The Christian Citizen, of Chicago, for September of this year, starts out on a new campaign, especially in an endeavor to stimulate new life into the "National Christian Citizenship League," first organized in 1894. Here is the "proclamation":—
"The National Christian Citizenship League, having declared a national crusade for the purification of public life, the dethronement of evil, and the enthronement of the principles of Jesus Christ in these United States, and having determined that this crusade shall not cease until, in the name of God, it has effected its solemn purpose to make of this a nation whose God is the Lord—appeals to the pure-minded, true-hearted men and women of the republic who believe with Charles Sumner that 'righteousness is preservation,' and calls for a million volunteers to enlist for the war and report at once to the national headquarters."
"Its weapons are ideas, its victory means peace throughout our wide borders and good-will to all the nations of the earth. To arms! Your country needs you. What is your answer?"
And here are its "purposes" and "method":—
"1. To reveal Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the state and nation as well as the individual."
"2. To make Christian principles operative in public affairs."
"3. To unite the followers of Christ in consistent, harmonious, and aggressive action for these purposes."
"METHOD.—To federate the Christian forces in every town, city, or county, with men of convictions and courage in the lead, all co-operating on state and national lines, and all striving to achieve the following ends, viz.:—"
"1. To prevent, by PERSONAL EFFORT, the nomination and election of corrupt candidates and enactment of corrupt laws in city, state, and nation."
"2. To secure fidelity on the part of officers interested with the execution of the laws."
"3. To exterminate the saloon as the greatest enemy of Christ and humanity."
"4. To preserve the Sabbath."
"5. To purify and elevate the elective franchise."
"6. To promote the study of the social and industrial wrongs and the application of the remedies."
"7. In general, to seek the reign of whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good repute."
Elsewhere in the same paper the purpose of the Christian Citizen is thus stated:—
"To inform the public mind; to inflame the public conscience."
"To organize good in order to cope with organized evil."
"To unify and intensify Christian effort, and to unite the friends of Jesus against his foes in civic affairs."
"To furnish a basis and medium for this unified effort in establishing the reign of righteousness in national and local government."
"To establish and maintain Christian principles as the center of all law and government in the state and nation."
Concerning this organization the paper speaks editorially as follows:—
"What! Another society? Yes, and that, for one reason, because there are now so many societies. The Christian Citizenship League might be called a society for the consolidation of reform societies. Tho it does not seek to unite societies as such, it does furnish a platform on which individual members of any and all moral and religious organizations may come together to secure one supreme end."
The leaders in this "Christian" civic citizenship work are to be the pastors of churches:—
"Get the pastors and their official boards in any town or section of a city to arrange a union service in one of the churches on some Sunday evening. This will do the churches good in a general way, aside from the cause that calls them together. This will be easy to do, because it is in these days so often done for one subject or another. Let the pastors each make a brief address on some theme related to the general subject of Christian Citizenship."
Now all of this would be good if it were based on true principles and could be carried out. But there lies the difficulty. Read again the above "Proclamation" and "Purposes" and note the following facts:—
1. It is not in the province or power of civil government, operated by any class of men, to purify either public or private life, or dethrone evil, or enthrone the principles of Jesus Christ. Evil intrinsically9is a matter of motive and heart, as is also righteousness. Righteousness can come only through the Gospel by faith (Rom. 1:16, 17; 3:20-22), and faith is voluntary and of individual exercise. Law may compel wicked men to act as tho they were good, but it can never give them life or principle. Used for such purposes, it makes hypocrites, not Christians.
2. Jesus Christ can be revealed by the Gospel alone, and then only to those who receive it by faith. A nation can be saved only as the individuals composing it are individually saved by faith.
3. "Christian principles" are only "operative" through life, the life of God received by faith. John 3:16; 20:31. Law may seem to make them operative for a little while; but it is like the galvanizing of a corpse. It is a horrible caricature of life, but not life itself. "Christian principles" will be "operative in public affairs" only as they are carried out by such individuals who possess them by faith in Christ.
4. Law nor leagues can never unite the followers of Christ. Federation is not union. The only true Christian union is not federation by law or by creed or by articles of federation or by resolutions, but by the life of Christ received by faith.
5. So the securing of fidelity, the preservation of the Sabbath, etc., can never be secured by law, but only by the righteousness of God received by faith. The Sabbath can not be preserved by law. A forced day, let it come where it may in the week, is not God's Sabbath, which can only be preserved by the love and law of Christ in the heart. Righteousness reigns in men only by faith, never by force.
We know that behind this movement are earnest, sincere men; but they are making a fearful mistake; they are ushering in a reign of hypocrisy and persecution; they are, in the eyes of men, degrading to the same level as the other religions of the world, the Christian religion, and the result will be the utter and absolute ruin of Church and State. Would that every liberty-loving voice were raised against the movement. Every true Christian voice will be. Faith in the all power of Jesus Christ will never seek power to uplift men in politics.
Do We Believe in Good Government?—Most assuredly; and that civil government is best which attends to the affairs of civil government, and leaves religion in all its phases to the individual and his God. The purpose of civil government is to restrain incivility, to guard the equal rights of all, of whatever class or persuasion.
CHRIST IS COMING.
May We Know When He Is Near?
1. CHRIST will come the second time.
Proof: "And unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time." Heb. 9:28.
2. He will come as he went away.
Proof: "While they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. . . . This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." Acts 1:9-11.
3. His coming will not be a silent, symbolical, representative coming, but personal, visible, and with great grandeur and glory, to both hearing and sight.
Proof: "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God." 1 Thess. 4:16.
"Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen." Rev. 1:7.
"And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." Luke 21:27.
4. There will be signs which will herald his coming.
Proof: "And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." Luke 21:25-27.
5. These signs are as surely heralds of his coming as the budding or leafing of trees is the herald of summer.
Proof: "And he spake to them a parable: Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; when they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand." Luke 21:29-31.
6. But while no one knows the day or hour of his coming, it is the duty of the generation which sees these signs in the light of this prophecy to know that he is near, even at the doors, and that that generation will not pass till he comes.
Proof: "So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that he is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." Matt. 24:33-35.
7. There will be two classes at his coming, one upon whom he will come as a thief, another class that will be in the light and watching.
Proof: "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light." 1 Thess. 5:1-5. See also 2 Peter 1:19.
Reader, in which class will you be found?
All Are Poisons
By John Harvey Kellogg
No GREATER calamity can befall a quiet, peaceful community than to have a bad family move into it. But no neighborhood ever suffered more from the bad influence of a family of wicked persons than from the effects invariably produced in any city or village by the advent of the rum family, with its numerous progeny of vices, irregularities, and crimes. We propose to devote this paper to a consideration of the leading traits and characteristics of the rum family, and to make our readers sufficiently well acquainted with the various members of the family to convince them that they are all unsafe associates for any one who wishes to maintain self-respect and his standing as a useful member of society.
The original alcohol family contains half a dozen or more members, some of whom, altho naturally inclined to evil, have become useful members of society, while others have been the means of a vast deal of harm. The four best known to the public have been supplied with names by the chemist, to distinguish them from each other, and are known as methylic alcohol, ethylic alcohol, amylic alcohol, and butylic alcohol.
The first of these, methylic alcohol, is commonly known as naphtha. Methylic alcohol, or wood naphtha, is derived from the distillation of wood. It produces intoxication very quickly when drunk, but its effects are very transient, owing to its great volatility. It is not often used as an intoxicant, but has been so employed by persons of peculiar taste, or confirmed inebriates who were prevented from obtaining their customary allowance of grog. The author once had a patient who on several occasions swallowed half a pint of naphtha, when brandy or whisky could not be obtained.
Ethylic alcohol, or wine spirit, is the intoxicating element of spirituous liquors, and is obtained by the distillation of fermented liquids. The most common form in which it is used as a beverage is in brandy, whisky, beer, wine, etc. It is seldom found pure in commerce, being usually mixed with water. This variety of alcohol is more intoxicating in its effects, and more injurious to the vital tissues, than the preceding.
Butylic alcohol is generally obtained by the fermentation of the beet root. It is also, perhaps, produced in the fermentation which occurs in butter and cheese when they become old and rancid, since these substances contain an acid known as butylic acid, which is derived from this kind of alcohol. It is this which gives to frowy or rancid butter and very old cheese their peculiar flavor. This member of the family is still more active in intoxicating properties than those already mentioned, producing an intoxication which is very slowly recovered from, and in which there is great prostration, trembling of the muscles, and extreme coldness.
Amylic alcohol, or fusel-oil, is produced by the fermentation of potatoes, and also, to some extent, in the fermentation of grains and fruits. It has a burning taste and pungent odor, and is the characteristic constituent of bad whisky. A few drops of fusel-oil will produce as profound an intoxication as a considerable quantity of ordinary alcohol, which accounts for the infuriating and deadly effects of bad whisky, as well as its rapidly fatal effects, as often seen among miners, negroes, and Indians. The deadly effects of cheap rum from the West Indies have become so manifest in some of the South Sea islands, controlled by the English Government, that it has become necessary to prohibit its introduction.
There are several other alcohols closely allied to those mentioned, and with similar properties, besides numerous other compounds, which are classed by chemists in the "alcohol series," among which are the well-known substances, carbolic acid and creosote, the caustic and poisonous properties of which are too well known to require other than mere mention. If not own brothers, these compounds are at least cousins of "the demon of the cup."
All Are Poisons.
All the alcohols are poisons. No one questions this respecting fusel-oil, naphtha, or any of the alcohols, with the exception of ethylic alcohol, or wine spirit, which some scientists claim to be able to show is a food, tho all the rest are poisons. If some one should bring to us half a dozen varieties of a newly discovered substance, possessing similar properties, evidently all members of a common class, and all capable of producing death, each having its fatal dose, and should say to us that all of the half dozen members of the family were poisons but one, and that was an excellent food, we should certainly be very incredulous. No one in his senses could be made to believe a statement so widely at variance with common sense, and yet this is exactly what is said to us by those who maintain that wine spirits is a food, while potato spirit, wood spirit, and all the other members of the rum family, are poisons. The fact is that a man may drink a quantity of naphtha with less danger to life and less effects than would be occasioned by a much smaller dose of wine spirit, in the form of whisky, brandy, rum, or gin.
All the alcohols are antiseptics; that is, they will preserve perishable substances, by preventing10decay and decomposition. There are those who imagine that this property recommends alcohol for use for human beings. Some years ago the writer heard of a man who was reputed to be 117 years old. Thinking he must have been a man of very temperate habits, to have attained so great an age, he took the pains to hunt him up in a large eastern city, and, to his disappointment, found that he had for more than a century been an inveterate smoker, and taken his pint of whisky every day. Advocates of the use of alcohol point to such exceptional cases in triumph; but let us not be too hasty. Whisky had not done this ancient human being so much good after all. He hardly had the semblance of a man. He was so wrinkled, and dried, and shriveled up, he looked more like one of those strange creatures that Stanley saw in Africa. He may have been preserved by alcohol. If so, he was a fair specimen of a human pickle. Altho reputed to be alive, he had really been dead for thirty years or more, tho his friends had neglected to bury him.
The fact that a man can pickle himself with alcohol, and yet live to be a centenarian, is not evidence that alcohol is good, but that the man is uncommonly tough. If a man could live 117 years in spite of it, he ought to live a century and a half under favorable conditions.
J. H. KELLOGG, M.D.
WHAT YEAR IS THIS?
ARE we living in the year of our Lord 1897, or are we again in the beginning of the eighteenth century?
W. H. Armstrong, pastor of the church of the Seventh-day Adventists at West Washington, Pennsylvania, is in jail for desecrating the sabbath. The shameful desecration of which he is guilty is that on a recent Sunday, having changed his boarding-house, he carried through the open streets to his new domicile a box containing a Bible, "Life of Christ," "Hints for Church Librarians," Smith's "Dictionary of the Bible," "Natural Law in the Spiritual World," and other books of the same character, about a dozen in all.
What shall be said of the people of Pennsylvania who permit such an infamous law to still appear on the statute-books?
And what shall be said of the Christian people—God save the mark!—who incited the arrest of Mr. Armstrong, and appeared as witnesses against him?
Surely the missionary societies of the various churches should call in their crusaders from the much-abused "heathen lands," and set them to work to inculcate a little of the spirit of true Christianity in the dark corners of Pennsylvania.—Sacramento Bee.
The law of Pennsylvania provides that any person convicted of doing any kind of unnecessary work on Sunday shall be fined not less than $4.00, or go to jail six days. In this case, the victim refused to pay a fine, and was sent to jail. Such laws are the logical outcome of the Sunday-closing movement, now being actively agitated in the State of California, and for years not a Legislature has convened but has been asked to pass its counterpart.—Winters (Cal.) Express.
TRIAL, A TOUCHSTONE.
By Louis Van Norman
"Virtue, like sweet odors, is most fragrant when crushed."
In the Rhineland, runs the story, in the days of long ago,
Stood a castle on a lofty mountainside,
With stern battlements that frowned o'er the quiet vale below,
And a keep that even Time himself defied.
The old count who held high revel in its ancient wassail hall,
In his love of minstrel music, wild and free,
High o'er the sleeping valley to the neighboring mountain tall,
Had strung great wire cables skilfully.
When upon these chords of iron breathed the balmy breath of June,
Or the gentle zephyr fanned them with his wings,
They spake not back, nor answered to the harvest breeze's croon,
And e'en the autumn gales found silent strings.
But when winter's boreal coursers, at the chariot wheels of storm,
Swept with their majestic power o'er the vale,
And the stern old god of tempest rent the clouds in wild alarm,
With his vivid lightnings, couriers of the gale,
Then the smitten cables answered, and their accents, weird and grand,
Reached the dwellers in the valley like a strain
From some mighty, sweet Æolean, in a far-off fairy land,
Or an echo from an angel song's refrain.
In the kisses of life's sunshine there is naught to prove the soul,
Nor can fortune's breezes wake its music fine,
But when sorrow's blasts come fierce, and affliction's thunders roll,
Then the chastened spirit sings its song divine.
Louis Van Norman.
A MISSIONARY SERMON.
By Alice Cary
If you have a friend worth loving,
Love him. Yes, and let him know
That you love him, ere life's evening
Tinge his brow with sunset glow.
Why should good words ne'er be said
Of a friend—till he is dead?
If you hear a song that thrills you,
Sung by any child of song,
Praise it. Do not let the singer
Wait deserved praises long.
Why should one who thrills your heart
Lack the joy you may impart?
If you hear a prayer that moves you
By its humble, pleading tone,
Join it. Do not let the seeker
Bow before his God alone.
Why should not your brother share
The strength of "two or three" in prayer?
If you see the hot tears falling
From a brother's weeping eyes,
Share them; and by kindly sharing
Own your kinship with the skies.
Why should any one be glad
When a brother's heart is sad?
If a silvery laugh goes rippling
Through the sunshine on his face,
Share it. 'Tis the wise man's saying—
For both grief and joy a place.
There's health and goodness in the mirth
In which an honest laugh has birth.
If your work is made more easy
By a friendly, helping hand,
Say so. Speak out brave and truly
Ere the darkness veil the land.
Should a brother workman dear
Falter for a word of cheer?
Scatter thus your seeds of kindness,
All enriching as you go—
Leave them. Trust the Harvest Giver,
He will make each seed to grow.
So, until its happy end
Your life shall never lack a friend.
—Alice Cary.
THE MERCHANT'S WIFE.
By Anonymous
MR. ROSE, a merchant, now residing in Philadelphia, who formerly lived in rather an extravagant style, was in the habit, every Monday morning, of giving his wife a certain sum of money for table and other household expenses of the week.
He never mentioned his business to his wife, and she, deeming him sufficiently capable of attending to his own affairs, never inquired into them. About fifteen years after their marriage, through some slight mismanagement and the rascality of his confidential clerk, Mr. Rose suddenly broke, and his fall was mentioned sympathizingly on 'Change, and—like all such matters—there sympathy ended.
The merchant kept the affair secret, and the first intimation his lady had of it was by a paragraph in a paper. Shortly after dinner was over, on the day of the discovery of the startling facts, Mrs. Rose desired her husband to remain in the parlor a few moments, as she had something to say to him. She then left the room and hurried upstairs and shortly afterwards returned with a splendidly bound Bible in her hand. Handing it to her husband, she said:—
"George, the day following our marriage you gave me this precious book, as a token of your love, and as a rich fountain to look to in the day of trouble. Its pages have been precious to me, and, as your brow looks sad to-day, I now return it to you, that you may glean from it some consolation in the hour of gloom."
She then left the room.
The merchant opened the book carelessly, and a bank bill fell out of it. He picked it up and glanced at its face—it was a $10 bill. He opened it at the first page and continued to find an X between every two leaves till he arrived at the commencement of the Book of Revelation. He was saved—could again commence business, and that, too, with a capital of $9,000.
He rang the bell. A servant appeared.
"Request your mistress to come to me immediately," said the merchant.
The lady obeyed, entering the room with something between a tear and a smile.
"Kate! Kate! where did you procure all this money?"
" 'Tis the weekly savings of our household expenses for the last fifteen years," was the modest reply. "Every week I put ten out of twenty dollars which you gave me into our Bible bank; that when a day of trouble came upon us, we should have something to save us from the wolf."
"But why put it in the Bible, Kate?"
"Because it is a good bank, and one which will not suddenly break," replied the lady. "It is a consolation in weal or wo, the friend to which we can always come and find comfort in distress; and it was a fancy of mine to place my savings in this Book of richer treasures, and to present it to you, that in looking for spiritual consolation, you might also find the means for your temporal relief."—Anonymous.
SKETCHES FROM THE ORIENT.
By H. P. H.
My first visit to the Orient was in Cilicia and Syria, in company with an Armenian as co-labourer and interpreter. Leaving Constantinople by steamer, we passed across the Propontis, now called the sea of Marmora, through the Dardanelles, past the plains of ancient Troy, and along the coast near the site of Troas, then around the cape past Assos, and between the large island Mitylene and the mainland to Smyrna. After a short stop and change of steamer, we continued south past the coast of Ephesus, and about two hours later passed Miletus, with Patmos just in view on the dim horizon to the west. Soon after losing sight of Patmos, we steamed past Coos and Rhodes, and the next day were running along the southern shore of Cyprus. As the steamer stopped a few hours at Larnaka, near the eastern extremity of the island, we landed and made a short excursion into the country. It was the end of March; vegetation was far advanced, and the waving fields of grain were already headed out. Our landing was as free as in any other British possession, no passport being required. But this was not a good preparation for our next landing.11A few hours' run to the north from Cyprus brought us to Mersina, the port of Cilicia, a view of which is given in the accompanying illustration. Like most ports in Turkey, there is no pier to which vessels can tie; they must anchor at some distance from the shore, passengers and cargo being landed with small boats, such as seen in the picture. This is usually the most interesting part of the voyage. As soon as the steamer appears in sight, many of these small boats put out to meet it; as a rule, they are not allowed to approach within a certain limit until a signal is given; they lie leisurely about, rocking on the waves till the given signal, when in an instant all is activity; all row as for life, each being desirous to reach the steamer first. While some remain below to manage the boats, others board the steamer to secure passengers and luggage.
As they gather about the steamer, it is a wild, exciting scene, specially when the waves run high; they push and crowd and pull one another's boats, while shouting and scolding one another, almost coming to blows. While those that keep the boats below are disputing claims as to position about the steamer's ladder, another lively scene is enacted on deck. But little time is lost with the Franks, as the Europeans are called, for they generally pay the price asked, which is several times the amount paid by the natives; but with the latter, there is almost a pitched battle. First, the boatmen quarrel with one another about the passengers, and the passengers have a heated dispute with the boatmen about the price. It is not uncommon for these disputes to last half an hour, several engaging in the discussion at the same time, with fiery words and wild gestures, that would discount the best efforts of a criminal lawyer.
Having engaged a boatman, our luggage was taken direct to the custom-house (the first large building in the center of the illustration), while we were taken in another boat to the long pier seen in the background. Here officers met us, and, besides demanding our passports, first examined our small hand luggage, and then began a thorough search of our persons. Some of the passengers looked on in indignant surprise, but all had to submit to this ordeal or return to the steamer. Every scrap of paper containing writing or printing, if no larger than a postage-stamp, was taken for inspection. My pocket Bible was also taken, and, not being returned before we left for the interior, and as I could find no other that I could read, I had to work without a printed Bible, and was thus forcibly reminded of the importance of having the Word in the heart.
This rigid examination was because the Armenians had been specially active in this region, and some plot was suspected. The Armenians are quite numerous in Cilicia. In their best days this whole country was in their possession, and ever since they have looked to it with longing, as a land flowing with milk and honey. Not far to the northeast is Zeitun, the place so long held by the Armenians against the best efforts of the Turks.
Our illustration is a good representation of the better Turkish towns. The buildings shown are the best in the place; the sheds and rubbish seen in the foreground represent the most common features of the town. Cilicia being a fertile plain, Mersina has quite a large trade in grain and fruits. It has the advantage of possessing one of the few railroads in Turkey, there being a line of about forty miles extending from Mersina to Adana; it was built by English capital; a principal station is Tarsus, the birthplace of the apostle Paul. The modern city is on the site of the old. Its ancient glory is buried from six to ten feet beneath the surface, and from its marble palaces, material is excavated for modern structures. Through Tarsus runs the Cydnus, a cool mountain stream in which Alexander the Great nearly lost his life by imprudently bathing at noonday, while heated and weary from the journey.
Among the few visible remains of the ancient city is a huge tomb of Sardanapalus, or Assurbani-pal, the last great Assyrian monarch. A chief attraction of the modern town is Paul's Institute, an institution founded and maintained by American donations, for the education of young men for Gospel work. It is open to all classes and confessions. On visiting the school we were somewhat amused to see the students in calico gowns and with red Turkish caps on both in the study and class-rooms.
It was the object of the founders of this school to provide a place in the native city of the great teacher of the Gentiles where young men might be fitted to go forth on the same mission as Paul. But while they did not comprehend the whole truth as Paul taught it, we are glad that these truths have of late been preached in his native town, and that a number have accepted them with joy, and, like Paul, are looking forward to the time when our Lord shall return with the promised reward.
WHAT AN ASTRONOMER SAYS.
THERE are those who accept of the fancies of astronomers as facts of astronomy, and who believe that some great telescope or lens will be made which will reveal all about the moon, tell us whether Mars is inhabited, etc. To such and all, the following from Prof. E. E. Barnard, one of the kings in astronomy, on the possibilities and probabilities of the great Yerkes glass, may be of interest. The extracts below are taken from an article in the San Francisco Examiner of June 7:—
Of refracting telescopes—the most powerful form—the Yerkes is the greatest ever made in point of both size and power. It stands theoretically one-fourth more powerful than the great Lick telescope—the pride, and justly so, of California.
The first, and one of the most important statements, is that too much must not be expected from the new telescope. It is only those who have worked with great telescopes who can fully appreciate this remark. If we did not have to deal with the disturbances ever present in our atmosphere, one might give the imagination a great deal of freedom in predicting what a great telescope is likely to do. Every tremor in the atmosphere is multiplied in its disturbing effects by the power of the telescope, and this tends to destroy the image of any object under observation.
In reference to Mars, it is expected that its surface will be seen better than in any other telescope, but all the sensational ideas about what may be revealed on this planet had better be laid aside at once. The great telescope will probably disprove many of the absurd ideas now propagated about Mars. So far as seeing the probable inhabitant of Mars, or any of his works, is concerned, nothing more absurd was ever conceived. We shall see the planet better than it has been seen, but how little that means for the possible inhabitant of that planet can only be fully appreciated by those who use telescopes, and not by those who write about them.
The great telescope will enable us to more accurately determine the distances of the fixed stars, but it is not expected that it will show us the true disk of a fixed star, from which its actual size could be determined. This is possibly beyond the reach of any telescope that will ever be made.
The moon will be better seen, and some information of value may be obtained concerning it, tho very much is not expected in this direction. A greater telescope will only reveal more little hills and valleys on the desolate surface of the moon, but the step that will tell us what it is composed of, and whether it ever bore life upon its surface, is one so enormous that it can not be expected of any telescope yet to be constructed.
Much has been said about the closeness to which the forty-inch lens will bring the moon to the earth. Theoretically it could be brought to within a comparatively few miles, but under such conditions that nothing could be made out of it. There is a limit at which the best results can be obtained. If this limit is forced, the image is blurred, and the surface is not as well seen as with a lower power. I would say that under the best conditions, with the great telescope, the moon would look as if seen with the naked eye at a distance of from 150 to 200 miles. Of course it has been stated that the moon would be brought much nearer than this, but it would not be well seen under such conditions, and no advantage would be gained. Indeed, it would be a decided loss on account of distinctness.
In conclusion, I would say that the magnificent gift of Mr. Yerkes to the University of Chicago will very greatly advance the science of astronomy along many lines, and will stand a lasting monument to the munificence of its founder. So far, however, as news of a sensational nature is concerned, nothing whatever can be expected from it, as the telescope is in the hands of men who do not take kindly to that form of 'science.'
OUR WORK AND WORKERS.
By Editor
ELDER C. W. FLAIZ, president of Minnesota Conference, announces a general meeting for laborers in Minneapolis, October 8-17.
DURING the present month two more camp-meetings will be held in Minnesota,—one at Frazee, the 22d to the 26th, and one at Marshall, 28th to October 5.
At Lake Benton, Minn., twelve adults have taken their stand to "keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." These are fruits of the labor of Elder O. O. Bernstein.
NOTWITHSTANDING the extensive drought in Australia, and a consequent dearth in business, the office of our colaborer, the Bible Echo, reports an encouraging profit the past year.
At a place known as Gutche's Schoolhouse, where Elder W. B. Hill has been laboring, twelve converts are reported, and a Sabbath-school of over twice that number has been organized.
At the recent camp-meeting held at Beatrice, Neb., eighteen persons were baptized. Another camp-meeting is to be held at Fremont, same State, beginning the 26th inst. and closing October 5.
THE Review notes a move among our sisters in the west to establish a home for homeless women in Denver, Colo. "The idea is to receive friendless and dependent women, regardless of religious profession or faith, and to endeavor to make the home as nearly self-supporting as possible." Any further information may be had of Miss Minnie A. Riley, Boulder, Colo.
A GOOD report is given of the tent-meetings held at Alden, Minn., by Elder D. E. Scoles and Brother P. S. Olsen. They have an interesting Sabbath-school, and five are keeping the Sabbath of the Lord.
THE following interesting statistics, taken from the Minnesota Worker, were compiled by Elder J. N. Loughborough, a pioneer in our work:— "We first commenced the sale of our pamphlets and tracts in the year 1854. The sales for the first two years were $1,287.91. The sales for thirty years, down to the close of 1883, were $427,915.24. The canvasser's sales from that time to Jan. 1, 1897, were $4,719,100.92. The sale of trade books and the Sanitarium books was nearly four million dollars more, which, added to the sales for the first thirty years, would make over $9,000,000 worth of Advent books, pamphlets, and tracts sold since 1854. By 'trade books' we mean pamphlets, tracts, etc., aside from those sold by canvassers. January, 1897, there were 42 papers published by our people, beside the missionary State papers. Nineteen of these are in foreign tongues, and twenty-three in the English language. The Seventh-day Adventist denomination has publishing houses in twelve different parts of the world; from these are sent forth 780 different books,12pamphlets, and tracts. To secure one of each of the books, and a copy of the papers for one year, would require the sum of $280. The books already published are in the following 32 languages: Arabic, Armenian, Bosuto, Bohemian, Bulgarian, Bengalee, Chinese, Danish, English, Esthonian, Finnish, French, German, Holland, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Hawaiian, Kaffir, Lettish, Lavonian, Maori, Polish, Portuguese, Roumanian, Russian, Servian, Spanish, Swedish, Tahitian, Turkish, and Welsh."
THE recent Michigan camp-meeting and conference session has been reported from various sources as a very profitable meeting. From first to last there were a large number of leading brethren in attendance. There were two baptismal occasions, including about eighty candidates. Elder J. H. Durland was reëlected president of the conference.
A LOCAL paper, in mentioning some tent-meetings held at Randolph, Vermont, says: "The tent-meeting closed Sunday evening. The attendance has been quite good, especially toward the close. Professor Whitford's singing was much enjoyed, and both he and Elder Pierce won the good-will and respect of all by their courteous bearing. Seventh-day Adventist doctrine or not, they preached and sang much truth, which can hardly fail of bringing some good results to this community." It is due to the brethren mentioned to say that they began meetings in the face of much prejudice against the name "Adventist," because of very noisy and somewhat fanatical meetings previously held there by a different class of Adventists, who were not observers of the Sabbath of the Lord. The results of the effort of Elder Pierce and Professor Whitford would no doubt have been more marked, had they not been compelled to close on account of the camp-meeting.
UNTIL further notice the address of Elder H. A. St. John is Healdsburg, Sonoma Co., Cal.
