Does the Review Merit Patronage?
By Uriah Smith
1. No space is given up in the REVIEW to advertisements. With the exception of the occasional insertion of the publication column, its eight large pages are entirely filled with regular reading matter. 2. Its pages do not consist of standing matter, or articles reprinted from week to week. The entire paper is filled with new and fresh matter every week. This gives more reading matter than is furnished by many papers of larger size and louder pretensions, which devote a large proportion of their space to advertising. 3. Each paper, through the entire period of its production, from the first coining of the thoughts in the minds of the writers, to the last act of the mailers in committing it to the post-office, is in the hands of those who are personally interested in the great truths which it promulgates. Hence, continual care is used that its sentiments shall be correct, the work creditable to itself and its mission, and the matter such as will be of interest and importance to the reader. 4. It is an earnest exponent of the solemn truths that pertain to the present time. It deals with many prophetic and practical themes, which are susceptible of the clearest explanation, and which are of the utmost importance to the present generation but which cannot be found in any other paper in the land, because no other paper undertakes to give an exposition of the subjects referred to. 5. Among its special themes may be named the following: It shows the fulfillments of prophecy, as they have been in the historical past, as they are in the startling present, and as they will be in the brief and momentous future. It proves from the evidences of God's word, and from the signs of the times, that the second personal advent of the Saviour is an event now near at hand. It holds up the important fact that immortality is to be obtained alone through an interest in Christ, the provided Saviour of the world. It advocates the necessity of a change of heart, a true and genuine conversion, by the operation of the Holy Spirit. It shows by an interpretation of Scripture, new and unique, a connected view of the work of our Redeemer as prophet, priest, and king, setting forth more clearly than has ever before been done his present position as Mediator for us in Heaven. It elevates the long down-trodden Sabbath of the Bible to its God-given position as ordained in Eden, and placed in the bosom of the decalogue at Sinai. It pleads for the perpetuity and immutability of the entire moral law as embodied in the decalogue. It enjoins upon all, the development of a holy character by obedience to that holy law which is to be the test of all lives at last. Jas. 2:12. And it exhorts to living, vital piety, holiness of heart, and consecration to God, at all times. 6. This paper has definite and well-established views to teach, and hence will not devote its columns to an indiscriminate and aimless mass of conflicting sentiments and theories. 7. It will speak out boldly and uncompromisingly against the sins and evils of the present time, whether in church or State, endeavoring to make the Bible standard the measure of excellence in all things. 8. While endeavoring to maintain earnestly what it regards as the truth, it aims to treat with all due respect and courtesy the feelings and views of those who honestly entertain different opinions. 9. Its success is no man's pecuniary gain. Whatever profits may arise from its publication, those profits go into no man's private purse, but into the treasury of the Association, to be used in still further sending out light and truth to perishing men. Is such a paper worthy of patronage? Is it worth $2.00 a year? Is it worth the small sum of 50 cents to be sent for six months to your friends? If any are disposed to answer these questions in the affirmative, we would suggest to them that this is one of those cases in which it is peculiarly true that actions speak louder than words. M. CRAWFORD: See our views of 2 Cor. 3 in article in this number.