LET us analyze the argument contained in the emphasized question of a writer in the American Christian Review. He says: “But if, as Sabbatizers and Judaizers contend, the moral law, or decalogue, is, as a system, still of force and binding upon all people, Who will ever be saved?” He adds, “Is it not this very law that all are condemned by? Who has lived up to all the requirements of this law? Who, therefore, can be saved by it?” We might reply to these last queries, This is the very law which condemns all; for all have transgressed it, and therefore no one can be saved by it. No Christian people expect to be saved by it. This is a false issue.
But let us try to get the main argument of our author in form.
1. The moral law condemns all its transgressors.
2. All have transgressed it.
3. Therefore no one can be saved unless it be abolished.
According to this argument, the mission of Christ into the world was to destroy this law, or, in our author’s language, to “break up” its “binding force.” But said Jesus, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” Did God give man a law which it was impossible for him to keep, and so make it necessary for the Son of God to die to abolish it, in order to save him? Is there no way to honor the law and pardon its transgressor? Did not Christ die for our sins? Did not the law of God slay him in our stead? Then the law lives to slay the transgressor. If the law is slain, to talk of the pardon is a sham. The abolition of the law and the pardon of its transgressor cannot coexist. One or the other is false. If the law is abolished, the sinner escapes its penalty without pardon; but if the transgressor is pardoned, the law is still in force.
But the whole controversy is on the fourth commandment or Sabbath law. Every Christian admits that the other nine precepts of the decalogue are still binding. Their quarrel is against the Sabbath commandment only. This is the law that nobody keeps, that nobody can keep, and therefore must be abolished or no one can be saved! Why was it ever in force? When our author questions the fact of its being “still in force,” he implies that it was once in force; but when he makes faith in Christ break up its binding force, he makes it that it never was binding on believers, even those that lived before Christ died. Otherwise, they could not be saved, according to his argument. But hold! it is in vain to get at the clearness of an argument that has no clearness in it. So I will close by giving a good testimony from the same sermon, something straight forward, unambiguous, and clear. Let it atone, if possible, for the folly and confusion of the rest. He says:
WHY KEEP THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK AS A SABBATH?
“It was the seventh day that God rested on, and that he ‘blessed and sanctified.’ It was the seventh day that Moses enjoined upon the children of Israel as a Sabbath holy unto the Lord. And there is nothing clearer than that, if we are still under the Old Testament Sabbath law, we should keep the seventh day. If it be shown that we are still under the law ‘written and engraven in stones,’ then the ‘Sabbatarians,’ or ‘Seventh-day Baptists’ are clearly right. It cannot be shown that Jesus or the apostles ever authorized the transfer of the Sabbatic idea and observances from the seventh to the first day of the week. It will not be claimed that they did. It cannot be shown that the change was made in apostolic times. It cannot be shown that it was done in the first three centuries of the Christian era.” To this let all people say, Amen.
R. F. COTTRELL.
Keep Awake.
By Editor
[The following earnest words we find in a paper printed several years ago. As they are no less true now than then, we give them a place in the SIGNS, hoping they will be thoughtfully read and considered by all.]
It may seem almost unnecessary, to those who are unacquainted with the devices of the great enemy of the Christian to warn those who profess to be expecting the revelation of him who will appear to the surprise and eternal ruin of all who have not their loins girt about with truth, and watching earnestly, steadily, and patiently for his appearing, of the fearful danger of falling asleep. Would to God it were unnecessary. But painful facts convince us that even Adventists need the gospel tocsin continually sounded in their ears. We live upon enchanted ground, where none can boast of security; but those whose aim is eternal life, are incessantly exposed to the wiles of a malicious and subtle foe. There is not so much danger of falling before the attacks of the open, avowed enemies around us, as of yielding to the pleasing allurements and being overcome by the deceptive stratagems of him, who transforms himself into an "angel of light." And in view of this imminent peril, we are solemnly bound, as we discover the snares laid for the feet of our fellow-pilgrims, to raise the warning voice lest their blood be required at our hands. Feeling this, duty requires me to point out what appear to be a few of the dangers to which the lovers of Jesus' appearing are exposed. A few only can now be touched upon, but they are seen to be traps in which some unwary souls have been, it is to be feared, already ensnared. Heaven grant such a speedy deliverance!
1. Beware of resting easy with a theoretical knowledge of what you confidently believe to be truth without reducing it to constant practice. This is a rock upon which many an ill-fated bark has split. To know the truth will only aggravate our guilt, unless its life and energy is experienced in the soul. We must act as well as talk truth.
2. Beware of supposing yourself in a safe state, because you are associated with many holy souls, and are fellowshiped by them. Is there not great danger here? Let us remember that others may think we are in a fair way to Heaven when God sees we are in the broad road to perdition! In a spiritual meeting, through sympathy, we may catch the fire of those around us, and so be led to believe that our own hearts are right in the sight of God. Look out for deception!
3. Beware, when listening to a searching truth, of applying it en masse! Would it not be better to inquire, "Lord, is it I?"
4. Beware of supposing that because we live so near to the close of time, it is of no use to employ our talents properly, in trying to diffuse light and truth. Jesus says, "Occupy till I come."
5. Beware of excusing yourself for not being more zealous in God's cause by saying, "It is such a trying time that it is hard to live a Christian life. Such can only be the language of blind unbelief. "As thy day is so shall thy strength be."
6. Beware of being overcharged with the cares of this life. In this business age, carefully avoid imbibing its spirit. Satan may present what may appear to be a plausible motive, for striving after the 'filthy lucre' of this world. He may suggest the idea that with it you can spread light: but it may prove but a passageway to death.
Thus a few sources of danger have been presented. There is one rule by which we can determine the nature of any idea that may be brought before our minds. The inquiry should be instituted, what effect does it produce upon the life? What are its legitimate fruits? If it gives license to slumber, if it takes our eye from the present truth, the immediate coming of Jesus, it is most evidently one of Satan's opiates. His main endeavors will now be to induce the child of God to slumber. Let us keep upon the watch! It is no time for the Christian mariner to slumber, while tossed upon the tempestuous wave and the black clouds around filled with fury, are just ready to beat upon his little bark! It is no time for the gospel soldier to close his eyes and fold his hands, when the battle rages the most fiercely, and more especially in the final, decisive struggle. If we sleep now, it is to be feared, we shall never again awake, until the shrill trump which will startle into life the pious dead, shall break upon the affrighted ear.
A True Friend
A TRUE friend unbosoms freely, advises justly, assists readily, adventures boldly, takes all patiently, defends corageously, and contues a friend unchangeably.
Do Your Duty
Do daily and hourly your duty; do it patiently, thoroughly. Do it as it presents itself; do it at the moment, and let it be its own reward. Never mind whether it is known or acknowledged, but do not fail to do it. Fear nothing but sin; fear nothing but a mean action.
The Bright Side.
Look on the bright side. It is the right side. The times may be hard, but it will make them no easier to wear a gloomy and sad countenance. It is sunshine, and not the cloud, that makes the flower. The sky is blue ten times where it is black once. You have troubles, so have others. None are free from them. Trouble gives sinew and tone to life—fortitude and courage to man. That would be a dull sea, and the sailor would never get skill, where there was nothing to disturb the surface of the ocean. What though things look a little dark, the lane will turn, and night will end in a broad day. There is more virtue in one sunbeam than in a whole hemisphere of clouds and gloom.
Salvation Open to All
WITHOUT THE CAMP.—Calvary was in no enclosure. City walls, national lines, local surroundings, were here unknown. With man that signified, Rejected by all; with God it meant, Belongs to all. On the cross of Christ they wrote in three forms of speech, representing the divisions and the aggregation of our race, "This is the King of the Jews." It was done in derision, but in truth declared the promise fulfilled, that in Abraham's seed all the nations of the earth are blessed. He was slain as a victim of hate, but his death was an offering of love, breaking the seals of despair, opening the book of life to all.
Without the camp! No sentinel then can forbid the stranger as he comes; no gates can be closed to sinners, aliens or enemies who penitently seek to plunge in the purple flood; no hindering rules can force the leprous, the casta-ways, the chief of sinners, the most wretched of the miserable, from touching the sacred cross, and drawing virtue to heal their souls. It gives us unspeakable joy to read that he is the Saviour of all men, tasted death for all, loves all, seeks all, is able to save all, invites all, offers life to all, rejects none. The rejecting is all done by man. Jesus receives all sinners who will receive him.
More Encouragement.
STILL we are encouraged to learn that the efforts made in distributing the SIGNS are resulting in awaking a deep interest in the truth. Bro. Mavity, who has been traveling through Del Norte and Humbolt Counties in Cal., where we have been sending a good number of the SIGNS to trial subscribers, wrote under date of Aug. 9: “I have visited among the trial subscribers obtained by myself and Bro. More, for the SIGNS, and find all interested in the great truths it teaches, and many will soon become permanent subscribers. I would recommend that none be cut off from the list for the present until you hear from me again, as I shall give all a chance to subscribe while I am here.
“I believe the plan to send out the SIGNS on trial is a good one, if those sending in names will attend to it, by writing, or calling on them at the end of three months, and report to the Office. I was glad to see you urging the matter on the T. and M. society in No. 38 of the SIGNS. I have given away many hundred pages of tracts, and about 100 SIGNS in my travels. Shall order another hundred copies of the SIGNS soon, for further distribution.”
Another letter is before me from Bro. Hager, our State T. and M. Treasurer, who ventured to send the SIGNS a few months since to one who had formerly been a member with him in the Baptist church. He has just learned that the sister received the SIGNS, read it, and has been keeping the Sabbath for several months, and is about decided on all points of our faith. So the work goes. Who else will get trial subscribers and see the fruits of their efforts in souls receiving the truth?
J. N. L.
The Magnitude of Missions.
By James Sawyer
THE world is the work-field of the Christian. As soon as one becomes a disciple of Christ, he is a missionary. The word missionary means, one sent. When the Spirit of Christ is in a man, he will manifest a disposition to make others better. It will of course, show itself first at home; then the sanctifying influence of his character will be felt abroad.
The admonition, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature,” becomes of paramount importance, because time will soon close. The waymarks of man's earthly pilgrimage mark probation nearly ended, and the consummation of the best of hopes is just before the righteous man.
Some effort is being made to evangelize the world. It was published in a newspaper, some time since, that different societies in America had sent out eighty-seven persons among the Japanese to advance the work of missions among them. Not long since was another account, that the English had caused translations of the Bible to be made into fifteen tongues in her East India possessions. Such efforts, without doubt, will soon be turned to the glory of God.
It is true that Seventh-day Adventists have not done a large work in carrying the gospel to other tongues; and while, as it appears to them that the gospel in its purity must be given as a witness unto all nations, God will hasten the work by using other instrumentalities than themselves. The very enemies of the Lord will be used to herald his saving truth. They will know no better than to do it. To illustrate: About a year and a half since, there were no papers, journals, or books, among the Swedes, which advocated the second advent of Christ and kindred views of Adventists, but a very few who had knowledge that such a people were at work, announcing the true Sabbath and the sleep of the dead, while now hundreds of papers and tracts are scattered, here and there, from Maine to California, wherever Swedish settlements can be found. This nationality have been greatly aroused by the views as set forth in these tracts and papers. Leading political and religious papers and journals of this people are taking up these views and discussing them among themselves, so that the whole Swedish people on the Western continent will soon know that there is a third angel's message. And since many Swedish papers which are published here are sent to Sweden, these same topics will be agitated there, and the light of the glorious truth cannot be hid till it has reached the limits of Finland. The fire which has been kindled cannot go out till it has lighted the firesides of about 5,000,000 Swedes and about 2,000,000 Finns.
But how can Finland be benefited? The Finns were under the jurisdiction of Sweden from the middle of the 12th century until the beginning of the 19th. Sweden gave Finland her religion and her laws. And in some of the churches there now, the preaching is exclusively in the Swedish language. A few weeks since, we met five Finlanders in Ottawa Co., Mich., and four out of five could read, write, and converse in the Swedish language. We can readily see how the work can be carried on in that country. Those who understand the Swede will impart it to those with whom they mingle, who can only speak the Finnish. Finland belongs to Russia now; but there are only about 40,000 of the Finns who belong to the Greek church; the rest are Lutherans.
Thus we see that in the space of a few months, such agencies have been set in motion as will stir the minds of millions on the momentous questions which pertain to these last days. And God will speed this work. It is so recorded that he will. Soon the nations will be warned. The proclamation “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations,” will soon be accomplished. We know the conclusion. To the burdened, waiting one, the result is glorious; but it must be a sad reality to that one who is neither watching nor waiting. It will be doubly sad to him who knew his Master's will and did it not—who lost what missionary spirit he once had. The steward will feel bad as his one talent is taken from him and given to his neighbor who has ten talents already.
In comparison with the importance of this closing work, friends, money, and honors, sink into insignificance. How is it possible that friends can keep a man from this saving work who has the missionary spirit in him? Estates and wealth will hardly allure him from his Master's vineyard; highest honors will be but a bauble; aye, there is something ahead which outstrips all these in splendor, and onward he presses to gain immortal honors, an eternal inheritance, and the companionship of angels. May the magnitude of this missionary work appear as it never has before.
JAMES SAWYER.
What the World Pays.
Sometimes men of the world complain that the church is wasting money in various benevolent causes, without much profit. The old question, asked eighteen hundred years ago, "Why is this waste?" is often asked in our times. Men want to know why so much is expended in foreign missions; why so much is given to plant the gospel in pagan lands, and they tell us we are squandering the money we thus use.
But such persons forget how much is being expended in lust and sin, in folly and extravagance.
What do intoxicating drinks cost the people of this country? The figures are absolutely startling. And these immense amounts are given not for any good, but to impoverish society, to debauch the community, and ruin souls. The men who think it unwise to pay money to send the gospel to the heathen; who are blind to all the glorious changes which have been wrought in the pagan world, do not seem to notice what vast sums are paid to make drunkards, to fill our prisons, to ruin our young men, and swell the mighty army of widows and orphans.
How much is paid in this country for tobacco? The vile and filthy weed is smoked, chewed, snuffed and used in a dozen disgusting ways to the damage of brain, lungs, heart and stomach. And how much men pay for this useless, loathsome narcotic. Men who condemn missions don't think of the cost of tobacco. They pay for that, not thinking that it costs more for the vile weed than for missions.
Then how much is paid for light literature? Men who cannot—or who say they cannot—afford a religious paper for their family use, will spend on the story papers, and the meanest of the daily papers, ten times as much as a religious paper would cost them. They do not say they cannot afford these worthless papers, but buy them every day. But they are so poor they cannot afford to take a religious paper for their children.
It requires more than two thousand five hundred men and women to run the theaters of London. This outnumbers all the foreign missionaries on the earth. That one city alone has more ministers of vanity and sin, acting every night, than we have missionaries among the heathen to execute the great commission. And yet who complains of that waste? How bigoted we are called when we protest against theaters as useless expenditures.
When will Christians learn to be as liberal in the cause of Christ, as free with their money as rum-drinkers, tobacco-chewers, and theater-goers are with their money. When will we learn to do as much for Christ as men of the world do for their poor, polluted pleasures.—Christian Era.
Health Department.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” 3 John 2.
Work and Health Reform.
ONE of the chief objections which people have to the health reform is that it will not do to work hard upon, as they think. It is not at all strange that those who have not tried it should think so. Always accustomed to depend upon meat, tea, coffee, and three meals a day, it very naturally seems to them that without these they would have no strength to labor: hence they say that the reform will do very well for those who do not have to work hard, but not for those who do.335Now I know that this is not true. In the first place, it is not reasonable; for there is more nutriment by far in graham bread, beans, peas, rice, fruits, etc., than there is in meat. In the second place, in the last seven or eight years, I have seen as hard working men as I ever knew who have lived and flourished on the health reform. They have done as much or more work than their neighbors, have paid no doctors’ bills, and have had good health. I could name many instances of this among both farmers and mechanics. Though I am not a farmer or a mechanic, yet I claim to know what hard labor is. As an illustration, in looking over my diary, I find that in ninty-two days, I have held one hundred and eighteen meetings, at nearly all of which I have preached from an hour to an hour and a quarter. This is an average of nine meetings a week, all the way through. During the same time, I have every day visited from house to house, thus spending most of the day. When not doing this, I have been studying or writing. Nor is this an exceptional case, as I have worked about the same for years, and this on the health reform too. I am now stronger, healthier, and more able to work than when I began, years ago.
Contrast this with ministers who take their three meals a day, and live on tea, coffee, fine flour, pork, chicken, etc. Generally, they preach twice a week, about forty minutes each sermon, and attend a prayer-meeting one evening. Many of them become weakly, pale creatures, get the consumption, bronchitis, or something else, and have to take a vacation to rest up!
Suggest to these dear souls that a plain, vegetable diet, and two meals a day, would be good for them, and they have an answer ready, viz.: Men who have to perform such severe mental labor as they do, require a strong, nourishing diet!!
The Lord pity them and their flocks till they learn what a good, strong diet really is. D. M. CANRIGHT.
The Pilgrim's Wants.
I WANT that adorning divine,
Thou only, my God, canst bestow;
I want in those beautiful garments to shine
Which distinguish thy household below.
I want, every moment to feel
That thy Spirit resides in my heart,
That thy power is ready to cleanse and to heal,
And newness of life to impart.
I want, oh! I want to attain
More likeness, my Saviour, to thee;
That longed for resemblance to gain,
Thy comeliness put upon me.
I want to be marked for thine own;
Thy seal on my forehead to wear;
To receive that "new name" on the mystic white stone,
Which none but thyself can declare.
I want thine own hand to unbind
Each tie to terrestrial things,
Too tenderly cherished, too closely entwined,
When my heart too tenaciously clings.
I want by my aspect serene,
My actions and words to declare
That my treasure is placed in a country unseen,
That my heart's best affections are there.
I want as a traveler to haste
Straight onward, nor pause in my way,
Nor forethought, nor anxious contrivance to waste
On the tent only pitched for a day.
I want—and this sums up my prayer—
To glorify thee till I die,
Then calmly to yield up my soul to thy care,
And breathe out in faith my last sigh.
—Sel.
Missionary Department.
By J. N. L.
"In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand; for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good." Eccl. 11 : 6.
A Missionary Worker.
A TRUE missionary must be one who has a just and realizing sense of the dignity and importance of the work in which he is engaged, and one who gives his life, his energies, his all, if need be, to advance the work of his mission, laboring unselfishly for the good of others, seeking to lead them in the straight and narrow way.
While the cause of God, at the present time, demands just such laborers, few, alas, are to be found. While, as in Paul's time, men are needed, who, Timothy-like, will "naturally care for the state of God's people and cause, the masses, even among professors, "seek their own, and not the things that are Jesus Christ's." It is not that there is no work to be done, and no open opportunities to do good, that no more is accomplished; but, alas! it is putting off what might be done now to a more convenient season.
We that trust in our T. and M. work, while we are learning how to do the work, we should do with our might what our hands find to do. As we have said before, we must not get our ideas limited by the scope of our immediate acquaintance, or neighborhood, or language. How do we know what might be done by dropping a tract in the hands of those even of a foreign tongue. Our eyes should be open to discern every possible opportunity to get the light before our fellowmen. We commend the article in this department from Bro. Sawyer on the "Magnitude of Missions." There is work to be done. Who will do it? J. N. L.
North Pacific Mission.
By I. D. Van Horn
THE result of our effort with the tent at Dayton has been good for so small a place. Sixteen have signed a covenant to keep all the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. They have meeting every Sabbath.
When I closed the tent-meeting there I stated that I designed going immediately to the Willamette Valley. As soon as this was known, the Rev. Mr. Chamberlain of Walla Walla was sent for to give the “other side” of the Sabbath question. Accordingly an appointment was given out for him. My wife being sick we did not go down to Western Oregon as we designed, and I immediately made arrangements to reply to him at Dayton. The Methodists freely opened their meeting-house to him, but we were refused that privilege in our reply. The turn of the whole thing was to secure us many friends, while they wounded their own cause. The Baptists also have made a small effort against us; but the people in Dayton are reading their Bibles too much lately to be satisfied with assertion.
Last Friday, the 6th inst., I went to Dayton again, and held four meetings on Sabbath and first-day, and found the interest still good. I heard of others who were commencing to keep the Sabbath, but they have not yet identified themselves with us. The work is not done there yet.
The way has been opened and a very urgent call made for me to hold a series of meetings in the Grand Round Valley. This valley lies on the east side of the Blue Mountains, about sixty miles south-east of Walla Walla. A wealthy influential man of that place came to see me expressly to have me go there. He owns a meeting-house in one place, and the old Court House in La Grande, and he said both of these houses were open to me as long as I might wish to hold meetings. I begin to think that these two circumstances, the work at Dayton and the opening in the Grand Round Valley, was why the Lord hedged up the way of going to the Willamette Valley by my wife's sickness. She is getting better now, and I am in hopes soon to be out in the field at work again. The Lord is good to us, and we have some precious seasons waiting before him in prayer. We believe he is leading us.
I. D. VAN HORN.
Walla Walla, W. T., Aug. 9, 1875.
P. S. Our P. O. address is still Walla Walla, Wash. Ter.
I. D. & A. P. VAN HORN.
We Are all Missionaries.
EVERY Christian man is, by his oath of allegiance, a missionary. There is not one law for ministers and another for hearers. The gospel does not bind the preacher and absolve the people. There is not one solitary line in God's revelation which says that the one must work, and sacrifice, and give, and the other hoard and keep. You may be confined to the dull routine of daily toil, and yet your life, hid with Christ in God, may make you one of the best preachers of righteousness in the world. You may be a great stammerer, and your life of love go straight to every heart. We can all give our example. A chance word of reproof, a way-side word of warning, a loving invitation, an act of Christian courtesy done in a Christian way, may lead others to Christ. It is not so much where we are, as what we are, and it is not alone what we do, but the way we do it. A man who loves the Saviour must in some way be the refuge of the weary. If he speaks, it must be as one tempted man speaks to another who is battling with temptations. It is not done by fierce warnings. It is the old and blessed story of God's love leading weary souls to Jesus, helping them to grope out of the dark and tangled wilderness, and cheering them at every step on the way to deliverance and safety. There is no one so poor that he cannot do something for Christ. Whether it be the widow's mite or the rich man's gift, God will bless it.—Sel.
Religious Miscellany
Religious Miscellany.
—The Presbyterian Chinese Mission Church has 65 members, nine of whom were received on the 25th ult.
—The Levant Herald states that the Turkish government has authorized the circulation of the Bible in Turkey.
—Great interest was created in Fort Dodge July 14 by the sermon of a native Sioux Indian, the Rev. Luke C. Walker. A crowded audience of whites listened to him.
—The Presbyterians of Scotland and Ireland are being agitated and divided upon the question of fermented wine for the Lord's supper, some opposing and some favoring its use.
—Professor Seelye, of Amherst, while in India, delivered a course of lectures on Christianity, to the educated Hindoos. They have been published and are having a great run.
—It is stated that the majority of the last senior class at the New Brunswick Theological Seminary offered themselves for the foreign mission field, but were not accepted for want of funds to sustain them.
PARIS, August 11.—A request by the Government of France to the pope, to authorize a prayer for the preservation of the Republic, has been refused. His holiness, however, has decreed the recital of a formula salvum fac populum.
—A Chinese convert, in conversation with a missionary remarked: "We want men with hot hearts to tell of the love of Christ." And if there is ever to be a widespread revival work in our land and the world, we must have such men.
—A mob of 200 French Catholics surrounded and stoned a house at Danielsonville, Ct., last week, in which Mr. Pentenade, a colporteur and missionary, was reading the Scriptures, and were only kept from further mischief by the arrival of the police.
—It is unlawful in New Jersey for railway trains (except mail trains and milk cars) to run on Sunday. The Sabbath Union calls for the enforcement of the law in this respect. The railroad lines on which the Sunday laws are broken, are controlled largely by New York and Philadelphia.
—Eighty-five years ago the Methodists could not obtain the use of any church in Boston in which to preach. Then they were called heretics, and were persecuted by all the other sects. But they have forgotten all this now and can cry out against "new doctrines" as lustily as their persecutors of old.
—One hundred and fifteen female missionaries have gone to foreign lands from Mount Holyoke Seminary, Massachusetts, eighteen of them from the last two graduating classes. Applications are on the file for twenty more, Cape Colony, Africa, asking for eight to serve as teachers. Several of the graduates have already gone to Cape Colony, where they have had great success in Christian works.
—Sir Moses Montefiore has just started on another mission to Palestine, in aid of the Jewish interests there. The Independent says: "He is about as typical a specimen of an active philanthropist as lives on the face of the earth, and we hope he may long live, although he now is nearly ninety-one years old. To the great lawgiver and to Maimonides, the Jews may add Montefiore as their third Moses."
—The pew question is coming to the front in France. In Anjon cures very generally adopt the plan of selling the sittings by auction on the first Sunday of the year. The plan is more simple than edifying. The cure and the treasurer walk round the church, followed by the congregation, and at every halt one hears, "Going at 5 francs (or 15 f., or 20 f.,)" everybody shouting as in an ordinary auction room.
—At a meeting of ministers, not long since, the question discussed was: "How can the devotional exercises of the Sabbath be made more impressive and instructive?" Responsive reading was suggested; repeating the Lord's Prayer in concert; a modified Liturgy; and some other things. It was very sensibly suggested that the best thing to be done was to make more of the forms we have, and introduce more reverence into pulpit services.
—Speaking of the unlasting effects of Methodist Revivals, the Examiner and Chronicle says:—"Communities are burnt over with wild excitements; thousands received into the church to be turned out again, or retained as dead weights; society filled with very wicked men, ex-churchmembers; and the very soil worn out, as by the old Southern mode of cultivation, so that rational and Scriptural labor for souls is rendered almost a hopeless task.
—The India Conference Theological Seminary has now thirty-four endowed scholarships, each one of which secures perpetual support for a student in the school. The course of study is well arranged, and the instruction thorough. A good nucleus for a library has been formed. Eleven students were graduated from the school last December, and are now at work in the various stations of the mission. Over thirty are at present in attendance.
—Of the New York Presbyterian churches the Examiner and Chronicle says:—
"Many of the churches are crushed with heavy debts. To pay the interest, the taxes, assessments, and furnish money for the running expenses, is a simple impossibility. Five churches have gone out of existence from sheer inability to maintain themselves, and five more are reported to be on their way to dissolution, unless the Presbytery, by contributing funds, arrest the downward course. Over $500,000 are needed at this moment to relieve the embarrassment of the New York churches."
—Messrs. Moody and Sankey were four months in London. Their principal efforts were in the four quarters of the city. Where there were not capacious buildings for the meetings, they were erected. One of these contains eight thousand five hundred chairs. The Agricultural Hall in the northern part of the city gave accommodation for fourteen thousand, and at evening services, was crowded to excess. All classes attended the services, and were generally pleased with the "American laymen." Aug. 14: they arrived in New York on the steamer Spain. A party of gentlemen, including several clergymen, met them at the wharf. Moody is accompanied by his wife and two children, and Sankey by his wife and three children. Moody says that they will go to Northfield, Mass., for the present. A meeting of ministers and others has been held in Washington, in which was considered the subject of inviting Messrs. Moody and Sankey to visit this city and hold a series of meetings. A Committee was appointed to lay the matter before the churches and request them to appoint delegates to assemble at noon on Monday next to extend the invitation and arrange for the erection of suitable buildings for meetings.