p. 80 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 7, No. 7. (2/17/1881)

SO-CALLED CHRISTIAN FATHERS.

By Eld. S. N. Haskell

BY ELD. S. N. HASKELL.

THE religious world is ever troubled with theological questions which create religious controversies. These questions are of two classes. One arises upon merely theoretical subjects, which do not affect practical godliness, and are, therefore, of no account only as they produce religious dissensions. The other class pertains to practical truths which affect the habits of men. It is habit that forms character, and inasmuch as righteous character is the qualification for eternal life, these discussions are important. Much depends, however, upon the spirit in which they are engaged. It should ever be the motive of investigators to learn how to live better, and not to strive for the mastery over one another. The Bible, and the Bible alone, presents the true standard for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction, in righteousness. Here is the Protestant's rule: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Tim. 3: 16, 17.

In a note found in the Douay, or Catholic, Bible upon these words, we find the following: “If we would have the whole rule of Christian faith and practice, we must not be content with those scriptures which Timothy knew from his infancy,—that is, with the Old Testament alone,—nor yet with the New Testament, without taking along with it the traditions of the apostles, and the interpretation of the church, to which the apostles delivered both the book and the true meaning of it.” But Protestants will not admit for a moment the papist rule; and yet, they are often found in a dilemma, where practically they do adopt it. If some darling doctrine cherished by them is found not to be sustained in the Bible, they then not unfrequently appeal to the Fathers.

But who are these early Christian Fathers that are to supply the supposed deficiency of the Scriptures in not teaching us the whole truth? They are a class of men who lived during the first three centuries of the Christian era, many of them holding prominent positions in the Christian church. If they were no more reliable than the Christian fathers of to-day, certainly men would not want to risk their salvation on their opinion. And we have no reason to believe human nature was any different then from what it is now. The apostle Paul gives a vivid description of the state of things in the early Christian church, as follows: “For I know this that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” Acts 20: 29, 30.

It follows from this testimony, that we are not authorized to receive the teachings of any man simply because he lived immediately after the apostolic age, or even in the days of the apostles themselves. Grievous wolves were to enter the midst of the people of God, and of their own selves were men to arise, speaking perverse things. If it be asked | how these were to be distinguished from the true servants of God, this is the proper answer: Those who spoke and acted in accordance with the teachings of the apostles were men of God; those who taught otherwise, were of that class who should speak perverse things to draw away disciples after them.

Dr. Adam Clarke speaks of the early Christian Fathers as follows: “There is not a truth in the most orthodox creed which cannot be proved by their authority, nor a heresy that has disgraced the Romish church that may not challenge them as their abettors. In point of doctrine, their authority is with me, nothing.” Again, he says: “We should take heed how we quote the Fathers in proof of the doctrines of the gospel, because he who knows them best knows that on many of those subjects they blow hot and cold.” It is therefore evident that there is no more reliability to be placed upon the early Christian Fathers, than the Christian fathers of the nineteenth century; and yet, when the Bible fails to prove certain theories that men hold, they will resort to the early Christian Fathers. We will take for instance one doctrine to illustrate this. There has been and still is a question of dispute among theologians respecting which day should be observed as the Sabbath of the Bible. All are agreed as to what the Old Testament teaches, viz., that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord. Finding ourselves a Sunday-keeping nation, which practice has been handed to us by our fathers, it is claimed that it came down to us in an unbroken chain from the days of the apostles,—that the apostles, by the authority of Christ, changed the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day, in view of his resurrection having taken place upon that day. But when we come to the New Testament, it is nowhere thus taught. The first day of the week, or resurrection day, is never called the Sabbath, but is ever spoken of as the day after the Sabbath, as, “In the end of the Sabbath as it began to dawn towards the first day of the week;” or, “And when the Sabbath was past, . . . very early in the morning towards the first day of the week,” etc., thus making a distinction between the Sabbath and first day. The apostles, also, never kept it. They taught in the synagogues and by the river side, always to both Jews and Gentiles, upon the Sabbath. See Acts 13: 14, 42, 44; 14: 21; 17: 1, 2; 18: 4; 16: 12, 13.

Further than this, the first day of the week is spoken of as a laboring day, as the disciples anointed the body of the Saviour on that day. Paul instructed the Corinthian church, “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him [at his own house at home] in store as God hath prospered him.” But when these facts appear, the early Christian Fathers are appealed to, and notwithstanding it is supposed that much light is to be found in the testimony of the early Fathers, it is a remarkable fact that not one of them for the first three centuries ever testified that the apostles told them Christ ever changed the Sabbath, and not one of them ever alludes to the idea of such a change. No one of them ever calls the first day the Christian Sabbath, nor indeed ever calls it a Sabbath of any kind. They never represent it as a day on which ordinary labor was sinful, nor do they represent the observance of Sunday as an act of obedience to the fourth commandment. The modern doctrine of the change of the Sabbath was absolutely unknown in the first three centuries of the Christian church. The truth is, no writer of the first century and none of the second, prior to A. D. 194, who is known to speak of the first day of the week, ever calls it the Lord's day. Thus much for the early Christian Fathers on the first-day Sabbath.

The subject will receive further consideration next week.

Men never would appeal to the Fathers were it not for the cherished custom they have, and the entire absence of Bible testimony to vindicate it. They who possess Christian simplicity sufficient to believe in God and take his word as the man of their counsel and the guide of their life, will find in the end they possess true wisdom.

PHILOSOPHICAL ARGUMENTS.

By Prof. B. L. Aldrich

BY PROF. B. L. ALDRICH.

THIRD ARTICLE.

To resume our examination of the philosophical props that sustain the erroneous doctrine of the immortal soul, we shall bring to the test the much-emphasized visions of dying people.

Ordinarily, the judgment of men in that condition, especially on questions of theology and science, is not considered very reliable. They frequently have strange and delirious fancies. A criminal that had been hung but whose life was, from a small spark, fanned into a flame again, stated that he had had the most transporting visions of bright and beautiful scenes. His sensations, doubtless, were caused by the change produced on his nerve system. The brain of a sick person in the worse states of disease is considerably affected, and it must be so in a dying condition. It is then, if ever, liable to cause phenomena unknown in the time of health. Even in a high fever, the fancies of delirium unfold strange scenes. Children in a state of health, by pressing the eyes into a pillow seem to be looking into a kaleidoscope where bright and shifting forms elaborate to their sense of perception. The brain is not always dependent on external objects for the apparently palpable figures. It is capable of reflex action. Some persons are peculiarly liable to this action of the brain. Under such a condition it throws out before itself things which have no reality, but which are convincing to the mind producing them. This fact, well known to metaphysicians, is sustained by many notable instances.

Dr. Clark, author of a book on this subject, asserts that to this peculiar action of the brain must be assigned the visions of dying people. They see their departed relatives standing before them, and are affected with many other hallucinations. Must we, then, base our faith of an immediate transit to glory on an illusion of the diseased brain? Such a theology would be imbecile indeed. Christians sometimes are depressed with spiritual doubts because they have the dyspepsia, or their hopes are dull because they ate too much cheese.

Revelations of eternal realities, transmitted through the deranged brain of a dying mortal, are to be accepted with great caution. The last transports of some faithful Christians are the inevitable outcome of a life driven in one direction, and under the force of one great hope. The whole life anticipated and forged the last vision.

As other objections I submit: First, that many people who did not have any hope of eternal life, and no faith in Christ, had these visions. Jews that rejected the Messiah had them; Buddhists, and Mohammedans, had them; second, that many good Christians did not experience any such transporting scenes when dying; and third, the descriptions which dying persons give of the hereafter in Heaven are all suspiciously like those which they have been taught before. It was no revelation, but a reproduction.

The fact is, men cannot get out of themselves. They are bound to be human in spite of all their struggles. They cannot escape from those laws of their being which all the while restrain them within the educational influences of their lives. They cannot paint what is not earthly. They may combine these material elements under different relations and in different forms, but man is forced to reproduce the impressions he has received, in some shape or other. Christ gave no description of Heaven, evidently because it was so unlike earth, being a spiritual realm; and we could not have comprehended him if he had.

Let those teachers who are trying to keep alive one of the most egregious errors of religion, explain why Lazarus did not give some account of his heavenly experience when he was resurrected. The ancient Greeks must have perceived the idea of the incompatability of human nature comprehending the nature of the unseen, when they invented the fable of the Titans stealing holy fire from Heaven.

If man actually had a soul as it is commonly interpreted, which at death came out of the body and spoke independently, in its spiritual language, its descriptions could be credited; but so long as it acts (as it is said) through the brain, its intuitions must be biased by the affections of its medium. So long as the power runs the machine, so long will the peculiar noise of that machine be heard. The man of dark fancies will die floundering in clouds and surf; the cheerful visionary, like Ponce de Leon, will expire in the transport of discovering the immortal spring. Wild savages die, welcoming with a smile, the happy hunting grounds. A Napoleon will die at the head of the army, and a Galileo will hear the music of rolling spheres. Thousands of Khaled’s warriors perished on the fields of Syria with arms outstretched to greet the black-eyed houris, the reward of fidelity to the crescent.

What are you going to do with such dying visions as all these? Hallucinations of this kind have not only strengthened Christians in a false theory, but have been employed by pagans in all ages to maintain the genuineness of their religions. This argument, then, of the visions of the dying, as a proof of an immediate transit to glory after death, philosophically considered, is wholly valueless as it is so shown to be by the facts of science and history. Still this argument will be used, no doubt, like a great many other false reasonings, for the human mind is full of error.

Near the Kingdom of God

A NEW JERSEY doctor perished in the snow-storm which, accompanied by a blizzard of exceptional severity, recently visited the Atlantic States. A workman on his way to work, noticed something black half-covered with snow in an avenue. On inspection it was found to be the body of Dr. George Smilie of Plainfield. He had been out late the previous evening on a professional visit, and in returning, had lost his way in the blinding snow-storm, and had apparently wandered a considerable distance. He was near-sighted, and when

he sank exhausted in the snow was within three minutes’ walk of his home. To be so near his destination and yet to miss it makes the calamity inexpressibly sad, but in spiritual matters there are every day worse calamities. There are multitudes of people who attend the preaching of the gospel to whom it might be said, “Thou art not far from the kingdom of God” yet who do not enter in.

COMMITTING SCRIPTURE TO MEMORY.

"The Bible! 'T is a book divine, Where heavenly truth and mercy shine, And wisdom speaks in every line."

SOON after the Lord in mercy opened our eyes to behold spiritual things, we commenced committing to memory portions of the inspired volume, carefully, prayerfully, and exactly, word for word, without the slightest deviation from the written letter.

First, we committed the sermon on the mount; the most practical parts of the epistles of Paul, Peter, James, and John; and parts of the Psalms, Proverbs, and prophecies. We then committed the whole of Matthew's gospel, whole psalms, and whole chapters in the writings of Solomon and the prophets; likewise whole chapters in Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, James and John, Peter first and second, and in the letters addressed to Timothy and Titus by Paul.

This committing to memory portions of the blessed Bible was made a daily business. On some days, only one verse was committed; on others, two, three, four, six, eight, or ten. The passages committed in the morning were often repeated during the day, while going out and coming in, lying down and rising up. While occupied in our usual avocations, or business transactions, these golden gems were turned over and over again, and again meditated upon, and brought home to our hearts. The glorious results of thus treasuring up these "apples of gold in pictures of silver," are inexpressible. We mention only a few of these blessings:—

1. This hiding the word of God in our heart by these daily committals assisted us in prayer, not only in using scriptural language in approaching the great "I Am," but as whole psalms and other parts of the Bible were made up of prayer entirely, we could, when in a state of spiritual ardity and when the heavens were brass over us, and our own words seemed to rise no higher than our head, take the words of the Holy Spirit's dictation, and soon feel our heart kindle with true, spiritual devotion. Often, when clouds and darkness were thus around us, the healing beams of the Sun of Righteousness would dawn.

2. This method of examining the Bible by careful and prayerful committal of its pages assisted us very much in ordering our conversation at home and abroad, in the social circle, and around the table. A verse or two, taken from this pure fountain, was often introduced on these occasions for elucidation and edifying conversation. Moreover, it aided us equally in giving a happy turn to social or family interviews, when otherwise precious golden moments would have been occupied on things of a trifling nature or commonplace, or on things of little or no profit. Furthermore, when conversation was likely to flag, a passage from this light-house would be introduced for mutual edification and spiritual enlargement.

3. In our missionary trips from house to house in cities and villages, this familiarity with holy inspiration was of special advantage; also around sick-beds on occasions when the Bible could not easily be taken up, we could then have recourse to this stock on hand treasured in our memory, and repeat verbatim such passages as would comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak and administer consolation to the sick and dying.

4. In teaching Sabbath-schools, Bible-classes, also in attending meetings for prayer, testimony, and in more public ministration, this fund of Holy Writ, stored for future use, we found incalculably beneficial. Thy word, "where'er it enters in, Is sharper than a two-edged sword, To slay the man of sin."

5. In writing for the press, or otherwise, the same blessed results were experienced as when imparting oral instruction.

6. In severe temptation, we could apply this "sword of the Spirit" skillfully in warding off the fiery darts of the enemy, from the fact of our having so many of the great and precious promises before our mind's eye. Our blessed Lord set an example here, when tempted by Satan, after his long fasting of forty days. What did he say? "Get thee hence, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." Matt. 4:10. Mark well the purport of the words, "It is written."

7. This hiding God's truth effectually destroyed and killed out forever, the least and last tendency to silly, nonsensical chit-chat, foolish talking, and jesting, about things of little or no profit, so common with many church-members. The attempt to witticisms to excite vain laughter eats out the life and essence of true piety. Whenever you see persons given to light, trifling or frivolous conversation, like the crackling of thorns under a pot, take it for granted such individuals are very superficial in Bible theology, and know but little if anything of the marrow and fatness of the gospel.

8. Another exceedingly important item in thus bringing home the spirit of the Bible to our inmost soul was this: It killed or destroyed entirely and forever all relish for insipid, frothy, and ephemeral publications, the popular periodicals of the day, the fashion-plate magazines and comical, the multitudinous mixture of the bitter and the sweet, God and mammon, Christ and belial, so frequently advertised and puffed by religious editors. When once the truths of the Bible have taken firm root in the heart, and become more precious than gold, sweeter also than honey and the honey-comb, these sugar-coated poisons, snakes in the grass, Satanic transformations, appear disgusting and heart-sickening, and are repudiated as the froth and scum of the pit, fit neither for the land nor the dung-hill. Whenever you see persons poring over these "literary serpents" with evident delight, you know certainly that they have not yet learned the first principles of true discipleship. "Fill first the bushel with the wheat— With wisdom, food for souls to eat; Then chaff, the fiction of the day, Will find no place, and blow away."

9. This investigating of the writings of holy and inspired men opened our eyes to see the vanity and sinfulness of worldly conformity in dress, equipage, church-building, the pride of aristocracy, the uniting of Christ with belial in matrimonial connections, religious festivals, and secret, oath-bound societies. When you see the professed disciples of Jesus following the wake of worldly popularity, receiving honor from one another, rest assured that God's word has not done its perfect work.

10. This method of searching the Scriptures, accompanied by the influence of the Holy Spirit, eradicated entirely and forever a sectarian spirit and the spirit of caste. We were led also to hate oppression in every form as God hates it, and as every holy being must hate it.

Beloved reader, are not the blessings here enumerated, which result from treasuring up God's truth in the heart by committing portions of it daily, worthy of your immediate, prayerful consideration? Can you hesitate a moment from following on to know the Lord in this way, "till the day dawn and the day-star arise in your heart?" "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2 Pet. 1:20, 21.—Guide to Holiness.

THE WORK IN ENGLAND.

By John Norton Loughborough

THE month which has elapsed since my last report has been a busy one with us in this mission. We have received some encouragement in that we learn that others are interested to read the periodicals we are posting to them. Some are accepting the truths taught in these papers. We are expecting every day the first parcel of the larger amount of papers, and we hope, as the area of our labors shall by this means become broader, to see still greater interest.

Bro. Ings still meets with much encouragement in his work on the ships, and occasionally finds those already interested who have received the SIGNS OF THE TIMES from American vessels. We suppose these must have been placed on them in some of the American ports. The people on ships frequently exchange papers when meeting other ships. By the various means employed, our papers are being widely circulated, and the reading of them raises an inquiry for "more of those papers."

The quarterly meeting of the National Tract and Missionary Society of Great Britain was held on the evening of Jan. 16. The report of the labors of the society for the quarter ending Jan. 1, 1881, was as follows:—

No. of members, 26; No. that reported, 19; families visited, 2,058; letters posted, 761; letters received, 133; subscribers received, 16; ships visited, 106; tracts loaned, 57,967 pp.; tracts given away, 11,057 pp.; tracts sold, 5,646 pp.; total tracts circulated, 74,670 pp.; No. of periodicals sent by post, 4,740; sold, 264; given otherwise, 356; total, 5,360. Cash received on sales, $42.94.

The last ten days have been the most snowy and blustering known in this part of the world for many years. The Southampton Weekly Independent, of Jan. 22, says of it: "From all parts of the country there are reports of the damage done by the gales of Monday night and Tuesday; of the obstruction to traffic by road and rail caused by the heavy snow-storm and snow-drifts; and the continued severity of the frosts. All agree in classing it as the most violent storm which has been experienced for many years, and attended with great destruction of property and loss of life. Supplementing snowed up trains in all directions and almost the entire stoppage of locomotion on land, consequent on the heavy snowdrifts, we have news of the most serious losses at sea; and on Tuesday a high tide in the Thames flooded, in addition to many other places, the low-lying neighborhoods between Blackfriars and Westminster bridges, leading to most heart-rending scenes, many of the houses and buildings between Ground street and Waterloo being flooded with five and one-half feet of water.

"Trains in Devonshire were snowed in, and all postal communication by road was stopped in Somersetshire, and whilst in the Bristol Channel a heavy gale was experienced, on the Clyde there was a terrible storm, and many vessels are reported lost. . . . In the south of the Severn, as in the Thames, the masses of ice brought down by the stream helped the gale in causing immense havoc among shipping and house property. Twenty vessels are reported ashore, and likely to become total wrecks, near Cardiff. From the southern and eastern coast similar stories of disaster on land and sea are told—of fishing boats lost, houses flooded and dismantled, harbor works damaged, and traffic suspended. Even the seaward face of a church clock on the Norfolk coast was wrenched away, and carried off to the North Sea. On a short line of railway—the Lancashire and Yorkshire—no fewer than fourteen trains were snowed up. Not the least serious of the effect of the storm has been the complete derangement of the telegraphic system."

Among the believers in the "perihelion" theory of the planets, there has been a time of exultation of late over the supposed verification of their predictions, in the sudden gales and unsteadiness of climate.

The reader of Scripture prophecy sees in these convulsions of nature a token of the fulfillment of the words of the Lord by the psalmist (Ps. 102: 25-27; Heb. 1: 10-12): "Yea, all of them shall wax old as doth a garment, and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed." As expressed by Cowper, in his "Task," book 2:—

"The old And crazy earth has had her shaking fits More frequent, and forgone her usual rest; And nature seems with dim and sickly eye To wait the close of all."

While the elements are thus deranged and shaken, let us look forward to that kingdom "which cannot be moved," earnestly striving for a part in that land where sorrow ne'er shall enter and tempests never blow. J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.

"DECAY OF TURKEY."

By William Penniman

MR. ROSENBERG writes from Adrianople, in Turkey: "This country and its people have been fearfully desolated by the war of 1877-8. Widows and orphans, the aged and the young, are running about the streets begging for a piece of bread. But since the late war the Christians have taken the reigns into their own hands, and are making wonderful progress in every department, whereas the Turks are gradually degenerating, so that in a few years they will quite disappear as a power and a nation from Europe. Christian preachers, Scripture readers, and colporters are working very hard among Bulgarians, Greeks, Armenians, and Jews, and doubtless much good will in due time result through God's blessing. In this lies our hope."

This quotation from the Christian Herald and Signs of Our Times of Dec. 16, 1880, seems to indicate a fulfillment (or at least a partial fulfillment) of Rev. 16:12, which refers to the drying up of the river Euphrates. (See Thoughts on Revelation, pp. 255-257)

WM. PENNIMAN.

The Missionary.

By Maria L. Huntley

THE MESSAGE.

While the wicked still slumber in darkness And dare Heaven's message refuse, We are nearing the King in his beauty Oh, hasten and tell the glad news. Go warn, for the whole world is dreaming Of millennial peace just ahead; Raise louder the cry of the message For vials of wrath are ahead. Go tell the whole world he is coming; Yes, send the glad tidings around; 'Twill brighten your prospects for glory, And add many stars to your crown.

Dayton, W. T. EARNEST HOPKINS.

WHO IS TRULY HONORED?

BY MARIA L. HUNTLEY.

There is, in the heart of man, a natural desire for the honor and esteem of others. This desire is of heavenly origin, and, as first given to man, was pure and elevating; but, with other precious endowments, it has become perverted. The great enemy of our race has made it an agent through which to turn the attention of mankind from that which is true, pure, and ennobling, to the false and corrupting. He has made this counterfeit so pleasing and attractive that nearly the whole world is taken in his snare. Life, health, eternal interests,—all are sacrificed to secure the praise and applause of men; and with many, nothing is too precious to lay down at the shrine of this false god. But the Bible reveals this deception, and brings to view the true honor which comes from God.

God is the most exalted being of which we can conceive. We can but faintly comprehend his exaltation and glory, and to become connected with him is the most honorable position to which we can attain. To be engaged in his work, is to be engaged in the most noble and exalted work on earth. We thus become associated with the angelic host and with the Lord of glory in a work so important, so elevated, that it was worthy of the death of the Son of God. Let us consider the ministration of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary, the ministration of angels for six thousand years, and then, if possible, imagine a more exalted position for fallen man than that of having some part in such a work, with such associations. Wonder, O Heavens, and be astonished, O Earth! not only at the amazing love of God to man; but at his condescension in thus exalting him.

No one can say, This is not for me. No; while the most gifted, the most learned, have not the attainments appropriate to such an exalted position, in themselves considered, God will accept the weakest, the most ignorant, if they give him the best, and all they have. This is not a work in which the strong may glory in their strength, or the wise in their wisdom; it is rather by the love with which one works that his work will be approved; it is God that gives the increase.

True nobility is measured by character. The king on his gilded throne, if not a child of God, is less honored than the least of those who are daily attended by the heavenly messengers sent forth to minister unto those who shall be heirs of salvation, or those little ones whose angels do always behold the face of our Father.

The time is near when this veil of deception will be removed. Then, those who have connected themselves with God and his work, will be seen in their true light, as the truly honored of earth. The present is the time to secure this honor, to suffer with Christ that we may also reign with him. Ample opportunities are now afforded us for engaging in the work of God, and thus securing for ourselves the true riches and true honor, which will be as enduring as eternity.

ARSENIC EATING.

"Do you see that lady?" said a prominent chemist of Cleveland to a reporter of the Leader. "As sure as the sun will rise to-morrow, so surely will that woman die prematurely, in a few years, by a slow but certain self-destruction."

The scene was on Superior street, and the lady in question was standing on the sidewalk, waiting for one of the cars. The afternoon sun shone full upon her, and her dress and everything about her marked her as a person of wealth and refinement. Her face was beautiful, but about the large gray eyes there was a wearied, troubled expression, and the marble face was almost deathlike in its pallor. The skin was translucent, showing the delicate blue veins beneath. It was perfectly pure and clear, but unnatural. Accepting an invitation to step into the chemist's laboratory, the reporter was soon seated in a spacious room surrounded by thousands of bottles of different shapes and sizes, and the conversation turned again on the woman seen on the street.

"That lady," said the chemist seriously, "is an arsenic eater. Few have any idea how the deadly habit is spreading. Even in this city it numbers its devotees by hundreds, and the husband who prides himself on his wife's beautiful complexion, the father who presses the pale forehead of his daughter, and the lover who is proud of, while he is anxious about, the transparent complexion of his sweetheart, never dreams for a moment that it is an unnatural effect produced by the use of a poison which will sooner or later destroy life. I am not telling this for sensation; it is a terrible truth, and I could sit down and write off the names of five hundred ladies who are in the habit of using this drug regularly. I could startle this city by telling it that the women of many of its best families are committing a slow suicide. A practical chemist can tell at a glance a person addicted to this vice, and it has been my custom for years past to note down the persons I meet who have the mark of the arsenic habit upon them. If I were to show you that list, you would be astonished."

"How is the drug usually taken?"

"Sometimes pure, in minute doses, but generally in the form of Fowler's solution. For the first few months, maybe in some cases for a year, little or no effect ensues, but after that time the beautiful pallor which you have seen is produced. After a few years the wretched woman begins to feel her health giving way, and decides to discontinue its use. Alas, it is too late! The face changes to a livid red; every one notices it, and in despair she returns to the same course, and receives the congratulations of her friends on her restored health. After some years, however, the face gradually changes from the clear color of alabaster to a dull, ghastly complexion like chalk; the whole system, saturated with this mineral, gives way, and usually death mercifully ends a life of paralysis. Such has been the history of many of our wives and daughters, and unless the strong arm of the law steps in and puts stringent rules on the sale of this poison, it will be the history of many of the rising generation."—Sunday Chronicle.

READ AND PONDER.

A muddy stream, flowing into one clear and sparkling, for a time rolls along by itself. A little further down they unite and the whole is impure. So youth, untouched by sin, may for a time keep its purity in foul company, but a little later and they mingle.

Temperance.

OAKLAND HEALTH AND TEMPERANCE CLUB.

THE regular monthly meeting of this society was held Sunday evening, the 13th inst. The attendance was good, and an unusual interest manifested. Exercises were opened by singing, "Greeting Glee," from "Temperance and Gospel Songs," followed by prayer by Eld. J. D. Rice.

After the reading of an appropriate selection, entitled "Cold Water," by Bro. James Leavitt, and an excellent recitation by Sister Lena Unger, Mr. L. F. Beckwith was introduced to the audience and delivered a timely address upon moderate drinking. He did not claim to represent particularly the views of the society, as he had but recently become a member, and knew but little of the organization; but he presented the subject from his own stand-point. He took issue at once with the recently published arguments of Chancellor Crosby in favor of moderate drinking and against the teetotal reform movement. He gave his own experience, which was quite extensive, in support of the proposition that the Professor did not know what he was talking about.

The speaker made the assertion, and demonstrated its truth to the evident satisfaction of the audience, that moderate drinking is the worst kind of drinking. On account of its apparent respectability it wields a more extensive and baneful influence than habitual drunkenness. What is recognized as moderate drinking bears no relation to the quantity imbibed, as one man may drink eighteen or twenty times a day without apparent effect, while another will be drunk on two or three drinks. The one will be deemed a moderate drinker and the other a drunkard. A moderate drinker could go down town, meeting with friends, drink up a ton of coal, a month's rent, and a sack of flour, in a few hours, and perhaps not show the effects of his drinking in his demeanor.

Although calling himself an unbeliever, the speaker gave it as his unqualified opinion that there could be no real permanent temperance reform outside of religious principles. And he gave most earnest caution in regard to going into temptation. He said there was no consistency in praying, "Lead us not into temptation," and then deliberately walking right into it. "And all the people said, Amen."

This address was followed by a male quartette, "The Temperance Call;" then a musical drill, conducted by the Leader, Bro. C. H. Jones.

Dr. E. J. Waggoner was then introduced and made a few pointed remarks on "Some Mistakes." He said one common mistake is the idea that while some intoxicating liquors are injurious, others are good. He argued that alcohol is poison, no matter where found or in what quantities, and that as a poison it must have a deleterious effect, and sooner or later must work destruction. He instanced one individual who drank a great deal of wine, and argued that it was good, because he had made it himself and knew it was unadulterated; but the speaker claimed that the alcohol in this wine was just as poisonous as alcohol in any other liquor, that adulteration in liquor is merely the addition of other substances.

Another mistake referred to is the supposition that alcohol is medicine, and on that account is sometimes necessary in case of sickness. The speaker maintained his premise that alcohol is poison, and is none the less a poison because found in a doctor's prescription. Some pointed illustrations were presented in support of this proposition. He also referred to the use of cider, and said that fresh cider was probably no more injurious than eating an apple. But the longer it stands the stronger it gets, and one might keep on drinking it from day to day, thinking one day did not make much difference, until it became quite strong and even intoxicating. Other mistakes were happily alluded to and exposed, to the gratification of the audience, and more of the same kind was promised at some future meeting.

The solicitors reported fourteen signatures to the different pledges for the past month. W. N. GLENN, Sec'y.

NEW YEAR'S TIPPLING.

JUDGING from what we have seen in our exchanges, our recent New Year's Day has been remarkable for two things, one is the generalness with which the day was celebrated by callers at houses known to be “open,” and the other is, the almost universal absence of wines and stronger liquors from the tables. Really as the social custom becomes less tyrannical, hospitality becomes more amiable. Never shall we forget the whirlwind of emotions we suffered once when a fine young fellow found by us in the gutter, and helped up again into hope and effort, met a temptation at the New Year's table. A beautiful young lady holding the sparkling glass in her beautiful hand at her own table, said to him, “Please to taste our wine with me.” He said, “No, Miss, I never drink.” “Never! Are you so weak that you can’t trust yourself to take with me one little glass of wine?” He confessed his weakness, and came to the study at once to tell me of the unkind hospitality, the cruel ordeal through which he had been forced, by one really professing friendship for him. He stood the test. He is a man to-day.—Golden Censer.

Making Rum from Old Shoes

A SAN FRANCISCO daily reports that “in New York they are making what they sell for Jamaica rum out of old shoes. So, in imbibing a rum punch, you may be taking into your stomach what has already done service on your feet. The economies of nature and art are wonderful to behold.”

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