"Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in Heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in Heaven." Verses 32, 33. What is it to confess Christ? This is a most important question, for upon it depends our future happiness or woe. In the parallel passage in Mark 8:38 we read: "Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels." These texts show the importance of confessing Christ.635Confessing Christ is something more than acknowledging his existence, or that he is the Son of God. Even the devils do this (Matt. 8:29), but it does not affect their character, nor will it avert their punishment. Neither does confessing Christ consist in making a high profession of Christianity. For, says Jesus, "Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven. Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Matt. 7:21–23. Here we learn that some who have not only made a high profession, but who have been apparently shining lights, and have done much work, will be denied by Christ in the last great day. Then it must be because they have not confessed him; for all who confess him will be acknowledged by him. But he who does not confess Christ, denies him, (see Matt. 12:30), so that our Saviour’s words show us that a man may deny Christ while bearing the Christian name, and being what is called "a pillar in the church."
If now it is desired to know in brief what it is to confess Christ, turn and read Rom. 10:9–11: "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed."
Confessing the Lord Jesus is the outgrowth of a heart belief in him. And what is heart belief in Christ? It is such a belief as produces righteousness, "for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness." The belief that does not produce righteousness, is no belief at all. Righteousness is right-doing. It is the opposite of sin, for unrighteousness is sin. 1 John 5:17. But sin is the transgression of the law. 1 John 3:4. Therefore righteousness is obedience to the law of God. So Moses said, "And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us." Deut. 6:25. Therefore we may understand that true belief in Christ leads invariably to keeping the commandments of God; and true confession of the Lord Jesus Christ is the utterance of one who has such a living, acting, practical faith in Christ.
What a wonderful promise, that if we confess him, he will confess us! And what will he confess concerning us when he comes? Here is the answer: "For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee." Heb. 2:11, 12. Then when he comes in the glory of the Father, with all the holy angels, Christ will not be ashamed to greet as his brethren all those who have confessed him before men, by their lives of obedience, as well as by their words. He will claim such as members of his own family, heirs of God, and joint heirs with himself. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God." We are now members of the family of Christ. If so, let us heed the apostle’s injunction to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called. Let us not disgrace the family, and cause the Head of it to be ashamed of us.
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. Matt. 10:34–36.
Notwithstanding the above statement, it is true that the gospel of Jesus Christ is a "gospel of peace;" and the following exhortation should be most carefully heeded: "But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient; in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth." 2 Tim. 2:23–25. And this: "But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Matt. 5:39, 44.
Then how can there be strife and a sword, as the Saviour said, if these injunctions are followed? They exist just because these injunctions are followed. He does not say that it will be the Christian man who will be at variance with his father. This could not be, for variance is one of the things the possession of which will shut a man out of Heaven. Gal. 5:19–21. But men are naturally prone to evil; and they resent anything which condemns their course. So the sinful son will be at variance with his pious father; the father himself will be at peace with all men. "And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household." The man will not be a foe to those of his own household, but they will be his foes because of his goodness, just as Stephen was stoned because he was a Christian; just as Daniel was cast into the den of lions, because he prayed to God; just as "all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution," because "evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse."
WASHINGTON TERRITORY CAMP-MEETING.
By John Fulton
This meeting was held at Tacoma according to appointment. On account of sickness quite a number of our people were detained at their homes, although all of the churches and companies of Sabbath-keepers in the northern part of our Conference were represented. The outside attendance was much larger than we expected.
The preaching was done by Brethren Reed, Morrison, and the writer. The brethren and sisters appreciated this privilege, and from the beginning took hold of the work in earnest. Instruction was given in the canvassing and Sabbath-school work, also in giving Bible-readings. More than sufficient to meet all the expenses of the meeting was freely donated. At the close of the meeting and the following week fourteen were baptized.
The brethren and sisters returned to their homes much encouraged to live nearer to God and to do more in spreading the truth than has been done in the past. J. FULTON.
PRAYER FOR MINISTERS AND RULERS.
(Sabbath, October 29.)
1. SHOW how Paul, with all his learning and experience, craved the prayers of his brethren that he might preach the gospel as he ought to preach it?
“And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds; that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.” Eph. 6:19, 20.
2. What passage seems to show that the prayers of Christians may help to open the way for the evangelist to get a hearing from the people?
“Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds.” Col. 4:3.
3. Show that the prayers of Christians are needed to make the work of the minister effectual?
“Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you.” 2 Thess. 3:1.
4. Into what deep distress were Paul and his associates once brought in Asia Minor?
“For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life.” 2 Cor. 1:8.
5. How were these men of God tried?
“But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead; who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver; in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us.” Verses 9, 10.
6. How did the Corinthian disciples aid in securing this deliverance?
“Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.” Verse 11.
7. What may this teach us?—To pray for those who are in trial and in danger.
8. How does it appear that the prayers of saints may be effectual not only in protecting the man of God against his enemies, but also in making his work acceptable to others?
“Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me; that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea; and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints.” Rom. 15:30, 31.
9. What other proof have we that the prayers of Christians may further the success of the gospel and the safety of its ministers?
“Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you; and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men; for all men have not faith.” 2 Thess. 3:1, 2.
10. By what remark did Paul show his belief that the prayers of Christians might have some influence in securing his salvation?
“For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” Phil. 1:19.
11. How are we commanded to pray that God will raise up men to preach the gospel?
“Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.” Matt. 9:38.
12. How is the duty of praying for others set forth in 1 Tim. 2:1?
“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men.”
13. Give instances in which God accepted prayer for the wayward.
“And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!” “And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.” Gen. 17:18, 20.
14. How are we commanded to pray for the rulers of our nation?
“For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.” 1 Tim. 2:2.
15. What remark is made concerning this practice?
“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” Verses 3, 4.
TRAVELING THE WRONG ROAD.
By Dwight Lyman Moody
SOMETIMES we go right against our feelings. I remember once I went to Cleveland—I had been eighteen years in Chicago—and when I got to Cleveland I found Lake Erie was on the west side of the city. I was completely turned around. The sun rose in the west and set in the east all the time I was there. If I had gone according to my feelings, I would have got right into Lake Erie and been drowned in it; but I didn’t go according to my feelings, I went according to knowledge; knowledge is better than feelings. One time I went across the corner of this county, and I was driving along some roads where I had never been before. When I had got, as I thought, within about five miles of Conway, I began to think, “Now, you are going according to your feelings; hadn’t you better have a little knowledge about this thing?” So I reined up at the first house and called, “Hello, there!” A man came out, and when I asked him about the road, I found that instead of going to Conway, I was going right away from it. First I thought the man was wrong, then I thought, “This man has lived here for years, he knows the way better than I do;” so I turned around and drove my horse right against my feelings. Don’t mind your feelings, let feelings take care of themselves; what you want is to obey. When people begin talking about their feelings, bring them right to Scripture.—D. L. Moody.
HUGUENOTS IN THE GALLEYS.
By Frederic Vinton
THE expression "a galley slave" is equivalent to the extreme of fatigue and misery, yet few who use it definitely know what it implies. The war galley of the Mediterranean was a one-decked vessel, sometimes a hundred and fifty feet long and twenty feet broad. Its career was urged by twenty-five pairs of oars, forty feet long, each oar being pulled by six or seven pairs of arms. The rower sat on benches firmly fixed between the ship's side, and a central division passing from stern to prow. Along this division, on a level with the men's shoulders, ran a gangway from poop to forecastle. This pathway was occupied by the boatswain, his mate, and a driver, each armed with a heavy thong, which they plied at pleasure on the naked backs of the rowers, chained helpless to the benches, each by his foot. Speed in pursuit, or in the evolutions of battle, was the service expected from the galleys, and it was extorted from the slaves by the lash. At the boatswain's whistle, the oarsmen rose to their feet, pushing up the oar till its blade dipped in the sea; then, pulling it towards them, by clutching at iron handles attached to its side, they sat down, leaning back almost in the bosoms of those behind them, till it was time to rise again. This severe exercise, kept up for hours, made streams of sweat pour down the limbs of the rower, even in the severest weather, and, when continued a whole day or night, produced utter exhaustion. Morsels of bread soaked in wine were at such times put into the rowers' mouths; but, if one sunk from fatigue, he was whipped until it was plain no more work could be got from him, and then thrown into the hold to recover, or into the sea to perish. "That which adds to their misery," says Bion, a chaplain who had sailed several cruises in the French galleys (1703 and 1704), "is that they are not allowed the least sign of complaint, under strokes which are ushered in and followed by volleys of oaths and imprecations."
"If there be a hell in this world," said a rhymer of the sixteenth century, "it is in the galleys, where rest is unknown." Hard work, hard fare, hard usage, exposure by night and by day, experience of every insult and cruelty, were the every-day life of the whole year. Thirty ounces of biscuit, with three ounces of thin bean soup flavored with rancid oil or tainted meat, every other day, scarcely sustained their wretched life. Their clothing included each year two coarse canvas shirts, two pairs of linen breeches, two pairs of socks, and a long overcoat. For covering at night, while sleeping on bare boards, they had two blankets for each bench. As protection from the elements, an awning stretched above them in fair weather; but it was taken down at the approach of a storm, because it made difficult the handling of the vessel. If employed in blockade service, the slaves were exposed all winter to wind, rain, snow, sleet. Their only comfort then was in lying close together. Of course their clothing, worn so long, swarmed with vermin never dislodged but in port. Occasionally half the men would be sick at once. Their only hospital was a hold so dark, crowded, foul, and infested, that no slave who had been there, though ever so sick and weak, but would tug at his oar and expire under the lash rather than go back to so loathsome a place.
Who, now, were the tenants of these horrid prisons, and sat on these wretched seats? At the upper end of every one was a Turk or Moor, captive in war, and promoted to this sad pre-eminence because commonly stronger than a Christian. The most numerous class, however, were deserters from the army, or criminals, doomed for the worst outrages to perpetual slavery at the oar. Having nothing to hope, they often behaved as if they had nothing to fear. A third division were the victims of abominable laws, convicted of having purchased salt otherwise than as the king commands. A pint of salt cost inland about five francs; and it was the king's will that those who lived farthest from the sea should pay this highest price for the benefit of his revenue. If, then, a poor peasant, forced to deny his family soup six days in seven, because it costs so much to season it, ventured to buy salt where it was three times as cheap, he was condemned to the galleys for a term of years. But the most pitiable of all were those aspersed with the name of heretics, who read the Bible, and saw what Romanism had added to its teachings, and thought themselves bound in conscience to worship God otherwise than as the king and Jesuits bade.
After forty years of anarchy, massacre, and civil war, the strife between Catholics and Protestants in France was ended by the edict of Nantes, 1598, securing to the latter equal rights with the former in the exercise of their religion. That edict, the work of Henry IV. in the hour of his triumph, was his statesman-like acknowledgment of the strength of those in whose favor it was made, and of the impossibility of prosperity in France without justice to the Huguenots. Repeatedly was it confirmed by his successors, for they found their account in it, when new convulsions threatened the monarchy. But when those disorders were quieted, and the aggressive temper of Louis XIV. had filled Europe with contention, and his own kingdom with camps, his arrogant spirit forbade all dissent from his opinions. After many years of reported progress in seducing Huguenots from their faith, by offering worldly inducements to apostasy, he pretended that the edict was no longer necessary (Protestantism being nearly extinct), and might be revoked.
The immunity of a hundred years came to an end. Protestant worship was forbidden; Protestant churches were thrown down; Protestant preaching made an offense punishable by condemnation to the galleys; children of seven years were made competent to choose their religion; crowds of soldiers were billeted on Huguenot villages, and encouraged to wring adjuration from men, women, and children, by inflicting every indignity; and by the torture of utter denial of sleep; and even the attempt to escape and emigrate on the part of their wretched victims, made them liable to the galleys. This worst extremity of penal infliction, intolerable beyond all but the vengeance of the Inquisition, was made the doom of men guiltless of every offense, and often adorned with every virtue. Into the company of the worst felons, saintly and learned men were forced for life. Feeble and delicate men were compelled to exhausting exertions, and were visited with merciless scourging if they failed to do what they could not perform. Worst of all, if they refused to kneel at the chaplain's mass, they were liable to the bastinado. Moors and Turks might be absent from this sacrament, but those who at home had risked all losses and perils to avoid it, were compelled to be present and to comply. These sufferings were worse than those of the auto da fe (being burned as martyrs), because they lasted during life. Such atrocious injustice was attempted nowhere else, and never before. It was the wantonness of arbitrary power, setting reason at defiance, and holding compassion in contempt. Nothing could be gained by it except pretended uniformity in externals, accompanied by loathing and detestation at heart. Everything was lost by it, including manliness in the individual, contentment in the community, and prosperity in the State. France flung from her bosom nearly a million of her most intelligent, virtuous, and prosperous citizens.
The Home Circle.
By Eleanor Kirk
THE BETTER CHOICE.
HAD I the power to choose to-day
The path wherein my feet would stray
The remnant of this earthly way,
I wonder where 'twould lead?
To right or left would first step be,
Eastward or westward, land or sea,
And if in choosing to be free
I should be free indeed?
How much of courage should I bring
To this unguided journeying?
How many anthems should I sing
Of hope and trust and praise,
Of gratitude for dangers past,
For sunlit paths and skies o'ercast,
For troubles that do bring at last
God's blessings on our ways?
This way or that? Ah, me! how blind
These human eyes we soon should find,
This human choosing how unkind,
That knows not how to choose!
That finds no comfort in defeat,
No healing balm for bleeding feet,
No tender Presence near and sweet—
As this is Heaven to lose!
Dear Father, closer clasp my hand;
And if I may not understand
The devious paths to thy fair land,
Teach me to trust, I pray.
Help me to feel from sun to sun
That on thy errands I shall run,
And that "thy will, not mine, be done,"
Till comes the perfect day.
—Eleanor Kirk, in Zion's Herald.
OVERGROWN BOYS.
By Mary Sweet Potter
THERE can scarcely be a more refined method of cruelty than that of ridiculing the awkward movements of a boy whose superfluity of flesh or stature prevents his moving gracefully among his more naturally formed brothers and sisters; and yet fathers and mothers, as well as thoughtless friends or playmates, are often guilty of thus wounding the feelings of the overgrown boy who is so unfortunate as to have been born among them. Even the attainment to a noble and perfectly symmetrical stature (which the years always bring to such a one, if his health does not fail under the extra imposition of labor which his mistaken friends require of him), cannot atone for the cruel hurts he thus receives. If he is a sensitive child, they rankle in his very soul, and do untold harm there.
Some parents are in such haste for their children to become men and women that they force them on, hasten their development in every possible way, and if nature favors them by bestowing a more than ordinary growth in bone and flesh upon any of their children, they are rejoiced to have the excuse to impose duties and exact behavior according to the number of pounds avoirdupois, when in reality there is no standard to go by. Too many children are thus defrauded of their childhood, and who is prepared to answer to such a charge, by and by, when it shall be brought against him?—Mary Sweet Potter, in Good Housekeeping.
Suppressing Anger
He who can suppress a moment's anger may prevent days of sorrow.
DIET AND CONDUCT.
SIR HENRY THOMPSON thinks that our forefathers did not sufficiently consider this great subject. Like Mr. Squeers, they have been, he admits, very particular of our morals. He sees a wise and lofty purpose in the laws they have framed for the regulation of human conduct, and the satisfaction of the natural cravings of religious emotions. But those other cravings equally common to human nature, those grosser emotions, cravings of the physical body, they have disregarded. "No doubt," he says, "there has long been some practical acknowledgment on the part of a few educated persons of the simple fact that a man's temper, and consequently most of his actions, depend upon such an alternative as whether he habitually digests well or ill; whether the meals which he eats are properly converted into healthy material, suitable for the ceaseless work of building up both muscle and brain; or whether unhealthy products constantly pollute the course of nutritive supply. But the truth of that fact has never been generally admitted to an extent at all comparable with its exceeding importance." Herein were our ancestors unwise. The relation between food and virtue, Sir Henry maintains (as did Pythagoras before him) to be a very close relation. His view of this relationship is not the view of Pythagoras, who, as Malvolio knew, bade man not to kill so much as a woodcock, lest haply he might dispossess the soul of his grandam. Plutarch also was averse to a too solid diet, for the reason that it does "very much oppress" those who indulge therein, and is apt to leave behind "malignant relics." Sir Henry, in his turn, would not have men to be great eaters of beef, though he holds with Plutarch rather than with Pythagoras, being
(so far as I can judge) no believer in the doctrine of metempsychosis. But of the influence man's diet has on his conduct no less than his constitution he is very sure: "It is certain that an adequate practical recognition of the value of proper food to the individual in maintaining a high standard of health, in prolonging healthy life (the prolongation of unhealthy life being small gain either to the individual or to the community), and thus largely promoting cheerful temper, prevalent good-nature, and improved moral tone, would achieve almost a revolution in the habits of a large part of the community."—Christian at Work.
CHOOSE GOOD FRIENDS.
Few things have a more far-reaching influence on life than the companions and friends of one's early days. There should always be the most careful judging of character before one is admitted into the inner circle of friendship. Cowper's words may seem to set up too high a standard when he writes:
"I would not enter on my list of friends,
Though graced with manners and fine sense
(Yet wanting sensibility), the man
Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm."
But little things are tell-tales of character, and heartlessness shown even to a worm tells of heartlessness which may crop out sometime when a worm is not the object. There is one test in all friendships which it is safe to apply in every case. Never choose for your friends those who mock at sacred things. You will not want such near you in the hour of sorrow, or when you have to stand in the great mysteries of life, or when you are shut up in a sick-room, or when you lie on your bed of death. You will not want a jester or a scoffer at your side in such hours, but rather those who are grave and thoughtful, with reverent faith and humble trust in God. Choose for your friends, in youth and all along your life, those whom you will want about you in life's great hours of trial.—Presbyterian.
Health and Temperance.
SUPPOSING.
LET us suppose such a thing as that the liquor traffic did not exist, and that a drug heretofore unknown should be introduced into the country, the use of which should be followed by the most terrible consequences; which should have such a fascination that in many cases after having been used a little while it could scarcely be relinquished; and that in six months it should become apparent that heart-disease of four or five different kinds, consumption, epilepsy, rheumatism, and insanity should often result. Further, let it be supposed that of the people using it, some should go home and kill their wives and children, others should be incapable of taking care of themselves, and should fall into rivers and excavations, or lie down and sleep on railways; and that others should become reckless, squandering their property, and finally should be attacked by the most terrible form of delirium. Take it for granted, also, that many of all classes became so fascinated that they could not keep away from the places where it was sold—is it to be believed that there would be one citizen not pecuniarily interested in the sale of the drug who would not demand its suppression by law? Nay, the people would not bear the law's delay, but would break up the dens and slay those who sold this poison. Yet this is what the liquor traffic does. To say that the State has no right to prohibit its sale as a beverage, is to utter something that never would have been conceived except under the operation of that principle of human nature which invents plausible excuses and reasons for what it is not willing to renounce.—Selected.
FOR PARENTS TO PONDER.
It is generally without thought, seldom with intention to inflict pain, that a child's past misdemeanors are kept fresh in his memory when they should be forgotten; but that this very often is done by those who should do better, sometimes even by parents, no careful observer can doubt. That the harm thereby done to the child is unrealized, makes it none the less real. In some natures a hard sullenness is engendered; in others an unhealthy tendency to brood over their own failures, and a sense of discouragement as to the future. Forgiveness which does not forget, nor allow the offender to forget, is of small value. It brings no peace. It will be prized lightly, and slowly sought, by any keen-witted child.
"Let bygones be bygones" is a maxim won from the wisdom of the ages. What need to probe a well-healed wound? If the discipline which follows a child's offense is wise, and his own repentance is sincere, the lesson has entered into his life. That is enough. He has taken a step forward, but it was by a rough, hard road. Let him forget the path as far as he can. Do not keep vivid before his mind the thought that he has been naughty, and therefore can be again. He will soon begin to feel that he is rather expected to be so, and he will be prompt to fulfill the expectation. Your child will find out soon enough that he is one of a race of "poor, miserable sinners," without your taking care to emblazon the fact upon the walls of his inner consciousness. Make him feel that rectitude is expected to be the rule of his life; that lapses from it are not to be tolerated, only as the exceptions which shall prove to him the beneficence of the rule. Their lessons learned, they are to be cast behind his back—and yours.—Babyhood.
Use Your Faculties
If one have good faculties but refuse to use them, they will deteriorate and finally become so poor as to rank him among the incapables. The employed talents are those that remain useful.
Self-Denial and God's Blessing
THE more a man denies himself, the more he shall obtain from God.
DANGER FROM CIGARETTES.
HERE is the report of what occurs too often, of a young man named Knevals, who died of what is called a "smoker's heart." He smoked cigarettes nearly all his waking time. What is strange, he was a physician, and must have known the danger of the practice. That which gives tobacco its "virtue" is its deadly poisonous alkaloids; and while one can, by careful abuse, overcome the first toxic effects of tobacco, and seem to be uninjured, yet even those who appear to have hardened themselves most are liable to fall victims to the smoker's special diseases. Of all forms of tobacco, the cigarette is the most dangerous. This is not because, as was at first thought, the paper is poisonous, but because the poison of the tobacco is not intercepted. In smoking a long and closely packed cigar, much of the alkaloids is absorbed and deposited before it reaches the mouth, and the end of the cigar is generally thrown away, because it becomes disagreeable. So a long pipe condenses in its stem much of the nicotine. But a cigarette is loosely packed, is short, and is smoked up close to the mouth. Nearly all its poison gets into the system. We sometimes hear it said that the Turks are great smokers, and yet are a healthy people. The Turks are not much of a people to boast of, but it must be remembered that if they are the greatest of all smokers, they smoke in the least unhealthy way. Their pipes have very long stems, and often the smoke is first washed in water, and then passed through several feet of a flexible tube before reaching the mouth. The injury is thus reduced to a minimum, just as the cigarette raises it to a maximum. The law should forbid boys to smoke cigarettes or cigars, and good sense should prevent their elders.—Independent.
Tobacco Heart Among Cadets
In the examination of eighteen young men at Westfield last week for a West Point cadetship, all under twenty years of age, ten were at once ruled out as physically unfit, the medical examiner finding that more than half of the number had a "tobacco heart," such as cigarette smoking produces. The successful candidate was a boy who had been compelled to work in a mill, and could devote only his spare hours to books and study. The two lessons taught by these facts are so plain that it needs no additional words to enforce them.—Congregationalist.
Natural Sleep and Artificial Sleep
Two hours of natural sleep are worth more for real recuperation than a whole night of unconsciousness under the influence of some drug. Artificial sleep is no substitute, in a physiological sense, for "nature's sweet restorer."
Wine's Three Grapes
By Anacharsis the Scythian
WINE bringeth forth three grapes, the first of pleasure, the second of drunkenness, and the third of sorrow.—Anacharsis the Scythian.
News and Notes.
By Editor
RELIGIOUS.
—A party of twenty-six men and women recently sailed from New York to join Bishop Taylor in Africa.
—It is estimated that there are over 700,000 Poles in the United States. They are almost universally Romanists.
—Mr. Spurgeon's church has a band of 130 local preachers, and 7,677 scholars in its Sunday-schools, manned by 544 teachers.
—At the last missionary meeting of the South Sea Islanders, $1,531 was raised to build a new yacht to carry the gospel to New Guinea.
—The Christian at Work says that there are two thousand four hundred unmarried women now laboring in the various mission fields.
—The Baptist ministers of New York voted down a proposition to invite Dr. McGlynn to address them, on the ground that it might appear to be a partial approval of his doctrine. Prudent men.
—The Roman Catholic Church, by the recent action of the German Government, has been awarded exclusive missionary jurisdiction over a territory of some 2,000 square miles in east equatorial Africa.
—The pastors of several Congregational Churches in Illinois have issued a circular calling for a meeting of Christian people who feel that the prevalent desecration of Sunday is injuring the churches, promoting infidelity, and provoking the just anger of God.
—The Seybert Commissioners, in their report, say: "The belief in so-called Spiritualism is certainly not decreasing. It has from the first assumed a religious tone, and now claims to be ranked among the denominational faiths of the day.
—The twenty-first annual session of the Universalists' General Convention opened in New York on the 18th. Advance reports show that the Universalist Church in this country numbers 900 local parishes and 35,214 church members. The property, less debt, is estimated at 7,112,818.