p. 254 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 5, No. 32. (8/21/1879)

Earlier text: Modern Spiritualism. "DOCTRINES OF DEVILS."

The Closing Messages of the Gospel.

By Raymond F. Cottrell

NUMBER TWELVE.

THE MARK.—The image enforces the worship of the first beast by the reception of his mark. What is the mark of the beast? All may learn what it is who will; or we could not vindicate the righteousness of God in denouncing unmingled wrath against all who shall receive it. Of course it is not a literal mark or brand, such as men put upon cattle, horses, soldiers, or slaves, as a sign or token that they belong to them; but it must be something which serves as well to distinguish the yielding subjects of the beast from the truly loyal to the God of Heaven. The living God also has his mark or seal; and it is reasonable to conclude that his seal and the mark of the beast are religious institutions, or observances, which are directly opposed to each other, and which clearly distinguish the servants of God and those of the beast from each other.

1. The terms, sign, seal, mark, and token, are used interchangeably in the Bible; hence their meaning is the same. Abraham “received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised.” Rom. 4:11. In Gen. 17:11 circumcision is called a “token of the covenant.” In Eze. 9 a mark is put upon the people of God before the slaughter of the wicked; and in Rev. 7 the servants of God are sealed, or signed as some translate it, before the winds of war are loosed and the great day of wrath comes.

2. The time of marking and sealing is just before the day of wrath as shown by Eze. 9, Rev. 7, and the message of warning against the reception of the mark of the beast. Rev. 14:9, 10. And this message, being the last proclamation of the gospel, being immediately followed by the unmixed wrath which it threatens, and the appearing of the Son of man upon the white cloud to reap the harvest of the earth, must be the sealing message; and while it warns against the reception of the mark of the beast, it must bear to men the seal of the living God in its stead.

3. The place of the seal of God is the forehead, Rev. 7:3, that of the beast is the forehead or the right hand. The forehead, the seat of intellect, is a symbol of the mind or affections. The truth of God, to be effectual, must be heartily received in the love of it. The right hand is a symbol of outward actions. If the subjects of the beast do not in their minds accept his teaching and yield hearty obedience, outward conformity to his requirements will answer the demand.

4. The clue to the mark and seal is found in the third angel’s message, where the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus are put in contrast with the worship and mark of the beast.

5. The 144,000 who are sealed with the seal of God, are described as having the Father’s name written in their foreheads, the place of the seal. The mark of the beast also is said to be the mark of his name. Rev. 14:11. Name as a symbol signifies authority; as, in the name of the governor means by his authority. The sign of the Father’s authority must be found in connection with his law. A law have the signature and seal of the lawgiver to give it force. This signature or seal must point out the lawgiver, showing his claim to dominion and his right to rule.

For example: A command from our President must have something more than simply his name to give it force. There may be other men of the same name. To distinguish him from all others, and to show his right to command, he must annex to his name, President of the United States with the proper seal. This shows who he is, the extent of his dominion, and his right to rule.

Has the law of God such a sign or seal? It must have to give it validity. Where is it found? In the fourth commandment. In all the other nine there is nothing to distinguish the true and living God from all the false gods of the heathens—"the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth." Jer. 10:11. But the Sabbath commandment sets him forth as the Maker of "heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is." Ex. 20:11. As the Creator of all, his dominion extends over all, and his right to command is established. I repeat: In the Sabbath commandment alone is the sign of his authority as the giver of this whole moral code.

Accordingly he testifies in the Scriptures: "Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you." Ex. 31:13.

"It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed." Verse 17. Again, the Lord testifies by a prophet: "Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them." Eze. 20:12. "And hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God." Verse 20.

Here we have the direct and explicit testimony that the Sabbath is the sign or seal of the living and true God; the Creator of heaven and earth. His distinctive appellation is found in this commandment, and in no other of the ten. And the keeping of this commandment is a sign of the knowledge of the true God. We need nothing plainer. Revelation and reason combine in this conclusion. Therefore those who keep the ten commandments from a heart renewed by faith in Christ will have the seal of God in their foreheads. They are marked as the loyal subjects of their Maker.

Now is it not reasonable to suppose that the mark or seal of the beast, the sign of his authority, is an institution directly opposed to the Sabbath of the Lord? We have seen that the power called the beast was to think to change the times and laws of God. Dan. 7:25. Now what evidence does the Roman church give as a sign of its power and authority, upon which it claims the right to make laws which all are bound to obey? We have noticed the testimony of the Creator concerning his sign. We now call the great antichristian power to the stand to testify concerning its mark of power and authority. We quote from standard publications of the Roman Catholic church.

The "Catholic catechism of the Christian Religion" says:—

"Ques. Say the third commandment. "Ans. Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day. "Q. What does God ordain by this commandment? "A. He ordains that we sanctify in a special manner this day on which he rested from the labor of creation. "Q. What is this day of rest? "A. The seventh day of the week, or Saturday; for he employed six days in creation, and rested on the seventh. Gen. 2:2, &c. "Q. Is it then Saturday we should sanctify, in order to obey the ordinance of God? "A. During the old law, Saturday was the day sanctified; but the church, instructed by Jesus Christ and directed by the Spirit of God, has substituted Sunday for Saturday, so we now sanctify the first and not the seventh day. Sunday means, and is now, the day of the Lord. "Q. Had the church power to make such change? "A. Certainly, since the Spirit of God is her guide, the change is inspired by that Holy Spirit. The uniform, universal, and perpetual tradition of all ages and nations attests the antiquity of, and consequently the divine assent to this change; even the bitterest enemies of God’s church admit and adopt it."

The following is from a Catholic Catechism, called the "Abridgement of Christian Doctrine." "Q. How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts and holy days? "A. By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same church."

This I quoted before, as also the following from the "Doctrinal Catechism," another Catholic work. "Q. Have you any other way of proving that the church hath power to institute festivals of precept? "A. Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her;—she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority."

All the Roman church are agreed that the institution of Sunday observance in the place of the Sabbath, a change "for which there is no Scriptural authority," is the mark of their power and authority; in Scripture language, "the mark of his name." And this institution stands in direct opposition to the Lord’s Sabbath, which He himself sets forth as his sign forever. Ex. 31:17. R. F. COTTRELL.

The True Theme for Christian Ministers.

By S. N. Haskell

"For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus sake." 2 Cor. 4:5. The text states very distinctly three things: first, what the apostle did not preach, and secondly, what he did preach; and thirdly, the relation he sustained to Christ and the people.

1. Paul did not preach himself. If there was ever any minister who could present himself to the people it was the apostle Paul. His conversion was the most remarkable of any on record. His sacrifice in embracing Christ was as great as that of any man who ever entered the ministry. He was a man of ability and influence. Talented, respected, he stood high as a devoted, zealous, religionist; but all this he sacrificed for Christ’s sake. He felt himself a "debtor both to the Greeks, and to the barbarians; both to the wise and to the unwise." He did not count his life dear unto himself. He was ready to be bound and die for the Lord Jesus. His labors were more abundant than those of any other apostle. His example in suffering in wearisome labor, presents the most perfect pattern of the Christian minister and Christian disciple. His courage was ever undaunted; his fortitude unshaken. His love toward God and man must have been marvelous indeed, as is indicated in his description of charity, in 1 Cor. 13. If others were ministers of Christ in the ordinary sense, he was more so. In labors he was more abundant, and in stripes he was above the measure that others suffered.

He was cast into prisons oftener than others, and oftener than others was in imminent peril of death. Five times was he whipped by the Jews; three times was he beaten with rods by the heathen; once was he stoned till even his persecutors believed that he was dead, and, for that reason, ceased their murderous assault upon him; before his voyage to Rome, he suffered a shipwreck in which he was in the deep a night and a day; he was exposed to perils of every kind; his life was spent in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness; and through his entire ministry, he always bore about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. 2 Cor. 11:23-27; 4:7-11. Besides this, abundant and extraordinary revelations were given him, and wonderful miracles were wrought through his instrumentality.

Notwithstanding he had whereof he might boast, who ever heard him boasting? His theme was Christ. It was not himself. He considered the treasure—the gospel—committed to him to be in an earthen vessel. He well knew he would one day have to give an account of how he used his talents. Whatever he possessed he received from Christ. He was not above manual labor for his own support in the ministry.

"Yea, ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered to my necessities, and to them that were with me. I have showed all things how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of our Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive." Acts 20:34, 35.

2. Paul preached Christ to men. The unsearchable riches of Christ was his theme. He had found Christ to be the Saviour of men. He had experienced the saving power of the truths he preached. He knew that the law of God justly condemned men to death. He had felt the power of that condemnation. He knew that Christ had made a sacrifice for sin such as the law could accept. He knew that there was no other such sacrifice. He had partaken of the saving power of Christ. He knew that God had made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. He knew that in Christ were hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 2 Cor. 5:21; Col. 2:3. He well understood that the Father created all things by Jesus Christ, whether things in Heaven or things in earth. Col. 1; Heb. 1.

He preached Christ as a man of sorrows; as a sacrifice on the cross; as a priest in the heavenly sanctuary till his priesthood shall be finished, and that then, becoming king, he shall return in infinite glory to our earth, and, having made his people immortal, and consumed his enemies, and cleansed the earth, he shall establish his throne and kingdom in this once revolted province, and reign gloriously under the whole heaven forever and ever.

The love of Christ constrained Paul. He had found salvation from sin. He saw the world under its power, and he longed to save others, or, rather, to lead others to Christ for salvation. He could have made his ministry the occasion of preaching himself. He could have shown his own greatness, he could have proclaimed his own goodness, and made himself the prominent subject of his preaching. But he knew something that was infinitely better than this. He had Christ to preach, and this theme inspired his heart with such precious and ravishing thoughts that self was forgotten, and Christ was all in all.

3. True ministers are Christ’s representatives and servants of the church. "Ourselves your servants for Jesus sake." Christ came not to be ministered unto but to minister. The servant is not greater than his Lord, neither is he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, much more those of his household.

In conversation, in piety, the minister should be an example to the flock. He should imitate the great pattern that the attractions of Christ will be reflected in him. Should the people learn sacrifice, self-denial, and humility? let the minister teach it in his deportment—in his conversation. Should the people connect with the great I AM? as the minister goes in and out before the people they should discern that he walks and talks with God. Must the people possess unyielding integrity amid the trials and temptations of this life? the minister should exemplify these principles in his daily walk. How can he teach the people to overcome their appetites, their evil traits unless he does the same? The minister should be lost in God and his truth. Oh, what a calling! "Who is sufficient for these things?"

4. Our preaching should be like Paul’s. The apostle hid behind Christ, and if he should do so, how much more should we, who are not worthy to be compared with Paul? Let Christ and the truth fill all the foreground. Let ourselves, as the humble instruments through whom the truth is brought to perishing men, stand back out of sight. We have a message to men which is to determine their eternal destiny. If we make the delivery of this message the occasion of displaying self, it is the certain evidence that we have no just sense of the work we have undertaken. To form a just idea of the proper character of preaching, read the sermons of Christ in the Gospels and of the apostles in the Acts. When men heard those sermons, they did not go away saying, "What a wonderful preacher! What a talented man! How eloquent was the speaker!" etc.; but they said, "Who then can be saved?" "Men and brethren, what shall we do?"

It is a test whether the minister has preached Christ or himself to mark the impression made upon the hearers; is it made by the man, or by the truth he presents? If the subject is lost sight of in the man, then the discourse has been a failure; if the man is lost in the subject, then there is reason to believe that the preacher sought the glory of his Master and not his own. These are solemn thoughts. Many preachers will be lost, not because they did not preach the truth, but because in doing it, they sought their own glory, and not that of Christ. The day of Judgment will reveal the motives of all hearts. No men will have a stricter account to render than ministers of the gospel. It will not be merely asked, What have you done? but, What were your motives in doing what you did? Let us test ourselves in this most important matter now. S. N. HASKELL.

The Home Circle.

By John B. Waterbury

THE MOTHER'S LOVE.

The mother's life is full of prose, From early dawn to daylight's close. But oft, amid her household cares, Some little poem unawares Is written down within her heart, And of her life becomes a part. Some loving words a child may say, A golden curl long put away, A half-worn shoe upon the floor, An outgrown dress the baby wore, A broken toy or faded flower, May touch the heart-string any hour.

Moral Education of Females.

WHAT kind of training is required that woman may fulfill the duties which the Creator has assigned to her?

The answer to this includes the whole range of female education; but we shall confine our remarks to one point, namely, the culture of the moral affections. Piety and virtue bear to intellectual endowments a relation somewhat similar to that which light bears to vision; they are the graceful and appropriate media of their development. Any system of education, therefore, which does not include, as of pre-eminent importance, the culture of the moral affections, is essentially defective. But should not this department be left with the parent, or be assigned to the divine? Is the mere instinct to be charged with so delicate a task? Without wishing to lessen the responsibility of the two former in this matter, we still must insist on the teacher's duty, to keep this point in view in all the discipline which he may exercise, and the instructions which he may impart.

We cannot conceive of a well-regulated system of education which does not include it. Strenuous efforts have been made to separate the two departments; but experience will prove, if it has not already, that such is the mutual dependence of the moral and intellectual faculties, the latter cannot be properly developed, without a co-ordinate attention to the improvement of the former. Hence the instructor of youth should be a religious man; and the standard of piety and virtue should be the Bible.

What is woman's loveliest trait? Is it not a high sense of moral virtue? Is it not a character, chastened and purified by the influence of religion? There is more poetry than truth in the idea of innate perfection, even with respect to that sex, confessedly superior in natural grace and loveliness. Woman partakes of the sad inheritance of the fall. Once the companion of man in holiness, she is now his co-partner in sin and its dreadful consequences. Religion must therefore exert upon her its transforming effect, ere she is fitted to discharge fully the duties of her station. Her filial duties, her conjugal duties, her maternal duties, are all, in a very important sense, religious duties. They should be contemplated in the light of religion, and discharged, not simply from the promptings of natural instinct, but through holier motives. Where this is not the case, passion is very apt to supply the place of principle, and selfishness may become the only stimulus in her responsible vocation.

In Paradise, woman was the helpmeet and fit companion of man. The fitness was complete in moral, as well as mental and physical adaptation. The greatest loss which has accrued through sin, is the overthrow of that moral perfection which assimilated her to angels. Unless that loss be supplied by the grace of God, she must remain disqualified, in a very important sense, for the sphere to which she was originally appointed.

If, as the companion of unfallen man, her crowning excellence was holiness, is it less needful now, when there is so much in his rough and selfish nature that calls for her softening and chastening influence? Having originally proved the medium of moral delinquency to her partner in bliss, there is a moral propriety, it would seem, in her becoming now the instrument, under God, of leading him by example and by persuasion back to the "fountain of living waters."

The moral education of females, is, in one point of view, more important even than in the case of the other sex. We refer to the agency which they have in forming the character of future generations. The earliest impressions—the very germs of subsequent character—are given through female influence. National characteristics are traceable to the nursery. There, in its sequestered duties, toils and sacrifices, are we to look for the nation's future efficiency and glory; there are we to look for the material to improve our social and political state; and thence are we to derive the standard-bearers in the army of God. The world's redemption is intimately connected with female influence. Already a signal mark of this has been given in the exalted honor assigned to one of the sex, as a medium of introducing to our lost world "the mystery of godliness;" and from that period onward, woman seems destined, by her Christian virtues and energies, to indemnify, to some extent, the loss which her priority in sin brought upon the race.

How contemptible, in this view, is a merely fashionable education, in which the high attributes of woman's nature are overlooked, and the child of fortune is trained in merely graceful motions, and to flippant and heartless ceremonies! We have no patience with a system of education, which robs her of her legitimate influence, and makes her the plaything of a day. Without denying the importance of exterior polish, we yet place the moral education of females first and highest. This is the grade which divine wisdom has given it. It bears to every other adornment the relation which the central gem bears to the rest of the diadem.

Woman never has risen—never will rise to the region of her proper dignity without it. Insulated instances of unsullied virtue, of heroic patience, of a chaste simplicity, have been transmitted to us through the pages of the classic historian. But the infrequency of such examples, and the laudatory strains in which they are exhibited, only serve to show the general laxity of female morals, and the insufficiency of any motives, less powerful than Christianity furnishes, to elevate and perfect the character of the sex.

Where shall we look for the finest and most natural exhibitions of female character? Some would point us to the writings of Sir Walter Scott, or to the pages of his subsequent imitators. But we are not satisfied with these. The very perfection with which the novelist seeks to invests her, his heroine, deprives her of her naturalness—makes her evidently the creature of fancy, rather than the type of real existence.

But a still more important defect is the want of a moral basis for her virtues. The grace of God has little to do in the production of these heroines. Instinctive loveliness is all the religion which such writers seem to consider necessary. Poor human nature, with its deep under-current of evil, is dressed up in hypocritical garb, and presented to us as an angel of light.

How different are the moral portraits which the unerring pen of inspiration has sketched! If we would see the character of woman truly and faithfully drawn, with its weaknesses and its virtues—weaknesses the result of sin, and virtues the production of holiness—if we would see her as she is, as she ought to be, and as by divine grace she may become, we must resort to that book, whose sketches are based on deeper and more accurate views of human nature, than are to be found even in a Scott or in a Shakspeare.

The perfection with which the writers of romance seek to clothe their characters, without any reference to religion, is calculated, in several very important respects, to mislead the young and confiding heart. Human nature, by the fictitious impersonation, is more traduced than honored, whilst the necessity of religion to perfect the character is virtually denied. The contrasted reality seems actually worse than it would have seemed, but for the delusive impressions which had filled the imagination; whilst, in the view of many, characters so perfect in all the social relations are pronounced as fit for Heaven as for earth.

Human nature suffers, and religion suffers, by such fictitious representations. Though committed in the regions of fancy, the error is not so venial as many suppose: for the education of our youth—more especially that of young females—is influenced by the false coloring and indirect skepticism of this species of writing. The realities of life, and the duties of life, are so unlike that all that has been portrayed and presented, that domestic and household virtues are contemned, whilst the motives which should inspire and sustain them are neither felt nor appreciated.

Truth of every kind is lovely, and error of every kind is productive only of evil. But moral truth is more lovely than all; and whatever tends to obscure or to pervert, or to annihilate it—whether the malign influence operate through the reason or the imagination—strikes a blow at the dearest interests of our individual and social being.

As the companion and helpmeet of man, in a world like this, where there is so much of sympathy under trials and encouragement under difficulties; where woman's province is to strengthen man's purpose of good, and to repress his tendencies to evil; where she is a ministering, rather than a governing spirit; where affection should always be under the control of principle; in such circumstances, who will not see and admit the necessity of a thorough moral education? Compared with it, all other adornments are but as the chaff to the wheat. They who seek in female education nothing more than exterior accomplishments; those things which captivate, but will not endure; which are more calculated to draw together superficial admirers than to awaken and secure the interest of virtuous minds; inflict an injury upon the sex and upon society, more serious and lasting than is generally apprehended. The ulterior view, it may be supposed, with young females and their natural guardians, is an honorable connection in life; and the prospect from such connection of at least an ordinary amount of happiness. But if the lighter accomplishments are the only, or the principal, education bestowed upon them—whilst the moral training is overlooked—how, in the very nature of things, can such hopes be realized?

How little companionship can the man of sense find in a wife thus superficially educated; and how strongly tempted he would be, under such circumstances, to seek society elsewhere than at his own fireside. In perplexity and trouble also—circumstances as common, surely, as an unanxious and prosperous state—of what value would be the opinion, even if sought, of such a mind? How slender a basis for mutual sympathy would exist! But the woman of mere external accomplishments may be still more unfortunate. She may find herself linked to one destitute of moral principle; whose admiration soon changes into indifference, and whose respect—a feeling not to be despised even in so intimate a relation—she has not the power of securing.

As to the education of children—especially their moral training—what unsuitable hands are hers to conduct a business of such vast moment!

There is reason to believe that no small amount of domestic infelicity may be traced to the defective moral education of females. Self control and self-sacrifice are principles which enter very sparingly, we fear, into the education of young ladies. And yet, on the exercise of these principles, more than on anything else, depend the realization and security of domestic bliss. For the want of these, learning, even, is no equivalent; and brilliant accomplishments, without them, are like the verdure on the sides of a volcano, which a man might be willing to admire, but among which it would be perilous to take up his abode.

The idea, then, of a thorough moral education, based on Christian principles, should never be lost sight of, either by parents or instructors. Other things may be useful and important; but, in relation to domestic life and the general interests of society, this is indispensable.—J. B. Waterbury.

Reports from the Field.

By J. G. Matteson

Christiania, Norway.

THE Lord has been very good to us. Our children and fellow-laborers have arrived from America. They have had a very pleasant journey, and are all well. They took passage in the steerage, and boarded themselves during their stay in New York and England, where they had to wait for the steamers, thus reducing expenses in every possible way, so that the entire cost for nine persons, with extra baggage and a large box of books, amounted to only $402.50. Through the influence of Bro. Boynton, in New York, they obtained a separate room in the steamer, and received very kind attention, during the voyage.

The night when they were expected, my wife and self could not retire to sleep. About 12 o'clock we went to the harbor to look for them. (It is light here all night.) After a while we saw more than twenty of our friends also promenading and watching. We waited till six in the morning,—then we had a happy meeting. It was really touching to see the dear little souls who for more than two years had been separated from father and mother, and tried the life of orphans.

We are truly thankful to the dear friends who so kindly have cared for them in our absence. But one was missing. Our oldest child did not come. She tarried behind. I bade her good-bye in America, but did not welcome her in Norway. Oh, what a loss! I miss her very much. And nothing can make up for this loss but the blessed hope. The Lifegiver will bring her with the many other dear friends who slumber silently in the cold, cold grave. Hail, happy day, that shall change our loss into gain, and our sorrows into everlasting joy!

The cause is onward in this place. Forty-two persons have now been baptized, and fifty-eight have united in church fellowship. There are more than a hundred besides these who are in harmony with us. We have preaching twice every Sunday, and on Wednesday evening and Sabbath forenoon. Nearly one hundred persons attended meeting on the Sabbath, and more than four hundred on Sunday. Last Sabbath afternoon we administered the ordinances. About fifty-eight brethren and sisters took part, and as many more were present and enjoyed the presence of the Lord with us.

Bro. Jasperson has gone to northern Jutland, Denmark, to labor five or six weeks. The truth is gaining ground there under Bro. Brorsen's labors. Several have commenced to keep the Sabbath, and some have been baptized. Pray for us, that God may sustain this work and save many souls.

July 11, 1879. J. G. MATTESON.

Toledo, Benton Co., Oregon.

By Alonzo T. Jones

Meetings began here July 20; to this time have given twenty discourses. The attendance has not been large, as there are not many people in the neighborhood, and all live on Yaquina Bay, and many of them on the sloughs, where they can get out only at high tide. As high tide and the time of meeting do not often come together, the attendance of such is very uncertain.

A few were keeping the Sabbath here before the meetings, and three others have taken their stand firmly upon the truth. Sabbath, Aug. 2, was a blessed day to us here. Seventeen were at the meeting, ten of whom signed the covenant. We had an excellent social meeting. One brother walked twenty-six miles on Friday to be at the meetings, and he said he was richly paid.

Aug. 5, 1879. Alonzo T. Jones.

Union Point, Missouri.

By J. G. Wood

WE commenced meetings with this church Friday evening, Aug. 1, and continued till Sunday evening, holding in all six meetings. Thirteen took their stand to keep all the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. On Sunday we repaired to the water, where they followed their Lord in baptism. It was a solemn and impressive occasion. With the exception of two adults, these are children and youth of Sabbath-keeping parents. This fruit is in a great degree traceable to faithful labors in their Sabbath-school. Let others take courage.

J. G. WOOD.

Maple Works, Wis.

By H. W. Decker

Our meeting at Maple Works, July 26 and 27, was very encouraging. The house was well filled with Sabbath-keepers. Three loads came from six miles west of Neillsville, where Bro. Snow is holding a tent-meeting. These were all new in the faith, and it was a matter of rejoicing to hear their testimonies and witness their joy in receiving the truth. I have seldom enjoyed a better meeting than this.

Monday, the 28th, I visited Bro. Snow's tent, and in the evening reviewed a discourse preached in opposition to us by a Methodist presiding elder. The next day I baptized thirteen who had accepted the truth as a result of the tent effort. A good work is being done here. Eighteen have embraced the truth, and the interest is still good.

Aug. 5. H. W. Decker.

Neillsville, Wis.

By T. B. Snow, C. Holmes

WE closed our meetings here last evening. Sixteen have signed the covenant, and three others are keeping the Sabbath.

T. B. Snow, C. Holmes

Aug. 14, 1879.

Palmyra, Mich.

By J. I. Collins; B. F. Richards

We have given fifty-four discourses, and still the interest remains good. About twenty-five have decided to keep all of God's commandments. We hope to see others join them soon.

J. I. COLLINS, B. F. RICHARDS. Aug. 4, 1879.

Mankato, Minn.

By W. B. Hill, L. H. Ells.

WE have been here five weeks, and have given about fifty discourses. The stay-away argument has been used, in consequence of which our audiences have been small. Those who have attended have given good attention to the word spoken, and twelve have decided to obey. W. B. Hill, L. H. Ells. Aug. 7.

Sioux City, Dakota.

By S. B. Whitney

WE are having some success. The harvest season has reduced our congregations materially, but ten or twelve have already decided to keep the Sabbath, and we hope for others. Have had two good Sabbath meetings, and last Sabbath a Sabbath-school in connection.

Aug. 4, 1879. S. B. Whitney.

South Rutland, New York.

By M. H. Brown; C. C. Lewis

The interest here is still excellent. Several have commenced to keep the Sabbath, and many others are very favorable.

M. H. BROWN,

Aug. 5. C. C. LEWIS.

Secular News.

By Editor

There is a famine in Siberia.

The famine is sore in Jerusalem.

The cholera prevails in Cabul, Asia.

Trouble is brewing between Spain and Morocco.

The yellow fever is raging with great violence at Tampico.

The fire in Serajevo was not yet extinct, Aug. 13.

The Colorado potato beetle has made its appearance in Ireland.

The daughter of Gen. Grant, Nellie Sartoris, died in London, Aug. 15.

Another storm, Aug. 13, damaged the crops in the midland counties of England.

The Rocky Mountain grasshopper is working through Nevada towards California.

For the first time rust has appeared on the Spring wheat in the Willamette Valley, Oregon.

A quite severe earthquake occurred in Wieliczka, Austria. A row of houses split in several places.

The yellow fever is rapidly increasing in violence, and spreading. The alarm is reaching northern ports.

The iron business is brisk in all parts of the country. Business is assuming a healthy and prosperous look.

Tremont Temple, Boston, was destroyed by fire, Aug. 14. Loss about $120,000. Several firemen were injured.

Where farm laborers were much needed in New York, the tramps were numerous, lazy, and saucy. Gov. Robinson vetoed a tramp law.

Much damage to crops in Lancashire and Cheshire has been caused by the overflow of the Mersey. The disaster involved some loss of life.

The Mormon leaders are inciting the people to deeds of violence by the most treasonable utterances against the authority of the nation.

An English steamer collided with the Spanish steamer Corona, off Finisterre, Aug. 10. The Spanish vessel sunk, and 14 lives were lost.

A report from Calcutta of August 6th says there have been seventy-five cases of cholera among the Europeans at Candahar, sixty being fatal.

There is an increasing coldness between Russia and Germany. The St. Petersburg papers are severe in their denunciations of Germany.

A conference representing 200,000 miners has been held in Manchester, England. A resolution was passed favoring emigration to the United States.

In San Francisco thirty-six patients were committed to the insane asylum in July; a larger number than in any other month in the history of the city.

A disease akin to cholera is now ravaging some parts of Linn county, Iowa. Twenty persons died in a few days at Center Point, and as many more were prostrated.

Two young ladies recently committed suicide in Chicago, commenting on which the Boston Journal says, it was an "appropriate end for lives so empty and profitless."

The steamer Semiramide, from Boston to Liverpool, with a full load of corn and provisions, collided off Fastnet with the Corsica, and went down. She was an iron vessel; the crew was saved.

A great scandal has sprung up between Senator Conkling and the family of Governor Sprague. Perhaps the truth is not yet known, but it will probably crush the political hopes of the Senator.

A water spout passed through Bonnetouche, says a Toronto dispatch of Aug. 11, destroying eighty houses, and much other property. Many persons were injured, and three lives lost.

Forrest, the English Consul at Tientsin, in China, the deaths from starvation and want reached the enormous total of about nine millions and a half.

A party from Binghamton, N. Y., were out with two steam yachts on the St. Lawrence; from gross carelessness, one of them was sunk, many being drawn down with her. Five ladies were drowned.

Secretary Evarts has procured, by our Consuls, labor statistics from abroad, from which it appears that American laborers get better wages than those in other countries, and money here has a greater producing value.

Another destructive storm passed over central Wisconsin, the night of Aug. 11. Two pleasure steamers were wrecked on Lake Monona, at Madison. Both were filled with passengers, but they drifted ashore, and no lives were lost.

On the morning of Aug. 15, lightning struck an iron tank at Parker, Pa., containing 18,000 barrels of oil, tearing it in pieces. The burning oil flowed down the hillside, by which another tank, oil wells, and five dwellings were destroyed.

Quebec has been the scene of bloody riots. It amounted to a war of races—the French against the Irish. Nearly 3,000 men on each side were armed as well as they could arm. The night of the 15th the city was entirely in the hands of the mob.

Since "no license" has prevailed in Norwich, Conn., arrests for drunkenness have fallen off in five months from 161 to 58, and commitments for crime from 127 to 37. But "temperance reformers" say it will not do—"you cannot make men good by law."

Babbitt, of New York, the noted soap manufacturer, has been prosecuted by the government for defrauding the revenue. E. J. Baldwin, the capitalist of San Francisco, has been arrested for the same offense, charged against his distillery in Los Angeles county.

A London Times Geneva dispatch reports that a waterspout recently occurred in the district of Brusio, in the canton of the Grisons, Switzerland. An immense volume of water rushed down the sides of Piz di Saint Remigio, bringing with it masses of rock and earth, and overflowed and flooded Brusio. No lives were lost, but many buildings were damaged and the crops were ruined.

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