" 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, APRIL 26, 1883. 
NUMBER 17. 
Eke �
ign5 of tke 
PUBLISHED WEEKLY, FOR THE 
S. D. A. MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 
(For Terms, etc., See Last Page.) 
ii.terecl at the Post-Office in Oakland, Cal. 
CHRISTIAN ASSURANCE . 
" Forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." 
1 Cor. 15 :58. 
Go when the skies are brightest, 
And smoothest is the road; 
Go where the fields are whitest, 
And gather sheaves for God. 
To cheerful toil inviting, 
0 what a blest employ, 
When, all our powers exciting, 
God's service is our joy. 
Go when the way is dreary, 
And fears the bosom thrill, 
When heart and steps grow weary, 
God guides and guards thee still. 
O dally not with seasons, 
The weakness nor the pain; 
Ask not the Saviour's reasons—
Ye cannot toil in vain. 
What though thy foes are strongest, 
And cruel be their rage, 
Thy day of conflict longest, 
And none thy wounds assuage; 
Though fainting now, and bleeding, 
Doubt not thy strength and shield; 
The Saviour still is leading, 
And all thy foes shall yield. 
0 blest, divine assurance! 
Our weary toil and tears 
But sweeten faith's endurance— 
A day of triumph nears, 
When Christ, his trophies bringing, 
Will call from pain and strife, 
And we, victorious singing, 
Receive the crown of life! 
—S. Dyer, in Examiner. 
6 en eral gtrtirle5, 
An Impressive Miracle. 
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE. 
JESUS healed many and various cases of bodily 
disease, while he was preaching and ministering 
to sin-sick souls. Many hearts were liberated 
from the cruel bondage of sin. Unbelief, dis-
couragement, and despair, gave place to faith, 
hope, and happiness. But when the sick and 
wretched applied to the Saviour for help, he first 
relieved the poor, suffering body before he at-
tempted to minister to the darkened mind. When 
the present misery of the suppliant was removed, 
his thoughts could better be directed into the 
channel of light and truth. 
Leprosy was the most fearful and loathsome 
disease of the East. It was looked upon with 
great dread by all classes on account of its con-
tagious character and its horrible effect upon its 
victim. Great precautions were taken to pre-
vent the disease from spreading among the peo-
ple. With the Hebrews the leper was pronounced 
unclean. He was isolated from his family, re-
stricted from the privileges of society, and cut 
off from the congregation of Israel. He was 
doomed to associate only with those who were 
similarly afflicted with himself. 
Away from his friends and kindred he must 
bear the curse of his terrible malady. No affec-
tionate hands could soothe his pain. He was 
obliged to publish his own calamity, to rend his 
garment, and sound the alarm, warning all to flee 
from his polluted and decaying body. The cry, 
Unclean! Unclean! coming with mournful tone 
from the lonely exile, was a signal heard with 
fear and abhorrence. 
There were many of these loathsome subjects 
in the region of Christ's ministry. The news of 
the great Healer had reached even them in their 
isolation, and a gleam of hope sprang up in their 
hearts that if they could come into the presence 
of Jesus he might relieve them. But as they 
were debarred from entering any city or village, 
it seemed impossible for them to reach the great 
Physician; whose chief work lay among the pop-
ulace. 
There was one leper who had been a man of 
high distinction. It was with the greatest grief 
that he and his family had become convinced 
that he was a victim to the fatal disease. Physi-
cians of note had been consulted, and they had 
examined his case thoroughly, and anxiously 
searched theirj000ks to obtain further knowledge; 
but they were reluctantly compelled to acknowl-
edge that their skill was baffled, the disease was 
incurable. It was then the duty of the priest to 
make an examination; this resulted in a decision 
that his was the worst form of leprosy. This 
verdict sentenced him to a living death, separated 
from his friends and the society in which he had 
held so lofty a position. But now those who had 
courted his favor and accepted his hospitality 
fled from his presence with horror. He went 
out an exile from his home. 
Jesus was teaching by the lake outside the city 
limits, and many were gathered to hear his words. 
The leper, who in his seclusion had heard of some 
of his mighty works, came out to see him, and 
drew as near as he dared. Since his exile, the 
disease had made fearful inroads upon his system. 
He was now a loathsome spectacle, his decaying 
body was horrible to look upon. Standing afar 
off, he heard some of the words of Jesus, and 
saw him laying hands upon the sick to heal them. 
He beheld, with amazement, the lame, the blind, 
the paralytic, and those dying of various mala-
dies, rise up at a word from the Saviour, restored 
to health and praising God for their salvation. 
He looked upon his own wretched body and 
wondered if this great Physician could not cure 
even him. The more he heard, and saw, and 
considered the matter, the more he was con-
vinced that this was really the promised Saviour 
of the world, to whom all things were possible. 
None could perform such miracles but Him who 
was authorized of God, and the leper longed to 
come into his presence and be healed. 
He had not intended to approach near enough 
to endanger the people; but now his mind was 
so powerfully wrought upon that he forgot the 
restrictions that had been placed upon him, the 
safety of the people, and the horror with which 
they regarded him. He thought only of his 
blessed hope that the power of Jesus could set 
him free from his infirmity. His faith laid hold 
of the Saviour, and he pressed forward, heedless 
of the frightened multitude that fell back as he 
approached and crowded over and upon each other 
to avoid him. 
Some thought to prevent him from approaching 
Jesus, but their efforts were in vain. He neither 
saw nor heard them. The expressions of loath-
ing and looks of horror that greeted his appear-
ance were lost upon him. He saw only the Son 
of God, he heard only the voice that was giving 
health and happiness to the suffering and un-
fortunate. As he came before Jesus, his pent-up 
feelings found, vent, he prostrated his foul, decay-
ing body before him, crying out, "Lord, if thou 
wilt, thou canst make me clean." His words 
were few, but comprehended his great need. 
He believed that Christ was able to give him life 
and health. 
Jesus did not shrink from his approach, but 
drew near him. The people fell back, and even 
the disciples were filled with terror, and would 
fain have prevented their Master from touching 
him; for by the law of Moses he who touched a 
leper was himself unclean. But Jesus, with calm 
fearlessness, laid his hand upon the supplicant 
and answered his petition with the magic words, 
" Be thou clean!" 
No sooner were these life-giving words spoken 
than the dying body of corruption was changed 
to a being of healthy flesh, sensitive nerves, and 
firm muscle. The rough, scaly surface peculiar 
to leprosy was gone, and a soft glow, like that 
upon the skin of a healthy child, appeared in its 
place. The eager multitude now lose their terror, 
and crowd around to behold this new manifes-
tation of divine power. 
Jesus charged the cleansed leper not to make 
known the work he had wrought upon him, say-
ing, " See thou say nothing to any man; but go 
thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer 
for thy cleansing those things which Moses com-
manded, for a testimony unto them." Accord-
ingly the now happy man went to the same 
priests who had previously examined him, and 
whose decision had banished him from his family 
and friends. 
Joyfully he presented his offering to the priests 
and magnified the name of Jesus who had re-
stored him to health. This irrefutable testimony 
convinced the priests of the divine power of 
Jesus, although they still refused to acknowledge 
him as the Messiah. The Pharisees had asserted 
that his teachings were directly opposed to the 
law of Moses, and for the purpose of exalting 
himself; yet his special directions to the cleansed 
leper to make an offering to the priest according 
to the law of Moses, evidenced to the people that 
these accusations were false. 
The priests were not allowed to accept an 
offering from the hands of one who had been 
afflicted with leprosy, unless they first thoroughly 
examined him and proclaimed to the people that 
he was entirely free from the infectious disease, 
was in sound health, and could again unite with 
his family and friends without endangering them. 
However unwilling the priest might have been 
to accredit this marvelous cure to Jesus, he could 
not evade an examination and decision of the 
case. The multitude were anxious to learn the 
result of the investigation, and when he was pro-
nounced free from disease, and privileged to re-
turn to his family and friends, great was the ex-
citement. Such a thing had never before been 
known. 
But notwithstanding the caution of Jesus to 
the cleansed leper he published the matter abroad. 
Conceiving that it was only the retiring modesty 
of Jesus that laid these restrictions upon him, he 
went about proclaiming the mighty power of this 
great Healer. He did not understand that every 
new manifestation of divine power on the part 
of Jesus only made the chief priests and elders 
more determined to destroy him. The restored 
man felt the boon of health was very precious. 
The pure blood coursing through his veins quick-
ened his entire being with a new and delightful 
animation. He rejoiced in the full vigor of man-
hood and in his restoration to his family and 
society. He felt it impossible to refrain from giv-
ing full glory to the Physician who had made him 
whole. 
But the publicity of' this affair created so great 
a commotion that Jesus was obliged to retire 
beyond the city. "And they came to him from 
every quarter." These miracles were not worked 
for display; the acts of Christ were in direct con-
trast to those of the Pharisees, whose greatest 
ambition was to secure the praise and honor of 
men. • 
THE most delicate, the most sensible of all 
pleasures, consist in promoting the pleasures of 
others. 
A GOOD example is the best sermon. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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194 �
TIT H. SIGNS OF 'inn �
1-1. TIM HAS. 
VoL. 9, No. 17. 
The Law and the Gospel. 
" I and my Father are one." John 10 : 30. 
THE Father and the Son were one in man's 
creation, and in his redemption. Said the Father 
to the Son, "Let us make man in our image." 
And the triumphant song in which the redeemed 
take part, is unto " Him that sitteth upon the 
throne, and unto the Lamb, forever and ever." 
Jesus prayed that his disciples might be one as 
he was one with his Father. This prayer did not 
contemplate one disciple with twelve heads, but 
twelve disciples, made one in object and effort in 
the cause of their Master. _N either are the 
Father and the Son parts of the " three-one God." 
They are two distinct beings, yet one in the design 
and accomplishment of redemption. The re-
deemed, from the first who shares in the great 
redemption, to the last, all .ascribe the honor, 
and glory, and praise, of their salvation, to both 
God and the Lamb. 
But if it be true that the law of the Father and 
the gospel of the Son are opposed to each other, 
that one was to take the place of the other, then 
it follows that those saved in the former dispen-
sation are saved by the Father and the law, 
while those of the present dispensation are saved 
by Christ and the gospel. And in this case, when 
the redeemed shall reach Heaven at last, and their 
redemption shall be sung, two songs will be 
heard, one ascribing praise to the Father and the 
law, the other singing the praises of Christ and 
the gospel. 
This will not be. There will be harmony in 
that song of redemption. All the redeemed will 
sing the facts as they have existed durinc, the 
period of man's probation. All will ascribe the 
praise of their salvation to God and the Lamb. 
Adam, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses 
will join with the disciples of Jesus in singing of 
the redeeming power of the blood of the Son, 
while those who have lived since the crucifixion 
of Christ, saved by his blood, will join the patri-
archs and prophets in the song of praise to the 
Father, the Creator, and Lawgiver. Therefore 
the law and the gospel run parallel throughout 
the entire period of man's probation. The gospel 
is not confined to some eighteen centuries. The 
dispensation of the gospel is not less than about 
six thousand years. 
The word gospel signifies good news. The gos-
pel of the Son of God is the good news of salva-
tion through Christ. When man fell, angels wept. 
Heaven was bathed in tears. The Father and the 
Son took counsel, and Jesus offered to undertake 
the cause of fallen man. He offered to die that 
m:oa might have life. The Father consented to 
give his only beloved, and the good news re-
sounded through Heaven, and on earth, that a 
way was opened for man's redemption. In the 
first promise made to man that the seed of the 
woman should bruise the serpent's head, was the 
gospel of Jesus Christ as verily as in the song the 
angels sung over the plains of Bethlehem, to the 
shepherds as they watched their flocks by night, 
" Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth good 
will to men." 
Immediately after the fall, hope of a future life 
hung upon Christ as verily as our hopes can hang 
on Christ. And when the first sons of Adam 
brdught their offerings to the Lord, Cain in his 
unbelief brought th first fruits of the ground, 
which were not acceptable. Abel brought a first-
ling of the flock in faith of Christ, the great 
sacrifice for sin. God accepted his offering. 
Through the blood of that firstling, Abel saw the 
blood of Jesus Christ. He looked forward to 
Christ, and made his offering in the faith and 
hope of the gospel, and' through it saw the great 
sacrifice for sin, as truly as we see the bleeding 
Lamb as we look back to Calvary, through 
the broken bread and the fruit of the vine. 
Through these emblems we see Christ crucified. 
Abel saw the same through the dying lamb which 
he offered. Do we hang our hopes in faith upon 
Christ ? So did Abel. Are we Christians by 
virtue of living faith in Christ ? So was Abel. 
Abraham had the gospel of the Son of God. 
The apostle says that the Scripture, foreseeing 
that God would justify the heathen through faith, 
preached before the gospel unto Abraham. Gal. 
3 : 8. 
Paul testifies of the Israelites in the wilder-
ness, that they " were all baptized unto Moses in 
the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same 
spiritual meat, and did all drink the same sp iritual 
drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that 
followed them, and that Rock was Christ." 1 
Cor. 10 : 2-4. The gospel was preached to the 
children of Israel in the wilderness. The apostle 
says, " Unto us was the gospel preached, as well 
as• unto them; but the word preached did not 
profit them, not being mixed with faith in them 
that heard it." Heb. 4 : 2. 
Moses and the believing Jews had the faith and 
hope of the gospel. Through the blood of the 
sacrificial offerings, they saw Christ, and by faith 
embraced him. Their hopes of the future life 
were not in the law, but in Christ. 
" The law," says Paul, " having a shadow of 
good things to come." The typical system is but 
the shadow. The good things, of which Christ as 
a sacrifice and mediator is the center, are the 
body that casts its shadow back into the Jewish 
age. The bleeding sacrifices of the legal system 
were but the shadow. Christ, bleeding on the 
cross, was the great reality. Every bleeding 
sacrifice offered by the Jews, understandingly, 
and in faith, was as acceptable in the sight of 
Heaven as what Christians may do in showing 
their faith in the sufferings, death, and resurrec-
tion of Christ, by baptism and the Lord's Supper. 
The one was done in the faith and hope of re-
demption through the blood of the Son of God, 
as verily as the other may be. The gospel dis-
pensation, which is the dispensation of the good 
news of redemption through Christ, has been six 
thousand years long. 
The dispensation of the law of God is longer 
than that of the gospel. It commenced before 
the fall, or there could not have been in the 
justice of God any such thing as the fall. It ex-
isted as early as there were created intelligences 
subject to the government of the Creator. It 
covers all time, and extends to the future, run-
ning parallel with the eternity of God's moral 
government. Angels fell, therefore were on pro-
bation. They, being on probation, were conse-
quently amenable to law. In the absence of law 
they could not be on probation, therefore could 
not fall. The same may be said of Adam and 
Eve in Eden. 
The reign of sin runs parallel with the reign 
of death, from Adam us :1! sin and sinners shall 
cease to be. And parallel with these, stretching 
through all dispensations. there has been the 
knowledge of the principles of the ten command-
ments, consequently a knowledge of sin. 
The means of this knowledge has been the law 
of God. " By the law," says the apostle, " is the 
knowledge of sin." Rom. 3 : 20. " I had not 
known sin but by the law." Chap. 7 : 7. As 
proof that this knowledge did exist immediately 
after the fall, see Gen. 4 : 7, 23, 24; 6 : 5, 11, 12. 
Also, Noah was righteous before God. Chap. 7 : 
1. He was a preacher of righteousness. 2 Pet. 
2: 5. By his preaching right-doing, reproving 
the sins of the people of his time, he condemned 
the world. Heb. 11 : 7. The men of Sodom and 
Gomorrah were great sinners, excepting one man. 
Abraham interceded, saying, Wilt thou destroy 
the righteous with the wicked ? Gen. 13 : 13; 
18 : 20, 23, 25; 19 : 7. The blessing of God came 
upon Abraham, because he obeyed his voice and 
kept his commandments. Gen. 26 : 5. Those who 
refuse obedience, experienced his wrath for their 
transgressions. The cities of the plain were con-
demned for their unlawful deeds. 2 Pet. 2 : 6-8. 
As an illustration of this subject, I will briefly 
notice the murder of righteous Abel. Cain killed 
his brother, and, as a sinner received the mark of 
God's displeasure. Sin, says the apostle, is the 
transgression of the law. 1 John 3 : 4. Cain 
broke the sixth commandment; hence that pre-
cept existed in the time of Cain. Otherwise he 
did not sin; for where no law is, there is no 
transgression. Rom. 4 : 15. 
The foregoing positions relative to the law of 
God would meet with but little opposition were it 
not for the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. 
The proper observance of the Bible Sabbath is 
not only crossing, but with many inconvenient, 
and not favorable to the successful prosecution of 
their worldly plans. The fearful and unbelieving 
shun its claims, brand it as a Jewish institution, 
and frequently' assert that it was unknown to 
men until the Sabbath law was proclaimed from 
Sinai. Sacred history, however, proves this state-
ment to be false. It is true that Sabbath-keeping 
is not mentioned in the book of Genesis. But 
this does not prove that it did not exist durinc, 
 
the long period covered by that brief record': 
The facts connected with the giving of the manna 
show that the Israelites understood the obliga- 
tions of the Sabbath, that some of the people 
violated them, and were reproved by Jehovah, 
thirty days before they saw Mount Sinai. See 
Ex. 16 : 22-30. �
• 
(To be Concluded.) 
Bible Doctrine. 
BY ELD. IRA J. HANKINS. 
THE apostle says, " All Scripture is given by 
inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, 
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in right-
eousness; that the man of God may be perfect, 
thoroughly furnished unto all good works." 
The foundation of any structure is the most 
important part of it; because it is the part upon 
which other parts rest, or depend. No matter 
how strong, or how costly may be the super-
structure, if it has not the support of a firm 
foundation, it must sooner or later fall. So it is 
with the church of God, and with the individual 
members composing the church. The founda-
tion upon which they rest their faith must be 
laid in Christ. " For other foundation can no 
man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." 
Other systems of religion may crumble and come 
to naught, but the Christian religion must re-
main while the earth remains; for its foundation 
is immovable. 
Why were the true people of God not exter-
minated by the Inquisition during the terrible 
persecutions of Papal Rome? Because they were 
" built upon the foundation of the apostles and 
prophets," and because "they were rooted and 
grounded in love "—the love of Christ. So it 
must be with With every true Christian. His 
faith must rest upon the foundation, or doctrines, 
of the apostles and prophets. 
The world is full of isms and theories concern-
ing the creation, the fall, the plan of redemption, 
and the final destiny of man. And after men 
have racked their brains and explored the sci-
ences in search of a satisfactory solution for these 
problems, they must finally return to the Bible; 
for it alone reveals the truth on these important 
matters, and if any speak not according to this 
word, it is because there is no light in them. 
Here we find a system of truth beautiful and har-
monious. Those who build upon it need not fear 
defeat. Men, because of their education and for 
other reasons, may differ in their understanding 
of it; but the truth itself never changes. " The 
foundation of God standeth sure." 
The churches are suffering because the doc-
trines of the Bible are not taught. People have 
gotten into wrong practices in consequence of 
having imbibed erroneous doctrines. They sup 
pose their faith, or theory, is founded in Script-
ure, and that they are building a perfect super-
structure, or character, upon a good foundation, 
when in reality they are self-deceived, and are 
only standing upon the tradition of their fathers 
—unfounded in the word of God. 
The desire of the age is excitement, sensation; 
but its real need is truth, sound doctrine. Where 
are we to look, says one, for truth, if not to an 
educated ministry ? So far as your minister's in-
structions are in harmony with the Bible, of 
course you will receive them. But ought not 
ministers to be sound in faith, having been chosen 
to act as Christ's representatives to preach and to 
teach the gospel ? Certainly they ought; but it 
is a fact to be deplored that many ministers enter 
the profession for the same reason that the doc-
tor or the lawyer enters his—to make money—
and they are therefore ready and willing to sac-
rifice truth and principle for money's sake, caring 
more for their own interest than to feed the flock 
of their charge. 
I think these facts are not overstated. It is just 
the condition of things pointed out by the prophet 
Isaiah (56 : 9-12), to be seen in the last days. 
Paul also sail the time would come when they 
would not endure sound doctrine, and would be 
turned away from the truth unto fables. 
Modern ministers declare unto their congrega-
tions the results of geological research and of the 
mast recent scientific investigation, or perhaps 
tickle their ears with flights of oratory exhibit-
ing their own excellency of speech, or wisdom. 
How different the preaching of Paul? He says, 
" I determined not to know anything among you 
save Jesus Christ and him crucified. And my 
speech and' my preaching was not with enticing 
words of man's wisdom, but in, demonstration of 
APRIL 26, 1883. �TITE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. �
195 
the spirit and of power." 1 Cor. 2 : 2,4. Again, 
" I have not shunned to declare unto you all the 
counsel of God." Acts 20 : 27. 
Compare for a moment the effects and results 
of the apostle's preaching with that of the modern 
divine: As we pass out from a popular church, 
our ears are greeted with eulogies pronounced upon 
the speaker: " What a talented man ! " "How 
eloquent! " " Isn't he a fine orator ! " " What a 
smooth easy speaker, and how careful not to hurt 
anybody's feelings ! " Thus people go home grati-
fied and self-satisfied, but not especially edified. 
Now let us go back to Paul's experience. He 
records it in 2 Cor. 11 : 23-28. Imprisonment, 
stripes, shipwreck, perils, hunger, thirst, weari- 
ness, pain, and finally death. This was the peo-
ple's recompense to the great apostle. But why 
was this so ? Because the doctrines he taught 
were unpopular, and were full of reproof for their 
wicked practices. The people became enraged 
because they could not answer the arguments 
and overthrow the truth of the apostle's doctrine. 
History is repeating itself in our day. When 
the plain truth of the Bible is taught in a com- 
munity, ministers and people conspire together 
to silence it or in some way to resist its influence. 
They will shun it as though they would certainly 
be injured by closer contact. If men could see 
that by this course they work against their own 
eternal interests, how different would be their 
actions! " No matter what a man believes, if he 
is only honest," is a sentiment oft repeated by 
even professors of religion. Eternity will reveal 
the fact that this is only a subterfuge of Satan; 
and that many precious souls will be lost because 
they have tried by this means, possibly with suc- 
cess, to satisfy a guilty conscience. A plea of 
honesty can save no man who is walking con-
trary to light and knowledge. 
I do not believe God is trifling with man. He 
means what he has said in his word, and no effort 
of man to misconstrue his meaning can ever 
change the consequences of failing to cheerfully 
comply with his will. Peter talks about people 
" wresting the Scriptures unto their own destruc- 
tion." The time has come when God wants his 
people to lay aside isms and traditions, and "re- 
ceive with meekness the engrafted word." A 
clean work of reform must be wrought by the 
remnant. Sound doctrine must take the place 
of man's opinion. 
Beautiful gems of gospel truth have long been 
buried under the rubbish of superstition and tra- 
dition, but in the providence of God they are 
being unearthed, and are free to all who will re-
ceive them. 
The doctrines of the Bible will make us " wise 
unto salvation." They alone reveal God's pur-
poses concerning us and our duty to him. May 
the Spirit guide us into a knowledge of God's will, 
and to a faithful performance of the same. 
indulgent to these prejudices; and in order that 
the gospel might be the less offensive, tolerated in 
their new converts, opinions and practices little 
consistent with it. An indulgent feeling of this 
sort was natural, and, duty regulated, was very 
proper. . . . But the principle was often car-
ried too far. From these sources, therefore, we 
shall find springing up many of the errors and 
heresies that deformed the beauty and marred the 
peace of the church, during the first three or four 
centuries. Some of them were Jewish, but most 
of them of heathen origin; and all proceeded 
from the same source, a fondness for old opinions 
and practices, and a disposition to yield'as far as 
possible to these Jewish and heathen prejudices, 
and thus in a good degree to remove the offense 
of the cross. Indeed, we shall find that when 
Christianity became the established religion of 
the Roman Empire, and took the place of Pagan-
ism, it assumed, in a great degree, the forms and 
rites of Paganism, and participated in no small 
measure of its spirit also. Christianity, as it 
existed in the dark ages, might be termed, with-
out much impropriety of language, baptized Pa-
ganism.—From " Wharey's Church History." 
Billiards. 
Now that the daily papers. are devoting so 
much space to accounts of billiard matches by 
experts; and since the game is so universally 
lauded as perfectly harmless, the following from 
the St. Charles (Ill.) Leader, a secular paper, is 
interesting reading:— 
" It is the most fascinating game yet discov-
ered, fairly bewitching its devotee, while it robs 
him. Ask any man who has once been within 
its power and escaped. And again, it isn't one 
step from tobacco and billiards to whisky; it's 
only half a step. If we desire to graduate young 
men for the gutter, let us open two shops, or 
three, or four. We haven't a word to say in this 
article to those young men who have leisure and 
money to squander in this way. It is their loss 
--not ours. But we do say we are sorry, indeed, 
to see poor fellows who have others dependent 
upon them, huddled in a billiard shop, and spend-
ing every cent they can get on this captivating 
game. Many a man who loves the game, and 
cannot afford to play it, goes to the hall thinking 
he will only look on; but the first thing he knows, 
some one has challenged him; he takes the cue, 
thinking he will play but one game—only one—
and stop. He puts the cue down when his money 
is all gone. And many a man caught in this way 
has a wife and children, suffering in a chilly home 
for the common necessaries of life; for something 
palatable to eat and warm to wear. This is the 
legitimate harvest of a billiard shop." 
wherever he may be. But there is no spirituality 
in it. So, in Christian churches, men may go 
through the forms of worship which are not only 
base, but dead. 
Every part of our worship ought to glorify 
Christ. We rightly honor the Father only when 
we honor the Son, the one only Mediator, the one 
only Saviour. Rightly knowing, loving, and 
honoring him, we shall be indeed such worship-
ers as alone the Father seeketh to worship him. 
Empty pretense and childish show will be swept 
away.—Presbyterian. 
Worship in Spirit and in Truth. 
NOT long ago we went to church in the city 
of—well, no matter where. There bad recently 
occurred in our personal experience some things to 
gladden us, and others to give us anxiety, and we 
felt unusually disposed to seek the relief of prayer 
and praise in public worship. We hoped that 
the minister would be able to express our desires 
better than we could, and that we might be able 
to join in some hymn of thanksgiving set to a fa-
miliar tune—our repertoire is not large. We had 
been sitting in the richly-upholstered pew and 
staring at the painted windows but a few mo-
ments when the organ suddenly hushed, and in 
a distant corner of the church four fashionably-
dressed ladies and gentlemen arose and sang. 
And this is what they sang:— 
" God is a spirit: God is a spirit; and they that 
worship him, and they that worship him, and 
they that worship him must worship him in 
spirit and in truth. God is a spirit: and they that 
worship him; God is a spirit; must worship him: 
they must: must worship; ship him; in spirit and 
in truth: for the Father seeketh such: (tenor) for 
the (all, loud) seeketh such, seeketh such, seeketh 
such to worship him. (Very softly) God is a 
spirit; (waxing louder) God is a spirit; and they; 
they that worship him; they; and they; they that 
worship him; must worship him, must worship 
him, and (loud, yellendo) THEY that worship him; 
and they; must; that worship him (tenor, softly) 
must; (contralto) worship; (all) him in spirit and 
in truth; (all but tenor) for; (all) the Father seek-
eth such; (bass) seeketh such; (all softly) to wor-
ship him, to worship; (sort o'dying away) in spirit 
and in tru-u-u-th." 
As the concluding cadences softly died away 
among the vacant pews, like the " still, small 
voice" among the cliffs of Sinai, we could not 
help wondering whether those much-tortured 
words had any meaning, -and if so, whether that 
meaning had any application to the performance 
just ended. What is " worship in spirit and in 
truth "?—New-Haven Palladium. 
Moral Degeneracy of the Age. 
How the Great Apostasy Arose. 
EVEN in this first century, several errors made 
their appearance, and heresies began to spring up. 
A difference of opinion very early arose between 
the Jewish and Gentile converts, about the ne-
cessity of an observance of the rules of the Mo-
saic law. This subject called together the first 
council or synod, which was held by the apostles 
at Jerusalem, and decided upon this question, as 
we read in the 15th chapter of Acts. 
When Jews were converted to Christianity, it 
was natural that they should still retain some 
leaning towards the opinions they had formerly 
entertained, and a partiality for their old ceremo-
nies and institutions. These prejudices, which 
are natural to the human mind, would not fail to 
give to Christianity a peculiar model among Jew-
ish converts, suitable to their particular views 
and feelings. A spice of the old leaven still 
retained, would leaven the new lump. This thing 
we find the apostles often laboring to correct; 
and the whole epistle to the Hebrews seems 
mainly desi_ned for this purpose. In like man-
ner, when heathen converts were received into 
the church, it was natural that they should bring 
with them some taint of their old philosophy, 
and former superstitions; and some fondness for 
the rites and ceremonies of their idolatrous wor-
ship. Long established opinions are seldom en-
tirely eradicated, and old habits, with which we 
have been brought up, are not likely to be totally 
renounced. 
Sometimes the teachers of religion were too 
Simplicity of the Gospel. 
THE ambition of men has distorted and amplified 
the forms of the institutions of the gospel until 
the formalities not merely of Judaism, but 
heathenism, have been adopted under a Christian 
name. The apostles and early Christians would 
not know where they were if they could be raised 
from the dead and led into some churches called 
by their names. 
For nearly three hundred years they worshiped 
without any church buildings at all. Their 
services were held in private houses, or at such 
other places as might be convenient. These were 
enough for their simple rites. No complicated 
ceremonies, no spectacular shows, no childish 
mummeries were devised and cherished amid such 
scenes of primitive heroic faith. But when Chris-
tianity emerged from the perils of martyrdom, 
and suddenly ascended the throne of Constantine, 
with popularity and worldly power came a weaker 
faith and a greater pomp. At length pure religion 
was well nigh lost in gaudy ritualism. 
The nearer the soul is brought to God in simple 
and direct communion, with only the mediation 
of Christ, the instruction of the word, and the 
grace of the Holy Ghost, the purer will be its 
piety and the more acceptable its worship. But a 
service may be very simple and yet utterly devoid 
of a spiritual character. It may be a very plain 
formalism or a bit of self-righteous morality. 
The Mahometan abhors idols and elaborate cere-
monies; at appointed seasons he fasts; at the 
proper hour he falls on his knees and prays, 
A GENTLEMAN who is active in church and re-
formatory work informs me that it is vastly more 
difficult to get young men into libraries, reading-
rooms, and churches, than it was twenty-five 
years ago. They take quickly to amusements 
and saloons. They are superficial, sensational, 
without high moral purpose and determination of 
will. A moral asphyxia has come abroad. The 
sources of society away from the cities are not 
what they were. .There has been a degeneracy 
in the hill and country towns. This is evident 
from the statistics of divorce. In some way the 
family has been polluted. As agencies in this 
work of corruption, a keen observer who has 
traveled for a large house from Nova Scotia to 
Texas gives it as his opinion that saloons and the 
commercial travelers stand at the head. Refined 
sensuality is thus disseminated; the young are 
contaminated before they reach the city. Explore 
the causes as we may, the fact of the moral deca-
dence remains, and is a factor to be considered in 
educational and reformatory movements.—" Ob-
server," in Christian Union. 
THE Rev. R. W. Hill, who has been to Alaska, 
draws a gloomy picture of the intemperance among 
the natives. " The Indians will give away wife 
and children," he says, " to obtain liquor, and 
their carousals are so fierce and reckless that 
murders and suicides are frequent results." He 
believes that if the progress of ruin is not stayed, 
the end of the Alaska Indian is not far off. All 
which goes to prove that the Indians of Alaska are 
very much like some white men in " the States." 
193 �
TI—I �
 SIGNS OF TT-1-F? TIMES. �VoL. 9, No. 17. 
Bible Truth above Science. 
OUR aim is to honor and exalt and glorify our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and to enhance, in 
every possible way, the estimate that is to be put 
upon him and his work in our behalf, and not, 
as too many are doing, to depreciate and minify 
the boon which he offers us. It is to affirm and 
confirm the authority of divine revelation, and 
to hold men to it as the only reliable source of 
knowledge as to the destiny of man. It is, in-
deed, our special desire and aim to defend the 
Christian system, and to preserve its integrity as 
a divine and not a human device for the recovery 
and salvation of men, against the "oppositions of 
science, falsely so-called," and the insidious at-
tacks of rationalism of every sort. 
The manifest drift of the present age is towards 
a religion of science and philosophy, and away 
from the simple truths of the Gospel. Many well- 
meaning, but sophisticated minds are being led 
away by the delusion that these truths must be 
brought within the scope of natural laws. They 
are trying to bring the facts wuich it reveals to 
the test of reason and science, and to consider the 
Christian religion as one of the many forms of a 
natural religion, only purer and better than any 
other. Here is the real source of the confusion 
and darkness and doubt of many who would be-
come scientific and philosophical Christians, if 
Christians at all, forgetting that the first step in 
the knowledge of divine things is to become little 
children at the feet of Christ. 
The great truths of the Christian religion are 
revealed, not to our reason, but to our faith. 
They do not come within the scope or sphere of 
natural science or human philosophy. Its great 
facts are altogether divine and supernatural, and 
until this is apprehended and allowed, no real 
progress can be made in the right direction. 
They are above nature, and cannot be explained 
by natural laws. 
The creation of the world in the beginning 
was a supernatural act, and whatever speculation 
one may entertain as to the mode of this creation, 
to deny its supernatural character, as though it 
could be explained by natural laws is to be an 
atheist. 
Sin itself is in opposition to all law, and nature 
provides no antidote to the death to which it 
inevitably leads, nor any way of recovery from 
its ruin. If there be any remedy, or any recovery 
from its fatal poison, it must be supernaturally 
provided. It is just here that we find the radical 
difference between our holy religion and all the 
other systems of religion the world has ever seen. 
This is given from Heaven; as for the others, they 
are at best but human devices. 
Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who is the 
foundation of the Christian system, was miracu- 
lously conceved, and not begotten by any nat- 
ural law of ordinary generation. To deny this 
involves also the denial. of his divinity. �
His 
teachings and his mighty works—excepting 
when he acted under the limitations of his human 
nature—were divine and supernatural. His death 
was human, for he died as a man; but his resur- 
rection was a stupendous miracle. It was 
wrought only by the divine power that was with- 
in him. " He was put to death in the flesh, but 
quickened in the Spirit;" and such must be our 
resurrection, or we do not rise at all. It is not a 
natural process, but eminently supernatural. 
There is no such process in nature as a resurrec-
tion from actual death. We may think we find 
some faint analogies in the awaking from sleep, 
in the revival of spring, in the quickening of seeds 
in the earth, and in the transformation of the 
grub into the winged butterfly; nor need we deny 
this. But we must bear in mind that these are 
all living processes. There is no actual death in 
any one of all these—a dead tree never lives 
again, dead seed will never sprout, a dead grub 
never develops into a butterfly. If a man dies 
and lives again, and lives forever, it must be a 
supernatural, Almighty power, above the ordinary 
laws of nature, that raises him up and endows 
him with this new, imperishable life. 
Those who are attempting to explain this doc-
trine of the future life on the ground of natural 
law, by the process of development through death 
into a higher state of being—as, alas! too many 
who call themselves Christians are doing at the 
present day—are ignoring and denying one of the 
fundamental principles of the Christian religion. 
The same might be said of the doctrine of the 
new birth—a truth which Nicodemus could not 
understand on any principle of natural law; nor 
can any man; for it is supernatural. So, also, the 
second coming of Christ, like the first, and the 
general judgment, are not to be considered as 
natural phenomena, as philosophizing Christians 
are endeavoring to do at the present time. How-
ever sincere or well-meaning they may be, their 
efforts are essentially anti-Christian, and, so far 
as they are successful, they cannot issue in any-
thing but in the subversion of all true Christian 
faith. 
It is with the earnest hope and prayer that 
I may be able to contribute a little—if it be 
only a little—to withstand this rationalizing drift 
and tendency of the times away from the simple. 
gospel of Christ, and to recall men to the faith 
once delivered to the saints on this question of 
eternal life, which occupies such a fundamental 
position in the gospel system, that I have under-
taken this work. 
I am well aware how presumptuous it will seem 
to many of even my esteemed friends, for me to 
oppose myself to the popular current, on a doc-
trine that has had the sanction of so many good 
and learned men, and has so entwined itself about 
what is called the orthodox system of theology 
as to be regarded as one of its foundation princi-
ples, and to what severe judgment among men I 
am exposing myself. I am, however, encouraged 
to the effort by remembering how often it pleases 
God to use the weak things of the world to con-
found the mighty, and things which are not to. 
bring to naught the things that are. But were I 
to consult my own personal comfort and conven-
ience and reputation, I would gladly remain silent. 
But when I consider the origin of this dogma of 
immortality apart from God and without a Saviour 
—how unscriptural it is; what reproach it is 
bringing on the character of our heavenly Father; 
how it depreciates the work of Christ in our 
redemption, and obscures the luster of the glori- 
ous gospel; what a fruitful source of error it has 
always been, and what mischief it is working 
at the present day, I cannot hesitate to protest 
against it in the name of Him to whom I must 
and will be loyal, come what may. 
But though I speak with the earnestness of 
conviction, I desire to speak the truth in love. 
Indeed, when 1. remember that under the same 
false training to which those whom I address 
have been subject, I was led away by this same 
delusion, and how I preached for more than a 
score of years this error, the falsity of which I 
now see by the grace of God, I have no occasion 
or heart for bitter words. Let no one construe 
what I have written in any other sense than that 
of kind, though earnest entreaty and persuasive 
argument. It is no pleasant duty in itself to op-
pose men's cherished sentiments, to attempt to 
destroy their cherished idols before their faces, or 
to expose their errors of doctrine. Be it done 
ever so kindly, it is hardly possible to perform 
such a duty without seeming to attack their per-
sons, and to be actuated by an ill feeling towards 
them as individuals. It must be admitted that 
the discussion of principles and doctrines among 
those who differ, though undertaken in the utmost 
good-will, often degenerates into offensive person-
alities. I have resolutely endeavored in the 
prosecution of this discussion, whatever provoca-
tion I may have had—and I must say that I have 
been very severely tried by what seemed to me 
the perversity and unfairness of many whose 
views I have been called to examine and oppose—
to deal only with sentiments and opinions, and 
not at all with the individuals who have expressed 
them, and to avoid everything that might be re-
garded as an unkind personality. If any line or 
word in this whole volume shall seem to any one 
to be obnoxious to any such criticism, I beg that 
it may be attributed to human infirmity, and to 
the necessity of hasty composition, for I have had 
no time to rewrite, or properly revise what I have 
written. I offer this, however, not as any apol-
ogy for the sentiments I have expressed, for they 
have been matured by a special and most careful 
study of many years, but 1 could wish that I had 
been able to put them into some better shape, and 
to clothe them in a better dress. 
sired as much as possible to advocate it and honor 
it as such. Life and immortality are only brought 
to light in the gospel—brought to light, not as an 
old truth of nature which had hitherto been hid-
den, but as a new truth--as the great gift of God, 
which Christ himself came to bring down from 
Heaven, and to offer as from his own hand.—"The 
Life Everlasting," by J. H. Pettingell. 
"It Matters Not When, if We Are Only 
Prepared." 
BY ELD. R. F. COTTRELL. 
CONCERNING the light of prophecy an apostle 
has said "Whereunto ye do well that ye take heed." 
But thousands are deceiving themselves with the 
idea, seemingly self-evident to them, that it is of 
no use to them to know whether the coming of 
Christ and the end are near, or far in the future, 
if they are only prepared. This excuse for not 
heeding the injunction of Jesus and his apostles 
to " watch " and to " know that it is near," " lest 
coming suddenly," they be found " sleeping," is 
so well expressed and so plausible, who can deny 
its truth ? Is it not true that, if they are only 
ready, all is well with them ? Say they, " It mat-
ters not to me whether Christ should come to-day, 
this year or next, or whether he should not come 
in ten thousand years, it is all the same to me; if 
I love Jesus, all is well." 
Now I wish to show how little such persons 
know and realize in what will consist a prepara-
tion for the close of probation for those that shall 
in the providence of God be " alive and remain " to 
that all-important event. 
Please read the closing message of probation, 
as recorded in Rev. 14 : 9-12. Listen to the awful 
warning against the worship of the beast and his 
image, and the terrible denunciation of the un-
mingled wrath of God against those that shall be 
found so doing, when that great day of his wrath 
shall come. Then, on the other hand, read the 
account of the last persecution of the church, re-
corded in Rev. 13 : 11-18, when that government, 
which will bring into being an image of the papal 
beast, shall demand that you shall worship the 
image, the very thing which God warns you not 
to do, on pain of death; and it will be seen that a 
grand and decisive test will close probationary 
time, and that those who live till the Son of man 
shall be seated upon the white cloud with the sickle 
in his hand, because the harvest of the earth is 
ripe," will have passed this final, trying test, re-
fusing to worship the beast and his image, and 
identifying themselves with " those who keep the 
commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." 
Now let me ask you, my friend, Who will pass 
this test, and not know that Christ's coming is 
near, even at the doors ? Who will, at the risk 
of his life, refuse obedience to the mandates of 
earthly government, standing firm for the com-
mandments of God, in spite of the threatening of 
death, till Christ shall come for their deliverance, 
and not know that deliverance is coming, and 
without praying for, and expecting, the coming 
of the Deliverer? At that time will be fulfilled 
the promise of Christ: " And shall not God avenge 
his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, 
though he bear long with them ? I tell you that 
he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when 
the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the 
earth ? " Luke 18 : 7, 8. 
To one who heeds the sure word of prophecy it 
is absurd, in the highest degree, to suppose that 
one can be prepared for the grand and solemn 
event of the close of human probation without 
being aware that that event is at hand. And 
why should Christians choose to close their eyes 
to all the signs of the coming of that day, and 
desire to have that day come upon them as a 
thief in the night. "If therefore thou shalt not 
watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou 
shalt not know what hour I come upon thee." 
" The Lord of that servant shall come in a day 
when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that 
he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and 
appoint him his portion with the hypocrites." 
Why should Christians deliberately choose the 
unbeliever's fate ? 
WE do ourselves the most good doing something 
for others. 
REASON, like time, will make its own way, and 
prejudice will fall in the combat with intellect. 
I have given but a very small space to what 
are called the rational arguments, either pro or 
con, on this question, because I do not regard 
this doctrine under discussion as a doctrine of 
natural religion. It belongs pre-eminently to that 
which is divine and supernatural, and I have de- 
ignorant of it, yet when the sin became known 
to him he was deemed guilty; hence the necessity 
of his making the required offering in order to be 
forgiven. This principle seems to be recognized 
by Jesus in John 9 : 41: " If ye were blind ye 
should have no sin; but now ye say, We see, 
theretbre your sin remaineth." Also in John 15 : 
22: " If I had not come and spoken unto them, 
they had not had sin; but now they have no 
cloak for their sin." But some maintain that it 
is better to be ignorant than to have the respon-
sibility increased by enlightenment. It should be 
remembered, however, that although ignorant, 
they are by nature in sin, and cannot by any 
means be saved in that condition. They can only 
be saved through faith in Christ and obedience 
to the law of God. To this end it is necessary 
that they be instructed, and as a result sin is made 
apparent. It is impossible to give man the in-
struction necessary to his salvation without his 
sin being made manifest. Ignorance never saves 
anybody; but it may cause their ruin. Ignorance 
is not a blessing, but a misfortune, although knowl-
edge always brings increased responsibility. The 
Lord says by the prophet Hosea, " My people 
are destroyed for lack of knowledge." Hos. 4 : 6. 
W. N. G. 
A VERY quick child made an observation to her 
governess, the other day, which had a great deal 
of truth in it. " How is it, my dear," inquired 
the lady, " that you do not understand this 
simple thing ? " " 1 do not know, indeed," she 
answered, with a perplexed look; " but 1 some-
times think I have so many things to learn that 
I have not time to understand." 
HELPS TO BIBLE STUDY. 
APRIL 26, 1883. • �
TI--I �
1-1, SIGNS OF TH H, TIMES. 
197 
the 
Lesson for the Pacific Coast—May 5. 
ACTS 3; 4: 1-3. 
THE poor man who had been healed could not 
find expression for his joy and gratitude. He 
" entered with them into the temple, walking, 
and leaping, and praising God, And all the peo-
ple saw him walking and praising God." He 
was not ashamed to praise God before all the peo-
ple. Why should he have been ? A most won-
derful miracle had been performed. There was 
not one in that crowd that could find fault with 
him for praising God; their astonishment would 
have increased if he had not done so; they would 
have said that he was unworthy of the blessing 
of God. But if he had just cause to praise God 
for the use of his limbs after having been help-
less fbr forty years, how much more reason for 
praising God those persons have who have always 
been able to walk. Two ministers met at a con-
ference, and one told about an accident that had 
befallen him on his journey, which nearly cost him 
his life. He thought he had great reason to thank 
God for sparing him. The other replied, "But I 
have still more for which to be thankful than you 
have, because I came the whole distance in perfect 
safety, and met with no accident at all." There 
is a point in this that we would do well to remem-
ber. God's care is manifested no less in keeping 
us in perfect health than in healing us when we are 
afflicted. " It is of the Lord's mercies that we are 
not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 
They are new every morning; great is thy faith-
fulness." Lam. 3 : 22, 23. 
THE astonishment at the miracle is expressed 
in strong terms; they were filled with amaze-
ment at that which had happened. The word 
translated " amazement," and from which our 
word ecstacy is derived, denotes being out of one's 
head from astonishment or other cause, and is 
found five times in Matthew and Mark, and eleven 
times in Luke's writings.—President Woolsey. 
THOMAS AQUINAS, surnamed the Angelical Dec-
tor, who was highly esteemed by Pope Innocent 
IV., going one day into the pope's chamber, where 
they were reckoning large sums of money, the 
pope, addressing himself to Aquinas, said: " You 
see that the church is no longer in an age in which 
she can say, 'Silver and gold have I none! ' �
" It 
is true, holy father," replied the doctor, " nor can 
she now say to the lame man, 'Rise up and walk! " 
—Clarke. 
THE manner of Jesus in working his miracles 
was very different from that of his apostles. 
His language was —that of one who possessed 
power in himself. " Be thou clean." "Peace, be 
still." Neither did he hesitate to accept the 
honor offered him on these occasions, nor seek 
to divert the minds of the people from himself, 
as though his miracles were not wrought by his 
own power, for his own glory. But the apostles 
wrought miracles only in the name of Jesus, and 
refused to receive the least honor to themselves. 
They claimed to be only instruments of that Jesus 
whom the Jews had crucified, but whom God had 
raised and elevated to his right hand. He was 
to receive all the honor and praise.—Spirit of 
Prophecy. 
PETER, the blundering disciple, was the fore-
most apostle. A cold-blooded, impassive man, 
who is always proper, is not chosen for a leader 
either by God or by man. The world lacks im-
pulse rather than knowledge, and a man of good 
and mighty impulses will be called to the front 
in spite of many characteristic blunders.—Sel. 
IN verse 17 Peter introduces the subject of the 
second coming of Christ, and the restoration of 
the earth to its Eden state. He makes the inter-
esting statement that God had spoken concerning 
it " by the mouth of all his holy prophets since 
the world began." We can find in the Old Testa-
ment a multitude of references to it; and we are 
by no means to suppose that we have all that 
the prophets have said. But we have enough. 
Surely a subject that has so largely engaged the 
attention of God's holy prophets, ought not to be 
lightly esteemed by us. The coming of Christ is 
the important doctrine for the people of this age. 
It alone can give life and force to the other 
doctrines of the Bible. It is the Christian's hope. 
The " Speaker's Commentary" says: " To be-
lievers, the second advent ought to be a joyous 
thought; death is to be swallowed up in victory, 
and the Lord God shall wipe away all tears from 
all faces." 
"REPENT ye, therefore, and be converted, that 
your sins may be blotted out when the times of 
refreshing shall come from the presence of the 
Lord." Verse 19. 
" And be converted. This expression conveys 
an idea not at all to be found in the original. It 
conveys the idea of passivity, BE converted, as if 
they were to yield to some foreign influence that 
they were now resisting. But the idea of being 
passive in this is not conveyed by the original 
word. The word means properly to turn; to re-
turn to a path from which one has gone astray; 
and then to turn away from sins, or to forsake 
them. It is a word used in a general sense to 
denote the whole turning to God."—Barnes. 
MANY commentators, rendering Acts 3 : 19 thus, 
" Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that y-Our 
sins may be blotted out, so that times of refresh-
ing may come," etc., think that the blotting out 
of sins immediately follows repentance and con-
version; but the teaching of the Bible is plainly 
to the effect that the blotting out of sins is the last 
work before the coming of the Lord. A careful 
study of the work of the atonement will cause 
this to appear. The idea is also brought out here, 
for Peter adds immediately, " and he shall send 
Jesus," etc. Our sins are now forgiven, but only 
on condition that we continue to walk in newness 
of life. If we fall away, then our former sins 
will come up against us in the Judgment. Read 
Matt. 18 : 23-35. It will be nothing in one's 
favor in the Judgment that he has been a Chris-
tian for a portion of his life, if he died in sin. 
See Eze. 3 : 20; 2 Peter 2: 20-22. A more ex-
tended comment on " the times of refreshing," will 
be given in a future number. 
"AND it shall come to pass that every soul 
which will not hear that prophet, shall be de-
stroyed from among the people." This means 
more than would appear to the casual reader. It 
shows what the end shall be of them that obey 
not the gospel. The original is intensive, mean-
ing to be utterly 'destroyed. The Vulgate has it, 
" shall be exterminated." Compare with this Ps. 
37 : 9, 10, 20; Obad. 16; Matt. 21 : 44; 2 Thess. 2 : 
9, etc. �
E. J. W. 
"Now Peter and John went up together into 
the temple at the hour of prayer."—The temple 
was still the appointed place for worship, and the 
apostles recognized it as such, although its former 
glory had departed. There are some persons who 
claim that they have no need to worship God at 
particular places or times. They say we must 
serve God always and everywhere, and that there-
fore one time and place is as holy as another. 
Strange as it may seem, such persons are not 
those who worship God the most. That kind of 
talk is simply an exuse for not meeting the re-
quirements of God in regard to the times and 
places for worship. God can make one place more 
holy than another; he can also make a difference 
in days, so that one will be holy and the others 
not. This he has done. The fact that some can 
see no difference, simply shows their willful lack 
of discernment. 
THE faith of the poor cripple is remarkable. 
He had never walked, nor even stood upon his 
feet, and he knew not how to use them; yet at 
the bidding of two strangers he instantly sprang 
to his feet and commenced to walk. There was 
no questioning, no statement of the impossibility 
of doing as he was commanded, no hesitation of 
any kind, but simple obedience. There are few 
men who would make an effort to rise. How does 
our faith compare with that of this poor beggar ? 
Let us remember that the same power that per-
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or the sin remaineth. The Mosaic law in this re-
gard is recorded in Leviticus 4 and Numbers 15. 
Although it was possible for one to sin and be 
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THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. �
VoL. 9, No. 17. 
23-35. Here is presented the case of a servant who 
owed his lord ten thousand talents; but having nothing 
to pay, and manifesting honesty of intention, " the 
lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and 
loosed him, and forgave him the debt." But this serv- 
ant met his fellow-servant, who owed him the trifling 
sum of two hundred pence, and who plead for mercy 
in the same terms in which the first had so successfully 
plead before his lord. But this servant would not show 
mercy; he thrust his fellow-servant into prison till he 
should pay the debt. Hearing of this, his lord called him, 
and said unto him, " 0 thou wicked servant, I forgave 
thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me. Shouldest 
not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-serv-
ant, even as I had pity on thee ? And his lord was 
wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he 
should pay all that was due unto him." This we say 
is the Bible view of forgiveness in the gospel, or justifi-
cation by faith, while we are waiting for the decisions 
of the Judgment. And on this plain case we are not 
left to merely draw a conclusion: the Saviour has made 
the application for us, and from this application there 
can be no appeal. He says: "So likewise shall my 
Heavenly Father do unto you, if ye from your hearts 
forgive not every one his brother their trespasses." 
That this is a true representation of the position of 
the penitent, is evident from the declarations that " he 
that endureth unto the end "--he that is " faithful unto 
death "—shall be saved; while he that is justified by 
faith, may, by disobedience, lose that justification, and 
his righteousness will not be remembered. The blood 
of Jesus is the bounteous supply—the rich deposit 
where all may find a covering for their sins; but whether 
their sins are actually atoned for and removed by that 
blood, depends upon their acceptance of it and their 
faithfulness to the conditions of acceptance. 
THE other question to which we referred in our last 
is this :- 
2. If we lose our justification by unfaithfulness, do we 
then derive any benefit from our past Christian life? 
This question ought to be examined in this connec-
tion, for we have heard the belief expressed that if a 
Christian falls from grace and shall be finally lost, his 
lot will be better for his having been a Christian; be-
cause all the sins of his previous life were forgiven when 
the Lord accepted him, and those into which he fell 
during his Christian life would not be counted against 
him because of his relation to Christ during that time. 
This is a delusion of the worst kind. It lulls the con-
science and leads to complacent feelings even under the 
thought of the possibility of apostasy and final and 
eternal ruin. It springs from erroneous ideas concern-
ing the nature of our service to God. It assumes that 
justification by faith is a final procedure, when it is not; 
that the life of the Christian is a life of merit, instead 
of a life of favor; that forgiveness in probation is abso-
lute, without the possibility of reversal, whereas it is 
conditional, and the benefit of it may be lost by neglect 
or rebellion. 
The following illustration presents a striking parallel 
to the case of the sinner. A boy is found in the streets, 
without home and friends, in abject poverty. A benev-
olent man of vast wealth takes him up, brings him to 
his own home, clothes him, with the prospect of meking 
him his heir. He is in the enjoyment of all the privi-
leges of the home and wealth of his benefactor. He is 
beloved and treated as an own child. For a time he 
rejoices in the happy change in his fortune, and is 
thankful and obedient to his new-found father. But 
after a time he becomes proud in his privileges; he con_ 
siders them his just due, and becomes haughty and ar-
rogant. At length he shows himself unthankful and 
disobedient. He carries his rebellion so far that the 
generous man can no longer tolerate him, as he is abus-
ing his house and demoralizing his household. He is 
compelled to turn him from his house, and he returns 
to the degradation from which he was so graciously res-
cued. After a time he is detected, with others, his evil 
companions, in robbing the house of his generous bene-
factor. Now the question arises, Shall this young man 
be treated more leniently than his fellows because of 
the kindness which he has received from the man 
whom he has robbed ? Not at all. In addition to the 
crime of robbery, which he bears in common with the 
others, he is guilty of the basest ingratitude, and de-
serving of sorer punishment than the others. 
Take another illustration. We have likened justifi-
cation by faith to the process of naturalization, and 
the sinner converted, to a man of foreign birth who has 
been admitted to the privileges of citizenship. After 
the foreign-born citizen has enjoyed his privileges a 
number of years, a war breaks out between our Govern-
ment and that of the land of his birth, and he enters 
the army of the latter and fights against his adopted 
country. In company with others he is taken prisoner, 
and then claims that he shall be treated with more 
favor than the other prisoners, because of his former re-
lation to our Government, and of his having served as 
an officer in it. But the officer in command takes 
another view of the matter. He treats his captives as 
prisoners of war—as men engaged in honorable war- 
fare,—except him who had once sworn allegiance to the 
Government, and he orders that he be promptly executed 
as a traitor. And all governments assent to the justice 
of the proceeding, because the oath of allegiance im-
poses the most solemn obligation of loyalty, and because 
the privilege of citizenship is counted one of great favor 
to the individual. His former position does not serve 
to mitigate the rigor of his punishment, but to the con-
trary, increases it. 
And if this be true in the case of human governments, 
how much more is it true under the divine government, 
where all is of favor or grace to the subject, and where 
Cly ,igit5 of fly Cime5. 
" Can ye not discern the signs of the times ?" 
J. H. WAGGONER, �
 EDITOR. 
J. N. AN DREWS, �
CORRESPONDING EDITORS. 
URIAll SMITH, 
OAKLAND, CAL., FIFTH-DAY, APRIL 26, 1883. 
Justification by Faith. 
his action cannot possibly be counted as meritorious. 
Without any merit, by grace alone, is the sinner accepted 
of God; not for what he has done, or may do, but for 
what Christ has suffered for him. Grace upholds him 
in the Christian life; and without this grace he can do 
nothing. The gift of grace increases his responsibility 
and obligation. To turn away from this grace, once re-
ceived, is reckoned as treading under foot the Son of God, 
counting the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was 
sanctified, an unholy thing, and doing despite to the 
Spirit of grace. Heb. 10 :29. Or as crucifying to them-
selves the Son of God afresh, and putting him to an 
open shame. Heb. 6 :6. The renegade, the apostate, 
dishonors the gospel of Christ far more than the infidel 
who has never known the joy of the gift of the Spirit 
of his grace. 
By the prophet Ezekiel the Lord said: " When I shall 
say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he 
trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all 
his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for 
his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it." 
Eze. 33 :13. 
Now no person has a righteousness by reason of which 
the Lord says he shall live, except it be the righteous-
ness of faith, received through the Lord Jesus Christ. 
If such an one turn away and commit iniquity " all his 
righteousnesses shall not be remembered;" and if so, 
he will stand before the Judge as if he had never had 
faith; as if he had not received favor through Christ. 
As we have remarked, justification by faith is not a final 
procedure; it is conditional. If the one so justified 
turns away from the Saviour, he is counted as never 
having been justified. Not fulfilling the conditions—
not enduring to the end—his former justification avails 
him nothing; it shall not be remembered. But if his 
past sins were obliterated in justification by faith, then 
it would avttil him much,—it would be remembered to 
excellent account. It would then, as a matter of fact. 
take the place of the judgment and entirely supersede it, 
But the most emphatic negative to the position as-
sumed by the questioner is given by the apostle Peter, 
as follows:— 
For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the 
world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and 
overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the 
beginning. For it had been better for them not to have 
known the way of righteousness, than after they have 
known it, to turn from the holy commandment deliv-
ered unto them." 2 Peter 2 : 20, 21. 
This, as far as any supposed benefit is to be derived 
from a former religious experience, is conclusive and 
decisive. Like the naturalized citizen taken in warfare 
against the land which has adopted him, the sinner who 
has. been accepted through Christ to the service of God, 
is guilty of the highest treason; he has no cloak for his 
sin; he can plead no mitigating circumstances in his 
course; he crucifies to himself the Son of God afresh, 
and puts him to an open shame; he has received the 
assistance of grace, with the promise of its continued 
assistance, but he tramples upon it and does despite to 
the Holy Spirit. Surely it had been better for him 
never to have been the special subject of divine favor 
than thus to abuse it. Having had such opportunities 
of knowing his Master's will, he shall be beaten with 
many stripes. 
The position of an individual justified by faith may 
be further illustrated thus: A owes B a sum which he 
is not able to pay, and C engages to take the responsi-
bility of the debt on certain conditions; and in order 
to make it sure, C deposits with B sufficient to cover the 
amount. Now it is stipulated that if A fulfills the con-
ditions, B shall cancel the debt from the deposit made 
by C. And as long as A is faithfully fulfilling the con-
ditions, so long is B satisfied in regard to the debt; and 
of course he will not trouble A for it, knowing it is se-
cure. Thus A is accounted just, in the sight of B, 
though not really just himself, because he fails to pay a 
just debt. He is considered as just, or justified through 
obedience to the conditions of C, who is his surety. But 
if A refuses or neglects to fulfill the conditions, the de- 
posit of C no longer avails for him; he falls from the 
favor of B, which he had enjoyed through this arrange-
ment, and the debt stands against him as fully as 
though C had never engaged to pay it on any condition. 
That we have herein presented the true scriptural 
view of the subject, that justification by faith, or the 
pardon we receive while on probation, is a conditional 
pardon, is proved by our Saviour's,words in Matt. 18 : 
Remarks upon the Third Chapter of 
Zechariah. 
THIS chapter consists of a single vision in which 
Joshua the high priest represents Christ our high priest 
and intercessor. In verse 1 the prophet saw Joshua 
standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan stand-
ing at his right hand to resist him. Joshua stood thus 
to intercede for the people, and Satan resisted him by 
acting as the accuser of those for whom Joshua plead. 
See Rev. 12 :10; Job. 1 :6-12; 2 :1-5. 
In verse 2 the Lord by his angel rebukes Satan for 
his cruel words. The rebuke is so much like that ut- 
tered by Michael on another occasion that we may be 
quite certain that he is the speaker in this verse. Com-
pare Zech. 3 : 2; Jude 9. From the response made by 
the angel to Satan, that God had chosen Jerusalem, we 
may infer that Satan resisted the intercession of Joshua 
by rehearsing the sins which had caused the destruc_ 
tion of that city. Joshua no doubt pleaded that the peo-
ple who then inhabited Jerusalem had repented of those 
sins and separated themselves from them. 
The last words of this verse are peculiarly encourag-
ing. Joshua the high priest and those for whom he 
pleads, are spoken of as a brand plucked out of the 
burning. See Amos 4 :11; Jude 23. For when Jeru-
salem was destroyed, only a remnant of the Jews escaped 
(2 Chron. 36 : 20; Jer. 52 : 28-30), and even the family 
of Seraiah the high priest, the grandfather of Joshua, 
was at that time in danger of extinction. 2 Kings 25 : 
18-21. It is interesting to notice that Ezra was of the 
family of Seraiah, and was therefore the uncle or cousin 
of Joshua. Compare Ezra 7 :1-5; 1 Chron. 6 :14, 15; 
Zech. 6 :10. The angel intimates that this brand, rep-
resenting the remnant who had escaped the destruc-
tion of Jerusalem, had been plucked from the fire, not 
to be thrown into it again, but to be preserved. 
In verse 3 it is said that Joshua, as he stood before 
the angel, was clothed with filthy garments. In verse 
4 the angel commands that these should be taken from 
him in order that he may be clothed with clean raiment. 
In verse 5 this change is made partly at the command 
of the angel and partly at the request of the prophet. 
In verse 4 we have an explanation of these things. 
The raiment of Joshua was polluted not by any material 
substance but by iniquity. This however was not his 
own sin but the sin of the people, for as high priest he 
bore the sin of all Israel before God in the sanctuary 
and made intercession for the transgressors. Verse 4 im-
plies that the command of the angel to remove the 
filthy raiment was in answer to the supplication of 
Joshua. 
APRIL 26: 1883. �
TH 1-4, SIGNS OF TH 1-i: TIMES.. �
199 
We have in this symbolical representation the means 
of determining the occasion when the high priest stood 
there before God to intercede for Israel. On the tenth 
day of the seventh month, acco*ding to the law of Moses, 
the high priest entered alone 'nto the most holy place 
for the sins of all Israel. Lev. 16; Heb. 9 : 7. When 
he had finished his intercession in that place, he changed 
all his raiment including the mitre which was specially 
designed to bear the iniquity of the holy things. Lev. 
16 :20-24; Ex. 28 : 36-38. This work in the most holy 
place represents the final work of Christ before the ark 
in the temple in Heaven when the sins of the people of 
God will be blotted out (Acts 3 :19, 20; Rev. 11 ;19); 
and it is in view of this most solemn work that God is 
said to be raised up out of his holy habitation. Zech. 
2 :13; Hab. 2 :20. 
In verses 6 and 7 the angel promised Joshua that he 
should judge the house of the Lord and keep his courts, 
which signified that God would extend special favor to 
him as the high priest. But this promise is made to 
him upon condition that he would be obedient to God. 
This condition if not always expressed is always implied 
in all the promises of God to man. 
In verse 8 we learn the peculiar signification of the 
blessing promised to Joshua. He and his companions 
were to serve as signs, for this is the literal translation 
of the Hebrew word here used. The same word is used 
where Isaiah and Ezekiel are each said to be signs. Isa. 
8 :18; 20 : 3; Eze. 12 : 6, 11; 24 : 24, 27. Joshua and his 
companions were to serve in the priesthood as signs of 
the Messiah, here called the Branch. Christ is called 
the Branch in Isa. 4 :2; 11 :1; Jer. 23 : 5; 33 : 15. 
In verse 9 Christ is called the stone laid before Joshua. 
He is called a stone in many passages. Gen. 49 : 24; 
Ps. 118:22; Isa. 8 :14; 28 :16; Matt. 21 :42; Mark 12 : 
10; Luke 20 :17; Acts 4 :11; Eph. 2 :20: 1 Pet. 2 : 4-8. 
The seven eyes upon this stone represent the seven 
spirits of God which belong to Christ. Compare Zech. 
3 : 9; 4 :10; Rev. 5 : 6; 3 :1. The engraving of that stone 
took place when the word was made flesh. It is said 
that the removal of the iniquity from the land shall 
take place in one day. This work must be wrought by 
Christ by means of his act of taking upon himself our 
nature and dying for us and then interceding for us as 
our high priest. The work of Joshua on the great day 
of atonement, described in the first part of this chapter, 
was a sign of the final work of Christ in blotting out 
the sins of his people at the end of his service as high 
priest. After tht -accomplishment of this work the 
kingdom of God will be established in the new earth 
and the saints will each sit under his own vine and fig- 
tree. Dan. 7 :18, 27. �
J. N. A. 
Practical Thoughts for the Camp- 
Meetings. 
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE. 
[At our camp-meeting at Hanford, Cal., one year ago, I felt urged by 
the Spirit of the Lord to speak to our people concerning the importance 
of maintaining right habits of life in order to enjoy the benefits of the 
meeting. As the points there dwelt upon are of general application, a 
summary of the remarks made are here given for the benefit of all who 
attend these annual gatherings.] 
OUR yearly convocations are held for a special pur-
pose. We desire to obtain spiritual strength by feed-
ing upon the bread of life. We have separated from 
God by yielding to the maxims, customs, and practices 
of the world. We have allowed temporal things to 
absorb our attention, and have regarded the service of 
God as of secondary importance. As a consequence, 
we find ourselves in a state of great spiritual weakness. 
The season we spend here together should be a time 
of humiliation, brokenness of heart, and confession of 
sin. We want here to seek the Lord and find him to 
the joy of our souls. To do this, we must cleanse the 
soul temple from its defilement; we must banish there-
from selfish thoughts and interests. Jesus is among 
us to hear our penitential confessions and pardon our 
sins. 
We should not devote this precious time to needless 
labor merely to gratify the appetite. We haVe not 
come here to indulge in feasting. Those who have 
taken charge of our restaurant at previous camp-
meetings have had the privilege of attending but few 
of the meetings. Much care and thought was given 
to the preparation of the food—the cooking of meat, 
pies, cakes, and a variety of other dishes to please the 
appetite. Was this really necessary ? I think not. 
A few simple articles of food, prepared with care and 
skill, would supply all our real wants, and at the same 
time would do no injury to stomach or brain. The 
food should be abundant in quantity, and of good 
quality. We should not be compelled to live on a 
meat diet because nothing else is provided to supply 
its place. The money that is expended in buying meat 
would purchase a good variety of fruits, vegetables, 
and grains. Meat is not essential for health or strength, 
else the Lord made a mistake when he provided food 
for Adam and Eve before their fall. All the elements 
of nutrition are contained in the fruits, vegetables, and 
grains. 
If we are careful in our diet, at the same time cloth-
ing ourselves in a healthful manner during the changes 
that are liable to occur, we may avoid the unpleasant 
consequences of neglect of these important matters. 
Parents should give special attention to the diet of 
their children. Let them have good, wholesome food, 
prepared in a simple, palatable manner. But many 
housewives do not know how to cook. Light is shining 
upon them, but they do not care to receive it. Turning 
with contempt from a method of cooking which requires 
skill and inventive power, they depend on injurious 
substances to supply the lack. We profess to be re-
formers, and as such should be constantly seeking to 
bring all our customs and habits to a correct standard, 
instead of conforming to the hurtful practices of the 
world. 
Hot biscuit raised with soda or baking powder should 
never appear upon our tables. Such compounds are 
unfit to enter the stomach. Hot raised bread of any 
kind is difficult of digestion. Graham gems which are 
both 'wholesome and palatable may be made from the 
unbolted flour, mixed with pure cold water and milk. 
But it is difficult to teach our people simplicity. When 
we recommend graham gems, our friends say, " Oh, 
yes, we know how to make them." We are much dis-
appointed when they appear, raised with baking powder 
or with sour milk and soda. These give no evidence 
of reform. The unbolted flour, mixed with pure soft 
water and milk, makes the best gems we ever tasted. 
If the water is hard, use more sweet milk, or add an 
egg to the batter. Gems should be thoroughly baked 
in a well-heated oven, with a steady fire. 
. To make rolls, use soft water and milk, or a little 
cream; make a stiff dough, and knead it as for crackers. 
Bake on the grate of the oven. These are sweet and 
delicious. They require thorough mastication, which 
is a benefit both to the teeth and the stomach. They 
make good blood, and impart strength. With such 
bread, and the abundant fruits, vegetables, and grains 
with which our country abounds, no greater luxuries 
should be desired. 
We should avoid errors; not only in the quality, but 
in the quantity of our food. Eating too largely of even 
a simple diet will injure physical, mental, and moral 
health. Some persons have formed the habit of eating 
at any time between their regular meals. If this prac-
tice is continued, it becomes second nature. The stom-
ach may be so educated as to desire food eight times 
a day, and feel faint if it is not supplied. But this is 
no argument in, favor of so frequent eating. Three 
meals a day, and nothing between meals—not even an 
apple—should be the utmost limit of indulgence. Those 
who go further violate Nature's laws, and will suffer 
the penalty. Two meals a day are better than three. 
Our brethren and sisters often bring upon the camp-
ground food that is wholly unsuitable for such occa-
sions—rich cake, pies, and a variety of dishes prepared 
in a manner to make a healthy man sick. Of course, 
the best food is considered none too good for the min-
ister. They invite him to their tables, and send these 
articles to his table. Many ministers are dyspeptics; 
they have injured their health by taking food .in too 
great quantity and of an injurious quality. They suf-
fer from hot head and cold feet and limbs; the blood 
is called to the stomach to assist in disposing of the 
burden imposed upon it. Those men cannot become 
spiritual workmen until they observe strict temperance 
in their dietetic habits. God cannot let his Holy Spirit 
rest upon those who are enfeebling themselves by glut-
tony. 
Precious talent has been lost to God's cause through 
intemperance in eating. Many, while they do live, are 
thus deprived of half the vigor and strength of their 
faculties. The brain is oppressed because the stomach 
is burdened. Ministers, above all others, should econo-
mize the strength of brain and nerve. They should 
avoid all food or drink that has a tendency to irritate 
or excite the nerves. Excitement will be followed by 
depression. Over-indulgence will becloud the mind, 
and render thought difficult and confused. Our people 
err when they tempt their ministers with unhealthful 
food. 
And let us not come to the camp-meeting to break 
the Sabbath by cooking on that day. The instructions 
which God gave to Israel should not be disregarded: 
" Bake that which ye will bake to-day, and seethe that 
ye will seethe;" for " to-morrow is the rest of the holy 
Sabbath unto the Lord." God meant what he said; 
and shall we who are presenting to the people the 
claims of the divine law, break that law ourselves, 
merely to please the appetite? God forbid! I know 
that frequently the Lord has withheld his blessing be-
cause we have failed to honor him by keeping the Sab-
bath according to the commandment. There has some-
times been nearly as much cooking done on the Sab-
bath as on other days. I would prefer to eat bre d 
and water only, rather than to run any risk of break-
ing the fourth commandment. All needful preparation 
for the Sabbath should be made on Friday. On Sab-
bath morning, if the weather is cool, let hot gruel be 
provided. Further than this, all cooking should be 
avoided as a violation of the Sabbath. 
If right habits are ever observed, let it be at our 
holy convocations. Here, if anywhere, we want our 
minds clear and active. We should honor God at all 
times, and in all places, but it seems doubly important 
at such meetings, where we assemble for the purpose of 
drawing near to God, and gaining a better knowledge 
of his will. One reason why we do not enjoy more of 
the blessing of the Lord is, we do not heed the light 
which he has been pleased to give us in regard to the 
laws of life and health. If we would all live more 
simply, and let the time usually given to the in-
dulgence of appetite and the gratification of pride in 
dress, be spent in searching the Scriptures and in hum-
ble prayer for the bread of life, we would receive greater 
spiritual strength. We need to give less attention to 
our mere temporal wants, and more to our eternal in-
terests. 
Will those who have charge of our camp-meetings 
see that God is not dishonored or his instructions dis-
regarded ? Will they heed the light which has been 
given them upon health reform, and thus aid the people 
in securing both physical and moral health ?. Let us 
in our yearly gatherings seek to return unto the Lord, 
gather up the rays of light we have neglected, comply 
with the conditions laid down in God's word, and then 
by faith claim his blessing. 
Comment on 2 Thess. 2: 9. 
A QUESTION has been raised in regard to a statement 
on page 170, No. 15, of the present volume of the SIGNS, 
on 2 Thess. 2 : 9. The statement was this: "In Paul's 
second epistle to the Thessalonians, he exhorts to be 
on guard, and not depart from the faith. He speaks of 
Christ's coming as an event to immediately follow the 
work of Satan in Spiritualism, in these words: Even 
him whose coming is after the working of Satan with 
all power and signs and lying wonders,'" etc. The 
objection is that the word " after," in this verse, does 
not convey the idea of time, but of manner, and that 
it means " according to," as it reads in the Revised 
Version. In this case the " coming" in verse 9 would 
refer to the Man of Sin; and the verse, instead of mak-
ing a point in regard to Christ's coming, would simply 
teach that the work of the Man of Sin would be char-
acterized by the spirit of Satan. We think it can be 
clearly proved that this verse refers to the time of 
Christ's coming, and not to the manner in which the 
Man of Sin does his work. The argument will consist 
of two points: First, that the word here translated 
" after," is often used with reference to time, and sec-
ond, that the context requires that it should be so used 
in this passage. 
It will be no news to state that one word often has 
a variety of meanings. This. is not peculiar to the 
Greek or Latin; any one who is not aware of it, will 
need only to consult Webster's Dictionary to find that 
it is true of the English. language. This very word 
" after " is a case in point. It is used, as in Acts 13 : 22, 
to express conformity with, in the sense of " according:" 
it is used to express difference in location, as, The books 
are placed one after another; also to indicate move-
ment towards any object, as, The constable is after the 
thief; and it is very commonly used to express differ-
ence in time. No one has any difficulty in determining 
200 �
. THE SIGNS OF THE TIM FilS. 
VOL. 9, No. 17. 
from the general tenor of the passage with which mean-
ing it is employed. 
The word " after " in this case is from the Greek 
preposition Nara (kata), which is used, in different 
constructions, with a variety of meanings. It is often 
used to denote likeness, similarity, conformity with; 
but it is not true, as is intimated by those who claim 
that it should be so used here, that it never expresses 
time. We quote from the Lexicons those definitions 
of its use in the same construction as in the verse under 
consideration. 
" VII. Of periods of time, throughout, during, for. 
xotrce TOY zoAspoy (kata ton polemon), during the 
war. noir a' Aficruzy (kata Amasin), about the time 
of Amasis."—Liddell and Scott. 
" (25) In definitions of time, during, Kara TOY 
7roAe,uoY, at the time of the war."—Pickering. 
"2. Of time, i. e., a period of time throughout, dur-
ing, in, or at which anything takes place."—Robinson. 
Of the corresponding word in the Vulgate, " Andrews' 
Latin Lexicon " says: " In time or succession, imme-
diately after, after, next to. (Quite classical.) " 
Following are some of the instances of the use of 
the word in the Bible, to express the idea of time 
Now at that feast he released unto them one pris-
oner, whomsoever they desired." Mark 15 :6. 
" Now about that time Herod the king stretched 
forth his hand to vex certain of the church." Acts 
12 :1. 
" And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang 
praises unto God. �
Acts 16 :28. See also Acts 27 :27. 
" And the same time there arose no small stir about 
that way." Acts 19 :23. 
" For this is the word of promise, At this time will 
I come, and Sarah shall have a son." Rom. 9 :9. 
" Upon the first day of the week let every one of 
you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him." 
1 Cor. 16 : 2. 
" Thou. Lord, in the beginning hast laid the founda-
tion of the earth." Heb. 1 :10. 
We have now only to see if the word is used in this 
sense here. If we trace Paul's argument through, we 
shall see that time is the prominent thing. In the 
fourth chapter of the first epistle he speaks of those 
who are asleep, and says that they shall be raised when 
Christ comes. In the fifth chapter he says, " But ye, 
brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should 
overtake you as a thief;" the brethren know of the 
times and the seasons. Again in the first chapter of 
his second letter, he refers to the second coming of 
Christ, and tells (verses 7-9) what shall then take place 
Then he proceeds, in the second chapter, to correct the 
idea that some seem to have gained, that the day of 
the Lord was at that time near at hand. Before that 
day should come, he said, there would be a falling away, 
and the Man of Sin would be revealed. In verses 3, 4 
he fully describes the nature of that power, and its 
manner of working, and says that it will continue until 
the Lord shall consume it with the spirit of his mouth, 
and destroy it with the brightness of his coming. Then, 
with the idea of Christ's coming still uppermost, and 
the reference to it fresh from his pen, he says, " Whose 
coming is after [or, at the time of] the working of Satan 
with all power and signs and lying wonders." It. must 
be evident to all that the word " coming " in verse 9 
refers to the same thing as the same word in verse 8, viz., 
the second advent of Christ; so the word " after " must 
refer to time, for the apostle would not say that the 
coming of Christ is according to the working of Satan. 
That the connection between verses 8 and 9 is very 
close will be clearly seen when we understand that the 
words " even him " form no part of the original. They 
were supplied by the translators, for no reason except 
that they thought that the reference was to the Man of 
Sin, and wished to make that idea appear. There is 
absolutely nothing in the Greek, from which the words 
" even him" could be translated. Let any one read 
these verses, 8 and 9, leaving out these two supplied 
words, and he will at once see that the ninth verse re-
fers to the time of Christ's coming. Thus: "And then 
shall that Wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall con-
sume with the spirit of his mouth, and destroy with the 
brightness of his coming; whose coming is after [at the 
time of or next to] the working of Satan with all power 
and signs and lying wonders." Or, to make the case 
still plainer, instead of repeating the noun, substitute 
the appropriate pronoun in its stead, and it would then 
read, " Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of 
his mouth, and destroy with the brightness of his com-
ing, which is after the working of Satan," etc. The 
apostle is simply carrying out the idea with which he 
st„rted, and states an additional fact in regard to the 
time of Christ's coming. 
As corroborative proof we refer to Matt. 24:24, 27. 
The Lord there says that just before the second advent 
" there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and 
shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it 
were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." This 
harmonizes exactly with 2 Thess. 2:8-10. 
Again, the thirteenth chapter of Revelation brings to 
view a work which will immediately precede the second 
coming of Christ. It is the last great effort of Satan 
against God's Government. The case is precisely the 
same as that in 2 Thess. 2. An attempt is to be made 
to enforce the mark of the beast (this beast in 2 Thess. 
2, is called the Man of Sin) upon all men. To aid in 
the accomplishment of his designs, Satan brings to bear 
his masterpiece of deception,—Spiritualism--as shown 
in verses 13, 14, working wonderful miracles in order to 
beguile men into accepting a lie as the truth. Compare 
with this 2 Thess. 2:10-12. So wonderful are his mira-
cles that, as Christ says, if it were possible, even the 
people of God would be deceived. But this is not possi-
ble; the conflict will be sharp and short; the decision 
between truth and error will be quickly made in the 
minds of men; and the Lord will quickly come to re-
ward his own. 
One more text: In Rev. 16 we have the same decep-
tive work brought to view, and, as already seen, it 
immediately precedes the coming of the Lord. "And I 
saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the 
mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast, 
and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they 
are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth 
unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to 
gather them to the battle of that great day of God Al-
mighty. Behold, I come as a thief." Rev. 16:13-15. 
All these passages harmonize and show that the com-
ing of the Lord will be the next thing after Satan has 
performed these deceiving miracles, which have not as 
yet taken place, but which cannot be far in the future. 
Thus the rise and progress of modern spiritualism is a 
most interesting study for those who are looking for 
their Lord's return, since the rapidity with which that 
delusion spreads shows beyond a doubt that the great 
day of the Lord is at hand. �
E. J. W. 
gee 
The True Spirit of Labor. 
BY ELD. S. N. HASKELL. 
THE eleventh and twelfth chapters of Second 
Corinthians can be studied with much profit. 
The apostle here enumerates some of the conflicts 
and sufferings which he endured for Christ's sake. 
The early church is commended for its zeal as no 
other church has been commended Since the days 
of the apostles. In the book of Acts we have 
much upon this point which is very striking. in 
Rev. 2 : 2, 3, are these forcible words : " I know 
thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and 
how thou canst not bear them which are evil ; 
and thou hast tried them which say they are 
apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars ; 
and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my 
name's sake hast labored, and hast not fainted." 
And yet he had somewhat against the church at 
Ephesus, because they had left their first love. 
From the above scriptures we can form some 
idea of what devotion and zeal the early church 
possessed, also of what is required of us if we 
would meet the mind of the Spirit of God. We 
live amid the closing scenes of this world's his-
tory. The last sands of time are fast passing 
away. And yet, right upon *le borders of the 
eternal world, as we are, how little do we realize 
the importance of the cause we have espoused. 
Should we weigh ourselves in the scales with the 
early church, we should come far short of their 
devotion ; and even their zeal and devotion did 
not come up to the true standard. 
There are only a few who can speak of laboring 
with cheerfulness "in weariness and painfulness " 
in the cause of their Redeemer, while there are 
many who testify that they have thus labored on 
their farms or in some calling where personal 
interests only were at stake. Many have grown 
gray, and their countenances become furrowed 
with perplexing care, while serving themselves. 
This was simply for what they should eat, and 
drink, and wear. But few there are who labor 
thus in the cause of Him who left the royal courts 
and died that we might be saved. 
Our missionary system presents an opportunity 
for each to engage directly in the service of the 
Master. Agents are wanted to sell our publica-
tions, and colporters are needed to enter thousands 
of cities and villages, to visit families and call 
their attention to the truth, and pray with and 
for those who may be anxious to know the will 
of God. Our sisters can also find a field of labor 
in remailing our pioneer sheet, and corresponding 
with those to whom papers have been sent. A 
number of the Signs should be taken in every 
place where any of our people live, and these 
papers should be distributed throughout their re-
spective neighborhoods, or remailed to those 
whose addresses may be obtained. 
God has committed to each of us a talent, and 
we are responsible for its use. Many have hid 
their talent in a napkin or buried it in the earth, 
and in the Judgment they will say, " Lord, I knew 
thee, that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou 
hast not sown, and gathering where thou bast not 
strewed." It is hard for them to deny them-
selves some personal ease or pleasure to engage 
in a work which yields so little in return,—to per-_ 
form so much labor with so little profit. Its 
accomplishment would cost them time, care, and 
thought,--yes, and if they became succesVul 
workers, prayers and tears also. In some in-
stances, the midnight hour has witnessed earnest 
pleadings with God that he would prosper the 
effort put forth. We know no reason why our 
sisters and lay brethren should not, in their 
sphere, feel a responsibility in working for souls, 
equal to that of the minister who enters the sacred 
desk. 
We are thankful for what some of our Confer-
ences are doing in this direction; but not one-
tenth as many papers are taken for missionary 
work as should be used. Not one-twentieth is 
accomplished which might and would be accom-
plished could all realize the importance of the 
present hour. Could the curtain be lifted, and 
we be permitted to see the individuals in Europe, 
Asia, and even Africa, who are to-day rejoicing 
in the light of present truth as the result of re-
mailing the SIGNS OF THE TIMES and of correspon-
dence, it would encourage the wearied and care-
worn laborers to toil on. It would inspire in the 
lukewarm a desire to become more zealous in the 
work. 
Report of Labor. 
SINCE the first of March I have been laboring 
in the foot-hills and mountains of Stanislaus and 
Calaveras Counties, visiting families with tracts 
and papers during the week, and preaching on 
Sundays. Quite a number are interested in the 
truth. One person has begun to obey the com-
mandments of God; others have acknowledged 
the truth, and say that they intend soon to walk 
in its light. �
ISAAC MORRISON. 
Sonoma and Lake Counties, Cal. 
SINCE my last report, i have visited Santa 
Rosa, and held quarterly meeting, one week be-
fore regular time. We had a good meeting and 
baptized two. I also attended the quarterly meet-
ing at Healdsburg and baptized one. I have vis-
ited Lakeport, where we had good meetings with 
our people, and Sunday, April 15, preached two 
discourses at Kelsey Creek school-house, seven 
miles from Lakeport. The attendance was good, 
and a good interest was manifested while we pre-
sented the claims of God's law. 
W. M. HEALEY. 
Nothing Accomplished Without Labor. 
[THE following essay was read before the Illinois 
Tract and Missionary Society at its annual ses-
sion, held in connection with the camp-meeting 
at Clinton, Ill., in 1877, by the Secretary, Mrs. 
F. M. T. Simonson, and by request was furnished 
for publication in the Review. We republish it 
for its suggestions to missionary workers.] 
This is an age of quick thought, immediate res-
olution, rapidly followed by execution, all aiming 
to produce immediate results. 
We are wont to look only at success in any 
enterprise, without taking into consideration the 
expenditure of physical and mental labor to gain 
the desired end. We ascribe the favorable ter-
mination of an undertaking to some peculiarity 
of fortune, which is bestowed, unsought, on some, 
while it is withheld, for some unaccountable rea-
son, from others equally worthy, as far as princi-
ple is concerned; but a close observation and in-
timate knowledge of the mode of obtaining a 
great good will disclose the fact that success is 
not the result of chance; it is the remuneration 
or compensation for an equivalent, and that equiv-
alent is hard labor. 
Might we not have had another Michael Angelo, 
in substance if not in name, if some one endowed 
with like artistic gifts had possessed also his in-
domitable energy ? We are told that he studied 
anatomy twelve years; that some of his figures 
were begun as a skeleton, and muscles were laid 
on, one little bundle of fibe
rs after another, until 
his extremely faithful labor was rewarded by a 
perfect model. Art lovers gaze upon his produc-
tions in statuary and painting, and ascribe them 
to his genius, which would have been as nothing 
without persevering labor. 
Instances of like tenor might be multiplied 'at 
will; but we take only a limited interest in those 
objects which we believe are soon to perish. We 
profess to be engaged as auxiliaries, not as prime 
movers, in the work of seeking the salvation of 
our fellow-beings. To the prime movers, the 
ministers, we have no suggestions to offer; but to 
the tract and missionary workers we would ad-
dress a few words. It has been proved, by actual 
experiment, that lay members may be successful 
as messengers. The extent of country over 
which the third angel's message has traveled, 
since the beginning of systematic tract work, has 
surprised even those who first suggested the meas-
ures taken. The number of attentive hearers, 
of interested readers, is increasing in a ratio 
agreeable to contemplate. 
Facts and statistics concerning the rise and 
progress of the Illinois Tract and Missionary Soci-
ety not being accessible, a retrospective view of la-
bors, in detail, cannot be taken; and as for the 
result of the past six years' labors, who can esti-
mate it in figures ? Can any one demonstrate the 
extent of the influence this side the Judgment ? 
We record quarterly the number of pages distrib-
uted, the visits made, etc.; but the tears, the 
prayers for and pleadings with our Judgment-
bound fellow-creatures are noted only by the re-
cording angel. A number of efforts being made, 
lines of influence start out, ramify, intersect, and 
finally become a network. 
While we congratulate ourselves on the good 
accomplished, let us not lose sight of the successes 
which might have followed, had we bestowed 
more labor, or had we performed the remaining 
nineteen-twentieths of the work we might have 
done. Are we not, in many instances, so over-
come by the Laodicean lethargy that we turn 
our backs upon our faith, and the fact that the 
angel of God is now holding the winds to allow 
the message to go forward, well nigh fades from 
memory? 
At one period, Napoleon left his letters un-
opened for thirty days, and on examining them 
at the expiration of that time, he found that, by 
waiting, many needed no answer. Not a good 
way for tract and missionary workers. There is 
a mutual obligation between officers and members 
to be prompt. Slow-moving officers lessen the 
efficiency of members, and dilatory members 
weaken the power of a willing officer. 
Do we believe what we profess ? Are we posi-
tive we shall have plenty of time in which to 
work ? For what were the rapid mode of transit, 
cheap fare, wonderful mail privileges at such low 
figures, fine inventions in printing presses which 
are worked at such a low price, telegraph, tele-
phone, etc., reserved until this particular age ? 
Any one slightly versed in prophecy can readily 
tell. They are to facilitate the spread of this 
last message. 
With such a convenient highway open before 
us to nations, peoples, tongues, and kings, what 
excuse have we for not rising to work, as never 
before ? Let us not contemplate past endeavors; 
but from this hour, bend to work till Illinois shall 
encourage sister societies by her example of de-
votion. 
ENVY is a vice which keeps no holiday, but is 
always on the wheel, and working its own dis-
quiet. 
Do good if you expect ever to receive it. 
APRIL 26, 1883. �THE SIGNS OF THE TIM 
P:S. �
201 
gtmptrance, 
GENERAL WOODFORD, at Lake Bluff, said that a 
" manufacturer in the West " marked seven hun-
dred dollars in new bills which he paid his work-
men on Saturday, and the next Monday afternoon 
four hundred and fifty dollars of those identical 
bills were deposited in the bank by the saloon men. 
IT is stated that a Cincinnati man got some 
beer into a sore on his finger, and was compelled 
to have the finger amputated. W e have no idea, 
however, that this will in the least diminish the 
amount of beer consumed. The stomach of the 
beer drinker is like charity, in that it has to 
" endure all things." 
BOTH houses of the Arkansas Legislature re-
cently adjourned " out of respect to the memory " 
of a member who had just died. As the only 
thing that is told about this member is that he 
drowned himself during a drunken debauch, we 
are left to form our own conclusions as to the 
course which a man must pursue in order to com-
mand the respect of the Arkansas Legislature. 
WILL any rum-seller tell us of one good thing 
that has come to our commonwealth as a result 
of rum-selling ? Runt-sellers are licensed for the 
" public good," what public good have they ever 
done? They live without work. Is that a pub-
lic good ? They consume our substance and pro-
duce nothing. Is that a public good ? They live 
on the money that of right belongs to the wives 
and children of drinking men. Is that a public 
good ? They impoverish the community. Is that 
a public good ? They cause eighty per cent. of 
all the crime that is committed. Is that a public 
good ? The above questions may be answered 
by any friend of the liquor traffic.—Bloomsburg 
Journal. 
Prohibition of the Liquor Traffic. 
RESULTS IN MAINE. 
IT is a matter for great surprise among the 
working friends of temperance that there can be 
any difference of opinion, among sincere friends 
of the temperance movement, as to the propriety 
and necessity of the prohibition of the liquor 
traffic. In England there are many intelligent 
men who deny that government has the right to 
put it under the ban of the law. In this country 
it is very rare to find such a person who holds 
that opinion, especially since the Justices of the 
Supreme Court of the United States have unan-
imously affirmed it, and the upper courts of 
every State where the question has arisen have 
done the same thing. We may dismiss, then, as 
of no account, the objection, from whatever 
source it may come, that society has no right to 
protect itself from the liquor traffic, which inflicts 
far more mischief upon the community than any 
other source of evil. 
The objection of intelligent men to the policy- 
of prohibition is, mainly, that it does not pro-
hibit; that prohibitory laws have been, and are, 
failures. I have before me now, as I write, a 
most respectable Republican paper, of a great 
city, in which the editor says, " The remedy for 
intemperance which many thoughtful men pro-
pose is not in prohibition, which has been a dead 
failure even in Maine." This is a fair specimen 
of the opinions entertained by the leading news-
papers of the country, and by a great many lead-
ers of public opinion, both clerical and lay. 
Now, if the question of prohibition were a 
matter of minor importance to the country, it 
might be pardonable in such papers and such 
persons to be imperfectly informed in relation to 
it; but seeing that it is a matter of far greater 
importance to nation, State, and people than any 
political and social question, even more im- 
portant than all other such questions combined, 
it seems to me not to be a proper thing' to do, 
for such papers and such persons to undertake 
to teach the people in relation to it without first 
ascertaining the facts in the case. 
In this country and in Europe there are many 
hundreds of localities where prohibition has been 
established for various periods, in some of them 
for more than a quarter of a century. In not 
one of these places has it in any sense been a 
failure; in every one of them it has been a great 
success: in some of them, in entirely sweeping 
away the liquor traffic and the evils that came 
from it; in all of them in greatly diminishing 
the traffic and reducing the volume of the pov-
erty, pauperism, and crime originating in it. 
Not long ago one of the most respectable and 
influential papers of New York said that prohibi- 
tion bad been a failure wherever it had been tried, 
even in Maine, where it had its origin. The 
editor was kind enough to admit a reply from 
me into his columns, in which I said he was en-
tirely mistaken in his opinion upon that matter, 
and I added that, of the many hundreds of local-
ities in America and Europe where prohibition 
had been established many years, be could not 
name one where it had in any way failed. I 
earnestly requested him to name one such place. 
His reply was that it was " a matter of common 
notoriety that prohibition was a failure, and that 
was conclusive." I rejoined that common no-
toriety was of no authority whatever, unless 
founded in the facts of the case, and I denied 
that there was even one fact in the case to jus-
tify such an opinion. It was once a matter of 
common notoriety that the earth was flat and not 
round, and that the heavenly bodies revolved 
about the earth as the center of the system. 
There are some localities within two hours' ride 
of New York where prohibition has been estab-
lished for many years, and the facts as to its success 
there as well as in many places more remote, 
have been often published to the world. Why, 
then, should not intelligent men, who really wish 
well to their fellows, be correctly informed upon 
them, so as to be able intelligently and honestly 
to discuss the question ? Men with a deep pecun-
iary interest in the enormous profits of the liquor 
traffic set these false reports afloat in the press, 
and somehow they procure them to be repeated 
as if they were true, by a great many most re-
spectable people in church and State. 
I suppose unprejudiced persons will readily con-
cede that the people of Maine, after an experience 
of prohibition of more than thirty years, ought to 
know what its results have actually been. The 
Republican party, the dominant party in the 
State, has always had prohibition in its platform, 
and the Democratic party has repeatedly and 
emphatically repudiated the policy of license. 
I have only four of the resolves of the State 
Conventions of the Republican party of Maine, 
and I give them here:- 
1878. " Temperance among the people may be greatly 
promoted by wise prohibitory legislation, as well as by 
all of those moral agencies which have secured us benefi-
cent results; and it is a source of congratulation that the, 
principle of prohibition, which has always been up-
held by Republicans, is now concurred in by so large a 
majority of the people that it is no longer a party ques-
tion, the Democrats having for several years declined 
to contest and dispute it." �• 
1879. " We recognize temperance as a cause which 
has conferred the greatest benefits on the State, and we 
sustain the principle of prohibition, which in its opera-
tion has so largely suppressed liquor selling and added 
incalculably to the sum of virtue and prosperity among 
the people." 
1880. " Experience has demonstrated the wisdom of 
the policy of prohibition as an auxiliary of temper-
ance, and as contributing to the material wealth, hap-
piness, and prosperity of the State; and we refer with 
confidence and pride to an undeviating support of the 
same as one of the cardinal principles of the Republi-
can party of Maine." 
There was 110 election in 1881, and no conven-
tion; but in 1882 the largest convention ever 
held in Maine assembled in Portland, more than 
1,300 delegates being present from every county 
in the State, and the following resolve was unan-
imously adopted:— 
" We refer with confidence and pride to the general 
record of the Republican party in support of the pol-
icy of prohibiting the traffic in intoxicating liquors, 
the wisdom and efficiency of which legislation in pro-
moting the moral and material interests of Maine have 
been demonstrated through the practical annihilation 
of that traffic in a large portion of the State; and we 
favor such legislation and such enforcement of law as 
will secure to every portion of our territory freedom 
from that traffic. We further recommend the submis-
sion to the people of a constitutional prohibitory amend-
ment." 
The Legiislature has now voted by 74 to 37 to 
submit such a proposition to the people. I am 
confident that intelligent men uninfluenced by in-
terest, appetite, passion, or prejudice will accept 
this as conclusive of the whole matter.—Hon. 
Neal Dow. 
202 �
TIT �
1-1, SIGNS OF TEI �
Fi] TIM �
 PIS. �
VoL. 9, No. 17. 
the rattling of gewgaws, and the distressing noise 
you haVe made in getting your breath. I am 
afraid you haven't the instinct of a musician. 
A musician thinks first of his art, and last of 
appearances, but it seems to me you think first, 
last, and always of how you look." 
Now this may seem rough and very uncalled 
for to some, but he was an honest soul and a 
grand musician. His words proved true. This 
young lady had not the musical instinct, and 
after a fair trial was dismissed. tier teacher 
proved that her practice had been superficial, 
and all that she had done had been spoiled by 
vanity and self-consciousness. 
A school girl who dressed very plainly, but in 
good taste, was once asked why she did not " rig 
up " more. 
" Because," she said, " I haven't time to fuss 
about clothes and learn too, and then I should 
like to have something new to wear when I am 
older. Velvets and brocades, and diamonds and 
pearls, and all those fine things will be new to 
me bye-and-bye, and there is nothing left for you 
girls to anticipate."—Selected. 
What Harry Taught Belle Chester. 
Young Ladies and Dress. 
A LADY who had taught for over thirty years, 
once gave the writer some very interesting in- 
formation. " When a new scholar was intro- 
duced," she said, "I always looked first at her 
dress. If that was plain, neat, and tidy, 1 was 
pretty confident that I had good material to work 
with. For the first two or three years of my 
teaching, I was in the habit of scrutinizing the 
features, and the. formation of the heads, but 
these came at last to be quite secondary consid-
erations. One school was so expensive that none 
but daughters of the wealthy could possibly enter 
it; so when a young lady came to the class-room 
in a plain dress, 1 was sure that it was on ac-
count of her idea of the fitness of things. This 
argued common sense. Common sense is always 
in antagonism to vanity, and where there is vanity 
there is self-consciousness. So, you see, a plain 
dress came to mean a great deal to me. I learned 
never to expect anything from a girl whose school 
dress was silk or velvet. I shall always retain 
the impression made upon me by a quiet little 
body in a blue flannel dress, and the plainest of 
plain trimmings. She came from one of the 
first families in wealth and culture, and was the 
most unobtrusive child I ever knew, as well as 
the most brilliant. When she told me graduation 
day that she had decided to study for a physician, 
I was not in the least surprised, and I was sure 
she would succeed, as she certainly has in the 
most marvelous manner. She carried off every 
honor, and though the girls in purple and fine 
linen' sneered at her plain attire, and lack of 
style, there was not one who could ever compete 
with her." 
Certainly, on the whole, the deductions of this 
teacher are correct. It takes time to array one's 
self in elaborate garments, and the girl whose 
mind is occupied with loops and trimmings and 
general furbelows, cannot, for philosophical rea-
son, have room for much else. Then there is a 
reason deeper than this, even. The girl whose 
tastes are in the line of dress and display has not 
an intellectual development. She may be imi-
tative and intuitive to a degree, but she will al-
ways, or generally, be superficial in her learning 
and shallow in character. 
A very good story in this connection is told 
of a prominent musician in New York. A young 
lady went to him for a course of "finishing off" 
lessons. "Let's see what you can do," said the 
teacher, and placed before her a simple air of 
Mozart's. She played a few bars, and was in-
terrupted. " Take off your rings," said the great 
man. A few bars more, and another interruption. 
" Take off your bracelets." A little farther on 
she was stopped again. "Your sleeves are too 
long. I want to see your wrists." The pupil 
pinned up her sleeves, with a face on fire. At 
last she succeeded in finishing the selection. 
" Do you want me to teach you ?" the instructor 
asked, as she took her hands from the keys. 
" Yes, sir." 
" Very well. Come to me to-morrow at this 
hour, without any jewelry, and in some sort of 
a dress that you can breathe in. I don't know 
at all how you have played this aria, because of 
No Cause for Envy. 
" MR. RIDGEWAY," said a young man to Jacob 
Ridgeway, a wealthy citizen of Philadelphia, who 
died many years ago, leaving a fortune of five or 
six million dollars, " you are more to be envied 
than any gentleman I know." "Why so ?" re-
sponded Mr. Ridgeway; " 1 am not aware of any 
cause for which I should be particularly envied." 
" What, sir!" exclaimed the young man in aston-
ishment; " why you are a millionaire. Think of 
the thousands your income brings you every 
month." " Well, what of that ?" replied Mr. 
Ridgeway. " All I get out of it is my victuals and 
clothes, and I cannot eat more than one man's 
allowance or wear more than one suit at a time. 
Pray, cannot you do as much ?" " Ah! but," said 
the youth, " think of the hundreds of fine houses 
you own, and the rental they bring you!" 
" W hat better am I off for that ?" replied the rich 
man; I can only live in one house at a time. 
As for the money I receive for rents, why, 1 can't 
eat it or wear it. I can only use it to buy other 
houses for other people to live in; they are the 
beneficiaries, not 1." �
But you can buy splendid 
furniture and costly pictures, fine carriages and 
horses; in fact, anything you desire." " And 
after I have bought them," responded Mr. Ridge-
way, " what then ? I can only look at the frni-
ture and pictures, and the poorest man who is not 
blind can do the same. I can ride no easier in a 
fine carriage than you can in an omnibus for five 
cents without the trouble of attending to drivers, 
footmen, and hostlers; and as to any thing I desire, 
I can tell you, young man, that the less we desire 
in this world the happier we shall be. All my 
wealth cannot buy me a single day more of life; 
cannot buy back. my youth; cannot procure me 
power to keep afar off the hour of death; and 
then what will all avail, when in a few years I lie 
down in the grave and leave it all forever? 
Young man, you have no cause to envy me." 
Don't Deceive Children. 
NOTHING can be a greater mistake than to con-
sider young people as destitute of understanding; 
their understanding should rather be appealed to 
and consulted. Do we not all remember how, 
when young, we were imposed upon; how our 
elders sought sometimes to put us off; how they 
gave us evasive answers or explanations; how 
they told us some plausible story as an excuse or 
as a reason? And do we not remember that even 
in our youth and simplicity we were quite capa-
ble of seeing through their maneuvers ? Do we 
not all remember how, when anyone endeavored 
to keep us in ignorance of some proceeding of 
which we were made accidently cognizant, we 
could divine very correctly the real motive for 
sending us out of the way with some false excuse? 
Now, in a case of this kind, which comes within 
the pale of parental authority, the will of the par-
ent alone ought to be sufficient to control the 
child. But there should be no stifling of truth 
and no relaxation of duty. If, as often will hap-
pen, it is not expedient or proper for children to 
know a particular fact or incident, they should 
be told so with frankness and kindness, but at the 
same .time with firmness. ' We are apt to over-
look the intelligence of these little people and ad-
dress ourselves to their stature. The treatment 
of children must always, for their own sakes, 
differ from that of full-grown men and women;
our manner of addressing them must also be dif-
ferent; but there does not seem to be any reason 
why we should not give them full credit for the 
amount of intelligence they do possess; and we 
may every day see children with more discrimina-
tion, greater good sense, and better regulated 
moral deportment than many whose tall figure or 
riper age has invested them with the consequence 
of men and women.—Arthur's Home Magazine. 
EVERYBODY wants to die nobly, but it is far 
better to live nobly; dying is momentary, living 
continuous. Our manner of living during all these 
years, will have more weight with the world 
about us than our mode of dying; besides, the 
manner of living is largely under our control; 
the manner of dying is generally beyond it. The 
character of our life is what we choose to make 
it; the mode of our exit from it, .we ordinarily 
are not responsible for. Let us live right, day by 
day, and leave the close of it with Him who doeth 
all things well. 
ghe �
ante Vircle. 
On! be not the first to discover 
A blot on the fame of a friend, 
A flaw in the faith of another 
Whose heart may prove true to the end. 
A smile or a sigh may awaken 
Suspicions most false and undue; 
And thus our belief may be shaken 
In hearts that are honest and true. 
How often the light smile of gladness 
Is worn by our friends that we meet, 
To cover a soul full of sadness 
Too proud to acknowledge defeat ! 
How often the sigh of dejection 
Is heaved from the hypocrite's breast, 
To parody truth and affection, 
Or lull a suspicion to rest ! 
How often the friend we hold dearest 
Their noblest emotions conceal; 
And bosoms the purest, sincerest, 
Have secrets they cannot reveal ! 
We none of us know one another, 
And often in error may fall; 
Then let us speak well of our brother, 
Or speak not about it at all. �
—Selected. 
A dance of blue-bells in the shady places, 
A crimson flush of sunset in the west; 
The cobwebs, delicate as fairy laces, 
The sudden finding of a wood-bird's nest. 
THE Chesters lived in a beautiful home in the 
suburbs of the city of C �
. Belle, the only 
child, did not appreciate the beauty of her sur-
roundings. She was a selfish, fretful girl of 
ten, always finding something to trouble her. 
Just now her vexation was considerable, because 
nearly opposite her father's elegant mansion 
small lots had been sold to a half dozen mechanics 
from the city. Each had put up a simple little 
cottage, surrounded with wire paling, and their 
families were moving in. One family was already 
settled, and as Belle walked past proudly, pushing 
a pretty little doll carriage with velvet cushion 
and trimmings, in which sat her aristocratic Vic-
toria Amelia, whose wardrobe was imported from 
London, she noticed a beautiful little boy of about 
five years playing in the little yard. He did not 
see her, and, while she was looking, he sat down 
on a garden chair and folded his hands as if in 
prayer. 
" I'd like CO know what you were doing with 
your eyes shut in the day-time," she said saucily 
to the child as he approached the fence to see the 
beautiful doll carriage. 
" I didn't sink any body saw me," he answered 
with flushed face. 
" I saw you. What were you doing? You 
wern't praying in the day-time were you ?" Belle 
asked, scornfully. 
The boy was no coward, he looked up fear-
lessly as the tone stung him. 
"I was prayin'," he said. " Mamma prays in 
the day-time an' I do, too, when I want to; dere's 
a lot to pray for over here." 
" Humph! what's to pray for I'd like to know ?" 
The child looked at Belle reproachfully, as he 
answered: "Oh, everything, bes' of all mine papa 
don't drink any more, an' this house is ours. 
Just fink, mamma's, an' papa's, an' mine--all our 
own--ain't it wuth fankin' God for? we never had 
any house before." 
Belle's heart was touched, but she only said, 
proudly:— 
" If you think your house is so fine, what do 
you think of mine? There it is just over the 
way." 
Harry looked over to the beautiful home, 
flushed with crimson from the western sky. 
There were bluebells hugging close to the pretty 
fence, and a pet fawn of Belle's was scampering 
over the lawn. Birds were singing in the trees, 
and roses climbing over the trellises. Harry was 
charmed. 
" 1 fink it must be most like Heaven," he said, 
slowly. " I fink if I had your home I'd fank God 
all day long." 
Belle turned away, and rolled Victoria Amelia 
home.' She was thoroughly ashamed of herselff. 
No, she had not thanked God all day, not even 
one little part of a day. She could not remember 
of ever having felt thankful. But she was thank-
ful now, and with thankfulness came cheerfulness 
and generosity. She even remembered to invite 
her little teacher to spend a whole day in her now 
delightful home.—Ernest Gilmore, in Christian at 
Work. 
Religious Notes. 
—The American Bible Society distributed 25,250 
Bibles and Testaments in France last year. 
—Rev. E. P. Hammond reports 800 conversions as the 
result of his evangelistic trip to the Bermudas. 
—The Universalists have in the United States 711 
churches, 707 ministers, and 35,790 communicants. 
—The Mennonites in this country now number 410 
churches or organizations, 250 ministers, and abut 50,-
000 communicants. 
—An Episcopal school of divinity is to be established 
in Colorado for instructing young men in practical 
work for Western fields. 
—The Congregational ministers of Chicago have re-
solved to refuse to marry those who have been divorced 
for other than Scriptural reasons. 
—Bishop Whipple administered the rite of confirma-
tion to 247 Indians during his recent visits to the Chip-
pewa Mission, where there are now eight churches. 
--A writer in the Christian Instructor speaks of the 
increasing number of rich men in Congress, and says 
they may be included, principally, under two classes—
Those whose wealth has given them office, and those 
whose office has given them wealth. 
—The Independent thinks a minister has no right to 
use King James' Version, or any other than the Revised 
Version in the pulpit. Regarding the Revised Version as 
the more correct version, it says that " one who uses in 
worship the Old, does, to the extent of the differences 
between the two, disguise and conceal the Bible from 
his congregation." 
—Dr. Lyman Abbott says: " There is no Scriptural 
authority for the opinion, which is rarely openly main-
tained but is often tacitly assumed, that the example of 
the apostles is binding upon us. It is their teaching, 
not their example, which is authoritative." And again: 
"It is astonishing how strong a hold traditionalism has 
upon the church." It is indeed. 
—The Christian Union. in answer to a question, says: 
" There is no need of believing that Christ went to the 
pinnacle of the temple in bodily person; bUt the nar-
rative implies, and no philosophy can disprove, that 
there was a real transfer of his spiritual personality 
thither." Ah, indeed; but can the C. U. give us any 
light as to what his bodily person was doing in the 
meantime ? 
—The Presbyterian says that a " priest " of the 
Church of England preached a sermon lately from the 
text, " God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross 
of our Lord Jesus Christ," and defended the use of the 
crucifix as an aid to devotion. The Bishop of the diocese 
chanced to be present, and before the audience was 
dismissed rose and made a public and earnest protest 
against the bold perversion of the text. 
—After a long preamble on the importance of the 
Sabbath, and the unchanging nature of the fourth com-
mandment, the M. E. Conference at Lancaster, Pa., 
adopted the following: "Resolved, That we will preach 
a sermon on the observance of Sabbath during the 
year." These men show a just appreciation of the 
task which they have undertaken. We don't wonder 
that they limited themselves to one sermon a year in 
trying to harmonize Sunday-keeping with the perpetu-
ity of the fourth commandment. We should plead for 
an extention of time. 
—The Rev. Dr. Scudder recently said in Chicago 
that the lack of personal effort on the part of Christians 
for the salvation of souls, the deputing of nearly all such 
work in these latter days to the pastors and mission-
aries of the churches, while the members feel no respon-
sibility beyond that of filling their pews on Sunday, 
listening with pleasure to the delightful sermons and 
fine music, and attending one prayer-meeting during 
the week, if perfectly convenient, was the greatest evil 
in our churches to-day; and until Christians were will-
ing to speak to, and pray and labor for sinners, we 
should see no great ingatherings of souls. 
—Rey. W. E. Merriman, pastor of the Somerville 
(Kass.), Congregational Church, has prepared the fol-
lowing as his confession of faith, which has been recom-
mended to the church for adoption, by a committe that 
was appointed to examine it: " I believe that Christ 
shall come again in glory; that he shall raise the dead, 
and judge the world in righteousness, according to his 
gospel; that then the wicked shaal be punished with 
eternal destruction from his presence, and the right-
eous received into his glorious eternal kingdom." We 
hone soon to see these honest souls that are seeking for 
light, come out into the full light of truth. 
APRIL 26, 1883. �TII �
1-0, SIGNS OF TI-1 
He TIM I-17,S. �
203 
—The Christian Statesman emehafically denies that 
the proposed Religious Amendment to the Constitution, 
which it so persistently advocates, has any likeness to 
a union of church and State, yet it gives room in its 
columns for expresdons of which the following is a spec-
imen: "We long for the day when Christians through-
out our land shall seize the political power within their 
reach and energetically wield it according to Christian 
principles." Students of the prophecies know too well 
what that means. The same writer very frankly says: 
"Christ gave us no specific rules to guide us in the per-
formance of political duty." Very true. But he did 
say, " My kingdom is not of this world." His king- 1 
dom will not be advanced by the votes of politicians. 
News and Notes. 
• 
—It is thought the Mormon colonies in Arizona are 
in sympathy with the Apaches in their murderous raids, 
if indeed they are not directly connected with them. 
At any rate they refuse to furnish help to the rangers 
who are pursuing the Indians. 
—Captain Ends has not abandoned the idea of a ship 
railway across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. On the con-
trary, work haS been commenced; and it is claimed that 
the road will be finished and in running order long be-
fore De Lessep's Panama Canal is opened. 
—The manner in which the trial of the Phoenix 
Park murderers is being carried on in England, is in 
marked contrast to the way in which State trials are 
conducted in the United States. It seems that in Eng-
land a murderer is not by virtue of his crime admitte 
into the best society and toreated as a hero. 
—A great deal that is printed in the newspapers is 
not news at all. Here, for instance, is an item that was 
written more than twenty-five hundred years ago, yet 
in its brief space it covers the greater part of the 
news of to-day: "By swearing, and lying, and killing, 
and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, 
and blood toucheth blood." 
—In the North, American Review for May, Professor 
Alexander Winchell announces his belief that com-
munist doctrines have taken a deep root in this country 
and in the near future will burst forth in all their fury. 
No legislation can reach the source of the evil. Com-
menting on this, the Commercial Observer says: It is a 
fact that the man Most draws great crowds whenever 
he speaks, and we do not hear his doctrines repu-
diated by the classes he appeals to. 
—A most terrific cyclone passed over a part of Mis-
sissippi about 4 P. hi., April 22. The greatest damage 
was done in the villages of Wesson and Beauregard, In 
Copia!' County. The- latter place contained a popu-
lation of about 500. Wesson is a summer resort for 
New Orleans people, and had a population of 1,600. 
The scene i.7 d, scribed as appalling; the destruction of 
ife and property was great. Thirty-six persons were 
killed; a large number was wounded, many of whom 
will probably die. Terrific thunder and lightning and 
heavy rain accompanied the wind. It is said that 
Beauregard was entirely swept away. Other towns 
suffered severely, and several lives were lost in them. 
The storm extended into Tennessee; Chattanooga, and 
surrounding country suffered considerably. As the 
telegraph wires are down, full particulars have not 
yet been given. A cyclone is reported near Des Moines, 
Iowa, at the same time. A snow-storm is reported in 
Central New York, April 23, and the snow-storm in 
Colorado continued with great severity at the- same 
date. The elements are strangely affected. 
hituarg. 
MILLER.—Fannie, youngest daughter of A. and S. 
Miller, died of scarlet fever, at their home near Milton 
Or., Sabbath, April 7, 1883, aged five years, seven 
months, and three days. Little Fanny was a promis-
ing child, and beloved by all. A few words of comfort 
were spoken by the writer, at the open grave. We 
leave Fannie to sleep for a little while till the " Life-
giver " comes; then " mortality will be swallowed up 
of life." �
W. A. GIBSON. 
A MINE OF INFORMATION. 
HISTORY OF THE SABBATH AND FIRST 
DAY OF THE WEEK. 
Br ELD. J. N. ANDREWS. 
THE Bible record of the Sabbath ; the secular history concerning it ; the 
successive steps by which the change to the first day was made, and the 
work of restoration, are given in detail. 
EVERY TEXT OF SCRIPTURE concerning the Sabbath is commented 
on at length ; and the COMPLETE TESTIMONY OF THE FATHERS in 
regard to the Sabbath and first day is given. The comparative merits of 
the seventh and the first-day Sabbaths are fully shown. A copious Index 
nables the reader to find any text, or the statement of any historian. 
Should be read by everybody. 528 pp. Price, $1.25. 
Address. SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland. Cal. 
LIFE OF ELDER JOSEPH BATES, 
WITH PORTRAIT. 
Tins is a reprint of his autobiography, with lengthy introduction, and 
closing chapters on his publi:, ministry, last sickness, and death, by his 
fellow-laborer, 
ELDER JAMES WHITE. 
This is a book that, will be read with the deepest interest by both old 
and young. The first portion of the book pertains to his sea-faring life 
of over twenty years. Here will be found the record of his adventures 
in his passage from cabin-boy to master and owner. Then follows the 
account of his conversion, which took place while on the ocean, and the 
reforms with which he was connected. He was the organizer of the first 
temperance society in New England, and was identified with the advent 
message from its start. Every family should have a copy. 
352 pages. On fine tinted paper, $1.25; Plain white paper,785 cents. 
Address, �
SIGNS OF THE TIM1011, Oakland, Cal. 
HEALDSBURG COLLEGE. 
A MODEL INSTITUTION. 
Instruction given in Ancient and Modern Languages and the Physical 
Sciences. 
Common Branches Thoroughly Taught. Special 
Training for Teachers. 
GREAT SUCCESS. 
This Institution has met with almost Unparalleled Success in 
the short time since its incorporation. 
WHY DOES 'IT PROSPER ? 
The Instruction is very Thorough and Practical. 
The Discipline is Rigid yet Parental. 
The Strong Moral and Religious Influence finds its equal in no other 
Institution of the kind. 
The Expenses of Students for Board, Tuition, etc., come within the 
ability of all. 
The Methods employed in the class-room, and the Professional 
Instruction, afford special advantages to those desiring to teach. 
While its courses embrace all the higher Collegiate Branches, 
which are taught in the most thorough manner, especial attention is given 
to the Common Branches. 
DISCIPLINE. 
One of the prominent features of Healdsburg College is the effort to 
impress upon its students the claims and benefits of morals and religion. 
Any one of known evil habits, who is exerting a pernicious influence upon 
his fellow-students, is not tolerated in the school. 
EXPENSES. 
The tuition ranges from $2.25 to $6.00 per month." Board in private 
families arid in the college boarding-house ranges from $3.00 to $3.50 per 
week, with room cuinpletely furnished. 
ADVANTAGES TO TEACHERS. 
Besides the regular class drills in the different branches, there is given 
occasional instruction concerning methods and genera. school manage- 
m.
A PRIMARY DEPARTMENT 
Iecnotnected with the College to accommodate those children whose par-
ents desire to place them under the instruction and moral influence of the 
school. 
CALENDAR. 
The Spring Term begins January 3, 188C ana closes May 29, 1883 
After a vacation the Fall Term opens July 25, 1883. 
Address, �
S. BROWNSBERGER, A. M., President, 
Healdsburs, Cal. 
—The Parliament buildings at Quebec were burned 
on the 19th inst. 
—Two drunken men stabbed each other to death in 
Stockton, Cal., one day last week. 
—The license upon saloons at Minneapolis, which has 
heretofore been $100, has been raised to $1,500. 
—Curley, another of the Dublin assassins, has been 
convicted and sentenced to be hanged the 18th of May. 
—The report that crops in Colusa County, Cal., were 
badly injured by the late frosts, was without foundation. 
—The Pennsylvania Senate has passed to the third 
reading a bill to prohibit one person from treating 
another. 
—By the falling of the wall of the Grand Army Hall 
e killed, and several 
consisting of 1,000,000 acres 
sold for $2,500,000 to a 
, 
at Sacramento, seven men were 
 
others injured. 
—The Bustiamente tract, consis
, 
in Zacatecas, Mexico, has been so 
London syndicate. 
—The Court House at Coleman City, Tex., was broken 
the criminal indict- 
into one night last week, and all 
ments were destroyed. 
—The firm of James Marshall & Co., iron-pipe man-
ailed, with liabilities 
uilding in Vienna, is 
ufacturers, Philadelphia, have f 
amounting to about $2,000,000. 
—The Austrian Parliament b 
entirely surrounded by mounted police, in consequence 
of threats to destroy it with dynamite. 
—Three thousand emigrants from Liverpool, arrived 
in Chicago in one day last week. Their destinations 
d Colorado. 
n Odessa for nihilism 
were Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, an 
—Fifty persons were arrested i 
last week. They include military officers, young women, 
nd soldiers. 
teachers,.students, workingmen, a 
—Three rafts upset in the great tank at Secundena-
bab, India. while loaded with natives engaged in a re-
ligious ceremony, and sixty-two were drowned, 
—The whipping-post has been revived in Maryland 
ars. The first victim 
eating his wife. 
after an interval of sixty-four ye 
was a man convicted of brutally b 
—During the first nine months of the current fiscal 
is were $108,825,798, 
year the internal revenue receip 
an increase of $251,398 over the corresponding period 
of the last fiscal year. 
--The House of Commons, in further recognition of 
the services in Egypt of Lord Wolseley and Admiral 
20,000 to each yearly, 
Seymour, have voted a grant of 
which, at their death, is to pass to their heirs. 
--The recent trial of eighteen prominent nihilists at 
nviction of all. Six 
St. Petersburg resulted in the co 
were condemned to death, two to life servitude, and the 
rest to imprisonment for fifteen and twenty years. �
. 
decided that the re- 
-The Presbytery of New York 
ligious education of the Chinese in that city comes un-
der the head of foreign missions, and have therefore 
decided not to appropriate money for that purpose. 
o killed his daughter 
acting under direc-
his sanity, acknowl-
ce of the devil, and is 
—Freeman, the insane man wh 
at Pocasset, Mass., claiming to be 
tions from Heaven, has recovered 
edges that he was under the influen 
to be tried for his crime. 
Pt *iglu of Oe 
OAKLAND, CAL., FIFTH-DAY, APRIL 26, 1883. 
Time of Camp-Meetings. 
KANSAS, �
May 17-22 
PENNSYLVANIA, �
May 31 to June 5 
UPPER COLUMBIA, �
June 6-12 
IOWA, �
June 7-12 
WISCONSIN, Portage, �
" 14-19 
MINNESOTA, �
" 21-26 
DAKOTA, �
June 27 to July 2 
TEXAS, Waxahachie, �
July 13-23 
VIRGINIA. �
Aug. 2-7 
OHIO, Galion, Crawford Co., �
" 15-21 
MASSACHUSETTS, �
" 23-28 
VERMONT, �
Aug. 30 to Sept. 4 
MAINE, �
Sept. 6-11 
ILLINOIS, �
" 11-18 
We have not received the appointment of the North 
Pacific Camp-meeting. It will be held near Portland, 
time probably very soon after the Upper Columbia 
meeting. 
Various Matters. 
No SIGNS will be published next week, May 3. We 
expect to attend the meetings appointed in Healdsburg, 
stockholders' meeting, April 27, and general meeting, 
April 28, 29. 
BY telegram we are informed that the Upper Col-
umbia Camp-meeting will be held June 6-12, instead 
of May 30 to June 6, as publisked last week. 
THE Annual Meeting of the Stockholders of the Pub-
lishing Association, and the State Quarterly Meeting of 
the Missionary Society, were of much interest. We are 
not able to give the proceedings this week. 
IN answer to certain queries, coming especially from 
Iowa, we recommend the friends to thoroughly circu-
late a pamphlet published in Battle Creek in 1868, 
written by the editor of the Review, containing com-
plete answers to objections to the Testimonies written 
by Mrs. White. 
Special attention is called to the first article in this 
paper —An Impressive Miracle—by Mrs. E. G. White. 
It is instructive, as all her articles are, and, as the title 
says, it presents an impressive lesson in the great work 
of the Saviour. 
We invite attention also to the article entitled, 
" Bible Truth above Science." It is from Prof. Pet_ 
tingell's work, " The Life Everlasting." We heartily in-
dorse its positions. We have no sympathy with those 
who appear so very solicitous to " harmonize the Bible 
with science," especially when their efforts are pro-
fessedly to save the Bible! We have no fears for the 
Bible; it will stand all the assaults of opposers in the 
future as it has in the past. Miracles are above science. 
To admit that the Bible may be tested by science is to 
admit that it is not what it professes to be. 
The comments on the lessons in the Sabbath-school 
department of the SIGNS are proving highly acceptable 
to the Sabbath-school workers. Much labor is be-
stowed upon them. This department is under the 
charge of our assistant editor, who is a practical Sab-
bath-school helper. 
We spent Sabbath, April 14, in Healdsburg. We 
were much gratified to find their Sabbath-school so 
large; about 160 members. A great responsibility is 
thrown upon the Healdsburg church by the location of 
the College. It is to be feared all will not realize the 
importance of the privileges they enjoy. 
Our visit to the College was very brief, but gratifying, 
The school is prospering, and all seem to be of good 
courage. 
Miss Willard addressed the people of Oakland in the 
First Congregational Church on the evening of April 
12. It is impossible to give any idea of this .address. 
She is thoroughly in earnest and hopeful in her work, 
and has plenty to say. No brief report could do any 
justice to her address; it was full of thought, good 
thoughts, from beginning to end. 
g4p2iintment5. 
Southern California Camp-Meeting. 
THE Southern California Camp-meeting will be held 
May 10-16, at Lemoore, Tulare County. The grounds 
are the same that were occupied three years ago, close 
to the railroad, about two miles east of Lemoore. 
We invite all who can come to be present at this 
meeting. These privileges only come to us once a year 
of spending a week together in seeking the Lord, and 
receiving instruction from his word through his tried 
servants. We are nearing the end, and many of our 
children and neighbors are unconverted. Come, and 
bring them, praying that their hearts may be reached, 
and that they may be converted and become the children 
of the Lord. We shall make all provisions possible 
for the comfort and convenience of those who attend. 
There will be a store and restaurant kept on the ground, 
where provisions will be supplied. If any are not able 
to provide themselves with tents, they can bring bed-
clothes, and a place will be provided for them. All 
who want tents should at once apply to one of the 
committee, or to M. C. Israel, Pacific Press, Oakland, 
so that they may be shipped to the ground in time to 
be set up for them. Rent of 10x12 white tents, $4.00; 
13x15, $6.00, for the time of the meeting. 
A cordial invitation is extended to all to attend this 
meeting. 
Sabbath-School Convention. 
A SABBATH-SCHOOL Convention will be held in con-
nection with the camp-meeting at Lemoore, to consider 
the wants of the Sabbath-schools and devise means of 
supplying such wants. Let all Sabbath-school workers, 
both scholars and teachers, come prepared to ask and 
answer questions pertaining to the best methods of 
carrying forward the work. A Sabbath-school will be 
held on the ground as usual. Classes in New Testa-
ment history will recite the current lesson. Special 
lessons will be prepared for the children, and sent out 
to the schools in season. 
Brethren, don't forget nor neglect the interests of the 
Sabbath-schools, as you make preparation for a suc- 
cessful camp-meeting. �
G. D. BALLOU, 
Pres. of Cal. S. S. Association. 
• 
Meeting at Los Angeles. 
THERE will be a general meeting held at Los An-
geles, in the S. D. A. meeting-house, commencing Friday 
evening, May 18; meetings will continue till the fol-
lowing Monday. At this meeting we hope to see the 
friends throughout the southern field, and as many 
others as can come. It is expected that Sister White 
will attend. Those living in San Diego, Ventura, and 
Bernardino Counties, are especially invited. 
S. N. HASKELL. 
Upper Columbia Camp-Meeting. 
THIS meeting will be held i..11 Milton, Oregon, com-
mencing June 6, and continuing to June 12. The Up-
per Columbia Conference and the other organizations 
will hold their annual meeting in connection with this 
Camp-meeting. Delegates should be elected, and all 
necessary reports be made out in good season. Eld. 
Haskell of the General Conference, and Eld. Boyd of 
the North Pacific Conference will attend. We urge all 
the friends of the cause in Upper Columbia to come to 
this important meeting. �G. W. COLCORD, 
AMBROSE JOHNSON, 
T. L. R AG SDALE, 
Committee. 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES, 
PUBLISHED WEEKLY, AT OAKLAND, CAL., FOR TILE 
Missionary Society of Seventh-day Adventists. 
A twelve-page Religious Family Paper, devoted to a discussion of the 
Prophecies, Signs of the Times, Second Coming of Christ, Harmony of the 
Law and Gospel, with Departments devoted to Temperance, The Home 
Circle, the Missionary Work, and the Sabbath-school. 
�
Price Per Year, �
$2.00 
In Clubs of five or more copies to one address, to be used in. Mis- 
�
sionary Work, �
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1.50 
Address, �
SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal.. 
—OR— 
HARVEY GRAY, 
PETER SCA ZIGHINI, Camp-meeting Corn. 
W. R. SMITH, 
4 
REVIEW AND HERALD, Battle Creek, 
Michigan. 
MRS. ELIZA PALMER, Sec. N. E. Tract 
Society, South Lancaster, Mass. 
ELD. J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH, RAVENS-
wood, Shirley Road, Southamp-
ton, England. 
MRS. C. L. Bon., Salem, Oregon. 
S. E. WHITEIS, Sec. Nebraska T. & M. Society, Fremont, Neb. 
204 �
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. �
Vol,. 9, No. 17. 
White has visited this portion of the State, and it may 
be some length of time before she will again. We are 
anxious to see the cause move, not only in that portion 
of the State where they have the privileges of frequent 
general meetings, but also in those portions of this 
Conference where the brethren are more scattered. 
Come up to this feast, and see what the Lord will do 
for us. �
S. N. HASKELL. 
THE Pacific once more makes room for some one in 
the southern part of the State to get rid of a little 
superfluous venom. Of course it is all directed against 
the " Saturday Adventists," and especially " their paper 
in Oakland," whose position on the Sabbath question he 
proceeds to demolish with an extravagant zeal that is 
equalled only by his lack of knowledge. He fairly 
takes our breath away by the fierceness of his onslaught. 
Eight times, in an article of a column's length, we are 
accused of simple falsehood; twice, of " intellectual 
falsehood;" and once of " sophistical falsehood." We 
have no hard feelings toward this man; we believe he 
has done his best, and has used the best arguments that 
can be found in favor of the Sunday cause. While we 
pity him, our joy is increased to know that we have the 
truth, and are not obliged to resort to such language in 
its support. 
Book Notice. 
ON our table is a copy of the " Autobiography of 
Lorenzo Waugh." We have read this book with a 
good degree of pleasure, more, perhaps, because we 
have been permitted to form an acquaintance with the 
author. " Father Waugh," as he is familiarly called, 
is seventy-four years of age. he entered the ministry 
of the Methodist Church at an early age, and has 
devoted his life to the work of the gospel. We feel 
much drawn toward him because we find him a genial 
old gentleman, a great lover of children, and an earnest 
opposer of tobacco. The book was written for children, 
and on this ground we can excuse the taste manifested 
in the illustrations. The " cuts " will doubtless please 
the children; we cannot suppose they were inserted for 
any other purpose. It is got up in good style, both in 
printing and binding. 
The book is full of interesting incidents, and we trust 
will find a ready sale. It may be had of the author 
at Petaluma, or of the Methodist Depository in San 
Francisco; it may also be procured at this office. Price, 
$1.25; four copies for $5.00. 
Teachers of "Advanced Theology." 
PERHAPS if everybody knew the whole truth about 
the so-called liberal, or advanced thinkers in religion, 
simple-minded Christians would be less blamed for 
refusing to follow their lead. The following from the 
Christian at Work is just what we would naturally 
expect to be the case:— 
But every man, acquainted with the world will still 
insist with Emerson that depravity is at the root of 
much of the free-thinking of this day, as it has been 
in every age during the past. A German professor, 
" whose name is known throughout Christendom," tells 
Joseph Cook, "that it is believed that more than a few 
theological pupils in Holland are immoral men;" and 
Mr. Cook adds, on what he considers adequate testi-
mony for so grave a statement: "There is not a little 
theological discussion in Europe conducted by immoral 
men. It is a fact that men sometimes come out of 
semi-rationalistic theological courses in France and 
Holland with the filth of the pit upon them, and go 
into the State churches as preachers, or into certain 
universities as professors; and when books are published 
by them, all must, forsooth, sit down and pick them to 
pieces, and study them with painstaking candor ; for, 
if we do not, liberalism will criticise us for narrow-
ness." Some of the glamour that now hangs radiant 
around the critical school would quickly vanish if it 
were generally known that it represented not the love 
of knowledge and truth, but only a base desire to make 
"the worse appear the better reason," for the express 
purpose of obtaining unrebuked license to indulge in 
sensuality and sin. 
Meeting in Southern California. 
THIS meeting, which is to be held at Los Angeles the 
week following the Lemoore Camp-meeting, the appoint-
ment of which appears in this paper, will be an im-
portant one for Southern California. The presence of 
Sister White will add much to the interest of the meet-
ing. Provision will be made for all that may come, 
as far as lodging is concerned, as a number of tents 
will be pitched on the ground. Those coming should 
bring straw-ticks and bedding, and come prepared to 
take care of themselves, by having tents furnished for 
lodging. Three times a year ancient Israel was to 
appear before the Lord. When they did this, God 
blessed them in their basket and in their store. There 
never was a time when we as a people needed the special 
help of God more than now. Perils are thickening on 
every hand; dangers are increasing. The religion of 
the Bible, the present truth, should become more of a 
living reality. We want to fasten upon God as never 
before. Those scattered friends in the southern portion 
of the State will have a privilege in this meeting which 
they never have had before, and none can afford to 
lose this opportunity. It is the first time that Sister