Earlier text: The Seventh Part of TimeTHIS sentence is expressive not only of favor but of honor. To be a citizen of the best and most glorious kingdom is a matter of pride and pleasure to all; to be received into the royal city as a favored inhabitant is a mark of respect prized by all who may enjoy it; but to be permitted to stand in the king's presence, and to behold his face, is counted the very highest honor. But such is the favor and honor promised in the Bible to a certain class. Not to stand before the kings of this world, who in a day may be dethroned and dishonored; or who must die and return to the dust, even as the meanest of earth; but to stand before the King of kings, before the Eternal One, the Creator and Upholder of all things. They have, not only an abundant entrance into his everlasting kingdom; not only a right to the tree of life, a right to enter into the glorious city, but they shall see God; they shall behold his face, and be permitted to worship before his throne. Who are they who shall thus be honored in heaven? They are "the pure in heart." And why is this peculiar blessing promised to that class? It is because God is pure. He is infinite in holiness, and nothing impure can possibly stand in his presence. They must be pure in heart; not merely correct in outward deportment; not blameless only in the sight of man. They must be pure in the sight of God; pure in the light of infinite purity and perfection. Their outward life must also be correct. They must be above reproach before the world. But they must be more than this. The world cannot behold the corruption within. We may throw a cloak over our wrongs, and the world may be deceived in regard to our real character. The world may forget the errors which they have known, and judge favorably on account of their own failures. But God is never deceived. He never forgets. Nothing is hid from his sight; nothing is lost from his remembrance. If the heart is not pure the life cannot be pure. "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts." Many have grieved because they could not banish evil thoughts from their minds. They knew these were wrong, but they lacked the moral power to subdue them. Many have sunk in discouragement over the feebleness of their efforts, over their own failures to overcome, over the weakness of their resolutions or their inability to carry them out. The difficulty in all such cases is in the heart. Conversion without conviction is shallow and deficient. But with many, conviction is deeper than conversion. They know and approve the good, but fail to reach it in their lives. When they would do good, evil is present with them. Evil thoughts are odious in the sight of God, and are among the "secret things" which God will bring into judgment. They are evidences of a corrupt heart, and if indulged, lead to a corrupt life. In the Saviour's catalogue of evils proceeding from the heart, evil thoughts are followed by "murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies." The apostle says that who hates is a murderer; and the Saviour shows that who indulges impure desire is guilty of adultery. This will be the scale of judgment in the great day. Hatred and impure desires are murder and adultery in their first stages. So they are regarded of God, and so they will be condemned in the judgment. Not among the least of the evils of the heart is its deceitfulness. "The heart is deceitful above all things." We are almost every day deceived by earthly hopes, earthly prospects, earthly pleasures, and earthly friends. But we are oftener and more terribly deceived by our own hearts. They lead us to feel secure when all around is danger. They cause us to feel self complacent when all is darkness and corruption within. "Who can know it?" is the question of inspiration. It is impossible for any one to know his heart unless he is enlightened by divine wisdom; by the word and Spirit of God. So great is self-deception that many will not accept reproof, but insist that they are right even when their lives are grossly corrupt. And unwillingness to be reproved is one of the strongest evidences of self-deception and impurity of heart. By this we do not mean merely an unwillingness to hear reproof or to be advised. Self-deception puts on more deceptive forms than that. Some will ask for advice, and court reproof in words, imagining that thereby they give strong proof of humility. But their invariable failure to act upon the advice given, and their neglect to reform the errors or habits reproved, show too clearly that their blindness is deep laid in their selfish hearts. All efforts to assist such seem unavailing. To those who have grieved over their weaknesses, who have grown discouraged over their many failures, we would offer words of hope and courage. Our internal foes are our worst enemies, but we may say, in the words of the hymn:—
"Yet let nothing spoil your peace;
Christ will also conquer these." "The carnal mind," the natural or unrenewed heart, "is enmity against God." But this may be all removed, and we be "justified by faith," so that we may have "peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Says the Saviour, "Without me ye can do nothing." Here is our fault. Our efforts are made in our own strength. We do not make a complete surrender. When we become fully sensible of our own weakness, and are willing to put away every idol, and can believe that God is willing to receive us to the strong arms of his love; when we so hunger and thirst after righteousness that we truly hate the sins which grieve the Spirit of God, and yield all to the Lord without any reserve, then will he clothe us with the power of his salvation. His grace will be found sufficient for us, and we may realize as well as know that "perfect love casteth out fear." A heart that is pure will have the love of God in it, and this will be manifested by complete submission to his will—cheerful obedience to his commandments. A pure heart will love to commune with God, and will daily gather strength from the "throne of grace." Strength to do or bear, to work or to wait, and to hide self behind the cross, and "do all to the glory of God." Are There No Changes?
By R. F. Cottrell
As in the natural, political, and moral world, so in the religious world, new departures are the order of the day. Opinions venerable by age, and long-established creeds, are being called in question and discarded. The very foundations of that which has for ages been esteemed orthodoxy, and from which to dissent has been branded as "damnable heresy," are being shaken; men of leading minds and of various denominations boldly contradicting and opposing the teachings of their fathers of past generations.349 And well it may be so; for as long as there is division and discord in the church, there is error. Truth and unity are inseparable. When "the wise shall understand," they will understand aright, and if they understand aright, they will understand alike. Two contradictory creeds cannot both be true. They may both be false. If one says that twice two are five, and another contradicts, holding that twice two make only three, both are wrong, and the truth lies between them. So it may be in regard to disputed doctrines. The rejection, of late, of the doctrine of eternal misery by so many clergymen and leading religionists is a sign that the religious world moves. It is startling to many that doctrines so long supposed to be immovably fixed should be so boldly contradicted. And those who call in question a popular creed are always liable to be misrepresented. The pious shudder, and the profane exult, because, as they say, Beecher & Co. have abolished hell. Now it is not fair to say that a man does not believe in future punishment, because he does not agree with others in regard to its duration. Neither is it fair to say of one who disputes the natural immortality of the soul, that he believes a man has no soul. But such is the blindness of the creed-bound. Now, admitting that the human soul, whether righteous or wicked, must exist in consciousness eternally, one of two things must be true: the condemned must suffer eternal misery, or the doctrine of universal restoration to holiness and happiness must be true. Which shall be received as the truth? Will sin and its consequent misery exist eternally, or will the whole human race be restored to holiness and happiness? It seems not to have entered into the minds of many that both of these positions may be false. It may not have occurred to them that the foundation, both of self-styled orthodoxy and of universalism—the natural and necessary immortality of the soul—may be false. They may not have thought that there might possibly be such a thing as capital punishment—a punishment that takes the head and ends the life—in the government of God; that "the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:23. The Scriptures teach us that "God only hath immortality." 1 Tim. 6:16. He alone is the source of life. All created beings live by his will. If any continue to live eternally, it will be because he wills it. Is it reasonable to suppose that it is his will that Satan, sin, and sinners should exist eternally, and that, as a consequence, there should be endless suffering? Reason says, this cannot be. But the Scriptures teach the doctrine of "eternal damnation," a condemnation from which there is no deliverance or reprieve. Therefore those who believe that God has created man immortal, that He cannot, or will not in any case, take away that life which he gave him—are compelled to accept of the doctrine of eternal torment, or of universal restoration. And the consequence is, in either case, that the Scriptures must be perverted to teach what they do not say. But let the Bible mean what it says—that dust, by the breath from God, became a living soul, and that the sinner shall return to dust again; that man was shut away from the tree of life, after he had sinned, lest he should "eat and live forever," and that the gift of eternal life is to be obtained only through Jesus Christ, and the Scriptures are in harmony with reason and with themselves. But my object in alluding to the present agitation of this subject, by the repudiation of the doctrine of eternal torment by so many, is to raise the inquiry as to the result. Of course some will choose universalism, and others the doctrine of eternal misery; but this agitation is by God's providence, which is over all things. He, doubtless, designs to bring some good out of it; and we humbly believe that the effect will be to arouse men to think, to reason, and to study the revealed will and purpose of God, so that those who revere God and his word will come to believe that the Scriptures mean what they say, that "the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Another subject is now coming into general notice. The doctrine which has been so extensively held, of the conversion of the world and a spiritual reign of a thousand years before the second coming of Christ, is being examined and repudiated by many. A general convention of those who believe in the pre-millennial advent of various denominations of those called evangelical, was held October 30, 31 and November 1, to confer on this subject. This movement, by God's providence, will result in opening the way for honest souls to learn the true advent doctrine as revealed in the Bible, and to believe the message that is already being proclaimed to the world to prepare a people for that great and impending event. Rev 14:9-12. A third subject, and not the least, which is being called up for general discussion, is that of the Bible Sabbath. Legislation is being called for in behalf of what is extensively called the "Christian Sabbath." At the same time the message to which I have alluded, and which is spreading abroad to the nations of the earth, is attracting attention of multitudes, and by these means the questions concerning the Bible Sabbath are being agitated as never before since the beginning of the Reformation. What does the Bible teach concerning the Sabbath? Is the first day of the week, or the seventh day, the Sabbath of the Lord? or, has the Sabbath been abolished, so that now no Sabbath is binding? God, in his providence, as well as by his Spirit in his people, is opening the way for all to have the truth upon this subject who will. The grand result will be, that the remnant of his people on earth will receive the truth on this subject, as well as others, and will thus be prepared for the close of probation, which will close with this message, so that it can truly be said of them, "Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." Rev. 14:12. And they will thus be prepared for the coming of the Son of man which will immediately follow. Rev. 14:14. Changes and agitations are the order of the day; and the result will be glorious to those who, amid the moral darkness, believe and obey the truth. Salvation, eternal life, depends upon the choice we make. How important to accept of the truth as revealed in the word of God! Oh, that men would realize it, believe, obey, and be saved.
R. F. COTTRELL Editorial Notice.
By Editor
At the recent session of the General Conference the undersigned was requested to become local editor of the Signs of the Times. Hereafter all articles by the regularly elected editors will bear their initials, as follows: J. W. for James White; J. N. A. for John Nevins Andrews, and U. S. for Uriah Smith. All articles without any signature will be by the local editor. All besides these will be signed by the full names of the writers. J. H. Waggoner. FOR some years it has been believed by many well-informed astronomical observers that the period from 1880 to 1885 will be one of a marked character in the lives of the planetary bodies. Some five or six years ago, we published a series of articles bearing on the situation, and which embodied all that was then known on the subject. The matter is again making its appearance in various forms. One of these is a forthcoming translation of Dr. Lowenthal's “Theory of the Universe,” and which is about to be brought out by the publishers of The Occident, a Jewish periodical issued in this city. In the work of Dr. Lowenthal there is to be found, among a vast amount of other matters, the facts of the curious theory referred to. In a periodical entitled The Science of Health, its editor, Dr. Knapp, says:— If there is anything in 'astrological criology' we are approaching one of the most pestilential periods of earth's history. Since the commencement of the Christian era, the perihelia of the four great planets of the solar system—Jupiter, Uranus, Saturn and Neptune—have not been coincident. But this is about to occur, and there will soon be 'lively times for the doctors.' The theory is that when one or more of the large planets is nearest to the sun, the temperature and condition of our atmosphere are so disturbed as to cause injurious vicissitudes, terrible rains, prolonged drouths, etc., resulting in the destruction of crops, and pestilence among human beings and domestic animals. The same authority also argues that during the period of the perihelion of the planets there is always a marked increase in the death rate. Dr. Knapp goes back for twenty centuries in tracing the history of epidemics, and claims to have verified the theory as to the coincidence of planets in perihelion, and the existence of great physical disturbances and destructive epidemics. In the sixth and sixteenth centuries, three of these planets were in perihelion, and these periods were characterized by the development of the most pestilential eras that the Christian world has ever known. Now, however, for the first time in forty centuries, the perihelia of the four great planets, Jupiter, Uranus, Saturn and Neptune, will be coincident. If the coincidence of two planets produces such marked results, if the coincidence of three of them, as has happened twice in two thousand years, has left an indelible impress of devastation upon the human race, what dire consequences may not be apprehended when all four of these colossal bodies unite to bring to bear upon this poor little earth their malignant influence? Any person who has reached the age of a score of years will be able from memory to verify the fact that the last ten or fifteen years have been filled with actual or premonitory symptoms of disturbance. Enormous tidal waves have been thundering along our ocean coasts, tossing about ships as if they were straws, battering down rocks which had withstood the storms of centuries. Islands have gone down in the ocean, sinking like a plummet, and leaving scarcely a ripple to mark the place of their disappearance. The bottom of the sea has been thrust up here and there, as if pushed up by an earth convulsively panting with fear at the impending cataclysm. On land the symptoms are not wanting to indicate already serious disturbance. Areas have been desolated by tornadoes, and town after town has been obliterated so that their former location was scarcely recognizable. Tremendous rainfalls, borne on the wings of hurricanes, come at short intervals, deluding valleys, changing chattering brooks into roaring torrents, leveling hills and filling hollows, and carrying everywhere irresistible destruction. The Chicago fire of 1871 is an event without parallel since the sixteenth century, at which time three of these planetary monsters sentineled the sky in closest conjunction with the great center of the system. It has never been accounted for, and never will be unless one seek an explanation in external and unusual atmospheric conditions. The Boston fire partook of the same extraordinary character. In both, the flames fed upon stone as upon inflammable oils, and bore down everything, devoured everything before it a fashion utterly unlike any previous record of its actions. There is the same swelling in the tide of epidemics that has been seen in the rising strength of errant natural forces which have suddenly, as it were, been loosed for destruction. The yellow fever epidemic of the present year seems to have risen in accord with no known law, to have extended without reference to precedent, to have yielded to none of the usual effective remedies, and to have devastated and destroyed without hindrance or limit. The sinister echos of the footsteps of cholera are heard resounding along the shores of the Mediterranean, as if the demon were about to commence his voyage around the world. It is not long since a most destructive famine prevailed in China; and it is but lately that there terminated an era of starvation in India which is said to have destroyed not less than a million human beings! All these things have occurred. They may be the mutterings, the advance drops of the coming storm, or they may be simply unusual developments from conditions not extraordinarily affected. They may have come from causes limited to our planet, and stimulated by local combinations into unusual activity. Again, they may be what some astronomers claim them to be, the forerunners of the cataclysms which are to be precipitated on the earth by the conjunctive perihelia of the four great planets now rapidly nearing the sun. Whatever the cause, and whatever the indication, these tremendous events of the last fifteen years should enforce one lesson upon the people. Speaking of these perihelia the Science of Health says:— They will be at their nearest approach to the sun in or soon after 1880, so that for a few years, say from 1880 to 1885, the vitality of every living thing will be put to a severe and trying ordeal. Some persons think they can see, by the signs of the times, evidences of the great disasters in the immediate future. The excessive heat, the unexampled cold, the prevalence of flood and disasters at sea, the general failure of the potato crop, the widespread chill-fever among human beings, and the equal prevalence of the epizootic among animals are mentioned as among the premonitions of the rapidly approaching perihelion. 'To be forewarned is to be forearmed.' Accidents excepted we know very well that the persons of more vigorous constitutions and more hygienic habits will have the better chance to survive whatever adverse influence the extraordinary perihelia will occasion. It is well known to all physicians that, in all pestilences, plagues, typhus, smallpox, cholera, murrain, etc., the intemperate, the dissipated and those whose sanitary condition was bad, furnished the victims. This means that people should put their house in order. Cities should clean their streets and alleys and get themselves ready for the worst. Individuals should live temperately, and in every way prepare themselves for the ordeal. It may not come; but in case it shall not, the world will be all the stronger and healthier for having prepared for it.—Chicago Times. Correction from Elder Jones
By Editor
From Elder Jones, of London.
BROTHER JONES has felt called upon to write the following note, which we publish as he requests:— To the Editors of the Signs of the Times :
DEAR BRETHREN—Allow me to correct a statement in your issue of August 1, in the editorial headed "Great Britain," that "the doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventists, through our publicatious and the brief visit of Elder Andrews, had taken strong hold of those who revered the Sabbath of the fourth commandment." To my knowledge not one person belonging te the Seventh-day Baptist churches of Mill Yard, Natton, and Belfast, or the Seventh-day Baptists scattered over the kingdom has embraced those doctrines, nor have we ever asked the Adventists for missionary help. Though in the past many "discouragements" have attended us, yet we are united, and determined to work more than ever for the Sabbath cause, success steadily attending our labors. Yours very truly,
London, August 20, 1878.
W. M. JONES. We think Brother Jones has taken the remarks to which he refers in too strong a light; he denies that any of the churches there have embraced our peculiar views. The editorial in question did not claim so much. It has not been the intention of any one to place Brother Jones and others in Great Britain in a false light, nor have we any special interest in turning people away from the S. D. Baptists to the S. D. Adventists. We are always pleased to have openings for successful labor presented before our missionaries. But we fully endorse the remark made by Brother Andrews recently that we would not willingly engage in a work which was calculated to draw members from the S. D. Baptists to ourselves, because the number of Sabbath-keepers would not be increased thereby. In the work of Sabbath reform we are together, and we can say as Abraham said to Lot, "Let there be no strife between us, for we are brethren." There is no practical question of difference between us. We do not intend to undervalue any Scripture doctrine which we hold and teach. But in the matter of the commandments of God, which relate primarily to moral and Christian character, we are agreed; other points in which we are not agreed, are not of the same primary importance, as they do not so directly relate to obedience to the great moral law. We can assure Brother Jones, and his friends in Great Britain, that no one among us has any intention to place them in a position which they would dislike to occupy, and if any thing has been said on a simple misunderstanding of facts, we know not why it should hinder fraternal feelings between them and our missionaries in Europe. We are pleased to hear of their prosperity, and have reason to believe that they, in turn, have been pleased with our success in the Sabbath reform. With the apostle we say, "Let brotherly love continue." The Bishop of Manchester recently read a paper before the Philosophical Institution of Edinburgh, in which, among other things, he mentioned the substance of a conversation between himself and one of the prominent advocates of the Darwianian theory of evolution. "You admit," said Dr. Fraser, "that this theory is only a theory; that as much can be said against it as for it, and that the weight of actual fact, as far as is known, is against it. Why then do you and your colleagues so persistently cram it down the throats of people?" The savant replied: "The fact is that the Darwianian theory is the only one which makes it possible to account for life without the existence of God; we are bent upon eliminating the idea of God from the minds of men, and this is the reason why we go in so strongly for Darwinism, and teach it so zealously, although probably it is a false theory." —Pacific Churchman. THE evils arising from this practice are greater than appear at first. It leads, in general, to irreverence for Scripture. No man would jest with the dying words of his father or his mother; yet the words of God are quite as solemn. When we have heard a comic or vulgar tale connected with a text of Scripture, such is the power of association, that we never hear the text afterward without thinking of the jest. The effect of this is obvious. He who is much engaged in this kind of false wit, will come at length to have a large portion of Holy Scripture spotted over by this unholy fancy. The Bible’s Enduring Evidence
By Binney
No volume deserves more attentive perusal than the Bible. Our belief in the truth of the Bible must rest upon evidence, not only of the convictions of others, but the facts themselves of which truth is the summary. While millions of learned volumes, which promised immortality to their authors, have sunk into oblivion, the Bible has survived even against opposition such as no other book ever had. The loftiest pretensions to learning, science, and philosophy; the most malignant arts of wit, satire, and scurrility, have been employed against the Bible in vain. Thousands of times it has been condemned, banished, burned. Still it survives, and will survive the dissolution of worlds. In 1274 the price of a Bible, with a commentary fairly written, was 30 pounds! That precious volume may now be obtained by most laborers for less than a single day's pay. How great are the privileges of modern Christians! How great must be their guilt if they neglect them.—Binney. Prophecy Proves Divine Revelation
By Lord Erskine
Prophecy is one of the strongest proofs of divine revelation. I consider the prophecies relative to the destruction of the Jewish nation, if there were nothing else to support Christianity, as absolutely irresistible.—Lord Erskine. GEORGE MILES sat at his desk in the counting-room busily casting up the columns of figures that lay before him. He had been discharged from his former situation nearly a year before, owing to the pressure of the times; and for a long time could find no work, until, fortunately, he obtained his present situation, which he had held for about three months. During his enforced idleness he had been obliged to run in debt over fifty dollars, and, as his wages now barely paid his expenses, he saw no way to free himself from the incumbrance. George was steady and industrious, and disliked extremely to feel under obligation to any one; consequently the thought that he was in debt worried him continually. As he sat there at work, the door opened, and a little old man entered the room. "Good morning," said George, courteously, looking up. "Anything I can do for you?" "Is Mr. Osgood in?" inquired the visitor, in a thin, squeaking tone that corresponded perfectly with his stature. "My employer is out of town this morning," replied the clerk; "but I transact business in his absence." "Are you his bookkeeper?" "Could you give me a receipt, supposing I was to pay him some money I've been owing him?" "My name's Blair; Bill Blair;" said the old man as he walked up to the desk. "You see, I got trusted for goods and things up to about seventy-five dollars, more than a year ago; and I suppose Osgood has about given up ever getting his pay. You see he couldn't have got it if he had tried, for I didn't have the money. But it was an honest debt, and I have always meant to pay it; and now I have got the money I am going to! Seventy-five dollars and a half!" and he laid the money upon the desk. The clerk wrote him a reciept, and carefully placing it in his pocket-book with an air of satisfaction, Mr. Blair took his leave. George sighed as he placed the money in his pocket. Probably his creditors would have to wait longer than his employer had waited for this money. How he longed for the time when he could walk the street with head erect, not fearing to lift his eyes lest he should see a creditor! During the afternoon his employer came in. Mr. Osgood was a pleasant, jovial man, easy-going and generous, but thoughtless. He could get plenty of clerks for the wages he paid George, and it had never occured to him that George might experience any difficulty in getting along. "Any callers?" he inquired, as he took a chair by the stove. "A few; a Mr. Blair was in for a few moments this morning." "Was he?" said his employer, carelessly. "I see him about every week. He's been owing me about seventy-five dollars for over a year. He keeps saying he is going to pay it just as soon as he gets the money. But he'll never get the money, I'm afraid. If he does he'll pay. He's honest enough. That's why I'm so easy with him. I say, Miles," he exclaimed, half jocosely, "what will you give me for that note. Chance for speculation." "Where does he live?" inquired George. "In that little house opposite the machine-shop." A wild idea flashed through the mind of the clerk. His employer had asked him to buy the note. He would probably discount considerably from its face, and here the note was already paid, and the money in his pocket! The suddenness of the temptation blinded him. He did not see the wrong he would be doing; he only saw a means of clearing himself from debt. "What will you take for it?" he asked quietly, veiling his eagerness. "O, fudge!" laughed Mr. Osgood, "that was only my nonsense. I wouldn't advise you to risk your money! But I'll sell the note to anybody for twenty-five dollars." "You say he is honest, but has n't the money?" said the clerk, thinking it would be best not to seem too eager. "Yes, honest enough! Think you'll invest, Miles?" "Yes, I believe I'll risk it. I guess I shall get back my money sometime. I'll pay you to-morrow, if you say it is a bargain." He did not wish his employer to see the roll of bills, or he would have paid him on the spot; for he knew he would have to pay it from this money, as he had not ten dollars to his name. Mr. Osgood laughingly made over to him the note, and soon after left the store without once thinking to inquire for what reason Blair had called. As he passed along the street he chanced to meet Blair himself. "Ah! how do you do?" said the merchant, pleasantly. "Pretty well!" was the reply; "I feel better than I have for a year; for I can look you in the face without feeling I'm owing you. Ye see, I got into the machine-shop, and jest as soon as I got money enough saved, I says to myself, 'I will clear off that old debt that Osgood has against me.' I suppose your young man told you I dropped in and paid the money this morning? He gave me a reciept." The truth flashed over Mr. Osgood's mind. "I was in the office only for a few moments to-day," he said. "And Miles didn't speak of it. However, I'm glad we are straight once more." The merchant was in an unpleasant state of mind as he walked home. So his clerk had cheated him; coolly and deliberately swindled him out of fifty dollars! He could see the whole game now. In a day or two Miles would have come in with a smiling face to his work, and the thought that he had induced Blair to pay the note. Scoundrel! And he had placed perfect confidence in him. Well, Miles could have the pleasure of giving up the money and losing his situation. Perhaps he thought it paid to cheat his employer; but possibly his views on the subject would be changed on the following day. Mr. Osgood was very indignant, and justly so. That evening, while the merchant was vainly endeavoring to crowd this affair from his mind, and trying to fix his attention on his paper, there came a ring at the door-bell, and shortly after the servant ushered the clerk into the presence of his employer. The latter, by strong effort, controlled his feelings, and greeted him as pleasantly as he could, directing him to be seated, curious to know what had brought him there at that time. "Shall we be alone?" asked the clerk, soberly. "Then, sir, I will disclose my errand here," said he nervously. "For about nine months before you engaged me I was out of employment, and after spending all my money was obliged to borrow money at different times, amounting in all to over fifty dollars, in order to get along. Since then, I have been able to save very little, and the debt has been on my mind constantly. I could not bear to be indebted to any one, and I could see no means of paying it. This morning Mr. Blair came in and paid his note. This afternoon I commenced to tell you of the fact, and was about to hand you the money, when you told me of his note, and how you did not expect it ever to be paid. Then you asked me what I would give for the note. I knew you meant it for a jest, but I was tempted. In an instant I saw how I could manage it, and I yielded. I bought the note of you, when I had the seventy-five dollars and a half, that belonged to you by right! But I was alone, and thought it all over, I began to realize what I had done." "I think I never did anything deliberately mean or dishonest before, and I saw this was dishonest, for I had cheated you out of fifty dollars. I took out the money and counted it over; but it did not satisfy me. It came over me more and more that I could not keep it; that I must undo the wrong I had done; that the knowledge of having cheated you would be more unendurable than being in debt. It was to clear up the debt that I wanted the money." "Then I began to plan how to set the matter right. The idea came into my head to make over the note to you in the morning, pretending that I dared not risk my money on it; and in a day or two, give you your money as if it had just been paid. But I saw that such a course would lead me deeper and deeper into deceit, and after much unhappy thinking, concluded to tell you the whole, as I have done. Of course I do not expect to remain in your employ any longer; and I cannot ask you for a recommendation, but it will be my own fault. Here is the money. Good night, sir, and good bye." And he turned toward the door. "Hold, George!" exclaimed Mr. Osgood, with some emotion. "Come back here and sit down. I've got something to say to you." "You did wrong, George," continued his employer, kindly, all his resentment having vanished. "But I presume you would not have done so, had I not unconsciously tempted you. You have given me the money and desclosed the whole affair, expecting to lose your situation and thereby your means of living. The fact of your confessing it so soon strengthens my confidence in you. On my way home this afternoon, I discovered that the note had been paid to you and had fully decided to discharge you in disgrace to-morrow, and should have done so, had you not done as you have this evening. Take your place in the counting-room as usual. Your salary shall be made sufficient for your needs." The clerk's heart was light again, as he walked home. The merchant kept his word; the increase of salary enabled George to pay his debt speedily. But he never desired to repeat the experiment of appropriating another man's money for his own needs.—The Standard.