THE words "holy" and "holiness" are terms having a vital signification. But few realize their import. Too, they are used in a reproachful manner. Ignorance as to their real meaning has undoubtedly led some to make a wrong use of them, and their true significance has not been seen to that extent which their character demands.
It is the work of the enemy to so pervert the word of God that its real force may not be understood, and there are agencies ever ready to coöperate with the deceiver in bringing reproach on sacred things.
The common use of the words "holy" and "holiness," used so often in such an irreverent manner by those having no true knowledge of their import, has done much in bringing them into contempt. Because of this their use is often evaded by those whose lives are more in harmony with the meaning than those professing great attainment in holiness.
There is a true holiness, and there is that which is spurious. One is from God, the other from beneath; one is light, the other is darkness; one leads to truth, the other to error; one leads to refinement and reverence, the other to coarseness and irreverence,—each reflecting the image of its Author. They cannot blend together; there is no sympathy between them. They are in spirit and character distinctively opposite; yet the counterfeit is frequently outwardly so like the genuine that it will require the greatest carefulness and spiritual discernment to detect the difference.
As the subject of holiness is being agitated by the adherents of both true and false, it is well to know what the word means.
Webster says to make "holy" is "to set apart to the service of God, hallowed, sacred, acceptable to God, hence free from sinful affections; pure; irreproachable; guiltless; freedom from sin."
True holiness is not a natural product, neither is it developed by any natural cause. It is wrought by a higher power than man; it is the converting power of God that accomplishes the work. "Ye must be born again," are the words of the great Teacher. The mind is transformed, and has passed from a spiritual death to a spiritual life. The life lost through Adam’s transgression is regained through Christ. It is Christ formed within. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 2 Cor. 5:17. The sins have been repented of; and the filthy garments of iniquity are exchanged for Christ’s robe of righteousness. Self is dead. The heart of stone has been made flesh. The unconsecrated heart has yielded to the demands of the Holy Spirit, and is prepared for the indwelling of Christ. As long as Christ361is retained in the heart by faith, just so long righteousness will be revealed in the life. Thus the mind is brought in harmony with the law of God, and the law is righteousness, and the law is the truth. Ps. 119:142, 176. The law of God is inwrought through Christ into the holy character built upon him. Only a renewed heart is susceptible to the law. Paul says, "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Rom. 8:7.
The objectors to the law have not attained, and cannot, to true holiness. They do not live a loyal life. The law which is "holy" condemns them. "Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." Matt. 7:21. James says: "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." "But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty [the law of God], and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." James 1:22, 25.
It is principle that is necessary to true holiness; to do right because it is right should be the motive of all. Principles underlie true conversion, which is in keeping with the law. In the converted man "it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." Phil. 2:13. If the Lord takes possession of the heart he will not create a rebellion against himself; for he says, "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; . . . and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." Eze. 36:26, 27. Thus man is made "partaker of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." 2 Peter 1:4.
That which was lost by Adam’s transgression is now regained through Christ. It is Christ in the heart, and his presence makes holy. A person in possession of true holiness will not boast of these attainments, for it is not his own righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ. Humility is the stronghold of the Christian; it is that which retains the presence of God. "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." Isa. 57:15.
All are invited to attain to this perfection. "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect," are the words of Christ. Matt. 5:48. The same thought is expressed in another scripture, "But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy." 1 Peter 1:15, 16.
The wise man was admonished to attain to this perfection. "And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments." 1 Kings 9:4.
The same counsel was given to Abram: "And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect." Gen. 17:1.
It is said of Zacharias and Elizabeth, "And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless." Luke 1:6. Noah was a righteous man, and his life and character have been passed down through the ages as an example of perfection. St. Paul said "that he lived in all good conscience before God."
Enoch "walked with God." Many testimonies might be adduced showing that it is possible to attain to a perfect character, that man can be as holy in his sphere as God is holy in his sphere. This is not acquired by ignoring the commandments of God; for our righteousness is in keeping them, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." James 2:10.
There is a standard given by which to detect all these things: "To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." Isa. 8:20.
THE RELIGION OF JESUS.
By Susan J. Hatfield
BY SUSAN J. HATFIELD.
WHILE there are many religions in the world, there is but one true religion,—the religion of Christ. It is easy to discriminate between it and the religions of the world. The religion of Jesus was born of God, and comes before the world enshrouded in the glory of heaven, in the love of God. It comes to the poor as well as the rich, and finds a home in the poor man's hut as well as the rich man's mansion. It comes to the homes of the widows and orphans, and is ever a harbinger of peace and joy to the afflicted and distressed. It writes its mission in characters of God's handwriting, while scattering its blessings on mankind. It comes to our hearts with its bright rays of promise, and bathes our souls with the glory of heaven, while we journey to the land of undying rest.
The religion of Jesus Christ is just as pure to-day as it was when it first left the gate of heaven. Time can never change it. It rises majestically over the leprosy of sin, and seeks no compromises with the ungodly, with popularity, or with the world. It gives victory over the grave, and speaks in its voiceless whispers to every true saint of God, whether journeying on their pilgrimage, or resting on the summit of the last hill, or trembling on the verge of eternity, "that we shall live again." It rends the veil which separates the present from the better world, and opens to our spiritual vision the brighter glories of eternal life. It has come to us as we have stood around the bedside of beloved friends, and as we have seen them pass to the unseen world, it has impressed us with the thought that we shall meet them when "this mortal shall have put on immortality, and this corruptible shall have put on incorruption." If it were for us poor mortals to climb the skies and pierce the councils of heaven, we could see the victories which this religion has gained, and the triumphs won over sin and death. It has obliterated the handwriting which was against us, and washed the black record of human guilt as white as snow.
But the religions of the world, clothed though they may be with wealth and popularity, when death comes, give no consolation. Their borrowed light shines but dimly over the pathway of life, and sets in eternal night beyond the grave.
The religion of Jesus and the religions of the world do not harmonize, but are in conflict. One is born of God, and is based upon the authority of the divine word of God, and the precepts, example, and teaching of Jesus Christ, while the others are based upon the exigencies of the times, or the desires of men, so as to make them popular with the world. Any religion that compromises with sin to gain popularity is wrong in principle, hypocritical in profession, and bigoted in practice. The religion of Jesus never taught us to desecrate the house of the living God with festivals, dancing, progressive euchre, or church gambling. Its devotees will not be found frequenting theaters or places of worldly amusement. If Christ were on earth to-day, and was preaching what many professors practice, and would organize euchre clubs, and establish festivals, dancing, and other frivolities in the house of God, it would take all the evidence in earth and heaven to convince those that engage in it that he was the Christ, the Redeemer of the world, and of course he wouldn't be, for his very nature is contrary to it. It is true that the simplicity and purity of the religion of Jesus Christ are what make it unpopular with the world. It is claimed that the exigencies of the times demand a change in the religion of Jesus, but it can never change; it is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. It is not a mere thing of an hour or day, that it can be understood by sneers or crushed by falsehood. It has survived the persecutions of the ungodly for more than eighteen hundred years, and will live to bless the world while God reigns.
WHITTLING DOWN.
MR. SPURGEON had an infinite disgust for the modern tendency to whittle down gospel truths to the little end of nothing. He said:—
"When a man gets to cutting down sin, paring down depravity, and making little of future punishment, let him no longer preach to you. Some modern divines whittle away the gospel to the small end of nothing. They make our divine Lord to be a sort of blessed nobody; they bring down salvation to mere salvability, make certainties into probabilities, and treat verities as mere opinions. When you see a preacher making the gospel small by degrees and miserably less till there is not enough of it left to make soup for a sick grasshopper, get you gone. . . . As for me, I believe in the colossal—a need deep as hell and grace as high as heaven. I believe in a pit that is bottomless, and a heaven that is topless. I believe in an infinite God and an infinite atonement, infinite love and mercy, an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure, of which the substance and the reality are an infinite Christ."—Selected.
THE PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST.
THERE is no office of Christ, says John Owen, that Satan labors so hard to obscure as his priestly one. Satan cares little, comparatively, for Christ the Prophet and Christ the King, as long as he can get men to forget Christ the Priest. Let us ever stand fast on this point. That Christ is carrying on the office of a priest in heaven is the crown and glory of Christian theology.—Bishop Ryle.
Godliness
By G. Crabbe
GODLINESS is that outward deportment that characterizes a heavenly temper.—G. Crabbe.
WHO ARE "POOR FOLKS"?
POLLY was a bright and beautiful child, who, with a brother older than herself, carried home the laundry work to her mother's patrons. She was always neatly dressed, and had a happy smile and a cheerful voice.
One day Polly carried home some fine laces to a lady in a hotel. The servant told her the lady was ill, and could not be disturbed, but Polly had had strict orders not to trust her package with anyone else; so she ventured to go upstairs.
She stood at the door for a moment, and then tapped very lightly, saying to herself, "If she is asleep, that won't wake her, and if she's awake, she will answer."
In a moment a low voice asked, "Is that you, Bridget?"
"No, ma'am," replied Polly, putting her lips very close to the keyhole and speaking in a loud whisper, "It's Paulina Brown, that folks call 'Little Polly.' I have a very particular message for you, and I won't disturb you a bit if you will let me in."
The lady could not help saying, "Come in," in answer to this modest request.
She was in trouble, and that had caused her a sick headache. She lay there all alone in a darkened room, with no one to care whether she got better or not.
Polly had just come from a bright, sunny room, with a gay rag carpet on the floor, and bright flowers growing in the windows; and this room, with its heavy draperies, looked gloomy to her. She went up to the bed and gave her message in a low, soft voice, and then said: "O Mrs. Ball, I'm so sorry for you! You haven't any husband nor little girl to comfort you when you are sick. My mother has father, and Tommy, and me, and the baby. Sometimes when she has her tired headaches, I can drive them off just with my own hands and a little bay water. I don't suppose you would let me sit upon your nice bed, and bathe your head, would you?"
"Yes, Polly; I am always glad to have such a tidy little girl near me. You will find bay water in that pink bottle on the bureau," said Mrs. Ball.
While the little, soft hands were passing over her troubled brow, the lady said, "Polly, I think your family are the happiest 'poor people' I ever met."
"O Mrs. Ball, we're not 'poor people,'" cried Polly, with a queer laugh. "There are three poor families in our house, but we are rich—almost. We were rich once, and had half a house, though we're not so rich now, since father lost his arm; but as mother can do up laces so beautifully, we're pretty rich still. We do lots of things to help the poor folks in the house, and other poor folks, too."
"What can you do for them?" asked the lady.
"Oh, we save Mrs. Crane's coal by letting her steep her tea in our kitchen—days that she can keep warm by sitting in the sun—and we take care of Mrs. Barnes' baby whenever she gets a day's work, and mother always makes broth enough on Wednesdays to share with someone that's poor."
"Who do you call 'poor folks,' Polly?" asked the lady.
Polly had no definition ready, but, after thinking for a moment, she replied, "Poor folks are folks that don't have everything they want."
"Then you have everything you want?" asked Mrs. Ball.
"Yes, ma'am," replied Polly innocently. "We all have Sabbath clothes besides our common ones; and we have good things to eat—mother bakes all our bread and pies herself—and we have a real nice kitchen to work and eat in—without a bed in it, like poor folks; and we buy a whole ton of coal at once, instead of lots of bushels."
And so little Polly prattled on in a low, pleasant voice, till the lady really felt better, and said so.
"I'll tell you what's another real good thing to drive the rest of it off,—air and sunlight. Mother never shuts up for a headache," said the little nurse.
Here Polly looked at the bronze clock, and said, "It's time now for the baby to wake up, and I shall have to go as soon as I let in a little of my sun and air; but I'll come in any time when you have the headache, and cure you again."
"Thank you, my good little girl; you have almost cured me now," said Mrs. Ball. "In my closet you will find a large paper bag full of oranges; take them home and share them with the 'poor folks' in your house."
The rich little girl ran home in glee to divide the treasures with the less fortunate.
The poor lady lay alone, to reflect on the lesson she had just received. She had lost twenty thousand dollars, but she had thirty thousand left; and, instead of being thankful for that, she was bewailing her fate, as if she was next to a pauper. She would still have all the comforts, although a few less of the luxuries, of life; and, as she remembered now, no one but herself would suffer by the change, for she had never helped "the poor folks in the house," nor out of it, as Polly's mother was doing.
"Poor folks," she said to herself, "are folks who haven't everything they want. I haven't that twenty thousand, and I never can have it again. But I can learn to be happy on less, and to share even what I have with others."
A ray of "Polly's sun" peeped in, and a breath of her pure air was wafted toward her; and she rose, saying, "Because I have lost some of my fortune, I need not therefore throw away my health, the best of all my blessings."
In Polly's sense of the word, the poor are often found amid elegance and luxury, and the truly rich in humble dwellings.—Selected.
RUM AMONG THE HEATHEN.
REV. JOHN WILLIAMS, one of the earlier missionaries to the Pacific islands, once wrote to a friend:—
“I dread the arrival of an American ship, for, though she may have more missionaries in her cabin, she brings in her hold the death waters of damnation.”
Rev. D. A. Day, a missionary in Africa, says:—
“I tell you candidly that unless something is done soon the rum traffic will wipe out the population of Africa. The huge crime now being perpetrated on this country in the name of commerce is terrible. God help us.”
Sir Richard Burton, of England, after long observation, expresses his opinion as follows:
“It is my sincere belief that if the slave363trade were revived, with all its horrors, and Africa could get rid of the white man, with the gunpowder and rum which he has introduced, Africa would be a gainer in happiness by the exchange.”
Archdeacon Jeffries, after thirty-one years' service in India, says:—
“For one really converted Christian as the fruit of missionary labor, the drinking practices of the English have made 1,000 drunkards. This is a sad thought, but it is the solemn truth. If the English were driven out of India to-morrow, the chief trace of their having been there would be the number of drunkards left behind.”
DUTY.
By Amelia Burr
BY AMELIA BURR.
Our blue-eyed daughter, with locks of gold,
Rosy and dimpled and eight years old,
Went to Sabbath school one fine day
When grass was springing in balmy May;
The questions swiftly went round the class,
And soon came the turn of our little lass.
"Your duty to neighbors?" the teacher said.
Promptly replied our golden head,
"I don't know that kind of duty, you see,
But I know plain duty as well as can be."
His hand on her curls the teacher laid;
"Well, what is 'plain duty,' my little maid?"
"Why, duty's the thing"—with a moment's thought—
"That you don't want to do but you know you ought."
—St. Nicholas.
THE GARDENER.
By Frederic R. Marvin
BY REV. FREDERIC R. MARVIN.
A GARDEN is the soul of man;
Fair virtues are the flowers;
Alternate joy and sorrow are
The sunshine and the showers.
The Gardener is the Lord of heaven;
He loves the flowers so sweet;
He will not crush the humblest bud
Beneath his passing feet.
Lord, train the plants within my soul,
The ugly weeds uproot,
Till all my life is fragrant with
Sweet flowers and noble fruit.
—Selected.
LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE.
It is not only a wise and happy thing to make the best of life, and always look on the bright side, for one's own sake, but it is a blessing to others. Fancy a man forever telling his family how much they cost him! A little sermon on this subject was unconsciously preached by a child one day.
A man met a little fellow on the road carrying a basket of blackberries, and said to him, "Sammy, where did you get such nice berries?"
"Over there, sir, in the briers."
"Won't your mother be glad to see you come home with a basket of such nice, ripe fruit?"
"Yes, sir," said Sammy, "she always seems glad when I hold up the berries, and I don't tell her anything about the briers in my feet."
The man rode on. Sammie's remark had given him a lesson, and he resolved that henceforth he would try to hold up the berries and say nothing about the briers.—Domestic Journal.
EASTERN AND WESTERN WINTER WEATHER.
THE following is what one Eastern visitor at the Midwinter Fair said:—
"I could hardly get to the railway station in my town for the snow drifts. The street cars were not running, and the horses of a hack on wheels could scarcely plunge along fast enough for me to make my train. Once on board the train I read in a daily paper, for this was January 28, that the California Midwinter Exposition had been formally opened on the preceding day, with thousands of people seated on a grand stand in the open air, with heads uncovered under a broiling sun, and with the green foliage of a beautiful park forming a background to the scene. At different places along the railway where we stopped for a few moments, I noticed bulletins of 'Midwinter Exposition Weather,' and the thought struck me that this was about the most striking piece of advertising that could be done in connection with California's Exposition. When one stands in an atmosphere in the neighborhood of zero, and reads that the thermometer registers 75 degrees in San Francisco, one wishes to be there, and as for myself, I was glad to feel that I was on my way. At Chicago I was delayed several hours waiting for it to become possible for trains to start on westward, and we dragged along across the plains, but when we began to descend the slopes of the Sierras, we left the snows behind us, and found the green fields at our feet, for we were, indeed, in the land of sunshine, fruit, and flowers, and I intend to stay here just as long as I feel I can afford to."
THE PRESENT CONDITION AND OUTLOOK OF MISSION WORK IN MEXICO.
By Samuel P. Craver, D.D.
BY SAMUEL P. CRAVER, D.D.
(Condensed from the Gospel in All Lands, for March.)
WERE there space, it would be very interesting to set forth in this article the marvelous way in which the Mexican people, held for centuries in the vise-like grip of the Roman hierarchy, rose up in the majesty of outraged manhood and broke loose from the civil yoke of Rome, and, on the ruins of a shattered and despoiled ecclesiasticism, established religious toleration, liberty of conscience, and equal rights for all. The story is one of the most striking and captivating in the annals of modern history.
For the present suffice it to say that the overreaching tyranny of the Romish priesthood, united to the fact of their constant hostility to liberal and republican institutions, finally spurred the party of progress to such desperate earnestness that they were enabled to seize the reins of government, disfranchise the priesthood, confiscate the church property, abolish religious communities, banish from the country all Jesuits, monks, and nuns, and publish to the world a constitution and laws of reform that challenge admiration. Those who wrought all these unprecedented acts were themselves sons of the Roman Catholic Church, born within her fold, and trained by her teachers. After they had thus broken the terrible spell that had held their people enthralled for centuries, these men realized that the nation needed religious belief. No people can long maintain a state of religious negation. To meet this imperious demand the Liberal party of Mexico established the Reform Laws, which grant complete religious liberty and equal protection to all forms of worship which do not attack public morals. The world was invited to give them the best it had of religious faith and practice.
Responding to this Macedonian cry, the Protestant churches of the United States have entered Mexico, and for over twenty years have been battling against the superstition, ignorance, and vice engendered and fostered by Romanism.
The field is a difficult one. While the laws of the land guarantee religious freedom, and the higher authorities of the State, as well as of the nation, are generally disposed to grant the protection of the law, the people, in their vast majority, are intolerant and bigoted. Urged on by a corrupt and vicious priesthood, this intolerance becomes a serious obstacle to the advance of the cause of truth. It often takes the form of open violence, and life and property are endangered. More frequently and constantly the implacable opposition of the fanatical population takes the form of complete ostracism and boycott.
Those who accept Protestantism are very generally cut off from the means of supplying their needs, and their neighbors, incited by the priests, make a systematic effort to reduce them to submission to the old faith by means of starvation. This results in very many cases in a removal to some other place. Oftentimes the convert is thus lost to the cause, but frequently he becomes the forerunner of the preacher, preparing the way for the introduction of evangelical truth in places that have never known it before. Like the disciples of old who, when scattered by persecution, "went everywhere preaching the word," many of those who are driven from their homes because of their religious belief carry the seed into new ground and become the nuclei of new congregations. Some, it is sad to say, when ostracised and persecuted, hide their light under a bushel and abstain from any public manifestation of evangelical belief. Very few ever return to the fold of Rome.
Another difficulty in the work is encountered in the exceeding lax morality of the people. A very large proportion of those who accept the gospel are found to be living in illicit domestic relations. The laws of Mexico grant no permission for the remarriage of a divorced person while the other party lives. This fact, added to that of the great lack of any form of marriage, because of price and the general prevalence of concubinage, presents an unending series of complications in domestic relations that can only be appreciated by those who are brought in daily contact with them. It is often boastingly said that there are very few divorces in Roman Catholic countries. It is true, but "more's the pity." Uncongenial marriages are not broken up by divorce, but the parties contract other relations, just as if there were no such thing as a marriage bond. As a result of this it very often happens that a man is converted and wants to join the church and lead a new life, but he has two, three, or more families dependent upon him, and with the greatest difficulty, if at all, can he legalize his relations with any one of the mothers. Very frequently such people give up in despair, and say, "I cannot be a Christian, but my children will be."
Religious indifference and skepticism constitute another great barrier to the progress of the gospel. Though born and baptized in the Roman Church, the greater part of the educated people of Mexico are unbelievers. The corruptions, errors, and superstitions of Romanism have become so manifest to them that they cannot believe in that religious system. Accustomed as they are to regard the Roman Catholic as the only true religion, when once undeceived concerning its errors, they naturally lose faith in all religions, or at least become indifferent. Perhaps none of all the obstacles named is as great as this, for it is founded generally on an intellectual pride, which renders its possessor almost impenetrable by the shafts of conviction.
A more difficult field than Mexico is hard to find, owing to the foregoing and other numerous causes. Yet the results of twenty-five years of Protestant effort are not altogether unsatisfactory. The field is cultivated by the following churches: The Congregational, the Baptist, the Episcopal, the Friends, the Methodist Episcopal, the Methodist Episcopal South, the Presbyterian, the Cumberland Presbyterian, the Southern Presbyterian, and the Reformed Synod of the South. Nearly every State is occupied by some evangelical society, and some by several. The work done by these various bodies consists: 1. In the establishment of congregations, where the gospel is regularly preached to a total of about 25,000 believers. 2. In the formation of schools of various grades, where many thousands of children and youth are receiving a Christian education. The12Congregational, Presbyterian, and two Methodist Churches all sustain theological and normal schools for the training of workers in their respective fields. 3. In the production and distribution of an evangelical literature in the Spanish language. Several of the churches sustain publishing houses and have their official organs. The oldest of these is El Abogado Christiano Ilustrado (The Illustrated Christian Advocate), founded by the Methodist Mission in 1876. It is an eight-page, handsomely illustrated paper, nearly the size of the New York Christian Advocate. El Faro (The Lighthouse), organ of the Presbyterian Church, and El Evangelista (The Evangelist), of the Southern Methodists, are similar in size and style to the Abogado. El Ramo de Olivo (The Olive Branch), of the Friends, La Luz (Light), of the Baptist, El Testigo (The Witness), of the Congregational, and La Buena Lid (The Good Fight), of the Episcopal, are smaller in size, but generally have a greater number of pages than their older sisters. Besides these religious organs the presses publish Sunday school helps, books, and tracts, which go to many places where the living preacher cannot as yet secure a hearing, and prepare the soil for the sowing of the word.
By these means the Protestant cause is slowly but steadily advancing. The excessive intolerance of the masses is gradually yielding, and they are becoming accustomed to the presence of "heretics," so that they are less inclined than formerly to kill them. The people are becoming more enlightened through the schools and press and the enforced practice of religious toleration. In spite of the constant and increasing activity of the Roman priesthood, the people are coming to know more and more what Protestantism really is, and the truth is filtering slowly through the mass of error.
The facilities for travel and change of locality afforded by the constantly extending systems of railroads contribute in marked degree to the breaking down of old prejudices and the formation of new ideas, as does also the large influx of foreigners, both for pleasure and business.
All these different agencies are slowly transforming the Mexican nation, and surely preparing the way for a much more general acceptance of the truth of the gospel in the coming years. There may never be such abundant harvests as are being now gathered in India, but certainly the signs of the times point to a near future of far greater triumphs for Protestantism in Mexico than have yet been obtained.
A SURE CURE.
It is told of Hannah More that she had a good way of managing talebearers. It is said that whenever she was told anything derogatory to another, her invariable reply was, "Come, we will go and ask if this be true." The effect was sometimes ludicrously painful. The talebearer was taken aback, stammered out a qualification, or begged that no notice might be taken of the statement. But the good lady was inexorable; off she took the scandal monger to the scandalized, to make inquiry and compare accounts. It is not likely that anybody ever a second time ventured to repeat a gossipy story to Hannah More. One would think her method of treatment would be a sure cure for scandal.—Harper's Bazar.
OUT OF SORTS.
By John Todd
SOME people are always out of sorts. The weather is just what they don't want. I met one of these men awhile ago, a farmer, who raised all manner of crops. It was a wet day, and I said:—
"Mr. Nayling, this rain will be fine for your grass crop."
"Yes, perhaps, but it is bad for the corn, and will keep it back. I don't believe we shall have a crop."
A few days after this, when the sun was shining hot, I said:—
"Fine day for your corn, sir."
"Yes, but it is awful for the rye. Rye wants cold weather."
Again, on a cold morning, I met my neighbor and said:—
"This must be a capital day for your rye, Mr. Nayling."
"Yes, but it is the very worst weather for corn and grass. They want heat to bring them forward."—Dr. Todd.
WE SPEAK A QUEER LANGUAGE.
The construction of the English language must appear most formidable to a foreigner. One of them, looking at a picture of a number of vessels, said, "See, what a flock of ships!" He was told that a flock of ships was called a fleet, and that a fleet of sheep was called a flock. And it might have been added for his guidance in mastering the intricacies of our language that a flock of girls is called a bevy, that a bevy of wolves is called a pack, and a pack of thieves is called a gang, and a gang of angels is called a host, and a host of porpoises is called a shoal, and a shoal of buffaloes is called a herd, and a herd of children is called a troop, and a troop of partridges is called a covey, and a covey of beauties is called a galaxy, and a galaxy of ruffians is called a horde, and a horde of rubbish is called a heap, and a heap of oxen is called a drove, and a drove of blackguards is called a mob, and a mob of whales is called a school, and a school of worshipers is called a congregation, and a congregation of engineers is called a corps, and a corps of robbers is called a band, and a band of locusts is called a swarm, and a swarm of people is called a crowd.—Selected.
A THOUGHT.
By Abram J. Ryan
Hearts that are great beat never loud;
They muffle their music when they come;
They hurry away from the thronging crowd,
With bended brows and lips half dumb.
And the world looks on, and mutters, "Proud;"
But when great hearts have passed away,
Men gather in awe, and kiss their shroud,
And in love they kneel around their clay.
Hearts that are great are always lone;
They never will manifest their best;
Their greatest greatness is unknown;
Earth knows a little—God the rest.
—Abram J. Ryan.
FIELD NOTES.
By Editor
THE Atlantic Conference has decided to put eight tents in the field the present season.
CANVASSERS' institutes are being held at Jamaica, Vt., and at South Lancaster, Mass.
A CANVASSERS' institute was inaugurated at Healdsburg, Cal., on the 1st inst., and is to continue until May 1.
THREE adult sisters were baptized at Stockton, last week, by Brother W. G. Buckner, the local elder of the church.
ON the evening of March 18 three persons were baptized in the church at Jersey City, N. J., by Elder E. E. Franke.
SIX have been added to the Seventh-day Adventist faith through the labors of Brother L. F. Trubey at Riverside, Colo.
DURING the past winter sixteen members have been added to the church in Council Bluffs, Iowa, under the labors of Elder Graf.
BROTHER T. E. BOWEN, of West Virginia Conference, who was some time ago compelled to lay aside his duties as secretary on account of severe illness, is reported to be regaining his health. His many friends and colaborers will rejoice to hear of his prospective recovery.365
ELDER E. G. OLSEN, president of the Iowa Conference, recently spent a short time in Chicago in the interest of the Scandinavian work.
THROUGH the labors of Elder H. G. Thurston and wife, at Middletown, N. Y., twelve have been added to our numbers, and others are investigating.
A REPORT from Kingston, Jamaica, to the Review says that a Seventh-day Adventist Church of thirty-seven members was organized there March 21.
FIVE canvassers in Glasgow, Scotland, report good success in selling the Present Truth, published in London. They have a Sabbath school of twelve members.
ELDER M. M. KENNY reports "an extra good interest" at Elnora, Ind., where he has been laboring in connection with Brother J. M. Ellis. Several ministers have attended all their meetings, and one of them has decided to keep the Sabbath of the Lord.
ELDER E. W. WHITNEY, recently from Colorado, preached in the Oakland church on the 31st inst., from Prov. 18: 10: "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is safe." Elder E. H. Gates, who had arrived two days previously, sat in the pulpit. He was announced to preach the following Sabbath.
WE learn from the Des Moines, Iowa, Bulletin that at the close of a general meeting of Seventh-day Adventists at Ruthven there was "quite a stir" among some of the denominations. The Lutherans held a week's protracted meeting, followed by another week's effort on the part of the Catholics, when the Methodists hired an evangelist and started in for a four weeks' siege.
IN the published reports of charity work in this city for three months, ending March 28, we note the following: "The Christian Help Band of the Seventh-day Adventist Church has made 688 visits to the poor, and have distributed 947 garments, 25 pairs of shoes, 130 baskets of cooked provisions, and a large quantity of potatoes, flour, rice, crackers, and meal, as well as many little delicacies, to 100 sick persons."
A REPORT has been kindly sent us of the dedication of a new church building at South Russell, N. Y., Elders S. H. Lane, A. E. Place, S. M. Cobb, C. O. Taylor, and H. H. Wilcox being present. The church has been built in a country place, under, to a great extent, unfavorable circumstances; but the brethren have taken hold with a will, and the friends outside have also materially assisted in the work, so that at the time of the dedication there was a very small debt, which was guaranteed by responsible parties. All were encouraged; and it is always a cause for encouragement when a church can be dedicated which is paid for, or as good as paid for. We hope our brethren there, and in other places as well, will not let the small indebtedness hang over their churches. The very best time to pay for a church is before it is built, especially before it is dedicated. New York State has built several churches during the past year.