p. 510 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 32. (8/19/1886)

THE LAW OF GOD.

Sabbath in the New Testament.

(Lesson 20.—Sabbath, September 4.)

1. How DID Jesus regard the commandments?

“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.” John 15 : 10.

2. Then must he not have kept the Sabbath? —He must; for the keeping of the Sabbath is enjoined in the law.

3. What direct evidence have we that Christ kept the Sabbath?

“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.” Luke 4 : 16.

4. What is the meaning of the word “custom”?—“Frequent repetition of the same act; way of acting; ordinary manner; habitual practice; usage.”

5. How can people show themselves to be Christians?

“He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” 1 John 2 : 6.

6. What apostle is specially noted as being a follower of Christ in respect to the Sabbath?

“Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews; and Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures.” Acts 17 : 1, 2.

7. Can you cite other instances of this practice by Paul and his fellow-laborers?

“But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and sat down.” “And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.” “And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.” “And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.” Acts 13 : 14, 42, 44; 18 : 4.

8. While at Antioch in Pisidia, what did Paul say of the relation of the Jews to the prophecies concerning Christ?

“For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him.” Acts 13 : 27.

9. How often did he say these prophecies were read?—Every Sabbath day.

10. What did James say on the same subject?

“For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day.” Acts 15 : 21.

11. What do these texts prove?—They prove that in the New Testament no day is recognized as the Sabbath except the day on which the Jews habitually worshiped. The regular reading of the Scriptures in the synagogues was only on the seventh day of the week, and since that is said to have been “every Sabbath day,” it shows that no day but the seventh day is recognized as the Sabbath.

12. When the prophets and apostles wrote the Bible, by whose authority did they write?

“For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” 2 Peter 1 : 21.

13. Then what is indicated by the fact that the seventh day, both in the Old Testament and in the New, is always spoken of as the Sabbath?—That the Spirit of God attests that the seventh day is the Sabbath. Christians must call a thing by the same name that God does.

14. After Christ had healed a man on the Sabbath day, what did he say?

“How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days.” Matt. 12 : 12.

15. What does this indicate?—That Christ recognized a Sabbath law.

16. Where is the only law for the Sabbath?

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Ex. 20 : 8-11.

17. Why is not this commandment repeated in the New Testament?—“Express warrant is needed to warrant a change; but it is not needed to warrant a continuation. When once bidden to walk in a straight line, it does not require the successive impulse of new biddings to make us persevere in it. But it would require a new bidding to justify our going off from the line, into a track of deviation.” —Dr. Chalmers; 14th Lecture on Romans.

18. On whose authority does the Sabbath rest?

“And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” Gen 2 : 3.

“For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Ex. 20 : 11.

19. Why then must we expect to find no change in the Sabbath law?

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” James 1 : 17.

A Summer Idyl on Housekeeping.

THE Master's words as to Martha, who was too much of a housekeeper, have served as a Gospel text for those women who are not housekeepers at all, and who seem to believe in no liberty quite so thoroughly as the liberty to neglect those duties of the home which they have learned to regard as minor and subsidiary, but which have, more than anything else, next to the observance of religion, to do with the comfort and the cheeriness of home. Perhaps there is room for a word or two on the other side. And let us say, with the changes witnessed on every hand in social life, and especially such as have reference to intellectual growth and culture, the principal difficulty in the matter of woman's work seems to lie in the want of harmony and completeness. Just as the tendency in medicine and in painting is to specialties, so in every-day life men and women are often seen running to hobbies and crazes. But the case is worse with the gentler sex. As a rule man has his business to attend to, and its demands and the character of its rewards are such as keep him pretty closely to it, as the needle to the pole.

An aged woman of culture, yet one admirably equipped for all the duties of her sex, was heard to remark not long ago, "There is no such housekeeping as there was in my day; we did not in our time reach out to close the shutters at night and bring the fingers into a nest of cobwebs;" and she added—"too much reading, too much painting, too many superficialities." The elderly lady was perhaps not quite just in her statement, for assuredly there is as good housekeeping as there ever was, and we may add that we know where to find it! On the other hand, unquestionably the lady was driving at a truth,—that our gains bring their complementary losses. And it is certainly true that those mothers who skim Homer to the neglect of the practical duties of the home, who cultivate Darwin to the neglect of dusting, and persuade themselves that "somehow the house can run itself," make grievous mistakes which are sure to be felt in their family, though they may not be seen by the offender herself. We have known homes to be made wretched by the want of tidiness of her who should be the housekeeper, whereas it was the house that kept her.

So we have known women to make cheerless homes for their tired husbands by going out talking here, lecturing there, holding a committee meeting somewhere, and so on,—not that such meetings are not to be held, but that the home has, or should have, the first place. When we hear a woman exclaim, "O, I am no

housekeeper!" we are sorry for her,—she has put aside duties which are of all others primary duties, and all for the sake of those so-called "accomplishments" which, whether desirable or not, are not of such transcendent importance that the placque must be painted though the children go about the house untidy in their soiled clothing, or the spiders should be encouraged to spin their filmy laces while mamma reads the last new novel or affectedly takes up with the "Reign of Law" or Xenophon's "Memorabilia."

We are glad to see and to meet with cultivated women, and with those who can converse entertainingly on various subjects. But we do not forget that often these accomplishments are bought at an exorbitant cost. We need at times to remember that what are miscalled "the humbler duties" are yet the higher. These cluster around the hearthstone and the cradle; these it is, and not bric-a-brac nor novel-reading, nor painting, nor decorative art, nor even riches, which make the sweetest spot on all the earth.

Often we search too high for that which lies close by us, and scorn the humbler duties, forgetting that—

"Who sweeps a room as for God's laws Makes that and the action fine."

Surely the souls who are careful in the discharge of these duties of the home must resemble the poet's ideal of whom he sings in his song,—

"She doeth little kindnesses Which most leave undone or despise; For naught that makes one soul at ease, Is low esteemed in her eyes."

And let us say, few things give more ease and comfort than the appointments to be had in the well-ordered home. We need in many ways to avoid the tinsel of a superficial, if showy culture, and get down—rather ascend—to that simplicity and the exercise of those home-like virtues which characterized the daughters of our earlier Republic. Of course we do not forget the advance in woman's education, and we recognize how many resources a higher education has brought to woman. As a rule it has not made a scholar of her—it certainly cannot be said to have added to the strength of her character—but it has multiplied her resources upon which to draw for her own pleasure and that of others. These accomplishments need not and should not be neglected. On the other hand the duties of the hearth and the cradle, the duties that pertain to the home, whether performed by one's own hand or those of others,—these are the primary duties, the chiefest which women are called upon to perform, and which should receive precedence over the other accomplishments of life, however attractive to others and however pleasant to one's self may be their cultivation.—The Christian at Work.

The Nile.

PERHAPS the most striking idea of the effect of the Nile water is obtained from standing on the summit of the Great Pyramid of Geezeh. The pyramid stands on the desert, but close to the cultivated soil; the cultivated soil in this case means the land which has been covered by the inundation of the great river. To the height which its waters have reached, the color is green from vegetation; where it has not touched, is desert. So distinct is the line of green from the buff-colored sand, that, looking down from the pyramid, it seems as if you could put one foot on the cultivated and another on the unirrigated ground. The sharply defined edge of a well-kept lawn and a gravel path will picture the state of the case to the mind of any one. Gazing on this from the pyramid—and it can be seen as far as the eye can reach to north and south—the importance of the Nile water is realized. As high as the inundation rises there is growth and cultivation; food for man and beast is produced. Where the water has not moved on the surface, there is the desert, sterile and bare, with a hot, monotonous sun glaring everywhere. The essential cause of Egypt's greatness in the past is realized, as well as the continued political importance of the country to our own times.

In other days the overflow of the Nile was looked upon as the union of Isis and Osiris; and when the canals were opened in ancient times to let the water flow over the land, sacrifices are said to have been offered. A ceremony is yet performed which is supposed to have descended from these rites. It is now known under the Arab title of "Haroost e' Neel," or "The Bride of the Nile."

The young, devoted bride Of the fierce Nile, when, decked in all the pride Of nuptial pomp, she sinks into the tide. —Lalla Rookh.

A pillar of mud now represents the bride; it is made at the opening of one of the canals at Old Cairo, and it is swept away by the waters at the opening of the dam. The Mohammedan tradition is that one of their rulers substituted the mud pillar for a virgin, which the Christians sacrificed every year. Sir Gardner Wilkinson doubts, and believes that in 638 A. D. the Arabs continued the custom from the Christians, who received it from the Egyptians. He thinks it unlikely that the Christians would sacrifice a human being, and that it is quite possible that the Bride of the Nile was only a mud figure, even in the older Egyptian period.

This ceremony is now gone through about the 10th of August, when the inundation is supposed to be approaching its highest. The first indications of the rise appear in Lower Egypt about the middle of June, and continue till September, when the full overflow is reached. In November or December again, the waters have disappeared, and the Nile is generally reduced to its ordinary level. The ancient Egyptians were in the habit of closing up the dams after the full rise, so as to retain the water on the fields, and thus secure a fuller deposit of mud, as well as a longer continuance of the fertilizing element. The White Nile sends down the largest amount of water for the inundation; but it is the Blue Nile which supplies the most important material for the alluvial deposit, and which is of such value to the crops. It is this deposit which has been slowly raising the level of the surface of Egypt—a rise which has been very exactly determined of late years. It was first observed in the case of the Memnon statues, and in the obelisk which still stands at Heliopolis; the bases of these monuments, remaining as fixed points, were clear evidences of the rise of the soil. Sir Gardner Wilkinson puts it that at Elephantine the rise has been nine feet, and at Thebes seven feet in seventeen hundred years, about four inches in a century. There have been many learned efforts to show that this increased elevation has led to a decrease in the height of the inundations, but the authority above referred to gives it as his opinion that the rise of the Nile is now the same as in former times.—London News.

The Poverty of German Students.

Nothing like the extreme destitution that prevails among the humbler class of students in some of the German universities is to be found in the very poorest of our seats of learning. M. A. Martha, who contributes a paper on the German pauper students, to the Revue Scientifique, states that the number is largely on the increase, and is causing much uneasiness to the university authorities, Professor Bilroth in particular having frequently drawn public attention to the danger with which this large influx of starving students menaces the universities and society.

As examples of the straits to which these hapless hungerers after knowledge are reduced,

M. Martha quotes from a Berlin paper the application made some time ago to the municipality by a university student, who asked to be employed as a night sweeper; a post which, however modest, would not interfere with the prosecution of his studies. In the Galician and Hungarian universities poor students sell matches in the streets, or if they have a musical gift, eke out existence by singing or playing in cafés. Many of them, for want of books and leisure to study, never manage to pass the examinations, and settle down at thirty to the very humblest occupations, while not a few take to evil courses and swell the army of crime.—Pall Mall Gazette.

The Home Circle.

By Youth's Instructor

SHADE AND SUNSHINE.

INTO all lives some rain must fall, Into all eyes some tear-drops start, Whether they fall as a gentle shower, Or fall like fire from an aching heart. Into all hearts must sorrow creep. Into all souls some doubting come, Lashing the waves of life's great deep, From dimpling waters to seething foam.

Over all paths some clouds must lower, Under all feet some sharp thorns spring, Tearing the flesh to cruel wounds, Or piercing the heart with bitter sting. Upon all brows rough winds must blow, Over all shoulders a cross be lain, Bowing the form in its lofty height, Down to the dust in bitter pain.

Into all hands some duty's thrust, Unto all arms some burden's given, Crushing the heart with its dreary weight, Or lifting the soul from earth to Heaven. Into all hearts and homes and lives God's dear sunlight comes streaming down. Gilding the ruins of life's great plain— Weaving for all a golden crown. —Youth's Instructor.

Telephones at Sea.

THE number of directions in which experiments are being made with electricity is almost numberless, says the Scientific American.

Professor Bell, in a recent interview, stated that similar conclusions had been reached by himself and Professor Trowbridge as to a means of vessels communicating with each other at sea as follows:—

"Most of the passenger steamships have dynamo engines, and are electrically lighted. Suppose, for instance, one of them should trail a wire a mile long, or any length, which is connected with the dynamo engine and electrically charged. The wire would practically have a ground connection by trailing in the water, or at least the result would be the same.

"Suppose you attach a telephone to the end on board of a ship. Then your dynamo or telephone end would be positive, and the other end of the wire trailing behind would be negative. All of the water about the ship will be positive within a circle whose radius is one-half of the length of the wire. All of the water about the trailing end of the wire will be negative within a circle whose radius is the other half of the wire. If your wire is one mile long, there is then a large area of water about the ship which is affected either positively or negatively by the dynamo engine and the electrically charged wire.

"It will be impossible for any ship or object to approach within the water so charged in relation to your ship, without the telephone telling the whole story to the listening ear. Now, if a ship coming in this area also has a similar apparatus, the two vessels can communicate with each other by their telephones. If they are enveloped in a fog, they can keep out of each other's way. The ship having the telephone can detect other ships in its track, and keep out of the way in a fog or storm. The matter is so simple that I hope our ocean steamships will experiment with it. The principle is not new; it is old, with a new use waiting for commerce to utilize it. I have experimented on the Potomac, and marveled at the simplicity of the apparatus and the stupendous importance of these results."—Sel.

The Tidal Wave and Coastal Bays

The great tidal wave, which makes nearly two complete circuits of the globe in every twenty-four hours, is very slight in mid-ocean, but increases in height in traversing shallow soundings, and is still further augmented by converging coast lines. The eastern coast of North America has, as laid down by Bache, a great 'southern bay' between Florida and Cape Hatteras, a 'middle bay' between Hatteras and Nantucket, and an 'eastern bay' north of Nantucket; and, while at Southern Florida the tide is one and a half feet, at Cape Hatteras two feet, at Southeastern Nantucket only one foot, the height within the 'southern bay,' at Savannah, is seven feet; in the 'middle,' at the entrance of New York Bay, five feet; and in the 'eastern,' at Boston, ten feet; and in the narrow Bay of Fundy from forty to seventy feet.—Sel.

Health and Temperance

A New Saccharine Substance.

A NEW sweetening agent has been produced from coal tar. It is known to chemists as "benzoyle sulphuric imide," but it is proposed to name it "saccharine." The discoverer is Dr. Fahlberg, and its preparation and properties were recently described by Mr. Ivan Levinstein at a meeting of the Manchester Section of the Society of Chemical Industry. Saccharine presents the appearance of a white powder, and crystallizes from its aqueous solution in thick, short prisms, which are with difficulty soluble in cold water, but more easily in warm. Alcohol, ether, glucose, glycerol, are good solvents of saccharine. It melts at 200° C., with partial decomposition. Its taste in diluted solution is intensely sweet; so much so, that one part will give a very sweet taste to 10,000 parts of water. Saccharine forms salts, all of which possess a powerful saccharine taste. It is endowed with moderately strong antiseptic properties, and is not decomposed in the human system, but eliminated from the body without undergoing any change. It is about 230 times sweeter than the best cane or beet-root sugar.

The use of saccharine, therefore, will not be merely as a probable substitute for sugar, but it may even be applied to medical purposes where sugar is not permissible. One part of saccharine added to 1,000 parts of glucose forms a mixture quite as sweet as ordinary cane sugar. The present price is 50s. per pound, but although very high, this is not prohibitory, as its sweetening power is so great; but it is very probable the cost of its manufacture will soon be very considerably reduced. This new compound will be of great interest, for not only is it perfectly wholesome, but it possesses, in addition to its intensely sweet taste, decided antiseptic properties.—Sel.

Warm Weather Drinks.

MEDICAL journals are out in force with hygienic rules. The leading medical journal of France published a pamphlet protesting against the extravagant use of artificial mineral waters, which, it sets forth, do the double damage of chilling the stomach, thus laying the foundation for gastric catarrh, while the limestone held in deposit in the carbonated waters finds its way to the kidneys and eventually produces Bright's disease. The pamphlet also protests against ice-water as a provocative of catarrh in the stomach. It further says: "Water should be drank cool, but not iced, with the juice of a quarter or half a lemon in it. Mineral water should also be drank with a dash of lemon. Water should always be swallowed slowly. It is not the stomach which is dry, but the mouth and throat. If you toss off a drink of water you throw it through your mouth and throat into your stomach without doing the former any good, while you injure the latter by loading it with what it does not require. Drink slowly, and keep the water in your mouth for a moment when you begin. If you work in a hot room in hot weather tie a damp cloth around your temples, and you will not experience half the cravings for drink you otherwise would."—Sel.

Liquor and Insanity in Sweden.

THE Journal of Heredity publishes a report from Dr. Mathews, of Rhode Island, in which, referring to alcoholism and insanity, it is stated that "in a Swedish asylum it was found that 50 per cent. of the patients had been addicted to the use of alcoholic beverages." It is mentioned that "after the removal of the heavy tax on alcoholic drinks in Norway the percentage of increase during eleven years was: in mania, 41 per cent.; melancholia, 69 per cent.; dementia, 25 per cent., and idiocy, 150 per cent. Of the last, 60 per cent. were the children of drunken fathers and mothers." "In the insane hospital at Vienna, Austria, probably one of the largest in the world, the superintendent informed me personally," says Dr. Mathews, "that from 50 to 60 per cent. of the insanity was due to spirituous liquors." He adds very pertinently: "This percentage in a country where it is claimed alcoholic drinks do no harm is well worth noticing." Alcoholic indulgence not only involves inevitable deterioration on the part of those who are addicted to it, but a fearful legacy for their offspring.—Temperance Advocate.

Milk Drinking as an Art.

MILK should not be taken in copious draughts, like beer or other fluids which differ from it chemically. If we consider the use of milk in infancy, we shall see that each small mouthful is secured by effort and slowly presented to the gastric mucous surface for the primal digestive stages. It is thus regularly and gradually reduced to curd, and the stomach is not oppressed with a lump of half-coagulated milk. The same principle should be regarded in the case of adults. Milk should be slowly taken in mouthfuls, at short intervals, and thus it is rightly dealt with by the gastric juice. If milk be taken apart from other food it is almost sure to burden the stomach and cause discomfort and prolonged indigestion, and this for the obvious reason that there is not sufficient digestive agency to dispose of it; and the better the quality of the milk, the more severe the discomfort under those conditions.—Popular Science Monthly.

The Duty of Using the Present

By Jeremy Taylor

LET no man extend his thoughts or let his hopes wander toward future and far distant events and accidental contingencies. This day is mine and yours, but ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For he that by a present and a constant holiness secures the present, and makes it useful to his noblest purposes, he turns his condition to his best advantage.—Jeremy Taylor.

Intoxicating Liquors and Crime

THERE can be no doubt that of all the proximate sources of crime, the use of intoxicating liquors is the most prolific and the most deadly. Of other causes it may be said that they slay their thousands; of this it may be acknowledged that it slays its tens of thousands.—Report of the Prison Association of New York.

IT is worthy of note that of the 6,000 Jews in New York, not one of them keeps a grogshop.—Messiah's Herald.

Over Two-Thirds Due to Liquor.

A railroad official who, for twenty-five years, has kept a record of accidents at railroad crossings in this country, states that of thirty cases where accidents have proved fatal, in twenty-two the parties driving the teams run into were under the influence of liquor at the time of the accident.

The Cost of Repeated Drunkenness

The House of Industry on Deer Island, near Boston, kept an accurate record last year of 9,684 men and women sentenced for drunkenness. This number actually appeared upon the records of the courts as 59,960 different persons. Each drunkard averaged over six commitments, and many of them were on record a score of times. The Tombs and other of our city prisons, from which drunken prisoners are continually sent to Blackwell's Island, could tell a similar story of drunken "repeaters." Short-time sentences for drunkards and thousands of licenses to liquor-sellers suffice to produce these disgraceful and, to tax-payers, costly results.—Sel.

SECULAR.

—Cholera is again on the increase in Italy.

—Steerage rates across the Atlantic have been reduced to $12.

—In the recent election in Utah the Mormon ticket was elected as usual.

—Small-pox is making fearful ravages in Chili, particularly in Santiago.

August 16, a schooner capsized in Boston Harbor and five men were drowned.

—A fire at Folsom, Cal., August 13, destroyed property to the value of $150,000.

—The Canadian Government is said to be anxious for a settlement of the fisheries question.

—Los Angeles, Cal., complains of having too many "artists" and "not enough tillers of the soil."

—The Utah Territorial Grand Jury was discharged on the 13th inst. It had been in session since April last.

—The production of gold in the United States during 1885 is estimated at $11,800,000; and of silver, at $51,600,000.

—A colliery explosion at Leigh, Lincolnshire, England, on the 13th inst., occasioned the death of about thirty-six miners.

—The London Times of July 10 states that large quantities of frozen meat are being shipped to England from the Falkland Islands. One vessel recently carried 30,000 carcasses of sheep, all of which arrived at London in excellent condition.

—Michael Davitt, the great Irish agitator now in this country, says he has come in the interest of harmony and to obtain rest.

—Great Britain has decided to re-enforce the fleet protecting the Canadian fisheries. Two war vessels will leave England for that point shortly.

—It is said that about 550 persons are under treatment for wounds received during the late riots in Belfast. Fears are entertained of another outbreak.

—It is now proposed to build a steamboat to run the Niagara Rapids. The vessel is to be ninety feet long by twenty-one wide, and will be constructed of oak, iron, and copper.

—Great damage has been done recently by forest fires in Wisconsin. Several hundred people are said to be homeless. In some instances villages have been almost entirely destroyed.

—A recent London special says that Germany and Austria have decided to oppose Russian action for the acquirement of Erzeroum and other territory in Asiatic Turkey beyond Batoum.

—It is charged that Mr. Chapleau, the Canadian Secretary of State, received a $10,000 bribe in the matter of letting the contract for the Georgian Bay branch of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

—It is said that strenuous efforts have been made of late years to reduce the national debt of Great Britain, but last year there was not only no decrease but an actual addition to it of about $10,000,000.

—The Los Angeles, Cal., Council has passed an ordinance making it a misdemeanor for minors under eighteen years of age to smoke cigarettes on the streets, and for any one to sell cigarettes to such minors.

—A large amount of property was destroyed by fire at Yreka, Cal., August 12. The fire originated in Chinatown, and the citizens have decided not to allow the Mongolians to rebuild inside the city limits.

—A new hotel building at Deadwood, Cal., was destroyed by fire at an early hour on the morning of the 14th inst. The fire is supposed to have started from a cigar stump. One man perished in the flames.

—Georgia proposes to adopt an amendment to her Constitution providing for the supplying of artificial limbs to Confederate soldiers and making suitable provision for such men as were permanently injured in the field.

—Experiments conducted August 10, at Fort Point, San Francisco, proved that dynamite can be fired from cannon and exploded at the point of contact. The experiments were conducted under orders from the War Department.

—An immense timber raft, measuring 470 feet long, by 50 feet wide, and 36 feet deep, which was constructed at St. John, N. B., left there recently for New York in tow of two steamers. It weighs several thousand tons.

—The forest fires in Wisconsin are dying out, but there is much suffering in the devastated region. Homeless people are wandering around and sleeping on the ground with scarcely any covering, and insufficient clothing.

—Rioting continued in Belfast till the 10th inst., when the military succeeded in restoring quiet. Five thousand troops and 2,500 constables occupy the disturbed districts. A great many people have been killed and wounded.

—A fire at Eggleston, Minn., August 7, destroyed a large elevator together with a freight train which was thrown from the rails while trying to pass the burning building. Seventeen cars were burned and two cars and an engine were wrecked. Four tramps were fatally burned in one of the cars.

—Things are in a very unsettled condition in the Mexican border States, and a correspondent of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat predicts that in less than two months the country will be up in arms against the Diaz Government. Private advices state that the rebels have captured Morelos, in Nuevo Leon.

—Cutting, the American editor who is illegally imprisoned in Mexico, was sentenced, August 7, to one year's imprisonment at hard labor and to pay a fine of $600. It is stated that this Government has renewed its demand for his immediate release, but the Mexican authorities do not release him and thus the matter rests at present. But in the meantime feeling is running very high on both sides of the Rio Grande and bloodshed may occur any day. The authorities at Washington however appear to feel very confident of an early and satisfactory settlement of the difficulty.

—Cardinal Gibbons has declared himself in favor of the organization of labor. He says: "From reading the newspapers and from Mr. Powderly's public statements, I infer that the objects of the Knights are praiseworthy and in no way opposed to the views of the Catholic Church. Catholic prelates will to a man declare in favor of the organization of labor."

—Another heavy grain fire is reported from near Merced, Cal., the result of a match carelessly dropped by a laborer, who was of course a smoker. California has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in this way during the past few months. If tobacco is to be used at all it should be taxed "all the traffic will bear," the proceeds to create a fund to pay losses caused by the use of the weed.

—It is stated that "Lord Randolph Churchill is engaged in drafting a bill intended to solve the Irish question. The skeleton of the measure is already done, the paper says, and it provides for universal local self-government throughout Great Britain and Ireland, giving Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales control each of its own immediate affairs, and leaving the supreme power of the Imperial Parliament undiminished."

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.

Camp-Meeting for the Northwest.

By North Pacific Conference Committee

A CAMP-MEETING will be held at Seattle, W. T., Sept. 1 to 6, which is especially designed for the Sabbath-keepers of Western Washington, many of whom have never enjoyed the privileges of a camp-meeting. Those who regularly attend these annual convocations, know their importance, and have felt a deep anxiety for those of this Conference who are at too great a distance to attend the regular annual camp-meeting. Now a provision is made for the wants of such; and it is hoped that none will permit any common circumstances to keep them from attending.

Quite a number have already embraced the Sabbath here at Seattle, and we confidently look for their number to be much increased. We want to have all the Sabbath-keepers together.

Brethren, be entreated to come, not only to obtain, but to bring God's blessing with you.

NORTH PACIFIC CONFERENCE COMMITTEE.

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 FIFTEEN 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 began August 2, 1886, term closes Dec. 23. Spring Term begins Monday, Jan. 3, 1887. S. BROWNSBERGER, A. M., President. Healdsburg, Cal.

News and Notes.

By Editor

RELIGIOUS.

—The next Pan-Presbyterian Council is to be held in London, June 26, 1888.

—The London papers report that Archbishop Trench, who died lately, left property in England and Ireland, valued at $400,000.

—The Christian at Work says that there is no Methodism in the Sandwich Islands. There was once an organization there but it died out.

—Lieut-Governor Ames of Massachusetts has given to the Memorial church at Plymouth, in that State, a bell that was cast by Paul Revere of the famous ride.

—The Wesleyan Methodist Conference, in session in London, appointed a Committee to consider the proposition to hold an Ecumenical Conference in the United States in 1891.

—According to the Missionary Herald, only about 8 per cent. of the world's population are Protestants, while 20 per cent. are Roman and Greek Catholics, and 72 per cent. are non-Christian.

—The Christian Union says, "Sam Jones is to spend the winter in San Francisco." Unless Mr. Jones leaves behind him his slang, his irreverence, and his unchristian and ungentlemanly manner of speech, San Francisco does not need him. She has a sufficient stock of these things already.

—The Chinese have learned the "boycott." The Spirit of Missions reports that some native Christians refused to take part in some heathen ceremonies, so they are "boycotted,"—denied access to the public wells, and even the use of the public roads. The New York Post remarks that this is about as good an illustration as could be wished for "of the essential savagery of the boycott." We concur.

—The steeple of the Methodist church in Greenwich, Conn., was struck by lightning twice in the same week—July 25 and 27. Of the stroke on the 27th, the New York Observer says: "Out of a clear sky, came a flash of lightning and a peal of thunder that startled the whole village." The top of the spire was split and thrown to the ground; then the bolt ran down the steeple, entered the church near the pulpit, tore away portions of woodwork and plaster, and melted all the electric light wires. A church that is not secure from lightning in a clear day is a good place to stay away from, we should think. By the way the first stroke was on Sunday too. And just the Sunday before, July 18, the Lutheran church at Middle Village, Long Island, was struck by lightning which glanced from a flag-pole in front, "tore off about forty feet of the roof and side, broke a large number of windows, then ran to the ground and tore up a trench for forty feet, knocked down and broke about forty monuments in the cemetery, and destroyed a section of fence."

Publishers' Department.

By Editor

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