IN spite of the warning voice of the prophetic word, in spite of the ominous voice of the signs of the times, the world is slumbering on the brink of one of the greatest events that shall ever transpire in the history of this planet. The governments of the world are unconsciously preparing for a momentous change; the deep mutterings of the coming tempest of war, which shall sweep over the nations, are already heard, and the heart of man is filled with fear lest the pent-up billows of jealousy and wrath shall suddenly burst forth with resistless fury, sweeping nations and kingdoms into the dark abyss of anarchy and destruction. The maudlin cry of "peace and safety," that "the world is growing better," and that "all things continue as they were from the creation," is sternly contradicted by the rapid fulfillment of the prophetic word, while the voice of true science repeats the solemn truth and casts the shadow of great and eventful change over all the earth.
That some great event is near at hand is patent to the minds of all thinking men, but of what shall be involved in that event, either in the natural or moral world, the world at large seems to be in utter ignorance. As it was in the days of Noah, the world is rushing on in its mad rush for wealth and sensual pleasure, while the siren song of Satanic delusion acts as a deadly narcotic to close the senses to all knowledge of impending evil.
As it was in the days of Sodom, the cities of the present age are filled with unbridled lust, while "evil men and seducers are waxing worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived," while the church at large has sadly apostatized from the teachings of Holy Writ, "heaping to themselves teachers having itching ears." "An evil and adulterous generation seek after a sign," and this present evil age, so polluted with God-defying crimes, is eager to grasp any delusion that the powers of darkness may present, and so we hear the scoffer saying, "Where is the promise of his coming?" We hear his mocking jeer as he reminds us that we have looked for the Lord for the past forty years, and that we are a set of fanatics, whose hopes will never be realized in this our day; and thus the world derides the patient watching ones, while the star of hope shines brighter with the luster of redemption drawing nigh.
We often inquire of the prophetic word, "Watchman, what of the night?" and as often we hear the cheering reply, "The morning cometh, and also the night"—the glad morning of redemption, when the watching, believing Israel shall enter "the secret chambers, until the indignation be over and past," a morning dawn of unspeakable glory for God's peculiar people, and a night of Egyptian darkness and despair for an ungodly world.
The record of Holy Writ shows that a merciful God has never sent a calamity upon any people ere he had faithfully warned them of impending danger. The people who were before the flood were not without warning, but they chose to mock the message of the Almighty, and defy his authority, "and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." Matt. 24:39. The cities of the plain were not without a message of mercy ere they sank beneath the flood of fiery retribution. Jerusalem was earnestly entreated by the Son of God to come to the shelter of his protecting love, but, alas! their doom was sealed in the heartbroken cry, "And ye would not;" and thus we are admonished that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, after having trampled his admonitions of warning and mercy beneath unholy feet.
"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise." 2 Peter 1:19.
We have also the "signs of the times" that Christ gave us, whereby we might know that he is nigh, "even at the door;" and now that the signs are appearing upon the horizon of the political world in all their significant import, we need consult no other authority regarding the fact that the cry, "Behold, he cometh," will soon startle the wicked world, and raise the sleeping virgins from their careless lethargy. They who have watched and are ready will enter in, while the careless and foolish attempt with trembling hands to trim their lamps and beg the oil of prophetic truth—alas, too late! "Watch, therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come."
Now is the time to heed the warning of the prophetic word, "Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest; because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction." Micah 2:10. Now is the time to repent and do the first works, ere the trumpet summons to a final reckoning. Ye who are gay and in the giddy dance of carnal pleasure, and banqueting at the table of sin, pause in your revelry and note the finger of God as it traces in letters of prophetic light the doom of the ungodly and forewarns you of the terrors that shall befall the "fearful and unbelieving." "Come unto me, and be ye saved." "Whosoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely." Will you come and engage in righteous conflict with the powers of darkness that are soon to fall beneath the avenging stroke of Jehovah? Come; while the fiery vials of God's wrath are poured upon the hosts of sin, you shall walk by the side of the river of life in peace. Come, bringing the sacrifice of an humble and contrite heart, and God's word for it, you "shall in no wise be cast out."—Herald of Life.
DIVINELY GUIDED.
By Spurgeon
FAITH travels in an unseen track to honor and glory, neither shall anything turn her aside. Her way may not be plain at this moment, but it shall be made so. God is with those who trust in him; and what or whom shall we fear when God is with us? In due time the hand of the Lord shall be seen.
Sometimes the way of the Lord is mysterious and perplexing. I have known the best of men to say, "I long to do right, and by God's grace I will not stoop to do anything which is evil; but which out of the two ways now before me is the right way? Each of them seems to be both hopeful and doubtful; which way shall I turn?"
This is a condition which causes great anxiety to one who is deeply earnest to be right. Oh, for an oracle which could plainly indicate the path! Superstition and fanaticism shall not be gratified by either voice or dream, but yet "the way of the righteous shall be made plain." Brother, when you do not know your way, ask your Guide. Stand still and pray. If you cannot find the way upon the chart, commit yourself to the divine guidance by prayer. Down upon your knees and cry to the Lord. Few go wrong when they pray over their movements, and use the judgment which God has given them. The last is not to be omitted, for I have known persons to pray about a matter which was perfectly clear to anyone with half a grain of sense. In order to escape from an evident but an unpleasant duty, they have talked about praying over it. Where a plain command is given, an unmistakable finger points out the way, hesitation is rebellion. Sluggards make prayer an excuse for doing nothing; on the other hand, willful people make up their mind, and then pray; and this is sheer hypocrisy.
Oh, to be right with God; yea, to be right with him in our daily life and private walk! Let that be the case and our way shall be judged of by the Lord as his own royal highway, and upon it the light of his love shall shine, so that it shall become brighter and brighter unto the perfect day.—Spurgeon.
Hot or Cold in Religion
“They are not building any mansions in heaven for people who are neither hot nor cold in religious matters.”
Sympathy for the Poor
"Judas was not the only man who made a practice of professing sympathy for the poor to hide his own meanness."
CHARITY TOWARD ALL.
It has been observed that many professing believers become so zealous for the course they advocate, that they find an opposer to the glorious experience in every Christian who cannot adopt the same views and modes of work that they have adopted. It has even transpired that young persons have reproved old and stable Christians, and severely criticised ministers and teachers of acknowledged ability and high reputation, simply because they could not see modes of work, and forms of expression, in the same light that they saw them; they were at once put on the list of opponents to the doctrine and experience of holiness. This should not be so. If holiness does anything for one, it certainly takes away a spirit of fault-finding, censoriousness, and dictation; it rather gives a spirit of sweetness, even temper, and forbearance. If one is in the possession of the true spirit of holiness, he would rather cover the faults of others than his own; he will feel like crediting every Christian brother with honesty and sincerity, however much he may differ in forms of expression and modes of work; he will not see so much opposition to the experience of holiness as he does to the measures used in its promotion. Should he at times see professing Christians antagonizing the experience of holiness, it will arouse pity in his heart, and a prayer of sympathy will flow out to God in their behalf.
"Charity toward all" should be the motto of every professor of holiness. And then the practice of this motto will add a wonderful sweetness to the life.—Christian Worker.
A SERMON IN CROSS-STITCH.
By Anna F. Burnham
BY ANNA F. BURNHAM.
THE Mission Circle was at its merriest. It was held in the little parlor of the little minister's wife in—well, in "'way, 'way out West;" so you needn't think I mean any of the mission circles in your church, if it does sound like it.
"Hand that basting cotton over here, Sallie Bryan!" cried Lilly Saunders gaily, giving her end of the quilt a shake that nearly took it out of its frame. "Going to the fair to-night? Oh! we'll have lovely times, and there's a five-hundred-dollar prize for somebody. I've got twenty-five tickets already. Don't you want one?"
"My mother won't let me," said the Sallie addressed, tossing over the spool of cotton petulantly.
"Well, I should like to know why!"
"Oh! she says it isn't proper anyway for little girls like us to be out late and sitting up nights, and besides she says it isn't Christian or decent to countenance these lottery things."
"I'm not a Christian."
Lilly made the solemn statement pertly, with a little perk of the head and shake of her shoulders, as if she thereby shook off all responsibility of Christian behavior. "Oh, well, your mother is a 'B. B.'—that explains it!" she added scornfully.
"What's a 'B. B.'?" asked Sallie, flushing a little as the girls giggled, and wondering if it had anything to do with her grandfather's being a D.D.
" 'B. B.' is Born in Boston! They're the strait-lacedest set ever I got hold of—can't dance, can't play cards, can't look at a grab bag! I hope I'll live to go to Boston sometime, and see if they ever do anything besides singing psalm tunes through their noses."
Spite was so evidently the animus of Lilly's speech that even the girls laughed at her comical exaggeration. Sallie meekly accepted the imputation of being born in Boston (though, as it happened, she had never been nearer the State House than the little corner of Cape Ann, whose "ancient, fishy smell" she often longed for), and answered softly, with her head bent a little lower over the quilt corner:—
"Well, Lilly, I'm a Christian, you know, and I'm sure I don't want to go if it isn't—nice!"
Sallie meant fit, proper, becoming—"becoming the gospel of Christ." At the same time she wondered silently if her mother wasn't a little strait-laced, and if "Boston" hadn't had a pernicious influence on her, and if the same moral laws were really as binding on church members in the Territories as in the States. But she loyally kept her thoughts to herself. Nella Mills spoke up sharply. Nella was a Christian. Christians do sometimes speak sharply, more's the pity.
"I don't think there's any need of setting yourself up above everybody because you're a Christian. I never pretended to be better than all the deacons and old church members. I know they go to lottery fairs, and Deacon Wiley lets his children play whist or any other game they want to. As for dancing, you won't find a girl in this church that doesn't do it. I guess if we do as near right as other folks, it will be near enough."
The minister's little wife looked up from the basket of fancy work she was busily allotting to the older girls, and gazed at the group around the album quilt nervously. Sally was looking perplexed and troubled. There was a soul in danger.
"Who wants to do some fancywork?" she cried eagerly, gathering all the bright worsted and canvas into her work apron. "The little girls can do that. I want somebody on these sofa cushions."
The girls jumped up joyfully. They had envied the senior girls in their Berlin work for a long time. The prudent directress had always been afraid these younger ones would spoil it.
"But I'd rather spoil cross-stitch than some other things," said the minister's wife to herself, earnestly.
"Oh, aren't these pansies just sweet?"
"Oh! look at my lilies."
"Do let's have some needles and wool and get to work," cried half a dozen at once.
"You haven't given me any pattern," said Lillie Saunders, presently, while the rest threaded needles expectantly.
"Nor me," said Sallie, stepping up.
"Never mind about the pattern," said Mrs. Bell, carelessly. "I don't seem to see it just this minute. Here is one that Carrie Myers did. You can look at that for a pattern."
"But, Mrs. Bell," cried the three girls in perplexity, "there are mistakes in hers!"
"Oh, yes! some mistakes, probably. But it will be near enough."
"We don't want to copy mistakes!" cried Nella Mills. She spoke sharply—very sharply for a Christian.
"No-o?"
Mrs. Bell drawled out the word sweetly, with a rising inflection. There was meaning in the steady brows she bent on Nella, but she said nothing beyond that exasperating little monosyllable.
"Why, of course not!" they cried in chorus. "What's a pattern for but to follow? What makes you talk so funny—when you're always so strict about doing things exactly?"
"Oh, well," said Mrs. Bell, mildly, "maybe I've been a little too strict! I don't suppose it's well to be too strait-laced about anything. Aim to do about as near right as other folks—that will do well enough."
"Nice-looking sofa cushions we'd have on that principle!" cried the girls in amazement. "We shouldn't get any too near if we looked at the real, right pattern, but when it comes to following Carrie Myers' work, or anybody else's, I don't care whose it is, why, Mrs. Bell, you know yourself we shouldn't get it half as near right as theirs was."
"Well, I always thought so, too, girls, till to-day," said Mrs. Bell, frankly, folding her hands and looking at them in an earnest little way she had. "But when I heard you talking over there in the corner this afternoon—"
"Oh!" cried Lilly, with dawning intelligence, "about lotteries—"
"Mrs. Bell!" said Carrie, explosively, "and dancing."
"We didn't think," said all the girls together.
"I didn't know but you thought being a Christian was easier than doing fancywork."
"You can't get along without looking at the pattern in cross-stitch," said Nella thoughtfully.
"Nor cross bearing either, Nella," said Mrs. Bell, softly, drawing the flushed cheek down to hers.
Mrs. Bell went back to her work and the girls to theirs. This thing was done in a corner, and the mission circle was no wiser for the little object lesson.
But Nella and Sallie will be better Christians all their days for learning to look at Jesus, the true Pattern, instead of his imperfect followers.
Worcester, Mass.
EXAMPLE AND INFLUENCE.
By Christian at Work
THE first thing a child attempts to do is almost invariably something it has seen someone else do; and all the way up from earliest infancy, human beings are creatures of imitation. Hence the truth of the oft-repeated assertion that children become just what their parents see fit to make them. Consciously or unconsciously, an example is constantly being enacted, sure to be followed by the little folks, and a bad or pernicious example will be copied quite as readily as a good and beneficial one. Temperance speakers are fond of repeating the little incident of a boy who, on sitting down with his father to dinner at a hotel, was asked by the waiter what he would have to drink, and replied, "Whatever father has." Any suspicion that his father could order anything harmful never entered the boy's mind. But the power of example is by no means confined to children or young people. Men and women are constantly influencing one another in various and countless ways. An amusing story has been told in print of a lady who, taking tea with a neighbor one night, remarked:—
"How nice your gingerbread looks and tastes; I used to have it for supper quite regularly, but at last decided that it was a useless expense with my large family, so as a matter of economy I stopped making it."
"Well," replied her hostess, "I've often thought of that, for our family is quite as large as yours, but as all seemed to enjoy the gingerbread so much when supper time came, I have kept on making it."
The next night when the family of the lady who had visited, gathered about the tea table, there was a plate of beautiful, tempting gingerbread. To the remarks of satisfaction which were expressed, she replied:—
"Well, I find our neighbor over the way thinks she can afford to have gingerbread for supper, and if she can, I don't see why we can't also."
But at the neighbor's over the way there was no gingerbread on the table when the family assembled for the evening meal. To the dissatisfied looks and words to which the lack gave rise, the mother replied:—
"Well, Mrs. So-and-so, across the street, has no gingerbread for supper, as she thinks it a needless expense, and if it is such for her, I am sure it must be for us also."
There are myriads of like cases transpiring every day. Our words and deeds are indeed like the pebble dropped into the pond; their11influence is felt to the outermost bound of the sensitive surface, until there can be no estimate of the amount of influence wielded either for good or ill, neither can there be any recall.
As to personal responsibility in the matter of influence, that query has been met and answered away back in the early chapters of the Bible. When one man dared to ask, "Am I my brother's keeper?" the stern voice of God replied that that brother's blood was crying to him from the ground. Elude and evade the question now as to the importance of our example over others, as we may, the solemn fact of there having been a great responsibility in this respect, of which we ought at least to have been aware, will face each one sooner or later. Many a conscientious man and woman has refrained from participation in pleasures or engagements they felt convinced would be powerless to harm them, for fear of the influence they might exert over others, were their example followed. How many thousands have been led to the Saviour and into church through the example of others, only the judgment day will reveal. Alas! that there must be a reverse side to this consideration, that there must be those who will have to realize then that, through their lax, indifferent example, there were those who regarded religion as an unimportant, meaningless thing! It often needs but a word spoken in season to open the eyes wide, and to stir the heart to a sense of the deep realities and responsibilities resting upon each one of the Lord's true followers. In following the best and highest example ever known, that of our Pattern and Redeemer, our own example will become worthy of imitation, and the influence we exert will be for good.—Christian at Work.
HABIT MAKING AND HABIT BREAKING.
By John Boyle O'Reilly
BY JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY.
"How shall I a habit break?"
As you did that habit make.
As you gathered, you must lose;
As you yielded, now refuse.
Thread by thread the strands we twist
Till they bind us, neck and wrist;
Thread by thread the patient hand
Must entwine, ere free we stand;
As we builded, stone by stone,
We must toil unhelped, alone,
Till the wall is overthrown.
But remember, as we try,
Lighter every test goes by;
Wading in, the stream grows deep
Toward the center's downward sweep;
Backward turn, each step ashore
Shallower is than that before.
Ah, the precious years we waste
Leveling what we raised in haste,
Doing what must be undone,
Ere content or love be won!
First, across the gulf we cast
Kite-borne threads, till lines are passed,
And habit builds the bridge at last.
—Wide Awake.
GOD'S CHURCH.
By Ernest Gilmore
How Two Humble Strangers Were Made to Feel at Home.
Dot Hunt was as sweet a child as you ever saw. She was beautiful, too, and everybody loved her because she was lovely. She was an only child of a wealthy widow, and her home was one of elegance and culture. There never was a kinder or more generous child, or one more compassionate. If, while driving in the grand carriage beside her mamma, she saw a child grieved or injured, she was not happy until something was done to comfort or help it. If a beggar child came to the door, she turned beggar, too, begging Ann, the cook, to feed the hungry.
But Dot was only five years old. I tell you this so that you will not wonder at what I am about to relate.
Dot went to church for the first time one bright summer day. She was a perfect blossom in her snowy white dress, with a bunch of rosebuds fastened in the broad sash.
At the church door stood a plainly-dressed woman with a very sad face, and beside her a little girl of perhaps ten years of age, the latter wearing a calico dress and a very common-looking brown straw hat. People were going into the church very fast, but no one seemed to notice the sad-looking woman and her daughter. Presently a sunshiny voice broke the icy coldness of the churchgoers; it was Dot's.
"Isn't you doin' to church?" asked Dot of the little girl.
"It isn't our church; we're strangers; we don't know where to go," answered the girl.
"It's God's church," Dot said, reverently. "Come with mamma an' me; there's lot's of room in God's church."
The weary mother looked into Mrs. Hunt's face questioningly, and, although the latter's face flushed, she seconded her daughter's hearty invitation.
"Yes, do come with us, please," she said; "we will be glad to have you." And presently, seated side by side in "God's church," were the children of wealth and poverty. There had been a number of witnesses to the pretty scene, and more than one face flushed with shame as the minister, during his reading, gave this passage, "I was a stranger and ye took Me in."
Was it Jesus looking through that sad woman's eyes? Jesus looking through her little daughter's eyes?
"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, ye have done it unto Me."
And after the service more than one richly-dressed lady shook hands kindly with the "strangers," and made them welcome.
Dot never knew how forlorn, how homesick, how desolate those two strangers had been before her gentle welcome reached their souls, but her first Sunday at church had taught some "children of older growth" a lesson sadly needed.
And, lo! how great a tree grows from a little acorn. The "strangers" who had come to the city from a bereaved home, from which death had taken beloved ones, and money had taken wings, found friends and pleasant and profitable employment. How far a little candle throws its beams!—Ernest Gilmore, in Morning Star.
THE VALUE OF APPLES.
SPEAKING of apples, Professor Faraday says: "There is scarcely any article of vegetable food more widely useful and more universally liked than the apple. Let every family in autumn lay in from two to ten or more barrels, and it will be to them the most economical investment in the whole range of culinary supplies. A raw, mellow apple is digested in an hour and a half, while boiled cabbage requires five hours. The most healthful dessert that can be placed on the table is baked apples. If taken freely at breakfast, with coarse bread, and without meat or flesh of any kind, they have an admirable effect on the general system, often removing constipation, correcting acidities, and cooling the febrile conditions more effectively than the most approved medicines. If families could be induced to substitute the apple—sound, ripe, and luscious—for the pies, cakes, and candies, and other sweetmeats, with which the children are too often stuffed, there would be a diminution of doctor's bills sufficient in one year to lay up a stock of this delicious fruit for a season's use.—Occident.
TIGHT LACING.
REV. H. R. HAWEIS, of England, must have startled some of his fashionable hearers by the following denunciation of unwholesome fashions in dress:—
"When the door," he exclaimed, "closes on the light and splendor of the revel, the veil is drawn quickly across—the public are shut out; but the true physician, of souls as well as of bodies, will invite you to enter that gloomier apartment, and hear the stern verdict upon another which to-morrow may be pronounced on you—'Death from natural causes!' Lay no such flattering unction to your soul. 'Death from rut in the liver and corn on the heart, produced by tight lacing!' These are the very words of a leading physician of the day, to me. I plead for nothing impossible—for nothing which cannot be, and which is not accomplished every day by sensible women in the best circles. Many plead for the mitigation of a public eyesore, against which our present fashion of following the natural lines of the body, instead of creating false ones, protests as loudly as do the doctors themselves. I want you to be reasonable, and, knowing the terrors of the violated laws of nature, I pray to be persuasive; and this is the spirit in which I plead with you this morning against the evils of excessive compression in tight lacing—that systematic outrage upon the human skeleton, that fatal attack upon the sacred organs of circulation, respiration, and nutrition."
Almost every disease of the human body may be either occasioned or augmented by the wearing of corsets.
REPUTATION AND CHARACTER.
By Henry Ward Beecher
THERE is a broad difference between reputation and character. Reputation is appearance. Character is reality. Reputation is what men give us. Character is what we are in ourselves. Man looks upon reputation, God sees character. Reputation may be left behind. Character must go with us. Bacon says: "The worthiest persons are frequently attacked by slanderers, as we generally find that to be the best fruit which the birds have been pecking at. The clubs and stones lying thickly around the fruit tree point out with certainty where the best apples grow. Icebergs swim so deep that it is not uncommon to see them moving to the windward, the undercurrent bearing them onward against wind and tide. Get down deep, my brother, into the strong undercurrent of God's love, and the breath of slander can never sweep you before it."
A faith which a man dare not preach for fear of the people before him, and dare not deny for fear of the rabbis behind him, and dare not honestly and thoroughly examine for fear he shall be obliged to preach or deny it, will never move the hearts nor affect the consciences of men.
Do not be troubled because you have not great virtues. God made a million spears of grass where he made one tree. The earth is fringed and carpeted, not with forests, but with grasses. Only have enough of little virtues and common fidelities, and you need not mourn because you are not a hero.—Beecher.
A LITTLE BARREN KINGDOM.
By H. W. H.
THE little kingdom of Greece embraces a territory of about 25,000 square miles, and has a population of a little more than 2,000,000 Greeks and Albanians. Scotland has about the same territory and almost twice as many people. Switzerland has a third less territory and a third more people. Belgium and Holland taken together have about the same territory as Greece and five times as many people. As for wealth, Greece is proverbially the poorest country in Europe. Her rugged mountains and barren shores are hardly fit in many places for the scantiest vegetation; she has no rivers with fertile banks; her commerce is still undeveloped, and she is cut off from Europe by the treacherous Adriatic and by the inhospitable strip of Turkish territory that promises to keep her for an indefinite future from opening her railway connection with the North.
In Greece to-day it is the universal custom to speak of "going to Europe" just as Americans do with the stormy Atlantic between New York and Liverpool. Add to all this the fact that this little barren kingdom of 2,000,000 souls has a public debt of $80,000,000, and supports an army as large as that of the United States. The taxes are so high that the island of Crete, now under Turkish rule, would nearly double its ratio of taxation should it enter the kingdom of Greece. But in spite of all this discouragement Athens to-day is a busy hive of educational institutions, and in all the country villages there are thrifty schools, a compulsory law being carried out with more vigor year after year. Ten years ago the statistics for illiteracy in Greece were ahead of those of Italy to-day, and these ten years have revolutionized educational affairs in Greece.—H. W. H., in New York Post.
Orphanages
By Stephen Nelson Haskell
INDIA. NO. 10.
Orphanages.
As the saints of God enter the kingdom of glory, the Saviour has told us in plain words why it is that they will be pronounced blessed of his Father, and invited to inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. The essential characteristic is not what church we belong to, what theory we professed, upon what church book our name was recorded, but the following are the characteristics which are absolutely essential to enter the pearly gates, partake of the tree of life, and live where sin and sorrow can ne'er invade: "For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me." Matt. 25:35, 36.
It will be noticed in these two verses there are eleven personal pronouns by which the Saviour directly refers to himself as being fed when hungry, receiving drink when thirsty, being taken in when a stranger, clothed when naked, and visited when sick and in prison. Was it Christ, personally, to whom these deeds were done? It was, but in the person of his saints; for he identifies himself with the afflicted and sorrowing. "God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have showed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister." Heb. 6:10. A tender, sympathizing heart for those in affliction, and especially for those who are suffering the greatest oppression and neglect and are the most helpless, is a spirit valued in the courts of heaven. It is current through all the angelic host; it is a condition in which an interest is taken by every unfallen being. It was introduced into this world by our Lord Jesus Christ. He became the author and finisher of such a faith. It is the pith and essence of the Christian religion. One ounce of this is worth more than cart loads of theory of which men may boast and prove themselves Pharisees.
Homes for the homeless, orphanages for the helpless, are directly designed by man to make manifest and illustrate these principles. We call them Christian institutions because of the Christian principles that are embodied in them. They are and should be regarded in this country as institutions planned in God's providence; and he who takes no interest in them or the principles illustrated by them, knows nothing of the Spirit of Christ. These are established in India. And God has witnessed his approval of the work by the conversion of many souls through these instrumentalities in as remarkable a manner as any in the United States of America. Many a little waif has been picked up by them, rescued from a life of shame, and become useful in the cause of Christ.
While visiting one of these orphanages, the following incident was related concerning a girl of about fifteen, who repeated more Scripture upon the various subjects contained in the Bible readings than any other one in the orphans' home. She was a poor blind girl, rescued from sin and probably death by some one of the missionaries, and placed in this asylum when quite young. The lady who has it in charge at the present time said that when she first came into the position of superintendent, she was informed by her predecessor that this girl would have to be dismissed, because she was so mischievous; that she had been labored with in every possible way, by punishment and moral suasion, and her unfortunate condition of blindness was the only reason she had been retained. If any trouble existed, which there was almost daily among the children, it was always traced to some plot of hers. If any accident happened, she usually had made some plan by which to bring it about. She was unkind and arbitrary with the children; she would learn nothing, commit nothing to memory; was stubborn, selfish, possessing almost every evil trait without the good. The superintendent said she had found everything that was told her more than true. She had talked with her and had prayed with her, and would have dismissed her had it not been for the fact that should she have done it it would have been her eternal ruin; but then to retain her was poisoning the minds of scores of other children that were in the institution.
Finally, one day, upon examining into the merits of some difficulty that had risen, she found that in that particular case this girl had been misjudged. She therefore gave her an approving look, and spoke of her commendingly. She said that for the first time her countenance brightened. She was sure that she had touched a chord which never before had been touched, that was the secret spring to her heart. From that time she followed the example of Christ in her case,—to never censure but see what there was in every instance that she could approve, and gave her all the commendation that she deserved, without alluding to her wrong course in any denunciatory way whatever. At once she became a changed girl. A short time before I was there, knowing that the lady frequently prayed with the girls, as it was her practice to do whenever they desired it, this girl came to her and said: "You pray with the other girls that they may have strength to resist temptation. Why don't you pray with me?" She did so. The girl's heart melted before God, she became converted, and became the kindest and most affectionate orphan that they had in the institution, the most ready to learn, and, in case of sickness, the most devoted to those under her charge. And not only this, but she was noted as the peacemaker in the institution. The lady mentioned this to illustrate the power there was in carrying out the gospel of Christ, and that she never before had seen so marked a case in all her life. "But," said she, "these institutions are greatly in need of laborers. We have plenty that will connect themselves with them, but they fail in the Spirit of Christ to take these young Hindu minds and train them in a manner that they can appreciate the love of Christ."
Here is an open door for young ladies wishing to connect with God's work in a heathen land. The same argument may be used as in other instances: Is there not work of this nature at home to be done? We answer, Most assuredly there is; but also ask, Shall we neglect the heathen where God's providence has opened the way, and not even offer a prayer for God's blessing to rest upon such efforts? Would it not be well for our hearts to enlarge and realize that God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life; for God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Oh! that our hearts might be touched with a live coal from off the altar, and we seek more to exemplify the life of our divine Master.
FIELD NOTES.
By Editor
THE brethren at Shelton, Nebraska, are contemplating building a new house of worship this summer.
THE church at College View, Nebraska, was accredited with 341 members at the close of the last quarter.
ELDERS W. A. MCCUTCHEN and R. S. Owen (late of Canada) are about opening up tent work in Georgia.
AT College View, Nebraska, on the 2d inst., a Scandinavian church was organized, with a membership of 54.
AFTER a year and a half at Battle Creek, Michigan, Elder W. N. Hyatt and family are returning to Nebraska.
THE church at Omaha, Nebraska, occupies the German Presbyterian Church, corner of 18th and Cummings Streets.
CLEAN copies of any of our periodicals will be used in missionary work if sent to Nannie Peterson, Cathay, Mariposa County, Cal., post-paid.
SISTER E. G. WHITE spoke in the opera house at Auckland, N. Z., February 12 and 19, on the subjects of "God's Love for Our World" and "The Mission of Christ to Earth."
AS A result of a two weeks' series of meetings held by Elder L. R. Conradi with the church at Lehigh, Kansas, recently, about sixty persons united with the church. Forty-two were baptized at one time.
DURING the year ending March 31, 1893, the church in this city received 51 members, and 16 were granted letters to other churches, while death removed two. Since that date seven more letters have been granted. Present membership, 427.
THE Review says: "Since January 1 of the present year, 47 have been baptized in the Tabernacle and have united with the Battle Creek church. Many others have been baptized here during this time, to unite with churches in other places."
A CLASS of about sixty are attending the canvassers' institute at Healdsburg, Cal., which is being conducted by Brother F. L. Mead, general canvassing agent. It is not expected that all of these will engage in canvassing, but they are profiting by the opportunity to study the books.
397THE president of the West Virginia Conference of First-day Adventists has accepted the Sabbath of the Lord, and has invited some Seventh-day Adventist laborers to present the reasons of their faith more fully before the Conference soon to convene.
THE Illinois Tract Society building, 26 and 28 College Place, Chicago, is now in the possession of the Seventh-day Adventist Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association. It will be opened up as a Sanitarium May 1. Board and treatment can be secured, but only a limited number of rooms. The board of managers have appropriated a liberal sum to the erection of a building on the World's Fair grounds in which will be held a school of scientific cookery. In the Liberal Arts building, an exhibit of health foods will be made, and orders taken for our health publications.
A TRUE REFORMER.
By J. P. Trowbridge
THE man who knows his cause is just,
Is armed with forces strong as steel;
No fear disturbs his perfect trust,
Or cools the ardor of his zeal.
His faith is fixed in living laws,
That move the centuries along,
And plant the triumph of a cause
Upon the right and not the strong.
He may be jeered and mocked of men,
And all his words may seem to wait,
The truth be crucified again
Between the forms of lust and hate.
But in his eye no tear appears;
He leans on One to whom alway
A day is as a thousand years,
A thousand years are as a day.
—I. P. Trowbridge.
Missionary Translating Gospel into Thibetan
A ROMAN CATHOLIC missionary at Pedong, on the India border of Thibet, is translating the Gospel of John into Thibetan. This he proposes to have printed and sent into Thibet by the traders who pass that way.