“How SHALL a man be just with God?” This has been the great inquiry of men ever since the days of the man of Uz, and long before. In fact this has been the great inquiry of all men in all ages; it is the great inquiry still; and is yet to be a far more absorbing topic than it is now.
At each of the three great religious epochs of the world’s history—the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage, the Apostolic Age, and the Era of the Reformation—this has been the one great question at issue; and in our day it is again to be the great question at issue in the great controversy which is to be the culmination of all questions and of all earthly ages.
How then are men made righteous—justified, saved from sin—according to the way of the Papacy?—It is by penance. Proof? Here it is: “Penance, by which the sins that we commit after baptism are forgiven,” “The sacrament of penance, in which the forgiveness of sins is granted to the penitent.”—Catholic Belief, pp. 80, 366. One of these says that penance is the means by which the sins that we commit “after baptism” are forgiven. It is, therefore, important to know when, according to that system, baptism is to be administered; and by this to know how many sins can be committed before baptism. Here is the authoritative statement on that point:—
Penance of Henry IV. at Canossa.
From what has been said, you may well judge how reprehensible is the conduct of Catholic parents who neglect to have their children baptized at the earliest possible moment, thereby risking their own souls, as well as the souls of their innocent offspring.—Faith of Our Fathers, p. 313.
Well then, as baptism is to be administered to the child at the earliest possible moment, it were literally impossible for such person ever to commit any sins except after his baptism. And as penance is the means of obtaining the forgiveness of sins committed after baptism, it follows as plainly as that two and two make four, that, according to the Papacy, penance is the way of forgiveness of all sin, is the way of justification, of salvation. There is no escaping this conclusion from these premises. And indeed the Papacy has no desire to escape this conclusion, for this is her specific doctrine.
Penance being the means of justification, the way of salvation from sin, what then is penance? Here is the authoritative answer:—
In the case of those who have fallen into mortal sin after baptism, when the guilt of such sin and the everlasting punishment due to it are forgiven, there still very often remains a debt of temporal punishment, to be paid by the sinner. This debt re mains, not from any imperfection in the power of absolution in the sacrament of penance, nor from any want of efficacy in the atonement of Jesus Christ; but because by God’s will, chastisement for past sins helps us to compensate for the imperfection in our repentance, and serves as a correction.—Catholic Belief, p. 191.
Now when the guilt of the sin, and the everlasting punishment due to it, are both forgiven and so have passed from the sinner, and yet he is not saved until a debt of temporal punishment has been paid by himself; then upon what does his salvation turn? and who is his saviour?—Plainly his salvation turns altogether upon the punishment; and as this debt of punishment is to be paid by the sinner himself, it just as certainly follows that the sinner is his own saviour. And thus penance, punishment, is the papal way of salvation.
Nor is this all—but the Lord himself is made responsible for it, so that it is literally set forth as the divine way of salvation and the divine means of justification. For it is plainly said that this debt of punishment, to be paid by the guiltless sinner, remains “because by God’s will chastisement for past sins helps us to compensate [to pay] for the imperfection in our repentance, and serves as a correction.” As the Lord forgives both the guilt and the everlasting punishment of the sin, and yet by his own will has fixed it that the sinner must still pay a debt of punishment in order to be justified and saved, then it is certain that, according to the papal system, God has made punishment, which is penance, the means of justification and the way of salvation.
And indeed this is also further stated by this same authority, as follows:—
From this we see that he has not dispensed us from doing with the help of his grace what we can to punish ourselves for the offences and outrages we have offered to God. Good sense tells us that this is both right and just.— Ib., p. 192.
Everybody who will think on the subject can easily enough see that instead of its being good sense, it is an utter lack of every element of sound sense that tells a man that it is in any sense either right or just that he should punish himself to save himself from himself. Yet as punishment is the only way of salvation known to the Papacy, and as self is its own saviour, even this thing of a man’s punishing himself to save himself from himself is logical enough. And so essentially is punishment—penance—the papal way of salvation that even the dying thief, whom the Lord Jesus himself pardoned on the cross, is made to do penance. Here are the words:—
The pardon granted to the penitent thief in the saving words: “Amen, I say to thee, this day9then shalt be with me in Paradise” (St. Luke 23:43), can not be taken as proof that we are dispensed by God from doing works of penance. That was a wonderful and special grace granted under extraordinary circumstances, namely, when the blood of redemption was actually being shed upon the cross; moreover, the dying thief, besides bearing testimony to the divinity of Jesus Christ, confessed his guilt, and, in the spirit of penance, suffered the torment of his crucifixion, and the cruel breaking of his limbs, as penalties justly due to his sins.—Ib., p. 193.
All this doctrine that men must punish themselves to save themselves from themselves springs from the utterly false, even heathenish, idea that God is harsh, stern, forbidding, and exacting, instead of gentle, loving, winning, and merciful. It looks upon him as so ill-tempered and stern that he has to be “moved” by men’s doings so well that they get him into a good humor, and by punishment making themselves such pitiable objects that he can finally be persuaded by the Pope, or somebody else, to yield and “save” them. And here is that thought authoritatively expressed:—
We stand in continual need of actual graces to perform good acts, both before and after being justified. . . . The good acts, however, done by the help of grace before justification, are not, strictly speaking, meritorious, but serve to smooth the way to justification, to move God.—Ib., pp. 76, 77.
Thus by her own showing, the god of the Papacy is of such a disposition and character that it is necessary for men, wicked men, to do “good acts” in order to move him; and then, after they have thus moved him, it is still essential that they shall pay “a debt of temporal punishment,” in order to induce him to allow them the justification which they have so hardly earned. To such a god as that it is no wonder that the Inquisition is a pleasing tribute.
This is self-salvation as set forth by the Papacy. Next week we will consider a few scriptures setting forth God’s way of saving men.
HEARING AND DOING.
By Ellen G. White
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
“Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell; and great was the fall of it.”
In this parable two classes are brought to view,—those who hear the words of Christ, and do them; and those who hear, and do not. Christ tells us that those who hear and do, build upon the rock, and that those who hear, and fail to perform, choose the shifting sand for their foundation.
God has a standard of righteousness by which he measures character. This standard is his holy law, which is given to us as a rule of life. We are called upon to comply with its requirements, and when we do this, we honor both God and Jesus Christ; for God gave the law, and Christ died to magnify it, and make it honorable. He declares: “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.” “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.” And the Holy Spirit, speaking through the apostle John, declares: “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected.” “The world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.”
There are many hearers, but few doers, of the words of Christ. His words may be theoretically accepted, but if they are not stamped upon the soul, and woven into the life, they will have no sanctifying effect upon the character. It is one thing to accept the truth, and another thing to practice it in the daily life. From those who hear only, God’s word calls forth no grateful response. The commandment, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength,” is acknowledged to be just, but its claims are not recognized; its principles are not carried out.
We are all sinful, and of ourselves are unable to do the words of Christ. But God has made provision whereby the condemned sinner may be freed from spot and stain. “If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” But while Christ saves the sinner, he does not do away with the law which condemns the sinner. It is the work of redemption to exalt that law, and Christ’s great sacrifice was made in order that man might be a doer of that law. The law shows us our sins, as a mirror shows us that our face is not clean. The mirror has no power to cleanse the face; that is not its office. So it is with the law. It points out our defects, and condemns us, but it has no power to save us. We must come to Christ for pardon. He will take our guilt upon his own soul, and will justify us before God. And not only will he free us from sin, but he will give us power to render obedience to God’s will.
Those who are represented in the parable as building upon the sand, are not conscious of their danger. When Christ comes to reward every one according to his works, they say to him, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works?” But Christ turns from them, saying, “I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Only those who are doers of the word of God are fitted to have a place in my kingdom; but you have walked contrary to his commandments, and your course has led others astray.
To-day many erect a standard of their own, thinking to gain heaven, even tho they neglect to do God’s will. But all such are building upon the sand. They are hearers only. They may make high professions, but they are destitute of all true godliness. Pretention is no evidence of true Christian character. If their profession does not harmonize with God’s word, their holiness is not genuine; for true holiness is bestowed only upon those who “are doers of the word,” and “not hearers only.” When they stand before the judgment seat of God, those who now disregard his word may expect to be awarded a place among the redeemed; but in sadness Christ will say to them, “Depart from me; I never knew you.”
On what foundation are you building? This question comes home to us all. We are living amid the perils of the last days. The law of God is almost universally disregarded. Satan is not idle; he walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may turn from the right way. And he does not always appear as a lion; he has the power to come as a lamb, and then his voice is soft and low. But shall we allow him to control our hearts? Under his direction, shall we build upon a foundation that will not stand the storm? We can not afford to do this. Shall we not rather strive to be among that number of whom John writes, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus”?
Our salvation cost the life of the Son of God, and God demands of us that we build our characters upon a foundation that will stand the test of the judgment. Do you know that your foundation is deep and sure, so that the floods of trouble which are to come upon the earth shall not overthrow you? Do you know that you are not leading others astray by your example? If you waste the hours of your probation by building upon the sand, your life will be a failure. If you choose to ignore God’s word, you must be lost when the tempest sweeps down upon you; for only the doers of God’s word can build upon the rock.
Just before his crucifixion Christ prayed for his followers, “Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth.” The word of God has a sanctifying power upon all who truly believe and do it. Shall we not take this word into our lives, and thus build upon the true foundation a character that will gain for us an eternal weight of glory? John saw a company standing round the throne of God. “And one of the elders answered,” he writes, “saying, . . . What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said unto me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” To be among that number is the happy privilege of all who will render willing obedience to the words of Christ.
“Blessed are they,” Christ said, “that hear the word of God, and keep it.” Look well to the foundation of your hope. Let your life testify that you are doers of the word of God. Then when Christ shall appear in the clouds of heaven, you can exclaim, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us.” The crown of life will be placed upon your brow, and you will hear the voice of the Saviour, saying, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant; . . . enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”
The True Way to Gain Influence
THE true way to gain influence over our fellow men is to have charity towards them. —Kingsley.
“AS UNTO THE LORD.”
She was only a poor, plain, freckled woman, whose clothes were of the fashion her mother might have worn, yet, day by day, as she busily plied her iron, many a humble neighbor would stop by her door to listen to the quaint old hymns she sang so vigorously.
“My good woman,” said Mrs. G——, who had called to engage her services, “how can you stand all day in this hot room, always ironing, and yet sing so cheerily?”
“Ah, my good lady,” she replied, “the Lord has given me this work to do; so when I’m tired and out of sorts I say to myself that verse about doing things heartily, as unto the Lord, and try to think how I’d feel if I could see him standing by my side and he knew I had an unwilling heart for his tasks. Then I sing my brightest hymns, and while my iron smooths out the wrinkles in the clothes, I’m planning how to smooth out the rough places in my neighbors’ lives.
“There’s poor Granny Jones, left alone all day. She’s crippled with rheumatics, and nearly blind, too. When I sing it cheers her up a bit, and she feels as if some one cared for her.
“Little Tommy Green in the room above me has a weakness in his back, and lies on his cot-bed from morning till night. His mother works in a factory and doesn’t come home till dark. When he’s lonely and sick with the pain, he pounds on the floor with a stick and I sing the hymns he likes best and he lies quiet and hums them over to himself till he falls asleep. Then once in a while I slip up with a cup of water and bits of picture-papers that come wrapped round the clothes, and give him a pleasant word. Ah, ma’am, the Lord’s so good to me I must try to help them that have few blessings!”
And this thankful woman lived in a little hot room, spending her whole life ironing and smoothing out wrinkles for others. What shall we render unto the Lord for all his mercies to us?—American Messenger.
PROFITS OF BANKING.
An association of gentlemen in an eastern state raised $300,000 in currency. They went to the office of the treasury and exchanged their currency for $300,000 in 5 per cent gold bearing bonds. They then went to the office of comptroller of the currency in the same building, organized a national bank, deposited their $300,000 in bonds, and received for their bank $270,000 in national currency. They had let the government have $30,000 in currency more than they had received for banking purposes, and had on deposit $300,000 on which they received, as interest from the government, $18,000 a year in gold (and exempt from taxes). This was pretty good financiering for these bankers to receive $18,000 a year in gold on the $30,000 in currency which they had thus loaned to the government. But this is not the whole story. They had their bank made a public depository.
They soon discovered that there was scarcely ever less than $1,000,000 of government money deposited within their vaults. They did not like to see this vast sum lie idle. They, therefore, took $1,000,000 of this government money and bought $1,000,000 of five-twenty bonds with it. In other words they loaned $1,000,000 of the government's own money to the government and deposited the bonds received in the vaults of their bank, on which they received from the same government $60,000 a year in gold as interest. Thus for the $30,000 in currency which they originally loaned to the government they received annually in all $78,000. —Selected.
THE QUIET HOUSE.
By Alma Penderter Hayden
O MOTHER, worn and weary
With cares which never cease,
With never time for pleasure,
With days that have no peace,
With little hands to hinder,
And feeble steps to guard,
With tasks that be unfinished,
Deem not your lot too hard.
I know a house where childish things
Are hidden out of sight—
Where never sound of little feet
Is heard from morn till night—
No tiny hands that fast undo,
That pull things all awry—
No baby hurts to pity
As the quiet days go by.
The house is all in order
And free from tiresome noise—
No moments of confusion—
No scattered broken toys;
And the children's little garments
Are never soiled or torn,
But are laid away forever
Just as last they were worn.
And she, the sad-eyed mother,
What would she give to-day,
To feel your cares and burdens,
To walk your weary way!
Ah, happiest on all this earth
Could she again but see
The rooms all strewn with playthings
And the children round her knee!
—Alma Penderter Hayden.
ORIGIN OF THE “SWEET BY AND BY.”
In a quiet little town of some eight hundred inhabitants, in Walworth County, Wis., leading the quiet, monotonous life of a country physician, lives one of the post war times poets, Samuel Fillmore Bennett, who served “for three years of the war” as Lieutenant Bennett of the Fortieth Wisconsin Volunteers, whose name has dropped almost into oblivion, tho his song, “The Sweet By and By,” has been sung and heard by nearly every music-loving person in this and foreign lands at some time since it was written by Dr. Bennett twenty-four years ago, when he was not long home from the war.
At the time of the inception of the song Dr. Bennett had returned to Ann Arbor, Mich., where he was graduated with highest honors and had become an attaché of the Elkhorn Independent.
He and a musical composer, J. P. Webster, long since dead, were friends inseparable. Webster was of a despondent nature, in many ways an extremist, while Bennett was more cheery. Webster appeared before his friend one day, more than ordinarily downcast, when Bennett inquired, “What is the trouble now?”
“It is no matter; it will all be right by and by,” he replied.
Like an inspiration or a voice from an unseen land came to Bennett the idea of the song, “The Sweet By and By.” Turning to his desk, writing offhand with pencil, in less than thirty minutes he handed Webster the hymn worded as it reads to-day.
As Bennett handed the lines to Webster, two friends, S. E. Bright, now a resident of Fort Atkinson, and N. H. Carswell who long since joined the great majority, entered the room and listened to Webster as he improvised the music on his violin, hastily jotting down the notes on a bit of waste paper; in less than ten minutes these four men were singing the hymn, “The Sweet By and By,” to an audience of one, R. R. Crosby, who remarked with tears in his eyes, “Gentlemen, that hymn is immortal.”
Within a few days it was sung by school children on the streets; then it was published as a Sunday school hymn, and lastly as sheet music, translated in many languages.
Aside from their intrinsic worth and beauty, the words were peculiarly fitted to the spirit of the times in which they were written, when so many hearts were sorrowing because of a “nation’s slain,” watching to grasp any comforting word or melody, with both of which “The Sweet By and By” was replete, a fact that doubtless hastened the popularity of the hymn.—Selected.
STIMULANTS AND NARCOTICS.
By Dr. F. Nansen
No Help in a Cold Climate.
My experience leads me to take a decided stand against the use of stimulants and narcotics of all kinds. It must be a sound principle at all times that one should live in as natural and simple a way as possible, and especially must this be the case when the life is a life of severe exertion in an extremely cold climate.
The idea that one gains by stimulating body and mind by artificial means betrays, in my opinion, not only ignorance of the simplest physiological laws, but also a want of experience, or perhaps a want of capacity to learn from experience by observation. It seems, indeed, quite simple and obvious that one can get nothing in this life without paying for it in one way or another, and that artificial stimulants, even if they had not the directly injurious effects which they undoubtedly have, can produce nothing but a temporary excitement, followed by a corresponding reaction. Stimulants bring practically no nutritive substance into the body, and the energy which one obtains in anticipation by their use at one moment must be paid for by a corresponding exhaustion at the next.
It may, no doubt, be advanced that there are occasions when a momentary supply of energy is necessary, but to this I would answer that I can not imagine such a state of things to arise in the course of a protracted sledge expedition, when, on the contrary, as regular and steady work as possible is generally the main thing to be aimed at.—Dr. F. Nansen, Arctic Explorer.
ENERGY OF A TRAIN.
To-DAY the trains weighing 400 tons thunder by at 75 miles an hour, and we hardly note the passage. We take their safety as a matter of course, says the Philadelphia Press, and seldom think of the tremendous possibilities of destruction stored up in them. But 75 miles an hour is 110 feet a second, and the energy of 400 tons moving at that rate is nearly twice as great as that of a 2,000-pound shot fired from a 100-ton Armstrong gun. This is the extreme weight and speed now reached in passenger service, and, indeed, is very rarely attained, and then but for short distances; but 60 miles is a common speed, and a rate of 40 or 50 miles is attained daily on almost every railway in the country.
HEALDSBURG COLLEGE OPENING.
THE OPENING.
As stated in a recent number of the SIGNS the Healdsburg College school year begins September 23.
THE COLLEGE FACULTY.
Frank W. Howe, A.M., President, Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy; Elder Roderick S. Owen, Professor of Biblical History and Exegesis; George W. Rine, B.L., Professor of English Language and History; Warren E. Howell, A.B., Preceptor, Professor of Ancient Languages and History; Frank B. Moran, M.D., Professor of Natural Science; M. Frances Ireland, B.S., Professor of Mathematics and English Literature; Harold C. Palmer, Professor of Music; Sophia B. Kinner, Preceptress, and Matron. PREPARATORY SCHOOL, Florence J. Morrison, Principal. Business Manager to be supplied.
ITEMS AND NOTES.
Our latest information is to the effect that there will be a much better attendance at Healdsburg College this year from all parts of this state. Three we believe come from Honolulu. San Diego County sends ten. We hope that from Siskiyou to San Diego, and from the Golden Gate to Salt Lake City, there will be seen many students wending their way Healdsburgward.
The corps of teachers is strong and excellent, why may they not be used to the best advantage by giving them many students?
A prominent study in the College will be the Book of books, the Bible. This has been prominent in the past; it will be even more so in the future. Why not? There is no book like it. It treats not only of the life that now is, but that which is to come, the “life that measures with the life of God.” The Bible teaches us how to employ this life so as to secure that life. What book equals it?
If the word of God be studied and practiced with all the heart, it will better enable the student to grasp the principles of every other legitimate science and study. In fact, in the science of God, the All-truth, is embraced every other true science.
Said the writer of the wonderful 119th Psalm: “I have more understanding than all my teachers; for Thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep Thy precepts.” “Through Thy precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.” Verses 99, 100, 104. There is no copyright on the psalmist’s method; it is open to all.
When our blessed Lord needed special wisdom in the selection of his apostles, he sought God most earnestly. There is nothing which so illuminates the mind as the Spirit of God, and God is more willing to give his Spirit to them who ask him than earthly parents are to give good gifts to their children. In this way Infinite Wisdom will be a legitimate prompter to every teacher and student.
How Moses Graduated.—Moses at the age of forty “was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.” This was his preparatory course, and it made Moses believe that he was indeed a great man, able to conquer Egypt and deliver Israel. The education of Moses, however, was not complete. His graduating course was as a shepherd, alone with God and nature for forty years more, the greater part of which time, we opine, was spent in unlearning his Egyptian education. When he completed his graduating course, and found out how little he was and how great God was, the Lord sent him on one of the greatest missions mortal man has ever known. His degree (we say it reverently) was M.G., “Moses the Man of God.”
In the simple yet arduous lessons of life are oftentimes bound up our greatest struggles and achievements; but it depends on how we take them.
Healdsburg College is to some extent an industrial school; every student in the Home is required to do a certain portion of manual labor. This may seem hard to the soft-handed girl and the soft-muscled boy; but do not be discouraged. The lesson in washing pots and kettles or in digging a ditch, tho disagreeable, may be of more profit in character building than a year in algebra or Latin.
Whatsoever is given you to do, do it with your might and with the whole heart. There may be in it a lesson of eternal worth.
A good president and good faculty, with God’s blessing, ought to make a school a success. It is for these reasons we believe in the success of Healdsburg College.
The course of study arranged by President Howe varies somewhat, we understand, from previous courses, but it varies for the better.
The SIGNS OF THE TIMES urges our young men and women in California and Nevada to attend the Healdsburg College. Be willing to economize and sacrifice that you may obtain a good education, fitting you for better service.
Are there not those who have no children to send to school who can send worthy children of others? Would it not be a good investment?
Good tables are set at the Students’ Home. Plenty of fruit and excellent hygienic food is furnished. The location and surroundings are healthful.
GENERAL ITEMS.
ELDER J. S. WASHBURN, of England, writes that thirty-three have recently been baptized in Kettering, and the church feels much encouraged. Brother Champness remains there a few weeks.
MORE definite information concerning the arrest of Brother Alexander Philpott, whose arrest in Tennessee for Sunday labor was noted last week, announces that the arrest was made in Rutherford County. The trial, which is set for the latter part of October, will be held in Murfreesborough.
DURING the summer vacation the academy at Graysville, Tenn., has been enlarged by the addition of two recitation rooms, an office, and a book storeroom. This is the institution that was temporarily closed about a year and a half ago by the imprisonment of its principal and an assistant for doing some secular labor on Sunday. The aim of the adversary was to close it permanently, but as yet he has not succeeded.
ELDER W. B. WHITE has been reëlected president of Nebraska Conference. At the recent camp-meeting held at Fremont, there were present from outside the conference, Elders J. H. Durland, O. A. Johnson, and H. Shultz.
A GOOD WORK is in progress in Lynchburg, Va., under the auspices of Elder W. A. McCutchen and Brother J. P. Neff. Under date of September 10, they send this report: “We began tent meetings August 27. Our attendance has been far beyond the seating capacity of the tent every meeting, from 600 to 800 being present. They are of the best people in the city. The prospects for a good company were never better. The music is furnished by the choirs of the different churches in the city.”
LABOR that does not produce immediate visible results is often deemed fruitless, but it is not necessarily so. If it be sown in honest hearts, it will bring forth fruit sometime. It was the seed which fell on stony ground which “had no deepness of earth,” that sprang up quickly. That the returns of labor are sometimes long in being realized, was shown in connection with the tent work in Rome, Ga., a short time since, when a man who first heard the truths presented about twenty-nine years ago in Illinois, came out and took his stand upon them. In the meantime he had been reading more or less on the subjects made prominent by our people.12“In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand; for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.” Eccl. 11:6.
IN ROME, GA., our tent company have pitched in three different localities in the city during the season, and report a specially good attendance in the last location. In their first effort, the ministers of the city visited from house to house and persuaded the people to stay away. This is the method that the leading Jews used respecting Jesus when he was giving the people the word of God. “And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?”
OF the recent camp-meeting held at Dixon, Ill., the Sun, of that city, says: “The Seventh-day Adventists are a people who were almost entirely unknown to the citizens of this vicinity, but in their brief sojourn here have left a good impression of their sincerity and devotion, and have proven that neatness and good order prevails in the management of their religious gatherings.” We learn from the same source that sixteen persons were baptized, Elder J. P. Henderson officiating.
AT the recent camp-meeting at Denver, Colo., thirty persons were baptized, and a number of other candidates deferred the ordinance until they should arrive at their homes. Elder N. W. Kauble was unanimously reëlected president of the conference. In addition to the ministers of the conference, there were present Elder J. M. Rees, president of Oklahoma Conference, and Elder F. M. Wilcox, secretary of the Foreign Mission Board. During the conference year there was an increase of over three hundred in the membership of the churches and of $5000 in the tithe receipts.
LABORERS WITH HIM.
By Lydia H. Sigourney
LABORERS of Christ, arise,
And gird you for the toil!
The dew of promise from the skies
Already cheers the soul.
Go where the sick recline,
Where mourning hearts deplore;
And where the sons of sorrow pine,
Dispense your hallowed store.
Be faith, which looks above,
With prayer, your constant guest;
And wrap the Saviour’s changeless love
A mantle round your breast.
So shall you share the wealth
That earth may ne’er despoil,
And the blest Gospel’s saving health
Repay your arduous toil.
—Lydia H. Sigourney.
