1. Shall the free public preaching of the Gospel be prohibited in Boston?
This question is propounded in an address by Rev. J. M. Foster, published in the Christian Statesman of the current month. In course of his remarks, he gives some interesting facts involving the question of religious liberty in this country, from which the following paragraphs are extracts:—
“From the time that Boston had a Common, the Gospel enjoyed the freedom of the city until the enemy came and stole away this liberty. In 1740 Whitefield preached here to 30,000 people. In 1790 Jesse Lee preached. He began his sermon with three hearers, but before he closed, there were as many thousands as could hear. In January, 1862, under cover of the excitement of the Civil War, an ordinance was passed which reads: ‘No person shall deliver a sermon, lecture, address, or discourse on the Common, Public Garden, Public Square, or common lands of the city, without permission of the Mayor and aldermen.’ Permits under this act seem to have been freely granted. As early as 1867 the Young Men’s Christian Association of this city availed itself of this privilege.”
“In 1870 the issuing of these permits was delegated to a joint committee of three aldermen and five members of the common council. This committee gave permits without hesitation for ten years. From 1882 to 1885 no permits were granted to any one. In April, 1882, Brother Wm. F. Davis asked the police commissioners this question: ‘Will you be kind enough to tell me whether you construe the free public preaching of the Gospel in Boston as a breach of the peace or not? Would you instruct the policemen to break up an orderly Gospel meeting on public grounds, which does not obstruct any thoroughfare of the city nor trespass on public rights?’ The chairman of the board responded, ‘Oh, no, we never should do that!’”
“Accordingly, during June, July, and August, 1882, Brother Davis conducted open-air meetings on Boston Common every Sabbath afternoon without a permit. In July, 1884, he was arrested and led to the police station for preaching. In 1885 the present form of restriction was adopted: ‘No person shall, except by permission of the mayor, deliver a sermon, lecture, address, or discourse, on the Common or public grounds.’”
“One Sabbath in May, 1885, Rev. Dr. A. J. Gordon, Rev. H. L. Hastings, and Brother Wm. F. Davis preached on the Common without the mayor’s permission. They were arrested and imprisoned. In 1887 Brother Davis was again arrested for the same cause, convicted and imprisoned in Charles Street jail for almost a year. Governor Ames was asked to pardon him. The governor said, ‘The prisoner must ask me for pardon.’ Brother Davis said: ‘I will not ask the governor to pardon me for doing wrong in this matter, for I did right. I will ask him to remove the effects of this iniquitous legislation.’ No pardon was granted.”
“On the 6th of November, 1887, an indignation meeting was held in Bowdoin Square Tabernacle. Rev. Dr. A. H. Plumb made an unanswerable argument against this gag law. He quoted from the Commentaries on the Laws of England respecting the liberty of speech and public worship, from the Bill of Rights of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and from our national Bill of Rights, showing that this ordinance is an invasion of the inalienable rights of the people. Rev. Joseph Cook spoke against the ordinance on the grounds of precedent, policy, Christian philanthropy and civil rights.”
“In 1894 Brother Davis was again arrested and convicted for preaching without a permit. He took an appeal and the sentence was stayed. The Supreme Court of Massachusetts sustained the lower court, Judge Holmes alleging that the city government had an absolute right over the public grounds. An appeal was taken to the Supreme Court of the United States. Lawyer James F. Pickering prepared an elaborate brief and submitted that without appearing personally. In it he quoted the decision of the Supreme Court of Michigan in a similar case, to the effect that no legislative act could make that a crime which was innocent in itself. Their conclusion was the direct opposite to that reached by the Massachusetts Supreme Court.”
“Judge White [of the U. S. Supreme Court] . . . gave the decision against Brother Davis last March. This decision was handed down to the lower court on June 12, 1897, and he was fined $20. Failing to pay he was sentenced to imprisonment for three months. Governor Wolcott was asked to pardon him. He agreed to do so on condition that Brother Davis would consent not to preach on public grounds without a permit. Brother Davis replied: ‘The mayor absolutely refuses to give permits to preach the Gospel in Franklin Park, Marine Park, the Public Garden, the public squares and in the Common except one narrow strip. If I were to ask him for a permit there, I would recognize his right to prohibit it elsewhere. This I will not do. I have always exercised my right to preach the Gospel whenever and wherever called. And I expect to do so in the future. John Bunyan lay in Bedford jail for twelve years for preaching the Gospel. The king of England offered him his liberty many times if he would only promise not to preach. But he spurned the offer. I would sooner rot in this prison than go out on such terms. This is my position.’”
To this recital of actions under the Boston city ordinance, Mr. Foster says:—
“This is no longer a local issue. It is not a Boston question simply, nor even a Massachusetts question, but a United States question. The government of the city, state, and nation is committed against the free public preaching of the Gospel, and their authority is behind this ordinance.”
As a conclusion he says, “This is only one symptom of the deadly disease of secularism which threatens the life of this nation.” This conclusion is his great mistake. As a matter of fact, it is “only one symptom of the deadly disease of Church-and-State union which threatens the life” of all civil and religious liberty in this nation. The other “symptom” is the other extreme, namely, the control of legislation by the professed advocates of the Gospel. Several of the States can furnish a far more extensive list of persecutions from the enforcement of laws compelling the observance of so-called Christian institutions. And Mr. Foster and the Christian Statesman, and their National Reform combination, are doing all in their power to put into working order the same backing for this feature of the Church-and-State evil that is now so potent for the Boston ordinance. History gives us views of practical Church-and-State union with the State as the dominant factor, and also with the church as the ruling element. Religious persecution has ever been a prominent result of either system, but the church has generally proved the more intolerant master.
Therefore, while we can not overestimate the importance of the question at the head of this article, or the array of evidence presented in urging that importance, we should not fail to couple with it the query:—
2. Shall the free public practise of the Gospel be prohibited in any State of this nation?
If half the avowed objects of the National Reform Association, the Christian Citizenship League, etc., etc., should become crystallized into law, such acts as this Boston ordinance—much as it is liable to abuse—would dwindle into comparatively tame affairs as far as checking the real freedom of the Gospel is concerned. The Gospel of Jesus Christ includes the right to keep the commandments of God. The acceptance of the Gospel implies the acceptance and the observance of “the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” Those who do so are denominated “saints.” Rev. 14:12. The commandment of God says: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work.”
This commandment of God which enjoins the observance of the seventh day, also grants the privilege of doing our own work on six days of the week. Such practise is Gospel practise, yet the entire National Reform coterie are using every possible effort to secure and enforce stringent laws to stop men from working on the first day of the week according to this commandment, and according to the example and practise of the Lord Jesus Christ and his apostles. It is proper to insist that, while professed Christian men are pleading for the free public preaching of the Gospel, they should keep their heel off the free public practise of its precepts and privileges. W. N. G.
AN ADVOCATE OF LYNCHING.
By T.
It may have been a sense of outraged justice, or possibly some other motive prompted it. But no matter what the motive, the fact is that a leading gentleman from Baltimore recently gave a lecture in Boston in which he openly advocated lynching as the best means of correcting the evils of our time. The newspapers of the country have given considerable attention to this lecture, discussing it pro and con. Some able editors seem to agree with the lecturer that the country has become so corrupt that about the only way out is for the people to go into the business of general lynching. Every voice should be raised against such a horrible and barbarous procedure. And at the same time no failure should be made in interpreting what this epidemic of lawlessness portends. Every vestige of any one's sense of justice teaches him that a just God can not endure the continuance of this increasing evil much longer, and that the very necessities of the case require that He must soon send His Son to destroy sin and sinners and deliver the pure and good. T.
SOMETIMES MONARCHICAL AND THEN REPUBLICAN.
The French Revolution made a wonderful wave of influence in favor of a republic as the model form of government. It seemed just as the last century was closing that all the monarchies of the world would have to crumble before the powerful influence of republican ideas. And it is certainly true that the monarchical form of government has been greatly modified, and, with one or two exceptions, where the throne is still preserved, the people in reality rule much after the manner of a republic.
During all this time when the greater freedom of the republic was being advocated as the best form of government, the pope ruled as a solitary despot in his particular sphere. When he spoke ex cathedra, his words were an inexorable law that firmly demanded an unqualified and absolute obedience. In the year 1870 he was declared infallible, and why should not his words constitute an unquestionable law?
But there is a change coming over the papal mind. Leo says now that he thinks Italy would be better off if she were a republic. The pope also reports himself as much in favor of the republican institutions of America. But the Papacy, as it comes to mind in the light of any or all of its history, is the most perfect suggestion of despotism. And it seems strange indeed to find it preparing to enter the arena as the champion of the very opposite views.
In the rank and file of the Catholic Church are to be found many who are sincerely devoted to what they think to be the true principles of Christianity. And many of the leading men in the same church must be credited with doing the best they know how. But is it not too true of both the Papal and Protestant churches, as well, that the people in the main blindly follow their leaders instead of taking the sure Word of God? And when the people find their leaders to-day acting as champions of the kingly form of government, and to-morrow just as earnestly advocating a republic, can it be that after all the infallible God is their guide? Politicians trim their sails to suit the varying breezes of opinion, but the Word of God stands fast forever.
Our heavenly Father has given us His Word. That Word always tells the same story. And whether at the present time we go by the name of Catholic or Protestant, or any other name, we should recognize the Bible as our guide. If we follow the teaching of that blessed Book, we will surely go right.
PRAYER DYING OUT.
By F. S. Ford
I BELIEVE that the most serious proposition with which the church is confronted is the fact, based on statistics, that prayer as an institution is dying out in America. We are to hasten the coming of the day of the Lord. In connection with the thought of His second coming, Christ “spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint,” and if the assertion is true, we have reached the time when we can conclusively answer the query with which Christ closed this parable: “Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?”—Rev. F. S. Ford, San Francisco.
Real Reform.
—The truly religious man is he who not only believes in some truth, but is willing to part with life itself for the sake of the truth. He never appeals to the self-interest of men. If the social reformers of to-day think to make the world better by calling into action men who themselves are actuated by selfish motives, they will fall.—Rev. H. S. Bigelow.
A BOY'S THEOLOGY.
“THEY tell me God is everywhere;
I can not see Him in the air;
I look and can not see Him here,
But somehow when I cheat at play,
And mama’s orders disobey,
He seems to come so very near.”
Through this toilsome world, alas!
Once, and only once, I pass.
If a kindness I may show,
If a good deed I may do,
To any suffering fellow-man,
Let me do it while I can,
Nor delay it, for, ’tis plain,
I shall not pass this way again.
—Selected.
O. C. GODSMARK, M. D
By O. C. GODSMARK
Overeating.
There are few habits, if indeed any, that are so productive of ill health as the one of overeating.
Few also are the victims of this habit who realize or even suspect the true cause of their ailments.
So diversified are the results of taking too much food into the system, that it is impossible to treat the subject fully in one short article. The stomach, as formed by an all-wise Creator, was given certain proportions, or made to receive a definite amount of food, and while it is true that this organ was made elastic and capable of accommodating itself to the different amounts placed within its walls, yet there is a limit beyond which it cannot be stretched without being weakened. While undergoing the strain of undue pressure, the blood supply in the minute glands of the stomach is much reduced. The secretion of the digestive fluids being thus lessened, the process of digestion is so retarded that fermentation frequently sets in, and the whole mass becomes a medium of germ culture, filling the system with its poisons, and clogging the true action of all the organs. For a time the stomach will contract after being thus stretched, that is, will return to its normal condition, empty itself of the remaining mass of decayed food, and be ready for the next meal. But the abused organ can not always withstand such treatment and do its allotted work properly.
California Scenery, No. 8.—This beautiful view represents a portion of the campus of the University of California, and four of the principal buildings, viz., North Hall, Mining Building, Art and Library Building, and South Hall. This University was founded in 1868, and has been a very important factor in the educational development of the Pacific Coast. At Berkeley are its Colleges of Letters and Science; in San Francisco, in the Mark Hopkins Institute, its Department of Art; and its Colleges of Law, Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, and Veterinary Science—these shortly to be housed in the substantial buildings now in process of construction at Sutro Heights. An integral part of the University, also, is the Lick Astronomical Department, at Mount Hamilton. The site at Berkeley, comprising 250 acres of picturesque upland, commands magnificent views of San Francisco Bay and city, the Golden Gate, and the Pacific Ocean. The University’s endowment is capitalized at $8,900,000. It has received private benefactions to the amount of $2,250,000, and has assurance of several millions more, to become available when the Phebe Hearst architectural plans, already well advanced, shall have been matured. In its 26 departments of instruction there are enrolled 2,350 students of both sexes, whose instructors number 120. The college buildings on the campus at Berkeley number 12, and are as follows: North Hall, South Hall, East Hall, Art and Library Building (containing over 70,000 volumes), Chemistry Building, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Building, Agricultural Building, Botany Building, Philosophy Building, Mining and Civil Engineering Building, Students’ Observatory, and Gymnasium. Being a State institution, the tuition is free, except in certain professional departments, and the educational standard is that of the best eastern colleges.
Soon the power of contractility is impaired, the walls become flabby, and we have what is called a dilated stomach. This gives rise to many serious and some even dangerous symptoms, only one or two of which can here be mentioned. The sickening taste in the mouth mornings as of decayed food, does not in the least exaggerate the true condition of the stomach. The putrid mass having undergone decomposition during the night, is a direct poison to be taken up by the blood and carried to all parts of the system, beclouding the brain, weakening the muscles, and either irritating or benumbing the whole nervous system. This is one of the ways in which the extra amount of food becomes a poison to the system in place of giving additional strength.
A good, healthy stomach, properly secreting its normal fluids, is one of the very best safeguards against disease we possess. He who has a perfect digestion, need, with proper precaution, fear little the encroachments of disease. Overeating, eating late suppers, also eating in the morning upon first arising, before the stomach has had time to prepare for its morning meal, all tend to produce this debilitated, oftentimes catarrhal, condition above mentioned, and should be carefully avoided.
O. C. GODSMARK, M. D
CROOKED STICKS.
By Mrs. Ada D. Wellman
“Crooked sticks? Why, certainly, Mr. Owen, all you want of them. And for that matter, you don’t need to put up with crooked ones; take some of those straight young hickories.”
“‘Prefer the crooked ones’? Well, well! that’s unusual. I didn’t suppose there was any use in the world that a crooked stick was better for than a straight one. But, doubtless, I have some things to learn yet. ‘For a rustic chair’? Well, indeed, I never would have thought of that.”
“Wouldn’t you like an ax to cut the sticks with? Hey there, Sam! Sam Jones. I say. Bring that small ax for Mr. Owen.”
“Where is it?”
“‘Where is it?’ Well, you’re the one that ought to know, you disorderly creature.”
“You had it last, Mr. Brown.”
“Sam Jones, that’s enough of your smartness. If you’re working for Mr. Brown, you may look to Mr. Brown for your pay; but remember that my name is Bronson; now go and find that ax.”
“The impudent rascal! Every one about here knows him as Sam Jones; but he doesn’t happen to like the name, so he insists that it isn’t his real name, but that he is Sanford Jordon, and he wants to be called thus; and he tries to bring me to his terms by calling me Brown.”
“Excuse me, Mr. Owen, for getting in such a flurry; but that boy provokes me beyond all endurance. I declare, I believe he’s one of your crooked sticks! But I doubt if even you could find any use for the fellow—audacious, sullen, stubborn as a bulldog—”
“And as faithful to business, Mr. Bronson?”
“Well, now, for a fact, I must say that I’ve had worse boys to work—tho that isn’t saying much; but—”
“Well, you did find it at last, did you? See here, boy. When I was your age, I was taught to lift my hat to my elders. It might not be a bad plan for you to do the same.”
“I mostly do as I see my elders do, sir.”
The boy was around a corner of the house so quickly as to relieve his employer of any need to form denunciations befitting the provocation.
After a few moments of overwhelming, silent rage, Mr. Bronson again assayed to speak, demanding of his guest:—
“What would you do with such a boy? I’d discharge him on the spot, except for my bargain with him. Besides, I need help at this season, and it’s true that he’s no drone. But that mulish will of his!”
Mr. Owen refrained from replying directly; not because he was uncertain as to what course ought to be pursued toward the boy, but because he realized that the man, and not the boy, was the person difficult to influence. The most perplexing question was, What could Sanford Jordon do with his unjust, overexacting master?
At length Mr. Owen craftily suggested, as if sympathizing with his host: “Hold him to his word. He claims to follow the example of his seniors, but refuses to heed what they say. See if he will stand by his own terms.”
“Some sticks are so ill-shaped and ill-grained10that I have never yet found any use for them; but, on the other hand, some may even be made straight by right management, tho they can not be forcibly bent; and others fit best in some special place just as they are, with all their queer crotches.”
“By the way, since you have been so generous as to share your crooked sticks with me, perhaps I ought to lend a little help at seeing what can be done with this one you have on hand.”
The suggestion was accepted, and the two men entered upon its execution. Do you wonder how they progressed? That part of the story remains untold, that parents and employers may supply it practically.
MRS. ADA D. WELLMAN.
REMINISCENCES FROM LEBANON.
By H. P. H.
As OUR ship neared Beirût, and a glorious panorama of Lebanon for more than forty miles spread out before us, my mind ran back about three thousand years to the time when these mountains and valleys echoed with the axes and chisels of Solomon’s eighty thousand workmen, as they were preparing cedars and stones for the temple. 1 Kings 5. Those were the days of Israel’s glory. But how changed their state to-day! And all this because they rejected the instruction and mercy of the Lord. The promise to Solomon was that his throne should stand forever; and had Israel submitted to God’s righteousness instead of trying to establish their own, that throne would never have been temporarily overthrown, but its glory would have remained and increased till the whole earth would have been resplendent with its excellency.
But because of Israel’s repeated transgression, that throne has been temporarily overturned, “until He come whose right it is.” “And shalt call His name Jesus. . . . And the Lord shall give unto Him the throne of His father David; and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end.” Eze. 21:27; Luke 1:32-34. And when Jesus comes to establish His everlasting kingdom, there will again be a glorious temple, of which Solomon’s was but a faint shadow; for then the New Jerusalem, with the temple of God, will descend “from God out of heaven” and be the saints’ everlasting rest and joy. Revelation 21. How welcome and soul-cheering are the rapidly fulfilling prophetic tokens that this glad event is near at hand!
The cedars of Lebanon, so oft the theme of the inspired psalmist, have been wasted by the ruthless hand of man. A small patch of less than ten acres is all that remains of the abundance which supplied royal builders of nations round about, near and far, for centuries. Surely, the earth is waxing “old like a garment;” and the time of its renewal is at hand.
Not only is Lebanon stripped of its cedars, but it is infested by fourteen or fifteen different classes of religionists, among them being several of the worst sects that ever assumed the name Christian. But the sound of the everlasting Gospel, which shall in power be proclaimed in all the world as a forerunner of the soon-coming kingdom, is already heard among the foot-hills of Lebanon; and may its increasing glory soon reach the highest summits, and dispel the confusion and fog arising from decaying creeds.
When the temple of Solomon was building, the contract of Hiram, king of Tyre, ran thus: “We will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need; and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa.” How different the scenes along these coasts to-day! The pomp, and wealth, and splendor of Sidon and Tyre, are shriveled up to heaps of ruins. No more rafts of the great cedars of Lebanon are towed along the coast; but instead, modern steamers are daily plying to and fro. Across Lebanon, from Beirût to Damascus, a railway is now in operation. Daily trains make the transit in nine hours. A French company has built a splendid harbor at Beirût, another company supplies the city with gas, and an English company has installed water works, supplying the city with fresh water from a mountain stream six miles distant. The ice company of the city is of the old style, being composed of Arabs, who bring snow down from Lebanon with donkeys and camels. The old civilization and the new here work side by side. It is the hope of the new to entirely supersede the old; and it is the dream of many that the ancient glory of these regions will be restored by the magic wand of modern civilization. But the Lord has something infinitely better in store, and soon His creative breath will renew “the face of the earth.” And while many, ignoring the Word of the Lord, are making the futile effort to restore these regions by the works of their own hands, let every one who believes the Word of the Lord and reads the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, be diligent in proclaiming everywhere the near approach of the glad day when, under the renewing touch of the Creator, even “the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose,” when “it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing;” and when “the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon;” and when “they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.” Isaiah 35. H. P. H.
Beirût, January 3.
THE LETTER A.
“It’s a queer story,” said Tom, “but it’s true; the letter A was the letter that led me to my Saviour. I was in a peck of trouble at the time; my wife and the babies were ill, and I was worried, and I had less than no hope to look to anywhere, for I didn’t believe in religion and that sort of thing. Well, one night the paper given me to set up for printing was about a prize which was offered to any one who could correctly tell the number of A’s in the book of Hosea. It struck me I might try.
“I’d had extra expenses at home through illness, and the doctor to pay, and so on, and my work being amongst letters all night, I thought I stood as good a chance of the prize as any one, and so I determined I’d go in for it. I hoped to get the money, but I found what was better than silver or gold: I found the key to life. I used to fancy that life ended with what you see and what we made our own lives, but that letter showed me that we are being led by a way that we know not, and are in the hands of One who orders all things for our good.
“It was Friday night I set it up. As soon as we were free I got to work, and by Saturday night my task was done. But as I was counting the a’s, one struck me more than others; perhaps it was because it was a capital, and so I missed it at first, having been counting the small ones, and had to go back for it; perhaps because it was an uncommon word, ‘Achor.’ ‘Achor,’ I thought, ‘what a queer word! I wonder what it means.’ And so I turned to the reference and saw in Joshua in the margin, ‘trouble.’ ‘Well, that’s odd,’ I said to myself, ‘the valley of trouble for a door of hope. I’m sure I’m in trouble enough, and yet I don’t see where the hope is coming from.’
“All day long that word ‘Achor’ stuck in my mind. Saturday night I spent nursing my wife and wondering what sort of ‘hope’ there could be for me with the prospect of losing her, for she was very bad that night. In the morning I got a turn out-of-doors, and as I passed an open church door, with service going on, I thought I’d look in and see if I could get any light in my difficulty, how trouble could bring hope. It was late, and the clergyman was in the pulpit, so I don’t know what his text was. He was talking about atheism, and saying that ‘A’ meant ‘without,’ and that without God there was no hope for any man. He then showed that Christ was the hope of every man, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end of all things. I’d heard lots of similar sermons, but you see I’d got the letter A in my head, having counted so many the day before, and so it struck me as curious that I should hear a sermon which was so much about it, and it made me listen, and there I found hope, for I found my Saviour. He led me through trouble by a way I knew not, and now I feel I can not be silent, but must spend myself for Him.—From “Fragments in Baskets.”
GO
By C. M. Snow
What place have I in Thy work to-day,
O Lord of the harvest field?
Have I naught to do but wait and pray,
While others the sickle wield?
Why stands another with sickle bright,
And I with an empty hand?
Why brings he sheaves with the evening light,
While here I fruitless stand?
“Go forth, go forth to the field,” He cried,
“And lend thy willing aid;
And when thou comest at eventide,
Thy toil shall be repaid.”
The Master's word I heeded then,
But falteringly obeyed;
For I could not follow the reaper men
Without the reaper's blade.
But when I reached the field, and stood
In the midst of the ripened grain,
With a heart to do what my two hands could,
My Lord's command was plain.
There were sickles enough for each reaper there,
And sheaves of golden brown;
And the whole broad field was a house of prayer
From dawn till the sun went down.
C. M. SNOW.
Persecution of Protestant Christians in Madagascar
A REPORT to the Missionary Herald says the Jesuits continue to harass the native Protestant Christians in Madagascar in every possible way. They close the churches, or claim them for their own, and in various ways terrorize the inhabitants into accepting the Roman Catholic religion. On this subject the Journal des Missions says:—
Nothing is more difficult than to arrive at the truth as regards religious liberty in Madagascar. The state of mind of the natives renders testimony by witnesses almost impossible. A thing seen by dozens will be denied if the true recital of the facts is supposed to be displeasing to those in power. For instance, a French colonist, who had beaten many native teachers, severely beat a Protestant teacher with a club, closed the doors of his school, and forbade the children to go to any school but the one he had set up in the Protestant church building—adding insults to these injuries. Two missionaries, armed with proofs, laid this outrage before the general commanding. The result was that the colonist was fined $20 and allowed to go free. He retired in triumph, threatening further injuries.
Self-Mastery and Virtue
By Heraclitus
The greatest triumph is to obtain the mastery of ourselves; and supreme virtue consists in being as fair in our actions as in our professions. — Heraclitus.
OUR WORK AND WORKERS.
IN Cañon City, Colo., three converts are reported by Brother G. W. Anglebarger.
FOUR additions to the church at Wentz, Colo., are reported by Brother Henry Block.
IN a country neighborhood near Farmington, N. M., Brother J. L. Preston and family have organized a Sabbath-school of nineteen members.
A BROTHER who is laboring in Hamilton, Ont., says: “I already know from actual experience that the SIGNS does open the eyes of many. It is going to help us very much in our public meetings.”
BROTHER JACOB KRAFT, who is laboring among the Germans in Denver, Colo., says it is remarkable to see the interest manifested. The field is an important one, as there are about 25,000 Germans in that city.12
A MISSION was opened in Detroit, Mich., January 30, at the corner of Clinton and St. Antoine Streets. This is one of the dark corners of Detroit, and we hope the workers will be able to bring light to many souls in that part of the city. So says Field Echoes.
As THIS paper goes to press, a council of representatives of the various State Conferences of General Conference District No. 6 is in session at Portland, Oregon, Elder A. J. Breed, superintendent, presiding. There are present from California Conference, Brethren W. T. Knox, president, M. C. Wilcox, and E. E. Andross.
The Herald of Health is the title of a new monthly magazine issued at North Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia. It contains matter of a plain, helpful kind, not designed for the learned practitioner, but for the household. It does not prescribe medicine, but teaches and advocates healthful living. There is something in it for all the family, sick or well. The first number is dated January, 1898. E. R. Caro, M.D., is editor. Subscription price, per year, 2s. 6d. (50 cents).
