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Signs of the Times, Vol. 3, No. 3.

Nicodemus Comes to Christ
Earlier text: Is It True?

A Barroom Dinner

The following incident is said to have occurred at Cape Girardeau, Mo. A character noted for frequenting bar-rooms, was sitting in his usual place of resort, with several companions about a card table. Suddenly his wife entered the room, bearing a large covered dish which she deposited on the table with the remark: “Presuming, husband, that you were too busy to come home to dinner, I have brought yours,” departed. The husband invited his friends to share his meal, but, removing the lid from the dish, found only a slip of paper, on which was written: “I hope you will enjoy your dinner; it is the kind your family have at home.”

Alpaca Cloth

Among the thousands who wear alpaca cloth, very few know what it is made of. The alpaca goat is a species of the llama, whose home is in the mountain regions of Peru. It lives on the coarsest fare, the scanty herbage of the rocks, and has a beautiful wavy coat of light chestnut-brown wool, which is nearly a foot in length, very soft and elastic, and nearly as fine as that of a cashmere goat. This is sheared off and sent to England, where it is sorted, woven, dyed, singed, and turned into the market.

SECULAR NEWS.

—In Ireland 110 persons hold one-fifth of the soil.
—There were four hundred and seventy-nine deaths in Oakland last year.
—The Pacific Hebrew Orphan Asylum and Home was dedicated Jan. 1, 1877.
—Dom Pedro's account of his whirl through the United States appears in four languages.
—Snow-storms throughout the Eastern States are reported to be the heaviest that have occurred for several years.
—It is alleged that during the gales of the past few days on the coasts of Scotland and England about one hundred and fifty lives have been lost.
The extradition treaty between Spain and the United States has been signed. It applies to all criminal offenses except those of a political nature. The Cortes has been prorogued and no date assigned for its re-assembling.
—The Chinese population amounting to at least one-sixth of the whole population of the State, pays less than one four-hundredth part of the revenue required to support the State Government.
—Word comes from Copenhagen, Jan. 3, that the first railroad accident in Denmark, involving loss of life, occurred near Horseno. A train containing one hundred laborers ran off the track. Nine persons were killed and thirty severely injured.
—A telegram from Albany, N. Y., states that Boss Tweed is utterly broken down at last and ready to make any terms to bring his troubles to an end. It may safely be predicted that he will surrender all the property still within his control and make a clean breast of the whole ring business to some prudent trustworthy representative of the prosecution.
—The first Russian newspaper dates from 1703. Peter the Great took part personally, not in its editorial composition, but in correcting the proofs, as appears from sheets still in existence, on which are marks and alterations in his majesty's hand-writing. Only two copies of the first year's edition have been preserved. They are in the Imperial Library of Stockholm.
—Reliable private intelligence has been received at Washington that the Chinese Government has finally commissioned two Joint Ministers to the United States, Spain and Peru, and that they have started for the United States via Madrid. They will devote their attention for two or three weeks to matters connected with Chinese immigration to Cuba, and then proceed direct to Washington, which will be their permanent headquarters, arriving probably in March. Chin, Senior Minister, is a Mandarin of high rank. Wing, his assistant or associate, was educated at Yale College, and speaks English fluently.
—The Coroner of San Francisco attended to 370 cases during the last year. Of those, 72 were suicides, 25 murders and two justifiable homicides. The remainder were violent deaths of various kinds. Of the 72 suicides 25 shot themselves, 7 jumped overboard into the bay, 2 threw themselves from elevated windows, 2 hung themselves, 1 cut the arteries of his arm and bled to death, 1 threw himself beneath the wheels of a locomotive, 4 cut their throats, and the remaining 31 swallowed poison. Of those who took poison, 11 preferred morphine, 10 strychnine, 4 laudanum, 1 sulphuric ether, 1 oxalic acid, 1 opium, 1 chloroform, 1 cyanide of potassium, and but one chose the deadliest of drugs, prussic acid. Of the 26 murders 11 have been unavenged, nor have any arrests been made for them. In two cases the murderers shot themselves and saved the trouble and time of a trial.

Obituary Notice.

“I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death.” Hosea 13:14.
Died at Loyalton, Sierra Co., Cal., Dec. 17, of Typhoid fever, Bro. J. B. Brown formerly from Kentucky, in the sixty-second year of his age. Bro. Brown had never made a profession of religion until he embraced the Advent doctrine and commenced the observance of the Sabbath in Piner settlement, near Santa Rosa, under the labors of Bro. Bourdeau and myself, in the spring of 1869.
He took hold of the truth with a firm grasp and was ever an ardent worker in this cause. Sr. Brown writes respecting his last days that “He was sick four weeks. Our home is desolate without his prayers and continual pleading with us to consecrate ourselves to the Lord, and be ready to meet him. He did not suffer pain. He said, ‘I feel that time is short, and my dear one will soon come from the tomb, and then I shall meet him and my little jewels that have been so long sleeping.’”
Bro. Brown was buried in Virginia City, Nevada. The funeral discourse was given by the Methodist minister. Sr. Brown says, “Oh, that my last hours could be like his, so peaceful and calm, with the love of God in his heart. Nothing led him aside from duty.”
J. N. Loughborough.
Review and Herald please copy.
Died at Healdsburg, Cal., Dec. 28, 1876, Richard Cox, aged 76 years. We laid him away in Oak-Mound Cemetery to await the sounding of the trump of God, believing that he will have a part in the first resurrection.
JOHN COOK.
Died in Westfield, Decatur Co., Kan., Dec. 20, 1876, Shepard Ferren, aged 65 years and 27 months. He died in full faith of Jesus soon coming to raise the sleeping saints who have kept the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. He leaves a wife and six children besides other relatives to mourn his loss.
S. FERREN.
Review and Herald please copy.

RELIGIOUS NEWS AND NOTES.

—During the present year 2,043 French Catholics in Montreal have abjured the Papal religion.
—The buildings of the American Missionary Association in Macon, Ga., were burned to the ground on Wednesday, the 13th ult.
—There are said to be seventy Catholic negroes in the College of Propaganda, in Rome, training for missionary work in Africa.
—Another Cardinal, Constantine Patrizi, has died at Rome, and still another is very ill, giving color to the alleged superstition that Cardinals die in groups of three.
—At the Consistory held in the Vatican last week the Rev. John Spaulding, of Louisville, was appointed Bishop of the new Catholic See of Peoria, United States.
—At a great ball given in Chicago lately, the waltz which evoked the most praise from the dancers was entitled, “Moody and Sankey Potpourri.” It included among other familiar airs, “Almost Persuaded,” and “What Shall the Harvest be?”
—Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, Jr., recently told the women of his parish that he wanted $4,000 for their Orphanage, and if they would buy gloves with one button instead of three or four-button styles they would have no difficulty in raising the money.
—The supreme court of Massachusetts has sustained the lower court in its decision that Israelites must be held amenable to laws of the State regulating the observance of the Sabbath, (Sunday). The case grew out of an attempt to keep open a store on that day.
—According to the official “Statistical Abstract” issued for British India, the total population of that empire is 190,000,000. Of the whole number, 139,000,000 are Hindoos, 41,000,000 Mohammedans, 3,000,000 Buddhists, 1,000,000 Sikhs, and 900,000 Christians.
—The last music played by the orchestra of the Brooklyn Theatre just before the awful fire was “What Shall the Harvest Be?” Those who make dancing tunes of these sacred melodies may meet with no such terrible accident, but sooner or later, unless they turn from the error of their ways, they will learn “what the harvest will be.”—N. Y. Witness.
—The Interior reports that a Woman’s Christian Association has been formed in Chicago. “Its aim,” says the same paper, “is to secure homes for young women who come here, surround them with Christian influences, labor for their conversion, and interest them in Christian work. Its organization is similar to that in other cities. Its affairs are under the direction of a Board of Managers, consisting of two from each of the evangelical churches.
—Of the Moody and Sankey meetings in Chicago, now closed, the Alliance (Prof. Swing’s paper) says: “They have been of infinite worth to at least many intemperate men who had given themselves up for lost. The energy, the directness, the anecdote and pathos of Mr. Moody have touched many of these hearts, and now they are on the upward path again. Some will fall back. But some will stand firm and will never again be down in the gutter. Many will date their new life back to the autumn of 1876.” It is estimated by competent judges that 1000 souls have been rescued from the evils of intemperance since the revival meetings commenced in October.
—The Christian Union remarks that some of the Japanese newspapers have taken a sudden turn in favor of religious equality. All religions are now tolerated by the Government, but this is claimed not to be enough. The State, it is argued by one of the vernacular papers, must “free itself absolutely from all connection with religion.” The movement is said to be supported by the “general opinion of the country,” and several of the Mikado’s Ministers are claimed as advocates of a separation of Church and State.

GOOD HEALTH.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

Did He Mean Anything?

We have been taught to believe that every act of our Saviour had a meaning, that he did not do anything by a mere happen-so; and this is very evident from a careful study of his life. Every act was done with forethought and with a design.
One fact stands prominent in all his ministry. He was very careful not to destroy or waste anything needlessly. On both those remarkable occasions when he fed several thousand miraculously with a few loaves and fishes, at the conclusion of the meal he gave special directions that all the fragments should be taken up, that nothing should be lost.
He was very careful to be just in everything, even to a penny's worth, and he directed others to do so. And yet there was one act in his life that seems to be the reverse of this. To this we wish to call the reader's attention. At one time he met a man possessed with devils. It was a very bad case; there was a legion of devils. Out of compassion to the man, he commanded the devils to come out of him. When they besought him not to send them into torment, he commanded them to go into a herd of swine which was feeding near by.
These swine were the property of some man, because they were being carefully fed and watched by their owners, for so it says. See Mark 5:1-14. There were about two thousand of them. This was an immense herd. A large amount of money was invested in them. If they were worth anywhere near what they are now, they must have been valued at eight or ten thousand dollars, perhaps more. But now notice the significant fact that the Son of God commanded the devils to go into these swine, and the swine immediately rushed into the sea and all perished. Certainly, Christ knew beforehand what would be the consequences. He knew that those hogs would perish, but nevertheless this was what he did.
Was not that a terrible thing, to destroy two thousand hogs, several thousand dollars worth of property? but this is the only case in all the history of Christ where he ever destroyed so much as a little lamb or turtle-dove. He himself said that not even a sparrow falls to the ground without his Father's notice; but here, by the direct command of Christ himself, two thousand swine were destroyed. Their carcasses were not even saved for soap-grease! What millions of trichina must have perished on that occasion! What barrels of solid scrofula went to the bottom of the sea! We will not positively affirm it, but it certainly does look very much as though Christ did this on purpose to show his abhorrence of the swine, and to teach their owners that they ought not to deal in such questionable property.
In the old law, his Father had said, “Ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcass.” Dent. 14:8. Yes; the swine was unclean. They were neither to eat of it, nor to touch its dead carcass. In direct violation of this commandment, these men were feeding, rearing, and dealing in these swine. This action of Christ seems plainly to correspond in the New Testament with the teachings of the Father in the Old concerning this unclean, abominable creature.
In Isa. 66:17, in harmony with the action of Christ with reference to the swine, and the scripture before quoted, is a text to the point. “They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens, behind one tree in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the Lord.” Here we see the company among whom these users of swine's flesh are reckoned; and their end is declared, that together they shall be consumed.
Christ referred to it on one other occasion, in the parable of the prodigal son. After this young prodigal had spent all his substance with harlots and in riotous living, he is found following the most degrading of all occupations, that of tending the swine. Thus not one word of good can be found in the whole Bible concerning the dirty scavenger. It seems as though Christians ought to learn something by this, and leave that creature where God placed him, to wallow in the mud, and devour rotten and decaying refuse from the face of the earth.—D. M. CANRIGHT in Health Reformer.

Good Counsel.

SYDNEY SMITH cut the following from a newspaper, and preserved it for himself: “When you rise in the morning, form a resolution to make the day a happy one to a fellow-creature; it is easily done. A left-off garment to the man who needs it, a kind word to the sorrowful, an encouraging expression to the striving—trifles in themselves light as air—will do it, at least for twenty-four hours. But if you are young, depend upon it, it will tell when you are old; and if you are old, rest assured it will send you gently and happily down the stream of time into eternity. By the most simple, artificial sum, look at the result. If you send one person, only one, happily through the day, that is three hundred and sixty-five in the course of one year. And supposing you only live forty years after you commence that course of medicine, you have made fourteen thousand six hundred beings happy, at all events for a time.”

The Test of Christian Character

“Ye are,” says Christ, “my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. This is the condition imposed, this is the test that proves men’s characters. Feelings are often deceiving, emotions are no sure safe-guard, for they are variable and subject to external circumstances. Many are deluded by relying on sensational impressions. What are you doing for Christ, that is the question? What sacrifices are you making? What victories are you gaining? A selfish spirit overcome, a temptation to neglect duty resisted, passion subdued, and willing, cheerful obedience rendered to the will of Christ, is far greater evidence that you are a child of God than spasmodic piety and emotional religion.

Crime’s Alarming Increase in Britain

Blackwood’s Magazine states as follows: “For the past seventy years crime has increased in England, seven hundred per cent. In Ireland, eight hundred per cent; and in Scotland, three thousand six hundred per cent; while the entire population within this period has increased but sixty-five per cent! This certainly shows progress in immorality. It has been estimated, also, that England has one hundred thousand professional thieves and suspected persons, and four hundred thousand prostitutes! and that the cost of crime is fifty times more than that expended for religion.

HEALTH DEPENDENT ON COOKERY.

So say the promoters of the schools of cookery, and they are undoubtedly right. Cooking is both an art and a science. For its progress as an art we are not greatly concerned, although the medical profession would undoubtedly suffer in pocket should fine-art cookery go out of fashion. “Elegant” dishes are generally whited sepulchers, and the forerunners of blue pills and other disagreeable correctives.
We hope then that these schools will busy themselves mainly in imparting a knowledge of the scientific principles of cooking, and will teach their cooks that the quality par excellence which all food should have is wholesomeness. Those unfortunates who spend their days in dark office chambers, or consulting rooms, and keep their noses everlastingly upon their respective grindstones, seldom know that good digestion which should wait on appetite. Hitherto their dinners have not been so skilfully prepared as to demand the least possible effort from a jaded stomach; but let us hope that the national disgrace of indigestion will no longer dim the brightness of our hospitality, and the number of patent medicines which are sold so largely in this country as aids to digestion will undergo a rapid diminution.

Keep the Skin Clean.

Some animals breathe more through the skin than they do through the lungs; and in some animals the whole process of creation of the blood is performed through the skin. In the human being the skin is, to a large extent, the breathing organ. Fatal diseases of the lungs are often caused by an obstructed skin. In one of the ceremonial processions of Rome, attendant on the installation of a new Pope, a child having the whole surface of the body gilt, was paraded. The consequence was the death of the child. This melancholy fact may serve better than any long lecture, to convince people of the importance of “keeping the pores open,” of which there are more than three thousand on every square inch of surface.

Biblical Institute.

By James White

At the recent California Quarterly Tract and Missionary Meeting held at Oakland, we called the attention of the brethren to the importance of a Biblical Institute being held in this State by Eld. Uriah Smith of Battle Creek, Mich., during the month of April, 1877. We urged,—
1. That our principal hope for accession of numbers to help extend the cause on this coast is in the proper selection and thorough drilling of young men to go forth and teach the Word of God, and circulate our publications among the reading public. We cited the meeting to the strength of the cause in the little Peninsular State, where for the last eight years the work has been carried forward by young men, in the absence of our most experienced and able ministers, Elders Loughborough, Waggoner, Canright, Van Horn, the Lane brothers and others, who while ostensibly belonging to the Michigan Conference, have labored on this coast and in the Eastern and Middle States. And yet Michigan to-day has about one-third of our numerical and financial strength.
2. That there is no time to be lost, that Eld. Smith, at the close of his Biblical Lectures of the winter term at the Battle Creek College, could leave the last of March and be on the ground here the first of April, ready to conduct a Biblical Institute.
3. That April would be the most favorable month for the purpose, being just prior to the tent campaign, and also just before the harvest in this State.
4. That with proper effort fifty persons who need such a drill could be assembled at the proper place.
5. That the General Conference would bear Eld. Smith's expenses to and from the coast, and pay him the usual amount per week paid our ablest and most experienced preachers for the support of his family in his absence, and leave to the brethren in this State the duty to care for him and pay his local expenses while in California.
It was suggested that the school be held in camp at some pleasant and convenient place proper for tent life in the month of April. But the general opinion prevailed that it should be held in the city of Oakland. Here, however, board is high. But furnished rooms can be obtained, and some of our brethren here would wish to entertain certain persons whom they might invite. And, perhaps, arrangements can be made for free board and lodgings for a large portion of the students, if they bring their blankets, and take up with plain fare which will be much better for students than to be full fed.
We ask all persons in California who are interested in such a Biblical School, and wish to attend it to report to this Office before the first day of February, 1877. Promptness in responding to this call is necessary to give time to make necessary arrangements for the school. We hope to hear from all interested parties immediately, that plans may be laid in season to give Elder Smith ample time to arrange to visit this coast.
We will here suggest that Elder Smith should remain with us six months at least, and, probably, hold a similar Biblical School within the boundary of the North Pacific Mission before his return.
Address, Eld. James White, Oakland, Cal.

Business Department.

“Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully,” (margin, negligently). Jer. 48:10.

Received for the Signs.

$3.00 EACH. Christian Baner 3-41, E H Wood 4-24, W A Pratt 4-25, D P Whitney 4-25, A T Stickney 4-25, Mrs C Stillwell 4-25, S B Dyar 4-25, T Chabot 4-25, George Savage 4-25, H Barnes 3-25, E Griggs 4-25, W S Jackson 3-25, John Johnson 4-31, Harriet Everets 4-4.
$2.00 EACH. M C Israel 4-1, H R Babcock 4-1, David Jaycox 4-3, J M Dox 4-20, M A Du Navent 4-1, J S Howard 4-1, Mrs M Billett 4-1, James Cavins 4-7, Catharine Chapman 4-7, C A Cary 4-1, A Burr 4-1, O Burr 4-1, Hannah Craw 4-1, Mrs M M Andrews 4-1, Jacob Flory 4-1, Mary Montgomery 4-1, L R Irons 4-1, Mrs W D Stillman 4-1, John M Little 4-1, Isaac W Cook 4-1, Eld John F Hanson 4-1, Mary Higley 4-1, C M Edmonds 3-40, James Blair 4-1, R A Underwood 4-1, D J Burroughs 4-16, James Garrett 4-6, H E Richardson 4-1, A W Blakeburn 4-1, C F Foss 4-1, W T Rigdon 4-1, Fred Kapp 4-1, A S Hutchins 4-2, John F Klostermeyer 4-1, John P Premeier 4-6, Henry Dixon 3-36, M Wood 4-7, S N Haskell 5-1, Lucinda Haskins 4-1, E J Bump 4-1, Isaac Zirkle 4-1, David Knisely 4-1, Amanda Carpenter 4-1, G B Bailey 4-1, J W Raymond 4-1, Lathrop Deen 4-1, N S Raymond 4-1, F H Howes 4-1, May E Darrett 4-1, Mrs A Green 4-1, Mrs A Wood 4-7, Thomas Lewis 4-1, Henry Cary 4-1, Dudley Owen 4-1.
$1.50 EACH. Wm Smith 4-1, M W Kerns 4-1, Thomas Wheeler 4-1, Jesse Appler 4-1, Geo L Barnes 4-1, Laura A Gifford 4-1, Mrs H S Farley 4-1, L A Lowell 4-1, John W Tripp 4-1, Mrs R V Vandeusen 4-1, Allen A Stewart 4-1, Mrs Prudence Gage 4-1, Mrs Margaret Pogne 4-1, Henry Dunsford 4-1, Henry Trowbridge 4-1, Joseph Walsworth 4-1, N Waterburg 4-1, H H Mc Kinstry 4-1, E P Goodrich 4-1, Milton Franklin 4-1, Michael Kitch 4-1, Daniel Altmon 4-1, Mrs Sidney Murray 4-1, Shepherd Robinson 4-1, Mary Griffith 4-1, Mary Culver 4-1, A Loucks 4-1, Joseph Morelle 4-1, Mrs Henry Chaffee 4-1, Wm Flanes 4-1, Emanuel Eldridge 4-1, F Dalley 4-1, Charles Cullis 4-1, Elizabeth Cooley 4-1, Matilda Cooly 4-1, John Mavity 4-1, S B Hardwick 4-1, Mrs S B Hatch 4-1, W J Dillingham 4-1, Joseph Gray 4-1, Henry Fern 3-9, C F Eaton 4-1, Louisa Nosker 4-1, J P Judd 4-1, W F Hitchcock 4-1, John Herrington 4-1, Josiah Hicks 4-1, Eliza Blake 4-1, J G Wrights 4-1, Hettie Parsons 4-1, Ada Longs 4-1, Jacob Cook 4-1, Susan Vincent 4-1, John Cory 4-1, James Rogers 4-16, J W Perriman 4-1, Charles Lynds 4-1, Palistine Wright 4-1, C R Mins 4-1, Clara Woodworth 3-36, Mary E Clark 4-1, Edith Thompson 4-1, Frank L Thompson 4-1, David Mosier 4-1, Susan B Palmer 4-1, Catherine Daggett 4-1, Jane Wilkenson 4-1, J R Lewis 4-1, John F Gleason 4-1, Sarah A Beach 4-1, George Hunt 4-1, James Fitz 4-1, Mrs W D Cosley 4-1, C Maxwell 4-1, Henry Young 4-1, Mrs C Bishop 4-1, Hugh Kennedy 4-1, H Harwick 4-1, L Graves 4-1, Joseph Savage 4-1, B B Vickery 4-1, Mrs S O Clark 4-1, Mrs E P Colton 4-1, H Piepmeier 4-1, W J Dunscomb 4-1, Amanda Morton 4-1, N F Nason 4-1.
$1.00 EACH. A H Benjamine 3-25, Samuel Fulton 3-25, Jedediah Deming 3-4, C Van Horn 3-25.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Henry Dowden $2.50 4-1, Kate Drew 2.50 4-1, Richard Drew 2.50 4-1, James W Davis 2.50 4-1, Albert Cox 2.50 4-1, Hall $13.50 4-1, Mrs N L Tuthill & Miss Howell 75cts 3-25, John Adams 75cts 3-25, Mrs J W Adams 75cts 3-25, Miss J A Walker 75cts 3-25, Mrs T P Fish 75cts 3-25, Mrs F Stillman 75cts 3-25, Mrs David Wright 75cts 3-25, Geo R Cook 75cts 3-25, Martin D Hunt 50cts 3-17, A V Lucy 75cts 3-25, E D Treat 75cts 3-25, C Townsend 3.75-1, A T Hilton 50cts 3-13, Hiram Wood 75cts 3-25, B N Topping 75cts 3-25, Wm Inges (5 copies) 7.50 4-1, H M Hendee 5.00 5-25, Geo Walton 75cts 3-25, L E Kingsley 75cts 3-25, M Wood (5 copies) 7.50 4-7, S N Haskell (5 copies) 7.50 4-1, Isaac H Thomson 3.35 4-39.

Cash Received on Account.

Cal. T. & M. Society Dis No 7 $55.80, Dis No 9 8.30, Dis No 6 18.25, Dis No 1 37.65, Dis No 3 14.30, Jacob Flory 3.25.

Donations to Signs.

Mrs J W Bond $10.00, A Haywood 2.00.

California Conference Fund.

Petaluma Church $8.50, Red Bluff Church 14.00, Greenvalley Church 9.45.

Donations for Papers to Ships.

Red Bluff Church Dis No 6 $5.00, D S Himstreet 1.00.

The Way of Life

By James White

The business connected with the recent quarterly meeting completely crowded out our article on the Way of Life for this week. We shall make these articles our first business hereafter. J. W.

The Signs and the Way of Life

By James White

It is important to notice that canvassers for the SIGNS should fully explain to the people when soliciting subscriptions that there will appear in the current volume of the SIGNS a complete exposition of the great subject of human redemption illustrated by the Way of Life engraving. J. W.

Signs and Way of Life by Mail

By James White

☞ We would here give notice to those who wish to send the Signs and the engraving to their unbelieving friends, that we will furnish the paper one year, and Way of Life, by mail, postage paid, for $2.25. J. W.

Elder Haskell Needed in Michigan

By James White

We are very happy to receive a cheering letter from Eld. Haskell relative to his labors in Michigan. The brethren in that State of about one hundred churches should not consent to his leaving. He is needed in such western States as Michigan, Indiana and Iowa where the work goes hardest. J. W.

Battle Creek College.

As we are nearly ready to go to press, the overland mail brings a thrice welcome private letter from Prof. Brownsberger of the Battle Creek College, from which we take the following:—
“Our school opened gloriously. One hundred and sixty students presented themselves. At the time of writing, the second morning of our school, there are one hundred and eighty students.
“The Biblical Lecture class will be organized to-morrow morning. Judging from the applicants to the class, the number cannot fall below seventy-five and may reach one hundred.
“The spirit of the students, as well as the teachers, is harmonious, and best of all we believe the Spirit of the Lord is with us.”

Quarterly Meetings.

By John Norton Loughborough

The quarterly meetings in districts Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7, 8 and 9 have been good and encouraging. The meetings held with the churches in the vicinity of these quarterly meetings have been well attended, notwithstanding that many were appointed upon busy week-days. I look upon these meetings as a success, and am encouraged to hope for better days, especially in the missionary work in California.
Our T. and M. officers are learning their duty, and seeking to infuse life and courage into the minds of the members. The reports of the districts, compared with former reports, will show that there is a waking up all along the line. I hope to see this increase in a ten-fold ratio during the next six months.
The effort made to establish Systematic Benevolence on the true basis has made some change in the figures, and still more will be effected in this direction by further labor. In districts Nos. 1, 3, 5, and 8 S. B. figures were raised from $2014.74 to $2337.12 per year. And in these four districts, where there was no pledge before to missionary funds, there is now a pledge of $668 per year.
The preaching of the Word was listened to with marked attention, and a few members were received into the church at different places. Let our missionary members all be determined to work and give no heed to those who are ever crying, "A lion in the way." J. N. Loughborough.

State Quarterly Meeting.

By John Norton Loughborough

Our State Quarterly Meeting in Oakland, just closed, although not so largely attended as some, has nevertheless been the most interesting and important quarterly meeting ever held in California.
Sister White gave two searching and powerful discourses, and Bro. White favored us with good wholesome counsel and many words of good cheer in our business sessions.
Five of the nine Directors, all the Conference Officers except the Secretary, and the whole Board of Trustees of the P. S. D. A. Publishing Association were present, also a goodly number of the Missionary workers. This, together with the important moves that were made having a bearing on all branches of our cause in the State, made the meeting one of special interest and importance.
The report of the workings of the Tract Society for the quarter just closed, as will be seen by the looking-glass which will appear in about two weeks, shows a greater amount of labor performed than any quarterly report, since the existence of our Society. Yet we have but just begun. If all our members would wake up to do what a few are doing, the result would be astonishing to ourselves.
One of the encouraging features of our meeting was the consideration of the fact that many applications are being made by those desirous of giving themselves to the work of the ministry. It was decided by the California Conference Committee that, if possible, a Biblical Institute should be held at Oakland, in April, about the time of our next State Quarterly Meeting. Of this you will see more in another column.
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.

Christian Manliness in Trouble

It is a higher exhibition of Christian manliness to be able to bear trouble than to get rid of it.

Directors' Meeting.

By GEO. MANUEL

A MEETING of the Board of Directors of the Pacific S. D. A. Publishing Association was held at the Office of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Jan. 8, 1877. Present, W. C. White, J. N. Loughborough, T. M. Chapman, John Morrison, and G. A. Baker. The meeting was opened with prayer by Eld. James White. The President then tendered his resignation as President of the Board, in view of the fact that his father, Eld. James White, had returned to Oakland.
Moved, by T. M. Chapman and seconded, That the resignation of W. C. White be accepted.
Carried.
G. A. Baker, Director, resigned and his resignation was accepted.
Moved, by J. N. Loughborough and seconded, That James White be elected to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of G. A. Baker. Carried.
On Motion, By J. N. Loughborough, Jas. White was elected President of the Board, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of W. C. White.
The meeting then adjourned.
GEO. MANUEL, Sec. P. S. D. A. P. A.

Good Conduct Answers Evil Report

A good conduct is the best answer to an evil report.
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