Review and Herald, Vol. 50, No. 22. (11/29/1877)

Review and Herald

Nov 29, 1877

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 29, 1877

THE POPE'S DEATH.

The death of Pius IX. has been so long expected, and so frequently falsely announced, that the immediate prospect of it now at hand has been shorn of much of its interest to the general reader, and the actual event, when it soon becomes known, will create little sensation, even among Catholics. The world has stood in the shadow of the event so often as to grow familiar with it, and the reality has lost its power of shocking.

If the event, now so near at hand, were but the death of a pope in ordinary circumstances, the indifference with which it is waited for would be justified; but a very little consideration of the situation will convince those capable of grasping it that much more than such a death is at hand. Interesting as is the personal character and history of Pius, that personal interest is insignificant indeed when compared with the unique crisis in the history of the church and the world which his death will precipitate.

It is an event whose interest cannot be discounted in advance, for its results cannot be measured. Those results are largely in the hands of the College of Cardinals, and the Cardinals are an unknown quantity. . .

But little as the death of one pope and the election of another can affect the church in its spiritual nature, or in its general organization, the death of Pius IX., will place that vast institution in the presence of questions it has never faced before, the answers to which cannot fail to have results of the gravest consequence to all Europe.

Will the next pontiff take up the quarrel with Italian nationality where Pius IX. laid it down? Will he be a mere Italian, satisfied to control the supreme government of the church in the interests of Italian priests and prelates, as in the past; or, freed from the trammels and traditions of the petty temporal power, will he adopt a new and more Catholic policy, and engraft upon the governing body, men of other and more progressing and vigorous races? —Detroit Evening News.

An Extraordinary Season.

Even the dullest of newspaper readers must have observed something extraordinary in the atmosphere and other phenomena of this season. It has been marked by various destructive storms, and by an unusual number of disastrous conflagrations. Both series began very early in the season. There were forest fires in the East, North, and Northwest within a very short time after the evaporation of the last moisture from the melted snows of the winter months, and hurricanes began to set in as early as the third week in April. There has since been another, the most furious and extensive of all, ranging and raging over a stretch of country from the Missouri River to the Upper Ohio, some of the outflanking gusts reaching even to our own city. All these showed great electrical disturbance, and, taking them and the forest fires and the wide-spread destruction by fires in two cities, they furnish coincidences entitled to consideration.

We cannot arrest or escape the tornado, but we can do something to reduce the risks of fire; and this latter is a thing to be done most carefully at a season when there seems to be an extraordinary susceptibility to fire in the air. When a conflagration consumes half a city in a few hours, and a day or two after that another sweeps away the more valuable half of another town, and when both disasters are the product of fires that under ordinary circumstances would have been confined to the buildings in which they originated, or, at the worst, to two or three others in the close vicinity,—surely such occurrences should arouse the suspicion that some extraordinary agency or influence is at work. Both the conflagration at St. John and that at Marblehead were uncontrollable from the first, just as the enormous destruction at Chicago was. The consuming element seemed to have, for the time, an augmented power far beyond the reach of the usual appliances. The fire leaped from street to street over spaces broad enough to afford ample protection at other times; it advanced like a great, irresistible wave as long as any consumable material was left in its path. These were characteristics of all the fearful conflagrations mentioned. It is not so generally. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, the fires which reduced so much of the cities of Chicago, St. John, and Marblehead to ruin would have been extinguished before the second house was destroyed. But all the power of the fire departments of the cities named was of no more avail than if stricken by paralysis before the petty fires—petty at the time of their origin—which grew into such wide-sweeping calamities. These are, however, circumstances characteristic of them all. Not one of them at first seemed to be anything different from the usual fire that destroys a single dwelling, or workshop, or mill; yet each of them almost immediately got beyond control, and at each of them the fire leaped from street to street over broad spaces, and advanced until there was nothing more in its path to burn.

Was there anything in the atmospheric conditions at times of these fires to give unusual potency to the consuming element? This is not asked as a question that can be answered, but as a question to suggest inquiry, in its relations to the extraordinary atmospheric disturbances which have marked this season, and which, to some extent, characterized the period at which the Chicago fire occurred. In this last-mentioned year, and near about the time of the Chicago calamity, there were most disastrous forest and prairie fires in Minnesota and Wisconsin; and intelligent persons in Wisconsin who were eye-witnesses to them, testified that hot blasts swept the country for miles in advance of the fire; that luminous balls traversed the air in the afflicted districts; and that new flames started up at considerable distances from the main body of the conflagration. Assuming these statements to be true, and they have not been questioned within our knowledge, there would seem to have been something in the air of that region, at that time, which gave it extraordinary potency to excite combustion, to feed fire, and to carry it over long distances. What can our meteorologists, physicists, chemists, and other scientists tell us about this? Given these coincident circumstances, are there any relations between them? and does the atmosphere

at times get into a condition to make it extremely susceptible to fire, or to give it an unusual power to excite and feed combustion? If there be any such influences,—even if there be only a suspicion of them,—and if this season, with its long list of hurricanes, severe storms, and disastrous forest and city fires, be one of the seasons when such agencies may be potent in the air, then it is a season to be on guard against the beginnings of fires, whether by “accident” or by “spontaneous combustion,” or by the fire-cracker and rocket-stick. Those people are wise who do not tempt fate or undertake to defy the powers of nature.—Philadelphia Ledger.

“THE CHILDREN ARE COMING HOME.”

By Mary A. Davis

A HYMN FOR THANKSGIVING.

There is joy, there is joy at the fireside, There are tears in the mother's eyes, And the father's stern lip trembles With a glad and sweet surprise.

“They are coming home, the children, Home to our warm embrace; Oh, we long once more to greet them, Each in his well-known place. One from the field of battle, One from the billowy main, And one from the Western forests, They are coming home again; Each from his place so far away, To spend at home the festal day.

“We have tried to wait with patience, But our hearts are weary grown,” And again they tell the story, “The children are coming home.” “Let us gather up all the sunshine, Let us wreathe the fairest flowers, Pour strains of sweetest music, For joy to-day is ours. Our hearts and home are full of light, For the children are coming home to-night.”

“They are coming home, the children,”— It sounds through the courts of Heaven; They are coming, the blood-washed millions, For the gates of death are riven. They are coming, the saints and martyrs, From the dungeon, the rack, the stake, Where the wrath of men and demons, They suffered for Christ's dear sake. On the ocean wave were their ashes cast, But they're coming safely home at last.

Oh, think of the Saviour's longing For the children of his love; With joy will he haste to greet them, As they throng through the courts above. Through the courts above? Oh, never! He will not wait to meet, Even on the hills of Eden, His children's coming feet. He will go to the grave's dark portal, With all the angelic band, With shout and song to lead them To the immortal land.

Ring out, O bells of gladness! Let the silver trumpets blow, From every voice in Glory Let the song of welcome flow! Make ready the many mansions, The royal robe prepare, Bring the harp and the palm of triumph For the victor's hands to bear, And many a crown of starry light, For the children coming home to-night.

Home to the gates of Eden, Whence they have been exiled long, Free from the touch of sorrow, Free from the taint of wrong. Past the weary years of waiting! Past the battle with self and sin! Fling open the shining portals, And let the ransomed in! They are thronging up the steeps of light, The children gathered home to-night.

Make ready now the banquet, The appointed time has come, Bring forth the hidden manna, For the children gathered home. As he promised centuries agone, To-night the Lamb will feast his own.

Fresh from the sparkling fountain The living waters bring, Fill high each royal chalice For the children of the King. Bring the vineyard's purple clusters, Let the ruddy wine be poured, Bring the golden fruits of Eden To grace the festal board. The marriage of the Lamb has come, And his exiled ones are gathered home.

MARY A. DAVIS. Battle Creek, Mich.

THE INDIA FAMINE.

It is creditable both to the humanity and the statesmanship of Lord Derby, the English premier, that he considers the India famine as of far more import to England than the Russo-Turkish war. It is the real Eastern question and one not easy of solution. For the fourteenth time in the century, and the fourth time in ten years, millions of people are dying in India of starvation. The cost of allaying the present distress is expected to be $70,000,000, which must be met by taxation or borrowing.

A million dollars have been subscribed by private charity, but the need seems too vast for feeble aims to avail. It seems almost like another national debt. Meantime India is taxed to the utmost, while of her revenue of $95,000,000 seven-eights is wasted on the Indian army in time of peace. Professor Fawcett may well declare that “no language was strong enough to describe the extravagance of that expenditure.” While the irrigating enterprises of the native princes achieve their purposes, those of the English engineers are failures, and entail an annual loss of £400,000. Nothing but early investigation and prompt measures will save India from ruin under English domination.—The True Citizen.

TALMAGE ON THE NEW YORK ELECTION.

By Talmage

It was necessary to elect the foremost gambler in the United States to the office of State senator before the people could realize the infernal depth into which modern politics could sink. We have reached the turning-point. If Tweed had stolen only half as much as he did, investigation, discovery, and reform would have been impossible. It was not until he made his thefts so outrageous that the world was compelled to investigate them, that the tide turned. The re-election of Morrissey as senator seemed to be necessary, in order that the people might realize what we have done. He has been elected, not by his old time partisans, but by Republicans. Hamilton Fish, Gen. Grant's Secretary of State, voted for him; the brown stone fronts voted for him.

THE MILITIA OF JESUS CHRIST.

This is the title given to that great body of Catholics who have been and are still enrolling for the avowed purpose of restoring the temporal power of the pope. The obligation of the members of this order requires them to renounce every association condemned by the church; to render a perfect submission to the laws of the church, and the instructions of the holy see; to recite the rosary entire every week; to approach the sacraments as frequently as possible; to refuse support to bad publications and to encourage good ones; and to wear the cross of the service openly, or at least, under their clothes, if it be impossible to wear it otherwise. They are to be active in the collection of Peter’s pence; to do what they can to revive the spirit of faith in society, and to labor to unravel the plots of secret societies.

A Roman correspondent lately reported that the Italian government was seriously disturbed by the alacrity with which youth in that country and in France were enrolling themselves in the Militia of Jesus Christ.

It is quite evident that the Catholics of Europe, and the Vatican advisers in particular, regard the present as peculiarly their opportunity. So eminent an authority as Cardinal Manning has said, “What is called the Eastern Question will receive the solution that Providence has assigned to it—the independence of the holy see. The overturning of Europe, which is imminent, will bring, in the midst of its disturbances, the independence of the pope.”

The Republique Francaise also observes: “The independence of the pope means the restoration of the States of the Church; this restoration, war against Italy; war against Italy will only be made by an Ultramontane France. So, then, the establishment of Ultramontane domination in France is the first step toward bringing about the overturning of Europe, on the ruins of which the clerical chieftains hope to raise up again, and higher than ever, the pontifical throne.” In view of all the movements openly or covertly in progress among the agents of the Romish Church, it is not to be wondered at that, in the present disturbed condition of Europe, the plans of the Vatican and the physical condition of the present occupant of the papal chair, become matters of world-wide interest. The death of Pius IX., and the election of his successor, would bring Europe to confront questions so momentous and so complicated as to require for their final and satisfactory settlement a calmer era than the present.—Our Rest.

A MISSIONARY SERMON, AND A REMARKABLE TRADITION.

By George I. Butler

Last evening I had the privilege of listening to a very interesting discourse from Mr. Coon, a missionary to Persia. This man has spent the better part of his life laboring among the Nestorians and Mussulmans till gray-headed. He has now come ten thousand miles to arouse the cooling ardor of American Christians to the importance of missions to the heathen.

His description of the difficulties encountered by missionaries in heathen lands was striking. In many places they had no books, no tracts, no churches, no schoolhouses, no Sabbath-schools, no newspapers, none of the comforts of our civilization; few of the people could read or write, and in many places they had no literature. Everything had to be made. The spoken language had to be reduced to its elements, characters chosen to represent sounds, these combined into words and sentences, and books written. Then the children had to be taught to read and write, the Bible had to be translated into this tongue, and its principles taught. As these scholars grew up, they were sent out to instruct others, till after many years’ labor, churches would be raised up, and civilization established. In many instances, men and women commencing as missionaries in early life would grow gray before seeing any marked growth. Ten years, Mr. Coon said, they labored in their mission, scarcely seeing a single conversion; but then the work advanced with greater rapidity.

Not only were these difficulties to be met, but oppressive laws and every kind of hindrance. To proselyte from one sect to another was punishable with death. For one who had ever been a Mussulman to give up his religion for another was subject to the same penalty, and though the lecturer had never known this penalty to be inflicted, yet he had known of cases where persons were bastinadoed till their flesh hung in strips.

The Nestorians were professedly Christian, being descended from apostolic churches; but their religion was all a form. It consisted of services in an ancient and dead language which many of the priests themselves did not understand, the observance of many fasts, and other outward rites. They were very “religious,” but their religion did not keep them from lying, stealing, getting drunk, &c. It was many years before they could be made to feel that they needed converting; but after they were made to feel their need of a Saviour, and found him to the joy of their souls, their zeal and love far surpassed that of most professors in our more favored land.

He drew a striking contrast between their zeal in attending meetings, and that of church members here. Women would come from ten to sixty miles on foot to attend meeting, often carrying their children, wading through mud and sleet, and even barefooted in the winter season. Their liberality in giving of their scanty substance, notwithstanding their abject poverty, was something marvelous, when it is considered they were tenants who had to give three-fourths of all they raised for rent. Yet they felt it was a great privilege to give to Christ, in gratitude for the wonderful change wrought in them, and would even come and beg the missionaries to receive their donations. His contrast between these, and the course of genteel Christians in this land of plenty, who could hardly go a single block to attend religious services if the evening was a little unpleasant, and who were glad indeed if the contribution box got past them while hunting for the smallest piece of coin in their pocket, was something startling, and greatly to the disadvantage of the Christianity of our land of light.

The great changes in the characters and lives of these Nestorian Christians wrought by means of missionary labor, was almost the only avenue to the Mohammedans. These changes astonished them. They began to inquire what could be the cause, and many were led to see it was the Bible, with its precious instruction; and thus their confidence was gained and access to their hearts was obtained, and a few of them were brought to Christ.

Of course, the missionary, with his belief in the world’s conversion, drew a glowing picture of the great work to be done through the multiplication of missionary operations through the earth. We can accept his interesting facts, and reject his unscriptural conclusions.

We cannot doubt that God has had a hand in the missionary operations of the past one hundred years. Indeed, they are one of the signs of Christ’s coming. We would not question but that many genuine conversions have been made, and many noble men and women have given their lives to the salvation of poor heathen. They have lived up to all the light they have had. And while a superficial kind of Christianity has become popular among men, and in the same ratio religion has lost its fervency, very likely in those countries where men embrace Christ at the peril of their lives this loss is not so apparent; and many honest souls will embrace the last message of mercy and be prepared for Christ’s coming.

The speaker mentioned a tradition which he declares prevails through all those countries where Mohammedanism is in the ascendancy, and which is universally believed by them. They say there are to be in the history of the world twelve Imaums, i. e., great teachers, before the great day of Judgment. Of these great personages eleven have already passed off the stage of action. To the memory of some of these, shrines have been erected, and multitudes of pilgrims throng thither with rapt devotion. Among these, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed figure conspicuously. Mohammedans believe Jesus was a true prophet and teacher, and that his religion, as first taught, was good and true; but they claim that it became corrupted, and Mohammed followed and taught the only true religion. But the lecturer stated that the twelfth Imaum, for whom all Mohammedans are looking, is Jesus Christ; and there is a general expectation among them that his coming is to be very soon.

He stated that this expectation has had so much effect upon them that many look upon Christianity with far more favor than formerly, and that many small sects are springing up among them whose existence is more or less directly traceable to a belief in this tradition.

I confess this was a startling thought to me. While the speaker, of course, drew the conclusion from it that there was to be a mighty movement through the 180,000,000 of Mohammedans toward the acceptance of Christ as the Saviour and the world’s conversion, it looked to me as though God had, through his inscrutable providence, caused even the many millions of the followers of Arabia’s false prophet to contemplate the return of Jesus our Lord.

Who shall say that in the loud cry of the closing message rays of glorious light shall not reach these far-off missionary stations, and that these poor and oppressed disciples of Jesus, who have taken their lives in their hands to follow him, will not receive his last work; and that this tradition so widely disseminated and believed may not prepare the way for many honest souls?

However this may be, it is most remarkable that at the very time the proclamation of Christ’s soon coming is being made through all the nations of Christendom, a tradition to the same effect already exists among the 180,000,000 of Mohammedans. How these facts showing the zeal of missionaries to these distant lands should excite us to emulation! With a truth so much clearer than their creeds, with a hope almost consummated, a message founded on the sure prophetic word, and so near fulfilled that it has become almost a matter of sight instead of faith, how ardently should we labor.

Our pathway is strewn with roses compared with the thorny path of missionaries to the heathen. Why should these excel us in zeal? Oh, for more of the self-sacrificing spirit among ministry and people that characterizes those who take their lives in their hands, and go away from the earthly associations they love, to live and die for the salvation of the ignorant and degraded!

Missionary fields exist all around us, where we may labor for God. The heart to labor is the great thing needed. May the Lord give it to us all.

GEO. I. BUTLER.

Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, Nov. 8.

CHURCH ORGANIZATION.

At the General Conference in May, 1863, a committee was appointed to prepare an Address on Church Organization. We herewith republish, by request, that portion of their Address which treats upon the following points: 1. Manner of organizing a church; 2. Officers and their duties; and 3. The reception of members:—

Where bodies of believers are brought out on the truth in new places we would not recommend the immediate formation of a church. In such cases let a leader be appointed (this can perhaps best be done by the evangelist when he raises up the church), and let social meetings be continued till such time as the individuals become thoroughly acquainted with one another, and ascertain with whom they can have fellowship, and who are qualified for the important duties of officers of the church. As to the particular manner of organizing a church, when the proper time comes, we shall be allowed to avail ourselves of the experience of several ministers who have already adopted the following plan, and testify that it works well:—

Let the minister request all those who propose to enter into church organization, to stand upon their feet till it is ascertained whether perfect fellowship exists among them. If it does not, let those between whom the difficulty lies immediately retire and confer together in order to an understanding. If this cannot be arrived at, we know of no other way than that the accused should remain outside until the church is prepared to take action in his or her case. It having been ascertained who are prepared to enter into church fellowship, let their names be attached to the following

CHURCH COVENANT:

We, the undersigned, hereby associate ourselves together, as a church, taking the name of Seventh-day Adventists, covenanting to keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus Christ.

The members being thus enrolled, they are prepared for the election of

CHURCH OFFICERS.

The following classes of rulers and officers of the Christian church are brought to view in the New Testament: Apostles, evangelists, elders, bishops, pastors, and deacons. These we would divide into two great classes: Those who hold their office by virtue of an especial call from God, and those selected by the church: the former embracing apostles and evangelists, and the latter elders, bishops, pastors, and deacons.

I. Apostles. Apostle is from the word apostolos, and signifies one sent forth, a messenger. It is used to designate, in a pre-eminent sense, the twelve apostles sent out by Christ; but it cannot be confined to them, nor to that age.

1. It cannot be confined to the twelve. Christ was called an apostle. Heb. 3:1. Paul and Barnabas were called apostles. Acts 14:4, 14. Titus and other brethren were called messengers (Greek, apostles). 2 Cor. 8:22, 23. (The word of, in verse 23, is from the original huper, and signifies, about, concerning.) Epaphroditus was called a messenger (Greek, apostle). Phil. 2:25. Here we have at least four apostles besides the twelve, all living in the same age with them; which shows that the idea of perpetuating just twelve apostles in the church, as the Mormons and Irvingites hold, is unscriptural and absurd.

2. They cannot be confined to the times covered by the New Testament record. (1.) The definition of the word apostle being one sent out, it follows that any one especially sent out of God in any age to proclaim his truth, is, in that sense, an apostle. We think it more especially applicable to those who are called of God to lead out in any truth or reform; such, for instance, as Luther, Melancthon, Wesley, and Wm. Miller. (2.) The Scriptures also show that apostles are to be perpetuated in the church. Eph. 4:11-13: “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come into the unity of the faith.” This testimony shows that the office of apostle runs co-extensive with that of pastors and teachers, and other spiritual gifts, and is to last till the church, the body of Christ, all come into the unity of the faith.

II. Evangelists. This term is from the Greek, evangelistes, and is thus defined by Robinson: “Properly, a messenger of good tidings. In the New Testament, an evangelist, a preacher of the gospel, not fixed in any place, but traveling as a missionary to preach the gospel, and establish churches. See Acts 21:8; Eph. 4:11; 2 Tim. 4:5.”

We come now to the second class, those appointed by the church; namely, elders, bishops, pastors, and deacons.

1. Elders. This office is also expressed by the words bishop, pastor, and overseer. To show that these are interchangeable terms for the same thing, we refer, first, to Titus 1:5, 7: “For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city as I had appointed thee; for a bishop must be blameless,” &c. The word elder, in verse 5, is from presbuteros, and signifies, primarily, according to Robinson, an elder person, a senior; as an officer of the church, it signifies the elders of Christian churches, presbyters, to whom was committed the direction and government of individual churches; properly, the same as episcopos, which see.” The word rendered bishop in verse 7, is from this word, episcopos, and is defined by the same author as follows: “In the New Testament spoken of officers of the primitive churches, an overseer, superintendent. This was originally simply the common Greek name of office equivalent to presbuteros, which latter was a Jewish term.” That elders and bishops are identical, is also shown from Acts 20:17, 28. The word elders in verse 17, is from presbuteros and the word overseers, in 28, is from episcopos (bishop). The term pastor is from poimen, and signifies, literally, a herdsman, a shepherd; especially a pastor, a teacher, a spiritual guide of a particular church. The definition of this term shows that it signifies the same office as presbuteros (elder), and episcopos (bishop), a local office, confined to a particular church.

2. Deacons. This term is from the Greek, diakonos, and is defined to signify primarily, “a waiter, an attendant, a servant, usually derived from dia and konis, one dusty from running. An officer in the primitive church, one who had charge of the alms and money of the church, an overseer of the sick and poor, an almoner. Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:8, 12; Acts 6:1-6. Also of a female, he diakonos, who had charge of the female sick and poor. Rom. 16:1.”

From what has been said, it will be seen that the officers of the church which are appointed solely by the church itself are reduced to two, namely, elders and deacons. From what then has arisen so much confusion upon this subject? It must be from overlooking the fact that the different names of elder, bishop, and pastor are applied to the same office, and also from overlooking the principle that a person holding any one of the higher offices is qualified to officiate in any of the lower; and when performing the duties of such office is called

by the title applying thereto. Thus Peter, though an apostle, calls himself an elder (1 Pet. 5:1), and Paul, carrying the liberalities of the brethren up to Jerusalem (Acts 11:30), might with equal propriety be called a deacon. In 2 Cor. 8:4, he is spoken of as performing the office of a deacon. The brethren prayed him to take upon himself the fellowship of the ministering (Greek, diakonias, deaconship) to the saints; which he did. Verses 19, 20. Evangelists, also, are called elders. Paul says to Timothy, “Let the elders that rule well be accounted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in word and doctrine.” 1 Tim. 5:17. Here were some laboring in word and doctrine who are called elders; but such labor shows them to be evangelists, it being especially their work; hence evangelists are sometimes called elders, but only, of course, when acting in that capacity.

If this principle be correct, we may lay down the following general rule: That no person by virtue of a lower office can fill a higher one; but any one filling a higher office, can, by virtue of that office, act in any of the lower. Thus, a deacon cannot by virtue of his deaconship act as an elder, nor an elder as an evangelist, nor an evangelist as an apostle; but an apostle can act as an evangelist, elder, or deacon; and an evangelist, as an elder or deacon; and an elder as a deacon. We do not here speak of apostles and evangelists as officers of individual churches; for this is not the position they occupy; their calling makes it necessary for them to move in a wider sphere; namely, to have, if apostles, the oversight of the churches, and if evangelists, to labor to raise up churches in new fields. These, in our judgment, are the only officers qualified to organize churches.

We give it as the result of our examination of this subject that in the organization of a church, officers are to be supplied according to the necessities of the case. We understand the duties of a deacon to be confined exclusively to the temporal matters of the church; such, for instance, as taking charge of its finances, making preparation for the celebration of the ordinances, &c.; while it is the duty of the elder to take the lead and oversight of the church in spiritual things. This elder need not necessarily be a preacher, but may conduct the meetings of the church, and administer the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s supper in the absence of any higher officer. If an apostle or an evangelist be present, all these duties would be left with him.

Where a church is so small that the duties of both an elder and a deacon can be conveniently performed by the same individual, we see no necessity of having more than one officer. Let this one be an elder, who, as we have already shown, is qualified by virtue of his office to act also as deacon. But if the church is so large that its temporal and spiritual wants cannot be attended to by one person, let one or more deacons be chosen to look after its temporal affairs, while the elder or elders confine themselves to its spiritual interests.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS.

When the names of the members are enrolled as specified in the former part of this article, let the minister read to them the Scriptures setting forth the qualifications requisite to the offices of elder and deacon (these are described in 1 Tim. 3:1-10; Titus 1:6-9); and then let the minister select two brethren of good judgment who with him shall act as a nominating committee to nominate candidates for elder and deacon. Then the church may be called upon to vote by uplifted hand whether they will sanction said nomination or not. If said nomination is ratified by a three-fourths vote of those enrolled, they shall be ordained to such office, provided those not voting present no valid objection against their filling such offices. Then let the minister ordain them as in Acts 6:6; Titus 1:5. We need hardly suggest the necessity of every church keeping a record of all its proceedings. To this end a clerk will be necessary, who may be elected in the same manner. The elder of a church should act as chairman in all its business meetings.

RECEPTION OF MEMBERS.

Let all candidates for admission into the church after its organization be received by a unanimous vote of the church, unless the opposition to their admission comes from those who are at the time subjects of labor, or under the censure of the church.

Anti-Chinese Labor Notices and Farm Burnings in California

The members of the International Association, in California, have notified many of the farmers of the interior that they will not be permitted to employ Chinese laborers on their farms. Some farmers who disregarded these notices have had their farms burned by Internationalist agents.

FRIEND AHOY!

[As ships meet at sea, a moment together, when words of greeting must be spoken, and then away into the deep, so men meet in this world; and I think we should cross no man's path without hailing him, and if he needs, giving him supplies.]

Friend ahoy! How many days Hast thou been out? How many nights? Did friends stand watching on thy ways? Do lovers trim the lights?

Friend ahoy! Art thou in need Of aught we carry? Make but sign Which we across the waves may read, And all our store is thine.

Friend ahoy! Draw near! draw near! Let us, at least one short hour, sail Close side by side. Let words of cheer Over our griefs prevail.

Friend ahoy! The waves toss white. Rises the wind which parts us far; We shall ride out the stormy night By help of the self-same star.

Friend ahoy! Farewell! farewell! Grief unto grief, joy unto joy, Greeting and help the echoes tell Faint, but eternal—Friend ahoy!

— Christian Union.

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