The meeting of our National Tract and Missionary Society for the quarter ending April 1, has just been held, but the report, as given below, comprises the workings of the Society for the previous quarter, as there was no business meeting held the first of January.
The report is as follows:—
No of Members......................28
" of Reports returned ...............17
" of Members added during the quarter...1
" of Missionary visits...............11,369
" of Letters written ................747
" of Printed Letters sent out.........7,512
" of Letters received................561
New Subscribers obtained.............74
Tracts, Pamphlets, and Books loaned..13,545 pp.
" and Pamphlets given away....35,662 "
" Pamphlets and Books sold....36,125 "
Books furnished to Libraries.........2,629 "
Total, 87,961 "
No of Periodicals sent by post........20,575
" " given away......5,871
" " sold.............337
Total, 26,783
Donations made to the Society..........$3.12
Sales of Books and Periodicals.........$49.33
Total, $52.45
No of Ships visited....................156
The report shows more letters received in response to papers and letters posted during the last three months than in any previous quarter. Orders for our books and periodicals increase as our depository becomes more extensively known.
We have now printed two numbers of our two-page British Department of the Signs of the Times. One of these was issued the fifteenth of March, and the other in the middle of April. Many of the letters received speak in terms of approval of this addition to the journal. We hope to publish the little sheet about the middle of each month this year, at least. Our greatest difficulty is that two pages gives so little space for much variety of reading.
Bro. John is meeting with some encouragement at Grimsby. One has already taken a bold stand for the truth, and others are almost persuaded. Sister John went last week to join her husband in his labors. As she speaks the Danish language she can help him in his work in that nationality, many of which come to that port.
Bro. Drew is making good progress in the ship-work at Hull. One of his greatest difficulties has been to get sufficient reading matter in the Danish and Swedish languages. He says one day last week there were 3,000 Scandinavians passed through Hull, en route to America, but his stock of papers was so reduced that he had but sixty papers for them. We trust this difficulty may soon be remedied as we have written to Bro. Butler stating the facts, and calling for such papers as are necessary to carry on the work.
Brethren, still continue to pray earnestly for these missions in different languages, and lift as the Lord may direct you. Much precious seed is being sown; some of this is already springing up, and we expect the future will reveal an abundant harvest.
J. N. Loughborough.
Southampton, April 23, 1882.
Why Christians Should Not Use Tobacco.
By Edmund Brown
1. It is a filthy habit. God condemned all uncleanness and filthiness. See Eph. 5: 3, 4.
2. It does not glorify God. He says, "Whether, therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." 1 Cor. 10: 31. Can tobacco-using do this?
3. Is it not contrary to nature? Did God give any person a natural taste for the filthy weed? No; I remember when quite young of taking a chew. I had it in my mouth a few seconds, and it made me very sick. Thank God that was the last I ever used. All nature rallies to expel the intruder. Some say, "God made it, therefore it must be food for man's use." But did not God make the thistle, the thorn, the toad-stool? Why not chew these?
4. It is a lust of the flesh. The user becomes accustomed to it, he likes it; it tastes good (so he says); he cannot deny the appetite for it. But what says God's word? "But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof." Rom. 13: 14. "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the passions and lusts. This I say, then, walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh." Gal. 5: 17; also see James 4: 3; Eph. 2: 3.
5. It ruins the mind as well as the body. I observe this in relation to some of my near relatives. When they are out of tobacco they become very irritable and cross to all around. Now this is opposed to the work of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, faith, temperance. Gal. 5: 22, 23.
6. It defiles the flesh, the blood, and the brain. Our bodies are to be a temple for the Holy Ghost to dwell in. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." 1 Cor. 3: 16, 17.
My brethren, let us beware what use we make of God's temple. Tobacco penetrates and defiles every fiber in the whole system. Can you look up and say, when smoking or chewing, "I thus glorify God?" No, you would not dare to do it. I know it gets a strong hold on the system, and it will take power outside of yourself to conquer the habit; but will not God help you? Is he not a present help at all times? Throw away your tobacco then, and take your case to Jesus, rely on his grace and strength to overcome the evil habit, and you shall be made every whit whole. I know God does not say, "Thou shalt not use tobacco." It was not known in those days when the Bible was written. But there are so many scriptures directly condemning uncleanness and filthiness, that we think the Bible does virtually teach, "Thou shalt not use tobacco."—Edmund Brown, in Faith Words.
Encouraging.
By Editor
The following letter, from Tahiti, was received by a member of the Oakland Missionary Society:—
At Mr. C.'s request I now write you his answer to your letter received by him by this last mail. He says that he has received the three books on the prophecies, and the papers, and is very much pleased with the pamphlet on baptism, which he is now perusing. It is now fifteen years, he says, since he gave up baptism by sprinkling, and wished to be baptized by total immersion but there is no one here to do it. He was a member of the Congregational Church in Scotland, for forty years, but has since changed his ideas on many subjects.
He intends to visit San Francisco about the end of the year, if possible, and God willing, then he would wish to have a good long talk with you.
“He farther adds that when I first lent him the SIGNS OF THE TIMES he was convinced that he was wrong in his not keeping the seventh day as the Sabbath, and now keeps that day as the Sabbath.”
Luther's Answer to Satan
MARTIN LUTHER says the devil came to him once and said, “Martin Luther, you are a great sinner, and you will be damned.” “Hold!” cried Luther, “One thing at a time. I am a great sinner I confess. What next?” “Therefore you will be damned.” “That is not good reasoning, for it is written, ‘Jesus Christ came to save sinners,’ therefore I shall be saved. Now go your way!”
Looking for Christ's Second Coming
By Rev. Charles Spurgeon
"I AM afraid we cannot hope for much better times until the Lord Jesus Christ comes a second time. Often do I cheer myself with the thought of his coming. The shout shall be heard, Allelujah! allelujah! the Lord God omnipotent reigneth! For that day do I look; it is to the bright horizon of that second coming that I turn my eyes."—Rev. Charles Spurgeon.
Temperance.
By Editor
A Solemn Warning.
THE Methodist papers have been lamenting—as well they may—the sad fall of one of their ministers, Rev. T. H. McGrath. We pity any church which has to bear the reproach of an apostate preacher. And now comes a brother in Petaluma and communicates to the California Christian Advocate the cause of the minister's downfall. It is a lesson to which every tobacco slave, who professes to follow Christ in the gospel, should read with serious care. The gospel is a system of self-denial, of overcoming, of purity of flesh and spirit. He who is a slave to filthy habits and appetites is not the servant of Christ. While we regret the occasion, we are glad to put on record the warning contained in the following words:—
T. H. McGrath in early life became a slave to the filthy use of tobacco, and after his conversion he still used it against the goadings of his enlightened conscience. At a revival meeting, seeing a decent looking young negro man on his knees asking God to help him give up his sins, he (McGrath) bent over him to whisper some words of direction and help. But his tobacco breath being so exceeding foul and offensive to the decent negro youth, he turned, and, looking at him calmly said, "If you would put that filthy tobacco of yours away, and have a better breath, you would help me more." Now McGrath told me this himself; and really, for a time gave up his tobacco, and told me he was going to do it sure, though it was pretty hard to have to do it. Some time after this I met McGrath in San Francisco, and he was again all polluted with tobacco; and when I named it to him he said he was not going to try any more to give up his tobacco. So after a little, to vary his preaching, he could readily drink whisky, etc. then came the end.
Now, what I wish to say is, that all those dear brethren who cannot give up this most filthy, degrading habit, and yet go on offering to preach deliverance to other poor captives, probably not even quite so foul, anyway in breath, as themselves, should just stop and think what may be the report made directly in their cases, when sin, as in poor McGrath's case, has brought death.
A case in point came under my notice when East, this year. A daughter of a good Christian woman lay at the point of death; the mother had her preacher called in, but he had at once to leave the dying girl's room, as the foulness of his tobacco breath could not be endured; so the intended closing prayer for the dying one had to be postponed.—L. Waugh, Petaluma, April 18, 1882.
A Dangerous Proverb.
By Rev. T. L. Cuyler
"Never too late to mend" is a very popular, but a very dangerous proverb. It is true and serviceable under certain circumstances. If one who has wandered off into the wrong path is penitent, and really longs and labors to get right again, then it is an encouragement to assure him that it is not too late for him to "mend his ways."
But on the face of it, this homely apothegm is too often an incentive to presumption. A young man of warm blood, who has a bagful of wild oats to sow, is tempted to give free rein to his passion, and says to himself, "It will never be too late to mend;" so he scatters his wild oats broadcast, in the theater, on the race-course, and in every line of "sporting life." They come up rank and tall, and cover the whole soil of his life with their long, ugly roots and their hateful stalks. The critical years of his brief existence are seeded down with sin, and if in after years he begins to weed out the devil's crop, he finds the soil impoverished, and the roots hard to clear out, and only a fraction of life left for any better, nobler, and holier crop of good deeds. The chances are that the wild oats will get an ineradicable hold upon him, and then all total crops which he grows in this world will be fuel for the flames of perdition. Young man! I offer you a thousand-times better motto; it is, "Never too early to mend." Try that.
In no direction has the proverb that I am condemning worked more mischief than in encouraging young men to tamper with a wine-bottle. If we go to a genial, warm-hearted, convivial youth, and tell him frankly that he is in the rapids, and rushing toward the cataract of ruin, he will coolly reply, "Don't you worry about me. When I find out it's hurting me, I'll quit; never too late to mend." Sir, that's the devil's lie. Millions of hard drinkers have struggled hard to extricate themselves from the torrent of appetite, when they saw the awful cataract just ahead, and heard its terrific thunders. But it was too late. Their appetite had become a disease; their will had become a mere rotten rope, with no staying power; they found out that it was easy to begin, and impossible to stop. Underneath the Niagara of drunkenness lie the myriads of victims of this fatal delusion - that a man can defy common sense, and defy God with impunity! I have a motto for every young man that I can guarantee-it is "never too early to mend" your conscience with the stout seam of a total abstinence pledge.—Rev. T. L. Cuyler.
Why the Merchant Opposed the Liquor Trade
On the day after election in a certain city, a liquor dealer asked a provision merchant, who had voted "no" license, "Why do you vote against my business? Haven't I always paid you for the meat I got?" "Yes," replied the merchant, "but some of the men who drink your rum haven't."
Add to Your Faith
"ADD to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance."
How Mrs. Moreton Escaped Poverty.
"Good morning, Mrs. Moreton. I just run in a moment to inquire if a bit of news I have heard be true. It is too incredible for me to believe; for with all your practical ideas of life, I cannot think you would carry your peculiar notions to such a length as this."
"Pray, what have I been doing now, Mrs. Ellis?" said Mrs. Moreton, as she quietly arose and offered her visitor a chair. "Your words and looks are ominous. Have I committed such a breach of propriety that Madam Grundy has found it necessary to hurl her thunders of excommunication against me?" and with a pleasant smile the lady awaited her visitor's revelation.
"Why, I am told that you have actually apprenticed Belle to a publisher, in order that she may become a compositor. Every one was talking about it last evening at Mrs. Wilson's party, and all thought it a great pity that so beautiful and accomplished a girl as Isabel Moreton should be withdrawn from that society she is so well fitted to adorn, and immured within the walls of a dingy old publishing house, simply because her mother chooses to sacrifice her child to that Moloch of hers—work. Belle has just graduated with the highest honors; and with her lovely manners and fresh, young face, might command a most eligible match. It is absolutely cruel to sacrifice the sweet girl in this way!"
"Well, Mrs. Ellis, I take up the gauntlet society has thrown down, and I shall fearlessly perform what I conceive to be my duty, though I am never again recognized by one of those with whom I am accustomed to associate. Out upon these aristocratic notions about work, imported from lands where despotism grinds with its iron heel the laborer and his offspring! What business have Americans harboring such ideas? It is my aim to make of Belle an independent, self-reliant woman. As to marriage, I am not at all concerned about that. The man who would scorn her hand because that hand was able to earn its fair possessor's support, I would scorn to receive into my family. It is my desire that she may grow up a noble, useful woman, fitted to reign a very queen in the hearts of a true husband and children, should Heaven bestow such priceless gifts upon her. At the same time, I want her character to be so symmetrical, that should she never meet one who appreciates her, she may cheerfully fill out her life by devoting herself to some noble pursuit. I think parents commit a grave error in not practically educating their daughters as well as their sons. In more than in legislation may be found the solution to the vexed question that is now agitating our sex all over the land and breaking out in discontented murmurings everywhere."
"Oh, it is all very well for people to work whose necessities require it," said Mrs. Ellis; "but Belle is your only child and will inherit your fortune. What need has she to work?"
"Because she will be happier if she is usefully employed. Besides, the wheel of fortune is a revolving one; and though to-day we may be rolling in luxury, to-morrow may find us crushed beneath misfortune. Listen, while I briefly relate the story of my early womanhood. I would might write it as with a pen of fire upon the brain of every mother in the land. Oh, I cannot tell you what an intense interest I feel in the young girls growing up around me! My heart yearns to urge them to make a specialty of whatever their inclinations prompt them most to do, and then concentrate every effort upon that one pursuit until they excel in it."
"But to my story: 'I was the daughter of wealthy parents, the youngest child by several years, and of course a great pet. Of an extremely delicate organization, my kind and indulgent mother shielded me from every hardship, and I grew into womanhood a novice in the art of housekeeping. From a child I was passionately fond of reading, and at school excelled in all my studies. Pleased with the progress I made, and proud of my attainments, parents and teachers urged me forward, stimulating my ambition with words of encouragement, until at the immature age of eighteen I graduated, the most brilliant girl in Madam B—'s school, and carried off amid the plaudits of friends and acquaintances, the honors of my class."
"But alas! I was superficial in many things; for while it had been easy for me to commit my lessons, I found it equally easy to forget them. Keenly did I feel this defect, and in order to perfect myself, I wished, after leaving school, to teach, but so bitterly did my parents oppose this that I yielded to their wishes and returned home. I plunged into a round of gayety and amusement, and from this whirl of excitement I emerged the bride of one whom my parents did not look upon with favor. The young man was an employee in a wholesale house in the city of N. He was poor, but possessed a well-cultivated mind. Unfortunately, however, he had no chosen trade or avocation. Idleness had made me a dreamy, visionary being, and there was a sort of charm about beginning life in poverty. It would be so delightful to toil with and for him I loved so fondly. This is all very well in theory and in practice also, where there are four strong hands to perform the labor; but close application to the desk, and breathing the unwholesome city air had seriously impaired my husband's health. We had married at a time when neither was strong enough to battle with the stern realities of life. Dependence upon the salary of a clerk or book-keeper in a large city is very precarious for a family. It was a year of unprecedented hard times, necessitating great economy in business. Hundreds lost their situations, and my husband among the rest."
"Ah, then began the vain search for employment! For every vacancy there were scores of applicants, and you invariably received the answer, 'Persons of experience wanted.' Oh, I can never forget the weary tramp, tramp, up and down the streets, jostled by a crowd as cold and heartless as the very stones under one's feet! I envied even the servant-girls; but alas! the mysteries of the cuisine were as Greek to me, and I dared not apply for so menial a situation as theirs. My poor husband was in wretched health, and almost frenzied at the thought of the misery and degradation he had brought upon me. For his sake, I hid my aching heart behind a smiling face."
"One night after he had retired, in hanging up his coat, a vial drooped from the pocket. Picking it up, I found it labeled 'Laudanum,' and then I knew he was beset with the terrible temptation to take his own life. Flinging the vile drug into the street, I sank on my knees, and 'O, my God! lead him not into temptation, but deliver him from evil,' was the prayer that went up from my agonized heart. How desolate I felt! In the midst of a great city—friendless, well-nigh penniless, and, worst of all, haunted with the dreadful fear that my husband would commit suicide. From the time we would separate in the morning until we met again at night, I lived in a state of absolute torture."
"At length, despairing of finding anything in the city to do, we turned our faces countryward; feeling that our slender stock of money would last longer than in town. After many weeks of painful anxiety, my husband found a situation in a small village, with just salary enough to keep the wolf from the door. How I longed to do something to better our condition; but alas! what could I do? I might have had a fine music class in the village, but while I played and sang well, I was not proficient enough in music to teach it successfully. Oh, how I wished I had given the time to it I had spent on French and Latin! Many an hour of hard study had I given to these branches, and of what practical advantage had they been to me? I never met any French people with whom I could converse, and had never been able to secure a class in either language, while all the while my knowledge was becoming rusty by non-use. It is painful to recur to this period of my life. I was so unhappy, I expected every day would be the last my husband would be able to attend to business. Finally driven to desperation by our misfortunes, I resolved to do something or die in the attempt."
"Attached to the house we occupied was a large lot for gardening purposes, and I made up my mind that out of that bit of earth I would dig our fortunes—or at least, a living with my own hands. I made horticulture and floriculture a study, and brushed up my little knowledge of chemistry. It was hard work and small profits the first year; but having once put my hand to the plow, I never turned back. Our table was bountifully supplied with fresh vegetables and fruits, and what was better, my step had grown elastic, my eye bright, and my cheek rounded with health. My husband, too, found many a spare moment from business to assist me, and in doing so found himself growing stronger and well again. Oh, how happy we were! Surely there is dignity in labor unknown to ease! How proud I felt when I received the returns from my first shipment of vegetables to the nearest market! I counted it over and over. It seemed to possess a value that I had never attached to money in the old days when father had lavished it so freely upon me. Then I would have thought nothing of spending such a paltry sum upon the trimmings of a single dress; now every penny was hoarded with miserly care, for we had resolved upon having a home of our own."
"Well, to be brief, each year I attempted something more—first a poultry yard, then the culture of bees, and so on, until, before we were hardly aware of it, our home was paid for. I had carefully concealed any trace of our adversity from my parents. I think I would have died rather than gone home—a beggar. Now that the dawn of prosperity had set in, I wrote, asking them to come and see the little silken-haired girl that, like a sunbeam, danced through our home. They came. Father, accustomed to his broad acres, was astonished at the products of my small plot of ground. He declared I was the best farmer he knew, and should have greater scope for my powers. He bought a fine large tract of land adjoining our grounds that happened to be for sale just then, and made me a deed for it. This is the origin of the country-seat you visited last summer and admired so much. Belle is a fine horticulturist and an accomplished housekeeper. Should she ever be thrown upon her own resources in the country she could make a living, and I wish her to be equally independent in town. We came to town to superintend her education. She thinks her forte is journalism, and desires in addition to this, to become a practical printer. And now, can you wonder, Mrs. Ellis, after my experience, that I am trying to have her avoid the errors that well-nigh made my young life a failure?"
"No, indeed, Mrs. Moreton, and I honor you for it. I have been greatly benefited by the narration of your early troubles, and I think you will see the result of it in the future training of my own daughters.—Unknown."
The Home Circle.
THE WIDOW'S MITES.
WHEN the splendid Jewish temple
Stood erect in days of old,
Gleaming with its walls of marble,
Starry gems and glittering gold,
Spicy woods and fragrant incense
Wafted fragrance everywhere,
While in every court the people
Thronged for sacrifice and prayer.
Rich and noble, grand and lordly,
Offered tithes of all their store,
While the hem of priestly garments
Swept the tessellated floor;
Stately Pharisees trod proudly,
And their costly gifts displayed,
Cast their gold into the treas'ry
Where the offerings were made.
Overlooking all, was sitting
One of gentle, lowly mein;
Pharisee and priest ignored him—
He was but "the Nazarene!"
Who could think that humble stranger
"Searched and tried the hearts" of men,
Saw what prompted every offering,
With his wondrous, God-like ken?
When a shy and shrinking woman,
In her garb of widowhood,
One who knew both want and sorrow,—
Want, perchance, of daily food—
Brought her poor but grateful offering,
Grieving that it was so small,
Jesus said to those about him,
"She hath given more than all."
Ah! he knew of want and hunger,
Grief and care, and sorrow too;
And the widow's paltry farthing
Cost a sacrifice, he knew.
So all fruits of self-denial
Are the gifts he loves the best;
Not the richest or most costly
Are the offerings most blest!
—Selected.
Women as Men’s Best Friends
THERE was no Judas among the Marys and Marthas whom Jesus selected as his friends. When he was crucified the devotion of the women did not abate. They came to his sepulcher early in the morning, and they alone were not incredulous about his resurrection. From the cradle to the grave, women are the best friends a man has.
News and Notes.
-In Ohio there is one saloon to every 223 people.
-The Government Hospital at Laramie, Wyoming, was burned recently.
-From Arkansas to Minnesota the crop prospects are reported favorable.
-Hon. C. C. Washburn, Ex-Governor of Wisconsin, died at Eureka Springs, Ark., May 14.
-Guiteau, the assassin, aspires to the honor of a new trial, but his chances seem very doubtful.
-A vessel will leave San Francisco next month for the relief of the Point Barrow expedition.
-In some parts of Labrador the people are famishing for food, which cannot be had at any price.
-Mrs. Scoville, sister of Guiteau, has left her husband and is preparing for a lecture tour in the West.
-The last report of the Stockton Insane Asylum shows 1,089 inmates; 771 males, and 318 females.
-Charley Ross, son of the woman who made the first United States flag, is in the San Francisco poor-house.
-A collection of fifty-one species of Japanese Maples has lately been received at Golden Gate Park, San Francisco.
-The Texas Associated Press Association has lately been sojourning on the Pacific Coast, gathering items and rusticating.
-Five boys, from ten to twelve years of age, were arrested last week in Oakland, for burglary of a Central Pacific baggage car.
-The Fish Commission is shipping over 4,000,000 young shad and herring for the rivers of Virginia, North Carolina, and Texas.
-The last Chinese steamer, with 800 passengers, was quarantined at San Francisco, having several cases of small-pox on board.
-During the first three months of the present year, 900 buildings, aggregating in value $10,000,000, have been erected in New York.
-The reunion of the Army of the Tennessee took place last week at St. Louis. Generals Sherman, Sheridan, and Pope were present.
-A cyclone struck the Wesleyan College near Warrenton, Mo., on the 9th, tearing out one wall and carrying parts of the roof half a mile.
-The Moors have recently stoned the English Minister at Morocco, and the Sultan has imprisoned 600 men for complicity in the assault.
-The lower House of Congress has passed a bill creating the new Cabinet Portfolio of Agriculture, but the Senate is expected to defeat it.
-Recent hot north winds are reported to have been very damaging to crops in the Sacramento valley; but favored localities still promise well.
-The Court House at Pittsburg, Pa., was burned down last week. The building cost $200,000 originally, and much money had since been expended in improvements.
-It is reported from Redwood City that a case of genuine leprosy passed through that place bound for San Francisco, May 9th. The victim is a Chinese-Kanaka.
-A Chinaman recently had his neck broken in Oakland, and a young white man was crushed to death in Alameda, both as a result of jumping off from cars while in motion.
-Engineer Melville has notified the Secretary of the Navy that he has found De Long and his party—all dead. He has found also the books and papers of The Jeannette.
-An Austrian physician who visited the Jews' hospital at Odessa, states that there are 128 horribly mutilated persons there, the Russians having poured petroleum into their wounds.
-It is charged that at the county teachers' examination, held in Nevada City, last week, some of the applicants fraudulently obtained certificates, by communicating answers to each other.
-The Secretary of the Navy estimates the cost of putting the navy into good condition at $3,173,000. The total cost of the vessels in the navy is $72,345,776, and since 1865 the repairs have cost $23,075,000.
-In San Francisco, last week, two brothers named Troy, printers, engaged in a drunken quarrel and one of them was fatally stabbed by the other. The grief of the murderer is said to be intense. It was whisky did it.
-Some of the Indians in Dakota Territory have taken a sensible step. At a recent council the Brule Sioux surrendered 200 stands of arms, requesting that they be sold and the proceeds applied to the benefit of the tribe.
-The gambling houses of New Orleans paid $30,000 into the city treasury last year for licenses. The money thus received was devoted by the city to charitable purposes. Rather an expensive way of caring for the poor.
-Prairie and wood fires have been raging in southern Arizona and western New Mexico recently. The territory is reported to cover forty miles square, and the damage done is immense. The fire is attributed to Indians.
-The Vatican has forwarded formal instructions to Cardinal McCabe, Archbishop of Dublin, directing him to call upon the Roman Catholics to declare in a public document that their cause is distinctly separate from the sectaries.
-A New York dispatch of May 10th says: "A number of Russian refugees this morning cruelly beat Adof Beinbaum, Superintendent of the Hebrew Immigration Aid Society, for refusing them large sums of money with which to begin business."
-The Brewers' Association recently met at Washington to advance the interests of the nefarious traffic. They claim that light fermented drinks are doing a great work in the temperance cause. President Arthur was present and made a speech.
-A terrible cyclone passed over McAllister, Indian Territory, and Mound City, Missouri, on the 8th. The former town, consisting of about eighty houses, was completely demolished. Twenty-two deaths are reported, and forty-two persons more or less injured.
-Egypt is at present in a state of anarchy. Relations between the Khedive and the Ministry have been suspended. The European powers are preparing to protect their interests, and the Sultan has made preparations whereby 30,000 could be speedily embarked for Egypt.
-The excitement in Ireland has been greatly increased, and the Irish cause greatly jeopardized, by the recent murder of Lord Cavendish, Chief Secretary, and Burke, his assistant, in Dublin. No clue to the assassins, although over 800 arrests of suspected persons have been made.
-Within the past few days every one of the inmates of the San Francisco County Jail has been vaccinated. There are about ninety Chinamen confined there for violation of the ordinance in relation to crowded sleeping apartments, and they are said to have submitted very unwillingly to the operation.
-Wednesday, the 10th, was "Senior Day" at the State University. Of the several addresses, was one by J. S. Bishop, of Honolulu, on the subject of "Theaters." He argued, and very appropriately too, that constant attendance at theaters had a demoralizing influence upon the lives of men and women.
-Mr. Calkins has introduced a bill in Congress asking for another Arctic expedition, with Master Lucien Young in command. A $50,000 vessel is proposed, and an expenditure of $100,000 for the expenses of the explorers. If Agur could write in these days, he might say, "There are five things that say not. It is enough," and specify the North Pole enthusiast.
-A Minneapolis, Minn., dispatch, of May 9, says that a cyclone struck a school-house near Lakefield, lifting it up and scattering it over the prairie. The teacher and eleven pupils were all more or less injured. "The storm came in from a funnel-shaped cloud, which bounded along the prairie and passed into Herron Lake, sucking up the water to the height of a hundred feet."
-Chinese Restriction Bill No. 2 has been signed by the President. The East and the West have to a certain degree traded sentiment respecting Mr. Arthur, as expressed when the former bill was vetoed. There is but little difference in the two bills, excepting that the time of restriction has been reduced from twenty to ten years. Many guns were fired around San Francisco Bay on receipt of the news.
Religious Notes.
There are in the Fiji Islands about 900 Wesleyan churches, and 1,400 schools.
-There are so few Presbyterian churches in New England that it is rather a notable event that another church of that order has been founded in Boston.
-Spurgeon says the Scotch have a more thorough knowledge of the Scriptures than the English, and attributes the fact to the practice of family worship.
-The churches and Sunday-schools of Brooklyn, N. Y., are greatly agitated over the question whether Universalists and Unitarians shall be permitted to march in the annual Sunday-school parade.
-There are in the forty-five leading evangelical theological seminaries in this country ninety-eight students who have decided to enter the foreign mission field, and 143 who will become home missionaries.
-Rev. E. Dowe, of Deerfield, Michigan, a Methodist minister, has been charged with having burned his parsonage two years ago. He has been absent in England, and was arrested immediately on his return.
-Rabbi Sonueschein of St Louis, has suggested the union of the Reformed Jews and the Unitarians. Rabbi Hirsch, however, regards this as impossible, and he is regarded as among the most progressive Jews.
-Dr. Woodbridge of San Francisco, Rev. J. T. Howard of Stockton, and Rev. Arthur Swazey of Chicago, have taken issue in the pulpit with Chinese immigration. Others will probably do so now, as the sentiment grows popular.
-The Baptist State Convention was held in San Francisco last week, and a highly satisfactory session is reported. It is gratifying to know that the difficulties which beset that denomination for several years in California have all been adjusted.
-The Lutherans in the northwest number 400,000 communicants, with 3,000 churches and 1,800 ministers. Of the ministers, only 242 preach in English. They have 331 congregations in the 18,000 communicants. There are five theological seminaries, with 18 professors, and 254 students preparing for the ministry.
-"Girls, wrapped up in sheets so as to be unrecognizable, were sold at public auction to the highest bidder at a Congregational Church sociable in Clear Lake, Iowa, recently. The bidding was spirited, some of the boys got badly fooled, and altogether the sale made lots of fun and much cash for the church treasury." Just so.
-A lady writing from Salt Lake says that, notwithstanding the passage of the anti-polygamy law, the Mormons go right on marrying according to their own ideas. A prominent Bishop, in a sermon recently, advised all young men to shed their last drop of blood in defense of polygamy and other (equally nefarious) Mormon doctrines.
Once a year the Methodist Bishops meet to exchange views as to the work to be done, and to agree as to their appointments. This year the meeting was in Detroit, on the 9th of May. It was a great occasion among the Methodist churches of that city. Preparations had been made for a grand reception to the Bishops and for a variety of special services in the churches. The Bishops of course are the central attractions at these services.
-A new sect has sprung up in Russia, called New Israel. They claim that Moses acknowledged the right of future generations to alter religious ceremonies according to the spirit of the times, and reject many rabbinical explanations. They begin the week on Monday and consequently worship on Sunday. They allow the eating of the flesh of animals killed by Christians. The members are forbidden to follow the profession of money-lending. The Association asks permission of the Government to wear a badge distinguishing its members from other Hebrews.
Obituary.
By Editor
DIED, in Fresno, May 2, 1882, of pneumonia, William Hutchings, aged 47 years, 4 months, and 20 days.
The deceased embraced the truth of the Third Angel's Message when it was first preached in Fairview, Fresno County. Some time since his faith was shaken by his reading the writings of Col. Ingersol, and he ceased to carry out his promises of a Christian life. In his last sickness he made frequent remarks which showed that infidel sentiments did not give satisfaction in the last great trial. Whether accepted or not, the Judge alone can determine, but his case presents a warning to not trifle with a "blessed hope" when no other hope is possibly afforded.