THE Bible teaches us that woman was made for man; and the reason why she was made for man was because it was not good for him to be alone. God gave her the same faculties of mind which he had previously bestowed upon man, which fits her to share in all his joys, and bear a part of all his sorrows. She has the same power as man to love or hate, to be forgiving or revengeful. Observe the faithful devotion of woman at the crucifixion of Christ; she was last at the cross, and first at the sepulcher.
It would be difficult to find a case of more bitter hatred than that of Herodias, who desired the head of John the Baptist, and with fiendish joy received it from her daughter. While men and women may not be by nature equally well fitted for all pursuits, yet the difference comes more from education than from nature. King Mahoney of Africa has an army of women, who are said to be very fierce and warlike, more so than men. While this teaches us that women may be educated for war, we have no desire to advocate such a course, but much prefer that she be trained for peace. She was created a help-meet for man—that is, a help fit for man. This was while man was in a state of purity, his physical labor not irksome. He did not need her to assist him in obtaining a livelihood for himself; his food was convenient and plenty. She was not intended, or needed, as a servant or slave, but as a companion; and when she came into existence it became her duty to provide for her own wants, as much as it was the duty of man to provide for his. She had no right to sit in idleness while man labored for her support, but she was to be a help, and bear her part of the burdens of life.
A wise Creator has placed upon woman the care and early training of children. He has made her a teacher, a moulder of character to them, and so arranged the laws of nature that it is unavoidably so. The Bible speaks of woman as a help. This she should be in the family, although man is the head. She may help in religious meetings, the Sabbath-school, and elsewhere, but should not usurp authority over the man. 1 Timothy 2:11, 12.
In 1 Corinthians 14:34, where we are told that women must keep silence, it not being permitted for them to speak, it is evident from the expression, “but they are commanded to be under obedience,” that Paul had reference to their speaking with authority. He is here describing a disorderly meeting, where each one is setting up his authority to be the head; one wanting to have a psalm, another desiring to teach some doctrine, and others having revelations to give, etc. See verse 26. The apostle reproves the brethren for such a course, but some of the women had evidently been taking an active part in these disputes, and claiming the authority to say how matters should be conducted. To them he says, keep silence in this matter, and however it is decided be obedient; that is, let it go that way. After that, they could take their proper place and part in the meeting.
This is evident from the fact that in the 11th chapter and onward of this same epistle, the apostle has laid down rules to govern both men and women in speaking and praying in public. He suggests the propriety of women wearing their hair long, and of having the head covered, veiled, while prophesying or praying, which shows he had reference to the public assembly, it being common at that time for women to veil themselves in the presence of men. And Paul argues that it is more comely—becoming—for a woman to have long hair, but for a man to have short hair; and he appeals to nature to sustain him. Chap. 11:16. He says, “But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.” From the above we may learn that the length of one’s hair was not made a test of fellowship, although some styles were more becoming than others.
In Titus 2:11, 12, the aged women were told to teach the younger. In Acts 18:24-26, we read that Aquilla, and his wife Priscilla, went to hear the learned and eloquent Jew, Apollos, and they saw that he was a man capable of doing much good, but that he only preached the baptism of John; so they took him and instructed him more fully. Philip, the evangelist, had four daughters that prophesied, Acts 21:8, 9, and Anna, an ancient prophetess, in the temple spoke of Jesus, the infant Saviour, “to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.” Luke 2:36-38. This proves that she prophesied in the presence of men, as well as women.
In Acts 2:17, 18, God has promised to pour out his Spirit alike upon sons and daughters, in the last days. May we each share in this blessing, and by its influence be fitted for some part in the great work of God upon the earth. Let husbands and wives read carefully the fifth chapter of Ephesians; and parents and children, servants and masters, the sixth chapter of the same epistle.
THE GERMAN ANTI-JEWISH AGITATION.
As regards the extraordinary movement of persecution of the Jews which has broken out in Germany, this is partly traceable to two causes. The first is the personal feeling of the Emperor and his great minister, Prince Bismarck. Prince Bismarck, in his early political life, made no secret of his opinion that the Jewish race ought to be put down by law, and the result of the three days' debate in the Prussian Parliament, in November last, seems to indicate that on this, as on most other subjects, the German chancellor retains his original convictions.68But this spirit of hatred against the Jews, and apparent determination to renew the persecution of the middle ages is by no means confined to the German court—it is thoroughly shared by the German people. The explanation which has been given of this, and which is doubtless true, at least in part, is as follows:
"Of late years there has been a considerable tendency among the Polish (and Russian) Jews especially, to settle in Germany. This increase has given serious umbrage to the Teutonic population of the empire. The more phlegmatic German, notwithstanding the cultivation which of late years he has received, finds himself outwitted and overpassed by Jewish intelligence, and Jewish enterprise."
"His trouble is the very reverse of what England is experiencing with the population of Ireland. Her difficulty is what to do with a race by no means wanting in natural abilities, but so improvident, so ignorant, so superstitious, and consequently so turbulent, as to be a ready prey to priests and agitators. The German anxiety is of a totally different character. The Jew is neither improvident, nor ignorant, nor superstitious, nor turbulent. He has no dealings with the Pope, or any other power hostile to that of the country in which he dwells. He has no interest in disorder and confusion, which can only impede his own material progress. The chief complaint alleged against him is that he is too intelligent, too sharp-witted, too money-loving, and money-getting, too rich, and too important in the State."
MANY at the present day believe in what they are pleased to call a present salvation. This is well enough if salvation is not considered as absolutely completed, and the person does not think himself beyond the reach of danger of being liable to fall, or that no new duties may present themselves that demand obedience. It is not uncommon now-a-days to hear people say, "I am a sinner saved by grace," "Christ has saved me," "I am fully saved," etc., meaning far more than any Bible phrase will warrant. Such persons generally have no use for the if of the text above.
Do not let it be understood that the use of the terms noticed are wrong in themselves considered, for all sinners are saved by grace, but only absolutely when they have "endured to the end." The assurance of final salvation till that time is in a conscious obedience to the divine will, and a ready mind to yield to new obligations, or step out upon increasing light. Christ has saved sinners as the children of Israel were saved out of Egypt, yet their carcasses fell in the wilderness, and the doom of saved sinners will be just as fearful if they do not continue "rooted and grounded in the faith," and hold fast the beginning of their confidence firm unto the end.
There is no belief so destructive in its consequences as that which places less value upon the word of God than upon the raptures of the mind; it is a deception that will cause the severest anguish of soul in the day of God. Too many think that because the Lord has once granted them pardon and peace, henceforth they are privileged persons, forgetting that the same course that brought so priceless a boon is the only means by which it can be retained.
A son may merit, and receive, the approbation of his father, yet how inconsiderate would it be for that son, at any future time, to presume upon his father's good will, and transgress his plain commandment. How foolish for him to say that, having once the evidence of his father's love, nothing he could henceforth do would displease him! How much better to say, "I will endeavor now to even anticipate his desires."
When the law of God is presented in some of its claims, a deceived heart will sometimes answer, "The Lord Jesus has saved me. He saved me five or ten years ago; he saved me as I am, and I am saved now." The word of God has no weight; the simple statement, accredited as fact, although a delusive falsehood, admits of no argument, and the soul that is completely filled with a counterfeit glory cannot be touched by precept.
A flight of feeling is not religion, not even an evidence of it, nor yet a necessary concomitant; for the souls of the best of men have, in all past time, been bowed down with a weight of woe, of care, and of tears. Instead of letting feeling decide whether one has religion, let the word declare if the feeling is inspired by the Spirit of God. Thousands upon thousands, to this day, are carried away with an infatuation, the seductive snare of feeling. Then let us say, not that my feelings shall be my guide, but, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." If it be so, now and forever the if is virtually removed, and then only.
Pure Truth and Circulation
PURE truth, like pure gold, has been found unfit for circulation, because men have discovered that it is more convenient to adulterate the truth than to refine themselves.
SEVENTH AND FIRST-DAY ADVENTISTS.
THE DIFFERENCE.
THE question has been raised, What is the difference between Seventh-day and First-day or No-day Adventists? In answer to which we quote as follows from a tract published at this office entitled, "Seventh-day Adventists, their Origin, Progress, and Principles":—
As respects chronology, the latter, believing that the prophetic periods were given to make known the time of Christ's coming, and that they have not yet ended, are held to one of two conclusions: either that all that is said in the Bible about these periods is so much of revelation unrevealed, or else that the time of Christ's coming is to be known. The first conclusion, as consistent believers in the Bible, they cannot adopt, and hence their continual efforts to re-adjust the prophetic periods and fix upon the time for Christ to come. From this has arisen in these later years all the fantastic time-setting which has very properly disgusted the world, and worse than this, has brought reproach on prophetical study. On the other hand,
SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS SET NO TIME.
They do not believe that any prophetic period given in the Bible reaches to the coming of Christ, or was designed to mark the day or year of that event.
But while we do not throw away the prophetic periods, but believe they are to be understood, we believe also that they have been correctly interpreted, and have all terminated; so that now we have no data from which to reason respecting a definite time for the Lord to come.
THE SEVENTH DAY.
Two causes have operated to introduce the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath among Adventists, and thus to develop that class known as Seventh-day Adventists.
First, a seventh-day Baptist sister, Mrs. Rachel D. Preston, from the State of New York, moved to Washington, N. H., where there was a church of Adventists. From them she received the doctrine of the soon-coming of Christ, and in return instructed them in reference to the claims of the fourth commandment of the decalogue. This was 1844. Nearly that whole church immediately commenced the observance of the seventh day, and thus have the honor of being the first Seventh-day Adventist church in America. The ravages of death, and removals from the place, have considerably diminished their numbers; but the church there still lives to bear witness to the truth thus introduced among them.
The Sabbath question began immediately to be agitated among Adventists, and within a few months many from their ranks commenced its observance. Another cause which has tended to strengthen them in the observance of the seventh Sabbath is the subject of the sanctuary.
It was seen at once that the central object in the sanctuary, in whichever dispensation we view it, is the ark of God, which was enshrined in the most holy place. This ark was prepared expressly as a receptacle for the tables of stone on which were written the great moral precepts of God's government, the ten commandments. Thus attention was called to the law of God. It was also seen that if the law in the ark of the heavenly sanctuary, Rev. 11 : 19, is the great original, and that de posited in the typical sanctuary was only a copy or tran script, that law must read the same now as it read then, and the idea of any change is placed beyond the range of possibilities; that heaven and earth, as Christ in his first sermon declared, would sooner pass than one jot or tittle would pass from the law; and the fourth commandment requires of the second house of Israel what it required of the first, and has required from the Eden down, the observance of the seventh day of the week, as the grand and glorious memorial of our crea tion at the hands of God.
MISSION WORK IN THE CHURCH.
By Editor
In the Christian at Work, for January 13, we find an article from the pen of J. A. De Baun, D. D., which presents the subject of missionary work in a somewhat new light. As it is well for us occasionally to have our social or personal pride humbled by a reminder of the "hole of the pit whence we were digged," we give the article in full:
All through the Old Testament history, from the time of Abraham downward, the knowledge of God, the special favor of God, and the covenant of God were visited upon one nation. He revealed himself as the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Every divine proclamation was restricted to that one people, and—expressly, or by implication—invariably began: "Hear, O Israel!" and, if it were a message of mercy, no other nation on earth had share or concern in it. To the Jews, and to the Jews alone, the word of God was given. They, and they alone, had the covenant and the promises. To them the prophets came; for them burned the altar-fires; and no alien feet might defile the only temple of God on earth which was favored with the divine presence. They were the people; and all other people were outcasts and God-forsaken.
And when Christ came, he came to the Jews. Among them he spent his life and ministry, and to them he spake the words of the great salvation.
But his purpose of grace was infinitely wider than any national limits, and his last act, before he went back to sit upon his throne, was to break down the barrier-walls, and let the fountain opened in Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness flow out upon a ruined world, for the cleansing and redemption of whosoever would. He had finished his mediatorial work among the Jews, indeed, but with a heart and a love which yearned over sinners of every race, and every land, and every generation, and made his grace as broad as the whole round world. And so his last injunction was, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." From that hour the church of God has been, not a church for the Jews, nor for Europe, nor for America, but for every creature that has a human soul. Consequently and necessarily, the church of Christ, ever since his ascension, has been a missionary church.
The blessedness of this fact to us who constitute the present church of Christ in this Christian land, we are strangely slow to realize. It seems as if we unconsciously think, though we know better, that we are all Jews—that the word and the worship, and the covenant, and the grace of God have belonged to us, and to our fathers before us, back to the very beginning.
When the Jewish nation had grown old, into the decay of a civilization which ran through two thousand years, and the gospel which they regarded with contempt began to be preached outside their exclusive and haughty limits, who and what were our forefathers.
We are a very mixed people, but we are safe in saying that all the blood that is in our veins is Aryan—of Teutonic, Celtic, Gallic, and Saxon origin, with probably other slight admixtures—but, except in most exceptional cases, without one drop of Israelitish.
When the gospel was given to the Jews, our fathers were not only heathens, but savages. In Britain, in Germania, in Gaul, they clothed themselves with skins; lived mainly by war and the chase; dwelt in caves and rude stone huts, and wattled hovels; and worshipped the sun and fire, and the thunder, and the north wind. Those who attained to more elaborate ritual sacrificed to Odin, the savage, celestial, blood-spattered conqueror of the gods, and looked forward to a final home in Valhalla, the heaven of heroes slain in battle, where they should enjoy the eternal felicity of mimic combats and hunting matches.
According to the wondering and shuddering accounts of their first more civilized visitors—themselves heathen—"in the gloomy recesses of their deeply-shaded oak grove temples, human victims writhed under the barbaric cruelty of their forms of sacrifice. Sometimes the victim was stabbed above the diaphragm, so that during a lingering death auguries might be drawn from the contortions of the sufferer, and the current and flow of his blood. Some were crucified; some shot to death with arrows. Sometimes huge images of wicker-work were filled with living men, or men and animals, and then set on fire, so that all perished together. Diodorus states that criminals were kept under ground for five years, and then sacrificed to the gods, by being impaled and burned in great fires, together with vast quantities of other offerings; and that prisoners taken in war were immolated, and with them the captured cattle destroyed. Cæsar says that they held criminals to be the more acceptable offering to the gods, but in default of such victims they sacrificed the innocent."
This is not written of South Sea Islanders, nor of the savage tribes of Central Africa, but of Britain, including Scotland; of Germany, including Holland. And it is written of them at that very time when Jesus Christ was laying the foundations of his church, and bidding his disciples go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. And it is because that command was given and obeyed, that our fathers were brought out of the awful darkness into the blessed light, and that you and I were reared Christians, and not heathen.
To the missionary work of the church of Christ we owe it that instead of being to-day the witnesses, the worshipers, or mayhap the victims, at the awful sacrifices to Wodin or Thor under the oaks of the Druids, we are sitting together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
If there is anybody on earth who has reason to help, and push the missionary work of the church, with might and main, with enthusiasm and self-sacrifice—with a perfect agony of energy—we, the children of converted heathen, who by gospel grace have come to form part of the Israel of God, are the very men and women.
Common, decent gratitude for the greatest of all possible personal blessings ought to make our ears ring and tingle with the command, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." And a feeling of kinship which ought to grow, and glow into a burning sympathy of brotherhood, ought to set our hearts on fire for the poor, benighted souls who have that need of the gospel to-day which our fathers had when their hearts were all dark, and their hands red with the blood of human victims at infernal altars.
THE REVISED TRANSLATION.
[The following from the Bunker Hill Gazette of December 16, 1880, will be of interest to Bible students. The plan of making the meaning more clear, and that of not modernizing forms of expression, is good. We hope it will make the truth shine brighter than man-made creeds. WM. PENNIMAN.]
THE announcement of the speedy publication of the New Testament as revised by the Bible Revision Committee, to be followed in about two years by the revised Old Testament, is a piece of news that will be received with great interest wherever the English language is spoken. The work has made slow progress on account of the great care taken to secure accuracy, and to obtain for every important change the assent of two-thirds of a committee numbering in all no fewer than eighty-two persons. The text of King James' version is taken as the basis. The language of the received version will not be altered except when its meaning can be made more clear, or in cases where there are manifest errors. No attempt is made to modernize the forms of expression. The committee wisely recognize the fact that the simple and dignified language of King James' Bible, though rendered somewhat quaint and antiquated by the modifications which have taken place in English speech in the course of more than two centuries and a half, is so associated in the minds of English-speaking people all over the world with the thoughts it conveys and the moral and religious truths it teaches, that any alteration made with a view of assimilating it to the forms of expression of the present day would rob the Scriptures of much of their force and beauty.
The revised Bible will have many strong points to recommend it to the churches on both sides of the Atlantic, and if it fulfills the hopes of the friends of the revision movement will soon take the place of the version so long accepted by all English-speaking Protestants. It will have no new readings made in support of the claims of any particular denomination; for all the principal denominations are represented on the committee. It will have the advantage of the great progress made during the past 270 years in knowledge of the Hebrew, Syriac and Greek tongues, and of the geography, monuments and history of the people inhabiting the Bible lands. It is the calm, careful, deliberate work of a large group of eminent scholars and divines of recognized influence in the various branches of the Protestant faith. Probably it will have nothing to contend with except the force of habit, which will favor the continued use of the old version. It must make its way by its own merits; but King James' Bible had no better chance at the start.
Truth Must Produce Holiness and Love
ALL truths, unless productive of holiness and love, are of no avail. They may float upon the surface of the understanding; but this is to no purpose unless they transform the heart.
The Missionary.
By Susan Coolidge
EACH day upon the yellow Nile, 'tis said,
Joseph, the youthful ruler, cast forth wheat,
That haply floating to his father's feet,—
The sad old father who believed him dead—
It might be sign in Egypt there was bread;
And thus the patriarch past the desert sands
And scant oasis fringed with thirsty green,
Be lured toward the love that yearned unseen,
So, flung and scattered, ah! by what dear hands,
On the swift rushing and invisible tide,
Small tokens drift adown from far, fair lands,
And say to us who in the desert bide,
“Are you athirst? Are there no sheaves to bind?
Beloved, here is fullness; follow on and find.”
—Susan Coolidge.
FRESNO AND TULARE, CAL.
By William M. Healey
I HAVE spent some time in these two counties, and made an effort to see as many of the Sabbath-keepers in them as possible; to do this it became necessary to visit many at their homes, as some of them are isolated from church privileges. I found brethren who cheerfully left their own labor and with their teams spent days, and even weeks, with me in this work. We found about sixty families, a part or all of whom were keeping the Sabbath, and among them are many good earnest souls. I was reminded of my visit to these counties, four years ago, when there was but one Sabbath-keeping family in Fresno county, and only three S. D. Adventists in Tulare county.
I was grieved to find some who have relaxed their hold upon the truths of God. Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage, and men even now sell their hope of eternal life for a much less sum. Some desire to gratify appetite, in the use of tobacco, and some in whisky, and some are not willing to give the tithe of their income to the Lord, and it is strange how soon a little darkness will spread in one's mind until the whole light suddenly goes out. We disfellowshiped a few, and trust the others will remember the pit from which we have been digged. And may "he that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."
Oakland, Feb. 4, 1881. W. M. HEALEY.
FERMENTED OR UNFERMENTED WINE AT COMMUNION?
By Ellet Joseph Waggoner
BY DR. E. J. WAGGONER.
WHETHER fermented or unfermented wine shall be used at the Lord’s Supper has been the subject of much discussion, and does not seem to be settled yet. If men had let reason prevail over appetite in this discussion, there would have been no difficulty; but, as is usually the case, they have sought to find proof that would coincide with their desires. No man likes to live under condemnation for any practice; therefore if he is determined to follow it, he will at once prove, to his own satisfaction at least, that the practice is correct, and will try to persuade others to the same idea. Their earnestness in defending their theory leads them to believe that they are honest; and many well-meaning persons accept their assertions unquestioningly, on account of their apparent sincerity.
In the January number of the Presbyterian Review an article appeared in which the author claims that all the wines mentioned in the Bible were intoxicating; and that no such thing as unfermented wine is known in the East, even to the present day. The Examiner and Chronicle quotes this with approval, and protests against the confidence of those who urge the use of unfermented wine only, at the Lord’s Supper. It claims that our Lord never made or used any such wine as this, and the proof that he did use unfermented wine is called “insignificant and worthless.” Instances are not few where a poor inebriate who has gained a partial victory over his appetite for drink, has been cast down to a more degraded position than ever before, because his slumbering appetite was aroused by the taste of fermented wine at the Lord’s Supper. That which should be the “cup of blessing” is, in such a case, the “cup of devils.” It seems that the language of the journal quoted above is calculated to augment the evil, and demands more than passing notice.
Now it does not require a lengthy dissertation on Bible wines to prove that at the Lord’s Supper unfermented wine was used. Indeed, it can be easily shown that any other than this would be highly improper. In the first place, in all the accounts of this supper “wine” is not mentioned. That which they drank is stated by our Lord to be the “fruit of the vine.” Matt. 26:29; Mark 14:25; Luke 22:18. By this we must understand that they had “the pure blood of the grape” (Deut. 32:14), for the fruit of the vine is unfermented.
That the ancients used this as a drink may be seen from Gen. 40:11. But more positive proof can be given that only unfermented wine was used at the Lord’s Supper. Christ was celebrating the passover with his disciples. The passover was termed the feast of the unleavened. (The term bread is not found in the original.) In Ex. 12:19 we read, “Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses; for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel.” The word “leaven” means simply “ferment,” and the command was, therefore, that during the passover feast nothing that was fermented should be found in their houses. Christ and his disciples were Jews, and were celebrating this feast in accordance with Jewish custom; and, therefore, it is not possible that fermented wine could have been used at this time, even had they desired to use it.
But one more thought will show the impropriety of using fermented wine in connection with this ordinance. In presenting the cup to his disciples, Christ said, “This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Matt. 26:28. The wine represents “the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” 1 Pet. 1:19. The offering that was made, was perfectly “pure” and “without blemish,” and should be represented by that which is the most pure. Now fermentation is simply a process of decomposition. That which has been fermented has commenced to decay, and therefore, fermented wine is decomposed wine. Fermented wine could under no circumstances be called “the fruit of the vine,” unless it were made from rotten grapes. Would it not be sacrilege to represent so pure a thing as Christ’s blood by that which has decayed? This view of the subject will not be considered “insignificant and worthless” except by those whose reason is blinded by a perverted appetite. If it is of any importance at all whether we follow an ordinance of the Lord or not, it is of importance that we do it in the proper manner. “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” 1 John 1:6.
INTEMPERANCE.
By The Young Man's Friend
INTEMPERANCE, like other vices, is deceitful and seductive. It frequently presents a beautiful exterior, while within it is all corruption, and as loathsome as a sepulcher, full of dead men's bones. Youth is charmed and cheated by it, and old age it often covers with shame and disgrace.
You have seen a calm cloud appear in the heavens in a clear day in summer. At a distance it looked beautiful. Its shining edges glittered with delusive splendor, and it moved up the sky as majestically as the chariot of Jehovah. As it approached, the beauty disappeared; on man below, it cast dark, threatening glances; the golden fringes vomited forth forked lightning; and what afar, seemed mellow music, was soon found to be harsh and terrific thunder. Soon the tempest was abroad on earth. The beasts of the field fled for shelter to the shadow of the high rock; the yellow harvest of the husbandman was swept away, and man himself fled, a fugitive before the storm.
Intemperance is like that cloud! It promises shelter and shade to the thirsty spirit, but soon bursts upon human life with all the fury of the tempest. It sends its blast and sweeps its tide, into the domestic retreat, across tribunals of justice, and up to the very altars of the church of God.
You have seen the ocean calm and tranquil. As far as the eye could reach not a ruffle disturbed the surface of the waters. Like a sea of glass, it reflected the form of every bird which took passage over it, and gave back from its clear bosom the polished beauty of the heavens above. Invited by the serenity of ocean and sky, the mariner launched his vessel, and spread his canvas to catch the gentle breeze. Soon a change came on. The wind blew like the hurricane. The waves tumbled and foamed upon each other. The ship plunged, and quivered, and strained in the trough of the sea. Sunken rocks now lifted their huge forms and sharp peaks high above the water, and anon were buried deep, by the mountain billow. Morning came; and a vessel, without mast, or rudder, or sail, or chart, or compass, or crew, floated upon the bosom of the surge.
Intemperance is like that ocean! To the youthful voyager it seems as calm and placid, as a sea of glass.
But as he ventures out; as the green hills of sobriety disappear, the waves of destruction begin to dash around him; the whistling blasts of poverty make frightful music; the moaning of the pitiless storm disturbs his dream of pleasure, and ere long he is tossing, an unmanageable wreck, upon the sea of temporal and eternal ruin.—The Young Man's Friend.
A FREE TEMPERANCE MEETING.
SIR WILFRID LAWSON gives an account of a country temperance meeting in England where all present had a free and easy time. Everybody felt at liberty to express his mind. "Three excellent clergymen spoke. They harped on the elastic and indefinite word 'moderation,' condemning intemperance, but setting up Timothy as their model man, morally and constitutionally; lauding and magnifying sobriety, but commending the temperate consumption of alcohol. When they had concluded, an elderly farmer rose and said: 'I've heard that kind of talk for the last forty years, and I can't see that people are a bit more sober now than when it commenced. It reminds me of what I once saw take place at a retreat for imbeciles. It is the custom there, after the patients have been in residence for a certain time, to put them to a kind of test to see whether they are fit to leave the asylum or not. They are taken to a trough full of water, with a small pipe continually running into it and supplying it. They are given a ladle and told to empty it. Those who have not regained their senses keep ladling away, while the water flows in as fast as they ladle it out; but them as isn't idiots stop the tap.'" —Exchange.
QUARTERLY REPORT OF THE CALIFORNIA T. AND M. SOCIETY
The State quarterly meeting was not held at Napa as appointed because the severity of the storm, which occurred at that time, made it impossible for the directors to attend. A few meetings, however, were held with the church, in which matters of local interest were considered such as canvassing the city for the Signs with "Geikie's Life of Christ" as premium, and obtaining subscribers for our other periodicals especially among our brethren.
The report of work for the quarter ending Jan. 1, is as follows:—
We have also received the following report from the St. Clair church of Nevada: Number of members, 20; reports returned, 5; letters written, 22; Signs taken in clubs, 25; new subscribers obtained, for Review 2, Signs 1, Good Health 1; pages reading matter distributed, 4,618; periodicals distributed, 644; cash received on Tract Fund, $38.95.
BARBARA C. STICKNEY.
GLEANINGS FROM THE EASTERN FIELD.
By Editor
VERMONT, Bristol.—C. K. Drury reports that at the quarterly meeting held here Jan. 8 and 9, three were baptized by Bro. Purdon; also the church voted to take fifteen copies of the SIGNS for missionary work, and to put a set of our bound books into the public library at Essex Junction.
MICHIGAN, Otsego.—Eld. D. M. Canright reports a good meeting and interesting Sabbath-school at this place, Sabbath, Jan. 15.
NEBRASKA, Republican City.—F. G. Harris has given fifteen discourses in a private house five miles south of this city. Jan. 18, he reports that one has commenced to keep the Sabbath and others are investigating.
ILLINOIS, Chicago.—Eld. J. G. Matteson, between Dec. 30 and Jan. 4, held five meetings and celebrated the ordinances with the church in this place. The brethren are trying to live more for the Lord.
NEW YORK, New Connecticut.—Eld. M. C. Wilcox met with this church, Jan. 1 and 2. Two have been added to their numbers during the past year.
Silver Hill.—At the quarterly meeting in this place nearly every society in the district was represented, and all reported. There was a slight increase of work over last quarter.
KANSAS, Moline.—As the result of Bro. Cook's labors in this place, seven who had never made any profession of religion made a start in the Christian life. Five who had been separated from the church gave their names to return.
NORTH CAROLINA, Soda Hill.—L. P. Hodges states that although two of the six brethren mentioned in his last report have not proved substantial, five sisters in their stead have commenced to keep the Sabbath.
MISSOURI, Nevada and Union Point.—At the church quarterly meeting at Nevada, Jan. 1 and 2, attended by Eld. J. G. Wood, five were added to the church. Also at Union Point, Jan. 8 and 9, four took their stand upon the Sabbath.