Signs of the Times, Vol. 5, No. 37. (10/2/1879)

Signs of the Times

Oct 2, 1879

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Oct 2, 1879

General Articles.

By Ellen G. White

Tithes and Offerings.

By Mrs. E. G. White.

The foundation of the plan of salvation was laid in a sacrifice. Jesus left the royal courts, and became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich. All who will finally share this salvation, purchased for them by such an infinite sacrifice by the Son of God, will follow the example of the true pattern. Jesus Christ was the chief corner stone, and we must build upon this foundation. Each must have a spirit of self-denial and self-sacrifice. The life of Christ upon earth was unselfish, marked with humiliation and sacrifice. And shall men, partakers of the great salvation which Jesus came from Heaven to bring them, refuse to follow their Lord, and to share in his self-denial and sacrifice? Says Christ, "I am the vine, ye are the branches. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away. And every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit." The very vital principle, the sap, which flows through the vine, nourishes the branches, that they may flourish and bear fruit. Is the servant greater than his Lord? Shall the world's Redeemer practice self-denial and sacrifice on our account, and the members of Christ's body practice self-indulgence? Self-denial is an essential condition of discipleship. "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." I lead the way in the path of self-denial. I require nothing of you my followers but that of which I your Lord give you an example in my own life.

The Saviour of the world conquered Satan in the wilderness of temptation. He overcame to show man how he may overcome. He announced in the synagogue of Nazareth, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." The great work which Jesus announced that he came to do was intrusted to his followers upon the earth. Christ as our head led out in the great work of salvation, and bids us follow his example. He has given us a world-wide message. This truth must be extended to all nations, tongues, and people. Satan's power was to be contested, and he was to be overcome by Christ and also by his followers.

An extensive war was to be maintained against the powers of darkness. And in order to do this work successfully, means were required. God does not propose to send means direct from Heaven, but he gives into the hands of his followers talents of means to use for the very purpose of sustaining this warfare. He has given his people a plan for raising sums sufficient to make the enterprise self-sustaining. God's plan in the tithing system is beautiful in its simplicity and equality. All may take hold of it in faith and courage, for it is divine in its origin. Here are simplicity and utility combined, which it requires not depth of learning to understand and execute. All may feel that they can act a part in carrying forward the precious work of salvation. Every man, and woman, and youth, may become a treasurer for the Lord. They may be agents to meet the demands upon the treasury. Says the apostle, "Let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him."

Great objects are accomplished by this system; for if one and all accept it, each is made a vigilant and faithful treasurer for God; and there will be no want of means to carry forward the great work of sounding the last message of warning to the world. The treasure will be full if all adopt this system, and the contributors will not be left the poorer. Through every investment made, they will become more wedded to the cause of present truth. They will be "laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life." As the persevering, systematic workers see that the tendency of their benevolent efforts is to nourish love to God and their fellow-men, and that their personal efforts are extending their sphere of usefulness, they will realize that it is a great blessing to be coworkers with Jesus Christ. The Christian church as a general thing are disowning the claims of God upon them to give alms of the things which they possess to support the warfare against the moral darkness which is flooding the world. Never can the work of God advance as it should until the followers of Christ become active, zealous workers. Every individual of the church should feel that the truth which he professes is a reality, and he should be a disinterested worker. Some rich men feel like murmuring because the work of God is extending, and there is a demand for money. They say there is no end of the calls for means. One object another is continually rising demanding help. We would say to such that we hope the cause of God will so extend that there will be greater occasions, and more frequent and urgent calls for supplies from the treasury to prosecute the work. If the plan of tithing was fully adopted, and carried out to a man, there would be a constant supply in the treasury. The income would flow in like a steady stream constantly supplied by overflowing springs of benevolence. Almsgiving is a part of gospel religion. Does not the consideration of the infinite price paid for our redemption leave upon us solemn obligations pecuniarily, as well as lay claim upon all our power to be devoted to the work of the Master? We shall have a debt to settle with the Master by-and-by, when he shall say, "Give an account of thy stewardship." If men prefer to set aside the claims of God, and grasp and selfishly retain all that he gives them, he will hold his peace at present, and continue frequently to test them by increasing his bounties, and these men pass on receiving honor of men, and without censure in the church, but by-and-by he will say, "Give an account of thy stewardship." Says Christ, "Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me." "Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price," and are under obligation to glorify God with your means as well as in your body, and in your spirit, which are his. "We are bought with a price," not "with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ." He asks the return of the gifts, he has intrusted to us, to aid in the salvation of souls. He has given his blood; he asks our silver. It is through his poverty that we are made rich, and yet, will we refuse to give back to him his own gifts? God is not dependent upon man for the support of his cause. He could have sent means direct from Heaven to supply his treasury, if his providence had seen that this was the best for man. He might have devised means whereby angels would have been sent to publish the truth to the world out the agency of men. He might have written the truth upon the heavens, and let that declare to the world his requirements in living characters. God is not dependent upon any man's gold or silver. He says, "Every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof." Whatever necessity there is for our agency in the advancement of the cause of God, he has purposely arranged for our good. He has honored us by making us co-workers with him. He has ordained that there should be a necessity for the co-operation of men, that they may keep in exercise their benevolent affections. God has, in his wise providence, placed the poor always with us, that while we shall witness the various forms of suffering and of necessity in the world, we should be tested and proved, and brought into positions to develop Christian character. The poor, God has placed among us to call out from us Christian sympathy and love. Sinners, who are perishing for lack of knowledge, must be left in ignorance and darkness, unless men shall carry to them the light of truth. God will not send angels from Heaven to do the work which he has left for man. He has given all a work to do, for the very reason that he might prove them, and that they might reveal their true character. Christ identifies himself with suffering humanity in the persons of the suffering children of men. He makes their necessities his own, and takes to his bosom the woes of the children of men. The moral darkness of a ruined world pleads to Christian men and women to put forth individual effort, to give of their means and of their influence, that they may be assimilated into the image of Him who, though he possessed infinite riches, yet for our sakes became poor. The Spirit of God cannot abide with those to whom he has sent the message of his truth, who need to be urged before they can have any sense of their duty to co-workers with Christ. The apostle enforces the duty of giving from higher grounds than merely human sympathy, because the feelings are moved. He enforces the principle that we should labor unselfishly with an eye single to the glory of God. Christians are required by the Scriptures to enter upon a plan of active benevolence which will keep in constant exercise an interest in the salvation of their fellow-men. The moral law enjoined the observance of the Sabbath which was not a burden, except when that law was transgressed, and they were bound by the penalties involved in breaking it. The tithing system was no burden to those who did not depart from the plan. The system enjoined upon the Hebrews has not been repealed or relaxed by the One who originated this plan. Far from its being of no force now, it was to be more fully carried out and more extended, as salvation through Christ alone should be more fully brought to light in the Christian age. Jesus made known to the lawyer that the condition of his having eternal life was to carry out in his life the special requirement of the law which consisted in his loving God with all his heart and all his soul, and all his mind and all strength, and his neighbor as himself. When the typical sacrifices ceased at the death of Christ, the original law, engraved in tables of stone, stood immutable, holding its claims upon man in all ages. And in the Christian age the duty of man was not limited, but more especially defined and simply expressed. The gospel, extending and widening, required greater provisions to sustain the warfare since the death of Christ, and this made the law of alms-giving a more urgent necessity than the Hebrew government. Now God requires, not less gifts, but greater than at any other period of the world. The principle laid down by Christ is that the gifts and offerings should be in proportion to the light and blessings enjoyed. He has said, "For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required." The blessings of the Christian age were responded to by the first disciples in works of charity and benevolence. The outpouring of the Spirit of God, after Christ left his disciples and ascended to Heaven, led to self-denial and self-sacrifice for the salvation of others. When the poor saints at Jerusalem were in distress, Paul writes to the Gentile Christians in regard to works of benevolence, and says, "Therefore, as ye abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all dilligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also." Here benevolence is placed by the side of faith, love, and Christian diligence. Those who think that they can be good Christians, and close their ears and hearts to the calls of God for their liberalities, are in a fearful deception. There are those who abound in a profession of great love for the truth, and as far as words are concerned, have an interest to see the truth advanced, but do nothing for its advancement. The faith of such is dead, not being made perfect by works. The Lord never made such a mistake as to convert a soul and leave it under the power of covetousness. The tithing system reaches back beyond the days of Moses. Men were required to offer to God gifts for religious purposes, before the definite system was given to Moses, even as far back as the days of Adam. In complying with God's requirements they were to manifest in offerings their appreciation of his mercies and blessing to them. This was continued through successive generations, and was carried out by Abraham who gave tithes to Melchisedek, the priest of the most high God. The same principle existed in the days of Job. Jacob, when at Bethel an exile and penniless wanderer, lay down at night solitary and alone with a rock for his pillow, and there promised the Lord, "Of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee." God does not compel men to give. All that they give must be voluntary. He will not have his treasury replenished with unwilling offerings. God designed to bring man into close relationship with himself, and in sympathy and love with his fellow-men, by placing upon him responsibilities in deeds that would counteract selfishness, and strengthen his love for God and man. The plan of system in benevolence, God designed for the good of man who was inclined to be selfish, and to close his heart to generous deeds and actions. The Lord required gifts to be made at stated times, being so arranged that giving would become a habit, and benevolence felt to be a Christian duty. The heart opened by one gift was not to have time to become selfishly cold, and to close, before it bestowed the

next. The stream was to be continually flowing, thus keeping open the channel by acts of benevolence. As to the amount required, God has specified one-tenth of the increase. This is left to the conscience and benevolence of men, whose judgment in this tithing system should have free play. And while it is left free to the conscience, a plan has been laid out definite enough for all. No compulsion is required.

RICH AND POOR.

By Mrs. L. D. A. Stuttle

JAMES 2:1-10; 5:1-8.

O, thou whose heart once kind and warm. But now unfeeling, hard and cold,— Whose precious years have come and gone In selfish struggle after gold, Till every hour the heart hath grown More hard and cold like flinty stone,

Dost thou not fear lest he, whom thou Hast sore oppressed and humbled long; Whom thou hast grudged his scanty hire, And crushed with violence and wrong,— Lest he should lift his tearful eye, And to the God of vengeance cry?

For He, whose mighty hand directs The starry hosts that roll above— In kind compassion ever smiles Upon his poor with tenderest love. Shall man in God's own image made, Refuse his fellow creature aid?

In freely giving to the poor,— Thou lendest to the blessed Lord, And when the Master calls thee hence, Thou shalt receive a full reward. A crown of life shall then be given, To those who treasure gold in Heaven.

Hast thou no pity for the poor? Canst thou not feel thy brother's woe? Why steel thy spirit to his grief? Ah, foolish soul, dost thou not know That day is near, when gold will rust, And thy poor frame lie in the dust?

Hast thou not heard that signs foretell, A day of desolation nigh, When in thy glittering palace grand, The owl shall hoot, the satyr cry From mouldering piles where ivys cling, The bat shall flit with noiseless wing?

Through ages long, no human foot Shall pace thy halls with cheerful tread; No human voice an echo wake, Among these chambers of the dead! There shall the prowling monster hide, And venomed serpents noiseless glide.

Where then shall be thy treasures vast, Thy hoarded piles of shining gold? What shall avail these baubles gay, For which thy priceless soul was sold O! while there's time and mercy given, Lay treasures in the bank of Heaven.

MRS. L. D. A. STUTTLE.

Vernon, Mich., Aug. 23, 1879.

The Immortality of the Soul—History of the Doctrine.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

(Continued.)

ONLY FABLES.

THAT the popular descriptions of hell were mere fables of poets, designed to scare the common people into obedience, was freely confessed by all writers. That great historian and geographer, Strabo, thus gives the reason why the torments of hell were invented by the lawgivers. He also shows the influence poets have had in the matter. He writes thus:—

"So numbers of our citizens are incited to deeds of virtue by the beauties of fable, when they hear the poets in a strain of enthusiasm recording noble actions, such as the labor of Hercules or Theseus, and the honor bestowed on them by the gods, or even when they see painting, sculptures, or figures bearing their romantic evidence to such events. In the same way they are restrained from vicious courses when they think they have received from the gods, by oracles or some other invisible intimations, threats, menaces, or chastisements, or even if they only believe they have befallen others. The great mass of women and common people cannot be induced, by mere force of reason, to devote themselves to piety, virtue, and honesty. Superstition must therefore be employed, and even this is insufficient without the aid of the marvelous and the terrible. For what are the thunderbolts, the ægis, the trident, the torches, the dragons, the barbed thyrses, the arms of the gods, and all the paraphernalia of antique theogony but fables employed by the founders of States as bug-bears to frighten timorous minds? Such was mythology." (Strabo, book i, chap. ii, sec. 8, p. 30.)

Yes, indeed, such was, a mass of frightful fables and bug-bears to scare the people into submission.

Of the ancient Brahmins, this writer says, "They invent fables also after the manner of Plato, on the immortality of the soul, and on the punishment in hades, and other things of this kind." (Ibid., vol. iii, book xv, chap. i, sec. 59.)

What Plato and others said about the immortality of the soul, punishments in hades, etc., was understood to be only fables.

Another eminent Greek historian, Polybius, B. C. 203, bears a similar testimony, thus: "Since the multitude is ever fickle, full of lawless desires, irrational passion, and violence, there is no way to keep them in order but by fear, and terror of the invisible world, on which account our ancestors seem to me to have acted judiciously, when they contrived to bring into the popular belief these notions of the gods, and of the infernal regions." (Book vi, p. 56.)

Dr. Horne bears this testimony: "For though the poets have prettily fancied, and have portrayed in beautiful and glowing verse, the joys of elysium, or a place and state of bliss, and the miseries of tartarus, or hell; and though the ancient philosophers and legislators were sensible of the importance to society, and also of the necessity of the doctrine of future punishments, yet they generally discard them as vain and superstitious terrors." (Intro., vol. i, p. 19.)

Watson says the same. Says Warburton, "They enforced the belief of a future state of rewards and punishments, by every sort of contrivance."

Referring to the punishment of the wicked in hades, or hell, Cicero says, "If these things are false, as all men understand them to be, what has death taken from him but a sense of pain?" (Leland's Rev., vol. ii, p. 371.)

Gibbon, the historian, says: "The description of the infernal regions had been abandoned to the fancy of painters and poets, who peopled them with so many phantoms and monsters, who dispensed their rewards and punishments with so little equity, that a solemn truth, the most congenial to the human heart, was oppressed and disgraced by the absurd mixture of the wildest fictions. The doctrine of a future state was scarcely considered among the devout polytheists of Greece and Rome as a fundamental article of faith." (Decline and Fall, vol. i, p. 529.)

PRIESTS AND LAWGIVERS.

Another cause, and perhaps the chief one which aided in developing and supporting a belief in this doctrine, was the interest and authority of priests and lawgivers. Commonly these two offices were united in one person. Of course the more importance the priest could attach to the soul, and to rewards and punishments after death, the greater influence he would have with the people, and the more readily would they support him. Hence it was for the interest of the priests to build up this doctrine at every opportunity, and history shows that from the Egyptians to the Roman Catholic priests they have not been slack in doing this. So also the magistrate found that to threaten the people with the wrath of the gods and future torments for disobedience to his laws, greatly aided him in controlling them, and in keeping them under. "Hence also," says Dr. Horne, "the most celebrated legislators of the antiquity, Zoroaster, Minos, Pythagoras, Solon, Lycurgus, Numa, etc., etc., all thought it necessary to profess some intercourse with Heaven in order to give the greater sanction to their laws and institutions, notwithstanding many of them were armed with secular power. Hence he also united his interest with the priests in helping forward this doctrine." Volumes might be and have been written showing that this was the case.

The very learned Bishop Warburton, in his "Divine Legation of Moses Demonstrated," has abundantly proved by copious quotations from ancient writers that what was said about the infernal regions, elysium, etc., was all invented by the priests and lawgivers to frighten the people, and keep them in subjection.

Alger truthfully observes: "The doctrine of the soul's survival and transference to another world, where its experience depends on conditions observed or violated here—conditions somewhat within the control of a select class of men here—such a doctrine is the very hiding place of the power of priestcraft, a vast engine of interest and sway, which the shrewd insight of priesthoods has often devised, and the cunning policy of States subsidized."

The above author thus sums up the causes which operated to establish the heathen nations in these doctrines: "Finally," says he, "by the combined power, first of natural conscience affirming a future distinction between the good and the bad; secondly, of imperfect conceptions of God, as a passionate avenger; thirdly, of the licentious fancies of poets drawing awful imaginative pictures of future woe; fourthly, of the cruel spirit, and ambitious plans of selfish priesthoods; and fifthly, of the harsh and relentless theories of conforming metaphysicians—the doctrine of hell, as a located place of manifold terrific physical tortures, drawing in vast majorities of the human race, became established in the ruling creeds, and enthroned as an orthodox dogma." (Doctrine of a Future Life, pp. 39, 512.)

EGYPT THE MOTHER OF THE DOCTRINE.

That such a doctrine is now largely believed is well known. That it is not taught in the Bible has been fully shown many times; hence it did not originate there. Then where did it originate? All evidence, both ancient and modern, points to Egypt as the mother of this doctrine. Here are a few testimonies. The first is from the historian Herodotus, than whom there could be no higher authority on this question. He was a Greek, born B. C. 484, and is regarded as the father of profane history. (Author's Class. Dict., art. Herodotus.) He traveled in Egypt and many other countries, and carefully studied the customs and doctrines of those ancient nations; hence he was well qualified to speak the truth on these points. He says, "The Egyptians were also the first who asserted the doctrine that the soul of man is immortal." (Herod. Euterpe, ii, sec. 123.)

Bunsen, in his learned and elaborate work on Egypt, says, "The Egyptians were the first who taught the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, a fact mentioned by all Greek writers from Herodotus to Aristotle, and one brilliantly confirmed by the monuments." (Egypt's Place in Universal Hist., vol. iv, p. 639.)

This declaration from such high authority should be well considered by all lovers of truth. Bishop Warburton confirms these testimonies, thus: "The Egyptians, as we are assured by the concurrent testimony of antiquity, were among the first who taught that the soul survived the body, and was immortal." (Divine Legation of Moses Dem., vol. ii, p. 239.)

Egypt, then, and not the Bible, is the mother of this doctrine. So says the voice of all antiquity. Balfour bears this testimony: "Mr. Stanley says the Egyptians were the first who asserted that the soul of man is immortal, and cites in proof Eusebius, Diodorus Siculus, and Halicarnassus." (Essays on the Intermediate State, p. 73.)

Ralph Cudworth, D. D., is probably the highest authority we could quote upon this subject. Mosheim says of him that he had all the ancient authors by heart. In his immortal work, "The True Intellectual System of the Universe," he says of the Egyptians, "They were the first assertors of the immortality of souls, their pre-existence, and transmigration." (Vol. i, p. 527.) Again: "The immortality, pre-existence, and transmigration of souls, which doctrine was unquestionably derived from the Egyptians." (Vol. i, p. 553.)

Here, then, is the fountain-head from whence the doctrine of the immortality of the soul first flowed. Its origin is heathen, not divine; Egyptian, not Biblical. He that denies this assertion must do it with all the evidence of history against him. D. M. C.

Don't Halt.

By Theodore Ledyard Cuyler

It is the first step that costs. When the Israelites came up to the Red Sea, the command of God was, "Speak to the children of Israel, that they go forward." But how? The Jewish leader might well cry out, We have no fleet to bear us over. Go forward! But, Lord, we cannot ford the gulf before us. Go forward! Wouldst thou have us, Lord, to perish in the billows? Still the answer comes, Speak to the children of Israel, that they go forward. The command is peremptory. It admits of no delay. And just as soon as Israel goes forth in obedience to Jehovah's voice, lo! the waves part asunder, and the mighty cavalcade marches through dry shod! Unhesitating obedience to God always insures a blessing.

Here is a lesson for halting inquirers. To you comes the command of God, go forward. Death is behind you. Hell followeth hard after you. There is no salvation in retreat. Heaven lies before you, not behind. No man ever saved his soul by relapsing into indifference. If you give up you are lost.

Perhaps you say, I have prayed many times already, and no blessing has yet come. Will you cease to pray, then? Will that bring an answer? As well might a voyager to Liverpool, when one hundred miles from port, put about his helm and steer for New York; he is almost there; why does the foolish man retreat? How many a soul has quit praying when the door of mercy was just about opening. Go forward.

Another is kept back by fear of ridicule. He cannot stand a laugh. There is a sneer waiting for him at his father's table, or a cutting sarcasm in his counting-room. He wavers before it. He winces under the slightest word, and imagines terrible things in store for himself. Go forward; the sea will open unto you, and so will many a heart, to cheer you on. You will inspire respect in the very quarters from which you now expect opposition. He is a weakling who is pushed back with a straw.

A person complains, I am in the dark; I cannot see my way. Then go forward, and get out of the dark. The determination to do your duty will be attended by a luminous discernment of the path of duty. God will show you the way; only go forward, looking for the cross.

Unbelief draws back a fourth. There is only one way to conquer doubt. It is to believe. Then instead of halting and shivering in an ague fit of indecision, take a bold, decisive step. End the torturing uncertainty by going forward, looking unto Jesus.

The only way to do a thing is to do it. God gives strength to the obedient. He has no promise for cowards, or double-minded, vacillating doubters. He bestows grace on those who try to do their duty. His grace is all-sufficient for you. The deepest sea of difficulties will divide its waters for your advancing footsteps just as soon as you determine to obey that voice which says to you, Go forward. The moment of ruin to Lot's wife was the moment in which she halted. A steady pushing on towards Zoar would have saved her life. As soon as an awakened soul stops to parley with temptation, or to cavil at some Bible doctrine, or for any other reason, the Spirit of God is grieved. The great majority of unconverted persons in our congregations have, at some time in their lives, been under serious convictions, and halted. Death will not halt. Time halts not one instant. Dear friend, if you halt one step this side of Jesus, you must perish outside of Heaven's gate. Don't halt! or else the same bell which now rings for you a glad invitation, will toll the knell of your lost soul.—T. L. Cuyler.

Take Me to Church Now

A FOUR-YEAR-OLD saw his parents preparing for church, and asked them to take him along with them. He was told he was too little, and must wait till he should grow bigger. "Well," returned he, "you'd better take me now, for when I get bigger I may not want to go." The parents saw the point; he was taken.

Cure for Agrarianism.

By San Francisco Bulletin

EVERY now and then some red-mouthed ranter roars out that land monopoly is the prime cause of all the evils which the community is suffering. Now the fact is the evil lies further back than this. It is the vagrant disposition of men who don't want land—who would not have it as a gift, if they were obliged to live upon it and become sober and industrious citizens. The danger to society to-day is in a large nomad class, men who are without responsibility, without fixed habits of industry, and who aspire to nothing so much as to plunder their more prosperous neighbors. This is the thriftless class who do not quite make ends meet. And when they fail in this respect, clamor for a division of property, and for the reconstruction of society. The fact is there can be no organized society so beneficent in its character that men of this class can prosper. The revolution wanted is right down among men who have no habits of self-denial, or thrift, economy and order. The first steps which a majority of such men take, is generally in a political direction. They step up as reformers, or train under the banner of some leader who promises reform, or what, in his view, is the same thing, the disruption of society.

When one has been brought into such close relations to the soil that he is obliged to cultivate it and to get his living directly from it, he ceases to make mischief in the community. If Kearney, Wellock, and Knight would each take themselves off to a piece of Government land, occupying it as a free gift, they would benefit themselves and greatly benefit the community. They might become leaders in the new role—apostles of a land-holding exodus. Why not lead out ten or fifteen thousand sand-lot men to these Government lands which are offered as free gifts to the landless. It requires money to agitate. It would hardly require more to take up a considerable number of farms and cultivate them. Some years ago attention was called to the "earth cure," the application of dry earth to fresh wounds and old sores. Earth is good as a deodorizer, and good as a healer of many hurts. What is wanted is the earth remedy applied to these chronic agitators.

There are millions of acres of land waiting for occupants. The Government offers to give the land. Here are ten thousand people, more or less, who are landless, and think in some way society has dealt wrongly by them. They look for a reconstruction, for a breaking down of old boundaries, for a "new deal," involving, as near as may be, an equal division of property, for the spoliation of the prosperous to help out the thriftless. It will never come. But while the delusion lasts these men will be landless victims, fruitlessly waiting for better times. What is wanted is missionary work accomplished by rough secular and muscular missionaries, who will go among these chronic agitators and make them land hungry—not for land plunder from others, but for the land which the government freely offers to every head of a family who is landless. That would be a reform worth having. When you have turned a street bummer or a sand-lot enthusiast into a land owner, he is a reformed man. But by what miracle can such a reform be accomplished?—San Francisco Bulletin.

Rust.

ONCE upon a time an Arabian princess was presented with an ivory casket exquisitely wrought, by her teacher, with the injunction not to open it until a year had rolled around. Many were the speculations as to what it contained, and the time was impatiently waited for when the jeweled key should disclose the mysterious contents. It came at last, and the maiden went away alone, and with trembling haste unlocked the treasure; and lo! reposing on delicate satin linings, lay nothing but a shroud of rust; the form of something beautiful could be discerned, but the beauty had gone forever. Tearful with disappointment, she did not at first see a slip of parchment containing these words: "Dear pupil: May you learn from this a lesson in your life. This trinket, when inclosed, had upon it only a single spot of rust; by neglect it has become the useless thing you now behold, only a blot on its pure surroundings. So a little stain on your character will, by inattention and neglect, mar a bright and useful life, and in time will leave only the dark record of what might have been. If you now place within a jewel of gold, and after many years seek the result, you will find it still as sparkling as ever. So with yourself; treasure up only the pure, the good; and you will ever be an ornament to society, and a source of true pleasure to yourself and your friends."

The Harm of Self-Praise

"NOTHING lowers a man more in the estimation of others than to praise himself."

Continue reading: Modern Spiritualism