PRETTY NEEDLE BOOK.

Cut five pretty shaped leaves from felt, two green, two red and one yellow, rimming all with red silk, which gives them the appearance of autumn leaves; group them together with a piece of diamond-shaped felt for a back ground; upon this, sew four or five leaves of flannel, pink the edges and fill with needles; number each leaf to suit the needles; fasten leaves at the top by a pretty bow of yellow ribbon. This makes a pretty as well as useful ornament.

SUNFLOWER PIN-CUSHIONS

Are admired very much. I take a piece of yellow India silk as near the sunflower shade as possible, and cut out 22 petals. Eleven I make 2 inches long, the others 111⁄2 inches and about 11⁄2 inches wide at the base. They are, of course, double. I stitch them around, turn and press them,

then have a small round cushion made of dark brown plush or velvet. I have for the foundation a circular piece of cardboard, pretty stiff. Then I begin with the short petals, laying a short plait in each; the long ones are for the second row, and the points of those come between the short row and a little beyond; now cover the back smoothly with a piece of silk or any thing you may have handy; sew a ring or large eye on the back and hang on the wall, after filling the cush ion with pins.

WITH this issue we commence the autobiography of Elder R. C. Evans, of London, Canada, and also give a very faithful likeness of him. Do not let any one suppose that we are seeking to obtain subscribers for our magazine when we say to you, that those who fail to read and preserve this sketch will fail to enjoy and preserve many of the strongest testimonies of the truth of this latter day work which it has ever been our good fortune to hear. Perhaps the best features of the case are, that these testimonies are mostly from living witnesses-parties who can be seen or written to, should any desire to do so. We are not able to issue a large over edition, and it will be well for those wanting this biography, and who are not our subscribers, to send in their names soon.

SEVERAL mistakes will be found in the Memorial Sermon of this issue, but while somewhat annoying, there are but two which are very serious. In second paragraph, second column, on page 269, for "by her will may find," read, "men find." Last paragraph, page 270, for "shod" read "shot."

BRO. E. C. BRIGGS writes from Shenandoah, Iowa, under date of May 13th: "You may say, if you please, that through the continued illness of Sr. Briggs my article may be delayed for a short time; but I will defer it no longer than is absolutely necessary to do justice to the importance there may be attached to it. I love my fellowmen and the gospel of Christ more every day of my life, and I am determined to do all that I can to forward the work. My experience

dates back to childhood in such a manner that I can not be true to the church, myself and the rising generation, without being explicit in regard to some of my earliest impressions as leading up to my ministerial life."

We earnestly trust that the Saints will remember Bro. Briggs in prayer, that his way may be opened before him to return to his field of labor.

AND now as we draw near to the conclusion of our serial, "With the Church in an Early Day," we wish to present to our friends a matter which was in our mind from the beginning, but which has been earnestly urged upon us of late by many others who did not know that we had it under advisement, namely, the issuing of it in book form, that there may be in the church one volume for the young, which deals with our own faith and people in a manner to interest, and present it to the world in such a way as to compel them to think, and from thinking to inquire, "Have this people been misrepresented and is it possible that 'good may come out of Nazareth.'"

There is also another volume which we wish to issue at the same time, "Pattie, or Leaves from a Life." This presents the work from an altogether different standpoint and is a book the church can not afford to be without.

The plan and terms of issuing these volumes will be found on the third page of our cover, and we trust all who are interested in this work will give it a careful reading and after due reflection act promptly.

אן

LECTURE III.

our second lecture we treated of the mind's retentive power, the corresponding nature of electricity and spirit; their invisible influence, yet manifest operation, its expansive and increasive capabilities for knowledge; its indestructibility, etc.

In this third lecture we shall endeavor to show more extensively the wonderful workings of the mind, and its unconquerable, masterly nature.

A few years ago a dinner was given by Parisian scholarship in honor of Victor Hugo. It had been somehow charged upon his excellency that he was inclined to atheistic views.

He took opportunity upon this occasion to rectify the mistake and correct this most misleading statement concerning his views upon the question of the eternal duration of mind. He arose when called upon for a brief address, and referring to the question, said:

"I have been charged with the darkness of atheism; but I ask how is it, if this be true, that as I find my body failing, my mind grows brighter; as nearing the immortal shores the sweet symphonies of a paradisiacal world become louder, and their sweet strains more plainly heard; my body fails but my mind grows stronger, and the scenes of a beautiful world approach my vision!"

This is a "beautiful" saying, and one worthy our consideration."

There are many things by which we are surrounded that lead us to conclude that the doctrine of the immortal nature of the mind, or soul, must be true.

I believe there is such a law as that of justice, a law of mercy, a law of righteous retribution. The law of justice-inexor

able justice-could not have had its origin with man, for we discover in history the exhibition of the execution of a supposed law of justice, or more plainly speaking, the supposed execution of the law of justice has been based upon the most absurd grounds and carried out after the most cruel and fiendish manner. The true type of justice not being susceptible of false conceptions, must have had its origin as a law of strictest impartiality with a mind, or source of intelligence, superior to man. We believe that justice is an eternal law, and that law must be a conception of mind, and mind a manifest intelligent existence; that that law exists, not to be evaded, but shall be as universal and as real in its influence and execution of its penalties as is the sunshine universal; that as the world turns itself, or is turned by force of the law controlling its motion toward the sun, and although a part may be for a time in darkness, so with the unscrupulous deeds of men which for a time, or in time, seem to evade and escape justice, shall not always escape. The distribution of rewards and punishments; the bondaged, enslaved state in which virtue is kept; the freedom given to vice; the opulence of rogues; the poverty of heroes and messengers of love, are burning examples of an entire absence of justice; and justice, knowing no end, must not, and can not in the very nature of things, in the very light of unperverted reason and a well balanced judgment, escape that infliction of penalty and bestowal of reward that eternal justice itself demands. Annihilation is a cruel, unrevenging doctrine; and "materialism," atheism, a "doctrine of dirt" only!

The mind bursts out and breaks away

from these thoughts, and stands out in command and demand for justice, if not here, hereafter. If mind is a part of matter gross, and can not exist aside from it, then why do not trees talk, and flowers smile? But no, this entity resides in man supreme among all animated nature.

If this world were the only place where rewards and punishments should be distributed, then were there innumerable cases where injustice and the impartiality of its procedure would be liable to be impeached.

All things may be susceptible of change. but not annihilation. The spots on the sun, the belts of jupiter, the surface of the moon, the rings of saturn, and several portions of the starry heavens, are frequently changing, or varying their aspects. On the earth mountains are crumbling down, the caverns of the ocean are filling up, islands are emerging from the bottom of the sea and again sinking into the abyss; the ocean is frequently changing its boundaries, and trees, plants, and waving grain now adorn many tracts which were once overwhelmed by the foaming billows. Still, amidst these various and unceasing changes and transformations, no example of annihilation has yet occurred to the eye of the most penetrating observer.

When a piece of coal undergoes the process of combustion, its previous form disappears, and its component parts are dissolved; but the elementary particles of which it was composed still remain in existence. "Part of it is changed into caloric, part into gas, and part into tar, smoke and ashes, which are soon formed into still other combinations." from coal is invisible, yet it assumes a form and gives both light and heat when ignited. It is evidently a material, though invisible under certain conditions. Heat is material, it may be both seen and felt.

The gas

Prof. Dick says: "When vegetables die or are decomposed by heat or cold, they are resolved into their primitive elements, caloric, light, hydrogen, oxygen and carbon, which immediately enter into new combinations, and assist in carrying forward the designs of nature in other of its departments."

"Since, then, it appears that annihilation forms no part of the plan of creation in the material world, is it reasonable to

suppose that a system of annihilation is in incessant operation in the world of mind?" And we ask, shall the material universe exist amidst all its variety of changes, and shall that noble creature, for whose sake the universe seems to have been created, be cut off forever in the infancy of its being and be doomed to eternal forgetfulness? Is it consistent with the common dictates of reason to admit that matter shall have a longer duration than mind or spirit?

Again I ask in the language of a noted author: "Shall the Novum Organum' of Bacon, and the "Optics' and 'Principia' of Newton descend to future ages, to unfold their sublime conceptions, while the illus trious minds which gave them birth are enveloped in the darkness of eternal night?"

Let us believe for a short time that there is no future existence, or state of existence beyond the grave, and in silent. meditation and serious contemplation, I ask: "Looking into myself, I inquire, whence I came? Whither I am going? Who produced me? Of what my body is composed? What is the nature of my senses? Of the thinking principle I feel within me? And for what purpose was I ushered into being? I perceive in my body a wonderful mechanism which I can not comprehend. I find by experience that my will exercises a sovereign power over my muscular system, so that hands, feet, arms and limbs are disposed to obey every impulse, and at the signal of a wish, to transport my body from one place to another. I find my thinking principle intimately connected with my corporeal frame, and both acting reciprocally on each other; but I can not fathom the manner in which these operations are effected. I feel ardent desires after enjoyments in which I never shall participate, and capacities for knowledge and improvement which I never can attain. I feel restless and uneasy, even amidst the beauties of nature, and the pleasures of the senses. I ask whence proceeds the want I feel amidst all my enjoyment? Such are a few of the gloomy reflections of a hopeless mortal whose prospect is bounded by the grave; and such are some of the horrible consequences which the denial of a future state necessarily involves. It throws a veil of darkness over all the bright scenes of creation, and wraps in