Earlier text: LOVERS OF LAWWe recently met a man who evidently had no claim to be classed among the rich, and yet, he told us that it was common for him to smoke ten cigars a day, at a cost of five cents each. This makes fifty cents a day, or one hundred and eighty-two dollars a year, consumed to ashes and dissipated in blue smoke! "Cui bono?" Who is benefited by it? Surely not the smoker. He is certainly poorer in pocket, and probably poorer in health, to say nothing about the slavery of the habit and the offensive odor which he carries wherever he goes. How terrible to think of the ravages of tobacco! And how surprising that any should attempt to reconcile such a habit with the Christian religion! O for a clean church! We have no idea that any part of the new earth will be set apart for the cultivation of this filthy weed. Better get weaned from it before going there.—Bible Banner. The Spread of Opium Eating
THE pernicious habit of opium eating is extending with alarming rapidity. A contemporary states that a village of 2,000 population in Ohio has forty opium users; a village of 1,200 population in Kentucky has over sixty; a village of 75 population in Illinois boasts of six; a village of 1,500 in Illinois claims forty-two; another village in Illinois of 3,500 has from a hundred to a hundred and fifty. These figures indicate a very serious danger to society.—Christian Herald. "SEE here, Ruthie Ringgold, I've signed the pledge!" The girl of twelve years who answered to that name in the village of Ottercreek halted and looked back at her playmate's call, and said, as the other overtook her, panting:— "Pshaw, Lilla Brown, you don't say so! I hope you'll be strictly temperate now." "I hope to be strictly total abstinent." "Were you ever anything less, I'd like to know? What does it amount to for one to sign the pledge who never drinks anything stronger than water, or a swallow of tea, or coffee sometimes?" The girls were walking on in the old byway together. There was a peculiar light in Lilla's eyes as she said, "The lecturer told the audience last evening, you recollect, that all temperance people ought to put down their names by way of example." "But my father says that is all nonsense," Ruth interrupted. "Because, you see, it's no self-denial to pledge themselves not to drink, when they haven't any love of drinking. My father says he would make no such sacrifice as Mr. Wright, for instance, makes in signing; so there's no comparison and no example in it." "Then the lecturer was correct in saying it is often more difficult to obtain the names of temperate men to the pledge than the names of drunkards. But now, Ruthie," Lilla continued, "the pledge I meant isn't that kind at all. Let us sit down on this bank in the shade, and I will show you my secret pledge that I wrote for myself, and that nobody is to sign with me. Maybe you will see what need there was. Maybe you'll admit it costs self-denial. Maybe a good many people wouldn't do a bad thing to get up for themselves such a sort of a pledge." "Oh, dear, how serious you grow! I am afraid you're pledged to become a nun, and want me to be another." "No nun, Ruthie; here, read; you see it is very short." "Rose Cottage, June 1, 1880. "I, Lilla Brown, do herewith make my pledge not to have any discontents for one month from date—asking our Father to help me keep this resolution." "There is only one s in resolution," returned the reader, in gentle criticism. "That's true; I saw my mistake before you mentioned it. The wording gave me so much trouble that I forgot to attend to the spelling." "Discontents," repeated Ruth, and raised her eyes from the slip of paper inquiringly. "That was where I was puzzled," Lilla replied. "First I wrote it fidgets, for that's what grandma says ails me; but mamma calls me nervous. I don't like that word any better. I put it discontents, and I know 'most too well what I mean by it. Drinking men are apt to get worse and worse, and it's the same with all bad habits, isn't it?" "I s'pect so," said Ruth in a low tone, while twisting her sash end. "But what was it made you do this?" "Well, the temperance folks last night, you know, got some of the worst drinking men of the village to attend the meeting, and finally to sign the pledge. Brother Ed did not go with the rest of us, because he had his Latin lesson to study; but at the close of the lecture, just when two or three that most needed to went up to the desk, one after another, and put their names to the pledge, and each time there was great cheering all over the hall, he came in and took a seat with me, and began to clap with all his might, seeing Jimmy Wright with his bloated red face stooping over the book with the pen in his hand, trying to steady his nerves enough so he could write his name. It was real exciting, and I whispered, 'Ed, why does anybody wait to be persuaded? why don't they rush and sign, when it will make men of them? If I was a drunkard, I'd rush!' Ed looked down on me and answered, 'Humph!' He sat back then, put his thumb in the armhole of his vest and added, 'Better try it on with something you're ad-dict-ed to.' Ed always uses his biggest words on me. "He meant only just what he said—no more—but I felt my face grow hot, for I knew of a fault I was addicted to that made us all uncomfortable pretty often. It was in my mind as we went home, and after I was in bed, and as soon as I waked this morning. And this is what has come of it. But I'm not going to tell any one else at present." "Your pledge is to last only a month," criticised Ruthie again. "Anybody could keep any kind of a pledge one month." "That's what I hope," Lilla replied. "Why I put it so, was because I have meant, over and over, to quit acting out my discontents—to quit it for ever and always, and I didn't do it. I had got almost discouraged. This time it came to my mind to try it as a man might make a journey on foot, a step at a time, or as a pendulum marks off the seconds one by one, through the whole twenty-four hours. We have heard of things being done in that way that were too discouraging if undertaken in a lump. When the month is out I will pledge myself for another, and so on." "Have you a pencil and some more paper with you?" Ruth asked, looking away thoughtfully while smoothing out her sash. "I might take a pledge. What fault of mine do you think I shall put down?" "You are not fussy and fidgety, like me," was the negative guess, as the other fished from her pocket and passed over to her friend a scrap of paper and a bit of pencil. Using a flat stone by her side for writing table, Ruth traced the following, and handed it to Lilla, who read aloud:— "If God will help me, Ruthie Ringgold, I will not ridicule any person's peculiarities for one month." Lilla glanced around quickly and saw, to her surprise, two great tears fall from Ruthie's blue eyes. "But you're such a born mimic," said her friend, excusingly, "and so full of fun. Really, I don't believe ever any one thought hard of you." "I have hurt people's feelings more than once," Ruth confessed, "so it cannot be innocent fun. We know in the fable the frogs said to the boys who threw stones at them, 'It may be sport for you, but it is death for us.' Now, if any boys I know practiced such cruel sport, they could not have me for a friend. But I am afraid I've often been crueler than that, because it was done to people, you know, and not frogs. Last winter when I was visiting at Aunt Fanny's, a neighbor called one day whose face was almost covered with reddish-purple spots—it was a mark, they said. He was hardly out of the house when I had my face painted with huckleberry juice to imitate his, and ran round from the kitchen to the front door, and rang, and when Aunt Fanny opened it I imitated the young man's speech, too—he stammered very much—and bade her good-morning. Instead of being amused she was sadly grieved. She quoted, 'Who makes thee to differ?' It's in the Bible, or words like these. I felt inclined to be vexed that I could not be allowed my fun, till she told me the young man's mother, now dead, had been her best friend, and that there was a sad story connected with his misfortunes which she would tell me when I got older. "And last evening, Lilla, though you may not have noticed it, I left the hall making fun of Mrs. Tilson—saying she was as crooked as a rainbow, and, at least, a hundred and fifty years old, I did believe. I didn't remember at the moment the terribly hard lot she has had with her husband and two sons—all now in drunkards' graves. She came out just before us, and I supposed she had gone on; instead of that she had stepped aside in the entrance-way to wait for some one, as I saw too late. The poor woman must have heard me, and what will she think? I was ever so 'shamed, and yet I should be sure to do the same thing again, if I hadn't taken the pledge." There was a pause. Then Ruth resumed:— "You said maybe such a pledge might not be a bad thing for a good many people to take. I have taken mine. There is Dora Jones told a lie to the teacher, and when the teacher went to her mother about it Mrs. Jones said Dora told lies constantly, and she did not know what to do with the child. Do you think Dora is too young to take a pledge like ours?" "And there is Miss Blossom," said Lilla, "who has been making a lot of mischief by telling all around that somebody said something about wanting to get rid of the minister—she better get rid of tale-bearing; and only a short time ago it was the same thing about another story she had told. She's what brother Ed would call addicted to that. Do you think Miss Blossom is too old to sign a pledge like ours?" "Perhaps we had best practice ours before we think about a pledge for others." AUTUMN once more begins to teach;
Sere leaves their annual sermon preach;
And with the southward-slipping sun
Another stage of life is done.
The day is of a paler hue,
The night is of a darker blue,
Just as it was a year ago;
For time runs fast, but grace is slow. Life glides away in many a bend,
In chapters which begin and end:
Each has its trial, each its grace,
Each in life's whole its proper place.
Life has its joinings and its breaks,
But each transition quickly takes
Us nearer to, or further from
The threshold of our heavenly home. Years pass away; new crosses come;
Past sorrow is a sort of home,
An exile's home, and only lent
For needful rest in banishment;
It narrows life, and walls it in,
And shuts the door on many a sin;
'Tis almost like a calm fireside,
Where humble hearts are fain to bide. Thou comest, Autumn, to unlade
Thy wealthy freight of summer shade,
Still sorrowful as in past years,
Yet mild and sunny in thy tears,
Ripening and hardening all thy growth
Of solid wood, yet nothing loth
To waste upon the frolic breeze
Thy leaves, like flights of golden bees. Have I laid by from summer hours
Ripe fruits as well as leaves and flowers?
Hath my past year a growth to harden,
As well as fewer sins to pardon?
Is God in all things more and more
A king within me than before?
I know not, yet one change hath come—
The world feels less and less a home. My soul appears, as I get old,
More prompt in act, in prayer less cold:
Crosses, from use, more lightly press;
Mirth is more purely weariness;
With less to quarrel with in life,
I grow less patient with its strife;
I wish more simply, Lord, to be,
Ailing or well, always with Thee. Lilla’s Renewed Pledge
By Lavinia S. Goodwin
It was just six months after that Lilla's mother remarked to her father how much Lilla's disposition had improved, and that no parents in Ottercreek had a better daughter. At this praise, and feeling her papa's arm embrace her, Lilla shed some joyful tears, and drew from her pocket an envelope containing her half-dozen worn and crumpled pledges. Her happy secret was out. “I was thinking,” she said softly, “whether it was needful to renew my pledge again. I hope it is written on my heart now, as I am sure Ruthie's is on hers.”—Lavinia S. Goodwin, in The Watchman. THE tongue, girls, is an unruly member, and has to be held in tight rein, lest it get the better of us. Don't get in the habit of gossiping about each other; frown down from the beginning all attempts at personal discussion and criticism. Indulgence in gossip leads in most cases to mischief. There is no happy medium; the line cannot be drawn safely at any point. There are many subjects to talk about quite as interesting, if not more so, as people. Besides being wrong, it is a cowardly thing to speak ill of a person who is not present to offer a defense. If we must discuss each other, let it be only in praise. We scarcely realize what a fearful magnitude this evil has attained. People unconsciously drift into it, only waking up to the fact that they have been slandering their neighbor by having some word they have dropped, in an unguarded moment, brought to their door, the beginning of a vile slander. In your judgment of each other, be careful to find out the motives which prompt an action. Do not condemn without being sure there is ground for condemnation. Many a life is blighted or made morose and sour by being misunderstood, by having motives supplied which do not exist. Remember, "we are our brother's keeper," and it behooves us to be watchful that what we may do or what we may say will in no wise obstruct another's pathway.—Christian at Work. Knowledge That Enables Duty
The best knowledge that can be gained, is that which enables us to do our duty—to discern between good and bad, right and wrong, truth and falsehood. —The steamer Great Eastern was recently sold for $150,000. —A famine is feared in Northern Russia. The crops are a failure. —The expenditures of Japan last year were $12,000,000 less than the revenues. —Statistics show that ninety-eight per cent. of inebriates use tobacco in some form. —The first complete train passed through the St. Gothard tunnel, under the Alps, in fifty minutes. —Severe cold weather is reported from the East. Snow has fallen to the depth of a foot in some parts. —The railroad bridge over the Licking river at Cynthiana, Ky., was burned on Friday night, Nov. 4. —The State of Pennsylvania has sued the Standard Oil Company for over $3,000,000 in taxes and penalties. —Heavy snow storms and gales are reported in England. In parts of the midland counties two feet of snow are on the ground. —The Upper Mississippi lead fields include 2,000,000 acres; 200,000 in Iowa, 400,000 in Northern Illinois, and 1,400,000 in Wisconsin. —A dispatch from Oshkosh, Wis., says: Lake Winnebago is rising constantly. The damage to business is estimated at $5,000 per day. —It is estimated that the Michigan fire swept over a surface of 1,800 square miles, and that the destruction of property amounts to $2,346,000. —George W. Green, sheriff of San Mateo county, Cal., and a companion, were drowned in a creek leading into Halfmoon bay, Sunday, Nov. 6. —The number of cattle reported in Texas for 1881 is 4,464,000 head, valued at $39,640,320; the value of the sheep there is estimated at $13,800,000. —Dr. Robert Young, author of the "Analytical Concordance," has been ordered by his physicians to abstain from all literary labor for one year. —A Galveston jury recently convicted William Petty of stage robbery, and fixed the penalty at imprisonment for ninetynine years in the penitentiary. —The number of poor persons for which the municipality of Paris had to provide last year, was 353,812, while in London the number was only 105,000. —The Illinois brewers have contributed a fund of $5,000, to be used in "disseminating information tending to popularize lager beer as a harmless beverage." —A prominent tobacco manufacturer is reported to have said: "Nothing ever goes into tobacco as deleterious or injurious to the human constitution as tobacco itself. —Advices from Mecca to the end of October are to the effect that the number of cases of cholera averaged fifteen daily. The number of pilgrims in the city is 100,000 —November 5, the Eagle docks, at Hoboken, N. J., and two full cargoes of merchandise, were totally destroyed by fire. The loss is about half a million dollars. —A "crank" called at the White House recently, for the purpose of killing President Arthur. He claimed to have a commission direct from Heaven, for that purpose. —Quite a number of cases have been already tried in the Irish Land Court. In all cases sweeping reductions have been made in the rents, each party paying its own costs. —In 1842, the United States produced only 2,000,000 tons of coal; last year the amount mined reached 70,000,000 tons. The United Kingdom produced in the same time 135,000,000 tons. —By denying themselves tobacco, and by the sale of trinkets which they made, the convicts in the Ohio penitentiary raised $100 for the Michigan sufferers. Many not in prison might profit by their example. —It is said that since the decision of the Supreme Court in regard to the Sunday law, the business men and saloon keepers of Mokelumne, Cal., have signed an agreement to observe the law to the fullest extent. —William L. Gibson, former cashier of the Citizens' National Bank, of Flint, Mich., has voluntarily surrendered himself to the officers, who were seeking to arrest him for the embezzlement of $17,000 of the bank funds. —In a recent terrible storm at Manzinillo, Mexico, four large vessels and all the small craft in the harbor were lost. The Custom House and several stores, the American Consulate and others were completely destroyed. —A merchant who has just arrived from Spanish Honduras says that 500 lives were lost by the recent floods there. The loss of live stock and the damage to the fruit interest and to the railroads is estimated at $20,000,000. —The mammoth ferry-boat, Solano, which plies between Benicia and Port Costa, Cal., is in need of repairs, there being a large amount of grass on her bottom, but there is no dock in the State large enough to receive her. —Floods in Dalmatia and Croatia have caused the River Kerks, in Hungary, to burst its bounds. Houses have been inundated, crops damaged, roads submerged and postal communications suspended. The rain continues and water is rising. —Governor Cullom by proclamation prohibits the importation into Illinois of any cattle from the various infected districts of the Eastern States. The penalty is from $1,000 to $10,000 and payment of all losses resulting from such importation. —Another warning to boys who steal rides, has just been given in San Francisco, but will probably be unheeded. A little boy five years old attempted to jump on a truck, but fell, the hind wheels passing over his chest. He lived but a few hours. —The Irish Times states that a company is being formed, with a capital of about $15,000,000, at the head of which will be a member of the royal family, for the purpose of purchasing waste lands in Ireland, to be reclaimed and let or sold to tenants for cultivation on easy terms. —Chief Justice Hunter, of Utah, has decided that George Q. Cannon, the Mormon delegate to Congress has not been legally naturalized, and is, therefore, not entitled to his seat. Allen G. Campbell, the gentle candidate for the position has gone to Washington to press his claims. —A serious accident occurred at Keokuk, Iowa, on the 4th inst. The steamer War Eagle, going south, ran against a span of the Keokuk and Hamilton bridge, breaking it into fragments. The damage to the bridge was about $150,000. The steamer, valued at $40,000, was a total wreck. Several persons are missing, but no bodies have been found. —The English railroads in 1880 carried 540,669,175 passengers—twenty times the population of the country. Of these passengers, 32,097,645, or only 6 per cent., traveled first class, 57,894,129 second class, and 450,677,401 third-class. The first-class passengers, however, paid 16 per cent. of the total fares. —Judge Mayhew, in the Superior Court at Marysville, Cal., has issued an order restraining the working of the hydraulic mines in Nevada county, until further action of the court. This is in consequence of the violation of the order to prevent mining debris from flowing into the Yuba river or its tributaries. —A smoke-consumer is being tried in Chicago. That city has an ordinance requiring all persons using large quantities of soft coal to effectually consume the smoke, so as to prevent its issuing from the smoke-stacks, to the great annoyance of the public. The new apparatus is said to prevent the smoke and saves one-third in fuel. —The Supreme Court has recently decided that the Sunday law of California is Constitutional. The Grand Lodge of Good Templars has issued a large number of circulars containing extracts from the law, together with directions for bringing prosecutions before Justices' Courts, against its violators, and is urging its strict enforcement. A "League of Freedom" has been organized for the purpose of resisting all attempts to enforce the law. —A letter from London says that the desire to get away from Germany is shown by the statistical register of the two towns of Hamburg and Bremen, which forwarded last year 106,790 persons, viz., Hamburg 42,787, and Bremen 64,003. During the last six months however, the emigration from these two places has been so large that it is to be feared Germany will lose at least more than 800,000 people in the course of the present year. —The Mechanics' National Bank, Newark, N. J., has suspended in consequence of the defalcation of the cashier, O. L. Baldwin, who has been using the bank funds for some time, until more than $2,000,000 are gone. Baldwin gave himself up to the authorities, confessed his crime, and stated his willingness to spend the remainder of his life in jail. He has a family, has been connected with the bank from boyhood, and was regarded by all as above suspicion. —Col. W. B. Smith, of Omaha, Neb., clerk of the United States Circuit Court, was murdered at his office on the night of the 4th. The Colonel was a prominent business man, and highly respected. He had been quite active in enforcing the law compelling saloons to pay $1,000 license, also compelling them to close on Sunday. This has caused a bitter feeling against him, among the saloon men, and it is thought that they are responsible for the deed. Several threatening letters, which he had received, tend to strengthen this view. Over $5,000 reward has been offered, by the citizens, for the arrest and conviction of the murderer. —Last Sunday was the first Sunday since the decision of the Supreme Court, declaring the Sunday law Constitutional. In many of the interior towns the saloons and business houses were closed. In Stockton, the saloon keepers decided to hold open and resist the law, and most of them did so. No arrests have been made at this writing, but doubtless will be. In San Francisco and Oakland the law was not observed at all. Much difficulty is expected in enforcing the law in these places, but the Good Templars, who are the leaders in the movement, are carefully laying their plans. The editor of the Rescue, the Good Templars' organ, said that they meant business, and hoped eventually to close up not only the places where liquor was sold, but all other places where business was transacted contrary to law. He said they had the law on their side, and numbers of the most influential citizens had promised aid in the matter. HEALTH AND TEMPERANCE TRACTS.
Tea and Coffee. A careful statement of the objections to the use of these popular beverages. 24 pp. 3 cts. Pork. This tract exposes the filthy scavenger in all his uncleanness. 16 pp. 2 cts. The Drunkard's Arguments Answered. Leaves no excuse for tipplers. 16 pp. 2 cts. Principles of Health Reform. 16 pp. 2 cts. Causes and Cure of Intemperance. 8 pp. 1 ct. Moral and Social Effects of Intemperance. A forcible statement of facts and statistics. 8 pp. 1 ct. Evil Effects of Tea and Coffee. 8 pp. 1 ct. Tobacco-Using a Cause of Disease. 8 pp. 1 ct. Tobacco-Poisoning. Nicotiana Tabacum. 8 pp. 1 ct. Ten Arguments on Tea and Coffee. 8 pp. 1 ct. Tobacco Using a Relic of Barbarism. 4 pp. 1-2 ct. Alcoholic Poison. 4 pp. 1-2 ct. True Temperance. 4 pp. 1-2 ct. Alcohol, What is It? 4 pp. 1-2 ct. The Sunshine Series. Stories for little ones, in ten small books, adapted to children from the ages of four to ten years. In glazed paper covers, 320 pp. 50 cts. Golden Grain Series. A choice collection of instructive stories suited to the wants of children from eight to sixteen years and older, illustrated and beautifully bound in three volumes. THE HARD WAY, 160 pp. 40 cts.
THE SCHOOL-BOY'S DINNER, 160 pp. 40 cts.
GRUMBLING TOMMY, 160 pp. 40 cts. Golden Grains in Ten Pamphlets. The same reading as in the first two volumes, without pictures, in ten pamphlets of 32 pages each, 320 pp. 50 cts. Sabbath Readings for the Home Circle. In four volumes, containing moral and religious reading for the household; carefully selected, and compiled for the use of Sabbath school and family libraries. Each, 75 cts. The Child's Poems. Containing Little Will and other stories, teaching beautiful lessons of temperance and virtue. Bound in cloth and richly embossed in gold and black. 128 pp. 30 cts. TRACTS.—3 cents each. The Second Message of Rev. 14—The Lost-Time Question—The End of the Wicked—Infidel Cavils Considered. Address, Pacific Press, Oakland, Cal. VALUABLE BOOKS OF REFERENCE.
MANUALS OF INSTRUCTION FOR SABBATH-SCHOOL TEACHERS AND BIBLE STUDENTS. History of England from the accession of James II. By T. B. Macaulay. 5 vols. $5.00 Rollins' Ancient History of the Egyptians, Carthaginians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes and Persians, Macedonians, and Grecians. 2 vols., cloth. $4.50 Sacred Geography and Antiquities, with maps and illustrations. By Rev. E. P. Barrows, D. D. The investigations of missionaries and explorers during the last century have thrown a flood of light on many points once involved in obscurity, and it is the aim of this book to condense and put into methodical form what has thus been collected. 685 pp. $2.25 Companion to the Bible. By E. P. Barrows, D. D. Designed to assist teachers of the Sabbath-school, ministers of the gospel, and Bible students generally, in a thorough and systematic study of the Scriptures. Part First contains a concise view of the Evidences of Revealed Religion. Parts Two and Three are introductions to the Old and New Testaments. Part Four is devoted to the principles of interpretation. 668 pp. $1.75 The Church, School, and its Officers. By J. H. Vincent, D. D. This thoroughly instructive and interesting volume was written mainly for the younger ministers of the church. It also defines the duties of the Superintendent, the Secretary, and the Chorister, upon whom the success of the school so largely depends. 224 pp. 75 cts. The Art of Questioning, with an introductory address on Training Classes. By J. G. Fitch. 15 cts. Use of Illustrations in S. S. Teaching. By J. M. Freeman. 15 cts The Art of Securing Attention in a S. S. Class. By J. G. Fitch. 15 cts. Bible Geography, Hand-Book of. (New and Revised Edition.) Containing the Name, Pronunciation, and Meaning of every Place, Nation, and Tribe mentioned in both the Canonical and Apocryphal Scriptures. By Rev. Geo. H. Whitney, A. M. Illustrated by 100 engravings and 40 maps and plans. 400 pp. 12mo. $2.50 The Bible Atlas and Gazetteer. Containing six large and accurate maps, and a list of all geographical names with reference to their Scripture places, and to the proper maps; also a variety of useful tables. Muslin bound. $1.00 Smith's Dictionary of the Holy Bible. For general use in the study of the Scriptures; with engravings, maps, and tables. Muslin bound. $3.00 Cruden's Complete Concordance to the Holy Scriptures, with a Concordance of the books called Apocrypha, and a Life of the Author. One rarely becomes so familiar with the Bible that he has no occasion, at times, to use a Concordance in looking for particular passages. A book of this kind has, therefore, come to be considered an indispensable aid in the study of the Scriptures. And it is a laudable ambition to seek for the best. This, in the line of Concordances, is found in Cruden's Unabridged, which we are prepared to furnish by mail, post-paid, for $1.75 SUNDAY LAW IN CALIFORNIA.
It has been supposed that the Sunday law of this State was null, but in a test case brought in one of the upper counties the law has been declared constitutional. Now we may look for a vigorous contest. The law is brought to bear right where it will receive the sympathy and aid of the best class of citizens, namely, against the saloons. Our only objection on this score is that it is only a Sunday law; if it were a law which could be enforced seven days in a week it would receive our unqualified approbation. In San Francisco a "League of Freedom" has been formed to resist the enforcement of the law. This is a very doubtful policy. On Saturday night, Nov. 5, a meeting of saloon-keepers was held in Stockton at which it was resolved to keep open doors on Sunday. The result cannot easily be predicted. One thing we may safely conclude: though it begins with the liquor traffic it will not end there. We "look for such things." By our study of Rev. 14, we were led, more than a quarter of a century ago, to look for a general Sunday law, strictly enforced, in the United States. By many our expectations, and our fears of a religious persecution in this land, were derided, because they could see no indications of such things coming to pass. Neither could we see, but we believed, and events are proving that we were not mistaken in our reading of the "sure word of prophecy." State laws will never avail to secure a complete observance of Sunday. The great lines of railway will prove too strong for them; indeed, we doubt whether they will ever be attacked by those who are enforcing these State laws. Soon the "Religious Amendment of the Constitution" of the United States will be called for in all quarters. Skeptics will then believe that the words of the prophets are not idle tales, and that there is a God who "revealeth his secret to his servants the prophets." Amos 3:7. THE MICHIGAN FIRES.
By Editor
WE publish in this paper a brief account of the fires in Northern Michigan, copied from the Detroit Free Press. It will give the reader some idea of the terrors of that great calamity. But no language can give any just idea of its magnitude, and of the horrors of all its details. This is only equaled by the fires of ten years ago, when Northern Michigan, Northern Wisconsin, and Chicago suffered so severely. Having visited some of the districts devastated in 1871, and heard from the lips of the sufferers and witnesses of that terrible visitation some account of the action of the fire, we can better appreciate the account given of this. It is not possible to eradicate from the minds of those who passed through those scenes the idea that there was something supernatural in the event. And as we listened to their recitals we felt that it was not difficult to accept their idea as reasonable. One thing has deeply impressed those who have taken time to consider the nature of the calamities of late years: their magnitude and the appalling loss of life. Perils and tribulations are on every hand, and people are not willing to consider the lesson which Providence is pressing upon their attention. An accident with the loss of hundreds of lives is forgotten in a day, and as a consequence human life is fast becoming a matter of little worth. Life is taken with a recklessness that is nothing less than shocking. One must be careful how he speaks to a boy on the streets now-a-days or he will find a revolver drawn upon him. We believe we are in the last days, and these are among their perils, and but forerunners of the plagues which are soon to come upon the earth. What a warning is being given to all believers in the fulfillment of the prophecies which refer to these events. Let us “watch and be sober,” and by obedience to the “present truth,” prepare for those things which are coming upon all the world. The camp-meeting this year required our close attention for nearly ten days. Work in the office became a little disjointed, and we have scarcely got round to where we can bring all departments of the paper to their normal condition. However, we can report good progress, and expect to give closer attention than ever to our office work, as the preaching force on this coast is increased. We pray that the preachers and missionaries may be blessed and prospered. Brethren, pray for us. The Seventh-day Adventists have pitched a large tent in the city of Alameda, in a convenient location, close to Park street, on Santa Clara avenue, and meetings commenced there on Friday evening last. Elder Van Horn has done most of the preaching thus far, but he will be assisted by Elder Healey, and others. There has been considerable desire in Alameda that our people should hold meetings there. The camp-meeting last year left an excellent impression, and it has been followed up with considerable missionary work in the circulation of our publications. We invite our brethren and sisters as far as possible to assist in these meetings, both by their presence and by further missionary labor. And, above all, pray for the prosperity of the work. LAST Sabbath we spent with the church in San Francisco, and spoke on Jer. 13:16. Words cannot express the deep interest we have felt for the welfare of this church in years past. We have labored for them when labor was a great hardship to us, and when others were almost too much discouraged to make an effort in their behalf. We appreciated their circumstances, and pitied them under the discouragement of a heavy debt. The Lord has been good to them, and is opening a way in San Francisco for the church to rise, and the cause to be advanced. Two difficulties have stood in the way of that church: there has been too great indifference to the calls for missionary work. Some, who might have become strong, have kept themselves weak by inactivity. The burden has been left to be borne by a few, and they not always the ones having the best opportunities. Another, and a greater difficulty has been, that some unruly ones were busy in their efforts to destroy confidence in those who had labored, and were laboring for their good. Faithful Testimonies and wise counsel had been given to the church and to individuals, but persistent efforts were made by a very few to bring them into contempt. They were very few, but, unfortunately, they were given influence by receiving sympathy from those who did not know clearly what they were doing. These suffered themselves to be led by their feelings, not discerning the true state of things. Now provision has been made for the removal of their debt; they are unexpectedly, and without effort on their part, freed from this burden. But their responsibilities are increased. Their privileges are greater than ever before; we hope they will faithfully improve them, and not suffer darkness to settle down upon them.