Earlier text: EARLY FIRST-DAY OBSERVANCEA MINISTER whose praise is in all the churches was asked on one occasion to visit a family in the deepest distress. On his way to the house he met a brother minister, and repeated to him the sad story which had drawn him from his home. The minister was interested, and at once decided to accompany his friend on his errand of mercy. The sight which presented itself as the two friends crossed the threshold was one not soon to be forgotten. In a room destitute of all the comforts that make an attractive home, a woman was dying. She was young in years, but on her face the traces of want and suffering and care were plainly visible. A babe, wailing feebly, was on the bed beside the mother, but her ears were closed to its cries. A third person was present—the husband and father; but he seemed deaf to the voice of his child, as well as unable to comprehend the fact that his wife was even then passing away from earth. He was a man tall and well-formed, with a finely-shaped head and large, full eyes. He arose and staggered toward the two gentlemen as they entered, and muttered something meant to be a welcome and an apology for the condition in which they found his home. As his eyes met those of the gentleman who had been wont to accompany his friend, the two stood a moment as if spell-bound. The clergyman was the first to speak. "Bond, can it be possible that you have come to this?" The man thus addressed turned away his face a moment from the sad, reproachful gaze bent upon him by the clergyman, and in that moment he seemed to rally his scattered senses; then he turned fiercely upon his questioner. "You see me in a ruined home, and drink has brought me here. It has killed her," he added, pointing to his wife, "and you, sir, are responsible." "What do you mean?" exclaimed the clergyman in amazement. "I once attended your church," continued the man. "I know," answered the clergyman, "but as I had not seen you since your marriage, I concluded that you had left the city." "You married me," he continued. "At my wedding the wine cup was passed. I had never tasted the accursed cup; but that night, seeing you, my pastor, take a glass, I felt that it could not be wrong to follow your example, that it certainly could do no harm to take just one glass on my wedding night. But that one glass has proved my ruin; for it awakened an appetite for the intoxicating cup, and now I am its slave; and you, I repeat it, are responsible." Hard must have been the heart of that pastor if he did not from that moment resolve to shun forever that which might cause a weak brother to stumble. Not alone for our own safety, but for the sake of those about us who may be led astray by our example, should we resolve to touch not, taste not, handle not.—Temperance Review. There is grief in the cup!
I saw a proud mother set wine on the board;
The eyes of her son sparkled bright as she poured
The ruddy stream into the glass in his hand.
The cup was of silver; the lady was grand
In her satins and laces; her proud heart was glad
In the love of her fair, noble son; but oh! sad,
Oh! so sad, a year had passed by,
And the soft light had gone from her beautiful eye.
For the boy that she loved, with a love strong as death,
In the chill hour of morn, with a drunkard's foul breath,
And the drunkard's fierce oath, reeled and staggard his way
To his home,—a dark blot on the face of the day. There is shame in the cup!
The tempter said, "Drink!" and a fair maiden quaffed
Till her cheeks glowed the hue of the dangerous draught;
The voice of the tempter spoke low in her ear
Words that once would have started the quick, angry tear;
But wine blunts the conscience, and wine dulls the brain.
She listened and smiled, and he whispered again;
He lifted the goblet; "Once more," he said, "Drink!"
And the soul of the maiden was lost in the brink. There is death in the cup!
A man in God's image, strong, noble, and grand,
With talents that crowned him a prince of the land,
Sipped the ruddy red wine—sipped it lightly at first,
Until from its chains broke the demon of thirst;
And thirst became master, and man became slave,
And he ended his life in the drunkard's poor grave;
Wealth, fame, talents, beauty, and life swallowed up.
Grief, shame, death, destruction are all in the cup. Two New England churches refused to call two students of Andover Theological Seminary because they use tobacco. Served them right. Rev. Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, of Boston, estimates the rum business in the United States at $1,000,000,000 a year, by far the largest industry in the country. Shut your grog-shops, open your schools, and God knows what flashing jewels you may dig out of the neglected ores at the very bottom of the unwrought mine of the poorest classes.—Joseph Cook. An eminent Boston preacher once said that it was a mockery to pray at night for sweet and refreshing sleep without seeing to it that the bed-room is well ventilated. God takes care of those who take care of themselves. A well meaning lad did not know what to do with his spare hours. He often spent them on the saloon steps, hearing the men talk and watching them order their beer and drink it. And so he looked till he wished to taste. Of course, when a drink was offered him he was not ready to say no. He made an early drunkard. "Within half a century," says Dr. Dio Lewis, "no young man addicted to the use of tobacco has graduated at the head of his class in Harvard College, though five out of six of the students have used it. The chances, you see, were five in six that a smoker would graduate at the head of his class, if tobacco does no harm. But during half a century not one victim of tobacco was able to come out ahead."—Letter on Hygiene of the Brain, p. 206. A gentleman who is very much opposed to the habit of cigarette smoking, that is almost universal with our boys, and who wishes to use his influence as far as possible in checking it says: "I advertised in two papers last week for an office boy, and of 30 applicants, averaging about 14 years of age, there were only two who would make the statement that they were not in the habit of smoking." He also thinks that from the general appearance of the two non-smokers they were telling the truth. Dr. Norman Kerr, a distinguished English physician, referring to the death-rate from alcohol, says:— “Dr. Richardson gave it as his opinion some time ago, that ‘were England converted to temperance, the vitality of the nation would be increased one-third in value; or in other words, nearly 227,000 lives would be saved to us every year.’ This is a startling statement; but, after careful investigation, Dr. Kerr thinks it is much nearer the truth than many were supposed to believe. His own calculations give 200,000 as the number of deaths resulting from drinking, of which 128,000 may be traced to drunkenness, and the rest to more or less moderate uses of alcohol.” Many a weary mother, with little ones clinging around her, has sighed to think she was so "tied at home." With the restlessness common to humanity, with a desire to hear and know and enjoy what is going on outside of her little circle, she finds her wings clipped, and herself year after year confined to the narrow circle which she calls home. Often too, her toils seem not appreciated, and her sacrifices seem poorly rewarded, and sometimes there are few rays of sunshine on her weary, lonely path. There are several things to be considered in making up an estimate of the case. And first, the home life is, under God, the foundation of everything worth having in this world. Blot out the home, and with it goes religion, morality, liberty, order, peace. The healthful and orderly existence of the human race, depends on the maintenance of the family life. The woman who holds this fort may think she is doing but little good, but neither she nor any other mortal knows how much evil she is preventing. The little boy who stood wet and dripping all the night long, stopping with his chilled body the opening in a breaking dyke, and thus saving the whole country from a deluge which threatened to overwhelm it, was not more heroic nor more useful in that supreme moment of his life, than the woman who opposes the bulwark of home against all the surging madnesses that rock and toss the world, and who gathers within it those that under her kindly guidance grow up to be an honor and a blessing to the race, but who for her care and the sheltering refuge which her loving hands prepare, would be turned forth as wild beasts to devour society and to destroy each other. The mother thinks sometimes as she muses on her weary lot, that another mother has done the very same things for her. Her memory goes back to the time when she was a clinging child; when hands that are now crossed in death's slumber toiled to care for her; and when a heart that now is silent in the grave, throbbed with love and thrilled with anxiety for the brood of little ones of whom she was one. She is doing for others only what others have done for her, and as she blesses the memory of those who have shielded her in her early days, so she labors with renewed zeal so to perform a mother's duty that her children shall arise and call her blessed at the last. She who feels the bondage of home, nevertheless cannot fail to rejoice in its safety. The gay butterflies of fashion flit on every breeze, but the wintry blasts find them without a shelter. There are dangers away from home; there are phantoms that lure and snares that entangle; there are sins and woes unnumbered that lie in wait for those who cut loose from wise restraints; but the mother, in her quiet home life with her little ones around her, has her heart steadied in its supreme affections and desires, and feels a nearness to that Christ who blessed the little children, and who shelters those who trust in him from every foe and snare. We may chafe at the confinement of home, but what of those who have no home, drifting on the wide world, waifs upon a stormy sea, lost children in a desert land? To be without a home is next to being without hope and without God. The true mother has her home, and what is more she expects to have it; for when her hands have grown weak, the little ones which she clasps will have grown strong; when her steps shall falter, theirs shall tread firmly; when she can no longer guide the erring and support the helpless, they who have grown wise beneath her teaching, and strong beneath her nurture, shall bear her up amid the sorrows of life's closing hours and lead her gently to her rest in peace. O, mother, thank God for a home, and remember though it may not have beauty, it need not be void of blessings. That which makes home holy makes home happy; and though the cot be humble and the roof be low; though there be in it no pomp nor splendor, though it may not echo with the witchery of music or shine with the adornments of art, yet if there be tender love and unfailing kindness, and faith and zeal and fellowship with God, then shall the home, hallowed by such influence, and crowned with the divine blessing, be sacred in the sight of God and angels, and ever sacred in the memory of those who there abide. The years may come and go, the little feet may walk their weary paths on distant shores, but however scattered abroad, whether tossed upon the waters or wandering upon the land, the sweet influences of home shall never be forgotten; and there shall come from day to day to the heart of your boy or your girl the recollection of a mother's love, the memories of the twilight hours of prayer, the remembrances of sacred communion with God, and the solemn utterances of his word repeated by maternal lips; and these shall weave around their wayward hearts bonds that earth can never break, and shall link them in all their wanderings to mother and home, and through these, draw them gently toward that home where sorrows shall not enter and whence joys shall not depart.—The Christian. HUNTING FOR EDEN.
By Rusticus
A GENTLEMAN from the East called on me today. He had heard and read a good deal about California, and thought he would like to live here. He had been all over the coast, looking at places that travelers and real estate agents write about. But none of them just suited him; when the climate was good the land was poor, and where there was good land and good society, the prices were too high. He said to me: "Mr. Rusticus, can you tell me where I can find such a home as I want? Now this of yours would just suit me, but I suppose that you would not sell it at any reasonable price?" "No, I don't want to sell," I replied, "but if you are willing to do as I did, you can have a home like mine. I bought this ranch ten years ago when it was only a cattle ranch. I fenced it, I cultivated it, I built this house and barn, I planted these trees and vines, I sunk these wells and put up these windmills. My example was followed by others; so I soon had good neighbors, and now we have as pleasant and prosperous a community as you will often see." "But I don't want to work and wait ten years for a home. I want one that is all complete and perfect now so that I can begin to enjoy it." Elder Theophilus was present, and as I saw the twinkle in his eyes, I knew that he had something to say, so I turned to him with the question: "Elder, do you know of any place that would be likely to suit this gentleman?" "I have read about such a place, but I never saw it, and I don't know whether he could find it if he should try." "Where did you read of it—in Nordhoff's Book?" cried my visitor. "No, in an older and better book than his. This was the statement about it: 'And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, . . . and out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.' Now, although the Bible says that the garden was planted eastward, there are hundreds of people who keep coming west, hoping to find it. I often tell my neighbor Rusticus that most of the troubles and disappointments that folks have in this world come from not studying the Bible more. I learn from this story in Genesis that the Lord don't plant any more gardens on the earth—that if we want them we have to plant them ourselves; and I believe that we can have them almost anywhere if we will trust in him and try to do our duty." "Yes, but it takes too long," said my visitor. "Life is short; I am getting well up in years, and I want to settle down and enjoy myself." The good elder looked very sad. He waited some time and then said: "Yes, life is short, the Bible says so. We are but strangers and pilgrims here. What we call our homes are at best only tents in which we find shelter for a few days while on our journey. The garden that the Lord has planted for us is not eastward or westward, but above; and it don't matter much whether we have all things pleasant about us or not for the little time that we can stay here, if we are sure that a mansion is being prepared for us up there." "But don't you believe that it is right for us to make ourselves as comfortable as we can while we are in this world? Because life is short, ought I to stay where I am sick all the time, and so make it shorter? Is it wrong for me to want to move from Indiana to California, even if Eden is not here?" "I don't say that it is. But I can't help thinking when I see so many folks discontented, hunting for something that they cannot find, that the old story in the Bible must be true. We were not made for such a world as this; we were made for the home that God prepared for Adam; the longing for the lost home of the race is born in us, and we can't be satisfied with anything in the wilderness. The best tents are cold and leaky. We keep patching them or making new ones, and if we lived a thousand years we shouldn't get one just to suit us. You think neighbor Rusticus here is fixed very nicely; but I know of a dozen things that he wants; another wing to his house, an addition to his barn, a well and tank in his new orchard, a piano for his daughters, the new encyclopedia for himself, and ever so many little things; and it is just so with all the rest of us." "Then you think we can never be entirely comfortable in the world?" "I did not say so; I said we are never satisfied with worldly things; that we never find our Eden on the earth. But a man may be comfortable with a very little if his heart is right. One of the most comfortable nights I ever spent was in a snow drift. I wrapped myself in a buffalo robe, buried myself in the snow, and slept as sweetly as a babe in a cradle. Thousands of people are more comfortable in log cabins than kings are in their palaces. And I learn from the Bible that God wants us all to be comfortable. He has sent us a Divine Comforter, to abide with us forever; and Paul writes to the Romans about the Bible in these words: 'That through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.' He who has the Scriptures to read, and the Holy Spirit to help him understand them, ought to be happy anywhere; every land ought to be the land of Beulah to him, for he can always see the Eden of the soul with the eye of faith, and there is only a narrow stream between it and him." My visitor thanked Elder Theophilus, and said that he would try to find a home for himself and family in the land of Beulah, and not expect to find Eden on this side of the grave. The whole of this beautiful State might be a land of Beulah, if we would seek such comfort of the Scriptures as Elder Theophilus enjoys. A BOY who is polite to his father and mother is likely to be polite to every one else. A boy lacking politeness to his parents may have the semblance of courtesy in society, but is never truly polite in spirit, and is in danger, as he becomes familiar, of betraying his real want of courtesy. We are all in danger of living too much for the outside world, for the impression which we make in society, coveting the good opinions of those who are in a sense a part of ourselves, and who will continue to sustain and be interested in us, notwithstanding these defects467of deportment and character. We say to every boy and to every girl, cultivate the habit of courtesy and propriety at home—in the sitting-room and the kitchen, as well as the parlor—and you will be sure in other places to deport yourself in a becoming and attractive manner. When one has a pleasant smile and a graceful demeanor, it is a satisfaction to know that these are not put on, but that they belong to the character, and are manifest at all times and under all circumstances. The Home Circle.
By Baptist Weekly
A LITTLE elbow leans upon your knee,—
Your tired knee that has so much to bear,—
A child's dear eyes are looking lovingly
From underneath a thatch of tangled hair.
Perhaps you do not heed the velvet touch
Of warm, moist fingers holding yours so tight,
You do not prize the blessing overmuch—
You almost are too tired to pray to-night. But it is blessedness! A year ago
I did not see it as I do to-day—
We are all so dull and thankless, and too slow
To catch the sunshine till it slips away.
And now it seems surpassing strange to me
That while I wore the badge of motherhood
I did not kiss more oft and tenderly
The little child that brought me only good. And if, some night, when you sit down to rest,
You miss the elbow on your tired knee—
This restless, curly head from off your breast,
This lisping tongue that chatters constantly,
If from your own the dimpled hands had slipped,
And ne'er would nestle in your palm again,
If the white feet into the grave had tripped,
I could not blame you for your heart-ache then. I wonder that some mothers ever fret
At their little children clinging to their gown;
Or that the footprints, when the days are wet,
Are black enough to make them frown.
If I could find a little muddy boot,
Or cap, or jacket, on my chamber floor;
If I could kiss a rosy, restless foot,
And hear it patter in my house once more; If I could mend a broken cart to-day,
To-morrow make a kite to reach the sky,
There is no woman in God's world could say
She was more blissfully content than I!
But ah! the dainty pillow next my own
Is never rumpled by a shining head!
My singing birdling from its nest has flown,
The little boy I used to kiss is dead. A YOUNG man named W. C. Soule a short time since walked across Harlem river on the face of the water, at a spot about one hundred yards above High Bridge. His feet were shod with what he calls "water skates" an invention of his own, and he was dressed in a suit of ordinary summer clothing, and wore a straw hat. The skate is an air vessel, made of zinc, and hermetically sealed. The contrivance is about five feet in length, ten inches broad, and five inches deep, with vertical sides, and tapers off fore and aft, or at the toe and heel, like a steamboat. On the deck, or upper surface, there is a socket, shoe-shaped, and about four and a half inches deep, into which the foot is set, the opening being guarded by a rim of metal one inch and a half high, to keep the water from washing into the socket. The bottom of the skate is fitted with a double gang of automatic paddles, one gang forward and the other aft, with five blades in each gang. The blades are set on swivels in a frame ten inches square, that hangs vertically from the bottom of the skate. As the skate is pushed forward through the water, the blades are opened and offer no resistance, but when the foot rests so as to begin a forward movement with the other foot, the pressure backwards closes the blades and gives a purchase on the water that materially aids in propulsion. Each skate weighs actually about eight pounds, but in the water, owing to its buoyancy, it has no perceptible weight on the foot. Mr. Soule weighs about 125 pounds, and when he stands on his skates in the water they sink about three and a half inches, leaving the deck and one inch and a half of the sides above the water. Mr. Soule put the skates in the water alongside a boating float, and without any support stepped into one, then into the other, and started off on his walk. The tide was running out at the rate of perhaps two miles an hour, but he made his way directly across the stream, and turned and came back to his starting-point. The total distance traveled was perhaps 500 yards. The movement in walking is a sort of gliding step, the skate being at no time lifted out of the water. The progress, of course, is necessarily slow, as there is a recoil or retardation at every step, notwithstanding the resistance offered by the paddles.—New York Letter. A MAN stopping at a tavern for rest and refreshments began to talk about his journey. He had come from a neighboring town; he was moving away, and glad enough to get away, too. Such a set of neighbors as he had there, unkind, disobliging, cross and contrary, it was enough to make any one want to leave the place, and he had started, and was to settle in another region, where he could find a different set of inhabitants. “Well,” said the landlord, “you will find just such neighbors where you are going.” The next night another man stopped at the inn. He, too, was on a journey—was moving. On inquiry, it was found that he came from the same place from which the former traveler had come. He said he had been obliged to move from where he lived, and he did not mind leaving his home so much as he did leaving his neighbors; they were so kind, considerate, accommodating and generous, that he felt very sorrowful at the thought of leaving them and going among strangers, especially as he could not tell what kind of neighbors he would find. “Oh, well,” said the landlord, “you will find just such neighbors where you are going.” Does it not seem possible that men will generally find such neighbors as they are looking for? Some people are always in trouble; others “follow peace with all men.” Who knows but we can have just about such neighbors as we wish for, simply by treating them as we ought to? —Moody and Sankey have started from Chicago for San Francisco. —The Irish constabulary have ordered 67,000 additional rounds of buckshot. —Fourteen Jesuit professors were ejected the 16th from the college at Toulouse, France. —Buenos Ayres has been declared by the Senate to be the capital of the Argentine republic. —The Chicago Academy of Music was seriously damaged by fire last week. Loss, $40,000. —Two arrests have been made in Ireland in connection with the murder of Lord Montmorris. —A water famine is threatened in Virginia. Manufactories are being closed on account of the drought. —Advices from Havana state that there were fourteen deaths from yellow fever in that place during the past week. —Since our report last week, seven more victims of the Pittsburg railroad disaster have died, making thirty in all. —On Monday last three collisions occurred on the elevated railroad in New York, all of which were caused by fog. One engineer was killed. —As is customary among the Italian population of the United States, Sunday last, being the anniversary of the discovery of America, was celebrated in San Francisco with a procession and oration. —Water burst into a Nova Scotia mine at Hillerton last week, killing four men and badly bruising two others. The accident was caused by working too near an old pit that had been abandoned fifteen years ago. —A private telegram from Sydney, Australia, states that great political excitement prevails in Queensland. The mail contract has been suspended. The Ministry is denounced, and the opposition is strongly supported. —Seven persons were killed and four wounded last Saturday, by the explosion of a corn cooker in a Chicago distillery. The cooker was eighteen feet high, six feet wide, and made of iron. Cause of explosion unknown. —A terrific hailstorm visited Rion, France, and the neighborhood one day last week. For twenty minutes hailstones fell as large as hens' eggs, and some larger than men's fists. Branches of trees were cut off by them, birds killed, and nearly all the windows broken. —A pastoral was read a few days since in the Catholic churches of Ottawa, Kansas, forbidding parents sending their children to the Model School, on pain of deprivation of the sacraments. The Model School is a Government institution, preliminary to the Normal School. —The Kurds, a party of wild horsemen, have entered Persia, and are reported to have totally or partially destroyed seventeen villages. The Persian Government has ordered the dispatch of twelve battalions of infantry and 2000 cavalry with twelve guns, but they cannot reach the scene of action for ten days. —At the recent Mormon Conference, John Taylor was elected first president of the church, a position left vacant by the death of Brigham Young. Taylor has been the head of the church, but only as president of the twelve apostles. George Q. Cannon is Taylor's first counselor. The English saints now control the church. —There are burial grievances in other countries besides England. The Free Lutheran congregation at Hermannsburg has been forbidden to have singing or audible prayer at funerals held in the public cemetery. The matter is to be carried to the highest courts, and, if decided against them, they will establish another cemetery. —On the 10th, the United States Emigration Commission had the first conference with the representatives of the Chinese Government, Pao Hsun and Lin Hung Tsao. These gentlemen, who are plenipotentiaries on the part of China, are said to be friendly to the object of the commission, and it is now believed that the business of the mission will be rapidly dispatched. —Behm and Wagner in their sixth issue of the "Population of the Earth," which has just appeared, estimate the total population at 1,455,923,450. Two years ago the estimate was 1,430,000,000. Europe is assigned 315,929,000 inhabitants; Asia, 834,707,000; Africa, 205,679,000; Australia and Polynesia, 4,031,300; the Polar regions, 82,000; the United States, 48,000,000. —The severest windstorm ever known in that section swept over Milwaukee, Sunday last. The wind was from the south, and blew between sixty and seventy miles an hour. Passenger and freight trains along the line of the Southern Minnesota railroad were reported blockaded by snow drifts from ten to twelve feet deep, and teams with provisions were dispatched to their relief at several points. —The priests throughout Ireland have appealed to their congregations, deploring the continuance of outrages and also the condition of the tenantry. Numerous titled landlords are fleeing from their estates in fear of their lives. The Government has resolved to arrest the first agitator violating the laws. Archbishop McCabe of Dublin has written a pastoral letter, deploring the silence of those Irish leaders in whose presence threats of violence to landlords have been uttered. Constitutional Amendment. Condensed, 336 pp. 40 cts. Sanctuary and 2300 Days. Condensed, 224 pp. 30 cts. Facts for the Times. A collection of valuable extracts from eminent authors. 224 pp. 25 cts. Eleven Sermons on the Sabbath and Law. By Elder J. N. Andrews. 226 pp. 25 cts. United States in Prophecy. 200 pp. 20 cts. The Nature and Tendency of Modern Spiritualism. By Elder J. H. Waggoner. 184 pp. 20 cts. The Atonement. By Elder J. H. Waggoner. An examination of a remedial system in the light of Nature and Revelation. 168 pp. 20 cts. The Ministration of Angels, and the Origin, History, and Destiny of Satan. By Elder D. M. Canright. 144 pp. 20 cts. Our Faith and Hope. Sermons on the coming and kingdom of Christ. By Elder James White. 182 pp. 20 cts. Refutation of the Age to Come. By Elder J. H. Waggoner. 168 pp. 20 cts. The Spirit of God, its Gifts and Manifestations to the end of the Christian age. By Elder J. H. Waggoner. 144 pp. 15 cts. The Three Messages of Rev. 14:6-12. Particularly the third angel's message and the two-horned beast. By Elder J. N. Andrews. 144 pp. 15 cts. The Two Laws, as set forth in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. By Elder D. M. Canright. 104 pp. 15 cts. The Morality of the Sabbath. By Elder D. M. Canright. 96 pp. 15 cts. Miraculous Powers. The Scripture testimony on the Perpetuity of Spiritual Gifts. 128 pp. 15 cts. The Complete Testimony of the Fathers of the First Three Centuries Concerning the Sabbath and First Day of the Week. By Elder J. N. Andrews. 112 pp. 15 cts. Matthew Twenty-Four. A clear and forcible exposition of our Lord's discourse upon the Mount of Olives. By Elder James White. 64 pp. 10 cts. The Sunday Seventh-Day Examined. A refutation of the teachings of Mede, Jennings, Akers, and Fuller. By Elder J. N. Andrews. 88 pp. 10 cts. The Seven Trumpets. An exposition of the subject, as set forth in Revelation, Chaps. 8 and 9. 96 pp. 10 cts. The Truth Found. The nature and obligation of the Sabbath. By Elder J. H. Waggoner. 64 pp. 10 cts. Vindication of the True Sabbath. By Elder J. W. Morton, formerly Missionary of the Reformed Presbyterian church to Hayti. 68 pp. 10 cts. Sermon on the Two Covenants. By Elder J. N. Andrews. 48 pp. 10 cts. Hope of the Gospel. By Elder J. N. Loughborough. 80 pp. 10 cts. Christ and the Sabbath; or, Christ in the Old Testament and the Sabbath in the New. By Elder James White. 56 pp. 10 cts. Redeemer and Redeemed. By Elder James White. This work sets forth the plan of redemption in its three stages. 40 pp. 10 cts. Review of Gilfillan; or, Thoughts Suggested by the Perusal of Gilfillan and other Authors on the Sabbath. 64 pp. 10 cts. Appeal to the Baptists for the Restitution of the Bible Sabbath. 46 pp. 10 cts. Review of Baird. A review of two sermons against the Sabbath and Seventh-day Adventists. By Elder J. H. Waggoner. 64 pp. 10 cts. The Ancient Sabbath. Forty-four objections considered. 88 pp. 10 cts. Life of Christ, in six pamphlets. By Mrs. Ellen G. White:— No. 1. His First Advent and Ministry. 104 pp. 10 cts.
" 2. His Temptation in the Wilderness. 96 pp. 10 cts.
" 3. His Teachings and Parables. 126 pp. 15 cts.
" 4. His Mighty Miracles. 128 pp. 15 cts.
" 5. His Sufferings and Crucifixion. 96 pp. 10 cts.
" 6. His Resurrection and Ascension. 80 pp. 10 cts. Life of the Apostles, in two pamphlets:—
No. 1. The Ministry of Peter. 60 pp. 10 cts.
" 2. The Teachings of Paul. 80 pp. 10 cts. Bible Lessons on Prophecy. The Lessons for Bible Classes as issued with the Youth's Instructor for 1879. 10 cts. TRACTS.—16 pages, 2 cents each. Christ in the Old Testament—The Sabbath in the New Testament—The Spirit of Prophecy—The Old Moral Code not Revised—The Sanctuary of the Bible—The Judgment—Much in Little—The Millennium—The Two Laws—Seven Reasons—The Definite Seventh Day—Departing and Being with Christ—The Rich Man and Lazarus—Elihu on the Sabbath—First Message of Rev. 14—The Law and the Gospel. HEALTH AND TEMPERANCE TRACTS.
Startling Facts about Tobacco. A description of the evil effects of tobacco-using. 32 pp. 4 cts. Tea and Coffee. A careful statement of the objections to the use of these popular beverages. 32 pp. 4 cts. Wine and the Bible. A demonstration that the Bible in no degree sustains the habitual use of alcoholic drinks of any sort. 24 pp. 3 cts. Alcoholic Medication. A protest against the wholesale employment of alcoholic compounds in the form of bitters, tonics, blood purifiers, etc. 16 pp. 2 cts. Pork. This tract exposes the filthy scavenger in all his uncleanness. 16 pp. 2 cts. The Drunkard's Arguments Answered. Leaves no excuse for tipplers. 16 pp. 2 cts. Cause and Cure of Intemperance. 8 pp. 1 ct. Moral and Social Effects of Intemperance. A forcible statement of facts and statistics. 8 pp. 1 ct. Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, California. MR. EDWARD EVERETT HALE'S article in this month's North American, on the "Insecurity of the Pulpit," is exceedingly timely, and indicates that some of the more liberal-minded among the ministry have caught hold of the truth which members of the laity have realized, but have hardly dared to express, that clergymen are losing their influence because they are not willing to be honest. The researches of modern science have upset many of the current beliefs of the past, in the minds of those who are not bound down by habit or ignorance to an acceptance as true of every word in the Bible. Many men and women of to-day do not believe the world was made in seven days, or that the sun stood still at the command of Joshua; and, what is more, they feel pretty well assured that their ministers are equally skeptical on these points, or, to use Mr. Hale's words, have "their own private ways of explaining the inconsistencies and getting over the disagreements." It is needless to point out that this impression goes far to neutralize the influence of a minister in every other direction. His congregation, if they are endowed with ordinary common sense, are not to be satisfied by being told that in the catechism or the thirty-nine articles the whole duty and faith of man are summed up. What they want their pastor to do is to satisfy or reconcile doubts that could not have existed when these venerable confessions of faith were drawn up, and the ministry will lose more and more of its influence, in proportion as its desire to shirk its duty becomes more and more manifest. Why this timidity should exist is obvious enough. The church is an organization which controls to a great extent the thoughts of its chief representatives. As political leaders usually work for the success of the party, rather than the success of those principles which the party is created to carry out, so the ministers frequently look more to the advance and conservation of the church, as a religious association, than to the immediate help their counsel can give to their doubting and often unhappy parishioners. The above from the Boston Herald appeared in an exchange with the following comment:— "No one need have any fears that anything scientifically true will conflict in the least degree with what is stated in the Sacred Scriptures. There are plenty of scientific speculations afloat, which are opposed to scientific facts and things revealed in the Bible, but it may be boldly affirmed that there is not known a fact in science which is not in harmony with the teaching found in the Holy Bible. The conflict between truth and error, light and darkness, the Lord and Satan, is waxing fiercer continually. Every Christian needs on 'the whole armor of God,' to 'stand against the wiles of the devil.' Let us be brave for the right." Day of Fasting and Prayer
By Editor
WE would call the attention of the brethren especially in this State to the notice in last week's SIGNS of a day of fasting and prayer, appointed for Sabbath, Oct. 23, and to the objects for which it was appointed. We hope it will be regarded by all. THE PRESENT ISSUE.
By Editor
Not the present issue in politics nor in religion, but the present number of the SIGNS. Lest any should by some means miss some of the valuable things in the paper this week, we would call their special attention to certain articles. The one on the first page from Mrs. White all will of course read, it being one of a series tracing the history of the Israelites through their forty years of wilderness life, and is replete with practical hints and applications. In the article from Elder Canright on the second page may be found an explanation of the term "Present Truth," which is so frequently used in our columns while in the article following, "A Collapse of Faith," will be found a vivid but candid portrayal of the condition of the religious world at the present time. Coming as it does from the Boston Watchman, a stanch Baptist paper, its value as a testimony against the conversion of the world is greatly increased. Through "The Power of Christ's Resurrection" we believe that "The Immutable Gospel" of the kingdom will finally triumph, and in that beautiful "Sometime" God's faithful ones will all be gathered home. But while here we should attend faithfully to the various duties of life, not forgetting the help to be derived from "The Prayer-meeting," nor "The Duty of Tithe-giving," so ably set forth by H. Clay Trumbull. By thus living godly lives we will have no need to fear that place of burning described as "The Horrible Doctrine" of eternal misery, and we will learn to do the will of God and be able to say from experience, with the writer of "The Legend Beautiful,"
"Do thy duty; that is best;
Leave unto the Lord the rest."