Review and Herald, Vol. 28, No. 17. (9/25/1866)

Review and Herald

Sep 25, 1866

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 25, 1866

The Year 1866.

By J.

BIBLE students who have made the prophecies their especial study have very generally agreed that the year 1866, and onward to 1870 were pregnant with some great events, fraught with deep and lasting interest of weal or woe to the human family, as character must determine. Some of those who have fixed their eye on 1866 and thereabouts, long since have ceased both to write and to live. As the time has been nearing, there has been a marked interest manifest, both on the Eastern and Western continents. Writers have sprung up in all directions, in every branch of the church, so that now there are numerous weeklies, monthlies, and some quarterlies devoted to the study and exposition of prophecy; besides, there are tracts, pamphlets, and numerous books, many of them written by men of the first talents and undoubted piety.

These writers, though differing more or less in many minor points, very generally reject the modern popular theory of this world's speedy conversion by human appliances, aided by gospel means, as a dangerous heresy of the last times, every way calculated to lull, deceive and cheat the world and the church into their last fatal slumber, as foretold by the prophetic scriptures. On the other hand, they very generally believe and teach that our groaning creation (Rom. viii, 22,) has well nigh accomplished the time of her bondage, and is about to be disenthralled by the appearing and interposition of the “Prince of the kings of the earth,” when “the kingdoms of this world are to become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ,” (Rev. xi, 15,) answering to the parable of the nobleman who went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and after a long time to return and reckon with his servants. The time has been indeed long since earth’s rightful Lord and King, the second Adam, ascended from Olivet, to his Father and our Father, to his God, and our God. John xx, 17.

Though nearly two thousand years have rolled onward under the heavy burden of the curse, and vast numbers of the best of men have toiled, suffered, and died in the cause of truth and righteousness, it must be admitted that there are no trustworthy assurances that the world is mending, and about to work out its own cure, prior to the return of the Physician of soul and body. He is emphatically our “redemption.”

Whether this great event is this year, or prior to 1870, will there need to be any great change in this world to fill up the prophetic programme so distinctly marked out in the Holy Scriptures? The filling up by passing events of this most clear and minute outline should convince all. It may be well to name, and then look about us for some of these landmarks along the coast of time which we are just now navigating, for doubtless our times are peculiar.

1. The prophet says, “many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” Dan. xii, 4. Is not this landmark clear and distinct before the unprejudiced mind? Mark, this is in close proximity with other events. First, a time of great trouble and deliverance for those “who shall be found written in the book.” Verse 1. Second, a resurrection, “many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake.” Verse 2. Third, though it will be a time of unparalleled light, it will also be a time of unparalleled wickedness. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” Verse 10. The wicked shall do wickedly, and none of them shall understand; surely this does not look like the greater part, or all of them being converted according to modern teaching.

2. It will be a time of great light, and prevailing wickedness and apostasy. “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” Matt. xxiv, 12. Compare this with another scripture, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come; for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” 2 Tim. iii, 1–5. Do not these things now appear as real as face answers to face in a glass, in a style and degree never before witnessed? Does this look like the world’s rapid advance in vital godliness? It is trifling with God’s word to attempt to evade this sad picture by saying it has always been so.

3. “And as it was in the day of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage until Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise also, as it was in the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded. But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” Luke xviii, 26–30. Compare this with another, “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.” 2 Tim. iii, 13.

One more landmark must suffice. “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days, scoffers, walking after their own lusts and saying, where is the promise of his coming, for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” 2 Pet. iii, 3–4. Never was there such scoffing and skepticism in reference to the second advent as now. The scoffers are actually upon us, and verily the world is not ready to meet her coming Lord.—J., in Northern Independent.

Napoleon and Maximilian.

The first Bonaparte received his death-wound in Spain. The second may find that his coup de grace will be dealt to him from Mexico. “The Spanish ulcer and the Austrian match” were coupled by the great Napoleon as the joint causes of his fall. The last would have done him no harm had it not been for the first; but men had always rather attribute their misfortunes to the treachery of hollow friends than to their own mistakes or crimes. The dire necessity of finding employment for his armies and supplying illuminations for Paris urged him on to his doom, and drove him upon the disasters of the Peninsula and of Russia. This present Bonaparte has felt the same compulsion, and it has driven him into a complication which may well end in a catastrophe. Facts have shown him to be cunning rather than wise, crafty rather than sagacious. He caught at the chance of our rebellion, and sought to turn it to his own uses. Assuming that it must succeed, as a despot always believes in the success of the worser side, he seized the opportunity to occupy Mexico, on a preposterous pretense, for the double purpose of dazzling the French people by the spectacle of their sovereign bestowing the crown of the Montesumas on a prince of the House of Hapsburg, held virtually of him in chief, and of acquiring a part of Texas and the command of the mouth of the Mississippi, as a direct augmentation of the territories and the power of France.

But things would not go according to his calculations. The United States persisted in beating their rebels. The Juarists refused to yield their claims to the government of their own country. An immense debt had to be guaranteed by the French nation, and a great army exiled to a land it hated and a service it detested, in order to prop up this mock throne with their bayonets. The whole attempt was a failure. The Mexican empire consisted of precisely as many roods of ground as French troops could occupy and French cannon command. The United States refused to recognize the creature of Bonaparte as the authentic choice of the Mexican nation, or to admit the right of a European despot to impose a monarchy on a trans-Atlantic country against the will of its inhabitants. The army growled in Mexico, the legislative body grumbled in Paris. It was but too evident that this factitious state of things must come to an end, both in Mexico and in France. It was too expensive a toy to

be played with any longer. The grown children would not be amused with it any more. And so it is to be thrown away like a broken plaything. But it may prove something worse than a broken plaything—a broken reed that may pierce the hand that leaned upon it as a prop of his dynasty. It has proved one of those blunders which are worse than crimes—a blundering crime, a criminal blunder. When a crime is consecrated by success, it is always sure to find worshippers enough; but when blunders come to confusion and mischief, there is none so poor as to do them reverence.

This Mexican misadventure is precisely one of the blunders which came to sudden calamity, and it is one of its worst features for Bonaparte that its folly is now plain for all sorts of people to see. He had not examined the ground he was to go upon, like a skillful engineer. He had made no proper reconnoissance into the country he was about to invade, as a prudent general should do. His success was dearly bought, and brought in no returns. The expedition went up like a rocket, and is now fast coming down like the stick. In obedience to the demands of the United States and the murmurs of the French people and the French army, a definite time is fixed for his troops to be withdrawn; and when they withdraw, the baseless fabric of the Mexican empire vanishes into thin air, and Maximilian will be all one as Montezuma, only he will escape with his life. His poor wife has just been politely repulsed by the man who placed her husband and herself on their ridiculous elevation, when she came a suppliant for the aid essential to keep them yet a little while upon it. He is obliged to refuse what she asks. She, the grand-daughter of Louis Philippe, on whose throne the man she supplicates sits, a suppliant for grace which is refused! An awkward interview that must have been! He who had lured her husband and herself from their beautiful Miramar, on the shores of the Adriatic, by the likeness of a kingly crown, into a distant hemisphere, which vanished in the touching, and then left them to their fate, must have felt her presence and her errand as the most cutting of reproaches, and perhaps as the most fatal of portents.

Thrones which rest upon long prescriptions, whose traditions run back into remote antiquity and take hold of the imagination and the heart, may last long even after they are honey-combed by corruption, and exist like those dead bodies which retain all their proportions until a touch crumbles them to dust. This is not the case with monarchies which have no basis for their existence excepting the faith of the lieges in the genius, the wisdom, or the fortune of the monarch. Opinion is the breath of the nostrils of Bonaparte; and when opinion deserts him, the life of his power departs from him. He is now in the critical moment of his life, when the French people are coming to discern that he is not the miracle of political wisdom and forecast for which they had taken him. They find that he is not the sure leader in the paths of glory and dominion. They doubt the share he had in his own successes, and question whether they do not rather belong to luck than sagacious purpose and profound design. It is possible that the downfall of Maximilian may be but the precursor of that of Bonaparte. It would be more than poetical justice. It would be righteous retribution.

True Happiness.

By Sarah A. Nicholes

How vain are the pleasures of earth, How false are their promises fair; Too often they fade at the birth, And the heart is o'erwhelmed in despair.

Like the rose they may bloom for a while, And all may seem joyous and gay; But let storms of adversity rise, And how quickly they wither away.

But oh, there is something that's sure, That adversity sweeps not away; That cheers the lone heart in despair, 'Tis the hope of the heavenly day.

This hope points us yonder for rest, Where pleasures bloom not to decay, Where the heart shall no more be opprest, And sorrow shall vanish away.

O seek there thy treasure, my friend, Since all is so transient below, Seek pleasures that never will end, And pleasures even here shalt thou know.

SARAH A. NICHOLES.

Jamaica, Vt.

The Bargain.

By A. C. H.

[The following sketch I read when quite young and was deeply impressed with its spirit. It is now copied for the Review from one of Arthur’s bound volumes. A. C. H.]

“What have you there, husband?” said Mrs. Courtland to her thrifty and careful spouse, as the latter paused in the open door to give some directions to a couple of porters who had just set something upon the pavement in front of the house.

Just wait a moment and I will tell you! Here, Henry! John! bring it in here. And the two porters entered with a beautiful sofa, nearly new.

Why, that is a beauty, husband! how kind you are. It’s second-hand, you perceive, but it’s hardly soiled—no one would know the difference. It’s just as good as new. What did you give for it?

“That’s the best part of it; it’s a splendid bargain. It didn’t cost a cent less than a hundred dollars. Now what do you think I paid for it?

Sixty dollars.

Only twenty dollars.

Well, now, that is a bargain.

An’t it, though? It takes me to get things cheap, continued the prudent Mr. Courtland, chuckling with delight.

Why, how in the world did it go off so cheap?

I managed that. It isn’t every one that understands how to do these things.

But, how did you manage it? I should like to know.

Why, you see there were a great many things there, and, among the rest, some dirty carpets. Before the sale I pulled over these carpets and threw them upon the sofa. A good deal of dust fell from them and made the sofa look fifty per cent worse than it really was. When the sale commenced, there happened to be but few persons there, and I asked the auctioneer to sell the sofa first, as I wanted to go, and would bid for it, if it were sold then. Few persons bid freely at the opening of a sale.

What’s bid for this splendid sofa? began the auctioneer.

I’ll give fifteen dollars for it, said I; it’s not worth more than that; for it’s dreadfully abused.

Fifteen dollars! fifteen dollars! only fifteen dollars for this beautiful sofa! he went on; and a man next to me bid seventeen dollars. I let the auctioneer cry the last bid for a few minutes, until I saw that he was likely to knock it down.

Twenty dollars and that’s as much as I’ll go for it, said I.

The other bidder was deceived by this as to the real value of the sofa; for it did look dreadfully disfigured by the dust and dirt, and consequently the sofa was knocked off to me.

That was admirably done, indeed! said Mrs. Courtland, with a bland smile of satisfaction at having obtained the elegant piece of furniture at so cheap a rate. And it’s so near a match, too, for the sofa in our front parlor.

On the day previous to the sale, a widow lady with one daughter, a beautiful and interesting girl about seventeen, were seated on a sofa in a neatly furnished parlor in Hudson street. The mother held in her hand a small piece of paper, on which her eyes were intently fixed; but it could be readily perceived that she saw not the characters written upon it.

What’s to be done, ma? at length asked the daughter.

Indeed, my child, I cannot tell. The bill is fifty dollars, and has been due, you know, for several days. I haven’t got five dollars, and your bill for teaching the Miss Leonard cannot be presented for two weeks, and then it will not amount to this sum.

Can’t we sell something more, ma? suggested the daughter.

We have sold all our plate and jewelry, and now I’m sure I don’t know what we can dispose of, unless it is something that we really want.

What do you say to selling the sofa?

Well, I don’t know, Florence. It don’t seem right to part with it, but, perhaps we can do without it.

It will readily bring fifty dollars, I suppose.

Certainly. It is of the best wood and workmanship, and cost one hundred and forty dollars. Your father bought it a short time before he died, and that is less than two years past, you know.

I should think it would bring nearly a hundred dollars, said Florence, who knew nothing of auction sacrifices; and that would give us enough, besides paying our quarter’s rent, to keep us comfortably until some of my bills come due.

That afternoon the sofa was sent, and on the next afternoon Florence went to the auctioneer’s to receive the money for it.

Have you sold that sofa yet, sir? asked the timid girl, in a low, hesitating voice.

What sofa, Miss? asked the clerk looking steadily in her face with a bold stare.

The sofa sent by Mrs. ———, sir.

When was it to have been sold?

Yesterday, sir.

Oh, we haven’t got the bill made out yet. You can call on the day after to-morrow, and we’ll settle it for you.

Can’t you settle it to-day, sir? We want the money particularly.

Without reply to the timid girl’s request the clerk commenced turning over the leaves of a large account-book, and in a few minutes had taken off the bill of the sofa.

Here it is, eighteen dollars and sixty cents. See if it is right and then sign this receipt.

An’t you mistaken, sir? It was a beautiful sofa and cost one hundred and forty dollars.

That’s all it brought, Miss, I assure you. Furniture sells very badly.

Florence rolled up the bills that were given her, and returned with a heavy heart.

It only brought eighteen dollars and sixty cents, ma, said she, throwing the notes into her mother’s lap and bursting into tears.

Heaven only knows, then, what we shall do, said the widow, clasping her hands together, and looking upward.

Reader! There are always two parties in the case of bargains—the gainer and the loser; and while the one is delighted with the advantage he has obtained, he rarely thinks of the necessities which have forced the other to accept the highest offer.

Persecution in the South.

By Editor

We sometimes receive letters from “my policy” men, asking if we publish lies about the persecution of Union men in the South. In reply we would say, it would give us great pleasure indeed if we could only believe these reports were false, but the evidence is so conclusive, and the proof so overwhelming, that the bitter partisan can only deny it. Below we give a short extract from a report of Rev. J. F. Chalfant, late Pastor of Trinity M. E. Church, Cincinnati, and now Superintendent of Mission for the M. E. Church in Western Georgia and Alabama:—Christian Press.

HAS THE GENERAL STATE OF SOCIETY IMPROVED IN THE LAST THREE MONTHS?

Let the following facts answer:

1. The massacre of colored people at Memphis. The result is summed up by the investigating committee as follows; let it go upon the record, and go down to posterity: Colored people killed, 46; whites, 2; rapes on colored women, 5; mal-treatment, 10; robberies, 100; houses and cabins burned, 91; churches, 9; school-houses, 12. Value of property destroyed, $130,991.

Most of these colored people were murdered in cold blood; men and women were shot in bed; little children were dragged out, and their brains clubbed out on the spot. In one instance, a sick girl, one of the most promising scholars in Memphis, arose from her bed and rushed out of the flames, but was shot and thrown back and burned to a crisp.

2. The mysterious removal of two teachers, Foster and M'Cool, from Corinth, Miss. They were modest, inoffensive young men, from Ohio. Threats were made against them, of which they took no notice, but proceeded with their school, sleeping in the school-house, for they could find no white family who would board them. One night after a heavy discharge of musketry about their house, all was still, and next morning they were gone. They have never been seen or heard of since, though the Mayor of Corinth and the Freedmen’s Bureau have put forth commendable efforts to find out the men who removed them; as yet they have learned nothing. A young lady then undertook to teach the school; she taught but one day, for that night the house was burned down.

3. The reception of anonymous letters and threats. One Union man in Huntsville has received as many as four or five, warning him to leave. Threats of personal violence have been made against the superintendent of the work of the M. E. Church. Efforts of a public and private character to bring in to disrepute the ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church—the studied effort to prevent our purchasing property for school and church purposes—the circulating of a slanderous

report through the societies formed by Rev. Mr. Lakin, in Jackson county, Ala., that he had been convicted of horse-stealing and sentenced to the penitentiary, and had finally run away.

4. The surrounding of the place of worship in La Grange, Ga., where Rev. J. H. Caldwell was holding services, and annoying them from evening to evening, firing as many as thirty to forty shots of an evening, so the whistle of the bullets could be distinctly heard about their heads.

5. The holding of an indignation meeting because we dared to visit Oxford, Ga., and preach to the colored people; and the writing of an insulting letter, calling in question the character of one of the oldest and most reputable ministers of the Georgia Conference, for no cause, except he had come back to his mother, the Methodist Episcopal Church.

6. The burning of one church at Jonesboro, Ga., as soon as purchased by the Methodist Episcopal Church; and the burning of a school-house in another portion of our work in Georgia.

7. The persecution and annoyance of Union men in other fields, till such men as Rev. Jno. Murphy and Rev. J. W. Talley cry out, one, “We cannot stand it much longer unless the Government protects. Is there no help? Why do rebels reign?” and the other, “Our persecutions are as great as Wesley’s.”

These facts, with scores of others that now lie before us, go to show the state of society in this country. Will any man say that the rights of conscience are respected, that Union or Northern citizens are respected?

Illustrations of Providence.

Some years ago, a young man holding a subordinate position in the East India Company's service, twice attempted to deprive himself of life, by snapping a loaded pistol at his head. Each time the pistol missed fire. A friend entering his room shortly afterward, he requested him to fire it out of the window; it then went off without any difficulty. Satisfied, thus, that the weapon had been duly primed and loaded, the young man sprang up, exclaiming, “I must be reserved for something great;” and from that moment gave up the idea of suicide, which for some time previous had been uppermost in his thoughts. That young man afterward became Lord Clive.

Two brothers were on one occasion walking together, when a violent storm of thunder and lightning overtook them. One was struck dead on the spot, the other was spared; else would the name of the great reformer, Martin Luther, have been unknown to mankind.

The holy St. Augustine, having to preach at a distant town, took with him a guide, who by some unaccountable means mistook the usual road, and fell into a by-path. He afterward discovered that his enemies, having heard of his movements, had placed themselves in the proper road, with the design of murdering him.

Bacon, the sculptor, when a tender boy of five years old, fell into the pit of a soap-boiler, and must have perished, had not a workman, just entering the yard, observed the top of his head, and immediately delivered him.

When Oliver Cromwell was an infant, a monkey snatched him from his cradle, leaped with him through a garret window, and ran along the leads of the house. The utmost alarm was excited amongst the inmates, and various were the devices used to rescue the child from the guardianship of his newly-found protector. All were unavailing; his would-be rescuers had lost courage, and were in despair of ever seeing the baby alive again, when the monkey quickly retraced its steps, and deposited its burden safely on the bed. On a subsequent occasion, the waters had well nigh quenched his insatiable ambition. He fell into a deep pond, from drowning in which a clergyman named Johnson was the sole instrument of his rescue.

At the siege of Leicester, a young soldier, about seventeen years of age, was drawn out for sentry duty. One of his comrades was very anxious to take his place. No objection was made, and this man went. He was shot dead while on guard. The young man in the first drawn, afterward became the Author of the “Pilgrim's Progress.”

Doddridge, when born, was so weakly an infant that he was believed to be dead. A nurse, standing by, fancied she saw some signs of vitality. Thus the feeble spark of life was saved from being extinguished, and an eminent author and consistent Christian preserved to the world.

John Wesley, when a child, was only just preserved from fire. Almost the moment after he was rescued, the roof of the house, where he had been, fell in.

Of Philip Henry, a similar instance is recorded.

John Knox, the renowned Scotch reformer, was always wont to sit at the head of the table, with his back to the window. On one particular evening, without, however, being able to account for it, he would neither himself sit in the chair, nor permit any one else to occupy his place. That very night a bullet was shot in at the window, purposely to kill him; it grazed the chair in which he sat, and made a hole in the foot of a candlestick on the table.

Many years have now elapsed since three subalterns might have been seen struggling off St. Helena; one of them, peculiarly helpless, was fast succumbing. He was saved, to live as Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington.

The life of John Newton is but the history of a series of marvelous deliverances. As a youth, he had agreed to accompany some friends on board a man-of-war. He arrived too late to go; the boat in which his friends had gone was capsized, and all its occupants drowned. On another occasion, when tide surveyor in the port of Liverpool, some business had detained him, so that he came to his boat much later than usual, to the great surprise of those who were in the habit of observing his then undeviating punctuality. He went out in a boat, as heretofore, to inspect a ship, which blew up before he reached her. Had he left the shore a few minutes sooner, he must have perished with the rest on board.

Is Your Bible Your Own?

Is your Bible your very own Bible? that is, is it a real comfort and advantage to you. Or are you merely acting the part of a watchman or police officer, who protects property in which he has no interest?

A miser, who had buried his money in his garden, was robbed of his treasure. “Poor fellow!” said one, “he has lost the whole of his property.”

“His property!” replied another, “it could hardly be considered his, for he never did make and never would have made any use of it; I should call it the property of his heirs.”

A man living in England, who had money to spare, purchased land in Australia to the extent of a thousand acres, not that he ever received any benefit from it, or even ever saw it, for these things are quite out of the question. He had bought the land, thinking it would turn out a fine fortune for his children or his grand-children.

“That man has a great deal of property abroad,” said a neighbor, speaking to a friend.

“Not half so much,” replied his friend, “as I have in the sun, and moon and stars, for I do see them, and they afford me great satisfaction, whereas he never sees his estate, and never derives from it any advantage.”

Some years ago I had occasion to send a parcel to an honest, hard-working mason and bricklayer who lived in the country. It contained, besides sundry little presents for his wife and children, a trowel for his own use, made in a superior way, with a mahogany handle, and often did I fancy that I saw him, hard at work with the trowel in his hand. It happened that last summer, being in the neighborhood, I called at the cottage of the honest bricklayer, and to my surprise, I saw the trowel that I had sent him, exhibited over the chimney piece as a curiosity. It had been considered too good for use, and consequently had never been of the slightest use to its owner.

Now, if you are using your Bible as the miser used his money, the rich man his Australian estate, and the honest bricklayer his mahogany-handled trowel, the less you say about its being your Bible the better.

Anecdote of Joseph Wolfe.

I HAVE read that when Joseph Wolfe, the Jewish missionary who preached the gospel of the kingdom of God in almost every land, was traveling on one of his Eastern tours, he came where two roads parted. He hesitated a little, not knowing which to choose, and at length, having decided, he started on. A little while afterward he looked over into the other path and saw a lion there. Had he gone there, he doubtless would have been slain.

On returning to England, he was relating the circumstance to his sister, and they found on comparing their journals, that at the very hour when he stood hesitating at those paths, and making his choice for life or death, she, in an agony of soul, was crying to God on his behalf, and beseeching that the protection and blessing of the Most High might attend him.—The Christian.

BREECH-LOADERS.—

Austria has signified her adoption of an American arm—the new Remington breech-loader—and “all the resources of public and private works are to be employed in its manufacture.” The Belgian Minister of War has also applied for permission to manufacture under the Remington patent, while England and France have ordered additional samples, with which to complete their trials of the same.

The invention—mainly consists in the application of a swinging breech-piece, pierced by a firing-line, to a barrel bored “through and through,” and acting in combination with a tumbler attached to the hammer, so that the curved edges of the tumbler and the breech will interlock to brace against the recoil. This gun has shown greater rapidity of fire than any other, exceeding even sixteen shots per minute; and it claims superiority in the additional requisites of accuracy, extent of range, portability, durability, simplicity for purposes of cleaning and repair, safety and convenience of handling in action, and cheapness of construction. While this is likely to be the standard pattern for new guns, there is a desire on the part of our Government to avoid for a time the expense of an entire new piece, by altering to breech-loaders the Springfield rifles now on hand. The Remington plan for this purpose is also before the public.

One of God's Noblement

ONE OF GOD'S NOBLEMEN.—A flat-boat full of soldiers, a few of whom were Africans, attempted to land at Rodman's Point, on the coast of South Carolina. The rebels were awaiting their approach in ambuscade, and reserved their fire till the end of the boat was resting on the shore, and then opened a deadly fire. Life could only be saved by lying flat on the boat's bottom, and if they remained inactive long, the whole boat-load would be captured. One of the negro soldiers, who saw the situation, and the vital importance of getting the boat off, as well as the imminent danger of the attempt, said: “Somebody got to die to get us all out dis ’ere, and it mought jus’ as well be me as any body?” He then deliberately rose up, stepped on shore, and pushed the boat off. As she swung clear, and the men crouched in the bottom were saved, the body of the noble African fell forward into the end of the boat, pierced by five bullets.

Immodest Dress and Delicacy

“Some few years ago a French dancer appeared in New York, whose style was then considered so immoral that very few church-going people would appear in her presence. Last Sunday I attended a fashionable church, and there saw that three-fourths of the ladies, in entering their pews, in consequence of their style of dress, made an exposure which might even shame the French dancer. It is not only in going into pews, but in going up door steps, getting in and out of street-cars, omnibuses, carriages, ascending stairs, &c., that the morals of the present day are being impaired. Can ladies expose themselves in their present style of dress without impairing their delicacy?”— N. Y. Post.

Victory Over Self, the World, and Hell

Every step toward Heaven is a struggle with, and victory over, SELF, the WORLD, and HELL.

Compliments Coming.

Under the heading of “Ellen’s Visions,” Wm. Sheldon, in the last Voice of the West says: “In due time I intend to pay my compliments to the visions of Mrs. E. G. White.” As a reason for this great step which he has so deliberately resolved upon, he urges that they “positively clash with the Bible in many particulars.” This, when sifted down, means that they clash with his views of the Bible in many particulars. But it will not take long to show that in the many particulars, his views are not Bible.

He then makes an assertion which many others have made before him, and which they persist in making, notwithstanding our repeated denials of the same; and that is, that many place the visions above the Bible, considering the Bible as “impure, crooked, or second-hand, testimony,” in contrast with the visions which are the “pure,” “straight,” and “direct,” testimony. We deny that any of our people hold such a view. Can we have their names? Such assertions can be made for no other purpose than to create prejudice. It is the best weapon they have. With those to whom our correction is not permitted to come, they may for a time have influence; but erroneous statements, whether made through ignorance or malice, cannot in the long run be of benefit to any cause.

After promising evidence in due time that the visions clash with the Bible, he says, “But I will content myself for the present in giving a mere sample, which is enough of itself to prove her visions opposed to God’s Bible.” This he proceeds to do, in the manner following, to wit:

“For instance: Her visions locate the rise of the two-horned beast, and the image of the beast, down this side of the great papal persecution; but John commends the martyrs for not worshiping the ‘beast nor his image,’ Rev. xx, 4, and it would have been an utter impossibility for them to have worshiped the ‘image’ before its existence; and its existence is preceded by the rise of the two-horned beast, Rev. xiii; and certainly the martyrs are not to be praised for standing aloof from mere nonentity. The only conclusion is, the ‘image of the beast’ existed while these martyrs lived, and they refused to worship it, and were killed in consequence. But Ellen does not allow the ‘two-horned beast’ to rise till after the martyrs are all killed.

“How can they get out of this dilemma? Not by claiming a future persecution, for Ellen saw in vision that after they were all ready to kill the saints, that their swords fell powerless—nobody killed in the future struggle. No ‘image of the beast’ when the martyrs were slain, and no martyrs to be slain after the ‘image of the beast’ rises!!

“This is but a sample of the facts which I have to adduce. Prove all things.”

As he offers this as a “sample,” it is doubtless the best and the strongest that he has to present. In most of the efforts of our opponents against us, one thing is very apparent at first sight; namely, an astonishing ignorance of what our real belief is. We certainly think they would appear to much better advantage, if they would acquaint themselves with our views, before they attempt to answer them, or to run us into “dilemmas” over them.

In addition to this, there is, in the present instance, evidence of a very superficial examination of the passage, Rev. xx, 4, on which he professes to show so clearly that the visions are “opposed to God’s Bible.” He says, “John commends the martyrs for not worshiping the ‘beast and his image.’” We reply, He does not. And moreover, John says nothing about the martyrs worshiping either the beast or his image. Has he ever looked at the original of this passage? If he has, he has found that in the sentence, “and which had not worshiped the beast neither his image,” &c., the words “and which” are from the original καὶ οἵτινες; and if he has ever consulted his lexicon for the definition of ὅστις he has found that it means “whoever” or “whosoever.” Robinson in his more extended lexicon of the Greek Testament, defines it thus: In a proper and literal sense, “any one who, some one who, whosoever, whatsoever; differing from [the simple relative] ὅς in referring to a subject only generally, as one of a class, and not definitely, thus serving to render a proposition general.” According to these definitions, the passage literally translated would read as follows: And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and whosoever had not worshiped the beast, neither his image,” &c. Bloomfield remarks on the passage: “Καὶ οἵτινες οὐ προσκ. This is well rendered by Prof. Scholef., ‘and whosoever worshiped not.’”

We thus see that there are two classes most distinctly brought to view in Rev. xx, 4: 1st. The martyrs; and 2nd. Those who had not, or whosoever had not, worshiped the beast neither his image, &c. And this passage does not locate this worship of the image. It is not necessary to refer it to the past. It can just as well be in the future, where other scriptures unmistakably place it.

And so Mr. Sheldon’s first and most brilliant effort to show the visions opposed to “God’s Bible,” by throwing the image of the beast back into the days of the martyrs, is entirely overthrown by a correct understanding of the passage. And if this is “a sample of the facts” he has to adduce, we would counsel him for his own sake to withhold his threatened “compliments,” and save his ink and paper, the only valuable things, apparently, to be wasted in his effort.

His attempted slur in the frequent repetition of the word “Ellen,” we pass by as unworthy of notice. His marks of astonishment belong to himself, not to the visions.

To whomsoever it may concern we would say, that we are confident that we can show that there is no discrepancy whatever between the teachings of the visions and the Bible; and if at any time you are troubled by anything that our opponents may bring up, please state to us your difficulties, and we will at least endeavor to remove them.

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