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Review and Herald, Vol. 29, No. 5.

The Sermon
Earlier text: Chorazin—Bethsaida—Capernaum

PROGRESS OF THE CAUSE IN NORRIDGEWOCK, ME.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

I spent two weeks here after the Monthly Meeting. We have organized S. B. to amount to about $325.00, every one taking a part. Owing to the heavy burdens they have borne in building their house of worship, &c., their S. B. is not large this year, but will be increased next year. Nine tenths of this was voted to the New England mission. We have now paid the debt on the house, and every thing else, so that we “owe no man any thing.” We have organized a church under, I think, very favorable prospects. The most perfect unity, harmony, and love, prevail among them all. Nothing, as yet, has come up to injure the cause in this place. The “Resolutions on Dress” are also being carried out by them, so that they promise soon to be a plain people.
We have enjoyed a continual revival here for two months. We began at the root of the matter with the brethren and sisters. They had been cold, formal, and backward in the past; the prayer-meetings were not attended by many, and but few of those who did attend took any active part in them. They said that they could not do it. The real cause was pride, and a lack of the love of God in their hearts. At length they saw and confessed this. Then we began to have prayer and social meetings, and to love them too; they became the most interesting meetings that we had. God’s blessing rested upon them; the unconverted began to attend; were convicted, and one after another began to seek the Lord—both parents and children. Many who had been convinced on the Sabbath, now decided to step out upon it. And still the good work goes on, and I think that the Lord will work more mightily than he has if the church continues to move forward.
At first, some thought that I talked too straight, was too severe, and too particular. Several times I have heard them say, “That is too straight, it is no use, I can never live that way. This will kill such and such a one.” Yes, thank God, it did kill them, but the Lord has made them alive. Now they say “It was none too close; we deserved it; let it come though it cuts us all to pieces. I had rather know my faults now than when it is too late to put them away.” I think this sounds much better. It has been my experience that if you deal softly with persons, and wink at their faults in order to keep them with you and perhaps get them into the church, those persons will always be a blot and a curse to the society. Better make clean work though you have but two for a church. Lower the standard for one and you may for another, and soon you will have the Devil in and all will be ruined. If persons are established in the truth, the straight testimony will not hurt them; if not, we do not want them. Keep a pure church and all the honest ones will soon find it out and join you; while hypocrites will not trouble you. This is the conclusion we have come to here in Norridgewock.
I love this people dearly and feel quite at home among them. Indeed I feel quite contented and happy in my field of labor here in Maine. The people seem to have a ready mind to receive the truth and work for God as fast as they know what is right. So far as I know now, unity and confidence exist, both among the people and the ministers. We all feel as though the time had come when we could put shoulders to the wheel and lift together.
Again I would remind the friends in Maine that as the laborers increase, so their expenses also increase. Now shall we be sustained? Since leaving home for this State, my expenses for traveling, board, clothes, &c., have been one hundred and twenty-three dollars more than I have received. Others among you are now much in need of help; they are poor and laboring under disadvantages. Those who do not take part in S. B., or any who are able to give something more, can do so if they wish and help us in the present embarrassment. My address is Norridgewock, Me.
D. M. CANRIGHT.

Do the Lord’s Work in Time

Do the Lord’s work in the Lord’s time. Pray while God hears; hear while God speaks; believe while God promises; obey while God commands.

TEMPORAL AND ETERNAL THINGS.

By R. F. COTTRILL.

It is difficult for men to realize the future, unseen and eternal things, which God has promised in his word, and which at present are matters of faith and not of sight to us. Temporal things are all around us, and press upon our senses; and they must occupy a large share of our attention; but the unseen things, revealed to us by the Spirit of God, and only seen by faith in his word, are apt to be things merely consented to, but not realized as things that will certainly become objects of sight, as real as the things which we now see around us.
Men of the world and nominal Christians assent to the reality of the things that God has promised. They say they believe the promises and threatenings of the Bible will be fulfilled. But their faith in these things does not sensibly affect their course of life; because it makes no real, vivid impression upon the mind. It is a faith without corresponding works, and therefore is dead.
The rage of the world at the present time, is wealth. That which they can “see no money in,” possesses but little interest to them. The unseen things of the Christian’s faith have but little or no attraction for them, because they see no money in them. Money-making is a thing at hand, and they can realize the importance of it; but spiritual things they cannot see; the promises of God are so far off—it is, to them, so long a time before they become due, that they come to the conclusion that they can make more profitable investments in something else. The things of the present world, they think, “will pay better.”
Professed Christians are being carried down with the corrupted currents of this world more and more continually; and as long as they will not heed present truth, this will continue to be the case. Nothing but the faith in the Lord’s coming, based upon the present evidences of prophetic fulfillment, is able to raise one above the present tide of worldliness, while men are “heaping up treasures in the last days,” and are “lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.” Let it be observed that this is the prophetic description of the nominal Christians of the last days.
And it requires a strong and persevering effort for any one to walk by faith, amid the opposing influences of this present evil world. It is necessary to keep the eyes on the mark of the prize; turn away from the things which surround us; to “look not on the things that are seen, but on the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” If we heed this instruction of the apostle, we shall soon see those eternal things; for they are not things, as many imagine, that never will be seen.
R. F. COTTRILL.

True Courage.

By Burton S. Barnes

TRUE courage is manifested not only in occupying posts of danger, but what is far greater, in meeting the boundless tide of opposition which is everywhere found opposed to truth and right.
It is no mark of true courage to be led, or even to lead, in paths of safety, neither is it a sign of bravery to pursue a course to popularity and renown, although attended by hardships and trials.
There are two kinds of courage, the one mere physical, as it is called, and the other moral courage.
The former is the unconsciousness of danger, no matter how threatening it may be; the latter a determined purpose to do right, fearless of consequences, and even at the sacrifice of friends. This is the courage every one should have.
It often requires more true courage to do right under certain circumstances, than to face the cannon; and the man who will face the world's opinions and prejudices in doing what he knows to be right, will not only have the approbation of his Maker, but secure to himself eternal life.
The most exalted courage is, therefore, to fear God and keep his commandments, though opposed by a proud and gainsaying world.
That courage which proves our love for our heavenly Father and a willingness to obey his statutes, is the one thing to be desired.
Seeing we look and hope for the soon coming of our Saviour, what courage ought we to have in living out the third angel's message, and especially in keeping the Lord's Sabbath, the great test of moral courage.
The times in which we live demand earnestness, zeal, activity, and courage. We are passing beyond the period in which scoffs and sneers will be the boast of the wicked.
The Bible plainly teaches us that we soon shall be where jests will cease, and mocking tongues hushed to silence. What manner of persons ought we to be? Shall we worship idols when the Son of God is so soon coming? Shall we strive to get to ourselves names great in the world, which shall perish in the day of wrath? Or shall we who are of the day lay up for ourselves treasures in Heaven where moth and rust doth not corrupt?
I thank God that he has shown me that the way to eternal life is in obeying all his commandments; and glory to his name, that he has enabled me to exercise true courage and obey his voice.
To my brethren and sisters in Lapeer Co., who have always manifested so great a desire that I should keep the Sabbath, I can truly say, that my heart is wholly with yours in living out the third angel's message, and that now it is my firm determination to consecrate my life fully to the work of the Lord—keep his statutes to the end.
Have we not all a work to do? Let us do it with our might. Let us awake and stand with the armor on, for the Bridegroom soon cometh. The signs of the times speak plainly the dawning of eternal day. We have no time to waste. The Judge of all standeth at the door. It is no time to seek honor and wealth.
Is it not rather a time to watch and be faithful lest another take our crown? Is it not rather a time to gird on the whole armor, and be found waiting?
May God prepare us all for that great day when Christ shall come, and may we so live that we can say, Lo, this is our God, and he will save us.
Let us work earnestly for the Lord, and our reward shall be “what eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive.”
BURTON S. BARNES.
Battle Creek, Mich.

News and Miscellany.

Can ye not discern the Signs of the Times? Matt. xvi, 3.
The public debt of the United States, Jan. 4, 1866, was $2,543,325,174.62.
At the annual meeting of the Rhode Island Medical Society at Warren, a few days since, resolutions were adopted declaring the destruction of the life of unborn children to be murder, and in view of the increasing frequency of this offense, asking the Legislature to make it a heinous crime.
It is asserted that the arrest of Surratt may materially alter the complexion of Jeff Davis' case, and others supposed to be engaged in the assassination plot. It is authoritatively stated that the judicial authorities in Washington are awaiting the arrival of Surratt, and upon his revelations will entirely depend the future action of the Government.
The French Government, it seems, is getting into new trouble. It must have a more efficient military organization, unless it consents to be vastly inferior as a military power to Northern Germany; but the measures which have been prepared for reforming the military system, are spreading discontent among all classes of the population. After the Mexican and Roman fiascos, a general discontent in France forebodes serious danger to the Napoleonic Government.
The fate of the condemned Fenians is the engrossing topic in Canada, and it is believed that the sentences will be carried into effect. Their death sentence has been commuted to twenty years' imprisonment.
England's only source of difficulty with foreign nations, according to the London Times, is her relations with the United States.
The Supreme Court Decision in the Indiana case greatly complicates the “reconstruction question.” The decision itself is not bad, but the President's interpretation of it promises to throw the whole negro race at the South into the hands of a bloodthirsty set of rebels. Military power at the South is worth everything, at present, to the negro. The fear of military interference and punishment, has saved many a poor freedman from outrage, and now the President steps in and says that he cannot permit the using of troops in any Southern state, except in cases of riot and insurrection!
A New Disease. The Detroit Tribune says: A kind of disease unknown to the local physicians has appeared in Wood county, Ohio, about eight miles east of Perrysburg, which has proved fatal in several cases. It has some of the characteristics of fever and ague, but is not affected by the remedies usual in that complaint.
A New Weapon of War. W. M. Douglass, of Corry, a colored man, has on exhibition in Cincinnati a new and improved firearm in the shape of a rifled battery which he has invented. This battery will throw 108 minie balls at a single discharge, and can, it is claimed, be fired with such rapidity as almost to resemble a continuous report. It has been examined by General Barry and other skillful military men, who speak of it in the most favorable terms. The battery can be so constructed as not to exceed 2,000 pounds in weight.
London, Jan. 1.—The Paris Pays declares that a rupture between the Sublime Porte and the Kingdom of Greece is likely to take place at any moment.
The London Herald, commenting on the probability of such an event, says that England will remain rigidly neutral, and that the British Government has already warned Greece of the consequences.
The London Times predicts that the new year will be one of general peace.
The cattle plague in Holland is increasing. In the week ending 24th of November, 3257 head of cattle were attacked, against 1595 in the previous week.
The last new gun invented in Paris sends out 8555 balls a minute.

The Indians.

Later dispatches from Fort Laramie leave, unfortunately, little room for doubt that the massacre of United States troops near Fort Philip Kearney in Dakota, which we reported on Friday, was full as horrible as it was first represented. Eighty-seven men were drawn into an ambush by the savages, and every one of them was slaughtered. It is of little avail now to wonder how an experienced officer could lead his troops into such a trap when the hostile disposition of the surrounding Indians was well known; if the commander of this unfortunate detachment was to blame, he is already punished beyond his deserts. But the frequency of Indian outrages during the last few months, and the fact that the disturbances are confined to no particular locality, but extend over the whole region from New Mexico to the northern border, and from the westernmost settlements of Kansas to the frontier town of California, demand of us a very careful and intelligent consideration. We expressed our conviction, some three months ago, that a general Indian war was imminent, but many people, deceived by the lying reports of those who find their profit in the wretched system of Indian misgovernment which is responsible for these horrors, made light of our apprehensions. Now, we believe there are few who will question that a war is inevitable, and that the only way to secure the future safety of our Western settlers and emigrants is to make that war short, sharp, and decisive. A Fort Laramie dispatch mentions a rumor of a coalition of twelve tribes, numbering 11,000 warriors, against the white settlers of Dakota and Montana; and a few weeks ago we had a report of a similar confederation among the Arapahoes, Cheyennes, and other savages of Southern Kansas. Every mail brings us accounts of raids and massacres, now in Arizona, now in Idaho, now in Kansas or New Mexico. Supply trains for the mining regions are cut off; mails and telegraphs are interrupted, and emigrants who are fortunate enough not to leave their bones rotting on the plains, only get through to their destination by sheer fighting.—N. Y. Tribune, Jan. 1.

The Emperor of the French and his Prospects.

EVERYBODY knows that Louis Napoleon came to his place by the prestige of his name, and held it by the prestige of his success. There has been a singular overlooking of other circumstances contributing to his temporary success. To select one from many of these circumstances: the contribution of California and Australia; to select another: the need and greed which the Church party had for an active partner. In 1852 all the commercial trading world was offered supply of means and desired only assured quiet to act; the church-going, pietistic, retroactive world, desired only a protective, politic, political partner.
Trade and commerce have made their way. The Priest party, since 1859, are rather hostile than friendly to the Emperor. His prestige has wofully vanished in view of Italy’s independent triumph, of Prussia’s defiant triumph, of the United States’ unexpected triumph—of the cumulated Danish, Polish and other rebuffs, and of the complicated, superfetated, inexcusably hopeless, utterly smashed bungle of the Mexican pretense.
The Emperor of France to-day stands, as a politician, on his own merits: it is a narrow and uncertain foothold. His sins are finding him out. His unfortunately-fledged chickens are coming home to roost. His 'prestige' is mainly gone. Stripped of that, he is getting to be looked on as one that hath not clothing, and so his ruling quality is grown doubtful. See Isa. iii, 6. We are not to have a revolution to-morrow. His Majesty shot one day this week a couple of hundred of his winged and quadrupedal fellow-creatures, driven into narrow and fatal reach of his unskillful gun, at Compiegne; his personal malady is soothed for the moment; the World's Fair of next year makes it everybody’s interest not to bother him till it is over. But revolution is in the air.—European Correspondent of N. Y. Tribune.

The Star Shower in the Mediterranean.

By William B. Herron

In our article on the great Star Shower in Europe (in the Review of Dec. 25), it was intimated that further accounts from the continent would probably tell of grander displays of celestial fireworks in Southern and Eastern Europe on the 14th of November than those seen in the north. The last arrival of London papers contain descriptions of the shower as witnessed in the Mediterranean, which seem to confirm that expectation. We give these descriptions below, prefacing them with a few additional statements as to the grandeur of the display in Great Britain.
A scientific observer on the sea coast states in the London Times, that the meteoric discharges emanating from Leo, as seen from his point of observation between 1 : 15 and 2 : 30, were at the rate of “at least three in every second of time, or 13,500 in one hour and a quarter,” which corresponds very nearly with the estimate of Prof. Grant of Glasgow; while many observers in other places assert that, from their points of observation, they were too numerous to be counted.
Says a correspondent of a New York paper, writing from London,—“As soon as the clock struck twelve, the first avant courier appeared to herald the approach of the fiery host, following closely behind. One by one, at first, the meteor train commenced; then multiplied and multiplied, until at last the whole expanse of air and sky seemed burning with the blaze of meteoric stones. It was truly a glorious sight.”
“It would be impossible,” says a writer in the London Times, “to exaggerate the grandeur of the heavens between one and three o’clock. It appeared to be as if thousands of rockets were being discharged in every part.” Herschell, the astronomer, calls it a “splendid shower of meteors, most beautiful to behold, if not almost too wonderful and too surprising to describe.” But to the accounts from the Mediterranean:
An observer in Malta, writing to the London Times, gives “a few particulars of this truly wonderful phenomenon,” which he denominates a “prodigious shower of meteors,” as it appeared in the Mediterranean, on the 14th of November, “according to the calculations and prognostications of astronomers.” We quote as follows:—
“About midnight they began to fall in great numbers. From half-past one till after two, when the shower was at its maximum, there was scarcely a part of the visible heavens that was not brilliantly illuminated by the beautiful fiery shower.”
“The scene was then truly grand and imposing. Fireballs and shooting stars darted from east to west across the sky with immense velocity, describing large arcs, and leaving in their paths splendid luminous trains or bands (nearly white, and sometimes of red and blue), which remained visible for a considerable time.
“The night was extremely calm and clear, so that the glancing balls and fiery bands were beautifully and vividly displayed against the clear, dark blue sky. The shower continued from midnight till 3 A. M., and during that time many thousands of meteors must have fallen within the range of our vision. Many of them were of startling size and brightness.
“The scene was one of the most sublime that I ever beheld. In fact, it was far beyond anything I ever expected to see, and it would be presumptuous in me to attempt a description. We could only continue to gaze in delighted wonder, and utter exclamations of surprise and admiration. I am quite sure that no person who witnessed the strange phenomenon will ever cease to remember it with feelings of astonishment and pleasure.”
The following account from another observer in Malta appears in the same paper:—
“At 2 A. M., on the 14th inst., I was called by my brother officers to see the shooting stars. On reaching the roof of the house, the spectacle presented by the heavens was certainly most remarkable. Flashes of light appeared to traverse the firmament in various directions and in such rapid succession that they seemed quite innumerable. No two crossed each other or moved in opposite directions. All seemed to emanate from the same region—in Leo; from this centre they appeared to diverge (and pass off in different points of the compass.) They were not confined to any limited area of the firmament, but appeared in all directions, from the zenith to the horizon. It continued about four hours, commencing at 1 A. M., and lasting until 5 o’clock, but the greatest maximum occurred between two and three o’clock.
“Our lowest computation of their number was 200 per minute, but in all probability they were passing at the rate of 500 or 600 a minute (30,000 to 40,000 an hour). It was quite impossible to count them. As three or four observers expressed themselves,—“It was like a shower of hail.” An old soldier of twenty years’ service stated that he had never before witnessed so strange a sight.”
This is the fourth grand shower of stars which has fallen “like showers of hail in a hail-storm,” since the darkening of the sun in 1780. The first was seen in America in 1799, the second in Europe and Asia in 1832, the third and grandest in America in 1833, and the fourth in Europe the present year, 1866. It is a singular fact that these all occurred on the nights of the 12th, 13th, and 14th of November. The period between these grand displays appears to be thirty-four years and one day. The first in Europe was in 1832, Nov. 13th, and the next in 1866, Nov. 14,—thirty-four years and one day apart. Those in America were on the 12th of November, 1799, and 13th of November, 1833,—thirty-four years and one day apart. There is therefore, it appears to me, good reason to expect another display in America at the expiration of another thirty-four years,—that is on the night and morning of the 13th–14th of November, 1867. This will doubtless be the grandest and most startling of them all, and the last the world will ever see before the Lord comes.
WILLIAM B. HERRON.
Boston, Mass.

Slavery in Maryland.

We have briefly noticed the startling fact mentioned by our Baltimore correspondent that the slave trade was being carried on in Maryland by the judicial and executive officers of that State, under the pretended authority of the Maryland Code, and in alleged accordance with the National Constitution. Advertisements announcing the sale, for a term of years, in pursuance of the sentence of a Court and the authority of a sheriff, will excite a feeling of something more than surprise in the breasts of hundreds of thousands, who for more than a year have been accustomed to thank God that Slavery in America had been constitutionally abolished. They believed that they had lived to see the day so long prayed for, when in his westward course over our ocean-girt Republic, the sun no longer rose upon a master nor set upon a slave. But here is a new and hideous vision of auction blocks in front of Court-Houses, for the sale of “slaves and other cattle,” with a sheriff as auctioneer, flourishing his judicial record, and pointing to the “Constitutional Amendment abolishing Slavery” as confirming its validity. Even those who in the olden time had so “conquered their prejudices” as to contend that Slavery was not a crime, must feel that its unblushing revival at this moment, and in this form, is, to say the least, a blunder.
The responsibility for the existence of this anomaly, which tends to make us contemptible in the eyes of the world, and despicable in our own, rests primarily with the Congress, which, in proceeding to amend the Constitution for the abolition of Slavery, and intending that abolition to be total and final, neglected to use words that indicated their intention. Earnest suggestions to this effect were met by the reply that it would be more historically interesting, and would exhibit a more continuous and uniform legislation to adopt and incorporate into the Constitution the identical prohibition of Slavery framed by the Fathers of the Republic and embodied in the ordinance that secured freedom to our great North-West. To the indulgence of this sentiment, which we thought then, and which we still think, partook rather of idle pedantry than of sound statesmanship, is the country indebted for the fact that American Slavery and the slave trade are carried on to-day under the shelter of that amendment. An absolute prohibition of Slavery, without exception, would have passed Congress, and would have been ratified by the people of the States as readily and as certainly as the one which was adopted; and yet in its place we have the following article, authorizing and justifying Slavery in a class of cases, which, if left to the decision of the Rebel States, may be enlarged and extended until Slavery is made once more their peculiar institution:
“Art. XIII, Sec. 1.—Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
Until some new amendment shall abolish this exception, servitude for crime will be permissible under the National Constitution; but what we have to do, and what we can do, is to see that it is inflicted as a punishment only for crime and not for color. This subject may properly engage the attention of Congress under the second section of the Amendment, empowering them to enforce the article by appropriate legislation. But the true remedy for this and other abuses to which the blacks are subjected by State legislation inspired by Slavery, is in exposition by the Supreme Court of the United States of the true meaning and effect of the Constitutional Amendment, in giving to the Republic a National policy of equal freedom and equal justice.—N. Y. Tribune.
Under the heading of “Slavery authorized by the President,” the Tribune of Jan. 1, says:
Another sale of negroes in Maryland, reported in our summary Friday, proves that unless the Civil Rights bill is enforced, emancipation is but a farce. It matters not whether a thousand men are sold, or but two or three; the Constitution is equally denied, and Slavery re-established. Since Maryland courts declare the Civil Rights bill unconstitutional, there have been several sentences of negroes to Slavery under the latter law, and the case we report to-day shows a concerted resolution to restore Slavery in this modified form.
But a graver question than conflict between the State laws of Maryland and the Civil Rights bill presents itself. The President has suspended, by an order dated Dec. 19, paragraphs V and VI of General orders No. 15, issued by Gen. Sickles in the Department of the South. We quote the paragraphs:
“V. Corporal punishment shall not be inflicted upon any person other than a minor, and then only by the parent, guardian, teacher, or one to whom said minor is lawfully bound by indenture of apprenticeship. Nor shall any person be sold to service as a punishment for crime, or for other cause, by any authority whatever.”
“VI. The laws of the States, respectively, in this Department, defining and punishing vagrancy, applicable to white persons, may be enforced against all persons; nevertheless, no one who shall have used reasonable diligence to obtain employment, or who shall be unable to work, by reason of infirmity, shall be deemed a vagrant.”
By this act, President Andrew Johnson permits South Carolina to whip her free negroes, and re-establish Slavery in all the States of the Department of the South. Without attempting to show any cause, he has authorized in those States the same outrages which in Maryland have aroused the indignation of the people. He has attempted to nullify the Civil Rights bill, defies the clause in the Constitution prohibiting Slavery; and has gone out of his way to seek a new issue with Congress. Of all his evil acts, none is worse than this.

A Storm Gathering.

The time seems to be surely approaching, when, owing to the refractory spirit of the Southern States in rejecting all propositions for reconstruction, Congress will reduce them to the condition of territories. The following is the threat which the South makes, provided Congress attempts to carry out its contemplated action. That further distraction and discord are in store for our country, there can hardly be any question.
The Wilmington (N. C.) Dispatch, is mouthpiece for the South in uttering the following sentiments:
“The people of the South are united, as one man, in their opposition to the threatening policy of Congress. They have felt the influence of that life-giving power, freedom. They cannot be made slaves through ignorance, they cannot be held in subjection to tyranny. At the right time, if the President of the United States stands firm in his purpose to protect the Constitution, the check to the march of despotism and fanaticism will be given by these forces combined. They will drive the usurpers from their seats of power. They will restore the Constitution of our country. They will preserve free institutions to America. There can be no reasonable doubt of the result. Already the Southern people have given evidence of their capacity as soldiers. With the North united against them, many of their own people against them, no organized government to commence with, no army, no navy, no resources, nothing to coalesce them but a principle, and on that thousands refusing to stand, they kept up an uneven contest for independence for four years with a valor unexampled, a fortitude unparalleled, and a determination unexcelled. In this approaching conflict, for conflict there will be if Congress attempts to destroy the States, they will have nearly half of the North as allies, and will be themselves united. There will be no room for compromise after the first blow. There can be no divisions of sentiment on the side of Conservatism and Freedom and Union. The Conservatives will be animated by the most powerful considerations. They will fight to the knife, and then to the hilt.”

Hope, Health Reform, and Perseverance

By Mary M. Andrews

From Sister Andrews.

DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS: I am thankful for the privilege of being numbered among those who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus. I feel that we all have the same glorious hope, the same heavenly Father, the same Mediator, and the same Holy Spirit to comfort us while on our pilgrimage to our heavenly home. Though trials and afflictions await us here, and the time of trouble is but a little way in the future, let us rely on Christ “who died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him.” What a glorious hope is ours. May we who have this hope of soon seeing the Saviour, purify ourselves.
We have great reason to be thankful for the light of present truth. I am trying to live out the Health Reform, and it has been a blessing to me. I wish to live up to the light as fast as it shines, that it may not become darkness.
The Review is ever a welcome guest to me. I am glad it has been enlarged. I am striving for an inheritance in the kingdom of God. I often feel my weakness and unworthiness, but am determined, Christ strengthening me, to overcome and with the remnant go through to Mount Zion. Vain are the pleasures and enjoyments of the world. How transient and fleeting compared with the glories of the world to come. May the Lord help us, dear brethren and sisters, to live godly in Christ Jesus, and to do all that we can to advance his cause, that when the Chief Shepherd appears we may receive a crown of life.
Yours, striving for the inheritance. MARY M. ANDREWS. New Genesee, Ill.

The Augmenting Degeneracy of our Times.

By C. COLGROVE

We can hardly avoid uttering an emphatic protest, and a solemn admonition to those of our brethren among the different denominations, who persistently assert the moral improvement of mankind in this epoch. In contravention of this error, we beg to submit a few considerations, which, though possibly disregarded, will serve for testimony in the sight of God for the truth. I will ask attention, first, to the manifest and alarmingly increasing corruption in the literature of the times. I apprehend there are few who appreciate the tremendous preponderance of evil in the issues of the press of the present day. Among the pernicious activities of our times, is the prolific production of poisonous romances. These are of every grade of mischief in their composition, but they have to a large extent a property in common, viz., the policy of artful disguise. The debasing tendency is not only veiled, but many times greatly enhanced by the arts of rhetoric, and an elaborate and polished diction.
Allow me to quote from a recent article in a secular journal of high reputation, on this subject, which ought to arouse our religious instructors from an incredulity strangely inharmonious with the teaching of Revelation itself.
“Almost every novel that is published now-a-days is based upon some form of criminal intercourse between the sexes. The authoress of Adam Bede has followed the general example. Miss Braddon never departs from it, and books of the degrading tendency of Strathmore and Chandos, are in the hands of every girl. Our literature threatens to become worse than the literature of the Restoration. Charles Reade writes a novel which in former days would have been burnt by the common hangman as a public nuisance. The last English papers tell us of a play written by Tom Taylor, which was so atrocious in sentiment that even an Adelphi audience hissed and hooted at it. Such is the moral progress on which we are always priding ourselves. In spite of our schools and churches, the world goes on in its old ways, and accumulates dust and dirt with age. The most sanguine believer in the theory of the ‘perfectibility of the human race,’ might well despond of his faith when he sees the universal tendency to move backward rather than forward. One by one the cherished theories of philosophers crumble to pieces. The world, they told us, had grown too wise to permit wars; yet there has never been peace the last ten years. We are no wiser than those who have gone before us; with nations, as with individuals, the experience of the past teaches nothing.”
Such is the testimony of an impartial witness, and it bears with just and powerful effect in contradiction to the popular sentiment of Christendom, that the world is destined to a speedy rectification through the vaunted agencies of free speech, and even under a governmental system of so-called democratic equality. Free speech indeed! Free to manifold excess and wickedness. Free to the ingenuities of calumny, and free to serve Satan with industrious and vicious variety and perversity of labor. Who should not see and understand that the world requires a King, even the Son of God from Heaven, who has both incomparable excellence of character and irresistible energy in execution; who combines the most enchanting personal loveliness and exalted dignity with unerring wisdom in administration.
The virus and vigor of iniquity, so far from being chiefly overcome in this apostate world, is manifesting itself in new and startling forms of seductive efficiency. Wickedness is taking more determined and cunning advantage of the unwary. Satan is crowding his energies and resources into grand preparation for final and desperate action. Thank God! The result is forecast from eternity, and the head of infernal princes will be broken, and the pestilent dynasty of the powers of darkness be overthrown. Lord Jesus, come quickly, and be glorified in thy kingdom!
Another matter should be perhaps mentioned in this connection, as an index of a lamentable tendency. I refer to the disgraceful fashions of female apparel. I confess that I have seen parents conforming to these immodesties in the attire of their children (which, I suppose, like the foolish extravagances that are reputed to have emanated from the Empress Eugenie for many years past, have a Parisian origin), that struck me with amazement. And I wonder that the wise dictate of parental affection does not instantly and utterly refuse conformity to such a despotism. And only a week or two since, I read an elaborate article upon the subject of tilting skirts, written in a style of mingled satire and admiration, expressing by turns, if I remember rightly, the varied sentiments of astonishment, gratification and derision.—C. COLGROVE,—in World’s Crisis.
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