p. 480 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 30. (6/4/1894)

Earlier text: PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING COMPANY

LESSON XXIV.—SABBATH, JUNE 16, 1894.

ASKING AND RECEIVING.

Lesson Scripture, Luke 10 : 38-42; 11 : 1-13.

38. Now as they went on their way, he entered into a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.

39. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at the Lord's feet, and heard his word.

40. But Martha was cumbered about much serving; and she came up to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister did leave me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.

41. But the Lord answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art anxious and troubled about many things:

42. But one thing is needful; for Mary hath chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

1. And it came to pass, as he was praying in a certain place, that when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, even as John also taught his disciples.

2. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Father, Hallowed be thy name.

3. Thy kingdom come. Give us day by day our daily bread.

4. And forgive us our sins; for we ourselves also forgive everyone that is indebted to us. And bring us not into temptation.

5. And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say to him,

6. Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine is come to me from a journey; and I have nothing to set before him;

7. And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee?

8. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will arise and give him as many as he needeth.

9. And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

10. For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

11. And of which of you that is a father shall his son ask a loaf, and he give him a stone? or a fish, and he for a fish give him a serpent?

12. Or if he shall ask an egg, will he give him a scorpion?

13. If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

In all study of the Scriptures one thing should be carefully avoided, namely, falling into the habit of studying them as we would a lesson in history. To be sure, history should not be studied merely for the facts which may be learned, but for the lessons taught by those facts. Still, there is a vast difference between the Bible and any other book. It alone has life to bestow. There is life in the word, and the object of study should be to receive that life. "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." John 6 : 63. Nevertheless, this does not do away with the necessity of having a thorough knowledge of all the facts recorded in the Bible, but rather increases it. For since the life is in the word, it becomes very important that we have the exact word. Strive to get as close a knowledge as possible of the contents of every chapter studied, but never let your study degenerate into a mere intellectual exercise. Study always with the heart open to the influence of the Holy Spirit. Be in the position of listening to the voice of God.

In this lesson we have Jesus in the house of Mary and Martha, and Martha's anxiety, the Lord's prayer, and illustrations of the readiness of God to answer prayer.

1. As Jesus was journeying, who received him into her house?

2. Who was her sister?

3. How were the two women occupied while Jesus was present?

4. What did Martha desire of Jesus?

5. What gentle reproof did he give her?

6. What did he say of Mary's course?

7. As Jesus ceased praying, on a certain occasion, what request did one of his disciples make?

8. Repeat the words that Jesus uttered in reply.

9. Give the first illustration that Jesus used to show the confidence that we may have that God will answer our prayers.

10. What positive assurance did he give of this?

11. Who receives? Who finds? To whom is the door opened? Is there any exception?

12. What questions did Jesus ask about a father and his son?

13. What would a man "that is a father" do in such a case?

14. What lesson is drawn concerning God's willingness to give?

15. Why is God much more ready to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him, than earthly parents are to give good gifts to their children?

NOTES.

1. "OUR FATHER." Although God is the great Creator, he is also our Father. "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him." Ps. 103 : 13. "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. . . . And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ." Rom. 8 : 14-17. God is no respecter of persons, and has no special favorites among his children, for he loves us the same as he does Jesus. John 17 : 23. Therefore everything that Christ inherits, we shall share with him. "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God." 1 John 3 : 1.

2. "WHICH art in heaven." That means that he can do whatever he wishes. "But our God is in the heavens; he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased." Ps. 115 : 3. "O Lord God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?" 2 Chron 20 : 6. He who begins his prayer with the words, "Our Father who art in heaven," understanding and accepting all that they mean, already has the answer.

3. "THY kingdom come." This is a petition for the appearing of Christ, for that is when the kingdom comes. 2 Tim. 4 : 1; Matt. 25 : 31; Luke 19 : 11, 12, 15. But since before the end comes the gospel of the kingdom must be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations (Matt. 24 : 14), the prayer for the coming of Christ and his kingdom is really a prayer for the Lord to send out laborers into the harvest; and that means, first of all, "Here am I; send me."

4. "THY will be done, as in heaven, so in earth." The will of God is his law. Rom. 2 : 17, 18. The angels "do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word." Ps. 103 : 20. Therefore, the prayer for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven is a prayer for the time to come when all on earth will do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. And that will be only when those who will not do the will of God have been cut off from the earth. And so this prayer offered in sincerity is the complete surrender and submission of ourselves to God, that in all things he may work in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

5. "GIVE us day by day our daily bread." This is an acknowledgment that we are dependent on the Lord day by day for our bread. Not only so, but it is an expression of content that we are so dependent.

6. "AND forgive us our sins." No Christian ever gets beyond the utterance of that prayer. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1 : 9. No person is ever so near to God, and so fully cleansed from sin, as when humbly acknowledging his own sinfulness to God; for only in confessing our own utter lack of righteousness can we be filled with the fullness of God's righteousness. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." 1 John 1 : 8. Because in that case we charge God with lying, in that he says we are sinners. But when we acknowledge the truth of God's word in every particular, then we are agreed with him; his will is ours, and, therefore, he must pronounce us righteous. But let it be remembered that God alone can truthfully declare one to be righteous. That must ever be left to him. No man may say it of himself.

7. Do NOT read Luke 11 : 5-8 as though it were an illustration of how God receives the prayers of his people. It is a comparison by contrast. The ease-loving man grants the request of his friend only in order that he may avoid being further disturbed. But God gave himself, his own life, for us, in Christ. He found joy in denying himself for us. "For the joy that was set before him [he] endured the cross." Heb. 12 : 2. As he gave his life for us, he lives only to save us. It is his good pleasure to give us the kingdom. Luke 12 : 32. "He delighteth in mercy." Micah 7 : 18. That is, not simply in pleasing his friends, but in blessing those who are enemies. The lesson to be learned, therefore, is that if a selfish man will arouse himself to grant a favor, how much more may we expect help from the Lord, who is listening to hear the first whisper of prayer.

8. THIS is emphasized by what follows. No one that "is a father" will ever disregard the cry of his children for food. Neither will he tantalize them, nor deceive them. The one chief thought of a man "that is a father" is that his children may be properly cared for. To this end he will toil even night and day. Now God is a Father, but he is as much better and more considerate a Father than any earthly father as he is better and greater than man. Men are by nature selfish and evil; God is perfect in goodness. He is infinitely more willing and better able to help us than earthly parents are to care for their children. Therefore, there is not the shadow of a doubt that he will give the Holy Spirit to us when we ask it, and that means the giving of all spiritual blessings. Let these truths not be received as a theory, but grasped as facts.

THE ATONEMENT.

By Joseph Harvey Waggoner

AN EXAMINATION OF

A REMEDIAL SYSTEM, IN THE LIGHT OF NATURE AND OF REVELATION.

BY ELD. J. H. WAGGONER.

THIRD EDITION, REVISED AND GREATLY ENLARGED.

THIS work is a critical and exhaustive treatise on the plan of salvation as revealed in the Scriptures, showing its harmony with the principles of justice and mercy, its consistency with reason, and its final results as affecting the destiny of the human race. 368 pp.; cloth, $1.00.

Address. PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal.

News and Notes.

By Editor

FOR THE WEEK ENDING MAY 28.

RELIGIOUS.

—The annual convention of Dunkards is in session at Myersdale, Pa., with an attendance of 20,000.

—Rev. Dr. E. H. Gray, of this city, president of the Baptist Theological Union, died on the 25th inst., aged 80 years. He was chaplain of the U. S. Senate during the War of the Rebellion, and preached the funeral sermon of President Lincoln.

—The controversy between Bishop Matz and Father Malone, of Denver, Colorado, editor of the Colorado Catholic, growing out of the bishop's charge of dismanagement of parish funds, has been decided by Archbishop Chappelle in favor of Malone, to the great gratification of his congregation.

—The Southern Presbyterian General Assembly has decided that Sadie Means, the girl who was disfellowshipped by a South Carolina church for working in a telephone office on Sunday, was wrongfully disciplined. The Synod had made a similar decision, which is now affirmed by the Assembly.

—Some of the members of the Community of the Servile Sisters of Chicago have brought suit against the Mother Superior to compel her to reconvey property which she had had conveyed to herself. The property is valued at $500,000, and the attorney general says it is within his functions to inquire into alleged abuses of trusts.

—Bishop Bonacum and Priest Corbett have a case in the Nebraska Supreme Court. The court has decided that the priest has a right to withdraw parish funds deposited in a bank by him, although the bishop had removed him from the parish. The question as to whether he was wrongfully removed from the parish is yet to be passed upon by the court.

—Some of the religious papers are protesting against the Sunday exhibitions of the U. S. war ship Monterey at the various coast towns of Southern California. Twenty-five cents admittance is charged to persons who desire to visit the new coast defender, and it is complained that the government is thereby encouraging Sunday exhibitions and Sunday excursions, per consequence, public immorality.

—The New Hope Baptist Church (colored) of this city has voted to discharge the pastor because he preaches "dry and mechanical sermons." There are many churches claiming a higher cultivation that might profit by the example; yet when we remember that the former pastor was wont to settle differences of opinion by display of carnal weapons, it is not surprising that a man of more peaceable manner should appear somewhat "dry."

—A Birmingham, England, paper states that "a meeting, which threatens to spread over the metropolis at least, has broken out in the ranks of the Salvation Army. For some time there has been dissatisfaction on the part of local officers about the peculiar financial arrangements at headquarters." One prominent corps has positively refused to pay any more money to the funds at headquarters until some financial matters are explained, and the disaffection is said to be spreading.

—In the General Assembly of the Southern Presbyterian Church, assembled at Nashville, Tenn., a resolution was presented and referred affirming that "sins against the seventh commandment cannot be allowed in the Presbyterian Church." The resolution concluded with this utterance: "We speak our abhorrence and condemnation of such sins and consider the commission of this sin an injury to the church, to society, and the State." Are we to infer that "sins against" the other commandments can "be in the Presbyterian Church"? and are we to infer that other sins are not necessarily "an injury to the church, to society, and the State"? Else why so particular to inveigh against this special line of sins? The assembly evidently has in mind the scandal in which Congressman Breckinridge, of Kentucky, has recently been involved, but that body ought to know that when one professedly married to Christ becomes involved in any way with worldly lust, alienating his affection from his espoused Lord, he is guilty of adultery. "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." James 2:10.

SECULAR.

—The loss by the late floods in Pennsylvania is estimated at $5,000,000.

—There are said to be nine murderers in the county jail at Des Moines, Iowa.

—A late dispatch says that many districts in the south of France and north of Spain are under snow.

—The Supreme Court of California has sustained the San Francisco ordinance forbidding the selling of liquors by women.

—On the night of the 23d inst. an earthquake shock startled the people along the Mississippi River, from St. Louis to Cairo.

—A colored man from Kansas, named C. H. J. Taylor, has been confirmed by the Senate as recorder of deeds for the District of Columbia.

—The constable who killed Captain Paisley, of the "industrial army," at Rocklin, Cal., was examined before a magistrate and discharged.

—A Knoxville, Tenn., dispatch says that 4,000 coal miners who have been on a strike since April 21 have returned to work on the old terms.

—Seven Spanish Anarchists were executed at the citadel of Monsjuich, near Barcelona, on the 21st inst. They were shot to death by soldiers.

—The city council of El Paso, Texas, has decreed that no women wearing divided skirts shall be allowed to walk or ride in the streets of that city.

—A large detail of Russian secret police have been sent out to guard the czarowitz in the various places he will pass or temporarily stop during his visit to London.

—The strike fever has also reached Alabama, and 1,000 soldiers are said to be encamped at Ensley, near the Pratt mines, where is the abode of 3,000 strikers.

—A late dispatch from Rio Janeiro states that the difference between Brazil and Portugal, resulting from the escape of the rebel Admiral Da Gama, have been settled.

—Lord Roseberry, premier of Great Britain, is reported to have declared that the government is determined to pass the bill for the disestablishment of the Welsh Church.

—An Anarchist editor in Dijon, France, has been sentenced to two years' imprisonment, and to pay a fine of 3,000 francs, for publishing an article derogatory to the army.

—The revolution in Salvador, Central America, is no child's play in the matter of fighting. Within a week after the 15th inst. over 3,000 troops were killed and many wounded.

—Two Austrians and an Italian have been arrested in Buenos Ayres because of the discovery of a plot to blow up the Parliament and Bourse buildings. Several bombs were also seized.

—Germany has retaliated upon Spain's imposition of the maximum tariff on German goods, by an increase of 50 per cent in the general custom duty on the chief imports of Spain and her colonies.

—Still another conspiracy has been discovered in Russia, including a plot to undermine a church, and also a mansion which had been selected for the czar's residence during the army maneuvers in the Smolensk district.

—A congressional committee of five has been appointed to investigate alleged frauds in the construction of armor plate for war vessels. They will if necessary examine vessels on which defective plates are said to have been used.

—Two ancient deserted cities have been discovered by American archaeologists in the Sierra Madre Range, Mexico. Although five Spanish leagues apart, the two cities are connected by underground passages hewn out of the solid rock.

—During the celebration of Queen Victoria's birthday at St. Thomas, Ontario, on the 25th inst., an American flag, displayed at the U. S. Consul's office, was torn down by drunken soldiers. The Dominion Government has ordered an investigation.

—A rise in the Missouri River is said to have cut away a point of land that was the main protection of the town of East Atchison against destruction, and the people are hastily moving away, while the land on which their property stands is being rapidly washed out.

—A fight between deputy sheriffs and striking coal miners at Stickle Hollow, on the Monongahela River, Pa., on the 24th inst., resulted in the death of four strikers and the wounding of twice as many more. Sixty-six were arrested. Further conflict was expected.

—Melting snow in the mountains has flooded all the rivers flowing into Puget Sound. A Mount Vernon, Wash., dispatch says the country for miles around is under water, and hundreds of families are homeless and destitute. At Conway the water is reported three feet deep all over town.

—Dispatches smuggled across the Servian frontier tell of a reign of terror in Belgrade and throughout Servia. Any expression of political opinion, either in the press or orally, in public or private, is positively prohibited. Wholesale arrests are of almost hourly occurrence. The arrests thus far include many radical deputies, they being charged with conspiring to overthrow the king and put Prince Karageorpevitch on the throne. This is the stock charge against every objectionable person against whom no other specific accusation can be brought. The telegraph wires are under the exclusive control of the government, whose censors will permit nothing not approved by the king or his representatives to be sent out. This accounts for the official announcement that all is quiet and everybody satisfied, a state of affairs that does not exist.

—The president of the California State Board of Health and a veterinary surgeon have lately tested the health of the cattle at the Stockton Insane Asylum, by the injection of tuberculin. Of eleven animals tested, all apparently healthy, eight were found to be diseased, and were doomed to die.

—The treasurer of the Cherokee Nation has begun the distribution of $6,840,000 among the 24,300 people composing the nation. The money is the proceeds of the sale to the government of the land known as the Cherokee Strip, and the disbursement amounts to about $280 for each individual.

—California's proverbial record of immunity from thunderstorms has been broken. The general rain of the past week was in several localities accompanied by vivid lightning and heavy thunder. Some of the boasting that the climate and topography secure the coast from cyclones may be premature.

—A trial of Herr Dowe's new bullet-proof cloth by British officers proves that it is impenetrable by the bullets of the most effective rifles yet constructed, even at the short distance of six feet. The test incidentally showed that the rifles used in the German army were more effective than those of the British.

—The Governor of Illinois has called out troops to quell disturbances occasioned by coal mine strikers in the counties of La Salle and Marion. The sheriff of La Salle County and several deputies were seriously injured while attempting to arrest strikers who assaulted the guards of the La Salle Coal Company's property.

—A Berlin dispatch says that the people of Cassel have become greatly excited by reports of ill treatment of political prisoners. On the 25th inst. 3,000 people gathered on a public square and mobbed the police and sang the "Marseillaise." The troops finally scattered the rioters, after many persons were injured, and sixty-eight were arrested.

—Rev. George S. V. Howard has been arrested at Chicago and charged with working a confidence game. Howard was ordained a Methodist minister in New York, was once a prohibition candidate for Congress from Indiana, and has preached in several Indiana towns. He was indicted for passing worthless checks and released on bond, and had escaped.

—At Palatka, Fla., on the 27th inst., a Catholic named Kane was shot, it is thought fatally, by a member of the American Protective Association named Wolf. A short time ago two A. P. A. organizers were badly beaten at that place, and the present difficulty is supposed to have grown out of that occurrence. It is said the feeling between the two parties runs high.

—The people of the city of San Jose, Cal., having voted down the Sunday-closing ordinance passed by the city council, the saloon men opened their saloons. But the district attorney has filed complaints against them for violation of the ordinance passed by the supervisors of Santa Clara County, in which San Jose is situated. There is promise of a bitter legal contest.

—A rule of the postal service in England is that postmen must have all unsound teeth extracted. While it is admitted that the rule is absurd, superstitious, and barbarous, yet it is said to be strictly adhered to, and the Postman's Gazette tells of an instance where a man had to have seventeen teeth extracted in order to qualify him for a position worth seventeen shillings a week.

—Thirteen "industrials" lately tried by jury at Los Angeles, Cal., for attempt to defraud the railroad company out of fare, were acquitted. At Cheyenne, Wyo., fifteen men accused of stealing a Union Pacific train were convicted, and three who were supposed to be the leading ones were sentenced to five months' imprisonment. The other twelve were sentenced to four months each.

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.

What Is It? Is It Science? Is It Christian? Is It Akin to Modern Spiritualism?

The subject of Christian Science is treated under three heads:

I. Is It Scientific? The author shows by copious quotations from the writings of Mrs. Eddy, Dr. Marston, G. B. Day, and others that "Christian Science" is not only unscientific, but in its teachings directly contradicts the most plain and simple facts of science.

II. Unchristian Theories. Here it is shown from their own writings that "Christian Science" is opposed to the teachings of the Bible and the principles of Christianity, corresponding in almost every particular to Spiritualism.

III. Modern Spiritualism is a treatise on the origin, character, numerical strength, doctrines, and deceptive practices of Spiritualism.

This little work deals extensively with the writings of the leaders in Spiritualism and Christian Science, and from the extracts quoted the reader can get a very good idea of the nature and trend of the doctrines of each. It should be read by every Christian. 85 pages, paper covers, price, 15 cents. Address, PACIFIC PRESS PUB. CO., Oakland, Cal. 43 BOND ST., NEW YORK.

Rome Is the Same

By Editor

Rome Is the Same.—Even the optimistic Independent seems almost discouraged over what it calls "The Catholic Reaction." After hoping for so long that Roman Catholics were coming toward Protestants, partaking of the spirit of independence and liberality of the age, and growing more and more tolerant as regards religious dogmas and belief, the Independent is forced to be disappointed. All the Catholic papers which stood for freedom and independence have succumbed to the authority of the bishops, save one, Griffin's Journal, which the Independent quotes as follows:—

"The battle for the freedom of the Catholic press is over. The warrior Watchman has surrendered. It had to. But the revelation of the position of the contestants is startling and deplorable.

"However, the battle for freedom is lost. Not a paper dared take the side of the battler. . . .

"Every Catholic editor knows he is not free to speak as he thinks it right and proper without being struck down if he dares to do so. A press that is subject to an authority which can command, advise, warn, or direct, is not a free press. The very fact is slavery, even though the lash of the master be not blood stained. Is a press free when the Watchman is compelled to advocate the laws respecting the exemption of the clergy from the jurisdiction of the secular courts?"

And how long will it be ere Griffin's Journal "takes it all back"? Rome is just what she always was. Men who remain within her pale are free to do only what "the church" commands or permits.

Kitchen-Garden

By Editor

In our Home department will be found an article on the "Kitchen-Garden," which will be of interest to mothers who have children in training, and from which hints may be drawn for home instruction in useful lines.

Argentine Republic

By Editor

WE give in our Mission Fields department an interesting and instructive article on the Argentine Republic, by one who has a personal acquaintance with the country, and who goes there as a self-supporting missionary. May God's blessing go before him and the glory of the Lord be his rearward.

The Labor Church

AMONG the latest movements in England is the Labor Church, of which there are congregations in nine or ten English towns, one Welsh town, and one Scottish. It is a sort of mixture of atheism, politics, and religion, a vain endeavor to climb up some other way, and enter by some other means than by the door, Christ Jesus. This church is open to all beliefs. And so it goes. Man is willing to do everything but God's way, and God will permit the utter fallacy of all human wisdom to be manifest, and then out of the things not seen will usher in the coming age of his everlasting kingdom.

Gored to Make a Spanish Holiday

"Butchered to make a Roman holiday," it was said of the gladiators in the palmy days of Rome. "Gored to make a Spanish holiday," is what may be said of the toreadores (bull fighters) of Spain. A recent dispatch from Madrid tells of the death of a popular toreador, gored by a vicious bull, in the presence of thousands of spectators, gathered to witness the bloody exhibition. The bull had already killed four horses, and his next victim was El Espatro, whose abdomen was torn open almost up to the chest by one of the brute's horns, death following immediately. Notwithstanding this sickening spectacle, the dead was removed, and the fight went gayly on. Fifteen horses were killed, two toreadores were greatly bruised. All this, witnessed by 10,000 "Christians"(?) on Sunday, in "Christian"(?) Catholic Spain! And what better are the prize fights and dog fights, the "perfect man" and lion fiascos, and the college hazings of our own "Christian nation"? Human nature is the same as in the palmy days of Rome. A knowledge of Christ and Christianity will not save men; they must know Christ, and the power of his grace, in the inner life.

Signs of Christ’s Coming

MANY honest hearts are inquiring as to the meaning of the spirit of war and strife manifest from one end of this so-called land of peace to the other; of the storm and tempest, of flood and cyclone, fire and accident. Modes and inventions of prevention have multiplied, but casualties increase. What do they mean? They are the dissolution pangs of the age; they are the groans of an earth waxed old; they are the manifestations of hearts uncontrolled by the Spirit of God; they are the omens of the coming dawn. God has foretold them all in his word. He has pointed them out as signs of his coming.

State Religion

The Independent reports a writer in the Japanese Mail as saying that among the twelve hundred foreign missionaries in China, "those sent from America are true propagandists of the gospel; but of those belonging to the Russian and French nationalities, some are really of the military profession. They take no interest in the propagation of their religion, but are busily engaged in geographical studies with special reference to military operations."

The above is the politics of State religion. If the church had kept the place which God gave her, the ministers of earthly governments could never have crept in in the guise of ambassadors of the King of kings.

DEPARTURE OF THE "PITCAIRN."

The missionary ship Pitcairn is to sail from this city on Tuesday, June 12. The following officers and crew have been selected: Elder J. E. Graham, of Oregon, captain and superintendent of mission work; E. E. Hicks, mate; J. E. Werge, boatswain; sailors, N. E. Johnson, G. W. Nilson, A. Larsen, John Chilton; cook, R. K. Suhr; cabin boy, Fred Tracey. The following named persons, who will be located at various places on the islands of the South Pacific, comprise the passenger list: Dr. J. E. Caldwell, wife, and two children, George O. Wellman and wife, W. G. Buckner and wife, D. A. Owen, wife, daughter, and son, and Miss Lillian White. Also Brother J. R. McCoy and daughter, who return to their home on Pitcairn Island. There is to be a memorial service held in the Seventh-day Adventist Church in this city on the evening of June 10, which will be an occasion of farewell to the voyagers. The ship will carry mail for those on Pitcairn Island.

Catholic Spain and Its Fruits

By Editor

A CORRESPONDENT of the Catholic Mirror in the issue of that paper of May 12, writing from Valencia, Spain, complains of the treatment of Spanish pilgrims to Rome by the Anarchists of Spain, who "insulted" and "murderously assaulted" all classes of the pilgrims, outdoing "in disrespect or religion [the papal] and its ministers, the most virulent anti-papist denizen of Schankill Road or Sandy Row." But it might be well to remind our Roman Catholic friends that all this occurred in Spain, Catholic Spain, so long loyal to the church, the home of the Inquisition. Alas, Spain is what Roman Catholicism has made her, and these persecutions are but the doings of Rome's own legitimate offspring!

General Articles

By Editor

In our department of General Articles will be found discussed matters of wide importance. Mrs. White writes on the increase of "Satanic Delusions;" P. T. Magan, on the character of the Church of England as shown by her persecutions; H. P. Holser gives an interesting sketch of the condition of things in Turkey and Egypt; G. W. Colcord has an important paper entitled "God and Caesar;" the origin of some of the "Institutions and Usages of the Catholic Church" is shown by I. E. Kimball; and Matthew Larsen proves that there will be a special message of reform to precede the coming of the Lord. Other shorter and important articles are given. This paper will be found one full of information for all. Read it and hand to your neighbor.

A COMBINATION OFFER FOR ALL.

By Editor

PROPHETIC LIGHTS. By E. J. WAGGONER. Prophecies of the Old and New Testament explained by the Bible and History. Finely Illustrated. Paper bound, 180 pages, 50c.

STEPS TO CHRIST. By MRS. E. G. WHITE. A wonderfully helpful book to the sinner who would find his Saviour, as well as to young and old in Christian experience who would know Christ better. Neatly bound in Cloth, 158 pages, 75c.

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Tuberculosis in Dairy Cows

By Editor

The Koch test (tuberculin) of tuberculosis proved that eight cows out of eleven of the herd at the Insane Asylum at Stockton, in this State, were afflicted with the dread disease which destroys one-seventh of all who die. Two of the cows, apparently in good health, were killed May 26. Says the Examiner: "They were of improved stock, and yielding large quantities of milk. The only sign of disease was the rise of temperature under Koch's test. Yet, when they were killed, they were found to be so far gone in tuberculosis that they were a dangerous source of infection. The fact that eight out of eleven cows of this fine herd are afflicted with an infectious disease of such terrible power must cause anxiety with regard to the dairy supplies throughout the State. The fearful prevalence of consumption, the disease that is responsible for one-fifth to one-seventh of the deaths in California, is doubtless due, in part, to the affected condition in the dairy herds." Certainly this condition of things demands that immediate and thorough methods be employed by our State, county, and municipal boards of health to see that our milk supply is pure. In fact, all milk ought to be sterilized.