Signs of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 11. (3/18/1889)

Signs of the Times

Mar 18, 1889

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 18, 1889

Romanism’s Growth in Canada

A CORRESPONDENT of the New York Independent gives the following interesting, but at the same time alarming, facts relative to the growth of Romanism in Canada: “In the year 1760 French Canada passed by conquest into the control of the British. The population was estimated at 70,000. Now it is one million and a half. Of the present population 200,000 are Protestants, the remainder belong to the Catholic Church, and all these are French, except 100,000 chiefly Irish. The increase of the French over the English threatens the extinction of the latter at no distant day in the Province of Quebec and eastern portion of Ontario. Hence, should this same rate of French increase continue, and Rome maintain her influence over them, her number will grow year by year, till by another century it would reach considerably more than the present population of the whole dominion.”

THE SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR.

By Mrs. Ellen G. White

BY MRS E. G. WHITE.

THE word of the Lord declares that "whatsoever is not of faith is sin." We desire that everyone should be in a position where he can believe the word of God. How should I feel if my children should be constantly complaining to me, just as though I did not mean well, when my whole life’s efforts have been to forward their interests and to give them comfort? Suppose they should doubt my love; my heart would break. I couldn’t endure it. How would any of you feel to be thus treated by your children? How can our heavenly Father regard us when we doubt his love, that has led him to give his only begotten Son that we might have life? The apostle writes, "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" And yet we stand back, distrustful and suspicious, saying, "Well, he doesn’t mean this for me. Perhaps he loves others, but he does not love me."

Why is it so difficult for you to believe in God?—It is because you have been educating your soul in doubt and unbelief all your life long. It makes my heart ache to hear your mournful testimonies, stating that your whole life has been a failure. Have there not been some bright spots in your experience? Have you not had some precious seasons when your heart throbbed in response to the Spirit of God? Dear brethren, for Christ’s sake cherish every ray of light, every token of mercy and good, every blessing that God has bestowed upon you. Although you see that you have

not given glory to God, that you have not been grateful, let that not be a reason why you should be ungrateful still, and sink down into despondency and discouragement. Have you not praised God in the past when the warm rays of his love fell upon your heart? Have you not sought to do his will as an obedient child? When you look back into the chapters of your experience, do you not find some pleasant pages? Is memory's hall filled only with pictures of neglect and sorrow? Are there only dark, forbidding, and unhappy representations there? Are there not some pleasant pictures, where you can see the providence of God? Confess your ingratitude of the past; but retain every pleasing memory, and every token of God's love that he has given to bind your heart to his great heart of infinite love. Oh, praise him! Let us educate ourselves to speak the language of faith. If Satan has cast his dark shadow across your path, look up in faith, and God will let his light shine upon you and dispel the darkness. Satan would like to have you cherish that shadow. He would like to have you view God through a cloud of his own making; but we are to be in a position of faith and confidence in God, where we can cherish every bright beam of light; having seen a token of God's love, we are to say, "Here is an evidence that God is blessing me. I cherish this as a manifestation of his favor. I will gather up the precious jewels of his truth." If you do this, you will be full of light. If you have been in the shadow, confess your unbelief, and then claim the promises of God by living faith, and come into the light of your Saviour.

You are not to trust simply in pleasant emotions. Suppose that after you have been filled with joy, you should rise in the morning under a cloud, with the same train of shadowy thoughts as have troubled you in the past. Would that be an evidence that God had left you during the night? Not at all. It would simply be an evidence that your mind has so long been trained in the line of unbelief, that it is from force of habit running in the doubting channel. Dwell on the faith side of the question. Educate your thoughts in the line of God's mercy. Educate your tongue to speak of his goodness. Train the whole mind and soul to act in faith. It is praising Satan when you talk so continuously of your doubts and darkness. You are glorifying the prince of darkness when you give up your thoughts and words to follow in the shadow he casts on your pathway. Let your first morning thought be, "How good is the Lord! He is full of goodness and tender mercy." Praise him. Say, "Lord, thou knowest that I love thee." When the darkness of the enemy begins to sweep over you, say, "I do love the Lord. I know that I love him, and I know that the Lord loves me, even me."

A good way to disperse darkness is to talk faith and courage. We are admonished in the word of God to fight the good fight of faith. Suppose that you take your stand under the banner of faith. If you have repented of your sins, and have confessed them to God, you need no longer go on in doubt and despondency. God does not want you to stand under a cloud. He wants you to come into the light, and to have confidence in him, knowing that you have committed your soul unto his keeping, as unto a faithful Creator.

Satan will come to you after you have trusted in God, and will try to steal away the victory that faith has gained. He will present your sins to you; but can you not tell him it is written, "The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin"? Can you not tell him that God has promised to remove your transgressions away from you as far as the east is from the west, and that they are to be remembered no more?

I see the necessity every day and every hour of exercising living faith. What is faith? It is "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." There is a wonderful power in faith. It brings eternal things to view, and lays hold of the arm of infinite power. If you have been educating your soul to gather up the dark chapters in your experience, turn over a new leaf and have a new, bright, cheerful experience; put your will wholly on the Lord's side. We must exercise living faith if we would war successfully against the temptations of the enemy.

There are on the walls of this house two mottoes, "Praise the Lord," and, "Thy word is truth." These are good and pleasant words. Suppose that you hang your memory's hall all full of the remembrances of God's goodness, grace, and truth, and let not one dark thought or shadow have a place in that hall. We are not to be so selfish as to simply desire a flight of happy emotions. We are to fix our faith on the promises of God, which are sure and steadfast, and shall endure forever and ever. The joyful feeling will come when we fully trust in God's promises. Jesus has said, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden." This invitation is certainly for those who are burdened with unbelief; and his assurance is, "Ye shall find rest unto your souls." It is not, "May be you shall find rest." Oh, no; it is positive and certain: "Ye shall find rest." Why do we misinterpret our heavenly Father when he says, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Take his yoke upon you, and he will bear the heaviest part himself. Is he not good company? do you object to association with him? He says, "I am at thy right hand to help you," "my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Why not make up your mind that you will stand in your God-given manhood and womanhood, and, through Christ, be overcomers? Why not say, "God has promised the power, and I will win back the moral image of my Creator and Redeemer"? Do not allow the mind to hold communion with the enemy. Do not talk of his power to discourage you. Talk of Christ, who is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by him. We have a whole Saviour, and let us have a whole faith in him who has died for the sins of men, and for my sins. When we take this position, we shall find rest and peace in our Saviour. Come with your burdens, and lay them down at the foot of the cross, put off the yoke of self and sin, and wear the yoke of Him who is meek and lowly of heart. Let every soul come to the fountain, and drink of the waters of life, that will be in him like a well of water springing up unto everlasting life.

When I talk of the subject of faith, my faith grows. I feel as though I could run through the troops of darkness, and rise above all barriers. It seems as though nothing could hinder me. By living faith, I grasp the hand of Jesus, and I am all light in the Lord. I do not look at self, I look to Jesus, my high priest, who presents my case to the Father, offering up the merits of his life and sacrifice. Faith will keep the mind above the low level of earth, and direct the soul to Heaven in contemplation of the spiritual and eternal. Let us lift up Jesus, the Saviour of men. Talk of his love, tell of his power, and the angels of God will be attracted to you. Will you have faith in God, who "so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life"?

The Censuses of 1880 and 1890

Only a few months have elapsed since the publication of the census of 1880 was completed. That census gave twenty-four volumes, aggregating some 20,000 pages. The census of 1890 will be published in six volumes, containing about 5,000 pages, and the Census Bureau has promised that the statistics of 1890 will be in print in 1892.

A Chinese Church’s Generosity

SAN FRANCISCO has a Chinese church of seventy-six members, scarcely a member of which earns more than $30 per month, which raised $1,000 for church and school purposes last year, and sent $60 to China for the support of a chapel. “These ‘heathen Chinese,’” says the Christian at Work, “collected all that money among themselves without the ‘Christian’ (?) methods of entertainments, suppers, etc.”

Rev. James Stuart’s Suspended License

The Free Church Presbytery of Edinburgh had before it the case of the Rev. James Stuart, one of its own licentiates, whose views, enunciated in a work entitled “Principles of Christianity,” were alleged to conflict with the teaching of the Confession of Faith. The result of a two-hour discussion was that it was decided to “suspend Mr. Stuart’s license for the present.” It would be interesting to know how well Mr. Stuart’s views accord with the Bible.

Berlin’s Lack of Churches

FIFTEEN years ago, Berlin had but 800,000 inhabitants, and church accommodations for only 25,000 persons. Since that time the population has doubled, and yet but one church has been built. In one district of the city, there is but one church to every 70,000 people, and in another, there is but one church to 140,000 people. And although each of these churches has a pastor, with several assistants, the deficiency in the pastoral provision and care of the people is correspondingly great. This state of affairs the Lutheran Observer attributes to general Sunday desecration.

The Character of Newspaper Editors

It is officially stated by the Bombay Government, that out of sixty-three newspapers established in that province in 1885, 1886, and 1887, twenty-four were edited by men dismissed from the Government service, or convicted of theft, breach of trust, and similar offenses, or notorious for a loose character, or of unknown social status and limited education, or by school-boys, religious mendicants, and the like. The New York Observer suggests that papers are not lacking in this country that appear to have a similar class of persons on their staff, judging by the amount of attention paid to the gratification of low tastes and criminal appetites.

Sunday Observance and the Fourth Commandment

By Editor

TWENTY-EIGHT professors in four theological institutions in Chicago have signed a paper earnestly commending the recent movements designed to promote the better observance of Sunday. They specify that Sunday newspapers are prejudicial to the interests of the Sunday, and express the belief that no part of the day should be given to the reading of such papers. They also say that traveling for business purposes is a desecration of the day, and that merely social entertainments are not in accord with the divine requirement concerning holy time.

They signally fail, however, to point to the divine requirement which is violated. Possibly they have in mind the fourth commandment, but all Bible students know that it says expressly, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord,” and makes no reference to Sunday.

Job’s Faith in the Resurrection

JOB 19:26 reads thus: "And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." The word "worms" is not in the original, and the reading of it is very awkward at best. Whether it should be read, "After my skin, worms destroy this body," or, "After my skin worms destroy this body," is questionable with many. We have heard it read both ways. What does Job mean? In the first place, he does not use the word "worms" at all, nor is there a necessity for it. What he does mean is perhaps best expressed by Boothroyd’s translation: "If after my skin this body be destroyed, yet in my flesh shall I see God." That this translation of this eminent Hebræist is correct is also evident from the circumstances. Job was afflicted with "sore boils from the sole of his foot to his crown." His skin was a putrid, diseased, decaying mass. But this does not limit the faith of the God-fearing Idumean. He says, "If after my skin [now already consumed] my body be destroyed [by the same disease or otherwise], yet in my flesh shall I see God," when he shall stand the latter day upon the earth. Then Christ will change the vile bodies of mortality and make them like his own. Phil. 3:21. This Job believed; and this he expressed.

TRUST THOU IN GOD.

By Whittier

TRUST not in man with passing breath, But in the Lord, old Scripture saith; The truth which saves thou mayst not blend With false professor, faithless friend.

Search thine own heart. What paineth thee In others, in thyself may be; All dust is frail, all flesh is weak; Be thou the true man thou dost seek!

Where now with pain thou treadest, trod The whitest of the saints of God! To show thee where their feet were set, The light which led them shineth yet.

The foot-prints of the life divine, Which marked their path, remain in thine; And that great Life transfused in theirs, Awaits thy faith, thy love, thy prayers! —Whittier, in ‘Chapel of the Hermits.’

SLANDER.

By S. S. Times

"SLANDER" is commonly understood to be a false report affecting another's character, uttered maliciously; yet, as a matter of fact, that slander which, as a rule, does most harm to reputation, is not uttered maliciously, but is spoken recklessly or thoughtlessly by those who have no deliberate or passionate purpose of evil in giving it currency. The malicious utterance of a slander is likely to defeat its purpose by its very exhibit of malice; whereas a slander that is simply repeated by one person after another, with its steadily increasing scope and explicitness, as a matter of gossip or as an item of popular information, often seems too natural to be wholly a fabrication, and it gradually gains a credence that properly belongs to established truth.

It is the "they say," or "they all say," that slips so easily from the unwatched tongue, and that enters so freely the unguarded ear. And there is never a time, nor ever a social circle, when and where there is not some foul slander concerning innocent and unsuspicious persons, which is passed from one to another unthinkingly, on the basis, or the baselessness, of this indefinite origin. He who consents to hear such a charge against another without giving it a challenge, accords his tacit approval to a slander. He who consents to pass such a charge along as something which he has heard and has not challenged, becomes himself a slander-monger, if not indeed a willful slanderer. He, on the other hand, who challenges any such slander, and who rebukes its utterer, is so far an upright man and a public benefactor. Let no person utter a slander in your hearing unrebuked by you. Have a care not to be a slanderer by repeating a charge affecting another's good name, while you lack such proof of its correctness as would justify you in repeating it boldly to its subject's face.—S. S. Times.

Feed My Lambs

The gospel is the good seed, and when sown in the young mind, it is sown in good ground, and the fruit will be seen in an abundant harvest. Officers and teachers in the Sabbath-school should urge the children to attend the public worship of God and hear the sermon. Parents should have their children by their side in the house of God during preaching. Let the preacher, in the preparation and delivery of the sermon, remember that Christ says to him, "Feed my lambs." Do not neglect the children. The good impressions made on their minds will be lasting, and may result in their salvation.—Selected.

STAND BY THE TRUTH.

By William Ellery Channing

SPEAK always with moral courage; speak what you account great truths frankly, strongly, boldly. Do not spoil them of life to avoid offense. Do not propitiate passion and prejudice by compromise and concession. Beware of the sophistry which reconciles the conscience to the suppression, or vague, lifeless utterance, of unpopular truth. Do not wink at wrong deeds or unholy prejudices because sheltered by customs or respected names. Having deliberately, conscientiously, sought the truth, abide by your conviction at all hazards; never shrink from speaking your mind through dread of reproach. Wait not to be backed by numbers. Wait not till you are sure of an echo from the crowd. The fewer the voices on the side of truth, the more distinct and strong must be your own. Courage even on the side of error is power. How must it prove on the side of truth? One speaking, not from selfish calculation, but giving out his mind in earnest sincerity, uttering his convictions in natural tones, and always faithful to the light he has received, however he may give occasional offense, will not speak in vain; he will have an ally in the moral sense, in the principle of justice, in the reverence for virtue, which is never wholly extinguished in the human soul.—Channing.

A ONE-IDEA MAN.

By Rusticus

"I don't like Mr. Jones. He has no breadth of culture. He's a one-idea man. He is always harping on one string. In every sermon it's just, 'Come to Jesus,' over and over again. Why can't he give us discourses now and then about 'the dignity of true manhood,' or 'the wonders of modern civilization,' like Elder Drawem over the way? Our young folks go there because they want something new. They say that Mr. Jones is an old fogy, and they are tired of the monotony of his sermons."

This was what Hugh Hamer said to me when I was at his shop the other day. Hugh is a machinist. He has invented an excellent separator, and is supplying all the country about here with them. Instead of replying to him, I said: "I have often wondered at you. You are an excellent workman, and yet you make nothing but separators year in and year out. You don't seem to care for anything else. Why don't you get up some fancy buggies or some nobby dog-carts, and so give variety to your business and show that you have good mechanical skill, that you can adapt yourself to the tastes and wants of all classes? In that way you could make your shop a great deal more popular than it is. Now only a few of us farmers come here, but if you should act upon my suggestion you would have all the fast young men in the neighborhood patronizing you."

Hugh flared up at once. "Do you think that I want that kind of custom? No, it is my ambition to make the best separator in the country. That is business enough for one man. And it is a great deal more profitable to do it, and get a reputation for doing it, than to try to compete with carriage makers and other manufacturers. For thirty years I have given all my time and thought to this one kind of machine. I believe that I understand it thoroughly. But if I should go to making a dozen other things I should lose my grip on this. So I stick to my specialty. That is best for me and for my customers."

"Yes, and Mr. Jones is just like you. Preaching the gospel is his specialty. To that he thinks God has called him. In preparing

to do that well he has spent many years of earnest study. We had him installed here as a preacher of the gospel. It is his business, and business enough for any one man. Why should he turn aside from his specialty to deliver lectures on all sorts of subjects any more than you should go to making buggies or dog-carts? I tell you, Hugh, it is the one-idea men that do pretty much all that is done in this world. There was old Noah, the antediluvian. For one hundred and twenty years he thought of nothing and talked about nothing but a coming flood, and an ark that would float on the waters. Everybody thought he was crazy, as he worked at that ark six days in the week, and preached about it on the Sabbath. Perhaps they said to him, 'Noah, since you take so much interest in boat building, why don't you make some pleasure yachts to sail on the Euphrates? You seem to know and care for nothing but that great clumsy ark of yours.' But when the flood came and began to sweep them all away, they learned that Noah was the only wise and successful man of his generation. The Bible says that Noah was a preacher. He is the first man to whom that name is applied. And he is the model for his successors in office. They are to know nothing but the peril of sinners, and the way of salvation. That is their mission in this world. And they have no business to meddle with anything else; and they cannot do it without losing their grip, as you say.

"There was Paul. He had a good education. He no doubt could have gotten up some very interesting lectures, and drawn around him the literary and the novelty-loving multitudes in Corinth. But he was like our Mr. Jones, a one-idea man; and he determined 'to know nothing but Jesus Christ, and him crucified.' And when he went to Rome it was not to study the laws and customs of that wonderful city, or to write philosophical essays upon the elements of her greatness, but to preach the gospel—to tell the old, old story of the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. If Paul had sought temporary popularity as a philosopher or rhetorician, we should never have heard of him. But his one-ideism has given him a name among men, second only to that of his crucified Lord.

"And there was Martin Luther. He might have been eminent as a scholar. He had one of the noblest intellects of his own or any other age. But he saw that the world needed just one thing,—a revival of the Bible idea of religion—a proclamation of the great doctrine of justification by faith. To that one thing he devoted his life; for it he toiled, and prayed, and studied, and made sacrifices. And see what he accomplished. No man since Paul has done more for the world, or has won the admiration and love of so many human hearts as he. Why was it? Because, like yourself and Mr. Jones, he believed in concentration as well as consecration.

"I might mention men in modern times who are worthy successors of Noah, Paul, and Luther in this respect. They are eminently successful in the ministry, because they give themselves wholly to it. You find me a preacher who is trying to build up a literary reputation, or who prepares lectures to people at fifty cents a head, and I will show you that his ministry is barren in spiritual fruitage. No man who makes it his special business to tickle men's ears, can hope to be instrumental in saving their souls. If the Bible is true, all men are sinners and in deadly peril; the gospel is revealed to save them; ministers of the gospel are ambassadors for Christ. It is their business to beseech men to be reconciled to God. They belong to the life-saving service and ought to devote to it all their energies.

"Imagine a wreck. The ship has been driven by a storm upon the sunken rocks of a lee shore. The waves are dashing over her, and she will soon be broken up. The crew are seen clinging to the rigging, but they cannot cling there long. They must be saved speedily, if they are saved at all. What does the captain of the life-boat who sees that wreck do? Does he summon his crew and talk to them about the perils of the sea, and the excellence of the Life-saving Service? Does he shout through his speaking trumpet to the wrecked sailors Tennyson's last poem, or, taking a French horn, send over the waters the sweet strains of 'Home, Sweet Home'? No; he shouts, 'Hold on, we are coming.' He launches his boat and hastens to the rescue. His one idea is to save. He has no time to think even of anything else. Now every sinner is like those sailors on the wreck. If not rescued soon he must be lost forever. It is the minister's business to try to save him—to try to save all that he can. If true to his high and holy calling, he must give himself, body and soul, to this one business. He must 'preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine.' If this makes him a one-idea man, he is in excellent company."

—Rusticus, in the Occident.

DON'T SING TOO MUCH.

WE are satisfied that one cause of the feebleness of conviction and the surface results in our meetings is, we sing too much. Too much singing tends to destroy conviction. This is true to some extent when the most solid and serious hymns are sung; but more especially is it true when the singing is of the light, unsubstantial kind that is so popular nowadays. President Finney, whose large experience and clear insight into spiritual operations entitle his opinion to great weight, says:—

"A great deal of singing often injures a prayer-meeting. The agonizing spirit of prayer does not lead people to sing. But if I know what it is to travail in birth for souls, Christians never feel less like singing than when they have the spirit of prayer for sinners. Singing is the natural expression of feelings that are joyful and cheerful. The spirit of prayer is not the spirit of joy. It is a spirit of travail and agony of soul, supplicating and pleading with God with strong sighings, and groanings that cannot be uttered. This is more like anything else than it is like singing. I have known states of feeling where you could not distress the people of God more than to begin to sing; it would be so entirely different from their feelings. Why, if you knew your house was on fire would you just stop and sing a hymn before you put it out?

"How would it look when a building was on fire, and the firemen are all collected, for the firemen to stop and sing a hymn? It is just about as natural for the people to sing when exercised with a spirit of prayer. When people feel like pulling men out of the fire they do not feel like singing. I never knew a singing revival to amount to much. Its tendency is to do away with all deep feeling."

Few things will sooner arrest the deep work of the Spirit on the conscience and heart than for a company of thoughtless, prayerless young people to sing lustily the frivolous hymns and tunes that so well accord with their own non-spiritual case.—St. Louis Christian Advocate.

HE STOOPED DOWN.

By Fannie Bolton

BY FANNIE BOLTON.

THEY brought the guilty woman, red with shame, Before the pitying Lord. With bitter blame The Pharisees accused her, and with hate They thrust her in his sight compassionate, Surrounding him and her. Not so much To have her guilt rebuked they gave the touch, As to entangle Jesus, that pure One, Adored of Heaven, and God's beloved Son, Who had been tempted in all points as we, And yet withstood in his integrity.

"Master, behold this woman. Mark her guilt, And render such a judgment as thou wilt. Moses commanded that this crime should be Punished with death; but we would hear from thee. What sayest thou?" His glance, a piercing dart, Read all the guilty secrets of each heart, Their eyes, sin-blind, no mark of shame could show, They felt no pity for the sinner's woe, Because they knew no penitence for sin. There burned a deep and cruel fire within. Beneath the righteous wrath, they claimed they felt, A serpent hatred ever poisonous dwelt, Waiting for opportunity to sting With murderous fangs high Heaven's glorious King.

Jesus beheld the woman with moist gaze, And saw the circumstances of her days; How dark had been the pathways of her feet. To-day the first awakening hope would beat, The light shine in her darkness. Even now, The sorrow for her sin was on her brow.

Then Jesus spoke, "Let him, and him alone, That hath no sin cast on her the first stone." And stooping down he wrote with outstretched hand The deeds of each man's life upon the sand. With eyes dilated they beheld him write Their secret sins. Filled with dismay and fright, Beginning at the eldest, one by one They turned away condemned; till he, alone, Stood with the woman, where she bowed her head, And her poor heart with deep repentance bled.

What pity reached her! Oh! through all her years No one had melted her hard heart to tears. No one before had touched the secret key And opened up life's possibility. With sudden, eager hope and pain, she stood, And recognized the beauty of the good, And cried within. He heard. He knew. She felt His love's compassion, as she weeping knelt.

"Where are they thine accusers?" Self-accused They'd turned from him and her they had abused. "Hath none condemned thee?" "No, my Lord, not one. I'm left for thee to deal with me alone."

Oh! happy heart that stands with him alone, Repenting. He'll not bruise it with a stone. He'll break no reed, nor quench the faint desire, His pitying sinlessness will fan the fire. None gave her hope of better life before. "Neither do I condemn thee. Sin no more," Spake the Divine One, and her heart, oppressed, Found in his words the blessedness of rest, And evermore, when sin assailed her sore, She heard his message, "Go and sin no more." Her soul was set to copy that great Lord Who'd saved her by his love's compassionate word.

And now, is there no lesson in this scene? How often do we hear of others' sin! How often with accusing word there comes The slanderer and the vulture to our homes! But shall we not before we give the frown Of condemnation, silently stoop down And write, not others' fault and sin, But all the crimes and failure that hath been In our own lives, and then, with tears we'll say, I too am guilty, let us kneel and pray And sin no more; and to the heart oppressed Reveal the Saviour, who can give sweet rest, And power to live like him, amid the blight That falls on all men, save the sons of right. Oh! let us follow him, and when men frown, Condemning others, let us low stoop down.

THE TOUCH OF CHRIST.

By Presbyterian Observer

JESUS is now in Heaven, yet his hand is stretched out still, and is ready everywhere with its gentle touch to cool the heart's fever, or heal the soul's diseases, or rest in benediction on the bowed head of strong men, or crushed sufferer, or little child. Wherever the holy word goes, the hand of Christ, unseen, is reached out. Wherever the Spirit lingers over a life, the hand that was wounded waits ready with its efficacious touch to give blessing. Laid upon the penitent, crying for mercy, it gives peace. Resting upon the mourner, in the bitterness of grief, it gives deep and rich comfort. Touching the brow of care, it smooths out the lines of anxiety. It brings rest to the weary, strength to the weak, courage to the faint-hearted, hope to the despairing. We need only faith and prayer to have this healing, cleansing, renewing, life-giving touch rest in all its blessed power upon our hearts and lives.—Presbyterian Observer.

HOW FAITH ACTS.

I CAN only indicate how faith acts. It has, as it were, two hands. With the one hand it is constantly rolling upon Christ every worry, every sorrow, every trial, every crushing and overwhelming demand, so that never a thing comes to the soul for a moment or touches it, but that the soul at once relieves itself of its burden by casting that burden upon the Saviour. Oh! have you learned that secret? If not, ask the Holy Ghost to teach it to you, and to enable you, moment by moment, to live this blessed life, never carrying the burden more; but the moment you are aware of the pressure of any anxiety, roll it instantly and forever on Christ.

The other hand of faith is constantly appropriating, so that hour by hour, as the heart is sensible of present need, the hand is reaching out of Christ just that grace it requires. Thy patience, Lord, in moments of impatience; thy gentleness, Lord, in moments of irritability; thy strength, Lord, in moments of weakness; thy peace, when storms swirl around the soul.

Oh! learn to appropriate from the fullness of Jesus, hour by hour, what you require; and then, just as we are told the depths of the ocean are untroubled by the storms which sweep the surface; as we are told that in the midst of every whirlwind there is a point of rest; as we are told that amid the friction of ascending atoms in every candle there is one place of unbroken stillness—so the soul that has learned this secret of rest and of living in the will of God, is in a mighty entrenched castle, and receiving assistance from the resources of God,—that soul may go through and through the whirlwind and the storm of sorrow, but in its depths it will have perfect rest.—Life of Faith.

"THE STARS SHALL FALL."

By FRANK HOPE

THE disciples once came to Christ and asked him the following question, "What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world." That was surely a momentous question, and Christ did not reprove them for it, or tell them that it did not concern them, but he just told them of certain events that would take place on the earth before the end. He told them of the coming destruction of Jerusalem, of the wars, pestilences, and famines that were only the beginning of sorrows. Then he spoke of the great tribulation that was coming on the elect; so great was it to be that "except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved; but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." History reveals this period to us in the "Martyrs' Age," commencing with the persecution of the Christians by the pagan emperor, Nero, and coming down through the fiercer persecutions of the Romish Church under the Inquisition, and culminating in the 1,260 years of the Papal persecution foretold in Dan. 7:25. These days ended in 1798, the persecution ending in 1776. This brief sketch of the history of the church, Christ gives in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew. Then he gives the unmistakable "signs" of his coming, for which his disciples asked.

He says in the twenty-ninth verse, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven." And, true to the prophecy, immediately after that persecution had ceased, the sun was darkened. Robert Sears's "Guide to Knowledge" says: "On the 19th of May, 1780, an uncommon darkness took place all over New England, and extended to Canada." This day is known in history as the "Dark Day." The following night the moon was supernaturally darkened. Thus Christ gave to his disciples two of the signs of his coming. But he says, also, "The stars shall fall from heaven."

On the 13th day of November, 1833, this also was literally fulfilled. Many are the accounts given of that wonderful day, but the following, from the work called "The Great Events of Our Past Century," may be of new interest to the readers of the SIGNS:—

"The display, as described in Professor Stillman's Journal, was seen all over North America. The chief scene of the exhibition was within the limits of the longitude of sixty degrees in the Atlantic Ocean, and that of a hundred degrees in Central Mexico, and from the North American Lakes to the southern side of the island of Jamaica."

"Over this vast area, an appearance presented itself far surpassing in grandeur and magnificence the loftiest reach of the human imagination. From two o'clock until broad daylight, the sky being perfectly serene and cloudless, an incessant play of dazzlingly brilliant luminosities was kept up in the whole heavens. Some of these were of great magnitude

and most peculiar form. One, of large size, remained for some time almost stationary in the zenith, over the falls of Niagara, emitting streams of light which radiated in all directions. The wild dash of the waters, as contrasted with the fiery commotion above them, formed a scene of unequaled and amazing sublimity. Arago computes that not less than two hundred and forty thousand meteors were at the same time visible above the horizon of Boston. To form some idea of such a spectacle, one must imagine a constant succession of fire-balls, resembling sky-rockets, radiating in all directions, from a point in the heavens near the zenith, and following the arch of the sky towards the horizon. They proceeded to various distances from the radiating point, leaving after them a vivid streak of light, and usually exploded before they disappeared. The balls were of various sizes and degrees of splendor; some were mere points, but others were larger and brighter than Jupiter or Venus; and one, in particular, appeared to be nearly the moon's size. But at Niagara no spectacle so terribly grand and sublime was ever before beheld by man as that of the firmament descending in fiery torrents over the dark and roaring cataract."

Thus was literally fulfilled the last of these signs that mark the near appearing of the Son of man. So striking and unmistakable was this sign that the people who witnessed that display recognized it as such. The same writer, after stating the terror it caused to the ignorant, says: "The more enlightened were profoundly awed at contemplating so vivid a picture of the apocalyptic image—that of the stars of heaven falling to the earth 'even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs.'"

"Now," says Christ, "learn a parable of the fig tree; when his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh. So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled." The generation that saw the last of these signs will see Christ coming in the clouds of heaven in power and great glory. That last sign occurred fifty-five long years ago; the men who saw it are becoming gray and bowed with age; yet, as sure as God's word is true, some will live through to see the climax. Just how long it will be, none can tell. This we know, that he is near, even at the door, and that his coming hasteth greatly. "Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come."

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