“I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death.” Hosea 13:14.
In Watsonville, Cal., Feb. 22, of typhoid fever, John Oscar, eldest son of S. B. and E. W. Bresee, aged 19 years and 19 days. Funeral discourse by Elder Porter (Christian), from Job, 14:14.
S. B. Bresee.
Business Department.
“Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully,” (margin, negligently). Jer. 48 : 10.
Received for the Signs.
$15.00 10 COPIES EACH. A. H. Hall 3-8, Henry Hilbert 3-8.
$9.00 6 COPIES EACH. Ann Eliza Eels 3-8.
$7.50 5 COPIES EACH. Eld Jacob Wilbur 3-8, J R Israel 3-15, G H Murphy 3-16.
$4.50 3 COPIES EACH. Lorinda Hutchinson 3-8, Lyman Tupper 3-8, S L Reddington 3-8, J E Cowin 3-16.
$3.00 EACH. E M Lewis 2 copies 3-8, Seth Eels 2 copies 3-8, Wilson Pottenger 3-8, A L Pottenger 3-8, Albert Stone 3-8, Sally Owens 3-6, F Kundert 3-25, John Havestron 3-9, H G Milligan 3-1.
$2.00 EACH. W L Church 3-16, L Myers 3-16.
1.50 EACH. Sewart Taylor 3-8, David Rutherford 3-8, Mrs H Keer 3-8, Geo L Smith 3-8, Samuel Cox 3-12, Mrs R McCrumb 3-12, J Reinle 3-15, A M Carter 3-8, Emeline Perrern 3-15, S A White 3-8, Mrs Henry Fountain 3-8, C D Eels 3-8, Geo Brown 3-8, Mrs Geo Brown 3-8, Arden Eels 3-8, Matilda Grossman 3-8, Biden Blanding 3-8, Wm Tupper 3-8, Mrs Almeron Pearl 3-8, Mrs Anthony Dinsdale 3-8, Wm H Fox 3-8, Willard Eels 3-8, Loren Barber 3-8, Milo Weston 3-8, Peeler 3-8, Ansel S Kelsey 3-8, Burton S Blanding 3-8, Mrs M P Moorhead 3-8, A W Scott 3-8, J W Sutherland 3-8, N G Evans 3-8, Elizabeth Fisher 3-8, Elvina Gembesling 3-8, Mrs Allen Fitch 3-8, C W Freese 3-8, P F Cavalier 3-8, S Stearns 3-8, Milton Kinney 3-8, Albert Miller 3-8, I McWilliams 3-6, J W Stillman 3-8, D M Coon 3-8, Joseph William 3-8, Dr G Miller 3-1, Mrs D S Lake 3-16, Mary Haskell 3-6, Emma Rackliff 3-16, James Kitchen 3-8, James Heath 3-8, J W Lippincott 3-16, John H Redstone 3-16, W M Glenn 3-1, A Z Armour 3-16, J M Lewis 3-8, Wallace Pierce 3-8, G W Holt 3-8, David Church 3-8, Isaac Fuller 3-8, Philemon Fuller 3-8, D H White 3-8, Mrs Lizzie Walker 3-16, J Bartels 3-16, Orange Weston 3-8.
$1.00 EACH. D W Bartholomew 2-16, E Newman 3-16.
MISCELLANEOUS. J W McGeaghan 50c 2-20, M Eugenia McKee 25c.
California Publishing Fund.
Mrs. T. N. Willis $80.00.
A Spiritualistic Exposure.
There has been another exposure of Spiritualism in Memphis at one of Mrs. Miller's séances. The Appeal says: “Dr. Watson asked the spirit to come out on the platform, take a chair, and make itself sociable, or words to that effect. The spirit hesitated a little but finally came out from the curtain and advanced to take a seat in the chair, when, at a given signal, two of the young men rushed upon the stage, seized the white object around the waist, while another one of the party, armed with a tin box filled with cotton and turpentine, sprung a bright light which revealed to the astonished gaze of every one present Mrs. Miller, with her top dress turned over her head so as to expose her white, spiritual apparel, in which condition she was held by the young man, while she was making desperate efforts to ‘pull down her dress,’ and at the same time shove her wrists into the cords which had confined them together. It appears that Mrs. Miller, who invariably wears a dark-colored overdress when making her spiritual displays, raises these top-skirts above her head, displaying in the dim light the white outline of the figure which she has palmed off on a few—and we venture to say only a few—as the materialized spirit of an adult, or, by lowering the dark skirts a little, that of the child to which Dr. Watson has so often referred as prima facie evidence that Mrs. Miller could not possibly personate them. She called out lustily for Mr. Miller to put her tormentors out, but they had not come there to be put out, and refused to submit to the delicate operation, at least by Mr. Miller or his associates in the fraud.”
Stockholders' Meeting.
By James White; John Norton Loughborough; Wesley Diggins; John I. Tay; C. R. Chittenden
The first annual meeting of the stockholders of the Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association will be held at the Office of the Signs of the Times, on Castro street, between Eleventh and Twelfth, Oakland, Tuesday, April 4, 1876, at 10 A. M.; for the purpose of electing a Board of five Directors, and transacting any other business that may come before the meeting, as provided in our By-laws.
JAMES WHITE,
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH,
WESLEY DIGGINS,
JOHN I. TAY,
C. R. CHITTENDEN,
Board
of
Directors.
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH
By John Norton Loughborough
Oakland.
SABBATH and First-day, March 11 and 12, were good days for the church in Oakland. Sabbath morning Sr. White gave a powerful and impressive discourse from words of Christ to Nicodemus. John 3. This was followed by a spirited social meeting, and we have now had several meetings of inquiry, self-examination, and confession. These meetings are to be continued each evening this week. We want to see a coming up, and a revival of the work of God in Oakland.
On Sunday evening, after the close of the religious meeting, five Trustees were elected, who are completing a legal organization in order to hold church property. We must have a house of worship in Oakland.
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH
San Francisco.
By J. H. Waggoner
SABBATH and First-day, March 11 and 12, I preached in San Francisco. There is still some interest manifested to hear by members of other churches. There seems to be also an increasing interest on the part of the brethren and sisters. They are realizing to some extent that they must get deeper into the work before the cause can be materially advanced in that city. Wrongs must be righted and stumbling-blocks removed, and then they may expect that Israel’s God will go before them and lead them on to victory.
J. H. WAGGONER.
Liquor Selling vs. Christianity.
“Is keeping a liquor saloon incompatible with leading a Christian life? Should such an one be admitted to the church?”
Is it compatible with a Christian life, then—with a life of unselfish devotion like that of Christ—that one should get money by selling poison to satisfy the cravings of a diseased appetite in one's neighbors? Is it consistent with a Christian life that one should peddle small-pox, and retail scarlet fever, and wholesale hydrophobia to foolish boys and half-insane men?
“Yes, it is indeed quite compatible with the Golden Rule and Christian love, and my stewardship of God's talents that I should sell the peace of families, break mothers' hearts by brutalizing their boys, send my neighbor's husband home to her frantically insane, and build my fortune by trying to destroy whatever good lies in my way! Is it not legitimate trade, and a branch of industry that gives employment to a great many people? Nobody is obliged to drink unless he wants to.”
We call attention to the article above taken from the Christian Union, of Feb. 9th, and ask every reader whether the ground taken by the Union is not right? How can a man honor God and bless men by a business that destroys men, soul and body? There is not a vice that the drinking habit does not stimulate, nor a vice that it does not beckon. No man from love to his neighbor sells him intoxicating beverages. Selfishness only prompts this, and it so contrasts with the Christian that none but those without reason and conscience can do it.—Ex.
Eternal Torment.
Why the God of mercy and justice should consign poor sinners to an endless life in an eternally burning hell, as a punishment for the sins committed during a few short years in this life, is a great mystery to many minds, and we might say one great cause of so much infidelity in the land. The following lines by Ralph Erskine, describing the perpetuity of the sinners' sufferings according to popular theology, are very comprehensive:
“Infinite years in torments shall I spend,
And never, never, never, have an end?
Ah! must I live in torturing despair
As many years as atoms in the air?
When these are spent, as many thousands more
As grains of sand that crowd the ebbing shore.
When these are done, as many yet behind
As leaves of forest shaken with the wind.
When these are gone, as many to ensue
As blades of grass on hills and dales that grew.
When these run out, as many on the march
As starry lamps that gild the spangled arch.
When these expire, as many millions more
As moments in the millions passed before.
When all these doleful years are spent in pain,
And multiplied by myriads yet again
Till numbers drown the thought, could I suppose
That then my wretched years would have a close,
This would afford some ease; but oh! I shiver,
To think upon the dreadful sound for EVER;
The burning gulf where I blaspheming lie
Is time no more, but vast eternity.”
Who that reads these lines can truly believe that they justly represent the God of love? How much more in harmony with the infinite mercy of the divine nature would be the belief that sinners, after receiving their just amount of punishment, will be utterly destroyed and the remembrance of them cut off from the earth. Why not believe the Bible when it says that all they who “do wickedly shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch,” or, as expressed in Obadiah, that “they shall be as though they had not been”?
Oakland, Cal
By Editor
TESTIMONY TO THE CHURCH, No. 26, and an Appeal from the General Conference Committee, of 48 pages, upon the Dangers and Duties of our Time, will be mailed to persons in our larger churches without waiting for their orders. The cost of printing, mailing, and postage on these, including Fast-day Address, is about $1,400. Churches and other individuals who receive these books, are urgently invited to forward their donations to this Office to meet this expense. We shall mail these books to scattered individuals as fast as the books can be finished, and we find time to mail them.
Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES,
Oakland, Cal
Blank Receipt Books for Canvassers
By James White
We have prepared Blank Receipt Books to be used by canvassers for the SIGNS. The Blank is to be filled out for the subscriber on the receipt of money, and the same duplicated on the stub retained in the book. Each subscriber has a receipt, and the canvasser has a complete record of his work. This book is very important to all who canvass for the SIGNS, and will be forwarded free, post-paid, to all who order it. J. W.
Missionary District Blanks
By John Norton Loughborough
NOTE.—If any of the missionary districts lack blanks, let their secretary write to J. N. Loughborough, Oakland, Cal., and get a supply.
J. N. L.
Remitting to the Office
By Editor
The best way our eastern patrons can remit to this Office is by Money Orders, payable to SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
State Quarterly Meeting
By John Nevins Loughborough; Lucie Bush
Appointments.
State Quarterly Meeting.
The second Cal. State Quarterly Meeting of this fiscal year will be held with district No. 9, in San Francisco, Sabbath and First-day, April 1 and 2.
This will be an important meeting, as we now design, immediately after it, to enter upon our summer’s tent campaign. We hope to see a full attendance of the directors at this State quarterly meeting.
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH, Pres.
LUCIE BUSH, Secretary.
District Quarterly Meetings.
By John Norton Loughborough; Lucie Bush
The district quarterly meetings of Cal., for the second quarter of this fiscal year, will be held as follows:—
District No. 1.—At Petaluma, March 18 and 19.
District No. 3.—At Napa, March 25 and 26. The elders elect of the St. Helena church are to be ordained at this meeting.
District No. 4.—At Bear Valley, March 18 and 19. As Bro. John Judson, director, shall arrange.
District No. 5.—At Woodland, March 18 and 19.
District No. 6.—At Healey Ranch, near Red Bluff, Tehama Co., March 18 and 19.
District No. 7.—At Oakland, March 25 and 26.
District No. 8.—At Gilroy, March 18 and 19.
District No. 9.—At San Francisco, in connection with the State quarterly meeting, April 1 and 2.
The librarians in each church should see that blanks for quarterly reports are placed in the hands of all their missionary members, in season to be filled out and returned to the librarian by the Sabbath before your district quarterly meeting.
Immediately after the close of each district quarterly meeting the district secretary should forward to the State Secretary, Sister Lucie Bush, Woodland, Cal., a report of the working of your district for the quarter. The report should state how many missionary members there are in your district, and how many reported.
J. N. Loughborough, Pres.
Lucie Bush, Secretary.
Books, Pamphlets, Tracts, etc., etc.
By Editor
For Sale at this Office.
OUR BOOK LIST.—Any persons on the Pacific Coast wishing any of the publications named in our book list can obtain them by mail or express by writing to the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, California, enclosing the published price of the same. When sent by mail, books will be post paid; when by express, at the expense of the one ordering the books; but in this case a liberal discount will be made when ten dollars worth or more are paid for with any one order.
PUBLICATIONS.
Prices in Coin.
Cruden’s Complete Concordance. In this any passage in the Scriptures can readily be found. $1.50 per copy, post. paid.
Bible Dictionary of Bible names, customs and countries, and maps of Bible lands. $1.50 per copy, post. paid.
The History of the Sabbath and First Day of the Week, by J. N. Andrews. 528 pp. $1 25.
Thoughts on Daniel. By U. Smith. $1.00. Condensed paper edition, 35 cts.
Thoughts on the Revelation. By U. Smith. $1.00.
Life of Wm. Miller, with likeness. $1.00.
The Nature and Destiny of Man. By U. Smith. 384 pp. $1.00. Paper, 40 cts.
The Constitutional Amendment: or The Sunday, The Sabbath, The Change, and The Restitution. A discussion between W. H. Littlejohn and the Editor of the “Christian Statesman.” Bound, $1.00. Paper, 40 cts. First part, 10 cts.
The Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. I. By Ellen G. White; 416 pp. $1.00.
Autobiography of Eld. Jos. Bates. 318 pp. $1.
Hygienic Family Physician. $1.00.
The Game of Life (illustrated). Satan playing with man for his soul. In board, 50 cts.; in paper, 30 cts.
Hymns and Spiritual Songs for Camp Meetings and other Religious Gatherings. Compiled by Elder James White. 196 pp. Bound 50 cts. Paper 25.
The United States in Prophecy. By U. Smith. Bound, 40 cts. Paper, 20 cts.
A Word for the Sabbath : or False Theories Exposed. (POEM.) By Uriah Smith. Muslin, 40 cts.
The Advent Keepsake. Muslin, 25 cts. Gilt, 40 cts.
Sermons on the Sabbath and Law, embracing an outline of the Biblical and Secular History of the Sabbath for 6,000 years. By J. N. Andrews, 25 cts.
Facts for the Times, revised and enlarged, 25c.
History of the Doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul. By D. M. Canright, 25 cts.
The State of the Dead. By U. Smith. 224 pp. 25 cts.
Our Faith and Hope. Sermons on the Millennium, Second Advent, the Kingdom, the Judgment, the Time, the Sanctuary and Saving Faith. 20 cts.
Refutation of the Age to Come. By J. H. Waggoner. 20 cts.
The Bible from Heaven; a Dissertation. 20 cts.
The Atonement. By J. H. Waggoner. 20 cts.
The Nature and Tendency of Modern Spiritualism. By J. H. Waggoner. 20 cts.
Miraculous Powers. Evidences, Scriptural and historical of the perpetuity of Spiritual Gifts. 20c.
The Complete Testimony of the Fathers concerning the Sabbath and First Day. By J. N. Andrews. 15 cts.
The Ministration of Angels : and the Origin, History, and Destiny of Satan. By D. M. Canright. 20 cts.
The Three Messages of Rev. 14, and the Two-Horned Beast. By J. N. Andrews. 15 cts.
The Morality of the Sabbath. By D. M. Canright. 15 cts.
The Resurrection of the Unjust; a Vindication of the Doctrine. By J. H. Waggoner. 15 cts.
Redemption, or the Temptation of Christ in the Wilderness (Life of Christ, No. 2). By Mrs E. G. White. 15 cts.
The Destiny of the Wicked. By U. Smith. 15 cts.
The Saint’s Inheritance, or the Earth made New. By J. N. Loughborough. 10 cts.
The Sanctuary and Twenty-three Hundred Days. By J. N. Andrews. 10 cts.
Sunday Seventh-day. A Refutation of Mede, Jennings, Akers and Fuller. By J. N. Andrews. 10 cts.
The Truth Found; The Sabbath. By J. H. Waggoner. 10 cts.
Brown’s Review of Gilfillan on the Sabbath. 10 cts.
Vindication of the True Sabbath. Morton 10 cts.
The Date of the Seventy Weeks of Dan. 9, established. By J. N. Andrews. 10 cts.
Position and Work of the True People of God under the Third Angel’s Message. Littlejohn. 10 cts.
The Hope of the Gospel: What it is, and when it will be consummated. By J. N. Loughborough, 80 pp. 10 cts.
Four-cent Tracts : The Second Advent.—The Seventh Part of Time—Celestial Railroad—Samuel and the Witch of Endor—The Ten Commandments not Abolished—Address to the Baptists—The Present Truth—The Sufferings of Christ.
Three-cent Tracts : Much in Little—The Lost Time Question—Spiritualism a Satanic Delusion—Infidel Cavils Considered—The End of the Wicked—Scripture References—Who Changed the Sabbath?
Two-cent Tracts : Definite Seventh Day—Seven Reasons for Sunday-Keeping Examined—Sabbath by Elihu—The Rich Man and Lazarus—Argument on Sabbath—The Millennium—Departing and Being with Christ—Fundamental Principles of S. D. Adventists.
One-cent Tracts : Appeal on Immortality—Thoughts for the Candid—Sign of the Day of God—The Two Laws—The Perfection of the Ten Commandments—Coming of the Lord—Without Excuse—Which Day, and God’s Answers.