p. 320 | The Signs of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 20 (5/27/1886)

Earlier text: North Pacific T. and M. Society

Hermit.

ABOUT half a century ago a young planter who lived among the mountains of North Carolina grew impatient of the quiet and solitude of his life, removed his family to a large seaboard city, and plunged into politics. For many years he was successful; then overwhelming defeat came. He could not bear it coolly as did others of his party; he grew cynical, bitter, angry against man and God.

He declared himself weary of fashion, ambition, and the struggle and crowd of civilized life. He pined for the solitude and calm of the mountains, “the world forgetting, by the world forgot.” He would go and dwell apart; give himself up to the study of nature and to high contemplation.

Taking with him one negro servant, he hid himself in the recesses of the Black Mountains in North Carolina, where he occupied a cabin just large enough to hold his books and himself. The first year he was interested in his studies; his books were like old friends whom he had not met for a long time.

But they finally palled on him. What need he care for the history, the philosophy, the laws, of men whom he never would see again? At first he keenly felt the magnificence of the scenery, the sunsets, the storms; but after a year he began to understand that there was no one to whom he could say they were magnificent, and that there never would be any one.

After the second year he seldom turned to nature or to books; his chief interest in life lay in the next meal; he made a companion of his stupid servant; his only hope was to catch a glimpse once in months of a passing hunter. His pride would not allow him to return to the world. He sank at last into a state of melancholy mania, and died, after six years of solitude, a prematurely old, imbecile man. Not having strength to live in a crowd, he had no strength to live alone.

Hermits and anchorites were common in the early days of civilization, when men believed they could come closer to God and lead purer lives by separating themselves from the work and relations of the world. Even at this day we are apt to think at times that if we could but live in solitude with nature, we could reach heights of thought and devotion to which we cannot attain in the town.

But it is not the air which a man breathes that makes him manly or devout or noble; it is the foundation on which he stands and bases his thoughts and hopes and actions.

If that ground beneath his feet be the truth of God, he will dwell calm and apart as on a mountain height, in the very market-place; but if the base of his life be fashion or gluttony or the greed of money, to live among trees instead of houses, and sheep in place of men, will not make him less harmful or less miserable.—Youth’s Companion.

The Love of Money and the Heart

How TRUE it is that the love of money is a root of all evil! When it takes possession of the heart, there is scarcely any doubtful practice to which it will not lead. The love of gain blinds men's minds so that they cannot see the tendency and inevitable result of their questionable practices, until ruin suddenly overtakes them. But in cases in which men restrain themselves within the bounds of propriety, the love of money sometimes becomes a consuming passion, and their whole souls are absorbed in the pursuit of gain, to the neglect of the most important duties, and the enjoyment of the comforts of life. A heart fixed on earth will not aspire to Heaven. “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”—Methodist Recorder.

GOD is merciful. He takes care of his own mysteries. He gives to nothing more than it can bear, or more than shall be good.—Sel.

News and Notes.

RELIGIOUS.

—Over a million pounds is still spent yearly in pilgrimages to Mecca and Medina.

—“Speak well of the dead and the absent.” Yes; but why should the living and those who are present with us form an exception to the rule? Why not observe the injunction of the apostle, and “speak evil of no man”?—Methodist Recorder.

—The Christian Union says: “At a Presbyterian communion service in Dakota, the sermon was preached by a man who, about twenty years ago, danced the scalping dance where the city of Minneapolis now stands; one of the brethren was connected with the massacre of Stillwater, and a ruling elder was a son of the warrior Little Crow.”

—In 1795, the Catholic Church in Kentucky consisted of one priest and 1,500 people. In 1884, there were two bishops, 193 priests, 653 churches and stations, a Catholic population of 300,000, or one-eighth of that of the whole State; 57 colleges and academies and 100 free schools, which instruct 16,344 pupils, and nine asylums and four hospitals for the orphaned and infirm members.

—The Tennessee Baptist says: “Statistics show that there are 381 ordained preachers in Tennessee who are without pastorates, and the reason is that they are disqualified by the lack of education to be acceptable to the churches. They have not by application and hard study of God’s word and religious books improved themselves, and they cannot teach the churches. The preacher, young or old, who will not study will soon go ashore.”

—Prof. Austin Phelps, D. D., in an article in the Congregationalist, says: “There has sometimes been more joy at the parsonage and the vestry over one rich man who repented than over the opportunity to save the ninety and nine who did not repent.” And then follows this truth: “State churches commonly die of this moral pyaemia. History has not yet proved that, without reformatory awakenings from outside, and disciplinary dislodgments within, a church of Christ welded to the State can be saved from sinking into a Sybaritic civilization in which the crumpled rose leaf takes all spirit out of her for evangelistic enterprise.”

—The Golden Gate says: “While it is true that Spiritualists, as a rule, place but little stress upon the literal significance of religious holidays of any kind, save, perhaps, a general social interest in Christmas, there is nevertheless a significance attaching to Easter Sunday that should commend it to them as the day of days in all the year, not even second to that set apart for commemoration as the advent of modern Spiritualism into the world.” Straws show which way the wind blows. Such statements as the above show that the greatest deception of all time is fast increasing its power for deception by putting on the outward forms of religion. And since the belief that there is no death is prevalent in most of the modern churches, and the greater part of modern religion consists in the observance of forms, what difference will there be between Spiritualism and professed Protestant denominations, when the former shall have adopted the forms of the latter?

Appointments.

OAKLAND.—House of worship, northeast corner of Clay and Thirteenth Streets. Sabbath-school every Sabbath at 9:30 A. M. Preaching at 11. Prayer and missionary meeting every Tuesday evening at 7:30. Seats free.

SAN FRANCISCO.—House of worship, 914 Laguna Street, between McAllister and Tyler. Sabbath-school every Sabbath at 9:45, and preaching at 11 A. M.; also preaching every Sunday evening at 7:30. Classes in the English, German, and Scandinavian languages. Prayer and missionary meeting every Wednesday evening at 7:45. Mission Reading-rooms at the church.

EAST PORTLAND (Or.)—House of worship on G Street, between Tenth and Eleventh. Sabbath-school every Sabbath (Saturday), followed by services. Preaching or Bible-reading Sunday evening. Prayer-meeting Wednesday evening. The public is cordially invited. Free public reading-room, corner of L and Fifth Streets.

HEALDSBURG COLLEGE.

By S. Brownsberger

AN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION OF GROWING POPULARITY.

ESTABLISHED IN 1882.

FOUR YEARS OF GREAT PROSPERITY, BECAUSE FOUNDED AND MANAGED UPON SOUND PRINCIPLES.

THOROUGH INSTRUCTION IN THE ELEMENTS OF LEARNING IN ALL THE GRADES AND THROUGH THE CLASSICAL COURSE.

FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS INVESTED IN BUILDINGS AND APPARATUS.

FACULTY CONSISTS OF TWELVE INSTRUCTORS OF EXPERIENCE

DISTINCTIVE FEATURES.

Instruction in the various trades, with two hours per day spent in active work with tools.
Methods in the Class Room are such as to secure the best kind of mental discipline.
A rigid parental discipline to cultivate high moral character.
Expenses within the reach of all. Twenty dollars per month covers all expense of tuition, board, lodging, washing, lights, fuel, etc. The Fall Term begins August 2, 1886.

S. BROWNSBERGER, A. M., President.

Healdsburg, Cal.

THE AMERICAN SENTINEL.

AN EIGHT-PAGE MONTHLY JOURNAL, DEVOTED TO

The defense of American Institutions, the preservation of the United States Constitution as it is, so far as regards religion or religious tests, and the maintenance of human rights, both civil and religious.

It will ever be uncompromisingly opposed to anything tending toward a union of Church and State, either in name or in fact.

TERMS.

SINGLE COPY, per year, . . . 50 cents.

To foreign countries, single subscriptions, post-paid . . . 2s.

Address, AMERICAN SENTINEL, 1059 Castro Street, Oakland, Cal.

THE SABBATH QUESTION IS THE LEADING SUBJECT OF THE DAY.

THE GREAT DEMAND OF THE HOUR,

From the Pulpit and the Press, in Social Circles and in Legislative Halls, is, that the Sabbath be more strictly observed. To assist the intelligent-minded of our land to have correct views of this important question, a book has been prepared which thoroughly discusses the Sabbatic institution in every conceivable phase. Such is the

“HISTORY OF THE SABBATH AND THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK,” BY JOHN NEVINS ANDREWS.

This great and exhaustive work is the result of ten years’ hard labor and historical research. The book contains 528 12mo pages, and is printed in clear type, on good paper, and is well bound. Price, $1.25, post-paid.

Address, PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal.

THE AGE TO COME:

By Joseph Harvey Waggoner

A REFUTATION OF THE DOCTRINE.

BY ELD. J. H. WAGGONER.

Embracing a critical examination of the Temporal Millennium—The Return of the Jews—Time and Manner of the Establishment of the Kingdom of God—The Day of the Lord, and the Promises to Israel.

Second edition revised. 168 pages; price, post-paid, 20 cents.

Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal.; Or, REVIEW AND HERALD, Battle Creek, Mich.

THE HOME OF THE SAVED.

By John Norton Loughborough

By Eld. J. N. Loughborough.

Gives the Bible evidence upon the interesting topic of the earth made new, as the inheritance of the saints. 82 pp. Price, 10 cents

SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal.

BIBLE-READINGS. IN TWO NUMBERS.

By Ellet Joseph Waggoner

EMBRACING A PORTION OF THE BIBLE COURSE AT HEALDSBURG COLLEGE.

(Including also the readings given at the State Meeting in Oakland.)

By Eld. E. J. Waggoner.

These Readings differ in two respects from other series of readings that have been published. They were prepared especially for the use of colporters and those who intend to conduct Bible-readings in missionary fields, and they present a connected chain of argument upon the fundamental doctrines of Present Truth.

NUMBER ONE contains 57 pages, embracing sixteen readings, as follows:—

Reading	No. Ques.	Reading	No. Ques.
Daniel 2	93	The Law of God, No. 4	32
Daniel 7	93	The Law of God, No. 5	31
Daniel 8	89	Ephesians 2:15	26
Daniel 9	94	Romans 6:14	23
The Sanctuary	19	Romans 10:4	17
The Law of God, No. 1	30	Galatians 3:13	19
The Law of God, No. 2	31	Romans 3:20	10
The Law of God, No. 3	28	Tithing	99

NUMBER TWO contains 46 pages, embracing twenty-two readings, as follows:—

Reading	No. Ques.	Reading	No. Ques.
The Sabbath, No. 1	51	2 Corinthians 5:8	18
The Sabbath, No. 2	49	Luke 23:39–43	16
The Sabbath, No. 3	42	1 Peter 3:18–20	10
Colossians 2:14–17	19	Luke 16:19–31	37
Psalms 118:24	13	Living Souls	14
Penalty of Transgression	10	Nature of Man	18
Sanctification	43	Punishment of the Wicked	70
Second Coming of Christ	64	Work of the Spirit, No. 1	47
The Resurrection	59	Work of the Spirit, No. 2	51
Immortality	18	Church Membership	61
Philippians 1:23	5	Missionary Labor	52

PRICE FOR THE TWO, 50 CENTS.

A small edition has been printed on very thin paper for the use of those who wish to paste them between the leaves of their Bibles. Price for the two, 50 cents.

Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland Cal.

SMITH'S DIAGRAM OF PARLIAMENTARY RULES,

—SHOWING—

THE RELATION OF ANY MOTION TO EVERY OTHER MOTION, AND ANSWERING AT A GLANCE OVER 500 QUESTIONS IN PARLIAMENTARY PRACTICE;

—TOGETHER—

WITH A KEY CONTAINING CONCISE HINTS AND DIRECTIONS FOR CONDUCTING THE BUSINESS OF DELIBERATIVE ASSEMBLIES.

A work designed for Students, Teachers, Professional Men, all who may be called upon to preside over business meetings, all who ever have occasion to take part in business proceedings, and all who may wish to inform themselves on the important subject of Parliamentary Rules. The subject is here presented under

AN ENTIRELY NEW ARRANGEMENT,

By which a great amount of information is presented to the eye at once, in a MARVELOUSLY CONDENSED FORM. By an ingeniously-devised system of diverging and converging lines, all the rules applying to any given motion, and all the motions coming under any given rule, are presented at one view, FACILITATING IMMENSELY the acquisition of a general knowledge of this subject, and furnishing to a Chairman instant information on any point upon which doubts may arise.

IT IS TO THE STUDY OF PARLIAMENTARY PRACTICE WHAT A MAP IS TO THE STUDY OF GEOGRAPHY.

Bear in mind that every member of a deliberative assembly should understand parliamentary rules as well as the Chairman, to avoid the mortification of moving out of order.

Size of Diagram, 12½ by 6¾ inches, printed on bond paper. A key is appended to the Diagram, containing full explanations, hints, and directions for conducting deliberative proceedings, printed on fine calendered paper, with ornamental colored border. The whole is put up in neat muslin covers, embossed in jet and gold, convenient and durable for pocket use.

Price, by mail, post-paid, single copy, . . . . 50 cents. Agents wanted in the Western States.

Address, PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal.

EXPERIENCE AND VIEWS.

By Ellen G. White

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.

This volume contains the earliest writings of Mrs. White, first printed in 1851. It contains an account of her early religious experience, and a brief account of the wonderful dealings of God with her. Apart from its intrinsic value, it will be of interest as showing the harmony between the earliest writings of the Seventh-day Adventists and those published at a later date. Its publication is very timely. In paper covers, with Supplement, 25 cents.

Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal.

Obituary: Brother Andrew J. Robertson

By Mrs. Lillie Good

Obituary.

ROBERTSON.—Brother Andrew J. Robertson died in Colfax, W. T., April 10, 1886, aged 52 years. He was born in Alabama. His illness was brief, only four days. He embraced the Third Angel's Message in 1884 under the labors of Elders Colcord and Bartlett. He expressed his willingness to rest till the Life Giver comes. He leaves a wife and nine children to mourn his loss.

Our little band will sadly miss him, for it leaves only a few, but enough to still claim the promise. The funeral services were conducted by the Baptist minister, Elder J. Cairns. During the service his wife felt that if the Lord did not give her strength, she could not bear the parting. She prayed earnestly, and when the close came such sweet peace filled her soul that she felt like singing praises to her Redeemer. He was there with the everlasting arms underneath. MRS. LILLIE GOOD.

Death Notice for Clarence T. Dodson

By A. T. J.

DODSON.—Died of consumption in San Francisco, Cal., May 15, 1886, Clarence T. Dodson, aged 25 years, 6 months, and 2 days. Brother Dodson was sick six months, and so far as human estimate can measure, he died, we believe, in perfect peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; and so, we believe, he rests in the Christian’s hope. The day before his death, he asked two of our brethren to come to him at 6 o’clock, P. M., for he expected to die at 7; and at that hour the pall of death seemed to fasten upon him, and signs of life became fainter and fainter until it vanished. He left a wife, and a child two and one-half years old. Services by the writer. A. T. J.

“In a Bad Box.”

UNDER the above heading a California clergyman writes to the Christian Advocate as follows:—

“The situation is this: I found in my charge what was called a Church Social, or Mite Society. Having no church organization in the place, this society had been managing church affairs, especially the financial department. At the first meeting of the officers to reorganize for the year, I was elected chaplain. They voted to have an entertainment, and hold it in the church. They decided, also, that the only kind of an entertainment that would draw the crowd, and make it a financial success, was comic drama. So I found that I had unwittingly become the chaplain of a dramatic club, which proposed displaying their skill in my own pulpit. When I objected, they pleaded as an excuse, and one that it was difficult to answer, that the former pastor had sanctioned such entertainments; and, moreover, the people would not come to a serious entertainment, ‘to be made to cry.’ Now I ask, Can we be consistent, and allow such things in our churches? If ministers secure their salary by thus yielding to the demands of the ungodly, will not the ones they please lose respect for them as religious teachers, and conclude that it’s the fleece rather than the flock they are caring for.”

We can’t see how any comment could set forth more plainly the seriousness of the situation. What makes it the more serious is the fact that the people will not listen to anything serious. Nothing could be a more perfect fulfillment of Paul’s words: “They shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”

Rewarded.

By Editor

WE are informed that the ladies of the Simpson Memorial Church (S. F.) invite their friends to a strawberry festival which they will give in their church parlors on a specified evening. This reminds us, by contrast, of the commandment of Jesus: “When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind; and thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee; for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.” Luke 14: 12–14. Christ said not to invite friends “lest they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee;” but these people go beyond what Christ thought it necessary to guard against, for they invite their friends, and expect them to bring a recompense with them.

The Benediction.

By J. W. R.

J. W. R.—The benediction, in its second and most general meaning, is, according to Webster: “Blessing, prayer, or kind wishes, uttered in favor of any person or thing; a solemn or affectionate invocation [prayer] of happiness; thanks; expression of gratitude; specifically, the short prayer which closes public worship.” Therefore we cannot see where there can be any wrong for the president of the Rivulet Missionary Society, or for the leader of any other meeting for religious purposes, to close the meeting with a “prayer or kind wishes in favor of” it; with “thanks” or an “expression of gratitude” to God. We can see no more harm, if as much, in closing a meeting with a short prayer than in opening it with a long one. If it is right for a leader to open a meeting with prayer, we cannot see how it would be wrong for the same person to close the meeting with a “short prayer.” To us there always seems something lacking, and we cannot help feeling it, when a meeting, of whatever kind, connected with the cause of God, is closed with no word of “kind wishes in favor of” the cause and work in connection with which it is held. However, if your question referred to the regular, recognized benediction, “Now may grace, mercy, and peace,” etc., we would not recommend the use of that by any person unordained. But there can be nothing wrong in dismissing with a short prayer.

Ruinous Rule.

By Editor

If anything could be more meanly tyrannical than the Labor Union has lately shown itself to be, we hope we shall never see it. In Chicago a plumber was boycotted because he chose to teach his two boys his own trade. In New York City a brush-maker was giving employment to seventeen little crippled boys by which they managed to earn a scanty living. The Union notified the proprietor to turn out the cripples or stand a boycott, and by the cowardice of the employer, out the poor cripples had to go. Thus unfortunates must be turned out to beggary or to starvation, and able-bodied boys forbidden to learn honest trades and caused to grow up in idleness with the vicious and the criminal that “labor” may be protected and that the boycott may rule. But we are not prepared to believe that the American people have yet so far lost the spirit of ’76 as to be ready to submit to any such infamous tyranny.

Will It Sell?

By Editor

WILL what sell? “Great Controversy.” Of course it will sell, and with as little urging as any religious publication that we ever saw. We have never had a doubt of it, and the following facts ought to remove the last doubt from every mind. An aged brother in Illinois, a farmer, felt a desire to help circulate the book. He had never canvassed, so he procured a prospectus and started out without letting his family know anything of it. In two hours he came back perfectly willing to let his family know what he had been doing, for he had five orders. In seven and one-half days he took one hundred orders, and in one day he took twenty. The most prominent men in the community subscribed for the book. It is safe to say that he earned more than he possibly could in the same time at anything else; and the amount of good done is incalculable. The book is just what the people need, and they are ready to receive it. Who will have a share in the good work?

An Ominous Alliance.

THE National Reform movement is to culminate in Satan’s grand masterpiece of deception. For a year or more it has been specially and assiduously courting the National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, and has now so far rhymed itself into the favor of the Union, that we very much fear it will never reason itself out again. Joint conventions are now being held by the two bodies, and we may expect to soon see their vital union consummated. The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union has done noble work and we have rejoiced in it, and should ever rejoice while it kept in the line of its legitimate and chartered work. But just as soon as she proposes to sell herself to work the iniquity of lifting the National Reform party into power, in its union of Church and State, and the establishment of its hierarchy in this country, then we are prepared to write of her, “The glory is departed.” Is it possible that in his last grand effort to compass the misery of the human race Satan is to employ the woman as he did in his first?

Catholic Church Inconsistency on Clerical Marriage

THE Catholic Church claims that marriage is a sacrament of the church, and then, with characteristic inconsistency, prohibits marriage to the clergy and to every one whom it ungrammatically terms "a religious." That is, common people may freely share in all the sacraments of the church, but the leaders of the church must be debarred from some of them. Truly that system of irreligion was well termed by the apostle "the mystery of iniquity."

Change in Date of Houlton Camp-Meeting

NOTICE the change in the date of the camp-meeting at Houlton, Maine. As formerly appointed, it was June 29 to July 6. The appointment now stands, June 22 to 29.

Study of the Article Matthew 24

By Editor

WE ask of our readers a careful study of the article “Matthew 24,” by J. H. W., on page 313. It is closely condensed and will richly repay a careful and prolonged study.

San Francisco Wholesale Liquor Dealers Agree to Saturday Closing

It is announced that thirty-eight wholesale liquor dealers of San Francisco have signed an agreement to close their establishments on Saturday afternoon. The retail liquor dealers, however, will be ready to receive customers at all hours as heretofore.

Elder J. H. Waggoner's Delayed Eastern Journey Due to Illness

By Editor

ELDER J. H. WAGGONER'S journey East, upon which he intended to start immediately after the close of the Oakland meeting, has been necessarily delayed on account of his severe illness. The great strain to which he had been subject for several months proved too much for him, but he has now so far recovered as to be able to ride out. We hope that a few weeks' absolute rest will result in his entire restoration to health, when the SIGNS will be favored with more of his work, even though he will be at a distance from the place of publication.

Professor W. R. Harper Accepts Yale Oriental Languages Chair

We notice that Professor W. R. Harper, of the Union Theological Seminary, Morgan Park, Ill., has accepted the chair of Oriental languages at Yale College. He had previously declined the presidency of Chicago University. In Professor Harper, Yale College will have a valuable accession to her faculty. He is an enthusiastic teacher, and has the faculty of begetting enthusiasm in his pupils, even through the medium of correspondence. And he is not content with merely imparting a knowledge of the Hebrew and its kindred languages; he is devoted to the Old Testament, and is doing a good work in directing attention to that too much neglected portion of the Bible.