Review and Herald, Vol. 44, No. 13. (9/15/1874)

Review and Herald

Sep 15, 1874

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 15, 1874

JUST THINK OF THIS!

By Dudley Marvin Canright

BY ELD. D. M. CANRIGHT.

Taking the Sacramento Weekly Union, for Aug. 1, 1874, I had the curiosity to look it through, and mark every item touching all manner of crimes and unnatural phenomena. Though I was prepared to see a long list, yet I was astonished to find, when I was through, every page all marked up. Indeed, it seemed to be but one long list of murder, robbery, suicide, and wickedness.

To give the reader some idea of this terrible record, I will simply give a list of the crimes committed. Remember that this is only the record of one week, and simply of one paper; and these are only the more notable cases which have attracted public attention. Of course, a large number pass undiscovered. If this is the record of one paper for one week, away on the Pacific Coast, what must it be, putting all these items together, for one week all over the country from Maine to California, from Florida to Minnesota? But now listen:—

W. B. Bourne committed suicide. A Chinaman murdered. A woman stabbed. J. Leonard attempted murder. A shoe factory fired by an incendiary. Showman arrested for crime. A shop-keeper strangled, and his shop robbed in daylight. A shooting affray, in which one man is killed. Corona, a bandit, arrested. Lugo convicted of man-slaughter. A suit for libel. An officer shoots a prisoner. A case of forgery. A sad case of insanity. Another case of burglary. A man stabbed and killed. A Senator arrested for corruption. Five men killed by the Indians. Railroad train assaulted by a gang of thieves. An arrest for forgery. A thief caught. Another burglary. A ship's crew arrested for mutiny. A case of highway robbery. A woman kidnapped and outraged. Jewelry store robbed. A mob resists the law and overpowers the officers. An incendiary arrested. Express wagon robbed. Another express wagon robbed. A fight in the theater. Another suicide. Man arrested for embezzlement. Another suicide. Another case of embezzlement. Attempted murder. Attempted robbery. A woman outraged and the villain killed. Two men murdered. A case of black-mailing. A stage robbed. Man sentenced to death. A safe robbed. A man stabbed. Two masked men rob another stage. Another suicide. Another burglary. Man commits bigamy and absconds. Another forger arrested. A boy shoots his brother. A man convicted of burglary. A man convicted of forgery. A woman found murdered. A man sentenced to be hung. A boy stolen. Twenty men arrested for perjury. Another suicide. Elopement. A man murdered. A whole family murdered. A man cuts his throat. Arrest for man-slaughter. A man becomes insane. Another case of insanity. A man sentenced for villainy. Attempt to poison. Another suicide. A boy shot. A man sentenced for larceny. Arrested for house-breaking; another for stealing. Another case of burglary. A case of adultery. A shooting affray. Another suicide. A forger arrested. A diabolical attempt at incendiarism. Fraud in election. A man kills his child and then commits suicide. Two criminals arrested. One man stabs another.

There, reader, what do you think of that for a list of crimes for one week, picked up by one paper, most of these cases being confined to the Pacific Coast? This hardly looks like the dawn of the millennium.

The Carson Tribune advocates the formation of a vigilance committee in that town. The Tribune says: “In this little country town not a night passes but some hoodlum endeavors to force his way into private residences. Complaints of the kind are brought to us, and we can suggest no remedy beyond the free use of cold steel and leaden pills. Let the people get together and organize themselves into a protective society.” This indicates how bold and lawless ruffianism is becoming.

RECENT STORM IN NEVADA.

The Carson City Tribune says of the recent storm:—

It would seem as if cloud bursts were an epidemic at this time and also that the disease of the air, or whatever it may be called, is not confined entirely to the arid regions of Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. On Saturday afternoon there was a rain of ten minutes’ duration at Truckee, such as was never seen before.

TERRIBLE STORM IN ARIZONA.

The Prescott Miner, of July 17, devotes a large portion of its space to a terrible storm which visited that Territory on the 9th instant.

WATER-SPOUT IN NEVADA.

Great flood at Eureka, Nevada, and loss of life—terrible scenes—thirty houses carried away.

A water-spout burst over the railway track near Toano yesterday evening, doing much damage to the road. An emigrant train was thrown from the track and five passengers were killed.

The past few days, says the White Pine News of July 25, have been prolific of thunder storms, accompanied with immense quantities of rain, visiting us nearly every day. Late intelligence from Washburne’s informs us that one day last week the inhabitants of that locality were placed in much peril from the effects of a cloud-burst. The water emptied out so suddenly upon the earth, swept down the ravines and creeks, carrying away bridges and everything in its course.

Kentucky suffered much damage from a great storm on Sunday night. Corn was injured to the extent of $100,000. A storm also fell on the country about Columbus, Ohio, doing much damage.

SALT LAKE.—A dispatch dated at Salt Lake, July 23, says:—

During a heavy storm this afternoon, the Catholic church was struck by lightning and badly damaged. A cloud also burst, inundating the streets and private residences. Such weather here at this season is unprecedented in the recollection of the oldest residents. It is still raining.

HEAVY RAINS AND DAMAGE ABOUT COLUMBUS, OHIO.

COLUMBUS, JULY 27.

Heavy rains last night, and much damage by water, destroying property stored in cellars. Two barns east of the city were struck by lightning; one was entirely destroyed, with much valuable property.

STEAMER LOST.

NEW YORK, JULY 24.

Nassau advices state that the Pacific Mail Company’s steamer, City of Guatemala, Capt. Hildreth, from New York for Aspinwall, was lost on the north-east point of Walling Island, Thursday, July 16, at midnight.

LONDON, JULY 27.

A special to the Times, describing the storm in Moravia, says the town of Azagra was destroyed by a torrent; sixty-four houses were demolished and few inhabitants escaped with their lives. The railways were badly damaged in every direction.

The States in the Upper Mississippi Valley were visited with a violent storm of wind and rain on Friday night.

At Sarnia, Ont., a terrific thunder storm passed over the city on Sunday morning, doing great damage to property.

What a list of terrible storms in so short a time! Commenting on them the Union says:—

On a wider field they had also their cloud-burst in Ohio and Kentucky some hours after the catastrophe at Pittsburg. It was a storm, but one, in places, closely resembling water-spout, and attended by terrible scenes and great destruction of property, as also, it is to be feared, of life. All over the country these storms have been of unusual frequency and dreadfully destructive this year. The lightning, the hurricane, the water-spout, number their victims this summer in the Western States by hundreds. And in many parts of Europe the same phenomena prevail, with a sprinkling of earthquakes in places where the earthquake is hardly ever felt. The cause is a mystery. The comet theory is not worth considering. Greater comets have come nearer to us and gone out again into the illimitable fields of space without affecting the atmosphere of the earth, or producing any appreciable effect in the weather. We must search for the cause in other directions. Surely, there is one; and where the effects are so astounding and so general, it ought not to remain undiscovered. We hope the astronomers, assisted by “Old Probabilities,” will busy themselves in unfolding the mystery and informing the world as to the real cause of the weather phenomena now and for some months astonishing and alarming the world.

Again it remarks:—

The occurrence of three such phenomena all within the space of an hundred hours and distributed over so wide a part of the world, must be regarded as among the most remarkable weather-wonders of record.

Here follows its record of other calamities:—

The steamer Altoona brings Yokohama dates to July 4. The Japanese steamer Tai Q. Maru was lost on the fifth of June on the west coast. Twenty-seven lives were lost.

Six persons were killed by a stroke of lightning near Louisville, Ky., on Saturday.

Fort Wayne, Indiana, was visited by a very destructive storm on Friday. Much property was ruined.

An entire village in Navarre, Spain, has been covered by a land-slide, and over 200 persons were killed.

EARTHQUAKE AT VIENNA.

VIENNA, JULY 26.

A shock of earthquake was felt here to-day violently.

Prince’s Dock, Liverpool, was damaged by fire yesterday to the extent of $1,000,000.

Fire at Newburg, N. Y.; loss, $75,000.

Fire at Vicksburg, Miss.; loss, $40,000.

Fire in New York; loss, $20,000.

Fire at New Orleans; loss, $40,000.

Losses by the water-spout at Eureka aggregate $150,000 at that one place. To which must be added a list of lives lost, the number not yet being fully known.

Cholera is increasing in parts of India.

A GREAT DROUGHT IN SONORA.—

A correspondent at Guaymas, Sonora, under date of June 25, says the times are very dull, and prospects bad for anything better. Everything is dried up; no rain last year and none this year so far. Fountains and fountain-heads, never dry before, are now dry. Fresh water is sold as a luxury. The only life is the arrival of a San Francisco steamer every twenty days. The State Congress has been in session at Ures since May 26.

Several fields of potatoes at Tomales have been nearly destroyed by grasshoppers.

The appearance of caterpillars in the interior of South Carolina is the cause of great apprehension among cotton planters for the safety of the crop.

A STRANGE DISEASE IN MEXICO.

TLALENANGO, JUNE 23.—A most singular and unaccountable disease, commonly known as the “bursting sickness,” has broken out in this vicinity, and already has spread to many of the neighboring villages and cities. The people are in consternation by reason of the many deaths which have occurred. The doctors—wretched medical men at the best—are at a loss how to deal with the trouble, and the priests have their hands full. Tlalenango, Bolanos, Cartagena, and even Sanceda Hac, are suffering more or less, and there is no telling where or when the disease is to stop. I am not an expert in describing sickness, but the trouble seems to be an unusual discharge of nerve force into the brain. The symptoms are sudden nausea, followed almost immediately by a severe and sharp pain along the spine, proceeding from its lower extremity to the head, and described as feeling as though a blunt knife were scraping upward. There is then—when the pain reaches the back of the head—a sharp and poignant distress there which makes the patient delirious, although it never produces unconsciousness or loss of the right use of the senses. The eyes are bloodshot and wild, with pupils greatly contracted. The sensitiveness to light is intense, so that even in paroxysms of excruciating agony the patient will rise and seek a dark place. This state lasts commonly not more than from thirty to forty minutes, during which the patient feels as though his head were splitting; and when this condition lasts for about half an hour the cranium actually bursts open at the sutures, as is sometimes the case with infants whose heads split thus after death from water on the brain. The sound produced by this rending asunder of the bones of the skull can plainly be heard full ten feet from the patient. It is said that in some instances the disruption is extremely sudden, and accompanied with a noise still louder. This occurs, too, at a moment when the sufferer is in full consciousness, and it is most terrible to witness. The disease broke out at the silver mining region at Bolanos about two weeks ago, and the cause is unknown. About 300 persons, generally adults, have already died of it, and it is yet spreading. The sickness is, so far as I know, as unique as it is singular.—Correspondence New York Graphic.

There, reader, that completes the terrible list in one number of one weekly paper! Does this look like the near approach of the millennium? Does it not look more like the condition of Sodom on the eve of its overthrow? and are not these terrible calamities evidence that the judgments of God are coming on the land? As we see how anxiously men are watching these things, it reminds us of the words of Jesus describing the last days: “Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth.” Luke 21: 26.

Santa Clara, Cal.

Babylon Is Fallen.

By R. M. KILGORE

“AND there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” Rev. 14: 8.

This message is the second of a series of three which, from their character, and the nature of the work designed to be accomplished by them, are clearly located, and must precede the coming of the Son of man, upon the white cloud, to reap the harvest of the earth. They are, therefore, emphatically, a threefold warning of the approaching end. The second contains a most solemn announcement.

This “great city,” or “Babylon,” is certainly symbolical, representing corrupted Christianity or apostate Christendom. Compare Rev. 17: 1–6, with verse 18. Her fall, therefore, must be a moral fall, and the reason assigned for this fallen, or low, condition is “because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”

Here is represented the false doctrines which the church, during her apostasy, has propagated, adulterating and corrupting the pure truths of God’s word. And out of this mixture of truth and error have grown her different creeds, which are as various as her costly towers. And as a result, we now behold what we might expect; instead of unity, division; instead of love, envy and jealousy; instead of piety, ungodliness; and instead of faith, unbelief and skepticism.

There never was a time when there were so many professing godliness, and so little devotion; so many teachers of the people, and so little real burden for the salvation of precious souls; when there was so great a need of reform, and so bitter an opposition to it, as at the present time.

We see developed before our eyes the photograph which the apostle painted eighteen centuries ago: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” 2 Tim. 3: 1–5.

With the false doctrines of corrupted Christianity have the nations of the earth been brought to a state of spiritual intoxication. A drunken man is insensible to danger, however imminent it may be, and cannot be aroused. He heeds not the note of warning or the kind voice of supplication.

There the nations of the earth are represented, morally, when the day of the Lord bursts upon the world. The prophet Isaiah says, “Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: They are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes; the prophets and your rulers [heads, margin], the seers hath he covered.” Chap. 29: 9, 10.

The reason why the Lord thus deals with the people is evidently given in the following chapter: “Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the latter day [margin]; that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord; which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things; speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits; get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.” Chap. 30: 8–11.

And the apostle in his letter to Timothy charged him to “preach the word;” for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

Like men in a state of intoxication, regardless of danger and of the voice of warning, they reply: “We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us; for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.” Isa. 28: 15.

Then the time hastens when the above announcement must be repeated, and its power increased. This we find in Rev. 18: “After these things I saw another angel come down from Heaven, having great power; and the earth was lighted with his glory, and he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird.” (Compare also Jer. 5: 25–31, and 2 Tim. 3: 1–5.)

Is it surprising that this solemn announcement should be made when such a state of things exists as is here described? Indeed, it would be truly wonderful if the cry was not raised, the trumpet blown, and the alarm sounded in the ears of those who have ears to hear, that they may accept the gracious invitation: “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Rev. 18: 4. [For God has in the past always preceded his judgments by a faithful warning to those upon whom they were to fall. But it will be in the future, as it was then, there will be but few who will hearken to the sound of the trumpet and heed the warning, while the multitude pass on unconcerned and unmoved. They will have no relish for unadulterated truth, but will clamor for “fables,” the doctrines and commandments of men.

From this impure fountain have the nations of the earth been drinking, until stupor has seized them, and wrapt in carnal security they lie dreaming of “peace and safety” and “a good time coming,” seeing in their visions a world’s conversion and universal brotherhood.

The words of the apostle are applicable. Oh! that all would take heed and be warned by them. “But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day; we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.” 1 Thess. 5: 1–7. R. M. KILGORE.

The Land I Love.

My heart is onward bounding, Home to the land I love; Its distant vales and fountains My wishful passions move. Fain would my thirsty spirit Its living freshness breathe, And wearied soul find resting Its hallowed shades beneath.

No soil of Nature's evil, No touch of man's rude hand, Shall e'er disturb around us That bright and blissful land. The charms that woo the senses Shall be as bright, as fair, For all, while breathing round us, Shall tell of Jesus there.

What light, when all its beaming Shall own him as the Sun! What music, when its breathing Shall bear his name along! No pause, no change of pleasure, No cloud to dim our view, The draught that lulls our thirsting, Shall wake our thirst anew.

Prophecy.—No. 7.

By W. H. Blaisdell

We have examined certain prophecies relating to the Jews, as an illustration of the fact that God has in his word foretold the history of certain nations or classes of mankind. Many prophecies concerning other nations and classes, similar to those which we have examined concerning the Jews, may be found in the Bible, but we shall here only briefly refer to two more examples of this kind. In Jeremiah and Ezekiel are prophecies relating to Egypt, a few verses of which we here quote. “The word that the Lord spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt.” Jer. 46 : 13. “It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.” Eze. 29 : 15; also 30 : 10–13.

We give one brief extract from Volney’s “Travels,” vol. i. pp. 74, 103, &c.

“Such is the state of Egypt. Deprived twenty-three centuries ago of her natural proprietors, she has seen her fertile fields successively a prey to the Persians, the Macedonians, the Romans, the Greeks, and Arabs, the Georgians, and, at length, the race of Tartars, distinguished by the name of Ottoman Turks. . . . The system of oppression is methodical. Everything the traveler sees or hears reminds him he is in the country of slavery and tyranny. In Egypt there is no middle class, neither nobility, clergy, merchants, nor land-holders. Ignorance, diffused through every class, extends its effects to every species of moral and physical knowledge.”

In Exodus 17 : 14–16, we find a prophecy relating to the Amalekites, a nation that fought with the children of Israel while on their journey to the land of Canaan. It reads as follows:—

“And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” “For he said, because the Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” Verse 16.

Here is a prediction foretelling the fact that their name should be utterly blotted out; not that they should be scattered among all the nations of the earth, nor that they should become the basest of nations; but that there should be war with them from generation to generation until the last one of that nation should cease from the earth.

In the “Union Bible Dictionary,” by the Am. Tract Society, under the word “Amalekites,” are the following remarks and references:—

Ex. 17 : 8–16; Num. 14 : 45; 1 Sam. 15. A remnant still escaped and subsisted afterwards: “David defeated them on several occasions, 1 Sam. 27 : 8; 30 : 1; 2 Sam. 8 : 12; and they were finally blotted out by the Simeonites in the time of Hezekiah, 1 Chron. 4 : 43, thus fulfilling the prediction of Balaam. Num. 24 : 20. Haman, the last of the race mentioned in Scripture, perished like his fathers in conflict with the Jews. See the book of Esther.”

We next call attention to prophecies which relate, not to nations or classes of men, but to certain individuals. There are many of this kind in the Bible, but we shall refer to only two cases to illustrate the fact that there are such predictions, and, though relating to individual cases, they have been as surely fulfilled as if they had related to all the world.

It will be seen by reading 1 Kings 21 that Ahab, king of Samaria, and his wife Jezebel, conspired together to take the life of Naboth, and succeeded in accomplishing their wicked design; and God determined to bring certain judgments upon them for their wicked deed, which determination was made known to them by the mouth of Elijah.

“And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it. And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.” Verses 17–19.

“And of Jezebel also spake the Lord, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.” Verse 23. Of Ahab it was said the dogs should lick his blood; but of Jezebel it was said the dogs should eat her.

We find the record of the fulfillment of the prediction concerning Ahab in chapter 22, verses 35–38, which event happened about two years after the prediction was uttered. It reads as follows:—

“And the battle increased that day: and the king was stayed up in his chariot against the Syrians, and died at even: and the blood ran out of the wound into the midst of the chariot. And there went a proclamation throughout the host about the going down of the sun, saying, every man to his city, and every man to his own country. So the king died, and was brought to Samaria; and they buried the king in Samaria. And one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood; and they washed his armor, according unto the word of the Lord which he spake.”

The prediction in regard to Jezebel was fulfilled about fifteen years after it was spoken by the mouth of the prophet. We find the record of this event in 2 Kings 9 : 33–36. “And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down; and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he trode her under foot. And when he was come in, he did eat and drink, and said, Go, see now this cursed woman, and bury her; for she is a king’s daughter. And they went to bury her; but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands. Wherefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This is the word of the Lord, which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezebel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel.”

Thus we learn what a fearful thing it is to have the judgments of God predicted against mankind either as nations or individuals: W. H. BLAISDELL.

Ignorance of Teachers.

By Jos. Clarke

If there is anything peculiarly trying, it is to sit and listen to the mistakes and errors and ignorance of a public teacher, especially if he be a teacher of morals and practical religion. If a school-teacher would attempt to teach his school that three times four are thirteen, the error would be soon discovered, and a continuance of such teaching would consign him to perpetual contempt. Yet we find that while men in general would despise a teacher who would commit errors in teaching the multiplication table, yet they will look calmly on, and see the gravest errors taught in theology, and look upon such errors and such ignorance as harmless, because popular opinion attaches little importance to such matters.

It is this apathy upon religious subjects, and this carelessness as to what we believe, which have ever since the fall of our first parents made our race the willing victims of those systems of error which have held the people in the bonds of idolatry and false Christianity. This weakness has prepared the way for the reign of the papal church, and for the reception of all those erroneous opinions extant everywhere, which have come down to us refined and polished by the papal church, received by that power from the pagan systems, preceding her, and by the papacy baptized and consecrated.

It is very sad indeed to witness the credulity of Adam’s posterity, when false doctrines are skillfully and eloquently offered from the pulpit, especially if some gilded bait is used to entice the unwary listener, or some of the terrors of public opinion or authority are displayed to intimidate and terrify.

It has been by the means of such fears and charms as we have mentioned that error has thrived, not by palming them all at once upon the people, but gradually they have come in. Like weeds in a neglected field, or like thistles and thorns in a deserted

highway, errors and systems of error have taken root and established themselves as loved and sacred treasures; and as heathen nations often worship and cherish the foulest of reptiles as their deities, so do professed Christian bodies esteem and cherish favorite errors as much if not more than the most sacred truths of the word of God.

It was not necessary that any one teacher should be wholly an errorist; if he would teach but one error among a thousand truths, and his successor should only add another, and his converts continue to multiply the error, it would in the fruitful soil of man’s inventive genius come to be what we see before us in these last days.

It is painful to listen to the popular preaching of the day, and hear the doctrines of the gospel, so well explained and urged home, and the next sentence, full of invectives against the present work of God in our land; to hear the eloquent speaker at one moment hold before his audience the very truths of God which we need, and, at the next breath, blasphemously ridicule the work of the Judge, and his servants the angels, and the heavenly sanctuary, so reverently alluded to by the sacred writers. Seeing these signs before us, we do well to consider the cause, and origin, and final issue.

JOS. CLARKE.

Like Begets Like.

By H. F. Phelps

PARENTS, do you know that just as you act toward your children so they will act; that the same disposition you manifest in their presence they will copy? It is so. Watch your children and see. Do you not discover that they are but a faithful representation of yourself? If you desire your children to love and respect you, love and respect them. If they do not love and respect you, just blame yourself for it. If after a short absence from them you desire that they should meet you with tokens of love, manifest the same to them. If they do not do it, it is merely because they are afraid of you. They fear to approach you lest they should be rudely repulsed.

There is a timid-looking little girl. Her heart beats with just as much love as any of her age and circumstances. There is her mother or guardian who has been absent a few days. The child approaches timidly, cautiously, yes, awkwardly. What makes her do so? She is afraid. Now see—my heart aches—have not you a kiss for mother? The child hardly knows whether to kiss or not. Her chin drops upon her breast, her hands by her side. Have not you a kiss? There now, giving her a rude push, you don't like me, you naughty girl. The child cries. Anger fills her bosom on account of such conduct.

There is another mother. Her children are no more lovely by nature, but love has been cultivated. The mother is returning to them. See! see! the children almost fly to her. Her arms are spread open wide to receive them all at once, and more too, they know they will be warmly received. They have a kiss—yes, any number of them. They love their mother, and are not afraid to manifest it.

Where is the difference between these and the first mentioned? Simply in the way they are managed; simply in the conduct of these two mothers toward their children. The one is coarse in her manners and selfish in her ways; she has no time to be a child—no time, it may be, to speak a kind word. The other is kind, loving, with always a kind word for her children. She talks love, she acts love toward them. If she is gone they miss her, and long for her return. And when she returns, the seed she has sown has ripened in her absence and it is ready to be poured back upon her with interest compounded.

Tell me, reader, which you are. Which is the Christian? H. F. PHELPS. Litchfield, Minn.

Eternity! Eternity! Eternity!

“ETERNITY! Eternity! Eternity!” says an able but neglected writer. “Carry the view of it about with you, if it be possible, through every waking hour of your life; and be fully persuaded that you have no business, no interest in life, that is inconsistent with it; for whatsoever would be injurious to this view is not your business, is not your interest.”

Allegiance.

PUT them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work. Titus 3: 1.

“Open allegiance is surely the soldier’s duty. No covert homage can avail. What measure of recognition or protection can he reasonably expect who publicly disowns and disclaims his leader?” So to the thoughtful mind a verse occurs bearing no indistinct and indefinite meaning: “Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with his holy angels. ‘Again, ‘If we deny him, he will deny us.’”

“Can we wonder at his rebelling against his earthly prince who has renounced all fidelity to his Heavenly Sovereign? Heartfelt allegiance to a supreme ruler, and unwavering loyalty to the powers that be, are intimately blended. A truly religious man will never be a factious subject.”

The Restitution. Acts 3:21.

By St. Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem

BY ST. CYRIL, BISHOP OF JERUSALEM, A. D. 350.

ADAM received the doom, “Cursed be the ground—thorns and thistles shall it bring forth,” &c. For this cause Jesus wears the thorns, that he might cancel the doom; for this cause also was he buried in the earth, that the cursed earth might receive, instead of the curse, the blessing.

Our Lord Jesus Christ then comes from Heaven, and he comes with glory at the end of the world, in the last day. For this world shall have an end, and this created world shall be made new. For since corruption, and theft, and adultery, and every sort of sins, have been poured forth over the earth, and blood has been mingled with blood in the world, therefore that this wondrous dwelling-place may not remain filled with iniquity, this world shall pass away, that that fairer world may be made manifest. And wouldst thou receive proof of this out of the express words of Scripture? Listen to Esaias, saying, “And the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll, and all their host shall fall down as the leaf falleth off from the vines, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.” And the gospel says, “The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven.”

The Lord shall roll up the heavens, not that he may destroy them, but that he may raise them up again, more beautiful. Hear David the prophet saying, “Thou, Lord, in the beginning, hast laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands; they shall perish, but thou remainest.” But some one will say, “Behold, he says plainly, They shall perish.” Here in what sense he says they shall perish, it is plain from what follows: “And they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed.” For as a man is said to “perish,” according to that which is written, “The righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart,” and this, though the resurrection is looked for, so we look for a resurrection, as it were, of the heavens also, “The sun shall be turned into darkness, the moon into blood.” And again, hear Christ saying, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away;” for the creatures are not equal in honor with the Master's words.

The things then which are seen shall pass away, and there shall come the things which are looked for; things fairer than these; but as to the time, let no one be curious. For “it is not for you,” he says, “to know the times and the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power.” And venture not thou to declare when these things shall be, nor, on the other hand, abandon thyself to slumber. For he saith, “Watch, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh.” But seeing that it behooved us to know the signs of the end, and whereas we are looking for Christ, therefore that we may not be deceived and perish, nor be led astray by that false Antichrist, the apostles, moved by the divine will, address themselves by a providential arrangement to the true teacher, and say, “Tell us when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world.” We look for thee to come again, but Satan is transformed into an angel of light; put us therefore on our guard, that we may not worship another instead of thee. And he, opening his mouth, says, “Take heed that no man deceive you.” And you, hearers, who now, as it were, see him with the eyes of your mind, listen to him saying the same things to you likewise: “Take heed that no man deceive you.” And this word exhorts you all to give heed to what is spoken; for it is not a tale of things gone by, but a prophecy of things future, and which will surely come. We prophesy not, for we are unworthy; but we set before you the things which are written, and tell you the signs. Observe then which of them have already come to pass, and which yet remain, and make thyself safe.—Catechetical Lectures, xx: 3.

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