THAT God should seek to provide salvation for men is, of course, the proof of his love—that he should save them by the cross is a proof of his justice. That when justice made this necessary he did not give up man to ruin, enhances amazingly the proof of his love. But, still, it was his justice that required the sacrifice. But men shrink back appalled at an attribute that requires such a remedy. An attribute that can only be appeased by blood is too harsh, they say, to describe him whom we are taught to call Father. But now suppose we call it truth: is not a new face put upon the question? Can any one demand that God should violate his truth in the salvation of men? If the martyr's crown is the brightest guerdon man can win, because he bears witness to the truth even unto death, does not the glory of God appear more glorious when we find that God, rather than swerve one hair's breadth from his eternal truth, even to save a world, lets the fires of his wrath smite and curse the Son of the Beloved, his only begotten Son? And this is the Scripture conception; for justice is but one aspect of righteousness, and righteousness is but rectitude, conformity to rule or standard. Hence, righteousness is but one aspect of truth, and truth is violated whether one errs by deficiency or excess; truth demands perfect conformity to standard; the balance that weighs too little is as untrue as the balance that weighs too much, and the balance is the symbol of justice. A deviation from justice is a violation of truth. The eternal truth of God's nature required the sacrifice of Christ, and to this end was he born, and for this cause came he into the world, that he might bear witness of the truth.—Rev. Peyton H. Hodge.
Willingness to Serve in Small Things
If you cannot be great, be willing to serve God in things that are small.—Sel.
I Will Praise Thee, O Lord
"I WILL praise thee, O Lord, among the people; and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations." Ps. 108:3.
Going to School in China.
THE written Chinese is not an alphabetic, but a sign language; that is, the words are not expressed by letters, but by signs or characters, each word having its own special and distinct sign, each differing from all the others. There are as many as ten thousand in common use, and twenty-five thousand—some say more, and one author says two hundred and fifty thousand—different characters in their written language. To learn these twenty-five thousand, or even the ten thousand, is almost an impossibility; so it is not probable that there lives any one person who can read all Chinese books.
The men of that country respect and value education, and most of them are proud of any ability to read they may possess. They even pretend to be able to read when their knowledge of the characters is very small. When they come into the Christian chapels, each one is ready to accept a hymn-book, and most of them know enough of numbers to find the place; but it is not an unusual thing to find a man singing from a book which he holds upside down.
If the men had time and money to spare, all would no doubt get an education, but poverty forbids. Only few women can read. It is hardly thought worth while to send a girl to school.
Schools are not free in China, nor are they usually open to all. Occasionally benevolent men hire a teacher or open a school to teach those who have time to learn and yet have no money to pay; but most of the schools are supported by the relatives of the pupils. A number of families usually unite and hire a teacher for their children; though in the homes of the rich a special teacher, or it may be several teachers, are employed to educate the children. While there are schools supported by the Government, the pupils are expected to pay in presents to the teachers. It is said that an allowance is also made by the Government to the successful pupils in these schools.
There are no school-houses, as we think of them, in China. Schools are taught in any room that may afford shelter from cold and heat, sun and storm. These are sometimes only sheds; at other times small, dark rooms connected with a dwelling; and not rarely are they parts of some idol temple. The furniture consists of a seat and a table for the teacher, and benches and desks for the scholars. Those for the pupils have usually very little ornament or beauty. Occasionally some sentences from noted writers, or the names of wise men, adorn the walls.
When the boys meet at the beginning of a term, though a scholar may enter at any time, they are examined by the teacher as to their knowledge. If it be a child's first day at school, he is soon and with little ceremony started on the road to learning. In former days the father who brought his son, led, after an introduction to the teacher, to the name of Confucius, or of some other great name of the past, and taught his boy to bow to that name as though reverencing his greatness and worshiping his memory. This custom is more and more neglected now, and may soon be forgotten.
When the school is opened, the teacher calls around the boys who are equally far advanced, and reads a line or two of their lesson. As soon as his voice is still, all at once shout out the words he read. The teacher listens and corrects any mistakes; then he has them repeat the line and continue the repetitions until all can read it correctly. They are then sent to their seats to fix both sound and sign of the words in their minds. Others are called up to go through the same course, until all have received their lessons. The boy who has never read a word is taught to study in the same way, the only difference being in the book from which the lesson is given. The book for beginners is called the "Three Character Classic," because composed of short sentences of three words each.
The Chinese scholars all study aloud, and often each tries to outdo his neighbor in shouting. That they think is hard study. When all are diligently studying, the teacher may be able to hear a good-sized clap of thunder, but ordinary sounds outside do not disturb his meditation. When there is a lull in the sound, the teacher speaks or raps on his desk, and the harmonious inharmony redoubles its volume. The Chinese think that noise and study go together.
When a boy is ready to recite, he takes his book to the teacher, and, as is said in China, "backs the book," that is, he turns his back on book and teacher, and recites the lesson. If well recited a commendation and new lesson are given, and the pupil returns to his desk to add to the volume of sound already filling the room.
The boys are also, at the beginning of their education, taught to write the characters; and in these two studies they may spend a year and even several years. After the pupil has learned to read many characters, the teacher begins to explain the meaning of the words and phrases read. After a while the scholar is taught to write sentences and compositions of his own; he may also be taught a little history, but not much besides. Grammar, arithmetic, geography, and other studies are seldom taught,—in many schools never. Probably, except as compelled by business, not one Chinaman in a hundred thousand knows anything about other languages; and their knowledge of other nations is very slight. To the ordinary Chinaman the world is very little more than a square plot of ground a hundred miles or more across, with his own home in the center.
A boy designed for business must gain his business education, especially a knowledge of accounts and letter writing, in places of business, not in the school. Business is for business, schools for reading.
The length of time spent at school varies from one day to a life-time. The Chinese system of education, such as it is, gives opportunity for a man to study till he dies of old age, and it is not an unheard of fact for a grandfather, father, and son to be students at the same time and place, each studying with the hope of graduating with the highest degree at Peking. It may be that the grandson will graduate first, and the grandfather receive his degree, too, before death closes the school to him.—Christian Weekly.
Something about Beavers.
I do not think the dams made by beavers show as much ingenuity as their canals. It is much easier and safer for them to carry their food and building material by water than land. So sometimes they cut a canal across the bend of a stream to shorten the distance. Sometimes, again, it is cut through the mud, until they reach firm ground for their burrows. These canals are usually about three feet wide and three deep, and they are sometimes five hundred feet long. Any engineer will tell you that it needs a good deal of skill and ingenuity to decide where to lay out such a canal as that, and then to cut it regularly, so that the water shall flow smoothly through. And the most remarkable thing of all, is that they know how to combine the principles of the canal and the dam, so that when they come to an obstruction, such as a rock in the bed of their stream, they immediately make a dam to secure the necessary flow of water. Successive generations evidently work for many years upon these canals, and I can hardly think of anything else done by an animal that shows so much contrivance.
The home or lodge is always separate from the dam. Sometimes a cord of wood is used in building one house. There is an entrance under water like that of the musquash, and sometimes two. These openings are very neatly made. The beavers drag their branches and pieces of bark into the water, and then take them into the dining-room by the hidden entrance. Indeed, I believe the house is all dining-room, but it is always very neatly swept. There are not often more than eight or ten beavers, old and young, in a single house. Besides the houses, they like to have burrows in the banks, and spend part of their time in each. The young beavers live at home for almost two years before they go to housekeeping for themselves. They are queer little things, and their253cry is like that of a young child. Mr. Morgan once saw a little beaver in an Indian's house, and it was lapping milk out of a saucer like a kitten, and an Indian baby was pulling its fur. Then there was a little cry, and Mr. Morgan thought it was the Indian baby, till he found it was the baby beaver.
It has always been an interesting question for naturalists how the beaver learns to build. Does he learn it by observing his parents, or would he know how to do it if he were brought up alone? Buffon, a great naturalist, thought that it was all learned by observation. So Cuvier, another great naturalist, took a very young beaver and brought him up by hand, apart from all his kind. They gave him branches of willow; he cut the branches and piled them in one corner of his cage. Then they gave him earth, which he made into lumps with his forefeet, and piled them with the branches into a solid mass. This shows it was instinct that taught the beaver to build.—Sel.
The Home Circle.
By M. E. Vandyne
A QUARREL.
THERE'S a knowing little proverb
From the sunny land of Spain;
But in Northland, as in Southland,
Is its meaning clear and plain.
Lock it up within your heart;
Neither lose nor lend it—
Two it takes to make a quarrel;
One can always end it.
Try it well in every way,
Still you'll find it true.
In a fight without a foe,
Pray what could you do?
If the wrath is yours alone,
Soon you will expend it.
Two it takes to make a quarrel;
One can always end it.
Let's suppose that both are wroth,
And the strife begun.
If one voice shall cry for "Peace,"
Soon it will be done.
If but one shall span the breach,
He will quickly mend it.
Two it takes to make a quarrel;
One can always end it.
—M. E. Vandyne, in Harper's Young People.
Social Courage.
ALL are not ladies who wear a woman's dress. When the old beau in Sheridan's comedy said, as he bowed himself out of the parlor, "Ladies, I leave my character in your hands!" he knew his dear friends would tear it to tatters, before the sound of the closing hall door announced his departure.
Sir Charles Grandison and Sir Roger de Coverly may have been a little stiff, not to say pompous, and their old-school manners would be too deliberate for this fast age. But neither they, nor their wives and daughters, ever found fault with host or hostess, nor would they have listened for a moment to any one censuring the person whose hospitality they were accepting.
One of the descendants of these courtly old gentlemen still lives. She is a lady, and resides in Washington. The other day, as we learn from the New York Sun, she astounded a group of female visitors by her courageous rebuke of their bad breeding.
Among the callers on her reception day were several ladies who, on the previous evening, had attended a large party given by a millionaire and his wife. The party was criticised by these callers and its hostess picked to pieces. In a lull of the conversation, they turned to the lady on whom they were calling, and appealed to her to confirm their criticisms, in such a direct way that she was forced to speak.
"Well, ladies," she answered, with that repose of manner and calmness of tone which are such excellent things in women, "I have never eaten of her bread and salt, and, of course, know nothing of her as a hostess. But if I had accepted her hospitality, I should know nothing unkind of her either as a hostess or a woman."
The courage of the lady, though magnificent, did not cause the visitors to prolong their call.—Youth's Companion.
A High Look and a Proud Heart
A HIGH look and a proud heart is sin.—Prov.
Which Was the Brute?
By D. T. Taylor
A SAD yet amusing sight was witnessed in a street at Reno, Nevada, one day during the summer of 1878. Had the reader been present, he would have beheld a well-dressed man in a state of intoxication, stupidly staggering along the side-walk, reeling hither and thither under the poor guidance of a brain completely unbalanced by strong drink. This creature was made in God's image, and had no moral right thus to benumb his faculties, and poison his system.
At the heels of the poor besotted drunkard could be seen a little shaggy terrier, that trotted in the wake of his master, with every apparent evidence of shame! shame for the human brute. There was shame manifested in his eye, and head, and tail; shame in every motion. The poor dog kept close to the drunkard, following his staggering and crooked steps, but with a downcast look and dangling tail, apparently so much ashamed that he would not look any sober passer-by in the face.
The brute was ashamed of the man! Yes. Once in a while the man would stop, clutch hold of a fence railing, and, stupidly looking at the earth, would stand and sway to and fro.
This would seem to increase the misery of the dog, which, with a countenance filled with concern, would sit down on his haunches, trembling, and casting sneaking glances to the right and left to see if any one was observing the shameful condition of his master. This is no fancy picture, but a simple fact, as reported in public prints.
We have no language vigorous enough with which to denounce the infamous traffic in intoxicating and poisonous beverages, in this civilized and enlightened age; no words in human speech to adequately depict the burning shame of official authorities that license their open sale, and of the vast multitudes of persons of both sexes and all classes, who boldly persist in the sin of drunkenness. The Reno terrier evinced more shame than these. A survey of the scorched, arid, dark, and deadly domain of liquor making and liquor drinking, fills us with astonishment, alarm, sorrow, and indignation. God will assuredly visit the nations for these things, and if there be not speedy repentance and reform, his visitation will be in wrath that will know "no remedy." 2 Chron. 36: 16.—D. T. Taylor.
A Simple Book-Shelf.
By Mrs. Brown
THE boys of our household have an attic to themselves, and they do a little manufacturing occasionally. They enjoy outdoor fun as much as any boys, but the attic is useful when they are in the house, and on wet evenings it is a great advantage. They have just made a very pretty pair of book-cases. They obtained for a few cents eight pine boards three-fourths of an inch thick, eighteen inches long, and seven inches wide. A trifle more secured a few yards of red sash cord. They took four boards for each case, made an even hole at each corner, then passed the four cords through the holes of the top shelf first, making the knots carefully, to support it in the right place. They then did the same to the second and third shelves, and mounted the bottom one last, making the knots very secure, and cutting off the spare line. As their books varied in size, the distance between the shelves, instead of having the same space between each, varied. The shelves were then stained, and, having found in the house some ornamental leather strips that once adorned the edges of a book-case, they nailed these along the front edges of their shelves with small brass nails, and the work was done. A set of book-shelves is an accession to a bedroom, especially, as is often the case, when young people have their own rooms and spend spare minutes there.—Mrs. Brown, in N. Y. Observer.
Man's Exposure to High Temperature.
INVESTIGATIONS show that the limit of temperature at which men can work depends upon the length of their exposure, and the amount of exertion they put forth, their condition and the nature of the atmosphere, particularly as to its degree of moisture. It is stated that men have been employed on railways at 104 degrees; in mines, under very favorable conditions, at 125 degrees, and are said to work occasionally, in the stoke-holes of tropical steamers, at 156 degrees. Professor Dubois is reported to have estimated that a temperature of 122 degrees can be endured when the air is as dry as possible, but that even 104 degrees is likely to be fatal in an atmosphere saturated with moisture. It is also considered certain that men cannot become accustomed to stand for any considerable time a higher temperature than from 145 to 165 degrees, even when they keep perfectly still and are in quite pure air.—Chicago Times.
FROM Reuster Height, 1,200 feet above the level of the Baltic, in the duchy of Saxe-Altenburg, eight different countries are discernible.
You can't hire a man to be honest; he will want his wages raised every morning.—Josh Billings.
Health and Temperance.
Hope as a Remedial Measure.
It is perfectly useless for us to attempt to portray the influence that "hope" exerts upon mankind. It is a proverbial fact that a man without hope in the fight for life is already half whipped. The sick man without hope is desperately ill indeed, however slight his physical ailment may be. It is equally as true that there is a very slight chance for the undertaker to be benefited in the case of a patient who has no disposition or idea of dying. The whole system, digestive, circulatory, and nervous, is directly under the influence of the mind; and if we will ever bear this in mind in treating our cases, we will often have a more potent remedy, easy of administration and more pleasant to give and take than anything found in the country doctor's saddle-bags or upon the shelves of our metropolitan pharmacists. Bad news, grief, or sudden disappointment has been known to reduce the circulation to a minimum, to cause a strong man to become as helpless as a child, and to arrest the process of digestion and assimilation as suddenly as if the patient's throat had been cut. Just the reverse of this may be observed under the influence of pleasant emotions, and the life-giving power of bright, Heaven-born hope.
My young friends, never enter a sick-room unless your countenance, manner, and words are such as to comfort and cheer your patients. However slight their hope may be, make use of that little; encourage and stimulate them to exercise that fortitude coupled with reasonable hope which has tided, and will tide, many a patient over dangerous shoals where medicine would have been utterly ineffective.—Southern Clinic.
Overeating.
By J. Mortimer Granville
It is the fashion of the day to ascribe all, or nearly all, the diseases of the body to an excessive use of alcohol. This is a prejudiced view of the matter, and not a very rational one either. It is the result of a hasty or biased judgment. For one disease really due to “drink,” there are probably two or three which are the direct effects of overfeeding. The organism readily falls into morbid habits of feeding; and important parts become thickened, enlarged, and consolidated; or they degenerate, and their proper elements are replaced by fatty matter when food is ruthlessly forced upon them.
In some organisms there is an inherited tendency to special kinds of overfeeding, which only needs the opportunity and the material to carry on a process destructive to the integrity of the organs, and, in the end, inimical to life itself. It does not often happen that any one organism is morbidly omnivorous; but there are few individuals who, if they could form a rigidly practical view of their own inner requirements, would not find it prudent to stint the supply of some special element of food with a view to organic health and efficiency.
It is not necessary to make ourselves slaves to any manner of living; nor is it desirable to devote too much thought to the subject; but the general maxim to live moderately and to restrain the appetite rather than gratify it, would be found conducive to health and happiness in the majority of instances, the harm likely to be done by underfeeding being as nothing compared with the mischief those work in their constitutions who feed too often and eat too much.—J. Mortimer Granville, M. D., in “How to Make the Best of Life.”
More Dangerous Than So-Called Plagues.
"It is a fact well known to the medical profession," said a prominent physician, "that much less harm is done in New York by those diseases most feared by the public and the Health Board, than by the diseases which cause little alarm in the community. The so-called plagues are not likely to cause much havoc in this latitude, particularly in a city where the sanitary regulations are good. No scourge is so much feared as Asiatic cholera, yet the deaths from that disease in this city during the year of the greatest epidemic, were less in number than the deaths from consumption last year. Yellow fever has killed fewer people in New York in this century than hooping-cough has destroyed in a single year. Small-pox, which is causing so much alarm at present, kills fewer persons here than does either measles, croup, or hooping-cough."—Tribune.
The Cost of Drink and Tobacco
THE annual drink bill in this country is said to be $900,000,000, and its tobacco bill is $600,000,000; while its contributions for home and foreign missions are only $5,500,000. In other words, for every dollar spent for missions, $181.81 is spent for liquor, and $109.09 for tobacco. Or, putting the two together, rum and tobacco get $290.90 for every dollar which we put into the effort to evangelize the world. Is it any wonder that the progress of the truth is so slow? The worst of it all is that, in the case of the expenditures for tobacco, a large per cent. of it is paid by Christian men!—Sel.
News and Notes.
RELIGIOUS.
—Archbishop Trench, of Ireland, noted as an author, died recently in his 79th year.
—The Church of England enjoys an income from the State of about $1,500,000 per annum.
—Following the example of the Methodists, the Baptists are now moving for the raising of $1,000,000 for missions.
—The seventh Roman Catholic Provincial Council of Quebec, will be convened on May 30 by Cardinal Tascherman.
—The Hon. T. W. Dwight, LL.D., has just delivered a course of lectures at the Andover Seminary, on the relation of the Christian church and the Christian religion to jurisprudence.
—Last week at a meeting of ministers and laymen in New York City, the following question was discussed: “Ought the State to see that provision is made for popular instruction in the fundamentals of religion?” The discussion was opened in the affirmative by President Seelye, of Amherst College.
—The Helping Hand, of Macon, Ga., says: “Right here in the suburbs of Macon, in the full blaze of this nineteenth century, there is a superintendent who sells liquor to his own Sunday-school pupils, and to their parents.” That is bad, indeed, but is it really any worse for a Sunday-school superintendent or a minister to sell whisky than it is to license somebody else to do it?
—“Professor” Chaney says: “There are thousands of Spiritualists whose gullibility is so large that anything, no matter how absurd, represented as coming from a spirit, will drop into their mental throats without the least effort on their part to swallow.” If they would but listen to the despised word of God, they might avoid all imposition, including the terrible delusion of Spiritualism itself.
—A large and enthusiastic meeting of Germans was held the other day in Cincinnati, at which a movement for the abolition of “Puritanical” and restrictive Sunday legislation was set on foot. Such movements as this, while they may have a momentary effect, will only serve to stir up the friends of the Sunday to united and energetic effort that will result in giving that institution a more firm place in the law of the land than it ever had before.
—“I believe that too little attention, by far, is devoted in our theological seminaries to Bible study. Other studies of less importance occupy the time. The Bible is the primer book of the Christian minister. It should all be familiar, should be read and studied through from beginning to end, read again and again, its history and teachings more familiar than anything else, and large portions committed to memory.”—Dr. Wm. Hayes Ward. Dr. Ward says further, that the study of the Old Testament in particular, is sadly neglected.
—“Laicus,” in the Watchman, speaks as follows of the Salvation Army: “Unfortunately, however they started out, the Salvationists have now yielded to the temptations of success, and set themselves up as a church. They have a ministry without even a pretext of Scriptural warrant for its form or essence; and for an initiatory rite have profanely contrived, as a substitute for baptism, a performance called swearing in under the blood-red flag,—a ceremony not only bearing no resemblance to any Christian rite, but involving no personal vows of amendment, and, as commonly administered, having little individual application.”
—A suggestive reference occurs in Mr. Froude’s volume, “Oceana,” in relation to the uncertainties of scientific theories. At the Victoria Observatory he asked to be shown one of the blue stars, of which modern science has written much. He was informed that all the teaching about these blue stars had arisen from an error due to imperfect achromatic lenses. Mr. Froude thereupon asks: “How many times must we outlanders learn up our science and then unlearn it? Each new generation of philosophers laughs at the conclusions of its predecessors.” It is evidently not the Christian alone who sees through a glass darkly.—New York Observer. It is to be remembered also that although the Christian sees through a glass, darkly, he knows the truth of what he sees, and has positive assurance of far more that he cannot see. And this assurance does not change from year to year; yet so-called scientists sneer at the credulity of Christians.
SECULAR.
—Ex-President Arthur is dangerously ill.
—The second reading of Gladstone’s Home Rule bill has been postponed till May 10.
—Turkey has appealed to the Powers to suppress the belligerent demonstrations of Greece.
—Barley hay of this season’s cutting is now offered for sale in Los Angeles County, Cal.
—There is a strong sentiment in the United States Senate in favor of abolishing secret sessions.
—John H. Noyes, the founder of the Oneida Community, died at Niagara Falls, Ontario, April 13.
—Nine deaths have so far resulted from the shots fired by the deputy sheriffs at the East St. Louis rioters.
—Nine persons were killed, and a number injured by the collapse of a mansion at Abaccio, Corsica, April 15.
—General Guzman Blanco, recently elected President of Venezuela, has decided that he will decline the office.
—Quiet has been restored in East St. Louis and along the line of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, and traffic is being carried on as usual.
—Secretary Manning, who has for some time been seriously ill, is recovering. It is thought that Mr. Manning will not resume the duties of his office.
—It does not appear that the Utah Mormons have been in any way benefited by the removal of Governor Murray, as prosecutions for polygamy still continue.
—A Chinese student in the junior class at Yale has received the right by scholastic merit to be one of the eight speakers selected for the exhibition next month.
—Sixty-two undoubted cases of Asiatic cholera, with several deaths, are reported from Brindisi, a sea-port of considerable importance in the southeastern part of Italy.
—A notable feature of the recent Mormon Conference at Provo, U. T., was the absence of all the leading men of the denomination. They had to remain away to avoid arrest for their polygamous practices.
—The United States Treasury has prepared statements showing that the net amount of gold coin and bullion in the treasury on April 10 was $153,920,858, an increase of $27,242,263 since January 31 last.
—The Russian Ministry has ordered the authorities of all universities in the empire to at once adopt means for the immediate and permanent suppression of all forms of political education by young students.
—Advices from Zanzibar state that the Sultan has refused to cede to Portugal the territory claimed by her, and that the Portuguese Consul has on this account lowered his flag and placed the Portuguese residents under the protection of the German Consul.
—Eleven more arrests were made in New York on the 13th inst. in connection with the Broadway Surface Railroad case, and the entire Board of Aldermen, for the year 1884, with one exception, are now either under arrest or out on bail in the sum of $25,000 each, on charges of bribery and official corruption.
—A remarkable boycott has been instituted in Virginia. A convention was recently held there in which it was resolved to boycott every man who paid his taxes in coupons, issued by the State some years since, and which, according to a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, must be received in payment of State taxes.
—A diver of the Merritt Wrecking Company has made an examination of the steamer Oregon, and ascertained, beyond question, that she was sunk by a collision. The diver found a hole in the steamer’s side where the heavy iron plates were crushed in. The hole is six feet deep and three feet in breadth at the widest part. The steamer is broken in two and her upper deck parted over twelve feet on top. Most of her cargo will be saved.
—April 14, a terribly destructive cyclone swept over parts of Iowa and Minnesota, doing immense damage to property and killing probably over one hundred persons, and seriously injuring more than double that number. The towns of St. Cloud and Sauk Rapids, Minnesota, were almost entirely destroyed. At Coon Rapids, Iowa, thirty houses, two churches, and several business houses were demolished, and a freight train was blown from the track. The loss of life in Iowa was small.255
—The House Ways and Means Committee has decided to report in favor of abrogating the Hawaiian Reciprocity Treaty.
—At Clintonville, Wis., April 17, three men were killed and four others seriously injured by the explosion of eight kegs of giant powder.
—A coroner’s jury in East St. Louis has brought in a verdict condemning the action of the deputy sheriffs in firing into the crowd. The verdict holds the officers jointly responsible for the deaths occasioned.
A Sound Education.
PRESIDENT GILMAN, of Johns Hopkins University, has this to say in regard to the character of an educational institution:—
“Ask, first, is it a place of sound education? Are the youth who are trained within its walls, honest lovers of the truth? Are they learned? Are they ready? Are they trustworthy? When they leave the academic classes, do they soon find a demand for their services? Do they rise in professional life? Are they sought for as teachers? Do they show aptitude for mercantile, administrative, or editorial life? Do they acquit themselves with credit in the public service? Do the books they write find publishers? Do they win repute among those who have added to the sum of human knowledge? Have they the power of enjoying literature, music, art? Can they apply the lessons of history to the problems of our day? Are they always eager to enlarge their knowledge? Do they become conservative members of society, seeking for progress by steady improvements rather than by the powers of destruction and death? Are they useful, courteous, co-operative citizens, in all the relations of life? Do the charities, the churches, the schools, the public affairs of the community, receive their constant consideration? Are there frequent manifestations among them of unusual ability in science, in literature, in oratory, in administration? As the roll of the alumni increases and the graduates are counted by hundreds and not by scores, does it appear that a large proportion are men of honorable, faithful, learned and public-spirited character? These are the questions by which, as the years go on, a university should be tested, or, to sum all questions in one, Is it proved to be a place for the development of manliness?
“Here let me protest against the common method of estimating intellectual work by numerical standards alone. I have heard it said that some men are possessed by a statistical devil. They can only think in figures; they will ask, in respect to a new acquaintance, how much is he worth; of a library, how many volumes; of an orchestra, how many pieces; of a college, how many students. I have known the expenses of an institution made a dividend, and the number of scholars the divisor, the quotient representing the cost of each pupil. All this is wrong, absolutely and wholly wrong. If such a standard were allowable, the largest number of scholars taught by the cheapest teacher would be the greatest success. It is not the number but the quality of students which determines the character of a high school. It is important to count; it is better to weigh.”
—Sel.
A Difference.
THERE is an important difference between a house and a home. Men build houses; God builds the home. The house furnishes shelter for its inmates from storms, in heat and cold; the home is a place of love, of training in all that is unselfish, generous, and good. We need to be careful that in our hurry, and worldly strife, we do not make our homes simply places in which to stay, to sleep, to eat. Let us strive to make them, rather, centers of joy through domestic affection, places of discipline in all that refines and beautifies the spirit of man, sanctuaries in which God dwells, and where, with devout reverence, he is loved and worshiped. The house may be poor and humble, the home grandly beautiful. God grant that ours may be such homes, little foretastes of the home above. May we all have a place in that home.—Sabbath Recorder.
Better Is a Little with Righteousness
“BETTER is a little with righteousness, than great revenues without right.”
Appointments.
By Editor
OAKLAND.—House of worship, northeast corner of Clay and Thirteenth Streets. Sabbath-school every Sabbath at 9:30 A. M. Preaching at 11. Prayer and missionary meeting every Tuesday evening at 7:30. Seats free.
SAN FRANCISCO.—House of worship, 914 Laguna Street, between McAllister and Tyler. Sabbath-school every Sabbath at 9:45 A. M. Classes in the English, German, and Scandinavian languages. Prayer and missionary meeting every Wednesday evening at 7:45. Mission Reading-rooms at the church.
EAST PORTLAND (Or.)—House of worship on G Street, between Tenth and Eleventh. Sabbath-school every Sabbath (Saturday), followed by services. Preaching or Bible-reading Sunday evening. Prayer-meeting Wednesday evening. The public is cordially invited. Free public reading-room, corner of L and Fifth Streets.
Stockholders' Meeting.
PURSUANT to Article 6, Section 2, of the By-Laws of the Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association, the eleventh annual meeting of the stockholders of said Association will be held at the office of the Pacific Press, corner of 12th and Castro streets, Oakland, Cal., on Monday, April 26, 1886, at 9:30 A. M., for the purpose of electing a Board of five Directors, and transacting such other business as may come before the meeting.
By order of the President.
S. C. STICKNEY, Secretary.
Upper Columbia Conference.
By H. W. Decker
THE next annual session of the Upper Columbia Conference, for the transaction of conference business, will be held in connection with the camp-meeting at Walla Walla, May 26 to June 1, 1886.
Let all churches see that delegates are appointed and furnished with credentials, and that the necessary reports are made out, and sent to the Conference secretary, E. G. Winkler, Rock Creek, Spokane Co., W. T.
H. W. DECKER, President.
Walla Walla, W. T., Apr. 5, 1886.
Upper Columbia Society Annual Session
By H. W. Decker
THE next annual session of the Upper Columbia T. and M. Society, for the transaction of business, will be held at Walla Walla in connection with the camp-meeting, May 26 to June 1.
H. W. DECKER, President.
General Meeting at South Lancaster, Massachusetts.
By D. A. Robinson
THE New England Conference of Seventh-day Adventists will hold a general meeting at South Lancaster, Mass., the second Sabbath in May. The meeting will begin Friday evening, May 7, and close on Monday.
This meeting will convene just at the close of the school year of South Lancaster Academy, and will be one of universal interest, and we trust of profit. Elder E. W. Farnsworth, of Iowa, Elder J. B. Goodrich, of Maine, and other ministers will be in attendance, and it is expected that Elder Haskell, who has been in Australia for the past year, will also be present.
Any readers of the SIGNS who have become interested in its perusal, and desire to attend this meeting, are cordially invited to be present, and the church at Lancaster will gladly entertain all such who may come. D. A. ROBINSON.
WHO CHANGED THE SABBATH?
By Editor
A tract of 24 pages, which fully answers this question, and shows how Sunday displaced the Bible Sabbath. Extracts given from Catholic writers. Price, 3 cts.