There are ten thousand ways of telling a lie. A man's entire life may be a falsehood, while with his lips he may not once directly falsify. There are those who state what is positively untrue, but afterwards say, "may be," softly. These departures from the truth are called "white lies;" but there is really no such thing as a white lie. The whitest lie that was ever told was as black as perdition. No inventory of public crimes will be sufficient that omits this gigantic abomination. There are men, high in Church and State, actually useful, self-denying, and honest in many things, who, upon certain subjects, and in certain spheres, are not at all to be depended upon for veracity. Indeed, there are multitudes of men who have their notions of truthfulness so thoroughly perverted, that they do not know when they are lying. With many it is a cultivated sin; with some it seems a natural infirmity. I have known people who seemed to have been born liars. The falsehoods of their lives extended from cradle to grave. Prevarication, misrepresentation, and dishonesty of speech appeared in their first utterances and was as natural to them as any of their infantile diseases, and was a sort of moral croup or spiritual scarlatina. But many have been placed in circumstances where this tendency has day by day, and hour by hour, been called to larger development. They have gone from attainment to attainment, and from class to class, until they have become regularly graduated liars.
The air of the city is filled with falsehoods. They hang pendent from the chandeliers of our finest residences; they crowd the shelves of some of our merchant princes; they fill the sidewalk from curb-stone to brown-stone facing. They cluster around the mechanic's hammer, and blossom from the end of the merchant's yard-stick, and sit in the doors of churches. Some call them "fiction." Some style them "fabrication." You might say that they were subterfuge, disguise, delusion, romance, evasion, pretence, fable, deception, misrepresentation; but, as I am ignorant of anything to be gained by the hiding of a God-defying outrage under a lexicographer's blanket, I shall chiefly call them what my father taught me to call them—lies.
I shall divide them into agricultural, mercantile, and mechanical; leaving those that are professional, social, and political for some other chapter.
First, then, I will speak of those that are more particularly agricultural. There is something in the perpetual presence of natural objects to make a man pure. The trees never issue "false stock." Wheat-fields are always honest. Rye and oats never move out in the night, not paying for the place they have occupied. Corn shocks never make false assignments. Mountain brooks are always "current." The gold on the grain is never counterfeit. The sunrise never flaunts in false colors. The dew sports only genuine diamonds.
Taking farmers as a class, I believe they are truthful, and fair in dealing, and kind-hearted. But the regions surrounding our cities do not always send this sort of men to our markets. Day by day there creak through our streets, and about the market-houses, farm-wagons that have not an honest spoke in their wheels, or a truthful rivet from tongue to tail-board. During the last few years there have been times when domestic economy has foundered on the farmer's firkin.
Rural districts are accustomed to rail at great cities as given up to fraud and every form of unrighteousness; but our cities do not absorb all the abominations. Our citizens have learned the importance of not always trusting to the size and style of apples in the top of a farmer's barrel, as an indication of what may be found farther down. Many of our people are accustomed to watch how correctly a bushel of beets is measured; and there are not many honest milk-cans. Deceptions do not all cluster around city halls. When our cities sit down and weep over their sins, all the surrounding counties ought to come in and weep with them.
In the next place we notice mercantile lies, those before the counter and behind the counter. A merchant can, to the last item, be thoroughly honest. There is never any need of falsehood. Yet how many will, day by day, hour by hour, utter what they know to be wrong. You say that you are selling at less than cost. If so, then it is right to say it. But did that thing cost you less than what you ask for it? If not, then you have lied. You say that article cost you twenty-five dollars. Did it? If so, then all right. If it did not, then you have lied. Suppose you are a purchaser. You are "beating down" the goods. You say that that article, for which five dollars is charged, is not worth more than four. Is it worth no more than four dollars? Then all right. If it be worth more, and, for the sake of getting it for less than its value, you willfully depreciate it, you have lied. You may call it a sharp trade. The recording angel writes it down on the ponderous tomes of eternity—"Mr. and So, merchant on Water street, or in Eighth street, or in State street; or Mrs. So and So, keeping house on Beacon street, or on Madison avenue, or Rittenhouse square, told one lie." You may consider it insignificant, because relating to an insignificant purchase. You would despise the man who would falsify in regard to some great matter, in which the city or the whole country was concerned; but this is only a box of buttons, or a row of pins, or a case of needles. Be not deceived. The article purchased may be so small you can put it in your vest pocket, but the sin was bigger than the Pyramids, and the echo of the dishonor will reverberate through all the mountains of eternity.
You throw out on your countersome specimens of handkerchiefs. Your customer asks, "Is that all silk? no cotton in it?" You answer, "It is all silk." Was it all silk? If so, all right. But was it partly cotton? Then you have lied. Moreover, you lost by the falsehood. The customer, though he may live at Lynn, Doylestown, or Poughkeepsie, will find out that you defrauded him, and next spring, when he again comes shopping, he will look at your sign and say: "I will not try there. That is the place where I got that handkerchief." So that, by that one dishonest bargain, you picked your own pocket and insulted the Almighty.
Would you dare to make an estimate of how many falsehoods in trade were yesterday told by hardware men, and clothiers, and fruit-dealers, and dry-goods establishments, and importers, and jewelers, and lumbermen, and coal-merchants, and stationers, and tobaccoists? Lies about saddles, about buckles, about ribbons, about carpets, about gloves, about coats, about shoes, about hats, about watches, about carriages, about books,—about everything. In the name of the Lord Almighty, I arraign commercial falsehoods as one of the greatest of abominations in city and town.
In the next place, I notice mechanical lies. There is no class of men who administer more to the welfare of the city than artisans. To their hand we must look for the building that shelters us, for the garments that clothe us, for the car that carries us. They wield a widespread influence. There is much derision of what is called "muscular Christianity;" but in the latter day of the world's prosperity, I think that the Christian will be muscular. We have the right to expect of those stalwart men of toil the highest possible integrity. Many of them answer all our expectations, and stand at the front of religious and philanthropic enterprises. But this class, like the others that I have named, has in it those who lack in the element of veracity. They cannot all be trusted. In times when the demand for labor is great, it is impossible to meet the demands of the public, or do work with that promptness and perfection that would at other times be possible. But there are mechanics whose word cannot be trusted at any time. No man has a right to promise more work than he can do. There are mechanics who say that they will come Monday, but they do not come until Wednesday. You put work in their hands that they tell you shall be completed in ten days, but it is thirty. There have been houses built of which it might be said that every nail driven, every foot of plastering put on, every yard of pipe laid, every shingle hammered, every brick mortared, could tell of falsehood connected therewith. There are men attempting to do ten or fifteen pieces of work who have not the time nor strength to do more than five or six pieces; but by promises never fulfilled keep all the undertakings within their own grasp. This is what they call "nursing" the job.
You cannot always calculate correctly, and you may fail because you cannot get the help that you anticipate. But now I am speaking of the willful making of promises that you know you cannot keep. Did you say that that shoe should be mended, that coat repaired, those brick laid, that harness sewed, that door grained, that spout fixed, or that window glazed, by Saturday, knowing that you would neither be able to do it yourself nor get any one else to do it? Then, before God and man, you are a liar. You may say that it makes no particular difference, and that if you had told the truth you would have lost the job, and that people expect to be disappointed. But that excuse will not answer. There is a voice of thunder rolling among the drills, and planes, and shoe-lasts, and shears, which says: "All liars shall have their place in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone.
May God extirpate from the world commercial lies, mechanical lies, and agricultural lies, and make every man, the world over, to speak truth with his neighbor!—T. DeWitt Talmage.
ERRORS IN MARRIAGE.
MANY of the errors of life admit of remedy. A loss in one business may be repaired by a gain in another; a miscalculation this year may be retrieved by special care the next; a bad partnership may be dissolved, an injury repaired, a wrong step retraced.
But an error in marriage goes to the very root and foundation of life. It is said that no man is utterly ruined until he has married a worthless wife; and so every woman has a future before her until she is chained, in a wedlock which is a padlock, to a wretched and unworthy man. The deed once done can not be recalled. The wine of life is wasted and the goblet is broken, and no tears and toils can bring back the precious draught. Let the young think of this, and let them walk carefully in a world of snares, and take heed to their steps lest in the most critical event of life they go fatally astray.
But here we must guard against another error. Many people think they have made a mistake in marriage, when the mistake is only in their own behavior since they were married. Good husbands make good wives, and good wives make good husbands; and the scolding or intemperate, or slatternly partner often has but himself or herself to blame for the misery that clouds the life and desolates the home. Multitudes who feel that their marriage was a mistake, and who make their existence a life-long misery, might, by a little self-denial, and forbearance, and gentleness and old-time courtesy, make their home brighten like the gates of Eden, and bring back the old love that blessed the happy, golden days gone by.
Suppose the wife does not know quite so much as you do; well, you showed your great judgment when you thought her the chief among ten thousand! Or, if your husband is not the most wonderful man in the world, it simply illustrates the wit and wisdom of the young woman who once thought he was, and could not be convinced to the contrary! So perhaps you are not so unevenly matched after all; and if one has had better opportunities since married, then of course that one should teach, and cultivate, and encourage the other, and so both journey on together. But if one has grown worse and sunk lower than at the beginning, perhaps even then, patience and toil and sunshine may bring back the erring one95to duty, lift up the fallen, rescue the perishing, and save the lost. How glorious for a wife to pluck her husband from the jaws of ruin and bring him safely to the heavenly home! How blessed for the husband to bring back to the gates of paradise the woman who, through weakness, may have been led astray.—Methodist Advocate.
The Home Circle.
By English Congregationalist
NOT FAR.
Not far, not far from the kingdom,
Yet, in the shadow of sin,
How many are coming and going,
How few are entering in!
Not far from the golden gateway,
Where voices whisper and wait,
Fearing to enter in boldly,
So lingering still at the gate;
Catching the strain of the music
Floating so sweetly along,
Knowing the song they are singing,
Yet joining not in the song;
Seeing the warmth and the beauty,
The infinite love and the light,
Yet weary, and lonely, and waiting,
Out in the desolate night!
Out in the dark and the danger,
Out in the night and the cold,
Though he is longing to lead them
Tenderly into the fold.
Not far, not far from the kingdom,
'Tis only a little space;
But it may be the last and forever,
Out of the resting place.
—English Congregationalist.
ITEMS OF NEWS
—Eleven Christians were killed, the 16th, by the Turks.
—Two families have been poisoned at Rondout, N. Y., by bad pork.
—Small-pox has closed the State Normal School at Trenton, New Jersey.
—The head-quarters of the Irish Land League has been removed to Paris.
—The grounding of a steamer in the Suez Canal has stopped all traffic there.
—The Kurds are collecting a considerable force for another invasion of Persia.
—A genuine storm of thunder and lightning visited Oakland last week Tuesday.
—The tunnel under the Hudson river is advancing at the rate of five feet a day.
—A saloon-keeper in Rockford, Ill., has recently been fined $200 for violation of law.
—An electric light company has been organized at Detroit, with a capital of $500,000.
—The Czar is sending Aids-de-Camp to distribute money in the famine-stricken villages.
—The Internal Revenue raiders of Nashville, Tennessee, have destroyed three distilleries.
—The greatest destitution prevails in Yorkshire, England, on account of the strike of colliers.
—John W. Young, son of Brigham, was arrested in Denver, Col., the 15th, on a charge of bigamy.
—The rainfall for the season in Sacramento has been 22.02 inches; to the same date in 1880, 8.08 inches.
—Two Alpine avalanches have entirely swept away the village of Breven, Switzerland. Fifteen persons killed.
—While Parnell was in Paris, all communication between him and his English friends was carried on by couriers.
—The small-pox is reported as epidemic in Honolulu. Up to Feb. 10, forty cases and three deaths occurred.
—The Universalist churches in this country have increased from 656 to 739 since 1877, and the membership from 32,947 to 38,048.
—The trial of I. M. Kalloch, for murder of Chas. De Young, has begun in the Superior Court, the jurors having at last been obtained.
—The Reichstag at Berlin was opened last Tuesday with a speech from the throne by Emperor William. Von Gossler is elected President.
—Ice in the bays and harbors about Long Island is reported twenty inches thick, and still doing much damage to wharves and shipping.
—A three days' imprisonment, and a fine of $5.75, is the sentence just pronounced upon a man in Mexico for cutting timber on public lands.
—The "Chicago Sabbath Association" has publicly announced its intention to enforce in that city the Sunday observance laws of the State.
—In Cincinnati it has been found necessary to suppress by special ordinance the indecent and immoral plays which have long disgraced that city.
—Joseph Cook, it is reported, proposes to proceed on a mission to the Hindoos, to counteract the views of Theodore Parker, which have been propagated there.
—Notwithstanding the distress of that country, the Roman Catholic bishops of Ireland, in a recent audience with the Pope, presented him with a purse of over $40,000.
—Over three hundred people annually commit suicide in Berlin, and in Prussia the number is rapidly increasing. Another proof of the work infidelity does for mankind.
—Congress proposes to devote a little over ten millions to the improvement of rivers and harbors in the United States. This may seem like a large sum, but this is a large country.
—The Franklin Beet Sugar Factory, Franklin, Mass., uses about one hundred tons of beets per day in making sugar. The factory covers nearly two acres. The beets yield ten per cent of sugar.
—The negro laborers in the Virginia tobacco belt are forming a league, which prohibits the members from hiring to white planters, the object being to force the land-owners to work tracts on shares.
—30,400 signatures were obtained to the petition asking the President to pardon the Mussel Slough settlers recently convicted in the U. S. District Court. The petition has been sent to Washington.
—Governor Murray, of Utah, has been paying General Garfield a visit at Mentor, and claims to have evidence that the Mormon question will have early and vigorous treatment by the next President.
—It is stated that Victor Hugo is presently to issue a manifesto favoring Home Rule, much to the indignation of his friends, who claim that Parnell "has taken undue advantage of the old man's political dotage."
—Seventy-five boys connected with the Massachusetts State Reform School at Westborough, objected to being reformed any more last week, and skedaddled. But fifteen of them were captured. So says a New York paper.
—The New York Herald, in reviewing the late census statistics, finds that while the increase of the black population of the fifteen Southern States during the decade preceding 1870 was only 5½ per cent, the increase during the last ten years was more than 33 per cent.
—The movement in the Christian church to erect a new house of worship at Washington in honor of Gen. Garfield's election, is advancing so satisfactorily that instead of the $35,000 asked for, it is expected that double that amount will be raised, and the sum may amount to $100,000.
—The English alphabet has 26 letters, the French 25, the Italian 20, Spanish 27, German 26, Slavonic 42, Russian 35, Latin 23, Greek 24 (16 until 406 B. C., when the 24 Ionic characters were introduced), the Hebrew 22, the Arabic 28, Persian 82, Turkish 28, Sanscrit 44, Chinese 214.
—It may interest some people to know that America consumes about one-sixth of all the champagne made. Russia and England are the principal consumers, then comes France, and next America; Germany is the smallest consumer, preferring her own wines, and Italy takes comparatively little to us.
—Fully one-half of the 30,000 newspapers of the world are published in English. The United States alone publishes 9,500, or about one-third of the whole, while Great Britain and Ireland have one-third of that many, or about 3,000. No other city in the world has as many newspapers as New York, viz., 500.
—A telegram from Ottawa, Canada, Feb. 20, states that "while in a procession of Sunday-school scholars at Hull, a girl, named Garrett, was abducted by her brother-in-law, aided by over 100 French Canadians, who attacked the procession. The whereabouts of the girl is a mystery. The girl's conversion to Protestantism is the only known reason for the act."
—It is said that the monopoly of land in Scotland is even greater than in Ireland. Scotland contains 19,000,000 acres, most of which is sterile and stubborn land. Of that which is worth claiming, one man holds 1,358,000 acres; another, 500,000; a third, 424,000; a fourth, 373,000. Twelve persons hold the bulk of the arable land in Scotland, and its population of something over 3,000,000 includes 350,000 paupers.
—The Methodists have given the people of North India the novelty of a camp-meeting. It is stated that there were over eighty tents and huts in the grove, and over eight hundred campers. All the services were in Hindustani. "The exercises closed," says an eye-witness, "by marching out into the grove, which had been lighted up at nine o'clock at night, and forming a circle, with joined hands, to make an unbroken ring, thereby representing that we are one in Christ—no nationality, no caste, no class, no color,—all one in Jesus our Saviour. In this land of caste and prejudices the scene was intensely impressive. All who retained enmity or caste spirit in their hearts were told to break the ring and step out. The responses came from all parts of the circle: 'There are none such now.'"
THE FIRST WRONG BUTTON.
"DEAR me!" said little Janet, "I buttoned just one button wrong, and that made all the rest go wrong;" and Janet tugged away and fretted, as if the poor buttons were quite at fault for her trouble.
"Patience! patience!" said mamma, smiling at the little fretful face, "and next time look out for the first wrong button; then you'll keep all the rest right. And," added mamma, as the last button was put in its place and the scowling face was smooth once more, "look out for the first wrong deed of any kind; another and another is sure to follow." Janet remembered how, one day not long ago, she struck baby Alice; that was the first wrong deed. Then she denied having done it; that was another. Then she was unhappy and cross all day because she had told a lie. What a long list of buttons fastened wrong just because one went wrong—because her naughty little hand struck the baby! The best thing she could do to make it right again was to tell mamma how naughty she had been and ask her to forgive her; but that was much harder than just to do the buttons again.
Janet thought it all over, and between the buttons and her very unhappy day I think she learned never again to forget to look out for the first wrong deed.—Selected.
BOOKS IN PAPER COVERS.
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Eleven Sermons on the Sabbath and Law. By Elder John Nevins Andrews. 226 pp. 25 cts.
United States in Prophecy. 200 pp. 20 cts.
The Nature and Tendency of Modern Spiritualism. By Elder Joseph Harvey Waggoner. 184 pp. 20 cts.
The Atonement. By Elder Joseph Harvey Waggoner. An examination of a remedial system in the light of Nature and Revelation. 168 pp. 20 cts.
The Ministration of Angels, and the Origin, History, and Destiny of Satan. By Elder Dudley Marvin Canright. 144 pp. 20 cts.
Our Faith and Hope. Sermons on the coming and kingdom of Christ. By Elder James White. 182 pp. 20 cts.
Refutation of the Age to Come. By Elder Joseph Harvey Waggoner. 168 pp. 20 cts.
The Spirit of God, its Gifts and Manifestations to the end of the Christian age. By Elder Joseph Harvey Waggoner. 144 pp. 15 cts.
The Three Messages of Rev. 14:6–12. Particularly the third angel's message and the two-horned beast. By Elder John Nevins Andrews. 144 pp. 15 cts.
The Two Laws, as set forth in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. By Elder Dudley Marvin Canright. 104 pp. 15 cts.
The Morality of the Sabbath. By Elder Dudley Marvin Canright. 96 pp. 15 cts.
Miraculous Powers. The Scripture testimony on the Perpetuity of Spiritual Gifts. 128 pp. 15 cts.
The Complete Testimony of the Fathers of the First Three Centuries Concerning the Sabbath and First Day of the Week. By Elder John Nevins Andrews. 112 pp. 15 cts.
Matthew Twenty-Four. A clear and forcible exposition of our Lord's discourse upon the Mount of Olives. By Elder James White. 64 pp. 10 cts.
The Sunday Seventh-Day Examined. A refutation of the teachings of Mede, Jennings, Akers, and Fuller. By Elder John Nevins Andrews. 88 pp. 10 cts.
The Seven Trumpets. An exposition of the subject, as set forth in Revelation, Chaps. 8 and 9. 96 pp. 10 cts.
The TRUTH Found. The nature and obligation of the Sabbath. By Elder Joseph Harvey Waggoner. 64 pp. 10 cts.
Vindication of the True Sabbath. By Elder J. W. Morton, formerly Missionary of the Reformed Presbyterian church to Hayti. 68 pp. 10 cts.
Sermon on the Two Covenants. By Elder John Nevins Andrews. 48 pp. 10 cts.
Hope of the Gospel. By Elder John Norton Loughborough. 80 pp. 10 cts.
Christ and the Sabbath; or, Christ in the Old Testament and the Sabbath in the New. By Elder James White. 56 pp. 10 cts.
Redeemer and Redeemed. By Elder James White. This work sets forth the plan of Redemption in its three stages. 40 pp. 10 cts.
Review of Gilfallan; or, Thoughts Suggested by the Perusal of Gilfallan and other Authors on the Sabbath. 64 pp. 10 cts.
Appeal to the Baptists for the Restitution of the Bible Sabbath. 46 pp. 10 cts.
Review of Baird. A review of two sermons against the Sabbath and Seventh-day Adventists. By Elder Joseph Harvey Waggoner. 64 pp. 10 cts.
The Ancient Sabbath. Forty-four objections considered. 88 pp. 10 cts.
Life of Christ, in six pamphlets. By Mrs. Ellen G. White:
No. 1. His First Advent and Ministry. 104 pp. 10 cts.
" 2. His Temptation in the Wilderness. 96 pp. 15 cts.
" 3. His Teachings and Parables. 126 pp. 15 cts.
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Life of the Apostles, in two pamphlets:-
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Bible Lessons on Prophecy. The Lessons for Bible Classes as issued with the Youth's Instructor for 1879. 10 cts.
TRACTS.—32 pages, 4 cents each. Redemption—The Second Advent—The Sufferings of the Present Truth—Origin and Progress of S. D. Adventists—The Celestial Railroad—The Seventh Part of Time—Ten Commandments not Abolished—The Two Covenants—Address to the Baptists—The Two Thrones—Spiritualism a Satanic Delusion—Samuel and the Witch of Endor—The Third Message of Rev. 14.
TRACTS.—24 pages, 3 cents each. The Second Message of Rev. 14—Who Changed the Sabbath?—The Lost-Time Question—Scripture References—The End of the Wicked—Infidel Cavils Considered—The Pocasset Tragedy—Sabbaton.
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Sadlier's Catholic Directory and Ordo
Sadlier's Catholic Directory and Ordo, for 1881, gives some important statistics of the progress of Roman Catholicism in the United States, which may not be without interest to Protestants generally.
There are now twelve Archbishops with forty-eight suffragans, eight vicarates apostolic, and one prefecture apostolic.
The number of priests returned is 6,402, and there are 1,170 ecclesiastical students preparing for the priesthood.
The churches in the country have increased to 5,856, and the population is estimated at 6,377,330.
The progress of parochial schools show immense exertion and sacrifice to educate children.
In 2,383 schools there are 423,383 children.
PREMIUM OFFER RENEWED.
By W. C. White
Our offer to furnish Geikie's Life of Christ to new subscribers for the SIGNS for $2.10, met so hearty a response from all quarters, that we began at once to arrange for the purchase of several thousand copies more so that we could extend the offer to August instead of the first of April. Since ordering the books, we have received words of high commendation for both the paper and the book from persons who had not seen it but had subscribed through the recommendation of friends. Many good workers have pledged their best efforts to secure a large number of new subscribers, if the offer is continued several months longer, and we therefore extend the offer to August or September.
We should be pleased to hear from every one of our old friends who have worked for our paper in the past. All living east of the Rocky Mountains who wish to obtain outfits for canvassing, or to learn more particulars about the work, will save time by corresponding with the secretaries of their State Tract Societies, as they have the outfits on hand and are prepared to give any information desired about the canvass.
W. C. WHITE.
WORDS OF WORKERS.
Bro. Purdon of Vermont writes: "Your premium for the SIGNS, Geikie's Life of Christ, was received all right. I have read the book nearly through and have found it very interesting. I can heartily indorse your recommendations. I have sent circular letters to every T. and M. officer and to other brethren throughout the State, calling their attention to your liberal offer, and the importance of improving the present opportunity of securing a large number of single subscriptions for the SIGNS."
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Eld. Robinson says: "I shall use my influence in behalf of the circulation of the SIGNS and the premium now offered, and see no reason why a good many subscribers cannot be obtained in this way. Work in this direction, while it calls for earnest and prayerful thought to make it a success, will not affect the finances of our societies which are, some of them, lifting about all they can in that direction. I trust your expectations may be more than realized, and will endeavor to bring it about so far as I can in New England."
The Early Home of Christ
By Editor
Our readers will find in the Sabbath-school department of this paper quite a lengthy extract from our premium book, the "Life of Christ." The picture presented of the early home of our Saviour is interesting and impressive, and is a fair specimen of the other descriptive portions of the volume.
The Importance of Public Prayer
SPURGEON gives a bit of wholesome advice as to the public prayers of the church, when he says: “It is my solemn conviction that the prayer is one of the most weighty, useful and honorable parts of the service, and that it ought to be even more considered than the sermon. There must be no putting up anybodies or nobodies to pray, and then the selection of the abler man to preach. Appoint the ablest man to pray, and let the sermon be slurred rather than the approach to Heaven.”
A New Unitarian Church
THE Independent Presbyterian church, of this city, has been divided, and the seceding members have organized a new Unitarian church. It is but a few years since Dr. Hamilton so departed doctrinally from orthodox Presbyterianism that he was deposed from the ministry of that denomination. Quite a large number of his congregation, being in sympathy with their pastor, left the old church and joined with him in the organization of the Independent church, and the erection of a substantial edifice. Having had a taste of “independence,” “free thought,” etc., it was but natural that some should want more of it. Hence the new move. Dr. Stebbins, of San Francisco, is to supply the pulpit for awhile.
Prayers for Missions Delayed
In the English Episcopal church of Yokohama, Japan, it was announced a short time since, that a special service of prayer for missions had been appointed. Great pains was taken to have a full meeting. The day arrived. The people assembled early, to hear only that it would be impossible to pray for missions that day, because the prayers had not arrived. It was all due to the negligence of the Bishop of London. There is a droll humor about this that our good neighbor, The Churchman, we are afraid, will fail to quiet.—Herald of Truth
The Irish Land League Crisis
A SHORT time since it was rumored that Parnell, the founder of the Land League, was again to visit the United States. This he declines to do, preferring to remain in Ireland and Parliament during the present crisis. In an address recently sent to the National Land League, he states that the Irish members which were expelled from Parliament have decided to remain in their places, and offer every possible resistance to the passage of the Coercion and Arms bills. He does not think that arrests will be frequent in Ireland, and urges the Leagues to continue their organizations just as before, and have others ready to take the place of those who may be arrested. "By this policy of passive endurance," he adds, "Irish people will command the respect of the world, and prove themselves worthy of freedom." Of the tenant farmers he says, "They are not called upon to make a great sacrifice, or run much risk themselves. They are simply asked not to pay unjust rents, and to refuse to take farms from which others have been ejected for such refusals." In view of such statements as these, and the fact that the door of Mr. Gladstone's residence is guarded night and day, to prevent Fenian attack, and that the Prime Minister of England for like prudential reasons is accompanied by police when he goes to the House of Commons, there is little reason to wonder that the question is regarded as an urgent one.
GEORGE MULLER AND HIS WORK.
THIS English "exponent of faith and prayer," whose fame has for years been international, is now about to bring his visit to this country to a close. Among other facts of his wonderful experience recently embodied in a sermon preached in New York, were the following:
" For fifty years and six months I have obtained through the Lord all the temporal necessaries for myself and my family, without having been obliged to ask any human being for assistance. I have been able to found 107 schools, the annual cost of maintaining which is $100,000. In these schools, by God's help, 9,500 pupils have been converted. I have been able, through God, to distribute 600,000 copies of the Bible in all parts of the world. In the last forty years I have sent 73,000,000 books to all parts of the globe to believers and to unbelievers. God has enabled me to build five orphan asylums, which are so large that they contain in all about 500 rooms. These cost $600,000, but I had $25,000 more than I needed. We accommodate in these 2,050 children, and have 108 assistants. The annual expense of running these asylums is $220,-000. All my assistants I get through God's instrumentality. 140 missionaries have been aided and sent forth to work, and 5,947 orphans have been sent out to occupy honest if not honorable positions in society. My unfailing remedy for all misfortunes has been prayer and faith. I beseech you, therefore, not to be discouraged, but to continue your work, whatever it may be, believing implicitly that your prayers will be granted if you have fulfilled the necessary conditions."
Your Record for the Past Week
WHAT is your record for the past week? How will you feel when it comes up for inspection at "the great day?" If it is not just right in God's sight, will you not be sure to make the coming week one full of honest effort to do for Christ's sake.
Church as Entertainment
By Christian Register
WHEN the people go to church for entertainment, it is a matter of small importance whether they go at all. —Christian Register.