Show editorials THE WORK OF GOD DT IN EUROPE I 1 I 1 y Tl of god is prospering in as well as in the british sies CIEs durin during the recent tour tout of president william budge in the tho th continental contineri tal tai conferences from which i ho he returned to liverpool august he visit edthe scandinavian anavian ii german and und Netherlands saints to whom and the E iders elders laboring with them ho he gave gave much valuable instruction the scandinavian mission is in good condition and considerable freedom is enjoyed in prose I 1 y t in took I 1 the Elder sare well supplied with books and pamphlets a new nep nek edition of the book of mormon in danish is in progress elder andrew audrew jensen assis assists tg prest in the littiar literary v work I 1 ridel elder has hag succeeded in opening thi the work in in schleswig hol hoi stein steib baptizing bap hap twenty nive five persons previous to his big banishment hythe bythe by the police authorities A swedish elder who speaks german has gone there to succeed him the latter was wag laboring in hi sweden and having baptized a woman was conveyed by the police olice to stockholm and then liberated this gave him free passage directly on his hig way to his new field of labor jabor A C conference oil ori ference ferenee was held in berlin on sunday aug when lorty members were present the services being conducted with caution as no more than twenty are permitted to assemble wit without libut the presence of a police officer president budge addressed them in E english and in german elders eiders snow and martineau aswell as well weil as elders ballif menke kienke and rosenbaum were present there are fifty two saints in the baerlin conference As there has been considerable said in the papers about elder menkes eien Kien kes banishment from germany we present the following lowing letter to the star from elder ballif giving the true particulars BERLIN prussia aug I 1 1880 pr president 6 sid 61 dmm cwm win wib budge dear brother whilst engaged 0 in worship on thursday evening last we ive were interrupted by two officers of the police without further ceremony mony they ordered all the brethren present and a few of the sisters to follow them to the nearest station then after writing down the names ages residences trades or professions of the members present the berlin saints vete were vere called in succession into an 0 room questioned by the lieutenant of the station and sent home elders rosenbaum kienke klenke and myself were called last and pointedly questioned until nearly I 1 1 a m on friday when we were forwarded by drusch douschka ka to the central police building then we were invited to hand our pocketbooks and papers over and were put into jail where we spent the rest of the night and part ot the next day as criminals on hard benches in the company of a policeman in the morning we were called twice before the highest police officers who very minutely inquired into our intentions connection with the saints in Berlin principles and practices about three pm we were informed that we were ordered out of the kingdom of prussia under penalty of four weeks imprisonment elit eilt fine and transportation to the frontier if it we should again amin be found within the limits of I 1 t tho he sald said kingdom we were required to sign two declarations stating that w we fully understood our posit position positron lon ion and promising to act accordingly several officers of the police chancery inquired with much interest into our principles and took our address in order to send for some of our publications the affair aTair has created quite an excitement cit ement and will no doubt result in good it has not been brought about by some imprudent act but by the enunciation denunciation of an enemy the depositions dathe of the Sain saints tsat at the police examination examina vlon llon have been truthful and aud au d all went on to our satisfaction is there 1 is s no appeal from the decision of the police court and we must admit that the highest civil authority has been consulted in the matter and will have to shoulder the responsibility odthe of the act before high heaven we have felt very free during the whole proceedings ceedie ce ar s and those who have questioned us 9 have had to listen to our statements with regard to the restoration to of the tile gospel and the establishment lish ment ot of the kingdom of god we lve have more thoroughly organized the berlin branch a good spirit prevails and from all ail appearances iilo work of theford the tho lord will progress and more interest be manifested brother menke kienke has started this morning for hamburg and we will leave brother rosenbaum rosen Bosen baum and myself in 30 minutes for frankfort where we desire to stay a short time and lind then go on to manheim the saints have expressed their thankfulness for your good visit and desire to be remembered to you and brothen brothers s snow and martineau they are re a good and kind people and the lord will take charge of them your brother in the gospel S L nallif BALLIF it should be bb understood that this banishment only affects elder rosen bosen bosn rosen n aum as elder ballif was merely in in berlin on a visit and E elder eider der ki akia about to leave for ut h b the work will still go on in germany in bavaria elder A heppler has been successful in baptizing five men and has received application from two women who desired to re ordin ance the swiss mission under elder ballif is full of life and the prospects are excellent elder graehl at the last accounts was about to organize a branch of the church in geneva the brethren held a conference at zwolle in the netherlands on sunday august when persons were present about 40 of whom were members of the church eld eid elder eider er van dyk interpreted prest budges budgets remarks which were eagerly listened to by sentences there is considerable A sid liberty in that country for missionary labor and openings for a few more earnest workers letterstrom letters from elders in great britain show that public interest is kept up and baptisms are frequent elder george crane visited the isle of man recently spending ten days there finding still a few good saints in mona blona since ills his last report eleven persons had been baptized in the liverpool conference elder penn peter iteld beld reports twenty four baptisms since april in the Duilia durham rn an and CL newcastle conference elder A M X Buc buchannan harian has opened reopened re the work in banim Banfi shire scotland baptizing two persons there also seven in the neighborhood of aberdeen elder W luh juh shepherd writes of baptisms at Barn pool in the bristol conference and the general news is very encouraging the following brethren were released to return home with the company that left liverpool on saturday rany ay sept ath from being trav traveling pling elder in the leeds conference fon con on account of I 1 ill iii health E R L fishbaum fish bum burn from the scandinavian Sandin avian mission n anders hansen I 1 we have compiled the foregoing information from the star of august 30 insincerity IN THE PULPIT IN ix the september number of the hyorth american review there is a well written paper by nev bev E E hale entitled insincerity in the he pulpit it is an armi arraignment ailment of the clergy for preaching dogmas 0 which neither they nor the tho majority of their congregations really believe and for withholding many things which they do believe this insincerity mr hale evidently thinks has caused the lack of confidence in preachers and their discourses which is common throughout christendom and has placed in rn the popular mind the pulpit lower lowers than the platform and reli rell religion glon in the rear of science he broadly asserts that many of them have followed science into the lines of scepticism and while some proclaim proclaim doctrines in which they rave kave have lost faith others drop the doubtful dogmas and treat th their ei r congregations gregat ions to glittering generalities the ile reverend gentleman chides them in in no gentle manner for this insincerity and rightly says that it is the duty of the preacher to say what he believes believe snot suot not what lie he wishes to believe or thinks it would be well to believe he refers to the spirit in which many sermons are preached by the tile english clergy who seem to think that religion is made principally for the common people and needful but to keep them in their liace elace place it is certainly true that in both oth hemispheres attendance at church is more a matter of respectability and of decorum than of heartfelt worship or desire for religious instruction and is with thousands or ot well to do people simply one of the proprieties mr air hale says further cit ift fit is for the organs of orthodoxy to consider how flow far they can bear to diminish the power of the pul pui pulpit t they ought to know whether ther its have any such power as to make it safe to risk the contempt of those who hear they ought to ask themselves whether men now come to church with the eagerness with which men once came or whether the word spoken from the pulpit now commands the sort of assent it once commanded and in connection with this he asks does oes the american people on the whole believe that the preachers say all they know this tins is is a very grave question in proportion as orthodoxy shirks it or as it fails falls to amend its ways in that proper tion will the american pulpit so far as 1 orthodoxy orthodox y controls it cease to be the power which it once was and which it wishes to be what the gentleman says on this subject is no doubt correct and more might be said with equal truth orthodox preachers not only withhold things they believe but they tiley touch on subjects which they know no more about than their hearers and this we consider to be the t he greatest orea crea test weakness of the pulpit it is not so much the keeping back of thoughts which have supplanted in the preachers mind the dogmas of the long ago as the lack of any knowledge at all in relation to those things which it is the province of the gospel minister to dispense to his fellow mortals modern divines are in the condition described by the ancient cint apostle ever lea iea learning riling but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth how can they s speak mk with confidence on matters of mch which they the y have no knowledge rowean how row can they enlighten others on subjects about which they only speculate and theorize and how an can they thery arouse faith in the hearts of their hearers when doubt instead of faith possesses their own minds supposing mr air hales advice I 1 which seems to be the only remedy he can propose be followed follow ed by the christian clergy and they proceed to tell only that which they know or verily believe if they preach only from their actual knowledge 0 cledge of divine things their sermons would be hev few rev indeed and if they but declare their own doubts we fail fall to see whereby wherein their hearers would be much benefited the orthodox preacher is bound by a formulated creed he must keep kedji within the limits of a certain number of written articles of faith let him avow his disbelief in them or any of them and his big occupations occupation gone true the bulk of his congregation has ei either elther ther they grown out of the swaddling clothes ciot clot hes bes of the i sect to which they belong or have receded from the faith of their forefathers but the form must be kept up or the society would go to pieces and thus insincerity is 6 a matter of necessity if there is any necessity for the continuance of the orthodox ecclesiastical organizations the trouble is the world has gone gou e away from god preachers and people are in ther the same came condition traveling in the same road those who desire to find fineout fin dout dont out god and his works and ways are seeking in the fr wrong ang direction nian man alan by searching cannot find out god 11 sg 11 says the book which thay they profess liro fess to regard as divine and no man the son buethe father neither any man the father save the son and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him this was the declaration of the savior but who expects today to day to receive any revelation from the son in relation to the father who seeks for it with sincell sincerity ty science will never hever manifest the deity its domain is the material universe its discoveries show forth the laws that tha govern those grosser elements and their combinations which are perceived through th the e senses science cannot penetrate to the soul of the universe lel peL spiritual pi ritual things are spiritually discerned god cannot be found out he must reveal himself or be forever concealed from human view and he who wilo lias has not received the manifestation fe of the divine can never lead ol 01 others to the light which alone makes plain eternal spiritual veri ties the fC christian hristian ministry in these later times has lias degenerated into a business busi busl nm boys are educated and trained for it and men follow it like any other calling as the bar medicine the army commerce or other secular pursuit and for the same object a respectable living of course there are many exceptions to this but it is the general principle which governs and while no other otiler power guides the preacher than the human reason which is common to the philosopher and the pill maker the naturalist and the tho mechanic the geologist and the chemist the thee gold seek er moneygrubber money grubber his faith will be akin to doubt his spi spiritual ritual knowledge will be an inappreciable quantity and he will be but a teacher of speculative theology destitute of the lif life ilfe and light Z of real religion the creeds of men have had their day the human mind is breaking loose loos efrom from the bonds bonda of and the cords of custom and the day is not far distant when all the systems which have been formed without god in the heart of them with all their inconsistencies contradictions tra and insincerity will be swept away before the power of the restored gospel and the light of renewed revelation the first manifestations and joyful beams of now gladden the souls of thid thud saints inzian in zion THE NEW illuminator tiie tile electric light exhibition in this city has naturally led to the discus sion slon of the rile merits rits and demerits of this new illuminat illuminator illum mamor mator on new now to the f not fiot to io we the immediate present experiments with electricity as a lighting medium have baen made for many years with varying success and the outcome today to day is the demonstration that it can be utilized for large spaces but not yet for household or office purposes its greatest triumphs are in elevated exposures castl casti casting i ng a gl glare I 1 over an extended circle where obstacles do not intervene to make deep shadows ebe the electric light was thus ahus exhibited forty years ard ayd aboin in london and paris but it has ii nol not oj yet come into general use for several reasons a ons r inice 1 he first place although it appears to be cheaper than gas yet when all the expenses are taken into account including the wear and tear and contingencies happening to machinery it has been in ame practice ti ice found not to be comparatively economical in the second place the flickering noticeable here has been a feature of ts exhibition at other places and at biffi different erent periods and this has been rightly considered a serious defect in the third place accident to the engine furnishing the necessary motive power means sudden darene 1 s in the fourth place the shadow cast by obstructions is as proportionately dense as the illumination is brilliant and thus trees and tall buildings make an umbra deep and disagreeable by contrast in the fifth place the |