Brevities by J. CLARKE.

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 10, 1860

Brevities.

By J. CLARKE.

THE FRIENDSHIP OF THE WORLD.—Did you ever stand upon a sand-bank that was caving, piece by piece into some swift stream, swollen by the winter floods? Did you feel the earth give beneath your feet, and then did you start as for life to some spot on terra firma, more firm? So have I, as I have seen the falseness of earthly friendships, fled for life, to that dear friend who sticketh closer than a brother.

TRUTH, says a certain writer, must either conquer or die, it cannot hold middle position. Let those who believe the third message is now being proclaimed, think of the above proposition. Perhaps it will apply.

I lately heard from the lips of a good man, that "being religious merely for the sake of a personal benefit, merely to avoid punishment, and gain heaven, was a selfish religion." He held that one must have the glory of God in view, and a respect and love of justice and of right, we should love God for what he is, rather than for what he is able to confer. Such a sentiment is truly sanctifying in its tendency and effects. O, let us try our motives, and inspect our hearts with the severest scrutiny.

THE OBJECT OF PROPHECY is not to give information of events after they have transpired, but to give warning previously. Let those who deride the advent movement ponder upon this principle and say where it leads? J. CLARKE.