Earlier text: The Order of Events in the JudgmentAt the royal marriage of Sultan Mahmoud, a few years ago, every guest invited to the wedding had made expressly for him, at the expense of the Sultan, a wedding garment. No one, however dignified his station, was permitted to enter into the presence-chamber of that sovereign without a change of raiment. This was formerly the universal custom in the East. But inasmuch as these garments were very costly, and some of the guests might plead poverty, and thus appear unclad in the guest-chamber of the king, the cost was defrayed at the Sultan Mahmoud’s expense. To each guest was presented a suit of wedding garments. Had any, therefore, appeared before this absolute sovereign without the wedding garment, the sultan would have deemed his dignity insulted, and his munificent gifts despised. The question then, "Friend, how camest thou in hither not having on a wedding garment?" Matt. 22 : 12, explains the speechless condition of the man. The wedding robe was ready, not at the expense of the invited one, but at the cost of the king. He had simply to obey the requirements of Eastern state—put on the garment, appear before the king, and do homage to him for his rich habit. His refusal to comply with this reasonable custom, and presuming, notwithstanding, to thrust himself in the presence of royalty, was an avowal that he denied his authority to rule over him, and despised his power. Hence, he was bound hand and foot and cast out.—Sel. The Bright and Dark Sides of Providence
THERE is a dark, and also a bright side to every providence, as there was to the fiery cloudy pillar that guided God's people of old in the desert. Nature looks on the dark side, and calls it sadness; but faith sees the sun dispersing the darkness, and calls it joy. A great many men, whatever may have been their experience in life, are accustomed to complain of the usage they have received in the world. They fill the ears of those who have the misfortune to be their friends, with lamentations respecting their own troubles. But there is no man that is not born into a world of trouble; and no man has ever attained to anything like the full stature of manhood, who has not been ground, as it were, to powder, by the hardships which he has encountered in life. This is a world in which men are made, not by velvet, but by stone and iron handling! Therefore do not grumble, but conquer your troubles. Drunkard's Arguments Answered.
19. ALCOHOL DRIVES AWAY DULL CARE. It will not be disputed that alcohol will dissipate cares, pains, and sorrows. It makes a poor, homeless, friendless, poverty-stricken wretch feel as rich as a king. It makes the doomed murderer forget that he is soon to swing into eternity from the gallows. It makes the fallen outcast from society forget her shame. In short, it makes the user momentarily oblivious to that which is unpleasant in life. But the release thus obtained is only for a moment, and it is inevitably succeeded by a return of the same old burden, rendered more galling and onerous by the stings of conscience and the goadings of remorse. When a man's brain is so benumbed that he does not know his real condition, and loses sight of the realities of life, he is likewise incapable of appreciating any of those higher experiences and sentiments which constitute the highest enjoyments, the true realities of life. Only gross and sensual pleasures can be experienced when the mind is befogged by alcohol. 20. ALCOHOL IS A GOOD MEDICINE; AND IF IT WILL MAKE A MAN WELL WHEN SICK, WILL IT NOT KEEP HIM WELL ? Alcohol is not a good medicine, as elsewhere shown. It is a poison, always, under all circumstances. But if it were a medicine, this would certainly be reason enough for discarding it; for a medicine is supposed to be a substance peculiarly adapted to meet the demands of the system when in a state of disease. Almost any one of those substances popularly known as medicines will make a man sick if used habitually. One more oft-repeated argument requires notice. It is the argument which the confirmed, besotted drunkard uses. He admits all we claim concerning the sin of drunkenness and the direful effects of the vice, for he sees himself a wreck in consequence of its use. He deplores his wretchedness, and curses the man who first placed the burning liquid to his lips. He contrasts what he is with what he might have been, and weeps over his condition; but if you speak to him of reform, he wails, "Alas! it's now too late. I can't reform." "Never too late to mend" is as good a motto for the drunkard as for any other person. It is true his will is nearly paralyzed, his conscience blunted, and his faculties obscured. It is true that his life is nearly wasted, and that, at best, he has but a few more days to live; and yet, reform is possible, and he may yet escape the stigma of a drunkard's grave. Let him summon to his aid all his few remaining energies. Let him call to his rescue every spark of manhood still glowing in his dilapidated soul; and let him make one desperate strike for liberty from the slavery of his loathsome vice. Take care of your voice. Keep it mellow. Save it, and use it to utter the Master's praise, and words indicative of a wise head. Girls and Their Treatment.
FROM intelligent physicians, having extensive practice in this city, we learn that of the women of New York embraced in that class whose circumstances raise them above the necessity of labor, nineteen-twentieths who have reached the age of thirty are seriously diseased, and of their daughters nine-tenths have impaired health at the age of eighteen. In this class of society, for the last ten years the deaths have exceeded the births, so that, if it were not recruited by accessions from the country or from the lower class, it would disappear in a single generation. This may be an exaggerated statement, and we care not to insist upon the figures, but there is ground for alarm. The diseases are chiefly dyspepsia, nervous affections, spinal curvatures, etc. The causes are easily found—our artificial life, want of proper exercise, stimulating diet, emotional excitement. Our young ladies feast at the same table as their parents, using the same luxuries and stimulants. They enter into society before they enter their teens; they take but little exercise, and that spasmodically and of the most injudicious kind—the exercise of the lower limbs. What is the remedy? Exercise in the open air, the use of the broom, spinning wheel, the washtub, which would develop the muscles of the arms and chest, expand the lungs, and pump the blood vigorously through the veins. But, next to a properly regulated exercise, girls need a properly selected food, both physical and intellectual. It would be well to let them know that there is a distinction between girls and women, and that the social enjoyments, the late hours, and the emotional excitement which can be endured by the one can not so well be endured by the other. All this may be little heeded now, but the time may come when young men in search of wives will deem a broom in the hand of a lady more ornamental than a curve on her back; a knowledge of mathematics better than an acquaintance with romances; and a group of healthy children more acceptable in a nursery than a council of eminent doctors.—Sel. RELIGIOUS NEWS AND NOTES.
By Editor
—Italy contains 39,480 Protestants, and 3,994,000 Roman Catholics. —There are now 960 missionaries, including catechists, laboring in India. —The First Congregational church in Chicago has a membership of 1,185. —There are twenty thousand Jews in California; San Francisco alone has ten thousand. —Fourteen United Greek churches are reported to have been closed in Poland within two months. —Rev. Jacob Vonbrunn, the only missionary of the Baptist Missionary Union in Africa, is dead. —The Lutheran churches in the United States have 1,300 Sunday-schools, with 120,000 scholars. —Six missionaries, of the several Boards working in Northern China, have recently died of typhus fever. —In the past five years, the addition to the churches of the American Board constitute an advance of thirty per cent. —The corner-stone of the Gilfield Baptist church, Petersburg, Va., colored, was recently laid. This church was organized in 1803, and its membership is now 2,268, being the largest church in the South, with the exception of the First church in Richmond. The building is Romanesque in style, and will cost $17,000, contributed by the colored people, who have also manufactured the bricks, and dug the foundation for the structure. —An exchange says: "The free distribution of the gospel among Frenchmen and others from near and distant countries is carried on with unabated vigor at the Kiosk at the Paris Exposition. Already 600,000 portions of the word of God, in twenty-two languages, have been issued since May 1. Everything indicates that never were Frenchmen of all classes so disposed to receive the truth as at present, and so highly do the authorities esteem the movement, that the Prefecture have granted a special permit to employ colporteurs at the different entrances outside the Exhibition." —The Chinese claim to have invented the telephone in the year 908. —The people of Iowa have 30 colleges and 385 newspapers of all sorts. —A colossal bronze statue of great beauty has just been unearthed on the banks of the Tiber, at Rome. —Out of the 313,977 acres of assessed land in San Benito county, Cal., nine individuals or firms own 181,103 acres of it, or considerably over half. —Memphis is now the Niobe of Southern cities; its population of 40,000 only two months ago has been reduced 2,500 whites and 6,000 African. —The amount of money that France is pledged to expend to relieve her railroads and to build other public works will reach $1,000,000,000 in 10 years. —It is now estimated that upwards of seven millions of persons have died in the provinces of Shansi and Honan, China, in consequence of the famine. —During the past season much work has been done on the Oregon and California railroad, preparing it for the heavy fall shipments of grain to Portland. —In the Royal library at Paris there is a Chinese chart made 600 B. C., on which 1460 stars are correctly located. There is also a map of China made 1000 B. C. —There are said to be upward of twenty-five flashy story papers published for boys and children in New York city, with an aggregate circulation of over 375,000. —Two thousand three hundred and eighty applicants for admission to the public schools of New York city are excluded this term for want of room; the number of scholars attending is 102,749. —Pauperism in Ireland is terribly on the increase. Out of a population of 5,000,000 nearly 300,000 are supported by public relief, and the number of paupers is increasing at the rate of 18,000 per month. —Plans for a railway up Mount Vesuvius have been completed and the work is to be begun at once. The cars will be drawn by a wire rope, moved by a stationary engine. The road is to be ready within a year. —One billion, four hundred and thirty-nine million one hundred and forty-five thousand three hundred, is the present estimated population on the earth, according to Behm and Wagner's latest figures. This is fifteen millions more than last year's estimate. —Elaborate preparations are being made for the reunion of the Army of the Tennessee at Indianapolis, October 30 and 31. Generals Sherman, Sheridan, Hancock, Pope, Burnside, Logan, Buell, Jeff. C. Davis and other distinguished officers are expected to be present. —October 9, while four miners were endeavoring to disperse an accumulation of gas in the shaft of the Lehigh Valley Coal Company, Wilkesbarre, Pa., one of them made his appearance with a naked lamp. An explosion instantly followed, inflicting injuries which resulted in the death of the entire party. —The following report shows the total amount of mail matter collected and delivered during the month of September by the letter-carriers of San Francisco: Collected—Mail letters, 343,225; local letters, 87,046; postal cards, 101,041; newspapers, 74,113. Delivered—Mail letters, 290,181; local letters, 110,256; postal cards, 86,491; newspapers, 150,673; registered letters, 1,357. —On the 6th of October the debris in the main raise of the Green Mountain mine, Plumas county, Cal., took fire from a break in the stack, running through the raise to the surface, and owing to the rapid generation of gas four miners were suffocated. The mine was closed until the fire was extinguished and the bodies obtained. There was no damage to the mine, the timbers being damp. —October 8, a serious accident occurred on the Old Colony railroad to a crowded excursion train which was returning from the Silver Lake rowing match, between Reagan of Boston and Davis of Portland. A train of twenty cars ran off the track. The scene of the accident was about seven miles from Boston, and as soon as the news reached the city a large number of cots and stretchers were sent out by the city officials. The train to which the accident happened was carrying about 1,500 persons, twenty of whom were reported killed, and many were wounded. MAN is distinguished from the brutes by his power of speech. The great desideratum in speech is to have it agreeable. In order for this to be the case, enunciation should be perfectly easy. There should be no constrained effort of the vocal organs. To tax the expressive powers beyond ease of delivery, either by bawl, or rant, or scream, is to affect the voice for the worse. Sometimes the voice is rendered harsh and unpleasant by a tickling in the throat, bringing on an asthmatic complaint, and causing a dryness in the parts used for speaking. The remedy for this is to gargle the throat with clear cold water. This will often prove more effectual than medicated lozenges or troches. Sometimes, however, it helps, to use a lozenge and cause expectoration; but when this is the case, it is our experience that anything with sharp taste is as good as a troche. A general rule to keep the throat healthy is to keep the stomach clean. Dyspeptics, whose pipes are suffused, are generally great sufferers with their throats. We think more injury is done to the voice by eating indigestibles, than by any other means. It causes distress and heat in the part named, which are exceedingly inimical to the voice. Indeed, it often happens that the enunciation of a dyspeptic is cracked, uncertain. We give the advice to all who may be engaging in public exercises,—speak slowly and as deep down in the throat as possible. The happiest results follow. The effect on the listener is one of profound gravity. That was Edward Irving's plan. At the Methodist Episcopal Conference of Southern Illinois, recently held at Alton, a communication to the conference was presented and entertained, and by vote of the conference an opportunity was granted for urging the claims of national reform. There were in attendance at this conference about one hundred and fifty preachers, forming an influential body of ecclesiastics. The Baptists at their annual convention held in San Francisco the week past, discussed a resolution on the Sabbath (Sunday) question. It was declared, that in the opinion of the Association the matter of observing the Sabbath should not be interfered with by State or National Constitutions or legislative enactments. The report was adopted, and a committee appointed to present the views of the Association on this question to the Constitutional Convention. S. D. Baptist Conference.
The Seventh-day Baptists held their sixty-fourth annual conference in Plainfield, N. J., the last week in September. The attendance was large, there being over two hundred and fifty present outside of Plainfield and New Market churches. Of these over forty were clergymen. The Recorder states: "All seemed to feel that an advance step should be taken by our people. This we were glad to see, as, beyond all question, this should be done. The greatest difficulty with us is, we do not know how to work to advantage. In the beginning we were not organized for work. We came together rather from necessity, and for the sake of social, spiritual advantage; and our organization was affected at a time and under circumstances that justified this. But the times have changed, and the whole Christian world have come to see more clearly the meaning of Christ's words when he said: 'Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.' We were rejoiced to hear warm exhortations to us, on returning home, to go to work for the Master, and we trust the exhortation will be heeded. The delegates evidently came with a sense of the responsibility that devolved upon them. The reports of the various societies were very interesting, showing that the departments of labor under their care were not neglected; and we trust that these reports will be thoroughly studied by our people, and that their recommendations and suggestions will be carefully considered and adopted. The delegate from the Seventh-day Adventists, Elder Waggoner, did himself and his people credit. The presence of Hon. Horatio Gates Jones created special interest, and his address before the Conference was full of encouragement for our people. Nor is it strange that our people should feel a special interest in this noble man, as he has stepped aside from the ordinary course of legislators, and, at whatever cost, has sought to relieve us from the operation of an unconstitutional, unjust, and oppressive law now having a place on the statute books of the State of Pennsylvania." Coming to the Front.
By Editor
In the October number of the Sabbath Memorial is an article with the above caption from which we extract the following:— “The Sabbath is one of the questions that must soon come to the front.” Thus speak many candid minds who, casting about for divine authority for the sanctity of the first day, find neither jot or tittle in the Scriptures to warrant it. What they do find is in favor of the seventh day and no other. Human law which contravenes the divine always proves a miserable failure, as may be instanced by the Sunday law. The various societies which seek to protect the popular day, under the misapplied names of “Sabbath” and the “Lord’s day,” must see, if they have eyes, that many people are not content with the mere assertions of the pulpit, the consecrating voice of prayer and song, that Sunday is thereby any holier than Monday or Tuesday. The secular press, more independent than the religious, now and then tells the public that the seventh day is the Sabbath and not the first day. Here and there are those who come to the knowledge of the fourth commandment—that plainest of the ten—and embrace it, wholly through the reading of the Bible. Others are induced to search that sure and only true guide by means of our Sabbath publications, and thus the number of Sabbath-keepers increases. . . . We feel that the time is opportune to put forward the claims of God’s Sabbath. However some good ministers may say, “You can never change public opinion and practice; it is folly to think that people will ever leave Sunday for Saturday,” we shall try; for we know that the good work goes bravely forward. Though Sanballat voices may cry out, “ ‘a fox’ will ‘break down’ your expectations,” our answer shall be, that we are trying to turn men from the weekly transgression of their lives to the obedience of the fourth commandment. “The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore, we his servants will rise and build.” THE frightful ravages of the great epidemic still progress in the South. There has not yet been sufficient change in the weather to cause any perceptible abatement of the disease, in fact in some localities the number of cases and deaths is reported to be on the increase. In New Orleans on the 12th instant, 40 deaths were reported and 203 new cases. To that date the cases numbered 11,537, and deaths, 3,490. At Baton Rouge the same date, 57 new cases were returned to the authorities, and in some other parts of the State, there was not only an increase of numbers but the disease was assuming a most malignant form. Sad reports also come from various localities in Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. Memphis, Tenn., has been particularly marked by the plague. A gentleman in San Francisco recently received the following account of the state of affairs in Memphis, in a private letter:— "Newspaper accounts give no idea of the horrors that surround us. No words can overestimate the facts. The force on the newspapers is so small they can give no idea of the true state of affairs, and the worst we can picture will not equal the terrible facts. The hand that now writes these lines may to-morrow be stiff beneath the soil of Elmwood. It now seems as if in a couple of weeks more the city would have to be abandoned, as it really looks as if it would not require more than that to annihilate the brave band of physicians and nurses and others who are facing the dreadful monster. Recruits from other sections fall almost as soon as they arrive. Out of about 7,000 who are now in the city, it is estimated there are 4,500 sick. Two hundred and eight died on the 4th; 204 died on the 9th, and these do not include the deaths in the suburbs. The saddest part of the story is that the disease is now making fearful headway all through the suburbs. May God in his great mercy stay the destroying angel and shorten these days of sorrow and death." The simultaneous eruption of the three great volcanoes in different regions is exciting attention.—The Hartford Times says: "Not once in centuries does a time occur in which, as at present, all of three active volcanoes of the world are in full blaze together. That singular fact now exists. Cotopaxi, in Ecuador, the great active fire mountains of the Andean chain, is reported to be in full and tremendous activity—his towering snow-covered peak, rising far above the high mountain valley of Quito, and 20,000 feet above the sea, being crowned by a roaring sheet of flame, and belching forth lava, ashes and thunder. In Italy both of the great volcanoes are in action—an unusual circumstance. Ætna the great mountain in the island of Sicily is seldom in action—scarcely once in a century—and far more rare is the occurrence of a simultaneous eruption of Ætna and Vesuvius." Salem, Oregon.
By Alonzo T. Jones
THE quarterly meeting at this place passed off well. On the Sabbath there was quite a good number present. Nearly all of those who were absent were unavoidably so, most of them by sickness. The celebration of the ordinances was a precious season. Evening after the Sabbath we had a tract and missionary meeting, and Sunday evening after the discourse, in a very few minutes $70 were pledged to the British mission. The dime tabernacle had already been favored with the pledges of many of the friends. Salem, October 9, 1878. ALONZO T. JONES. ELDER J. L. WOOD, who has been laboring the past year and a half in San Joaquin and Tulare valleys, is now suffering from illness. The 14th he passed here on his way to the St. Helena Rural Health Retreat, where it is hoped he will recover, as have many others who have made this their resort. “The Song Anchor,” for Sabbath-school and Praise Service, by J. E. White; in size and style like “Pure Gold” and books of that class. It is issued from the Pacific Press Publishing House, in Oakland, California. It deserves special consideration at the hands of Sunday-school people of this coast for these reasons: 1. Of the real excellence of the book as a book of Sunday-school music. 2. Of the most creditable style, mechanically considered, in which it is gotten up. 3. That it is a California production, both composition and manufacture. Send for a copy and try it.—Cal. Christian Advocate. The Song Anchor is the title of a new Sabbath-school song book of which the publisher may well feel proud. The selection includes all the popular gospel songs of the day, and many new ones which are destined to take a place in the front rank. Price, 50 cents; $40 per 100. Published by the Pacific Press, Oakland.—Alameda Encinal. LAW AN EDUCATOR.
By Vermont Witness
King David said, "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." When it was given, human tastes were not consulted to ascertain how good a law the people would bear. There was no delay to educate or improve the public sentiment, but the law was made just what it should be,—an inflexible standard of right, and the best means of educating public sentiment. That law has never been amended or repealed, and never will be; for it is founded on eternal right. It remains as a standard to instruct the world in righteousness, and to raise humanity to a higher life, instead of being let down to accommodate itself to the condition of society. If the people are not right, the law should be right as a means of making them so.—Vermont Witness. The Clockwork of Daily Duties
THE every day cares and duties, which men call drudgery, are the weights and cotemporaries of the clock of time, giving its pendulum a true vibration, and its hands a regular motion; and when they cease to hang upon its wheels, the pendulum no longer swings, and the hands no longer move—the clock stands still. State Quarterly Meeting
By Editor
The bird of wisdom flies low and seeks his food under hedges ; the eagle himself would be starved if he always soared aloft against the sun. In reply to postal from Pittsburg : Yes. The first California State quarterly meeting of this fiscal year will be held with the Oakland church, Sabbath and first-day, Oct. 19 and 20. BUSINESS DEPARTMENT.
By Editor
$2.00 EACH. T G Lamb 5-9, N W Vincent 5-38, Douglas Ford 5-38, Mrs M Sanford 5-12, Sanford Rogers 5-33, Mrs O S Sargent 5-25, S J Anthony 5-24, G M Gleason 5-38, Carlton Spear 6-35, John Bond 6-1, Mrs E G Lowe 5-24, Jno R Eardley 5-38, Mrs A C Bainbridge 5-29, Isaac W Hall 6-25, O B Oakes 6-1. $1.50 EACH. John W Ford 5-38, Mrs H E Gunn 5-38, Ella Butler 5-38, Robert Britton 5-38, Mrs J Wilson 4-38, W M Howard 5-38, Mrs Triphena Wilson 5-28, M A Brown 6-15, Mary P Gray 5-34, J W Watts 6-36, Liddie Crane 5-38. $1.00 EACH. Mrs M E Littlefield 5-6, Samuel Walker 5-1, Mary J Clarke 5-5, J B Neblett 5-14, Miss Eliza Longley 5-15. 75 CTS EACH. John Willison 5-14, Phoebe Curtis 5-14, M A B Smith 5-9. MISCELLANEOUS. Edgar Flansburg 50c 5-6, Almen D Farrar 50c 4-48, E H Crampton (10 copies $6.50 5-2, S J Starmer 60c 4-37, Nellie F Heald 3.00 5-29, Mrs Lucy Bush 3.00 6-1, Mrs Susie Breed 38c 5-2, A G Woods 15c 4-42. Received on Account.
Cal T and M Society $55.30. California Conference Fund.
Petaluma church $44.00, Green Valley 30.00.