FOLLOWING the leopard, or papal, beast of Rev. 13, in consecutive order, comes the two-horned beast, whose appearance the prophet delineates, and whose work he describes in the following language:—
“Verse 11. And I behold another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. 12. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 14, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. 15. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. 16. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads; 17; and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”
These few verses, with an allusion to the same power under the name of “the false prophet” in Rev. 16:13, and 19:20, furnish all the testimony we have respecting the two-horned beast; but brief as it is, it gives sufficient data for a very certain application of the symbol in question. As an example of the world of meaning which prophecy can condense into a few words, the first verse of the foregoing quotation may be instanced. Here, within a compass of twenty-five words, only four of which are words of more than one syllable, six grand points are made, which, taken together, are sufficient to determine accurately the application of this symbol. The prophet says, first, that it is “another beast;” secondly, that when his attention was turned to it it was “coming up;” thirdly, that it came up “out of the earth;” fourthly, that it had “two horns;” fifthly, that these horns were like those of “a lamb;” and sixthly, that it spoke, and by speaking, revealed its true character; for the voice was that of “a dragon.”
The two-horned beast, then, is “another beast,” in addition to, and different from, the papal beast which the prophet had just had under consideration; that is, it symbolizes a power separate and distinct from that which is denoted by the preceding beast. This which John calls “another beast” is certainly no part of the first beast; and the power symbolized by it is likewise no part of that which is intended by that beast. This is fatal to the claim of those, who, to avoid the application of this symbol to our own government, say that it denotes some phase of the papacy; for in that case it would be a part of the preceding, or leopard, beast.
293To avoid this difficulty, it is claimed that the two-horned beast represents the religious or ecclesiastical, and the leopard beast the civil power of Rome under papal rule; that these symbols correspond to the beast and woman in Rev. 17, the one representing the civil power, the other the ecclesiastical. But this claim also falls to the ground, just as soon as it is shown that the leopard beast represents the religious as well as the civil element of that power. And nothing is easier than to show this.
Take the first symbol, the dragon. What does it represent? Rome. But this is not enough; for Rome has presented two great phases to the world, and the inquirer wants to know which one is intended by this symbol. The answer then is, Pagan Rome; but just as soon as we add “Pagan,” we introduce a religious element; for paganism is one of the mightiest systems of false religion ever devised by the arch-enemy of truth. It was, then, the religious element in the empire that determined what symbol should be used to represent it; and the dragon represented Rome while under the control of a particular form of religion.
But the time comes when another symbol is introduced upon the scene—the leopard beast arises out of the sea. What power is symbolized by this? The answer is still, Rome. But the dragon symbolized Rome, and why not let that symbol continue to represent it? Whoever attempts to answer this question must say that it is because a change had taken place in the power. What change? Two kinds of changes are conspicuous in the history of Rome: changes in form of government, and a change in religion. But this cannot denote any change in the form of government; for the seven different forms of government that Rome consecutively assumed are represented by the seven heads of the dragon, and the seven heads of the leopard beast. The religious change must therefore be alone denoted by this change of symbols. Paganism and Christianity coalesced, and the mongrel production was the papacy; and this new religion, and this alone, made a change in the symbol necessary. Every candid mind must assent to this; and this assent is an admission of the utter absurdity of trying to limit this symbol to the civil power alone. So far from its representing the civil power alone, it is to the ecclesiastical element that it owes its very existence.
That the leopard beast represents ecclesiastical as well as civil power, is further shown in the arguments already presented to prove that this beast is identical with the little horn of Daniel's fourth beast, which symbolizes the papacy in all its component parts and through all its history. It is the leopard beast alone that is identical with this little horn, not the leopard beast and the two-horned beast taken together.
Again, Pagan Rome gave its seat to the papacy. The dragon gave his seat to the leopard beast. If it takes both the leopard beast and the two-horned beast to constitute the papacy, the prophet should have said that the dragon gave his seat and power to these two beasts combined. The fact that his transfer was to the leopard beast alone, is proof positive that that beast alone symbolizes the papacy in its entirety.
When, therefore, John calls the two-horned beast “another beast,” it is certain that he does not mean any particular phase, or any part, of the papal power.
It is claimed by others that the two-horned beast represents England; by still others, France; and by some, Russia, &c. The first, among many other fatal objections to all these applications, is, that the territory occupied by all these powers is already appropriated by preceding symbols. If the two-horned beast symbolized any of these, it would be a part of other beasts instead of “another beast,” separate and distinct from all the rest. It is a law of symbols that each one occupies territory peculiarly its own; that is, the territory which constituted the original government was no part of that which had been occupied by the previous powers. Thus Medo-Persia rose on territory not occupied by Babylon; and Medo-Persia and Babylon together covered all that portion of Asia known to ancient civilization. The Grecian or Macedonian kingdom arose to the west of them, occupying all Eastern Europe, so far as it was then known to the ancients. Rome arose still to the west, in territory unoccupied by Greece. Rome was divided into ten kingdoms; but though Rome conquered the world, we look for these ten kingdoms only in that territory which had never been included in other kingdoms. We look not to Eastern Europe; for that was included in the dominion of the third beast; nor to Asia; for that constituted the empires of the first and second beasts: but to Western Europe, which territory was unoccupied till taken by Rome and its divisions.
The ten kingdoms which arose out of the old Roman Empire are enumerated as follows by Machiavel, endorsed by Bp. Newton, Faber, and Dr. Hales: 1. The Huns. 2. The Ostrogoths. 3. The Visigoths. 4. The Franks. 5. The Vandals. 6. The Suevi. 7. The Burgundians. 8. The Heruli. 9. The Anglo-Saxons, and 10. The Lombards. These kingdoms have since been known, says Scott, as the “ten kingdoms of the Western Empire,” and they are distinguishable at the present day, some of them even by their modern names, as Hungary from the Huns, Lombardy, from the Lombards, France from the Franks, and England from the Anglo-Saxons. These ten kingdoms being denoted by the ten horns of the leopard beast, it is evident that all the territory included in these ten kingdoms is to be considered as belonging to that beast. England is one of these ten kingdoms; France is another. If therefore we say that either of these is the one represented by the two-horned beast, we make one of the horns of the leopard beast constitute the two-horned beast. But this the prophecy forbids; for while John sees the leopard beast fully developed, with his horns all complete and distinct, he beholds the two-horned beast coming up, and calls it “another beast.” We are therefore to look for the government which this beast symbolizes in some country outside the territory occupied by the four beasts and the ten horns already referred to. But these, as we have seen, cover all the available portions of the eastern continent.
U. S.
"Be Sure Your Sin Will Find You Out."
By John Nevins Andrews
THESE words of solemn admonition were addressed by Moses to the two and a half tribes that proposed to remain on the east side of Jordan. He feared that they would depart from God and fail in the fulfillment of their solemn vows. He knew that if such should be the case, they would bring upon themselves lasting sorrow and final ruin. See the case as stated, Num. 32.
"Be sure your sin will find you out." "Sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4. "All unrighteousness is sin." 1 John 5:17. These are Bible definitions of this terrible evil. Sin is a very short word, but every kind of evil thing is embraced in its meaning. It is that terrible moral disease typified by the laws concerning leprosy. Lev. 13:14. Like that, it is a disease that never gets well of itself. Like the leprosy, also, it is a contagious disease. The sinner contaminates the very atmosphere. He introduces pollution where all before was comparative purity. The society of the sinner is calculated to lead others to sin. There is more reason for us to fear such influences, than there is to fear the infection of the leper.
Like the leprosy, it is a terrible disease. It eats up its victim alive. The leprosy, while its victim is alive, will eat up a man's hands, his arms, his feet, his limbs, and, atom by atom, it will prey upon the man till it reaches his vitals. And sin will not only do the same thing, but far worse. It will poison the blood, destroy the eyes, ruin the stomach, benumb the sensibilities, render the brain incapable of action, break down the vital powers, turn the hair gray, make the countenance wear a look of malice, of pride, or of deceit, or of sensuality, cover the body with sores, fill the mind with pollution, stain the conscience with guilt, bring the transgressor to a premature grave, and at the judgment consign him to the second death, in the lake of fire.
The leprosy is a disease that cannot be hidden. You may conceal it, possibly, for a time, but it will, without fail, after a little, reveal its existence. Your hands will show it. The fingers, in spite of your best endeavors, will consume and drop off. The face will show it. It will appear upon your forehead; it will discover itself in the sight of all. But it is an easy thing to conceal the leprosy compared with the task of concealing sin. God has put a voice in everything to rise up and bear testimony against this abominable thing which his soul hateth. And so at the moment when we least anticipate such a result, some little thing proves the secret spring that lays open our whole lives, and reveals all our hidden iniquity.
Sin promises great advantage. We may have by it vain honors, unjust gain, and unlawful pleasures. Try it, says sin. You can get these in no other way. The wrong connected with the transgression will only make the acquisition more valuable to you. Moreover, I will conceal the shame of your wrong, by hiding it from the knowledge of men. Oh, vain and empty promise! Rather I should say, Oh, monstrous and satanic deception and falsehood! The things promised are only placed before you as the bait is used to lure the wild beast to the trap. Sin takes no care to fulfill its promises. The pleasures which sin offers, you may entirely fail of obtaining. The sting of a guilty conscience you will certainly feel. That is the manner that wrong-doing adds to our joys. And, as to hiding your guilt, you will find the only thing that sin hides is the trap that it is trying to lure you into, and that, when once you are fast therein, you are exposed to the gaze of the world. Sin cannot be hid. Even we could conceal it from men, the eye of God cannot be escaped by us. Sin is that one thing which God cannot suffer men to commit without taking notice of it. Indeed, if you wish to bring the eye of God upon you, venture upon the commission of some deed of evil. You will find that your sin was not only naked and open to the sight of the Almighty, but that the recording angel stood in your immediate presence and wrote down every thing pertaining to your sin. You may hide yourself in sheol, but God's hand shall reach you there. The Death and sheol shall both give you up. Amos 9:2; Rev. 20:13-15. You shall then be no longer concealed in the darkness of sheol. You shall appear before God. There shall you meet the books of record with an exact statement of all your sins. Were you disposed to deny the record, there are the angels of God as witnesses, who, unseen by you, beheld all your evil deeds. Even your raiment stained by your sin shall bear witness against you. And if the Judge shall bid you hold up your hands, the stain of your wrong acts upon them shall bear witness to your wicked life. And as if all this were insufficient, conscience, that may have long slumbered in your heart, shall now be awakened with such terrible powers of reproof, and with such perfect remembrance of your whole life of evil, that your tongue shall be silenced and your lips sealed from one word of excuse or extenuation. And then added to this, the eyes of the Judge shall be upon you that shall pierce you through. The eyes of Him against whom you sinned, and which witnessed every act of your sinful course, shall be so insupportable as even to be dashed in pieces by the fall of mountains would bring infinite relief. At this awful tribunal every knee shall bow and every tongue confess.
Oh, that they had confessed before! Oh, that they had bowed the heart and bent the knee while it was possible for them to find pardon! Oh, that they had put away their sins by that repentance which God can accept! Oh, that they had been cleansed from their leprosy by the great physician of souls! The gospel offered them pardon. It bade them cease to do evil, and learn to do well. It bade them seek God with brokenness of heart and contrition of spirit. It taught them to be converted and become as little children. It insisted that they should put away all evil from them; that they should remove the stains, the spots, and even the wrinkles from their raiment; that they should cleanse their hands and purify their hearts. It offered to make them new creatures in Christ Jesus; it offered to establish truth in the inward parts, and to wash them till they were whiter than snow, so that they should be found unblamable and unreprovable in his sight. It promised the forgiveness of sins, the restoration of lost innocence, and the remembrance of their guilt no more. Alas! all this so freely promised and so urgently pressed upon the guilty conscience, was neglected for a more convenient season, till mercy ceased to plead, and the gospel no longer offered its gracious blessings to sinful men.
The gospel having done its work, the law of God which had waited to give men a chance to repent and be pardoned, now waits no longer. "The strength of sin is the law." 1 Cor. 15:56. Now sin finds out the transgressor. Now the law of God gives terrible force to men's guilt. Each man's own transgression returns upon him, with the weight of a mountain, to crush him in perdition. The law of God, which men have transgressed, must now be vindicated, and the lake of fire make an utter end of sinful men and of sinful deeds. Not one sin shall then pass unremembered and unpunished. Shall our sins be effectually hidden by the work of our High Priest, or terribly punished in the lake of fire?
Go Forward.
By Stephen Nelson Haskell
OUR good camp-meeting is in the past, and our brethren and sisters have returned to their homes. The important question with us should be, Will our lives now show that the influence of the meeting is yielding fruit unto eternal life?
We are anxious to see the cause move forward upon this coast. To accomplish this we should put forth immediate effort to carry out certain enterprises which were commenced at the camp-meeting.
1. All should adopt the tithing system. Not only our brethren and sisters but all those who are benefited by the truth; (See Rom. 15 : 27, Gal. 6:6;) this will include the children. A goodly number signed the tithing pledge at the camp-meeting. But some did not have an opportunity and some of the pledge papers containing names of those who had signed were lost. The treasurer in each church will therefore have a pledge paper which he will present to the brethren and give all an opportunity to sign. These names should be transferred to his S. B. book. Then every quarter the treasurer should collect from each person the sums thus laid one side. The money should be forwarded to the Office of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES as Mrs. Emma L. White is treasurer. But a report of it should be forwarded to Eld. J. D. Rice, Williams, Cal., as he is Secretary.
2. Each Church Clerk should also forward him a complete list of the members of those whose names are attached to the covenant, or in any way upon the church book unless they have been disfellowshiped.
3. Promptly return all reports the Secretary of the Conference may send to each company, properly filled out, every quarter.
4. Do all your Temperance and Tract Society business through the Secretary of the Health and Temperance Society, Miss Barbara Stickney, Oakland, Cal., care of SIGNS Office.
5. A Health and Temperance Club should be organized in each company of Seventh-day Adventists in Cal., and a club of the Temperance quarterly Journal be taken for distribution. The church at St. Helena has made a good start in this direction. All that were present signed the teetotal pledge and became full members. They also took a club of 30 copies of the Health and Temperance Quarterly.
This will be increased when others not present have an opportunity to take hold with them who are equally interested in the temperance movement.
Shall we not as a people on this coast present one solid front and move forward in the name of the Lord, and thus be able to say, Here we are, and the children that thou hast given us.
S. N. HASKELL.
Missions and Millenarianism.
PRE-MILLENARIAN views, it is charged, tend to diminish zeal, and to destroy interest in the great work of foreign missions. Dr. Kellogg, of the Alleghany Theological Seminary, is almost the first theological professor in the country, so far as we know, who has taken a strong stand in favor of these views, and taught them clearly to his classes. Now comes this extraordinary statement, which we take from an exchange, in regard to his last graduating class:—
"Twenty-three out of twenty-nine members of the senior class of the Alleghany Theological Seminary have offered themselves as missionaries,—some for fields in this country, and some to go among the heathen, in far-off lands."
The fact, remarkable as it is, is matched by the report of Rev. Grattan Guinness, East London Institute for the Training of Ministers. In his printed list of sixty-one graduates already in the field, forty are found to be laboring in the foreign missionary work. Mr. Guinness is one of the ablest and most pronounced writers in favor of pre-millenarian views.
Let theological professors who are making vigorous war on this school of interpretation, ponder well these facts. It is admitted by learned authorities, on both sides, that the millenarian was the prevailing doctrine of the first two and a half centuries of the Church—centuries which were distinguished, pre-eminently, for missionary activity. We believe that if it should come to prevail so in this century, the fruit will be the same.—Dr. A. J. Gordon, in the Watchword.
Gifts of God and Christianity
No gift of God does or can contradict any other gift, except by misuse or misdirection.
It is not necessary to turn the Christianity of the cross into a cross Christianity.
"Seek Them Out."
OUR village is a quiet country place, full of pleasant homes, pretty stores, and a fair share of the common business of the day, surrounded by high reaching ranges of mountains, grassy slopes, and everything wearing a comfortable, prosperous aspect, no display of wealth or elegance in particular, but every one looking as if well fed, well clothed, well warmed, and well housed. We see no pinching want, no outstretched hand begging for bread, no overworked, uncared-for-looking children, so that it has almost become a proverb with us that this is a place that has no poor, and I have heard it repeated over and over again that we have no persons upon whom to bestow the church alms, if collections are taken for that purpose. A strange state of things indeed! Our Saviour himself has said, "The poor ye have always with you." Can it be that we live in a community where there are no poor?
And one day I said to a friend, in all comfortable confidence, "We are saved a great deal of annoyance and expense in living in so prosperous a village, where all can get work who need it. We have no street beggars to annoy us, and the town fund is sufficient for the helpless and the infirm. I fear we may get to be careless and selfish, and lose the satisfaction of being benevolent."
"Have you ever looked about you, or tried to seek out the poor in our midst?" answered my friend; "you are mistaken in thinking that they are not to be found. I assure you that though there are comparatively few who really are in absolute want, still there are a great many who require daily help, and whom you could relieve with very little trouble, I believe, if you have the will to do so."
"Tell me where to find them, where to begin," I replied, "and I will do what I can; only tell me where to go. Of course it will be up the new road where all the shanties are."
"There is much need of help up there, I know," was the answer, "but the case I refer to is very near you; you can see the house from your window; a family who are sorely in need of help. And you can find many others in the same sad state if you will seek them out."
So saying but little more, my friend pointed to me a small building down a street just opposite my window, and told me if I wanted to help poor sufferers to seek them there.
So in due time I went out to find these poor people. I crossed the street, passing one or two large buildings, came to a little tumble-down house which had been once used for an office to a coal yard. I knocked at the door, and hearing a faint call, "Come in," I entered the squalid room, so very near my own home, and yet of which I had never dreamed. A low, comfortless apartment, rough, uncarpeted floor, which might have been a little more decent if it could only see a scrubbing brush and water; a cracked stove in which a little green wood hissed and steamed; one or two shabby chairs, a shabbier bedstead and rough looking bed; but saddest of all, on a low made lounge against the partition, sitting up with his head resting against the wall, and his limbs half covered by a tattered blanket, sat a man sadly worn and emaciated, evidently in the last stages of consumption. He could scarcely answer my inquiries for the troublesome cough which was wearing him out. Beside him stood a little girl about eight years of age, who was holding a saucer full of very uninviting looking tea to her father's lips, his hand so tremulous he could not hold it. "That will make you feel better, father," she said, as she smoothed the hard pillow against which his head rested. "See; here is Mrs. P. who lives where those flowers grew last summer."
I found the poor man too weak to talk, and from the little girl I elicited the sad story.
"When father was well he worked in the stone quarry, but he got a hard cold in the spring and has been laid up since, has not done a whole day's work. Mother has to work, and goes every day to the house on the hill. Half she earns goes for the house rent, and when she gets any pay she buys things for us, and neighbors send in victuals. Brother goes to school, and when mother can make me look decent I am going half the time, and Jimmy half the time, because one has to take care of father all day."
I then told the sick man I would send him in a bowl of hot gruel for his supper, and told the little girl to come over by-and-by and I would give her something to make her comfortable, and I returned to my warm, quiet home. I found cast-off dresses and shoes and stockings for the child, and a thick shawl to wrap about her thin shoulders. I prepared some good gruel for the father, and more substantial food for the rest of the family, and sent Bridget over with the child to clean up the cheerless room, and make things look half-way decent.
So I found plenty of work to do right at my own door, without having to go far to seek for it. There were poverty, and sickness, and hunger, and cold, of which I had no knowledge. Was not the fault my own, that I had not tried to seek out and save such objects of compassion?
The neighbors told me the man would have done well enough if he only had let liquor alone, and that his wife was a hard woman and drank more than he did; but that was nothing to prevent me from doing what I could to help them. God knows it was little enough, but it was done in His name who came to seek and save sinners.
I visited this poor man every day, cheering him by kindly words and deeds, read to him from God's blessed Bible, prayed with him that the Saviour might forgive him and make him his own at last. I encouraged the woman to be more thrifty and careful, and made the children as happy as they could be in such a dreary home. At last the poor man was released from bodily suffering. Quietly and prayerfully he breathed his last, and he now sleeps his last, long sleep in a grave on the hill-side. The mother with her children went to join some relatives in Pennsylvania, and once in a while I hear that they are doing well.
And now I continue to follow my friend's advice, and "seek out" those who are in need of help; and, be assured, they are never wanting. Many are wretched through their own want of thrift, and through intemperance; but they must be encouraged to do better, and to set their feet in the right path. I shall never again say, "There are no poor among us;" I shall say, "Seek them out, you will have no trouble in finding them," always remembering the Saviour's almost prophetic words, "Ye have the poor always with you."—Advocate and Guardian.
The Game of Scandal.
By Mary Kyle Dallas
THERE is a game called “scandal,” which creates a great deal of amusement when it is played properly. The persons who are engaged in the game stand or sit in a circle. The more the better; thirty or forty will make more fun than ten or twelve. When all are ready, the person appointed takes his righthand neighbor aside and whispers in his ear a short story; it may be about some one present, or about a public personage; but whatever it is, he must write it down and keep it, as a proof of what his statement was. The neighbor, in his turn, repeats the story as exactly as possible to the person on his right-hand, and he, having listened, passes it on. At last the tale returns to its original narrator, who writes it down as he receives it. It is said, and I believe truly, that never once has it been known to come back as it started. The most astonishing alterations occur. Innocent jokes have turned to frightful accusations, and only the reading of the first story can convince any one that he did not repeat exactly what he heard. There is no better type than this amusing play of the time-worn game of scandal that the world is playing, and has been playing ever since it began.
That a number of innocent people, with no intention of distorting facts, cannot hand the simplest story from one to another in the same room for a few moments without ridiculous alterations, proves the impossibility of getting at the truth of any story which has passed through many lips. The disposition of the hearer colors the tale even as he listens, and more than this, many people are deaf without being conscious of it, and in a peculiar way. There is auricular illusion as well as optical illusion. I know persons who, while intently listening, hear words that are not uttered, and who, in repeating the impression that has been made upon them, do not intend to tell falsehoods, but who will, nevertheless, say to you, with a bland smile: “I have told every one that you told me that Mr. X.’s beautiful young wife had eloped, and they are so sorry for him.” And while you deny that you made any such statement, and stare in wonder at the speaker, you remember having told her that “Mr. X.’s new country house was situated on a beautiful slope of the hill, and that he had bought it to please his young wife.” I, myself, no longer believe anything I hear, and only half that I see.
When you hear an evil story of any one you know to be good, discredit it, and say so. Grapes are not gathered from thistles. Neither do thistles grow upon a grape-vine. The fruit tells you from what tree it came; but you know also what fruit a tree is likely to bear. One you know to be good and kind and sweet and noble, is not likely to have done bad or cruel or spiteful or petty things. Why should you believe a tale of him who is the subject of scandal?—Mary Kyle Dallas.
Rooks Center, Kansas.
By G. H. SMITH. M.; H. ENOCH.
HAVE been holding meetings in this place five weeks. Two discourses were preached against the Sabbath by a Congregationalist minister. This effort against the truth only295served to help us. Eight have signed the covenant, and others are keeping the Sabbath. Some of these had never made a profession of religion; but obedience to all of God's commandments has caused them to look to the “Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world.”
LATER.—Six more have signed the covenant, making fourteen in all. Next Sabbath we shall organize a Sabbath-school. We are in the center of a large field of labor, and will separate now and hold meetings in two places four miles from here, each in school-houses.
G. H. SMITH. M. AND H. ENOCH. Sept. 2.
The Home Circle.
By Mary E. Folsom
A SUMMER AFTERNOON.
THE sunlight sleeping on the hills,
In drowsy splendor dreams away
The long slow hours, as if it felt
The rapture of a perfect day.
The mountains stretch, broad waving line
Of purple light along the sky,
While at their feet rich shadows veiled
Serene and fair the meadows lie.
There comes to us the hum of bees;
A bird flits by on startled wing.
And through dim arches in the woods
We hear the swaying breezes sing.
With rippling laugh and silvery sheen,
Through cool, green haunts of moss and fern,
The brook betrays its hiding place,
And clearer grows at every turn.
The wild rose lifts its blushing face
Above the wayside grasses low,
While pale wood lilies in the shade
Their snow white bells swing to and fro.
O, golden summer afternoon,
We rest content; we ask no more
Only to hear the wind repeat
The self-same story o'er and o'er.
Only to breathe the fragrant air,
To watch the lights and shadows play,
To quaff the nectar that the sun
In brimming breakers pours to-day.
It is enough to be, to feel
The tranquil mood of field and wood,
To know God's blessing everywhere
Hath made so much that's fair and good.
Mary E. Folsom, in Springfield Republican.
Smiles.
Like the tired wayfarer, who looks gratefully at the sun peeping through a break in the clouds, a steady husband greets the smile of his wife's face after a hard day's work. Having added, honestly and manfully, his “mite” to the industry of the land, and earned enough to meet the wants of himself, his helpmate and his children, he hurries home to rest his weary limbs, and spend a peaceful hour with the mother and little ones he loves so well. But how many women meet their partners with black looks and short words! How many, indeed, by forgetting the power of smiles, put into a bad humor the man whom it should be their study, as it is their interest, to cheer and gladden! During the day something may have happened to sadden the spirit or sour the temper of a thoughtful wife; but matters can never be mended by brooding over what is past. Nay, the very effort to welcome with a smile him on whose hands the welfare of her family depends will do a woman good.
Look, then, on the sunny side of life’s way, and try to meet your love with smiles. If your furniture is plain and your fare scanty, all the more reason is there why you should cultivate the queenly charm of smiles. To be able to look cheerfully and hopefully through clouds of poverty and distress is an accomplishment bestowed by nature upon every true and brave woman; and no matter however poor or humble her home may be, the magic power of smiles can brighten its shadows and lighten its cares. Upon the troubled mind of a feeling husband, a wife’s smile falls like a sunbeam on a flower. And oh! how much more beautiful it makes the face that wears it than a frown! When a wife and mother, forgetting sorrows and hardships, smiles away her tears, there is a loveliness in the act that speaks to a man’s heart more eloquent than words.
Good Advice to Mothers.
It is hard for a young mother, who has not yet overcome the wayward tendencies of her own youthful nature to realize the influence she exerts over her little ones. She is constantly surrounded by critical imitators, who copy her morals and her manners. As the mother is, so are her sons and daughters. If a family of children are blessed with an intelligent mother, who is dainty and refined in her manners, and who does not consider it necessary to be one woman in the drawing-room and an entirely different person in every-day life, but who is a true mother, and who is always a tender, charming woman, you will invariably see her habits of speech and her perfect manners repeated in her children. Great, rough men, and noisy, busy boys, will always tone down their voices and step quietly, and try to be more mannerly, when she stops to give them a kind word and a pleasant smile; for a true woman will never fail to say and do all the kind, pleasant things she can that will any way help to lift up and cheer those whose lives are shaded with care and toil. The mother of to-day rules the world of to-morrow. Think of it, dear sisters, and guard well your home treasures.
Reports from the Field.
By John Norton Loughborough
Southampton, England.
SINCE my last report I have closed the tent-meeting at Southampton. The weather was so stormy and disagreeable that I deemed it best to take down the tent in order to save it for another season, as any more exposure to moisture would unfit it for further use. The meeting closed Aug. 17. The next day was a fine day for drying the tent, which enabled us to store it away in good shape. At night it commenced to rain, and has rained most of the time for the last ten days.
During this fourteen weeks of tent-meetings, seventy-four discourses were given, and thirteen sessions of our Sabbath-school and Bible-class held. The amount contributed toward the tent expenses was £12 ($60).
Before closing the tent-meeting I introduced the covenant to keep the commandments of God, and now over thirty names are attached to it. Others are keeping the Sabbath, and will sign the covenant as they have opportunity.
On Sunday, Aug. 24, our meeting was held in our hall in "Ravenswood." About one hundred attended. This was a very favorable opening. We see the providence of God in opening this place for us. We seek him daily for his presence, and pray that his Spirit may guide us in all our efforts to do good. Pray for us, that our labors may be blessed of the Lord. J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.
Sept. 1.
Colorado.
WE closed our effort with the tent to-day, and we can number about 30, who rest on the Sabbath.
The temperance people are beginning a crusade, and we sold them our tent for enough lacking $20 to buy a new one. The tent expenses have been met by donations and collections, and this is doing well considering the high prices of everything here.
Brother and sister Corless have had to labor under great discouragements, but God has blessed their faithful labors, and now they begin to see good results. He remains to finish the work here, and I go to Longmont to look after the new company there.
Denver, Sept. 23. A. O. BURRILL.
WE have now been in this city four weeks, and have canvassed the main points of our faith. Twenty-four are keeping the Sabbath, three or four of whom embraced the truth before we came. Others are considerably interested, some of whom we hope will yet obey.
We were glad to meet Eld. O. A. Burrill yesterday (Sept. 4), who came to join us in our labor. We expect to remove the tent Monday next to another quarter of the city, where we shall labor to build up those who have already received the truth, and to interest new ones. J. O. CORLISS.
Ogdensburg, N. Y.
By Charles B. Reynolds
I HAVE been here twelve weeks. Twenty-one have commenced to keep the Sabbath. Sept. 7, baptized twelve in the St. Lawrence River. The high sloping bank made it convenient for spectators. Not only was every available inch of ground and the long dock occupied, but two large lake steamboats were densely crowded, and a vast fleet of small boats on the river. Fully three thousand persons were present. A brother over seventy-five years old, who had never before made a profession, was with his wife buried in the watery grave. Notwithstanding the vast multitude, order prevailed, and solemn impressions were made on honest hearts.
It is conceded that the whole city has been thoroughly awakened to the truths of the last message. May the Lord give courage to the faint-hearted, who so freely acknowledge the truth, to obey; and may his blessing continue to rest upon the work here.
CHAS. B. REYNOLDS.
South Haven, Mich.
By E. R. Jones
I WAS never in a place where such unreasonable prejudice prevailed as here. There are some who are very friendly, supplying our wants and contributing toward our expenses. Our running expenses will be nearly met by the close of the meeting.
The truth will not be left without witnesses here. Some eight or ten have decided to obey. Some of these are now holding responsible places in the churches of this place.
E. R. JONES.