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Review and Herald, Vol. 12, No. 18.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF SELF-DECEPTION

Review and Herald

Sep 23, 1858

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 23, 1858

THE CONSEQUENCES OF SELF-DECEPTION.

By Helfenstein

SELF-DECEPTION in religion is a terrific evil. Its disastrous influence both in this world and the next exceeds all description. Nothing can befall us this side eternity which should be more deprecated, and against which we should more carefully guard. A false hope is worse than no hope. Whatever distress may attend the latter, the former is by far the more ruinous.
1. Self-deception renders all our religious performances vain.
With whatever complacency they may be viewed by ourselves or by our fellow-men, infinite purity cannot behold them but with abhorrence. If the heart be wrong, all is wrong. Where there is no holy principle, there can be no holy practice. The same works that the christian performs we may perform, and they may be performed, too, with the same apparent zeal; but if our motives be impure they destroy the moral virtue of our deeds, however splendid and imposing to the eye of man, and render them in the view of God nothing but "vain oblations."
Do we "spread forth our hands" in prayer. "He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination." Prov. xxviii, 9. Do we appear in the sanctuary? "Who," says God, "hath required this at your hand to tread my courts?" Isa. i, 12. Do we pay an external respect to the Sabbath? "The new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with: it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting." Verse 13. Do we afflict ourselves by fasting? "Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord?" Isa. lviii, 5, 6. Do we surround the Lord's table and receive the sacred memorials of the Saviour's death? Instead of commemorating his sufferings we become "guilty of the body and blood of the Lord." Do we give of our substance to feed the poor or to support and extend the gospel? Verily we have our reward, the praise of man, but not the approbation of God.
2. Self-deception also deprives us of the present comforts of religion.
It may indeed impart a certain kind of peace. The mind, before agitated with fear, may become calmed, but to the "joy of salvation" we shall notwithstanding remain strangers. Religion, so far from proving a pleasure, will prove a task. Its duties will be observed, not because they are deemed desirable in themselves, but only as a means for the attainment of some selfish end.
3. Self-deception will prevent us from deriving any benefit from the means of grace.
Regarding our condition as already safe, we shall of course see no ground for alarm.
Whatever denunciations the Bible may utter against the impenitent, these denunciations will be lost upon us. Ministers may preach with the utmost fidelity, "warning every man with tears," "reproving, rebuking, exhorting with all long-suffering and doctrine," but the gospel, instead of becoming to us "the savor of life unto life," will become "the savor of death unto death."
Do they urge their hearers to "flee from the wrath to come?" According to our apprehension, we have already been saved from that wrath. Do they point to the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world? We have already looked to him as our Saviour. Do they portray the glories of heaven, and call upon us to lay hold on eternal life? Heaven is already made sure. Do they caution us against self-deception? Others may be deceived, but as it respects ourselves, we cannot be mistaken.
It is comparatively easy to shake the hopes of some real christians, while the same truths which disturb them leave the hypocrite unmoved. While some weak, trembling believer may lay these remarks aside, writing bitter things against himself, the very class of persons for whose benefit it is more immediately intended, may read its pages without one feeling of distrust or apprehension.
4. The dreadfulness of self-deception will further appear when we reflect that in eternity it will be too late to rectify the mistake.
Then indeed it will be manifest. A view of the holy character of God, and of the spirituality of his law, will at once dissipate every delusion. The heart will appear without a covering, and every form of self-delusion will vanish forever; but there will be no remedy—probation has closed—the character is formed, and the record of our lives sealed up for eternity.
5. Self-deception will also aggravate our future misery.
The more confident our hopes of future happiness are here, the more bitter will be the pain of disappointment hereafter. How awful to go to the gate of heaven, expecting admission, and then meet the sentence, "Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity?" Imagination can form but little conception of the anguish which must follow this exclusion. "There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth," says Jesus, "when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out." Luke xiii, 27, 28.
O the darkness that must gather around the spirit when the light of hope is thus suddenly and forever extinguished! The hope of the hypocrite, it is said, shall be "as the giving up of the ghost." "His hope shall be cut off, and his trust shall be a spider's web. He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand; he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure." Job viii, 14, 15. The fabric which he had all his life been rearing will fall, and great indeed will be the fall! Matt. vii, 27.

How to Believe.

By Editor

TAKE your Bible, and turn to 1 John v, 9-12. May I ask you to read this passage aloud, verse by verse? In order to believe, you want to know how you are to believe, whom you are to believe, what you are to believe, when you are to believe, what is the sin of not believing, and what you are to get by believing. Perhaps in these verses, of all others in the Bible, this all-important subject of faith is stated in terms the most simple and unmistakable.
Verse 9. "If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater."
To "receive the witness of men," is to believe their testimony, (the old English words, witness, and testimony, being the same.) To "receive the witness of God," is to believe his testimony. It is precisely the same act of the mind which receives both, it is believing what has been said. In other words, if you want a definition of faith in its simplest form, it is "giving God credit for what he says;" receiving his testimony as true; believing what he has declared; taking him at his word! See Christ's definition. John v, 24.
Whose testimony is the best, or greatest?
God's, of course, for he cannot lie! 1 Sam. xv, 29.
Which of the two, then, ought it to be the easiest to believe?
It ought to be, though I never thought of it just in that light before, easiest to believe God.
Read now the remainder of the verse.
"For this is the witness of God, which he hath testified of his Son."
Of whom has God given the testimony he wishes you to believe?
Of his Son, Jesus Christ.
So far, then, all is plain. Faith is believing what God says; believing what God says about his Son. This you can believe; this you ought to believe. But do you believe it?
How am I to know whether I believe it or not?
The next verse will tell you.
Verse 10. "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself."
The belief in the testimony of God concerning his Son, leading naturally, if not of necessity, to a belief or trust in the Son himself, simultaneously with this believing in the Son of God, the Holy Spirit enters the heart along with this truth thus received, and begins to bear witness there. 1 John v, 6; Rom. viii, 16; Gal. iii, 2. What this witness of the Spirit is, you can only learn by experience. If you have it, you will know and feel it. If, as still seems to be the case, you have it not, it cannot be explained in advance. This is one motive for believing; it appeals to your hopes; but in the last clause of the verse there is another motive, andone that appeals very strongly to your fears. Read on.
"He that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son."
Up to this moment, probably, you have never learned that the greatest of all your sins is unbelief. Think of it in reference to God. "It makes him a liar!" It insults him on the throne, and would bring him down to a level with Satan! Think of it in reference to yourself. While it lasts, it binds the guilt of all other sins upon you! For every drop of sin in the life, what an ocean of sin in the heart does this expression reveal, "He that believeth not God hath made him a liar!" Is it not the first of your sins which to be convinced, for which to be sorry, the very first to be confessed and forsaken? John xvi, 9; 1 John iii, 23.
Hoping that such is your determination, let me ask you now to read the 11th verse.
"And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son."
There are few verses in the Bible on which more souls have anchored their hopes for eternity than this. God grant that you may do the same! Every thought that it contains is infinitely precious. Let us take them, therefore, one by one.
What has God given?
Life, life eternal!
To whom has he given it?
To us.
Who are meant by "us?" Every one but you and I?
No, it means us both. 1 John ii, 8; 1 Cor. xv, 1-4.
Suppose I draw a pencil-mark around the word, us, and you substitute, me, or your own name if you will, how would it then read?
"And this is the record, that God hath given to (me) eternal life."
There is such a thing, then, as eternal life; eternal life for you, already given, or provided for you by God? 1 John ii, 25. Where is it to be found?
And this life is in his Son.
"He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life."
Christ is God's first gift, with or for the sake of whom he bestows all others. Accept Christ as he is offered, and with him you will freely receive all that is in him!
Yes, my dear friend, when God's Lamb was offered on Calvary as the one great sacrifice for sin, [John i, 29,] when God's own and only Son was dying upon the cross, our sins upon him, our guilt between him and his Father in heaven, he felt as deep a pang for you, as for any other sinner. It is not too much to suppose that his omniscient eye looked even to you, and that so to speak, he said within himself, "I die for him; my blood is shed for him; his sins are laid upon me; and by my stripes, if he will, he may be healed!" O, how near, how very near, does such a thought bring the cross to our souls! and the Crucified One almost within sight and hearing! Even while I speak, are you turning your back upon this sinful world? Leaving earthly things behind? Yielding as you are drawn by the Holy Spirit? Even now, do you cast yourself at the foot of that cross, beneath those out-stretched hands, those bleeding feet, that wounded side, and thank the Saviour that he died, and died for you? Do you say, just as really as though he were visibly present, and you addressed him personally, "Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief! I accept the atonement thou hast provided, I take thee as the only Mediator between me and my offended Father! I call thee my Saviour, mine!"
"Here, Lord, I give myself away, 'Tis all that I can do." [Independent.

THE BOOK OF BOOKS.

I HAVE a little book at home, it has been mine for years; There's many, many a leaf within that's blotted with my tears; The covers are defaced, and e'en the gilding worn with age, And pencil-marks are scattered round on almost every page.
My father gave this book to me, O, many years ago, When little of its real worth or import I could know; It pleased my fancy and my pride; I felt extremely grand That I had such a pretty book to carry in my hand.
But when the first great sorrow came—my loving father died, And broken-hearted, how I longed to lay down by his side— Within this book I found that God would comfort and would bless, And be a heavenly Father to the poor and fatherless.
When I am saddened or perplexed, with trials sore distressed, I read that he will surely "give the heavy-laden rest;" In every trouble of my life unto this Rock I flee, And sweet refreshing streams of love seem gushing out to me. Am. Messenger.

The Pen of Heaven.

By Thomas Guthrie

BY THE REV. THOMAS GUTHRIE, D. D.
"I will . . . cause you to walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments and do them." Eze. xxxvi, 27.
THE day grows yet more solemn. Its solemnity reaches its highest point, and culminates in the momentous issues of judgment. It is God's day of settlement with a world that has a long credit. It is the winding up of this earth's bankrupt estate, and each man's individual interest. It is the closing of an open account that has been running on ever since the Fall. It is the day when the balance is struck, and our fate is heaven or hell; and what invests my text with solemn and sublime importance is this, that by the manner in which we have walked in these statutes and kept these judgments and done them, shall our destiny be determined.
The most common action of life; its every day, every hour, is invested with a solemn grandeur, when we think how they extend their issues into eternity. Our hands are now sowing seed for that great harvest. We shall meet again all we are doing and have done. The graves shall give up their dead, and from the tombs of oblivion the past shall give up all that it holds in keeping, to be witness for or witness against us. O think of that, and in yonder hall of the Inquisition see what its effect on us should be. Within those blood-stained walls, for whose atrocious cruelties Rome has yet to answer, one is under examination. He has been assured that nothing he reveals shall be written for the purpose of being used against him. While making frank and ingenuous confession, he suddenly stops. He is dumb—a mute. They ply him with questions, flatter him, threaten him; he answers not a word. Danger makes the senses quick. His ear has caught a sound; he listens; it ties his tongue. An arras hangs beside him, and behind it he hears a pen running along the pages. The truth flashes on him. Behind that screen a scribe sits committing to the fatal page every word he says, and he shall meet it all again on the day of trial.
Ah! how solemn to think that there is such a pen going in heaven, and entering on the books of judgment all we say or wish, all we think or do. Would to God we heard it—every where, and always heard it! What a check! and what a stimulus! Are we about to sin, how strong a curb; if slow to duty, how sharp a spur! What a motive to pray for the blood that blots out a guilty past, and for such grace, as in time to come shall enable us to walk in God's statutes, to do them. "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men."

The Word “Carriages.”

“We took up our carriages, and went up to Jerusalem.” Acts xxi, 15.
This is one of those passages, whose meaning is quite likely to be misapprehended, unless the reader is well acquainted with the changes which have taken place in the English language since the Bible was translated. Probably nine-tenths of all who read the verse, suppose, and very naturally too, that Paul and his companions were provided with such conveniences as now are known by the name of carriages. Even writers of books have fallen into the same error. Thus we read in Wilson’s “Travels in Egypt and the Holy Land:”
“This, I am inclined to believe, was not the track which was taken by the apostle Paul, when he went up to Jerusalem from the coast, as he appears to have traveled in some conveyance moved on wheels; for it is so far from being in any degree possible to draw one along, that, on the contrary, a great exertion is necessary to travelers to get forward their mules.”
The error here is a comparatively harmless and amusing one, but the same mistake has been made the foundation of serious cavil at the truth of the passage. “How is this possible,” says a modern objector, “when there is nothing but a mountain track, impassable for wheels, between Cesarea and Jerusalem?” The blunder in the former case and the sneer in the latter would alike have been saved, had the writers known that when the Bible was translated, “carriage” did not mean “that which carries,” but “that which was carried.” “We took up our carriages” means no more and no less than “we took up our baggage,” or, as one of the earlier translations familiarly expresses it, “we trussed up our fardels.”
Prof. Scholefield, in his “Hints for an Improved translation of the New Testament,” recommends that the passage be rendered, “we put up our baggage.” There are other passages in the Bible where the word “carriage” is evidently used as synonymous with baggage. For example:
“So they turned and deserted, and put the little ones, and the cattle, and the carriage before them.” Judges xxviii, 21.
“And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage.” 1 Sam. xvii, 22.
David’s “carriage” consisted, as we learn from the preceding verses, of an ephah of parched corn, ten loaves of bread, and ten cheeses. Examples of a similar character may readily be cited from historians and essayists who were contemporaneous with the translations of the Bible.
North, in his translations of Plutarch, says, “that Spartacus withdrew an opposing army, and took all their carriage;” and Bacon, quoting 1 Sam. xxx, 24, speaks of those “who stood with the carriages,” substituting the word “carriage” for “stuff,” which appears in the ordinary version.
In fact, “carriage,” “luggage,” and “baggage,” were not only formed in the same way, but were originally synonyms; baggage being that which is bagged, luggage that which is lugged, and carriage that which is carried.—Vt. Chronicle.

A Solemn Interrogation.

By James Parsons

"Who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth?" 1. Shall the infidel—he who has "rejected the counsel of God against himself," against argument and entreaty, and appeal, and perhaps assuming a bolder port and form of impiety, has announced the record of inspiration as but an imposture and a lie—shall he stand? No; for it is pronounced, "He that believeth not, is condemned already." "He that believeth not, shall be damned." 2. Shall the sensualist—he who has degraded the high and immortal gift of reason for the vulgarities of animal appetite, herding with the drunken, with the gluttonous or with the lewd, and thus "glorying in his shame"—shall he stand? No; for it is pronounced of all such, "They shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of God." 3. Shall the worldling—he who has concentrated his activities and desires on that which perishes in the using, prostrating his faculties and his powers in idolatrous service to mammon—shall he stand? No; for it is pronounced, "Whosoever would be the friend of the world, is an enemy of God." 4. Shall the pharisee—he "who being ignorant of God's righteousness, has gone about to establish his own righteousness," and who, repudiating the grand evangelical principles of the gospel, has believed that by the merit of his own penances and works, he can establish a claim to acceptance before the heart-searching God—shall he stand? No; for it is pronounced, "Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased;" and that "the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place." 5. Shall the hypocrite—he who assumed the "form of godliness," while he knew that he had not the power, and who, deluding his fellow-men with a falsehood, will pass into eternity with "a lie in hisright hand," as though he could deceive and delude the omniscient One—shall he stand? No; for it is pronounced that God abhors the sacrifice, when men draw nigh unto him with their lips, when their hearts are far from him, and that into the New Jerusalem "there shall in no wise enter anything which defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie." "Who may abide the day of his coming? or who shall stand when he appeareth?" Brethren, none but those who have repented towards God, and who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; none but those who have been justified by the blood of the atonement and sanctified by the influence of the Spirit. As to all beside—and still it is a solemn and heart-searching truth in all—that if they be found in any of the classes which have been enumerated, or in any other classes which embody especial forms of the impenitent and unbelieving sin, they will amid the burning grandeur and tremendous development of the two worlds presented before and around the tribunal of the great and resistless Judge, themselves have to cry out, in the last accents of despair, "Rocks and mountains, fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the Lamb, for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?"
"When thou, my righteous Judge shall come, To bring thy ransomed people home, Shall I among them stand? Shall such a worthless worm as I, Who sometimes am afraid to die, Be found at thy right hand?"

A PASSION FOR HOARDING.

We have rarely seen a more graphic description of a hoarding propensity than the following from "Law's Serious Call:"
"If you should see a man that had a large pond of water, yet living in continual thirst, not suffering himself to drink half a draught, for fear of lessening his pond; if you should see him wasting his time in fetching more water to his pond, always thirsty, yet always carrying a bucket of water in his hand, watching early and late to catch the drops of rain, gaping after every cloud, and running greedily into every mire and mud, in hopes of water, and always studying how to make every ditch empty itself into his pond; if you should see him gray in these anxious labors, and at last end a careful, thirsty life by falling into his own pond, would you not say that such an one was not only the author of his own disquiet, but was foolish enough to be reckoned among madmen? But foolish and absurd as this character is, it does not represent half the follies and absurd disquiets of the covetous man."

The Commandments.

By Matthew Mead

Our Lord Christ tells us expressly, "Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you." And can a man be the friend of Christ and yet be but almost a christian?
I answer, There is an obedience to the commands of Christ, which is a sure proof of our christianity and friendship to Christ.
This obedience hath a three-fold property.
It is, 1. Evangelical. 2. Universal. 3. Continual. First, It is evangelical obedience, and that in matter and manner, ground and end. In the matter of it; and that is what God requires: Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you. In the manner of it; and that is according as God requires: "God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." In the ground of it; and that is "a pure heart, a good conscience; and a faith unfeigned." In the end of it; and that is the honor and glory of God. "Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."
Secondly, It is a universal obedience, which extendeth itself to all the commands of God alike: it respects the duties of both tables. Such was the obedience of Caleb "who followed the Lord fully," and of David who had "respect to all his commands."
Thirdly, It is a continual obedience, a putting the hand to God's plough without looking back: "I have inclined my heart to perform thy statutes always, even unto the end."
He that thus obeys the commands of God is a Christian indeed; a friend of Christ indeed. But all obedience to the commands of God is not this obedience. For,
1. There is a partial obedience—a piecemeal religion, when a man obeys God in one command and not in another; owns him in one duty and not in another; when a man seems to make conscience of the duties of one table and not of another. Now this obedience is no obedience; for as he that doth not love God above all, doth not love God at all, so he that doth not obey all his commands universally, cannot be said to obey any command truly. It is said of those in Samaria, that they "feared the Lord, and served their own gods after their own manner." And yet in the very next verse it is said, "They feared not the Lord;" so that their fear of the Lord was no fear. In like manner that obedience to God is no obedience, which is but a partial and piecemeal obedience.
2. A man may obey much and yet be in his old nature; and if so, then all his obedience in that estate is but a painted sin. "He that offereth an oblation is as if he offered swine's blood; and he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol." The nature must be renewed before the command can be rightly obeyed; for "a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit." Whatever a man's performances are, they cannot be called obedience whilst the heart remaineth unregenerate, because the principle is false and unsound. Every duty done by a believer is accepted of God, as part of his obedience to the will of God, though it be done in much weakness; because, though the believer's hand is weak, his heart is right. The hypocrite may have the most active hand, but the believer hath the most faithful and sincere heart.
3. A man may obey the law and yet have no love to the law-giver. A carnal heart may do the commands of God, but he cannot love God, and therefore cannot do it aright, for love to God is the foundation and spring of all true obedience. Every command of God is to be done in love; this is the "fulfilling of the law." The Apostle saith, "Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, (these seem to be the acts of the highest obedience,) yet if I have not love, it profiteth me nothing."
4. I might add that a man may be much in obedience from sinister and base, selfish ends: as the Pharisees prayed much, gave much alms, fasted much; but our Lord Christ tells us that "it was to be seen of men, and have glory of men." Most of the hypocrite's piety empties itself in vain glory; and therefore he is but an empty vine in all he does, because "he bringeth forth fruit to himself." It is the end that justifies the action; indeed a good end cannot make a bad action good, but yet the want of a good end makes a good action bad.
Now then, if a man may obey God partially, and by halves; if he may do it and yet be in his natural state; if he may obey the commands of God and not love God; if the ends of his obedience may be sinful and unwarrantable—then a man may be much in obeying the commands and yet be but almost a christian.—Mead's Almost Christian.

Good Sinners.

A mother was striving to impress on the mind of her little son the claim God has on the heart, and the gratitude we owe for the gift of his Son, who died for sinners.
"Who are the sinners, and where do they live, mamma?" asked blue-eyed Charlie, looking eagerly into her face.
"We are all sinners, my son," replied the mother.
"Not you and I, mamma!" cried the little boy; "we are good!"
"No my love; all who live are sinners. You and I do not love God nor obey him as much as we ought; and that makes us sinners, even if we should never do one evil thing, or speak one unkind word before our fellow-creatures. God sees every naughty thought, and he calls us all sinners."
"Does he, mamma?" asked the little learner in a serious tone. "But we—you and I—are very good sinners, I'm sure, mamma!"
O, that self-righteousness and incredulity as to innate depravity were confined to pharisees of Charlie's tender years; then might the truths of the gospel be brought to bear on hearts convinced of sin. But alas, the trouble in many a New England community is to find any sinners to preach to, or to plead with! Every body is righteous; and the minister or private Christian who hints to the contrary is looked on as a slanderer. If, for politeness' sake, or from early prejudice formed by the Assembly's Catechism, a select few be found to admit that all men have sinned and come short of the glory of God; still like little Charlie, they will insist that, if sinners at all they must be "very good sinners;" too good to be saved by the same plan drawn for the salvation of rebels, vile and impure. This soil is the hardest on which a man can toil hoping for a harvest of souls. The heart is mellowed, cultivated, and bearing golden fruit, in the view of its possessor; and therefore all attempts to break up its soil are looked upon as idle work prompted by a spirit of fault finding rather than of love.
This sin of self-righteousness is quite peculiar, strange as it may seem, to Christian lands. The poor pagan is really more enlightened as to his own sins than is the moralist at our door. He does not argue with his teacher that he is whole and needs not a physician; but deplores his guilt, shudders at the thought of his angry God, and offers his heart's blood or the child of his love to appease his wrath. Surely it will be more tolerable, in the day of judgment, for him than for one who, knowing his Father's will, did it not. Nothing but divine power will enlighten this darkness. One gleam from the Sun of Righteousness will reveal to the profoundest pharisee the uncleanness of his heart, and lead him to cry for a righteousness not his own. O, that these "good sinners" would believe that they have deeply sinned; then would they flee to the fountain opened for their cleansing, and clothe themselves in the robe of Christ's righteousness.

The Delusion of Growing Better

By Charles Grandison Finney

How insane the delusion, that the sinner's case, while yet in his sins, is growing better. As well might the drunkard fancy he is growing better because every temperance lecture convicts him of his sin and shame, while yet every next day's temptation leaves him drunk as ever! Growing better! There can be no delusion so false and so fatal as this!

What Must I Do to Inherit Eternal Life?

By Tryon Edwards, D. D.

"Life, life, eternal LIFE," the most important of all things to the lost, the dying. What must I do to inherit it!
"What must I do?" Something must be done, and done soon, and done in earnest, or I perish. If I remain idle, inactive, unconcerned a little longer, it will be too late.
"What must I do?" Not only is something to be done but I must do it. God has wrought out a great salvation; I must receive it at the hand of God. No one else can do this for me. I must myself accept the proffered gift, or never be saved.
"What must I do?" There is a necessity in the case, urgent, pressing, inevitable. The work must be done, or I am undone, for ever undone. Thinking, feeling, intending, resolving—all this is not enough. What God directs must be done, and done as he directs, or I perish.
And now, do you ask in sincerity and earnestness, "What must I do?" By the grace of God, and according to his truth, I will tell you. You must admit and feel that you are a sinner, guilty, polluted, condemned, lost and so dead in sins as to be in need of eternal life. You must realize that life is to be found in Christ. "In him is life," John i: 4; and he "giveth life unto the world," John vi: 33. And do you ask, "How shall I obtain it?" "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life," John iii: 36. This, then, is what you must do; you must believe that he is the Saviour, the only Saviour, an all-sufficient Saviour, able to save to the uttermost, willing to save all that will come to him; ready and waiting to save you, and to save you now.
And if you believe him thus to be a Saviour, and are willing to be saved by him, you will accept him, as your Saviour, according to his word. You will repent; that is, you will cease to do evil, that you may learn of Christ to do well; sorrowing that you have ever broken God's commands, and resolving and praying that you may do so no more. You will believe; that is you will receive all that Christ has said, and trust all that he has promised; and give up yourselves and all that you have and are, to him, for time and eternity. You will obey; that is you will endeavor to do Christ's will, as the Bible declares it; and to do it sincerely, immediately, uniformly, prayerfully, to the end of life, relying on the Holy Spirit for strength, and on the grace of God in Christ Jesus for acceptance at the final day. Do this and you shall "inherit eternal life." Your sins shall be forgiven; your heart be renewed; your hope rest on the sure foundation; though an outcast you shall be restored; though deserving death, you shall inherit, through grace, eternal life.
—Tryon Edwards, D. D.

WESTERN TOUR.

By James White

OUR general Tent-meeting at Crane's Grove, was one of great profit we think, and a very pleasant meeting, with the exception of the interruptions mentioned last week. The attendance was not as large from different parts of Illinois, and from Wisconsin, as we hoped to see. The season has been so rainy, that many could not fully secure their grain in season to come to the meeting. We were happy to meet Bro. W. Phelps from Wisconsin, and find that he has no sympathy for what is called the Age to Come, and that his heart is fully with his brethren who continue to teach the Third Angel's Message. With pleasure we united with the preaching brethren in presenting his case before the Lord that he might be raised to health, and go out free again to gather souls to the standard of truth. Here we had the pleasure of meeting again with Brn. Hull, S. Myers and Sanborn. These brethren had been under the influence of J. M. Stephenson. Bro Sanborn said that he received the message in rather a mongrel form, it being mixed with the Age to Come, but he was coming out free. His decided testimony was refreshing. Bro. Myers is seeing clearly where the truth and the work of the Lord is. Bro. Hull returned to Iowa fully settled in his mind in regard to the Age to Come, and the sad condition of its advocates. The spirit manifested by these Age-to-Come, no-Sabbath men, served to settle the wavering, and to unite commandment-keepers in the strongest bonds of christian fellowship. The Lord poured out his Spirit graciously on the occasion of Brn. Hull and Sanborn being set apart to the work of the gospel ministry by the laying on of hands. How solemn and glorious was the place where the Lord met his servants in this act of obedience to the order of the gospel. Praise his holy name.
We were happy to meet Bro. J. N. Andrews at Crane's Grove, though at a late period. He received the notice of the general Tent-meeting too late to attend it, but came during the discussion. His general health has become quite good, and he feels a deep interest in the prosperity of the cause of truth. We trust the way will open soon before our dear brother, that he may be so situated as to labor efficiently in the great work. Sabbath, Aug. 28th, Mrs. W. was taken very ill, and grew worse till First day morning when her sickness was alarming, and she requested the prayers of the elders of the church. Brn. Waggoner, Sperry, Andrews and Ingraham engaged in prayer for her. The earnest prayer of faith moved the arm of the Lord, and she was raised up and the next morning took the cars for Battle Creek, and reached home at midnight in good health. We can look back upon our Western tour with pleasure, and feel the strongest attachment to those dear brethren with whom we have labored. The way now is open to do much in the West. Many have been sadly disappointed in their worldly schemes, and can now stop and investigate Bible truth. The lack of means West is a great discouragement, yet a little means now will accomplish more than much means would when men were crazy with the idea of getting rich. Now is the time for those who have ready means to use it.
At our general Conference at Battle Creek, last May, Bro. J. H. Waggoner was chosen to visit the Western field, and if the way opened, labor with Bro. M. Hull of Iowa. The mission was well advised, and has resulted in much good. Bro. Hull is free from the chilling, bewildering influence of the Age to Come, so called, and is fully with us in the present truth. He is poor, and has cares upon him which we hope may soon be removed. We hope the time is not far distant when Bro. Hull and his family may be comfortably situated in the midst of experienced friends of the cause who shall supply all their temporal wants, and leave Bro. Hull free to labor in the message, assisted by the prayers and counsel of the church.
Bro Waggoner left for the West, worn down by incessant labors day and night, and entered upon his labors sick for want of rest and sleep. He remained feeble all summer in consequence of too much care and hard labor upon him. He has preached too much, and in addition to this, had much of the labor and care of the Tent upon him, having no Tent master.
It is due the friends of Bro Waggoner to say that they have shown their love for him in deed. The effort made at our last conference to assist him in obtaining a home for his family, has succeeded well. When $125, pledged, shall be paid, he will own a good home free. A part of this same we have advanced and shall advance the rest, and shall be very glad to receive it again from the hands of those who wish to help in the work. If any class of men should be free from the annual task of hunting up a place for their families a home, it is our traveling preachers. Brethren, remember Bro. Waggoner in his feebleness and afflictions. You who have had the truth brought to your doors by him, and have shared his labors in spiritual things, visit him with those temporal blessings which he now needs. Learn to sympathize more fully with those who have enfeebled themselves in laboring for your salvation. We hope that rest, the care of the church, and the blessing of God, will so restore Bro. Waggoner that the Cause may still be blest with his labors.
Since Bro. Waggoner returned from the West, Bro. Hull has pitched the Tent, and reports as follows:—
"I pitched the Tent here last Fourth-day, and commenced meetings the next night. I preached twice Sixth-day, and three times on Sabbath, and three times on First-day. The interest is the best I have ever seen anywhere. The Tent will not hold the congregation, and yesterday my book sales amounted to more than $15. The interest still seems to be on the increase. I have looked for Bro. Sperry for the last three days, but he has not yet arrived."
The Tent-meeting at Monroe, Wis., waked up the deepest interest in the community, and quite a number decided to keep the Sabbath, and Bro. Ingraham writes that the interest has not abated. We expect much will be done the coming winter. A good work is begun in the West, God grant that it may be carried on judiciously and perseveringly. Our Tents are a great help in the warm season of the year; for in this season of the year, when most all classes are actively engaged in worldly pursuits, nothing less than a Tent-meeting will call them out to hear the truth. But the great work must be accomplished in the country when the people will take time to read and to attend meetings in their schoolhouses. O God lead thy ministers forth into the wide harvest, and open the hearts of thy people to sustain them in this great work. J. W.
Continue reading: THE FEARFUL. Rev. xxi, 8