The Review and Herald, Review and Herald, Vol. 48, No. 4.
A FLORAL MIRACLE IN DAYLIGHTPage 1
A FLORAL MIRACLE IN DAYLIGHT.
Is the following, which a friend sends us from the Boston Sunday Herald, of July 2, 1876, a reliable statement? Is the devil giving to the manifestations of his wonder-working power in these last days this enchanting form, and paving with flowers the path to his last great deception? We do not see why not. It is headed, “The Floral Miracle in Daylight.” “A Philadelphia letter of the 19th of June, from Melen M. Barnard, in the Banner of Light, says, “On Sunday morning, at the residence of S. P. Kase—a wealthy gentleman of this city, who entertains with generous hospitality mediums, many of whom, like Christ of old, have not where to lay their heads—during breakfast, while the family were still seated around the table, Mrs. Thayer, who has found a happy home within this household, complained of loss of appetite, and feeling quite unwell arose to leave the table, when she discovered by the peculiar, shivering, nervous tremor that precedes her floral dispensations, that there was no use to attempt to vacate her place; for the agony was fairly on her, and she must yield to its culmination.” “This was early in the morning, without premeditation or expectation. Presently, we felt something falling about our feet. On raising the cloth, there, under the table, were a dozen or more beautiful white pond lilies, interspersed with pinks and rose-buds. Then a pineapple dropped on the plate beside Mrs. Kase, much to the bewilderment of all present, who could not see any more of the mystery explained, of how or where the flowers are brought, than when the same is done in darkened rooms; it was only a flash in the air, and suddenly, without notice or preparation, they fell as noiselessly as do snow flakes from the leaden winter sky.” “After this manifestation, the family adjourned, filled with the spirit, like the party of old, to whom the disembodied spirit of the Master came, to ‘an upper room,’ the servants were called up and all joined around the family altar in songs of prayer and praise. While thus engaged, there dropped at the feet of Mrs. Kase, brushing her dress in its flight, a magnificent half-blown magnolia, set in a crown of ten wax-like leaves, completely hiding from view the nestling blossom within. It was a magnolia from the extreme South, such as do not grow in this latitude, and are not to be found in our greenhouses. It seemed to bring with it the sphere of dreamy, hazy, Southern skies, the land of beauty and wealth of bloom. All in the room saw it fall, and also saw that Mrs. Thayer was sitting with folded arms some distance from the spot where the instantaneous creation of this flower seemed to have taken place.” The following shows from their own lips the spirit that still reigns in the Catholic Church. Give them the opportunity and the power, and they will exhibit its diabolical fruits in our own land:— “Felix Martinez, Protestant Mexican, began not long ago to read the Bible to his neighbors. For this, and this only, a number of Catholic Christians broke into his house at night, and in the presence of his wife, who plead in vain, knocked him down with a club, then shot him dead, and ended by hanging the body in the wife's presence. Harper's Weekly, referring to the case, called the murdered man a martyr; whereupon the New York Tablet [Roman Catholic] says:— “Martyr! If a man were to outrage my wife or daughter, and I were to slay him in a moment of uncontrollable indignation, would he be a martyr?” As much so as this Felix Martinez. What is the meaning of this nonsensical cant about his ‘becoming interested in the Bible and interesting his neighbors?’ So some Mexicans shot him because he ‘was interested in the Bible.’ What is this pitiful, unctuous euphemism for a man's insulting the religion of the people, wounding their profoundest religious convictions, and insulting all they hold most dear, but a hypocritical falsehood? The people were not wise to execute summary vengeance on him; but people are not wise when all the tenderest feelings of their hearts are wounded. Lynch law is a barbarous remedy; but lynch law is not confined to Mexico, and if it could ever be justifiable, it is when, in a country devoted to the Catholic faith, a blaspheming infidel, having become ‘interested in the Bible,’ proceeds to interest his neighbors.” A COMING CONFLICT WITH THE PAPACY IN THE UNITED STATES.
By T. Fitzsimons
We have all along believed, from a close observation of the signs and drifts, that a coming conflict with the papacy in the United States, at no distant date, is one of the events before us. The traditional policy of the papal church, its history, its ever hostile attitude toward free governments, its alliance with the Democracy, its intermeddling with our public schools, the avowed utterances and threats of its adherents, are all the visible signs of the conflict now inaugurating, and force us to this conclusion, nor do we stand alone in this opinion; scores of both foreign and American writers have warned America on this head within the past twenty years, and the following are but a few publicly recorded recent opinions of distinguished divines and writers, who maintain the same view, and sound the trumpet of alarm. The National Standard, of August, 1875, says:— “There is a battle impending in this country, over the same issue that is being fought abroad. What has been so far is only skirmishing and preparation. Rome makes war against the Bible. America is pre-eminently the land of Bibles. It is upon American soil that the final struggle will take place. All signs indicate this, and we shall do well to be prepared.”
The Religious Telescope, of Dayton, Ohio, August 25, 1875, says:— “All our convictions arising from observation, and a study of the word of God, point out to us that the system of Romanism is an unholy worldly monster, having for its aim the subjugation of all the nations upon the face of the earth to its temporal dominion.”
Rev. Robert M. Hatfield, D. D., in an address at the Chautauqua Convention, N. Y., 1875, says:— “The growing influence and power of Romanism in this country is one of the greatest perils of the hour. The Church of Rome has been the inveterate and constant foe of civil and religious liberty, and would to-day padlock every American citizen, so that all should be brought under its power and control. While we have been crying, There is no danger from the Church of Rome, she has been with consummate tact uniting and marshaling her forces, and moving steadily on to the accomplishment of her hellish purposes. I predict that the war of the ages will take place in this country between Protestantism and Romanism.”
The Christian, New York, 1875, says:— “There is a power that is fixing its fangs upon our body politic, and uniting its efforts to bind us hand and foot; that power is endeavoring to wipe our public schools and Bible out of existence, and creating its cardinals and archbishops in our midst. Do Protestants realize the danger? Are Americans on the watch? There is danger impending, are we prepared to meet it?”
The Rev. Father Stack, of Williamsport, Pa., himself a Catholic priest, but opposed to the class autocracy of the Roman bishops in the United States, in one of his series of articles contributed to Harper’s Weekly, in July, 1875, that attracted so much attention over the country, thus speaks of the “menacing dangers of our institutions” from this bishop power, and warns the nation. He says: “The Catholic Church in America, under the class power of the bishops, is an empire within the republic, and the bishops are its supreme rulers, requiring the most unqualified obedience of their ‘subjects,’ as they love to call one-fifth part of the American people. The bishops are absolute feudal lords. And Bishop O’Hara informs us, in his printed argument to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, in Stack vs. O’Hara, that they intend to maintain this absolute power until they are successful over all their enemies in America.” He also further makes the following prediction of a coming conflict in the United States, between the papacy, the Bible, and our institutions: “I am not anxious to hazard a prophecy, but I am bold to say that I anticipate angry contention and strife from the relation of the Catholic Church under the sway of the bishops to the American republic. And though the conflict may be postponed, it is sure to come.” This testimony, coming as it does from a Catholic priest (though not an enemy to our institutions, as witness his famous suit against Bishop O’Hara for the tyrannical use of his episcopal power), is for that reason the more valuable and important. One of our State journals on this fact also says:— “Bishop Gilmore, the Roman Catholic bishop of Cleveland, Ohio, stated in 1875, ‘we are Catholics first, and citizens next.’ What is this but tantamount to saying, ‘We obey the church first, the State after?’”
Harper’s Weekly, of August 21, 1875, says:— “If the freedom of our schools is in danger—and no one who is familiar with the facts will deny it—the peril lies in the servile obedience of the Democratic leaders to the Roman priesthood, which is the price of the Roman Catholic vote for the Democratic party. The important point is26not what the Democrats say, but what they are doing in every state in the Union.”
At the Evangelical Convention, held at Sea Grove, N. J., in August, 1875, at which were present ministers from nearly every religious denomination in the country, one of the most important subjects that came up for action was “the aggressions of the Romish Church in forming political organizations, whose aim is to obtain a share in the public school fund.” The voice of warning was here sent out to the people of the United States by two hundred clergymen, to resist any and all attempts upon our institutions by this new uprising papal political alliance in our midst. One of our public writers says, referring to the same subject, “That alarm is greatly felt upon this approaching danger to our country, the action of over a dozen of our State legislatures, and recent enacted laws on the subject, plainly indicate, and they are too public to escape notice.” Rev. Geo. F. Griffin, Milford, Ct., 1875, says:— “Let not the Protestant church of America close its eyes and fold its arms in self-complacency and indifference, while Romanism marches on with silent tread to the occupation of the land.”
And so we could extend the testimony to columns. These men sustain prophecy that describes the papal power in the last days as rising in its dying struggle to supremacy over the earth again, and in which she is represented in Rev. 18:7, as saying, “I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow;” but the next verse tells us her destruction comes “in one day.” We believe that the near time will show that the above warnings are true and prophetic. And this great conflict is rapidly approaching.—T. Fitzsimons, in Advent Christian Times. THE AGE OF STEAL
By J. Barber
In former ages poets, good and bad,
Assaulted vice—their aim the public weal.
The Iron Age its rhyming censors had,
Why not—it needs them more—this Age of Steal?
Prone in the dust commercial honor lies,
Stark knavery sways the scepter in finance,
Motives to statesmen bribery supplies,
And wealth and virtue only league by chance.
To suit the times even epithets we alter—
A treasury thief's no thief, but a “defaulter.” I like to label scoundrels with their names,
Robbers or swindlers, as the case may be;
In print to crown them with their several shames
Is to the bard a genuine luxury.
If your bank-parlor is a bandit's den,
Why, call its inmates villainous, I say;
And when the State is fleeced by railroad men,
Pronounce them till-thieves on the wholesale “lay.” Why make for rogues a virtual apology,
By transcendentalizing crime's technology? If a half-naked pauper steals a coat,
The retail wretch no pitying Christian bails;
But if a banker filches millions—note!—
He's not arrested, for he only fails.
Yet, to my mind, the burglar at his trade,
Breaching, at fearful risk, a barred stronghold,
Would tilt the scales of justice, fairly weighed,
’Gainst him who safely steals intrusted gold!
Yet unto bankruptcy one goes, scarce wincing,
The other's tried, condemned, and goes to Sing Sing. Methinks some well-dressed persons walk the streets,
Nay, drive fast teams and shine as sporting stars,
Who, but that trickery justice oft defeats,
Would, in striped vestments, gaze through prison bars.
Widows and orphans, brought to grief by fraud,
Too well the glib-tongued, oily rascals know,
Who, making Plutus here their only God,
May sup, at last, in Tartarus with Pluto.
They scarce would be at home, those false Philistines,
Placed in a Christian paradise with Christians! Honor to piety! May every soul
That strives for Heaven in earnest, thither win;
But much I fear each church's muster-roll
Includes some members hand-and-glove with sin.
Duly on “stated preachings” these attend,
Hoping thereby their sordid schemes to aid;
They play at worship for a venal end,
And value prayers as capital in trade—
Using the outward semblance of religion
As fraud's decoy, hypocrisy's stool-pigeon! The Age of Steal lacks bards with honest pens,
To tell its villains in plain words the truth;
Drop satire's caustic on its sores and wens,
And tear its masks off without fear or ruth.
Meanwhile its countless graduates in crime,
Each day, each hour, more bold and lawless grow,
And Satan chuckles in his own dark clime,
O'er human imbecility and woe,
May we still hope—or is it a chimera—
Amid such scenes, for the “millennial era”?
—J. Barber. THE ROMISH CHURCH AND THE VOTE FOR THE PRESIDENCY.
The Southern Catholic, of Memphis, the official organ of the Romish Church in the South contains an article which lays down the programme as follows:— “There are two very essential steps to be taken in order to win the next presidential race. It is scarcely necessary, I trust, to urge our fellow-Catholics to assemble everywhere around the Democratic colors; for they are all, by choice or necessity, external to the Republican party, and it is incredible to believe that any Catholic who has a modicum of self-respect and love for his church can co-operate with that party. If hitherto he has done so, the time is at hand to abandon an organization which is confessedly, and without longer disguise, at war with our holy religion.” A reporter comments on this paragraph as follows:— “The Southern Catholic has torn the mask from the face of the Romish Church, and made it stand forth in all its hideous deformity as a political body allied with the worst element of American politics. Such bold and defiant assertions as that the self-respect of the Roman Catholic American will not allow him to co-operate with the Republican party, and more, if he loves his church he cannot do so, seem a vile slander on many citizens. But be that as it may, the truth as to the Roman hierarchy in this country is out and undisguised, and its attitude known; and doubtless a free people, proud of their freedom and general intelligence, and understanding their duty, will not fail to perform it. Let the information here given reach every town and city and hamlet in the land. Let the people know that the Romish Church has risen up against their political power. And let every citizen who loves his country and its free institutions prepare to resist the influence of the Romish priesthood in their infamous attempt to interfere with the freedom of the suffrage of American citizens.”—Reporter, Windom, Minn. REDEMPTION GREATER THAN CREATION.
By Chas. B. Reynolds
Is it not strange that first-day advocates, who claim that their faith and practice are founded on the doctrines set forth in the New Testament, and that their sole desire is to glorify Jesus and obey his teachings, should be so oblivious to his most plain and oft-repeated declarations? We read: “I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” John 5:30. “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish his work.” John 4:34. “For I came down from Heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me.” John 6:38. “My Father is greater than I.” John 14:28. “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven.” Matt. 7:21. Despite these and very many similar declarations by our Lord, it is gravely asserted: “Redemption is greater than creation, and therefore it was that Christ changed the Sabbath to the first-day of the week.” This is simply asserting that Christ came to destroy the eternal memorial of creation, established by his Father as the sign between himself and his children forever; that he did annul and efface that memorial; and, further, that he instructed his disciples to trample upon and despise the sacred seventh day, so blessed and hallowed by the Father. This is teaching that all Christians should make the seventh day a day of secular work, instead of abstaining from labor upon it; and that in its place they should observe the first day of the week, a day that ignores alike the Creator and the work of creation, and by keeping which they honor and glorify the Son at the expense of the Father. Oh! well might our Lord exclaim, “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” Surely they do not stop to think—do not realize their blasphemy. “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” ARE WE NEAR THE END?
By G. V. Kilgore
Is the Judgment day, that day that will decide our cases for eternity, near? Several lines of “the sure word of prophecy” say, Yes, that day is even now near to come. Daniel, who so accurately pointed out the rise, fall, and divisions of the kingdoms of earth, places the time of the end in the present century. In chapter 7 he fully describes the papacy, saying it would persecute, and wear out the saints of God for a long time. In chapter 11:31–35, he speaks of the same power, and there declares that the people that do know their God shall fall by the sword, by flame, and by captivity, many days. He then notices the Reformation: “They shall be holpen with a little help.” Yet he says, “Some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end.” Then, as soon as those persecutions were all over, the time of the end was reached. The persecutions continued until a few years prior to 1780, so that this year was certainly in what Daniel calls “the time of the end.” What a fitting time for Christ’s great sign in the sun to occur! Christ recognized Daniel as a true prophet (Matt. 24:15), and just at the time Daniel’s time of the end was reached the sun was darkened to show that the prophet was correct, and also to fulfill the words: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened.” This tribulation is the same that Daniel speaks of, at the conclusion of which the time of the end would commence; for Christ said it was to be shortened for the sake of his people. Matt. 24:22. He also said it would be the greatest that the people of God ever would experience, and greater than any of them had suffered before. Such was the character of the persecutions which Daniel predicted to come under the reign of Papal Rome. The history of the papal power shows plainly that both Christ and Daniel speak of the same tribulation. It was verily shortened, as Christ foretold; for papal supremacy began in A. D. 538, as Catholics themselves declare, and continued till 1798, when it was lost. But did they persecute up to 1798? No; the Reformation shortened the work of persecution, and caused it to cease about A. D. 1776. Then immediately—just as Jesus said—the sun was darkened (May 19, 1780) in such a manner that all the astronomers in the world could not account for the phenomenon! (See Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, p. 1556, edition of 1869.) And now since those persecutions have all ended, and since the signs of which Christ spoke begun to come to pass immediately after they ceased, it is very evident that we are in the time of the end, and that the last great day is near at hand. Again, Paul forbade anybody’s looking for the second coming of Christ till the man of sin, the papacy, should be revealed, the son of perdition, “who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God,” etc. How, then, say some that Christ’s coming is at the death of a saint? Did not saints die before the man of sin was revealed? Yes, Paul himself died before that time, but Christ’s coming did not then take place. A great many think that the saints all gather together unto Christ as fast as they die. But Paul says that the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto him will not take place until the man of sin has done his blasphemous work. 2 Thess. 2:1–8. At his death this saint knew he had to wait till Christ’s appearing for his reward. 2 Tim. 4:6–8. What he meant by “our gathering together unto him” is shown in 1 Thess. 4:16, 17: “For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” It is a mistake to say that death is the coming of Christ; “for as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” He is coming to wake his saints out of their sleep, not to close their eyes in death. Therefore, dear reader, do not look down to the hour of death for Christ’s appearing. Look up. The time of the end has come. The signs in the heavens have been given, and our redemption draweth nigh. We may now look for the day of Christ. Speed on, glad day! But oh! where will the sinner hide? How will half-hearted professors feel? Oh! that all men would take warning in time, and escape the wrath of the Lamb. G. V. KILGORE. DOES IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE?
By J. M. B.
“Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things; they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they showed any difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.” Eze. 22:26. Such, we conceive, are the words of the Lord to all who say, It makes no difference which day we keep, so we keep one day in seven. Do we rightly understand them? Do they truly mean all their words imply? Do they mean to say it makes no difference whether we obey God or not? Do they mean to say we will meet his approbation and receive his blessing just the same in either case? Such expressions remind us very forcibly of the words of a noted spiritualist, A. B. Child. In “Better Views,” p. 29, he says, “Divinity is made manifest in the ten commandments, in their obedience, and also more significantly in their disobedience.” Mr. Child’s view will need but little modification to agree with the assertions of our friends, and none whatever to agree with their practice. Come, my friends, let us reason together. What think you? Would the blind man whose eyes Christ anointed with the spittle and clay have been healed, had he gone to the pool Bethesda and washed instead of the pool of Siloam, as he was commanded? Suppose he had reasoned thus: “True, the Lord said, Go to the pool of Siloam and wash; but why go to that particular pool? for surely it has no virtue above other pools. As to virtue, has not Bethesda the pre-eminence? Are not its waters troubled? Have not many been healed by its waters? And is it not more convenient? Surely, I will wash here, and I shall see.” Had he reasoned and acted thus, he would have seen, when too late, that he had made a great mistake. Can you believe he would have been healed? No, he would not, simply because he did not obey. Suppose Naaman, when he was told by the Lord’s prophet to dip himself seven times in Jordan and he should be healed of his leprosy, had gone to Abana or Pharpar, instead. Said he, “Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them, and be clean?” Nay, verily, he must go to that particular river, Jordan, and dip himself just seven times, as commanded, to be healed. Neither can we expect the approbation of God and receive his blessing unless we obey. God is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. He says, “I am the Lord, I change not.” He is just as jealous of his honor as ever. When he speaks it is ours to obey. When he says, You shall keep my rest-day, we may not say, Nay, we will keep another day instead. When he has made a difference between the days by placing his divine blessing upon one, we may not say there is no difference in them. When he says, You shall keep the seventh day; we may not say, We will keep the first, because it is more convenient. Doing this would be like going to another pool to wash, or to another river to dip ourselves. It would be setting up our wills in opposition to God’s will. Can we do this, and say in our prayers, Not my will, but thine be done? It would be wise to obey God, and receive the reward promised to the obedient in these words: “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thine pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Isa. 58:13, 14. “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” J. M. B. HOW TO MAKE TENTS.
By D. H. Lawson
BRO. J. F. CARMAN, of Potterville, Mich., has dictated the following instructions for the manufacture of family or church tents. For a tent twelve feet wide, cut the strips of canvas twenty-six feet long (this is sufficient length for the roof and wall), and as many strips as are necessary for the length desired. The edges of these strips should be placed together and lap one inch; then stitch through both edges. It can be done to advantage on a machine. If done by hand both edges are overcast; but this is slow work, and the machine work is much more quickly done, and is just as good, if good, strong thread is used. After the strips are all sewed together, find the exact center from either side, and measure from the center each way eight and one-half feet. The seventeen feet thus obtained will be the roof of the tent, both sides, of course. At this point, eight and one-half feet each way from the center previously found, take a tuck two inches wide. This will take up four inches of the cloth left for the wall, for which calculation has been made, and this tuck must run the whole length of the tent, on both sides. Now run a ⅜ rope in the lower edge of the tuck on both sides, and the whole length of the tent; stitch the rope fast to the tuck, but not to the wall; then work eyelet-holes in the tuck, just above the rope and close to it, at each of the four corners and at every seam on both sides. Ropes of the size mentioned above, and eight feet long must be tied in these eyelet-holes, with which to stake down the tent. Now turn a hem about two inches deep on the bottom of the wall, the edge inside. Into this hem a rope must be drawn and eyelet-holes must be worked, the same as in the tuck, but a little larger. In these eyelet-holes, short pieces of rope may be placed with which the wall can be fastened down at the bottom, or very small stakes27may be driven through the eyelet-holes into the ground. This completes the roof and wall. For ends, measure on the edges of the cloth ten feet, five inches; this is the longer side of the longest pieces for ends, and four pieces will be needed of the same dimensions, two for each end of the tent. Now measure the width of the canvas or drilling, as the case may be, and from the point to which you have measured on the side, measure back the same distance as the width of the cloth, then cut diagonally a square mitre across to the point marked ten feet, five inches, from the end of the cloth. Recollect, the longer side of this piece is just ten feet, five inches in length, the shorter side will lack just the width of the cloth of being so long. Having cut this piece, it will be a pattern by which the other three pieces may be cut. Be exact. Each of these pieces must now be treated in the following manner: Measure from the longest point of the pieces thus cut down the diagonal side six inches, then cut the point off square with the diagonal side. The object of thus cutting off the points is to insure the coming together of the longest sides of these strips clear to the ground, as they serve as doors to both ends of the tent, and can be tied or buttoned together. Place the point now formed on each of the long strips in sewing on to the roof exactly in the center of the roof, or what is to serve as the peak, the edges lapping each other as they will. For the remaining pieces of the ends, place the shortest side of the piece already cut upon the long side of the cloth remaining, cutting it off square at the bottom, continuing thus to do till the ends are both filled out, the long side of the second piece by the short side of the first; of the third, by the second, &c. Sew these ends together in the same manner as the roof and wall, with the same width of hem at the bottom, and work eyelet-holes. The long pieces can be sewed together down from the peak about three feet, being left open the remainder of their length, and they will lap, in consequence of the mitre cut at the top, about six inches. This completes the tent. No names or mottoes should be painted on them. For a tent fourteen feet in width, the strips for roof and wall must be cut twenty-nine feet long, and the long pieces for the ends, eleven feet, five inches. From the center of these roof strips, after they are sewed together, that is, from what is to be the peak, measure ten feet to the tuck at top of wall; this tuck, also, must be taken from the wall and not the roof, but both roof and wall are cut in each strip. In other respects this tent is made just like the other. For ends of tents, drilling or heavy sheeting will answer every purpose. The length of tents will depend on the number of strips used, but experience has demonstrated that small-sized tents and more of them are best adapted to general use. Church tents are qualifiedly good; family tents are far preferable. Ten oz. duck should be used, and can be obtained by any merchant. D. H. LAWSON. Crime Records Fall Far Behind
An eccentric Londoner, nearly ninety years of age, who has given attention throughout more than half of this period to the collection and classification of reports of criminal trials, is getting discouraged, and says, “It may be that my increasing years render the task more difficult; but my opinion is that crime of the worst character is becoming so prevalent that no one can keep pace with it. My books of murders are far in arrears; I am far behind-hand with my divorces; and my forgeries have so accumulated on my hands that I have been compelled this week to employ a young man to aid me in posting up the records.” Study it carefully,
Think of it prayerfully,
Deep in thy heart let its pure precepts dwell;
Slight not its history,
Ponder its mystery,
None can e'er prize it too fondly or well;
Accept the glad tidings,
The warnings and chidings,
Found in this volume of heavenly lore;
With faith that's unfailing,
And love all prevailing,
Trust in its promise of life evermore. REFLECTIONS
By M. E. Steward
How wise and merciful are all God's plans, manifested even in his most painful dealings toward us. I have heard persons say they did not wish to be saved if their loved ones were not to be, but let such reflect a little. We lay one whom we tenderly loved in the grave. Our sorrow seems insupportable; but time is a healer. Our mourning after awhile becomes less intense, and at last softens into occasional tender, sorrowful memories. Our Father has wisely ordered it thus; for, otherwise, oh, what a funereal place were all the earth! When young we may become ardently attached to some friend from whom we soon part to meet no more till we become old people. Do you think the intervening time, with all its labors, interests, and other loves, has wrought no change in our regard for this friend? We meet in old age with scarcely a trace of the feelings of early life. Our God perfectly understands our natures. In great mercy he separates us from our unconverted friends, not for fifty or seventy years, but for a thousand. We begin this period with hearts attuned to his will and character, and as we pass down through these years, every day we learn more and more of him and of his works; and the more we know of him the more we reverence his wisdom and justice, and love his goodness. Our judgments cheerfully acquiesce in all his doings, and we grow more and more out of our earthly selves and into God. Meanwhile time separates us from those lost ones who were so dear to us in this life, and weans us from them. Now suppose we were called, at the resurrection of the just, with our feelings toward our friends unchanged, to witness their destruction, what a shock it would be to us! But our God is wise and merciful. We can trust him with our tenderest feelings, our dearest ties, our whole hearts and lives! Most adorable Father, help me to settle into thy will and become conformed to thy holiness now. OUR SABBATH-SCHOOL WORK.
By J. LAMONT
The work of the Sabbath-school is to teach young persons, as well as those who are older, what God's will is concerning us, our duties to him and to each other, in short, the narrow way from this world to the better one. The first thing to be considered is, perhaps, the best method or methods of imparting, receiving, and retaining this desirable information. Our text book is just what it should be—prepared expressly for us, perfectly adapted to our wants, exactly suited to our capacities. It was written by holy men of old, who wrote as they were moved by the Spirit of our Heavenly Father. It needs no improvement—is not susceptible of any. But oh, for teachers to properly use this blessed Book of books! The teacher must realize the greatness of his work. He must see that its results reach into a never-ending eternity; and that the future weal or woe, life or death, of each pupil depends, in a great measure upon himself. Do not those who “feed the lambs” need to study to show themselves “workmen that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth?” Any school, whether Sabbath or week-day, is just what the teacher or teachers make it. Our Sabbath-schools compare favorably with the Sunday-schools of the land; but they are not the standard by which we measure. Let our ideal school be perfection’s self; then keep working toward the standard. Think all the week as to the best way to interest and instruct your class. The Lord helps those who help themselves. Years of earnest study are required of the teacher who aspires to a place in the graded schools of our cities. He must become so familiar with his subjects that he will always be ready to explain them. Compare this with the hasty half-hour that some Sabbath-school teachers devote to a surface examination of the most important lessons—lessons that Jesus came all the way from Heaven to bring them. But you haven't time to properly prepare these lessons. The Lord of glory, although he had a whole universe to attend to, “took time” to bring these Sabbath-school lessons to you; will you not, then, take time to master, not the subjects only, but the best manner of presenting them to your classes? J. LAMONT.