The Advent Review, and Sabbath Herald, vol. 6
September 26, 1854
RH VOL. VI. - ROCHESTER, N.Y., THIRD-DAY - NO. 7
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. VI. - ROCHESTER, N.Y., THIRD-DAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1854. - NO. 7.
THE REVIEW AND HERALD
IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY
At South St. Paul -st., Stone’s Block.
TERMS.-One Dollar a Year, in Advance.
J. N. ANDREWS, R. F. COTTRELL, URIAH SMITH,
Publishing Committee.
JAMES WHITE, Editor.
All communications, orders, and remittances should be addressed to JAMES WHITE Rochester, N. Y. 109 Monroe Street, (post-paid.)
Leading Doctrines Taught by the Review
The Bible, and the Bible alone, the rule of faith and duty.
The Law of God, as taught in the Old and New Testaments, unchangeable.
The Personal Advent of Christ and the Resurrection of the Just, before the Millennium.
The Earth restored to its Eden perfection and glory, the final Inheritance of the Saints.
Immortality alone through Christ, to be given to the Saints at the Resurrection.
ARSH September 26, 1854, page 49.1
THE ATONEMENT
BY J. M. STEPHENSON
[Continued from No. 2.] ARSH September 26, 1854, page 49.2
HAVING investigated the nature of the penalty of God’s law for original sin, and having shown that it reduces the whole man to the dust of the earth, I now propose showing that all the plain, literal teachings of the Bible in reference to the condition of the dead harmonize with this view. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 49.3
Read the history of the death of all the patriarchs and prophets, (except Enoch and Elijah,) and you will find no intimation of any distinctive entity such as the immortal soul, or deathless spirit, which survived death. But, they lived, they died, and that is all is said about them, save what is recorded of what they said and did. Compare the simple record of the death of those holy men who died in faith with the obituaries of the present day. See Genesis 5:5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 27, 31; 9:29; 23:17-20; 25:8; 35:29; 49:29-33; 50:24-26. Sleep is the most common term to denote the condition of the man in death. Read the following texts. Deuteronomy 31:16; 2 Samuel 7:12; 1 Kings 2:10, 11, 21, 43; 2 Chronicles 9:31; 2 Kings 20:21; 2 Chronicles 32:33; 26:23; Job 3:13; 7:21; 14:12; Psalm 76:5; Matthew 27:52; Acts 7:60; 13:36; 1 Corinthians 15:6, 18, 20, 51; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15; 5:10; 2 Peter 3:4. A more beautiful and appropriate symbol of death could not be found. In profound slumber there is no consciousness - no knowledge. Worn down with the labors and anxieties of the day, the weary traveler prostrates his aching frame upon a bed to sleep; mark that pilgrim, how sweetly he sleeps, how quietly he rests - eight hours elapse - he awakes - it is a blank to him - he wakes up just where he went to sleep; he commences thinking just where he left off the evening before. A dreamful state is a state of partial wakefulness. In profound slumber a person never dreams; the blood retires from the brain, it becomes inactive. All the organs of thought, of memory, being entirely inactive, of course, he cannot think; or even if he could, the organs of memory being paralyzed, how could he call to mind the result of such action? He could not. Transfer the quietude of unconscious sleep to the condition of all the dead, and you have the Bible view. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 49.4
How quietly they sleep! “They shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep” “till the heavens be no more.” The heavens may thunder and the earth quake, the sea and the waves may roar, nations may rise, and empires may crumble to dust, and yet they hear not the sound thereof - they know it not. The rich and the poor, the small and the great are there, “with kings and counselors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves; or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver: as infants which never saw light. There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest. There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor. The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.” Job 3:14-19. No one associates pain, or trouble, or anxiety, with sleep; these belong to the succession of events connected with conscious existence. But in the grave there are no days, or weeks, or months, or years; the past, present, and future are a blank. The time which shall have elapsed from the death of Abel to the resurrection, will be no more than that of the last saint who shall die. They will be judged, raised, rewarded if righteous, at the same time; and thus dispense with the necessity of a double judgment, and of rewarding or punishing men before they are judged: or if wicked, they will be raised and receive their recompense at the same time. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 49.5
I will now investigate those portions of holy writ which speak in explicit language of man’s condition in death. All the figures, parables, and metaphors must in all cases be harmonized with the plain teachings of the Bible. With this old Protestant rule for our guide, let us enter upon the investigation of this subject, having a desire to ascertain just what the Scriptures teach in reference to the dead; not what we would have them teach. What saith the Scriptures, and not what saith our creeds, or ministers, should be the motto of every Christian. “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Isaiah 8:20. Amen. Then to the testimony let us go. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 49.6
Job says, [Chap 7:21,] “And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.” He declares that he would sleep in the dust, [“Unto dust shalt thou return,”] and that his Maker should seek him in the morning, but he should not be. “To be,” signifies to exist. Why should Job not exist? Because he would return to dust. The Bible gives no account of but one Job, hence if Job is asleep in the dust, there can be no other Job awake in Paradise at the same time. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 49.7
Again he says, “O that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me! I should have been as though I had not been,” etc. Job 10:18, 19. Here Job wishes he had died in infancy, and declares, had such been the case, he would have been as though he had not been. What would have been Job’s condition, had he never existed? Would he have been conscious, or intelligent? No. Then had he died in infancy, he would not have been conscious or intelligent. Does not death place adults in the same condition it does infants? Let Job answer for himself. “Are not my days few? cease then, let me alone, that I may take comfort a little, before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness, and the shadow of death. A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.” Here Job tells us in plain terms his views of the place to which he expected to go at death, and how unlike all the descriptions we have ever read of Paradise, or the place to which the pious of the present day expect to go. They represent it as a place of order, and of ineffable light, from which its glorified visitants may return at pleasure, to minister to their surviving friends on earth. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 49.8
Again he says, “For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branches thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; yet through the scent of water, it will bud and bring forth boughs like a plant.” Chap 14:7-9. Not so with man, he dieth, and wasteth away, and all the skill of earth cannot extort from the cold and lifeless clay any signs of life. “But man dieth and wasteth away; yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up; so man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.” Verses 10-12. This implies that they shall awake, and be raised out of their sleep when the heavens be no more. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 49.9
“O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!” Verse 13. He then asks one of the most important questions ever propounded to dying man: one that the philosophy of the world has never been able to answer. “If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.” Verse 14. Job, having propounded this important question in the form of an affirmation, (as if he had affirmed, If a man die, he shall live again,) expresses his resignation - “all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.” Now, if we can ascertain the place where Job waits, we may know with certainty, where all the righteous wait from death to the resurrection; for Job was a righteous man; and if any would be permitted to enter upon their rewards at death, it would be he. Let Job answer for himself. “If I wait, the grave is mine house.” He then describes the nature of his habitation. “I have made my bed in darkness.” Chap 17:13. He next describes his nearest relation, and associates: the spirits of departed saints, of course. Not exactly. “I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister. And where is now my hope?” Verses 14, 15. Ans. In the resurrection. “Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.” Chap 14:15. Job was not an infidel, although he believed in the unconsciousness of the dead. He would have his hope in the glorious doctrine of the resurrection, written in a book, and lead in the rock forever; that the latest generations might read it. Hear the language of triumphant and all-conquering hope: O that my words were now written! O that they were printed in a book! That they were graven with an iron pen, and lead in the rock forever! For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another, etc.” Chap 19:23-27. Note, first, worms were to destroy him, i.e., after etc. worms destroy this body etc. Verse 26. Second, he is to see the Lord with the eyes of the identical body that worms have destroyed. Third, his seeing God is predicated, not of death, but the resuscitation of the eyes and flesh, which worms had destroyed. Verse 26. Fourth, he expected to see God, not at death, but at the latter day, i.e., at the second advent and resurrection. Verse 25. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 49.10
David’s testimony harmonizes with Job’s. Psalm 6:5. “For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks.” Is memory an attribute of the soul, or spirit? then that intelligent part ceases at death. What! the righteous dead not remember their Creator? “For in death there is no remembrance of thee.” Shall not they give him thanks for all his acts of kindness? “In the grave who (none) shall give thee thanks.” Heaven, without thanks, or remembrance of God, would not be a very desirable place for a Christian! Yet, such is the state of all the dead, according to the above text. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 49.11
Paul, speaking of David, [Acts 13:36,] says, “For David after he had served his own generation, by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his father’s, and saw corruption.” A short time before he fell asleep (or died and saw corruption) he expressed his hope. “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake with thy likeness.” Psalm 17:15. When will David awake in his (God’s) likeness? When the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised. See 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Philippians 3:20, 21. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 50.1
Read Peter’s testimony in reference to David, written near two thousand years after his death. “Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.” Acts 2:29. But the theology of the present day teaches that good men ascend to heaven at death. Who would be permitted to ascend to heaven, if David would not? - and yet, an inspired Apostle informs us, that David had not ascended into the heavens, in his day. Acts 2:34. “For David is not ascended into the heavens, etc.” ARSH September 26, 1854, page 50.2
Again, David asks the following questions, in reference to the condition of the dead, and leaves them for us to answer: “Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah. Shall thy loving kindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction? Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?” Notice, first, it is necessary that the dead should arise in order to their praising God. Psalm 88:10. Second, his loving kindness shall be declared in the grave, (in the resurrection of the dead,) verse 11, first clause. Third, death, the grave, and destruction, are synonymous terms. Compare the last clause of verse 11 with verses 10 and 11. Fourth, the dead are in a state of darkness and forgetfulness. Verse 12. We are taught that the pious dead praise the Lord more than the living. The poet responds to this sentiment, in the following touching strains: ARSH September 26, 1854, page 50.3
“And when my voice is lost in death,
Praise shall employ my nobler powers.”
ARSH September 26, 1854, page 50.4
But the pious Psalmist says, “The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.” Psalm 115:17. Why cannot the dead praise the Lord? Ans. Because they go down into silence - the grave. Death is represented as the great deliverer, whose errand of mercy is to loose the galling fetters, to break the cruel chains, and set the captive spirit free; to enfranchise the immortal mind, and give its nobler powers a wider, loftier range. But what saith the Scriptures? “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.” Psalm 146:3. Why not put our trust in princes? Who could protect us if princes (who sway their iron scepters o’er all the world) could not? He gives the reason. “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” Verse 4. Observe, first, when a prince’s breath goeth forth, he has no more power to protect us than the poorest peasant. “Kings and counselors, ... the small and great are there.” Job 3:14, 19. Second, “In that very day his thoughts perish.” That the thoughts constitute the intelligence of the man, all admit. They perish, i. e., come to an end, cease to be, die. If we must have a heaven or hell for our departed friends or foes, we must be contented with a heaven, or hell, without thoughts. “Their memory and their sense are gone.” ARSH September 26, 1854, page 50.5
Solomon inherited his father’s sentiments, in reference to the condition of the dead. He draws the analogy between a living dog and a dead lion, and shows the pre-eminence of the former over the latter. “For to him that is joined to all the living, there is hope; (while there is life there is hope;) for a living dog is better than a dead lion.” Ecclesiastes 9:4. So utterly powerless is a lion, (the king of beasts,) under the dominion of death, that even a living dog is better. From this comparison, he shows us the disparity between a living and a dead man; thereby teaching that there is as much disparity between a living and a dead man, as there is between a living dog and a dead lion. “For [because] the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything.” Verse 5, first clause. The same part that has knowledge in a living man, knows nothing [has no knowledge] in a dead man. Just as certainly as living men have knowledge, just so certainly dead men know nothing. Are love, hatred, and envy, attributes of the mind, or soul? if so, they perish. “Also their love, and their hatred and their envy, is now perished, etc. Verse 6. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.” Think of happiness, or misery, consciousness, or intelligence, without work, or device, or knowledge, or wisdom. These being attributes, of the organism, perish with it. As man dieth, so dieth the brute; they all go to one place. Ecclesiastes 3:19, 20. Isaiah tells us what would have been his condition, had he died. Chap 38:17-20. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 50.6
The foregoing evidences must suffice from the Old Testament. I will divide the New Testament evidences into two classes. First, those texts which represent the hopes of the primitive Christians, as being centred in the resurrection of the dead, and the second advent of Christ, instead of a transfer to heaven at death; which ought not to be the case, if all that is capable of happiness or misery, rewards or punishment, enter upon their respective rewards at death. Hear the motive our blessed Redeemer places before the minds of his people. “But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee; for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.” Luke 14:13, 14. Why wait until the resurrection of the just, if they had immortal souls which would go to heaven when they died? Certainly they would receive ample pay for a few meals of victuals before the resurrection. This text proves, as positively as if our Saviour had actually affirmed it, that no part of man will receive any portion of its rewards between death and the resurrection. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 50.7
Paul, having enumerated all the ancient worthies, Patriarchs and Prophets, Apostles and Martyrs, and having recounted their sacrifices and sufferings, tells us where, and when, they expected to receive their rewards; “that they might obtain a better resurrection.” Hebrews 11:35. Read the entire chapter. Why must these faithful servants of the Most High, wait so many hundreds of years for their rewards, if the popular view be correct? ARSH September 26, 1854, page 50.8
Having investigated, first, the nature of the atonement, second, the difficulties in the way of man’s salvation, which render atonement necessary, I propose considering, ARSH September 26, 1854, page 50.9
III. The nature of these difficulties; viz., the nature of the deaths to which man is exposed for the sin of Adam, and for his own personal sins. This proposition involves the nature of the penalty of the law of God; or, the condition in which those deaths place man. Does the responsible and intelligent man die? or does all that is noble, intelligent and responsible about man, escape death, while the unintelligent, and irresponsible part of man’s nature alone, is subject to death? or does the whole man, as an intelligent and responsible being, suffer the same penalty; i.e., death? ARSH September 26, 1854, page 50.10
In the investigation of the atonement, much depends on the answers to these questions; for if death, as modern theologians vainly teach, be the separation of soul and body, while the body is remanded back to dust, and the soul doomed to an endless life in conscious misery, then Christ in suffering the penalty of the law, (as the Bible plainly teaches he did,) must have lost himself, soul and body, to redeem man. But if, as I shall endeavor to prove, the whole man, as an intelligent, responsible being, is subject to death, literal death, then all that the law demanded of Christ, as our substitute, was a literal death - the death of the whole, intelligent, responsible being. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 50.11
But in order to a right understanding of the nature of the death man dies, it is necessary we should have correct views of the nature of man. Our views of death will, in all cases, harmonize with our views of man’s nature. If we believe man to be a compound of mortality and immortality, we must give death a two-fold meaning, and understand the same term as having two distinct significations at the same time. If any part of man’s nature be immortal, that part cannot die; hence death, when addressed to that part, must be understood in a figurative sense: that which is mortal must die; hence death, when applied to that part, must be understood in its obvious and literal sense. In the investigation of the nature of man, I will view man, ARSH September 26, 1854, page 50.12
1. In his creation. Where, in man’s history, might we expect to find the origin and existence of such a distinct, spiritual nature, as the “immortal soul,” if not in the history of his creation; and what must be our astonishment, not to find, in the entire Bible record, such an intimation. In Genesis 1:26, God makes known his intention to make man. In chap 2:7, he tells us the material out of which man was made. The record reads thus: “And the Lord God formed man (not man’s body only) of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his (man’s) nostrils the breath of life; and man (formed of the dust of the ground) became a living soul.” It was the man formed of the dust of the ground who became a living soul, person, or man. Read Paul’s inspired commentary on this text, written more than four thousand years afterwards. 1 Corinthians 15:45. “And so it is written, (where was it thus written? in Genesis 2:7, was the only place,) The first man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.” Verse 47. Mark well the language: “The first man Adam was made a living soul; the first man is of the earth, earthy;” thereby teaching, 1st. That the first man, and the first living soul, are synonymous terms. 2nd. That the first man Adam, the first living soul, was of the earth; i.e., made of earth: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground.” What can be plainer? In the entire record of man’s creation, we fail to find any intimation of his being in possession of any nature apart from the organism formed of the dust of the ground. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 50.13
2. In his relation to the law of God. What was his nature, morally, physically and intellectually? Was he mortal, immortal? or was he neither? Ans. He was neither. That he was not mortal, is evident. 1st. From the fact that the penalty was death. Mortal signifies dying. To pass sentence of “dying thou shalt die,” upon a dying man, would be no penalty at all. 2nd. The reward of obedience was eternal life. Now, if Adam was mortal, he must, from his very nature, die, whether he obeyed, or disobeyed; but that he was not mortal is evident from the fact, that he had the privilege of eating of the tree of life, and living forever. That he was not immortal is evident, 1st. From the fact, that the penalty for disobedience was death, which could not have been executed, had man been immortal; for every definition of immortality excludes the possibility of death. Immortal - deathless; deathlessness, etc. 2nd. From the relation man sustained to the tree of life. See Genesis 3:22, 23. “And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of live, and eat and live forever: therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden.” etc. If Adam was naturally immortal, why was it necessary to plant a tree in the garden for the perpetuation of his existence? Why was it necessary to drive him from the garden, and guard the tree of life, lest he should eat and live forever, if he was immortal and would live forever, whether he ate or not? What, then, was his nature? Ans. It was neither mortal nor immortal, but susceptible of either. Adam was placed upon probation. He was an undeveloped being. His nature, as well as his character, was suspended upon his action towards law. Hence he was susceptible of either good or evil, mortality or immortality. Two trees were placed before him, and he was left free to choose between them. These trees represented two distinctive natures and destinies. To eat of one, he would become mortal and die: to eat of the other, he would become immortal and live forever. He did eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; consequently incurred a mortal, corruptible, dying nature. This brings me to notice man. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 50.14
3. In his relation to the execution of the penalty of God’s law. The law and its penalty read thus: “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die;” or dying thou shalt die. See margin. The eating and dying are both represented, in the marginal reading, as a gradual work. See the margin of “thou mayest freely eat,” verse 16; and “thou shalt surely die,” verse 17. You cannot fail to see that the penalty, according to the marginal reading, requires two conditions: 1st. A dying condition: “dying thou etc,” 2nd. A dead condition: “dying thou shalt die.” ARSH September 26, 1854, page 51.1
When Adam is adjudged guilty, and God proceeds to pronounce the penalty of his law, will he give us a correct exposition of the nature of the penalty? He certainly will. All earthly judges in issuing their verdicts against condemned criminals, either use the precise language of the penalties they denounce, or language synonymous. Will the Judge of all the earth be less reasonable, in his mode of procedure against the transgressors of his law, than fallible human judges in the execution of human laws? To threaten one thing, and to inflict another, would be unjust; because in that case, the subjects of the law could have no warning against the punishment to be inflicted. But our Judge is a just Judge, and will leave all his subjects without excuse; hence he will make the penalty of his law so plain and explicit, that no one can fail to understand it, unless by the most palpable neglect, or consummate wickedness. With these preparatory remarks, enter, kind reader, with me, upon the investigation of this deeply interesting subject, the nature of that penalty we all suffer for Adam’s transgression. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 51.2
No need of witnesses to convict: they both confess their criminality; and God proceeds to pronounce the penalty. “And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake: in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” Genesis 3:17, 19. We will note, ARSH September 26, 1854, page 51.3
1. The perfect analogy between the penalty itself, and God’s own exposition of it. Penalty - “dying thou shalt die.” Exposition - “in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life: in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return? From this, we learn that Adam was to be in a sorrowing, sweating, toiling, dying condition, until he returned unto the ground; i.e., until he was dead. Thus God not only denounced the penalty of his law, but actually employed the agents for its execution. He arrayed the elements of heaven and earth against him, and doomed him to wear out his constitution by toil and sorrow. Then to complete the work, and make the execution of the sentence absolutely certain, the Lord drives him from the garden, and guards the tree of life by a flaming sword. Mark the language of Jehovah: “And now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever; therefore, the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, etc.” He had just partaken of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also; (in addition, or likewise;) which shows that he had not eaten of the tree of life. That tree now being guarded, there remains no hope for Adam: he must die. He did die. “And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.” Thus was literally fulfilled the penalty - “dying thou shalt die.” He was in a dying condition nine hundred and thirty years: and has been in a dead condition for about five thousand years. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 51.4
2. The condition in which the execution of the penalty places man; i.e. the returning of the man back to the dust: “For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” The reason here given why man returns to dust, is, that he was made of dust; “for, (because,) dust thou art, etc.” Compare this with chap 2:7. “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground.” Death being the reverse of life, resolves man into his original elements; hence was man composed of any other elements, death would resolve him back into these elements; but, being composed wholly of earth, or dust, death, as a matter of course, will return him back to dust. David’s description of death harmonizes with this view: “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth, etc.” Psalm 146:3, 4. God made man of earth, and constituted him a living man, by giving him breath. In death the order is reversed. “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth.” “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” “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 return to dust again.” Ecclesiastes 3:19, 20. By these plain texts of scripture, we learn that death, or the penalty threatened our first parents, reduces the whole human family to their original element; i.e., to the dust of the earth. Man, being unconscious and unintelligent before he was created, will as a natural consequence, be in the same condition, when resolved into his original elements; “he will be as though he had not been;” and without a resurrection from the dead, he would remain in that condition to all eternity. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 51.5
The following objections will be urged against the views presented in this article. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 51.6
1. Man is in the image of God. God has no form; hence, the image man sustains to God, cannot consist in form; it must, therefore, consist in nature; God is immortal; hence, that portion of man’s nature which is in the image of God, must be immortal. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 51.7
This objection is predicated upon a false premise; remove the premise, therefore, and the objection will be removed. It grows out of the anti-Bible statement, that God has no form. The text quoted to sustain the objection, is a strong proof text that God has form, or personality. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, etc.” Genesis 1:26. Here God proposes to make man in his image; not to make man, and then put his image into him, or stamp his image upon him; but to make him in his image. “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground; [chap 2:7;] hence, a being formed of the dust of the ground was in the image of God. The simplest definition of image, is, form; hence, man, made of the dust of the ground, was in the form of God; but for man to be in the form of God, God must have form. That Christ was in the form of man, all admit; and the Scriptures teach that he was in the form of God the Father. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus; who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” If God has no form, how can Christ be in the form of God? but that God has form is evident from the fact, that Christ is in the form of God. With this view, we are prepared to understand the meaning of Christ’s language: “He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father.” John 14:9. Christ being the form, or representative, of the Father, by seeing Christ, they saw the Father. But what of Christ could be seen? Nothing, save his form. The term, image, signifies form in the following texts: Genesis 1:26; 5:3; 9:6; 1 Corinthians 11:7; James 3:9. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 51.8
2. Man alone, of all the creatures God created, is denominated a living soul; therefore, man must possess a nature which the inferior animals do not possess: this nature we denominate the immortal soul. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 51.9
This objection, being founded also upon a false statement, must fail with the statement. The first time the term living soul occurs in the Bible, it is applied to every thing that moves and breathes. See Genesis 1:30. “And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein is living soul,” see margin. Also Revelation 16:3. “And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man; and every living soul died in the sea.” It was the man, made of the dust of the ground, became a living soul, not that God made a living soul and put into him. Compare 1 Corinthians 15:45, 47. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 51.10
3. Of man alone, it is asserted, that God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; hence, there must be something about man superior to the beasts; that something we call the deathless Spirit, the breath, (that is, a part) of God. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 51.11
This, too, is a mistake, equally fatal to the objection. The same term is applied to every beast, bird, fish and insect. “And behold I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, etc.” “And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land died.” Genesis 6:17; 7:15, 22. It was literal air and literal life. See Isaiah 2:22; Job 22:3; Ecclesiastes 3:19. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 51.12
4. How can matter think? Ans. By the power of God. God can as easily make matter think as anything else. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 51.13
5. God decreed, that in the day Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he should die. He did not die a literal death, for more than nine hundred years after that day; hence, the death threatened must be understood in a spiritual or figurative sense. This departure from the literal signification of the term death, grows out of a supposed necessity; if, therefore, it can be shown that no such necessity exists, the reason for such a departure will be removed. The proper rendering of the Hebrew terms translated, “thou shalt surely die,” is, “dying thou shalt die.” (See margin of Genesis 2:17.) This language demands two conditions: 1st. A dying condition: 2nd. A dead condition. The first condition must precede the second. The first commenced when Adam commenced dying: he commenced dying in the day that he eat thereof. In that day he became a mortal, dying, and being continued in the first condition nine hundred and thirty years; when he passed into the second condition; and he will continue in the last condition until the trump shall sound and the dead be raised. 1 Thessalonians 4:16. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 51.14
(To be Continued.) ARSH September 26, 1854, page 51.15
Death-bed Repentance. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 51.16
I have come to the conclusion that it is best to be decided, as far as the denunciation of this subject is concerned. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 51.17
I can not believe that it is a frequent occurrence that one is truly converted at the close of life, for the following reasons:- ARSH September 26, 1854, page 51.18
1. It is contrary to all the plans of God’s providence in life. The design of God is to try men for eternity in this life, and that they mature a character for eternity. Now if a man who has been tried, and has matured a wrong character, by a death-bed repentance can slip off so very easily his character and enter heaven it is clear that it contravenes the law of God’s usual providence. Now God does not often break his own laws; and hence it is clear that men can not often thus repent, for they are beyond it when about to go to that world for which their character is already decided. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 51.19
The Bible tells us of thousands of conversions and only one or two who were saved when about to die. And these (that one or two) were not those who had often heard the Gospel, but those who, when about to die, heard and embraced it at once. So I can not conclude that the repentance of those who have often heard the Gospel is worth a single straw; while I may hope that he who never heard a word about repentance and faith in Christ, until on his death bed, may repent. Now the latter case I may never meet with, so it is not probable I shall ever witness, or ever have seen a genuine death-bed repentance. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 51.20
2. Most of the supposed cases of death-bed repentance will not bear scrutiny, for they are not built on Christ. I have seen what was called sorrow and forsaking of sin, and resignation; but in all these cases it was the forced admission and the compelled quietude which deceived. So of all reference to Christ, it was apparently because they could not deny his name and be saved, and not the leaping of a pious heart to one loved in and of himself. So that from this time forth I must deem them all false; while I deny not the power and truth of a few, very few cases indeed on the whole globe since the Christian era. - The Old Parsonage. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 51.21
THE REVIEW AND HERALD
“Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth.”
ROCHESTER, THIRD-DAY, SEPT. 26, 1854.
Pilgrimage of Rev. Justin Edwards, D. D., on ARSH September 26, 1854, page 52.1
THE SABBATH QUESTION
BEFORE us is the “Sabbath Manual by Rev. Justin Edwards, D. D., published by the American Tract Society.” ARSH September 26, 1854, page 52.2
Mr. Edwards, a learned and popular man, was considered by the American Tract Society a suitable person to prepare a standard work setting forth the claims of the (so-called) Christian Sabbath. In this work we may expect to find all the strength of argument that can be produced in favor of the observance of the first day of the week as the Sabbath for Christians. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 52.3
But our object at this time is not so much to show the unsoundness of the arguments presented to prove that the first day of the week is the authorized Sabbath for Christians; but we wish to notice the winding pilgrimage of this Doctor of Divinity to his final arrival to the conclusion that all Christians should observe the first day of the week as a day of rest and worship. He undoubtedly starts right, so far as his work treats upon the time when the Sabbath was instituted. He says:- ARSH September 26, 1854, page 52.4
“The first great institution established in paradise for the human race, was that of marriage. This lays the foundation for families, and for social relations among men. The second great institution, established also in paradise for the race, was that of the Sabbath. This was designed to regulate families; to point out the period for labor and the period for rest, for the public worship of God, and of special devotion to spiritual and eternal concerns. So important was this arrangement to the glory of God and to the welfare of men, that with reference to it God regulated his own conduct in the creation of the world. He wrought six days - himself. He then came out in the face of creation, and rested one day. God thus gave to this arrangement of six days for labor and one for rest, the sanction of his high and holy example. This was the proportion which would, in all ages, be suited to the nature of men, adapted to their capacities, and essential to the supply of their wants. With reference to it, time itself was to be divided, not into days, or months, or years, merely, or into any periods measured by the revolutions of the earth or the heavenly bodies, but into weeks - periods of seven days; six for labor, and one for rest and special devotion to spiritual things. This division of time, measured by the conduct and will of God, and by the capacities and wants of men, was, among those who should know and do his will, to be as permanent and as universal as though it were measured by the revolutions of the earth or the heavenly bodies. It was to be, in all ages and all countries, a sign of the covenant between God and his people.” - pp.8,9. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 52.5
“The reason which God gave on the tables of stone for keeping the Sabbath, was not a Jewish reason. It was one which applies alike to all men. ‘For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that in them is.’ But he did not make them for Jews merely, or for any particular people. He made them for us, and for all men. As a memorial of that fact, he set apart the Sabbath, kept it, sanctified and blessed it, for the benefit of all.” - pp.15,16. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 52.6
“Some contend that the Sabbath was made for the Jews only. But this is in opposition to the testimony of the Infallible Witness, the Lord of the Sabbath. His decision is, [Mark 2:27,] ‘The Sabbath was made for man.’ Man, as used in this connection, and in other places in the Bible, does not mean Jews only: it means the human family; as when it is said, ‘Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble. He cometh forth as a flower, and is cut down.’ It does not mean Jews only: it means the human race. When it is said, ‘Man lieth down, and riseth not again till the heavens be no more,’ does it mean Jews only? No. It means man, to whom it is appointed once to die. And the Sabbath was made for man - that man to whom it is appointed once to die, and after that the judgment.” - pp.87,88. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 52.7
Here Mr. Edwards takes the true position: one of vital importance to the perpetuity of the Bible Sabbath; for, if the Sabbath was made for man, at creation, it is neither Jewish nor Christian, but “the Sabbath [Rest] of the Lord thy God.” ARSH September 26, 1854, page 52.8
There is another point of the greatest importance to the right view of this subject: it is the distinction between the two kinds of laws, and the two kinds of Sabbaths. This distinction the Doctor has set forth in a clear and beautiful manner, in the following words:- ARSH September 26, 1854, page 52.9
“Under the Jewish dispensation were incorporated two kinds of laws. One was founded on obligations growing out of the nature of men, and their relations to God and one another; obligations binding before they were written, and which will continue to be binding upon all who shall know them, to the end of time. Such are the laws which were written by the finger of God on the tables of stone, and are called mortal laws. The other kind, called ceremonial laws, related to various outward observances, which were not obligatory till they were commanded, and then were binding only on the Jews till the death of Christ. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 52.10
“There were also two kinds of Sabbaths, or days of rest. One was a day of weekly rest; and the command to keep it holy was placed by the Law-giver in the midst of the moral laws. It was called, by way of eminence, ‘THE SABBATH.’ The commandment to keep the other sabbaths was placed by the Lawgiver among the ceremonial laws because it was like them, as the command to keep the weekly Sabbath was like the laws with which it was associated. One class were fundamental, permanent, universal moral laws; the other class were local, temporary ceremonial laws. One had their origin in the nature and relations of man; the other in the peculiar circumstances in which, for a time, a peculiar people were placed. One would be binding in all ages, upon all who should know them; and the other would be binding only upon the Jews till the death of the Messiah.” - pp.133,134. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 52.11
That the Jews were required to observe the seventh day of the week, and did observe that day, is evident. Exodus 20:8-11; Genesis 2:2, 3; Exodus 16:22-30. That Adam, Abel, Enoch, Lot, Abraham and Moses kept the last day of the week, Mr. Edwards does not express the least doubt. And now to remove the weekly Sabbath (made for the entire race, reaching from creation forward through all time) from the seventh day, (which God exalted when he hallowed it in the beginning,) down to the first day of the week, (which he never hallowed,) is no small task. To do this the Doctor is obliged to come down two very difficult descents; first, make it appear that the fourth commandment does not require the observance of “the seventh day,” but a seventh day; (that is, one day in seven, but no one day in particular,) second, that the first day of the week, (the definite day of Christ’s resurrection,) is that indefinite day!! Mark well his steps. He says:- ARSH September 26, 1854, page 52.12
“The primary and essential idea in the numbers ‘six’ and ‘seven,’ as used in the command, is that of proportion. It marks the number of days to be devoted to secular concerns, compared with those to be devoted to rest and spiritual duties. ‘Six days shalt thou labor;’ and the next day, which of course, reckoning from the first working day, is ‘the seventh,’ thou shalt rest and not do any work. Men who call their first working day the second day of the week, and who, on the seventh day from that, keep the Christian Sabbath, do as really comply with the spirit and the letter of the fourth commandment, as men did who of old kept the Jewish Sabbath.” - p.91. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 52.13
With Mr. Edward’s definition of the word Sabbath, which all agree is correct, let us compare the above with the language of the fourth commandment. On page 88 he says that “The word SABBATH means rest.” ARSH September 26, 1854, page 52.14
“Remember the Sabbath-day [Rest-day] to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath [Rest] of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, ... for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day [the Rest-day] and hallowed it.” Exodus 20:8-11. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 52.15
On what day did God rest. The seventh. What day did he hallow. The seventh. What day, then, is the Sabbath, or Rest, of the Lord thy God? The seventh day, the very day on which the Lord thy God rested. What are we commanded to remember? The day. What are we required to keep holy? The day. In what are we forbidden to work? In the day. None can fail to see that the Author of the fourth commandment requires the observance of the definite day of the week on which he rested, and which he sanctified; and not a day. Some indefinite day, left to man’s choice, would be quite another thing. Man may choose a day for rest and worship, but, at the most, it is only his sabbath or rest; but the seventh day is the Sabbath, or Rest, of the Lord thy God; for on that day the Lord God rested. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 52.16
The Sabbatic institution does not consist in man’s setting apart either of the seven days of the week he chooses to a holy use; but it is based upon the fact that God blessed the seventh day after he had rested upon it. And the fourth commandment enjoins the weekly celebration of Jehovah’s Rest-day. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 52.17
God did not make the seventh day holy by resting upon it, but his blessing he bestowed upon the day after he had rested upon it. “And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested.” Genesis 2:3. If, then, the great God did not make a day holy by resting upon it, how preposterous for feeble man to talk of making one of the six common days of labor holy by resting and worshiping on that day! God has never left to man the work of making Sabbaths, or making days holy; but he requires of the race the weekly celebration of that day which he made holy at the close of the first week of time. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 52.18
But we must leave this point fort he present, to follow the Doctor still further on his pilgrimage. After asserting that the fourth commandment does not require the observance of any one particular day of the week, he then takes the position that it is the duty of Christians to keep the first day of the week, the definite day on which Christ arose from the dead!! He says:- ARSH September 26, 1854, page 52.19
“Ever since He who had power to lay down his life, showed that he had power to take it again, by bursting the bands of death, and rising triumphant, leading captivity captive, his disciples have assembled on the day of his resurrection to worship and adore.” - p.100. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 52.20
“Have they done right in this? And are men now doing right in keeping the day of the resurrection of the Saviour, and the finishing of his atoning work for their salvation, as the Christian Sabbath.” - p.101. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 52.21
“The resurrection of the Redeemer, the assembling of his disciples, the manifestation of himself to them the approval which he bestows upon them, the commission which he gives them, the Holy Ghost which he imparts to them - all give to this day, in the view of his disciples, a grand peculiarity, and strongly mark it for their future guidance.” - p.105. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 52.22
“In observing the first day of the week for religious worship, they followed no cunningly devised fable, but the known will of their Lord; and that practice has been continued in the Christian world from that day to this. So general was it, even before the death of the apostles, and under their direction, that the day, by way of convenience, was called THE LORD’S DAY; that is, the day especially devoted to his worship.” ARSH September 26, 1854, page 52.23
“As the supper which commemorated his death was called ‘the Lord’s supper,’ so the day of his resurrection, on which they met for his worship, was called ‘the Lord’s day.’ And so universal was the habit of observing it, that it was, without explanation, evidently understood at that time throughout the Christian world. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 52.24
“Here the apostle John says, ‘I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day.’ What day that was, all Christians knew. It was the day of his resurrection, when they assembled to worship their Lord.” - pp.112,113. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 52.25
The Doctor has now come down the second descent, and is seen with the Sabbath established, (if assertions will answer in the place of Bible testimony) on the definite first day of the week. But we shall do well to notice that most of the statements contained in the above extracts are deceptive, and positively untrue. The Doctor assumes very many things which he should prove by plain scripture testimony; but, as he has no such testimony at his command, he uses the words “evidently,” and “doubtless,” to establish fundamental points in his theory, and passes on. Such words from a Doctor of Divinity have much more weight with many narrow-souled sectarians than the word of God. Such can see no flaw in his arguments. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 52.26
But let us now look back and take a view of the route Mr. Edwards has come. In getting from the seventh day of the week, the old beaten path which he acknowledges had been trodden from Adam to Christ, more than 4000 years, he takes the position that God has never required the observance of any one day of the week, but only one day in seven. And then in framing his theology to suit the custom of the age, he takes the ground that God requires the observance of the definite first day of the week. How unfortunate for these men who take upon themselves the task of showing a change in the Sabbath that God has never revealed such a change, and that they are left to take so rugged and exceeding crooked route in getting from the seventh day of the week to the first. Or, rather, how unfortunate for them that, instead of cheerfully submitting to the claims of the fourth commandment, in their zeal to maintain an institution of Papacy they mangle the word of God, and expose their own folly. This may be considered strong language; but let us see if the nature of the case will not justify it. What is Mr. Edwards’ real position? Summed up in few words it is this:- ARSH September 26, 1854, page 53.1
The fourth commandment does not enjoin the observance of the seventh day of the week. It requires the observance of one day in seven, but no day in particular. And the Sabbath has been changed to the first day of the week. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 53.2
But, what has the Sabbath been changed from? Why from one day in seven, but no particular day!!! And what is the Sabbath changed to? It has been changed, according to the learned Mr. Edwards, to one day in seven, and no day in particular!!! But this amounts to no change at all. And what is still more wonderful, Mr. Edwards makes this no day in particular, which the Sabbath has been changed to, to be the definite first day of the week!! ARSH September 26, 1854, page 53.3
So that the Sabbath has been changed from one day in seven and no day in particular, to another day in seven and no day in particular; and that no day in particular is the identical first day of the week!! ARSH September 26, 1854, page 53.4
(To be Continued.) ARSH September 26, 1854, page 53.5
WHO CHANGED THE LAWS OF THE MOST HIGH?
IN Daniel 7:20-25, is a prophecy of a blasphemous power that should arise upon earth, a most distinguished enemy of the Most High. That God’s people might not be seduced by him, the works which he was to perform are pointed out; viz., He shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 53.6
It is evident that the laws spoken of are the laws of the Most High; for his whole work is to oppose God. The changing of human laws would not be noted as a distinguishing characteristic of the man of sin. No: his distinguishing acts are against God and his saints, his times and his laws. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 53.7
By thus forewarning us that the man of sin would think to change the laws of God, to my mind, the Lord pledges himself that he will never change them; for, supposing that He knew that he would change his own laws at the beginning of the gospel dispensation, some 500 years before the rise of the little horn, the declaration that this horn should think to change them, would leave honest souls to be deceived, and to attribute God’s own work to the enemy. He does not deceive his children; but he gave this as a sign by which we might distinguish that wicked power. Therefore we are safe in saying that the Most High stands pledged that he will not change the laws in question; so that when the prophecy is fulfilled, all can say, without fear, and with the utmost assurance, “An enemy hath done this.” ARSH September 26, 1854, page 53.8
If none have taught a change in the laws of God, from the days of Daniel to the present time, we must conclude that this prophecy is not yet fulfilled; but a power did arise more than 1200 years ago that fulfilled the main points in the prophecy. The great words against God have been spoken, the saints have been worn out for many centuries, and there can be no reasonable doubt that the Papacy is the little horn. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 53.9
That the Papacy fulfilled this prediction is admitted. That the law of God has been changed, in some way, is also admitted; whether it is done by abolishing the whole, and re-enacting a part, or by changing a few words of one commandment, the change is admitted. But as absurd and astonishing as it may appear, it is claimed that Jesus Christ made the change 500 years before the Papacy was developed; thus making Christ fulfill the work of Antichrist! And while the Papal church claims that she made the change by her own authority, Protestants deny this claim, and stamp this distinguishing mark of the blasphemous little horn, upon our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Which is the most blasphemous assertion? It would seem that the days of Papal blasphemy are past, and that Protestants can now speak words which are too great for Papists to utter. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 53.10
Do we know that the little horn power has arisen? Yes. How? Because, among other things, it should think to change times and laws; and it is commonly reported that the law of God has been changed. But how do you know that Christ did not make the change? Because that work was assigned to the little horn, and was a foretold sign by which to distinguish that power when it should arise. Now suppose that Daniel had lived till the first advent, and had seen Jesus attempting to change the existing moral code of the Most High; who could condemn him, had he said, This is indeed the little horn! ARSH September 26, 1854, page 53.11
But our blessed Lord did no such work. He came not to subvert his Father’s law but to ratify it. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 53.12
R. F. COTTRELL.
God’s Purpose in Creating Man. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 53.13
I WAS conversing with a man a few days since, who sometimes expresses doubts as to the truth of the Bible, on the subject of spirit manifestations. I remarked to him that I thought it was the work of the Devil. He said he did not believe that the Devil was stronger than God himself. Spiritualism was producing a much greater influence all through the land than any religious excitement; he did not believe the Devil could control the majority here, and they suffer with him for ever, which would be the same as serving him for ever. If this was the final destiny of man, God, who could but foresee all things, could neither be wise nor good in creating him. I then said to him, We will reason together of this matter. God was infinitely holy and happy and it would be benevolent and good in him to make a being capable of enjoying this blessedness. This goodness was manifest in creating man in his own image, capable of knowing and holding communion with his God. But being a created, dependent being, it was reasonable that he should be under the government of his Maker; therefore he gave him his law which embraced all his will concerning him. Law given to a being possessing liberty and intelligence, implies power to obey or disobey. To his existence therefore is attached probation; and this implies a day of settling accounts, or a day of judgment. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 53.14
As law is of no force or avail without penalty, therefore the all-wise Governor of man has said that the effects of transgression shall be death: “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” By the overflowing of his goodness, God has manifested his mercy in giving his Son to pay this debt; therefore the Son of God dies upon the cross. Having become the property of Christ by the purchase of his blood, we must hear him. He points us to the law to learn our duty, and has taught us to look to him for grace to do it. This presents our Saviour as our atoning High Priest; for through his blood we have pardon and become reconciled to God. The world being under the curse, or feeling the effects of transgression, there is a necessity of bringing in another order and better state of things; therefore we have not only the resurrection of Christ, but also his ascension to the heavenly Sanctuary, where now he makes intercession for us. He being the first fruits from the grave, the next in the order of events, is to bring all that sleep in Jesus, from the tomb, that they may have immortality and eternal blessedness. As temporal death is not the penalty for individual transgression, and the effects of sin and amount of individual guilt cannot be fully seen in this life, therefore the unrighteous must have a resurrection. Now they can see the effects of all their ungodly deeds, and their trampling under foot the blood of the Son of God. The glories of Paradise they have lost; and the second death is now before them. With the Devil still deceiving them, they would, with their hatred to God and his people, compass the camp of the saints and the beloved city. But they see their efforts vain: utter despair and anguish takes hold on them: they now begin to feel the pains of the second death - no hope beyond this! Now they know what is meant by the worm that dieth not, and the fire that shall not be quenched. Their last hope perishes; for fire from God out of heaven devours them. The Devil, and all that serve him, death and hell, are cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. The Devil and all his works have an entire destruction. The curse is now removed from the earth, and God has a clean universe and a race of intelligent beings forever to praise and glorify him; which he would not have had, had he not have made man. The power of liberty which man possessed has been employed in obedience to the divine command; and now he knows what is contained in the precious promise, “Blessed are they that do his commandments.” They have right to the tree of life and enter in through the gates into the city. Therefore it cannot be said that it is not wise and good for God to make man, though many walk the road to death. May we choose life. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 53.15
JOHN BYINGTON.
Buck’s Bridge, N. Y., Sept. 6th, 1854.
Tent Meeting at Saline, Mich
THIS meeting though commenced under very unfavorable circumstances, closed triumphantly. We pitched our tent on sixth-day, and in the P. M., a sudden gale arose and the wind blew with such violence as to tear down the tent, breaking the center pole and several hooks and ropes, in consequence of which we were obliged to meet on the Sabbath in the village school-house. After the Sabbath was past we re-pitched our tent and held meetings in it on First-day and each evening through the week, and over the following Sabbath and First-day. The interest continued to increase from the beginning. We sold $18,00 worth of books during the meeting. Many acknowledged our positions correct, and some said they must keep the Sabbath. The amount of good accomplished at this meeting remains to be seen hereafter? In this place as in every other where we have held meetings this season with the tent, the testimony has produced a general searching of the Scriptures; but as it was anciently, although many believe yet but few will confess the truth, because of the cross! Brn. Edmonds and Moore, residing one four and the other about five miles from the village, were the only ones to bear the burden of the meeting. They dismissed their business and were untiring in their efforts to get the light before their neighbors and friends. We hope they may yet see much fruit as the result of their labors of love even though it should not be until “after many days.” ARSH September 26, 1854, page 53.16
M. E. CORNELL,
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.
AN EXTRACT
MR. WHITE:- Feeling a deep interest in the Advent movement, I take the liberty to send you an extract of a letter which I recently addressed to a foreign missionary Friend, to whom I freely expressed my views of the Advent people. If you think my views are correct, and such as would be profitable to the readers of your paper, they are at your disposal. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 53.17
MRS. A. C. BABCOCK.
DEAR FRIEND:- I would that I could tell you what I have recently heard of the word of God, which I have often read, but never understood in its true light, aye, and felt its power: I think it would do you good. I firmly believe that the Sabbath-keeping Adventists are the people of God: a people that God has raised up in these latter days to prepare the world for its final doom. They are, as a people, selected from the haunts of poverty; and as the apostles were called from their fishing-nets or other employments, so many of these leave their secular avocations and go forth boldly and fearlessly in the defense of truth. They are unlearned; that is, untaught, in our institutions of learning; but they present the truths of the Bible in a clearer, more systematical, beautiful and perfect light, than any other people that I ever heard. They flee to no Doctors of Divinity, they consult no ancient Fathers, to sustain their positions or support their sentiments; but simply read the Bible in its plain, obvious, and much of it in its literal sense, comparing scripture with scripture, and using one parable or prophetic writing to explain another. In reading it thus, it becomes a perfect lamp, to guide us through this erring world. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.1
It is truly astonishing how the Bible has been mystified, spiritualized and perverted! Passages which had always looked dark, and which I never expected to understand, now seem as familiar as the alphabet. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.2
They clear away the mists of error and Papacy, and present the pearl of truth, in its true beauty and dignity. How precious the volume of inspiration thus appears! When rightly understood, it answers its very purport of being a revelation from God, a transcript of the divine will. I thought I loved the Bible before I heard them preach; but I now prize it as I never prized it before. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.3
I fancied that I loved and honored the Sabbath commandment, (having been taught from a child that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord,) but in hearing it preached under the sound of the third angel’s message, which they testify is the last message of mercy to this sinful world, I discovered a lustre and glory encircling this truth, that I never saw before. They manifest a zeal which I trust is according to knowledge in their self-sacrificing and untiring efforts to win souls to Christ. Through their exertions, how speedily is the truth cutting its mighty way through the earth, ringing in the ears, and reverberating through the hearts and nerves of the multitudes, who are obeying the institutions of Papacy, and rejecting the fourth commandment. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.4
Fearful indeed will be the doom of that people who still persist in a sinful course, after a full conviction of their disobedience. Says Paul, [Hebrews 10:26, 27,] “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.” Heavily will the wrath of an avenging God fall on those who knew the truth, and would not obey it. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.5
Harmless and inoffensive as this people are, I have wondered at the opposition which they constantly meet. Like the people of God in ancient time, they are scorned, despised, ridiculed and hated, not only by the world, but by almost every other denomination of professed Christians. They bear insult and opposition with all patience and meekness, sustained by the cheering hope that the Saviour in whom they trust, will soon appear in the clouds of heaven, to deliver them from earth’s trials, and conduct them through the gates into the great City of God - the New Jerusalem. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.6
You weep over the idolatrous customs and practices of an heathen nation; but I feel that we have greater reason to mourn over the condition of gospel-wise and gospel-hardened sinners; for how much more tolerable will their judgment be, than those who sin against light and truth, Could you see the condition of this people as I now view it, methinks you would join me in the wail of grief, over this sinful, this hypocritical, this oppressive, though boasted Republican Nation. But the day of retribution is hastening on. The cries of the oppressed are entering into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath, and he will speedily avenge their wrongs. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.7
A. C. B.
Milton, Rock Co., Wis., Sept. 15th, 1854.
THE AGED PILGRIM
I MET an aged pilgrim on the way,
Who bowed beneath the heavy weight of years;
But yet on whose frail tenement of clay,
Were lightly traced their cares and toils and fears.
ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.8
Think not life’s common ills did not befall;
For light and shade its varied textures show:
Think not that he, unlike the lot of all,
Could drain its cup, unmixed with dregs of woe.
ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.9
With righteous thoughts and deeds each day was rife,
That paved with peace the rugged path he trod,
In humble mien, apart from scenes of strife -
The way that leads to glory and to God.
ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.10
Desires, above his needs, were all denied.
His will, subdued, to Heaven’s decrees resigned;
Nor wished for more than this - to be supplied
With what a gracious Providence designed.
ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.11
In faith his prayers ascended to the throne,
That blessings, as were best, he might receive;
And filled with gratitude for mercies shown,
His thanks like incense rose, at morn and eve.
ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.12
The glow of feelings true, his visage wore,
Which only overflow the soul sincere.
To Want gave freely of his ample store,
To Sorrow’s voice, the sympathetic tear.
ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.13
His words, with meaning fraught, were just and kind,
That cheered the listening ear, in accents mild.
Of knowledge pure, of lofty aim in mind,
In heart as meek and lowly as a child.
ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.14
He sought not for applause, or earth’s renown,
Nor yet to bask in pleasure’s smiling ray;
But still, undaunted, dared the world’s cold frown,
For joy it could not give nor take away.
ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.15
This honor most he craved: his name enrolled
On the immortal list, inscribed above,
With prophets, martyrs, holy men of old,
Who to their Master proved their deathless love.
ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.16
The Hope and Truth that burned within his breast,
Sweet consolation to his spirits bring;
Though weary here, there yet remains a rest,
Though now a captive, soon he’ll be a king.
ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.17
This lesson, deep, experience had taught,
I deemed of priceless worth, if understood:
For wisdom it contained, for bliss it brought, -
Content with life, and living to do good.
A. R. S.
ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.18
SELECTIONS
A Soul Forsaken of God
IF the soul be forsaken of God - if the Holy Spirit, by whose power alone the heart can be renewed, take his departure - how utterly hopeless is his condition! It stands as a monument of Divine wrath, to whom the Lord says, as he did of the accursed fig-tree, “Let no fruit grow thereon forever.” Already its doom is fixed beyond change, and its everlasting ruin as certain as though it were shut up in the prison of despair. What! is there no efficacy in the blood of Jesus? Ah! his atoning sacrifice has been rejected. Is there no power in the grace of God? That grace has been despised. Is there no love in the heart of God? His love and patience have been so long slighted and abused, that the very heart which once melted with pity is now insensible to the sinner’s guilty state. Will no cries for mercy reach his ear? Ah? time was when he said, “I love them who love me, and those who seek me early shall find me;” but now he is regardless of the sinner’s prayer, and though from the borders of the grave he lift his agonizing cry to heaven, the Lord replies, “Because I called, and ye refused; I stretched out mine arm, and no man regarded; I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early but they shall not find me.” ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.19
Dear reader, what an affecting appeal does this subject make to your heart, urging you to immediate repentance! I might enforce this obligation by a consideration of approaching death. But suppose God should spare your life for many years, is there not danger that you may grieve away the Holy Spirit, and exhaust the forbearance and patience of God? Reflect how long he has been calling you by the awful threatenings of his law, and the mild accents of the gospel. You have grown up amid the privileges of a Christian land, and truth has been addressed to you in every variety of form. God has showered upon you many blessings, that your gratitude might be awakened and his goodness lead you to repentance; and occasionally perhaps, he has afflicted you, that in the experience of earth’s vanity you might seek heaven’s bliss. He has visited you by his Spirit. You have heard the Holy Spirit knocking at the door of your heart. At the grave of a friend, on a sick-bed, or under an impressive discourse, you have felt his secret influence, and have been almost persuaded to be a christian. And yet, after all, you remain impenitent and far from God. Oh! would it be surprising if even a long suffering and compassionate God should be wearied and provoked to anger by such treatment, and should leave you in total obduracy? Then your case would be desperate, and nothing could produce sincere repentance. At the prospect of death you might be alarmed, and wringing your hands in anguish, you might cry for mercy; but such fear would be only the forebodings of eternal death and God will have forgotten to be gracious. You might be overwhelmed with alarm and terror, but, like Esau, who sold his birthright, find no place for repentance, though you sought it carefully with tears. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.20
Be cautious, lest, by the too oft repeated rejection of the proffers of love, your heart become callous and indifferent under the most melting exhibitions of truth; lest the blessed Spirit of God, offended at the ungrateful requital required at your hands, should go away forever, and your life be continued only to glorify the power and justice of an insulted and incensed God, by adding sin unto sin, and treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.21
SPIRIT-RAPISM, alias PAGANISM
To define the terms at the head of this article, we mean by “Spirit-rapism” the religious belief of those who profess to receive revelations from departed spirits, accompanied by audible sounds, moving of furniture etc., which is called by its advocates, Spiritualism. As this last term does not specify anything that is peculiar to that form of religious belief, we adopt as more expressive that at the head of this article. Nor by “Paganism” do we mean anything contemptuous, or different from the refined mythology of intellectual Greece and Rome. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.22
We do not propose to go into any labored comparison of these two systems at the present time; but simply to express our convictions, from all we have been able to learn of them, that the two are essentially identical - both in the objects of their worship, and the tenets of their faith. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.23
In the early history of the Church, Paganism was the great antagonism of Christianity, as Infidelity has been of later years; but now, strange as it may seem, that which Christianity met and defeated, is being propagated as Christianity by multitudes of its advocates. And those who have become convinced of the doctrine of a future state, by the phenomena of spirit-rapism, have been proclaimed as converts to Christianity by it - such a result being hailed as evidence of its divine origin. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.24
A belief in a future state, is however no peculiarity of Christianity, - it being alike believed by Christians and Pagans. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.25
The Egyptians represented the soul as brought, after death, into the presence of its judge, attended by accusing and approving spirits. The Greek mythology, which was likewise adopted by their imitators in everything, the Romans, carried the soul across the river Styx, in the boat of Charon, to the bar of three righteous judges, under whose award it passed to an appropriate abode, according to its works on earth, - those ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.26
“Who suffered wounds
In fighting for their country’s cause; and priests
Who kept their souls unspotted whilst their lives
Endured; and pious bards who warbled strains
In honor to Apollo: those who polished
Life by invented arts; and such as made
Their memories dear to others by the deeds
Of goodness,“
were admitted to
ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.27
“The realms of joy,
Delightful haunts of never-fading green,
The blessed seats in groves of happiness,
Where ether more diffusive, robes the fields
In purple glory.”
ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.28
Here they gave themselves up to the more rational pleasures of our nature, following at the same time, such paths to happiness, and such occupations, as had been dear to them in life. But the wicked were cast down into hell, - a place inhabited by care sorrow, disease, want, fear, hunger, toil, etc., and in which ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.29
“An hundred tongues,
An hundred months, and speech by iron lungs
Inspired, could not enumerate the names
Of all their punishments.”
ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.30
The Scandinavians taught that the brave were to revel forever in the halls of Valhalla, and drink mead offered them by maidens, from the skulls of their enemies. Some of the Pagan Arabs said, that of the blood near the brain a bird was formed, which once in a century visited the sepulchre, and others believed a resurrection. The first natives of this continent seen by the Spaniards, taught that the souls of good men went to a pleasant valley, where all kinds of fruit were abundant; and that the dead walked abroad in the night and feasted with the living. Charlevoix says, That the Indians paid a great regard to dreams, as embracing an intercourse with spirits. They imagined a paradise in the west, a land where nature glowed with an internal sunset. - The Mexicans supposed three places for the departed: the house of sun, for such as fell in battle, or died captives, and women who perished, in childhood; the place of the god of water for the drowned, for children, and for those who died of dropsy, tumors, and similar diseases, or of accidental wounds; and the place of darkness, in the center of the earth. The Patagonians, in mentioning the dead, call them those who are with God, and out of the world, The Tongo people suppose the souls of their dead to be in a delightful island of shadows. The Yucatanese represent the abode of the good as a pleasant land of plenty, under the shade of a mighty tree. The Chickasawe believe that the souls of red men walked up and down near the place where they died, or were laid; and said they often heard cries and noises where prisoners had been burned. The Indians of Cumana supposed echo to be the voice of the departed. It is a common belief of the Indians of America, that the spirits of the slain haunted their tribe till they were avenged. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 54.31
To convince an infidel merely of a future existence, is to do very little towards making a Christian of him. Christianity is the way of salvation effected by the death and resurrection of Christ, faith in him. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 55.1
Ad. Herald. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 55.2
COMMUNICATIONS
From Bro. Simons
DEAR BRO. WHITE:- I almost wonder sometimes that all that hear do not believe and understand present truth, the third angel’s message, the light is so clear. But then I remember the great cloud that was let down between the Hebrews and the Egyptians. It was light to Israel but darkness to their enemies. Can it be presumed that a people with such a light as a literal cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night, should ever distrust the power and goodness of God, to preserve and protect them wherever they might be called to go? But as they approached the land, (Canaan,) ten out of twelve chosen from among them, quailed before their foes! ARSH September 26, 1854, page 55.3
How similar is the Advent movement since 1844! What a light the word of God affords to-day to him that reads carefully and prayerfully, and searches it as for hidden treasure. Truthfully has it been said, that then the kingdom of heaven should be likened unto ten virgins. Who that looks over the past can fail to make the application and also perceive our whereabouts. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 55.4
Again, when Moses told the children of Israel that their carcasses should fall in the wilderness, they were impulsed to go up; but Moses told them that God was not with them, and the truth of his word was soon after confirmed to them; for they were overcome as he told them they would be. How illustrative is the New-Time theory, of the move that Israel then made. How certain it is that God is not with them, while they regard his commandments no more than the worldling. Hand in hand they are agreed in hiding, as the Lord hath said, their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. Ezekiel 22:26. They seem to be unmindful of James’ view of pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father - to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. James 1:27. May we not justly remind them of what the Prophet hath said, Isaiah 24:5. “The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.” Who will say that the curse will not devour the earth, though this prophecy be as destructive to the temporal millennium theory, as 1 Corinthians 15:53, and 1 Timothy 6:16, are to the immortality of man, which the Spirit Rappings are so unanimous in helping the nominal churches to sustain. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 55.5
I believe the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus to comprise the substance or essence of both the Old and New Testaments. They that read most in the word of God, and practice and believe what they read, are found looking into and embracing the third angel’s message: a sure evidence of present truth. That it is a time to bind up the testimony and seal the law among the disciples is certain. The remnant are found having the testimony of Jesus and keeping the commandments of God. Revelation 12:17. There is one truth as yet seems to be shrouded in mist by nominal Adventists and even by some that are in the third angel’s message with us: it is the closing of the ministration of Christ. The Jews overlooked his humiliation and likewise his ministration or priest-hood, and rested their eyes upon him when he is to be King of kings and Lord of lords, possessing the kingdom under the whole heavens: not being aware of the dispensation of mercy that should come alike to all nations and intervene between the News of Good Tidings of Great Joy and the bringing of life and immortality to light through his death, and the time when he shall rule the nations with a rod of iron. But as we near the shore, objects that once appeared in the distance appear distinctly. Let us take the view of Paul [Hebrews 8,] that the earthly ministration does shadow forth the heavenly. Let us compare them: the earthly high priest, with a lamb, made offerings to God; so Christ, the Lamb of God, [John 1:29] gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. 1 Timothy 2:6; Galatians 1:4; also Hebrews 2:17, thus being our High Priest in things pertaining to God, he will testify for us in due time while there is probation. But when they shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man and shall not see it, [Luke 17:22,] or when there is no high priest or intercessor, [Isaiah 59:19,] we conclude that he has put off his priestly garments in exchange for his garments of vengeance and will then suddenly appear in the clouds of heaven to receive us to himself, that where he is there we may be also. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 55.6
Again, Paul says in Hebrews 9:27, 28, “And as it is appointed unto man once to die but after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” I think these two verses contain more than the casual reader is aware of; for if the earthly high priest did bear the sins of literal Israel, as was manifest by the breast plate of righteousness, until the most holy was cleansed which was at the end of the year, and then came out and confessed the sins over the head of the scape-goat, which answers in the type to Azazel, the originator of sin will not our High Priest likewise finish his ministration even in the Most Holy before he exchanges his priestly garments for those of vengeance? Most certainly. Then let us see to it that we make our calling and election sure. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 55.7
H. B. SIMONS.
West Hartford, Vt., Sept. 1st, 1854.
From Bro. Daniels
DEAR BRO. WHITE:- The little church in Springfield are standing fast in the third angel’s message. Bro. Wait and his companion have been added to the church within a short time. The church in Brookfield are passing through trial, but seem to be strong in the faith. I hope they will remember that the trial of their faith is more precious than gold. So it is with all the saints. Trials await us; but Jesus has said, Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. O then by faith in him we shall overcome. He is faithful who has promised, who also will do it. Soon the victory will be won. The conflict is a short one, but sharp. Jesus will soon come from the wedding, and then he will give to every man according as his work shall be. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 55.8
Christ will soon come. Men’s hearts are failing them for fear of what is coming on the earth. They themselves are prophesying of famine, sword, and distraction. The time of trouble is truly at hand. Then let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. The days of visitation are come. Israel shall know it. Hosea 9:7. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 55.9
Yours in gospel love, looking for Jesus to come again. DEXTER DANIELS.
New Boston, Sept., 1854.
From Sister Prior
DEAR BRO. WHITE:- I cannot express how thankful I am to you for sending the Review, not knowing that you would ever receive anything for it. O, I do thank our kind Father, and dear Saviour, for their kindness to us, poor worms of the dust. O, how unworthy I am, that he should have thoughts of good concerning me; and make my heart glad with his Spirit’s presence. I will praise the Lord for letting me see his Sabbath, and helping me to keep all his commandments. I feel lonely when Sabbath comes, but the hours are precious. I would not be deprived of them. I will not murmur, for I am not the only one that is alone. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 55.10
I have good neighbors here, with whom I have conversed about the Sabbath, and I have not met with but two (and they say that they are satisfied with the one that they keep) but that will acknowledge that they have no authority for keeping Sunday, from the Bible. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 55.11
I want to overcome every evil propensity, and every thing that is wrong. Pray for me. I want to have on the wedding garment when my Saviour comes. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 55.12
Yours in hope, L. PRIOR.
Scoville, Medina Co., O.
From Sister Ayres
DEAR BRO. WHITE:- We are still striving to walk in that strait and narrow path, which leads to the Glorious City and Mount Zion. We do not feel like giving up, though we meet with trials and seeming difficulties, but the Lord has always delivered us thus far, and praise his holy name, he has said that he will deliver those who put their trust in him; and our whole trust is in the strong arm of the God of Jacob. We have no other arm to lean upon. We have no one to unite with us and pray, Lord Jesus, come quickly. O I long to find one who ardently longs for the coming of the Holy and Just One. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 55.13
I do believe that he is near. Signs have taken place, after which we are told to lift up our heads and look up; for our redemption draweth nigh. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 55.14
Your sister, striving to overcome.
CORNELIA AYRES.
Shiloh, N. J., Sept., 1854.
From Sister Pierce
DEAR BRO. WHITE:- It is my delight to read the communications from my brethren and sisters scattered over the wide field. I rejoice to know that we are all of one mind; we are all striving to serve one God, and all traveling to one place; that is, the New Jerusalem. I believe that the time is short that we have to stay here, and then if we are ready, waiting and watching for the Bridegroom, we shall meet our Lord in peace. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 55.15
Although a small number, here in Allegany, persecution will reach us; but Christ has said, “Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” Now if the prophets were persecuted and despised, and Christ buffeted and slain, can we expect any thing better? I feel willing to walk in the path he has marked out for me. He trod the wine-press alone. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 55.16
I believe that we are under the third angel’s message, and that the time of trouble is near. May the Lord help us to stand fast as good soldiers, and not give up till our Lord shall descend from heaven on the white cloud, with all his angels, to gather the true believers who are keeping the commandments of God our Father, and the faith of Jesus. May the Lord help us to be faithful a little longer, and we shall be done with our troubles here. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 55.17
Yours in hope, striving for the kingdom.
SARAH M. PIERCE.
Allegany, Potter Co., Pa., Sept. 3rd, 1854.
From Sister Gibson
DEAR BRO. WHITE:- I take the present opportunity of writing you a few lines to inform you of my present circumstances and of my very sore trial and bereavement, in the loss of my dear husband who departed this life on the 23rd of July last. Surely it has been a source of much grief; but thanks and praise be to God, that although we do sorrow, it is not like those who have no hope; for I do know that the Lord Jesus will soon come again; and also that those who sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. What a blessed promise! what a glorious hope! Pray for me dear brother, that my faith fail not, and that I may be preserved blameless unto the appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 55.18
For many days previous to his death, my husband was more than usual in the constant habit of secret prayer. For many years he lived a consistent christian. He endeavored to make the blessed Bible his only rule of faith and practice. During the hours of his affliction (which were about ten) his mind was entirely taken up in prayer, exhortation, etc., and that I should remember to keep holy the Sabbath-day; which I have, and still feel determined to do through grace. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 55.19
Your afflicted and bereaved sister,
ELIZABETH,
Wife of the late
PETER GIBSON.
London, C. W., Sept. 10th, 1854.
From Bro. Paine
BELOVED BRO. WHITE:- We are yet loving the present truth, and with glad hearts hail its weekly arrivals through the medium of the Review, in which from many of the dear saints, we are entertained with matter of cheering intelligence and scriptural worth. We are almost inclined to envy those who enjoy the privilege of meeting together with the remnant on the Sabbath. We have long been praying and trying to be so situated as to enjoy those priceless privileges, but hinderance yet remains. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 55.20
Truly we are living in “perilous times.” God is dishonored. His law and commandments are disregarded by those who make high profession of piety, and believe that the Lord will come this year. One of this class, who stood well in 1844, has recently been visiting us. But O the sad change! We presented Bible truth relative to the present existence of the law and the commandments of God, and selected Paul’s unanswerable testimony of the force and existence of the law and commandments in his day, and consequently, in all coming time; and also the plain testimony of James. And then in order to place the key stone in the mighty arch of Bible truth, presented the truthful sayings of our soon coming Lord, by whose word every wicked mouth will be stopped, and become guilty before God. But to our surprise, the person alluded to, would not admit of any law and commandments binding on man, this side of the crucifixion, except the law and commandments of Christ. This course of dishonoring God, in taking away from his Book of Prophecy, these all-absorbing truths, in which the whole plan of salvation is connected, is truly astonishing. If this case is a sample of the New-Timeists, we are led to cry, “How are the mighty fallen!” And all this laborious effort in order to get rid of the fourth commandment. “If the foundation be destroyed, what shall the righteous do.” Thanks be ascribed to the Lord forever, we have no fears for the safety of our position. Earth’s and hell’s votaries combined against God’s truth, will be like beating the air. We have abundant evidence that the Devil goes at large yet. Praying that success may continue to attend the third angel’s message, I remain yours, loving God and all his truth. LUTHER PAINE. Ware, Mass. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 55.21
From Bro. Warren
DEAR BRO. WHITE:- Just one year has elapsed since I commenced keeping God’s holy Sabbath. I shall long remember the third of Sept., 1853. It was the first Sabbath I had ever kept in my whole life. O how sweet have been the Sabbaths of the past year. How unlike the Sundays of years gone by! ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.1
The first little messenger that called my mind to an investigation of the Sabbath question, was a “Refutation of the Claims of Sunday-keeping to Divine Authority.” I have sought most diligently during the year past for one single passage that would prove that the first day of the week is, or ever has been, observed as the Sabbath, or a Bible institution; but my search for such a passage in God’s holy book, has been in vain. The more I have searched, the more I have become convinced that the Sabbath of Genesis, which was a sanctified day, and the Sabbath of Exodus which was a rest-day, and the Sabbath of Leviticus which was an holy convocation, and the Sabbath of our Saviour’s day, and the Apostolic age, and the Lord’s day of Revelation, are all one and the same thing. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.2
The Sabbath has but one meaning the world over. It is very plain and clear from the first of Genesis to the end of Revelation, that there is but one Sabbath of the Lord, and that is the seventh day. And yet why will not men keep it who profess to take the Bible as their only rule of faith and practice. I am certainly driven to the conclusion that the traditions and opinions of corrupt men in past ages, have more weight upon their minds than all that the God of the Sabbath has said. I ask, if the Sabbath has, in any age of the world, been changed from the seventh to the first day of the week by divine authority, how it is that our learned doctors of divinity are not able to prove it? They are learned, their minds are stored with knowledge; they have books on books, in their libraries - why is it that with all their store of knowledge, their learning and their talent, they fail to prove in one single instance that any such change has ever been made by divine or apostolic authority? The truth is, according to Mark 13:31. Heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.3
It cheers my heart to read the letters in the Review from dear brethren and sisters, scattered abroad in different parts, whom I have never seen, yet hope to see soon if I am faithful to God. These letters as we read them are like food to the hungry or water to the thirsty. Some of us Sabbath-keepers are young, some are old, some of us are natives of America and some are from Europe; but thanks be to God! our interest is one, our language is one. We have one common interest together in the keeping of the commandments and looking for the coming of our blessed Saviour. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.4
Let me say to you, brethren and sisters, by way of encouragement that the past year has been the best year of my life. It has been the sweetest year I have ever enjoyed since I first gave my heart to the Saviour. The Bible has, during the past year, proved to be a precious Book; more so than ever before. I find it contains precious truths of which I have in former years been almost wholly ignorant. We read in Daniel 12:4: “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.5
I have during the past year made some exchanges of sentiments and opinions, of which I am by no means ashamed. I have exchanged the Pope’s Sunday, a man-made institution, for the Sabbath of the Lord, a true Bible institution. I have exchanged the doctrine that all men are immortal, for the doctrine of immortality alone through Jesus Christ. I have exchanged darkness for light, error for truth, and the fables and traditions of men for the plain simple teachings of God’s holy book. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.6
Let me say to all the brethren and sisters who with me have made such exchanges, You have done right! No matter what fallen Babylon says, or a world of sinners. I have been called a fool and that too by a professed christian, one of Babylon’s professors, because I urged the necessity of carrying out the true meaning of the second commandment: “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.” But let us have the Spirit of Christ and live out just what we profess, and God will throw around us his protecting care. O may the Lord lead all the true commandment-keepers, to feel the importance and necessity of being wholly given up to the cause of Christ. We are living just as it were on the last crumbling fragments of time. O, brethren and sisters, it is time that we bestir ourselves! Soon the call of mercy will be heard no more. O let us make no delay; for Jesus is soon coming. S. B. WARREN. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.7
Battle Creek, Mich., Sept. 3rd, 1854. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.8
Extract of Letters. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.9
Bro. A. Woodruff writes from Richland, N. Y., Sept. 12th, 1854:- “Thank the Lord, dear Bro. White, that I yet live, though it is in a cold, dark, stormy world, surrounded as we are by living beings with hearts colder than the earth on which we tread, and minds darker than midnight darkness. Alas for the world! when it shuts its eyes from seeing, and closes its ears from hearing, the law and the testimony; or when they will hear but do it not. What can be more wonderful than the long-suffering and patience of the Holy One towards offending man - a worm of the dust! O what impieties and iniquities are committed under the sun! and blasphemies uttered against the Lord! to all intents and purposes saying, Who is the Lord that we should obey him? or that he should reign over us? ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.10
“Will this state of things always remain? Not always! The depredations made, and wrongs committed, against God’s law and government will be redressed ere long; the blasphemies uttered, avenged; the loftiness of men bowed down, and the haughtiness of men made low; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.11
“We are striving to rise above the darkness that surrounds us and to keep our eye fixed on Jesus.” ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.12
FOREIGN NEWS
THE BALTIC. - The allied force had not left Bomarsund at latest accounts. Our news from the fleet is scanty. Napier’s steamer Bulldog arrived at Dantzic Sept. 1, having left the fleet at Ledsund on the morning of Aug. 30. Marshal Baraguay d’Hilliers and General Jones, with some steamers, had been reconnoitering Helsingfors and the Finland coast. Abo was found to be strongly fortified, having a garrison of 15,000 men, with 15 gun-boats and some armed ships lying before it. The channel before Abo is so intricate and the place so strong that probably no attempt will be made against it. On the steamer’s nearing Hango Udd the Russians blew up the fortress of Gustavevarn, imagining it was about to be bombarded. This took place on Sunday, Aug. 27. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.13
THE BLACK SEA. - To Aug. 21, no movement had taken place at Varna, except that the French were embarking fascines, gabions and artillery. Their artillery men were exercised daily in ball practice on board boats, and in embarking and disembarking. Cholera is abating in both armies. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.14
It still is an open question with the public whether the expedition is destined against Sevastopol or Anapa. We put no sort of reliance on the statements of the London newspaper correspondents that the expedition will embark on this date, or the other. Aug. 25, was the day they last named. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.15
THE DANUBE. - The Russians having retired beyond the Pruth, and the Austrians having entered the Principalities, it is quite unlikely that any further engagement will take place between the Russians and Turks this year. Omer Pasha is bringing his army up quite leisurely. It is now six weeks since the Danube was crossed at Giurgevo, and there are not more than 15,000 troops in Bucharest, only 40 miles distant, and for three weeks the road has been quite clear. He has, indeed, no object to gain in forcing an engagement. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.16
RUSSIA AND PRUSSIA
Berlin, Tuesday. - The Russian note, besides the points already known, formally demands that Prussia shall act as mediator for the renewal of negotiations, on the basis of the propositions as interpreted and modified by Russia. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.17
THE EAST
Marseilles, Tuesday. - The Sinai has arrived, bringing news from Constantinople to the 25th ult. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.18
The siege artillery belonging to the French army had arrived. All the Turkish men-of-war on the coast of Asia have been put into requisition for Varna. Up to yesterday the Duke of Cambridge was at Ventiliok still indisposed. The Russians had captured another vessel and carried her into Sevastopol. Gen. Guyon has been placed in command of the Turkish army in Asia. Mustapha Pasha is in disgrace. Said Pasha, Viceroy of Egypt, had been feted at Constantinople. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.19
Lloyd of Vienna says, the French Gen. Latang, will, during his stay at the head-quarters of the Baron de Hess, have an Austrian officer for aid-de-camp. It is stated that in addition to his military mission he is charged with a political one - that of hastening the conclusion of the separate treaty between Austria, France and England. An English officer of rank will arrive at the head-quarters of the Baron de Hess at the same time as Gen. Latang. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.20
Appointments
PROVIDENCE permitting we will meet with the Brn. in Farnham, C. W., Oct. 7th, and 8th. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.21
C. W. SPERRY.
E. L. BARR.
Tent Meeting ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.22
PROVIDENCE permitting, we will hold a Tent-Meeting at Springfield, Mass., to commence Oct. 6th, at 5 o’clock, P. M., and hold over Sabbath and First-day.
F. WHEELER.
J. HART.
E. EVERTS.
ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.23
See that the money sent to the Office is receipted. If it is not, please inform us immediately. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.24
To meet our weekly expenses, we should be able to receipt $60 in each No. of the REVIEW. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.25
In order to meet the expenses of the season, and pay for our Winter’s stock, we must receive $800 within four weeks. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.26
We are aware of the difficulties in raising money at this time, and would not over-urge any; but it seems indispensably necessary that our readers should immediately forward to us the small sum of $1, for the REVIEW one year. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.27
Publications
Sabbath Tracts, Nos. 1, 2, 3 & 4 - 152 pp. 12 1/2 cts. - postage 1 ct. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.28
The Law of God: Testimony of Both Testaments:- 132 pp. 10 cts. - postage 1 ct. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.29
Why Don’t you Keep the Sabbath-day? Extracts from Catholic works - 36 pp. - 4 cts. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.30
THE Sanctuary and Twenty-three Hundred Days - 76 pp. 8 cts. - postage 1 cent. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.31
Review of O. R. L. Crozier - the Sabbath - 48 pp. - 5 cts. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.32
The Signs of the Times; Spirit Manifestations a sign that the day of wrath hasteth greatly - 124 pp. - 10 cts. - postage 1 ct. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.33
The Two-horned beast, the United States - 52 pp. - 5 cents ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.34
Advent and Sabbath Hymns - 30 cts. - postage 5 cts. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.35
Supplement to Advent and Sabbath Hymns - 5 cents. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.36
Time and Prophecy - a Poem - 25 cents - postage 5 cents ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.37
A Word for the Sabbath - a Poem - 6 cents. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.38
History of the Sabbath - 40 pp. - 4 cents. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.39
The 2300 days and the Sanctuary - 32 pp. - 3 cents. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.40
Christian Experience and Views - 6 cents. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.41
Supplement to Experience and Views - 6 cents. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.42
Solemn Appeal - Speedy Coming of Christ - 32 pp. - 3 cts ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.43
True Picture - state of the Churches - 16 pp. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.44
The Sabbath by Elihu - 16 pp. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.45
Both Sides - on the Sabbath - 16 pp. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.46
The Sabbath by P. Miller Jr. - 16 pp. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.47
First-day of the week not the Sabbath - 16 pp. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.48
Review of Objections to the Sabbath - 16 pp. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.49
Tracts of 16 pages each can be sent by mail for one half cent an ounce, in packages of not less than 8 ounces. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.50
Sabbath and Advent Miscellany - seven of the above Tracts bound with paper covers - 10 cents - postage 1 cent. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.51
Volumes I-IV of the REVIEW, bound in paper covers, Vols. I and II, 40 cents; Vols. III and IV, 75 cents. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.52
Youth’s Instructor, Vol. I, in paper covers - 25 cents. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.53
AGENTS
MAINE
| N. Lunt, | Portland |
| S. W. Flanders, | Canaan |
| Cyprian Stevens, | Paris |
| S. Howland, | Topsham |
| W. T. Hanniford, | Orrington |
| Wm. Bryant, | Wilton |
NEW HAMPSHIRE
| J. Stowell, | Washington |
| S. Bunnel, | Claremont |
MASSACHUSETTS
| O. Nichols, | Dorchester |
| O. Davis, | N. Fairhaven |
| Wm. Saxby, | Springfield |
VERMONT
| R. Loveland, | Johnson |
| H. Bingham, | Morristown |
| S. H. Peck, | Wolcott |
| Lewis Bean, | Hardwick |
| H. A. Churchill, | Stowe |
| E. P. Butler, | Waterbury |
| Josiah Hart, | Northfield |
| Jesse Barrows, | Irasburg |
| Alonzo Lee, | Derby Line |
| E. Everts, | Vergennes |
| H. Gardner, | Panton |
| S. Willey, | Wheelock |
CONNECTICUT
| E. L. H. Chamberlain, | Md’town |
| A. Belden, | Kensington |
RHODE ISLAND
| Ransom Hicks, | Providence |
NEW YORK
| J. Byinton, | Buck’s Bridge |
| A. Ross, | Caughdenoy |
| David Upson, | Moreland |
| R. F. Cottrell, | Mill Grove |
| John Wager, | Orangeport |
| L. Carpenter, | Oswego |
| A. H. Robinson, | Sandy Creek |
| E. A. Poole, | Lincklaen |
| J. A. Loughhead, | Elmira |
| John Hamilton, | Fredonia |
PENNSYLVANIA
| M. L. Dean, | Ulysses |
| J. H. Heggie, | Alleghany |
MICHIGAN
| Albert Avery, | Locke |
| Ira Gardener, | Vergennes |
| David Hewitt, | Battle Creek |
| C. S. Glover, | Sylvan |
| A. B. Pearsall, | Grand Rapids |
| A. A. Dodge, | Jackson |
| Wm. M. Smith, | Jackson |
| A. C. Morton, | Delhi |
OHIO
| J. B. Sweet, | Milan |
WISCONSIN
| E. S. Sheffield, | Koskonong |
| T. R. Sheldon, | Rosendale |
CANADA EAST
| B. Hills, | Melborne |
Receipts
R. Bennet, F. Wilcox, S. Dunton, M. N. Dunham, L. H. Priest, H. Lockwood, J. Thomas, I. D. Perry, Wm. Peabody, E. Colby, D. Goodenough, L. C. Young, M. Spooner, J. Cady, B. F. Gaylord, Wm. Conn, L. Edmunds, C. Amy, each $1. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.54
To pay Arrears on Vol. V. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.55
E. Colby, J. Thomas, each $1. ARSH September 26, 1854, page 56.56