"But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." 2 Peter 3:8.
THIS is a much abused text. It has no doubt been quoted, in part, at least, by thousands who have never read it; and of the thousands who have read it, probably comparatively few realized its force. We say the text is much abused, because it is almost always referred to to sustain some erroneous opinion. One will quote it as proof that "the day of the Lord" (see verse 10; 1 Thess. 5:2, etc.) is a thousand years long; but the text does not intimate anything of the kind, and from other texts it may clearly be shown that "the day of the Lord" is not a thousand years long. Another will quote it as proof that the days of creation were not literal days, but that they were periods of at least a thousand years. This is even worse than the other; for the sacred record shows beyond the possibility of an intelligent doubt that the days of creation were literal days of twenty-four hours each. Still others hold that the text shows that the coming of the Lord may not come for a thousand years or more. This also is a gross perversion.
The real force of the text can only be learned from the context. The chapter is devoted wholly to the second coming of Christ. The apostle tells us that some will say, "Where is the promise of his coming?" The word "promise" here is evidently used in an accommodated sense, as meaning the prospect of the fulfillment of the promise; they can easily read the promise in the Bible, but they are skeptical as to its fulfillment, as is shown by their saying, "For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation."
The apostle cites the case of the flood, and says that the same word that formed the earth a liquid mass in the beginning, and stored up within it the elements of its destruction, still keeps it stored with fire reserved against the day of Judgment, and perdition of ungodly men. Just as surely as the world was once destroyed by water, so surely will it again be destroyed by fire.
But, then, the objector will urge that it has been a long time since the signs which Christ gave (see Matt. 24) were fulfilled, and there seems to be almost as much to be done now as then. He is like the "evil servant" who says in his heart, "My Lord delayeth his coming." To all such the apostle says that "one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." What does this mean? Simply this, that God, being infinite, and inhabiting eternity, does not regard time as we do, whose lives are but a vapor that appeareth for a little time and then passeth away. A thousand years are in his sight as one day. That is, compared with his eternity, a thousand years is but as a day would be to us.
Does this, then, give any color to the idea that the coming of the Lord may be perhaps thousands of years distant? Not by any means; for the Scriptures plainly teach that after certain signs have taken place, Christ's coming is near, "even at the doors." Those signs have been seen; and now to the one who says that at the rate the truth has been going to the nations of the earth, it will require many, many years for all people to be warned, the apostle says that "one day is with the Lord as a thousand years." That is, in one day he can accomplish as much as in a thousand years, if he so chooses. He has infinite resources at his command, and he has promised that he will "finish the work and cut it short in righteousness," and will make a short work on the earth. He who is able to raise up children to Abraham, of the stones of the earth, is able to raise up laborers sufficient to do in one week as much work in warning the world of Christ's coming as has been done in the last hundred years. What he has promised he is able to perform; he has all time for his own; and since he has given his word, we may know that Christ's coming is "at the doors," no matter how much appearances may be to the contrary.
The fact that a thousand years are with the Lord as one day, shows that "the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." Instead, therefore, of caviling at the promise of God, or wickedly saying in our hearts, "My Lord delayeth his coming," we should thank God for his longsuffering in waiting for us to get ready for the coming of the Lord, and should cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, knowing that the night is far spent, and the day is at hand. W.
The Best in a Man
By Adela Cathcart
The best in a man is often that which is most condemned by those who have not attained to his goodness.—Adela Cathcart.
THE STORY OF A BIBLE.
“Did he leave any message for me?”
“Yes, and he cursed the day that he ever saw you.”
This was the answer given by a nun to a lady in London, under the following circumstances, which were related to me by a gentleman of culture and piety, as we were sailing along the coast of Norway, from Trondhjem to Bremen, in and out among the beautiful fords and snow-capped mountains.
Monsignor Capel was asked by a lady of position in London, “How can I find peace of mind?”
Instead of pointing her to Christ, and telling her that he atoned for our sins on the cross, he bade her dismiss such unwelcome thoughts, and attend places of amusement.
One day she followed a crowd of people into Exeter Hall, expecting to have her mind diverted from serious thoughts about the future by a musical entertainment. She was surprised when she found herself in a great religious meeting. Annoyed at this, she attempted to get out, but in doing so she knocked some umbrellas onto the floor, and, abashed, took her seat.
Her attention was soon riveted upon the speaker. He explained our relation to God, as under condemnation already, and spoke of Christ’s suffering on the cross as an atoning sacrifice, and of God’s willingness for his sake to pardon, and by his Holy Spirit to change our hearts and fit us for Heaven. She was deeply moved, and at the close she said to someone near, “Can I speak to the gentleman who has just addressed us?”
Soon after, in conversation with her, he said, “You will find the truth which I have mentioned often repeated in the Bible.”
“But I have no Bible,” she replied.
He quickly handed her his own, saying, “I have pleasure in giving you mine.”
Sometime after this, the high Catholic dignitary, remembering the advice he had given this lady, sent a priest to inquire about the state of her mind. Instead of needing his help, he soon found that she was able to direct him in the way of life.
Before leaving, she gave him the Bible that had been given her at Exeter Hall, and begged him to read it with prayer, and to trust in him who “bore our sins in his own body on the tree.”
Sometime after she received a note from the priest, asking her to call upon him.
As she was about to take her son to Eton College, she did not accept the invitation at the time.
When she called, some weeks after, she was shown into a room where there was a coffin, and in it the body of the priest. Beside it a nun kneeling in prayer. The lady approached, and asked, “Did he leave a message for me?”
“Yes,” was the reply. “He wished me to say, if you called, that he died in the full faith of the Catholic Church, and that he cursed the day he ever saw you.”
The poor lady turned away, greatly distressed, saying to herself: “If I had gone to his bedside when he sent for me, I might have pointed him to Christ, and he might have been saved through faith in him; but now, alas! it is too late. I fear, through my negligence, he is lost forever.”
This reflection produced such an effect upon her that it destroyed her peace of mind, which she sought to overcome by foreign travel.
One day in Rome a lady approached her and said: “Do you remember standing by the coffin of Father —, and the dreadful message delivered to you?”
“Yes,” she replied, “and it has followed me night and day.”
“But it was not a true message. The words he bade me to deliver to you were these: ‘Tell her that I bless the day I ever saw her, and that I die in the full faith of Jesus Christ. Tell her that the Bible she gave me was the means of leading me to trust alone in him for pardon. Tell her I shall meet her in Heaven.’ And then,” added the nun, “he gave me that precious Bible, which has also been the means of leading me to see myself a lost sinner, and Christ as my only Saviour. Will you forgive me for telling you that falsehood?”—Morning Star.
A TOUCHING STORY.
ONCE I knew a workingman—a potter by trade—who had one small invalid child at home. He wrought at his trade with exemplary fidelity, being always in the shop with the opening of day.
He managed, however, to bear each evening to the bedside of the “wee lad,” as he called him, a flower, or a bit of ribbon, a fragment of crimson glass—indeed, anything that would lie out on the white counterpane and give a color in the room. He was a quiet, unsentimental Scotchman, but never went he home at nightfall without some toy or trinket, showing he had remembered the wan face that lit up so when he came in.
I presume he never said to a living soul that he loved that sick boy so much; still he went on patiently loving him. And by and by he moved that whole shop into positively real but unconscious fellowship with him. The workmen made curious little jars and teacups upon their wheels, and painted diminutive pictures down their sides before they stuck them in corners of the kiln at burning-time.
One brought some fruit in the bulge of his apron, and another some engravings in a rude scrap-book. Not one of them all whispered a word, for this solemn thing was not to be talked about.
They put them in the old man’s hat, where he found them; so he understood all about it. And I tell you seriously that entire pottery, full of men of rather coarse fiber by nature, grew quiet as the months drifted, becoming gentle and kind, and some of the ungoverned ones stopped swearing as the weary look on their patient fellow-worker’s face told them beyond any mistake that the inevitable shadow was drawing nearer.
Every day now somebody did a piece of his work for him and put it upon the sanded plank to dry; thus he could come later and go earlier.
So, when the bell tolled, and the little coffin came out of the door of the lowly house, right round the corner, out of sight, there stood a hundred stalwart workingmen from the pottery, with their clean clothes on, most of whom gave a half-day of time for the privilege of taking off their hats to the simple procession, filing in behind it, and following across the village green to its grave, that small burden of a child, which probably not one of them had ever seen with his own eyes.
—Selected.
LOADED PISTOLS.
DR. BUCKLEY tells in the Christian Advocate a story of his own boyish folly in handling a pistol, supposed not to be loaded, which ought to lead all boys and men who read it to decide firmly never to point a pistol at a human being as a piece of pleasantry. Here is what he says:—
“A long while ago I received a visit from a gentleman who spent the evening with me. During the time various incidents were narrated by him and myself. At last I told of a circumstance which had recently occurred. In the story an account was given of repelling, by the use of a pistol, an assault from a man under the influence of delirium tremens.
“In the course of the narrative, I took a single-barreled pistol from a drawer, and pointed it at my friend to illustrate the scene described. This pistol I was sure was not loaded. The pistol had but one barrel, and I had shot the load out of it and placed it safely in the drawer; so I was certain that there was no danger in its use.
“I pointed it at my visitor at a distance of about two feet from his face, and went on with the story. He looked at the pistol and at me, and said, ‘Don’t point that at me, my friend.’
“‘Oh,’ said I, ‘there is no load in it; I shot the load out of it myself a few days ago.’ And to prove that it was safe I turned it toward my own breast, and though it was cocked, I pulled upon the trigger with all my might.
“‘Oh, well,’ said he, ‘if it isn’t loaded, go on with the story.’
“So I pointed it at him again, and continued with the story, unconsciously pulling still on the trigger, when, horrible to tell, it was discharged, filling my friend’s face with powder, the bullet grazing his face as it passed, and sinking half an inch into a mahogany writing-desk on the other side of the room!
“Who loaded that pistol after I had emptied it, I never knew. Why it did not go off when I pointed it at my own breast, and did my best to snap the trigger, I cannot tell. That it was the merest accident that I was not pointing it full in my friend’s face when it did explode, I very well know.
“Two badly frightened men were there, and as thankful as they were frightened. Realizing the folly of my conduct, I asked my friend not to mention the occurrence for ten years.
“It has been nearly thirty years, and last381summer, as I entered the Methodist Episcopal Church at Greenland, N. H., I found that the pastor was absent, and saw that very man, Rev. C. N. Dinsmore, in the pulpit preaching the sermon. A most vivid recollection of a narrow escape from suicide in the first instance, and homicide in the second, diverted my attention for a few moments from the discourse; and I thanked God for my escape and for his.
“Never point a pistol, even if you think you know it to be empty, at any person. I had never done it before, and you may be certain I have never done it since. But in two years afterward I counted two hundred and four instances recorded in the newspapers of persons accidentally shot, and seriously or fatally wounded, by just such a foolish fellow as I was.”
The Home Circle.
By D. Williams
BE AT PEACE.
“BE at peace!”
Life is but a transient lease,
Never long enough for hate,
Sharp contention or debate;
In the land to which we're going,
Just beyond the river flowing,
We are told the dwellers never
Through the long and bright forever
Know a tumult or a jar,—
Life is tranquil as a star;
On his height
Sits the King of Peace in light.
“Be at peace!”
Lo, the angry billows cease,
When the Master cometh near,
Turning back the storm in fear;
Let him hold his scepter o'er thee,
As his banner goes before thee;
Follow thou with high endeavor
To the hills of joy forever;
With thy comrades on the way
Weep and suffer, work and pray;
Peace descends
On all true abiding friends.
“Be at peace!”
Comes a time with long increase,
When the nations shall unite
On the broader field of light;
We are on our journey thither,
Let us live in peace together;
In the temple, glory-lighted,
With our comrades re-united,
Oh, it will be sweet to know
Heaven with us began below!
Peace is best!
Earnest of eternal rest.
—D. Williams.
WATER-SPOUTS.
WATER-SPOUTS are simply whirlwinds on the ocean. They are caused by atmospheric currents which form a whirl, generally quite high in the air, a cloud from which reaches down in the shape of an inverted cone to the surface of the sea. On reaching this the water commences to boil and effervesce, just as it does when a steamer’s propeller is churning, and an upright cone is formed under and joined to the first one, giving the completed spout the appearance of a solid column, shaped like an hour-glass. Spray in considerable quantities is carried up the column, just as leaves, sticks, and other solids are by tornadoes on land. Often there is a hollow, saucer-like space at the base of the column. Occasionally two spouts form near each other, and then suddenly merge into one.
In color, water-spouts are black or gray. Sometimes they are straight, and sometimes spiral and standing at a considerable angle with the surface of the ocean. They have both a circular and a forward movement, but ordinarily they are not of long duration. The upper and lower cones move with different degrees of speed, and the spout first bends and then breaks and disappears. When the spout is completed, a roaring noise is heard like that caused by a waterfall. After it breaks, water descends in the shape of heavy rain, and this, even in the middle of the ocean, is always fresh, showing that it comes from the clouds and is not the salt spray raised from the sea. In some cases the base of this wonderful column is as much as five hundred feet in diameter, and the whole spout half a mile high. They are most common in the tropics, but are occasionally encountered in the Atlantic, as high as forty degrees north latitude. Often several appear at once. It has been thought that they were most frequent in the hot summer months, but since the issue by the Hydrographic Office of the North Atlantic Pilot Chart, nearly as many have been reported in winter as in summer, thus upsetting former theories on the subject.
The influence of a spout is not felt very far from its immediate vicinity, and a vessel is not ordinarily in any danger unless directly below it. In this case, however, vessels sometimes lose their sails and masts, and occasionally some of the crew are swept overboard. When a vessel is threatened in this way the danger may be overcome by firing a cannon ball into the center of the spout, which bursts it and renders it harmless.
If a spout, formed near the coast, passes in its forward motion from the sea on to the land, and there encounters anything to suddenly break it, heavy and damaging torrents result, which sometimes cause great loss of life.—Christian Union.
Health and Temperance.
A WARNING TO MOTHERS.
AN English physician, in a lecture to a female audience on the use of alcoholic beverages, asserted that the "babes of London are never sober from their birth until they are weaned."
The use of beer and ale among nursing mothers is perhaps not so common in the United States as it is in England, but it is by far too common. How often a friend, and even the family physician, will recommend the use of beer to the mother, not only to give tone to the system, but as a means of nourishing the child.
What a fatal mistake! The eternities with their mysteries alone can reveal the amount of damage resulting from so dangerous a practice. The stimulant thus taken by the mother readily enters into the food nature has provided for the child, and every particle of nourishment drawn from the life-giving fountain is impregnated with a substance that is not only foreign to the highest physical condition of the child, but is actually poisonous to the system.
The old theory that these drinks are necessary to the well-being of the mother and the sustenance of the child, is thoroughly exploded, and those who advocate the notion are far in the rear of the car of progress. It is a well-established fact, demonstrated by the most logical minds of the day, that the physical system is in the most healthful and natural state when freest from the influence of stimulants.
Besides the custom being entirely unnecessary and uncalled for, every mother should take into consideration the future welfare of her child. There can be no doubt but that the appetite for stimulants is often bred and nurtured at the mother’s breast. Regarding this as true, how can any mother for a moment listen to the advice of a physician or friend in a matter of such weighty import to her child?
Mothers, in taking that draught that seems so harmless to you, remember you are doubtless paving the way to a drunkard’s doom for your darling child.
Beware lest the thing that now appears so innocent and harmless, by and by, warmed into life by your caresses and grown bold through your influence, should strike at your dearest interests, and turn to gall the honeyed chalice of life’s purest joys.—Oregon Temperance Star.
The Liquor Interest in Politics
By Wesleyan Methodist
THE liquor interest goes into politics, determined to know nothing but breweries, distilleries, and saloons. Whatever stands in the way of these interests they propose to strike down. A representative of the New York State Brewers’ and Malsters’ Association said in a speech recently:—
“Our object is simply to defeat any men or measures which will prove injurious to our interests. The association is not a political organization. If two men are running on opposition tickets, and one of them is of known prohibition tendencies, the association works against him, no matter what his political party.”
Temperance men should be equally positive in their antagonism to the fiery, ever-destroying fiend of the still.
Simple Food and Innocent Drink
By Tryon
LET your food be simple, your drink innocent, and learn of wisdom and experience how to prepare them aright.—Tryon.
STARVING THE TEETH.
TEETH are just as easily starved as the stomach. The fact is that people have from generation to generation been industriously starving their teeth. In one way it is a blessing to have been born of poor parents. What food the poor give their children is of a variety that goes to make strong bones and teeth. It is the outside of all the grains of all cereal food that contains the carbonate and phosphate of lime, and traces of other earthy salts, which nourish the bony tissues and build the frame up. If we do not furnish to the teeth of the young that pabulum they require, they cannot possibly be built up. It is the outside of corn, oats, wheat, barley, and the like, or the bran, so called, that we sift away and feed to the swine, that the teeth actually require for their proper nourishment. The wisdom of man has proved his folly, shown in every succeeding generation of teeth, which become more and more fragile and weak.—Boston Herald.
HINTS ABOUT TEETH.
CHILDREN should be trained from their earliest years to clean their teeth regularly, and to rinse out their mouths after every meal. The best dentifrice is charcoal powder. Besides cleaning the teeth, it acts as a deodorizer, leaving the mouth fresh and free from any fetid odor. There should be no undue indulgence in sugar or “sweeties.” A “sweet-tooth” is uncommonly likely soon to be a “decayed tooth.” Tartar of the teeth is an earthy-like incrustation deposited from the saliva. If, through neglect, it has been allowed to collect round the roots of the teeth, it should be carefully scraped off with some sharp instrument. It is best to seek a dentist’s aid in this matter. Some people are so negligent as to allow such a quantity to collect that a whole row of teeth become firmly soldered together, so that if one tooth requires removal the dentist finds great difficulty in singling it out and extracting it only. A decayed tooth, however painless, which has a sharp edge, or which, breaking off, leaves a pointed stump behind it, should at once be filed, as the irritation caused by the tongue rubbing upon it is a frequent origin of cancer.—Household Words.
CIDER IN VARIETY.
Every fruit known will make cider. That from pears is of ancient renown as perry, but pear juice is worth more for syrup or fruit honey, as it is rich in sugar. Plum cider is very nice and grape cider will yet be the American beverage, having the strengthening quality of wine without its alcoholic spirit, and tasting better than anything else known in the shape of drinks. There would not be a grape too many in the United States if the juice, freshly drawn from the clusters, undiluted, could be placed on sale in our cities. Its delicious, pure refreshment justifies all that poets have sung and writers raved about the blood of the grape, while for benefit to feeble consumptive or bilious people its effects outdo hypophosphites, a trip to Italy, or Saratoga waters. In the Erie wine regions and other vineyard belts, when the grapes ripen, sallow, liver-congested people from the cities take board where they can drink the “must” of new wine as it comes from the press, and return built up for the winter’s dissipation. Consumptives, especially, cannot do better than to try the grape cure in this form, and the “vineyard season” may yet be as fashionable as the seaside in July, or Lenox in October.—Vick’s Magazine for April.
SECULAR.
—The public debt of Mexico is $151,020,000.
—The Sunday law is to be rigidly enforced in St. Louis.
—Of the 6,000,000 women in Brazil, only 500,000 can read or write.
—There are more than 60,000 persons confined in penal institutions in the United States.
—Cadet Alexander (colored) graduated second in his class at West Point on the 11th inst.
—The gauge of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad is being changed to the standard gauge.
—There was serious rioting in Dublin on the 13th inst. Several houses were wrecked by the mob.
—June 14, 315 mules were burned in the stables of the Mound City Street-car Company, St. Louis, Mo.
—The police of Berlin have prohibited the circulation in that city of the Chicago Workmen's Gazette.
—A tornado in Dakota one day last week destroyed considerable property, and killed and injured several persons.
—The great coke strike in Pennsylvania is over and the iron-masters are preparing to put their works in operation.
—Ex-President Mark Hopkins, of Williams College, died at North Adams, Mass., on the morning of the 17th inst.
—Lompoc, Cal., produced 25,000 centals of English mustard last year, and it is said that the yield will be greater this year.
—The United States national debt, less cash in the treasury, is now about $1,000,000,000, or $20 per capita of our population.
—The jury in the Jake Sharp case, New York City, was completed on the 15th inst. The whole number of jurors examined was 1,196.
—Victoria, B. C., is overrun with caterpillars, which have appeared in large numbers and are doing a great deal of damage to fruit trees.
—It is stated that during the last three years 6,000 foreigners, more than half of whom were Germans, have applied for Russian naturalization.
—Some twenty-seven persons were drowned on the 16th inst., while attempting to escape from a burning steamer off Charlevoix, Michigan.
—The Irish members of Parliament, though urged to do so, refused to attend thanksgiving jubilee services at Westminster Abbey, on the 21st inst.
—Nearly 250 pilgrims were lost a few days since in Hungary while crossing the Danube River. The boats were caught in a hurricane and capsized.
—The director of the Mint, estimates the production of precious metals in the United States for 1886 to have been: gold, $35,000,000; silver, $51,000,000.
—The floods in Hungary are subsiding, but there is great distress among the inhabitants of the inundated regions. Fifteen hundred farmers are totally ruined.
—Two of the Chicago boodlers have been found guilty of official corruption, and will be required to atone for their crime by spending three years each in the penitentiary.
—The Pope in his letter of congratulation to Queen Victoria, expressed, it is said, a wish for the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between Her Majesty's Government and the Vatican.
—Seventy-one immigrants whose fares were paid by the British Government, were allowed to land the other day at New York, on habeas corpus proceedings had before Judge Brown.
—The work of civilizing Burmah is being steadily carried forward by the English, who have conquered that country. Late advices state that 195 of the natives were killed at Kyoup Sidoung on the 12th inst.
—The Holland Parliament has passed a bill providing for the temporary extension of the electoral franchise, pending a complete revision of the constitution. The bill raises the number of voters from 130,000 to 300,000.
—Owing to a heavy wind which continued in one direction for four days, the rice fields along the east side of the Mississippi for thirty miles from the gulf were submerged with salt water a few days since, and the crop was ruined.
—A heavy wind did considerable damage at Grand Forks, Dakota, one day last week. The Grand Forks roundhouse was blown down and much damage done. The wires were all down, and a passenger train was blown from the track near that place. Four persons were killed and six seriously injured.
—Prince Victor Albert, who may some day be king of England, will attend the grand jubilee thanksgiving service to be held in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, on June 28, and will on that occasion be decorated with the order of St. Patrick.
—Mulhall, the British statistician, is authority for the statement that during the Victorian reign Ireland has lost by famine 1,225,000 people; by eviction, 3,668,000; by emigration, 4,186,000. The evicted constituted 75 per cent. of the whole population.
—It is stated that the death rate among laborers on the Panama canal is about 60 per cent. among the colored workmen and 80 per cent. among white laborers per annum. Owing to this fact, the company has great trouble in obtaining workmen.
—The Grand Jury at Denver, Col., returned six indictments against the sheriff of that county for false pretenses and malfeasance in office. Indictments were also returned against the under-sheriff and two other deputies, charging them with perjury.
—Emperor William is very feeble and his death at almost any time would not be a matter of surprise. The Crown Prince is also in rather delicate health on account of an abnormal growth in his throat, supposed by some to be a cancer, though this is denied by his physician, Dr. McKenzie, of London.
—Hailstones, strangely shaped, pointed, and weighing over one pound each, fell, a few days since, between Adrianople and Shumla, on the south slope of the Balkan Mountains, East Roumelia. They destroyed harvests, killed many laborers and cattle in the fields, and pierced the roofs of houses like bullets.
—President Cleveland caused quite a sensation and a perfect storm of indignation throughout the North, some days since, by issuing an order for the return to the several Southern States of all the flags captured from the Confederate forces during the war of the Rebellion. The order was however rescinded on the 16th inst. It is a matter of surprise that such an order was ever issued, and it is no less surprising that such a man as Cleveland should have revoked the order after it was issued.
—In Russia it is said suicides are increasing in number every year. The proportion to the population is now greater in St. Petersburg than in any other European capital. Of late years even boys and girls from eight to sixteen take their own lives, generally on the idea of the cruel treatment of their parents. The causes assigned for that state of things are the wretched social conditions of modern Russian life and the pessimist views and Anarchist tendencies embraced by many in early years.
News and Notes.
By Editor
RELIGIOUS.
—A Council of Roman Catholic Archbishops will be held shortly in Baltimore.
—The income of the missionary society of the English Episcopalians is $1,161,095.
—It is said that the persecution of Christians outside of the Greek Church still continues in Russia.
—Of the 2,050,985 Baptists in the South, 985,814 are colored. The number of baptisms last year was 90,649.
—In the latter part of the present year the Congregational Churches of Australia will celebrate their centennial.
—It is said that during the past fifteen years the growth of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church has been very great.
—Dr. John Hall is authority for the statement that four-fifths of the crimes committed in New York City are perpetrated by Roman Catholics.
—The Wesleyan Church in Great Britain has only 1,970 regular ministers, but its local preachers number 15,000 and its class-leaders 24,579.
—The Pope has proclaimed the new Catholic hierarchy of Australia, making the Bishops of Adelaide, Brisbane, and Wellington metropolitans.
—A correspondent of the Christian at Work, writing of Portugal, says, "Most marriages and funerals are civil, to avoid the grasping exactions of the priests."
—There are said to be 27,000 heathen converts now employed as Christian evangelists to their countrymen, 2,500 of whom have been ordained as ministers of the gospel.
—"Jesuitism," says the Christian Union, "is hate masquerading as Christianity. Christianity insists on the motive of love. Jesuitism is sectarianism inspired by bigotry and hate."
—The journeymen bakers of Berlin have, it is said, a well-attended special church service on Thursday afternoons, that being their only spare time when they are not obliged to be at work.
—It is estimated that there are in Japan 106,629 Buddhist priests, which is about one to 350 of the population. In the United States there is one minister to about 650 of the population.
—His Majesty, the Shah of Persia, has authorized the American missionaries to establish at Teheran a hospital where, without distinction to creed or race, all seeking relief shall be received for treatment.
—The statement is made that the fiscal year recently closed has not been a prosperous one for the Protestant Churches in Ireland. As an example, the Sustentation Fund of the General Assembly is short this year, as compared with last, $9,080. The receipts this year are $99,885 as against $108,965.
—According to the Year Book of the Roman Catholic Society for the Propagation of the Faith, the total income of the Society for 1885, was 6,629,259 francs (about $1,325,852). More than two-thirds of this amount was collected in France. Some 5,000,000 francs was spent on heathen missions, and the remainder, 1,629,259 francs was used to oppose Protestantism.
—In an article in a late number of the Independent Rev. James H. Hoadley calls attention to the fact that the Presbyterians of New York City are not nearly keeping pace with the growth of the city. For instance, in 1845 when the population was only 371,223, there were in that city thirty-eight Presbyterian Churches while forty years later with a population of 1,500,000 there were only forty-one.
—The General Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church has adopted a resolution that no student who uses tobacco in any form shall be licensed to the ministry or installed as a pastor, and that no user of tobacco shall be elected to office in any Reformed Presbyterian Church. And this the Christian at Work sneeringly calls "the new decalogue." It is however only a very just and proper recognition of more than one precept of the old decalogue.
—Professor Egbert C. Smith, of Andover Seminary, who was tried some months ago for teaching doctrines contrary to those laid down by the founders of the university has been found guilty by the Board of Visitors, and his office will be declared vacant. The charges against Smith's associates, Professors Tucker, Church, Harris and Edward H. Smith, were not sustained. The case of Smith will be carried to the Supreme Court, and in the meantime, as the trustees are with him and superior to the visitors, Professor Smith will continue to teach as heretofore.
Appointments.
OAKLAND.—House of worship, southeast corner of Jefferson and Thirteenth Streets. Sabbath-School every Sabbath at 9:30 A. M. Preaching at 11. Prayer and missionary meeting every Tuesday evening at 7:15. Seats free.
EAST PORTLAND (Or.)—House of worship on G Street, between Tenth and Eleventh. Sabbath-school every Sabbath (Saturday), followed by services. Preaching or Bible-reading Sunday evening. Prayer-meeting Wednesday evening. The public cordially invited. Free public reading-room, corner of L and Fifth Streets.
SAN FRANCISCO.—House of worship, 914 Laguna Street, between McAllister and Tyler. Sabbath-school every Sabbath at 9:45, and preaching at 11 A. M.; also preaching every Sunday evening at 7:30. Sabbath-school classes in the English, German, and Scandinavian languages. Prayer and missionary meeting every Wednesday evening at 7:15. Mission reading-rooms at the church.
BIBLE SANCTIFICATION:
A CONTRAST OF
TRUE AND FALSE THEORIES.
By Mrs. E. G. White.
This is a pamphlet of only 84 pages, but its value is not to be judged by its size. It is just what its title indicates: a faithful presentation of Bible truth on this important subject, and an exposure of the false theories prevailing in regard to it. Every believer in Bible truth should read it. Buy it, read it, and lend it to your neighbor. Price, 10 cents.
Address, PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal.
THE HOME OF THE SAVED.
By John Norton Loughborough
By Eld. J. N. Loughborough.
This pamphlet gives the Bible evidence upon the interesting topic of the earth made new, as the inheritance of the saints. It contains 82 pages. Price, 10 cents.
Address, PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal.
Publishers' Department.
By Editor
OUR GENERAL AGENTS.
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