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Signs of the Times, Vol. 9, No. 17.

General Articles
Earlier text: Remarks upon the Third Chapter of Zechariah

Envy and Doing Good

ENVY is a vice which keeps no holiday, but is always on the wheel, and working its own disquiet.
Do good if you expect ever to receive it.

The Public Good of Rum-Selling

By Bloomsburg Journal

WILL any rum-seller tell us of one good thing that has come to our commonwealth as a result of rum-selling? Rum-sellers are licensed for the "public good," what public good have they ever done? They live without work. Is that a public good? They consume our substance and produce nothing. Is that a public good? They live on the money that of right belongs to the wives and children of drinking men. Is that a public good? They impoverish the community. Is that a public good? They cause eighty per cent. of all the crime that is committed. Is that a public good? The above questions may be answered by any friend of the liquor traffic.

Respect in the Arkansas Legislature

By Editor

Both houses of the Arkansas Legislature recently adjourned "out of respect to the memory" of a member who had just died. As the only thing that is told about this member is that he drowned himself during a drunken debauch, we are left to form our own conclusions as to the course which a man must pursue in order to command the respect of the Arkansas Legislature.

Beer and the Amputated Finger

It is stated that a Cincinnati man got some beer into a sore on his finger, and was compelled to have the finger amputated. We have no idea, however, that this will in the least diminish the amount of beer consumed. The stomach of the beer drinker is like charity, in that it has to "endure all things."

Temperance.

General Woodford, at Lake Bluff, said that a "manufacturer in the West" marked seven hundred dollars in new bills which he paid his workmen on Saturday, and the next Monday afternoon four hundred and fifty dollars of those identical bills were deposited in the bank by the saloon men.

Young Ladies and Dress.

A LADY who had taught for over thirty years, once gave the writer some very interesting information. "When a new scholar was introduced," she said, "I always looked first at her dress. If that was plain, neat, and tidy, I was pretty confident that I had good material to work with. For the first two or three years of my teaching, I was in the habit of scrutinizing the features, and the formation of the heads, but these came at last to be quite secondary considerations. One school was so expensive that none but daughters of the wealthy could possibly enter it; so when a young lady came to the class-room in a plain dress, I was sure that it was on account of her idea of the fitness of things. This argued common sense. Common sense is always in antagonism to vanity, and where there is vanity there is self-consciousness. So, you see, a plain dress came to mean a great deal to me. I learned never to expect anything from a girl whose school dress was silk or velvet. I shall always retain the impression made upon me by a quiet little body in a blue flannel dress, and the plainest of plain trimmings. She came from one of the first families in wealth and culture, and was the most unobtrusive child I ever knew, as well as the most brilliant. When she told me graduation day that she had decided to study for a physician, I was not in the least surprised, and I was sure she would succeed, as she certainly has in the most marvelous manner. She carried off every honor, and though the girls in 'purple and fine linen' sneered at her plain attire, and lack of style, there was not one who could ever compete with her."
Certainly, on the whole, the deductions of this teacher are correct. It takes time to array one's self in elaborate garments, and the girl whose mind is occupied with loops and trimmings and general furbelows, cannot, for philosophical reason, have room for much else. Then there is a reason deeper than this, even. The girl whose tastes are in the line of dress and display has not an intellectual development. She may be imitative and intuitive to a degree, but she will always, or generally, be superficial in her learning and shallow in character.
A very good story in this connection is told of a prominent musician in New York. A young lady went to him for a course of "finishing off" lessons. "Let's see what you can do," said the teacher, and placed before her a simple air of Mozart's. She played a few bars, and was interrupted. "Take off your rings," said the great man. A few bars more, and another interruption. "Take off your bracelets." A little farther on she was stopped again. "Your sleeves are too long. I want to see your wrists." The pupil pinned up her sleeves, with a face on fire. At last she succeeded in finishing the selection.
"Do you want me to teach you?" the instructor asked, as she took her hands from the keys.
"Yes, sir."
"Very well. Come to me to-morrow at this hour, without any jewelry, and in some sort of a dress that you can breathe in. I don't know at all how you have played this aria, because of the rattling of gewgaws, and the distressing noise you have made in getting your breath. I am afraid you haven't the instinct of a musician. A musician thinks first of his art, and last of appearances, but it seems to me you think first, last, and always of how you look."
Now this may seem rough and very uncalled for to some, but he was an honest soul and a grand musician. His words proved true. This young lady had not the musical instinct, and after a fair trial was dismissed. Her teacher proved that her practice had been superficial, and all that she had done had been spoiled by vanity and self-consciousness.
A school girl who dressed very plainly, but in good taste, was once asked why she did not "rig up" more.
"Because," she said, "I haven't time to fuss about clothes and learn too, and then I should like to have something new to wear when I am older. Velvets and brocades, and diamonds and pearls, and all those fine things will be new to me bye-and-bye, and there is nothing left for you girls to anticipate."—Selected.

CHARITY.

Oh! be not the first to discover A blot on the fame of a friend, A flaw in the faith of another Whose heart may prove true to the end. A smile or a sigh may awaken Suspicions most false and undue; And thus our belief may be shaken In hearts that are honest and true.
How often the light smile of gladness Is worn by our friends that we meet, To cover a soul full of sadness Too proud to acknowledge defeat! How often the sigh of dejection Is heaved from the hypocrite's breast, To parody truth and affection, Or lull a suspicion to rest!
How often the friend we hold dearest Their noblest emotions conceal; And bosoms the purest, sincerest, Have secrets they cannot reveal! We none of us know one another, And often in error may fall; Then let us speak well of our brother, Or speak not about it at all.
—Selected.

What Harry Taught Belle Chester.

By Ernest Gilmore

A dance of blue-bells in the shady places, A crimson flush of sunset in the west; The cobwebs, delicate as fairy laces, The sudden finding of a wood-bird's nest.
THE Chesters lived in a beautiful home in the suburbs of the city of C—. Belle, the only child, did not appreciate the beauty of her surroundings. She was a selfish, fretful girl of ten, always finding something to trouble her. Just now her vexation was considerable, because nearly opposite her father's elegant mansion small lots had been sold to a half dozen mechanics from the city. Each had put up a simple little cottage, surrounded with wire paling, and their families were moving in. One family was already settled, and as Belle walked past proudly, pushing a pretty little doll carriage with velvet cushion and trimmings, in which sat her aristocratic Victoria Amelia, whose wardrobe was imported from London, she noticed a beautiful little boy of about five years playing in the little yard. He did not see her, and, while she was looking, he sat down on a garden chair and folded his hands as if in prayer.
"I'd like to know what you were doing with your eyes shut in the day-time," she said saucily to the child as he approached the fence to see the beautiful doll carriage.
"I didn't sink any body saw me," he answered with flushed face.
"I saw you. What were you doing? You wern't praying in the day-time were you?" Belle asked, scornfully.
The boy was no coward, he looked up fearlessly as the tone stung him.
"I was prayin'," he said. "Mamma prays in the day-time an' I do, too, when I want to; dere's a lot to pray for over here."
"Humph! what's to pray for I'd like to know?"
The child looked at Belle reproachfully, as he answered: "Oh, everything, bes' of all mine papa don't drink any more, an' this house is ours. Just fink, mamma's, an' papa's, an' mine---all our own---ain't it wuth fankin' God for? we never had any house before."
Belle's heart was touched, but she only said, proudly:— "If you think your house is so fine, what do you think of mine? There it is just over the way."
Harry looked over to the beautiful home, flushed with crimson from the western sky. There were bluebells hugging close to the pretty fence, and a pet fawn of Belle's was scampering over the lawn. Birds were singing in the trees, and roses climbing over the trellises. Harry was charmed.
"I fink it must be most like Heaven," he said, slowly. "I fink if I had your home I'd fank God all day long."
Belle turned away, and rolled Victoria Amelia home. She was thoroughly ashamed of herself. No, she had not thanked God all day, not even one little part of a day. She could not remember of ever having felt thankful. But she was thankful now, and with thankfulness came cheerfulness and generosity. She even remembered to invite her little teacher to spend a whole day in her now delightful home.—Ernest Gilmore, in Christian at Work.

Don't Deceive Children.

NOTHING can be a greater mistake than to consider young people as destitute of understanding; their understanding should rather be appealed to and consulted. Do we not all remember how, when young, we were imposed upon; how our elders sought sometimes to put us off; how they gave us evasive answers or explanations; how they told us some plausible story as an excuse or as a reason? And do we not remember that even in our youth and simplicity we were quite capable of seeing through their maneuvers? Do we not all remember how, when anyone endeavored to keep us in ignorance of some proceeding of which we were made accidentally cognizant, we could divine very correctly the real motive for sending us out of the way with some false excuse? Now, in a case of this kind, which comes within the pale of parental authority, the will of the parent alone ought to be sufficient to control the child. But there should be no stifling of truth and no relaxation of duty. If, as often will happen, it is not expedient or proper for children to know a particular fact or incident, they should be told so with frankness and kindness, but at the same time with firmness. We are apt to overlook the intelligence of these little people and address ourselves to their stature. The treatment of children must always, for their own sakes, differ from that of full-grown men and women; our manner of addressing them must also be different; but there does not seem to be any reason why we should not give them full credit for the amount of intelligence they do possess; and we may every day see children with more discrimination, greater good sense, and better regulated moral deportment than many whose tall figure or riper age has invested them with the consequence of men and women.—Arthur's Home Magazine.

Live Nobly

EVERYBODY wants to die nobly, but it is far better to live nobly; dying is momentary, living continuous. Our manner of living during all these years, will have more weight with the world about us than our mode of dying; besides, the manner of living is largely under our control; the manner of dying is generally beyond it. The character of our life is what we choose to make it; the mode of our exit from it, we ordinarily are not responsible for. Let us live right, day by day, and leave the close of it with Him who doeth all things well.

No Cause for Envy.

"MR. RIDGEWAY," said a young man to Jacob Ridgeway, a wealthy citizen of Philadelphia, who died many years ago, leaving a fortune of five or six million dollars, "you are more to be envied than any gentleman I know."
"Why so?" responded Mr. Ridgeway; "I am not aware of any cause for which I should be particularly envied."
"What, sir!" exclaimed the young man in astonishment; "why you are a millionaire. Think of the thousands your income brings you every month."
"Well, what of that?" replied Mr. Ridgeway. "All I get out of it is my victuals and clothes, and I cannot eat more than one man's allowance or wear more than one suit at a time. Pray, cannot you do as much?"
"Ah! but," said the youth, "think of the hundreds of fine houses you own, and the rental they bring you!"
"What better am I off for that?" replied the rich man; "I can only live in one house at a time. As for the money I receive for rents, why, I can't eat it or wear it. I can only use it to buy other houses for other people to live in; they are the beneficiaries, not I."
"But you can buy splendid furniture and costly pictures, fine carriages and horses; in fact, anything you desire."
"And after I have bought them," responded Mr. Ridgeway, "what then? I can only look at the furniture and pictures, and the poorest man who is not blind can do the same. I can ride no easier in a fine carriage than you can in an omnibus for five cents without the trouble of attending to drivers, footmen, and hostlers; and as to any thing I desire, I can tell you, young man, that the less we desire in this world the happier we shall be. All my wealth cannot buy me a single day more of life; cannot buy back my youth; cannot procure me power to keep afar off the hour of death; and then what will all avail, when in a few years I lie down in the grave and leave it all forever? Young man, you have no cause to envy me."

News and Notes.

By Editor

-The Parliament buildings at Quebec were burned on the 19th inst.
-Two drunken men stabbed each other to death in Stockton, Cal., one day last week.
-The license upon saloons at Minneapolis, which has heretofore been $100, has been raised to $1,500.
-Curley, another of the Dublin assassins, has been convicted and sentenced to be hanged the 18th of May.
-The report that crops in Colusa County, Cal., were badly injured by the late frosts, was without foundation.
-The Pennsylvania Senate has passed to the third reading a bill to prohibit one person from treating another.
-By the falling of the wall of the Grand Army Hall, at Sacramento, seven men were killed, and several others injured.
-The Bustiamente tract, consisting of 1,000,000 acres, in Zacatecas, Mexico, has been sold for $2,500,000 to a London syndicate.
-The Court House at Coleman City, Tex., was broken into one night last week, and all the criminal indictments were destroyed.
-The firm of James Marshall & Co., iron-pipe manufacturers, Philadelphia, have failed, with liabilities amounting to about $2,000,000.
-The Austrian Parliament building in Vienna, is entirely surrounded by mounted police, in consequence of threats to destroy it with dynamite.
-Three thousand emigrants from Liverpool, arrived in Chicago in one day last week. Their destinations were Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado.
-Fifty persons were arrested in Odessa for nihilism last week. They include military officers, young women, teachers, students, workingmen, and soldiers.
-Three rafts upset in the great tank at Secundenabab, India, while loaded with natives engaged in a religious ceremony, and sixty-two were drowned.
-The whipping-post has been revived in Maryland after an interval of sixty-four years. The first victim was a man convicted of brutally beating his wife.
-During the first nine months of the current fiscal year the internal revenue receipts were $108,825,798, an increase of $251,398 over the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
-The House of Commons, in further recognition of the services in Egypt of Lord Wolseley and Admiral Seymour, have voted a grant of £20,000 to each yearly, which, at their death, is to pass to their heirs.
-The recent trial of eighteen prominent nihilists at St. Petersburg resulted in the conviction of all. Six were condemned to death, two to life servitude, and the rest to imprisonment for fifteen and twenty years.
-The Presbytery of New York decided that the religious education of the Chinese in that city comes under the head of foreign missions, and have therefore decided not to appropriate money for that purpose.
-Freeman, the insane man who killed his daughter at Pocasset, Mass., claiming to be acting under directions from Heaven, has recovered his sanity, acknowledging that he was under the influence of the devil, and is to be tried for his crime.
-It is thought the Mormon colonies in Arizona are in sympathy with the Apaches in their murderous raids, if indeed they are not directly connected with them. At any rate they refuse to furnish help to the rangers who are pursuing the Indians.
-Captain Eads has not abandoned the idea of a ship railway across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. On the contrary, work has been commenced; and it is claimed that the road will be finished and in running order long before De Lessep's Panama Canal is opened.
-The manner in which the trial of the Phoenix Park murderers is being carried on in England, is in marked contrast to the way in which State trials are conducted in the United States. It seems that in England a murderer is not by virtue of his crime admitted into the best society and treated as a hero.
-A great deal that is printed in the newspapers is not news at all. Here, for instance, is an item that was written more than twenty-five hundred years ago, yet in its brief space it covers the greater part of the news of to-day: "By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood."
-In the North American Review for May, Professor Alexander Winchell announces his belief that communist doctrines have taken a deep root in this country and in the near future will burst forth in all their fury. No legislation can reach the source of the evil. Commenting on this, the Commercial Observer says: It is a fact that the man Most draws great crowds whenever he speaks, and we do not hear his doctrines repudiated by the classes he appeals to.
-A most terrific cyclone passed over a part of Mississippi about 4 P. M., April 22. The greatest damage was done in the villages of Wesson and Beauregard, in Copiah County. The latter place contained a population of about 500. Wesson is a summer resort for New Orleans people, and had a population of 1,600. The scene is described as appalling; the destruction of life and property was great. Thirty-six persons were killed; a large number was wounded, many of whom will probably die. Terrific thunder and lightning and heavy rain accompanied the wind. It is said that Beauregard was entirely swept away. Other towns suffered severely, and several lives were lost in them. The storm extended into Tennessee; Chattanooga, and surrounding country suffered considerably. As the telegraph wires are down, full particulars have not yet been given. A cyclone is reported near Des Moines, Iowa, at the same time. A snow-storm is reported in Central New York, April 23, and the snow-storm in Colorado continued with great severity at the same date. The elements are strangely affected.

Religious Notes.

By Editor

—The American Bible Society distributed 25,250 Bibles and Testaments in France last year.
—Rev. E. P. Hammond reports 800 conversions as the result of his evangelistic trip to the Bermudas.
—The Universalists have in the United States 711 churches, 707 ministers, and 35,790 communicants.
—The Mennonites in this country now number 410 churches or organizations, 250 ministers, and about 50,000 communicants.
—An Episcopal school of divinity is to be established in Colorado for instructing young men in practical work for Western fields.
—The Congregational ministers of Chicago have resolved to refuse to marry those who have been divorced for other than Scriptural reasons.
—Bishop Whipple administered the rite of confirmation to 247 Indians during his recent visits to the Chippewa Mission, where there are now eight churches.
—A writer in the Christian Instructor speaks of the increasing number of rich men in Congress, and says they may be included, principally, under two classes—Those whose wealth has given them office, and those whose office has given them wealth.
—The Independent thinks a minister has no right to use King James' Version, or any other than the Revised Version in the pulpit. Regarding the Revised Version as the more correct version, it says that "one who uses in worship the Old, does, to the extent of the differences between the two, disguise and conceal the Bible from his congregation."
—Dr. Lyman Abbott says: "There is no Scriptural authority for the opinion, which is rarely openly maintained but is often tacitly assumed, that the example of the apostles is binding upon us. It is their teaching, not their example, which is authoritative." And again: "It is astonishing how strong a hold traditionalism has upon the church." It is indeed.
—The Christian Union, in answer to a question, says: "There is no need of believing that Christ went to the pinnacle of the temple in bodily person; but the narrative implies, and no philosophy can disprove, that there was a real transfer of his spiritual personality thither." Ah, indeed; but can the C. U. give us any light as to what his bodily person was doing in the meantime?
—The Presbyterian says that a "priest" of the Church of England preached a sermon lately from the text, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ," and defended the use of the crucifix as an aid to devotion. The Bishop of the diocese chanced to be present, and before the audience was dismissed rose and made a public and earnest protest against the bold perversion of the text.
—After a long preamble on the importance of the Sabbath, and the unchanging nature of the fourth commandment, the M. E. Conference at Lancaster, Pa., adopted the following: "Resolved, That we will preach a sermon on the observance of Sabbath during the year." These men show a just appreciation of the task which they have undertaken. We don't wonder that they limited themselves to one sermon a year in trying to harmonize Sunday-keeping with the perpetuity of the fourth commandment. We should plead for an extention of time.
—The Rev. Dr. Scudder recently said in Chicago that the lack of personal effort on the part of Christians for the salvation of souls, the deputing of nearly all such work in these latter days to the pastors and missionaries of the churches, while the members feel no responsibility beyond that of filling their pews on Sunday, listening with pleasure to the delightful sermons and fine music, and attending one prayer-meeting during the week, if perfectly convenient, was the greatest evil in our churches to-day, and until Christians were willing to speak to, and pray and labor for sinners, we should see no great ingatherings of souls.
—Rev. W. E. Merriman, pastor of the Somerville (Mass.), Congregational Church, has prepared the following as his confession of faith, which has been recommended to the church for adoption, by a committe that was appointed to examine it: "I believe that Christ shall come again in glory; that he shall raise the dead, and judge the world in righteousness, according to his gospel; that then the wicked shall be punished with eternal destruction from his presence, and the righteous received into his glorious eternal kingdom." We hope soon to see these honest souls that are seeking for light, come out into the full light of truth.
—The Christian Statesman emphatically denies that the proposed Religious Amendment to the Constitution, which it so persistently advocates, has any likeness to a union of church and State, yet it gives room in its columns for expressions of which the following is a specimen: "We long for the day when Christians throughout our land shall seize the political power within their reach and energetically wield it according to Christian principles." Students of the prophecies know too well what that means. The same writer very frankly says: "Christ gave us no specific rules to guide us in the performance of political duty." Very true. But he did say, "My kingdom is not of, this world." His kingdom will not be advanced by the votes of politicians.

Obituary.

By W. A. Gibson

MILLER.—Fannie, youngest daughter of A. and S. Miller, died of scarlet fever, at their home near Milton, Or., Sabbath, April 7, 1883, aged five years, seven months, and three days. Little Fanny was a promising child, and beloved by all. A few words of comfort were spoken by the writer, at the open grave. We leave Fannie to sleep for a little while till the "Life-giver" comes; then "mortality will be swallowed up of life." W. A. GIBSON.

A MINE OF INFORMATION.

By John Nevins Andrews

HISTORY OF THE SABBATH AND FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK.

By Eld. J. N. Andrews.
The Bible record of the Sabbath; the secular history concerning it; the successive steps by which the change to the first day was made, and the work of restoration, are given in detail.
EVERY TEXT OF SCRIPTURE concerning the Sabbath is commented on at length; and the COMPLETE TESTIMONY OF THE FATHERS in regard to the Sabbath and first day is given. The comparative merits of the seventh and the first-day Sabbaths are fully shown. A copious Index enables the reader to find any text, or the statement of any historian.
Should be read by everybody. 528 pp. Price, $1.25.
Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal.

LIFE OF ELDER JOSEPH BATES,

By Editor

WITH PORTRAIT.

This is a reprint of his autobiography, with lengthy introduction, and closing chapters on his public ministry, last sickness, and death, by his fellow-laborer,
ELDER JAMES WHITE.
This is a book that will be read with the deepest interest by both old and young. The first portion of the book pertains to his sea-faring life of over twenty years. Here will be found the record of his adventures in his passage from cabin-boy to master and owner. Then follows the account of his conversion, which took place while on the ocean, and the reforms with which he was connected. He was the organizer of the first temperance society in New England, and was identified with the advent message from its start. Every family should have a copy.
352 pages. On fine tinted paper, $1.25; Plain white paper, 85 cents. Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal.

HEALDSBURG COLLEGE.

By S. Brownsberger

A MODEL INSTITUTION.

Instruction given in Ancient and Modern Languages and the Physical Sciences.
Common Branches Thoroughly Taught. Special Training for Teachers.

GREAT SUCCESS.

This Institution has met with almost Unparalleled Success in the short time since its incorporation.

WHY DOES IT PROSPER?

  1. The Instruction is very Thorough and Practical.
  2. The Discipline is Rigid yet Parental.
  3. The Strong Moral and Religious Influence finds its equal in no other Institution of the kind.
  4. The Expenses of Students for Board, Tuition, etc., come within the ability of all.
  5. The Methods employed in the class-room, and the Professional Instruction, afford special advantages to those desiring to teach.
While its courses embrace all the higher Collegiate Branches, which are taught in the most thorough manner, especial attention is given to the Common Branches.

DISCIPLINE.

One of the prominent features of Healdsburg College is the effort to impress upon its students the claims and benefits of morals and religion. Any one of known evil habits, who is exerting a pernicious influence upon his fellow-students, is not tolerated in the school.

EXPENSES.

The tuition ranges from $2.25 to $6.00 per month. Board in private families and in the college boarding-house ranges from $3.00 to $3.50 per week, with room completely furnished.

ADVANTAGES TO TEACHERS.

Besides the regular class drills in the different branches, there is given occasional instruction concerning methods and general school management.

A PRIMARY DEPARTMENT

Is connected with the College to accommodate those children whose parents desire to place them under the instruction and moral influence of the school.

CALENDAR.

The Spring Term begins January 3, 1883, and closes May 29, 1883. After a vacation the Fall Term opens July 25, 1883. Address, S. BROWNSBERGER, A. M., President, Healdsburg, Cal.

Various Matters.

By Editor

No SIGNS will be published next week, May 3. We expect to attend the meetings appointed in Healdsburg, stockholders' meeting, April 27, and general meeting, April 28, 29.
By telegram we are informed that the Upper Columbia Camp-meeting will be held June 6-12, instead of May 30 to June 6, as published last week.
THE Annual Meeting of the Stockholders of the Publishing Association, and the State Quarterly Meeting of the Missionary Society, were of much interest. We are not able to give the proceedings this week.
IN answer to certain queries, coming especially from Iowa, we recommend the friends to thoroughly circulate a pamphlet published in Battle Creek in 1868, written by the editor of the Review, containing complete answers to objections to the Testimonies written by Mrs. White.
Special attention is called to the first article in this paper—An Impressive Miracle—by Mrs. E. G. White. It is instructive, as all her articles are, and, as the title says, it presents an impressive lesson in the great work of the Saviour.
We invite attention also to the article entitled, "Bible Truth above Science." It is from Prof. Pettingell's work, "The Life Everlasting." We heartily indorse its positions. We have no sympathy with those who appear so very solicitous to "harmonize the Bible with science," especially when their efforts are professedly to save the Bible! We have no fears for the Bible; it will stand all the assaults of opposers in the future as it has in the past. Miracles are above science. To admit that the Bible may be tested by science is to admit that it is not what it professes to be.
The comments on the lessons in the Sabbath-school department of the SIGNS are proving highly acceptable to the Sabbath-school workers. Much labor is bestowed upon them. This department is under the charge of our assistant editor, who is a practical Sabbath-school helper.
We spent Sabbath, April 14, in Healdsburg. We were much gratified to find their Sabbath-school so large; about 160 members. A great responsibility is thrown upon the Healdsburg church by the location of the College. It is to be feared all will not realize the importance of the privileges they enjoy.
Our visit to the College was very brief, but gratifying. The school is prospering, and all seem to be of good courage.
Miss Willard addressed the people of Oakland in the First Congregational Church on the evening of April 12. It is impossible to give any idea of this address. She is thoroughly in earnest and hopeful in her work, and has plenty to say. No brief report could do any justice to her address; it was full of thought, good thoughts, from beginning to end.
THE Pacific once more makes room for some one in the southern part of the State to get rid of a little superfluous venom. Of course it is all directed against the "Saturday Adventists," and especially "their paper in Oakland," whose position on the Sabbath question he proceeds to demolish with an extravagant zeal that is equalled only by his lack of knowledge. He fairly takes our breath away by the fierceness of his onslaught. Eight times, in an article of a column's length, we are accused of simple falsehood; twice, of "intellectual falsehood;" and once of "sophisticated falsehood." We have no hard feelings toward this man; we believe he has done his best, and has used the best arguments that can be found in favor of the Sunday cause. While we pity him, our joy is increased to know that we have the truth, and are not obliged to resort to such language in its support.

Meeting in Southern California.

By Stephen Nelson Haskell

THIS meeting, which is to be held at Los Angeles the week following the Lemoore Camp-meeting, the appointment of which appears in this paper, will be an important one for Southern California. The presence of Sister White will add much to the interest of the meeting. Provision will be made for all that may come, as far as lodging is concerned, as a number of tents will be pitched on the ground. Those coming should bring straw-ticks and bedding, and come prepared to take care of themselves, by having tents furnished for lodging. Three times a year ancient Israel was to appear before the Lord. When they did this, God blessed them in their basket and in their store. There never was a time when we as a people needed the special help of God more than now. Perils are thickening on every hand; dangers are increasing. The religion of the Bible, the present truth, should become more of a living reality. We want to fasten upon God as never before. Those scattered friends in the southern portion of the State will have a privilege in this meeting which they never have had before, and none can afford to lose this opportunity. It is the first time that Sister White has visited this portion of the State, and it may be some length of time before she will again. We are anxious to see the cause move, not only in that portion of the State where they have the privileges of frequent general meetings, but also in those portions of this Conference where the brethren are more scattered. Come up to this feast, and see what the Lord will do for us.
S. N. HASKELL.

Time of Camp-Meetings.

By Editor

KANSAS, May 17-22 PENNSYLVANIA, May 31 to June 5 UPPER COLUMBIA, June 6-12 IOWA, June 7-12 WISCONSIN, Portage, “ 14-19 MINNESOTA, “ 21-26 DAKOTA, June 27 to July 2 TEXAS, Waxahachie, July 13-23 VIRGINIA, Aug. 2-7 OHIO, Galion, Crawford Co., “ 15-21 MASSACHUSETTS, “ 23-28 VERMONT, Aug. 30 to Sept. 4 MAINE, Sept. 6-11 ILLINOIS, “ 11-18
We have not received the appointment of the North Pacific Camp-meeting. It will be held near Portland, time probably very soon after the Upper Columbia meeting.

Teachers of "Advanced Theology."

By Editor

PERHAPS if everybody knew the whole truth about the so-called liberal, or advanced thinkers in religion, simple-minded Christians would be less blamed for refusing to follow their lead. The following from the Christian at Work is just what we would naturally expect to be the case:—
But every man acquainted with the world will still insist with Emerson that depravity is at the root of much of the free-thinking of this day, as it has been in every age during the past. A German professor, "whose name is known throughout Christendom," tells Joseph Cook, "that it is believed that more than a few theological pupils in Holland are immoral men;" and Mr. Cook adds, on what he considers adequate testimony for so grave a statement: "There is not a little theological discussion in Europe conducted by immoral men. It is a fact that men sometimes come out of semi-rationalistic theological courses in France and Holland with the filth of the pit upon them, and go into the State churches as preachers, or into certain universities as professors; and when books are published by them, all must, forsooth, sit down and pick them to pieces, and study them with painstaking candor; for, if we do not, liberalism will criticise us for narrowness." Some of the glamour that now hangs radiant around the critical school would quickly vanish if it were generally known that it represented not the love of knowledge and truth, but only a base desire to make "the worse appear the better reason," for the express purpose of obtaining unrebuked license to indulge in sensuality and sin.

THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES, PUBLISHED WEEKLY, AT OAKLAND, CAL., FOR THE Missionary Society of Seventh-day Adventists.

By Editor

A twelve-page Religious Family Paper, devoted to a discussion of the Prophecies, Signs of the Times, Second Coming of Christ, Harmony of the Law and Gospel, with Departments devoted to Temperance, The Home Circle, the Missionary Work, and the Sabbath-school.
Price Per Year, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2.00 In Clubs of five or more copies to one address, to be used in Missionary Work, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.50 Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal. —OR— REVIEW AND HERALD, Battle Creek, Michigan. MRS. ELIZA PALMER, Sec. N. E. Tract Society, South Lancaster, Mass. S. E. WHITEIS, Sec. Nebraska T. & M. Society, Fremont, Neb. ELD. J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH, Ravenswood, Shirley Road, Southampton, England. MRS. C. L. BOYD, Salem, Oregon.

Upper Columbia Camp-Meeting.

By G. W. Colcord, Ambrose Johnson, T. L. Ragsdale, Committee

THIS meeting will be held in Milton, Oregon, commencing June 6, and continuing to June 12. The Upper Columbia Conference and the other organizations will hold their annual meeting in connection with this Camp-meeting. Delegates should be elected, and all necessary reports be made out in good season. Eld. Haskell of the General Conference, and Eld. Boyd of the North Pacific Conference will attend. We urge all the friends of the cause in Upper Columbia to come to this important meeting.
G. W. COLCORD, AMBROSE JOHNSON, T. L. RAGSDALE, Committee.
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