SHE could not become a burden to others. She had outlived her usefulness, perhaps, but she had by no means outlived her self-respect, or her desire to be a factor, however unimportant, in the world's wide field of product.
So when her boys—there had been two, and they had become men, and had taken to themselves wives—emigrated to the far Southwest, and the girls—they were women now—wondered how they were to crowd any more than they were crowding, in order to spare a room for mother, who had just been burned out of house and home, and had come first to Julia and then to Jessie, to see if she could find a home with either—when these things came to pass, the old lady, who had never before realized how old she was, began to feel aged and weary, and very lonely, yet as never before determined to make for herself a place in the world, where by her own efforts she could live and maintain herself.
It had grieved her to see her home, with all its earthly treasures, flame up and flare and fade into ashes before her eyes, as she stood alone and helpless on that fatal night. But she had consoled her bereaved heart, saying, "After all, the care of these things, my house, and garden, and cow, and chickens, prevented me from doing much for the girls; now there is an end. I will sell the cow and fowls, and replace my lost clothing, and go to Jessie and Julia. I can live by turns with them, and help them on in many ways."
Poor heart. She had been a good mother, and had done a good part by her children. The thought that she could be anything else than a help to those whom she had always helped, ah, with what loving, unselfish helpfulness, never occurred to her. Yet as she stood, homeless and destitute, in her daughter's house that bright October morning, and heard Julia's husband remark that there wasn't enough room in the house for those rightfully belonging to it, "grandma had better go up to Jessie's," the poor mother felt a strange, unnatural tremor shake her frame. The road between Julia's and Jessie's seemed twice as long as ever before.
"Did you save nothing, mother?" Jessie asked. "And how much insurance had you? To think, we never heard a word of it till ten minutes ago. Jule sent up to say she saw you coming over the hill, and as they had no room for you I'd have to manage somehow. I couldn't make out what it meant, till the young one said you'd been burned out. How soon do you suppose the insurance will rebuild you? We can crowd up for a few weeks by letting Andrew give you his cot. He can sleep in the dining-room. Of course you'll have to be in the room with little Jim and Isabella. Did you save all your things?"
How weak she grew as she sat and listened to her daughter's half-peevish questions. She scarcely knew her own voice as she answered:—
"The insurance expired and I neglected to renew it. I saved nothing but my clothes and my tin box with my papers, and watch, and a few trinkets in it. There were five gold dollars in the box. It is all the money I have now. The lot, the cow, and the chickens, are all that is left to me."
"Why, mother," interrupted the daughter, vexedly, "how could you be so neglectful? You must be in your second childhood. All your nice bedding, and furniture, and the china! Dear me! There must have been at least a thousand dollar's worth of property destroyed."
"And I am homeless and destitute indeed," said her mother quietly, in a very sad voice.
"And all through your own culpable carelessness, I declare," said Jessie.
"And what in the world you are going to do, I don't know, I'm sure. We're crowded enough, mercy knows. And I was just thinking of sending little Jim up to you for a month. The air is so much purer over where you lived, the other side of the hill, and he is so cross and troublesome. Dear me! And to think of there being no insurance. You might as well have thrown your home away, and your things, and done with it."
Not a word of sympathy or of encouragement from Julia. Reproaches from Jessie.
Were these the babies whom she had borne, and nursed, and fondled, and served so willingly, so patiently, so gladly? Were these the daughters for whom she had toiled, and striven, and planned? Was it not all a hideous dream?
Her blood seemed turning to ice in her veins. She rose with rigid limbs and turned to the door.
"I will walk over to tell your Uncle Dick," she said. "I may not return to-day. Andrew need not give up his cot to grandma, at least not to-night. Good-bye, children." And she closed the door slowly and with trembling hand, as she went out from her daughter's house, to return no more.
"There is no welcome for me in my children's homes," she said; "their bread would choke me. And, oh, I love them so!"
And as she walked along, gray, ashen shadows settled upon her face, and her look was as one whose death stroke has been felt.
Another mother might have acted differently—even felt differently. Mothers have suffered disappointment in their children and have borne the pain in one way or another, and veiled it from all eyes; even with loving, forgiving affections endeavoring to hide it from their own. Alas!
Perhaps they were less proud-spirited than this mother. Perhaps they were less sensitive. Perhaps they had less self-respect.
When once these mothers realize that the children for whom they had lived, and would gladly die, value them more for what they have than for what they are, battle against the unwelcome conviction as they may, the realization works its sorrowful change in their lives. Some may succeed in making the hideous spectre down, and may persuade themselves, indeed, that 'twas a phantom only. The difference between these and this mother was, that she accepted the truth, and neither tried to deceive herself or others.
As she neared the home of her brother-in-law her resolve was taken. When she entered his house she was outwardly calm, and could talk of her loss and her intentions, with even tones and quiet air.
After arranging with him to dispose of her cow and chickens, she took the cars to the next town, and began to search for employment.
Mamma was visiting friends in that town at the time, and is one who usually follows the leadings of her own instinct, and always regrets when she fails to do so. She was in Mrs. Ludlow's sitting-room when Mrs. Alpen applied for a position, as general assistant, asking only for kind treatment and small wages.
Mrs. Ludlow had no place for her, but mamma felt assured that here was a treasure for some one, and forthwith proposed that if Mrs. Alpen would go with her to her home, two day's journey by rail, she would give her suitable employment at fair wages.
Mamma shortened her visit in order to bring Aunty Alpen home, and she has remained a most valuable helper ever since.
For years we knew nothing of her personal history beyond the fact that she had married children settled in distant places, from whom, at long and irregular intervals, she received letters.
One day it chanced that, as mamma read a paragraph from a newspaper, she smiled and called Aunty Alpen's attention to it.
"It is your name," said mamma. "Rowena Alpen. I wish it were your land also. It would make you independent indeed."
"It is my land," said Mrs. Alpen, quietly.
"But I am independent without it."
And she burst into tears and sank into a chair at mamma's side. We left them alone—mamma and our poor friend in her grief.
It was then that she confided to mamma her story that she said was too pitifully sorrowful to be told.
She had been with us seven years. In all these years never once had her daughters invited her to their homes. They had been glad she had employment and was satisfied with her position. They had even asked her if it was convenient to have a visit from one or more of the children in their summer vacations. But they had never expressed any regret at the separation, or any desire to have her become a member of their families, until now.
The lot on which her home had stood had suddenly become valuable. A coal-vein ran beneath it. The mine was working. The owners of the shaft wished to purchase, and offered a price that astonished those who knew nothing of the real values. Both daughters at once remembered their filial obligations, and at once each offered a home with her own family.
"God pity me if I am unlike what a mother should be," she said. "I loved my children only for love's sake. I hoped that thus my children would love me. Love, love was all I asked or craved. Land cannot buy love or happiness. All that I have is theirs. They shall have no temptation to become impatient for their mother's death. I will give them all now. For myself, when I can no longer work, there remains the poor-house. I will go thither."
Is her story too strangely sad to have been told? I know of other mothers no less keenly stung by that "sharper than a serpent's tooth," filial ingratitude and neglect.
I have but lately been the confidant of a tale as strangely sad from a gray-haired mother of children in a far higher social scale than Aunty Alpen's, yet not one whit above them in filial duty. I know of another mother this hour, snubbed, grudged her attic room and her poor bite and sup, and forced to do her own laundry work in her daughter's house, where rooms, and food, and servants are plenty.
Why do I tell of such shames?
Why, indeed, unless in the hope that some who have eyes to see may see, and who have ears to hear may hear and understand? For these stung hearts of sorrowing mothers are remembered by One who in the day of his power is mighty to avenge.—The Guide.
The Home Circle.
By A. Graham
"ONLY AN OUTCAST."
"Only an outcast!" a low voice said,
With a curl of the lip and a toss of the head,
As she haughtily passed her by.
"Only an outcast! She's nothing on earth
But a living disgrace to the land of her birth,
Fit neither to live nor die."
"Only an outcast!" and night has come;
She is wending her way to her desolate home,
To the rude cot over the stream.
And colder the stars seem to shine than of yore,
And longer the pathway, than ever before,
And fainter the moon's pale beam.
"Only an outcast!" Poor soul she goes
With her eyes full of tears and heart full of woes
Alone in the fading light.
Not a person to give her a cheerful word,
And no faithful Christian heart is stirr'd
To show her the path of right.
"Only an outcast!" an orphan child—
A wanderer sad on a desert wild,
Without either hope or faith.
Once a mother's joy and a father's pride—
Now hurried along in the fearful tide
That only can end in death.
"Only an outcast!" in that dim eye
Can be read that she fears—yet wishes to die,
And pass from beneath sin's blight.
The past brings her nothing but sorrow and pain,
The present affords no relief from the stain,
The future's as black as night.
"Only an outcast!" What made her so?
'Twas whisky that struck the first hard blow
And made her an orphan child,
And she toiled alone amid want and shade,
Till she fell in the trap wicked men had laid.
And alas! she is now defiled.
"Only an outcast!" a Magdalene,
An object of pity, unclean, unclean,
Polluted without and within;
Forsaken by all, by the pure and the true,
Do you wonder that she should bid virtue adieu
And travel the path of sin?
"Only an outcast!" Rum led the way
And has brought her to what she is to-day—
And it was legally sold,
The license was paid, he'd a right (?) to sell
The dark and delusive essence of hell
And barter virtue for gold!
"Only an outcast!" Society's bane—
And naught can efface the indelible stain.
Her sorrows she must endure,
While those who effected her ruin and fall
Are accepted and seen in society's hall
As one with the good and the pure.
"Only an outcast!" Ah! who shall bear
The weight of her sin and shame up there
Before the Judge's face!
The Lord well knows who caused the blight—
Made the sun of a young life set in night,
And we know the great Judge will do right,
And assign to each his place.
—A Graham, D. D., in Bible Banner.
Protecting Lead Pipes from Water
A FRENCH paper says that the interior of a lead pipe can be covered with an incrustation of sulphide of lead by making a concentrated solution of potash flow through it for ten or fifteen minutes. Pipes thus treated seem to be covered with grayish varnish, which prevents the water flowing through them from acting upon the lead.
News and Notes.
—Hereafter liquor licenses in St. Louis will cost $1,000 a year.
—Damage to the amount of $200,000 was done by the Wisconsin tornado, July 2.
—Eighteen thousand immigrants arrived at Montreal during the month of June.
—The trial of Miller, the murderer of Dr. Glenn, resulted in a disagreement of the jury.
—There were heavy storms on the 6th inst. in New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
—The graduating class at Harvard this year numbers 210, the largest in the history of the college.
—The reduction of the national debt for the fiscal year which ended June 30, was $125,000,000.
—There were fifty-one cases of sunstroke in New York and Brooklyn on the 7th, thirteen of which were fatal.
—At Elberton, Ga., June 24, a cyclone blew down sixteen buildings, including three churches, and killed one man.
—The Massachusetts State Almshouse, at Bridgewater, was burned on the morning of the 7th. Loss $130,000.
—Seven persons were killed and several injured by a collision on the Rochester and Pittsburg Railroad, near Rasselras, Pa., July 1.
—There have been very heavy floods in India. In Surat many villages have been destroyed, and thousands of people are homeless.
—Four county officers were fatally shot in Grand County, Col., on the 3d. Some trouble over the removal of the county seat was the cause of the murder.
—The French Government is building eight new ironclads, two of which will carry eighty-ton guns. The cost of these vessels will be $2,200,000 each.
—Tombstone, A. T., was visited by a very violent storm on the 28th ult., which destroyed much property. A storm of hail and rain followed, accompanied by lightning.
—A Frenchman has formed a company and raised $150,000 for the purpose of dragging the Red Sea, in order to recover the chariots, treasure, and arms of Pharaoh's host.
—The cholera plague is spreading in Egypt. There were 112 deaths from it at Damietta on the 3d. European ports have imposed a quarantine upon a vessel arriving from Egypt.
—The steamer Daphne capsized and sunk while being launched at Glasgow, on the 3d, and 150 persons are supposed to have been drowned. Fifty-two bodies have been recovered.
—The receipts from postage stamps at the Post-office Department in Washington, for the quarter ending March 31, 1883, were $11,329,171, an increase of $354,103 over the previous quarter.
—The latest exploit of San Francisco hoodlums is to break the legs of sheep that are in the yards, so that they cannot be driven out, and then to steal them in the night and sell the carcasses.
—Immense damage was done to crops and highways at Brattleboro, Vt., on the 5th inst., by a tornado accompanied by rain, hail, thunder, and lightning. There were a number of land-slides on railways.
—The semi-centennial of the founding of Oberlin College was celebrated July 1, and through the week following. A hall capable of seating 6,000 people was built for the occasion by the students.
—By a collision of freight trains on the Northern Pacific Railroad, near Portland, Or., June 26, twenty-five persons were killed and many wounded. The collision was caused by disobedience of plain orders.
—On the trial trip of one of the largest engines in the United States, on the Central Pacific Railroad, the train was thrown from the track near the summit of the Sierras, and all the hands were severely injured.
—A French scientist has proved by some recent experiments that the electric resistance of glass diminishes when it is tempered, while annealing tempered glass, on the other hand, restores its higher resistance.
—The New York Herald prints a resume of the disasters by sea and land during the first six months of the present year, not including events wherein less than three lives were sacrificed. The list shows that nearly 3,000 persons perished.
—The Citizens Committee of Astoria, Or., are taking active measures to rid that city of roughs. Twenty-two desperadoes were recently escorted to the steamer, and forced to leave. Five of the most desperate were flogged with ten lashes on the bare back.
—Quite a number of Irish paupers, whose fare was paid to this country, have been returned to the place from whence they came. The British authorities claim that they were not responsible for the act, but that the guardians of the poor took that way of relieving themselves of a burden.
—The Oakland Times, noting the fact that the murderer of Dr. Glenn has been virtually cleared, says: "The Communistic press of the State, in effect declare that Glenn's life was duly forfeit to this bloody wretch because Glenn was rich and his murderer was poor. Will they say just how much a man dare be worth here and feel that his life is safe?"
—At an evening entertainment in the town of Dervio, on the shore of Lake Como, on the 25th ult., forty-seven persons were burned to death by a fire caused from sparks from the Bengal light which was used to represent fire on the stage. When the real flames appeared, and the alarm of fire was given, the audience, thinking it was part of the performance, kept their seats until too late to escape.
—The steamship Nevada brings 680 Mormon converts in charge of twenty-two missionaries. The converts are from Sweden, Denmark, Wales, England, and Norway. If these were Chinamen, the moral sense of the country would be shocked, and they would not be allowed to land. It makes considerable difference which of the commandments is violated, and more still if anybody's pocket is liable to be affected.
—The Tribune says that 20,000,000 acres are now devoted to wheat culture in India, with an estimated yield of considerably over 200,000,000 bushels, of which 37,000,000 bushels were exported last year. Recent experiments to test its quality, showed that it is superior to American wheat. With increased agricultural and railroad facilities, India would become a formidable competitor with this country in the European wheat market.
—The Panama Star and Herald of June 22 says: "The volcano of Omelepe, in Lake Nicaragua, is in eruption. . . . . The valley of the Atrats, in the State of Canca, continues to be the center of volcanic activity. At Rio Lucio, forty miles from the Atlantic, the earth opened in many places, throwing out very fine sand in a heated state, while a subterranean noise was heard resembling that made by boiling water. At Turbo, on the gulf of Urabo, the earth opened and water issued, flooding the streets to a depth of two feet. Many houses were shaken down. The small villages of Bujres and Nicurio were completely engulfed. The mouth of the river Leon, which empties into the Atlantic, is completely closed up, and all over the district the movement of earth is so continuous that the inhabitants are emigrating."
—Jewell, now confined in the San Jose jail, under sentence of death for a most deliberate and brutal murder, is visited daily by respectable women of the city, who condole with him, and give him presents of flowers, etc. The San Jose Times asks the sheriff to take the names of all women who make daily visits to Jewell's cell, and says that it "will be pleased to publish them, and let the world know who are the ones that neglect their household duties to pay their respects to a red-handed murderer." We have no words to express our disgust at such a sickening exhibition of sympathy with crime. Criminals should be treated like men, but they should not be made to feel that their crimes entitle them to special consideration, and make them heroes. Weak-minded persons of no moral development are often lead to commit murder and risk death for the sake of the cheap notoriety which they get from newspapers, and the fondling which they receive from silly women. Those who make martyrs of murderers should remember that by so doing they are in a measure accessories to the crime.
Religious Notes.
—A "Life of St. Patrick" has been discovered in the Royal Library at Brussels.
—Archbishop Purcell, of Cincinnati, died July 4. His illness was of long continuance.
—There are 30,000 Christian Indians in the United States, and it is said that half of these are Baptists.
—A Philadelphia preacher says that divine truth cannot find its way into hearts that are cramped by corsets.
—A writer in the Christian Herald, says: "I tell you that the party of the future must recognize God, the Sabbath, and the Bible."
—"Entire Baptist Churches are being gobbled up by the Mormons in Sweden," says the Rev. Mr. Lijirath, a Baptist missionary in that country.
—The First Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church of San Francisco was dedicated last Sunday, the 8th. The services will be conducted in the Swedish language.
—A movement is on foot in Washington to open the National Museum, the Smithsonian Institute, Congressional Library, and similar institutions, on Sunday. A few ministers favor the movement.
—The District returns of the English Wesleyan Church this year show a total of 407,068 members, indicating a net increase of 13,314. There was a decrease in only two districts.
—The San Francisco Alta thinks that the "botheration of the star-route trials will not have been endured in vain if one of its effects is such an increase of Ingersoll's legal reputation that he can make as much money as he needs without going about the country abusing his Creator."
—The San Francisco Occident (Presbyterian) says: "What New England now needs, above all other things, is a sound orthodox and conservative theology, and if it is not speedily secured, it will surely become 'missionary ground,' where the evangelical churches should send the pure and unadulterated gospel."
—The Independent begins a notice of Prof. Samuel H. Kellogg's book, "The Jews; or, Prediction and Fulfilment," on this wise: "We find that we have been mistaken in supposing that no respectable advocate could be found in these days to make himself responsible for a belief in the literal return of the Jews to their ancient land."
—A minister in the East, as reported by the Christian Statesman, thinks that the National Reform movement is "the triumphal chariot prepared of God, wherein the warriors for Christ are to ride into the city of Destruction and capture it for his kingdom." Very pretty; only he is mistaken as to the party that will capture the city of Destruction, and the means by which it will be done.
—At the recent meeting of the Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, a memorial was read, asking for a declaration of the Synod concerning the Scriptural character of immersion as baptism. The question was referred to a committee, and the report, which was adopted, stated that "there is no element of Scriptural baptism which is not active in baptism by immersion, and it is therefore a valid Scriptural baptism." This is quite a concession for that body to make.
—In an article in the S. S. Times on "Practical Lessons from the Early Church," Bishop Simpson says: "The fact that the descent of the Spirit occurred on the anniversary of the giving of the law seems to indicate the perfect union between the legal and spiritual requirements. The law was magnified and made honorable by the death of Christ; and also by the effusion of the Holy Spirit. No growth in grace, no spiritual attainments can diminish the requirements of the law in its eternal principles."
—The editor of an Oakland contemporary comments on a report from a church in this State, and begins thus: "A Sabbath [Sunday] recently passed with this church, though not quite well, found these words of — altogether just." We have long been aware that the Sunday Sabbath was suffering from a serious disease, and we are not surprised to learn that it is not well yet. We are glad that its friends realize its condition to some extent. But we have no hope that it will ever be any better. The best doctors in the land have prescribed for it, but the well-known degeneracy of its ancestry precludes the possibility of its ever recovering.
—At the recent Missionary Conference in Japan, Dr. Gordon, in answer to the statement so frequently made that the Japanese have in Buddhism a religion sufficient for their needs, replied in the first place that the inconsistencies of the followers of Buddhism proclaim the fact that they are conscious of its insufficiency. He said: "If the Greek, Papal, and Protestant churches were all to regard the four gospels and the rest of the New Testament as having a curious historical interest, and should base their teaching, one on the Shepherd of Hermas, another on the Epistle of Clement, and the third on the Epistle of Barnabas, and then all unite in believing and teaching atheism, the resulting confusion would only fairly represent that which exists among the Buddhists of Japan." And in the second place he replied that the well-known immorality of the Buddhist priests unfits them to be the religious leaders of the people. A Buddhist priest himself confessed that hardly three in ten of the priests are pure.
Obituary.
By Editor
DIED, in Hardin, Calhoun Co., Ill., March 6, 1883, John B. Harmon, aged 67 years, 2 months, and 7 days.
Also, in Paola, Kansas, March 29, 1883, Caroline T. Clough, aged 72 years lacking ten days.
The above deceased were brother and sister of Sister Ellen G. White, so well known by her writings to the readers of the SIGNS. They were born in Portland, Maine.
Brother Harmon was a highly respected member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and an earnest advocate of temperance. We learn from a paper printed in Hardin that his last hours were trustful and peaceful. The notice says that “he sent for his pastor and wife, and after a fervent prayer with them his eyes closed in weakness, but soon opened in joyous satisfaction and gleaming with a new light, he said, ‘I am blessed. I feel calm and peaceful; the Saviour is very near,’ and frequently remarked, ‘It is all right.’ The last words we caught from his lips were, ‘My Saviour.’”
Sister Clough was also a member of the Methodist Church, and her last days were marked with zeal and devotion. She was strong and vigorous till within a short time of her death, which was caused by pneumonia. She had the appearance of a person not over 60, and retained her faculties to the last. EDITOR.
THE DEFINITE SEVENTH DAY;
By John Nevins Andrews
OR, GOD'S MEASUREMENT OF TIME ON THE ROUND WORLD.
BY ELD. J. N. ANDREWS.
THIS tract is an answer to the question, "Can a definite day be observed by all the inhabitants of the earth?" It is a complete refutation of the common objection against the Sabbath, that the rotation of the earth on its axis makes it impossible for all men to keep the same day, showing not only that a definite day may be observed in all parts of the earth, but that no real difficulty has ever been experienced in the matter.
16 pp. Price, 2 cents; $1.50 per hundred.
Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal.
Oakland.
THE church in Oakland was favored with a sermon from Sister White on "the talents," at our quarterly meeting, July 7. The lesson was timely and the appeal forcible.
We have tried to impress upon our members the importance of the duties and the responsibilities of church membership. But the number who did not respond to their names, either by letter or in person, shows that this instruction is not appreciated by all. The General Conference wisely took action in this matter; advising that they who persistently neglect to appear or report at the quarterly meetings shall lose their standing in the church. When the Saviour instituted his supper, he said: "Do this in remembrance of me." This precept is as plain and as imperative as that which says, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." We have no more right to violate one than the other. Jesus also said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments;" and, "He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me."
And yet again: "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" They who persistently neglect the words of Christ show a disregard of his authority—show that they do not love him. To absent ourselves from the Lord's table against his plain commandment is to walk disorderly, and to subject ourselves to discipline. The church of Oakland has passed a vote to consider the cases of all who thus do. The church did not make it a matter of discipline; Christ himself did that, and the church resolved to show a becoming respect to his words, and to require all its members to do so. The clerk was instructed to take a record of the names of absentees.
We do not write this to intrude our church matters upon the notice of others, but to impress upon others the importance of our meetings where the ordinances of Christ are observed. Show this to your indifferent neighbor.
"Hebrew Student."
By Editor
THE closing number of Vol. 2 of the Hebrew Student is upon our table. It is a very interesting number, the principal articles being as follows: The Greater Book of the Covenant, The Unity of the Pentateuch, The Origin of the Semitic Alphabet, The Law and the Prophets, with others of interest. It is edited by Dr. Wm. R. Harper, of the Baptist Theological Seminary, Morgan Park, Ill., leader of the Hebrew Correspondence School. This is the only journal of its kind in the country, being devoted entirely to Old Testament literature and interpretation.
We repeat what we have before said, that Dr. Harper is doing more than any other man in America, and probably more than any other man in the world, for the dissemination of a knowledge of the original of the Old Testament. We rejoice in this, for we profess a peculiar reverence for the writings of "Moses and the prophets." In these days of false science and speculative theology, men are much inclined to cast aside as antiquated and useless the Old Testament. But Paul placed a very high estimate upon the holy Scriptures which Timothy had known from a child, 2 Tim. 3:14–17, which were no others than our Old Testament; and Jesus said that they who will not hear Moses and the prophets would not believe though one rose from the dead. Luke 16:29, 30. The true Christian is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, of which Christ is the chief corner. Eph. 2:19, 20. We strongly doubt the genuineness of the faith of those who reject words which "holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2 Peter 2:19–21.
We do not believe that a knowledge of the original of either Testament is absolutely essential to usefulness in the Christian ministry. We believe that thousands will appear as stars in the crown of our Saviour's rejoicing who were led to embrace the salvation of Christ by the preaching of men who could not correctly parse an English sentence. But we also believe that ignorance is culpable where it is avoidable; and that where virtue is added to faith, and knowledge to virtue (2 Peter 1:5), so that knowledge be not permitted to puff up (1 Cor. 8:1), the better knowledge a man has of the sacred word, the better he must be qualified to instruct others. We fully indorse the following words from the Student (supplement):—
"By a little intellectual labor we may come into close fellowship with men who talked with God. In reading the original text, one seems to have passed a wall of partition, through which the lively oracles were before indistinctly heard. Now it is the direct voice of the Lord, not the muffled echo of the phonographs. We now bend over the bubbling fountain, instead of sipping at the aqueduct. We look on the coin not defaced by use or disfigured by such alterations as are needed to secure its circulation in a foreign land, but fresh from the mint. We sit under the shade of the good olive-tree, not stunted by grafting or transfer to an unpropitious clime. Thus divine truth fastens with a firmer grasp upon our minds and professional routine grows less wearisome."
We cannot express the satisfaction which we felt when we read the first chapter of Genesis in the original. We have a very high regard for our common English Version, but we feel that we are treading more safely in expounding a text after we have carefully gone through it just as it came from the pen of the inspired writer.
Dr. Harper is eminently practical in all his methods of teaching. Under his instruction by correspondence one may acquire as accurate a knowledge as if he were in a class-room under the immediate care of a professor. To all who wish to become acquainted with this work, we recommend the Student. Published at Morgan Park, Cook Co., Ill.; $1.00 a year, ten numbers, 32 to 36 pages each number.
Time of Camp-Meetings.
VIRGINIA, New Market, Aug. 2–7
KANSAS, Bull City, Osborne Co., Aug. 9–20
OHIO, Galion, Crawford Co., “ 14–21
MASSACHUSETTS, “ 23–28
VERMONT, Aug. 30 to Sept. 4
MICHIGAN, Manton, Wexford Co., “ “
MAINE, Waterville, Sept. 6–11
ILLINOIS, “ 11–18
NEBRASKA. “ 19–25
INDIANA, Bunker Hill, Marion Co., Oct. 1–10
ALABAMA, Choctaw Co.
Address Requested
By Editor
To A. B. M.—We are unable to furnish the address which you request.
Conference and Camp-Meeting Reports
By Editor
The report of the last session of the North Pacific Conference will appear next week. It was received too late for this number. Notice of the Texas Camp-meeting was also received too late for use.
Questions.
WHO was Elias that appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration? N. M.
ANSWER. Smith's Unabridged Dictionary of the Bible says: "Elias is the Greek and Latin form of Elijah, given in the authorized version of the New Testament and Apocrypha." The new version in the account of the transfiguration uses the word Elijah instead of Elias each time. Matt. 17:3, 10, 11, 12. He is the one who ascended in the chariot and whirlwind of fire. 2 Kings 2:11. G. D. B.
Who was the angel that appeared to John? Rev. 22:9. Was he not one of the old prophets?
He was not. People often quote it with the word one in it, which is an inexcusable perversion of the text. As it stands there is nothing either difficult or obscure in it. He was an angel of God, and of course a servant of God, and a fellow-servant of John and of his brethren, and therefore not an object of worship.
Note to Bible Students.
By G. D. Ballou
I HAVE just examined the new book, “Sketches from the Life of Paul,” by Mrs. E. G. White. Each new work from this author seems to surpass all the others. The present volume beams with light for those who are striving to be Christians. The writer deals largely with the spirit and motives that actuated the apostle and his associates, as well as those of his adversaries. In this work is most clearly set forth the conflict between a cold, reprobate theology on one hand, which instilled into its adherents the spirit of bigotry and persecution, and a live, aggressive Christianity on the other, permeating with a new life and power from above all who embraced it with the whole soul. Whoever reads this book will be made better and stronger by it. You cannot afford to be without it, especially if you are connected with a Sabbath-school. G. D. BALLOU.
National Reform Movement.
This is what the Religious Amendment party call their work. The Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian (Covenanter) Church, recently held in Allegheny City, Pa., voted $10,000 to aid in the work, and also voted that three of their ministers be continued in that special work the coming year, and four others for three months each. A letter was read from a lady in Chicago asking how to bequeath $3,000 or $4,000 worth of property to that cause. The Covenanters make a specialty of religionizing the Constitution of the United States. By this means they expect to make this a Christian nation—one of the kingdoms of the Lord and his Christ, and thus help to fulfill Rev. 11:15! It seems singular that people can have such ideas of the prophecy. If they would mark the connection they would see that, at the time of the fulfillment of that prophecy, the nations are angry and the wrath of God is come. It all lies under the "third woe," not in the fabled millennium for which they are looking.
It is the same event that is spoken of in Ps. 2:8, 9, where Jehovah says to his Son, "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." Are they converted? Are they Christ's in the sense of their having become his loyal subjects? Not at all. Verse 9 says: "Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." Jesus sits at his Father's right hand until the nations and kingdoms are thus given to him—put under his feet. Ps. 110:1. And our Amendment friends think this and more may all be accomplished by a popular vote!
Home Missionaries Needed.
AT the close of a recent trial in Washington, United States District Attorney Corkhill made the following remarks:—
“I cannot allow this occasion to pass without calling attention to the remarkable exhibition of the want of character of the witnesses, both for the Government and the defense. In this case, and in one tried a few weeks ago of similar character, almost one hundred witnesses were examined, and so much perjury and utter disregard of the obligations of an oath, I never saw in a Court of Justice. It suggests to me that these worthy and benevolent gentlemen and ladies who are soliciting money and devoting their time to reforming and Christianizing heathens from Greenland to Africa, can find work closer home, here at their own capital. If these one hundred people represented the neighborhood in which they live, under the very dome of this temple of justice and within the sound of the church bells, there is a field ripe for the harvest, and as fully demanding their attention as can be found on the sands of Africa or the shores of Abyssinia.”
Lack of Ministers.
IN the Presbyterian General Assembly of 1883, the Moderator made the following statement:—
"The great peril of the church is in its apathy to the ministerial succession. There is no such thing as fitting together now the 5,741 churches in this General Assembly and its active ministry. Place all the retired clergymen and stated supplies in pastoral relations, and there will still remain 500 Presbyterian pulpits silent for want of a minister. The peril is a famine of ministers, for in the last decade the number of candidates has fallen off amazingly. One of the largest Presbyteries, numerically, in members and churches, that of Brooklyn, has now only two candidates. So along the whole line."
When it is considered that, in these large and popular churches, when the minister is gone the life and power of the church is gone, the prospect does not look flattering for them.
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES,
By Editor
PUBLISHED WEEKLY, AT OAKLAND, CAL., FOR THE
Missionary Society of Seventh-day Adventists.
A twelve-page Religious Family Paper, devoted to a discussion of the Prophecies, Signs of the Times, Second Coming of Christ, Harmony of the Law and Gospel, with Departments devoted to Temperance, The Home Circle, the Missionary Work, and the Sabbath-school.
Price Per Year, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2.00
In Clubs of five or more copies to one address, to be used in Missionary Work, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.50
Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal.
—OR—
REVIEW AND HERALD, Battle Creek, Michigan.
MRS. ELIZA PALMER, Sec. N. E. Tract Society, South Lancaster, Mass.
ELD. J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH, Ravenswood, Shirley Road, Southampton, England.
MRS. C. L. BOYD, Salem, Oregon.