Advent Review, and Sabbath Herald, vol. 23
1864
January 5, 1864
RH, Vol. XXIII. Battle Creek, Mich., Third-Day, No. 6
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.”
VOL. XXIII. BATTLE CREEK, MICH., THIRD-DAY, JANUARY 5, 1864. No. 6
The Advent Reviews & Sabbath Herald
is published weekly, by
The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association.
TERMS. —Two Dollars a year in advance. One Dollar to the poor and to those who subscribe one year on trial. Free to those unable to pay half price. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 41.1
Address Elder JAMES WHITE, Battle Creek, Michigan. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 41.2
The New Year
Sunlight of the heavenly day,
Mighty to revive and cheer,
Bless our yet untrodden way,
Lead us through the entered year:
Where the shades of death we see,
Let thy living brightness be;
Let it speed our lingering feet,
Let it shine on all we meet.
ARSH January 5, 1864, page 41.3
Lord of all, we cannot know
What our paths may yet unfold;
But the part that love would show,
Wise to save us, thou hast told.
By our souls’ unmeasured price,
By thy life-long sacrifice,
By thy death to set us free,
Lead us on to joy in thee-
On to greet the perfect day,
Blessed end of toil and strife-
On through all the narrow way,
Brightness of our human life.
ARSH January 5, 1864, page 41.4
The Renovation of the Earth
Very fearful, indeed, is the scene which St. Peter (2 Peter 3:10) brings before us. But, then, I beg you to examine, and see it is not a universal destruction of which he speaks. Its purpose is the perdition of the ungodly, the sweeping away of the banded enemies of God, the uprooting of all His foes, the breaking in pieces of all combinations against Him. And after this is accomplished, the earth is to put on a new phase of beauty, in which no one discordant element shall again appear. This destruction was accomplished once by a flood. It will be again by fire. In the flood the apostle says, “The earth perished.” Moses says it was “destroyed.” How did it perish? How was it destroyed? Simply in reference to its state for a time as an habitable globe. No other destruction was wrought by the flood. None other will be by the fire. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 41.5
The earth is to be purified from the presence of the banded enemies of our Lord and his Christ. Its imprisoned fires are to be let loose. Earthquakes shall rend it. Volcanic eruptions shall change it. The heavens, i. e., the atmosphere, shall pass away with a great noise, is very descriptive in this phrase. It is passed by with a rushing sound, as of a tornado. It is a fearful commotion, but it does not at all convey the idea of universal destruction. The description of the apostle very strikingly reminds one of the terrors attending the eruptions of the great volcanoes. “One cannot,” says Bishop Berkley, “form a juster idea of the noise emitted by the mountain, (Vesuvius), than by imagining a mixed sound made up of the raging of a tempest, the murmur of a troubled sea, and the roaring of thunder and artillery, confused altogether. Though we heard this at the distance of twelve miles, yet it was very terrible.” In 1744 the flames of Cotopaxi rose three thousand feet above the brink of the crater, and its roarings were heard at the distance of six hundred miles. (Dick.) ARSH January 5, 1864, page 41.6
Of an eruption from Kilauea Hawaii, here is the following account: “The lavas rolled on, sometimes sluggishly and sometimes violently. * * * * It swept away forests in its course, at times parting and inclosing islets of earth and shrubbery, and at other times undermining and bearing away masses of rock and vegetation on its surface. Finally, it plunged into the sea with loud intonations. The burning lava, on meeting the waters, was shivered like melting glass into millions of particles, which were thrown up in clouds that darkened the sky, and fell like a storm of hail over the surrounding country. Vast columns of steam and vapors rolled off before the wind, whirling in ceaseless agitation, and the reflected glare of the lavas formed a fiery firmament overhead. For three weeks this terrific river disgorged itself into the sea, without abatement.”—Dana’s Geology, U. S. Exploring Expedition, p. 190. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 41.7
The intense heat of the fountain and stream of lava, cansed an influx of cool air from every quarter. This created terrific whirlwinds, which, constantly stalking about, like so many sentinels, bade defiance to the daring visitor.—American Journal of Science, Sept. 1852, p. 258. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 41.8
Now, you have but to enlarge this scene. You have but to suppose the imprisoned fires, that glow beneath the surface of the earth, to be let loose, in order to realize the terrific grandeur of the event sketched by St. Peter. And so perfect is the preparation for this, that Mr. Lyell says: “When we consider the combustible nature of the elements of the earth, so far as they are known to us, the facility with which their compounds may be discomposed, and enter into new combinations, the quantity of heat which they evolve during these processes; when we recollect that water itself is composed of two gases, which by their union produce intense heat; we may be allowed to share the astonishment of Pliny that a single day should pass without a general conflagration.—Principles of Geology, vol. ii, p. 451. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 41.9
As yet the hand that formed these elements restrains them. He will do so until his designs are accomplished. They are powerless against Him. When the appointed time has come, those restraints will be lifted off. He who kindled those fires will summon them to their work. He will let loose the imprisoned elements; the instrumentalities that have slumbered so long will come forth to their mission. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 41.10
When this is done, the new heavens and the new earth appear, and a new order of things is set up. And so St. Paul teaches when he says: “And thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hand. They shall perish, but thou remainest.” But how perish? The next verse answers, “And as a vesture shall thou fold them up, and they shall be changed.” Hebrews 1:10, 12. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 41.11
Aye, that is it. “Changed!” The curse shall be lifted off. The blight of sin shall rest upon the works of God no more. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 41.12
Now, all creation is subject to unholy uses. The sun shines on the evil, as well as on the good. The moon and the stars look down on wrong and oppression and crime. The sighing of the prisoner, the down-trodden and the oppressed, goes forth on every breeze. The earth nourishes those who defy its maker and theirs. The rains fall on the lands of those who are rebels against God, and tyrants over man. All the courses of nature minister to those who harden themselves in opposition to His will, and the very air that bears life and blessings upon its wings, is returned in curses to Him who bade it blow! The earth was made teeming with wondrous beauty. Now, thorns, thistles, and noxious weeds infest it. Tempests sweep across it, earthquakes rend its bosom, pestilence and disease go forth through every land, and decay and death reign everywhere with resistless sway, but in all these respects it shall be changed. From all these evils it shall be cleansed. It shall be restored to beauty, equal to that which first adorned it. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 41.13
Again, it shall lie in the light of its Creator’s smile, but that Creator shall then assume the dearer name, and wear the brighter crown of its Redeemer. No cloud of sin shall darken it again. A beauty, a glory, and a blessedness worthy of its Redeemer’s work, shall be its everlasting portion, and God’s will shall then “be done on earth, as it is in Heaven.” Then the scene which the poet has sketched from the volume of the Book shall be realized, and ARSH January 5, 1864, page 41.14
“One song employ all nations, and all cry,
Worthy the Lamb, for He was slain for us.
Worthy the Lamb, the hills and plains reply.
The dwellers in the vales and on the rocks,
Shout to each other, and the mountain tops
From different mountains catch the flying joy,
Till nation after nation taught the strain,
Earth rolls the rapturous hosanna round!”
ARSH January 5, 1864, page 41.15
I know not, brethren, how this theme may affect you, but for myself, I confess I cannot dwell upon it with out a quickening pulse at the though of the final and glorious triumph which it sets before us. I bless God for the bright glimpses of the splendors which shall mark the Redeemer’s reign. It is a wondrous privilege to be permitted to look forward and contemplate the period of his glorious return to earth. It is a blessed thing to turn the eye of faith upon the brightness of his many crowns. And, as we dwell thereon, that which places a hope firmer than an adamantine rock, beneath our feet, is that the pathway to those crowns leads up from the foot of the cross-the cross of Christ. Oh, it shall yet be the central figure of all creation’s history! From it shall go forth the mighty attraction, that shall hold the universe together. And as worlds revolve around their central sun, so shall the universe move in its mighty orbit, round the central fact of Christ and Him crucified. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 41.16
On that cross the Saviour won his crown. His agony and bloody sweat, his cross and passion, invest it with all its glories. The brightness of the one would have had no existence but for the shame and humiliation of the other. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 41.17
And his example here points out a great truth to us. If we would attain to the glory of His kingdom, we must seek and find an interest in his cross. Faith in Jesus Christ must unite us with his death, or we shall have no share in all the blessings which that death secured. The cross must lead us to the crown. Only in its shadow are we safe; only in the death which it sets forth can we attain to life; only through the shame which it records can we receive a title to the glory and blessedness of the everlasting kingdom.—Lectures on Daniel. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 41.18
You know not what is in your way, therefore walk humbly; glory is at the end, therefore press on cheerfully. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 41.19
Our Times and Hopes
Nearly two thousand years have elapsed since the ascension of our Lord, and we have positively reached the time spoken of by Daniel, the prophet, thus:—“Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall he increased.” Who can doubt? “He that runneth may read” this. Still another fact is not less obvious. It is that so clearly predicted by our Saviour thus: “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” The bands that bound society together, civil, social, and religious, all seem to be giving way; the time of trouble spoken of by both Daniel and our Saviour is upon us. “Like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt,” so it is now with the troubled masses. “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” This is now the moral phase of society, and precisely our prophetic whereabouts of the Church, our nation, and the world at large. The Church is in exile, weeping and praying, “even so come, Lord Jesus.” While the latter day “scoffers” in derision are saying, “Where is the promise of his coming?” Thousands are deceiving and being deceived by the delusive dream that the millennial day is softly stealing upon our world, and there shall be the much-talked-of golden age. Alas! for such! Between our time and that future glory of Messiah’s reign there lies a region as dark as midnight, strewed with such ruined hopes and blasting terrors as this world has never known-such a time of plagues and tribulation as never was, when all hopes based on finite good shall utterly perish, with all those who have deceived themselves thereby. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 42.1
There is a most manifest blind, persistent rejection of the glorious truth, that the next great event which will mark the history of our world, make an end of Satan’s usurpation, and bring in everlasting righteousness, is the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ to establish his kingdom, in answer to that prayer he himself indited: “Thy kingdom come,” the very kingdom ascribed to him, “for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever. Amen.” ARSH January 5, 1864, page 42.2
No person who may be favored with grace enough to disarm himself of prejudice, and sit down as an humble learner at the feet of Christ and his Apostles, and receive their exposition of the Prophets, can resist the fact that the hope of the primitive Church was, and the true hope of the Church now is, “the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” (Titus 2:13.) Not until then will the Church be disenthralled and saved from all her enemies, coming out of the wilderness, “fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners.” Not until then will God’s incorrigible enemies bow and confess, under the heavy pressure of his righteous judgments, and be removed as tares and cumberers of the ground. Verily, there is no other legitimate Bible hope for the people of God in this trying hour. If other hopes are entertained, they are of human origin, and never to be realized. They are but “the light of the fire, and the sparks of their own kindling.” With all deference to the opinions of others, such is the modern theory of this world’s conversion, and the building of Christ’s everlasting kingdom in his personal absence by human instrumentality. In the light of God’s immutable truth, it may safely be affirmed that God has nowhere commissioned men either to convert the world or build his kingdom proper in this world. If any doubt, let such disprove by plain, obvious scriptural testimony. Christ has commissioned and sent forth men to preach the Gospel of the kingdom, and deigned to tell us what the sure result would be, namely, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned.” The labors of more than eighteen hundred years, the world over, have invariably confirmed this certain result. We are forced to the conclusion that, during the present dispensation, fallen humanity will remain the same, and that the Gospel, like its author, will continue the same; nor will God change. Hence the results of gospel preaching, and all other means of grace, will not be more efficient in their results than they have been in the primitive Church, and through the ages past. To what other conclusion does revelation, reason, and common sense lead? The apostle Paul certainly understood the nature of his calling, and may safely be regarded as a model minister and missionary of the gospel. In all his writings, there is nothing to indicate that he thought his commission was to convert the world, or build the kingdom of Christ Jesus. His words may be forced into such a construction, as they frequently have been. We will hear him speak for himself, thus: “I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” He meddled not with things beyond his calling and measure. Would to God it were so with all who claim to be sent of Christ to teach and preach in our day. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 42.3
The lameness of the various efforts to prove the world’s conversion from the Sacred Oracles, proves the fallacy of that theory. Mere assumption and inference can, in no case, be admitted as evidence. Take the following specimens, which are, in substance, what lately appeared in print, to prove the world’s future conversion in the present dispensation. First, to prove the world’s conversion the following language is quoted: “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” (Romans 5:20.) The most that this Scripture proves is, that divine grace so abounds, that whosoever will may be saved, and nothing more. Grace provides and reveals the means of salvation, but is not salvation itself, nor does its freeness prove that one sinner will accept of it, much less the whole world. Again, “All things are put under his feet.” Very true; and, therefore, we must submit to be saved by His grace, or fall and perish by His righteous judgments. How does this prove the conversion of this world? Once more: “Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine in heritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” (Psalm 2:8.) Why omit the ninth verse, which explains the meaning of the eighth, and is a part of the same paragraph, and which tells what Christ will do with the unbelieving part of the world given unto him? Certainly not save them, for they will not believe, more than would the antediluvians or Sodomites. The ninth verse, so carefully avoided, clearly states what shall be the final doom of such heathens, thus: “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Does this prove, or look like, the world’s conversion, when the two verses are read together, as common honesty would dictate? This garbling and perverting the Sacred Scriptures to sustain a favorite but false theory, is one of the most alarming signs of our times, for which there can be no excuse or apology. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 42.4
This is not the age or dispensation of the kingdom and reign of Christ, but a preparatory dispensation of the Holy Ghost to illuminate, purify, strengthen, and comfort those who received him by faith in Christ. Thus is the Lord preparing a people for himself “meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” (Colossians 1:12.) The fact that God is now raising up witnesses in all parts of the world to this precious truth, is certainly worthy the consideration of all.—Advocate. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 42.5
What Profit Should we Have if we Pray Unto Him? Job 21:15
The great majority of us have little faith in prayer. This is one of those causes which may produce a habit of mind in devotion, resembling that of impenitent prayer, and yet distinguishable from it, and co-existent, often, with some degree of genuine piety. Christians often have little faith in prayer as a power in real life. They do not embrace cordially, in feeling as well as in theory, the truth which underlies the entire scriptural conception and illustration of prayer, that it is literally, actually, positively, effectually, a means of power. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 42.6
Singular as it may appear, the fact is indisputable, that Christian practice is often at a discount by the side of heathen habits of devotion. Heathen prayer, whatever else it is or is not, is a reality in the heathen idea. A pagan suppliant has faith in prayer, as he understands it. Groveling as his notion of it is, such as it is he means it. He trusts it as an instrument of power. He expects to accomplish something by praying. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 42.7
When Ethelred, the Saxon king of Northumberland, invaded Wales, and was about to give battle to the Britons, he observed near the enemy a host of unarmed men. He inquired who they were, and what they were doing. He was told they were monks of Bangor, praying for the success of their countrymen. “Then,” said the heathen prince, “they have begun the fight against us; attack them first.” ARSH January 5, 1864, page 42.8
So any unperverted mind will conceive of the scriptural idea of prayer, as that of one of the most down right, sturdy realities in the universe. Right in the heart of God’s plan of government is it lodged as a power. Amidst the conflicts which are going on in the evolution of that plan, it stands as a power. Into all the intricacies of divine working and the mysteries of divine decree, it reaches out silently as a power. In the mind of God, we may be assured, the conception of prayer is no fiction, whatever men may think of it. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 42.9
It has, and God has determined that it should have, a positive and an appreciable influence in directing the course of human life. It is, and God has purposed that it should be, a link of connection between human mind and divine mind, by which, through His infinite condescension, we may actually move His will. It is, and God has decreed that it should be, a power in the universe, as distinct, as real, as natural, and as uniform, as the power of gravitation, or of light, or of electricity. A man may use it, as trustingly and as soberly as he would use either of these. It is as truly the dictate of good sense, that a man should expect to achieve something by praying, as it is that he should expect to achieve something by a telescope, or the mariner’s compass, or the electric telegraph. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 42.10
This intense practicalness characterizes the scriptural ideal of prayer. The Scriptures make it a reality, and not a reverie. They never bury it in the notion of a poetic or philosophic contemplation of God. They do not merge it in the mental fiction of prayer by action in any other or all other duties of life. They have not concealed the fact of prayer beneath the mystery of prayer. The scriptural utterances on the subject of prayer admit of no such reduction of tone, and confusion of sense, as men often put forth in imitating them. Up, on the level of inspired thought, prayer is prayer; a distinct, unique, elemental power in the spiritual, universe, as pervasive and as constant as the great occult powers of nature. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 42.11
The want of trust in this scriptural ideal of prayer, often neutralizes it, even in the experience of a Christian. The result cannot be otherwise. It lies in the nature of mind. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 42.12
Observe, for a moment, the philosophy of this. Mind is so made, that it needs the hope of gaining an object, as an inducement to effort. Even so simple an effort as that involved in the utterance of desire, no man will make persistently, with no hope of gaining an object. Despair of an object is speechless. So, if you wish to enjoy prayer, you must first form to yourself such a theory of prayer-or, if you do not consciously form it, you must have it-and then you must cherish such trust in it, as a reality, that you shall feel the force of an object in prayer. No mind can feel that it has an object in praying, except in such degree as it appreciates the scriptural view of prayer as a genuine thing. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 42.13
Our conviction on this point must be as definite and as fixed as our trust in the evidence of our senses. It must become as natural to us to obey one as the other. If we suffer our faith to drop down from the lofty conception of prayer as having a lodgment in the very counsels of God, by which the universe is swayed, the plain practicalness of prayer as the Scriptures teach it, and as prophets and apostles and our Lord himself performed it, drops proportionately; and in that proportion, our motive to prayer dwindles. Of necessity, then, our devotions become spiritless. We cannot obey such faith in prayer, with any more heart than a man who is afflicted with double vision can feel in obeying the evidence of his eyes. Our supplications cannot, under the impulse of such a faith, go, as one has expressed it, “in a right line to God.” They become circuitous, timid, heartless. They may so degenerate as to be offensive, “like the reekings of the Dead Sea.”—Still Hour. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 42.14
Contentment makes a believer rich, while plenty leaves the sinner poor. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 42.15
When a man chooses for himself, he generally has a very bad portion. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 42.16
Bear Ye One Another’s Burdens
The following which I found in the “Tract Journal,” is a short, sweet treatise upon the text it bears. Those who think and wish to pass through life easily, without any burdens, never placing their necks beneath any yoke, may peruse it with profit; in fact, we may all read it and grow better. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 43.1
It is a true remark of somebody, that “some people pass through this world like straws upon a river; they do not go, but are carried.” Others, a few, fear not to soil their hands or bend their hearts to others woes. Their aim is to do good somewhere to somebody. Such know what burdens are. They do not ask to live in this world without them. The sentiments of another come forcibly to my mind: “I hope we shall not be satisfied with being half a Christian. It is a day to elevate the standard of piety. We want more Judsons, Newels, and Huntingtons. These were devoted souls. It was not half-way work with them. Religion was all and in all. For this they lived, they suffered, and, supported by its consolations, they died. They have left a bright track for us to follow. Well may we tread closely in their steps; and then, though we share in their sufferings, we shall also inherit with them a crown of glory.” m. d. a. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 43.2
“How tired you look, little girl! Isn’t your pail very heavy?” “Oh, yes, ma’am, it is pretty heavy, but I shouldn’t mind it so much if it didn’t make my hands smart so.” And the burden-bearer, a girl perhaps ten years old, showed the palms of her hand, red as blisters. “Poor thing! Give it to me a little while; I’ll carry it for you, and rest you.” I saw by the face of the kind young lady, as she lifted the pail, that it was heavier than she expected, but I heard no exclamation about the exceeding weight. Common politeness prompted me to step forward and relieve her of the unaccustomed burden; but I refrained, for two reasons. First, I knew I must turn at the second corner; and, next, I wanted to see if the lady would persevere in carrying so large a pail through the crowded street. She did. When I turned the corner she was in the midst of interesting inquiries about the child’s brothers and sisters. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 43.3
I went on my way, thinking of the commandment which she was obeying, “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” She was an utter stranger to me, but I felt that I knew her. I felt sure that the heart which prompted such sweet acts of wayside kindness was the home of kindly affections. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 43.4
“Help us to bear one another’s burders, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Often do I hear this prayer uttered. Sometimes I see it answered. Sometimes I see Christians showing every day readier sympathy, a more helpful, loving spirit to their wayside companions in the path of life; drawing to them the afflicted, as our Lord drew to himself from far and near those “sick with divers diseases.” Oftener this prayer goes up to Heaven, and brings no answer down. Why? We do not wish for an answer. We ask, to be sure, that we may bear each other’s burdens, but how angrily should we start up if the burden of our nearest neighbor were laid upon our individual back. It is heavy, The very name, burden, implies a weary weight. We have now all the load that we can bear. Many of us think we have a greater one than we can carry. What shall we do? Shall we lie idly down and look up to the soft sky and say, “Gracious Father, let me die and come to Heaven, where there is no more weariness?” Not at all! Cast the burden which weighs you to the earth upon him whose strength is infinite, whose praise is that he “has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;” who has bidden us cast our care upon him, because he careth for us. Then will you have a hand ready to help the struggling one at your side, strength to make somebody’s burdens a little lighter. For this service you have all the promises of God. Paul’s mighty prayer for the Colossians stands recorded for you and me. He implores God that they may be “strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto—.” Unto what? Unto “triumphings and gloryings, and the crown of life?” By no means. “Unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness.” This is the end for which all the imperial attributes of our God do service to us; that we in our weakness, strengthened by his might, may be able to bear and suffer like our divine Master. St. Paul prays for the Colossians that they may be “fruitful in every good work, and always increasing in the knowledge of God.” This is the other half of our work as Christians. But we must be willing to do the work and bear the burdens with Martha, as well as sit with Mary at the feet of our Lord to be taught the “knowledge of him.” Our Saviour is perfect, both in knowledge and love; “though we fail indeed, he fails never;” his complete fullness hides our deficiencies. Let us do what we can, though it must be so little, remembering that the grandest monument ever raised to a mortal bore this inscription, “She hath done what she could.” ARSH January 5, 1864, page 43.5
Consolatory
Look to him who bore our grief,
To him that carried all our sorrow;
He grants the contrite soul relief,
And pain may end before to-morrow.
ARSH January 5, 1864, page 43.6
What tho’ thy kindred thee deride,
And tho’ thy bosom friend reject thee;
Through persecution’s swelling tide,
Thy Saviour safely will protect thee.
ARSH January 5, 1864, page 43.7
And if his voice we still obey,
Then all the help we need is given;
Strength in proportion to our day,
And at the end, a blissful Heaven.
ARSH January 5, 1864, page 43.8
Sabbath Meditations.—No. 4
What a variety of subjects for contemplation in the word of God, all tending to the same great end, namely, the sanctification of the chosen people of God. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 43.9
Of all the lessons taught in the word of God, there is perhaps none more difficult to practice than self-denial. Christ says, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross. It is easy to talk, easy to write, and it costs but little to practice many of the Christian virtues; but to deny self those gratifications to which we are accustomed, to restrain the risings of self, to keep under the carnal mind, to sacrifice self for the pure principles of the truth, rooting out the noxious plants of self-complacency, self-flattery and pride,—this costs us many a hard-fought battle with the old man of the carnal heart. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 43.10
Self-denial is an indispensable characteristic of the Christian. It is a virtue without which the soul withers in drought and barrenness, and even society itself becomes intolerable where this virtue is not practiced. Even irreligious people often practice a degree of self-denial as a safeguard and a preservative of social peace and family order, as a trait which must be interwoven with the warp of life in all the social and domestic relations. This is practiced in a degree in every well ordered household. Indeed, wholly without this, society would be a boiling sea of conflicting interests, more fatal and intolerable than the waters of Sodom. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 43.11
But we are called to a more complete and thorough carrying out of this principle than the polished and accomplished worldling ever dreamed of. This denying one’s self for Christ, reaches farther, and extends to the whole range of human action, both in thought, word and deed. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 43.12
That uncharitable assigning of unholy motives to another, that bitter feeling, that suspicious suggestion, that impure thought or unholy desire, that covetous anxiety for more of earthly treasure, that longing for present ease, that slothful negligence, that rebellious, bitter retort, that unsanctified opposition to such reproof as suits our case, that building of castles in the air, that wandering of the mind to worldly scenes and forbidden objects, all must be denied. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 43.13
We cannot catalogue the long list of emotions and words, thoughts and desires and acts, which self-denial must subject and subdue, ere all the soul is brought into subjection to the will of Christ. The moral law as expounded by Jesus Christ comprehends in its scope everything which is offensive to God. But plain as this is, still none but those who are taught of the Spirit of God arrive at just and adequate conceptions of the requirements of this law. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 43.14
It is indeed a great thing to be a Christian; a great thing to be humble enough to be taught of the Spirit of God; to find the narrow way and to travel onward with steady step; to listen to such teaching as the Spirit of God presses home to the teachable, humble soul, and when taught, to deny self the wrong and receive the right. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 43.15
To such, sweet are the rewards of self-denial. The conscience once an accuser and a tormenter of the soul, now approves and smiles; the passions once mutinous and tyrannical, now subdued and obedient, be come subject to the law of God, and holy calmness and peace pervade the mind once tumultuous and confused. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 43.16
J. Clarke.
Right Conversation
Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me; and to him that or dereth his conversation aright, will I shew the salvation of God. Psa. 1, 23. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 43.17
Bro. White: My mind, of late, has been dwelling upon the subject brought to view in the above text. As we are living in the days when evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived, does it not become us to watch our conversation, that we may receive the blessing promised to him that ordereth his conversation aright. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 43.18
We read in 1 Peter 1:15, “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.” Now is it not time that we take heed to the many passages of Scripture bearing upon this point? Our Saviour says in Matthew 12:36, 37, “But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” ARSH January 5, 1864, page 43.19
It seems that idle words, jesting, and filthy conversation, is one of the besetting sins of this age. Dear brethren and sisters, are we clear of this sin? If we are not, let us start from this time, and resolve that we will be guilty of it no longer. How often our ears are stung by the filthy conversation of the wicked about us. And it can truly be said by those who are trying to become pure and holy in the sight of God, as it was of just Lot; who dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds. And we read in 1 Peter 3:10: “For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile.” And James says in chap 3:13: “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.” And Peter, speaking of the things that are to take place at the coming of the Lord, says, 2 Peter 3:11: “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness.” ARSH January 5, 1864, page 43.20
Dear brethren and sisters, Jesus is soon coming, and are we getting ready? Are we making that preparation that we shall need, to stand before the Judge of all the earth at his appearing? Oh let us arouse ourselves and be awake to the times in which we are living. The war cloud is hanging over this earth. The nations are angry; but the four angels are holding the four winds of the earth, till the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads. Let us work while the day lasts; for the night soon cometh when no man can work. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 43.21
Jesus will have a pure church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Then let us purify our souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit, unto unfeigned love of the brethren. See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently. Jesus gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. I want to get ready for the coming of the Saviour, and be numbered with the 144,000 in whose mouth will be found no guile, and sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 43.22
F. F. Lamoreaux.
Grand Ledge, Mich., Dec. 27, 1863.
As the gay and brilliant colors with which the forests are arrayed in October are caused by the sharp sting of the frost, so some of the lovliest and brightest virtues which adorn humanity are caused by the sting of affliction.—Brace. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 43.23
The Review and Herald
“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”
BATTLE CREEK, MICH., THIRD-DAY, JANUARY 5, 1864,
JAMES WHITE, EDITOR
“Decisive on the Sabbath Question.”
The following article is from the pen of Prof. N. N. Whiting, of Williamsburg, N. Y., and was published in the Voice of the Prophets, for September, 1863. It claims to be decisive on the Sabbath question, and is consequently just such an article as the readers of the Review will be pleased to examine. If anything is said against the Sabbath, we prefer something which is, or is supposed to be, decisive, reserving the right, of course, to judge for ourselves, whether or not such is its character. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 44.1
the sabbath
The Hebrew word “Sabbath,” has been transferred by the translators of the Septuagint and by the New Testament writers. You are aware that it signifies “a rest,” “a lying by from labor.” In the Greek it appears in two forms, one is “Sabbaton,” a neuter noun of the second declension, with a plural, “Sabbata.” The dative plural of this word is “Sabbasi,” found in the third declension, as if from a nominative, “Sabbat,” or “Sabbas.” The genitive plural is “Sabbaton,” (long o, as in our word tone.) An English reader when he sees the nominative “Sabbaton,” (short o, as in not,) would be likely to confound it with the genitive plural, or vice versa. So much for the form of the word. Now for the use. 1. “Sabbaton” signifies “a rest,” “a Sabbath,”—especially, the seventh day of the week. By a metonomy it is also used for the interval from Sabbath to Sabbath, that is, a week. So in Luke 18:12: “dis tou Sabbatou,” twice in a week. In other instances, this word is used after numerals, as “first,” and in Matthew 28:1, after “mian” “one,” by Hebrewism for “first.” So Mark 16:9, “Early the first day of the week,” “Proi prote Sabbatou.” So Luke 24:1; John 20:1. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 44.2
2. The plural form, “Sabbata,” is used often with the singular signification. This may be regarded as a Hebrew idiom. In these cases it is in the genitive or dative case, plural, as “Sabbaton,” or “Sabbasi.” For examples of genitive plural, see Matthew 28:1; Luke 4:16; Matthew 12:1; Acts 13:15, and 16:13. For dative plural, Mark 2:23, 24; Luke 4:31; 6:2, 13:10. I believe that there are only two instances in which “Sabbata” (in nominative plural) is properly translated Sabbaths, viz.: Acts 17:2, and Colossians 2:16. In the Septuagint, “Sabbata,” (nominative plural) is used as a singular, Exodus 16:23, 26. Now, as to the passages to which you refer, viz.: ARSH January 5, 1864, page 44.3
Mark 16:9, “prote tou Sabbatou,” is “the first day of the week.” ARSH January 5, 1864, page 44.4
Mark 16:1, “diagenomenou tou Sabbatou,” is “the Sabbath being passed.” ARSH January 5, 1864, page 44.5
Mark 16:2, “tes mias Sabbaton,” (plural,) “of the first day of the week.” ARSH January 5, 1864, page 44.6
Luke 24:1, see above. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 44.7
John 20:1, “te mia ton Sabbaton,” is “the first day of the week.” ARSH January 5, 1864, page 44.8
John 20:19, “tor Sabbaton,” “of the week.” ARSH January 5, 1864, page 44.9
1 Corinthians 16:2, “kata mian Sabbaton,” is “on the first day of the week;” and Acts 20:7 is exactly the same, i. e., “mia Sabbaton.” ARSH January 5, 1864, page 44.10
Now, then, I regard Colossians 2:16, as decisive on the Sabbath question. “We are to let no man judge (i. e., have authority) over us in respect to the distinctions of meats or drinks, as clean or unclean, and in respect to holy days, or new moons, or Sabbaths.” It is in vain to say, that other days besides Saturday were “days of rest,” or Sabbaths. The plural (genitive), “Sabbaton,” will include all days of rest.” Its most general rest, as we all know, is the most frequent (Sabbath) day of rest. Let me recommend to your notice, Paley’s Moral Philosophy, article “Sabbath,” for a clear and concise view of this subject. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 44.11
remarks
It will be seen that all but the concluding paragraph of the foregoing article, is simply a criticism upon the word Sabbath, on which there is no controversy The last paragraph alone involves a position, and sets forth the views of the writer. He considers Colossians 2:16, as decisive on the Sabbath question. “We are to let no man judge us,” etc., “in respect to Sabbaths.” Why not? What is the reason for this? How have we come by this freedom in respect to sabbaths? This article does not tell us; but Paul does; and to his language we must therefore appeal: Colossians 2:16: “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days.” This language is a conclusion from some preceding statement; something has been done so affecting sabbaths that no man is to judge us in respect to them. What is this? We find it in verse 14, where it is stated that Christ blotted out “the hand-writing of ordinances, that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.” This is all that was done. The “hand-writing of ordinances” was blotted out. Now it will be evident to all that no conclusion can be drawn from this fact showing a release from anything not contained in the hand writing of ordinances: otherwise, we should have a conclusion broader than the premises, which would be inadmissible. But Paul does deduce from this that we are released from meats, drinks, feast-days, new moons and sabbaths. These things therefore are embraced in the hand-writing of ordinances. To say, then, that the weekly Sabbath is here referred to by the term sabbaths, involves us at once in the hideous conclusion that the weekly Sabbath, the Sabbath of the Lord our God, “the holy of the Lord and honorable,” a part of that law which is a delight to the Christian, which is “spiritual,” and “holy, just, and good,” is but a part of the hand-writing of ordinances! Can we adopt such a conclusion? If we do, we must also accept the unsightly train that follows: ARSH January 5, 1864, page 44.12
1. If the Sabbath is a part of the hand-writing of ordinances, then is the whole law of ten commandments such also; for the Sabbath is imbosomed in the very midst of those commandments, and was, like them, spoken with the voice of God from the summit of Sinai, and written with his own finger on tables of stone. Whatever argument affects the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, affects in the same direction, and to the very same extent, the whole ten of the commandments: ARSH January 5, 1864, page 44.13
2. If the Sabbath is a part of the hand-writing of ordinances, then is the Sabbath, and all the ten commandments, abolished and done away; for the hand writing of ordinances has been blotted out and nailed to the cross; and no man is to judge us in respect to any of these things! ARSH January 5, 1864, page 44.14
3. If the Sabbath is a part of the hand-writing of ordinances, then was it a shadow of things to come; verse 17; but the Sabbath was instituted before the fall; which at once renders the claim of its being at all shadowy or typical, wholly inadmissible. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 44.15
4. If the Sabbath is a part of the hand-writing of ordinances, then it is “against” man and “contrary to’ him; it is one of the carnal ordinances of Hebrews 9:10, and a part of the yoke of bondage of Acts 15:10, which Peter told the disciples neither they nor their fathers were able to bear. But on the other hand, the Sabbath is declared to be made “for man,” not against him; we are instructed to call it “a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable;” fearful judgments came upon Israel for neglecting it, and the greatest blessings are appended to its observance, even in prophecies which apply to this dispensation; our Lord devoted a great portion of his ministry to ridding it of its Pharisaic traditions, and placing it upon its true basis, the law of his Father; it is recognized in the New Testament as an existing institution, far this side of the cross, where the hand-writing of ordinances perished; John, in the Revelation, speaks of the Lord’s day, showing that the Lord claims one day in this dispensation as his own; and the prophet Isaiah carries us forward into the new earth, and brings to view the Sabbath in that glorious and eternal state. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 44.16
Do all these declarations refer to the same thing? Then farewell forever to the idea that the Bible is harmonious and consistent with itself! If declarations so palpably contradictory, are all spoken in reference to the same subject, let Christianity retire from the field, and skepticism and infidelity stand forth unimpeached in their audacious claims! ARSH January 5, 1864, page 44.17
But no: they do not all refer to the same thing. One is spoken of the Sabbath of the Lord; the other of the annual sabbaths of the Hebrews. This people had a class of such sabbaths, as distinct from the Sabbath of the Lord, as the fourth of July is from the Sunday of this land; and to confound the two, is to ignore every feature by which any two objects can be rendered distinct. These annual sabbaths of the Hebrews are associated throughout with their other ordinances of meats, drinks, new-moons. etc. The Sabbath of the Lord is never thus associated. These are the sabbaths referred to in Colossians 2:16. The Sabbath of the Lord is not referred to at all in that scripture. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 44.18
But an attempt is made to override this distinction in the declaration: “It is in vain to say that other days besides Saturday were ‘days of rest’ or Sabbaths. The plural (genitive), ‘Sabbaton’ will include all days of rest.” To this we have already partly replied by showing that no sabbaths could be included in that expression but such as were included in the hand-writing of ordinances, which is here the subject of Paul’s discourse. Because Paul says, as the result of the blotting out of the hand-writing of ordinances, that no man is to judge us in meats, drinks, sabbaths, etc., to play upon the word sabbaths and claim that it comprehends more than Paul has introduced as the subject of his reasoning, is too glaring a fallacy to need refutation. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 44.19
This would be sufficient on this point; but we reply further, that the assertion that the plural of Sabbaton includes all days of rest cannot be correct, as we have instances where it is applied to the sabbaths of the Jews, and to them exclusively. See Hosea 2:11: “I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.” This is addressed to the Jewish church under the figure of a lewd woman. The Lord by the prophet speaks of a class of sabbaths which he calls her sabbaths. This must refer to the local and ceremonial sabbaths of that people, and to them only; for the Lord never speaks of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment as her sabbath, but always as “the Sabbath of the Lord,” “my holy day,” etc.; and in this so far as we can learn all commentators are agreed. But here we find the word, sabbaths, according to the Septuagint, from the plural of Sabbaton, just as in Colossians 2. The conclusion is therefore not only legitimate but necessary, that Sabbaton either singular or plural is governed by the connection in which it stands, both as to the kind and number of sabbaths to which it refers. The connection in Colossians 2:16, will not allow us to include therein the rest-day of the fourth commandment; and hence that text, instead of being decisive, as is claimed, on the question of the weekly Sabbath, does not even refer to that institution! ARSH January 5, 1864, page 44.20
Are the Dead Conscious? No. 2
The evidences on this subject must be found in the revelation which God has graciously given us. Men talk of a philosophical argument in favor of natural immortality and consciousness in death. If the fact that Plato and other heathens, that were called philosophers, held the doctrine, furnishes such an argument, they certainly have one. But if it is claimed that natural science furnishes any proof of it, all we have to do is to deny it and ask for the proof. Nothing short of what is called theological science, a science not derived from the oracles of Jehovah, nor from any facts discoverable in nature, but from the oracles of heathen deities and the superstitions of those who did not choose “to retain God in their knowledge,” and were consequently. given “over to a reprobate mind,” and led captive by Satan at his will, can furnish anything in its favor. It is truly lamentable that so much of what is honored with the title of theology, is derived from such a source; but still it is the truth. Witness the heathen festival of the sun, the rival of the Sabbath of the Lord, usurping its place, and sustained by modern theology, Bible in hand! This and that have one parentage; the Bible says nothing in support of either, but much against both. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 44.21
The utmost stretch of human capacity is not able to discover any difference whatever between the death of a man and that of a brute. As far as our sagacity can penetrate, “as dieth the one, so dieth the other.” And no man has come back from the dead, with the information of what he knew while he was dead. A person in a trance is not dead, but living; and, like one in a partial sleep, he may dream. But, on the other hand, there are instances innumerable of living persons being utterly unconscious for a considerable length of time. Where were their immortal souls, which cannot cease to think during that time? And what principle of philosophy is that which teaches, that should you take a person in an unconscious state, and dash his brain to fragments, instantly his consciousness will return, and he will know, not only all he ever knew in his life, but besides this, what it is to be dead, and what is to be his eternal destiny? A slight pressure on the brain produces utter unconsciousness; but, according to this philosophy, grind the person to powder, or burn him to ashes, and it only increases his knowledge! If the word of the Lord asked me to believe this, I would try to believe it; but “oppositions of science, falsely so called,” will fail to produce the slightest conviction of its truth. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 44.22
It is a well known fact, that the powers of the mind, the judgment and the memory, decline and fail with those of the body. This is utterly inconsistent with the idea that the mind is immortal, and not dependent upon the body for the exercise of its faculties. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 45.1
We turn from the wisdom of men to the word of the Lord; and this word we shall find decisive of the question before us. It is said of Adam and of many of the antediluvian patriarchs, that they lived to a certain age and then died. The Bible nowhere informs us of an immortal principle that is separated from the body at death; but the man himself is represented as dying. “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return,” is the word of Him who cannot lie. Jacob, when about to die, charged his sons, saying, “Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.” Genesis 49:29. How unorthodox are such expressions at the present day! The man himself is represented as dying and being buried; as going down into the grave and mingling with the dust. If this is not the truth, it seems to me the Bible ought to have told us of it. But it has not. But concerning the resurrection it is said, that “all that are in the grave shall hear his voice, and shall come forth.” ARSH January 5, 1864, page 45.2
Job said of himself, in case he had died in infancy, “For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept, then had I been at rest. Ch 3:13. Could Job be asleep and awake at the same time? Could he be in motion when he was at rest? It certainly looks like an impossibility. “I will tell you how it is,” says a friend, “the body sleeps while the soul is awake, the body rests while the soul is in motion. The soul is immortal; it cannot die.” ARSH January 5, 1864, page 45.3
But Ezekiel says, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” ARSH January 5, 1864, page 45.4
“But,” says my friend, “you quote it as though the spirit of man was meant by the term soul, when the context incontestibly shows that no more than person or life is meant by it.” ARSH January 5, 1864, page 45.5
Amen. That is just what is meant by the term. Person and life are its primary and chief significations. When it is said “Man became a living soul,” person is meant. He became a living person. And when it is said, “Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath soul,” life simply is the meaning of the term. Hence a person, or any being that has life, is a living soul. And when it is said, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die,” death is threatened against the living person that sins. And when it is said, “As her soul was in departing,” (for she died,) life is all that departed; “she died.” Genesis 35:18, 19. “Rachel died, and was buried.” This is the key that unlocks the whole subject. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 45.6
But, my friend, you make a distinction between soul and spirit; and seem to admit that the soul is mortal, while you claim that the spirit is immortal. I believe it is generally understood that the “immortal soul” and the “deathless spirit” are one and the same thing. This idea must be corrected. Two parts of man, then, the body and the soul, are admitted to be mortal, while immortality is only claimed for one part out of three. This is narrowing down the controversy. And when it is proved, as it has been, that the spirit, which at death returns to God who gave it, is simply the breath of life which was breathed into his nostrils at the beginning, the whole question is settled. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 45.7
R. F. Cottrell.
A Few Thoughts on the Penalty of the Original Law
The penalty of the original law is not spiritual or moral death. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 45.8
1. Spiritual death is a state of sin and no punishment. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 45.9
2. It would confound the crime with the penalty, and would be virtually saying to man, because you have sinned, I pronounce you a sinner. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 45.10
3. If spiritual death is the penalty, and Christ suffered the full penalty of the law, it follows that Christ died a spiritual death, which is to be dead in trespasses and sins; which would prove that he was a sinner and give the word of God the lie; for it says, In him was no sin. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 45.11
4. If spiritual death is the penalty of the law, and is never to be changed, but there is to be a continuation of the same in hell, it contradicts the Bible; for that teaches that the sinner must suffer the second death. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 45.12
The penalty of the original law was physical or corporeal death. Proof, (1) Genesis 3:17-24. Verse 19 reads as follows: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return.” ARSH January 5, 1864, page 45.13
That the penalty might be inflicted upon Adam, God drives him from the garden, cuts him off from having access to the tree of life, deprives him of the means of perpetuating his existence; and the result is, Adam goes back into the dust. And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died. The penalty God pronounced upon Adam has never been revoked. Immediately after man’s transgression, the elements of nature were placed in opposition to him that he might lead a life of toil, become subject to the ills incident to his natural life, until his career is ended and he sleeps in the dust. The same dying nature that Adam possessed he has entailed upon his posterity. The seeds of mortality are ripening fast, and our friends are continually going to the hills of the dead. If it had not been for the scheme of salvation through Jesus Christ, the sleep of Adam and his posterity must have been an eternal, unconscious night in the dust of the earth. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 45.14
Proof, (2) Romans 5:12: “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” ARSH January 5, 1864, page 45.15
Proof, (3) 1 Corinthians 15:21: For since by man came death, by man (or Christ) came also the resurrection of the dead.” If it had not been for the transgression of man, the boon of eternal life would have been his. Notwithstanding man by transgression involved the world in ruin, yet God’s love was not exhausted. A remedy is provided, a scheme devised for man’s recovery. Eternal life is promised through a crucified and risen Saviour to all the faithful ones. The blessing of eternal life is placed before us as an object of hope and pursuit. Shall we make an effort to secure the treasure? ARSH January 5, 1864, page 45.16
Reader, let us try to be loyal to the government of Heaven. The promise is to them who by patient continuance in well doing, seek for glory and honor and immortality. Eternal life is the reward. The blessed and holy will have a part in the first resurrection at the coming of Christ. But the sinner comes up in the second resurrection, and will be doomed to the second death as the reward of his own personal sins. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 45.17
Monroe, Wis. Wm. S. Ingraham.
The Faith of Jesus
We understand that the faith of Jesus is something definite, or having precise limits; embracing a perfectly correct religious system; and any departure from, or opposition to it, whether through design or ignorance, is radically wrong. The proclamation of the third angel of Revelation 14:9-11, is now being heard; and in connection with that proclamation it is said in verse 12, “Here is the patience of the saints, here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” ARSH January 5, 1864, page 45.18
Reader, there is now a people among us, who are striving through the assisting grace of God, in patience to possess their souls, waiting for the coming of their Lord; and keeping “the faith of Jesus.” The faith of Jesus is something which may be kept, and this faith is a thorough knowledge and belief of the truth, as revealed to us by our Lord. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 45.19
As the coming of our Lord is near at hand, it seems absolutely necessary that we should be in possession of, or fully understand his testimony; for in Ephesians 5:27, it is said that he is to “present to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” It is said also in 2 John 9, 10, “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God; He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, hath both the Father and the Son.” “If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 45.20
The question then arises, How shall we, amid the conflicting views of the present day, be able to decide what is right, and what is wrong? The Baptists would say, Go with us, and the Methodists, Go with us; and so with each one and all of the different religionists of the age. But what says the testimony? “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” John 7:17. What is it to do the will of God? “This is the will of God, that ye keep his commandments.” “A good understanding have all they that keep his commandments.” Psalm 111:10. “My son forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments, so shalt thou find favor and good understanding, in the sight of God and man. Proverbs 3:1-4. Do you wish the Spirit of God to lead you into the faith of Jesus? Peter speaking of Christ, says in Acts 5:32. “And we are witnesses of these things, and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.” ARSH January 5, 1864, page 45.21
At the present time we wish to call your attention to the law of God, that law, which, according to the testimony of Jesus, he “came not to destroy.” As a brother once said, “Man may get up a golden calf, and pretend to pray and shout, and sing, and think they have a good religion; but the Bible tells us, that ‘he that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be an abomination.’” Proverbs 28:9. “He that saith I know him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” Through grace, let us first understand, then keep, and live according to “the faith of Jesus.” ARSH January 5, 1864, page 45.22
Wm. S. Foote.
Pendleton, O.
Astonishing Apostasy
Elder Moses Hull Departed from the Faith, and Gone to Spiritualism!
statement of the general conf. committee
Dear Brethren: It becomes the unpleasant duty of your Committee to announce to you through these columns, the glaring heresies and downfall of Elder Moses Hull. To you who have ever looked upon this man as sound in the faith, and have been so often pleased with his preaching, this statement may seem rather startling, yet it is nevertheless but the utterance of truth. For more than five years, Elder Hull has been an acknowledged preacher among this people, exercising the various functions of a Christian minister with the approval of the body, and as such he has been cheerfully sustained by the liberalities of the church. But to-day he is a fallen man, and in the light of the sacred Scriptures, a heretic of the most obnoxious kind. We will now state some of his present views, which not only relieve him from any further duties in this cause, but exclude him from the fellowship of all who revere the word of God. The points are as follows: ARSH January 5, 1864, page 45.23
1. His rejection of the Bible, as a rule of life. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 45.24
2. A denial of the divinity of Jesus Christ. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 45.25
3. Rejection of the vicarious merits of the blood of Christ, and consequently the whole doctrine of the atonement. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 46.1
4. Believes in the almost total unaccountability of man. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 46.2
5. Maintains that every individual of the race of Adam will progress, until all will become good, happy, and saved. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 46.3
6. Denies the doctrine of the physical resurrection. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 46.4
7. Questions the existence of a personal Devil. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 46.5
8. Discards the idea of future punishment to the wicked. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 46.6
9. Denies the mortality of man. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 46.7
10. Believes in the conscious state of the dead. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 46.8
11. Rejects the Bible view of the saints’ inheritance. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 46.9
12. Disbelieves entirely the view of Christ’s atoning work as a High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 46.10
13. In short, he has adopted the theory and philosophy of Modern Spiritualism almost in toto. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 46.11
These points were obtained in an interview recently held by two of the three members of the General Conference Committee, and the Michigan State Conference Committee, with Eld. Hull, and in private conversation. The reader will perceive from them that the “fearful leap” has been taken, and that the prediction of the apostle, “In the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrine’s of devils,” in him finds an instance of most literal accomplishment. To-day Eld. Hull is a spirit-medium. He has taken part in circles in this city, has already made some converts to the theory, and talks as glibly of the “spheres,” “circles,” “mesmerism,” and “the summer-land,” as if they were his mother tongue. He is what is called an “impressible medium,” and now writes through spirit influence. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 46.12
Concerning his views now, it may be safely said that he does not hold one point in common with this people. To the question asked him, what views he still maintained as formerly, he replied, all he could then think of were “spiritual gifts and the Sabbath.” But his views of spiritual gifts, as he expounded them to us, are no more like the Bible view than black is like white. He holds that every human being has a gift-a continual inspiration from his guardian spirit. As to his keeping the Sabbath, he observes it on other authority than the Holy Scriptures; for he stated to one of the committee that when his “inspiration” told him the seventh day was not the Sabbath, he should no longer keep it. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 46.13
Some of his positions are so blasphemous that it will startle the reader to see them. Concerning the offering of Christ on the cross, he remarked, that his blood was of no more worth to other beings, than if Moses Hull should be sacrificed by some wicked mob for his good deeds that he might do! How far this falls short of doing “despite to the Spirit of grace,” and “counting the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing,” let the reader judge. Of the point first mentioned, his rejection of the Bible as an unerring rule, he said, “The Bible would do for that age, but I will not give up my inspiration for that of any Bible writer.” Speaking of the condition of the human family, he remarked, “I regard all mankind as doing about as well as they can. If they err, it is attributable to then organization. My present views nearly do away with the accountability of man; but not entirely.” Speaking of the doctrine of progression, he said, the men who lived in Noah’s time were not destroyed as a penalty for not getting into the ark, but because they could not believe Noah’s doctrine; that they struggled a little in the water, and then commenced their march in the spheres just where they left the world. We might mention many other remarks expository of his unbelief, but the above is sufficient to make the moral distance between him and true-hearted Seventh-day Adventists as far as the East is from the West. He has not only proved recreant on points which are of vital interest to us at the present time, but he has renounced those cardinal doctrines which are common to every so-called orthodox persuasion in the world. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 46.14
Against his personal character, however, we have no particular charges to bring. Our people have sustained Eld. Hull as a preacher among them, in full confidence that he was a man of good moral character. No Sabbath-keeper has intimated anything to the contrary, to our knowledge. And we can excuse his recent childish threats of what he would do if his character should be attacked, on the ground that he has been labored with patiently and faithfully since he came among us, both by preachers and leading members, for his imprudences, especially in regard to those females who wish to distinguish themselves by being very intimate with a young preacher. These imprudences have sometimes made him and the cause with which he was connected subjects of reproach. Many unfavorable reports followed Eld. Hull when laboring in Iowa, which threatened his usefulness in that State. But the Battle Creek church did not credit these reports. They regarded them as resulting from the advantages which opponents took of his incautious conduct. They saw in this young man some talent as a speaker, and with the hope of benefiting him, in seeing that his temporal wants were liberally supplied, and in correcting those faults in him which often exposed him to the reproaches of the enemies of the Lord, the church invited him to move his family to Battle Creek. Yet it is a fact, not much known among our people, that before Eld. Hull moved to Battle Creek, nearly three years since, he was required to sign a written article as a bond for his consistent walk. As a speaker he has generally excelled, and has been put forward to preach on such occasions as our General Conferences; but in the church at Battle Creek, where he is best known, he has not been considered a safe counselor in matters pertaining to the cause. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 46.15
Last May the General Conference Committee decided to place Eld. Hull in a new field. He had crippled his own influence in the West, in Michigan, by falling under the influence of a trance-speaking Spiritualist at Paw Paw about one year since, and in Western New York by imprudences in connection with tent-meetings there two years ago last August. The Committee decided to place him beyond the influence of these misfortunes, if possible, hoping that with the prudent example of Eld. Loughborough before him, and benefited by his judicious caution, he would improve, and be a blessing to the cause in New England. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 46.16
And not having confidence in Eld. Hull’s abilities, excepting as a preacher, the Committee gave to Eld. Loughborough the charge of the work, following in the matter somewhat the custom of the Methodists. In this decision he cordially acquiesced, and expressed himself much pleased with the arrangement before ten or more ministers who were seated in the editor’s room in the Review Office. But after Elds. Loughborough and Hull had labored together in New England about three months, Eld. Hull demurred against the decision of the Committee, stating that he would be second to no man. He stated in Manchester, N. H., before Eld. James White and others that he did not object to the course of Eld. Loughborough, as he had only carried out the decision of the General Conference Committee; but his complaint was against the Committee. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 46.17
Soon his old doubts, which have been his occasional companions for the past twelve months, revived in all their furor, and he withdrew from the field to his family, who were then stopping in Indiana. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 46.18
Immediately on his return home, to Battle Creek, he went into the trunk business, and has occupied his time in making trunks, and attending circles and lectures, and such investigations, until now he is a spirit medium of quite fair proportions. Being somewhat restive under restraint, we presume Mr. Hull will now enjoy greater freedom of mind in going out and in before that class where “every man does what is right in his own eyes,” and whose creed in brief is, “Whatever is, his right.” ARSH January 5, 1864, page 46.19
In this course which Eld. Hull has pursued, the Committee claim that they have a perfect demonstration of the justice of their decision in not giving him a leading voice in the management of this work. For in the short space of less than four months, he has abandoned every point of faith which he was then professedly defending, and has made a complete, not to say unparalleled, somerset in his religious belief. Is such a man to be entrusted with the management of the cause of truth? Not if those engaged in that cause ever want to know where they are going. It is his rebellion against this just restraint of the church, who saw that he was a man who must be looked after and counseled, that has resulted in his final, overthrow. Under the influence of the counsel of brethren, and the more powerful restraints of the word of God, we consider that his moral character, notwithstanding his mistakes, has been unimpeachable; but now that he has broken away from these restraints, we would suggest to his new friends that we consider the past no guarantee for the future in this respect. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 46.20
As far as duty is concerned in this matter, we think the church are clear from the blood of this man’s soul. They have done for him, temporally and spiritually, all that Christian love and sympathy could suggest. In spiritual things, the leading members of the Battle Creek church have spent weeks of labor in trying to help him. In temporal things, they have done more than their duty. They took him from the very dung hill of poverty, houseless, homeless, and destitute, and he leaves us to serve the cause of Spiritualism, with a good home, into which the Battle Creek church alone have put one hundred dollars’ worth of furniture. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 46.21
The following is a verbatim report of a frank statement made by Eld. Hull before us: ARSH January 5, 1864, page 46.22
“I am willing to sign a statement that my brethren have done all that was good, and honorable, and just, by me. I have not a word of fault to find with them as to my temporal and spiritual good. Bro. and sister White have been honest and kind, and not designed to abuse me. I think they are rather sharper than need be.” ARSH January 5, 1864, page 46.23
Concerning the future labors of Elder Hull we know but little. The period of his incubation being over, he will probably assume some sphere of activity. Doubtless he will take the field as a lecturer on the New Philosophy. In the name of God whom he is dishonoring we would warn the church everywhere against his influence. He says he expects to bring many good Seventh-day Adventists over to his views, and without any particular effort on his part. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 46.24
Brethren, let this case be a warning to all. Eld. H. once stood firm and clear in the truth. And his fall is a striking illustration of the dangers of venturing with in the influence of Spiritualism under the plea of investigation. But perhaps we shall be met with the scriptural injunction, “Prove all things.” Then we reply, Spiritualism has already been proved. Its diabolical nature and tendency have been fully shown; and under such circumstances to go off upon the Devil’s ground, to investigate his great deception, is about the same as it would be to go into a nest of rattlesnakes to investigate the nature of the poison which they eject from their deadly fangs. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 46.25
Poor Elder Hull! how we pity him! and how our hearts have yearned toward him like David’s to Absalom, as we have seen him fascinated with the snake-like charms of Spiritualism. But the die is cast, the old Serpent at last has him in his fatal folds, and he who so zealously warned others of the dangerous meshes of Satan’s net, has now deliberately walked into the snare, and given himself up to be “led captive by him at his will.” ARSH January 5, 1864, page 46.26
Let a useful lesson be learned from this,—that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; but that our only safety is in humble dependence upon the outstretched arm of Israel’s God. And to the household of faith, who are keeping the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ, we would say in the affectionate words of the apostle, “Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.” ARSH January 5, 1864, page 46.27
John Byington,
J. N. Andrews, 1
G. W. Amadon. General Conf. Executive Committee.
Battle Creek, Mich., Jan. 3, 1864.
We, the undersigned, concur in the above statement. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 46.28
Uriah Smith,
John Byington,
Cyrenius Smith. Mich. State Conference Committee.
Death Is in the World
Ah! Death is in this world of ours,
With sable wings of gloom,
Outspreading o’er the fairest bowers,
He gathers for the tomb-
He hides our loved ones in the tomb!
ARSH January 5, 1864, page 47.1
He loves a shining mark, ‘tis said,
Because we miss them most;
Yet all must he among the dead,
And join that silent host,
Must join to swell that countless host.
ARSH January 5, 1864, page 47.2
But oh! it seems a cruel thing
That he should take the flowers,
Just into beauty blossoming,
And dim our brightest hours-
Sweet buds, they brighten life’s dark hours.
ARSH January 5, 1864, page 47.3
And oh! it is so sad to think
That friends long cherished-true,
Through his relentless power should sink
And bid a last adieu-
Kind friends, how sad that last adieu!
ARSH January 5, 1864, page 47.4
To see the mother stricken down,
Even in her youthful years,
And sorrowing forms come gathering round
In anguish and in tears-
Alas! how vain are sighs and tears!
ARSH January 5, 1864, page 47.5
And when they’ve laid her in the tomb,
Her babes cling to each other,
And passing through each lonely room,
They call in vain for mother-
Poor babes to have no more a mother.
ARSH January 5, 1864, page 47.6
In his cold arms our sires are borne
To the charnal house of clay,
The strongest tie by him is torn
The noblest lain away-
In death the loved are laid away.
ARSH January 5, 1864, page 47.7
He heedeth not a sister’s love,
Nor brother’s griefs and fears,
Nor tearful eyes upraised above,
But still his tomb he rears:
The world is filled with tombs he rears.
ARSH January 5, 1864, page 47.8
And death is but a cruel foe,
With sable wing unfurled;
And if no hope beyond we know,
How dark must be this world!
‘Tis well that hope is in the world.
ARSH January 5, 1864, page 47.9
‘Tis well we’ve heard there is a world,
Where life from death is given,
Where blighting wings are ever furled;
That friends shall meet in heaven-
‘Tis well we’ve heard of heaven.
ARSH January 5, 1864, page 47.10
Letters
“Then they that feared the Lord, spake often one to another.”
This department of the paper is designed for the brethren and sister to freely and fully communicate with each other respecting then hopes and determinations, conflicts and victories, attainments and desires, in the heavenly journey. Then they, says the prophet, that feared the Lord spake often one to another. We believe emphatically that we are living in that time. Therefore seek first a living experience and then record it, carefully and prayerfully, for the comfort and encouragement of the other members of the house hold of faith. Let this department be well filled with lively testimonies of the goodness of God, and the value of his truth. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 47.11
From Sister Olds
Bro. White: I am much encouraged by reading the testimonies of those of like precious faith. I with my companion embraced the truth under the labors of Brn. M. E. Cornell and B. F. Snook at Laporte City, Iowa. I praise God that I ever had the privilege of hearing the prolamation of the third angel’s message, and that I had a heart willing to receive and try to obey its precepts. I am still trying to keep all of God’s commandments, and the faith of Jesus, which we read is the spirit of prophecy. I am a firm believer in spiritual gifts. I believe that God is at the head of this work, and that he is leading out a people to witness his coming, and to be prepared for translation. Oh how careful and prayerful ought we to live! I want to live a faithful, humble, devoted, Christian. I want a humble place among God’s children. I want to be among the number that will be ready to meet Jesus when he comes. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 47.12
We are truly living in perilous times, when it is very necessary to cry earnestly to the Lord for help. I feel as though I was among the weakest, yet I feel like saying, “Let us lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us and run the race with patience, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. I do feel thankful that we have an high priest that can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, one who was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. Let us come boldly then unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain help in time of need. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 47.13
I hope that I received the truth for the love of the truth; and I pray that these truths may sink deeper and deeper into my heart, until I shall be able through the grace of God to overcome the last sin. Oh that my prospects may grow brighter and brighter until the perfect day. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 47.14
F. Olds.
La Porte City, Iowa.
From Bro. Keezer
Dear Brethren and Sisters: I read with pleasure your testimonies in the Review, and would like to hear from many more especially the lonely ones. What a comfort it is to them, that God is not confined to numbers but is willing to meet even one; and none can hinder them from holding communication with him daily. Be true to your Lord and Saviour, and you need not fear to tread the rough and thorny way. Though all at times may look dark, yet remember that Jesus has said, “Lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” ARSH January 5, 1864, page 47.15
I thank the Lord for his goodness in giving me a disposition to hear and embrace the present truth. My hope is in God, that he will give me grace to stand through every scene before us. We have our house built upon the sure foundation, the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus; and if we but furnish it with the graces of the Spirit, reflect the lovely image of Jesus and in all our ways acknowledge him, the floods may come, the winds blow, but we can claim the promise, it shall not fall. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 47.16
If we are overcome it does not benefit us to go back, but to make another desperate effort, though besieged on every side, to go through. Thus may we get the “gold tried in the fire, that we may be rich, the white raiment that we may be clothed, and anoint our eyes with eye-salve that we may see, and so an entrance shall be ministered unto us abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Pray for me brethren and sisters that I may overcome and stand with you on mount Zion, to behold the king in his beauty ARSH January 5, 1864, page 47.17
Yours in hope of life in the new earth. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 47.18
N. Keezer.
Lodi, Wis.
From Bro. Holcomb
Bro. White: Thinking that the readers of the Review would like to know something of the meeting at Verona, I would say that it was very interesting as well as profitable. Bro. N. H. Satterlee freely opened his doors, and he and his family as well as the rest of us present were blessed. Bro. J. N. Andrews spoke to us of the importance of living nearer to God, and of associating ourselves together in church fellowship, that we may be able to help each other on in the way to life; and of the importance of coming out from the world and being separate. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 47.19
Sabbath eve, we had a social meeting in which nearly all took a part. First-day Bro. Taylor spoke to us from 1 Thessalonians 5:19. “Quench not the Spirit.” He showed that this was the Spirit of God, and how easy it was grieved. How careful we ought to be not to grieve so holy, so tender a Spirit. Bro. Andrews spoke to us in the afternoon, and we closed with a social meeting. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 47.20
Dear brethren and sisters, I am thankful that I can hear God’s word even at the eleventh hour. It is but a very short time that we shall live in his dark world; but a short time before Jesus will come and take us home. What a thought, to be in the presence of Jesus, to see the King in his beauty. Oh, are we ready now to see that dear Saviour when he comes in his splendor with the holy angels with him? Are we ready to stand before that God who says he will destroy the wicked; that God who cannot look upon sin with the least allowance? Let us double our diligence as we see the day approach. We are living under the third message, and how soon will that message be closed forever! Let us be wise for ourselves while it is called to-day; for soon the night will come when no man can work. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 47.21
C. H. Holcomb.
Augusta Center, N. Y.
Extracts from Letters
Sister E. S. Tenny writes from Alto: I wish to say to the brethren and sisters that through the agency of some kind friends, I have just received the Review: a very acceptable present. Though I do not know who the donor is, yet I feel very thankful for so great a favor. I feel very lonely; for I cannot meet with the dear brethren and sisters often; living at some distance from them. Yet I ought not to feel lonely; for the blessed Saviour, is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. The Lord has seen fit to try me, as well as others, in this terrible war. Two of my sons are now drafted, and one has been in the army nearly two years. My husband; aged and infirm; being in his 71st year, seems to feel the stroke heavier, if possible than I do, as it takes from us, the one with whom we live, and leaned upon, for support. Brethren and sisters pray for me, that while tried in the furnace of affliction, I may sustain no loss. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 47.22
Sister A. Baily writes from Vernon, Iowa: I am still trying to obey God and do his will, and can truly say that I feel more than ever resolved by the grace of God to be more faithful; and although I am suffering afflictions, my whole trust is in my kind and Heavenly Father. Dear brethren and sisters, this may be the last that you will ever hear from me, and I would that I could say something to the lonely ones that would encourage them. Through your lonely pilgrimage look up; for your redemption is drawing near. The Saviour is soon coming to gather his ransomed ones home. I have often thought I would like to live till my Saviour comes, but I read some precious promises for those that sleep in him. Oh glorious promise! I hear him saying, I am the resurrection and the life. They that believe on me, though they were dead, yet shall they live again. Thank God, brethren and sisters, the grave cannot hold us, nor death’s cold chains bind us forever. The saints then immortal in glory will reign. “Death will be banished, his sceptre be gone.” We are truly living in perilous times. It is a time when we have need of grace to arm us for the conflict and prepare us for the troubles that are just before us. In view of these things let us watch and pray, that we may be made holy and pure and enter into the marriage supper of the Lamb. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 47.23
Obituary Notices
Died November 17, 1863, in Manchester, Ill., at my residence, my mother-in-law, Nancy Bowers, in the seventy-first year of her age, after a severe illness of six weeks. Mother Bowers early embraced religion, and lived a consistent Christian life, greatly esteemed and beloved by all her friends and acquaintances. She embraced the third angel’s message in June, 1861, under the preaching of Brn. Sanborn and Loughborough. She loved the commandments of God; and the Sabbath was to her a great delight. She lived out her faith with great propriety and firmness, and died in the faith of having part in the first resurrection. She is one of the happy number on whom the blessing is pronounced: They rest from their labors, etc. May her godly precepts and examples long be cherished and remembered by all her acquaintances; and may we who mourn her loss, so live by the grace of God assisting us, that we may be ready to meet her when Jesus comes to make up his jewels, and take his ransomed people home. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 47.24
Alfred Hough.
Died, in Dartmouth, Mass., October 17, 1863, our little son, aged one year, five months, and twenty-six days, after a most painful illness of nearly three weeks. We deeply feel our loss. He was a very interesting and lovely child. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 47.25
“Parents saw with grief unspoken,
Only in tears,
Their sweet bud of promise broken-
Youngest in years.”
H. & S. G. Russell.
ARSH January 5, 1864, page 47.26
The Review and Herald
BATTLE CREEK, MICH., THIRD-DAY, JANUARY 5, 1864.
Some of our cotemporaries seem disposed to blow a great bubble over Louis Napoleon, as a prominent actor in prophecy, the Antichrist of the Scriptures, future monarch of the world, etc., etc. We have just seen a notice of a work entitled “Louis Napoleon, as the Destined Monarch of the World and Personal Antichrist.” Now, if we have the least confidence in the prophecies, we must see that all such speculations are idle and foolish. The world in its present state can have no future monarch; that is, there can be no other universal empire established in this world. Prophecy has marked out but four; and they have all arisen and had their day. The next and only universal kingdom in the future is God’s everlasting kingdom, which is to have no end. Again we have an enumeration of all the opposing powers, which fight against the King of kings, and perish at his appearing. Napoleon is not brought to view personally among these. These powers are the dragon, beast and false prophet, Revelation 16:13; 19:19-21, or Paganism, Papacy and apostate Protestantism. We may therefore at once dismiss the idea that Louis Napoleon is, above all other parties, to be the pre-eminent actor in these scenes. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 48.1
The Correspondent of the London Christian Times writes that the house intended for the residence of his Holiness [the Pope] whenever he feels inclined or forced to take another flight, is being built in Jerusalem. May not this fact throw some light on Daniel 11:45? If so, whenever this does take place, the record is that “at that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation.” Daniel 12:1. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 48.2
The sudden bereavement of Bro. and sister White has broken up their arrangements for the winter in the East. Their work is much delayed, and they do not design to travel at present. Sister White has been hindered on her third volume, and having important matter on hand, some of a local and personal nature, she decides to issue Testimony to the Church No. 10, which will be ready in a few days. Price 15 cents. If sister White remains at home a few weeks, Spiritual Gifts, Vol. III, will probably be prepared, printed, and bound by the first of April. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 48.3
According to the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy, the Navy of the United States is now a formidable affair, consisting of 588 vessels, mounting 4,443 guns. This is an increase of 161 vessels and 1, 125 guns during the year. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 48.4
Weigh that Excuse
It storms to-day. It rains or snows, or at least, it mistles and it may rain hard. It would expose the health of my family to take them out to meeting; and seeing they cannot go, I might as well stay with them. In fact, I think it is too bad for man or beast. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 48.5
My dear brother, think a little. Suppose it were a week day, and you were as much at leisure as you are to-day, and by going the same distance which you have to go to meeting, each one that were present at the roll-call would be certain to receive one dollar, which, if absent, they would not receive. Would you not improve the golden opportunity? Could you not make your family comfortable, to go so short a distance? Could not the horses go, if properly cared for? At least, could you not save one dollar yourself, just as well as not, if you dare not risk your family to go. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 48.6
Please ask yourself seriously such questions as these, and thus try to discover how high a value you place on the privileges you enjoy. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 48.7
Again, suppose that some good preacher was expected at the meeting, one you highly esteemed and greatly desired to meet with and hear. Would not the obstacles be removed, and the difficulties overcome? How highly, then, do you prize the privilege of meeting with Him who is always present where two or three are met in His name, and of enjoying His approving smile who has said, “Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together?” ARSH January 5, 1864, page 48.8
R. F. Cottrell.
Appointments
Providence permitting I will meet in quarterly meeting with the churches as follows: Oakland, Jeff. Co., Wis., the third Sabbath and first-day in January. Will some one of the brethren meet me at Fort Atkinson the 14th, as I will come on the cars. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 48.9
At Mackford, the fourth Sabbath and first-day. Will some one of the brethren meet me at Fox Lake the 21st. They will probably find me at the tavern, as I will get there in the night before. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 48.10
Also at Marquette the 29th and 30 th. We hope to see a general rally at all the above meetings, and hope every one will come with a determination to work for the Lord as there is but little time left us. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 48.11
Isaac Sanborn.
P. S. I will give appointments for Illinois as soon as I fill the above I. S. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 48.12
Quarterly Meetings
The Iowa Conference Committee appoint meetings as follows: ARSH January 5, 1864, page 48.13
| Lisbon, | January 8 and 9, 1864 |
| Waterloo, | ” 15 and 16, ” |
| West Union, | ” 22 and 23, ” |
It is expected that Elder Wm. H. Brinkerhoff will attend the above appointments. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 48.14
Also Elder B. F. Snook will, providence permitting, meet with the church at ARSH January 5, 1864, page 48.15
| Pilot Grove, | Jan. 15 and 16, 1864 |
| Liberty, | ” 22 and 23, ” |
| Knoxville, | ” 29 and 30, ” |
Brethren, come to these meetings with the determination of working for the Lord, and realizing the great work of the third angel’s message. Come filled with the love of God. Amen. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 48.16
By order of the
Iowa Conference Committee.
ARSH January 5, 1864, page 48.17
The next quarterly meeting of the Seventh-day Adventist Church of Mackford, will be held in their new meeting-house Jan. 23rd, 1864. We hope to see Bro. Sanborn at this meeting and also a general attendance. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 48.18
Rufus Baker.
Business Department
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 5, 1864, page 48.19
John H. Holt 1,00,xxxv,1. M. Fifield 1,75,xxiv,20. Elvira A. Nutting for Lydia J. Elder 1,00,xxv,1. M. H. Wilson 1,00,xxv,1. N. M. Hopkins 5,00,xxv,1. Mary C. Clark 1,00xxv,1. J. B. Walls 2,00,xxv,1. J. Pierce sen. 2,00,xxv,1. W. Bates 1,00,xxv,1. W. S. Foote for Gilbert Emmans 1,00,xxv,1. A friend for Mrs. I. H. Archer 1,00,xxv,1. A. Mullen 1,00,xxi, 23, C. L. Haskins 1,00,xxv,1. W. J. Woods 1,00.xxv,1, L. C. Tolhurst 2,00, xxv,1. James Baker 2,00,xxiv,17. Peter Smith 2,00,xxv,1. H. C. Crumb 2,00, xxiii, 1. F. H. Hemenway 2,00,xxiii,8. A friend for Sarah A. Miller 1,00,xxv,1. M. Siver 1,00, xxv,1. M. Wolf 1,00,xxiv,1. L. Lathrop 4,00, xxvii,1. A. H. Hilliard 2,00,xxv,1. Sophronia Chapel 1,00,xxv,1. Catherine Tosh 1,00,xxiv,14. Mrs. C. Stevens 2,00,xxv,1. Allen R. Hardy 2,00,xxv,1. T. H. Risinger 2,00,xxv,1. Peter Erb 2,00,xxiv,1. T. Crouch 2,00,xxvi,23. Mary Crouch for Mrs. Elizabeth Coleman 0,50,xxiv,1. Rachel M. Long 1,00,xxv,1. Daniel Newcomb 2,00,xxv,1. J. Whipple 2,00,xxv,1. J. M. Baker 1,25, xxiv, 14. J. A. Wilcox 1,00,xxiv,1. S. M. Pomroy 0,50, xxiv,1. Lydia Bolton 1,75,xxiii,5. B. M. Hibbard 2,00,xxv,1. J. Althouse 3,00,xxv,1. A. W. Smith 2,00,xxv,1. Lucia Fogg 1,00,xxiv,1. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 48.20
Cash Received on Account
Wm. S. Ingraham $2. H. C. Blanchard $0,50. A. S. Gillet $1,40. I. Sanborn $2,26. P. Strong $2. P. Scarborough Jr. $10. A. S. Hutchins $0,47. J. N. Loughborough $38,26. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 48.21
Books Sent By Mail
L. C. Tolhurst 27c. L. Lathrop $1,10. John Newton 60c. Peter Erb 45c. J. M. Dean 12c. W. E. Caviness 15c. Hannah Smiley 19c. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 48.22
General Conference Missionary Fund
A Sister in Ohio $5. Delilah Blanchard $5. Geo. Adair $5. A. W. Smith $7,80. Ch. in Boston Mass. $16,00. S. N. Haskell $3, Geo. W. Farnsworth $1.W. S. Ashley $0,50. Mary A. Foster $2. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 48.23
PUBLICATIONS
The law requires the pre-payment of postage on Bound Books, four cents for the first four ounces, or fractional part thereof, and an additional four cents for the next four ounces, or fractional part thereof, and so on. On pamphlets and tracts, two cents for each four ounces or fractional part thereof. Orders, to secure attention, must be accompanied with the cash. Address Elder James White, Battle Creek, Michigan. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 48.24
| Price. | Weight. | |
| cts. | oz. | |
| History of the Sabbath, (in paper covers), | 40 | 10 |
| The Bible from Heaven, | 25 | 5 |
| The Three Angels of Revelation 14:6-12, particularly the Third Angel’s Message, and the Two-horned Beast, | 15 | 4 |
| Sabbath Tracts, numbers one, two, three, and four, | 15 | 4 |
| Hope of the Gospel, or Immortality the gift of God, | 15 | 4 |
| Which? Mortal or Immortal? or an inquiry into the present constitution and future condition of man, | 15 | 4 |
| Modern Spiritualism; its Nature and Tendency, | 15 | 4 |
| The Kingdom of God; a Refutation of the doctrine called, Age to Come, | 15 | 4 |
| Miraculous Powers, | 15 | 4 |
| Pauline Theology, or the Christian Doctrine of future Punishment as taught in the epistles of Paul. | 15 | 4 |
| Review of Seymour, His Fifty Questions Answered, | 10 | 3 |
| Prophecy of Daniel: The Four Universal Kingdoms the Sanctuary and Twenty-three Hundred Days. | 10 | 3 |
| The Saints’ Inheritance, The Immortal Kingdom located on the New Earth. | 10 | 3 |
| Signs of the Times, showing that the Second Coming of Christ is at the door, | 10 | 3 |
| Law of God, The testimony of both Testaments, showing its origin and perpetuity, | 10 | 3 |
| Vindication of the true Sabbath, by J. W. Morton, late Missionary to Hayti, | 10 | 3 |
| Review of Springer on the Sabbath, Law of God, and first day of the week, | 10 | 3 |
| Facts for the Times Extracts from the writings of eminent authors, Ancient and Modern, | 10 | 3 |
| Miscellany, Seven Tracts in one book on the Second Advent and the Sabbath, | 10 | 3 |
| Christian Baptism, Its Nature, Subjects, and Design, | 10 | 3 |
| The Seven Trumpets, The Sounding of the seven Trumpets of Revelation 8 and 9. | 10 | 2 |
| The sanctuary and 2300 Days of Daniel 8:14, | 10 | 2 |
| The Fate of the Transgressor, or a short argument on the First and Second Deaths, | 5 | 2 |
| Matthew 24. A Brief Exposition of the Chapter. | 5 | 2 |
| Mark of the Beast, and Seal of the Living God, | 5 | 1 |
| Assistant. The Bible Student’s Assistant, or a Compend of Scripture references, | 5 | 1 |
| Truth Found. A short argument for the Sabbath, with an Appendix, “The Sabbath not a Type.” | 5 | 1 |
| The Two Laws and Two Covenants, | 5 | 1 |
| An Appeal for the restoration of the Bible Sabbath in an address to the Baptists, | 5 | 1 |
| Review of Crozier on the Institution, Design, and Abolition of the Seventh-day Sabbath, | 5 | 1 |
| Review of Fillio. A reply to a series of discourses delivered by him in Battle Creek on the Sabbath question. | 5 | 1 |
| Milton the State of the Dead, | 5 | 1 |
| Brown’s Experience. Consecration-Second Advent, | 5 | 1 |
| Report of General Conference held in Battle Creek, June, 1859, Address on Systematic Benevolence, etc. | 5 | |
| Sabbath Poem. False Theories Exposed, | 5 | 1 |
| Illustrated Review. A Double dumber of the Review and Herald Illustrated, | 5 | 1 |
| Nature and Obligation of the Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment. Apostasy and perils of the last days, | ||
| In German, | 10 | 2 |
| In Holland, | 5 | 1 |
| French. A Pamphlet on the Sabbath, | 5 | 1 |
| ” ” ” ” Daniel 2, and 7, | 5 | 1 |
ONE CENT TRACTS. The Seven Seals-The Two Laws-Reasons for Sunday-keeping Examined-Personality of God-Wesley on the Law-Judson on Dress-Appeal on Immortality. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 48.25
TWO CENT TRACTS. Institution of the Sabbath-Sabbath by Elihu-Infidelity and Spiritualism-War and Sealing-Who Changed the Sabbath-Preach the Word-Death and Burial-Much in Little-Truth. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 48.26
THREE CENT TRACTS. Dobney on the Law-Milton on the State of the Dead-Scripture References-The Mark of the Beast, and Seal of the Living God-Spiritual Gifts. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 48.27
Bound Books
The figures set to the following Bound Books include both the price of the Book and the postage, ARSH January 5, 1864, page 48.28
| The Hymn Book, 464 pages, and 122 pieces of music, | 80 | “ |
| ” ” ” with Sabbath Lute, | $1,00 | |
| ” ” ” Calf Binding, | 1,00 | |
| “” ” ” ” ” ” with Lute, | 1,20 | |
| History of the Sabbath, in one volume, bound Part I, Bible History Part II, Secular History, | 80 | “ |
| Spiritual Gifts Vol. I, or the Great Controversy between Christ and his angels, and Satan and his angels, | 50 | “ |
| Spiritual Gifts Vol. II. Experience, Views and Incidents in connection with the Third Message, | 50 | “ |
| Scripture Doctrine of Future Punishment. By H. H. Dobney, Baptist Minister of England, | 75 | “ |
Home Here and Home in Heaven, with other Poems. This work embraces all those sweet and Scriptural poems written by Annie R. Smith, from the time she embraced the third message till she fell asleep in Jesus. Price 25 cents. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 48.29
The Chart, A Pictorial Illustration of the Visions of Daniel and John 20 by 25 inches. Price 15 cents. On rollers, post-paid, 75 cts. ARSH January 5, 1864, page 48.30