actory, so very meagre, and so constantly misleading." I have endeavored to give the substance, lthough perhaps not verbatim-the opinions of a very few, and I might quote pages of remarks by eminent men and women, discountnancing the cruel practice of vivisection. Being an advocate for brevity, I will leave he subject of vivisection, as I want in this Connection, to say a few words appreciative of the present improved and improving condiion of things in the more familiar and ordimary out-door treatment of animals. The prevention of willful or careless cruelty and unnecessary suffering in the animal creaion, has felt to me to be a religious duty; and I believe others have felt it so, and the marked progress made is attributable in great measure to faithful attention to this convic ITEMS. A DISTINCT earthquake shock was felt in Philadelphia and vicinity on the afternoon of the 10th. There appeared to be two movements or vibrations lasting according to various estimates from four to eight seconds. IN order to divorce, as much as possible, fornia will be called upon in November next politics from the school-book question, Calito vote upon a constitutional amendment which provides that the State print all textbooks herself. ON the 4th inst. a greatre form demonstration was made in Birmingham, England; in connection with this an enthusiastic meeting was held in the evening. Fully 20,000 people Bright, in which he said that "the reform in were present. A speech was made by John the House of Lords was urgent and inevitable." fessor Stevenson, of the Smithsonian InstituIT is announced from Washington that Protion, has gone with a party of explorers to the region of the cliff and cave dwellers to make a collection of relics and curiosities to be taken tion. Explorations will be made in Montana part among villages never before visited. and New Mexico, and will be collected in ion and its requirings, participated in by persons of various religious denominations. It has been said, "the children of the present are the hope of the future." And we ook for good fruits from the "Juvenile So-to the New Orleans Cotton Centennial Exposicieties " for the "protection of animals;" especially those societies in Philadelphia established under the management (entirely I believe) of the Women's Branch of the Pennsylvania S. P. C. A. a few years ago, now numbering several thousand boys; some advancing into manhood, retaining their zeal and increasing in usefulness. Bristol, 8th mo., 1884. EMMOR COMLY. I TRAVELED along a broad highway, where was so much dust and tumult that my soul became weary. I looked often to the right and to the left for a diverging road; but I was hurried forward by the tumultuous crowd, and could hardly retain my senses. Then my heavenly Friend sought me in the throng, led me forth by secret ways, and brought me into a green meadow and by still waters. Ah! how well was it with me there! I have experienced the blessing which the soul enjoys when it quietly rests in God.-Tholuck. THE Old Testament Company of Revisers in England has finished its labors. The preface has been finally revised and approved. As the work has to be submitted to Convocation before its issue to the public, it is not very likely to be published before next Easter. During the course of the revision, two have resigned and ten have died out of the 27 members of the Old Testament Company originally appointed by Convocation. AT the National Teachers Convention at Madison, Wis., the products of children's fingers filled two large rooms. Among the exhibits was work done in schools in Philadelphia, San Francisco, New York, WashingProvidence, La Porte and of Milwaukee and ton, Boston, Louisville, Indianapolis, Chicago, six other cities in Wisconsin. The Cherokee Orphan Asylum of the Indian Territory had a table, while one exhibit came from Geneva, Switzerland, and another crossed the Pacific from Japan. WHAT with the great Electrical Exhibition, the State Agricultural Fair, which is to be upon a large basis, and the Conventions of ONE element is wanting in the composition American and European Scientists, Philadelof the moral forces of to-day. One could esti-phia is to be a very attractive place in September. mate better the advance of the new year, The Numismatic and Archæological Society These important events are close at hand now. could one only count upon any approaching of New York has loaned to the Exhibition decline of woman's attachment to mere fash- electrotypes of all the ancient gold and silver ions and upon her espousing the world of coins and medals contained in the Brish perpetual morals and perpetual good and Museum, covering the period from the invenperpetual happiness. It is a deep injury of tian era. tion of coining, 700 B. C. down to the Chrisour country that thousands of women of wealth and education are leaders in perishable fashion, and not in any of these things which make nations great and which lead millions along an ascending path.-Prof. Swing. THE Board of Trade and leading citizens of Helena, Montana, telegraphed to the Secrefor the relief of 3,000 Piegan Indians at the tary of the Interior urging immediate action Blackfeet Agency, who, the petitioners say, "despite contrary reports, are actually stary- meeting. Those in attendance at the Bi-Ce tennial at Easton, Md., on the 27th inst., ca by taking the night boat to Baltimore, rea Wheeling on the morning of the 29th. SAMUEL S. TOMLINSON. The next session of the First-day Scho General Conference will be held at Mou ACCORDING to Mr. Im Thurn, whose travels in British Guiana have recently been pub-mencing at 7 o'clock P. M. lished, there is in the far west of that country, or over the Brazilian boundary, where the savanna itself rises 5,000 feet above the sea, a flat table land, the edges of which are more or less perpendicular cliffs 2,000 feet high. No traveler has ever been round it, so that it may be accessible from the other side, and there is a way, as yet untried, which Mr. Im Thurn believes may prove practicable. The summit of this plateau of Roraima seems to be forest covered, and enough is known of the fauna and flora of the district to make it certain that a naturalist would find himself well rewarded for the ascent. There are traditions of strange isolated tribes that live in this inaccessible region. Sci. Am. Pleasant, Ohio, Eighth mo. 30th, 1884, con The several Yearly Meeting Associations a requested to forward their reports, togeth with their answers to the questions assigne them, to the undersigned as soon as possibl NOTICES. Friends belonging to the several Year Meetings desiring to attend the Conference Ohio Yearly meeting, can obtain reduced rat of fare by applying at once to the undersigne The rate of fare will be as follows: Full fa going, and one-third fare returning. Those wishing to avail themselves of the a rangements made with the various railroa lines leading to Mount Pleasant, will find fu information in No. 26 of this paper. Delegates attending the First-day Schoo General Conference at Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, an entitled to the benefit of the concession i railroad fares, for which an arrangement ha been made, will pay full fare (limited or un Friends of Third Haven Monthly Meeting limited) in going to the meeting and have th propose to hold a meeting at their meeting- by the Ticket Agent at the starting point. 1 enclosed form properly filled up and signe house at that place, at 10 o'clock on Fifth-day the starting point is not located on one of th morning, Eighth mo. 28th, being the last day roads which have agreed to the arrangemen of their Quarterly Meeting, to commemorate and included in list on back hereof, delegate the fact that just two centuries ago the first will purchase to the most convenient point e meeting of Friends was held in the house which is still standing, in a good state of pre-routes only, through to place of meeting. A one of those lines, and repurchase by direc servation. Friends and other interested persons are in- Agent of the railroads will be in attendance a vited to be present. Also, to attend the Quar-tificates. Return tickets will be sold at one the meeting to countersign or stamp the cer terly Meeting. Trains leave Philadelphia at 3 o'clock P. M. third regular rates only to those holding thes Boats from Baltimore, 9 o'clock P. M. OHIO YEARLY MEETING. This meeting, to be held Ninth month 1st, convenes at Mount Pleasant, Ohio, ten miles west of Bridgeport, which is situated on the Ohio river, opposite Wheeling, W. Va., and is reached from the latter point by street cars. Bridgeport is the southern terminus of the Cleveland, Lorain and Wheeling Railroad, and a point on the Cleveland and Pittsburg Railroad, which connects with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Pittsburg. Being a central point for those coming over the various routes from both East and West, it is proposed that it be made a general terminus, where Friends will endeavor to meet all promptly, if informed of the probable time of arrivals. The Sherman House is designated as a place of waiting should there be any delay. In consideration of the drive of ten miles, it is desirable that the arrivals be as much as possible in the forepart of the day. Also, that communication be made as early as convenient with either of the following-named Friends, viz.: John E. Carpenter, Richard E. Roberts, George P. Clark, or Evan G. Evans, all of Emerson, Jefferson co., Ohio, who are named as a reception committee, or with other Friends living near the place of forms properly filled and countersigned. This concession will expire at the end o three days after adjournment of the meeting and will be available for continuous return trip tickets only; no stop-over privileges being allowed under the rules on tickets sold at les than regular fares. CAPE MAY MEETING. During the bathing season an Indulged Meeting is held every First-day, at the cottage of Thomas T. Hilliard, Cape May Point, N. J at 10.30 A. M., to which the attendance Friends and others is invited. Friends' Union for Philanthropic Labor will meet at Mount Pleasant, Jefferson co., Ohio on Sixth-day, Eighth mo. 29th, at 10 A. M. We hope Friends will make an effort to present at the opening session. (See Friends' Intelligencer of Eighth mo. for arrangements with railroads, etc.) WM. C. STARR, Clerk, A Conference on Temperance, under the care of Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting's Com mittee, will be held at Fairhill Meeting-house on First-day, Eighth mo. 17th, at 4 P. M. "TAKE FAST HOLD OF INSTRUCTION; LET HER NOT GO; KEEP HER; FOR SHE IS THY LIFE." TERMS:-TO BE PAID IN ADVANCE. The Paper is issued every week. The FORTY-FIRST Volume commenced on the 16th of Second month, 1884, at Two Dollars and Fifty Cents to subscribers receiving it through mail, postage prepaid. SINGLE NUMBERS SIX CENTS. It is desirable that all subscriptions should commence at the beginning of the volume. REMITTANCES by mail should be in CHECKS, DRAFTS, or P. O. MONEY-ORDERS; the latter preferred. MONEY sent by mail will be at the risk of the person so sending. AGENTS:-Edwin Blackburn, Baltimore, Md. Benj. Strattan, Richmond, Ind. Entered at the Post-Office at Philadelphia, Penna. as second-class matter For Friends' Intelligencer. PROFESSION. There is no lack of profession in matters of religion. It is an easy thing to give lip-service, and it costs nothing in personal sacrifice, it is rather a gain than otherwise, since in a community of religionists it is a passport to favor, and worldly prosperity. Profession...... The Love of God......... 433 434 The Memory of Nathaniel Sylvester Fittingly Commemorated. 436 437 Let us see how the case stands with a man who starts upon a business career, having no knowledge of the first principles upon which Profession is always zealous for the canon the work is conducted; he accepts the theory of the church, and is ever ready to do the of others, but has no experience of his own to work of the executioner upon the questioning fall back upon, no training in the art or and distrustful. It is satisfied with things mechanism, and must depend upon the evispiritual as they have been handed down dence that he receives second-hand. How from the fathers, differing from conservatism, shall such an one feel confidence in that in that it accepts what has been established which is done if he be not able to decide by by precedent and is hoary with antiquity, his own manipulations as to its quality, or while conservatism searches for the truth, and when it is found, guards it with unceasing vigilance lest any "jot or tittle" shall be lost through unfaithfulness. It is profession that sounds the alarm, along the ever-broadening lines of advanced thought; the men who sat in Moses' seat, clamored against Jesus, because he made & son of Abraham "every whit whole on the Sabbath day." Profession is satisfied with the "thus saith the Lord" of the old time, it hears not the voice that is saying_to-day, "this is the way, walk ye in it." "Not every one," said Jesus, "that cries Lord, Lord,' is of the kingdom, but he that doeth the will of the Father." how shall he conduct the work successfully and to satisfaction when he cannot say "I know that it is well done." It was not until Job was ready to exclaim "Now mine eyes see thee," that he abhorred himself. "Now we believe," said the men of Samaria, not because of the word the woman had spoken, but they had heard from the lips of the Teacher for themselves. Happy is it for the professor of the Christian faith, if there comes this knowledge to his inner consciousness. There is need of great care that we rest not until we know of what we profess to believe, and can testify of "that which our own hands have handled" of the word of life. If our profession is more than simply a name, it will bring us into close unity of feeling with the life of God in the souls of others, and we will acknowledge its divine origin, even though its manifestations differ from our own. As the fruit is the test of the quality of the tree, so the spirit and temper of the man is the test of whether he has been baptized into the name, which is the power of the Divine Son. The true prophet and apostle of the " new and living way" has always found the greatest hindrance from those who claim to be of the faith, yet cling tenaciously to tradition and usage. These are satisfied, and their little round of service has no breadth of expansion. Do those amongst us who are still willing to travel only along the highway of religious tradition ever think that in so doing they deny the very testimony for which so many of our noble predecessors surrendered their lives? They saw and felt that the word spoken by the prophets in times past was for the guidance of the people in that age. They realized that God had since spoken, and was still speaking through His beloved Son, saying ever "Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation." Jesus made pointed allusion to this fact when He said to the Jews, "Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead." He showed them that the manna of the past was not the food for the hunger of His day; nor is that which was sufficient for the people then, all that our Father has to offer us now. The Divine Storehouse is abundantly furnished, the bread and the water of salvation are renewed day by day for the sustenance of His needy children. If there is one thought above another in the fundamental principle of the Society of Friends, it is this, that to every soul that seeks the life-sustaining food of the Spirit, it will be given; the exhortation is, Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and the treasures of His bounty shall be opened. Are we willing to take these words of the greatest of all Seekers as meaning less? Do they not rather teach us that we must labor day by day for the food that will nourish us up to eternal life? and this life is one of progress; its dawning came to man in the ignorance of his untried powers. It has been the light that has led him on from the first glimmerings of duty and responsibility, through all the stages of his development, until sacrifice, his first conscious act of worship, came to be interpreted into the giving of himself for the good of others. Thus the beloved Son, in the fulness of time, perfected the law of sacrifice, and opened up a living way, whereby the soul is joined to God through obedience to His in-speaking voice and taught, that to live for man in all the broadening fields of useful service, is the offering most acceptable in the Divine sight. Thus shall we grow in grace and the knowledge of the Christ that shall be our Saviour, our Redeemer, purify. ing our lives, and leading us on through the paths that are opening before us, wherein none may walk who are willing to rest their cause upon the testimony of the fathers, and are still satisfying their hunger from the husks of tradition, while in the Father's house there is bread enough and to spare. Eighth month 17th, 1884. THE LOVE OF GOD. L. J. R. An Address delivered in England by Keshub Chun der Sen. According to this answer, which Jesus Christ gave to some of His disciples, and which we now see embodied in the text I have just read to you, the way to eternal life is the love of God. Jesus in reply said, "This de, and thou shalt live." The only way to inherit everlasting life is to love the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength, and with all our mind. This is "the whole law and prophets." This is God's first and highest commandment. The whole law, religious and ethical, is concentrated in this precept. If we fulfill this precept, if we love the Lord with our whole heart, mind, strength and soul, we shall certainly inherit everlasting life. But what is it to love God? There are many who suppose that the love of God con sists in simply accepting a few dogmas and doctrines. Others there are who think that the love of God does not at all lie in the intellect or the understanding, but simply in the performance of righteous deeds, which are acceptable to the Lord. Others indulge in a sort of mystic sentimentalism, and think they thereby love God. There are, again, others who spend several hours of the day in mere contemplation, in abstract conceptions, in reveries and ecstacies, and they. think the love of God consists in these things. Such views of the love of God, if not absolutely incorrect, only partially represent the truth. The love of God embraces all the departments of our life. The sweetening, and purifying, and strengthening influence of the love of God must be found in all the details of our daily life, as well as in the grandest aspirations and pursuits of men; and unless that is done, unless we find that there is the love of God in our whole life, we ought not to administer to ourself a sort of perfidious solace, and suppose that we have loved God as we ought to have loved Him. Then only ought we to congratulate ourselves on having the love of God, when we have found that we love Him with the intellect, with the heart, with the soul, and with the will. Let us take these various elements of the love of God one after the other. Our love of God must, in the first instance, be intellectual. We must love God with our whole understanding, with all our intellectual powers. Our reason, our intellectual faculties, must all love God by loving truth. He cannot love God who does not love truth. He who is wedded to error, falsehood, fancy, delusion, cannot be said to love God, for all truth is in God, and whoso loveth God must love truth; and in proportion to our love of truth is our love of God. If we love errors and falsehoods, we cast away our hearts from God, because God is perfect truth. There are some people who are afraid of the advance of scientific knowledge and enlightenment, simply because they feel that the progress of science will endanger the Church, will upset men's faith, and take away from them the power of loving God. No. All truth harmonizes with all truth, whether it is physical or metaphysical truth, whether it is mathematical or religious truth. Every truth is welcome to us, if we are lovers of God. We must welcome every form and species of truth. Let us open all the windows of our mind, and take in truth of all kinds and on all matters, as we take in the light and air of God. Let us freely and dispassionately and fearlessly welcome all kinds of scientific truth. Let us love science in all its varieties, in all its departments; let us love every form of truth; and let us be certain that truth can never upset truth. On the contrary, the more scientific we are, the more religious we shall be; the more we love scientific truths, the more we love God. That is what I mean by intellectual love of God. By loving truth we love God. Our understanding and reasoning powers shall all be in unison with the spirit of God's truth in the worlds of matter and mind; and, when we go to worship God, let us be sure that our love of God is founded upon the rock of everlasting and enduring truth, that there is not a particle of error or falsehood in our creed and in our conceptions of God. When love is well grounded upon the firm rock of truth, that love will stand firm through everlasting ages. Our love of God must be not only intellectual, but also practical. We must love God with all our strength, not merely with all our mind. If we love God, we must carry out his precepts into practice. That is hollow, hypocritical, worldly love, which shows itself merely in intellectual exercises, in dogmas and doctrines, but does not seek to exhibit itself in deeds of righteousness. Our doctrine may be correct. We may be very punctual and regular in attending our churches and chapels; but if we are not honest men, if we are not straightforward, if we are not pure in our characters, pure in words and in actions, how can we say we love the Deity? Can men love God, and yet at the same time love impurity and sin? Can men love holiness and light, and at the same time abide in unholiness and darkness? If our hearts are wedded to the world and its fascinations, how can we love the Lord who is pure and holy? Our character must be holy? Our hands must be very active in the discharge of those momentous duties which we owe to ourselves and to others, which we owe to those who are near and dear to us, and to all mankind. We must always be found diligent, industrious, active, and unwearied in our efforts to promote the welfare of others. We must never be idle. We must never enter into the paths of wickedness, deceit, and fraud; but whatsoever the Lord commandeth, that we should do. Purity of character, cleannesss of conscience, is one of the highest treasures on. earth; we must try to gather up such treasures in our sojourn in this world. We must be assured that our hearts are pure in the sight of the Lord, else our devotions, our prayers, cannot be accepted by the Lord. He looketh into the depths of our hearts, and whoso kneeleth before him must satisfy him that he desires to be pure. We must be righteous, we must practically discharge our duties to society. Go and feed the hungry and clothe the naked, and quench the thirst of the thirsty, and bring riches unto those who are poor, and divide your substance with those who are in need. Go to the helpless, the poor, the miserable children of God in various parts of the world, and try to befriend them and assist them according to your means and circumstances. Let God see that every one of His children is engaged all hours of the day in promoting the welfare of society; let us satisfy Him that we are ready and willing servants, ready to do all that He commands us to do, and do it willingly with all our heart. If a man, therefore, wishes to love God, he must try to be at the same time a faithful servant of God. His love of God must be intellectual and at the same time practical. We must love Him with all our activities and energies, with our whole strength. To be continued. SOULS cannot be fed by denials; not what we doubt or disbelieve, but what we believe with all our heart and soul, gives us strength for action and endurance, inspires us for life, and enables us to meet death bravely. |