Earlier text: AT EASE IN ZION.REPORT FROM BRO. STRONG.
By P. Strong
CLOSED our meetings in Tittabawassee Dec. 23 and 24. In company with Bro. Lawrence, and Bro. and Sr. Cornell, came to St. Charles. Found the way hedged up for public meeting, and the church in a rather dark state. Held meetings at their houses, and tried to get them into working order. Bro. Cornell preached to them twice, and then left for a new field of labor. Held in all with them, public and private, twenty meetings; four of which were business meetings, in which most of their trials and wrongs were confessed. Still some are holding on to their hard feelings, to their own hurt, and the injury of the cause. In going to St. Charles, it was my intention to hold meetings for those without, but everything seemed to be against it. First, there was a protracted meeting in progress, then shows, dances, donations, singing school, and last but not least, trials in the church. Yet we trust some good has been accomplished. Bro. Lawrence left for home, Jan. 9, and I closed my labors there, the 13th. As I look back over my labors in Saginaw Co., with Bro. Cornell and Lawrence, I have great reason to rejoice. It is true we had some dark clouds to pass through, but in most cases there was light beyond. And here, for the encouragement of those that have given of their substance to scatter Reviews and tracts, I would give a brief history how the truth first came to be presented in Tittabawassee. An old sister, who had kept the Sabbath for years without seeing any of her family or friends come with her, began to feel that she was indeed alone. She gave away a bundle of old Reviews to a caller, little thinking that from them a strong church would be raised up. But the Lord can work, though it may seem long to us. The lady took the good seed home and hung it on a rafter in the chamber, not being interested enough to even look at them. Finally, one day, not feeling well, she thought she would look at those old Reviews, and the first piece she read riveted her attention, and she read them all through, and sent to the Office for more. Soon conviction took hold of her, and conversion soon followed. But this was not enough, her friends must see the truth also. Therefore she kept sending for books, till six eight-dollar packages have been scattered in that region; and through the influence of the books, Bro. Cornell was called to labor in Midland and Saginaw counties, and as the fruits of those old Reviews, books, and labors, under the blessing of God, there is a church of twelve established at "Sixteen," and one of fifty at Tittabawassee, with an interest spreading to hear more, and I hope and trust that those old Reviews will be the means of saving many in the kingdom of God. Still scatter the seed. Jan. 14, held one meeting with the scattered few in Duplain, and then came on to Orleans to rest a few days. Was cheerful on preparation day in meeting Bro. and Sr. White, and Bro. Andrews again. On the Sabbath as we listened to their straight, but cheering testimonies, our heart was made glad in the Lord, and we are led to say, Truly the Lord is leading this people through to a safe place. Sunday, at the close of the meeting, fourteen came forward for prayers. It did our heart good to see the children calling on the name of the Lord. Tuesday came to Orange and commenced a course of meetings where Bro. Loughborough had advertised to commence. Held six meetings before he came. There is some interest manifested to hear, but it is not general. Bro. L. is now here, and I hope the interest will increase, and much good be accomplished. Orange, Mich., Jan. 30, 1868. In our paper for January 25, we published a view of the wicket of the Foundling Hospital at Florence, in Italy, and we called attention to the fact of the alarming increase of infanticide, and of other unmentionable crimes. Indeed, the most startling phenomenon of our life is the apparent decline of the maternal sentiment. Essays are constantly published by medical men which explain the mysterious advertisements in otherwise respectable newspapers. In some papers the reader may find nearly a column of such advertisements, which, in plain English, are merely murder made easy and disease made sure. They are both a cause and a symptom; and the essays of which we speak are the record of the experience of faithful and wise physicians. The late Dr. Worthington Hooker, one of the most eminent among them, declared, in a former number of this journal, that the average of children in American families has declined from eight to less than three, and that one of the chief causes is the consent of the mother. The inevitable consequence of such a condition is that human life declines in value, and that the unwilling mother views infanticide with composure. It is, therefore, not surprising that the Secretary of the Board of State Charities in Massachusetts has ascertained during the last year that eighty out of every hundred infants placed in public alms-houses die within a short time; and an asylum has been founded to care for the unfortunate children; and all the town authorities are authorized to send foundlings and all deserted infants thither. During the last week, also, another instance of this wanton carelessness of life, or in other words, murder, was exposed in this city. A woman applied to the Board of Health for a burial permit for a child two months old. Dr. Harris was suspicious, and upon inquiry it was ascertained that the body of the infant was brought from the house of Catharine D. Putnam, who keeps a lying-in hospital for women who are not wives. The certificate upon which the permit was sought was given, according to the report in the morning papers, by Dr. James W. Ranney, and a false number of the house was mentioned. To the inquiry, whether it141was a disreputable house, Dr. Ranney replied that if taking children from the breast and feeding them upon “spoon victuals” tends to shorten their lives, and “if persons in a house doing this thing makes it disreputable, then this is a disreputable house.” The cook testified that Mrs. Putnam advertised children for adoption, and kept them until they were adopted, and that there was a death in the house every two months. That is, Mrs. Putnam keeps a lying-in retreat for mothers who wish to abandon their offspring, and Mrs. Putnam disposes of them. If there are no applicants for adoption, the fate of the infants may be presumed. The experience of Europe has led to the establishment of foundling hospitals as the surest method of diminishing child murder. The argument that such institutions tend to promote vice by alleviating its consequences is not sound; for we have no right to make the sacrifice of those who are wholly innocent a means of restraining the guilty. Nor is the correction of the evil from which this crime springs to be found in vehement denunciation, and exclamations of horror, and then leaving it to cure itself. In the city of New York we believe that the Creche receives foundlings under certain conditions; but the time is fully ripe for such foundling hospitals as those in Europe. Nor have we any doubt that the revelations of every month and week, the testimony of science and of the police, will rapidly persuade the public of this truth.—Harper’s Weekly. MICHIGAN CENTRAL RAILROAD.
On and after Monday, Dec 30, 1867, Passenger Trains will run on this road as follows: | LEAVE. |
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| Chicago, Arrive, |
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| Chicago,...... |
4:30 A.M. |
7:00 A.M. |
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| Battle Creek, |
11:45 A.M. |
1:05 P.M. |
10:38 P.M. |
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| Detroit, Arrive, |
5:45 P.M. |
6:10 P.M. |
2:45 A.M. |
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These trains all run by Chicago time, which is fifteen minutes slower than Detroit time. MONTHLY MEETING AT NEWTON, MICH.
This meeting, held Feb. 8, 1868, at which it was our privilege to be present, was one of interest, and, we trust, profit. Brethren were present from Parma, Leslie, Leroy, Monterey, Battle Creek, Convis, and Burlington. The house of worship was filled with nearly as many as could be comfortably seated. The brethren in Newton seemed to be greatly cheered by the presence of so many from abroad; and as they expressed their gratification, all who had come from other places felt amply repaid for the pains taken, to get to the meeting. But we had more than this; for the Lord evidently owned the efforts of his people to assemble together, and let his refreshing Spirit rest upon us. We felt that it was good for brethren thus to meet together, in obedience to the apostolic injunction, not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, but to exhort one another and so much the more as we see the day approaching, and endeavor to aid and encourage each other in the work of avoiding present dangers, and getting ready for the issues before us. Nearly all in the house took part in the meeting. It was encouraging to see so much discernment manifested in regard to the times in which we are now living, and to hear such strong determinations expressed on the part of all to press forward in bright hope of speedy and certain deliverance. The principal burden that seemed to rest upon the minds of the brethren was how to pass through the peculiar dangers that now encompass us, how to secure in our hearts the effects of the close and purifying work that must now be accomplished for the church, to prepare them to be taken into the personal presence of the Lord of glory, and the infinite importance of being in season in this work. The Lord now sits as the great refiner, ready to work for his people in the removal of their sins. Every stain may now be taken from us, as spots are removed from a garment by fuller's soap; every particle of dross may be purged away, as gold is purified by the refiner's fire. And this work must be done for us; but soon it will be too late. No fuller's soap, no refining fire, no cleansing fountain then. We may cherish some darling sin in heart or life if we will. The Lord will not take it forcibly away from us. But lo! it will leave its fatal spot upon our garment, and bar us out at last from the pure and white-robed hosts of the redeemed. We believe a good impression was made by the meeting, and that those whose privilege it was to be present, went from the place with their probabilities of overcoming stronger than when they came. No better result could come from a meeting than this; for every particle of strength that can be imparted in this direction is now of untold value. We are confident that brethren living within any reasonable distance of these monthly gatherings would do well to attend them. The churches where they are held would be cheered by your presence, and you would get good to your own souls by so doing. The governments of Europe have an enemy to contend with that cannot be overcome by needle-guns or Chassepots. The reports of destitution there are most distressing. From Sweden to Algiers, and from England to Crete, there is hardly a country in which there is not fear of famine. In the barren districts of Sweden and Norway where, when the crops fail, there is little left but ice and trees, the people are subsisting on cakes made from birch-bark. Across the Baltic, throughout East Prussia, the destitution is so great that the hunger-typhus has broken out. Our German exchanges contain full accounts of the ravages of hunger in the eastern provinces of Prussia. A correspondent of the Stettiner Zeitung, writing from one of the districts on the Baltic, says: “Young able-bodied men and women, with their crying infants wrapped in cloth and bound to their bodies, wander about from village to village, seeking bread or work.142They hardly can find bread for their own needs, to say nothing of their aged and feeble parents at home. The peasant-farmer has nothing to give, and locks the gates of his yard against them. The large proprietors themselves have little left to give, and two-thirds of the winter is yet before us.” A correspondent of the St. Louis Westliche Post says that the hunger-typhus has broken out in Gumbinnen, and is threatening even to appear in the western provinces at Strasbourg. The cause is attributed to the bad crops and the wet season of last year. The whole of Eastern Prussia is nothing but a low, sandy plain, Berlin itself being built to a great extent on piles. While the facts are indisputable, public and private charity have been very slow to come to the relief of the sufferers. The official organs of the government sought at first to conceal the fact, and pronounced the reports of destitution a “democratic exaggeration.” But the government has at last come feebly to the rescue. The Crown Prince has placed himself at the head of a committee of relief to which Prince Albrecht of the royal family has contributed the enormous sum of twenty-five thalers. The Queen is organizing private charity among the ladies. Wheat is expected to arrive from Hungary and the coasts of the Black Sea. But there is reason to fear that the government has been too slow. Crossing the Rhine, and passing over the fertile districts of Alsace, we find hunger and destitution in almost every part of France. A change in the fashion, which has diminished the demand for the kind of silks manufactured at Lyons (in connection with the uncertainty of the political future), has paralyzed the manufacturing industry of that city. The operatives of the Faubourg Saint Antoine besiege the doors of the Hotel de Ville, at Paris, for bread or work, so that around the square where so much blood has been shed, and where, for slighter causes, revolutions have commenced, the guards have been doubled. From Nantes, Rouen and Roubaix, the great manufacturing district of France, comes the same story. At Lille starvation is epidemic, and even in Bordeaux, where the rigors of winter were unknown, suffering is very great. Beyond the Mediterranean, in Algiers, where the drought of two years ago has been followed by the plague of Egypt, the grasshoppers, the Arabs are living upon grass and leaves, and may be seen, naked and emaciated, quarreling with their feeble strength over the offal at the opening of the sewers. Every morning in one of the seaport towns a dozen corpses are found in the streets, and little children, clinging to their dead mothers, are rescued by humane hands. Some mothers, even, whom the pangs of hunger have made mad, offer their infants in the streets for sale for a few cents. One hundred thousand souls have perished in six months from famine. And while Napoleon asks 400,000 francs for the relief of this colony he is negotiating a loan of 440,000,000 francs to create an army which shall embrace in its ranks every able-bodied man in France. In England the suffering seems even greater than in France. In that vast “East of London,” which embraces a population of 600,000, there are 40,000 persons dependent upon charity, and 60,000 in actual distress whose pride conceals their condition. The deaths greatly exceed the ordinary rate. The poor law is inadequate to meet the requirements. The poor rates have been very much increased, and in one district of 11,000 souls, who legally should pay the poor rate, it was found that 4,000 were in need of relief themselves. Where the defaulters were formerly hundreds they are now thousands, and when an officer gets out a warrant to distrain he finds nothing but pawnbrokers' tickets; while ill-organized public and private charity, according to the London Times, “is actually increasing the amount of pauperism and demoralizing the district.” The condition of things is very gloomy, and contrasts strangely with the increase of the military establishments and the general preparations for war on the continent. The political barometer has risen a little these last few days. A few months ago it stood at “immediate war.” It has come down to “changeable,” with oscillating tendencies toward “peace.” Whether the future belligerents, that is to say, the whole of Europe, have begun to be afraid of each other, in view of the perfected armaments; whether the pressure of public opinion, which is especially desirous of peace, has overdone the warlike notions of Messieurs, the Governors; whether, as I am inclined to believe, the different powers, financially ruined by foolish and extravagant expenses, wish to restore public confidence by promises of peace, in order to negotiate their loans on better terms—whatever may be the cause, there is a very decided tendency in favor of peace. Meanwhile the military preparations, the increase of the forces, the armaments, and, especially, the loans, followed each other in feverish succession. Russia and Italy, as if in concert, have just purchased a large number of needle guns from Prussia, and the latter has taken advantage of this opportunity to get rid of a great deal of material that is out of date, which, in French military parlance, is termed “nightingales.” With the money thus obtained, Prussia, in a very ungrateful manner, is making Chassepots—a weapon reported to be much superior to needle guns. France continues her naval and military preparations. The time of service is now nine years and a half, which will place 1,000,000 constantly under arms, and furnish a contingent of six or seven hundred thousand in the National Guard. All the forts and fortifications are to be provided with guns of long range, capable of carrying about four miles—six kilometres. Austria, while improving every opportunity to talk of peace, is exchanging her old arms for the Wondig guns, which are said to fire eighteen shots a minute. Spain is doing the same thing, and is devoting 2,000,000 francs to this work, which seems to have become the greatest necessity of Europe. And, last of all, the Pope has an army of nearly 17,000 men, which will soon be armed with American guns. To cover the necessary expenses of these stupendous armaments, some increase their imposts, others borrow, some beg, some pretend to undertake extensive public works and give their bonds,—in short, all try to get money the best way they can. Italy levies a tax upon incomes, which is the commencement of bankruptcy. Its bankers say to the public: “We owe you a hundred francs interest on money you have lent; but we will not pay more than ninety.” And another Italian loan is also expected to cover the existing deficit, which is supposed to amount to a milliard. Spain has formed a national bank, with a capital of 100,000,000 francs, which seems to be a loan disguised by the name of business, but which in reality is intended to take from the pockets of whoever may be its creditor the hundred millions of which Spain has need. Turkey is negotiating a loan of £100,000 under the pretense of erecting public works at the mouth of the Danube. Doubtless the Pachas, the armaments and the seraglios will absorb a large portion of this loan intended for the Danube. But who of the French or English creditors will have permission to go and investigate whether the money is properly employed? Portugal is making a loan of 137,000,000 francs. The country is not arising, for no one menaces it. There is neither famine nor pestilence within its borders. The reason is, that on account of maladministration the government has need of funds to cover its unwarranted expenditures. Under a pretense of building a railroad in Hungary, Austria is borrowing—I do not remember how many millions—and, in order to make negotiations as easy as possible, glowing descriptions of the fertility and wealth of Hungary are met with everywhere. Yesterday one of the agents of the government asked me if I would write a series of articles on that country, its agriculture, mines, customs, &c., to which I only could reply that I was not a drummer for loans. The Pope has literally gone a begging at every door in the Catholic world. The Catholic journals are everywhere urging the claims of the good cause. There are, on every side, Papalini, Peter’s Pence, offerings, collections, indulgences, and benedictions—all for money. This seems to be the sole object of the head of Christianity in 1867. The Sovereign Pontiff, the Apostle of Peace, the Demi-Dien, has also need of an army. If respect did not arrest my pen, I should not be able to find language to express a just indignation at this Antichristian monopoly. France is again obliged to resort to a loan, and for no other reason than the inordinate and inconsiderate expenses of the government. Meanwhile a million of earnings lie idle in the bank, and distrust of the future will tend to keep it there. For ten years France has loaned to different governments more than three milliard of francs, and, tired of this, money is hoarded in expectation of better times. While the governments are negotiating loans and augmenting their armies, famine is devastating Europe from one end to the other. In some parts of Prussia the inhabitants are actually dying of cold and hunger. In some portions of Russia, hundreds are dying from the same cause. The same misery exists in England, and is augmented by the fear of the Fenians. There has also been considerable suffering in France, but public and private charity have done much to mitigate these evils. The political horizon is still overcast. In Italy, the crater constantly belching out revolutions, the tendency to disunion is on the increase. The new Ministry under Menabrea, has been formed, but Rattazzi is preparing vigorously to oppose him, and has obtained the publication of official documents which prove that, to some extent, he, Rattazzi, was implicated in the recent revolutionary movements. The Italians are busily engaged in making red shirts, on which are marked the letters V. M., which signify—Vengeance, Mentana. Cardinal Andrea, whom Victor Emanuel and the revolution wished to make a sort of anti-Pope, has yielded entirely to the Pope, and asked forgiveness, but, it is reported that, discontented because he has not been reinstated in the emoluments of his bishopric, he intends to retract his retraction, return to Naples, join the opposition, and openly rebel against Rome.—Chicago Tribune. When Mr. Puff, in Sheridan’s play of the Critic, is bringing his “Tragedy Rehearsal” to a conclusion, he makes all the characters in the scene hold their swords or daggers at each other’s breasts in such a way that none of them dare to strike for fear of being struck. Upon which he exclaims, “There’s a situation for you! There’s a heroic group! I have them all at a dead lock! For every one is afraid to let go first.” This is very much the attitude of the Great Powers of the Continent at this moment. France and Prussia are pointing their right-hand daggers at each other, while they threaten with their left, the one Italy and the other Austria, to compel their help, or at least their neutrality; while Russia holds her sword at the throat of Turkey, all ready to dispatch her as soon as the other combatants are fairly engaged; and England, by strengthening her fleet in the Mediterranean, is at least making a feint of striking at Russia should she persist in her designs on Constantinople. While thus Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike, this conflict of discords makes an ominous calm, which is but an indifferent substitute for a true peace. For this state of things is, financially and politico-economically, almost as bad as war itself. It prevents all enterprise, condemns a large proportion of the flower of the populations to the unproductive and wasteful condition of waiting for war, discourages marriage, makes capital stagnant in the vaults of the banks, and multiplies poverty and vice on every hand. The assurances of Bonaparte and of Bismarck that there is no danger of a breach of the peace between them this year is scarcely a palliative of the mischief; for it continues the present state of doubt and distrust, which is continually making the industrial classes poorer and poorer, and crushing the poorest of all with a still more cruel weight of poverty. It were better that war should come at once, with the factitious stimulus which it always brings for the time to industry, rather than this warfare, under the mask of peace, with all the best interests of mankind. That armed hands can be held forever in this readiness to strike is impossible. Some one will think an advantage is discerned, or will be for an instant off its guard; the first blow will be struck, and the general mêlée ensue. It is a curious and a sad commentary on the boasts of modern civilization that France thinks herself obliged to take nearly a million of able-bodied men from the occupations of peace in order that she may not be obliged to go to war! And the other nations feel themselves forced thus to drain their life-blood in advance, to hinder its being spilt! Italy, which needs nothing so much as productive labor to ward off the financial crisis which threatens to overwhelm her independence—if, indeed, in her present posture as to France, she can be said to have any—has to keep between three and four hundred thousand men on foot to guard her against foreign enemies, while a large portion of her domain is virtually abandoned to the tender mercies of brigands. And so with the other continental nations; though the emancipation of the serfs in Russia and the compulsory general education of Prussia, joined to their happy freedom from the taint of Catholicism, have given to the northern tribes a hardihood of political as well as moral and physical constitution which makes their condition and prospects infinitely better than those of Bonaparte’s boasted “Latin races.” And in this posture of affairs, the petty tyrants who have been ousted of their dominions feel, as our petty despots of the plantations do in this country, that in the general confusion they have a chance to come by their own again. King Bombalino thinks he sees the road opening for his return to the throne and the prisons of Naples. The Grand Duke Ferdinand is casting hopeful eyes toward Florence and the Pitti Palace. Duke Francis of Modena and Duke Robert of Parma believe that they may yet be carried to their old dominions over the ruins of the Kingdom of Italy. And it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that all this reaction may be accomplished, should Victor Emanuel link his fortunes with Prussia, and France be more than a match for the two. This, however, is not likely to be the result of such a conflict. The map of Europe may be reconstructed; but it will more probably show all German-speaking races united under the rule of the King of Prussia, with his royal crown changed into an imperial one, and Victor Emanuel enshroned in the Eternal City. It will be a change for the better, as it will strengthen Protestantism as against Catholicism, and constitutional government as against the personal despotism of France. If we are wise in this country, this European complication will only work for our good. We have only to pursue the things that make for peace, to build up our waste places, to maintain our honor and credit, to relieve our industries from all burdens which our honor and credit do not make imperative, to revive our old energy and enterprise, and the disturbance of Europe will only help us to recover our old prosperity. We can hold our former rank among the nations in material success, as we have bettered it as to our military strength. If we can avoid, wisely, a Dead Lock on this side the Atlantic, we shall be able to turn that on the other to our own advantage, and, by our example, to that of the whole world.—Independent. —Fall River, Mass., manufactures 85,200 miles of print calico in a year—enough to give three breadths of a skirt for old mother Earth. —Another attempt at revolution is on foot in Spain, and France and Russia are quarreling over “the peace of Europe,” which is generally a signal of an approaching rupture.