Earlier text: THE PUNCTUATION OF LUKE 23:43THOSE who accept the teachings of Spiritualism, seem to think that we are inconsistent when we say that the spirits with whom they communicate are spirits of devils. For, say they, we read of men who appeared to Abraham and to Lot, and that angels are ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation, and such beings certainly cannot be spirits of devils. Of course they are not; but the angels who came to Abraham and Lot did not claim to be the spirits of their dead friends. The angels whom our heavenly Father sends to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation, and who were sent to minister to Christ in the wilderness of temptation and in the garden, do not contradict God’s word, by saying that they are the spirits of men who died, when the Bible says that the dead know not anything. There are angels of light, and angels of darkness; angels who are pure and holy as when God created them, and angels who sinned, and thus lost their first estate. But none of these angels were ever men. They were created angels, and were never of the same nature as men. How may we know the difference between the good and the bad angels? Try them by the word of God. “If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Isa. 8:20. If they contradict the Bible, or in any way throw discredit upon it, know that they are of the devil, who is a liar and the father of it. The Consequences of Lot’s Choice
AND though Lot found the place beautiful, he found the people abominable; and his righteous soul was “vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked; for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds.” 2 Pet. 2:7, 8. But “evil communications corrupt good manners.” And although Lot is given by the word of God the title of “just” and “righteous,” yet his family was so far influenced by the “evil communications” of those wicked people, that his wife did not escape destruction, and his daughters, though they escaped, showed themselves more thoroughly familiar with the wicked ways of Sodom than with the righteous ways of their father. “Lot’s choice” was a miserable choice. Worldly prosperity is no evidence of the fear of God, but rather tends to make the naturally corrupt heart still more corrupt. Let it be the aim of all to “walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, that we may all be partakers with him of the same promise in view of which he ever lived and walked. The Resurrection and the Angels
LITTLE children used to be taught to sing, "I want to be an angel." It was a vain wish, but they didn't know any better. Man was made "a little lower than the angels." Those who are counted worthy of a part in the first resurrection, will be made "equal unto the angels." Luke 20:35, 36. They will be equal unto the angels only in that they cannot die any more. But equality does not mean identity, but the contrary. If we say that one thing is equal to another, we indicate that there are two distinct things. So when the Lord said the righteous will in the resurrection be equal unto the angels, he indicated most emphatically that they would not be angels. "But," says an objector, "Moses and Elias were seen on the mount; how do you account for their presence there if the dead are unconscious and do not become ministering angels?" Easily enough. Elias never died but was translated without seeing death. Moses died and was buried by the Lord, by whom he was afterwards raised from the dead. That he was raised is proved by two things: 1. Christ and Satan disputed about the body of Moses. Jude 9. Satan has the power of death (Heb. 2:14), and therefore claims all the dead as his lawful prey. Christ has been through the grave, bringing with him its keys (Rev. 1:18), and therefore he has the power to divide the spoil with Satan. See Isa. 53:12. That is, he will take from Satan those servants of Christ whom Satan has claimed as his own. So Christ took his faithful servant Moses, referring Satan to the Father, as the vindication of his right to do so. 2. The Bible plainly declares that the dead know not anything, and that their thoughts perish as soon as the breath goes forth. It further expressly states that the dead cannot converse with the living unless they are first raised from the dead. Therefore we know that when Moses appeared on the mount of transfiguration, it was not as an angel, nor as the spirit of a dead man, but as a man who had been dead and had been raised to life. FRIEND, have you ever dedicated ten minutes of your time to a consideration of your destiny? Days to your ledger; hours to your amusements; years to your commercial engagements; would it not be wise to reserve some moments for your soul’s outlook beyond the grave?—Selected. "I've got a job, mother!" "Yes, a whole cord of wood to saw. Got in ahead of everyone else. Followed a load on the street till it got to the place where they'd bought it, and got the promise of it." Bob straightened up his thin, awkward, overgrown figure with great pride, and then began poking the fire. "Take care, Bob," cautioned his mother, "the wood's most gone." "But there'll be an extra dollar to-morrow, don't you see? Fifteen cents I'm to pay Jim Johnson for the loan of his saw and buck. I'm going to buy fifteen cents' worth of wood, and going to get a pane of glass for the window; and then, Kitty," bending over a little girl who lay on a miserable bed, "something'll be left for you. I'm going to get you some of those nice white rolls you saw at the baker's one day—yes I am, Kitty! and something else, I shan't tell you till you see. Just wait till I come home to-morrow! The first job I've had for all my trying! I wish the hard times were over." Bob mused a few moments on all the weary miles he had walked in search of work through cold, storm, and snow, since the day when, a few weeks ago, the daily newspaper had lengthened its routes and discharged some of its carrier boys, him among the number. "Who's hard times, anyway, that they all talk about?" said Kitty, pressing a cold little hand to her feverish cheek, as she turned her restless eyes towards him. "Why, it ain't anybody, Kitty; it's only that it's hard to get work, and hard to get money, and hard for poor folks to live." "Yes,"—mother shook her head with an expression of woful realization on her face. "The glass works are closed, so there are boys and men out there; and they're sending the girls out of the shops; and people that gave out their sewing before do it themselves now—that's how it is I get so little—and mills and factories shut up." "I should think," said Bob, looking gravely into the fire he had stirred into a feeble blaze, "that rich folks would try all the more to give poor folks work, such times." "They say they can't, somehow," said his mother. "P'r'aps," said Kitty, "they wouldn't have enough money themselves to last till hard times was gone, if they did." "P'r'aps so," said Bob. "Never mind," he added briskly, "the lady I'm to saw for gets lots of wood, and may be she'll hire me again, and may be you'll get more sewing, mother, and then we'll get the mattress from the pawn-shop, and buy some stuff to make Kitty well; and then it won't be hard times any longer, will it?" "I'll take an hour to thaw it out," said Bob, as in the dim light of the following morn he broke into pieces with a hatchet the corn-bread, frozen to the solidity of a stone. "There'll be warm water soon, and then I can soak it, Bobby." "I guess I'd better not wait, though," he said, crunching between his teeth some of the flinty morsels. "You see, it's most a day's work, and I want to show 'em that I'm equal to it, so I'll be the surer of gettin' more. Now, I'll move your machine by the stove, mother—it's queer how the poor thing seems to be like folks, and wants to be warmed up before it'll go. Too bad, Kitty, to have to take my coat off you, but the stove's gettin' nicely warmed up now, and I've got an iron on it for mother to put to your feet." He took the coat which had been over her, but stopped to carefully tuck about her the bit of bedding before putting it on. Then, with a caressing pat and a cheery good-by, he went out into the bitter, bitter, stinging cold. It seemed to enfold his thinly-clad frame in a clasp which might well seem worse than the grasp of death to any but a boy still bearing, through hardship and privation, the blessed spirit of youthful hope, braced by loving solicitude for still feebler ones. The heavy sticks of wood appeared almost to greet him with a friendly look as he went at his work with hearty good-will. But as the hours wore away the boy began to realize that something besides mere energy and will-purpose is necessary to carry one through a day of hard work in the atmosphere of a Northern winter. All his resolution could not keep off the frequent recurring dizziness and faintness which seemed at times almost to overwhelm him with an impulse to fling himself down upon the pitiless snow beside him. He tried to laugh it off and fight it out, yielding to it once or twice only far enough to sit down for a moment on his sawbuck and rest his head on his trembling hand, springing up suddenly with a fear that someone might see him and think him unfit for hard work. Finished at last it was, and piled with extra care and neatness to the last stick, each one of which had grown heavier and heavier. Then Bob stood in the comfortable kitchen and waited for the mistress to come and pay him. "Eighty cents?" she said, offering him some change. "I—thought—ma'am, a dollar was the regular price." "Yes, but you're a boy. You don't expect man's wages, do you?" "It's a full cord, ma'am, isn't it?" said Bob, meekly, driven to say more than he otherwise would have ventured by the strength of his desire to fulfill his promise to poor little Kitty. "Yes, I know. But it's very hard times, and people can't expect what they used to get. There's plenty ready to do all I want for that." Bob knew it. More than one sawyer had come into the yard that day, looking with hungry eyes at his job and speculating on the chances of any more work to be had there. As the lady turned away he walked slowly out. "It must be the warmth of the kitchen," he said to himself as he was forced by the sick feeling in his head and the weakness in his knees to sit down on the step outside. Mrs. Brainard had no thought of being unkind or unjust. Months before, when her husband had informed her of the pressure which was tightening upon his business affairs, she had dutifully and practically accepted his suggestion of retrenchment in expenses. She had cut down on her charities, worn her last year's cloak, made over for the children dresses and flannels which she had been in the habit of giving away, and industriously labored through the plain sewing she had heretofore given out. Naturally inclined to be generous, and full of sympathy for suffering which really came under her notice, she had made up her mind that liberal giving must be deferred to a more convenient season, and had closed her ears to the cry of the destitute which arose on every side. She had been dressing to go out, and, having returned to her room, was leisurely brushing her cloak, when she saw the boy she had just paid coming out of her back yard. He essayed to cross the street, and her attention was drawn to his singular manner. She watched for a moment his stumbling, apparently careless steps, and then with an expression of dismay, hastily threw on her wraps, ran down-stairs and out into the street. It had not been at all crowded; but she had seen the boy, when directly in its middle, look first one way and then the other with a dazed, confused expression, putting his hand to his head. Whether he had then fallen or been thrown down by passing horses, she had not been able to perceive, but she saw him quickly raised, placed upon a sleigh, and driven around a corner. Hurrying after, she could see men carrying him into a tenement house at the distance of about two blocks. She followed, and opening the door quietly, entered and stood inside, unnoticed by those who were anxiously occupied with him. "He ain't hurt, is he?" asked a woman's appealing voice. "No, I think not," said a gentleman with a professional air, pushing back a ragged gingham shirt from a bony arm, in search of a pulse. "What has he eaten to-day?" "Well, about nothing, I guess. His breakfast was all frozen up, and he wouldn't wait, for fear of not getting more work." "Likely not. It's thawed now, Bobby," she said wistfully, offering it as he opened his eyes. "You'll eat some now, won't you?" Bob raised himself and took a staggering step or two toward the child. "I ain't got it for you, Kitty," he said with a half sob. "'Twas only eighty cents, and it was a glass of red jelly I was goin' to bring you—and the white rolls—" "Never mind talking now, my boy," said the doctor, kindly, holding to his lips something he had poured into a cup. "Clear case of starvation," he said, whispering to Mrs. Brainard as he came to offer her a chair. "Plenty of such cases this winter, you know. God only knows how these poor bear so much in the way of hunger and cold. And when the hard work is added, nature is strained to her last point of endurance—sometimes beyond it." "And what then?" asked Mrs. Brainard, with her face turning a little pale. "Death." He laid a coin on the sewing-machine, and hurried away, after saying to the mother,— "Give him something nourishing—in small quantities at first." "Stop!" said Mrs. Brainard, laying her hand on the woman's arm, as she again pressed upon Bob the uninviting looking corn-bread. "Oh! is it you, Mrs. Finley?"—recognizing with a further sinking at the heart the face of the woman whom she had told some time before that she could give out no more sewing until better times came. The hollow eyes and sunken cheeks—poverty-marks worn deep during dreadful months lived through since then—had prevented her knowing her at first. "Wait a few moments," she went on. "Let me bring him something."45 She hurried home with but one pressing thought, and gave quick orders to her girl, while she herself gathered from pantry and store-room such things as could be most readily utilized. And the two were at Bob's side with hot coffee and tempting food, by the time he had succeeded in making Kitty understand that eighty cents would only buy the wood, and mend the window, and pay the rent of the saw, and not one cent over. "If that boy had died I should have been his murderer," said Mrs. Brainard, her eyes now opened to the extent of dealing fairly and mercilessly with her own short-comings. "Ah me! how I have missed the blessings promised to those who consider the poor!" She was returning from a second visit to Bob's home, undertaken for the purpose of carrying there some of the made-over flannels. She felt as she looked upon them as though a voice whispered to her: "The spoil of the poor is in your houses." And it was with a fully awakened heart that she that night read: "If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother; but thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need." Mrs. Brainard will hereafter practice her economics upon herself instead of upon the poor, whom the Master has left to be always with us. She will cut off luxuries with an unsparing hand, but will aim to give more work, rather than less, during hard seasons, and will have an eye quickened by the spirit of loving care for others; for she can never forget that a starving boy worked all day in the bitter cold, within the sound of her voice and the sight of her eye and the reach of her comforts, and she had not made it her business to know or care.—Church and Home. I HEAR it singing, singing sweetly,
Softly in an undertone,
Singing as if God had taught it,
"It is better farther on!" Night and day it sings the song,
Sings it while I sit alone,
Sings so that the heart may hear it,
"It is better farther on!" Sits upon the grave and sings it,
Sings it when the heart would groan,
Sings it when the shadows darken,
"It is better farther on!" Farther on? How much farther?
Count the mile-stones one by one;
No! no counting—only trusting—
"It is better farther on!" HEALTHFUL FOOD.
By Mary E. Vandyne
No PEOPLE in the world are so luxuriously fed as Americans. And, alas! in no other country is the standard of health as low, especially among women. How much of this is due to our customs in the way of eating it is of course impossible to compute exactly; but let us for a moment glance at the habits of other nations in this and former ages, and see if we cannot draw some conclusions that shall modify our present habits of supplying our tables, especially during the season when our luxurious supplies of fresh fruits are exhausted, and we must fill their place with meat, poultry, entrées, desserts, and other products of culinary art. We will begin with the athlete of ancient Greece. What would our youth of to-day think if training for running matches and footraces entailed such a regimen as the following: "The masters," writes one of our most reliable historians, "subjected their neophytes to those methods which they judged the most efficacious for the production and augmentation of physical strength and power of resistance to fatigue. And one of the means employed for accomplishing this object was the enforcement of a very strict dietary composed only of figs, nuts, cheese, and maize bread without wine." In the palmiest days of Greece and Rome, before wealth and luxury brought enervation and decadence, the young men subsisted on simple vegetable food,—rye, meal, fruits, and milk. The chief food of the Roman gladiator was barley cakes and oil. The daily rations of a Roman soldier were one pound of barley, three ounces of oil, and a pint of thin wine. And these men conquered at Salamis and Marathon, and defended Thermopylæ. The Egyptian peasantry are healthy and robust, yet they eat little but coarse bread, lentils, and a few vegetables. The chief and almost only food of the post-runners who used to travel sixty-two miles a day during the journey of twenty-five days from Calcutta to Bombay, was boiled rice. In the copper mines of Central America, where the men will carry weights of two hundred pounds up eighty perpendicular yards twelve times per day, their diet is entirely vegetable. Few people surpass the Arabs in longevity, strength, and endurance, yet they live principally on dates and milk; and for months the Bedouin Arabs consume nothing else. In comparison with all this let us repeat a story that is vouched for by a well-known ship owner of Portland, Maine. On one occasion a vessel of his arrived from the Canary Islands with a cargo of barilla aboard. While watching it discharged he saw four able-bodied American laborers vainly trying to move one large mass. The captain, who happened to be near, assured him that it was brought from the store-house and put on board by a single man, and that he had never known any other food than coarse vegetables and fruit. A traveler who some years ago penetrated a remote portion of Switzerland, tells a story of a sturdy Swiss herdsman to whom he offered a sandwich. The man ate it, and the meat, to which he was entirely unaccustomed, made him so ill that his life was despaired of, and the unhappy tourist came near being roughly dealt with as a murderer. With all this evidence at hand, cannot we unhappy Americans, who are looked upon as the especial proprietors of dyspepsia and all the other ills that overfeeding brings on mankind, do something toward curtailing our luxuries, and adopting more healthful habits of eating? —Mary E. Vandyne, in Christian at Work. DEMAND FOR INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS.
THE demand increases for industrial schools. Many taxpayers complain that the public school gives its pupils an education insufficient for a profession, but more than enough for the common needs and utilities of life. The High School graduate, in many cases, feels too exalted in disposition, owing to a sense of his attainments, to engage in any trade requiring manual toil, and leaving dust and stains on his fine clothes. He wants to stand behind a counter, or write up bank books, or live somehow by his wits, without doing much of anything in particular. Indeed, it is said large numbers of young men from the High School hang around our city offices and buildings, too proud to undertake mechanical labor, and yet incompetent to enter the spheres of skilled and professional life. The fault is largely in their training. There are in every city thousands of boys whose early associations do not fit them for usefulness. They need to be sent to schools which, along with reading and arithmetic, will teach the use of tools, and confer both a taste and skill for doing something that shall benefit the community, as well as prove a source of profit to the doer. While the head is not neglected the hand ought also to be trained. To send boys out of the school with the capacity and the desire to be producers of something, say wood-carvings, or pattern mouldings, or wheels for machinery, or even nails and pins, is to redeem them from temptations to idleness, vagabondage, vice, ultimate pauperism and crime. If the State is to educate, let it educate for usefulness as well as for elegance.—Selected. THE business of the hygienist, some folks think, is to find something dangerous to health in everything, and to frighten them so they shall not dare to eat, or sleep, or move, for fear of injury to their health. Such a state of things would be very bad indeed. The last danger found seems to be in smelling-bottles, and that the prevalent use of smelling-salts is injurious; they produce irritation the same as any powder or snuff inhaled frequently. This constant irritation in many cases destroys the sense of smell. One day a lady went to her physician to be treated for sore throat. He had a large bouquet of fresh-cut flowers in a vase. She smelt them and said: "Doctor, those flowers are beautiful, but entirely devoid of odor." The doctor knew then what was the matter, for the flowers were especially fragrant. "Madam," said he, "here is a piece of quartz that has no odor; if so it is peculiar." He gave her a small lump of asafetida. She smelt it and declared it had no odor. Then when he told her that her sense of smell was gone because she used a smelling-bottle too often, and her throat was sore from the result, she came near fainting. That was six months ago. To-day the power of smell has returned to a degree, but her olfactory nerves will never be as perfect as before. She confessed that she was a slave to smelling-salts, and kept a bottle with her constantly. The treatment was simply to leave off smelling-salts. What other results follow beside sore throat and loss of smell? Violent headaches and red noses. The ladies do not mind the headache, but the red noses are too much for them. They consequently use paint and powder to hide their blooming probosces. Why do they use the smelling-salts? Solely because habit or folly dictates it. Let them get a little fatigued, or overheated, or too cold, or jostled in a crowd, and out comes the smelling-bottle for relief. A nose with iron olfactory and brass membrane would become worn-out by such constant use. There is a limit to every habit, and beyond it serious effects are to be expected.—Herald of Health. Christianity and Drunkenness
According to Archdeacon Farrar, "in India the English have made one hundred drunkards for one Christian, and are girding the earth with drunkenness." But the Archdeacon need not stop here. In China the English have made two hundred opium smokers and eaters for one Christian, and are girding the earth with opium fumes. Every subject has its pessimistic side; and Christianity—nominal Christianity as involved in a Christianized civilization—is under heavy indictments, and despite what we hear about the morality of the nations in some quarters, matters are not mending. Quite the reverse. —Christian at Work. Wine’s Harm to the Troubled Body
By Plutarch
THERE is never the body of a man, how strong and stout soever, if it be troubled and inflamed, but will take more harm and offense by wine being poured into it. The Drunkard’s Safety
By Temperance Catechism
THERE is no safety for the drunkard while the saloon—the door of temptation—is permitted to stand invitingly open.—Temperance Catechism. Tobacco Causes Cancer
By Dr. McDonald
Tobacco causes cancer of the mouth, tongue, stomach, and bowels.—Dr. McDonald. Alcohol and tobacco strike from head to foot and wound in every part.—Selected. —John Roach, the great shipbuilder, died January 10. —All the employes on the Boston street-cars are out on a strike. —Another slight earthquake occurred at Charleston, January 10. —It is rumored that Russia now wants to force a Franco-German war. —The Canadian Ministry has decided to dissolve the Dominion Parliament. —Lord Iddesleigh, better known as Sir Stafford Northcote, died January 12. —The spread of cholera in South America is regarded with alarm in New York. —January 11, earthquake shocks were felt in California at Sonoma, Redwood City, and Petaluma. —The British Government has decided to purchase 40,000 additional horses, and 500,000 repeating rifles, to be ready March 1. —The official newspapers state that Prince Bismarck will intervene in the debate of the army bill, insisting on the adoption of the seven years' term. —The coal miners on strike at Moosic, Pa., indulged in riotous proceedings on the 13th inst. and were fired on by the police. —Another attempt was made in San Francisco on the 9th inst. to blow up one of the cable-cars with dynamite. The damage was slight. —A dozen brigands attacked a monastery at Narbonne, France, but were repulsed by the monks, three of whom were severely wounded. —Official dispatches from Tonquin report that the French troops made an attack on a large rebel force entrenched at Thanhoa, but were repulsed. —A fire in the Alcazar Palace of Toledo, Spain, on Sunday, totally destroyed the building, and injured twenty men. The palace was recently restored at a cost of $1,000,000. —Negotiations between the Vatican and Prussia will shortly be concluded, which will enable the Emperor William to announce in the Landtag the revision of the May Laws. —On January 9, a huge blast of nearly 4,500 pounds of powder was exploded at Easton, Pa. A whole hill-side, 150 feet high, was blown out, and about 200,000 tons of stone loosened. —About three months ago a man named Samuels, of Chicago, received a slight scratch on his finger while playing with a little dog. On the 15th inst. he died of hydrophobia, in great agony. —At Uganda, Africa, one hundred negro converts to Christianity have been massacred; most of the victims were burned alive. Mounga, the king, vows that he will destroy all the Christians in his kingdom. —Riotous demonstrations on the part of the striking employes of the Old Dominion Steamship Company occurred on the 11th inst. at Newport News, Va. Three companies of soldiers have been ordered out. —A naval system of coast defense has been suggested in England. Instead of invulnerability, invisibility is the principle of the system. The guns will occupy a hole in the ground and only be raised for firing. —The German Army Bill was defeated January 14. Bismarck immediately read an imperial message dissolving the Reichstag. February 21 is fixed for the holding of the general election for members of the new Reichstag. —The Chicago Socialists have secured control of the Local Trades Assembly. Every officer in that organization is now a pronounced sympathizer with the cause of the seven men under sentence of death for bomb-throwing. —The steamer Celtic Monarch, of the Monarch Line, which left Cardiff, Wales, January 2, for Philadelphia, was abandoned at sea in a sinking condition. The crew, who were picked up by a passing vessel, arrived at Liverpool January 13. —On Wednesday a collision occurred on the elevated railroad at New York. The baggage car and engine of one of the trains were knocked across the track and hung over the edges, to the imminent danger of the people and buildings below. —On January 13, that part of the bank at Niagara Falls, known as the Upper Table Rock, fell with a deafening crash into the gorge below. Thousands of tons of solid rock were carried away, and the formation of the precipice is now entirely changed. —An anarchist paper of Chicago, the Arbeiter Zeitung, gives the following advice to the workingmen of that city: "Arm yourselves with the cheapest, the best, the most effective arms, such as can be handled easily, whether Gatling guns, Winchester rifles, or pistols." —A recent scientific examination shows that much of the milk used in San Francisco contains disease germs of consumption. One of the diseased cows was killed, and the blood, udder, and lungs all showed bacilli; the liver was a perfect mass of germ clusters. —The anti-Mormon bill, as passed in the House on the 12th inst. makes the lawful husband or wife of any person prosecuted for polygamy, a competent witness against the accused. It also abolishes woman suffrage in Utah, and disfranchises polygamists. If it passes the Senate, it will sound the death-knell of Mormonism in Utah. —On the night of January 15 a schooner with 140,000 pounds of giant powder on board was wrecked and washed ashore off Point Lobos, near San Francisco. Early next morning a terrific explosion occurred, and the Cliff House, widely known as a place of resort, was badly damaged. Two signal station houses were destroyed. Only three men were injured. The crew escaped in boats before the vessel went ashore. —A Roman Catholic priest in Boston has sued his archbishop for slander. —We read in the New York Observer of the Law and Order League of Newark, N. J., that it "is a terror to evil-doers; and Newark enjoys a Sunday of comparative quiet." —Says the Christian Statesman: "Signs multiply that the Workingmen's party is to be a powerful factor in future political campaigns." That explains why the National Reformers are trying so hard to make it appear that their movement is in the interest of laboring men. —A Spiritualist paper in San Francisco states that "hundreds of people, in this vicinity, are now investigating the phenomena of Spiritualism where ten took any interest in the subject one year ago. The cause is advancing with giant strides." That is probably true, but it is none the less true that Spiritualism is a Satanic delusion. —The Christian Register says: "We cannot maintain the intellectual supremacy of Jesus against Plato or Aristotle, because the force of Jesus's life was not exerted in intellectual directions." That is to say that because Christ did not teach "philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world," it cannot be made to appear that he was intellectually the peer of heathen philosophers! —In its issue of November 4, 1886, the Christian at Work stated that "the Sabbath was known to the Egyptians, and observed before the exodus;" but December 30, the same paper says: "The Egyptians might have had the week, . . . but there is no evidence of the fact." Will the Christian at Work explain how a people can have the Sabbath and yet know nothing of the week? And if it were true that there is no evidence that they had the week, pray how could there be any evidence that they had the Sabbath? —The New York Independent says: "The days of creation were reckoned from morning to morning, contrary to the Jewish custom." How does the Independent know this? The Jewish custom was to reckon "from evening to evening;" and this was in exact harmony with the account of creation given in the first chapter of Genesis, where we read, "The evening and the morning were the first day." Six times in this account is the day described as "the evening and the morning;" that is, a definite period of darkness, followed by one of light constituted the day. —Speaking of the trial of the professors who are accused of teaching heresy at Andover, a San Francisco paper remarks that such things "carry one's mind back to the dark days of the Inquisition." But really they should do no such thing. The idea that professors in theological seminaries, or for that matter in other institutions, should be allowed to teach any thing that caprice, or even their best judgment, may suggest is preposterous. If any professor cannot teach in accordance with the rules of the institution with which he is connected, he should make way for someone who can. Those who found and control colleges certainly have a right to say what shall be taught in them. OAKLAND.—House of worship, southeast corner of Jefferson and Thirteenth Streets. Sabbath-School every Sabbath at 9:30 A. M. Preaching at 11. Prayer and missionary meeting every Tuesday evening at 7:15. Seats free. 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. SAN FRANCISCO.—House of worship, 914 Laguna Street, between McAllister and Tyler. Sabbath-school every Sabbath at 9:45, and preaching at 11 A. M.; also preaching every Sunday evening at 7:30. Sabbath-school classes in the English, German, and Scandinavian languages. Prayer and missionary meeting every Wednesday evening at 7:15. Mission reading-rooms at the church. NEW SUBSCRIPTION EDITION.
During the Christian Dispensation.
Author of "The Life of Christ," "Sketches from the Life of Paul,"
"Bible Sanctification," and other Popular Works. THIS volume presents the most wonderful and intensely interesting history that has ever been written of the great conflict between Christianity and the Powers of Darkness, as illustrated in the lives of Christian martyrs and reformers on the one hand, and wicked men and persecuting powers on the other. Beginning with our Lord's great prophecy given while viewing Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, in which he outlines the history of the whole dispensation, it sketches the fulfillment. It pictures the siege and overthrow of Jerusalem, and the destruction of the Temple. It calls our attention to the bitter persecution of the Christians in the first centuries, and notes the rise and growth of the Papacy. It gives a clear conception of the character and influence of the Waldenses, who, through centuries of persecution, maintained the purity of their faith, and by their missionary efforts prepared the nations of Europe for the Reformation. Brief and life-like sketches are given of the works, the successes, and the persecutions of Wycliffe, Luther, Tyndale, Huss, Jerome, Knox, and other reformers and martyrs. Considerable space is given to the life, work, and influence of later reformers and great religious leaders such as George Whitefield, the Wesleys, and William Miller, and this is followed by chapters treating upon The Origin of Evil, The Agency of Evil Spirits, The Snares of Satan, Spiritualism, Character and Aims of the Papacy, The Coming Conflict, The Scriptures a Safeguard, Desolation of the Earth, and the Judgment. The closing chapters give a vivid picture of the warfare of the church, her final redemption, and vividly describe the triumph of the people of God, the destruction of Satan and all his followers, and the renewing of the earth, which ends the awful controversy between the Son of God and the Powers of Darkness. Earnest Christians of all classes and creeds will find in it encouragement and instruction in the delineation of the struggle maintained by men raised up of God in each successive age to preserve the pure and true religion, and they will see that the world has been led to accept one after another of Satan's devices, until her teachers are corrupted with false doctrines and with infidelity. The period of history covered by this volume, is one of the deepest interest to all classes of readers. The style of the author is clear, forcible, and often sublime, and, although simple enough in its statements to be understood and appreciated by a child, its eloquence calls forth the admiration of all. Seventh Edition! Contains over 500 pages; 21 full page illustrations and Steel Portrait of the Author; printed and bound in the very best style. SOLD ONLY BY SUBSCRIPTION.
Fine English Cloth, red edges.....................$2.00
Library Style, marbled edges.....................2.50
Half Morocco, gilt edges.....................3.50
Full Morocco, gilt edges.....................4.50 Active Agents Wanted in Every Town and County in the United States. For Terms and Territory, Address,
PACIFIC PRESS, Publishers,
12th and Castro Streets, Oakland, Cal. THE HOME OF THE SAVED.
By John Norton Loughborough
BY ELD. J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH. Gives the Bible evidence upon the interesting topic of the earth made new, as the inheritance of the saints. This pamphlet contains 82 pages. Price, 10 cents. Address, PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal. Publishers' Department.
By Editor
THE name of a new and most remarkable work recently issued by the Pacific Press, Oakland, Cal. The writer of this work has been long before the public as an author and lecturer, and has probably written more volumes upon Bible and religious themes only, than any other living author. The volume before us is a history of the Christian Church during all the ages, and presents Bible truths in a light so striking and so convincing as to make its pages a source of constant interest even to those who are the most familiar with Bible and Church history and doctrines. While the author has drawn upon many authentic sources for the data so skillfully woven into this interesting volume, the stamp of a discriminating and original mind is clearly seen upon every page and gives to the volume an individuality which places it distinctly apart from all works which have previously been written upon the themes considered. The work is well illustrated, and is substantially bound in several styles. Sold by subscription. Address the publishers for circulars.—Good Health. THE AMERICAN SENTINEL.
By Editor
THE demand for back numbers of the Sentinel is such that we have had to use the "plates" three times. The pages are electrotyped, and we can furnish any month's issue in lots of from 100 to 10,000 copies. They are being largely used in the missionary and tract distributer work, price $2.00 per 100, $7.50 for 500, or $10 per 1,000 copies by mail post-paid. We print 15,000 of the January, 1887, issue to fill orders and our subscription list is rapidly growing. The Sentinel is meeting with much favor by lawyers, doctors, ministers and other men of culture and education.