VALLEJO, WOODLAND, LAFAYETTE, AND FERNDALE.—After the general meetings at Oakland and Healdsburg, we visited the friends at Vallejo. Here we found a sister who had recently embraced the truth through reading the SIGNS and other publications sent her by Eastern friends. We organized a Sabbath-school of ten members, with a club of five Instructors. We went from here to Woodland, expecting to accomplish something for the Sabbath-school and H. and T. Society, but heavy rains hindered our meeting and we were able to do but little.
At Lafayette we found a little company for whom the truth has accomplished much. We labored to set forth the necessity of continued growth in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus our Lord. We held twelve meetings in all. We were told that the public interest in our meetings was the best ever known in the place. The privilege of requesting subjects for sermons was used by several who were anxious to hear on special points of faith, and most of the preaching was done on subjects about which inquiry had been made. A husband and wife embraced the truth as far as presented, and several others bought works, and are deeply interested. The missionary work received a new impetus, as also the Sabbath-school work, and nearly all the brethren and sisters promised not to be negligent in assisting to support the ministry. Better days are in store for the work in Lafayette. Continued consecration to the cause of God is the one thing necessary to antidote the spirit of negligence. May God bless and encourage the friends of truth there.
May 23 we took steamer for Humboldt County. The passage was very rough and tedious. We were forty-nine hours on the way, the usual time being twenty-two to twenty-six hours. But we have been brought safely on our mission thus far, and we feel that the prospering hand of the Lord has been with us all the way. Our new 40-foot tent is pitched in the best place in the town of Ferndale, and nicely seated for 250 people. The interest to hear seems to be deepening and spreading among the people. The SIGNS sent to this county have not been sent in vain. An interest has been aroused that could not have been otherwise. And we believe the natural spirit of prejudice against new things has been broken by its influence. Our meetings begin to-night. Brethren and sisters, do not forget to pray for your ministers and for the spread of the work.
Ferndale, Cal., June 6. G. D. BALLOU.
Los Angeles and Downey, Cal.
By E. A. Briggs, M. C. Israel
WE stopped at Los Angeles after the general meeting, and held several preaching services and Bible readings, visiting the brethren and sisters at their homes in the meanwhile. Four were baptized; three, a father and two sons, united with the Los Angeles church.
We came to Downey June 4th. Our 50-foot tent arrived here the same day. Commenced meetings on the evening of the 6th, with a fair attendance. The village has a population of about 300. The surrounding country is thickly settled, the land being divided into small farms, and dotted with school houses in every direction. We hope a good work may be done here. Pray for us.
E. A. BRIGGS,
M. C. ISRAEL.
Let Me Share in the Work.
By R. F. Cottrell
THE LORD, as I verily believe, is doing a great and infinitely important work in the earth. By the last merciful warning he is drawing a line between the righteous and the wicked, between those, whatever be their profession, that serve God and those who serve him not. And it is my heart's desire and prayer to God that I may have some humble part in his work. For this I pray, and for this I labor; and I believe my prayer will be heard, and my labor will not be in vain.
No greater honor can one attain than to be a humble servant of the Lord, have his approving smiles, and be owned of him as a helper in his work. This honor all may have who will seek it by yielding themselves to God to do his will in all things. Those, and those only, who make a covenant with God by sacrifice, can share in this glorious work and in the special honors that will soon be conferred on those that have fully overcome and endured to the end. I seek no higher honor, but I feel that I must have a part in the work of the Lord. And since it is possible to all, I hope in the mercy of God to be accepted of him. We sing:—
"Oh, give me a part in thy kingdom."
And I would as earnestly pray for a part in the labor and the crosses and struggles that lie between us and the kingdom. Brethren, pray for me. And let us
"Toil on till the sheaves of the Lord are bound,
And joyfully borne from the harvest ground."
R. F. COTTRELL.
Temperance.
False Ideas of Liberty.
SUPPOSE before the missionaries went to the Fiji Islands, a man from that island had drifted over and located in the city of Des Moines. You recollect that the Fiji Islanders were cannibals. Four missionaries went there the first time. They preached the first time and then the natives got mad, killed three of them, roasted and ate them. The other one they didn't eat because he chewed tobacco. I admire their taste. Well, before that period, suppose this Fiji Islander had come. Now, he is a different man from you. His teeth are different, his head is especially different He has different passions, different appetites, different ideas. For a time he retains his inclinations, but at last, the old appetite in him being aroused, he makes a raid on your home, catches your fat baby boy, kills him, dresses him, cooks him, and puts him on the table for a meal. You get your shotgun and go up to interview him. Don't kill him on sight. When you see what he is doing, you say: "What have you done?"
"Why," he says, "Nothing, only killed a boy."
"But you have committed murder."
He says, "I don't understand."
"Why, you have killed this child. You had no right to kill him. You have no right to do what you are doing."
"I thought this was a free country!" he exclaims.
"It is a free country, but it is not a free country to commit murder in."
"But," he says, "I used to eat babies over in the Fiji Islands. Have not I got a right to eat them here?"
What would be the answer? "Sir, the government of the United States is not the government of the Fiji Islands. Your social customs have developed your form of government, our social customs developed our form of government. When you leave that government you must leave every custom that is inimical to this government or destructive to its institutions, for we have no desire to have introduced here the customs that propagated the governments of your native island."
Suppose the ex-Khedive of Egypt, when he was desposed, instead of moving to Italy, had moved over here with his wives and children and gone to housekeeping in Des Moines. An officer takes him by the shoulder and says, "Hold on, sir, what are you doing?"
"I am keeping house."
"You are my prisoner."
"What for?"
"Bigamy."
"What is bigamy?"
"Having more than one wife."
"I thought this was a free country!"
"It is."
"I used to have these wives in Egypt. Have not I the right to have them here?"
What would you say to him? "Sir, this government is a different government from the government of Egypt. This government is a product of our social institutions. Consequently when you come to this country you must leave every custom that would be injurious to the welfare of this country and the perpetuity of this government." The idea that American freedom means universal license is the dangerous idea in this country.
In my State a young woman recently from Europe was brought into our court charged with the murder of her infant child. When the indictment was read, and she was asked, through an interpreter, to plead, her answer was: "I thought this was a free country."
The idea that this country has no forms, no customs, no laws, no institutions, which immigrants are bound to respect; that men have the right to come here and follow any customs, any ideas, any theories, and any practices, is an idea utterly antagonistic to American institutions, and if carried out will ultimately build on the chaos of our liberties the worst despotism that the world ever saw. —The People vs. the Liquor Traffic.
IN reply to addresses of welcome from various temperance societies in the north of England, Bishop Wilberforce, of Newcastle, said that he is thankful every day that he is a total abstainer. He is better in health, lighter in head, and heavier in purse for it.
Proud of His Work.
During a discussion of the temperance question in the Canadian Parliament, Mr. Ford, of Queens County, referred to a member of one of the families in the province, who had not long before been laid in a pauper's grave in consequence of being addicted to intoxicating drink, and remarked that such a circumstance was "a temperance lecture in a nut-shell."
Mr. Pugh, member from Halifax, immediately arose, and in opposition to Mr. Ford stated that he was a liquor-seller, and that the business was just as honorable and legitimate as a carriage builder's.
This remark called up Mr. Ford again, and he said: "I build carriages, and when I turn out a fine wagon, and point to it, rolling along the streets, I say, 'that is my work.' I would ask the honorable member from Halifax, if he is proud of his work when he sees it rolling along the street."
There was no answer to this question; it was a question that answered itself.
The rum-seller can easily find his work. It can be seen in dark alleys, filthy garrets, damp cellars, squalid homes, haunts of vice, dens of infamy, and houses of shame. Want, poverty, sickness, hunger, rags, wretchedness, beggary, insanity, pauperism, violence, crime, murder—all these things may be directly traced to the liquor-seller and his deadly traffic. Reeling inebriates, intoxicated women, fighting, brawling parents, paupers in almshouses, lunatics in asylums, criminals in prison, starved and vicious children, living in wretchedness and growing up for ruin—all these may be pointed out as specimens of the dram-seller's work.
Is the drunkard-maker proud of his work? An honest man is the work of God; a drunkard is the work of the dram-seller. Is he proud of his work? Why not make a model of a completed specimen of the rum-seller's work, put it in a glass case, exhibit it in the drinking saloon, and write over it, "A specimen of my work—I am proud of it"?—The Morning.
A Total Abstainer as a Good Samaritan.
REV. A. J. GORDON, D. D., of Boston, thus writes in the current number of the Watchman: “And it came to pass as a certain man journeyed from the cradle to the grave, he fell among saloon-keepers, who robbed him of his money, ruined his good name, destroyed his reason, and then kicked him out worse than dead. A moderate drinker came that way, and when he saw him he said, Let him die, he is a curse to his family. And also a license-voter came that way, and when he saw him he said: The brute! Put a ball and chain on his leg and work him on the street. And a fanatic teetotaler came that way, and when he saw him he had compassion on him, and raised him up, assisted him to his home, and ministered to his wants and the wants of his family; got him to sign the pledge, and started him on his journey in comfort and happiness. Whom think you, was the greatest friend to humanity—the saloon-keeper, the moderate-drinker, the license-voter or the fanatic-teetotaler?”
Can It Be Exaggerated?
Mr. Gough says that there are many persons who talk about temperance men as being fanatics. They tell us that we are rabid on the subject of temperance I ask any reformed drunkard if it is not right to be rabid against an evil that has scorched and blasted, scathed and scarred us till we carry the marks of it to the grave?
Young men sometimes have an idea that a man can sow his wild oats and get over it. You put your hand in the hand of a giant and he crushes it. Still it may be healed, and by and by in some way it may be a useful one, but it is a mutilated hand; its beauty and symmetry have gone forever. We who have passed through this fire know something of its awful scourge, we know something of the terrible struggle to get out of it. I think we ought to be what they call fanatics. They tell us that we exaggerate the evil of drunkenness. Do we? Let me appeal to the intelligent and ask the question: Do we exaggerate the evil of drunkenness?
No sir, we cannot. God never gave a man a mind capable of grasping the extent of the awful evil of drunkenness for time and eternity.
BE MODEST AND SENSIBLE.
By R. F. Cottrell
do not be above your buisness, no matter what that may be, but strive to be the best in that line. He who turns up his nose at his work quarrels with his bread and butter. He is a poor smith who quarrels with his own sparks; there's no shame about any honest calling; don't be afraid of soiling your hands, there's plenty of soap to be had. You cannot get honey if you are frightened at bees, nor plant corn if you are afraid of getting mud on your boots. Above all avoid laziness. There is plenty to do in this world for every pair of hands placed in it, and we must so work that the world will be richer because of our having lived in it.
A Good Friend
A GOOD friend is my nearest relation.
Straightening Furrows.
"WELL, I never saw anything like that Capt. Crofts round that old lady in all my life. He's dancing attendance from morning till night, and sakes alive! if he isn't tying on her sunbonnet for her. Well I never! Wonder what 'twould seem like to have my Billy grow up to be as attentive as that!" And the voice half scornful at first, took on a longing yearning expression, suggestive of tearful eyes, at the mention of "my Billy."
The speaker, Mrs. Bowles, lived in Seaport, usually spoken of as a fishing village, owing to the fact that many fishermen had lived there in years gone by; but the town was an old one, and, possessing great natural attractions, and being a suburban town, many fine residences now graced its winding avenues.
About two years before, a weather-beaten, sun-burned man, unmistakably a sailor, had bought a tasteful little cottage near the beach. This he had fitted up, beautified and embellished, until Mrs. Harris declared it to be a "perfect pink of a place."
Over this pretty house, Cap'n Sam, as the boys had learned to call the genial man, had installed his white-haired mother as mistress and chief, and a more attentive, loving son, it would appear had never lived.
In a small barn at the rear of the cottage was kept a fine, steady horse, and a low basket carriage, and every fair day the captain and his mother "went abroad," as Mrs. Bowles expressed it, on long, pleasant drives.
As we have hinted, Cap'n Sam was a great favorite among the boys of the place. Who else would harness up the sturdy horse into a big wagon, and give them such grand drives upon occasion? Then the great hickory and chestnut trees at the foot of his lot were free for the boys to visit as often as they liked, only they must never damage in any way the fine old branches; but when it came to spinning a yarn, ah, then! who so beguiling, nay, so perfectly bewitching as the sea-bronzed man?
It had long ago become a subject for harmless bantering among the boys and rather relished than otherwise by the captain, that he was gallant and unceasingly attentive to his "sweetheart," "my fair old sweetheart," he had once in their hearing called his mother, and they of course, lively little wretches that they were, would never forget it.
But one day, the boys, quite a little crowd of them, found Cap'n Sam at the rocks at the beach. There were breakers that afternoon, and particularly at such times it was a favorite diversion with the seafaring man to sit high on the rocky beach and watch his "second love," the sounding sea.
It was at times like these the boys delighted in finding their old friend, and coaxing him for one of their "heart's delights," which he well knew meant a story of tempestuous seas or foreign lands.
But on this particular afternoon the captain was brooding somberly, a habit he often had when by himself, and this time he couldn't throw off the mood, even at the approach of the merry boys.
In vain the better reared of them bantered, declaring "he'd had a jilting, but never mind, they expected to be jilted themselves in time to come;" while the less mannerly Billy Bowles guessed "there'd been a Caudle lecture at home."
At length, partly emerged from his brown study, the captain said soberly:—
"Boys, do you know what I've been trying to do every day for the last two years?"
Oh, why, for certain they knew all about it they—the merry youngsters of the town.
"Been a-courtin' chiefly," Jimmy Hollis observed, while Freddie Hollis remarked, "he'd worn himself all out a-pettin' his sweetheart."
That last opinion evidently struck the tender spot, and the boys found out that for once Cap'n Sam was in no mood for jokes or banter, and, being very quick to see which way the wind blew, the kind sailor a few minutes later addressed to a row of very serious young faces what one boy afterwards termed "a perfec' brick of a sermon."
"Boys," he said, "I've been trying every day of my life for the last two years to straighten out furrows—and I can't do it!"
One boy turned his head in surprise towards the captain's neatly-kept place.
"Oh, I don't mean that kind, lad. I don't mean land furrows," continued the captain, so soberly that the attention of the boys became breathless as he went on:—
"When I was a lad, about the age of you boys, I was what they called a 'hard case,' not exactly bad or vicious but wayward and wild. Well, my dear old mother used to coax, pray, and punish—my father was dead, making it all the harder for her, but she never got impatient. How in the world she bore with all my stubborn, vexing ways so patiently will always be to me one of the mysteries in life. I knew it was troubling her, knew it was changing her pretty face, making it look anxious and old. After a while, tiring of all restraint, I ran away—went off to sea; and a rough time I had of it at first. Still I liked the water, and liked journeying around from place to place. Then I settled down to business in a foreign land, and soon became prosperous, and now began sending her something beside empty letters. And such beautiful letters as she always wrote me during those years of cruel absence. At length I noticed how longing they grew; longing for the presence of the son who used to try her so; and it awoke a corresponding longing in my own heart to go back to the dear waiting soul.
"So, when I could stand it no longer, I came back; and such a welcome, and such a surprise! My mother is not a very old lady, boys, but the first thing I noticed was the whiteness of her hair, and the deep furrows on her brow; and I knew I had helped blanch that hair to its snowy whiteness, and had drawn those lines in that smooth forehead. And those are the furrows I've been trying to straighten out.
"But last night while mother was sleeping in her chair, I sat thinking it all over, and looked to see what progress I had made.
"Her face was very peaceful, and the expression contented as possible, but the furrows were still there! I hadn't straightened them out—and—I—never—shall! never!
"When they lay my mother—my fair old sweetheart—in her casket, there will be furrows in her brow; and I think it a wholesome lesson to teach you, that the neglect you offer your parents' counsels now, and the trouble you cause them, will abide, my lads, it will abide!"
"But," broke in Freddie Hollis with great troubled eyes, "I should think if you're so kind and good now, it needn't matter so much!"
"Ah, Freddie, my boy," said the quavery voice of the strong man, "you cannot undo the past. You may do much to atone for it, do much to make the rough path smooth, but you never can straighten out the old furrows my laddies; remember that.
"Guess I'll go and chop some wood mother spoke of, I'd 'most forgotten," said lively Jimmy Hollis, in a strangely quiet tone for him.
"Yes, and I've got some errands to do!" suddenly remembered Billy Bowles.
"Touched and taken!" said the kindly captain to himself, as the boys tramped off keeping step in a thoughtful, soldier-like way.
And Mrs. Bowles declared a fortnight afterward, that Billy was "really getting to be a comfort instead of a pest; guessed he was copying the captain, trying to be good to his ma; Lord bless the dear good man!"
Then Mrs. Hollis, meeting the captain about this time, remarked that Jimmy always meant to be a good boy, but he was actually being one now-a-days. "Guess your stories they like so much have morals to them now and then," added the gratified mother with a smile.
As Mrs. Hollis passed on, Captain Sam with folded arms and head bent down said softly to himself:—
"Well, I shall be thankful enough if word of mine will help the dear boys to keep the furrows away from their mothers' brow; for once there, it is a difficult task straightening out the furrows!"—Illustrated Christian Weekly.
THE ROUND OF LIFE.
Two children down by the shining strand,
With eyes as blue as the summer sea,
While the sinking sun fills all the land
With the glow of a golden mystery;
Laughing aloud at the sea-mew's cry,
Gazing with joy on its snowy breast,
Till the first star looks from the evening sky,
And the amber bars stretch over the West.
A soft green dell by the breezy shore,
A sailor lad and a maiden fair;
Hand clasped in hand, while the tale of yore
Is borne again on the listening air,
For love is young though love be old,
And love alone the heart can fill;
And the dear old tale that has been told
In the days gone by is spoken still.
A trim built home on the sheltered bay;
A wife looking out on a glistening sea;
A prayer for the loved one far away,
And prattling ones 'neath the old roof-tree;
A lifted latch and a radiant face
By the open door in the falling night;
A welcome home and a warm embrace
From the love of his youth and his children bright.
An aged man in an old arm-chair;
A golden light from the western sky,
His wife by his side, with her silvered hair,
And the open Book of God close by;
Sweet on the bay the gloaming falls,
And bright is the glow of the evening star;
But dearer to them are the jasper walls
And the golden streets of the land afar.
An old churchyard on a green hillside,
Two lying still in their peaceful rest;
The fishermen's boats going out with the tide
In the fiery glow of the amber West
Children's laughter and old men's sighs,
The night that follows the morning clear,
A rainbow bridging our darkened skies,
Are the round of lives from year to year!
—Chambers' Journal.
Be Punctual.
THERE are some people who are systematically late for everything, irritating their households in a remarkable degree, and always finding themselves in a flurry and bustle. The newspapers are full of accidents, heedlessness being the cause, and as often as not, unpunctuality merely in minutes. There is no virtue so necessary in the young as punctuality. Habits grow upon people, and it is as easy to cultivate habits of regularity and exactness with regard to time as it is to cultivate cleanliness or honesty. A young lady staying at a friend's house in the country was amazed to find that the eldest daughter of the house never came down in time for breakfast, but always half an hour late. Her astonishment was increased when she discovered that the too indulgent mother, instead of remonstrating with her daughter on this unpleasant habit, actually rose from her easy-chair as the girl came dwadling down and offered it to her!
Upon being asked the reason of this curious leniency, the mother said that it was "no use finding fault with Maria; of course she would grow out of it!"
At the age of thirty, Maria still comes down late for breakfast, and the soft-hearted mother—now sixty-five—still rises when her daughter enters, and offers her the chair! In our opinion, silliness could not go farther, and we feel sorry for both mother and daughter—the last a slave to habit the first a slave to her own offspring.
Reverence has long ceased to be a feature of the age; but we would counsel parents to cultivate by every means in their power habits of punctuality in their children from very early years.—Chambers' Journal.
Card-playing.
By Maxwell P. Gaddis
That accomplished writer, the late Dr. Hollond, of Springfield, Massachusetts, said: "I have all my days had a card-playing community open to my observation, and I am yet to be made to believe that that which is the universal resort of the starved in soul and intellect, which has never in any way linked to itself tender, elevating, or beautiful associations—the tendency of which is to unduly absorb the attention from more weighty matters—can recommend itself to the favor of Christ's disciples. The presence of culture and genius may embellish, but it can never dignify it."
"I have this moment," said Dr. Holland, "ringing in my ears the dying injunction of my father's early friend, ‘Keep your son from cards. Over them I have murdered time and lost Heaven.’"
Fathers and mothers, keep your sons from cards in the home circle. What must a good angel think of a mother at the prayer-meeting asking prayers for the conversion of her son whom she allowed to remain at home playing cards for "pastime."—Maxwell P. Gaddis.
Religious Notes.
—There are 165,000 teachers and scholars in the Protestant Sunday-schools of Philadelphia.
—The number of students in the various Presbyterian theological seminaries during the past year was 446.
—The Chicago Tribune receives Beecher's Sunday sermon by telegraph, and publishes it in its Monday morning issue.
—Rev. Gilbert Reid in a letter from China to, the Christian at Work, says: "I realize that the Chinese have unsurpassed memories, and I learn that many of the children can repeat the whole of the New Testament."
—The Congregationalist tells the following little story: "In the primary class last Sunday, the teacher asked what was meant by 'Then had the churches rest?' and got response from one of the smallest boys: 'I suppose they didn't have any preaching.'" We have no doubt that that small boy voiced the sentiment of many older members of the congregation.
—Dr. Lionel Beale, of London, is authority all over the world on physiology, and ought to know whereof he speaks when he says of Herbert Spencer's books that they "contain so much false physiology that they will not be read ten years after his death, except as literary curiosities." But this will not hinder the progress of evolution. It is one of the glories of all forms of opposition to the truth of the Bible, including "science falsely so-called," that they exist entirely independent of such old-fashioned things as hard facts.
—Many persons in this country, speaking of the missionary work in India, ask, "Are the native Christians truly converted?" The Standard says that the one item of benevolence affords pretty good evidence as to the genuineness of conversion, and that the converted natives of that country, although poor, contribute yearly for religious work one dollar per member, and aptly inquires: "But what now, if our new brethren abroad should learn how little we bestow in proportion to the wealth we enjoy, would not there be ground for the query on their part: 'Are the Christians of America truly converted?'"
—Rev. G. W. Knox, of the American Presbyterian Mission in Japan, says: "I find there are more than 1,100 communicants in Presbyterian Churches in this one city of Tokio alone. Ten years ago the work was not begun. He cites this as proof that mission work is not a failure. But we will not believe that missionary work is a failure, even if we cannot see any results at all. The reflex influence of the work yields a good income on the investment. People must have something to call out their energies and develop their benevolence, or they will lose their own religion. Missionary enterprises work in two ways.
—The Young Men's Christian Association is receiving blows from all quarters. Dr. Potter, of the Sixth Ward Baptist Church, New York, recently declared in the Baptist Ministers' Conference, that the grandest humbug in New York is the Association palace at the corner of Thirty-third Street and Fourth Avenue. In an interview with a Sun reporter he described the Association "as a great, splendid, aristocratic organization, which gets from young men a fee of five dollars, and gives them the worth of their money in a bowling-alley, library, and gymnasium." He says that it does incalculable injury to the church.
—Dr. Cuyler thinks that it is a humiliating confession of weakness for a pastor to send for a professional revivalist to conduct a revival in his church. And he does not put much confidence in revivals so conducted. He relates the following: "A somewhat noted evangelist once held special services in a Brooklyn church for three weeks, and at the end of the time said to me, 'I have brought one hundred souls to Christ.' At the end of the year I inquired of the pastor, 'How many of those hundred can you put your hands on to-day as apparently genuine Christians?' His sad reply was, 'I could count them all on my ten fingers.'"
—A short time before his death, Bishop Peck, of the M. E. Church, gave all his property to the Syracuse University, wisely preferring to dispose of it during his life-time, rather than leave it by a will. Speaking of it to a friend, he said: "I have an ambition to die without anything, for I am going where I shall have infinite riches of a kind that will suit me better than any of these material things." We wish there were more of the same mind; and we are glad to know that when the good bishop gets to heaven, he will find that the riches there are not immaterial, but are a more "enduring substance" than anything that he possessed on earth.
—Rev. W. F. Crafts speaking of the New Criticism, which, we may explain, is Rationalism in a Christian dress, says: "While welcoming all the valuable results of critical Bible study, we hardly need to reshape our theology to it, until its nebulous hypotheses are cooled into scientific certainties." And Dr. Delitzch says: "Many of the former results of the critical school are now out of fashion. Its present results contradict each other. In reality we know little and imagine that we know much." And all this time the Bible holds its own, and tells the same story that it did eighteen centuries ago. The trouble is with the readers, not with the Book. All these difficulties in harmonizing the Bible arise from "an evil heart of unbelief."
—The Rev. Bradley Abbott, vicar of Clapham, Eng., one of the most prominent of the English ritualistic party, is in San Francisco. In answer to a question as to the similarity of the ritualistic practices to those of the Romish Church, he enumerated the different vessels, etc., and said: "Mass, of course, is said in English, but I think that perhaps Latin would be more desirable for the sake of uniformity. We have, of course, auricular confession, and have all the seven sacraments of Catholic truth. With reference to doctrine, I think we are at one with the Romish Church, with the exception, of course, of the dogmas of immaculate conception and the papal infallibility." He says that ritualism has gained greatly within the last twenty years, at which, we doubt not, the pope greatly rejoices.
News and Notes.
—The Government is considering certain changes in the navy yards, which if made, will result in a saving of nearly $500 daily.
—Advices received from Sierra Leone, under date of May 24, say that fifty persons were roasted alive for witchcraft, in Sheboa district.
—The first case of sunstroke ever recorded in California, occurred in San Jose, on the 7th inst. Another case occurred the same day at Livermore.
—It is announced with some natural surprise that the Brooklyn Bridge was honestly built, and so economically that it could not now be duplicated at the same cost.
—A thunder-storm at Albany, N. Y., on the afternoon of the 6th inst., caused damage amounting to $500,000. Houses were undermined, cellars flooded, and streets torn up.
—Peter Cooper left $100,000 as a permanent endowment to Cooper Union Institute, and the heirs have decided to double the amount. So unusual an occurrence is worthy of note.
—There is a monster orange tree near Fort Harley, Fla., that measures nine feet one inch in circumference. It is over fifty years old, and some seasons has over 9,000 oranges on it.—Ex.
—A young man in Cape Girardeau, Mo., recently died from the effects of a playful bite of a young woman; and in St. Joseph, same State, a man suffers with a poisoned arm from the same cause.
—George M. Willing, of St. Louis, has commenced suit to secure a tract of 2,700 square miles of land along the Gila River, which was deeded to his son in 1874 by a Spaniard. The value of the grant is estimated at $10,000,000.
—The notorious Barber boys were captured on the 7th inst., near Waverly, Iowa, by five unarmed Germans, of whom one was killed, and all the rest wounded. The desperadoes were taken from jail two days later by a mob, and hung.
—The Chinese Minister says his Government is satisfied with the working of the restriction law, adding that the people of California will find before ten years pass that the Chinese are needed and will ask for a repeal of the existing law.
—Much damage was done to small fruit in California by the hot weather of last week. It is stated that the loss to the fruit-raisers in Alameda County, in the single item of currants, will not be less than $60,000. The fruit was literally cooked on the bushes.
—The hot weather last week was unprecedented in California. Even on the bay the thermometer registered as high as 108° in the shade, and in some places it was warmer. In some places flowers were blighted by the hot north wind, as though by a frost.
—In New Haven, Conn., members of the Salvation Army have been notified by the Chief of Police that they must stop street singing in future, under penalty of arrest. Captain Palmer, the chief of the Salvationists, says it is their intention to sing until they are stopped by the Mayor, as that official gave them permission to hold meetings in the city.
—In Pittsburg, Pa., recently, during a performance in the Academy of Music, an unknown man, who was somewhat under the influence of liquor, was mesmerized by Kennedy Brothers, and at the conclusion of their act they were unable to restore him to consciousness. Several physicians were called, but up to midnight all efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.
—Preparations for war between France and China are progressing rapidly, and are on a large scale. There is a strong war party in China, who are anxious to demonstrate the great improvements that that country has made in the modern arts and sciences, and in the art of war. China has recently ordered a number of ironclads and steel-plated vessels from England and Germany, and if war ensues, some heavy fighting is expected.
—A recent dispatch from Raleigh, North Carolina, says: “Mormon missionaries are again at work in the western part of the State. They have induced a large number of women to join their church. The ceremony of baptism of the new converts was attended by most horrible orgies. All that was previously known of the abominations of Mormonism was surpassed by the scenes that took place on this occasion. The Mormons will probably be driven out of the State. Public indignation is so great that lynching is feared.”
—Great damage was done by a tornado in the vicinity of Dallas, Texas, on the 2d inst. Near Hutchins’ Station, south of Dallas, the destruction was so complete as to dishearten the people. Some of them have given up farming and turned their attention to working at day labor. Wheat standing in shocks was scattered to the wind; water in huge streams ploughed up the fields and cut jagged ruts through what had been model stands of cotton and grain. Many animals in the fields were killed. Fifteen miles west of Dallas great trees were torn up and carried long distances; orchards were twisted and stripped of their branches and young fruit strewn on the ground. Another cyclone, in Collin County, on the 10th, destroyed everything in its path.
Obituary.
DROUILLARD.—Died of consumption, near Lincoln, Neb., May 12, 1883, my dear wife, Eliza Drouillard, aged forty-six years one month, and seven days. She had a strong hope in God, which did not fail her while passing through her affliction. She is gone; but if faithful, in a little while we shall meet again, never to part. Oh, blessed hope! Words of comfort were spoken by Brother Brookins to quite a large congregation, from John 11.
ALMA DROUILLARD.
THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY; OR THE GREAT CONTROVERSY BETWEEN CHRIST AND SATAN.
By Mrs. E. G. White.
THIS is a series of four volumes, covering the entire period from the creation and fall of man to his final redemption. Volume One is devoted to Old Testament history. It is not merely a narrative of the leading events in the lives of the patriarchs and prophets; but moral lessons are drawn therefrom, in such a way as to make the book practically useful to the men and women of to-day. Volume Two commences with the life and mission of John the Baptist, and considers the first advent of Christ, his life and mission, as manifested by his miracles and teachings, and the nature and necessity of his life-work. It closes with Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Volume Three takes up the subject at this point, and brings to view the most thrillingly interesting portion of Christ's earthly career—his betrayal, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection. It closes with a brief history of the early church, including the missionary labors of Peter and Paul. Volume Four (in press) contains a history of the church from that time to the end, closing with the coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and the establishment of the everlasting kingdom of Christ on earth.
These books are not argumentative, but they throw a vast flood of light upon the sacred page. They are written in a clear, simple style, and are of absorbing interest to both young and old. They offer special encouragement and instruction to Christians; and there is nothing better to place in the hands of skeptics, to convince them of the truth of the Bible. 400 pp. Price per volume $1.
Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal.
A MINE OF INFORMATION
By John Nevins Andrews
HISTORY OF THE SABBATH AND FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK.
By Eld. J. N. Andrews.
THE Bible record of the Sabbath; the secular history concerning it; the successive steps by which the change to the first day was made, and the work of restoration, are given in detail.
EVERY TEXT OF SCRIPTURE concerning the Sabbath is commented on at length; and the COMPLETE TESTIMONY OF THE FATHERS in regard to the Sabbath and first day is given. The comparative merits of the seventh and the first-day Sabbaths are fully shown. A copious Index enables the reader to find any text, or the statement of any historian.
Should be read by everybody. 528 pp. Price, $1.25.
Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal.
THE BIBLICAL INSTITUTE.
THIS book is a synopsis of the lectures delivered at the Biblical Institute in Oakland, April, 1877, by Elders James White and U. Smith. It covers the principal points of doctrine held by Seventh-day Adventists, treating of the Millennium, Second Coming of Christ, the Prophecies of Daniel 2, 7, and 8, the Messages of Rev. 14, Two-horned Beast of Rev. 13, Sanctuary, the Seven Churches and the Seven Seals of Rev. 2–3, Seven Last Plagues, Nature and Destiny of Man, Saints' Inheritance, Bible View of the Sabbath, Examination of alleged reasons for Sunday-keeping, etc. Although the book contains only 352 pages, these different subjects are treated at sufficient length to make them very plain. The book may be used to good advantage in class recitations, as questions are appended to each lecture. It is just the thing for those new in the faith, or those who wish to investigate. Price, $1.00.