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Signs of the Times, Vol. 8, No. 18.

General Articles

Signs of the Times

May 4, 1882

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · May 4, 1882

General Articles.

By Ellen G. White

Labor as a Blessing.

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
MANY look upon work as a curse, originating with the enemy of souls. This is a mistaken idea. God gave labor to man as a blessing, to occupy his mind, to strengthen his body, and to develop his faculties. Adam labored in the garden of Eden, and he found in mental and physical activity the highest pleasures of his holy existence. When he was driven from that beautiful home as the result of his disobedience, and was forced to struggle with a stubborn soil to gain his daily bread, that very labor was a relief to his sorrowing soul, a safeguard against temptation.
Judicious labor is indispensable both to the happiness and the prosperity of our race. It makes the feeble strong, the timid brave, the poor rich, and the wretched happy. Our varied trusts are proportioned to our various abilities, and God expects corresponding returns for the talents he has given to his servants. It is not the greatness of the talents possessed that determines the reward, but the manner in which they are used, — the degree of faithfulness with which the duties of life are performed, be they great or small.
Idleness is one of the greatest curses that can fall upon man; for vice and crime follow in its train. Satan lies in ambush, ready to surprise and destroy those who are unguarded, whose leisure gives him opportunity to insinuate himself into their favor, under some attractive disguise. He is never more successful than when he comes to men in their idle hours.
The greatest curse following in the train of wealth is the fashionable idea that work is degrading. "Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom; pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her, and in her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy." Here are presented before us, in the words of Holy Writ, the terrible results of idleness. It was this that caused the ruin of the cities of the plain. Idleness enfeebles the mind, debases the soul, and perverts the understanding, turning into a curse that which was given as a blessing.
The rich often consider themselves entitled to the pre-eminence among their fellow-men and in the favor of God. Many feel above honest labor, and look down with contempt upon their poorer neighbors. The children of the wealthy are taught that to be gentlemen and ladies they must dress fashionably, avoid all useful labor, and shun the society of the working classes. They dare not shock their fashionable associates by putting the gifts of God to a practical use.
Such ideas are wholly at variance with the divine purpose in the creation of man. What are the possessions of even the most wealthy, in comparison with the heritage given to the lordly Adam? Yet Adam was not to be idle. An all-wise Creator understands what is for man's happiness; and this is why he gave to Adam his appointed work.
The Son of God honored labor. Though he was the Majesty of Heaven, he chose his earthly home among the poor and lowly, and worked for his daily bread in the humble carpenter shop of Joseph. Christ is our example. He came to earth to teach us how to live. Does it require too great humiliation for us to follow where the King of glory has led the way?
Misguided parents are trying to improve upon God's plan. Many send their children away from home influences and home duties, to some boarding-school or college, to obtain an education. There, deprived of parental care, the youth squander precious hours in novel reading, in frivolous amusements, or in studying the adornment of the person, that they may outrival their companions. For such pursuits, their duties to their fellow-beings and to God are neglected.
This false education leads young ladies to regard uselessness, frivolity, and helplessness as proofs of gentility. Fashionable butterflies, they have nothing to do for the good of others, at home or abroad. Here may be found the secret of many of the unhappy marriages and flirtations ending in shame, that curse our world to-day.
Those who are in the possession of wealth and leisure, and yet have no purpose in life, have nothing to arouse them to either mental or physical activity. Thus many a woman loses her health, and is sent to some medical institution for treatment. Here attendants are hired, at great expense, to rub, stretch, and exercise the muscles, which have become powerless by inaction. She hires servants, that she may live a life of idleness, and then hires other servants to exercise the muscles enfeebled by disuse. What consummate folly! How much wiser and better for women, young or old, to brave the sneers of fashion's votaries, and obey the dictates of common sense and the laws of life. By the cheerful performance of domestic duties, they might become useful and happy members of society. Such labor affords a more efficient and profitable "movement cure" than the best inventions of the physicians.
Young men, as well as young women, manifest a sad lack of earnest purpose and moral independence. To dress, to smoke, to talk nonsense, and to indulge their passion for amusement, is the ideal of happiness, even with many who profess to be Christians. It is painful to think of the time which is thus misspent. Hours that should be given to the study of the Scriptures or to active labor for Christ are worse than wasted.
Life was given for a true and holy purpose. It is too precious to be thus squandered. I entreat those who have taken the name of Christ to examine their own hearts, and pass sentence upon themselves. Do you not love pleasure more than you love God or your fellow-men?
There is work to be done. There is the mind, with all its capabilities, to strengthen and store with the treasures of divine wisdom. There are souls to save. There is a Heaven to win. There are battles to fight. You may come to the front and join in the warfare against the hosts of evil. In the strength of God you may do a good and noble work for the Master.
God designed that all should be workers, and upon those whose opportunities and abilities are greatest, rest the heaviest responsibilities. Upon them, also, will fall the heaviest condemnation if they are unfaithful to their trust. The patient beasts of burden put to shame that indolent do-nothing, who, endowed with reasoning powers and a knowledge of the divine will, refuses to perform his allotted part in God's great plan.
The indolence of the many, occasions the over-work of the few. A large class refuse to think or act for themselves. They have no disposition to step out of the old ruts of prejudice and error; by their perversity they block up the way of advancement, and force the standard-bearers of the right to more heroic efforts in their march forward. Earnest and devoted laborers are failing for the want of a helping hand, and are sinking beneath their double burdens. Their graves are waymarks along the upward paths of reform.
The true glory and joy of life are found only by the working man and woman. Labor brings its own reward, and the rest is sweet that is purchased by the fatigue of a well-spent day. But there is a self-imposed toil which is utterly unsatisfying and injurious. It is that which gratifies unsanctified ambition, that which seeks display or notoriety. The love of appearance or possession leads thousands to carry to excess what is lawful, to devote all the strength of mind and body to that which should occupy but a small portion of their time. They bend every energy to the acquisition of wealth or honor; they make all other objects secondary to this; they toil unflinchingly for years to accomplish their purpose; yet when the goal is reached, and the coveted reward secured, it turns to ashes in their grasp; it is a shadow, a delusion. They have given their life for that which profiteth not.
Yet all the lawful pursuits of life may be safely followed, if the spirit is kept free from selfish hopes and the contamination of deceit and envy. The business life of the Christian should be marked with the same purity that held sway in the work shop of the holy Nazarene. It is the working men and women — those who are willing to bear its responsibilities with faith and hope — who see something great and good in life.
Patient laborers, remember that they were sturdy working men whom Christ chose from among the fishermen of Galilee and the tent-makers of Corinth, to labor with him in the work of salvation. From these humble men went forth a power that will be felt through all eternity.
The angels are workers; they are ministers of God to the children of men. Those slothful spirits who look forward to a Heaven of inaction will be disappointed; for the Creator has prepared no such place for the gratification of sinful indolence. But to the weary and heavy-laden, rest is promised. It is the faithful servants who are welcomed from their labors unto the joy of their Lord. Gladly will they lay off their armor, and forget the noise of battle in the peace that shall be the inheritance of the saints.
The path of the Christian laborer may be hard and narrow, but it is honored by the foot-prints of the Redeemer, and he is safe who follows in that sacred way.

YOUR WORK.

THE low-turf grass is not a stately tree, Nor yet a lovely and all-fragrant rose; It yields no nectar to the grateful bee, Nor fashions for their transit o'er the sea The hearts of oak revered by friends and foes.
But think of it as lightly as you will, Passing it over in your careless tread, It has its own peculiar place to fill; And humble as its work appeareth, still Nor oak, nor rose, could do that work instead.
So, fellow-Christian, through life's transient day, There is a special work marked out for you; It may be of the lowliest kind, it may Be such as shall the loftiest powers display; But none beside yourself your work can do.
Then bend in meekness at your Saviour's throne, And seek to learn the purpose of his grace; Ask Him who has so oft your duty shown, To point you out the work that is your own, And tell you where to find your proper place.
"What wilt thou have me do?" With single eye To your Redeemer's glory, work for him; Illumined every moment from on high, Strive in each action God to glorify, Nor let one thought of self life's radiance dim.
Work, work, nor covet an ignoble rest; Allow no sloth thy spirit to beguile. Those love the Saviour most who serve him best; And he who blesses others, shall be blessed With the full sunshine of his Saviour's smile.

Wealth Gathered by Labor

"WEALTH gotten by vanity shall be diminished; but he that gathereth by labor shall increase."

The Law of God.

By Editor

LAST week we referred to principles as applied to man in the earliest ages, concerning his amenability to law. We now refer to some facts proving that from the beginning man had a knowledge of the law of God. We shall find that the evidence corresponds to the reasoning of Paul in his letter to the Romans, and vindicates the judgments of God on the evil-doers of the first generations.
1. When God spake from Sinai, he first commanded, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." This commandment not only forbids the holding of gods in preference to him, but also having them before him or in his presence: this would exclude the worship of false gods from all parts of the universe, all parts being present, or "naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." In considering this commandment, we can appreciate the remark of the psalmist, "Thy commandment is exceeding broad." Ps. 119:96. As every individual is continually a transgressor who does not love God with all his heart, and has not chosen him as his chief good, every object of his pursuit is an idol preferred to God, whom he has rejected.
When Abraham's servant came to the house of Laban, he said, Come in, thou blessed of the Lord. Gen. 24:31. Afterward, when Jacob had served his appointed time for his wives, and desired to return to his own country, Laban requested him to remain because he had learned by experience that the Lord had blessed him for Jacob's sake. Chap. 30:27. Notwithstanding this acknowledgement of the true God, and that blessings proceeded from him, we find that he transgressed the first of God's commandments, and had other gods. When Jacob fled from Laban, he pursued him, but God appeared to Laban, and warned him not to touch Jacob; yet immediately after God had thus manifested himself to him, he accused Jacob of having stolen his gods. Jacob denied the charge, and said, with whomsoever thou find-est thy gods let him not live. Chap. 31:24, 29, 30, 32. When the two sons of Jacob had slain the Shechemites, Jacob was told to go to Bethel and build an altar unto God, who appeared unto him. And Jacob said to his household, and to all that were with him, "Put away the strange gods that are among you and be clean. . . and I will make an altar unto God who answered me in the day of my distress. Chap. 35:1-4. Here it is not only evident that the first commandment was broken, but they understood that they were unclean in the sight of God, and not fit to approach the altar of God, while the strange gods were among them.
2. Idolatry is manifested in various ways, and the gods anciently worshiped were of various kinds; while some worshiped the sun and the host of heaven (Deut. 4:19; 17:3), others made to themselves images "fashioned with a graving tool." Ex. 32:4; Isa. 40:19, 20. Against this latter practice the second commandment was given: "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image . . . thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them." The gods that Laban had were of this kind: "And Laban went to shear his sheep, and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father's." Gen. 31:19, 34, 35. The gods also that Jacob required his household to put away, were "among them, and in their hands." Chap. 35:1-5.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. No mention is made of this commandment or its transgression in the book of Genesis.
We will further notice this in connection with the fourth commandment, which we pass for the present.
5. Honor thy father and thy mother. There is no express mention of this precept in the book of Genesis. Ham was cursed for dishonoring his father. Gen. 9:21-25. Here we may properly apply the rule quoted from Paul, found in Rom. 5:13.
6. Thou shalt not kill. Whatever excuses may have been framed for others on the ground of ignorance, Cain has been universally considered a murderer. God dealt with him as a transgressor of a known law; and an inspired writer has declared that he was "of the wicked one, and his works were evil." 1 John 3:12. Lamech transgressed the same commandment, and judged himself more guilty than Cain. Gen. 4:8-11, 23, 24. God made known to Noah his disapprobation of this sin. Chap. 9:5, 6. Beyond this it might be urged that the principle of self-preservation would lead to human enactments, as safeguards for human life, and that mere regard for such laws deterred from the commission of this crime; but this reasoning will not hold good in the case of the Hebrew midwives, recorded in Ex. 1:16, 17. Here the command was to kill all the male children; but the midwives would not obey this human law, for "they feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them." Then they must have known that the law of man was contrary to the law of God. Though we have no formal giving of the law recorded in the history of Genesis, we have, as above, the most positive evidence that it was given and well known before it was spoken on Sinai.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Numerous passages in the book of Genesis show that this was known to be sinful by mankind in general. When Abraham denied his wife, and she was taken by the king of Gerar, the Lord suffered him not to touch her, and Abimelech said he had taken her in the integrity of his heart and innocency of his hands; and plead that Abraham had told him she was his sister; showing that he knew before that it would have been sinful to take another man's wife; and he said to Abraham, "thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin." Gen. 20:5-9; 12:12, 13, 18, 19; 26:6-10. When Judah was made acquainted with the trespass of Tamar in this respect, he said, "Bring her forth and let her be burnt." Chap. 38:24. In the absence of any revelation on this subject, it truly might be regarded as a singular fact that Judah had the same idea of the desert of this crime that the Lord revealed to Moses more than two centuries afterwards. See Lev. 21:9. Abimelech, king of Gerar, also took the wife of Isaac, supposing her to be his sister, and afterward said to Isaac, "One of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us." Chap. 26:9, 10. Positive testimony is afforded on this point by the case of Joseph. Refusing to comply with the immodest request of his mistress, he said, "How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" Chap. 39:7-9.
8. Thou shalt not steal. By reference to Gen. 30:33, it will be seen that Jacob and Laban understood the matter of this commandment. Laban reproved Jacob for stealing his gods. Chap. 31:19, 30.
Now Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them, and gave sentence that whosoever the gods were found with should not live. Verse 32; see also verse 39. When Joseph's messenger accused his brethren of having stolen his silver cup, they declared their honesty in that they had brought again the money which they had found in their sacks' mouths, and said, "How then should we steal out of our lord's house silver or gold?" They made the same decision in this case that their father had made before them, namely: "With whomsoever of thy servants it be found, both let him die and we also will be my lord's bondsmen." Chap. 44:4-9.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Nothing positive can be found in the book of Genesis relative to this particular commandment, but Joseph was wickedly imprisoned because his mistress bore false witness against him. Gen. 39:7-20.
10. Thou shalt not covet. The transgression of this commandment is also rather implied than plainly brought to view; but the fact that the transgression of the tenth must precede the violation of the eighth, and that the eighth was known and its violation considered worthy of death, is sufficient evidence on this point for the present, as we intend to offer proof that the whole ten were known and observed before the days of Moses.
EDITOR.

Some Things Not to Be Done.

By J. L.

Don't make long prayers! Why? 1. Because "God is in Heaven, and thou upon earth; therefore let thy words be few." 2. Because "your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him." 3. Because short ones are better adapted to your wants; such as, "God be merciful to me a sinner;" "Save, Lord, or I perish;" "Take not thy Holy Spirit from me;" "Restore unto me the joys of thy salvation;" "Create in me a clean heart," etc. When these, with many others equally brief, come welling up from the heart as you go about your daily avocations, you will have learned the import of the admonition, "Pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks."
Don't use big words. Doubtless "our Father" is omniscient, omnipresent, and almighty, but it is not necessary that you should remind him of it every time you pray. Time is short, your wants pressing; and, besides, to say from a full heart, as Jesus did, "Our Father," will bring you nearer his great heart than all the grandiloquent phrases ever invented.
Don't pray in public merely because it is popular to do so. If you don't want anything for yourself, or anybody else, keep still, and commune with your own heart. It may be that while you muse the fire will burn, and you will think of a few things that are really wanted. Should this be the case, ask for them in the plainest, simplest language you can command, and believe that ye receive them.
Don't undertake to pray with the widow and fatherless, when they are cold and hungry, and you have the ability to supply their need. That would be labor lost. Take a load of wood and a big basket of good food with you, and when the room is well warmed and the hungry ones fed, it will be just in place to return thanks to Him who cares for the destitute and afflicted, and sends his angels to their relief. If the poor one who said, "I would be an angel," had been content to do without wings, and run on errands for the Lord, the wish could have been realized.
Don't offer any lackadaisical prayers for the afflicted, and expect the angel Gabriel to be sent from Heaven with a lot of second-hand clothing to answer them, or that he will slyly roll a barrel of flour into the houses of the poor. That isn't the way such things are managed. If you really pray for that poor, rheumatic, old saint, that stays in the cold, damp hut yonder, you would better have a good warm blanket or two rolled up all ready, for the good Father may want to answer your prayer immediately, and perhaps send just such an angel as you are with the answer. If you pray for that poor old man that stands shivering at the side of his little peanut stand, you had better have that old coat that hangs in the clothes press brought down, and if it is not already "moth-eaten," put in order for immediate use; it may be that the good Father will want to answer your prayer on the instant, and if he does, don't refuse to be an angel when you have so good a chance. Just say to the old man, "The Lord sent it to you, because he careth for you."
If you pray that the Lord will send out his light and truth, you better have your affairs so arranged that you can leave at short notice. The King's business may require haste. If you are not called to go, a good, round subscription ready for somebody that is. The good Father may want to send out his truth immediately.
If you pray for the prosperity of the church in your place, and that "the Word" may have free course, don't pray so long that you can't get to meeting in good season, but hasten to answer your own prayer, in part, by being promptly at your post, to stay up the hands of the preacher and comfort the brethren by your presence, your words, and your acts. It may cost you something to pray in this manner, it generally does to get telegrams to and from far-off stations. Nevertheless, you will be getting richer all the time.
If you pray for the prosperity of the papers that publish the glad tidings, it will be well to see that your subscription is fully paid up, and in addition, have a "money order" ready to send. Our Father sometimes works by means, and it may be that he will want you to assist in this matter.
If, in seeming sympathy with our Lord, you pray that his people may be one, don'timmediately out and give the cold shoulder to some dear brother or sister because they don't happen to see things just as you do; it will look as though you didn't mean it when you prayed. It may be that they have not had time and opportunity to get as much light as you have. Be patient, the world was not made in a day. You may both get into the true light together sometime. Your differences of opinion don't give to the world any positive evidence of your discipleship in Christ, but your love for each other does. Let us, then, dear brethren and sisters, live and act in accord with the prayers we offer, so will the blessing of the good Lord rest upon us, and we shall be his children in deed and in truth.—J. L., in Bible Banner.

Guard Against Little Deceptions

OFTTIMES the first intimation that a person has of his decline from piety and virtue, is the sudden realization that he is slipping into the practice of little deceptions and petty hypocrisies. He has lost something of his former candor and truthfulness; he is no longer promptly loyal to his conscience, but engages frequently in argument with his own heart, striving to make to himself the worse appear the better reason. He is in peril, and has need to be greatly alarmed. "Set a double guard on that point, to-night!" cried an officer, when an attack was anticipated.—Sel.

"Never Forsaken."

By J. A. Merrill

HAVE you ever noticed that in Hebrews 13:5, there are five negatives piled one right on top of another, to confirm the immutable declaration of God to his children--I will never, no never leave, nor ever forsake, thee? That he will never fail us in the performance of whatever he has promised us? "The Lord is not slack," says St. Peter, "concerning his promises." What a storehouse this is from which we can draw the most abundant provision to satisfy our spiritual cravings! How the star-like promise gleams brighter amid all the galaxy of promises in the immeasurable truths of God's eternal words, to those in the vale of sorrow! How priceless! How comprehensive! What an assurance of help when help may be needed! He is always with us. Be the sky ever so black, or be the sky ever so sunshiny, he is beside us just the same. When the troubles and annoyances of life come, he is with us. When physical courage seems about to fail, we hear him say, "I will not forsake thee. Let not your heart be troubled." When the cup of sorrow is brimful, and all earthly helps appear as weak as nothing, hear him, "I will not forsake thee." When the friendships of this world fly away from us as thistle-down when struck with a rod, "I am a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. I will never leave thee." When the death-shadow creeps over the face of our beloved, this is what will sustain us, "I am with thee. Lean you upon me." When the devil, through dark, hidden temptation, would make shipwrecks of our immortal souls, "I have prayed for thee. I will never, no never forget thee." When, like Hopeful, in Bunyan's allegory, we wander into By-Path Meadow, and grim, old surly-voiced Giant Despair throws us into Doubting Castle, He gives us this key that will unlock every dungeon door, "Lo! I am with you always."
Oh! then, in every adversity, in every little grief, in every stinging temptation with the great adversary of souls, hear ye the clarion tones of the Master, ringing out high and beyond all this confusion in spiritual life, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." "Be of good courage." "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." How the foamy crests of these huge waves of fear and trouble that were about to overwhelm us, as we supposed, will then calm down and seem but like the faintest rippling of celestial melody. "I, even I, 'have loved thee with an everlasting love.'" In life, at death, and forever God is with us. Let us, then, be faithful, earnest, prayerful, truthful, upon our part. "For if God is for us, who can be against us?" Let us learn eagerly every lesson in this school of probation. The time is short at the longest. As Rutherford saith, "Faint not, for the miles to Heaven are few and short." Rejoice and be glad. God knows what is best. We will understand it all when we get home.
Then be content, poor heart! God's plans, like lilies pure and white, unfold; We must not tear the close-shut leaves apart, Time will reveal the calyxes of gold; And if through patient toil, we reach the land Where tired feet with sandals loosed may rest, Where we shall clearly know and understand, I think that we will say, "God knew the best."
-J. A. Merrill, in Christian at Work.

Inconsistency of Fashionable Society.

THE San Francisco correspondent of the Mendocino Beacon occasionally gives that thing called “society” some hard but well-deserved hits. In a recent article he gives the following account of an outrage that is so common that it rarely excites comment:—
“At an evening party lately I was very much interested in watching a gentleman quite popular among the fashionable circles of this city. He occupies an important position—a foreigner by birth and education, and a gentleman not at all prepossessing in feature. Yet a nominal title and the possession of a fine income has given him a passport to our best circles. I heard of him at the Palace banquet given to Sargent; I have met him in parlor and hall. I know of his being a familiar friend at one of our most select schools. He is admired by young misses, to whom he is ever partial. And yet I know of this man, so courted and flattered, allowed the most familiar intimacy with young ladies, and introduced with great gusto here, there and everywhere—I know of his being at the Bella Union theater lately; this is one of our variety places of amusement, and frequented only by men. Yet this man was there in a box, attended by females, and visited by the ladies from the stage; champagne flowed freely, and laughter rolled out thick and fast from the half-drawn curtains. And as I watched this man, now surrounded by the purest of young misses, I could but wonder at society's strange reasoning. Here was a man, metaphorically speaking, hand in hand with two women—one good, beautiful, virtuous, the other abandoned to
sin. Both could hang upon his words; but an impenetrable gulf divided the two females. He could go with either, and the world took no note of it. From the stage box of a low, cheap theater, he could enter the parlors of our richest and best and mingled with our fairest daughters. Society gives him this right; but the other sex is not allowed such lee-way. Oh, no; a woman could not so conduct herself. The old story! But has society the right to be so partial, so invidious? Who gave it the right, and how will it be judged hereafter? I question this drawing two such distinctions. I cannot reconcile my ideas of right with San Francisco interpretation of the same virtue.
“A man may stoop to any crime, or sin, and his wife is powerless to resist. She must suffer, bear and forbear; but if she steps one side he, in his anger, kills her—he, the stronger; she, the weaker. In other places, they used to kill the third party, but not so here; the women alone have to suffer, while the men may clasp hands across the murdered body. Such crimes as this city has witnessed, and allowed to go unpunished, are enough to make her soil cursed, even to the burial of the dead.”

How to Preach.

MAKE no apologies. If you have the Lord’s message, deliver it; if not, hold your peace. Have short prefaces and introductions. Say your best things first, and stop before you get prosy. Do not spoil the appetite for dinner by too much thin soup. Leave self out of the pulpit and take Jesus in. Defend the gospel, and let the Lord defend you and your character.
Do not scold the people. Do not abuse the faithful souls who come to meeting rainy days, because of the others who do not come. Preach the best to smallest assemblies. Jesus preached to one woman at the well, and she got all Samaria out to hear him next time. Ventilate your meeting-room. Sleeping in church is due to bad air oftener than to bad manners. Do not repeat, saying, “as I said before.” If you said it before, say something else after. Leave out words you cannot define. Stop your declamation, and talk to folks. Come down from stilted and sacred tones and become a little child. Change the subject if it goes hard. Do not tire yourself and every one else out. Do not preach till the middle of your sermon buries the beginning and is buried by the end. Look people in the face, and live so that you are not afraid of them. Aim at the mark. Hit it. Stop and see where the shot struck, and then fire another broadside. Pack your sermons. Make your words like bullets. A board hurts a man worse if it strikes him edgewise.—Selected.

Bashfulness or Conceit.

By Editor

A PHYSICIAN claims that in a preparation of cocoa he has discovered a cure for bashfulness. It appears to us that the doctor has been wrongly directing his energies. What he should find out is a remedy for self-conceit. Bashfulness is an affliction that troubles no one but the individual who suffers from it—an inordinate self-conceit troubles every one but the individual who is made happy by it. Bashful men never ask for the privilege of addressing the Sunday-school—it is your self-approving men that insist on speaking “a few words” to the children, no matter how importune the request may be. Diffident people never bore anybody with long talks about themselves—self-opinionated persons never talk about anything else. Any one would rather have the task of calling out the thoughts of a retiring sort of man, than be bored out by self-praise of a forward fellow. It would be one of the greatest calamities that yet has happened to the world to have a sure cure for bashfulness, and, so, have none but the bumptious sort. If the remedy has been found, we trust that the secret will perish. We would rather bear with our own diffidence a while longer than to have the number of bores increased. We do not like the prayer of the old Scotchman who always asked the Lord to give him “a good consate of himself.”—S. S. Teacher.

Slang.

By Christian Union

It is almost impossible to have a profitable and reasonable conversation where persons have become struck through with the dry rot of slang, although it is not a thing to fight which one should put on the whole armor. It is like mosquitoes on a summer night, that are not lion-like, but that are annoying. It is vexatious to all those who love purity and simplicity of language, and not language adulterated with poisons of base material. While I would not turn a person out of the church because he used slang, yet, as an educator, as a pastor of young men and women, I would say that this is a habit very easy to acquire, very hard to cure, and very mischievous, disintegrating life, and disintegrating conversation which ought to be made musical as well as instructive. There is another style of idle words which is far more reprehensible than this. I mean vulgar and obscene speech. We must not suppose that this belongs to the sinks of vice, and to criminals. I have known persons corrupt in morals and manners whose conversation was very far from vulgar; and I have known persons of eminent moral worth whose conversation was seasoned with vulgarity—vulgar wit. It is unfortunate that there should be so much wit that is "broad," as it is called, which also is filthy, and that is fascinating to persons in whom the sense of wit is very acute and strong, flowing just under the surface of society among men.
Certainly there is a play of wit that leaves the smutty touch of the devil's finger on the surface of the disposition and the heart. Coarse allusions, double entendre—I cannot describe it; but human life is full of filth, of vulgarity, and of obscenity. A man may fall into it unintentionally; a man may be thrown into company in which he does not wish to seem like a Puritan; a man may be ashamed to be supposed to be absolutely pure and unapproachable by vulgar ideas; a man may wish to hear, to learn, to carry and to repeat long lines of incidents or of stories that should have gone into the filth pit. Every man, and, if it were possible to imagine that woman could indulge in anything so debasing, every woman should, by all the allegiance that they owe to the God of purity, and to the Lord Jesus Christ, avoid, or having fallen into it, should remedy that whole province of idle words, which revolves around an essential animalism.—Christian Union.

A SCARCITY OF WATER.

In Venice, water is something of a luxury, as the inhabitants have to depend upon the rains for its supply. There is no water company for supplying the city. That for drinking and domestic uses is collected in subterranean reservoirs, where it is said to be filtered. Let those believe it who can. The water is doled out at the public wells of the city, which are open one hour daily for that purpose, and then as carefully locked up. Notwithstanding this apparent scarcity of the fluid, a glass of water always accompanies a cup of coffee. The custom is to drink the coffee and then swallow the water. Which is the antidote of the other?

Abstain from All Appearance of Evil

"ABSTAIN from all appearance of evil."
Continue reading: Thoughts on Daniel—Chapter XI