p. 270 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 1, No. 34. (7/1/1875)

Perseverance.

By May E. Kelsey

In this world where disappointment and sorrow seem to be the common lot of mankind, and where our plans are so often thwarted, no trait of character seems more to be desired or sought after than perseverance. It is this that brings success in every enterprise, and without it we fail to secure for ourselves many of the blessings which God has designed for us. This being the case, we will briefly notice for our encouragement a few of the numerous instances of remarkable perseverance and the results thus attained.

Let us first notice a few facts relative to the discovery of this continent by Columbus. After years of investigation and study he became convinced that the world was round, and that by sailing westward land would be discovered. He applied to the king of Portugal for means to carry out his plans, but receiving no encouragement from him, he was forced to turn to other kingdoms for assistance. In vain he offered to add a new world to the dominions of the sovereigns of the old. Saddened, but not discouraged, he found his way from court to court, until at last in the presence of the queen of Spain his request was granted, and he immediately set out on his voyage.

But this was not the end of his troubles. His crew became dissatisfied. The voyage seemed long, and everything continued the same day after day. They began to distrust their commander, and to think that they should never reach the object of their search, and they wished to return and enjoy their homes and the society of the friends they had left behind. This was a trying time for the persevering navigator, but he still encouraged them to continue. And, as the signs of approaching land began to appear, their courage increased, till finally the joyful cry of "land" was heard, and they at last planted their feet on the shores of the new world. Thus it was by persevering effort that the hopes which had animated him for twenty long years were then realized.

Again, we have in the history of our forefathers a remarkable instance of perseverance in that which is right. Having learned a more simple mode of worship than that practiced by the church of England, they determined that they would not bow in submission to its forms and ceremonies. This necessarily placed them in positions of eminent peril and danger. And after enduring persecutions and imprisonment for more than fifty years they fled to, and found relief on the shores of America, and after many unsuccessful attempts, finally succeeded in finding a place where they could worship God "according to the dictates of their own consciences."

Thus we see that perseverance has been a leading characteristic in many of the great reforms and discoveries of past ages. And as we look upon the numerous inventions of the present age, the many kinds of labor-saving machines, and the various objects for which they are used, can we in truth say that these "are but the work of a moment"? Certainly not. One of these has in many instances been the life-work of individuals. To it they have given their whole time and attention, and no sacrifice was too great for them to make that they might be successful in obtaining the object for which they had been laboring.

In this they set a good example which it would do well for all Christians to follow. In the word of God we have the promise of obtaining not any earthly possession nor the glory and honor that is soon to fade away, but we have the promise if faithful of gaining a mansion in the New Jerusalem, and having the honor of of being associated with heavenly beings. Is not this sufficient to inspire us with courage and hope? Do we often feel that the road is long, that everything still continues as it was, and that it would be as well to turn back and enjoy the pleasures of life with our friends? Remember this is the trying time, the waiting, watching time, and, as in the case of Columbus, if we persevere a few day longer we will see the country for which we are journeying, and we will hear the welcome words "enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." What, then, though the way does seem long and temptations beset on every hand for we know that Jesus has promised to come again to give to each a reward for his labors. And as the signs of his approach grow more numerous let us take courage, and not "weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not."

May E. Kelsey.

Salted with Fire.

By Uriah Smith

"For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt." Mark 9:49.

This is considered by some a strong text in favor of the eternal suffering of the lost. Thus T. S. La Due, on a little pamphlet on "Annihilation," p. 71, says:—

"Salt is known, the world over, as the preservative; and the meaning here is that the fire with which those 'who depart into everlasting fire' are salted, while it burns, will preserve that which it burns; and as it is unquenchable and everlasting, that which it burns will be everlasting."

The reader will perceive that Mr. La Due, to support his view, has precisely inverted the conclusion which logically follows from the premises. This is the way in which error is always sustained; it is by putting high for low, and low for high, the front for the back, and the back for the front, light for darkness, and darkness for light.

Burning is a process of consuming. Without this consuming there can be no burning. It is a singular idea to say, as Mr. L. says, that the fire while it consumes also preserves. It is a contradiction of terms. A person must be under severe pressure to resort to such a conclusion.

A more logical method of treating this question would be to consider the nature of the element brought to view. Because the figure of salting is used, does that change the nature of the material referred to? That would be a singular conclusion. When anything is salted, the salt is sprinkled all over it, its effect strikes all through it. The nature of salt is to preserve, to be sure; but suppose the material used is of just the opposite nature, to destroy; then what would be the effect? This is the point to be considered, and by this, the idea which our Lord wishes to inculcate by this language must be determined. While salt preserves, fire destroys. Fire is the most striking symbol of destruction that can be used. Now if a person should be treated with fire as a sacrifice is treated with salt, the fire surrounding him, and its effects striking through him, what would be the effect? The effect of thus using so destructive an element as fire would be complete destruction. It would consume the person entirely.

The use of the figure of salting does not necessarily denote preservation, unless the material used is a preservative in its nature. And here is where Mr. L. misses the right conclusion, and many others with him. But fire is not a preservative; it is just the opposite; the agent of entire destruction. Therefore, when Christ declares that every one (of the wicked) shall be salted with fire, it is a threatening of complete and utter destruction by fire, even the fire of Gehenna. Therefore, instead of upholding the popular view, this text is in harmony with the rest of the Bible in teaching the utter destruction of the wicked. U. S.

Calls for Help.

By John Norton Loughborough

ALthough the SIGNS OF THE TIMES has but just closed the first year of its existence, still we learn from various parts of the country that it is awakening a deep interest in the truths of the Bible, which is followed by calls for the living preacher. This is encouraging to those who are "lifting at the wheel" to make it a success.

From files of letters received at this Office we quote a few words. One letter from the director of district No. 6, speaks of twelve persons, in Lassen Co., who have commenced to keep the Sabbath by reading. They wish to know if it is "not possible for the Adventists to send them help in the shape of a living preacher."

A regular appeal comes from Washington Territory saying, "There are a few here that are trying to keep all the commandments of God. There are four of us, all heads of families; who have covenanted together to keep the commandments of God; and we feel very anxious that a living preacher should be sent this way. We think that much good might be done. We meet together every Sabbath and are trying to spread the truth as much as is possible. Send us one to feed the sheep and lambs that are here, before it is too late. Is it not possible to have a minister sent this way? We desire an interest in the prayers of God's people."

Another letter comes from Butler Co., Mo., saying: "It is with feelings of much gratitude that I write this note. I have been receiving your most interesting, instructive, and valuable paper for a long time at some person's expense, and am very thankful. I am not the only person receiving your paper here, and the influence is greater than you might imagine. Some others besides myself are almost persuaded to be Christians, and I would to God we had some way of getting pure light on religion in this country, for surely we are in the midst of Egyptian darkness. So soon as our crops are made we will pay for our paper. May God bless and prosper you in your good work is my prayer."

Our hearts are deeply moved by such earnest appeals. Oh! where are the men who will dedicate themselves with their all to God, and labor to help such famishing souls? May the Lord move them out. Let these seekers for light and truth share our prayers.

J. N. L.

Your Paper.

By William Clarence White

Read it. With great care it is published week by week, and no labor is spared to make it what you wish it to be, interesting and instructive. Invaluable time is taken by our ministers in different parts of the field to write for it, and those who do not peruse it carefully may lose the most precious truths.

Circulate it. Do not destroy it as soon as read, nor stack it away in an old cupboard, nor put it on the pantry shelves, but circulate it. Hand it to a neighbor or friend, calling his especial attention to some article that will interest him.

Write for it. If you can write, and feel that you have something to say that will benefit your brethren, send in to the Office short articles explaining the march of prophecy, reporting progress and relating, for the encouragement of others, how the Lord has prospered you. If items of interest fall under your notice in your daily or weekly paper, clip them out and send them to the SIGNS. All, of course, cannot appear at once in the paper, but it will be used as needed.

Pray for it. Pray for its spiritual and financial success; and as you pray that it may find its way to all parts of our country, scattering truth and shedding light wherever it goes, have a hand in the answering of your own prayer by sending it abroad to those who may read it.

W. C. WHITE.

Bible Study.

By Bishop Horsley

It is incredible to any one who has not made the experiment, what a proficiency may be made in that knowledge which maketh wise unto salvation, by studying the Scriptures with reference to the parallel passages, without any other commentary or exposition than that which the different parts furnish for each other.

I will not scruple to assert that the most illiterate Christian, if he can but read his English Bible, and will take the pains to read it in this manner, will not only retain all that practical knowledge which is necessary to his salvation, but, by God's blessing, he will become learned, to such a degree that he will not be liable to be misled, either by refined arguments or by false assertions of those who endeavor to ingraft their own opinions upon the oracles of God. He may be safely ignorant of all philosophy except what is to be learned from the sacred book, which, indeed, contains the highest philosophy adapted to the lowest apprehensions. He may safely remain ignorant of all history except so much of the history of the first ages of the Jewish and of the Christian church, as is to be gathered from the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments.

Let him study these in the manner I recommend, and let him never cease to pray for the illumination of that Spirit by which these books were dictated, and the whole compass of abstruse philosophy and recondite history shall furnish no argument with which the perverse will of man shall be able to shake the learned Christian's faith.—Bishop Horsley.

No Use in that Country.

A GREAT statesman received some high mark of royal favor as he lay on his dying bed. With a cold glance he gazed upon it, and only remarked; “This is a mighty fine thing in this country, but I am just going to a country where it will be of no service to me.” Oh, what vanities are these earthly distinctions “in soul.” “Flattery,” then has no power “to soothe the dull ear of death.”

The life-long dream of the gallant General Niel had been to obtain the little ribbon and baton of Marshal of France. He could not sleep after seeing it bestowed on McMahon, as a reward of valor on the field of Magenta. On the eve of the next engagement he told his friends that this time he would win the honor he so much desired. When the battle was over, he was found on the field almost crushed beneath his dying war-horse, himself mortally wounded. The Emperor was sent for, and with his own hand placed the badge of Marshal of France upon his follower’s bosom. One moment the dying eye lighted, and throwing his arms about the neck of his sovereign, he died in the act of expressing his gratitude. It was of no use in that country he was going to. And we are all bound to the same eternal shores. No matter how widely diverse the paths are, all will lead to the same country from which there is no return. How we distract our souls from the great purpose of life to follow phantoms which, when our greedy hands do clutch, we find only empty shadows.

But Jesus Christ holds out to us a crown which fadeth not away. He offers us a glorious place in his Father’s house, which will more than satisfy our soul’s hunger. There is no disappointment, no satiety in the joys of his heavenly mansion. Christ has paid for them a priceless sum, so that he may offer them to us without money and without price.—Sel.

The Main Points in the Gladstone Controversy.

By George P. Fisher

The chief allegation in Mr. Gladstone's first pamphlet was that the Vatican decrees are incompatible with the duty of obedience to the civil authority. Incidentally his discussion involves an examination of the powers accorded to the Papacy at present, as compared with the past, and of the bearing of the new ecclesiastical measures upon the liberty and personal responsibility of the individual who submits to them.

1. Mr. Gladstone is at issue with his opponents on the authority and meaning of the Syllabus. This document was issued from Rome in 1864. It purports to be a brief statement of the errors which the present pope had condemned in his various allocutions, and other letters and speeches. Attached to each error in the list is a reference to the particular paper in which the more full and specific condemnation may be found. The Syllabus was sent, at the direction of the pope, by Antonelli, to all bishops, and the reason given for this proceeding in the accompanying letter was that these might not have seen all of the documents of which the Syllabus is an abridgment. Mr. Gladstone considered the Syllabus an ex cathedra manifesto, and as such claiming to be infallible. This was a natural view, and one taken heretofore by many Catholic theologians. But this construction of the Syllabus Dr. Newman denies. He ventures to attribute to it no more authority than pertained to the several papers that gave rise to it. Dr. Fessler, the late Secretary-General of the Vatican Council, cautiously takes a similar ground. Is this judgment an after-thought, occasioned by the unpopularity of the Syllabus, and the inconveniences arising from the position that all of its propositions are infallible and of divine authority? So Mr. Gladstone evidently thinks. Certainly it is a great advantage to be able to say of papal utterances, ancient or recent, that they are not ex cathedra; especially when the pope himself is the final judge on the question. It is surely strange to find him who claims to be the Vicar of Christ sending a series of doctrinal propositions to every bishop in every quarter of the globe—propositions which he may himself hereafter recall and deny. That is to be considered ex cathedra teaching, according to the Vatican Council when "in discharge of the office of pastor and doctor of all Christians by virtue of his supreme Apostolic authority, he (the Pontiff) defines a doctrine regarding faith or morals to be held by the universal church." What belongs "to faith and morals" it is for the pope to judge. Under the circumstances, it was certainly pardonable for Mr. Gladstone to regard the Syllabus as the utterance of the infallible Oracle.

2. There is a difference between Mr. Gladstone and his antagonists concerning the sense of the Syllabus. Both Dr. Newman and Archbishop Manning labor to pare away the offensive parts of the Syllabus, and to reduce its denunciations to a series of harmless common-places. For example, the rejection of the liberty of speech and of the press is converted into a condemnation of blasphemous, seditious, and obscene publications, which, it is asserted, all governments proscribe. Mr. Gladstone's answer to this interpretation is quite destructive. It is hardly probable that the pope would take pains to put among the errors of the times a doctrine which nobody holds. Moreover, it happens that Pius IX., as governor of his own kingdom, illustrated his idea of the error in question, and that he denounced the Austrian laws on this subject which no Protestant would consider to be over liberal. Mr. Gladstone's indignation at this and other like attempts to rob the propositions of the Syllabus of their real intent and plain import is not misplaced.

3. Another point in the contest is the scope of the Vatican definition which gives to the Roman Pontiff a "power of jurisdiction" such as imposes upon his subjects "subordination and true obedience" not only in matters belonging to faith and morals, but also "in those that appertain to the discipline and government of the church throughout the world." This vast prerogative of "regimen and discipline" makes the pontiff, according to Mr. Gladstone, an absolute monarch. Disobedience to his mandates, whatever they may be, carries with the perdition of the soul. In reply, Dr. Newman affirms that "regimen and discipline" refer to the rites of worship and the internal affairs of the church. The supremacy of the pope under this head is not absolute, or exercised with infallible authority, as Mr. Gladstone imagines. On the contrary, it is conceivable that the pope should misjudge, or otherwise err, in his prescriptions to individuals, and with respect to concrete cases. Moreover it is a mistake of Mr. Gladstone—so Dr. Newman asserts—to hold that every act of disobedience to the pope is accounted a mortal sin. The phraseology of the decree is as follows: "This is the teaching of Catholic truth (Catholicae veritatis doctrina), from which no one can deviate without loss of faith and of salvation." It is the rejection of the doctrine that the pope is the supreme governor, not the single act of disobedience, against which the penalty is set. Dr. Newman is here technically right. But Mr. Gladstone pertinently suggests that the Vatican creed says nothing about any exceptions to the duty of obedience. That such exceptions may arise we can believe only on Dr. Newman's authority; and this admission of so moderate and liberal a disputant is liable at any time to be condemned at Rome; in which case, Dr. Newman, on his own principles, would have to renounce his concession.

4. The Deposing Power. Mr. Gladstone urges that the assumed right of the pope to excommunicate and depose princes has never been given up. To this his opponents answer that the moral conditions of the exercise of this prerogative are absent, and that to exert it would, therefore, be wrong. Among these moral conditions, Dr. Newman, explicitly, and Dr. Manning more cautiously include the consent of nations. They try to make it out that the European nations in former ages constituted the pope an arbiter in their affairs, domestic, and international. From this view of history Mr. Gladstone dissents. He considers it a very exaggerated statement. The papal government, in this particular, always encountered sharp resistance as a usurpation. Besides, Queen Elizabeth was deposed, she being a Protestant. The lame defense of Archbishop Manning is, that she was baptized a Catholic, which is not even true in fact. Moreover, this lofty prerogative is not renounced by the Pontiff, or by his disciples for him. It is only, to use Dr. Chapel's phrase, "in abeyance." It may be revived at any time. Who can say that in the event of a war between Ultramontanism and Germany, the pope might not resort to the measure of absolving the Roman Catholic subjects of the Emperor from their allegiance to him? The pope has claimed a de jure right to govern Protestants—Lutherans—as being baptized persons. There is nothing in the creed to forbid him to take the course in relation to William which his predecessor, Pius V., took toward Queen Elizabeth.

As to the question whether the power of the pope over kings and princes, is direct or indirect, Mr. Gladstone justly pronounces the distinction unimportant. Archbishop Manning holds that the pope has not literally a temporal power in this relation, but that he can only reach sovereigns and governments indirectly, by his spiritual authority. But so long as he is competent to forbid rulers to make or execute laws which he does not approve; so long as he claims the right to annul such legislation, and to excommunicate its authors, as well as to prohibit their subjects from obeying them, what boots it whether this tremendous authority is called direct or indirect, spiritual or temporal?

5. The use of force for the suppression of heresy. Even Dr. Manning—we must style him "Cardinal Manning"—resents the imputation to the pope and the church of a disposition to make use of physical coercion, as in the days of rack and fagot. Yet he does not disavow the right to do so. He does not condemn the employment of these fierce weapons in past ages. He founds his disinclination on the altered circumstances of the times, and not on any deep principle of right.

We have no disposition to speak harshly of the Roman Catholic Church or of its prominent apologists. We must say, however, that it is impossible for an uneducated Protestant to read their defenses, and note their fine distinctions and carefully guarded concessions, and not feel that they are the champions of a flexible, evasive, slippery system, which is this to-day and that to-morrow, but which at all times pursues with an unrelenting eye an end which can be secured only by robbing men, just as Mr. Gladstone maintains, not only of their mental and moral liberty, but of their outward and political liberty as well. Dr. Newman compares the absolute control of the pope to the authority exercised by a physician; as if the subjection of a patient to his medical adviser were analogous to that of a subject of the pope to the ruler at Rome. The cases might be analogous if the patient did not select his physician, and were not at liberty to dismiss him and take another whenever he chooses to do so.

6. Mr. Gladstone alleges against the Papal Church of to-day "a breach with history," in two particulars. One of these has reference to the pledges of the Roman Catholic clergy of Great Britain, on the faith of which the Emancipation Act and other liberal measures were conceded by the Parliament of Great Britain. It was then declared by the representatives of the Catholic Church that they did not hold the pope to be infallible, and admitted no right on his part to interfere "directly or indirectly," with the independence, sovereignty, laws, constitution, or government of the United Kingdom. If the Vatican decrees are accepted, says Mr. Gladstone, there is a retreat from these solemn engagements, a breach with history which is closely akin to a breach of faith.

Again, whatever opinion may have been cherished by individuals or schools of opinion in the past in favor of pontifical infallibility, and Gallicanism has been from the days of the Council of Constance—not to speak of earlier times—a permitted and a powerful type of Catholicism. But Gallicanism is now put under the ban. Mr. Gladstone exposes the misrepresentation of Manning who, strangely enough, makes Gallicanism have its origin in 1682 in the contest of Louis XIV. with the Papacy.

7. In answer to one of the main propositions of Archbishop Manning, that Catholics do not differ from Protestants on this matter of civil loyalty, since both acknowledge the higher law of conscience, and the possible occurrence of cases where allegiance to the moral law clashes with obedience to the civil magistrate, Mr. Gladstone points out a marked and obvious distinction. The Protestant makes his conscience supreme; he does not subject his conscience to the conscience and will of another, and that other a foreign potentate. The State is not brought into peril by the doctrine of the authority of conscience, provided the individual acts for himself, but the State is endangered when a body of citizens substitute for their own consciences the will of a foreign ecclesiastic; and this peril is not diminished by the circumstance that in making this surrender they suppose themselves to be impelled by the sense of right. The practical fact is that there is erected an imperium in imperio of a formidable kind.

What is the significance of this controversy? It indicates that the ecclesiastical conflict which disturbs the continent has crossed the channel and reached England. Ultramontanism, with its new dogma of Papal Infallibility, with its rigid tenets respecting civil marriage and secular education, and its revived claim on behalf of the pope to dehort the subjects of Christian states from their obedience to obnoxious laws, inevitably clashes with the enlightened sentiment and established policy of the European nations. Ultramontanism is a reactionary movement, an endeavor to arrest the progress of society in the direction of freedom and laical independence, and to bring mankind once more under the dominion of the priesthood. This controversy has political bearing of much consequence. The Ultramontanes do not give up the hope of breaking up the kingdom of Italy and of restoring his old principality to the pope. In the event of an armed conflict on this point, they would hope to rally to their cause the sympathies of the whole Roman Catholic population of Europe. Mr. Gladstone has not only sounded a note of alarm in Protestant ears, but he has forewarned his Roman Catholic countrymen of the possible use to which the Jesuit leaders may eventually wish to put them.—Dr. GEO. P. FISHER, in Christian Union.

Something to Do.

"IF I only had something to do," exclaimed a weary devotee to society; "there are servants enough to do the housework, sewing I know nothing about, of music and drawing I am heartily tired. If I could only do something grand—something that would make me famous; if I could follow in the footsteps of Florence Nightingale or—"

Just here Hannah looks in. "Please, Miss, a ragged little fellow at the door says, 'Will you please give me a bit of bread, or something, for my sick mama? She is very sick and has nothing to eat.'"

"That is all a made-up story, Hannah. You should know better. Tell him to go to work and earn his bread, instead of begging it through the streets."

The kind-hearted Hannah slips a few pennies from her own pocket into the child's hand and sends him away, the fine lady having refused the very work for which she had been sighing. And she is only one of a thousand. Because work finds its way to our hands unsought, or because it chances to be something so common, found in the everyday grooves of life, we often let pass the opportunity for doing good, looking for wonderful things ahead, forgetting that it is only in the present we can act.

Those persons whose reputations for charity, noble deeds, and self-sacrifice, are world-wide, did not go about seeking for something that would engrave their names on the monument of fame, but strove, day by day, to perform well each task that came before them. Their deeds of love and mercy were performed to render others happy, not to aggrandize themselves. We cannot all stand on the topmost round of the ladder of life, but we can cling fast to the one on which we rest, while we strive for, and look aloft to, the next.

There is something for every one to do. No one need be idle who has sufficient energy to bestir himself. If you can do nothing more than speak a kind word to some burdened, suffering heart, do that, not in the hope of a reward, but because your soul so yearns to comfort this sorrowing one that you cannot help doing it. If, perchance, you are a servant, and out of patience with the petty duties you have to perform, remember it is not the "position that degrades the person, but the person that dignifies the position." Do well the work ready for you, resting assured that if God intends you to labor in other fields, he will open a way for you to enter there. If you are doing the best you can, you have no cause for discouragement, but, if you are not, if you have not yet awakened to the duties and realites of life, give a few moments' thought to the object for which you are living, asking yourself if the world is any better or happier for your being in it. Do not waste your time in idle complaints when you should be wide awake, ready to seize the first opportunity of being useful. There is no use in going through the world with our eyes and hearts shut. Open both, and do not close them at the first unseemly picture that presents itself.

Should you receive reproaches instead of thanks, even then do not let the smile fade from your face in despair; for you know there is One who does not keep accounts as mortals are apt to do, and who overlooks not the smallest item.

"Let us then be up and doing, With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait." —Household.

To the Messengers.

By D. J. Frisbie

Go sound ye the cry, "The Saviour is nigh"— Invite all the guests to the feast; Go plead with them, Come, While yet there is room, Ere mercy's last message has ceased.

This last warning call Proclaim unto all, To nations both distant and near; If truth they reject Or treat with neglect, How will they in Judgment appear?

In vain will they call For mountains to fall, And hide them from Him on the throne; That great vengeance day Is speeding its way, As God through his prophets hath shown.

Then bid sinners come, While yet there is room, And all God's commandments obey; That they may now be From bondage set free, And shielded in that coming day.

Come gird thee anew, Thy journey pursue, Bright angels are going before; They will strengthen thee, Wher'er thou may'st be, Until all thy labor is o'er.

Then haste ye away, Nor longer delay, Thy mission proceeds from on high; A crown soon will be Extended to thee, For lo! the Rewarder is nigh!

And when he shall come To take his saints home, Your warfare will then all be o'er; Your work will be done, The victory won, Then trust ye in Him evermore. D. J. FRISBIE.

Missionary Department.

"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.

Does It Come from the Heart.

The late Andrew Fuller usually devoted several weeks in each year to visiting the churches and collecting money. On a certain occasion, he called on a pious and benevolent nobleman. Having laid before him the operations of the mission in Hindoostan, the progress of the translation of the Scriptures, and the call for aid, the nobleman handed him a guinea. Fuller, observing that it was bestowed with an air of indifference thus addressed him: "My lord, does this come from the heart?" "What matter is that?" said the nobleman; "suppose it does not come from the heart, it will answer your purpose as well. If you get the money why do you care whether it comes from the heart or not?"

"Take it back—take it back" said the man of God; "I cannot take it." My Lord and Master requires the heart. He will not accept an offering unless it comes from the heart."

"Well give it back," said the nobleman. "It did not come from the heart." So he took the guinea, and stepping to his desk, he drew a check on his banker for twenty pounds, and handing it to Fuller said: "This comes from the heart. I love and honor the principles by which you are governed. I love the Lord Jesus Christ and his cause, and know that no offering is acceptable to him unless it comes from the heart."—Times of Refreshing.

Opportunity.

By John Norton Loughborough

As we have already suggested, the little job of personally calling upon those who have been reading the SIGNS for a few weeks or months, to have religious conversation with them, opens an excellent opportunity for interesting missionary labor. Who will attend to it? One of the most interesting portions of the missionary work and that which requires most care, is "visiting" those who have been reading our periodicals. It is not to rashly demand means for their paper, but to learn the true state of their minds, and furnish them further reading matter on such points as they need help, or continue the papers to them. The matter of their aiding in the publication of the paper will come in naturally enough.

Our great object in publishing and circulating the SIGNS is to do good, to instruct our fellow-men in the way of truth, and to lead them to the Lord. While all of course understand that it takes means to publish papers, this should not be brought before subscribers as the greatest object of a call upon them.

While we have viewed this as so nice an opportunity to do missionary work, we have been somewhat surprised to learn that some even in places where there was work of this kind to be done, "cannot see much opportunity" to do T. and M. work in their church. In some few instances we are requested to make almost a wholesale slaughter by cutting off forty names in a place, and where we judge from the tenor of their letter they have not visited the parties to ascertain the real state of their minds. To us this seems like casting aside forty opportunities to do good, and to do missionary work. This is not what we are proposing to do. We would be glad to see promptness of action on the lists, but there is not that haste demanded that one subscriber need be cut off who is interested in the paper.

It is due to our workers that we should say we thank you for the promptness and earnestness with which you are taking hold of this work. Patiently labor on remembering the admonition of the apostle, "As we have, therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith."

J. N. L.

Sound Theology Alone Will Never Save

SOUND theology alone will never save.

News from the East.

By Editor

THE cause is still progressing in Kentucky, and as a result earnest calls are being sent in for a tent and some one to labor with it. Between thirty-five and forty are already keeping the Sabbath in Green and Hart counties, as the fruit of Bro. Osborne's labors last winter. May 15, 16, the church at Locust Grove, about twenty-five miles distant, met with them, and Bro. Osborne spoke with great freedom, and all felt the blessing of the Lord in a special manner. A temporary organization was effected, so that they could meet every Sabbath.

Of a meeting near Seward, Neb., held May 22, 23, Bro. Chas. L. Boyd says:—

"Here a church was organized, and the ordinances of the Lord's supper were celebrated. Bro. M. Hackworth was ordained elder, and Bro. E. Hackworth, deacon. It was truly encouraging to see those who but a short time since were breaking the commandments of God; now rendering obedience to them all, and trying to overcome their wrong habits of living, that they may present their bodies a living sacrifice to God."

Bro. D. Downer gives the following report of the meeting held May 30, 31, at Arkansaw, Wis.:—

"Our meetings were held in the large hall, and from one to three hundred were in attendance. On Sunday, eight were baptized. Very many here are interested in our faith. I know of no church in our State that has a better field to labor in than this. Others will soon follow in baptism and in keeping the commandments of God. Twenty-two have recently been baptized. This church is young, vigorous, and strong, to work for God."

Of the work among the Swedes, Bro. J. Sawyer, of Battle Creek, Mich., gives the following interesting items:—

"A few weeks ago, we had news from one locality in Kansas of eight persons who had embraced the Sabbath and formed themselves into a society, and now we have news from another locality in the same State of five families who are also following in the course of the others, and all have embraced the truth by simply reading. God's Spirit and the simple truth are marshaling the mighty hosts of the Lord in places where there is no living preacher.

"Some time since, there came a letter to the Review Office from a school teacher in Sweden, stating that he has learned through the Svensk Advent Harold that there is a weekly paper called Review and Herald published at Battle Creek, which advocates such doctrines as he wishes to examine, and as he can read English a little, he would like to see it; and that another school teacher in the country would like to take the Svensk Harold.

"There are now nearly a hundred silent messengers that are finding their way to Sweden. These speak with power unto those who are ready to investigate. The Harold visits all classes, from His Majesty the king, to the humble peasant in the cottage, and some of the learned are concerned, in view of doctrines which induce their countrymen so suddenly to forsake orthodox tenets. A flame is being kindled there which must necessarily illuminate every corner of the kingdom. And Finland will doubtless soon follow in receiving the last message. Three copies of the May Harold were sent to Finland. The last mail from that country brings intelligence of the late publication of an excellent Swedish-Finnish Lexicon.

"Thus, part of the Finnish nationality who cannot read the Swedish, can yet have "present truth" in pure Finnish, and the "gospel of the kingdom" will yet make its way into the territory of Russia. We see already by the last mail that a newspaper is soon to be published semi-weekly in Finland, which will be edited by a Russian school teacher. This paper is especially intended to serve the interests of Russian residents in Finland. We see easily the truth could find its way through Finland into Russia. This may be the way God designs to use for the purpose of sending it there."

AN OLD CALIFORNIAN.—Pope Pius IX. has lately received from Santa Cruz, Cal., through Cardinal Franchi, Prefect of the Propaganda, the photograph of a Mexican, still living, who has reached the age of 122 years. Beneath the picture are these words, written in Spanish, by the old man himself: "I, Justiniano Roxas, 122 years old, wish the most holy Pope long years of life." The parish register of Santa Cruz shows that Roxas was baptised March 4, 1792, being at that time about 40 years of age. He has always led an exemplary life, and still walks to mass on Sundays with no help but that of his staff, and asks the blessing of the pope, whom he calls the "Capitan de los Padres."

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