Advent Review, and Sabbath Herald, vol. 27
January 23, 1866
RH, Vol. XXVII. Battle Creek, Mich., Third-Day, No. 8
James White
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.”
The Advent Review & Sabbath Herald
is published weekly, by
The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association.
ELD. JAMES WHITE, PRESIDENT
TERMS. -Two Dollars a year in advance. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.1
Address Elder JAMES WHITE, Battle Creek, Michigan. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.2
Be in Earnest
Be in earnest, Christian pilgrim,
When you in the strife engage,
Jesus will direct your efforts,
Be you youth or be you sage.
ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.3
If in earnest you continue,
And are faithful to your trust,
He will kindly, gently lead you,
To o’ercome the vilest lust.
ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.4
Be in earnest in the warfare,
And the victory you shall win;
Gathered with the saints unnumbered,
Safe with God, and free from sin.
ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.5
Be in earnest, see the glories
Of the golden city bright,
Without need of sun or moonbeam,
For the Lamb shall be its light.
ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.6
Be in earnest, Christian, earnest,
All these glories thine shall be;
Soon thou shalt with all the ransomed
Stand upon the jasper sea. R. J. Foster.
Coopersville, Mich.
ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.7
Review of Elds. Law and Delap
“Now as James and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth. * * * But they shall proceed no further; for their folly shall be manifest to all men, as theirs also was.” 2 Timothy 3:8, 9. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.8
In the sermons preached recently in Tafton, Wis., one by Eld. Law, Baptist, the other by Eld. Delap, Methodist, we have the following curious contradictory assertions against the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.9
1. Elder Law takes the fourth commandment for his text, then very truthfully affirms that the New Testament has nothing to show that the first day of the week is the Sabbath. He then asserts that there is apostolic example for keeping it, but does not tell where this example is to be found. Again he says the fourth commandment does not enjoin the seventh day as the Sabbath, and yet admits that those who keep the seventh day and those who keep the first, both keep the commandment. O consistency! ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.10
2. He says very truly that when God says, Remember the Sabbath day, there stands a command of the highest authority. Truth and that command say, that the seventh day is the Sabbath; remember it and keep it holy; and notwithstanding the Elder admits that there is nothing in the New Testament to show that the first day is the Sabbath, yet he refuses to keep the fourth-commandment Sabbath. Eld. Delap says that the Jewish Sabbath, that is the fourth-commandment Sabbath, was instituted at the giving of the manna in the wilderness, and quotes. Exodus 16:25 to prove it. Because Moses said, Eat that to-day, for to-day is a Sabbath, and therefore it is not the Sabbath, yet Moses calls it the Sabbath and the seventh day six times in the same connection. It is often said that drowning men will catch at straws. The Elder then admits that the Sabbath of Exodus 16 is the one which God commands in the fourth commandment in Exodus 20:8, then asserts that it does not correspond with the creation Sabbath. How readest thou? “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou salt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day, wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” This is God’s reason, which shows conclusively the Sabbath of the fourth commandment was instituted it creation, and not in the wilderness, as Elder D. asserts. How applicable the language of the prophet, “They have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths and I am profaned among them.” Ezekiel 22:26. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.11
Elder D. says, Some men say that Constantine changed it, and some say the Pope did it; but he would challenge any man to prove that any of these potentates even said one word about changing it. Let us see. In Daniel 7:25. God tells us that the Papal power would think to change it. We will examine the testimony of the Roman Catholic church on this point, and if we find it in harmony with the prophecy which Protestants are agreed applies to that church, we shall receive it as truth. The Catholic Catechism of the Christian Religion, has the following questions and answers on the Sabbath commandment: ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.12
“Question. What does God ordain by this commandment? ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.13
Answer. He ordains that we sanctify in a special manner, this day on which he rested from the labor of creation. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.14
Ques. What is this day of rest? ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.15
Ans. The seventh day of the week on Saturday; for he employed six days in creation and rested on the seventh. Genesis 2:2; Hebrews 4:1. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.16
Ques. Is it then Saturday that we should sanctify in order to obey the ordinance of God? ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.17
Ans. During the old Law, Saturday was the day; but the church, instructed by Jesus Christ and directed by the Spirit of God, has substituted Sunday for Saturday. So we now sanctify the first and not the seventh day. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.18
Ques. Had the church power to make such change? ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.19
Ans. Certainly, since the Spirit of God is her guide, the change is inspired by the Holy Spirit.” ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.20
Milner’s End of Controversy, a Catholic work, has the following: “The first precept in the Bible is that of sanctifying the seventh-day. God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. Genesis 2:3. This precept was confirmed by God in the ten commandments: Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. Exodus 20. On the other hand, Christ declares that he has not come to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it. Matthew 5:17. He himself observed the Sabbath, and as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath-day. Luke 4:16. His disciples likewise observed it. They rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment. Luke 23:56. Yet with all this weight of scripture authority for keeping the Sabbath, or seventh day holy, Protestants of all denominations, make this a profane day and transfer the obligation of it to the first day of the week or the Sunday. Now what authority have they for this? None whatever, except the unwritten word or tradition of the Catholic Church, which declares that the apostles made the change in honor of Christ’s resurrection, and the descent of the Holy Ghost upon that day of the week.” ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.21
The following is from the Catholic Christian, instructed by Dr. Challoner. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.22
“Ques. What are the days which the church commands to be kept holy? ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.23
Ans. First, the Sundays or Lord’s days, which we observe by apostolic tradition instead of the Sabbath, which was Saturday. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.24
Ques. What warrant have you for keeping the Sunday preferable to the ancient Sabbath which was the Saturday? ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.25
Ans. We have for it the authority of the Catholic Church and apostolic tradition.” ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.26
Read carefully the following from the Abridgment of Christian Doctrine, a Catholic Catechism of the first authority, from which I have already quoted. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.27
“Ques. How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts and holy days? ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.28
Ans. By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of, and therefore they fondly contradict themselves by keeping Sunday strictly and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same church. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.29
Ques. How prove you that? ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.30
Ans. Because by keeping Sunday they acknowledge the church’s power to ordain feasts and to command them under sin, and by not keeping the rest by her commanded, they again deny in fact the same power.” ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.31
The following is from the doctrinal Catechism, another Catholic work. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.32
“Ques. Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept? ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.33
Ans. Had she not had such power she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her; she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no scriptural authority.” ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.34
Now will Eider D. still continue to assert that those potentates have never said one word about changing the Sabbath? If he does, who will believe him after reading the testimony here given. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.35
The Elder made another curious assertion which we wish to notice; that is, that after the resurrection the people of God never met on the Jewish Sabbath or seventh day for worship. Here we find him contradicting the plain word of God in Acts 13:42: “And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.” Verse 44. “And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made, and we sat down and spake unto the women which resorted thither.” Acts 16:13. “And Paul as his manner was, went in unto them and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures.” Acts 17:2. “And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.” Acts 18:4. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 57.36
“But they shall proceed no further; for their folly shall be made manifest.” How we see this scripture fulfilled almost daily by those who are fighting against God’s holy Sabbath. May the Lord have mercy upon them and help them to cease hiding their eyes from the Sabbath, that when the seven last plagues are poured out upon those who worship the beast and his image, they may escape. Revelation 16:1-3.
Isaac Sanborn.
ARSH January 23, 1866, page 58.1
The Transfiguration. Luke 9:28-36
It has been questioned whether we are to receive the account of the Saviour’s Transfiguration as a historic fact, or not. We hold it to be nothing less than literal truth, just as it is written. How could three different men have exactly the same dream at the same time and all be so perfectly deceived concerning it, as to tell it in their most serious writings as a matter of historical fact? And what authority is there for receiving that as a dream which the record says did not appear to the witnesses until after they were entirely awake? “When they were awake, they saw his glory, and the two men that stood with him.” Men do not usually dream with their eyes open, and in wakeful consciousness. Neither is this the state in which trance-visions occur. Three Evangelists have recorded the thing without a single word to show that it was any other than a narrative of real events which they were giving. Peter, in his second Epistle, also refers to it with the express asseveration, that nothing of the nature of fable had the least connection with it; but that it was a matter of fact to which he was an eye-witness. 2 Peter 1:16-18. It is also part of the account that the three witnesses were standing upon their feet while they gazed upon the extraordinary scene; and that they were so terrified at a certain stage of the occurrences they were witnessing, that they were overcome, and fell upon their faces for very dread; which does not very well accord with the dreaming of dreams, and the seeing of mere scenic visions. Then again, if it was a mere dream of the three apostles, why did the Saviour speak to them so seriously about it, and charge them so particularly not to tell it until after his resurrection from the dead? Nay, more; if it was a mere matter of play upon the imaginations of the Apostles for their own particular confirmation there are the still further difficulties: first, of harmonizing it with right principles of morality; and, second, of accounting for the very prominent and reiterated references to it in the New Testament. If they were deceived into a reception of a mere vision for historical fact, how are we to exculpate Christ from using delusion and fraud to confirm faith, or relieve the sacred histories from the suspicion of being, after all, a mere collection of fables and dreams? for there is not a fact or miracle in the Saviour’s history that stands upon surer historic basis than this marvelous transfiguration. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 58.2
One of the most illogical things in the world is this tinkering at acknowledged revelation. There is nothing more irrational than rationalism. If we are not to receive the Bible until we have first mended it, nor to admit its statements until we have rasped them in to shape to meet our ideas of credibility, logical consistency would require that we refuse to admit it to be any revelation at all. We see no consistent landing place between receiving it in its plain grammatical meaning, or putting it upon the same level with other books. And as we are satisfied that it is given by inspiration of God we must also insist on what it relates as being that which its writers represent it to be. We therefore receive this account as true and proceed to notice a few points concerning it. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 58.3
I. The Place.-There is much said in Scripture about mountains. Some of the most sublime of sacred scenes occurred on mountains. The Law was given from a mountain. The great sermon with which the Saviour ushered in the Christian system was delivered on a mountain. A great part of Christ’s prayers were offered on mountains. He was transfigured on a mountain, crucified on something of a mountain, ascended to Heaven from a mountain, and when he returns to earth, he will appear upon a mountain; for “his feet shall stand upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east.” ARSH January 23, 1866, page 58.4
There seems to be something in mountain scenery fitted to the sacred and divine. Mountains are nature’s symbols of the majesty of God. They easily connect with his everlasting strength, purity, and glory. His dispensations for the good of man have, therefore, been largely connected with mountains. There is hardly a peak in all the region of the Holy Land, which has not become associated with something sacred. Moriah, Horeb, Sinai, Zion, Hermon, Tabor, Calvary, Olivet,-all are classic hills. Then summits are invested with a religious interest and sublimity as striking and durable as their own rocky elevations. From these high places, connecting so closely with Heaven, our imaginations thrill and bound in sublimer enthusiasm than did ever the fancy or the Greek from Parnassus, Ida, Pelion, or Olympus. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 58.5
It is inferred from several particulars, that it was evening when the mountain was ascended. The quiet hour of nightfall is that which the Saviour ordinarily selected for retirement to the woods and mountains for devotion, and this is a season peculiarly fitted for solemn thought. Isaac took this time for his holy meditations. But notice,- ARSH January 23, 1866, page 58.6
II. The witnesses present-not all the disciples, but only “Peter, James, and John his brother.” Christ omitted to take the others, not because they were not to know anything of the transfiguration, but because these three were the fittest to be the witnesses of it, as they also occupied a position of particular nearness to the Saviour. There were different grades and ranks among his followers in these respects. He was the center of different circles which widened up on each other, and to which different degrees of direct manifestation were apportioned. More was given to the twelve, than to his followers generally; and still more to the three, than to the twelve; and to Peter, perhaps, more than to the three. These differences were regulated, perhaps, by differences of natural character and adaptation, or by differences of moral worth and attainment, or by both. At any rate, Peter, James, and John were the Saviour’s most immediate and confidential friends. To them he afforded privileges beyond all others, not out of mere capricious partiality, but as the best arrangement which he could make for the letting forth to the world of some of the great facts upon which Christianity is founded. They alone were present when the daughter of Jairus was raised. They alone beheld the agony of the garden. They alone were the witnesses of the transfiguration. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 58.7
III. Notice what occurred.-The record says that “he was transfigured before them.” His whole appearance was changed. There was the Master, in the midst of the darkness, but resplendent and glorious; quite altered from what he had before been seen. He was transfigured-changed in form-as Matthew says, metamorphosed. “The fashion of his countenance was altered; his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment became white, shining, exceeding white, white as snow, so as no fuller on earth can white them, glistening, white as the light.” ARSH January 23, 1866, page 58.8
When Moses was in mount Sinai with Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, his face also became luminous in his near communion with God; but not so luminous and glorious as in this case. Not only the Saviour’s face, but his whole person, and even his garments, streamed with light and glory. So transcendent and intense was the divine splendor that permeated and enveloped him, that the Evangelists seem to be at a loss for words and images to describe it. They seem to labor in the effort more than in anything else which they have put on record, and pile together the intensest terms and figures known to man, to express the glory which was there manifested in the person of their Master. They use the three literal terms, “white,” “shining,” “glistening.” ARSH January 23, 1866, page 58.9
But to the literal terms they add figurative illustrations. The Saviour’s garments were not only “white,” but “white as no fuller on earth could white them”-“exceeding white as snow.” Nay, still more, from the earth the illustration rises to the sky. “His face did shine as the sun, and his garments were white as the light-divinely, miraculously white. A proof and picture this of the Saviour’s high and peculiar relations to the eternal God, who is light, and in whom there is no darkness at all. Never was there a being on earth that ever exhibited such glory as that which there shone through him. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 58.10
IV. Notice when this occurred.-It was “as he prayed” that he was transfigured. Prayer was the habit of Christ. He ascended this mount on this occasion “to pray.” And it is said that he did pray there. Upon that dark and solitary mount the Saviour knelt with the three favored ones. From that high altar, made sacred by his presence, his voice went up to his father and our Father-to his God and our God. From among the rocks his fervent supplications ascended. And in answer to those prayers, and by means of them, this wonderful transfiguration came. Prayer is a transfiguring power. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 58.11
V. Notice the persons who appeared with Christ.-However alone we may seem to be in our devotions, we are never alone. Beings of another world there join us. It was so here. “There appeared unto them Moses and Elias;” and the disciples “saw the two men that stood with him.” They were not angels, but “men.” They were not mere phantoms or scenic shadows, but real, living beings for they “talked.” And what is more, they were men who once lived in the flesh, with like passions with us, but who about a decade of centuries before had wholly disappeared from the earth. They were great men-men who distinguished themselves in serving God on earth, and who were accordingly lifted to peculiar honors in Heaven. One was Moses, that persevering man of God, who chose “rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season”-the faithful leader, lawgiver, and deliverer of Israel, who had been dead for more than a thousand years. The other was the once persecuted Elijah, that fearless reprover of kings, and dauntless adversary of Baal, who, as a reward for his fidelity, about eight hundred years before had been caught up to Heaven in the chariot of God without ever tasting of death. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 58.12
The appearance of these personages on this occasion is full of mystery. We can tell very little about it. But it is fraught with most important and consolatory suggestion. It shows that death is not the end of us-that there is another life-and that that life is one of consciousness and activity. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 58.13
VI. Notice the design of this wonderful occurrence.-All the objects contemplated by it we cannot now understand. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 58.14
It evidently had important connections with Christ’s own personal development into that perfectness of qualification for the mediatorship which was necessary. He “grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men,” and there was also growth in his Christhood. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 58.15
It was also meant to confirm his disciples, and to fortify them against the dangers they were in of having their confidence in his Messiahship destroyed by the sufferings upon which he was about to enter. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 58.16
But it was more especially designed to be an earnest and model of Christ’s future “coming and kingdom,” when he shall come in his glory, and “shall sit upon the throne of his glory.” This is to be gathered from the narrative itself. A week before it occurred, he told his disciples that “the Son of man shall come in the glory of the Father, with his angels or messengers with him;” and that there were some standing there when he made the declaration who “should not taste of death till they saw the Son of man coming in his kingdom.” This coming in his kingdom, which some of the disciples were to live to see, is not the final advent; for the disciples are all dead, and the final advent is still future. Neither is it the destruction of Jerusalem; for but one of the apostles lived to see that catastrophe, and the Son of man did not then come in his kingdom. And yet some of the disciples were to have ocular demonstration of the Son of man’s coming in his kingdom before tasting of death. Search through apostolic history as we will, we shall find nothing but the transfiguration to which the Saviour’s words will apply. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 58.17
That, then, was, in some sense, the coming of the Son of man in his kingdom. It was not, indeed, the coming itself, but it was an earnest and picture of it. It was the coming of the Son of man in his kingdom, as the bread and wine in the Eucharist are Christ’s body and blood. Peter says “the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” are not “cunningly-devised fables.” He declares that he was certified of their reality by the testimony of his own senses.” We were “eye-witnesses,” says he “when we were with him in the holy mount.” We thus have clear inspired testimony that the scene of the transfiguration was a demonstrative exhibition of the coming of Jesus in his kingdom. Hence, whatever we find in the descriptions of that scene, we may confidently expect to be realized in that “world to come whereof we speak.” As Christ appeared in that glorious scene, so he will appear when he returns to this world. As he was then personally present as the Son of man, so he will be personally present in the millennial kingdom. And as he was there attended by different classes of persons, so will his glorious kingdom consist of similar classes. The first will be the saints who had fallen asleep, then raised up, and joined to their ever-living Head, represented by Moses. The second class will be the saints who “are alive and remain” to that time, who then “shall be caught up together with “the resurrected saints,” to “be ever with the Lord” without dying at all, as represented by Elijah. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 59.1
How full of light, comfort, and hope are these Scriptures! What joys and wonders they set before us as the fruit of the Saviour’s interposition for our redemption! Let us cherish these things, and firmly believe them. For this hope maketh not ashamed. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 59.2
And what a blessed thing is prayer! What glory and bliss it brought to Jesus and his three disciples on this occasion! How near and close it brought the majesty of the Divine presence! How it made Jesus overflow with the brightness of indwelling Godhead! How it opened the heavens, disclosed to mortal view some of its inhabitants, and rendered audible the conversations of the saints in glory, and the words of the great God himself! How it made the disciples thrill with delight for which Peter was willing to abandon everything, and stay there in the cold, bleak mountain forever! Nor is there one in all this world, who is earnest and persevering in his prayers, but shall there by in time be transfigured into the same celestial radiance with Jesus, and see him in his glory, and hear the redeemed conversing together along the eternal hills, and rejoice forever in the light of God and the Lamb.-Prophetic Times.
Selected for the Review.
ARSH January 23, 1866, page 59.3
Largeness of the Promise
Nor ought we here to overlook the largeness of the promise which our blessed Saviour makes to his true disciples, “Ask and receive, that your joy may be full.” And again, “Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name he will give it you.” “Ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” And to such a promise as this he solemnly affixes the asseveration, “Verily, verily or, amen, amen.” What can we desire more? Nothing in the world so great, nothing so small, that we might not every moment be receiving from the Father, if we only asked it in the name of Jesus. Say, what would ye desire to have granted you? Is it to be freed from domestic troubles, as for instance, that your sick child should recover? Would you gladly see your whole household drawn to God? Ask for any such thing in Jesus’ name, and be assured that he will grant it you. But does not experience seem to contradict this? We answer, it does not really do so. The deceit lies within ourselves, through not really asking in Jesus’ name. For let us call to mind what the asking in Jesus’ name implies. You might wish very ardently, it is true, for some peculiar interposition of God, and you might express this wish in prayer, and as you think, in Jesus’ name. But in this it is possible that you may be mistaken. A petition is offered in his name when it is offered in that faith which is of the operation of God, and when what we ask is according to his will. Luther prayed for the lives of Melancthon and Myconius, who were sick unto death, and already given over; and lo! he received the petitions which he desired of God. And whatever we pray for, be it only gold or silver, even this may be granted us when asked according to his will. Thus the pious Professor Franke prayed for means to erect his orphan-houses; and immediately the silver and the gold flowed in upon him, and be who on commencing was scarcely able to command a few pence, had soon enough to found that abode of orphan charity and education whose praise has been in all the churches. Here the Lord granted what his servant desired. It is to this effect that St. John addresses us in his 1st epistle, chap 3:21-23: “Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another as he gave commandment.”-Copied from Elijah the Tishbite, by J. Sawyer. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 59.4
The Solemn Warning
“Church of the living God! hast thou heard the voice that spoke from Heaven, ‘Surely I come quickly?’ And hast thou responded to it gladly, ‘Even so come, Lord Jesus?’ Does the promise of his return cheer thee? And is the thought of his speedy coming a most welcome hope in these days, when men’s hearts are failing them for fear? Then how is this prospect operating? Is it full of quickening, animating, stimulating power? Is it kindling up your love into greater warmth? Is it increasing the intensity of your earnestness? Is it making the separation between you and the world a more decided thins? Is it imparting a deeper solemnity to your deportment, and attaching an unutterable importance to every word and action? Is it rebuking idleness, and sloth, and vanity, and frivolity, and levity and selfishness? Has it uprooted and destroyed in you covetousness and worldliness, those two master-sins of the evil age? And has it made you liberal and generous, enlarging your heart to give-to give with no sparing hand so long as the time remaineth? Ah! brethren in Christ, we are surely far behind! Our religion is a poor, second-rate, ineffective thing! We are dreaming when we should be working; we are pleasing and indulging the flesh when we should be serving the Lord. We are indolent and yielding, when we should be energetic and indomitable. We are shrinking and fastidious when we should be resolute and hardy. We sit idly in our tents, with weapons sheathed and banners folded, when we should be in the thickest of the fight; for the worlds last conflict is begun, and the armies are mustering for the battle of the great day of God Almighty. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 59.5
“And you, ye men of the earth, whose portion is not among the things unseen, have you heard the voice that speaks to you from Heaven-‘Fear God, and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come?’ Has the warning pierced your ears and broke your mad security? How long do you count it safe to remain unreconciled? And what sort of reconciliation with God will avail you in the day when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth? And when is he to arise? Have you ascertained the time, that you sit so easy and unalarmed? The long pent-up winds are beginning to break loose; and the sudden bursts of tempest that have swept over Europe these few years past are precursors of the world’s last desolating storm. At present there is a lull, but it will be brief; and behind that lull there is the more terrible tempest; and behind that tempest there is the Judge of the quick and the dead; and behind the Judge are the everlasting burnings. Has this prospect no terrors for you, and have these terrors no urgency to compel you to consider the overwhelming necessity of betaking yourselves to the provided shelter, ere another day with all its gloomy uncertainties shall have dawned upon you? ARSH January 23, 1866, page 59.6
“The warfare has now begun in our land, which will not be ended save by the arrival of the King himself. How far the assault may prevail, or how long the tide of war may flow and reflow, we do not pretend to say. Let us prepare for the worst. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 59.7
“And what, if behind and above all these, there be heard a shout and a trumpet more awful and unearthly than these-the announcement of the coming Judge in flaming fire? Are you ready? Are you hidden in the clefts of that rock to which no weapon, no storm, no fire can reach? He alone is safe who has reached the hiding-place; and that hiding-place stands with its unfolded gates ready to receive you now. Will you enter? Or will you remain without? Remain without and perish in the fiery storm! ‘For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise and garments rolled in blood, but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.’ It is now, in these last days, as in the days of Noah. Gods purpose of vengeance has been declared, the warning has come, and the judgment is making haste to follow. But the ark is still open, and the preacher of righteousness beckons you in. For one hundred and twenty years Noah preached, but the unheeding would heard him not. Then he entered the Ark and for seven days he remained there before the deluge came, and standing at the open door of the Ark be delivered Gods last message of grace, entreating men to come in. It seems as if we were now in the period corresponding to these seven last days-proclaiming God’s last loving message to long-resisting man! For what, then, are you waiting? Are you lingering in the hope that the millennial day will softly steal in upon the world, and that then you will be converted with all the rest? Alas for you! Do you not know that between you and that glory there lies a region as dark as midnight, and strewed with terrors such as earth has not yet witnessed? Why, then, do you wait without? There is room enough within, and will you not go in and occupy it? There is love enough, and will you not go in and taste it? There is blessedness enough, and will you not go in and enjoy it? It will cost you nothing; and you are welcome! The Father bids you welcome; and the Son bids you welcome; and the Spirit bids you welcome; and angels bid you welcome; and every saved one bids you welcome; and with so many welcomes will you still hesitate or delay-preferring death to life shame to honor, wrath to love, the honors of the outer darkness to the glory of that city where they need no light of the sun?”-London Quarterly Journal of Prophecy, in voice of the church. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 59.8
Sabbath breaking a Leading Sin
There is a peculiarity in the law of the Sabbath, as a test of simple obedience, and of a temper generally right toward the Divine government. For obedience to the other commandments, reason may be found in the obvious interests of society and of the individual; but this is so far from being the case with the Sabbath that of all the Ten Commandments, this is the only one concerning which the question has been raised, whether it was moral or positive. This is not because the connection between the violation of this law and its results is less certain, but that it is less immediate and obvious. Its sanctions do not come directly as when one puts his hand into the fire; but they come according to another general method in God’s natural government, remotely, as in the effects upon the social fabric, of intemperance, of licentiousness, or revenge. Of these, individual instances may seem slight, and alarm on account of them may be mocked at; yet through them there will gradually steal in a moral malaria that will poison and blast everything noble. Thus it is more especially with the Sabbath. God has infallibly linked cause and effect here; he has plainly revealed that connection; yet the chain itself which binds them together is often concealed, or revealed only to the eye of faith. Hence it is that Sabbath-breaking is what has been called a leading sin; it is the point at which men naturally break away from God; and when that is fully done, nothing can restrain them from any crime but the absence of temptation or the fear of detection. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 59.9
Under these circumstances, let an individual devote the Sabbath to religious duties, public and private, honoring God and delighting himself in him, and he will show that regard to the principle of duty, as such, which will make him a good citizen-a pillar of strength to free institutions. He who thus walks humbly with his God, will do justly and love mercy.-President Hopkins. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 59.10
The Review and Herald
“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”
BATTLE CREEK, MICH., THIRD-DAY, JANUARY 23, 1866.
URIAH SMITH, EDITOR.
The Discussion in Portland, Me
Question. The Seventh-day Sabbath observed by God’s people prior to the crucifixion of Christ, is still binding upon mankind. Affirmative, M. E. Cornell. Negative, I. M. Preble. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 60.1
(Continued). ARSH January 23, 1866, page 60.2
Cornell. We have some interesting things now be fore us. The Lord’s day, the Elder tells us, is Christ’s day, and that is the first day of the week; for Christ is Lord of the Sabbath-day. Is the first day of the week the Sabbath day? If Eld. P. will find in the New Testament where the first day is ever called the Sabbath, any reference to the day, saying that it is the Sabbath-day, then he will have proved something. But what day was it? I shall claim that it was the seventh day, unless he can show that some other day is somewhere called Lord’s day in the New Testament. But when Christ said he was Lord of the Sabbath-day, Eld. P. knows it was not the first day of the week. It was the old seventh day. If he can find that the first day has been sanctified, then he may claim that Lord’s day is the first day. The fourth commandment, and also Isaiah 58, tell us what day the Lord’s day is. The first day of the week is never called Lord’s day in the Bible. It is admitted, or if denied, I will bring the proof, that John wrote his gospel after his return from the isle of Patmos, where he wrote the Revelation. And in that gospel he has occasion to refer to the first day of the week. Now if by the term Lord’s day, in the Revelation, he had meant the first day of the week, and that was the term then given to that day he would certainly have called it so when speaking of it afterward. But in his gospel he calls it simply first day of the week. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 60.3
Refers to Preble’s assertion that God sanctified the day beforehand, and reads the record that he sanctified the day after, and because, he had rested upon it. Re-argues some points in relation to the penalty, showing that Preble admitted that the real penalty was the second death, so that the real penalty never has been changed, and no change of the law can be argued on that ground. He did not wish to be understood as repudiating the Emphatic Diaglott as a whole, but only some of its renderings, and among them the rendering of 2 Corinthians 3:7. The word there translated dispensation, has never that meaning. Everybody will say that is false. As a whole, I like King James’ translation the best of any. Eld. P. says that every day is alike in this dispensation; that we are to have holy work six days, and holy rest on the seventh day. Was it not just so in the former dispensation? I believe in keeping every day right, and the commandment shows how that is, by directing us to work six and rest on the seventh. Refers to what Preble calls Paul’s accommodation meetings. But Paul preached to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews. Only one meeting can be found on the first day of the week. Acts 20. And I can show that that was an accommodation meeting. It was held because Paul was to depart on the morrow, and they were to see his face no more. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 60.4
Every Bible institution has a name. On this point Bro. C. made a strong argument, giving illustrations all through the Bible, and showing the names and titles of sacredness that have all along been applied to the seventh day, ending with Revelation 1:10, and showing also that no title of sacredness is ever given in the Bible to the first day of the week. Fifty-nine times the seventh day is called the Sabbath. The first day, never. The only title ever given to that day is a “working day. Ezekiel 46:1. And God has set the example of working upon it. God never changes an institution of his. The seventh day is never called Jewish like the passover, the feasts of the Jews, etc. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 60.5
Preble. Eld. C. says that stoning to death was not the real penalty. But was it not all the penalty there was to that law given? I am glad he admitted so much in regard to the Emphatic Diaglott. He also admits that all days are alike. I thank him for that. The children of Israel were journeying the seventh day before the Sabbath in the wilderness. The word Sabbath occurs in the New Testament, and refers to the first day, too. In every instance where the first day of the week occurs it is sabbaton. Thus we have the first sabbaton, the second sabbaton, etc. He says it is the seventh of the sabbaton; but the Bible says it is the first of the sabbaton. Which will you believe? As soon as you pass the resurrection of Christ you find first day sabbaton. The reason the disciples could not bear some things which Christ had to say to them, was because the Jews would persecute and put them to death for them. Pray that your flight be not on the Sabbath-day. You see we have to come down to the time when the New Testament was written to find the change. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 60.6
Cornell. My friend will keep the first day without any command; but will not keep the seventh day with out its being commanded over again. Reads from Preble’s tract of 1845, that those who keep the first day are “Pope’s Sunday-keepers and God’s Sabbath-breakers.” He says the Gentile converts all went for the first day of the week; and I can tell you why; it was because the first day of the week was dedicated by the Gentiles or heathen, to the sun from ancient times, and called Sunday. Bro. C. here gave a thorough exposure of the fallacy of the seventh-part-of time theory. We have no record of Christ’s appearing to his disciples on the first day of the week, except on the day of his resurrection. Met with them once on a fishing day. Pray that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath-day. Bro. C. gave the true exposition of this passage, which the reader will find in full in History of the Sabbath, pp. 132-138. Discussed the frequent references to the Sabbath in the book of Acts, and contrasted these with the one instance of preaching on the first day. Makes a strong argument on the fact that the Sabbath commandment is in the very bosom of the decalogue, and the whole law is perfect and holy, and hence cannot be abolished. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 60.7
Preble. Eld. C. quotes Webster to show that Sunday was anciently dedicated to the sun. We could give him a rich treat from Noah Webster. [Eld. P. here lead from Webster concerning Sunday as the Christian Sabbath, claiming it as a triumphant argument; to which Eld. C. subsequently replied by referring him to Webster’s definition of the word soul, and asking him if he would endorse that!] Refers to his Sab. tracts, and says, I told you in my first speech that I got bewildered and observed the seventh day three years. I am twenty years older now, and have had a chance to learn something. I ask my heavenly Father to forgive me this error, if he has not already done it. I have seen distraction in families from this seventh-day Sabbath-keeping. It makes confusion and quarreling, women refusing to cook, etc. The whole number of Seventh-day Adventists have not been converted from sin to holiness, but are proselytes from other churches. They have broken up churches. This State is witness to it. He says that according to my view, any seventh day is the Sabbath, notwithstanding I have given evidence that the first day of the week should be observed by Christians in commemoration of redemption. In Acts 18, where Paul preached to the Gentiles, some argue that it was the Sabbath between. Now what kind of a Sabbath could come between two Jewish Sabbaths? It would be the first day of the week would it not? And the great crowd assembled because it was the first day of the week, was what caused the Jews to be so enraged. When he refers to the ten commands he wants to know if the nine commandments are abolished. I guess he thought he was arguing with Miles Grant, in New Hampshire. But I am not Miles Grant. I believe they are all brought over. In order to commemorate the redemption of our world, we must commemorate it on the first day of the week. We can commemorate both creation and redemption by the first day of the week. One of the reformers believed in the seventh-day Sabbath, Carlstadt, a fiery, crazy sort of a fanatical person, who went on till war was declared, and so perished. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 60.8
Cornell. He asks me to give him notes in writing. I cannot speak and take notes for the negative too. I have referred to some things several times, and he has not tried to notice them. The first point I have to notice now, is his effort to get up sympathy, and create prejudice against the Sabbath, by asserting that it has a bad influence, creates confusion, breaks up churches, etc. I repudiate such a course. It is unworthy any cause. Others have made the same complaint against Adventists. The same things have been said about the immortality doctrine; and every new truth is open to the same objections. Christ said that he came not to send peace on earth but a sword. The truth will always make division where all do not embrace it. As a specimen of the contradictions my friend indulges in, you will recollect that he has taken the position that the commandments were dead, done away; but now he says that they are all brought over and written on the heart. Miles Grant had the commandments brought over and the fourth left out. Preble has them abolished, then all brought over and written on the heart, then the fourth changed. If the Sabbath was abolished at the cross, how could it be changed at the resurrection of Christ? Those who have kept the seventh day, he says, have been miserable fanatics ever since the days of Christ. I could mention several miserable fanatics who have kept the first day. See the Catholic church for example. My arguments on the Sabbath being placed in the midst of the moral law, and the immutability of the law, have not yet been touched. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 60.9
Preble. In regard to a discussion of the History of the Sabbath, I should like to have it go through the World’s Crisis, but I have no control over it. I am ready to meet Andrews or anybody else. And if the crisis cannot be opened to it, will they shut it out of their paper? The divisions Christ refers to, are divisions between saints and sinners. That is bad fruit because it divides saints, and is contrary to the gospel. He says that I say that those who keep the seventh day crucify Christ afresh. I deny that I said so. I have not said that the ten commandments were dead; I said law. I never said that all who kept the seventh day were fanatics. I said the principal movements were made by such. They were by heretics and visionary men and women. Refers to testimony of Justin Martyr, and reads from Reeve’s translation, Vol. i, p. 163. Refers to 1 Corinthians 16:1, On the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, etc., and reads from Eusebius in relation to this custom, p. 169. [Here Eld. P. fell into the singular mistake of making Dionysius of Soter’s time, a. d. 170, mentioned by Eusebius, the same as the Dionysius of Paul’s time mentioned in Acts 17:34.] Reads again from his articles. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 60.10
(To be continued).
The Morning Cometh
Darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the people; and it seems as if the darkness was growing denser and denser still. Iniquity abounds, and the love of many is growing cold. The world and the professed church present a dark picture for our contemplation; but they are only filling up the outline given before in prophecy. Satan is permitted to bring his power to bear against the truth, and against those who hold it. But there is a limit to his power. When God gave his servant Job into his power, it was with this reserve: “but save his life.” And so it is at present. The lives of the servants of God are not given into the power of Satan. The Lord has a work for them to do, and though the enemy may be permitted to afflict, he can not take away their lives-they will live to accomplish their work. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 60.11
Amid the moral darkness of the world, we have seen by faith in God’s word that the morning is coming, the Lord is about to come and save his people. There are true-hearted Christians who are trying to penetrate the darkness, and get a glimpse of the morning light. They begin to see unmistakable signs of the coming morning. The watchman saith the morning cometh, and also the night. The Lord is coming to save his people and destroy his enemies. It will be morning to the former and night to the latter. The Lord is represented by the prophet as saying upon this occasion, “The day of vengeance is in my heart, the year of my redeemed is come.” ARSH January 23, 1866, page 60.12
The Lord is on the side of his people whom he is preparing for the advent. He is delivering his servants that have been oppressed by the Devil. Morning is breaking. The latter rain is coming. The powers of darkness cannot long prevail to hold in check the final work of the Lord. The Lord will work for the deliverance of all those who are living up to the light given. Let us heed all the teachings of the Lord; cleansing ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. Then the beaming light of the coming morning will shine upon us in all its splendor, and our pathway shall be as the shining light, which shineth more and more, even to the perfect day. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 60.13
Could we realize how willing the Lord is to help us in the way of well-doing, we should take courage to labor on in this good cause of the Lord; and we would not displease him by distrusting his faithfulness and love. He is waiting to be gracious. He desires to bless us. Let us prepare ourselves to receive his blessing. Let us cleanse the temple, that he may come in and dwell with us. He is faithful that has promised, who also will do it. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 61.1
R. F. Cottrell.
“I Want.”
I have had many serious reflections of late, upon the import of these two words, caused principally by hearing the brethren and sisters in different localities bean their testimony in our social meetings. Some times these meetings are cold and formal, but little zeal for the truth is manifested, and like the door on its hinges, we go to and from them realizing but little if any benefit therefrom. On such occasions we often hear testimonies given in a careless and almost indifferent manner, in substance as follows: “I want to know my duty, and be willing to perform it at all times. I want to be a Christian, and have a more realizing sense of what God has done for me. I want more of the Spirit of God that I may be willing to obey him in all things. I want to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. I want my heart cleansed from all sin. I want to overcome and go with the remnant to Mount Zion,” etc. Thus they go on expressing their “wants” till I have thought Sometimes they might be when the Lord comes, like one of whom we read, “weighed in the balances and found wanting.” ARSH January 23, 1866, page 61.2
Now I am not going to say that it is wrong to express these wants; but I believe the place to express them is in the closet, where God alone can hear us. I believe it is the Christian’s privilege to obtain what he wants of the Lord; and when he has done so, let him go to the social meeting and tell that he has had his wants supplied, has gained the victory over sin, and been able to resist temptation. Then his testimony will be effectual in the encouragement of others, and God’s name will be honored and glorified. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 61.3
There is probably not an individual in the world that does not want eternal life; yet there will be but few of them saved, because they will never make an effort to obtain what they want. It becomes us therefore, as believers in present truth, to make our calling and election sure by working out our own salvation with fear and trembling. Let us humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt us in due time; casting all our care upon him, for he careth for us. Let us go to him in meekness and ask him for the things we need, that our wants may be all supplied, and we fitted for a home with the redeemed in the kingdom of God. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 61.4
I. D. Van Horn.
Report from Bro. Cottrell
Bro. White: Since my last report, from Catlin, I have been laboring in a place entirely new, in Corning, Steuben Co., N. Y., five miles from the village of that name. Held meetings here from Dec. 17 to the close of the year, giving seventeen discourses. The going was bad much of the time, and the congregations were small with few exceptions. However, I trust that good has been done. Seven, I believe, publicly confessed that I had preached the truth on the Sabbath question, by using to then feet. May God help them to realize the importance of living up to their convictions, and of keeping all the commandments of God. I have reason to think that some are established in the truth and will prove steadfast. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 61.5
It was expected by friends there, that there would be a discussion on the Sabbath question when I came, as a minister who often preached there had signified that he was ready to meet the question; but to their disappointment he did not appear till the last day in the afternoon, and I had closed my meetings. Then, instead of meeting what I had preached, he tried to prejudice the people against the Advent movement in the past, and upon the immortality question, a question I had not introduced. I do not say that he took this course because be knew that he could not meet the truth I had presented on the Sabbath; but if he was not aware of it, Satan was; and he is the instigator to all opposition to the truth. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 61.6
I would say to the friends there, hold fast what you have learned, and in due season other points of truth shall be fully vindicated, God’s word honored and his justice, goodness and mercy, truth, love, and rightousness maintained; and those false imputations against his character, which represent him as an implacable, unmerciful tyrant, delighting in the eternal anguish of those he has made repelled. Be patient, brethren and sisters, and in your patience keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus, and God will keep you lead you into all truth, and prepare you for a place in his kingdom which is at hand, even at the doors. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 61.7
R. F. Cottrell.
Quarterly Meeting at Carlton, N. Y
This meeting, held Jan. 13 and 14, was certainly one of the best, perhaps I might say the best, we have ever enjoyed in this section. The church was edified and encouraged, and sinners were converted to God. Five took a decided stand to keep the commandments of God, and another so nearly committed himself that there is not much doubt that he will embrace the truth. Among the thoroughly decided, was the husband of our faithful sister E. M. Prentiss of Parma. Two or three of them, relatives of Bro. D. M. Canright, had never before made public confession of their faith in Christ. They remained after the meeting was dismissed, unwilling to leave the place till they should receive further instructions in the work in which they were so newly engaged, and to have prayers still offered in then behalf. We instructed them to believe that Christ was willing to do for them what he came into the world to do for sinners, and after a solemn, and deeply interesting season of prayer in their behalf, they left for their home rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. May God still bless them and lead them all the way through to the kingdom of God. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 61.8
Quite a number of others who attended our meetings were evidently deeply interested hearers of the solemn truths pertaining to the present time, and we trust that the good work will not stop here May. God help them to realize the importance of obedience, and may they not harden their hearts by delay. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 61.9
R. F. Cottrell.
Men Speak as They Believe
Orthodoxy tells us that all the Bible writers were believers in the inherent immortality of all men, the conscious state of the dead, endless misery, eternal hell torments, etc., etc. These, and similar terms, are found freely interspersed in all modern orthodox writings. But it is a significant fact that not one of these terms is found anywhere in the Bible. The Bible is a large book and was written by many different writers in many different ages, and under almost every conceivable circumstance. Yet not once has a single one of them used one of these phrases which so much abound in modern theology. Would this be so if they had believed as the moderns do? We can not think that it would. Somewhere they would have expressed then faith in terms too clear to be mistaken. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 61.10
I have been reading the “Book of Mormon,” or the Mormon Bible. It claims to be a revelation from God and is written in the style of the Old Testament. It claims to be a history of the lost tribes of Israel, which was written at the time many of the last books in the Old Testament were written. But any one who is not blind to all reason, can readily see that it is a production of modern times. All the modern phrases of immortal-soulism, are scattered all through this book. I will quote some from it. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 61.11
“For he delivereth his saints from that awful monster, the Devil, and death and hell, and that lake of fine and brimstone, which is endless torment.” Second Book of Nephi, Chap 6. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 61.12
“His (the sinner’s) final doom is to endure a never ending torment.” Book of Mosiah, Chap 1. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 61.13
“Perhaps (we had) been consigned to a state of endless misery and woe.” Book of Alma, Chap 7. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 61.14
“Therefore, as the soul can never die,” etc. Id. Chap 19. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 61.15
The word of God will “lead the man of Christ in a straight and narrow course across that everlasting gulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked, and land their souls, yea, their immortal souls, at the right hand of God.” Book of Helaman, Chap 2. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 61.16
Speaking of dying, he says, “That I might go down in peace, and my immortal spirit may join the chorus above, in singing the praises of a just God.” Book of Mosiah, Chap 1. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 61.17
“The spirit and the body shall be re-united again, in its perfect form.” Book of Alma, Chap 8. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 61.18
Of the martyrs the writer says, “We know that they are blessed for they have gone to dwell with their God.” Id. Chap 14. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 61.19
The Book of Mormon is not a large book, yet we might multiply these phrases to an indefinite extent. It is very manifest that the writer of this book believed in the doctrine of immortal-soulism in all its parts, the same as the orthodox do: hence he spoke just as they do. Oh how rejoiced our orthodox friends would be to find such terms as these in the Bible! But alas! they cannot find them Why not? Very manifestly because the Bible writers believed no such thing hence they never wrote it. Men speak as they believe. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 61.20
The above quotations prove two things: 1. The writers of the Bible did not believe in immortal-soulism; for if they had they would have written it out as this writer has. 2. The “Book of Mormon” is directly opposed to the Book of God.
D. M. Canright.
ARSH January 23, 1866, page 61.21
The Punishment of the South
Never did an army enter the field more boastingly than did the army of the confederate States in 1861, and ‘62; and never was an army more subdued and humbled, than the Southern army was in the final disasters at the fall of Charleston and Richmond. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 61.22
Hoping for an empire, Jefferson Davis inherits a prisoner’s cell and his people who looked forward to the supremacy of the slaveholding aristocracy, now are doomed to behold their former slaves become freedmen; and the profitable human chattels are now transformed into men, and the once rich slave-trader, has become in many instances a pauper; and worst of all, it is their own madness that has done it all. Northern diplomacy labored hard to strengthen the falling fortunes of the South, but hot Southern blood would rule or ruin; and ruin came-that is ruin to the Southern tyrants. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 61.23
Soldiers of the Southern army, after leaving about half a million of their comrades to slumber in their dreamless beds, upon many a battle-field, have gone home ragged, and lean, and hungry, without pay, without money; gone home to share in the poverty their rashness has brought upon their country. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 61.24
With the keen and bitter reflections of men who have baffled themselves they mutter their demoniac rage in curses too fearful to repeat, as they realize the fearful retribution of justice upon traitors, whose hands red with blood, and faces dark with crime, witness against them. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 61.25
This is not the end; for the test oath is a bar against them in congress; and the continuation of martial law in the South, is a sure indication that our government intends to hold the authority still among those faithless States, who would prefer the annihilation of the freedman to his enlargement. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 61.26
But the act of congress abolishing the “peculiar institution” of slavery, which should take effect Dec. 18, 1865, was the final stunning blow to slavery. Alas who can tell the agony of the statesmen of the chivalric and proud Southern dynasty, as on Christmas the freedmen celebrated the jubilee of freedom. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.1
To say that the freedman can, in all cases, avail himself of the blessings of liberty; to say that he is in all cases fit to govern himself, is more than we can affirm. It is still in the power of the citizen to make the freedman’s life a life of misery. But one thing is certain; the proud oppressor has been terribly rebuked. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.2
The slave power has been shaken and subdued; and the Southern demagogue who once boasted that he would yet call the roll of his slaves upon Bunker Hill, has ere this, not only ceased his wicked boasting, but has failed to retain his slaves even at home. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.3
No more will the philanthropist who hates slavery be stigmatized as fanatical. Northern men with southern sympathies, will no more destroy the printing presses of antislavery men. To God be all the glory; for the North has really done this from necessity, contrary to its own will by the hand of God. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.4
J. Clarke.
Little Sins
It we would be saved through the mercies of our Lord Jesus Christ, we must resist by his grace the least of little sins. If we allow little sins and suffer them to stay for a moment in our hearts, little though they be, they open the door for larger ones. Open the door of our hearts ever so little to any sin, and the sin will soon be master of the house and all that is therein. We must check the first thoughts of evil, we must stop them at the door, and push them back. We must take pains to turn the current of our thoughts when we find them inclined to run in an evil channel. Our enemy begins with little trifling sins that we may be the less frightened when he proposes greater ones. He first casts a little dust into our eyes, and then a little more, and soon we become blind indeed. The hardening and blinding and deafening of a soul is not quickly done. Ask the most wicked and profane, whose consciences seem seared as with a hot iron, and they will tell you there was a time when they felt uneasy about a little fault, and keenly felt that act of disobedience, and some slight transgression. Oh, who then can doubt that it is little sins that lead us from God. If from such have grown all the iniquities that have been acted in the world, all the bold rebellions against God, and the crucifying of Christ afresh, are we aware how far we may be drawn away from the blessed side of Christ if we allow little sins to have their way, and note them not? Alas, it is the little foxes that spoil the vines. Watch these little sins and we shall not be drawn into greater ones. With all our watchfulness, all our prayers, our wrestling against the powers of darkness, and all endeavor to keep pure hearts, we are often overtaken in a fault, and our souls often stained by acts of disobedience, and infirmities. What shall we be if we watch but little, and let offenses creep in, and take no account of little matters, and only care to keep out and restrain the greater floods of wickedness? Although the heart is deceitful beyond measure, yet God says, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.5
May God enable his people to watch each thought, and be on their guard against letting little sins find a dwelling-place in then hearts. If we indulge once in an impure thought, it will come again, and its stay will be longer and it will be harder to shake it off; and it will not come alone. All those who have gone the farthest into sin, and who now feel the mastery of some favorite sin, must confess that the evil began with little sins, that pressed themselves into their hearts, and they did not check them at the first. May the Lord sanctify his people that they may walk in the light as he is in the light, and while we are in the land where the wheat and tares must both grow together until the harvest, which is the end of the world, may we now be preparing ourselves for the time when Christ shall come to thrust in his sickle and reap; for then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Then no lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon. It shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon then heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Isaiah 35:9, 10. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.6
Delia A. Eddy,
For or Against
A new year with pages unsullied and bright,
Has opened before us, and here all must write,
Must write here a record to stand through all time,
A dark blotted record, or one that will shine.
ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.7
We shall not write this record with pen and with ink,
But with deeds that we do, and thoughts that we think,
The word, if a pure one, comes forth from pure thought,
And ‘tis thus with the deed if good it has wrought.
ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.8
Each day is a page,-oh how pure, and how fair!-
On which we must write, oh let’s write it with care,
For the record must stand and in future must tell,
If this year to us given, was ill used, or well.
ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.9
It also must tell, either for or against,
Our right to the white robes prepared for the saints,
The bright jeweled crown, and the city of gold,
The harp, and the palm, which the victors shall hold.
ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.10
Either for or against our right to that stream,
Whose water is life,-not life like a dream
Fading and fleeting,-but life that’s undying,
Life that knows nothing of sinning, or sighing.
ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.11
Either for or against our right to that land,
Where all is bright beauty, and glory most grand,
Where flowers ne’er fade, for they bloom by the side
Of the bright flowing stream with its life-giving tide.
ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.12
Either for or against, our right to behold
The King in his beauty-oh beauty untold-
To gaze on that brow once crowned with the thorn,
That brow which for us was once bleeding and torn.
ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.13
Either for or against, I would grave those words deep
On my heart’s inmost tablet; then import to keep;
And to Heaven, I’d seek for wisdom and grace,
That the record which I, on these pages shall trace,
ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.14
May be such as shall tell for my right to behold
The King in his beauty, with scepter of gold;
To join in the song the immortal will sing;
To praise in bright glory, our Saviour and King. M. J. Cottrell.
ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.15
Extracts
Bro. White: I send you the following extracts, which you may use as you think best. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.16
“That is but a melancholy religion, and a poor philosophy, which directs man to his own natural strength. Past ages have made trial of that strength, and while, in earthly things, man has attained admirable excellence, he has never been able to dissipate the darkness which hides God from his soul, or to change a single inclination to evil. The highest attainment in wisdom of the most aspiring minds, or of the souls most eager after perfection, has been to despair of themselves. It is therefore, a generous, consoling, and supremely true doctrine, which discovers to us our impotence, that it may declare a power-of God-by which we can do all things; and that is a noble Reformation which vindicates on earth the glory of Heaven, and pleads before man the rights of the mighty God.”-D’Aubigne. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.17
“In all ages it has been seen how great is the power of any prominent idea to work upon the inert mass of mankind, to rouse the spirit of a nation, and to urge its votaries by thousands if need be, on to the field of battle, and into the very jaws of death. But if an idea whose origin is earthly has a potency so great, what limit shall we set to the power of one communicated from above, when God himself has opened men’s hearts to receive it? Not often, in the world’s history indeed, has such a power been exerted; it was displayed, however, in the infancy of Christianity; at the period of the Reformation it was exhibited again; and it shall be witnessed once more in the latter days.”-Ibid. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.18
Luther, in answer to his friend Spalatin’s question, “What is the best method of studying the Scripture?” says: ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.19
“It is most plain we cannot attain to the understanding of Scripture either by study or by strength of intellect. Therefore your first duty must be to begin with prayer. Entreat the Lord to deign to grant you in his rich mercy rightly to understand his word. There is no other interpreter of the word of God but the author of that word himself; even as he has said, ‘They shall all be taught of God.’ Hope nothing from your study, or the strength of your intellect, but simply put your trust in God, and in the guidance of his Spirit. Believe one who has made trial of this method.”-Hist. of Ref. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.20
Can we not see in this the secret of Luther’s strength and power in wielding that two-edged sword? ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.21
H. C. Miller.
Chicago, Ill.
Antipathy
As some certain persons please us by a sort of sympathy, we know not why, so others displease us by a sort of antipathy, which we can give no account for. It is somewhat difficult entirely to conquer these aversions, because sometimes they proceed from nature and constitution; but we may prevent the outward appearance of it, by suppressing all contemptuous and reproachful language. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.22
Antipathy thus governed, may be compared to a wild beast chained. As long as you keep it confined, it is not able to do any hurt; but if you once let it loose, it is incredible what mischief it will do to your self and everybody else. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.23
As long as you give no outward testimonies of your aversion, it will be attended with no ill consequence, provided you do not please yourself with such thoughts, but rather endeavor to suppress the irregular motions they may occasion. But if once you give way to your antipathy, by doing everything which that dictates, in a little time you will contract a great deal of guilt. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.24
Therefore bear with patience whatever is shocking to you in other people, and neither by word or gesture discover the aversion and uneasiness that they give you, though it may be sometimes a complaint that might be justifiable. But this is a great instance of a strong virtue. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.25
[Copied from a work on Devotion, by Robt. Nelson, of England, 1708, by J. Clarke]. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.26
Will We Hear that Prophet?
“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely (lying, margin) for my sake.” ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.27
Shall we repine, or go about murmuring as too many are apt to do? Hear him in the following verse: “Rejoice and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in Heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” Matthew 5:11, 12. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.28
“What is a little scourge of the tongue?” says Whitefield. “What is a thrusting out of the synagogue? the time of temptation will be, when we are thrust into an inner prison and feel the non entering into our very souls. God’s people may be permitted to forsake us for awhile; but the Lord Jesus can stand by us. And if thou, O dearest Redeemer, will strengthen me in my inward man let enemies plunge me into a fiery furnace, or throw me into a den of lions, let us suffer for Jesus with a cheerful heart, his love will sweeten every cup, though never so bitter.” ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.29
And again, in the language of another, “When trials press us sore let us remember our strength is in Him who is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him; for he is our High Priest, ministering still for us in the Heavenly Sanctuary.”
P. C. Rodman.
ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.30
The Poor Cared for. There’s not a poor man, whom the rising sun wakens to go forth to toil for his daily bread, who may not as distinctly assure himself of his carrying with him the ever-watchful guardianship of the Almighty, as though he were the leader of armies or ruler of nations.-Melville. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 62.31
Matters in Iowa
Bro. White: I reached this place last Friday, and find a bad state of things. I was requested by H. E. Carver, to preach yesterday, but declined until the following questions were acted upon: ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.1
1. All that believe that the great Advent movement under Wm. Miller and those connected with him, embracing in their faith the ending of the 2300 days of Daniel 8:14, in 1844, was a fulfillment of the first angel’s message of Revelation 14:6, 7, manifest it by standing up. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.2
The second and third messages were then voted on. This placed things in a shape where I could see that some had given up their faith in the messages. I then claimed that as Eld. Snook had changed his views on some points of our faith, and as some present did not know exactly where he stood, justice demanded that he should answer the following questions by saying yes or no. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.3
1. Do you believe that the two-horned beast of Revelation 13, is a symbol of our government? ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.4
The answer was, No. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.5
2. Do you believe that Sunday-keeping, as you have preached in the past, is the mark of the beast? ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.6
Answer, I am not decided. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.7
3. Do you believe that the seventh-day Sabbath is the seal of the living God? ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.8
Answer, Not prepared to say. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.9
4. Do you believe that the three messages of Revelation 14, were given before the preaching of Wm. Miller? ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.10
Answer, I do. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.11
Eld. Snook takes the position that the third angel’s message was fulfilled in part by the Waldenses. This position will most surely involve a change of his faith on the seven last plagues. I have not seen Eld. Brinkerhoff, but am informed by hose that have heard him talk and preach, that he agrees with Eld. Snook. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.12
When we consider the changes these men have passed through within a few months’ time, who can have confidence in their ability to lead out in any important work? So rapid has been their downward course that with great zeal they are trying to demolish the very truths that took them from the pit and clearly pointed out the way to shun the wrath to come. We deeply deplore their condition. The great truths of God’s word do not propose to save any but those who continue obedient. A Hymeneus and Philetus could err from the truth, deny the resurrection, and overthrow the faith of some. Elds. S. and B. were in the midst of rebellion no longer ago than last June; and were made to realize to some extent, by the faithful labors of God’s messengers at the Pilot Grove meeting, last June, the wrong course they were pursuing, and confessed their sins. But we find them again in a second rebellion worse than the first. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.13
Knowing the object of these men, my duty demands that I should raise a warning voice. Let brethren beware of them.
Wm. S. Ingraham.
Marion, Iowa, Jan. 7th, 1866.
ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.14
We, the undersigned, were present when the questions referred to above, were asked and answered, and can testify that this letter represents the facts in the case. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.15
Robt. F. Andrews.
Thomas Hare.
S. E. Armstrong.
remarks
From the above, it appears that the work of apostasy on the part of Elds. Snook and Brinkerhoff has proceeded faster than any of us could have anticipated. Having surrendered so many of the fundamental principles of present truth, how long it will be before the whole system will be abandoned by them, the reader can judge. Their downward course commenced with opposition to the visions. Long weeks they spent framing and writing out objections, and blowing up to a white heat in their own hearts, the fires of opposition against the cause of present truth and its leaders. Carefully concealing all this, they came to our Conference last May, passed through the meeting with the most saintly hypocrisy, lisping not a word concerning, nor asking any explanation of, their alleged difficulties, and giving us, Judas like, as they left, then tokens of sympathy and fellowship. Scarcely had they reached their home, ere they threw off the mask, and launched forth into high-handed rebellion, which they have since denounced as a “crazy opposition” to this work. At the meeting held in Pilot Grove, Iowa, in June following, the objections of these men against the visions were all explained by sister White, to their professed satisfaction. She proposed also to explain them to the people there assembled, but B. and S. being apparently unwilling to have their weakness exposed, objected to it, as unnecessary. Soon followed their confessions in Review No. 8, last volume, in which they acknowledged that their eyes had been so far opened that they could see that the work in which they had been engaged, was the work of the Devil. But notwithstanding all this, it seems that they have so soon relapsed into more than their former condemnation, a distressing spectacle of reckless instability and self-deception. Verily the sin of rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.16
We learn that even now, Bro. Ingraham calls upon B. F. S. for his objections, proposing to answer them, and he refuses to state them; but in Bro. I.’s absence he throws them out in a way to create as much confusion as possible in the minds of the brethren. The indications of such a course cannot be mistaken by the honest. Did he possess a pure and ingenuous spirit, and were there points which really troubled him, he would gladly avail himself of any help to remove his difficulties, rather than resort to the mean tricks of the demagogue to forward his own cause. All goes to show that he is not actuated by honest motives, but is determinedly bent on doing the work of the enemy. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.17
Some time since, B. and S. sent in their resignation to the Gen. Conf. committee. This committee have for some time been unable to act, on account of the sickness of two of its members which they well understood. The Devil has truly picked his time for this charge upon the cause of truth. Many of the brethren in Iowa are doubtless waiting for something to be done in this matter; and but for the present condition of the committee, something would have been done before this. In view of this state of things, we take the responsibility of making this statement, and of saying to the loyal in Iowa, to hold on stead fast and unmovable; and the difficulties with which the enemies of the truth would fain trouble you, shall be explained, and probably soon. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.18
U. Smith,
G. W. Amadon,
J. M. Aldrich.
Read Your Bible Slowly
Take time even if you have but little time. A great mathematician once said, if his life depended upon solving a problem in two minutes, he would spend one of the two in deciding how to do it. So in reading the Scriptures. If you are pressed for time-and this ought to be rare case-then spend the precious moments on a portion of a chapter. When you feel that the mind and heart are beginning to drink in the sentiment even of a single verse, then stop and drain the heavenly chalice, because the divine Spirit is filling thy cup. It is a true, solemn, and interesting thought that we are to wait, to linger, to tarry, for the blessing to come from the word before us.-British Messenger. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.19
1866
The historic eye of four thousand years looks down upon this point, the year 1866, and sees the issue fairly made up-is man capable of self-government. During that long, tedious march man has demonstrated a thousand times, and upon as many battle-fields, his capabilities to fight, has shown beyond question his physical prowess. And the last great showing on that issue was the grandest of them all, the crushing of the rebellion. The question for 1866 is to see if the broken fragments of war, a disorganized nation, can be harmoniously combined, “the many in one,” by the diplomacy of peace, so that virtue and intelligence shall enable the people to make love of country its bulwark, and not its army and navy. For ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.20
“A union of hearts, a union of hands,
A union of lakes and a union of lands,“
ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.21
must be the bonds of a Republic, or it ceases to be a Republic. Well, the result sought is the most important man ever attempted to accomplish. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.22
But 1866 is a year of note to the world. As an epoch it stands at the head of consummating grand events. The four quarters of the globe, at the dawn of this year, stand in strange and significant juxtapositions, as to coming troubles. A net-work of surroundings, not the devisings of human ingenuity, mysteriously enthrall the nations. All Europe watches Turkey. That appears to be the key of the arch of government of that continent. The Suez canal during this year will make “Palestine the highway of nations,” and knock the last prop from beneath the rotten bottom of the worm-eaten Ottoman Empire. In 1866 the Emperor of the French will control the “short line route” to the East. On the first of May he is to withdraw his troops from Rome and leave the Pope to take care of himself. And already that venerable successor of the “rock-bottom,” Galilean fisherman is looking out for a home, and the “Empire of Malta,” the “kingdom of the sea,” is talked of. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.23
There is not a nation on earth that is at rest. The great cry is, “More rights to the people.” The British empire is troubled. Fenians and pauperism are causing the corruptions of that government to quake. But why numerate the trials of the nations and the people. They are without end.-Warren Republican. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.24
The Pope has, at the request of several bishops, granted fifty days of indulgence to all the faithful who salute those they meet with these words, “Praised be Jesus and Mary;” and he who answers, “Now and forever,” gains the same amount of indulgence. Each time these simple words are repeated, it saves fifty days of purgatory. Those moving in crowded cities can thus, in a morning walk gain thousands of years; but those less fortunate, who live in lonely country parts, can not make much use of this privilege. But, as Scripture says nothing whatever of purgatory and indulgences, the cheap privilege so liberally granted must prove quite Illusory.-Montreal Witness. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.25
Seven pious missionaries (says the Congregationalist), sailed from Boston recently for West Africa, and twenty-nine thousand gallons of liquid fire in the shape of rum made a part of the vessel’s cargo. Comment is unnecessary. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.26
From Bro. Wild
Bro. White: I welcome God’s holy Sabbath day as it rolls round from week to week. The friends around are very kind to me. It is a true saying that whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap, even in this life. If we sow the seeds of discord, and anger, and wrath, we shall reap the same. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.27
Dear brethren and sisters of like precious faith, we all shall soon if faithful dwell in a land where our heavenly Father’s will shall be done. I long for that brilliant morning to dawn that I may look upon Him who loved me so much as to give his life for me. What a blessed hope is ours! In this time of peril, it is surely as an anchor to the soul. We shall ere long see the blessedness there is in keeping all God’s commandments. We have the precious promise of entering through the pearly gates of that golden city, and having a right to the tree of life. Yes, and even now we know that whatsoever we ask of him we shall receive because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. Oh may he help us all by his Spirit to love him with all our hearts, and our neighbor as ourselves. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.28
Your brother on pilgrimage to Mount Zion.
Wm. H. Wild.
Pleasantville, Iowa, Jan. 7, 1866.
ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.29
Obituary Notices
Died, in Fairfield, Vt., Nov. 8, 1865, Eugene, infant son of Bro. J. J. and sister M. J. Herrick, aged 8 months. Words of sympathy were given on the occasion by Bro. D. T. Bourdeau. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.30
A. C. Bourdeau.
Died, in Enosburgh, Vt., Dec. 22, 1865, of Diptheria Columbus, only son of Francis and Ellen Lee, aged 7 years, and 4 days. Little C. was a praying boy, and loved to keep the Sabbath, and we have reason to believe that in the resurrection morn he will come again from the land of the enemy.
A. C. Bourdeau.
ARSH January 23, 1866, page 63.31
The Review and Herald
BATTLE CREEK, MICH., THIRD-DAY, JANUARY 23, 1866.
This Week’s Review
We have not room in any number to call the attention of the reader to every article which we think would be of interest and profit to him; and we would by no means be understood as intimating that those pieces which we pass by are unworthy of perusal. We design to publish only that which will well repay the time and labor of a careful reading or close study as the case may be. Inasmuch, however, as long pieces are passed by, if any are, we would this week call attention to the article on the transfiguration. A perusal of it cannot fail to clothe with new interest the records which the evangelists give us of that wonderful scene. The proofs that it was a literal transaction, and above all that its object was to present a miniature of the glorious kingdom of Christ as it is shortly to appear, are calculated to lend to it attractions above every other representation of the sacred record. From an expression or two, we might infer that the writer regarded a person in death as in a conscious disembodied state. But as he considers that Moses was present as a real being, and a representative of the resurrected saints, he must have been present in his resurrected state, to be such representative. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.1
-Bro. Sanborn’s review of Elds. Law and Delap, contains extracts from Catholic works, which have several times appeared in past volumes of the Review. The paper has now many new readers to whom they will be of great interest. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.2
-“To Correspondents.” As will have been seen by the Review for a few weeks past, we have adopted the plan of informing correspondents as to the acceptance or rejection of their communications. We do this because it is not always convenient to publish immediately articles that are received, and we think it will give better satisfaction to all, to know what disposition is made of their contributions, even if they are rejected, than to be kept in suspense. It cannot be expected that everything that is sent to an office will be published. But this need not deter any from writing. If for any reason your communication is declined, the effort will at any rate have done you good, and you may receive some suggestion which will render you better prepared to try again. So let your pens keep moving. Write to the point and in the spirit of present truth, and let the Review go forth glowing more and more each week with the living testimony. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.3
-From “Matters in Iowa,” all should take warning. A number, and some whom we least expected, have in the past made shipwreck of the faith; and other we see fast following in their steps. From this we may learn the import of the many exhortations we receive from the word of God and other sources, to be steadfast, and of the startling testimony given some years since, concerning a fearful shaking time before us, of which it would almost seem that we are now having the solemn fulfillment. “He that shall endure unto the end the same shall be saved.” ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.4
-Report from Bro. Cottrell, and Quarterly Meeting in Carlton, are encouraging; and the believer will find good consolation in the article, “The Morning Cometh.” ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.5
-We will only add further, Be in earnest, as you are poetically counseled to do on the first page, listen to “The Solemn Warning,” on the third page, and heed Bro. Van Horn’s exhortation not to be “found wanting.” So will you be prepared for the coming of the Master, who is at the door. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.6
“We are in the time of waiting,
Soon we shall behold our Lord,
Wafted far away from sorrow,
To receive our rich reward.
Keep us, Lord, till thine appearing,
Pure, unspotted from the world,
Let thy Holy Spirit cheer us,
Till thy banner is unfurled.”
ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.7
We would say to the brethren in Monterey that Bro. Van Horn is now on his winter’s campaign with Bro. Canright, in the north-eastern part of the State, (Tuscola Co.), and hence could not respond to their call to hold meetings with them. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.8
Note from Bro. Bates
Bro. White: The Allegan Co. Monthly Meeting, held in Allegan, Sabbath, Jan. 6th inst., was much the largest gathering of Sabbath-keepers that we have seen here on a like occasion. The social meeting was good. The Lord blessed and encouraged his waiting people. It was good to be there. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.9
The next Monthly Meeting in the county is appointed to be held in Monterey, on the first Sabbath in February. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.10
We are glad to hear that you, with your family have safely arrived at Battle Creek. We hope and trust that the Lord will continue to strengthen and cheer you to fill the place you have so long faithfully occupied. Joseph Bates. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.11
To Correspondents
Answered by letter, Eld. C. O. Taylor, J. N. Loughborough, E. P. Cram. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.12
P. Nelson. We would prefer not to recommend any enterprise with which we are unacquainted. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.13
Articles Declined. Hath Man any Pre-eminence over the Beast? The propositions discussed are so plain, that a simple statement of them would seem to be sufficient, without the formality of an argument-Dialogue on the Immortality of the Soul. Lacks signature; and the argument, besides presenting the mortality of man in some instances, in a very objectionable light, is not sufficiently carried out.-Extracts from the “Progress of Religious Ideas,” strikes us to be hardly to the point. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.14
Articles Accepted. Glad Tidings. Report from Bro. Cornell. Letters from M. A. Nugent, M. F. Dibble, and A. J. Marsh. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.15
Appointments
The next Monthly Meeting for northwestern N. Y. is to be held at Bro. J. H. Cottrell’s in Ridgeway, Orleans Co., four miles northwest from Medina, on the second Sabbath in February. Teams will be at Medina on sixth-day, p. m., on the arrival of the mail train from the west, until which time those coming from the east will wait. Those who go by private conveyance will leave the ridge road at Murdock’s Corners, between Jeddo and Ridgeway, and find the place one mile south. r. t. c. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.16
Business Department
Remember This!
When you write to the office on business pertaining to your Review or Instructor, always name the Post Office and State where your papers are received. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.17
Such information must be given before we can give credits on the same, or change to any other Post Office. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.18
Do you want credit given on your paper, it is not enough to say, please credit the enclosed amount on Review; but you should also plainly state, either at the heading of your letter or elsewhere, the Post Office and State where the same is received. The name of the town where you live is of no account in the transaction of your business unless it be the same as your Post Office. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.19
Do you want your Review changed to another Post Office, it is not sufficient to say; “Please forward my paper to Boonsboro, Iowa,” but you should invariably state from what place you wish it changed. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.20
When you say give credit on “my” Review, be sure that you write in the name of the person to whom the Review is sent. It is true we have Scriptural authority for regarding husband and wife as one, but yet in regard to the matter in question we are constrained to regard them as separate persons, unless, forsooth, they both happen to possess the same name, in which case we should have no occasion to dissent from the Scripture rule. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.21
When you wish credit given on your children’s Instructor, do not say “our” Instructor, for on referring to our list, we not only do not find “our” there, but perhaps half a dozen bearing your family name. To whom then shall we give the credit? As we have not the pleasure of a personal acquaintance with all of our subscribers and their children, it is necessary that you should state the name, or names, to whom the Instructor is sent. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.22
Also be careful to write all names and places distinctly and spell the same correctly, and do not forget to sign your name. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.23
By remembering all this, you will not only save us a deal of trouble and perplexity, but secure the transaction of your own business with dispatch, and according to your wishes. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.24
The above of course, does not apply to those who are in the habit of presenting their business in a plain, brief, and understanding manner. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.25
j. m. a.
Business Notes
Eli Wick: You send $1,00 to apply on Review for Margaret Currant, but do not state where she receives her paper. We must be informed on this point before we can give the credit. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.26
A J Marsh: Yours containing fifty cents is received. You did not state what you wished to have done with the money. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.27
N Aldrich: You say, “Will you please to forward my paper to Boonsboro, Boone Co., Iowa?” We will, as soon as we are informed where you now receive it. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.28
Melissa J Myers: You write from Pleasant Valley, (State not named) and send $1,00 to be credited on your Review. We find neither Pleasant Valley, nor your name on our list. At Pleasant Corners, Ill., however, we find the name of Darns Myers. You also send $1,00 to be credited on John and Leonard Appleby’s Reviews West Plumb River. Their names and Post Offices we do not find on our mail list. Please explain. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.29
Some one writes from Osceola, Iowa, and incloses $1,25 for Instructor 50c for “my Instructor” and 50c for M Alexander, and 25c for Geo. Cory. No name to the letter. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.30
Somebody writes from somewhere, without name or address, inclosing $1,00 for the Youth’s Instructor, and says, “I wish to pay for William Burritt’s, South Riley, Mich., and please credit the balance on my Instructor.” ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.31
RECEIPTS
For Review and Herald
Annexed to each receipt in the following list, is the Volume and Number of the Review & Herald to which the money receipted pays. If money for the paper is not in due time acknowledged, immediate notice of the omission should then be given. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.32
E A Berry 28-8, L Cresson 26-1 T T Brown 28-1, V Sumerix 27-1, Mrs E Buttrick 29-8, A Buel 28-1, S S Kimble 29-8, F Johnson 28-1, E B Wilcox 28-8, A Hopkins 28-24, W C Gage 28-1, Miss M A Nugent 29-9, Each $1,00. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.33
J Buchanan 29-5, A D Smith 29-1, F T Wales 29-1, J Saxby 29-20, C Buck 28-7, J S Wicks 28-7, G J Hodges 29-8, L H Root 30-5, Mrs M Perry 29-1, H W Gorden 28-14, P Kettle for A E Walker 29-8, L S McClure 29-1, A Avery 29-1, W H Edson 28-17, H Pierce for Mrs L Clark 29-1, J C Gregory 28-17, M Wick 29-1, E Wick 29-1, Mrs C M Tenny 29-8, L Haskill 29-1, S A Cole 29-8, Dr J Grover 29-1, S A Miller 31-1, L Morris 30-1, J Atkinson 30-7, T Demmon 29-10, J Brazee 29-1, W Carpenter jr 29-1, H M Kenyon 28-1, L A Green 29-1, Lach $2,00. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.34
C W Allen 28-8, G F Locke 28-1, each 30c. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.35
M Crumb 25c 28-1, J S Wicks for W H Kelly 75c 28-7, and S D Covey 25c 28-7, E Stafford $4,00 30-1, S A Snyder $3,00 29-1, Mrs E Wells $1,25 26-8, A Greenleaf 25c in full T H Hubbard 25c in full, H Jager $1,50 29-8, M Wilkinson $1,50 29-8, J Richardson $1,50 27-14, W Jackson $2,50 29-1. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.36
Subscriptions at the Rate of $3,00 per year
D Boardman $3,00 29-6. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.37
Review to Poor
E R Whitcomb $1,25. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.38
Books Sent By Mail
M Moody 50c, P Erb $2,00, Mrs C M Tenny 50c, A P Casey $1,10, A J Rice 29c, L A Poole $1,00, W Livingston 50c. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.39
Books sent by Express
A C Bourdeau West Enosburgh, Vt. $13,25. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.40
Cash Received on Account
A C Bourdeau 75c, S A McPherson $6,25, J Clark $10,00, S Howland $61,59. ARSH January 23, 1866, page 64.41