HELD meetings with the Big Timber church, April 5 to 14. The meetings took the form of a revival. The spirit of God was largely felt in each meeting.
An opportunity was given at nearly every meeting for those who desired to seek the Lord to come forward, which was embraced by all the brethren and sisters and many non-professors.
The call was responded to by from five to fifteen penitent seekers for the favor of God each evening.
The church was far on the background; but as they poured forth their earnest agonizing cries to God, and tried as far as in their power to make wrongs right, making hearty confessions to one another, the Spirit of God came in and they struggled till they found deliverance.
Six were converted and started for the first time to serve the Lord. Eight were added to the church.
Nearly all pledged to faithfully return the tithe to the Lord.
The last day of the meeting was most precious of all. After the morning service the congregation repaired to the water, where eight willing souls were buried with the Lord in baptism. While at the water's edge, the Spirit of the Lord came down with power, and both saint and sinner were melted to tears, while some that had just found the Lord were filled with rejoicing.
In the afternoon the ordinances were administered and the meeting closed.
J. H. COOK,
M. & H. ENOCH.
April 18.
STOCKHOLDERS' MEETING—SPECIAL.
By W. K. Vickery
PURSUANT to notice a special meeting of the Stockholders was held at the office of Pacific Press which, after being opened by prayer, was adjourned to meet 15 minutes later at the S. D. A. church.
The roll having been called it was found that 1303 shares were represented by shareholders present, and 1212 shares by proxy, being together 237 more than was required for a quorum.
The proposed changes in the By-laws were then read by the Secretary and having been submitted separately to the meeting by the President, a unanimous vote was taken upon each, authorizing the change as suggested.
The meeting was then closed with prayer.
W. K. VICKERY, Sec.
STOCKHOLDERS' MEETING.
By W. K. Vickery
IN accordance with notice the sixth annual meeting of the Pacific S. D. A. Publishing Association was held at their business office on Monday, April 25, 1881, at 9:30, A. M.
After adjournment to the church, it was found that sufficient shares were represented by shareholders present and in proxy to enable the meeting to proceed at once to business.
The minutes of last meeting having been read and approved, the following treasurer's report for the past year, was presented:—
Treasurer's Report for the year ending March 31, 1881.
RECEIPTS.
Cash on hand April 1, 1880 ...............................$ 311 38
Received on—
Accounts and Deposits .................................... 194,181 61
Signs of the Times ....................................... 11,821 23
Book Sales, etc........................................... 5,765 64
Printing and Binding...................................... 27,164 71
Cal. Pub. Fund............................................ 1,154 93
Signs Donations........................................... 58 69
Cal. Conf. Fund........................................... 7,896 55
Cal. T. and M. Society.................................... 3,477 97
Type and Material......................................... 2,266 07—$254,098 72
DISBURSEMENTS.
Paid out on—
Accounts and Deposits.....................................$179,012 24
Stock and Binder's Material............................... 14,183 55
Fuel, Gas, Incidentals, etc............................... 3,896 65
Office Labor ............................................. 26,646 48
Books and Freight......................................... 6,445 68
Real Estate............................................... 3,874 15
Type and Machinery........................................ 6,273 09
Cal. Conf. Fund........................................... 5,754 29
Cal. T. and M. Society.................................... 4,022 01
Exchange ................................................. 31 70
Interest.................................................. 3,237 41
Office Furniture and Fixtures............................. 580 68
Cash on hand.............................................. 187 77—$254,098 72
The meeting was then addressed by the President, Vice-President, and Elder Waggoner on the results of the past year's working.
A committee of three, viz., Wm. Saunders, W. A. Pratt, W. N. Glenn, was appointed to nominate Directors for the ensuing year, after which the meeting adjourned to 2:30 P. M.
AFTERNOON MEETING.
On re-assembling the Committee of Nomination submitted the names of S. N. Haskell, W. C. White, T. M. Chapman, John Morrison, and M. C. Israel, who were unanimously elected as Directors.
Elder Waggoner then offered the following preamble and resolution.
Whereas, We believe there are many persons who have money which they would like to invest in bonds at a low rate of interest, therefore
Resolved, That we instruct the Board of Directors to issue bonds on the Publishing Association which shall be secured by Mortgage to Trustees.
After a discussion of the subject by the meeting, the resolution was unanimously adopted.
Elder J. H. Waggoner was elected editor and Elders Andrews, Uriah Smith and Jas. White, corresponding editors of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
Elder J. H. Waggoner, S. N. Haskell, and W. C. White were elected as the Publishing Committee for the coming year.
The meeting then closed with prayer.
W. K. VICKERY, Sec.
New Testament in Yokohama Schools
By W. H. Vickery
W. H. VICKERY, Sec.
THE civil authorities of Yokohama have introduced the New Testament in Japanese into the public schools of that city.
ONE kind word may turn aside a torrent of anger.
NEIGHBORS.
“A new family has just moved into the tenant-house below us, Nell,” Mr. Gray said one evening as he took his tea from his wife’s hand.
“The mission house, as you used to call it? I haven’t kept track of the tenants there for the last year, they have changed so often. You know I used to try to be neighborly; but with people moving in and out every few months, it is not worth the while.”
“But this tenant has rented for a year, I understand. And the woman is an invalid, that was why I spoke of it. I saw her sitting in a rocking-chair before the house, directing where the furniture should be placed to-night, and felt sorry for her. They are poor, evidently, and there were a half-dozen children about.”
“I must go and see her,” Mrs. Gray said, answering her first generous impulse. “Do you know anything of the family?”
“She looked delicate and lady-like, I thought, but worn down and sharpened by trouble. The man is rather a shiftless fellow, and I fancy she carries the heavy burdens of the house. It’s a clear field for missionary effort, my dear. They have but just come to the place from the next town.”
“Ah, well! I will see what I can do. Of course I can’t go in at once—certainly not to-night, for I have to run down to Mrs. Hall’s for a pattern; but I will remember it.”
But coming home from her call, half resolved to ignore formality, since the stranger was an invalid, and see if she could be of any help, Mrs. Gray saw a faded, fretful woman in the door scolding two rough boys. She forgot the nervous wear of disease in listening to the sharp tones, and mentally resolved to be in no haste to cultivate her new acquaintance.
But the neighbor—or her children—seemed disposed to cultivate her, for a few days later the little maid-of-all-work answered a tap at the back door and brought back word that Mrs. Case would be much obliged for a little milk. As owner of the only cow in the neighborhood, Mrs. Gray furnished skim-milk to half a dozen families. “Certainly,” she said, now abstractedly repeating the recipe she was using: “Ten eggs, two cups sugar—the pan nearest the end, Hannah be sure—” and then a new thought striking her: “I wonder if this is the new neighbor?”
With the platter of eggs she was beating, she walked to the door to see. A rough-looking boy stood there; a large and lumbering boy with a shock of light hair, and very patched clothes. But since they were patched and not ragged, Mrs. Gray’s opinion of the mother rose. “Are you the ones that have just moved in here?” she asked, reckless of grammar.
“Yes,” answered the boy, stupidly watching her flying fingers, which never stopped beating her eggs.
“Your mother is sick, I hear.”
“Yes, been so a long time.”
“Tell her she is welcome to milk any time and”—a sudden vague compassion for the mother of a half-dozen such boys striking her, “tell her I am coming to see her.” And as the boy disappeared, her eyes turned involuntarily to a pretty painted motto, the work of her own hands, on the wall: “Know thy opportunity.” Here was hers, perhaps; and Mrs. Gray meant always to make this thought one of the main-springs of action with herself.
“I’ll go this afternoon,” she said now to herself; but little Bertie came in half sick from play, and she was kept busy with him until it was too late. The next day she had callers, and the next was Sunday; and by the time the washing and ironing was disposed of for the next week, the matter had really slipped her mind. So many other things claimed her attention: church and social duties, and a press of sewing just then; and a little extra house cleaning for expected guests, and then their entertainment in that graceful way for which she was famous with all her friends. Sometimes a thought of her invalid neighbor crossed her mind indeed; once her husband asked her if she had yet called, and mentioned that their pastor reported them as people needing social help. “Really,” Mrs. Gray said half petulantly, “I don’t know that that is my affair. I have more acquaintances now than I can keep up with.”
“It’s hardly a question of acquaintance in the usual way.”
“Well, I hate going to see people to do them good. And it never comes to anything. But I certainly mean to go see Mrs. Case, sometime.”
For Mrs. Gray was no aristocrat. She was merely thoughtless, hurried, careless; too busy about her own business to do the Lord’s, mayhap. Besides, it was now nearly two months since the neighbors had come, and she was beginning to feel too ashamed at her delay to wish to go at all. But just here the children made friends. Mrs. Gray went away on a week’s visit alone, leaving them to the care of little Hannah. When she came back, she heard, among other bits of news, that the two little ones had spent an afternoon at the neighbors, and enjoyed themselves ever so much. “And now,” thought Mrs. Gray, “I shall have to go to see if I can allow the children to play together.”
But when her husband came home the next night he said to her, “Did you know, Nell, that there is scarlet fever in the neighborhood? I hear one of our neighbor’s boys is down with it. You will have to be careful of the children, but I do wish you would go over and see if you can’t do something. They must need help.”
“I’m almost ashamed to go now, Fred. It’s so long since they moved in, and I’ve never been near them. I never meant to be so little neighborly; but it has seemed impossible to get the time.”
And then, a sudden, dreadful fear coming upon her, Mrs. Gray went up to her children. She remembered their visit of the day before; perhaps more than one had been made in her week’s absence. Indeed, as the result of her anxious questions it came out that it was so.
“The boy asked us to come, mamma,” Bertie said. “An’ he had a kite. An’ we had such a nice time. We meant to ask Hannah, but she was talking to the milk-man, and we didn’t think you’d care.”
“An’ his sister was sick,” little Allie added. “An’ his mamma. They don’t have many good times, I guess. We took them some apples.”
Vain was all Mrs. Gray’s care, now. A week later she was bent over one stricken darling, and the other, by some charm, escaping, had been sent to a sister out of town. Other friends did kind offices for her neighbors; cared for the sick girl and watched over the dead, and helped, as they could, for the shabby little funeral that a fortnight later left the tenant-house. Mrs. Gray saw it as it went past, but in her passion of fear for her own, it was only to cry. “She deserved almost to lose her child. What right had she to expose my darling to infection? She must have known. She should have sent them home that day. If I lose my boy it will be all her fault.”
But little Bertie did not die, and when the danger was over, better thoughts came to Mrs. Gray. Had she any right to consideration from her neighbor, when she had given her none? Had there not been a little patrician pride in her indifference? She had been drawing her circles to exclude a good, common woman; but one cannot draw social circles so that nothing shall escape into the publican world outside. And from others, who now, so late, had done their duty to the strangers, the duty which was her’s first, she heard much of the poor family; of their need of help; their social isolation; their longing to be like “other folks” in church and school observance. The little village society had rallied around them at last, and other women had done finally the work Mrs. Gray should have done months before. They did not need her friendly offices now; but at last, in the late summer, Mrs. Gray called on her neighbor. She did not apologize for her negligence. It had been atoned for over her child’s bed. She found her neighbor a feeble, suffering woman, bowed down by disease and sorrow; a woman who might have been her equal and friend, had not fate been against her in the bitter struggle of life and held her from all advantages. The common peril through which they had passed melted all formalities. They talked like old acquaintances, and Mrs. Gray’s frank sympathy was sweet to the sorrowing mother. So sweet, so soothing, that when, after an hour’s call, she rose to go, Mrs. Case’s last reserve melted away.
“Mrs. Gray,” she said, hesitatingly, “I don’t know but you blame me for your little boy’s getting the fever, and I had thought that if he died I’d never forgive myself. I didn’t know my girl had the fever the day they were over here—but I did suspect it a little. And I was mean enough to think that seeing you’d never taken the trouble to notice me in any way, I’d just let things take their course. I was all discouraged that day. Seemed as if we’d been sort of shunned and looked down on ever since we’d been here, and I’d made up my mind as nobody was neighborly to me I’d be neighborly to nobody. And the children had such a good time. It was dreadful mean of me, I’m free to admit; but you can’t tell how forsaken I felt, sick and alone and things not going straight in Mr. Case’s work. We used to go to church, but husband had made me give that up since we came here, for he said people snubbed us, and then when baby died—and every one was so kind—”
She stopped with a burst of sobs, but Mrs. Gray had seized her hand. “I was to blame, too,” she said hurriedly. “If I’d been neighborly at first, all this might never have happened. I can’t forgive myself, but indeed I’ll try to do better in the future. And it will be better for you, I am sure.”
And so it proved, for Mrs. Gray, interested now herself, soon interested others in steady aid to the poor family. She brought the children into the Sabbath-school and the husband and wife into the church. In brief, they were at last neighbors in deed as well as in name.
“And of all the chances to do good I ever had,” Mrs. Gray said afterward, “that was the very best. The pity was that it took me so long to find out my opportunity.”
The Home Circle.
By Ross Martin
LINES TO A CHURCH BELL.
THE morn has broken, O glorious token
Of what was spoken long years ago,
The grave's dark slumber, that death encumber,
Shall burst asunder for weal or woe.
And 'tis the warning I hear at dawning,
Each Sabbath morning at break of day,
As o'er each number I deeply ponder,
And often wonder if it doth say—
"For prayer—for prayer—'tis time for prayer—
'Tis time for prayer—'tis time for prayer"—
Then gently sinking, it sets me thinking,
And often linking with by-gone days
Each solemn number that wakes from slumber
The sheeted phantoms of childhood's ways.
O, star-eyed reason, wait for a season—
'Tis cruel treason to break my spell;—
And science 'bids thee, some day you'll guide me
Come sit beside me and hear the bell.
For Oh, 'tis charming, each Sabbath morning,
To hear this warning flung out in air;
Aloft now rolling, then sweetly falling,
As thus 'twas calling mankind to prayer:
"For prayer—for prayer—'tis time for prayer—
'Tis time for prayer—'tis time for prayer"—
Till with emotion, like swelling ocean,
My heart's devotion with raptures swell;
And loving kindness through tears of blindness
Still fondly clings to the magic spell.
O, sacred tower, long be thy power
E're storm and shower shall end thy days;
Till future ages and other sages,
On snow-white pages record thy praise;
Long, long defend thee, those that attend thee,
While I befriend thee in simple song;
And future nations and generations
Come hushed in silence to hear thy tongue—
"For prayer—for prayer—'tis time for prayer—
'Tis time for prayer—'tis time for prayer"—
Thus softly tolling and gently rolling,
It holds my soul in a magic spell,
While with attention and wrapt in suspension,
My heart still turns to the chiming bell.
—By Ross Martin, Sacramento Bee for 1879.
Self-Denial and Self-Justification
SELF-DENIAL and self-justification do not agree
A Child's Definition of Home
By Sunday-School Times
A CHILD'S DEFINITION OF HOME.—A little brother and sister were talking about home and their love for it. "I wouldn't swap my home for any other in the world," said the sister. "Oh, I don't feel so," was the boy's response, "I think that Willie A——'s home is as pretty as ours. Its bigger and its got more things in it. I think I'd like to swap ours for that." "But would you like to give up your father and mother for his?" asked his sister. "And would you rather have his sisters than yours?" "No, I wouldn't want that," said the boy. "Well to swap home means that," said the sensible sister, "for a home itself isn't a home. A home is your father and mother, and brothers and sisters, and everything you have in the house." Wasn't that well said? Isn't there a truth in those words which is hid from many of the wise and prudent, and revealed unto babes? A well-furnished house is not a home. A home is the life and love which the family in the house represents. Who would swap his home for a rich neighbor's!—Sunday-School Times
ITEMS OF NEWS.
—Bishop Merrill lately organized a Methodist Conference in Rome.
—The Germanic, which arrived in New York, April 25, brought $1,000,000 in gold.
—The Philadelphia Mint is exclusively at work on gold, at the rate of $3,000,000 a month.
—Two severe shocks of earthquake occurred at Hollister on the morning of the 25th ult.
—The fund for the relief of the widow of John Brown, as far as heard from, amounts to about $2,500.
—A number of experiments are being made in the Mussel Slough, Cal., district in the planting of sugar-cane and cotton.
—Russia has, by a circular note, invited the Powers to a conference for the purpose of considering measures against the Anarchists.
—A large portion of Greenville, Plumas Co., Cal., was destroyed by fire, April 23. The loss is estimated at not less than $100,000.
—The New York Police Commissioners, it is reported, have been indicted by the Grand Jury, because of their failure to clear the streets.
—A German butcher named Joseph Kenn, residing on 9th street, S. F., while under the influence of liquor, killed his wife, Sunday morning, May 1.
—The Russian executioner, Frohtaff, received 100 lashes for mismanagement in the hanging of the Nihilist, Michaloff, whose rope broke twice.
—In Buenos Ayers the gold value of paper money is four cents on the dollar. And yet the government declared that it is a dollar. A rather weak "fiat."
—The dwelling house of Mayor H. S. Ball, of Salinas, Cal., was burned on the evening of the 22d ult. Mrs. Ball and her two daughters perished in the flames.
—Russia is reduced to a state of anarchy. The Czar has taken up what he considers safe quarters, guarded with great care, but dares not go out. Pity the poor kings!
—Ten cars of coal and four box-cars filled with coal oil were burned yesterday on the New York and Philadelphia Railroad track, near Buffalo, N. Y., April 25.
—The Indians in Dakota are on the war-path. All the hunters have been driven from the vicinity of Buford. Troops have been sent for the protection of the whites.
—The South-Side Street Railway Company, of Chicago, have finally decided to adopt the California system of endless chain cable. Work will be begun immediately.
—The Oneida Community, rooted out of the States with so much difficulty, has established itself, with all its immoral characteristics, on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.
—The New York Assembly has passed a bill fixing the telegraph rates for fifteen words or less to any point in the State at twenty cents, and half this rate to newspapers.
—A Galveston, Texas, dispatch states that both the east and west bound stages were robbed near Sabinal, April 30. The mail sacks were ripped open and all the registered packages extracted.
—The small-pox is epidemic in London. During 28 days in April, 1,500 cases were turned away from the hospitals because they were full, and 300 persons died in their own homes of small-pox.
—James T. Fields died April 24, aged 64 years. He was well known in the literary world in the old publishing firm of Tichnor & Fields, as editor of the Atlantic Monthly, and an author and lecturer.
—April 28, in Louisville, Ky., four boys between 12 and 14 years of age were struck dead by lightning while playing during the noon recess at school. The clothing and bodies of the boys were badly burned. Two other boys were stunned by the shock.
—Nevada City, Cal., has adopted a resolution appropriating $2,000 for the purchase of an electric light of 12,000 candle-power, with which to illuminate the streets of the city. This is the first city on the coast to adopt the electric light for street illuminating purposes.
—A party of Irish land leaguers, armed and masked, recently seized a bailiff and roasted him over a slow fire until they forced him to swear that he would resign his office. His case is reported to be hopeless. Such barbarous cruelty will not be likely to help the Irish cause.
—At Pueblo, Col., on the 22d ult., a passenger car jumped from the track and rolled down an embankment 150 feet. Eight persons were instantly killed, and others seriously injured. The accident was thought to be due to the softening of the ground by the late heavy rains.
—The Baptist papers refer with great satisfaction to the course of Rev. Edward Judson, of Orange, N. J. He resigns his pastorate in a wealthy church to become a missionary in New York City. He begins work in September. Meantime, he is to finish a life of his father, Adoniram Judson, the famous missionary to Burmah.
—On the morning of April 28, a ferry-boat while crossing Fox river at Elgin, Ill., was capsized in mid-stream in 15 feet of water. Forty persons were on board, and of these, 13 are known to have been drowned. All but one of these were children, who, since the destruction of the bridge by the flood, have been obliged to go to school by ferry.
—The new Czar of Russia has received a large number of letters, warning him of the existence of plots against his life. The Ministers and Court officials have received copies of a Nihilist manifesto condemning the Czar to death. The Czar is immured in an unimportant chateau, guarded by six cordons of soldiery, and his palace at the capital is surrounded by three hundred guards.
—The Los Angeles Herald says: "With regard to the Holiness Band, now holding meetings here, there is a growing sentiment in this community that a little less Pharisaism and a little more unobtrusive religion, would be all the better for all concerned. Many well-thinking people also think the 'Perfectionists' display an uncommon and probably disgusting familiarity with the name of the Saviour."
—As a consequence of the accumulated filth in the streets of New York City, great fears are entertained for the safety of that city the coming summer. The Herald says: "We have it on the authority of the most eminent physicians of the city, and their opinion is sustained by the whole profession, that New York is now on the verge of a pestilence; that, in fact, premonitory symptoms of the plague have already appeared."
THE response of the Russian Government to the Senate resolutions on the assassination of the Czar, a copy of which was transmitted by Secretary Blaine to the Senate this afternoon, is in the form of a letter from the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs to Minister Foster, and has the following paragraph: "My august master has been profoundly touched by this mark of respect for his beloved father, and of sympathy for himself, coming from the high assembly of a country for which the deceased Emperor always professed sincere esteem and warm friendship. It is a legacy which he leaves to the Emperor Alexander III., and which his Majesty, in accord with the Russian nation, accepts from the bottom of his heart."
THE Central Methodist, under the head of "The Theater Helping the Church," says: "We clip the following notice from one of our most valued exchanges, the Kentucky Advocate: 'The Somerset Amateur Dramatic Troupe, under the auspices of the Baptist church, this city, will give theatrical entertainments at Owen's Opera House on the 24th and 25th inst., the proceeds to be used for the benefit of the church.' What next? Will we, in less than twenty years, have the theaters in the church of God? It seems very probable, unless there is a change for the better. * There are three evils that are gradually working our ruin: The number of persons who unite with and remain in the churches unconverted; the want of discipline; and the supposed modern progress displacing sober and sensible religious faith and practice. It is a miserable expedient to raise money for the cause of Christ by resorting to the worldly and sensual tastes of the unregenerate. When our church buildings are once taken for tableaux and theaters, from that day not one preacher in forty can satisfy the vulgar demand for show and sense."
THE SANITARY DETECTIVE.
A NEW THING.
LOOK OUT FOR ADULTERATION!
It does no good to warn people against adulteration without giving them the means for detection. This is done by the Sanitary Detective, which affords the means for detecting
Adulterated Sugar and Syrups,
Arsenic in Wall Paper, Lead in Tinware,
Mineral Acids in Vinegar,
Copper in Pickles and Canned Vegetables,
Organic Matter in Water, etc.
The tests are simple, and can be satisfactorily employed by any intelligent person. They are put up in a neat case, with full directions accompanying each.
DIED of quick consumption, at her home in Rocklin, Placer county, Cal., Apr. 21, 1881, sister M. J. Schuetze, aged 34 years, 3 months, and 9 days. Her health, which for a number of years was exceedingly poor, was much improved last fall; but a few months ago, by undue exposure, she contracted a cold from which she never recovered. Seven years ago she professed religion and united with the Baptist church in Sacramento. She read the Bible much and prayed for more light, and when the Sabbath truth was presented to her notice three years ago, she gladly accepted it and became an active missionary worker. Her whole Christian life was marked by devotion to the cause of God. A husband, three children, and a large circle of relatives and friends mourn their loss, but not as those who have no hope. Words of comfort were spoken from 2 Sam. 14: 14. E. J. WAGGONER.