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Review and Herald, Vol. 45, No. 5.

THE SABBATH A SIGN
Earlier text: Cannot Come Down

That Old Skull.

By Pres. Tuttle

The article referred to by Bro. Cottrell in his article on the “Antiquity of Man,” published in last week’s REVIEW, will be found below:—
[The following is a capital hit on that popular farce and prime minister of skepticism, geological guess-work.]
A few weeks ago, a society of scientific men met in the city of Chicago, to discuss a great variety of questions pertaining especially to the natural sciences. Pure mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, botany, geology, and some other sciences furnished themes for some truly learned papers and discussions.
It was a noticeable fact that in some of the discussions—such as astronomy and chemistry—the lecturers were very positive, as if aware their footing was sure; while in some others they were subdued and modest in tone, as though not so sure that all they said was true. The spirit and deportment of the association were worthy of men exploring God’s secret things in nature.
One lecture was noteworthy. It was read by Prof. Whitney, in the elegant Baptist church on Wabash Avenue. The lecturer had his black-board and crayon, to illustrate the geological character of the place in which was found the fragment of a skull which has become famous all over the scientific world. Aside from the skull itself, the lecture was charming in the definiteness with which it described places and phenomena of a truly extraordinary character. No one could surmise that the lecturer had any theory or pet notion to be cared for, so carefully and candidly did he state all he had learned about the locality, the strata, the mining-shaft, who owned it, who found the skull, and when, what was done with it and said about it, how it came into his hands—and, indeed, as candid and dispassionate a statement of all he knew about the relic as he could have made concerning a proposition in geometry.
The general fact thus stated and evidently believed by the professor was that this skull of a human being was found in a much lower and earlier geological formation than is usually assigned to man. He did not make the inference, but others did, that, inasmuch as human bones have at last been found in this early geological formation, they must have been there long prior to the date usually assigned as the origin of the race. The usual account, in harmony with the records of Moses, asserts that man was created about six thousand years ago; and the weight of scientific testimony thus far has been in favor of this account. Now, if human remains are found in the tertiary—when the usual account can be justified by finding them only in the post-tertiary—then we shall be compelled to give up that common theory, and with it the first and second chapters of the book of Genesis. It is a grave matter.
Some of the learned gentlemen at Chicago quite put the blush on the common theory of six thousand years as defining the time of man’s origin; and talked of thirty, forty, and even seventy thousand years in place of six.
Meanwhile, that old skull sat ghastly and silent on the table at the lecturer’s side. Not a word did it speak; and yet I fancied I detected a smile on its unclothed cheek-bones and jaws, to hear what the credulous savans—not the lecturer—were saying about it, as having come down from such a distant age to tell them “Moses did not know what he wrote about”!
Yes, that old skull, found down in tertiary in that volcanic region, could not have got there by any little eccentricities of the earthquakes’ cracking the strata of the earth, to let it down where it did not belong. There it belonged, and nowhere else; and, therefore, etc.
Speaking of earthquakes. In 1755 occurred that which destroyed Lisbon. When it began to rock the earth, and the solidest buildings began to fall, thousands of the affrighted people rushed to “the marble quay which had just been constructed at great expense. It suddenly sunk with them, like a ship foundering at sea. But, when the water closed over the place, no fragments of the wreck, none of the vessels and boats near by that were drawn into the whirlpool, and not one of the thousands of bodies carried down, reappeared upon the surface. Over the spot the water stood six hundred feet deep, and beneath this, locked in the fissured rocks, in chasms of unknown depths, lie the relics of what was the life and wealth of this portion of the earth in the middle of the eighteenth century. These rocks are the clayey and other comparatively soft strata of the tertiary formation. When, in some future epoch, they are raised again to the surface by a convulsion of the same nature of that which engulfed them, the vestiges they contain may reappear, converted, in part or wholly, into stone, like fossils entombed when the strata were deposited.”
There sat the silent old skull on the lecturer’s table, and seemed to me to be trying to say: “By-and-by, a few hundred years hence, some diver or miner will find an old skull down in the tertiary under where Lisbon quay sunk in 1755; and some very wise men, meeting in Chicago, will say, ‘Here it is in the tertiary! It is at least seventy thousand years old! Moses wrote what he did because he did not know any better.’ And yet, gentlemen savans, that skull belonged to a live man on the 1st of November, 1755, who sunk down in an instant into the tertiary from as good post-tertiary as what you now stand on! Do not be deceived, gentlemen, for Moses will yet beat you all!”
Who knows but Prof. Whitney’s California skull found its resting-place in the same way, and as quickly? In that awful earthquake, last spring, at one of the Sandwich Islands, as our missionary, Pogue, declares, a huge volume of red mud was thrown out of the crater, at the rate of a mile a minute, three miles, and buried a whole village, in an instant, fifty feet deep. Perhaps it was tertiary mud; and by-and-by some miner may find under it some old skull, seventy thousand years old, to bear testimony against Moses! Who knows?—Pres. Tuttle.

Avoiding the Appearance of Evil

THERE is a curious Chinese proverb which says, “In a cucumber-field do not stoop to tie your shoe, and under a plum-tree do not wait to settle your cap on your head;” which means, if you do so, some one may think you are stealing the cucumbers or plums. Never forget that the apostle says, “Abstain from all appearance of evil.”

The Truth among the Deaf and Dumb.

Bro. E. M. KIMBALL, deaf mute, has written us quite a lengthy account of his experience in embracing the truth, and his efforts to teach it to others of that unfortunate class, from which we condense the following report.
Bro. K. received his education in the Deaf and Dumb Institution, at Hartford, Ct., from 1831 to 1835. In 1852 he visited a deaf mute in Indiana, who told him that man did not possess an immortal soul, and gave him a pamphlet on the subject. He searched the Scriptures carefully on this point, and soon became convinced of the truth on the immortality question.
He was at Anamosa, Iowa, in 1860, when Eld. M. E. Cornell gave a course of lectures there. At this time he procured some publications on the Sabbath question, and by carefully studying them and comparing them with the Scriptures, became satisfied that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, and commenced its observance.
About 1868 he, with his deaf-mute wife, visited their two children in St. Joseph, Mo., and Leavenworth, Kansas, where they remained two years. Here Bro. K. lost his companion, who had observed the Sabbath with him for nine years and six months. Six months after this, he entered more particularly upon the work of searching up mutes in different States, and endeavoring to instruct them in the truths of the gospel.
One who visited him in St. Joseph embraced the Sabbath, and two to whom he carried the truth in Southern Nebraska. He has since visited New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and the cities of New York and Brooklyn, being now at work in the State of Maine.
Three mutes, in Connecticut, are keeping the Sabbath; and there are two others who desire to keep it, but are restrained by their parents who are Episcopalians.
Three in Massachusetts, are observing the Sabbath, and others interested to learn more of these views. In New Hampshire there are five now observing the Sabbath.
Bro. K. has been laboring in Maine since last spring; and while some are interested to learn about these things, others oppose, and do what they can to hinder their children or friends from embracing them. As any one can see, this must be a hard and laborious field; and he who has so zealously entered it, deserves the prayers of God's people.
Bro. K. designs to spend the remainder of the season in Maine as the way may open. His address will be South Lancaster, Mass., care of S. N. Haskell, from which place all letters will be forwarded.

N. Y. T. and M. Society, Quarterly Report.

By B. L. Whitney; E. H. Whitney

There were two general meetings of the Society this quarter, the first at Adams Center, Jeff. Co., N. Y., Dec. 12 and 13, 1874; the second at Randolph, Cattaraugus Co., N. Y., Dec. 19 and 20, 1874.
The following is the report of labor for the quarter. No. of families visited, 560; letters written, 91; new subscribers for REVIEW, 20; Instructor, 59; Reformer, 12; No. of REVIEWS distributed, 692; Instructors, 205; Reformers, 221; pages tracts and pamphlets distributed, 130,902.
Money received during the quarter
On membership, $18.00
Donations, 343.49
Book sales, 26.89
Widow and orphan fund, 8.72
Total, $397.10
The office of secretary being left vacant by the resignation of Nettie F. Holt, E. H. Whitney was elected to fill the vacancy. It was decided that the special effort of the Society for the coming quarter be directed to the distribution of health publications, and furnishing libraries with our bound books. It was also decided that this Society furnish its quota for The Voice of Truth and Health Reformer.
B. L. WHITNEY, Pres.
E. H. WHITNEY, Sec.

A Letter to the Sisters.

By V. O. Cross

Dear Sisters: I cannot longer refrain from writing out some of the feelings with which my mind has, for a long time, been exercised.
As I have witnessed, from year to year, the growing tendency among us as a people to imitate the fashions of the world, and to unite with them in their pleasures and vanity, my heart has been pained. I can but look back a few years and contrast that time with the present.
Who can fail to see that just so far as pride, popularity, and love of the world have come in, the spirit and love of the truth have departed, and cold formality has taken its place? Where is that peculiarity that once marked the people of God? Where are the earnestness and consecration to God, and the manifestations of his power and love that then existed? I fear that the love of this world has in a great measure taken their place; and that the time which should be spent in secret prayer, study of the Scriptures, and self-examination, is spent in needless adornings, studying this or that fashion, or engaging in worldly amusements, which shut Jesus and love out of our hearts.
While it is a Christian duty to be neat and tasty in our dress, the word of God plainly forbids needless adorning and ornaments: “Whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.” 1 Pet. 3:3-5. “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broidered hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.” 1 Tim. 2:9, 10.
We have also been warned repeatedly upon this point through the testimonies of the Spirit. Have we heeded these messages sent to us from Heaven?
O dear sisters, is there not need of humbling ourselves before God, laying aside our idols and love of the world, that which has driven the Spirit of God from us, and seeking him with all the heart? “A day of heart-rending anguish is before us, when we shall need a firm hold upon God.” And can we expect him to be our refuge if we fail to live up to his requirements? Our actions plainly tell which we love most, God or this world; and if our time and attention are all taken up with the world, will he not leave us to perish with the world?
God means just what he says, and if we do not heed his word, but pass lightly by his warnings, he will leave us to our own ways, to reap, at last, the bitter reward of disobedience.
The Lord has in great mercy sent us warnings from time to time. Let us heed them. Let us study them carefully. Who can tell the souls that might be saved by a right use made of the means spent in superfluous ornaments and trimmings? And were the time spent in this useless adorning spent in working for the salvation of others, how many we might be the means of saving. God will hold us responsible for these things.
Jesus has set us an example of self-denial and sacrifice. How far do we follow it? His whole life was spent in doing others good. He suffered everything that mortals can endure; “was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” He was a homeless wanderer. His adornment was a plain, seamless coat, while he received only cruel insults and mockery from those he came to benefit. He bore the shameful cross, and at last died a most shameful death. And he did all this to purchase our salvation; yet we are so fearful of bearing the cross and enduring the reproach!
If we reign with Christ we must also suffer with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. God will purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works; Titus 2:14; and if we are not willing to become such a people, he will not acknowledge us as his children.
May the Lord help us to realize these things as we should, and seek the Lord with all our hearts, to “seek righteousness, seek meekness,” that we may “be hid in the day of the Lord’s fierce anger.” V. O. Cross.
Bordoville, Vt.

DEATH’S DOINGS.

By J. E. G.

Death treads all abroad in the land; He strikes both the low and the high; His victims are falling on every hand; He passes no favored ones by.
In the storm and the tempest he rides, On the shining and peaceful hour, In the earthquake’s shock, and the ocean’s tide, In the battle’s terrible roar.
He comes in the silent night, He comes at the morn’s first ray, He comes in the noonday’s glaring light, And he comes at the close of day.
He comes when the festive throng Is merry with pleasure and mirth; And he lays alike the weak and strong, Back to their moldering earth.
Oft he heralds his coming with pain Through many long, wearisome hours; We break his chill stroke again and again, But yield us at last to his power.
Death holds high carnival now, Throughout every nation and land; All alike to his merciless scepter bow, All times are at his command.
We fall like the “flower of the grass,” Melt away like the “dew in the sun;” Our years may be scores, but they quickly pass; Our life-work is speedily done.
But there cometh a time when Death’s reign Will be finished, his gleaning be done. We shall know no more sorrow, sin, sickness or pain When Christ our life-giver shall come.
Hebron, Wis.　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　J. E. G.

Oakland, California.

FROM the last number of The Signs of the Times, published in Oakland, Cal., we take the following cheering account of a meeting now in progress at that place:—
The Conference Committee decided at the time of the State quarterly meeting that it was best to give another course of lectures in Oakland. Accordingly, 5,000 bills were circulated, stirring notices put in all the dailies, a bulletin board placed in the principal thoroughfares of the town, a large lighted transparency hung evenings in front of the hall, and meetings opened with a good audience on the evening of January 7. Already six lectures have been given. There is good attendance, good interest, and books are taken quite freely. We look for good results, with God’s blessing. Believing in advertising, we put out to-day 5,000 more bills, advertising to speak on spiritualism this evening.
The cause is still onward in San Francisco and vicinity. Two more kept their first Sabbath in San Francisco last Sabbath. They were persons who had heard at the tent and read our books. They thought they would write to their parents in Iowa to see what they thought of it, when, lo! they learned that their parents had heard a course of lectures, and had come out on the truth there. So the truth goes.
Bro. Knud Brossen called last week on a Danish family, in Alameda County, who had read some Danish tracts, and talked and prayed with them. They took their stand and kept last Sabbath for the first.
We had a most interesting baptism in Merritt’s lake, Oakland, Last Sunday morning. There were four candidates, representing four different nations; one Russian, one German, one Swedish lady, who embraced the truth by reading the Harold and Swedish tracts in Sweden. She moved to San Francisco and married a Swedish brother here. She is now a member of the San Francisco church. She and her husband are sending documents and letters to Sweden. The other candidate was an estimable English sister. After baptism, we joined in singing the verse,
“Let every kindred, every tribe on this terrestrial ball,” &c.
God blessed. Praise his name. Thus steadily on the cause advances.
J. N. L. & D. M. C.

A. S. HUTCHINS

By A. S. Hutchins

Vermont.

Since my last report, we have seen some omens of good. In the months of October and November, a short course of lectures was given at Berkshire Center. Seldom under similar circumstances has the interest to hear the truth continued so even to the close. Yet but one fully decided to keep the Sabbath. She remains firm with a growing interest. Others are examining candidly. Considering the freedom that the servants of God had in presenting the truth, and the convicting influences of the Spirit, there was reason to hope others would have decided to obey and live.
I accompanied Bro. Bean in filling the appointments of Bro. Haskell, as far as Bristol. It was no small disappointment to the brethren that Bro. Haskell could not meet with us in this part of the State. But they generally seemed to realize that to secure the needful blessing they must themselves do duty.
The Sabbath evening meeting at Bordoville opened with deep and solemn convictions of the necessities of seeking God with all the heart. The Sabbath meeting was characterized by the same spirit. Hearts melted, and burdened souls moved forward for prayers, joined by nearly all the church. This was a season of refreshing. We are also sure that the meeting at Irasburgh and Wolcott left a good impression upon the minds of those who attended them.
The meetings at West Bolton were not as fully attended as we could have desired, but we think those who attended took courage in the Lord. We were gratified to see the readiness with which the almanacs were taken here, even to the last one carried there. Work on, brethren.
We remember the meeting at Bristol with much gratitude. Brethren and sisters, with those who have no hope in God, were melted to tears as the word was spoken. Several made a strike for victory in this meeting which we hope they will continue to reach out for till they are conquerors. Usefulness, happiness, and eternal life may be theirs. We hear good reports from this section. Souls are inquiring for a knowledge of the truth, and want to hear our views. Calls for help also come up from different parts of the State. Several have embraced the Sabbath since the camp-meeting. Our works are being read with interest. As everywhere, here is room for laborers. May the Lord raise them up.

A. S. HUTCHINS

South Troy, Vt., Jan. 10, 1875.

Quarterly Report of the Wis. T. & M. Society.

By O. A. Olsen; Mattie A. Babcock

The sixth general quarterly meeting of the Wis. T. & M. Society, convened at Oakland, Jeff. Co., Friday morning, Jan. 8, 1875. Meeting opened with prayer by Eld. S. N. Haskell. He then gave us a history of the beginning and progress of the T. & M. and Vigilant Societies.
Voted, That this Conference buy a sixty-foot tent before the next camp-meeting.
Voted, That the means be raised by apportioning a share to each district to be paid by the middle of June next.
Voted, That we recommend that the number of names apportioned to each district for The Voice of Truth and Reformer, be raised.
Remarks by the president and others in regard to choosing a situation for the camp meeting.
Voted, That the next camp-meeting be held at Sparta, Monroe Co. Meeting adjourned to call of the Chair.

SECOND SESSION.

Prayer by Bro. Pratt.
Voted, That the time and place of the next general quarterly meeting be left to the president to appoint.
Voted, That we pay our secretary $25.00 for services for the past six months.
Voted, That the old sixty-foot tent be disposed of by the Conference Committee as they may think proper.
Voted, That Bro. Jordan’s bill of $11.57 against the T. & M. Society be allowed; also that Bro. O. A. Olsen’s bill of $11.18 be allowed. Adjourned to call of the Chair.

THIRD SESSION.

Minutes of the previous meeting read. The brethren approved of the measures taken by the committee in reference to the buying a new tent and the place of camp-meeting.
Report of the last general quarterly meeting called for, read, and accepted.
Report of the present quarter read, which shows the following results:—
No. of districts, 13; No. of districts reported, 9; No. of members at the beginning of the quarter, 425; increase of members during the quarter, 22; whole number of members, 447; No. of members reported, 127; families visited, 496; letters written, 136; No. of new subscribers for REVIEW, 8; Instructor, 48; Reformer, 361; Voice of Truth, 198; Advent Tidende, 20; REVIEWS distributed, 319; Instructors, 57; Reformers, 109; Advent Tidendes, 80; Signs of the Times, 14; True Missionaries, 45; Almanacs, 1030; pages of tracts and pamphlets distributed, 100,375.
Encouraging and interesting remarks concerning distributing tracts, raising subscribers, &c. Adjourned to call of the Chair.

FOURTH SESSION.

Prayer by Bro. Decker. Treasurer’s report called for, which stands as follows:—
Money on hand at the commencement of the quarter, $610.10 Rec’d for membership, 52.00 “ donations, 130.66 “ book sales, 48.18 “ delinquent fund, 5.00 Total, $845.94 Paid out during quarter, 513.21 Balance on hand, $332.73
The financial standing of each district read.
Voted, That a camp-meeting fund of $100.00 be raised.
Voted, To raise $450.00, to buy a tent. Meeting adjourned sine die.
O. A. OLSEN, Pres.
MATTIE A. BABCOCK, Sec.

Pilgrim Standfast.

A STAUNCH old pilgrim he was as ever set out for the celestial city. No persecutions nor allurements of pleasure could turn him aside from the right way. Such a pilgrim was sturdy John Knox, who, when the lords of Queen Mary’s court bade him stop his preaching, giving him but one alternative—“silence or the gallows”—would make answer: “My lords, you are mistaken if you think you can intimidate me by threats to do what conscience and God tell me I never shall do. Be it known to you that it is a matter of no importance to me, when I have finished my work, whether my bones shall bleach in the winds of heaven or rot in the bosom of the earth.”
The same Standfast blood beat strong in the heart of the martyr. Hooper when he went with a firm step to the fatal stake. “I am come hither to end this life,” he said, “because I will not gainsay the truth I have formerly taught you.” And when a pardon from the queen was set before him, he cried out with a determined voice, “If you love my soul, take it away, take it away!” The price of that pardon, he well knew, must be a denial of the faith. So Bishop Latimer, when summoned before “the bloody Mary,” said, “I go willingly to London, to give an account of my faith, as ever I went to any place in my life.” As he rode through Smithfield—that spot which had such a baptism of martyr’s blood—he said: “Smithfield has groaned for me a long time.”
Perhaps it is quite as hard for Standfast to preserve his integrity amid the temptations and pleasures of the world as in the fires of persecution. Where persecution has slain its thousands, worldliness has slain its tens of thousands.
A poor woman in India, who had embraced Christianity, was offered back the jewels and money which had been taken from her, on condition that she would return to her old religion; but she replied: “Oh! no; I would rather be a poor Christian than a rich heathen.”
And still another, Mr. Judson tells us of, one who was very fond of her jewelry, yet desired to follow Christ. When he asked her if she was willing to sacrifice them for his sake, she was for a time disturbed; but at length, taking off the gay necklace, which was her special pride, said, with sweet and touching simplicity, “I love Christ more than this.”
Can we all, when the world holds out its glittering baits to us, lay them aside with the same steadfast spirit, and say with her, “I love Christ more than these”?—Bible Standard.

Thy Will Be Done.

By A. S. Nason

How many among professed Christians can say from the heart, Thy will, not mine, be done. I fear that very few of the followers of our divine Lord and Master offer up the prayer which he taught his disciples, ages in the past, with a realizing sense of its deep import. It is an easy matter to talk of surrendering all to God; but when we really come to the point of giving ourselves and all that we have and are a living sacrifice without any reserve, it costs a struggle that requires all the powers of our being to maintain. The reason why so few Christians make a success of their profession is because, like Ananias and Sapphira, they keep back a part of the price. We cannot know ourselves until we are proved. It is the fiery ordeal of God’s discipline that will bring to light our secret faults, and expose the frailty of human nature.
Oh! how many times do we need to go down into the garden of Gethsemane, and there agonize in prayer as did our beloved Saviour when he sweat great drops of blood, that we may be enabled to gain the victory over selfishness in every form, and be his disciples in deed and in truth. We hear people speaking very indifferently of the Christian life. They seem to have very little sense of the importance of everlasting salvation. I would that a compelling power might get hold of these careless souls and arouse them to a sense of their terrible danger.
Is eternal life of so little value that it is not worth all the efforts that can be made to obtain it? Is this brief life, filled up with care and toil and sorrow, to be weighed in the balance with the glorious hereafter? But some will tell us that they have no realizing sense of any world but this; that what is hidden in the mysterious future, cannot take hold of their minds or rouse them to action. If such would take the word of God and search for truth as earnestly as they do for the treasures of this world, their minds would become transformed, and there would open before their view a scene surpassing in beauty and purity all that human tongue or pen can describe.
It is an age of great moral darkness. The majority of people are entirely dead to a sense of the terrible time in which we live. Even among professed Sabbath-keepers, how few there are entirely devoted to God, having no desire but to do his will. It seems as though the great portion of us have but just begun to learn of the great sacrifices we need to make in order that we may be overcomers, and have right to the tree of life. What shall we do? Because that of ourselves we are weak and helpless, and in our blindness so often stumble and make crooked paths, shall we settle down and give up the struggle? My soul cries out, Never! never! While life lasts I will strive to pursue the Christian course. It may be that for me is laid up a crown of glory, and a palm of victory.
With these thoughts to stimulate me to action, I will gird the armor on anew, and keep repeating, Thy will, O God, be done, until I can shout victory over everything pertaining to a selfish nature, and become so entirely the Lord’s that it shall be more than my meat and drink to do his pleasure. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. Heb. 3: 14.
A. S. Nason.
Ipswich, Mass.

Religion in the Constitution.

The Convention of New England friends of the movement to secure a religious amendment to the Constitution of the United States, met in Boston, Dec. 16, 1874, between 200 and 300 delegates being present. Charles G. Nazro was chosen President; and among the Vice-Presidents were Judge E. H. Bennett, of Boston University, Drs. Webb and Miner, President Cummings of Wesleyan University, and Dr. Dows Clarke. Addresses were made by the President and Secretary M’Allister on the object and methods of the movement, and by President Cummings on the influence of the perversion of truth, in regard to the connection of religion and State. Judge Bennett reported a set of resolutions:—
First. That the connection which has hitherto existed and still exists, in fact, between our government and Christianity, now demands expression in our fundamental law.
Second. That such an expression and authentication of the connection of our government with Christianity is now required fully and explicitly to harmonize our National Constitution with our State Constitutions, with our common law, and with the Christian usages of our common life.
Third. That the recognition of Christianity in the National Constitution does not involve a union of church and State, but rather the opposite, since it enables the nation to express its own relation to Christianity without the intervention of any church organization.
Fourth. That as the Christian institutions of this nation do not infringe upon the rights of any citizen, but are a bulwark and safeguard of all rights, the securing for these institutions an explicit legal basis in our fundamental law can be in no manner intolerant or proscriptive.
Fifth. That this constitutional recognition of the connection of our Government with Christianity is necessary, not to sustain the Christian religion, but to aid in preserving and maintaining Christian institutions and usages of our nation.
Sixth. That recognizing the importance of this subject, we pledge ourselves to present and advocate it until the nation, by the voice of the people, shall declare its Christian character, as it has already asserted its freedom, in the charter of our rights and liberties.

ANDREW ANDERSON

By Andrew Anderson

A Swedish brother writes as follows, from Neosho Co., Kansas, Jan. 10, 1875, to the Advent Herald. Bro. Sawyer, at our request, translates it for the REVIEW. Thus evidence is coming in from every quarter of the good work the papers are doing, not only in English, but in foreign tongues:—
I had an opportunity to read your paper last spring, and the conclusion was that I must, contrary to my former customs and feelings, keep the Lord’s Sabbath, the day which was instituted at creation.
We have a number of papers (Harolds) and read them with joy. It is my wish to have the paper for the year. I frankly acknowledge that there are no resources whereby I can obtain money. It makes me feel burdened and sorrowful to come and beg in this way; but if I have any success, I will send the money afterward.
We have lived here five years, and have not obtained much of anything to live upon. We are in a large settlement of Swedes. Many read the paper with pleasure; and again others dislike it. It does not come in vain. It will do what the Lord has designed it shall. It is sent out by and from him.

ANDREW ANDERSON

The Profit.

MALACHI speaks of a certain class who are inclined to think that it is vain to serve God, and they inquire what profit it is that they have kept his ordinance. Such facts as are stated in the communication given below from Bro. Best, of Andrew Co., Mo., will answer:—
I thank God for the light of present truth, and for his mercy in bringing to us the health reform. We scarcely ever have anything to complain of, while our neighbors around us are sick and suffering. Truly God has verified his promise to us since we have been keeping his Sabbath in showing mercy unto us. I am fully persuaded that your views of prophecy are correct, and that the image to the beast will soon be set up. Truly, we are living in the last days. Iniquity abounds on every hand, and even professed Christians are growing worse and worse, becoming blind and leaders of the blind. It is my greatest desire to honor the religion of the Bible. I would have the Spirit of Christ, so that I can say, I delight to do thy will, O God; yea, thy law is within my heart.

The Biblical Institute.

By Angelia J. Edmunds

WITH reluctance I returned to my home after having attended the lectures of the Biblical Institute, at Battle Creek, for a few days. I was edified and encouraged. I shall never forget the interested class of intelligent hearers, earnestly seeking after the truth and more of the Spirit of God, and learning the best manner to present the third angel’s message before unbelievers, from the lips of those of experience.
How solemn the times in which we live, I am more than ever convinced that the loud cry of the third angel is about to be given. The Lord is calling after those of other nations. They are prayerfully seeking after the truth. May they be filled with the Spirit and power of the Holy Ghost, that they may return to their people and present the present truth with acceptance. This is not the doings of men, but the work of the Lord. The gathering call is sounding. We will praise his name for what we have seen and heard.
ANGELIA J. EDMUNDS.
Bedford, Mich.

Forming Habits.

By A. S. Hutchins

HABITS should be formed with care and consideration. The consequences which necessarily will and must follow their formation should be well weighed. Our habits form our characters, and character shapes our destiny. On this subject my mind was considerably impressed a few days since, while conversing with a young man smoking a fifteen-cent cigar, when he said, “I cannot leave off smoking.”
In gratification of an unnatural appetite he could afford to indulge in this expensive and ruinous practice, and thought he was unable to free himself from it. Young men should take warning here, and beware how they consent to become slaves for life at such a terrible expense of means, waste of health, and even the shortening of life itself.
It is painful to hear men, bound with iron chains of evil habits, say, “I would gratify my appetite in this or that direction if I knew it would shorten my life several years.” What record can be rendered to the Judge of all the earth for thus knowingly shortening life, the gift of God, and to whom we are amenable for its proper use and its preservation as far as we have power?
The command, “Thou shall not kill,” must necessarily apply to those acts in which we voluntarily and needlessly shorten and gradually cut off life, as well as to those which deprive us of it at once.
A. S. Hutchins.

Ecclesiastical “Dead Beats.”

By T. De Witt Talmage

The commercial world has a significant term which it applies, not to the unfortunate and the distressed, but to those who are exertionless in their mishap, and who succumb to adversity, expecting others to do for them what they ought to do for themselves. They have a genius for borrowing money. They are persistent bores. You know them a block away, and wish they would always stay at that distance. They are among business men called “dead beats.”
Almost every church has an element corresponding with that. These are they who, notwithstanding they have means, pay no pew rent where the pews are let, or contribute nothing where everything is voluntary. They are voluble in prayer, mighty in religious gab, make a big wash, but do nothing for religious institutions. They pray that the pastor may “be blessed in his basket and store,” but do nothing to keep him from starving to death. They do not recognize the fact that there is a religion in giving and a wickedness in withholding. The furnaces would go out for lack of coal, and the lamps for lack of oil, and the church be shut in six weeks, if it depended upon their contribution. The poor must have the gospel preached to them, and the penniless must be welcomed; but there are not more than ten people in any church who cannot give something. If a man cannot give a hundred dollars a year he can give three cents. Woe, then, be to him if he does not give the three cents. We never like to hear a man pray who takes it all out in prayer. It is all folly for a man to pray for the world’s conversion unless he gives something toward it. The man whose income is not more than two hundred dollars a year ought to give some of it to God. One of the great wants of the church everywhere is to get rid of its “dead beats.”—T. De Witt Talmage.
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