The book of Acts is an inspired history of the church. During the period which is embraced in its record, the apostles and their fellow-laborers were upon the stage of action, and under their watchcare the churches of Christ preserved, to a great extent, their purity of life and doctrine. These apostolic churches are thus set forth as the proper examples for all coming time. This book fitly connects the narratives of the four evangelists with the apostolic epistles, and thus joins together the whole New Testament. But when we leave the period embraced in this inspired history, and the churches which were founded and governed by inspired men, we enter upon altogether different times. There is, unfortunately, great truth in the severe language of Gibbon:--
“The theologian may indulge the pleasing task of describing religion as she descended from Heaven, arrayed in her native purity. A more melancholy duty is imposed on the historian. He must discover the inevitable mixture of error and corruption, which she contracted in a long residence upon earth, among a weak and degenerate race of beings.”
What says the book of Acts respecting the time immediately following the labors of Paul? In addressing the elders of the Ephesian church, Paul said:--
“For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” Acts 20:29, 30.55It follows from this testimony that we are not authorized to receive the teaching of any man simply because he lived immediately after the apostolic age, or even in the days of the apostles themselves. Grievous wolves were to enter the midst of the people of God, and of their own selves were men to arise, speaking perverse things. If it be asked how these are to be distinguished from the true servants of God, this is the proper answer: Those who spoke and acted in accordance with the teachings of the apostles were men of God; those who taught otherwise were of that class who should speak perverse things to draw away disciples after them.
What say the apostolic epistles relative to this apostasy? To the Thessalonians, it is written:--
“Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. . . . For the mystery of iniquity doth already work; only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” 2 Thess. 2:3, 4, 7, 8.
To Timothy, in like manner, it is said:--
“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” 2 Tim. 4:2-4; 2 Pet. 2; Jude 4; 1 John 2:18.
These texts are most explicit in predicting a great apostasy in the church, and in stating the fact that that apostasy had already commenced. The Roman church, the eldest in apostasy, prides itself upon its apostolic character. In the language of Paul to the Thessalonians, already quoted, that great Antichristian body may indeed find its claim to an origin in apostolic times vindicated, but its apostolic character most emphatically denied. And herein is found a striking illustration of the fact that an evil thing is not rendered good by the accidental circumstance of its originating in the days of the apostles. Every thing, at its commencement, is either right or wrong. If right, it may be known by its agreement with the divine standard. If wrong at its origin, it can never cease to be such. Satan's great falsehood which involved our race in ruin has not yet become the truth, although six thousand years have elapsed since it was uttered. Think of this ye who worship at the shrine of venerable error. When the fables of men obtained the place of the truth of God, he was thereby dishonored. How, then, can he accept obedience to them as any part of that pure devotion which he requires at our hands? They that worship God must worship him in Spirit and in truth. How many ages must pass over the fables of men before they become changed into divine truth? That these predictions of the New Testament respecting the great apostasy in the church were fully realized, the pages of ecclesiastical history present ample proof. Mr. Dowling, in his “History of Romanism,” bears the following testimony:--
“There is scarcely anything which strikes the mind of the careful student of ancient ecclesiastical history with greater surprise than the comparatively early period at which many of the corruptions of Christianity, which are embodied in the Romish system, took their rise; yet it is not to be supposed that when the first originators of many of these unscriptural notions and practices planted those germs of corruption, they anticipated or even imagined they would ever grow into such a vast and hideous system of superstition and error, as is that of popery. . . . Each of the great corruptions of the latter ages took its rise in a manner which it would be harsh to say was deserving of strong reprehension. . . . The worship of images, the invocation of saints, and the superstition of relics, were but expansions of the natural feelings of veneration and affection cherished toward the memory of those who had suffered and died for the truth.”
Robinson, author of the “History of Baptism,” bears the following testimony:--
“Toward the latter end of the second century most of the churches assumed a new form, the first simplicity disappeared; and insensibly, as the old disciples retired to their graves, their children along with new converts, both Jews and Gentiles, came forward and new modeled the cause.”
The working of the mystery of iniquity in the first centuries of the Christian church is thus described by a recent writer:--
“During these centuries the chief corruptions of popery were either introduced in principle, or the seeds of them so effectually sown as naturally to produce those baneful fruits which appeared so plentifully at a later period. In Justin Martyr's time, within fifty years of the apostolic age, the cup was mixed with water, and a portion of the elements sent to the absent. The bread, which at first was sent only to the sick, was, in the time of Tertullian and Cyprian, carried home by the people and locked up as a divine treasure for their private use. At this time, too, the ordinance of the supper was given to infants of the tenderest age, and was styled the sacrifice of the body of Christ. The custom of praying for the dead, Tertullian states, was common in the second century, and became the universal practice of the following ages; so that it came in the fourth century to be reckoned a kind of heresy to deny the efficacy of it. By this time the invocation of saints, the superstitious use of images, of the sign of the cross, and of consecrated oil, were become established practices, and pretended miracles were confidently adduced in proof of their supposed efficacy. Thus did that mystery of iniquity, which was already working in the time of the apostles, speedily after their departure, spread its corruptions among the professors of Christianity.”
Neander speaks thus of the early introduction of image worship:--
“And yet, perhaps, religious images made their way from domestic life into the churches, as early as the end of the third century; and the walls of the churches were painted in the same way.”--Rose's Neander, p. 184. J. N. A.
Unwarranted Modesty.
By Ellet Joseph Waggoner
THE Sunday-school Times very justly says that it "requires character as well as courage to admit that one does not know what he is supposed to know—or what he supposes he is supposed to know." It then gives some instances illustrative of this trait of character, and says:—
"Yet, so rare is the courage and so rare is the character which prompts and justifies such answers as these, that it is too often a surprise when a man admits his ignorance on a point concerning which his opinion is sought. Just now there is widespread comment on President Woolsey's frequent confessions of inability to understand all the mysteries, or to solve all the perplexities, in the Bible text on which he is commenting week by week, in the Sunday-school Times; and it is admitted on all sides that these frank confessions are a proof of his superiority. Never be afraid to say that you do not know—when you do not know."
With the last sentence we heartily agree. But with all respect to President Woolsey's superior ability—which is unquestioned—we deny that proof of his superiority is found in his confession of inability to understand certain portions of Scripture. We refer especially to one that was made in the Times of Sept. 2, 1882, where, in commenting on Mark 13:30 he said, "This passage is surrounded with very grave difficulties, which the Sunday-school expositor had better look boldly in the face and then pass on." The 28th and 29th verses of this chapter read thus: "Now learn a parable of the fig-tree; when her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh; so ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it [Christ's coming] is nigh, even at the doors." Then follows the troublesome text: "Verily I say unto you, that this generation [the generation that should witness the fulfillment of the signs] shall not pass till all these things be done." Now we hold that the preceding verse is a clear command for us to know in regard to these things; and to claim ignorance under these circumstances is not a mark of superiority. It is a sin.
It is always well to be humble; but willing ignorance is not proof of humility. What would be thought of a Professor of mathematics who should say, "It is claimed by some that two and three are five, yet there are grave difficulties in regard to it, which the student should look boldly in the face, and then dodge; we must not be dogmatic." Everybody would say that he was unfit for his position. When a thing is plain, it is only an act of simple manliness to speak decidedly in regard to it. So in the case under consideration. Christ's language throughout the chapter is clear and plain. He briefly maps out the history of the world till the close of time, and gives certain signs which will immediately precede his coming. Then he says we may know that his coming is at hand. To say, then, that we do know that it is near, is no assumption of superior wisdom, nor mark of egotism in those making the claim, but simple obedience to our Saviour's command.
The man in the parable, when asked why he had not on a wedding garment, was speechless. We would not care to meet our Lord with no other excuse for not being there than that we could not understand his directions. We very much fear that he would say, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee." In a case of this kind, it is not safe to make experiments.
But there is another side. These same individuals who are so fearful of appearing dogmatic on the subject of Christ's coming, seem never to be troubled with that fear in regard to another subject—the immortality of the soul. There is no doubt in their minds on that point. That the soul of man is immortal is held to be so certain that it is useless to argue it. Disbelief in that is considered synonymous with disbelief in the Bible and Christianity. And what is the ground of this positiveness? Simple inference. Nowhere in the Bible is the statement made that man is immortal, i. e., undying, excepting in Gen. 3:4; and as that statement was made by Satan, the father of lies, it must be discounted about one hundred per cent. The Bible plainly states that "God only hath immortality," that if man obtains it he must "seek" for it; that it is the "gift of God" "through Jesus Christ our Lord," and that it will be bestowed only on the righteous, and at the coming of Christ. Yet in the face of all this, those who are not ashamed to confess their ignorance of a thing which Christ has commanded us to know, have no hesitancy in affirming that man is naturally immortal.
There is another point on which we would like to have our friends follow their own advice,—"Never be afraid to say that you do not know, when you do not know." It is in respect to the Sunday. Our "orthodox" friends feel very confident that the first day of the week is the Sabbath—so confident that they want to force everybody to observe it, at least outwardly. Yet nowhere in the Bible is it stated that Sunday is the Sabbath. Nowhere is Sunday called by any other name than simply "the first day of the week." Nowhere is it stated that Christ or his apostles or anybody else ever observed that day. On the contrary it is expressly stated that the "seventh day is the Sabbath;" that that day must be kept holy, but that the other six, including the Sunday, are "working days;" that God did the greatest part of his creative work on the first day; the disciples of Jesus did work on that day, which they would not do on the Sabbath; and that Paul used it as an ordinary traveling day. Now as it is an impossibility for one to know that which is not true, would it not be the part of modesty, to say the least, for our friends to admit that they do not know that Sunday is the Sabbath?
We will not press the matter further. We admit that we do teach the doctrine of the soon coming of the Lord with great confidence, but since the Bible alone is the ground of our confidence, we think we do well to be confident. To those who are dare not speak with confidence on this point, but are very certain of the other points which we have mentioned, we quote the words of Paul: "Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth."
The Coming of the Lord—Why We Write About It.
By Ellet Joseph Waggoner
THE following is from the Christian Herald (Disciple), of Monmouth, Oregon:—
"The SIGNS OF THE TIMES spends a good deal of its time in writing about the second advent of Christ, and talks as though nobody except the Seventh-day Adventists believes that Christ is ever coming again to this earth. The SIGNS ought to know that when it is trying to prove the second advent of our Saviour it is wasting its paper and ink. The truth is we are caring but little about the matter, for we simply accept the fact of his coming, and as to the time, we are not in the least concerned."
What has the Herald been doing, that it does not want to hear about the coming of the Lord? When a child manifests indifference in regard to the return of his father, who has been absent, it is generally attributable to one of two causes: Either the child has no love for his father, and does not desire to see him; or else he has been doing that which he knows to be wrong, and fears that he will receive the punishment which he richly deserves. Which one of these reasons applies in the present instance?56
"The truth is we are caring but little about the matter," says the Herald. Well, that is just why we spend so much of our time writing and talking about it; and inasmuch as there are thousands of persons who are in the same condition that the Herald is, we think we cannot justly be accused of wasting our time. At any rate, we do not propose to stop. In fact, we dare not stop, for we have the following urgent command laid upon us: "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble." Joel 2:1. Why all this alarm? What need is there of any unusual demonstration? Answer: "For the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand; a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness." Surely there is reason enough to talk about it.
But, says the Herald, "we simply accept the fact of his coming, and as to the time, we are not in the least concerned." Therefore it thinks that nothing more need be said. Now we are very well aware that almost all bodies of professed Christians accept the fact that Christ is coming; but that is not enough. The trouble is that they are content with the mere expression of their belief that he will come sometime, but are not particular as to when he comes, or, seemingly, as to whether he comes at all. Now the command is, "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain." It is among God's professed followers that the alarm is to be made; those who nominally believe in the coming of the day of the Lord, but don't care anything about it. Is there not need enough for an alarm to be sounded, when even the "watchman on the walls of Zion," hold their peace, and publicly profess that they care nothing about what is coming? The command is given to these watchman, "Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones, lift up a standard for the people. Behold the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold his reward is with him, and his work before him." But the watchmen refuse to lift up the standard, or to clear the way so that the people may walk in the law of the Lord, and thus be prepared for his coming. And this explains why they are not caring for his coming. To the command to "ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls" (Jer. 6:16), they have replied, "We will not walk therein." No wonder they do not want to hear of his coming.
Perhaps some one will say that we are straining a point, and that these "old paths," this "good way," in which they have said they would not walk, is not the Law of the Lord. Then read what follows: "Hear, O earth; behold I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it." Verse 19. But we will speak further on this point at another time.
The Herald says it is not caring about the coming of the Lord. Well, we do care about it, and for these very good reasons:—
1. We shall then be with Christ. He himself says, "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." John 14:2, 3. Paul also says, "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord." Thess. 4:15-17. There is no other way than this that we can ever go to dwell with the Lord; therefore the coming of the Lord is to us a matter of considerable importance.
2. We shall then be made like him. "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us that we should be called the sons of God; therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." 1 Jno. 3:1, 2. "For our conversation [commonwealth] is in Heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour; the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body." Phil. 3:20, 21. Many persons pay a great deal of attention to the adorning of their bodies; but no amount of earthly adorning can make them compare with Christ's glorious body. With the hope that this promise will soon be fulfilled, we can be content even if we are ill-favored now.
3. We shall then receive a crown. Peter exhorts those who are placed over the flock, to feed them, and says, "And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." 1 Pet. 5:4. And Paul also defines still more closely those who will receive this crown. "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." 2 Tim. 4:7, 8. Then it appears that we must do something more than merely to admit that Christ is coming, if we obtain the crown; we must love his appearing. But what we love we think about; and "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." Paul intimates that he loved the appearing of Christ; and that fact is evident from his writings, because he speaks of that more than of any other thing. Every letter that he wrote, contains more or less reference to Christ's coming. Will the Herald say that he wasted his paper and ink? We have not said so much about it as Paul did, but we mean to do better in the future, and thus obey the command to "exhort one another, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching." If we loved his appearing more we should talk about it, and try to induce others to love it also; and if everybody loved it, then surely we would talk about it more than ever; it would be an ever joyous topic of conversation.
4. At Christ's coming we shall be made immortal. Paul says in 1 Cor. 15:51-54, that at the sound of the last trump the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and the living shall be changed; that it is then that this corruptible will put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality. We long for that time to come.
Have we not good reason to care for our Lord's coming? Here we suffer pain; we are often obliged to confess that we are sick; on account of the weakness and feebleness of our mortal bodies, we are unable to do much that we would like to do. We lose our friends, and are often obliged to mourn. But when Jesus comes all this will cease. "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away." "He that testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus."
E. J. W.
A Word to Missionary Workers.
By Ellet Joseph Waggoner
WHAT would be thought of a minister of the gospel who did not pray before conducting a meeting or preaching a sermon; one who never prayed for the success of the work in which he was engaged, or who never made those under his care the subjects of especial prayer? People would say of such an one that he was not very deeply interested in his work, and they would not be disappointed if it should be a failure. The successful minister not only prays for the success of his work in general, but the individual members of his congregation are the subjects of his daily secret prayer. He feels personally responsible for their salvation. Night and day they are upon his mind, and he is planning for their good; thinking how he can encourage those who believe, and how those yet unconverted may be reached in the best manner. It is expected that the minister of the gospel will do this; it is well known that if he does not do so, all the success that may attend his labor will be, in a measure, accidental.
Now the same thing will apply to the missionary worker who occupies a more limited field. When a member of the Missionary Society has received the names of persons to whom to send the SIGNS and other reading matter, he should feel that those individuals are his especial charge. He should feel in a measure responsible for their salvation. So far as his influence extends, his responsibility is just as great as that of the preacher. He should engage in the work with seriousness and earnestness. He should make it a subject of prayer. It is not enough to pray for the success of the missionary work in general; each individual must be the subject of earnest prayer; not once or twice but constantly. Try to feel the same interest in each that you would if he were present in person. When the missionary worker sends off his paper, laden with messages of truth, he should feel that he is in the position of one who is delivering a sermon to a congregation. True, he is not responsible, as is the preacher, for the words of the sermon, but he can pray, as the preacher does, that God's Spirit will accompany the word and impress it upon the hearts of those who receive. "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it; except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." The truth may be clear and plain, and may be presented in a most forcible manner, yet it will fall lifeless to the ground unless God directs it to the heart. No one should think of attempting to write a letter on the subject of religion without first asking God to direct. We should realize that it is God's work, not our own, and we must endeavor to do it in his way. Work done in this way accomplishes double good; it will be blessed to the good of the one for whom it is done, and will strengthen the worker. But missionary work done in a listless manner, as a mere form, hurried through as quickly as possible, will certainly not strengthen the one who does it, and can not be expected to accomplish much for anybody.
We are told to pray the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth more laborers into the field. We would not have been told to pray, if praying would do no good. If the work lags, may we not conclude that this injunction has not been heeded? And even when we do pray for laborers, is it not often the case that we want somebody else to be raised up, while we do nothing? If all would pray earnestly for laborers, and then would go to work to do their part toward supplying the demand, how quickly the work might be done. Let us place ourselves in such a position that when we pray, we may say, "Here am I, send me." Depend upon it, the Lord will find employment for us all, and that which is just suited to our capacity. E. J. W.
The Missionary.
California Tract and Missionary Society.
DISTRICT NUMBER ONE.
The quarterly meeting of District No. 1 was held at Healdsburg, Jan. 12, 13, 1883, Wm. Ings, Director, presiding.
There was a good attendance from other churches in the District. The best plans of doing T. and M. work were thoroughly discussed, and all seemed eager to learn all they could that would aid them in advancing the work of the Third Angel's Message.
The Committee on Resolutions submitted the following, which were discussed and voted on singly, each being adopted by a unanimous vote:—
WHEREAS, we believe that we are living near the close of probation, and in the midst of perilous times, and recognize it to be our solemn duty, as well as our privilege as a people, to warn the world lying in wickedness, in all appropriate ways, of the impending Judgment, and—
WHEREAS, In the many excellent fields for missionary labor and ready access to the same, we recognize the opening providence of God, and our deep obligation to improve these favorable opportunities of spreading a knowledge of the truth, and—
WHEREAS, We feel grateful for the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, which contains well-filled pages of matter just adapted to the wants of the people; therefore—
Resolved (1), That we, the members of Dist. No. 1, engage heartily in mailing the SIGNS to Humboldt Co., and other parts of the District, as Providence may open the way.
Resolved (2), That we will enter upon a thorough canvass for the SIGNS and the premium throughout the District; and—
Resolved, That we will not cease our efforts to spread the truth by means of visiting from house to house, and that we will carry on the same by loaning and selling the packages of tracts lately introduced by the Director of the District.
Resolved (3), That we will not cease our efforts until every accessible library and reading-room in the District are supplied with our reading matter.
Resolved (4), That we adopt the recommendation heretofore made, that we supply our church libraries with the writings of Sister White, and loan and sell to those who will read them.
Resolved (5), That as the SIGNS is furnished in clubs at cost price, we deem it an unjust practice to use any of the copies thus obtained for personal reading, and that we advise every member to subscribe for the same at the regular price.
WHEREAS, We highly appreciate the value of the Review and Herald, our church paper, therefore—
Resolved, That we regard the Review and Herald indispensable, and that it should be in every family of Seventh-day Adventists in the District; and that we recommend that each church supply every member who is not able to subscribe for the same, out of such funds as they may have to assist the poor.
It was also voted to have 3,500 wraps printed, to be used in the work of loaning tracts, and that each T. and M. member in the district be furnished with a copy of the above Resolutions, and that they may be thoroughly carried out and lived up to.
E. A. CHAPMAN, Dist. Sec.
Report of Labor.
By Charles L. Boyd
SALEM, OREGON.—Efforts have been made to bring about a better state of things in the church here. Some had become discouraged, and turned away from the church. In harmony with Scriptural instruction, we discharged the sad duty of disfellowshiping several members. Our prayer is, that they may yet see their wrongs, confess and forsake the same, and, like the prodigal son, come back to the Father’s house. Two were added to the church, one of them being baptized.
Bro. Raymond was with me in the commencement of these meetings, and from here went to the southern part of the State, where, I trust, souls may be gathered out for the soon coming and everlasting kingdom.
Under more favorable circumstances, with the church in a condition, with heart and hand, to assist in the work by faithful missionary labors, I trust that meetings may be held at Salem, and that we may then see, instead of a pile of branches trimmed off, precious scions grafted in, which will bear fruit to the honor and glory of the Master’s cause. To this end I hope the church will faithfully labor, with earnest prayer to God. Jan. 22, 1883. CHAS. L. BOYD.
No Man Liveth to Himself
"No MAN liveth to himself."
Temperance.
Civil Rights vs Tobacco.
WOULD that the regulations as to the use of tobacco were far more numerous and stringent—that our railroad directors might label certain cars, For the Unclean, and then prohibit smokers or chewers from entering any other!
As it is, the irrepressible smoker follows you wherever you go. You seat yourself in a car, and in utter disregard of the printed ordinance, 'Smoking forbidden,' in some subtle, indescribable fashion, the dreaded odor assails you in front and rear. You pay an extra dollar and retreat to a Pullman. Vain effort! From the conductor's room, or regions unknown, comes the same sickening vapor.
"I was glad," said Thoreau, when at Cape Cod, "to have got out of the towns, where I am wont to feel unspeakably mean and disgraced, to have left behind me for a season the bars of Massachusetts, where the full-grown are not weaned from the savage and filthy habits—still smoking. My spirits rose in proportion to the outward dreariness. The towns need to be ventilated. The gods would be pleased to see some pure flames from their altars. They are not to be appeased with cigar smoke."
The outlook has not improved since Thoreau's day. On a Sunday summer's evening, you wander forth to an out-door meeting on the hill-side. Once, twice, and yet again you change your seat to escape the vicinity of some smoker who is polluting the pure air around you.
You go on board a steamer, anticipating a pleasant sail on lake or river. When everything is arranged, you take a seat on deck. Presently you are haunted by that unmistakable odor, and turning, you find a gentleman near by puffing away without the remotest consciousness that he is disturbing any one. You move your seat to get out of his range, but that only brings you into the vicinity of another offender. Verily there is no escape. The smokers persist in planting themselves before you, or behind you, or beside you, and no one says them nay.
You betake yourself to some rural retreat. But no matter how secluded it may be, there will be some way of getting through it, whether by car, coach, or cart. And whatever the vehicle, somebody will be in it, and that somebody will be sure to smoke, or chew, or both.
Even the broad ocean offers no asylum. In spite of printed enactments, the lawless wind bears the dreadful odors "abaft the helm," directly into your face. Can the moral atmosphere engendered by this habit be any more securely locked in? A traveler says: "One of the foulest places I ever saw for blackguard, profanity, and indecent language, was the smoking-room of an ocean steamer." And this testimony is abundantly confirmed.
Is there, then, I repeat, absolutely no refuge, no quarantine by which these noxious, ever pursuing, ever persecuting spirits of the air can be effectually shut out from the innocent?
"Chewers," one writes, "eject their saliva upon the sidewalk, in the store, in spittoons, which become incorporate stenches, in dark corners of railroad cars, to stain the white skirts of unsuspicuous women, in lecture-rooms and churches, upon fences, and into stoves that hiss with anger at the insult. And the quids after they are ejected—!"
"Some smoke till their bedrooms and shops can scarcely be breathed in, and until their breath is as rank as the breath of a foul beast, and their clothes have the odor of the sewer."
And this loathsome without is only a fit exponent of the equally loathsome within. Says Dr. Alcott: "If the interior of the tobacco-user could be fairly exposed to the public gaze, I am not sure but it would do more to deter the rising generation from falling into this foul habit than all our lectures, and essays, and homilies."
Did no one suffer except the willing victim, the case would be different. But the dreadful penalty, though well-nigh as universal as that following the sin of Adam, falls heaviest on the nearest and dearest—on those who can never escape the sickening atmosphere.
Daniel Webster said, "If gentlemen must smoke," or chew, he might as well have added, "let him take the horse-shed." This seems to have been the prevailing sentiment in that staunch temperance town, Oberlin, Ohio. Years ago a Doctor of Divinity smoker, who was passing a few days there, found himself out of cigars. After a long hunt in search of them, he was directed to a hostler, who might, perhaps, supply him. He sought him out and obtained a cigar, but when told that he must go behind the stable to smoke, he had such a sense of shame that from that time he forsook the indulgence.
Not so apt disciples were two New England ministers, who, being at the same place at a convention some years later, walked down the railway track for their daily smoke.
It is not uncommon to find among temperance lecturers ardent devotees of the weed. A total abstainer, yet a tobacco sot! We have suffered quite enough from these demi-semi-reformers. Our parlors and our chambers, our halls and our sanctuaries are often desecrated by their performances. "Why don't you use the church for your temperance addresses, and devote to the cause the money you spend in hiring a hall?"
"Oh, it would never do, the church is so fearfully defiled by these lecturers."
When such men come out from a smoke-room, pallid, trembling, and bearing the nauseous signs of the indulgence, instead of mounting the platform to exhort others to temperance, would it not be more fitting that they should take the back seat, and listen in silence and humiliation? "Thou that sayest another shall not 'drink,' dost thou smoke or chew?"
"Tobacco demoralizes," says Dr. Parker. "It makes a man careless about his hair; he lets his nails go uncleaned; his clothes are soiled—in a word he is dirty."
A writer in Blackwood asserts that "tobacco is the favorite filth of every savage life within the circumference of the globe; that it fills the atmosphere of the continent with a perpetual stench; . . . that it is, in its own nature, the filthiest, most foolish, dullest, and most disgusting practice on the face of the earth."
Why cannot the civil trespass law be brought to bear on this matter? Our statutes forbid that any man shall, from greed of gain, or to gratify an unnatural appetite, cause a nuisance in any public place where all have equal rights and a common interest. Is not the wide-spread use of tobacco a nuisance so offensive, so unwholesome, that, if suddenly sprung upon the community, there would be a spontaneous uprising, an indignant mass-meeting, which would demand its immediate expulsion? No pipe or cigar ought to be smoked within a thousand yards of a church or place of public gathering. Cannot the early New England statute be revived, at least so far as to impose a fine on any person using this weed publicly?
In 1818 the following Acts concerning smoking were passed in the metropolis of New England, and recorded among the city ordinances:—
"Every person who shall smoke, or have in his or her possession any lighted pipe or cigar, in any street, lane, or passageway, or on any wharf, in said city, shall forfeit and pay, for each and every offense, the sum of two dollars."
"And, further, if any person shall have in his or her possession, in any ropewalk, or barn, or stable, any fire, lighted pipe, or cigar, the person so offending shall forfeit and pay, for each offense, a sum not exceeding one hundred dollars nor less than twenty dollars."
The first of these acts was never enforced, and, having remained on the statute book for more than sixty years a dead letter, in 1880 was repealed.
The second, which is a law absolutely necessary as a precaution of safety, is still in force in Boston, and ought to be in every city, town, and hamlet throughout the land. But it simply contemplates protection against danger. When shall we take higher ground?—Christian at Work.
Potter Valley, California.
By E. A. Briggs
I HAVE been laboring here at intervals for several weeks, and can report as the result that eight earnest souls are striving to follow the example of Christ in keeping his Father's commandments. John 15:10; 1 Peter 2:21. In this place I had to contend with a new and peculiar error of these last days; i. e., the denial of our Saviour's existence previous to his birth in Bethlehem. When pointed to scriptures like John 6:38, where the Lord speaks of coming down from Heaven to accomplish a definite object, the advocates of this error tell us that it was a word or promise which came down. If so, Christ desired to be turned to a mere promise again, according to these words found in John 17:5: "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." In Col. 1:13-18, we learn that the Lord Jesus is the first-born of every creature, the creator of all things; the beginning. See also John 1:1-3; 3:16, 17, 31; 6:62; 8:58; 1 Pet. 1:11; Heb. 1:1-11, etc. Let us thank the Lord that his truth is so plain, so easily vindicated. My post-office for the present will be Pleasant Grove, Sutter Co., Cal.