The Advent Review, and Sabbath Herald, vol. 7
August 7, 1855
RH VOL. VII. - ROCHESTER, N.Y., THIRD-DAY, - NO. 3
James White
THE ADVENT REVIEW,
AND SABBATH HERALD.
“Here is the Patience of the Saints; Here are they that keep the Commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus.”
VOL. VII. - ROCHESTER, N.Y., THIRD-DAY, AUGUST 7, 1855. - NO. 3.
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Our Duty
NEVER from the future borrow
Burdens that no good repay,
Strength required for to-morrow,
May be lost on us to-day.
ARSH August 7, 1855, page 17.1
God the present moment calls us
Forth to labor in the field,
Not to fear what may befall us,
But the weapons bravely wield.
ARSH August 7, 1855, page 17.2
Trials that we now are breasting
On our journey nearly done,
Are our faith and patience testing,
Ere the victory is won.
ARSH August 7, 1855, page 17.3
Duties as they come before us
Each perform with willing heart;
He with richest blessings o’er us,
Will be faithful on his part.
ARSH August 7, 1855, page 17.4
Every needed grace he’ll lend us,
If we do his righteous will;
In the darkest hour defend us,
And through life be with us still.
ANNIE R. SMITH.
Wilton, N. H., July 18th, 1855.
ARSH August 7, 1855, page 17.5
ON THE USE OF TOBACCO
[Concluded.] ARSH August 7, 1855, page 17.6
I now hasten to notice, ARSH August 7, 1855, page 17.7
III. ITS EFFECTS, PHYSICAL AND MORAL
1. Its physical effects. - I have anticipated the most of what is necessary to be said under this head, in connection with the different modes of using it. But, in order to confirm and establish what has already been said, I will here present a few more medical and other testimonies against the habitual use of this poisonous plant, on account of its deleterious effects upon the health and constitution. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 17.8
“In those not accustomed to it, tobacco excites nausea, vomiting, dizziness, indigestion, mental dejection, and, in short, the whole train of nervous complaints.” “I have long witnessed, in a variety of cases,” says Dr. Agnew, “the deleterious effects produced by the constant use of that strong narcotic, such as vertigo, indigestion, flatulence, etc., and which must necessarily be the irreparable concomitants of the application of such a narcotic stimulus to so large a portion of the nervous and secreting surface, either in substance or vapour.” ARSH August 7, 1855, page 17.9
“A person of my acquaintance,” says Dr. Clarke, “who had been an immoderate snuff taker for upward of forty years, was frequently afflicted with a sudden suppression of breathing, occasioned from a paralytic state of the muscles which served for respiration; these affections grew more and more alarming, and seriously threatened her life. The only relief she got in such cases was from a cup of cold water poured down her throat. This became so necessary to her, that she could never venture to attend even a place of public worship without having a small vessel of water with her, and a friend at hand to administer it! At last she left off snuff; the muscles re-acquired their proper tone, and, in a short time after, she was entirely cured of her disorder, which was occasioned solely by her attachment to her snuff-box, and to which she had nearly fallen a martyr!” ARSH August 7, 1855, page 17.10
2. Its moral effects. - And these are as much more pernicious than the other, as the mind exceeds the body in its value, and as eternity exceeds time in its duration. It tends to weaken and debilitate all the moral powers, and some of them it ultimately destroys. But more than this, it tends to other vicious moral habits. “When public attention shall be fully awakened to this subject,” says Dr. M’Allister, “innumerable instances will be found, where drunkenness has followed as the legitimate consequence of using tobacco.” “I am confident,” says Dr. Agnew, “the pernicious effects of tobacco are second to none produced by the combination of all the luxuries and poisons by which custom and effeminacy have enslaved us, the potation of spirituous liquors excepted. But this last rarely stands by itself, as the use of the pipe, etc., almost invariably leads to the immoderate use of ardent spirits.” “Hence,” says Dr. M’Allister, “smoking has, by producing dryness and thirst, in many instances been the sad precursor to the whiskey jug and brandy bottle, which together have plunged their unfortunate victims into the lowest depth of wretchedness and wo!” The fact that some use tobacco without becoming intemperate drinkers proves nothing against the general principle, that its natural tendency is to promote it, any more than the fact, that some men are temperate drinkers without becoming drunkards proves that this temperate drinking has not a natural tendency to promote drunkenness. For about as certain as every drunkard was once a temperate drinker, so certain is every drunkard strongly attached to tobacco. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 17.11
“Smoking and chewing tobacco,” says Dr. Rush, “by rendering water and other simple liquors insipid to the taste, dispose very much to the stronger stimulus of ardent spirits; hence the practice of smoking cigars throughout our country has been followed by the use of brandy and water as a common drink.” And universal observation confirms the above testimony. Go to the bar room of yonder tavern, and there make your observations upon the numerous host of idlers who resort there to pass away their time, and you will find that the cigar and the glass of brandy and water (or if this be beyond their means, whiskey may be substituted) regularly succeed each other, as they mutually excite each other. Follow that band of young men who are passing hastily through your streets, (perhaps on the Sabbath day,) each of them with a cigar in his mouth, and you will find them winding their course to some tavern or porter house, that they may satiate their thirst, excited by their cigar, with a glass of brandy and water. And thus thousands of our youth are led on, and ultimately confirmed in intemperate habits. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 17.12
Intimately connected with its demoralizing effects is its filthiness; for every filthy habit tends to corrupt and debase the mind. This plant is filthy in its nature, so much so that but barely one worm among the whole tribe of insects will feed upon it; and but one animal, except man, (and his taste is not natural but acquired,) has been found to eat this filthy plant. “Flies, musquitoes and the moth, are chased from our clothes by the very smell of it.” But, lest it should be supposed to have been created in vain, “modern travelers have at last discovered that it constitutes the food of a solitary and filthy wild beast, well known in the deserts of Africa by the name of the rock goat.” It is not only filthy in its nature, but art has combined all its skill to render it more so. “Simon Paulli, physician to the king of Denmark,” says Dr. Clarke, “has written a treatise on the danger of using this herb, and observes, (which I quote for the sake of those who retain any sentiment of delicacy on this subject,) that the merchants frequently lay it in bog houses, to the end that, becoming impregnated with the volatile salt of the excrements, it may be rendered brisker, stronger, and more fetid.” A dealer in this article once acknowledged to me,” says Dr. Clarke, “that he sprinkled his rolls and leaf frequently with stale urine to keep them moist and to preserve their flavor! A friend of mine, whose curiosity led him to see tobacco spinning, observed that the boys who opened out the dry plants, had a vessel of urine by them, with which they moistened the leaves to prepare them for the spinner! Do the tobacco-chewers know this, and yet continue in this most abominable and disgraceful practice? Can any person think of the above with a quid in his mouth?” ARSH August 7, 1855, page 17.13
It is not only filthy by nature, and rendered more so by art, but it is equally so in its effects. “To the great scandal of religious people,” says Dr. Clarke, “the abominable customs of snuff-taking and chewing have made their way into many congregations, and are likely to be productive of immense evil. Churches and chapels are most scandalously abused by the tobacco-chewers who frequent them; and kneeling before the Supreme Being, which is so becoming and necessary when sinners approach their Maker in prayer, is rendered in many seats impracticable, because of the large quantity of tobacco saliva which is ejected in all directions.” ARSH August 7, 1855, page 17.14
“A mutual advantage,” says Dr. M’Allister, “has resulted from our intercourse with the Indian. We have taught him how to debase himself below the brute, and destroy the quiet of savage life, by the use of our whiskey; and he, in gratitude for our kindness, has taught us to destroy our constitutions, and interrupt the harmony of civilized society, by the habitual use of this deadly narcotic.” ARSH August 7, 1855, page 17.15
“Should all other arguments fail to produce a reformation in the conduct of tobacco-consumers,” says Dr. Clarke, “there is one which is addressed to good breeding and benevolence, which, for the sake of politeness and humanity, should prevail. Consider how disagreeable your custom is to those who do not follow it. An atmosphere of tobacco effluvia surrounds you whithersoever you go; every article about you smells of it; your apartments, your clothes, and even your breath. Nor is there a smell in nature more disagreeable than that of stale tobacco arising in warm exhalations from the human body, rendered still more offensive by passing through the pores, and becoming strongly impregnated with that noxious matter which was before insensibly perspired.” “Some of the most disagreeable things relative to the practice against which I have been writing, are still behind the curtain; and it is there alone where I wish every persevering smoker to seek for a certain vessel named the spitting dish, which to the abuse of all good breeding, is frequently introduced into public company. May they and their implements while engaged in this abominable work, be ever kept out of sight.” ARSH August 7, 1855, page 17.16
King James finishes his “counterblast to tobacco,” as follows: “A custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black stinking fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrible stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless.” Who has not sometimes seen females about their domestic concerns, with a pinch between their fingers, and a fine large drop suspended from the nose, just ready to fall and mingle with the food of the family? ARSH August 7, 1855, page 17.17
Another serious evil resulting from the use of tobacco is the expense, and this cannot surely be regarded as of minor consideration in this age of retrenchment. And it will be found, upon investigation, to be much more expensive than is generally supposed. It may at least be ranked among “the little foxes that destroy the vine,” and among the little streams that exhaust and dry up the fountain of wealth. It is probable that not less than ten millions of dollars are expended annually by the inhabitants of the United States for the useless article of tobacco! The expense to individuals will probably vary from one to fifty dollars, according to the quantity and the mode of using it. The most expensive mode is smoking, especially if cigars are used, and no doubt many individuals expend not less than fifty dollars annually in this way. It is a habit that prevails extensively among the poor, and is one great cause of their poverty. There are many, who are subsisting upon the bounty of the public, who nevertheless must have their regular quantum of tobacco. This subject is worthy the attention of benevolent societies and philanthropic individuals. No poor person should be assisted until he will abandon this worse than useless habit. “A pious clergyman,” says Dr. Clarke, “lately told me that he had a number of very poor families in his parish, immoderately attached to the use of tobacco. He plainly saw that a large proportion of their daily earnings was destroyed in this way. He warned them in private and preached in public against it, but few of them had resolution enough to lay it aside.” “The expense of one very poor family in snuff and tobacco he calculated, and found it to amount to nearly one-third part of their yearly earnings.” Suppose a family to spend twenty-five cents a week for this article, and in fifty years it would have yielded them, at compound interest, between three and four thousand dollars! a handsome estate for a man to accumulate for his posterity, all of which, however, would be wasted for this article. In estimating its tendency to poverty, we must not confine ourselves to the bare amount of money expended to procure it, but we must take into the account the cost of the necessary utensils for using it, and the time spent in consuming it, which will be found to exceed the article itself in expense. No habitual smoker spends less than one, and from that to six hours out of twenty-four, in fumigating his pipe or cigar; and how will he answer to his God for this wanton waste of time and money? ARSH August 7, 1855, page 18.1
Having gone as far as the brevity of a tract will admit, (though the half has not been told,) in enumerating the evils resulting from the habitual use of tobacco, I now feel desirous of addressing myself to a few particular characters. And, ARSH August 7, 1855, page 18.2
1. Physicians. - You, gentlemen, are placed as the guardians of the public health, and you are bound by the most solemn obligations to counsel the people against the use of any thing that has a deleterious influence upon their health and constitution; and that too, by example as well as by precept. There is no person in the community whose example, in any thing relating to the public health, exerts so great an influence as that of the physician. If the people see him habitually using tobacco, they will naturally infer that it cannot greatly harm themselves, whatever he may say to the contrary. I have known some physicians who have written admirably against the use of tobacco, who are nevertheless in the daily habit of using it themselves. But what influence can a man expect his principles to exert upon others, if they exert none upon himself? and the example of these very persons is often brought by the votaries of tobacco, to rebut all that can be said against the use of it. Now the real friends of reform have to request of all such gentlemen that they will either recant what they have written upon the subject, or else be consistent, and let their practice correspond with their avowed principles. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 18.3
2. Preachers of the gospel. - You too are placed as the guardians of the public morals: you are set as watchmen on the towers of Zion, to warn the people on the approach of evil. The use of tobacco has been shown to have a deleterious moral influence upon the community. How, then, can your skirts be free from their blood, if you not only do not warn them against this evil, but actually encourage them in it by your example? “Its powers are felt,” says Dr. M’Allister, “and its fascinations acknowledged by all the intermediate grades of society, from the sot who wallows in the mire of your streets, to the clergyman who stands forth a pattern of moral excellence, and who ministers at the altar of his God.” “What reception would the apostles have met with,” says Dr. Rush, “had they carried into the cities and houses to which they were sent, snuff boxes, pipes, cigars, and bundles of cut, or rolls of hog or pigtail tobacco? Such a costly and offensive apparatus for gratifying their appetites would have furnished solid objections to their persons and doctrines, and would have been a just cause for the clamours and contempt which were excited against them.” Says Dr. Clarke, “Are not many led into this practice of smoking by their pastors? I am sorry to have it to say that this idle, disgraceful custom prevails much at present among ministers of most denominations. Can such persons preach against needless self-indulgence, destruction of time, or waste of money? These men greatly injure their own usefulness; they smoke away their ministerial importance in the families where they occasionally visit: the very children and maid servants pass their jokes upon the piping parson: and should they unluckily succeed in bringing over the uninfected to their vile customs, the evil is doubled. I have known serious misunderstandings produced in certain families where the example of the idle parson has influenced a husband or wife, against the consent of the other, to adopt the use of the pipe or the snuff box.” ARSH August 7, 1855, page 18.4
3. Professors of religion. - You too are interested in this subject. You are bound by your profession to deny yourselves of all superfluities, and especially of all habits which tend to corrupt the morals of the community, and such is the use of tobacco, therefore you are bound to give it up, and let the weight of your example go to suppress it. “I most cordially recommend its perusal (says Dr. Hamilton, speaking of Dr. Clarke’s treatise) to all the consumers of that herb, more especially to the professors of religion; and above all to the preachers of the gospel.” “The Methodists,” says Dr. Rush, “forbade the use of tobacco in the infancy of their society. The prohibition discovered a high and just sense of the self-denial, decency, and universal civility, which were required by the gospel.” But the Methodists are not the first who prohibited the use of it. Pope Urban VIII, made a bull to excommunicate all those who took tobacco in the churches. And the emperors of Russia, Turkey, and Persia, prohibited the use of it in their respective kingdoms, under the severest penalties. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 18.5
4. And, finally, I would address myself to those who have not yet acquired the habit of using tobacco. To such I would say, Stand fast in the liberty wherewith you are now free. Why should you voluntarily submit yourselves to become slaves to a habit that will tyrannize over you and lead you captive at its will? Why should you needlessly acquire so disagreeable a habit, without the most distant prospect of advantage from it? Dr. Franklin, a few months before his death, declared to one of his friends that he had never used tobacco in any way in the course of his long life, and that he was disposed to believe there was not much advantage to be derived from it, for that he had never met with a man who used it, who advised him to follow his example. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 18.6
Why should you voluntarily acquire a habit that will subject you to such extreme uneasiness and distress, if you should ever be placed in circumstances where you could not gratify it? A friend of mine once informed me that he never suffered so much in his life as from the privation of tobacco in a long voyage across the Atlantic. Col. Barr observes that the greatest complaints, dissatisfaction, and suffering, that he heard from the soldiers who accompanied Gen. Arnold in his march from Boston to Quebec, through the wilderness in the year 1775, were from the want of tobacco. This was the more remarkable as they were so destitute of provisions as to be obliged to kill and eat their dogs. The Persians are said to expatriate themselves that they may enjoy the use of tobacco in a foreign country when prohibited it in their own. All who have been in the habit of visiting prisons, etc., cannot but have observed that the first and only request of the prisoners has been, “Give me some tobacco.” All the above goes to prove the strong influence this habit exerts upon the individual, and the great distress the privation of it occasions him. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 18.7
Finally, why should you acquire a habit that will waste your property, injure your health, impair your morals, and perhaps be the cause of destroying soul and body for time and eternity? Many first acquire the habit out of complacency to others, who press them to partake with them. When you are thus invited, think of the conduct of Omiah, a native of Otaheite: when a noble lord presented him his golden snuff box, and invited him to take some, the innocent savage bluntly replied, “I thank you, my lord, my nose is not hungry.” And on higher authority, I would say, “Handle not, touch not, taste not, the unclean thing.” ARSH August 7, 1855, page 18.8
“What is self-denial?” Wherein are we to deny ourselves? And whence does the necessity of this arise? I answer, The will of God is the supreme, unalterable rule for every intelligent creature: equally binding every angel in heaven, and every man upon earth. Nor can it be otherwise: this is the natural, necessary result of the relation between creatures and their Creator. But if the will of God be our one rule of action in every thing, great and small, it follows, by undeniable consequence, that we are not to do our own will in any thing. Here, therefore, we see at once the nature, with the ground and reason of self-denial. We see the nature of self denial: it is the denying or refusing to follow our own will, from the conviction, that the will of God is the only rule of action to us. And we see the reason thereof, because we are creatures; because ‘it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves.’ ARSH August 7, 1855, page 18.9
“This reason for self-denial must hold, even with regard to the angels of God in heaven; and with regard to man, innocent and holy, as he came out of the hand of his Creator. But a farther reason for it arises from the condition wherein all men are since the fall. We are all now ‘shapen in iniquity, and in sin did our mother conceive us.’ Our nature is altogether corrupt, in every power and faculty. And our will, depraved equally with the rest, is wholly bent to indulge our natural corruption. On the other hand, it is the will of God, that we resist and counteract that corruption, not at some times, or in some things only, but at all times, and in all things. Here, therefore, is a farther ground for constant and universal self-denial. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 18.10
“To illustrate this a little farther. The will of God is a path leading straight to God. The will of man, which once ran parallel with it, is now another path, not only different from it, but in our present state, directly contrary to it. It leads from God: if, therefore, we walk in the one, we must necessarily quit the other. We cannot walk in both. Indeed a man ‘of faint heart and feeble hands may go in both ways,’ one after the other. But he cannot walk in two ways at the same time: he cannot, at one and the same time, follow his own will, and follow the will of God: he must choose the one or the other; denying God’s will to follow his own, or denying himself to follow the will of God. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 18.11
“Now, it is undoubtedly pleasing for the time, to follow our own will, by indulging, in any instance, that offers, the corruption of our nature. But, by following it in any thing, we so far strengthen the perverseness of our will; and by indulging it, we continually increase the corruption of our nature. So, by the food which is agreeable to the palate, we often increase a bodily disease. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 18.12
----------The use of this article was prohibited in the early discipline of the M. E. Church, and it is much to be regretted that the article was ever expunged. I suspect there must have been a majority of SMOKING preachers in the general conference that did it. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 18.13
It gratifies the taste, but inflames the disorder. It brings pleasure; but it also brings death. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 19.1
“On the whole, then, to deny ourselves, is to deny our own will, where it does not fall in with the will of God, and that, however pleasing it may be. It is to deny ourselves any pleasure which does not spring from, and lead to God: that is, in effect, to refuse going out of our way, though into a pleasant, flowery path; to refuse what we know to be deadly poison, though agreeable to the taste. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 19.2
“And every one that would follow Christ, that would be his real disciple, must not only ‘deny himself, but take up his cross’ also. A cross is any thing contrary to our will, any thing displeasing to our nature. So that taking up our cross goes a little farther than denying ourselves; it rises a little higher, and is a more difficult task to flesh and blood; it being more easy to forego pleasure than endure pain. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 19.3
“Now in ‘running the race which is set before us,’ according to the will of God, there is often a cross lying in the way; that is, something which is not only not joyous, but grievous, something which is contrary to our will, which is displeasing to our nature. What, then, is to be done? The choice is plain; either we must ‘take up our cross,’ or we must turn aside from the way of God, ‘from the holy commandment delivered to us;’ if we do not stop altogether, or turn back to everlasting perdition. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 19.4
“In order to the healing of that corruption, that evil disease, which every man brings with him into the world, it is often needful to pluck out, as it were, a right eye, to cut off a right hand; so painful is either the thing itself, which must be done, or the only means of doing it: the parting, suppose, with a foolish desire, with an inordinate affection: or a separation from the object of it, without which it can never be extinguished. In the former kind, the tearing away of such a desire or affection, when it is deeply rooted in the soul, is often like the piercing of a sword, yea, like ‘the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, the joints and marrow.’ The Lord then ‘sits upon the soul, as a refiner’s fire,’ to burn up all the dross thereof. And this is a cross indeed; it is essentially painful: it must be so in the very nature of the thing. The soul cannot be thus torn asunder, it cannot pass through the fire without pain.” - Mr. Westley’s Sermon on Self-denial. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 19.5
EXPOSITION OF Ecclesiastes 9:4-6
“For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love and their hatred and their envy is now perished; neither have they any more a portion, for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.” ARSH August 7, 1855, page 19.6
There is a great deal of instruction in the above scripture; it being expressed in language, at once, significant and comprehensive. But what mostly concerns us, is to know what that instruction is; i.e., to understand precisely what it proves respecting the condition of the dead absolutely, and their state relatively considered, when being contrasted with that of the living. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 19.7
The wise man in verse 3, introduces the subject of death, and this with the state of the dead, is continued through the three following verses as the principal subject of discourse. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 19.8
The subject of hope, which consists of desire and expectation, in the first clause of the text, is introduced in such a way as to carry strong conviction to the understanding, that this faculty of the mind is exercised by the living only, and not by the dead. Were it, according to the prevalent doctrines of men, that death is merely the separation of soul and body, and that their departed souls are in a kind of embryo state of happiness or misery, then the mind of the dead saint must constantly be exercised, not only with a desire, but also with an expectation of the resurrection of the just, when the soul and body would be re-united for the enjoyment of more perfect bliss. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 19.9
In the last clause of verse 4, a comparison is drawn between a living dog and a dead lion. The preference is given to the former. The object is not to instruct us as to the relative condition of living and dead beasts, nor to inform us as to the absolute condition of dead animals. We come to this conclusion from the fact that “all Scripture is given by inspiration, and is profitable for doctrine;” and we do not see how such information can be profitable to us. Further, verse 3 shows clearly that the state or condition of the sons of men when dead was the subject under consideration. This simile was calculated to show the vast superiority of the condition of a living man over that of a dead man: or it would be difficult to conceive what instruction it was designed to impart. If the mental faculties of the dead are so vastly superior to those of the living, that one dead man knows more than all the living, as we have formerly been taught, then the above comparison must be very much out of place; for though there be a total loss of physical power in death, yet, as the “mind is the stature of the man,” according to their teachings, and as “bodily exercise profiteth little,” according to the sacred writ, such an addition of mental power must more than counterbalance the entire loss of physical, and thus the dead man have the superiority still. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 19.10
Again, if it be true that the righteous, as soon as they die, become angels, as spiritualism and even the leaders of the so-called orthodox churches assert, (and quote Revelation 22:8, 9, to prove it,) then this declaration of Solomon must be rejected at least as an unmeaning figure, if not as a perfect falsehood, as we have a vast amount of testimony from various parts of the Bible, to prove that angels are greatly superior to men. Psalm 103:20, says that angels excel in strength. 2 Peter 2:11, says, “Whereas angels which are greater in power and might.” Greater than whom? Greater than wicked men; and truly all the mighty men are among the wicked and not among the righteous. If any are desirous to know the degree of their superiority in these respects, such are referred to the destruction of an armed force of one hundred and eighty-five thousand men by an angel in one night. Isaiah 37:36. They are also referred to Matthew 28:2, 4, which shows that there was power in one angel to cause a great earthquake, and also to cause the sentinels placed there to guard the tomb, to shake and become as dead men. Nor are we sure in either of these cases, that all the power of these angels was called into action. The description of the angel of Revelation 18:1, in which it is said, “the earth was lighted with his glory,” gives us such a clue upon the subject, that our dim perception is enabled to discover something of the immense disparity between the power and majesty of angels and that of men. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 19.11
The result is as follows: ARSH August 7, 1855, page 19.12
Solomon gives us to understand that the living man is more than as much superior to the dead, as a living dog to a dead lion. The doctrines of men assert that as soon as men die they become angels; and the Bible in various places teaches us, as seen above, that angels are vastly superior to men; therefore if the doctrines of men be true, they make the Bible contradict itself. But whether their doctrines be true or not, they contradict the Bible. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 19.13
As the first clause of the 5th verse expresses the knowledge and certainty of death merely, and therefore needs no comment, I pass to the following sentence: “But the dead know not anything.” Here is a simple and positive declaration, without any modifying term whatever. But the objector says, it is the dead body that knows nothing; but the soul the thinking part of man then knows much more than it did before. But I pass to the next expression in the text. “For the memory of them is forgotten.” Here the main point is to know what the true meaning of this last expression is. Does it mean that others have forgotten to remember them? Certainly this is no good reason why the dead have no reward. The wise man says, “neither have they any more a reward;” for, or because the memory of them is forgotten. If the dead still retained their faculties of mind they might have a reward just as well, though all others had forgotten them. But this is not the meaning. The sense of it is, that the dead have no reward, because their own memory is forgotten, or perished, so that they are wholly incapable of appreciating or receiving, enjoying or suffering any reward. It is true, the phrase, “the memory of them is forgotten,” is somewhat peculiar, and is not in exact accordance with the English idiom, but it perfectly agrees with the idioms of some, at least, of the ancient languages. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 19.14
Again, it is contrary to what we know to be facts, to say on general principles that the dead are forgotten by the living. Think you that the fond mother who has seen her daughter, just in the opening bloom of youth, droop, die, and housed away in death, will cease to remember with mournful yet fond recollections that darling youth, until all other faculties of her mind shall fail? Most certainly not. Or the affectionate father who has witnessed his youthful son just merging into manhood, giving promise of distinguished future life, and of being the solace of his own declining years, fall the most unexpected prey to the common destroyer, and become an inmate of the tomb. Think you that this son is forgotten by his parent? ARSH August 7, 1855, page 19.15
The hero and statesman remember with a proud satisfaction the names and acts of a vast catalogue of heroes and statesmen of other ages which history has brought down to their remembrance. The humble saint remembers with a holy delight, the names, sufferings, and acts of a great multitude of prophets, apostles, and saints, some of whom, wandered about in sheep-skins and goat-skins, and others not accepting deliverance, suffered to the death that they might obtain a better resurrection. Hence we have strong evidence that the dead are not forgotten by the living. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 19.16
Further, there is not only no evidence that the dead are forgotten by the living, but even if they were, there would be a perfect inconsistency in the idea, that the dead have no more a reward because the living cease to remember them. Could not God reward them just as well though all men had forgotten them? certainly he could. But if their own powers of mind are gone, of course they are incapable of any reward. And that their faculties are gone, Psalm 146:4, proves in the most clear and positive language: viz., “His breath goeth forth; he returneth to his earth, in that very day his thoughts perish.” ARSH August 7, 1855, page 19.17
Verse 6. “Also their love and their hatred and their envy is now perished.” As the objector always will say, that it is the dead body that knows nothing, but the mind, the thinking part that remains intelligent, here let me ask in candor, Are love, hatred, and envy attributes of the body, or of the mind? Any rational man will answer, They are attributes of the mind. Hence it appears that they have the wrong side of the argument; for the reason that three of those faculties of the mind have perished, which are so essential to its existence, that it would be difficult to conceive how they can perish unless the whole mind perish with them. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 19.18
If the doctrine alluded to be true, that the thinking part of man goes to a place of happiness or misery at death, we will examine the condition of one who has just reached the world of bliss. Though his hatred and envy have perished, can any one hence believe that his love is perished also? What! believe as soon as the soul reaches that blissful region where God the Father and Jesus the Saviour dwell in matchless excellence and glory, and where angels, God’s most exalted servants dwell in all their loveliness, that then is the time the love of the poor saint must wax cold and perish? When they have left all the hateful snares and unlovely conduct of this world, and have reached the place, where every thing is calculated to bring that faculty of the mind into its most exquisite actions, is it rational to believe that this most essential attribute of the mind must then perish? Let any candid man answer. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 19.19
We will now examine the case of the wicked. Our opponents have always held forth that the employment of the lost is to blaspheme God’s holy name, and vent their hatred and malice against their associates. And here, though all admit that their love is now perished, yet their envy and hatred must rage without control. The conclusion of the matter is this: The Word says, “their love and their hatred and their envy is now perished.” The objector says their love in this case has perished; but their envy and hatred are wrought up to the most active malignity. Here is another plain contradiction to the word of God. Error always brings us into a contradiction with the Bible; but truth brings us into harmony with it. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 19.20
The usual reply to the above sentiment is, we make poor man to die like the beasts. Such should be referred to Ecclesiastes 3:19, 20, to see how they die. “For that which befalleth the sons of men, befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: AS the one dieth so dieth the other, yea they have all one breath; so that a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast; for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.” Hence in nearly every sentence taken up, we find almost an entire want of harmony between the doctrines of men in the present age, and the word of the Lord. As it respects the application of this truth to Spiritualism, we find here the most complete refutation of that deceitful magic that there is in all the Bible. Though the emphatic declaration “The dead know not any thing,” would seem to be of itself sufficient to refute the false doctrine, we are instructed still further on this point, “that they have no more a reward,” that “their memory is forgotten,” also that “their love, envy and hatred is now perished:” three faculties so essential to the existence of the mind that one or more of them must exist as long as the mind itself exists: yet the Holy Spirit as if to guard us doubly strong against this fatal error, adds, in conclusion, “Neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.” ARSH August 7, 1855, page 20.1
They not only have no more a portion in any thing that is under the sun; but they have no portion in any thing that is done under the sun. Therefore the erroneous teaching that the spirits of the dead are ministering or guardian spirits, and that they rap, write, speak, sing, etc., is completely refuted by this epitome of divine truth on this subject. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 20.2
How could the poor saint withstand this deceptive fallacy, had it not been for the development of this truth? ARSH August 7, 1855, page 20.3
With what gratitude to God should our hearts be exercised, that he has graciously given us, in due time, the doctrine of the unintelligence of the dead, so completely adapted to guard us against this strong delusion of the last days which is about to envelope the world. STEPHEN PIERCE. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 20.4
Useful Hints to Public Speakers. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 20.5
IT is a curious fact in the history of sound, that the loudest noises always perish on the spot where they are produced, whereas musical notes will be heard at a great distance. Thus if we approach within a mile or two of a town or village, in which a fair is held, we may hear very faintly the clamor of the multitude, but more distinctly the organs and other musical instruments which are played for their amusement. If a Cremona violin, a real Amati, be played by the side of a modern fiddle, the latter will sound much louder of the two; but the sweet brilliant tone of the Amati, will be heard at a distance, the other cannot reach. Dr. Young, on the authority of Derham, states that, at Gibraltar, the human voice is heard at the distance of ten miles. It is a well known fact that the human voice may be heard at a greater distance than that of any other animal. Thus, when the cottager in the woods, or in the open plain, wishes to call her husband, who is working at a distance, she does not shout, but pitches her voice to a musical key, which she knows from habit, and by that means reaches his ear. The loudest roar of the largest lion could not penetrate so far. “This property of music in the human voice,” says the author, “is strikingly shown in the cathedrals abroad. There the mass is entirely performed in musical sounds, and becomes audible to every devotee, however placed in the remotest part of the church; whereas, if the same mass had been read, the sounds would not have traveled beyond the precincts of the choir.” Those orators who are heard in large assemblies most distinctly, and at the greatest distance, are those who, by modulating the voice, render it more musical. Loud speakers are seldom heard to advantage. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 20.6
THE REVIEW AND HERALD
“Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth.”
ROCHESTER, THIRD-DAY, AUG. 7, 1855
Post Office Address. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 20.7
MY P. O. Address until Aug. 15th, will be Palmyra, Me. JAMES WHITE.
THE CAUSE
WE have been much cheered for a few weeks past in meeting with the friends of the cause of truth in Vermont. Our interviews with them at the several Tent-meetings in that State have been most pleasant. Perfect union and harmony seem to exist among the old friends of the cause, and for the past year there have been some valuable additions. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 20.8
July 20th, the Tent was pitched at Braintree. Bro. and Sr. Howard (who received the present truth at the Tent-meeting held in that place near one year since) opened their doors and furnished a home for a large portion of those who attended the meeting. The attendance at this meeting was good, especially on the Sabbath. The saints were much cheered, and several decided that we had the truth on the Sabbath question. It is a matter of deep interest that so large and intelligent assemblies listen with candor and interest to unpopular Bible truth. Many acknowledge that we have the Bible on our side of the question. But a few only will keep the truth, while the mass will be turned from the truth unto fables. Lord save the jewels. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 20.9
On our way to Bristol, Vt., we called at Roxbury and spent a day with Brn. Pierce and Phillips and their families. God bless them for their tender care to pilgrims. We also spent one day at Bro. Lockwood’s in Warren. This family was among the very first to receive the Sabbath in Vermont. Their sacrifices for the cause, and their care for the Lord’s servants have not been small. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 20.10
It has seemed to us that some of these Vermont friends have loved their neighbor (brother) a little better than themselves. It is certain that in their anxiety to advance the cause they have at least made far greater efforts to help others, than others have made to help themselves. They are anxious to move the REVIEW Office to Vermont, and have the responsibility and burden of conducting it taken off from us, and placed, as it should be, on the shoulders of a number of the old, experienced friends of the cause. Unless the friends of the cause in some more central position shall take this responsibility, it will be proper that the friends and supports of the cause in Vermont should take it. We shall no longer bear the burdens we have borne in Rochester; neither shall we move the Office, East or West. The Office is the property of the church. The church must wake up to this matter, and free us from responsibilities that have been forced upon us, and which we have reluctantly taken. We must have freedom and repose, or go into the grave. Our interest in the precious cause has not abated. All we can do, we will do, but we desire freedom from our present position, and that the cause may be freed from the effects of the whining complaints of jealous ones. Those persons take care and not come to us with their complaints; but we meet their poisonous letters addressed to others relative to our course in all quarters. Be it known to such that Office affairs are open to the investigation of any committee of decent men, at any proper time and place. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 20.11
July 27th, the Tent was pitched at Bristol. The interest was good. The word had free course, and we trust reached the hearts of many. J. W. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 20.12
The noblest remedy for injuries is oblivion. Light injuries are made lighter by not regarding them. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 20.13
Tent Meeting at West Winfield, N. Y. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 20.14
THIS meeting commenced as appointed in the Review, July 7th, and continued over two Sabbaths. The weather was quite favorable, so that both First-days our congregations were quite large. Other circumstances were also favorable, there being no other meeting in the place the first week of the Tent meeting. We were somewhat disappointed in not meeting Bro. Wm. S. Ingraham at this meeting, as we had anticipated; but we endeavored to move forward in the name of the Lord. We obtained permission to pitch our Tent beside the Baptist meeting-house; but when it was ascertained that we were going to continue the second First-day, a proposition was sent to us to desist from preaching and listen in the forenoon to the sermon in the house, as it would look bad to have two meetings so close together, etc. This we could not consistently do as our appointment was thoroughly circulated and we expected hundreds would be present to hear the truth; but that they might understand that we did not wish to infringe upon their rights, and that the people might have opportunity to understand both sides of the question we sent an invitation to the minister to preach in the Tent, on the Sabbath question. We supposed of course he would accept the offer, as he had already declared war upon us; announcing that if we came to the place and agitated the subject of the Sabbath, we would not get away without opposition. And as he had already preached a discourse the past winter in favor of the (so-called) Christian Sabbath, (Sunday,) we even endeavored to constrain him to read that the third First-day and revise it if he wished; but he declined entirely from discussing the subject, and to our astonishment appointed a meeting in the Meeting-house in the afternoon of First-day, whereas they were in the habit of holding but one meeting. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 20.15
Winfield is a new field as to public labor, the mass having never heard a discourse on the subject of the Advent. We found, as in other places, prejudice in the minds of the people against us; not that they had cause for prejudice, but because they knew not the reasons of our position. Those who attended the meeting (especially the second First-day) seemed to desire to understand the reasons of our faith. We endeavored to present to them the solemn truths which should interest those who desire salvation at the present time. We trust the efforts to spread the truth there will not be in vain; the Lord will give the increase, and reward the efforts of his children to save souls. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 20.16
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.
R. F. COTTRELL.
Roosevelt, N. Y., July 26th, 1855.
P.S. We shall, if providence permits, hold two meetings east of Rochester, and then hold two or three in Western N. Y. This will not occupy the whole season for Tent operations, but we shall probably have suitable weather along the first of October. Would it not be well to hold one meeting or perhaps two in Steuben Co., N. Y.? Will the brethren take the matter into consideration and write immediately to J. N. Loughborough, Rochester, N. Y., that on our return we may be prepared to make arrangements for the meeting. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 20.17
J. N. L.
R. F. C.
TENT MEETINGS
DEAR BRO. WHITE:- Our Tent-meeting on Paris Hill, July 7th and 8th, was peaceful and quiet; not quite so well attended as we expected, still there were a goodly number that listened attentively, and were remarkably orderly, even to the ringing of their Church bell on the Sabbath-day for the opening of our meetings. Our prayer meetings were spiritual and good. The Lord was in the midst to bless and strengthen his people. Bro. John N. Andrews was with us, but did not preach on account of feeble health. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 20.18
Our next and last meeting was in East Unity, N. H., July 13th to 15th. This was an interesting season. Brn. from Washington and Lempster were present to aid with their prayers and singing. Some hundreds of people came in from the surrounding country and appeared to listen with a strong desire to understand the truth. Some furnished themselves with books to still investigate. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 20.19
We feel encouraged to pursue the work before us, being fully persuaded that God is giving edge to his truth, and setting home the last message of mercy on all the honest-hearted. The fruit of our labor will be fully known at the reaping of the harvest, if not before. After our Tent-meeting in Brunswick, Me., last of June, Bro. Howland sent us word that several were much troubled and said they must keep the Sabbath. JOSEPH BATES. E. L. BARR. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 21.1
Unity, N. H., July 19th, 1855. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 21.2
P.S. Sabbath 21st was a refreshing season from the presence of the Lord. The church in Unity were together with one accord, and attended to all the ordinances of the Lord’s house. We first went down by the water-side, where seven were planted together in the likeness of the death of Jesus their Lord, henceforth to walk in newness of life. On First-day we held a meeting in Buss Hollow. After the morning service we were kept reading and explaining to some, until the time for services in the afternoon. Some furnished themselves with books and wished to know more about these things. J. B. E. L. B. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 21.3
Rise of the Two-horned Beast
BY J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH
IN Revelation 13 John says, “I beheld another beast coming up,” etc.; from which we are led to suppose that wherever the prophecy of the Two-horned beast had its accomplishment, a government would be developed, enterprising and prosperous. It has been before shown through the columns of the Review that our own government in its rise and progress has fulfilled the specifications of the Two-horned beast. At the present time a strife is made by some to throw off this application, and they endeavor to show that the power may have risen in foreign lands; but God has represented in prophecy, the governments of foreign lands at this time, as in a state of brokenness and disunion. “Iron mixed with miry clay.” . . “they shall not cleave one to another as iron is not mixed with miry clay.” England is certainly looked upon by all nations as bankrupt, France is not much in advance. The kingdoms of Spain are in a decaying condition. While we see other kingdoms of earth in this position, and that in their rise they have not answered the specifications of the prophecy, we have been led to look elsewhere than among them for the rise of that power. As our own nation has arisen at the right time to answer the specifications of the prophecy, as well as in the right manner, we may with confidence expect it to come up (while its career is measured by prophecy as in a rising condition) even to the astonishment of its own citizens. An English Journalist, speaking of the unexampled growth of the United States, in all the elements of national prosperity, sums up in this wise:- ARSH August 7, 1855, page 21.4
“In an interval of little more than half a century it appears that this extraordinary people have increased above 500 per cent., in numbers: their national revenue has augmented nearly 700 per cent, while their public expenditure has increased little more than 400 per cent. The prodigious extension of their commerce is indicated by an increase of nearly 500 per cent in their imports and exports, and 600 per cent in their shipping. The increased activity of their internal communication is expounded by the number of post-offices, which has increased more than a hundred fold, the extent of their post roads, which has been increased thirty-six fold, and the cost of their post-office, which has been augmented in a seventy-two fold ratio. The augmentation of their machinery of public instruction is indicated by the extent of their public libraries, which have increased in a thirty-two fold ratio, and by the creation of school libraries, amounting to 2,000,000 volumes. They have completed a system of canal navigation, which, placed in a continuous line, would extend from London to Calcutta, and a system of railways which, continuously extended, would stretch from London to Van Diemen’s Land, and have provided locomotive machinery by which that distance could be travelled over in three weeks at the cost of 1 1/2nd per mile. They have created a system of inland navigation, the aggregate tonnage of which is probably not inferior in amount to the collective inland tonnage of all the other countries in the world, and they possess many hundreds of river steamers, which impart to the roads of water the marvelous celerity of roads of iron. They have, in fine, constructed lines of electric telegraph which, laid continuously, would extend over a space longer by 3000 miles than the distance from the north to the south pole, and have provided apparatus of transmission by which a message of 300 words dispatched under such circumstances from the north pole might be delivered in writing at the south pole in one minute and by which, consequently, an answer of equal length might be sent back to the north pole in an equal interval. These are social and commercial phenomena for which it would be vain to seek a parallel in the past history of the human race.” ARSH August 7, 1855, page 21.5
Communication from Bro. Cottrell
DEAR BRO. WHITE:- I am much pleased with the article in No. 1, on the subject of dress, and would recommend it to the careful attention of the remnant of God’s people. This may be thought a subject too trivial to demand much attention, but since it is of sufficient importance to be noticed by the apostles, and recorded for our instruction, no one should esteem it unworthy of their attention. And had the people called Methodists heeded the advice of Wesley in this matter, to the present day, the world would still have had the benefit of one Christian attribute which, like all others, is now almost extinct in the world. And they would feel its rebuke, that is, all that are not too far gone in folly to feel the effects of divine truth. Pure religion cannot be recommended to any rightly disposed mind by a conformity to the customs of the fashionable world. On the contrary, the plainness of those who hold the truth is a powerful argument in its favor with every enlightened and honest seeker. Souls have been won to the present truth by it, who had become so disgusted with worldly conformity in professors of religion, that they could hardly have received the other evidences of the work of God, had this been wanting. Our land is full of Bibles; and even the wicked have sense enough to know that it is wrong for those who profess the Christian religion, to do as they do themselves. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 21.6
The article referred to draws the dividing line in the right place. At the very point where economy and utility end, extravagance and folly begin. The question is not, What degree of pride may a Christian innocently indulge in? ALL pride must be laid aside. The principle involved is the same, whether we expend, for pride, one cent, or one hundred dollars. The evil commences where the first cent is expended, or the first stitch taken beyond the demands of utility. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 21.7
It may be objected that this view of the matter is ultra. That it is avoiding one extreme by going into another. That we ought to take a medium between the two extremes. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 21.8
Do you mean to say that we should be half as proud as the proudest? Where then is the middle ground of which you speak? If it is not half way to the summit of fashion, will you be so good as to define the proper boundary, so that none may mistake it? The position which is here recommended is clearly definable. The first step beyond the useful transcends the limits. If this is not right, please define your position. There is one ornament which we all desire - the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which in the sight of God is of great price. Let us lay aside all pride and be diligent to obtain that ornament. But in regard to outward ornament, let us discard it wholly, not in part, and the Lord will bless us in so doing, his work will move forward, and we shall make advancement towards that high and holy position which the remnant must occupy, when they will have done with all pride, and become a peculiar people, zealous only of good works. This position we shall occupy before we are ready for the coming of Jesus. May the Lord help us to realize the importance of this and every other Christian grace, that we may be ready to stand with the Lamb upon mount Zion. R. F. COTTRELL. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 21.9
Coughdenoy, July 27th, 1855. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 21.10
God hears the heart without words, but he never hears words without the heart. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 21.11
Wisconsin Tent Meetings. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 21.12
WE have now had four meetings in Tent. The first at Johnstown, about eight miles from Milton, where Dr Babcock resides. It was rainy in the morning and we despaired of having much of a turn-out; but about 800 attended. Our next meeting was in Whitewater. Here we had a very rainy time. Our congregations varied from 200 to 500. From this place we went to Palmyra. Here we preached seven times in Tent. Congregations from 150 to 600. From this place we proceeded to Aztalan. We preached five times in Tent. Very hard rain during most of First-day, which prevented people from coming. About 300 attended. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 21.13
Our Tent-meetings up to this time, have been as well attended as we expected. Our Tent enterprise has received as much favor from our friends as we could expect, yea more. We have already preached to more people than we could have done during the entire Summer without. We go from this place to Albion, into a large Seventh-day Baptist community. D. P. HALL. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 21.14
Aztalan, July 9th, 1855. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 21.15
God’s Peculiar People
IT appears evident that in all ages of the world, God, in obedience and compliance to certain precepts and laws, was to have a peculiar people. We find in the early age of the Jewish church that God speaks on this wise, Now therefore if ye will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant, ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation. Exodus 19:5, 6. Again he says, Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice: and the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldst keep all his commandments. Deuteronomy 26:17, 18. Notwithstanding the Jews were rich and increased in goods, with their painted synagogues, gorgeous temples, with a community made up mostly of doctors, lawyers, pharisees and hypocrites, highly educated, puffed up with worldly wisdom, yet without complying with the conditions God had placed before them they could not be saved. They had forfeited all right and title to being called God’s peculiar people. When Christ appeared at Jerusalem and saw the city given to idolatry, no wonder he wept over it, and exclaimed, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! behold your house is left unto you desolate. But in the meantime God had reserved some out of this confused mass, who as Paul says, through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; of whom the world was not worthy. Some one, destitute of the light and truth of God’s word, may inquire, why it is that these holy saints were cast out from the mass of the world, and were called the off-scouring of the earth, and appeared so singular among men. It was because they kept all the commandments of God and were his peculiar people. But where shall we find God’s peculiar people at the present day? Shall we find them in the professed churches? those bodies are not characterized as being the children of God. We find them at the ballot-box, we find them going hand in hand with the world and helping to establish and carry out all the great and national sins of the age. Says a church member, We esteem ourselves as the people of God. We have a fine meeting-house, a fine minister, to whom we pay a large salary for preaching. We have a large society, and have money at our command to support foreign missions to a greater or less extent for the conversion of the world and although the Bible says the wheat and tares shall grow together until the harvest, and evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived, yet it is the prevailing opinion of Rev. such an one, or D. D. such an one that the world is going to be converted, and we shall believe them rather than God. God looks upon sin with no degree of allowance, and when the doctrines and actions of men come in contact with his holy law, they are accounted as sinners, and must be judged by that law. The Son of man will soon send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity, and then shall the righteous shine as the sun, in the kingdom of their Father. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 21.16
My prayer is that the remnant may be redeemed from all iniquity. That God may purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 22.1
FRANCIS GOULD.
Randolph, Vt.
Our Ship is Homeward Bound
WHAT though the angry waves roll high,
And darkness reigns around?
Let hope be bright in every eye -
Our ship is homeward bound;
What though no morn, nor stars appear
Amid the gloom profound,
We will not yield a place to fear -
Our ship is homeward bound.
ARSH August 7, 1855, page 22.2
What though the lightnings glare above,
And deafening thunders roar;
Yet with the eye of faith and love,
We view the distant shore:
We know that friends will meet us there,
We loved in life before;
And angel forms all bright and fair,
Line the immortal shore.
ARSH August 7, 1855, page 22.3
W’ve often longed with them to bow,
At our Redeemer’s feet;
He loved us first, we love Him now,
Then let the billows beat;
And let them bear our hopes away,
Although they once were sweet;
We catch a glimpse of coming day -
Oh! let the billows beat.
ARSH August 7, 1855, page 22.4
And let the fearful thunders roar -
And let the lightnings glare,
We’re nearing the eternal shore,
And we are almost there;
Then heave, ye waves, on every side,
And onward, homeward bear
Our fragile bark, ‘gainst wind and tide,
For we are almost there.
ARSH August 7, 1855, page 22.5
The coward peers with trembling form,
Into the gloom profound:
But we can smile to view the storm,
Our ship is homeward bound;
And though for us, on time’s dark wave,
No place of rest be found,
Oh! let our hearts be true and brave -
Our ship is homeward bound.
ARSH August 7, 1855, page 22.6
How Shall we Preach?
“NOT indifferently, for the interests at stake are too vast to allow it. Sent out into a world to rescue souls from endless ruin, time flying, eternity at hand, death and judgment drawing near, he has not a moment to lose. Hell yawns, he cannot temporize. The spirit of the world whispers - preach mildly, soothingly, learnedly, eloquently! - But God, the Bible, conscience, reply, ‘Preach with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven!’ - Not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit, and of power. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 22.7
“Preach as dying men to dying men. Preach each sermon as if you knew it were the last your lips should utter, or the last some poor sinners before you should ever hear. Preach as for your own lives; and be sure that you preach the cross. All preaching without this is worthless. Be it your fervent and hourly increasing ambition to know nothing among death, judgment and eternity bound men, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. Glory in the Son of God. Magnify his grace and power before all men, by humble and prayerful individual devotion of soul, by spending and being spent in his service. Let the world take knowledge of you that you have been with Christ and learned of him. Preach as if you had, and the church will no longer slumber on in false security. Her voice will go up to heaven as the voice of many waters. God will hear her cry - He will come and revive her throughout all her borders. Sinners will call aloud for mercy, and find no peace, till they seek for and obtain it at the foot of the Saviour’s cross. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 22.8
The Wonders of Prayer
ABRAHAM’S servant prays - Rebekah appears. Jacob wrestles and prays - the angel is conquered and Esau’s mind is wonderfully turned from the revengeful purpose he had harbored for twenty years. Moses prays - Amalek is discomfited. Joshua prays - Achan is discovered. Hannah prays - Samuel is born. David prays - Ahithophel hangs himself. Asa prays - a victory is gained. Jehosaphat prays - God turns away his face. Isaiah and Hezekiah pray - one hundred and eighty-five thousand Assyrians are dead in twelve hours. Daniel prays - the lions are muzzled. Mordecai and Esther fast - Haman is hanged on his own gallows in three days. Ezra prays at Ahava - God answers. Nehemiah darts a prayer - the king’s heart is softened in a minute. Elijah prays - a drought of three years succeeds. Elijah prays - rain descends a-pace. Elisha prays - Jordan is divided. Elisha prays - a child’s soul comes back. The church prays - Peter is delivered by an angel. Paul and Silas prayed and sung praises - the doors of the prison were opened and every man’s bands were loosed. Prayer has divided seas, rolled up flowing rivers, made flinty rocks gush into fountains, quenched flames of fire, muzzled lions, disarmed vipers and poisons, marshalled the stars against the wicked, stopped the course of the moon, arrested the rapid sun in his great race, burst open iron gates, conquered the strongest devils, commanded legions of angels down from heaven. Prayer has bridled and chained the raging passions of men, and routed and destroyed vast armies of proud, daring, blustering atheists. Prayer has brought one man from the bottom of the sea, and carried another in a chariot of fire to heaven. What has not prayer done! - Ryland. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 22.9
“Watch!”
“Watch ye therefore. And what I say unto you, I say unto all. Watch!” Mark 13:35, 37. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 22.10
WHO, of all men in the world, most needs this exhortation? The Christian. Why? ARSH August 7, 1855, page 22.11
1. Because he is a soldier, surrounded by enemies, who are waiting to destroy his soul. They are ready to take advantage of his carelessness or neglect of duty; they are vigilant; they are numerous; they are subtle. Therefore, he should watch. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 22.12
2. Because he is a pilgrim, travelling through a hostile land. There may be snares in his way; stones, over which he may stumble, pits, into which he may fall; enticers, who would lure him from his heavenly home. Therefore, he must watch. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 22.13
3. Because he is a steward. He has precious treasures to take care of - his own soul, his talents, his time, his Master’s honor. He must take care that he does not lose the first, misuse the second, waste the third, and endanger the fourth. Therefore, he need watch. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 22.14
4. Because he is a servant. His Lord is now absent; when he comes back he will expect all to be in readiness for his reception - each one at his post, each one looking out for him. Therefore, the Christian must watch. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 22.15
Christian reader! you are a soldier - you have entered Christ’s army by your profession; his enemies are yours; his cause is yours. Are you watching? ARSH August 7, 1855, page 22.16
Christian reader! you are a pilgrim - you confess that earth is not your home, that you are dwelling here but for a time; you know that you are surrounded with dangers. Are you watching? ARSH August 7, 1855, page 22.17
Christian reader! you are a steward. Christ has given precious treasures into your possession. Are you watching? ARSH August 7, 1855, page 22.18
Christian reader! you are a servant - you profess to be expecting the return of your Lord. Are you watching? ARSH August 7, 1855, page 22.19
Your Captain, your Lord, your Master says to you, “Watch!” and pronounces you “blessed” if you watch. Revelation 16:15. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 22.20
Remorse not Repentance
ONE test of acceptance with God is the estimate which we put upon our own sins. If they are equally hateful to us, whether public or private - if we loathe them for their sinfulness towards Him, and not for the disgrace of their discovery - we may believe that God has imparted to us a godly repentance, and may take courage. But, on the other hand, we may well distrust ourselves when we find that on looking back we mourn only or chiefly for those sins that brought with them some consequent punishment. Such a feeling is disappointment, not repentance. It is the smart of the rod, not distress that the rod was deserved. Far different is the experience of the true Christian. He finds himself mourning with the deepest acuteness over the most secret sin, because it is that which betrays most strongly the innate corruption of his heart. Public sins cause him distress enough, God knows; but they are mostly the result of some extraneous temptation, and may in other cases be treated as disciplines sent by God himself. But the sinful thought that pervades the heart in the night watches, is the source of the most poignant misery, from the nakedness and gratuity of its ingratitude. “Against thee only have I sinned.” And perhaps we may understand from this the sequence, “That thou mayest be justified in thy saying.” It is this very penitence for secret sins which justifies God in the sinner’s sight, and through our Lord’s merits, the sinner in God’s. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 22.21
COMMUNICATIONS
From Bro. Whitmore
BELOVED BRETHREN AND SISTERS, who love to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, permit an unworthy brother to address you in the name of our great High Priest; who is standing by the mercy-seat in the second vail, pleading with his Father for you and me, that our sins may all be blotted out. O how thankful to God we ought to be that we have an advocate with the Father. Do you, dear brethren and sisters, realize that very soon Jesus will lay off his priestly garments and be crowned King, and leave the heavenly Sanctuary and seat himself on the great white cloud? Then they who are wicked and filthy will be so still, and they that are holy will be holy still. Do you believe this will soon take place? Are you anxiously looking and watching for the glorious appearing of the Son of man? If so, you can claim the promise, “Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching. Verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and will come and serve them.” Glorious promise! “Watch therefore and pray always, that ye may be able to escape all these things that are coming to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” “The end of all things is at hand, be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer.” Do not forget the exhortation of John, [Revelation 3:3.] “If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.” Again, [Chap 16:15,] “Behold I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.” “Unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation;” but to those who are not looking for him, and do not love his appearing, there is no salvation. “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward, for ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come and will not tarry.” ARSH August 7, 1855, page 22.22
Dear brethren and sisters, we have much to overcome in order to get into the kingdom; much of the carnal mind to subdue. We must be willing to suffer with Christ if we would reign with him. Then get ready, get ready, for the day of the Lord is at hand, and hasteth greatly. Jesus said to his disciples just before he went away, that if he went away he would come again and receive them to himself, that where he was they might be also; and he told them also how they might know that the time was near, even at the door. I need not repeat the signs which were to take place just previous to his coming; you have read them over and over no doubt. Be not discouraged, brethren, but be faithful unto the end, for there is a crown laid up for those in that day who are watching. May the Lord bless and prepare you to stand with the 144,000 on mount Zion, is the prayer of one looking for the Lord. J. WHITMORE. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 22.23
Jackson, July 25th, 1855. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 22.24
From Bro. Weaver
DEAR BRO. WHITE:- Through the mercy and permission of God, I still live in these last days. It is nearly one year since I became convinced of the expediency and necessity of keeping all of God’s commandments. The first discourse I ever heard on the Sabbath was by Eld. Joseph Bates, a little less than one year ago, which proved to myself and companion a welcome message. Since that time I have tried in my imperfect manner to do my whole duty. I find, as I expected, obstructions and difficulties in the way. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 22.25
I have no one to consult with but my companion and my Bible on the great and momentous subjects before us, therefore the Review comes as meat and drink in due season. Pray for me that my faith fail not. A few more days and we shall inherit the promises for the righteous. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 22.26
Yours in hope of a triumphant entrance into the kingdom of heaven. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 22.27
E. J. WEAVER.
From Bro. Dorcas
DEAR BRO. WHITE:- I take this opportunity to write you a few lines, as I have no doubt but that the dear brethren and sisters scattered abroad would like to hear from us occasionally, as we also from them. Bro. Holt, with his kind family, are now located in the vicinity of Green Creek, four miles east of Fremont, where there is quite a flourishing little church; also a Sabbath School of some twenty, or more, orderly and interesting children. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.1
I am happy to say that the church here is of one heart and of one mind, and that the cause of present truth is onward, notwithstanding we have many adversaries. Bro. Holt, with all his activity and perseverance, will not be able to fill half the calls for labor. When we look around, by means of the Review, and see the prosperity of the cause of truth in many other States, we are led to wonder why it is that this State should be so thinly supplied with laborers, in the present work. O that the Lord of the harvest would send forth more laborers into the harvest. Our enemies show us all manner of foul play in the engagements that we have had with them. It is easily seen, when our eyes are open, that Babylon is fallen, and that the Babylon of Revelation 14, means the churches, or sects, that are of all forms and orders, to suit all tastes. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.2
But upon the whole, dear brethren and sisters, we have reason to thank God and take courage, that the present prospects are as favorable as they are. We feel strong in our God to fight all the battles to which we are called; but let it be remembered that the greatest victory is to conquer self. “He that conquereth his own spirit, is greater than he that taketh a city.” Dear friends, let us be careful, notwithstanding what the world may call us, that we do really grow in grace daily. Let there be no mistake about this important matter; remember, “many shall seek and shall not be able.” ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.3
Yours truly, ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.4
JESSE DORCAS.
July 19th, 1855.
From Bro. Hebner
DEAR BRO. WHITE:- I still love the present truth of the third angel’s message, and my heart beats in unison with the dear saints who are keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus his Son. There seems to be quite an interest in the minds of some individuals in this place with regard to the Sabbath. It seems to me, dear brother, that the cause demands some one to labor among us. I believe that God has precious jewels in this place, and that they might be brought out, were some of God’s servants to come over and give the whole truth. Cannot Bro. Hutchins come? The harvest is truly great, but the laborers are few. We pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest. Whoever may feel it duty to come over and preach the gospel to us shall be provided for as far as is in our power. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.5
I remain a lover of the truth. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.6
JOSIAH HEBNER.
Pickering, C. W., July 24th, 1855.
From Bro. Hammond
DEAR BRO. WHITE:- I thank the Lord that I still feel a desire in my heart to be a Bible Christian, and to overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil, and to make one of the 144,000 that shall stand upon mount Zion to sing the song of redemption. It has been eight years since I commenced keeping the Sabbath of the Lord; and still I feel to praise the Lord for his goodness to me that he ever inclined my heart to keep the Bible Sabbath. John has said, Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus. Revelation 14:12. And then again he says in Revelation 22:14, Blessed are they that do his commandments that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. O how I want to be among this number; but trials beset me on every side; and sometimes darkness enshrouds my pathway, and I almost sink in despair; then something seems to whisper, Onward, onward, and I take courage, knowing that at the end of the race lies the crown. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.7
Yours striving for the kingdom. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.8
J. F. HAMMOND.
Springfield, July 3rd, 1855.
From Bro. Davis
DEAR BRO. WHITE:- Ought we not to have the paper weekly? It is certainly very surprising that brethren professing to be looking for our soon coming Saviour, should be negligent in meeting the claims of justice; and shall I go too far to say of common honesty? Can such have taken the first step towards overcoming evil with good? May the Lord arouse us from this lethargic and insensible state, and give us a more lively sense of the time in which we live, and of our obligations to him and to those around us. I often feel to fear for myself and to beseech God to save his people from the influence of error and evil. Church here united and some interest around us. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.9
OBADIAH DAVIS.
North Fairhaven, July 4th, 1855.
From Sister Wheeler. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.10
DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS:- I esteem it a sweet privilege to be permitted to write a few lines to the scattered flock who are looking for their blessed Master to come in power and great glory to change these vile bodies and fashion them like unto his most glorious body. O what a glorious prospect there is before the outcast, down-trodden and way-worn pilgrims. They will be ushered into the City to “sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to go no more out forever.” I ask why there are not more willing to deny themselves and go without the camp bearing the reproaches of a gain-saying world for the sake of Christ. The voice of inspiration answers, “For they love the praise of men more than the praise of God.” I am very glad I am accounted worthy to suffer shame for the sake of him who died to save me from the curse of a broken law. I can say with the Psalmist, “O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.” ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.11
Truly the Lord has made hard things easy, crooked places straight, and rough places smooth. He has led me in a way that I knew not, and I feel to call on my soul and all that is within me to magnify his holy name, that in these last days, even at the eleventh hour, he has established me in the blessed truths of the gospel. “What God is like our God,” who forgiveth iniquity, transgression and sin. Truly the “long suffering of God is salvation.” He has made me to delight in his law after the inner man, and his commands are not grievous, but joyous to me. I feel there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit; and I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. In Christ there is a fullness. He is all in all, the chiefest among ten thousand and the one altogether lovely. I long to see him as he is and be made like him. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.12
Brethren and sisters, as we prize eternal life let us give diligence to make our calling and election sure; let us stand, having our loins girt about with truth, and we waiting for the Lord. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.13
Your sister seeking immortality. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.14
R. B. WHEELER.
Worcester, July 16th, 1855.
From Sister Sanford. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.15
DEAR BRO. WHITE:- I wish to say to the scattered flock that I am striving to keep the commandments of God. One year ago last February I with my family commenced keeping the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. As the little band here are seemingly remote from others of like precious faith, we hear but little about them except through the Review, which comes to us a welcome messenger ladened with rich stores of gospel truth. It cheers my heart to read the letters of the dear brethren and sisters, and I would say to them, press forward and victory will soon be ours. There are some indications of good here. One woman near us, by reading tracts Nos. 1,2,3,4, became convinced of the Sabbath, and being willing to do the will of God, commenced to keep it. I think if some of the preaching brethren could find it in their hearts to come here good might be done. Many appear to be convinced that the fourth commandment is binding on us, but fearing the reproaches of men more than the wrath of God, they still go on in the worship of the beast; but dear brethren and sisters, let us be found keeping the commandments of God and striving for the faith of Jesus, that we may have right to the tree of life and enter in through the gates into the City. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.16
Yours waiting for the soon coming of Christ. ELVIRA SANFORD. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.17
Green Vale, July 8th, 1855. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.18
OBITUARY
OUR dear sister, Rhoda Jane Kellogg, wife of Bro. Leander Kellogg, died May 2nd, after an illness of about 24 hours; aged 22 years, 9 months, and 15 days; at her residence, in Portland, Iona Co., Mich., (formerly of Jackson, Mich.) She was an affectionate companion, a faithful step-mother, and a much beloved sister in the church at Jackson. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.19
She kept the Seventh-day Sabbath about five years, in connection with this church, and witnessed many severe trials, but stood firm in all the truth unto the end. We believe she sleeps in Jesus, and will come forth in the morning of the first resurrection, clothed with immortality. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.20
Sister K. has left a husband, with five children - two infants - and a large circle of friends and relatives to mourn and suffer her loss; but we sorrow not as those who have no hope. 1 Thessalonians 4:13, 14; Revelation 14:13. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.21
“From the bitter cup that’s given
We should not shrink;
Since the mandate is from heaven,
That bids us drink.
ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.22
Sleep, dear Sister, kind and tender,
To friendship true;
While with feeling hearts we render
This tribute due.
ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.23
When the morn of glory, breaking,
Shall light the tomb,
Beautiful will be thy waking,
In fadeless bloom.”
C. DODGE.
Jackson, June 25th, 1855.
ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.24
MY only sister, Mary Eliza Taylor fell asleep in Jesus, May 9th, 1855, after suffering much for years, especially during her last sickness. She had observed the Sabbath over a year and bore a thrilling testimony when with us, though mostly deprived of the privilege on account of poor health. Her patience was manifest while consumption was doing its last work - mind mostly clear, and faith and hope increasing to the last. She was known as a “peace maker” before embracing the Sabbath, having embraced religion in the Fall of 1844, under the proclamation of the second angel of Revelation 14:8, in connection with the cry, “Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him. We are much comforted on account of the blessing that now rests upon those who die in the Lord. Revelation 14:13. HORACE W. LAWRENCE. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.25
Bangor, July 6th, 1855. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.26
IT becomes my painful duty to record the death of my companion, which occurred on the 22nd of May. This was a trying scene for me to pass through, but God has been, and still is, merciful. I rejoice that I am not called to mourn as those that have no hope. Her sickness was very distressing, but she bore it with Christian patience and resignation, and believed that in the first resurrection she should be raised to eternal life. JONATHAN CHASE. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.27
Fall River, June, 1855. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.28
DIED in Washington, N. H., Sabbath June 30th 1855, Sarah, wife of Bro. Wm. Farnsworth, aged 43 years, after an illness of 10 hours. By this bereavement Bro. Farnsworth has lost an affectionate companion, and a large family of children a kind and tender mother. But they sorrow not as others which have no hope, having the assurance that she sleeps in Jesus, and will soon awake to immortality and eternal life. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.29
Sister Farnsworth embraced religion and was for a number of years a member of the Christian church. In 1842 she embraced the Advent doctrine. In 1844 she, with others, left the church with which she was connected, to walk in the light of present truth, and for about five years she and her husband have been walking in the light of the third angel’s message. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.30
We as a church feel to sympathize with our brother in his deep affliction, while we also mourn the loss of one who has long been with us amid the perils of these last days, rejoicing in hope of the eternal inheritance. May the grace of God sustain him; and we as a church be prepared to meet our sister on the resurrection morn. F. WHEELER. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.31
DIED in Jamaica, Vt., June 16th, 1855, Asa R. Kingsbury, aged 72 years. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.32
DIED in Fayeston, Vt., July 26th, 1855, sister Mehetabel Tyler, aged 83 years. The subject of this notice was a firm believer in the truths contained in the third angel’s message. She died in hope of soon returning from the land of the enemy. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.33
The funeral was attended by the writer. JOSIAH HART. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.34
From Sister Gardner. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.35
DEAR BRO. WHITE:- I rejoice for the privilege of informing you that our determinations are still to go on and inquire for the old paths to walk in. We are sure by the signs of the times and every thing around us that we are living in the last of this world’s history, and how carefully we ought to live if we would have the privilege of standing with the Lamb upon mount Zion and shouting victory over the beast and over his image. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.36
Dear brother, we sympathize with you in your affliction; you have our prayers that God will sustain you under all your trials, and at last bring you off conqueror through him that hath loved you. We are glad for the privilege of reading the Review. It brings rich food for the soul, and oft our hearts are cheered by the thrilling testimonies of the brethren and sisters scattered abroad. O how we love them, though we have never seen them; but if faithful we hope to meet where parting will be no more. Pray for us that we may continue faithful to the end. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 23.37
Yours striving for eternal life through Christ. SARAH JANE GARDNER. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.1
Vergennes, July 10th, 1855. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.2
From Sister Perkins. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.3
DEAR BRO. WHITE:- Within three weeks we have received some light on the Sabbath question and we want more, so that when the Master comes he may find us keeping all his commandments. We expect opposition from both friends and enemies as there are no Sabbath-keepers here for a number of miles, but we also expect and believe that God will sustain us in this trying time. O that we may love God with all our hearts and be kept from the hour of temptation that shall come on all the world to try them that dwell on the earth. May the Lord sustain you in all your trials, and preserve you blameless unto his appearing. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.4
Yours in love of the truth. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.5
LAURA H. PERKINS.
Macomb, July 16th, 1855.
From Bro. & Sr. Freeman
BROTHER WHITE:- Though personally unknown, I have long felt a desire to pen a few lines to you. It is about ten months since myself and husband commenced keeping the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. We have never heard a course of lectures, and the most information we have gained has been through tracts and the Review. Bro. Phelps called on us last Winter and presented the third angel’s message which we embraced, and have since that time felt that it is a glorious cause. We are alone, excepting an uncle about six miles from us, in keeping the Rest-day of Jehovah, and meet with much opposition. Some think the seventh day looks too much like the Jews of olden times. I have thought that if Christ was to appear again as he did at his first advent, he would look too much like a Jew to be their Saviour. But I feel to praise God that I have been brought to the light of the true Sabbath, and hope I may ever be found with the commandment-keepers, having the testimony of Jesus Christ. I have taken much comfort in perusing letters in the Review from those of like precious faith, and feel unworthy a place with them. EDWIN A. FREEMAN. FANNY FREEMAN. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.6
Arena, 1855. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.7
From Bro. Phelps
DEAR BRO. WHITE:- I left home last Fourth-day, visited the friends in Walworth, spent one day with them. They are but four in number, and feel as though they were almost forsaken, not having had a visit from any one of the traveling Brn. for over one year; but they were somewhat encouraged while we talked the truth concerning our present position. From there I came to this place and found the friends here feeling lonely. They have not been visited until now for some eighteen months. I held meetings yesterday and to-day, and the friends here seem quite encouraged and built up in the faith. To-morrow morning I am to leave for other parts of the field. This is a large field here in Illinois, and not a laborer in it. I expect to spend a few weeks in this State and then return to Wisconsin. Who will come and labor in this field? O Lord send by whom thou wilt; let the message go. I feel as though I wanted to gird on the harness anew, and by the help of God I mean to press the battle to the gate. I want to be prepared to give the loud cry of the third message. O may God hasten the time when it shall go, and cut the work short in righteousness. I remain as ever, ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.8
Your unworthy brother. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.9
W. PHELPS.
Alden, July 8th, 1855.
Extracts of Letters
Jos. Clarke writes from Portage, Ohio:- “Enclosed is $1. Please send, by mail, its value, less the postage, in the most effective tracts for distribution. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.10
People here are ready to read and hear, but we are not able to distribute as many as we would. Many hard speeches are made against our little band of First-day breakers alias Sabbath-keepers; but we trust the Lord is with us and will protect us. The way is rough and stormy, but the promise is full of hope while we keep the commands of God and have the testimony of Jesus.” ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.11
Bro. J. Blain writes from DuBuque, Iowa, July 27th, 1855:- “Permit me to say through your paper to ministering brethren with your views, traveling or living in the west, that they can obtain a supply of my work, Death not Life, to sell on commission, of Bro. Samuel Brown of Milwaukee, Wis., and of S. L. Walter, Chicago, Ill., corner of west Randolph and Langamon Sts.; or of C. R. Blanchard, of Moline, Rock Island Co., Ill; also at my house, No. 19 North Division St., Buffalo, N. Y.” ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.12
Bro. Thos. R. Irons writes from Hartwick, July 30th, 1855:- “I would say through the Review that this part of the country stands in need of some talented man to proclaim against priest-craft, and to preach thy kingdom come, instead of has come; and that man is mortal, not immortal; and that Christ will soon come, not a thousand years hence; and that the saints or meek will inherit the earth in its purified state. Although I talk what I can, yet those that would please the world are many. Doctrines of men flourish much. May the Lord send some one of his servants this way.” ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.13
Some Sensible Remarks. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.14
A CORRESPONDENT of one of the N. Y. Journals, writing from St. Louis, and in attendance on the Anniversary Meeting of the Presbyterian General Assembly there, makes the following suggestive remarks: ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.15
It is getting to be an immense job for a sojourner in our large towns to find his way to a house of God - and as to poor residents, (Heaven take care of and save them!) if the doctrine be true that there is no salvation out of the church, the poor people are inevitably lost, for they can neither buy nor hire a pew in these hundred thousand dollar churches. Gentility is fast getting to be the only passport to heaven - as the depths of a man’s purse, so are his chances for future glory. This new church stands in the centre of acres of vacant lots, huge piles of building materials lying around as far as the eye can reach, with only here and there a brick block or single house rising above the dreary desolation. These piles of sand, these scattered pillars, pediments capitals, these huge layers of rock and solid and immense cubes of unlaid brick induce one to imagine himself transported to the sites of the famous ruins of Grecian, Roman and Egyptian cities, where storms, fires and earthquakes for 4000 years or more have been scattering their debris over the now solitary plain. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.16
What are we respectable Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Episcopalians, and others, doing for the poor whom we have always with us? We are leaving them to be taken care of by Methodists and Catholics who being poor themselves must naturally expect to take care of the poor. The touch of the beggar of course will not soil their silks or broadcloths, nor will unfragrant mechanics leave unpleasant stenches in their damask pews. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.17
When will our city ministers believe the word they preach, that the poor are God’s chosen people? When will they have the moral courage to take the hand of a poor man in the street, and say as Moses to Hobab, “Come with us and we will do thee good.” ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.18
FOREIGN NEWS
Sebastopol has again been subjected to two days’ heavy fire, without effect. The besiegers were erecting immense works against the Malakoff and the Redan, and the besieged were erecting equally formidable earthworks behind those defenses. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.19
Another general assault is not far off. Thirty thousand men are employed on the works of attack. The Russians in addition to other additional defenses, are throwing up a formidable star fort, behind the Redan. A weak fire was kept up on the 10th and 11th. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.20
Cholera was decreasing, and the health of the Allied army was satisfactory. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.21
The Russians made a sortie on the night of the 7th on the works in the front of the Mamelon, but effected nothing. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.22
There are strong indications of a campaign on the Danube, engineers having already been sent forward. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.23
There are rumors of a dangerous insurrection in the Russian Siberian regiment, and also of a change in the Russian Cabinet. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.24
The Asia arrived at Halifax on Wednesday, Aug. 1, with dates from Liverpool to the 21st ult. The intelligence she brings is of no great importance, though not destitute of interest. Mr. Roebuck’s motion for a vote of censure on the Government, after being debated at great length, was thrown out in the House of Commons by a majority of 107. The Palmerston Ministry has therefore a new lease of life. The general prospects of the war were not encouraging. The successes and losses of the Allies before Sevastopol seem to be about equally balanced. The Sardinian and Turkish forces have again withdrawn from the valley of Baidar to Balaklava. The report is confirmed that the Russians have received re-enforcements. Accounts from Asia state that the Russian army, under Gen. Muravieff, had invested Kars, while a small army corps had advanced upon Katais and was pressing the Turkish garrison of Batoum. The Black Warrior dispute with the United State is at last definitely settled, the Spanish Government agreeing to pay an indemnity of a million of reals. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.25
Removal of Governor Reeder! ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.26
THE AXE HAS FALLEN! GOV. REEDER REMOVED!
The President of the United States has at last perpetrated an act which he has for some time meditated, but which his infirmity of purpose - for he is feeble even in the commission of wrong - has led him to postpone till he has dared no longer to refuse obedience to his southern masters. After some months of imbecile vacillation, characteristic of a little mind, he has screwed up his reluctant courage to brave the indignation of the united North, and has performed an act which will have no other interpretation than a deliberate endorsement on the late Missouri outrages. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.27
That Gov Reeder has been removed, not for malversation in office, but purely because he refused to lend himself as the pliant tool of a pro-slavery mob, is evident, not only from the facts of the case, but from the political complexion of the man who has been appointed to succeed him. John L. Dawson, of Pennsylvania, the newly appointed Governor of Kansas, is one of the members of the last Congress whom the people remanded to private life, in consequence of his participation in that gigantic fraud and insult to the North, the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. He voted for that repeal through all the stages of the Congressional proceedings by which it was consummated, and Mr. Pierce has now found an opportunity to pay him the wages of his iniquity. The administration were disappointed in the character of Gov. Reeder, but they have now found a creature who will, no doubt, prove the subservient tool they wish. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.28
The internal peace of the country has never been so seriously imperilled, since the organization of the government, as it is to-day. The Administration in power repealed a sacred compact hallowed in the hearts of all northern freemen, under the insidious pretence of restoring to the territory to which it extended, the principle of popular sovereignty. An armed mob from a slaveholding state invades the territory and takes forcible possession of its government. The Administration at Washington instead of aiding the inhabitants in repelling this invasion of their right, openly abet the invaders, and by a high-handed act of authority remove the Governor of the territory, for no other reason than because he is firm in asserting the rights of the territory, and faithful to its interests. As it has now become certain that no redress of the grievances of the territory is to be looked for from the General Government, it would not be surprising if the people should take the remedy in their own hand, and the mob from Missouri should be met by armed men from other States. If the torch of civil war should be lighted in Kansas God only knows how far the conflagration would spread, or when it would end. The nearness of the next presidential election opens the only door of escape from so dire a calamity, and this last act of President Pierce has put the seal of certainty to the election of a Northern man with Northern sentiments for his successor. - Buff. Com. Adv. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.29
NEW WORK
WE are now publishing a work entitled, Home here and Home in heaven, with other Poems. By Annie R. Smith. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.30
It will contain about 112 pp. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.31
Price - bound - 20 cts; by the dozen and over, 15 cts: postage 3 cts. In paper covers - 15 cts; by the dozen and ver, 12 1/2 cts; postage 1 ct. Orders may now be sent in. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.32
Business
L Sheldon - Your money was never handed to Bro. Bingham, and consequently was not forwarded to this Office. When we receive it, it will be placed to your credit. Meanwhile we continue your papers. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.33
I. Sanborn - It was all right on our books. We thank you for the interest you manifest for us, not only in generously paying the arrearages of those four delinquents, but also in procuring new subscribers for the REVIEW and INSTRUCTOR. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.34
E. Pierce. - We continue your paper. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.35
WILL the writer of the piece signed “Mary,” please give her whole name. We would prefer that our correspondents, in all cases, give their true and full name to all their communications. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.36
THE P. O. address of G. W. Holt is Freemont, Sandusky Co., Ohio. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.37
Letters
Wm C Ford, E Pierce, J M McLellan, B G Jones, H Patch, L Hicklin. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.38
Receipts
Mrs E Day, J Tillotson, C Wikel, D N Fay, A Bernard, J Tallman, J M Grannan, M L Gates, E Scoville, B Landon, H Clapp, H Stephens, H H Bramhall, C N Mills, C H Perrine, J M Lindsay, D Tolford, J Wager, H H Sedgwick, H Myers, R Holland, J P Kellogg, L Kellogg, H L Richmond, E Spencer, F Blinn, J H Darling, H C Stone, M Chapman, I D Cramer, A C Gibbs, Jno. P Green, W G Kendall, N Mead, E P Butler, Z W Leach, S Buzzell, L Woodworth, W Camp, J Locke, I Sanborn, (for J Sanborn, omitted in No 1,) O P Hull, Mrs H W Phillips, W H Hilton, L W Nuttall, M Dennis, D Arnold, S Peckham, (for J Todd,) J K Bellnapp, A Heald, B E Place, S Tilden, G T Smith, J Carter, S A Chapin, J G Post, E A Freeman, J Farnsworth, E J Weaver, J R Grimes, A L Burwell, L A Clay, M S Wilds, A Barton, E Lothrop, E Everts, J Lindsey, T Wright, A Ranger, B Darling, L Caswell, R Hale, N M Satterlee, J Parmalee, F R Stees, L E Knight, J Day, H Crosbie, A Taber, A T Wilkinson, M Tyler, each $1. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.39
C S Glover, Wm Dawson, S Gove, I Abbey, T W Potter, ($1 for D P Curtis,) each $2. A W McDonald ($1 each for M A Agur & H Ballard,) $3. A E Gridley $3,75. S Hughes ($0,50 for Wm Whitaker) $1,50. J Martin $0,75. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.40
R Beckwith, R Leach, T O Johnson, A H Lewis, each $0,50. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.41
To pay Arrears on Vol. VI. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.42
N Colby $1. H Crosbie, P Rowley, each $0,25. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.43
For Tent in New York. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.44
J M Lindsay, ....... $25. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.45
To PURCHASE HORSE FOR J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH. - J M Lindsay $2. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.46
FOR TRACT FUND. - F Blinn, $0,25. ARSH August 7, 1855, page 24.47