WE are reminded by the quotations given elsewhere from the Sabbath Recorder, of some interesting remarks made by Eld. Wardner in the Seventh-day Baptist General Conference last fall, which we had the pleasure of attending. Eld. Wardner spent some years in China, and his labors were blest to the raising up of witnesses in that country for the Sabbath of the Lord God. And after being absent from that country a number of years he receives letters that all who remain alive are steadfast in the truth. Considering their circumstances, the nature of the opposition they have to meet, we think this is very remarkable. We scarcely dare to believe that a church in our own country would so long hold out faithful under such trying and discouraging conditions.
It must be that we behold the Chinese at a great disadvantage in California. The strong feeling existing against them, which does not always manifest itself in a Christian spirit or reasonable manner, begets a like spirit, and consequently there is a repelling power between the nationalities. The truth is, that much more is expected and demanded from those who have been brought up in heathen darkness, than is expected of those who have been all their lives surrounded by the best Christian influences. If the time ever comes that they have to yield to the cry of “The Chinese must go,” they will carry with them to their countrymen a hatred of Christianity and of Christian nations which no arguments and no efforts will ever be able to overcome.
Judging from the experience of the Seventh-day Baptists among the Chinese, we are slow to admit that all the Chinamen who have professed the Christian faith in California have done so with worldly motives. Considering the tenacity of the Chinese to the customs of their fathers, and that they lose caste and sacrifice the respect of their people by embracing Christianity, we may safely affirm that the inducements for Americans to make a hypocritical profession of the Christian faith are much greater than for the Chinese. The probabilities in this respect are decidedly in favor of the latter.
As Christians we must look at this subject from a Christian standpoint; we have no right to look at it in any other. We never see these poor blinded heathen bow down before their gaudily-decorated “Joss,” without feelings of sadness. Scarcely a Christian church, and very few Christian ministers seem to feel any obligation to present the Christian system, and Christianity in their own lives, in such a light as to win them away from their false worship.
We do not dispute that it is unpleasant to dwell among them with their native habits and customs, and so it is with many of other nationalities; but we do believe that if, from the first, there had been a united effort on the part of the Christian churches to attract and elevate them, they would not, in this State, be what they are at this time. It is quite possible that, in the coming day, the American nation may find an account against it in behalf of the Chinese, as well as the Africans.
Letter from Egypt.
By H. P. Ribton
VERY DEAR BRO. ANDREWS: I was very anxious about you, not having heard from you for so long a time; and when I believed that you were in Europe, and hoped you were on your way to Naples, I received a letter from Sister Huntley saying you were still in America. I could not describe the desire with which the brethren await your arrival at Naples and here; and here we greatly need your presence. With what pleasure you would visit this place! Here we can preach freely without hindrance or opposition, and the blessing of God is with us. Our number has doubled since I came. Our school is increasing, but we are obliged to keep it back until we get a master and mistress. I have written to Bâle, asking them to send a sister to aid us if possible; for I have now the whole school on my shoulders in addition to the other work, and it is nearly impossible to carry on so much without aid.
And now, in a moment fraught with so much encouragement and so much anxiety, I have received a crushing blow. Since I left, sickness has raged in my house; and now I have learned by the last letter from Naples that my poor child is sick with pulmonary consumption. The doctor has said that nothing can save her but getting her here. Too well I know the rapid and deadly course that the malady pursues in the elevated air of Arevella, and indeed anywhere at Naples. The stroke prostrated me for a few days, but I am now better, and was able to preach yesterday to a full room. But my distress of mind is intense. I pray earnestly to God not to allow me to break down while I have such responsible work in my hands. The hope of soon seeing the child here, alone keeps me up. I have written to my wife to try to borrow money to come, or at least, to send me Nina. I know not how she will be able to do it, but my faith in God is strong, and I believe he will give her the means to do so.
From the course that events are taking, I think all the means we can get will be best employed upon the great work that is now opening up here, of which I have already written some account. The Spirit of the Lord is strongly with the few dear brethren who form our church at Naples; but, as my wife says, the Spirit is not in Naples. Atheism is making giant progress there. One brother has been added to our number there since I left, and one dear family. I write to these brethren and exhort them; they are strong in the commandments. But I do not think at present it is best to take a hall there, while there are such very pressing claims here for our school and other things, and moreover, if our numbers increase as they have done, we may see the day when our hall will be too little to contain those who come.
A visit from you to the brethren in Naples would greatly comfort them; but your presence here is indispensably necessary for many things, as soon as you can possibly come.
We have now some Greeks coming to our meetings. I shall be very glad indeed if we can get that element among us; for there is a very numerous colony of them here. I heard from Bro. Bertola last week. There is no fruit to be obtained at Constantinople, and he is prevented from going into Russia on account of the plague. But he is going to Athens next month, and there is a hope that he may be able to accomplish some good there. I translate an extract from his letter, which is dated Constantinople, Feb. 6:—
"Along with this letter I send a Greek evangelical journal printed at Athens, where an important missionary work has been opened, with schools and a printing house. They have printed copies of the Bible in Greek, and are about to print it also in Italian. The director of the mission is an American. On reading the history of the Popess Joan, verified by the production of many documents, in a work written by Sig. Rosidis of Athens, I find that in the ninth century the Sabbath used to be observed in Greece. I wrote to Sig. Rosidis, asking him to give me some information on the subject, but he has not yet replied. I am well acquainted with him personally, and hope, God willing, to go to Athens next month, on purpose to speak with him on the subject, and make the acquaintance also of the American missionary."
I have much hope that Bro. Bertola, whose whole heart is now given to the work, will be able to open up the Sabbath question there also. He expects next September to be able to retire from commercial business and give himself exclusively to the service of the Lord.
So, then, my joy would be full were it not for the barbed arrow that Satan has now struck into my heart. Pray for me, dear brother, as I pray for you. The ways of God are inscrutable. Why does he permit Satan to hinder, when we are seeking to devote our lives to his work! Dear brother, forget the past; think only of the coming glory. I sometimes think it is very near at hand.
I can scarcely get a moment for writing. Since I wrote the above, I have been called away to be introduced to another Greek. There are quite a number of them coming to us now. I have lent out a great many tracts among some English people, who are reading them attentively. Their ministers, however, are doing all they can to prejudice them against me. Christian love from all here. Your brother in the Lord. H. P. RIBTON. Alexandria, Egypt.
"Before Many Tongues."
By B. A. Stephens
WHEREVER God has faithful children they plainly see from the dark state of the world, compared with the Bible, that we are in the last days; that soon the waiting church will see its Redeemer coming in the clouds of heaven. My heart was greatly touched recently in reading an account in the Sabbath Recorder of the Seventh-day Baptist mission in China. One of the native preachers thus writes :—
"'Le Erlo, servant of Jesus Christ, wishes peace, and sends salutations to Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter, and to all the brethren and sisters in the foreign land.'"
"After speaking of the depredations of thieves during his illness, he refers to the great famine :—"
"'First the locusts, now grasshoppers have devoured the cotton crops in all places. Such is the desolation, it seems as if the judgment day of our Lord had come. We are distressed that the emperor, mandarins, and people, refuse to repent, and refuse to believe in God our Father, and in our Lord Jesus Christ. Mindful of these things, I have gone forth in hot weather and cold, preaching the good tidings everywhere, greatly desirous that the kingdom of God may be advanced; hence my illness. . . I pray the Heavenly Father to protect me, and give me health.'"
"At a later date Le Erlo writes :—"
"'By the mercy of God, I am well again. God has preserved us as a family and the brethren and sisters of the Church. Having received your letter, I know you do not forget us, nor the Church in China. Relying on the name of Christ, I do not forget you in my prayers. . . Always when I go out to preach, I am thronged by the poor people wanting aid. Therefore I have sold property to satisfy their necessities. There are also many poor children who want me to teach them to read, and to read the Holy Book.'"
"Erlo wants a teacher to come and tell his countrymen, who are suffering from famine and pestilence, of God and the great day of reckoning, and to help establish for the children a school, and sends this touching message :—"
"'We hope that you, teacher Carpenter, with other brethren and sisters together, will aid us, a small church, in this work, that we may speedily grow and prosper; that in reliance upon the mercy of God and the merits of our Lord, we may spread abroad the gospel message to all places. This is my heart's desire and joy.'"
The Recorder further says :—
"'Sah Chin Sang, the blind deacon, sends, by the hand of another, his compliments to all the brethren and sisters in the foreign country. . . . He, too, thinks the day of judgment for poor China is at hand, and longs for the speedy coming of a teacher to build up the kingdom of God in that stricken land.'"
God grant his prayer may be answered.
For centuries China was like a sealed book to the "barbarian" world. But the Anglo-Saxon race made a breach in its great wall, whence have poured forth thousands of its benighted people to other lands. A few thousands have found their way to California. Missions have been established among them by the Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and probably other churches, and many of them have made a profession of faith in Christ. Such take up the cross under great difficulties. They are shunned by their countrymen, and suffer not a little persecution from them, and also from small-souled Caucasians, who accuse them of becoming Christians in order to benefit their temporal condition.
None have embraced present truth as yet, although I hope and pray that the third angel's message may "save some," for it is to go "before many tongues." At Bro. Healey's meetings in Visalia, Cal., in the summer of 1876, one Chinaman seemed interested for awhile in the sermons on faith, and purchased several books. And I know of one, who is a Methodist preacher, who has expressed his belief in the sleep of the dead, exclaiming when the light dawned upon his mind, "Why, I believed in the immortality of the soul when I was a heathen!" A brother replied, "When you become a Christian you should leave off your heathen notions." He promised never to preach inherent immortality again.
If the storm of persecution ever arises against these poor people (and we see a few muttering drops before the angry shower, in the popular cry, "The Chinese must go"), may God grant that as they "go" a few may carry the last tidings of mercy with them across the waters of the Pacific to those who sit in darkness, that out of all nations "that God has made of one blood," Acts 17:26, may be gathered those who shall stand on the sea of glass before the great white throne. Amen.
B. A. STEPHENS.
Choosing Right with Invincible Resolution
By Channing
The great man is he who chooses the right with invincible resolution; who resists the sorest temptation from without and within; who bears the heaviest burdens cheerfully; who is calmest in storms and most fearless under menace and frowns; and whose reliance on truth, on virtue, on God, is most unfaltering.—Channing.
Home Comforts.
"WHERE are you going, George?" asked Mrs. Wilson as her husband rose from the tea-table and took his hat.
"O, I am going out," was the careless response.
"But where?" asked his wife.
"What odds does it make, Emma?" returned her husband. "I shall be back at my usual time."
The young wife hesitated, and a quick flush overspread her face. She seemed to have made up her mind to speak plainly on a subject which had lain uneasily upon her heart for some time, requiring an effort, but she persevered.
"Let me tell you what odds it makes to me," she said in a kind but tremulous tone. "If I cannot have your company here at home, I should at least feel much better if I knew where you were."
"But you know that I am safe, Emma, and what more can you ask?"
"I do not know that you are safe, George; I know nothing positively about you when you are away."
"Pooh! pooh! would you have it that I am not capable of taking care of myself?"
"You put a wrong construction upon my words, George. Love is always anxious when its dearest object is away. If I did not love you as I do I might not be thus uneasy. When you are at your place of business I do not feel thus, because I know I can seek and find you at any moment; but when you are absent during these long evenings I go to wondering where you are. Then I begin to feel lonesome; and so one thought follows another, till I feel troubled and uneasy. O, if you would only stay with me a portion of your evenings!"
"Aha! I thought that was what you were aiming at," said George, with a playful shake of the head. "You would have me here every evening."
"Well, can you wonder at it?" returned Emma. "I used to be very happy when you came to spend an evening with me before we were married; and I know I should be very happy in your society now."
"Ah," said George with a smile, "those were business meetings. We were arranging then for the future."
"And why not continue to do so, my husband? I am sure we could be as happy now as ever. If you will remember, one of your plans was to make a home."
"And havn't we got one, Emma?"
"We have certainly a place in which to live," answered the wife somewhat evasively.
"And it is our home," pursued George. "Besides," he added, with a sort of confident flourish, "home is the wife's peculiar province. She has the charge of it, and all her work is there, while the duties of the husband call him to other scenes."
"Well, I admit that, so far as certain duties are concerned," replied Emma. "And you must remember that we both need relaxation from labor; we need time for social and mental improvement and enjoyment, and what time have we for this save our evenings? Why should not this be my home of an evening as well as the day-time and in the night?"
"Well, isn't it?" asked George.
"How can it be when you are not here at all? What makes a home for children if it be not the abode of the parents? What home can a husband have where there is no wife? And what real home comforts can a wife enjoy where there is no husband? You do not consider how lonesome I am all alone here during these long evenings. They are the very seasons when I am at leisure to enjoy your companionship and when you would be at leisure to enjoy mine, if it were enjoying. They are the seasons when the happiest hours of home-life might be passed, if we determined it should be so. Come, will you spend a few of your evenings with me?"
"You see enough of me as it is," said the husband lightly.
"Allow me to be the best judge of that, George. You would be very lonesome here all alone."
"Not if it was my place of business, as it is yours," returned the young man. "You are used to staying here. All wives belong at home."
"Just remember, my husband, that previous to our marriage I had pleasant society all the time. Of course, I remained at home much of my time; but I had a father and mother there, and I had brothers and sisters, and our evenings were happily spent. Finally, I gave up all for you. I left the old home and sought a home with my husband. And now have I not a right to expect some of your companionship? How would you like to have me away every evening while you were obliged to remain here alone?"
"Why, I should like it well enough."
"Ah! but I know you would not be willing to try it."
"Yes I would," said George at a venture.
"Will you remain here every evening next week and allow me to spend my time among my female friends?"
"Certainly I will," he replied, "and I confidently assure you I shall not be as lonesome as you imagine."
With this the husband went out and was soon among his friends. He was an industrious man, and loved his wife truly, but like thousands of others he had contracted a habit of spending his evenings abroad, and thought it no harm. His only practical idea of home seemed to be that it was a place that his wife took care of, and where he could eat, drink, and sleep as long as he could pay for it. In short, he treated it as a sort of private boarding-house, of which his wife was landlady; and if he paid all the bills he considered his duty done. His wife had frequently asked him to stay at home with her, but she had never ventured upon any argument before, and he had no conception of how much she missed him. She always seemed happy when he came home, and he supposed she could always be so.
Monday evening came, and George Wilson remained true to his promise. His wife put on her bonnet and shawl, and he said he would remain and keep house.
"What will you do when I am gone?" Emma asked.
"O, I shall read, and sing, and enjoy myself generally."
"Very well," said Emma, "I shall be back early."
The wife went out and the husband was left alone. He had an interesting book, and he began to read it. He read till eight o'clock and then he began to yawn, and looked frequently at the clock. The book did not interest him as usually. Ever and anon he would come to a passage which he knew would please his wife, and instinctively he turned as though he would read it aloud; but there was no wife to hear it. At half-past eight o'clock he rose from his chair and began to pace the floor and whistle. Then he went and got his flute and played several of his favorite airs. Then he walked the floor and whistled again. Finally the clock struck nine, and his wife returned.
"Well, George," said she, "I am back in good time. How have you enjoyed yourself?"
"Capitally," returned the husband; "I had no idea it was so late. I hope you have enjoyed yourself?"
"O, splendidly!" said his wife; "I had no idea how much enjoyment there was away from home. Home is a dull place, after all, isn't it?"
"Why, no, I can't say that it is," returned George, carelessly. "In fact, he added, "I rather like it."
"I am glad of that," retorted Emma, "for we shall have a nice, comfortable week of it."
George winced at this, but he kept his countenance and determined to stand it out.
On the next evening Emma prepared to go off again.
"Where are you going, Emma?" her husband asked.
"O, I can't tell exactly. I may go to several places."
So George Wilson was left alone again, and he tried to amuse himself as before, but he found it a difficult task. Ever and anon he would cast his eyes on that empty chair, and the thought would come, "how pleasant it would be if she were here!" The clock finally struck nine, and he began to listen for the steps of his wife. Half an hour more slipped by, and he became very nervous and uneasy.
"I declare," he muttered to himself after he had listened for some time in vain, "this is too bad. She ought not to stay out so late."
But he happened to remember that he often remained away much later than that, so he concluded that he must make the best of it.
At a quarter to ten Emma came home.
"A little late, am I not?" she said, looking up at the clock. "But I fell in with some old friends. How have you enjoyed yourself?"
"First-rate," returned George bravely; "I think home is a capital place."
"Especially when a man can have it all to himself," added the wife with a sidelong glance at her husband. But he made no reply.
On the next evening Emma prepared to go out as before; but this time she kissed her husband ere she went, and seemed to hesitate about leaving.
"Where do you think of going?" George asked in an undertone.
"I may drop in to see Uncle John," replied Emma. "However, you won't be uneasy. You will know I'm safe."
"O, certainly," said her husband; but when left to his own reflections he began to ponder seriously upon the subject thus presented for consideration. He could not read, he could not play, or enjoy himself in any way, while the chair was empty. In short, he found that home had no real comfort without his wife. The one thing needed to make George Wilson's home pleasant was not present.
"I declare," he said to himself, "I did not think it would be so lonesome. And can it be that she feels as I do when she is here all alone? It must be so," he pursued thoughtfully; "it is just as she says. Before we were married she was very happy in her childhood. Her parents loved her, and her brothers and sisters loved her, and they did all they could to make her comfortable."
After this he walked up and down the room several times, and then stopped again and communed with himself.
"I can't stand this," said he, "I should die in a week. If Emma were here I think I could amuse myself very well. How lonesome and dreary it is! And only eight o'clock! I declare; I have a mind to walk down as far as uncle John's and see if she is there.
It would be a relief if I could only see her. I won't go in. She sha'n't know yet that I hold out so faintly."
George Wilson took another turn across the room, glanced once more at the clock, and then took his hat and went out. He locked the door after him, and then bent his steps toward uncle John's. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the air was keen and bracing. He was walking along with his eyes bent upon the pavement, when he heard a light step approaching him. He looked up—he could not be mistaken—saw his wife. His first impulse was to avoid her, but she had recognized him.
"George," she said in surprise, "can this be you?"
"It is," was the response.
"And do you pass the evenings at home?"
"This is the first time I have been out, Emma, upon my word; and even now I have not been absent from the house ten minutes. I merely came out to take the fresh air. But where are you going?"
"I am going home, George; will you go with me?"
"Certainly," returned the husband.
She then took his arm and they walked home in silence.
When Emma had taken off her things she sat down in her chair and looked at the clock.
"You are home very early to-night," remarked George.
The young wife looked up into her husband's face, and with an expression half smiling and half tearful she said, "I will confess the truth, George—I have given up the experiment. I managed to stand it last evening, but I could not bear it through to-night. When I thought of you here all alone I wanted to be with you. It didn't seem right. I havn't enjoyed myself at all. I have not any home but this."
"Say you so?" cried George moving his chair to his wife's side and taking one of her hands. "Then let me make my confession. I have stood it not a whit better. When I left the house this evening I could bear it no longer. I found that this was no home for me, while my wife was absent. I thought I would walk down to uncle John's and see your face, if possible. I had gazed upon your empty chair till my heart ached."
The next evening was spent at home by husband and wife, and it was a season of much enjoyment. In a short time George began to realize how much comfort was to be found in a quiet and peaceful home, and the longer he enjoyed this comfort the more plainly did he see and understand the simple truth that it takes two to make a happy home, and if the wife is one party the husband must be the other.—Ladies' Repository.
Reports from the Field.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
Dunkirk and Bellville, Ohio.
April 2-9 I spent in Ohio. Held a meeting at Dunkirk, and found this company growing in numbers and in faith in the message. Their number has nearly doubled since they were first raised up. This is because they have been visited regularly at least once a month, instead of being left to themselves, as has often been the case. No young church can prosper if left to itself. Hence every minister in Ohio is specially directed not to leave any company he has raised up longer than one month without visiting them.
Spent Sabbath and Sunday at Bellville with Brn. Burrill and Mann. They have an excellent interest. Their little house was crowded to overflowing. About half a dozen had already taken their stand for the truth. We confidently expect several more. Four united with the church, and two were baptized. It had been feared that this little church would go down, but now we hope to see it stronger than ever.
Visited Cleveland and Bowling Green on business. Received over $1300 on various branches of the cause. Last year the whole amount of the s. b. received was a little over $1400. Only two quarters of this year have passed, and we have received over $1300. This is because the brethren are adopting the tithing system. I have not found a man in Ohio who opposes it, and why should they? as it is the Bible plan.
D. M. Canright.
Lake County, Cal.
By Wm. E. Price
I HAVE closed meetings in Bachelor Valley. The weather has been unfavorable for meetings, and I have labored from house to house. Four have signed the covenant, and others have about concluded to do so. One young man who signed the covenant was educated for a Disciple minister. Wm. E. Price.
Morley, Mich.
By G. H. Gilbert; D. A. Wellman
On account of sickness, the tent-meeting held here last summer was closed when the Sabbath question was only partially before the people. However, four decided to obey. These are still firm.
We have just closed another short series of meetings in this place. The interest seems to be deeper now than at any previous time. There are now nine, all heads of families, rejoicing in the truth. These will be baptized when they have opportunity.
G. H. GILBERT.
D. A. WELLMAN.
April 2.
Sheridan, Mich.
By Orlando Soule
Four more have commenced to observe the Sabbath, and still we hope for others.
March 27. Orlando Soule.
St Anne, Illinois.
By Daniel T. Bourdeau
With Bro. R. F. Andrews to push forward the work among the Americans at Pittwood and in the vicinity, I have been enabled to successfully close up my work in this section for the present. I have visited and held meetings at eight different points. Twenty-seven persons have been baptized, eighteen of whom are French. Seventeen French members have been added to the St. Anne church. Thirty-five persons, at least, have embraced the Sabbath, besides some who have decided to obey under Bro. Andrews’s successful efforts near Pittwood.
April 6. D. T. BOURDEAU.
Jefferson Co., Ill.
By John B. Logan
I RECENTLY held meetings at the Hales school-house, a large new house. Had good congregations. Three commenced the observance of the Sabbath. Some desire baptism. I have formed a circuit of appointments. The cause of truth is growing stronger. Tobacco is in the way of several.
J. B. LOGAN.
CHANNELS FOR LOVE.
MAKE channels for the streams of love
Where they may broadly run;
And love has overflowing streams
To fill them every one.
But if at any time we cease
Such channels to provide,
The very founts of love for us
Will soon be parched and dried.
For we must share, if we would keep
That blessing from above;
Ceasing to give, we cease to have—
Such is the law of love.
A Wise Son Maketh a Glad Father
"A WISE son maketh a glad father."
River Sioux, Harrison Co., Iowa.
By J. Bartlett
When my meetings commenced near my home in Onawa, there were only four Sabbath-keepers living near enough together to hold meetings; now there are fourteen. Four came out of the Congregational church; one of them was their Sunday-school superintendent.
I have been at River Sioux three weeks. Last Sabbath was a good day for us. One load came from Onawa, and some came from the country. The Lord was with us by his Spirit. Good testimonies were borne; and ten, mostly young persons, arose, asking the prayers of the people of God. Some have embraced the truth. J. BARTLETT.
April 1.
Good Health.
Preventing Infective Diseases.
THERE are three conditions that seem necessary to give potency and death-grasp to most epidemics. There must be the specific poison. As a rule, it is just as impossible to originate small-pox from decaying organic matter as it is to cause an oak to grow in a very rich soil without the acorn. The seed being furnished, the soil has very much to do with the rankness or dwarfishness of the growth; but the seed itself is not evolved. This is the rule as to the seeds of specific diseases, and yet does not hold a strict analogy. It is probable that cholera was born one day near the Ganges, just as, not very long since, nitro-glycerine commenced to be. There are fortuitous and unfortunate combinations which originate disease. Whenever a new disease is reported, there are always those who believe there is nothing new under the sun. They trace it back to the Pyramids, to Herodotus, Hippocrates, or Galen. Nevertheless, Asiatic cholera, diphtheria, and typhoid or cess-pool fever did not exist in the days of Moses. Fortunately the accidents or combinations by which there is a spontaneous origin of any of the zymotic diseases are very rare. Drs. Budd and Von Giett deny, for instance, that typhoid fever ever occurs in this way. Others—as Murchison and Sir Wm. Jenner—believe it to be occasionally spontaneous. A disease may only find originating power at some one point in the earth, and occur at other places only by conveyance. Until within ten years scarlet fever had never occurred in India. Measles had never been in the Fiji Islands until carried there by a ship; and then it was so fatal to old and young that a large portion of the population died.
The yellow fever is thought by many to be a mongrel, born of African typhus and West India miliaria, and never to occur in this country de novo.
It may be said in general that the probability of the spontaneous origin of any infectious disease is very small, and that the views of the contagionists are well sustained. Yet that typhoid fever, diphtheria, whooping cough, etc., do occur without conveyance from person to person is quite probable. Those who hold to the chemical, instead of the germ hypothesis of disease maintain that these malicious combinations are formed just as new compounds originate in the laboratory. Those who believe in spontaneous generation think that Bacteria and other forms of microphytes arise and flourish in a similar manner. The Pandora Box theory is exploded.
The idea that epidemics are special creations of God, for specific purposes of chastisement, is also not so orthodox as formerly. He does use disease and death as punishments and warnings; but in their origin they are believed to be the results of disobedience of the laws of nature.
On this point of the origin of specific diseases the sound philosophy of the present is to seek their limitation by studying and interrupting their methods of conveyance, at the same time that we are on guard against those conditions which are most likely to cause them de novo, if such a thing is possible.
The next point is that specific poisons, whether or not originated by favoring unsanitary conditions, are surely aided in their spread and virulence thereby. The records of epidemics show that they borrow their chief momentum from close apartments, filth, or careless mingling with persons or effects that are contaminated. The question of surrounding filth may not decide in an individual case whether there will be an attack or whether not it will be virulent, since many factors are concerned in the determination; but the law of limitation and benignity is altogether in the direction of cleanliness.
After a fire gets fearful headway, fireproof blocks often fall; but it never would have spread so if in the start it had not found much combustible material. When an epidemic gets headway, it sometimes seems quite indiscriminate as to its points of attack. Those who judge from impressions and emotions, and who do not study or classify the details of clinical history, readily lose hope; but examination of a sufficient number of data and a comparison of various epidemics always decide the matter in favor of strict sanitary administration. Wisdom and economy alike require that our cities and towns be kept from pollutions, so that the foul seeds shall not germinate so freely or so luxuriantly. If these alight, it is to be expected that there will be some evil result; but hopefulness is all on the side of neatness.
The next condition of an epidemic is that it must find in individuals a susceptibility favoring its intensity. Here again is a wide field for rigid inquiry. Cholera attains its highest death-rates among the dissolute or their children, and so does yellow fever. The tenement-house victims of diphtheria and scarlet fever are far the more numerous. While it cannot be denied that these infective poisons attack all classes and are intensive in many who are of robust vigor, yet sanitary medicine is able to show that there is a law of attack and procedure. It is not an indiscriminate assault and battery. The single fact that under the old system of inoculation, a ten days’ preparation of the system so reduced the mortality of small-pox as to justify its voluntary acquirement, is a great pointer as to how far we can deal with a human system in its preparation for an epidemic. Cleanliness of the skin, care as to the food, and the various minor matters at such times often determine the question of life or death, and that of exemption from attack also.—Independent.
State Center, Iowa.
By Joseph S. Hart
I HELD fifteen meetings in a school-house seven miles from Nevada. Two are keeping the Sabbath, and will join the church at Nevada. I spent about four weeks at a place five miles south of Ames. Seven are keeping the Sabbath, and others are interested. April 6. J. S. HART.
Oxford Co., Maine.
By J. B. Goodrich
We have given fifteen discourses five miles from Milton. Brother Robins, who has been reading the Signs for nearly two years has, with his family and others, together making fifteen or more, decided to keep the Sabbath, and the interest is still increasing. Last evening about twenty requested prayers.
April 7. J. B. Goodrich.
Sunny Side, Dakota.
By S. B. Whitney
The meeting at Sunny Side, March 31, was a good one. On Sabbath twenty came forward for prayer, a good portion of whom were starting for the first time, and all expressed their determination to serve the Lord. Five were taken into the church, two by letter, two by vote, and one by baptism.
S. B. WHITNEY.
Eagle, Neb.
By Chas. L. Boyd
The way for the work at this place was opened by the missionary labors of a sister. Her nephew embraced the third angel's message last summer. Being a man of “good repute,” an interest was soon awakened throughout the community. Reading matter was distributed, and ministerial help obtained. A part of the result was mentioned last week. Seventeen signed the covenant; others are keeping the Sabbath.