p. 20 | Review and Herald, Vol. 23, No. 3. (12/15/1863)

The Head and Front of Present Truth.

We talk much of the present truth. There are many who dearly love the theme. There are many who greatly rejoice in it. It is meat in due season to the household of faith. It is always an appropriate subject for the little flock to dwell upon. Many can testify to its life-giving power when the veil of tradition is lifted and the windows of the mind are first opened to its cheering light. When a person has long wandered amid the indefiniteness of popular theology, with no special truth pressed home upon the conscience, and no definite idea of his own or the world's position in the fulfillment of prophecy; when the fog is suddenly cleared away, and he beholds on one hand, like a beacon light, some startling prophecy in process of fulfillment, and perceives on the other, some new truth towering up before him with its imperative claims, and begins to see in clear outline his position on the stream of time, the nearness of the end, and the rocks and breakers that endanger his course, how he wakes to new life! How the word of God becomes a new book to him, filled with new beauties and new harmonies; and how he starts up with glowing heart, to adapt himself to the new development of truth, heed its injunctions, walk in its light, and press to the prize that gleams like a newly risen star, in a full blaze of glory just before him!

Such is the nature and the work of present truth. But what do we mean by present truth? We mean by it, prophecies that are now fulfilling. We mean truths which have been developed in the course of time, and which show us the position we occupy in the great chains of prophetic events, now hasting to their accomplishment. We mean the duties which are now especially incumbent upon the church. We mean the interpretation of those symbols, which represent bodies of men, and organized governments which are now on the stage of action, fast fulfilling their part in the great drama. And we mean the solemn events that immediately follow all these prophecies and symbols.

And the "present truth" as we view it, presents an imposing array of these. This will at once appear, if the reader will for a moment fix his mind upon the chart, with which it is presumed that most of the readers of the Review are familiar, and briefly recapitulate the prophecies there illustrated. We have passed through, in prophetic fulfillment, the great image of Dan. ii. That is, the symbol is fully developed. The prophecy is, of course, not completed, as the Stone has not yet smitten the image upon its feet, and dashed it to shivers; but it stands ready and only waiting for that event. The same may be said of the prophecy of Dan. vii. The lion, bear, leopard, and Roman beast in its pagan and papal form have all been developed as matters of history. So of the prophecy of the ram, he-goat, and little horn, in the eighth chapter. But there are other events of more recent development which stand forth in the foreground of present truth. These are the three messages of Rev. xiv, 9-12; the sanctuary; the prophecy of Rev. xiii, 11-17; and, Rev. xi, 18.

In the prophecy of Rev. xiv, we have reached the third message, and there we now are. That solemn messenger is on his way, bearing to the world its last offers of mercy, and uttering the most terrific warning that ever issued from the court of Heaven. Parallel with this message, a flood of light on the glorious subject of the sanctuary, has risen upon us. In the prophecy of Rev. xiii, we have reached the two-horned beast, which we now behold before us, rapidly developing himself, and preparing with all the speed of the railroad and telegraph, to accomplish the part assigned him. And in the prophecy of the trumpets, commencing in Rev. viii, continuing through chap. ix, and resumed again in chap. xi, 19, we have reached the sounding of the seventh, the last angel in the series.

As the front rank of present truth, we have therefore these four impressive scenes: The third angel giving the last message of mercy to the world, our great High Priest consummating the work of salvation in the most holy of the sanctuary above, the two-horned beast making ready for the conflict, and the seventh angel blowing his trumpet of woe upon the inhabitants of the earth!

And what scenes more important, more momentous and thrilling can be presented before us! What can be more calculated to stir our hearts to their utmost depths. Mark the very next event that is to succeed each one of these scenes: Immediately following the third angel, comes the Son of man on the white cloud with the sickle of the reaper in his mighty hand. He comes to reap the harvest of the earth, and gather the wheat into his garner. In the sanctuary the accounts of six thousand years are being settled up. The cases of all the inhabitants of the earth are passing in final review; and when its work is done, it is done for eternity! Beyond that work we see only the final decisions of everlasting life, or eternal death that pass upon the righteous and the wicked. The two-horned beast in the very midst of his brief career is to be cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. He is cast alive: no other government is to succeed this one; and the scene does not wait till this has reached a state of decrepitude and old age, but it goes into destruction, in the very height of the vigor and power to which it had so suddenly risen; and who shall say that it has not already reached that stage of its development. And in connection with the sounding of the seventh angel we behold a variety of scenes which mark the transition from this dispensation into the glorious one to come. With what peace and joy and heavenly anticipations, does he who has a good hope through grace, contemplate these things and mark how near is the consummation of the blessed hope.

Reader, if you have hitherto been careless on these important themes, let these things arrest your attention. Of one thing be assured, you will be aroused either by these events, or those which are to follow; but if not till then, you will only awake to behold that salvation gone which you might have shared, and meet the destruction which you might have avoided. Which shall it be? If you now treat with indifference the third angel's message, you cannot treat with indifference Him who follows, on the great white cloud, with the sharp sickle in his hand, and from whose presence the wicked will pray for the rocks and mountains to bury them forever. If you are unconcerned now in the work going forward in the heavenly sanctuary, you will not be unconcerned as you hear with terrible anguish, the fiat which will soon go forth as the result of that finished work: "He that is holy, let him be holy still; and he which is filthy let him be filthy still." If you take no interest now in the part which the two-horned beast is to act on the page of prophecy, you will see ere long that your true interest did call upon you to escape that lake of fire into which he is finally cast. And if you care not now for the sounding of the seventh angel, your carelessness will cease, when the wrath of God, which he announces, begins to fall, without mixture of mercy, on the heads of the wicked. Therefore heed now the voice of warning and mercy. The Spirit says, Come; the bride says, Come; and they who have heard—heard the voice of truth, and see the storm approaching, are bidding you come, into the ark of safety.

Brethren, are we awake to these things, as their importance and solemnity require? May the Lord warm up our hearts with a new love for the present truth, fire us anew with its zeal, and baptize us with its spirit; that when the announcement made by the great voices in Heaven, under the sounding of the seventh angel, becomes true in fact, and the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, we too, may be the Lord's, folded in safety under his sheltering wings, and so heirs of the everlasting kingdom, which he shall then establish.

"Why? What Evil Hath He Done?"

By Uriah Smith

When the Jews were clamoring for the blood of Jesus, their blind fury, their groundless and diabolical hate, received a staggering blow from the simple and innocent question put to them by Pilate, "Why? What evil hath he done?" Goaded to madness by a question which at once laid bare their own motives, and brought vividly to mind the innocency of their victim, they only shut their ears, and cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified! Let him be crucified!

There are a few scattering individuals, who not being of us, or because they felt ill at ease in a church where there is the gift of prophecy and a discerning of spirits or at least of bad habits;—there are a few such individuals who have gone out from us, and are naturally enough doing what they can to denounce the visions and raise prejudice against them. Over this the Millennial Harbinger grows jubilant, and in its issue of Nov. 25, speaks to the effect that if these individuals can "do anything by which to enlighten the much-deluded followers of Mrs. White," that is its language, it can wish them success.

The Harbinger and its supporters, have appeared in times past, to be utterly at a loss upon which to bestow their bitterest and intensest hate, the Sabbath or the visions. Apparently regarding them each as objects of all the enmity they could muster, they have seemed to hesitate which to take as the object of that enmity, in preference to the other. But we have it at last. They deliberately take the visions instead of the Sabbath. We can come to no other conclusion; for these very individuals whom they bid God speed in their opposition to the visions, are for the time being observers and defenders of the Sabbath, and their bidding them success, is as much as to say, We will put up with the Sabbath, we will tolerate you in observing and propagating that, if you will only work yourselves up into sufficient fire and fury against the visions.

There were two things mentioned by the prophet, as special objects of enmity with the carnal heart—the commandments of God, and the testimony of Jesus; Rev. xii, 19; and surely the pen of inspiration did not go astray in intimating that pre-eminent in this respect would be the testimony of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy, by once mentioning this to the exclusion of all else, as the characteristic of the church right in connection with her final triumph over her bitterest foes. Rev. xix, 2, 10.

Now we ask, Why all this bitterness, why all this opposition, why all this zeal against the visions? What evil have they done? They are published abroad, and are open for all who wish to engage in the work of their investigation. Do they counsel evil, or devise wickedness? Do they lower the standard of morality? Do they lead their adherents into any paths of transgression and sin? Do they lead them to serve God less faithfully, to love him less fervently, or esteem his word less highly? Do they lead to any of the works of the flesh, or make less devoted and faithful Christians of those who believe them? No man can be found so reckless of his reputation for truth and honesty as to assert any such thing. And again, with equal confidence we inquire on the other hand, Do they not counsel everything that is lovely, pure virtuous, and of good report? Do they not rebuke sin of every kind? Is not their whole and undivided tendency to lead to more zeal and consecration in the service of our Master? Do they not lessen our attachment to things of earth, and lead us to a closer, and sweeter communion with the things of Heaven? Do they not lead to holiness of heart and purity of life?

From whence, then, comes all this war against that of which nothing evil can be said? Do we not know from whence it comes? Ask Cain who slew his brother. Ask the Jews who clamored for the blood of the innocent Saviour. Ask the Papists who did all in their power for long ages to bury the word of God, in everlasting oblivion from honest hearts which were starving for its spiritual food. Ask the infidel who boils in wrath at the very name of Jesus. Ask, in short, the carnal heart in which there exists an inherent enmity against every thing heavenly and divine, and with which in its carnal state, it never can be reconciled. Here we find the fountain—a fountain

from which there never has come, and from which there never can come, any good thing.

But our opponents are doing more for the truth than, perhaps, they anticipate in this thing. All such opposition only strengthens us in our position; for anything over which there is so much uncalled-for disturbance, so much groundless feeling, gives evidence of possessing in itself inherent goodness. Over the church's best treasures there will of course be the most stir in the ranks of the opposition. And just in proportion as war is waged against them; just so much the more should we cherish and defend them. Let us prize these visitations of grace vouchsafed to the church, and thankfully adopt the language of the poet:

"How cheering the thought that the angels of bliss, Will bend their bright wings to a world such as this, Will leave the sweet joys of the mansions above To breathe o'er our bosoms some message of love." U. S.

God Looks at the Motive

LET us remember that God looks in our actions only for the motive. The world judges us by appearance ; God counts for nothing what is most dazzling to men

Origin of the Doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul and Eternal Misery.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

(Concluded.)

It is a well known fact that Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, before the Reformation, was so much admired by the church, that he had entirely usurped the place of the Bible! See D'Aubigne's Hist. of the Reformation.

The reason of this preference may be learned by the following from the New American Cyclopedia, Art., Aristotle: "The reasoning power is regarded by Aristotle not, as we should expect, as a product of the body, but as foreign to its natural organism, bestowed on the outside, and as perfect only after its separation from the body by death—a view which has made Aristotle a favorite with many Christian theologians. In this single respect he harmonizes with Plato. No other philosopher has exerted so large an influence on so many centuries and on the ideas of so many nations, as Aristotle."

This same Aristotle in the second century was opposed by the Christians as being contrary to their faith; but when the church had become entirely corrupt, he was received with open arms.

"Nothing was done in his line of thinking until about 150 years after Christ, a school was founded at Alexandria, to comment upon, and grammatically explain, the writings of Plato and Aristotle. This school endeavored to beget an enthusiasm for a speculative philosophy among the educated classes and to revive classical heathenism in opposition to Christianity. The philosophy of Aristotle was thus rendered obnoxious to the fathers of the church."

But from the eleventh century to the Reformation, Aristotle was quoted by the church as good authority on theological questions. It may be interesting to us to trace the steps by which this corruption was gradually wrought in the church.

As the gospel gradually spread its influence from Judea to the surrounding nations, many of the pagans embraced its truths, so that in the end of the third, and beginning of the fourth, centuries, they formed a considerable portion of the Roman empire. They were frequently subject to severe persecutions by the emperors. When Constantine ascended the throne, they were still smarting from the persecution by Maximian.

Constantine, by his conduct, gave them hopes that he would embrace Christianity, and thus bring them complete deliverance. From the dictates of human nature, we may be assured that they watched him with the most eager interest as he wavered between Christianity and paganism, as the result would probably be life or death to them. They made all the condescension on their part that conscience would allow. Gibbon says, "The severe rules of discipline which the prudence of the Bishops had instituted, were relaxed by the same prudence in favor of an Imperial proselyte, whom it was so impatient to allure, by every gentle condescension, into the pale of the church; and Constantine was permitted, at least by a tacit dispensation, to enjoy most of the privileges, before he had contracted any of the obligations, of a Christian."

Constantine was born and educated a pagan; and retained many of his pagan tenets after his conversion, which the Christians indulged him in, for the sake of obtaining an Imperial protector.

But we cannot regard Constantine as being a true Christian. All the acts of his life contradicted it. "Whatever symptoms of Christian piety might transpire in the discourses or actions of Constantine, he persevered till he was nearly forty years of age in the practice of the established religion; and the same conduct which in the court of Nicomedia, might be imputed to his fear, could be ascribed only to the inclination or policy of the sovereign of Gaul. His liberality restored and enriched the temples of the gods; the medals which issued from his Imperial mints are impressed with the figures and attributes of Jupiter and Apollo, of Mars and Hercules; and his filial piety increased the council of Olympus by the solemn apotheosis of his father Constantius.

"But the devotion of Constantine was more peculiarly directed to the genius of the sun, the Apollo of the Greek and Roman Mythology; and he was pleased to be represented with the symbols of the God of Light and Poetry... The altars of Apollo were crowned with the votive offerings of Constantine."

Instead of being instructed by the Christians, he took it upon himself to teach them. He immediately turned preacher; and the congregation, as they were by interest bound to do, applauded all that he said, whether it was sense or nonsense, orthodox or heterodox. He presumed to regulate the doctrine and worship of the whole church.

"Constantine early believed that the heretics, who presumed to dispute his opinions, or to oppose his commands, were guilty of the most absurd and criminal obstinacy."

Hence he immediately turned the sword of persecution against all those who would not humbly follow his teachings. But those who sanctioned what he said and embraced Christianity according to his faith, were especially favored. "A white garment and twenty pieces of gold," was promised to every convert. Nay, further the historian says, "The rites of baptism were conferred on women and children, who for that purpose, had been torn from the arms of their friends and parents; the mouths of the communicants were held open by a wooden engine, while the consecrated bread was forced down their throat."

Who would look for purity either of doctrine or morals under such a state of things? If they should look for either they would look in vain. Whole cities were annihilated and provinces laid waste, because they would not adopt the heathen principles of the emperor and his satellites.

But Constantine being unacquainted with the Bible, placed more confidence on the heathen bards and philosophers than he did on the Scriptures. "In a very long discourse, which is still extant, the royal preacher expatiates on the various proofs of religion; but he dwells with peculiar complacency on the sibyline verses, and the fourth eclogue of Virgil." "He chiefly depends on a mysterious acrostic, composed in the sixth age after the deluge, by the Erythraean sibyl, and translated by Cicero into Latin."

The teachings of Virgil and also of Ovid, on the immortality of the soul, are thus described by Dick: "The poems of Ovid and Virgil contain a variety of descriptions, in which the same opinions (the immortality of the soul) are involved. Their notions of future punishment are set forth in the descriptions they give of Ixion, who was fastened to a wheel, and whirled about continually with a swift and rapid motion—of Tantalus, who, for the loathsome banquet he made for the Gods, was set in water up to the chin, with apples hanging to his very lips, yet had no power to either stoop to the one to quench his raging thirst, or to reach to the other to satisfy his craving appetite." &c.

Here, also, we can see all those horrid descriptions of hell, which orthodoxy has made so familiar to us; and which the lively imaginations of Finny, Spurgeon, and Beecher, have described in such glowing colors. If this is not their origin, and if they did originate in the Bible, why does it not give some such descriptions of hell, instead of simply saying the wicked shall "perish," "cease to be," "die," "be consumed." &c.?

This was the source from whence Constantine obtained his main evidence for religion, and his favorite authors, as we have seen, were zealous supporters of the doctrine of the immortality of the soul and eternal misery. Thus we see in his religion more of heathenism than Christianity. By him the freedom of private judgment was abolished and the faith of believers was gradually confined by creeds and conferences, the speculations of theologians and the authority of synods. A crowd of translators, compilers, and critics soon obscured what little light and truth still remained in the church. Thus the gap was opened for all that host of heathen superstitions, holydays, feasts, ceremonies, &c., &c., which now exist in the Roman Catholic Church.

In succeeding years, whole armies of conquered pagans were driven to the water at the point of the

sword and indiscriminately baptized!! The temples of the gods, with little or no change were used as churches. Who could wonder if, under such circumstances, every particle of true religion had been exchanged for some pagan superstition? That this was done to a great extent, every Protestant will allow. We only go a little further, but no further than facts will warrant, and include in that list, other traditions which are commonly ascribed to the Bible. Among these we must include the fable of the immortality of the soul and eternal misery as more strikingly indicating its pagan origin than any which Protestants have rejected. Certainly we cannot find in the whole theology of Rome, any thing that so much resembles a Greek or Roman fable of the gods, as this.

The church entered the dark period of her corruption and degradation with the hope of immortality resting on the resurrection of the dead; she emerged from it with natural immortality inherent in every man!

Even Protestants, wanting scriptural proof, have been reduced to the sad necessity of going to pagan philosophers to prove the natural immortality of man. Thus Dick in his defense of natural immortality, calls Plato's dialogue on this subject, "his admirable dialogue," and quotes it as the strongest proof of the soul's immortality. And Addison, in his "Cato," speaking of this subject, says, "It must be so: Plato, thou reasonest well." &c.

It is an undeniable fact that nearly every argument used by modern theological philosophers in support of the immortality of the soul, was thoroughly canvassed and used by a pagan more than two thousand years ago!

This, I am satisfied, is the true history of this wonderful doctrine of the immortality of the soul and eternal misery—a doctrine so absurd, so contrary to reason, to nature, and to God's word, that it would seem that no rational being, after a candid investigation of the subject, could so far subdue his reason as to believe it. Plato, himself, said that only when he was in warm debate on the subject, could he make himself believe it. Doubtless eternal misery was first preached by the heathen priests to obtain a greater sway over the minds of their ignorant and credulous hearers. This is the mighty scare-crow which Rome has used to frighten men into her hellish designs; or, as Luther says, the pope has used it to make his pot boil. He succeeded so well, that now the Devil, imitating him, is using it to make his pot boil.

Let us consider for a moment what really is meant by that awful term—Eternal Misery! Stop and think of it—how the mind is oppressed with the thought! Eternity! No figures, no numbers, no illustration can give us even a faint idea of the actual length of eternity. And yet orthodoxy tells us that man, poor, puny man, "who is but dust and ashes" and as a vapor that soon passes away," must endure through eternity the intense, living, burning, fires of an eternal hell. Even steam, under pressure can be made so hot that, if it were thrown upon a man, it would reduce him bones and all to a liquid. Artificial heat can be produced so intense as to burn and even volatilize the diamond, the hardest substance in nature. Yet this would be a very faint fire compared to hell-fire which Mr. Finney tells us will grow hotter and hotter as eternity rolls on. In this fire must the sinner live—a fire which, without a miracle from God, would reduce him to vapor in an instant. Now who can believe such a doctrine as that? Who is so dead to reason, so swallowed up in blind prejudice as to see consistency in it! Thank God for a religion which does not compel us to believe it.

Some have become ashamed of this eternal misery doctrine, and substituted for it a "guilty conscience." This, if possible, is still more unscriptural, than the former doctrine; besides it does not better the case. For if fire is only used as a symbol, the pain must be as great as it would be if fire were actually used; otherwise the figure would not be a correct one. But nothing is more definite in the whole Bible than that the wicked will be punished with fire. Let us read a few passages and see if it is all figurative language.

John xv. 6: "If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned."

Rev. xx, 9. "And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city; and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them."

2. Pet. iii, 7. "But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men."

2. Thess. i, 7, 8. "And to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Mal. iv, 1. "For behold the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven: and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. . . . And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet, in the day that I shall do this saith the Lord of hosts."

If fire is used figuratively in the above, will our opponents tell us what would express literal fire?

The Devil has always used this doctrine to the disadvantage of Christianity; but more especially is this the case now. Spiritualism has adopted the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, as its own darling pet. And now they turn it against Christianity itself, and with fearful effect too; for what can orthodoxy do against Spiritualism? Verily nothing. But rather all its teachings tend to help it along; indeed, its own members and ministers by hundreds, are embracing Spiritualism. It has been centuries building walls, digging trenches, throwing up redoubts, and planting cannons, until it vainly imagined itself perfectly secure. But lo! Spiritualism artfully creeping in, hauls down the orthodox and runs up the spiritual flag. This it does so dextrously that many of the soldiers within declare that it is the same flag for which they have so long been fighting.

They sustain this view with such plausible arguments, that their party is increasing every day, and the prospect now is that the whole garrison will soon be of the same opinion.

Thus we see orthodoxy turned out of doors naked and defenceless, and exposed to the fire of its own guns. Yes, the Catholic church, and Protestants following her example, have prepared the way for Spiritualism. If they had held to the Bible doctrine that "the dead know not any thing," Eccl. ix, 5; and that man is mortal, Job. iv, 17; Spiritualism could never have been. It is only the natural consequence, the outgrowth, of this doctrine of natural immortality. This cannot be denied.

Then, if we have not yet been caught in the foils of this soothing delusion, let us bless God that we know that the foundation on which it rests, is a false one, and hence it must be of the Devil.

Thus we have seen that this doctrine of the immortality of the soul had its birth, and passed its infancy, with the Egyptian priests; that it was stolen from them and taken to Greece by her philosophers, where it was nourished and raised to perfect manhood; that it was coaxed from there to Rome, where the Roman Catholic Church adopted it as her peculiar favorite; that Protestants have continued the same respects to it, and now we see that it has, like a spoiled child, turned against its latest benefactors and threatens them with total ruin.

D. M. CANRIGHT.

Coldwater, Mich.

The Sanctuary.

By Roswell F. Cottrell

THE sanctuary was the center of the typical system. It was the place where God's name was recorded, and his glory dwelt. It was the place where Israel should meet with God and inquire at his oracle, and toward which they should look when they prayed, even if they were in a foreign land, led captive by their enemies.

Since the typical system was abolished, at the death of the great and only true sacrifice for sin, the apostle Paul has clearly taught us, in his letter to the Hebrews, that the true tabernacle and priesthood are in heaven. "We have such an high priest," "who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." Thus our minds are transferred from the earthly to the heavenly—from the typical to the true.

How strange it is that Christians should lose sight of the true sanctuary, the place to which all their worship should be directed, as they have at the present day! But that power has been manifested, spoken of in Rev. xiii, who "opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven;" and, as a consequence, men are looking on earth for the sanctuary, either to Rome or to Jerusalem, or some other place, where they have no warrant from scripture to look for it.

But since knowledge has increased in these last days, in fulfillment of the prophecy of Dan. xii, 4, light has broken upon this subject, as well as many others, and we find, not only that the sanctuary in heaven is the grand center of the Christian system, as the earthly was of the typical, but that this subject is the center and citadel of present truth. And since our temple is in heaven, and in that temple, "the ark of his testament," containing "the commandments of God," and in the very midst of these commandments, the Sabbath of the Lord, fenced around by nine moral precepts, that cannot be overthrown, it is no wonder that the enemies of the Sabbath should, not only strive to abolish the ten commandments, but to demolish the true sanctuary in which they are deposited beneath the mercy-seat—the throne of God in heaven.

It is no wonder that Eld. R. V. Lyon should despair of overthrowing the Sabbath, unless he could overthrow this tower of our strength—the sanctuary. If the sanctuary cannot be demolished, the Sabbath cannot be reached. Hence the necessity of the effort. And nothing but the most absolute and desperate necessity could induce a man of sense and of a sound mind to proclaim a theory so utterly and admirably weak, in the face of the fullness of the beaming light that now shines upon the subject.

It is truly lamentable that men professing loyalty to the King of heaven, should fight against his holy law. But, if they will do it, let them direct their efforts against the true sanctuary, and strive to pluck down the pillars of God's throne; for the law is safely housed in heaven. "The temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament." Rev. xi. 19.

Oh, for a perfect conformity to that law! that law which is perfect, converting the soul.

R. F. COTTERELL.

Order.

By A. P. Lawton

HEAVEN is a place of order. To be prepared for it, and enjoy its order, we must acquire a relish for it here; especially should we observe order in our devotions. By this we do not infer a Pharisaical, dead formality, or a tedious round of ceremonies; but we should have stated seasons of prayer in the closet there to draw spiritual consolation and heavenly food, and observe them with as much care as we do our meals. We can no more possess a healthy condition of mind without the former, than corporeal health and strength without the latter. If the proper time slips by without prayer, other duties having their appropriate place and time, prayer must be attended with confusion, if not neglected entirely.

We have a vigilant foe, and we must be sober and vigilant, and watch unto prayer. If we are fitful and irregular in our prayers, and do not pray unless we feel like it, we shall be fitful and uncertain in our experience. That our prayers may not be set and formal, we must believe when we enter our closets that we are in the presence of God, and confess all our wrongs, in full confidence that if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

A. P. Lawton. West Winfield, N. Y.

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