ONE of Oakland's most prominent D. D's., when announcing the death of the Rev. Thomas Guard, spoke highly of his many good qualities, and said, "Death to such a man is translation." The thought at once arose, "According to your theory of the condition of man after death, is it any special favor to a man to be translated?" Let us see. The Doctor holds, of course, in common with all so-called orthodox believers, that all men are essentially immortal, and that none cease to exist even when they are said to die; that the wicked go at once to their punishment, and that the good at once enter into a state of never-ending bliss. Now if this were really true, of what benefit would it be to any man to be translated? What better off would one be who was translated, than one would be who had died, except that he might have escaped some of the suffering incident to dissolution? It does not appear that he would gain anything.
But in the case under consideration the man had actually died, yet the preacher said that his death was equal to translation. The idea conveyed to the mind of the hearer was that since the man had been an unusually good man, he was, according to the preacher's idea, granted a favor not allowed to ordinary people. If the preacher had been a Catholic, the thing would have been plain enough. Then we would have said, "He means that the man was so pure that he was permitted to enter Heaven at once, without stopping in purgatory to expiate some unconfessed sin. But he was not a Catholic, and so we set the expression down as an instance of the impossibility of accurately describing an erroneous doctrine with the language of Scripture.
One thing was plain, however, and that was that even to the darkened spiritual understanding of the speaker the word "translation" expresses something different from what most people finally pass through; something better than death. The Bible alone shows us how it is better and more to be desired.
The fifth chapter of Genesis contains nearly all that we know of the patriarchs who lived before the flood. The sacred writer has simply given the number of years that they lived, and closes the record of each with the sentence, "And he died." Only one exception is made; of Enoch it is said that "he was not; for God took him." Paul says of him, "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death." Now we see that there is a great deal of difference between death and translation, and that translation is to be preferred to death. It was a great favor that was conferred upon holy Enoch. And how was he favored above the other patriarchs? The answer is found in these words: "for God took him." The others all died, but God took Enoch. Noah walked with God, but he died; faithful Abraham was called the friend of God, but he also died. And so the record runs. Only one besides Enoch is said to have been translated.
Now does the Bible mean to convey the idea that Enoch received a special favor in being translated? No one can doubt it. We then ask, "Can the believers in natural immortality tell in what that favor consisted?" If when Enoch arrived in Heaven he found that Adam was already there, by how much was he the gainer? It is clear that in such a case Adam would have been the gainer by fifty-seven years, for he died that long before Enoch was translated.
But there need be no questioning about the matter. If language means anything at all, the record is clear that God did not "take" those of whom it is said that they died. Paul settles the matter when he closes the long list of tried and faithful ones, with the words: "And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise; God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." Heb. 11:39, 40. With a few exceptions, none of the good of past ages have yet entered upon their reward. There is no precedence in point of time. They do not enter Heaven till we do. And how is it finally to be accomplished? There are but two ways, as we may say, of entering Heaven, and death is not one of them. Both are given by Paul in 1 Thess. 4:16, 17: "For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the arch-angel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord."
Resurrection or translation are the alternatives. Those who have died cannot be translated, and those who are to be translated cannot have died. And all are to be glorified together; Noah, Daniel, Job, Paul, or the beloved disciple, will be on a level, so far as the time of reward is concerned, with the weakest saint that lived. But when the last great day shall come—that day to which Paul looked with such anxious longing—when the dead are raised incorruptible, and the living are changed to immortality, all can join in the triumphant shout, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"
E. J. W.
Sabbath-keepers in the Sixteenth Century.
By John Nevins Andrews
JOHN FRITH, an English reformer of considerable note, and a martyr, was converted by the labors of Tyndale about 1525, and assisted him in the translation of the Bible. He was burned at Smithfield, July 4, 1533. He is spoken of in the highest terms by the historians of the English Reformation. His views respecting the Sabbath and first-day are thus stated by himself:—
"The Jews have the word of God for their Saturday, sith [since] it is the seventh day, and they were commanded to keep the seventh day solemn. And we have not the word of God for us, but rather against us; for we keep not the seventh day, as the Jews do, but the first, which is not commanded by God's law."
When the Reformation had lifted the vail of darkness that covered the nations of Europe, Sabbath-keepers were found in Transylvania, Bohemia, Russia, Germany, Holland, France, and England. It was not the Reformation which gave existence to these Sabbatarians, for the leaders of the Reformation, as a body, were not friendly to such views. On the contrary, these observers of the Sabbath appear to be remnants of the ancient Sabbath-keeping churches that had witnessed for the truth during the Dark Ages.
Transylvania, a country which now constitutes one of the eastern divisions of the Austrian Empire, was, in the sixteenth century, an independent principality. About the middle of that century, the country was under the rule of Sigismund. The historian of the Baptists, Robinson, gives the following interesting record of events in that age and country:—
"The prince received his first religious impressions under his chaplain, Alexius, who was a Lutheran. On his removal he chose Francis Davidis to succeed him, and by him was further informed of the principles of the Reformation. Davidis was a native of that extremely populous and well-fortified town which is called Coloswar by the natives, Clausenberg by the Germans, and by others, Claudiopolis. He was a man of learning, address, and piety, and reasoned in this part of his life more justly on the principles of the Reformation than many of his cotemporaries. In 1563, his highness invited several learned foreigners to come into Transylvania for the purpose of helping forward the Reformation."
"Several other foreigners, who had been persecuted elsewhere, sought refuge in this country, where persecution for religion was unknown. These refugees were Unitarian Baptists, and through their indefatigable industry and address, the prince, the greatest part of the senate, a great number of ministers, and a multitude of the people went heartily into their plan of Reformation."
"In the end the Baptists became by far the most numerous party, and were put in possession of a printing-office, and the Cathedral and the Cathedral was given to them for a place of worship. They obtained these without any violence, and while they formed their own churches according to the convictions of their members, they persecuted nobody, but allowed the same liberty to others, and great numbers of Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists resided in perfect freedom."
Mr. Robinson further informs us that Davidis took extreme Unitarian ground with respect to the worship of Christ, which seems to have been the only serious error that can be laid to his charge. Davidis was a Unitarian Baptist minister, intrusted by his brethren with the superintendency of the churches in Transylvania. His influence in that country at one period was very great. His views of the Sabbath are thus stated:—
"He supposed the Jewish Sabbath not abrogated, and he therefore kept holy the seventh day. He believed also the doctrine of the millennium, and like an honest man, what he believed he taught. He was considered by the Transylvanian churches as an apostle, and had grown gray in their service; but the Catholics, the Lutherans, and the Calvinists, thought him a Turk, a blasphemer, and an atheist, and his Polish Baptist brethren said he was half a Jew. Had he been a whole Jew he ought not to have been imprisoned for his speculations."
"By what means the Supreme Searcher of hearts only knows, but by some methods till then unknown in Transylvania, the old man was arrested, and by the senate condemned to die. He was imprisoned in the castle, and providence by putting a period to his life there, saved his persecutors from the disgrace of a public execution."
Mr. Robinson says that "many have been blamed" for the death of Davidis, "but perhaps the secret springs of this event may never be known till the Judge of the world maketh inquisition for blood." There were many Sabbatarians in Transylvania at this time, for Mr. Robinson enumerates many persons of distinction who were of the same views with Davidis. The ambassador Bequessius, general of the army; the princess, sister of prince John; the privy counselor, Chaquius, and the two Quendi; general Andrassi, and many others of high rank; Somer, the rector of the academy at Claudiopolis; Matthias Glirius, Adam Neusner, and Christian Francken, a professor in the academy at Claudiopolis.
"These," says Robinson, "were all of the same sentiments as Davidis, as were many more of different ranks, who after his death in prison, defended his opinion against Socinus. Palæologus was of the same mind; he had fled into Moravia, but was caught by the emperor, at the request of Pope Gregory XIV., and carried to Rome, where he was burnt for a heretic. He was an old man, and was terrified at first into a recantation, but he recollected himself and submitted to his fate like a Christian."
These persons must have been Sabbatarians. Mosheim, after saying that Davidis "left behind him disciples and friends, who strenuously maintained his sentiments," adds:—
"The most eminent of these were Jacob Palæologus, of the isle of Chio, who was burned at Rome in 1585; Christian Francken, who had disputed in person with Socinus; and John Somer, who was master of the academy of Clausenberg. This little sect is branded by the Socinian writers, with the ignominious appellation of SEMI-JUDAIZERS."
We have a further record of Sabbatarians in Transylvania to the effect that in the time of Davidis,
"John Gerendi [was] head of the Sabbatarians, a people who did not keep Sunday but Saturday, and whose disciples took the name of Genoldists."
Sabbath-keepers, also, were found in Bohemia, a country of Central Europe, at the time of the Reformation. We are dependent upon those who despised their faith and practice for a knowledge of their existence. Erasmus speaks of them as follows:—
"Now we hear that among the Bohemians a new kind of Jews has arisen called Sabbatarians, who observe the Sabbath with so much superstition, that if on that day anything falls into their eyes they will not remove it; as if the Lord's day would not suffice for them instead of the Sabbath. which to the apostles also was sacred; or as if Christ had not sufficiently expressed how much should be allowed upon the Sabbath."
We need say nothing relative to the alleged superstition of these Sabbath-keepers. The statement sufficiently refutes itself, and indicates the bitter prejudice of those who speak of them thus. But that Sabbath-keepers were found at this time in Bohemia admits of no doubt. They were of some importance, and they must also have published their views to the world; for Cox tells us that,
"Hospinian of Zurich, in his treatise 'Concerning the Feasts of the Jews and of the Gentiles,' chapter iii. (Tiguri, 1592) replies to the arguments of these Sabbatarians."
The existence of this body of Sabbatarians in Bohemia at the time of the Reformation is strong presumptive proof that the Waldenses of Bohemia, noticed in the preceding chapter, though claimed as observers of Sunday, were actually observers of the ancient Sabbath.
J. N. A.
Churches in San Francisco
In San Francisco the Catholics have 15 churches, Presbyterians 15, Methodists 15, Episcopal 11, Baptist 9, Congregational 6,—in all, 86 churches, 10 chapels, and 7 synagogues, for a population of over 200,000.
Christians Should Cause Men to Respect Them.
By D. D. Tappan
It was a direction of inspired Paul to Timothy, "Let no man despise thy youth;" and to Titus, "Let no man despise thee." He did not say, let no man hate thee. A thorough, manly, outspoken Christian, though as lovable as John, whom Jesus loved, Scripture and facts teach us, will not escape hatred. A timid disciple who never denounces rum-selling, fraud, oppression, gambling in all its branches, and things of the kind, may sail rather smoothly through life, and when he dies, it may be said of him that he never had an enemy. A doubtful compliment! This could not have been truly said of Paul, nor of John himself; no, nor of the Lord Jesus. It is not well to make enemies by a pugnacious way of saying things, or by any kind or degree of unmanliness; but it is certain that he who openly and faithfully sets himself against man’s darling sins, will not be universally loved. But, as to being despised, that is another thing. If we are, in a good degree, and in general, what we should be, and without any prominent folly or vice, we shall not be likely to be despised by any whose respect is of much account.
How could Timothy and Titus escape being despised? By living so that none could despise them. This inspired teaching, though it may be primarily applicable to ministers, applies scarcely less to all Christians. They should not permit men to despise them. But how prevent it? By a right character and a wise and consistent mode of life.
1. They must be thoroughly religious; not half-way Christians; not merely church members, seldom or never recognized as such, except as seen at the communion table. Sensible, worldly men are not, usually, impressed so much in favor of religion by loud professions in the prayer-meeting, or remarkable experiences, perhaps ostentatiously and repetitiously recited, as by a known consistently religious life out of the prayer-meeting, and during the six secular days of the week. A dishonest, sordid, neglectful professor, may easily enough, be despised by wise men and by fools. We must be what we profess to be, in a reasonable degree.
2. Common sense is also needful, in order to ward off contempt. If we are really religious, but pay no attention to the fitness of things; if we grossly offend against innocent usages of society; if we are busy-bodies and gossips, bolting in upon cultured families at unreasonable hours, or on days understood to be specially busy days, and when company is undesirable, if we are unconsciously hangers on, even on the point of going, and yet spinning out our fatiguing stay; if we are apt to argue with an irascible or drunken man; if we readily get into disputes, political or religious, in stores or shops, with a scoffing crew around; if we are wont to interrupt and hinder men of business, amidst their pressing affairs in business hours; if we expect men of sense to accept our unproved assertions, it is not easy to perceive how we can thus secure the respect of the discerning and really candid men of the world.
In the choice of an occupation, in our style of doing business, in our practical estimate of ourselves and of mankind, there is room for the exercise that is profitable to secure, with other good results, the respect of respectable men. And none of us are, without divine leading, always so judicious as to escape deserved contempt. Timothy and Titus no doubt had occasion to think of that word of holy writ, "Through thy precepts I get understanding;" and we, with the added New Testament scripture, may well recall that to mind, and this, also "If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God."—D. D. Tappan, in Golden Censer.
The Road to Nothing.
By C. W. Stiles
A HIGHWAY WITH MANY TRAVELERS BUT A VERY UNCERTAIN DESTINATION.
OUR common report concerning the vagrant souls who now and then wander away on this road, is full of laments which center upon their theological errors, and we speak of them as if they chiefly illustrated a degeneracy of faith. Skeptics hail such departures as signs of decaying orthodoxy, as if the usual and prime reason of men for abandoning the highway of evangelical truth was a disagreement with the theologies. The most noted of infidels frequently repeats the statement that departure from the prevailing faiths is only a question of a little more brains, as if most men leave, who do leave, because they become intellectually more enlightened. But when the secret history has been well understood, of the men who set out upon this road to Nothing, no one will fail to understand that something deeper and subtler and more dangerous than any intellectual dissent lays behind the exodus.
By all the laws of the higher life, movement of any sort should begin below the head; and, in fact and experience, we shall surely find that what should be, is.
A man may be accredited as entirely evangelical, and for a long time may be so, as far as his beliefs and reasonings and verbal assents are concerned, who never with his inward life and love has embraced and settled in any of the great verities which seem true to him. Of course such men will finally go to their own place—if they do not, they ought to. But when they go, it is not head first. Every man makes his own logic, and the logic finally follows the spirit that is in him. The secret of all infidelity is not, never has been, and never will be, an intellectual secret. Men may jabber of theologies at any length; it is not theology that staggers men who are looking for truth. Who are the men to-day who stand serene and untroubled amidst the conflicts of our time? Theologies are shaken on every hand. The very foundations, not of the Christian system merely, but of all religion, are assaulted; but there are two classes of men who do not tremble. One class holds simply, and even ignorantly, to their own sweet experiences, and hold on to God because they ask no questions, and because they are satisfied with the peace of a complete salvation. The other class are the wisest, widest, most earnest men, who have found a faith large enough to span the gulf between history and prophecy, and can take up the verities of the old faiths into such vital relations with the hopes and outlook of our time that they gain new glory with every lightning flash of the storm. And in both cases men are staid in truth not by any merely human forecasting of the fortunes of the creeds, but entirely by the power of a living and vital soul faith, out of which their logic must weave itself, and in which their philosophy always must be molded.
A young man not long ago went out on this Nothing road, avowing himself an Agnostic. Men said of him that he had cast off the truths of the Christian system. The simple fact was, he had always so worn them that they would drop off as soon as he had lost his motives to preach them. He saw there was conflict between the new and the old. He was not a patient man, waiting for light. He had no fine, strong, faith to take up the new and old together—to evolve them in the crucible of a consecrated love into a new and diviner result. "He never was converted," his near friends said, and they told the whole story in one sentence.
By all which, I mean to say that the road to Nothing is always through the gate of spiritual godlessness. We open to it out of the church as often as we invite into it unconsecrated men. Learning is as bad as ignorance to the man who has not been truly converted. A prominent rationalist, once a Congregational minister, said in public that he would have been satisfied with orthodoxy if he could only have felt it to be true. That is the bottom of the whole matter. A man's creed will be shaped on the lines of his heart as surely as the veins locate the blood on a man's face. If we are to keep the creed it must have its life in such experience as begets creeds—a living certainty in men that the creed is true because it has been felt.
The road to Nothing should never radiate from the church, much less from the ministry. Churches are better dead than made up of unconsecrated men. The ministry is better off—a greater power for God, depleted to a handful, than filled with men who will go the road to Nothing by-and-by, because they can't believe what they have never felt.—Rev. C. W. Stiles, in Christian at work.
The Missionary.
By Alice Morrison
California T. and M. Society.
REPORT FOR QUARTER ENDING OCTOBER 1, 1882.
ALICE MORRISON, Secretary.
Ukiah and Healdsburg.
By William M. Healey
I SPENT Sabbath and Sunday, Oct. 21 and 22, at Ukiah. Since the tent-meetings here of Elders Rice, Briggs, and Scott, politicians and others have agitated the Sabbath question, which has awakened some interest in that issue. While here I listened to two ministers who denounced the ten commandments in bitter terms. One of them, a Baptist, said that it was impossible for any one to keep that law, and therefore God gave his son to keep it and relieve us from the curse of having it hang over us and make demands upon us which we are not able to meet. So of course we were left to suppose that he felt obliged to lie, steal, swear, break the Sabbath, etc.; but as Christ did none of these things, but kept the law for him, therefore he expects to be saved. This charges God with having made a mistake in giving the law, requiring more than man could perform, and in order to remedy this mistake he gave his only Son, who died for the blunder of God in giving a law that could not be kept.
We reviewed some of the positions taken by these men, and returned to Healdsburg, where we spent the following Sabbath, and baptized two persons who have recently commenced the observance of God's law. The church here is getting quite large, and our place of meeting is almost too small to accommodate them all.
Oakland, Nov. 2, 1882. W. M. HEALEY.
Worldly Conformity
Worldly Conformity.—Rev. Dr. James W. Alexander wrote to a friend: "As I grow older as a parent, my views are changing fast as to the degree of conformity to the world which we should allow to our children. I am horror-struck to count upon the profligate children of pious parents, and even ministers. The door at which those influences enter, which countervail parental instruction and example, I am persuaded, is yielding to the ways of good society. By dress, books, and amusements, an atmosphere is formed which is not that of Christianity. More than ever do I feel that our families must stand in a kind but determined opposition to the fashions of the day."
Do Not Hear Slander
If you do not wish to speak ill of any, do not delight to hear ill of them. Give no countenance to busybodies, and those who love to talk of other men's faults; or if you cannot decently reprove them on account of their quality, then direct the discourse some other way; or if you cannot do that, by seeming not to mind it, you may sufficiently signify that you do not like it.
Prayer
PRAYER is a retirement from earth to attend on God, and hold correspondence with Him who dwells in Heaven. The things of this world, therefore, must be commanded to stand by for a season, and to abide at the foot of the mount while we walk up higher to offer up our sacrifices as Abraham did, and to meet our God.
Whisky Slavery.
By Editor
We take the following from an address by Mrs. Chapin of Charleston, S. C., before the national W. C. T. U.:—
A minister of the gospel told me that he heard, only a few days ago, a corner shop rumseller say to a western distiller, that the barrel of whisky he had bought from him, doctored, had turned out twelve barrels of whisky for the colored people that he had bought it for. Now, what kind of liquor do you suppose that was? And that is the kind of liquor that is being sold to these newly enfranchised people, and they are drinking it. Do you call them free? Ah, they are in far more abject slavery than we ever held them in. You have done only half of your duty. You have got to have prohibition, prohibition. Instead of worshiping their God, they worship their party. I tell you it is time for honest people to come out from parties; they have had their way. Slavery is dead, forever dead. It is not among the current issues of the day any longer, and although I cannot truthfully say I think it was exactly fair for us who had nothing to do with bringing it here, to have to bear all the expense of getting it away, we would not have these people put into slavery again, not upon any consideration. To Christian owners they were a responsibility greater than children. Who is responsible for them now? They have been alienated from us. Who is responsible? They are the wards of the nation. What is the nation doing for them? Licensing bad men to sell them burning, fiery poison; that is what it is doing, and they cannot brag of enfranchising them while they do it. They ought to take care of them as they do of the Indian and the soldier. Before the war it was an offense punished by law, to sell liquor to a slave; then you never saw a slave drunk; now the best of them get drunk, and the religious among them deplore it deeply. It is the duty of the nation to give us prohibition; that is it. We could work together in a prohibition movement.
Temperance.
By Ellet Joseph Waggoner
Does It Pay?
SALOON men, and papers published in the interest of whisky, never tire of recounting the wondrous benefits which the country receives from the whisky revenue. Innumerable “charities” such as jails, poor-houses, insane asylums, etc., are supported by this benefactor of the race, and the wheels of government would certainly stop if there were no whisky revenue to rely on. In-deed, it is claimed that the country owes the most of its prosperity to this source, and it has been actually declared that utter financial ruin would follow the stoppage of the liquor traffic. Many persons not directly connected with the sale of the vile stuff, and even those who call themselves temperance men, have been deceived by these groundless assertions, and oppose prohibition. While they acknowledge that whisky is a great evil, and that it brings untold suffering upon the people, they feel so “public spirited” that they do not want to see the country deprived of the revenue which it brings.
Now this question of the benefit to be derived from whisky can be settled in few words. There is no doubt about the fact that the manufacture of liquor brings a great amount of revenue into the public treasury. But let us make a few inquiries. Who pays this revenue? The liquor dealers, of course; it is in this manner that they show themselves such good supporters of the government. Where does the money come from with which they pay this revenue? It comes from the sale of the liquor. Do they give the government all the money which they derive from the sale of liquor? Any child would know that they do not; no business could be carried on if the taxes exceeded the income; the money paid into the treasury as revenue is but a small portion of that received from the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquor. What do the liquor-dealers do with the vast sums which they receive as the profits of their business, and which they do not pay into the public treasury? They use it to buy handsome residences for themselves; in the purchase of silks and diamonds and gorgeous apparel; in maintaining elegant equipages; and in providing all the delicacies that the market affords, in order that they may fare sumptuously every day. They use it also in purchasing votes and controlling political conventions, so that the government is administered, not in the interest of right and justice, but to the advancement of their own personal interest. Again, Where does the money come from for all this? It comes from the people who purchase the liquor, most of whom depend on their daily labor for their support. Then all the liquor-dealers expend, including not only that which they lavish upon themselves, but also that which they grudgingly pay to the government, as revenue, comes from the people, from those who do not deal in liquor except to purchase and drink it, does it not? It certainly does. And if they did not pay this money into the liquor-dealers' till, they could afford to give for the support of government, twice as much as the whisky men give, and have a handsome sum left for themselves, could they not? Indeed they could. Then how does it appear that these whisky men are benefactors of the government? It does not appear at all; on the contrary, they are robbers of the people, and consequently robbers of the government, for this government is of, for, and by, the people.
The whole talk of the liquor traffic being a benefit to the country is mere cant. The man who systematically steals from his neighbors, and who, for every thousand dollars that he steals, pays ten dollars for foreign missions, may be called a generous man by those who do not know how he comes by his money; but others would call him by his true name, a thief. The law would soon put a stop to his generosity, and everybody would say that it was justified in so doing. Even so the strong arm of the law should be put forth to stop that gigantic system of robbery and murder—the accursed liquor traffic. I have considered it only from a money standpoint, and found that it doesn't pay. The vast amount of suffering—poverty, hunger, nakedness, insanity, and crimes too horrible to mention—that it causes, cannot be computed. How long will the people deceive themselves, and passively submit to such oppression?
E. J. W.
Bitters as a Temperance Drink.
By Editor
The following extract from Good Health will, we think, be of interest to our readers. It is part of a lecture delivered by the editor of the above mentioned journal, at the Lake Bluff Temperance Convention, Aug. 18, 1882:—
I have here a test for alcohol: If you drop a little of this fluid into any substance containing alcohol, there will appear a very marked greenish color. Here is a glass vessel containing alcohol. I place a little of the test into it, and there is at once a perceptible change of color. Here is a vessel containing brandy. I need not tell you that it contains alcohol, for you see that the application of the test shows it at once. In the same way I will test the liquid contained in these other vessels which are whisky, ale, gin, and hard cider. You see that the green color is very deep in each one. Here is some beer. I drop in a little of the test, and you see at once a green tinge spreading through the foam that rises up in the tube, and also gathering in the bottom. This is conclusive proof that there is alcohol in beer.
I have some other things here that I propose to test. There are a number of good people in the world who would not think of touching a drop of gin or whisky, who do not have the slightest objection to taking a glass of "bitters" every morning. They will recommend you to take a little bitters for your stomach's sake. Here is a bottle of Hostetter's Stomach Bitters. I pour a little of it into this tube and apply the test. You see how green it turns. It has almost as much alcohol in it as Scotch Whisky. Look at this sample of Jamaica Ginger. I put in only a few drops of the test, and it turns as green as the gin. It has just enough ginger in it to flavor the alcohol.
Here we have a bottle of "Temperance Bitters," or at least it is advertised as such. This is Dr. Walker's California Vinegar Bitters. The proprietor is taking an active part in the temperance work on the Pacific Coast. He is one of the most zealous advocates of temperance in California, and publishes a temperance almanac to advertise his "bitters" which he declares contain no alcohol. Let me read to you what is printed on the paper that goes around the bottle; "Dr. J. Walker's California Vegetable Vinegar Bitters, The great Blood Purifier and Life-giving Principle. A remedy for Dyspepsia, Indigestion, Consumption, sore eyes, stomach-ache, fits, palpitation of the heart, biliousness, &c., &c., tape, pin, and other worms. No Alcohol enters into the composition of Vinegar Bitters. That curse is not offered for medicine. Nothing but invigorating and purifying herbs give them their wonderful powers to cure."
In order to determine the amount of alcohol contained in a bottle of the bitters, I add half a bottle distilled by a chemist, and in this flask you see the product of distillation. By means of the alcoholometer it has been found to contain 20 per cent of alcohol. Now we will apply the test. There is as beautiful a green as you could desire to see. I will guarantee this bottle of bitters to contain five per cent. of alcohol.
"Only One Fault."
I WAS riding through a bowery country town in Vermont, when I chanced to notice a concourse of people in the church-yard, evidently encircling an open grave.
It was a warm day, and I had ridden ten miles, and I drew the rein under some trees that arched the road, to allow the horse to cool and rest.
Presently a villager came toward me, and I said:—
"There is a funeral to-day in your town?"
"Yes—Stephen. He was one of the largest-hearted men I ever knew. We all owed something to Stephen."
Then he added, in a tone of regret:—
"He had only one fault."
The light fell in pencil rays through the trees. I sat in silence enjoying the refreshing coolness.
The man resumed the subject:—
"He had great abilities, Stephen had. We sent him to the Legislature three times. They thought of nominating him for Governor."
"But," he added sadly, "Stephen had one fault."
I made no answer. I was tired, and watched the people slowly disperse, leaving the sexton to his solitary work.
"A very generous man Stephen was. Always visited the sick—he was feeling—when any one was in trouble. The old people all liked him. Even the children used to follow him on the streets."
"A good man, indeed," I said, indifferently.
"Yes; he only had one fault."
"What was that?" I asked.
"Only intemperance."
"Did it harm him?"
"Yes, somehow. He didn't seem to have any power to resist it at last. He got behindhand and had to mortgage his farm, and finally had to sell it. His wife died on account of the reverse; kind of crushed, disappointed. Then his children, not having the right bring-up, turned out badly. His intemperance seemed to mortify them and take away their spirit. He had to leave politics; 'twouldn't do, you see. Then we had to set him aside from church, and at last his habits brought on paralysis, and we had to take him to the poor-house. He died there; only forty-five. There were none of his children at the funeral. Poor man, he had only one fault."
"Only one fault!"
The ship had only one leak, but it went down.
"Only one fault!"
The temple had only one decaying pillar, but it fell.
"Only one fault!" Home gone, wife lost, family ruined, honor forfeited, social and religious privileges abandoned; broken health, poverty, paralysis, and the poor-house.
One fault—only one.—Youth's Companion.
License.
Hon. Emory A. Storrs puts the whole question of liquor license in a nutshell in the following supposed interview between the whisky man and the city of Chicago. The former says: "Give me for one year the privilege of withering the fruit upon the roof-tree; give me for one year the privilege of scattering ashes upon the hearth-stone; give me for one year the privilege of sending the outraged wife into the streets from a blackened and ruined home; give me the privilege for one year of sending the youths along the highways of debauchery and crime, and I will pay the city fifty dollars," and the noble city of Chicago says, "Done."