“’Tis not for man to trifle, life is brief,
Our age is but the falling of a leaf;
We have no time to sport away the hours,
All must be earnest in a world like ours.
Not many lives, but one have we;
How precious, then, should that one be.”
A wealth of meaning is expressed in the above simple lines. They breathe solemn warnings to the careless and indolent, reprove frivolity, and tell of the shortness of life and the certainty of death.
Earnestness is the spirit of success. Viewed from a worldly stand-point it leads to wealth, fame, and honor. An earnest man, even in a bad cause, gains many friends and followers. If earnestness is necessary in matters pertaining to this life, how much more is it needed in the cause of God. The preacher, most of all, needs its burning fire. Earnest words from the heart attract attention and reach the heart. Earnestness of manner fastens conviction on the soul, makes the sinner tremble, and gives power to the thoughts expressed.
Every true life is an earnest life. Our Saviour was deeply in earnest when he gave his life for fallen man, and shall not we, his followers, manifest some of that spirit? The church “fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners,” must be an earnest church. It is earnestness, accompanied with the Spirit of God, that will waft the sound of the third angel’s message over valley and plain, and cause it to echo and re-echo from hill-top to hill-top, until the “loud cry” is merged into the glad, triumphant song of the redeemed.
The last prayer of the sinner will be an earnest one, but it will be all in vain. Now is the time to labor earnestly, faithfully, and perseveringly. May a holy enthusiasm strengthen every heart and hand, and lead to a renewed consecration to God.
ELIZA H. MORTON.
DEATH IN THE DISHCLOTH.
A LADY correspondent of the Rural World, having been startled by typhoid fever in her neighborhood some time ago, gives the following good advice about dishcloths:—
If they are black and stiff and smell like a barnyard, it is enough, throw them in the fire and henceforth and forever wash your dishes with cloths that are white, cloths that you can see through, and see if you ever have that disease again. There are sometimes other causes, but I have smelled a whole house full of typhoid fever in one “dish.” I had some neighbors once—clever, good sort of folks; one fall four of them were sick at one time with typhoid fever. The doctor ordered the vinegar barrels whitewashed, and threw about forty cents’ worth of carbolic acid in the swill-pail, and departed. I went into the kitchen and made gruel; I needed a dishcloth and looked around and found several, and such “rags!” I burned them all, and called the daughter of the house to get me a dishcloth. She looked around on the table. “Why,” said she, “there were about a dozen here this morning,” and she looked in the woodbox and on the mantelpiece and felt in the cupboard. “Well,” I said, “I saw some old black, rotten rags lying around, and I burned them, for there is death in such dishcloths as those, and you must never use such again.” I took turns at nursing that family for weeks, and I believe those dirty dishcloths were the cause of all that hard work.
Therefore I say to every housekeeper, Keep your dishcloths clean. You may only brush and comb your head on Sundays, you need not wear a collar unless you go from home, but you must wash your dishcloths. You may only sweep the floor when the sun gets right; the windows don’t need washing, you can look out of the door; that spider’s web on the front porch doesn’t hurt anything; but as you love your lives wash out your dishcloth. Let the fox-tail grass grow in the garden (the seed is a foot deep anyway), let the holes in the heels of your husband’s foot-rags go darned, let the sage go ungathered, let the children’s shoes go two Sundays without blacking, let the hens set four weeks on one wooden egg; but do wash out your dishcloths. Eat without a tablecloth, wash your faces and let them dry, do without a curtain for your windows and cake for your tea; but don’t neglect to keep your dishcloth clean.
Aristotle on the Worth of True Friendship
He who boasts a multitude of friends hath none.—Aristotle.
Obituary Notices.
“Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.”
Died in Wright, Ottawa Co., Mich., May 28, Solomon D. Covey, aged 59 years and 8 months.
The circumstances under which Bro. Covey died were distressing in the extreme. On the day of his death he was in the enjoyment of usual health, and was employed in rolling a piece of ground which he was preparing for spring crops. Desiring either to straighten the chain or to disengage the oxen from the roller, he passed between them for the purpose of accomplishing his object, when suddenly they sprang forward, and, despite the efforts of one of Bro. Covey’s sons, who stood in front of them, ran at a furious rate for some distance, while Bro. Covey, clinging to the tongue with one arm, was dragged over the ground by them until he was compelled at last to release his hold and fall prostrate upon the ground. While in this position the roller passed over a portion of his body inflicting such serious injuries that he lived only for a few moments.
Bro. Covey, through the labors of Eld. J. B. Frisbie, some twenty years since, was converted from infidelity to the present truth, and has, we believe, from that time to the present, been an observer of the Lord’s Sabbath and a believer in the near coming of Christ. The natural kindness of heart which was ever so marked in him had secured the respect of the people generally in the community in which he lived. We have seldom witnessed a funeral where deeper sympathy was manifested by the neighbors of the deceased than was shown on this occasion. There were in attendance at least five hundred persons, many of whom were unable to find seats within the church.
Bro. Covey leaves a large family of children to mourn his loss; but through the industry of himself and wife, who survives him, they are in comfortable circumstances so far as this world’s goods are concerned.
The funeral discourse was preached by the writer, on the morning of the 31st of May.
W. H. LITTLEJOHN,
Died of diphtheria, in Marshalltown, Iowa, May 17, 1878, our only son, Amos, aged 8 years and 9 months. He trusted in Jesus the Lifegiver, that he would raise him to immortality in a little while.
A little while amid the surging billows,
A little while beneath affliction’s rod,
A little while, my son, in death’s pale slumber,—
Then we shall walk the city of our God.
Once more the loving arms shall twine around us,
Once more the cheek be pressed in holy joy,
When we upon the gold-paved streets of Eden
Shall walk again with our own darling boy.
Oh, blessed hope! “Oh, blessed hour victorious!”
Which does the weary, aching heart beguile,
When friend embracing friend in rapture glorious
Shall realize ’tis past,—the little while.
O. M. AND T. F. OLDS.
Died at New Era, Neb., May 24, 1878, Sr. Hulda Copsey, aged 36 years and 9 months. An affectionate husband and six children mourn her loss. Sr. C. embraced the doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventists under the labors of Bro. Chas. L. Boyd, and united with the Farmers Valley church two years ago. She remained a devoted and faithful worker in the cause until her death. Words of comfort by the writer, from Rev. 14:13.
H. A. JENKINS.
Died of consumption, in Fairhaven, Mass., May 25, 1878, Sr. Sarah Chase, in the eighty-first year of her age. Sr. Chase embraced the present truth in its early days, under the labors of Eld. Joseph Bates. Her life was one of sacrifice and devotion to the cause of God, and she went down to the grave with a firm hope of coming up in a little while, when the Lifegiver comes. Funeral the 28th, on which occasion remarks were made from 1 Cor. 15:26.
D. A. ROBINSON.
Died at Page, Va., May 21, 1878, Polly Good, wife of Bro. George Good, aged 61 years, 10 months, and 21 days. Her sickness, which lasted only two days, was painful. She was a Sabbath-keeper, and looked for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, at which time she expected to receive her reward.
Funeral discourse by the writer, to a large audience, from 1 Cor. 15:21.
J. W. DADISMAN.
“Grave Apprehensions.”
THE papers are still burdened with comments upon the threatening aspect of our political and social affairs. Among all the utterances of this kind, perhaps the following paragraph from The Advance of June 6, presents as good a general view of the situation in condensed form as could be given:—
“Every observant person looks upon the present aspect of our political affairs with grave apprehension. Nothing is plainer than that the Tilden-Potter plot, if it means anything, means revolution. It is a conspiracy that looks beyond the present congress, to the next one, which, it is expected, will have a Democratic majority in both houses, when tactics employed successfully to oust Gov. Packard from the governorship of Louisiana are hoped to be equally effective in ousting President Hayes. But apart from that, there is, as the venerable statesman Thurlow Weed says in a recent letter, ‘imminent danger that this movement may stimulate other bad elements into overt action. Communists, Trades-Unionists, Agrarians, and Repudiators stand at rest waiting their opportunity. There is too much reason to apprehend that Mr. Potter has given these bad elements their long-hoped-for opportunity. There seemed just now gleams of hope that business would revive. The unemployed and the destitute were beginning to look for better times. They have endured privation with exemplary patience. But there is a point beyond which endurance ceases to be a virtue. Whenever that point is reached, and the Communists are enabled to beguile the really industrious but unemployed laborers into their organizations, they will become as dangerous and powerful as they are wicked and destructive. The atmosphere is charged with political electricity. If these explosive trains should be ignited by Mr. Potter’s match, those with whom he is closely connected will be among the first and largest sufferers.’”
Quarterly Meetings.
By A. S. Hutchins
THE importance of uniformity in all our State Conferences in holding quarterly meetings has been repeatedly set before us by the General Conference Committee. So far as the different churches and T. and M. societies have adopted this plan, I believe they regard the practice proper and beneficial. The great difficulty of traveling in our State the first of April, and indeed the almost impossibility of getting together in some localities, to some extent disarranged these meetings with us the present quarter. This we feel to regret, and hope hereafter that each church and T. and M. district will make it a point to act in harmony with the recommendations of those who have spoken on the subject.
The spiritual interests of the churches demand these meetings, and the local and general interest of the T. and M. society will be promoted by the meetings for the advancement of the work in this branch. The time for the next quarterly meetings hastens on, and will soon come. How much work will the reports show done for the Lord? How many reports from a membership of 261 will be returned? How many families will be visited, talked with on the subject of salvation, and prayed with? How many letters bearing words of love, hope, and good cheer to the lonely ones, words calculated to win those to the truth who know it not, will be written? How many new subscribers for our periodicals will be obtained? And how many tracts, pamphlets, books, and periodicals will be distributed? What will be the record of means gathered and saved for the advancement of the great work as it is borne on to “many peoples, and nations, and tongues”? And what shall be the spiritual advancement of each one of us, dear brethren and sisters? We may grow in grace, and in the knowledge of the truth. Faithful and true will be the record of all these things kept on high. A. S. HUTCHINS.
May 28, 1878.
APPOINTMENTS
“And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”
Minnesota Conference.
The seventeenth annual session of the Minnesota Conference will be held in connection with the camp-meeting at Hutchinson, June 19-25, 1878, for the election of officers and to transact such other business as may come before the meeting.
Every church and company of believers within the limits of the Conference should be represented by delegate at that meeting. If any church or company cannot send a delegate, do not fail to report your numbers, wants, and standing, by letter, to the Conference.
Minn. Conf. Com.
Minnesota T. and M. Society.
This society will hold its annual meeting at Hutchinson in connection with the camp-meeting, June 19-25, 1878, for the election of officers and to transact any other business that may come before the meeting.
Harrison Grant, Pres.
Quarterly T. and M. meeting at Soliloquy, Shenandoah Co., Va., July 6 and 7, 1878.
R. Sawyer.
A few brethren from Battle Creek will meet with the friends in Johnstown, Mich., Sabbath, June 15.
Nothing preventing, I will meet with the church in Marshall, Mich., Sabbath, June 15. Attendance from neighboring churches is invited. L. Bean.
Quarterly meeting for the church at Wellsville, N. Y., will be held Sabbath, July 6, 1878. Let every brother and sister be present. Come with hearts full of love for the cause of the Master, and let us consecrate ourselves anew to the work before us. G. W. Knapp.
I will hold meeting at Olivet, Mich., June 22. J. Byington.
Providence permitting, I will meet with the brethren in Nebraska and Iowa as follows:
Orleans, Harlan Co., Neb., June 13-14
New Era, Furnas Co., “ “ 21-27
Waco, York Co., “ “ 27-30
Linwood, Butler Co., where Bro. Crampton may appoint, July 4-8
Smithland, Woodbury Co., Iowa, July 11-15 We would be glad to see a good attendance of our brethren at all these places. E. W. Farnsworth.
At Dixville (near Coaticook), P. Q., in the Adventist chapel, June 15 and 16. The chapel is completed and will then be dedicated.
The meeting will commence on Friday evening, June 14, and continue over two days or longer. Eld. S. N. Haskell, a member of the General Conference Committee, will hold this meeting. Cannot the president of the Vermont Conference attend also? The meeting will be advertised largely. Brethren and sisters, come, praying that the Lord may meet with us.
A. O. Bourdeau.
The Lord willing, I will be at Independence, Kan., June 13.
Canola, “ 15-18.
Elk Falls, “ 22, 23.
Hope to see at these meetings all who live within a reasonable distance, and those who want labor in this part of the State. J. N. Ayers.
The P. O. address of Eld. Stephen Pierce is Winnebago City, Faribault Co., Minn.
The P. O. address of Eld. I. and H. T. H. Sanborn, until further notice, will be Weston, Vt.
RECEIPTS
For Review and Herald.
Annexed to each receipt in the following list, is the Volume and Number of the REVIEW & HERALD to which the money receipted pays—which should correspond with the Numbers on the Papers. If money for the paper is not in due time acknowledged, notice of the omission should be given.
$2.00 EACH. Richard Constantine 53-23, Sarah Emerson 53-23, Lorenzo Howe 53-22, Lizzie Williams 53-25, E E Kibbe 53-23, Timothy Galutia 53-23, M S Kibbe 53-23, J W Snyder 53-23, A L Washburn 50-14, Charlie Hanson 58-22, S P Ward 53-20, Franklin Squire 53-24, W C Althouse 53-23, Peter Johnson 53-23, Dr C E Ives 53-23, M M Disney 53-20, Eld J H Morrison 53-24, Josiah Wilbur 58-23, Henry Waddell 53-23, A C Atwood 53-28, C S Lake 53-23, Mrs Mary J Sheultze 53-23, Eld J N Ayers 54-1, Hannah Donaldson 53-23, Mrs J De Wolfe 53-23, Julia E Retterbush 53-23.
$1.00 EACH. H R Palmer 53-2, Mercy R Johnson 52-23, Ellis Margerson 52-23, Mrs D Chamberlain 53-1, James Morris 52-23, John Francisco 52-23, S S Smith 52-28, Solomon Berridge 52-23, O F Tripp 52-16, Thomas Fisher 53-1, Mrs Geo Weller 52-23, Geo W Crous 52-22, Hermon Cole 52-23, Calvin Crary 52-23, J H Rogers 52-28, Mrs Elizabeth Straley 52-23, Daniel Call 52-23, Isaac Cornell 53-1, Eld I Sanborn 52-23, J E Hool 52-24, Mrs Elvy Clark 52-23, A Wilbur 52-23, G W Sheldon 53-8, John Atkinson 52-23, Wm B Palmer 52-23, A B Atwood 52-23, W S Bedient 52-23, Mrs A Bostwick 52-25, Mrs C F Phelps 52-23, C M Shepard 53-1, Catharine Covert 53-25.
MISCELLANEOUS. Brown and Wilcox 50c 52-10, Martha Lindsay 75c 52-23, T L Mitchell 75c 52-23, Wm H Naylor 50c 52-15, Nellie F Briggs $1.50 53-23, D A Wellman 50c 52-10, R A Kale 75c 52-28, Clarence Dickinson 1.50 53-23, Geo F Blodgett 1.50 53-23, Mrs Ezra Southworth 1.50 53-23, E W Coy 3.75 53-8, F O Shepherd 50c 52-15, Sarah A Cummings 1.50 53-23, Mrs L E Michael 75c 53-1, Seth Warren 75c 52-23, Wm Wells 75c 52-23, James A Searing 1.50 53-23, C E Hankins 50c 52-10, Margaret Heslet 1.50 58-18.
Books Sent by Mail.
John Fulton $4.95, A K Atteberry 1.00, Gardner S Galaspie 50c, Levi Wells 1.00, W J Hall 20c, L A Rhodes 2.25, Emma Wakeham 1.00, Wm J Eyrton 25c, T J Webb 25c, Rettie Kelley 25c, Mrs M J Earn 25c, A Parsons 1.00, Annie H Horine 10c, Dr R L Jones 25c, H P Ritchey 3.00, B Graham 1.00, Mrs A Henderson 25c, S W Hastings 80c, A W Prettyman 50c, Chas H Harper 2.00, G W Danforth 21c, J Z Nugen 1.00, Mrs N A Beck 50c, Wm M Knight 10c, Michael Johnson 50c, H S Guilford 2.00, John J Bohnake 20c, R A Underwood 2.50, Mrs D Smith 5c, A Boynton 50c, Edward H Turner 12c, John Lowry 1.00, Hazen Berry 80c, A S Osborn 50c, Mrs Caroline Brown 25c, R M Dickson 25c, Mrs A Bostwick 2.00, Mrs Mattie S Bean 3.00, Menken Bros 2.00, John Deedon 1.00, Nils Peter Trulson 25c, H E Barstow 35c, R Sisley 1.95, C N Stuttle 50c, Mrs M D Houghton 45c, W H Rampton 3.04, Geo I Butler 9.08, I D Van Horn 4.14, H C Sweet 77c, J S Shrock 3.00, George A King 1.00, Joseph E Bennett 1.00, E H Gates 2.21, J O Corliss 2.50.
Books Sent by Express.
M D Mathews $3.63, E R Jones 7.50.
Cash Rec'd on Account.
C A R Bellows $85.00, A O Burrill per E Hutchins 150.00, Wis T and M Society per D M Canright 174.22, Ala T and M Society Bladen Springs No 1 5.64, No 2 6.94.
Mich. T. & M. Society.
Dist 6 per F Howe $14.00, Dist 3 6.60, Dist 13 per M F Mullen 23.00, Hastings (Widow and Orphan Fund) 2.25, Hastings added 7 8.56, Hastings (sale of almanacs) 6.18.
Mich. Conf. Fund.
Bronson per Mrs N E Post $18.44, Hillsdale 2.00, Hastings per D A Owen 31.96.
S. D. A. E. Society.
Mary E Dunn $10.00, Vesta J Cady 10.00, A D Olsen 5.00, Lillian Newton 5.00, Miles Carter 12.50, M B Palmer 5.00, Mary Farrer 5.00, John Atkinson 10.00, A O Olsen 5.00, M K Owen (deceased) 100.00, Mrs L E Orton 5.00, C H Barrows 5.00.
European Mission.
E Burnham $5.00, Marcus Stremeran 45.00, Mrs M Thompson 25.00, Dr W D Stillman 10.00, U Mullen 5.00, Wm Palmer 5.00, Mary Jasperson 5.00, M K Owen (deceased) $100.00, J M Lindsay 5.00, M F Dibble 5.00, Mrs W Fairchild 20.00, F Cramer 100.00, Friends of the cause in N Y for Italian Mission 27.76.
Gen. T. & M. Society.
Jesse Moreton $5.00, E H Woolsey 5.00.
Swedish Mission.
John Deedon $4.00.
S. D. A. P. Association.
M K Owen (deceased) $300.00.
Gen. Conf. Fund.
Wealthy McNitt (s B) 4.00, Bladen Springs No 2 (s B) 5.80, also 5.81, Bladen Springs No 1 (s B) 4.60.
In the Sunday-school department in the Independent of June 6, 1878, we find this note on Dan. 7: 9:—
“Thrones were cast down,”—This is a mistranslation. It should be thrones were set. The picture is of the coming of a king, with his attendants, to open a court. The seats or thrones are set for the Ancient of days and his associates.”
Antediluvian Monsters.
According to the Scientific American of June 15, 1878, there were unearthed in the Rocky Mountains, near Morrison, Bear Creek, Col., the remains of a new and gigantic species of antediluvian animals, the Dinosaur, the largest ever discovered, and the largest known land animal. Arthur Lakes, Professor of Geology at Jarvis Hall, Colorado, by whom they were discovered, estimates the animal when alive to have been fully sixty feet long, and when standing erect on its hind legs, after the custom of Dinosaurs, to feed on the foliage of the mountain forests, to have been eighty-five feet high.
Growth of Catholicism.
THERE is probably too good ground for the rejoicing of Catholics over the progress of their power in New England. The growth of this church is no small element in the threatening dangers now hanging over this country:—
“The Catholic World exults in the growth of Romanism in the very home of Puritanism: ‘New England promises to be the first portion of the country which is likely to become distinctively Roman Catholic. The immigration into New England is small, but is composed mostly of Catholics; the increase of population is very largely Catholic; the emigration is almost entirely non-Catholic.’ It is already a fact that a great deal of the purest Puritanism extant is now to be found West of New England. The Congregational ministers and churches throughout the West are, to-day, as a whole, sounder in the faith than those of Massachusetts.”—Advance.
Literary Notice.
THE AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN, a quarterly journal devoted to early American History, Ethnology and Archæology, edited by Rev. S. D. Peet, Cor. Sec. of the Archæological Association of Ohio, Ashtabula, Ohio, to whom all correspondence should be addressed.
This Magazine is designed to be a medium of correspondence between Archæologists, Ethnologists and other scientific gentlemen. It embraces in its scope the widest range of intelligent discussion on the subject of Anthropology, but is especially devoted to the study of the Historic and Pre-historic Antiquities of the two Continents of America.
Correspondence will also be sought from gentlemen in other countries so far as it may illustrate these topics, and the Pre-historic Antiquities of all lands will be made a specialty. The aim will be to make the Magazine the exponent of all antiquarian research on the continent.
Price $2.00 per annum.
Correction to Those Reports Article in Review
CORRECTION.—In the article headed “Those Reports,” in REVIEW of May 30, report from Dist. No. 1 is made to read, by a typographical error, $328.80, when it should be $22.80.
Michigan Camp-meeting.
By Conf. Committee
It is expected that the first Michigan camp-meeting will be held at Lansing, on the old ground, about Aug. 21-26, 1878; and Brn. E. H. Root, J. F. Carman and Wm. Potter will act as camp-meeting committee. It is suggested by the General Conference Committee that one or two more camp-meetings be held in different parts of the State.
CONF. COMMITTEE.
Wanted Immediately.
By R. A. Underwood
A SABBATH-KEEPER who is a practical farmer and a good milker, to work on a farm by the month or year. A single man is preferred.
I desire a man who is capable of managing affairs in my absence, that I may spend my time and strength in the cause, as the providence of God may direct.
Any one will confer a favor by sending me the address of such a person who desires a situation on a farm. Address, R. A. Underwood, Mesopotamia, Trumbull Co., Ohio.
Students Seek Summer Work Through Haying and Harvest
Several students desire to work for Sabbath-keepers through haying and harvesting. Those wishing help please address, Battle Creek College, Battle Creek, Mich.
Opening for a Sabbath-Keeping Blacksmith at Bentonsport
Bro. J. W. Burton, Bentonsport, Iowa, informs us that there is a good opening for a Sabbath-keeping blacksmith at that place.
Review Number Contents Of Special Interest
By Editor
The reader will find the matter in this number of the REVIEW of a more than usually interesting character.
Closing the Volume and Subscription Readjustments
The next number of the REVIEW closes the present volume. The re-adjustment of a large number of subscriptions to the paper is now in order.
Elder White Returns Home from California
By Editor
We were happy to welcome Bro. White home again from California, June 5. He endured the journey well, and we find him in a better state of health than we had feared. He is resting from the fatigues of the long trip across the mountains, and the brethren may now expect to hear from him oftener through the REVIEW. They will be happy to read his cheering words in this number, and for the good report he gives of the Pacific Press.
Bro. Kilgore on Conducting Public Discussions
We think Bro. Kilgore, in his report from Texas, in this number, presents the right principle upon which to enter into public discussions; that is, let the question be determined, and conditions and preliminaries be all arranged before the public congregation. Many a designing sophist would stand completely stripped of his mask by this means.
Biblical Lectures Course Schedule and Its Timing
The present course of Biblical Lectures in the College, closed June 7, eighty-eight lectures having been given. It has been suggested to have the next course commence in the middle of the fall term and continue twenty weeks to the close of the winter term. As it is now arranged, the lectures ending near the close of the spring term, those who wish to enter the field for the summer tent campaign, are obliged to leave before the course is finished. More upon this hereafter.
Business Notices in the Review
By Editor
BUSINESS NOTICES.—The REVIEW does not open its columns for general advertising. Such notices are occasionally inserted as we think will help Sabbath-keepers who are in need of work, to situations; or such as will help some one to dispose of his land to enter into the work of the ministry, or to help the cause, or something of this kind; but they are not inserted unless some such special reason for their insertion exists. We make this statement as an explanation why some notices sent for insertion in the REVIEW do not appear.