“I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will look forth to see what He will speak with me.”
REVOLUTION PREDICTED BY A CATHOLIC.
IN a recent sermon preached by Rev. Thomas J. Ducey, rector of St. Leo’s Church, East Twenty-eighth Street, New York City, the following were among the strong utterances given to the public, as reported in the New York Journal:—
“The great mass of the people are in revolt the world over, and unless the church of Christ, directed by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, becomes the advocate of the people’s cause and rights, and forces into public life the truest and best men of the land, who can not and will not be purchased by trust kings and kings of monopoly—forces into public life men who will pass just laws, based on the Ten Commandments, the revolt of the people now before the world will swing into a most disastrous revolution.”
“As a priest of the Catholic Church I say to you from this pulpit that the present conditions of the poor in the United States can not go on. The Catholic Church in these United States must lead for the emancipation of the people from the present social and economic slavery; the church must lead as the emancipator of the working classes, and the States, and the United States, its Senate, and its Congress, must make laws to protect the people’s right and abrogate the laws that have been made by bribery in the interests of fraud.”
Of course, it will be readily seen that the righteous laws, and the interpretation of the Ten Commandments, will be those approved by the Roman Catholic Church. We are often told that the Catholic Church is out of politics, but Father Ducey tells us that church “must lead” out of present conditions, and the governments—State and national—“must make laws,” and that it is to that church we must look to “force into public life” the right men. In all these things which the Catholic Church aims to do and must do, it is not to be expected that she will do otherwise than follow her historic career, and do for this nation what she has done for others which she has led and forced. There is wrong and oppression everywhere, but it will not be met by a mere change in legislation. The form of the tyranny will be changed; the essence remains the same. The Ten Commandments can come into moral life only by faith.
NIGHTSHADE OR MORNING-GLORY?
By Lotta V. Wallar
THE nightshade family is a large one. The member to which we are to be introduced at this time is called Atropia Belladonna, or, more commonly, the deadly nightshade. Perhaps if we did not know this familiar name we might be less shy of our new acquaintance.
Naturally we are quite apt to give him a warm welcome; for, altho we may never have met him before, we are well acquainted with two of his very near relatives. One, the potato, we know to have saved many lives in Ireland. The other, the tomato, upon making her first visit to England so attracted the gentlefolk that she received the endearing name, love apple, regardless of the fact that she behaved so unseemingly as to cause many a fair head to seek its pillow.
But with the nightshade we shall be a little cautious—he is but a stranger yet. "By their fruit ye shall know them." If we ask a druggist about the fruit of the nightshade, he will tell us that from it is produced belladonna, a drug whose active principle is atropia, a narcotic.
If an oculist wishes to examine your eyes he will doubtless put four or five drops of belladonna in them. At first you will experience no change but when this has been repeated a few times, like Mother Eve of old, you will see things in a new light. Everything will appear larger and more distinct. But, if you continue to look, the objects will grow larger and larger, while at the same time the outlines grow dimmer and the form less distinct until the focus of the eye is so great that nothing can be distinguished; the whole world is a blur. So with our spiritual eyesight. At first a sin appears large and hideous; gradually we come to tolerate it, and finally the angles and outlines have worn away and we see nothing very objectionable. Or, as Pope says, "We first endure, then pity, then embrace."
In the same soil where grows the nightshade, watered by the same dew and absorbing light from the same sun, twines the fragile morning-glory. We do not find it standing stiff and firm on a strong stalk as does the nightshade, but, delicate and tender, it confidently clings to some friendly branch for support.
Altho quite dependent, the little morning-glory has its mission in "this great world of ours." Besides the trailing vine of shapely leaves we have its beautiful flowers, from the milky-white through the delicate pink and pale blue tints to the rich royal purple. True, its blossoms are but short-lived, while the dew is still on and the slanting rays of the sun are still tempered—but not the oldest nor the sturdiest gives the most lasting impression. "The keel plows ten thousand leagues of ocean and leaves no trace of its deep-graven furrows. The chisel scars only a few inches on the face of a rock, but the story it has traced is read by a hundred generations. The eagle leaves no trace of his path, no memory of the place where he built his nest; but a patient mollusk has bored a little hole in a marble column of the temple of Serapis, and the monument of his labor outlasts the altar and the statue of the divinity."
Which shall we be—a nightshade, seeking to cover our black, deadly fruit with leaves, or the morning-glory, with its sweet, simple blossoms? What shall we give to the world—a profession of life-giving power in the temporary quickening of the pulse, a knowledge of good and evil in the night of life, or a few bright flowers in the morning of youth?
LOTTA V. WALLAR.
Fresno, Cal.
AN APPEAL FOR PROHIBITION.
HERE is a part of a most eloquent appeal for prohibition made by John G. Woolley, at Danville, Va., November 19:—
"Two hundred and forty thousand saloons yawn along your way. They are no temptation to you. You despise them, and pass them. But the man behind you, as brave as you are, and 10,000 times more anxious to do right, hates the saloon, but goes in and drinks his mind to a chaos and his heart to a clot, because he has to. You did not have to; is that your own good management? In such a fight as his, what would have become of you? By the mercy of God that has spared you that, I beg of you to lend a hand for the other man.
I telegraphed to my home in Boston, after a long absence on the west coast, 'I will arrive at home to-night at 11.' The train was late; long after midnight I came under her window. The light was burning, and I knew that she was waiting for me. I let myself in; there were two flights of stairs, but twenty would have been nothing to me, my heart was hauling away, like a great balloon. She stood in the middle of our room as pale and cold and motionless as a woman of snow, and I knew at a glance that the sweet, brave life was in torture. 'What is it?' I cried, 'what is the matter?' and in my arms she sobbed out the everlasting tragedy of her wedded life: 'Nothing—at any rate, nothing ought to be the matter; I do believe in you; I knew you would come home; but I have listened for you for so many years, that I seem to be just one great ear when you are away beyond your time; I seem to have lost all sense but that of hearing when you are absent, unexplained, and every sound on the street startles me, and every step on the stairs is a threat and a pain, and the stillness chokes me, and the darkness smothers me. And all the old, unhappy home-comings troop through my mind, without omitting one detail, and to-night I heard the children sighing in their sleep, and I thought I should die when I thought of you having to walk in your weariness, and in this midnight, through Kneeland Street alone.'
She thinks that I will never fall, and would deny to-day that she knows any fear, but yet, until the undertaker screws her sweet face out of my sight forever, that ghastly, unformed, nameless10thing will walk the chambers of her heart whenever I am unaccounted for.
By the mercy of God, that has given to you the unshaken and unshakable confidence of her you love, 'I beseech you,' make a fight for the women who wait to-night until the saloon spews out their husbands and their sons and sends them maudlin, brutish, devilish, vomiting, stinking, to their arms. And you, happy wives, whose hearts have never wavered nor had occasion to waver, and who, when your husbands fail to come on time, can go to bed without a fear and go to sleep with smiles upon your lips, and sleep the long night through too peacefully even to dream, by the mercy of God, that gives you that, I beseech you, band yourselves to help, at least to cheer, the wives who, their whole lives through, must walk the rotten lava-crust of burnt-out confidence—their very love a terror and a pain.
I shall never drink again, but one night in a New England train, and very ill, I met a stranger who pitied me and gave me a quick, powerful drug out of a small vial, and my pain was gone in a minute or two, but alcohol was licking up my very blood with tongues of flame.
I should have gotten drunk that night if I could. I thought of everything—of my two years of clean life; of the meeting I was going to, vouched for by my friend and brother, D. L. Moody, whose faith in me—withdrawn now, I fear—had gone out into all the world; of the bright little home in New York; of Mary and the boys; I tried to pray, and my lips framed oaths. I reached up for God, and he was gone, and the fiercest fiend of hell had me by the throat and shouted, 'Drink, drink, drink!' I said, 'But Mary—but my boys;' it said, 'To hell with Mary—come on to the saloon!'
It was not yet daylight, Sunday morning, when I stood on the platform at Pawtucket, alone. I flew from saloon to saloon; they were shut, so were the drug stores; and all that day, locked in my room at the hotel, I fought my fight and won it in the evening, by the grace of God; and the people never knew that the man who spoke to them that night had been in hell all day.
What would you take, in cash, to have that put into your life?
By the mercy of God that has spared you that kind of peril and that kind of hate, 'I beseech you,' cast a vote next time in honor of the 'Son of man,' who died for drunkards, and to make the stations on life's highways safe for storm-tossed men to stop at, any day or any night."
SPREAD OF UNITARIANISM.
By W. N. G.
At the recent Unitarian Conference at Saratoga, N. Y., Dr. Minot J. Savage is said to have declared that “the greatest hindrance to the multiplication of Unitarian Churches is the spread of Unitarian doctrines in the other churches.” The New York Observer thinks that Dr. Savage overestimates the conditions, but admits the claim in part. It says:—
“That there are signs of its working here and there, however, among those supposably orthodox can not, unfortunately, be doubted. What might be called a kind of anonymous Unitarianism, a Unitarianism which does not frankly own itself, is but too prevalent in some local churches of nominally evangelical faith.”
The Observer also concedes that the doctor is right when he says, “There are too many who remain in churches whose doctrines they repudiate; too many preachers who declare in their sermons what is contradicted in the creeds of their churches.” Dr. Savage is also said to be bidding for recruits in the way of “union” and “independent” churches, and is quoted as saying: “There is really no need of so many independent churches outside of our lines. No more liberty can be found outside than within.” But the only liberty in which Christians can “stand fast” is “the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free” (Gal. 5: 1); and that can hardly be expected in a church that ignores the divinity of Christ—a fundamental doctrine in the plan of salvation. The whole Gospel structure is based upon the fact that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3: 16. W. N. G.
PHARISAISM IN LEGISLATION.
DR. J. H. RYLANCE, of the Church of Saint Mark, New York, lays the cause of Tammany's triumph and the defeat of the "reform" forces to the following, among other things. What he says is worthy of considcration by those who would reform men by law:—
"As citizens of an intelligent and powerful Christian commonwealth at the close of the nineteenth Christian century, it was really a very strange political life that we were living.
"It was a time of very promising appearance and of larger expectations; the severest laws for the suppression and extirpation of all vice and crime were inscribed on the State statute-books. Only men of the completest competency, and of an unimpeachable virtue, were to hold office, while the courts of law and the police were to be made terrors to all evil-doers.
"The ancient Mosaic Sabbath, with sundry vexatious features added by the Puritan 'fathers,' was to be imposed upon a Christian community; all recreations and cheerfulness indulged in or exhibited on the first day of the week were to be treated as criminal. All signs thus betokening the very speedy coming of the kingdom of God.
"Just so. And if statutes and law courts and policemen with very ardent but blind fanaticism, inspiring tracts and lectures and pulpit effusions could bring it, God's kingdom might possibly be here.
"The period of 'reform' was the time when our police courts were crowded with petty offenders against Puritan enactments, and was not therefore a time for real hopeful promise. It was, on the contrary, an unreal, deceptive, hypocritical period.
"All that has been done or attempted by our Puritanical farmers has been well meant, but the zeal that has impelled them to the adoption of many of their measures has not been 'according to knowledge,' while the spirit of temper which some of them have exhibited has not been according to the 'sweet reasonableness' of Jesus.
"I try to console myself with the thought that our rising generation of reformers may be taught something by rebuffs; that they may have to 'walk prudently, not as fools,' in the prosecution of their high aims. And with this reflection I am somewhat comforted that a policy which sent forth hired men as spies to entrap petty shopkeepers into crime on a Sunday morning—the crime of sabbath desecration in selling a button or a bit of bread—which dragged before a magistrate for punishment a poor mother who bought a drop of milk for her sick child on the Lord's day—a policy which sets a detective in a man's way at every turn—such a policy deserved a rebuke, and we may be the better for the rebuke.
"We shall have done with making hypocrites, with putting a tyrannous pressure upon men to forswear themselves, with making law a thing for scorn, by making unreasonable and cruel demands upon the obedience of citizens, so tempting to sweeping evasions of the law, and so undermining and corrupting the conscience of the community. One thing I pray for, and that is that the religion of Jesus Christ shall not much longer be held responsible for such follies and fanaticisms."
KEEP TO THE RIGHT.
KEEP to the right, as the law directs,
For such is the rule of the road;
Keep to the right, whoever expects
Securely to carry life's load.
Keep to the right, with God and His truth,
Nor wander tho folly allure;
Keep to the right from the day of thy youth,
Nor turn from what's faithful and pure.
Keep to the right, within and without,
With stranger and kindred and friend;
Keep to the right, and you need have no doubt
That all will be well in the end.
Keep to the right in whatever you do,
Nor claim but your own on the way;
Keep to the right, and hold on to the true
From the morn to the close of life's day.
—Our Boys and Girls.
AN ORIENTAL STORY.
AN eastern king was once in need of a faithful servant and friend. He gave notice that he wanted a man to do a day's work, and two men came and asked to be employed. He engaged them both for certain fixed wages, and set them to work to fill a basket with water from a neighboring well, saying he would come in the evening and see their work. He then left them to themselves, and went away. After putting in one or two bucketfuls, one of the men said:—
"What is the good of doing this useless work? As soon as you put the water in on one side, it runs out on the other."
The other man answered:—
"But we have our day's wages, haven't we? The use of the work is the master's business, not ours."
"I am not going to do such fool's work," replied the other; and, throwing down his bucket, he went away.
The other man continued his work till, about sunset, he exhausted the well. Looking down into it, he saw something shining at the bottom. He let down his bucket once more, and drew up a precious diamond ring.
"Now I see the use of pouring water into a basket," he exclaimed to himself. "If the bucket had brought up the ring before the well was dry, it would have been found in the basket. The labor was not useless, after all."
But he had yet to learn why the king had ordered this apparently useless task. It was to test their capacity for perfect obedience, without which no servant is reliable.
At this moment the king came up to him, and, as he bade the man keep the ring, he said:—
"Thou hast been faithful in a little thing; now I see I can trust thee in great things. Henceforward thou shalt stand at my hand."
—The Sunday Hour.
THE ESKIMOS.
No MISSIONARY work with which we are acquainted calls for greater self-sacrifice than that in behalf of the Eskimo of North America. The English Church Missionary Society has a mission at Blacklead Island, on Cumberland Bay, which is above the sixty-fifth degree of north latitude. The face of the country shows nothing except barren granite rocks. On the shortest day of winter the sun is just visible for a few minutes. The winter is intensely cold and stormy. Rev. Mr. Peck and Mr. Parker, who went there in 1895, took provisions for two years. Tho it was in the month of August, the "pack" of ice, which is said to have been a hundred miles in extent, detained the little brig from reaching Blacklead Island for several days. A house eighteen feet by twelve was built, and made a fit dwelling for an Arctic winter. The confidence of the Eskimos was gained, and the children came gladly for instruction. It was not long before there were thirty who could read and who had a fair knowledge of scriptural history. The message of the Gospel evidently met the needs of these people, who lead lives of such utter blankness. One woman said, "Yes, let us hear something better, something more satisfying, than we have hitherto heard."
The need of a place of worship was soon felt, and, inasmuch as there were no trees there or other vegetation, a house was constructed with supports of whalebone and covered with dried sealskins, forty of which were sewed together and stretched on the frame. Old provision boxes and some boards were used for seats, and two lamps were hung from the roof. This tabernacle had a singular ending, for it was eaten up by dogs. A storm, accompanied by fifty degrees of frost, prevented the catch of seals, and the Eskimos had not food enough for themselves, much less for their dogs. These dogs broke through the snow walls one day and got hold of the sealskin tabernacle and ravenously devoured it. Afterward, as there was nothing else to assemble in, a circular wall of snow about six feet high was built to keep out the piercing winds. The seats were made of square blocks of snow placed close to the wall. Mr. Peck writes: "Our service consisted of hymns, prayer, and then I told them some simple Scripture truths. What a strange sight, these walls of snow with nothing above us in that upward direction but the blue heavens! Surely the angels of God might look down on such a gathering with wonder and joy!"
On the 28th of May, 1896, Mr. Peck wrote: "There is really no night here now;11the sun shines about eighteen hours out of the twenty-four, and the twilight seems to me almost as light as the other portion of the day." At another time he speaks of the Arctic cold, though so intense, as not their greatest trial: "What one does feel is the sense of utter loneliness and desire to hear something, at least, of the loved ones far away, and hungering for some fresh mental food to break the monotony of one's surroundings. Perhaps these factors, through the grace of God, make one's spiritual experiences all the more really deep. One seems at times specially to live in contact with the heavenly powers. Faith is strengthened by the felt need of the Saviour's presence and help, and I continually realized in our Arctic home the wonderful sustaining and uplifting power."
As yet, of course, the fruits of this mission are not large, but this self-denying missionary sees many things to encourage him in his expectation that the people whom he is seeking to reach will come under the saving power of the Gospel. Mr. Peck's associate, Mr. Parker, who labored for nearly two years with him, was drowned about a year ago, leaving the heroic missionary alone.—Missionary Herald.
IS IT LOYAL?
"I HAVE just had such a fine visit from my school chum."
"Yes, I saw him pass with you several times; he was a manly-looking fellow," was the reply.
"He is as good as he looks, too, and that's the best of it," answered my youthful friend enthusiastically.
"It is nice that you have such a friend, for, coming from a larger city, he could give you many helpful ideas in regard to your circle."
"O," the boy hesitated a moment, "he isn't good in the way you mean; he wouldn't wear a silver cross!"
"Well, never mind; if he is only a Christian we will claim him as a King's son, anyway. Many good Christian people object to outward badges, and I respect their opinions, even tho I differ from them. Have they put on Christ? that's the question."
"You misunderstood me; I only said he was good; I mean in a general way; I don't think he pretends to be a Christian," was the half-embarrassed reply.
"Did I understand you to say that you were intimate friends, Harry?"
"Why, just like brothers. We grew up side by side, when we were little fellows. Then my folks moved west, but we visited back and forth, and corresponded regularly, and last year we were in the same school; so he is like my other self."
"And still you say, 'I don't think he is a Christian'? I do not understand it."
There was silence for a moment, and then he burst forth in boyish fashion:—
"I am not ashamed of my religion. Indeed, I am not. Ralph knows that we do not think alike about such things, but somehow I can't talk to him. I tell you, it isn't natural for young folks to talk on that subject."
"Why, Harry, I went into the young people's meeting the other night, and as I listened to the leader as he sang—as only you can—'I love to tell the story,' I thought, 'O, for more young men like him to tell that wonderful story!'"
As we walked on the silence was unbroken for a few moments, save by a sigh from the one at my side, and then he said impetuously:—
"Singing it and telling it are so different. One is natural and the other is not."
"Would it not be nearer the truth to say, 'One is nature and the other grace'?" was my query.
No, it is not natural, dear sons and daughters, for you to speak of your love for the King to your unconverted friends; but is it loyal to talk of everything but him?—Our Young Folks.
HE KNOWS.
By A. R. Wilcox
HE knows the pain and the sorrow,
Each trouble thy heart ever knew,
But now there is sweet consolation
That in Him is joy for you.
Our griefs long ago he carried;
The bitter He takes from life's cup;
His arm He reaches to save us
When we by faith look up.
Look up, then, faltering traveler
In the cold and murky night;
Tho clouds are hovering o'er thee,
Beyond there is beautiful light.
A. R. WILCOX.
Athens, Vt.
MISSIONS TO LEPERS.
"An impression prevails in some quarters," says the Missionary Herald, "that the most self-denying work in behalf of lepers has been done by Roman Catholics. This is not true. There is a society which is especially engaged in work among lepers in India and the east, which has now made its twenty-second annual report. From this report it appears that the efforts for these afflicted ones have been successful of late. The superintendent of one of the asylums of India writes: 'I should like to go on and tell you more and more about these believers in Jesus Christ. Do you
wonder that one's heart is drawn to love them, and to rejoice when we see them responding to the love of God in Christ Jesus? Their sad lot physically strains the cords of pity to breaking sometimes, but the music of rejoicing echoes through the heart when we see them receiving the Lord Jesus into their hearts, and so becoming inspired with hope, joy, and gladness.' It is interesting to note that there are now over 1,000 professing Christians in the various asylums with which the mission is connected."
THE SCHOOL OF CORRESPONDENCE.
How MANY readers of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES are aware of the educational advantages within their reach through the School of Correspondence connected with Walla Walla College? There is help in it for all who want to labor for the Master, and be ready to meet his approving smile when he appears to reward his faithful servants who have wisely improved their talents during his absence. Many are so situated that they have not, and never can have, the privilege of attending school; but through the School of Correspondence they can receive valuable instruction in Bible, language, history, and some of the sciences, at a cost no greater than their tuition would be if they could attend in person.
Many laborers in the cause could find it greatly to their advantage to take lessons by correspondence; for nearly all can find some time each day to devote to study, and thus constantly be adding to their efficiency as laborers. Church officers, Sabbath-school teachers, and many others can get much help from these lessons; for they are designed for all classes.
This method of instruction offers some superior advantages to students. There is no better method of mental culture than that which requires the student to master the subject to that degree that he can write it out intelligently. There are very many who might receive much valuable help from this method of study, and yet continue to work at their various avocations. The natural tendency, however, is to let such opportunities pass unimproved.
All who desire to investigate this method of study, should write to School of Correspondence, College Place, Wash., inclosing stamp for return postage; and they will receive circulars and sample lessons, which will give information about methods of instruction, courses of study, cost of tuition, and the urgent need of mental culture to fit themselves for usefulness here, and the sinless society of heaven hereafter.
13 "And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, 14 "Brethren, hearken unto me: Symeon hath rehearsed how first God did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for 15 his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, 16 After these things I will return, And I will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen; And I will build again the ruins thereof, And I will set it up; 17 That the residue of men may seek after the Lord, And all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, 18 Saith the Lord, who maketh these things known from the beginning of the world. 19 Wherefore my judgment is, that we trouble not them which 20 from among the Gentiles turn to God; but that we write unto them, that they abstain from the pollutions of idols, and from 21 fornication, and from what is strangled, and from blood. For Moses from generation of old hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogs every Sabbath. 22 "Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church; to choose men out of their company, and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren; and they wrote thus by them, The apostles and the elder 24 brethren unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greeting: Forasmuch as we have 25 heard that certain which went out from us have troubled you 26 with words, subverting your souls; to whom we gave no commandment; it seemed good unto us, having come to one accord, to choose out men and send them unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men that have hazarded their lives 27 for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have sent therefore 28 Judas and Silas, who themselves also shall tell you the 29 same things by word of mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than 30 these necessary things: that ye abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication; from which if ye keep yourselves, it shall be well with you. Fare ye well. 31 "So they, when they were dismissed, came down to Antioch; and having gathered the multitude together, they delivered 32 the epistle. And when they had read it, they rejoiced for the 33 consolation. And Judas and Silas, being themselves also prophets, exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them. And after they had spent some time there, they 34 were dismissed in peace from the brethren unto those that had 35 sent them forth. But it seemed good unto Silas to abide there. But Paul and Barnabas tarried in Antioch, teaching and preaching the Word of the Lord, with many others also."
QUESTIONS.
1. Relate in outline the circumstances of Paul's first missionary journey. 2. Tell what took place after his return. 3. What was the occasion of his visit to Jerusalem? 4. What was the real point at issue? 5. Who was the first speaker of importance at the meeting? 6. Relate the substance of his remarks. 7. Who next spoke, and to what end? 8. After they had finished, who summed up the matter? Verse 13. 9. To whose speech did he refer? What did he say that God had done? Verse 14. 10. With what did he say this was in harmony? Verse 15.12
11. From what prophet did he then quote? 12. Repeat the portion quoted. Verses 16-18. 13. What did God say by that prophet that he would do? What would the Lord build up? V. 16. 14. Since the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles was in the line of this prophecy, of what is that work a building up? 15. Why would the Lord thus build up the tabernacle of David? Verse 17. 16. How long had God had this purpose in mind? Verse 18. 17. In view of all this what did James conclude? Verse 19. 18. What did he say they would write to them? Verse 20. 19. Why was it not necessary for them to specify all the details of the law? Verse 21. 20. What did the whole church, with the apostles and elders, then decide to do? Verse 22. 21. What did they send by these brethren? V. 23. 22. Give the substance of the letter. Verses 23-29. 23. What did the letter say of those who had been teaching circumcision as necessary to salvation? What had been the result of their teaching? V. 24. 24. What did the brethren say of the men by whom the letters were sent? Verses 25, 26. 25. What authority did they give for the decision rendered? Verse 28. 26. After they were dismissed, where did the messengers first go, and what did they do? Verse 30. 27. How did the reading of the epistle affect the church? Verse 31. 28. What did Judas and Silas do? What special gift did they have? Verse 32. 29. Having delivered their message what did these brethren do? Verse 33. 30. Who remained behind? Verse 34. 31. What did Paul and Barnabas do? What was their continued occupation? Verse 35.
NOTES AND QUESTIONS.
1. What did the brethren assembled say that the self-appointed teachers had done to the brethren which were of the Gentiles? Verse 24. 2. What did Paul afterward write of the same ones? Gal. 1 : 7. 3. What were they really doing in speaking these troublesome words? Ib. 4. And what was the natural effect upon the souls of the hearers? Acts 15 : 24. 5. How serious a matter is it to do such work? Gal. 1 : 8, 9. 6. How many of the commandments are more or less directly involved in the four things mentioned by the assembly of Jerusalem? 7. Which of the commandments are not referred to? Is there any hint in the letter about the necessity of obedience to parents, refraining from taking the name of God in vain, or lying and stealing? Are we therefore to conclude that there is no importance attached to these things?
A LOGICAL RESULT OF WORKS OF MERIT.
THE theory that our good works or service to God merit his favor, or because of them God owes us a blessing, is one of the cardinal doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. It meets a logical result in the following curious document, said to be in the public library of the city of Zacatecas, Mexico, and is vouched for by El Continente Americano, of the City of Mexico. In the year 1820, moved by a terrible drought that had visited the agricultural districts of the empire of Brazil, the chief alcalde of the town of Casthanas published the following decree:—
I, the chief alcalde of Casthanas, in consideration of the fact that the Supreme Creator of all things has not comported himself in a becoming manner towards this province, and this town, seeing that during the whole of this past year there has not fallen one decent shower of rain, and as, in consequence, there has been a complete failure of the crops upon which the property of this State depends, I therefore decree and proclaim that:—
Art. 1st. If within eight days from the issuing of this decree it shall not have rained abundantly, no one shall go to mass nor say prayers.
Art. 2nd. If the drought shall then continue eight days longer, the churches and the chapels shall be burned, and misals, rosaries, and every other article of devotion destroyed.
Art. 3rd. And lastly, if, during a third period of eight days, it shall not rain, all the clergy, etc., shall have their heads cut off.
And in the meantime everyone is granted free and unrestrained permission to permit every class and kind of sin, in order that it may be seen what manner of people we are to deal with.
Signed and sealed, etc.
OUR WORK AND WORKERS.
By Editor
BROTHER E. H. ADAMS and wife, of Iowa, are to take charge of the mission home soon to be established at Lincoln, Neb.
BROTHER W. A. GOSNER and wife, of Battle Creek, Mich., have gone to the Bay Islands, in the Caribbean Sea, to teach in the new school being established there.
ELDER P. F. BICKNELL and family of Vermont have arrived in South Africa, to engage in the Gospel work. Miss Walston, who accompanied them, will engage in teaching at the Plumstead Orphanage.
ALREADY the medical and surgical sanitarium at Claremont, South Africa, has to be enlarged in order to properly accommodate the increasing patronage. The managers are building an addition which will comprise a large dining-room, a gymnasium, and thirty sleeping-rooms. Such is the appreciation of rational methods of treatment on the part of the public, and the assurance of continued prosperity.
An encouraging report of our Benevolent Home in Kimberley, South Africa, is found in the November South African Sentinel, published at Cape Town. It notes steady progress and enlarged facilities. "For some months the thirty beds have been occupied each night, and at present other sleeping room has to be provided. The rooms first used as sleeping apartments have been renovated and the front fitted up into a commodious waiting-room, where hygienic coffee and health foods are kept for sale. The work of the baths is growing as the people are becoming better acquainted with the benefits to be derived. The wood yard is furnishing work for a large number of men, who at present have no other means of support; 100 men come under the care of the home monthly; 35 are present at each meal, and some 10 families in the town are supplied with food." To people at a distance, it seems strange to associate a benevolent home with a city built in a diamond field; but this is only one of the many anomalies this world affords. In common with other ingredients of wealth, the diamonds go into the coffers of the few, while many seek and do not find. Not so with the true riches, which all find who earnestly and lawfully seek for them. The "pearl of great price" can only be obtained by selling all to obtain it.
LITERATURE WANTED.
By Editor
Mrs. Lulu Wrightman (a ministerial licentiate) desires our denominational papers and tracts for use in her labors. Please send post-paid to her address, Wallace, Steuben Co., N. Y.
WANTED, for missionary work in the south, clean copies of any of our denominational papers or tracts. Can use an indefinite amount. Please send post-paid to Culbertson & Sons, druggists, Cavespring, Ga.