Earlier text: Modern SpiritualismThe Cause on the Pacific Coast.
By Stephen Nelson Haskell
It is well understood that since Eld. Loughborough left this coast, the Conference in California has been without an acting President. He was a father to the cause here, being acquainted with all; and understanding the wants of the cause in every particular, and ever ready to bear responsibility, it seemed as if he was an indispensable help. As a natural consequence a lack has been felt since he left. The active ministers are young, inexperienced, and therefore do not feel like going ahead and taking responsibility. The cause itself is young, and has not had the benefit of the experience of many who were in this work in its early history, as our eastern Conferences have had. Hence, they have known but little of the dangers, trials, and personal deprivations and difficulties which give a deep experience in the third angel's message. I have now been upon this coast about three months; have held general meetings in the largest churches, and have become acquainted with nearly all of the leading brethren. I have never found brethren more willing to take advance steps when they understand how to move forward. I think no truer hearts to the cause of God can be found than in this Conference. As a Conference, considering the amount of instruction they have had, the Vigilant Societies are doing as well, in the number of copies of the Signs taken, and are receiving as many interesting letters, as those east of the Rocky Mountains. Yet there are some things of importance which are neglected, which I would here mention, that would be of great benefit to our brethren on this coast, and are essential to their advancement in the progressive steps of present truth. 1. Subscribing for the Review and Good Health. The Review is our church paper. It contains the appeals to our missionary societies, explanations of the missionary work, which are not found in any other periodical. Also there is much in the progress department which is of interest. All this keeps before the readers those facts which are of especial interest to those who believe in present truth. Many of these things would not be of interest in a pioneer paper, which the Signs of the Times is especially intended to be. The matter in the Review which is not published in the Signs, is the very matter which every believer in the Sabbath Reform needs to read. The Quarterly Supplement, containing the reports of the missionary societies from every Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in America, showing the work performed in every district, and also from England, Switzerland, Italy, and Egypt, is worth the year's subscription for the Review. I have traveled throughout the country for ten years, and held general meetings among our brethren, and I can accomplish more in two days where they are readers of the Review than in four days where they are not. In one case they are posted in reference to the character and nature of the work; they know what we want to accomplish, and are ready to co-operate. When appeals are made from the Review Office, or from the Secretary of the General Tract Society, there are ten responses from those who read the Review to one from those who are told what these appeals are, but do not take the paper. We speak understandingly when we say it is for the interest of the cause on this coast for each family of believers to become a subscriber for the Review. You cannot afford to do without it. It will give life and interest in your missionary work. When new churches are raised up they immediately should be instructed in the missionary work and take a club of the Signs for that purpose. But if you would have the company realize the specialty of this work and permanently converted to its interests, induce each family to subscribe for the Review. The Good Health should also be taken. It has the largest circulation of any journal of its kind in the country. We cannot speak of it in too high terms. The Good Health and Review will cost but $3.00 per year. Those in straightened circumstances can order it through the tract society and pay for them monthly; 25 cents each month will pay for them, and in this way all can take them. 2. The Testimonies and Spirit of Prophecy should be read until all become familiar with their contents. Each company of our brethren should have a library of Mrs. White's writings. Many of our churches already have them. Those who are most familiar with them are always the most devoted to the service of God and his cause. These are helps, and none but those who have read them know how to appreciate them. 3. Have order in all your meetings, and promptness in your attendance. Do not fail in this respect. Let not your missionary meetings be turned into a social talk. This we have seen done greatly to the detriment of the meeting. At the camp-meeting we hope to establish the labor of the ministers on a more systematic basis. God will work for his people as they walk forward in the light. Sacrificing efforts put forth in the right direction will certainly insure success in the cause of Christ. We should ever realize that this is God's work, and, although there may be serious difficulties to encounter, and it may require great efforts to surmount them, yet, in the name of the Lord, we are well able to move forward and see a glorious triumph in behalf of the cause of present truth. We say to our friends on this coast, have courage in God. This cause has been purchased by the precious blood of the Son of God, and if we, with humility and consecration, move forward in this work, success will attend our labors.
S. N. HASKELL. The Closing Messages of the Gospel.
By R. F. Cottrell
THE COMMANDMENTS.—If we take the testimony of the New Testament, there is no difficulty in finding what the commandments of the message are; for the term refers invariably to the moral code of ten commandments, unless it is qualified by the context, as, “The law of commandments contained in ordinances,” referring to the ordinances of the Jewish church. To the young man inquiring the way to eternal life Jesus said, “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” He refers to the commandments of the Decalogue; for he quotes a part of them. Matt. 19:16–19. Paul speaks of this law when he says, “Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law; for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” The tenth commandment convicted him of sin; and of this law and this commandment he says, “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, and just, and good.” Rom. 7:7–12. Again he says, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord; for this is right:” And then, to prove his assertion, he refers to the fifth commandment of the ten as “the first commandment with promise.” Eph. 6:1–3. These testimonies show that the apostle used the word commandment as referring to one of the ten. When the Pharisees asked our Lord, “Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?” he replied, “Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition. For God commanded saying, Honor thy father and mother.” This is one of the ten; and he further says, “Ye have made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.” “But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Matt. 15:1–9. These ten precepts therefore are the commandments of God according to the New Testament, as well as the Old; and consequently they are those which are kept by the last generation of the true church, those who hear and heed the last message of the gospel. Need we labor to prove that these commandments are still binding upon all men? The fact that the last of God’s people on earth are prophesied of as keeping them is of itself sufficient proof. The commandments of the message are not those peculiar to the gospel; for these are included in the faith of Jesus, which they also keep. They keep both the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Christ. Some claim to be guided by the New Testament, and want testimony from it. We will give it. But the testimony of God to any truth in the Old Testament is just as good as it is in the New. There is no contradiction in all the word of God. In Ps. 19:7 we read,—“The law of the Lord is perfect.” If we have any better law in the New Testament, than that which existed at the time this testimony was written, it must be more than perfect. How can that which is absolutely perfect be improved or exchanged for a better? In Ps. 111:7, 8 we read, “The works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.” Ps. 119:142,—“Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth.” That which was right, or righteousness, once is so now and forever. Abolish that law, and you abolish the truth. Verse 151,—“Thou art near, O Lord, and all thy commandments are truth.” Change one of these commandments, and you “change the truth of God into a lie.” See Rom. 1:25. By referring to Neh. 9:13 it is seen that these commandments, which are affirmed to be the truth, are those which were spoken by God at Sinai; and those were the ten, no more nor no less; for we read that he spoke these commandments there with a great voice, “and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone.” Deut. 5:22. Of Christ it was prophesied, “He will magnify the law and make it honorable.” Isa. 42:21. This he did in his sermon on the mount. Said he, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Matt. 5:17–19. The apostles taught the same doctrine, the perpetuity of the law of God. Says Paul, “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid. Yea, we establish the law.” Rom. 3:31. The Lord knew that there would be those who would teach that the law is superceded and made void by the faith of the gospel; and this text was written to forestall that heresy. Says James, “If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well. But if ye have respect of persons ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.” Here the apostle teaches his brethren, the Christians, to keep every precept of that law which forbids adultery and murder, which is no other than the ten commandments. But though Christ was to magnify the law—praise, extol, exalt it—as he has done in teaching its perfection in every jot and tittle, its perpetuity and universality till heaven and earth pass, obeying it in his life, so that he was without sin, and then dying for our transgressions of it, thus making it honorable, yet there was another power prophesied of in Dan. 7:25, the antichristian power, that should, as we have seen, “think to change” the times and laws of God. This would not magnify, but would blaspheme the law and, to the extent of its influence, make it dishonorable. We have pointed out that power in the fulfillment of the prophecy, and have shown conclusively that the Roman papacy has done this very thing, and that that church boasts of having changed “the Sabbath into Sunday,” “a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.” A Roman bishop at Belfast, Ireland, recently said, “We, the church, did that astonishing feat.” Now which shall we follow?—Him who magnified his Father’s law and made it honorable, or him who with sacrilegious hands attempted to exalt himself above God by changing it, or, in other words, to supersede it by a law of his own? Shall we worship God by obeying his law as he himself gave it? or shall we worship that wicked power which thinks to change it, by keeping the law that he has given in its stead? These things are placed in contrast before us in the third angel’s message, and all are called upon to choose between the two. The Christian world are observing what they truly call the first day of the week as the Sabbath. But the Bible says, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord.” Here the question is often asked, “If this is so, why has it never been found out before?” If this is so!—why, the Bible says it is so. This hypothetical, doubtful, skeptical question suggests the true reply. Our fathers were trained in the tradition of the first-day Sabbath, as well as we; and they had not quite enough faith to believe the Bible in that in which it contradicts the tradition of their fathers. Some few there were in every age who held the Sabbath of the Bible; and without doubt it was thought strange that those few Sabbatarians should set themselves up to know more than all the learned world beside; and probably the same question was then asked, “If this is so, why have none of our learned men discovered it long ago!” All that is wanting is to believe what God says on the point in question. Are you acquainted with the history of the world and of the Christian church since the days of Christ and the apostles? If you are, you know that the great majority of those claiming to be the only true church departed from the faith of the gospel, as it had been foretold by prophets and apostles, and that this great Roman apostasy bore rule over men, in the place of God, and persecuted those who followed the teachings of Christ and the apostles, wherever they could be found. Those times are very properly called “the dark ages.” The people were not allowed to read the Bible. Copies of this sacred and costly book were burned; and it was utterly impossible for the poor and the common people to have it. The apostate church assumed the right to make laws for all, claiming power, as we have seen, “to institute festivals of precept,” and she still boasts of putting Sunday, the first day of the week, in the place of the Sabbath, the seventh day, and this without any Scriptural authority. The Reformation commenced three hundred years ago; but owing to the inclination of men to follow tradition, instead of the truth, it is not yet completed. The great work of the Protestant Reformation has been to give the Bible to mankind. Without the Bible, how are men, as individuals to be tested upon its commandments? These three hundred years the Lord has been preparing the way to bring men to the final test of the third angel’s message—a test between obedience to this great power of apostasy, and the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Now every person who desires a Bible can have it. That Book which in the dark ages could not be bought with the labors of a lifetime, can now be had for twenty-five cents, or even free. The time has thus come in the providence of God for men to be tested by the third angel’s message. The message is already here, according to God’s promise, and is being heralded to many nations. The reason why this test has not come before, is because now is the time, according to the promise of God, for this work to be done; and his providence has prepared the way. Instead then of skeptically inquiring why this blessed truth has not been discovered before, let us thank God that it is now plainly seen, and yield a willing obedience to what we know to be the truth of God as revealed in his word.
R. F. COTTRELL. "O, dear! what shall I do? The hoop has burst off my wash-tub, and my suds are all over the floor!" said Mrs. Alden, in a tone of despondency, to her husband, as he came in to wash his hands at the sink, after oiling his new horse-rake. "That is bad, Jennie. You will have to let your washing go till to-morrow; then you can borrow Mrs. Selden's tub." "But this will all fall to pieces if it stands, and we are expecting company to-morrow." "I can't help it; I can't stop the work to go off with it now. You must make hay when the sun shines if you do at all. Can't you tie it up, so that it will do to-day? I should think you might." "Perhaps so, if you will help me. What can I take? "Oh, any thing for this time; but really I ought not to stop a minute. Where is your clothes-line?" "The colored clothes are on it, to dry." "Hang them on the fence and let's have it quick." So Mrs. Alden trotted out and moved her clothes and took the line down, while Mr. Alden stood in the door and whistled impatiently. "Do mop up this water, Jennie. How can you stand in such a puddle? There, I forgot to get you a new mop-handle, but you can make it go to-day, can't you?" "I suppose I shall have to. You promised to get one three weeks ago, when you broke this." "I know I did, but I never think of it—a man has so many things to see to. There, that will go this week; it doesn't leak much. I don't know what made it break." "The hoop rusted out. The old tub has done good service; it has been in use fifteen years." "There! What did you leave the wash-board there for? I have broken it all to pieces." "It is worn out and rotten. I wish you would get me a new one. I can never tinker it up again." "Rub your clothes with your hands; my mother always did, and she never had a wash-board in her life." Alden marched off to the hay-field, before he met another catastrophe to take up his time. He was hardly out of sight before a tin peddler's cart stopped at the door, containing a collection of all articles used in a family, from wash-tubs down to brooms, mops, and pins. "Anything in the way of trade, Mrs. Alden, to-day?" asked the man. "No, I think not. My husband does not like to buy of peddlers. He says I always get cheated." "Have you not as good a right to have suitable apparatus to work with as he has? He has a new horse-rake and a hay-tedder, and his wife is washing in a tub tied up with a rope, and a wash-board that looks as if Noah's wife brought it out of the ark, and a leaky water-pail; a dipper without a handle; a broken mop-handle—bless me! Mrs. Alden! What is the use? You had more money when you were married than he had, and I would have tools to work with that were comfortable, to say the least. He never stops to think what a thing costs, if he needs it, or if it will make his work easier. It tires you more to get along with these things than it does to do your work." Mrs. Alden sat down and looked the property over. It was ridiculous to get along in this way. The peddler was right; she had more money than her husband when they started life, and she had worked harder than ever he had. She had managed every way to get along and he never thought she needed any thing new or convenient. Her setting out was almost worn out and nothing was ever replaced. "You must make it do; it costs everything to live!"—and so she had dragged along year after year, and things wore out and were not replaced. A big lump rose in her throat as she sat there thinking. "What do you ask for your wash-tubs?" she inquired at length. "Two dollars for the large ones; a dollar and a quarter for the next size. Mop-handles for a quarter, wash-boards a quarter, dippers 20 cents, brooms 30." "Hand me down two wash-tubs, if you please—one of each size; a zinc wash-board, too." "Yes; and a pail and dipper, too? I would have them." And she did have them, and sundry other necessary things, amounting in all to the little sum of $12. She paid in barter, such as feathers, rags, eggs, dried apples, and butter, and went to work with renewed courage; but she knew that her husband would growl at the outlay and expected a regular tempest at dinner. She was not disappointed. But she had got the things and was glad of it and couldn't feel very bad. Alden opened his eyes in astonishment. "You paid twice what the things are worth. I could have bought them cheaper. We could have got along a while longer." "I suppose I have as good a right to judge of what I need to do my work as you have to get things to make your work easy; and I made up my mind to-day that when I needed any thing I should have it hereafter. You know that every article I bought to-day was actually needed in the house. You have said time and again you would get them, but you never remember it. It is a hard place for a woman to be placed in, to have to do her work and nothing convenient to do it with. It is like the ancient Israelites, compelled to make bricks without straw, and I am not going to do it any longer." "All owing to the hoop bursting off the wash-tub to-day." "Yes, that was the last feather that broke the camel's back; that and the new horse-rake came too near together. I could not avoid contrasting your conveniences with mine; and you can see yourself how it stood. You have every new machine that is intended to make farm work easy, and I have nothing at all." Mr. Alden said no more, but ate his dinner in silence, and the hired men exchanged significant glances at each other. They had thought and spoken of the patience which the little woman had shown in working at such a disadvantage, and always trying to make the best of what she had, and they were heartily glad that she had at last made a protest against the injustice. After the day's work was done, Alden drove his team down to the village, and when he came back he brought a new stove for the kitchen, a new pump for the cistern, and a butter-worker for the dairy, and his wife has, since that washing-day, found that her rough places have been smoothed in a most satisfactory manner. Her good man had never thought about it. He did not mean to be unjust, but—he didn't think! Reports from the Field.
By John Norton Loughborough
SINCE my last report we have quite thoroughly canvassed the Sabbath question and as the result the interest is greater than before. A number more have joined us in our Sabbath meetings, and still others are carefully considering the matter of keeping the Lord's ancient Sabbath instead of the first day, which they now see is an institution introduced by the church, and not commanded anywhere in the Scriptures. We have had some milder weather, so it has been more favorable for our tent meetings. Many are reading, and as the interest rises, we find some demand for our pamphlets and larger books. The poor, however, have but little to spare for books after meeting the necessary living expenses out of their small wages. The bad weather, and other causes, cutting off, to a large extent, the crops in Great Britain and Europe, while it makes a rise in the price of grain in America, which may please the farmers there, causes, nevertheless, much sadness among the poor here. When told by their baker, every few days, that the bread has risen again another farthing (half-cent) a loaf, it means to them still closer calculation to live. How true is the saying that "one part of the world, to a large extent, lives off the calamities of the other part." As we approach winter weather again, it becomes necessary to plan for our meetings. We have made application for a large building called "Ravenswood," which is situated between our present place of residence and our tent. This building has a space about 18 by 36 which can easily be converted into a meeting room, with accommodations for two hundred people. Besides this, there are fifteen rooms in the building, which will furnish living apartments for our present missionary force, and leave a tenement to rent besides. The rent of the building, with expense of fitting up, will not probably cost us more than $200 per year, and perhaps less. This building is property that is in "chancery." Our application has been made to the judge, and we shall probably have an answer soon. Meanwhile, our address remains as before given. It seems to us that the providence of God is opening the way before us in this matter also. We see so many tokens of the favor of the Lord toward this mission that our desire to be faithful on our part is continually increasing. The sister who had devoted a plot of ground for the raising of snow-drop bulbs, the proceeds to be devoted to the tent, has just sent in her returns. Instead of $5.00 which she thought the plot might yield, it produced $7.00 worth, all of which has been applied on the purchase of the tent. Brethren, pray for us. THE WAY TO BE BEAUTIFUL FOREVER.
LIKE Jesus I will strive to be,
For that's the highest duty;
That has the greatest charm for me,
And that the greatest beauty. Embroidered robes and beauty's hues,
Attractive form and feature,
Are all surpassed in those who choose
The Saviour for their teacher. I'll sit and sweetly learn of him,
Of him the meek and lowly;
Better than charms of face and limb,
A life that's true and holy. His robe of righteousness I'll wear,
That pattern is the fairest;
No raiment can with this compare,
The richest and the rarest. His grace shall fill my heart with love,
A love that's always beaming;
His light shine on me from above,
A light that's always gleaming. His smile shall fall upon my face,
And by his Spirit directed,
The glory from his holy place,
Shall be by me reflected. Jesus, my Life, my Truth, my Way,
Shall order my behavior;
To live, to speak, to walk, for aye,
Just like my Lord and Saviour. Like him I would be good and kind,
In love with truth and duty;
His noble, patient, spotless mind,
Is pure and perfect beauty. I ask no gems or costly dress,
No earthly charms I covet;
Only his likeness to possess,
To do his will and love it. "Our Father" loves the dutiful,
And from his throne he sees us,
And smiles and calls us "beautiful,"
When we resemble Jesus. This inward beauty can not die,
This glory fadeth never,
Who live like Jesus shall, on high,
Be beautiful forever. Drunkenness and Death From Cider
A FAMILY of four adults, in Northbridge, Mass., have drank enormously of cider since last fall, the quantity being estimated at forty to fifty barrels. They had been unable to sell it at a fair price, and so used it themselves. During the spring and latter part of the winter it was very hard, and the drinkers were intoxicated much of the time. Six weeks ago the mother died in a fit, and later one of the sons died in a similar way, while the father has delirium tremens. SINCE the prevailing Indian troubles commenced an Indian camp was captured, together with a number of prisoners, including squaws, and some half dozen white captives, boys and girls, from five to twelve years of age. Word was sent throughout the country, inviting those who had lost children to come to the camp and identify, if possible, their children, as none of them could give any account of who their parents were, or where they were taken from, so young were they when they were taken captive by the Indians. Numbers went to the camp—more than there were children—and, of course, many of them returned with heavy hearts at being unable to find their lost ones. Among the number who went hundreds of miles to the camp was a mother who had lost two children—a boy and a girl, one three and the other five years old—years ago. Efforts were made to persuade her not to go, as so long a time had elapsed it was certain she could not identify her children even if they stood before her. But she could not rest; she must go, and go she did. On arriving at the encampment she found the captives ranged in line for inspection. She looked at them first from a distance, her anxious heart bounding in her bosom. But she did not see her children, at least she saw nothing in the group that bore the slightest resemblance to her baby boy and girl, as they looked when playing about her doorstep. She looked long and steadily at them, as her heart began to sink and grow heavy in her bosom. At last with tears and sobs she withdrew, and when some paces off she stopped and turned about quickly, as apparently a thought had occurred to her. Drying her eyes she broke forth in a sweet hymn she had been wont to sing to her children as a lullaby. Scarce a word had been uttered, when two of the captives, a boy and girl, rushed from the line exclaiming, "Mamma! mamma!" The mother went home perfectly satisfied she had found her long lost children. Birmingham, Iowa.
By Ira J. Hankins, E. J. Waggoner
MEETINGS closed in Birmingham, last Sunday evening, with a good interest and over three hundred in attendance. As the result of these meetings, fourteen are keeping the Sabbath. Some of the most influential citizens help to make up this number. Several others are almost persuaded to obey, and we hope soon to have a strong church. They will have regular Sabbath meetings and Sabbath-school, and we shall meet with them frequently. We feel to thank God for the success that attends our labors. We pitched our tent in this place yesterday. This is a city of one thousand inhabitants, situated on the Des Moines River. And now, at the beginning of the work here, we shall try to consecrate ourselves anew to the Lord, and seek a closer walk with him. IRA J. HANKINS, E. J. WAGGONER. Camden, Ohio.
By H. A. St. John, A. M. Mann
WE have now closed our meetings in this place. The interest was not equal to that manifested during our first effort in Wakeman, but we think some good has been accomplished. A few have commenced to obey the truth. We baptized three last Wednesday; one of these was a very aged sister, who rejoiced in God as she came out of the water. The Wakeman church now numbers forty-one. Perhaps fifteen or twenty adults are keeping the Sabbath within a radius of five miles of the spot where we pitched our tent, who have not yet come into the church. H. A. St. John,
A. M. Mann. Monticello, Wis.
By N. M. Jordon, A. W. Fuller
We are still holding meetings here. The interest continues good; but rainy weather has hindered our meetings somewhat for the last few days. Seven or eight have decided to keep all of God's commandments; others are interested. We expect to stay here at least a week longer. N. M. Jordon,
A. W. Fuller. Excelsior and New Lisbon, Wis.
By George C. Tenney
LAST Sabbath I met with the few friends of the truth in Excelsior. As the result of our meetings, only about five have embraced the truth. These are people of moral worth. We pitched our tent in New Lisbon last week, and opened meetings Thursday evening. Have held five meetings, and there seems to be some interest, though we find spiritualism, skepticism, and Ingersollism prevailing, both in the churches and out. One aged man, who claimed to have been a Methodist for fifty years, said to us that he should choose to be hung rather than believe some statements in the Bible, and he did not think God would ever punish any one. These things are freely allowed in the churches, and yet the whole fraternity of orthodox clergymen join to raise the warning cry of "heresy" when the plain truths of the Bible are taught. G. C. TENNEY. Blaine, Aroostook Co., Maine.
By Samuel J. Hersum, P. B. Osborn
SINCE our last report, we have continued to hold evening meetings during the week, and three meetings on Sundays. We have had a good hearing thus far. Our congregations have ranged from fifty to upwards of three hundred. Thirteen that had decided to keep the Sabbath, attended our last Sabbath meeting. SAMUEL J. HERSUM,
P. B. OSBORN. Mankato, Minn.
By W. B. Hill; L. H. Ells
THE work here is onward. Four were baptized last Sunday in the Minnesota River. Others will go forward soon. Seven have already been added to the church. Yankee Bush Hill, Warren Co., Pa.
By E. Russell
HAVE given twelve discourses here. Three persons have resolved to keep the Sabbath, and three subscribers have been obtained for the Review. The interest is still good. Jasper, N. Y.
By J. W. Raymond; D. B. Welch
WE take down our tent here to-day, and pitch, this week, at Lindleytown, Steuben Co., N. Y. Eight signed the covenant, and we have hopes of others. J. W. RAYMOND,
D. B. WELCH.
August 15. Oatmeal in the Household.
IN Great Britain children of all ranks are raised on an oatmeal diet alone, because it causes them to grow strong and healthful, and no better food can possibly be found for them. It is also quite as desirable for the student as for the laborer, and for the delicate lady as for her hard working sister; indeed, all classes would be greatly benefited by its use, and dyspepsia, with all its manifold annoyances, can be kept at a distance. Oatmeal is more substantial food, it is said, than veal, pork, or lamb, and quite equal to beef and mutton, giving as much or more mental vigor, while its great desideratum consists in one's not becoming weary of it, for it is as welcome for breakfast or tea as is wheat or Graham bread. It can be eaten with sirup and butter as hasty pudding, or with cream and sugar, like rice. It is especially good for young mothers, upon whose nervous forces too great a demand has been made, and they lose the equilibrium of the system and become depressed and dispirited. Oatmeal requires to be cooked slowly, and the water should be boiling hot when it is stirred in.—Baldwin's Monthly. Boulder, Colorado.
By John O. Corliss
Meetings in the tent at Boulder closed Aug. 2. Although remaining there five weeks, very little was accomplished beyond preparing the brethren and sisters for organization. Some, however, embraced the truth, and halting ones were strengthened. Matters were in rather a complicated condition until the arrival of Bro. and Sr. White, the last week of the meetings. As usual, their labors were earnest and untiring, and resulted in great good to the cause. Sabbath, Aug. 2, nine were baptized, and a church of twenty-six members organized. An elder and deacon were chosen and ordained. Others will come into the organization soon. A good Sabbath-school of forty members was also organized, and the proper officers chosen. J. O. Corliss. Altamont, Iowa.
By John F. Hanson
For three successive Sabbaths I have been with the brethren at Elkhorn, Bonwan's Grove, and Altamont. At the last-named place we had the privilege of baptizing four. They all united with the church at that place, which is in a prosperous condition.
John F. Hanson. Turner's Point, Texas.
By J. S. Kilgore
THE arbor meeting held at this place July 30 to Aug. 5, commenced favorably, and closed with good results. The Spirit of the Lord seemed to rest upon us with great power. Sinners were converted, the lukewarm aroused, and the honest hearted enlightened. The man who tendered us the ground would not consent to let us have it unless we would agree to pull up stakes and leave whenever he could endure us no longer. But before the meeting closed, he and his wife and daughter, with five or six others, were found keeping the Sabbath. At the close of the meeting the interest was so great that it was thought best to have some one remain and follow it up. This I did as best I could until Aug. 12, when I had to leave for another appointment. During this time I sold $33.45 worth of books, and found sixteen families anxious to pay for and take the Review. At the close of the meeting twenty more persons, making in all twenty-eight adults, had decided to keep the Sabbath, obey the other truths to which they had listened, and open their hearts to receive more. Albion, Neb.
By Charles L. Boyd
The meetings at this place were well attended. A church of eleven members, and a T. and M. society of thirteen members were organized. This company have received the love of the truth. The tithing system was cheerfully adopted. IN various "exchanges," one now sees a short article on the care of infants, which says, among other things, that babies should be washed in cold water twice a day, and oftener in hot weather This article was probably written by some masculine writer, who knows extremely little about babies, and it is seized upon by male editors, and put into their household columns as a very wise bit of advice for ignorant mothers. But few mothers are so ignorant as to take such advice. Instinct teaches them better. A well dressed and well fed baby needs a full bath only two or three times a week in cold weather, and only once a day in warm weather. Warm baths are weakening, and cold baths make too great a demand on the constitutional vigor, and are always injurious, unless there is pleasure in them, and a quick and complete reaction or warm glow of the skin. The water used should be neither cold, nor decidedly warm, but comfortably cool or even luke-warm. Try it by your elbow to see whether it is too warm or too cool. The article mentioned says nothing about the conditions under which a bath should be taken, but it should never be immediately following a meal, or when the child is cold, unless it be a warm bath used as a medicine. No matter if the little one is in a perspiration when the bath is given, if neither the room nor the water chills it. —Agriculturist. MR. LEWIS W. LEEDS, the distinguished writer on ventilation, offers, in the Sanitarian, views which will be regarded as novel on the subject of sleeping in draughts. He believes in it, and says: "I have not the slightest doubt that if every individual in the city of New York were to sleep on the house-top instead of in their stifling rooms, the rate of mortality would be reduced twenty-five per cent in three months; and if they could have blankets enough to keep warm, and be merely screened from the rain at night, without obstructing the currents of air—or, in other words, to sleep directly in all the draughts they could get—the mortality would be reduced one-half in one year." He holds that it is warmth alone that determines the amount of fresh air one can afford at night. "Where the body is kept warm, and pure air only inhaled, there is not one particle more danger of taking cold in sleeping directly between two open windows all the year round, than there is of taking cold in riding in an open sleigh when thoroughly warmed by wrappings of fur and robes, and such a thing as taking cold under such conditions never occurs, providing always the thorough warming of the feet and back, which are often neglected." Interesting to Tea-Drinkers.
If you pour a few drops of strong tea on a piece of iron—a knife blade, for instance—the tannate of iron is formed, which is black. If you mix it with iron-filings or pulverized iron, you may make it a fair article of ink. If you mix it with fresh human blood, it forms, with the iron of the blood, the tannate of iron. Now, when we remember that the liquids which enter the stomach are rapidly absorbed by the veins and absorbents of the stomach, and enter into the circulation, and are thrown out of the system by the skin, respiration, and the kidneys, it is probable that a drink so common as tea, and so abundantly used, will have some effect. Can it be possible that tannin introduced with so much warm liquor, producing perspiration, will have no effect upon the skin? Look at the tea-drinkers of Russia, the Chinese, and the old women of America, who have so long continued in the habit of drinking strong teas—are they not dark colored and leather-skinned? When young they were of fair complexion.—Herald of Health.