TRUE temperance is temperance in all things. To be temperate in one thing and intemperate in others is not temperance at all. This will be the more readily seen when it is understood, as it always ought to be, that temperance is self-control. Whatsoever it may be in which a person has not the control, the mastery, of himself, just so far he is intemperate. Thus it will be seen at a glance that the practice of temperance is not completed when a person has only renounced the use of strong drink. A person may never have touched a drop of spirituous or of malt liquors, yet at the same time he may be intemperate in many ways. In many things he may not have control of himself.
Some there are, yes, a multitude, who have not control of their temper. They are as quick-tempered as a flash. In this respect they have hardly any control of themselves at all. They are intemperate. Others there are by the thousands who are ruled by their passions. Such was Felix, before whom and with whom Paul reasoned of righteousness, self-control, and judgment to come. Such are intemperate. Others again are ruled by their appetites—things which in themselves are perfectly lawful, but by which thousands of people allow themselves to be controlled, instead of assuming the mastery themselves, and acting with self-control. These are intemperate. Others yet again allow the desire of gain to rule, and to drive them onward into many foolish and hurtful things. All such are intemperate.
So it is in all things, in every phase of life. Instead of ruling themselves they allow themselves to be ruled by some wicked, sinful thing. One is controlled by strong drink, another is controlled by impure thoughts and lustful desires, another by a gluttonous appetite, and so on through the long list of human frailties. All are intemperate. Each one lacks something of that self-control which he owes himself, in filling the place of a real manly man, or womanly woman, in the world. No one of us has much in which he can boast himself over his fellow-mortals.
"Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth," saith the Lord. Rom. 14:22. It is perfectly allowable to eat and to drink. How could any live without it? But the human race from the first pair onward through the world's history has condemned itself in that thing which in itself is one of God's good gifts to men. God created men and women in the world together. He himself established the marriage relation and surrounded it with his own holy sanctions. He created men and women with social qualities, capable of enjoying and mutually profiting by the social relation with the sanctions which he established. But for men and women to condemn themselves in these relations, which in themselves are perfectly allowable, has been not the least of the banes of human existence. The Lord directs that men shall be diligent in business, and prosperity is the inevitable result of such a course. But instead of holding the course with an even hand under God, men allow prosperity to lead them into the love of it for its own sake, and so condemn themselves in the thing which in itself is not only strictly allowable, but highly commendable. In all these things we must needs keep ourselves the subjects of our own control, or else we shall always be what we always have been, and that is, very slaves sold to serve under the arbitrary and cruel mastery of a perverted appetite or an unholy ambition.
It is for this cause that in the Scriptures we are so often exhorted to the practice of self-control, that is, temperance. Does the great apostle tell of "the faith in Christ"? He does it by reasoning of "righteousness, temperance [self-control], and judgment to come." Acts 24:24, 25. Does he call men to a race for the heavenly crown? He lays down the one great rule of the contest, "every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things." 1 Cor. 9:24, 25. Does he give directions as to who shall be intrusted with the care of the flock of God? One of the necessary qualifications is that he shall be "temperate." Titus 1:8. Does he enumerate for us the fruits of the Spirit of God? One of these precious fruits is "temperance." Gal. 5:23. Does Peter show us how we shall obtain an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ? It is by adding to "faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance," etc. 2 Peter 1:5, 6, 11. Does Jesus himself tell us who shall be his follower? He says: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself [control himself, master himself], and take up his cross daily, and follow me." Luke 9:23.
This is true temperance. Without it man is not himself. Without it he is not the whole man that God wants him to be, and which he must be to enjoy the full, symmetrical measure of all his powers.
It follows from this that if a man will be master of himself in all things, he must have the full use of his own will. Paul simply expressed the experience of the human race when he said, "To will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not." Rom. 7:18. Every man is ready to, and does, will to do certain things, but he cannot hold himself up to the height of his will. He resolves to do many things, but cannot hold himself to his resolution. To will to do better is ever present with every man, but they do not do better. How to perform that which their own better judgment, and their honest convictions, tell them is the right thing to do, is what they do not find.
The sole trouble about all this failure is that men have not the full use of their own will. Evil habits and intemperate practices destroy the will; they render impotent the power to perform that to which the mind readily assents as being right and proper. To convince men of what is right is ever the easiest task of the reformer, while the hardest task is always to bring them up to the place where they will do that which they know to be right. With temperance workers it is not at all difficult to convince men that the use of alcoholic drinks is injurious, and that the only right thing to do is to let it entirely alone; but the great task is to get them to let it entirely and forever alone. It is not at all difficult to convince men that the use of tobacco is only injurious and that continually, without one redeeming quality; but it is the hardest kind of a task to get them to quit it, even when they themselves confess that they ought to quit it. It is so also with the man or woman who uses opium or arsenic or morphine, or who is addicted to any wrong habit whatever.
And yet all are ready to say, "Oh, I could quit it if I only would!" Yes, that is true, but they don't. As one old gentleman expressed it, who had been an inveterate user of tobacco, and had at last really quit: "I always said I could quit it if I would, but I couldn't would." In that single expression there lies couched whole volumes of philosophy. Men can quit evil habits if they will, but they can't will. Men can do right if they only will, but they can't will. They can say "I will," but they can't do "I will." This truth was excellently illustrated in an article in the sanitary columns of the New York Independent, a few years ago. In discussing the subject of "Stimulants and Narcotics as Related to Health," the writer referred to those who have become enslaved by the use of these things, and then remarked:—
"If ever we have seen sadness in this world, it is in the case of those who are conscious of this enthralling enchantment and yet feel unable to extricate themselves from the wiles of the adversary... We do not believe anything has happened to us over and above the experience of most practitioners; yet we almost shudder to recall instance after instance where life has been burdened with this direful deceit, and whole families involved in the secret malady. The remedies are few unless the evil itself is rallied to a high determination, and then for a time fortified and affiliated with another will stronger than itself."
This is true. And whether the remedies be many or few, this is the only one that is sure. But it is also true that with no human will can any will be fortified or affiliated in any adequate degree whatever. A stronger human will may be found, and by it the weak will may be fortified in a certain sense by personal encouragement and watchful influence, and this only while that stronger will is present. But even then there can be no affiliation of wills so that the weaker will shall be really vitalized from the energy of the stronger. That is an impossible relationship between human wills. Under such circumstances the most that can possibly be done is that the weaker will shall be encouraged and guarded by the stronger until it shall of itself recover its wasted energies. But that is not enough, by far, and therefore such a remedy can never be certain in its results.
Far more than that is required if the wasted energies of the will are ever to be restored. As we have stated, what is required is that the stronger will shall be one that can be ever present, and which, at the same time, can be so affiliated with the weakened will that the weaker shall be actually vitalized and renewed by the very energy itself imparted from the stronger. It is evident that such a remedy would prove effectual and permanent. And there is such an one offered willingly to every enthralled soul. It is found alone in the will of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a will with which by faith every weakened and enthralled will on earth may be fortified and affiliated, and that to such a degree that whereas it was a struggling, despairing victim, it may be transformed and translated into the glorious liberty of a conqueror, to such a degree that whereas the enthralled soul could only cry, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" he may freely and gladly exclaim, "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." And then, and so, God, in Christ, "worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure." Jesus is the great Physician, who will supply strength for every weakness, a remedy for every ill, freedom to every slave, and victory to every warrior. Through Jesus Christ alone every man may become master of himself, and so, alone, can we be temperate in all things.
But out of Christ none can attain to it. Christ filled the measure of every perfection. He did it as a man, that in him man might do it. Out of Christ man is not himself, as he ought to be, nor as God wants him to be; he is handicapped with the weight746of his own wrong tendencies, entailed upon him, or acquired by him, and of himself he cannot rise to the complete dignity of a man. But in Christ his lapsed powers are restored, he recovers the strength that he must have to control himself completely. In Christ, and in him alone, can man surely acquire the mastery of himself, and so succeed in the practice of true temperance—self-control. Then he will be his own free man and Christ's servant forever.
A.
THE HUGUENOT GALLEY-SLAVES.
THE French galleys were vessels usually a hundred and fifty feet long and forty wide. They were employed to guard the coasts, and sometimes to attack English cruisers that approached the shore. Along each side of the galley ran a bench or seat, to which the slaves were fastened by an iron chain around one leg, and of sufficient length to allow them to sleep on the deck beneath. Here they remained night and day, exposed to the torrid heat or the winter's cold, half fed, and urged on by blows and imprecations in the painful task of pulling the heavy oars. In these floating dungeons, surrounded by convicts and criminals of the deepest guilt, the pure and gentle Huguenots sometimes continued for ten or twenty years, chained to the bench, or often died of exposure or the enemy's shot, and were flung ignominiously into the sea. Old men of seventy years or boys of fifteen or sixteen soon yielded to the fearful toil; but others, more vigorous and mature, endured long years of torture, and were at last released at the instance of the Protestant powers. The captains of the galleys usually treated their galley-slaves with barbarous severity. They scourged their bare backs to make them row with speed; they threw them on the deck, and had them beaten for trivial faults. Emaciated, faint, and feeble, the poor slave often sunk beneath the blows and died, happy to escape from the intolerable torments inflicted by the stately and gracious Louis.
But the most unsparing of their tormentors was usually the chaplain or priest of the galley. He was almost always a Jesuit. The disciples of Loyola were thought peculiarly fitted for this unattractive task. It seems to have been the duty of the chaplain to see that the Huguenots were not spared in any one of their sufferings, and to strive to induce them to recant by incessant cruelty and blows. Yet such was the wonderful constancy of these faithful martyrs that they chose rather all the pains of their sad condition than to accept an idolatrous mass. With one word of recantation, they were offered a release from all their sufferings; with one feigned submission, they might have been free. No promises moved them from their resolution; no artful insinuations could deceive them into insincerity. "You must know," said Father Garcin, a priest, to the maimed and bleeding Marteilhe, who has left an account of his imprisonment—"you must perceive that the church has no share in this matter. You are punished for disobedience to the king." "But suppose," he replied, "we wish for time to reflect, could we not be set free?" "By no means," said the priest; "you shall never leave the galleys until you recant." And he ordered their torments to be redoubled. It was the church that instigated the barbarity of the king.
In the galleys might be seen for many years a sacred company of the purest, the most refined, and the most intelligent of the French. The men who might have saved and reformed the nation were chained, in horrible torture, amidst robbers and assassins. Marolles, once counselor to the king, by the express order of Louis, was secured by a heavy chain around his neck, and compiled his "Discourse on Providence" while fastened to the oar. Huber, father of three illustrious sons, was also a galley-slave. The Baron De Caumont, at the age of seventy, labored with the rest. But few ministers of the reformed faith were found among the number, since, if captured, they were usually put to death. More than a thousand Huguenots appear on the list of galley-slaves, and it is believed that the real number has never been told.—Historical Studies.
The Missionary.
By R. F. Barton, Geo. W. Page
HURON, ATCHISON COUNTY, KANSAS.
We have been here a little over two months, and as the result of our work have about thirty keeping the Sabbath. Some of these were in infidelity when the meetings began, but show evidence now of true conversion to God. We have sold some $60 worth of books, and taken five names for Review and Sickle.
R. F. BARTON,
GEO. W. PAGE.
November 27, 1887.
HOT WATER.
Hall's Journal of Health publishes some interesting hints relative to hot water as a remedial agent. It says:—
"A strip of flannel or a napkin folded lengthwise and dipped in hot water and wrung, and then applied around the neck of a child that has the croup, will usually bring relief in ten minutes.
"A towel folded several times and dipped in hot water and quickly wrung and applied over the seat of toothache or neuralgia, will generally afford prompt relief. This treatment in colic works almost like magic. I have seen cases that have resisted other treatment yield to this in ten minutes. There is nothing which will so promptly cut short a congestion of the lungs, sore throat, or rheumatism as hot water when applied promptly and thoroughly.
"Pieces of cotton dipped in hot water and kept applied to old sores or new cuts, bruises, or sprains, is the treatment now generally adopted in hospitals. I have seen a sprained ankle cured in an hour by showering it with hot water from a height of three feet.
"Tepid water acts promptly as an emetic, and hot water taken freely half an hour before bed-time is the best of cathartics in the case of constipation, while it has a most soothing effect on the stomach and bowels. This treatment continued for a few months, with proper attention to diet, will cure any case of dyspepsia.
"Headache almost always yields to the simultaneous application of hot water to the feet and the back of the neck."
Too much can scarcely be said in favor of the use of hot water as a cure for dyspepsia. But care must be taken not to drink more than a few sips of either hot or cold water while there is undigested food in the stomach; and no food should be eaten within less than an hour after drinking any considerable quantity of water. Care in these particulars is especially necessary in cases of slow digestion. One fact should be borne in mind, namely, that there is no remedy which will avail much in dyspepsia unless the patient eats hygienically.
A LESSON FOR MOTHERS.
By Belle V. Chisholm
Mrs. Hubbard is the wife of a poor mechanic, who occupies one of the little cottages built for working-men in a growing manufacturing town. She is a thrifty housewife, striving hard to keep her home bright and cheery, and her children becomingly dressed; but with all her good qualities she possesses a hasty temper, which she has not yet learned to keep in subjection. It was on a bright Sunday afternoon, not many weeks ago, that she dressed her two little children, Mary and Willie, for an excursion. Willie wore a white suit, which his mamma had just finished, and of which he was very proud. Just as he was leaving the house his mamma discovered a dark spot on the dazzling white dress.
"What is that, Willie?" she asked sharply, pointing to the discolored speck.
"Only a dease spot, mamma, only a wee little dease spot," answered the child in a pleading voice.
"I'll make a grease spot out of you, sir!" she exclaimed in anger, as she raised her hand to strike him.
The little fellow dodged to avoid the well-aimed blow, but in his fright he struck his head against the sharp corner of the table, and when his mamma picked him up he was unconscious. When the doctor came the child was delirious, and the old man shook his head gravely when asked if there was danger. Brain fever set in at once, and in a day or two it had finished its cruel work, leaving little Willie so cold and still.
A few hours later, in a darkened room, the heart-broken mother sat by the coffin that contained all that was left of her precious boy. While she sat there, weeping bitter tears over the wreck which her passion had caused, her little daughter, Mary, crept softly into the room, and stealing close up to her mother's side, whispered, "Mamma, darling, is Willie a dease spot now?"
"Oh, Willie, Willie! how can I bear it?" cried the distracted woman, falling on her knees beside the tiny coffin.
Poor Mary was too young to understand the cause of her mother's grief, and slipped quietly out of the door, too much frightened to ask why her question was only answered by a storm of sobs and tears.
What a life-time of pain and anguish are in store for that desolate mother! In time the troubled spirit may find peace, and come forth from the fiery furnace of affliction, chastened, refined, purified; but just now remorse, that bitterest of all passions, has almost dethroned reason itself.
Oh! tired and weary mothers, be patient with the little ones that now make discord as well as music in your homes. Not long will the tramp of baby feet disturb your slumbers, or weary you in your waking moments. Soon these little restless beings will be grown up and gone from your sheltering love; or, perchance, as in the case of Willie's mother, you may be called upon to weep bitter tears over tiny hillocks that hide the precious darlings from your sight. No matter if Susie's dress has not as many ruffles and tucks as the little girl's over the way, if, instead, home is made happy by a mother's smile and blessing. Better keep yourself sweet than wear out your temper working by lamp-light that Freddie's jacket may compare favorably with that of your neighbor's boy. There is something besides houses, and lands, and money, and fine clothes, to lay up for your children. See to it now, that for yourselves you lay not up treasures of remorse, heartaches, and desolate homes.—Belle V. Chisholm, in Lutheran Observer.
Health and Temperance.
HOW TO PROMOTE HEALTH.
AFTER all that has been stated of the effects of the atmosphere in high altitudes or at the level of the sea, the influence of forests and ocean, of sea-coasts and interior places, humidity and dryness, cold and heat, the winds, electricity, and ozone, and no matter what of other conditions, the paramount considerations for the promotion of health are an abundance of pure air and sunshine and outdoor exercise. Without these, no climate is promotive of health, or propitious for the cure of disease; and with them, it is safe to say, the human powers of accommodation are such that it is difficult to distinguish the peculiarities of any climate by their joint results on the health and longevity of its subjects.—Bell's Climatology.
LITTLE VICES.
HE uses tobacco a very little, said the fond bride. He takes a social glass, but seldom. Her cheek flushed, her pride was hurt in having to say that of her hero, almost perfect, but she deemed, in her unsophisticated heart, he would be easily persuaded to renounce even that for her sake; but she did not persuade him, did not like to dictate. Men do not like to be trained. So she appeared to notice as little as possible; and the stones grew, one upon another—slowly, surely, the pile rose, occasionally noticed, but long ago found too heavy for removal by her slender hands. Now she wrings those hands and moans, looking back to the days when she held his. There is no mounting over that bastion. Can she feel a loving pride in a habitual drunkard? O, young lady anticipating marriage, beware that there be not even the commencement between you at the start of a wall of separation!—Selected.
HOW TO MAINTAIN GOOD DIGESTION.
OBSERVANCE of four things is required to keep the organs of digestion in good condition: first, the kind of food eaten; second, the amount eaten; third, the manner in which it is taken; and fourth, the state of the system at the time of eating.
The quantity and quality of the food taken should vary with age, occupation, temperament, temperature, and habit. When persons contemplate making extraordinary effort, either mental or physical, less food than usual should be eaten. After full growth is reached, if the same amount of food be taken as during the growing age, without increase in regular labor, the digestive organs will become diseased.
Little drink should be allowed at meals to weaken the digestive fluids. These are the saliva, gastric juice, and bile. Bile is not found in a healthy stomach; if it is ejected in vomiting, it shows that the action of the stomach is inverted. Knowledge of this would save many from swallowing emetics and cathartics to rid the stomach of bile.
Copious draughts of water should be taken between meals, to furnish the stomach material for the necessary digestive fluids. Water-drinking an hour before meals should constitute a habit from infancy to old age. Its quantity must be regulated by the condition of each person. Lean people usually drink very little and are large eaters, while fat persons are apt to eat little and drink much. If the order be changed, it will, in most cases, make the lean grow fat, and the fat people will have the comfort of seeing their own shadows grow less.
If one meal follows another too quickly, before the stomach has time to rest, the gastric cells will not be well filled, and digestion will not be well done. Of all the organs in the body, none requires such absolute rest as the stomach. The feebler the person, the more carefully should this be observed.
Food should never be taken immediately after severe exertion of mind or body. At such times there is too much blood in some parts of the body, and too little in others. Rest restores this equilibrium. From thirty to sixty minutes is required at such times to restore to the stomach the power for complete digestion.
The Spanish fashion of lounging after eating is far better than the habit of our Anglo-Saxon race, of rushing to and from meals as if life depended upon the small amount of time used in eating.—Demorest's Monthly.
Disinfection by Heat
From recent experiments by Dr. Parsons, on the disinfection of clothes and bedding by heat, the conclusion is reached that the germs of the ordinary infectious diseases cannot withstand an exposure of an hour to dry heat of 220° Fahrenheit, or an exposure of five minutes to boiling water or steam of 212°. —Selected.
SECULAR.
—It is said that forty tons of chewing-gum are consumed annually in Boston.
—December 2, successful experiments with dynamite shells were made at Sandy Hook.
—It is predicted that 200,000 Eastern people will visit California during the present winter.
—Raspberries and strawberries are daily coming to the San Francisco market from Watsonville, Cal.
—The town of Eminence, Ky., was partially destroyed by fire on the morning of the 2d inst.
—Ninety valuable horses were burned in a livery stable at Los Angeles, Cal., on the morning of the 3d inst.
—A shock of earthquake was felt at Chorley, county of Lancaster, England, at 7 o'clock on the 1st inst.
—An earthquake a few days since at Besignane, Calabria, destroyed twenty houses and killed several persons.
—More than 3,500,000 passengers are carried annually in this country by street-cars moved by electric motors.
—Prohibition in Georgia was defeated at an election held in that State November 26. The contest is said to have been a peculiarly bitter one.
—Ninety-five cigar factories in Havana, Cuba, shut down last week owing to the demands of cigar-makers for an increase in wages. Some 12,000 operatives are idle.
—Congress will be asked to appropriate $12,000,000 to provide 742 twelve-inch mortars for coast defenses. These guns are capable of throwing shells weighing 265 pounds a distance of five miles. It is proposed to place 128 of these mortars at San Francisco.
—All the newspaper editors in St. Petersburg were summoned before the press censor one day last week, and instructed to adopt a moderate tone regarding Germany.
—Russia has increased her debt tenfold since the Crimean war. Since the close of the Russo-Turkish war, the Czar's Government has borrowed nearly $100,000,000 per annum.
—The governor of Sinaloa, Mexico, has recently issued a proclamation offering a reward of $10,000 for the capture of Eraclio Bernal, the most desperate character known in the history of Mexico.
—It is stated by the Electric Review that in Montgomery, Ala., electricity is used on eleven miles of road, and the cost is reported by the general manager to be only one-half the cost of horse-power.
—A school in the village of Werchobistritzkivi, Russia, was destroyed by fire a few nights ago. A large number of girls were sleeping on the upper floors and sixteen of them were burned to death.
—Gladstone's physicians have advised him to take an ocean voyage, and it is stated upon good authority that he will visit this country early next spring. If he should do so, he will no doubt be well received.
—December 1, about 6,000 men were thrown out of work in New York City, principally by order of the Commissioner of Public Works, the Board of Electrical Control, and the Standard Gas Light Company.
—The American Consul at Melbourne, Australia, has applied to the commission having charge of the arrangements for the exhibition to be held there, for 100,000 square feet of space for American exhibitors.
—Slush ice stopped running in the Mississippi River at La Crosse, Wis., on the night of November 27. The thermometer marked twenty degrees below zero, and the river was closed by ice the earliest ever known.
—The Cologne Gazette announces that in accordance with an agreement of the Central European Alliance, restoring the equilibrium of the Mediterranean with the approval of England, Turkey is to be protected and inviolable.
—The Pope has conferred the title of Count upon John Goode, of New York. Goode is a native of Ireland, has an income of $150,000 per year, and it is said is thus honored by "his holiness" for his adherence to "the church."
—On the 26th ult., a wind-storm blew down a hall in Mineola, Texas, in which some colored people were having a dance. Of seventy in the building five were killed and about twenty injured. Six of the injured had legs or arms broken.
—The statement is made that Tennessee has an area of 5,100 square miles of coal, which covers twenty-two counties. During the past six years the output of coal in the State has grown from 494,000 tons to 1,700,000 tons, an increase of 400 per cent.
—During the month of October the Southern Pacific Railroad shipped East over 24,000,000 pounds of California fruits. The shipments were made up of 10,524,970 pounds canned goods, 4,041,490 pounds dried fruits, 6,534,430 pounds green deciduous fruits, and 3,012,130 pounds of raisins.
—The London police claim to have evidence of a new conspiracy hatched in America for the assassination of Balfour and the destruction of public buildings in London. They say that they have men in every dynamite organization in America who keep them thoroughly advised of every movement planned in that direction.
—Jake Sharp, the rich New York street railroad magnate who furnished the money to bribe several aldermen, who are now behind the bars of Sing Sing, and who was himself convicted of bribery, and sentenced to a long term in the same prison, has been granted a new trial by the weak-kneed judges of the Court of Appeals.
—December 3, Sadi-Carnot was elected President of the French Republic, instead of President Grevy, who resigned on the previous day. The name Carnot is a historic and honorable one in France, and the new President, though not looked upon as a particularly able or brilliant man, commands the respect and confidence of the people.
—The other day while the trial of Most, the anarchist, was in progress in New York City, Judge Cowing announced that he had received a threatening letter. The letter read: "If you charge against Herr Most you will die. Death for all officers is their due. Liberty." The same day Paul Wolf, an anarchist, was arrested in Chicago for making threats against the peace and good order of that city. He preached anarchy and foretold the violent deaths of Grinnell and Gary and all the jurors in the anarchist trial. Wolf was sober at the time.
—The Italian Government has decided to ignore the action of the Pope's partisans who have recently been demanding the restoration of "his holiness" to temporal power. Their action renders them liable to prosecution under the law, but Minister Zanarddelli thinks that no greater service could be rendered them than to bring them into prominence through a public trial.
—It now transpires that, though not in the dictionaries, the word "boodle," which first came into general use to describe certain corrupt New York officials, is not a slang word, but is derived from the Dutch word "boedel," and means property or valuables in general. As applied to the dishonest New York, and later to certain Chicago officials, it means that they acquired property dishonestly.
—A meeting called by the Trades Federation and in behalf of the widows and orphans of the anarchists recently executed in Chicago, was held in Cooper Union, New York City, November 28. It was an anarchist meeting pure and simple. Red flags, ribbons, feathers, neckties, and hat bands were numerous, and the speeches were of an incendiary character. The police were present in force, but the meeting was not interrupted.
Obituary.
By H. W. Reed
BRAND.—On the 8th of November Sallie J. Brand, wife of Homer Brand, fell asleep in Jesus, at Harrisburg, Oregon.
Sister Brand was in her twenty-sixth year. She embraced present truth in company with her husband and several others during my labors in that place about one year ago. She was an earnest and faithful worker in the cause, and was doing missionary work even while the icy hand of death was being laid upon her. She was exceedingly anxious for the conversion to present truth of her father, mother, brothers, and sisters. It is hoped that her prayers for them may not have been offered in vain.
Just before her death this dear sister talked to her sorrowful companion in the most comforting manner possible, and to the friends around her bedside she spoke of the blessed hope, urging them to be prepared to meet her when the Life-giver comes. A few minutes before her death she offered one of the sweetest of prayers, closing it with, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit," and then she fell asleep. "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." Ps. 116:15.
Sister Brand leaves an aged father and mother, two brothers, and two sisters, a husband, and a little babe of five weeks, besides a large circle of friends, to mourn their loss. Words of comfort by the writer from Titus 2:14. H. W. REED.
News and Notes.
By Editor
RELIGIOUS.
—Cumberland Presbyterians now number-about 150,000.
—Yale and Amherst Colleges have put the Bible on the list of elective studies.
—China, with its teeming millions of people, has 800 missionaries and only 25,000 professed Christians.
—The Jewish Ministers' Association of America began its semi-annual convention in New York on the 28th ult.
—The New Zealand Methodist advocates independence for New Zealand Methodism, which is now joined to Australia.
—More than 100,000 sermons are distributed each week among the non-church-going people of Berlin, by a force of 2,000 colporters.
—A German paper is authority for the statement that at Vienna last year no less than three hundred and sixty-three Jews became Christians.
—It is estimated that there are in the city of Chicago over 50,000 Swedes, whose religious wants are only partially supplied by nine Lutheran Churches.
—The Protestants in Prussia number 18,243,587, or 64.42 per cent. of the total population; the Catholics, 9,621,654, or 33.07 per cent.; 366,543, or 1.30 per cent., are Jews.
—The Episcopal Church claims to have in Virginia a colored membership of 6,000. The colored members of the same communion in West Virginia number 2,500.
—At a recent Unitarian meeting, one of the speakers said that the requirements of the Unitarians of their ministers are that "they should be cultured, eloquent, and religiously inclined."
—It is predicted that during the year 1888 the Northern Presbyterians will score a membership of 700,000, and they will raise a million for foreign missions, and another million for ministerial relief.
—In Lutheran Sweden 98 out of every 100 of the people can read and write. In Roman Catholic Italy, Austria, France, and Spain, only 25 out of every 100 can read or write. Comment is unnecessary.
—In 1850, in that part of our country known as the Northwest, there were no more than ten Scandinavian pastors—namely, two Swedes and eight Norwegians. Now, there are no less than 570 Scandinavian pastors, over 1,600 congregations, with a communicant membership of about 170,000.
Appointments.
By J. P. Gardiner, A. J. Cudney
NEBRASKA APPOINTMENTS.
THE Lord willing we will hold meetings in Nebraska as follows:—
December 9-12, Raeville and Lincoln.
“ 15-20, Stearn's Prairie.
“ 29-Jan. 3, Blair country.
January 5-9, Decatur.
“ 13-16, Jackson.
We desire a general rally at each of the above-named places.
The first meeting at each place will be held at 7 P. M.
J. P. GARDINER,
A. J. CUDNEY.
Places of Worship and Services
OAKLAND.—House of worship, southeast corner of Jefferson and Thirteenth Streets. Sabbath-school every Sabbath at 9:30 A. M. Preaching at 11. Prayer and missionary meeting every Tuesday evening at 7:15. Seats free.
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 cordially invited.
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. Sabbath-school classes in the English, German, and Scandinavian languages. Prayer and missionary meeting every Wednesday evening at 7:15.