Advent Review, and Sabbath Herald, vol. 18
November 5, 1861
RH VOL. XVIII. - BATTLE CREEK, MICH., THIRD-DAY, - NO. 23
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. XVIII. - BATTLE CREEK, MICH., THIRD-DAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1861. - NO. 23.
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 November 5, 1861, page 177.1
Guidance of Nature
BY J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH
WHILE laboring to enforce upon the minds of the people the importance of giving heed to the precepts of the Bible, we are often met with the statement that “nature is a sufficient guide, and in fact the only revelation that God has made to his creatures.” But we conclude this is not so; for if God reveals himself only through nature; and if those who profess to be guided by reason and nature are following such revelation, then we must certainly conclude from their various and contradictory views and course that the revelation of nature is a contradictory revelation. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 177.2
If we are to judge of the revelation of nature by the acts and belief of those who profess to be guided by nature (and this must be a just way of judging), we shall find that the religion of nature has a variety of gods, and its forms of worship are as various as the fancies of its worshipers. We find one class worshiping the sun and moon and hosts of heaven. Another have the river Ganges as their god. Others bow in reverence to a crocodile or other inferior reptiles. Even the more enlightened among the heathen nations, and those also who profess to be skilled in the principles of the philosophy of nature come to discordant conclusions in their reasoning from nature, for the simple reason that nature furnishes them no standard by which to try their reasonings. Sometimes their philosophical deductions lead them to the conclusion that there is a future state; again they give it all up and admit that they can tell nothing about it. So it was with ancient heathen, and so with modern free-thinkers. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 177.3
Seneca says the Stoics equaled themselves to the gods; for the gods, they affirmed, “are what they are by nature; the wise man is what he is by his own industry. Again they say: “The gods excel not a wise man in happiness, though they excel him in the duration of happiness.” ARSH November 5, 1861, page 177.4
Socrates, who at one time told his friends that when they buried his body he should “go to be among the gods,” seemed afterward to lose this confidence, and his principles of reason led him to other conclusions. Just as he was about to die he said, “I hope I am now going to good men, though this I would not take upon me peremptorily to assert; but, that I shall go to the gods, lords that are absolutely good, this if I can affirm anything of this kind, I would certainly affirm. And for this reason I do not take it ill that I am to die, as otherwise I should do; but I am in good hope that there is something remaining for those who are dead, and that it will then be much better for good than for bad men.” Again he said, that though he should be mistaken, he did at least gain this much, that the expectation of it made him less uneasy while he lived, and his error would die with him, and he concluded thus: “I am going out of the world, and you are to continue in it; but which of us has the better part, is a secret to every one but God.” ARSH November 5, 1861, page 177.5
Here we see an illustration of the uncertainty of the religion of nature. As its principles were mainly drawn from the reasonings of the people, it left them in a blank uncertainty as to the future, and they have to admit that how it will be, “God only knows.” This is frankly admitting that the revelation of futurity from nature and reason are but blank uncertainties. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 177.6
We cannot refrain from contrasting with the above, Job’s hope: “O that my words were now written! O that they were printed in a book! That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever! For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.” Job 19:23-27. What a contrast in these cases. Socrates’ hope is like a drowning man catching at straws, but Job’s is fixed in a foundation so sure that it is knowledge. He says, “I know.” ARSH November 5, 1861, page 177.7
Again, on the unsatisfying nature of a hope based on reason alone, we will instance the last moments of Voltaire and Edward Gibbon (author of decline and fall of the Roman empire). Says Voltaire: “Who can without horror consider the whole world as the empire of destruction? It abounds with wonders, it abounds also with victims. It is a vast field of carnage and contagion. Every species is without pity pursued and torn to pieces, through the air, and earth, and water. In man there is more wretchedness than in all other animals put together. He loves life, and yet he knows he must die. If he enjoys a transient good, he suffers various evils, and is at last devoured by worms. This knowledge is his fatal prerogative. Other animals have it not. He spends the transient moments of his existence in diffusing the miseries which he suffers; in cutting the throats of his fellow-creatures for pay; in cheating and being cheated; robbing, and being robbed; in serving that he might command; and in repenting of all he does. The bulk of mankind are nothing more than a crowd of wretches, equally criminal and unfortunate; and the globe contains rather carcasses than men. I tremble at the review of this dreadful picture, and find it contains a complaint against providence itself. I wish I never had been born.” ARSH November 5, 1861, page 177.8
I look on the above as a strong plea for men to understand God’s will by a written revelation, although penned by Voltaire for altogether a different purpose. Were nature our only guide, and the deductions of reason our only hope, we might perhaps join in the doleful strain of Voltaire. But when we consider that this lamentable picture is for the most part of those who reject the Bible, and among those who are professedly guided by nature and reason, we conclude that nature’s guidance comes quite too short of the mark. With the Christian, who puts his trust in God and his word, what a different feeling we find. He has the “love of Christ which passeth knowledge” as the Lord grants him his blessing in copious showers, until he is “filled with all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:19. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 177.9
With Voltaire we might contrast the experience of Paul. “We glory in tribulations also.” “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.” And again he says, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Romans 5:3; 8:18; 2 Corinthians 4:17, 18. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 177.10
Gibbon in his declining moments said: “The present is a fleeting moment; the past is no more; and our prospect of futurity is dark and doubtful. This day may possibly be my last; but the laws of probability, so true in general, so fallacious in particular, still allow about fifteen years.... I will not suppose any premature decay of the mind and body; but I must reluctantly observe that two causes, the abbreviation of time, and the failure of hope, will always tinge with a browner shade the evening of life.” ARSH November 5, 1861, page 177.11
We may be allowed to avail ourself of a contrast with the above, used by Mr. Wm. Plummer, in his “Bible True,” in the case of Paul. “I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge shall give at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:6-8. The unbeliever in trouble is a reed shaken with the wind - he is tossed with the tempest and not comforted. But he whose trust is in the living oracles of Jehovah, even when sorrow betides him, stands ARSH November 5, 1861, page 177.12
“As some tall cliff, that lifts its awful form,
Swells from the vale and midway leaves the storm;
Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread,
Eternal sunshine settles on its head.”
ARSH November 5, 1861, page 177.13
This professed revelation from nature as we have already intimated is to a great extent imaginary, and for this reason has led men to believe in no God, or to the belief that everything is God; that dead men are gods, or others, that all the gods there are dead men. One professes to learn from nature that God is all power, another that he has no power at all over man. One of these blasphemous reasoners a few months since said: “If there is a God, I have rights. I have a right to life, liberty, and happiness, etc., whether he is pleased to grant it or not;” and to conclude his harangue of darkness, declared that he could “look God in the face and assert it.” ARSH November 5, 1861, page 177.14
About as good a take-off of their mode of reasoning as I have seen, is in a verse that was found written on the tomb-stone of Hume: ARSH November 5, 1861, page 177.15
“Beneath this circular idea,
Vulgarly called a tomb,
Impressions and ideas rest,
Which constituted Hume.”1
ARSH November 5, 1861, page 177.16
The natural tendency of following this professed revelation of nature is to sin. This we see fully illustrated in the lives of its advocates. “ARISTIPPUS maintained that it was lawful for a wise man to steal, commit adultery, and sacrilege, when opportunity offered; for that none of these actions were naturally evil, setting aside the vulgar opinion, which was introduced by silly and illiterate people; and that a wise man might publicly gratify his libidinous propensities.”2 Also read the following from Horne’s Introduction to the Bible, Vol.i, p.25. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 177.17
“LORD HERBERT declared, that men are not hastily, or on small grounds, to be condemned, who are led to sin by bodily constitution; that the indulgence of lust and of anger is no more to be blamed than the thirst occasioned by the dropsy, or the drowsiness produced by lethargy. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 178.1
“MR. HOBBES asserted that the civil or municipal law is the only foundation of right and wrong; that where there is no civil law, every man’s judgment is the only standard of right and wrong; that the sovereign is not bound by any obligation of truth or justice, and can do no wrong to his subjects; that every man has a right to all things, and may lawfully get them if he can! ARSH November 5, 1861, page 178.2
“LORD BOLINGBROKE resolved all morality into self-love as its principle, and taught that ambition, the lust of power, sensuality, and avarice may be lawfully gratified, if they can be safely gratified; that the sole foundation of modesty is vanity, or a wish to show ourselves superior to mere animals; that man lives only in the present world, and is only a superior animal; that the chief end of man is to gratify the appetites and inclinations of the flesh; that modesty is inspired by mere prejudice; and that polygamy is a part of the law or religion of nature. He also intimates that adultery is no violation of the law of nature; and that there is no wrong, except in the highest lewdness. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 178.3
“MR. HUME (the immorality of whose principles is displayed in his Private Correspondence recently published) 1 maintained, that self-denial, self-mortification, and humility are not virtues, but are useless and mischievous; that they stupefy the understanding, sour the temper, and harden the heart; that pride, self-valuation, ingenuity, eloquence, quickness of thought, easiness of expression, delicacy of taste, strength of body, and cleanliness, are virtues; and, consequently, that to want honesty, to want understanding, and to want strength of body, are equally the subjects of moral disapprobation; that adultery must be practised, if men would obtain all the advantages of life; that, if generally practised, it would in time cease to be scandalous; and that if practiced secretly and frequently, it would by degrees come to be thought no crime at all!!! ARSH November 5, 1861, page 178.4
“MR. GIBBON, one of the most decent of modern infidels, has given a biographical account of himself, and what is the result of the moral portrait there exhibited? Amid all the polish and splendor of literary culture, not a single line of moral beauty is perceptible. There is ‘no fear of God, no reverence for sacred things, no regard for the welfare of the human race; but the most heartless and sordid selfishness, vain glory, a desire of admiration, adulation of the great and wealthy, contempt for the poor, and supreme devotedness to his own gratification.’ ARSH November 5, 1861, page 178.5
Both VOLTAIRE and HELVETIUS advocated the unlimited gratification of the sensual appetites, and the latter held that it is not agreeable to policy to regard gallantry (that is, unlawful intercourse with married women), as a vice in a moral sense; and that, if men will call it a vice, it must be acknowledged that there are vices which are useful in certain ages and countries! In other words, that in those countries such vices are virtues. Rousseau, a thief, a liar, and a debauched profligate, according to his own printed ‘Confessions,’ also had recourse to feelings as his standard of morality. ‘I have only to consult myself,’ said he, ‘concerning what I do. All that I feel to be right, is right. Whatever I feel to be wrong, is wrong. All the morality of our actions lies in the judgment we ourselves form of them.’” ARSH November 5, 1861, page 178.6
If some of those professed infidels have had regard for morality it has been owing more to their early religious training than anything they have learned from nature alone. And this is well expressed in the following letter from Ben Franklin: ARSH November 5, 1861, page 178.7
“FRANKLIN’S LETTER TO PAINE
“Thomas Paine sailed from this country in 1787 to visit France the second time. Soon after he arrived there, which was three years before the death of Franklin, he wrote the first part of his ‘Age of Reason.’ He submitted the manuscript to Franklin for his inspection and opinion, and received the following answer, which was printed in Niles’ Register, Vol. xxx, p.397. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 178.8
“DEAR SIR: I have read your manuscript with some attention. By the argument it contains against a particular Providence, though you allow a general Providence, you strike at the foundation of all religion. For without the belief of a Providence, that takes cognizance of, guards and guides, and favors particular persons, there is no motive to worship a Deity, to fear his displeasure, or to pray for his protection. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 178.9
“I will not enter into any discussion of your principles, though you seem to desire it. At present, I shall only give you my opinion, that though your reasonings are subtle, and may prevail with some readers, you will not succeed so as to change the general sentiments of mankind on that subject; and the consequence of printing this piece will be a great deal of odium upon yourself, mischief to you, and no good to others. He that spits against the wind spits in his own face. But were you to succeed, do you imagine any good will be done by it? ARSH November 5, 1861, page 178.10
“You yourself may find it easy to live a virtuous life without the assistance afforded by religion. You have a clear perception of the advantages of virtue, and the disadvantages of vice, and possess strength of resolution sufficient to enable you to resist common temptations. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 178.11
“But think how great a portion of mankind consists of ignorant men and women, and of inexperienced, inconsiderate youth, of both sexes, who have need of the motives of religion to restrain them from vice, to support their virtue, and retain them in the practice of it till it becomes habitual, which is the point for its security. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 178.12
“And, perhaps, you are indebted to it, originally, that is, to your religious education, for the habits of virtue upon which you now justly value yourself. You might easily display your excellent talents of reasoning upon a less hazardous subject, and thereby obtain rank with our most distinguished authors. For among us it is not necessary, as among the Hottentots, that a youth, to be raised into the company of men, should prove his manhood by beating his mother. I would advise you, therefore, not to attempt unchaining the tiger, but to burn this piece before it is seen by any other person, whereby you will save yourself a great deal of mortification from the enemies it may raise against you, and perhaps a good deal of regret and repentance. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 178.13
“If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be without it? I intend this letter itself as a proof of my friendship, and therefore add no profession, but simply subscribe, ARSH November 5, 1861, page 178.14
“Yours,
B. FRANKLIN.”
The question is asked by many why do those who follow nature as a guide run into such gross errors, and wickedness? The simple answer, I conceive, is this: that those who profess to follow nature, in reality follow self. Instead of having any real fixed principles to follow, in the end they claim, as one writer above, that “whatever they feel to be right is right,” etc. They war against the Bible, simply because it wars against self. Its injunction is, “Deny thyself.” This they cannot submit to, and so war against the word. Perhaps you and I think we are safe from such a snare. “Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.” Our only safety is to deny ourselves and take up every cross, or in the end we may be as hardened as any against the word of God. “Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved, God will send them strong delusion.” Deception is in the world, and that for God’s saints, unless they are faithful. Remember our only safety is to deny self, and take up every cross. God help us to prove faithful. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 178.15
Battle Creek, Mich., Oct. 29, 1861
The Life-battle
“So fight I,” says Paul, “not as one that beateth the air. But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection.” The literal translation is, I strike under the eye, making it black and blue. This is a boxing phrase indicative of the sharpest, sternest efforts at self-mortification. As one who should say - I conquer my fleshly appetites by violent and re-iterated blows, and bring them into subjection. I lead my body along as a conquered captive. It is a beaten antagonist. My wicked, lustful nature is thus vanquished, “lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” ARSH November 5, 1861, page 178.16
Here is a tremendous warning to every one of us - a warning founded on our double danger - first from evil appetites of the body, and also from evil affections of the heart. Paul, the heroic apostle of Jesus, so felt his actual danger that he tells us that he bruised and beat down his sensual passions, lest having saved others he might himself be finally lost. In the phrase before us he especially refers to the bodily appetites. “I keep the body under,” i.e., I smite it under the eye! Paul - like other men of energetic make and ardent temperament - was very probably tried with strong temptations to excesses of the passions, both physical and moral. He has not chosen to let us into all the secrets of his character. He knew nothing of the modern pseudo-science of phrenology; nor would he have been one whit the wiser if he had. He does not tell us how often “acquisitiveness” tempted him to pocket the “collections” sent up to the saints at Jerusalem; or how often he fell through the sore stress of his “destructiveness,” his “amativeness,” or his “combativeness.” Such jargon he leaves for modern empirics in the mysterious science of the mind. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 178.17
But methinks I see the wrestlings of a stern and furious struggle between the holier and the baser natures of one of God’s heroes in that profound and plaintive seventh chapter of the epistle to his Roman brethren. I seem to see a stout soldier of the cross, with uplifted arm, and swollen sinew, crying out “upopiazo soma” - I beat down my baser self. I give no quarter to my lusts. I strangle my appetites till they grow livid in the face. I vanquish my inner foes that God may make me stronger to vanquish his foes without me. Lest, having saved others, I, Paul, the converted blasphemer of Damascus, should only prove to be a pitiful wretch and castaway. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 178.18
For Paul claimed no immunities from danger through his position. That a man is a professed minister of the Lord Jesus is no assurance that he may not be cast into hell. He has “like passions” with his fellow-men. The same ravening lusts that have decimated the bar and the senate-house, have left their blood-prints on the pulpit stairs. Along the whole track of ministerial biography, there lie strewed, here and there, the bleaching bones of those unhappy victims who fell a prey to the spoiler. Paul, to be sure, never fell. To the last he kept his faith, and the integrity of a godly life. And the simple secret of this continence and this constancy I read in these brave words, “So fight I, not as one that beateth the air. I keep my body in subjection, lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” ARSH November 5, 1861, page 178.19
Shall we restrict the scope of this life-battle to sensual appetites alone? Paul did not; he extended it to all the wicked propensities of his mental and moral nature. The war which every Christian has to make must be universal and unsparing on the whole brood of interior passions. The sudden insurrections of anger - the malicious whisperings of green-eyed envy - the acid tongue of censoriousness - the clutchings of greedy covetousness - the restless cravings of unsanctified ambition - the subtle sophistries of deceit - the uprisings of bigotry and spiritual pride - all these and every other like them in the great rebel army of the heart, must be met with the same indiscriminate “war to the knife.” He who would keep his conscience clean, and his life holy, must wage this life-battle without compromise and without quarter. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.1
I. Let us offer a few concise rules for the conduct of this spiritual life-battle. Our first counsel is - beware of the silent marches which the flesh will steal upon you. We are fearfully and wonderfully made; the combination of body and spirit is such that each one re-acts upon the other in a manner that is most direct and yet most mysterious. The encroachments of the “flesh” upon the spiritual nature are astonishingly quiet and insidious. The cravings of healthy appetite may gradually lead to the excesses of gluttony. Put a knife to your throat. Tampering with so-called innocent stimulants has sent many a professor of religion to the grave of the inebriate. The cup of coffee led to the glass of wine; the wine to the brandy; and the brandy to perdition. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.2
With all possibilities of self-indulgence come temptations. Luxury steals silent marches on Christians when prosperity brings within their reach a fine equipage, or high living, or splendid establishments. There is hardly a Christian in New York who lives when worth ten thousand dollars a-year just as he lived when hard toil gave him only one thousand or one hundred. Men change their habits gradually; not suddenly. A man may be converted in a moment. Backsliding is the process of months or of years. By degrees tippling grows into intemperance; by degrees the social evening entertainment prolongs itself into the midnight frivolities of the rout, the ball-room, and the play-house; by degrees a church-member exchanges the prayer-meeting for the opera. Beware of the silent marches of the enemy. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.3
II. If you find that the contact of certain persons and places is dangerous to your weaknesses, then avoid those persons and places, cost what it may. If you are temptible by a wine-cup, then keep out of convivial company. If you have tendencies to run mad with over-mirthfulness, then stay away from those circles in which you are tempted to turn the Christian into the harlequin. If the sight of a picture or a person invariably excites libidinous thoughts, then look somewhere else. It is not every young Christian who can be trusted even to walk through certain streets in our great cities. A “besetting sin” may lurk in that very street. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.4
A man’s besetting sin is the one that jumps with his inclinations. Does he love ease? Then he always interprets those Providences in his own favor that allow him to sit still, or to enjoy his hammock. Does he love flattery and eclat? Then he imagines that he is working for God, when he is only working for human applause. Here is a dangerous foe; all the more so from its wearing the honest guise of a friend. Look out for selfishness. It is the “old Adam” lurking behind every hedge. Like Southern slavery, it will only keep the peace on condition of having its own way. If not, then its stiletto is unsheathed in a moment. It is a polite and plausible, but a godless spirit. Keep no league with it. A Christian is never safe unless he is continually collaring every evil passion of his nature, and forcing it into unconditional submission. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.5
III. Finally, put on the whole armor of God - the shield of faith, the breast-plate of righteousness, and the sword of the Spirit. Leave no spot exposed. Ahab was wounded though the joints of the harness. In the heat of the conflict look to Jesus the Captain of your salvation; and never surrender. Toward the sunset of the long bloody day of Waterloo, when the surviving remnant of the old Imperial Guard were summoned to lay down their arms, the scarred veterans of fifty victorious fights cried out, “The Old Guards can die; but they cannot surrender.” - Cuyler. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.6
The Vantage Ground
TIME gives Christian pilgrims many a vantage ground - successive posts of observation from which they may look back on the way they have tediously trod, and forward along the track of their heavenward pursuit. Moses had his observatories when he stood on mount Sinai, and on mount Nebo. From the one he looked not only ahead, across the desert way, but across the Red Sea cleft as a high way from the land of bondage. From the other he gazed wistfully into the goodly land, and gratefully over the path of his forty years’ wanderings. Each score of years brings the diligent traveler Zionward upon some vantage ground, whence he may take a wide survey of his past and his future course. He can see far back to his starting point - and to the shadowy regions beyond that, when he was without God and had no hope in the world. He recalls the lowly, feeble, trembling state of his soul at the moment he set out, a day of small things truly, when he despised himself for what he had been, and was despised by others for what he was, and when he stood between Egypt and the Red Sea - just stepping into the deep, with terrors all around him - fleeing from the pursuing clamoring world, seeking refuge in a kingdom unknown to him, that looked very much like a desert. But after years of progress, from the high places of Zion appearances and prospects are vastly changed. Ten or twenty years place the once wavering saint on a firm vantage ground, and give him solid footing, and broad vision. Thirty years from the dawn of the Christian Era lifts one high up on some heavenward Nebo, whence the land of promise is discernible, ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.7
“And just before the shining shore We may almost discover.” ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.8
Dimmer and more distant seems the starting point than the goal, from such an eminence. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.9
In the retrospect as thus surveyed other paths appear besides the one taken by the beholder, devious paths in which have walked those who up to that point of divergence strolled as children in the same green meadows. When Moses looked backward from mount Nebo he saw to the base of Sinai, and along the winding track his eye rested on the places where rebellion, or murmuring, or limiting the Holy One, provoked God’s wrath and over all the plains lay the bones of the slain of God’s people, thousands fallen in the wilderness. So after forty years’ journeying upward, what melancholy wrecks, what monumental ruins mark the diverse ways taken by one’s early but heedless companions! How many victims of intemperance, of covetousness, of ambition, of procrastination, of thoughtlessness, of pleasure, of pride! Let the pilgrim press on from one vantage ground to another, from mount Sinai to mount Nebo, from mount Nebo to mount Sion. There let him rest; for there hath “the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.” From that “holy hill,” whereon is the Lord’s house, what views, what visions! An observatory above the stars; a mount to behold God on, and to see Jesus as he is. - Ob. Evangelist. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.10
Words Added to the Scriptures in the Common Version
ITALIC letters are used in the common version to denote the words and phrases, which have been added by the translators to complete what they supposed to be the sense. Many of these are mere human additions to the words of inspiration. A few examples will make this plain. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.11
In the 19th Psalm, David, contemplating the glory of God in the material heavens, exclaims: ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.12
“Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.” ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.13
But lest this might impart an erroneous impression, he adds, ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.14
“No speech! No language! Their voice is not heard! but their line hath gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.” ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.15
As Addison says: ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.16
“What though nor real voice nor sound
Amidst their radiant orbs be found?
In reason’s ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious voice,
Forever singing as they shine
The hand that made us is divine.”
ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.17
But in the common version this idea is completely changed by the addition of italic words, making the psalmist say: ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.18
“There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.” ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.19
In Matthew 20:23, our Lord says: ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.20
“To sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but for whom it is prepared of my Father.” ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.21
The meaning here is plain. Christ gives it only to those for whom it is prepared by the Father, this meaning is completely changed by the words inserted in italic, which make the passage read: ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.22
“It is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.” ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.23
By these words it is represented that Christ has not the power to give, thus contradicting his declaration that all power is given to him in heaven and earth. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.24
In many passages the word man is inserted, limiting or destroying the sense of the original, which is none or no one. In John 10:29, our Saviour says of his sheep, “No one is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” Our version makes it, “No man is able. So in Hebrews 10:12, the word man is inserted, where it is not in the original. The sense of the passage is much injured here, and in various other places, by such an insertion. The manhood of Christ is not here referred to, but his priesthood. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.25
2 Corinthians 3:3: “Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men, manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ,” is changed by inserting the useless and perverting words, “For as much as ye are.” ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.26
Words in the Common Version Mistranslated
THE number of words and phrases in the common version that do not express the meaning of the original, have never been accurately computed. Dr. Conquest lately published a Bible with twenty thousand emendations. Some of these alleged amendments undoubtedly are changes which do not introduce much improvement, and others may be regarded as doubtful, but the great body of them are those which commentators and other scholars have proved to be needed to express the meaning of the Hebrew and Greek. Any one who has examined the revision of Job by Dr. Conant, and carefully compared it with the common version, must be convinced that the errors of the common version are far more numerous than is indicated by the work of Dr. Conquest. A few examples will show their character: ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.27
Matthew 6:25. “Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink.” ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.28
This inculcates an improvidence about temporal matters, which would bring confusion and distress into every household. The meaning of the original is, ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.29
Be not anxious, etc. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.30
Matthew 5:25. “Offend.” This word frequently occurs in the New Testament. The original word never means to cause offense, but to cause to fall, entrap, to allure to sin, etc. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.31
Acts 7:45. “Jesus” is put for Joshua. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.32
Matthew 23:24. A typographical error, substituting “AT” for out, gives the idea of an attempt to swallow, instead of that which the original furnishes, “straining out.” ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.33
THE SUNNY SIDE. - Dr. Johnson used to say that a habit of looking at the best side of every event is far better than a thousand pounds a year. Bishop Hall quaintly remarks, “For every bad there might be a worse, and when one breaks his leg let him be thankful that it was not his neck!” When Fenelon’s library was on fire, “God be praised,” he exclaimed, “that it is not the dwelling of some poor man!” This is the true spirit of submission - one of the most beautiful traits that can possess the human heart. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 179.34
THE REVIEW AND HERALD
“Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth.”
BATTLE CREEK, MICH. THIRD-DAY, NOV. 5, 1861.
JAMES WHITE, EDITOR
THE BATTLE CREEK CHURCH
THE Church at Battle Creek has for the last three weeks been holding a series of evening meetings in which a thorough organization of the Church has been considered. It was found that there was much to be done to prepare the way for organization. This was discovered by faithfully acting upon the plan suggested in the Conference Address on the subject of Organization, published in REVIEW for Oct. 15, 1861, namely, for those only to unite in church fellowship with whom perfect fellowship exists, and then to receive members only by unanimous vote. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 180.1
It has been seen that our lack of organization, as a natural result, has left some without that restraint upon them which is necessary in their cases, so that they have unfortunately fallen into the deplorable practice of speaking in a manner plainly forbidden by our Lord, and in the writings of the apostles. These things have grieved the Holy Spirit, cast heavy burdens on those who would conscientiously strive to walk in the narrow way, and have encouraged the secret working of the spirit of Satan among God’s people. And we have been surprised to find that this work commenced exclusively in female circles, and from thence the leaven has spread. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 180.2
Satan knew better than to approach Adam in Eden. He could more easily deceive Eve, and then have at his command an agent by whom he could destroy Adam. But we are happy to say that our meetings the past three weeks have been crowned with the best results. These errors have been exposed and corrected, and we trust fully seen, confessed and forgiven. Some have been reclaimed that we feared could not be helped. Union prevails, and our meetings are deeply interesting and refreshing. All now rejoice in the triumphant success of the organization question. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 180.3
FEET-WASHING AND SUNDAY
ONE is taught in the New Testament in plain language, yet almost universally rejected or neglected by the Protestant churches. The other is nowhere taught in the New Testament, yet it is almost universally observed by the same churches. In the one the cross is avoided contrary to the word. In the other, tradition and popular custom are followed without the word. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 180.4
John 13:12-15: “So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord; and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye ought also to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” ARSH November 5, 1861, page 180.5
But very few of our first-day friends can see proof for feet-washing in these words of our Lord. But what a relief they would experience if they could find a tithe of the proof for Sunday-keeping. Suppose the above quotation from John spoke of the first day of the week as follows - So after Jesus had observed the first day of the week as the Sabbath, he said unto his disciples, Ye call me Master and Lord, and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have observed the first day of the week as the Sabbath, ye also ought so to observe it; for I have given you an example that ye should observe the first day of the week as I have done. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 180.6
Could Sunday-keepers find in the New Testament similar language to the above, they might hold a jubilee over the fact that sacred scripture sustained them in following on in the cart-rut of human custom. But no such language relative to first-day observance can be found in the New Testament. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 180.7
SCRIPTURE ACCOUNT OF THE FLOOD, VINDICATED. (Continued .)
THE truth of the Mosaic history of the deluge is confirmed by the tradition of it, which universally obtained. If such an event had ever happened, it is natural to expect that some traces of it will be found in the records of Pagan nations, as well as in those of Scripture. Indeed it is scarcely probable, not to say possible, that the knowledge of so great a calamity should be utterly lost to the rest of the world, and should be confined to the Jewish nation alone. We find, however, that is by no means the case: a tradition of the deluge, in many respects coinciding with the Mosaic account of it, has been preserved almost universally among the ancient nations. It is indeed a very remarkable fact concerning the deluge, that the memory of almost all nations ends in the history of it, even of those nations which were unknown till they were discovered by enterprising voyagers and travelers; and that the traditions of the deluge were kept up in all the rites and ceremonies of the Gentile world. And it is observable that the farther we go back, the more vivid the traces appear, especially in those countries which were nearest to the scene of action. The reverse of this would happen if the whole were originally a fable. The history would not only be less widely diffused, but, the more remote our researches, the less light we should obtain; and however we might strain our sight, the objects would by degrees grow faint, and the scene would terminate in clouds and darkness. Besides, there would not have been that correspondence and harmony in the traditions of the different nations, which so plainly subsisted among them: now this could not be the result of chance, but must necessarily have arisen from the same history being universally acknowledged. These evidences are derived to us from people who were of different ages and countries, and, in consequence, widely separated from each other; and, what is extraordinary, they did not know, in many instances, the purport of the data which they transmitted, nor the value and consequence of their intelligence. In their mythology they adhered to the letter, without considering the meaning; and acquiesced in the hieroglyphic, though they were strangers to the purport of it. With respect to ourselves, it is a happy circumstance, not only that these histories have been transmitted to us, but also that, after an interval of so long a date, we should be able to see into the hidden mystery, and from these crude materials to obtain such satisfactory truths. We now proceed to notice a few of the most striking of these traditional narratives. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 180.8
Thus Berosus, the Chaldean historian, following the most ancient writings, as Josephus affirms, 1 has related the same things as Moses of the deluge, and of mankind perishing in it, and likewise of the ark in which Nochus, the restorer of the human race, was preserved, being carried to the summit of the Armenian mountains. Hieronymus, the Egyptian, who wrote the antiquities of the Phoenicians, Nicolaus of Damascus, and many others, mention these things, as Josephus 2 also testifies. Further, there is a fragment preserved of 4 Abydenus, an ancient Assyrian historian, in which mention is made of the deluge being foretold, before it happened, and of the birds being sent forth three different times to see whether the earth was dried, and of the ark being driven into Armenia. He and others agree with Moses in the main circumstances, but in lesser particulars sametimes adulterate the truth with fabulous mixtures. Alexander Polyhistor, another ancient historian, is cited by Cyril, of Alexandria, together with Abydenus, and both to the same purpose. He says that in the reign of Xisuthrus (the same as Noah) was the great deluge; that Xisuthrus was saved, Saturn having predicted to him what should happen, and that he ought to build an ark, and, together with the fowls and creeping things, and cattle, to sail in it. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 180.9
Among the Greeks, Plato 5 mentions the great deluge, in which the cities were destroyed, and useful arts were lost; and suggests that there was a great and universal deluge before the particular inundations celebrated by the Grecians. He plainly thought that there had been several deluges, but one greater than the rest. Moreover, it was the tradition of the Egyptians, as Diodorus 6 informs us, that most living creatures perished in the deluge, which was in Deucalion’s time. Ovid’s 8 description of Deucalion’s flood is so well known and remembered by every scholar, that it is needless to point out its identity with Noah’s flood, to any one who has received the least tincture of letters. Plutarch, in his treatise of the sagacity of animals, observes, that a dove was sent out by Deucalion, which, entering into the ark again, was a sign of the continuance of the flood, but afterward flying away, was a sign of serene weather. Homer also plainly alludes to the particular of the rainbow, by calling it a sign or token to men, teras meropon anuropon. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 180.10
Lucian mentions 10 more than once the great deluge in Deucalion’s time, and the ark which preserved the small remnant of human kind. He describes also the particulars of Deucalion’s flood after the example of Noah’s flood: the present race of men was not the first, but the former generation was all destroyed; this second race sprang from Deucalion: the former was a wicked and profligate generation, for which reason this great calamity befell them; the earth gave forth abundance of water, great showers of rain fell, and the rivers increased, and the sea swelled to such a degree that all things were water, and all men perished: Deucalion alone was left for a second generation, on account of his prudence and piety; and he was preserved in this manner; he built a great ark, and entered into it, with his wife and children, and to him swine, and horses, and lions, and serpents, and all other creatures which the earth maintains, came in pairs: he received them all, and they hurt him not; on the contrary, there was by divine instinct great friendship among them, and they sailed altogether in the same ark, as long as the water prevailed. At the beginning, and in the conclusion, he professes to have received this account from the Grecians, so that he cannot be suspected of borrowing it from Scripture. 11 ARSH November 5, 1861, page 180.11
The orthodox among the ancient Persians believed in a deluge, and that it was universal, and overwhelmed the whole earth. Similar traditions have prevailed in the East among the Hindoos, Burmans, and Chinese: of these, the tradition of the Chinese is particularly worthy of note, as it not only refers, both directly and indirectly, to the deluge itself, but also to the cause of it. The same tradition of a general flood is also to be traced among the ancient Goths and Druids, as well as among the Mexicans, Peruvians, Brazilians, and Nicaraguans; to whom may be added the very lately discovered inhabitants of Western Caledonia, 12 the Cree Indians, in the polar regions of North America, 13 the Otaheitans before their conversion to Christianity, and also 15 the Sandwich Islanders. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 180.12
From these very evidences it is manifest, that the heathens were well acquainted with all the leading circumstances of the universal deluge; that their traditions (though largely blended with fable) bear a striking resemblance to the narrative of Moses; and that the moral certainty of that great event is established on a basis sufficiently firm to bid defiance to the cavils of skepticism. Instead, therefore, of asserting (as it has recently been asserted, contrary to all the evidence furnished by natural and civil history) that we have no sufficient evidence to induce us to believe that the deluge ever took place - “let the ingenuity of unbelief first account satisfactorily for this universal agreement of the pagan world, and she may then, with a greater degree of plausibility, impeach the truth of the scriptural narrative of the deluge.”1 ARSH November 5, 1861, page 181.1
Notwithstanding all these testimonies, the Mosaic history of the deluge has been objected to, as an improbable event, contrary to matter of fact. — Horne’s Introduction. (To be continued.) ARSH November 5, 1861, page 181.2
THE SABBATH
IT is cheering to contemplate the movement on the Sabbath question, that God’s law is honored in preference to tradition and human enactments. It is good to sit down in heavenly conversation with those who have left their former relations with corrupt churches, and have made it their home with the worshipers of God and respecters of law - with those who bow to God’s decree. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 181.3
As we look over a careless, stupid, worldly church, and a lost world, it rests and delights the eye, and comforts the heart, to view a company scattered throughout the land who are of one heart and mind on this important point. It is a great comfort, too, to realize the fact that many of those who have embraced this important, sealing truth, are very strict in carrying out the spirit of the law, as far as human efforts are availing in honoring this sacred and ancient institution, in keeping holy the whole Sabbath, in its opening, its continuation, and close; all is hallowed, and as far as possible is made holy; no worldly thoughts or conversation, or secular allusions, are allowed to pollute this time which God has declared to be holy. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 181.4
Such close up their worldly affairs at an early hour on sixth-day, and as the time-piece (which is kept in repair by the great Architect) marks the opening of this holy festival, as the bright, warm sun sinks in lustrous glory in the west, you will find such individuals, or families, wrapt in devout worship of Him who made the worlds, who gave luster and warmth to the dazzling sun; of him who clothed the earth in beauty, and endowed it with motion, swift, exact, silent, and graceful, and peopled it with inhabitants; of him who spread out the heavens as a curtain, who set the stars in their courses, and regulates all. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 181.5
Such well know the design of the Sabbath. They understand its nature and obligation; and, learning this from the word of God, and practicing on this knowledge, it is given to them to experience richly of its benefits. The Sabbath was not made in vain: it was made for man in its first intent; and God will see that they who keep it in its letter and spirit, do not do so in vain. No: it is not in vain to serve God. He whose eyes run to and fro in the earth, to make himself strong in behalf of those who fear him, well considers such as venerate his whole law, and honor his name, in saluting with joy his holy Sabbath. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 181.6
Such as thus observe the Sabbath do obtain a blessing unknown to, and unrealized by, the careless, slack Sabbath-keeper, who allows the week to tread heavily upon both boundaries of the Sabbath; whose conversation is unguarded on this day; whose thoughts run unchecked upon worldly themes; whose worldly arrangements are often mixed with Sabbath exercises, and whose holy things are thus rendered obnoxious in the sight of that holy One whose glance views the hidden springs and motives of word and act, and surveys the whole web of life, as it is woven thread by thread, and in like manner transferred by angels to the annals of eternity. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 181.7
Alas! some who are among Sabbath-keepers have as yet very inadequate ideas as to the sanctity of the Sabbath. Because it “was made for man,” therefore they infer that the Sabbath is only another Sunday, in which they may indulge in many liberties; a day that may be clipped at all its corners, as the rapacious broker clips the shining golden eagle. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 181.8
Like the worldly Israelite who watched with eagerness for the sun to go down that he might set forth his wares for sale, so it is to be feared that many now are so anxious about their worldly affairs, that their minds are burdened with secular plans during holy time, and as the day draws to its close, such have an increase of anxiety and care to that degree that the scrutinizing eye of Jehovah may read therein, “When will the Sabbath be gone!” ARSH November 5, 1861, page 181.9
O, how such sacrifices smell in the sight of God! How worse than vain the offering thus polluted in the sense of him who will not accept the blind, and lame, and blemished, but requires the choicest, cheerfully given, as an offering. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 181.10
Why should he not require the perfect? Did not all proceed from his good hand, perfect at first? Sin has marred his work; and shall we take the subject most marred by sin, and insult Jehovah thus by saying, Here is the best I can afford? Does he thus present his gifts to men? Look at the tree laden with fair, delicious fruit, perfect and good; see the flocks and herds, the iron, the copper, the silver, the gold, the grains, the herbs, and vegetables; how perfect when sin does not stain them with its curse; and say, Shall we give less than our hearts’ best, purest service? ARSH November 5, 1861, page 181.11
J. CLARKE.
BABYLON CONFUSED
WHILE at Davis, Ills., October 26 and 27, Elder Taylor of Durand, Ills. came and preached four sermons in opposition to the Bible Sabbath, because it had been embraced by a few of the members of the Methodist church. He commenced by saying that there was a class of persons in every community that did not read and investigate nor think for themselves; and speaking of the tent-meeting at Harrison, Ills, he said that those who believed there were an unimportant set of individuals, and of those at Davis, they were backslidden Methodists, who wanted to get out of the church, and would therefore catch at anything that came along, even the seventh day Sabbath, when he knew at the same time that those who embraced the Sabbath in Davis were among the most enlightened and respectable citizens of the place and church. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 181.12
But to his arguments, against the Sabbath, if it is proper to call them such. He said he would examine it according to true science. He then spoke of the earth’s revolving on its axis, which, said he, proves that the Sabbath cannot begin in every place at the same time. Well who said that it did? We never said so. But, Elder, does it not commence in every place at some time? If so, can we not keep it when it does come? Most certainly. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 181.13
He told us that God made the true Sabbath at creation, and that the patriarchs kept it, then read Mr. Aker to prove that God gave the Jews the sixth day for their Sabbath, and tried to sustain Aker’s position. He gave us six disconnected passages of scripture. We waited patiently through four sermons to have him read the fourth commandment, which says the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God to the Jews; remember it and keep it holy; because he made heaven and earth in six days and rested on the seventh, wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. When did he do it? He did it at creation, the last day of creation week. But Elder Taylor said God did not give the Jews that day, but the day before, which is now called Friday. Let the Lord Jesus bear testimony about it. Mark 2:27, 28. He said unto them the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath; therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath. But says Taylor, Jesus was talking to the Jews about the Sabbath they were then keeping. See Mark 2:23, 24. And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold why do thy disciples on the Sabbath day that which is not lawful? But said Jesus, If ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. Matthew 12:7. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 181.14
You see the Jews claimed that the disciples had broken the law of the fourth commandment. See Exodus 20:8-12. But Jesus said they had not and were not guilty. What day of the week was that? It was the seventh, or Saturday, and not the sixth day, as Taylor and Aker would have it. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 181.15
When Elder Taylor got through I verily thought, well might Paul say, Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ. Colossians 2:8. But the greatest confusion took place at the last sermon he preached, Sunday evening. Dr. Jacobs of Crane’s Grove came in and was invited by Elder Taylor to occupy part of the time that evening. Taylor spoke first and said the ten commandments were all good and perpetual, and would be to the end of time. Dr. Jacobs got up and said there never was a Christian principle in the ten commandments, and that they were all abolished and done away. Well, thought I, there surely can be no Methodist preacher so backslidden that he will sit and hear such blasphemy uttered from his own desk and before his own congregation and not rebuke it? But lo, and behold, to our astonishment as a congregation, there was no rebuke given. No, Pilate and Herod were made friends, to crucify the Sabbath at the sacrifice of every moral principle in the world. Says God [Ezekiel 22:26], Her priests have violated my law and have profaned my holy things, and have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 181.16
ISAAC SANBORN.
Twin Groves, Wis.
A LETTER ANSWERED
DEAR BRO. L. - Your letter of Oct. 20, containing questions on the subject of organization is before me, and I take this opportunity to answer it. You ask, ARSH November 5, 1861, page 181.17
“How do you manage in forming a church about taking in members who use tea, coffee, tobacco, and wear hoops, and some who do not believe in Sr. White’s visions?” ARSH November 5, 1861, page 181.18
To this I simply answer, We do not take in any who use tobacco, and reject the gifts of the Spirit of God, if we know it. One of the very objects to be accomplished by church organization is to lop off these things, and only have those come together who stand in the light. To take in those who are holding on to their sins and wrongs, would be to encourage the very things we are seeking to remedy. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 181.19
You ask, “What shall be done with such? Should such persons be taken into the church before they break away from these things, or should they be taken in and labored with?” ARSH November 5, 1861, page 181.20
To both of these questions I answer, No. To take persons into the church, is saying that we fully fellowship them; and to labor with them then, would throw them into distraction, if it did not entirely destroy them. Better let them know the straightness of the way, before taking them into the church. If they cannot stand the truth, don’t bring them in to the church to fill that with darkness, and perhaps in the end, with trial and confusion. As to taking in members and laboring with them, the very time to commence a labor is when their names are proposed for membership. (See “Conference Address.”) Then if they cannot be brought to terms, it will be best to let them stand outside till they can come in right. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 181.21
Again you say of your questions, “I do not mean those who have been in the truth for years and profess to believe the visions, but those who have come out upon it within a year or so. It seems to me that in organizing churches there ought not to be anything but sound timber used, for it has got to be thoroughly tested.” ARSH November 5, 1861, page 181.22
In the West, as a general thing, those who have lately come out on the truth are less troubled on these things than those who have been long in the way. And why? Because we have seen fit to deal plainly on these things, instead of holding back for feelings and being afraid we should hurt somebody, as some have done in the past. Instead of waiting for the people to see these things, it rather seems to be the duty of the evangelist who is laboring in a place where souls embrace the truth, before leaving, to lecture on the subjects of the gifts, the use of tobacco, and other points you mention. If there are believers in Western New York who have not had opportunity to investigate these subjects, I should not think they were ready to enter into church organization. Better let them wait until these subjects are all properly presented before them, and they have a chance to decide upon them, before rushing into church capacity. As expressed by Bro. White in the last Review, I fear there will be too much of a hurry now in this matter; the Devil will try to get in everything; and if he should succeed here, the last end of such organization would leave churches worse off than it found them. “Wisdom is profitable to direct.” Church organization, as already expressed, if carried out right will leave members in a healthy condition, and where they can labor for those who are not yet fully in the light. It will harm no one to remain outside of our organization till he or she is prepared to come in harmony with us. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 181.23
“But,” you inquire, “will it answer to reject some because they do not see just as we do?” ARSH November 5, 1861, page 182.1
I suppose you mean this to be understood in a limited sense, or else we cannot reject those who break the Sabbath, etc. In settling such a question the proper way to inquire, is, Have we good reasons for seeing as we do? Is our position a true one? If so, let us present to those who differ from us the reasons for our faith on these points, and see if they cannot be made to see as we do; then, our faith being one, there will be no trouble about our having fellowship one with the other if we are all striving to obey the light. It seems to me that this will be better than to lower down the standard of truth for the sake of numbers. One dozen in harmony and walking in the light, are better than a hundred with confusion in their midst. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 182.2
Yours, in hope of eternal life.
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.
Battle Creek, Mich., Oct. 28, 1861
ORGANIZATION
DEAR BRO. WHITE: As the subject of organization is being considered in the Review, I thought a word from myself, together with a few facts, might be of some use to the cause of present truth; and as I desire to exert what little influence I may have, for the advancement of that cause, I send you this, which you may use as may seem best. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 182.3
When the subject was brought forward by you, I found my old prejudice excited. I was an Adventist in 1843-4. The teachings of the ministers in the section where I lived (Cincinnati) were against organization as it existed in the churches. Those church organizations stood in the way of, and opposed, the Advent message; hence my prejudice against organization. But prejudice will not do to live by, and will not prepare me for the great events just before us; therefore I am determined to lay aside prejudice, and by the aid of the divine Spirit examine things upon their own merits. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 182.4
I have no doubt that God was in the Advent message; but I am also conscious that many of us, by getting ahead of the light, imbibed erroneous views on some points, which we have been constrained, by time and subsequent light from the court of heaven, to relinquish, hard as it may be to give up cherished opinions. All will admit that there is perfect order in heaven; and when it became necessary, the rebellious angels were expelled, to maintain the order of heaven. We have perfect confidence that order to its fullest extent will exist in the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 182.5
But, descending from these high and holy themes, let us for a moment view and admire the development of order in all the works and productions of nature. From the spire of grass that grows at our feet, up to the mighty constellations that adorn the heavens, all are in subjection to order; and the very bread by which our natural life is sustained is produced by the orderly succession of the seasons. We cannot look into any of the departments of human life but what we see the necessity of order. What would become of those vast steamships that plough the ocean, or those long trains with their living freight that traverse our railroads, if no order was observed in their movements? Let me come nearer home, and ask my brethren what would become of our shops, and counting-rooms, and farms, if left to the chances of disorder? We all know we could not expect success. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 182.6
Now the conclusion to be drawn from all this is, that if the successful operation of everything else in heaven or earth depends on order, surely the success of God’s living church must also depend on order. As to the precise measures necessary for the remnant church to adopt, I do not feel qualified to suggest, but would lay down as a true foundation the principle that only such measures should be adopted as are necessary for the successful proclamation of the third angel’s message; and, according to my best judgment, nothing has yet been done that transcends that principle; and believing as I do, that God has been leading this people hitherto, and having confidence in the honesty and integrity of those whom God has qualified and placed as leaders in the message, I do not believe that he will allow them to be led far astray on the subject of organization while the object is to glorify him and advance his cause. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 182.7
It was not my design to say so much on this subject; but it seemed as though I could not say less. It was my intention to present some facts in connection with past Advent experience to show some of the results of the disorderly theory. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 182.8
When the first message came to Cincinnati and took hold on the minds of the people, and when it was shut out of the churches, with one consent it was resolved to build a “Tabernacle.” One about 80 feet square was erected on a rented lot. I for one took so little interest in the financial affairs of the building, I do not know who held possession, only that a door-keeper was appointed. Money was plenty among us for the cause, and everything went along smoothly until our disappointment. Many went back to the churches then, and soon after the body divided on the doctrine of the real and spiritual advent. The spiritualizers, headed by Jacobs, were in the majority, and held possession of the Tabernacle for some time, till finally the other party, under Eld. J. P. Weethee, took forcible possession, and after holding it for some time, it finally passed into other hands, but by what process I do not know; and thus that large and convenient house of worship was converted into a vinegar establishment. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 182.9
Afterward it was determined by Eld. Weethee and the church to build a neat and convenient chapel; but how should it be held? They were not organized so as to be recognized in law, and in fact, Eld. W. was preaching against all human organizations. The lot was leased on perpetual lease in the name of one in whom all placed implicit confidence as a trustworthy man and humble christian. A neat chapel was built and furnished, and Eld. Weethee labored there for some time, and a pretty good interest was awakened, and things went along apparently all right for several years. Finally it began to be whispered from one to another that Mr. T., who held the lease, was not all right - that he claimed the lease as his own property, that he contemplated removing to L., and that he might sell the lease, etc. This caused quite a stir, and an investigation was set afloat, but all to no purpose. Mr. T. sold the lease, and the lot (a valuable one then), and chapel, and furniture, including even the Bible, in which were recorded the names of the members, fell into the hands of a colored barber of Cincinnati. An attempt was made to regain the property by law, but nothing could be done, because T. had a perfectly legal title to the land. The result was, the church was broken up, and the cause has nearly, if not quite, died out in Cincinnati. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 182.10
Now the question arises, Was God glorified in that matter as it resulted? If he was, then it was all right. But the fact that the cause went down, proves to my mind that God was not glorified in it; and so far as the lack of organization conduced to that result, so far that lack of organization was wrong. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 182.11
In conclusion permit me to say a few words to Bro. Phelps. Dear brother, although we are strangers in the flesh, yet we have embarked in the same cause, and on that account I love you; and, loving you, I want to call your attention to one important point, and I hope you will give it that calm, serious, and prayerful reflection its importance demands. You have believed that God was in the third angel’s message, and you labored in it in company and fellowship with Brn. White, Waggoner, Andrews, Loughborough and others. Do you now seriously believe that these brethren, and the body to which they belong, have become so corrupt that God has withdrawn himself from them and no longer directs by his word and providence? If you believe this, then it is your duty to point out the spot where the ark of the testimony now rests, if not with this people. But I think you cannot believe this; and if not, I submit it to your own judgment and conscience if you are not occupying dangerous ground in withdrawing from the body because some things may clash with your opinions. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 182.12
Let me entreat you, my brother, to pause and look calmly and steadily as to where you will land should you make the final leap from the bulwarks of our noble ship. I do not believe she has yet sprung a leak. I do not believe her compass is yet broken. I do not believe her Pilot is asleep, and the ship driving before the gale. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 182.13
No, my brother, the Captain is still at his post. The Pilot, with his hand on the wheel and his eye on the compass, will guide the good ship safely into port. Step back to your station, and help handle the ropes and work the ship, and at last you will have the unspeakable joy to help furl the sails and drop the anchor in the port of unfading glory. That this may be your and my happy lot, is my sincere wish and prayer. Amen. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 182.14
HENRY E. CARVER.
Iowa City, Iowa.
MEETINGS IN MICHIGAN
DEAR BRO. WHITE: Our meeting closed at Bridgewater the 28th inst., having continued over two Sabbaths. We commenced in the town hall where Bro. Loughborough lectured last winter. After the second evening it was deemed advisable to remove our meeting some three miles further eastward to a district school-house, to accommodate the interested portion of our hearers, and some few of our brethren scattered some ten miles apart. Some acknowledged we had the truth, and manifested an anxiety to obey immediately, but for the unhallowed influence of friends and relatives, who are always ready to oppose all Bible truth which is not in accordance with the popular teachings of the day. Two came out fully decided on all the truth. One other promised to keep the commandments of God. Another acknowledged that the seventh day was the right Sabbath, but wished to investigate the subject a little further. Another wished to have the Review, and learn more about the matter. And another is to have the Youth’s Instructor to deepen the interest. These, and some others that seemed much interested to hear, we have left with much regret, on account of other engagements; but sincerely hope they will soon decide, and break away from all hindering influences, and unite to keep the Sabbath of the Lord, and be sealed with the seal of the living God prepared to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 182.15
On first-day, 20th inst., four were buried with Christ by baptism in a beautiful lake near the school-house. Our Sabbath meetings were held in a private house. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 182.16
The brethren and sisters in this vicinity came together and organized under the name of the Seventh-day Adventist church of Bridgewater, covenanting to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Christ. After which Bro. D. M. Harper, by a unanimous vote of the church, was chosen and ordained their local elder. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 182.17
After organizing, four others offered themselves for baptism. The German minister of the place learning that two of them had been sprinkled in their childhood, raised the cry among their friends that if they were baptized they would be lost. Some of their friends came to our meeting on the Sabbath, the day before the baptizing, to prevail with them not to be baptized. Seeing the confusion we were likely to get into by their loud talking, we all with one consent bowed before the Lord in prayer, soon after which their friends withdrew, and also withdrew all their objections. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 182.18
After the baptizing, which was pleasant and peaceful, the church repaired to Bro. A. Seymour’s house, when the systematic benevolence plan, and all other arrangements for their meetings were harmoniously settled, they united in celebrating the ordinances of the Lord’s house, and were blessed of the Lord. After which we had two more full and interesting meetings at the school-house. My next appointment is in Tompkins, Nov. 1st. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.1
JOSEPH BATES.
Jackson, Mich., Oct. 30, 1861.
AN EVENING PLAINT
O, ONE day less of life’s short score
This evening’s shadows leave me,
And of my misspent days, one more
Makes the gray twilight grieve me.
ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.2
Yet, could I set time’s dark lines back
To morning, on life’s dial,
My trembling feet would fly the track,
And shun a second trial.
ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.3
I dare not ask to live again
The day so ill completed,
Though throbs my heart with only pain,
For hopes and plans defeated.
ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.4
So poor am I, in strength, to do
My daily stint of duty;
So loth my labor to pursue,
So sure to mar its beauty;
ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.5
So ready for the tempter’s snare -
So feeble in resistance;
So faithless, and so cold in prayer,
And Christ at such a distance;
ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.6
That I can only weep to-night,
Tears born of hope and sorrow;
Of sorrow, for the day’s vain flight,
Of hope, that on the morrow
ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.7
New strength may nerve my fainting heart,
New faith make prayer availing;
New wisdom light my inward part;
New pardon blot each failing;
ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.8
New ardor bring me near the cross,
New love forbid my straying;
And night bring gain instead of loss;
For which, in tears, I’m praying.
“R.” - Watchman and Reflector.
ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.9
THE EAGLE OF 2 ESDRAS XI
SOME have imbibed the idea that the eagle of 2Esdras xi (Apocrypha), is a symbol of the United States, and especially since the Southern rebellion, thinking that the two heads that remained [verse 34] indicate the dissolution of the Union. Having been several times asked for my opinion on the subject, I would reply in this manner. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.10
There is no evidence in favor of such a view, but positive evidence against it. The lion [verse 37] that talked to the eagle said thus: ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.11
“Art not thou it that remainest of the four beasts, whom I made to reign in my world, that the end of their times might come through them? And the fourth came, and overcame all the beasts that were past, and had power over the world with great fearfulness, and over the whole compass of the earth with much wicked oppression; and so long time dwelt he upon the earth with deceit. For the earth hast thou not judged with truth. For thou hast afflicted the meek, thou hast hurt the peaceable, thou hast loved liars, and destroyed the dwellings of them that brought forth fruit, and hast cast down the walls of such as did thee no harm. Therefore is thy wrongful dealing come up unto the Highest, and thy pride unto the Mighty.” Verses 39-43. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.12
This shows that it refers to Rome, especially to Papal Rome. If any doubt remains, it is removed in the explanation given in chap 12:11: ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.13
“The eagle whom thou sawest come up from the sea, is the kingdom which was seen in the vision of thy brother Daniel.” ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.14
A correct understanding of this matter is most important at this time, as the view above referred to serves to sustain another error, namely, that the dissolution of the Union will be the development of the horns of the two-horned beast. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.15
J. H. WAGGONER.
Burlington, Iowa.
LETTERS
“Then they that feared the Lord, spake often one to another.”
From Bro. Farnsworth
BRO. WHITE: You have hearts that sympathize with you in your trials, in this place. I feel the necessity of organization, and hope all the brethren will take hold of it with a will. I should have been glad had you come to Washington when on your eastern tour. I hope to see you once more in this place. The church here are most all striving for the unity of the faith; but the enemy is unwilling this should be accomplished. The Lord will lead all that are willing to be led. Some are willing to be saved if they can be saved in their own way. But such will never be saved. My only hope is to have Jesus lead me, and to love all the truth, and live it out in my life. I am resolved to love the Lord with all my heart, and love his cause and his children with a pure heart fervently. The Advent cause is the Lord’s cause. I do believe it. Jesus is soon coming. My heart believes it, and I hope so to heed his faithful counsel as to be found blameless at his coming. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.16
Your brother in love.
C. K. FARNSWORTH.
Washington, N. H.
From Bro. Crosby
DEAR BRO. WHITE: For the first time I would say to the brethren and sisters through the Review, that I am striving to overcome through the blood of the Lamb and the word of my testimony. It has been almost two years since I commenced keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus; and in keeping them I feel that there is great reward. I can truly say that the Lord is good. He is still reviving his work here, and is adding to our number such as we trust shall be saved. We have our weekly prayer-meeting at the meeting-house at Avon, every Sabbath, in which we have a large assemblage of commandment-keepers. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.17
We have kept up prayer-meetings at our house Tuesday and Sabbath evenings about fifteen months, in which the Lord has greatly blessed us. When we commenced, there were only myself and companion, and two others. But our number has been increasing, till now the room is crowded with Sabbath-keepers. Last Thursday evening at a prayer-meeting at Bro. Johnson’s, three took a decided stand to go with the remnant people to mount Zion; and at our house Sabbath evening, the Spirit of the Lord was with us, and we had a rejoicing time. We felt so much of the power of God, that we all praised and glorified his name. Four that never made any profession of religion told their determination to keep the commandments of God and prepare for the coming of Jesus. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.18
May the Lord help us to be faithful to our profession and let our light so shine that more may be added to our number. I am determined to give up all to the Lord, that I may receive a crown of life at his appearing. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.19
Yours in hope of eternal life.
H. CROSBY.
Avon, Rock Co., Wis.
Extracts from Letters
Bro. D. Upson writes from Catlin Center, N. Y.: “It is now about ten years since I began to keep God’s holy Sabbath. I have never been sorry I began when I did, nor that I embraced the Advent movement. It destroyed my faith in what is called the orthodoxy of the present day; and I began to study the Bible and pray to God that he would guide me to a right understanding of his word. The Bible has not only become a new book, but my heavenly Father another being to me. All his works are done in truth and righteousness. Though our hope has been deferred, I feel that we have no occasion to relax our zeal in the cause, but let our works correspond with our faith, and co-operate with the providence of God. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.20
“We cannot give too strict heed to the faithful and true Witness, and get the gold tried in the fire, the white raiment, and eye-salve. I believe we have got to pass one of the greatest conflicts with the world, the flesh, the Devil, and a formal church, that the servants of God have ever passed since the creation; but his grace and truth will be sufficient for us if we trust in him. We must have the same faith in the second coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that Noah had in regard to the flood, or that all the worthies have had in the promises of God when they have been tested on any point of truth or doctrine. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.21
“The church here in Catlin have organized themselves into a religious body, adopting the name, Seventh-day Adventists, and covenanting to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. The church is now in a flourishing state. Seven have lately commenced keeping God’s holy Sabbath, five of whom have received the ordinance of baptism, and the other two we expect will soon. Order I believe to be heaven’s first law, and its eternal law. A name will not hurt any church if the church does not hurt its name. God grant that this may not be the case with those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.22
“P. S. Since writing the preceding there has been a meeting held here by Bro. Fuller, and five more have joined the church. God is adding to us almost daily of such as shall be saved.” ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.23
Bro. H. J. Bonifield, writes from Osceola, Iowa: “Allow me to say a few words to the saints scattered abroad, of like precious faith. I am still on the Lord’s side, trying to make my way through to the kingdom. I have many evils to contend with, and many difficulties and trials to encounter, yet I do not feel discouraged, but feel to praise the Lord that I am making some progress. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.24
“I think the brethren and sisters are all, with but few exceptions, in this vicinity, trying to rise with the message, and overcome by the blood of the Lamb. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.25
“We have our Sabbath meetings regularly, and I am happy to say that the good Spirit of the Lord is with us. O how good it is to meet on the Sabbath, and spend the hours in worshiping God in singing, and exhorting one another in these last days. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.26
“We feel cheered and encouraged by the late visit we received from Bro. Waggoner. His visit was timely, and his cutting testimony much needed by us. We feel the assurance already that the Lord did much for us through him. May the blessings of the Lord rest upon him, and success attend his labors. We are weak, and need the assistance and prayers of the brethren and sisters. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.27
“Of myself I can say that I desire ever to be found humble before God, and trying to walk in obedience to his will. I am trying to make preparation to meet Jesus at his coming, for soon, I believe, the work of mercy will be closed, and the fiat go forth, He that is filthy, let him be filthy still, and he that is holy, let him be holy still. I mean to hold out faithful to the end, and at last meet with the redeemed in the everlasting kingdom of God.” ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.28
Bro. B. Stiles writes from Cedar Springs, Mich.: “It is with pleasure I inform you that there are a few in this remote place who are striving to inherit the kingdom. We meet every Sabbath, some five or six of us, and enjoy the approbation of our great Redeemer. We all fully agree with the church at Battle Creek on church organization. The name given to the church we believe to be both becoming and appropriate.” ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.29
OBITUARY
FELL asleep in Jesus, in Rosseau, Marion Co., Iowa, Oct. 13, 1861, sister Jane Kent, aged 22 years, 8 months, and 6 days. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.30
Sister Kent embraced the third angel’s message a few months since, and rejoiced in the light of present truth. She died triumphing in the hope of the gospel, realizing that Jesus will soon come to wake her to immortality. She leaves a husband and a large circle of friends to mourn her loss. She was respected by all who knew her. She was truly a living example of the manner in which a christian should live. The writer spoke upon the occasion from John 11:25, to a large congregation. While we spoke of what Jesus had done, many who seldom weep were seen to shed tears. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.31
“Asleep in Jesus! blessed sleep! From which none ever wake to weep.” WM. H. BRINKERHOOF. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 183.32
THE REVIEW AND HERALD
BATTLE CREEK, MICH., THIRD-DAY, NOV. 5, 1861
QUESTIONS FOR BRO. LOUGHBOROUGH
BRO. WHITE: The following questions I would like to have you give, or send, to Bro. Loughborough for explanation. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 184.1
W. W. GILES.
Toledo, Ohio.
QUESTION 1. What serious objection is there to the doctrine of the Trinity? ARSH November 5, 1861, page 184.2
ANSWER. There are many objections which we might urge, but on account of our limited space we shall reduce them to the three following: 1. It is contrary to common sense. 2. It is contrary to scripture. 3. Its origin is Pagan and fabulous. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 184.3
These positions we will remark upon briefly in their order. And 1. It is not very consonant with common sense to talk of three being one, and one being three. Or as some express it, calling God “the Triune God,” or “the three-one-God.” If Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are each God, it would be three Gods; for three times one is not one, but three. There is a sense in which they are one, but not one person, as claimed by Trinitarians. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 184.4
2. It is contrary to Scripture. Almost any portion of the New Testament we may open which has occasion to speak of the Father and Son, represents them as two distinct persons. The seventeenth chapter of John is alone sufficient to refute the doctrine of the Trinity. Over forty times in that one chapter Christ speaks of his Father as a person distinct from himself. His Father was in heaven and he upon earth. The Father had sent him. Given to him those that believed. He was then to go to the Father. And in this very testimony he shows us in what consists the oneness of the Father and Son. It is the same as the oneness of the members of Christ’s church. “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.” Of one heart and one mind. Of one purpose in all the plan devised for man’s salvation. Read the seventeenth chapter of John, and see if it does not completely upset the doctrine of the Trinity. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 184.5
To believe that doctrine, when reading the scripture we must believe that God sent himself into the world, died to reconcile the world to himself, raised himself from the dead, ascended to himself in heaven, pleads before himself in heaven to reconcile the world to himself, and is the only mediator between man and himself. It will not do to substitute the human nature of Christ (according to Trinitarians) as the Mediator; for Clarke says, “Human blood can no more appease God than swine’s blood.” Com. on 2 Samuel 21:10. We must believe also that in the garden God prayed to himself, if it were possible, to let the cup pass from himself, and a thousand other such absurdities. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 184.6
Read carefully the following texts, comparing them with the idea that Christ is the Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Supreme, and only self-existent God: John 14:28; 17:3; 3:16; 5:19, 26; 11:15; 20:19; 8:50; 6:38; Mark 13:32; Luke 6:12; 22:69; 24:29; Matthew 3:17; 27:46; Galatians 3:20; 1 John 2:1; Revelation 5:7; Acts 17:31. Also see Matthew 11:25, 27; Luke 1:32; 22:42; John 3:35, 36; 5:19, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26; 6:40; 8:35, 36; 14:13; 1 Corinthians 15:28, etc. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 184.7
The word Trinity nowhere occurs in the Scriptures. The principal text supposed to teach it is 1 John 1:7, which is an interpolation. Clarke says, “Out of one hundred and thirteen manuscripts, the text is wanting in one hundred and twelve. It occurs in no MS. before the tenth century. And the first place the text occurs in Greek, is in the Greek translation of the acts of the Council of Lateran, held A. D. 1215.” - Com. on John 1, and remarks at close of chap. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 184.8
3. Its origin is pagan and fabulous. Instead of pointing us to scripture for proof of the trinity, we are pointed to the trident of the Persians, with the assertion that “by this they designed to teach the idea of a trinity, and if they had the doctrine of the trinity, they must have received it by tradition from the people of God. But this is all assumed, for it is certain that the Jewish church held to no such doctrine. Says Mr. Summerbell, “A friend of mine who was present in a New York synagogue, asked the Rabbi for an explanation of the word ’elohim’. A Trinitarian clergyman who stood by, replied, ‘Why, that has reference to the three persons in the Trinity,’ when a Jew stepped forward and said he must not mention that word again, or they would have to compel him to leave the house; for it was not permitted to mention the name of any strange god in the synagogue.’1 Milman says the idea of the Trident is fabulous. 2 ARSH November 5, 1861, page 184.9
This doctrine of the trinity was brought into the church about the same time with image worship, and keeping the day of the sun, and is but Persian doctrine remodeled. It occupied about three hundred years from its introduction to bring the doctrine to what it is now. It was commenced about 325 A. D., and was not completed till 681. See Milman’s Gibbon’s Rome, vol. iv, p.422. It was adopted in Spain in 589, in England in 596, in Africa in 534. - Gib. vol. iv, pp.114,345; Milner, vol. i, p.519. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 184.10
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.
(To be continued.)
APPOINTMENTS
THE Lord willing, there will be a conference held at Lynxville, Crawford Co., Wis., Nov. 16 and 17, 1861. The church request Bro. Andrews to attend this conference. We should be glad to see Bro. Ingraham also at this meeting. It is hoped that there will be a general attendance of all who are interested in present truth, in this section of country. An invitation is also extended to brethren abroad. JOHN BOSTWICK. F. W. MORSE. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 184.11
Business Department
Business Notes
B. McCormick: Your account at the office for books was $1,00. The balance of the $3,00 we applied according to directions. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 184.12
Betsey Morse: We have stopped the extra copy of Instructor, and changed your credit from xi,6 to xiii,1. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 184.13
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 November 5, 1861, page 184.14
Mary Peasey 2,00,xx,1. John Palmiter 1,00,xx,1. Elisha Dean 1,40,xx,6. Benj. Stiles 1,20,xx,1. Francis Carlin 1,00,xx,1. H. C. S. Carus 3,00,xxi,8. L. Graves 1,00,xx,1. A. Worster 1,00,xix,21. Lewis Pinch 3,00,xx,7. A. H. Lewis 2,00,xviii,14. Wm. Farrar 2,00,xx,11. B. F. Emerton 1,00,xx,20. Rachel Fessenden 1,50,xx,8. A. Thomas 1,00,xix,18. John Hallock 1,00,xix,1. Mrs. A. Hartwell 0,25,xix,8. Alexander Seymour 1,00,xix,23. J. T. Rogers 1,00,xvii,1. G. Lowree 1,75,xx,21. J. Rawson 1,00,xix,21. D. F. Moore 1,00,xx,1. Hannah Watkins 2,00,xix,1. S. Burns 1,00,xxi,1. Wm. Harris 2,00, (2 copies) xx,1. A. Z. Hoyt 1,00,xx,6. C. M. Coburn 1,00,xix,21. H. J. Bonifield 1,00,xvii,15. Frances B. Miller 1,75,xx,21. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 184.15
For Shares in Publishing Association
Enos Bartlett $10,00. John T. Mitchell $5,00. I. Sanborn $10,00. Wm. Smith $10,00. J. S. Mills $1,00. Worcester Farrar $10,00. J. E. Farrar $10,00. Joseph Bates $5,00. D. C. Philips $20,00. Enoch Colby $10,00. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 184.16
Donations to Publishing Association
Church at Troy, Vt. and Patton, C. E. (S. B.) $10,00. H. C. S. Carus $2,00. Wm. Harris $1,15. Church at Parma, Mich., (S. B.) $12,00. Church at Irasburg and Charleston, Vt. (S. B.) $20,00. S. R. Nichols (S. B.) $5,00. A. Mosher $1,50. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 184.17
Cash Received on Account
R. D. Tyson (E. W. S.) $5,00. F. Wheeler $3,00. Ch. at Greenville, Mich. (S. B.) for E. W. S. $10,00. B. F. Snook $18,62. A. S. Hutchins $0,24. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 184.18
Books Sent by Mail
Elisha Dean 1,60. Benj. Stiles 0,80. T. R. Walker 1,20. F. Wheeler 2,40. G. W. Perry 0,05. B. McCormick 1,55. Daniel Andre 0,60. Wm. Farrar 1,50. J. M. Aldrich 0,75. R. F. Cottrell 0,60. Gilbert W. Rhodes 1,00. E. B. Saunders 0,60. E. M. Davis 2,55. Wm. Giles 0,40. W. Harris, 0,60. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 184.19
PUBLICATIONS
| The New Hymn Book, containing 464 pages and 122 pieces of music, | 80 cts. |
| History of the Sabbath, in one volume, bound - Part I, Bible History - Part II, Secular History, | 60 ” |
| Sabbath Tracts, Nos. 1-4. This work presents a condensed view of the entire Sabbath question, | 15 ” |
| The Three Angels of Revelation 14:6-12, particularly the Third Angel’s Message, and the Two-horned Beast, | 15 ” |
| Hope of the Gospel, or Immortality the gift of God, | 15 ” |
| Which? Mortal or Immortal? or an inquiry into the present constitution and future condition of man, | 15 ” |
| Modern Spiritualism; its Nature and Tendency. | |
| This book should be in the hands of every family, as a warning against Spiritualism, | 15 ” |
| The Kingdom of God; A Refutation of the doctrine called, Age to Come, | 15 ” |
| Pauline Theology, or the Christian Doctrine of Future Punishment as taught in the epistles of Paul, | 15 ” |
| Prophecy of Daniel: The Four Universal Kingdoms, the Sanctuary and Twenty-three Hundred Days, | 10 ” |
| The Saints’ Inheritance. The Immortal Kingdom located on the New Earth, | 10 ” |
| Signs of the Times, showing that the Second Coming of Christ is at the door, | 10 ” |
| Law of God. The testimony of both Testaments, showing its origin and perpetuity, | 10 ” |
| Vindication of the true Sabbath, by J. W. Morton, late Missionary to Hayti, | 10 ” |
| Review of Springer on the Sabbath, Law of God, and first day of the week, | 10 ” |
| Facts for the Times. Extracts from the writings of eminent authors, Ancient and Modern, | 10 ” |
| Miscellany. Seven tracts in one book on the Second Advent and the Sabbath, | 10 ” |
| The Seven Trumpets. The Sounding of the seven Trumpets of Revelation 8 and 9, | 10 ” |
| Christian Baptism. Its Nature, Subjects, and Design, | 10 ” |
| Assistant. The Bible Student’s Assistant, or a compend of Scripture references, | 5 ” |
| The Fate of the Transgressor, or a short argument on the First and Second Deaths, | 5 ” |
| Nature and Obligation of the Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment - Apostasy and Perils of the Last Days, | 5 ” |
| Truth Found. A Short Argument for the Sabbath with an appendix, “The Sabbath not a Type,“ | 5 ” |
| An Appeal for the restoration of the Bible Sabbath in an Address to the Baptists, | 5 ” |
| Review of Crozier on the Institution, Design and Abolition of the Seventh-day Sabbath, | 5 ” |
| Review of Fillio. A reply to a series of discourses delivered by him in Battle Creek on the Sabbath question, | 5 ” |
| Brown’s Experience in relation to Entire Consecration and the Second Advent, | 5 ” |
| Report of General Conference held in Battle Creek, June 1859, Address on Systematic Benevolence, etc., | 5 ” |
| Sabbath Poem. A Word for the Sabbath, or False Theories Exposed, | 5 ” |
| Illustrated Review. A Double Number of the REVIEW AND HERALD illustrated, | 5 ” |
| Spiritual Gifts Vol. I, or the Great Controversy between Christ and his angels, and Satan and his angels, | 50 ” |
| Spiritual Gifts Vol. 2. Experience, Views and Incidents in connection with the Third Message, | 50 ” |
| Scripture Doctrine of future punishment. | |
| An Argument by H. H. Dobney, Baptist Minister of England, | 75 ” |
| Debt and Grace as related to the Doctrine of Future Punishment, by C. F. Hudson, | 100 ” |
| Voice of the Church on the Coming and Kingdom of the Redeemer. A History of the doctrine, | 100 ” |
PENNY TRACTS. Who Changed the Sabbath? - Unity of the Church - Spiritual Gifts - Judson’s Letter on Dress - Law of God, by Dobney (2 cts.) - Law of God by Wesley - Appeal to men of reason on Immortality - Much in Little - Truth - Death and Burial - Preach the Word. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 184.20
These tracts can be sent, post-paid, in packages of not less than twenty-five. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 184.21
Home Here and Home in Heaven, with other poems. This work embraces all those sweet and Scriptural poems written by Annie R. Smith, from the time she embraced the third message till she fell asleep in Jesus. Price 25 cents. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 184.22
The Chart. A Pictorial Illustration of the Visions of Daniel and John 20 by 25 inches. Price 15 cents. On rollers, post-paid, 75 cents. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 184.23
German. Das Wesen des Sabbaths und unsere Verpflichtung auf ihn nach dem Vierten Gebote. A Tract of 80 pp., a Translation of Nature and Obligation of the Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment. Price 10 cents. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 184.24
Holland. De Natuur en Verbinding van den Sabbath volgens het Vierde Gebodt. Translated from the same as the German. Price 10 cents. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 184.25
French. Le Sabbat de la Bible. A Tract on the Sabbath of 32 pp. Price 5 cents. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 184.26
La Grande Statue de Daniel II, et les Quatre Betes Symboliques, et quelques remarques sur la Seconde Venue de Christ, et sur le Cinquieme Royaume Universel. A Tract of 32 pp. on the Prophecies. Price 5 cents. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 184.27
These publications will be sent by mail, post-paid, at their respective prices. When ordered by the quantity, not less than $5,00 worth, one-third will be deducted from these prices on Pamphlets and Tracts, and one-fourth on bound Books. In this case, postage added, if sent by mail. Orders, to insure attention, must be accompanied with the cash, unless special arrangements be made. Address Elder JAMES WHITE, Battle Creek Michigan. ARSH November 5, 1861, page 184.28