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Review and Herald, Vol. XXXI, No. 6

PRAYER.
Earlier text: THE CHRISTIAN'S HOME.
ALL violent pastimes are evil, or, in other words, produce or tend to produce unhappiness; for evil and unhappiness are only commutable terms.
The Roman Question in France.—Our latest French papers bring a full account of the discussion of the Roman question in the French Corps Legislatif. Brilliant speeches were made on the part of the opposition by Jules Favre and Jules Simon, and on the side of the Government by M. Thiers and M. Rouher, the Minister of State. The attitude assumed by the latter, with regard to the Temporal power, was much more definite and emphatic than was expressed two weeks ago in the brief Cable dispatch. He clearly stated that France would not allow Italy to enter Rome, and on that account advised Italy to give up all idea of making Rome its capital. The declaration at once put an end to the Conference scheme.
A remarkable speech was made by M. Thiers. He entirely separated, in this question, from his friends of the Liberal Opposition. In point of style, his speech is pronounced, even by the Liberal organs, one of the greatest he has ever made; but as regards its sentiments, it professes the most shocking cynicism that ever any prominent statesman has dared to express. States, according to him, are, as regards their international relations, in a state of nature. It is force, not principle, which must regulate all conflicts. There are no international rights which have to be respected. The weaker States group themselves around the stronger, and ask their protection. The chief principle of their political system is the balance of power. The principle of nationalities is radically and totally false. The right policy for every strong power is to keep its neighbors down. France, therefore, ought to have prevented the consolidation of Italy and of Germany. Having failed to do this, she ought at least to prevent Italy from completing her national unity by the annexation of Rome. Thiers makes no profession of being a Catholic; he expressly states that he does not adopt the Pope’s late Encyclical against the errors of modern civilization; but as the majority of Frenchmen happen to be nominal Catholics, he claims for the French Government the right to interfere in behalf of the independence of the Head of the Church.
That Berryer, who is a Legitimist and practical Catholic, should declare his adhesion to the conduct of the Government, was generally expected. When the vote was taken, only seventeen members, out of two hundred and fifty-four, voted against the pure and simple order of the day. Thus the Corps Legislatif, by a commanding majority, has approved the intention of the government to assume the perpetual patronage of the Holy See.
The Italian Parliament is as unanimous in asking for the annexation of Rome as the French Corps Legislatif is in opposing it. The overwhelming majority in all foreign countries profoundly sympathizes in this question with Italy.

MICHIGAN CENTRAL RAILROAD.

On and after Monday, Dec 30, 1867, Passenger Trains will run on this road as follows:

GOING WEST.

LEAVE. MAIL. DAY EXP. EVE. EXP. NIGHT EX.
Detroit,... 7:10 A.M. 11:00 A.M. 5:35 P.M. 10:30 P.M.
Battle Creek,... 1:35 P.M. 3:48 P.M. 11:15 P.M. 3:40 A.M.
Chicago, Ar've, 9:00 P.M. 10:00 P.M. 6:30 A.M. 11:00 A.M.

GOING EAST.

MAIL. DAY EXP. EVE. EXP. NIGHT EX.
Chicago,...... 4:30 A.M. 7:00 A.M. 4:15 P.M. 9:40 P.M.
Battle Creek, 11:45 A.M. 1:05 P.M. 10:38 P.M. 4:50 A.M.
Detroit, Arrive, 5:45 P.M. 6:10 P.M. 2:45 A.M. 10:00 A.M.

Distress in East London, England.

FROM an Appeal which has been issued by the East London Mission and Relief Committee, we learn that terrible destitution prevails in a district north of the Thames, which, according to the Census of 1861, had a population of 636,056. The following extract from the Appeal will give a little idea of the state of things:
'The workhouses are filled by 6,374 inmates, and 24,163 persons are in receipt of outdoor relief.
'The poverty has gone on steadily increasing for twelve months past, and it is estimated by those resident and visiting through the district, that in addition to the ordinary misery which tries to hide its head, or finds refuge in the workhouse, or receives outdoor relief, there are among the masses at this moment, at the lowest estimate, more than 12,000 men out of employment, and that they with their families amount to upward of 50,000 souls in destitution, of whom at least 15,000 are children, almost naked and starving. These were in great part sufferers last year in the period of cholera, and, though then aided, had first exhausted all their little means. Last summer, instead of being, as usual, a time for recruiting their resources, was, from want of work, an aggravation of their poverty, and the coming winter will find them stripped of everything usually available to pawn for bread, and still unemployed.
'The details furnished by the visitors, of strong men starving, and wives and children dying from want of sufficient food and clothing, are even now so harrowing as to prove that when winter sets in, the mass of misery and loss of life will be perfectly appalling. Able men walk for miles, from place to place, to seek employment—hundreds are all day assembled at the dock gates, awaiting the casual work there found, and frequently failing to do so, return to their homes penniless and unfed. A great body of Spitalfield's weavers, who heretofore found work at the docks, have lost their work by competition of stronger men, and are now unemployed.
  • *
'To effect relief on a scale at all commensurate with the need, at least £30,000 will be required, and a staff of 250 visitors.'

The Gomorrah of the Nineteenth Century.

A WRITER in the Chicago Tribune describing the present moral condition of the city of New York, says:
The wickedness of New York no one pretends to deny. It is a city of moral filth and spiritual decay. You learn that a fine house in a good location is to let at a very low rent, for the simple reason that next door is a brothel. New York is horrible in the indulgence of the basest of appetites. Tens of thousands of men go that road alone into the company of vile women, and as many women to whom dress and pleasure mean corruption. The aristocracy of New York is not an aristocracy of wealth, but of self-indulgence. The ambition of the young bloods is not to have plenty of money, but to riot with money or without, in gilded sinks of iniquity. And these gentlemen of the metropolis, whose blood grows fouler every day, are as well pleased with themselves as the proudest lords of the proudest aristocracy in the world. Nowhere can you see faces baser and more insolent than you may see in Fifth avenue.
The unceasing scramble for gain, and horrid squabble of half-mad scramblers, fill the whole stage of life in New York. Selfishness is the law, and success the gospel, of the millions whose noise fills the day here, as it were, with the groan of an earth-demon. Nobody cares, nobody hears, if any voice is raised but the voice of the market, and the song of pleasure. I speak of course with a reservation as regards the voice which may come direct from kind Heaven, through some inspired man or some signal event. Such a voice these hucksters and harlots would undoubtedly hear; but, alas, who is inspired of all the talkers, pious and profane, in the Babylon of our land? New York has no great preacher. Beecher, on the Brooklyn side, draws crowded houses year in and year out; but he is not a great moral power. His decided inclination to comedy has no redeeming background of tragic earnestness; hence the hearers of Mr. Beecher are entertained, but are not convinced. The fullness and charm of Mr. Beecher's sensibilities undoubtedly edify his disciples and please the crowd, as fine sentiments on the stage please the crowd. But they do not convict and convert. Mr. Beecher is essentially a weak man, because he plays with the truths of religion. People go to be entertained. And they go away merely entertained, because the great pulpit performer does not deal in downright, consistent, and powerful intellectual convictions, but in changing, inconsistent and practically feeble imaginations. The dreams of Mr. Beecher's soul are profoundly radical and heretical. The theology which he professes to teach is strictly orthodox. To avoid getting into trouble, Mr. Beecher attempts to discard logic and theology in favor of piety and religion. The result is that Mr. Beecher builds on shifting sands. He involves himself in a kind of intellectual dishonesty which is fatal to his power. He plays fast and loose with truths of absolute importance, until he becomes a player merely. If he could pass his nights for awhile, watching through the streets, with the leprous victims of sin, until a grand, grim earnestness became the supreme impulse of his soul, and then could sift, and weigh, and utter the soundest truths in a terrible honesty of clear conviction, his weakness would become strength. Instead of this, he puts his soul into a novel, and sells the novel for thirty thousand dollars to the Ledger.

The Earthquake at Porto Rico.

A LETTER from Ponce, dated December 2, says:
The 18th of November will ever remain a memorable date to the inhabitants of these isles. The day was very sultry, and about 1 o'clock heavy, sullen, lead-colored clouds began settling down upon the mountains in the distance. The air became close and stifling; not a leaf stirred; not a bird was heard to sing; an overpowering calmness of the atmosphere prevailed; the clouds appeared immovable, and the sun shone with a strange light, its rays tinting the earth with a fiery copper color; the mountains exhaled thick vapors; at intervals, deep, rumbling sounds were heard, as prognosticatory of a coming tempest. Finally, at 2:42 o'clock, came the crisis. It is said that the shock lasted forty-five seconds, but others say, only forty. The oscillations were regular, excepting the few last, in which some little variations were observed; the direction was from southeast to northwest. Since the earthquake of Santa Rosa, in 1865, no such severe and prolonged shock has been felt. Many persons were in the streets, discussing the probabilities of an earthquake and visiting the points that suffered most on previous occasions, when suddenly a cry was heard. One second after, this cry was repeated by thousands of souls, and instantaneously, as if by magic, the town of Ponce was left deserted. “The sea! the sea! the sea!” shouted the populace, beside themselves with terror. “The sea is coming!” cried several men rushing past carrying children in their arms. “Run! run! to the cerro! to the cerro!” shouted others. Such was the severity of the shocks that in the faces of all were pictured anguish and terror. Men, women and children rushed toward the cerro, or hights, with such rapidity that in a minute its broad fields had the appearance of an immense camp. The people—no doubt terrified by the fabulous stories that had been circulated about the submersion of the Island of Tortola—did not stop to reflect, but rushed toward the nearest hights, self-preservation being their only thought. At the cries of “The sea! the sea!” the mother called to her children, the wife, to her husband; the air was filled with shouts that caused the stoutest heart to quail. Here, a young girl fell to the ground fainting; there, a child was seeking its mother, lost in the crowd; a little further on, a poor, infirm old man vainly endeavored to reach the high ground; children were clustered around their parents; coaches and men on horseback were going to and fro, bringing weeping women and children; and amid all the disorder and horrible confusion, none seemed to give an instant for ascertaining what was the reality taking place. An hour afterward, when calmness and order were being restored, it became known that the sea, half an hour after the first shock, had receded to its natural level, but only to return again, submerging that portion of the town nearest the shore. Beholding the first advance of the sea, several persons on horseback had rushed into the town spreading the alarm; the subsequent panic accomplished the rest. At 5:30 o'clock, on the same afternoon, a few oscillations were felt, as were also some more severe shocks at 3 o'clock, on the morning of the 19th, since which time no record of the shocks experienced had been kept. In consequence of the earthquake, all the buildings of masonry have been abandoned, many of them having sustained considerable damage, particularly the theatre, which has one of its lateral walls cracked from foundation to roof. The church has not yet been opened, but it is thought that it has suffered severely. The government buildings and warehouses near the wharves have also been damaged, and almost all the chimneys of the boiling-houses on the estates have been leveled to the ground. All business is paralyzed, the stores are opened and shut to no purpose. The number of masons and carpenters is inadequate to the amount of work to be done. The time for gathering the crops is upon us, and there is no material wherewith to replace the ruined buildings. Add to this the misery and suffering of those rendered destitute, the exorbitant prices asked for articles of food and raiment that cannot be dispensed with, and what will come next!

Obituary Notices.

By S. Rumer

Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.
DIED, in Jacksonville, Ill., Nov. 14, 1867, at the residence of his son, my beloved father, Israel Smith, aged eighty-two years. He was taken with the dysentery, but so far recovered, that it was supposed he would soon be around again. But one day, on getting up to have his bed made, while sitting in his rocking chair, leaning back with a pillow under his head, as he appeared to be asleep, his son's wife thought she would not disturb him, he was resting so well. In about an hour and a half, she thought she would awake him, and found she could not. By this time he breathed quite heavily, and in about two hours and a half, he was no more. Father had been a man of sorrows, having, besides many other afflictions, buried three wives, and four children. For many years he was afflicted with a fever sore, in consequence of which, his left limb was amputated above his knee. He was a lover of the present truth, but was lonely, as he was deprived of the privilege of meeting or conversing with those of like precious faith. He wrote to have his paper, the Review, continued. Said he did not know how to do without it. It seemed hard to part with my dear father; but this is my consolation, that if faithful, I shall soon meet him where death, sorrow, and sufferings will be no more.
Fare thee well my father, Until the trump shall sound, And wake thee from thy resting place, The cold and silent ground.
'Tis then we hope to meet thee, In a better world than this, Where tears are wiped from every eye, And all is perfect bliss.
No longer thou art care worn, Thy sufferings all are o'er, No trials shall afflict thee, As they have heretofore.
A star gem'd crown of glory, Shall round thy temples twine, And all the joys of Heaven, Shall be forever thine.
Thou'lt need no staff to travel, O'er the celestial plain, No friendly crutch to aid thee, Wilt ever need again.
But thou shalt range with pleasure, The verdant landscape fair: So farewell, dearest father, 'Till we shall meet you there.
S. RUMER.
Ashfield, Mass.

Publication Department.

By Editor

Buy the truth, and sell it not. Prov. xxiii, 23.

The Publishing Association.

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association was incorporated in Battle Creek, Mich., May 3, 1861. Its object is to issue “periodicals, books, tracts, documents, and other publications, calculated to impart instruction on Bible truth, especially the fulfillment of prophecy, the commandments of God, and the teachings of Jesus Christ.” Its capital stock is raised by shares at $10 each; and every shareholder is entitled to one vote in all the deliberations of the Association, for every share that he or she may hold. The Association has now a large and well-furnished Office of publication, established in Battle Creek, Mich., and employs two steam power presses in carrying on its business. A meeting of the stockholders is held each year, at which a board of trustees is elected to manage its business, and editors chosen to conduct its periodicals, till the ensuing meeting. All persons employed in the publishing department, are engaged at stipulated wages, and all profits accruing from the business, are strictly applied by the Association to the carrying out of the object of its formation, and to its charitable uses and purposes. All lovers of truth, who “keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus,” are still invited to take shares in the Association, and have a voice in all its deliberations.

The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald

Is a large sixteen-page religious family paper, issued weekly by the S. D. A. Pub. Association, and devoted to an earnest investigation of all Bible questions. It is designed to be an exponent of momentous and solemn truths pertaining to the present time, some of which are set forth by no other periodical in the land. The fulfillment of prophecy, the second personal advent of the Saviour as an event now near at hand, and mortality through Christ alone, a change of heart through the operation of the Holy Spirit, the observance of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, the divinity and mediatorial work of Christ, and the development of a holy character by obedience to the perfect and holy law of God, as embodied in the decalogue, are among its special themes. And while it will endeavor to present impartially both sides of all important questions, it has a definite theory to teach and hence will not devote its space to an indiscriminate and aimless mass of conflicting sentiments and views.
Regular price, $3,00 per year, or $1,50 for a volume of 26 numbers. On trial for six months $1.00. No subscriptions taken for less than six months. To the worthy poor—free, by their reporting themselves and requesting its continuance, once in six months. The friends of the Review are invited to earnest and unceasing efforts to extend its circulation.

The Youth’s Instructor

Is a monthly sheet, published as above, and designed to be to the youth and children what the Review and Herald is to those of riper years. You who wish to see your children instructed in the great truths which so interest you, will here find a sheet in which these things are set forth in a plain and interesting manner, free from the popular fables and errors of the age. It should not only visit regularly every youth and child who professes to be a follower of Jesus, but should be taken and read in every Sabbath-keeping family. Don’t forget the children. See that they have the Instructor. Terms, 25 cts. per year in advance.

The Health Reformer.

This is the title of a monthly health journal, “devoted to an exposition of the laws of our being, and the application of those laws in the preservation of health and the treatment of disease.” It is an earnest advocate of the true philosophy of life, the only rational method of treating disease, and the best means of preserving health. Practical instructions will be given from month to month relative to water, air, light, food, sleep, rest, recreation, &c. Health, its recovery and preservation, is a subject of world-wide interest, whatever may be a person’s tenets in other respects; and to this the Reformer will be exclusively devoted. Edited by H. S. Lay, M. D., Managing Physician of the Health-Reform Institute. Terms $1.00 in advance for a volume of twelve numbers. Address Dr. H. S. Lay, Battle Creek, Mich.

The Sabbath Question

Is becoming a theme of wide-spread and absorbing interest. To those who wish to give the subject a thorough investigation, we recommend the History of the Sabbath. As a work setting forth a connected Bible view of the Sabbath question, its history since the

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Review and Herald · Third-day, January 21, 1868