Advent Review, and Sabbath Herald, vol. 17
December 25, 1860
RH VOL. XVII. - BATTLE CREEK, MICH., THIRD-DAY, - NO. 6
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. XVII. - BATTLE CREEK, MICH., THIRD-DAY, DECEMBER 25, 1860. - NO. 6.
The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald
is published weekly, at One Dollar a Volume of 26 Nos. in advance.
J. P. KELLOGG, CYRENIUS SMITH AND D. R. PALMER,
Publishing Committee.
Uriah Smith, Resident Editor.J. N. Andrews, James White, J. H. Waggoner, R. F. Cottrell, and Stephen Pierce, Corresponding Editors.Address REVIEW AND HERALD Battle Creek, Mich.
OUR REST
[BRO. SMITH: The following lines have comforted my heart. I copy them for the Review if you deem them worthy of a place there. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 41.1
A. S. H.]
“The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Romans 8:18.
MY feet are worn and weary with the march
Over rough roads and up the steep hill-side:
O, city of our God, I fain would see
Thy pastures green, where peaceful waters glide.
ARSH December 25, 1860, page 41.2
My hands are weary, laboring, toiling on,
Day after day, for perishable meat:
O, city of our God, I fain would rest;
I sigh to gain thy glorious mercy-seat.
ARSH December 25, 1860, page 41.3
My garments, travel-worn and stained with dust,
Oft rent by briers and thorns that crowd my way,
Would fain be made, O Lord, my righteousness,
Spotless and white in heaven’s unclouded ray.
ARSH December 25, 1860, page 41.4
My eyes are weary looking at the sun,
Impiety, and scorn upon the earth:
O, city of our God, within thy walls,
All, all are clothed upon with the new birth.
ARSH December 25, 1860, page 41.5
My heart is weary of its own deep sin,
Sinning, repenting, sinning still alway:
When shall my soul thy glorious presence feel,
And finds its guilt, dear Saviour, washed away?
ARSH December 25, 1860, page 41.6
Patience, poor soul; the Saviour’s feet were worn:
The Saviour’s heart and hands were weary too;
His garments stained, and travel-worn and old,
His sacred eyes blinded with tears for you.
ARSH December 25, 1860, page 41.7
Love thou the path of sorrow that he trod; ARSH December 25, 1860, page 41.8
Toil on, and wait in patience for thy rest:
O, city of our God, we soon shall see
Thy glorious walls, home of the loved and blest.
THE LAW OF GOD
BY B. F. SNOOK.
CHAPTER II. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 41.9
THE law of God was binding on man in the patriarchal age of the world. This is shown 1. By the righteousness of many. 2. By the reward of the righteous. 3. By the wickedness of many. 4. By the punishment of the wicked. 5. By plain declarations of the Bible. 6. By specifying each commandment. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 41.10
I. Men are said to have been righteous then. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 41.11
Proof. “Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous.” Paul, speaking of all the patriarchs, says, “Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness.” Hebrews 11:6, 33. “And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.” 2 Peter 2:5. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.” Genesis 6:9. “And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.” Chap 7:1. “And Enoch walked with God, and he was not for God took him.” Chap 5:24. “For before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” Hebrews 11:5. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 41.12
These are all said to have been righteous - to have wrought righteousness - and to have walked with God. Here we will spring an important question. How were they righteous? We answer, By doing righteousness. “He that doeth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the Devil.” 1 John 3:7, 8. “Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God.” Verse 10. “Every one that doeth righteousness is born of God.” Chap 2:29. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 41.13
In the foregoing John states, 1. Who is righteous. 2. Who is of the Devil. 3. Who is not of God. He that doeth righteousness is born of God; is not of the Devil; does not commit sin. But sin is the transgression of the law; therefore he does not transgress, but obeys the law. He that is of the Devil doeth not righteousness; does not obey the law, but committeth sin, i.e., transgresses the law; is not born of God; is not of him; does not love him; argues that the law is abolished, etc. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 41.14
Having now shown how righteousness is obtained and wrought, we proceed in the next place to show what right is; what righteousness is. David says, “The statutes (laws) of the Lord are right.” Psalm 19:8. “Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful; for all thy commandments are righteousness.” Psalm 119:138, 172. Therefore, according to this divinely inspired witness, the law is the standard of right: of righteousness. Hence those who would do right (work righteousness), must conform to this divine standard. Proof. “And it shall be our righteousness if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God as he hath commanded us.” Deuteronomy 6:25. The patriarchs from Adam to Moses walked with God; were righteous and did right. Therefore God’s law existed in their time, and they obeyed it; otherwise they could not have been righteous. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 41.15
II. God rewarded the righteous with many blessings. Proof. Abel enjoyed the special blessings of heaven. But why so? Because his works were righteous. Hebrews 11:4. 2. Noah and his house were saved from being destroyed by the flood. And why was God so good to them? Ans. “For thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.” Genesis 7:1, 3. Enoch was translated to heaven that he should not see death. What an inestimable blessing! This he received because he was righteous and walked with God. Hebrews 11:5. God has promised to reward only those who keep his commandments. “In keeping them there is great reward.” Psalm 19:11. Hence those who received such great rewards kept the law of their heavenly Father. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 41.16
III. Many were then wicked and sinners. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 41.17
1. Cain was wicked and slew his brother. Genesis 4:8. John says, Cain was of that wicked One, the Devil. 1 John 3:12. Query. Who is of the Devil? Ans. “He that committeth sin is of the Devil.” Verse 8. What is sin? “Transgression of the law.” Verse 4. Therefore God’s law was binding on man as far back as Cain, who broke the sixth commandment - Thou shalt not kill. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 41.18
2. The antediluvians. Of man in that day God said, “Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5. “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth and behold it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.” Verse 12. But could they have been wicked and sinners if there was no law of morals to which they were to conform? They could not; for where no law is there is no transgression. Romans 4:15. But they were sinners, and therefore the law was binding upon them, and they broke it. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 41.19
3. Joseph refused to comply with the immodest request of Potiphar’s wife, saying, How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? Genesis 39:9. But how could he have sinned against God in so-doing, unless God had given a law forbidding that crime? But he would have sinned had he yielded to her wishes. Therefore God’s great moral law, the seventh command of which forbids adultery, was binding in the time of Joseph. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 41.20
4. The inhabitants of Sodom. Of these Peter says, “They vexed righteous Lot with their filthy conversation and UNlawful deeds.” 2 Peter 2:7. This is direct proof that the law was binding in their time, and that Lot was righteous in obeying it, and that they were ungodly and their deeds unlawful because they disobeyed it. But if the law was not binding in their time, how was this possible? It was not possible. For in the absence of moral law there can be no moral character. Hence Lot could not have been righteous. Neither could they have been ungodly; neither could their deeds have been unlawful; for where there is no law a deed can be neither lawful nor unlawful. But their deeds were unlawful. Therefore the law must have existed in their time, and they sinned against it. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 41.21
IV. The punishment of the wicked. 1. The punishment of Cain. Cain was severely chastised. This, however, was perfectly just; for he had broken a just law, and had deprived his brother of that which he could not restore to him. God said to him, “Thou art cursed from the earth.” “When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear.” Genesis 4:11-13. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 41.22
2. The antediluvians. Of their punishment it was said, “And the Lord said I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth.” Genesis 6:7. This was truly a great punishment. Such however is the unhappy end of the sinner [Philippians 3:19], and the wages of his disobedience to God’s law. Romans 6:23. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 41.23
3. The people of Sodom. Their punishment was awfully severe. They were destroyed by fire and brimstone, and thus set forth as an example to those who should afterward live ungodly (unlawfully). Genesis 19:12, 13; 2 Peter 2:6; Jude 7. Corollary: God punishes none but sinners, the wicked who transgress his law. No one can be a sinner where there is no law to sin against. Hence if there had been no law binding in the age of the patriarchs, there would have been no sinners, and therefore nobody punished. But there were many sinners, and God punished them for their sins, which he could not in justice have done had there been no law binding upon them. Therefore we conclude that the law was then binding. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 41.24
V. Plain declarations of Scripture. 1. “Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” Genesis 26:5. Who with such a declaration before him as this can deny the pre-Sinaic obligations of the law of God? We respond, No one but the infidel or atheist. This testimony is right to the point, and proves the binding obligation of the law of the Most High in Abraham’s time, not less than four hundred years before God spoke from Sinai. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 42.1
2. “And (God) said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee which I have brought upon the Egyptians.” Exodus 15:26. This was spoken at least thirty-three days before the proclamation of the law on the Mount, and therefore is unanswerable proof that the law existed and was binding in the patriarchal age. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 42.2
3. “How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?” Exodus 16:28. If this text does not prove the existence and obligation of the law before Israel came to Sinai, we confess that Bible evidence is worth nothing. The man who can evade such plain Scriptures as the above, can evade the Bible. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 42.3
VI. Each commandment specified. “(1.) Genesis 35:1-4. (2.) Genesis 31:19, 34, 35; 35:2, 4. (3.) Leviticus 18:3, 21-27. (4.) Genesis 2:1-4; Mark 2:27; Genesis 8:10-12; 29:27, 28; Exodus 16:4, 22-30. (5.) Genesis 9:20-25. (6.) Genesis 4:8-11, 23, 24; 9:5, 6. (7.) Genesis 20:5-9; 38:24; 39:7-9. (8.) Genesis 30:33; 31:19-39; 44:8. (9.) Genesis 39:7-20. (10.) The fact that the transgression of the tenth must precede the violation of the eighth, and that the eighth was known and its violation considered worthy of death, is sufficient evidence that the principle of the tenth commandment was known before the law was given at Sinai.” - Bible Student’s Assistant. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 42.4
The foregoing scriptures specify the principle of the ten commandments and show that the patriarchs had knowledge of them which they could not have had if the law had not then existed. From the above scriptures we draw the following logical conclusions. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 42.5
1. If the law did not exist before its public proclamation from the mount, there was no sin in the world up to that time. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 42.6
2. As death is the wages of sin, no one who lived prior to the giving of the law will die the second death; for sin is not imputed when there is no law. Hence all of this class will be saved, including Cain, all who were drowned by the flood, the vile inhabitants of Sodom, and Pharaoh’s satanic host. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 42.7
3. That seeing we have shown that the law did not begin to exist on Sinai, it is not Jewish; for it existed before there ever was a Jew. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 42.8
4. All of its obligations are general, applying alike to all men. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 42.9
5. As it is not Jewish, but existed before the distinction of Jew was recognized, it can exist after such distinction ceases. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 42.10
6. Those who reject this law and call it Jewish because it was once given to the Jews, might as well reject the God who is the author of it, and call him Jewish, because he was once the God of the Jews. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 42.11
7. Those who reject this law and call it Jewish might as well carry out their inward principle and reject Christ, who was a Jew, ministered to the Jews, and magnified and made [honorable no-lawism? No, but] honorable his Father’s law. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 42.12
8. They should for the same reason reject salvation, for it is of the Jews. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 42.13
9. They should destroy their Bibles, for most truly was that blessed book given to the Jews. They do not remember this if they ever knew it. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 42.14
10. They should also remember that if the law is binding on the Jew only, then he only will receive the blessing for keeping it; for the blessing is only to the commandment-keepers. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 42.15
PERIODICAL RELIGION
WE deceive ourselves not a little when we fancy that what is emphatically called the world is only to be found in this or that situation. The world is everywhere. It is a nature as well as a place; a principle as well as a “local habitation and a name.” Though the principle and the nature flourish most in those haunts which are their congenial soil, yet we are too ready, when we withdraw from the world abroad to bring it home, to lodge it in our own bosom. The natural heart is both its temple and its worshiper. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 42.16
But the most devoted idolater of the world, with all the capacity and industry which he may have applied to the subject, has never yet been able to accomplish the grand design of uniting the interests of heaven and earth. This experiment which has been more assiduously and more frequently tried than that of the philosopher for the grand Hermetic secret, has been tried with about the same degree of success. The most laborious process of the spiritual chemist to reconcile religion with the world has never yet been competent to make the contending principles coalesce. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 42.17
But to drop metaphor. Religion was never yet thoroughly relished by a heart full of the world. The world in return cannot be completely enjoyed where there is just religion enough to disturb its false peace. In such minds heaven and earth ruin each other’s enjoyments. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 42.18
There is a religion which is too sincere for hypocrisy, but too transient to be profitable; to superficial to reach the heart, too unproductive to proceed from it. It is slight, but not false. It has discernment enough to distinguish sin, but not firmness enough to oppose it; compunction sufficient to soften the heart, but not vigor sufficient to reform it. It laments when it does wrong, and performs all the functions of repentance of sin except forsaking it. It has every thing of devotion except the stability, and gives everything to religion except the heart. This is a religion of times, events, and circumstances; it is brought into play by accidents, and dwindles away with the occasion which called it out. Festivals and fasts which occur but seldom, are much observed, and it is to be feared because they occur but seldom; while the great festival which comes every week, comes too often to be so respectfully treated. The piety of these people comes out much in sickness, but is apt to retreat again as recovery approaches. If they die, they are placed by their admirers in the saints’ calendar; if they recover, they go back into the world they had renounced, and again suspend their amendment as often as death suspends his blow. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 42.19
There is another class whose views are still lower, who yet cannot so far shake off religion as to be easy without retaining its brief and stated forms, and who contrive to mix up these forms with a faith of a piece with their practice. They blend their inconsistent works with a vague and unwarranted reliance on what the Saviour has done for them, and thus patch up a merit and a propitiation of their own - running the hazard of incurring the danger of punishment by their lives and inventing a scheme to avert it by their creed. Religion never interferes with their pleasures except by the compliment of a short and occasional suspension. Having got through these periodical acts of devotion, they return to the same scenes of vanity and idleness which they had quitted for the temporary duty; forgetting that it was the very end of those acts of devotion to cure the vanity and to correct the idleness. Had the periodical observance answered its true design, it would have disinclined them to the pleasure instead of giving them a dispensation for its indulgence. Had they used the devout exercise in a right spirit, and improved it to its true end, it would have set the heart and life at work on all those pursuits which it was calculated to promote. But their project has more ingenuity. By the stated minutes they give to religion, they cheaply purchase a protection for the misemployment of the rest of their time. They make these periodical devotions a kind of spiritual insurance office, which is to make up to the adventurers in pleasure, any loss or damage which they may sustain in its voyage. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 42.20
It is of these shallow devotions, these presumed equivalents for a new heart and a new life, that God declares by the prophet that he is “weary.” Though of his own express appointment, they become an “abomination” to him, as soon as the sign comes to be rested in for the thing signified. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 42.21
We Christians have “our new moons and our sacrifices” under other names and other shapes; of which sacrifices, that is, of the spirit in which they are offered, the Almighty has said, “I cannot away with them, they are iniquity.” ARSH December 25, 1860, page 42.22
Sometimes in an awakening sermon these periodical religionists hear with awe and terror, of the hour of death and the day of judgment. Their hearts are penetrated with the solemn sounds. They confess the awful realities by the impression they make on their own feelings. The sermon ends, and with it the serious reflections it excited. While they listen to these things, especially if the preacher be alarming, they are all in all to them. They return to the world - and these things are as if they were not, as if they had never been, as if their reality lasted only while they were preached; as if their existence depended only on their being heard; as if truth were no longer truth than while it solicited their notice; as if there were as little stability in religion itself as in their attention to it. As soon as their minds are disengaged from the question, one would think that death and judgment were an invention, that heaven and hell were blotted from existence, that eternity ceased to be eternity, in the long intervals in which they cease to be the object of their consideration. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 42.23
This is the natural effect of what we venture to denominate periodical religion. It is a transient homage kept totally distinct and separate from the rest of our lives, instead of its being made the prelude and the principle of a course of pious practice, instead of our weaving our devotions and our actions into one uniform tissue by doing all in one spirit and to one end. When worshipers of this description pray for “a clean heart and a right spirit,” when they beg of God to “turn away their eyes from beholding vanity,” is it not to be feared that they pray to be made what they resolve never to become, that they would be very unwilling to become as good as they pray to be made, and would be sorry to be as penitent as they profess to desire? But alas! they are in little danger of being taken at their word; there is too much reason to fear their petitions will not be heard or answered; for prayer for the pardon of sin will obtain no pardon while we retain the sin in hope that the prayer will be accepted without the renunciation. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 42.24
The most solemn office of our religion, the sacred memorial of the death of its author, the blessed injunction and tender testimony of his dying love, the consolation of the humble believer, the gracious appointment for strengthening his faith, quickening his repentance, awakening his gratitude and kindling his charity, is too often resorted to on the same erroneous principle. He who ventures to live without the use of this holy institution, lives in a state of disobedience to the last appointment of his Redeemer. He who rests in it as a means for supplying the place of habitual piety, totally mistakes its design, and is fatally deceiving his own soul. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 42.25
This awful solemnity is, it is to be hoped, rarely frequented even by this class of Christians without a desire of approaching it with the pious feelings above described. But if they carry them to the altar, are they equally anxious to carry them away from it, are they anxious to maintain them after it? Does the rite so seriously approached commonly leave any vestige of seriousness behind it? Are they careful to perpetuate the feelings they were so desirous to excite? Do they strive to make them produce solid and substantial effects? - Would that this inconstancy of mind were to be found only in the class of characters under consideration! Let the reader, however sincere in his desires, let the writer, however ready to lament the levity of others, seriously ask their own hearts if they can entirely acquit themselves of the inconsistency they are so forward to blame? if they do not find the charge brought against others but too applicable to themselves? ARSH December 25, 1860, page 43.1
Irreverence antecedent to, or during this sacred solemnity, is far more rare than durable improvement after it. If there are, as we are willing to believe, none so profane as to violate the act, except those who impiously use it only as “a pick-lock to a place,” there are too few who make it lastingly beneficial. Few so thoughtless as not to approach it with resolutions of amendment; few comparatively who carry those resolutions into effect. Fear operates in the previous instance. Why should not love operate in that which is subsequent? ARSH December 25, 1860, page 43.2
A periodical religion is accompanied with a periodical repentance. This species of repentance is adopted with no small mental reservation. It is partial and disconnected. These fragments of contrition, these broken parcels of penitence - while a succession of worldly pursuits is not only resorted to, but is intended to be resorted to during the whole of the intervening spaces, is not that sorrow which the Almighty has promised to accept. To render it pleasing to God and efficacious to ourselves, there must be an agreement in the parts, an entireness in the whole web of life. There must be an integral repentance. A quarterly contrition in the four weeks preceding the sacred seasons will not wipe out the daily offences, the hourly negligences of the whole sinful year. Sins half forsaken through fear, and half retained through partially resisted temptation and partially adopted resolution, make up but an unprofitable piety. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 43.3
In the bosom of these professors there is a perpetual conflict between fear and inclination. In conversation you will generally find them very warm in the cause of religion; but it is religion as opposed to infidelity, not as opposed to worldly mindedness. They defend the worship of God, but desire to be excused from his service. Their heart is the slave of the world, but their blindness hides them from the turpitude of that world. They commend piety, but dread its requisitions. They allow that repentance is necessary, but then how easy is it to find reasons for deferring a necessary evil. Who will hastily adopt a painful measure which he can find a creditable pretence for evading? They censure whatever is ostensibly wrong, but avoiding only part of it, the part they retain robs them of the benefits of their partial renunciation. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 43.4
This abuse of our advantages arises from our not incorporating our devotions into the general habit of our lives. Till our religion becomes an inward principle and not an external act, we shall not receive that benefit from her forms, however excellent, which they are calculated to convey. It is to those who possess the spirit of Christianity that her forms are so valuable. To them the form excites the spirit as the spirit animates the form. Till religion become the desire of our hearts it will not become the business of our lives. We are far from meaning that it is to be its actual occupation; but that every portion, every habit, every act of life, is to be animated by its spirit, influenced by its principle, governed by its power. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 43.5
The very make of our nature, and our necessary commerce with the world naturally fill our hearts and minds with thoughts and ideas, over which we have unhappily too little control. We find that to be the case when in our better hours we attempt to give ourselves up to serious reflection. How many intrusions of worldly thoughts, how many impertinent imaginations, not only irrelevant, but uncalled and unwelcome, crowd in upon the mind so forcibly as scarcely to be repelled by our sincerest efforts. How impotent then to repel such images must that mind be which is devoted to worldly pursuits, which yields itself up to them, whose opinions, habits, and conduct are under their allowed influence! ARSH December 25, 1860, page 43.6
If, as we have before observed, religion consists in a new heart and a new spirit, it will become not an occasional act, but our abiding disposition, proving its settled existence in the mind by its habitually disposing our thoughts and actions, our devotions and our practice to a conformity to each other and to itself. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 43.7
Let us not consider a spirit of worldliness as a little infirmity, as a natural, and therefore a pardonable weakness; as a trifling error which will be overlooked for the sake of our many good qualities. It is in fact the essence of our other faults; the temper that stands between us and our salvation; the spirit which is in direct opposition to the spirit of God. Individual sins may more easily be cured, but this is the principle of all spiritual disease. A worldly spirit where it is rooted and cherished, runs through the whole character, insinuates itself in all we say and think and do. It is this which makes us so dead in religion, so averse from spiritual things, so forgetful of God, so unmindful of eternity, so satisfied with ourselves, so impatient of serious discourse, and so alive to that vain and frivolous intercourse which excludes intellect almost as much as piety from our general conversation. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 43.8
It is not, therefore, our more considerable actions alone which require watching, for they seldom occur. They do not form the habit of life in ourselves, nor the chief importance of our example to others. It is to our ordinary behaviour, it is to our deportment in common life; it is to our prevailing turn of mind in general intercourse by which we shall profit or corrupt those with whom we associate. It is our conduct in social life which will help us to diffuse a spirit of piety, or a distaste to it. If we have much influence, this is the place in which particularly to exert it. If we have little, we have still enough to infect the temper and lower the tone of our narrow society. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 43.9
If we really believe that it is the design of Christianity to raise us to a participation of the divine nature, the slightest reflection on this elevation of our character would lead us to maintain its dignity in the ordinary intercourse of life. We should not so much inquire whether we are transgressing any actual prohibition, whether any actual law is pointed against us, as whether we are supporting the dignity of the Christian character; whether we are acting suitably to our profession; whether more exactness in the common occurrences of the day, more correctness in our conversation, would not be such evidences of our religion, as by being obvious and intelligible, might not almost insensibly produce important effects. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 43.10
The most insignificant people must not through indolence and selfishness undervalue their own influence. Most persons have a little circle of which they themselves are a sort of center. Its smallness may lessen their quantity of good, but does not diminish the duty of using that little influence wisely. Where is the human being so inconsiderable but that he may in some shape benefit others, either by calling their virtues into exercise, or by setting him an example of virtue himself? But we are humble just in the wrong place. When the exhibition of our talents or splendid qualities is in question, we are not backward in the display. When a little self-denial is to be exercised, when a little good might be effected by our example, by our discreet management in company, by giving a better turn to conversation, then at once we grow wickedly modest. - “Such an insignificant creature as I am can do no good.” - Had I a higher rank or brighter talents, then indeed my influence might be exerted to some purpose.” Thus under the mask of diffidence, we justify our indolence; and let slip those lesser occasions of promoting religion which if we all improved, how much might the condition of society be raised. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 43.11
The hackneyed interrogation, “What! must we be always talking about religion?” must have the hackneyed answer - Far from it. Talking about religion is not being religious. But we may bring the spirit of religion into company and keep it in perpetual operation when we do not professedly make it our subject. We may be constantly advancing its interests, we may without effort or affectation be giving an example of candor, of moderation, of humility, of forbearance. We may employ our influence by correcting falsehood, by checking levity, by discouraging calumny, by vindicating misrepresented merit, by countenancing everything which has a good tendency - in short, by throwing our whole weight, be it great or small, into the right scale. - Hannah More. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 43.12
THE SOCIAL CHRISTIAN LIFE
“THEN they that feared the Lord spake often one to another.” This affords us a topic of thought, rich in its aspect of duty, and full of delightful Christian fruitage. We mean the social Christian life. An utterly unsocial Christianity would be a solecism - as much related to a true brotherhood as a sandy desert would be to “a field which the Lord hath blessed.” ARSH December 25, 1860, page 43.13
And not alone the exercises of the social principle on the church, but also on the impenitent world. It is here that the delinquency of church members is most palpable. Among themselves there is professional character enough to give some savor of social, Christian life. Necessity, habit and choice, all conspire to some Christian intercourse; but outside of this, our male membership is, in many cases, little better than negative quantities in algebra, which to the unmathematical eye, look like numbers; while the more there is of them, the less is the sum total. It is here, most signally and disastrously, for the spread of religion, that Christian activity is transferred by our male constituency to the ministry; a proxy system which met, often and faithfully, to some extent cannot be fulfilled - thus leaving a measure of personal effort unaccomplished. The reserve of Christian men in regard to religious matters towards the irreligious, impresses the latter unfavorably both towards religion and the character of professors. Every other thing in which men take an interest, they talk about; but this is ignored. If the heart be fully sensible of the value of piety to itself; if it have any appreciation of its value to others; if it have any generous promptings toward the spiritual well-being of others; if it have any sense of their danger without it - then out of the abundance of such a heart the tongue will speak. Even the woman of Samaria, in the newness of her knowledge of Christ, could run with alacrity among her fellow citizens, crying, “Come see a man who told me all that ever I did. Is not this the Christ?” And if the testimony of such a one led many of the Samaritans to believe on him, are there not trophies of grace to be won from the enemy, for Christ, by those who have long tasted that the Lord is gracious? Who will go abroad in the fullness of their experience, and in the earnestness of their love, like David, saying, “Come all ye that fear the Lord, and I will tell you what he hath done for my soul.?” - Ob. Evan. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 43.14
THE REVIEW AND HERALD
“Sanctify them through thy TRUTH; thy word is truth.”
BATTLE CREEK, MICH., THIRD-DAY, DEC. 25, 1860.
SPIRITUALISM - HEATHENISM
SPIRITUALISM claims to be pre-eminently a religion of progression. We grant it; denying only its claim as to the direction in which it is progressing. It is progressing, if we may be permitted thus to use the word, in the wrong direction; not forward, but backward; not into new light, and higher attainments of knowledge in spiritual things, but into the darkness and foolishness of ancient heathenism. The identity of these two isms will be seen from the following definition of the latter by the German historian, Kurtz, with which we were, for this very reason, particularly struck. He says: ARSH December 25, 1860, page 44.1
“When the words were spoken, ‘Go to, let us build,’ etc., the hour of the birth of heathenism had arrived. For heathenism essentially consists, on the one hand, in a denial of the living and personal God, and contempt of the salvation which he had pre-determined to bestow - and, on the other, in the opinion of man that he can and must aid himself by his own power and wisdom, and, consequently, in the effort to set forth salvation by his own means.” ARSH December 25, 1860, page 44.2
If this is a good definition of heathenism, and who will say that it is not? how clear is the identity between it, and modern Spiritualism; for what is Spiritualism but the very thing here defined? Who has not heard Spiritualists, those who have progressed(?) the farthest, loud in their insults against the majesty of Jehovah, and peculiarly zealous and bitter in heaping “contempt upon the salvation” offered us through Christ. Who has not heard them ridicule the idea of the vicarious sufferings of the Saviour, and set up the Devil-inspired, and fool-hardy claim that man is, and must be, his own redeemer! He who is familiar with these things can come to only one conclusion, namely, that in all their essential elements Heathenism and Spiritualism are the same! ARSH December 25, 1860, page 44.3
NOTES AND QUERIES
“CONVERSATION.” ARSH December 25, 1860, page 44.4
A CORRESPONDENT inquires the definition of the word rendered “conversation” in Galatians 1:13. Hebrews 13:7. 1 Peter 2:12; 3:1, 2, etc. We give the following from Greenfield: ARSH December 25, 1860, page 44.5
“Anaztrophe, conversation, mode of life, conduct, deportment.” Robinson defines it: “A turning about. In the New Testament, converse, manner of life, walk, conduct.” In addition to the above, the word occurs in the following texts which comprises its entire use in the New Testament: Ephesians 4:22. 1 Timothy 4:12. James 3:13. 1 Peter 1:15, 18; 2:16. 2 Peter 2:7; 3:11. The word rendered conversation in Philippians 3:20, is politenma, and is defined to be, “any institution, etc., belonging to a commonwealth; a state, community, commonwealth.” ARSH December 25, 1860, page 44.6
“LOVE THE FULFILLING OF THE LAW.”
G. P. W., of Me. The word rendered fulfilling in Romans 13, is defined, “A fullness, plenitude, i.e., that of which anything is full; a fulfillment, fulfilling, i.e., exact observance. Romans 13:10.” Greenfield. The doctrine the apostle would inculcate is, that a manifestation of perfect love, either to God or our fellow-men, necessarily involves an exact observance of the moral law. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 44.7
The Catholic works from which quotations are made in the tract, “Who Changed the Sabbath,” can be obtained at any Catholic book-store. We obtained ours in Rochester, N. Y. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 44.8
THE LAW UNTIL JOHN
QUERY. Will you explain one point in reference to the Sanctuary? Allowing that at the rending of the vail of the temple, the Levitical priesthood ceased, and the Melchisedec began, who was our intercessor while Christ lay in the grave? What law and prophets ceased with John?” ARSH December 25, 1860, page 44.9
P. S., of Mich.
ANSWER. The first of the above queries is of that class in which nothing is involved, and which, therefore, we do not consider it profitable to spend much time in attempting to solve. It is a question which might naturally enough suggest itself in connection with the Sanctuary subject, but its answer would in no wise affect that subject. Whether we take our view of the Sanctuary or any other, the same query would still exist, and all that we can see to be gained by its answer, would be a gratification of curiosity. In regard to the second, we do not understand that Luke 16:16, affirms that any law or prophets ceased with John, but only that up to the time of John the law and the prophets were all the light the world had; but since that time we have, in addition, the preaching of the kingdom of God. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 44.10
Revelation 6:11; 14:4
QUERY. When is the killing process accomplished spoken of in Revelation 6:11? Does it have reference to the remnant? Also what constitutes the “virgins” of Revelation 14:4? It is supposed by some that they are those that have never belonged to the churches. If so, none but such will constitute the 144,000. Will you give your views on these two passages? ARSH December 25, 1860, page 44.11
A. G. C., of Wis.
ANSWER. Revelation 6:11 refers to events which take place under Papal supremacy. The fourth seal [verse 7] symbolizes the time of Pagan Rome. When that seal closes, and the fifth seal is opened, the apostle sees under the altar the victims of the cruel persecutions of that power. They are told that they must rest till their fellow-servants and their brethren should be killed as they had been; which killing was to be accomplished under the fifth seal, by the persecutions of Papal Rome. The white robes denote the favorable estimate put by Heaven upon their characters. It can therefore have no reference to the church of the present day. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 44.12
We regard the “women” of Revelation 14:4, as symbols of churches, and the “virgins” as those who are pure in not being contaminated by a connection with them. Must then the 144,000 be made up of those who have never been connected with the churches? No; for it is not until a certain time that persons become defiled by such a connection. See Revelation 18:4. Speaking of the depths of corruption into which great Babylon sinks after her fall, John says: “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Here is a class of persons addressed who are still in Babylon, still hold a connection with the churches. They are called to come out that they be not partakers of her sins. If they do not heed this call, if, when the light of truth is set before them, they reject the light, and cling to their old errors and associations, then they become partakers of Babylon’s sins. But if, on the other hand, they come out, and separate themselves from the impure bodies to which they belong, they do not become contaminated by a connection with them; in other words, they are not “defiled with women.” They then occupy exactly the position described in Revelation 14:4. We think it not inconsistent with a cautious interpretation of unfulfilled prophecy, to expect a mighty movement on this point, not far in the future. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 44.13
“BIND UP THE TESTIMONY, SEAL THE LAW AMONG MY DISCIPLES.” Isaiah 8:16
THE first question that suggests itself to the mind in reading this text is, What is the testimony and law mentioned? To answer this question turn to Exodus 25:16. “And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee.” What was the testimony God gave Moses? Exodus 31:18. “And he gave unto Moses when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone written with the finger of God.” Exodus 32:14, 15. “And Moses turned and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hands. The tables were written on both their sides, on the one side and on the other were they written. And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.” Deuteronomy 10:4, 5. “And he wrote upon the tables according to the first writing the ten commandments which the Lord spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly, and the Lord gave them unto me. And I turned myself and came down from the mount and put the tables in the ark which I had made, and there they be as the Lord commanded me.” ARSH December 25, 1860, page 44.14
From these quotations we learn that the testimony and law mentioned in the text is the law of ten commandments, the law of God spoken by God in an audible voice from the summit of Sinai in the hearing of all the people in the day of the assembly [Exodus 20], and written by the finger of God upon the tables of stone which Moses put into the ark. It is the law and commandments of God of which the Scriptures affirm, “The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul.” Psalm 19:7. “Which are righteous and very faithful.” Psalm 119:138, 151. “Which is the truth.” “Which is holy, just and good.” Romans 7:12. “The commandments which are sure and stand fast forever and ever.” Psalm 111:7, 8. Jesus also affirms of them, “Verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled.” ARSH December 25, 1860, page 44.15
The law of God, the ten commandments, is the testimony and law to be bound up and sealed among his disciples. The text suggests to the mind that the law of God has been separated and mutilated in its precepts, and its seal torn away. Hence the command, “Bind up the testimony,” etc. That such would be the fact is clearly a subject of prophecy; and the wicked, blasphemous power that was to accomplish this work is as clearly identified. Daniel 7:25. “And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change times and laws.” 2 Thessalonians 2:4. “Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” By universal consent among Protestants he is identified as the Roman church, or popery. But has the pope exalted himself above God, and how? By taking away from and changing the law of God. In this he exalts himself above God, the only and supreme Law-giver. A power that repeals or changes the laws of another power or government, of necessity exalts itself above the original law-giving power or authority. This, by the voluntary confession of the Roman church, it has done, that is, so far as turning away the obedience of the majority of mankind from the law of God to their traditions, thus exalting himself above God. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 44.16
“Think to change times and laws.” He can only think to do it, because the principles upon which the law of God, the ten commandments, are based, are immutable and eternal, and must be an eternal rule of action to all subordinate intelligences, whether men or angels in the vast creation of God. As a perfect law it can admit of no change, because to add to it, or to change, or to diminish it, would prove it imperfect. If therefore the supreme Law-giver (I speak with reverence) should change or annul any of its precepts it would prove the testimony of his word in regard to its perfection and righteousness false, or exhibit imperfection in the Law-giver. Hence one jot or tittle can in no wise pass from the law. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 44.17
But in what has the law of God been changed or separated, and its seal torn from it so as to render it necessary to bind it up and re-seal it? Rome, in copying the law for the use of her people, has left out the second commandment, and changed and destroyed the fourth (this fact is undenied by that church), and substituted for the fourth an acknowledged tradition of her own. An examination of their Catechisms and published instructions, with their controversies with Protestants must convince the most sceptical. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 44.18
Protestants, with but few exceptions, have followed her example, and annulled the fourth commandment. We say annulled it, because to change the precept is to annul it. To change the rest-day of Jehovah from the seventh day to any other day of the week is to destroy the Sabbath institution, from the fact that the seventh day and no other is God’s sanctified rest-day; and that God rested on the seventh from all his work and was refreshed, is a fixed and immutable fact to all eternity. Hence to change or substitute for the seventh any other day of the week is to destroy or annul the commandment. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 44.19
But the text speaks of sealing the law among the disciples. This supposes that the original seal that gave the law its binding force has been taken from it, and that in consequence it is to be re-sealed. That God gave to his law the broad seal of his authority is not to be doubted; but what is the seal to a law? It is that signature and sealed impression which shows the authority of the law-making power and the extent of that authority. Hence the enactments of our State legislature to give them binding force upon the people of the State, must have the signature of the Governor as the head of the law-making authority, and the seal of the State to show the extent of the authority of the law. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 44.20
What then is the seal of the law of God that gives it binding force or authority? It is the fourth commandment. Take away the fourth commandment and the seal of the law is gone; all that gives it binding force or authority is taken from it; we have no knowledge of the Law-giver, nor the extent of his authority. But the Sabbath commandment is the sign or seal of God from the fact that it shows us the supreme and rightful Law-giver, and the extent of his authority. The Lord that made heaven and earth, etc. Hence as the Creator by immutable right he is the Law-giver, and the extent of his authority is his creation. Therefore in taking away the fourth commandment the seal of God’s law is gone, and all that gives it binding force and authority is torn from it. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 45.1
The stability of our argument upon this point is sustained by direct testimony from the word of God, in which the Sabbath is recognized as the sign or seal between God and his people forever. Exodus 31:16, 17. “Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath, throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.” Ezekiel 20:20. “And hallow my sabbaths, and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.” Now from these testimonies we learn the all-important truth that in both dispensations all who hallow the Sabbath of the fourth commandment are the sealed and signed servants of God the Creator, and acknowledge their allegiance to him as the supreme Law-giver, and on his part they receive from him the acknowledgement, I am the Lord your God. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 45.2
I know it is objected that the words quoted above were spoken to the literal descendants of Jacob, the children of Israel, and therefore only applied to them. But I would ask, Has not God an Israel now? Are not they that be Christ’s Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise? Who, we would ask, constituted Paul’s “Israel of God” but the believers in Jesus in Galatia? ARSH December 25, 1860, page 45.3
And was not the Sabbath to be a perpetual covenant, a sign between God and the children of Israel, or the Israel of God, forever? And is not the knowledge of God as the Creator, and the Lord our God, as important for us as for them? ARSH December 25, 1860, page 45.4
How weighty the responsibility that rests upon the professed Christian teachers of this age in view of their influence upon the world of mankind! To them applies the declaration of Jesus [Matthew 5], “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.” And yet by their precept and example they are sustaining the rival institution to God’s Sabbath, that of the man of sin, the son of perdition; thus leading the people from God’s seal and mark to take upon themselves the mark of the authority of the man of sin. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 45.5
When is this work of binding up the testimony and sealing the law to be accomplished? It is when the people associate themselves and are to be broken in pieces. Verse 9. When they take counsel and it shall come to nought. Verse 10. It is when the Lord speaks and instructs not to walk in the way of this associated people, who are saying, A confederacy, or a union, among themselves. Verses 11, 12. It is when the Lord’s people are to fear and sanctify him. Verse 13. When he shall be a sanctuary for them, but a stone of stumbling and rock of offense to both the houses of Israel. Verse 14. When many shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and taken. Verse 15. When some are waiting upon the Lord and looking for him. Verse 17. It is when the people are consulting familiar spirits, for the living to the dead. Verse 19. When the only appeal is to the law and to the testimony. Verse 20. This evidently refers to the present time and the work of binding up the testimony and sealing the law is a present work to be accomplished. And why? Because the predictions of the prophet in this chapter are being fulfilled now. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 45.6
The different sects of nominal Christians notwithstanding their diversity of opinions are associating and confederating themselves into a nominal union, and are all of them opposing the commandments of God and the true faith of Jesus. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 45.7
Ministers of the rival sects can cordially unite and associate themselves in opposition to God’s sanctified Sabbath, and multitudes of professed Christians and ministers of this day openly deny the obligation of God’s holy and perfect law. The first house of Israel stumbled and fell over the humility and suffering of Jesus at his first advent; so the present professed house of Israel stumble, and are preparing themselves to be broken, and snared, and taken, in his second advent, and from the same cause, unbelief of the word of God. It is at the present time that the people are seeking unto familiar spirits, the living to the dead for knowledge, and not unto God and his word. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 45.8
Now the command of the text, as the voice of God, is calling upon all who tremble at his word and believe its testimony to arise and bind up the testimony and seal the law among the honest disciples of Jesus. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 45.9
B. F. ROBBINS.
Friendship, N. Y.
“I DO THE BEST I KNOW HOW.”
A TEXT USED IN THE LAST DAYS
DEAR reader, will you pause long enough to consider whether you are governed by the above text or not? Please lay down this paper and answer the question before you proceed any farther. If this should be the highest standard of your religion, may you not be deceived? May not your house fall when the storms beat upon it? May you not be on the broad road to destruction? ARSH December 25, 1860, page 45.10
In justification of the text-principle one says, I am an erring, sinful creature, doing every day something displeasing to God; the best, however, have their faults; David had his, Solomon had his, and others theirs. I do not know but that God winks at, or overlooks my sins of ignorance. Acts 17:30. My secret faults are many. I think of many things on the Sabbath-day which interrupt the worship of God. Sometimes my heart-wanderings lead me to be wavering and doubtful, and I am afraid to bear testimony to the truth. Sometimes I think it hard that I am not prospered in this world’s goods like some of my neighbors, when it seems as though I tried as much as they do, to get along - and they seem to have an easy road, and I a rough one; they seem to go down the hill, and I up the hill. My feelings are sometimes liberal towards the support of the gospel, and I would like to give more than I do, but my wages are so small, how can I do any more than support my family? ARSH December 25, 1860, page 45.11
Such and other kindred thoughts are filling up his mind, and he calls them secret faults, and lets them pass with the innumerable number of sins of ignorance which the Lord overlooks, winks at, or does not make any account of. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 45.12
But what says the word? Psalm 19:12. Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Psalm 90:8. Thou hast set our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. Matthew 6:6. Pray to thy Father which seeth in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret will reward thee openly. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 45.13
But is a sin of ignorance a trespass or a transgression? Read Leviticus 5:17-19. Will a just God look upon sin with allowance? How can we be probationers and not desire correction? Dare we conjecture that God is shutting his eyes and making allowance for our faults because we have excuses? Is he not rather turning his eyes from us because our ways are abhorrent? ARSH December 25, 1860, page 45.14
Revelation 14:5. “In their mouth was found no guile, for they are without fault before the throne of God.” Shall we not then say with the Psalmist, “Lord, cleanse thou me from secret faults?” Will not such cleansing be necessary to fit for translation? ARSH December 25, 1860, page 45.15
“I do the best I know how.” Will not this let us climb up some other way, and get the heathen on the ladder going right into heaven? Much teaching of the present day is consonant with this, although a mockery to the efforts which have already been made in the missionary cause. Such walls are being built. Will you dare trust to them? Lift up your heads and see if they will secure us. Are they safe? You have lifted up your heads, what do you see? Mortar and brick, you say. Will you examine the mortar and see if it be tempered? It is untempered mortar you say. Flee then! O flee quickly [Ezekiel 13]! for the wall is daubed, and the great hailstones and a stormy wind will rend it, and you will be consumed in the midst thereof unless “ye go up into the gaps and help make up the hedge for the house of Israel, to stand in the day of the Lord.” Ezekiel 13. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 45.16
To the testimony. Psalm 9:17. The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. Psalm 94:10. He that chastiseth the heathen shall not he correct? Psalm 9:15. The heathen are sunk down in a pit that they made. If then the heathen be such as forget God, how can they be saved? For they who forget God are like the rush and the flag without water to nourish. Job 8:12-14. Their hope shall be cut off - their trust, a spider’s web. They who forget God will be reproved, will be torn in pieces, and none shall deliver them unless they consider the reproof. Psalm 50:21, 22. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 45.17
How then will our ignorance, our forgetfulness, or our lack of knowledge excuse us? Can we take hold of the promises of God without asking for them? Can we enter the door of heaven and intrude ourselves abruptly into the presence of holy beings, without asking admission, and then say we forgot to knock at the door, or did not know it was required of us, but thought we could come right in, of ourselves? I did the best I knew how, Lord, I even “prophesied in thy name, and in thy name cast out devils,” will not answer. It was your privilege to have done better than you did. Why did you not seek me with all your heart? And you have robbed me. Wherein, Lord? In tithes and offerings. Because ye could not sing like the Psalmist, ye would not praise me at all. Because ye had not my cattle upon a thousand hills, ye gave me no offering, not even two turtle doves, or two pigeons [Leviticus 5:7], and when ye did bring a lamb it was either lame or blind. Your principle of action should have been, I will do the best I can know how. Jesus who was to be with such people to the end of the world, was the one to whom you should have daily gone. He was the one who would have given you wisdom if ye had asked. James 1:5. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 45.18
To the testimony. Hosea 4:6. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” Ignorance, or lack of knowledge will not excuse us then, forgetfulness will not screen us, but unless we become wise unto salvation, with the daring ungodly shall we share the unmingled wrath of the Lord, when he taketh up the controversy in the land and it mourneth, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, and the beasts are taken away. Hosea 4:1-3. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 45.19
JAMES SAWYER.
DIRECT CONVERSATION
TALKING OVER TRIALS
THIS is a very important subject. Words have a great deal of power either for good or evil. The word abounds with caution and instruction on this point, and a perfect control over the tongue is one of the highest attainments in the Christian life. Hear the apostle James: “If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.” Chap 3:2. This being the case we cannot be too careful of our words. There are some that have such an inclination to talk that it seems next to impossible for them to keep their tongues still when there is any one to talk with. If talkers would always say that which is good and profitable, they would perhaps be excused for their loquacity; but the grand difficulty is, that talkers are pretty apt to talk things which they ought not. Ponds generally have an outlet larger than the inlet; so with some persons, they tell all they hear and a little more. How much mischief has been done by this talking, this tattling, this tale-bearing, this telling everybody everything a person hears or knows. Some talkers are continually telling about trials, and the defects of members of the church. For instance, one of this class stops with you over night or over the Sabbath. He soon commences to tell you the news. Bro. A. is in deep trial; he and Bro. C. have been in difficulty a long while. He goes on and tells you all the particulars, supposing you are as much interested in such gossip as himself. After telling of the errors and defects of his brethren and sisters, he tells you of his own trials, for he has a great many. Now this is all wrong. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 45.20
1. It is an injury to the person spoken of. To have one’s errors and faults trumpeted through the land is no small injury to reputation. Talkers are apt to exaggerate, and give the person they are talking about a “setting out.” The person that has committed the error mingles with his brethren, fully persuaded that Bro. Talkative has exposed him, and so his peace of mind is destroyed. If we loved our neighbor as ourselves we should be very careful how we talked about others. Are we as careful of the reputation of others as we are of our own? Think of this. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 46.1
2. It is an injury to the church. It causes alienation of feeling among brethren. Tale-bearing divides and scatters - our effort should be to cement and bring together. When such things are going on in the church, it has a bad effect on the cause. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 46.2
3. It injures the narrator. When a person sits and hears him tell a long story about some one, he concludes the chances are that he will talk to others about him in the same manner. Now Bro. Talkative, I can assure you that your brethren would think more of you if you would cease talking so much about them. Some seem to think that they have a right to talk about others as much as they please, and still it is not evil-speaking. Thinking and talking over trials is exceedingly unprofitable. It casts a shade over the whole being. Such things should be meddled with only when it is really necessary. We should strive to look on the bright side of the picture as much as possible. The disposition to talk about others should be restrained. Was Jesus in the habit of talking with Peter, James and John about the failings of the rest of the disciples? Imitate his example. Do as you think he would do under the same circumstances. This talk is useless. It does not minister grace to the hearers. It does no good, but much hurt. We should be honest and open-hearted, but still not tell everything we know. Use discretion my brethren in your conversation. Say only that which will glorify God. Some things elevate the mind and instruct the heart, but dwelling on darkness and trials does not. When the conversation turns upon individuals, it is always safe not to say anything against them unless their course is going to injure others. Be careful, be courteous, be pitiful, be gentle. “Have compassion one of another, love as brethren.” ARSH December 25, 1860, page 46.3
D. HILDRETH.
TO PARENTS
THE duty of parents to their children does not consist alone in feeding and clothing them, but in training them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. While you feel that the coldness and indifference of former friends is as much as you can bear up under, with the grace of God to help you, don’t forget the children. They, too, had their little friends and associates with whom they took much delight, but they are all cut off. The separating line has been drawn. The pleasure of school-days is gone. Many cannot attend school at all, and others that do, are made very unhappy. Instead of the love and kindness of their playmates, they hear nothing but taunts and reproaches. Poor children, how I have pitied them, when they have come to me with quivering lip and a broken heart, saying, “The children won’t play with me. They say they don’t love me - that my pa is deluded - he is an old Advent.” ARSH December 25, 1860, page 46.4
Now what is to be done to make up this loss they have sustained? They feel it, and know it, and it is no use to try to hide their eyes from it. A substitute must be provided or there is danger of their saying of the Sabbath, “What a weariness is it.” It is not only required that we turn away our foot from the Sabbath, but also that we call it a delight. I have seen children keep the Sabbath only as an imposed task, and I could not blame them for it, because it brought no delight to them. They had no Sabbath-school to attend, no interesting instruction imparted to them at home, no good books to read, no, not even their own little paper that is prepared for them with so much care and interest, a copy of which ought to be in every Sabbath-keeper’s house. The Lord has raised up those who feel an interest in the salvation of the children. But it depends much upon parents whether they will place this means of instruction within their reach. Encourage them to save means enough to take the little sheet as their own, and if two or three children in one family send for it, and love it for the spirit of its teachings, and obey its admonitions, they could not spend their money more profitably. Only think, this is the only thing in all the publications at this Office adapted to the understanding of a child. And will you deprive your children of the milk that is calculated to nourish them, and qualify them for the examination that they must soon pass? I know you will not. We expect all who love their children, all who love the truth, and look for the coming of Jesus, to send in their orders for the Instructor at the opening of the present volume. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 46.5
E. J. WAGGONER.
THE HOUSE OF THE LORD
YOU may sing of the beauty of mountain and dale,
Of the silvery streamlets and flowers of the vale,
But the place most delightful this earth can afford,
Is the place of devotion, the house of the Lord.
ARSH December 25, 1860, page 46.6
You may boast of the sweetness of day’s early dawn,
Of the skies’ softening graces when day has just gone,
But there’s no other season nor time can compare,
With the hour of devotion, the season of prayer.
ARSH December 25, 1860, page 46.7
You may value the friendship of youth and of age,
And select for your comrades the noble and sage,
But the friends that most cheer me on life’s rugged road,
Are the friends of my Master, the children of God.
ARSH December 25, 1860, page 46.8
You may talk of your prospects, of fame and of wealth,
And the hopes that oft flatter the favorites of health,
But the hope of bright glory, of heavenly bliss, -
Take away every other, and give me but this!
ARSH December 25, 1860, page 46.9
Ever hail blessed temple! abode of my Lord,
I will turn to thee often to hear from his word,
I will walk to the altar with those that I love,
And rejoice in the prospect revealed from above.
ARSH December 25, 1860, page 46.10
LETTERS
“Then they that feared the Lord, spake often one to another.”
From Sister Witter
DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS: During the short period of time that I have been a reader of your letters “of good cheer” in the Review, I have often thought that were mine the pen of a ready writer, cheerfully would I contribute to the merits of its columns by a short letter; but I have finally concluded, that if acceptable, I will at least cast in my mite. And if in so doing I shall encourage any dear lamb of the flock, I shall indeed greatly rejoice. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 46.11
Scarce three months have passed since I felt the evidence in my heart of sins for Christ’s sake forgiven; yet I can truly say, I love the Lord, and am looking for his glorious appearing. I believe that I am willing to become anything or nothing for the sake of my blessed Lord and Master. Indeed, I feel there is no sacrifice too great to make in return for the great love wherewith he hath loved me. And though at first I found it exceeding difficult to come out from the pleasures and gaieties of this fashionable world, and felt so very bitterly the reproaches of my former companions, and though it seemed the loss of their society was almost irreparable, I can now say, truly “if God be for us, who can be against us,” and joyfully sing the language of the poet: ARSH December 25, 1860, page 46.12
Earth’s scoffs and scorns well pleased I’ll bear,
Nor mourn though under foot I’m trod,
If day by day I may but share,
Thine approbation, O my God!”
ARSH December 25, 1860, page 46.13
And have we not the greatest reason to rejoice in the blessed hope? If we continue patient in well-doing, we shall soon have the reward of the righteous, even life eternal at His blessed appearing. When I reflect upon all the joys that await but a little hence the true child of God, I can truly exclaim, it is enough! If, as the poet says, “One hour with my God will make up for them all,” how much more glorious will life eternal repay us for all the sorrows we may have to endure. Even this poor life I can give cheerfully in exchange for one where there can be no more sorrow, pain nor death. Cheerfully then will I labor, performing every known duty in the fear of the Lord. It shall be my highest aim to spend my time, strength, and life, if necessary, in the service of my divine Master. O that I could impress upon the minds of the young, the necessity of our being active, diligent laborers, as it is impressed upon mine. Let us labor to bring precious souls into the fold of Christ, that they may shine as stars in the crown of our rejoicing, and let us also strive faithfully to lessen the cares of those who have so long borne the burden and heat of the day, remembering “the greater the cross the brighter the crown.” ARSH December 25, 1860, page 46.14
My elder brethren and sisters, I earnestly entreat you to remember at the throne of grace those of us who are young in age, and still younger in the cause. Bear in mind the thousand snares that are laid for the young, and especially remember the lambs of the flock. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 46.15
Your young sister in Christ, ARSH December 25, 1860, page 46.16
L. V. WITTER.
Wellsville, N. Y.
From Bro. Curtis
BRO. SMITH: I return heart-felt thanks to the brethren for the Review which has come each week as a comforter to me in my pilgrimage journey to a better country. To me it is next to the Bible, for it seems filled with light from the word of God that I can find in no other paper. I read them over and over again, feeling impatient for the next number; and when I hear of the union and love of commandment-keepers, although many miles apart, it fills my heart with joy and gladness. As for myself, I stand alone here in this place, yet I am striving to do my duty before the world. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 46.17
I feel to praise the Lord for his kindness to me. Although afflicted and unfortunate, yet his grace is sufficient for me, and I am encouraged to go on in the good way. Ours is a glorious hope. Soon the conflict will be over, and immortality and eternal life be gained. The prize is in view; the time is near when he that shall come will come and take to glory all who are prepared. O let us be firm, unshaken, have the faith of Jesus, and we shall receive a crown. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 46.18
J. H. CURTIS.
Brasher Falls, N. Y. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 46.19
From Bro. McCormic
BRO. SMITH: We are still firm in the present truth. The more we investigate, the brighter it shines. The only thing we fear is, our not being able to live up to the light we have received. Notwithstanding my weakness, I feel determined by the grace of God to hold out to the end. A few of us, four in number, besides Bro. and sister Daniels, met at Bro. Daniel’s two weeks ago last Sabbath for a season of prayer. The Lord met with us by his Spirit, and we all felt strengthened and encouraged in the glorious cause we are trying to live out before the world. We realize that this world is not our home, and are striving for an interest in that immortal kingdom soon to be established. How careful we should live! Satan is constantly on our track, and watching every move we make. If a brother or sister is inclined to move slow he will try to have them become slack and indifferent; if zealous and active, he will try to push them ahead too fast. I believe in keeping pace with the body. I have no sympathy with any dividing spirit. I am young in the cause, having had no experience in the first and second messages; yet I can see the hand of God in the work from the first to present time. Such a chain of truth! how plain to those who want to understand! ARSH December 25, 1860, page 46.20
Since I embraced the present truth I have done what little I could to induce others to embrace the same, and my labor has not been in vain in the Lord. He has given me one brother and sister to go with us to Mt. Zion. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 46.21
I am glad to see a review of Rev. Luther Lee on the Christian Sabbath in our paper, as he is noted in the W. Methodist church, and some of my friends belonging to that church are readers of the paper. We want to see the sophistry of his so-called Christian Sabbath shown up in its true light, that the honest may see where the truth is. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 46.22
Yours hoping for immortality through Christ, ARSH December 25, 1860, page 47.1
B. McCORMIC.
Sumner, Wis.
From E. E. Taylor
BRO. SMITH: I greatly rejoice in the present truth. I love every agency that is blessed of God in its establishment, and I believe the Review has no small share in the accomplishment of this great and noble work, and I can truly say that it finds in my humble heart a warm reception. And as it comes to me each week I am cheered and comforted in affliction, while my understanding is becoming more clearly convinced and my purposes strengthened to go on to know more of these blessed truths which God in his infinite love has been pleased to unfold like a glorious light upon my pathway. As my light has increased, I know more is required at my hands, and if I now fail to meet the requirements of God’s law and do not take up my cross and willingly follow Jesus, through evil report as well as good, I prove myself unworthy of him, and I realize that where light and hope now beam upon my path, darkness and despair without one cheering ray will forever settle. But bless the Lord for the hope which is like an anchor to my soul both sure and steadfast, and reaches to that within the vail. Yes, through grace I expect to overcome. I feel that I am nearing my desired home, the haven of eternal bliss, where the wicked will cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 47.2
“It is not for me to be seeking my bliss,
Or building my hopes in a region like this;
I look for a city that hands have not piled,
I pant for a country by sin undefiled.”
ARSH December 25, 1860, page 47.3
Bro. Sanborn was here according to appointment. Being quite ill at the time I was unable to attend the preaching of the word, but I should judge it was meat in due season, for our little band seem to be growing in grace and the knowledge of the truth. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 47.4
E. E. TAYLOR.
Lodi, Wis.
From Bro. Drake
DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS: Though a stranger to most of you I trust our interest is the same. Of late I have been called to mourn the death of my companion. It was hard to give her up, but God’s will must be done. The enemy is still in the land, and we know not how many of us may be called before Jesus will come. Then let us see that we have a well grounded hope that takes hold of the future inheritance, that hope that will enable us to purify ourselves even as he is pure. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 47.5
What a happy time that will be when the 144,000 sing the new song on Mt. Zion, and the innumerable company cry with a loud voice, Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might be unto our God forever and ever. Then will be heard shouts of victory over death and the grave. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 47.6
I mean by God’s assisting grace to be there. Reader, will you be there? We read that Christ is abundantly able to save all that come to God through him. Then let us avail ourselves of his merits. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 47.7
LYMAN DRAKE.
From Bro. Griggs
BRO. SMITH: I have been thinking while reading the cheering epistles in the Review from our dear brethren and sisters scattered abroad, of the good effect our testimonies may sometimes have when least expected, if given in the Spirit of Christ, either vocally or by letter. Though the language be ever so broken, the composition ever so incomplete, yet coming from a heart warm with the love of God, it possesses power to reach the hearts of those addressed, to pour the healing balm of consolation into the breast torn by affliction and grief, or calm the troubled spirits, where none of the studied compositions of the most learned authors of the day possess power to affect in the least. This has with me at least, of late, often been the case, and I have been led to thank God that there were yet a few who could speak forth his praises from the sincere emotions of the heart; also that there were other few who were willing to listen to such plain expressions of sentiment. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 47.8
Not only this, but composition and exhortation are in many ways beneficial to ourselves, especially when we go forth in the path of duty trusting in and imploring the guidance and help of our heavenly Father. For one I feel desirous of improving upon every talent that God has given me, to exert my every power in striving to do his will and advance his cause among us. Although I might with propriety make the same excuse that Moses did when sent by the Lord to Pharaoh [Exodus 4:10], yet dear brethren and sisters, we read that the man that had but the one talent given him was required to improve thereon as well as he that had five. O let us not bury our talent in the earth, for our Lord is soon to return, the day of reckoning is at hand, and if we are found unfaithful to our trust, sad and lamentable will be our fate. Soon the decree will go forth, He that is filthy, let him be filthy still; he that is holy, so remain. O, what an honor to then be found on the Lord’s side, and to receive the welcome Well done! How many of us, dear brethren and sisters, that profess this last saving message, shall be the happy recipients of God’s favor in that trying hour? O let us bestir ourselves and strive to make due preparation while probation is still ours, for the solemn scenes that are before us; let us go boldly forth in the path of duty trusting in God; and if we can say but a few words, let that be in honor of him who hath redeemed us by his blood. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 47.9
We as a people are charged by the faithful and true Witness with being lukewarm, and we realize the accusation to be just. We also learn that those who remain in this condition are soon to be spued out. O, the awful and solemn condition! For those given over in this message there remains no more hope. This is the last call of mercy, the last notes of warning are now being sounded in our midst. How little do we realize these things. We know that God will have a people without spot or wrinkle, a people active and zealous in his cause. We still have the chance to be among that chosen few. O then let us improve well upon these precious opportunities. We profess to keep the commandments of God, yet I fear that many of us do not realize how much they embrace. Let us try the first and see how many can pronounce themselves entirely free from transgression. There are probably none among us that bow down to graven images, but there are many things besides this to be considered that may be the means of drawing our minds and affections from the one great object. We may have homes, husbands, wives or children, that are receiving too large a share of our care and affections, in fact, that we almost worship; and although we may not be aware of it ourselves, yet God knows it all, and he may remove that cherished object, be it ever so dear. Death may enter our dwelling, and in an unexpected moment snatch from our embrace a near and dear companion, or a darling child. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 47.10
Brother, or sister, have you ever stood by the deathbed of a dear companion, and marked the short, quick breath, the feeble pulse, the pallid brow and lips, all telling that the work is sure, that the hour of separation has come? Have you seen the luster of those dear eyes fading in death? friends stand weeping around, but alas, the power of man is now too weak, his arm too short to save. The last words are spoken, the last look and kiss are given, and that beloved one upon whom were centered your heart’s best affections has passed away from time. Then you have felt as though all that made life pleasant and desirable was gone forever, as though your heart were about to burst asunder, as though now you could meet death with a smile, and that to rest with that dear one low in the grave would be a blessed privilege. Then have you seen that form buried out of your sight, and afterwards in your visits to that cherished spot beheld the green grass growing above the sleeping dust? And in all this have you felt no inward rebellion against the dealings of providence, nor in the least to murmur at the chastening rod? Can you realize all this and not have to acknowledge yourself a breaker of God’s first commandment? ARSH December 25, 1860, page 47.11
With feelings of humility and of sorrow, dear brethren and sisters, do I here confess that this with me has been the case; that while passing (as I have been called to of late) through the deep waters of affliction, I have discovered a spirit of rebellion against the providences of an all-wise God arising within my breast. It is hard to part with those we love. We are apt to murmur at a providence that we may see in the future was for our especial benefit, and also for the glory of God. Man sees not as God sees; he knows what is best, and O, let us trust in him and strive to learn obedience by those things that we are called to suffer. I would not worry your patience with a rehearsal of my errors, but God forbid, dear brethren and sisters, that I should ever become unwilling to confess my faults, or should ever cease striving to overcome them. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 47.12
O, I love the present truth! I love to obey God and keep his commandments, and I love to reflect on those joys that await us in a land of peace and happiness. Yes, all things below are soon to pass away; the harvest is fast ripening, but those that purify themselves by obedience to all God’s requirements will be taken to that glorious country where affliction and death shall never come. Revelation 22:14. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 47.13
Pray for me that I with you may strive more diligently to overcome every sin, and come up to the high privilege that it is ours to enjoy, and at last be received of him to those mansions prepared for the blest. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 47.14
Yours in love and hope. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 47.15
E. S. GRIGGS.
Owasso, Mich.
Extracts from Letters
Bro. J. D. Hough writes from Rochester, Mich., Dec. 20th, 1860: “I feel as if I wanted to start anew, for I find that living to the halves will not profit us. To be almost a Christian, and to do almost to our neighbor as we would have our neighbor do to us, and to be almost consecrated to the Lord, and to lay almost all on the altar, and to be almost ready to meet our Saviour, will only amount to being almost saved, which will be to be finally lost. Now dear brethren and sisters, in view of the perils of the day and the thickening signs, does it not behoove us as rational beings, to arise and set our faces as a flint Zionward. Soon we must give an account of our stewardship, and if we have wasted our Lord’s money or goods, we must reap the reward. We all have witnessed the mighty struggle of the political world, and we cannot but see that the nations are getting angry, and we as a people must make a mighty struggle to get in a position to face the powers of the enemy. Pray for unworthy me, that the Spirit of the Lord may abundantly rest upon me, and that I may have wisdom to do the will of my heavenly Master at all times.” ARSH December 25, 1860, page 47.16
Sister M. M. Castle writes from Lapeer, Mich: “I feel to praise the Lord that he ever saw fit to call after one so unworthy as I am. I feel determined, though all earthly friends forsake me, to press on through darkness and trial, till at last I may stand with the remnant on mount Zion.” ARSH December 25, 1860, page 47.17
Bro. Wm. Osborne writes from Hannibal, N. Y. Dec. 3rd, 1860: “Our little company are striving to keep the commandments, and we believe we have the faith of Jesus. We are few in number, but our wants are many. We have no preaching at present, but we have the Review to peruse. It is a great satisfaction to hear from the dear saints in almost every quarter that they are rising with the third angel’s message. We are struggling and striving to meet them in the kingdom. Our enemies are pressing hard upon us; they meet us at every step. Other denominations are doing everything they can to stop our progress, but in the strength of our coming King we mean to stand.” ARSH December 25, 1860, page 47.18
Bro. E. R. Whitcome writes from Watson, Mich., Nov. 15, 1860: “BRO. SMITH: When Bro. Bates came here four years ago, I made up my mind that I would serve the Lord. Since that time I have been trying to keep his commandments and the faith of Jesus. I am glad that the eyes of my understanding have been opened to see the truths of God’s word. I feel to rejoice in the hope of the soon coming of our Lord and Saviour, and of being made like him, and reigning with him evermore.” ARSH December 25, 1860, page 47.19
OBITUARY
FELL asleep in Jesus, on the 10th inst., brother Z. Carpenter, of West Monroe, Oswego Co., N. Y. His faith was firm and unshaken in the promises of his Saviour. His mind was clear and his senses unimpaired to the last. Said he, “If I fall I shall rise again.” Dear brethren and sisters, let us so live, that if we are called to sleep in the grave, we may launch forth to meet the foe with the same holy boldness, or if we are alive and remain, may be changed in a moment, and caught up to meet our Lord in the air. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.1
E. DEGARMO.
THE REVIEW AND HERALD
BATTLE CREEK, MICH., THIRD-DAY, DEC. 25, 1860
SAYS the prophet Isaiah [chap 56:10], “His watchman are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain from his quarter.” We might apply this language to a class of Jews living in the days of the prophet, and nobody would be disturbed. But when we apply it at a later time and nearer home, we are accused of being uncharitable and severe. The prophet has, nevertheless, used that language in describing a class of professed watchmen; and it is evidently a description of a class which is to be especially manifested about the time when the call is made to the supper of the great God, in the beginning of the day of the Lord. Compare verse 9, with Revelation 19:17-21. We would be as loth as any one to apply this description where it is not merited; and we have only to say, Let those who would avoid an application of it to themselves, so live that it will not fit them. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.2
We were reminded of the above words of the prophet, especially that portion which we have italicized, by the following language of J. W. Hunnicut, a preacher of the gospel, which we clip from an exchange: ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.3
“We venture the assertion that there is as much ambition among the clergy of this generation, and of this country, to aspire to high offices, and posts of honor and distinction, in their respective churches, as there is among politicians; and that there is as much secret plotting, wire-working, and clerical log-rolling, to work one party out, or keep it down, and to exalt another party to power, as there is among politicians, is a fact which we presume no man of general intelligence will call in question.” ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.4
Says the Methodist, when speaking of the ball given in New York to the Prince of Wales:- ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.5
“Ministers of the gospel of several different denominations, men who ought to be the nearest representatives of the Saviour of sinners, were there, as if to give the sanction of Christ’s authority to the most monstrous earthly vanity. What now becomes of wholesome Christian discipline? What becomes of the line so clearly drawn by Christ between the church and the world? What of his command to deny ourselves of all ungodliness and worldly lust, and live soberly, righteously and godly in this evil world? May the Holy Spirit himself intervene to restore the broken bulwarks of sacred discipline, and to trace again the fading line between the aggressive world and the invaded church.” ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.6
Abundance of such facts may even now be gathered; and they are becoming more and more numerous, as every observer of the signs of the times can readily testify. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.7
THE YOUTH’S INSTRUCTOR
THIS little paper is published monthly at the REVIEW AND HERALD Office for the benefit of our youth and children. It is conducted by Bro. G. W. Amadon, the superintendent of the Battle Creek Sabbath School. Bro. A. is ardently devoted to the interests of our children, and will not fail to make the paper highly religious and instructive. He wants a wider circulation, and must have it. The price of the paper for 1861 is reduced to 25 cents. The first number is printed on better paper, with new type, and contains several beautiful illustrations. An effort is made to make the paper of the greatest value and interest to our youth and children. We print 3400 copies of the January number, and send it to those readers of the REVIEW who are not subscribers for the INSTRUCTOR to induce them to subscribe. Fathers, mothers and guardians, Bro. Amadon, and those interested in the INSTRUCTOR, desire to help you in the responsible task of guiding the minds and steps of the children of your charge. Then let the INSTRUCTOR come into your family circles. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.8
If you have no children, then help on the enterprise. There are needed 2500 subscribers, at the low prices, to meet the expenses of the INSTRUCTOR one year, if as much is expended each month as is on the January number. Let there be a special effort on the part of the brethren, especially our preachers, to extend the circulation of the INSTRUCTOR. Bro. Bates’ articles, one each month, are alone worth twice the subscription price. So let the names and the quarters come right in, and let the little sheet go out in a thousand directions to bless the children. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.9
J. W.
The monthly meeting of the scattered brethren in Niagara, Orleans and Monroe counties, held on the second Sabbath in each month, is to be held during the winter at Bro. C. P. Buckland’s, five miles north of Albion, Orleans Co., on the Fairhaven road. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.10
R. F. C.
APPOINTMENTS
Wright Conference
BRO. WHITE: You are hereby informed that at a meeting of the church held on the first first-day of this month, the following resolution was passed: ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.11
Resolved, That we invite Bro. and sister White, Bro. Frisbie, and such others as it may be possible to obtain, for the purpose of holding a conference in Wright as soon as practicable. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.12
JAMES SAWYER, Secretary.
Providence permitting, we will go from Monterey to Wright, and hold a conference, January 5th and 6th, 1861. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.13
JAMES WHITE.
Providence permitting, I will meet with the church at Round Grove, Ills., the last Sabbath and first-day in December. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.14
Also, I will meet with the church at Princeville, Ills., the first Sabbath and first-day in January, 1861. I hope to see the brethren from Galva, Southampton, Mt. Hawley and vicinity at this meeting. Brethren, we have got the truth, and come, praying that the God of truth will meet with us. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.15
Wm. S. INGRAHAM.
WE wish to say through the Review that the brethren and sisters at Parkville, Mich., request a conference at their place commencing Jan. 11, at 6 P. M. We invite brethren J. N. Loughborough, J. H. Waggoner, J. White, J. Byington, and as many more as can come to labor with us. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.16
And we would extend a cordial invitation to all of like precious faith to attend this conference. Brethren and sisters, come one come all with praying spirits that the Lord may revive his work in our midst. We will accommodate all that will come with such fare as we have ourselves. Teams will be at Three Rivers on Friday to convey to the place of meeting all that may come on the Southern railroad. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.17
In behalf of the church, ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.18
H. KEENEY.
A. HAFER.
By request of the Parkville Church, their conference is postponed to Jan. 11th. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.19
J. N. L.
Business Department
Business Notes
L. A. Marsh: The letter has not been received; but we give credit on book, and send the paper as ordered. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.20
J. Barrows of Pa.: The P. O. address of T. E. Thorp, is Berlin, Marquette Co., Wis. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.21
J. Ayers: Jane Crump’s paper is paid to commencement of present volume. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.22
H. Bingham: We find no dollar receipted to W. McClenerthan during the time you specify, so pass one dollar to his acct. as ordered. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.23
J. H. Ginley: The remainder of the money in T. H. Moffit’s letter, after paying for some books, was ordered to be applied on H. Strong’s REVIEW. You will find it receipted in No. 14, last volume. There are 50 cts. due on S. A. Carr’s INSTRUCTOR. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.24
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 then be given. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.25
S. Putnam 2,00,xvi,5. O Walker 0,50,xiii,17. Wm. Gifford 0,50,xviii,5. M. F. Cook 5,00,xix,1. E. Pomeroy 1,00,xvii,1. M. Losey 1,00,xviii,1. O. Randolph 1,00,xviii,4. A. Graham 2,00,xix,1. D. Cole 1,00,xviii,1. C. R. Jones 1,00,xvii,8. Jno. Jones 2,00,xviii,1. F. Broderick 0,70,xviii,3. E. Peckham 1,00,xvii,1. Wm. Pengally 2,00,xv,7. H. C. Whitney 0,50,xvii,5. Jno. Long 0,50,xviii,5. E. Pratt 1,00,xviii,1. E. C. Stiles 1,00,xviii,1. Geo. Ferry 2,00,xix,1. A. C. Southworth 1,00,xviii,1. H. Bingham 1,00,xix,1. A. D. Thomas 1,00,xix,13. S. O. Hitchcock 0,55,xvii,10. C. E. Scribner 2,00,xviii,14. S. J. Crawfis 1,00,xvii,21. F. C.Ross 1,00,xix,1. Wm. Richey 0,25,xvii,14. Mrs. J. Ashby 0,25,xvii,20. E. W. Waters 1,00,xx,1. J. H. Ginley 1,00,xviii,1. J. D. Hough 1,00,xviii,1. C. Groom 1,00,xviii,19. Mrs. P. R. Chamberlain 1,00,xviii,1. C. Brown 1,00,xviii,1. J. A. Wilcox 1,00,xviii,1. J. Ayers 1,00,xviii,1. W. McClenerthan 1,00,xviii,1. Wm. Moore 2,00,xviii,10. L. Hastings 1,00,xviii,14. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.26
PUBLICATIONS
| Supplement and Addition to Hymn Book. | 35 cts. |
| ” in paper covers | 25 ” |
| 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 ” |
| The Atonement. | 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 ” |
| Assistant. The Bible Student’s Assistant, or a compend of Scripture references. | 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 ” |
| The Fate of the Transgressor, or a Short Argument on the First and Second Deaths, | 5 ” |
| Brown’s Experience in relation to Entire Consecration and the Second Advent, | 5 ” |
| Report of General Conference held in Battle Creek, June 3-6, 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 (2cts.) - Law of God by Wesley - Appeal to men of reason on Immortality - Much in Little - Truth - Death and Burial - Preach the Word. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.27
These small Tracts can be sent, post-paid, in packages of not less than twenty-five. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.28
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 angel’s message till she fell asleep in Jesus. Price 25 cents. In paper covers, 20 cents. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.29
The Chart. A Pictorial Illustration of the Visions of Daniel and John 20 by 25 inches. Price 15 cts. On rollers, post-paid 75 cts. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.30
Tracts in other Languages
GERMAN. Das Wesen des Sabbaths und unsere Verpflichtung auf ihn nach dem vierten Gebote. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.31
A Tract of 80 pp., a Translation of Nature and Obligation of the Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment. Price 10 cents. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.32
HOLLAND. De Natuur en Verbinding van den Sabbath volgens het vierde Gebodt. Translated from the same as the German. Price 10 cents. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.33
FRENCH. Le Sabbath de la Bible. A Tract on the Sabbath of 32 pp. Price 5 cents. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.34
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 December 25, 1860, page 48.35
These Publications will be sent by Mail, post-paid, at their respective prices. One-third discount by the quantity of not less than $5 worth. In this case, postage added when sent by Mail. All orders to insure attention, must be accompanied with the cash, unless special arrangements be made. Give your Name, Post Office, County and State distinctly. Address REVIEW & HERALD, Battle Creek, Mich. ARSH December 25, 1860, page 48.36