Earlier text: A New Application—Furious gales are reported from England and Ireland, and much damage to property. —A new monthly magazine for the blind has been started in Philadelphia by N. B. Keass, Jr. —A petroleum well in the Baku District, Russia, is said to be yielding 8,000 barrels of oil daily. —Canada is raising a standing army of 1,200 men, to serve for three years. The full number applied at the recruiting office in Montreal, where the quota was only 100. —There is a great mining excitement in the Cour d’Alene country, W. T., and men are crowding in from every direction. —A terrible gas explosion occurred in Crested Butte Coal Mine, Col., last week, and fifty-two miners lost their lives. —A man named Caddigan and his wife were lynched last week, at Ouray, Col., for murdering their adopted daughter. —Seven hundred black recruits for the Egyptian army had to be driven by the cavalry to the train waiting to transport them to the front. —The Minnesota penitentiary, at Minneapolis was entirely destroyed by fire on the 26th inst. Loss, $500,000. The prisoners were all saved. —Last year is said to have been the hardest that insurance companies have ever experienced in this country, and there is talk of a rise in rates. —The latest accounts say that ninety-seven lives were lost by the wreck of the steamer City of Columbus, off New Bedford, Mass., on the 18th inst. —The National Temperance Society has issued an address to both national parties urging the nomination of prohibition candidates for President and Vice-President. —It is reported that several prominent bankers in China have committed suicide on account of the decline of securities, and a business dearth growing out of the prospect of war with France. —Alaska is promised a Territorial Government at an early day. It is said to be rich in fish, fur, coal, iron, copper, gold, and timber. The population is estimated at 33,000, only 430 being Americans. —The German style of type is giving way. Bismarck has had the “Manual of the Empire” printed in Roman type, and the Ministers of War and the Navy have followed his example in their reports. —The Houston, Texas, Post, on the strength of a rumor that the Mormon authorities were about sending some missionaries to that State, advises them “not to send any men who cannot be permanently spared.” —During a riot at Enniskillen, Ireland, last week, the police charged the mob and were met by the Nationalists with a shower of stones. The Orangemen also stoned the police, and afterward stoned the Catholic school-house. —Considerable quantities of California fruit in tins have found the way to India via China, and commands a good price. A Consular Agent suggests that it would sell even better if packed in glass, as is the English and French fruit. —A prominent physician who has practiced on the Cumberland River plateau, Tenn., throughout a generation, says he has never known of a case of consumption in all that region; and his testimony is supported by several other practitioners. —A bill has been introduced in the Mississippi Legislature to abolish the municipal government of the city of Jackson, the capital of the State, on the ground that it represents only the disreputable elements in the place—gamblers, rum-sellers, and worse. —At the request of leading capitalists, a Chicago engineer has presented an estimate of $1,000,000 for the construction of an island in Lake Michigan containing fifteen acres, the material to be dredged from the sand-bar off Fifty-first street, and surrounded by a crib breakwater. —A special examiner is to be sent on authority of Congress to look into the Judiciary affairs of Arizona, which are reported in a demoralized condition. Charges of fraud and other outrages have been preferred by a large number of citizens, headed by ex-Indian Agent Tiffany. —The republic of Chili having secularized all cemeteries, the Catholic bishops have declared them desecrated, and forbidden their priests to conduct burial services in them. In turn the republic forbids Catholics to bury in private cemeteries where communal cemeteries exist. —It has long been a query how so many quack doctors came in possession of diplomas. It has been discovered in New York that a traffic exists in the diplomas of deceased physicians, which are procured from their widows who may need money more than the relics. Dates and names are altered. —The tendency of the age is indicated by the growing popularity of pugilists, wrestlers, pedestrians, and other notables of that class. More people congregated at San Francisco ferry wharf to greet the arrival of the champion pugilist, than turned out to meet Gen. Hancock, who was supposed to be one of the most popular men in the country. The hero of this ovation is a Boston saloon-keeper. NOTICE.—The change of figures on the address labels will be in all cases a sufficient receipt for money sent for the paper. If these changes do not appear in due time, and if books ordered by mail are not received, please notify us. All other business is acknowledged below. CALIFORNIA CONFERENCE FUND.—Fresno Church (tithe) $191.15, San Jose $11.80, San Francisco $33.85, Woodland $113.55, Lemoore $141.75, St. Clair $240, Petaluma $29.15, Los Angeles $64.00, Grass Valley $20.75, St. Helena $112.10, Vacaville $95.45, San Juan $5.00, Salinas $14.30, Santa Rosa $38.60, Healdsburg $189, S. E. McClellan $6.25, C. Rasmussen $16.00. CASH RECEIVED ON ACCOUNT.—Wisconsin T. and M. Society $200, Texas $298.50, Kentucky $10.45, Vermont $100, North Carolina $300, Tennessee $27.48, Illinois $110, Iowa $90.40, New York $200, Healdsburg Sabbath-school $66.42. CALIFORNIA T. AND M. SOCIETY.—District No. 1, per E A Chapman, $38.75; Santa Rosa Society, per Dr H Cole, $10.30; District No. 2, per W H Ingels, $74.36; District No. 3, per P M Partridge, $11.90; Lakeport Society, per Mrs H M Church, $3.25; District No. 5, per Mrs S Mason, $63.00; District No. 7, per Mrs H Tay, 50c, per B Robb, $4.00, per Emma Boyd, $2.00; District No. 8, San Jose Society, per Ellen Simons, $21.00; District No. 9, Los Angeles Society, per Luella Lockwood, $14.85; District No. 10, per Wm Harmon, $34.02; F E Bosworth, $1.00; Jos Eggleston, 35c; Anna Ingels, $1.50; Alice Morrison, $4.05. CALIFORNIA T. AND M. RESERVE FUND.—District No. 9, per Luella Lockwood, $3.50. SAN FRANCISCO MISSION.—J I Tay $25.00, J J Bolton $5.00, W S Swayze $5.00. FOREIGN MISSION FUND.—Mrs S Baker $10.00, J I Tay $50.00. BRITISH MISSION.—A friend, $5.00. HEALDSBURG COLLEGE.—J I Tay $50.00, Mrs S Baker $10.00. —An edition of the Bible has just been issued in the Zulu language, by the American Bible Society. —A Canadian judge has recently decided that it is illegal for a barber to shave a customer on Sunday. —At Bridgeport, Conn., five female soldiers of the Salvation Army were arrested while parading the streets, on the 21st inst. —Great revivals are reported among M. E. Churches in Maine—especially at Augusta, Richmond, Berwick, and Cherryfield. —Rev. Dr. H. A. Sawtelle, formerly pastor of the Union Square Baptist Church, San Francisco, after an absence of several years, has returned to that city, and accepted a call to Zion Church. —Hoopeston, Ill., says the Kankakee Gazette, is enforcing the Sunday law. All business of whatever kind must be stopped. Livery stables are prohibited from hiring out horses on that day. —At Cairo, Egypt, there is a Mohammedan Missionary University, where many hundreds of students are preparing to carry the doctrines of the Koran throughout the East. Moslem missionaries are found throughout all Asia and in many parts of Africa. —Keshub Chunder Sen, the leading promotor of the “Bramo Somaj” religion of India, is dead. This “Worshiping Assembly” was founded in 1830, but Mr. Sen gave it a new impetus in 1859. Its following is not large, and it is aimed rather more at social improvement than spiritual growth. —At Statesville, N. C., a Methodist minister while attending Conference, was asked by a stranger to come into a back street and see a dying man. Upon kneeling to pray at his side, the minister was seized by the supposed sufferer and held while the other man robbed him of $400 which he had brought to Conference. —In a deep canyon of the Texas mountains, close by the Mexican border, a missionary of the American Sunday-school Union recently started a union Sunday-school, and, despite the different nationalities and denominational beliefs of its scholars, it seems bound to succeed. In another Texan settlement where all discouraged the effort, and said it would inevitably fail, the same missionary founded another similar school, and it met with the same success. —A Massachusetts State Unitarian Sunday-school Union has been organized in Boston, which held its first meeting Monday evening, Dec. 17. In a discussion of practical topics it was held that vital, spiritual Christianity must be applied to the religious education of the young; and deep-seated earnestness should enforce the moral principles and truths embodied in the life and death of Jesus Christ. —The Bishop of Ohio (Catholic) says that a unanimous declaration by every portion of the Christian Church upon the issues of marriage, temperance, and the Sabbath, would produce an effect upon the public mind of incalculable weight. To this he adds: “If grace should be given us to devise such measures as will produce cordial acquiescence among all Protestant churches of our commonwealth, and should the movement progress, as we may fairly hope that it will, to embrace our whole country, the churches of England, Ireland and Scotland being already as one with us, it is within reasonable expectation that the Christian Church throughout the world will speak the same language on all these moral issues. Legislation will not fail to follow the lead of such a public opinion. And just in proportion to the unanimity of the Church of Christ in this commonwealth, as in any other, will be its influence on the action of our legislators.” AN important meeting will be held in Woodland, Cal., similar to the one recently held in Healdsburg, beginning Feb. 7 and lasting to the 18th. Elders Corliss, St. John, White, Healey, and Israel, and Mrs. E. G. White, are expected to attend. The opportunities for instruction in methods of missionary work, canvassing, Bible readings, etc., will be unequaled. All the churches in that part of the State should be largely represented. BOOKS SENT BY FREIGHT.—Eld C L Boyd, Eld E A Briggs, Eld W C White, North Pacific T and M Society, Healdsburg College, Mrs E G White. BOOKS SENT BY EXPRESS.—Cal Bible Society, B F Wilson, Henry Scott, W E Pearson, W C White, E J Church, J W Gardner (3), F E Bosworth, John Malone. BOOKS SENT BY MAIL.—J N Bunch, J B Fairbanks, Eld H W Decker, M C Israel, Willis A Lewis, T B Fletch, Geo. Rich, Mary R Simpson, James H Elgin, Florence Atkinson, Harry Hughes, Ellen Rees, Warren Sievers, Mary E Nordyke, Prof C C Ramsey, C H Aaron, Mrs G W Colcord, H Sain, Mrs Lucy Batterson, Albert Brooks, Mrs W D Brown, E H Duncan, Martha McDonald, Mrs W J Orr, C S Campbell, A C Kenyon, Fred Struckmann, Bertie Pratt, Mrs Martha A Smith, Miss Eva Jones, Don P Rea, Rosa Hadfield, Arra Hadfield, Miss Pearl Reeser, Edward F Campbell, Miss Etta Grieve, Isaac F Nordyke, Jimmie Johnson, Chester A Davis, Minnie Measel, P Nilsen, Bettie Fuller, Miss Eliza D Usher, W H Switzer, W W Bailey, W G Buckner, Noble Nordyke, Paul E Gros, H B Houghton, R B Bellamy, H A Blackmer, Mrs F R Rudd, W H Batten, J W Cooper, Corum House, M Fogle, H Dustin, Joseph Covey, Andrew Fetterman, James Powell, Jennie Collinwood, A C Brown, Andrew C Bloom, Mrs E J Reed, Thos M Turman, Mary E Duncan, Mary T Lane, Spotwood Bacon, John Strothers, H T Perkins, J M Jones, S H Mosier, James Kennedy, T A Palin, T N & L W King, George L Hames, Sarah Thompson, Matthew Winton, Mrs M W Powell, Eliza Young, Mrs Lillie Good, W N King, Thos Gill, Eld James Austin, James Stephens, Mrs C L Boyd, T H Gibbs, Mrs Annie Bice, C W Boulton, E G Blackburn, Mrs S A Duncan, Eliza Hamilton, E A Briggs, Mrs M Van Dausen, Wm Morss, Mrs S Mason, Luella Lockwood, Jos Eggleston, W T Ross, C S Sellers, Wm F Lieb, G W Frazer, Mrs M Richey, H Munn, Bytha Noble, Minnie E Dewitt, Mrs C B Gentry, Mrs M A Palmer, Mrs Catherine Patterson, Mrs B F Reeser, Mrs M J Campbell, Mrs S A Stearns, Mrs C B Stone, Andrew Brossen, Isaac Morrison, Miss O M Peoples, J L A Broderson, Bertha Barkelow, Elsie Smith. BUTTERFLIES are merry things,
Gaily painted are their wings,
And they never carry stings.
Bees are grave and busy things,
Gold their jackets, brown their wings.
And they always carry stings.
Yet—isn’t it extremely funny?—
Bees, not butterflies, make honey. A HARD, cold heart is created by forcing back into it all the loving thoughts and words which spring to life therein; instead of having a nature full of them, they turn to stone. By giving expression to tender feelings, one seems to soften the soil of the heart, and charitable impulses thrive and increase the more. IT IS a great deal better to lead a holy life than to talk about it. We are told to let our light shine; and if it does we shall not need to talk about it so much—the light will be its own best witness. Lamps do not talk, but they do shine. A light-house beats no drum, sounds no gong; yet far out over the waters its friendly light gleams, and the watching, eager eye of the mariner catches it, and by it guides his vessel safely into the haven. A PROFESSOR in one of our seminaries felt embarrassed when he was called on to pray in chapel, and went to the principal to be excused. The principal said: “Practice in private, brother, practice in private. That is the secret of it.” David practiced in private when he killed the bear and the lion, then at his first appearing in public he killed Goliath. Those who are strong before men, first become valiant, like Gideon, before the Lord. IT is vain to think of cultivating principles of generosity and beneficence by mere exhortation and reasoning; nothing but the practical habit of overcoming our own selfishness, and familiarly encountering privations and discomforts on account of others will ever enable us to do it when required. Indulgence infallibly produces selfishness and hardness of heart, and nothing but severe discipline can lay the foundation of a magnanimous character. REV. DR. CUYLER says: “Disagreeable Sabbaths sift churches as honestly as the test of lapping water sifted the ten thousand troops under Gideon. Those who really want to get to God’s house on a wet or wintry Sabbath usually get there. For one, I honestly confess that all the trash of the skeptics, from Renan down to Ingersoll, does not inspire such misgivings for Christianity as are awakened by the spectacle of delinquent Christians in unfavorable weather.” THE straightest and the simplest way is the best way. If you have a rebuke to administer, do it directly; use great plainness of speech; whether it be to your child, your servant, your clerk, or your congregation. If you have an estranged friend to reconcile, do no beating about the bush; go to him directly and tell him his fault or acknowledge your own. If you entertain a suspicion, judge not till you have been to the suspected party and heard his defense. If you have an end to accomplish, go about it in a straightforward, manly fashion. GOD does not ask us to help him paint the glowing colors of the sunset, but he does expect us to help touch with gold and rosy tints the declining days of those around us; does not bid us shower dew-drops on grass or flower, but has bidden us let the gentle dew of sympathy freshen the sorrowful lives which touch ours. The opportunity unheeded slips from us never to return. “I expect to pass through this world but once. If, therefore, there is any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do, for any fellow-being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”—S. S. Times. MY OWN BROTHER.—“Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in Heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.” Matt. 12:50. A traveler having asked the governor of Khaifa to furnish him with a good guide, received the polite reply, “I will give you my own brother.” “That, thought I, was too much, and I told my servant to intimate this to the governor. But the lad quietly remarked, that the expression, ‘my own brother,’ was not to be understood so literally, inasmuch as it was a mere Arab form of speech, meaning, in this case, ‘some one in whom I should place as much confidence as in my own brother.’ Such is the figurative mode of Eastern speech, that it requires much habit before a European can readily catch the precise value of many expressions; but the natives understand it at once. GRASS FOR FUEL.—“If God so clothe the grass of the field which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven.” Matt. 6:30. The grass in most Eastern countries grows very high and strong. A traveler in Syria reports having seen it three or four feet in height. It is never gathered for hay; instead of which corn-straw is used when necessary. When the grass, therefore, has ripened, it becomes quite dry in the field during the scorching heat of summer, so that it is quite ready for burning. In this state it is often gathered to heat ovens, and our Saviour’s observation that it is to-day in the field, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, was a literal statement of fact well understood by his hearers. ABOUT the hardest of all graces is that of bridling one’s tongue; and success in it is an excellent test of Christian character. The one who does not do it can hardly be a Christian. James says his religion is vain. MRS. D. A. BACON
By Mrs. D. A. Bacon
BACON.—Died at Lakeport, Cal., Jan. 14, 1884, our father, John Bacon, in the 55th year of his age, of a complication of diseases. He signed the covenant, to keep all the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus, last November, while Bro. Ings was holding Bible-readings here; and although he was anxious to be baptized, he was never able to do so. During the latter part of his illness, he spent the greater part of his time in secret prayer, and until he lost his hearing, took great pleasure in hearing the Bible read. A wife, three sons, and one daughter, mourn their loss. But if faithful, we hope to meet him, where parting shall be no more. “Yet a little while, and He that shall come, will come, and will not tarry.” International Tract and Missionary Society.
By Stephen Nelson Haskell
THE International Tract and Missionary Society was organized Aug. 13, 1874. It has furnished health and religious publications to co-operative missions and individuals in every State and Territory in the United States, and to every civilized nation on the globe. During 1883 it placed in free public libraries in this country over 6,000 volumes of standard religious books, at a cost of over $6,000, two-thirds of which was donated by other funds and the publishers. It has also placed valuable books in many libraries in England, and supplied reading-rooms with health and religious periodicals. It has a free reading-room, No. 371 Third Avenue, New York City, where it will keep constantly on hand Health and Temperance publications to furnish co-operating missions and branch offices on the Atlantic Coast and in Europe. William J. Boynton, 200 East 27th Street, manager and city missionary. It has also a free reading-room, 318 Fremont Street, San Francisco, Cal., from which place all ships are visited which enter that harbor. Andrew Bronsen and H. C. Palmer, city missionaries. Free reading-room on L Street, near corner of Fifth, East Portland, Oregon. Boston, Mass., J. R. Israel, residence Rowley, Mass. New Bedford, Mass., Mrs. Anna H. Bradford, residence, Acushnet, Mass. The ship work at Liverpool, England, is under the charge of Geo. R. Drew, 40 Rodney Street, Birkenhead, Cheshire, Eng. Eld. A. A. John, 161 Willingham Street, Great Grimsby, Eng. At the above-mentioned places the public are cordially invited. The society is sustained by the liberalities of friends of missions. Donations by draft or otherwise will be thankfully received and gratefully acknowledged by any of the above-mentioned agents, or Miss M. L. Huntley, Secretary, South Lancaster, Mass., U. S. A. S. N. HASKELL. President. HISTORY OF THE SABBATH AND FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK.
The Bible record of the Sabbath; the secular history concerning it; the successive steps by which the change to the first day was made, and the work of restoration, are given in detail. EVERY TEXT OF SCRIPTURE concerning the Sabbath is commented on at length; and the COMPLETE TESTIMONY OF THE FATHERS in regard to the Sabbath and first day is given. The comparative merits of the seventh and the first-day Sabbaths are fully shown. A copious index enables the reader to find any text, or the statement of any historian. Should be read by everybody. 528 pp. Price, $1.25. Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal. THOUGHTS ON DANIEL, CRITICAL AND PRACTICAL.
EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL, VERSE BY VERSE.
We are now living in times plainly pointed out in this prophecy, and it is important to understand it; for Daniel himself says that in the time of the end, the wise shall understand; while, if we fail, we are equally guilty with the Jews, who knew not the time of their visitation (Luke 19:42–44), and shall meet a similar fate. Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal. THOUGHTS ON REVELATION, CRITICAL AND PRACTICAL.
This work presents every verse in the book of Revelation, with such remarks as serve to illustrate or explain the meaning of the text. It is a new and harmonious exposition of that important book, and is designed to create an interest in its study. Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal. THE NATURE AND OBLIGATION OF THE SABBATH OF THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT.
The title of this little book sufficiently explains its character. It contains more Scriptural information in regard to the Sabbath than any other book of twice the size, and yet it is so simplified as to be easily comprehended. The author quotes the opinions of many learned men concerning the Sabbath, and their conflicting theories are strongly contrasted with the clear, straightforward teaching of the Bible. 64 pp. Price, 10 cents. Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal. A CONTRAST OF TRUE AND FALSE THEORIES.
This is a pamphlet of only 84 pages, but its value is not to be judged by its size. It is just what its title indicates: a faithful presentation of Bible truth on this important subject, and an exposure of the false theories prevailing in regard to it. Every believer in Bible truth should read it. Buy it, read it, and lend it to your neighbor. Price, 10 cents. Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal. By Eld. J. N. Loughborough. Gives the Bible evidence upon the interesting topic of the earth made new, as the inheritance of the saints. 82 pp. Price, 10 cents. Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal. EARLY WRITINGS OF MRS. WHITE.
Comprising “Experience and Views” and “Spiritual Gifts, Volume One,” bound in one volume. This makes a neat and attractive book of nearly 200 pages, and should be read by old and young. The matter and the style in which it is presented are so interesting that no one who has read one chapter will forego the pleasure and profit of reading the remainder. Price, 75 cents. Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal. Payment and Remittance Notice for Subscribers
NOTICE.—We send no papers from this Office without pay in advance, unless by special arrangement. When persons receive copies without ordering them they are sent by other parties, and we can give no information in regard to them. Persons thus receiving them are not indebted to the Office. Money orders, drafts, etc., should be made to “Pacific Press,” never to individuals, as they may be absent, and business thereby be delayed. Justification by Faith.
By Editor
This tract is going very fast; at the present rate the first edition will soon be exhausted. But we are prepared to furnish any quantity, and without any delay; send in your orders. The tract was carefully prepared, and we are happy to know that it meets the approval of the brethren. It was only by an oversight that the pamphlet on the “Nature and Obligation of the Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment” was not put to press earlier than it was. The plates were put in readiness some time ago, and we supposed an edition was printed. We can now promise that all orders will be filled without more delay. A slight historical error has been pointed out (only in a name, not in any fact), which will be corrected before another edition is printed. OUR missionaries in Europe are enlarging their work by publishing papers in various languages. Beside the Signs in French, we have received copies of Adevarula Present or The Present Truth in the Roumanian language, issued in Bale, Switzerland, and Pitesci, Roumania; and L'Ultimo Messaggio, Italian, and Herold der Wahrheit, German, both printed in Bale. Every lover of the truth will rejoice that our missions in Europe are extending their lines. We pray for blessings on the dear workers there. ILLINOIS sent in the first new individual club for 1884. Wisconsin has sent in the largest list of new single subscribers during the month of January. Iowa has added fifty copies to their State club, and Battle Creek, Mich., V. M. Society has just telegraphed us to add one hundred more copies to their club. Nebraska T. and M. Society has just sent for 4,000 more circulars of the SIGNS for 1884, and add the encouraging remarks that “We intend to push forward vigorously in this work the coming season. We like the looks of the new volume.” State Prohibitionist.
By Editor
THIS is the title of a paper published in Sacramento. We are pleased to have such a paper in this State; we believe that at this stage of the reform prohibition is the only true position for true temperance workers. And we are glad to know that temperance people are so fast being converted to this platform. The number for January 18 contains an unusually strong article from the pen of Dr. A. J. Frost, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Sacramento, in review of another Baptist minister in California who attempted to argue the saloonist's favorite saying: “Prohibition does not prohibit,” and thence infers that it is wrong to try to prohibit! This argument will apply to all crimes committed in the land; certainly the law of California is a notable failure,—it does not prohibit murder. What then? Why, abolish the law, of course, and persuade the murderous villains to desist! Success to the State Prohibitionist. Healdsburg Items.
By Ellet Joseph Waggoner
SABBATH, January 19, was a good day for the Healdsburg church. The quarterly meeting, which had been postponed until after the State meeting, was held, and was well attended. Of the one hundred and thirty-five members, ninety-eight were present and bore testimony. These, with about a score who are members of other churches, united in the evening in celebrating the solemn ordinances of the Lord’s house. There was a degree of love manifested that was truly cheering. We believe that the good work recently begun will be carried forward to completion. The school prospects are encouraging. There are one hundred and twenty-four students in attendance, a very large majority of whom realize the importance of improving the present hour, and are taking hold of the work with an energy that promises success. We are glad to see an increased attendance this term on the part of those of more mature years. There are many more whom we would like to see here. The special Bible-class numbers thirty-eight. [The law of God has been the subject of study thus far during the present term. Quite a number in this class are expecting to engage in active labor next summer. While the brethren are praying for the laborers already in the field, we hope that they will not forget those who are diligently preparing. Fifty-four of the students live at the College Boarding-hall, which is in fact a “Students’ Home.” The new students are getting used to the regulations of the house, and all the allotted tasks are performed with the least possible friction: We have never seen a more harmonious and happy family than the one at Healdsburg College. E. J. W. THIS winter has been very dry, up to January 25, and the outlook has been gloomy for the farming interests. But at the time of our going to press considerable rain has fallen, and the prospect is good for more. There is every indication of a year of business prosperity before us. Shall we not improve it by making more strenuous efforts to circulate the truth? AN afflicted man has sent inquiries to us concerning a certain physician who cured him of a cancer. When it was pronounced cured the doctor warned him not to resume the use of tobacco. If he would heed this warning he would warrant that the cure was permanent; but as it was caused by the use of tobacco, if he continued to use the poison it would produce the same result again. He resumed the use of tobacco, and now has a cancer developed on his lip. What folly; he knew the consequences, but took the fearful risk. And so every day people are inviting foul diseases by the use of this filthy, poisonous stuff. Consistent: Liquor Dealer Acquitted by Brooklyn Jury
A LIQUOR dealer in Brooklyn, New York, was recently charged with the violation of the excise laws by selling liquor on Sunday. In selecting a jury the counsel for the liquor dealer inquired if any were members of temperance organizations. None were found. Subsequently it was ascertained that two of them were members of the Methodist Church. They were not permitted to serve. The evidence clearly proved the guilt of the liquor seller, but the jury brought in a verdict of “not guilty.” Methodists hereafter will understand that they are not wanted on juries under “home rule” in Brooklyn excise cases.—Temperance (Pa.) News. And that is consistent on the part of the defense. Liquor selling has nothing in common with religion and morality, and the sooner it makes its true position known the better. But there are hosts of people who are hard to convince. BRO. WM. SAUNDERS publishes a daily paper (the Democrat) at Woodland, Cal. Of course he omits Sabbath (Saturday), “according to the commandment,” and publishes on Sunday. In a recent issue we find the following pointed item:— “Isn’t it a little queer that exception should be taken to this journal issuing on Sunday evening, and to the fact that it so announces at the head of its columns, when there are a dozen other journals in the State issued the same day and several on that day of the week only, while we issue on five other days of the week? Brethren of the press who find fault with us for conscientiously doing this, why don’t you go after the strictly Sunday papers, or the big city dailies that issue every day in the week, Sunday and all, without regard to conscience or anything else? Try to be more consistent.” Dr. Trafton on the Modern Church Quartette
DR. TRAFTON, in Zion's Herald, in the following brief but graphic manner gives his estimate of the modern church quartette, and we deeply sympathize with his feelings:— “Give me a bass drum or a Chinese gong, rather than our quartette of two youngsters, with their hair parted exactly in the middle, and a pair of young girls with their wool gathered over their eyes like a merino sheep, or a Scotch poodle, who troll out something which nobody can understand, and call it the ‘praise of God.’” Does It Mean You?
By Editor
QUITE a number of subscriptions expire in January and February. Please read the little yellow label on your paper, and if your time is about to expire, please renew at once, and thus prevent the liability of your missing any numbers of the new volume. To Our Old Subscribers.
By Editor
To each one of our old patrons who will renew his subscription before April 1, 1884, and will send us five new subscribers, we will mail a copy of either of the following choice books: “The Biblical Institute,” “The History of the Waldenses,” illustrated, “Geikie’s Life of Christ,” “Life and Epistles of St. Paul,” or the New Testament, revised version—American edition. We can furnish back numbers to Jan. 1, to all new subscribers, if desired. To each new subscriber we will furnish the SIGNS OF THE TIMES one year with a copy of “Conybeare and Howson’s Life and Epistles of St. Paul,” for $2.25. This magnificent book offered as a premium is widely known as a work of profound learning and extensive research. It is clearly written and intensely interesting. Notice to Canvassers.
By Editor
BETWEEN now and February 3, we would like for canvassers—for “Christ, the Way of Life,” “Thoughts on Daniel and Revelation,” and the SIGNS,—who work in the Pacific Coast States and Territories, to send us a full written report of their labors, and the outlook for the future. We also wish to hear from all persons who desire to engage in canvassing for the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, wholly or a portion of their time. We have something of interest to them. Address, PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal.