—Seven deaths from the recent storms are reported from the mountains of Oregon.
—In New York City the deaths averaged, last year, one for every fifteen minutes. The births were 5,000 less than the deaths.
—The Supreme Court of California has decided that Chinese children born in this country are entitled to admission to the public schools.
—The toll on the Brooklyn Bridge has been reduced to three cents for passage on the cars, while twenty-five tickets for foot-passengers are sold for five cents.
—A charter has been granted to build an elevated railway, with a single track, between Boston and Cambridge. Work will be begun on the enterprise immediately.
—Two banks in Norwich, Conn., have lost $200,000 lately through defaulting cashiers. The money was lost in Wall Street speculations. The defaulters have been arrested.
—The Charleston News say that not a single divorce has been granted in South Carolina since the Revolution. We believe there is no law in that State giving such power, for any cause.
—Eleven persons at East Liverpool, Ohio, were poisoned Jan. 8, by "Rough on Rats" that some person had placed in the coffee. One is dead and the others are in a precarious condition.
—The packet steamer Admiral Moorsom was sunk on the night of the 15th, off Holyhead, Wales, by colliding with the American ship Santa Clara. The captain and fifteen of the steamer's crew were lost.
—Reports from points in Louisiana say that the whole country is covered with ice, a scene seldom witnessed in that latitude. Bridges have been swept away, and the roads are impassable.
—The Christmas edition of the London Graphic included 580,000 copies. Work on it was begun in January last and was kept up until November, the colored plates undergoing nineteen distinct printings.
—Southern resources are developing rapidly. Last year an aggregate capital of $105,269,500 was invested in 188 new enterprises in fourteen States. These enterprises represent nearly all kinds of general manufacture.
—The Baltimore Manufacturers' Record reports the business interests in the East improving. It says that more than 100,000 men have gone to work in manufacturing establishments that have resumed operations since January 1.
—Lieutenant Shufeldt, of the United States Navy, who has recently traversed Madagascar, says it is the third largest island on the globe. It has an area of 230,000 square miles, being 1,000 miles long, and averaging 230 miles in breadth.
—The will of the late Lieutenant Hampton S. Gardner, a member of the Greely Relief Expedition, written on strips of paper, with a lead pencil, at Camp Clay, in the Arctic regions, was recently admitted to probate in Philadelphia.
—On the morning of Jan. 18, a detached ward of the Kankakee, Ill., insane asylum was burned. It was used as an infirmary, and was occupied by fifty-five patients at the time of the fire. Seventeen of the number perished in the building.
—Mrs. Myra Clarke Gaines is dead, after fifty years of contest with the city of New Orleans about the title of property in the city, worth $35,000,000. Although the decisions were always in her favor, she was never benefited to any extent by them.
—The Governor of Ohio, in his annual message to the Legislature, repeats the recommendation of his inaugural address, "that the divorce laws of Ohio be revised, with the view of restricting the legal causes for divorce, and of limiting the right to marry again."
—A new adulteration has been discovered in New York and Brooklyn. Dr. Bartley, a chemist, has detected butchers using Venetian red, and other reds containing arsenic, to brighten the color of sausage, head-cheese, and other meats that had lost their color by decomposition.
—A wonderful shoemaking machine has been invented by a New Hampshire man eighty-three years of age. The machine will drive 250 wedge-shaped nails per minute, on from 700 to 1,000 pairs of boots or shoes in a working day of ten hours. It does the work of fifteen persons.
—A new temperance movement has just been organized in Massachusetts to be known as the National League for the Suppression of the Liquor Traffic. Many influential men of the nation are enrolled as its members. It does not propose to affiliate with partisan politics. Good!.
—Five members of the tribe of Kiowa Indians were found frozen to death the 16th, about forty miles north of Wichita Falls, Texas. The cold in that section has been so intense that ten per cent. of the cattle, and twenty per cent. of the sheep on the ranges are reported to have perished.
—The British bark Prince of Wales, belonging to the Hudson Bay Company, and formerly in the trade between England and Victoria, was recently frozen in in Hudson's Bay while homeward bound, and with her cargo of skins, valued at $500,000, was totally lost. Part of her crew was lost with the vessel.
—A number of unprovoked murders have recently been committed near Sarasota, Florida. It now turns out that these were perpetrated by an organized band of assassins, known as the Sarasota Vigilance Committee. Eight members of the society have been arrested, who have some of the best family connection in the State. Some of the members of the gang are mere boys, others are gray-haired men.
—The laws of Tennessee compel colored people, riding on railways in that State, even when traveling on first-class tickets, to occupy a car apart from the white people. A colored girl recently refused to ride in the car assigned her race, on account of having drunken and disorderly people in it of both races. Refusing to leave the car assigned white people, the conductor ejected her from the train. She brought suit for damages and the Court awarded her $500.79
—Heavy snow-slides are reported in Piedmont, Savoy, and other departments in the vicinity of the Alps. Frassino, in Piedmont, was buried by one avalanche, causing great loss of life. Thirty bodies have been recovered, and forty persons are still missing. The town of Chaumont, in France, was partly overwhelmed with snow, and many persons killed. Fifteen persons were also buried under an avalanche at Sparone, on the Dora Baltea River. Many homeless ones are in distress.
—Chicago papers affirm that well organized companies of socialists to the number of 1,500 exist in that city, and are provided with Springfield and Remington rifles. These socialists say that they propose to be ready to resist any attack that may be made upon the discontented people in case of an outbreak, which they are expecting, by the police and detectives. In such an event they will assume control of the city and make everything they can lay their hands upon, the property of the community. Of the 250,000 wage-workers in Chicago, they claim fully 25,000 as in sympathy with the socialistic labor party. They meet regularly for drill.
—The Adjutant-General has called attention to what may be made an abuse. The law authorizes the President to detail an officer of the army to act as instructor in military science in "any established college or university within the United States, having capacity to educate at the same time not less than one hundred and fifty male students." Only a "capacity to educate" is stipulated. Under this law a school of only fifty students, if it only has the required capacity, may have an officer detailed to serve them, and have the Government pay his salary. Forty officers are now detailed in such service, and others might wish to be, if ordered to the frontier.
News and Notes.
By Editor
RELIGIOUS.
—Two Brahmins were recently baptized in Calcutta.
—It is stated that there are 1,200 towns west of the Mississippi which have no Protestant preaching.
—During the past year the foreign missionary societies of the world report a gain of 308,643 communicants.
—More than ten thousand copies of the New Testament have been sold and given away among the Fiji Islanders.
—The American Bible Society has sent a stock of Bibles, printed in all languages, to the New Orleans Exposition, to be placed on sale.
—The London Tablet is authority for the statement that the ordinary expenses of the Holy See amount to 5,000,000 francs annually.
—The Russian Government has closed numerous Catholic convents managed by the Sisters of Charity in Russian Poland, because they favored Polish patients and tried to make proselytes.
—An earnest advocate of the adoption of Sunday as the Jewish Sabbath, proposes that a convention of representative Jews be held in Paris or Jerusalem in the year 1900 to consider the matter.
—Sixty years' missionary work of the American Sunday-school Union in the South, has resulted in the organization of more than fourteen thousand schools, into which have been gathered 822,327 teachers and scholars.
—The Y. M. C. Association of Brooklyn, N. Y., has developed a new feature in its work. An "acquaintance meeting" is held once a week at the close of the regular meetings. We suggest that many churches might follow the example with profit.
—An exchange says: "In the public schools of Greece the four gospels of the New Testament are used as a reader by the children of the most advanced classes of the primary department, and the new Minister of Education proposes to extend their use into the higher schools."
—The Catholic Monitor urges the church to make an early effort to colonize California with Eastern members of the faith. It says: "The sect known as 'Lutherans' have colonized in Fresno County, and the 'Campbellites' have colonized on 38,000 acres of railroad lands in Shasta County. It would be a good thing for Catholics in the East if they could be induced to colonize on such lands, as there is no better climate on this continent than California presents, and in a few years more the cry will be, 'Too late! too late! ye cannot enter now.'"
Publishers' Department.
By Editor
WE send no papers from this office without pay in advance, unless by special arrangement. When persons receive copies without ordering them, they are sent by other parties, and we can give no information in regard to them. Persons thus receiving copies of the SIGNS are not indebted to the office, and will not be called upon for pay. Please read the papers and hand them to your friends to read.
Money orders, drafts, etc., should be made to "Pacific Press;" never to individuals, as they may be absent, and business thereby be delayed.
All letters pertaining to SIGNS business should be addressed to SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal., and not to the editors, clerks, or other individuals.
Forwarding Third- and Fourth-Class Mail
By Editor
THIRD and fourth class mail matter can now be forwarded at the request of the addressee, and the necessary postage collected at the office of delivery.
Increase in Signs Circulation
By Editor
WE printed last week 6,500 more copies of the SIGNS than we did for the corresponding week one year ago. Our list of subscribers is steadily increasing. For additional facts concerning the increase lately in our circulation, see Elder Haskell's letter, on page 74 of this paper. We hope our friends will continue the good work.
Newspaper Postage Reduced
By Editor
By a recent ruling of the Post-office Department, four ounces of newspapers can be mailed to any part of the United States for one cent. Thus two SIGNS can be mailed for one cent, or five, in one package, for two cents. If tracts or other printed matter be inclosed in the papers, it will subject them to a rate of one cent for each two ounces or fractional part thereof.
Foreign Postage on the Signs
By Editor
THE SIGNS, with an eight-page tract inclosed, can be sent to Africa, British Columbia, Canada, China (via Hongkong), France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Greenland, Hawaiian Kingdom (Sandwich Islands), Hungary, Hayti, Hindostan, Honduras, Hongkong, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jamaica, Mexico, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Norway, New Foundland, Turkey, and Uruguay, for one cent. The postage on papers to New South Wales (Australia), Victoria (Australia), and New Zealand is two cents per copy, regardless of weight; and on other printed matter, four cents per four ounces or fraction thereof.
Renew Your Signs Subscription
By Editor
WE notice that about two hundred subscriptions expire in January and February. Please renew early, as it takes the mails two or three weeks to reach us from the Eastern States, when the railroads are blocked with snow, or bridges washed out by high waters. We do not wish to drop any names from our list, and hope to hear from all whose time expires soon.
Besides asking for a renewal of your own subscription, we would be pleased to have you show the SIGNS to your neighbors and friends. If by so doing you secure for us five new subscribers, we will mail you, post paid, a copy of "D'Aubignè's History of the Great Reformation," five volumes complete in one, or "Sunshine at Home."
Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal.
N. B.—To each new subscriber we will furnish the SIGNS for one year with a copy of either of the following useful and instructive books for $2.25: Geikie's "Life of Christ," "Sketches from the Life of Paul," by Mrs. E. G. White, or "The History of the Waldenses," illustrated.
RECEIPTS.
By Editor
NOTICE.—The change of figures on the address labels will be in all cases a sufficient receipt for money sent for the paper. If these changes do not appear in due time, and if books ordered by mail are not received, please notify us. All other business is acknowledged below.
CALIFORNIA CONFERENCE FUND.—Joseph Leininger (tithe) $93.50, W T Eddy $6, W N King $1.50, San Pasqual church $50, W Harper (tithe) $49.74, Woodland church $30.85, Lemoore church $20, San Francisco church $161.65, Norwalk church $20, Santa Rosa church $112.10.
CASH RECEIVED ON ACCOUNT.—Kansas T and M Society $128.45, Wisconsin T and M Society $500, Missouri T and M Society $65, Iowa T and M Society $368.30, Illinois T and M Society $52.27, Indiana T and M society $10.95, Mrs C Ruoff $41.58, Walter Harper 100.
CHURCH DEBT FUND.—R A Pritchard $10, Wm Saunders $50, T M Blakely Jr $50.
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FOREIGN MISSIONS.—Lucy Bush $10, Wm Saunders $25.
CALIFORNIA T AND M SOCIETY.—District No 2, per Miss Libbie Saunders $51.50, District No 4, per A S Hickox $156.05, per Miss Ellen Simons $7.90, District No 6 per Miss Eva Bandy $27.30, F Lamb $1.50, L Church $5, W N Dixon 70c, J K Bowlsby $2, Mrs M D Ormsby $1.30, Sarah McEnterfer 65c, Mrs S Little 50c, Wm Ings $1, Miss Ellen Simons $1.50, Mrs M C Reaser $2, W J D Jones $2, W N Whisby $4, Mrs E Bryant $1.25, R A Pritchard $1, H L Wallace $2.
Select Paragraphs.
No MAN ever made an ill figure who understood his own talents, nor a good one who mistook them.
THE Sabbath is the link between the Paradise which is passed away and the Paradise which is yet to come.—Wylie.
THE virtue of a man ought to be measured not by his extraordinary exertions, but by his every-day conduct.—Pascal.
SEVERAL English life insurance companies charge twenty per cent. less for a total abstainer than for a moderate drinker. This speaks its own lesson.
CYRUS HAMLIN says, "One of the chiefest blessings of good books is that they bring to us the spirit of those who have felt the most deeply and acted the most manfully."
To KNOW how to say what other people only think, is what makes men poets and sages, and to dare to say what others only dare to think, makes men martyrs or reformers, or both.—Schonberg-Cotta Family.
I'VE seen some old broken bowls planted out with the bonniest flowers and mosses, and I've thought if it had not been for their misfortune they would never have come to such honor and beauty.—Edward Garret.
THERE is a tendency in many expositors of Scripture to go beyond their knowledge. They supply the large deficiencies of their knowledge by guesses and conjectures. If, indeed, these guesses were put forth simply for what they really are, pure surmises, less harm would be done, for the reader would be less likely to be imposed upon.—Pacific.
THE narrow man, the vain or the selfish man, imagines manners can be learned from books, as a boy learns the multiplication table, by saying it over and over to himself. Not so. The finest qualities of manners, like noble music, address the soul directly, and are not describable in words. Somewhat of their art may be learned by observing certain elect men and women; but the source of all gentle behavior and lovely manners is a secret of the heart, and there alone a man may find it.—Elizabeth Cumming.
"BEHOLD, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." There is no way in which we can do more for the Lord, or please him better, than by doing just as he tells us to do. It is a great mistake to suppose that we know better than God knows what is good for us, or what is good for God's cause. And it is a sin, as well as a mistake.—H. Clay Trumbull.
PERSONS who come to you with tales about other people, and tell you things which are prejudicial to their character, will go to others and tell similar tales about you. They may whisper their stories low and softly in your ear, but remember their words are words of deceit, and often words of falsehood, and if you listen to them, and trust them, you do it to your own injury. There is no more despicable character than the sanctimonious whisperer and back-biter, who secretly slanders others and strikes them in the dark, and all under the false pretense of friendship for you. You should avoid such persons, and utterly refuse to listen to their slanders.—Sel.
WHEN a woman steps up to the bar of judgment and shows to the Lord the five talents with which he originally endowed her, with no additional talents of her own accumulating, and the Lord says to her: "You ought to have put them to the exchangers, that when I came I might receive mine own with usury," and she answers, "Dear Lord, you must excuse me, I am a woman, I have wrapped what you gave me in the napkin of femininity," the plea is not going to avail. It is the intention of Providence that a man should be something beside an old boy. It is the intention of Providence that a woman should be something beside an old girl. The gifts of God are stamped with the image and superscription of God. The parable of the talents is pertinent to both sexes.—C. H. Parkhurst.
"MARRIED folks would be happier," says an exchange, "if they tried to be as agreeable as in courtship days if each would try to be a real support and comfort to the other; if household expenses were always proportioned to receipts, if each remembered the other was practically a human being, not an angel; if women were as kind to their husbands as they were to their lovers, if men were as thoughtful for their wives as they were for them when sweethearts; if both parties remembered that they were married for worse as well as for better; if there were fewer silk and velvet costumes, and more plain, tidy house dresses, and street ones, too, for that matter; if there were fewer 'please darlings' in public and more common manners in private; if wives and husbands would take their pleasure as they go along, and not degenerate into mere toiling machines."
Appointments.
OAKLAND.—House of worship, northeast corner of Clay and Thirteenth Streets. Sabbath-school every Sabbath at 9:30 A. M. Preaching at 11 A. M. Prayer and missionary meeting every Tuesday evening at 7:00. Seats free. Preaching every Sunday evening at 7:30.
SAN FRANCISCO.—House of worship, 912 Laguna Street, between McAllister and Tyler Streets. Sabbath-school every Sabbath at 9:45 A. M. Preaching at 11 A. M. Prayer and missionary meeting every Wednesday evening at 7:45. Preaching every Sunday evening at 7:30. Mission Reading-rooms at the church.
Obituary.
By G. W. Brake
BRAKE.—Died, of diphtheria, Jan. 11, 1885, at Kansas City, Mo., Olive, daughter of G. W. and Mary E. Brake, of Elmira, Cal., aged 6 years, 2 months, and 20 days.
Little Olive was sick five days, and then fell asleep. We hope to receive her again when Jesus comes. G. W. BRAKE.
THE ATONEMENT:
By Eld. J. H. Waggoner
AN EXAMINATION OF A
REMEDIAL SYSTEM, IN THE LIGHT OF
NATURE AND OF REVELATION.
BY ELD. J. H. WAGGONER.
THIRD EDITION, REVISED AND GREATLY ENLARGED.
THIS work is a critical and exhaustive treatise on the plan of salvation as revealed in the Scriptures, showing its harmony with the principles of justice and mercy, its consistency with reason, and its final results as affecting the destiny of the human race.
368 pp.; cloth, $1.00.
Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal.
Or, REVIEW AND HERALD, Battle Creek, Mich.
OUR COUNTRY'S FUTURE FORETOLD.
By Uriah Smith
THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY.
By Eld. U. Smith.
This is a full exposition of a portion of prophecy which applies to our own Government, showing the position the United States holds in prophecy, and the part it has to act in the closing scenes of time.
THE SUNDAY MOVEMENT,
Which is now attracting such general attention, is thoroughly canvassed, and abundant testimony is given to prove that it is fast coming to be the ALL-IMPORTANT QUESTION in this country. Dealing with our own land and applying to our own time. Of surpassing interest to every American reader. New edition; revised and enlarged. Cloth, 225 pp., 75c. Paper covers, new edition, condensed, 186 pp., 25c. Address,
SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal.
Or, REVIEW AND HERALD, Battle Creek, Mich.
A MINE OF INFORMATION.
By John Nevins Andrews
HISTORY OF THE SABBATH AND FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK.
By Eld. J. N. Andrews.
The Bible record of the Sabbath; the secular history concerning it; the successive steps by which the change to the first day was made, and the work of restoration, are given in detail.
EVERY TEXT OF SCRIPTURE concerning the Sabbath is commented on at length; and the COMPLETE TESTIMONY OF THE FATHERS in regard to the Sabbath and first day is given. The comparative merits of the seventh and the first-day Sabbaths are fully shown. A copious index enables the reader to find any text, or the statement of any historian.
Should be read by everybody. 528 pp. Price, $1.25.
Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal., Or, REVIEW AND HERALD, Battle Creek, Mich.
THOUGHTS ON DANIEL, CRITICAL AND PRACTICAL.
By Uriah Smith
BY ELD. U. SMITH.
EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL, VERSE BY VERSE.
We are now living in times plainly pointed out in this prophecy, and it is important to understand it; for Daniel himself says that in the time of the end, the wise shall understand; while, if we fail, we are equally guilty with the Jews, who knew not the time of their visitation (Luke 19:42-44), and shall meet a similar fate.
416 pp. Price, $1.25.
Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal. Or, REVIEW AND HERALD, Battle Creek, Mich.
THOUGHTS ON REVELATION, CRITICAL AND PRACTICAL.
By Uriah Smith
By Eld. U. Smith.
This work presents every verse in the book of Revelation, with such remarks as serve to illustrate or explain the meaning of the text. It is a new and harmonious exposition of that important book, and is designed to create an interest in its study.
416 pp. Price, $1.25.
Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal.
Or, REVIEW AND HERALD, Battle Creek, Mich.
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. 32 pp. Price, 10 cents. SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal.
Interesting Statistics Indeed.
By Editor
THE Plenary Council at Baltimore caused to be collected what the Christian Union calls "a very interesting array of statistics, disclosing the relative growth of the various religious denominations in the United States during the last twenty-five years." By looking at the statistics as printed in the Union, we find that they pertain to only eleven of the religious denominations. And we find that whereas the total population of this country twenty-five years ago was 31,000,000, yet 28,808,000 of these were embraced in these eleven denominations, leaving only 2,192,000 worldlings, to say nothing at all about all of the other denominations. And whereas now the total population of the country is 55,000,000, yet 49,850,000 of these are embraced by these same eleven denominations, which leaves only 5,150,000 to be made up of worldlings, and all the other denominations together. In other words, twenty-five years ago there was less than one in fourteen, and now there is less than one in ten, of the entire population of the United States who are not religionists!!
Yes, statistics are very interesting, especially Catholic statistics; there are such large returns of fiction from such small investment of fact.
More Slavery.
By J. O. C.
THE New Hebrides is a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, numbering thirty, with a population of 100,000. In 1848, the United Presbyterians of Nova Scotia opened a mission there, and now occupy sixteen of the islands. They have ninety day-schools, attended by 8,000 children and adults, all receiving Christian instruction. Those outside of gospel influence are still cannibals. But now a serious evil threatens, not only the mission work, but the extermination of the helpless natives besides. New Caledonia, one of the group, is claimed by the French, who have extensive mines and plantations there. The settlers of this island have been persuaded to organize a company, with a capital of $100,000, to colonize the New Hebrides with Frenchmen, and, at the same time, to carry away the native islanders to work in their mines and on their plantations in New Caledonia. One of the mission stations was taken possession of by the French, but they were afterward dispossessed by a British war vessel. France now threatens to send 25,000 convicts to occupy the islands, and remove the natives to New Caledonia, virtually into slavery. Many of the natives are carried away by force to work on the sugar plantations of Queensland and Fiji. It is stated that on some Queensland plantations there are 600 Kanaka laborers. The British colonies now hold 32,000 of these poor wretches. The above statements relative to Queensland and Fiji were gathered from a letter written by Rev. J. Rooney, from New Guinea. The other points were stated in substance by Rev. John G. Paton, at Belfast, in the council of the reformed churches. Can it be possible that Christian England will tolerate slavery in any part of her dominions? J. O. C.
Another Fiendish Outrage.
By Editor
A DIABOLICAL attempt was made last Saturday to blow up the English Parliament. Some unknown party placed an explosive in the crypt of Westminster Hall, which destroyed all the windows on one side. A few minutes afterward, another explosion occurred in the House of Commons, completely wrecking the interior of the compartment. Later in the day still another explosion took place at the White Tower, blowing off the roof. It being the day when visitors are admitted, the Tower at the time was filled with visitors, many of them women and children. Latest accounts give the number of wounded as thirty-four, some of these very seriously, so much so that their lives are despaired of. Great excitement prevailed in London and throughout all England, and cries for vengeance were heard on every side. One alarming feature of this case, as with most of such fiendish plots, is, no clew to the perpetrators has been found. The Government detectives and police seem dazed at their inability to prevent such outrages.
It would seem that the time has come for decisive action regarding such work. As long as dynamite and other powerful explosives are sold as freely as sporting powder, the public may expect to hear of just such dastardly attempts of wholesale slaughter. The sale of such dangerous commodities should be restricted by law the same as poison, and the names of purchasers carefully recorded, for future reference.
It is gratifying, however, to know that Mr. Edmunds has already introduced a bill in the United States Senate to suppress the manufacture and possession of dynamite for treasonable uses abroad. It would, however, be well to provide against the use of such agencies to avenge supposed public or private wrongs in this country. Truly these are troublous times.
What Is an Evangelist?
The Southwestern Methodist thinks “it is time to insist on the Scripture meaning of the term ‘evangelist.’ He is not an evangelist who goes about to well-organized churches, and, with the co-operation of pastors, and members, holds revival services. No matter how great a stir that man may make, or how great a revival he may lead, he is not an evangelist. ‘An evangelist’ is a messenger to those who have never heard the gospel. He builds not on another man’s foundation; he presses into the regions beyond the ministry and labors of others.”
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH
By John Norton Loughborough
The Great Controversy, Vol. IV.
I HAVE found this book so deeply interesting, and profitable, that I am exceedingly desirous to see it extensively circulated. It is not only reading matter of that nature to interest all who give it a candid perusal, but its warnings concerning the deceptions of Satan, so soon to be practiced upon the world, are of that character that the people should have the book in their hands. The Jewish people, in the days of Jerusalem's destruction, met with an overthrow because they "knew not the time of their visitation." They had opportunity to know, because, by the teachings of Christ and his apostles, they were warned of the event, and of their danger, but when they chose to reject that instruction, the responsibility of their fate rested upon themselves.
In Vol. IV. is a warning respecting the great deceptions soon to be practiced by Satan to deceive the world. The Lord has been pleased to place in our hands, light concerning these deceptions. Can we be clear in the matter if we are content with simply a personal acceptance of this light, and do not exert ourselves to bring the warning to the attention of our fellow-men? It seems to me that, in principle at least, this question is answered in the words of the Lord to Ezekiel, "If the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand." Ezek. 33:6.
In every church of our people, where it has not already been done, an effort should be made to place this book in the house of every Seventh-day Adventist family. Our efforts should not stop with this, but canvassers should be secured who will make a thorough effort to place the work in the hands of all who can be induced to buy it. The book contains the very instruction and warnings the people need, and we, as a people, shall be remiss in duty if we do not do all in our power to get the light before them. Are there not many in our ranks who will prepare themselves to take hold of the thorough canvass for "Great Controversy," Vol. IV?
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH
The Signs of the Times.
By Editor
OAKLAND, CAL., FIFTH-DAY, JANUARY 29, 1885.
FROM Brethren Scott and LaRue, of Honolulu, H. I., we learn by private letter that one more has embraced the truth, a sailor, native of the Philippine Islands. Thus the truth goes to the islands of the sea.
Encouraging Work in San Francisco and Oakland
THE outlook for the work in San Francisco and Oakland is encouraging. The Sabbath services in each place are always well attended by brethren and strangers. Last Sabbath, one united with the church in San Francisco, and in Oakland eight signed the covenant to keep all the commandments. Others will soon follow. Thus the tent labor of last summer still bears fruit.
The Leaves of the Tree of Life
By Editor
A CORRESPONDENT asks: "Will you please give me your views on the following: 'And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations'?" Everything about the tree of life will contribute to give life and immortal bloom to those who were once subject to death. Not only the fruit of the tree, but the leaves also will be for the healing (literally, service) of the nations.
The Sixth Commandment and Theft
By Editor
THE Association Witnesser, the organ of an Eastern Y. M. C. A., complains because other association papers copy from it without credit; and in reproving them for this trespass, it says: "Remember the sixth commandment." It is doubtful if the Witnesser will make much headway at stopping theft, by reference to the commandment which says, "Thou shalt not kill." We fear that some of the Young Men's Christian Associations are paying more attention to gymnastics and entertainments than they are to the ten commandments.
The Sunday Question Discussion
By Ellet Joseph Waggoner
The Herald of Truth, in its comment on the discussion of the Sunday question by the Congregational Club of San Francisco, as noted in last week's SIGNS, said that it showed "large freedom of thought." As we read the proceedings, it rather seemed to us that they were marked by large absence of thought. Here are grave Doctors of Divinity, and professors in Theological Seminaries, men who have grown gray in the ministry, who cannot agree on the reason for a practice which they call "the foundation of our holy religion." Was a more absurd and childish affair ever known? But one thing these men do know, and that is that they want a penal Sunday law; and the more they become convinced of their utter inability to uphold Sunday-keeping by the Bible, the more earnest and united they will be in clamoring for the law. E. J. W.