The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, vol. 75

March 15, 1898

“Evangelistic Temperance. Exercises in Breathing” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 75, 11, p. 169.

WE do not want this matter of breathing to be a theory in any sense. We want it to be strictly practical. There is too much involved in it for us to treat it lightly, or to pass it by merely as a theory. We therefore ask you, Are you breathing right? Are you exercising only the muscles of the abdomen and diaphragm in your regular breathing? Examine yourselves and see. ARSH March 15, 1898, page 169.1

An easy way to determine whether or not you are breathing correctly is to place one hand on the upper part of the chest, and the other on the point of the abdomen, and see which one moves. If only the upper hand moves, your breathing is altogether wrong. If only the lower hand moves, your breathing is partly right and partly wrong. You must train yourself to breathe so that only the lower hand will move. ARSH March 15, 1898, page 169.2

Again: put your hands upon the sides. If they move out and in, except slightly and as a result of the full abdominal motion, you are breathing wrongly. Train yourself so that when you breathe, in regular breathing, there shall be visible only the motion of the abdomen. Breathe so that in deep, long, full inspirations, there shall be only the abdominal motion, followed by the rising of the ribs in the expansion of the chest, as explained above. The motion of the abdominal muscles is the foundation and key of all. ARSH March 15, 1898, page 169.3

Do not say you cannot bring yourself to it. By diligent and persevering effort you can; for the Testimony says so, and it is so. ARSH March 15, 1898, page 169.4

If you have no teacher, you can train yourself by following “a few simple rules.” We give a few:— ARSH March 15, 1898, page 169.5

Fill the lungs as full as possible, any way that you can; then hold your breath, and force all downward. This will help to get the diaphragm in motion. ARSH March 15, 1898, page 169.6

To help the abdominal muscles to their proper motion, place the thumbs backward, on the sides at the top of the hip-bone, and knead the abdomen with the hands. When you have once acquired the proper motion, it will soon go easily enough, and at last it will become so natural that it will go on of itself. ARSH March 15, 1898, page 169.7

But be sure that you get the right motion. That is, when the breath goes in, the muscles of the abdomen must swell out; and when the breath goes out, the muscles of the abdomen must draw in. You will have to watch this carefully, or you will get it going just the reverse of the right way. I have known many to do it. It is not enough that the abdomen should move out and in. It must do so at the right time and in the right way. ARSH March 15, 1898, page 169.8

Take a good stiff stick; place it across the back, with the ends in the bend of the elbows. Hold it tightly, and bend the body to the right, to the left, and backward; stand stiffly, and turn the body right and left. Do not practise too long at once, especially at first. ARSH March 15, 1898, page 169.9

1. Inhale.—Breathe deeply, forcing the abdominal muscles outward. ARSH March 15, 1898, page 169.10

2. Exhale.—Breathe out; let the abdominal muscles sink as much as possible during exhalation. ARSH March 15, 1898, page 169.11

3. Full Breathing.—Inhale slowly, and exercise the will upon all parts of the body simultaneously. This is but an intensified form of what should be the natural habit of breathing. ARSH March 15, 1898, page 169.12

4. Exhale slowly, exercising the will, the same as above. ARSH March 15, 1898, page 169.13

5. Prolonged Breathing.—Prolong the exercise of full breathing. ARSH March 15, 1898, page 169.14

6. Effusive Breathing.—Inhale naturally until all parts of the lungs seem to be filled; then give out the breath in the sound of the letter “h,” as gently and gradually as possible, until the lungs are empty. ARSH March 15, 1898, page 169.15

7. Expulsive Breathing.—Inhale as in full breathing, and expel the air forcibly, but gradually, upon the sound of the letter “h.” ARSH March 15, 1898, page 169.16

8. Explosive Breathing.—Take full breath; expel suddenly, and with force, in a whispered utterance of the word “ha.” ARSH March 15, 1898, page 169.17

POSITION.—In No. 1 allow the arms to hang by the side, but raise gradually while inhaling. In No. 2 allow the arms to drop gradually while exhaling. In Nos. 3, and 4 place the hands about the waist. In No. 5 allow the arms to hang by the side. In Nos. 6, 7, and 8 take a natural position. Stand erect in all cases. ARSH March 15, 1898, page 169.18

CAUTION.—Always breathe through the nose, whether inhaling or exhaling. Keep the mouth shut, and thus preserve your health; for the nose will prevent germs from entering the lungs. ARSH March 15, 1898, page 169.19

“Editorial” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 75, 12, p. 172.

“AS many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God;” and “there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” ARSH March 15, 1898, page 172.1

To be led of the Spirit and to walk after the Spirit are clearly the same thing. Then it is clear that the Holy Spirit is to show us the way in which we should walk. As it is written, “He will guide you.” ARSH March 15, 1898, page 172.2

“I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.” The only object in giving a guide to anybody, the only thing a guide is to do, is to show the right way; and the only thing that anybody can rightly do who has a guide, is to follow him. ARSH March 15, 1898, page 172.3

It is preposterous to claim to have a guide, or to claim to need a guide, and then go our own way. Then the very claim that we have, or that we need, a guide, demands of us that we put ourselves wholly in his charge, that we give ourselves up absolutely to his direction. ARSH March 15, 1898, page 172.4

“It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” “All we like sheep have gone astray,” and do not know the way. The great Shepherd of the sheep has given us a guide to be with us forever. This guide is the Holy Spirit. You and I claim to need this guide. Indeed, we claim to have this guide with us as ours. Now have you put yourself wholly in his charge? Have you given up yourself absolutely to his direction? ARSH March 15, 1898, page 172.5

“I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will counsel thee with mine eye upon thee. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose trappings must be bit and bridle to hold them in.” ARSH March 15, 1898, page 172.6

Do you study, and inquire, and watch, only to know His way? And when he indicates the way, even only with his eye, do you promptly walk that way? or do you hesitate and parley, and want to know whether there is not another way? Do you always treat him implicitly as the guide? or do you assume the position of guide? Do you try to guide your Guide? Don’t be as a horse, or a mule; be a Christian. ARSH March 15, 1898, page 172.7

“Keswick Movement” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 75, 12, p. 172.

MUCH is being made of what is called the “Keswick movement” in Christian living. It is so called because it originated in Keswick, England. Dr. F. B. Meyer, of London, who was lately in the United States, and as far west as Chicago, is one of its chief exponents. We have been watching it for two or three years, and studying what, by its chief friends and exponents, it is said to be. And we personally know that all that it is claimed to be in Christian living has been for years the positive teaching of the Seventh-day Adventists; and this without any thought whatever that it is anything but the plain, every-day Christianity that goes with the very name and profession of Christianity. That it is considered anything else by the professed Christian world forces the query as to what the professed Christian world has so far been thinking that Christianity really is. All this emphasizing of special “movements,” “higher Christian life,” etc., etc., betrays an utter misconception of what the Christian life really is. The Christian life is the life of Jesus Christ,—“Christ liveth in me,”—and it is nothing else. Christian living is simply Christ living in the believer,—“the life of Jesus made manifest in our mortal flesh,”—and it is nothing else. And Christianity is just that, and nothing else. ARSH March 15, 1898, page 172.1

“Studies in the Book of Daniel” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 75, 12, pp. 172, 173.

BEFORE the Babylonian Empire of Nebuchadnezzar arose to power, the empire of Assyria ruled the world, as described in Ezekiel 31:1-6, and mapped in “Empires of the Bible” at page 374. ARSH March 15, 1898, page 172.1

In 625 B.C. there was a revolt of the countries of Media, Babylon, and Egypt, all at once. The king of Assyria in person subdued the revolt in Media; while he sent his trusted general, Nabopolassar, to bring Babylon into subjection again. Both were entirely successful, Nabopolassar performing his part so well as to merit and receive from his sovereign the honorable title “King of Babylon.” This Nabopolassar was the father of Nebuchadnezzar. ARSH March 15, 1898, page 172.2

Affairs in the government of Assyria went from bad to worse, so that in 612 B.C. there was another grand revolt on the part of the same three countries, led this time by Nabopolassar himself. This one was completely successful: Nineveh was made a heap of ruins; and the Assyrian Empire was divided into three great divisions,—Media, holding the northeast and the extreme north, Babylon holding Elam and all the plain and valleys of the Euphrates and the Tigris, and Egypt holding all the country west of the Euphrates. The seal of this alliance between Babylon and Media was the marriage of the daughter of the king of Media to Nebuchadnezzar, son of Nabopolassar. ARSH March 15, 1898, page 172.3

It was in the performance of his part in the alliance against Assyria, that Pharaoh-Necho king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates when King Josiah of Judah went out to fight with him, and was slain at Megiddo. 2 Kings 23:29; 2 Chronicles 35:20-22. Then as all this western territory pertained to the king of Egypt, it was in exercise of his legitimate sovereignty, gained by conquest, that he removed Shallum, the son of Joseiah, from being king of Judah, and appointed Eliakim king of Judah in his stead, changing his name to Jehoiakim, and laid a tax upon the land. 1 Chronicles 3:15; 2 Kings 23:31-35. ARSH March 15, 1898, page 172.4

Pharaoh-Necho, however, was not left very long to enjoy his share of the vanished empire of Assyria. In the year 607 B.C., Nabopolassar associated Nebuchadnezzar with himself as king, and sent him on an expedition in invasion of the territory of Pharaoh-Necho. Thus it was that “in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim [607 B.C.] king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it;” and took part of the vessels of the house of God, and a number of captives, among whom was Daniel, and carried them to Babylon. ARSH March 15, 1898, page 172.5

This, of course, was resented by Pharaoh-Necho. Accordingly, “in the fourth year of Jehoiakim” he came out of Egypt on an expedition against Babylon. He went no farther than to Carchemish, however; for there he was met by Nebuchadnezzar, as is related in Jeremiah 46:1-10. “Necho was overcome and put to flight; one single battle stripped him of all his conquests, and compelled him to retire into Egypt.”—Lenormant. “And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land: for the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt.” 2 Kings 24:7. ARSH March 15, 1898, page 172.6

At the time when Cyaxares of Media, Nabopolasser of Babylon, and Necho of Egypt, formed their triple alliance for the destruction of the Assyrian Empire, Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nabopolassar, was united in marriage to Amyitis, the daughter of Cyaxares. Not long after the destruction of Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire, there was war between Media and Lydia; but during a great battle there occurred an eclipse of the sun, which so awed both armies that they ceased fighting. This lull was seized upon by Nabopolasssar to intervene and ask both kings to come to an agreement, out of respect to the gods, who had so manifestly shown their displeasure by darkening the sun. He was successful. Peace was established, and the agreement was sealed by the marriage of the daughter of the king of Lydia to the son of the king of Media. Thus Babylon, both by the prestige of her ancient and mighty name and by the good offices of Nabopolassar, strengthened herself in the position of a controlling influence over the two strong kingdoms of Media and Lydia. And when, shortly after this, Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nabopolassar, conquered Necho of Egypt, at Carchemish by the Euphrates, drove him back to Egypt, and took possession of all his territories, even up to the River of Egypt itself, Babylon secured the decidedly predominant power over all. ARSH March 15, 1898, page 172.7

Thus matters stood when, in 604, Nabopolassar died, and was succeeded immediately by Nebuchadnezzar, having already so signally displayed his ability in war by the defeat of the king of Egypt and the conquest of all Palestine and Syria, easily maintained the dignity and predominance of Babylon before all nations. In addition to this, the family relationship of Babylon with Media and Lydia was now closer than before; for Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, was son-in-law to the king of Media, and brother-in-law to the heir of the throne of Media, who was son-in-law to the king of Lysia. All these influences gave Babylon, at the very beginning of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, an easy predominance, which was only strengthened at every step throughout the long reign of the mighty Nebuchadnezzar. ARSH March 15, 1898, page 172.8

Such was the position of Babylon before the world at the end of Daniel’s three years of study in Babylon, when he had most successfully passed the final examination, and was chosen, with his three companions, to “stand before the king.” ARSH March 15, 1898, page 172.9