“IT is not likely it will do any good, mother,” said Ruth, speaking of some effort made for the Christian improvement of a poor family. “I dare say they will tear up the tracts without reading them, and the little girl will probably not go to Sabbath School over three Sabbaths.”
“We must have faith, my dear,” said her mother. “Good is often done when there seemed the least prospect of it. Some one gave a tract on keeping the Sabbath to a bootmaker, and he thought so little of it, he put it in between the inner and outer sole of a boot he was making. In course of time that boot was sent to another man for repairs. He sat down to the task on the Sabbath, and after he had cut away the worn out leather, these words, on a piece of paper, came to his view, ‘Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.’ He was so struck by the admonition coming to him in such a remarkable way, that he hastily laid aside his work, and went to church. It seemed as though God had spoken directly to his heart, and he was led at last to come humbly to Jesus as a little child, and seek and find pardon for his sins. Remember this, my dear, when you are tempted to think your service for Christ all lost. It cannot be lost, for it is sure to be a blessing to your own soul, if to no other. Then it is such a comfort to think that Jesus takes note of it all, and that he has promised that not even a cup of cold water shall lose its reward.”
Let us be true gospel servers, scattering the good seed everywhere as we journey on. We cannot tell in what obscure corner it may spring up, and bear fruit unto eternal life.”—Young Reaper.
OH, inconsistent professor! In the great day of Judgment, doubtless, some shall rise up and charge thee as being the stumblingblock over which they fell into perdition.
SENSATIONAL LITERATURE.
* When we look for a moment at the mass of fictitious reading that is flung out broadcast over the world, can we wonder that the young so early wander away into the paths of vice, or that the vile dens in our cities, that are seething in impurity, are peopled with wrecked manhood and fallen womanhood? We look in astonishment at the evidences of blighted intellects, lost virtue, and ruined lives; and yet how many of these learned their first lesson in vice at home, over the pages of some impure novel! In how many of our homes does the Bible lay, all covered with dust from disuse, while dime novels are eagerly read by parents and children day after day! And I have seen professed Christian parents remain away from the house of God, to read a weekly journal burdened with impure thoughts, to feed the imagination and the heart.
Parents, you cannot keep your homes too pure. If the young heart is not educated to love purity, it will love sin and follow after it; and if you crowd your libraries with fiction, and pervert your own lives by its perusal, how can you expect to lead your children heavenward!
The young gain far more education from novels to-day, than from the sciences. They pore over the unchaste pages, and shed fountains of tears over some luckless heroine that never lived, and whose counterpart never will live; but they have no sympathy for the sorrows of a beggared widow or orphan, and their hearts are unmoved at the sight of actual human suffering.
Can it be that those to whom God has given ten talents, will waste them all in wrecking humanity? Shall they be willing, for dollars and cents, to send young souls, reeling beneath a burden of shame, into penitentiaries, dance-houses, and groggeries? Will it pay at the bar of God?—Rural New Yorker.
The Lost and Found Chapter.
“READ the ‘lost and found chapter’ to me if you please,” was the request made by an invalid with whom I loved to read and pray and offer my few weak words of consolation.
“What do you mean by the ‘lost and found chapter?’ said I; “please tell me and I will read it to you, James.”
“Oh, I mean the chapter about the lost sheep, the lost piece of silver, and the lost son—the fifteenth chapter of St. Luke’s gospel. See if I am not right in calling it the ‘lost and found’ chapter.”
So with fresh interest I opened the holy volume, turned to the chapter, and began to read the wonderful parables of Him against whom the Scribes and Pharisees had been murmuring because, as they said, “This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.”
I felt, as I read, that I was among the friends and neighbors who rejoiced with the man who had found the sheep which was lost, and then with the woman who had been seeking diligently for the missing piece of silver, and my tears fell fast upon the sacred page as I mourned for the lost son, and went with the father who saw him a great way off, and rejoiced with him to meet the returning prodigal.
“Thank you, James,” said I, as I closed the blessed book. “I think I never before read those wonderful stories with half the interest. I shall always remember where to look for the ‘lost and found’ chapter.”
“Well,” said my suffering friend, “I am sure I am very glad; for to me it is a most blessed and encouraging chapter. No doubt you have often noticed in the newspapers whole columns headed, ‘Lost and found.’ Some one has lost a valuable watch, or article of jewelry, or a pocket-book containing money and papers; some a pet dog or bird; and sometimes even a lost child, or a missing friend is advertised; and their return is watched and waited for, often hopelessly, for a long time. And then again, among the notices, ‘Found,’ we feel glad with the owners. This chapter is just like it. ‘Lost and found’ follow each other all the way through; and how thankful we ought to feel that ‘there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.’”
“Yes, James, you have given me some new ideas,” I answered. “Each and all of us were among the lost sheep; and Jesus Christ himself has left his home of glory and blessedness to come to earth to seek and save us all. His offers are to all; and yet how many will not come to him that they may be saved. It is marvelous to think so many will persist, like the lost son, in taking all the good and perfect gifts which the Heavenly Father sends to them, and waste these blessings in sinful and selfish indulgence, until at last body and soul are among the lost—lost forever and ever. All have erred and strayed like lost sheep; and we must pray that all may be brought back into the way of holiness, and there shall be one fold and one Shepherd.”—Am. Messenger.
MEETINGS IN WISCONSIN.
By I. Sanborn
Pursuant to appointment, I met with the Sand Prairie church in Quarterly Meeting. On account of high waters our congregation was small, yet we had a good meeting. I then spent two weeks with the church at Hundred Mile Grove. Held in all twenty-four meetings. At the close I baptized eleven, and twelve were received into the church. This addition was mostly the result of the faithful labors of the church in circulating tracts among all that will read them. I hope all the churches will seek the same missionary spirit, and work for their Lord.
Let each church keep on hand a good assortment of books for free distribution among all who will candidly read, and live godly themselves; and then the Lord will bless their labor in the salvation of others. The reason why some churches do not see more fruit from their labors is because they walk so contrary to God’s requirements. I hope there will soon be a reform with many in this respect. This church at the close of the meeting raised their s. B. pledges about one hundred dollars. I should have been glad to stay another week, but having other appointments I could not.
I think the Convocation and Conference should be held with this church for the following reasons: Dell Prairie, Marquette, Mackford, Oakland, Monroe, and Avon, are all within a day’s drive, and several others within two days’ drive. There is no other point in the Illinois and Wisconsin Conference where so many Sabbath-keepers can get together with so little traveling expense as they can at Hundred Mile Grove.
Those who might wish to come by the cars would have to come to Madison, which would bring them within twenty miles of the meeting. I have written these facts for the consideration of all who may feel interested in such a meeting. I hope Brn. Andrews and Blanchard will respond immediately, because if we have such a meeting we ought to have the notice given at least six weeks before the meeting.
May the Lord direct, is my prayer.
I. SANBORN.
Hundred Mile Grove, May 28, 1869.
The Joy of the Spirit
THE joy of the spirit is a delicate, sacred deposit, and must be kept in a pure casket, as an unholy breath will dim its luster and fade its freshness,
Obituary Notices.
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.
DIED, in Battle Creek, Mich., May 25, 1869, of whooping cough, Florence E., daughter of Bro. W. A., and Sr. C. Towle, aged 13 months and 13 days.
CHAS. STRATTON.
DIED, in the town of Elmira, N. Y., April 16, 1869, of scarlet fever, Phremon, second son of Chauncey N., and Clarissa C. Robinson, aged two years, six months, and four days.
POLLY ROBINSON.
FELL asleep in Jesus, in Fayston, Vt., May 14, 1869, of liver complaint and indigestion, my dear companion, Lincoln B. Lockwood, aged 51 years, 8 months, and 5 days. He was confined to his bed seven weeks, but bore his sufferings with patience and resignation. In his last hours he was resigned to sleep awhile in the grave; yet coming to this point, he felt his way step by step down to the valley of death, with trembling lest he might not be fully ready for the waking, in the morning of the resurrection of the just.
He embraced the advent faith, some 26 years ago. He has been an observer of the fourth commandment some 16 years. I am left in this world of sin and sorrow, with three small children, but my trust is in the God of Israel.
S. A. E. LOCKWOOD.
DIED, at Pleasant Grove, Minn., April 9, 1869, of quick consumption, Sr. Sarah Jane Bartholomew, in the thirty-first year of her age. Although her sufferings were very intense for many weeks, she manifested great patience and resignation. Especially in the latter part of her sickness, it seemed that "The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." Truly the righteous have hope in their death.
STEPHEN PIERCE.
DIED at Pleasant Grove, Minn., May 2, 1869, of a fever, Bro. Barton Crandall, aged sixty-five years.
This makes five individuals who have passed from the ranks of the little scattered Pleasant Grove church within a little more than a year: Two sisters in the prime of life, one youthful sister, and two brethren more advanced in life. In frequent succession we have been called to mourn the loss of these loved ones; and were it not the case that those are blessed who die in the Lord in this message, we should marvel at our frequent bereavements.
STEPHEN PIERCE.
Appointments.
And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
The Lord willing, I will meet with the brethren in Abington, Conn., June 12 and 13, 1869. I hope to meet all the friends of present truth in this vicinity. Eternal life is soon to be obtained or lost forever. Attend this meeting, and do what you can to build each other up in the Lord. Pray and watch and fast for God's blessing.
P. C. Rodman.
The Monthly Meeting in June, for R. I., will be with the Green Hill church, June 19 and 20, 1869. Brethren don't let us have the world engross our time and our attention to the neglect of the work of God.
P. C. R.
Providence permitting, I will meet with the church in Gaines, at Bro. R. Jones, Sabbath and first-day, June 5 and 6. The church in Leighton, the 12th and 13th.
Joseph Bates.
If nothing in providence prevents I will meet with the brethren in New Ipswich, N. H., Sabbath and first-day, June 12 and 13. Meetings to commence Friday evening at half past 7 o'clock. One meeting on Sunday at 5 o'clock P. M.
S. N. Haskell.
Our next Monthly Meeting, in the northern district of Maine, will be held with the church in Canaan, commencing June 11, 1869, at 5 P. M., and holding over Sabbath and first-day. I hope to see a goodly number of those of like precious faith at this meeting.
J. B. Goodrich.
Providence permitting, I will meet with the church at Brighton, Iowa, June 5. Meetings as they shall arrange.
D. M. Canright.
THE OLD PATHS.
By F. W. Morse
“Ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.” Jer. vi, 16.
As a people it would do us good to make search for the old paths—hunt up the old foundation. There was a time when love was more prevalent among us than at the present. This principle was so prominent that a foreseeing revelation called them the church of brotherly love—“Philadelphia.” Think of the union that ran from heart to heart when the “Midnight Cry” fully developed the Philadelphian state of the church! There was a love and oneness visible at that time, only equaled at the pentecostal time when believers were of one accord, of one mind, and had all things common: no man said that anything he possessed was his own exclusively. Earthly possessions were sold, and the money brought forward and put down to be used in the general distribution, as every one had need.
This kind of an outlay would be regarded as good evidence that men were crazy nowadays.
But we can learn how well the investment paid, and how wonderful the riches of the income, by calling up the record of the dealings of God with his people in those days of primitive power and goodness.
Dungeons and death awaited the persecuted believers in those days; yet being poor, afflicted, tormented, their poverty abounded unto the enriching of many.
Thousands were converted unto God; the word of God had free course. It moved upon men as the lightning’s shock. Believers did not stand in the way of the work.
F. W. MORSE.
Tenhassen, Minn.
RESENTMENT.
By JOS. CLARKE.
It is considered honorable, by the world, to encourage a spirit of “manly honor” as they call it. Especially has this principle been encouraged at the South, and the result, in part, has been seen in the late rebellion. This spirit of resentment manifests itself in different ways, according to circumstances. At the South, pistols and bowie-knives were the instruments in the settlements of old grudges or fresh insults. At the North, among gentlemen, more refined means have been taken to square off with such as give offense or injury. With some, the tongue is used as a means of offense and defense, and it is a rule with many to come off even with an enemy if it takes a lifetime to do it.
This principle being natural to the human heart, it needs but little cultivation to become very strong indeed, and many a countenance carries the unmistakable evidence of this passion. Coupled as this vice is, in most cases, with a heart impure and profane, it becomes hideous and ugly in the extreme.
Often it happens, that a word dropped innocently, and with the purest motives, but with inconsideration and want of forethought, falls upon the ear of the resentful man, who sees in it nothing but evil and bitterness; and he works himself into a furor of passion, before the speaker really understands what has been going on.
In consequence of a trifling mistake a misunderstanding may arise, which from some delicate considerations, an explanation becoming impossible, may give rise to enmity, lasting a lifetime, and eventuating in the most disastrous consequences, especially if the offended man is wily and unscrupulous. Revenge, deep and thorough, prompted by passion, rankles in the heart for long periods of time, and often ends only in large reprisals.
To satisfy this brutal passion, many a heart has been wounded, many a fortune has been ruined, many a life been destroyed, many a reputation blasted, many a plan of action made to miscarry, many a battle fought, and many a cause betrayed.
I must say that nothing has surprised me more in my little personal knowledge of my fellow-men, than the extent and depth of this evil.
But wide-spread as this evil is, it can not be expected that those who accept the present truth are all free from this vice. With many there is more or less of this sin to overcome; and it must be overcome, or eternal life will be forfeited and lost forever.
My dear brother, are you sometimes inwardly agitated by a supposed affront, or by a real injury? Does it move you deeply when you are hit by the words of the wise? Are you provoked to anger thereby? Do you, as you retire to meditate in solitude, allow such thoughts to rankle in your bosom, stirring up the turbid waters of the carnal heart? Does the gall of bitterness spread its poison over your heated brain?
Stop and think of Him who was truly noble; no resentment ever moved his heavenly temper, no breath of resentment ever for a moment clouded his clear and infinite mind; he was made the butt of ridicule and abuse in Herod's and Pilate's presence; yet he gave no signs of anger or revenge, nor did he feel in any wise disposed to retaliate, but the more he was contented the more did he pray for his persecutors.
JOS. CLARKE.
Not Like Jesus.
By S. S. Bartlett
“Ma, you ain’t like Jesus,” said a little girl one day, in answer to an impatient reproof from her mother, while the big tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Not like Jesus!” How these words should ring through our hearts. Thank God, they still ring in that mother’s heart. She could not reprove her for her lack of filial respect, for she felt that the childish rebuke was well deserved.
“Not like Jesus!” Very humbling were those words from her child. She was humbled by them so that she could say, “Dear child, can you not pray that I may become like Jesus?” And often since that time has the childish prayer ascended from her lips, “O Lord, bless my mother, and make her like Jesus.” May it not be, that the simple prayer of a little child will gain entrance where others do not reach?
“Not like Jesus!” Ah; how true. How little do we who are parents comprehend the feelings of our children. How little do we realize that the stern rebuke, the unkind look, the hasty or impatient word, is often answered in our children by the tears, not of anger or resentment, but of a loving, though grieved and outraged, nature.
O thou lamb of God! Meek and lowly One! Mould me into thine image. Give me more of thy Spirit. Make me like one of “these little ones,” of whom thou hast said, “Of such is the kingdom of Heaven.”
S. S. BARTLETT.
The P O address of Eld. A. Barnes is changed from Canaan, Mo., to Brunswick, Me.
RECEIPTS.
For Review and Herald.
Annexed to each receipt in the following list, is the Volume and Number of the REVIEW & HERALD to which the money received pays,—which should correspond with the Numbers on the Posters. If money for the paper is not in due time acknowledged immediate notice of the omission should then be given.
$1.00 each. N Lawrence 35-23, R Hicks 34-21, E Butler 34-7, J L Wood 35-1, J O Neill 35-1, H Othwait 35-1, S W Peck 35-1, S Narcross 36-1, Ira Lamb 33-14, Mrs J E Simonds 34-15, F Frauenfelder 34-1, B F Rice 33-1.
$2.00 each. T B Lewis 33-15, S Holt 35-1, D Myers 34-1, W Bixby 35-1, W Sutliff 35-14, P Scarborough 36-1, G Heabler 36-1, S N Wright 35-1, Lydia Martin 35-1, A Woodruff 36-9, J F Conley 35-18, N M Jordan 35-1, W H Butler 35-11, Lebbeus Drew 34-9, D Farnum 34-13, G A Smith 34-7.
Miscellaneous. R L Lawrence $4.00 35-1, L S Gregory 4.00 36-1, C H Barrows 2.68 35-18, T McKee 3.00 35-1, J B Taber 2.25 34-1, A Taber 2.63 33-17.
Cash Received on Account.
W Sutliff $1.00.
Michigan Conference Fund.
John McGregor $3.00, Church at Chesaning 10.00.
General Conference Missionary Fund.
John McGregor $5.00, Church of Jackson, at Leslie, 15.00.
Books Sent by Mail.
J F Colby 75c, A C Perrigo 75c, N T Farnum 75c, J H Chandler 75c, Wm A Hicks $1.00, I Edgerton 75c, C Baker 75c, C Lindsay 1.00, J Y Wilcox 10c, Eliza Nelson 75c, D Myers 55c, T F Cottrell 20c, E O Edson 10c, S N Wright 25c, Mrs H Raymond 1.62, J L Wood 50c, Mrs J E Simonds 1.00, I F Frauenfelder 12c, R O Farrar 1.00, Mrs H I Farnam 2.00.
Receipts for Benevolent Fund.
E B Lane $10.00, L M Hall 10.00.
What is Your Life?
By John Nevins Andrews
This life should be wholly devoted to fighting the fight of faith. If we do thus employ its brief existence we shall in due time lay hold on eternal or ever-during life. And when the wicked shall enter the everlasting fire which shall devour them, the righteous shall inherit life eternal. Life without end! What a boon to such poor mortals as the children of Adam. What issues hang upon the use made of the life that now is! One kind of use will make this life the means of obtaining one that shall never end; the other kind of use shall bring us to the lake of fire. Reader, how are you employing the life which God has given you?
J. N. A.
A LITTLE THREAD.
Payson once gave notice in Portland that he would be glad to see any person who did not intend to seek religion. About forty came. He spent a very pleasant interview with them, saying nothing about religion till, just as they were about to leave, he closed a few very plain remarks thus:—“Suppose you should see, coming down from heaven, a very fine thread, so fine as to be almost invisible, and it should come and gently attach itself to you. You knew, we will suppose, it came from God. Should you dare to put out your hand and thrust it away?” He dwelt for a few moments on the idea, and then added:—“Now such a thread has come from God to you this afternoon. You do not feel, you say, any interest in religion. But by your coming here this afternoon God has fastened one little thread upon you all. It is very weak and frail, and you can easily brush it away. But you will not do so? No; welcome it, and it will enlarge and strengthen itself until it becomes a golden thread to bind you forever to a God of love!”—Sunday School Times.
The Ending of the 2300 Years
T. R., Boone Co., Iowa. We would not deal in the article. We think the 490 years ended in A. D. 34. The 1810 years remaining of the 2300, would consequently end in 1844.
The New Hymn Book
By Editor
THE NEW HYMN BOOK.—We would say to those who have ordered the new hymn book that we have not received them from the binders fast enough to keep up with our orders. Some of our first orders have not yet been filled on account of not having the style of binding ordered. We shall probably fill all orders on hand, this week.
