On the morning of the 8th inst., Brother and Sister W. C. Sisley and child arrived in Oakland on the steamer from Portland, Oregon, where they had spent a few days on their way from Battle Creek, Mich. They would have arrived the day before, but for the fact that the steamer was delayed by fogs. Sister Sisley comes to take charge of the missionary instruction in the Healdsburg College, in which work she has had long experience; and Brother Sisley will devote a little season to the recovery of his health, which is very much impaired. We heartily welcome this addition to our force of laborers on the coast.
Religious Exchanges After the Holidays
By Editor
Now that the holidays are over, we may expect to find something in our religious exchanges besides stories of feasting and gormandizing. One would almost suppose that the majority of the people of the United States had been kept on a starvation diet for several months before Christmas, and could think of nothing during the holiday season but something to eat. And this also is a sign of the last days; "For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, . . . and knew not until the flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."
Prayer for the Dead
By Editor
Quite recently three lodges of the Knights of Pythias, at Little Rock, Arkansas, united in a service of sorrow and season of prayer for the dead of their order. This was in accordance with a law of the Grand Lodge, enacted in 1884, making it obligatory to hold such a season of prayer for the dead once a year. At the service referred to, the hall was crowded, and the service was said to have been solemn, yet, "resplendent with beauty and pure thought for those who have gone, and for those who have yet to cross the dark river." It is said also that "the deep strains of the organ seemed to tell those who heard it that there was a Great Beyond." We can heartily endorse the following comment by the Christian Standard:—
"How can any enlightened Christian have fellowship with such superstition and mockery? If we are to trust what we have seen with our own eyes, these Knights of Pythias had better bestow their sympathies and their prayers on the living of their order, that they may be kept from patronizing saloons and drinking freely of beer on their gala days."
Social Purity
By Editor
On the evening of November 28, while the General Conference was in session at Battle Creek, Mich., Dr. J. H. Kellogg, superintendent of the Sanitarium, delivered an address on "Social Purity," to an audience of over one thousand persons, in the tabernacle. The substance of that address we have before us in a neat pamphlet of forty pages, which was published in accordance with the unanimous request of those who listened to it. That the subject of social purity is one which urgently demands attention must be acknowledged by anyone who reads even the head lines of the daily papers, or who knows anything of human nature. In this pamphlet the subject is presented in an earnest and faithful manner. The dangers existing at the present time are vividly set forth, and the means of escaping these dangers is clearly indicated; yet nothing is said that could shock the most fastidious, or in any way tend to awaken an impure thought. The address should be in the hands of everybody who reads anything. Single copy, ten cents; liberal discount on large orders. Address, Health Publishing Company, Battle Creek, Mich.
UNRELIABLE.
By Editor
The editor of the Golden Gate (Spiritualist) says:—
“Whoever surrenders his individual judgment, and places his trust implicitly upon the communications of spirits, as given through promiscuous mediumship, is almost certain to be deceived. It matters not how confiding his trust, or implicit his faith, nor how sincere or honest he may be in his intentions, he will find the average spiritual message a broken reed, if he attempt to lean upon it to the exclusion of the staff of his own reason.”
This is just what students of the Bible could tell any Spiritualist. The spirits which they consult are lying spirits, because “they are the spirits of devils.” There must be to Spiritualists great comfort in listening to what they know to be lies. We prefer to listen to what we know to be truth.