Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Nov 10, 1881
General Articles.
By Ellen G. White
THE FATHER'S DUTY.
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
The history of Samuel, the pure, noble-hearted prophet, and of Moses, the holiest of men, the most illustrious of leaders, shows how great is the mother's power to mold the character of her child, even in its earliest years. During this period her influence is paramount to all other. Even the infant in her arms will catch her spirit, and copy her deportment. It is important that mothers understand their duty, and that they seek wisdom and grace from God to perform their sacred work to his acceptance.
But great as is the work of the mother, it should never be forgotten that the father also has a part to act in the education and training of his children, and that he is under the most solemn obligation to perform that work with fidelity. Especially as the children advance in years is the father's influence needed, in union with that of the mother, to restrain, control, and guide. Parents little realize the harm done by withholding from their children needed and wholesome restraint, and allowing them to grow up with uncontrolled passions, and selfish, debasing habits.
The course of Eli—his sinful indulgence as a father, and his criminal neglect as a priest of God—presents a striking and painful contrast to the firmness and self-denial of the faithful Hannah. Eli was acquainted with the divine will. He knew what characters God could accept, and what he would condemn. Yet he suffered his children to grow up with unbridled passions, perverted appetites, and corrupt morals.
Eli had instructed his children in the law of God, and had given them a good example in his own life; but this was not his whole duty. God required him, both as a father and as a priest, to restrain them from following their own perverse will. This he had failed to do. His sons were impatient of control, and he weakly resigned the reins to them, and suffered them to pursue their evil ways at pleasure. The fond father overlooked the faults and sins of their childhood, flattering himself that after a time they would outgrow these evil tendencies. He did not regard his children as a sacred trust which God had committed to his care, to be returned with interest; but he looked upon them as his own. Hence, instead of seeking guidance and help from God, and following the instructions given in his word, Eli chose his own way of management, that most agreeable to his ease-loving disposition. Had he taught his sons to obey their father, they would have learned to obey God; but by permitting them to disregard his commands, he taught them to disregard the commands of their heavenly Father. Thus their evil habits strengthened with their years, and when they reached manhood, they were ready to defy all authority, both human and divine.
God requires every parent not only to give his children right instruction and a good example, but with promptness and decision to restrain their inclination to do evil. The fact that Eli stood in holy office, caused his lax discipline, and the selfish, irreverent, licentious course of his wicked sons, to exert a corrupting influence upon the whole nation. All parents should strive to make their families patterns of good works, perfect Christian households. But in a pre-eminent degree is this the duty of those who minister in sacred things, and to whom the people look for instruction and guidance. The ministers of Christ are to be examples to the flock. He who fails to direct wisely his own household, is not qualified to guide the church of God.
Christian parents, if you desire to work for the Lord, begin with your little ones at home. If you manifest tact and wisdom and the fear of God in the management of your children, you may be intrusted with greater responsibilities. True Christian effort will begin at home, and go out from the center to embrace wider fields. A soul saved in your own family circle or in your own neighborhood, by your patient, painstaking labor, will bring as much honor to the name of Christ, and will shine as brightly in your crown as if you had found that soul in China or India.
The Lord will not pass unpunished the neglect of parents to train their children for his service. By kind and judicious management, fathers as well as mothers should bind their children to them by the strong ties of reverence, gratitude494and love, and should kindle in their young hearts an earnest longing for righteousness and truth. While the mother seeks to implant good principles, the father should see that the precious seed is not choked by the growth of evil. His sterner discipline is needed that his children may learn firmness and self-control amid the allurements to sin which must be met on every hand.
Let parents beware how they undervalue or neglect their work. Great is the reward of fidelity, terrible the penalty of unfaithfulness. One child wisely educated—trained to love and practice the right because it is right, may impart to thousands the blessings which he has received. Through his influence and example, the lessons of uprightness, purity, and devotion that shaped his own character, are permitted to shed their precious light far and wide.
How many faithful and honored workers for God and humanity have been given to the world as the fruit of a godly training in childhood. It was said of Timothy, the beloved co-laborer with Paul, that he knew the holy Scriptures from a child, and that the faith which dwelt in his mother and grandmother, was revealed also in him. The influence of faithful Christian parents can never lose its power. A young man when about to be ordained as a Christian minister, stated that at one time he had been well-nigh led to adopt the principles of infidelity. "But," he added, "there was one argument in favor of Christianity which I could never forget, and that was the consistent conduct of my own father. Through that I was at length won to the Saviour."
By neglect of duty, parents exert a far-reaching influence for evil. One ungodly, disobedient son, may lead many souls in the path of iniquity. Each of these will corrupt others; the evil traits cherished will be transmitted to posterity; and thus iniquity is constantly increasing and multiplying, and all because parents choose the way which is easiest at the moment, the way of gratification and indulgence, and look not to the misery in store for themselves, their children, and their children's children.
The solemn warnings contained in the word of God, the judgments visited upon the indulgent father, and his rebellious sons, should arouse parents from their stupor, and lead them to see and feel their duty to give to their children, by right education and discipline, correct habits and sound principles. Christian father, labor kindly, patiently, for the welfare of your children. Seek to turn their hearts to the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness. Teach them by precept and example, that the spirit of Christ is the spirit of doing good.
To every father and mother is committed a little plot of ground before their own door. It is their work to clear it from noxious weeds, and to mellow the soil that the precious seed may take root and flourish there. To do their work faithfully will be far more pleasing to God than to go on a mission to some foreign land, leaving the home field neglected. The work of Christian ministers and parents, should begin with their own children. Present to the church and to the world a well-disciplined family, and you present one of the strongest arguments in favor of Christianity.
If parents who are following Eli's example of neglect could see the result of the education they are giving their children, they would feel that the curse which fell on Eli would assuredly fall on them. The sin of rebellion against parental authority, lies at the very foundation of the misery and crime in the world to-day. In his holy law God himself speaks to children: "Honor thy father and thy mother." Again, by the pen of an apostle he commands them, "Children, obey your parents." The Old and the New Testament alike teach respect and obedience to parents, and also admonish all to reverence and honor the aged, to tenderly protect and cherish those whose heads are white, and whose steps are feeble. If children were trained according to the teachings of God's word, they would manifest a deference for superiors, a propriety of deportment, and a beauty of character that would make them beloved by their associates, and beloved of God.
There is a cause for the spirit of insubordination that exists in the family and the State, and that threatens to overthrow the very foundations of government. It is to be found in the growing disregard for the law of God. In ancient times parents were commanded to diligently teach its sacred precepts to their children, that they might thus become acquainted with the character of God, and his claims upon them. But men have become wiser, in their own conceit, than their Maker. Many have set aside the law of God, and have followed their own judgment in preference to his revealed will. How terrible have been the results of this teaching upon the youth! Self-indulgence, dissipation, profanity, and even greater crimes prevail to an extent that is frightful to contemplate.
The Lord holds parents and guardians responsible for the children under their care. He has not left us in uncertainty concerning the characters that he will accept. Nothing less than purity in thought, word, and deed, will meet the divine standard. The word of God sets forth in unmistakable language the duties of parents. If they will faithfully perform these duties, his Spirit will crown their efforts with success. Those words of holy writ are as true now as when first uttered by the wise man, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."
BUILDING ON THE SAND.
By Mary Martin
BY MARY MARTIN.
'Twas the strangest sight—that earnest face,
And weary form, with the eager hands,
As he moved about from place to place,
So busy, building upon the sands.
Many the mansions that he had reared,
But he never ceased, by night or day,
It was all the same, he built and planned
For the future that before him lay.
He would say to travelers as they passed,
These sands will go with the ebbing tide.
But they said, "The man is surely crazed,
Or he'd place his treasure the other side."
Not one could believe the words he spoke,
And said, "If you think it really true,
Why not go across and build on stone?
You are only doing as others do."
Not a word he said by the silent stream,
As he hid in the sand the shining ore,
And scarcely looked for the light that gleamed
Across the tide from the other shore.
Alas! alas! when the time shall come,
That the rich and great in terror hide,
And the hungry waves around us foam,
We shall want our treasure the other side.
But 'twill take some faith, and works, and prayer,
As well as talking, to place it there.
GOD IS LOVE.
"When courting slumber
The hours I number,
And sad cares cumber
My weary mind.
This thought shall cheer me,
That Thou art near me,
Whose ear to hear me
Is still inclined.
"My soul thou keepest
Who never sleepest;
Mid gloom the deepest
There's light above.
Thine eyes behold me,
Thine arms enfold me,
Thy word has told me
That God is love."
—Sel.
THE KINGDOM.
By John Norton Loughborough
BY ELDER J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.
WHEN Gabriel appeared unto Mary, announcing the mission and work of Jesus, he used these words: "He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David; and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end." Luke 1 : 32, 33.
When James was admonishing those who were in danger of respecting the persons of the rich, he said, "Hearken my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him." James 2 : 5.
From the above words we learn that there is to be a kingdom of Christ, and that those who, through faith in him, love and obey God, are counted heirs of that kingdom. Of this kingdom they shall become heirs and possessors when he shall come again.
In the words of our Saviour we read: "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens, that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching." Luke 12 : 32-37.
In the predictions of the prophet Isaiah concerning the Messiah, we read of the king and kingdom. "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." Isaiah 11 : 6, 7.
At the time of our Saviour's first advent he was the "child born," and the "son given." When he comes again he will take the kingdom, and then the government shall be upon his shoulder."
After the miracles of our Saviour had awakened an anxiety on the part of the multitudes, and they were expecting him to immediately declare himself king, "He added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear. He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return . . . . And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded those servants to be called unto him." Luke 19 : 11-15. We see in the above Scripture that Christ compares himself to the nobleman. He goes to the Father, receives the kingdom, and when he returns he exercises his power over that kingdom.
There is one thing plainly and definitely stated in the Scriptures relative to the future kingdom of Christ; that is, of that throne and kingdom there shall "be no end." In the book of Psalms we read some strong statements of this nature: "I will make him my first-born, higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for him forever, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven . . . . His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established forever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven." Ps. 89 : 27-37. See also Daniel 2 : 44, and 7 : 13, 14, 27.
In Paul's letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 15-24) we read of a kingdom that Christ will "deliver up to God, even the Father," that God may "be all in all." It has perplexed many minds to know how such statements seemingly so opposite to each other, can be harmonized. "How," it has been asked, "can a kingdom have no end, be increased in judgment and justice, and yet be delivered up, and the ruler become subject, that God may be all in all?" It has been amusing, sometimes, to read the explanations of this difficulty; for the difficulty it really is, if all these words relate to the throne and kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Is the rule of Christ to "have no end" and yet to have an end in being "delivered up to the Father"? Is there to be no end to the increase of his government, and yet his kingdom be delivered to the Father, while Christ becomes only a subject in his own kingdom? Some have suggested the interpretation, that Christ is to rule the kingdom for a thousand years and then "deliver it up to be inspected by his Father." Bear in mind there is nothing said of inspection, but that the Son becomes "subject" to the Father, "That God may be all in all." Another suggests that Christ has a work to do in establishing his own kingdom, and that when that work of subjugation is accomplished, "his kingdom will be absorbed up into the kingdom of the Father." This latter explanation would not look like an "increase of government," with "no end." It seems such explanations will hardly satisfy careful Bible students.
Not to startle our readers, we would suggest that there are two positions occupied by Christ as ruler. One of these is upon his Father's throne, and the other upon his own throne. This latter is also called "the throne of David," because he is the true seed of David and his lawful heir, as he is also the true seed of Abraham. May not, after all, the delivering up of the kingdom, as mentioned by Paul, have reference to our Saviour resigning his position on his Father's throne, in order to take possession of his own throne and kingdom? If this view of the case be admitted, there is no longer any conflict in the testimonies respecting the kingdom, but all is plain and harmonious, as the truth ever is when we get hold of it aright.
After the ascension of our Saviour to Heaven, and after his work as high priest in Heaven had commenced, he made his revelation to John on the isle of Patmos. In that Revelation we find this promise, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." Rev. 3 : 21. He represented himself, at that time, as actually seated upon his Father's throne. What, we ask, is the Father's throne? A throne is the symbol of power. God's throne must represent the rule or power over all created things, throughout the "boundless ocean of space." The psalmist David says, The Lord hath prepared his throne in the Heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all." Ps. 103 : 19. To be seated on that throne would be to be associated with the Father, in the affairs of the whole creation of God. Is not this a part of that exaltation now granted to Christ, following his great stoop of humility in connection with his mission on earth? Of this Paul speaks in writing to the Philippians, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name, which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, things on earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Phil. 2 : 5-11.
After our Saviour's resurrection, and as he was about to ascend to Heaven, in the sight of his apostles, when giving them the gospel commission, he uses these words: "All power is given unto me in Heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and495teach all nations." Matt. 28 : 18, 19. All power in Heaven and earth being given to him, it is no wonder that in the Revelation St. John should call him "The Almighty." Rev. 1 : 8. This must be in the sense of having "all power" upon his Father's throne.
The position that Christ should occupy upon the throne of the Father was announced by the psalmist David in these words, "The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool." Ps. 110 : 1.
The prophet Zachariah not only makes mention of Christ's position on the throne of the Father, but also of the work he performs while in that position: "Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is the BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne; and the counsel of peace shall be between them both." Zech. 6 : 12, 13. In the above text there are two persons introduced, one is called "the Lord," and the other, "the man whose name is the branch." That there are two, and not simply the branch ruling upon his own throne, is evident from the statement, "The counsel of peace shall be between them both." This word both must have reference to the Father and Son. The "counsel of peace" having reference to the intercession of Christ before the Father while the "ministry of reconciliation" is being carried forward among men. During this time the Son is priest on the throne of his Father.
Christ is the "BRANCH" that grows out of the "root" of "the stem of Jesse." (Isaiah 11 : 1.) He builds the temple of the Lord in this sense. The work of Christ, as intercessor before God, by virtue of his blood shed on Calvary, was shadowed forth in the blood offered in the tabernacle in the days of David. That blood could not take away sins, but the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin. The real temple of the Lord, or in other words, the real work of atonement, is accomplished by Christ while a priest on the throne of his Father. It is in this sense that the apostles could call the preaching of the gospel to both Jews and gentiles the fulfillment of the words of the prophet that the tabernacle of David should be built up. "James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me; Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up; that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the gentiles, upon whom my name is called." Acts 15 : 13-17.
Of this position of Christ on the throne of the Father, Peter bore testimony in his discourse on the day of Pentecost, "This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens; but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord [God said to Christ], sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." Acts 2 : 32-36. He is Christ our Saviour. He is Lord—being a ruler on his Father's throne. Peter thus bears a plain testimony that Christ was in that position, on the throne of the Father, on the day of Pentecost.
Paul, in his letter to the Hebrews states the same, "We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the Heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man." Heb. 8 : 1, 2. Again, he says, "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." Heb. 12 : 2.
Thus the Scriptures show that while Christ is officiating as a priest, in the Heavens, he is seated on the right hand of the Father, "From hence-forth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool." Heb. 10 : 13. When the Lord comes again, and the righteous dead are raised, Christ will have resigned his position on his Father's throne, that he may receive the saints—the subjects of his own kingdom of which there shall be no end.
In accordance with the above we find Paul stating, "Even so in Christ shall all be made alive, Christ the first-fruits, afterwards they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom," 1 Cor. 15 : 24, showing that the delivering up of the kingdom is past when he raises his people from the dead. With such a view of the subject, delivering up the kingdom must relate to his leaving his Father's throne to take his own throne. From that time God rules upon his own throne supreme, "All in all," while of the kingdom which Christ takes (subject to the universal dominion of his Father), "there shall be no end."
CHARACTERISTIC INCIDENTS OF THE MICHIGAN FIRE.
FIRES had been burning in Sanilac, Huron, and Tuscola counties, but no one apprehended any danger. Farmers had set fire to slashings to clear the ground for fall wheat, but this happens every fall, and the fact that not a drop of water had fallen in from fifty to seventy days was not considered by those who saw the smoke clouds and replied that there was no danger. There was danger. Behind that pall of smoke was a greater enemy than an earthquake, and it had a tornado at its back, and two hundred miles of forest in the front. From noon until two o'clock a strange terror held the people in its grip; then all of a sudden the heavens took fire, or so it seemed to hundreds. In some localities it came with the sound of thunder. In others it was preceded by a terrible roaring as if a tidal wave were sweeping over the country. Almost at the same minute the flames appeared in every spot over a district of country thirty miles broad by one hundred in length.
At Richmondville, ten miles above Sanilac, one hundred and fifty people had comfortable homes, stacks of hay and grain, teams, cows, pigs, sheep, and no fear of the fire which they knew was burning a mile away. At two o'clock the flames rushed out of the woods, leaped the fences, ran across the bare fields, and swallowed every house but two, and roasted alive a dozen people. It is hardly forty rods to the beach of the lake, and yet many people had no time to reach the water. Others reached it with clothing on fire and faces and hands blistered. The houses did not burn singly, but one billow of flame seized all at once and reduced them to nothing in ten minutes.
I saw many and many a spot where the billows of fire jumped a clean half mile out of the forest to clutch house or barn. The Thornton family were wiped out with the exception of a boy. Thornton had hitched up his team to drive the family to a place of safety, but when he saw that they were all surrounded by the flames he unhitched the horses in despair. Before they could be unharnessed they bolted in different directions, and the old man became so confused that he ran directly toward a big slashing, which was then a perfect mass of flame, and dropped and died with his head toward it.
Meantime the mother and children had taken refuge in the root-house. This was a structure mostly sunk in the ground and the roof well covered with earth. Here they were all right for a time, but when the father failed to join them, one of the sons went out to see what caused the delay. He was hardly out of the place before the door through which he had passed was in flames. In this emergency he ran to a dry creek, and by lying on his face and keeping his mouth to the ground he lived through it.
I talked with a woman who lived neighbor to the Thorntons, and who escaped by fleeing to a field of plowed ground. This was only a few rods from the root-house, and she said it was fully an hour before the screams and shrieks and groans from the people inside grew quiet in death. One by one they were suffocated by heat and smoke, and their bodies presented a most horrible appearance. To one riding through the district it seems miraculous that a single soul escaped. The fire swept through the green trees the same as the dry. It ran through fields of corn at the rate of twenty miles an hour, and fields of clover were swept as bare as a floor. Dark and gloomy swamps filled with pools of stagnant water, and the home for years of wildcats, bears, and snakes, were struck and shriveled and burned almost in a flash. Over the parched meadows the flames ran faster than a horse could gallop. Horses did gallop before it, but were overtaken and left roasting on the ground. It seemed as if every hope and avenue of escape was cut off, and yet hundreds of lives were spared. People spent ten to twenty hours in ditches and ponds, or in fields under wet blankets having their hair singed, their limbs blistered, and their clothing burned off piece by piece.
In dozens of cases the first flames spared houses and barns, but after seeming to have passed on for miles, suddenly circled back and made a clean sweep of everything. Unless one rides over the burnt district, he cannot believe the eccentricities of a forest fire. In the great swamp, between Sanilac and Sandusky, it burned everything to the roots for a mile in breadth. Then it left patches from ten feet to ten rods wide. Then again it struck in and burned lanes hardly twenty feet wide, leaving half a mile of fuel on either side. In the timber it seemed to strike the green trees harder than the dry ones. It was like a great serpent making its way across the country. It would run within three feet of a wheat stack, and then glide away to lick up a house. It would burn a stack and spare a barn ten feet off.
People felt the heat while the fire was yet miles away. It withered the leaves of trees standing two miles from the path of the fiery serpent. The very earth took fire in hundreds of places, and blazed up as if the fire were feasting on cord-wood. The stoutest log-buildings stood up only a few minutes. The fire seemed to catch them at every corner at once, and after a whirl and a roar nothing would be left. Seven miles off the beach, at Forester, sailors found the heat uncomfortable. Where some houses and barns were burned, we could not find even a blackened stick. Every log, beam, and board was reduced to fine ashes.
Seven miles back from the lake at Forester a farmer gathered up fifteen persons in his wagon and started for the beach. The fire was close behind them as they started—so close that the dresses of some of the women and children were on fire with the sparks. It was seven miles of up hill and down, with corduroy ruts, and roots, and the horses needed no whip to urge them into a mad run. As the wagon started, the tire of a hind wheel rolled off. They could not stop for it, and yet, even on a good road, the wheel would have crushed down in going twenty rods without it. It is an actual fact, the horses pushed over that seven miles of rough road at a wild run, and the wheel stood firm. A delay of five minutes at any point of the road would have given fifteen more victims to the flames which followed on behind. I saw the wagon at the lake, and I saw the tire seven miles away on the roadside.
The people who sought the beach had still to endure much of the heat and all of the smoke. Wading up to their shoulders, they were safe from the flames, but sparks and cinders fell like a snowstorm, and the smoke was suffocating. The birds not caught in the woods were carried out to sea and drowned, and the waves have washed thousands of them ashore. Squirrels, rabbits, and such small animals stood no show at all, but deer and bear sought the beach and the company of human beings. In one case a man leaped from a bluff into the lake and found himself close behind a large bear. They remained in company under the bank nearly all night, and the bear seemed as humble as a dog. In another instance two of the animals came out of the forest and stood close to a well from which a farmer was drawing water to dash over his house, and they were with him for two hours before they deemed it prudent to jog along. Deer came out and sought the companionship of cattle and horses, and paid no attention to persons rushing past them.—Detroit Free Press.
If Sinners Entice Thee
"If sinners entice thee, consent thou not."
HOW TO SAY NO.
For a boy to meet a temptation boldly, frankly, and at once with a “No,” which has a meaning in it, is a great thing. Some boys will say “No,” but in such a half-hearted way that the tempter knows that it means a half “Yes.” This simply gives an invitation for a repetition of the solicitation, and makes almost certain too, the yielding. But a “No” that is enforced by tone and look, that tells that the word has its own true meaning, settles largely the matter, or if it does not settle it, makes it certain that if the temptation comes again, it will be weaker and he will be stronger. The first “No” is a great thing.—Christian Weekly.
DRESS IN CHURCH.
In ancient and in comparatively modern times various States have attempted to establish sumptuary laws for the regulation of the styles and cost of clothes, but with little success. The question of clothes seems one of most difficult adjustment. The early Methodists, who were nearly all persons belonging to the less opulent classes, and the Quakers, made strenuous efforts to check display and extravagance in dress. The modern Methodists seem to have given up any effort to control the question of dress. The Quakers still adhere to a peculiar costume as to cut and color, but wear clothes proverbial for their fineness and high price. The dress of males throughout Christendom has been reduced to the minimum of plainness. Lace, feathers, and ruffles have entirely disappeared, and jewelry nearly so, save maybe a watch-chain, or a pin, or a few buttons. There is in most youths and young men a jewelry period that passes away with the coming of soberer years.
But this cannot be said of female attire; ornamentation still forms a distinguishing feature of their style, and a large item of the expense of their dress. We know not that this will be or can be changed, but we most ardently desire to see one reform in the matter of female dress or fashion, and it is this : let church-going cease to be a dress occasion.
In the Catholic countries of southern Europe it is not fashionable, and is not considered in good taste to be gay in dress at church. We were pleased to read that the ladies of a large and wealthy congregation of Baptists, in Nashville, Tennessee, had resolved to dress in calico at church. Now we do not care or desire that ladies should confine themselves to calico—though it is neat and pretty—but we do most sincerely and religiously desire to see our lovely and beautiful women adopt a plainer style of dress at church than that which now prevails. “But,” says some fair lady reader, “why do you wish us to be plainer at church than at other public or social assemblies?” For more reasons than one; but our chief reason is that you may not dress poor women out of church and away from church, as we, alas! have too much reason to believe that you are now doing. Now we know that this is no part of your design or desire; indeed we doubt not you will hear with regret that this is the effect of your fine dressing at church. But you will ask: “Why does our finery affect for harm the poor at church more than elsewhere?” For this simple reason: the church is the only place where the poor and rich meet together. The poor do not visit in the circle of the rich—do not attend grand dinings, parties, and places of public gaiety. It is only in church that they are brought in contact, and the poor made to feel the contrast between their cheapness and plainness, and the costliness and splendor of the well-to-do. Now it ought not to be so, but so it is. This contrast is humiliating to the poor, and they shrink away from it, and will not go to church at all, or, if they do, go with a feeling of mortification, or else with an effort at display beyond their means.
Many poor women are kept from church in the morning, and some at night because they shrink from contrasting their poverty and plainness with the wealth and show of the richer classes. We cannot hope to correct this feeling in the poor. What, then, can be done? This: let it become fashionable and be regarded as a matter of good taste to be plain at church. If the ladies who are the leaders in society will take this in hand, it can be carried through and be the means of great good. Now, cannot sensible and godly women be persuaded, for Christ’s sake, and the sake of the poor, to make this effort of self-denial?
Sisters beloved in the Lord, when you read this, will you think, talk, and act in regard to it? May the spirit of all grace help you!—Galveston Christian Advocate.
Growing in Christian Light
It is far from being enough that a Christian man can look back over years of sensible darkness to a day of conscious light. He should be able to read the record of his growing years in the clear testimony of a growing light. The soul should always be preparing for the largest service, and seeking that nurturing of Christian character through self-denying communion, holy habits of thought and self-denying Christian work, which will vindicate its personal Christian life before the skepticism of an ungodly world.— Pacific Christian Advocate.