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JESUS KNOWS. 
THROUGH all the weary toil of life, 
Through all the battles, all the strife, 
Through all the hours with trouble fraught, 
There's comfort, blessing, in the thought 
That Jesus knows. 
When troubles come, we cannot see 
Why life should full of suffering be, 
And tears come once, again, again, 
'Tis comfort to the sufferer then, 
That Jesus knows. 
When in temptation—through God's love, 
Through strength he gives us from above, 
We feel our love for him still lives, 
We conquer sin—what joy it gives 
That Jesus knows. 
And in temptation when we fall, 
And feel ourselves despised by all, 
And when we feel that we must sink 
Deep into sin, ah! then we think 
That Jesus knows. 
When untold care gnaws at the heart, 
And shows itself despite all art, 
When others call us cross, unkind, 
The sweet thought calms and soothes the mind, 
That Jesus knows. 
And when we feel that we should tell 
The secret sins that in us dwell, 
We scarce need speak; our heads we lay 
On his dear breast, and weeping say 
That Jesus knows. 
Some sad disgrace is known at last; 
Which happened in the weary past, 
And friends pass with averted eye, 
We know he will not pass us by— 
Yet Jesus knows. 
When love proves false, and friends untrue, 
And leave the old friends for the new, 
There's nothing left for us to love, 
Ah! then the thought comes from above, 
That Jesus knows. 
!Ji tneral Artirits. 
The Sons of Samuel. 
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE. 
SAMUEL continued to judge Israel all the days 
of his life. For many years he made an annual 
circuit to Mizpeh, Gilgal, and Ramah, for the ad-
ministration of justice ; at other times performing 
the duties of his office at his home in Ramah. 
With unremitting zeal and devotion he labored for 
the welfare of his people, and the nation prospered 
under his wise control. But with advancing years 
it became necessary to share with others the 
burden of judicial care. Hence while he continued 
to judge the people at Ramah, he appointed his 
SODS to act for him at Bethel and Beersheba. 
These young men had received faithful instruc-
tions from their father, both by precept and ex-
ample. They were not ignorant of the warnings 
And all our sorrows, doubts, and tears, 
And all our longings, hopes, and fears, 
All that we do which leads to shame, 
All that we do for his blest name, 
Our Jesus knows. 
We'll pray to him who always hears, 
We'll trust with him the coming years; 
We'll trust our future to his care, 
He'll show us what we have to bear, 
For Jesus knows. 
And when our feet have safely passed 
All of this earthly road at last, 
We'll take his hand and softly pray, 
Lord, lead us home by the blest way 
That Jesus knows. 
—Selected. 
The Son of God has set an example for all his fol-
lowers. They are not to court the praise of men, 
not to seek for themselves ease or wealth, but to 
emulate his life of purity and self-denial at what-
ever cost. While preserving the meekness of 
Christ, they are to wage war with iniquity, and 
to push the triumphs of the cross. Selfishness 
will not dwell in the Christian's heart. He will 
not manifest a disregard for the rights of others. 
God's law commands us to love our neighbor as 
ourselves, to suffer no evil to be instituted against 
him which we can hinder. But the rule which 
Christ has given extends still further. Said the 
world's Redeemer, " Love one another, as I have 
loved you." Nothing short of this can reach the 
standard of Christianity. 
Universal Depravity. 
0 
"Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work Rha11 be." Rev. 22 : 12. 
VOLUME 8. �
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, FIFTH-DAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1882. �
NUMBER 5. 
'Ott Hinz of thr 
PUBLISHED WEEKLY, FOR THE 
S. D. A. MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 
[For terms, etc., see last page.] 
given to Eli, and the divine judgments visite 
upon him and his house. They were apparentl 
men of sterling virtue and integrity, as well as o 
intellectual promise. It was with the full assen 
of the people that Samuel shared with his sons th 
responsibilities of office. But the characters o 
these young men were yet to be tested. Separate 
from their father's influence, it would be see 
whether they were true to the principles which h 
had taught them. The result showed that Samue 
had been painfully deceived in his sons. Lik 
many young men of to-day who have been blesse 
with good abilities, they perverted their God-give 
powers. The honor bestowed upon them rendere 
them proud and self-sufficient. They did no 
make the glory of God their aim, nor did the 
seek earnestly to him for strength and wisdom 
Yielding to the power of temptation, they becam 
avaricious, selfish, and unjust. God's word de 
dares that " they walked not in his ways, bu 
turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and per-
verted judgment." 
In all this they were disregarding the will of 
their Divine Sovereign. The Lord had through 
Moses given special directions to his people that 
the rulers of Israel should judge righteously, deal 
justly with the widow and fatherless, and receive 
no bribes. It were well for the nations of the 
earth to-day, if these instructions were obeyed by 
the rulers and judges of the people. How im-
portant that all who are entrusted with the re-
sponsibility of government should be men who fear 
God, and labor unselfishly for the welfare of the 
human brotherhood. It is their work to judge 
with equity, maintaining the right of the stranger, 
relieving the oppressed, spurning every bribe to 
clear the guilty or punish the innocent. The 
well-being of society calls for men of moral in-
tegrity in legislative halls and courts of justice. 
Our churches are in need of those to minister in 
holy office who shall be men of honor, of piety, of 
purity ; who shall be sanctified by the Spirit and 
by the word. 
A corrupting power stands in prominent places. 
How often are we painfully startled at the an- 
nouncement that men of talent, men in positions 
of usefulness and honor, have betrayed their trust, 
and appropriated to themselves the public money, 
or worse still, the treasured pittance of the widow 
and fatherless. Had these men made the word of 
God their guide, they would not thus have fallen. 
That word contains plain, definite instruction, 
adapted to every possible complication of social and 
public interests. Every plan and purpose of life 
should be subjected to this unerring test. The 
word of inspiration is the wisdom of God applied 
to human affairs. However advantageous a 
certain course may appear to finite judgment, if 
denounced by that word it will be only evil in its 
results. 
It may be a difficult matter for men in high 
positions to pursue the path of undeviating in-
tegrity whether they shall receive praise or 
censure. Yet this is the only safe course. All the 
rewards which they might gain by selling their 
honor would be only as the breath from polluted 
lips, as dross to be consumed in the fire. Those 
who have moral courage to stand in opposition 
to the vices and errors of their fellow-men—it 
may be of those whom the world honor—will 
receive hatred, insult, and abusive falsehood. 
They may be thrust down from their high posi- 
tion, because they would not be bought or sold, 
because they could not be induced by bribes or 
threats to stain their hands with iniquity. Every- 
thing on earth ainay seem to conspire against 
them ; but God has set his seal upon his own 
work. They may be regarded by their fellow- 
men as weak, unmanly, unfit to hold office ; but 
how differently does the Most High regard them. 
Those who despise them are the really ignorant. 
While the storms of calumny and reviling may 
pursue the man of integrity through life, and beat 
e 
n 
e 
1 
d 
n 
d 
t 
e
t 
d upon his grave, God has the " well done " pre-
y pared for him. Folly and iniquity will at best 
f yield only a life of unrest and discontent, and at 
t its close a thorny dying pillow. And how many, 
e as they view their course of action and its results, 
f are led to end with their own hands their disgrace-
ful career. And beyond all this waits the Judg-
ment, and the final, irrevocable doom, Depart ! 
Samuel had labored earnestly to correct the 
erroneous customs introduced by the sons of Eli, 
and especially to counteract the spirit of greed 
and selfishness fostered by their course. The sons 
of the prophet should have employed their author-
ity to carry forward the reforms instituted by 
their father. Instead of this, their own example 
greatly hindered the work dreform. Their pro-
motion to office was the cause of their ruin. The 
love of gain controlled them, Bribes perverted 
their judgment, and smothered their protests 
against sin. How many, like these judges of 
Israel, enter upon their work with good purposes, 
but failing to make God's word their guide, they 
are flattered by worldlings, weakened by pros-
perity, until their moral power as reformers is 
gone, their hands nerveless to set things in order. 
THEY talk of the dignity of human nature. 
Alas, there is no such thing! There once was, 
when the nature was stainless; but they forget 
that the blight has marred its beauty, and has 
stricken its strength, and that the only moral 
dignity it can boast of now is the dignity of the 
criminal saved, by the monarch's clemency, from 
the doom of the headsman or the gallows. You 
may try the experiment in its varied aspects for 
yourselves. 
You may take a child in what you call its in-
nocence and its sensibility, and deeming, with 
some among us, that all children are born good, 
you assiduously instruct it in the principles of 
morals, and you may carefully seclude it from 
the contagion of evil example, and you may 
write upon its fresh young heart the benevolent 
affections, and the holy name of God; and, then, 
you may watch gradually for the development of" 
the nature that you have thus started and, 
trained. Ah! but you were too late in the field.. 
You deemed that your inscription was the 
first that was written there, but the enemy had 
been at work before you; the heart had been 
overwritten before you got to it. Let the pas-
sions play upon the opening mind, hold it up to 
the lamp of opportunity, and, in hell's dark 
cipher, you can trace the blurred and mishapen 
characters of crime; in the failure of your cher- 
ished experiment you discover that even prime 
ministers, how cleverly they may wield the des-
tinies of empires, are but clumsy theologians, and 
that there is another attestation to the truth of 
the declaration of the Bible, that man goeth 
astray even from the womb, and that every im-
agination of the heart is only evil continually. 
There are times, I know, when the evil nature 
will, as the chemist says, precipitate. You may 
I HAVE a pledge from Christ, have his note of 
hand, which is my support, my refuge, and 
heaven; and though the world should rage, to 
this security I cling. How reads it ? "Lo, I am 
with you always, even unto the end of the world." 
If Christ be with me, what' shall I fear ? If he is 
mine, all the powers of the earth to me are noth-
ing more than the spider's web.—St. Chrysostom. 
" KNOW ye not that the friendship of the world 
is enmity with God ? " 
50 �
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. �VoL, 8, No. 5. �
4 
look upon a lake as it sleeps beneath the sum-
mer's sun, and sparkles its beams when its blue 
depths are clear and calm, and you would never 
imagine that it could be lashed into a thing of 
storm; but let the blast of winter come, and 
there shall be a darkness, a swelling upon the 
turbid waters, and they shall foam out their own 
rage. 
The gospel proceeds upon the basis of uni-
versal depravity, the gospel assimilates all varieties 
of human nature into one common experience of 
guilt, and need, and helplessness, and this is just 
that which you do not like about it. I know 
that full well; it is just this part of the gospel 
against which the man of graceful generosity 
feels the most disposed to fret and to rebel. He 
cannot brook it that he should be put with pub-
licans and harlots, with the skum and offscour-
ing of mankind upon one common platform; he 
cannot brook it, that it should require just as 
much to redeem him as is required to redeem the 
foulest and the most abandoned of the race. 
And there is no help for it.—Rev. W. �
Punshon. 
Church Amusements. 
" The young people must have recreations 
and amusements." 
 
Yes, and they can invent them without ecclesi-
astical aid. The church is not to be made a bu- 
reau of amusements for the world. It is bought 
with the blood of Christ to witness for him and 
" rescue the perishing." Work and not play, is 
its mission. 
Christ and the apostles never dreamed that the 
administration of the gospel could ever be made 
an entertainment for the world. Read 2 Tim. 4 : 
1-8; Tit. 2 : 1-15. 
" Bishop Simpson, before the Methodist Gen-
eral Council, advocated church entertainments to 
counteract the theater and the opera." 
Yes, and he might as well have advocated wine-
drinking, or petty larceny. These rude dramat- 
ics in the churches whet the appetite for the real 
thing and swell the throng at the play-house. 
Probably the attendance of church members at 
the theater and opera has doubled since these 
church dramatics began, and the testimony of 
the pulpit against the play-house has been si-
lenced or multiplied. A Methodist minister lately 
made the following public statement : " Twenty-
five years ago 1 used to hear the Methodist Church 
talk of converting the world; but I have to see 
the world convert the Methodist Church "—sad 
spectacle so far as true. 
Instead of " Lyceums " in the churches to get 
up entertainments, and " train young people to 
have confidence before an audience so that they 
can be office bearers," would it not be better to 
revive the old Wesleyan class-meeting ? We 
should overcome evil with good, and not with 
evil (Rom. 12 : 21). 
" Well, such severe Puritan views might do 
fifty years ago, but this is an era of progress, 
and you cannot run churches in that way now." 
Truth is as fixed as a star, eternally. There is 
no progress in it. We only discover new truths, 
but old ones do not change. Ruin, redemption 
and regeneration are the same as when Paul rung 
them out on the ears of a perishing world. Men 
are born, and born again, just as they were when 
Christ preached to Nicodemus. God does not 
want audiences drawn to the church by these 
unblest entertainments, and he does not want the 
unconsecrated pelf of the uncircumcised. The 
intellectual and material progress of the times is 
unquestionably amazing, but for its moral and 
spiritual progress, see God's forecast.—Matt. 24 : 
37-42; 2 Tim. 3 : 1-8. 
" Still it does seem to me that these enter-
tainments make religion pleasing and attract the 
young to Christ." 
They make irreligion attracting and there is no 
Christ in them to attract any one. They make 
" lovers of pleasures" but not "lovers of God." 
It must be the worldly and carnal element in 
in them that attracts carnal hearts. The play-
house employs this element and studies to 
please;" but the church employs the truth and 
Spirit and " studies to save." When we remove 
the offense of the Cross and please men we are 
not the servants of God. We convert the world 
not by conformity but by contrast. Whenever 
the church has been most holy and separate from 
the world it has been most triumphant in the 
conquest. What pleases carnal hearts cannot 
please God nor convert the world. 
And now let me close with this solemn declar-
ation and testimony; the churches that are pur-
suing this policy of attracting the world by enter-
tainments and converting it by conformity, are 
repudiating the fundamental principles of Chris-
tianity, going into final apostacy, and preparing 
to be spewed out of the mouth of the Lord. I 
utter this with profound convictions and heartfelt 
grief, present the clear confirmations of God's 
word, and leave to God's judgment all those who 
shun the light. See Rom. 12 : 2; Born. 8 : 5-10; 
Gal. 1 : 10, 11; Gal. 5 : 11; 2 Cor. 6 : 14-18; 2 
Tim. 3 : 4, 5; John 15 : 18-22; Rev. 3 : 14-22.—
Rev. E. P. Marvin (Presbyterian). 
Theater-Going. 
Power of Littles. 
Chasing Lies. 
A LIE is a bad thing to run at large. It dam-
ages, rages, devours. More poisonous than a ser-
pent, it often ruins not only health but reputation 
and usefulness. Every lie should be stopped. But 
whose business is it to chase a lie ? Who let it 
loose ? The man who let it loose is bound to catch 
it again ; but a man of truth is under no obliga-
tion to chase and catch other people's lies. Sup-
pose some man or a dozen men send forth a false-
hood about me, am I obliged to spend my days 
and years in chasing it and contradicting it? By 
no means. Let those who made it attend to their 
own word or meet the responsibility of it in the 
reckoning day. Every man concerned in sending 
forth a false statement must purge himself of it, 
or give account to God for what he has done. 
God holds men to very strict accountability in 
these respects, and every man who thinks to dwell 
in God's tabernacle must look well to his words 
and " refrain his lips that they speak no guile."—
The Safeguard. 
WHEN afflictions overtake us, we should recog-
nize them as friends; for on some basis in the line 
of God's providence they are intended for our 
good. If as clouds they intervene between our 
souls and the Sun of the spiritual world, they may 
have originated in the impurity of our own 
hearts, and, as the atmosphere by which life is 
sustained, would become the reservoir of death if 
never agitated and purified by the storms. So 
must our tranquility be disturbed by affliction, 
lest inactivity and forgetfulness of God should 
end in spiritual death.—Rev. D. Trueman. 
" BLESSED is the man that walketh not in the 
counsel of the ungodly." 
IN a former article, I have endeavored to show 
that ecclesiastical entertainments to raise money 
for the Lord are contrary to the precepts and 
examples of his word and therefore they cannot 
please him ; that they are belittling, contemptible, 
and often positively dishonest ; that they abate 
the spirit of gospel benevolence in the church, 
and bring it under bondage to the world ; that 
they usually involve the desecration of our places 
of worship ; that amateur dramatics silence the 
testimony of the pulpit against the stage, and 
even promote its interests; that they turn aside 
the church from its legitimate calling and fritter 
away its time, energies and spirituality; in fine, 
that they blight the spiritual life and usefulness, 
and open the door to almost every species of car-
nality and worldliness. All these points can easily 
be fortified with the sure word of God, and God 
will judge those who shut their eyes to this testi-
mony. 
It remains for me to present some gospel prin-
ciples for the consideration of brethren in the 
Lord who approve of ecclesiastical entertainments 
on the ground that " they make the church and 
religion attractive to the world, and especially to 
the young." They tell us truly, that- 
"Molasses catches more flies than vinegar." 
But we are dealing with men, and not flies—
men who have reason and conscience. Besides, 
molasses kills flies. Better use bitter medicine 
than honeyed poison. Wholesome truth is better 
than pleasing error. God's command and Christ's 
example teach us (Jonah 3 : 2 ; Matt. 11 : 20-24). 
" We must correct the impression among 
the young that religion is gloomy and long-faced, 
and that it is a sin to laugh." 
So far as this impression exists, it seems to me 
due chiefly to these play-people of the church 
themselves, who have no religion at all, or just 
little enough to make them miserable in it ; who 
have no joy in God's salvation, but must resort 
to scenes of worldly and carnal mirth for all their 
pleasure, and only endure the formal yoke of 
Christ to escape something worse hereafter. Let 
these ecclesiastical pleasure-lovers undertake to 
carry on a social prayer and conference meeting 
in the presence of outsiders with whom they had 
joined the night before in the lascivious mazes of 
the dance, or the carnal mirth of a church fair, 
and see if they would not feel blue and make re-
ligion appear blue to these spectators. A world-
ling working at religion is in the gloomiest busi-
ness in the world ; but a Christian with the full-
ness of the blessing of the gospel in his heart, 
rejoices in the unspeakable privilege. 
But it does not become us to cultivate irrever-
'ence, frivolity, and folly to attract the world. We 
-are not to turn montebanks for the amusement of 
'this world, cultivate the laughter of fools, and 
ehdeavor to attract the world by showing how 
Christians can be jolly. This policy of attraction 
has not unfrequently been carried a little too far 
in ecclesiastical meetings, to the shame and grief 
of the godly. Christianity gives joy to the heart; 
but while so many millions of souls are perishing, 
it also inculcates an earnest, a serious, and a useful 
life. When David Hume complained that the 
Christians he met looked sad, he was told that 
the sight of such a man as he, was enough to 
sadden any one.-2 Cor. 5 :13; Acts 20 : 18-38 : 
Luke 19 : 41-44. 
WHY is theater-going sinful? The evil here is 
quite sufficiently marked to prevent one who 
wishes to lead a consistent Christian life from 
becoming a habitue of theaters. 1. The stage 
always caters to the lascivious and immoral 
classes of our cities—not in every play—but 
always in a sufficient number of them to attract 
those classes. We need not specify how this is 
done. Every habitual theater-goer knows how 
it is done. 2. The stage always, though not in 
every play, makes flings at religion. It is popu-
lar with the immoral classes who are to be at-
tracted. 3. The stage teaches a maudlin and 
often a false system of morality. It sometimes 
teaches a pure and lofty morality, but the rule is 
the other way, 4. It gives false views of life, 
just as the sensational French novel does. Per-
sons who have no prejudice against theaters from 
churchly education, know and admit that these 
objections are well founded. Therefore it is not 
well for Christians to give encouragement to such 
institutions, nor, by their example, to lead others 
into them.—Interior. 
A SINGLE bitter word may disquiet an entire 
family for a whole day. One surly glance casts 
a gloom over the household, while a smile, like a 
gleam of sunshine, may light up the darkest and 
weariest hours. Like unexpected flowers which 
spring up along our path, full of freshness, fra-
grance and beauty, do kind words, and gentle 
acts, and sweet dispositions, make glad the home 
where peace and blessings dwell. No matter how 
humble the abode, if it be thus garnished with 
grace and sweetened with kindness and smiles, 
the heart will turn lovingly towards it from all 
the tumult of the world ; it will be the dearest 
spot beneath the circuit of the sun. And the 
influences of home perpetuate themselves. The 
gentle grace of the mother lives in the daughter 
long after her head is pillowed in the dust of 
death, and the father kindly finds his echo in the 
nobility and courtesy of his sons, who come to 
wear his mantle and fill his place ; while on the 
other hand, from an unhappy, misgoverned, and 
disordered home, go forth persons who shall make 
homes miserable, and perpetuate the sourness and 
sadness, the contentions and strifes and railings, 
which have made their own early lives so wretched 
and distorted. And what is here said of home 
life is only less true of school life.--Southern Work-
man. 
When Israel marched out of Egypt, they made 
their first encampment under the shelter of green 
boughs at Succoth. And for more than fifteen 
hundred years the Hebrew nation by the com-
mand of God left their houses, and dwelt one 
whole week in tabernacles of green boughs, to 
commemorate the encampment of their fathers 
under the palm branches of Succoth. These sea-
sons of sacred recreation were fraught with both 
physical and spiritual blessings to Israel. God's 
people still need seasons of quiet and reflection—
seasons in which the soul may undisturbed com-
mune with its Maker. The great work which has 
been committed to our hands cannot be best car-
ried forward in excitement and confusion. That 
calm deliberation so essential to sound judgment 
can often be best secured in some quiet retreat 
where the thoughtful mind and pure heart can 
be prompted by the still, small voice. These for-
est and mountain homes have great blessings for 
those who are wearied physically or mentally. 
Wisely has an Am erican poet counseled :— 
" If thou art worn and hard beset 
With trials that thou wouldst forget, 
Go to the fields and hills; no tears 
Dim the sweet look that Nature wears." 
MRS. E. G. WHITE. 
"I Love Your Jesus." 
FEBRUARY 2, 1882. �THE-4; SIG1\TS OF TIT �
TIM-ES. �
51 
4 
phere is mild and balmy, the surrounding heights 
seeming to modify the temperature, shutting off 
storms and chilling currents. While in many 
parts of our country the trees are in winter 
stripped of their foliage, and the bare, skeleton-
like frames speak of death and decay, the trees 
here are green throughout the year. The bright 
sunbeams, pouring their glory on the living verd-
ure of the madrona, the manzanita, the fir, the pine, 
and the California laurel, delight the senses, and 
fill the heart with gratitude to God. 
Many have gladly availed themselves of the 
advantages for rest and recreation afforded by 
the mountain home at this place. We found 
here one family, eight in number, comprising 
three generations, mother, daughters, and grand-
daughters. For five months they have here 
enjoyed freedom from the claims of society and 
the restrictions of fashionable life. All were in-
disposed when they left Oakland, some suffering 
from continual colds, and others from general 
debility; but during their stay in the mountains 
they have greatly improved in health. In the 
city they thought it a task to walk even a short 
distance; but as they enjoyed the fresh, mountain 
air, the pure water, and the restful quiet of this 
home, they were soon able to climb the steep 
ascents, and daily to walk miles without incon-
venience. 
I could but think of the large sums paid annu-
ally in doctors' bills, or in the purchase of hurtful 
or poisonous drugs. If the means thus often 
worse than wasted could be spent in visiting such 
a resort as is afforded in this delightful place, how 
many might be benefited physically and mentally. 
Our people should purchase this establishment, 
and make of it a Hygienic Institute, as was the 
original intention of its founders. New buildings 
ought to be erected, and all needed facilities added 
to make it in all respects a first-class institution. 
It should be opened in the spring for the reception 
of patients. 
"The groves were God's first temples;" and still 
he speaks to us in the fields, the forests, and the 
mountains, as verily as in the house of prayer. 
The prophets and poets of the Bible were keenly 
susceptible to the beauty of the leafy woods. The 
psalmist calls upon the trees to praise the Lord ; 
and the prophet Isaiah declares that all the trees 
of the field shall clap their hands in that day 
when the word of the Lord shall have accom-
plished its work of salvation among men. 
AN English lady writing from Syria, says that 
the Mohammedan girls there are singing our 
beautiful hymns in Arabic. " Safe in the Arms 
of Jesus," is a great favorite. A little Moslem 
girl accounted for her preference for the Chris-
tian religion by saying, " I like your Jesus be-
cause he loved little girls. Our Mohammed did 
not love little girls." With unerring instinct, she 
had seized upon at least one of the great differ-
ences between the two religions. 
No better reason could be given by any one 
for loving Jesus. The Apostle John says: " We 
love him because he first loved us." He not only 
loved little girls, but he loved everybody.—Censer. 
Among the Mountains. 
THE Health Retreat at St. Helena is situated 
upon a mountain side commanding an extensive 
view of the surrounding country. During my 
stay here, the sublime and beautiful scenery spread 
out before me, was a source of increasing interest 
and delight. In the valley are dwellings and cul-
tivated lands. Beyond are the mountains, rising 
peak above peak until they seem to touch the 
blue ether of the heavens. There from age to 
age they have stood, like silent sentinels, di-
recting our eyes upward, and telling us of the 
unchanging power and glory of the infinite God. 
His word of promise is more immutable than the 
everlasting hills. " The mountains shall depart, 
and the hills be removed ; but his kindness shall 
not depart, neither shall the covenant of peace 
be removed from those that put their trust in 
him." Oh that we could ever cast fear and anxi-
ety from our hearts, and find secure, satisfying 
rest in Jesus ! And we can do this, if we will 
look upward to God with constancy and faith, as 
the mountain heights forever look to the clouds 
and the sky. 
The morning sun pours its new glories upon 
these mountains of God, while in the valley, mists 
and clouds are rolling like the billows of the sea. 
In the distance they appear white as the drifted 
snow in the noonday sun. Soon they roll swiftly 
up the mountain steeps, until they reach the sum-
mit, and shut out from us the bright rays of the 
sun. A few moments, and all is clear again, and 
the sunlight rests on the bald mountain tops. 
There is enough to feast the imagination in the 
scenes of nature. Surely, no one who loves the 
sublime and the beautiful could be lonely among 
these grand old mountains. 
The mountain heights and rocky fastnesses 
have ever been the friendly refuge of God's people 
when oppressed and hunted by their enemies. 
For hundreds of years the Waldenses worshiped 
God amid the mountain solitudes, and there de-
fied the armies of kings and emperors. On their 
rocky heights, in sight of their enemies, they 
sang the praise of Him who made the hills ; and 
no opposing power could silence their hymns of 
lofty cheer:— 
" For the strength of the hills we bless thee, 
Our God, our fathers' God ! 
Thou hast made thy children mighty 
By the touch of the mountain sod. 
"Thou hast fixed our ark of refuge 
Where the spoiler's foot ne'er trod ; 
For the strength of the hills we bless thee, 
Our God, our fathers' God ! " 
Among the blessings of the lot of Ephraim and 
Manasseh, Moses enumerated " the chief things 
of the ancient mountains, and the precious things 
of the lasting hills." In his last prophetic words 
to the tribes of Israel, he dwelt with peculiar 
earnestness upon the precious things of the hills. 
While the chosen people were wandering in the 
desert, he encouraged them by describing their 
promised inheritance as a land of hills and valleys; 
a land that drinketh water of the rain of heaven; 
a land upon which the eyes of the Lord rest for 
good throughout the year. To those who have 
lived in a level country, there is something pecul-
iarly inspiring in the sight of the mountains. And 
all who have dwelt amid their wild and romantic 
scenery must ever long for the high places of the 
earth. I have never enjoyed the privilege of 
gazing upon the hills of Palestine, but I can look 
upon the mountains of our own land, and behold 
the wisdom and love of the Creator. 
As I stood among the hills, I thought how cen-
turies ago our Saviour came to the groves and 
mountains to worship God. The most costly and 
beautiful structure which man can devise is not 
to be compared with the solemn grandeur of 
these mountain sanctuaries. To such retreats 
Jesus often led his disciples. With the beautiful 
scenes of nature, he associated lessons of divine 
truth. Afar from the bustle and strife of the 
haunts of men, he strove to turn the hearts of rich 
and poor from the perishable treasures of earth 
to the unfading glories of the world to come. 
The hills and forests furnish a blessed retreat 
for those who, weary of the din and confusion of 
city life, desire to enjoy communion with nature. 
And the invigorating air and sunshine bring new 
life to the over-tasked and weary. In all my 
journeyings, east and west, north and south, I 
have seen no place which offered so many and so 
great advantages as are offered at St. Helena. 
Here the hills pour forth their treasures in streams 
and fountains of the purest water. The atmos- 
The Jew's Longevity. 
" THESE are the beasts of which ye shall eat." 
So says the portion of the law and though the 
text be old and oft used there may yet remain 
something to be said. 
That the Jews are the physical superiors of 
their neighbors is unquestioned. The best sci-
entists admit the fact which, to skeptics, statistics 
will prove. The Jews are longer lived and less 
susceptible to contagious diseases than any other 
people. Subject as they are to the same climatic 
influences, " heated and cooled by the same sum-
mer and winter," liable, from without, to the same 
dangers of disease, there must be some point of 
difference between this people and others to cause 
the superior longevity. That it is not the result 
of accident is self-evident, for Nature works by 
law ; and the very first principle of science teaches 
us to seek a cause for effects which we observe. 
The only physical point of difference between Jew 
and Gentile is the former's observance of the di-
etary laws, and with only this difference—the 
Jew outlives his neighbor. Is it not, then, the 
logical conclusion that this observance has caused 
the increased longevity ? 
It may be argued that within recent years these 
laws have been neglected, and that there has been 
no decrease in the average of Jewish life. True 
enough, but the steady growth of thirty-five cent-
uries cannot be checked in one or even half-a-dozen 
generations. Those who to-day violate the di-
etary laws, sin less against themselves than against 
their descendants. Just as observers of the laws 
have been blessed " to the thousandth generation " 
by longer lease of life, freedom from disease and 
consequent increased happiness ' • just so will non-
observers be punished. It will need no especial 
intervention of providence to bring the penalty. 
We can well foresee it for ourselves. By the 
same immutable law that attention to health laws 
brings health, will their disregard cause disease. 
It is not true that these laws were designed 
for only a certain clime and time. They are 
eternal truths, as is proven in the two thousand 
years of Israel's dispersion through all lands, in 
which time and countries the laws have been ob-
served and their observance rewarded, and it is 
for us to decide whether we will lengthen or 
shorten our children's lives by obeying or neg-
lecting these laws of the " animals which we may 
eat."—American Hebrew. 
A True Lady. 
WILDNESS is a thing which girls cannot afford. 
Delicacy is a thing which cannot be lost or found. 
No art can restore the grape its bloom. Famil-
iarity without confidence, without regard, is de-
structive to all that makes women exalting and 
ennobling. It is the first duty of a woman to be 
a lady. Good breeding is good sense. Bad man-
ners in a woman is immorality. Awkwardness 
may be ineradicable. Bashfulness is constitu-
tional. Ignorance of etiquette is the result of 
circumstances. All can be condoned, and not 
banish men or women from the amenities of their 
kind. But self possessed, unshrinking, and ag-
gressive coarseness of demeanor may be reckoned 
as a State's prison offense, and certainly merits 
that mild form of restraint called imprisonment 
for life. It is a shame for women to be lectured 
on their mannev. It is a bitter shame that they 
need it. Do not be restrained. Do not have im-
pulses that need restraint. Carry yourself so 
lofty that men will look up to you for reward, not 
at you in rebuke. The natural sentiment of man 
toward woman is reverence. He loses a large 
means of grace when he is obliged to account her 
a being to be trained in propriety. A man's ideal 
is not wounded when a woman fails in worldly 
wisdom; but if in grace, in tact, in sentiment, in 
delicacy, in kindness she should be found wanting, 
he receives an inward hurt. —Gail Hamilton. 
A CERTAIN amount of opposition is a great help 
to man. Kites rise against and not with the wind. 
Even a head wind is better than none. No man 
ever worked his passage anywhere in a dead calm. 
Let no man wax pale, therefore, because of oppo-
sition.—John Neal. 
THE true. Christian, amidst all the diversities 
of opinion, searches for the holy in desire, for the 
good in counsel, for the just in works; and he 
loves the good, under whatever temple, at what-
ever altar, he may find them.—Sidney Smith. 
52 �
TI-IE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. �
VoL. 8, No. 5. 
MARK 9 : 43, 44.: " And if thy hand offend thee, cut it 
off : it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than hav-
ing two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be 
quenched : where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not 
quenched." 
Twice our Lord repeats this solemn sentence 
against the wicked, " Where their worm dieth not, 
and the fire is not quenched." Verses 46, 48. 
These 'passages are relied on with as much assur-
ance perhaps, as any, to prove the eternal misery 
of the reprobate. If this language had never been 
used by any of the inspired writers of the Scrip-
ture4, till it was thus used in the New Testament, 
it might be urged with some degree of plausibility, 
as an expressive imagery of eternal torment. But 
even, in this case, it might be replied that fire, so 
far as we have any experience with it, or knowl-
edge of its nature, invariably consumes that upon 
which it preys, and hence must be a symbol of 
complete destruction ' • and that the expression, as 
it occurs in Mark 9 :44, can denote nothing less 
than the utter consumption of those who are cast 
into that fire. 
But this expression was one which was well 
known and understood by those whom Christ was 
addressing. Isaiah and Jeremiah frequently use 
the figure of the undying worm and quenchless 
fire. In their familiar scriptures the people daily 
read these expressions. Let us see what idea they 
would derive from them. We turn to Jeremiah 
17 : 27, and read :— 
" But if ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the Sabbath-
day, and not bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of 
Jerusalem on the Sabbath-day ; then will I kindle a fire in 
the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusa-
lem, and it shall not be quenched." 
From this text we certainly can learn the mean-
ing that was attached to the expression, unquench-
able fire," by the Hebrew people. This fire was 
not to be quenched, therefore it was unquenchable. 
But it was to be kindled in the gates of Jerusalem, 
and devour the palaces thereof. . It was therefore 
literal, natural fire. But how could a fire of this 
kind, thus kindled, be supposed to be a fire 
that would burn eternally? They certainly would 
not so understand it. No more should we. More-
over, this threatening of the Lord by Jeremiah 
was fulfilled. 2 Chron. 36 : 19 : " And they 
burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall 
of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof 
with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels 
thereof." Verse 21. " To fulfill the word of the 
Lord by Jeremiah." Thus Jerusalem was burned 
according to Jeremiah's prediction that it should 
be consumed in unquenchable fire. But how long 
did that fire burn ? Only till it had reduced to 
ashes the gates and palaces on which it preyed. 
Unquenchable fire is therefore simply a fire that 
is not quenched, or does not cease, till it has 
entirely consumed that which causes or supports 
it. Then it dies out of itself, because there is 
nothing more to burn. The expression does not 
mean a fire that must absolutely eternally burn, 
and that consequently all that is cast therein to 
feed the flame must forever be preserved by hav-
ing the portion consumed immediately renewed. 
To the wicked the threatened fire is unquench-
able because it will not be quenched, or caused to 
cease, till it has entirely devoured them. 
Ps. 37 : 20 : " But the wicked shall perish, and the ene-
mies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs ; they shall con-
sume ; into smoke shall they consume away." Mal. 4 : 3 : 
" And ye shall tread down the wicked ; for they shall be 
ashes under the soles of your feet in the slay that I shall do 
this saith the Lord of hosts." 
Ezekiel speaks of unquenchable fire in a similar 
manner. 
Eze. 20 : 47, 48 : " Thus saith the Lord God : Behold I 
will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree 
in thee, and every dry tree ; the flaming flame shall not be 
quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be 
burned therein. And all flesh shall see that I the Lord have 
kindled it ; it shall not be quenched." 
Though this is doubtless figurative language, 
denoting sore calamities upon a certain land called 
the forest of the south field, it nevertheless furn-
ishes an instance of how the expression, unquench-
able fire, was then used and understood; for that 
generation many ages ago perished, and those 
judgments long since ceased to exist. 
Isaiah not only speaks of the unquenchable fire, 
but he couples with it the undying worm, the 
same as the language in Mark : 
Isa. 66 : 24 : " And they shall go forth and look upon the 
carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me ; for 
their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched, 
and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh." 
This is undoubtedly the language from which 
the expression in Mark is borrowed ; but a mo-
ment's examination of it will show that the worm 
is not the remorse of a guilty conscience, but that, 
like the fire, it is something external to, and 
distinct from, the objects upon which it preys; and 
moreover that those upon whom it feeds are not 
the living, but the dead : it is the " carcasses" of 
the men that have trangressed against the Lord. 
In Isaiah. 14 : 11, and 51 : 8, the prophet again 
speaks of the worm as an agent of destruction, 
but it is always in connection with death. It is 
thus evident that the terms employed by our Lord 
in describing the doom of the wicked would con-
vey to the minds of his hearers the very opposite 
of the idea of eternal life in misery. 
There is other evidence, though no other is 
necessary, to show that the idea which would be 
conveyed, and which the language was designed 
to convey to their minds, was that of complete 
extinction of being, an titter consumption by ex-
ternal elements of destruction. The word trans-
lated hell in the passage under consideration is 
ge-enna. It is better to enter into life maimed, 
than to go, in full possession of all our members 
and faculties, into ge-enna. Did those to whom 
Christ spoke know anything about this place, and 
what kind of a fate awaited those who were cast 
therein ? A vivid picture of the place of torment 
to which our Lord refers was in constant operation 
before their eyes; near by Jerusalem. 
Greenfield defines the word thus :— 
"Gehenna, the valley of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem, once 
celebrated for the horrid worship of Moloch and afterward 
polluted with every species of filth, as well as the carcasses of 
animals and dead bodies of malefactors ; to consume which, 
in order to avert the pestilence which such a mass of corrup-
tion would occasion, constant fires were kept burning." 
Such was the fire of Gehenna ; not a fire into 
which people were cast to be kept alive and tort-
ured, but' one into which they were cast to be 
oonsumed ; not one which was designed to prey 
upon living beings, but upon the carcasses of ani-
mals and the dead bodies of malefactors. Hence 
we can see the consistency of associating the fire 
and the worm together. Whatever portion of 
the dead body the fire failed to consume, the 
worm would soon seize upon and devour. If a 
person had been condemned to be cast alive into 
this place, as the wicked will be cast into their 
Gehenna, what would have been his hope of es-
cape? If the fire could have been speedily 
quenched before it had taken his life, and the 
worms which consumed what the fire left, could 
have been destroyed, he might have had some 
hope of coming out alive ; but if this could not 
be done, he would know of a surety that his life 
would soon become extinct, and then even his 
lifeless remains would be utterly consumed by 
these agents of destruction. 
This was the scene to which Christ pointed his 
hearers to represent the doom that awaits the 
wicked ; that, as they gazed upon the work of 
complete destruction going on in the valley of 
Hinnom, the worms devouring what the flames 
spared, they might learn that in the future Ge-
henna which awaited them, no part of their being 
would be exempt from utter and complete de-
struction, one agent of death completing what 
another failed to accomplish. 
As the definition of the word ge-enna throws 
great light on the meaning of this text, so the 
definition of another term used is equally to the 
point. The words for unquenchable fire are pur 
(long u) asbeston, and this word asbeston, prima-
rily means simply unquenched, that is, not caused 
to cease by any external means; the idea of eter-
nal is a theological definition which has been at-
tached to it. Ancient writers used it in this 
sense. Homer, in the Illiad, xvi., 123, 294, speaks 
of the Trojans' hurling " unquenchable fire " 
upon the Grecian ships, though but one of them 
was burnt by it. And Eusebius, who was a 
learned Greek, employs the same expression in 
two instances in recounting the martyrdom of 
Christians. Cronion and Julian, after being tort-
ured in various ways, were consumed in an 
"unquenchable fire," puri asbesto. The same is 
also said of Epimachus and Alexander. " The 
pur asbeston," says 'Wetstein, " denotes such a 
fire as cannot be extinguished before it has con- 
sumed and destroyed all." 
Such is the evident meaning of this passage, 
and the sense in which it must have been under-
stood at that time. Yet commentators, eighteen 
hundred years this side of that time, presume to 
turn this whole representation upside down, and 
give to the terms a meaning exactly opposite 
from that which they were intended to convey. 
This text, when rightly understood, will, we 
think, like that in Mark 9, be found to convey 
just the opposite meaning from that popularly 
given to it. The first great error in the inter-
pretation of this text, lies, as we view it, in a 
wrong application of the tense employed. It is 
claimed that the inhabitants of Sodom and Go-
morrah, having been destroyed, were committed 
to the flames of hell, where they are now (pres-
ent tense) suffering the vengeance of that eternal 
fire. But a moment's glance at the text will 
show that it is the example set forth, and not the 
suffering, that is in the present tense. There are 
other facts mentioned in. the same tense with the 
suffering; thus " giving themselves over to for- 
nication," "going after strange flesh," "suffering 
the vengeance of eternal fire." If one of these 
expressions denotes something that is now going 
on, the others also denote the same. If they are 
now suffering the fire, they are now giving them- 
selves over to fornication, and going after strange 
flesh; for all these declarations are in the same 
construction. But no one will claim that the 
Sodomites are now taking the course here de-
scribed; neither, then, can it be claimed that 
they are now suffering the pain of fire. 
The sense of the passage appears to be very. 
evidently this: That the Sodomites, giving them-
selves up to their wicked practices, and, as a con- 
sequence, suffering an eternal overthrow by fire 
rained down upon them from heaven, are thus 
set forth as an *example to the ungodly of all 
coming ages, of the overthrow they will also ex-
perience if they follow the same course. 
Peter speaks of the same event, as an example 
to the wicked, and tells what effect that fire had 
upon the cities of the plain. It did not preserve 
them in the midst of the fire in unceasing torture, 
but turned them into ashes. He says, 2 Pet. 2 : 
6: "And turning the cities of Sodom and Go- 
morrah into ashes, condemned them with an 
overthrow, making them an ensample unto those 
' that after should live ungodly." This language 
is too plain to need comment. How are the 
Sodomites made an • example ? By being over-
thrown and turned into ashes for their open and 
presumptious sins. It is God saying to the 
wicked of all coming time, Behold, how your 
sins shall be visited unless you repent. 
But those fires are not now burning. Seek 
out the site of those ancient and abandoned cities, 
and the brackish waters of the Dead Sea will be 
found rolling their sluggish waves over the spot 
where once they stood. Those fires are there- 
fore called eternal, because their effects are eter-
nal, or age-lasting. They never have recovered, 
nor will they ever recover while the world stands, 
from that terrible overthrow. 
And thus this text is very much to the purpose 
on the question before us; for it declares that the 
punishment of Sodom is an exact pattern of the 
future punishment of the wicked; hence that 
punishment will not be eternal life in the fiery 
flame, but an utter consumption, even as Sodom 
was consumed, by its resistless vengeance. u. s. 
"MEN speak against the religion of the Bible, 
and try to talk it down. Suppose they were to 
succeed, and that, in consequence, all the church 
buildings were turned into warehouses, and that 
all our present religious services were broken up, 
what has any one suggested that we should take 
in the place of what we should lose ?"—Ch,ristian 
Index. 
THEY that believe, have Christ in their hearts, 
Heaven in their eye, and the world under their 
feet. God's word is their teacher; his Spirit their 
guide; his fear their guard; his providence their 
inheritance; his people their friends; his promises 
their cordials; holiness their way; and Heaven 
their hqme. 
The Undying Worm and Quenchless Fire. 
That sense alone can be the correct one in which 
they were first spoken ; and concerning that 
there can be no question. 
There is another text often urged to prove the 
eternal conscious misery- of the wicked. It is 
one in which fire is mentioned as the instrument 
used for the punishment of the wicked; and this 
fire being balled eternal, is understood in the 
same sense as the unquenchable fire of Mark 9 : 
43. It may therefore properly be examined in 
this connection. 
Jude 7. "Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities 
about them in like manner, giving themselves over to for-
nication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an 
example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." 
A 
FEBRUARY 2, 1882. �THE SIGNS OF THE TIM 
Fi]S. �
53 
Utz *abbath-*chool. 
Lesson Comments for February 11. 
LUKE 12: 13-40. 
" AND one of the company said unto him, Mas-
ter, speak to my br3ther, that he divide the. in-
heritance with me. And he said unto him, Man, 
who made me a judge or a divider over you?" 
In denying this request, Jesus acted consistently 
with his principle not to meddle with purely 
secular affairs. Although he could in a moment 
have decided as to the justice of the claim, and 
his decision would, doubtless, have been accepted 
by both parties, he would not do anything that 
would strengthen the popular idea of the Messiah 
—a civil ruler. His doing so might have given 
the Pharisees an occasion for making an accusa-
tion against him. Jesus and the apostles always 
taught respect to the magistrates, and never con-
founded the purely secular with the religious. 
There were men appointed by law to decide dis-
putes of this kind; his work was of more impor-
tance. The great reason, however, why Jesus 
could not act as umpire in this case, is doubtless 
because the request sprung wholly from selfish-
ness. This is shown by his admonition which 
followed : " Take heed, and beware of covet-
ousness; for a man's life consisteth not in the 
abundance of the things which he possesseth." 
The parable which follows enforces this idea. 
Scott, in his notes on this passage, draws the 
following lessons from this parable:— 
" To illustrate and enforce this caution, he spoke 
a parable, replete with instruction. The rich 
man,' described in it, is not said to have obtained 
his wealth by fraud or oppression, or to have been 
a penurious miser. He had an estate; and, by 
skillful and diligent culture, it yielded him large 
crops, so that his affluence increased rapidly; at 
length, however, he found difficulty about storing 
his treasures, seeing he had no longer room for 
them. He therefore determined to build larger 
barns, and granaries; and, having thus secured 
his abundance, to have done with the encum-
brance of business, and to give himself up to ease 
and indulgence, in the liberal use of his riches. 
" The charieter here drawn, is exactly that of a 
prudent worldly man, who rises from inferior 
circumstances to great affluence, by assiduous 
industry and good management; and then retires 
from business, to spend the latter part of his life 
according to his own inclinations. But there was 
no grateful regard to the bountiful providence of 
God, who gave him power to get wealth; ' no 
consideration of his accountableness for the use of 
it; and no respect to the authority, command-
ment, favor, or glory of God. There was no 
proper sense of the instability of human affairs, 
the uncertainty of life, the vanity of earthly 
pleasure, the worth of his soul, or the importance 
of eternity; no thought of happiness to be found 
in communion with God, in peace of conscience, 
and the hope of glory! But the man spake 
within himself,' as if eating, drinking, and 
being merry' had constituted the chief' good of a 
rational creature; and as if it might be enjoyed 
here forever. Neither did he express any regard 
to his neighbor; his wealth was his own, and he 
would hoard it for himself, and spend it on him-
self; for if he had inquired how many poor per-
sons were destitute of food and raiment, and in 
various ways needed relief, he might have found 
a far better way to dispose of his superfluity, and 
have enjoyed a far superior satisfaction, than 
what he proposed to himself: ' What shall I do ? ' 
The whole was the language of a selfish ungodly 
man, and was • intended to expose men of this 
character, even when not chargeable with gross 
immorality. However, therefore, this man might 
glory, that ' the might of his hand had gotten 
him this wealth,' and deem himself wise and 
happy; or however he might be envied, respected, 
or commended by his neighbors; he was in the 
judgment of God ' a fool,' and as such God ad-
dressed him. He hath foolishly reckoned on many 
years to come, when he had not a single day to 
live! He had provided a large superfluity for a 
future continuance on earth, which was never to 
be granted him; but he had made no provision 
for the world to come. On that very night his 
soul was required of him,' -and he must give an 
account of his ungodliness, selfishness, and covet-
ousness; ' and then whose would those things be, 
which he had provided,' to the neglect of his soul, 
and to his everlasting ruin ? He could not tell 
into whose hands his wealth would pass: nor 
would it be any comfort to him, even for his 
children or friends to possess it, when he was torn 
from all which he loved and idolized, and plunged 
into the pit of destruction; and perhaps they, too, 
were preparing by it for the same dreadful end. 
" To this parable our Lord added, that ' so is 
every one, who layeth up treasure for himself; 
and is not rich towards God.' All those persons 
' lay up treasure for themselves,' who seek wealth 
either for its own sake, or for the influence and 
consequence which it bestows, or to spend in the 
pride of life and luxurious indulgence; or in order 
to aggrandize their families; but who are not rich 
in faith, in wisdom, and grace, in good works, and 
a heavenly treasure. Every man of this char-
acter is in God's account a fool;' his life is van-
ity and vexation; his success an empty bubble, or 
a destructive delusion; and his end most mis-
erable." 
Following this, our Lord showed them the folly 
of undue care and worry for the things of this 
life, repeating some of the instruction which he 
had given in the sermon on the mount. A skillful 
teacher will always repeat again and again those 
things which are of most importance. Christ 
was a pattern for teachers, and it need occasion 
no surprise that he should repeat his former 
words on this point, because, (1) nothing is more 
necessary to be impressed on the minds of men, 
than that " the things which are not seen " are 
of more importance than the " things which are 
seen;" and (2) the teaching of the scribes and 
Pharisees had always been that a man's wealth 
determined the degree of his favor with God, 
thus making wealth the chief object of life. Un-
der this teaching the disciples had been brought 
up, and Christ took every opportunity to coun-
teract it. The lesson is as much needed now as 
then. Let us bear it in mind. 
" Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's 
good pleasure to give you the kingdom." On 
this passage, Scott has the following appropriate 
remarks :— 
His disciples are a small flock of harmless, 
defenseless sheep, in the midst of the vast multi-
tudes of this wicked world; but they are dear to 
him, who has purchased them, and brought them 
back to his fold: and, as their Father intends to 
give them the kingdom of heavenly glory and 
felicity, and greatly delights in doing this; so he 
will certainly provide for them during their pas-
sage through this world to it. They ought there-
fore to dismiss their fears, and to cast all their 
cares upon him. It is a foolish thing, not to 
look for small things at his hands, who freely 
giveth us the greatest things.'—Beta. Instead of 
burdening themselves in endeavors to accumulate 
wealth, Christ's disciples ought, when properly 
called to, it, to part with their possessions, and 
distribute to their needy brethren. When this is 
done in faith and love, it insures to them a treas-
ure, of which God himself is the Guardian. In 
this manner they are secured from putting their 
' money into a bag with holes,' or into one liable 
to wear out (which is an apt emblem of the un-
certainty of all earthly possessions); for their 
treasure is laid up in Heaven, out of the reach of 
change or danger; and their hearts also become 
more and more heavenly. Probably, this instruc-
tion influenced the primitive converts, after the 
day of Pentecost, to sell their estates for the sup-
port of their poor brethren." 
Christ then gave a warning which shows that 
his teaching on this subject is not only of general 
importance, but has a special application to our 
own time: "Let your loins be girded about, and 
your lights burning, and ye yourselves like unto 
men that wait for their Lord, when he will return 
from the wedding; that when he cometh and knock-
eth, they open to him immediately." " Let your 
loins be girded about." A striking figure is this. 
The ancients wore a long, flowing, outer garment. 
When taking their ease, this was allowed to be 
loose, for greater comfort; but when work was to 
be done, or a journey to be made, this was fast-
ened tightly about them, so as not to impede their 
movements. So the Christian, especially when 
he is looking for his Lord, should so hold the 
means that has been given him, that it may not 
be a hindrance to him. And again the warning 
is made more emphatic: " Be ye therefore ready 
also; for the Son of man cometh at an hour when 
ye think not." 
IT is a great mistake for Sabbath-school teach-
ers ever to teach Bible truth without being really 
in earnest—calmly, cheerfully, seriously in earnest. 
The Art of Questioning. 
THERE is a real art in knowing where, when, 
and how to put a good question, that shall quicken 
the memory, set the mind to thinking, and call 
back the reflective faculties. Such are the pos-
sibilities of a question. A large proportion of 
all ttie good teaching in our Sabbath-schools is 
brought about by the simple process of questions 
and answers. "A question unveils the soul. Noth-
ing can escape a question. A question reveals 
a decision." Hence the skill required. Mr. J. G. 
Fitch says: " The success and efficiency of our 
teaching depend more on the skill and judgment 
with which we put questions than on any other 
single circumstance." 
This art is to be learned, like any other art, by 
much study and patient practice, for we best learn 
the art of questioning by questioning. Augustine 
says: "A boy can preach, but a man only can cate-
chise," and Lord Bacon says: "A wise question is 
the half of knowledge. Therefore the great skill 
in teaching, consists mainly in the right forming 
and asking of questions. 
If this be true, it follows that this subject should 
be regarded as of special importance by every 
teacher. Teachers often say that they cannot 
succeed in asking questions without the book; 
that they do not know what to ask. To this I 
reply, 1. There is never any difficulty in forming 
the question where there is an interest to obtain 
the answer. 2. It is generally unwise to ask any 
question unless we have an interest in obtaining 
the answer. Do not tantalize the little ones. 
Says Mr. Hassell: " A question under some cir-
cumstances will merely produce an exercise of 
the memory; under others an exercise of reason-
ing; and under others again it will stimulate in-
quiry," and we may add, awaken curiosity. Mr. 
Groser says: " The true scope of questioning-
power is as follows: To awaken curiosity or the 
desire to know; to arouse the memory or the 
recollection of what is already known; or to point 
out something unknown, which may be inferred 
from that which is knbwn." A question skillfully 
put will arouse, will fix attention, concentrate the 
thoughts, and so discipline the mind of the pupil. 
There are, however, many bad and indifferent 
questions put, in religious teaching, which a little 
knowledge of the correct rules of the art of ques-
tioning will enable us to avoid. Frequently a 
slight variation in the form changes a bad ques-
tion into a good one. For instance: " Moses was 
a good man, was he not ? " is a bad question. 
"What kind of a man was Moses ? " is a good 
question, as it awakens thought. " What do you 
understand by faith and repentance ?" is a bad 
question, for it is ambiguous and indefinite, and 
perplexes the child. " Will you tell me what is 
faith ? " is a good question, for it compels the 
child to think and to inquire—it puts into his 
hand the laboring oar and he must row. " Did' 
David kill Goliath with a stone or with a sword ?" 
This is a bad question. It is involved and sug-
gestive. Ask the child simply, " With what did 
David kill Goliath ? and the question is a good 
one, in strict conformity to the laws of question-
ing and of the child-mind. 
Another class of questions is very common, but 
well nigh useless, namely, leading questions, such 
as, " Was David a good man ? " "Was Goliath a 
wicked man ?" These are mostly bad or indiffer-
ent questions, and are almost a total loss to the 
teacher. Slightly vary them in the following 
way, and you make them at once, in every respect, 
good questions. " What kind of a man was 
David ? " " What kind of a man was Goliath ? " 
TeacherS will remember, therefore, to avoid am-
biguous or indefinite, involved or suggestive, and 
leading questions, which latter are answered 
" Yes " or " No," for they are generally of little 
avail.—S. S. Index. 
A CLERGYMAN, writing to the N. Y. Independent, 
complained that, as a result of modern Sunday-
school teaching, children "lose all confidence in 
the piety of a man, unselfish, benevolent, and 
devout though he be, if in the privacy of his own 
house, he rests himself with the aid of a cigar." 
To this the S. S. Times responds: "A minister 
must be pretty tough who would hold on to the 
use of tobacco, when its indulgence clearly de-
stroyed all confidence in his piety among the 
children of his pastoral charge." 
IT is a great mistake to think that our scholars 
are too young to appreciate a well-prepared les-
son or a well-governed school. 
he �
igi-tz .of thr 'Timm 
"Can ye not discern the signs of the times ?" 
�
J. H. WAGGONER, �
 EDITOR. 
 
J. N. ANDREWS, 
�
URIAll SMITH, �
CORRESPONDING EDITORS. 
OAKLAND, CAL., FIFTH-DAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1882. 
The Memorial of Creation. 
to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon 
me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will 
hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find 
me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. 
And I will be found of you saith the Lord: and I will 
turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from 
all the nations and from all the places whither I have 
driven you, saith the Lord; and I will bring you 
again into the place whence I caused you to be carried 
away captive." Jer. 29 : 10-14. He also places this 
general gathering after the seventy years' captivity. 
These plain declarations are sufficient to cut off the 
assumption of the Anglo-Israelites, or Age to Come 
points referred to in Isa. 27, Eze. 37, and Matt. 24, are 
united in I Thess. 4 : 16, 17. " For the Lord himself 
shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice 
of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the 
dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive 
and remain shall be caught up together with them in 
the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air." 
In 2 Thess. 2, the subject is also introduced of " the 
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering to-
gether unto him." This we firmly believe is the only 
gathering of Israel that remains to fulfill the prophecies. 
54 �
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. �
VoL. 8, No. 5. 
theorists who teach that only two tribes returned, while �
THE psalmist tells us that " the works of the Lord 
the ten remained scattered. There is no evidence that are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure 
all of any tribe returned, while we have evidence that therein." And he adds: " He hath made his wonderful 
some of each tribe returned, even all that were willing. works to be remembered." Ps. 111 : 2, 4. Certainly, 
Josephus proves conclusively that twelve tribes were the greatest of all his works, and that which surpasses 
restored after this captivity. He says that Ptolemy every other in its manifestation of infinite power, is the 
Philadelphus sent a request to the Jews to " send six of creation of the heavens and the earth. This is the most 
the elders out of every tribe," for the purpose of trans- wonderful of all the works of his hands. This great 
lating the law into the Greek. When they were sent, work is worthy of being sought out of all them that have 
word was returned to Ptolemy thus: " We have chosen pleasure therein. God wrought this wonderful work to 
six men out of every tribe, whom we have sent and the be remembered; that is to say, he designed that men 
law with them." Josephus says they sent seventy-two; who owe their existence to the creation of the heavens 
Thus the twelve tribes were represented. See Josephus' and the earth, and of mankind upon the earth, should 
"Antiquities" B. 12, chap. 2, sec. 4-7. �
never forget that he had wrought this work, and that 
This testimony is corroborated by Scripture. That he was their Creator. Indeed, it is this great fact that 
the tribe of Levi was represented in the return is evident, he appeals to as distinguishing himself from all false 
for the priests were all of that tribe. But Ezra says Gods. And thus he speaks by Jeremiah: " Thus shall 
further, " So the priests and the Levites, and some of the ye say unto them, The gods that have NOT MADE THE 
people, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethi- HEAVENS AND THE EARTH, even they shall perish from 
nims, dwelt in their cities, and ALL ISRAEL in their the earth, and from under these heavens." Jer. 10 :11. 
cities." Ezra 2 :70. " And when the seventh month But he speaks thus of himself: " The Lord is the true 
was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, God; he is the living God, and an everlasting king. . 
the people gathered themselves together, as one man to . . HE HATH MADE THE EARTH by his power, he 
Jerusalem." Chap. 3 :1; Neh. 7 :73. �
hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath 
When the temple was built, it was dedicated as related stretched out the heavens by his discretion." Jer. 10 : 
by Ezra. " And the children of Israel, the priests and 10, 12. 
Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, �
One of the highest acts of faith is to grasp the exist- 
kept the dedication of this house of God with joy, and ence of an uncreated Being, who has called into exist-
offered at the dedication of this house of God an hundred ence, out of nothing, an infinite host of worlds. To be-
bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs; and lieve this great truth, which Paul makes so prominent 
for a sin offering for all Israel, TWELVE he-goats, ac- an act of faith, we must credit the testimony of the 
cording to the number of the tribes of Israel." Ezra Scriptures; for he tells us that " faith cometh by hear- 
In Isa. 44, the Lord declares himself as their Re- 6 : 16, 17; 8 : 35. If ten tribes were lacking, it would be ing, and hearing by the word of Gc.d." Rom. 10 :17. 
deemer, "that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhab- truly singular that it should not be mentioned in such But faith without works is dead, ''being alone. No 
ited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, and a connection as this. �
human being can have so perfect a theoretical faith in 
I will raise up the decayed places thereof." The in- �
There is another gathering of Israel spoken of in this great truth as has Satan. But his faith in it is of no 
strumentality used in fulfillment of this promise is both Testaments, which we will briefly notice. Isa. 27 benefit to himself. If our faith in this cardinal truth 
also shown: " That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, evidently refers to it. Notice in verse 11, the expression of revelation is of greater value to us than Satan's faith 
and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Je- parallel to Rom. U. " When the boughs thereof are to himself, it must produce certain acts of obedience 
rusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy withered, they shall be broken off; the women come and set by which our love for the truth we believe, is made 
foundation shall be laid." Verses, 26, 28. �
them on fire; for it is a people of no understanding; there- manifest. And thus the apostle James states the case: 
By turning to the record, we find that the decree for fore he that made them will not have mercy upon them, " Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well; 
the return of the children of Israel was very liberal, and he that formed them will show them no favor. the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou 
giving permission to all to return who would. And no And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord know, Q vain man, that faith without works is dead ? " 
prophecy contemplates anything more than full per- shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the James 2 :19, 20. 
mission and voluntary acceptance. �
stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, 0 " Through faith we understand that the worlds were 
Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that ye children of Israel. And it shall come to pass in that framed by the word of God." But by what act of obe-
the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they dience do we manifest our love for this great truth ? 
be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king shall come which were ready to perish in the land of And by what good work do we show that our faith in 
of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and the creation of the heavens and the earth is not a dead 
his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus shall worship the Lord in the holy mount of Jerusalem." faith ? If God made his wonderful works to be remem-
saith Cyrus, king of Persia, The Lord God of Heaven Verses 11-13. This we think is easily identified as the bered, how are we to remember our Creator? If the 
hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he, gathering of the New Testament. When the Saviour creation of the heavens and the earth distinguishes the 
hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, comes, "he shall send his angels with a great sound of true God from all false gods, by what acts are we to 
which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from preserve in our minds the memory of this work of infi-
people ? his God be with him, and let him go up to the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." nite power ? 
Jerusalem. which is in Judah, and build the house Matt. 24 : 31. �
To answer these questions, we have only to turn to 
of the Lord God of Israel (he is the God), which is in �
That this is the gathering of Israel referred to in the the record of the creation in Genesis 1 and 2. The 
Jerusalem. And whosoever remaineth in any place prophets is proved by reference to Eze. 37. After re- close of the sixth day witnessed the perfection of the 
where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him lating the vision and the revivifying of the dry bones, Creator's work. He surveyed all the works of his 
with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with the Lord said, "Son of man, these bones are THE WHOLE hands, and behold they were all very good. With the 
beasts, besides the free-will offering for the house of HOUSE OF ISRAEL; behold, they say, our bones are dried, beginning of the seventh day, God's work of creation 
God that is in Jerusalem." Ezra 1 : 1-4. Again, in and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. There- ceased. And thus we read: " And on the seventh day, 
the decree of Artaxerxes, chap. 7 : 13: " I make a decree, fore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God ended his work which he had made; and he rested 
that all they of the people of Israel, and of his priests God: Behold, 0 my people, I will open your graves, on the seventh day from all his work which he had 
and Levites, in my realm which are minded of their and cause you to come up out of your graves, and made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified 
own free will to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee." bring you into the land of Israel. * * * * And it; because that in it he had rested from all his work 
Jeremiah, speaking of the return of Israel from all the say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will which God created and made." Gen. 2 : 2, 3. 
nations and from all the places whither they had been take the children of Israel from among the heathen, �
The record tells us what God did on the seventh day 
driven, introduces the same condition that Artaxerxes whither they be gone, and WILL GATHER THEM on as distinctly as it relates what he did on the six days 
does in his decree—they shall go up voluntarily. "For every side, and bring them into their own land." Verses of creation which preceded it. His work was wrought 
thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accom- 11, 12, 21. Comp. vs. 20-28, and Rev. 21. �
in six days. On the seventh day he rested from that 
plished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my �
This gathering is coincident with that of Matt. 24, work. He did not rest because of weariness, for the 
good word toward you, in causing you to return to this above referred to, as the graves of the house of Israel Creator of the heavens and the earth cannot be wearied. 
place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward will be opened when the Lord sends his angels with a Isa. 40 : 28. He made the seventh day his rest-day in 
you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, sound of a trumpet to gather his elect. The various order that he might set up an everlasting memorial of 
The Return of the Jews. 
PERHAPS no one subject has been so much talked of 
which is yet so little understood, as that of " the return 
of the Jews." It is a stereotyped theological phrase, 
representing various and indefinite views. Some time 
since we promised to publish an article on this subject, 
in reply to the Anglo-Israelites, and we now fulfill the 
promise. 
We believe in the gathering of Israel to their own 
land; but we must apply the same New Testament rules 
here which we apply to other classes of promises, to wit, 
allow that the true Israel are of faith, whether Jew or 
Gentile by birth. 
There are two classes of Old Testament prophecies on 
this subject; one, agreeing with the history of the past; 
the other, agreeing with New Testament declarations, 
to be fulfilled in the future. Those who advocate the 
return of the Jews in the Age to Come, do so on the 
assumption that there has never been a gathering of 
Israel since the Babylonian captivity. But that this is 
only assumption and an error can be shown by history, 
both sacred and profane. All chronologists agree that 
all the prophets, except Malachi, wrote before the re-
turn of the Jews from Babylon. They date about as 
follows: Isaiah, 758 B. C.; Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Oba-
diah, 588; Daniel, 534; Hosea, 725; Joel, 761; Amos, 
787; Jonah, 800; Micah, 758; Nahum, 720; Habakkuk, 
605; Zephaniah, 608; Haggai and Zachariah, 518; Mal-
achi, 400. These dates are designed to cover the latest 
periods of their prophecies, and the decree of Cyrus was 
B. C. 536, and that of Artaxerxes, which gave efficiency 
to, and really complemented, the original decree, Ezra 
6 : 14, was in 457. Hence, quotations from their writ-
ings, to sustain the theory in question, have the full 
weight of chronology against such an application. 
FEBRUARY 2, 1882. �TETE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. �
55 
his creative work. For when he had rested upon the 
day, he blessed it, and sanctified or hallowed it. He 
blessed the seventh day because he had rested upon it, 
which shows that the day of God's rest was past when 
he blessed the seventh day. He did not bless the day 
because he was about to rest upon it, but because he 
had rested upon it. So it is evident that the blessing 
was placed upon the seventh day for time to come, in 
honor of what God had done upon that day. And thus 
also with respect to the sanctification of the seventh day. 
God sanctified it because he had rested upon it. He 
did not sanctify the day because. he purposed to rest 
upon it, but because he had rested upon it. The sanc-
tification cannot be placed upon a day after it has 
ceased to exist. And hence God did not sanctify the first 
seventh day of time because he had made it his rest-
day, for when he had thus rested, the day had expired; 
but he sanctified the seventh day for time to come, in 
memory of his own rest on that day, from the work of 
creation. 
To sanctify is to set apart, or appoint to a holy use. 
And here we learn at the very beginning of the Bible 
that God appointed the seventh day to a holy use. He 
did it because that in it he had rested from all his 
work. So it is incontestible that the seventh day was 
appointed to a holy use in order that God's rest from 
creation might be remembered. And this appointment 
must have been made to Adam and Eve, for they were 
the ones who had the days of the week to use. The 
fact, therefore, is undeniable that God bade Adam set 
apart the seventh day for sacred rest in memory of his 
own rest upon that day. 
Here, then, we find the memorial of the creation of 
the heavens and the earth. The seventh day was set 
apart to a holy use because God rested upon it from all 
his works which he created and made. So the creation 
which called the elements into existence, and the mak-
ing of the earth out of those elements, are here distin-
guished from each other, and both are included in the 
commemorative rest. He rested from the six days of 
creation. God made his works to be remembered; and 
no sooner was his work complete than he set up a last-
ing memorial of that work. He hallowed every sev-
enth day, that man might remember God, his creator. 
And that man might grasp the great truth that God in 
his infinite power, spoke into existence, from nothing, 
the heaven and the earth, he ordained, at the very be-
ginning, one grand act of obedience by which his faith 
in that truth should be declared, and his love for it made 
manifest. The observance of the Creator's rest-day is 
that act of obedience by which we declare our faith in 
God as the creator of the heavens and the earth. 
J. N. A. 
Who is to Blame? 
BY E. J. WAGGONER. 
THERE are very many people who want peace, but 
they want it after their own ideas. It is quite common 
for people who have taken a wrong course, to lay the 
blame of the trouble that inevitably follows upon some 
one who, so far from following in the wrong, has 
endeavored to set things right. They say, " If you will 
let us alone, there will be no trouble." Many children 
are very patterns of propriety so long as everything 
goes to suit them, but when their tracks are crossed, 
there is trouble. Then the trouble is charged, not to 
their own perverseness, but to their parents, or those 
who try to check their wrong-doing. It is a painful 
fact that these children do not always lose this trait 
when they grow up. It is not easy to live under con-
demnation, and, therefore, the natural mind seeks an 
excuse for sin, and an excuse is not very hard to find. 
An instance in point is seen in the case of Ahab. His 
course is briefly stated in the following scripture: " And 
Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord 
above all that were before him � And he reared 
up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had 
built in Samaria. And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab 
did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger 
than all the kings of Israel that were before him." 
1 Kings 16 :30-33. Elijah was a man of God, who 
dared to stand boldly for the worship of the true "God, 
even though he were the only one in the nation who 
was not an idolater. His life alone was a constant 
rebuke to the wicked king, and his testimony was plain. 
Through him the Lord spoke and said that on account 
of the wickedness of Israel there should be no rain 
throughout the land. This came to pass, and great 
suffering necessarily followed. 
But did Ahab acknowledge that he himself was the 
cause of all this ? Hear him: " And it came to pass, 
when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art 
thou he that troubleth Israel ? " 1 Kings 18 :17. Like 
a petulant child, he blamed the one who was trying to 
save him. But Elijah stated the case in its true light 
when he answered: " I have not troubled Israel; but thou 
and thy father's house [have], in that ye have forsaken 
the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed 
Baalim." Verse 18. 
But human nature is the same now as in the days of 
Ahab. A few months ago the following paragraph ap-
peared in a report of labor, which a first-day preacher 
sent to the organ of his denomination:— 
" Our next was at Battle Creek. This is the head-
quarters of the Seventh-day Adventists. As Saturday is 
one of the busiest days of a city, and Sabbath, [Sunday], 
the great working day of the Adventists, and as the 
ungodly are embolden to respect neither, it is hard to 
tell in Battle Creek whether it is Saturday, Sunday, or 
Monday. Thus the Seventh-day system spreads infi-
delity." 
Note the parallel, Ahab led Israel into idolatry. 
Elijah fearlessly preached and practiced the religion of 
the true God. The result of this was that many of the 
people halted " between two opinions." 1 Kings 18 :21. 
They did not believe anything. In the modern instance 
the Seventh-day Adventists teach, and try to conscien-
tiously live out, the commandments of God. This in-
cludes the observance of God's Sabbath, the day which 
he rested upon, blessed, sanctified, called his own, and 
commanded all men to observe. See Gen. 2 : 2, 3; Ex. 
20 :8-11; Isa. 58 : 13, and many other texts. The great 
mass of mankind, following in the wake of papal law-
lessness and assumption, trample upon God's holy day, 
and exalt a rival in its place. In consequence of this, 
some people accept neither. They do not take the 
trouble to examine for themselves to see which is right, 
and reject both as of no consequence. 
Now who is to blame for their infidelity ? Is it those 
who are walking according to God's rule, or those who 
walk in a way of their own devising ? In the case of 
Ahab and Elijah all will agree. Elijah did right. He 
is looked upon by all Bible readers as a model of integ-
rity; and such he was. All the trouble and unbelief 
that existed is chargeable solely to Ahab's wicked course, 
and to those who followed him. Would it not, then, be 
more in accordance with the facts to say that first-day 
keeping, or at least Sabbath-breaking, leads to infidelity ? 
If God's word remains the same now that it was four 
thousand years ago, it would. He gave the Sabbath as 
a sign, that men might know that he was the true God. 
Ex. 31 : 13; Eze. 20 :20. If-Men had always kept the 
Sabbath of the Lord, remembering that it is the memorial 
of his creative power, there would never have been any 
idolatry or infidelity. 
The question to be decided is simply this: Does it 
make a wrong thing right, for a majority to practice it? 
Is it better to disobey God with the many, or to obey 
him with the few ? Will God alter his laws, and make 
wrong right, because the majority do wrong ? His word 
says: " Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil." 
Ex. 22 : 2; and, " Though hand join in hand, the wicked 
shall not be unpunished." Prov. 11 : 21. It is safe to 
believe these statements, in spite of the assertions of 
men to the contrary. Although the gospel of Christ is 
a gospel of peace, it does not contemplate a peace 
purchased by a sacrifice of right-doing. Christ foresaw 
that men would be shaken when they saw divisions on 
account of his doctrine, and he forwarned his disciples 
in Luke 12 :51-53. Let men deplore divisions, and let 
them endeavor to promote harmony; but let them labor 
only for Bible union, and not fear to say, with Joshua, 
" Choose you this day whom ye will serve; . . . but as 
for me, and my house, we will serve the Lord." 
Harmony Between Paganism, Catholicism, 
And Protestantism. 
BY ELD. R. F. COTTRELL. 
" THE religion of Rome imperial, when symbolized 
by the dragon, was Paganism ; that of the ten kingdoms, 
was the Papacy ; and that of the eastern empire, is Mo-
hammedanism. From these three, then, emerge the 
unclean spirits.' Diverse as their origin appears, they 
have no marked individual peculiarities. Being alike 
in their characteristics, they must symbolize some com-
mon agency—a combination of religious teachers whose 
views harmonize in a system of belief common to Pa-
ganism, Catholicism, and Mohammedanism."—Bliss on 
the Apocalypse, p. 256. 
In reading the above extract, let the United States 
be substituted for the eastern empire, and Protestantism 
for Mohammedanism, and it will express the truth. For 
doubtless the three unclean spirits " symbolize a com-
mon agency—a combination of religious teachers, whose 
views harmonize in a system of belief common to Pa-
ganism, Catholicism, and Protestantism. It is the belief 
of certain doctrines concerning demons" (Campbell's 
translation), which is common to them all. Mr. Bliss 
proceeds to show that Pagans and Catholics harmonize 
in their teachings concerning demons, and, strange as it 
may seem, adopts them as the truth. After speaking of 
the distinction between the two Greek words, one of 
which is applied to Satan, the prince of the demons, 
and the other, to those demons which are his angels, he 
affirms that in order to learn the signification of the 
term demon, " recourse must be had to the testimony of 
the Pagan, Jewish, and Christian writers of those times." 
Why not have recourse to the testimony of the Bible 
on this point ? The Scriptures given by inspiration of 
God are " profitable for doctrine," and are able to thor-
oughly furnish the man of God. Why not understand 
those angels of the devil to be the " angels that kept 
not their first estate, but left their own habitation;" 
especially since the Bible positively contradicts the hea-
then notion of departed human spirits ? Mr. Bliss pro-
ceeds :— 
Hesiod taught that, " the spirits of departed mortals 
become demons when separated from their earthly bod-
ies ; and Plutarch, that " The demons of the Greeks 
were the ghosts and genii of departed men." " All Pa-
gan antiquity affirms," says Dr. Campbell, " that from 
Titan and Saturn, the poetic progency of Ccelus and 
Terra, down to .iEsculapius, Proteus, and Minos, all their 
divinities were the ghosts of dead men, and were so 
regarded by the most erudite of the Pagans themselves." 
Such testimonies as these he takes as " evidence of 
the New Testament signification of the word ;" adopt-
ing the fabled notions of the heathens concerning their 
gods, as the truth. Catholics feceive these " doctrines 
about dead men" (Wakefield), and so do Protestants, if 
Mr. Bliss has fairly represented their views. 
After settling the doctrine of demons to his own sat-
isfaction, and that of Catholics and Pagans, Mr. Bliss 
refers his readers to the rise of modern spirit manifest& 
tions in the United States, as leading directly to the bat-
tle of the great day. The three unclean spirits that were 
to gather the nations to that battle issue from the dragon, 
the beast, and the false prophet or two-horned beast, all 
of which Bliss locates on the Eastern continent. The 
two-horned beast, the last of the three, he locates in the 
Turkish empire. This beast was to do great wonders—
have power to perform miracles," by means of which 
he deceives them which had the mark of the beast, and 
them that worshiped his image. But lo ! the last great 
spiritual wonders and deceptions, which " are to prepare 
the way for the final destruction of -the nations who 
reject the claims of Jehovah" (see p. 280), and which 
should issue from the mouth of the false prophet, instead 
of appearing in the " eastern empire " among the dis-
ciples of Mohammed, take their rise remote from the 
three great powers which were to be their source, in 
Protestant United States ! 
How much more consistent to believe that the United 
States has something to do in the fulfillment of proph-
ecy—that the symbol of the two-horned beast, or false 
prophet, applies here. Here is a numerous class of re-
ligious teachers " whose views harmonize in a system of 
belief common to Paganism and Catholicism." Here 
the worship of the beast—obedience to the Papacy—is 
urged upon the people in preference to the command-
ments of God. Here God, in fulfillment of his pro-
phetic word, is sending out the warning message against 
the worship of the beast and his image ; and here 
demons, professing to be the spirits of dead men, who, 
according to the word of God, " know not anything," 
are working miracles and preparing the way for the 
gathering of the nations, when the sixth vial of that 
wrath which is threatened in the warning message, shall 
be poured out. 
God is his own interpreter, and he is making these 
prophecies plain. The wise shall understand. Reader, 
would you be wise in the sight of God ? Obey the third 
angel's message—keep the commandments of God. " The 
fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom ; a good 
understanding have all they that do his commandments." 
Psa. 111 :10. " The secret of the Lord is with them 
that fear him • and he will show them his covenant." 
Ps. 25 :14. Obey God and believe when you see his word 
fulfilled, and he will give you an understanding of those 
things that are hid from the wise and prudent and re-
vealed to babes. 
The Christian and the Missionary Spirit 
Identical. 
ZEAL in the cause of missions is not seldom re-
garded as something quite distinct and separable 
from the requirements of an ordinary Christian 
life, though perhaps no one would deny that this 
zeal is in entire harmony with the sentiments a 
Christian should cherish. A good woman on 
meeting a young friend whom she had long re-
garded as a thorough Christian, but of whom she 
had just; learned that he proposed to spend his 
life in labors among the heathen, saluted him in 
a tone of utmost surprise : " Have you got the 
missionary spirit ? " Unconsciously she expressed 
a common notion that the missionary spirit is not 
an essential element in Christian character, that it 
56 �
TI-IE SIGNS OF TIC E TIM-ES. �
Vol,. 8, No 5. 
is an addendum found in some disciples of Christ, 
but not necessarily belonging to any of them. 
Sheldon Dibble has affirmed that " a Christian 
needs to be converted to a personal interest in 
foreign missions, just as an unregenerate man 
needs to be converted to a personal interest in 
Christ and his salvation." 
Now it is sadly true that the missionary spirit 
is not apparent in many who are enrolled as 
Christians. It is true, moreover, that some of 
those enrolled Christians have to pass through an 
experience not unlike that at conversion before 
they come to any just apprehension of the obliga-
tion Christ has placed upon his disciples to evan-
gelize the world. But let it not be thought, 
therefore, that missionary zeal is anything but the 
natural and legitimate outgrowth of Christian 
principle. Let it not be thought that there is any 
satisfactory evidence of life in Christ where this 
missionary spirit is wanting. For what is the 
essential element of Christian life ? Is it not love, 
without which we are nothing ? When self is 
subdued and love is regnant in the soul, then and 
then only, is there a new creature. The basis of 
the Christian life is love, and what other basis 
than this has the missionary spirit? The wish to 
redeem men, and the willingness to make sacri-
fices to save them, are not born except of love, the 
fundamtntal principle of the Christian life. The 
very grace which constitutes a man a disciple of 
Christ should make him in spirit a missionary. 
A Mother's Prayers Answered. 
TRAINED religiously, I reached a' young man's 
years before making a public profession of religion. 
Occasionally, prior to my conversion, thoughts of 
the ministry sometimes flashed across my mind; 
but it was only a flash. After my conversion, I 
was earnest for the welfare of others and wanted 
to promote the interests of the church and 
of humanity. The conviction grew upon me that 
I must preach; yet I tried to put that away, be- 
cause I feared I could never succeed. I saw the 
greatness of the work, and the reproachful pov- 
erty then connected with the itinerant ministry. 
There were two special difficulties in the way. 
First, I had no gift of speech. My voice was 
poor, and in school I always shunned declamation. 
I firmly believed I could never make a speaker; 
and so chose the profession of medicine, which I 
studied three years in a professional school. I 
think I should have resolutely rejected the idea of 
the ministry, except that it seemed inseparably 
connected with my salvation. I fasted, I prayed 
for divine direction; but I found no rest, until, in 
reading the Bible one day, I found a passage 
which seemed specially written for me: " Trust 
in the Lord with all thy heart, lean not unto 
thine own understanding; in all thy ways ac- 
knowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." 
I accepted it, and resolved to do whatever God in 
his providence should indicate by opening the 
way. I never lisped to a friend the slightest 
intimation of my mental agony, but I took a more 
earnest part in the church services. 
One Sabbath I felt a strong impression that I 
ought to speak to the people at night in prayer- 
meeting, as we had no preaching. I said to my- 
self, " How shall I ? for my friends will say I am 
foolish, as they know I cannot speak with inter- 
est." Especially 1 dreaded an old uncle, who had 
been a father to me and superintended my educa-
tion. While 1 was discussing this matter with 
myself in the afternoon, my uncle came into the 
room, and, after a moment's hesitation, said to 
me, " Don't you think you could speak to the 
people to-night ? " I Was surprised and startled. 
I asked him if he thought I ought. Ile said 
" Yes I think you can do good." 
That night, for some strange reason, the house 
was crowded, and I made my first religious ad-
dress to a public congregation. It was not writ-
ten. It was not very well premeditated. It was 
simply an earnest outgushing of a sincere and 
honest heart. 
My mother was a widow. I was her eldest 
son, and the only child remaining at home. I 
feared it would break her heart to leave her, and 
feared it would be impossible to do so. 
One day, after great embarrassment, I was in-
duced to speak to my mother on the subject of my 
mental struggles, and tell her what I thought God 
required of me. I never shall forget how she 
turned to me with a smile, and said: " My son, I 
have been looking for this hour ever since you 
Were born ! " She then told me how she and my 
dying father, who left me an infant, consecrated 
me to God, and prayed that, if it were his will, I 
might become a minister, and yet that mother 
had never dropped a Word of intimation in my 
ear, that she ever desired me to be a preacher. 
She believed so fully in the divine call, that she 
would not bias my mind with even suggestion of 
it in prayer. 
That conversation settled my mind. Oh, what 
a Messing is a sainted mother ! To-day I can feel her 
hands on my head, and I hear the intonation of 
her voice in prayer.—Bishop Simpson. 
THE story is told of an eagle that, flying over 
an ice-covered valley, saw a dead animal, and, 
descending from its lofty flight, feasted so long 
upon the carcass, that when it thought to mount, 
it could not, its wings having become frozen to the 
ice. Like to this is what is often witnessed of the 
influence of the world on the soul. How many 
men seem to be completely earth- bound ! 
" THY word is truth." 
Zhz Oli5,sionarp. 
From the Field. 
Winterset.—Elder Washburn visited this church 
and reports thirteen accessions, four by baptism, 
and eight by letter. They have an interesting 
Sabbath-school of fifty members, and steps are 
being taken to build a place of worship. 
New Sharon.—Brethren Fifield and Nicola held 
meetings here last fall with good results. The 
opposition was bitter but not open until after 
they left. Then a minister was sent for to up- 
hold the Sunday, they returning in time to hear 
and review him. " The decision by those who 
heard both sides was unanimously in favor of 
truth. Three began to keep the Sabbath as a 
result of the review ; and now, after holding a 
two-days' meeting, three more have decided to 
keep all of God's commandments. This makes 
in all, twenty-four or five here who are heeding 
the call of the third angel, and more are appar-
ently on the eve of starting. To the dear Lord 
be all the praise." 
MICHIGAN, Monterey.—Elder Canright has been 
laboring for this church. He writes : " Have 
been here now three weeks, and yet the work 
seems only fairly begun. Our interest and at-
tendance are increasing steadily. Fair evenings 
our house is well filled. Many from outside are 
attending, some of whom had never been in be-
fore. All take hold earnestly and faithfully in 
the meetings. Nearly every day some one de- 
cides to obey the Lord. It is said that the neigh-
bors around feel better toward our people and 
the cause than they have before in long years. 
Several have embraced the Sabbath, and we be-
lieve others will yet do so. Some twenty-five or 
more have started to be Christians. We thank 
God and feel encouraged." 
Brother Wm. F. Killen writes that there are 
a sufficient number of brethren and sisters in 
Brooks County, Georgia, to form a church, and 
he has promised to go there and organize one. 
This will be the first Seventh-day Adventist 
Church in Georgia. 
It is gratifying to hear of the progress of the 
cause in new fields, but there is special reason to 
rejoice when additions are made to the ranks of 
our old churches. It is an index to the condition 
of the church. We have a right to expect such 
progress, if we follow the teaching of Christ. 
See Matt. 5 : 16. 
But we may be told that many who are 
regarded as Christians are not interested in mis-
sions, perhaps do not believe in them. Who re-
gards them as Christians ? There is only One 
whose judgment on this matter is final, or even of 
much account. He has assured us that many 
will say, Lord ! Lord !" whom he never knew. 
"If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is 
none of his." But on this matter it should be 
borne in mind that in the human soul many qual-
ities or principles may inhere which are only 
slightly developed. A person has faculties of 
which he has little use. He may cherish opinions 
of which he has not as yet seen the application. 
This is what we must say in hope of many who 
are regarded as having no missionary spirit. If, 
indeed, they do not have this spirit in germ, they 
cannot be Christians. They lack the fundamental 
grace of love, which alone binds the soul to 
Christ, and certifies that his regenerating work 
has been wrought within. But it is possible for 
spiritual life to be, as physical life sometimes is, 
quite dormant. It does not know itself ; it does 
not appreciate the principle on which it should 
work itself out. It is life without life ; just as we 
say of a human body when in a comatose state, 
that it has no vitality, though it be not literally 
dead. This is, indeed, a contradiction of terms, 
but we are understood to mean that the body has 
no vigor, and is in a low state next to death. So, 
to say that one has a Christian but not a mis-
sionary spirit is a contradiction of terms. It is 
saying that one is filled with love, yet has none of 
it ; that he is loyal to God, yet cares nothing for 
his commands. Still the expression is intelligible . 
It means that the Christian life is very low, so low 
as to be scarcely recognizable. It is a sad state, 
and its sadness is not, in the least, alleviated by 
the fact that many are in it. 
Every minister of Christ should seek to bring 
out of this spiritual torpor such of his people as 
have fallen into it. Let the plain truth be brought 
home to every conscience, pungently and repeat- 
edly, that one cannot be Christ's, and yet not be 
like him ; he cannot love the Saviour's person, and 
be indifferent to the coming of his kingdom. He 
who has no earnest wish, and makes no self-
sacrificing endeavor that the gospel of God's grace 
may be preached to all men, lives in a different 
atmosphere from that which our Redeemer 
breathed. For, as David Livingstone said, " The 
spirit of missions is the spirit of our Master ; the 
very genius of his religion." How can one who 
has not this spirit regard himself as a disciple of 
Christ ?-17te Missionary Herald. 
Praying and Doing. 
"BLESS the poor children who haven't got any 
beds to-night," prayed a little boy just before he 
lay down on his nice, warm cot on a cold winter-
night. 
As he rose from his knees, his mother said:—
" You have just asked God to bless the poor 
children, what will you do to bless them?" 
THE truth cannot be burned, beheaded or cruci-
fied. A lie on the throne is a lie• still, and truth 
in a dungeon is truth still ; and the lie on the 
throne is on the way to defeat, and the truth in 
the dungeon is on the way to victory. No ac-
cident of position can change the essential nature 
of things, or the eternal laws which determine 
their destinies.— William McKinley. 
KANSAS, Milan.—Bro. G. H. Rogers gives the 
following good report : " The meetings at this 
place closed December 27. There is an increase 
of interest and there are several families that we 
hope will yet accept the faith. A company of 
eleven have signed the covenant. The Sabbath-
school is well attended. A Tract and Missionary 
Society has been formed, eleven copies of SIGNS 
have been subscribed for, and $2.75 worth of 
books have been sold.. Nearly all have signed 
the teetotal pledge." 
IOWA, Spirit-Lake.—W . B. Hill writes : " I con-
tinued meetings at this place four weeks. The 
interest was small at first, only a few attending 
the meetings, but the attendance increased until 
the house would scarcely contain the audience at 
times. I sold some books, and obtained some 
subscribers for the Review. Fourteen signed the 
covenant, which makes over twenty adults in this 
band, besides the children. A Sabbath-school 
was organized, which will contain over thirty 
members. They take a club of ten Instructors. 
Sabbath and Wednesday evening meetings were 
appointed." 
FEBRUARY 2, 1882. �
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. �
57 
The boy thought for a moment. " Why, if I 
had a hundred cakes, enough for all the family, I 
would give them some." 
"But you have no cakes; what, then, are you 
willing to do ?" 
" When I get money enough to buy all the 
things I want, and have some over, I'll give them 
some." 
"But you haven't money enough to buy all you 
want, and perhaps never will have; what will you 
do to bless the poor now ?" 
"I'll give them some bread." 
"You have no bread—the bread is mine." 
"Then I could earn money and buy a loaf my-
self" 
" Take things as they are now—you know you 
have what is your own; what are you willing to 
give to help the poor?" 
The boy thought again. �
I'll give half my 
money; I have seven pennies: I'll give them four. 
Wouldn't that be right?" 
AMONG the strongly marked characters of the 
heroic age of English Methodism, was a comely 
farmer's wife named Alice Cross. After her con-
version, her quiet, sober husband refused for a 
season to obey the truth. She strove hard to 
win him to Christ. When leaving home for the 
Wesleyan meeting, she would pause at the door, 
with her straw hat in one hand, and the other on 
the door-latch, while she said : "John Cross, wilt 
thou go to Heaven with me ? If thou wilt not, 
I am determined not to go to hell with thee." 
These blunt sentences, had they been spoken in 
an acrid tone, might have wrought more power-
fully on John's temper than on his conscience. 
But being the utterance of an earnest woman, 
the expression of profound conviction, the voice 
of a soul full of tenderness and of the spirit of 
heaven, they were finally effectual, and John 
Cross sought to go to Heaven with his devoted 
wife. If every Christian wife were as earnest as 
Alice Cross, there would be few homes with one 
of its heads traveling toward Heaven and the 
other toward perdition. Her spirit, not her pe-
culiar method, cannot be too highly commended, 
or too faithfully emulated by Christian wives.--
Zion's Herald. 
Zrinvtrancz. 
Sir Matthew Hale, Lord Chief Justice of Eng-
land, said nearly two hundred years ago: " Drink 
is the cause of four-fifths of all crimes;" and 
modern jurists have seen no reason for reviewing 
the judgment. 
The Hon. John C. Park, district attorney for 
the county of Suffolk, Massachusetts, affirmed 
that careful observation during his incumbency 
in office led him to the conclusion that ninety-nine 
hundredths of all crime committed were the result 
of intemperance. Similar testimony might be had 
from nearly every county in the union. But the 
objection lying against such testimony is that it 
is merely the judgment of individuals formed from 
observation, and lacks the solidity and tangibility 
of actual facts and figures. A more satisfactory 
result is obtained by instituting comparisons. 
For example, the decrease of crime where prohibi-
tion has been enforced leads to conclusions which 
warrant the very highest estimates given above. 
During the great riots which occurred at Belfast 
some years ago, the lawfully constituted author-
ities were at their wits' end. Property and life 
were at the mercy of the furious mob; murders 
were numerous and the sky was lurid with the 
flames of burning buildings. After a time the 
municipal authorities issued an order closing all 
the dram shops of the city. Soon the mob began 
to melt away, and in twenty-four hours' time the 
riot had entirely subsided. No riot is possible 
where no liquor is to be had. 
Lord Hamilton, a member of the British perlia-
ment, testified that in the county which he rep-
resented—a county containing 10,000 inhabitants 
—where formerly scenes of drunkenness, riot, and 
strife were common, and where a large police force 
was necessary for the preservation of peace and 
the protection of life and property, subsequently, 
under prohibition, the district became so quiet 
and orderly that not a policeman was required 
within its bounds, and at the same time the poor 
rates were reduced one-half. In the town of 
Low Moor, England, there is a population of 
1,100, and not a dram shop in the place; there is 
no jail or lock-up, no constable or policeman. 
Order reigns supreme. 
in Potter County, Pennsylvania, liquor has been 
excluded under local option; and the jail is with-
out an inmate one-half the time.--H. H. Joy, in 
Lever. 
Damages To Be Paid. 
THE Chicago Tribune proposes, since most 
crimes are instigated by the use of intoxicating 
drinks, that licenses be put up to a price that will 
make a fund to pay the expenses of courts and 
prisons. But the Tribune fails to tell us why we 
should tolerate for a day a system which beyond 
all doubt does originate and foster most of the 
vice and crime of every city. Why continue it 
at all? If the loss it occasions is thirty times as 
much as the income from license, does it seem 
wise to license it ? The Tribune's plan is to put 
the•cost of license very high. But would not a 
higher license simply compel the doing of a 
larger business, so that the higher the fees the 
wider the ruin. The more expense the more 
sales, and the proportion between expenses and 
profits must be always about the same. We 
advise a shorter method, grant no more licenses, 
make no costs, and then we shall need no fund to 
pay them. 
Mr. P. T. Barnum writes that in Bridgeport a 
liquor saloon depreciates adjoining property to 
the amount of $5,000. We may add that one 
saloon will also cause to disappear values among 
its customers to the amount of $5,000 annually. 
So that the average license fee does not nearly 
pay back to government a sum equal to the taxes 
it suppresses, to say nothing of the actual costs 
entailed by crime. 
We protest against using money paid by hon-
est temperance men to pay the cost of prosecu-
tion and other damages occasioned by the sale of 
liquors licensed or unlicensed. Give us laws that 
will define clearly the legitimate effects of drink-
ing, and let the costs, be they loss or more, be 
levied on the men who sell the liquors. When 
we give good material to a blacksmith or tailor 
or miller, and he ruins it, we can recover the 
value. �
e ought to be able to recover at least 
a percentage of the value of a boy from those 
who planned and compassed his ruin. 
If we tolerate license at all, they should give 
bonds stronger than straw, to guarantee all such 
assessments. The fact that all saloons unite in 
ruining men, and that any one drinker usually 
obtains drink at many places, should bind them 
together as one man, when we fasten damages 
upon them. We should not object to grouping 
them by corporations or by counties in eases of 
damage.—Golden Censer. 
Will Beer Intoxicate? 
Relation of Intemperance to Crime. 
IT is beyond question that strong drink inflames 
the baser passions of human nature. Persons 
who, when sober, are mild tempered, amiable, and 
correct in deportment, become fiends incarnate 
when under the influence of drink. The devoted 
husband and affectionate father is transformed 
into a brutal tyrant, before whose demoniacal 
ravings and cruel persecution affection flies and 
helpless dependence cowers in terror. Reason is 
dethroned, and rage and lust hurry the poor 
wretch onward to crimes at which his whole 
nature would revolt when not under the power of 
the destroyer. 
Or if the victim of the traffic is naturally vicious, 
strong drink excites and fortifies the evil tenden- 
cies of his nature, and nerves him to deeds of 
darker guilt than he would otherwise perpetrate. 
The oft-quoted circumstance attending the killing 
of President Lincoln is a case in point. Brandy 
was the demon which nerved the courage and 
steadied the arm of the assassin ere the dastardly 
deed could be done. 
At the trial of a criminal for a murder com-
mitted in the city of Coldwater, a few years ago, 
it was proved that the prisoner drank no less 
than thirteen times at a single bar in that city on 
the day of the murder, aiid before the crime was 
committed. The deed was pre-determined; but 
strong drink fortified the criminal purpose, and 
induced the necessary recklessness. 
Idleness and poverty tend to produce crime, 
and strong drink is the cause of most of the indo-
lence and pauperism from which the ranks of vice 
are recruited throughout the world. 
Opinions differ as to the proportion of crime 
that may be legitimately charged to the drinking 
habits of society, and it is not possible to compute 
with perfect accuracy the offspring of this prolific 
parent of vice. All careful observers, however, 
affirm that the proportion is very large, and it is 
significant that the widest observers and those 
who have the best means of informing themselves 
put the proportion at the highest figures. 
THEY say that beer does not intoxicate ; that 
it promotes health and happiness, and if its use 
should become general, would redeem society from 
much of the evil effects of liquor drinking. Along 
with such assertions put testimony like the fol-
lowing confession of a hard working man arrested 
recently for homicide : " I am forty-three years 
old, have been sixteen years in this country, and 
have worked at Tiemann's paint factory fifteen 
years. I have a wife and three children. I live 
on the top floor, and Lippold on the second floor 
in the same house. We had some angry talk four 
weeks ago, since which I have avoided him and 
kept up stairs after getting through my day's 
work so as to keep out of trouble. On Sunday 
I went for a walk by the river, and when I came 
home went straight to my room. Afterward I 
came down in my stockings. As I came out on 
the stoop he hit me, and I got mad and stabbed 
him with my knife. I did not mean to kill him. 
I did not say anything to provoke him before he 
hit me. I was not much drunk, I think, having 
drank only four or five glasses of beer. 1 never had 
any similar trouble before."--The Signal. 
A NEW meaning is unfolded from the word 
" temperate," so harped upon by our " moderate" 
friends, when it is understood that in the Scrip-
tural use of the term, the Greek word employed is 
synonymous with the Hebrew term used in Gen. 
43 : 31, where, in speaking of Joseph's tears for 
his brothers, he is said to have gone out of his 
chamber, where he had been weeping, and "re-
frained himself." Temperance, in Bible language, 
evidently means refraining, or total abstinence.—
Signal. 
AN inquirer at a temperance meeting interrupted 
the speaker by exclaiming : " I say, mister, do 
you think a gin sling does a fellow any harm ?" 
To which the lecturer replied : " Not if the man 
slings it far enough ; but when the gin slings him 
ever so little, then it does harm.—Temperance 
Chronicle. 
Something about Whisky. 
" WHAT is whisky bringing?" asked a dealer in 
that article, one day. He meant to ask, how much 
it is selling for. 
A gentleman who heard the remark took it in 
an entirely different sense from that. 
" What is whisky bringing?" do you ask. I'll 
tell you : " It is bringing men to prison and to the 
gallows, and it is bringing women and children 
to poverty and want." 
There never was a truer answer than this. 
It is estimated that it sends to prison every year 
one hundred thousand men and women. 
Twenty thousand children are sent to the work-
house annually by drink. 
Three hundred murders are caused by intemper-
ance every year. Two hundred thousand children 
are made orphans every year, by this dreadful 
evil ; and sixty-five thousand are killed by in-
temperance every year in this country. 
Does t seem possible that man will deal out to 
his brother such poisonous stuff, when he knows 
that it will prove his ruin ? 
Laws ought to be established and put in force, 
so affecting the rum-seller that not one would dare 
put up his sign, or stand behind the counter 
and deal out the fatal poison. 
Visit our large cities. Over the door of almost 
every other place of business you will read : " Ales, 
wines, liquors, and cigars." " Ales on draught." 
"Lager beer saloon," etc. How can the unwary 
escape, where so many traps are set for them. 
Villages rarely have such signs over their doors, 
but then there are " holes in the wall " protected 
by a few oyster shells, where the thirsty can 
dodge in for a glass of stale beer, if for nothing 
stronger, and thus pave their way to destruction 
—Baptist Flag. 
NEW YORK pays more for tobacco than for 
bread. Dealers say that there are smokers in that 
city who average a hundred cigars a week, and 
men whose cigar bills run up to thousands of 
dollars per annum. 
58 �
TIlE SIGNS OF TIIE TIMES. 
VoL. 8, No. 5. 
the brunt Vocar. 
IT MAY BE YOUR TURN NEXT. 
JUDGE not too harshly, oh my friend, 
Of him your fellow-man, 
But draw the veil of charity 
About him if you can. 
He once was called an honest man, 
Before sore trial vexed; 
He stepped from out the narrow way— 
It may be your turn next. 
Fainting upon the great highway 
A suffering soul doth lie; 
Go staunch his wounds and quench his thirst, 
Nor pass him idly by. 
God will not brook the swift excuse, 
The thoughtless, vain pretext; 
A fellow-mortal bites the dust— 
It may be your turn next. 
You heard one day a single word 
Against a person's name; 
Oh, bear it not from door to door, 
To further hurt his fame. 
If you're the man you claim to be, 
Remember, then, the text, 
To " speak no evil," true or false— 
It may be your turn next. 
The world is bad enough, we own, 
And many need more light; 
Yet, with true love to all, may we 
Help in the cause of right: 
Lift up the sinful and the weak, 
The soul by care perplexed, 
Well knowing that to drink the gall 
It may be our turn next. 
—Downsuille News. 
Sandy's Partner. 
You know how quickly news spreads in a small 
town. As soon as anything unusual happens, 
there are always people ready to carry the news 
about, so that one cannot long escape hearing of 
it. So it is not strange that when Sandy McNeil 
announced his intention of closing his saloon, 
half the town heard of it before night. I heard 
of it sooner than many, because I had worked to 
get that saloon closed—worked long and hard, 
appealing to the law, to the people, and to Sandy 
himself. I knew Sandy—knew him before he 
began his cursed life-destroying traffic, and 
though he was a coarse, hard man, wholly given 
up to the spirit of this world, I did not at first 
despair of convincing him of the sinfulness of 
liquor-selling, and of persuading him to abandon 
it. �
I had even kept up a sort of friendliness for 
him all through my fight against his saloon, which 
he was too sensible to take mortal offense at. 
" That is for good, I am sure," I answered. 
" How came you to do it ? " 
" Thought it wouldn't pay." 
"But I tried to convince you of that, and 
couldn't. Who else has been laboring with you ? " 
" I cannot say," he answered, mysteriously. 
" Do you stick by your offer to take the liquor off 
my hands ? " 
" Yes," I said, hesitating a little, " if you'll tell 
me what brought you round." 
" I'd sooner give you the stock," he said; "take 
it, and do as you like with it; and if you get any-
thing from it, use it for temperance." 
 
" Thank you, Sandy," I answered; " but I wish 
you would tell me all about it. I really want to 
know, Sandy, for it might help me in my work." 
" It would not help you," said Sandy; " you 
could not make people dream as I did, and if you 
could, maybe it would not affect them."' 
" So it was a dream ?" 
"It must have been, and yet I can scarcely be-
lieve it yet. Listen, and I'll tell you. Last night 
I was staying in the bar-room till pretty late—
after turning out my latest customer, Rob Tipple, 
because he had no money, and was ot
hering me 
for credit. I was leaning against the bar, and I 
may have dozed a little. Suddenly the door 
opened, and Seldrink, the drummer from the 
wholesale dealer that supplies me, came in. I 
was rather surprised to see him, for I did not 
expect him for a week yet, but I welcomed him, 
and we had a drink together, and sat down to 
talk over the state of the trade. We were look-
ing over the books and calculating what supplies 
I'd need, when I turned my head and saw Rob 
Tipple coming in the door and making for the 
bottle I had left on the counter. I reached it 
first, and then he began to beg and whine for 
drink, as he had done in the evening. Of course 
I refused him. 
" Just a sip, Sandy,' he said, ' for old time's 
sake. Consider how much money I've spent with 
you.' 
" If you have spent your money, you have 
had the drinks,' says I; we're square as far as 
that goes, barring your account on the books.' 
" It isn't the money altogether. Think of 
what else I have spent here. Think of the pre-
cious time wasted; of the health, honor, principle, 
and good name—all that makes life worth living, 
which I have thrown away here. Look at me 
and remember what I was—look at my home 
and remember what it was before you opened 
this saloon; and look at me and my home now. 
All these have I given for this cursed appetite for 
drink, which you refuse to gratify. Give it to me! 
Oh, give it to me, Sandy! 'Tis the only way I 
can forget what I have lost!' 
" Come, get out of here' I said. I don't 
want to hear any such talk. I sold you the 
liquor but it was you that made a sot of your-
self. I have nothing to do with that. I pay for 
my liquor and my license, and run the ordinary 
risks of business, and if I make it pay, that's my 
own affair. I sell the liquor, but you drink it, 
and whether you make that pay or not is your 
lookout.' 
" Say, you have not mentioned all of our 
liabilities,' put in Seldrink, looking over my 
shoulder. �
Our liabilities, I say, for we are part- 
ners, ain't we Sandy ? ' 
" I looked at him, and I declare, if I had not 
known it was Seldrink, I'd have thought it was 
Satan himself. There were horns sprouting out 
on both sides of his head, and he looked for all 
the world like the picture of auld hornie,' in the 
book my grandmother taught me to read in. 
"'We're partners,' he said, chuckling; we both 
take pleasure and profit from sin and misery. 
We'll have to pay for it some day, but the lake 
of fire and brimstone is a long way off yet, and 
there's time to do any amount of devil's work 
yet. Woe be to him by whom the offense com-
eth,' that doesn't touch us, Sandy, my boy. We 
don't make sots or sinners. We only lay the 
trap, and they are drawn away of their own 
lusts and enticed.' Go ahead, Sandy, and more 
power to you. Keep your profit. I work for 
you, but I don't want pay of that kind. Give 
me the pleasure of exulting in your success. Ta! 
ta! See you later, partner! Guess I'll see you 
last of all, if you come to that! " 
" And with a fiendish laugh he disappeared, 
and I—I either fainted or slipped down to the 
floor and woke up, for the next thing I knew I 
was lying on the floor, and it was past midnight. 
" So %have closed the saloon, for I don't ex- 
actly like the idea of being the devil's partner. I 
ain't altogether converted to temperance yet, 
but I don't feel right about selling liquor." 
" Well, Sandy,'" said I, "you have made a good 
beginning, and I only wish other saloon keepers 
would see that it is not to their interest to keep 
up their partnership with the father of evil. As 
for not being altogether converted to my way of 
thinking, all I ask of you is to investigate. Come 
with me ; come and see Rob Tipple's family, for 
instance, and you will agree that I am not as 
fanatically mistaken as you have been accustomed 
to think."— W. J. Chase, in Church and Home. 
Safe Little Effie. 
SHE came bounding down the steps, all ready 
for school. 
" Come acros 3," called her little friend, Johnnie 
Bates. " I'll wait for you." Right in front of 
her were two prancing horses. 
" I can't come across the street," said Effie, 
" till the horses pass." 
"0 pooh ! " said Johnnie, " clip across. You'll 
have time: the horses are standing still. They 
don't mean to go yet. 'Fore l'd be such a cow-
ard." 
Down sat Effie plump on the stone step. 
" I can't come across till the horses go by, 
not if they don't go in a week," she said. "My 
mamma said neveri to cross the street alone if 
there is a horse to be seen; and I am not going 
to." 
Just then the horses, that a man had been try-
ing to manage, became frightened at a kite that 
some boys were playing with, and broke from 
him. Away they went, right over the very cross-
ing that Effie would have taken! Effie's mamma 
ran to the door, pale and trembling. She had 
seen those dreadful horses fly by! 
" 0 my darling," she said, putting her arms 
around Effie, "what danger you have been in! " 
" Why, mamma!" Effie said, looking up at 
her mother with her eyes full of wonder, "I don't 
think I was in a speck of danger. You told me 
not to cross the street when I saw horses, and of 
course I wouldn't. So how could they hurt me!" 
A Lesson in Politeness. 
" IRENzus," in the New York Observer, says: 
"The stage was full—six on each side. A woman 
—observe I do not say a lady—entered with two 
children, a ten-year-old boy and a younger girl. 
As she could not find a seat, I gave her mine, and 
the children stood at her knee. Presently two 
persons left, and the boy and I sat down opposite 
the mother. Now two ladies entered, and the 
mother instantly bent forward and said to her 
son, 'Keep your seat ; I paid for you.' This was 
a lesson in politeness that would probably deter-
mine the manners of that boy for life. The mother 
had just before accepted my seat, compelling me, 
a man twice as old as herself, to stand up in an 
omnibus; but the moment when her little son 
had an opportunity to be kind to ladies, she in-
terposed and bade him keep his seat. * * I 
was coming up-town, and entered the stage 
in which five elegantly-dressed and fine-looking 
women were sitting on each side of it. They 
might be the lady patronesses of some society. 
There was room for another person on each side, 
but not one of those ten women moved to make 
room for me, and I rode a mile or more while 
those ten women—I do not say ladies—declined 
to give me a seat, as they could have done any 
moment, without rising or crowding. The most 
of them were probably mothers. But as the in-
stinct of good manners—that is, of politeness, 
which is simply the law of kindness—was not in 
the breast of one of the ten, what is to be ex-
pected of their children? They cannot teach 
what they do not know, and, as they know noth-
ing of politeness, their children will be boors, 
andithe mothers will never know it." 
A STORY is told of an old gentleman who al-
ways took notes of his minister's sermon, and on 
one occasion read them to the minister himself. 
" Stop, stop!" said he, at the occurrence of a cer-
tain sentence; "I didn't say that." " I know you 
didn't," was the reply; " I put that in myself to 
make sense."--Golden Rule. 
Mt difference between coarse and refined 
abuse is as the difference between being bruised 
by a club and wounded by a poisoned arrow. 
" You're doing what you have a right to do, 
and so am I," he said. " Beat me, and I'll give 
in, provided you'll do the same." 
" I'm bound to fight against the saloon," I an-
swered; " but I have no desire to annoy you—
unnecessarily, that is. If you will agree to close 
your bar, I'll take your liquor off your hands, so 
you'll lose nothing." 
 
" What will you do with it? " he asked slyly. 
" Pour it in the street, make liniment of it, or 
put it to some honest use. No human being shall 
taste a drop of it, you may be sure." 
" I dare say, but I don't care to sell. Go ahead 
and fight me. I'll fight fair if you will." 
So we tried it, and as I said, I was beaten. 
The court upheld Sandy, and the majority of the 
voters refused to vote for prohibition, so I had to 
give in with the best possible grace, and turn my 
attention to other branches of temperance work. 
Hence, I was surprised to hear it reported that 
Sandy had voluntarily closed his saloon, and it 
was with curiosity not unmixed with skepticism, 
that I hastened to learn the truth. The saloon 
was closed, sure enough, and that fact was an-
nounced by a notice posted on the door. But 
Sandy was nowhere about, and no one else knew 
the reason for his sudden decision. Apparently 
the saloon keeper had gone away to avoid ques-
tioning, but I was too much interested to let the 
matter rest, so I posted off to hunt him up. Fi-
nally I found him. 
" Well, Sandy," I said, " have you closed the 
saloon ?" 
"I should think you could see that," he an-
swered, shortly. 
" Yes, but what I want to know is, have you 
closed it for good ? " 
" I thought it was your belief that all closing 
of saloons was for good. But I've closed her to 
stay, if that's what you mean." 
FEBRUARY 2, 1882. 
THE SIGNS OF TEIFil TIMES. �
59 
"Wild Oats." 
THERE has grown up in this country within a 
half century a spirit of levity, and a leniency 
toward some forms of vice, and a general loosen-
ing of restraint on the young which tend to en-
courage the sowing of wild oats, regardless of 
the yield. The old strictness has gone out of our 
home life. Our young folks are left very much 
to their own inclinations. And society has let 
down the bars into all pastures, so that colts 
prance and browse at will. There is a freedom 
which verges on looseness and license, and it is 
looked upon as an indication of spirit and force 
for young people to kick over the proprieties and 
even try to knock the " nots " out of the com-
mandments. It seems in many quarters to be 
taken for granted that youth has a deal of folly 
to get rid of, and must have its run of fastness as 
childhood is expected to have measles and chick-
en-pox. A smoking, swaggering, pool-playing, 
wine-bibbing boy, turning night into day and 
sleeping till noon to recover from his carouse, 
why, he is only sowing his wild oats, which is 
spoken of as sympathetically as though he were 
a baby cutting his teeth. Yes, wild oats ! And 
very bad, bitter, blasting, poisonous grain they are. 
They are sure to injure if they do not kill. They 
affect the taste and constitution, and leave re-
morseful recollections like a canker in the mouth. 
Whoever has the inclination to fast ways and 
reckless behavior which goes under that name, 
should bury it under all possible thickness of 
good resolutions and noble conduct, and let it fer-
tilize the soil for a finer growth of manliness in-
stead of planting it where it will reproduce after 
its kind. For wild oats grow. They yield a 
crop of bad habits, of evil companions, of vicious 
tastes, of disease, and sometimes of crime and 
death. They produce hundreds of Jennie-Cramer 
deaths every year. They colonize the prison cells. 
They bring a heavy aftermath of remorse and 
wretchedness. There is no crop sown that brings 
forth such a harvest of sorrow, wretchedness, and 
shame. Yet at the present time the customs of 
society and the too lenient judgment of our easy-
going people encourage the sowing and furnish 
all the conditions for raising the crop. The time 
has come for parents to consider whether it pays 
them or their children to sow wild oats, when a 
better kind of seed can be scattered just as well. 
All possible joy to the young ; all possible inno-
cent pleasure to young people ; all the freedom 
compatible with safety. But the lines drawn 
across the world by the finger of the Eternal, 
which cannot be crossed, should be pointed out, 
and every precipice should be fenced against the 
feet of inexperience.—Christian at Work. 
Religious Notes. 
—In ten years the number of churches in Chicago 
has increased from 156 to 218. . 
—President Robinson, of Brown University, will de-
liver the Yale lectures on preaching, this year. 
—It is proposed to start at Little Rock, Ark., a college 
for young men and women, under the control of the 
Methodist Church. 
—Of all the arrests made iu Oakland under the Sun-
day law, only two were made by Home Protection As-. 
sociation. These were the proprietors of the Opera 
Garden, who have been twice arrested. The remainder 
of the arrests, together with all those made in San 
Francisco, were made by the League of Freedom. 
Items of News. 
—The Hartford, (Conn.) public school building was 
burned on the 24th. Loss $120,000. 
—Clarkson N. Potter, a prominent Democratic poli-
tician of New York, died January 23. 
—A fire at the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy 
Railroad shops, on the 24th, destroyed $60,000 worth 
of property. Cause, incendiary. 
—An emigrant train was ditched January 27, between 
Los Angeles and Deming. Two passengers were seri-
ously injured, and the express train was delayed six 
hours. 
—The large dry goods house of Camp, Morrill & 
Camp, at Jackson, Mich., was entered by burglars on 
the night of the 25th ult., and robbed of $12,000 worth 
of goods. 
—There is a strong Anti-Mormon agitation in the 
East. Large mass-meetings have been held in many 
,cities, and public indignation is beginning to be aroused 
over the matter. 
—The overseers of the poor in the villages of Walden 
and Montgomery, New York, brought charges against 
the hotel keepers for selling liquor, and one was fined 
$1,000 and the other $500, with all the costs of the trial. 
—Gambetta's bill for revision of the French Consti-
tution having been rejected by the Chamber of Deputies, 
by a vote of 305 to 117, he and the entire Cabinet 
handed in their resignations. 
—A furious wind-storm prevailed throughout the in-
terior of New York State last week, seriously interrupt-
ing telegraphic communication. At Syracuse a school 
house was blown down, and other damage done. 
—The Oakland Times calculates that the danger to 
a murderer's life by hanging is not much greater than 
the danger of death by a railroad accident. We should 
say that about the surest course a man can take to in-
sure his life is to kill somebody else. 
—The Prince of Montenegro has informed the depu-
tation of Herzegovinians who asked for his support in 
their struggle against Austria, that they must not count 
on any Montenegrin support, and that if they did not re-
turn forthwith, he should imprison them at Podgoritga, 
—Severe cold weather is reported from the East. At 
Norwich, N. Y , the thermometer indicated 33 degrees 
below zero, on the 24th ult. The Hudson River is en-
tirely frozen north of Peekskill. At Newport, R. I., the 
schools were closed, as it was impossible to heat the 
buildings. 
San Francisco stands third among the importing 
cities of the country. The figures for the year ending 
June 30, 1881, recently published by the Treasury De-
partment, show the value of New York's imports to be 
$435,450,395; Boston's $61,960,103; San Francisco's 
$37,943,695; and Philadelphia's $32,583,106. 
—After mature deliberation, a powerful syndicate of 
Paris bankers, among whom are the Rothschilds, have 
determined to come to the relief of the embarrassed 
Union General Bank. Stringent conditions have been 
imposed, to pre'vent any abuse of the assistance given. 
Other banks will probably be assisted by the same parties. 
—A fresh number of the Nihilist journal, The Will 
of the People, is being circulated among all the officials 
in Russia. It was probably introduced from abroad. 
The leading editorial says: "The coronation of the Czar 
will never take place. therefore make no preparation for 
it. Many things may occur between this and the 25th 
of May. Do not throw away your money uselessly. 
—An uncleanly youngster at Melville, N. J., has been 
condemned to pay a fine of $13.50 or to suffer ten days' 
imprisonment, for discharging tobacco juice on the floor 
of the Methodist Church during service. This is a good 
move. We hope it may be generally adopted. There 
are some churches that, should they follow this plan, 
would have a magnificent income, besides being very 
much cleaner. 
—The vineyardists of Switzerland are becoming 
alarmed. The cause of this is the extent of the manufac-
ture of "pure wine" made without grapes. Under the 
laws of that country fabricated wines can be sold, the 
same as any other, and as by the employment of water, 
alcohol, and tannin, an article can be made which can-
not be distinguished by a careful analysis from grape 
wine, and costs but a trifle, the occupation of the grape 
growers is liable to suffer. 
—Captain Eads is making a strong effort to get an 
appropriation from Congress for his proposed Ship Rail-
road across the Isthmus, and the prospect is that he will 
be successful. The question, he says, is whether it will 
be built under American auspices or by British capital. 
He says that he was assured while in Europe that the 
required sum could be raised in sixty days should he ap-
ply to them for aid; but he wished to give the United 
States the first chance. He therefore practically says to 
Congress: "If you do not guarantee the interest at six 
per cent. for fifteen years, upon a capital stock of $50,-
000,000, you will run the risk of surrendering the Isth-
mus of Tehuantepec to British hands. 
REVISED EDITION—JUST ISSUED. 
THOUGHTS ON BAPTISM. 
BY BLD. J. H. WAGGONER. 
Being an examination of its 
ACTIONS, SUBJECTS AND RELATIONS, 
Also, a brief consideration of the 
Historical Evidences of Trine Immersion. 
Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged. 
Price, postpaid, Paper Covers, 25c.; Flexible Cloth, 35o. 
Address, �PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal. 
SMITH'S COMPREHENSIVE DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE. 
N
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and improvements from the works of the most eminent scholars, 
commentators and travelers. It is designed to bc 
A COMPLETE GUIDE 
In regard to the pronunciation and signification of Scriptural names; 
the *solution of difficultiea respecting the interpretation, authority and 
harmony of the Old and New Testaments ; the history and description 
of Biblical customs, events, places, persons, animals, plants, etc. 
In this book it is designed to make everything intelligible to those 
who understand only the English language, and to place them as nearly 
as possible on a level with the sch.b.rs who are familiar with the original 
languages of the Scriptures. 
All the words in the vocabulary are pronounced and divided into sylla-
bles, and words or parts of words are respelled whenever this is necessary 
to indicate the pronunciation. 
The book contains numerous maps, and is abundantly supplied with 
superior engravings, which are of real utility to the student. 
No one who desires to study the Scriptures intelligently will be with-
out a copy of this most excellent book, as its price is within the reach 
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Price, in cloth 
�
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THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
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OAKLAND, CAL., FIFTH-DAY, FEBRUARY, 2, 1882. 
Meeting at Healdsburg. 
THE State Quarterly Meeting at Healdsburg was one 
of unusual interest, though not all the Directors were 
present. This was much regretted. Important matters 
come up for consideration at these meetings, and the 
officers should not fail to be present. The School Com-
mittee have not finished their deliberations at present 
writing. Full proceedings of the meetings will be given 
next week. 
Acknowledgement. 
A CARD from Bro. Geo. R. Drew, dated New York, 
Jan. 13, just as the company was about to sail for Europe, 
informs us that the Chicago and North Western Rail-
way gave him a half-fare ticket from Omaha to Chicago; 
also the Michigan Central from Chicago to Battle Creek. 
This was accommodating on the part of these railroads, 
as, in the absence of the Conference officers, he carried 
nothing but our certificate of his appointment by the 
General Conference to the English Mission. The C. & 
N. W. has always shown a disposition to grant reason-
able favors to those who labor in the gospel. 
• 
WE have not considered it necessary to call attention 
to the contents of our paper, trusting confidently in the 
judgment of our readers, that they will appreciate the 
many articles of real weight and merit which appear in 
it. �
Chief among these we place the series of articles on 
the first page of each paper, by Mrs. E. G. White. The 
closing paragraph of the article in No. 3, Jan. 19, reads 
as follows:— 
The law of God was not given to the Jews alone. It 
is of world-wide and perpetual obligation. " He that 
offendeth in one point is guilty of all." Its ten precepts 
are like a chain of ten links. If one link is broken, the 
chain becomes worthless. Not a single precept can be 
revoked or changed to save the transgressor. While 
families and nations exist; while property, life, and 
character must be guarded; while good and evil are 
antagonistic, and a blessing or a curse must follow the 
acts of men—so long must the divine law control us. 
When God no longer requires men to love him supremely, 
to reverence his name, and to keep holy the Sabbath; 
when he permits them to disregard the rights of their 
fellow-men, to hate and injure one another—then, and 
not till then, will the moral law lose its force. 
We doubt whether many such tributes to the cause of 
God—so comprehensive, and yet so brief—can be found 
in the English language. It is an unanswerable argu-
ment, applying the law of God in few words, to all 
the relations of life in a manner to silence opposition 
and caviling. These articles deserve more than a hasty 
reading. 
The Mormon Abomination. 
THIS subject is being widely agitated at the present 
time. President Garfield's sentiments in regard to it 
were well known, and it is to be hoped that the efforts 
to root it out, which would have been made had he 
lived, will not be allowed to relax. 
We can heartily endorse all well-directed efforts 
against this blot on our civilization, although we do 
not believe in legislation in regard to religion. The 
Mormons as a class of people, are not the object of 
attack, but their criminal practices. The laws of the 
United States punish adultery in the individual, why 
should they not punish it when practiced in a wholesale 
manner ? The sinfulness of crime is not diminished 
because it is indulged in by many people. 
But it is not going to be an easy matter to stamp out 
this evil. The Mormons have a vast amount of money 
at their disposal, which they are not slow to use, and it 
is as true of a Congressmen as of anybody else, that a 
gift blindeth the eyes." Besides this, they have been 
keeping a record of the lives of those in authority at 
Washington, and many things have been noted that, to 
say the least, would not appear well in print. This is 
held as a club over the officials, to influence their votes. 
A guilty conscience will doubtless cause many to ex-
aggerate the extent of this knowledge. 
The wickedness of the system would be plainly shown 
by the means employed to uphold it, if in no other way; 
and it is a sad showing for our Government that such 
base eflbrts are likely to prove successful. �
E. J. W. 
THE Guiteau trial is now over, the verdict of, guilty 
has been rendered, and there is no doubt but that the 
villain will suffer the punishment which he so richly 
deserves. So much latitude has been given to the 
prisoner, that no ground seems to remain upon which to 
base a new trial. The verdict gives general satisfaction, 
and the country will feel relieved when the assassin has 
expiated his crime on the gallows. And this feeling 
does not arise from vindictiveness to the prisoner. The 
safety of society demands that justice be done. There 
are some who think that it is a manifestation of charity 
to save the life of a criminal. Such should remember 
that charity " rejoices not in iniquity." These persons' 
charity, seldom takes in the victims of the assassin, or 
considers those who are liable to become victims. One 
important part of charity is to secure the rights of the 
innocent, by punishing the guilty. Had Guiteau been 
cleared, every individual's life would hereafter be at the 
mercy of any evil-disposed wretch who might have 
a grudge against him. 
This protection can only be insured by making crime 
seem as hideous as it really is. ' The criminal is too often, 
as is the case of Guiteau, allowed to pose as a hero or a 
martyr, and a glamour is thrown around his crime, 
which even the execution of the sentence cannot coun-
teract. There are silly women and crack-brained men, 
whose highest honor consists in having received the 
autograph or shaken the hand of a murderer. Until 
this is reversed, until the criminal can have a fair and 
impartial trial, without being the object of false sym-
pathy or a maudlin sentimentality, crime need not be 
expected to diminish. 
The Doctors and the Pentateuch. 
PROF. ROBERTSON SMITH, of Edinburg, has dem-
onstrated to his own satisfaction that the Pentateuch 
was not inspired, that it is not authentic history, and 
that it was not written by Moses, but was the product 
of a later age; in short, that it is a fraud. Of course 
when this was affirmed by so eminent a man, many peo-
ple accepted it as truth. But now comes Dr. Rufus B. 
Stebbins, President of the Unitarian Theological School 
at Meadville, Pa., and combats the above theory very 
earnestly and with much learning. He argues that the 
Pentateuch belongs to the Mosaic age, and traces ref-
erences to it back from the time of Christ to that of 
Joshua. He shows that the peculiar words of the law 
were as familiar to the Israelites of the age immediately 
succeeding that of Joshua, as the language of the ser-
mon on the mount is to modern preachers. He says: 
" The whole atmosphere of these books is fragrant with 
the incense which rose from the law; and the whole 
magnificent ritual of the nation is found imbedded in it. 
Our Pentateuch did exist in their day. It must have 
existed, or all historical evidence is false and worthless." 
THE last census shows that religious journals of the 
United States are divided among the denominations as 
follows : Baptist, 73 ; Christian, 2 ; Congregational, 15 ; 
Disciples, 12 ; Dunkards, 3 ; Episcopal, 32 ; Evangelical, 
26 ; Friends, 6 ; Jewish, 16 ; Lutheran, 21 ; Mennonit-
ische, 7 ; Methodist, 75 ; Moravian, 2 ; Mormon, 6 ; New 
Jerusalem, 0 ; Presbyterian, 39 ; Primitive Christians, 
2 ; Reformed, 10 ; Roman Catholic, 67 ; Second Advent, 
14 ; Spiritualist, 6 ; Swedenborgian, 3 ; Unitarian, 5 ; 
United Brethren, 7 ; Universalist, 9 ; Unsectarian, 114. 
BIBLE SANCTIFICATION: 
A CONTRAST OF TRUE AI% D FALSE THEOR 
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE. 
T
HIS is a pamphlet of only 84 pages, but its value is not 
to be judged by its size. It is just what its title indi-
cates: a faithful presentation of Bible truth on this important 
subject, and an exposure of the false theories prevailing in 
regard to it. Every believer in Bible truth should read it. 
Buy it, read it, and lend it to your neighbor. Price 10 cts. 
Address, �
PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal. 
COMPANION TO THE REVISED NEW TESTAMENT, 
Explaining the Reasons for the Changes made in the Revised 
Edition, with 
Explanations to the Appendix of the Revised 
New Testament, 
Which contains the Changes Suggested by the American 
Committee but were not assented to by the English Committee. 
Paper covers, 8vo., 25 cents. Cloth. 16mo., 75 cents. 
Address, �PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal. 
SACRED GEOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES. 
W
ITH maps and illustrations, by Rev. E. P. Barrows, D. D. The in-
vestigations of missionaries and explorers during the last century 
have thrown a flood of light on many points once involved in obscurity, 
and it is the aim of this book to condense and put into methodical form 
what has thus been collected. 685 pp. $2.25. 
BIBLE GEOGRAPHY. HAND-BOOK OF 
Containing the name, pronunciation and meaning of every place, nation, 
and tribe mehtioned in both the Canonical and Apocryphal Scriptures. 
By Rev. Geo. H. Whitney, A. M. Illustrated by one hundred engravings 
and forty maps and plans. 12 mo. 400 pp. $2.50. 
BIBLE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. HAND-BOOK OF 
Containing descriptions of the ancient manners and customs mentioned 
in the Bible, and explaining over three thousand Scripture Texts. By 
Jas. M. Freeman, D. D. Illustrated by 168 engravings, and accompa-
nied by an Analytical Index, a Textual Index, and a Topical Index. 
12 mo. 515 pp. $2.50. 
SMITH'S NEW TESTAMENT HISTORY. 
This work gives the connection between the Old and New Testament 
History, the relation of the Holy Land to the surrounding nations, a full 
account of the political and religious life of each separate section of the 
Jewish nation, and a clear and harmonized account of the Gospel and 
Apostolic History. 12 mo. 780 pp. $1.75. 
THE WORLD'S PROGRESS, A DICTIONARY OF DATES. 
Being a Chronological and Alphabetical Record of all essential facts in 
the progress of society, from the creation of the world to the present 
time, with chart. By T. B. Perkins. Octavo size. 1,020 pp. $3.00. 
LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL, 
By Conybeare and Howson, giving a living picture of St. Paul and the 
circumstances by which he was surrounded. Illustrated with maps and 
engravings. 764 pp. $1.50. 
THE LIFE AND WORDS OF CHRIST. 
By Cunningham Geikie, D. D., with marginal references to the Scriptures, 
notes and index. Two volumes complete in one book. Printed in pica 
type, octavo size. 1,260 pp. $1.75. 
We have just received the following commendation of this work from 
an earnest Christian worker in Maine :— 
HAVING read Dr. Geikie's life and works of Christ, 1 find 
it more interesting the farther I read; and when he intro-
duces us to the trial and crucifixion of Jesus, one can almost 
imagine himself present to witness the cruel mockery, and 
the terrible scenes of Calvary. Although I am not prepared 
to indorse all that is said in the book, yet I think it the best 
I ever read of the kind. �
J. B. GOODRICH. 
Address, �PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal. 
A MINE OF INFORMATION. 
History of the Sabbath and First Day of the Week 
BY ELD. J. N. ANDREWS. 
T
HE Bible record of the Sabbath; the secular history con-
cerning 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 com-
parative merits of the seventh and the first day Sabbaths are 
fully shown. A copious index enables the reader to find the 
comments on any text, or the statement of any historian. 
tarShould be read by everybody. 528 pp. Price, $1.25. 
Address, �
PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal. 
OUR COUNTRY'S FUTURE FORETOLD, 
THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
BY ELD. II. SMITH. 
THIS is a full exposition of a portion of prophecy which applies to 
our own Government, showing the position the United States holds 
in prophecy, and the part it has to act in the closing scenes of time. 
THE SUNDAY MOVEMENT, 
Which is now attracting such general attention, is thoroughly canvassed; 
and abundant testimony is given to prove that in a few years this will 
be the 
ALL-IMPORTANT QUESTION 
In this country. Facts and statistics are largely presented, showing in 
the most conclusive manner that this government 36 the one pointed out 
in the prophecy quoted. 200 pages. Bound, 40 cents. Paper covers, 
20 cents. 
Address, �
SIGNS of THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal. 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES, 
PUBLISHED WEEKLY, Al OAKLAND, CAL., FOR THE 
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 
C3rele, 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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SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal. 
—OR— 
Our Publications in England. 
ANY of the books, pamphlets, and tracts issued at this 
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Contents of the Signs.