Review and Herald, Vol. 52, No. 22. (11/28/1878)

Review and Herald

Nov 28, 1878

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 28, 1878

SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES.

By Ellen G. White

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.

The word of God has not been appreciated, but sadly neglected. This book, revealing the will of God to man, deserves to be held in the highest esteem, not only by the rich, but by the common people. Instruction of the highest value is given to the working class. The apostle enjoins upon slaves under masters to adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour. Those in the humblest employment can, through connection with God, so order their conversation and be so circumspect in deportment as to bring no dishonor or reproach upon the cause of the Redeemer. They will not by inconsistencies furnish occasion to bring the truth into disrepute, when it should be a savor of life unto life.

In a special manner, those who are blessed with a connection with God, should, by close application to his sacred word, imitate the great Pattern in doing good, thus exemplifying the life of Christ in their daily conversation, in pure and virtuous characters. By being courteous and beneficent they adorn his doctrine, and show that the truth of heavenly origin beautifies the character and ennobles the life. Christ’s followers are “living epistles, known and read of all men.” Their daily words and noble actions recommend the truth to those who have been prejudiced against it by nominal professors, who have had a form of godliness, while their lives have testified that they know nothing of its sanctifying power.

No man, woman, or youth can attain to Christian perfection and neglect the study of the word of God. By carefully and closely searching his word we shall obey the injunction of Christ, “Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” This search enables the student to closely observe the divine Model, for they testify of Christ. The Pattern must be inspected often and closely in order to imitate it. As one becomes acquainted with the history of the Redeemer, he discovers in himself defects of character; his unlikeness to Christ is so great that he sees he cannot be a follower without a very great change in his life. Still he studies, with a desire to be like his great Exemplar; he catches the looks, the spirit, of his beloved Master; by beholding he becomes changed. “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.” It is not in looking away from him, and in losing sight of him, that we imitate the life of Jesus; but in dwelling upon and talking of him, and seeking to refine the taste and elevate the character; seeking to approach through earnest, persevering effort, through faith and love, the perfect Pattern. The attention being fixed upon Christ, his image, pure and spotless, becomes enshrined in the heart as “the chief among ten thousand and the one altogether lovely.” Even unconsciously we imitate that with which we are familiar. By having a knowledge of Christ, his words, his habits, his lessons of instruction, and by borrowing the virtues of the character which we have so closely studied, we become imbued with the spirit of the Master which we have so much admired.

After the resurrection, two disciples traveling to Emmaus were talking over the disappointed hopes occasioned by the death of the beloved Master. Christ himself drew near, unrecognized by the sorrowing disciples. Their faith had died with the Lord, and their eyes, blinded by unbelief, did not discern the risen Saviour. Jesus, walking by their side, longed to reveal himself to them, but he did not choose to do so abruptly; he accosted them merely as fellow-travelers, and asked them in regard to the communication which they were having one with another, and why they were so sad. They were astonished at the question, and asked if he were indeed a stranger in Jerusalem and had not heard that a prophet mighty in word and in deed had been taken by wicked hands and crucified. And now it was the third day, and strange reports had been brought to their ears that Jesus had risen, and had been seen by Mary and certain of the disciples. Jesus said to them, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken; ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to have entered into his glory?” And beginning at Moses and the prophets, he opened to them the scriptures concerning himself.

When they arrived at Emmaus, Jesus made as though he would have gone farther; but the disciples constrained him to tarry with them, for the day was far spent and the night was at hand. The evening meal was quickly prepared, and while Jesus was offering devotional thanks the disciples looked at one another with astonished glances. His words, his manner, and then his wounded hands were revealed, and they exclaimed, “My Lord and my God.” Had the disciples been indifferent in regard to their fellow-traveler, they would have lost the precious opportunity of recognizing their companion who had reasoned so ably from the Scriptures regarding his life, his suffering, and his death and resurrection. He reproved them for not being acquainted with the scriptures in reference to himself. Had they been familiar with the Scriptures, their faith would have been sustained, their hopes unshaken; for prophecy plainly stated the treatment Christ would receive from those he came to save. The disciples were astonished that they could not discover Christ at once, as soon as he spoke with them by the way, and that they had failed to bring to their support the scriptures which Jesus had brought to their remembrance. They had lost sight of the precious promises; but when the words spoken by the prophets were brought to their remembrance, faith revived, and after Christ revealed himself they exclaimed, “Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures?”

The word of God, spoken to the heart, has an animating power, and those who will frame any excuse for neglecting to become acquainted with it will neglect the claims of God in many respects. The character will be deformed, the words and acts a reproach to the truth. The apostle tells us, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” One of the prophets of God exclaims, “While I was musing, the fire burned.” If Christians would earnestly search the Scriptures, more hearts would burn with the vivid truths therein revealed. Their hopes would brighten with the precious promises strown like pearls all through the sacred writings. In contemplating the history of the patriarchs, the prophets, the men who loved and feared God and walked with him, hearts will glow with the spirit which animated these worthies. As the mind dwells upon the virtue and piety of holy men of old, the spirit which inspired them will kindle a flame of love and holy fervor in the hearts of those who would be like them in character.

The student of the Sabbath-school should feel as thoroughly in earnest to become intelligent in the knowledge of the Scriptures as to excel in the study of the sciences. If either is neglected, it should be the lessons of the six days. The injunction of our Saviour should be religiously regarded by every man, woman, and child who professes his name. Teachers in the Sabbath-school have a missionary field given them to teach the Scriptures, not, parrot like, to repeat over that which they have taken no pains to understand. “They are they which testify of me”—the Redeemer, him in whom our hopes of eternal life are centered. If teachers are not imbued with the spirit of truth, and care not for the knowledge of what is revealed in the word of God, how can they present the truth in an attractive light to those under their charge? The prayer of Christ for his disciples was, Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth. If we are to be sanctified through a knowledge of the truth found in the word of God, we must have an intelligent knowledge of his will therein revealed. We must search the Scriptures, not merely rush through a chapter and repeat it, taking no pains to understand it, but we must dig for the jewel of truth which will enrich the mind, and fortify the soul against the wiles and temptations of the arch-deceiver.

Parents plead trifling excuses for not interesting themselves in the lessons with their children, and they fail to become conversant with the Scriptures. Fathers as well as mothers excuse themselves from disciplining their own minds. They do not seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, but exalt the temporal above the spiritual and eternal. This forgetfulness of God and neglect of his word is the example they give their children, which molds their minds after the worldly standard and not after the exalted standard erected by Christ. Some fathers will while away hours in their own amusement, in conversation upon worldly things, and put God out of their thoughts and hearts. How much more profitable to be faithful disciples of Christ, engaged in searching the Scriptures that they may be thoroughly furnished to all good works, and be able to give an intelligent explanation of the word of God to guide our footsteps to the eternal shores.

Mothers are heard to deplore that they have no time to teach their children, no time to instruct them in the word of God. But these same mothers find time for outward adorning, time to ornament with tucks and ruffles and needless stitching. Needless trimming is seen upon their own dresses and their children’s. The inward adorning of the mind and the culture of the soul are neglected as though inferior to the adornment of the apparel. The minds of mothers and children are starved in order to follow custom and fashion.

Fathers and mothers, we entreat you to take up your long-neglected duties. Search the Scriptures yourselves; assist your children in the study of the sacred word. Make diligent work because of past neglect. Do not send the children away by themselves to study the Bible, but read it with them, teach them in a simple manner what you know, and keep in the school of Christ as diligent students yourselves. Be determined that this work shall not be neglected. Mothers, dress yourselves and your children in modest apparel, clean and neat, but without needless adornment. When you learn to do this, to dress with conscientious plainness, then you will have no excuse for being novices in the Scriptures. Follow Christ’s injunction, “Search the Scriptures,” then you will advance in spiritual strength yourselves, and be able to instruct your children so that they need not come to the Sabbath-school untaught.

Many of the youth say, I have no time to study my lesson. But what are they doing? Some are crowding in every moment to earn a few cents more, when this time pressed into work, if given to the study of the Bible, would, if they practiced its lessons, save them more than the amount gained by overwork. It would save much that is expended in needless ornaments, and preserve vigor of mind to understand the mystery of godliness. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” But these very youth who profess to be Christians gratify the desires of the carnal heart in following their own inclinations; and God-given probationary time, granted them to become acquainted with the precious truths of the Bible, is devoted to the reading of fictitious tales. This habit once formed is difficult to overcome; but it can be done, it must be done by all who are candidates for the heavenly world. That mind is ruined which is allowed to be absorbed in story-reading. The imagination becomes diseased, sentimentalism takes possession of the mind, and there is a vague unrest, a strange appetite for unwholesome mental food, which is constantly unbalancing the mind. Thousands are to-day in the insane asylum whose minds became unbalanced by novel-reading, which results in air-castle building, and love-sick sentimentalism. The Bible is the book of books. It will give you life and health. It is a soother of the nerves, and imparts solidity of mind and firm principle.

The student of the Sabbath-school should be in earnest, should dig deep and search with the greatest care for the precious gems of truth contained in the weekly lessons. The privileges and opportunities which they now have of becoming intelligent in regard to the Scriptures should not be neglected. God would have those who profess to be his followers thoroughly furnished with proof of the doctrines of his word. When and where can this be better obtained than in youth at the Sabbath-school? Parents should in no case treat this matter indifferently.

Joy in Sorrow

By Jane Crewdson

I've found a joy in sorrow, A secret balm for pain, A beautiful to-morrow Of sunshine after rain; I've found a branch of healing Near every bitter spring, A whispered promise stealing O'er every broken string.

I've found a glad hosanna For every woe and wail; A handful of sweet manna When grapes of Eshcol fail; I've found a Rock of Ages When desert wells are dry; And after weary stages, I've found an Elim nigh.

An Elim with its coolness, Its fountains and its shade; A blessing in its fullness When buds of promise fade. O'er tears of soft contrition I've seen a rainbow light, A glory and fruition, So near!—yet out of sight.

My Saviour, thee possessing, I have the joy, the balm, The healing and the blessing, The sunshine and the psalm; The promise for the fearful, The Elim for the faint; The rainbow for the tearful, The glory for the saint!

—Mrs. Jane Crewdson.

Joy Spread Steadily Rather Than Concentrated in Ecstasies

It is better that joy should be spread over all the day in the form of strength, than that it should be concentrated into ecstasies, full of danger, and followed by reactions.—Emerson.

Happiness Found in Union With God

HAPPINESS is neither within us nor without us; it is the union of ourselves with God.—Pascal.

THE SOUL AND THE RESURRECTION—THE FAITH OF ANCIENT AND MODERN HEATHENS.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

ANCIENT PERUVIANS.

The Peruvians were among the oldest and most civilized of the nations of South America at the time of its discovery by the Spaniards. A high authority thus states their faith: “They did not understand that the future life was spiritual, but believed it to be corporeal, like this one.” “The Incas believed in a universal resurrection, not for glory or punishment, but for a reward of this temporal life. They took extreme care to preserve the nail-parings and the hairs that were shorn off or torn out with a comb, placing them in holes or niches in the walls; and if they fell out, any other Indian that saw them picked them up and put them in their places again. I very often asked different Indians, at various times, why they did this, in order to see what they would say; and they all replied in the same words, saying, ‘Know that all persons who are born must return to life, and the souls must rise out of their tombs, with all that belonged to their bodies.’”* They believed in the sleep of the dead and the resurrection.

THE CHIBCHAS.

The Chibchas were another nation of South America. They believed the same as the Peruvians on this point. They “acknowledged that there was something immortal in man, but they did not distinguish the soul from the body.”†

“These Indians had the tradition from their ancestors that there would be a universal judgment. They believed that the dead were then to be raised and to live forever in this earth in the same way as they live now.”‡

They received these doctrines from tradition, and how remarkably their views harmonize with the Bible!

THE AFRICANS.

Even among some of the degraded negro tribes of Central Africa, the notion of a resurrection is still held from tradition.

“The negroes in Ardrach carefully preserve nails and hair which have been cut off, in order that souls, which on rising out of their graves have to be united with their former bodies, may not need to search long for them.”¶

The Ashantees “supposed that their friends live over again in the other world the lives which they led on earth.”§

The Bushmen regard death as a sleep. One of their proverbs is, “Death is only a sleep.”¶

THE HAWAIIANS.

These Islanders believe in the resurrection of the dead. Mr. Ellis relates a long conversation with them upon this point, in which he says they told him that “all the people who had died would be restored to life,” and live in Hawaii again.**

Thus it will be seen that traditions of the resurrection of the dead are still to be found in all parts of the world, even among the most barbarous nations. This was the ancient and true doctrine. In many cases this doctrine of the resurrection has been lost sight of, while the idea of a future life by some means has been retained. If we bear this in mind, it will be readily seen that the proof of a universal belief in the immortality of the soul is much less than is generally claimed. Indeed, a careful investigation shows that most barbarous nations have only an undefined idea of a future life of some kind. On this slender foundation is based the bold assumption that all nations believe the soul is immortal.

The custom so universally observed among barbarous nations particularly, of burying with the dead valuables, implements, weapons, food, and money, indicates that they had some indistinct idea that in some way the bodies would live again, and these articles would be used. Even if these practices are kept up simply from custom, as may be the case in some instances, it is still evident that the custom originated in the idea that the dead would need these things. They certainly did not suppose that weapons of war, implements of husbandry, and articles of food, have spirits which could go with their departed friends. Hence it is evident that the sentiment that underlies this practice points to the resurrection.

Thus the Ostyaks, of Africa, bury with their dead a tinder-box, pipe, and tobacco. The Samoieds inter with the dead his dresses, his bows, his arrows, and whatever belongs to him, because they say he will need them in the next world. The Damaras lay the arms and property of the deceased on the grave. The Kaffirs bury household utensils with the dead. The Congo people embalm their dead. The Coast negroes take great care in wrapping up their dead, and a large share of their property is buried with them.

The Australians also bury the property of the deceased with him. The Sandwich Islanders bury provisions with the body. They think the future life is like the present. The Tahitians embalm the bodies of their chiefs, clothe them, and take great care of the body. The Samoans also embalm the body. The Dyaks bury the property of the deceased with him. The Tasmanians bury their spears with the dead, whom they believe to be asleep.

The Ancient Mexicans buried with the corpse slaves and all kinds of property, saying that they were going to keep house in the other world.

The early inhabitants of Britain buried weapons of war, jewelry and food with the deceased. In later times the Saxons buried valuable articles with their dead. The Normans, about the year 1000, embalmed their dead.

It is well known that all the Indian tribes of America bury various articles with the dead bodies of their friends.

Indeed, this universal custom of which we have been speaking is so well known that we need not mention more instances. The great care that has always been bestowed not only upon the dead body, but upon the tomb or grave where it is deposited, points to the same idea, the resurrection of the dead. The world over, without an exception, the notion has always obtained that the ghost, or phantom, of the deceased hovers around the grave. All these facts indicate the universal sentiment of the race that in some way the future life is connected with the dead body.

While searching into the doctrines of the various nations and tribes of the earth concerning the future life, I have been struck with the fact that most of the barbarous nations which are set down by Christians as believers in the immortality of the soul, have only very confused ideas of the future life. They do expect to live hereafter in some way, but that is all that can truthfully be said about it. The advocates of the doctrine that the soul is immortal, seizing upon the slightest notion of a future life held by these people, immediately report them as believers in the immortal soul. But in fact there is no ground for such an assertion. A confused, indistinct idea of a future life by no means proves a faith in the immortality of the soul.

D. M. CANRIGHT.

Bowling Green, Ohio, Nov. 14.

OVERCOMING

By Joseph Clarke

“For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world.” 1 John 5:4. In the same connection, the apostle gives us the clue as to the way the world is to be overcome, in these words: “And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” He continues thus: “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” Esdras says: “Be not afraid, neither doubt; for God is your guide; and the God of them who keep my commandments and precepts, saith the Lord God. Let not your sins weigh you down, and let not your iniquities lift up themselves. Wo be unto them that are bound with their sins, and covered with their iniquities, like as a field is covered over with bushes, and the path thereof covered with thorns, that no man may travel through! It is left undressed, and is cast into the fire to be consumed therewith.” 2 Esdras 16:75–78.

To overcome, we need all the aid of the Holy Spirit’s influence. Some sins become like a fever, intermittent; and we are as incapable of overcoming them as of avoiding bodily disease, in and of ourselves; hence the indispensable quality, or grace, of faith; hence, too, the necessity of prayer, and continued watchfulness, a faith that will not relax its hold upon God, and a spirit of prayer and watchfulness as habitual as the beating of the pulse.

All is at stake. Shall we overcome? In our own strength we cannot, but in God we may overcome. JOSEPH CLARKE.

BLIND GUIDES.

By G. V. Kilgore

Jesus says, “He that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth;” also, “If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” Christ here tells us that false teachers are like blind guides. They and their followers walk in darkness, and fall into delusions. But Christ says they know not whither they go. This was most strikingly verified not long ago in two sermons that were preached against the Sabbath. The Methodist and Baptist ministers of a certain town in Iowa, each made a charge against God’s Sabbath, and tried to daub up the old “wall” of the popes with untempered mortar, as is usually done. But they had been to hear us enough to know that their mortar was untempered and would not hold together; so each, in his own way, tried to frame an excuse for this defect. They both admitted that there was no command for first-day observance; but this made no difference, they said, because there are other things which are true, and very necessary, that are not commanded.

The Methodist elder said, “There is no command for women to partake of the communion, or to be baptized.”

In reviewing him, I referred him to the following scriptures on communion: Matt. 26:26–28; Gal. 3:28; and on baptism, to Matt. 28:19; Acts 2:38; 8:12. These scriptures positively command women as well as men to partake of the communion and to be baptized. And when Philip fulfilled the command for baptism, he baptized “both men and women.” Paul says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” So under the gospel whatever is demanded of men is demanded of women also.

I showed the elder that if what he said was true, his church should never censure a sister for not coming to the communion; for “where there is no law, there is no transgression.” They should also take women into their church without baptizing them, if any desire to join them in that way; but they will not, unless they have received what they call baptism. So they require of women what God never required of them. God failed to command what they say is necessary, and the Methodist church had to make up a deficiency that they found in God’s word!

This man was evidently walking in darkness, and knew not whither he was going when he made such assertions.

The Baptist minister, seeing the failure of the Methodist, tried a new rule as follows: There is no mention that circumcision, or sacrifices, or the passover is done away. But these assertions melted to nothing under the light of the following scriptures: 1 Cor. 7:19; Acts 15:24; 21:25; Dan. 9:27; Heb. 10:1–9; 1 Cor. 5:7, 8. Isaiah says in a prophecy of the last days (chap. 56:10) that “His watchmen are blind;” and this is evident from the above statements.

Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. 1, page 78, was referred to and ridiculed by the Baptist minister. He said that what Sister White said about amalgamation of man and beast was utterly impossible. I referred him to Johnson’s New Cyclopedia, pp. 1040, 1042, that he might learn for the first time, if he never knew it before, that “Allied species are capable, as a rule, of pairing and producing offspring;” and that, “under the influence of man, mongrel races readily arise and are indefinitely sustained,”—just exactly what Sister White says. The elder said her teachings were worse than Darwinism. But I showed that her teachings were correct (Lev. 18:23, 24), and that his were worse than nonsense. It is not likely that he will be profited by what I referred him to; for he did not come to hear his discourse reviewed, although before the public I invited him to do so.

The saddest feature of the case is, that people are led by these men. Isaiah says, “O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.” But, thank the Lord, some good souls are obeying the command, “Cease ye from man.” G. V. KILGORE.

A DARK BUT TRUE PICTURE.

An article appears in the Atlantic Monthly for October, by a writer whose name is not given, which, under the heading, “Certain Dangerous Tendencies in American Life,” gives a very dark picture of American society. It is very evident that, while the author takes an unprophetic view, and hence an erroneous one, of the ultimate destiny of America, and gives his recipe for the regeneration of our country, he is not one of those unthinking men who, despite stubborn facts, are prating of our constant progress in righteousness, and telling us that the millennium is at hand.

He speaks of the “new elements and conditions” introduced into our national life by our civil war, and says we are “confronted by problems and dangers which we had thought could never arise in the path of a nation with institutions like our own.” He freely admits that the golden prophecies made by American statesmen before the war are not in a fair way of immediate fulfillment. In speaking of the extravagance engendered by the plentifulness of money and the apparent business prosperity of war times, he says: “A passionate greed for riches was developed among our people. Man had no longer any vision for realities, but built upon illusions and impossibilities as if they were the solid facts and laws of nature.” Hence all kinds of speculation were resorted to, ventures made on borrowed capital, and men ran wild in their haste to become suddenly rich. The result has been seen during the past few years in the great financial depression and wholesale bankruptcy. Not only the nation, but almost every State, city, town, and we may almost say individual, is in debt.

The writer next proceeds to show how this extravagance affected the morals of the people, being “encouraged and defended,” as it was, “by the leading clergymen and writers of the nation.” The church partook more and more of the spirit of worldliness, and is now, he says, “for the most part a depository of social rather than of religious influences. Its chief force or vitality is no longer religious. There are still, of course, many truly religious people in the churches; . . . but these are everywhere a small minority, and they are mournfully conscious that the old religious life and power have departed from the church. They distrust the methods of the modern revivalism, and do not feel at home among the younger members of the church, with their advanced views of fashionable, thorough-going worldliness. They are alarmed to find the atmosphere and tone of the church more and more secular and business-like.”

The writer continues: “For a very large class of which we may next speak the church furnishes opportunity for a pleasant social life which is in no way different from the social life of amiable, intelligent people out of the church; that is, there is nothing distinctively religious about it. For this class all the barriers and distinctions between the church and the world have been removed. Church work is, for them, in all its forms, a kind of sacred amusement. Public worship, with its pulpit oratory and modern church music, is an æsthetic entertainment. They have developed a religion which is not religious. They have learned how to be Christians, according to their meaning, without self-denial or any abridgment of the pleasures, pursuits, or ambitions of people who acknowledge no religious obligations.

They do not believe the creeds to which they subscribe when they join the church, and generally make no secret afterward of their doubt or disbelief respecting various fundamental doctrines of Christianity. But they have a horror of all dissent which takes a man out of the popular church, and show no respect for the plea of conscience in such cases. . . . Their ministers are men of intelligence and of considerable culture. They believe even less than their people of the doctrines of their creeds. They generally avoid doctrinal subjects in preaching, and have for some years based their teaching mostly upon utilitarian grounds. They have for themselves accepted rationalistic beliefs far in advance of what they teach, and consider themselves

engaged in a most necessary and useful work—that of leading the people gradually onward in thought and knowledge by carefully giving them the truth as they are able to bear it. Their caution is extreme, and they thus sacrifice whatever strength may belong to courage and outspoken sincerity.”

TRANSFORMATION

By Whittier

Trust not in man with passing breath, But in the Lord, the Scripture saith; The truth which saves thee thou mayst not blend With false professor, faithless friend.

Search thine own heart. What paineth thee In others in thyself may be; All dust is frail, all flesh is weak; Be thou the true man thou dost seek!

Where now with pain thou treadest, trod The whitest of the saints of God! To show thee where their feet were set, The light which led them shineth yet.

The footprints of the life divine, Which marked their path, remain in thine; And that great Life, transfused in theirs, Awaits thy faith, thy love, thy prayers! — Whittier.

NOTES OF NEWS.

—In recent riots in Santiago, Chili, eighty persons were killed and wounded.

—The Paris Exhibition was finally closed Nov. 10. The total receipts were 12,656,746 francs ($2,854,254).

—The sum of £250,000 has been raised for the relief of impoverished shareholders of the City of Glasgow Bank.

—There is a report that Turkey officially organized and fostered resistance to Austrian occupation of Bosnia, notwithstanding the provisions of the Berlin treaty.

—The heat in the lower levels of the Nevada silver mines is intense. At a depth of 1,900 feet, where the temperature was 135 degrees, three men died last summer from exhaustion.

—The earnings of the Western Union Telegraph Company for the past twelve years amount to $86,000,000, and the shareholders have, during the same period, received dividends amounting to $14,250,000.

—The Ameer has made no reply to England’s ultimatum, and the Post of Nov. 20 says it only remains for the troops to execute the original order. The advance has probably begun.

—The Inter-Ocean thinks there is no danger of starvation in the West, as Chicago has in her warehouses 50,000 barrels of flour, 6,000,000 bushels of grain, 64,000 barrels of pork, 87,000 tierces of lard, and 61,500,000 pounds of meats.

—Thirteen of the oldest and most influential citizens of Lemberg were mortally wounded Nov. 17, in disturbances between the police and a procession in honor of Deputy Hausner. The procession had been prohibited by the Austrian government.

—Dispatches from London dated Nov. 19 seem to indicate that Lord Beaconsfield does not intend, in case of war with Afghanistan, to advise the Queen to summon Parliament until the war has commenced. The government has a legal right to take this course.

—The Mormon women of Salt Lake held a mass meeting Nov. 16, in opposition to the movement started by the Gentile ladies to petition Congress to put a stop to the further progress of polygamy. About 1,200 were present, and no gentlemen except the representatives of the press.

—A dispatch dated Peshawur, Nov. 20, says: “Traveling from Thull yesterday, I passed the Khurum force advancing. Thirty miles of the road was covered with troops, elephants, camels, and cattle. The Peshawur force is marching on Jamrood. The Ameer is again spreading the report that the Russians will defend Candahar.”

—The valley of the Cauca, in New Grenada, has suffered fearfully from grasshoppers. The prices of provisions of all classes are exorbitant; and as the poor cannot get work, they are unable to procure the necessaries of life. The government, with a view of furnishing means of support, is pushing the construction of the Cauca Valley Railroad.

—It is stated as a remarkable feature of the world’s commerce at the present time that the United States is the only country whose exports exceed its imports, with the exception of India, which has a small trade balance in its favor. The increase in the exportations to Europe is principally in breadstuffs, the United States being the great source of supply for European deficiencies in that line.

—As King Humbert of Italy was entering Naples in state, Nov. 17, a man who was bearing a banner among the trade associations in the procession attempted to assassinate him with a dagger which was fastened to the flagstaff. This attempt against the life of the king of Italy, following so close upon similar attempts on the lives of the Emperor William of Germany and King Alphonso of Spain, has aroused great excitement in Europe. Thousands of telegrams have been received by the King, congratulating him on his escape, and a general belief prevails in the existence of a widespread International plot against the lives of the leading sovereigns of Europe. Several arrests have been made.

—The 20th of July, 1878, was the 174th anniversary of the death of Peregrine White, the first white person born in what now is Massachusetts. Born on board the Mayflower, some time in December, 1620, he died on the 20th of July, 1704, in his 84th year. A young Pilgrim by birth, he lived to become a very old Pilgrim, and the last survivor of the Pilgrims; and he was the first of Americans, using that word according to its present meaning, which confines it to persons belonging to the United States, or to the English settlements out of which our country proceeded. He was a very favorable specimen of the new race that began with him; and a fine specimen, too, of the Old Colonists.

—The intelligence of a severe earthquake, Oct. 6, in the southern part of the republic of Salvador is fully confirmed. The destruction appears to have been complete. The loss of life and property is very great. Oct. 9, a severe earthquake was felt in Manizales, New Grenada. No lives were lost, but the damage done will exceed $100,000. In Salvador the volcanoes of Izalco and Santa Anna are in a state of tremendous activity. On the latter, from four or five distinct openings fire, smoke, and ashes are pouring forth in vast volumes. For miles around, ashes are falling, and the air is filled with smoke. The inhabitants of the neighboring villages are terribly alarmed, and many have fled to places of safety. A severe shock of earthquake was felt at Memphis, Tenn., Nov. 18. The foregoing is the record of loss and danger from earth’s internal fires in the daily Inter-Ocean of Nov. 19. The same paper contains accounts of serious losses of life and property from storms and floods. A dispatch from London, dated Nov. 18, tells of the inundation of Norwich by a freshet in the Wensum River. One or two deaths by drowning are reported; and there is great pecuniary damage, as the basements of all the factories, warehouses, and granaries along the river are flooded, 4 or 5 miles of streets are submerged, and from 3,000 to 4,000 dwellings are made uninhabitable. A telegram from Perth, Nov. 18, states that the river Save has overflowed its banks, involving serious loss of life, and immense destruction of military stores. The same paper reports marine disasters, involving loss of property and life.

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