, and when he sees my name upon it, he will instantly give you the money." When the countryman went to the bank, authorized to use the name of the gentleman, it was the same as if the gentleman himself had gone, for the name stood for the person, and the two were, for the time and the purpose to be accomplished, but one. If it had not been for the name, the countryman might have begged, and entreated, and prayed for the money, until handed over to the police; but the name, the name alone, secured him audience and acceptance. When we pray in the name of Jesus, we go to God, conscious of the fact that we deserve nothing on our own account; that we have no personal worthiness to plead; that our application for the sake of anything in us, or anything done by us, would be utterly unavailing; but equally conscious of the blessed fact that, through infinite riches of grace, we are one with Christ.—Selected. THE FORMATION OF CHARACTER.
By D. A. Robinson
WE have often seen the builder engaged in erecting structures of various kinds; and while he is thus engaged, if we should ask him if he was following some plan or pattern, or simply following his imagination, without any plan or rule of action to guide him, he would probably think that we were very ignorant of the manner of building. Or, if he was trying to accomplish something without a rule, we should consider him as entirely unfit for the position which he occupied, and should look for his purposes to meet with an entire failure. So the formation of a perfect character can never be accomplished without some rule of action, and some pattern to imitate. The only one we have, and the only one we need, is Jesus of Nazareth. If we imitate him, and follow his example, we shall not fail of forming characters that will pass the test of the Judgment. How important, then, that we study his life, and "walk even as he walked." We have also an unerring rule by which to try our lives, even the law which "is holy," and "just, and good." By this rule we must walk, if we would follow the Pattern. As the truth finds us, we are in a rougher condition than the material which the builder selects for his purposes. When the rule is applied, defects appear which were not seen before. This proves the necessity of a rule. It is by this rule that we are to be judged, to see whether we are fit material for the heavenly building. The question with us should be what course can we take to best glorify God, and cast a right influence on the side of his truth. We profess to believe solemn and important truths, and unless our lives correspond with our profession, we exert an influence against the truth, though we may not be aware of the fact. "Our influence affects some one" whether we realize it or not. How important, then, it becomes that it be all for good. The Lord give us help to put away our sins, and grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth that others seeing our good work may "glorify our Father which is in Heaven." ONE beautiful afternoon in August there came to me the heart-broken wife of a State prison convict. We tried to plan for his pardon and restoration to home and the world. It was a very sad case. He was the only surviving son of a very noble man—one who lived only to serve the poor, the tempted, and the criminal. All he had, all he was, he gave unreservedly to help thieves and drunkards. His house was their home; his name their bail to save them from prison; his reward their reformation. It was a happy hour to hear him tell of the hundreds he had shielded from the contamination and evil example of prisons, and of the large proportion he had good reason to believe permanently saved. Out of hundreds, he once told me, only two left him to pay their bail, forfeited by neglect to show themselves in court, according to agreement—only two! Bred under such a roof, he started in life with a generous heart, noble dreams, and high purpose. Ten years of prosperity, fairly earned by energy, industry and character, ended in bankruptcy, as is often the case in our risky and changing trade; then came a struggle for business, for bread—temptation, despair, intemperance. He could not safely pass the open doors that tempted him to indulgence, forgetfulness, and crime. How hard his wife wrought and struggled to save him from indulgence, and then to shield him from exposure! How long wife, sister and friends labored to avert conviction and the State prison! “I would spare him gladly,” wrote the prosecuting attorney, “if he would stop drinking. He shall never go to prison if he will be a sober man. But all this crime and wretchedness come from rum.” Manfully did the young man struggle to resist the appetite. Again and again did he promise, and keep his promise perhaps a month, and then fall. He could not walk the streets and earn his bread soberly, while so many open doors—opened by men who sought to coin gold out of their neighbors’ vices—lured him to indulgence. So, rightfully, the State pressed on, and he went to prison—an honored name disgraced, a loving home broken up, a wide circle of kindred sorely pained, a worthy, well-meaning man, wrecked! Sorrow and crime “all come from rum,” says the keen-sighted lawyer. As I parted from the sad wife on my door-step, I looked beyond, and close by the laughing sea stood a handsome cottage. The grounds were laid out expensively and with great taste. Over the broad piazza hung lazily an Eastern hammock, while all around were richly painted chairs and lounges of every easy and tempting form. Overhead were quaint vases of beautiful flowers, and the delicious lawn was bordered with them. On the lawn itself gaily dressed women laughed merrily over croquet, and noisy children played near. A span of superb horses pawed the earth impatiently at the gate, while gay salutations passed between the croquet-players and the fashionable equipages that rolled by. It was a comfortable home, as well as a luxurious one. Nature, taste, and wealth had done their best. It was a scene of beauty, comfort, taste, luxury, and wealth. All came from rum! Silks and diamonds, flowers and equipage, stately roof, and costly attendance, all came from rum! The owner was one who, in a great city, coined his gold out of the vices of his fellow-men. To me it was a dissolving view. I lost sight of the gay women, the frolicsome children, the impatient horses, and the ocean rolling up to the lawn. I saw instead the pale convict in his cell twelve feet by nine; the sad wife going from judge to attorney, from court to governor’s council, begging mercy for her over-tempted husband. I heard above the children’s noise, the croquet, laugh, and the surf-waves, the lawyer’s stern reason for exacting the full penalty of the law—All this comes from rum! Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink! Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness and his chamber by wrong; for the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.—Wendell Phillips. "YES, yes, sonny, I'm mighty fo'-handed, and noways like poo' white trash, nor yet like any of dese onsanctified col'd folks dat grab dier liberty like a dog grabs a bone—no thanks to nobody!" Thus the sable, queenly Sibyl McIvor ended a long boast of her prosperity since she had become her own mistress, to a young teacher from the north, as she was arranging his snowy linen in his trunk. "I'm truly glad to hear of all this comfort and plenty, Sibyl; but I hope your treasures are not all laid up on earth. I hope you are a Christian?" asked the young stranger. Sibyl put up her great hands, and straightened and elevated the horns of her gay turban; and then, planting them on her capacious hips, she looked the beardless youth in the eye and exclaimed with a sarcastic smile, "You hope I'm a Christian, do you? Why, sonny, I was a 'spectable sort of a Christian afore your mammy was born, I reckons! But for dese last twenty-five years, I's done been a mighty powerful one—one o' the kind dat makes Satan shake in his hoofs—I is one of de house-top saints, sonny!" "House-top saints? What kind of saints are those?" asked the young northerner. "Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Sibyl; "I thought like's not you never even heerd tell on 'em up your way. Dey's mighty scarce any whar; but de Lor's got one on 'em, to any rate, in dis place, and on dis plantation!" replied Sibyl, triumphantly. "Then tell me what you mean by being a house-top saint?" "Well I means dat I's been t'rough all de stories o' my Father's house on airth, from de cellar up; and now I's fairly on de ruff—yes, on de very ridge pole; and dere I sits and sings and sees heaven—like you never see it t'rough de clouds down yere." "How did you get there, auntie?" "How does you get from de cellar to de parlor, and from de parlor to de chamber, and from de chamber to de ruff?" Why, de builder has put sta'rs thar, and you sees 'em and puts your feet on 'em and mounts, ha?" "But there are the same stairs in our Father's house for all his children, as for you; and yet you say house-top saints are very scarce!" "Sartin, sonny. Sta'rs don't get people up, 'less dey mounts 'em. If dere was a million o' sta'rs lead'n up to glory, it wouldn't help dem dat sits down at de bottom and howls and mourns 'bout how helpless dey is! Brudder Adam, dere, dat's a blackin' of your boots, he's de husban' o' my bussum, and yet he's nothin' but only a poor, down-cellar 'sciple, sittin' in de dark, and whinin', and lamentin' 'cause he ain't up sta'rs! I says to him, says I, 'brudder'—I's allus called him brudder since he was born into de kingdom—why don't you come up into de light?" "Oh,' says he, 'Sibby, I's too unworthy! I doesn't desarve de light dat God has made for de holy ones.'" " 'Phoo,' said I, 'Brudder Adam! don't you 'member,' says I, 'when our massa done married de gov'ness, arter old missus' death! Miss Alice, she was as poor as an unfeathered chicken; but did she go down cellar and sit 'mong de po'k barr'ls and de trash, 'cause she was poor and wasn't worthy to live up sta'rs? Not she! She tuk her place to de head o' de table, and w'ar all de lacery and jewelry massa gib her, and hold up her head high, like she was sayin', I's no more poor gov'ness, teaching Col'n McIvor's chil'n, as she had a right to say! And de Col'n love her all de more for her not bein' a fool and settin' down cellar 'mong de po'k barr'ls!'" "Dere, sonny, dat's de way I talk to Brudder Adam! But so far it hain't fotched him up. De poor deluded cretur' thinks he's humble, when he's only low-minded and grovellin' like. It's unworthy of a blood-bought soul for to stick to de cold, dark cellar, when he might live in de light and warmf, up on de house-top." "That's very true, Sibyl; but few of us reach the house-top," said the young man thoughtfully. "Mo' fools you, den!" cried Sibyl. "De house-top is dere, and de sta'rs are dere, and de grand, glorious Master is dere, up 'bove all, callin' to you day and night, 'Frien', come up higher.' He reaches down his shinin' han' and offers for to draw you up; but you shakes your head and pulls back and says, 'No, no, Lord; I isn't nothin'.' Is dat de way to treat him who has bought light and life for you? Oh, shame on you, sonny, and on all de down-cellar and parlor and chamber Christians!" "What are parlor Christians, auntie?" asked the young man. "Parlor Christians, honey? Why, dem is de ones dat gets barley out o' de cellar and goes straightway and forgets what kind o' creturs dey was down dere. Dey grow proud and dresses up fine, like de worl's folks, and dances, and sings worldly trash o' songs, and has only just 'ligion enough to make a show wid.' Ole our missus, she used to train 'mong her col'd folks wuss den ole King Furio 'mong de 'Gyptians. But, bless you, de minute de parson or any other good brudder or sister come along, how she did tune up her harp. She was mighty 'ligious in de parlor, but she left her 'ligion dere when she went out." "I do think missus got to heaven, wid all her infirmities. But she didn't get very high up till de bridegroom come and called for her. Den she said to me, one dead-o-night, 'Oh, Sibby,' she—she held tight on to my han';—'Oh, Sibby, if you could only go along o' me, and I could keep hold o' your garments, I'd have hope o' getting through de shinin' gate; your clothes and your face and your hands shines like silver, Sibby,' she says she. 'Dear soul,' says I, 'dis light you see isn't mine! It all comes 'flected on to poor black Sibyl from de cross; and dere is heaps more of it to shine on you and every other poor sinner dat will come near enough to kotch de rays.'" " 'Oh,' says she, 'Sibby, when I heard you shoutin' Glory to God, and talkin' of him on de house-top, I thought it was all su'stition and ig-no'ance. But now, oh, Sibby, I'd like to touch de hem o' your garment, and wipe de dust off your shoes, if I could only ketch a glimpse o' Christ.'" " 'Do you b'lieve dat you's a sinner, missus?' says I." " 'Yes, de chief of sinners,' says she, with a groan." " 'Do you b'lieve dat Christ died for sinners, and is able to carry out his plan?' says I." " 'Well, then,' says I, 'if you's sinner 'nough, and Christ is Saviour 'nough, what's to hender your bein' saved? Just you quit lookin' at yourself, and look to him.'" "Den she ketch sight o' de cross, and forgot herself; and her face light up like an angel's; and she was a new missus from dat yar hour. She died a singin'," " 'In my han' no price I bring,
Simply to dy cross I cling.'" But she mought a sung all de way along if she hadn't forgot the hoomiliation o' de cellar, and 'bused the privileges ob de parlor. Parlors is fine things; but dey ain't made for folks to spen' deir whole time in. "What's a chamber saint, auntie?" asked the young man. "Chamber saints is dem dat's 'scaped de dark and de scare of de cellar, and de honey-traps o' de parlor, and got through many worries, and so feels a-tired, and is glad o' rest. Dey says, 'Well, we's got 'long mighty well, and can now see de way clar up to glory.' And sometimes dey forgets dat dey's on'y half way up, and thinks dey's come off conqueror a'ready. So dey's very apt to lie down wid deir hands folded, thinkin' dat Satan isn't nowhar, now! But he is close by 'em, and he smooves deir soft pillow, and sings 'em to sleep and to slumber, and de work ob de kingdom don't get no help from dem—not for one while! De chamber is a sort o' half-way house made for rest and comfort; but some turns it into a roostin' place! You know Brudder Bunyan, sonny?" "What, never heerd tell o' John Bunyan?" "I thought you couldn't all be so ignorant 'bout 'ligion up in Boston as dat! Well, you know he wrote 'bout a brudder dat got asleep and loss his roll, and dat's what's de matter wid heaps o' Christians in de worl'. Dey falls asleep and loses deir hope." "And do you keep in this joyful and wakeful frame all the time, auntie?" asked the young learner. "I does, honey. By de help of de Lord, and a contin'al watch, I keep de head ob de ole sarpint mashed under my heel, pretty ginerall. Why, sometimes, when he raises up and thrusts his fangs out, I has such power gin me to stomp on him dat I can hear his bones crack—mostly! I tell you, honey, he don't like me, and he's most gin me up for los'." "Now, Sibyl, you are speaking in figures. Tell me plainly how you get the victory over Satan." "Heaps o' ways," she replied. "Sometimes I gets up de mornin', and I sees work enough for two women ahead o' me. Maybe my head done ache, and my narves is done rampant; and I hears a voice sayin' in my ear, 'Come or go what likes, Sibby, dat ar work is got to be done! You's sick and tired a'ready! Your lot's a mighty hard one, sister Sibby'—Satan often has de imperdence to call me 'sister'—'and if Adam was only a pearter man, and if Tom wasn't lame, and if Judy and Cle'patry wasn't dead, you could live mighty easy. But just you look at dat ar pile o' shirts to iron, 'sides cookin' for Adam and Tom, and keepin' your house like a Christian oughter.' Dat's how he 'sails me when I's weak. Den I faces straight about and looks at him, and says, in de words o' Scripter, 'Clar out and git ahind my back, Satan.' Dat ar pile o' shirts ain't high enough to hide Him dat is my strength. And sometimes I whisks de shirts up and rolls 'em into a bundle, and heaves 'em back into de clothes bask't, and says to 'em, 'You lay dar till to-morrow, will you? I ain't no slave to work, nor to Satan, for I can 'ford to wait, and sing a hime to cher my speerits, if I like.' And den Satan drops his tail and slinks off, most ginerall; and I goes 'bout my work a singin':" " 'My Master bruise de sarpint's head,
And bind him wid a chain;
Come, brudders, hololujah shout,
Wid all yer might and main!
Hololujah!'" "Does Satan always assail you through your work?" asked the young stranger. "No, bless you, honey; sometimes he 'tacks me through my stummick; and dat's de way he 'tacks rich and grand folks most ginerall. If I eat too hearty o' fat bacon and corn cake in times gone, I used to get low in 'ligion, and my hope failed, and I den was such a fool I thought Christ had forgot to be gracious to me. Satan makes great weapons out o' bacon. But I knows better now, and I keep my body under, like Brudder Paul, and nothin' has power to separate me from Him I loves. I's had sorrows enough to break a dozen hearts dat had no Jesus to shar' 'em wid, but every one on 'em has fotched me nearer to him. Some folks would like to shirk all trouble on dair way to glory, and swim into de shinin' harbor through a sea o' honey. But, sonny, dere's crosses to bar, and I ain't mean enough to want my blessed Jesus to bar 'em all alone. It's my glory here dat I can take hold o' one end o' de cross and help him up de hill wid de load o' poor and wounded and sick sinners he's got on his hands and heart to get up to glory. But la! honey! how de time has flew; I must go home and get Brudder Adam's dinner; for its one o' my articles o' faith never to keep him waitin' beyond twelve o'clock when he's hungry and tired, for dat allus gives Satan fresh 'vantage over him. Come to my palace some day, and we'll have more talk about the way to glory." THE HOME CIRCLE.
By Edwin Burnham
THE PHILOSOPHER'S SCALES.
A MEEK man of earth once retired, at his will,
To weigh human action—the good and the ill—
In the scales of philosophy, formed to his mind,
And thus he proceeded, as he was inclined;
He first weighed kingdoms, and empires, and thrones,
And found them outweighed by a few martyr's bones!
He next weighed honor, and power, and fame,
And found them all lighter than one Christian's name!
He then weighed pleasure, and glitter, and show—
Determined, with candor, their value to know—
He put in the opposite scale, with due care,
One penitent's simple and short, earnest prayer;
When looking with wonder, he saw with delight
The scale with the prayer in come down quick as sight!
He next tried wealth and aristocrat pride,
And found of a truth—for his scales never lied—
That a morsel of virtue did much more avail,
Than those lying heaped in the opposite scale!
When weighing out heroes, he plainly did find
A thousand outweighed by an humble man's mind!
A victorious army when put in the scales,
And balanced with what sweet contentment avails,
Went up with rebound in an instant of time,
No longer to boast of great actions sublime.
He finally weighed all that mortals called great,
And found throughout empire, and kingdom, and state,
That nothing is better for man to possess,
In all his relations, than true Holiness!
—Edwin Burnham. -The U. S. military force available in San Francisco is 700. -France thinks of spending $40,000,000 on new railroad lines this year. -350 musicians were employed in a serenade to Gen. Grant in the City of Mexico. -The framing of a new charter for San Francisco, is demanded by the new Constitution. -The city election in Oakland on the 8th resulted in a complete victory for the Republicans. -It is asserted that 5000 persons have been arrested in Russia since the Winter Palace explosion. -The Congressional inquiry into the cause of the colored exodus has failed to show that it had a political origin. -Leo XIII. has sent special instruction to Russian Catholics to take no part in any plot or political complication. -A bill has passed the Senate, appropriating $150,000 for the rebuilding of the State Normal School, the work to be done by the day. -One of the contestants of the will which a Southern lady made to Jeff. Davis, has withdrawn. It is asserted that she was bought off by Davis. -A convention has been concluded between Great Britain and Germany, securing the co-operation of their war vessels in the suppression of the slave traffic. -In expectation of a "strike" in Chicago many Chinamen are going to that city, hoping to fill the places vacated by the strikers. -Prince Bismarck becomes so nervous by attention to business that he has expressed the desire that the Reichstag proceed without him. -The Globe asserts that France has entered into negotiations with England and the United States, with a view to terminating the war between Chili and Peru. -An agreement has been made between Secretary Schurz and the different bands of Utes, by which it is expected that the latter will be entirely removed from Colorado. -Tuesday, March 2, a man who was examining the piling about the Oakland ferries is said to have had his boat nearly overturned by a shark about twenty feet long. -The Court of Common Pleas of Lake county, Ohio, has confirmed the title of the old Mormon temple at Kirtland to the "Josephites," declaring the Utah Mormons impostors. -The text of the pope's encyclical letter against divorce is published. It insists on the eminently religious nature of marriage, and exhorts the bishops to urge that view upon their flocks. -Ex-Congressman Smalls of South Carolina says there is no chance for his party in that State, but says killing will not be resorted to, "because tissue-paper ballots are cheaper than bullets." -Gen. Logan is vigorously opposing in Congress, the proposed re-instating of Gen. Fitz John Porter with grant of back pay. He claims that the evidence fully proves that Porter disobeyed orders in the face of the enemy. -President Angell of Michigan, is said to have been selected to head a commission to effect a new treaty with China, which the Administration has been for some time favoring. It is also reported that the Emperor of China is favorable to restricting emigration. -A heavy cattle raiser in Modoc Co., Cal., expects to lose four-fifths of his stock because of the unusual severity of the winter. He had 800 tons of hay put up, but it went only a short way toward carrying through his large stock. This is but the experience of many others. -The President has been strongly urged to order the officers in command of the troops in and around San Francisco to use them to put down any mob that may attack the Chinese quarter. He, however, holds that the law precludes such interference, unless assistance is asked by the State Executive. -History repeating itself has again elevated a Jew in Egypt. The Khedive has raised an Austrian Jew, named Julius Blum, to the rank of Pasha and Assistant Secretary of State. This calls to mind the advancement of Joseph in olden time. It is said that no Israelite has, since the time of Pharaoh's favorite, reached so high a position in Egypt. -A license war at Highland, Ulster county, N. Y., has lead to the destruction of a large orchard, by girdling, belonging to Newton Ransom, an Excise Commissioner who opposed licensing. The farmers have risen up in arms and are ready to lynch the perpetrators. They say the plot is laid to destroy more orchards. -The Rev. Alexander Keith, the author of "The Evidence of Prophecy," and other valuable works, died recently in England in his eighty-eighth year. For twenty-seven years Mr. Keith was a minister of the Established Church of Scotland, and subsequently of the Free Church, but for many years he has been unable to attend to ministerial duties on account of failing health. -The Richmond (Va.) Dispatch announces the death in that city of Rev. Dr. J. R. Jeter of the Baptist Church, in the 78th year of his age. At the time of his death, Dr. Jeter was the senior editor of the Religious Herald, to which he had devoted the last fourteen years. He was also President of the Board of Trustees of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, at Louisville, Ky., President of the Board of Trustees of Richmond College, President of the Board of Trustees of the Richmond Female Institute, Vice President of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Southern Baptist Convention, and Vice President of the State Mission Board of the Baptist General Association of Virginia. Very heavy winds prevailed in this section on Monday the 8th, and the night following. The force and effect of the storm on the mountains we have no means of ascertaining, as the wires were down, and the overland train of the 9th did not arrive that day, nor has it arrived at the hour of our going to press, on the 10th. An alarm of fire was turned in at 2 o'clock the morning of the 9th, the fire being in the Grand Central Hotel. The wind was blowing a gale, and it was soon found to be impossible to save the hotel, when the efforts were put forth to save other buildings. By dint of hard work and skillful engineering the main fire was confined to that block. The force of the wind, sending the burning cinders in a complete shower to a great distance, led to the belief that the whole south-eastern portion of the city would be consumed. By order of the chief of the fire department the people worked steadily on the roofs of their houses, which alone prevented a much greater conflagration. The Grand Central Hotel was a massive structure, and one of the landmarks of Oakland. It was four stories high, with mansard roof, and a tower. It fronted on 12th street, occupying the entire block between Webster and Harrison streets, facing the north. On the south-west corner of the block stood the Webster House, eastward of which were five other buildings. All these were destroyed. Many other buildings were set on fire by the falling coals, most of which were saved by reason of the constant watchfulness of the citizens. One house on Harrison street, and two on Seventh street were consumed. The Grand Central was insured to the amount of $62,000. The Webster House was not insured. The total loss on that block is said to be $355,000. It is quite surprising that the loss is so small, considering the circumstances. One engine came over from San Francisco in answer to a telegram for help. Great praise is awarded to the firemen for their faithfulness, and the citizens have much reason to be thankful that the fire was confined to so narrow limits. STOCKHOLDERS' MEETING.
By L. D. Carruth
Pursuant to Article 6, Section 2, of the By-Laws of the Pacific S. D. A. Publishing Association, the fifth annual meeting of the stockholders of said Association will be held at the Pacific Press Office, Castro and 12th streets, Oakland, Tuesday, April 6, 1880, at 10 o'clock, A. M., for the pupose of electing a board of five directors, and transacting such other business as may come before the meeting. By order of the President. L. D. Carruth, Secretary. STOCKHOLDERS' MEETING—SPECIAL.
A SPECIAL meeting of the stockholders of the Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association, will be held at the Pacific Press Office, in Oakland, Cal., on Tuesday, April 6, 1880, at 2 P. M., to act upon the following proposed amendment to the By-Laws of the Association, namely:— To so amend section 2 of Article 6 as to provide for the date of the annual meeting on the fourth Monday in April, instead of the first Tuesday in April. By order of Directors. L. D. CARRUTH, Secretary. DIED, at Cooperville, Mich., Feb. 20, 1880, my father-in-law Stephen D. Hall, aged 79 years. He suffered much in his last sickness, which he bore with Christian patience, expressing a wish to fall asleep to awake to the better life. Funeral discourse by Mrs. E. B. Lane. L. M. HALL