" Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Rev. 22 :12. 
VOLUME 9. �
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, FIFTH—DAY, AUGUST 23, 1883. �
NUMBER 32. 
Mntered at the Post-Office in Oakland, Cal. 
CHRIST'S A.PPLAL. 
I AM standing outside thy door to-night, 
Seeking thine heart to win; 
The world for awhile has withdrawn its light— 
Wilt thou open and let me in ? 
I have traveled far on a lonely road, 
In sorrow and agony; 
I have borne sin's heavy, crushing load, 
All, all for the sake of thee ! 
I am standing to plead with thee to-night, 
While the dews of evening fall; 
O'er the moaning and surging waves of life 
Dost thou hear my yearning call ? 
I would free thy soul from the chains of earth, 
From its care, its sorrow," its sin; 
I would give thee joy, for its hollow mirth— 
Wilt thou open and let me in ? 
From the glorious heights of Heaven I came 
To seek thee and to save; 
But .the world, it gave me a cross of shame, 
And a lonely, borrowed grave. 
I left my radiant home above, 
All for the sake of thee; 
I have died to prove my deep, deep love, 
Wilt thou open the door to me? 
Thou hast wandered far in the paths of sin, 
Thou art weary, and sad, and lone; 
But my blood can cleanse, and my love can win— 
May I make thine heart my own ? 
The world, it has given thee care and pain, 
Often famine and misery; 
I offer the treasures of priceless gain— 
Wilt thou open the door to me ? 
—Helps by the Way. 
6tneral 
Luther Before the I)iet. 
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE. 
ON the day following his arrival at Worms, Lu-
ther was notified to appear in the afternoon be-
fore the emperor and the members of the diet. 
This was the day that he had long desired; but to 
human appearance there was great danger before 
him. 
On that day came a letter from a courageous 
knight, whispering in the Reformer's ear the 
words of an ancient prophet: "The Lord hear thee 
in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Ja-
cob defend thee; send thee.help out of Zion; grant 
thee according to thine own heart, and fulfill all 
thy counsel."' 
He added: " 0 beloved Luther, my venerated 
father! fear not, and stand firm. The counsel of 
the wicked has laid wait for you, and they have 
opened their mouths against you, like roaring 
lions. But the Lord will arise against them, and 
put them to flight. Fight, therefore, valiantly 
the battles of Christ. As for me, I, too, will com-
bat boldly. Would to God that I were permitted 
to see how they frown. Bat the Lord will purge 
his vineyard. . . . May Christ preserve you!" 
At the appointed hour a herald appeared to 
conduct Luther to the presence of the diet. The 
streets were so thronged as to be impassable, and 
it was only through back ways and gardens that 
the Reformer and his attendants reached the 
town-hall. The roofs and the pavements, above, 
beneath, on every side, were covered with spec-
tators. When they arrived at the hall, the crowd 
was so great that the soldiers were obliged to 
clear a passage. Within the outer inclosure ev-
ery place was crowded. More than five thousand 
spectators, German, Spanish, and Italian, thronged 
the ante-chamber and recesses. 
As Luther approached the door which was to 
admit him to the audience-room and.the presence 
of his judges, an old general, the hero of many bat- 
tles, touched him upon the shoulder as he passed, 
and shaking his head said to him kindly, " My 
poor monk, my poor monk, thou hast a march 
and a struggle to go through, such as neither I 
nor many other captains have seen the like in our 
most bloody battles. But if thy cause be just, 
and thou art sure of it, go forward in God's name 
and fear nothing! He will not forsake thee." 
The doors are thrown open, and Luther enters. 
Never had any man appeared in the presence of 
a more imposing assembly. An emperor whose 
kingdom extended across both hemispheres; his 
brother, the archduke; the electors of the empire, 
most of whose successors were crowned heads; 
dukes, among whom were those fierce and bloody 
enemies of the Reformation, the Duke of Alva 
and his sons; archbishops, bishops, and prelates; 
the ambassadors of foreign nations; princes, 
counts, and barons; and the pope's ambassadors, 
—in all two hundred persons. Such were the 
judges before whom Martin Luther was to an-
swer for his faith. 
A signal victory was won for the truth, by the 
very fact of Luther's appearance before that 
princely council. That a man whom the pope 
had condemned should be judged by another tri-
bunal, was virtually a denial of the pope's supreme 
authority. The Reformer, placed under ban, and 
denounced from human-fellowship by the pope, 
had been assured protection, and was granted a 
hearing, by the highest dignitaries of the nation. 
The pope had commanded him to be silent; but 
he was about to speak in the presence of thou-
sands assembled from all parts of Christendom. 
In the presence of that powerful and titled as-
sembly, the lowly-born Reformer seemed awed 
and embarrassed. Some princes who were near 
him, observing his emotion, approached him 
kindly and one of them whispered, " Fear not 
them which kill the body, but are not able to kill 
the soul." Another said, " When you are brought 
before kings, it shall be given you, by the Spirit 
of your Father, what you shall say." Thus the 
words of Christ were brought by the great ones 
of earth to strengthen the Reformer in his hour 
of trial. 
Luther was conducted to a position directly in 
front of the emperor's throne. All eyes were 
fixed upon the man who had dared with pen and 
voice to resist the authority of the pope. A deep 
silence fell upon the crowded assembly. Then an 
imperial officer arose, and in a clear voice ad-
dressed the Reformer thus:— 
" Martin Luther, his sacred and invincible Maj-
esty has cited you before his throne, acting on 
the opinion and advice of the States of the holy 
Roman Empire, to require you to answer two 
questions: First, Do you acknowledge these writ-
ings to have been composed by you? " and the 
speaker pointed with his finger to about twenty 
volumes placed on a table in the center of the 
hall, immediately before Luther. " Secondly, Are 
you prepared to retract these works and the prop-
ositions contained therein, or do you persist in 
what you have therein advanced ?" 
The titles of the books having been read, Lu-
ther answered, " Most gracious emperor, princes, 
and lords! his imperial majesty puts to me two 
questions. As to the first, I acknowledge the 
books just named to be mine. I cannot deny 
them. As to the second, whether I will maintain 
all these or retract them, seeing it is a question of 
faith and of one's salvation and of the word of 
God, which is the greatest treasure in Heaven 
and earth, and deserving at all times our highest 
reverence, it would be rash and perilOus for me to 
speak inconsiderately, without reflection. I might 
affirm either more or less than is consistent with 
truth; in either case I should fall under the sen- 
tence of Christ. He that denieth me before men, 
him will I deny before my Father which is in 
Heaven.' Therefore I beg of your imperial maj- 
esty time for reflection, that I may be able to 
reply to the question proposed, without prejudice 
to the word of God or to my own salvation." 
In making this request, Luther moved wisely. 
His course convinced the assembly that he did not 
act from passion or impulse. Such calmness and 
self-command, unexpected in one who had shown 
himself bold and uncompromising, added to his 
power, and enabled him afterward to answer with 
a prude
nce, decision, wisdom, and dignity, which 
surprised and disappointed his adversaries, and 
rebuked their insolence and pride. 
The different orders of the diet withdrew for 
consultation, and when agairi assembled, they 
agreed to grant the Reformer's request, on con-
dition, however, that' his answer be returned by 
word of mouth, and not in writing. 
As Luther was conducted to his lodgings, a ru-
mor was circulated through the city that the pope 
had triumphed, and the Reformer would be 
brought to the stake. Both threats and expres-
sions of respect and sympathy greeted him as he 
made his way through the crowded streets. 
Many visited him at his lodgings, and declared 
themselves ready to defend him with their lives. 
In the midst of the excitement, the Reformer 
alone was calm. A letter written by him at this 
time reveals his feelings:-- 
" I have just made my appearance before the 
emperor and his brother Ferdinand, and been 
asked whether I would retract my writings. I 
answered, The books laid before me are mine; 
but concerning the revocation, I will say what I 
will do to-morrow. This is all the time I asked, 
and all they will give. But Christ being gracious 
to me, I will not retract an iota." 
The next day he was to appear before the diet 
to render his second answer. At times his heart 
sunk within him as he contemplated the forces 
that were combined against the truth. His faith 
faltered as his enemies seemed to multiply before 
him, .and the powers of darkness to prevail. In 
anguish of spirit he threw himself with his face 
upon the earth, and poured out those broken, 
heart-rending cries which none but God can fully 
interpret. In his helplessness, his soul fastened 
upon Christ the mighty deliverer. It was not for 
his own safety, but for the success of the truth, 
that he wrestled mightily with God; and he pre-
vailed. He was strengthened with the assurance 
that he would not appear alone before the coun-
cil. Peace returned to his soul, and he rejoiced 
that he was permitted to uphold and defend the 
word of God before the rulers of the nation. 
As the time for his appearance drew near, he 
approached a table on which lay the Holy Script-
ures, placed his left hand upon the sacred volume, 
and raising his right hand to Heaven, he vowed 
to adhere constantly to the gospel, and to confess 
his faith freely, even though he should be called 
to seal his testimony with his blood. 
DISCIPLINE.-1 do not believe that boys can be 
induced to apply themselves with vigor, and, 
what is so much more difficult, perseverance, to 
dry and irksome studies, by the sole force of per-
suasion and soft words. Much must be done and 
much must be learned, by children, for which 
rigid discipline and known liability to punishment 
are indispensable as means. It is, no doubt, a 
very laudable effort in modern teaching to render 
as much as possible of what the young are re-
quired to learn, easy and interesting to them. 
But when this principle is pushed to the length 
of not requiring them to learn anything but what 
has been made easy and interesting, one of the 
chief objects of education is sacrificed.—Mill. 
,*ign5 Di tke Chum 
PUBLISHED WEEKLY, FOR THE 
S. D. A. MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 
(For Terms, etc., See Last Page.) 
374 �
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. �VoL. 9, N 3. 32. 
" Know ye not, hat so many of us as were baptized into 
Jesus Christ were baptized into his death ? Therefore we are 
buried with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ 
was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, 
even so we also should walk in newness of life." Rom. 6: 3, 4. 
THE original meaning of the word baptism is 
immersion, and though we regard it as a point of 
indifferency, whether the ordinance so named be 
performed in this way or by sprinkling, yet we 
doubt not that the prevalent style of the admin- 
istration in the apostle's days was by an actual 
submerging of the whole body under water. We 
advert to this for the purpose of throwing light 
on the analogy that is instituted in these verses. 
Jesus Christ by death underwent this sort of bap-
tism, even immersion under the surface of the 
ground, whence he soon emerged again by his 
resurrection. We, by being baptized into his 
death, are conceived to have made a similar trans-
lation. In the act of descending under the water 
of baptism, to have resigned an old life, and in the 
act of ascending, to emerge into a second-, or a new 
life, along the course of which it is our part to 
maintain a strenuous avoidance of that sin which 
as good as expunged the being that we had for-
merly; and a strenuous prosecution of that holi-
ness which should begin with the 'first moment 
that we were ushered into our present being, and 
be perpetuated, and make progress toward the 
perfection of full and ripened immortality. 
" Baptized into his death," or regarding our-
selves as if, like him, we had actually been slain 
and buried, and like him brought forth anew and 
made alive again, before that God who for our 
sins had swept us beyond the circle of his favored 
creation. This would have been had not Christ 
died; and though he, by pouring out his soul for 
us, has kept us in the favor that else would have 
been forfeited, and that forever, yet the argument 
is the same, if prevented from going down into 
the pit, as if after being cast headlong into it for 
our sins, we had again been extricated therefrom. 
How shall we whom sin had at that time blotted 
out from the family of life, now that we are re-
admitted, again indulge in it ? How shall we run 
counter to those holy antipathies of the divine nat-
ure, of the strength and irreconcilableness of 
which we already, in our own persons, have had 
so fell a manifestation ? How shall we, rescued 
from destruction, again welcome to our embraces 
the destroyer ? Or, living anew under the eye of 
that God who could not endure the presence of 
sin, and so consigned it to the exile of death ever-
lasting, shall we live again in that very course 
which made our former existence so offensive to 
him, and so incompatible with the whole spirit 
and design of his government ? Has he changed 
his taste or his character ? or makes it any differ-
ence to the argument that a mediator interposed 
and took upon himself the whole weight of that 
avenging arm which was lifted up for our exter-
mination ? Is not the exhibition of God's hatred 
and hostility to sin just as impressive, that the 
stroke of jealousy fell upon the head of his own 
Son, as it would have been had it fallen on the 
guilty millions whom this mighty Captain shielded 
from the vindictive discharge that else would have 
overwhelmed us ? And whether these billows of 
wrath have all been broken on the Rock of our 
Salvation, or first made to pass over us, we had 
again been summoned from the depth and caused 
to emerge anew into the sunshine of God's recon-
ciled countenance, does it not equally prove that 
he, the everlasting enemy of sin, will, in any new 
economy that he may institute, still evince it to 
be that hateful thing for which he has no taste, 
and can have no toleration ? 
So much for the application of the phrase " dead 
unto sin," when understood forensically. We 
trust that however imperfectly we may have 
illustrated this part of the argument, you have 
been made to perceive that there is in it the force 
and the power of a most impressive consideration; 
and, whether you have seized upon it or not, be 
at least very sure of this, that, such is the fact of 
the matter, there is no indulgence for sin under 
the dispensation of the gospel. It is a restora-
tive dispensation, by which you are alike kept 
from the penalty of sin and cured of its polluting 
virulence. It restores you to the favor of God, 
but it restores you not to the liberty of sinning; 
and the argument wherewith we would arm and 
fortify the principles of all who now feel them-
selves alive in Christ Jesus is, shall we continue in 
that hateful thing which would have brought me 
to the death, had not my Saviour, for my deliver- 
ance and prese'rvation, bowed down his bead unto 
the sacrifice ? 
We have already tried to set forth in your hear-
ing the forensic interpretation that might be 
given of the phrase " dead unto sin"—dead for 
sin—not that the sentence was inflicted, but that 
the sentence was pronounced; and the argument 
why they should not continue in sin is as strongly 
applicable to those who are delivered from a doom 
that was impending, as to those who are recalled 
from a doom that was actually executed. There 
were a most direct force in the consideration 
—should a revived criminal press it upon his 
moral feelings—how can I recur to that which is 
so odious in the sight of my country's govern-
ment that I had to suffer a death for it, from 
which 1, by a miracle perhaps of mercy, have been 
restored ? And it ought to be as powerful a con-
sideration with a reprieved criminal, whose sen-
tence has been suspended, and perhaps by the in-
tercession of a mediator been finally withdrawn. 
The recurrence to that which brought down the 
sentence were just as monstrous a violence done 
to the whole spirit and object of the administra-
tion under which I live, in the one case as in the 
other; and be assured that there were the very 
same violence done to the spirit of Heaven's ad-
ministration, should those who are redeemed 
from death under the economy of the gospel live 
in that which had sunk them under so fearful a 
condemnation. For sin we were ready to die. 
For sin we would have died had not Christ inter-
posed, and undergone in his own person that shed-
ding of blood without which remission is impossi-
ble. The demonstration given of God's antipa-
thies to the power and existence of sin in his 
kingdom is as strong by the falling of the deadly 
blow upon the head of a Mediator as if it had 
fallen directly upon the head of those for whom 
he died. And shall we, from whom the stroke of 
vengeance has been averted—shall we who are 
still in life but virtually in a life from the dead 
—shall we who in Christ may so read what but 
for him would have happened to ourselves, as to 
be baptized into his death and to be planted to- 
gether in the likeness of it—shall we, kept from 
falling into the abyss of condemnation, and there- 
fore as good as if summoned again from its depths 
on the platform of God's favored and rejoicing 
family—continue in the hateful thing which but 
for Christ would have destroyed us, and of God's 
abhorrence to which the atoning death of Christ 
gives so awful and impressive a manifestation ? 
The Whole Bible or None. 
latter never rises above what is human, but the 
former derives all its glory from the divine. The 
latter are scintillations of genius, the former, of 
the insufferable glory of the great white throne. 
The one is on the plane of natural sense and 
reason, but the other that of moral government, 
divine law, and immortality. The one is from the 
intonation between gifted minds and nature, and 
the other the inspiration of God. As Christ's 
whole career while on earth was made up of 
what he said and did to men, and they to him, so 
the 0:c1 Testament is a record of what were of 
like relations between God and men. Hence, 
" beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, he ex-
pounded unto them, in all the Scriptures the things 
concerning himself." Luke 24: 26, 27. This all 
includes just what we have in the Old Testament. 
The things concerning Christ were its supreme 
subject matter. How, then, can we set aside a 
part ? 
Besides, the Messianic ancestry, beginning with 
Eve's promised seed, and reaching to Mary's in-
carnated Son, are the two ends of a chain, of 
which Adam, Noah, Abraham, Judah, and David, 
with his royal line were intermediate links. 
Along this radiant and ancestral line cluster a 
host of luminaries whose blended light is dimly 
visible in the Messianic milky way spanning the 
ages. All we know of them is their names. 
They are like the unknown masses in the lines of 
a great army making the war and its leaders 
illustrious, but without individualized fame. The 
geneological tables are a glorious showing of 
Christianity as a mountain stream gushing up 
from the lowest depths of society, and not con-
fined to nor beginning in its higher orders. 
When it came in the person of its author, it was 
from a peasant's home, and its first triumphs were 
in the cottages of the poor and the marts of slaves. 
But when it ended in the conquest of the CEesars 
its decadence began. It could stand the martyr-
doms of Nero, but not the golden endowments of 
Constantine. Conversions by persuasion* and not 
by power are as different as Heaven is from hell. 
The geneological tables of Chronicles and other 
books is a foreshadowing of this affinity of Chris-
tianity with the masses, and is the most signifi- 
cant part of the Old Testament �
 
No doubt some of the Old Testament books are 
more directly in the Messianic line than others. 
Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, and the books as-
cribed tb Solomon are historical sketches, patri- 
archal reasonings, or prudential maxims, that 
contain less of Christ than the psalms of David, 
and the prophecies of Isaiah or Daniel. But 
though aside from the Messianic track they are so 
far illuminated by it as to be unlike any other 
form of ancient literature. Can the theology of 
Homer be compared with that of Job, the Anaba-
sis of Xenophon with Ezra, Nehemiah, and Es-
ther, or the maims of Copernicus with those of 
Solomon ? Or, admitting their unrivaled superi-
ority as literary productions, are they not want-
ing in the theology which opens Heaven to man, 
and in the terminalogy which makes it available ? 
Is not Hebrew literature a visible embodiment in 
forms adapted to the earlier generations, of the 
Christianity which at length appeared in unveiled 
glory as the world's great civilizer, and the ground 
of heavenly hope to untold millions ? 
I will add, in conclusion, that the fewer we have 
of these critical pastors and professors, the better 
it will be for Christ's church. The apostles had 
no such acumen in treating the Bible. Luther, 
Calvin, Edwards, Wesley, Bunyan, Baxter, White-
field, and all our most reliable modern preachers 
and evangelists, who have made the Bible so great 
a power for man's regeneration, wielded all parts 
of the word with a master hand. If a fact or fig-
ure was there recorded, they accepted it as a 
weapon, without questioning where or how it was 
forged. if Jesus and his apostles used it without 
question, that was enough for them, and the most 
effective sermons I 
have ever heard have been 
those of Bible facts rather than finished logic and 
oratory. 
I can but ask, is the vast wealth of this coun-
try to be laid at the feet of dilettant preachers 
and professors, to reward their intellectual acu-
men in detecting spurious Scripture and captiva-
ting the people by their logic or their eloquence ? 
Are men to become famous according as they 
break down the carved work of God's inspired 
sanctuary with their lately invented axes and 
hammers ? Must we not look at the building 
with all its material in place to see its architect-
ural effect rather than as broken into a confused 
Chalmers on Romans. 
CHRIST is the soul of the Old Testament as well 
as of the New. The account of Samson, Jonah, 
Elijah, and all the most objectionable things of 
the kind are merged into Christianity. Heb. 12: 
32; Matt. 11: 14; 12: 39; et. al. The creation in 
the first chapter of Genesis analogically reflects, 
both in language and doctrine, Christ as the be-
ginning and creator of his redeemed church, what-
ever conclusions geology may come to on the sub-
ject of its applicability to the framework of nat-
ure. Rev. 3:14; 10:6; 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6: 15; 
Col. 3: 10, 11. A new creation is the favorite idea 
of redemption in the New Testament. And what 
is Eden but the Paradise of souls in whom God 
rules through their higher faculties ? And what 
is the fall of man but the dominance of his lower 
nature bringing on the corruption and misery 
ending in the flood ? And so onward the whole 
record is made by the apostles a shadowy repre-
sentation of Christianity. That I do not mistake 
in making the whole Bible contain Christ, we 
have the most conclusive evidence. Peter speaks 
of the prophets as " searching what, or what man-
ner of time the spirit of Christ which was in them 
did signify, when it testified beforehand the suf-
ferings of Christ and the glory that should follow." 
1 Pet. 1:11. Here it is affirmed that Christ spoke 
through the prophets; that he through them fore-
shadowed his sufferings and ensuing glory, and 
that they did not fully comprehend the meaning 
of their own predictions. And their ignorance 
seems to have been pardonable, till after the res-
urrection of Christ, which was the key to unlock 
the whole Old Testament, leading him to rebuke 
the remaining unbelief of his disciples, saying: 
" 0 fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the 
prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have 
suffered these things and to enter into his glory ?" 
Luke 24: 25. Christ affords further evidence that 
the Hebrew Scriptures are not to be judged of as 
we judge of Grecian and Roman literature. The 
AUGUST 23, 1883. �TIT �
II: SIGNS OF THE TIM 
Fi:S. �
375 
mass, to examine, brick by brick, stone by stone, 
and timber by timber ? Let us have God's reve-
lation in its entirety, and not in its broken frag-
ments, and then we shall see its architectural de-
sign in a glorious Christianity. " If the founda-
tions were destroyed what can the righteous do ? " 
" Thus saith the Lord. Stand ye in the way, and 
see, and ask for the old paths—where is the good 
way, and walk therein."—Pharallus Church, D. 
D., in Christian at Work. 
Peace. 
BY ELD. R. F. COTTRELL. 
PEACE is a quality most excellent. God reveals 
himself as the God of peace. " The very God of 
peace sanctify you wholly." " The God of peace 
shall be with you." One of the titles of the Son 
of God is, " The Prince of Peace;" and when the' 
angel announced his birth in the city of David, 
the heavenly choir responded in full chorus, 
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, 
good-will toward men." And an apostle says 
of Christ, "He is our peace." It was the object 
of his death to reconcile those that were divided, 
" so making peace." The disciples of Jesus should 
be like him; hence he says, " Blessed are the 
peacemakers." We are taught to " follow peace 
with all men;" that " God is not the. author of 
confusion, but of peace;" and that " if any man 
seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, 
neither the churches of God." " If it be possible, 
as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all 
men." The gospel is called " the gospel of peace." 
It is designed " to guide our feet into the way of° 
peace." The fruit of the spirit is " love, joy, 
peace;" and an apostle exhorts, " Let the peace 
of God rule in your hearts;" and, " Be at peace 
among yourselves." Those who follow these ex-
hortations to peace have the promise, " The God 
of peace shall be with you." Real Christians 
have the Spirit of Christ; and any two that have 
this spirit of peace can live in peace together. 
They will both endeavor " to keep the unity of 
the Spirit in the bond of peace;" and success will 
attend the efforts of both. If there be a failure 
at any time with one, the long-suffering of the 
other will be called into exercise. But where the 
peace of God is not present, " where envying and 
strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. 
But the wisdom that' is from above is first pure, 
then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, 
full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, 
and without hyprocrisy. And the fruit of right-
eousness is sown in peace of them that make 
peace." " Behold, how good and how pleasant it 
is for brethren to dwell together in unity." 
What the Bible Does Not Say. 
THE Bible is a book with a single purpose; and 
that purpose is to reveal the sinfulness of the hu-
man family, and a method of salvation from that 
sinfulness. And of course a book that has only 
one end in view must necessarily be silent with 
reference to a thousand other subjects. A few 
years ago a man was galloping on horseback, as 
if he had seen a specter, down the bank of a New 
England river in the dead of night. His mission 
was to inform the sleeping dwellers in a number 
of manufacturing towns farther down the stream 
that the great dam farther up the river was about 
to burst its barriers. The horseman, as he sped 
along, trampled myriads of flowers under foot, 
but he had nothing to say of botany. He rushed 
by hundreds of projecting rocks, rich in stories of 
prehistoric ages, but he had nothing to say on the 
subject of geology. Over his head the starry 
hosts were marshaled as they had been since the 
foundation of the world, but he had nothing to 
say on the subject of astronomy. He had just 
one mission,—to inform the sleeping toilers of 
their danger, and how they might escape it,—
and he had no time to devote to the consideration 
of any other subject, however important, or how-
ever fascinating to other minds. So it is with 
God's word. Its single object is to tell us of sin 
and its cure. On this subject it is full and ex-
plicit, and infallible.—Selected. 
Never question a servant or child about family 
matters. 
NEVER present a gift saying it is of no use to 
yourself. 
DARKNESS AND DAWN. 
MY life was hard but yestereve, 
And dark with clouds of sorrow, 
I had no hope that better things 
Were coming with the morrow; 
And through my tears I could not see 
The brighter morning breaking; 
My only prayer was for a sleep 
From which is no awaking. 
0 Life, how changeful you can be— 
How subtle, how surprising ! 
To-day the atmosphere is sweet; 
The sun-god is arising. 
And while the gloom is fast dispelled, 
An earnest prayer I'm making, 
That after my last sleep I'll have 
So radiant an awaking. 
—Frances B. Currie, in Examiner. 
Deliverance and Access by Blood. 
As IN Exodus we have deliverance through 
the blood, so in Leviticus we have access by the 
blood. And it is in access to God that we -enjoy 
the privilege of worship. I take the words in 
verse eleven of chapter seventeen as really the 
key-note of the whole method of access to God. 
They reveal the foundation on which worship 
rests, a foundation stable and sure, approved by 
our Maker and Redeemer himself. What words 
these are! I have given you the blood upon the 
altar to make an atonement for your souls." " I 
have given it to you upon the altar to make an 
atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that 
maketh an atonement by the life." 
Blood is the primal, fundamental demand of 
God in all the approaches of man unto himself. 
Many do not apprehend this nowadays; they 
think they can approach God in ways of their 
own devising without blood. There seems to be 
nothing so distasteful to the natural and unre-
newed man as the idea involved in the shedding 
of blood. " If we have any self-respect "—so men 
talk—" we abhor the very idea of sacrificial 
blood. Why should we not go to God in fairer, 
nobler terms ? Surely we are quite competent to 
deal directly with God, to have friendship with 
him, without any such thing as the death of an 
innocent victim. " We are unwilling to admit 
any necessity for death. Such is the pride of our 
hearts, we imagine we can dictate to God, and 
have fellowship with him in our own way. God's 
primal demand is death, not life; God's primal 
statement is The blood, which is the life, must 
be poured out, and then I can speak with you." 
Judgment must take place before there can be 
mercy. There can be no intercourse between God 
and man save that which is based on judgment 
executed and sin put away; there can be no com-
munion or fellowship unless judgment precede 
mercy. 
So it is in Exodus, judgment executed, then 
deliverance; and so it is in Leviticus, judgment, 
then ministry; and so it is with the last great 
work of deliverance wrought at Calvary—judg-
ment, then deliverance and ministry. Mark the 
precise words used: " I have given you the blood," 
not you have given it Me. The blood is God-
given; I have no right to kill an animal any more 
than I have to kill a man. I have no right to 
take away life—life belongs to God alone. . . . 
There is a distinction intensely broad and deep 
between heathenish notions of sacrifice and the 
teaching of Scripture. The heathenish notion 
is, that I have freedom of action, and that the 
animal which is my own I may slay if I choose 
and bring as my offering. . . . But God says, 
" I have given you the blood." It is God's divine 
gift to man, and it sets forth that divine sacrifice 
which in his own body the Lord Jesus Christ 
offered in the fullness of time for my sin.—H. Sin-
clair Paterson, M. D. 
Traffic in Instruments of Death. 
HERMAN 0. NAERGER was arrested in New York. 
a fortnight since for attempting to dispose of 
some fifteen hundred " slung-shots " which he had 
manufactured in Baltimore and brought to the 
former city for sale. The laws of the State 
make the manufacture or sale of slung-shots a 
misdemeanor, while the carrying of a slung-shot 
concealed about the person is a felony. The prin-
ciple of prohibition, as applied to intoxicating 
drinks, receives illustration and support from this 
statute; for the law, in either case, strikes at the 
manufacture and sale of that which is certain to 
be used to the injury of human interests, or the 
destruction of human life. The duty of govern-
ment not only to punish but to prevent crime, is 
recognized in such legislation. And our law-
makers will yet advance to the suppression of 
other, weapons more deadly than the slung-shot. 
The pistol is an instrument of death for the man-
ufacture and sale of which no good argument can 
be presented. It is never useful in the chase. 
Its only purpose is to kill men. It is used for 
murder ten times where it is once employed in 
self-defense. Any fool or villain like Guiteau can 
buy it cheaply and conceal it effectually until the 
moment for his fatal deed. If the purchase of 
pistols were rendered impossible at once and for-
ever, none but criminals would regret it; for all 
good men would gain more in personal security 
than they would lose in the means of self-defense. 
The number of murders would be greatly dimin-
ished and the stain of blood now resting on our 
land would lose something of its terrible dye. To 
provide legislation looking to this end seems an 
immediate duty of our legislators, and public opin-
ion ought to be educated to demand it.—Christian 
Statesman, June 7. 
Newspaper Honor. 
IN an address at Fort Wayne, Ind., Col. G. A. 
Pierce used the following sensible language:— 
A short time ago a discussion arose in Chicago 
as to the relative duties of lawyers and newspa-
pers, and the following query occurred to me: 
What would be said of any respectable journal 
that should take a fee for trying to make black 
appear white—that should undertake the defense 
of a notorious murderer, for instance? Not se-
cretly, and while pretending to be impartial—
that, of course would be intensely hypocritical 
and dishonorable—but openly and notoriously ? 
The accused party would say, for instance: " I 
want defenders. I will hire Lawyer Such-a-One 
and newspaper So-and-So." What an outcry 
would go up, and yet what is it that makes such 
an act highly dishonorable on the part of the 
newspaper and perfectly permissible and proper 
on the part of an attorney? Is newspaper honor 
held too high, or is legal honor held too low? I 
believe the time will come when a lawyer's duties 
will be confined to seeing that murderers and 
highway robbers have a fair and just trial accord-
ing to law, and when no amount of money will .be 
allowed to convert them into paid eulogists of 
dangerous men. 
Advice to a Young Man. 
AND, then, remember, my son, you have to work. 
Whether you handle a pick or a pen, a wheelbar-
row or a set of books, digging ditches or editing 
a paper, ringing an auction bell, or writing funny 
things, you must work. If you look around you, 
son, you will see that the men who are the most 
able to live the rest of their days without work 
are the men who worked the hardest. Don't be 
afraid of killing yourself with work, son. It is 
beyond your power to do that. Men cannot work 
so hard as that on the sunny side of thirty. They 
die sometimes, but it's because they quit work at 
6 P. M. and don't get home until 2 A. M. Its the 
interval that kills, my son. The work gives you 
an appetite for your meals, it lends solidity to your 
slumbers, it gives you a perfect appreciation of a 
holiday. There are young men who do not work, 
my son, but the world is not proud of them. It 
does not know their names, even; it simply speaks 
of them as old So-and-So's boys. Nobody likes 
them, nobody hates them; the great busy world 
doesn't even know that they are there. So find 
out what you want to be and do, son, and take off 
your coat and make a dust in the world. The 
busier you are the less deviltry you will be apt to 
get into, the sweeter will be your sleep, the brighter 
and happier your holidays, and the better satis-
fied will the world be with you.—Hawk-eye. 
A RELIGION which has endured every possible 
trial, which has outlived every vicissitude of hu-
man fortunes, and has never failed to re-assert its 
power unbroken in the collapse of its old envi-
ronments, which has pursued a consistent and 
victorious course through the lapse of eventful 
centuries, declares itself by irresistible evidence to 
be a thing of reality and power.—Robertson Smith, 
Never fail to give a polite answer to a civil 
question. 
376 �
SIGNS OF TH ti. TIMES. 
VoL. 9, No. 32. 
An Atonement Consistent with Reason. 
COMPARISON OF NATURE AND MORALITY. 
(Continued.) 
THAT the laws of nature have no penalties must 
be apparent to all if we consider the fact that 
they are never accepted as, or considered, a 
judicial system. In executing penalties there must 
be a consideration of the just desert of the crimes 
committed. But there is no such consideration, 
there is no discrimination whatever in the case of 
a consequence of the violatien of natural law. In 
this respect the operations of natural law are as 
blind and unreasoning as nature itself. There is 
implanted in man a sense of justice, or convictions 
of right, to which he finds no counterpart in the 
operations of nature. These convictions are en-
tirely on a moral basis. This sense of justice is 
erected in the human mind as a tribunal, a judg-
ment seat, whereat we determine the nature and 
desert 4 actions. And mark this truth : before 
this tribunal we always arraign the actions of in-
telligent agents, but never the operations of natural 
law. And in this, what is true of one is true of 
all; and it shows that all, whatever their theories 
may be, do in fact and in practice make a proper 
distinction between moral and natural laws. This 
should be well and carefully considered. 
The prime distinction between moral and nat-
ural laws is this: the first has respect to intention 
—the other has not. Fire will burn us, and water 
will drown us, whether we fall into them acci-
dentally or rush into them madly. The little 
child, who is yet unconscious of any intention of 
good or ill, suffers as certainly and as keenly on 
putting its hand into the fire, as the man of mature 
mind who presumptuously does the same thing. 
And should the man willfully and maliciously set 
fire to his neighbor's house, and the child, play-
fully and without intention of wrong, do the same 
thing, all would blame the one and not the other. 
And were a judge, in the administration of law, 
to visit the same penalty upon the man and the 
child, because the actions and results were the 
same, all would detest such a perversion of justice. 
Thus we not only find men acting upon the dif-
ference between moral and natural laws, but we 
find them also with great unanimity judging of 
the actions of moral agents according to their 
intentions. 
But the operations of natural law cannot thus 
be judged, and its consequences, often miscalled 
penalties, have no regard whatever for the claims 
of justice. As before said, the child is burned 
in the fire as certainly as the man; the good 
suffer under a violation of nature's laws as se-
verely as the most hardened and brutal. The 
idea cannot be too strongly impressed upon the 
mind that, confined in our reasoning to the pres-
ent state, to observation without a written reve-
lation justice cannot be attained unto nor vin-
dicated. A moral system is necessary, and the 
idea of probation must be accepted, in order to 
meet the requirements of justice. 
Another point should be noticed. When the 
demands of a moral law and a natural law con-
flict, as they often do in this mixed state of good 
and evil, men always give preference to the for-
mer, unless their sensibilities are blunted. And 
they are often false to the theories which they 
have adopted to be true to this fact. We some-
times meet with men who deny these distinctions; 
who assert that there are no laws aside from the 
laws of nature; yet they act in harmony with the 
propositions herein set forth. Should one refuse 
to attempt to rescue his fellow-man from impend-
ing destruction by fire, and plead in extenuation 
that it would have involved the violation of law, 
as he must have been somewhat burned in the 
effort, they would, as readily as others, abhor his 
selfishness. Here they recognize the distinction 
claimed, and place the moral duty of assisting 
our neighbor above conformity to natural law. 
THE MORAL SYSTEM. 
HAVING sufficiently shown that there is a dis-
tinction between moral and natural law, and that 
all men recognize it and act upon the fact, even 
if they do not admit it in theory, we have a ques-
tion of great importance to propose. None but 
the reckless and unthinking can pass it by with-
out giving it attention. The candid must admit 
that it is one of great interest. It is this: Will 
these aspirations for the right, this innate sense 
of justice, to which we have referred, ever be 
gratified? That they are not, that they cannot 
be gratified in the present state, scarcely needs 
further notice. Is my moral nature, my sense 
of right and justice, satisfied to see virtue trodden 
under foot? to see the libertine mocking over the 
grave of blighted hopes and a broken heart? to 
see the priceless treasure of virtuous purity, 
around which cluster the fondest hopes of earth, 
sported with as a mere toy of little worth ? to 
see honest toil sink unrequited, and hide itself 
in squalid poverty and a pauper's grave? to see 
the vain rolling in wealth accumulated by fraud 
and oppression ? to see vice exalted to the pin-
nacle of fame ? to hear the praises of him whose 
very presence is loathsome by reason of the filthi-
ness of his iniquities ? And when words fail to 
express the horrors of such and kindred evils, 
must I smile complacently and say, This is right? 
in this my soul delights ? But this is but a mere 
glance at the facts as they exist, as they have 
existed, and are likely to exist in this present 
state. Is it possible that these aspirations, these 
discriminations of right and wrong, were placed 
within our breasts to be mocked—to look and 
long in vain? Is it possible that the Supreme 
One, who has so nicely arranged the material 
world, and subjected it to certain laws, has placed 
moral balances in our hands to no purpose? that 
we are to long for, but never see, a vindication 
of the great principles of justice? Is it not 
rather reasonable to conclude that he has a moral 
Government, and that our moral sense is evidence 
that we are within the limits of a moral system ? 
Are not our convictions of wrong proof to our-
selves of our amenability to such a system ? 
The very fact that we discriminate between 
moral and natural laws, as we have seen that all 
men do, and that all pronounce upon the right or 
wrong of the actions of mankind, is proof of the 
general recognition of the existence of a moral 
Government. And so to look above nature, to ac-
knowledge God as a moral Governor, is necessary, 
to be true to our own natures, to the convictions 
planted in every breast. In this great truth our 
aspirations find rest. Here our sense of justice 
takes refuge; for a Government is a system of laws 
maintained, and the very idea of a moral Govern-
ment leads us to look forward to a vindication of 
the right principles or laws now trampled upon. 
Why should we pronounce upon the merit or 
demerit of human actions, if there is no accounta-
bility for those actions? Our feelings of respon-
sibility (the movings of conscience) are but the 
expectation of a great assize, in or by which in-
justice, fraud, and every wrong, will be requited, 
and down-trodden virtue and injured innocence 
be exalted and vindicated. This is, indeed, but 
a legitimate deduction from the propositions es-
tablished, and in this we find a sure vindication 
of the divine Government in regard to the anoma-
lies of the present state. 
It must, however, be admitted that there are 
some who deny the existence of moral wrong, 
and, of course, of accountability for our actions. 
But their denial or our admission does not weaken 
our argument, for the denial is only in profession, 
not in practice. The denial is based on the al-
leged inability of man to act except in a given line. 
Man (say they) is a creature of circumstances; 
the motives which impel him to action are outside 
of his own will; he is led of necessity to do just 
as he does, and he cannot do otherwise. There-
fore he is not responsible for his actions. But we 
affirm that this is only their professed belief; not 
their actual belief. For in practice we find them 
uniformly false to their theory. They will, as 
readily as others, sit in judgment upon, and con-
demn, the actions of their fellow-men. They will 
blame any for encroaching on their rights. But 
it were surely the height of folly, the grossest 
injustice, to blame one for doing that which he 
cannot avoid. And how unreasonable to think 
that God bestows a moral sense, and plants within 
us the monitor of conscience, to lead us to do 
right, and yet compels us to do wrong. We count 
the man immoral and degraded who disregards 
the distinctions of right and wrong; what con-
tempt, then, is thrown upon the originator of the 
present system by the theory which admits that 
these distinctions exist; that of right they should 
be preserved, yet affirms that they cannot be 
preserved to any extent whatever. Admitting 
the existence of a God (and we now speak to the 
consciences of some), what shall we, what must 
we, think of a God who would frame a system 
wher
ein these distinctions could not be preserved? 
And yet such is the case, if man has no freedom 
to act. We all acknowledge the difference be- 
tween right and wrong, as principles; that it is 
right to regard our neighbor's life and property; 
and hence, he that disregards them does wrong. 
And all are conscious that the wrong we do is of 
ourselves; and no one ever seeks to throw it 
back to any other cause until his moral sense is 
perverted by selfishness and false reasoning. 
Akin to the above position—at least in its un-
reasonableness—is the theory which admits the 
existence of God the moral Governor (though 
this admission is not essential to the theory), and 
admits that man is responsible for his actions, and 
admits that all violations of law are certainly 
punished, and yet denies a future judgment. 
This is intimately connected with, or is the out-
growth of the error that there are penalties to 
natural laws; and that all penalties are inflicted • 
immediately upon the violation. Thus (they say), 
if a man puts his hand in the fire he violates a 
law of his being; and he does not wait to an 
indefinite future time for judgment and punish- 
ment; he suffers immediately and certainly; and 
for the violation there is no atonement or forgive- 
ness. This, to some, appears to be truth, for they 
advance it; to us it seems like a puerility. We 
repeat, the suffering from contact with fire is not 
a judicial infliction to serve the ends of justice, 
as penalty is; it is but a consequence of the vio-
lation of natural law; and that it falls as cer- 
tainly and as severely on the innocent as the 
guilty. The innocent and unconscious babe suf-
fers by the fire as readily, as certainly, as the 
willful man. And we can go further in the illus- 
tration: the man in cruel malice may hold the 
hand of the child in the fire; the child does not 
offend against law, for it did not put its hand in 
the fire, and it vigorously tries to withdraw it. 
Here the man does all the wrong, and the child 
suffers all the penalty! Such is the wisdom, such 
the justice of this theory. The truth is, that the 
child suffers as a consequence of the man's wrong- 
doing. He deserves punishment (the infliction of 
a penalty) for the action; and if justice is ever 
vindicated, he will be punished, according to his 
intention and his commission of a great moral 
wrong. The admission that all sin will be pun-
ished makes necessary the admission of a future 
judgment; for without that, justice will never be 
vindicated, and our aspirations for the right will 
never be satisfied. 
But one more fallacy of this character we will 
notice. It is found in the oft-repeated idea that 
God is so loving, so kind, that he will not mark 
to condemn our aberrations from duty. It is not 
necessary to say that this is a denial of the Script- 
ures in regard to the character of God. But, 
laying the Bible aside, where is the evidence that 
God so loves his creatures that he will not mark 
their faults or maintain the justice of his govern- 
ment? Surely it is not learned from nature that 
love is the sole attribute of Deity. How came 
any by the idea that the Deity must possess 
that degree of love supposed in the statement ? 
Whence do they derive their conceptions of such 
love, and of its necessity in the divine character? 
Can any tell? 
They may reply that these conceptions are in-
tuitive; that they are evolved from their own 
consciousness; that they have an innate knowl- 
edge of the moral .fitness of things, and according 
to this, they clothe Deity with such attributes as 
their moral sense determines to be fitting to such 
a Being. Our reply to this is twofold. 1. We 
deny that such ideas are developed by intuition. 
The intelligent skeptics of this land and in this 
age do not derive their knowledge of right, and 
of the abundance of love in the character of 
Deity, from the light of nature. They derive 
them from their surroundings; from the preva-
lence of Christian influences and Christian lit- 
erature. To show just what man can learn from 
nature and by mere intuition, we must take him 
entirely separated from the influence of the Bible 
and Christianity. And we hazard nothing in 
saying that, where Christian example and the 
teachings of the Bible were entirely unknown, 
man never developed an exalted idea of Deity. 
To the contrary, where men have trusted to the 
light of nature and to the power of human reason, 
their conceptions of Deity were low and base, 
generally vile; and this was the case even where 
there was considerable proficiency in philosophy 
and the arts. Many deny the Scriptures who are 
indebted to them and to their influence for very 
much of the knowledge of which they are proud. 
2. In thus exalting love in the divine character 
at the expense of other attributes, they are only 
AUGUST 23, 1883. �
SIGNS OF TIT �
F TIMES. �
377 
The Foundation of Character. 
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE. 
ents and guardians to regularly attend Sabbath-school, 
or by their coming in late, and with very deficient les-
sons; also by their failure to interest themselves in as-
sisting their children in getting their lessons during the 
week, thereby causing double neglect, therefore 
Resolved, That we seek God with greater earnestness, 
making the Sabbath-school a subject of prayer, and that 
teachers bring the pupils' names individually before the 
mercy seat, striving to set a good example in prompt-
ness, cheerfulness, and a good understanding of the les-
sons by a careful study of the Scriptures, assisted by a 
frequent perusal of the " Spirit of Prophecy " in con-
nection with the lesson. 
Resolved, That we do all in our power for the fur-
therance of the Sabbath-school work, in procuring all 
available materials; also that the teachers of the pri-
mary classes should practice drawing so that if no arti-
cles in the form of pictures or object lessons are availa-
ble they present the subject more clearly by having 
hand-blackboards to draw rude pictures on, as this way 
of illustration has been proved the most interesting to 
little ones, impressing the lesson more fully and pleas-
ingly on their minds. 
These resolutions called out interesting remarks 
from several, especially from Bro. W. C. White, 
who gave some instructive words on how to make 
the school interesting, the art of teaching and 
questioning, etc. After a second reading these 
were taken up, separately. 
The fifth resolution especially called out an ani-
mated discussion on the feasibility of blackboards 
and map-drawing in the classes, from Brn. White, 
Colcord, Barnes, Dickinson, Sister Jones and oth-
ers. It was then moved to amend this resolution 
so as to read: " We recommend that the teachers 
of primary classes use blackboards, maps, etc. 
Carried. 
These resolutions were then adopted. The fol-
lowing questions were asked: 1. " Should we have 
an unconverted teacher? " Answered by Bro. W. C. 
White in the negative. 2. " What should be done 
with a person who refuses to lay aside his paper 
at recitation ? " Answered by Elder Boyd; after 
which a short but interesting essay was read by 
Sister McCoon, of East Portland. Adjourned. 
R. D. BENHAM, Sec. �
C. L. BOYD, Pres. 
NEVER did greater responsibilities await the 
youth than await them now. Never was it more 
important that a right mould be given to the 
character of the rising generation. Upon every 
youth, God has bestowed varied capabilities, men-
tal, moral, and physical; and he requires that 
those be cultivated and improved. We are formed 
for activity; every power of mind and body must 
be developed, strengthened, and increased by use. 
No one should feel that he is his own master, and 
can do as he pleases with his time and his in-
tellect. Time and talents belong to God, and he 
has intrusted them to us, to be employed for his 
glory. 
Christ has purchased us with ,an infinite price. 
All that we are, and all that we possess, is his. 
His mercy and tenderness have been exercised 
toward us throughout ,our life, and he justly 
claims our gratitude, our reverence, and love. 
He claims our obedience also. We should respect 
his laws in every particular. They are given, 
not to deprive us of any good, but to guide our 
feet into safe paths,—the paths of peace and hap-
piness. 
Furthermore, our love and obedience are due to 
God as our Creator. He who has bestowed upon 
us every blessing which we enjoy, he who has 
formed us, who understands our needs, and who 
rejoices in the happiness of the creatures he has 
made,—he is entitled to our implicit faith and 
ready obedience. To obey God is to accept the 
guidance of infinite love and wisdom. It is to pur-
sue a course which will ennoble the character and 
strengthen the intellect, and which alone will pre-
pare us for a life of true enjoyment and real use-
fulness. " The fear of the Lord is the beginning 
of wisdom." 
We are not placed in this world merely to seek 
the enjoyment of the present life; but, by form-
ing a true and noble character, we are to prepare 
for the future, immortal life. Dear youth, you 
have a work to do which no other can do for 
you. Be determined that you will possess a 
right character. You cannot receive this as a 
birthright, you cannot buy it with money, you 
cannot procure it by fraud; but you may have it, 
if you will seek it in the right way. A noble 
character must be formed, must be built up by 
partially true to their higher nature; partially 
just to their own consciousness. Our conscious-
ness, our self-judgment of the moral fitness of 
things, gives us as definite and clear conceptions 
of justice as of love. All the propositions estab-
lished in this argument tend to this point. We 
are apt to lose sight of justice, and to exalt love. 
This is quite natural with all who have any sense 
of wrong (and who has not ?), for we feel the 
need of love or mercy, and are ever willing or 
anxious to screen ourselves from justice. But in 
this, as before remarked, we do violence to our 
moral sense, to gratify our selfish feelings. Can 
any one dispassionately reason and reflect on this 
subject, and accept the idea of a God of even 
partial justice ? The idea is alike repugnant to 
reason and to reverence. God must be strictly, 
infinitely just. Who would not choose to be 
annihilated rather than to possess immortal ex-
istence in a universe governed or controlled by 
a being of almighty power, but lacking justice ? 
Many professed believers in the Bible manifest 
the same tendency, to exalt the love of God above 
his justice. It is a great perversion of the gospel. 
God is infinite in every perfection. His love can-
not be more than infinite. If his justice were less 
than infinite, he would be an imperfect or finite 
being. The gospel plan was not devised, and 
Christ did not die to exalt his love above his 
justice, but to make it possible to manifest his 
infinite love toward the penitent sinner, without 
disparagement to his infinite justice; " that ho 
might be just, and the justifier of him who believ-
eth in Jesus." Rom. 3 : 23-26. But this will be 
examined w hen we come to the Biblical argument. 
EDITOR. 
( To be Continued. ) 
cabbath-cOrhool. 
North Pacific Sabbath-School Association. 
THE North Pacific Sabbath-school Association 
held its fifth annual session in connection with the 
camp-meeting held at Beaverton, Oregon, June 
20-26, 1883. 
First meeting June 22, at 8:45 A. M. Prayer by 
Brother W. C. White. Delegates called for and 
credentials were handed in. It was voted that 
all ministers and members of Sabbath-schools 
present be invited to participate in the delibera-
tions of the Association. 
Minutes of last session were called for, read, 
and accepted. Report of labor called for and 
read, showing quite an increase in that direction, 
also in interest in the Sabbath-school work. 
No of schools at commencement of Conference year 6 
" " �
" " the end �
10 
�
Greatest No. of scholars during last year 195 
if �
if �if �
" �this 
 305 
66 
The schools at West Portland and Seattle failed 
to report on account of the removal of most of 
their officers and members. 
Committees were appointed as follows: On 
Nominations, Eld. W. L. Raymond, W. P. Wilson, 
and John Cole; on Resolutions, W. C. White, Sis-
ter Eliza Jones, and Sister Jennie A. Benham. 
Sister Benham read an interesting essay on the 
subject of " Sabbath-schools and how to conduct 
them." 
A second meeting was called June 25, at 5 P. M. 
Prayer by Eld. E. W. Barnes. Minutes of pre-
vious meeting read and approved. Committee on 
Nominations reported the following list of officers: 
President, Eld. C. L. Boyd; Secretary, R. D. Ben-
ham; Executive Committee, W. P. Wilson, and 
Henry Atkins. These were unanimously elected. 
Committee on Resolutions reported as follows:— 
WHEREAS, The schools in this Conference are so sit-
uated as to render weekly teachers' meetings impracti-
cable, therefore 
Resolved, That each officer and teacher should labor 
independently to acquire a thorough understanding of 
the subject studied, and of the best methods of teaching 
and of securing earnest work among the students; and 
WHEREAS, We but partly understand the words and 
actions of Bible characters unless we have a knowl-
edge of the objects and circumstances that surrounded 
them, therefore 
Resolved, That we should industriously study such 
histories, Bible dictionaries, and atlases as are within 
reach. 
Resolved, That we heartily recommend the use of 
pictures and maps in the teaching of the primary 
classes. 
WHEREAS, The interests of the Sabbath-school in 
many instances are deteriorated by the neglect of par- 
your own patient, painstaking effort, while you 
rely in faith upon the merits of Christ your Say 
four. 
None should look with indifference upon this 
important matter. We must not leave our char-
acter to be formed by circumstances. The farmer 
who through indolence or neglect leaves his field 
uncultivated, reaps a harvest of briars and thorns 
So the youth who slothfully neglects the cultiva-
tion of mind and heart, will possess a deformed, 
unlovely character. He will not respect himself; 
and he will not be happy, try hard as he may. 
The youth cannot afford to float carelessly 
along, exposed to the many influences that are 
ready to draw them away from the truth, from 
religion, from peace, and happiness, receiving 
any impression that Satan may choose to make 
upon the mind. There are stern battles to fight 
against hereditary and cultivated faults of char- 
acter and disposition. Satan watches every op-
portunity to divert the mind from thoughts of 
God. He seeks to prevent us from searching the 
heart, from studying the law of God and compar-
ing our life and character with its perfect stand-
ard. We must guard against his wiles. We 
should ever remember that life is short, and if 
we would attain to that perfection of character 
which Christ requires of us, every hour of our 
probation must be wisely improved as a treasure 
more precious than gold. 
The formation of a good character involves 
hard work and severe self-denial; but it richly 
repays the effort. It is a resistance of the devil. 
It is the obtaining of daily victory over self-
ishness, pride, and folly, and the daily cultivation 
of love, mercy, and beneficence. 
Satan is constantly seeking to strengthen the 
evil traits of character, that your influence may 
be exerted to lead others to a wrong course. Re-
solve in the strength of God to defeat his pur-
pose. Set your mark high, and conquer self at 
any cost. Persevering, well-directed labor will 
succeed. 
While excellence of character can never be at-
tained except by your own exertion, do not for-
get that at every step you need and may obtain 
help and grace from Christ. He himself passed 
through all the experience of childhood and youth, 
and he knows how to sympathize with the, young. 
He will never forsake a soul that trusts in him. 
He will listen to the prayer of the contrite, and 
will be a present help in every time of need. Do 
not, then, become discouraged in your efforts. 
Labor more earnestly for a symmetrical charac-
ter than for silver or gold. You will meet with 
disappointments and discouragements. Your ef-
forts may not be appreciated, your failures may 
call forth severe censure. But do not yield to 
discouragement. The Saviour pities your weak-
ness, he reads the desire of your heart, and he 
marks every sincere effort to do the right. 
Then be of good courage. Look in faith to 
Jesus. Be much in prayer. While you are en-
gaged in your work, at home, or at school, or 
even while walking in the street, let the heart's 
silent petitions ascend to God. Have also reg-
ular times for prayer, and let them not be neg-
lected. In this course you may be successful 
in overcoming the evils of your nature; you may 
enjoy peace, hope, and joy in Christ, and by 
words and example you may exert an influence 
to encourage others in the right way. 
Do not fear to stand firm for the right under 
any and all circumstances. Do not think it un-
courteous to meet with a decided " No," those 
who would suggest evil thoughts, or would urge 
you to any act which God would not approve. 
" When sinners entice thee, consent thou not." 
Do they sneeringly call you a coward, tell them 
that if it is cowardly to fear to do wrong, then 
you are a coward. The bravery that is evinced 
in sacrificing principle, for fear of ridicule, is a 
low, Satanic spirit that you should ever hold in 
contempt. 
"Dare to be a Daniel! 
Dare to stand alone ! 
Dare to have a purpose firm ! 
Dare to make it known ! " 
CHRISTIANITY has carried civilization along with 
it whithersoever it has gone; and, as if to show 
that the latter does not depend on physical causes, 
some of the countries the most civilized in the 
days of Augustus are now in a state of hopeless 
barbarism. 
IF you would not fall into sin, do not sit by the 
door of temptation. 
Eke „,igits �
tke 
"Can ye not discern the signs of the times ?" 
J. H. WAGGONER, 
E. J. WAGGONER, 
J. N. ANDREWS, 
URIAH SMITH, 
OAKLAND, CAL., FIFTH-DAY, AUGUST 23, 1883. 
Two Great Compromises. 
EDITOR. 
ASSISTANT EDITOR. 
CORRESPONDING EDITORS. 
378 �
SIGNS OF TEIE TIM �
ti,S. �
VoL. 9, No. 32. 
tion to the Sabbath, and accept the faith of the proph-
ecy of the Third Angel's Message of Rev. 14: 9-12, or 
else accept the popular demand for a Sunday law, un-
der the specious pretense that it will be politic to keep 
two days and thus obey the law of the land. 
The prophecy points out two parties, and no more. 
One which worship the beast and his image, and receive 
his mark. The other, which keep the commandments 
of God and the faith of Jesus. 
And now, if any yet think we make too much of this 
matter, we request them to read in a prayerful spirit 
the words of the Most High on which our faith is based. 
We here repeat " the message " of Rev. 14 : 9-12:— 
" If any man worship the beast and his image, and 
receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the 
same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, 
which is poured out without mixture into the cup of 
his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire 
and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and 
in the presence of the Lamb; and the smoke of their 
torment ascendeth up forever and ever; and they have 
no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his 
image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. 
Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that 
keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." 
If the commandment of God says the first day is the 
Sabbath, then keep it; for on the commandments he 
will bring every work into Judgment. Eccl. 12 : 13, 14. 
But if it says " the seventh day is the Sabbath of the 
Lord thy God," and you be found keeping the first day, 
because tradition and human law indorses it, you will 
surely be found against those who obey God. The 
wrath of God is terrible; what can this world offer to 
compensate those who rall under the denunciations 
quoted above from God's word ? Do not put off a con-
sideration of this matter till you see more of its fulfill-
ment. It is a work of faith, without which you cannot 
please God. 
THE AMERICAN COMPROMISE.—CONCLUDED. 
HAVING noticed the main points in this movement to 
amend the Constitution of the United States, as set 
forth in the prophecy, we will again notice the agencies 
by which it may be brought about. And it will not be 
without a struggle. Compromises 2,re not made in times 
of quiet and peace. In studying the prophecies we fore-
saw years ago that interests naturally averse to each 
other must combine to carry into effect that which John 
in the Revelation saw would be accomplished, and, 
therefore, a compromise of these interests must be ef-
fected. But a compromise is the fruit of an emergency. 
We also said years ago that the test would be on a 
religious question, and, therefore, it would affect, not 
merely States, but neighborhoods. No geographical 
lines would mark the boundaries of the trouble. Every 
school district would feel its influence, and strife and- 
contention and �
would abound throughout the 
land. Our charity was so great that we have often said 
that if the abettors of the scheme could get a glimpse of 
the result of their efforts they would pause and shrink 
from the responsibility of carrying their work further. 
Of course when we gave this as our view of the future 
of their course they mocked at us as foolish alarmists; 
as being frightened for nothing. They said no such 
state of things would be produced. 
But now behold the change! The Christian States- 
man quotes from the Chicago Journal, which says: 
" The Sabbath question with its religious aspects, will 
in all probability be carried to the ballot-box for final 
settlement in the future." People used to laugh at such 
a statement made twenty years ago; now they do not. 
Yet it is difficult to convince some even now that we 
understood this from the prophecy. 
The Statesman regards the coming conflict as one in 
which "all the baser elements of Society will be arrayed 
against the friends of pure morals and religion." With 
such statements continually given to the world, it would 
seem that they who so strongly assert that " Sunday in 
politics " is not and will not be a religious question 
ought to confess their mistake. But the particular 
point to which we wish to call attention is in these 
words of the Statesman:— 
" The battle will be serious. It will divide neighbor-
hoods and separate very near friends. It may involve 
perils and require sacrifices of which few are dreaming 
to-day. But we welcome the prospect as the only path-
way to the purity and order and peace of the better 
days which are beyond." 
Thus step by step our opposers concede all that we 
have ever claimed, and that which they have so stren- 
uously denied. 
To show how minds are affected when in perplexity, 
and how easily Spiritualism may become the motor in 
troublous times, we copy the following from an ex- 
change:— 
" When the Czar was in some perplexity respecting 
the measures to be taken for the safe conduct of the cor-
onation ceremonies, it was suggested to him that he 
should ask counsel of the spirits,' at the hands of a 
lady medium, who had been practicing for some years 
in London. The lady (who is an American) was ac-
cordingly sent for to St. Petersburg, and gave a sitting' 
to the Czar. The result of the seance was so satisfac-
tory that the preparations for the coronation were hur-
ried forward with greater energy than before, haste be-
ing recommended with much emphasis. Everything 
having passed off extremely well in Moscow, the Czar 
has come to think that there may be something in 
Spiritualism after all;' and the lady, on her part, is said 
to be extremely well satisfied with the results of her 
visit to the Russian autocrat." 
That Spiritualism claims to be a religion the evidence 
is every day increasing. Thus we find in the Banner 
of Light a notice of the " Church of the New Spiritual 
Dispensation," in Brooklyn. A speaker at a camp-
meeting said: We strengthen the religious sentiment 
in man. Our great work is the proof which we offer of 
immortality." Another speaker said: " The difference 
between us and the church is that they believe and we 
know whereof we affirm." This was said concerning 
the emigration of their friends to another sphere. 
The principal phenomena in Spiritualism at present 
are found in " materializations." In former years a 
number of spirits would attend and speak to their 
friends; now they materialize, that is, appear in sight of 
their friends. As many as twenty-five are reported as 
appearing in one evening. Of course this is more con- 
vincing, and appeals more strongly to the feelings of 
those present. By such means it is making great prog- 
ress. An American writing from England says: " Spirit- 
ualism seems to be making good progress. The growth 
is steady and often silent, and, therefore, from an exter- 
nal point of view, it may seem scarcely so large as it 
really is. Opposition to Spiritualism is manifestly 
greatly on the decline." 
The decline of opposition to Spiritualism—we might 
say the general cessation of that opposition—opens the 
way for the union of the parties necessary to the forma-
tion of the image; to the union of the Church and the 
State for the enforcement of the Sunday. The religion 
of Spiritualism is popular religion. But in this it is 
not far removed from the position of the Churches. It 
announced as its mission, as early as 1849, the proving 
of the immortality of the soul. Recently we saw a 
notice of a Spiritualist lecturer giving a lecture in the 
city of New York in favor of the civil Sunday law. 
There is nothing whatever to hinder the Spiritualists in 
a body taking that position. Especially if, in case of 
emergency, they be accepted generally as the true ex-
ponents of the received doctrine of the immortality of 
the soul, and mediumship, clairvoyance, and materiali-
zation be accepted as the power of God to demonstrate 
the truth of that doctrine. Spiritualism will get the 
chief glory of the movement, and what more can they 
ask ? 
And when shall we look for a party who will with-
stand the popular current ? The great majority of the 
churches are already in line, demanding Governmental 
action to accomplish this very object. They do not hes-
itate a moment because of the fact that there is no Bi-
ble proof in favor of the Sunday; this fact makes them 
rather more clamorous for a law which shall remedy 
this omission of the Scriptures. Sunday they will have, 
and a law they must have to enforce it. The Baptists 
professedly stand aloof from those denominations which 
accept doctrines which have no higher authority than 
Catholic traditions, but they, too, must have Sunday; 
a day for which they have only tradition and the au-
thority of the Catholic Church. Politicians are already 
watching the horizon for the breeze which shall waft 
them into office through the action of the allied forces 
of the churches. And old party issues are dying out; 
therefore this will the more readily be seized upon. 
And the time will come when the strife between the 
National parties will be as to which is best entitled to 
this as their own issue. The common classes, the work-
ingmen, are assured that the success of this movement 
is the only means of securing to them the right of one 
day in each week for " rest and recreation." This, of 
course, is a fallacy, but it is a popular one, and well an-
swers the purpose. And as an effective means of ce-
menting the whole, we are assured that the multiplicity 
of accidents, the tornadoes, and the pestilence, are evi-
dences of the displeasure of Heaven upon the land be-
cause we do not acknowledge God in our National Con-
stitution! Thus the superstitious feelings of the people 
are played upon to accomplish that which cannot be 
accomplished by preaching the word of God. And with 
the whole the letter of the decalogue becomes a dead 
letter. Indeed, learned men of nearly all denomina-
tions are already either preaching openly that the deca-
logue was a Jewish law which has been abolished, or 
else taking positions which lead to that result. The 
Methodist Church was built up on opposition to anti-
nomianism, yet antinomian teachings have received 
high indorsement in that body when put forth against 
the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. 
There is one body of Christians to which we think we 
can point with confidence as standing aloof from all ef-
forts to unite Church and State. It is the Seventh-day 
Adventists. We have great confidence also that many 
of the Seventh-day Baptists will be found steadfast in 
the same position. But we know of many among them 
who think we make too much of the Sabbath and Sab-
bath reform, and who deny that it is a subject of prophecy 
in Rev. 14. As these things press upon them we feel as-
sured that they will become converted to a greater devo- 
Is the Bible Sufficient '? 
THE RULE OF PROTESTANTS: " All Scripture is given 
by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for 
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; 
that the man of God may be perfect, THOROUGHLY 
FURNISHED UNTO ALL GOOD WORKS." 2 Tim. 3:16, 17. 
THE PAPISTS' RULE: " All Scripture, etc. Every 
part of divine Scripture is certainly profitable for all 
these ends. But if we would have the whole rule of 
Christain faith and practice, we must not be content 
with those scriptures which Timothy knew from his in- 
fancy, that is, with the Old Testament alone; nor yet 
the New Testament, without taking along with it the 
traditions of the apostles, and the interpretation of the 
church to which the apostles delivered both the book 
and the true meaning of it."—Note of the Doway (Cath-
olic) Bible on 2 Tim. 3: 16, 17. 
We submit the foregoing rules to the consideration of 
those who love the word of God. Perhaps the most im-
portant difference between Protestants and Papist, 
arise in the choice of these rules. On this grand ques-
tion Protestants and Papists have ever joined issue. 
Those who have received God's word as the rule of their 
lives, have claimed that by the word alone they might 
be made perfect, and be thoroughly furnished unto all 
good works. Those who have attempted to sustain 
human institutions, have added to this perfect rule the 
traditions of the Church. The question now arises 
which of these rules shall we adopt. If the former, then 
we are bound to reject human institutions which claim 
support from us as religious duties; if the latter, then 
we are bound to become Papists; for the tradition of the 
Church establishes Mass, the worship of the Virgin, the 
adoration of saints, the first-day Sabbath, Purgatory, 
Indulgences, etc. This is not a question of trifling im-
portance. The Bible is a sufficient rule or it is not. If 
it is a sufficient rule who may presume to add to it " the 
tradition of the Elders ? " If it is not a sufficient rule 
who shall amend it ? 
These thoughts. are suggested by an article in the 
Advent Herald of April 19th, from the pen of " D. T. 
T.," in which the writer attempts to show by the aid of 
tradition that the first day of the week is the " Lord's 
day," and that it ought to be religiously observed in 
the place of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. 
That in this position he occupies the ground of the Pa-
pists, as expressed in the second rule, will not be denied. 
Had he attempted to enforce the first-day Sabbath by 
divine authority, we would not lay this to his charge. 
There are, however, many very obvious reasons why 
AUGUST 23, 1883. �TH �
Pi SIGNS OF THE TIMES. �
379 
also of the Sabbath." Mark 2:28. " I was in the Spirit 
on the Lord's day." Rev. 1:10. The seventh day is 
the only day which God has claimed as his—the only 
one which he has required us to keep holy. Those who 
dare to make void the commandments of God that they 
may keep the tradition of the Elders, do it at their own 
peril. To such we commend the following from the 
Book of God: " Add thou not unto his words lest he re- 
prove thee and thou be found a liar." Prov. 30: 6. 
J. N. A. 
priest of the house of Zadok, answered him, and said, 
Since the people began to bring the offerings into the 
house of the Lord, we have had enough to eat, and 
have left plenty; for the Lord hath blessed his people; 
and that which is left is this great store." Verses 9, 10. 
Now what did the people do ? Did they stop bring-
ing in the tithes, because there was enough on hand ? 
We read further, " Then Hezekiah commanded to pre-
pare chambers in the house of the Lord; and they 
prepared them, and brought in the offerings and the 
tithes and the dedicated things faithfully." Verses 
11, 12. That is, instead of stopping, they made addi-
tional room in which to place the tithes, and continued 
bringing, them in. This is just what we should expect 
from those who realize the sacredness of the tithe. 
" The tithe is the Lord's," and must be restored to 
him, whether it is little or much. 
We have heard of men who would stop paying their 
tithe because it seemed to them that there was enough 
money in the treasury to supply all present wants. 
We have known others to stop paying because they 
had not received as much ministerial labor in their 
church as they thought was their due. Others refuse 
to pay because some one has wronged them; and there 
is no limit to the excuses that may be made to evade 
the payment of the Lord's portion, when the individual 
does not want to pay. But no excuse will avail. Sup-
pose that the people have done their duty, as the Is- 
raelites did, and have been blessed in consequence, as 
they were. According to the promise (Prov. 3 :9, 10) 
the Lord has given them abundance, because they have 
honored him. Now shall they say, We have done 
enough; the Lord has received all he needs " ? That 
would not only be foolish, but positively wicked. Yet 
that is just what some people do. Perhaps the Lord 
has designed a much greater work than has been done, 
and is preparing in this way the means with which to 
carry it forward; but men, by withholding his due, say, 
No, there is enough being done; and while they profess 
to want to see the cause advance, and may even pray 
for its prosperity, they stand in the way of its advance-
ment. 
We would not deal in this way with a neighbor. If 
we owed a man a sum of money, we would not think 
of refusing to pay it to him, on the ground that he was 
already well provided for. And if we should do so, 
our creditor would soon take steps to compel us to give 
him his due, and we would be made to understand that 
the fact that he was rich would not absolve us from a 
just obligation. Why will men deal more honestly 
with their fellow-men than with their Maker? Is it 
because God is seemingly indifferent, and does not at 
once press his claim ? And in that case, are we to 
judge that these same ones would defraud their neigh-
bors, if they could do so without fear of prosecution? 
Think of it in this light; but always remember that 
God keeps an account, and, although it may be after 
a long time, he will surely reckon with his servants. 
And yet it should not be for this reason alone that 
we give the Lord his due. Remember the privileges 
that we enjoy, far exceeding those of the ancient Jews, 
whose liberality has never been exceeded by any peo-
ple. Christ said to Simon, that " to whom little is 
given, the same loveth little;" and by the same rule, 
he to whom much is given, will love much, unless he 
fails entirely to realize what has been done for him. 
When we realize the infinite price that has been paid 
for our redemption, we shall be able to sing from the 
heart the words, 
some other rule beside the Bible should be resorted to 
by those who would sustain the first-day Sabbath. Ev-
ery student of the Bible is aware that no mention is 
made in the word of God of a change of the Sabbath. 
No text can be found that teaches us that the first day 
is sanctified time, nor can a single sentence be found re-
quiring us to keep it holy. Hence the necessity of add-
ing tradition to the word of God. The apostle Paul, to 
whom appeal is made in the Herald, testified that he 
had " kept back nothing that was profitable," but we 
ask where in any of its teachings did he show that the 
observance of the first day had taken the place of the 
Sabbath of the fourth commandment ? If it be an-
swered that he showed the duty of observing the first-
day Sabbath by uniting with the disciples on one occa-
sion, to beak bread on that day, we answer that he pur-
sued his journey on the same day in which he broke 
bread. Acts 20:7-12. If it be objected further that re-
spect was early paid to the first day, and that we are 
under obligation to follow the example of antiquity, we 
answer that, when " the tradition of the Elders" makes 
" void the commandment of God," it is a Heaven-daring 
sin to render obedience to the commandments of men 
in the place of the holy law of God. Matt. 15:1-9; 
Mark 17:1-13. But we deny that antiquity is on the 
side of those who observe the first day. We appeal not 
to uninspired and fallible men like ourselves, we go 
back beyond them, and appeal to the oracles of God, to 
those who wrote by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. 
The man who will show from their writings another 
Sabbath beside that which is styled the Sabbath of the 
Lord, will do that which has never yet been done. 
Until, however, this is done, we shall be constrained to 
deny the divine origin of the first-day Sabbath, and 
consider it a counterfeit, occupying the place of the 
Sabbath of the Lord. 
Hear the apostle Paul with reference to the Romish 
apostasy. 1 Thess. 2. Was that apostasy to be con-
summated at once ? Was the " Man of Sin " to arise at 
once in his full strength and commence his blasphe-
mous work ? Far from it. He testifies that the mys-
tery of iniquity had already begun to work, and that in 
the predicted time the " Man of Sin " would be revealed. 
Hence we may trace the apostasy back even to the days 
of the apostles, where it began imperceptibly to develop 
itself. How then may the truths of the gospel be dis-
tinguished from the errors of men ? We answer, make 
the word of God your only rule, receive what is written 
therein and reject all beside. That the Protestant 
world now cherish an institution without foundation in 
Scripture, which was established by the gradual devel-
opment of the great apostasy, can only be accounted for 
by the fact that the Protestants have adopted the rule 
of the Romists in the place of their own; viz., the Bi-
ble and tradition, in the place of the Bible alone. 
That the institution of the first-day Sabbath was not 
of divine origin, but a tradition of the Elders by which 
the fourth commandment is made void, the historical 
quotations given in the Herald abundantly prove. 
That the change of the holy Sabbath was gradually 
brought about and not consummated till the commence-
ment of the 1260 years of antichrist's reign, is also a 
matter of fact. The Council of Orleans, A. D. 528, ac-
complished this work. The word of God shows that the 
dragon is yet to make war on the remnant of the church 
who keep the commandments of God; and that the two-
horned beast is yet to require, on pain of death, that we 
worship the image of the first beast and receive his 
mark. Hence it is evident that the claims of the beast 
are to be enforced on those who keep the commandments 
of God. Rev. 12:17; 13: 15, 16. Those who acknowl-
edge the authority of the beast, will then receive his 
mark—this counterfeit Sabbath of the beast; for it is 
the act of bringing this to a test which will constitute 
it emphatically the mark of the beast, or mark of that 
power that should "think to change times and laws " 
" As to me," says Martin Luther, " I do not cease my 
crying of the Gospel! the Gospel!—Christ! Christ! ' 
and my enemies are as ready with their answer—' Cus-
tom! Custom!—Ordinances! Ordinances!—Fathers! Fa-
thers!' That your faith should not stand in the wis-
dom of men but in the power of God,' says St. Paul." 
We are not, however, at a loss to show from the Bible 
what day God has set apart for himself and called his 
holy day. " God blessed the seventh day and sanctified 
it." Gen. 2: 3. " The seventh day is the Sabbath of 
the Lord thy God." Ex. 20:10. " If thou turn away 
thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my 
holy day," etc., Isa. 53:13. " The Son of man is Lord 
The Honor Due to God. No. 4. 
TITHES AND OFFERINGS. 
WE have seen that the tithe is to be used solely for 
the purpose of supporting the ministry; but money is 
required for various other purposes in the cause of God, 
besides this. Therefore we find in the Bible that offer-
ings were made for special purposes. In the 25th of 
Exodus we have an instance. The people needed a 
sanctuary, where they might worship God. Did they 
vote to reserve a portion or the whole of their tithe for 
this purpose ? No; the Lord directed them as follows: 
"Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring 
me an offering; of every man that giveth it willingly 
with his heart ye shall take my offering." " And let 
them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among 
thtm." Ex. 25:2, 8. The intervening verses tell of 
what the offerings were to consist. 
Remember that these offerings were all to be given 
willingly, with the heart. The Lord takes no pleasure 
in service grudgingly performed. Paul says, "Every 
man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him 
give; not grudgingly, or .of necessity; for God loveth 
a cheerful giver." 2 Cor. 9 :7. In the case under con-
sideration we have an example of the results of such 
giving; for that the children of Israel did give cheer-
fully and willingly is stated in Ex. 35:20-29. And 
here is the result:— 
" And all the wise men, that wrought all the work 
of the sanctuary, came every man from his work which 
they had made; and they spake unto Moses, saying, 
The people bring much more than enough for the 
service of the work, which the Lord commanded to 
make. And Moses gave commandment, and they 
caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, say-
ing, Let neither man nor woman make any more work 
for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were 
restrained from bringing. For the stuff they had was 
sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much." 
Ex. 36 : 4-7. 
What a contrast this presents to modern giving! 
Who ever heard of a similar instance among any other 
people ? Here there was nothing like a fair, or an 
oyster supper, or a strawberry festival, by which people 
now coax unwilling dimes from the pockets of world-
lings and professors alike, for the benefit of the church; 
we do not read that Moses went around to remind the 
people of their duty, and urge them to help the good 
work along; but " the children of Israel brought a will-
ing offering." We are forced to the conclusion that 
when people need urging even to make a pledge to help 
on in the cause, and then need continual reminders of 
their obligation, there must be a great lack of that 
cheerful readiness to give that is so pleasing to God. 
Now we will compare with this an incident in con-
nection with the tithe. When Hezekiah came to the 
throne of Israel, he found things in a very bad condi-
tion. The temple of the Lord was forsaken, and the 
people were worshiping idols. . In 2 Chronicles, chap-
ters 29 to 31, we have an account of the restoration of 
the true religion, by Hezekiah. He revived the ancient 
worship, and brought the priests and Levites back to 
their service in the temple. But of course the treasury 
was empty, for while the people were worshiping idols, 
they did not pay their tithe. But Hezekiah gave com-
mandment to set aside the portion for the Levites, and 
the people came promptly forward and did their duty. 
The record says: "And as soon as the commandment 
came abroad, the children of Israel brought in abun-
dance the first-fruits of corn and wine, and oil, and 
honey, and of all the increase of the field; and the 
tithe of all things brought they in abundantly." 2 
Chron. 31 :5. 
For four months the people continued to bring in 
their tithes, laying them in heaps, and then Hezekiah 
and the princes came to see what had been done. 
" Then Hezekiah questioned with the priests and the 
Levites concerning the heaps. And Azariah, the chief 
" Were the whole realm of nature mine, 
That were a tribute far too small; 
Love so amazing, so divine, �
, 
Demands my life, my soul, my all." 
E. J. W. 
Trust in God. 
THERE is nothing so important as to obey God. A 
heart that is confiding and trusting in the Lord is much 
to be desired. To hope in the mercy of God and to con-
fide in his promises is a state of mind that the Lord 
fully approves. It is not the great things men do that 
recommend them to God. David says: " He delight-
eth not in the strength of the horse; he taketh not pleas-
ure in the legs of a man. The Lord taketh pleasure in 
them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy." 
Job confidingly trusted God, and his case most clearly 
illustrates the final result of those that implicitly con-
fide in God. Although it was Satan that brought de-
struction on Job's substance, that caused the wind to 
blow and destroyed his sons and daughters, we read 
380 �
TI-1-E SIGNS OF TEE �
Fi] TIMES. �VOL. 9, No. 32. 
that "in all this Job sinned not, nor charged. God fool-
ishly." He did not acknowledge Satan in the calamity 
which came upon him, but he said: " The Lord gave 
and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of 
the Lord." 
Saul thought that there was a better way than to 
destroy all those nice cattle of the Amalekites. He 
thought it would be an excellent plan to bring Agag, 
the king of the Amalekites, as a trophy of his victory; 
and he spared the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, " to 
sacrifice unto the Lord." But God said to him: " Be-
hold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken 
than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of 
witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idola-
try. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, 
he bath also rejected thee from being king." 
God marks the least deviation from his requirements, 
and when there is a knowing departure from the path 
of duty, he regards it as a sin. He weighs the motive 
and the heart. He gave special instruction to Israel 
concerning their appearing before him at the three 
annual feasts: " Thrice in the year shall all your men-
children appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. 
For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge 
thy borders; neither shall any man desire thy land when 
thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God 
thrice in the year." These feasts would require not 
less than five weeks of their time. The Passover feast 
continued seven days, also the feast of Pentecost, but 
the great day of Atonement and the feasts connected 
with it continued for three weeks, and at each of these 
feasts they were to bring offerings before the Lord, 
There were enemies which surrounded them and were 
thorns in their side. Oftentimes they made inroads 
upon them, and destroyed their fields of grain; and it 
would be an excellent opportunity for this while they 
were gone up to Jerusalem at these feasts; but God 
here made the special promise that no man would de-
sire their land when they went up to appear before the 
Lord thrice in the year. He would bless them in their 
basket, and in their store; he would cast out the nations 
before them, and enlarge their borders. 
This continual going up to Jerusalem and making 
such numerous offerings prevented them from becom-
ing worldly minded. It continually kept their minds 
upon eternal things. God is no less particular to-day. 
He has commanded us to meet upon his holy Sabbath, 
and it is as important that we have general convoca-
tions like camp-meetings, and to put away worldliness, 
in this day of the world, as it ever was for the children 
of Israel. 
The Saviour gives special warning lest we become 
overcharged with the cares of this life, and that day 
come upon us unawares. He never gives a warning' 
unless there is danger. The more frequently we can 
meet to seek and serve God, and the larger the convo-
cations we have, the more spiritual we shall become, 
and the better prepared to meet the Lord in peace. If 
we all could realize the importance of meetings and of 
bringing offerings to God at these gatherings, and giv-
ing ourselves wholly to the service of God, a different 
state of things would exist, and, many more would be 
present; and God would not only care for us at the 
meeting, and for our substance at home, but we should 
see of his salvation in many more embracing the truth. 
We hope to see more of a breaking away from worldly 
influence than there has been in the past. We have 
ten full days at San Jose to worship God, the same 
number that the disciples had at Jerusalem when they 
received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. 
S. N. HASKELL. 
COL. INGERSOLL has his " disciples," as every other 
prominent teacher of error has. But he will not be 
likely to get much comfort from their lives and exam 
ples. If he had been present at the execution of Gove 
Johnston, the notorious train robber and murderer in 
Arkansas, the other week, and had heard the miserable 
man's confession, it might have opened a question or 
two in his mind. This is what t he condemned criminal 
is reported to have said: " I have been a fast disciple 
of Bob Ingersoll. His doctrines have failed as a rule 
of life, and they will not at all serve as a basis of hope 
in death. Ingersoll's doctrines have brought me here." 
Yet it is doubtful if a man as irreverent and reckless as 
Ingersoll would profit by the lesson if he had heard it. 
But a theory which so blunts the sensibilities of man 
stands self-condemned before all considerate and moral 
people.—Selected. 
ghecffli55itinam 
 
A Visit to the Caves That Sheltered the 
Waldenses. 
FOR many years I had been desirous of visiting, 
not only this people, but some of the caves which 
had sheltered them during the time of persecution. 
In the summer of 1882, in company with Bro. J. 
W. Gardner, I found myself in the valleys where 
this people dwelt. There are a few of our breth-
ren and sisters living there. Sister Revel who is 
the oldest' native member of the Seventh-day Ad-
ventist denomination in Europe, resides in the 
vicinity of Torre Pellice. 
A Bro. Jamet also lives there. He had pre-
viously acted as guide to travelers to places of 
interest upon the mountains. Accordingly. Aug. 
13, 3 A. M. was the time appointed to start for the 
mountains. It was thought advisable to start 
thus early that we might wind our way over some 
of the difficult part of the route in the cooler por-
tion of the day. We drank of the springs from 
which the Waldenses had often drank. We found 
the shepherds that were taking their flocks of goats 
and sheep to spots of green pasture on the mount-
ain side. Every thing we saw was of the deepest 
interest to us. The ruins of buildings and old 
churches we examined with the greatest pleasure. 
Our imaginations were vivid; and while sadness 
filled our hearts as we called up the persecutions 
of these people in former years, it was mingled 
with joy at the thought that the gospel had tri-
umphed, and we were permitted to stand upon the 
spot where so many faithful men and women had 
lived and died in defense of the truth. Every rock 
had its story; and the rocks which we beheld 
were the scenes of martyrdoms. 
As we passed up the mountains we saw in the 
niches of the same relics of old churches, the stones 
of the walls still standing. There were the rocks 
against which young children were dashed by the 
cruel persecutors; and the cliffs of rocks where 
men and women were stripped naked and rolled 
up as balls and precipitated down the mountains. 
There were the decayed stumps of trees, and the 
sharp angles of rocks where they were caught 
and hung transfixed, enduring for days the agony 
of a living death. Our guide pointed out the 
mountain-side where small companies were hunted 
like beasts, for months, guilty of no crime but that 
of worshiping God according to the Bible. 
Time would fail to tell even a tenth of what 
has transpired in some of these passes and caves, 
which now exist as they did in the time of per-
secution. We finally reached a cave where 400 
men, women, and children were hid at one time. 
Our attention was called to the spot and the very 
rock where one man was caught by the papists 
and roasted alive. We obtained the particulars of 
this from one of his descendants. The pass to 
this spot was most difficult. It was on the side of 
a mountain where hundreds of feet below and a 
long way above there was nothing but perpen-
dicular rocks so that no animal, save those that 
have wings, to say nothing of man, could enter. 
But there was one secret passage, and to enter this 
we were obliged to remove our coats, and pass 
under a rock on our hands and knees. Having 
gone this far it was necessary to remove our shoes 
and stockings that our feet might cleave to the 
bulges of the rocks as we entered downward into 
the cave. 
Passing out some fifteen feet on a rock that was 
sharp on the upper edge, we were then obliged to 
descend fifteen feet before reaching a place where 
we could stand. The safety, if the word safety 
can be used, of the descent, consisted of the 
strength of the fingers to hold to a perpendicular 
rock while the feet would be against bulges of the 
same, thus working our way down. Then fifteen 
feet more in about the same manner and we reach 
the bottom of the cave. The women and children 
were let into this cave from above, or drawn up 
from beneath, by ropes. Their persecutors were 
never kown to enter this cave, and only the strong-
est men would attempt it. They knew where it 
was but dared not venture in. Bro. Jemet who 
was with us, entered the cave in advance, Bro. 
Gardner followed, and I commenced the descent 
but soon found my fingers were not of sufficient 
strength to cling to the rocks, so I returned. This 
clearly illustrates what dangers these persecuted 
people would1undergo, rather than yield!their faith 
and their lives to their persecutors. It is nearly as 
difficult to ascend as tp descend. 
We also entered another cave some distance 
from this. It is about eight feet down into a 
seam in a rock, which• appeared to be a rent caused 
by some terrible convulsion of nature. It might 
have been at the time of the crucifixion of Christ 
when the rocks were rent and the graves were 
opened. Whatever may have been the cause, or 
at whatever time it may have taken place it was 
an asylum for the poor and oppressed people of 
God. We could enter but a short distance, as 
search had been made for gold, and not far from 
the entrance it was filled with dirt; but our guide 
said that formerly it was half an hour's walk right 
into the mountain, rock above, beneath, and on 
every side. This was not a permanent retreat, 
but it was often frequented by many of the Wal-
denses in the times of persecution. These caves 
and these rocks will tell their story in the day of 
Judgment. God heard the cries of that people, 
which ascended from these caves and dens of the 
earth, during the terrible persecution. 
At the foot of these mountains was an inqui-
sition where many a Christian was tried, con-
demned, and yielded their lives because they would 
not renounce the faith of their fathers. Many 
places of interest, in connection with this building, 
were pointed out to us. Here we found two skel-
etons which had been recently found in the cellar. 
They were buried head downward. Those who 
claimed that they could tell from the bones, said 
that they were youth. The Judgment alone will 
reveal all the secrets of that terrible system which 
compels men to *believe contrary to their judg- 
ment and their Bible. �S. N. HASKELL. 
Report of Labor. 
THE cause of God is moving steadily forward 
in this vicinity. About twenty, nearly all adults, 
are keeping the Sabbath as the result of our tent-
meetings, and several others are deeply interested. 
Though the meetings have held for ten weeks, 
the interest is still good. We now hold meetings 
only from Friday evening to Sunday evening, 
each week. Last Sabbath we held our first social 
meeting. It was indeed a most precious season. 
The Spirit of God was present, subduing hearts 
and melting them to tenderness. This season 
will long be remembered by these brethren and 
sisters, several of whom, though strong men in 
the middle of life, had never before made a public 
profession of Christ. 
Yesterday (Sunday) four were buried with 
Christ in baptism, and again we had special evi-
dences of God's blessing. Others are preparing 
for baptism. We now no longer walk by faith 
in regard to the work of God in Humboldt County, 
for we have seen that God has a people here who 
are anxious to obey his will as fast as it is made 
manifest. We have an interesting Sabbath-school, 
with two large classes of little ones, beside the 
Bible-class. Our donations since commencing 
tent work have been forty-five dollars. 
We hope, brethren and sisters, that you will 
continue to aid the work in this county by your 
prayers and your missionary efforts. 
G. D. BALLotr, 
N. C. MCCLURE. 
Help Wanted. 
THE cause needs help 70VV; it needs brain and 
muscle; it needs the sanctified heart and the con-
secrated purse. Some when in poverty are gen-
erous of their little, but become penurious as they 
acquire property. They will invest their means 
in uncertain speculations; they will manifest great 
wisdom in accumulating filthy lucre. And one 
reason why they have so little faith in God and 
his closing work is because they do not keep giv-
ing, as God prospers them. Under the Jewish 
system the Lord required the first-fruits,—the 
first-fruits of the corn, the wine, the oil, and the 
wool were to be consecrated as an offering to him. 
The gleanings and the corners of the fields were 
reserved for the poor; for our gracious Heavenly 
Father has not forgotten their wants. At the 
feast it was commanded that the poor, the wid-
ows, the orphans, and the strangers should be in-
vited. At the close of every year all were re-
quired to make solemn oath whether or not they 
had done according to the command of God., 
This' arrangement was made by the Lord, to im-
press upon the people that in every matter he 
Ferndale, Cal., Aug. 18. 
AUGUST 23, 1883. �TH �
 SIGNS OF THE TIIVI �
VS. �
381 
must be first. They were to bear in mind that 
their gracious Master was the true proprietor of 
their fields, their flocks, and their herds. See Ps. 
50: 10-12; Haggai 2: 8. All is the Lords; we are 
simply acting as stewards of his goods.. 
The liberality displayed .by the Jews in the 
construction of the tabernacle and the erection of 
the temple, illustrates a spirit of benevolence 
which might be imitated by those even who pro-
fess to be looking for the soon coming of the 
Saviour. Freed from their long bondage in Egypt, 
they became wanderers in the wilderness; yet 
scarcely were they delivered from the armies of 
the Egyptians, who pursued them in their hasty 
journey, when the word of the Lord came to 
Moses, saying, " Speak unto the children of Israel, 
that they bring me an offering; of every man that 
giveth it willingly, with his heart, ye shall take 
my offering." The people had small possessions, 
and no flattering prospects of adding to them, but 
an object was before them, to build a tabernacle 
for God. They withheld nothing; all gave with 
a willing hand, not a tenth of their increase, but 
a large portion of the principal of their capital 
stock. They devoted it gladly and heartily to 
the Lord; by doing so they not only pleased God, 
but gave back to the lender his own. 
There are at the present moment high and holy 
enterprises which require means in order to suc-
cessfully carry them forward. And those who 
invest in these enterprises experience a more ele-
vated and permanent enjoyment than if their 
means were expended for personal gratifica-
tion, or selfishly hoarded for greed of gain. All 
investments in the cause of God are profitable and 
safe. • The money is placed in bags that have no 
holes; it is secure. 
Can Christians living near the close of time, 
and boasting of a broader light than the Hebrews 
had, be satisfied with their offerings when not 
half so large as were those of the Jews ? Their 
liberality was to benefit their own nation. The 
work in these last days is not a local work; it ex-
tends to the uttermost parts of the world. The 
message of truth is to go to all nations, tongues, 
and peoples; its publications, printed in many 
different languages, are to be scattered abroad 
like the leaves of autumn, until the whole earth 
shall be lighted with its glory. 
The spirit of liberality is the spirit of Heaven. 
The spirit of selfishness and covetousness is the 
spirit of Satan. Christ's self-sacrificing love was 
revealed upon the cross. He gave all he had, and 
then gave himself, that man might be saved. The 
cross of Christ appeals to the benevolence of ev-
ery follower of the blessed Saviour. The princi-
ple illustrated there is to give, give. This, car-
ried out after the principles laid down in God's 
word, will manifest itself in good works and a 
saving faith. The principle of the worldling is to 
get, and to keep what he gets. " By their fruits ye 
shall know them; " and those who work upon 
this principle, and follow it up, thinking that gain 
is godliness, will make a sad mistake. The fruit 
of such labor is misery and death.. �
. 
Our talents, our means, our knowledge, are not 
merely for our own benefit; these blessings are to 
be used for the salvation of souls, to elevate man 
from his life of sin, and to bring him, through 
Christ, to the infinite God. " Ye are not your 
own; ye are bought with a price,"—one of infi-
nite value, the precious blood of Christ. " God so 
loved the world, that he gave his only begotten 
Sbn, that whosoever believeth in him should not 
perish, but have everlasting life." What an in-
comparable love is this—a theme for the most pro-
found meditation! Men who are captivated by 
Satan, and are crazy for gain, disappointed and 
unhappy in their pursuit of the world, need the 
knowledge of this truth to quiet the restless hun-
gering and, thirsting of their souls. 
Oh, for a thousand experienced missionaries to 
enter the fields white for the harvest! Oh, for 
those, who will work, and watch, and pray, to 
lift weary .souls to the bosom of a compassionate 
Redeemer! Oh, for' hearts free from selfishness, 
that all our energies might be devoted to the work 
of Christ! We have the greatest work ever com-
mitted to the care of men, yet there are scores 
who profess to believe these sacred truths, who 
are paralyzed by the sophistry of Satan, and are 
doing nothing for God, for others, or for them-
selves, but who rather hinder the work. When 
will they act like those who wait for their Lord ? 
M. WOOD. 
PROVE all things. Hold fast that which is good. 
Ztiaptratme. 
Personal Liberty. 
THE cry of the liquor faction is that all at-
tempts of the people to prohibit their unholy 
traffic are attacks on personal liberty. But who 
is it that is making so much ado about " personal 
liberty ?" Is it the poor inebriate, who feels a 
hell within him, destroying body, intellect, and 
soul; robbing him of happiness in this world, and 
of all hopes of peace in the next ? Is he afraid 
his personal liberty is about to be curtailed ? Is 
it the wife, who sees him whom she has promised 
to " love and cherish" going to poverty, ruin, and 
degradation ? Is it the child, who sees his parent, 
besotted and bestial, robbing him of his birth-
right of morals, patrimony, an education, a place 
in society, a good name ? Is it the citizen, who 
pays double or treble the amount of taxes he 
otherwise would pay, because of the prevalence 
of this so-called " personal liberty" of men to 
debauch and make criminals of themselves ? Is 
it society, which has to care for the inebriate, 
build alms-houses, insane and lunatic asylums, 
hospitals and the various eleemosynary institu-
tions to care for those who are directly or indi- 
rectly the victims of intemperance ? is it Chris-
tianity, with its high purpose of saving men, soul 
and body, and with its noble humanity, which 
pronounces a curse upon the traffic in these words, 
" Cursed be he who putteth the bottle to his 
neighbor's lips " ? Oh, no; none of these raise 
the cry of tyranny. This charge comes from 
the maker and vender of the accursed stuff. It is 
an old cry, " Let us alone." It is the demand of 
every outlaw, and pirate and buccaneer every-
where. It was the cry of the legion of devils 
which 'possessed the maniac among the tombs of 
Gadara, " Let us alone; what have we to do with 
thee, Jesus of Nazareth ? " They plead for " per-
sonal liberty" to destroy the man, but the mighty 
prohibitionist, the Son of man, uttered his fiat, 
" Come out of him." No wonder those who 
" kept the swine" fled, and no less wonder the 
" owners" and their friends, the local politicians 
and policy men, hangers-on, and timid time-
servers, " besought him to depart out of their 
coasts." 
New York has a law prohibiting the sale of 
skim milk, and another prohibiting self-murder. 
Are not these direct attacks on personal liberty ? 
And are they not " sumptuary laws " ? Has not 
a man a right to buy and drink skim milk; and 
why does not some man intent on self-destruction 
carry the case to the supreme court and demand 
that a law that so arbitrarily invades his personal 
and individual domain be declared unconstitu-
tional; or at least why does he not take a " calm 
view" and ask for license ? 
Strip this whole matter of " personal liberty" 
and " no laws purely sumptuary" of its verbiage 
and sophistry and cant, let the people see that 
the thing aimed at is not the destruction of per-
sonal liberty, but a wider, healthier, and more 
abiding personal liberty—the liberty to do right 
—and you take away the glamour that enshrines 
the monster evil of the age. Liberty is freedom 
to do right. Let that be our motto. There is no 
other definition. Anything else combats the laws 
of God and the holiest instincts of man. Let us, 
like Rinaldo in the enchanted wood before Jeru-
salem, hew at the trunk of this " personal liberty" 
error, forgetful of the fair forms that with dishev-
eled hair and streaming eyes would beguile us to 
stay our hands, and unmindful of the crashing 
thunders, the barbed lightnings, the flying shafts, 
and the demon wings about us, until the en-
chanted myrtle falls, the demons flee and the sky 
clears. 
These champions of personal liberty, it must 
not be overlooked, demand permission to destroy 
our Sabbaths, tear down our churches, invade the 
sanctuary of home, disrupt family ties, uproot law 
and order, and set loose a tempest of anarchy 
and ruin that may ride upon the top wave of de-
struction as the demons of the storm, and gather 
wealth from the human wrecks which they have 
lured to destruction.' I am not writing rhapsody. 
Every word I have chosen is deeply bosomed in 
fact, and has an awful weight of truth attached. 
It is personal liberty for which we contend; but 
that which builds up men, establishes society 
and creates good and holy influences. It is 
"for God and home and native land." Let the 
workers in this grand movement for prohibition 
not stop with the idea of saving men from the 
drunkard's curse on earth and his future hell; let 
them observe that the demands of the liquor 
traffic are steadily increasing to the destruction of 
all that men hold dear and honorable and sacred. 
The occupants of pulpits should take this matter 
more to heart, and see that the church is brought 
up to the line of sternest duty in this war.—F. G. 
M'Cauley, in the Lever. 
A Whole Family Poisoned. 
MATCHES didn't fall in the coffee-pot, nor a spi-
der in the tea-kettle, neither did they eat poison-
ous herbs for greens. The fact is, the mother 
ought to have known better; but she didn't, and 
her friends were not their sister's keepers. It 
happened that the newly-wedded couple occupied 
a 10x14 unventilated sleeping room, consequently 
each one breathed the air of that room every ten 
minutes or so, breathed it over and over again 
twelve times every hour, one hundred times every 
night. After a time into this .bad air came an 
heir, comely and good, which barely maintained 
its gravity, being inflated with escaped gases from 
the bodies on either side. The advent of heir No. 
2 was soon recorded, and the inflation process 
was repeated. No. 1 was transferred to a cot 
within the mother's reach. In due time No. 3 
was welcomed, and five human beings breathed 
the poisonous air of the 12x14 room, for air once 
breathed is poisonous. 
It followed that the poor innocents had colds, 
croups, and pneumonias, and as the sickness in-
creased the more closely the doors were guarded, 
and the higher the temperature was raised. A 
consultation of doctors was called, and although 
the children survived the rhubarb and quinine, 
hot packs, and homeopathic pellets, they have 
not, nor ever will recover from the air poisoning. 
But the mother pondered on the problem and 
finally solved it. A windmill in the center of 
that 10x14 room to-day would be in danger of 
collapsing, for the north, south, east, and west 
winds wash the room and its belongings. Up 
stairs in separate rooms three snowy cots, bathed 
in the same pure fluid, laugh and point their fin-
gers at the doctors. 
Prof. Norton in his late lecture said, but the 
gentlemen on Main Street did not hear him, that 
wherever there was an offensive odor there was 
contagion. This woman, who has learned a little 
at so great a cost, may possibly inspect the pipes 
and troughs about the premises and apply de-
odorizers and disinfectants.—Missionary, in Wood-
land Democrat. 
Dive Practice. 
A POOR man has just escaped from a.six months' 
job as bar-keeper in a city dive and has gladly 
accepted a very low-priced employment else-
where. • He says he was horrified at the shocking 
robberies committed at the dive. Men would be-
come intoxicated and, surrounded by the painted 
women of the dive, would treat them at the bar, 
throw down a $10 gold piece and in place of get-
ting back $9 and more in change, the bar-keeper's 
duty was to put two or three dimes in his pocket, 
clap him on the shoulder and call him a good fel-
low. Another game. was when a visitor who had 
$100 or $50, and showed his money, became tipsy, 
a ,kind friend belonging to the concern, perhaps 
the bar-keeper, would take him tenderly one side, 
saying, "My dear fellow, you are careless, you will 
lose that money or be robbed to-night sure; let 
me take care of your money till you come for it to-
morrow when you are all right." Greeny hands 
over his money without counting, reserving a 
little small change. If he does happen to remem-
ber having surrendered his money, he comes for 
it, and when he is calmly told the sum was only 
$5.25 in place of $25, $50, $100. or more, he has 
no means of recovering more, and either don't re-
member or knows it is of no use to complain.—
S. F. Rescue. 
A NEW horror has been added to the cigarette 
in California. " Leprosy," says a San Francisco 
physician " is revealing itself about the lips and 
tongues of boys who smoke cigarettes made by 
Chinese. The disease, though fatal, is slow in 
giving tokens of its first approaches." No less 
than one hundred and seven cases of infection by 
cigarette smoking had come under the physicians' 
notice.—Mendocino Beacon. 
382 �
TH 
El] SIGNS OF TI—I �
 TIMES. �
Vol.. 9, No. 32. 
I F. 
IF our path were strewn with roses 
That concealed no stinging thorn, 
If the hour when one joy closes 
Saw another newly born, 
If our dreams were full of beauty, 
And our waking hours of peace, 
Would we feel for those whose duty 
Never gives their hearts release ? 
If our dwelling were a palace 
Where we knew no pang or pain, 
Where the red wine in life's chalice 
Bore no bitterness, no bane, 
Would our sympathies awaken, 
Would our generous hands be spread 
For the outcast, the forsaken, 
Who have neither home nor bread ? 
If we knew no lack, no losses, 
Disappointment, toil, or care, 
Would we succ )1' him whose crosses 
Are too wearisome to bear ? 
If we slept on silken couches 
Pranked with costly gems and gold, 
Would we pity him who crouches 
By the wayside in the cold ? 
If the world were juster, truer, 
In its censure and its praise; 
If our doubts and cares were fewer— 
Fewer weary nights and days—
If there were no graves behind us, 
Where the loved and lost ones sleep, 
No sweet memories to bind us, 
Would we weep with those who weep ? 
If our hopes were never blasted, 
If our love grew never cold, 
If our strength and beauty lasted 
Till a hundred years were told, 
Would our hearts be humbly given 
To the Giver of such bliss ? 
Would we ever think of Heaven 
As a better place than this ? 
—The New Age. 
That Heathen Chinee. 
MY DEAR NELLIE : "Alice Raymond, the new 
girl, is as nice as she can be, and so free from van-
ity of any kind that I tell her she really does not 
think enough of herself." 
I quote this from your last letter; and now, to 
show you I am a prophet, I shall quote from one 
written, say a month hence:— 
" Alice Raymond is the most tiresome girl in 
the world! Always angling for compliments, and 
vexed if she doesn't get them." 
You have read, I have no doubt, that it is con-
sidered the correct thing in China to continually 
disparage one's self and one's surroundings. The 
elite of that country always speak of their man-
sions as " miserable hovels," their wives as " the 
wretched creatures in the inner apartments," etc.; 
brut we outside barbarians soon become excess-
ively tired of this " pride that apes humility," and 
that is the reason why my school-mates and 1 lost 
all patience with Hattie Morant, and some of us, 
when particularly annoyed with her counterfeit 
humility, dubbed her " that heathen Chinee." 
" Why do you call her so ?" asked a new girl of 
Mollie Archer, on hearing this epithet applied to 
her for the first time. "Her feet are not so won-
derfully small." 
" No, her feet are not Chinese, but her manners 
are," returned Mollie.. "She is always running 
herself down, and there is only one way to stop 
her." 
" What way is that?" asked the new girl. 
" By agreeing with her," was the reply. 
This seemed like a very harsh censure, but to 
be convinced of the truth of the assertion one had 
only to bring Hattie Morant and Nannie Burt 
together. Poor Nannie, who always imagined 
that her companions meant what they said, and 
who herself had a perfect gift for saying, in the 
most innocent way in the world, the very thing 
she ought not to say, never comforted persons in 
their humility, whether that humility were genu-
ine or feigned. For instance:— 
" I wish, Nannie," said Hattie Morant one day, 
" that I had your brilliant color instead of my 
pasty complexion." 
" You are dreadfully sallow, that's a fact," re-
turned Nannie. "But then I suppose you are not 
so sickly as you look." 
Hattie, who had possibly expected to 'receive 
some such soothing reply as " Don't envy me my 
red face—' lilies are prettier than peonies," was 
somewhat taken aback by this rejoinder, and soon 
afterwards rather pointedly remarked, " My face 
may be pale, but, thank heaven, it isn't always 
covered with pimples." 
Nannie, although she had two tiny pimples on 
her chin, was quite unconscious of this retort, and 
good naturedly observed :— 
" I had a room-mate last year that looked like 
a ghost. She was almost as pale as you are, and 
the doctor gave her some preparation of arsenic, 
which did her ever so much good.. If you would 
take something of the kind I am sure you wouldn't 
look so cadaverous as you do now." 
"That Nannie Burt is the greatest idiot I ever 
saw in my life," exclaimed Miss Morant as soon as 
Nannie had left the room; " and quite as ill-bred 
as she is idiotic," added she, further exasperated 
by the smiles of those around her. �
• 
" So you didn't find her remarks agreeable, al-
though she agreed with what you yourself said 
about your pasty complexion," observed Mollie 
Archer. " It is dreadfully difficult to please some 
people." 
On another occasion Hattie remarked in Nan-
nie's hearing:— 
" I may as well give up music; I havn't ear 
enough for it,." 
As she played rather well, she probably expected 
a shower of complimentary protestations from 
her companions; but if such were the case she was 
disappointed. The other girls Kept quiet, and let 
Nannie take the floor. 
" Oh, I should persevere if I were you," re-
marked that young lady encouragingly. " You 
can make up for your want of ear by paying 
more attention to your notes." 
" I have as good an ear for music as any girl in 
this school," exclaimed Hattie, provoked, for once, 
into frankness. 
" Well, then," asked Nannie in amazement, 
" why did you give us to understand that you 
hadn't ? " 
" Because she hoped to hook a real big compli-
ment," replied Mollie Archer, for Hattie, instead 
of answering, flounced out of? the room. 
" I don't believe I have mind enough for math-
ematics," said Hattie, as she was coming out of 
Mrs. Southgate's class-room the next day. She 
made this remark to some of her class-mates who 
had been inclined to praise her for her quickness 
at figures, but now, instead of paying her any 
additional compliment, they kept quiet, for they 
saw that Nannie Burt was standing by, and they 
waited, with expectant smiles, to hear what she 
had to say on the subject. 
"Poor child," observed Nannie kindly, "if you 
would bring your arithmetic to me some time, 
perhaps I could help you out of your difficulties. 
I always get a good mark on arithmetic." 
" Thank you very much indeed, Miss Burt," re-
turned Hattie scornfully, " but it would be some-
thing new under the sun for a girl in the first 
class in arithmetic to go for help to one in the 
second class." 
" In the first class," exclaimed Nannie, " I 
thought from the way you talked that you were 
with the little girls in the third class." 
" It doesn't matter in the least to me what you 
thought," said Hattie as she walked away with 
her chin in the air. 
"Hattie Morant reminds me of one of papa's 
patients," observed Mollie Archer. " She was an 
old woman who lived among the sand-hills, in a 
little one-room log cabin that she prided herself 
on keeping in apple-pie order. She was taken 
sick one day and sent for papa, who lost no time 
in going to see her. ' Come in, doctor,' said she, 
when she caught sight of him at the door; 'come 
in, if you can get in for the dirt.' 
" I don't know that I can madam,' replied he, 
' but I'll try.' 
" So he went on taking long strides and tip-
toeing, at the same time assuming such a disgusted 
expression of countenance that the old woman flew 
into a rage and ordered him to ' get out,' saying 
she could cure herself with yarb teas, and she 
' never did believe he was no great shakes of a 
doctor, no way.' I remember mamma's saying 
afterwards, when they were speaking of this case, 
that it was quite as ill-bred to dispraise as to 
praise one's self; and I am sure, according to my 
experience, it is ever so much more tiresome to 
those who have to listen, because when people 
praise themselves you can give them credit for 
telling what they believe to be true, while, in the 
other case, one cannot help having one's doubts." 
—Clara, Marshall, in Christian at Work. 
A QUIET conscience causes a quiet sleep. 
As Others See Us. 
THE Frenchman says that our impoliteness is 
next to heathenish. Go out into one of the sub-
urban districts of Faris, and every little hatless 
gamin by the roadside will make you as courtly a 
bow as a dancing-master, and every bare-legged 
girl will dip her skirts to you with a respectful, 
" Bou jour, monsieur;" whereas, if you should go 
out over the Long Island sand-hills beyond Brook-
lyn, or along Boston's famous Brighton highway, 
ten to one the first urchin you meet would stand in 
your path, with his hands in his pockets, and cry, 
" Say, mister, where you goin'? Gimme a cent, 
will you ?" And then a bevy of girls would 
giggle at you, and make slangy comments on 
your personal appearance. 
The German says that our family life is not 
gentle and polite and loving, like family life in the 
fatherland. We have not kindness enough at 
home. We are too selfish, too much absorbed in 
our own individual interests. We have separate 
rooms at home. There is no great warm, com-
fortable family apartment, where all meet of an 
evening and talk and read together, and play 
quiet games. A sort of boarding-house coldness 
prevails, even between parents and children, 
brother and sister. The manners of the German 
are heart manners. He is not, as a representa-
tive national type, outwardly polished and grace-
ful, and so he does not criticise our mere exter-
nal behavior as the Englishman and the French-
man do. But he does criticise, and justly too, 
the home manners of our people. He is aston-
ished when he sees how much more affable we are 
to strangers than to the members of our own 
family circle.—Interior. 
Intelligence of the Crow. 
JAPAN is the birds' paradise, as fire-arms can-
not be carried except by special permit. Though 
their punishment of criminals is sometimes ex-
tremely cruel, to shoot birds for sport or for scien-
tific purposes would never enter the heads of this 
kind-hearted people. I noticed, says a writer in the 
Science, in many parts of the country, that the 
crow felt a sense of security, meeting man boldly, 
conscious that he is a benefactor—and acknowl-
edged as such—by killing injurious grubs, even 
though he collect a few grains of corn in the oper-
ation. He scorns to fly at your approach, and 
fears not a stick pointed at him, which he never 
takes for a gun. He is as familiar in Japan as he 
is shy in America and Europe. Another instance 
of this birds' intelligence came under my obser-
vation as I was walking among the crumbling 
arches of Caracalla's baths in Rome, in April, 1882. 
When near the walls, a stone nearly as large as 
my fist fell at my feet. Fearing a recurrence of 
what I supposed was an accident of perishing ma-
sonry, our party went farther toward the center 
of the area. A second and third fell near us; and, 
looking up, I saw some crows circling above our 
heads, one of which dropped a fourth from his 
claws. It seems that we had been strolling too 
near their nests in the walls; and they took this 
method to drive us away—a very effectual one, 
as a stone of that size, falling from the height of 
sixty feet, was an exceedingly dangerous missile, 
and perhaps only prevented from being fatal by 
the failure of the bird to make allowance for the 
impetus given by its own motion. The aim was 
accurate, and the discharge right over head; but, 
as both we and the bird were moving, it fortu-
nately missed its mark.—Selected. 
THE following figures are astounding! Read 
carefully and then ask yourself to which sum 
you contribute most: " We spend annually for 
saving 700,000,000 blood-bought heathen souls, 
the sum of not more than $2,500,000, while the 
total contributions of all the churches in America 
for all causes do not exceed $77, 000,000. For in-
toxicating drinks on the other hand, we spend 
$900,000,000 every year. 'For tobacco, $80,000,-
000! For ladies' foreign dress goods, about $125,-
000, 000! New York City alone spends for theater 
going and other amusements three times as much 
as our whole country gives for foreign missions. 
The kid gloves it imports alone cost ten times as 
much. The ladies of America actually spend 
more for artificial flowers every year than do all 
the churches for the spread of the gospel! How 
does this seem to the conscience? For Christ, $77,-
000,000." For vanity, liquor and tobacco, $1,105,-
000,000.—Moravian. 
News and Notes. 
—A five-pound gold nugget was brought in from the 
gold fields near Guaymas, Aug. 12. Another weighed 
two and three-fourths pounds. 
—It now appears that Cetewayo, the Zulu King, was 
not killed, as. reported, but that -he is alive and exceed-
ingly active in warlike matters. 
—The wife of Senator Allison, of Iowa, drowned her-
self in the Mississippi at Dubuque, on the night of Aug. 
12. She suffered from nervous and mental diseases. 
—A strike at the Bethlehem Iron Works, in Pennsyl-
vania, has ended by the strikers applying for work. 
The most worthy were offered work, but not all who 
went out. 
—Russia is not quiet. A dispatch to the London 
limes from St. Petersburg says, referring to the situ-
ation of affairs in that country, that arrests of students 
occur daily. 
—The city of Galveston, Texas, is suffering a " water 
famine." The cisterns are drained, the gardens dried 
up, and the effects of the drought are plainly seen in 
the poverty of the vegetable market. 
While thirteen men were being hauled to the .sur-
face at a mine near the town of Redruth, Cornwall, 
Aug. 15, the rope attached to the car broke, and twelve 
of the men were precipitated to the bottom of the shaft 
and instantly killed. 
The prohibition of the importation of Egyptian 
cotton into Switzerland has called forth many protests 
from various quarters. If the authorities persist in 
enforcing the prohibition, 30,000 persons employed in 
manufactures where this cotton is used must be thrown 
out of work. 
—Alarming signs of another earthquake on the island 
of Ischia. The springs are drying up and smoke is 
issuing from fissures in the, ground. The Minister of 
Public Work has issued an order for the immediate 
erection of huts for the accommodation of the people 
in case they are compelled to vacate their houses. 
—The Court of Criminal Correction in St. Louis 
holds that the State must prove that street cars are not 
necessary, in order to convict the officers or any of those 
who are on trial for violating the law by running cars 
on Sunday. All the cases instituted against street rail-
road companies under the Sunday law will, therefore, 
be dismissed. 
—Judge Jeremiah Black died at his home near York, 
Pa., at 2 o'clock the morning of Aug. 19. Judge Black 
was 73 years of age. He has been prominent as a poli-
tician and jurist for many years. He held high posi-
tions, having been Chief Justice of the Supreme Court 
of Pennsylvania, and Attorney General in President 
Buchanan's Cabinet. 
The plea in defense of the late Oakland City Clerk, 
who embezzled the city funds with which to gamble 
in stocks, was that he was insane on stock buying! 
Now let every burglar insist that he was insane on 
house-breaking, and then—abolish our courts. They 
are becoming unnecessary expenses. P. S. He was 
found guilty. Courts may be retained. 
The great event of the year in San Francisco is 
the Triennial Conclave of the Knights Templar. The 
number in attendance is very large, and the display 
imposing and grand. In fact, if display were the object 
of life, we might well pronounce this assembling an 
eminent" success. The corner-stone of the Garfield 
monument in Golden Gate Park will be laid the 24th 
inst. 
—A dispatch from Suez, Aug. 17, says: "Two thou-
sand Bedouins attacked the sanitarium at Sinkat and 
were repulsed with the loss of sixty killed. The sol-
diers defending the place lost seven men, the civilians 
five. Sinkat is fifty miles from Suakin, a town in 
Nubia, on an island in the Red Sea. The attack was 
incited by the False Prophet. It is reported Suakin is 
also threatened with an attack. 
—A terrible railroad disaster occurred at Winchester, 
Ky., eighteen miles from Lexington, Aug. 17, at a cross-
ing. A freight train on Kentucky Central stood across 
the track of the Chesapeake and Ohio. A train of the 
latter ran into the freight train, demolishing a car con-
taining four hundred kegs of blasting powder. The 
powder exploded. The depot building, eating station, 
the Chesapeake and Ohio engine, and three cars were 
almost completely wrecked, and several persons were 
killed. 
—A mob of 500 men attacked the Jewish quarter in 
Prague, the night of Aug. 15. The rioters were dis-
persed before doing much harm. The prevalence of 
riots has caused much alarm among the authorities of 
Austria. The police and military officers have been 
ordered to crush with the utmost energy every out-
break, however small. Forty of the populace and six 
police were wounded in the riot at Agram, Aug. 14. 
The mob subsequently forced open the jail and re-
leased the rioters. 
—A. dispatch from Chattanooga, Tenn., Aug. 17, says: 
" A cyclone swept through the city yesterday afternoon. 
Three railroad depots were unroofed. A large number 
of other buildings were unroofed and several blown 
down. Several casualties are reported. There was a 
heavy hail-storm at the time, and many horses ran 
away. One was killed and many injured. Only one 
telegraph wire outside the town remains intact. The 
telegraph business in the entire South is delayed here, 
and business is seriously injured." 
AUGUST 23, 1883, �
11T-1-E SIGNS OF TIIE TIMI-4E% �
080
9 9 
—The strike of the telegraph operators in the United 
States is ended in a disastrous failure. Aug. 17 the 
President of the " Brotherhood " issued an order an-
nouncing the failure, and a permit to all who could 
to return to work. But so many positions have been 
permanently filled that a large number will be obliged 
to seek other employment. The following is announced 
as the result to those who are received by the Western 
Union: " Each person, as a preliminary of employment, 
signs a paper agreeing to abandon the present Brother-
hood of Telegraphers, and not again become a member 
of any brotherhood while in the employ of the Western 
Union Company." It is a hazardous proceeding for so 
many laborers to place themselves at the mercy of a 
few ruling men who can throw them out of their situa-
tions at any time by a word. This is the severest blow 
that Labor Unions have received for many years. 
gl,ppointiment5. 
California Camp-Meeting. 
IT has now been decided to hold the camp-meeting 
for northern California at San Jose, Sept. 6-18. It will 
be held upon the fair-ground, near the depot of the 
Narrow-Gauge Railroad. The horse-cars which pass 
the railroad station also pass the camp-ground. The 
ground is level and covered with shade trees, presenting 
a beautiful grove in which to pitch family tents. Only 
one spot is large enough for the tent 60x100 ft. Had 
the ground been designed on purpose for the camp-
meeting, it could scarcely have been improved. The 
committee will do everything possible to make it com-
fortable and to accommodate all that come. 
We hope this will be the largest camp-meeting ever 
held in the State of California; and in many respects 
it certainly will be the most important. Provision will 
be made for man and beast. 
CAMP-MEETING COMMITTEE. 
California Conference. 
THE twelfth annual session of the California Confer-
ence of Seventh-day Adventists will be held in connec-
tion with the camp-meeting at San Jose, Sept. 6-18. 
This will be as important a session as was ever held in 
California. Every company of Seventh-day Adventists 
in the Conference should be well represented. Dele-
gates should be chosen, so that the wants of all parts 
of the field may be known, and future labor arranged 
accordingly. Individuals living alone, who cannot at-
tend, should make known their wants and condition 
by letter addressed to the SIGNS Office. We have 
reached an important and interesting time in the his-
tory of the cause on the Pacific Coast. Advance steps 
must be taken, and now is the time to move forward in 
the opening providence of God. The cloud is rising. 
The judgments of God are already in the earth. There 
are many indications which show that what is done 
must be done quickly. We expect to see a general 
rally of the friends from all parts of the State. 
S. N. HASKELL, 
I. D. VAN HORN, 
M. C. ISRAEL, 
California Conference Committee. 
California Tract and Missionary Society. 
THE thirteenth annual session of the Tract and Mis-
sionary Society will convene on the camp-ground at 
San Jose, in connection with the camp-meeting, Sept. 
6-18, 1883. 
Not only the missionary work of this Conference and 
the Ship Mission, located at San Francisco, but the 
foreign missions, and what can be done for the islands 
of the Pacific Ocean, Australia, and New Zealand, will 
be considered. Many important questions which per-
tain to the missionary work, that will interest all, will 
be considered. �S. N. HASKELL, President. 
California Sabbath-School Association, 
THE sixth annual Convention of the California S. S. 
Association will be held in connection with the camp-
meeting at San Jose, Sept. 6 -18. We hope to see every 
school in the State well represented. At the camp-
meeting Sabbath-school, the senior classes will recite 
the current lessons in the Instructor. Special lessons 
will be prepared for the junior classes. The secretaries 
will please bring their school records. Let all come 
prepared to inquire into the best methods of making 
the Sabbath-school work effective to the salvation of 
souls. �
G. D. BALLOU, President. 
Nebraska Camp-Meeting. 
IT is now decided to hold our camp-meeting five days 
longer than heretofore announced: Sept. 19 to Oct. 1. 
There will be preaching three times each day, in the 
English, German, and Scandinavian languages. 
Four large pavilions will be pitched and comfortably 
seated for the preaching services. There will also be 
over one hundred smaller tents on the ground, some of 
which will be for sale and to rent; so that every one can 
be provided with a comfortable home while in attend-
ance. No pains will be spared to make the grounds 
pleasant, and the meetings profitable. 
A well-supplied provision-stand will be on the ground 
for the accommodation of the attending public. 
A large book-stand will also be provided to supply the 
increasing demand for our publications. 
The names of the speakers will be announced in the 
future; we expect able speakers from New England, 
Iowa, Dakota, Minnesota, and California. 
Any one expecting to travel over the U. P. Railroad 
to and from the meeting, should apply at once to Eld. 
A. J. Cudney, Fremont, Neb., giving name, and stating 
the station at which you wish to purchase ticket, and 
you will receive a certificate which will entitle you to a 
round-trip tick et on presentation to the local agent, for 
one and one-fourth fares. This certificate will be re-
quired at all stations on this line, and will be good as 
early as Monday, Sept. 17; and the tickets will be good 
until the second day after the close of the meeting. Per-
sons living on this road north of Columbus should buy 
their tickets only to that point, and thence over the B. 
and M. Railroad to Crete, for three-fourths of one fare 
for the round trip. 
Those living on the U. P. Railroad north of Hastings 
will buy tickets to that point at the same rates as those 
given above to Columbus, and from there will buy 
round-trip tickets over the B. and M. Railroad; but we 
cannot now give the rate of fare from that point to 
Crete and return, but will make it known in the future. 
Those living north of Omaha on the line of the C., St. 
P., M. and 0. Railroad will pay full fare from their 
homes to Omaha, and there will buy round-trip tickets 
to Crete and return, for three-fourths of one fare, over 
the B. and M. Railroad; and at the meeting you will be 
provided with a certificate that will entitle you to re-
turn from Omaha home for one-fourth single fare. 
Our brethren in eastern Iowa and northern Kansas 
will be heartily welcomed to this meeting. Come, and 
with us seek the blessing of God. And let none of our 
brethren in this Conference think for a moment of losing 
the benefit of this annual gathering, which, we confi-
dently expect will be much the largest ever held in this 
State. Lay your plans to be on the ground the first day, 
and let nothing interfere, and stay till the close. 
NEB. CONF. COM. 
HELPS TO BIBLE STUDY. 
Address, " SIGNS OF THE TIMES," Oakland, Cal. 
REVISED NEW TESTAMENTS. 
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Cloth 50c 
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Cloth, post paid �
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THE COMPARATIVE EDITION of the New Testa-
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price, post paid. 1 
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Address, " SIGNS OF THE TIMES," Oakland, Cal. 
STORY OF THE BIBLE. 
FROM GENESIS TO REVEL A.TION. 
ADAPTED TO THE YOUNG, BUT INTEREST-
ING TO THE OLD. 
In this book the stories of the Bible are re-written in simple language, 
and at the same time are connected together by a plain 
OUTLINE OF SCRIPTURE HISTORY, 
extending throughout the Bible. As far as possible, the language of the 
Bible is used, and great care has been taken 
NOT TO IMPART ANY DENOMINATIONAL BIAS; 
and in this the author has done well. This book will do much to foster in 
the young a taste for the study of the word of God. 700 pp., 274 illustra. 
tions. Price $1.00. 
Address, PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal. 
A MINE OF INFORMATION. 
HISTORY OF THE SABBATH AND FIRST 
DAY OF THE WEEK. 
BY ELD. J. N. ANDREWS. 
THE Bible record of the Sabbath ; the secular history concerning it ; the 
successive steps by which the change to the first day was made, and the 
work of restoration, are given in detail. 
EVERY TEXT OF SCRIPTURE concerning the Sabbath is commented 
nn at length ; and the COMPLETE TESTIMONY OF THE FATHERS in 
regard to the Sabbath and first day is given. The comparative merits oi 
the seventh and the first-day Sabbaths are fully shown. A copious Index 
-sables the reader to find any text, or the statement of any historian. 
Should be read by everybody. 528 hp. Price, $1.25. 
Address. SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland. Cal. 
Clarke's Commentary, half leather, 6 vols 
Barnes' Notes, cloth, 14 vols 
Smith's Comprehensive Dictionary, sheep. �
 
�
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Prideaux Connection, 2 vols �
 
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$24 00 
21 00 
6 00 
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2 00 
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1 75 
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1 50 
2 50 
2 50 
Time of Camp-Meetings. 
MASSACHUSETTS, Worcester, 
VERMONT, Montpelier, 
MICHIGAN, Hillsdale, 
Manton, 
(State Meeting,) 
NEBRASKA, Crete, 
IowA, Algona, 
MAINE, Waterville, 
CALIFORNIA, San Jose, 
NEW YORK, Union Square, 
ILLINOIS, Sheridan, 
KENTUCKY, Glasgow, 
KANSAS, Southeastern, 
Eldorado, Butler Co., 
MISSOURI, 
TENNESSEE, 
INDIANA, (Southern,) Farmersburg, �
Sept. 12-18 
" �
Bunker Hill, Miami Co., �
Oct. 1-10 
ALABAMA, Choctaw Co. �
if 
4-9 
66 
44 
46 
64 
Aug. 22-28 
Aug. 30 to Sept. 4 
Aug. 22-27 
Aug. 30 to Sept. 4 
Sept. 25 to Oct. 2 
Sept. 19 to Oct. 1 
Sept. 5-11 
Sept. 6-11 
" 6-18 
12-18 
18-25 
19-26 
20-30 
Oct. 11-21 
Sept. 25 to Oct. 2 
27 " " 
384 �
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. �
VoL. 9, No. 32. 
Eke �
icglu of Ot 
OAKLAND, CAL., FIFTH-DAY, AUGUST 23, 1883. 
NOTICE.—We send no papers from this Office without pay in advance, 
unless by special arrangement. When persons receive copies without 
ordering them they are sent by other parties, and we can give no infor-
mation in regard to them. Persons thus receiving them are not indebted 
to the Office. 
SEE important notices on preceding page-383. 
SEE new notice of Nebraska camp-meeting in this 
paper. 
Do NOT overlook the appointments and camp-meet-
ing notices at this time of year. 
THE "Sir Knights" have nearly monopolized the 
railroads of late. We did not get our usual mail con-
taining the Review before going to press. 
A PAPER was sent to us containing the synopsis of a 
sermon preached in Stockton, Cal., by Mr. Fleenor, of 
the Baptist Church, with a' request to review it. The 
first part of the review is in type, but is crowded over 
by a press of matter which we could not delay. 
SAID a brother last Sabbath: " Camp-meeting is right 
upon us before we thought of it." Well, it is time you 
were thinking of it. Let all the churches have their 
delegates to the Conference elected in season. All re-
ports and all business to come up in any of the meetings 
should be fully prepared beforehand. Let there be no 
neglect or delay. 
Railroad Fares to San Jose! 
SOUTH PACIFIC COAST R. R.—NARROW-GAUGE. 
WE have received the following rates on this road to 
our camp-meeting:-- 
Round-trip tickets from Oakland or San Francisco, 
$1.65. Good to San Jose, Sept. 5, 6, 7, and 14; return 
at any time until Sept. 20. 
Baggage, ordinary, 100 pounds, and 100 pounds camp 
equippage, free of charge. 
Trains leave San Francisco 8.30 A. M., 2.30 and 4.30 
P. M. Leave Oakland fifteen minutes later, 12th and 
Webster Streets. 
Leaving point in San Francisco, Market Street wharf. 
SAN FRANCISCO AND NORTH PACIFIC. 
Round-trip tickets from Healdsburg to San Fran-
cisco, $4.00, Santa Rosa to S. F.. $3.00; Petaluma to 
S. F., $1.75. Good from Sept. 1 to Sept. 30. 
CENTRAL PACIFIC. 
From Woodland, per car, $250.00; each fare, $5.00 
St. Helena, �
" �
215.00; �4.30 
Lemoore, �
64 �
475.00; �
46 �
9.50 
Oakland, or 
San Francisco," �
87.50; �
64 �
1.75 
Childi-en from five to twelve years, half fare; baggage, 
100 lbs. to each ticket. 
Less than fifty tickets will ngt be sold at any one 
place on the Central Road at these rates. 
Woodland will fill a car, five dollars for the round 
trip being very cheap. Cannot the friends in. Napa and 
St. Helena unite and take a car? They may make it 
an object to do so. 
Tents for Camp-Meeting. 
THOSE wishing to purchase new tents can have them 
made by writing to Pacific Press. A tent from com-
mon stripe, awning cloth, 12x16 ft., three-feet walls, 
can be made with poles, except pins, delivered upon 
the camp-ground for thirty dollars. White cloth, same 
size, cheaper. 
Tents will be rented as heretofore. Prices from four 
to six dollars, according to size and quality. Second-
hand tents sold at reduced rates. For tents apply im-
mediately to G. D. Hager or M. C. Israel, Pacific Press, 
Oakland, Cal. 
Helps to Bible Study. 
IN gaining a knowledge of the Bible, nothing will 
take the place of a careful and continual reading of 
the Bible itself. No study of books, however good they 
may be, will make up for a lack of knowledge of the 
exact language of the sacred text. But there are very 
few, perhaps none, who can get a proper understanding 
of the Bible without some outside helps. Few persons 
are so well versed in history, or in the manners and cus-
toms of the ancients, as not to fail to see the force of 
many of the statements made in the Scriptures. And in 
regard to texts having reference only to doctrine, much 
light may be gained from a good commentary; for even 
though the author be wrong in his conclusions, a line 
of thought may be suggested to us which will enable us 
to arrive at the correct interpretation. 
First among these helps, we would place our own 
denominational works, such as " History of the Sab-
bath," • " United States in Prophecy," " Thoughts on 
Daniel and• the Revelation," "Constitutional Amend-
ment," " Man's Nature and Destiny," " The Great Con-
troversy," three volumes, " Sketches from the Life of 
Paul," "Spirit of God," "Thoughts on Christian Bap-
tism," " Atonement," and " Nature and Tendency of 
Modern Spiritualism." Advertisements of these books 
will be found' in this and succeeding numbers of the 
SIGNS. They are true " helps," not designed to take 
the place of the Bible, but invariably referring to it for 
authority for every opinion advanced, giving chapter 
and verse. 
Of course every one who proposes to study the Bible 
will procure a good concordance. 
" Smith's Comprehensive Dictionary of the Bible" is 
a standard work, and is an absolute necessity to the 
Bible student. It is to him what Webster's Dictionary 
and the " American Cyclopedia" are to the ordinary 
student. 
Nothing in the line of commentaries is much better 
for the average student than " Barnes' Notes," on the 
New Testament, and portions of the Old. 
" Clarke's Commentaries," though old, are good for a 
critical study of the text. His theological opinions on 
many points are the very best; but he is too much 
inclined to spiritualize the text. These, and all com-
mentaries, the student must use simply as helps, and not 
depend wholly on them. 
The " Hand-book of Bible Geography" is a valuable 
aid in becoming familiar with the countries concerning 
which the Bible speaks, and in which its scenes were 
enacted. 
And last, though by no means the least, we notice the 
" Revised New Testament." It is the work of some of 
the most eminent scholars of both hemispheres, and, 
although not perfect, it gives on very many texts a 
better idea of the original than does King James' Ver-
sion. We would by no means recommend that it take 
the place of the old version, but no one should fail to 
have a copy for comparison. As a commentary it is 
excellent. 
For prices and styles of all books above mentioned, 
see our advertisements. 
The Way of Life. 
THIS picture has been entirely recast, and is now en-
graved and produced in the very highest style of art. 
Of its merits and design we shall not speak, as the pur-
pose of this notice is to call attention to a pamphlet of 
48 pages, just issued at this office, containing a " Key 
to the Allegorical Engraving entitled the Way of Life 
from Paradise Lost to Paradise Restored." The Key is 
a well-written description or explanation of every part 
of the picture. The whole affords an interesting and 
suggestive study. It is not a mere ornament for the 
wall, but A. lesson of instruction, covering the whole 
field of God's providential dealings with man from the 
Garden of Eden to the New Jerusalem. 
This pamphlet contains also an article by Mrs. E. G. 
White, on " The Sufferings of Christ," being an appro- 
priate accompaniment to the picture, in which the 
cross of the Saviour is the central and prominent object. 
The pamphlet itself is printed on very heavy paper, 
and got up in the best and most artistic style of the 
" PACIFIC PRESS," which is a sufficient recommendation 
to all those acquainted with the work of this printing-
house. 
The work is sold by subscription. 
The Canvassing Work. 
DURING the last three months a few young men have 
been busily at work selling "Thoughts on Daniel and 
the Revelation." The three College students, two of 
whom had no experience in this work, entered what 
proved to be a hard field, for the people were largely 
Spanish and Irish Catholics; yet, by six weeks' earnest 
work; one hundred and fifteen books were sold, many, 
we trust, to persons who will read critically and to profit. 
Much time was spent by these young men in study, and 
the knowledge of the subject and experience in the work 
acquired fits them for successful work hereafter. 
At the Oregon camp-meeting we engaged two of our 
brethren to enter the work in that field. Brother Har-
per, who has had marked success in canvassing, was to 
work with and instruct them. After two weeks' labor 
they report one hundred orders. 
Since leaving them Brother Harper has canvassed a 
city in Oregon, where he took one hundred and fifty or-
ders in thirteen days. 
These things show that the time has come for this 
book to be read, and that it meets with a favorable re-
ception when properly presented. In the work of can-
vassing as in any other business, experience cannot be 
valued too highly. 
We want to see the agents going out in companies of 
three or four, with one experienced canvasser in each 
company. We are glad to know that some who have 
had extensive experience in past years are preparing to 
engage in this work. �
W. C. WHITE. 
$25,000 Wanted. 
WE, the undersigned, hereby give the sums set to our 
names, to raise the sum of $25,000 to be placed under the 
control of trustees chosen at the annual session of the Cali-
fornia Conference. Said sum to be loaned to some of our 
Institutions at 5 per cent., the proceeds of which shall be 
used to assist those who are seeking an education at the 
Healdsburg College, to fill positions in the cause of God. 
Said individuals must be recommended by the Conference 
Committee and the College Faculty. 
William Butcher. 
�
$5,000 
Joseph Leininger �
5,000 
JUST ISSUED. 
A. BOOK FOR OLD AND YOUNG. 
KETCHES FRO M THE LIFE OF PAUL. 
BY Mas. E. G. WHITE. 
In this book the history of Paul's life, from the time when he " made 
havoc" of the church until he was " offered up" as its chief representa-
tive, is traced in a clear and connected manner. Paul's allusions to 
himself in his epistles are connected with the record in the book of Acts 
in such a manner as to throw great light both on the epistles and the 
"Acts." But that which gives the book even greater value than its his-
torical accuracy, is the lessons that are drawn from Paul's words, and the 
hardships which he endured, and their practical application to our own 
times. This is a marked feature of this work, and the instruction given 
in this way cannot be estimated in dollars and cents. 234 pp., neatly 
bound in cloth, $.80. 
Address SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal., 
or. REVIEW AND HERALD, Battle Creek, Mich. 
HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 
BY J. H. MERLE D'AUBIGNE. 
This book is indeed a standard in-evangelical literature, and is so well 
and favorably known as to need no description; it is the most complete 
and impartial history of the Reformation extant; and certainly no one 
should need to be urged to seek all the information possible concerning 
the history of one of the greatest revolutions ever effected in human 
affairs. 
Bound in cloth, 5 vols. in one �
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Larger edition, illustrated 
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Address, PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal. 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES, 
PUBLISHED WEEKLY, AT OAKLAND, AL , PJIL 
Missionary Society of Seventh-day Adventis,:s. 
A twelve-page Religious Family Paper, devoted to a discussion of the 
Prophecies, Signs of the Times, Second Coming of Christ, Harmony of the 
Law and Gospel, with Departments devoted to Temperance, The Home 
Circle, the Missionary Work, and the Sabbath-school. 
Price Per Year, �
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In Clubs of five or more copies to one address, to be used in Mis- 
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—OR— 
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