For several years past, in Conferences in which I have labored, I have had occasion to examine S. B. books and the accounts of our S. B. treasurers. I have been pained to find that, with here and there an exception, the accounts of our S. B. fund in the different churches are kept in such a manner that it is impossible for the treasurers themselves, or anybody else, to tell how their accounts stand.
I have not found one treasurer out of five who can balance his book and tell just how it stands. The only way that many have of telling is this: They have a separate place in their pocket book where they put all their S. B. money. By looking at this they can tell how they stand!
With the rapid increase of our numbers and churches this is becoming a matter of much importance. The entire S. B. of our people amounts to some thirty-five thousand dollars ($35,000.00) a year. This would be quite a large business for one good practical book-keeper to attend to where money was received in sums of $5.00, $10.00, and $20.00. Even in this case, no business man would suffer his books to pass on year after year without being carefully audited. It is a very easy thing to make mistakes which amount to hundreds of dollars in the handling of so much money.
But look at the case of our S. B. fund. Here are thirty-five thousand dollars to be handled every year. This is to be gathered from ten or fifteen thousand different persons. Most all of it comes in very small sums, five, ten, twenty-five cents, &c., at a time. This, any one can see, is a most difficult business to keep correct, as these little sums come in irregularly. Then, when we consider the further fact that these amounts pass through the hands of some three hundred different S. B. treasurers, the liability of making mistakes is greatly increased. And when we further consider that the majority of our S. B. treasurers know nothing about book-keeping, and are not accustomed to keeping accounts at all, it is very evident that there must be many mistakes made involving hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars every year.
The little that I have looked into these matters confirms these fears. It seems to me that it is time that attention should be called to this matter, and that some better system of keeping these books should be introduced. When our numbers were small and our churches few, it was not a matter of so great account; but the case has now come to be very different. I wish simply to make a few suggestions, hoping that others, in higher authority and with more financial ability, will soon find time to do something about it.
In the first place, then, a good deal of care should be exercised in choosing a treasurer. To my certain knowledge, some one, with little or no consideration, moves that a certain person be elected treasurer, and the motion is carried although the person may not be at all fitted for the place. I think that the matter should be carefully talked over beforehand and a selection made of the person the best qualified to attend to it. If there is any member in the church, brother or sister, who is particular and careful in his or her own business, who is punctual and prompt, and who knows how to keep accounts, such a person should be selected. A person who is not prompt in paying his own S. B. should never be put in treasurer. It is also important that the S. B. treasurer should be located where the brethren will see him often, so that they can hand in their S. B. at any time. Then the S. B. treasurer should feel that it is his duty to carefully look after this matter, to notify the members when their S. B. is due, and how much it is, and solicit them to pay it promptly. A failure to do this often loses to the treasury a large amount that would otherwise be paid in. A person who does not feel at liberty to tell a brother or sister when S. B. is due should not be elected to the office.
I will offer a few suggestions about keeping the S. B. book. Opening it, you will find on the left hand page a space for the names of those pledging. Here plainly write the names of all who pay S. B. In the first column on the right hand page place opposite each name the amount which that person gives each week. Then you will find a blank column under each month and opposite each name. But now be careful. Do not place a single figure, or make any mark in these blank places till the person has paid the amount due for that month. When the person does pay, be it more or less, commence with January and apply as much of the amount in the blank place under January as is due in January, and as much more in February as is due in February, and so on as far as it will go, but no farther. Then you can tell at a glance just how far every individual has paid. He has paid just as far as the figures are placed in the blank places, and no farther.
Strange to say, many of our treasurers fill out with figures the blanks for the entire year before a cent has been paid. Why they should do this I cannot conceive. This would show, if it meant anything, that each individual had paid up on his S. B. for the entire year, when the fact is, he has not paid anything. This is not the way to do. Do not place any figures there till the money has been paid. All that this page is for is to show how far ahead or how far back each individual is.
Now turn two-thirds of the way through your book, and there keep a record of every dollar or cent paid in. This record should state when it was paid, who paid it, and how much was paid; thus:—
Jan. 6, 1876, John Brown, $ 3.25
“ 12, “ Wm. Jones, 6.10
Feb. 2, “ Charles Smith, .25
March, 1, “ John White, .10
“ 7, “ Mary Alexander, 4.00
“ 20, “ Sam’l Miller, 2.30
Total, $16.00
These accounts, it will be seen, can readily be added up at any time, so that the treasurer can tell just how much money he has received up to any given time. He can tell by this who paid, when they paid, and how much they paid, so that there can be no difficulty about it.
Now turn still farther over, say within six pages of the back of the book, and there keep an account of all moneys paid out, stating when it was paid, to whom it was paid, and how much; thus:—
March 25, 1875, sent to State Treasurer, $ 27.10
May 19, “ “ “ “ “ 40.60
July 1, “ “ “ “ “ 18.00
Total, $85.70
It will be seen that these accounts can be readily added up, so that the treasurer can tell at any time how much money he has paid out, when he paid it, and to whom it was paid. Comparing this with what he has received will at once show how his book stands. Our S. B. books are not adapted to keeping records in this manner, but still they can be used for that purpose till something better is provided. The president of the Conference, one of the Conference Committee, or some person appointed for the purpose, should examine the S. B. books in every church once a year, and see that they are properly kept, accounts balanced, &c. D. M. CANRIGHT.
Jay, Mich., Nov. 23, 1875.
Identity not Lost by Unconsciousness.
DR. BEATTIE, sometime of Aberdeen, where he died in the sixty-seventh year of his age, writes of identity thus: “It has been asked whether a continued consciousness of our being always the same does not constitute our sameness, or identity? No more, I should answer, than our perception of truth, light, or cold, is the efficient cause of truth, light or cold. Our identity is perceived by consciousness; but consciousness is as different from identity as the understanding is different from truth, as past events are different from memory, as colors from the power of seeing. Consciousness of identity is so far from constituting identity, that it presupposes it. An animal might continue the same being, and yet not be conscious of identity which is probably the case with many of the brute creation; nay, which is often the case with man himself. When we sleep without dreaming, or fall into a fainting fit, or rave in a fever, and often, too, in our ordinary dreams, we lose all sense of our identity, and yet never conceive that our identity has suffered any interruption or change; the moment we awake, or recover, we are conscious that we are the same individuals that we were before.
“The following case, which M. CROZAZ gave in to the Academy of Sciences, is the most extraordinary instance of interrupted consciousness I have ever heard of. A nobleman of Lausanne, as he was giving orders to a servant, suddenly lost his speech and all his senses. Different remedies were tried without effect for six months, during which time he appeared to be in a deep sleep or deliquium, with various symptoms at different periods, which are particularly specified in the narrative. At last, after some chirurgical operations, at the end of six months, his speech and senses were suddenly restored. When he recovered, the servant to whom he had been giving orders when he was first seized with the distemper happening to be in the room, he asked whether he had executed his commission; not being sensible it seems, that any interval of time, except a very short one, had elapsed during his illness. He lived ten years after, and died of another disease. I mention this chiefly with a view to the reader’s amusement; he may consider the evidence, and believe or disbelieve, as he pleases. But that consciousness may be interrupted by a total deliquium, without any change in our notions of our own identity, I know by my own experience. I am therefore fully persuaded that the identity of this substance which I call my soul may continue even when I am unconscious of it; and if for a shorter space, why not for a longer?”—Sel.
It is Work that Tells.
It is cause for deep regret that so many young men, who, during their course of preparation, shone the fairest, should disappoint the hopes they excited, and yield, after all, but stunted fruit. Hundreds of cases might be cited that resemble leaky ships. Out of colleges and seminaries they rode under full sail and with colors flying, and gradually out to sea, promising a prosperous voyage; but when next seen they were water-logged, sinking, to be remembered no more.
It is too evident that many cease to be students when they begin to be teachers; many enter with prestige of ideas which are excellent capital, if properly improved by indefatigable labor, for attaining intellectual wealth, but unfortunately they wilt under the first silly caresses of foolish flatterings. We are all acquainted with some who started with fair capital, but who, hearing the silly whispers of admiring relatives and friends, began to look upon themselves as among the strong, the uncommon men, and neglecting study, died moth-eaten. Bubbles made with a little soap and water are beautiful, and one can almost imagine them miniature worlds floating in the air; but, alas! they burst while we admire.
Natural genius, however much to be admired, is simply so much good soil which, like the soil of the garden let alone, goes to weeds. It must be ploughed and harrowed and receive seed to be made to bring forth the golden grain,— Christian at Work.
A Wish.
By C. R. Austin
How often persons say, as they look back over a life of thirty, forty, or fifty years, “I wish I could live my life over again.” They greatly desire to have their life record appear just right in the day of final accounts, but they see blots upon it and deviations from the straight and narrow way that leads to the city of God; and they think, if they could live their life over again, they would make a fairer record for the inspection of the All-seeing Eye. But how vain this wish, be it ever so ardent. To no one has it ever been given to twice travel through this thorny maze, nor will it ever be.
Yet in this very arrangement is the love of God for his intelligent creation, surprisingly manifested. If the wish to present at the Judgment a spotless character for the glory of the Creator be sincere, and the one grand object for which we wish to live this life once or twice, how ample the provision for us to do so. Not by the length of life or the number of lives we may live here, but by the way in which we live this one, be it long or short, will our object be gained.
A perfect pattern has been given, which every one by close study and faithful application can imitate; and for every failure there is a fountain provided, and all who will present themselves a living sacrifice will find there is power in the blood of the Lamb of God to obliterate every stain of sin, every blemish caused by an unsanctified life, and strength will be given that will enable us so to live this brief life that instead of looking back over the past, with vain regrets for missteps, we shall look forward with earnest longings to a new and unending life with God our Father, the dear Redeemer, holy angels, and the good and pure of all ages.
Shall we who are permitted to live in this land, which is so highly favored of God, and so filled with a knowledge of his word, from which is blazing forth the light of “present truth,” sit down, with folded hands, while multitudes in the dark corners of the earth are in perishing need of the light of truth? Or shall we arise and call into action every faculty given us to help swell the last note of warning to a loud cry?
It has been truly said, “God has gone out before us.” Where are the laborers who will follow and so zealously devote themselves to the work of God, even at this eleventh hour, that they may soon hear from the lips of the Master, “Well done;” and may enter upon a life where no wish will be in vain, and no hope unfulfilled? C. R. AUSTIN.
Have Salt within Yourselves.
By W. Cochran
Very often we find ourselves without this seasoning. In our prayer and social meetings, we frequently wait until some one who has the love of the truth warm in his heart stirs us with a spirited testimony; then if we have an opportunity to speak while we are under the influence of the stimulus received from such a person we will do so, if not, we wait again.
Very many depend on the salt of another's offering. If we would keep a fresh supply of grace within ourselves, we would never have long, dry meetings. Brethren and sisters, don't depend on other people's salt. Get a new conversion every day, that this grace may be in yourselves. We read in Lev. 2:13 that Israel were not permitted to suffer the salt of the covenant of their God to be lacking; and we, as the antitype of God's ancient people, must not attempt to worship God or do any thing in his cause without a supply of fresh grace. All that are depending on others are, like the foolish virgins in the parable, trying to borrow oil. W. COCHRAN.
Water Treatment as a Remedy for Pain and Sickness
By Dr. Hall
A JUDICIOUS application of cold or warm water will alleviate, arrest, or cure more of pain or sickness than any score of medicines ever known.—Dr. Hall.
Sharpening Opinions Through Honest Discussion
Two blades become sharp by being rubbed together; so two opinions, clashing against each other, grow more decided, instead of becoming blunted.
The Greatest Heresy
“Popery?” No. “Pelagianism?” No. “Socinianism?” No. What can it be? It is a more general and widely diffused error than either named. It creeps into families and disturbs their harmony. It lurks in neighborhoods and sets friends at variance. It steals into churches and destroys their peace. It nestles down in editorial chairs and gives to the many-tongued press its bitter words. It strides the hobbies of reform and turns them into centaurs of fury. It gets into the councils of society, and curdles their charity with its acids. It stands on either side of the imaginary line that divides a nation into sections, and hurls poisoned arrows from one side to the other. It is the very essence and incarnation of the mischief-making principle, and the archenemy of Christ. What can it be? we hear from north, south, east, and west.
Must we answer, when the very nature of the heresy is such that the subject of it is almost invariably, and by a kind of fatal necessity, unconscious of its power, and only by divine grace is ever freed from the hateful scourge? A careful reading of the thirteenth chapter of Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians will confirm the assertion of an excellent divine, that the greatest heresy is want of love.—Sel.
A Syllogism on Baptism.
By Uriah Smith
ONE of our brethren has sent us the following syllogism on the subject of baptism, by one who believes in trine immersion:—
“I now offer a syllogism which you may overthrow if you can. Christian baptism was practiced in the first century. But backward immersion was not practiced till the sixteenth century. Therefore, backward immersion is not Christian baptism.”
The trouble with this syllogism lies in its minor premise which expresses a falsehood. To say that backward immersion was not practiced till the sixteenth century, is, we have no hesitation in saying, to state that which is not true.
We also will present a syllogism: The apostles practiced Christian baptism. But they practiced backward immersion, and that only. Therefore, backward immersion, and that only, is Christian baptism.
Another: Christian baptism was practiced in the first century. But trine immersion was not practiced till sometime subsequent to the first century. Therefore, trine immersion is not Christian baptism.
These syllogisms are infinitely better than the one our friend offers, because they express the truth. We can trace trine immersion only to the foggy, boggy times upon which we enter when we leave the New Testament age. Its origin is lost in the quagmire of incoming superstition and corruption in which the church so speedily swamped when its first teachers no longer lived to guide and counsel it. We cannot carry it through to the solid ground and steady light of apostolic times. And this fact is fatal to the claims of this theory. For it matters not how soon the church may have so far departed from New Testament teaching on the subject of baptism as to adopt the unnatural and meaningless form of three, face-foremost, forward plunges, nor how general this became, nor how long continued, even though to the present day; if it is not found in the New Testament, it is without authority. The links of a chain may for a long distance be connected and sound; but if the link which should connect it with the staple is wanting, it will hold nothing. Trine immersion don't reach the staple. Our only wonder is that any one with the New Testament in his hands, and any idea of the design of baptism in his mind, should adopt a form which so utterly destroys all its beauty and significance. Baptism illustrates the burial of our Lord. But who supposes that Christ was inhumanly thrown into the tomb upon his knees and face? Away with such a perversion of the ordinance!
U. S.
“It Matters not when, if We Are only Prepared.”
By Roswell F. Cottrell
CONCERNING the light of prophecy an apostle has said, “Whereunto ye do well that ye take heed.” But thousands are deceiving themselves with the idea, seemingly self-evident to them, that it is of no use to them to know whether the coming of Christ and the end are near, or far in the future, if they are only prepared. This excuse for not heeding the injunction of Jesus and his apostles to “watch” and to “know that it is near,” “lest coming suddenly,” they be found “sleeping,” is so well expressed and so plausible, who can deny its truth? Is it not true that, if they are only ready, all is well with them? Say they, “It matters not to me whether Christ should come to-day, this year or next, or whether he should not come in ten thousand years, it is all the same to me; if I love Jesus, all is well.”
Now I wish to show how little such persons know and realize in what will consist a preparation for the close of probation for those that shall in the providence of God be “alive and remain” to that all-important event.
Please read the closing message of probation, as recorded in Rev. 14: 9-12. Listen to the awful warning against the worship of the beast and his image, and the terrible denunciation of the unmingled wrath of God against those that shall be found so doing, when that great day of his wrath shall come. Then, on the other hand, read the account of the last persecution of the church, recorded in Rev. 13: 11-18, when that government, which will bring into being an image of the papal beast, shall demand that you shall worship the image, the very thing which God warns you not to do, on pain of death; and it will be seen that a grand and decisive test will close probationary time, and that those who live till the Son of man shall be seated upon the white cloud with the sickle in his hand, because the “harvest of the earth is ripe,” will have passed this final, trying test, refusing to worship the beast and his image, and identifying themselves with those “who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”
Now let me ask you, my friend, Who will pass this test, and not know that Christ’s coming is near, even at the doors? Who will, at the risk of his life, refuse obedience to the mandates of earthly government, standing firm for the commandments of God, in spite of the threatening of death, till Christ shall come for their deliverance, and not know that deliverance is coming, and without praying for, and expecting, the coming of the Deliverer? At that time will be fulfilled the promise of Christ: “And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” Luke 18: 7, 8.
To one who heeds the sure word of prophecy it is absurd, in the highest degree, to suppose that one can be prepared for the grand and solemn event of the close of human probation without being aware that that event is at hand. And why should Christians choose to close their eyes to all the signs of the coming of that day, and desire to have that day come upon them as a thief in the night. “If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.” “The Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites.” Why should Christians deliberately choose the unbeliever’s fate?
R. F. COTTRELL.
An Appeal for Books.
By Mrs. A. P. Van Horn
To many friends who have remembered us at the throne of grace, we would say that our Heavenly Father has dealt with us in mercy, and we are enjoying a comfortable degree of health and courage. We have many warm-hearted friends who are trying to observe all the commandments of God. The language we hear in the house of prayer is similar to that of eastern churches, and often, for the time being, we forget that we are so far from our kindred. And this brings to our minds the oft-repeated saying that the cause of truth is one everywhere. Some loyal souls are found wherever the standard is raised, who are anxious for the prosperity of the work.
Our brethren and sisters seem to manifest a desire to learn to walk in all the light of the third angel’s message. May the Lord lead them forward. They hold Sabbath meetings, Sabbath-school, and a weekly evening prayer-meeting.
In this distant part of the country our young people do not have many advantages that are afforded in the East. A library would add to the interest of our Sabbath-school, but the church, as yet, are not able to purchase, as the debt on the meeting-house claims their first attention. In behalf of these young people I would solicit a favor from some of our older churches. If several schools would each donate to us a few books, which have been in use among them so long as to become quite familiar, they would be thankfully received. And if any persons interested would wish to contribute single books from their private libraries we should be glad to receive them. We want books, not merely for a pastime, but something to lead and strengthen the youthful mind in the ways of moral integrity, industry, temperance, and religion.
Should such books be sent, let them be forwarded by mail, well wrapped, to my address, and I will see them properly arranged for the benefit of the school. Address,
Mrs. A. P. VAN HORN,
Walla Walla, Washington Ter.
The New Year.
By James White; John Nevins Andrews; John Norton Loughborough
A DAY OF HUMILIATION, FASTING, AND PRAYER.
We, the Committee of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, do appoint the first day of January, 1876, as a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer, to be observed as such by all our churches and the scattered brethren and sisters throughout the length and breadth of our land.
The first day of the new year falls on the Sabbath of the Lord, and will be a most appropriate season to commence the new year with humiliation before God, searching of heart and life, fasting, prayer, and new consecration to the service of God. Especial effort should be made to secure a full attendance of the members of all our churches on that day, at their respective places of worship. Our scattered brethren and sisters, who may not be able to attend public worship, are urgently invited to enter heartily and promptly into the devotions of that day at their homes.
Lord willing, we will prepare and publish, in pamphlet form, an address for the occasion which will set forth the wants of the cause and the dangers and duties of our time. This address may be read in all our congregations in connection with the other solemn services of the day.
The address will be published on our Oakland, Cal., press, and be sent out to our preachers, local elders, and other persons, according to our best knowledge of these persons.
JAMES WHITE,
J. N. ANDREWS,
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH. Gen. Conf.
A Thought from Nature.
By Uriah Smith
THESE cold wintry days have a lesson for the Christian. How rapidly the heat from our steam boilers and furnaces radiates into the keen frosty air. How necessary to keep up a liberal and constant supply of fuel to maintain the heat. Cut off this supply, and how rapidly all becomes cold.
Brethren, we live in a time when the spiritual thermometer in this world stands but little above zero. As the Saviour said, Because iniquity abounds the love of many waxes cold. These times make tremendous drafts upon our Christian vitality. Unless we keep up a constant supply, in a marvelously short space of time we cool all down. Don't let the fire go out. Keep up constant connection with Heaven. Keep the channel through which we receive fresh supplies from the exhaustless storehouse of God's grace open and free. Then, though all around us congeals, the life heat will animate and quicken us. Though others die, we shall live.
U. S.
A New Way to Spend the Sabbath.
By Uriah Smith
We have received through the mail, a little pamphlet entitled “Sabbatism,” by M. M. Eshelman, which only serves to show the gross misapprehension, not to say criminal ignorance, which still reigns over the minds of men on this subject. On the last page of the cover, “a week’s work” is laid out, and the work assigned to “Saturday” is this:—
“Prove by the Bible that the disciples of Christ are required to observe any of the sanctified days of the law, because not forbidden in express terms in the gospel. Prove also that Christ honored this day after his resurrection, and that he did not honor the first day of the week.”
The intent of this paragraph evidently is that men should take this time to prove that the Sabbath of the commandment is not now of force, and that Christ in its stead honored the first day of the week. Could effrontery to this holy institution go farther than to suggest such a manner in which to spend its sacred hours. We point all who are animated by this spirit to these words of Christ, “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of Heaven,” and bid them beware what they do.
U. S.
What Shall We Do?
By R. F. Cottrell
THERE is but one safe and reasonable answer, and that is, “Go forward.” It is too late to recall the profession that S. D. Adventists have made before many witnesses. To go back, there is nothing to go to; to branch off, is the inevitable way to ruin, as it has hitherto proved. The Lord has put this work in motion, and has set his seal to it. And to us who have seen and acknowledged this truth there is no honorable retreat, unless we turn square about, and assert, and prove, that the whole thing is a delusion and a fraud.
But if we accept of God’s word as describing beforehand the movements and issues of the present times, and admit his providence in fulfilling his word of promise, we can come to no other conclusion than that the time has come when the last effort to crush the truth of God and banish it from the earth is impending, and that the final warning is already being given. This being so, the work will not fail of accomplishing the design for which God has sent it; nor will it revolutionize in its course. And as the train of truth passes over the road but once, no branch tracks have been laid by sovereign Wisdom, and, consequently, the laying of them is the work of the enemy to turn men out of the way, and plunge them into perdition.
Get a strong hold upon the help handed down from above, and hold on. Selfishness, the parent sin, must die out of our hearts. Trials and sifting are before us. Who will be faithful, and get the final victory over sin? And how shall we get this victory, unless it is by pressing together and pressing forward? The great salvation set before us is worth striving for, is worth dying for. Death to self and to sin is what is demanded. R. F. Cottrell.
Increase in United States Postal Route Mileage
There has been during the past year an increase in the length of postal routes in the United States of 8,776 miles.
The Work in California.
IN THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES, of Dec. 9, 1875, Bro. Loughborough writes respecting the tent-meeting just held in San Francisco:—
“Our tent-meeting in San Francisco has now been in progress since October 9. For the last month heavy rain storms have interfered much with our meetings and scattered our congregations. In one of these storms a breadth was torn out of each end of our tent-top, but we repaired this and started again. Last week it was stormy most of the time, and the wind again tore open one end of the top, but we repaired it and have resumed meetings again.
“Our meetings are not in vain, about one dozen having come out on the truth. Four of these were baptized on first-day, Nov. 28. Two of them were infidels when the meetings commenced. We now expect to close our tent-meetings on first-day evening, Dec. 12, and to hold meetings the following Sabbath and first-day, Dec. 18 and 19, in our new house of worship on Laguna street, between Tyler and McAllister.”
A Good Illustration.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
An apt illustration will sometimes tell more than a strong argument. Hence it is a good thing to use them freely when you have those that are to the point.
I lately heard Eld. Hutchins illustrate one point very forcibly. It was this: Those who come out in any community to keep the Sabbath, or in a family where all the members of the family do not embrace it, are always accused of making division and bringing disturbance. They say that these persons have no right to thus separate themselves from other people by keeping a different day; and that they are responsible for all the inconvenience growing out of it. It is important, they say, that families should be agreed and walk together, and that society should be in harmony. But now let us illustrate this:—
A father has three young sons. He sends them several miles away on important business. He distinctly commands them to go directly to the place, attend to business, and return. He charges them not to play by the way, and to be sure to keep together, and says he will punish them if they separate. They go on their errand; but, by and by, they begin to loiter by the way. They stop to pick berries or play with other boys. They get over into the field and away from the road. Finally, one of the boys urges them to go on about their business. He reminds them of his father's commandment; but they refuse to go. Finally, he resolves to leave them and go himself whether they will or not. But they now think of a bright idea: The father strictly commanded them not to separate. Hence, they tell him if he leaves them he will break the father's command and they will report him to his father accordingly.
They argue the case thus: “Father commanded us to keep together, and not to separate. We two are in the majority. If you go away from us you will be responsible for the separation, and father will punish you.” Nevertheless, the boy leaves them and performs the errand as his father directed.
Now, in this case, who was responsible for the division? All can see that it was the two boys who refused to go about their father's business, and not the one who separated from them to keep his father's command.
Just so, those who separate from the mass, in obedience to the plain commandment of God, are not responsible for this separation and division. Those who refuse to obey God are the ones who are responsible for divisions.
D. M. CANRIGHT.
St. Charles, Mich., Dec. 6, 1875.
Index and Notices for the Reader
The last page being taken up with the Index, the reader is referred to the 5th and 7th pages of this number for appointments and business matters.
Leaving for Europe.
By D. T. Bourdeau
I have been negotiating with the “Compagnie Générale Transatlantique,” of New York, and if my last proposition is accepted, and Providence favors, we shall leave New York for Havre, France on the Péreire, a French steamer, December 25, as we are permitted by the company to transfer our baggage and occupy our berths on the ship the day before (Friday). The wharf is at the foot of Morton Street, Pier 50, North River. If I follow this arrangement, I shall reach New York with my family December 22. Any assistance rendered us by brethren in the city will be appreciated.
It is after weighing well the dangers and difficulties of the mission before us, and with a clear sense of duty and with faith in an opening Providence, that we leave for Europe. We go seeking no other pleasure than that growing out of the service of God in the work of saving perishing men. We have aimed to make a full surrender of ourselves to God, and think we have laid our property and our lives upon the altar, to be spent to the glory of God. We have not been without a sense of our infirmities and lacks, but we trust that God will strengthen us.
Although we have crowded two weeks’ work into one for several weeks, and have lost much rest, we feel stronger to-day than we did a month ago. We feel that God is strengthening us for the work before us, and shall praise him, and try to be faithful and truly humble.
Our five days’ stay with Bro. Wm. Saxby and family and Bro. Morin at St. Albans, Vermont, on our way to Burke, was very pleasant. I held two small meetings and visited with some of the French during that time. I expect a church will yet be raised in that place.
We had an unusually large attendance at Bordoville last Sabbath and a good meeting. I tried to leave counsel that will be of lasting benefit to the brethren and sisters. This is the largest church in Vermont, and the people here have been highly favored. May they not lose the spirit of sacrifice and the brotherly love that characterized them years ago. The danger of this dear people is to be slack in carrying out church discipline and in cherishing the spirit of tender love and forbearance that it is designed to inculcate; also to overlook the fact that God claims more of them in the missionary work. Where are the men and women and the youth in this large church who are preparing for the ministry?
Bordoville, as our birthplace, and as the place where we spent most of our youthful days, Bordoville with its surrounding scenery, called to mind events and thoughts of the past, which I mused upon to profit. But no spot in Bordoville is so sacred to me as that where my only sister and beloved father sleep in Jesus. It was our privilege to call on Mrs. B’s. dying mother who has a firm hold on the better world. We proposed to stay with her another week. Her reply was: “If duty calls you away, I would not detain you.”
I had hoped that the Providence of God would so direct that the lot of my dear and only brother and mine would be cast together in the missionary work. But as God has ordered otherwise, I would submit to his will, believing that he can make us a host as we separately push away from shore and reach after the strength of God.
A letter from a French brother near Green Bay, Wisconsin, brings the cheering news of an esteemed family who have taken a firm stand on the truth, and of a good prospect at another point. God give still greater success to the cause among the French West. We shall remember St. Anne, Kankakee, Serena, Wequionok, Green Bay and Duck Creek.
We are made near to each other by the one Spirit and by the glorious cause we have espoused. And whether we labor in Europe or in America, may we meet when the trump of God shall sound and the redeemed shall be gathered from every land.