Advent Review, and Sabbath Herald, vol. 21
May 12, 1863
RH VOL. XXI. - BATTLE CREEK, MICH., THIRD-DAY, - NO. 24
James White
ADVENT REVIEW,
AND SABBATH HERALD.
[Graphic of the Ark of the Covenant with the inscription beneath,]
“And there was Seen in His Temple
the Ark of His Testament.”
“Here is the Patience of the Saints; Here are they that keep the Commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus.”
VOL. XXI. - BATTLE CREEK, MICH., THIRD-DAY, MAY 12, 1863. - NO. 24.
The Advent Review and 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. Address ELDER JAMES WHITE, Battle Creek, Michigan. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 185.1
Christ is Coming
CHRIST is coming, let creation
Bid her groans and travail cease.
Let the glorious proclamation
Hope restore, and faith increase,
Hallelujah,
Come thou blessed Prince of peace.
ARSH May 12, 1863, page 185.2
Earth can now but tell the story
Of thy bitter cross and pain;
She shall yet behold thy glory,
When thou comest back to reign,
Hallelujah,
Let each heart repeat the strain.
ARSH May 12, 1863, page 185.3
Though once cradled in a manger,
Oft no pillow but the sod,
Here an alien and a stranger,
Mocked of men: but owned of God,
All creation,
Yet shall own thy kingly rod.
ARSH May 12, 1863, page 185.4
Long thine exiles have been sleeping,
Far from home and thee, but they
Then shall rise in glory shining.
Soon they shall thy glory see,
Hallelujah,
Hail the joyous jubilee.
ARSH May 12, 1863, page 185.5
With a blessed hope before us,
Let no harp remain unstrung;
Let the mighty advent chorus
Onward roll from tongue to tongue,
Hallelujah,
Come, Lord Jesus, quickly come.
H. JENKINES.
ARSH May 12, 1863, page 185.6
Extraordinary Doings in Michigan - “Supernatural Fires.”
[BRO. WHITE: The following-described wonderful phenomena commenced the day before I came from St. Charles to Owasso; and as I passed the house where these fires broke out and have had an opportunity of conversing with eye witnesses of the fires, men of candor, I would say that the following agrees nearly with what was told me; and still greater wonders were also related. Is not this a prelude to the miracles of Revelation 13:13? “Maketh fire to come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.” I have no doubt this is the work of spirits of devils. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 185.7
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.]
A friend residing in this city, but who is on a visit to Owasso, Michigan, informs us of a very singular and unaccountable affair, that is now transpiring in Bush Township, five miles north of Owasso. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 185.8
A farmer named Stearns, residing in that town, has an adopted daughter by the name of Freeman, who is ten years of age. While this little girl was sweeping the sitting-room, about a week since, she discovered the carpet to be on fire, and the inmates having put out the fire, undertook to learn its origin. There had been no fire built in the room that morning; no light had been carried into the room, nor could the family in any way account for the fire. In less than an hour flames were seen issuing from some rags in another room. The same day the girl’s clothes caught fire, and the next morning a damp towel that Mrs. Stearns had used in wiping her face, upon being hung on a nail, commenced burning. The last occurrence took place in the presence of some twelve persons, some of whom are among the most respectable citizens of the place. Next a straw stack near Mr. Stearns’ house, was consumed. At one time, when a number of persons were in the house, the falling of some heavy substance was heard in the chamber directly over their heads. Upon going up stairs it proved to be a bag filled with books and rags, and suspended by a cord to a beam. The bag was on fire, and the string was also burning when the parties entered the room. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 185.9
Mr. S. and family became so alarmed by these movements that they left their home. When the furniture was being moved, a trunk, said not to have been opened for more than a year, was discovered to be on fire, and when opened, the flames burst forth, consuming all its contents. The family are now living in a house some three miles distant from their farm, but the mysterious torment, is bound to stick by them like a brother. No sooner had the girl entered her new home than her clothing took fire in three different places. And now, another family, where she has visited, are as badly tormented as Mr. Stearns’. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 185.10
In Owasso, as well as in the adjoining village of Carma, the excitement is most intense. People are flocking from all directions to witness this truly wonderful mystery. Some of the most profound scholars of the State, among whom are Dr. Tappan, Chancellor of the University of Michigan, President Fairchild, of Hillsdale College and others, have been to “see the sights;” and all agree that there are hidden mysteries beyond the depth of the closest observers. - Cleveland Herald. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 185.11
Spring Suggestions in Regard to Health
W. W. HALL, M. D. editor of the Journal of Health, says: ARSH May 12, 1863, page 185.12
“Do not take off your winter flannel sooner than the first of May, but then change to a thinner article of the same material. They are wisest and healthiest who wear woolen flannel the whole year. Arrange to have a fire kept up all day in the family room, however warm it may be out of doors, until the first of May; and in the morning and evening daily, until the first of June. The editor has lived in the most malarial region in the world perhaps, and when the thermometer was a hundred and twelve at noon, a fire was regularly kindled at sunrise and sunset in his office, and sat by. Disease, malignant fever, and death reigned in every direction, and yet he had not a second’s sickness. It is because a brisk fire not only creates a draft, and thus purifies a room, but so rarefies the deadly air that it is carried to the ceiling where it cannot be breathed. The simple precaution of having a fire kindled in the family room at sunrise and sunset in late spring and early fall, is known by eminent names in the army and navy surgery to be the most efficient preventive of all forms of fever and ague, and spring and fall disease; in flat, wet, warm countries, it is almost a specific against those diseases. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 185.13
“No man would be considered sane who should keep up as hot fires in his house as the spring advances as he did in mid-winter. - Food is the fuel which keeps the human house - the body - warm: hence, if as much is eaten in spring as in winter, we are kept too warm; we burn up with fever; we are oppressed; we suffer from lassitude. All nature takes a new lease of life with spring but man. It is because he alone is unwise. The brute beasts, the cow, the horse, the ox; these turn to a new diet and go out to grass, to crop every green thing; they would never come to the stable or barn-yard of choice, to eat the “heating” “binding” oats and corn, on which they luxuriated during the winter; they eat watery food which is light and purifying. Not so with man; he continues his meats and fats, his greases and his gravies, as at christmas. Watchful nature takes away his appetite for these, and because he does not “relish” them as he did a few weeks before, he begins to conclude that something is the matter, and measuring the amount of his health by the amount he can send down his throat, he begins to stimulate the appetite, thinks he must use some tonic, readily assents to any suggestion which includes bitters and whiskey, especially the latter; in addition, he puts more mustard, and pepper, and catsup on his meats, seasons every thing more heavily, until nature has been goaded so that she will bear no more, and yields to the fatal dysentery or bilious colic, or happily relieves herself by a copious diarrhea. Does not every reader know that fever, and flux, and diarrhea are common ails of spring? But you did not know one of the two chief causes, man’s gluttony, as above described! Tens of thousands of lives would be saved every spring, and an incalculable amount of human discomfort would be prevented, if early in March, or at most by the first of April, meat and grease and fried food of every description were banished from the table wholly, at least for breakfast and supper. If meat will be eaten for dinner, let it be lean; use hominy and “samp” largely, have no fries, eat but little butter; use eggs, celery, spinach, vinegar; keep the body clean, spend every hour possible in the open air, snuffling in the spring; but by every consideration of wisdom and of health, having a good fire to come to and sit by, with all your garments on, for eight or ten minutes after all forms of exercise; otherwise you will wake up as stiff as a bean pole and as “sore” as if you had been pounded in a bag, to the effect of your exercise having done you more harm than good; and concluding that work don’t agree with you, however beneficial it may be to others, you take no more for weeks and months. Man is certainly the biggest mule that ever was created. For the sake of giving some general idea as to how much sedentary persons should eat in spring, particularly those who are most of the time in-doors, it may be well to name the bill of fare. At breakfast, take some cold bread and butter, with one or two soft-boiled eggs, and nothing else. - Twice a week, a bit of ham or salt fish may be used in place of the eggs, but then no meat should be eaten for dinner that day. If there is no appetite for eggs or the salt meat, it is because nature needs nothing more but the bread and butter and the drink, and nature is wise. When there is not much inclination to eat, a baked or roasted potato, with a little salt and butter, is a good substitute for an egg or piece of ham. Substitutes for these again are found in roasted apple or in stewed fruit or cranberry sauce. Dinner, half a glass of cold water, cold bread and butter, and a piece of lean meat, of any sort, with baked or roasted potatoes, or some other vegetable; as dessert, stewed fruits or berries of any sort, and nothing else. Supper some cold stale bread and butter, and nothing else whatever; any ‘relish,’ as it is called, whether in the shape of a bit of dried beef, or cold ham, or sauce, or preserves, or cake, is nothing less than an absolute curse. This is strong language; but such things do give millions of persons restless nights.” ARSH May 12, 1863, page 185.14
The Muscular and other Formations of the Body
THERE are two hundred and eight bones in the human body, exclusive of the teeth. These bones are composed of animal and earthy materials - the former predominating in youth and the latter in old age - rendering the bones brittle. The most important of the bones is the spine, which is composed of twenty-four small bones, called the vertebrae, one on top of the other, curiously hooked together and fastened by elastic ligaments forming a pillar, so to speak, by which the human frame is supported. The bones are moved by the muscles, of which there are more than five hundred. The red meat of beef, the fat being excluded, is the muscular fabric of the ox. There are two sets of muscles, one to draw the bone one way and another to draw it back again. We cannot better describe the muscles than by comparing them to fine elastic threads bound up in their cases of skin. Many muscles terminate in tendons, which are stout cords such as may be seen traversing the back of the hand, just within the skin, and which can be observed to move when the hand is open or shut. Every motion you make, even the involuntary one of breathing, is performed through the agency of the muscles. In adults there are about fifteen quarts of blood, each quart weighing about two pounds. This blood is of two kinds, the arterial and venous. This first is the pure blood as it leaves the heart to nourish the frame, and is of a bright vermillion color. The last is the blood as it returns to the heart, loaded with the impurities of the body, to be there refined, and is of a purple hue. Every pulsation of the heart sends out about two ounces of arterial blood, and as there are from seventy to eighty beats in the minute, a hogshead of blood passes through the heart every hour. In fevers the pulsations are accelerated, the waste of the body goes on faster than it can be recuperated, and consequently death ensues if the fever is not checked. The stomach is the boiler, if we may use such a figure, which drives the human engine. Two sets of muscles, crossing each other transversely, turn the food over and over, churning it up in the gastric juice till it has been reduced to the consistency of thin paste. This process requires from two to four hours. Emerging from the stomach, the food enters the small intestines, where it is mixed with bile and pancreatic juice and converted into chyle. These small intestines are twenty-four feet long, closely packed, of course, and surrounded through their whole length with small tubes which act like suckers, and drawing off the chyle, empty it into a larger tube named the thoracic duct, which runs up the back and discharges its contents into the jugular vein, whence it passes into the heart to assist in forming arterial blood. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 186.1
Only about one-fourth of the human frame, bones included, is solid matter, chiefly carbon and nitrogen, the rest being water. If a man weighing 140 lbs. were squeezed out under a hydraulic press, 105 lbs. of water would run out and thirty-five pounds of dry residue would remain. A man is therefore, chemically speaking, thirty-five pounds of carbon and nitrogen, diffused through five pailfuls of water. - Sel. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 186.2
Don’t Murmur, Christian!
CHRYSOSTOM propounds this question: “Was Job miserable when he had lost all that God had given him?” and gives this answer:- “No; he had still that God, who gave him all.” And is not Christ thy treasure? is not Heaven thine inheritance? and wilt thou murmur? Hast thou not much in hand, and more in hope? - Hast thou not much in possession, but more in reversion? and wilt thou murmur? Hath not God given thee a changed heart, a renewed nature, and a sanctified soul? and wilt thou murmur? Hath not God given thee Himself to satisfy thee, His Son to save thee, His Spirit to lead thee, His grace to adorn thee, His covenant to assure thee, His mercy to pardon thee? and wilt thou murmur? Hath he not made thee a friend, a brother, a son, a bride, an heir? and wilt thou murmur? Hath not God often turned thy water into wine, thy brass into silver, thy silver into gold? and wilt thou murmur? - When thou wast dead, did not he quicken thee? and when thou wast lost, did not he seek thee? and when thou wast wounded, did not he heal thee? and when thou wert falling, did not he support thee? and when thou wert down, did not he raise thee? and when thou wert staggering, did not he establish thee? and when thou wert erring, did not he reduce thee? and when thou wert tempted, did not he succor thee? and when thou wert in danger, did not he deliver thee? and wilt thou murmur? - What! thou that art so highly advanced, and exalted above many thousands in the world. - Murmuring is a black garment, and it becomes none so ill as saints. - Brooks. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 186.3
Jesus Christ All in All
A VERY old German author discourses thus tenderly of Christ: ARSH May 12, 1863, page 186.4
“My soul is like a hungry and thirsty child, and I need his love and consolations for my refreshment; I am a wandering and lost sheep, and I need him as a good and faithful shepherd; my soul is like a frightened dove, pursued by a hawk, and I need his wounds for a refuge; I am a feeble vine, and I need his Cross to lay hold of and wind myself about it; I am a sinner, and I need his righteousness; I am naked and bare, and need his holiness and innocence for a covering; I am in trouble and alarm, and I need his teaching, simple and foolish, and I need the guidance of his Holy Spirit. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 186.5
“In no situation, and at no time, can I do without him. Do I pray? he must be prompt and intercede for me. Am I arraigned by Satan at the Divine tribunal? he must be my advocate. Am I in affliction? he must be my helper. Am I persecuted by the world? he must defend me. When I am forsaken, he must be my support; when dying, my life, when mouldering in the grave, my resurrection. Well, then, I will rather part with all the world and all that it contains, than with thee, my Saviour; and God be thanked. I know that thou, too art not willing to do without me. Thou art rich, and I am poor; thou hast righteousness, and I sin; thou hast oil and wine, and I wounds; thou hast cordials and refreshments, and I hunger and thirst. Use me, then, my Saviour, for whatever purpose, and in whatever way, thou mayest require. Here is my poor heart, an empty vessel; fill it with thy grace. Here is my sinful and troubled soul; quicken and refresh it with thy love. Take my heart for thine abode; my mouth to spread the glory of thy name; my love, and all my powers, for the advancement of thy honor and the service of thy believing people. And never suffer the steadfastness and confidence of my faith to abate, so that at all times I may be enabled from the heart to say, ‘Jesus needs me, and I him, and so we suit each other.’” ARSH May 12, 1863, page 186.6
What a Volcano can Do
COTOPAXI, in 1738 threw its fiery rockets 3,000 feet above its crater; while, in 1744, the blazing mass, struggling for an outlet, roared so that its awful voice was heard a distance of more than 600 miles. In 1797, the crater of Tunguragua, one of the great peaks of the Andes flung out torrents of mud, which dammed up rivers, opened new lakes, and in valleys of 1,000 feet wide made deposits of 600 feet deep. The stream from Vesuvius which in 1737 passed through Torre del Greco, contained 33,600,000 cubic feet of solid matter; and in 1794, when Torre del Greco was destroyed a second time, the mass of lava amounted to 45,000,000 cubic feet. In 1679 Etna poured forth a flood which covered 84 square miles of surface, and measured nearly 100,000,000 cubic feet. On this occasion, the sand and scoria formed the Monte Rossi, near Nicholosa, a cone two miles in circumference, and 4,000 feet high. The stream thrown out by Etna, in 1810, was in motion, at the rate of a yard a day, for nine months after the eruption; and it is on record, that the lava of the same mountain, after a terrible eruption, was not thoroughly cool and consolidated ten years after the event. In the eruption of Vesuvius, A. D. 79, the scoria and ashes vomited forth far exceeded the entire bulk of the mountain; while in 1660, Etna disgorged more than twenty times its own mass. Vesuvius has sent its ashes as far Constantinople, Syria, and Egypt; it hurled stones, eight pounds in weight, to Pompeii, a distance of six miles, while similar masses were tossed up 2,000 feet above its summit. Cotopaxi has projected a block of 100 cubic yards in volume, a distance of nine miles; and Sumbawa, in 1815, during the most terrible eruption on record, sent its ashes as far as Java, a distance of 300 miles of surface, and out of a population of 12,000 souls, only twenty escaped. - Recreative Science. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 186.7
Free Thought
Now a days when so many are thinking, and so many are writing; at a time when great thoughts are shaking the social world; when olden creeds are paling in the searching light of dawning science, it ill becomes any one to set up the bounds of thought and expression. Whenever and wherever a word is to be said or a thought to be uttered, ‘tis a gross and miserable assumption that dictates its reception. Much as we prate of freedom - intellectual freedom - freedom of thought, will, and action, but few, very few, dare bring out their own true thoughts to the open light; for should they do violence to popular sentiment, the sect, the order, the crowd, the populace, are all down upon them with an avalanche of denunciation. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 186.8
Hence, while we boast of liberty, we are generally slaves - slaves to popular sentiment. A man must think just so, or be branded as a barbarian; and speak just so, or be denounced as a bigot, a heretic, or a traitor. Woe! to the man that dares to raise his voice against modern orthodoxy, however corrupt or mixed up with error and superstition. As terrible thunders will be fulminated against him as ever issued from the eternal city against Wickliffe, John Huss, or Martin Luther. He must knuckle down like a whipped cur and sanction the system of every ignoramus, no matter how repugnant to truth or common sense. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 186.9
It would seem that reason had forsaken her throne, and superstition with all its dark train of absurdities had taken her place; so that under the name of orthodoxy we are wont to sit and listen with approbation to the most palpable absurdities, worthy only of the dark ages. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 186.10
For this reason so few genuine writers are among us; and while so many are babbling and warring among the tombs and shades of unmeaning dogmas, but few dare proclaim the truthful inspirations of their own hearts. But true lives exist; true thought is growing. It will one day find a tongue and will speak out and be regarded; for men are not all bad - cowards and conformists by custom; by nature, noble, strong, and independent. A web of circumstances surrounds and controls them. Yet there’s a soundness at the bottom; and despite the servility of society there is still latent in the mind a respect, a love, for the very spirit that scorns and defies the power; and even now, every exhibition of heroic independence but raises our regard to loftiest admiration, before which the time serving conformists of the day sink to utter crawling. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 186.11
A sorry picture society presents; the many, perched upon the mountain tops of their own delusion, stoutly maintaining the beliefs and opinions of their kind; while the few, yet powerful, have fixed themselves upon the more sure foundation of truth, reason, and God’s word. They stand on the broad line of truth and reason, and their electric thoughts sweep out upon the world and fall with irresistible force upon the hearts and minds of men. Their influence will be felt. Another grand struggle for truth, freedom, and religion, is dawning on the world. Old creeds and Romish fables must fall before it in its onward march. In the first century the great structure of superstition had reached its culminating point - God put forth his hand; it crumbled to dust. In the sixteenth century it again towered up to the skies - God breathed forth his Spirit. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 186.12
Martin Luther spoke, and it came crushing to the ground. Once more its lofty pinacles are bathed in the clouds - again God has spoken, and it must fall. - Sel. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.1
Patience
“LET patience have her perfect work.” In this as in other things, the Bible fixes our standard for us. Let a subject requiring patience never be dismissed, until the question be asked. “Has patience had her perfect work?” There are many incentives to the acquisition and culture of this Christian grace. It is by the “patient continuance in well-doing that the seekers for glory, honor and immortality, obtain eternal life.” It is through faith and patience that we inherit the promises. It is by patience even, after having done the will of God, that his word is manifestly fulfilled to us. Behold we count them happy who endure. That calm unmurmuring endurance of toil, pain, provocation, and the varied evils of this mortal state, does more to sweeten the mixed cup which is put to our lips than any thing else that might be named. Our suffering for righteousness’ sake, - quiet, patient, suffering, is declared acceptable to God. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.2
The inspired penman had weighty reasons for exhorting us to run with patience the race set before us - reasons which greatly concern our well-being here, and which have far greater bearing upon the extent of our bliss in the next world than we are wont to suppose. - Sel. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.3
Mysterious Providence
ONE man sucks an orange, and is choked by a pit; another swallows a penknife and lives; one runs a thorn into his hand, and no skill can save him; another has a shaft of a gig driven completely through his body, and recovers; one is overturned on a smooth common and breaks his neck; another is tossed out of a gig over Brighton Cliff and survives; one walks out on a windy day and meets death by a brickbat; another is blown up in the air, like Lord Hutton in Guernsey Castle, and comes down uninjured. The escape of this nobleman was indeed a miracle. An explosion of gunpowder, which killed his mother, wife, and some of his children, and many other persons, and blew up the whole fabric of the castle, lodged him in his bed on a wall overhanging a tremendous precipice. “Perceiving a mighty disorder, (as well he might) he was going to step out of his bed to know what the matter was, which if he had done, he had been irrevocably lost; but in the instant of his moving a flash of lightning came and showed him the precipice, whereupon he lay still till people came and took him down. - Sel. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.4
Motives to Holiness
A MAN who has been redeemed by the blood of the Son of God should be pure. He who is an heir of life should be holy. He who is attended by celestial beings, and who is soon - he knows not how soon - to be translated to heaven, should be holy. Are the angels my attendants? Then I should walk worthy of their companionship. Am I soon to go and dwell with angels? Then I should be pure. Are these feet soon to tread the courts of heaven? Is this tongue soon to unite with heavenly beings in praising God? Are these eyes of mine soon to look on the ascended Redeemer? Then these feet, and eyes, and lips should be pure and holy; and I should be lead to the world and live for heaven. - Albert Barnes. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.5
Ten Scriptural Indications of a New Heart
1. A consciousness of love to Christ, and trust in him for salvation. “Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.” John 21:17. “I know whom I have believed,” 2 Timothy 1:12. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.6
2. A filial spirit toward God. “Ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.” Romans 8:15, 16. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.7
3. A disposition to justify God and condemn ourselves. “The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just and good... I am carnal, sold under sin.” Romans 7:12, 14. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.8
4. Prayer. “Behold he prayeth.” Acts 9:11. “He kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.” Daniel 6:19. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.9
5. Love for the Bible. “Oh, how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.” Psalm 119:97. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.10
6. Love for Christians. “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.” 1 John 3:14. “To the saints that are in the earth and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.” Psalm 16:3. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.11
7. Desire for the prosperity of Christ’s cause and the salvation of men. “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.” Psalm 137:5. “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.” Romans 10:1. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.12
8. Submission to God’s will. “And he said, It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good.” 1 Samuel 3:18. “Who art thou that repliest against God?” Romans 9:20. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.13
9. A desire to acknowledge Christ before men, and to do every known duty. “See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?” Acts 8:36. “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Acts 9:6. “If ye love me keep my commandments.” John 14:15. “He that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him and he in him.” 1 John 3:24. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.14
10. Continuance in Christian living. “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.” John 8:31. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.15
L. S. A.
They who Love the Law
GREAT peace have they that love thy law,
Them nothing will offend;
They’ll bear neglect, reproach, and scorn,
Though without cause contemned.
ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.16
Their innocence will bear them up,
Though falsely they’re accused;
Their hearts will melt with love for those
By whom they are abused.
ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.17
The court of heaven their cause will plead,
The innocent will clear;
Though men may load their names with guilt,
While they continue here.
ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.18
A consciousness of right within,
Great peace and joy afford;
How free, how happy, O how blest,
Communing with the Lord.
ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.19
He says revile not, when reviled,
Thy wrongs I will repay;
Be every burden cast on me,
I’ll be thy strength and stay.
R. SMITH.
West Wilton, N. H.
ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.20
Tea Poisoned
MR. DAVIS who lived in China about twenty years, and wrote the history of that empire, gives some interesting particulars with regard to the process of preparing tea - interesting to tea drinkers, as they should be acquainted with all the excellent qualities of that health-promoting herb. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.21
He says: Upon reaching the opposite side of the river, and entering one of these laboratories of fictitious Hyson, the parties were witnesses to a strange scene. In the first place large quantities of black tea, which had been damaged in consequence of the floods of the previous autumn, were drying in baskets with sieve bottoms, placed over pans of charcoal. The dried leaves were then transferred in portions of a few pounds each, to a great number of cast-iron pans, embedded in mortar, over furnaces. At each pan stood a workman stirring the tea rapidly round with his hand, having previously added a small quantity of turmeric, in powder, which of course gives the leaves a yellowish or orange tinge; but they were still to be made green. For this purpose some lumps of a fine blue were produced, together with a white substance in powder, which from the names given to them by the workmen, as well as their appearance, were known at once to be prussian blue and gypsum. These were triturated finely together with a small pestle, in such proportion as reduced the dark color of the blue to a light shade; and a quantity equal to a small teaspoonful of the powder being added to the yellowish leaves, these were stirred as before over the fire, until the tea had taken a fine bloom of the color of Hyson, with very much the same scent. To prevent all possibility of error regarding the substances employed, samples of them together with specimens of the leaves in each stage of the process were carried away from the place. If the tea has not highly deleterious qualities, it can only be in consequence of the coloring matter existing in a small proportion to the leaf (the prussian blue being a combination of prussic acid and iron is a poison); and the Chinese seemed quite conscious of the real character of the occupation in which they were engaged; for on applying at several other places where the same business was carried on, we were refused admission. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.22
Then he states that there were several experiments made by which it was proved that even the best green teas contain more or less poison. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.23
Thus it will be seen that aside from all other considerations, all our teas contain a deadly poison, which tea drinkers are constantly taking into their systems. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.24
D. M. CANRIGHT.
Keeping Promises
IN a catalogue of sins of the last days, enumerated by the apostle, 2 Timothy 3, is found that of “covenant breaking.” This sin is so prevalent already that none can fail to mark its existence; and no marvel if it increase more and more as we approach the end. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.25
“Truth is fallen in the street,” is literally fulfilled in the case of many. Repeatedly is the remark made of such a one, “you can place but little confidence in his word, his promises are good for nothing,” etc. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.26
But when we hear it said of one, “his word is as good as his note, it is as good as the bank,” etc., at once we receive a favorable impression in regard to such a one. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.27
Now the observance of the commandments of God will constitute a covenant-keeping people. Such are not men of good resolutions and fair promises alone, but men of deeds, “doers of the word.” Such will consider their word more sacred than gold; will feel themselves bound in honor and conscience to fulfill their promises. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.28
Sabbath keepers should see to it that their influence is not crippled and the cause of God reproached by broken promises. If Bro. A. makes a promise to work for B. to-morrow or next week, or to do a certain piece of work at a specified time, and he fails to fulfill that engagement without giving a sufficient reason for this, he need not wonder if confidence is in some measure shaken in him. Certainly if he repeatedly disregard such promises, and the more so if the promises be a creditor of his. Such may be said to “say and do not.” “But do not ye after their works,” said the Saviour. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.29
Again, parents sometimes fail to keep promises made to their children. The disobedient child is promised a punishment if he does not do thus and so. Little by little he ventures into the path of disobedience, regardless of the threatened chastisement, for he doubts the word of the parent. The promiser he soon finds did not mean what he said, or he forgot or neglected to fulfill. Thus he grows strong in youthful disobedience. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.30
Another makes a fair promise to a child on condition that he will do so and so that he shall have a specific reward or make such a visit. With high hopes and buoyant expectation, the little promisee goes forth to fulfill on his part, but to be disappointed of his reward. The parent or master has seen fit to alter his mind, without any satisfactory reason to the child. He sinks in discouragement, and soon learns to break his word also. Let us be careful of our promises. Says Paul, “Thou, therefore, which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?” ARSH May 12, 1863, page 187.31
A. S. HUTCHINS.
THE REVIEW AND HERALD
“Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth.”
BATTLE CREEK, MICH., THIRD-DAY, MAY 12, 1863.
JAMES WHITE, EDITOR
The Great Movement
WE must regard the great Advent movement as being in the special providence of God, yet we see it marred by the lack of experience, spirituality and caution of its professed friends. This perhaps is no more than we have reason to expect. God has never been able to make anything very great or good of man. The Jewish church had its murmurers, rebels and fanatics. The deepest afflictions of the apostles were false apostles and false brethren. The reformers were stung the worst with discord, and fanaticism in their midst. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.1
The great Advent movement has also had as its professed friends and supporters, rash men, selfish men, fanatics, fanciful interpreters of the Word, traitors, Judases, corrupt men. The great Advent net gathered many bad fish with the good. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.2
William Miller was a great and good man. Elder J. V. Himes who joined Bro. Miller at an early date in the progress of the cause was the man for the times. He was energetic, yet comparatively cautious. He was bold, benevolent, yet prudent. These men whom God called to lead out in the Advent cause ever had in advance of them, and most grievously in their way, a class of professed Adventists who taught ultra holiness, and would denounce them while bearing the burdens of the cause as formalists. But these persons generally grounded in some disgraceful fanaticism. These things made the managing of the great cause doubly perplexing, and probably had a tendency to keep the leaders of the cause from keeping pace with the opening providence of God in unfolding the present truth. However this may be, all true Adventists, who love the Advent name, especially those who had part in the work in 1843 and 1844 will respect the names of Miller, Himes, Litch, Hale, Fitch and many others who stood unitedly in the work, and spirit of the Advent cause. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.3
Many circumstances have been against the prosperity of the cause. The movement was a stirring, exciting one, and in the absence of organization confusion might be expected. Unfortunately for the cause, it was the plan of some of the most cautious to remain in the several churches to which they belonged. Many were pushed out of these churches, and the incautious took the lead in a work which required generalship. Had the proper leaders marched out of their several churches, and led all true Adventists out with them, and then immediately impressed them with the necessity of Bible order, much fanaticism might have been saved. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.4
And then another error arose. Seeing the extravagances of some who followed impressions and exercises of various kinds, those who should have taken the right position, and should have had the confidence of the Advent body, took too broad ground, and indiscriminately condemned the spiritual gifts of the New Testament, and all those spiritual exercises of which we read in the book of Acts, and in the history of every branch of the Christian church down to our time. The result of such a position directly against New Testament spirituality, was to confirm the fanatic in his fanaticism, unsettle the confidence of those who had had a deep and pure Advent experience, in the leaders of the cause, and thus shake the cause to fragments. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.5
As a whole, the Adventists were the cream of the churches. We may at best expect one Judas and a rash Peter in every twelve; but the Advent message attracted the pure, the conscientious, the believing, the confiding, the best. And we think the leading men in the cause were in a great degree responsible for the cause. They were God’s watchmen, the guardians of his truth and the shepherds of his flock. As leaders of every enterprise are in a degree responsible for its results, so were these. In accepting the responsibilities of the publication of the Advent faith and hope, they should have felt that the prosperity of believers depended on their faithfulness, and they should have guarded the cause from dangers. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.6
Some have murmured because the cause of the third message moved no faster, and have charged certain ones with being too cautious. But we have often thanked God that he would not let it move any faster than it could move right. And we also thank God that the message is in the hands of a people who do not trample in the dust the spiritual gifts of the New Testament. This for ten years has proved our safeguard against fanaticism. Cold formality never could handle fanaticism. It might inflame it, and drive the fanatic at a greater distance. The Spirit of God, in the exercise of spiritual gifts, disarms the fanatic and helps him. The position the Review occupies in relation to the great Advent movement is the same in 1863 that it was in 1851. It has ever taught that Revelation 14, contains the prophetic outlines of the great Advent movement, down to the Second Advent. And this position was once held by all American Adventists. At the great breaking up of the Advent body, a few clung to the original position, which has since been made very plain by the opening truths connected with the third message. And here we stand in that message, keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.7
She Sleeps
FELL asleep in Jesus, May 6, 1863, at Battle Creek, sister Lucia King, aged eighteen years and ten months. She died of disease of the liver and lungs. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.8
We usually object to lengthy obituary notices, as their especial interest is generally local. But in this case we may be indulged in a free expression of thought and feeling. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.9
The subject of this notice is the only daughter of our much esteemed Bro. Seneca H. King, of Orleans, Ionia Co., Michigan. When we visited that part of the State last winter Bro. King was made very happy to see his daughter and her two younger brothers publicly manifest their desire to become Christians. He soon took her to Battle Creek to spend a year or more in our family. We were happy to hear her voice in prayer at the family altar, and her decided testimony in inquiring-meetings. She was one of the happy fifteen who were baptized Sabbath, January 3. We sent Lucia to our well-organized and disciplined school, and she seemed very happy in our family. While we were holding meetings at Monterey she went to visit relatives in Convis, and was too much exposed in going, took a violent cold, and was said to have lung fever. As soon as she was able her father moved her to Bro. Amadon’s, in this city, where she lingered, a sufferer, held between hope and fear by her friends, for nine tedious weeks. During this time abscesses formed upon the lungs and broke within and without, making her case a dreadful one, not only for herself, but for her numerous sympathizing friends. Bro. King did all that a kind father could do. Relatives from Convis were attentive. The two younger brothers came seventy miles to see their affectionate sister, and joined with us in prayer at the family altar. The eldest brother came from the army of the Potomac on furlough to see his sister he so much loved once more before her death. This meeting of father, brother, and sister, was most touching. By Lucia’s request we had a season of prayer, when father and son bowed and wept together by the bedside of the wasted form of the daughter and sister. As we parted this noble soldier arose, with benevolence beaming from every feature, grasped our hand in his, and expressed his “heartfelt thanks for the care and attention” we had given his sister. May God still save him from the missiles of death, and return him to his friends to join them in fighting the battles of the Lord. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.10
The funeral services were performed the 7th inst. Eld. Moses Hull preached on the occasion from Hosea 13:14. The congregation was large, with a good representation from the relatives from Convis and Marshall, making quite a full circle of mourners. In fact, the entire audience seemed as mourners, among whom was Mr. Collier, the school-teacher, with twenty-five of his students, seated by themselves, who arose at the close of the discourse and sung — ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.11
“Sister, thou wast mild and lovely,
Gentle as the summer breeze,
Pleasant as the air of evening
When it floats among the trees.
ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.12
Peaceful be thy silent slumber,
Peaceful in the grave so low;
Thou no more will join our number,
Thou no more our songs shalt know.
ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.13
Dearest sister, thou hast left us!
Here thy loss we deeply feel;
But ‘tis God that hath bereft us,
He can all our sorrows heal.
ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.14
Yet, again we hope to meet thee,
When the day of life is fled;
Then, in heaven, with joy to greet thee,
Where no farewell tear is shed.”
ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.15
Sister Lucia bore her sickness with Christian fortitude and patience; talked of death, her funeral, and resting place with wonderful clearness, and expressed her willingness to sleep if it was God’s will, and her hope of meeting her friends at the resurrection of the just. She rests at Oak Hill cemetery, in this city, from whence, by her request, she will be removed in the winter, and buried beside her pious mother, whose last breath, thirteen years since, was spent in praying for her husband and children. May that prayer be fully answered, and in the morning of the resurrection of the just, may that family chain, with its now broken links, be brought together in perfection, never to be severed. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.16
As Bro. King leaves us to attend to neglected home duties, the brethren feel that they part with a Christian gentleman, whose heart is hungering and thirsting to be right with God, and whose first interest is in the next world. And we are certain that the attention which his afflicted daughter received from the brethren and sisters of the Battle Creek church has bound him to them in double chords of Christian affection. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.17
The blessed hope sheds rays of cheering light around afflicting bereavements, and pours consolation into wounded hearts, so that Christians may sing — ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.18
“Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.” ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.19
Lessons for Bible Students LESSON XII. (History of the Sabbath, pp.147-157.)
IN our last lesson we noticed the foundation upon which the Sunday institution is reared. Several texts are employed to build upon this foundation; what is the first of these? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.20
What is the argument drawn from this text? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.21
What is the defect in this argument? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.22
On what day of the week was his last and most important meeting with them? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.23
Is the act of the Saviour, therefore, in meeting with his disciples, sufficient to show that any day is sacred? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.24
What is a still more serious defect in this argument? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.25
How long after the previous meeting did this meeting take place? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.26
And to what day of the week would that necessarily carry us? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.27
The meeting mentioned in John 20:19, may have been on the second day of the week (see note, p.148); in this case what exact parallel have we to the expression, The same day at even, being the first day of the week? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.28
When the Holy Spirit wishes to express just one week, it uses a very different expression from “after eight days;” what is that expression? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.29
What texts prove this? Note p.148. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.30
What would the expression, after eight days, naturally imply? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.31
What texts throw light on this? Note, p.148. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.32
Give the sum of this argument. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.33
What is the next text that enters into the fabric of first-day sacredness? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.34
What is the argument deduced from this text? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.35
What is the first objection that arises to this deduction? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.36
Is there any intimation that the disciples came together on that occasion to celebrate that day? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.37
Is there any proof that the Spirit was poured out in honor of the first day of the week? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 188.38
Why was there nothing unusual in their being convened on that occasion? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.1
If the sacred writer had designed to show that an especial day of the week was honored, would he not have stated the fact and named the day? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.2
Is it certain that this occurred on the first day of the week? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.3
What distinguished author places it upon the seventh day? Note, p.150. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.4
What was the great event which the Holy Spirit designed to mark? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.5
What is the third pillar in the first-day edifice? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.6
What is the first and fatal objection to this proposition? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.7
Who, then, knows it to be true? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.8
What considerations show that the purpose of redemption was contained in that of creation? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.9
Can it be affirmed, then, that redemption is greater than creation? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.10
Assuming for argument’s sake that redemption is greater than creation, who knows that a day should be set apart for its commemoration? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.11
But granting that a day should be set apart for this purpose, what day should have the preference? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.12
Is redemption yet finished? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.13
What shows that it is not? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.14
What considerations prove that if a day is to be set apart to commemorate this work, it should be the day of the crucifixion and not the day of the resurrection? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.15
Has not the Holy Spirit taken care that the event of both the crucifixion and resurrection should have an appropriate memorial? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.16
Is there any necessity, then, for changing the Sabbath for this purpose? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.17
What is the memorial of the crucifixion? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.18
What is the memorial of the resurrection? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.19
Was it the day of the crucifixion or resurrection that in either case has been thought worthy of commemoration? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.20
What are the great events which lie at the foundation of our redemption? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.21
Has each one of these its appropriate memorial? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.22
But what importance have the sacred writers attached to the days of their occurrence? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.23
What is it that has furnished so plausible a plea for first-day observance, in memory of the resurrection? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.24
What facts should exist to render first-day observance a proper memorial of redemption? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.25
Do any of these facts exist? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.26
On the contrary, what is true? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.27
What constitutes the fourth pillar in the first-day temple? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.28
Those who argue this text have to assume the very points this text is supposed to prove; what are those points? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.29
To the first of these extraordinary assumptions, what is the proper reply? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.30
When did the Saviour assume the position of “head of the corner?” ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.31
What texts prove this? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.32
How is the second assumption disproved? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.33
What about the third assumption? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.34
The passage in Psalm 118 has reference to the opening of the gospel dispensation; can it, therefore, refer to any one day of the week? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.35
To what must it refer? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.36
In what text does our Lord use the word day in a similar manner? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.37
What, then, was the condition of the Sabbath at the opening of the great work of the gospel to the Gentiles? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.38
Proper Observance of the Sabbath
“REMEMBER the Sabbath-day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day and hallowed it.” ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.39
This commandment is a part of that law which God spoke in person on mount Sinai in the hearing of all Israel, his chosen people, and wrote with his finger on stone, and of which Christ says, “Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law.” Matthew 5:18. It enjoins the observance of the Sabbath of the Lord, which is the day on which God rested in the beginning, and that he blessed and sanctified, because that in it he had rested from his work. Genesis 2. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.40
The Bible acknowledges no other weekly Sabbath than that of the fourth commandment. Sabbath signifies rest, and God never rested on more than one day; he never blessed more than one day, and he never commanded the observance of any other day of the week than that on which he rested, and which he set apart to a religious use as soon as he had created the heavens and the earth and rested the seventh day. “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work.” ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.41
Our object at this time is to dwell on the proper observance of the Sabbath; and, first, In what does this observance consist? It consists in refraining from our own secular work on that day, and in employing that day in the service of the Creator. God hallowed or sanctified the Sabbath-day, see Genesis 2:2, 3, and to sanctify means “to separate, set apart, or appoint to a holy, sacred, or religious use” (Webster), or to “consecrate, separate, and set apart a thing or person from all secular purposes to some religious use.” Clarke’s commentary on Exodus 13:2. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.42
The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord. It is emphatically the Lord’s day. Isaiah 58:13. God has given man six days for secular purposes; but he has reserved the seventh day unto himself. But we are all connected with the seventh day; it comes to all the inhabitants of this earth, and we are called upon to spend it in a certain manner. How then shall we show that the seventh day belongs to the Lord, unless we cease to do our own work on that day, and spend it in the service of the Lord? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.43
To illustrate: A man who is engaged in the service of another person says with propriety that his time is not his own, but belongs to him for whom he works; and in order that a servant may show that his time belongs to his master, he must cease to labor for himself, and employ his time in laboring for his master. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.44
To further illustrate this point we would refer to the ancient sanctuary. When this sanctuary had been sanctified unto the Lord, the priests could not use it as they could their own houses; yet they had a work or service to perform in it. So it is in regard to the Sabbath. It belongs to the Lord, and we must consecrate it unto him by employing it in a special manner in his service. Thus we see that the Sabbath is a rest from our own work to be employed in the nobler work of our Creator. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.45
But says the objector, “The commandment plainly declares that in it (the seventh day) thou shalt not do any work.” We answer, The work specified is “thy work.” Says the commandment, “Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work” (any of thy work). ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.46
This view harmonizes the Sabbath law with those laws which required the priests to labor on the Sabbath-day in attending to duties connected with the sanctuary. God does not under any age give laws conflicting with each other. If God required his people to keep laws clashing with each other, they could not obey him; in trying to obey him they would disobey him, and he would be the author of sin. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.47
Those who claim that the fourth commandment prohibits all kinds of labor on the seventh day, must adopt the position (as an able opponent once did) that the Sabbath law did not regulate the priests. Hence, according to this view, the Sabbath was not binding on all Israel. But those who urge this objection would do well to remember that the Israelites had to go to and return from the synagogues on the Sabbath. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.48
Again, they performed actual labor in saving the lives of their beasts, and in supplying their wants on the Sabbath-day, Matthew 12:11; Luke 13:15, and the great Law-giver or his Son, who understood and taught the design and import of the law, never condemned them for such acts. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.49
Acts of mercy are lawful on the Sabbath-day. Said the great Teacher to the Jews; who had loaded the Sabbath as well as the fifth commandment with traditions, and who through breaking the law dishonored God, Mark 7:6-14; Romans 2:23, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath-days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it?” Luke 6:9. “It is lawful (according to law) to do well on the Sabbath-days.” Matthew 12:12. “The Sabbath was made for man.” Mark 2:27. If it was not lawful to do acts of mercy on the Sabbath-days, then the Sabbath would be against man, and not for man. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.50
Again, Christ said, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” John 5:17. The Father had worked from the beginning in mercifully sustaining the lives of his creatures on the Sabbath as well as on other days of the week. Christ followed the example of his Father, and showed that what he did was lawful, and we should do well to imitate the Father and the Son in this respect. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.51
God would be worshiped understandingly by his intelligent creatures, and the reason why we are called upon to sanctify the Sabbath is expressed as follows: “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day and hallowed it.” In Genesis 2:3, we have the same reason expressed in the following terms: “And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his works which God created and made.” ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.52
From this we learn that the Sabbath is a memorial which points back to the works of the Creator. One leading object of the Sabbath is to induce men to contemplate the Creator in his perfections, which shine gloriously in the works of creation. “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, even his eternal power and Godhead.” Romans 1:20. Hence the works of creation are a proper subject for our meditations on the Sabbath. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.53
But God’s perfections are also seen in his law, his dealings with the children of men, and the plan of salvation, and these subjects should also occupy our minds on the holy Sabbath. Here is a vast field for our thoughts on the Sabbath. Let the mind expand on these subjects, and as light is received let it be reflected by the words and actions. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.54
It is not against the commandment to attend to the means of grace on the Sabbath. The object of the means of grace and the plan of salvation is to bring sinful, fallen man in obedience to the law of God, of which the Sabbath is a part. Of faith, which is one of the principal means of grace, Paul says, “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law,” Romans 3:31, and Christ died “that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us.” Romans 8:4. Therefore the more we understandingly attend to the means of grace, the more will we be disposed to keep the Sabbath and the rest of God’s law. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.55
The work that is forbidden by the fourth commandment includes ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.56
1. Secular manual labor. The idea of worldly gain, or any other consideration, should not tempt us to engage in this labor on the Sabbath. How easy it would be for the Lord to frustrate our plans, and make us lose more than we might gain by laboring with our hands. But though the Lord should suffer us to gain more in the way of sin, though we should spread ourselves here like the green bay tree, Psalm 37:35, yet the loss in the end would be far greater than all that could be gained by sinning. The wages of sin is death. Those who serve sin will surely have their wages - death. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.57
Those who are liable to thus sin with their hands would do well to heed the following exhortation from James: “Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.... Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” James 4:8-10. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.58
2. Traveling to or from worldly business on the Sabbath. This is a species of our own work, and should not be so much as named among us. We profess to have turned our feet from the Sabbath. Let us see to it that our practice agrees with our profession. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 189.59
3. Speaking our own words. See Isaiah 58:13. This is also a part of our work; and how apt some are to speak on worldly subjects at home, with neighbors and strangers, and even with the brethren, on the Sabbath. The Sabbath is not a day in which we can talk about farms, butter, and cheese, and many other worldly things. Brethren and sisters, shall we honor God by not speaking our own words on his holy day? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 190.1
4. Thinking on secular subjects. The Sabbath law regulates our minds as well as our bodies. Says Paul, “So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God.” Romans 7:25. The law is spiritual, verse 14, reaching the spirit or mind, citing our thoughts, accusing our desires, and condemning our affections. Therefore the Sabbath is not a mere animal or bodily rest, as some have termed it. In order that we may keep it in the spirit and in the letter, we must not even think of doing our own work, or plan in reference to our worldly matters. There are as many ways of breaking the Sabbath with our minds as there are secular subjects on which the mind can dwell. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 190.2
But we must not be satisfied with the thought that we do not engage in servile work on the Sabbath. We should exert an influence to have those that are with us and under us keep the Sabbath. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 190.3
Parents should first feel for their children whom the Lord has in a special manner entrusted to their care. They should with patience and delight teach them the relations they sustain to their Creator, their parents, and their fellow-creatures, and with an even hand and parental authority enforce the observance of the Sabbath. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 190.4
Parents, watch the movings of the mind, and see to it that you make right impressions. Be sure that your principles are understood, and then enforce them with meekness and decision. Tell your children that it is because you love them, and would have them loved of the Lord, that you require this at their hand; that they depend upon you, and that the Lord requires them to honor you by obeying his law, which you love. As long as they are dependent upon you for living, they should honor you by resting on the Sabbath. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 190.5
How can parents be indifferent in regard to their children? How can any of those who bear the name of Sabbath-keepers leave their children alone on the Sabbath (especially if they are young and unconverted, and lack self-control), without any restraining influence, and enjoy the privileges of the Lord’s house, and preach the Sabbath to others? How can those who feel that they need all the help which is received on the Sabbath to obey God, leave their tender children who need more help than they, where a thousand things will divert their minds from right subjects, and lead them to violate the Sabbath? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 190.6
But the servants must not be overlooked. They should know their duty, and have the privilege of resting as well as their masters. Deuteronomy 5:14. They must not be so burdened with cares that they cannot obey their Master who is in heaven. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 190.7
Masters cannot allow their servants to work for them on the Sabbath. They cannot be said to carry out the principles of the Sabbath law while they permit their children, their servants, or their cattle, to work for them on the Sabbath-day. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 190.8
Our working beasts should rest from servile work on the Sabbath; yet they may help us in the service of the Lord, and in attending to acts of mercy. They are not amenable to the law; but we are responsible for the use that we make of them. It is the use that we make of our beasts that is either approved or condemned by the law; and it is by no means wrong for us to have our beasts help us do that which is lawful on the Sabbath-day. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 190.9
Even the stranger who stops with us should understand that we cannot allow him to engage in servile work within our gates on the Sabbath. We are in a great measure, responsible, for those violations of the Sabbath within our gates or elsewhere, that we might with the right and authority that the Lord has given us and with heavenly wisdom (James 3:17), prevent, and if we carry out the principles of the Sabbath at home, we shall be in a condition to exert an influence in favor of the Sabbath abroad. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 190.10
For the benefit of those who desire to keep the Sabbath, we would present the following suggestions: ARSH May 12, 1863, page 190.11
1. Plan in reference to the Sabbath. The men of this world will calculate and plan to meet important events and to pay what they owe, and you must weigh your worldly matters and consider the state of your heart, and see that you are in a condition to meet the Sabbath when it comes, and to give the Lord what belongs to him - to consecrate the seventh-day unto the Creator. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 190.12
2. Let the sixth day be emphatically the preparation day with you. Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54. Let not this day be your business day. Do not crowd too much work on the last laboring day in the week. This is not preparing to keep the Sabbath, but overtaxing the body and the mind, so that you cannot enjoy or observe the Sabbath when it comes. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 190.13
3. Close up your work in time to withdraw your thoughts from secular matters, and fix them on religious subjects before the Sabbath. You cannot prepare your mind for the Sabbath in a moment. If you are careful here, you will be able to enter on the Sabbath with a right frame of mind; and if you commence the Sabbath aright, you will have a good reason to be encouraged. But if you are confused when the Sabbath commences; if you are overtaken in sin, and if your mind is divided, the sense of guilt will fasten upon you, and hinder you in the observance of the Sabbath. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 190.14
4. Having withdrawn yourself from all worldly employments, set a guard on your senses. The senses are channels or roads through which the thoughts pass to reach the mind. Close your senses against worldly thoughts, and they will not be so apt to invade your mind. Shut your windows, and thieves will not so easily enter your dwelling. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 190.15
5. When you are perplexed in regard to the propriety of certain thoughts, words or actions, keep on the safe side. Avoid doing that which might prove to be unlawful. Keep as far from danger as you can. Let not your course say to others, that you are trying to see how near you can come to the precipice without falling over it. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 190.16
6. When others speak to you on secular subjects, let them understand your principles. Be decided. Be wise. Try to turn their mind to some religious subject. Speak on what they call your attention to in a religious light. In doing this you will let your light shine, and resist a temptation to which many yield. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 190.17
7. Be busily engaged in attending to the means of grace, in speaking and thinking on religious subjects, etc., and there will be no time or room for worldly thoughts, words, or deeds. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 190.18
8. Mark your violations of the Sabbath that you may guard against them in the future and improve. But, ARSH May 12, 1863, page 190.19
9. Remember the improvements you have made and the blessings you have received in trying to overcome, that you may not lose courage. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 190.20
10. As you try to help yourself, look to the Lord for that help which he alone can afford. When you plan in reference to the Sabbath, ask the Lord to help you carry out your plans. As the Sabbath commences pray for strength and grace to resist the temptations that are before you, and to watch unto prayer through the day. Let not your sins weigh you down. The Lord is willing to forgive you your sins if you heartily repent. Do you feel your weakness? There is strength in Jesus; and the Lord does not require anything of his people but what they can by his grace and strength perform. He is anxious to give you his Spirit to help your infirmities. He has holy angels who excel in strength and whom he sends forth to minister for those who shall be heirs of salvation. Limit not his power. Take hold of his arm by faith and strive to overcome. You can yet obtain a complete victory and keep the Sabbath aright through him who has loved us. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 190.21
Let us now look at some of the benefits resulting from a proper observance of the Sabbath. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 190.22
1. If we observe the Sabbath as we should, we shall fare better temporally. In order to our present well-being it is necessary that we should spend a portion of our time in resting from servile labor, and the fourth commandment provides a day of rest. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 190.23
2. We shall remember our Creator and realize our dependence upon him. How prone men in all ages have been to forget God, and to exalt themselves or other created things above the Creator. This they have done in proportion as they have neglected the principles of the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a sign between God and his people, that they might know that he is the Lord. “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” Exodus 31:17; Ezekiel 20:12, 20. It is impossible to forget God and the relations we sustain to him as our Creator, and yet commemorate his rest from the works of creation by properly observing the Sabbath. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 190.24
3. We shall keep the rest of the commandments. The Sabbath enforces the principles of gratitude and love. It unfolds to our mind the grand fact that God is the author of our existence, and that we owe all to him, and this fact involves an obligation to love God supremely. But we cannot love God supremely without loving our fellow creatures as we love ourselves. They are God’s creatures as well as ourselves, and have the same rights that we have. Says the beloved apostle, “This commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God, loveth his brother, also.” ARSH May 12, 1863, page 190.25
Now, if we love God supremely, we shall not dishonor him by accepting other gods, or by making graven images to bow down to them and serve then, or by taking the name of the Lord our God in vain. Hence, we shall keep the first three commandments. And if we love God as we ought, and our fellow creatures as we love ourselves, we shall honor our parents and pay a proper regard to the life, chastity, property, character, and interests of others, and thus keep the last six commandments. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 190.26
We can now understand why the Lord attaches so much importance to the observance of the Sabbath in his word. When God brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, that they might observe his sabbaths, and keep his laws, he proved them with the Sabbath; and when the Israelites had backslidden in consequence of transgressing the law, God told them that if they hearkened unto him to hallow the Sabbath, Jerusalem should remain for ever, and that if they did not hearken unto him to hallow the Sabbath day, Jerusalem should be destroyed. Exodus 16; Jeremiah 17:24-27. It is evident that the Sabbath is inseparably connected with the rest of the law, and that we cannot insist too much on the necessity of observing it. It is the key to the law of God. It is the golden link that unites man to his Creator, and the obligations which we owe to God, with those that we owe to our fellow man. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 190.27
4. We shall be blessed of God, and have an everlasting name that will not be cut off. “Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.... Even unto them will I give in mine house a place and a name better than of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.” Isaiah 56:2-5. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 190.28
By reading the connection, we learn that this Scripture is prophetic, and applies when God’s salvation is near to come, and his righteousness to be revealed. See verses 1, 8, 9, and chap 55. It is a source of consolation to those who are reproached and reviled for keeping the Sabbath. If God blesses them they shall be blessed and honored. God’s blessing and approbation is better than life and all the applause of men; and a name that is better than of sons and daughters and that will never be cut off, should be more highly prized than all the high sounding titles of this earth, and is good enough for any of God’s humble children. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 190.29
5. We shall have the seal of God in our foreheads, or minds, and escape the wrath that is threatened by the third angel. Revelation 7:2, 3; 14:9-12. The seal of an earthly monarch is that which makes valid those laws or decrees which he promulgates. It shows his title of royalty, the extent of his dominion, and his right to reign. Now the Sabbath makes valid the law of God. It is the only part of the law that shows who the Law-giver is, and that distinguishes him from other gods. It shows him to be the Lord thy God, the creator of heaven and earth and all that in them is, and thus furnishes us with his title of royalty, the extent of his dominion, and his right to reign. Therefore the Sabbath may with propriety be called the seal of God. Again, the words, seal and sign are used interchangably in the Bible (Romans 4:12), and we have seen that the Sabbath is a sign between God and his people. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 190.30
The sealing work as brought to view in Revelation 7, has respect to God’s servants, and is accomplished this side of the leading signs of Christ’s coming (Revelation 6:12, etc.; Matthew 24:29, 30), and while the nations are getting angry, preparatory to the battle of the great day. It must therefore synchronize with the work of the third angel of Revelation 14, which is now going on. The message of the third angel will divide men into two classes. One class will worship the beast and receive his mark, while the other class will keep God’s commandments, and consequently have the seal, mark, or name of God in their foreheads. One class will drink the unmixed wrath of God, which can not be inflicted until mercy closes, and which is the same as the seven last plagues (compare Revelation 14:9, 10; 15:1; 16:1, 2), while the other class will escape the awful wrath of God and stand on mount Zion. Revelation 14:1-3; Isaiah 56:7. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 191.1
6. We shall delight ourselves in the Lord, and feed on the heritage of Jacob. “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor him; not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord: and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee on the heritage of Jacob, thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Isaiah 58:13, 14. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 191.2
From the previous verse we see that the Lord is speaking for the benefit of the repairers of the breach, the restorers of paths to dwell in - those who will raise up the foundations of many generations. They will understand the nature and design of the Sabbath, call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and take great pleasure in observing it. As a consequence they will delight themselves in the Lord. They will see his glorious character in his law and in his dealings with mankind, and will rejoice in all his ways, and try to imitate his imitable perfections. The law of their God will be in their hearts, and none of their steps shall slide. Psalm 37:31. Having formed characters in obeying God’s holy and perfect law, they will be prepared to feed on the heritage of Jacob or Israel; to enjoy the benefits of the inheritance that was promised to Israel and his seed, and that the children of the promise will have, when those who are Israelites indeed, shall inherit the earth. Genesis 28:13, 14; 26:3-5; 13:14-16; Acts 7:4, 5. Hebrews 11:8-17; John 1:47; Romans 9:6; Galatians 3:8, 9, 29; Matthew 5:5. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 191.3
Dear reader, are not these benefits of sufficient importance to attract your attention? Do not the riches and glories of the new earth invite you? Do you love to remember your Creator and the relations that you sustain to him? Is there a satisfaction in loving God and keeping his commandments? Do you appreciate his blessings here, and desire to escape the plagues that are soon coming on the earth, and finally stand with the redeemed on mount Zion? Then, “remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” ARSH May 12, 1863, page 191.4
God grant that we may honor him, benefit our own souls and our fellow beings, by observing the Sabbath-day according to the commandment. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 191.5
D. T. BOURDEAU.
LETTERS
“Then they that feared the Lord, spake often one to another.”
From Sister Powell
BRO. WHITE: I praise the Lord that to the poor the gospel is preached, and although unworthy I can say that I am his. I came out from the M. E. church about a year and a half ago under Bro. Sanborn’s preaching in Davis, and I have been striving to grow in grace ever since, and in the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. I often feel to cry, Oh what is man that thou art mindful of him or the son of man that thou visitest him. I have many things to overcome, the greatest being my own evil heart. But by the grace of God I will overcome: I feel more determined of late to strive for the kingdom, as I see that the promise is only to those that strive; and time is short. There are only six or seven of us here and all females. We have not the help of our husbands, in the truth, but we have Jesus for our captain and if he is for us who can be against us. We have our meetings every Sabbath and O, how blessed is this privilege, while hundreds are alone that are keeping the commandments and the faith of Jesus. I often feel tempted and tried by the adversary, but when I resort to prayer God gives me grace to say, Get thee hence Satan. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 191.6
Pray for me that I may be an overcomer and may yet have my companion to go with me to mount Zion. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 191.7
Yours striving to live out the teachings of God.
JULANA L. POWELL.
Davis, Ills.
From Sister Van Dorn
BRO. WHITE: As it cheers my heart so much to hear from the brethren and sisters through the Review, I conclude to cast in my mite with theirs. I, with four of my sisters, am striving to keep the commandments of God and faith of Jesus. We were awakened to the truth last winter during the labors of Bro. Cornell, and joyfully we obeyed its teaching. Although we have much opposition, yet we are of good courage, knowing we have many blessed promises if we forsake all for the truth. We know if we would reign with Christ we must also suffer with him. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 191.8
If I have the privilege of being one of God’s little flock, I want to be one of the tried ones; for we are to be tried as gold is tried in the fire, that we may be able to stand when the great day of his wrath is come. Only a little longer will we have to suffer here, when, if we are faithful, we shall all meet to praise the Lord on mount Zion. Praise the Lord for the blessed hope. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 191.9
O, I do think that a home where sorrow can never enter, is of sufficient value to forsake all, for I am resolved to try to so live that I may be accounted worthy to obtain that world. I do love the truth, and I rejoice that I ever saw the light of it, and I hope I am grateful to God for inclining my heart to keep his testimonies. I have thought I would have loved to be one of the children of ancient Israel, because they knew that God was leading them; but I thank the Lord he has an Israel now, and I can have the privilege of being one of them, and of knowing without a doubt that God is our leader. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 191.10
O, I thank the Lord that I have a humble place in his church. I long for the Saviour’s appearing. May I so live that I may be prepared to meet him with joy and not with grief. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 191.11
Yours in hope.
MARTHA VAN DORN.
West Union, Iowa.
From Sister Paul
BRO. WHITE: I believe that the signs of the times fully indicate that the coming of Christ draweth nigh. Men’s hearts are failing them for fear, and for looking after those things that are coming upon the earth. O that we could but realize, as we should, the solemn time in which we are living. When we look around upon the world, and behold the strife and commotion among the nations, we cannot fail to see that the final crisis of this world’s drama is just before us. And how it becomes us to be up and doing, to be found with oil in our vessels, with our lamps, so that when our Lord returns from the wedding, we may meet him with joy, and say, Lo this is our God, we have waited for him. This is my prayer, that we may be found of that happy number. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 191.12
One year ago last fall Brn. J. N. Andrews and Allen came to Medford with the tent. I praise the Lord that they were directed this way. It was under Bro. Andrew’s preaching that I decided to keep the Sabbath of the Lord. I was led to see that Sunday was not the true Sabbath. I searched the Bible and could not find one passage in it to sustain Sunday keeping. Christ kept the seventh day; so did his disciples before and after his resurrection, according to the commandment. I commenced keeping the seventh day, and was greatly blessed in so doing. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 191.13
The doctrine of the soon coming of Christ was not very new to me, for my mind had been dwelling on that for some time, as I had been watching the signs of the times. But the sleep of the dead until the resurrection, and the final destruction of the wicked, was something new to me. However, as I heard the Scriptures explained, and searched them myself, I found that they could be reconciled so, better than in any other way. I was partially a believer in Spiritualism, but when led to see that the dead know not anything, of course I gave that up. I praise the Lord that I was led to see the delusion of it before it was too late. A Seventh-day Adventist church was soon after organized in Deerfield, and feeling convinced that they were the true people of God, I withdrew from the Methodist church, of which I had been a member for some twenty years, and joined them. I still feel that I was in the way of duty, although it has brought me much opposition and persecution from worldly-minded professors. But Jesus has said, “The servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also;” and may we not be encouraged; for some kept his saying, and followed him, and may not we, even the weakest of us, when the last message of mercy is being proclaimed to a dying world, be the means of persuading some to keep his sayings and to follow him? ARSH May 12, 1863, page 191.14
I am still striving to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. My desire is to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the holy word, and be able to stand through the perils of these last days, and be ready to meet Jesus when he comes. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 191.15
Yours, striving to overcome.
M. PAUL.
Medford, Minn.
From Bro. Twist
BRO. WHITE: As we are exhorted to speak often to each other, and many of us have no other way to do so except through the Review, I will add my testimony, as I wish at all times to be found in the performance of every known duty. I can say that I would rather suffer with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. I am trying, and ever expect to, to keep all of God’s commands. It looks dark to me when I look into the future. It looks as though we had got nearly to the Red Sea. It looks as though the Conscript Act would bring us into a position where we could not keep the whole law. Let us trust in our heavenly Father, who cares for us more than earthly parents do for their children. Let us stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. We must expect trials and persecutions. I believe it is for our good. It tries our faith; it purges out the dross, and leaves the gold pure. I am glad to hear that the message is rising. Let us all arise with it; for it is our privilege and duty. Let us hold out a little longer. The race is almost run. The City is almost in sight. There the wicked will cease from troubling and the weary be at rest. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 191.16
Yours in hope of eternal life when Jesus comes.
S. R. TWIST.
Mt. Vernon, Nimiha Co., Nebraska.
OBITUARY
DIED April 29, 1863, near Buchanan, Mich., Bro. Joseph Catlin, of disease of the liver, aged nearly sixty-four years. He leaves a believing wife to mourn his loss. Bro. Catlin joined the regular Baptists at the age of seventeen. He embraced the Advent faith in 1843, and has since that time been a firm and zealous believer in the soon coming of Jesus Christ. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 191.17
Bro. and sister Catlin embraced the Sabbath more than twelve years since, and have maintained their faith in this respect, alone, not being situated so as to meet on the Sabbath with those of like faith. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 191.18
By his request we visited Bro. Catlin a few days before his death, and was happy to learn that he had been making clean work for the judgment. If any of his neighbors and numerous acquaintances had thought that he had too zealously pressed the claims of the third angel’s message, Revelation 14:9-12, upon them, they seemed to forget it now, and were all attention to his sufferings and wants, and reverently spoke of his conscientious integrity. The funeral was held in the Advent chapel at Buchanan village. We spoke on the occasion to an attentive audience from 1 Corinthians 15:26. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 191.19
We shall hold in pleasant remembrance our hospitable and kind reception by Eld. D. R. Mansfield (Adventist) and family, at Buchanan. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 191.20
JAMES WHITE.
“World’s Crisis” please copy. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 191.21
THE REVIEW AND HERALD
BATTLE CREEK, MICH., THIRD-DAY, MAY 12, 1863
Explanation
ONCE, in conversation with a brother, I used some language in regard to the law of God, in the heat of discussion, for which I afterward had to repent. The language was too strong, though my view was, I think, correct. I have learned that my words were afterward made public. Now I desire to set the matter right. I therefore remark, I regard the law, and ever have regarded it, as “holy, just, and good,” in itself. As a law, it is perfect. But it seems to me when we seek to be justified by it, then it becomes a curse to us, and “weak.” Am I not correct? I used to think our Sabbath-keeping brethren did seek to be justified by the law. I see now they disavow this. Very well. I submit to their confession. I think they honestly mean what they say. I have ever, for several years, concluded that the whole law was abolished, and the whole New Testament is our guide. This is the best light I can get. If this is not so, I would see the truth. I would delight to honor God in any and all ways that he proposes to us. I wait for him; but I must not follow my own will. What is the truth? says every true heart. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.1
EDWIN BURNHAM.
REMARKS. - It may be that some persons, at the time referred to, taught the moral law in connection with the sealing in a manner to give the idea that they sought justification by it. But the Review, and our publications for the past fourteen years, must decide where Sabbath-keepers have looked for justification. We have ever held this one position, that by the moral law is the knowledge of sin, and by the gospel of Jesus Christ we learn the remedy. Hence we may “keep the commandments of God AND the faith of Jesus,” and have not only the whole New Testament as our guide, but the moral law and prophets of the Old, also. Adventists cannot spare the prophets, neither should they the moral law. We are happy to send Bro. B. a package of publications in which our positions on the law, gospel, two laws, etc., are defined. - ED. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.2
Third Semi-Annual Report of the Treasurer of the S. D. A. P. Association. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.3
U. Smith in Account with the S. D. A. P. Association. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.4
| To Cash Received from Oct. 1, 1862 to April 9, 1863. | |
| On Review | $2882,50 |
| “ Instructor | 247,52 |
| “ Books (cash sales) | 653,23 |
| “ “ (sold on account) | 1496,69 |
| “ Deposit | 438,40 |
| “ Shares in Association | 1311,65 |
| “ Donations to Do. | 651,01 |
| “ Mich. Conf. Fund | 974,76 |
| “ Missionary Fund | 10,00 |
| “ Interest on Notes | 11,82 |
| “ Mich. Tent Fund | 74,50 |
| “ Custom Work | 270,29 |
| Total | $9022,37 |
| By Cash paid, from Oct. 1, 1862 to April 9, 1863, as follows: | |
| For labor in Office | $1480,29 |
| “ Material and Sundries | 1472,62 |
| On Deposits | 1178,98 |
| “ Outstanding Notes | 2188,35 |
| “ Mich. Tent Fund | 5,56 |
| “ Mich. Conf. Fund | 397,21 |
| By Mich. Conf. Funds in hands of Ass’n | 577,55 |
| “ Missionary Funds in do | 360,50 |
| “ Mich. Tent Funds in do | 46,18 |
| Temporarily Loaned | 500,00 |
| Association Funds to balance | 815,13 |
| Total | $9022,37 |
| U. SMITH Treasurer. | |
Notice
THE undersigned N. Y. Conference committee hereby authorize the appointment of four delegates, to represent said Conference in the forth-coming General Conference to be held at Battle Creek, Mich. Said delegates to be chosen respectively from Western, Northern, Central and Southern N. Y. and Penn. Will the brethren in the localities named, attend, as soon as possible, to the appointment of their delegates. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.5
J. M. LINDSAY,
H. HILLIARD,
J. M. ALDRICH.
REMARKS. The above note was mislaid, or it would have appeared sooner. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.6
It will be the duty of state Conferences to appoint delegates to the General Conference. And as the object of our state Conference committees is to act for their Conferences, we conclude that it is the duty of the several Conference committees to appoint delegates, or send letters to our first General Conference, instead of leaving it for the brethren in different localities to do. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.7
ED.
J. A. SMITH. The gospel of the kingdom which was to be preached in all the world, we understand to be the special proclamation of the advent. Consequently it could not be fulfilled in the apostles’ days, but reaches its fulfillment under the messages of Revelation 14. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.8
APPOINTMENTS General Conference
THERE will be a General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists at Battle Creek, Michigan, to commence Wednesday, May 20, at 6 o’clock, P. M. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.9
The objects of this meeting, for the general good of the cause of Bible truth and holiness everywhere, have been specified in the REVIEW. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.10
The several conference committees in the different States are requested to send delegates, or letters at their discretion. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.11
The brethren in those localities where there is no State Conference, can also be represented in this Conference by delegates or letters. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.12
All delegates and letters must be sanctioned by some State Conference, or Conference committee, or - where there are no State Conferences, - some church, or meeting of scattered brethren. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.13
| JAMES WHITE, | ] | Michigan |
| J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH, | ] | Conference |
| JOHN BYINGTON. | ] | Committee |
Michigan State Conference
A SPECIAL session of the Michigan and Northern Indiana State Conference will be held at Battle Creek, May 22nd, at 9 o’clock, A. M. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.14
It is desired that every church belonging to this Conference, and those who wish to unite with the Conference, will send delegates with letters, stating their appointment as delegates, the number, condition, wants, etc., of the churches to which they belong. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.15
Ample provisions will be made for delegates and preachers. A general attendance of the friends of the cause from the region round about is solicited at the meetings of worship, Sabbath and first-day, who will receive all the attention that accommodations will permit. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.16
CON. COM.
PROVIDENCE permitting, the Ohio State Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, will be held May 30 and 31, at Wakeman, Ohio. Brethren, come in the Spirit, with the purpose of having a profitable meeting, praying that God will meet with us. Brethren will come prepared to take care of themselves mostly, as there are but few Sabbath-keepers in the place. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.17
By order of the committee.
J. CLARKE, Sec. of Conf.
Portage, Wood Co., Ohio May 1, 1863.
P. S. The reasons for making the appointment of conference at Wakeman, are, there being quite a number of brethren in that vicinity, who have not had the privilege of a conference in that part of the State, it was thought best by the committee to grant them such an opportunity, other reasons might be given. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.18
Bro. Waggoner or some other messenger will probably attend: Bro. and Sister White, are earnestly requested to be present. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.19
By order of committee. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.20
J. C.
PROVIDENCE permitting I will meet with the church in Convis Sabbath May 16th. J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.21
THE next Quarterly Meeting of Seventh-day Adventists at Princeville will be held at the Christian church in Princeville the first Sabbath and first-day in June, which will be the 6th and 7th of the month. Come, brethren and sisters, prepared to stay until the meeting is over. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.22
H. C. BLANCHARD.
By request of the church at West Monroe I would say that the next monthly meeting for Central N. Y. is appointed at that place the first Sabbath in June, provided it does not conflict with the appointment of the State Conference; if it should, it will be omitted until the first Sabbath in July. The church at West Monroe earnestly desire that Bro. Andrews should attend the meeting. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.23
ELIAS GOODWIN.
Providence permitting, I will meet the brethren at Mauston, Wis., May 16 and 17. Also at Kickapoo Center, May 23 and 24. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.24
W. S. INGRAHAM.
Business Department
Business Notes
A. C. Bourdeau: The P. O. address of Eld. M. B. Czechowski is Williamsburg, N. Y. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.25
Receipts FOR REVIEW AND HERALD
Annexed to each receipt in the following list, is the Volume and Number of the ‘Review and Herald’ to which the money receipted pays. If money for the paper is not in due time acknowledged, immediate notice of the omission should be given. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.26
C. B. Deyarmand 2,00,xxiii,1. J. P. Munsell 2,00,xxiii,1. Eliza Griffith 1,00,xxii,6. I. Palubla 3,00,xxiii,8. M. R. Place 3,00,xxiv,1. D. Crowl 2,00,xxiii,20. L. Graves 1,00,xxiii,1. C. C. Bodley 1,00,xxiii,8. L. Graves for H. Hearns 0,50,xxiii,1. W. Livingston 1,00,xxi,1. A. A. Frirfield 1,50,xxiii,1. H. M. Caslar 1,00,xxi,10. A. Tuttle 2,00,xxiii,1. B. K. Holliday 3,00, in full of acct. Church at Waukon for F. Pitt 4,00,xxii,1. J. Tewilliger 1,00,xxii,1. C. P. Cushman 1,00,xxiv,1. N. Jones 1,50,xxiii,1. P. Gibson 8,00,xxiii,1. S. E. Lindsley for Mrs. A. Vickery 0,50,xxi,8. Wm. Bryant 1,00,xxiii,1. C. Woodman 2,00,xxiv,1. C. Woodman for E. P. Bartlett 1,00,xxiii,24. J. Denny 1,00,xxi,8. Eli Sherman 2,00,xxiv,1. M. E. Thompson 1,00,xxiii,15. C. R. Austin 2,00,xxiv,1. Mary Olmstead 1,00,xxiii,9. C. G. Saterlee 1,00,xxiii,1. H. C. Blanchard 1,00,xxiii,1. W. S. Stormes 1,00,xxiii,24. Amy E. Dart 1,00,xxiii,1. P. Z. Kinne 2,00,xxiii,1. L. Pinch 1,00,xxii,7. V. B. Gaskill for J. C. Rogers 1,00,xxiii,24. A. M. Hastings 1,00,xxiii,24. W. Hastings for S. McGan 0,50,xxii,24. Church at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, for Adam Lutz 1,00,xxiii,24. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.27
Cash Received on Account
A. Lanphear $2,00. E. S. Griggs $7,00. W. H. Brinkerhoof $7,00. H. C. Blanchard $8,00. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.28
Books Sent By Mail
H. Reed 40c. N. Reed 40c. Nancy M. Case $1,20. Ben Auten $1,20. M. S. Burnham 30c. Henry Wooster $1,00. A. Wooster 30c. Bell Rupert 30c. P. Palubla 30c. Geo. Smith $3,80. James Harvey 25c. H. H. Bramhall 50c. C. E. Harris 60c. E. Livingston $1,00. Eld. David Thompson 34c. Francis Bone 25c. Jacob Morrison 8c. M. Rose $1,35. J. P. Hoffman $3,80. T. F. Frauenfelder 30c. P. Gibson 13c. J. Clarke $1,25. Caleb Collins 20c. C. Tash 19c. C. R. Austin 34c. Samuel Haskell $1,25. Amy E. Dart 55c. W. W. Averill $1,00. Hannah Clough 25c. Emily C. Brezee 25c. H. H. Wilcox 25c. A. Tuttle 25c. J. M. Aldrich $1,00. Angeline Johnson 75c. P. Z. Kinne 25c. C. R. Austin 38c. W. Bryant 6c. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.29
Books Sent by Express
H. A. St. John, Defiance, Ohio, $6,30. A. Lanphear, Friendship Depot, N. Y., $23,12. E. S. Griggs, St. Charles, Mich., $9,43. A. A. Fairfield, Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, $5,42. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.30
Missionary Fund
Samuel Haskell $8,75. Jeremiah Striker $5,00. ARSH May 12, 1863, page 192.31