Earlier text: The Bible SanctuaryVacaville and Woodland.
By W. M. Healey
I SPENT the quarterly meeting occasion with the church at Vacaville, and had a profitable season. Held several meetings with them, which were well attended by our people. Several from the outside were present and manifested considerable interest. One backslider promised to again renew the conflict against sin. I spoke twice at the Udel school-house, eight miles from Vacaville, and although the nights were foggy and very dark, and the people all lived at quite a distance from the school-house, we had a good attendance. At this place I held a series of meetings six years ago, and several embraced the message. At the present time I think additions could be had to the cause, both here and at Vacaville, could the work be followed up. The Woodland church held their quarterly meeting one week late, so that we were present with them. I had sent appointments for meetings to begin Thursday evening, Jan. 11, and continue over the next Sunday, but from the first there has been a good attendance of those who desire to hear the evidence of our faith and hope. This, and the wants of the church, decided me to continue meetings through the present week. I hope to see some good done, but, on account of other work, do not expect to be able to remain as long as the growing interest would seem to demand. W. M. HEALEY. Woodland, Jan. 19. Facts about Whisky and Whisky Sellers.
By Diana Farmer
I was born and brought up in a State that contained twelve or fourteen hundred breweries, and was personally acquainted with a score of householders engaged in making and selling intoxicating drinks, and I can testify from personal knowledge that thirty per cent. of the male householders and three per cent. of its females, became drunkards. Of the remainder of the families in the same territory, alongside of these, but not engaged in making and selling liquor, fourteen per cent. of the male members became drunkards and less than one-half of one per cent. of the females. The greatest per cent. of drunkenness, of the male members of single families, known to the writer, the heads of which were engaged in making and selling liquor, was seventy-five, and the least fourteen; in one, none. In this the head engaged in the business only partially and not very long. I obtained the above figures by actual count in a large number of families. I have known quite a number of men who lived sots for a long time, and their prosperity was noted for lack of energy. If a son or grandson of a sot manifests much energy, it is generally one that was born before the father or grandfather became confirmed in habits of drunkenness, or one that is strongly impressed with the features and character of the sober mother. I know eight brothers, all men grown, of good size, of common sense and well developed in muscle, not one of whom manifests energy or perseverance; and if all the property they all possess were thrown into a pile, it would be but a small one, and of poor quality; some of them under no extraordinary circumstances have had to be relieved by county aid. The father of these brothers was an old sot of long standing, and the mother would get drunk. In vain have I ransacked the histories of families for a parallel case of brothers and sober parents. The above facts teach two leading lessons: First, it is the frequent, touching, handling, and tasting of strong drink that causes so much drunkenness. Second, drunkenness of a father destroys not only his own energy, but that of his posterity also.— "As a general principle our rooms are too warm in winter. The heat of the summer, which seems oppressive to us, we endure without a murmur in the winter, in stifled sitting-rooms where the dry and impure air is indeed oppressive. In this way we rob ourselves of the tonic effects of the cool and cold weather, as necessary and useful to us as the mild weather of the summer. Those thus exposed have more colds, more sickness, than those steadily exposed to the rigors of northern winters." Virtue and the Rough Path
VIRTUE consisteth of three parts; temperance, fortitude, and justice. It is upon smooth ice we slip; the rough path is safer. It is upon smooth ice we slip; the rough path is safest for the feet. Nurtured Prejudice.
By Mrs. Ann Preston
Several years ago a young minister who had just been ordained, accompanied by his wife of three days, went to preach as a candidate for a little church in a small farming town of southern Vermont. He knew nothing about the place, aside from the fact that the little flock of Christians were seeking a shepherd. He took his young wife with him in good faith, supposing he should find a hotel in the town, however indifferent its accommodations might be, where they could be entertained over the Lord's day, in case none of the church members were prepared to take them in. Arrived at the village, every family, without exception, was thrown into consternation at the idea of entertaining a lady, a bride, and the bride of a minister at that, without due warning and preparation. The young man who had brought them up over the hills from the railway station, left them on the steps of a plain pretty little church, and drove away. Not a door opened to receive them, and as there was no public house in the township, the young couple were obliged to walk off over a rough country road to the farm-house of the senior deacon, and to throw themselves upon his hospitality. Here, although their advent was entirely unexpected, they were made welcome, and in their perturbed state of mind nothing else could have been half so sweet as the kindly Christian house-wife's request that they would make themselves at home, as she ushered them into her pretty parlor. It was an exceedingly unpleasant position; for there were younger members of the family, who, although they treated the guests politely, showed plainly that they did not join in the housewife's welcome. Probably the young couple demeaned themselves with as much dignity under the circumstances, as could have been expected of the average young couple. The young man preached on Sunday, and the unprejudiced hearer would have said he preached well; but those of the people who came out to hear him hardened their hearts to fortify themselves in their inhospitable position, looked criticizingly at the timid young wife's traveling suit, and said to themselves and to each other: "I am glad we didn't give her a chance to put on her airs to us." On Monday morning the bride and groom left the little town for a term of more than a half score years. Then, by a curious conjunction of circumstances the young man was solicited by a friend, interested in both him and the little Vermont hill town church, to go there again and preach as a candidate. Undismayed by his former experience, he went once more up the well-remembered hills, and stood again in the little church. At first no one associated the dignified man, with threads of silver in his hair, with the young preacher of so many years ago; but soon one of those women to be found in nearly every community, whose memory for trifles is simply marvelous, and who never have any hesitancy in telling what they remember, leaned over and whispered to the woman just in front of her: "Don't you remember him? He's the very one that nobody in the street would keep over Sunday, and he and his young wife had to walk off with their carpet bag full of finery, away down to the old deacons, don't you know?" "Why, yes indeed! yes! so it is!" Before the choir had finished singing the second hymn, half the people in the congregation had had their memories refreshed. The poor innocent man's fate was sealed from that moment. He had never harbored any resentment toward them, and would have been surprised had he been told of the long-cherished animosity to him existing in the village. He was preaching now, and there was no mistaking about it, he was preaching well; but the people shut all their sympathies against him, and after service they were as shy of him as if he had small-pox. "I never fell in with such a singular people," he said afterwards. "Not a person would have spoken to me had I not gone to them and almost compelled them to do so." The next day after he was fairly out of town, the chairman of the supply committee said to a young lady from the city, who was visiting at his house:-- "It was a great mistake sending Mr. A. here, the people were so prejudiced against him, to begin with, that he could do them no good." "What ground had they for prejudice?" asked the young woman. "He has always been called a fine speaker, and has left a good record wherever he has been. I have often heard him and his work spoken of. I have not been able to ascertain that he or his wife did anything reprehensible on their former visit here, on which every one lays so much stress." "Oh! they behaved like good Christians, of course, as I have no doubt they are," the old man hastened to say, "and I have no doubt they are called of the Lord to his work, but, you see, their first coming here was an awkward, unfortunate affair all around." "So I have been told; and as near as I can ascertain, the people here despise this man because they once ill-treated him." "To be sure," said the farmer, hitching about in his splint-bottomed chair. "To be sure, I never thought to put it in that light before, but just covers it, judging the rest of our people by the wife and I. You see we were the first offenders because we were nearest the church, and they came first to our door. Had we taken them in, and done our best by them, the whole miserable affair would have been saved. Wife was cleaning house, to be sure, but we could have got along with them well enough, and I was just as shirky as she, for I might have hitched up the chaise and carried them down to the deacon's, but I didn't. Strange such a neglect of duty should rankle so long, but yesterday, wife wouldn't speak to him for fear he would remember her, and I only said as little as I could, and we skulked out, and came home not even waiting for Sunday-school." "Did you ever think," the young woman asked, "that that is the true reason for many sinners hating God? They have misused him. They have profaned his name. They have refused to entertain him in their hearts, to acknowledge him in their homes at a family altar. It is nothing that God can be blamed for, he has been all kindness and consideration to them. They have received only benefits from his hand. The fault remains entirely with themselves, and do you not think the same idea holds good in regard to the foundations of nearly any prejudices?" "I never thought of it in that way before, but I don't know but it does," said the farmer. "Do you think we ought to compensate for our great ill-treatment by giving this man a call?" "It is too late, he would not come. In my heart I believe he is God's man for this people at this time. He is lost through the sin of that old nurtured prejudice for which the preacher was not to blame either in the beginning or now." The lesson was not wholly lost, for the next Wednesday evening the chairman of the supply committee talked it right out in prayer-meeting. The people took it in good part, although they knew his niece put it into his head, and it had the effect of waking some delinquent ones up to a sense of duty, and there was no more trouble in finding a place for the supply to stay over Sunday until a pastor was found. The senior deacon's wife, now a very old woman, said the other day in telling this story: "It is strange how after so many years the old sin twisted around like a scorpion and stung itself to death; and it is dead, I do believe, for I think it would be hard to find now a more hospitable place than our quiet little village."—Mrs. Ann Preston. Employment for Children.
By Anna Holyoke Howard
Anna Holyoke Howard, in the Household, says: Nothing is more injurious, not to say ruinous, than a constant system of repression with children. "Don't do this," "You must not go there," "You cannot have that," etc. It is chilling to the youthful enthusiasm, cramping and dwarfing to all his faculties. Children who daily and hourly listen to such injunctions, who are checked in all their efforts and aspirations after what seems to them as glorious and worthy as seem to us our higher aims, feel like exclaiming in despair, "What may we do?" and if we do not open to them ways of pleasant employment, we are guilty of exercising toward them real cruelty. Active children are generally healthy and intelligent. The disposition to incessant movement, noise, mischief, or frolic, which is often so trying to weary mothers, is only the expenditure of a superabundant nervous force in the child, which, if rightly directed, may in time make him a powerful agent for good in the world. But what is to be done? We must have peace and quiet in the evening or we shall be unfitted for the duties of the morrow. Keep them happily employed for a little while and then send them to bed early, and so take your rest and recreation after they are asleep. Some place their bliss in action, some in ease,
Those call it pleasure and content them these. Children certainly place their bliss in action, and we who enjoy rest after labor must be patient with them. I know a mother who always has a little play or story-telling or reading with her children the hour before bedtime. On Sabbath she and their father each devote part of the day in walking with them and reading to them in books suited to their entertainment and improvement. I need hardly say they are among the most intelligent and promising children of my acquaintance. Give children something pleasant to do or think about, a block-house to build, a puzzle to put together, paper to cut, bubbles to blow, a stick to whittle, a picture to paint, or to look at, a top to spin, dough to make into cakes to bake for them-47selves, a little broom to sweep the doorsteps, a wheelbarrow and a little shovel to dig sand, anything to keep them busy and happy; for a busy child is a happy child, a healthy child, and if you have rightly managed his employments, a good child. Let us not repress any God-given faculties, but endeavor to turn them into such good and healthful channels as will enable them to do best service for God and humanity. It is not a waste of time for parents to stop their work long enough to pet a child, to tell him a story, or play a rollicking game. When parents take time from worldly thoughts and plans to cultivate a sympathetic friendship with their children, and each other, they are doing a good work, and sowing seed that will spring up and bring forth abundant fruit that will amply repay the effort, time, patience, or self-sacrifice involved. The winds blow hard. What then?
He holds them in the hollow of his hand:
The furious blasts will sink when his command
Bids them be calm again. The night is dark. What then?
To him the darkness is as bright as day:
At his command the shades will flee away,
And all be light again. The way is deep. What then?
For Israel's host the waters upright stood;
And he whose power controlled that raging flood
Still succors helpless men. He knoweth all. The end
Is clear as the beginning to his eyes:
Then walk in peace, secure though storms roll by.
He knoweth all, O friend.
—S. S. Times. Wordsworth, says, "The child is father to the man;" and more than one prison scene and prison memory has illustrated this inevitable link of character between one's earlier and later years. A young man arrested for swindling his employer out of $20,000 sat alone in a criminal's cell, out of which daylight had faded. Cowering on his hard bed he pictured to himself the world outside, full of warmth and light and comfort. The question came to him sharply--"How came you here? Was it really for stealing that last great sum?" Looking back twenty years, he saw himself a school-boy, ten years old. He remembered one lovely June day--with the roses in full bloom over the porch, and the dress his mother wore while at her work, and the laborers in the wheat fields. Freshest of all he remembered his Uncle John--such a queer, kind, forgetful old man! That very morning his uncle had sent him to pay a bill at the country store, and there were seventy-five cents left, and Uncle John did not ask him for it. When they met that noon, this boy, now in prison, stood there under the beautiful blue-sky, and a great temptation came. He said to himself, "Shall I give it back or shall I wait until he asks for it? If he never asks, that is his lookout. If he does,--why, I can get it again together." He never gave back the money. A theft of $20,000 brought this young man to the prison cell, but when a boy he turned that way years before, when he sold his honesty for seventy-five cents. That night he sat disgraced, and an open criminal, in his chilly cell. Uncle John was long ago dead. The old home was desolate, his mother broken-hearted. The prisoner knew that what brought him there was not the man's deed alone, but the boy's. Had the ten-year-old boy been true to his honor, life now would have been all different. One little cheating was the first of many, until his character was eaten out, could bear no test, and he wrecked his manliness and his life.--American Baptist Flag. —There are 135 Presbyterian churches in Philadelphia. —Chaplain McCabe of the M. E. Church, has succeeded in raising a fund of $500,000 for church extension. —A pastor in Syracuse, N. Y., reports that there is “considerable religious interest in the church and congregation.” Wonder how that happened. —An “Anti-Gossip Society” has been started by some of the members of the M. E. Church of Attleboro, Mass. That is just what every church organization ought to be. —The Christian at Work says that according to the latest statistics “there are just 1,190 D. P.'s. in the Presbyterian Church—that is 1,190 ministers who don't preach.” —The native Christians of Madagascar have given, during the last ten years, one million dollars toward the spread of the gospel. Why don't these converted heathen send some of their money to America? It would doubtless be received gladly. —It is estimated that the number of schools at present connected with the various foreign missions exceeds 12,000. The Bible has been translated into 236 languages and dialects, while its circulation during the past eighty years has reached an aggregate of 148,000,000 copies. —The Moravian missionaries, who have been laboring for many years on the borders of Thibet, waiting for an opportunity to enter that country, have at last found one, and it is hoped that a mission will soon be established there. The Scriptures are being printed in the Thibetan language, and will soon be completed. —Rev. George Hill, of Derby, says it is a remarkable fact, in view of some popular theories as to the origin of the human race, that no race has ever yet been found, in any part of the world, too degraded to be reached by Christian truth, or speaking a language so barbarous as to be incapable of receiving a translation of the Scriptures. —There are now between three and four hundred Christian schools in China, containing over six thousand pupils. A Presbyterian lady missionary, mentioning this phase of Christian work, claims that, through the agency of these schools, “before many years, if the church be faithful to her trust, the whole Chinese Empire will be full of light.” —The Bishop of Manchester, on the occasion of dedicating a church at Mossley, recently, said that unless the present internecine war in the Church of England were speedily terminated, the days of the church as a national institution were numbered. The very faith of the church was in jeopardy while its members were fighting about the clothes they should wear. —A specimen of Catholic bigotry is given in the last Monitor. In a paragraph concerning the Milwaukee fire, it says, “Among the victims we notice the names of many employees who were doubtless Catholics, and we ask our readers to remember them in their prayers.” Since these prayers are furnished ready-made, we cannot see why they should be so chary of them. —A D. D. of the Methodist Episcopal Church says in a Southern paper: “I have known hundreds of men and women who made no pretension to holiness, who had never experienced no ‘second blessing,’ who had found no ‘higher life,’ who, in fact, had never sought no higher life, who, in fact, were just as good in life and conversation as any ‘holiness’ people I ever saw, and who were a good deal more charitable and less censorious.” —Two ladies, representatives of the Salvation Army in New York, have brought a suit for slander against the rector of a prominent Protestant church of that city. Neither of the ladies, however, has any personal grievance, but claims that the minister slandered the Army in a recent sermon. It is thought that the leaders of the Army instigated the suit. At any rate it is very evident that all the members of the Salvation Army are not well versed in the sermon on the mount. —Mayor Edson, of New York, in his message to the Board of Aldermen, says of the Sunday Law: “I earnestly hope that great caution will be observed in dealing with this difficult and important question. For my part, I count the Christian Sunday, the weekly day of rest, among the greatest blessings which have come down to us—a blessing which we are bound to preserve to all our fellow-citizens, and most of all to the working classes and the poor. I am well aware of the difficulties that must be encountered in drawing the lines within which the law can be made justly to operate for the protection of society; yet I am convinced that custom alone cannot be relied upon among a population composed as ours is, but that in many instances individual inclinations must be restrained for the general good.” —The Sunday-School Times has in the main Scriptural ideas in regard to giving. Here are a few words on the subject: “The Bible seems to be written with the idea in the minds of its inspired penmen that one-tenth of one's income, and one-seventh of one's time belong of right to God; and that the withholding of the tithe of one's increase, or of the Sabbath of one's week, is a robbery of God. This seems to have been settled by the common law of God on earth in the earliest ages of our race. It was the recognized rule long before the Mosaic economy was declared. Christianity privileges man to count all his possessions and all his time the Lord's, so as not to be particular about giving the one-tenth of the one, or the one-seventh of the other. But Christianity does not license man to give less into the Lord's treasury than the law of old—the Mosaic law, and the earlier patriarchal law—demanded. He is a good deal less than a Christian, and less than a Jew, who does not give one-tenth of his income and one-seventh of his time to the Lord nowadays. And this tithe-giving is apart from charities, apart from gifts about which one has any personal choice. It is the poll-tax of the citizen of God's earthly kingdom.” —There were 95,000,000 gallons of beer drunk in this country last year. —All the money for a $10,000 statue to Mr. Garfield, has been raised in Cincinnati. —The books of Castle Garden show the arrival of 455,450 immigrants the past year. —In the silk industry in Italy 120,480 women, 15,692 men and 64 273 children are engaged. —Eighty savages and fifty white soldiers were killed in a recent Indian fight at Teahauntepec. —The greater part of the city of Kherson, in the south of Russia, was destroyed by fire on the 16th. —Chocolate lovers will be interested to know that chocolate cakes are now made from peanuts, without a particle of chocolate in them. —The steamer Josephine blew up in Susan Bay, fifty miles north of Seattle, W. T., Jan. 18. Eight persons were killed, and several others injured. —The month of January has been characterized by severe cold weather through the country. It has seldom been so cold in California as in the last few weeks. —The president of the court trying the anarchists at Lyons, has received nineteen threatening letters. Several came from Switzerland, Germany, and Russia. —Serious trouble is feared in France on account of financial matters. The excess of taxes has been steadily declining, and for the year there is a large deficiency. —The crew of a ship that arrived in Brooklyn, N. Y. on the 15th inst, were so badly frozen as to be unable to perform duty. Only the captain and mate were left to do the work. —On the 16th inst., there were eleven shocks of earthquake in the town of Orduna, Spain. Masses were said in the fields, as it was considered dangerous to occupy the church. —A fight has occurred between a body of 500 Egyptian troops and the forces of the False Prophet. Two hundred and forty of the former were killed and the remainder taken prisoners. —Mayor Edson, of New York, like his predecessor, Mayor Grace, has refused Salmi Morse a license to produce the Passion Play. By so doing he has pleased the respectable part of the community. —The steamer Cimbria, of the Hamburg-American Steam Packet Company, was sunk in the German Ocean, Jan. 20. There were nearly 500 passengers on board, only fifty-six of whom were rescued. —The French Chamber of Deputies have voted 1,275,000 francs to defray the expenses of M. de Brazza's expedition to Africa. It is considered possible to complete the exploration of the upper Congo in two years. —The inaugural address of Governor Butler, of Massachusetts, contained a strong plea for universal suffrage, and Governor Waller, of Connecticut, recommends that women be allowed to vote for school officers. —It is reported that the king of Italy is sinking into a condition of confirmed melancholy. For days together he does not speak a word to any human being. He appears at the queen's receptions, but does not open his lips. —A large crowd gathered at a theater in Philadelphia, last week, for the purpose of witnessing an encounter between two noted pugilists; but by order of the Mayor, the police would allow no one to enter the hall. They do things differently in San Francisco; Philadelphia is behind the times. —A dispatch from Dublin says the whole north of Ireland is in a most wretched condition, owing to the complete destruction of the grain crops in September by a terrible tornado and the rotting of the entire potato crop, caused by constant rains. In one place such general destruction prevails that twenty-two tons of Indian meal per week is required to keep the people barely alive. Relief is coming slowly, and despair is staring everybody in the face. —An Eastern paper says: "The drought in North-eastern New York is a serious matter to mill-owners, some of whom are using steam power for the first time in twenty years, and to thousands of people whose wells have never failed before. In many spots the ground does not contain moisture enough to freeze." "Over a considerable portion of Western Vermont and North-eastern New York," says The Troy Press, "there has been nothing like a soaking, drenching rain since early last summer, and only from two to four or five days' rain all told during that period." —The jury that investigated the disaster that occurred on the Troy and Boston Railroad in December last, are very outspoken in their decision. They find the superintendent, engineer, conductor, and train dispatcher, jointly and severally, guilty of causing the death of the men who were killed. There is a growing recklessness in regard to human life, and the remarks of the jury in this case will apply to others. They say: "Overworked, poorly-paid, and inexperienced employees, an overburdened single track, unsuitable cars and rusty brakes, may be necessary concomitants of indigent corporations, but the interest and safety of the traveling public demand something different." Obituary.
By G. W. Colcord
MILLER.—Died of diphtheria, near Milton, Or., Dec. 5, 1882, William Andrew, son of Noe and Flora Miller, aged 2 years, 10 months, and 4 days. Willie was an active child, was expanding a quick mind, hence a promising son. His death was a severe stroke on his parents and friends; but as they were endeavoring to cherish “that blessed hope” so frequently cited in God's word, we were enabled to console them, somewhat, even while performing funeral services. G. W. Colcord. Perkins
By Mrs. B. C. Rice
PERKINS.—Died of spinal disease, at her home in Little River, Mendocino County, Cal., Lillie Dora, only daughter of Charles A. and Nancy E. Perkins, aged 9 years, 10 months, and 18 days. Funeral services at the house, Dec. 25, Eld. J. S. Ross (Baptist) officiating. Many mourning relatives and friends followed the loved one to the grave, which kind hands had lined with evergreens and flowers, and she was laid to rest, covered by the floral offerings of her little school-mates. Dora was a dutiful, prayer-loving little girl, and the bereaved ones have the hope of the resurrection, when the lost will be restored, to comfort them in their affliction.
MRS. B. C. RICE THE YOUTH'S INSTRUCTOR.
By Editor
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By Editor
SUNDAY afternoon, the 21st, the citizens of Oakland, San Francisco, and neighboring towns, were startled by a series of explosions. A cloud of dense smoke in the north soon revealed the fact that the Giant Powder Works at West Berkeley, about six miles distant, had blown up. There were seven distinct reports, at each of which the buildings in the city shook as with an earthquake. Investigation showed that one white man and between twenty and thirty Chinamen were killed. There have been many explosions at these works before, but nothing so severe as this. In this connection we cannot refrain from noticing that there is on all sides a growing disregard of human life. The rapidly increasing number of frightful accidents, shows great recklessness on the part of those on whose faithfulness many lives depend. We think we cannot be accused of straining a point when we say that this negligence is a sign of the times. Men in these last days are "lovers of their own selves;" and to the degree that they are wrapped up in themselves, they disregard other people's welfare. Another thing that is an invariable accompaniment of these powder explosions is worthy of note as showing how the lives of a despised race are regarded. If one speaks to his neighbor about the frightful loss of life, the reply will be, "Yes; but they were all Chinamen." The Signs of the Times.
By Editor
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By Editor
A FRIEND sends us an article from the Chicago Tribune of recent date, by which we learn that steps are being taken in earnest to enforce Sunday observance in Illinois. The Sunday movement is becoming more and more general, and is of the deepest interest to us. Sunday Law Enforcement and Conversion
By Editor
THE Christian at Work, speaking of the enforcement of the Sunday Law, says: "The day has gone by when the constable can be used to make converts to Christ." The day when that could be done never existed; but the time has been when the constable was employed to make converts to the dogmas of Rome, and there are plenty of men in this country who are willing and anxious to try it again. The Continual Slaughter of Human Life
By Editor
Within a week the newspapers have chronicled the loss by accident of over a thousand lives. By the burning of a theater in Russia, as noted last week, 300 persons perished. This week we note the sinking of the steamer Cimbria, by which 430 persons were lost. In the face of these, accidents in which not more than a dozen persons are killed, are called "minor accidents." These have swelled the list of victims. Many of these accidents might be avoided, if human life were not held so cheap. We grow weary and sick of hearing of this continual slaughter, and long with increasing earnestness for the return of our Lord, and the beginning of his reign of peace. Response to the Liberal Offer
By Editor
WE are pleased to know that our liberal offer is meeting with a hearty response. The SIGNS mailing clerk informs us that he has received 400 orders for the papers during the past week, besides renewals. Many V. M. Societies are also increasing their clubs. We learn by the last Review that the Battle Creek society resolved at a recent meeting to increase their club to 1,000 copies. We will endeavor to respond to the appreciation expressed by these orders, by making the paper better than ever before. We wish to call attention to the "Terms for 1883," in another column. Careful attention to those points will save much trouble and dissatisfaction. When persons order the paper, without premium, for their friends, they should state that it is for a friend, or for the poor, as otherwise the price of the paper is $2.00. The following we clip from the report of the proceedings of the Legislature now in session in Sacramento. It indicates that no compromise will be made, but that the Sunday Law must go unconditionally. This also will be followed by a reaction:— “The second reading of bills was then taken up, among which was the Sunday law.” “Whitney offered several amendments, prohibiting bull-fights, cock-fights, and other barbarous exhibitions on Sunday.” “Cross said that a law now existed prohibiting such amusements on any day. There was no necessity, therefore, to have a specific prohibition for Sunday.” “The amendments were all voted down by a party division.” “Whitney then offered a substitute for the bill providing for the closing of saloons during the hours of church worship, but allowing all stores and beer gardens to be kept open throughout the day. He did not think the Democracy had pledged itself to repeal everything calculated to restrain license on the first day of the week.” “The roll was called and the substitute was rejected by a party division.” Astronomical Christians.
By Editor
THIS is what the Christian at Work calls those who make good resolutions periodically on the first of January. This and that bad habit is to be broken off; a new leaf is to be turned over; church duties are to be more faithfully discharged, etc. The new leaf is turned over, but soon it becomes old; temptations assail; the old appetites clamor for indulgence; and soon the page is as black as the previous one. Then the individual becomes discouraged, but thinks to make amends for his remissness by saying, “Next year I will do better;” and he waits for January 1, to come around again before he makes another attempt. This is a fair statement of the case of more than a few. That such a course is wrong need hardly be said. Not that it is wrong to make good resolutions at the beginning of the year, or at any other time; but it is wrong to wait until some set time before putting the resolution into practice, or to despair because a resolution has been broken. Have you turned over a new leaf that is already soiled? Have your New Year resolutions already been broken? Begin again, immediately, and press on with the help of God. The Christian life is a constant warfare; it is a race in which they only succeed who run with persevering patience, looking steadfastly unto Jesus. Perhaps the trouble with your resolution was, as is usually the case with those that are put off till some definite time, that it was made in your own strength. If so, failure was to be expected. If you are in this condition, or if you have not made any resolution at all, do it now. Do not put it off till “a more convenient season,” for you may not live to see it. Jesus Christ is as willing and able to help you now as he will be next year, for he is “the same yesterday and to-day and forever.” But you are not sure of forever, nor even of to-morrow. “Now is the accepted time.”