Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 21, 1860
STUDIOUS DEVOTION.
“Could ye not watch with me one hour?” Matt. xvi, 40.
We are often in a religious hurry in our devotions. How much time do we spend in them daily? Can it not be easily reckoned in minutes?
Probably many of us would be discomposed by an arithmetical estimate of our communion with God. It might reveal to us the secret of much of our apathy in prayer, because it might disclose how little we desire to be alone with God. We might learn from such a computation that Augustine’s idea of prayer, as “the measure of love,” is not very flattering to us. We do not grudge time given to a privilege which we love.
Why should we expect to enjoy a duty which we have no time to enjoy? Do we enjoy anything which we do in a hurry? Enjoyment presupposes something of mental leisure. How often do we say of a pleasure, “I wanted more time to enjoy it to my heart’s content?” But of all employments, none can be more dependent on “time for it,” than stated prayer.
In the royal gallery at Dresden may be often seen a group of connoisseurs, who sit for hours before a single painting. They walk around those halls and corridors, whose walls are so eloquent with the triumphs of art, and they come back and pause again before that one masterpiece. They go away and return the next day, and again the first and the last object which charms their eye is that canvas on which genius has pictured more of beauty than on any other in the world. Weeks are spent every year in the study of that one work of Raphael’s. Lovers of art cannot enjoy it to the full till they have made it their own by prolonged communion with its matchless forms. Says one of its admirers: “I could spend an hour every day, for years, upon that assemblage of human, and angelic, and divine ideals, and on the last day of the last year discover some new beauty and some new joy.”
I have seen men standing in the street before an engraving of that gem of the Dresden gallery, a longer time than a good man will sometimes devote to his evening prayer. Yet, what thoughts, what ideals of grace, can genius express in a painting, demanding time for their appreciation and enjoyment, like these great thoughts of God, of heaven, of eternity, which the soul needs to conceive vividly, in order to know the blessedness of prayer? What conceptions can art imagine of the “Divine Child,” which can equal in spirituality the thoughts which one needs to entertain of Christ in the “prayer of faith?” We cannot hope, commonly, to spring into possession of such thoughts in the twinkling of an eye.
Prayer, as we have observed, is an act of friendship, also. It is intercourse; an act of trust, of hope, of love, all prompting to interchange between the soul and an infinite, spiritual, invisible Friend. We all need prayer, if for no other purpose, for this which we so aptly call communion with God.
Zinzendorf, when a boy, used to write little notes to the Saviour, and throw them out of the window, hoping that he would find them. Later in life, so strong was his faith in the friendship of Christ, and his own need of that friendship as a daily solace, that once, when traveling, he sent back his companion that he might converse more freely with “the Lord,” with whom he spoke audibly.
So do we all need friendly converse with Him whom our soul loves. He alone is a thousand companions. He alone is a world of friends. That man never knew what it was to be familiar with God who complains of the want of friends while God is with him.
But who can originate such conceptions of God as are necessary to the enjoyment of his friendship in prayer without time for thought, for self-collection, for concentration of soul? Momentary devotion, if genuine, must presuppose the habit of studious prayer.
Whoever knew an eminently holy man who did not spend much of his time in prayer? Did ever a man exhibit much of the spirit of prayer who did not devote much time to his closet? Whitefield says, “Whole days and weeks have I spent prostrate on the ground, in silent or vocal prayer.” “Fall upon your knees and grow there,” is the language of another, who knew that whereof he affirmed. These, in spirit, are but specimens of a feature in the experience of eminent piety, which is absolutely uniform.
It has been said that no great work in literature or in science was ever wrought by a man who did not love solitude. We may lay it down as an elemental principle of religion, that no large growth in holiness was ever gained by one who did not take time to be often and long alone with God. This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. No otherwise can the great central idea of God enter into man’s life, and there dwell supreme.
“ALMOST DISCOURAGED.”
What, “almost discouraged?” Poor child, what are you discouraged about? “Discouraged,” when the journey’s end is near? “Discouraged,” when he, the loved “ruler of thy heart” is coming106to bring thy crown? “Discouraged,” while the eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath thee are the everlasting arms? “Discouraged,” while he says thy grace is sufficient for thee? “Discouraged,” while he hath said, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee?” “Discouraged,” when he hath given his angels’ charge concerning thee to keep thee in all thy ways? “Discouraged,” while Jesus is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and knows how to succor them that are tempted? “Discouraged,” while every trial worketh an exceeding weight of glory?
“Well, I know it, but I have so many temptations.” So have I, so has everybody that serves God. Don’t you know that the swiftness of the current is a good sign that you are rowing up stream? The fact is, Satan is always good to his own, and if a man is tormented and harpooned by the Devil it is a good token that he belongs to the other army.
“Discouraged?” O no, I would’nt be discouraged—soon the Master will say, I was hungry and ye fed me—soon he will remember each “cup of cold water” given in a disciple’s name, and every act done in secret for his glory will be known and remembered in that day.
“Discouraged?” Yes, the disciples were when they had toiled all night and taken nothing, but at Christ’s command they cast the net once more, and caught a boat-load at that time—what a haul! They were full of courage then.
“Discouraged?” Yes, the twelve chosen friends of Christ were discouraged when they vainly strove to guide their laboring bark amid the tempest’s rage. Do you feel thus? Does it seem that the Master is asleep and you are in peril? O awake him then with earnest prayer, and when he rebukes the wind there will be a great calm.
“Discouraged?” Yes, so were the followers of Jesus on the waves of the troubled Gennesaret, and Jesus was away; but while they were tossed by the waves he prayed upon the mountain top. And so now while we are discouraged with life’s tempests, and sad as we think of our absent Lord, but though absent, yet on the distant hills of light he pleads our cause with God. And by and by when our sinking hearts quail before the tempest’s wildest rage, he will come treading upon the rude billows that disturb us—hushing the fury of the fearful tempest and guiding us to the port of peace.
Now I wouldn’t be discouraged, or almost discouraged any more. O trust in the Lord! Hope in his mercy. Believe his precious promises—forget your poor miserable sinful self, and find in him your all. Cast your care on him. Tell your woes to him. Give yourself away to him. Serve him with all your heart and he will be your strength, your hope, your joy and consolation.
Now don’t be discouraged any more will you? Trust in the Lord always.
THE CROSS OF CHRIST.
By S. A. W.
THEY gathered round the cross. Who gathered round?
The lepers cleansed, the blind restored to sight,
Captives of Satan with their chains unbound,
The dead called from the grave to life and light.
They gathered round the cross. Who gathered round?
The poor that heard the word, the hungry fed,
The broken-hearted healed of every wound,
They to whose arms he had restored the dead.
They gathered round the cross. Who gathered round?
Women whose joy had been to soothe his woes,
His mother—anguish, triumph in each wound—
Her Son, her Saviour, suffered for his foes.
They gathered round the cross. Who gathered round?
False priests that laughed, soldiers who mocked his pain,
Proud Pharisees “whose garments swept the ground;”
And thus upon the cross the Lord was slain.
They gathered round the cross: He closed his eyes,
The day grew dark when death its work had done;
Yet day so bright ne’er dawned on mortal eyes,
For our salvation by the cross was won.—[S. A. W.
CLEARNESS AND TENDERNESS.
PHILIP DODDRIDGE was not a man of rich imagination, or of profound theological attainments, or of immense learning, or of polished rhetoric, or of original genius; yet both as a speaker and a writer he commanded general attention, and was blessed with no small success.
A Scotch reviewer, in considering this fact, specifies two traits of the distinguished nonconformist as probably accounting for the acceptance he met with, so far as that is to be attributed to mere human causes.
One of these was his simplicity. This was not the simplicity of homely language, in which Latimer, and Swift and Cobbett were such masters, and by which they wrought such mighty results. But it was the simplicity of clear conception and orderly arrangement.
A text or topic may be compared to a goodly apartment still empty; and which will be very differently garnished according as you move into it, piece by piece, the furniture from a similar chamber, or pour in pell-mell the contents of a lumber attic. Most minds can appreciate order; and to a majority of minds it is a greater treat than ministers always imagine, to get some obscure matter made plain, or some confused subject cleared up. With this treat Doddridge’s readers and hearers were constantly indulged.
The other trait was tenderness. Doddridge seems naturally to have been of a most affectionate disposition. And this constitutional gentleness was greatly intensified by his deep and earnest piety. No preacher ever felt more thoroughly the concern which a true-hearted pastor must have for perishing souls. Hence he was, like Paul, “gentle among them even as a nurse cherisheth her children, being affectionately desirous of them.” His heart was in his hand, in his eye, in his speech. He spoke the truth in love. His hearers never made, never could make the mistake of supposing that he was angry, even in his most animated and piercing utterances. There was that in the man which made them feel that his emotion was not of mere human or earthly excitement, but always that of Christian sympathy deepened by an incessant consciousness that eternity was just at hand. “He that winneth souls is wise; and this winsomeness was Doddridge’s main wisdom. There was something in his temper and affections more evangelical than even in his theology. His remonstrances were compassionate; his reproof regretful amidst their faithfulness; his warnings all the more solemn because of their evident sympathy; and his exhortations encouraging and alluring from the benevolent hopefulness with which they were freighted.”
WHAT CAN I DO FOR JESUS.
Ought not every professed Christian to ask himself this question when he first awakens from sleep in the morning? “What can I do for Jesus to day?” Surely I think that those who profess to love Jesus, ought to ask themselves this question very often. One who has found Christ to be precious to his soul, has promised that he would labor for Christ. One who has found Christ “the one altogether lovely and chiefest among ten thousand,” did promise God that he would serve him through his dear Son.
My Christian friend, you have taken solemn vows upon yourself; you have promised Christ that you would take up your daily cross and follow him. You have professed to renounce the world and all its vanities. You profess to love God. In making this profession you have (as it were) donned the regular dress or uniform worn by Christ’s soldiers, you have enlisted under the royal banner of King Jesus. You have promised to fight for him and what question more appropriate can you ask than, “What can I do for Jesus?” Let the Christian ask himself this question daily, and if he truly feels from the depths of his heart that he would do something for Christ, let him go to God in earnest prayer, and ask God to guide him, and enable him to labor for Jesus.
Let him desire to labor for Christ, because he loves him, not merely to be praised of men, and God will hear and answer that prayer. You will be enabled to do something for the cause of Christ if you really and sincerely desire to. Are you willing and do you strive to labor for God? He will bless your efforts; you will feel blessed in your own heart, though you may not know the extent of good that you have done while in this life, yet in the “great Hereafter” you shall know. Then go to work my weak brother—my weak sister in Christ—think every hour, “What can I do for Jesus.” Go forward, and with a prayerful heart and whole-souled earnestness, try to do something for his cause. Though you may not do more than to bear a cup of cold water to one of his children, yet Christ has said, “you shall not lose your reward” for that simple act. Or you may perchance speak soothing words to one of his followers, or you may comfort the sick and minister unto their wants, and Christ says “Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these, ye did it unto me.” Blessed words; let us remember them, and let us often ask ourselves, “What can I do for Jesus?”
PREPARATION TO MEET THE SON OF MAN AT HIS COMING.
“WATCH ye therefore and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” Luke.
The Lord had previously admonished his disciples to the same import. But having for a moment left the thread of his exhortation, for the purpose of adding a fact that was well calculated to deepen the impression which he desired to produce, he now resumes his exhortation to watchfulness and prayer. But at this point he assigns the ultimate object of faithfulness; that we may be accounted worthy to escape the predicted evils, and to stand before the Son of man. Here several things should impress us:
1. That watchfulness and prayer are indispensable to a full preparation for the day of the Lord. A spirit of devotion and sobriety, carried into appropriate practice, is the great essential in our present duty. And this should be secured in view of the fact that we are all hastening to meet the day of the Lord Jesus.
2. It is only in this way that we can escape the calamities which, at the coming of Christ shall be visited upon the unprepared. What these will be, the Scriptures have sufficiently revealed. The previous predictions of Christ, and the parables following, set forth these calamities in a manner which would almost shake the world if they had not been so generally Jerusalemized away, that they are read with little or no impression that they are intended for us, as well as for the ancients; that our destiny is to be thus affected and determined. Who can calculate the tremendous consequences of stripping this portion of the divine word of all its direct, literal, and intended bearing upon the millions who are hastening to meet the great day, with almost no conception of its nature and reality?
3. It is by obedience to these directions that we may expect, through grace, to stand before the Son of man. “The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.” They shall be “punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe in that day.” This will be the portion of the wicked; and they will not “love his appearing.” But the righteous shall “stand in the day of judgment;” they shall receive “a crown of righteousness” at “that day.” 2 Tim. iv, 8. Then the pious dead “shall behold his face in righteousness;” they “shall be satisfied when” they “awake in his likeness.” For in his presence is fullness of joy, and at his right hand are pleasures for evermore. “Wherefore, beloved, seeing ye look for such things, be diligent, that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless.” It is esteemed a great privilege to stand before kings; but it will be a still greater to “stand before the Son of man.” For when he cometh, he will come as “King of kings, and Lord of lords.”
“But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in those days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark; and knew not until the flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Matt. xxiv, 37–39.
Terrible history! Terrible prediction! But the prophecy will prove to be as true as the history. The world had been duly warned of the threatening deluge; but they heeded it not. They continued to live as they had lived; contracting marriages, celebrating marriages, giving and enjoying festivities until the day that Noe entered into the ark. These things are not mentioned by the Saviour on account of their being necessarily wrong, but to show how little the doomed world heeded the warnings of “the preacher of righteousness,” or anticipated so sad, so sudden and terrible a catastrophe as was long impending over them. The reason was, they knew not what was about to burst upon them, and forever terminate their plans and pleasures. The treasured up wrath that was to drown a teeming world gave no outward indications of either its nearness or severity. For aught that appears to the contrary, the sun that morning rose as smilingly, the winds breathed as refreshingly, the waters flowed as peacefully, the birds sung as cheerily,107the dance led forth as merrily, as ever since the birth-day of sin. There were happy bridegrooms and brides; there were proud fathers and mothers; there were rejoicing sisters and brothers; there were admiring lovers; there were jealous rivals; there were lords in state, and servants in waiting; there were rich counting over their treasures; there were thieves intent on robbing; there were lecherous in search of victims. In a word, a world in wickedness; warned, but heedless; doomed, but reckless; rushing on to meet its ruin.
So shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
The day of God will come upon the unexpecting world, as a snare upon the unwary game, that knows not its danger until it is too late to escape
WHAT HAST THOU DONE?
“And the Lord said, What hast thou done?” Gen. iv, 10.
This question was proposed to Cain. He was offended with God, he quarreled with his brother, he gave way to passion, and then murdered the innocent. God now calls him to account. He must answer for his conduct, he must give account of himself to God. Just so must we. We may not have sinned just as Cain did, but we have sinned from the same principle, we have sinned against the same God, we have sinned with as little cause as Cain did. The Lord now asks us, “What hast thou done?” Sinner, prepare thy reply! Number up thy crimes. Examine into the nature of thy transgressions. Look at the aggravation of thy iniquities. Thou hast sinned, not as Cain did, but in clearer light, against greater manifestations of love, notwithstanding thou hast read his doom, been warned of the consequences of transgressing, and wast entreated to forbear. Thou hast done the very worst thing thou couldst do; for thou hast made God’s justice thine enemy, shut God’s heaven against thee, and, wonderful to say, made it God’s duty to punish thee. “What hast thou done?” Forfeited all title to heaven, rendered thyself totally unfit for heaven, and incapacitated thyself to do anything to deserve or merit heaven. Done! thou hast done evil things as thou couldst. Done! thou couldst do nothing worse, for thou hast broken God’s whole law, deserved God’s wrath, and exposed thyself to everlasting punishment. The crown is fallen from thy head; woe be unto thee, for thou hast sinned. Sinned! yes, and not once or twice, not in one form only, but in a thousand. Sinned! yes, and thy sins are like scarlet, double dyed like crimson; and they cry aloud to God for the execution of his threatenings.
“These things hast thou done, and I kept silence. Now consider this ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.” Ps. 1, 21, 22.
HISTORICAL EVIDENCES OF THE TRUTH OF THE SCRIPTURES.
We suppose that all our readers are not aware how rapidly and how remarkably evidences to establish the truth of the Scripture records are being brought forth from the monumental and other remains of the buried past.
Had the foresight and wisdom of man been employed from the building of Babylon to the fall of the Roman Empire, to collect and preserve from age such testimonials as might best meet and confute the skepticism of the present day in regard to the truthfulness of the historical portions of the Bible, it would not have produced so deep an impression on our age as what God has so wonderfully preserved and unexpectedly produced, when needed most, to confound all skepticism, and confirm the faith of Christendom.
The assault which has been made by the learning and subtlety of the German infidelity upon the credibility of the Scripture narrative has ended as every previous attack upon Christianity has ended in establishing its truthfulness more clearly and firmly than before. Unbelief is continually stirred up to fresh attempts in order to show, as it would seem, that at every point the system of Christ is absolutely invulnerable.
A few years only have passed since these treasures of the ancient world, which so completely, because undesignedly, prove the truthfulness of Scripture history, were entirely unknown, and when first discovered they were eagerly seized upon, as the very weapons wherewith to destroy the credibility of the Bible. The shouts of triumph with which the celebrated Zodiac of Dendorah was hailed by the infidel philosophy of Europe because, upon its first superficial examination it was thought to do away the whole chronology of the Scripture narratives, have scarcely had time to die away before Christianity has won for herself, and beyond all fear of future reversal of the world's verdict, the whole field of evidence, as drawn from the authentic records of every great empire of the ancient world—Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Persia, Phoenicia, have come forth from their tombs, at the bidding of Christian science, and testify in the clearest manner to the truthfulness of those records which form the historical basis of the Christian system.
One of the most impressive proofs of the genuineness of the books of the Bible, is derived from the late minute and accurate investigations of travelers in Palestine. Such is the minute faithfulness of the sacred story, in all matters connected with eternal things, that it forms the best possible hand-book for the tourist, and no candid man in traversing that portion of the East with the Bible in his hand, can escape the conviction that its writers lived among, and were perfectly familiar with, the scenes which they describe.
Every great feature of the scene remains and presents itself to the eye of the modern traveler precisely as they were described by Moses and David, and the prophets; and, with the exception of the cities and towns, one knows that he is looking upon the very scenes which their eyes beheld, and which they described so faithfully, that they are recognized at once, after so many centuries have passed away. The land of the prophets, and of the wondrous people, the land of signs and wonders, remains as the writers of the Bible saw and described it—the inhabitants only are gone. Impressions equally strong in regard to the truth of the Scriptures are derived from the exhumed remains of the great empires of the East with which the Jewish union stood connected.
The monuments of Egypt, the buried palaces of Babylon and Nineveh, and the Persian ruins, in connection with those of Phoenicia, have enabled Christian scholars to produce the history, and even the aspect—the manners and customs of a past which reaches almost to the Deluge; and, with the history of these ages, that of the Jewish people and their records have been found so interwoven, that the truth of sacred history must be admitted, or all ancient history must be abandoned at once as false. To deny the credibility of the Old Testament writers is not now to reject the Bible only, but it is to declare the state records of every empire false. Of course, men in the enjoyment of right reason must not be expected to make this monstrous assumption, and therefore, as we have said, the truth of the Bible is far more firmly established than ever. Nor must we forget that the proof of the historical accuracy of these writers in the circumstance in which they wrote, carries with it the truthfulness of their doctrines, unless we are prepared to believe that a perfect historical accuracy is connected with hypocrisy and dishonesty in doctrine.—Cincinnati Gazette.
A MISSION OF THE ANGEL SORROW.
By Prof. A. Phelps
OFTEN, to deepen our knowledge of Christ in prayer, is the mission of the angel sorrow. The truth is, that we never feel Christ to be a reality until we feel him to be a necessity. Therefore God makes us feel that necessity. He tries us here, and he tries us there. He chastises us on this side, and he chastises us on that side. He probes one sin, and another, and a third, which have lain rankling in our deceived hearts. He removes, one after another, the objects in which we have been seeking the repose of idolatrous affections. He afflicts us in ways we have not anticipated. He sends upon us the chastisements which he knows we shall feel most keenly. He pursues us when we would fain flee from his hand, and if need be, he shakes to pieces the whole frame-work of our plans of life, by which we have been struggling to build together the service of God and the service of self, till at last he makes us feel that Christ is all that is left to us. . . . On the basis of that single experience of Christ as a reality because a necessity, there arises an experience of blessedness in communion with God which prayer expresses like a revelation. Such devotion is a jubilant psalm.—Prof. A. Phelps
Individual Effort
INDIVIDUAL EFFORT.—We seldom meet with a more forcible illustration of the blessing which may accompany faithful, persevering, individual effort, than the following:
“A gay, worldly man became a Christian, and in all sincerity asked the great question, ‘What wilt thou have me do?’ He thought over his past life, and called to mind as many as one hundred and sixteen of his former associates, with whom he had spent many a wicked hour. He had their names before him, and resolved that if he could reach them, by the grace of God he would speak to every one of them, and urge them to come to Christ. He succeeded in bringing the great question of salvation before their minds, and at the end of the year one hundred of these, his former wicked companions, were traveling with him in the way of life.”
Sound Advice
SOUND ADVICE.—"Know," said Sir W. Raleigh to his son, "that flatterers are the worst kind of traitors, for they will strengthen thy imperfections, encourage thee in all evils, correct thee in nothing, but so shadow and paint thy follies and vices as thou shalt never, by their will, discover good from evil, or vice from virtue. And because all men are apt to flatter themselves, to entertain the addiction of other men's praises, is most perilous. If thy friends be of better quality than thyself, thou mayest be sure of two things—first, that they will be more careful to keep thy counsel, because they have more to lose than thou hast; the second, they will esteem thee for thyself, and not for that which thou dost not possess."
Drunkard Factories
DRUNKARD FACTORIES.—There are in the United States 1,217 distilleries, in which 5,240 persons are employed, and $8,507,574 capital is invested. They consume yearly 11,367,761 bushels of corn, 3,787,175 of barley, 2,143,927 of rye, 56,603 of oats, 526,841 of apples, 1,294 tons of hops, and 5,240 hogsheads of molasses. They manufacture 42,461,920 gallons of ale, 41,364,224 of whiskey and high wines, and 6,500,500 of rum, being about four gallons of liquor for every man, woman and child in the country.
The Nearness of God
How inconsistent are some men's conceptions of the divine Being with the religion in which they profess to believe! Their God is always riding on the stars, or is behind them, or is directing some physical or moral law. He is wonderful in power, but is always afar off. The God of most men, whether they are skeptical, neutralists, or ecclesiastical religionists, is afar off. And only them do I count to be true Christians whose God is always near; for the promise of Christ was, that he and his Father would come to his disciples and abide with them.
Love and Divine Attraction
LOVE is the magnetism which has been placed in the human soul. It draws the secret particles of truth. And love in God is that great lodestone to which every heart springs up by attraction. And as when the magnet passes through the sand, the quartz, the gold, the silver, and the thousand other elements hid in the sand, only the iron clings to it; so when God passes near the soul, the lower love, the reason, the fear, the hope, the reverence, do not vibrate to his presence, but the higher love instantly feels the coming power, and flies to the bosom of its God.
All Comes by Chance
“ALL COMES BY CHANCE.”—An English lady who had forsaken her God and the Bible, for the gloom and darkness of infidelity, was crossing the Atlantic, and asked a pious sailor one morning, how long they should be out. “In fourteen days, if it is God’s will, we shall be in Liverpool,” answered the sailor. “If it is God’s will?” said the lady, “what a senseless expression! Don’t you know that all comes by chance?” In a few days a terrible storm arose, and the lady stood clinging to the side of the cabin door in an agony of terror, when the sailor passed her. “What do you think?” said she, “will the storm soon be over?” “It seems likely to last for some time madam.” “Oh!” she cried, “pray that we may not be lost.” His only and calm reply was, “Shall I pray to chance?”
Joy Over One Sinner
SAID a stranger: “While traveling down the Ohio River on a steamboat, my attention was called to the pilot who was a coarse looking man. The captain informed me, that three weeks ago, as the boat was going through the rapids, the pilot called him to take the helm. He had just seen a boy struggling for life in the rapids. He sprang into a mere skiff and ventured himself among the boiling waters without an oar and saved the boy. I went up to the brave man and spoke to him: ‘Do you ever see that boy whom you saved?’ ‘Yes,’ he answered, ‘at every trip he comes down to the boat to see me.’ ‘and how do you feel when you see him?’ ‘More than I can tell,’ he replied; ‘more intense interest than in any one of my own seven at home, for whom I have run no such risk.”
Thus there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons who need no repentance. Thus Jesus will regard those whom he has saved with more interest than the angels.
GOOD PROPOSITION.
By James White
Bro. King of Orleans, Mich., writes, Aug. 9, 1860
“From last Samaritan I learn something of the situation of your Office, and the liabilities resting on the Office, &c. I was not acquainted with the affairs and the debts that Bro. White was personally holden for, till I saw the last Samaritan, and I feel that Bro. White did what every honest man should do. If deemed advisable to remove the burden from him, and let the brethren meet those debts, I for one am willing to help shoulder the burden.
“It is but some eight months since I embraced present truth, and most of the time I have been so blind that I could not see to read nor write, being much afflicted with my eyes, yet they are improving, and I feel to praise the Lord that he has restored them to sight, so that I can see to read and write a little.
“I would say to the brethren, How many will join with me this fall to set apart, when we sow our wheat, from one to five acres to pay the debt resting on the Office, and help raise a fund for publication? I say from one to five acres or more, as the brethren feel able. To the brother mechanic, you to set apart one day in each month, or one day in two months, as you feel able, and the laboring man one day in three months. Let us move in this plan, and the Office will soon be free, and those having the charge will breathe an atmosphere pure, not burdened with trouble as at present. Adopt this plan, and will not God bless the undertaking? I feel that he will.
“After we have done this, then follow Paul’s advice, lay by in store as the Lord hath prospered, every one, for benevolent purposes.
“I would be glad to see an article from you or Bro. White on this subject. I do not send this for publication, still I am willing that you should use any part of it for publication, if you deem it advisable, by putting it in some form, so that it will have the effect to enlist some in this enterprise, my name is at your service.
“If I can do any good in my Master’s cause, God shall have all the praise. Since I have set out to obey God’s law, I have been trying to do something for his cause, but I feel that I accomplish but little. After giving for the tent, and to messengers, and some other donations, I say to myself, I would like to do more, but my affairs will not let me. I came to the conclusion to adopt the above plan, and leave the result with God, feeling assured that he will bless the deed.
“Yours in Christ, hoping for eternal life at the appearing of our Lord.
S. H. King.”
REMARKS.—The object introduced by Bro. King, and the plan suggested by him to accomplish this object, we think will be approved by the friends of the cause.
The Office owes of borrowed money about fourteen hundred dollars, and instead of being able to pay this sum, must have still more in order to keep on hand a good supply of all our publications.
An Office building must soon be built, worth, lot included, at least two thousand and five hundred dollars. We will state the sum which should be raised within one year at $6,000. A small sum indeed to be raised by ten thousand Sabbath-keepers.
But to raise this amount is not so difficult as to know who shall hold it after it shall be raised. We would agree to collect the sum in one year, but who shall hold it? It is of no use to say that our publishing committee can hold it, unless they collect it. Then they can hold it. We had been misinformed in regard to the collection of gifts, and made an incorrect statement on that point. Those who have donated to the REVIEW Office cannot collect it, as we have since been informed by them who should know. Our publishing committee cannot now legally hold the Office property until we make it over to them, as we are the only legal owner of it. In that case it would be their property.
We have been stating the necessities of some simple form of organization, that we might be able to make the Office property over into the hands of proper officers, who could manage it. We might go on and buy a lot, build an Office, raise the money and pay for them, but it would be our property till a legal organization should appoint officers to receive it from us.
We recommend the plan suggested by Bro. King, and hope all will heartily adopt it. An Office must be built, and the money raised to carry on the work. And the church will probably soon decide whether they will hold the property themselves, or have some one hold it for them. We wait to see. J. W.
THE MANSIONS OF THE BLEST.
By A. S. HUTCHINS
REFLECTING to-day upon the piercing sorrows and anxious cares of this life, its perished expectations and blasted hopes, its pinching poverty and deep distress, which visits so many dwellings and hearts, and upon the sighs and groans of the oppressed, I was greatly comforted by calling to mind the following precious promise of the dear Saviour.
“In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” John xiv, 2, 3.
Many mansions! O, who would not patiently and perseveringly toil on a little longer, sustained and urged forward with the blessed hope of entering those heavenly mansions? Not many long tedious years in the future; for fulfilling prophecies and unfolding signs, tell us that Jesus' coming is near.
“O! ’twere sweet to toil in sadness,
O! ’twere well the cross to bear,
If, at last, in joy and gladness,
We may rest forever there.”
There is a pale-faced, wasted form, dwelling in her hut of poverty and destitution, while plenty and convenience smile around her, as if in mockery of her pitiful condition. But that shanty, so familiar with your tears and groans, is not long to be your home. No, soon it will be exchanged for a mansion with the blest, if faithful. Jesus will pass none of his dear followers by because of their poverty.
“Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.” Nowhere in the book of God is it said, Blessed be ye rich. But “woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.” The sacred volume of inspiration brings words of comfort and consolation to the hearts of mourners. “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.”
To-day a place may be found in the heart of the mourner, which all the kind looks and generous acts of dear friends do not quite reach, a vacancy which may not be supplied; but remember dear brother or sister, that earth's sorrows hasten to a close. That soon the “ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” Isa. xxxv, 10. O, happy people! O, inexpressible consolation!
Do friends forsake, and enemies revile you, for Christ's sake? O bear in mind the unspeakable blessedness of a mansion among the blood-washed throng. Think of the joy, the peace and unmingled happiness with which every heart will overflow. Eternity will be only just long enough to unfold the beauties and reveal the realities of the heavenly mansions.
Dejected and despairing ones, turn your eyes away from the perplexing cares, the sinking, drowning trials of life, upward to your heavenly home; and let your chains of bondage and fear be broken. Let your doubts be gone. Fix your mind on the merits of Him “whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” Rom. iii, 25, 26.
“Faith lifts the vail before our eyes,
And bids us view a happier clime,
Where verdant fields in beauty rise,
Beyond the withering blast of time;
And brings the blissful moment near,
When we in glory shall appear.”